USA > Connecticut > New London County > Biographical review, containing life sketches of leading citizens of New London County, Connecticut > Part 20
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On October 17, 1855, Dr. Pratt was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Putnam Gulliver, of Philadelphia, whose parents were John and Sarah (Putnam) Gulliver, of Boston, Mass. Of his two children, Theodore died when four years old. The survivor is Professor Waldo Selden Pratt, A. M., who fills the chair
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of ecclesiastical music in the Hartford Theo- logical Seminary. Like his father, he was graduated from Williams College. He has a wife, but no living children.
ILLIAM LADD, a highly esteemed octogenarian farmer of Sprague, now retired, was born February 17, 1816, near his present home, then included in the adjoining town of Franklin, New London County. His parents were Festus and Ruby Ladd. He is of old and substantial Colonial stock, whose immigrant progenitor (see Ladd Genealogy), Daniel Ladd, "took the oath of supremacy and allegiance to pass to New Eng- land in the 'Mary and John' on March 24, 1633-4." He had a grant of land in Ipswich, Mass,, in 1637, and a little later on was one of the original settlers of Haverhill, Mass., where he was a Selectman in 1668. Daniel Ladd's son Samuel was killed by Indians on February 22, 1698. David Ladd, of Haver- hill, son of Samuel, was twice married; and Abner Ladd, born in 1740, is said to have been David's son by his second wife. Abner Ladd, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, married Abigail Perkins, who bore him five sons - Jedediah, Abner, Jr., Erastus P., Festus, and George Washington. There were also a number of daughters.
Festus, father of William Ladd, was born on the farm adjoining the one on which his son now lives. He was a farmer, and spent his life in this town, dying here in 1855, at the age of seventy-three years. His wife, who was also his cousin, survived him twenty years. They had a family of five sons and six daughters. The eldest child was Asa Spald- ing Ladd, who was born in 18OS, and lived to the age of seventy-three years; the next child was Lura; Eliza, now the widow of Jerry
Sims on Bean Hill is eighty-eight years old: Betsey, now Mrs. Ladd Perkins, a widow, re- sides in Franklin at the age of eighty-six years; William, of Sprague, has nearly com- pleted his eighty-second year ; Laura, a widow residing in Illinois, is in her seventy-ninth year; Rufus S. is seventy-three years of age; and Lydia, Mrs. Hall, a widow, is in her seventieth year. The combined ages of all these is five hundred and fifty years.
William Ladd was reared to agricultural pursuits, and received a common-school educa- tion. He was a fine penman in early life, and spent considerable time in perfecting him- self in that art. Leaving home at nineteen years of age, he hired himself out as a farm laborer at eleven dollars per month for the year round, and until he reached his majority gave the wages he earned to his parents. He worked for nine years for one man, Edwin Allen by name, who died in Mystic in 1895. Mr. Allen was an inventor, and was the origi- nator of wooden type. At one time Mr. Ladd received from him six hundred dollars of his wages; and then he and his sister Eliza bought a farm here, and gave their mother a lifelong lease of it. Mr. Ladd now owns five farms, and on one of them has a fine dairy. In 1892 he built his present cosey house on a home lot of seven acres of land. Mr. Ladd is a Democrat in politics. He has held various town offices, and has represented his town in the State legislature.
In 1865 he was united in marriage with Lucretia Waldo. After her decease he mar- ried on October 26, 1885, her cousin, Mrs. Louise Jackson, widow of John R. Jackson. of Hartford, Conn., and daughter of the Rev. Horatio Waldo, a Congregationalist minister, formerly pastor of the church in Portage, Wyoming County, N. Y.
Mrs. Ladd's daughter, Anna Jackson, an
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only and fondly loved child, died at the early age of nineteen, a blossom of beauty already ripened for a better land. She was not only the flower of the home, but in social life and religions circles occupied a prominent place that no one else could fill. Her pastor, Mr. Gage, of Hartford, who was abroad at the time of her death, wrote to her mother that she (Anna) was the most active and influential young woman in Christian work in his large congregation, that her loss would be deeply mourned by all with whom she associated, and, as they should all miss her so much, he could scarcely conceive how the mother could live without her. She was not only strikingly handsome in face and figure, but was of a rare type of beauty, with soulful eyes, that radi- ated grace upon all who came within the circle of her influence. She was gifted in music and literature, but her Christian graces outshone all other gifts. At the age of ten, when a fine piano was presented her, she sat down upon the stool gracefully, and, play- ing her own accompaniment, sang in a most pleasing and effective manner, "How the Gates came Ajar," "The Golden Stairs," and other hymns. A musician, who was present at the time, said that, "if a child of that ten- der age could sing with such spirit and pathos such pieces as those, she well deserved a fine instrument."
Mrs. Ladd says that it has always seemed to her as if the child's grandparents, who were most estimable Christian people, had let their mantle fall upon Anna, and as if the grand- father's blessing had proved most effectual. Hle was a man of letters, versed in Greek. When the baby Anna was brought to him as he lay dying, he was bolstered up at his re- quest ; and, taking the child in his arms, he most fervently asked the blessing of the Al- mighty upon her. She grew from day to day
in Christian loveliness of character, under her mother's watchful training. After Anna's death Mrs. Ladd received a very affecting letter of condolence from a young Chinese, who had become converted to the Christian re- ligion under her daughter's influence in a Sabbath-school class taught by Anna for some time in New York City. The Chinese lad was thrown under her influence at a missionary meeting, and subsequently joined her Sabbath- school class, where he was always an attentive listener.
"This world is His garden, Anna, He but took thee from us here To bloom the brighter there."
DWARD PREST, who was for fifty years a resident of New London and in later life one of its best known and most respected citizens, was born in Bolton, Lanca- shire, England, in 1813. He was a son of George and Mary (Wignall) Prest, his father being a local Methodist preacher, who held frequent religious meetings at his house. At these gatherings he in early childhood re- ceived impressions which had much to do with shaping his moral character and laying the foundation of his upright, useful, and prosper- ous career. A separate sketch of his brother, George Prest, including further ancestral his- tory, may be found on another page of this volume.
Edward Prest learned the trade of a stone- mason in England. In 1843 he came to America with his father and brothers, and set- tled in New London, where he subsequently became a contractor and builder. An expert mechanic, he was also a man of the strictest probity, and would contract for nothing but the best quality of work, which he always exe-
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cuted in the most skilful and thorough man- ner. By virtue of these qualities, though be- ginning life a poor boy, he becanie a wealthy man and one of New London's most substan- tial citizens. Among the buildings erected by him which bear witness to his skill as 3. master workman are St. James Episcopal Church, City Hall, Lawrence Hall, Metropol- itan Hotel, Rogers Block on Main Street, and the residence of J. N. Harris. He bought a large tract of land in the western part of this city, through which he laid streets; and he built thereon many tenement houses. He also erected a comfortable residence for him- self on the corner of Blackhall and Prest Streets, where his death occurred in 1893, and in which his widow still resides.
His first wife was Jane, daughter of John and Barbara McDonald, who came from Scot- land, her father being for years the leading baker in New London. For his second wife he married Frances H., daughter of Thomas and Fanny Chester, both natives of Groton. Her grandfather, Deacon Elisha Chester, as well as her father, Thomas Chester, were born in the old Chester homestead in Shin- necossett, now Eastern Point. In 1814, Thomas, at the age of thirteen, assisted in building a battery on the Chester property as a defence against marauding British vessels. He taught school for twenty years. In 1834 he purchased a farm in Waterford, near what is now Cedar Grove Cemetery, where both he and his wife died in 1877. The farm still remains in possession of the family. Mrs. Prest's great-great-grandfather was Samuel Chester, who was a ship-owner, commander, and factor in the West India trade. He re- moved from Boston to New London in 1663. He owned a large tract of land in Groton. His son John, the next in line of descent to Mrs. Prest, married Mary Starr, a great-great-
grand-daughter of William Brewster, one of the "Mayflower's" passengers in 1620. Two of the sons of John Chester were Thomas and Benajah. Thomas, who resided in the old Chester homestead at Shinnecossett, was pay- master for Connecticut troops in the Revolu- tionary War. On September 6, 1781, he armed three of his sons for the defence of Fort Griswold. Two of them were massacred after they had surrendered, and the other was taken prisoner. The land on which the Fort Gris- wold House and adjacent cottages now stand was owned by Benajah Chester and his son Starr. Their house was burned by the enemy during the war. Starr Chester, son of Bena- jah, subsequently purchased a large tract of land, a part of which is now known as Long Point. His son Nicholas became the father of Fanny, wife of Thomas Chester and mother of Mrs. Prest.
IDWARD P. BREWER, M.D., is an esteemed and successful physician of Norwich, his native town. A son of Pliny and Ellen M. (Whittemore) Brewer, he traces his descent by both parents to English colonists who came to New England in the early part of the seventeenth century. His great-great-grandfather, Isaac Brewer, first, died about the time of the Revolutionary War. Isaac Brewer, second, son of the first Isaac, married in 1747 Sibyl Miller, of Ludlow, Mass. They had eleven children, five sons and six daughters. Of these one son died in infancy and one at the age of seventeen. Lyman, the youngest son and tenth child, married Harriet Tyler, of Norwich, settled there, and became the father of Arthur Brewer. Isaac Brewer died when forty-seven years of age. Chauncey Brewer, born about 1776, who was the seventh child and third son, and who located in Wilbraham, Hampden County,
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Mass., owned a large tract of land extending from Ludlow to Springfield. He married Asenath Mandeville, who, with her father, had recently come from England. Seven sons and two daughters were born to them, of whom Pliny was the youngest. The mother, who survived the father several years, died at Nor- wich in 1871, over eighty years of age.
Pliny Brewer was born November 27, 1823, in Ludlow, Mass. When fourteen years of age he left home and came to Norwich. About the year 1848 he went into the cloth- ing business with his brother, John M. Brewer. He was in trade until 1862, when he enlisted for nine months' service in the Civil War, and went out as Lieutenant of Company G, Twenty-sixth Connecticut Regi- ment, which was assigned to the Department of the Gulf. After an absence of about a year he returned home, and was in active busi- ness until the spring of 1889, when he retired. In or about 1851 he was married to Ellen M. Whittemore, a native of Providence, R. I. Her ancestry is traced in England to the year 1211. Samuel Whittemore, the founder of the American family, came to the country in 1630. He purchased meadow lands along the Charles River, which were deeded to him by Cotton Mather. These lands, after having been in the family's possession for about two hundred and fifty years, were sold within the past twenty-five or thirty years. Several rep- resentatives of the Whittemore family were conspicuous as officers in the Revolution. Mrs. Ellen M. Brewer's grandfather served as Lieutenant throughout the war, being in the campaign against Burgoyne. Her great- grandfather, Benjamin Cady, and his son joined the Revolutionary army from Killingly, Conn. Her mother died in 1896, when eighty-five years of age. The children of Pliny Brewer and his wife were: Mary, now
living in Norwich; Florence, a resident of Wichita, Kan. ; Edward P., the subject of this sketch; and Frank, who was a medical student, and died of diphtheria in New York City. The mother's death occurred in Nor- wich, in December, 1895, when she was sixty- four years old.
Edward P. Brewer received the greater part of his college preparatory education under a private tutor. He then entered the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia, from which he received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Later he graduated from the Dartmouth Medical College. Ile continued his studies in New York and Philadelphia for five years. Then, in 1881, he established himself in Norwich, where he has since built up a large and successful practice. In 1895 he went to Europe, and studied under the most celebrated specialists in London, Paris, and Vienna. Since his return he has devoted himself to special work. He has been a con- stant contributor to the medical press, and has occupied important editorial positions. Pos- sessed of an inventive faculty, he has devised several important instruments, among which is the torsiometer, which has attracted much notice.
In 1886 Dr. Brewer was married to Miss Alice L. Boardman, of Norwich. Her par- ents were Clement and Louisa (Prentice) Boardman, of whom the latter is living. Mrs. Brewer's grandfather, General Mott, a civil engineer, drew the plans for the fortifications at New London, and accompanied the expedi- tion that captured Ticonderoga. Hler great. grandfather, General John Tyler, served in the Revolutionary War, having command of forces in the Newport and Long Island expeditions. Dr. and Mrs. Brewer have one child, Alice. Dr. Brewer votes with the Republican party. He is a member of the regular medical asso-
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ciations of the county, State, and country, and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In religion he is a Congregationalist and a member of the Broadway Congregational Church. The family reside at 18 Washing- ton Street, where he built his dwelling and office in 1891.
ILLIAM HARRIS BENTLEY, the second son of William and Hannah (Harris) Bentley, was born in New London, Conn., July 6, 1833. His father was descended from William Bentley, who came from Scotland in 1716. His mother was a lineal descendant of Governor William Bradford (1620) and Walter Harris, one of the first white settlers in the present town of New London. She grew up in the Blinman house, one of the houses which stood through the burning of New London in the Revolutionary War, and which is still in pos- session of her daughter, the street on which it is situated being named for the Rev. John Blinman, who built the house. Mr. Bent- ley's father received injuries from a severe fall on his vessel, which deprived him of his eyesight ; and he was obliged to abandon sea- faring life. As New London was then in the height of its prosperity owing to its whaling interests, he established a teaming business.
William H. Bentley, on coming of age, succeeded his father; and, as the demands of the business increased with the growth of the city, he added a wholesale and retail ice busi- ness at 24 State Street, wharfage at Howard Street, and a storage department and stables on Truman Street, all of which he still car- ries on. His residence is on Vauxhall Street. He became a member of the Second Congrega- tional Sunday-school in 1839, of which he is still a member, together with his three sons.
He joined the Niagara Engine Company, No. I, in 1848, filling all positions in the com- pany, from volunteer to chief engineer of the fire department of New London. He was one of the organizers of the Veteran Fireman As- 'sociation, of which he is now first vice-presi- dent. November 20, 1856, he married Miss Frances Leech, of Norwich, who died January 28, 1874. He enlisted in the Twenty-sixth Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers; and on formation of the company he was elected Cap- tain, and served with them during their enlist- ment, being in the siege of Port Hudson forty-two days, and having the entire charge of the regiment fifteen days. On his return he was unable to attend to business for a year, his health having been impaired from the ex- posure and hardships endured while in Louisi- ana. He has been a member of the Grand Army since its first formation in New Lon- don, filling its various offices, being appointed February 27, 1890, Aide-de-camp to General R. A. Alger, and appointed March 19, 1891, Aide-de-camp to General W. G. Vesey. He joined the Union Lodge, F. & A. M., in 1866, and is now Past Eminent Commander of Pal- estine Commandery, No. 6, K. T. He was elected Selectman for the town of New Lon- don, serving in 1869-72. Subsequent to the re-formation of the Third Regiment, C. N. G., in 1871, he was elected First Lieutenant of Company D (in 1873) ; promoted to Captain in 1881; promoted to Major, receiving sword, straps, and all insignia of the office from mem- bers of Company D in 1882; promoted to Lieutenant Colonel ; and honorably discharged June 30, 1886. He was a member of the State legislature in 1883, and served on the Military Committee. He was a charter mem- ber of the A. O. U. W., being the first Master Workman. He was a charter member of the Royal Arcanum. The New London
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CALVIN ALLYN.
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Board of Trade was formed in 1885, and he was its president in 1886. He has served the city twenty-one years as Councilman and Alderman. October 25, 1877, he married for his second wife Miss Charlotte Bingham, of Norwich, by whom he has four sons - George Bingham, William Harris, Julian Bingham, and Frank.
George graduated from the Bulkeley School in the class of 1897; William is a student at Bulkeley, in the class of 1898; Julian is now deceased; Frank is a student at the Robert Bartlett.
ALVIN ALLYN, a prosperous farmer of Norwich, belongs to a family that came to America in the early days of its settlement by white people, enduring with brave hardihood the privations and suffer- ings which were the lot of the early colonists. He is a direct descendant of Sir Robert Allyn, of England. Another of his ancestors was Lord Mayor of London, and the family coat of arms dates from the second crusade.
Robert Allyn, the immigrant progenitor of the branch of the family now being con - sidered, came over in 1637, and settled in Salem, Mass., remaining there until 1651, when he removed to New London, Conn., and obtained a large tract of land, including what is now Allyn Point, much of which is still in the family. From Robert Allyn the line de- scends, through John, Robert, Robert, James, a second James, and Charles, to Calvin, whose name appears at the beginning of this sketch. The younger James and his twin brother Ebenezer, who was the progenitor of the pres- ent Allyn Point branch, were born in that part of Groton which is now Ledyard, Conn., about 1750. James Allyn purchased the farm of John Dean, and the active years of his life were profitably spent in carrying it on.
James Allyn, Jr., was married in 1768 at Stonington, Conn., to Anna Stanton, of that place. She was descended from Thomas Stanton, the Indian interpreter. A coverlid made and marked by her mother in 1743 and a chair that belonged to her ancestors have been handed down as heirlooms to the present generation. The children of James and Anna (Stanton) Allyn were: Joseph, Anna, Althea, Martha, Jabez, Charles, and Roswell, all of whom had families except Jabez. The mother died at sixty-seven and the father at eighty-six years of age. Their remains are resting in what is known as the Allyn Burial-ground, which was taken from the old farm in the town of Ledyard. The house in which James Allyn, Jr., and his children were born was also the birthplace of Silas Deane, one of the commissioners to France in Revolutionary times.
Charles Allyn, father of Calvin, was born September 28, 1781, twenty-two days after the massacre of Fort Griswold, New London, headed by Arnold, the traitor, September 6, 1781. He became a well-to-do man and influ- ential citizen, and served acceptably as Se- lectman of Montville. He married in Groton, February 9, 1814, Miss Lois Gallup, a daugh- ter of Jacob Gallup, who was a son of Colonel Nathan Gallup, one of the Committee of Safety that advised with Governor Trumbull. The children born of this union were: Louisa; Robert ; Amanda; James; Calvin; and HIar- riet. Louisa married Robert A. Williams, of Preston, and died March 22, 1896, at eighty years of age, leaving five children. Robert was educated at the Wesleyan Uni- versity at Middletown, Conn., graduating in 1841. In 1857 he was elected Professor of Greek in Wesleyan University at Athens, Ohio; was afterward president of the Female College in Cincinnati, president of Mcken-
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dree College at Lebanon, Ill., and the first principal of Southern Illinois State Normal School at Carbondale, Ill. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by his Alma Mater, also that of Doctor of Laws; and he was ranked with the leading educators of the West. He died in Carbondale, Ill., January 7, 1894. Amanda, who was the wife of the Rev. Nathaniel Clark Lewis, a Metho- dist preacher, died September 19, 1891, in Onarga, Ill., leaving no children, and be- queathing her large property to the North- western University, at Evanston, near Chi- cago. Her husband was in the itinerancy in New England and Illinois, and was also en- gaged in university work. James Allyn, third, died in Waterford, Conn., March 18, 1893, aged seventy. Harriet lived to be but sixteen, and Calvin is now the sole survivor. At a family reunion held here August 15, 1889, all the sons and daughters except Har- riet were present. Their mother died April 28, 1860, at sixty-nine years of age; their father, May 13, 1868, at eighty-six.
Calvin Allyn was born in Groton, Conn., New London County, May 26, IS27. His early education was supplemented by a course at Wilbraham Academy; and after that he taught school for three winters, but eventually turned his attention to farming, in which he has met with good success. He came to Nor- wich from Montville, where he had lived for forty-nine years, and now resides on the farm known as the Riverview, which he purchased of the Jedediah Spalding estate in 1881. Commodore Perry was staying at the tavern here, which was kept by his father at the time he was ordered to Lake Erie, where he en- gaged with the British fleet, and won his famous victory of September 10, 1813.
On February 26, 1861, Mr. Allyn was united in marriage with Sarah A. Gallup.
She died in 1864, leaving one son, -Robert Gallup Allyn, who lived to be but eighteen years of age, dying in 1881. On November 7, 1865, Mr. Allyn was married to Mrs. Eunice A. Ames, born Raymond, a daughter of William and Eunice B. Raymond. By her former marriage she had one son, Charles W. Ames, who was accidentally drowned at seven- teen years of age. Three children blessed her union with Mr. Allyn, namely: Lois Anna. wife of Dwight L. Mason, a manufacturer of Winchendon, Mass. ; James Raymond Allyn, who is engaged in the market business in Nor- wich, is unmarried, and lives at home; and Martha S., who was graduated from the Nor- wich Free Academy in 1894 and from the Normal School in 1896, and is now pursuing the study of art, for which she has special aptitude. Mrs. Allyn died April 19, 1897.
Mr. Allyn votes in the ranks of the Repub- lican party, but prefers the quiet of home life to the turmoil of political service, and as a rule declines official honors.
URTIS LADD HAZEN, First Select- man of Sprague and a well-known farmer of this place, was born, son of Eli Hartshorn and Ruth Kingsbury (Ladd) Hazen, on the farm which is his home and in the house built in 1839 by Grandfather Hazen. Simeon, the grandfather of Curtis Hazen, was a son of Moses Hazen, and was born in 1769, in a house which stood on the homestead. He was a lifelong farmer, and resided on the farm now occupied by Charles T. Hazen. Although he always lived in the same place, his residence was in three different towns - Norwich, Franklin, and Sprague. This was owing to successive subdivisions of the town under two governments. Simeon was twice married. His first marriage was made with
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a Miss Simpson. The second wife, Temper- ance Sabin Hazen, was the grandmother of Curtis L. There were in all ten or twelve children in the family. Eli was born Febru- ary 27, 1816, in leap year, and so came near losing three-quarters of his birthdays. The event occurred in the red house now standing on the farm owned by his brother, Charles Thomas Hazen. He was an active man in town affairs, serving as Selectman, on the Board of Relief, and in other public posi- tions. He sang for sixty years in the choir of the Methodist church. Three years after his marriage his father built the house in which Curtis L. now resides, entailing it to Eli, who in turn entailed it to his son Curtis.
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