USA > Connecticut > New London County > Biographical review, containing life sketches of leading citizens of New London County, Connecticut > Part 40
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T HOMAS DRUMMOND, a well-known steam boiler manufacturer of New London, who resides at 10 Pearl Street, was born in Ireland, September 16, 1833, son of Joseph and Catherine (Caffrey) Drummond. The parents, who were in hum- ble circumstances, came to America practi- cally without means, bringing with them two of their seven children, five of whom were sons; namely, Thomas, Joseph, James, Will- iam, and George. Settling in Rhode Island, Joseph Drummond turned his attention to farming, which occupation he followed for twenty years. He died in 1885, at the age of eighty-three, surviving his wife, who lived to be seventy-five, three years. Of his five sons Joseph has been a resident of San Francisco since 1856; James is a house carpenter in Providence, R. I. ; William is also a resident of that city; and George is a farmer in Ash- ford, Conn.
Thomas Drummond attended the public schools, and at the age of thirteen began to learn the boiler-making trade with Thurston, Greene & Co., of Providence, R.I. After working there for some years and acquiring a good knowledge of the trade, he came to New London, and for ten years was foreman of the Albertson & Douglas firm in this city, later serving two years in a similar capacity for the Burden Iron Works, where he had the super- vision of nearly one hundred men. He was one of the skilled mechanics employed on the East River Bridge in 1856. In 1872 he began business on his own account in Nor- wich, Conn., where he remained some years, returning to New London in December, 1885. For the past twelve years he has conducted business at 53 Water Street, where he em- ploys from ten to fifty men according to the times. Ile is also a director of the Connecti- cut Loom Company. In politics he is a Re-
publican, having been previous to the Civil War a radical abolitionist. He has served as State Boiler Inspector for eleven years. He belongs to the Masonic order, being a member of the Chapter, R. A. M.
Mr. Drummond married Mary A. Kneff, of Eastport, Me., and she became the mother of eight children, five of whom are living, namely: Rebecca Frances; Sarah Charlotte, now Mrs. Andrew Welton, of Springfield, Mass. ; Mary A., a trained nurse; Emma W., an employee in the R. H. White store, Bos- ton; and Joseph Johnson Drummond, who is a resident of Stockton, Cal. Two children died in infancy; and Thomas R., who was unmar- ried, was drowned when twenty-eight years old at Fort Townsend, Wash., in 1888. The mother died in Somerville, Mass., in 1871. In May, 1884, Mr. Drummond mar- ried for his second wife Mrs. Charlotte A. (Beckwith) Collins, of this city.
AMES HOWLAND STIVERS,* one of the leading merchants of Stonington borough, was born in the town of Ston- ington, Conn., May 22, 1861, and is a son of the late Captain John Randall Stivers. The family is of German origin, and its represent- atives in this country have been possessed of many of the solid and enduring qualities for which the German race is so widely known.
Daniel Stivers, grandfather of Captain Stivers, lived in New Jersey. His son Jacob, born at Newark, N.J., was a pioneer settler in one of the Middle Western States. John Randall Stivers, father of James How land, was born near Utica, N. Y., on January 8, 1825, and died April 1, 1893. When he was but a small child, his parents removed to the West; and they remained there until the death of the father a few years later. The
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widow then returned with her young children to New York State; and John, being the eld- est, helped to support the family until his mother married again. This was in 1843; and the youth, then nearly eighteen years of age, decided to strike out for himself. He went to New York City, and shipped for a whaling voyage, and at that time met Mr. Horace Trumbull, who was in New York on business for his father. Young Stivers came to Stonington to join his vessel, which was the old "United States," then being fitted out for a cruise by the firm of Stanton & Trum- bull.
He continued in the whaling business for nearly forty ycars, until 1880, in the employ of Stanton & Trumbull or of Tabor, Gordon & Co., of New Bedford, occupying the position of either chief or first officer on nearly every voyage. Captain Stivers had many exciting and hazardous experiences, being at one time caught and shut up in one of the ice floes in the Arctic Ocean. He was on the bark "Henry Tabor," of New Bedford, and was a very popular captain. In the year 1880 he retired from the whaling business, and went to New Britain, where his family had lived for some time. A few months afterward he came to the borough, and engaged in the grocery business. In this he was remarkably successful, and in a few years managed, by fair dealing and courteous manners, aided by his amiable and genial personality, to build up a large and paying business. Captain Stivers was not a member of any social order or fraternity, but was a vestryman of Calvary Episcopal Church. His death was a severe loss to the church as well as to the com- munity.
One of Captain Stivers's brothers, Edwin J. Stivers, now in New York City, was a volun- teer soldier in the Civil War, having previ-
ously been a locomotive engincer. He went to the front in the early part of the war, and rosc from the rank of private to that of First Lieutenant. He remained in the regular army for several years after the close of the war, receiving a Captain's commission, and was stationed at Fort Snelling. He was re- tired about 1888.
Mr. James Howland Stivers is the second of the three sons of Captain Stivers. The eldest-born, John Orrin Stivers, is engaged in mining in Denver, Col., and is married, and has a family. The youngest is Francis Edwin, of West Haven, Conn., who is in the auditor's department of the railroad. James attended the common schools here for some years and later the New Britain High School, from which he was graduated. He then en- tered the grocery of his father, and has been engaged in the business to the present time. taking full charge since the death of his father.
On the 2d of June, 1893, Mr. Stivers mar- ried Lucy Annie, daughter of John F. and Eliza A. (Sherman) Sherman, her father and mother having the same name, but belong- ing to different families. Both were born in the township of Kingston, R. I. They were married there in 1864, and settled at James- town, R. I., on Conanticut Island, where Mr. Sherman became owner of a large farm. He was a soldier in the Civil War, enlisting for nine months in the Twelfth Regiment of Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry, Company K, and serving for thirteen months. He was in the battle of Fredericksburg, and, though receiving shot in his clothing and being stunned by flying sods, he was personally un- injured. His health was impaired, however. by exposure and hardship; and he is now a pensioner.
Mr. and Mrs. Sherman have three children :
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John F., Jr., in Lebanon, Conn. ; Mrs. Stivers; and Isaac Sherman, now in Westerly, R. I. On her mother's side Mrs. Stivers is descended, it is said, from General Nathaniel Greene and Governor Benedict Arnold, of Rhode Island. Two of her direct ancestors were commissioned officers of the Revolution- ary War. She is thus eligible for member- ship in the Society of the Daughters of the Revolution.
HARLES N. CHAMPLIN,* a promi- nent citizen of Norwich, Conn., re- siding near Thamesville, is a native of this city, and was born in !849, his parents being Joseph and Louise (Dewey) Champlin. The Champlin family came to this part of the country from the State of Rhode Island in 1784. Nathan Champlin was brought here when four years old by his parents, Rowland and Anna (Babcock) Champlin, who settled at Greenville, and kept a large boarding-house.
Nathan married Lydia Woodward, of Can- terbury, Conn., and began life in a humble and primitive way in his new and unfinished house on West Main Street. He was a car- penter, and became a prosperous contractor and builder. His family consisted of seven sons and five daughters. One son is living, and resides at 255 West Main Street, on the land where his father settled.
Joseph Champlin, father of Mr. Charles N., was born in Norwich about 1822, and died in 1851. His wife was left a widow with three children, and never remarried. She died in 1877, at the age of forty-eight. The children were : Maria, who married Thomas Potter, and died in 1870, at the age of twenty-three years ; Charles N., the subject of this sketch; and Lydia, who died at the age of nineteen.
Charles Champlin attended the common
schools, but received only a limited education, as at the age of ten years he was obliged to work during the summer; and when fifteen years of age he left school altogether, and was obliged to become self-supporting. When he was ten years old he went to live in the fam- ily of Ira Gifford, a farmer of this town, and remained with bim seven years. He began the business in which he is at present en- gaged twenty-six years ago, driving a bone wagon for his wife's father, and some sixteen years since succeeded to the management of the business. The factory on his farm has five kettles. He runs some three or four wagons, and keeps ten horses in use. Mr. Champlin has enlarged and improved both the house and the barn on his estate, and has now a most pleasant and comfortable home. His farm consists of seventy acres, and is mostly in grass and pasture land. Mr. Champlin is known as one of the progressive and thrifty citizens of this town, and enjoys unusual es- teem. In politics he is a Republican.
On September 16, 1874, Mr. Champlin was united in marriage with Nellie F., daughter of E. A. and Elizabeth (Howard) Dudley. Mr. and Mrs. Champlin have one child, Addie L., a rosy-cheeked young lady of fourteen years and a student in the Norwich Free School.
APTAIN GEORGE W. BECK- WITH,* keeper of the light - house on Stonington Breakwater, was born April 1, 1845, in Salem, Conn., a son of Ezra P. Beckwith. His grandfather, William Beckwith, was a lifelong farmer in Waterbury, this State.
Ezra P. Beckwith was born in New London, Conn., in 1817, and died at Willimantic. Conn., in 1884. He was a stone-cutter by trade, expert in the use of tools, and worked
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at his chosen occupation in Norwich and Westerly. In 1842 he married Harriet De Wolfe, of Hadlyme, in the town of Lyme, New London County, Conn., a daughter of William De Wolfe, a quarryman. Her father was one of a family of seven children born to his mother, who attained the venerable age of ninety-six years, and was full of life and vigor to the close of her days. Her maiden name was Betsey Woods. William De Wolfe mar- ried Hannah Bailey, and had four children, all of whom are living, namely: William De Wolfe, of Salem, Conn., now seventy-four years old; Albert, also a farmer in the same town, seventy-two years of age; Harriet, for- merly Mrs. Beckwith, now Mrs. Hibbard, nearly seventy years old; and Mrs. Sarah Minor, the youngest of the family. Ezra P. and Harriet (De Wolfe) Beckwith reared three children, namely: Dr. Beckwith, a practising physician, who died in 1886, aged thirty-five years, leaving four orphan children, his wife having died previously; George W., the special subject of this brief biography; and Hattie, wife of Thomas Turner, of Oakdale, Mass. The mother, after living a widow for some time, married for her second husband John Hibbard, who died in 1885, after five years of acute suffering from rheumatism. He was a son of Andrew Hibbard, of Nor- wich, Conn. John Hibbard was a mechanical engineer, and during and after the Civil War was an engineer in the United States navy. His widow now draws a pension.
George W. Beckwith was educated in the common schools of Salem, and at the age of twenty-one shipped in the cabin as steward of a vessel, a capacity in which he served twenty years. Previous to this time, however, he served nine months as a private in Company G, Twenty-seventh Connecticut Volunteer In- fantry, having enlisted in October, 1862.
He was an active participant in two battles, but was neither wounded nor capturcd. While a steward Mr. Beckwith visited every clime and zone, going twice, in 1874 and 1876, to Greenland, where he spent sixteen months among the Esquimaux for his health. For the past nine years he has been in the government service, at first as keeper of the Penfield Light - house and in recent years keeper of the Stonington Breakwater Light- house, where he is discharging the duties of his responsible position with conscientious fidelity and ability. Captain Beckwith is a member of Sedgwick Post, No. 1, G. A. R., and is a pensioner of the government.
ANIEL FRASER, a retired black- smith of New London, Conn., is a native of Scotland. He was born in Dunkeld, Perthshire, June 23, 1824, and is descended from a line of men sturdy and strong, his ancestors for twelve generations having been blacksmiths. His parents were Alexander Fraser and Betsey Newton Lang- lands Fraser. The family genealogy traces back to the Fraser who fought on the field of Bannockburn in 1314.
Donald Fraser, great-grandfather of the sub- ject of this biographical sketch, took an ac- tive part in the rebellion of 1745, and lost his life in the prime of manhood by being drowned in Loch Ness in a gallant attempt to carry provisions to Prince Charles Stuart. Grandfather Fraser was his son, Donald, Jr., a blacksmith, who had a family of seven sons and four daughters. It is said that the Mayor of. Perth caused the bells of the city to be rung one evening in honor of Donald and his seven stalwart sons, who were walking together after supper, all fine-looking men - a sight worth seeing. Grandfather Fraser lived to be
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WINFIELD S. DEWOLF.
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ninety-six years old. His grave is in Perth, in Gray Friars' Churchyard. Alexander Fraser, above named, one of his seven sons, died in 1845, at the age of fifty-two, having contracted the cholera. His wife was the daughter of Andrew Langlands, from the bor- ders of England.
Daniel Fraser left school when only twelve years old, and at that age began to learn his trade, serving a regular apprenticeship of seven years in a large shop in Dundee, receiv- ing the first year sixty-two and one-half cents per week, and the last year two dollars and fifty cents per week. In 1842, when but nineteen years old, he married, his bride being but seventeen. In 1850 they came to America, sailing on the ship "Hudson " from Glasgow to New York City, and being ten weeks and two days on the passage. Mr. Fraser settled in East New London on Winthrop Point, where he bought some land, on which he has now three buildings. For thirty-two years he worked in one shop, for Albertson & Douglass, and at one forge. Some ten years ago he built his shop on his own land.
Mr. Fraser's wife was before marriage Isa- bella Procter. Her parents were John Procter, a farmer of Dundee, Scotland, and his wife, Mary Ann Baker. Peter Baker, Mrs. Fraser's maternal grandfather, was an officer in the battle of Waterloo. Mr. Procter died at the age of forty-eight, leaving his widow with three children - Mrs. Fraser and her two brothers - James Procter living in New Lon- don, and Alexander in Peck Street, Norwich. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Fraser are: Donald, a farmer and blacksmith, and father of three children; Isabella, living near her parents, widow of James Hutchinson and mother of one son and two daughters; Jane, wife of Alexander Waite, of East New Lon- don; Alexander, a blacksmith in this place,
unmarried; Margaret, wife of Andrew Mc- Laughlin, of this city, and mother of four children; James, living at home, unmarried ; Elizabeth. now Mrs. William Geer, of New London, and mother of three children; and Almira, living at home. Donald Fraser was a volunteer soldier in the late war, enlisting for nine months and serving a year. He was weunded three times at Port Hudson -- in the mouth, losing eleven teeth and a part of his jaw, and in the shoulder and knee. He is married to Almira Maynard, and has three children now living, namely: Daniel; Ida, new Mrs. Havens, of Niantic; and Almira, who is at home with her parents. Their daughter Anna Isabel, wife of Elmer Beck- with, of Niantic, died at the age of twenty- nine, leaving two children. Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Fraser have fifteen grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Fraternally, Mr. Fraser is a Master Mason. He is an independent voter, and has been prominently connected with the public affairs of the city. He was Alderman for eight years, Selectman for four years, Common Councilman for two years, and Grand Juror three terms. During the small-pox scare he was on the Board of Health, and took active measures for the securing of proper sanitary conditions. In religious belief Mr. Fraser is a Presbyterian, while his wife is an Episco- palian.
INFIELD SCOTT DE WOLF, a well-known dairy farmer of Preston, was born in Montville, on the west side of the river which divides New London County, on January 8, 1862. Ilis parents were Orrin R. and Mary (Latimer) De Wolf, and his paternal grandparents, Ephraim and Elizabeth De Wolf. His father, Orrin R. De Wolf, who was born in Montville in 1828, was
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a farmer living near Chesterfield, in the south-west part of the town, and doing busi- ness on a large scale. Ile owned two farms, comprising over four hundred acres of land, and kept from forty to fifty cattle, about four hundred sheep, and from seven to twelve horses of good breed. Ile died in March, 1895, and is buried in Willimantic. His wife, Mary, who died in 1868, at the age of forty, is buried at Chesterfield. The children of their marriage numbered twelve, five sons and seven daugh- ters. A son named Wellington died at seven years as the result of a scalding accident. The five daughters and two sons now living may be briefly mentioned as follows: Alfred is in Tolland County; Mary, the wife of Ben- jamin A. Fox, resides in East Lyme; Emma, the wife of Charles W. Worthington, resides in Preston; Ellen is the wife of George Bach- elder, of Norwich; Frances is the wife of Herbert Wheelock, of Willimantic; Winfield Scott is the special subject of this biography; and Susan is Mrs. Charles Prentiss, of New London. Ellen's sister Eleanor, who was the wife of Charles Smith, of Willimantic, died in the prime of life, leaving one son.
Winfield S. De Wolf lived on the home farm until fourteen years of age, his eldest sister, Elizabeth, keeping house and taking charge of the family after the death of the mother. Ile subsequently went to live with his father's sisters, Emily De Wolf, a maiden lady, Lucretia, widow of Jeremiah Harris, and Betsey De Wolf, with whom he remained three years. When seventeen years of age he began to work out by the month at farm labor, continuing this from 1879 to 1889. He re- ceived at first ten dollars per month for seven months, and he then worked for his board with the privilege of attending school. During the latter years of his experience as a farm hand he received as high as three hundred
dollars a year wages. On April 1, 1889, he bought two farms of two hundred acres for five thousand, five hundred dollars, going heavily in debt. A year later he sold a hundred acres to Dr. Harris, and has now a hundred acres in his own farm. On this he has built a pleas- ant and comfortable dwelling and a fine set of outbuildings.
In 1889 Mr. De Wolf was united in mar- riage with Miss Mary Jane Story, daughter of Ebenezer and Mary Esther (Avery) Story. Mr. Story died in 1875, at the age of sixty- four years; and Mrs. Story died May 14, 1894, at the age of sixty-eight, leaving one son and four daughters, one of these Mrs. De Wolf, all living in this town. Mr. and Mrs. De Wolf have two children: Elsie May, born May 21, 1890, now in her eighth year; and Ebenezer Story De Wolf, born May 18, 1896, a beautiful and intelligent little child. In politics Mr. De Wolf is a Republican; but he has never cared to be an office seeker or holder, the details of his personal affairs hav- ing absorbed his attention. He keeps twenty- five head of cattle, including fifteen cows, and sells milk to families in Norwich, keeping three horses and delivering the milk himself.
ILLIAM E. PENDLETON, well known in New London, Conn., as a skilful florist, is a native of Mystic, in the same county. He was born September 3, 1854, son of William Dennis and Mary (Thurston) Pendleton. His ancestors canie from England, and were among the leading Colonial families. William Pendleton, his great-grandfather, was a tavern-keeper and farmer in good circumstances. William Pen- dleton. Jr., the youngest son of William, was born in Rhode Island about 1790. He mar- ried a Miss Lamphere, by whom he had eight
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children, five sons and three daughters. He died in 1850, and was survived about twenty- tive years by his widow, who lived to be be- teen seventy and eighty years of age.
William Dennis. Pendleton was born in Mystic, Conn., and for several years carried on mercantile business in Old Mystic. Fol- lowing that he went to California, journeying by way of the Isthmus, and during a two years' stay successfully engaged in mining. He died in 1855, when but thirty-three years of age. Mary Thurston Pendleton, his wife, was born in Westerly, R. I., daughter of John C. and Mary (Miller) Thurston. She was a grand-daughter of John and Martha (Clark) Thurston. Her grandfather was one of four brothers who came from England. He was an innkeeper in Westerly for many years, and retired with a competency. Mr. and Mrs. William D. Pendleton had two children, a son and daughter: William E. ; and Ida, the wife of John Newbury at Bay Shore, L.I. In 1861 their mother married a second time, be- coming the wife of H. Pascal Beckwith, of Waterford, Conn. For the past fourteen years Mr. and Mrs. Beckwith have resided in New London. . They lost an infant son, and have one son living, Daniel P. Beckwith, a young man of fine mechanical and business ability, employed in New York City as superin- tendent of an incandescent arc light company.
William E. Pendleton obtained his educa- tion in the common schools of Waterford. His early boyhood was spent on a farm; and when but sixteen he shipped before the mast on a fishing-smack that sailed from Noank, Conn., and was gone six years. Later on he became a government employee on board the revenue cutter "Active" of New Bedford. Returning to a land life, he engaged in farm- ing until 1892 as manager of the Red House stock farm, then established himself in busi-
ness as a florist in New London, beginning with but two greenhouses, and gradually in- creasing the number to ten, and employing from three to six men, making a specialty of cut flowers and ornamental plants for borders and other decorative purposes.
At twenty-one years of age, February 16, 1876, Mr. Pendleton was married to Miss Amelia E: Braman (known to her friends by the familiar name of " Millie "), a daughter of John Braman, of Waterford, Conn. Their only daughter, Agnes, died at two years. They have two sons living: John B., a young man of twenty, engaged in the greenhouse business; and Frank, aged fifteen.
Mr. Pendleton is a member of the National Guard, Third Connecticut Infantry. From a private he has risen by regular promotion to the rank of Captain of Company D, which he has held for two years, and is now Captain and Aide-de-camp on the Brigade Staff. He is a member of the Improved Order of Red Men, also of the American Order of United Workmen.
(We have recently learned that, owing to the business depression, Mr. Pendleton, a few months ago, gave up the florist's business for a time at least, and has since gone to Alaska.)
ENRY W. BRANCHE,* manager of the Boston and Norwich Clothing Company of Norwich, Conn., was born in Lisbon, Conn., August 9, 1860 .* His father, Levi J. Branche, was born in Lisbon, August 19, 1819; and his mother, Sarah L. Williams Branche, was a native of Canter- bury, Conn. Elisha Branche, father of Levi J., was a son of Stephen, who was born in Preston, Conn. The first ancestor in Con- necticut was Peter Branch, who came to Pres- ton from Scituate, Mass., or near Brant Rock.
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Peter Branch, of Kent, England, sailed from his native land in the' ship "Castle" between the years 1620 and 1640, but did not live to see the new world for which he had set out. His son John was bound out at ten years of age for the remainder of his minority. Branch Island, near Brant Rock, referred to above, was named for him; and his will shows him to have been a man of property. During the Indian War one of his sons was killed at Rehoboth, and is buried there.
Stephen Branch, the great-grandfather of Henry W., of this sketch, was a non-commis- sioned officer in a company of militia that re- sponded to the Lexington alarm in April, 1775. His brother, Captain Moses Branch, was in command of a company at Groton Heights. Elisha Branche, the grandfather of Henry W., was the father of three sons --- Elisha P .; Levi J .; and William, who mar- ried a Miss Atwood, and went to Utah to live - and three daughters.
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