USA > Connecticut > New London County > Biographical review, containing life sketches of leading citizens of New London County, Connecticut > Part 33
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HARLES HEBER WALDEN, su- perintendent of the almshouse at New London, was born in Montville, Conn., June 4, 1839. He is a son of the late Rev. Hiram and Rebecca (Bird) Walden, and
claims among his kindred many who have taken an active part in American history. William Walden, his great-grandfather, who was born in Bristol, England, married on August 5, 1754, Ruamis, daughter of Elenar and Rebecca (Chapman) Simons, and by this union had the following children: Elenar, John, Elizabeth, William, Robert, Simon, Mary, Amy, Edward, and David.
William Walden, Jr., the fourth child, was Charles H. Walden's grandfather. He was born in New London, Conn., September 13, 1762, and came to this country in childhood. Though only in his teens at the time of the Revolution, he served in the patriot forces, and captured an English soldier, whom he took on horseback to the camp. He died from an injury at the age of thirty-three. His wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth McFall, was a daughter of William and Deb- orah (Chapman) McFall, and is said to have been partly of Welsh blood. Her father, William McFall, also was a Revolutionary soldier. Mrs. Elizabeth McFall Walden lived to be nearly fourscore. Her children were: Grace, William, Eliza, Hannah, and Iliram, above named.
The following account of the Rev. Hiram Walden's life was written by his daughter, Mrs. Ellen Walden Darrow.
Hiram Walden, the youngest child of Will- iam and Elizabeth (McFall) Walden, was born in Montville, May 13, 1804. He was a thoughtful child, learning easily and having a retentive memory. His first teacher said that he learned the whole alphabet during the first day. His boyhood days were spent with his parents in Montville. When but a lad he became an earnest Christian, and united with the Congregational church in that town. Although so young, he asked for baptism by immersion, seldom practised at that time by
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CHARLES H. WALDEN.
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that denomination ; and it was granted. The Rev. Abishai Alden was his faithful pastor and firm friend. With him he studied for a time. His parents not being able to give him a liberal education, the church, through the influence of that kind pastor, offered to pay his expenses in getting the education he craved. While at school in the castern part of Massachusetts he became acquainted with the Methodist teachings; and, finding them more like his own views, he decided to with- draw from the Congregational church and unite with the Methodist, his earnings shortly enabling him to repay the money so kindly advanced him by the Congregational church. He was a good Greek, Latin, and French scholar, and often taught those languages.
When about twenty years of age he com- menced preaching the gospel. He was a cir- cuit preacher for about fourteen years, and after that was pastor of different churches, mostly in Massachusetts, the rules of the Methodist church then being that no pastor could remain with a church more than two years. For nearly thirty years Mr. Walden faithfully preached the gospel, then his health failed. The Methodist preachers of his day re- ceived but small salaries ; and, his family being large, he helped provide for them by teaching in public and select schools besides perform- ing his duties as pastor. When about fifty years of age, lingering consumption marked him for its victim. He then settled on a farm in his native town, and passed the rest of his days in quiet, ever loving and enjoying his books. He was even then often called to supply a pulpit during the absence of the pas- tor and to conduct funeral services. He took but little part in politics, but his townsmen honored him with the offices of Selectman and Town Registrar. Ile was also chairman of the Board of Education for years, as long as
his failing health would permit. He died July 19, 1871, aged sixty-seven years.
Rev. Hiram Walden was married in Jan- uary, 1827, at Stoughton, Mass., to Rebecca, daughter of Abner and Polly (Gay) Bird. She was born in Stoughton, January 31, 1806. Both of her grandfathers, Private John Bird and Lieutenant Lemuel Gay, rendered val- uable services in the Revolutionary War. Through different branches of her family she was connected with Major-general Humphrey Atherton, who commanded the military forces at Boston in 1654 - a member of the younger branch of the Athertons, of Atherton in Lan- caster, England, whose family records run back to 1112 A.D .; with the Tupper brothers, "obstinate Lutherans," who in 1522, in con- sequence of persecutions by Charles V., fled from Hesse-Cassel, Saxony, losing their prop- erty; with Captain Roger Clapp, one of the first settlers in Dorchester, Mass., who held several important military and civil offices; with Thomas Mayhew, who preached to the Indians some thirty-three years, and who was Governor of Martha's Vineyard in 1647; with Thomas Wells, Governor of Connecticut in 1655 and 1658; with Richard Williams - said to have been a relative of Oliver Crom- well, their grandfathers in the fourth remove being brothers - one of the chief men of Taun- ton, Mass., where he located in 1637, one of the first to purchase land of the Indians, and Rep- resentative from Taunton in the Colonial Court for twelve years, between 1645 and 1665; and with Mary Towne, Mrs. Isaac Esty, who was executed as a witch, Septem- ber 22, 1692, and to whose husband some twenty years after her execution twenty pounds' damages were paid by the General Court of Massachusetts.
Hiram and Rebecca (Bird) Walden had the following children: Elvira, born July 30,
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1828, in Marshfield, Mass., who married Travis P. Douglas, of Waterford, Conn. ; Mary Fletcher, born June 29, 1830, in Som- erset, Mass., now wife of George P'. Rogers, of Montville, Conn. ; Edwin Hiram, born August 4, 1832, a physician in practice for some time in Ohio, who married first Kate Sanderson, second Mary Lovejoy; Elien Re- becca, born September 19, 1834, in Waterford, Conn., now wife of the Rev. Edmund Dar- row, of Waterford; William Bramwell, born January 19, 1837, in Montville, who married first Caroline Rogers, second Adella Gadbois; Charles Heber, the subject of this sketch; Lucinda Jane, born November 6, 1841, in Montville, who died young; Nathan Warren, born November 12, 1844, in Montville, who was married first to Ella Scott, second to Mrs. Laura Oliver, and who died in Decem- ber, 1894; Albert Henry, born March 14, 1847, in Montville, Conn., who died young; John Wesley, born May 31, 1850, in Mont- ville, who married Adella Manwaring, of Niantic, Conn. ; and Nelson Bird, born March 13, 1853, in Montville, who died young. The mother, Mrs. Rebecca B. Walden, died March 10, 1880.
Charles H. Walden remained at home with his parents until nineteen years of age, ac- quiring his education in the public schools. He then taught in a district school for a while; and subsequently, during the war, he was employed for two years with John W. Deiter, getting out timber for the government. For eleven years he had charge of Thomas Fitch's stock farm in New London, -one of the finest in the State, noted for its blooded horses and cattle, especially Jersey and Al_ derney cows. Appointed superintendent of the county almshouse at New London in ISSI, he immediately began to develop the resources of the farin connected with the institution.
This consists of twenty acres of choice land, which under Mr. Walden's supervision is well tilled, and produces bountiful crops. When he was installed as superintendent, the almshouse was a brick building, fifty by one hundred feet in dimension, and had twelve inmates. The number of inmates now ranges from forty to sixty-nine; and the building has been enlarged, being at present fifty by one hundred and fifty feet in dimension and from two to four stories in height. Good order prevails, and the whole place bears evidence of wise and capable management. Politi- cally, Mr. Walden favors the Republican party.
He was married in 1863 to Emily Hannah, daughter of Daniel and Hannah (Beebe) Mor- gan, of Waterford, Conn. The following children have blessed their union: Augusta E., wife of Spencer J. Comstock, of Brooklyn, N. Y .; Lillian Bird, wife of Jesse A. Moon, of New London, and mother of two sons; Frank C., of Brooklyn, N. Y., who married Eva V., daughter of William Ferris, of Brooklyn, and has two sons and one daughter; and Nellie R., who lived but eighteen months.
ILLIAM S. C. PERKINS, M.D., for over a quarter-century has min- istered to the bodily ailments of the residents of Norwich, by whom he is held in the highest esteem. Born in East Lyme, New London County, February 1, 1837, son of Austin Freeman Perkins, he comes of French origin. Rufus Perkins, the father of Austin Freeman, and an old-time innkeeper of Groton, Conn., was a son of John and Polly (Freeman) Perkins. Mrs. Rufus Per- kins, who outlived her husband many years, died about the year 1847, at a venerable age.
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She bore her husband two sons and two daughters.
Austin Freeman Perkins, who was born in Groton about the year 1804, acquired his rudi- mentary edueation in the common schools. He read medicine with Dr. Minor, and subse- quently attended Berkshire Medical College, which was then in Pittsfield, Mass., graduating therefrom about 1830. On receiving his di- ploma, he set up in practice in that portion of Lyme known as East Lyme and Flanders vil- lage. In the same year he was married to Mary Moore Way, of Lyme, a daughter of Elisha Way, a pensioner, who died at the age of eighty-five years. Five of their eight chil- dren reached adult life, namely : Eunice C., who died at twenty-five; William S. C., the subject of this biography ; Thomas A., a suc- cessful Norwich merchant, a member of the city government and a Deacon of the Baptist church; Julia B., the wife of Sylvester G. Jerome, residing in Waterford, Conn. ; and Mary A., the wife of Joseph P. Morgan, liv- ing at Fort Scott, Ark. The mother died in 1852, when forty-six years of age. Their father afterward married Miss Louisa Wight- man, who bore him two sons, namely : Austin F., now connected with the Norwich Carpet Lining Company of this city; and George Anson, a box manufacturer here. After the mother's death Dr. Austin Perkins formed a third union with Miss Harriet Moore. He died in 1876, and she in 1890.
William S. C. Perkins attended the com- mon and select schools of East Lyme, also the Connecticut Literary Institute at Suffield, Conn. He then took up the study of medi- cine under his father's tuition, was subse- quently a student in the medical department of Yale College, and in 1860 was graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. In the same year he
began the practice of his profession in Mont- ville, this county, remaining there until the fall of 1869, the date of his location here in Norwich, where he has been in active and very successful practiee since. He is a mem- ber of the staff of the William W. Backus Hospital. This institution, which is fully equipped and has about seventy beds, was founded by William S. Slater and William W. Backus.
On May 29, 1861, Dr. Perkins was united in marriage with Miss Amelia J. Jerome, of Montville, Conn., a daughter of George D. and Hannah (Darrow) Jerome. A son and daughter live to bless their union, namely : Florence A., who married Frank W. Brown- ing, of Norwich, and has four children; and Charles H. Perkins, M.D., a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York City in the elass of 1891, now prac- tising in Norwich, and a member of the county and State medical soeieties. Dr. William S. C. Perkins is a Republican in politics. A thirty-second degree Mason, he is a member of Somerset Lodge, No. 34, F. & A. M .; of Franklin Chapter, No. 4, R. A. M .; of Columbian Commandery, K. T .; and of Connecticut Sovereign Consistory, Grand East. Like his son, he is a member of the county and State medical societies, and in the spring of 1896 he was elected president of the former. He resides at 50 Broad Street, in the home that he purchased in 1880, moving there from his former residence, 42 Main Street, in August of that year.
"ENRY BISHOP, a former well-known resident of New London, who died at his home, 4 Jay Street, on Janu- ary 25, 1892, at the age of seventy-one years, was born in Chesterfield, this county, son of
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Charles and Charlotte (Lattimer) Bishop. The following obituary of his father appeared in a local journal : -
"On the 18th of April, 1866, died in New London, Charles Bishop, Esq., at the vener- able age of eighty-two years. He was a most worthy member of the Huntington Street Bap- tist Church, and his remains were borne to the tomb by seven sons as pall-bearers. On Sab- bath afternoon, December 15, 1867, his widow, Charlotte Bishop, departed this life, aged eighty-four; and her lifeless form was laid to rest beside her husband by the same seven sons, with a commendable filial love and reverence, and tenderly and carefully, as they had their father's one and one-half years ago. These two occasions were most impres- sive, and events full of interest and sugges- tion - reminiscences worth cherishing, which will never fade from the memory of these sons. The one who had borne them, guarded and watched over them from the cradle to manhood, was now being borne by them, ten- derly and tearfully, and laid to rest in that long and dreamless sleep which knows no wak- ing. And what is most significant is that she was the mother of eight children, seven sons and one daughter, and all were there to pay their last tribute. And those standing around the grave of the father represented an aggregate of life of over four hundred years." Further information in regard to the family may be found in the sketch of Charles Bishop, brother of the subject of this sketch, published elsewhere in this volume.
At the age of fifteen Henry Bishop came to this city, and learned the carpenter's trade with his older brother, John Bishop. After- ward he worked as a journeyman many years. Then, without capital, he started in business with the firm of Bishop Brothers, lumber dealers and builders. The firm comprised
Charles, Henry, and Gilbert Bishop, until some five years before the death of Henry, when Charles withdrew, leaving the other two to constitute the firm. Mr. Bishop was an honored citizen of New London, and had con- tributed his full share to the prosperity and growth of the city by his industry and busi- ness sagacity. The public press of the city gave words of warmest commendation upon his life and character, speaking of him as one of the leading and honored business men of the town.
February 22, 1842, Mr. Bishop married Mary S. Howard, who was born in the town of Waterford, daughter of Daniel and Hannah (Smith) Howard. Her mother, who was born in Niantic, and was married February 22, 1822, died when Mary S., the youngest of the children, was only two years and one-half old. The latter was brought up in the family of her uncle, Captain Jonathan Smith, who re- moved to New London when his niece was nine years old. She now lives in the fine large house built by her husband over fifty years ago. She has three children : Jonathan S. Bishop, residing at 2 Jay Street, married, and the father of one child; Henry Bishop, who succeeded his father in the lumber busi- ness; and Mary, the wife of Nathan Wood- worth, of New London, and the mother of three children.
LVAH MORGAN, a prosperous farmer of Salem and a veteran of the Civil War, was born in the neighborhood of his present home, August 3, 1840, son of Sidney and Harriet (Stoddard) Morgan. His grandfather, Theophilus Morgan, a farmer of Groton, Conn., married Mary Hinckley, daughter of Abel Hinckley, of Stonington, and by her had a large family, of whom but two sons and four daughters lived to maturity. The eldest son, Alvah, born June 7, 1798, be-
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came a resident of Holley, Orleans County, N. Y. He married March 3, 1822, Dolly Stratton, of Glastonbury. In 1832 he settled in Murray, Orleans County, where he died March 11, 1862, at the age of sixty-four years, leaving a wife and an only son, Alvah S. Morgan, who still resides in Holley.
Sidney Morgan, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born August 30, 1800. He occupied the old Morgan farm, which he sub- sequently sold to Aaron Niles in 1835 for the sum of eighty-five hundred dollars. He then purchased a farm of three hundred acres in Salem, which he sold in 1857 for five thou- sand dollars. With this capital in hand, in company with his four sons, he went West, settling in Loda, Iroquois County, Ill., where he bought six hundred and forty acres of land, and where his sons, Theophilus and Enoch, took up one section. With the exception of Theophilus, the entire family returned East in 1860. On his return Mr. Morgan pur- chased the farm of two hundred and twenty acres adjoining the original homestead, where he lived until his death, which occurred March 21, 1870. He was much in public life, fill- ing various town offices, and representing the town in the legislature three years, the last time in 1866. He was a Master Mason. Though a member of the Episcopal church, he attended and helped to support the Congrega- tional church, and was a practical Christian philanthropist. February 27, 1823, he mar- ried Harriet Stoddard, who was born February 28, 1802, daughter of Vine Stoddard. She survived him eleven years, and died April 15, 1881, in the eightieth year of her age. Their children were as follows: Theophilus, who was born in 1823, accumulated a comfortable fortune, and retired from business, and is a widower with one son; John Wesley, who was born in 1821, and has been a merchant in
New London for the past fifty years; Enoch Sidney, born in 1828, who is an engineer and machinist, residing in Mystic; and Albert Hinckley, who is a farmer and public-spirited citizen of Redwood County, Minnesota, where he holds the offices of Postmaster and Town Clerk.
Alvah Morgan was reared upon his father's farm. He accompanied him West, and subse- quently returned with him. In August, 1862, he enlisted in the Twenty-sixth Connecticut Regiment, Company A. Of the twenty-one young men who responded to their country's call at that time with Mr. Morgan, five lost their lives and eight were wounded. Mr. Morgan was wounded at Port Hudson, shot just below the knee by a minie ball, which he still carries in the bone. Another bullet marked his forehead. During this engage- ment fourteen of his comrades fell with him, four of whom were killed. He was dis- charged in August, 1863, and is now a pen- sioner. He married December 3, 1865, Sarah E., daughter of Lyman and Betsey E. (Irish) Bailey. Her father, who was a farmer, died in 1870, at the age of seventy-nine years ; and her mother died in the same year, at the age of sixty-nine years. They had eight children, of whom Albert M. died October 10, 1876, at the age of thirty-three years, leaving a widow. The living are as follows: Susan E., widow of Charles Tiffany; Charles H .; Robert A. ; Hattie G .; Frances A., wife of Amos B. Til- lotson ; Sarah E. (Mrs. Morgan) ; and Ben- jamin P .- all residents of Salem.
Since their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Morgan have resided on their pleasant farm, which consists of two hundred and twenty acres of good land highly cultivated. Their poultry and butter bring the highest prices in the market. A Democrat politically, Mr. Mor- gan has taken a prominent part in town affairs.
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He served as Town Clerk and Treasurer four years in the seventies, and is now serving the third year on his second term. He has also been First Selectman, Assessor, a member of the Board of Education (for ten years), and was in the legislature in 1891 and again in 1895. He and his wife are both members of the Congregational church.
EORGE WASHINGTON ROGERS, a retired boat-builder of New Lon- don, Conn., the son of William and Polly (Chapman) Rogers, was born in this city, October 21, 1815. He is a lineal de- scendant of James Rogers, who left England in 1635, a young man of twenty, crossed the Atlantic, and settled at first in Stratford, Conn., then in Milford, and at some time between 1656 and 1660 came to New London. Here James Rogers spent the rest of his life, a prosperous merchant engaged in the grain and flour business. He married Elizabeth Polland, and built for their family residence a stone house near the old town mill, upon land that was given him by Governor Win- throp. They had five sons.
George Rogers, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a cooper by trade. He served in the War of 1812. He was taken sick with billious fever, from which, however, he was recovering, when, the news of peace ar- riving, he was so elated that he went down street and took a cold that resulted in his death. Ile married February 14, 1755, Mary Tinker, and had four children, one daughter, who died in childhood, and three sons, two of whom, George and Josiah, were fishermen, the third being William, the father above named, who was born in New London, January 16, 1792. He was a seafaring man, and served for many years as captain of a fast packet between
New London and New York. He died Octo- ber 27, 1850, at the age of fifty-eight. His wife, Polly, whom he married December 25, 1814, died in 1876, at the age of eighty-four. She was a daughter of James Chapman, whose father, Major James Chapman, was one of the first volunteers in the Revolution, and re- ceived at the time a Captain's commission. Major Chapman was killed at the battle of Harlem Heights, while trying to rally the retreating soldiers. Dying, he bequeathed his sword, with the injunction never to dis- honor it, to his son, James Chapman, who served as drummer-boy in the same battle, and was with him when he fell. Polly Chap- man's mother was a daughter of Daniel Holt, who owned the place known as the Samuel Coit place, and was one of the old settlers. Mr. and Mrs. William Rogers had five chil- dren - George W., Mary Ann, Charlotte, William, and James. Mary Ann (deceased) was the wife of David Coit, and had five chil- dren. Charlotte's first husband was John Hegeman, a merchant of Brooklyn, N. Y. She had three children by this marriage; and by her second husband, John Comstock, also of Brooklyn, she had one child. William Rogers (deccased) married Adeline Haynes, of Niantic, and was the father of five children. James married Nancy H. Beckwith, of East Lyme, and had five children.
George Washington Rogers, the special subject of this sketch, belongs to the eighth generation of the Rogers family in New Lon- don. He received his education in the public schools, and at the age of seventeen began the trade of boat-building, which he has followed for more than sixty years. He has the repu- tation of being the oldest boat-builder in New London, as well as one of the oldest inhabi- tants of the city. The house where he now lives he built in 1852.
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GEORGE W. ROGERS.
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Mr. Rogers married Susan Geer Ewen, daughter of Captain John and Mary (Wilson) Ewen, who have lived in New London for over eighty years. Mr. and Mrs. Rogers have two children: Mary E., wife of Philo B. Hovey, of New London; and George W., who is superintendent of supplies for the Metro- politan Life Insurance Company of New York.
Mr. and Mrs. Rogers have belonged to the Baptist church in New London for sixty-four years, and Mr. Rogers has been a Master Mason for more than half a century. Mr. Rogers remembers the "Fulton," the first steamboat that ever came to New London.
He is a survivor of the wreck of the " At- lantic," which was sunk off Fisher's Island, with such a tremendous loss of life, November 27, 1846. Mr. and Mrs. Rogers celebrated their golden wedding the 16th of October, 1888. They are still young in spirit, and delight to entertain their many friends with stories of interesting events which happened fifty years or more ago.
AMES BULKLEY, a farmer of Salem, son of James and Sarah Ann (Abell) Bulkley, was born December 24, 1838, on his father's farm, now owned and occupied by himself and his brother Enoch.
The original farm of one hundred aeres was settled upon by his great-grandfather Bulkley, whose ancestors came from England. The house, though not the original dwelling on the place, has the old hewn rafters and tim- bers, and is one of the oldest buildings in the country. It is well preserved, and is substan- tial and somewhat modern in appearance.
Prentice Bulkley, the grandfather of James Bulkley, fought in the War of 1812. He was a descendant of Major Charles Bulkley, son of the Rev. John and Patience (Prentice) Bulk-
ley, the former the first minister at Colches- ter. Prentice Bulkley married Dimis Bolles, of (Goshen Society) Lebanon. He died June 4, 1849, at the age of seventy-four. She died June 12, 1865, aged seventy-nine years.
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