USA > Connecticut > New London County > Biographical review, containing life sketches of leading citizens of New London County, Connecticut > Part 24
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Nathaniel Noyes, the third child of Thomas and Mary E. Noyes and the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Stoningt-
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in 1771, and died there in 1854. On Febru- ary 11, 1800, he married Mary Saunders, of Stonington, who died in 1852. They had two sons and six daughters, all of whom were mar- ried. Their son Franklin, who was a seafar- ing man and the master and a part owner of several vessels, died April 15, 1892. He married June 14, 1829, Susan B. Pendleton, a daughter of Paul and Sabra Pendleton, of Westerly, R.I., and who died February 29, 1880. They had eight children - Charles E. P., Thomas J., Benjamin F., William P., Susan Sabrina, Paul Pendleton, Mary A., and Nathaniel P. Benjamin was lost at sea in November, 1859.
Nathaniel P. Noyes attended the common schools in Stonington. After attaining the age of eighteen years, he served as Assistant Postmaster to Franklin Williams for fifteen months. Subsequently he completed a course at the Eastman Business College, Poughkeep- sie, N. Y., graduating therefrom in the class of 1865. On his return home he was made Assistant Postmaster to Enoch B. Pendleton, of Westerly, R. I., a position which he held for three years. For the next five years he was employed in the United States railway mail service, on the night train between Bos- ton and New York. After this his health broke down, and obliged him to spend three winters in the South. In 1875, having re- gained his health, he - again entered the Westerly office as Assistant Postmaster to Eugene B. Pendleton; but after seven years' service he was again obliged to go South on account of failing health. He came back to Stonington again, however, and in 1885 en- tered the Stonington office as Assistant Post- master, and served three and a half years under Postmasters James Pendleton and Elias B. Hinckley. Appointed Postmaster on De- cember 23, 1890, by President Harrison, he
held the office from February 1, 1891, to March I, 1895. He was doorkeeper of the House of Representatives during the session of 1897.
In politics Mr. Noyes is a stanch Republi- can. On October 30, 1869, he married Fannie S. Hall, a daughter of Thomas and Phoebe C. Hall, of Westerly. They have had two children: Minnie Pauline, a young girl of considerable musical and artistic ability ; and Harry Pendleton, a bright boy of fifteen. Mr. and Mrs. Noyes and their daughter are members of the First Baptist Church of Ston- ington.
ATHAN DENISON NOYES, a re- tired gentleman of Mystic, was born in Stonington, Conn., January 20, 1832, son of Nathan Stanton and Nancy (Denison) Noyes. The family trace their lineage in England to a period prior to 1600. The Rev. William Noyes, the rector of the diocese of Salisbury in 1602, resigned in favor of his brother Nathan in 1620, and be- came attorney-general to James I. He mar- ried Miss Parker; and their sons, James and Nicholas, came to America in the ship "Mary and John," settling in Newburyport, Mass. The Rev. James Noyes, after he had seceded from the Church of England and gone to Holland, returned to Southampton, where he married Sarah Brown in 1634, previous to his emigration. His son, the Rev. James Noyes (second), born March 11, 1640, was graduated from Harvard College in 1659, and ordained in 1674. This ancestor was the pas- tor of the Road Church -- which was estab- lished over two hundred and fifty years ago - for fifty-five and a half years, and died at the age of eighty. Dr. Bacon, of New Haven, said of him, "He was one of the leading di- vines of the country, and was greatly respected for his unswerving piety in those perilous and
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trying times, being distinguished not. only for his fervor and heavenly zeal in his public min- istry, but for his ordinary conversation, which breathed the spirit of that world to which he endeavored to guide his fellow-man." He was also eminently useful in theological controver- sies. During King Philip's War he served as physician and surgeon. The General Court gave him an equal share with the volunteers of the Narragansett Bay Company, said grant comprising the present town of Voluntown. Although then old and in a remote corner of the colony, his influence was deemed necessary to the success of the project of establishing Yale College; and he was one of the founders and one of the trustees of that institution. He died December 30, 1719.
The Rev. Joseph Noyes, son of the preced- ing James Noyes, became pastor of the First Congregational Church in New Haven, Conn., and one of the first professors of Yale College. He married Abigail Pierrepont, who was a sister of the wife of the first Jonathan Ed- wards. Deacon John, another son, married Mary Gallup; and they had four sons and three daughters. The sons were: William, John, Joseph, and James. Joseph wedded Prudence Denison in 1763. Their son, Jo- seph Noyes (second), the paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, contracted his first marriage on November 30, 1790, with Zerviah Wheeler, who had seven sons and one daughter, and reared five sons and the daughter. Nathan Stanton Noyes, the only survivor, is an aged resident of Stonington, Conn., where he was born January 7, 1804. He is still bright and active mentally. He married Nancy Denison, a daughter of Ethan and Eliza (Williams) Denison. By Joseph Noyes's second marriage, which was made with Eunice Cheesebrough on January II, 1814, there were five sons and four daughters.
Nathan Denison Noyes, after acquiring his school education, was engaged as clerk in a dry-goods store in Providence, R.I., and later in the store of John Hyde at Upper Mystic. In October, 1853, he went to St. Louis, where he was clerk for a large wholesale dry- goods jobbing house. Three years later, in December, he became a member of the firm Claflin, Allen & Co., in the wholesale boot and shoe business, of which firm Governor Claflin, of Massachusetts, was the head. He retired from this connection in 1862 to be- come a partner in the firm of Appleton, Noyes & Co., who carried on the same business, and was the buyer in the Boston and other markets during that firm's existence.
On August 4, 1857, in Mystic, Mr. Noyes was united in marriage with Adelia Miner Randall, a native of Hartford, Conn. In 1873 they removed from St. Louis to Newton, Mass., where they resided sixteen years, going from thence to Newton Highlands. From the latter place in 1894 they came to Mystic, taking possession of their present ele- gant residence on West Mystic Avenue. Mr. Noyes's chief occupation since has been the raising and breeding of poultry, which he dis- poses of by wholesale.
Mrs. Noyes's paternal great-grandfather, Jonathan Randall, married Ann Crary, of Groton, Conn. They were intellectual and well-to-do. He was a tanner and fuller, own- ing a tannery and fulling-mill in Norwich during the Revolutionary War. His daugh- ters married into the best families. His son Jedediah, the grandfather of Mrs. Noyes, used to say : "I have four sisters. One married a Vanbuskirk, one a King, another a Lord, and another a Cooper." Colonel Ebenezer Avery (second) was Mrs. Noyes's maternal great- grandfather. He served in the Revolutionary War, and was killed at Fort Griswold. Her
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maternal grandparents were Dr. John Owen and Elizabeth (Avery) Miller, the latter born October 28, 1768. Her parents were Isaac and Adelia (Miner) Randall. Mrs. Noyes's mother was the youngest of nine children, all of whom were remarkable instances of lon- gevity. The eldest daughter died at the age of ninety-six, and the youngest at the age of eighty-four. Mrs. Noyes is the eldest daugh- ter of eight children, of whom two sons died in early infancy. The other survivors are : John F. and Charles Arthur. John F. Ran- dall is in business in St. Louis. Charles A. is in Prescott, Ariz., mining for gold and silver. Jedediah, the eldest, was Captain of Company K, Twenty-sixth Connecticut Regi- ment, in 1862. He died in the Baton Rouge Hospital, June 9, 1863, in the twenty-eighth year of his age, having been mortally wounded at Port Hudson. The father, who was born in Milltown, Conn., in 1808, was married in 1831. He died March 9, 1881. The mother, who was born September 6, 1809, died Au- gust 19, 1893, at Newton Highlands, Mass. Mrs. Noyes is the happy possessor of many ancient and interesting family relics, some of which are nearly two hundred years old.
HARLES BISHOP, a retired business man of New London, was born in Montville, Conn., June 20, 1813. Son of Charles and Charlotte (Lattimer) Bishop, he comes of English origin. His first American ancestor, Nicholas Bishop, was kidnapped from the Isle of Wight when a boy, brought to this country, and sold to a man named Dart for the price of his passage. When Nicholas reached manhood, he married Dart's daughter. They had a son, Nicholas, who married Hannah Douglas on February 14,
1749. This Nicholas had five sons and four daughters. llis fourth child and third son, Joseph, born August 14, 1758, who was a farmer in Montville, married Desire Gilbert in 1781. Of Joseph's four sons and five dangh- ters the first child was a girl, and two sons and three daughters grew up.
Charles Bishop, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Montville, April 20, 1784. In his early manhood he was a farmer and a school teacher; but afterward he went into the grocery business, setting up a store in New London, near the centre of the town. He died in this town at the age of eighty-two. His wife, Charlotte, a daughter of Henry and Sarah (Christophers) Lattimer, whom he mar- ried in September, 1809, had seven sons and one daughter, all of whom reached old age. They were: John and David, who each died at eighty-two; Charles, the subject of this sketch; Joseph, who died when past middle age; Charlotte, the widow of Ezra S. Beck- with; Henry, who died in 1891; Gilbert, a retired lumberman of New London ; and Elias, the superintendent of the cemetery.
Charles Bishop received his education in the district schools and in Chesterfield. When he was sixteen years old, he obtained employment in a store as a clerk, and stayed there four years. Then he went to Fisher's Island for a short time. When he was twenty he began to learn the carpenter's trade, serv- ing two years with his elder brother John. He and John started in the lumber and build- ing business in 1838. In 1892 he retired.
Mr. Bishop built his large and handsome house, 16 Franklin Street, in 1866. Besides this he owns twenty tenements and a cottage at Eastern Point. In politics he is a Demo- crat. He was Selectman, Councilman, and Assessor for a number of years. He has also served on the Board of Relief. Although
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trained in the Baptist church, he has been an earnest member of the Universalist congrega- tion for years; and he helped that society very much in building their last church edifice. The first of his two marriages was contracted with Cynthia Davidson, of Preston, in 1838. Of their eight children, three died in child- hood. The others were: Charlotte, the wife of the Hon. Thomas M. Waller; Dr. H. M. Bishop, now in Los Angeles, Cal .; Charies A., a lumberman in New London; Adam F., a dentist in New London; and George, now dead, who was a dentist in California, and left a widow and three sons in Los Angeles. Mrs. Cynthia Davidson Bishop died in 1892; and in 1893, Mr. Bishop married Mrs. Cor- delia Sanford Young, a widow, of Danielson, Conn.
of New York City; and Robert, father of Dr. George Minor.
Robert C. Minor is the well-known artist of New York City, where he has spent the greater part of his life. He studied art at Antwerp, and in Holland with Diaz; and wbile in France he was the personal friend of Corot. He has been twice abroad, spend- ing in all eight years. In the Paris Exposi- tion of 1890 he received a medal from the French Salon, an honor much coveted by every artist of whatever nation. He is a member of the National Academy of Design, and was one of the organizers of the Salma- gundi Society. His studio is in Sherwood Studios. Mr. Robert C. Minor married Isa- bel Smith, daughter of Orrin F. and Emma A. (Loomis) Smith, of New London. He has one daughter living : Louise, sister of Dr. Minor, and now the wife of Hermon F. Tie- man, son of ex-Mayor Tieman.
EORGE MAYNARD MINOR, the well-known medical practitioner of George M. Minor was educated in the pub- lic schools of Brooklyn and in Plainfield Academy. He then pursued a course of medi- cal studies in the Long Island College Hospi- tal, and graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1885. . He began the practice of his profession as anibulance surgeon of St. Peter's Hospital, where he remained for two years. He then accepted the position of sur- geon on the steamship "Illinois," and in ISSS came to Waterford. Here he met and mar- ried on November 19, 1895, Miss Anne B. Rogers, daughter of James Chapman Rogers, a well-known sea captain of New London, and his wife, Nancy Hazeltine Beckwith, the father born in New London, and the mother in East Lyme, in the house where Mrs. Miner was born. Mrs. Rogers's father was a well- known ship-builder. She was married in 1849. Her husband died in 1866, leaving Waterford, is a native of Stamford, Conn. He was born in 1863, and is the son of Robert C. and Isabel (Smith) Minor. Dr. Minor's paternal ancestor a few generations back, Captain John Minor, son of Thomas, of New London and Stonington, was one of the first settlers of Woodbury, going to that place from New London, and dying there, as re- corded in the History of Woodbury, Sep- tember 17, 1719. He was Town Clerk of Woodbury for thirty years, and "for twenty years almost always a member of the General Court." Israel Minor, Dr. Minor's grand- father, was born at Woodbury, and died in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1893. His wife was be- fore marriage Charlotte Crandall, of New Lon- don. She is still living in Brooklyn, at the age of ninety, in good mental and physical condition. Of her four sons two are now liv- ing : John Crandall Minor, M. D., a physician | her with five children to care for. All are
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now living, and are as follows: Irene, wife of William N. Coates, of this place; Julius, a resident of Tarrytown, N. Y. ; Alida, wife of James' D. Hanan, of Brooklyn, N. Y., son of James D. Hanan, of the well-known firm of Hanan & Son; Frank E., of Tarrytown; and Mrs. Minor.
Seven or eight years ago Mrs. Minor built and opened Konomae Inn, which is now one of the most popular summer hotels on the Sound. Beginning on a small scale and with but few guests, the business has increased so that now from fifty to sixty guests are entertained. The success of this enterprise is due to the careful attention to the comfort of all persons in the house, and to the most excellent ar- rangements of the inn, and its unrivalled table service. Abundant amusement is offered, in- cluding golf, yachting, and tennis, no pains being spared to make the place a delightful resort. That this fact is appreciated by the guests is evidenced by the growing patronage the inn receives and the many words of praise that are heard every summer. Mrs. Minor is a member of the society of Daughters of the American Revolution. Dr. Minor is a Mas- ter Mason, and exceedingly popular in the order. He is an independent voter, is the Health Officer of this town, and Medical Ex- aminer for the coroner.
9P IZRA JUDSON HEMPSTEAD, a promi- nent farmer of Waterford, Conn., son of Orlando Hallem and Julia Ann (Rogers) Hempstead, was born at Waterford, June 3, 1851. He is a direct descendant in the male line of Robert Hempstead, who came to this country from England, and was one of the first settlers of New London in 1645. On the maternal side Mr. Hempstead traces his lineage to James Rogers, supposed
to be the immigrant of that name (without the s) who came over in the ' Increase " in 1635. James Rogers lived for some years at Mil- ford, Conn., and between 1656 and 1660 set- tled in the New London plantation. He carried on an extensive business as a baker, and became the owner of a large estate near New London, which has, however, to-day dwindled to the twenty-acre farm of Mrs. Hempstead. Some of the Rogers family were Quakers, and a part of the town settled by them has thus been known as Quaker Hill.
Mr. Ezra J. Hempstead's great - grand- father Hempstead bore the name of Robert. His grandfather, George W. Hempstead, was a farmer in Stonington and a shoemaker in New London. Alfred and Orlando Hemp- stead, sons of George, went to New London when young men, and together established there a blacksmith shop on the Neck, where they carried on a successful business in gen- eral blacksmithing and the ironing of vessels.
Orlando Hallem Hempstead, son of George W. and father of Ezra Judson, was born in North Stonington, March 23, 1809, and died at his farm in North Waterford, April 19, 1874. He was married January 1, 1832, to Julia Ann Rogers, daughter of Jonathan and Sarah Rogers, who were cousins. The farm- house where Mrs. Hempstead now lives was built by him over fifty years ago. They had one daughter and seven sons who reached ma- turity, and two sons who died in infancy. Four of these children are now living : Eliza- beth, wife of Stephen C. Comstock; George W., of Main Street, New London; Andrew Jackson, a bachelor, at home 'on the old farm; and Ezra Judson Hempstead, the seventh son, the subject of this sketch. Francis Alexan- der died at twenty-seven years of age. Mrs. Julia A. Hempstead is the oldest living mem- ber of the Second Congregational Church at
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New London, with which she united herself in 1836. During the later years of his life her husband was a Republican, but was formerly a Democrat. He served in many of the town offices.
Ezra Judson Hempstead was educated in the New London schools, including the old Bart- lett High School, the Connecticut State Nor- mal School, and Scofield's Business College at Providence, R. I. In early manhood he taught school for some seven years at Water- ford and other towns. Mr. Hempstead is Master of New London County Pomona Grange and State Deputy of the State Grange. He also belongs to the A. O. U. W. He is a Republican, and has served on the Board of Education for twenty years, at least part of that time being its chairman. He is much interested in the Quaker Hill Church, where in case of an emergency he fills the pulpit. He is a member of the Second Con- gregational Church at New London.
December 25, 1877, Ezra Judson Hempstead married Mary M. Smith, of Eric, Pa., daugh- ter of Newman and Mary Harris Smith. They have two children : Ezra Judson Hemp- stead, Jr., now eighteen years old, who, hav- ing graduated from the Bulkeley High School of New London and spent one year at Mr. Moody's world- famous school at Northfield, is now living with his parents upon their farm; and Agnes Burchard, born December 16, 1887.
Ezra Judson Hempstead has a place of about two hundred acres, known as the Browning Beach Farm. It is delightfully situated on the Thames River, and has long been a favor- ite resort for the people of that neighborhood. The house, standing well back from the high- way, is interesting on account of its age, hav- ing weathered about one hundred years. The views from the farm, both of the surrounding
charming country and of the river, harbor, and far-off, shining waters of the Sound, are pict- uresque and beautiful.
REDERICK DENISON CHESEBRO, one of Stonington's most venerable and honored citizens, a descendant of Will- iam Chesebro, was born here October 20, 1805, when the place was known as Stoning- ton Point. His parents were Elder Elihu and Lydia (Chesebro) Chesebro.
The History of the First Congregational Church, Stonington, contains an interesting account of the life of his pioneer ancestor, from which the following is condensed : Will- iam Chesebrough, the first white man who made a permanent settlement in what is now Stonington, was born in Boston, Lincolnshire, England, in 1594, and there married Anna Stevenson, December 6, 1620. He came to this country with Winthrop's fleet in 1630, settled in Boston, Mass., and soon became a member of the First Church. He was made a freeman of the Colony in 1631; and in 1632 he was one of two men chosen for Bos- ton in compliance with the order that there should be "two of every plantation to confer with the Court about raising a public stock." "And this," says Prince, in his New England Chronology, referring to the measure, "seems to pave the way for a House of Representa- tives in the General Courts." After residing in Boston several years, serving as Constable and being otherwise active in public affairs, he removed to Braintree, Mass., and while there was Deputy to the General Court. Later he lived for a time at Rehoboth, where in 1643 his list was returned at four hundred and fifty pounds ; and in 1644 he was one of the planters there who signed a compact by which they agreed to be governed by nine persons,
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"according to law and equity," until they should subject themselves jointly to some other government. Owing to an affray with an Ind- ian he was in disfavor ; and in 1645 he visited the colony of John Winthrop, Jr., at Pequot, now New London, Conn., and finally, in 1649, he and his family settled at Wequetequoc, now Stonington. He was a gunsmith, and worked at his trade until he came here, when he be- came a farmer and stock-raiser, owning large tracts of land. He traded with the Indians, and was accused of selling them weapons of warfare, which brought him before the au- thorities; but he was an active man in busi- ness and public affairs, and drew a goodly number of settlers about him, making a place of some importance for that period. He was a man of more than ordinary ability and force ; and during the time that his settlement, We- quetequoc, was in the jurisdiction of Massa- chusetts, 1658-62, he was one of those ap- pointed to manage the prudential affairs of the town. He was elected Deputy to the General Court at Hartford in 1653, 1654, 1655, and 1656.
Elder Elihu Chesebro was born here March 26, 1769. He was an unsalaried Baptist preacher here for seventeen years; and in cold weather he often sawed the wood for heating the school-house in which the services were held, displaying commendable earnestness and sincerity. March 20, 1791, he married Lydia, daughter of Zebulon Chesebro. She died in 1841, at seventy years of age; and he after- ward married Mary Fish, whom he outlived . about six years, his death occurring on April 29, 1868, at the age of ninety-nine years, one month, and three days. Rev. Elihu and Lydia Chesebro were the parents of ten chil- dren - Elihu, Denison, Lydia, Gilbert, Pru- dence, Ethan Allen, Frederick D., Lydia, Amelia, and Mary Ann. Elihu, born Janu-
ary 3, 1792, married and had ten children, five sons and five daughters. Denison, born January 16, 1794, married, and had two sons and a daughter. Lydia, born March 28, 1796, died, aged nine years. Gilbert, who was born September 21, 1798, and died . in 1851, aged fifty-two years, was twice married, and had seven children, one by his first wife and six by his second. Prudence, born Octo- ber 5, 1800, became the wife of Samuel Lang- worthy, and had two sons - Samuel C. and Henry Allen Langworthy. Ethan Allen, who was born December 25, 1803, and died at sea in 1832, aged twenty-nine years, had two daughters, one of whom is living; namely, Mrs. W. J. H. Pollard. Lydia, born August 1, 1807, married Joseph S. Knight, and died in 1892. Amelia, who was born July 17, 1809, married Thomas J. Wheeler, and had one son, Thomas A. She died in 1856, aged forty-five years. Mary Ann was born Septem- ber 29, 1811, and now lives in Norwich, Conn., being in her eighty-seventh year.
Frederick Denison Chesebro received a district-school education, attending school until he was sixteen years old, during the last few years in the winter only. He remained at home until he was married. His years of active labor were spent in farming; and he still owns the old Chesebro homestead, which has been in the family for nearly two hun- dred and fifty years. During all this time there have been but two dwellings on the place, the present house replacing the original structure in 1818.
On October 25, 1837, Mr. Chesebro mar- ried Mary A. Chesebro, daughter of Elias Chesebro, a distant relative. Five children were born to them, as follows: Frederick D. J., on April 7, 1839; Elias, December 23, 1840; George W., November 28, 1842; Will- iam H., November 26, 1845; and Jabez, May
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II, 1847. The last-named is the only sur- vivor; and with him Mr. Chesebro has lived since the death of his wife, which occurred on February 2, 1884, at the age of seventy- three years, less one day.
Jabez Chesebro is an operator in the velvet- mill, which was erected here in Stonington in 1892, and in which he is a stockholder. The business has now grown so that they are doubling the capacity of the plant. On March 12, 1873, he married Etta Irons, of Mystic, daughter of the late Resolved Irons, a ship- builder. They lost their first child, William W., who died July 11, 1893, when he was between eighteen and nineteen years of age, and was learning the drug business with Dr. Brayton. They have one daughter living- Grace E., a young lady at home, and attend- ing the high school. Mr. Jabez Chesebro is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and belongs to the Grand Lodge of the State. He and his wife and daughter are members of the Baptist church. They live in the house that he built in 1887 at 66 Elm Street.
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