USA > Connecticut > New London County > Biographical review, containing life sketches of leading citizens of New London County, Connecticut > Part 35
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LBERT W. PERKINS, the leading dry-goods merchant of Noank, in the town of Groton, was born here, Oc- tober 3, 1835, son of Sevilian and Lucy B. (Potter) Perkins. His paternal grandfather was Phineas, a farmer, who took part in the action at Groton Heights during the Revolu- tionary War. Sevilian Perkins, who was born in Groton in 1808, was a sailor and fish- erman. In 1849 he went with a party to California, where he was engaged in specu- lating for a few years. Returning subse- quently to Connecticut, he bought a fishing sloop, in which he went after cod to George's Banks. His wife, in maidenhood Lucy B. Potter, and a native of Noank, was a descend- ant of one of the oldest families in this county. She became the mother of nine chil- dren, seven sons and two daughters, all of whom grew to mature years, married, and had families, there being at the present time twenty-five living grand-children. The six children now living are widely scattered, some
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ALBERT W. PERKINS.
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of them having homes in the West. The mother died at the age of forty-two years, and the father at seventy-one years. They were interred in Noank cemetery.
When but ten years old Albert W. Perkins began to accompany his father on his fishing and coasting expeditions, and he subsequently continued in this employment for twenty-four years. On April 1, 1870, he began mercan- tile business in his present store. He carries a good assortment of general dry goods and notions, and has been very successful. The busy little village of Noank counts him as one of her most substantial and reliable busi- ness men.
On January 22, 1858, Mr. Perkins married Miss Julia Avery Burrows, of Groton Bank, and a daughter of Austin and Almira (Hill) Burrows. Her mother is a daughter of Moses Hill, whose father, Samuel B. Hill, was among the slain at the battle of Groton Heights. Austin Burrows died in 1892, aged eighty-one years, leaving a son and two daughters. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Perkins, namely: Lucy, wife of Charles I. Fitch, of Noank, and the mother of four children; C. C. Perkins, a prominent merchant in New London, Conn .; Myra, wife of Otto WV. Monroe, of Providence, R. I., and the mother of three children; Warren C. Per- kins, who married Flora Stanton, of Stoning- ton, Conn., resides in that place, and has one daughter; Albert W., Jr., sixteen years old, who attends school and assists his father in the store; and Abbie HI., two years younger, who also is attending school.
Mr. Perkins is a loyal supporter of the Republican party, and has served the town in minor offices. He is a Master Mason, and the first charter member of the A. O. U. W. of Noank, now Mystic. He is a member of the historic Baptist church in Noank. About
the time of his marriage he built a house, but sold it three years later, and moved into his present residence at 58 Main Street, in which he and his wife have spent thirty-seven of the forty years of their married life.
ANIEL R. LOOSLEY, the oldest newsdealer and stationer of New London, where he began in the business nearly thirty years ago, is a native of England. He was born January 11, 1833, son of William and Ann (Rogers) Loosley. William Loosley died in England, when about forty years of age. His widow was an octo- genarian when she died in 1893. They had twelve children, of whom three sons and eight daughters grew to maturity.
Daniel R. Loosley left England for Amer- ica in a sailing-vessel when a youth of six- teen or seventeen years. When he landed in Philadelphia, he had only a small amount of cash; but, having received a good common- school education, he was able to secure a po- sition as clerk, and he followed that occupa- tion some five years. From Philadelphia he drifted to Boston, where in 1855 he enlisted in the regular army. In his twelve years' service he rose in the regular order of promo- tion to the rank of Captain, which he held for three years ; and he was a commissioned officer some five years. His first active service was on the North-west coast at Puget Sound. When the "Star of the West" went to Fort Sumter, he was one of the two hundred men aboard, of whom, so far as is known, he is the only survivor. Later he was in the Army of the Potomac, with which he participated in some forty engagements, escaping without in- jury or capture. Before he resigned, in 1867, he was brevetted Major. Soon after he came to New London, and established his present
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business at rio State Street, where he has been in trade for twenty-eight years. In pol- ities he is a stanch Republican.
In 1864 Mr. Loosley was married in this city to Miss Jeanette Crandall, a daughter of Joshua and Emeline (Tinker) Crandall, both of whom are now deceased. Of his four chil- dren, two sons died in infancy, and Frederick died when eight years of age. The only daughter, Louise, is a graduate of the Young Ladies' High School of this city, and has also received a musical education. Mr. and Mrs. Loosley and their daughter are members of the Episcopal church. They reside at 19 Brainard Street, in the house which he built twenty years ago.
AMUEL H. CHESEBRO, a pros- perous grocer of Stonington, was born in his present home on De- cember 8, 1838. His parents, Samnel and Harriet (Pollard) Chesebro, were of English ancestry. The family commenced with Will- iam Chesebrough, who was born in England in 1594. In 1620 he was married in Boston, Lincolnshire, England, to Anna Stevenson. They undoubtedly came hither with the Gov- ernor Winthrop party, as his name is enrolled in the membership of the First Church in Bos- ton, Mass .; while his mother, Sarah Chese- brough, was the seventy-eighth member of the same church. Hle removed to Mount Wollaston, now Quincy, Mass., where he owned a valuable estate. He served as Con- stable, and was one of sixteen freemen elected under the order of the Court in May, 1632, that "there shall be two of every plantation to confer with the Court about raising a public stock." This measure is recorded by Prince, with the remark, " And this seems to pave the way for a House of Representatives in the General Court." In October, 1640, he was
the Deputy of Braintree. Later he was Gov- ernor Trumbull's first planter in Stonington, Conn., to which he came from Rehoboth, Mass .. in 1649. At that time Stonington was part of New London. He was several times' a Deputy to the General Court in Hart- ford. His son, Samuel, first, was baptized in Boston, England, in 1627. Samuel, second, the next in line of descent, born November 20, 1660, had a son Joseph, who was baptized April 12, 1703. Joseph's son, Samuel, third. the grandfather of the subject of this biog- raphy, was born March 25, 1743. He married Submit Palmer, of this town; and they had seven sons and six daughters, all of whom grew to maturity. Rhoda died first, at the age of eighteen. The other twelve children all married, and are scattered. Jesse, the eld- est, went to New York State, settling in Man- lius, Onondaga County, in 1788. He mar- ried, became the father of thirteen children, and died June 24, 1830, at the age of sixty- five. Samuel, third, died September 9, 1811. His widow, who survived him until 1835, reached the advanced age of ninety-one. They were highly respected members of the Baptist church.
Samuel Chesebro, fourth, the youngest child of the third Samuel, was born in Ston- ington, November 25, 1788. In early life he worked at clock and wagon making in Glas- tonbury and Marlboro, Conn. He was a car- penter and builder for a number of years, and he was also engaged in the grocery business for twenty-one years. In politics he affiliated with the Democratic party. He was officially prominent, serving as Selectman and Repre- sentative, going to the legislature in 1832 and 1836. Ilis first wife, whose maiden name was Sally Robinson, was born in July, 1799. They were married December 25, 1814. She died April 30, 1830, leaving six children,
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namely: John R., of this city; Dudley R., who died here in 1879, at the age of sixty- one; Ann E. Ashby, a resident of this city; Frances M., now the widow Dickinson, who resides with her half-brother, Samuel H .; Samuel, who died at the age of five; and Sarah Jane, now the widow Wolfe, of Mystic. On December 5, 1830, a second marriage united the father to Harriet Pollard, who was born in Preston, Conn., on August 3, 1796. She had four children, of whom Samuel H., the subject of this sketch, grew to maturity. She died December 11, 1855. On March 19, 1857, Lydia Fellows became the third wife of the fourth Samuel Chesebro. Born March 5, 1790, she died in 1881. His death occurred in 1858.
After acquiring a common-school education, Samuel II. Chesebro began to serve as clerk in his father's grocery store when he was thir- teen years of age. His present place of busi- ness, which was erected by his father in 1836, when the ground about it was a rough pasture, is now in the central part of the business dis- trict. In politics Mr. Chesebro is a Demo- crat. Like his worthy father, he has been a prominent office-holder. In 1871, 1877, and 1878 he served the town as Selectman. He was Warden of the borough in 1892 and 1894, after which he declined re-election. In 1874 he was a legislative Representative. He has been the president of the Stonington Building Company since its organization in 1892.
On September 26, 1865, Mr. Chesebro was married to Lucretia Maria Babcock, a daugh- ter of Elias and Lucretia (Davis) Babcock. Her father, who was a farmer and a merchant, died March 19, 1881, at the age of seventy- five. Her mother, who was born June 22, 1818, and is still living, lost an infant daugh- ter and her son, Elias Babcock, Jr., who served in the Civil War, and died in 1888, at
the age of forty-three. Mrs. Chesebro was a pupil of Mrs. Draper, of Hartford. She sub- sequently studied music at the Music Vale Seminary, and became a proficient teacher. Mr. and. Mrs. Chesebro have only one child, Pauline, a young lady who is still under the paternal roof.
ON. JOHN BREWSTER, now living in retirement at the old Brewster homestead in Ledyard, Conn., was born in the adjoining town of Preston, May 13, 1816, son of John and Mary (Morgan) Brewster. He is descended from the distin- guished Pilgrim leader, William Brewster, "the excellent Elder of Plymouth," whose son Jonathan was the first Town Clerk of New London.
Jabez Brewster, the father of John, Sr., was a native New London County farmer. He had four sons and one daughter. The latter was the wife of Jeremiah S. Halsey (de- ceased). John Brewster, Sr., born in Pres- ton, December 15, 1782, died November 12, 1848, at nearly sixty-six years of age. He had been to the polls only a few days before and voted for President and Vice-President of the United States. In 1820 he bought and settled on this farm, then the Captain Israel Morgan farm. Ilis marriage with Mary Mor- gan was solemnized February 6, 1806. She was born in this house, and was a daughter of Captain Israel and Elizabeth (Brewster) Mor- gan. Her father was a son of William Morgan and a lineal descendant of James Morgan, born in Wales in 1607, who settled in Pequot, now New London, about 1652. Captain Israel Morgan departed this life on June 4, 1816, his death being accidental, caused by choking. John, Sr., and Mary (Morgan) Brewster had three sons and a daughter, three of whom have passed away.
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The daughter, who married a Crary, left a family.
John Brewster, the only survivor of the family, grew to manhood on this place, and here brought his bride shortly after their mar- riage. The farm, which is about four miles from Norwich, contains one hundred and forty acres; and he keeps from fourteen to twenty cows, besides horses, sheep, hogs, and other stock. The house is nearly two hundred years old. A new barn was built here twenty-five years ago, but about fifteen years later was struck by lightning, and with its contents was a total loss. The one now standing, which is a fine modern structure, sixty feet long by thirty wide, was built in 1891.
When eighteen years old, Mr. Brewster en- listed in the Rifle Company, which was made up largely of Groton and Stonington boys; and during his six or seven years' membership he rose by regular promotion to the captaincy. He was subsequently honorably retired, and has ever since been known as Captain Brews- ter. In addition to carrying on his farm, during the past twenty-five years he has been a wool buyer in company with L. W. Cornell; and for the past three years he has been buyer for the Yantic Wool Company. In the capac- ity of appraiser, trustee, or administrator he has also often assisted in settling estates, some of them requiring the handling of large amounts of property and involving knotty and troublesome problems, of which the solution was only reached after years of anxious care. But, even with such difficulties attending his duties in such cases, he has never charged more than a nominal fee for his services. As a man of broad intelligence and sound judg- ment, honest, kind-hearted, and generous to a fault, he commands the esteem and confi- dence of the community.
On April 2, 1840, Mr. Brewster was mar-
ried to Miss Mary E. Williams, daughter of Dennison B. Williams, of Stonington. Mrs. Brewster, who is almost seventy-nine years old, was the eldest-born of nine children, eight of whom grew to mature years; but only two are now living, the other being her sister Eunice, wife of Richard Roberts, of Brooklyn, N. Y., twelve years younger. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Brewster; namely, a daughter who died at the age of eighteen months, John Dennison, Fanny Halsey, Phebe Esther, and Frank William. John Dennison died in 1894, aged fifty years, leaving a son and daughter: Clara Brewster, a young lady of eighteen; and Arthur Morgan Brewster, two years younger - both of whom live with their mother in Norwich. Fanny, the wife of Thomas H. Geer, of Cleveland, Ohio, has one daughter, Mary Brewster. Phebe Esther is the wife of Benjamin F. Lewis, Jr., in Norwich. Frank W. Brewster has charge of the home farm and a milk route in the villages of Poquetanock and Hallville. He married Mary Brown, daughter of L. R. and Elizabeth Brown, and has two children : Hannah Elizabeth, twelve years old; and Phoebe Esther, nine years old.
Captain Brewster is a stanch Republican. He has for several years held the office of Se- lectman, First and Second, and has served some years as Judge and Clerk of the Probate Court. In 1860 and in 1885-86 he was a member of the Connecticut Senate. He had previously served three terms, 1847, 1851, and 1878, in the lower house of the legislature. For twelve years he was president of the Mer- chants' National Bank of Norwich ; and he is now vice-president of the Norwich Savings Bank, being the oldest member of its Board of Directors. He was for years president of the Henry Bell Library, but has now resigned that position.
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FREDERICK SYMINGTON.
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REDERICK SYMINGTON, the super- intendent of the William W. Backus Hospital at Norwich, is a native of New Bedford, Mass., born August 14, 1859. His father, Hugh Symington, born in 1832, was a native of Scotland, whence he came to America at the age of twenty-five years. With the latter came his wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Cluckson, and one son, William. They settled in New York City, where Hugh was successfully engaged in his profession of veterinary surgeon. He died in 1882, and his wife at the age of sixty- two, in 1891. Both lie buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, New York. Of their four sons and four daughters, Eudora, Sarah Ann, and Ida reside in Bridgeport, Conn.
Frederick Symington was the youngest son and fourth child of his parents. He was edu- cated in the public schools of New York City. At the age of sixteen he became a book-keeper there, and was thus employed for three years. He then went to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company as a mechanic, and learned the gun-making business, in which he became a very proficient workman. In 1883 he ac- cepted a position in the factory of Hopkins & Allen, for whom he worked up to 1893. He left that place to take up the duties of superintendent of the William W. Backus Hospital, in which capacity, as already stated, he is now serving. This hospital is one of the best of its size in this country, and its superintendent takes a personal interest and pride in seeing that everything under his care is properly conducted.
Mr. Symington has been twice married. His first union was made with Miss Rose Hanson, whose children are: Robert, aged sixteen ; and Alice, aged thirteen years. The second marriage, contracted on January 18, 1893, with Miss Clara Stanton, of Norwich,
has been blessed by the birth of one son, Frederick Stanton. Mrs. Symington is a daughter of the Rev. Robert and Harriet (Jones) Stanton. Through her father, who is a retired Congregational pastor, she is a di- rect descendant of Thomas Stanton, of Lon- don, England, who embarked January 2, 1635, on the merchantman " Bonaventura " for Vir- ginia, whence he afterward went to Boston. In 1637 he settled in Hartford, Conn., and was subsequently married to Miss Ann Lord, of that place. He established a trading house in Stonington, Conn., in 1650. The wife of the Rev. Robert Stanton was a daughter of Dr. Timothy Jones, one of five brothers who were educated at Yale College. . An ancestor of the Jones family, who are of English ori- gin, Colonel John Jones, was one of the regi- cides who were held responsible for the exe- cution of Charles I., and executed at Charing Cross, London, October 17, 1660. William Jones, son of Colonel John Jones, came to New England in the same ship with the two regi- cides, Whally and Goffe, who were at one time secreted in a cave in New Haven, Conn. Dr. Timothy. Jones, born in 1784, graduated from Yale College in 1804. Four years later he settled in Southington. In 1810 he wedded Miss Rhoda Lewis, a daughter of Seth Lewis. Nine children were born to them, of whom six grew to maturity; and Mrs. Stanton is now the only survivor. Mr. Symington is a loyal Republican in politics. He is a Master Mason, a Knight Templar, and a member of the A. O. U. W.
ยท LEROY BLAKE, D. D., pastor of the First Church of Christ (Con- gregational), New London, Conn., since March 30, 1887, was born in Cornwall, Vt., December 5, 1834, a son of Myron M.
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and Lucy (Stone) Blake. His first ancestor in this country, it is said, was John Blake, of Malden, England, who settled in Middletown, Conn., in the seventeenth century, and died there in 1690.
The descendants of John Blake are numer- ous, and include many distinguished men. Stephen Blake, great-grandfather of Dr. Blake, was born in Middletown, Conn., April 27, 1767; and Myron Blake, his grandfather, was born November 5, 1790. The latter mar- ried Laura Hopkins, of Pittsford, Vt., a sec- ond cousin of President Millard Fillmore, and reared one daughter and seven sons.
Myron M. Blake, son of Myron, was born in Castleton, Rutland County, Vt., April 12, 1812, and died in Salisbury, Conn., Septem- ber 20, 1893. The greater part of his life was devoted to the pursuit of agriculture. In March, 1834, he was united in marriage with Lucy Stone, a native of Cornwall, Vt. She was the daughter of Eli and Polly Stone and grand-daughter of Silas Stone, a Revolution- ary soldier, who died on the march from Ben- nington to Troy. Mrs. Lucy S. Blake died April 22, 1894, in Westfield, Mass., aged eighty-three years, six months, and is buried with her husband in Salisbury, Conn. They were members of the Congregational church. Four children were born to this couple, three of whom are now living: S. Leroy, the sub- ject of this sketch; Lyman H., pastor of the Second Congregational Church of Westfield, Mass. ; and Clarenee E. Blake, Ph.D., a suc- cessful teaeher.
S. Leroy Blake fitted for college at Burn & Burton Seminary, Manchester, Vt., and en- tered Middlebury College in the fall of 1855, graduating in 1859. For some time after his graduation he was engaged in teaching: in West Randolph, Vt., in 1859 and 1860; at Lancaster, Mass., about a year; and at Pem-
broke, N. H., in 1861 and 1862. In the spring of 1862 he entered Andover Seminary, from which he graduated in 1864; and on De- cember 7, 1864, he was ordained and installed pastor of the Congregational church in Pep- perell, Mass. His succeeding charges were: the South Church, Coneord, N. H., where he began work in January, 1869; the Woodland Avenue Presbyterian Church, Cleveland, Ohio, November, 1877; the Calvinistic Con- gregational Church, Fitehburg, Mass., April, 1880; and the church in New London, which is his present charge. He received his degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1883 from Iowa Col- lege. Tlie Rev. Dr. Blake is an able preacher, a zealous worker for the interests of his congregation, and wields a facile and powerful pen. He is the author of the book, "By Whom and When was the Bible Writ- ten ?" (published in Boston in 1886 by the Congregational Publishing Company), and "After Death, What?" (1890), "The Early History of the First Church, New London, 1897," besides a number of pamphlets and published sermons.
The church of which he is pastor has an in- teresting history, and the roll of its ministers includes some illustrious names. It was organized in Gloucester, Mass., in May, 1642. by Richard Blinman, who was driven from Cheapstone, England, by Archbishop Laud in 1640. The Rev. Richard Blinman settled first in Marshfield, Mass., and went thence to Gloucester. In 1650, and with the majority of his congregation, he moved to New Lon- don, where he was settled on a salary of sixty pounds per year. Eight years later he left this place, and in 1660 he returned to Eng- land. He died in Bristol in 1679 or 1680. His successor was Gershom Bulkeley, a son of Peter Bulkeley, of Coneord, Mass. This gentleman settled here in 1661, and, leaving
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in 1664, was succeeded in 1666 by the Rev. Simon Bradstreet, son of the Governor of the Massachusetts Colony and his wife, Ann Dudley, famous as the first poetess of Amer- ica. The Rev. Mr. Bradstreet died in Au- gust, 1683. His successor, Gurdon Salton- stall, took charge of the church in 1688. He was ordained here in 1691, and was pastor until 1708, when he was chosen Governor of Connecticut ; and he occupied the gubernato- rial chair up to the time of his death in 1724. During the pastorates of Bradstreet and Sal- tonstall the church was disturbed by the Rogerine movement, which was confined mostly to this county.
Mr. Saltonstall's successor, Eliphalet Adams, of Dedham, Mass., was ordained and placed in charge of the church in 1709. In 1740, during his ministry, occurred the great revival in New London; and his congregation was decreased by the defection of about one hundred members who followed the lead of Jo- seph Davenport, of Southold, L.I., the inau- gurator of the Separatist movement. These Separatists established a theological seminary in New London. Mr. Adams died in Octo- ber, 1753, closing a pastorate of more than forty years. His successor, the Rev. Mather Byles, of Boston, settled here November 18, 1757 and ten years later was made rector of an Episcopal church in Boston. The next in- cumbent was Ephraim Woodbridge, of Groton, Conn. He took charge of the church, October 11, 1769, and died September 6, 1776.
In 1787 Henry Channing, of Newport, uncle of William Ellery Channing, D. D., was installed as pastor. Mr. Channing, who was a kind and scholarly man, became imbued with Unitarian sentiments, which were distasteful to his congregation; and in May, 1806, he re- signed. In October of the same year the Rev.
Abel McEwen took charge; and in the fifty- four years of his ministry several changes took place, and the church membership was aug- mented by a series of revivals. In 1835 the Second Congregational Church was colonized ; and in June, 1856, the Rev. Thomas P. Field was installed as associate pastor to Dr. Mc- Ewen. Dr. Field resigned in the autumn of 1876 to accept a professorship in Amherst College. He was succeeded by Edward W. Bacon, son of Dr. Leonard Bacon, of New Haven, who was active in ministerial work until October, 1886. He resigned on account of ill health, and died in California in June, 1887.
This church began worship in Robert Parks's barn, which, fitted for the purpose, was used until 1655. Then the building known as the Blinman Church was erected; and in 1680 the second house of worship, known as the Bradstreet Church, was first used. All these buildings were on Meeting- house Hill. The first church, sold to James Avery, was moved to Poquonnock Plain, and used as a dwelling-house until July 20, 1894, when it was destroyed by fire. The Brad- street house also was burned, and a new one completed on the same site in 1698 was called the Saltonstall Church. This was in use until 1785, when the fourth house of worship was erected on the site of the present church. The last structure erected, which was finished in 1850, is a large and handsome edifice of solid granite.
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