USA > Connecticut > New London County > Biographical review, containing life sketches of leading citizens of New London County, Connecticut > Part 10
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Mr. Williams is also the representative of another aneient and respected family of this town, Thankful Stanton, the wife of his grandfather, Elias Williams, having been a daughter of William and Hannah (Williams) Stanton, a grand-daughter of Joseph and Ann (Wheeler) Stanton, and a great-grand-daugh- ter of Joseph, Sr., and Margaret (Cheseboro)
Stanton. Joseph Stanton, Sr., was a son of John and Hannah (Thompson) Stanton and a grandson of Thomas, the first of the name to come to America. Thomas Stanton sailed from England, January 2, 1635, in the mer- chantman "Bonaventura," landing in Vir- ginia, where he remained for a time. He subsequently went to Boston, thence to Hart- ford, this State, and there married Ann Lord. In 1650 he established a trading post in Paw- catuek, Stonington, being one of the first set- tlers here, the others at that time being the Cheseboros, Miners, Palmers, and Denisons; and six years later he received the deed above mentioned.
Joseph S. Williams, Sr., was born on this farm, Mareh 16, 1802, being one of a family of four children, two sons and two daughters, who were left fatherless at an early age. He was reared a farmer, and followed that oecupa- tion continuously, living on the homestead until his death, which occurred February 19, 1889. A man of fine physique, noted for his strength, standing six feet in height and weighing two hundred and ten pounds, he was as foreeful mentally and morally as physically, and wielded great influenee in the commu- nity. He was a member of the Old Road Con- gregational Church and one of its most active workers. He married on December 9, 1824, Julia A. Gallup, daughter of Christopher and Mrs. Martha Stanton Prentiss Gallup, and by this union was the father of eight ehildren - Joseph S., William S., Elias, Julia A., Jo- seph Stanton, Charles, Warren, and Martha Ellen. Mrs. Williams, the mother, was aeci- dentally killed by a runaway horse, May 19, 1883, at the age of seventy-six years. Joseph S., the eldest-born son, who died at the age of eight years and nine months, requested that his name be given to the subject of this sketch, who was then a babe of three or four
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weeks, and, when told that they already had one Joseph S., he replied, "You will not have long." William S., the second child, died at the age of twenty-nine, leaving one daughter, Mrs. Henry Morgan, of Colchester. Elias, of whom a brief sketch may be found elsewhere in this volume, lives on a portion of the old homestead farm. Julia A. is the wife of Salmon C. Foote, who also occupies a part of the home farm. Charles died here at the age of twenty-eight years, leaving a widow, two sons, and a daughter. Warren died on the farm in 1865, aged twenty-five years. Martha Ellen died in childhood. The three brothers that died after reaching mature years were the victims of typhoid fever.
Joseph S. Williams was born on August 12, 1834. He was reared to agricultural pur- suits, and with the exception of two years passed in Yates County, New York, and six months in New Jersey, has spent his life on his native heath. He has a farm of eighty acres, most of it in a good state of culture, and carries on general agriculture with excel- lent success. His house, which is in good repair, is at least one hundred and twenty-five years old. It was erected by Nathan Stanton, a brother of Captain William Stanton, who lived here from 1777 until 1793, when he re- moved to Florida, Montgomery County, N. Y., where his descendants still reside. Mr. Will- iams is a stanch Democrat in politics and an ardent worker in the temperance cause. He has rendered his full share of public service, having been Postmaster when a young man and again under Cleveland's administration ; Selectman four years; and one term Repre- sentative to the State legislature, to which he was elected in 1876. He is not a member of any church, but was reared a Congregational- ist, and was christened in a church of that denomination.
On January 13, 1858, Mr. Williams mar- ried Elizabeth C. Foote, a native of New Marlboro, Berkshire County, Mass., and the tenth child of a family of eight sons and five daughters born to Salmon and Margaret (Tay- lor) Foote. Mrs. Williams's father died at the age of ninety years in 1882, and her mother in 1857, aged sixty-three years.
OHN A. BOWEN, Chief of Police in Norwich, was born May 25, 1843, at Voluntown, in what was then Wind- ham County, now New London County, Con- necticut. His parents were l'hilip A. and Charlotte C. (Gardner) Bowen. The history of the family has been traced back to Cadivor, who, about the twelfth century (1133), was of the fourth generation in Wales. He had two sons, we are told, Myrick and Griffith, from the former of whom this particular branch of the family is descended.
Griffith Bowen came to America in 1638; and Richard Bowen, the progenitor of this branch, said to have been a brother of Griffith, came about 1640, settling in Rehoboth, Mass., where in 1643 his estate was valued at two hundred and seventy pounds. From him the lineal representatives are, named in their order: Obadiah, first; Obadiah, second; Aaron; Asaph; Philip; Aaron; Philip A .; and John A., of Norwich.
Asaph Bowen was a mariner, and died at sea in 1748. Philip, his only son, had eight sons and two daughters that reached adult life. The eldest was Asaph, second; and the sec- . ond was Aaron, who resided in Washington, R.I., where he owned nearly all of Bowen Hill, so named for his grandfather, Asaph Bowen. Aaron Bowen married Hannah Mer- rill, of Rhode Island. They had eight chil- dren, three sons and five daughters, ot whom
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JOHN A. BOWEN.
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the sons and four daughters grew to manhood and womanhood. One daughter, Sally A., the widow of Albert Randall, an octogenarian, recently of Greenwich, R.I., is now deceased. Philip A., the youngest child, was born in Rhode Island about the year 1819. He was a stationary engineer, and during the latter years of his life he owned and kept a hotel in Franklin. He died there in 1873, survived by his wife, Mrs. Charlotte C. Gardner Bowen, who died in 1880, aged fifty-seven years. Two of their five children are now living in Norwich, namely: Lucy, the widow of Henry A. Bowen, who died in 1891 ; and John A., Chief of Police. James T., his twin brother, died when sixteen months old; a brother Charles died at three years; and Henry, at four years of age. The family burial lot is in Yantic cemetery.
John A. Bowen was kept in school until his eighteenth year, when he volunteered in the Fifth Connecticut Infantry, Company G, and, going to the front as a private, served four years, coming out as a Sergeant. At Resaca, Ga., he was wounded in his right hand; and at Cedar Mountain, Va., August 9, 1862, he was taken prisoner, but in November follow- ing was exchanged and returned to his regi- ment. Mr. Bowen became a member of the police force when it numbered but eleven, and from the lowest rank rose step by step through all the positions in the department, until in 1886 he became the Chief. This re- sponsible position he continues to fill in a very creditable manner.
In 1865 Mr. Bowen was married in Wood- stock, Conn., to Eleanor Arnold, a daughter of Samuel and Esther Arnold, of Westerly, R.I. Her father died several years ago; aud her mother was left with six children, all now living, with the exception of Joseph and Rouse, who were killed on the railroad. Mr.
and Mrs. Bowen have one child, Philip E., a merchant in Webster, Mass. He is married, but has no children.
Politically. Mr. Bowen is a Republican. Fraternally, he is a member of Somerset Lodge, No. 34, F. & A. M., of which he is Marshal; Columbian Commandery, No. 4, R. T. ; and Sedgwick Post, No. I, G. A. R., in which he has served as Quartermaster, also as Assistant Inspector of the Department of Connecticut.
APTAIN JAMES LENNEN, a citi- zen of Waterford, Conn., was born in Waterford, Ireland, in 1841. His parents, John and Mary Lennen, who sailed for America in 1844 with their four children, both died on the passage, and with one child were buried at sea. The father was a farmer in good circumstances, and had with him, it is said, about six thousand dollars in gold, which with most of their goods were lost to their children. The three young orphans, two boys and a girl, were cared for by the dock- master and his friends. The Captain's brother William is now a farm gardener in Brooklyn, N. Y .; and their sister is the wife of a Mr. O. Meyer in New York City.
James was adopted by Captain Elnathan M. Wilcox, of New London County, a resident of Mystic, and received a fair common-school ed- ucation. At the age of sixteen he began to spend his summer vacations upon the water. and at the age of nineteen he left school. He continued to go on the water with Captain Wilcox till he attained his majority. His first independent venture was in the menhadeu, or bony-fish, business in a company of five, their factory being at the Neck in Mystic. About the year 1882 he established works at the Delaware Breakwater. He became cap-
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tain of his first craft at the age of twenty- three years. He was in the "Milo" two years, and in the "W. T. Sherman," the "John Green," and the steamer "Samuel S. Brown" about twelve years. For the past four years he has lived on shore.
Captain Lennen married in 1879 Hannah Adams Stead, who was born at Edwardsburg, Cass County, Mich., daughter of Angel and Rhoda (Buddington) Stead. Her father and mother were both natives of Connecticut. After their marriage, in 1837, they went West, and spent three years at Edwardsburg. The fever and ague then sent them back to Nor- wich, where Mr. Stead died in October, 1895, in the eighty-seventh year of his age. He was a farmer. Mrs. Stead still survives, and is now about eighty-four years of age. Two of her three daughters are living, namely : Mrs. Lennen; and Mary E., wife of John Hibbard, of North Woodstock. Captain and Mrs. Lennen have no children.
Mrs. Lennen is a member of the Central Baptist Church in Norwich. The Captain is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Wauregan Lodge, of Norwich. He is not active in pol- itics, but votes the Republican ticket. He owns a place in Norwich; and in the spring of 1894 he bought the residence property at Har- rison Station, where his wife and her mother are most pleasantly situated, and where he is at home when business permits. Though he is not now leading a life of such extreme ac- tivity as formerly, his business interests have grown to such proportions that they require close supervision. The penniless orphan who was cast a waif upon the waters has become a successful financier. He is still young and vigorous and a splendid type of his rugged and ruddy race over the sea. It is rather a singular coincidence that he was born in Waterford, Ireland, and has drifted after many
years to the town of the same name in the United States.
RS. ELIZA PALMER NOYES, who resides on a small farm of thirty-eight acres at "The Road," in the town of Stonington, was born Oc- tober 18, 1844, daughter of Noyes Palmer and Martha Denison (Noyes) Brown. Mrs. Noyes's mother was her husband's double cousin. Her parents had two children besides herself, namely: Annie Brown, who has been twice married, her first husband being Asa Fish, and her second John I. MacDonald, with whom she resides in Providence, R.I .; and Helen, wife of Henry Townsend, of this town, living at the old home, in the house which her father erected fifty-one years ago.
Eliza Palmer Brown and Edmund S. Noyes, son of Joseph and Grace B. (Denison) Noyes and grandson of Joseph Noyes, Sr., were married on February 5, 1867. They began their wedded life at the Road, a short distance from her present residence, in the old home of her grandfather, Thomas Noyes, who died in 1874. This house, which they subsequently bought, was built in 1706, or nearly two cen- turies ago. It was once the home of Colonel Giles Russell, a Revolutionary officer, of whom Mrs. Noyes has an interesting relic. the copy of a public notice written and signed by him, bearing date of May 12, 1777. The Road received its name when there was only a bridle path, over which the mail was carried on horseback. This house, which was a stopping-place for travellers, was then called an "ordinary " and later an inn. For forty years the Town Clerk's office was here, and the present kitchen in the I, of the house was the room in which the business was conducted by John D. Noyes, who served as Clerk for
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THOMAS A. SCOTT.
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forty-one years. He died in office, just two days before his successor was elected. For a long time he had been in feeble health on ac- count of his age, he being then over eighty.
Mr. Edmund S. Noyes died May 31, 1877, aged forty-one years. Having spent his life in industrious toil, he had acquired a fair property ; and he left to Mrs. Noyes and their little son Joseph, then five years old, the homestead which they occupy and another farm. Mrs. Noyes is a capable business woman; and, though her son's health would not permit of an extended schooling, as a re- sult of her early instruction he has become a man of good business capacity. Joseph Noyes lives with his mother, never having married, and now has charge of their property. Mrs. Noyes belongs to the First Congregational Church of Stonington, Conn.
APTAIN THOMAS A. SCOTT, a famous diver, wrecker, and 'contractor of New London, Conn., was born at Snow Hill, Worcester County, Md., August 10, 1830, son of William and Elizabeth (Pruett) Scott. James Scott, his paternal grandfather, also a native of Snow Hill, was a farmer, stock-breeder, and salt manufacturer, and acquired a large property. His wife, whose maiden name was Rebecca Burch, died at the age of ninety ; while he attained the age of one hundred years. They had two sons and two daughters.
William Scott, the father of Captain Scott, was born at Snow Hill in 1795. His first wife was before marriage a Miss Pointer. The two children born of their union died young. Elizabeth Pruett, his second wife, whom he married in 1828, had previously been the wife of Zachariah Shelley, who had died leaving one son, since deceased. Her parents were
Zachariah and Susan Pruette, residents of that region, both of whom lived to be ninety years of age. William and Elizabeth (Pruett) Scott had three children - Sarah Truth, Ann Maria Hudson, and Thomas A., the subject of this biography. The daughters grew to maturity and were married, and both died leaving chil- dren. The mother died at the home of her son, March 2, 1890, at the age of eighty-eight.
Thomas A. Scott in his boyhood received a very limited education, as he shipped as a common sailor on board a merchant vessel in early life. He gradually worked his way up until in 1850 he became captain and part owner of the "Thomas Page." Seven years later he bought an interest in the "William Hone," of Connecticut, and engaged in the transportation of heavy cargoes of stone from Bridgeport, Conn., to Washington, D. C., which proved to be a very successful enter- prise. After that he became a merchant in Fort Lee, N.J., but subsequently, deciding that he was then out of his element, he re- turned to maritime pursuits. He then began diving, a calling that he has followed more or less ever since. A steamer having been burned and sunk off Fort Lee, he contracted with the speculator who bought the wreck, to bring the cargo to the surface. From that beginning he was drawn by degrees into the kind of work which has made him famous among his craft. His first large contract as wrecker and diver was taken in 1865, which was to raise the "Dashing Wave " off Sandy Hook. Four years thereafter he was engaged at a salary of two hundred and fifty dollars a month to bring to the surface what could be saved of the cargo of the steamship "Scot- land," of the National Line, which was wrecked off Sandy Hook. The recovered goods amounted to one hundred and ten thou- sand dollars, of which sum, including his
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salary and percentage of salvage, he realized eleven thousand dollars. Here he remained under water seven hours and forty-eight min- utes, breaking the records of divers' feats of endurance. Captain Scott's presence of mind, added to his quickness of thought and prompt, decisive action, make him admirably success- ful in his chosen line of work.
In 1873 he became a resident of New Lon- don, at which time he undertook a government contract to build Race Rock Light-house, be- sides many other important contracts in wharf and sea-wall building, among which may be mentioned Pier No. 1, North River, New York. He also enjoys the distinction of being the first man to work on the Brooklyn Bridge, hav- ing made all the preliminary examinations of the river bottom and superintended the work of laying the foundations of the spans. His wharf on Pequot Avenue extends two hundred feet into the harbor, and has a frontage of two hundred and fifty feet. His extensive busi- ness requires three tugs, four lighters, a pile- driver, and mud digger, besides pumps and derricks, and a working force of forty men, his equipments being equal to any emergency. In politics Captain Scott is a Republican. He has served as Alderman one term.
On September 5, 1855, he was married to Harriet Whitbeck, of Port Jefferson, L. I. She was born in Catskill, N. Y., being the daughter of John and Mary E. Ackerly. Isaac Ackerly, her grandfather, was a farmer ; and her father was a paper-hanger and decora- tor. Mrs. Scott has one brother living - Theodore. Whitbeck, who succeeds his father in business at Port Jefferson. Her brother Sidney S. Whitbeck died in April, 1396, at the age of fifty-four. Her father died at the age of seventy-three, and her mother at the age of eighty-three.
Mr. and Mrs. Scott have had twelve chil-
dren, six of whom survive: John A., Mamie, Eva L., Harriet F., Cassie V., and Thomas A., Jr. John A. Scott, born in 1859, is a merchant on his father's dock. He is married and has two daughters. Mamie Scott married William H. Hull, of New York. Eva L. married Woodruff Hull, a brother of her sis- ter's husband, and has one son and daughter. Harriet F. is at home. Cassie V. was gradu- ated from the high school, and then studied designing in New York. She married Joseph Hardwick, and now resides in Shelby, Ohio. Thomas A., Jr., a young man at home, was graduated from Mystic Academy. Another son, Willie A., born April 18, 1858, was lost in the Sound in 1880, while wrecking, falling overboard from the "Narragansett."
Captain Scott has a beautiful residence at 88 Pequot Avenue, surrounded by well laid out and well-kept grounds, which commands a fine view of the harbor and Fort Trumbull. He also owns White Rock Island, which is valuable for its large quantity of excellent stone. Personally, Captain Scott is a man of large physique, weighing three hundred pounds. He is held in high regard, his portly frame being typical of a generous heart and soul within.
TTO LAWSON, a well-known farmer and dairyman of Waterford, Conn., residing on his farm, about three miles north of New London, was born in Sweden, January 7, 1845. At the age of sixteen years he shipped before the mast on board the Swed- ish bark " Hilda," bound for New York City, via Cadiz, Spain. This was the beginning of a career as seaman that lasted for some years. During the course of his voyages he visited numerous ports and many countries.
Upon arriving at New York, he shipped on
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the American schooner "Stephen S. Lee," of Philadelphia, Pa., in which he sailed for nearly a year. In 1864 he was in Buenos Ayres, and from there returned to New York City. He next went to Stockholm, Sweden, then to Northern Sweden for a cargo of lum- ber for Cadiz, Spain, and after going to Malaga, Montevideo, La Plata River, and other South American points, went back to New York City, where he shipped in the "Hilda " for Honduras. On this voyage a number of the men were taken sick and died suddenly, and great consternation was excited. His own feelings at that time, and the panic that spread among the crew, Mr. Lawson will never forget. At the age of twenty-three he was second mate of the "William A. Vail," of New Haven, Conn .; and in less than two months he was promoted to be first mate. He remained in this vessel for three years; and after losing her he sailed in the "William C. B.," of Noank, for eight years, five years with that noble man, Captain Daniel Chester, and three years with his brother, Captain Charles Ira Chester.
In 1878 Mr. Lawson bought twenty-two acres of land and two houses, and settled down to farming. Since that time he has made ad- ditions to his property; and he now has forty- eight acres, reaching down to the river. When he first bought the land, it would barely keep a cow and a horse. He now has four horses and sixteen cows, and sells milk to cus- tomers in New London. He carries on con- siderable market gardening, and employs two men to help in the farm labor. In politics Mr. Lawson is a Democrat. He has served some six years on the Board of Relief. He is a member of one of the Baptist Church Committees, and both he and his wife are members and active workers in the church.
In New London Mr. Lawson first met
Martha Cone, daughter of Oliver and Louisa (Knight) Cone; and there he married her on February 12, 1872, the ceremony being per- formed by the Rev. Ezra Withey, of New London. Mr. and Mrs. Lawson have lost a daughter, Lizzie May, born July 5, 1883, who- died at the age of six and one-half years, and a son Nelson, born November 28, 1872, who died at the age of sixteen months. They have three living children : Alice, born April 14, 1877; Jennie Louisa, born October 22, 1880; and Ruth, born January 2, 1894. Alice Law - son is now the wife of F. J. Alexander, who conducts a general store at Quaker Hill, Conn.
ANIEL N. HOBRON, a retired merchant of New London, Conn., at present (winter of 1897-98) residing in Washington, D.C., was born on Hempstead Street, in New London, on Octo- ber 2, 1826, being the son of Russell and Martha (Howard) Hobron. His grandfather, George Hobron, married Elizabeth Mason, and had eleven children, ten of whom grew up; namely, William, Thomas, Samuel, Charles, George, Russell, Edward, Harriet, Mary, and Dempster. Russell, Mr. Hobron's father, was born in New London on Fort Street, now Shaw Street, in 1803. For some fifty years of his mature life he was a meat dealer on the corner of Green and Banke Streets. He married in 1823 Martha, daugh- ter of Captain John Howard, of the same place. Her father commanded a vessel, and carried passengers and freight between New York and the West Indies for many years. He was in the War of 1812. He died at the advanced age of ninety-two at his home on Howard Street, which was named for him. A remarkable and interesting fact here claims
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our attention; namely, that three sisters be- came the wives of three brothers, Martha, Mary, and Nancy Howard marrying respec- tively Russell, George, and Edward Hobron.
Russell Hobron and his wife Martha had eleven children, eight sons and three daugh- ters, only three of whom are now living: Daniel; and his brother Washington, of New York City, engaged in the fish trade; and Mrs. Mary E., widow of James Pierpont Davis, M.D., of Providence. Mrs. Davis has one daughter, who is married to Captain Henry L. Starr, and has one child. Mr. Russell Hobron died at the ripe age of eighty- five, and his wife in 1866, at the age of sixty- three.
Daniel Hobron in his boyhood attended the district school in his native place, his last school days being spent in a little frame building now used as a shoe shop, a beloved landmark, concerning which there is a feeling prevalent that it should be preserved as a relic, and removed from Banke Street to the ample grounds of the new school-house. When fourteen years of age he went into a hat store, where he worked two summers, going to school in the winter. He then entered the employ of Whiteman & Turner, grocers, still keeping up his schooling. Next he worked for six months for Eben E. Dart on Banke Street. The winter following he was clerk for A. R. Harris. Then he was with Congden & Latham a while; and in February, 1846, he went into his father's meat market as clerk, eventually succeeding him in the business on the corner of State and Green Streets. After a time he sold out to Samuel Stewart; and four years ago the business passed into the hands of Thomas & Gumble, the latter member of this firm being Mr. Ilobron's son-in-law.
In 1858 Mr. Ilobron married Mary Isabella Pitcher, who died December 11, 1863, leaving
one living child, a daughter Ruth. This daughter married a Mr. Phillips, and resides in Sagamore, Mass. She has three children. In November, 1871, Mr. Hobron married Ellen Elizabeth Saunders, of New London, the daughter of the venerable Matthew S. Saunders. She died April 17, 1889. By this marriage there were two children - Mabel and Nina. Mabel is the wife of Frank W. Gumble, of the above-mentioned firm, and the mother of one child, an interesting boy, five years old, named Wolcott for Mr. Hobron's brother, who was killed in the Civil War. Nina, a most promising girl of twelve, died six months after her mother's death.
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