USA > Connecticut > New London County > Biographical review, containing life sketches of leading citizens of New London County, Connecticut > Part 41
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46
Levi J. Branche engaged in farming in his younger days, then became a paper manufact- urer, being one of the organizers of the Reed Paper Company. He was one of the incorpo- rators of the Jewett City Savings Bank. Two years, 1882-84, he was a member of the State legislature. He was active and influential in the town affairs of Sprague, to which place he removed at the close of the war. In 1860 Mr. Branche was married to Miss Sarah L. Williams, daughter of Merritt Williams, of Canterbury, Conn. Four children were the fruit of this union, namely: Henry W .; Ida, wife of a Mr. Blanding, of Providence, R. I .; Herbert R., a yard-master in Provi- dence for the New England Railroad; and Leone L., a salesman in a clothing store in Providence. Their mother died in November, 1875, at thirty-seven years of age. Their father subsequently married a second wife, by
whom he had two children. His third and last wife was a Miss Bromley, who survives him, and is living in Sterling, Conn. He died in March, 1886.
Henry W. Branche, after attending the common schools and a boarding-school at Providence, began his business career at six- teen, as a clerk in a clothing store in Win- chendon, and afterward went to school for another year. He tried working in a wcollen- mill and at other employments until 1883, when he entered the New York Clothing House in Norwich as a clerk, remaining there until the spring of 1887, when he started in business for himself at 90 Main Street, in company with a Mr. Reeves, firm of Reeves & Branche. After carrying on the business to- gether for seven years, they dissolved partner- ship; and Mr. Branche became manager of the Boston and Norwich Clothing Company.
In December, 1886, Mr. Branche was joined in marriage with Miss Fannie Bottom- ley, of this city, a daughter of Joseph Bot- tomley. They have three children - Harry, Herbert, and Fannie.
As was his father . before him, Mr. Branche is a Republican. Fraternally, he is a mem- ber of the Knights of Pythias, the Improved Order of Red Men, and Sons of the American Revolution. Mrs. Branche is an Episco- palian. The family reside on Laurel Hill, in the house which Mr. Branche purchased in the fall of 1895.
HARLES H. COTTRELL,* a well- known lumberman of Mystic, Conn., successor to the business established by his late father, Joseph Cottrell, was born in the house which he now occupies, January 27, 1843.
The Cottrells are of English origin. Sir
429
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
Charles Cottrell, born in 1615, son of Sir Clement Cottrell, of Lincolnshire, lived at Westminster, and was prominent at the court ceremonies in the reign of Charles II. The emigrant ancestor was Nicholas Cottrell, who was living at Newport, R. I., as early as 1639, and later at Westerly.
Joseph Cottrell, born in Mystic, July 7, 1777, was the only son of Charles and Esther (Denison) Cottrell. Hc was a man of great enterprise and business tact, establishing more than seventy-five years ago the first and only lumber yard and planing-mill in Mystic. By means of industrious thrift and wise man- agement he accumulated a competency, leav- ing his seven children then living a goodly es- tate to be divided among them, making no will, but depending upon their honor and fra- ternal affection to settle affairs harmoniously, which they surely did. He was not a poli- tician, but was a radical Republican, and at one time was a Representative to the State legislature.
On October 3, 1826, he married Fanny Stanton, daughter of Jabez and Fanny (Potter) Stanton, who on her mother's side was de- scended from the Potter family of Rhode Island. They became the parents of twelve children, all but one of whom were born in the house erected by the father soon after his marriage, probably seventy years ago. Two sons and five daughters grew to mature years, and the following are now living: Mary Ann, who is now abroad with her husband, Charles H. Denison, visiting the principal cities of the Old World, having recently been in Japan ; Harriet Shaw, widow of George Har- ris, of Providence, R.I .; Fanny, wife of Joseph Griswold, a cotton manufacturer in Greenfield, Mass. ; and Charles Henry, the subject of this sketch. One son, Joseph Oscar, who spent most of his life in Mystic,
died January 2, 1890, in Providence, leaving one daughter by his first wife, and four sons and one daughter of his second marriage. Neither of the parents is living, the father having died April 19, 1865, and the mother just three months later, July 19, 1865. Both werc members of the Congregational church, and their family pew is now occupied every Sunday by their son Charles and his wife.
Charles H. Cottrell was educated in board- ing-schools at Providence, R.I., and Middle- boro, Mass. When a young man he entered in business with his father, and he is now ex- tensively and profitably engaged as a lumber manufacturer and dealer. He is highly es- teemed as a man of sterling integrity. He is a Republican in politics, and, though not an office-seeker, has served as Selectman of the town. Fraternally, he is a Master Mason.
Mr. Cottrell was married November 16, 1865, to Miss Georgia A. Crary, who was born in Groton, this county, a daughter of George B. and Catherine (Latham) Crary and a sister of Captain Jesse Dayton Crary, who for many years ran a freight and passenger packet be- tween Mystic and New York City. Mrs. Cot- trell is said to be a lineal descendant of Charlemagne, tracing her ancestry through Peter Crary, who was born in Scotland in 1635. Peter Crary emigrated from Scotland to America when a young man, coming to Groton, Conn., where he married in Decem- ber, 1677, Christobel Gallup. On March 17, 1679, he and his wife joined the church, of which James Noyes was pastor. Peter Crary died in 1708. His wife's father, Captain John Gallup, Jr., was a son of Captain John Gallup, Sr., of Boston, Mass .; and both father and son were noted Indian fighters, the son losing his life in the famous swamp fight. Mrs. Cottrell's grandfather Crary married Catherine Burrows, a descendant of Robert
430
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
Burrows, who was given the first grant to cross the Mystic River. His son, John Bur- rows, born in 1642, is buried under a slab in the Wightman burial-ground. George B. Crary and his wife are the parents of six chil- dren, of whom three are living, namely: Jesse Dayton, a merchant in New York City; Nellie Crosby Crary, at home with her par- ents; and Georgia A., now Mrs. Cottrell. Mrs. Cottrell's maternal great-grandmother, Catherine Haley, was descended from John Haley, who was born in Devonshire, England, and was buried on Fisher's Island.
Mr. and Mrs. Cottrell have lost three chil- dren, two sons and a daughter having died in infancy. They have one child living; namely, Fanny Stanton, wife of John L. Dodge, Jr., of Groton. Mrs. Dodge has three children, two sons and a daughter, the latter being of the fifth generation to bear the name of Fanny Stanton. Mr. Cottrell has many valuable relics, one that attracts universal at- tention being an old-fashioned solid mahogany writing-desk, formerly owned by his great- grandmother.
ISS RUTH ELIZABETH ALLEN, a well-known resident of the town of Sprague, Conn., living on the Allen farm, near the village of Hanover, is the only daughter of the late John and Ruth Waldo (Bingham) Allen. The family to which she belongs is an old and honored one in New England, and has produced men and women of influence and of solid worth and Christian character.
Among the different emigrants bearing this surname that came over in the first half of the seventeenth century was Samuel Allen, who settled at Braintree, Mass., near Boston. From him the line of descent to John, father
of Miss Ruth E. Allen, is as follows: Sam- uel, second, born about 1632; Samuel, third, born in 1660; Joseph, born in 1701; Asahel, born in 1742 or 1743, who married Desire Eames, and was the father of Enoch and grandfather of John Allen.
Enoch Allen, Miss Allen's grandfather, who was born in the eastern part of Windham, now Scotland, Conn., in 1768, was a farmer and stone-mason and a man universally es- teemed. He died in 1840. His wife, for- merly Betsey Witter, of Canterbury, long sur- viving him, lived to be eighty-five years of age. Their only daughter died in infancy; but their four sons - Asa W., John, Martin, and David - grew to maturity and married, and all lived to be very advanced in years. Asa W., the eldest, in his youth was a mem- ber of a militia company, and was called out at the time of the attack on Stonington Point in the War of 1812. In 1819, shortly after his marriage, he removed to Ohio. In his later years he devoted himself with character- istic "unyielding perseverance" to study of the history of his ancestors, and compiled a brief but valuable genealogy of the Allen and Witter families, which was published in Salem, Ohio, in 1872. Martin Allen re- moved to Ohio in 1829; and David, the youngest brother, settled at Salem, Ohio, in 1864. Miss Allen's uncles were all teachers, church members, .and devoted Christian workers.
Her father, John Allen, was born in 1797, and was educated in the district school. He was married March 9, 1835, to Ruth Waldo Bingham, daughter of Captain John and Talitha (Waldo) Bingham, both lifelong resi- dents of Connecticut. Mr. Allen, having in- herited some property, had previously bought a farm, and had finished building the house which has now come down to his daughter,
f
431-432
South Welllen
433
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
the site having been chosen because of the abundance of pure spring water. By his own industry and business ability he added to his possessions, so that at his death, which oc- curred on February 22, 1875, he left an estate estimated at thirty thousand dollars. His wife, Ruth, was a teacher before her marriage, and was a woman of cultivation and refinement. She was born in 1800, and died July 12, 1882. Both Mr. and Mrs. Allen were Con- gregationalists in religion.
Miss Allen is the only child of her parents. She was educated in Dr. Webster's School at Norwich, and was brought up from childhood with the most loving and thoughtful care. She has always clung with attachment to her home, and prefers a quiet and domestic life here to any other. She is deeply interested in all the affairs of her native town, and is always ready to lend her influence for the furtherance of any movement looking to the general good or to assist in any worthy scheme of benevolence. She is a member of the Hanover Congregational Church, and be- longs also to the Woman's Christian Temper- ance Union.
APTAIN REUBEN LORD,* a farmer and retired ship-master of Salem, Conn., was born in Lyme, at Ham- burg, April 20, 1812, son of Joseph and Phebe (Burnham) Lord. Thomas Lord, the first ancestor of this branch of the family in America, was born in 1585, and, with his wife Dorothy, came from England in 1635, settling in Newtowne, as Cambridge, Mass., was then called, and going to Hartford, Conn., in 1636 or 1637. His son William, born about 1623, settled at Saybrook, and died in 1678. William's son, Thomas, was born in 1645. Ile married Mary Lee, and died
in 1730. Their son Joseph, born in 1697, settled at Lyme, married Abigail Comstock, and died in 1736. Their son Joseph also lived in Lyme. He married Sarah Wade, son of Joseph and Sarah Lord, settled in Lyme, married Elizabeth Selden, and dicd in 1804. Joseph, their son, the Captain's father, born in 1781, died in 1836. He had five sons and six daughters, a brief record of some of them being as follows: the Rev. Joseph Lord, a Congregational minister in Michigan, is now ninety years of age, and at- tends divine service every Sunday of his life ; Judah resides in Hamburg, Lyme, at the age of seventy-nine. Elizabeth, widow of Jede- diah Brockway, is in Hamburg; another sister married Captain James A. Bill; Rebecca Lord lives in Colchester. The father held some of the minor town offices. His wife survived him twenty-five years.
Captain Lord was brought up on his father's farm, and attended the Bacon Academy and Bristol School. He remained at home until his marriage to Sarah Weaver, of New York State, which occurred when he was twenty- three years of age. He was for ten years captain of his vessel. He has been a mer- chant in La Porte, Ohio; and at one time he kept a hotel there, and also engaged in the manufacture of potash and pearlash. He is a Democrat, and has been Justice of the Peace. He served as Assessor fifteen years and on the Board of Relief thirteen years. He was in the legislature in 1878. He has been a member of the Congregational church at Hamburg for half a century. He has lived at his present home in Salem since 1881, having then bought his farm of sixty-five acres.
Captain Lord's first wife, who was a daugh- ter of Thomas Weaver, died November 18, 1876, aged sixty-nine. She had been the mother of seven children, of whom two, who
434
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
were twins, a son and daughter, died young, in Ohio. The survivors are: Joseph, living in Tampa, Fla. ; Elizabeth, who married Mr. Moon, and accompanied him South, where he and one daughter died of yellow fever ; Henry, who is an orange-grower near the city of Tampa, Fla. ; Reuben, Jr., a lawyer in New London; and Walter A., a farmer in Ham- burg. Captain Lord has five grandchildren. . He was again married, in 1878, to Mrs. Matilda S. Wheeler, of Hartford, Conn., daughter of Hugh Chambers, and the widow of Hiram Wheeler. Her only daughter, Net- tie E., is the wife of Joseph Lord, and has a daughter, Edith May Lord, aged eleven.
Mrs. Matilda S. Lord was born in Dover, England. Her father's family came from Dundee, Scotland. He was a surgeon in the British army; and his wife, Elizabeth Shaw Chambers, always accompanied him. Their eighteen children were born in different parts of the world, -one, for instance, in the West Indies, one in the East Indies, one on the Cape of Good Hope, one on the Island of St. Helena, one in Dover Castle, and one on the ocean. Mrs. Lord has two brothers in Aus- tralia, whither they emigrated from Califor- nia. Another brother, the Rev. Adam Cham- bers, a Baptist minister, is settled over one of the best churches in Philadelphia. He has an illustrated lecture on " Pilgrim's Progress," which he has delivered twenty-six hundred times in various countries. Another brother is in business in New York City, and has a summer home in Salem. Her sister, the wife of Ralph Hughes, who belongs to the famous Hughes family, is in Buffalo. Hugh Chambers died in England in 1840, at the age of fifty-four. His wife died at the home of her son in Philadelphia, about 1867, at sixty- three years of age. Mrs. Lord was educated in New York City and at the Quaker Boarding
School in Springport. She has taught school, and was for twenty-five years the superin- tendent of mission schools in New York City, and in Hartford was the city missionary of Warburton Chapel, a position which she held for ten years, at a salary of one thousand dollars.
Before her second marriage Mrs. Lord spent five months abroad, visiting London, Roches- ter, and Dover, England; Glasgow and Edin- burgh in Scotland; Belfast, Ireland; Boulogne, France; and Brussels, Belgium. She went in the interests and under the auspices of the New York City Female Bible Readers' So- ciety, whose president at that time was Mrs. Lorimer Graham. During her tour she at- tended the World's Congress of Deaconesses, of which order she is a member. Her mis- sion was to obtain up-to-date methods of mis- sionary work, and she gave lectures on this subject in Belfast. She was the guest of Mr. Spurgeon, and saw the darkest and brightest phases of London life before returning to her work in Hartford. Her life has been full of activity and usefulness.
HOMAS PENDLETON WILCOX,* of Quiambaug, Stonington, Conn., a son of Thomas, Jr., and Lavinia (Fish) Wilcox, was born April 5, 1844. His grand- father, Thomas Wilcox, Sr., was a seafaring man, and was engaged in many whaling expe- ditions. He married Abbie Pendleton, who bore him seven children, four sons and three daughters, all of whom are now dead.
His son Thomas, Jr., who was born in 1806, was the master of a whaler for a number of years, making many expeditions. He bought twenty acres of land in Stonington, at the head of Quiambaug Cove, where he built the house in which his son now lives.
435.436
CHARLES P. HEWITT.
437
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
He was married in 1836, and died while on a voyage, in 1854, and was buried at sea. His wife, Lavinia Fish, daughter of John Fish, of Noank, survived him but four years. They had two sons. The elder, George W., was by occupation a sailor. In 1861 he en- listed in Company G of the Fifth Connecticut Infantry, and was appointed Sergeant. Hav- ing served his full term, he enlisted again, and was killed at the battle of Atlanta in 1864.
Thomas Pendleton Wilcox, the younger son, came to his present home with his parents when about two and a half years old. He attended the district schools for a time in his boyhood, but very early began to follow the sea. Now he does a good business, catching lobsters, also fishing with hand lines dur- ing the summer, and in winter taking oysters, large and of excellent quality, from his fine oyster beds, where he plants from four hun- dred to five hundred bushels every spring. He has served on the School Committee, and has been a trustee of the free chapel near his home. He is a member of the Baptist church and in politics a Democrat.
December 17, 1863, he married Angelina R. Champlain, a daughter of Benadam and Rebecca Champlain. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox, and six of them are living, namely : George R., who is married, and has a daughter and a son ; William C., who is married, and has two daughters; Thomas P., Jr., living at home ; Henry M., also living at home, and in busi- ness with his father; Frank G., a boy of fif- teen ; and Lavinia, a child of seven.
Although Mr. Wilcox is not strong physi- cally, always having been a sufferer from asthma, he is a man of great patience and perseverance, and has accomplished much in a quiet, unobtrusive way.
HARLES PALMER HEWITT,* one of the most industrious and enterpris-
ing farmers of Preston, was born in his present abode, March 8, IS53, son of Stanton and Harriet (Roy) Ilewitt. His grandfather, Charles Hewitt, owned a farm in this vicinity ; and the house which he built is still standing. Stanton Hewitt was born in 1817, and spent his life on the farm. He married in 1850 Harriet Roy, of Lisbon, who was born in 1830. They had three chil- dren : Stanton, a farmer residing in this vicinity ; Charles Palmer; and Hattie Eggles- ton, wife of Oliver Eggleston. The mother died in 1873, at the age of forty-three, her husband having passed away eleven years pre- viously. He was a Democrat politically, be- sides serving the town as Selectman many years. He was also elected at different times to both houses of the legislature.
Charles P. Hewitt was brought up on the farm, where he remained until twenty-one years of age. He then went to Hartford, where he was employed as an assistant book- keeper for some years. He also pursued a course of study at Greenwich Academy. Re- turning subsequently to the farm, he was married January 8, 1870, to Addie H. An- drews, of Preston, daughter of Gustavus D. and Sarah (Millard) Andrews, the mother, previous to her marriage to Mr. Andrews, having been the widow of a Mr. Hakes. Mr. and Mrs. Hewitt lost their only son, Millard II., who died when eighteen months old. Mr. Hewitt, who is a Democrat politically, represented his district in 1882. He is the owner of one hundred and forty-nine acres of land, which was purchased by his mother, and on which he has paid the mortgage. His fine old house, which has been standing for a hundred years, has been reroofed and other- wise improved by him; and in 1896 he erected
438
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
a large horse barn. Besides general farming, Mr. Hewitt keeps from twelve to fifteen cows, the milk from which he sells personally in Norwich. Besides making his daily round, he carries on his farm almost without assist- ance. He enjoys the best of health, and is one of the most wide-awake farmers in the town.
ERMAN ATWOOD,* Postmaster of Stonington, Conn., was born in Brooklyn, Windham County, this State, June 12, 1862, son of L. S. and Elvira (Cooley) Atwood. His father was born in Mansfield, Conn., July 22, 1812. He died on October 10, 1888, in Brooklyn, where for a number of years he kept a grocery. He was twice married, his first wife being Elvira Cooley, of Brooklyn. She died in 1862, leaving three children : Juliet, wife of Frank L. Martin, of Providence, R. I .; Arvilla, who married Charles G. Williams, of Providence; and Herman, who was only six weeks old at the time of her death. The second partner of the father's joys and sorrows was Margaret Fuller, by whom he had one son - Oscar F. Atwood, of Brooklyn, Conn.
Herman Atwood, the elder of the two sons of I. S. Atwood, was reared in his native town, and there acquired a common-school education. At the age of nineteen he learned the machinist's trade, which he followed twelve years in this place, being employed by the Atwood Machine Company, whose leading members are cousins of his father. In poli- tics he is a sound-money Democrat, like his father before him. He was appointed Post- master by President Grover Cleveland on Jan- uary 21, 1895, and has since continued to dis- charge efficiently the duties of his position. He has many warm friends.
On December 24, 1891, Mr. Atwood was
united in marriage with Clara Belle Pendle- ton, an accomplished pianist and music teacher of this place. Her parents are B. F. and Mary Jane (Oliver) Pendleton, of Stonington, Conn. They have seven children, including five sons, who are in New York City, and another daughter, who resides in Stonington. Mrs. Atwood has a large music class, with whom she is very successful and popular. Mr. and Mrs. Atwood are highly respected mem- bers of the First Baptist Church.
ILLIAM A. HOLT,* a well-known grocer of New London, was born in this city February 23, 1829, son of Nathaniel and Esther (Morrison) Holt. He belongs to an old Connecticut family, the first representative of which, William Holt, an Englishman, was a member of the New Haven Colony in 1643, and was one of the first pro- prietors to whom a lot was apportioned. Will- iam Holt was a dish-turner by trade - that is, a maker of pewter plates and dishes. In his old age he removed with a son to Walling- ford, Conn. ; and he was the first white man buried in that place. His grave is to be seen to-day, marked by a rude, unpolished field stone, bearing the inscription, "William Holt, 1683."
Nathaniel, his second son, settled in New London in 1673. IIe was in the swamp fight with King Philip, acting as Sergeant of a company, and, being seriously wounded December 19, 1675, received the small com- pensation of twenty-five dollars, all that the colony was able to pay. In 1689 he removed to Newport, R.I. In April, 1680, he was married to Rebecca, daughter of Thomas Beebe. The Beebes were remarkable men, strong, wealthy, and influential. Two sons of Nathaniel and Rebecca (Beebe) Holt inher-
439
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
ited from their maternal grandfather and their uncle a fine property in New London.
James Holt, grandfather of William A., was a calker by trade, and was for a number of years in business in New London with Samuel Coit. He died of cholera in 1824, aged forty-seven years. His wife, formerly Mrs. Jerusha Caffrey, a widow, whom he mar- ried in 1797, also died of cholera. Six chil- dren were born to this couple, three of whom - namely, the son Nathaniel and two daugh- ters - married.
Nathaniel, William A. Holt's father, was born in New London in 1804. He was en- gaged in the whaling industry for a number of years, and had risen to the rank of mate when he left the sea. In 1832, when he was twenty-eight years old, he was stricken down by cholera, the dread disease which carried off five of his family, and died in a short time. Hle was married about 1826, to Esther Morri- son, of Waterford, Conn., daughter of Joseph Morrison, a Scotchman. Two children were born of this union - William A. and a son who died in infancy. The widow of Nathaniel Holt married Jefferson Avery. She died in 1860, in her fifty-first year, leaving one child by her second husband - a daughter, Adelaide, now the wife of J. G. Caverly, of New London.
William A. Holt, having acquired his edu- cation in the common schools, began to work at the early age of twelve years in a grocery store, and, before he attained his majority, was familiar with the ways and methods of trade. In 1850 he went to California, sailing around Cape Horn in the schooner " Cyno- sure," starting in March and arriving in Sep- tember; and for eight years he was engaged in trade in Calaveras County, being employed as a salaried agent to sell miners' supplies. He returned by way of the Isthmus of Panama in 1858, and established his present business
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.