USA > Connecticut > New London County > Biographical review, containing life sketches of leading citizens of New London County, Connecticut > Part 23
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height, and fitted with one set of machinery. Some four or five years later two sets more were added, and the building was enlarged. About six years after the death of the elder Mr. Hall, Mr. Cook retired from the business. and the three brothers who now constitute the firm became sole proprietors. In 1878 the mil! was destroyed by fire, and a loss of sev- eral thousand dollars ensued. A brick build- ing, thirty-two by seventy-five feet, was, how- ever, soon . erected in place of the former wooden structure. This was devoted to scour- ing wool, and was in operation for about two years. In 1880 the Messrs. Hall built a part ot the present mill, and began the manufact- ure of ladies' dress goods, cloaking, etc. This new mill contained four sets of machin- ery. In 1882 an addition was built, and four sets more put up. In 1888 the Mohegan mill, a four-set mill in the town of Montville, was bought ; and during the last eight or nine years, despite the hard times, these mills have been kept in operation, the goods being sold in New York. The business done annually amounts to four hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and about one hundred and twenty men are employed. This presents a strong contrast to the first year when Mr. Hall be- came connected with the firm. Mr. Hall him- self then did the teaming, and the five hands employed received four cents per pound for making yarn, and earned about five dollars a day. The plant, now one of the most pros- perous in this section, has a wide reputation for turning out first-class product.
Mr. Hall was married at twenty-five years of age to Sarah Rogers, of Ledyard, daughter of James and Esther (Crouch) Rogers. Three children have been born to them; namely, Fannie and Flora (twins), and Joseph. Fannie is the wife of Frank C. Turner, of Norwich. Flora Hall, who resides with Mrs.
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Turner, was educated in the Boston Conserva- tory of Music, and is a pianist of merit. Jo- seph Hall, third, who is a young man of much ability, formerly a student in Harvard Uni- versity, has charge of the mill as superintend- ent. He designs many of the patterns used by the firm. Mrs. Sarah Hall died in 1873, at the age of thirty-five; and Mr. Hall married in 1878, for his second wife, Carrie B. Lucas, of Poquetanuck. By this marriage the fo !- lowing named children have been born : Grace, Raymond, Dorothy, Amanda, and Ralph Gardner.
Mr. Hall is a Republican in politics. He has not cared to serve in public office. In re- ligious faith he is Episcopalian. Hallville, which was built in 1880, covers about eighty acres of ground, and numbers thirty-two fam- ilies. Mr. Hall and his brother have built fine residences here. The mill and annexes cover about four acres.
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OHN WILLIAM KEENEY, for many years a farmer and latterly an exten- sive land-owner of Waterford, Conn., died at his home in this town, February 8, 1892, at the age of seventy-five years. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Frances A. E. Keeney, who before marriage was Miss Frances Ann E. Chappell, and by four sons - John William, Jr., Frank, Griswold, and George.
Mr. Keeney's paternal grandfather, whose name was William, was four times married. By his first wife, formerly a Miss Moore, he had four sons and one daughter, as follows : Ezra; Joseph, who went to New York State; John, father of John W. ; William; and Bet- sey, who married Baruch Beckwith. All these are now deceased. Grandfather Keeney died at the age of seventy-one, his fourth wife, born Chapell, surviving him five or six
years. They had one daughter, Mary, wife of Thomas Manwaring, now dead.
John Keeney, third son of William and father of the subject of this sketch, was a farmer, beginning life as a poor boy and by his own industry and enterprise securing a good estate. He married Eliza Darrow, and they reared three sons and one daughter. Allen A. Keeney, the only son now living, is a farmer on the old farm; and the daughter, Sarah Eliza Keeney, is with her sister-in-law, Mrs. Frances Keeney. The father died at the age of seventy-one, and the mother some five years later, at the age of sixty years.
John W. Keeney and Frances Ann E. Chappell, daughter of the Rev. Gurdon Tracy Chappell, were married at Lake Pond, on the 13th of October, 1839, by Elder Francis Dar- row. Mrs. Keeney was born at Lake Pond, November 19, 1819. Her father was pastor of the Baptist church at that place, and was a noble, broad-minded man, full of charity for all, reaching out a generous heart and hand far beyond the borders of his own denomination. He announced to the people that it was his desire to see ten persons band together to or- ganize a liberal church; and the fine Baptist church at Lake Pond, now standing, was built by him and a few others who were unwilling that he should bear the full expense. He preached many years without receiving any salary, and at his death left a fund for the poor whom he was in the habit of seeking out and visiting. He had a fine property, most of which was accumulated by his own energy and industry. His wife was Mary Ann Avery, a lady of education and refinement, descended from the notable Avery family famous in the annals of the Revolution, and well fitted by birth and breeding to occupy the position of a clergyman's helpmate. Thirteen of her family connections spilled their blood at Fort
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Griswold. She was married to Rev. Gurdon T. Chappell, when about twenty years of age, and died March 20, 1880, nearly fifty-nine years after. Her husband died in 1876, at seventy - five years of age. Their children numbered eleven, of whom Mrs. Keeney was the eldest. One son and a daughter died in infancy.
Mr. Keeney and his wife began life as tenant farmers near New London, where he had a milk route for three years. He then engaged in farming for two years on Mrs. Keeney's home farm at Lake Pond; and for the next two or three years he was in the meat business at Montville. In 1853 Mr. Keeney went to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama, leaving Mrs. Keeney with three chil- dren at home with her parents. After four years of successful business venture in Cali- fornia, Mr. Keeney returned and bought a farm here. He added to this in later years, and at the time of his death owned many hun- dreds of acres of land in different parcels. He was a member of the church and a de- voted Christian.
John William Keeney, Jr., eldest son of John W. and Frances A. E. (Chappell) Keeney, is a merchant in Waterford. He is married a second time, and has one son. Frank Keeney, the second son, living in New York City, married Clara Robinson in 1875. He is in company with his brother George in the firmi of Keeney Brothers, fish dealers in Fulton Market, established many years since and now carrying on a very prosperous busi- ness. Griswold Keeney, who is in the same business at 10 Fulton Street Market, in com- pany with Benjamin Wallace, married Fannie Nugent, and has had one daughter, now de- ceased. The fifth child, George Keeney, married Elizabeth, daughter of Captain Ed- ward Luce, and has two children - Mildred
and Edward. Another son, Allen F. Keeney, died August 26, 1857, in infancy.
OLLIS HYDE PALMER, a success- ful farmer of Preston, was born on the family homestead in this town, August 13, 1850, being the son of Charles and Lucy A. (Hyde) Palmer. He is a repre- sentative of the eighth generation in descent from his original American ancestor, Thomas Palmer, who was one of the founders of Row- ley, Mass., in 1639, and died there in 1669.
Thomas, grandson of the original Thomas Palmer, removed from Rowley to Norwich, Conn., and purchased there in 1723 the farm on which the subject of this sketch now lives, so that the latter is the sixth owner in lineal descent of property that has been one hundred and seventy-five years in the family. Jede- diah Palmer, grandson of the second Thomas Palmer, headed a petition whereby that part of Norwich lying east of the Quinnebaug River was set off in 1786 to Preston. His ancestral estate lay within the tract so ceded. He was one of the moneyed men of his time in his town, which intrusted him with various public offices. He married Esther Read, and had besides other children Walter, born in 1766, the grandfather of Hollis H.
Walter Palmer was by occupation a sur- veyor in early life, and later a farmer. He was a Deacon in the "strict Congregational " church of the so-called "Separatists" and a Justice of the Peace, and he also served in the legislature. He died in 1833, in the sixty- eighth year of his age. An interesting diary of his, kept when surveying in the lake region of Central New York, 1789-90, is still in existence. On March 25, 1792, he married Martha Pendleton, daughter of Joshua Pen- dleton, of Westerly, R. I., a Captain in the
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war of the Revolution. Twelve children were the fruit of their union, one son being Charles (deceased), father of the subject of this sketch. Colonel Edwin Palmer, now liv- ing in Norwich at the age of ninety-two, is the sixth child and third son. The other sur- viving members of the family are: Mary Ann, widow of Luther Pellett, also of Norwich; and Joseph P., the youngest son, who resides in the town of Andover, Tolland County, Conn.
Charles Palmer was born in 1807 on the old farm, and here spent a long and useful life. He married Lucy A., daughter of Elijah and Lydia (Burnham) Hyde, and had four chil- dren, as follows: Charles L., Lydia A., Martha A., and Hollis Hyde. Charles L. Palmer is a merchant of Irwin, Pa., is married, and has a family. Lydia A. Palmer was a school teacher. She died at the age of twenty-five. The father died here in 1887. He was an exemplary member of the Congre- gational church, a man of sterling character and marked integrity, quiet and unostenta- tious in habit, genial and kindly in disposi- tion, a true son of a pious ancestry. Mrs. Lucy A. Palmer, surviving her husband, lives with her daughter, Martha A., at Preston City.
Hollis Hyde Palmer was educated in the schools of Preston and in a school at Hanover, Conn., where he was a student one term. He married October 23, 1877, Lydia E. Davis, the only daughter of Oliver and Emily J. (Crary) Davis, of Preston. She has five brothers. Mr. and Mrs. Palmer have lived on this and the adjoining farm since their mar- riage, having purchased in 1889 the l'almer homestead of two hundred and twenty-six acres. Mr. Palmer has a well-managed and very productive farm. He raises grass, corn, and potatoes in large quantities, and, keep-
ing twenty grade Jersey cows, sells the cream and milk; while Mrs. Palmer has fine flocks of turkeys and chickens. They have four chil- dren - Clara M., Frank H., Mary E., and Emily Crary. The eldest daughter has a taste for books. She is a student in the Williman- tic Normal School. Frank H., the only son, now seventeen years of age, assists his father on the farm. The younger daughters are both in school.
Mr. Palmer is a member of the Preston City Grange, No. 110, of which he is Master. He is Republican in his political views and affiliations, and has served as Selectman (as did several of his ancestors before him) and upon the Board of Assessors. In religion he is a Congregationalist, and is the superin- tendent of the Sunday-school at the present time.
APTAIN JAMES V. LUCE, a well- known manufacturer of East Lyme, Conn., is native of the island of Martha's Vineyard, where the family is nu- merously represented and much respected. He was born May 14, 1838, son of Cathcart and Mary Luce. His paternal grandfather, a resi- dent of the Vineyard, was a master mariner, and followed the sea for many years. Cath- cart Luce was in the whaling business until about fifty years of age. In 1838 or IS39 he came to East Lyme, where he settled on his farm of one hundred and sixty acres, and here spent the rest of his life. He had a family of nine children, five sons and four daughters, all of whom grew to maturity, and all married except Charles, who went to California among the "forty-niners," and died there at the age of twenty-seven. The living children of this family are: Edward and John, of Niantic; and Captain Jamies V., of Lyme.
James V. Luce passed his boyhood on his
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JAMES V. LUCE.
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:ther's farm, now his own property; and, in- 1, the old home has been his residence aring his life, excepting the five years that « spent in Virginia, where he was operating i stamp-mill in quartz gold mining. He wHan in the fish-oil and guano business with his brothers in the year 1857 on Giant's Neck, 4 mile from the farm. Starting in a small way, they gradually extended the business until they have had factories in Delaware, at Portland, Me., in Long Island, and on Rocky Veck in this county, also a floating factory, which was stationed at Oyster Bay, and later at Prince's Bay, and at other points wherever fish were most plentiful. Their factories cost from ten thousand to twenty thousand dol- lars each, and the expense of running them has some years been over eighty thousand dol- lars. For the past ten years they have oper- ated but two factories, one in Delaware and the one here. At one time Luce Brothers owned and ran four steamers in their business, these being from one hundred and fifty to two hundred tons' burden. Their trade has been altogether wholesale. In 1896 they engaged in the manufacture of phosphates, sending out welling agents. The factory of Luce Brothers is a large building fitted in the most perfect and elaborate manner for the guano and phos- phate manufacture, and conducted on most energetic and business-like principles. Cap- tain Luce owns ten acres of land on Rocky Neck, and has operated the stone quarry there for the past fifteen years, doing considerable business in shipping rock for building sea walls and other substructures.
At the age of twenty-three Captain Luce was married to Sophia A. Havens, of this town, daughter of Silas Havens. She died May 23, 1882, leaving no children. The Captain married for his second wife Terrie F. Havens, sister of the first Mrs. Luce. By
this union there are two children: Laura S., aged eleven years; and Ervin J., aged ten. Captain and Mrs. Luce are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, the former being an active and efficient officer in the church.
SCAR MAXSON BARBER, M.D., a successful medical practitioner in Mystic, was born in Hopkinton, R.I., June 25, IS37, son of Franklin and Lydia W. (Maxson) Barber. His ancestors were Welsh, Scotch, and English. The founder of the family in America, Moses Barber, was in Rhode Island in 1652. The great-grandpar- ents of Oscar M. were Joseph and Deliverance Barber. The maiden name of the latter was not changed by marriage. Joseph was a ship- builder in Westerly, R. I. In 1804 he built the "Dauphin," which was the first whaler built in that locality ; and he was its principal owner. She sailed from New London, Sep- tember 6, 1805. Sprague, son of Joseph, was a sea captain in Westerly. He married Lucy Stillman, a daughter of Colonel George Still- man, of Westerly, R.I. Sprague Barber and his wife reared several sons and daughters.
Franklin Barber, son of Sprague, was born in Westerly in 1808. He removed to Mystic in 1849. In the same year he became inter- ested in a woollen factory that was established by the Greenman Company. He married Lydia W. Maxson, of Hopkinton, R.I. They had four children, of whom two died in in- fancy. The others are: Oscar M .; and his brother Leander, who also resides here. The father died in Mystic in 1856. The mother, now in her eightieth year, is an honored mem - ber of the Daughters of the Revolution. Her earliest known ancestor, the Rev. John Max- son, born in 1638, was a minister of the Seventh Day Baptist denomination. His son
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John was one of the organizers of the town of Westerly in 1660. The Rev. John Crandall, who was also one of the organizers, was another maternal ancestor. He died in 1676. Phineas Crandall, who was born in Westerly, April 7, 1743, died at the age of ninety. His daughter Eliza, the great-great-aunt of Oscar Maxson, was a resident of Rhode Island, and died in 1897, aged ninety-five years. On the old Colonial records and in those of the Revo- lution and of the War of 1812 will be found several of the names of other ancestors as well as the foregoing. Grandfather Maxson was a Captain during the latter war.
Oscar Maxson Barber, after attending the common schools and Mystic Academy, studied in the New York Homoeopathic College, from which he was graduated in the class of 1871. He then entered upon his profession in Mystic, which had been his home since he was eleven years old. He succeeded to the practice of Dr. A. W. Brown, and his success- ful work now covers a quarter of a century. In politics he affiliates with the Republican party. He is Health Officer of Stonington, Conn. In 1889 he attended the Paris Exposi- tion, and in 1892 he made a European tour, returning with much food for thought; and he was also a visitor to the World's Fair at Chicago.
URDON F. ALLYN, farmer and auctioneer of Salem, New London County, Conn., was born at Gale's Ferry, in the town of Ledyard, this State, October 1, 1826, son of Gurdon L. and Sarah S. (Bradford) Allyn. His paternal grand- father, Nathan Allyn, was the captain of a merchantman sailing to the West India Islands. He married a Miss Lester, by whom he had three children - Hannah, Nathan, and
Gurdon L. His death occurred on a return voyage from the West Indies, and he was buried at sca. Mrs. Allyn survived her hus- band, and lived a widow for many years, dying at the age of eighty. Her daughter Hannah married John D. Bradford. Both sons fol- lowed the sea. Gurdon L. Allyn, who was the third child, sailed with his father when only eleven years of age. He became the master of a vessel at the age of twenty-two, and later was part owner of many vessels and in various enterprises. He made two whaling voyages, one of two and one of four years' duration; and he shipped guano off the coast of Africa, on the Island of Ichaboe, when this rich deposit was first opened up. He had previously known of this new product, and thought of going to Africa; but, when he made his first trip, the English had opened it, and he paid twenty-five hundred dollars for the privilege of using one of the stagings, the only wharf there. He was also in the guano trade from Patagonia. An active, enterpris- ing, and rather adventurous man, making and losing large sums by his open-handed ways and confiding nature, he left at the time of his death only a fair estate. He participated in the Civil War in the war vessel " St. Law- rence," of which he was acting master, though not the captain. While in Hampton Roads the vessel was fired upon by the rebels, and some of the flying shot and shell entered the cabin, one cutting off a leg of the table at which he was seated, engaged in writing. Coming from Gale's Ferry to Salem in 1839. he purchased a farm, a grist-mill, and a saw- mill, and had his home here until 1863. He left the sea at the age of eighty, and spent his last years at Gale's Ferry, dying in 1891. at the age of ninety-two. His wife, who was a daughter of Adonijah Fitch and Sarah (Dol- beare) Bradford, died two years before at the
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age of eighty-nine. They had five children, of whom three lived to maturity. The first- born, an infant son, died in infancy; Gurdon F. was the second child; James M. died on the Isthmus of Panama on his way from Peru to California in 1855, at the age of twenty- three years; the fourth child died young; and the fifth, Sarah E., wife of Thomas Latham, lives at Gale's Ferry.
Mr. Gurdon F. Allyn was educated at Bacon Academy. On March 7, 1851, he mar- ried Sarah Raymond Dolbeare, a native of East Lyme and a daughter of John and Eunice (Morgan) Dolbeare, of East Haddam. Mr. and Mrs. Allyn have no children; but they have fostered one boy, Herbert E. Beard, who is now a dealer or travelling trader in milk and produce. He is married and has one son. Mr. and Mrs. Allyn came to their present home about thirty-three years ago. The farm consists of one hundred and forty- five acres, for which they paid twenty-three hundred dollars. The house is more than a century old, and was in former days the half- way tavern on the stage road from Essex to Norwich.
Mr. Allyn is an adherent of the Republican party, has served as First Selectman, has represented Salem in the legislature at three different times, has also been School Visi- tor, and has held other minor offices. He is a Deacon of the Congregational church and superintendent of the Sunday-school. He has been the town auctioneer for the past twenty- five years; and, though he began the business with diffidence, he has abundantly proved his skill and efficiency in conducting public sales. Although the greater part of his life has been spent as a landsman and in New London County, Mr. Allyn has travelled and seen something of the world. When nineteen years of age he sailed with his father to the
coast of Africa, and on the return voyage visited the grave of Napoleon on the Isle of St. Helena.
RS. SARAH M. MORGAN,
widow of Edward Morgan, resides upon her farm in Waterford, six miles north of New London. She is the only child of George and Sarah (Powers) Gibson, both of this section of the country. Her grandfather resided in New London until his house was sacked and burned by the British in 1781, when he settled on the farm now owned by Mrs. Morgan. Her father died here, March 23, 1835; and his widow died Novem- ber 24, 1853, at the age of sixty-four years. They are buried in the Cedar Grove Ceme- tery at New London.
Miss Gibson married Edward Morgan, Oc- tober 15, 1837, son of Guy and Nancy (Gris- wold) Morgan. Mr. Morgan's grandfather was a man of force and character. He settled in Ohio in the early days, taking all his chil- dren but his oldest son Justus, whom he left on the old farm. He died suddenly in Ohio, just past middle life, having accumulated con- siderable property. His wife was a Pickett, of Wyoming County, New York. His son Guy was born in Wethersfield, Conn. He took up wild land in Wyoming County. His wife belonged to a good family of Wethers- field.
Mr. Edward Morgan was born at Wethers- ford Springs, August 18, 1818, and died March 12, 1888, during the great and memo- rable blizzard of that year. The snow em- bargo was so complete that the news of his death could only be telegraphed to his family at Hartford by a cable sent to England, back to Boston, and thence to Hartford. He was a prominent citizen, a man of military tastes, and was Captain of a company for many
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years. Mrs. Morgan reared eight of her twelve children - Nancy, Martha M., Stanley G., Stephen, Rowena, Strong, Kittie Lu- cretia, and Lottie. Nancy is the wife of Edgar R. Smith, of Wethersfield, and has two daughters; Martha M., wife of Henry Way in East Lyme, has one daughter and a son; Stan- ley G., a farmer in the vicinity, has two daughters and one son, all bright and interest- ing children; Stephen is unmarried, and re- mains at the homestead, carrying on the farm; Rowena, widow of Martin Cadwell, has two daughters; Strong is unmarried, and is a com- mercial traveller, located at Meriden, Conn .; Kittie Lucretia is at home; and Lottie is the wife of Frank S. Seymour, of Hartford, and has one son and a daughter. Mrs. Morgan is a member of the Baptist church. She has been able to give all her children a good schooling, and is now happily surrounded by her many children and grandchildren.
ATHANIEL PENDLETON NOYES, a respected and lifelong resident of Stonington and a son of Captain Franklin and Susan (Pendleton) Noyes, was born here, March 12, 1846. One of his early ancestors was William Noyes, who, born in Choulderton, England, was made rector of Wiltshire, England. In 1602 William mar- ried Anna Parker, of Choulderton, and they had two children: James, born in 1608; and Nicholas, born in 1616. James, who was ed- ucated for the ministry at Brasenose College, Oxford, came to America in 1634, on the ship "Mary and John." He preached in Medford, Mass., that year. In 1635 he accepted a call to Newbury, Mass., where he labored until his death, which occurred October 22, 1656. He married Sarah Brown, of Southampton, in 1634, just before leaving England. They had
nine children, six sons and three daughters. Their second child, James, born in 1639. graduated at Harvard College, and was or- dained pastor of the church in Stonington or the day before his marriage. He was one of the founders of Yale College. He married Dorothy Stanton, September 11, 1674; and they had five sons and two daughters. He died in Stonington, December 30, 1719, aged nearly eighty years. The pier slab that for more than a century has been over his grave in the old Wequetequock burying-ground in Stonington, has the following inscription : "In expectation of a joyful resurrection to eternal life, here lyeth interred ye body of the Rev. Mr. James Noyes, aged eighty years. who after a faithful serving of the Church of Christ in this place for more than fifty-five years, deceased Dec. ye 30, 1719-20. Maj- esty, meekness and humility here meet in one, with greatest charity." One of his sons, Captain Thomas, born August 14, 1679, on September 3, 1705, married Elizabeth San- ford, a daughter of Governor Sanford and .a grand-daughter of Governor William Codding- ton, of Rhode Island. They had five sons and seven daughters. Their son, Thomas, born January 26, 1710, married Mary Thompso' of Westerly, R.I., March 1, 1731. His Thomas, born in 1739, married on January 1760, and died at the age of ninety-two the old house which formerly stood near residence of the subject of this sketch. I. wife, Mary E. Cobb Noyes, a daughter c Henry Cobb, of Stonington, born February 15, 1740, died in March, 1833, aged ninety- four. They spent seventy years together in the old house that was burned in 1855. They had eight sons and two daughters.
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