USA > Connecticut > New London County > A modern history of New London County, Connecticut, Volume II > Part 26
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located farm on Laurel Hill, Norwich. But he was more the business man than the farmer and after a few years he entered business life, retaining the Laurel Hill estate where Mrs. Spicer dispensed a charming hospitality. Mrs. Spicer survives her husband and continues to make her home on the Laurel Hill farm where so many of the years of her married life were spent. Mrs. Spicer descends from John and Jane (Hubbard) Williams, through their son Peter Williams and his wife Michel Lambert; their son John Williams and his wife Susanna Latham; their son Peter Williams and his wife Mary Morgan; their son John Williams and his wife Phoebe Williams; their son Peter Williams and his wife Susan Barnes; their daughter Anna M. Wil- liams married John Sands Spicer, whom she sur- vives.
(I) The Spicer ancestry in New England begins with Peter Spicer, who settled in that part of New London county, Connecticut, now called Ledyard, in the year 1666, on twenty acres granted him by the township of New London, the land lying near the line of the town of Norwich. The tract is now en- tirely in the hands of strangers. Peter is believed to have come to Connecticut from Virginia and to have been a son of Edward Spicer who came from England to Virginia in 1635. He fought in King Philip's War and received one hundred and forty acres of the colony land at Voluntown, Connecticut. That grant was sold by his son Edward in 1719, Peter Spicer's estate being inventoried in 1695, which is the year of his death. He married in War- wick, Rhode Island, the record there stating the date as December 15, 1670, the bride "Mary Busecot of ye town of Warwick in ye town of Warwick." Nine children are named in the settlement of his es- tate, Edward presumably the eldest, as he inherited the greater part of his father's estate.
(II) Edward Spicer, son of Peter and Mary (Busecot) Spicer, was born, it is believed, in Led- yard, Connecticut, his name being otten mentioned here in town meeting records and in land records. He inherited the homestead farm which, in 1719, he deeded to his only son John Spicer, but ownership not to pass during the lifetime of Edward or his wife. About 1695 he married Catherine Stone, daughter of Hugh and Abigail (Busecot) Stone, and they were the parents of seven children, their births recorded in Groton, the second child a son, John.
(III) John Spicer, eldest son of Edward and Catherine (Stone) Spicer, was born at Groton, Connecticut, January 1, 1698, and there died Au- gust 28, 1753. He also married in Groton, in 1720, Mary Geer, daughter of Robert and Martha (Tyler) Geer, of that town, and on January 11, 1762, mar- ried Sarah Allyn. By his first marriage John Spicer had six children, his marriages and the births of his children being all recorded in Groton.
(IV) Edward Spicer, eldest child of John and Mary (Geer) Spicer, was born in Groton, Connecti- cut, April 4, 1721, and there died in December, 1797. He married, October 17, 1743, Hannah Bill, daugh-
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BIOGRAPHICAL
ter of Joshua and Hannah Bill, born September 30, 1725, who died between December 15, 1759, the date of the birth of her youngest and seventh child, and October 18, 1762, the date of the marriage of Edward Spicer to Abigail Allyn, his second wife. Abigail of John and Johanna (Miner) Allyn. They were Allyn was born in Groton, June 25, 1737, daughter the parents of five children, the fourth a son John, his father's eleventh child.
(V) John Spicer, fourth child of Edward Spicer and his second wife, Abigail Allyn, was born in Groton, Connecticut, August 14, 1770, died in Led- yard, Connecticut, March 2, 1856. He lived and died on the homestead farm left by his father, and was a man of prosperity and prominence. He served the town of Groton as selectman from 1803 to 1806, and represented the town in the Legislature at New Haven in 1806, and at Hartford in 1807. He was also instrumental in dividing the town of Groton in 1836, his farm being in the part set off as Ledyard. He married, at Groton, September 7, 1794, Elizabeth Latham, and they were the parents of ten children, the eighth a son, Edmund Spicer.
(VI) Captain Edmund Spicer, son of John and Elizabeth (Latham) Spicer, was born in North Groton, Connecticut (now Ledyard), January II, 1812, died at his home in Ledyard, May 1, 1890. He was educated in the town schools and in his early manhood taught school for a number of terms in the district schools, with excellent results. He suc- ceeded his father in the ownership of the home- stead farm near the center of the town and there resided until the close of his life, holding a position in the community which commanded general re- spect. In addition to his farm he also managed a mercantile business and was frequently honored by his townsmen with public office. He was captain of a rifle company for several of his younger years of manhood, thus gaining the title which he bore through life. He was chosen selectman no less than seven times between the years 1836 and 1851; was town clerk and treasurer from 1853 until 1865; representative to the State Legislature in 1849; and probate judge for twelve consecutive years, 1855 until 1867, when he was appointed postmaster, an office he held as long as he lived. In 1862 he was a candidate for State Senator, and for eighteen years prior to 1885 was secretary of the Bill Library Association of Ledyard, of which, from the date of its organization in 1867, until his passing in 1890, he was the treasurer and librarian. In a memorial resolution the Association placed on record the high appreciation in which Mr. Spicer was held by his associates and testified to his ability and fidelity in the discharge of the varied but highly important trusts committed to his care. In religious faith Mr. Spicer was a Congregationalist, uniting with the church in Ledyard in 1843, and served for a num- ber of years as a member of the church committee and as chairman of the standing committee of the Ecclesiastical Society for several years prior to his death.
Captain Spicer married, November 16, 1836, Bethia W. Avery, who died March 7, 1886, daugh- ter of John Sands and Bethia (Williams) Avery, of Groton. They were the parents of eight children: I. Mary Abby, born September 23, 1837, married George Fanning. 2. John Sands, of further men- tion, to whom this review is dedicated. 3. Jo- seph Latham, born March 4, 1845, died in infancy. 4. Sarah Elizabeth, born August 3, 1847, married Nathan Larrabee Lester. 5. Caroline Gallup, born May 28, 1850, married Amos Lester. 6. Cecelia Williams, born September 30, 1852, married Jona- than Fairbanks Lester. 7. Edward Eugene, born July 25, 1856, married Sarah Adelaide Griswold. 8. George Walter, born December 31, 1858, mar- ried Fannie Elizabeth Griswold.
(VII) John Sands Spicer, eldest son of Captain Edmund and Bethia W. Avery, was born in Led- yard, New London county, Connecticut, September 20, 1842, and died at his home in Norwich, Connecti- cut, May 13, 1906. He grew to youthful manhood at his home farm in Ledyard, was educated in the dis- trict public schools and at Connecticut Literary In- stitute, at Suffield, Connecticut, and there for one winter taught the home district public school. He continued as his father's farm and store assistant until the death of the latter in 1890, then with his brother, George Spicer, bought the store from the estate, and for a time operated it as a partnership. Later Mr. Spicer bought his partner's interest, and continued the business alone until 1893, when he sold his mercantile business and bought the farm on Laurel Hill, Norwich, Connecticut. Here he en- gaged in farming, exclusively, until 1899, when he re-entered mercantile life, establishing a retail groc- ery store at No. 118 Water street, which he con- tinued to conduct until his retirement. He also operated a feed, grain and hay business on the same street and conducted both departments very suc- cessfully. He was trustee of the Chelsea Savings Bank of Norwich, succeeding his father on the board, and a treasurer of the Bill Library Associa- tion at Ledyard, holding both these responsible po- sitions until the close of his life. He also followed his honored father as postmaster of Ledyard, an office he held until removing to Laurel Hill, Nor- wich, in 1893, when he, of course, resigned. He was an excellent business man, successful in his private enterprises and as careful in handling public or cor- porate business as though it were his own. He was very active in the Congregational church while d resident in Ledyard, but after moving to Norwich joined the Broadway Church. In politics he was a Democrat, but from 1906 until his death was iden- tified with the Republican party.
Mr. Spicer married, in Ledyard, May 27, 1873, Anna M. Williams, daughter of Peter and Susan (Barnes) Williams. Peter Williams was born in Ledyard, Connecticut, December 12, 1810, died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. John S. Spicer in Norwich, Connecticut, October 2, 1899, son of John and Phoebe Williams, his father a farmer. Peter
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NEW LONDON COUNTY
Williams grew up a farmer and after reaching man's estate settled on a farm near the Williams home- stead and there resided until the death of his fa- ther, November 28, 1864. He then returned to the homestead and there resided until the death of his wife, March 10, 1888, when he went to the home of his daughter, Mrs. John S. Spicer, later removing with her to the new homestead at Laurel Hill, Nor- wich, Connecticut. He was a Democrat in politics, an attendant of the Congregational church and al- though he was approaching his eighty-ninth birth- day, was in full possession of his health and mental vigor, his death being hastened by a fall. He was a man highly esteemed for his manly, upright, in- dustrious life. He married in Preston, Connecticut, Susan Barnes, born in Ledyard, December 18, 1815, daughter of Amos and Mary (Williams) Barnes, the latter a daughter of Urialı and Johanna (Sted- man) Williams. Mrs. Susan (Barnes) Williams, a most lovable and estimable lady, died March 10, 1888, leaving a daughter, Anna M., now the widow of John Sands Spicer, and an adopted daughter, Mary Ann, who was born April 1, 1847, married Israel Allyn, and died in Ledyard, leaving three children: Henry; William; and Susan, wife of Wil- liam E. Baldwin. To John Sands and Anna M. (Williams) Spicer four children were born: I. John Williams, born April 11, 1874, a graduate of Norwich Business College and of Norwich Free Academy, and now engaged in business as a mer- chant. He married, November 3, 1906, Florence Elizabeth Bradford, and they are the parents of seven children: Elizabeth Barnes, born October 30, 1907; Dorothy Williams, March 14, 1909; Beatrice Bradford, October 9, 1911; Marie Marsh, April 20, 1913; Helen Avery, November 6, 1914; William Bradford, July 12, 1917; and John Williams, April 13, 1920. 2. Joseph Edmund, born February 17, 1878, a graduate of Norwich Business College, also a merchant. He married Frances M. Parkhurst, October 2, 1904, and they are the parents of three children: Anna Williams, born January 17, 1906; George Edmund, born May 20, 1908; and John Sands, born January 1I, 1915. 3. Susan, born March 12, 1880, a graduate of Norwich Free Acad- emy, class of 1900, and a student at Simmonds Col- lege in 1912, married Walter B. Crooks, September 17, 1912, and has two children: Margaret Anna, born June 13, 1913; and Walter B. Jr., born June 2, 1920. 4. Frank, born August 23, 1883, a graduate of Nor- wich Free Academy, class of 1904, and now a mer- chant in Norwich; married, December 9, 1907, Mar- guerite MacNeil.
Mrs. Anna M. Spicer continues her residence at the Laurel Hill farm, Norwich, to which she first came in 1893, having resided in Ledyard during the previous twenty years of her married life. She is a member of the Broadway Church, of Norwich, and a lady highly esteemed.
EDGAR RUTHVEN CHAMPION-When Henry Champion, the founder of the family in New Eng-
land, sought permanent settlement, he came to that. part of the town of Lyme now known as the "Meet- ing House Hill" and in that town Champions have ever resided, valiant in war and most useful in the gentler arts of peace. This review deals with the ancestry and career of a present day representative: of the family, Edgar Ruthven Champion, Ph.G ... pharmaceutical chemist, in Hartford, Connecticut, and New York City, now in the general insurance business in the old Lyme, New London county,. Connecticut. Descent is traced in this line from Henry Champion, the settler, through his son, Henry (2) and his wife, Susanna (De Wolf) Cham- pion; their son Captain Henry (3) and his wife,. Sarah (Peterson) Champion; their son Captain Henry (4) and his wife, Sarah (Peck) Champion; their son Henry (5) and his wife, Eunice (Miller) Champion; their son Frederick and his wife, Mary (Rogers) Champion; their son, Calvin Burnham and his wife, Ann Rachel (Slate) Champion; their son, Wallace Ruthven, and his wife, Lillie Louise C. (But- ler) Champion; their son Edgar Ruthven and his wife, Edith Josephine (Valentine) Champion; their children: Edgar Wallace and Clifford Valentine of the tenth generation of the family founded in Lyme by Henry Champion.
(1) Henry Champion, the ancestor of the Ameri- can Champions, came from Old England to New England and settled at Saybrook, Connecticut, where he is found as early as 1647. The first known records of the town of Saybrook were begun about 1660 and several tracts of lands are there recorded in his name. He was married twice and had six children. After having assisted in the development of Saybrook, he moved his family to the east side of the Connecticut river, where most of his lands. were situated, and settled in that part of Lyme, now known as "Meeting House Hill," and became one of the first and most active founders of Lyme. He built his house near the old burying ground and occupied himself chiefly with agriculture. Of the wife of Henry Champion no particulars as to name or family have been gleaned from the early records; "she was probably the daughter of one of the early Saybrook Settlers," says F. B. Trowbridge, in his Champion Genealogy. "The exact date of her death and birth are likewise unknown, so that she has come on, been the mother of children, and passed off the stage and we know nothing more of her."
"His second wife was a shrewd, scheming woman, for she induced this old man to make a very advan- tageous marriage settlement upon her, and finally in- volved him in a law suit with the widow of his eld- est son, who resisted the resumption of her father- in-law's gifts made to her husband, and maintained in a very spirited manner the rights of herself and children."
(II) His son Henry, to whom he gave the land and who also received several tracts from the town by grant also lived at "Meeting House Hill," married Susanna DeWolf and they were the parents of nine children.
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BIOGRAPHICAL
(III) Captain Henry Champion, a grandson of the settler, married Sarah Peterson and they had four children born in Lyme. He was appointed en- sign of a company in Lyme, and was promoted cap- tain on May 9, 1734.
(IV) Captain Henry Champion, a great-grand- son of the settler, was also born in Lyme, and mar- ried Sarah Peck. He was appointed lieutenant of the company of Lyme, and was promoted to the rank of captain on May 9, 1771. He lived in that part of Lyme, known as Flat Rock Hill and was a man of quite some means. He died at the age of sixty-three, leaving a wife and seven children.
(V) Henry Champion, of the fifth generation, was born in Lyme, in 1769, had served in the War of 1812. He married Eunice Miller and had seven chil- dren. He was the largest landowner in the town of Lyme, besides owning what was known as the Goshen farm in New London on which the Pequot House stands.
(VI) His son, Frederick, was born in South Lyme, 1795. He also served in the War of 1812. He married (first) in 1820, Mary Rogers (second), a Miss Tinker. Nine children were born by the first wife, and one by the second.
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(VII) Calvin Burnham Champion was born in Old Lyme, Connecticut, September 21, 1824, died at his farm "Between the Rivers" in Old Lyme, Au- gust 3, 1876. In early life he followed the sea but after his marriage he became a farmer, the acres he owned and tilled in Old Lyme yet being owned in the family. He was a Republican and a member of the Baptist church. He married Ann Rachel Slate, who died in Old Lyme, Connecticut, in her eighty-sixth year. They were the parents of fifteen children: 1. Philena Augusta, born March 9, 1848, married G. W. DeWolf. 2. Wallace Ruthven, born September 19, 1849. 3. Calvin Winslow, born April 22, 1851, died June 23, 1874. 4. Christine, born Feb- ruary 19, 1853, married John Downer. 5. Frederick Lathroup, born September 25, 1854, died 1858. 6. Israel, born September 18, 1856, died 1859. 7. Imogene Abigail, born October 8, 1858, married J. Hopper. 8. Ann Mehetable, born June 14, 1860, married H. Lay. 9. Mary Rogers, born May 28, 1862, married Rev. J. C. Lamb. 10. Ida Jane, born June 10, 1864, married H. M. Caulkins. 11. Roger Burnham, born May 30, 1866, married A. Daniels. 12. Ansel Anderson, born April 19, 1868, married Ella Ashley. 13. Edith Manwaring, born June 7, 1870, died 1886. 14. Edward Griffin, born February 28, 1872. 15. Virgil, born January 28, 1874.
(VIII) Wallace Ruthven Champion, eldest son of Calvin Burnham Champion, was born in Old Lyme, Connecticut, September 19, 1849, and there yet re- sides, a merchant, although previously in business elsewhere. He grew to manhood at the old farm in Lyme "Between the Rivers", and was educated in the public school. He elected mercantile life and was formerly in business in Meriden, Connecticut, then returned to Old Lyme where he is yet in busi- ness (1922). He is a Republican in politics, and has
served his town as clerk. Both he and his wife are members of the Congregational church. He mar- ried Lillie Louise Cummings Butler, born in Wrentham, Massachusetts, October 24, 1852, daugh- ter of Dr. Frederick Robins and Harriet Louise (Cummings) Butler, hier father a physician of Rock Hills and Saybrook, Connecticut, but now deceased. Dr. and Mrs. Butler had other children: Arthur, of Lyme; Blanche, married Carl Morgan of New York; Bertha, married Fred Fox, of Center Brook, Connecticut. Wallace R. and Lillie Louise Cum- mings (Butler) Champion are the parents of three children: 1. Edgar Ruthven, of further mention; 2. Florence Augusta, born October 20, 1875, at East River, Connecticut, died at Upper Montclair, New Jersey, in 1920, graduated from Morgan School and Smith College; married Reverend Rodney Roundy, a graduate of Amherst and Yale, and now secretary of Home Mission Council, New York City, and had three children: Paul Champion Roundy, Rodney Roundy, Jr., and Virginia Roundy. 3. Gertrude Louise Champion, born December 2, 1880, in Old Lyme, Connecticut, graduated from Morgan School and Smith College; married Reverend Grove Ekins, a graduate of Amherst and Yale, now (1922) pastor of the Congregational church of Rocky Hill, Connec- ticut, and they are the parents of four children: Robert Champion Ekins, Margaret Lass Ekins, Grove Frederick Ekins, and Sarah Louise Ekins.
(IX) Edgar Ruthven Champion, of the ninth American generation of his family, son of Wallace R. and Lillie Louise Cummings (Butler) Champion, was born in Old Lyme, Connecticut, April 16, 1872. He was educated in Old Lyme Academy, Morgan High School, and the College of Pharmacy, Columbia University, New York. His father was then clerk in the Roger DeWolf store, but later removed to East River, Connecticut, where he was a grocery clerk. A little later, Wallace R. Champion moved to Hartford and opened a wholesale flour, feed and grain store on Main street where he remained for several years, afterward returning to Old Lyme where, for the firm of Morley and Champion, he conducted the grocery business at the "Corner Store." After graduation from Columbia Uni- versity, Edgar R. Champion entered the service of A. W. Sawtelle, Hartford, Connecticut, for about one year and it was while there he married, and ac- cepted a position with the Marwick Drug Company as pharmaceutical chemist. Later he resigned and returned to New York as manager of the Garretson Pharmacy, where he remained for several years. Upon the death of his uncle, Roger B. Champion, he returned to his birthplace and assisted his father at the "Corner Store." Here he continued for ten years when he entered the insurance field for the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, and gradually built up a general insurance business. He moved from Hartford to Old Lyme, and there opened an office representing twelve of the largest insurance companies in America. In politics Mr. Champion is a Democrat and has for a number of
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NEW LONDON COUNTY
years taken an active part in town public affairs. He has served as member of the school board, act- ing school visitor, financial agent, health officer, justice of the peace, and chairman of the board of relief. He is a member of the Royal Arcanum, Flushing, New York; Pythagoras Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons of Old Lyme, Connecticut, past master; Burning Bush Chapter, Royal Archi Masons; and president of Past Masters' Association of the Seventh Masonic District, Essex, Connecti- cut; and of Old Lyme Grange, Patrons of Hus- bandry. He is a member of the Congregational church.
Mr. Champion married, October 11, 1893, Edith Josephine Valentine, born in New York City, June 7, 1870, only daughter of Peter J. and Elizabeth (Clark) Valentine, her father (now deceased), born in New York City, where he was a wholesale dealer in meats; her mother born in Cleveland, Ohio, died in Hartford, Connecticut, aged fifty-six. Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Ruthven Champion are the par- ents of two sons: 1. Edgar Wallace Champion, born April 30, 1894, in Hartford, Connecticut, mar- ried, October 4, 1919, Netta Madeline Strong, daugh- ter of Charles H. and Marie Bugbee Strong. He volunteered his services before the United States entered the World War, and joined Troop B, Hart- ford, Connecticut. This troup afterwards became the IoIst Machine Gun Battalion of the 26th Divi- sion. He served in six sectors in France and was honorably discharged upon his return to his native land after the armistice, and again assumed his du- ties as examiner in the Aetna Insurance Company, Hartford, Connecticut. 2. Clifford Valentine Cham- pion, born November 15, 1901, in Flushing, New York, now associated with his father in general in- surance at Old Lyme, Connecticut.
JUDGE NELSON J. AYLING-The life histories of New England's prominent men run far back and are bound up with the history of this country and with the history of the countries of Europe. The Ayling family came to this country after the coast strip had been fairly well settled and when Penn- sylvania was beginning to receive the advance wave of the westward flow of population.
From the County of Surrey, England, came John Ayling, grandfather of Nelson J. Ayling, bringing with him his wife, Jane (Trussler) Ayling, and his family. They settled in Columbus township, War- ren county, Pennsylvania, then a comparatively new section close to the frontier where the conditions of pioneer life must be met. They reared a family of thirteen children, each of whom lived to marry and have children of their own. One of the thirteen was Henry M. Ayling, father of Judge Ayling, who, born June 26, 1835, in the County of Surrey, Eng- land, came to this country with his father when he was a young lad and lived the strenuous life of the frontier, helping on the farm and adding to his substance by lumbering in the winter season. Later in life, he went into the lumbering business for him-
silf, rafting the lumber down the Allegheny river and often down to Ohio river ports. Still later, Henry M. Ayling concentrated his attention upon farming, in which, as in the lumbering business, he was successful, and became one of the substantial men of his section, where he and his wife were very highly esteemed and numbered among the best citizens. He married Mary Carrier, daughter of Nelson and Thurza (Marble) Carrier, the paternal ancestry of whom goes back two hundred years of New England history to the time of the Salem witchcraft, when Martha (Allen) Carrier, wife of Thomas Carrier, was burned at the stake in 1692. Henry M. and Mary (Carrier) Ayling had two chil- dren: Nelson J., of whom further; and Lola M., whose husband, William R. Carr, holds a position of trust with the Erie Railroad Company. Henry M. Ayling was an active supporter of the Republi- can party, and served as commissioner of Warren county, Pennsylvania.
Nelson J. Ayling was reared on his father's farm, where, except for the time he was away at school, he passed the first nineteen years of his life. He did his share of work on the farm and acquired a thorough knowledge of farm work, but his ambi- tions led in other directions, and when his high school course was finished, he went to Oswego, New York, and entered the business college there, after which he took a position as bookkeeper and stenographer with Sawyer, Manning & Company, yarn and knit goods manufacturers, of Boston, Massachusetts, remaining with them until 1891, when he accepted a similar position with Union Hardware Company, of Torrington, Connecticut. This last is one of the largest and best known con- cerns of Connecticut, and they recognized young Ayling's ability and faithfulness by increasing his responsibilities, making him purchasing agent and giving him full charge of the requisition department. But Mr. Ayling's connections with the manufactur- ing business served him only as a means to an end, and the tempting future opening before him in the business world was powerless to hold him when he saw his way clear to begin to realize his ultimate aim. In 1894 he began the study of law with Halsey & Briscoe, of Norwich, Connecticut, and was ad- mitted to the bar of New London county in De- cember, 1898. He began active practice at once, which he continued with unusual success until he was appointed judge of probate of the Norwich District, January 1, 1905.
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