A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume II, Part 27

Author: Lincoln, Allen B
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke publ. co.
Number of Pages: 960

USA > Connecticut > Windham County > A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume II > Part 27

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state central committee. He held many town offices, including that of judge of probate, and in 1854 he represented the town of Tolland in the Connecticut legis- lature. In 1863 he was elected senator from the twentieth district and again in 1864, and in 1869 he received senatorial appointment to the position of trustee of the Connecticut Hospital for the Insane at Middletown and was so serving at the time of his death.

Lucius Seymour Fuller was married July 4, 1838, to Mary Eliza Bliss, of Tolland, Connecticut, a daughter of John and Sally (Abbott) Bliss. They lived to celebrate their golden wedding in 1888 and Mr. Fuller passed away on the 14th of Novem- ber, 1890, while his wife survived until September 25, 1899. They were prominent and devoted members of the Congregational church and enjoyed in the highest measure the confidence and goodwill of all who knew them. They had a family of seven children.

Lucius Henry Fuller, who was the fifth in order of birth, acquired a common and high school education and when a youth of fifteen passed the required exami- nation for entrance to the West Point Military Academy. He attended for a year and then secured a release, having decided that he preferred a business to a mili- tary career. He was eighteen years of age when his father placed him in charge of an insurance business which he purchased of A. G. Dart, of New London, Con- necticut, in February, 1868, and for many years Mr. Fuller has remained a prominent representative of insurance interests in Connecticut. He developed business inter- ests of large extent and importance, his insurance agency becoming one of the fore- most in the central part of the state.

While Mr. Fuller left West Point, his interest in military affairs did not cease and he became a member of the Connecticut National Guard, serving with the rank of first lieutenant in Company G of the Third Regiment for nearly two years, after which he was promoted to regimental inspector of small arms practice, and then to paymaster. He afterward served as brigade inspector of small arms practice and ordnance officer, with the rank of major, on the staff of General Frost, and after twelve years of continuous service was placed upon the retired list of army officers of the Connecticut National Guard. As the years passed his business connections constantly increased and he became a most important factor in advancing interests which have been a large source of the prosperity and commercial development of Windham county. He was elected to the presidency of the Putnam Foundry & Machine Corporation, became the president of the Putnam Cemetery Association, a position which he now holds, a director of the Tolland County Mutual Insurance Company, also of the Boston Harness Company and the Putnam Box Corporation. He has served as manager of the telephone exchange since its establishment in 1882 and has done much to further and extend the system. He became a very active factor in establishing the excellent water system of Putnam and was presi- dent of the company for twelve years, retiring in 1897. He has been president or director of various other water companies, including those of Palatka, Florida; Paris, Kentucky; Cottage City, Massachusetts; Knoxville, Tennessee; the Mystic Valley of Mystic, Connecticut, and that of Stonington, Connecticut, and has served for many years as treasurer and general manager of the Paris and Mystic Valley Water Companies. Whenever he has become connected with a business enterprise it has seemed to prosper. He is a man of discriminating judgment whose powers and sagacity have enabled him readily to separate the essential from the non-essen- tial in all business affairs.

On the 31st of August, 1871, Judge Fuller was united in marriage to Miss Helen Averill, a daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth (Cooper) Briggs, of Pomfret, Connecticut. Mrs. Fuller passed away May 21, 1875, survived by a son, Maurice Bernard, who was born May 7, 1874, and after graduating from the Putnam high school with the class of 1893 traveled extensively in Europe. He then became a student at Harvard and afterward a medical student in New York city and is now a resident of New Mexico. On the 30th of June, 1880, Judge Fuller was married to Miss Abby Clara Cundall, a daughter of Joseph W. and Abigail N. (Fisher) Cundall, of Worcester, Massachusetts. The death of Mrs. Abby Fuller occurred November 10, 1884. The son of that marriage, Raymond August, was born August 7, 1881, and was graduated from the Worcester classical high school, after which he attended the Leland Stanford Junior University of California, and before completing his studies he traveled extensively in Europe, Africa and Asia. Returning to Leland Stanford University and graduating from same he became a member of the faculty and is now a mining engineer in California.

Judge Fuller has long been regarded as an influential factor in republican politics in Connecticut and nature well qualified him for the position of leadership which he. has filled. In early life he was twice elected justice of the peace but both times de- clined to serve. In 1881 and again the following year he was chosen a member of

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the house of representatives from the town of Putnam and made a most acceptable member of the general assembly, acting as chairman or member of several important committees and making a most excellent record in office. He was elected from the sixteenth senatorial district to the upper branch of the general assembly, where he served in 1889, and he did very important work as chairman of the committee on in- corporations. He has frequently attended the state conventions as a delegate and in 1896 represented the second congressional district at the republican national conven- tion held in St. Louis. Among the most eminent citizens of Connecticut are many who are numbered among his stanch and admiring friends. His fellow townsmen, ap- preciative of his worth, have sought his service on many occasions. In 1897 he was chosen mayor of Putnam and in 1899 was reelected to the office and would have been again chosen for the position had he not declined to become a candidate for a third term in 1901. He was largely instrumental in securing the city charter for Putnam and gave to the city a businesslike and progressive administration characterized by needed reforms and improvements. In 1901 he received legislative appointment to the position of deputy judge of the city courts of Putnam, and after a few years was elected as judge, serving in that capacity, with the exception of two years, until Jan- uary, 1918.

Equally distinguished in Masonic circles, he has attained the Knight Templar degree in Willimantic Commandery and he belongs to Israel Putnam Lodge, No. 33, I. O. O. F., and was a member of the board of management of the Odd Fellows Home at New London and served on the committee to secure its site. He has again and again been called to office in the order and is one of the eminent representatives of Odd Fel- lowship in this state, having filled all of the chairs, and in 1896-1897 he was grand master of the state. He served for two years as representative of the sovereign grand lodge at Springfield, Illinois, and at Boston, Massachusetts, and at the former place was one of the three selected orators. He has been master workman in the Ancient Order of United Workmen, regent of the Royal Arcanum and head officer of the New England Order of Protection. He is master of Quinebaug Lodge, No. 106, F. & A. M., and is district deputy grand master. He has been a lifelong attendant at the services of the Congregational church and one of its generous supporters.

He is a fluent and earnest speaker, endowed by nature with oratorical gifts, and is frequently heard on Decoration Day or in public gatherings, and in 1889 he was sent as a delegate from Connecticut to the Washington Centennial celebration held in New York in April of that year. His personal characteristics and social qualities are pronounced and he is an acceptable companion in any society in which intelligence is a necessary attribute to agreeableness.

On February 14, 1918, Judge Fuller was tendered by the business men and citizens of Putnam a complimentary banquet at the Putnam Inn, upon the completion of his fifty years of residence and business life in Putnam, which was not only unique but an unusual mark of distinction that falls to the lot of but few men. The high ideals which Judge Fuller cherished have found embodiment in practical effort for their adoption, and because of the innate refinement of his nature he has always rejected everything opposed to good taste. He has occupied a central place on the stage of action almost from the time when his initial effort was made in the field of business and public life, and his labors have found culmination in the development of Putnam and in the promotion of interests of county and state. He is prominent as a man whose constantly expanding powers have taken him from quiet surroundings to the oppor- tunities for public service.

CHARLES H. BACKUS.

It is doubtful if any native son leaves "Old Windham" who does not have a real affection for the place of his birth, and on the other side the county maintains a deep interest in the successful achievement of all who have been reared within her borders and have gone out to seek their fortunes elsewhere. Charles H. Backus, born in Chaplin, Windham county, Connecticut, June 9, 1856, has for many years been prominently con- nected with the banking interests of Hampshire, Illinois. He is a son of Jirah L. and Susan (Dodge) Backus, who were also natives of Windham county and farming people of Chaplin. In the pursuit of his education he attended public and private schools at Chaplin and afterward became a student in Eastman's Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York, from which he was graduated in April, 1876. He then took up the profession of teaching, which he followed in his native county for three years, but on the 1st of March, 1879, he left New England to find out what the world held in store for him else- where. He made his way to Marengo, Illinois, and secured the position of teller and

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bookkeeper in the Farmers & Drovers Bank, thus initiating his banking experience, which by reason of its length and the importance of his interests has made him one of the substantial financiers of the state. He left Marengo in 1882 and removed to Hampshire, where on the 1st of April, 1882, he established the Kane County Bank, which was con- ducted successfully as a private banking institution until April, 1906, when it was incorporated as the State Bank of Hampshire, of which Mr. Backus is now president and owner. He is likewise a director of the Union National Bank of Elgin, Illinois. His investments have largely been made in bank stock and western lands and in 1885 he also established a newspaper called The Hampshire Register, which he published until 1893 and then sold.

On the 1st of January, 1884, Mr. Backus was married in Geneva, Illinois, to Miss Emma L. Sisley, who was born in Chicago, January 18, 1863. Their children, a son and a daughter, are Charles Sisley, who was married to Ethel Jordan of Rockford, Illinois, January 1, 1912, the wedding being celebrated at Geneva, Illinois; and Dorothy L., who is now attending the Columbia College of Expression in Chicago.

In politics Mr. Backus has always been a republican, somewhat active in the party and at all times a most stanch supporter of its principles. He has served as a member of the board of education of Hampshire, has been alderman and from 1894.until 1900 served as town supervisor. From 1900 until 1909, or through four successive terms, he repre- sented his district in the state legislature. He has also filled the office of city treasurer for twenty years and thus through much of the period of his residence in Hampshire he has been continued in positions of public honor and trust, the duties of which he has discharged most promptly and efficiently. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen and the Elks, while his religious faith is that of the Methodist church. His entire life has been guided by high and honorable prin- ciples, manifest in his support of all those movements and activities which have to do with the uplift of the individual and the benefit of the community at large.

HON. ERNEST BLISS KENT.

Hon. Ernest Bliss Kent is representing Putnam in the state legislature and is also prominently identified with the business development and enterprise of his city, figuring prominently both in industrial and financial circles, being a partner in the firm of C. M. & E. B. Kent, proprietors of a large planing mill, and also vice president of the Putnam Savings Bank.

He was born in Somers, Connecticut, July 31, 1861, a son of Bela Marsh Kent, who passed away on the 29th of September, 1902, at the age of seventy-six years, his birth having cocurred in Attleboro, Massachusetts, on the 16th of March, 1826. He was a grandson of Bela Marsh, who at one time resided in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, and a son of Thomas Viall Kent, who was born in Seekonk, Massachusetts, April 19, 1801. The latter became a resident of Palmer, Massachusetts, in 1837 and there spent his remain- ing days. He was married November 25, 1822, in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, to Dolly Howard, who was born June 29, 1796, and passed away in Worcester, Massachusetts, February 19, 1836.

Bela Marsh Kent, father of Ernest Bliss Kent, was born March 16, 1826, and was only seven years of age when his parents removed from Attleboro to Northbridge, Massachusetts, where he attended the district schools, while later he studied for a term in the North Wilbraham Academy. From the age of seven years when not in school he was employed in cotton mills and for a considerable period worked at the carding trade. When twenty-five years of age he devoted six months to butchering and then removed to Windsor, Connecticut, where he secured employment in a sash and blind factory. After six months he went to Thompsonville, Connecticut, where he was employed in a sash and blind factory for three years, and later he spent a similar period in a plow factory at Hampton, Massachusetts. He afterward worked in an organ factory at Westfield, Massachusetts, but did not find the business congenial and re- moved to Somers, Connecticut, where he established a sash and blind factory and also engaged in farming, remaining in that locality for a year. He afterward made his home at East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, and worked in the Springfield armory on gun barrels, but in 1865 removed to Warren, Massachusetts, where he was also employed along industrial lines. He lived for a period at Worcester and at Webster, Massa- chusetts, and in May, 1872, arrived in Putnam, Connecticut, where he purchased the wood turning business of Horatio Reed, on the Quinebaug river. He subsequently made various additions to and improvements in the plant, which he devoted to the manu- facture of sash, blinds and builders' finishings, remaining successfully in the business

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until January, 1900, when he sold out to his sons. He was a consistent member of the Advent Christian church of Putnam, in which he served as deacon for more than two decades and in which he also filled the office of treasurer. He was always an advo- cate of temperance principles and he usually voted with the republican party. On the 20th of September, 1849, he married Adelia D. Bliss, who was born September 24, 1826, in Monson, Massachusetts, her parents being Austin and Eunice (Pease) Bliss. Mrs. Kent passed away June 5, 1869, in Webster, Massachusetts, and was survived by four of her five children. On the 18th of October, 1871, Mr. Kent was again married, his second union being with Almeda (Coman) Buck, widow of Barney Buck and a daugh- ter of John G. and Diana (Tyler) Coman, of Thompson, Connecticut.

Ernest Bliss Kent pursued a public school education in Putnam and after leaving the high school entered his father's planing mill and has since been identified with the business. He made it his purpose to thoroughly acquaint himself with the trade, which he mastered in principle and in detail, and as the years passed he developed a thor- oughness and efficiency which well qualified him to take over the business and at length he and his brother purchased this of the father, thus organizing the firm of C. M. & E. B. Kent. They have since operated the mill and have made it one of the important productive industries of the city in this line. In addition to his other interests Mr. Kent is the vice president of the Putnam Savings Bank, of which he is likewise a trustee, and he is serving on the board of managers of the Putnam Building & Loan Association.

In May, 1887, Mr. Kent was united in marriage to Miss Fannie L. Bugbee, of Put- nam, Connecticut, who was born in Woodstock, a daughter of Edwin S. and Agatha (Thurber) Bugbee, who were natives of Woodstock. Mr. and Mrs. Kent have become parents of two children: Ethel Bliss, who is the wife of Louis S. Champlain, who is in the United States mail service at Putnam; and Carl Thurber, who is manager of the Southern New England Telephone Company for Danielson, Moosup and Putnam.

In politics Mr. Kent is a republican and while he has not been a politician in the usually accepted sense of office seeking, his fellow townsmen, appreciative of his worth and ability, have called him to several positions of honor and trust. He served for three terms as tax assessor of Putnam and is still the incumbent in that position. In 1915 he was elected to the state legislature and is a member of the committee on cities and boroughs. His religious faith is that of the Advent church. He is a trustee of the Day-Kimball Hospital of Putnam and is interested in all those forces and organ- ized efforts which lead to the uplift of the individual and the advancement of com- munity welfare. He is a quiet, conservative business man of genuine worth and every- where is spoken of in terms of high regard.

JOHN PALMER.

For many years John Palmer was a prominent figure in insurance circles in Wind- ham county, was also a recognized leader in finance and was at various times called upon to fill positions of public honor and trust. Honored and respected by all, no man occupied a more enviable position in public regard than did John Palmer, not alone by reason of the success which he achieved but also by reason of the straight- forward, honorable business principles which he always followed and his fidelity to any cause entrusted to his care.

He was born in Ashford, Windham county, April 24, 1820, and obtained his educa- tion in the common schools and in the Wilbraham Academy. At an early age he se- cured a clerkship at Eastford, where he remained for about a year, and in 1839 took up his abode in Brooklyn, where he began clerking in the grocery store of Daniel C. Robinson, who afterward sold the business to his brother, Mr. Palmer continuing with the latter for about two years. He then purchased the business, which he successfully conducted for about fifteen years, winning a place among the substantial merchants of Windham county. He disposed of his grocery interests in 1854 and thereafter directed his business activities into other channels. He was one of the promoters and leaders of the Windham County Mutual Fire Insurance Company and served as its secretary and treasurer from 1857 until 1893, when he resigned owing to ill health. He came into prominence in financial circles as the president of the Windham County National Bank, which was then located in Brooklyn, being the chief executive of that institution from 1857 until 1893. He was likewise the president of the Brooklyn Savings Bank from its establishment in 1873 until he resigned in 1893.

On the 15th of September, 1850, Mr. Palmer was united in marriage to Miss Frances M. Davison, who was born in Brooklyn, August 23, 1828, a daughter of Septimus and

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Margaret (Holbrook) Davison. They became the parents of five children: Frances L., Charlotte H., Helen, M., Charles A. and John. The sons are both deceased and Mrs. Palmer died in Brooklyn, September 25, 1916.

In his political views Mr. Palmer was ever a stalwart republican from the organi- zation of the party and at an early day he was appointed postmaster of Brooklyn by Postmaster General Collamer. He filled the office of town clerk and treasurer for a number of years and at no time was he neglectful of any public duty. He always recognized the obligations and responsibilities as well as the privileges of citizenship and labored earnestly to promote the public welfare and advance those interests which are a matter of civic virtue and civic pride. He was a consistent member of the Episco- pal church and throughout his life made a most creditable record in every relation, so that at his death, which occurred in Brooklyn, February 18, 1906, he left to his family the priceless heritage of an untarnished name. He was seventy-three years of age when he retired from business and thereafter he enjoyed in well earned rest the fruits of his former toil. Among his strongly marked characteristics was his capacity for warm friendship, and those who enjoyed the friendship and high regard of John Palmer were indeed fortunate.

ISAAC NEWTON MILLS.

Isaac Newton Mills was born on September 10, 1851, at Brandy Hill, Thompson, as the fifth and last child of the late Colonel Isaac Mills and Susan Elizabeth (Arnold ) Mills. Each parent was of old New England stock-the father being of the sixth generation in direct descent from John Mills, who came to this country with Winthrop's Fleet in 1630, and was one of the first settlers of Boston and later of Braintree, Massa- chusetts; and the mother being a direct descendant of William Arnold and also of Surgeon John Greene, who were of the first settlers of Rhode Island and among the nearest and most trusted friends of Roger Williams. The other American maternal forbears were of like stock, being in chronological order members of the Shove, Spear, Holmes, Corbin, and Tourtellotte families, the last named being of. French Hugenot extraction. The great-grandfather of Colonel Mills was the first of the line to settle in Thompson. In 1748 he purchased and began to reside upon land upon the north- western slope of Thompson Hill. He had previously lived for several years in Wood- stock, where, on October 2, 1742, he married Sarah Holmes, daughter of James Holmes of the same family to which Oliver Wendell Holmes belonged. His son, about 1774, purchased a considerable tract of land upon Brandy Hill, which is upon the old Boston and Hartford Post Road, about a mile and a half east of Thompson Hill or Centre, and commands a very fine view in nearly every direction. There the Mills family resided continuously until very recent years.

Since the establishment of the town of Thompson, each Mills ancestor in turn held at times important offices there, such as clerk, treasurer, and selectman. Colonel Mills, in his early manhood, was much devoted to the militia and rose through all the ranks to become, in early middle life, the colonel of the old Eleventh Regiment of the State Militia, which in those days constituted a very important and highly esteemed service.

The subject of this sketch attended the Brandy Hill district school until his fourteenth year. During that period that school was a large one and, especially in the winter, had a series of able teachers, among whom were John Winthrop Ballard and David O. Mears. The latter was then a student at Amherst College and afterwards, for many years, a distinguished Congregational clergyman in New England. He was, as a teacher, much like the schoolmaster in Whittier's "Snow Bound." After leaving the district school, Isaac Newton for about two years attended in succession several neighboring private high schools, which were of comparatively short duration, namely, one in Putnam kept by Joseph Lippitt, one at Thompson Center kept by Mrs. Fanny Newell, and one there for a short time kept by Henry S. Parker, who then made a brief attempt to revive the famous school which he had maintained there most successfully several years before. He finally prepared for college at the old East Greenwich Academy (Rhode Island), known as the Providence Conference Seminary. He was graduated there with the class of 1870, receiving the salutatory appointment, which was the highest given in the college preparatory course. During the winter of '69 and '70, he taught a district school at Canonicut Island opposite Newport in Narragansett Bay. It was then quite the custom for a Windham county young man to aid his higher scholastic course by teaching a district school winters. In the fall of 1870 he entered Amherst College as a member of the class of 1874. His career there was successful as he took prizes in Latin, Greek, physics, psychology, and public debating, and he was graduated as the valedictorian of the class, having the highest rank therein. During his sophomore year he was president of the class, and during junior year one of the editors of "The Amherst Student," the college paper. The class contained several men

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A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume II, Part 27

Author: Lincoln, Allen B Publication date: 1920 Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke publ. co. Number of Pages: 960

Author: Lincoln, Allen B
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke publ. co.
Number of Pages: 960