USA > Connecticut > New London County > Biographical review, containing life sketches of leading citizens of New London County, Connecticut > Part 5
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HARLES ERSKINE BRAYTON, M. D., of Stonington, son of Atwood Randall and Sally M. (Davis) Bray- ton, was born in this town, February 11, 1851. He represents the eighth generation of his family in this country, being a lineal descend- ant of Francis Brayton, born in England in 1611 or 1612, who in 1643 became an inhabi- tant of Portsmouth, R. I. Succeeding Fran- cis in this line were: Francis'; Thomas, 3 born 1681; Francis,+ born 1721 ; Benjamin, 5 of Fall River, born 1746; George,6 born 1786;
Atwood 7 Randall Brayton, born December 2, 1 806.
George Brayton, the Doctor's grandfather, died of pneumonia at his home in Johnson, now a part of Providence, R.I., when but thirty-five years of age. He was survived by his wife, formerly Nancy Randall, and five children, three sons and two daughters. After her husband's death Mrs. Nancy R. Brayton married a Mr. Carey, a widower with twelve children, and, outliving him also, died a widow at the age of sixty-seven. She was a descend- ant of Roger Williams, three of whose great- grand-daughters -- Mercy, Lydia, and Martha Williams - married respectively William, Joseph, and John Randall. Atwood Randall, eldest son of George and Nancy R. Brayton, was born in Providence, December 2, 1806. By trade a mason, he was also a contractor and builder. He built the stone work of the old Baptist, Congregational, and Episcopal churches, and most of the other stone build- ings of that time. He built his own dwell- ing-house in 1840. Although he began life a poor boy, his unremitting industry enabled him to retire from business at the age of seventy-seven, a well-to-do man. He died at the age of eighty-four and a half, having survived all of his brothers and sisters. Ilis wife, Sally Maria, was born in what is now North Stonington, January 25, ISII, being the youngest of thirteen children of Samuel and Lucy (Dewey) Davis. She is the only one of the family now living. Her father was a soldier of the Revolution. He enlisted at the age of seventeen, was in the battles at Princeton and Trenton, and was at Groton, his three brothers also being in the army. Their father, John Davis, who married Patience l'almer, was a son of Peter Davis, Sr., of Westerly, R. I., a noted preacher of the Soci- ety of Friends, who went on a mission to Eng-
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land. Samuel Davis died at the age of sixty- eight ; and his widow died in 1857, ninety-four years old. Their daughter married Atwood Randall Brayton, October 2, 1831.
Mr. and Mrs. Atwood R. Brayton had eleven children, four of whom died in infancy or childhood; and one, the eldest-born, a daughter Sarah, died in 1895, a maiden lady of sixty-two years. The survivors are: At- wood W., the eldest son, and his father's suc- cessor in business, unmarried and living at the old home; Frances Almira and the young- est sister Adelaide, also living at home; George, a house painter and decorator, who is married and has two children; and Charles Erskine, the subject of this sketch. The three sisters were successful teachers for many years.
Charles Erskine, the tenth child and the third Charles, was sent to private and public schools until he reached the age of twelve, when he was placed under the instruction of a private tutor, Dr. Hart, of Stonington, for five years. He worked at his father's trade four summers, and when he was eighteen years old he taught school one term before he began the study of medicine with Dr. William Hyde. He was graduated from the medical depart- ment of Columbia College in 1873, having been a private pupil of Professor William Parker. Ile began practising in Stonington the same year as assistant to Dr. William Hyde, who died in a few months. He then succeeded to his practice, and remained in his office seven years. In 1880 Dr. Brayton erected a large and handsome building, where he has some fine offices and sleeping apart- .ments. On the first floor of this building there is a drug store, on the second dental parlors and a great hall, where the G. A. R. Post and other societies hold their meetings. The Doctor lives in this building, but takes
his meals at the family home, in the house built by his father, which he has remodelled and modernized, and where his mother is still living. He owns a number of tenements and several vacant lots.
Dr. Brayton is a busy man ; and he has held many positions, both in public life and within the scope of his profession. He has been president of the New London County Medical Society, is a member of the State Medical Society, of the American Medical Association, and of the National Association of Railway Surgeons, and has been Health Officer for six years. He was chief of the railroad surgeons of the New York, Providence & Boston Rail- way until that was merged into the N. Y., N. H. & H. R. R., and examiner for several life insurance companies. In politics he is a Democrat, and he has been a Burgess of the borough six years. He is a member of the Royal Arcanum, and is Past Regent and life member of the Grand Council of Connecticut. He is also connected with the Sons of the Revolution. Dr. Brayton is an active member of the Second Congregational Church, is treas- urer of the society, and a member of the soci- ety committee.
ABEZ B. HOUGH, the well-known and popular merchant of East Lyme, was born in Bozrah, an inland town in this county, on April 19, 1855, son of Jedediah Stark and Lydia Amelia (Fowler) Hough. Representatives of the Ilough family have lived in the same house in Bozrah for a hun- dred years, and have been among the most highly respected and influential citizens of the town.
Guy Ilough, father of Jedediah, was a farmer. IIe married Hannah Bailey, of Groton, a relation of the renowned " Mother
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Bailey," whose name is a synonym for warm- hearted patriotism. By this union there were nine children, all of whom are now dead. Grandmother Hough died in 1875, aged about eighty-four years; and her husband, who out- lived her, died in his ninety-ninth year.
Jedediah Hough, father of the subject of this sketch, was a prosperous farmer, accumu- lating a property of some thirty-five thousand dollars. He was a Republican, and was active in local politics. He was Selectman for some fifteen years consecutively and Town Treasurer for a number of years. In 1855, at the time when his son Jabez was born, he represented the town in the legislature. His wife, Amelia, was born in 1822 in Lebanon. They were married in 1854, and had seven children. A son, Charles, died in early child- hood. The six living are as follows: Mary, wife of John J. Gager in Bozrah; Lucretia, wife of J. Milton Newton ; Lathrop Alanson, a farmer, unmarried; Jabez B .; Lydia, wife of George O. Stead, of Norwich, a retired merchant; and Katie, wife of Warren S. Abel, an assistant superintendent in the Yale Lock Works, living at Stamford, Conn. The father died in 1869, and the mother in 1893. Jabez B. Hough lived on the old homestead until fifteen years of age, attending the dis- trict school. He then left home and became a clerk in Fitchville, where he remained for several years. In the spring of 1880 he came to East Lyme as salesman and agent in charge of the factory store. He was in this position, working on salary and helping with the books, :ever losing a day's pay, until the business was closed. In 1894, when the Niantic Manufacturing Company was started by Messrs. Park Brothers and D. R. Camp- bell, Mr. Hough opened the store in company with Luther C. Eaton, the firm name being Hough & Eaton. In March, 1895, Mr. Eaton
died; and in the following May Mr. Hough became the sole proprietor of the business. He began with limited capital, but with a good stock of energy and capability, with well-formed habits of industry, and has been successful in business. At present he employs two clerks and keeps three horses, but looks after the book-keeping himself, and is a very busy man. Genial and accommodating, he is always ready to do anything in his power to oblige a customer or acquaintance.
On March 17, 1379, Mr. Hough married Ida J. Grover, daughter of the late William Grover, who was a travelling and local sales- man. Mı. and Mrs. Hough reside at their delightful home on Flanders Street, in the house which was built in 1895 and 1896. In politics Mr. Hough is a Republican ; but, al- though deeply interested in the welfare of the town and in all its public affairs, he has stoutly refused to hold office. Fraternally, he is a Master Mason.
SA R. BIGELOW, farmer, residing in Colchester, was born in this town, January 17, 1830, son of Guy Bige- low and his wife, Sarah Ann Waite Bigelow. He is of old and substantial Colonial stock, being a direct descendant in the male line of John Bigelow, who came to New England - some have thought from Wales - and settled at Watertown, Mass., where his marriage took place in 1642, and was the first one recorded in the town. His wife was Mary Warren.
Lieutenant John Bigelow, grandson of John of Watertown, came to Colchester from Hart- ford, Conn., between 1706 and 1710. He was four times married, and had two children by his first wife and five by his second wife, Sarah Bigelow, a cousin. He died March 8, 1770. Asa Bigelow, first, born in Colchester
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in 1720, one of the second group, married early in life, and died in 1754, leaving a large family. His posthumous son and name- sake, Asa, grandfather of Asa R. Bigelow, married February 5, 1783, Lydia Newton, of Colchester, a daughter of James Newton. During the Revolution Asa Bigelow, second, was Assistant Commissary to Commissary- general Champion, and took a drove of cattle to Valley Forge. 'He was a carpenter by trade, and used the first cut nails seen in the town in shingling his own barn in 1794, the nails being brought by his son Guy on horse- back from Windham, Conn. The old build- ings are still standing. Grandfather Bigelow was a large landed proprietor, owning seven hundred acres of land, which was divided into three farms. He was one of the first trustees cf Bacon Academy. Of the eleven children born to him and his wife, ten, three sons and seven daughters, reached maturity, and nine were married. Three of the daughters mar- ried clergymen ; one became the wife of Dan- iel Safford, an iron merchant of Boston, who was one of the promoters of the school at South Hadley, now Mount Holyoke College; and the son Asa, third, became a prominent New York merchant. Grandfather Bigelow died July 28, 1830, at the age of seventy-five. His widow survived him fourteen years, dying in 1844.
Guy Bigelow was educated in the common schools of Colchester and at Bacon Academy. He was a prominent and influential citizen, active in town affairs; and he served one year as Representative in the legislature. He settled on his farm of two hundred acres in 1851. He married March 8, 1827, Sarah Ann Waite, a daughter of Remick and Susan- nah (Matson) Waite. Of the seven children born of this union four died young; and three -- Asa R., Jonathan E., and Henry W .-
survived their parents. The father died in 1868, in the eighty-third year of his age; and the mother died in 1891, at the age of ninety-five. They were active members of the Congregational church. Jonathan E. Bigelow, who is unmarried, lives with his brother Asa on the home farm. Henry Waite Bigelow, the other brother, was a volunteer in 1861 in the Fourteenth Ohio, going as private from Toledo, and becoming the Cap- tain of Company H. He was twice wounded at Chickamauga, first from a ball passing through his thigh and afterward in the arm. For these injuries he received a pension from the government. He was a merchant and manufacturer in Toledo, Ohio, and was a thirty-third degree Mason. He died unmar- ried, March 12, 1895.
Mr. Asa R. Bigelow, following his father's footsteps, attended the Bacon Academy in his youth; and, beginning at the age of seven- teen, he taught school for ten seasons. On September 13, 1855, he was united in mar- riage with Anne Putnam Brown, of Brooklyn. Conn. . Mrs. Bigelow was a great - grand- daughter of General Israel Putnam, and was also descended from the Brinleys, of Boston, who were among the founders of King's Chapel, and from the Hutchinsons. She was one of thirteen children born to her parents, James and Emily (Putnam) Brown, of whose family four daughters and five sons lived to maturity, and four of the sons married. To take the places of the four sons who died in childhood, four nephews of Mr. Brown were adopted. The two children now living are: the Rev. Edward Brown, Episcopal rector at Stafford Springs, Conn. ; and his sister, Jane C. Brown, at the old home in Brooklyn. The mother died in 1873, at the age of seventy- three; and the father five years later, at eighty-two years of age.
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Mrs. Bigelow died April 27, 1897, aged sixty-seven, leaving four children; namely, James Dixon, Elizabeth Brinley, Sarah Waite, and Henry Waite. James Dixon Bigelow is an attorney-at-law and real estate broker in Terre Haute, Ind. He has a wife and two daughters. Elizabeth Brinley Bigelow, a young artist, was educated at Carl Hecker's school, and now has a class in the village. Several years of her life have been spent in the West, in Indiana and in Illinois; but both she and her sister Sarah are now living at home. Henry Waite is a graduate of the Polytechnic Institute of Terre Haute, Ind. He is a fine mechanic and chemist, and is now in the department of tests for the Pope Manu- facturing Company of Hartford. The family are all Episcopalians. Mr. Bigelow is a Master Mason. He is a Republican, and served his town as Assessor for many years. He was Representative in 1873, and has been a defeated candidate many other years, the town being strongly Democratic. To the old farm of two hundred acres he has added thirty acres. It is in a most delightful location, reached by a walk or drive through the shaded and picturesque wood road past the old mill, now silent, and the babbling trout brook, which is the outlet of a fine large mill-pond ; and the secluded homestead, so neatly kept and so plainly the abode of taste and culture, is one of the most attractive in this fine agri- cultural town.
A BEL P. TANNER, an attorney-at-law doing a successful business in New London, was born across the river in Groton, July 7, 1850, a son of Abel and Clarissa (Watrous) Tanner. His paternal grandparents, Palmer and Mary N. (Case) Tanner, were residents of Rhode Island.
They had four sons and a daughter, of whom two sons - Abel and Jeremiah - are now liv- ing. Palmer Tanner died in Centreville, R. I., at about seventy years of age. His father, - Palmer Tanner, Sr., was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, being a member of General Spencer's division.
Abel Tanner was born on Prudence Island, R.I., in August, 1805, and now resides at Mystic, this town. Though he is now ninety- two years of age, he is still well preserved in mind and body. He married Clarissa Wat- rous about 1848. She was a descendant of James Rogers, a noted Quaker, whom tradi- tion claims to have been a descendant of John Rogers, the martyr. Mrs. Tanner died Au- gust 15, 1850, leaving her only child, Abel P. Tanner, a babe of five weeks. The father afterward married Cordelia Heath, by whom he had a son, Wendell Phillips Tanner, who died when in his twenty-first year. The father was associated as a lecturer with Wendell Phillips in the early days of the abolition movement, and named his boy for the great orator.
. Abel P. Tanner received a good education, supplementing his elementary schooling by a course at Brown University, at which he was graduated in the class of 1874 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He studied law at Mystic with Colonel Hiram Appelman, and on February 23, 1875, was admitted to the bar. He practised for several years in Mys- tic, then in 1882 came to New London, where he has a large clientage. He is very promi- nent in political affairs, and in 1872 was elected on the Republican ticket to the State Senate, but owing to an irregularity in the court, it is claimed, never took his seat. Following the example of his father, he has done effective work as a campaign speaker. In 1896 he was the Democratic candidate for l'residential elector.
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On June 18, 1874, Mr. Tanner was united in marriage to Miss Emma B. Whitford, a daughter of Clark N. Whitford, of Stoning- ton. Mr. and Mrs. Tanner have no children living, having lost their only daughter in in- fancy. Their home is at 5 Hempstead Street, where Mr. Tanner built a pleasant residence in the summer of 1891.
ORRIS W. BACON, of New Lon- don, now retired from business, has engaged in many enterprises which have left lasting monuments along the road of progress in this city, and has won re- nown in the sporting world, both through his horses and his fine yachts, one of his boats a few years since taking the cup at New York City. He was born in Middlefield, Middle- sex County, Conn., October 11, 1830, a son of William and Elmina (Johnson) Bacon, both of Middlefield.
His grandfather, John Bacon, who was the fourth John in succession (see Bacon Gene- alogy, owned by Arthur W. Bacon, of Middle- town, Conn.), was born in Middlefield in 1779. He managed a farm and kept a hotel in Middlefield, and at one period was con- sidered wealthy; but he lost some fifteen thousand dollars by indorsing notes for friends, and had little to devise at the time of his death. His homestead, however, is still in the family, owned by a female cousin of Morris W. Bacon. John Bacon died in Mid- dlefield, December 6, 1859; and his wife, Amy Coe, of Middlefield, a noble woman, strong in the Methodist faith, died October 30, 1865, over fourscore years of age. They were the parents of the following children : Curtis, United States Marshal in Middle- town; William, father of Morris W .; John L. and Lucy, twins; and George W.
William Bacon, second son of John, was born in Middlefield, near his son's birthplace, July 20, 1805. He began life "even with the world," so to speak, he and his brother Curtis purchasing a farm of one hundred acres for twelve hundred dollars, giving a mortgage note for the purchase price. Energetic and capable, this farm they paid for in a short time. On April 18, 1839, Mr. William Bacon took charge of the Bacon Hotel in New London, which was owned by his uncle Matthew; and in this sphere of action he was successful and very popular. Large-hearted and whole-souled, he never turned a man away hungry because he had no money ; and he asked no favors himself, always paying one hundred cents on the dollar. He died in Lyme, Conn., May 28, 1882, aged seventy-seven, and is survived by his second wife, formerly Miss Anna M. Lay, of Lyme, and now living in that town. Morris W. Bacon's mother, whose maiden name was Elmina Johnson, was William Bacon's first wife, whom he married April 21, 1828. Her parents were residents of Middlefield. Her father died in early manhood; and her mother lived to be seventy, passing away in 1846. Mrs. Elmina J. Bacon was one of six children, two sons and four daughters, all of whom married and had families. She died July 22, 1866, agcd fifty- nine, the youngest of her family to pass away. She had but two children: Morris W., of New London; and Watson Coe Bacon, who died the day he was nine months old.
Morris W. Bacon was born on the hundred- acre farm purchased by his father and his uncle Curtis in Middlefield, and in a district school in that town he acquired his primary education. He completed his studies in the public schools of New London, and at the age of fifteen went to work, engaging as clerk for Cady & Newcomb. With this firm he re-
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MORRIS W. BACON.
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mained three years, his salary being raised as his services became valuable; and on Novem- ber 22, 1849, he assumed the duties of passen- ger clerk on the steamer "Connecticut." He remained in the employ of the steamboat com- pany until 1874: between 1855 and 1872 be was also a member of the jewelry firm of Gor- don & Bacon, whose place of business was at the corner of Main and State Streets, New London.
He has engaged in some important transac- tions in real estate that have caused a marked improvement in property in New London. He erected a handsome marble block on State Street, containing spacious stores and a hall; and for ten years prior to 1890 he managed a billiard room in this block, which was one of the finest in this part of the country. The room was eighteen feet in height and sixty-two by forty-one feet in dimension, and not a post broke the harmony of the space. It was fitted with seven billiard tables.
Mr. Bacon purchased a handsome residence property on State Street in 1876, and, build- ing a fine barn, bought a number of thorough- bred horses. Some noted animals were bred on this place, and at one time he was the owner of twenty-one. He brought out "Will- iam H. Allen " and "Mary A. Whitney," and others known to the racing world. This State Street property he sold in December, 1895, disposing of his horses at the same time. Mr. Munsey, who was induced by Mr. Bacon to come to New London, purchased the estate for thirty thousand dollars, and has erected a magnificent brick block, costing four hundred thousand dollars, eight stories in height, and one hundred and twelve by ninety feet in dimension, and strictly fire proof.
Prior to 1877 Mr. Bacon was actively inter- ested in yachting; and he has owned a number
of yachts, some of which he had built. He was licensed as a captain while he was in the employ of the steamboat company; and he always sailed bis own boats, being his own pilot. In 1859, with the sloop yacht "Rowena," he won the cup in the New York Yacht Club regatta.
Mr. Bacon was married October 11, 1853, to Jane E. Gordon, who died July 19, 1891, leav- ing two children --. Charles G. and Lizzie J. Charles G. Bacon was educated at Exeter, N. H., and is now in business in this city. Lizzie J. Bacon, who is also in New London, was educated at Auburndale, Mass., and is an accomplished artist. Mr. Bacon contracted a second marriage, October 3, 1892, with Jane D., daughter of the late William Carroll, of this city. Mr. Carroll, who was extensively engaged in teaming, died in 1882. He left a widow, Mrs. Ellen Carroll, and two children -- Martha and Jane - all residents of New London. In politics Mr. Bacon is nominally a Democrat, but he reserves the privilege of voting for the candidate best fitted for the office. He has refused all offers of public preferment.
ILLIAM DIXON MOSS; a retired merchant and manufacturer of Po- quetuck, was born in Westerly,
R.I., August 25, 1830. His grandfather, the · Rev. Reuben Moss, of Connecticut, a Con- gregational minister, who was educated at Yale, married Hedassah Chesebro, and be- came the father of a large family of children. These included: George Washington, born in 1800; William C .; Reuben; Ephraim; Jesse L .; and two daughters. Reuben married in 1794, and died in 1812. His widow married a Mr. Tyler, in Griswold. Her death oc- curred in her seventy-sixth year. William was ninety-two when he died.
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Jesse Lathrop Moss, the father of the pres- ent Mr. Moss, was born in Ware, Mass., in 1805. He married in 1828 Fanny Dixon, daughter of Nathan F. and Elizabeth Palmer Dixon, all of Westerly, and became the father of four sons and one daughter. These were: William Dixon, the subject of this sketch; Esther, the only daughter; Courtlandt Dean, of New York; Nathan Fellows, who was a Major in the Civil War; and Jesse L., who is in the real estate business in Chicago. The mother died in her forty-second year. The father subsequently married her sister Sally, by whom he has had two children : Fanny D. Frankenstein; and Rowse B., of St. Louis. He lived two years after the death of his second wife, which occurred in 1884. For many years he was a leading man- ufacturer in Westerly, R.I. He was also a partner in the firm of Babcock & Moss, who built mills and hotels at that place, and did a very extensive business. Among the large contracts of this firm were the cotton factory at White Rock, the mills in Westerly and Stillman Mill. Messrs. Babcock and Moss were in business for forty-three years, and made a noteworthy record in their line.
The boyhood of William Dixon Moss was passed at school in Hadley, Mass. When quite young he evinced a deep interest in his father's business, and he was in charge of the store for a time. He then went to California, rounding the Horn, and spending nine months on the voyage. After two or three years he returned home, just before his father's second marriage. Ile and Mrs. Moss reside at 136 West Broad Street, Poquetuck. Moss Meads is the charming name of the place, so called because it was built on a beautiful meadow of the farm that has been in the family for a great while.
Mr. Moss was married October 17, 1860, to
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