USA > Connecticut > New London County > Biographical review, containing life sketches of leading citizens of New London County, Connecticut > Part 43
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RS. JULIA ANN HEMPSTEAD.' widow of Orlando Hallem llemp- stead, who died at their farm- house in North Waterford, New London County, Conn., April 19, 1874, was born in June, 1809, over eighty-eight years ago, a daughter of Jonathan and Sarah (Rogers) Rogers, who were second cousins.
The founder of the Rogers family came here in the seventeenth century. Of the original large estate, which was settled over two hun- dred years ago, only the twenty-acre farm be- longing to Mrs. Hempstead remains. Her paternal grandfather, who was a Tory, was a wealthy man for those days; and it is probably that he served in office. Julia Ann RoJus and Orlando Hallem Hempstead were married on New Year's Day, 1832. He was a son of George and grandson of Robert Hempstead . The family is of English origin, and it hy been identified with the history of Connect !-
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cut since the early Colonial days. Robert, who was a farmer, also followed the trade of a shoemaker to some extent. Orlando H. and his brother Alfred came to New London when young men, and established a blacksmith shop on the Neck, where they carried on a success- ful business in general blacksmithing and the ironing of vessels. Of the children born to Julia Ann and Orlando Hempstead, two sons died in infancy, and seven sons and a daughter lived to mature years. Four of the number still survive; namely, Elizabeth, George, An- drew Jackson, and Ezra J. Elizabeth is the wife of Stephen C. Comstock. George Hempstead resides at 124 Main Street, New London. Andrew Jackson Hempstead, who is unmarried, lives on the old home farm. A biographical sketch of Ezra J. Hempstead, the seventh son, may be found elsewhere in this volume. Francis Alexander Hempstead died at twenty-six years of age.
During the latter years of his life Mr. Or- lando H. Hempstead supported the Republi- can party, but was formerly a Democrat. He served in many of the town offices. The house in which Mrs. Hempstead resides was built by him over half a century ago. She is the oldest living member of the Second Con- gregational Church, which she joined in 1836, sixty years ago. Many members of the Rogers family were Quakers, and this part of the town has been locally known as Quaker Hill.
EREMIAH DAVIS,* a boat-builder of wvide reputation residing in Noank, New London County, was born on Long Island, June 5, 1831, son of Gilbert and Nancy (Petitt) Davis.
Jeremiah Davis, father of Gilbert, was a shoemaker by trade, and followed it all his life, the last years of which were spent
on Long Island. He had four sons and a daughter. One son is living, Salem Davis, a house and ship painter, residing in Greenport, L. I. Gilbert Davis was born in New York City about the year 1818, and died in 1893 at his home on Long Island, to which he came in his early years. He was a ship-car- penter and mariner. Nancy Petitt Davis, his wife, also died in 1893, a short time before his death. They were the parents of twelve children, and three sons and four daughters grew to manhood and womanhood. Those now living are: Sarah, wife of Joshua Perry, residing on Long Island; Jeremiah; Nancy Melvina Davis, in Brooklyn, N. Y .; Mary, wife of Austin Hempstead, of Brooklyn; and Maria, wife of Mr. Ketchell, of Rockaway, N.J.
Jeremiah Davis received a fair schooling in his native place on Long Island. When nine- teen years old he began learning the shoe- maker's trade; and later on he served an ap- prenticeship to his father at ship-carpentry, following that occupation up to 1861, when he took up his present employment of a boat- builder, in which he has met with marked suc- cess. He came to Noank in 1859. For a few years he worked in the Palmer ship-yard, and then engaged in business for himself. He has built several hundred boats of me- dium size, principally row-boats and yachts, some of them prize winners. The "Nellie," built for Colonel Tyler, of New London, was one of the fastest sail-boats in this section. He carries on his business the year round, and in busy times employs three or four men. In addition to this he does a commission busi- ness in buying and selling boats, having five or six on hand at a time. Some of those he builds are shipped to Pensacola, Fla., some also to New Orleans, and other distant places. In June, 1859, Mr. Davis was married to
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Julia A. Wilbur, daughter of Calvin Wilbur, of Noank. They lost two children in infancy, and have one daughter living, Hattie, wife of Arthur Cox, of this place.
Mr. Davis is a Republican in politics, but has always declined official honors. He and his wife and daughter are members of the Noank Baptist Church, which has had a re- markable history, being noted for its piety and revivals. Mr. Davis is a member of the Prudential Committee.
ANIEL I. LAY .* Indge of Probate, a prominent citizen of Old Lyme, New London County, Conn., the son of Oliver I. and Mary (Whittlesey) Lay, was born in 1840, in the house where he now lives. The Lay family came originally from England. Eight generations have lived in Lymfe. John Lay, the first ancestor of whom there is record, settled at Old Lyme as early as 1648, and died here in January, 1674-5. He was twice married, and by each wife had a son named John. John Lay, Jr., born in 1654, married, and lived in Old Lyme until his death. His son John was born in 1696, and died in 1788. He also had a son John, who was born in 1712, and who became a very prominent man in the town, being the owner of several thousand acres of land, and taking a leading part in public affairs. He served as Town Clerk for forty-five years, and was also a member of the General Court and Justice of the Peace. By his wife, Hannah, whose maiden name was Lee, he had fifteen children, seven sons and eight daughters. His son John, born in 1737, served in the Revolution- ary War, and, being taken by the British, was for some time confined on the prison ship "Jersey."
David Lay, son of the last -named John and
grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born on Meeting-house Hill, Old Lyme. April 28, 1769. His wife, Lucy Ingraham, was also a native of Old Lyme. They had four children, namely: Oliver I., father of Judge Lay; Laura, who married and died without issue; Lucy, living in Old Lyme. widow of the artist, William J. Banning ; and George, a banker in New York City. The father died in 1343. The mother lived to the age of eighty-nine.
Oliver I. Lay was born in the neighborhood of Lyme in 1799. He became a wool manu- facturer, and erected the solid stone factory at the dam of Spring Brook, which was built by Edward De Wolf in 1701. A capable business man, he also took part in public life, serving as Justice of the Peace, Judge of Pro- bate, and as a member of the legislature. He died in 1876. His wife, in maidenhood Mary Whittlesey, was of English descent. She died in 1874. Mr. and Mrs. Oliver I. Lay had seven children, namely : one son, Daniel I., subject of this sketch; and six daughters. The five daughters now living are: Sarah, wife of Samuel H. Selden, a civil engineer of Escanaba, Mich .; Adeline, widow of Walter Chadwick, a ship-master who was lost at sea: Marietta, who resides at the old home with her brother and two sisters; Evelyn H., wife of Dr. Cushman A. Sears, of Portland, Conn. ; and Aurelia, who is at the parental home.
Daniel I. Lay completed his education at Williston Seminary. He went West with a surveying party at the age of twenty-three. and spent about twenty years in Michigan. being employed for some time in the United States land office at Marquette and for three years in prospecting for iron ore. Returning to Lyme in 1889, he was engaged three years in the milling business. He has also been largely interested in fire insurance. He has
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served as Selectman of the town, and in 1896 he was elected Judge of Probate. He is a Master Mason and in politics a stanch Repub- lican. Judge Lay makes his home with his sisters in the house which their father built in 1830. Few residents of Old Lyme are better known or more respected.
HARLES H. COWAN,* superintend- ent of the Atwood Silk Machinery Works in Stonington, Conn., was born in December, 1850, in Bangor, Me. His paternal grandfather was Thomas Cowan, of Hampden, Me. He was a farmer, and was blessed with a family of three sons and one daughter, two of whom, William and John, are now residing in Hampden. The other son, Thomas, the father of Mr. Charles H. Cowan, was engaged in the manufacture of wagons and carriages. By his first wife, Charlotte Folsom, of Dixmont, Me., he had three daughters and this one son, Charles H., the youngest-born.
The mother dying when he was an infant one day old, he was tenderly reared by his grandmother Folsom until her death, and after that by his uncle, with whom he went to live when a lad of twelve years. He received the ordinary education afforded by the district school of the county, and at the age of eigh- ceen went into the Muzzy Iron Works in Ban- gor, Me., to learn the trade of machinist. This apprenticeship occupied three years. Ile then remained there another year, and till later was with the same company at Lewiston, Me., for three years. He entered the employ of the Atwood firm in Williman- tic, Conn., in 1874, beginning at the bench as a common workman. His taste and genius for invention made him extremely useful, and vanced him rapidly to the foremost place,
that of superintendent. For the past ten or fifteen years his entire time and energy have been given to the care of this large establish- ment.
In 1877, on September 6, Mr. Cowan was married to Lucy Burdick, of Ashaway, R. I., the daughter of the late William and Aurilla Burdick. Mrs. Cowan has four brothers and two sisters. She has had three children, one of whom died when eighteen months old. The others are: Grace, a young lady now finishing her education in the high school, and also studying music; and Charles H., Jr., a youth of fifteen years, also in school. Mr. Cowan belongs to no fraternal order and no church, and has subscribed to no creed.
ATHAN SANDS FISH,* a well- known and highly esteemed citizen of Groton, residing on his farm near Poquonnock Bridge, was born in this town, April 11, 1828, son of Simeon and Eliza (Randall) Fish.
Sands Fish, father of Simeon and son of Nathan, was born at the old Fish homestead, a mile above Mystic. A portion of the farm owned by Nathan Fish is still held by some of his lineal descendants. The pioneer ancestor of the Fish family of Groton was passing through this section prospecting, and at Mystic village called on a settler named Bur- rows, and the owner of a large tract of land. The call resulted in Mr. Fish receiving the offer of a portion of it, provided he would settle upon it. He did so, and the farm men- tioned above is part of that grant. Nathan Fish, who spent his life thereon, attained the venerable age of ninety-six years. Sands Fish married Bridget Gallup, daughter of Deacon Benadam Gallup and grand-daughter of Colonel Benadam Gallup, whose wife was
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an Avery. Her mother's name was Palmer. Sands and Bridget Fish had nine children, as follows: Hannah, who was born about 1790, and died in young womanhood; Lavina, wife of Isaac Denison ; Asa Fish, who held the po- sition of Probate Judge some thirty years, or until disqualified by age; Simeon, father of Nathan S. ; Sands, Jr., who died in young manhood, unmarried; Charles, whose son William was a Colonel in the Civil War; Nathan G., a ship-builder; Alden, an octo- genarian living on the old farm ; and Bridget, wife of William Clift. Sands Fish died in the thirties, at about seventy-five years of age, and his wife several years later. They rest in the Fish Cemetery on Pequot Hill, which was dedicated to the family by Roswell Fish. Sands Fish was a Deacon of the first Baptist church in Connecticut. The house of worship, located about one mile east of Centre Groton, is still standing, but is not occupied by the society.
Simeon Fish was a merchant in Mystic some forty years. He was a man of good business ability and sterling integrity. In earlier days he was a Whig and later a Re- publican, one of those who voted for Abraham Lincoln. His wife, Eliza Randall before marriage, was born about 1803 at North Ston- ington, or Mill Town, but spent her girlhood in Mystic. Simeon and Eliza Fish were the parents of three children: William Randall. Fish, who died in 1889, leaving a widow and three children, a son and two daughters; Na- than Sands, of whom more is given below; and Jedediah Randall, a retired merchant liv- ing in New London, Conn.
Nathan Sands Fish supplemented a good district schooling by two terms of study at a school in Suffield, Conn. When hardly seventeen years old he entered his father's store as clerk, He was subsequently received
into partnership, and finally succeeded his father in the business. For two years he owned and operated a glass furnace in New London, and in 1872 ran a hotel in Madison, Ga. It is now twenty-eight years since he settled on his farm of over one hundred acres on the west side of Poquonnock Plains.
Mr. Fish was married on April 22, 1850, to Jennett Morgan, daughter of Elisha and Card- line Morgan, of Salem. They have two chil- dren living: E. Bertha, living at Poquonnock. wife of Charles L. Burrows and mother of one son; and Donald M. Fish, unmarried, who lives on the farm with his father. One daughter died in infancy; and Frank, who was born in 1852, died in 1889, leaving : widow and four children.
In political views and affiliation Mr. Fish. is a stanch Republican. He has served as Grand Juror, Selectman, Assessor, Town Clerk, and as Justice of the Peace about eight years. While living in New London, he was a member of the Common Council. He has been a member of the State Board of Equaliz .- tion, the Board of Relief, and the Board of Health. Since 1880 he has been one of the Executive Committee in charge of the Groton monument, and he had charge of the letting of the contracts for the repairs of 1881 an ! 1893.
EORGE WASHINGTON HEMP STEAD,* of New London, a m.ts by trade and a pensioned veteran of the Civil War, was born May 12, 1837. 11-> father, Orlando Hempstead, died in Wat. t. ford, aged sixty-five: and his mother, Julia .\ Rogers Hempstead, who is now eighty-ci.): years old, is well preserved both in mind . body. She has been bereft of four sons, .0f1 has three sons living and a daughter. V .. .
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BENJAMIN H. LEE.
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Elizabeth, who is the wife of Stephen C. Comstock, a farmer near by.
At the age of twenty-one George W. Hempstead began his business career as a butcher, and worked at that trade until Octo- ber, 1861, when he enlisted in the Twelfth Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, Company B, and served for two years, being honorably dis- charged in 1863 at New Orleans, after six months' illness. Upon his recovery he re- turned to New Orleans with his brother Or- lando, with whom he was in the saw-mill business for a year. Returning to New Lon- don in 1865, he took up masonry, which he began to learn when he was twenty years old, and followed his trade until he gave up regu- lar work. He still does now and then a job for his old customers, but undertakes no new business. He is a pensioner on account of his army service.
On New Year's Day, 1866, Mr. Hempstead married Julia E. Reed, of New London. His present wife, to whom he was married in May, 1889, was Mrs. Mary E. Tefft, daughter of Peter and Mary (Lasrue) Libbie. Her father died when she was a small child. She was married at nineteen to Mr. Tefft, by whom she has three children: Dwight H. Tefft, a railroad man, who is married and lives in New London; Delia, wife of Leonard Gib- son, Jr., of this city, who has three children; and Minnie Tefft, living with her mother. Mr. Tefft died two years before her marriage to Mr. Hempstead. The house at 122 Main Street, which is the home of Mr. and Mrs. Hempstead, he built in 1890. His tenement house, 124 Main Street, is the old Rogers dwelling, erected in 1795 by an own cousin of Mr. Hempstead's mother, and stands on land that has been handed down from generation to generation. Though through carly influences Mr. Hempstead was for a time a Jacksonian
Democrat, he has for many years been a stanch Republican. Fraternally, he is a Master Mason, and in religious belief a Methodist.
TON. BENJAMIN HEMPSTEAD LEE, * a well-known citizen of New London, was born in his present residence on Ocean Avenue, December 7, 1852, son of Daniel and Harriet (Hempstead) Lee. His paternal grandfather, Peter Lee, was a native of New London, born December 13, 1773. A carpenter by trade, he met his death September 16, 1841, as the result of a fall which he sustained some three months before the birth of his second child.
Daniel Lee was born in Waterford, May 9, 1808. He was a member for more than forty years of the old and leading grocery firm of Treadway & Lee. Beginning the active work of life without either cash capital or influen- tial friends, by foresight and industry he ac- cumulated a considerable property. A Re- publican in politics, he served the town many years as Selectman, and at various times held other offices in the gift of his fellow-towns- men. He was a Master Mason, and in his re- ligious affiliations a member of the Baptist church. His death occurred October 25, 1885. February 21, 1831, he married Al- mira Beckwith, who was born June 6, 1811, and died February 25, 1851. Of their six children five lived to maturity, and those now living are: Augusta, wife of Samuel P. Swoncie, of Meriden, Conn. ; Daniel Morti- mer Lee, who was one of the first volunteers in the late Civil War, rose to a Lieutenancy in the regular army, and now resides in Bos- ton, retired from active service; and Sarah, who married Edward T. Brown, secretary and treasurer of the Cotton Gin Company. The father married for his second wife, February
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29, 1852, Miss Harriet Hempstead, of New London, daughter of Henry and Nancy (Baber) Hempstead. The first American pro- genitor of the Hempstead family was Sir Robert, who came from England to this coun- try with Governor Winthrop in 1645. He mar- ried Joanna Willie, settled in Pequot, Conn., and died in 1655. His son Joshua, born June 16, 1649, had a son Joshua, who was born in 1678, and died in December, 1758. Nathan- iel, son of the second Joshua, was born in 1700, had a son Joshua, who was born prob- ably about 1724, and died in 1806. This third Joshua was the father of thirteen chil- dren, eight sons and five daughters. Ben- jamin Hempstead, born in 1753, and the next in the line of descent, married Lydia Burch, and died of yellow fever in 1798, at the age of forty-five years. Henry, son of Benjamin and father of Harriet, the second wife of Daniel Lee, was born April 26, 1788, and died February 5, 1883. His wife, Nancy, died January 13, 1873, at the age of eighty- three, after more than sixty years of wedded life. Their children, nine of whom attained maturity, were: Henry P., born July 3, 1809; Nancy, August 3, 1811; Benjamin, August 29, 1813; John P., October 21, 1815; Denni- son, October 3, 1817; Harriet, January 19, 1820; Elias, December 1, 1823; Caius, March 20, 1827; Wolcott, June 10, 1832; George W., January 5, 1835. Mrs. Lee is now the only surviving member of the family. Daniel Lee died October 24, 1885, at the age of seventy-seven years. By his wife, Harriet, he had one son, Benjamin Hempstead, the subject of this sketch.
Benjamin H. Lee attended the public schools of New London, and at the age of six- teen years .was graduated at the Bartlett High School with the class of 1869. He began his business experience as a clerk in the store of
Harris & Rowe. Two years later he went to Milwaukee, Wis., where he was employed in the hardware house of Honcy & Co. for two years. During his first summer in that city he was stroke carsman of the Tyson Club crew in a match with the Mitchell Club. Returning to New London in 1873, he entered the office of the Brown Cotton Gin Company as book-keeper, and remained there for three years. Since then he has been engaged in mercantile life, with the exception of five years spent in the railway mail service be- tween New York and Boston.
June 16, 1874, Mr. Lee was united in mar- riage with Miss Emma Mower, daughter of General Joseph A. and Betsey (Bailey) Mower. Her father, who was a native of Vermont and began active life as a ship-car- penter, subsequently gained distinction as an officer, both in the Mexican and the Civil War. General Sherman in his Memoirs mentions him in terms of highest praise. He died in January, 1870, at the age of forty-four years. He was the father of four daughters and one son. His widow resides in Washing- to:, D.C. Four of their five children are liv- ing, namely: Josephine; Emma; Edward. who holds a government position in the Post- office Department at Washington : and Kate. Maud, the other child, died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Lee have two children: Her; Mower, a graduate of the College of Physi- cians and Surgeons in New York City; and Rowena Mossette, who was graduated at the high school in New London, and is an accom- plished musician.
Mr. Lee is a thirty-second degree Mason. Ile is a Republican politically, and has taken an active part in politics during the last ten years. He served as a member of the Com- mnon Council between the years 1888 and ISot, and in the latter year was elected an
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Alderman. The year following he was a candidate for Representative, but was defeated with most of the candidates of his party that year. In 1894 he was elected to the Connect- icut Senate, being the first Republican Sen- ator to be elected from this district within the twelve years previous to that time. Two years later he was re-elected to the Senate, and both terms he served his constituents faithfully and well. He was chairman of the Appropriation Committee, his report being re- ceived most favorably by Governor Cook, who indorsed in the strongest terms the action of the committee. He was also chairman of the Military Committee, and served on the Com- mittee on New Towns and Probate Districts. With respect to the former, his experience as a member of the National Guard for many years made him particularly eligible. Ilis services while in the Senate were highly ap- preciated, and received honorable mention in the Hartford and Norwich press. Mr. Lee inherited from his father the pleasant house and grounds where the elder Lee settled more than fifty years before. The small dwellings which the latter purchased with three or four acres of land on the commons, and which was the first house erected in this part of the town, is still standing, and forms part of Mr. Lee's present home.
HESTER S. MAINE* is a farmer of North Stonington, Conn., where he was born on December 16, 1860. His paternal grandfather was John Maine, whose wife was a Brown. They had a family of four sons and four daughters, the only one now living being a daughter, Elizabeth, widow of John Clark, of Stonington.
John S. Maine, one of the four sons, father of Chester S., was born in Stonington in 1832. Ile was engaged for some years as a
dealer in live stock. Later on he was a gen- eral farmer. He married Frances Wheeler. They had four children, and brought up three, as follows: Chester S. Maine; Fannie, wife of George D. Coats, of Stonington; and Annie M. Maine, living with her mother in the same town. The father died March 25, 1830, on the farm where he had settled in 1879.
Chester S. had a good common-school edu- cation, supplemented by a term at Ashaway Academy. Since his father's death he has re- mained at home and managed the farm, which contains three hundred acres. He keeps a dairy of fifteen to twenty-five grade Jersey cows, and has a milk route in Westerly, R. I. His barn is commodious and convenient, hav- ing a splendid capacity for a large stock of cattle, horses, and hay. The old farm-house was erected at least a century ago.
Mr. Maine was married July 7, 1886, to Abigail Newton, of Hartford, daughter of William Newton. She was educated in Hart- ford and in the State Normal School at New Britain, Conn. ; and she taught school a few terms before her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Maine have one child, Carrol Chester, a prom- ising lad of eight years. Mrs. Maine is one of the three ladies who compose the School Board of the town. She is a member of the Baptist church. Mr. Maine has been a Dem- ocrat in politics, and some years ago was a Selectman, but in general has neither sought nor filled any office.
ALISHA STARR CHESTER * is a well- known resident of the town of Water- ford, and was born on his present farm, which lies about three and a half miles west of New London, October 3, 1843, being a son of Thomas Chester. Mr. Chester is recognized as an energetic and skilful agri-
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