USA > Connecticut > New London County > Biographical review, containing life sketches of leading citizens of New London County, Connecticut > Part 34
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The father, James Bulkley, was born on the homestead, September 20, 1807. He married Sarah A. Abell, who was born in Colchester, June 20, 1807. The ceremony was performed by Dr. Nott in Franklin. James Bulkley, Sr., was a man of sound judgment, strict in- tegrity, tender-hearted, showing always a strong sympathy for the afflicted. He died much lamented by his family and greatly missed by the community in which he re- sided. His wife was a daughter of Hezekiah Abell and Eunice Bill, a descendant of John and Dorothy Bill, who came from England and settled at Boston about 1632. Mrs. Bulkley was a lady of more than ordinary re- finement, much energy, and decision of charac- ter. Active and diligent herself, she incul- cated the same principles in her children. Although living to a great age, she retained her youthful cheerfulness and mental abilities until the last.
Of their four sons and two daughters the fourth-born died in infancy in 1845, and two .others in mature life. The surviving chil- dren are: Abbie, James, and Enoch. Abbie, widow of George Miller, of Colchester, is now living at Gale's Ferry with her daughter Minnie, who married Frank Hurlbutt, an en- gineer, in 1886. Hler other child, a son, George Miller, married Annie Foote, and lives on the homestead at Colchester. Lucy Adelia, wife of Enoch B. Worthington, lived in Colchester, and died October 10, 1890, without issue. Her death was a severe afflic- tion to her relatives and many friends. Will- iam A. died March 13, 1879, at the age of twenty-nine, unmarried. He was a student of
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Bacon Academy, and taught a number of terms of school successfully. He was a member of the Salem Baptist Church and an active worker in the Sabbath-school. The father died March 2, 1878, aged seventy years, his widow surviving until February 16, 1894, when she died at the age of eighty-six. They lie beside the paternal grandparents in Lin- wood Cemetery in Colchester.
The large farm of six hundred acres was inherited by the two brothers, James and Enoch; and both reside on the old place. Each had a district schooling, and was reared to farm life. James Bulkley is a Democrat, and has served the town as Selectman for two terms and as a member of the Relief Board for three terms. The brothers are enterpris- ing and successful farmers. Besides tilling the soil, they get out lumber from the timber land upon the farm, keep a dairy of some fif- teen or twenty cows, Devon stock, and raise cattle, horses, and sheep. They use six yoke of oxen on the place.
Enoch Bolles Bulkley was born March 3, 1841. He married November 15, 1870, Lucy. J. Raymond, daughter of William and Eunice B. Raymond, distant cousins. Richard Ray- mond, first of Salem, Mass., was made a free- man, May 14, 1634, and in 1636 was granted a tract of land, sixty acres in extent, at Jeffer- son Creek, now Manchester. He was a mari- ner, in the coast trade with the Dutch on Manhattan Island. He died in 1696. His third son, Joshua, went to New London, where he was a landholder, and was one of a committee to plan the road from Norwich to New London. For his services he received the nucleus of a tract of one thousand acres of land that was owned by his descendants. It is located eight miles from New London, and was known as the New London North Parish.
He married in 1659 Elizabeth, daughter of
Nehemiah Smith, and had eight children, one being Joshua, who married Mercy, daughter of James Sands. of Block Island, and died in 1704, his wife, Mercy, living till 1743. Their son, the third Joshua, was of Block Island and later of New London. He mar- ried in 1719 Elizabeth, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Mulford) Christophers. She died May 12, 1730; and he died in 1763. John Raymond, one of the six children of Joshua and Elizabeth Raymond, was born in 1725, and married in 1747 Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. George and Hannah (Lynde) Gris- wold. Their ten children were born in Mont- ville. The eldest, John, second, was Lieu- tenant under Colonel Whitney in the French and Indian War, and was stationed at Fort Griswold. He marched to Boston in 1775, and participated in the battle of Bunker Hill. He died May 7, 1789, at the age of eighty- four years in Montville, where he lies buried. His wife died of small-pox in 1779, at the age of fifty.
John Raymond, third, son of the second John, and the paternal great-grandfather of Mrs. Bulkley, served as First Lieutenant under General Spencer from 1776 to 1777. He married in Montville, May 26, 1774, Mercy Raymond, a cousin. Their three chil- dren were: William, Nathan, and Mary. William, born May 3, 1778, married June 22, 1800, Elizabeth Manwaring. He died July 29, 1842. His wife died in 1854. Their children were: Mercy, Richard, and William (Mrs. Bulkley's father). He was born April 21, 1806. He married July 5, 1829, Eunice Burnham Raymond, and settled on Raymond ITill, where the family had lived for several generations. They had six children, of whom they lost two infant sons. The four daugh - ters were: Elizabeth, Eunice A., Adelaide L., and Lucy J. Elizabeth married Allison
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B. Ladd, and died childless, April 14, 1872; Eunice Ann married Calvin Allyn, resided in Norwich, and died April 19, 1896; Adelaide L., who married Henry W. Rogers, died in Montville, April 4, 1874, leaving one daughter, Lena A., wife of W. C. Hogaboom, of Los Angeles, Cal., an editor, connected with the Associated Press.
Lucy J. (Mrs. Bulkley), the youngest child, was educated in the best schools of her native town. She taught her first school at the age of sixteen, and continued teaching until her marriage. Mrs. Bulkley has a valuable heir- loom, which has been handed down from Eng- land through the Lynde family. It is a silver mug or tankard which was presented by Queen Elizabeth to a member of the family, and is inscribed "F. M. W. I. E. Francis and Margaret Willoughby and H. R.," the latter initials being those of a great-aunt, Hannah Raymond. This ancient treasure was owned by Sarah Lynde, the second wife of Joshua Raymond, and her sister Hannah, who married the Rev. George Griswold, and was handed down to John Raymond, and from him through Hannah to George Raymond, from whom it passed to the mother of Mrs. Bulk- ley. She is also in possession of the original manuscript deed given by Mercy Sands Ray- mond, of Block Island, June 24, 1725, to her son Joshua.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Enoch B. Bulkley may be briefly mentioned, as follows: James Raymond Bulkley, died April 25, 1876; Sarah Burnham, born March 16, 1879, an undergraduate of the Bacon Academy, a mem- ber of the class of 1899, is a young lady of promise, with fine intellectual endowments and studious habits; Willie Enoch, born June 25, 1881, is a brilliant scholar, and will graduate in 1900 from the same school; Arthur Jewett died at the age of sixteen months, July 8, 1887.
ATHAN DENNISON BATES, a re- tired business man and owner of real estate in Preston, Conn., was born in the adjoining town of Griswold, New Lon- don County, November 13, 1829, son of Ben- jamin and- Elizabeth (Hawkins) Bates. He is a descendant of Caleb Bates, of Scituate, Mass., who removed to Kingston, R. I., in 1701, settling in what is now Exeter. The family name was formerly Bate, the present form hav- ing been adopted within the last hundred years.
Nichols Bates, the grandfather of Mr. Bates of Preston, was born in Exeter about the year 1775, and died in 1845. His wife, Susanna Wethers, who belonged to a family of French Huguenots, and was born in 1777, survived him ten years, and died in 1855. Their children were: Benjamin, Nichols, John, Silas, Daniel, Arnold, and three daugh- ters, all of whom had families. Nichols Bates, Jr., went to Ohio, where many of his descendants now live.
Benjamin Bates, the father of Nathan D., was a shoemaker by trade. In 1827 he re- moved from Rhode Island to the town of Griswold. He married Elizabeth Hawkins, of South Kingston, R.I., in 1817. Her ancestor, Captain Thomas Hawkin, settled in Dorchester in 1630. He was a member of the London Artillery Company and of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston, and was in charge of the big guns at Savin Hill, Dorchester. His son, Richard Hawkins, removed from Boston to Ports- mouth, R.I. ; Christopher, the second son, settled in Kingston, R. I .; and Thomas, from whom Mrs. Bates descended, married Ann Torrey, daughter of the Rev. Joseph Torrey, of Tower Hill, R.I. Captain William Tor- rey, who came to New England in 1632 and settled at Weymouth, Mass., was for many years a Representative to the General Court,
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and served as Clerk of the house. Johnson, the historian of Massachusetts, says he was famed for his fine penmanship. His son, the Rev. Samuel Torrey, was invited in 1686, it is said, to the presidency of Har- vard College, President Oakes having died in 1681, and his immediate.successor, John Rogers, in 1684. This honor Mr. Torrey declined, but he was a fellow of the cor- poration from 1697 to 1705. He was pastor of the church at Weymouth fifty-one years, and preached the election sermon in Boston in 1674, 1683, and 1689. He married Mary Rawson, daughter of Sir Edward Rawson, who was Secretary of the Colony of Massa- chusetts and Clerk of the Probate Court of Suffolk County. Benjamin and Elizabeth (Hawkins) Bates had four children: Henry, a machinist and mechanical engineer, who died in 1860, at the age of forty-two years; Nich- ols B., a marine engineer, who died at Ulysses, Neb., in 1887, at the age of sixty- seven; Hannah H., who married Isaac P. Sims, and died at sixty-three years of age; and Nathan D., who lives in Preston. The mother died in November, 1865; and the father died in June, 1881. The eldest son was a member of the firm of Cranston & Bates, of Norwich, manufacturers of engine boilers and general machinery, also a member of the New London Foundry and Machine Company. He was a fine mechanic, and inventor of and patentee on stem valves and a bomb lance for taking whales, as well as of a new steam gauge. Naturally an investigator, he made and owned one of the largest telescopes in the United States, the instrument in Harvard University Observatory being then the only larger one.
Nathan D. Bates acquired his elementary education in the little, old brown school- house in his native district, afterward pursu- ing his studies two terms in the village select
school. At the age of sixteen years he started out for himself on a tin pedler's cart, and six months later ne was employed for a short time in running a stationary engine at Wes- terly, R.I. He then learned the machinist's trade, and in 1848 took the ,position of ma- chinist and engineer with Cranston & Bates, of Norwich, Conn. Four years later he be- came fireman of the steam ferry-boat which carried cars across the Connecticut River; and in 1853 he went as fireman again with his brother Nichols, then the engineer on the "Agawam," plying between Sag Harbor and Greenport. In June of that year he ob- tained a United States license as engineer, and early in 1854 he became his brother's successor on the "Agawam," as master en- gineer. During the summer he went to Prov- idence as engineer of an excursion steamer, the "Blackstone." After that he was in dif- ferent ways engaged in business until the breaking out of the war, when he was ap- pointed chief engineer of the United States Navy, and served on the steamship "Hetsel," the "Hatteras," the monitor "Nantucket," and the steamship "Dawn." From the latter he was transferred to the prize ship "Princess Royal," which he took from Port Royal to Philadelphia. After a short leave of absence given him on account of his state of health, he was ordered to the Boston navy yard as chief engineer of the "Mercideti," in which he went to the West India Islands. His last period of service was at the Philadelphia navy yard. He left the United States Navy in 1864, and was variously occupied in connec- tion with his profession, finally forming a part- nership with Elijah J. Green, under the firm name of Bates & Co. The firm dissolved in 1871; and Mr. Bates continued in business alone until the spring of 1878, when he retired. He was elected Sheriff in 1877, and was in
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office from 1878 until 1881, being the second Democratic Sheriff of the county. He was made an elector, April, 1851, and was elected Constable that year. Appointed Jus- tice of the Peace- in 1864, he served in that capacity for eighteen years. He has been a Selectman and Trial Justice, and has repre- sented his town at the General Assembly. He was a County Commissioner for three years, 1874-77, and in 1886 was appointed by Grover Cleveland United States Marshal, which office he ably filled for four years; and has held many other honorable positions in service of State, county, or town. He be- longs to the Sons of the American Revolution, and was Second Lieutenant of the Fourth Rifle Company, Third Regiment, Quarter-master of the Third Regiment, and held the rank of Ma- jor as Aide-de-camp to Major-general James J. McCord. Mr. Bates also served in the fire department for three years.
It was in the fall of 1854 that he married Sarah Emily Nickerson, daughter of Thomas H. and Susan (Currin) Nickerson, of Sag Harbor, the nuptials taking place November 15. They began domestic life at Preston City, and, with the exception of a year at Mystic Bridge, made that city their home until 1871. Mrs. Sarah E. Bates died Au- gust 21, 1893, at the age of fifty-eight. She left two children - Addison G. and Katherine Browning Bates. Addison G. Bates is fore- man of the sewer department in Providence. He married Minnie H. Hille, of Harvard, Ia., and has two daughters - Grace I. and Laura Nickerson. Katherine Browning Bates is the wife of John F. Bennett, of Boston, and has one son, Henry Bates Bennett, a bright boy about twelve years old.
Mr. Bates married second, April 3, 1895, Sophia A. Connell, of Preston, daughter of Joseph and Sophia Bromley Connell.
LIJAH A. MORGAN, who has been an ice dealer in Old Mystic, Stonington, for thirty-seven years was born in Centre Groton, Conn., August 11, 1836. His father, Elijah B. Morgan, who was born in Groton, near New London, in 1809, in early youth went to sea, serving as ship's boy. Elijah B. rose steadily, and in 1843 held the position of captain in the old ship "Herald " of Stonington. He was concerned wholly with whaling vessels, except during the period between 1849 and 1851, when he was in Cali- fornia, to which he had gone by way of the Straits of Magellan. He was a mate with Captain George Brewster, of Stonington, and a sailor with Captain Billings Burch. His first marriage was contracted with Mary Per- kins, whose only child was Elijah A., and who died in 1841. His second marriage united him to Jane M., daughter of the Rev. John G. Wightman, a prominent and able Baptist minister. She survives him, and is now an active lady. She had five children. She spends portions of her time with three of them, namely: John C. Fremont Morgan, of Elroy, Wis .; Anna, the wife of Charles Chapman, residing near Centre Groton; and Myron Morgan, of Norwich. Captain Mor- gan, while in command of the ship "Contest " of New Bedford, off the coast of Brazil, died suddenly of heart-disease in 1861. He had been a prosperous nian, and left a very com- fortable competency.
The early boyhood of Elijah A. Morgan was passed in Groton, attending the common school. At the age of fourteen he went with his father on a two years' voyage to Desolation Island, afterward called Berghland's Lands, which was discovered by Captain Cooke. Later lie spent a year in the Suffield (Conn.) Literary Institute. Then, for a few months, he was in business at the Fulton Market,
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New York City. In 1852 he came to Old Mystic to close out a stock of goods. During the next eight years he kept a store. In 1860 he started in the ice business, which he has followed since, supplying the Mystic valley people with ice, and putting up about fifteen hundred tons. In 1873 he erected one of the finest dwellings in Mystic, and it has been a most pleasant home for the family ever since. He has a well-built barn and sheds, and keeps six horses.
Mr. Morgan is a Master Mason. He has been twice in the State legislature, has been County Commissioner for six years and Se- lectman for seven years. He was First Se- lectman in the first year of the time he has served in the latter capacity. In 1858 he married Mary F., daughter of Daniel and Mary (Heath) Davis, the latter now living in Clinton, Conn. Mrs. Morgan died in 1886, leaving two of her three children. These are : Elijah D. Morgan, of New York City; and Fannie M., who is the wife of John E. Hart, of Elroy, Wis., and has two children - Jean- ette and Raymond. In 1888 Sarah Lawton, of Newport, R. I., became Mr. Morgan's sec- ond wife. The offspring of this marriage is Earle, a bright boy of seven years. Mr. Mor- gan is a Methodist and an official in the church. In politics he is a Republican. He is one of the leading residents, is agreeable and genial in his business relations as well as in his social life, and he is devoted to his family.
ILIAS WILLIAMS, a practical and pro- gressive agriculturist of Stonington, Conn., was born January 19, 1830, not far from Mystic village, on the farm where he now resides, which formerly be- longed to his Stanton ancestors. He is of the eighth generation to own this estate, and
has in his possession a deed dated January 2, 1656, given to Thomas Stanton, an early colonist, by a Mr. Beebe, no price or compen- sation for the property being mentioned in the deed, which was written by Thomas Stan- ton. The deed was recorded in the Stoning- ton book of records for land (in folio four), June 22, 1704, Elnathan Miror, recorder. Mr. Williams's grandfather, Elias Williams, first, who was a native of Stonington, was a seafaring man, and was a master mariner for some years. He married Thankful Stanton, and died, while yet a young man, in 1810, in North Carolina, leaving her with four chil- dren, two of them sons; namely, William Stanton Williams and Joseph Stanton Will- iams. The former, who was born in 1800, lived in this locality until 1830, when he fol- lowed the tide of emigration Westward, going as far as the Territory of Michigan. He set- tled there, but did not live many years, his death occurring in 1834. He left a widow and one daughter, both of whom have passed to the life beyond. Mrs. Thankful Stanton Williams, who was the daughter of William and Hannah (Williams) Stanton and grand- daughter of John Williams, of Mystic village, lived a widow for more than half a century, dying during the late Civil War, in her native town, past fourscore years of age.
Joseph Stanton Williams succeeded to the ownership of the ancestral homestead, where he was born in March, 1802, and where he spent his long life of eighty-six years, his death occurring on February 21, 1889. A wise and willing worker, he toiled early and late in clearing the land and placing it in a state of cultivation. He made many substan- tial improvements, among others being the erection in 1830, some six years after his marriage, of the present dwelling-house, which stands on the site of the original residence.
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In 1824 he married Miss Julia A. Gallup, of Ledyard, a daughter of Christopher Gallup, whose wife was a Mrs. Prentiss, born Stan- ton. Eight children were born of their union, namely: Joseph Stanton, who died in 1834, aged eight years; William, who went to California. in 1849, was fairly successful as a miner during the four years he spent on the Pacific coast, and died in 1857, leaving a widow and one daughter; Elias, the special subject of this brief sketch; Julia, wife of Salmon C. Foote, of Mystic; Joseph Stanton, of Mystic; Charles, who died at Mystic in 1865, leaving his widow with two sons and a daughter; Warren, who died in Stonington in 1868, unmarried ; and Ellen G., who lived but twelve years. The mother died in May, 1883, aged seventy-six years. Both parents were devoted members of the Congregational church. Their bodies were laid to rest in Elm Grove Cemetery, which is beautifully located between the river and highway. (Further ancestral history may be found in connection with the sketch of Joseph S. Will- iams.)
Elias Williams was reared to man's estate on the home farm, receiving his education in the district school; and for four or five years thereafter he was engaged in carrying on a meat market. In 1856 he embarked in the lumber business in Canada; but subsequently he went West, locating first in Dubuque, Ia., and later in St. Louis, Mo., where he re- mained five years out of the fifteen that he was away. During the Rebellion he was em- ployed by the government as wagon master, being in Missouri, Arkansas, and New Mex- ico. After the war he was one of the survey- ing party that accompanied General Palmer through to California. In 1870 Mr. Williams returned to the scenes of his childhood days, and has since carried on general farming with
most satisfactory pecuniary results, the fine appearance of the homestead property giving evidence of his wise management and thrift.
On February 26, 1885, Mr. Williams mar- ried Miss Sarah Palmer, daughter of Randall and Mary- A. (Holmes) Browne, of Stoning- ton. Mr. and Mrs. Williams are both mem- bers of the Mystic Congregational Church, in which he is Deacon; and both are active workers in the denomination. Mr. Williams is an active Republican in his political affili- ations, and has served as chairman of the Town Republican Committee for twenty years, being also chairman of the Senatorial Com- mittee. He has always been a useful and in- fluential citizen, and has filled various posi- tions of trust. He represented Stonington in the State legislature, and was re-elected in 1896. He has also served as Justice of the Peace and as Grand Juror.
The foresight and generosity of this public- spirited citizen are strikingly evidenced by his recent gift, in November, 1897, of two acres of the ancestral estate covered by the above-mentioned deed of two hundred and forty-two years ago to the Mystic Industrial Company, which was organized with a capital of thirty thousand dollars, to erect a plant, one hundred and sixty-two by one hundred and fifty-one feet, with boiler-room twenty by forty feet, for the manufacturing of textile fabrics, or a velvet mill, the property being leased to the Rossie Brothers, of Germany. A thousand dollars would not have induced Mr. Williams to sell the land for house lots, but to establish a new business and promote the prosperity of his native town he was will- ing to part with it without price. The ad- vantages that the place will derive from the new industry may be inferred from the fact that employment will be given to from five hun - dred to six hundred persons, men and women.
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HOMAS B. ALEXANDER, a well- known contractor of New London, was born in North Groton, Conn., in 1836, son of Thomas Jefferson and Mary Ann (Miner) Alexander. The father, a native of the same town, was a sea captain, making voyages between New York and Appalachi- cola. He died at the last-named place in early manhood of small-pox, leaving a widow, who still lives in Ledyard, Conn., at the ad- vanced age of eighty-six years, and two chil- dren - Thomas B. and Mary. Mary married John Williams, of Ledyard.
Thomas B. Alexander was reared on the home farm, and acquired his education in the common schools. He subsequently went to Rhode Island, where he worked for some time in a woollen-mill. Still later he came to New London, and engaged in his present business, in which he has been quite success- ful. In politics he affiliates with the Repub- lican party, and has been six times appointed Street Commissioner for terms of one year each. On October 14, 1855, he married Frances A. Hempstead, daughter of Edward and Fannie (Whittlesey) Hempstead. Mrs. Alexander's great - great - grandparents were Joshua and Lydia (Burch) Hempstead, both of whom lived and died in New London. Her great-great-grandfather Joshua was born here in the old historic Hempstead House, which is still occupied by one of the family. Edward Hempstead, the grandfather, was a native of Stonington, Conn. Mrs. Alexander's father was a farmer, who died in middle life. Her mother lived a widow many years, dying at the advanced age of eighty-three. They had ten children, all of whom lived to grow up, marry, and rear families. Seven of the num- ber are still living, namely: Sarah, wife of A. J. Bliven, of Colorado; Eunice Crary, now the wife of William Cranston, of New Lon-
don; Henry S., of Waterford, Conn .; Hiram, a resident of Ledyard; Mary Anne, wife of William Hancock, of Mystic; Simeon, who resides at Clarke Falls Corner, R.I .; and Frances A., now Mrs. Alexander. The sub- ject of this sketch has one daughter, Jennie A., who was graduated with honor, at the age of seventeen, at the Young Ladies' High School, before it became the Williams Me- morial. She married Stanley A. Smith, a yard-master of the Central Vermont Railroad. She is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and traces her ancestry back, maternally, to Sir Robert Hempstead, and paternally to John Alden of the " May- flower." In 1888 Mr. Alexander built his present fine residence at 29 North Main Street.
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