USA > Connecticut > New London County > Biographical review, containing life sketches of leading citizens of New London County, Connecticut > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46
Horatio N. Billings was born in 1803, and married on January 30, 1838, Mary Ann Fish. Hle was a seafaring man, and in 1849 or 1850 went to California as first mate of. a sailing- vessel. He was heard from soon after his
arrival, but never afterward. Mrs. Billings struggled nobly to educate their four children ; namely, Lucy H., Sanford Nelson, Edward E., and Mary A. Lucy H. Billings became the wife of John L. Spalding, and died in 1881, aged forty-two years; Edward E. is a farmer in North Stonington; and Mary A. is the wife of Charles D. Thompson, of North Stonington, and has twin daughters. Mrs. Spalding, who possessed rare literary ability and artistic talent, was educated at Cooper In- stitute in New York, where she won the first prize medal in art. She wrote much for the press; and in 1871 a volume of her poetical works was published by J. B. Lippincott, bearing the title of "The Ruined Statues and Other Poems," by Louise Billings Spalding (her pen name). She was twice married, but had no children.
Sanford N. Billings began the battle of life on his own account when a lad of sixteen, working as a farm hand for his uncle, Ben- jamin F. Billings, in Griswold, this county. At the age of eighteen he began farming on the old homestead farm that his early ances- tor, William Billings, had taken from the government, and a portion of which has since been in the family, being now owned by a cousin of Mr. Billings. In August, 1862, Mr. Billings enlisted as a private in Company G, Twenty-first Connecticut Volunteer Infan- try. Six months later he was detached, and for a year and a half was turnkey of the jail at Norfolk, Va. Rejoining his regiment at Washington, N.C., he was taken prisoner in front of Richmond on May 16, 1864, and con- veyed to Libby Prison and two weeks later to Andersonville, where he was confined until the fall of 1864. lle was then taken to Charleston, S.C., thence three weeks later to Florence, and from there to Wilmington, N. C., and afterward to Goldsboro. Mr. Bill-
18
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
ings had in the meantime endured untold horrors, and, having suffered a shock, had be- come so reduced that he could scarcely walk. He had barely clothes enough to cover him; but in sheer desperation he and a comrade wandered away, and were fortunately picked up by some of the boys in blue. Mr. Billings was so feeble in mind that he knew not his name or where he was; but after weeks of faithful nursing he was partially restored, and as soon as able was sent home, arriving here a mere shadow of himself. He had weighed one hundred and seventy-five pounds when in his normal health, but after becoming conva- lescent.he weighed but ninety-four. Though he escaped the missiles of death that flew around him in battle, he suffered worse agonies than were ever eaused by a bullet's wound, his prison life having been a veritable "hell upon earth," the very memory of it even now overshadowing him with a siekening horror. While he was in Andersonville, his mother died on the old homestead.
Mr. Billings has since turned his attention to agricultural pursuits in Stonington and North Stonington, paying much attention to stock-raising, a part of the time having been in partnership with W. W. Billings; but he is now more interested in dairying. In 1873 he took possession of his present fine farm, which was presented to him by William W. Billings, of New London. He also owns another farm and two tracts of land, amounting in all to some three hundred acres.
Mr. Billings was married October 28, 1867, to Miss Lucy E. Main, of North Stonington, a daughter of Charles H. and Almira (Egles- ton) Main. Mr. and Mrs. Billings have eight children, the following being their record: Byron, born January 4, 1869, is foreman of the Wileox Fish Works at Mystic; Mary, born May 15, 1871, married Arthur G.
Wheeler, and has one son and one daughter; William W., a farmer, resides in Stonington; Lucy was born June 20, 1881; Grace W. was born December 18, 1882; Lilla M. was born July 6, 1886; Priscilla Alden was born May 29, 1892; and Sanford N., Jr., was born Au- gust- 17, 1895. Mr. Billings is a decided Re- publican in his political affiliations, but has never aspired to official honors. He is a mem- ber of the J. F. Trumbull Post, No. 82, G. A. R.
YRUS G. BECKWITH, a dealer in meats and groceries and a substantial citizen of New London, was born December 3, 1841, in the town of Waterford, this county, son of James and Nancy S. (Caulkins) Beckwith. Jason Beckwith, the father of James, and also a native of Water- ford, had ten children, seven sons and three daughters, of whom James was the sixth or seventh in order of birth. Both parents lived to an advanced age, and were buried in Water- ford.
James Beckwith, who was born September 12, 1803, followed the occupation of ship- builder, first in Waterford and later in New London, whither he came about the year 1850. He built coasting-vessels principally, of from one to three hundred tons' burden, and had a fair-sized business. In 1865 he retired, and returned to Waterford, where he died when seventy-two years of age. After his return to his native town he was elected to the State legislature on the Democratie ticket, and served two terms. In religious belief he was a Baptist and for many years a Deacon in the church. James and Nancy S. (Caulkins) Beckwith had four children, all of whom are living. They are: Cordelia, the wife of Sid- ney A. Smith, residing in Waterford; James E. Beckwith, a retired farmer, and the Town
19-20
CYRUS G. BECKWITH.
21
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
Clerk of Waterford, which he has also served in other offices, including that of Representa- tive to the State legislature; Elisha P. Beck- with, who resides in New London; and Cyrus G., the subject of this sketch. The mother died in 1847, when Cyrus G., the youngest child, was but six years old. The father afterward married Mrs. Eliza Keeney Fox, who survived him some years. He died when seventy-two years of age.
Cyrus G. Beckwith completed his education in New London at the Bartlett High School. When seventeen years of age he became a clerk in the grocery store and ship-chandlery of Comstock & Miner, with whom he remained three years. He then started in business for himself in East New London. Twelve months later he sold out and formed a partnership with N. L. Smith, with whom, under the style of Smith & Co., he carried on a grocery business at the corner of State and Bradley Streets for two and a half years. Mr. Beck- with then sold out, and afterward was a travel- ling salesman for a firm of wholesale grocers in New York City for fourteen years, princi- pally in Connecticut and Rhode Island. In 1878 he left the road and opened a grocery store at the corner of Bank and Pearl Streets, in this city. After being alone some years, he took in Arthur Keefe, his clerk, as a part- ner, after which they purchased property on Bank Street and started a store. This venture prospered, and they became one of the leading grocery firms in this place. In 1894 Mr. Beckwith sold his interest to his partner, and on January 1, 1895, in company with his son, J. Allan Beckwith, opened their present gro- cery store and market.
In February, 1863, Mr. Beckwith married Augusta A. Dart, a daughter of Captain Sam- uel B. and Adeline (Hand) Dart, of New London, both of whom have passed away.
Her father was a sea captain. Mr. and Mrs. Beckwith have lost one son. Their surviving son is J. Allan Beckwith, referred to above.
A Democrat in politics, Mr. Beckwithi served in the Common Council for three terms, was State Senator in 1887-88, and a delegate to the National Convention in 1892 and 1896. In the fall of 1894 he was a candidate for Congress. In 1896 he was elected to the legislature, and was his party's candidate for Speaker. In the fall election of 1897 he was elected Mayor of New London by the largest majority received by any chief magistrate of this place. He is a member of the Board of Trade, a Master Mason, an Odd Fellow, a Red Man of the Improved Order, and a Captain on the Major's staff of Putnam Phalanx, an inde- pendent military company. The family reside at 60 Hempstead Street, in the beautiful home that he purchased about twenty years ago, and which, facing the Park, affords a fine view of the Thames River.
ANIEL BURROWS SPALDING, a banker of Stonington and a son of Daniel Brown and Lucy Breed (Grant) Spalding, was born in Preston, New London County, April 14, 1843. The Spal- dings are of English origin. Edward Spal- ding, who came to this country about 1633, was one of the first settlers of Braintree, Mass., where, according to the old records, he owned realty and filled a public office. He was made a freeman of the town in 1640, a fact that proves he was also a member of some church there. He died February 26, 1670. A copy of his will, dated April, 1666, and proven in 1670, is still extant, a most inter- esting and valuable document. He left much property and considerable sums of money to his sons, who were then wealthy land-owners in
22
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
Plainfield and Killingly, Conn. His children were: John, Edward, Benjamin, Joseph, An- drew, Grace, and Dinah, all of whom left large families. The Spaldings are now scattered all over the United States. Of Ed- ward's sons, John is a lineal ancestor of Daniel Burrows, the subject of this sketch. John had a son John, whose son Samuel, also a native of Plainfield, had six children, one of whom was Jedediah. Asa Spalding, born in Plainfield, October 6, 1751, son of Jedediah, was the grandfather of Daniel Burrows. He studied medicine with Elisha Perkins in his native town, and became a noted physician. He was also an ordained evangelist in the Baptist church, and was one of the leading Deacons, but not a regular pastor. He was at the siege of Fort Griswold in 1781, where by his knowledge of surgery he saved the life of a wounded soldier. His death occurred in the place now called North Stonington on February 21, 1811. He had fourteen children. His son, Daniel Brown, was a farmer in his early days, and lived at one time in Pitcher, Chenango County, N. Y., which was then reached only by water. Daniel moved to Preston, Conn., but stayed there for only one year. Then he came to Stonington, where he spent the rest of his life. In 1843 he en- gaged in business with his wife's brother, Oliver B. Grant, a prominent business man of the town. Mr. Grant was one of the incor- porators of the Stonington Bank, served on its Board of Directors, and was its secretary, treasurer, and afterward president. Mr. Spalding was an efficient worker as colporteur and evangelist for the Baptist denomination in Stonington. Ile died in 1866. His wife, Lucy, who was of English descent, was born in North Stonington, October 13, 1810. They were married May 10, 1832. Of their four children two died in infancy; and one,
Frederick William, died at the age of five. The mother died October 25, 1888.
Daniel Burrows Spalding was but seven months old when his parents moved to Ston- ington. After attending the public schools in the town for a time, he studied at a private school under old Dr. Hart and later at the Schofield Commercial School in Providence, R.I. When he left school, in 1864, he en- tered the bank as assistant treasurer to his uncle. When Mr. Grant became the presi- dent in 1876, Mr. Spalding was made the treasurer and the secretary, which offices he has since filled. He was the president of the Uncas National Bank of Norwich, Conn., for two years, a director of the First National Bank of the same place, and he is a director of the Stonington Building Company in Ston- ington.
Though an ardent Republican in politics, Mr. Spalding has never sought office; yet he has been a Burgess of the town for four years, and he was elected a Warden, but he did not qualify. In 1875 he married Drusilla R., a daughter of Ebenezer W. and Elizabeth Dun- can Parlow, of New Bedford, Mass. Mr. and Mrs. Spalding have lived in their present home since March, 1875. The house, which was erected in 1837, by Charles II. Smith, a contractor, is one of the fine old residences of Stonington.
ILLIAM PARKINSON GREENE, an old and respected resident of Norwich, was born in this city, March 26, 1831. He comes of a long line of American ancestors, being descended from John Greene, who sailed from Southampton, England, in April, 1635, in the ship " James " of London, and arrived in Boston on the 3d of June. John Greene was accompanied by his wife and five children - John, Peter, James,
23
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
Thomas, and Mary. An associate of Roger Williams in the Providence purchase of 1638, he became proprietor of a tract of land on the Providence River in 1642, and was one of the original purchasers of Shawshomet in 1642- 43. His wife died in 1643. In 1644 he went to England on business, and while there married his second wife, Alice Daniels. He died at Warwick, R.I., about 1659, and was buried at Conanicut. (Further information concerning John Greene may be found in Ar- nold's History of the State of Rhode Island, Palfrey's History of New England, Savage's Genealogical Dictionary, and the Lives of Roger Williams by James D. Knowles and William Gamwell. See also New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. iv. P. 75.)
The line of descent from John Greene is through Thomas, born in England in 1631, who died at Warwick, June 5, 1717; Na- thaniel, born April 10, 1679, who lived in Boston a number of years, dying there August 8, 1714; Benjamin, born in Boston, January 12, 1712, died in 1776; to Gardiner Greene, who was born in September, 1753. An emi- nent merchant, he was one of the leading financiers and capitalists of the first quarter of this century. His residence was in Boston, on Tremont, near the head of Court Street. The site of his mansion and grounds, which extended to Somerset Street, is now covered by Pemberton Square and the rooms of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Gardiner Greene died December 19, 1832. He was thrice married. Ilis first wife was Ann Reading. His second, to whom he was married in Boston, November 28, 1788, was Elizabeth Hubbard. She was born March 23, 1760, and died September 7. 1797, in Boston. The children of his second marriage, who were born between 1790 and
1795, were: Mary Ann, who married Samuel Hubbard, and died July 10, 1827; Gardiner, who died in 1797; Benjamin Daniel (M.D.). who married Margaret M. Quincy, and died October 4, 1862; and William Parkinson, the father of the subject of this sketch. The third wife of Gardiner Greene was Elizabeth Clarke Copley, whom he married July 3, 1800, in London. She was born in Boston, November 20, 1770, and was a daughter of the great portrait and historical painter, John Singleton Copley, and a sister of the celebrated Lord Lyndhurst. The children of this marriage (born between 1802 and 1817) were: Gardiner, who died February 20, 1810; Elizabeth Hubbard, who died De- cember 12, 1854, wife of Henry Timmins; Susanna, who died March 22, 1844, wife of Samuel Hammond; Sarah, who died in Paris, February 26, 1863; John Singleton Copley, who married first Elizabeth P. Hubbard and second Mary Ann Appleton; Martha Babcock, wife of Charles Amory; and Mary Copley, wife of James Sullivan Amory.
William Parkinson Greene, Sr., son of Gardiner and Elizabeth (Hubbard) Greene, was born in Boston, September 7, 1795. lle acquired his elementary education in the Bos- ton schools, and entered Harvard in 1810, being one of the class which enrolls upon its catalogue the names of President James Walker, Dr. F. W. P. Greenwood, and the historian Prescott, who was for a time his room-mate. Graduating at nineteen, in con- pliance with his father's wishes he entered the law office of his brother-in-law, Samuel Hub- bard, Esq. ; and he subsequently became Mr. Hubbard's partner. Boston was at that time the centre of religious and philanthropic en- terprises, and Mr. Greene came into contact with many of the leaders of public thought. Judson, Evarts, Channing, Edward Everett,
1 1
24
BIOGRAPHICAL, REVIEW
and Lyman Beecher were his contemporaries. and iron. In the panic of 1837 this company failed; and their work was afterward carried on by the Falls Company, of which also Mr. Greenc was a director. In 1830 the people of Norwich began to agitate the subject of con- structing a railroad between this city and Worcester; and it was through Mr. Greene's personal influence that the credit of the State of Massachusetts was obtained. In the crisis of 1837 most of his fortune was swept away ; but with the aid of his brother, Dr. Benjamin D. Greene, he was soon on his feet again. In 1838 he. with his brother Benjamin and Mr. Samuel Mowry, organized the Shetucket Company. The Falls Company was organ- ized in October, 1843; and the two companies had a prosperous career. (An extended ac- count of the operations of these companies and Mr. Greene's work in connection with them is found in "The Life and Character of the Hon. William Parkinson Greene, by Elbridge Smith, A. M., published in 1865.) John Adams, the Nestor of the legal profes- sion, was living. William Prescott, Harri- son G. Otis, and Josiah Quincy upheld the dignity of the bar; and on Court Street, in 1816, was to be seen the sign, "Daniel Webster, Attorney and Counsellor-at-law." New party lines were forming, and political aspirants had unusual opportunities. Mr. Greene had his opportunity, but refused; and only once did he accept public office, serving with credit as Mayor of Norwich. His career as a lawyer was short. His father had in- vested largely in domestic manufactures, and had placed considerable capital in the Thames Company at Norwich Falls, established by him and other Boston capitalists in 1823; and he shortly received from his father as a gift the whole amount invested in this city, on condition that he should move hither, and take the property under personal charge. Failing health - a warning hemorrhage -- in- fluenced his decision; and in the summer of His indomitable energy and far-reaching in - telligence, his generosity and wisdom, had much to do with establishing the foundations of the thriving city of Norwich. A gifted lawyer, successful manufacturer, and brilliant financier, he was also a philanthropist and a patron of religious and educational enter- prises. Funds contributed by him placed the Norwich Free Academy on an assured basis, and his influence established some of its most important features. He was president of its corporation and Board of Trustees from 1857 to the time of his death. He also contributed generously toward the erection of the Meth- odist church on Sachem Street. From early youth he had suffered from a pulmonary com- plaint, and death was ever at his side; but his iron will refused to succumb, and he lived to be nearly seventy years old. He passed away 1824 he entered on his new life. Within a year after his arrival in Norwich he was at the head of the movement which resulted in the organization of the Thames Bank; and he was its first president, and held office sixteen years. Ile was the first and largest contrib- utor to the fund for improving the water-power of the Shetucket River; and in 1826-27 he with others inaugurated measures for improv- ing the educational advantages of the com- munity. In the spring of 1829 his plans for utilizing the Shetucket water-power were car- ried into effect by the Norwich Water Power Company, their work being completed the following year; and in 1832 the Thames Com- pany, of which he was an original director, built the first cotton-mill on the Shetucket, and hired a portion of the completed water- power. Their manufactures included cotton I on the morning of June 18, 1864. He was
£
25-26
ASA BACKUS.
27
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
married July 14, 1819, to Augusta Elizabeth, daughter of Leonard Vassall Borland, a lady of rare accomplishments and winning manners. On September 7, 1859, the birthday of her husband and of the city, Mrs. Greene put into the hands of the treasurer of the Norwich Free Academy a deed of the estate now occu- pied by the principal.
William Parkinson Greene, the direct sub- ject of this sketch, son of the late Hon. Will- iam Parkinson Greene, was educated in the Norwich Free School and the Cheshire Acad- emy, which was then in charge of Professor Paddock, Bishop Paddock's father. His health was poor, and he did not follow an ex- tended course of study ; but when he attained his majority he began to take an interest in the manufacturing business established by his father. He has been a director in the mills at Shetucket and at the Falls. The Bozrah mills, which were established about 1813, and were in need of new management in 1879, were bought by Mr. Charles Kenyon and Mr. James Peckham, who organized a new com- pany. Mr. Greene is at present the senior di- rector of these mills, the only one of the orig- inal board living, and the principal stock- holder. He has a beautiful home at 170 Washington Street.
On October 18, 1854, Mr. Greene was united in marriage with Theodosia, daughter of Benjamin Wildman Tompkins. Mr. Tompkins, who was born September 3, 1808, was a prominent citizen of Norwich, active and zealous in secular and church matters, and lived for many years at 172 Washington Street. He died February 3, 1892. Mr. and Mrs. Greene have two children - Augusta Borland and Benjamin Tompkins, both unmar- ried and living with their parents. Mr. Greene, though interested in the welfare of the Republican party, has refused all offers of
public office. He is a member of the Centre Congregational Church.
SA BACKUS, a retired merchant and capitalist of Norwich, residing on a fine farm to the west and just out- side the city limits, was born in this town, July 21, 1836, son of Asa and Caroline (Roath) Backus. The family came originally from England, the first representative in' this country of whom there is record being Will- iam Backus, who was a resident of Saybrook in 1637. In 1660 a member of it came from Saybrook to Norwich, and took up his resi- dence in a house that is still standing.
The first Asa Backus was born in 1736. His son Asa, Jr., was born May 12, 1763. The third Asa, son of the preceding Asa, and the father of the present bearer of the name, born in Norwich in 1803, died in June, 1836. He was reared to farming. Though he re- ceived but a limited education, he was gener- ously endowed by nature, and was successfully engaged in a mercantile business as a member of the firm of Hyde & Backus at Yantic vil- lage. About the year 1831 he was married to Miss Caroline Roath. The union was blessed by the birth of three children: Caroline, who died in 1861; Cynthia M .; and Asa. The mother married a second time.
Asa Backus, the subject of this biography, was a student in the Andover Phillips Acad- emy for a time. When about sixteen years of age he entered the employ of Ely & Co. as clerk, remaining with them three years. In the fall of 1857 he went to Toledo, Ohio, where he was employed in the same capacity for a short time. In 1858 he became a mem- ber of the dry-goods firm of Eaton & Backus, which, from a small beginning, developed a profitable business. Ile retired from busi-
28
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
ness in 1875; and, returning to Norwich, he settled on his fine country home just outside the city limits. The original estate was pur- chased by him in the fall of 1874 from C. B. Rogers. Enlarged by additional land, bought since then, it now contains about twenty-five acres. On it are three good dwellings.
Mr. Backus first married Miss Julia W, Bissell, of Lockport, N. Y. She died in De- cember, 1891, leaving three children, namely : Asa William, who lives in Toledo, Ohio; and Julia R. and Frederick Tracy, who are at home. A second marriage, contracted in 1893, united Mr. Backus to Mrs. Sarah G. (Button) Champlin, of Norwich. They have a daughter, Florence. In politics Mr. Backus is an Independent. He is a director of the old, Norwich Savings Bank, which has over eleven millions on deposit. By the will of the late William W. Backus he was made executor of the large and valuable estate left by the latter. He is the secretary and treas- urer of the Norwich Mutual Assurance Com- pany, which was established in 1794; the secretary and treasurer of the Kitemang Asso- ciation of Norwich; and one of the original incorporators of the Backus Free Hospital of Norwich, one of the finest institutions in the State.
OSHUA C. LEFFINGWELL, an en- terprising dairy farmer of Bozrah, was born in this town, May 9, 1836, son of Joshua B. and Mary A. (Woodworth) Leffing- well. His father was a native of Bozrah, as was also his grandfather, Christopher Leffing- well.
The founder of the family in America was Thomas Leffingwell, an Englishman, who emi- grated about the middle of the seventeenth century, and settled in Saybrook. Coun.,
where his daughter Rachel was born in 1648, a son Nathaniel in 1656, and other children between those dates. A few years later Thomas Leffingwell was living at his new home in Norwich. According to Trumbull, the early historian, he received a deed of a tract of land a number of miles square, the site of the present city of Norwich. from Uncas, sachen of the Mohegans, for his services in carrying a boat-load of pro- visions to the fort in which that friendly chief and his warriors were besieged by the Narragansetts. "There is, however," says Miss Caulkins in her History of Norwich, "no such deed or record." To this statement she adds that Mr. Leffingwell, petitioning the Gencral Court in 1667 to confirm a grant of land that Uncas had proffered him, received from that body the grant of two hundred acres on the east side of the Shetucket River.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.