USA > Connecticut > New London County > A modern history of New London County, Connecticut, Volume II > Part 49
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Louis Barstow, and resides in Mystic.
Eli Gledhill was born in Huddersfield, England, Au- gust 15, 1866. He there attended public schools until nine years of age, when he became a half-time worker in the textile mills. During this half-time period, lie continued in school the other half of each day, and thus completed a course of special work in a technical school. At the age of thirteen he became a full time mill worker, and so continued until he reached the age of twenty- one years. He was then thoroughly experienced in every detail of textile mill working, and had also arrived at a high position as a designer, at the age of eighteen winning first prize for designing given by the Huddersfield Technical School.
Arriving at the age of twenty-one years, he left home and went to Bradford, England, there spending three years as a textile designer, following that experience by fifteen months in Nortonthorpe mills. Deciding to broaden his horizon by foreign travel, he sailed for the United States, January 17, 1892. He located in Rock- ville, Connecticut, with his father, and secured a posi- tion as designer with the Hockamum Mill Manufac- turing Company, remaining with that corporation until 1897. In the latter year he came to Mystic, New London county, Connecticut, and there organized, Janu- ary 17, 1897, the Mystic Manufacturing Company, of which he was elected secretary-treasurer, a post which he has filled for many years, until his appointment to the office of vice-president. That company manufac- tures high grade worsteds, plain and fancy, and is a prosperous corporation. Mr. Gledhill is also vice- president and general manager of the Old Colony Woolen Mill Company, with mills in New Hampshire and Maine; president of Eli Gledhill, Inc., of New York City, the last-named company a selling corpora- tion handling the output of several American woolen mills. Mr. Gledhill is a member of the National Manu- facturing Association, and the Connecticut Woolen and Worsted Association.
In politics a Republican, Mr. Gledhill has been very active in public affairs, and in October, 1900, he was elected selectman of the town of Stonington, was re-elected in 1902, and in 1903 was chosen selectman. In 1904 he was a delegate to the Republican State Convention, and in 1910 was chosen to represent the town of Stonington in the Connecticut Legislature, serving on the railroad committee. In the Masonic order he has attained all degrees of the York Rite, and is affiliated with Charity and Relief Lodge, No. 72, Free and Accepted Masons, of Mystic; Mystic Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Mystic Council, Royal and Select Masters ; and Palestine Commandery, Knights Templar. He is also a noble of Pyramid Temple. Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Bridgeport, Con- necticut ; and of Stonington Lodge, No. 26, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Mystic. His clubs are the Athletic of New York City, the Manhattan of New York City, and the Thames of New London. His religious preference is for the Unitarian church.
Mr. Gledhill married, in Huddersfield, England,
IIO
NEW LONDON COUNTY
March 1, 1890, Martha Haigh, who died January 18, 1893, in Rockville, Connecticut, leaving a daughter, Winifred, born in England, October 15, 1890, now the wife of Ernest Connor, of Mystic, Connecticut. Mr. Gledhill married (second) in Rockville, Connecticut, November 13, 1894, Agnes Glaeser, of Rockville, and they are the parents of three children: Henry, died in infancy; Margery, born February 28, 1901, now pur . suing musical study under Professor Witherspoon in New York City: Ernest, now a student in Bordentown, New Jeresy. The family home is in Mystic, Con- necticut.
SANFORD NELSON BILLINGS-The exact date of the first settler of the Billings name in Ston- ington, Connecticut, is not known, but the name of William Billings appears among the earliest settlers. He came from Taunton, England, and first appears in New England in Dorchester and Braintree, wedding a wife, Mary, in Braintree. February 5, 1658. He erected a house on Casatuc Hill, Stonington, became a large land owner, and there died in 1713. He named in his will children : William, Lydia, Mary, Abigail, Dorothy, Patience and Ebenezer. This William Billings is the American ancestor of Sanford N. Billings, of the town of Stonington, New London county, Connecticut, of the eighth American generation, a veteran of the Civil War, and a leading agriculturist of his town. He descends from William and Mary Billings through the latter's son, Ebenezer : his son, Lieutenant Eben- ezer (2) ; his son, Ebenezer (3) ; his son, Sanford; his son, Captain Gilbert; his son; Horatio Nelson ; his son. Sanford Nelson Billings.
Ebenezer (1) Billings served with distinction in the early wars of the colony, and became the head of a large family, his wife, Anna (Comstock) Billings, to whom he was married, March 1, 1680, bearing him ten children. The eldest of the sons of this marriage was Lieutenant Ebenezer (2) Billings, who, like his father, was a well-known soldier of the colony who arrived at the rank of lieutenant in 1731. He married, April 2, 1706, Phoebe Denison, and they were the parents of eleven children. The third, a son, Ebenezer (3) Bil- lings, was born March 20, 1711, and married, November 20, 1733, Mary Noyes. Their second child was a son, Sanford Billings, born April 20, 1736, died April 25, 1806.
He married, January 24, 1760, Lucy Geer, daugh- ter of James Geer, a descendant of John and Priscilla (Mullins) Alden, of the "Mayflower." Mrs. Lucy (Geer) Billings died April 25, 1810, the mother of ten children, the fourth a son, Gilbert.
Captain Gilbert Billings, of the sixth generation, born November 25, 1768, died in Griswold, Connecticut, May 4, 1856. He was a master mariner, commanding vessels in the coastwise trade, and well known. He married, in 1792, Lucy Swan, who died December 16, 1854. They were the parents of ten children, the sixth, a son, Horatio Nelson Billings, born November 26, 1805. He followed his father's example and was a mariner for many years, going to sea when quite young. He was
first mate of a vessel which in 1849-50 made the passage around Cape Horn to California, arriving safely, but after his arrival, Horatio N. Billings was never again heard from, his fate being an absolute mystery. He married, January 30, 1838, Mary Ann Fish, daughter of Moses Fish. Their children were: Lucy H., graduate of Cooper Institute, New York City, the authoress of "The Ruined Statues and Other Poems," became the wife of John L. Spaulding, both deceased; Sanford Nelson, whose career is hereinafter traced; Edward E., deceased; and Mary A., deceased wife of Charles D. Thompson, of North Stonington.
These were the direct ancestors of Sanford Nelson Billings, born in North Stonington, New London county, Connecticut, May 18, 1841. He attended the district schools until sixteen years of age, then began working for his uncle, Benjamin F. Billings, a farmer of the town of Griswold. At the age of eighteen years, he was employed by the owner of the old William Billings homestead and there continued until his enlistment in the Union army, August 20, 1862. On that date he became a private in Company G, 21st Regiment, Con- necticut Volunteer Infantry, and on September 5, 1862, was mustercd into the United States Military Service. For eighteen months he was jail turnkey in Norfolk, Virginia, a service for which he was detailed, and it was not until May, 1864, that he was again in active field service.
It was his ill fortune to be taken prisoner by the Confederates, May 16, 18644, and he was sent to Libby Prison, Richmond, Virginia. Two weeks later he was sent to the Andersonville prison pen and there confined until the fall of 1864. He was then trans- ferred to Charleston, South Carolina, and after three weeks there was sent to Florence, thence to Goldsboro. By that time, although in rags and barely able to walk, Mr. Billings and a comrade effected their escape, and in their wanderings were fortunately found by a Union soldier who carcd for their immediate needs and led them to rest, food and safety. Mr. Billings was a wreck, physically, unable to tell his own name or where he came from. Weeks of careful nursing restored him to such an improved condition that he was sent home, arriving in Stonington, Connecticut, the merest shadow of his former self, his former one hundred and seventy- five pounds being reduced to ninety-four pounds. Al- though he escaped the enemy's bullets, and has lived to a good old age, the memory of those months of im- prisonment in Southern prisons left wounds which more than half a century of life has not effaced. He was officially discharged from the service of his country, May 10, 1865, in Baltimore, Maryland.
After his restoration to health and the return of his strength. Mr. Billings resumed farming, and in Ston -. ington and North Stonington was engaged in general farming and stock raising. He operated for a time in partnership with W. W. Billings, a relation, who was the first farmer in that vicinity to import pure breed Jersey cattle. Since 1873 Mr. Billings has owned and resided upon the fine farm owned formerly by W. W. Billings, and with other property has an estate of three hundred acres. He has confined his operations to gen-
BIOGRAPHICAL
eral farming stock, and his farm is among the valuable pieces of property in the town of Stonington. He has prospered abundantly, and is now enjoying in his de- clining years the fruits of his labor, energy and thrift. Now an octogenarian, he reviews his life with the satisfaction that comes from duty well performed, and he has the respect and esteem of all who know him.
Mr. Billings married, October 28, 1867, Lucy E. Main, daughter of Charles H. and Elmira (Eggleston) Main. Mr. and Mrs. Sanford N. Billings are the parents of eight children : 1. Byron, born January 4, 1869, and is a leading business man of Stonington; married Geneva N. Rogers. 2. Mary, born May 15, 1871, now deceased ; married Arthur G. Wheeler, of Stonington. 3. Willian W., a farmer of North Stonington; married Mary Clark. 4. Lucy, a teacher. 5. Grace W., married Horace D. Miner, a farmer of Stonington. 6. Lillie M., born July 6, 1886, a teacher, died January 31, 1907. 7. Priscilla Alden, married, August 28, 1916, Parker John- son. 8. Sanford Nelson, Jr., born August 17, 1895, now at home.
This record of eight generations of one line of the descendants of William Billings, who lived practically in one locality, shows a family remarkable for the virtue of constancy and devotion to the soil. Gilbert Billings, of the sixth generation, was a sea captain, but owned landed property, and his son, Horatio Nel- son Billings, was a mariner, but in this line, with these exceptions, the head of each of the eight generations was a successful farmer of Stonington or North Ston- ington, a good citizen and neighbor, honorable and upright.
The children of Sanford N. and Lucy F. (Mlain) Billings are of the ninth generation in New Lon- don county, while their grandchildren constitute a tenth generation.
KIMBALL FAMILY-It is from Richard Kim- ball that the great majority of Kimballs in New Eng- land descend, and among the many descendants of this Puritan of the long ago was Nathan Pride Kimball, now gone to join that "innumerable caravan." The old Kimball homestead in Preston, New London county, Connecticut, is now the home of Janet Louisa and Irving Washington Kimball, children of Nathan Pride and Harriet (Frink) Kimball, of the seventh genera- tion of Kimballs in New England.
(I) Richard Kimball with his family sailed from Ipswich, England, in the ship "Elizabeth," April 10, 1634. landed in Boston, Massachusetts, but soon afterward settled in Watertown, Massachusetts. He was recorded then as aged thirty-nine years, and soon became active in the life of the new settlement. His home lot of six acres is now in Cambridge, that municipality many years ago having annexed the eastern part of Water- town. He was made a freeman, May 6, 1635, was a proprietor in 1636-37, and soon afterward moved to Ipswich, that town having offered inducements for a good wheelwright to settle there. He was granted lands in Ipswich, and there spent his after life, which extended past his eightieth birthday. He made a will,
March 5, 1674-75, that was probated September 28, 1675. He was one of the strong men of his town, and of frequent mention in the records.
Richard Kimball married (first), in England, Ursula Scott, daughter of Henry Scott, of Rattlesden, England. He married (second), October 23, 1661, Margaret Dow, widow of Henry Dow, of Hampton, New Hampshire. Richard Kimball died June 22, 1675, his widow March 1, 1676.
Richard and Ursula (Scott) Kimball were the parents of eleven children : 1. Abigail, born in England, died in Salisbury, Massachusetts, June 17, 1658; she married John Severans, in England, and later they came to New England. 2. Henry, born in England. 3. Eliza- beth, born in England. 4. Richard, born in England, died in Wenham, Massachusetts. 5. Mary, born in Eng- land, married Robert Dutch. 6. Martha, born in Eng- land, married Joseph Fowler, who was killed by the Indians near Deerfield, Massachusetts, May 19, 1676. 7. John, of further mention. 8. Thomas, died May 3, 1676. 9. Sarah, born in Watertown, Massachusetts, married Edward Allen. 10. Benjamin, born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, 1637, died June 11, 1695. 11. Caleb, born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, 1639. died in 1682.
(II) John Kimball, son of Richard and Ursula (Scott) Kimball, was born in Rattlesden, Suffolkshire. England, in 1621, and came to New England with his parents in the "Elizabeth" in 1634. He settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts, and there died May 6, 1698. He was a wheelwright by trade, but bought and sold lands frequently, and was an extensive farmer. He married, about 1655, Mary Bradstreet, who came over in the same ship with him, she being accompanied by her parents. John and Mary (Bradstreet) Kimball were the parents of thirteen children, all born at Ipswich : I. John, died young. 2. Mary, married Deacon Thomas Knowlton, of Ipswich. 3. Sarah, married John Potter. 4 Hannah, died young. 5. Rebecca, married Thomas Lull. 6. Richard, married Lydia Wells. 7. Elizabeth, born September 22, 1665. 8. Abigail, married (first) Isaac Estey, and (second) William Poole. 9. John, of further mention. 10. Benjamin, married Mary Kimball. 11. Moses, married Susanna Goodhue. 12. Aaron, born January, 1674. 13. Joseph, born January 24, 1675.
(III) John (2) Kimball, son of John (1) and Mary (Bradstreet) Kimball, was born in Ipswich, Massa- chusetts, March 16, 1668-69, and died in Preston, Con- necticut, May 4, 1761. He was a farmer and a wheel- wright. He married, in 1692, and lived in Ipswich until the fall of 1726, when he moved with his family to Stonington, Connecticut. In the spring of 1727, he moved to a farm of two hundred acres in the town of Preston, New London county, Connecticut, which he had bought the preceding year for seven hundred pounds, Connecticut Bills of Credit. There he spent the remaining thirty-four years of his life. He married, in Watertown, Massachusetts, December 2, 1692, Sarah Goodhue, daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Whipple) Goodhue. They were the parents of nine children : I. John, born October 19, 1693, married Patience Lar- rabee. 2. Joseph, born October 19, 1693, died young. 3. Mary, born February 24, 1697, married a Mr. Law-
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NEW LONDON COUNTY
rence. 4. David, of further mention. 5. Nathan, born October 31, 1702. 6. Isaac, born April 19, 1705, mar- ried Prudence Parke. 7. Jacob, born October 12, 1706, married Mary Parke. 8. Abigail, born October II, 1709, married a Mr. Kollman. 9. Sarah, married, November 3, 1736, Richard Parke.
(IV) David Kimball, son of John (2) and Sarah (Goodhue) Kimball, was born May 8, 1700, and died in 1776 in Preston, Connecticut. He moved from Ipswich to Preston during the winter of 1723-24, having bought of David Boardman, of Preston, for one hundred and thirty pounds lawful money, one hundred acres of land in Preston, December 19, 1723. He married (first), October 20, 1725, Sarah Pride, who died February 10, 1769. He married (second), March 24, 1774, Mary Cul- ver. Children, all born in Preston: I. Mercy, born January 31, 1727, married Matthias Button. 2. Eunice, born September 15, 1729, married Andrew Davidson. 3. Nathan, of further mention. 4. David, born Septem- ber 9, 1734. 5. Jonathan, born April 1, 1738. 6. Sarah, born April 1, 1738, married Andrew Frink.
(V) Nathan Kimball, son of David and Sarah (Pride) Kimball, was born in Preston, Connecticut, March 8, 1732, and died there June 4, 1811. He mar- ried, February 13, 1753, Margaret Rix. They are the parents of the following children, all born in Preston : I. Annie, born July 7, 1754, married a Mr. Starkweather. 2. Ziphora, born February 17, 1756, married a Mr. Ray, of Preston. 3. Zuriah, born October II, 1757. 4. Jona- than, born July 10, 1759. 5. Margaret, born August 13, 1761. 6. David, born May 20, 1763, died December 22, 18II; married Eunice Brown. 7. Sarah, born January 22, 1765. 8. Nathan, born December 10, 1767, twice married. 9. Prosper, of further mention. 10. Eunice. born April 22, 1771. II. Mercy, born January 21, 1774.
(VI) Prosper Kimball, son of Nathan and Margaret (Rix) Kimball, was born at the homestead in Preston, Connecticut, July 22, 1769, and died July 11, 1832. He married, April II, 1790, Marjery Dorrance, born Octo- ber II, 1766, and died January 7, 1837. He spent his life in Preston, and there reared a family of six children : I. Barton, born June 22, 1792, died March 14, 1837. 2. Eliza, born January 29, 1795, married Ralph Hutchin- son. 3. Charles, born October 16, 1799, married Sarah Ann Frink, and resided in Preston and Griswold; he died in 1857. 4. Frank, born April 2, 1801, died Decem- ber 22, 1809. 5. Dayton, born February 18, 1802, died September 16, 1859. Nathan Pride, of further men- tion.
(VII) Nathan Pride Kimball, son of Prosper and Marjery (Dorrance) Kimball, was born in Preston, Connecticut, October 27, 1808, and died December 27, 1884.
He was born on the old Kimball homestead, there his children were born, and there his son, Irving W., and daughter, Janet L., reside (1921). Nathan Pride Kimball married, February 22, 1837, Harriet Frink, born January 20, 1818, and died July 19, 1895. They were the parents of the following children: I. Harriet Frances, born March 24, 1839; married, October 24, 1870, Frederick D. Cheesboro, of Stonington, Connecticut,
now deceased. 2. Margery, born August 2, 1841, died June 27, 1913. 3. Nathan Chester, born September 1I, 1843, died August 11, 1896. 4. Mary Jane, born De- cember 23, 1845, died May 30, 1846. 5. Emily A., born April 7, 1848, married, February 22, 1886, Ralph L. Main, a farmer of Franklin, Connecticut. 6. Irving Washington, born December 20, 1853, a farmer, living on and cultivating the old homestead in Preston, where five generations of Kimballs were born. 7. Janet Louisa, born May 21, 1859, residing on the old home- stead where her life has been passed.
Such is the record of one branch of the Kimball fam- ily that settled in New London county, Connecticut, nearly two centuries ago, 1727 to 1921, the founder, John Kimball, being of the third generation in New England. The men of each generation have been generally men of substance and reliability, good citi- zens and neighbors. That the family in England bore arms is proven from this quotation from "The Her- ald's College, London": "The family of Kimball is from the County of Cumberland, England, and takes its origin from a parish of that name upon the Scottish border.
The family arms are as follows: Arms-Argent, a lion rampant, gules upon a chief, three crescents, or. Crest-A lion rampant, holding in the dexter paw a dagger proper. Motto-Fortis non ferox.
JOHN NICOLL DIMON, M.D., was born on Shelter Island, Suffolk county, New York, June 16, 1862, son of Theodore Dwight and Hannah Schellinger (Cartwright) Dimon, his father born in Brooklyn, New York, his mother in Shelter Island in the same house in which her son was born. Theodore D. Dimon was a lawyer, and during his lifetime lived at Fishkill Land- ing, and Brooklyn, New York, and at Patchogue and Sag Harbor, Long Island, his principal practice being in New York City. At Sag Harbor he was connected with the Sag Harbor Savings Bank, his death occurring in Amagansett, Long Island, June 30, 1904.
John N. Dimon attended Brooklyn grammar schools and high schools until the age of seventeen, then for one year studied under a private tutor. He chose the medical profession and prepared at Long Island Hos- pital Medical College, Brooklyn, New York, whence he was graduated M. D., June 19, 1883, and after serving Eastern District Hospital, Brooklyn, one year as ambu- lance surgeon, he spent three months in special study in Berlin, Germany. Upon returning to the United States he served as interne at the Eastern District Hospital, Brooklyn, then for three years, 1885-88, prac- ticed medicine in Brooklyn privately. From 1888 until 1892, he practiced at Shelter Island, New York, thence removed to New London, Connecticut, in 1892, where he is now the oldest physician of the city in point of years in practice, 1802-1921. He is a member of the Con- necticut Society, Sons of the Revolution; past grand of Mohegan Lodge, No. 55, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of New London; commander, Knights of the Maccabees, Camp No. 10; medical examiner, Camp No 7523, Modern Woodmen of America, and of Beulah
NATHAN P. and HARRIET F. KIMBALL
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BIOGRAPHICAL
Lodge, No. 228, New England Order of Protection. He is a Republican in politics, and at Shelter Island served the town as health officer. He is a member of Jibboom Club No. I of New London.
Dr. Dimon married (first) in Brooklyn, New York, June 16, 1887, May Kirtland Washbourne, born in Waterbury, Connecticut, and they were the parents of a daughter, Margaret. Dr. Dimon married (second), Ocotber 8, 1901, Annie Louise Quinn, born in New London. They are the parents of a daughter, Katharine Joraleamon, now a student at Connecticut College for Women, New London.
PHILIP Z. HANKEY is a leading attorney of New London county, Connecticut, corporation counsel for the city of New London, legal adviser for many organized interests, and is individually prominent in various branches of social and civic endeavor, in the interests of the community.
Mr. Hankey is a son of Jacob C. and Clarissa (Crouch) Hankey. Jacob C. Hankey was born in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and in 1861 he was graduated from the Pennsylvania University, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He enlisted for the Civil War imme- diately after his graduation, and served as lieutenant in the Pennsylvania Volunteers. After the close of the war he taught school in various places until about 1870, when he went to New York City. There he became associated with the Willcox & Gibbs Sewing Machine Company as manager, and continued in this capacity during the remainder of his active life. He died in Arlington, New Jersey, in 1905. His wife, Clarissa (Crouch) Hankey, was born in Ledyard, Connecticut, and died in 1874. They were the parents of three children : J. Crouch, who died at the age of twenty years; Philip Z., of whom further; and Clara C., now the wife of Charles H. Kenyon, residing in Providence, Rhode Island.
Philip Z. Hankey was born in Ledyard, Connecticut, on June 11, 1872. He lived first in New York City and then in Arlington, New Jersey, where he attended the public schools. He attended the Montclair High School, and later the Newark Academy, from which he was graduated in 1892. For about three years thereafter, the young man was employed in mercantile business in New York City. In 1895 he entered Yale Law School, from which he was graduated in 1807, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Admitted to the Connecticut bar in the same year, he continued his studies, and in 1898 he also received his Master's degree from Yale Uni- versity.
In 1899 Mr. Hankey took up the practice of law in New London, where his name stands high in the pro- fession. Outside of his private practice Mr. Hankey has become widely associated with the progress of various public activities. In 1915 he was appointed a member of the Committee on Judiciary Administration of the Connecticut State Bar Association and has been reappointed each year since. In 1916 he was made cor- poration counsel for the city of New London, which office he still ably fills (1921). Since 1914 he has been
attorney for the New London Building and Loan As- sociation. For years he was secretary of, and also attorney for, the Business Men's Association of this city. Politically, he is a leader in the Republican party in this city, and prominent in its deliberations and active in its support.
Personally, Mr. Hankey is well known in fraternal and club circles in New London. He is, of course, a member of the State Bar Association, and of the New London County Bar Association. He is a member of Brainard Lodge, No. 102, Free and Accepted Masons ; Union Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Cushing Council, Royal and Select Masters; and Palestine Commandery, Knights Templar, all of New London. He is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Lodge No. 360, of New London. He is a prom- inent member of the Thames Club.
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