USA > Connecticut > New London County > Biographical review, containing life sketches of leading citizens of New London County, Connecticut > Part 42
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as a dealer in groceries with Jefferson Avery as partner, under the firm name of Holt & Avery. They were located at first at 16 Main Street, and about twenty-two years ago moved to the present stand, 50 Main Street. Mr. Avery died in 1884, and Mr. Holt has since been without a business associate. He has been very successful, and has the respect and confidence of the community.
In 1858, soon after his return from Califor- nia, he was married to Sarah Skinner, of Massachusetts, daughter of Deacon Joseph Skinner and his wife, who was formerly a Miss Searles, of Groton, Conn. Deacon Skinner was in the truck business for a num - ber of years, retiring a few years prior to his death, which occurred when he was seventy- eight years old. His wife died at New Lon- don in 1860, aged about fifty. Of their chil- dren, one besides Mrs. Holt is living - Mrs. Laura A. Mead, of New London. Six chil- dren have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Holt. A son died in infancy, and a daughter at the tender age of three years. The others are: Edward, his father's assistant in the store; Emma L., residing with her parents; Nellie M., wife of Frank McGammon, in Boston; and William A., of Harvard, 1897.
Mr. Holt, who has long been identified with the Democratic party, has been a member of the city government for twenty-two years, and is at present a member of the Board of Alder- men. He is a Master Mason. . His residence at 42 Main Street, where he has lived some twenty-two years, is one of the historic houses of the city. It was built about one hundred and thirty-five years ago, and the walls are lined with brick. Erected by direction of the authorities of the Church of England in old London, it was the home of the first Episcopal bishop in America, Samuel Seabury, and is an object of great interest to Episcopalians.
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RS. EMELINE FORDHAM DAWES* is the widow of Henry C. Dawes, who died October 29, 18SS, in his fifty-ninth year. Ile was born on a sea voyage, when his parents, William and Sarah (Lansdal) Dawes, were coming from England. to this country. His paternal grandfather came over to America later, with Roger Griswold's father. William Dawes, the father of Mrs. Dawes's husband, came to New London by vessel, and settled with the Griswold family. In the spring they went West to Ohio, where other members of the Dawes family had located themselves. He remained there several years, and followed the occupation of farming. Afterward he re- turned to Clinton, Conn., and subsequently removed to Lyme. . After the death of his first wife he again went to Ohio, and married a widow lady, a Mrs. Powers, who owned farming land in both Iowa and Ohio. He then settled in New Hampton, Ia., where he carried on farming. Mrs. Dawes's husband was the third of four children - William, Mary, Henry C., and Louise Robins. The first of these, William Dawes, is now a resi- dent of Saybrook, Conn. Mary is the widow of Samuel Warner Frisbie, and lives in West Cleveland, Ohio. Louise Robins is not liv- ing.
Henry C. Dawes shipped as a cook on a fishing-smack when a mere boy, and he was a seafaring man the greater part of his life. He made voyages to England, South America, Cuba, and California, the latter trip being made on a merchantman. He was one of the "forty-niners" to California, and became captain and part owner of three vessels, one of which he sold in that State. The " Scotia" was a fast schooner for halibut fishing, and was built at Noank. The " Kate Church " was another craft in which he sailed 1
for some years, and he also owned a stanch boat by the name of the " Susan Eldridge."
Mr. Dawes was married December 3, 1854, to Emeline, the daughter of Charles and Mahala (Beckwith) Tinker, the latter being a daughter of Joseph Beckwith and his wife, Esther Wait, who was of the same family as Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite. Mrs. Dawes's grandfather, Benjamin Tinker, mar- ried Lucy Beckwith, and had three sons and two daughters. Mrs. Dawes and her brother Horace, a resident of Mystic, Conn., are all that are left of a family of five children, she being next to the youngest. Her brother Charles was lost at sea when a young man. Mr. and Mrs. Dawes lived in New London for a time after their marriage, and in the spring of 1865 they came to the place where she still makes her home. It is an excellent farm of about thirty acres, with a fine dwelling-house and two large barns, all kept in the best of order, and an abundance of all kinds of fruit suited to the climate and soil. Mrs. Dawes has one daughter, Louise Marian, who, since completing her education at New London, has resided at home.
ENRY BISHOP DOWNER,* a re- tired railroad conductor, residing in New London, Conn., was born at Bozrahville, this county, November 18, 1818, son of John and Lovisa (Bishop) Downer. His paternal grandfather, also named John, was a farmer. He married, and reared a fam- ily of sons and daughters.
John Downer, the father of Henry B., was born on the home farm in 1796. He married Lovisa Bishop, who was born in Griswold, Conn. They had seven children : Mary : Lucinda; Harriet; Rev. John Camden Downer; Olive; Henry B. ; and Edmund,
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who died at the early age of four years. The parents were in humble circumstances, and bravely struggled to bring up their family. The mother died at the age of sixty-five; while the father, who died in 1871, lived to be seventy-five.
Henry Bishop Downer began active life with but limited educational advantages, being obliged to work at the age of twelve years. He was at first employed on a farm for four dollars a month. Six years later it was decided that farm labor was too hard for him, and he became a wool-sorter in the fac- tory. He subsequently went to Norwich, Conn., where he served as hotel clerk for Mr. Kinney. In 1839 he went to Colchester, and established a hotel, the principal one in the place, which he managed successfully for six years. He then returned to Norwich, becom- ing clerk in the old Merchants' Hotel for Mr. Cottrell. Later on he bought out Henry L. Clark, and for six years thereafter he was proprietor of the American House. Mr. Downer then assumed the management of the Union House in New London; but at the expiration of three years he was burned out, having only a light insurance. The next month he began serving as express messenger for Mr. Turner. In April, 1856, he was ap- pointed conductor of a passenger train on the New London & Norwich Railroad. This po- sition he faithfully filled for thirty-seven years, retiring in 1893.
Upon attaining his majority in 1839, Mr. Downer was married in Montville, this county, to Matilda Chamberlain, a native of Killingly. Mrs. Downer died November 3, 1893. For twelve years they had resided at 8 Granite Street, in this city, where they set- tled in 1881. In politics Mr. Downer is a Democrat. In religion he affiliates with the Congregationalists, having joined the First
Congregational Church of New London fifteen or more years ago. His estimable wife was also a highly respected member of the same church.
AMES HAMILTON LANG- WORTHY,* an enterprising farmer of Stonington, Conn., son of the late Henry Davis and Maria Pierce (Clark) Lang- worthy, was born June 16, 1847, on his father's farm, the greater part of which he now owns and occupies. He traces his lineage back to Samuel Langworthy, his great-grand- father, who came from England.
The immigrant's son, Samuel, was born in Hopkinton, R. I., September 11, 1771, and about 1820 settled in Stonington, where he owned a farm of three hundred acres, upon which he spent the rest of his life. He was a Baptist Deacon. His wife, whose maiden name was Ethelinda Davis, was born in Wes- terly, R. I., in 1767, and died here November 20, 1835. They had three sons - Samuel, George F., and Henry Davis.
Their third son, Henry Davis Langworthy, was born in August, 1809. He married Sep- tember 29, 1839, Maria Pierce Clark, and by this union was the father of four children, namely : Irving Newton, who died at the age of seventeen; Ethelinda, who died November II, 1867, at the age of twenty-seven; Henry Courtland Langworthy, of Mystic; and James Hamilton, of Stonington. The father died March 8, 1884, leaving a farm of one hundred and seventy acres. His wife, who was born April 18, 1821, died April 18, 1892.
James II. Langworthy acquired an excellent education, attending public schools in Ston- ington and the Polytechnic Institute at Troy, N. Y., making a specialty of civil engineering. In politics he affiliates with the Democratic party ; and he has officiated as an Assessor
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three years and as member of the Board of Relief for two terms. Fraternally, he be- longs to Knights of Pythias Lodge and the American Order of United Workmen.
Mr. Langworthy was first married on Jan- uary 11, 1881, to Hannah Bell Briggs, of Quonochontaug, R. I. She died June 23, 1887, at the age of twenty-three, leaving one daughter, Maria Pierce, now a bright little girl of ten years. On May 7, 1896, he was married to his second wife, whose maiden name was Matilda Clark Stanton. Her par- ents were Samuel M. and Lucretia (Chesebro) Stanton, of Poquetanuck, Conn. Mrs. Lang- worthy has one brother, Lewis Sager Stan- ton. Her mother died in December, 1895.
In 1891 Mr. Langworthy sold to Charles P. Williams, of Brooklyn, N. Y., thirty acres of his ancestral farm, and to Samuel Doughty, of the same city, five acres, with the old house and barn which his father built. In 1895 he erected a new house and modern barn. He is still investing time and money in improve- ments, burying bowlders, and making solid driveways that will defy the ravages of time. The place commands a most extensive view of the surrounding country, including, also, the waters of the Atlantic on the south and of Long Island Sound on the west.
ANIEL CALKINS, M.D., the ven- erable and honored physician of East Lyme, Conn., was born Au- gust 23, 1825, in the house in which he now resides, in the village of Flanders, the house now about two hundred years old, in which his father, Elisha Cadwallader Colden Cal- kins, was born, and in which his grandfather, Dr. Daniel, first, lived and died. He has the old-fashioned journal kept by his grandfather from 1776 to 1779, which contains many inter-
esting entries, and is a valuable relic. Grandfather Calkins owned over three hundred acres of land here, and had a valuable farm. His death, when only forty-five years old, was caused by a kick by a horse. He was born in New London, and was twice married. By his first wife, Mary Chappell, he had one child, Esther, who married John Wood. By his sec- ond wife, Elizabeth Smith, his children were: Daniel; William S .; Amos; Betsey; Etha- linda, wife of Thomas Griswold; Elisha C. C. ; and Sally. Elisha C. C. Calkins, the Doctor's father, was a farmer, and lived at the old homestead. He married March 6, 1816, Abbie Chapman, who was born Novem- ber 23, 1794, and was a daughter of the Hon. Isaac Chapman, of East Haddam, Conn. Seven children were the fruit of this union, namely: Elizabeth Abbie Calkins, born Sep- tember 19, 1817, is the wife of Benjamin F. Smith, M. D. ; Epaphras Chapman Calkins, for a number of years a sailor and master mariner, died in Boston at the early age of thirty-five years, leaving considerable prop- erty ; Juliet G. Calkins, born February 23, 1820, died at the age of six or eight years: Sarah Louisa, born February 22, 1828, is the wife of Nathaniel S. Lee, of Lyme, Conn., and mother of one daughter; Caroline Smith Calkins, born October 8, 1830, married Fran - eis J. Calkins, August 11, 1850; and Frances Anna is the wife of William Storrs Lee, of Hanover, whom she married April 4, 1860.
Daniel, the younger son, obtained his gen- eral education in the public schools of Lyme and at Bacon Academy at Colchester. When about fifteen years of age he was persuaded by a romantic friend to ship before the mast on board the whaling-vessel "Avis," Captain Gilbert Pendleton. The craft was beached on the coast of Two People's Bay, New Holland : and the young adventurer was left destitute.
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DANIEL CALKINS.
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without friends and without money. He shipped again to Hobart Town, Tasmania, and at that place was taken in charge by the American Consul. After staying there about four years he shipped in the company of Two People's Bay whalers. He was in Honolulu for a time, and was absent from home about five years in all. After his return he studied medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City. Dr. Calkins has been engaged in the practice of medicine in this town since 1850, and in that time has probably visited nearly every family in the town; and by most of the inhabitants he is looked upon as a personal friend. Early in his practice he showed himself not only well trained for his profession, but as having the personal qualities which would be sure to win for him the confidence of his patients and ulti - mate success in his chosen line of effort.
In October, 1850, he married Elizabeth M. Calkins, daughter of Nehemiah and grand- daughter of Jonathan Calkins. Three sons were born of this union, two of whom died in infancy. The remaining son is Arthur B. Calkins, an attorney, and at present serving his second term as a member of the lower branch of the State legislature, where he is chairman of the Committee on Judiciary. He was one of the few Democrats elected in 1896. He is a prominent Knight Templar and a member of the order of the Mystic Shrine. Dr. Calkins became a Mason in 1853, and has been a Knight Templar for forty years, one of the first in this encamp- ment. He has taken thirty-two degrees in Masonry, and is Past Grand Commander of the Grand Commandery of Connecticut. In 1892 he went to the Grand Encampment in Colorado, and he has attended several other encampments in various parts of the United States. The Doctor was a Republican until
the third time of Grant's candidacy. He has been Town Clerk for fifteen years, and is still holding that position; has been Justice of the Peace for eighteen years, also Judge of Pro- bate for seven years; and at present is Notary Public of Flanders, Conn. He has also been on the School Committee several years.
EORGE G. YOUNG,* who resides on a farm in Lisbon, near Jewett City, was born in Killingly, Conn., Sep- tember 6, 1840, son of Stephen Graves and Mary (Hill) Young. The father was a ma- chinist, employed successively at Moosup and Killingly, and was in good financial circum- stances. He was born in Sterling, December 20, 1810, and died in November, 1885. His wife, Mary, to whom he was married in 1834, was born in Sterling on May 14, 1810, and died May 19, 1895, at the age of eighty-five years. Their two children were: George G. and Henry Allen Young, the latter residing in Plainfield on the farm on which his parents died.
George G. Young attended school when six- teen years of age. He then began to learn the machinist's trade with his father, who was then engaged in making repairs in a cotton- mill. He worked at his trade until 1876, when he bought a farm at Black Hill, Plain- field, which he cultivated for two years, but subsequently exchanged for property on Plain- field Street. He then returned to the mill for five years. In 1884 he came to Lisbon, and bought the old Tracy farm of one hundred and twenty acres. In politics a Democrat, Mr. Young has served the town as Selectman and in 1889 as its Representative to the legislat- ure. He is an official member of the Meth- odist Episcopal church, of which his wife and daughter are members. For eight years he suffered much with asthma.
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On September 3, 1872, he was united in marriage with Eliza Jane Weaver, who was born November 18, 1848, daughter of Eben- ezer and Emmarilla (Lewis) Weaver. Eben- ezer Weaver was born in Griswold, August 9, 1810, and died in 1884. He lost his father early, and was bound out at seven years of age. He was "a self-made man," and when twenty-one years of age was making-a good living and supporting a wife and child by run- ning a small cotton-mill in Canterbury on his own account. Although he had little school- ing, he was a fine mathematician. He was both a reader and thinker, and was besides a man of the strictest integrity. His wife, Emmarilla, who was born in Canterbury, Au- gust 21, 1810, lived to be fifty-nine years of age. They reared seven of their eight chil- dren. Cordelia died in childhood. John died at the age of sixteen years. Maria and Sarah are both living. Lewis and George are deceased.
Mr. and Mrs. Young have been the parents of four children, namely: Frederick Arthur, who died in infancy in 1873; Grace E., who was born in 1876, and died at the age of eight years; Alice M., who resides at home with her parents, is a graduate of Norwich Acad- emy, and a fine pianist; and Henry S., who was born in 1886, and died the same year.
APTAIN GEORGE W. HOWARD,* formerly a master mariner, sailing from Niantic, where he is now en- gaged in carpentering, was born in this village, July 13, 1838, being the eldest son of Daniel and Cordelia (Dowset) Howard. His paternal grandfather, Daniel Howard, Sr., was a farmer of Waterford. He married a Miss Smith, of that town, and had a family of four sons and three daughters, all of whom are now
deceased excepting Edwin, who is a retired farmer and fisherman of Niantic.
The Howard brothers - namely : Daniel, Jr. ; Charles; Jonathan; and Edwin - were the founders of Niantic, starting here about fifty:two years ago, or in 1845, in the busi- bess of catching lobsters and mackerel. As fast as they accumulated money, they invested it in fishing-vessels, which were built here and at New London; and eventually they owned most of the fleet of over twenty vessels that sailed from Niantic. Daniel Howard, Jr., who was born in Waterford, this county, in 1814, fished for halibut and cod on George's Banks, and was very successful both as a fish- eiman and as a business man. He retired when about fifty years of age, and at his death in 1892 left a substantial property. His wife, Cordelia, a daughter of Joseph Dowset, was born at East Lyme, and is living, at the age of eighty-five years, with her son, George W., at Niantic. She is the mother of five children, four sons and one daughter, namely : George W., of Niantic; Emma, who married William E. Clarke, and died in middle life, leaving no children; John C., who lives in Niantic; Daniel, who died in early childhood ; and James, who is now at Millstone Point, managing a store.
At eleven years of age George Howard went on the water occasionally during the summer. When fourteen years old he began to go regularly, and at twenty-one he was captain. Although always successful as a mariner, he left going to the Banks for fishing in 1878, and since that time has been a car- penter in Niantic. Ile still retains his fond- ness for the water, and owns a sloop, in which he carries out fishing parties during the sum- mer. There are many who remember with lasting pleasure a day's sail in the Sound and a good catch of fish secured under the
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skilful pilotage of Captain Howard. In poli- tics he is a Republican. He is also a mem- ber of the fraternal order known as American Mechanics.
On November 19, 1867, Captain Howard was united in marriage with Mary D. Beebe, of East Lyme, daughter of William and Maria (Harding) Beebe, both of whom are now de- ceased. Mrs. Howard is one of a family of nine children, two boys and seven girls, born to her parents. She has five sisters and one brother living. Captain and Mrs. Howard settled in their pleasant home soon after their marriage. They have two sons: William D., a stone-cutter ; and George Avery, who keeps the Niantic Hotel and livery stable. Both are young men of merit, and well known here. Captain Howard has one little grand-daughter, the child of Mr. William D. Howard.
RS. MARIA E. WARREN,* resident of the town of Lyme, is a daughter of Ezra M. and Eunice (Clark) Peck. Her father, who was a farmer of Old Lyme, had five sons and one daughter. The only members of this family now living are: Charles Clark, now in his eighty-seventh year, a retired merchant, formerly of New Or- leans, but now residing in New York City; Eleazer, eighty-one years old, who lives on the old farm, near Nile Creek in Old Lyme; and Maria E. (Mrs. Warren).
Maria E. Peck in her girlhood received all the advantages to be derived from a careful, old-fashioned New England training, which fitted her for the practical every-day duties of life. On November 2, 1841, she was married to Dr. William W. J. Warren, a son of Joshua R. and Harriet (Way) Warren and a descendant of Captain Moses Warren, the line of descent being: Captain Moses, Moses (sec-
ond), Joshua R., William W. H. The Doc- tor's father was a farmer and merchant of Flanders; and that he was well thought of by his fellow-townsmen may be inferred from the fact that he was elected by them to the office of Town Clerk, and also as Representative to the legislature. Soon after his marriage Dr. Warren purchased the sixty-acre farm where his widow now resides, and built the present comfortable and substantial house. He be- longed to the old school of medicine, and en- joyed a good practice; but his career of useful- ness was prematurely cut short, his death occurring in 1858, at the age of thirty-nine years. He and his wife had five children; namely, Walter S., William Dudley, Maria Elizabeth, Joshua Raymond, and Jeanie Ellen.
Walter S. and William D. are in business together, being members of the firm of Stew- art, Warren & Co., manufacturing stationers. Maria Elizabeth, who is a twin sister of Will- iam D., is a successful school teacher, and is unmarried. Joshua Raymond is a hotel stew- ard and caterer. He was employed at Long Branch for ten years, and has also followed his calling in New London and other places. He married Carrie Royce, and makes his home in Lyme when not called elsewhere by busi- ness engagements. Jeanie Ellen is the wife of Dr. Raymond Morgan, of Providence, R. I.
Mrs. Warren is a member of the Congrega- tional church. With her daughter Maria she lives quiet and retired in her pleasant home in the hamlet of Pleasant Valley, where she is much respected.
ILLIAM F. BROUGHTON, the leading meat merchant of Stoning- ton, was born in Providence, R.I., April 19, 1857, son of James Broughton. The father, who was born in Manchester,
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England, December 10, 1833, came to this country in 1856, and sent for his wife six months later. She arrived in Providence, R.I., on April 16, 1857, three days before giving birth to William F. Of her five chil- dren four were born in this country, and three are living. The first, James, died in infancy in England. The others are: William F., the subject of this biography; Walter M., who is now deceased; Charles W., a machinist in Worcester, Mass. ; and George E., a butcher in Brooklyn, N. Y. James Broughton, the father, is a master mechanic in Hope Valley, R.I., and has the enviable record of having been with one firm, the Nichols & Langworthy Machine Company, for thirty-two years, en- tering their employ in August, 1866.
William F. Broughton was educated in Hope Valley and in a Bryant & Stratton business college of Providence. Afterward he entered the meat business, in which he has since pros- perously continued. His residence and place of business are 61 to 67 Water Street, a valu- able piece of property, with a frontage of some eighty feet, embracing his market and a drug store, which he rents. The market is well arranged, and has a perfect cold-storage house of large capacity and perfect ventilation. By the compressed ammonia method of reducing temperature Mr. Broughton is able to keep beef sweet for sixteen months. In 1884 he started in the fish business with a partner, under the name of Broughton & Lawlor. Three months later he bought his partner's in- terest, and continued for two years with his fish market in the Old Sail Loft. Then he removed to his present location in 1886, pur- chasing it July 3, 1888, and going in debt for the larger part of it. It is needless to say that this debt has been long since cancelled.
Mr. Broughton is a Mason, a member of Palestine Commandery, No. 6, K. T., and
the Master of the Asylum Lodge, No. 57, at Stonington. In politics he is a Demo- crat. He has held the position of Constable for three years, is a Burgess of the borough. and also Deputy Sheriff. At the age of twenty he was married to Frances T. James, daughter of Peleg W. and Sally (Lewi-) James, both of whom are now deceased. Mrs. Broughton has three brothers and one sister. Three children have blessed her union, namely: Maud I., now a young lady of seventeen years and an accomplished per- former on the piano; Mabel Gertrude, fif- teen years of age, who is also musical; and William F., Jr., now thirteen years of age, a violinist of more than ordinary ability. Mr. and Mrs. Broughton do not regret their carly start in life, and they are to be congratulated for their bright and most interesting trio of children.
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