USA > Connecticut > New London County > Biographical review, containing life sketches of leading citizens of New London County, Connecticut > Part 30
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AVID C. MANWARING, a retired sea captain of Niantic, Conn., was born in East Lyme, a mile from this village, on the 15th of September, 1812, son of Latham and Emily (Manwaring) Man- waring. The family to which he belongs is an old one in this county, Oliver Manwaring
having settled at New London about 1663. From Mrs. Frances M. Calkins's History we learn that a Thomas Manwaring, thought to have been a nephew of Oliver, married in 1722 Esther Christophers, and is the ancestor of the Lyme branch of the Manwarings.
Captain Manwaring's father followed the sea during the greater part of his active life, and was first mate in a coasting-vessel. His wife was the daughter of an older Latham Manwaring, so that by singular coincidence her husband and father bore the same names. Captain Manwaring's father died in 1842, at the age of sixty years, having been born dur- ing the Revolutionary War. His wife sur- vived him a few years, and died at about the same age. Their children, of whom there were five, married and scattered. Some are dead; and one son, Nehemiah, was buried at sea. The only survivors are Captain Manwaring and his sister Abbie, widow of William Da- vidson.
During three months of the year David C. Manwaring, until he was twelve years old, attended the district school .. At the age of fourteen he went as cook on a fishing-smack alongshore, and at twenty he began to go on deep-sea voyages South as a sailor. At the age of twenty-six he was captain of the sloop "Trojan," in which he sailed for eight years. engaged in fishing for mackerel, sea bass, and halibut alongshore. He then became master
of a fishing-sloop. William Chester built her, and sailed in her for seven years. After that he was in the schooner " North Amer- ica " for two years, until the 17th of August, 1864, when she was sunk by the privateer " Tallahassee," on Brown's Bank, off the coast of Nova Scotia, with a full load of halibut. She was owned by Messrs. Charles S. How- ard, Edwin Howard, Daniel Howard, and Daniel Howard, Jr. The " Tallahassee " ap-
£
317.318
-------
MR. AND MRS. DAVID C. MANWARING.
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propriated the papers of the " North Amer- ica," together with her quadrant, charts, fish- ing gear, and so forth, and then sunk her forty miles off shore. The captain and his crew of six men were kept prisoners for seven hours, and were then put on board of a brig. The sloop was valued at four thousand five hundred and seventy dollars, and was paid for some seventeen years later.
On September 14, 1836, the day before his twenty-fourth anniversary, Captain Manwaring married Frances Sands Clark, who was born on Block Island, November 5, 1816. Their only child, a son, Charles Henry Manwaring, died at the age of two years and a half. Cap- tain and Mrs. Manwaring have lived at their pleasant home at 104 Main Street, Niantic, for the last forty-nine years. When the Cap- tain was away on a voyage, Mrs. Manwaring bought a lot of land, and, before her hus- band's return, had had a house built, and was fairly settled in it.
In politics the Captain has always been a Democrat. He belongs to no secret order or society ; and, when at home between his sea voyages, his time was spent in the companion- ship of his family and by his own fireside. Ile retired from following the sea some six- teen years ago, and during the last three years has especially devoted himself to caring for his wife, who is in failing health.
HARLES HENRY SCHWANER, a successful marketman, who has carried on his business in New London for a score of years, was born March 3, 1849, in Germany, son of Frederick Schwaner. Having lost his parents while yet very young, his childhood was spent in Brooklyn, N. Y., among strangers. He first came to New London in 1866. After a three
years' stay he went to Hartford, and there at the age of twenty-one years started in the market business. After conducting it for ten years in that place, he came in 1876 to New London, and engaged in the same line of business, beginning on Bank Street. Two years later he sold out and opened his present market at 45 Main Street, where he has built up a large trade. employs six men, and has one of the finest markets in the city. Al- though he started in life without capital, he now owns valuable property, and is looked upon as one of the most worthy and substan- tial business men of the city.
In 1872 Mr. Schwaner was united in mar- riage with Miss Carrie Louisa Saunders, a na- tive of Germany, who came to this country with her parents when a child. After her father's death, which occurred a few years later, her mother married Frederick Heine. The latter is now dead, and the widow resides in Hartford. She is the mother of two sons and four daughters. Mr. and Mrs. Schwaner lost a son when he was eighteen months old. They have four sons and a daughter living, namely: Fred, a bright, young man, in busi- ness with his father in the market: May, Harry, Alfred, and Stanley, all of whom, ex- cept May, are still attending school. Mr. Schwaner casts his vote with the Republican party, but does not participate further in poli- tics. He is a member of the Knights Tem- plar, the Odd Fellows, and the Patriarchs Militant.
APTAIN JOHN L. WARD, of New London, an aged seafarer, who fol- lowed his calling until his eightieth year, was born in New London, Conn., No- vember 27, 1815, son of John and Eliza (Beers) Ward. The father, who was a native
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.
of Liverpool, England, born in the year 1780, after serving his country as a sailor on a man- of-war, came to New London about 1812. His marriage with Eliza Beers, who was a native of Waterford, New London County, took place in either that year or the next. Three sons and three daughters were born to them, all of whom grew to maturity, namely : Ann Ward, who died about 1866; John L., the subject of this sketch; Abbie, the widow of Alonzo Lewis, now living in New London; William Ward, a sailor and ship officer, who was lost at sea when twenty-four years old; Captain Joseph Ward, unmarried, who died on shipboard, aged forty-five, and was buried at sea; and Lydia, who married James Perry, and who, together with her husband and chil- dren, is now deceased. The father died in 1825, aged forty-five. The mother, who sur- vived him twelve years, passed away in 1837, at the age of fifty-two years.
John L. Ward, the eldest son and second child of his parents, received only a limited schooling. When seventeen years of age he went to sea with Captain Frank Smith. Climbing step by step from the lowest round of the ladder, he became a captain at twenty- four. His early voyages were made on whal- ing-vessels to the Pacific and Arctic Oceans. His longest voyage, which was undertaken shortly after his marriage, was to the Arctic Ocean, where he spent three years. He has been master and part owner in five different vessels. He made forty voyages to the West Indies. For five years he was captain of a merchantman. In 1849 he went to Califor- nia, taking his wife with him, and was away two years on that trip, during which time he visited the Sandwich Islands. Afterward he made a second trip alone to California, going this time by the Isthmus of Panama. After spending fourteen years in the government
employ, he lost his position when the Demo. crats came into power. About two years ago he retired from the sea, which he had fol- lowed all together for nearly forty years. It is claimed that he is the oldest seaman in New London, while it is admitted that his okt shipmate, Captain Green, is about the same age, and has been a mariner for almost as long a period.
On April 27, 1840, Captain Ward married Miss Anna Fage, a daughter of John Fage, of Norwich, Conn. She died in 1884, aged seventy-two, leaving two daughters. Their third child, a daughter, died in infancy. Since Mrs. Ward's death, Flora Smith Ward has kept house for her father. Sarah, the other daughter, is the wife of Captain James F. Smith, of this city. Captain Ward has been a Master Mason for fifty-one years. While engaged in seafaring he visited lodges of the brethren in England, France, and other countries. He also belongs to the sailors' organization, the Jib-boom Club. His resi- dence is the house, 15 Meridian Street, which he purchased in 1856.
REDERICK P. LADD, of Salem, born in Franklin, Conn., March 30, 1827, is the eldest son of Asa Spalding and Harriet (Carey) Ladd. In the History of Hampshire, England, one William Ladd is mentioned as juryman in 1294, during the reign of Edward I., and the History of Sur- rey has a record of the fact that in 1325 Ed- ward II. bought the manor of Heale from Walter de Heale, of which Walter Ladd was the custodian. The Ladds came to England in the following of William the Conqueror. A grant of some one thousand, three hundred and forty-four acres was made or transferred to Walter Ladd, mentioned above. The name
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was formerly spelled Lade, and afterward Lad, but was changed to its present form by John Ladd, who was a member of the British Parliament for Southwark in Surrcy from 1713 to 1722, and was created a baronet in 1740. The first of the family to scttle in America was Daniel Ladd, of Haverhill, Mass., who came from County Kent, England, in the prime of his youth, in 1633-4, on the ship "Mary and John." (See the Ladd Gene- alogy.)
The records of Ipswich, Mass., show that Daniel Ladd, on the 5th day of February, 1637, was granted six acres of land, that he subsequently built a dwelling thereon, and lived in it for eleven years. He is described as "a typical pioneer and frontiersman, labor- ing for sixty years, trusting in God, and fear- ing nothing." Festus Ladd, the grandfather of Frederick P., born in Franklin, February 25, 1776, descended in a direct line from Daniel through Jonathan, Daniel, Samuel, Jonathan, Jeremiah, David, and Abner. Festus died in Franklin in 1848, aged seventy-two. His wife, Ruby Ladd, who was born in 1782, daughter of Ezekiel Ladd, was her husband's cousin. She lived many years in widowhood, and died in 1861. She had thrce sons and six daughters. Asa Spalding Ladd, son of Fcstus and Ruby Ladd, was a farmer in Franklin, in Norwich, and Salem, and died in the last-named place in 1875, at the age of seventy-two. His widow died in 1894, at the age of eighty-five. Of their twelve children one died in infancy. Seven married, and four sons and two daughters had children. One of the sons, Austin N., was a volunteer in the Civil War with the First Minnesota Regiment, and was the third man in the regiment to fall at the first Bull Run, hav- ing been shot through the body. lle was a fine scholar, and he held a high rank in the
Masonic order. He was taken from Libby Prison by a brother Mason, Vice-Presi- dent Stephens, and was cared for until his death.
Frederick P. Ladd left school when four- teen years old. In his sixteenth ycar he was afflicted with sciatic rheumatism, which crippled him and kept him in a semi-invalid state for some time. In 1861 he entered the employ of the Luce Brothers, and re- mained with them for eighteen years, making himself generally useful. He was first mar- ried at the age of thirty-six. Having lost his first wife and only child by death, he married again on Thanksgiving Day, in the year 1875, Miss Sarah M. Winchester, of Salem, a daughter of Lodowich Winchester. Her only child by him is also deceased. They have an adopted son, Willie F., a bright boy of seven- teen years. Mr. Ladd is a Democrat in poli- tics. He has been Constable and Tax Collec- tor for the past three years, has served on the Board of Relief several times, is now serving his fourth year as Justice of the Peace, and he represented his district in the legislature for one term. Both he and Mrs. Ladd are Methodists. Hc has been a trustee of the church for nine years. His present farm of one hundred well-tilled acres was purchased by him some nineteen years ago. Consider- ing the misfortunes of his early life, when he was crippled, in ill health, and poor, he has been remarkably successful in life.
OUIS P. ROATH, a well-known rail- road engineer living in retirement in Norwich, was born here, December 25, 1833, son of Asa and Elizabeth (Allyn) Roath. The founder of the family came from England about the year 1640, and settled in Norwich on a grant of land received by him
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from the original town proprietors. He owned at one time about six hundred acres. The house in which he lived is still standing, situated about two hundred rods from the home of Louis P. Roath. An antique writ- ing-desk, which is supposed to have been brought by him from England, is in Mr. Roath's possession.
Eleazer Roath, the father of Asa, who was born here, spent his mature years in farming on the old Roath homestead. After his death his daughters - Betsey, Rebecca, and Eunice - continued to live in the old house. Bet- sey, the last survivor, did not move out until the fall of 1866. She died December 31, 1880, aged one hundred years, three months, and twenty-seven days, retaining to the last full possession of her faculties. Remarkable for industry throughout her long life, her nimble fingers wove many a carpet on the hand carpet loom left there. On her century birthday she sat for the first and only picture ever taken of her. The chair in which she then sat is preserved as an heirloom. Re- becca lived to be seventy-five, and Eunice seventy-three years of age.
Asa Roath was born March 3, 1790, and died March 11, 1846. In his early years he taught school, and subsequently was engaged in surveying. A Colonel in the State mili- tia, he served among the defenders of New London in the War of 1812. For several years he was Probate Judge. Although not a college graduate, he was intellectual and ac- complished, a fine penman, and a most suc- cessful instructor. In 1820 he was married to Miss Elizabeth Allyn, who was born in Groton, Conn., July 2, 1799, daughter of General Stephen Billings Allyn. Nine chil- dren, four sons and five daughters, blessed the union. Of these three died in infancy; Han- nah, the widow of Rufus Fanning, died about
1874, aged forty-seven years, leaving no chil- dren; and Ann Meach, the youngest child, who was the wife of Henry L. Parker, died in Norwich in 1894, aged fifty-eight, leaving five children. The survivors are: Edwin A. Roath, an esteemed resident of Norwich; Stephen B., of Chicago, Ill., whither he went in 1855, who is an eccentric bachelor, and takes pride in being wealthier than any Roath of whom he has heard; Elizabeth, the widow of Daniel M. Randall, of Norwich; and Louis P., the subject of this sketch. The father died in 1846, aged fifty-six years, and the mother in 1859, at the age of sixty years. Both were buried in the Yantic cemetery, while the earlier ancestors rest in the city cemetery.
His school days having ended when he was fourteen years old, Louis P. Roath at the age of sixteen years was employed on the railroad as a fireman. In September, 1850, fifteen months later, he was given an engine, which he ran until December, 1868. He had fol- lowed engineering for eighteen years on the Norwich & Worcester Railroad, when, in 1868, he entered the shops, and was there em- ployed until 1892. In January, 1895, he re- tired from active labor, and has since lived in his modest but pleasant home at 127 Roath Street, built by him in 1869, on a plat of some eight acres, left by his father to him and his brother, Edwin A. Roath.
On January 21, 1857, Mr. Roath was mar- ried to Miss Laura E. Seagrave, of Worces- ter, Mass. She is an adopted daughter of John D. and Sarah (Larned) Seagrave. The former resides in Worcester, where his wife died in middle age, having had no children. Mrs. Roath was left an orphan when a small child, and was reared and educated by these kind foster-parents. She has borne her hus- band two children - Clarence P. and Walter.
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Clarence P., who is a conductor on the Nor- wich division of the New England Railroad, married Miss Frances E. Andrews, a daughter of P. St. M. Andrews, of Norwich, and who died August 11, 1896; and Walter, an engi- neer on the Central Division of the New Eng- land Railroad, living in Providence, R. I., married Miss Ella F. Burnham, of Scarboro, Me., and has a daughter, Laura L., now eleven years old. Mr. Roath, Sr., votes with the Democratic party. He is a Master Mason and a member of the Brotherhood of Locomo- tive Engineers. Both he and Mrs. Roath are members of the Trinity Episcopal Church of Norwich.
OBERT S. WATROUS,* a well- known retired master mariner of Mystic, New London County, Conn., was born in the town of Ledyard, this county, January 1, 1841, son of Robert Goudy and Lucy Margaret (Cunningham) Watrous. The original name of the family was Water- house.
Jacob Waterhouse, the earliest progenitor in this country, came from England to Say- brook, Conn., removing from thence to New London, where he was one of the first three men. He and his sons helped build the dam for the old town mill. His son Jacob was the father of John; and John's son Timothy be- came the father of Jabez, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. Ile was born in the town of Ledyard, and married Polly Goudy, a native of Poquetanuck, in this county. They had eleven children. Grand- Cather Watrous died when he was compara- "ively young, while the grandmother lived to : ninety years old. Their son Jabez is now living in Groton, being ninety-three years of age and the only surviving member of the family.
Robert Goudy Watrous, son of Jabez, Sr., was born at the old homestead in Ledyard in 1808; and in after life he well remembered the battle of Stonington. He was twice mar- ried. His first wife, Lucy Margaret Cunning- ham, who was born in Norwalk, Conn., in 1822, died at the age of thirty-three, leaving four of her six children, only two of whom are now living - Robert S. and John C. Watrous. John Cunningham, their maternal grandfather, was a soldier in the War of 1812; and his brother Benjamin served in the Mexi- can War, and was wounded. While he was in the act of shooting, a ball took away his thumb, and came out of his elbow. Robert Watrous married Mrs. Esther Crouch Rogers for his second wife. She survived him, liv- ing to be an octogenarian.
Robert S. Watrous was reared on the farm, and attended the common school. At the age of seventeen he began a sailor's life, which he continued to follow, with the exception of two and three-fourths years, until 1892, going at first in a fishing-smack to the Southern coast. He was captain of a vessel for twenty years. During the Civil War he enlisted as private in the Second United States Artillery, serving two years and nine months. On the first day of the battle of Gettysburg he fircd the first gun, and was wounded in the leg by a minie ball and taken prisoner. His leg was amputated by a rebel surgeon on the field. Being released on parole, he spent three months each in Gettysburg, Philadelphia, and Baltimore Hospitals, returning home in 1864. He receives a pension ; and he has charge of the drawbridge, but does very little business.
On March 24, 1869, he married Sarah Melinda Woodmancy, of Groton, daughter of Denison Woodmancy. Her father died when he was fifty-four years of age, while her
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mother is still living at the age of eighty- two. Mr. and Mrs. Watrous have three chil- dren - Euretta, Sadie, and Robert. Euretta married Henry F. Leitz, and lives in Meri- den, Conn. Sadie has studied vocal music in New York City, where she now sings so- prano in one of the leading churches. Robert is a young man at home. Mrs. Watrous has a brother, Edward Woodmancy, living in Noank; and her sister, Mrs. Charles New- bury, resides in Mystic.
Fraternally, Mr. Watrous is serving his second year as Commander of Williams Post, No. 55, G. A. R. He also belongs to the Odd Fellows Lodge and Encampment, and to the Knights of Pythias. In politics he is a Republican.
HARLES A. BAILEY, the leading horse dealer in New London County, was born in Groton, February 20, 1845. His parents were Captain Ezra and Emeline (Turner) Bailey; and his paternal grandparents were Ezra Bailey, Sr., and Han- nah Bailey. who lived on a farm in Groton, and who had two sons, namely, Captain Ezra and Captain William Bailey, and one daughter. Captain Ezra Bailey was one of the old-time Connecticut whalemen, and sailed the ship "General Williams." He was drowned in the Sound near Saybrook about 1857, in the prime of life. His wife was left with two sons - Charles A. and Isaac Addison, the last named of whom is now in California, where he went some nineteen years ago. The mother, Mrs. Emeline T. Bailey, lived a widow many years, and died in March, 1885.
Mr. Charles A. Bailey began the business in which he is now engaged, and in which he has made such a wide reputation, in this city. He has always been very fond of horses, and
has always had great success in their manage- ment and training. No animal is so balky that he cannot control it, and no defect in the most highly praised horse and no strong point of excellence can escape his practised eye. The very wide experience he has had in han- dling horses of high and low degree, truck horses and those with pedigree yards long, has made him one of the best judges, probably the best judge, of horse flesh in the State. He has bought and sold thousands of animals, and every month receives a carload from the West. Not only is he a good business man- ager and a ready salesman, but he has a gen- uine appreciation of all the artistic details connected with his business, such as matching a fine pair or selecting a handsome saddle horse or a gentle and at the same time grace- ful and handsome carriage horse for a lady. He buys largely in Michigan, and sells in the East. Among horsemen he is widely known, and his judgment is highly respected. In the business community at large he has a reputa- tion for honesty and fair dealing, and men who know him personally or only from com- mon report are never afraid to trust to his long experience and to his well-known skill when they wish to make a purchase of a new horse. He is an unequalled driver, and may often be seen behind a finely matched pair ( steeds, handling the ribbons in a manne which shows him absolute master of the situa. tion.
Mr. Bailey-Was married when twenty-one years of age to Sarah Rockwell, of Groton, now deceased. Four children were born to them, and two survive, namely: Eugene Bailey, in New London, who has a wife and two sons; and Jennie Bailey. After the death of his first wife Mr. Bailey married Nellie Conway, of Westerly, R.I. In politics he is an Independent.
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HARLES SPALDING, formerly an esteemed resident of Norwich, was born in Norwich Town, January 31, 1812, son of Luther and grandson of Asa Spalding. Asa Spalding, who was born in Canterbury, Conn., in 1757, graduated from Yale College in 1779, studied law with Judge Adams, of Litchfield, and settled for the prac- tice of his profession in Norwich in 1782. His native ability and force of character formed his only capital ; but they soon enabled him to secure clients, and ultimately to build up an extensive and lucrative business and acquire a considerable fortune. He held vari- ous offices of public trust and honor, and at his death in 1811 was one of the most highly esteemed as well as one of the richest men in Eastern Connecticut. He had a brother, Judge Luther Spalding, who was his junior by ten years, and who settled in Norwich for the practice of law in 1797. Another brother was Dr. Rufus Spalding, a graduate of Yale, who practised medicine first in Nantucket and subsequently in Norwich, to which he came in 1812, and died in 1830. The three brothers were interred in the same burying- ground at Norwich. Luther Spalding, above named, had one other son besides Charles; namely, George, a graduate of Yale College.
Charles Spalding was first married on June , 1837, to Juliette Hubbard, a daughter of Russel Hubbard, of Norwich. Mr. Hubbard was a wealthy paper manufacturer. He built the house at 161 Broadway, where Mrs. Spalding is now residing. This was about 1825, before any street was laid out; and the most of his neighbors thought he was doing an unwise thing. The house, which stands on a sandy knoll, is now said to have one of the finest sites in town. Mrs. Juliette Spalding died on April 2, 1865. On June 11, 1874, Mr. Spalding was married to Mrs. Amanda
M. Haviland, whose maiden name was God- dard. She was born, reared, and educated in Boston. Her first husband was Thomas Havi- land, a worker in plaster and stucco. Mr. and Mrs. Haviland resided in Boston on Chestnut Street until the death of the former on April 20, 1873. Mr. Spalding died July 24, 1885.
Mrs. Spalding, who survives her husband, is the daughter of William and Sarah (War- ner) Goddard, of Boston. Mr. Goddard was a carpenter and builder. His house was situ- ated where the Boston post-office now stands. Beginning life in humble circumstances, he devoted himself with energy to whatever busi- ncss came his way, and in time became a wealthy man. At his death he bequeathed his estate to his family, making certain pro- visions designed for the improvement of the property and its retention by his heirs for a long period, until it should have greatly enhanced in value. Scarcely any of these provisions were carried out, however, owing to the fact that, much of the real estate being situated in the heart of the business district, it was early taken by the city at a compara- tively small rate of compensation, to make way for public improvements. Parts of it were destroyed by fire, and another part was cut into by a railroad. The result was that the heirs received but a small portion of what would otherwise have been theirs had the property been allowed to remain intact and increase in value. William Goddard dicd on April 14, 1860, and is buried in Mount Auburn. Be- side him rests his wife, who, after surviving him three years, died at the age of eighty-two years and seven months. They were the par- ents of nine children, of whom Mrs. Spald- ing was the youngest and the only sur- vivor. Her brother, Thomas Goddard, of the firmi of Goddard & Deunis, was for many years a well-known carriage manufacturer of
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