USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Biographical review; this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Litchfield County, Connecticut > Part 67
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Arthur E. Knox carly showed his taste for editorial work, and began his career as a newspaper man by purchasing in 1876 a small printing-press and a few fonts of type, and in January, 1877, boldly launching upon the sea of journalism the first number of the Wood- bury Reporter, a little six by nine sheet, which from the first met with a hearty recep- tion from the public. He had received a fair education at the district school, and that was his preparation for his life-work. Mr. Knox
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worked hard to achieve success in his first venture in his chosen calling, and in a few years the Woodbury Reporter had a circulation of seven hundred copies a week. After estab- lishing his paper on a good basis, he sold it to W. W. Wisegarver, and accepted the posi- tion of foreman in the Waterbury Republican job department for the term of one year. After this he became foreman of the Connect- icut Home Printing Company at Willimantic, holding the place for two years and a half. He next was foreman of the Meriden Gravure Company at Meriden, Conn., and then was editor of the Groton Review, which he had bought; but after two years' work on the Review he sold it, to resume charge of the Woodbury Reporter, which he repurchased in 1893. He has made of this a very spicy and entertaining local paper, which he still edits.
Arthur E. Knox married Julia E., daughter of Chauncey Barto and his wife, Julia Bishop Barto. The three children born of this union are: Edna E., who died at the age of sixteen ; Frank E., who was born February 2, 1881; and Julia E., who was born December 18, 1885. Mr. Knox is a Prohibitionist in poli- tics. His wife and he are both members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
AVID L. SOMERS, the present rep- resentative of Woodbury in the State legislature, is a native of the town which has chosen to delegate him to this high office. He was born on July 24, 1861, and is the seventh in lineal descent from Henry and Mary (Wheeler) Somers.
Henry Somers emigrated to New Haven from England in the early days of the colony. He was the father of ten children: Samuel, Henry, John, Sarah, Hannah, Mary, Abigail,
Pacent, Martha, and Joseph. This patriarch's grave is in Bridgeport burial-ground, within the neighborhood where so many of his de- scendants now live. Samuel, his eldest child, was born in New Haven in 1669, and settled in Newtown, Conn. He was a comb-maker by trade. To him and his wife, Rebecca, ten children were born: Samuel, Abigail, David, Martha, Deborah, Sarah, Daniel, Hannah, Ruth, and Jabez.
Samuel, the second of the name, who was born in 1724, made a home for himself in New Milford, owning a farm in the Bridge- water Society. The children of Samuel, second, and Sarah Somers were: John, An- drew, David, Oliver, Louis, Hannah, Mark, Samuel, and Wheeler. David, the third son, was born at the Bridgewater farm. He was a private in the ranks of Washington's army in the War of the Revolution, and at Jersey on one occasion was detailed with a boy fourteen years of age to throw into the river all the planks from the bridge over which the Brit- ishers intended to pass. By this simple de- vice the enemy's forces were thwarted in their attempt to advance, and the Continental regi- ment saved from an attack which might have proved fatal.
David and Sarah (Treat) Somers's son, Lyman, was born on November 11, 1784. In 1809 Lyman Somers, then twenty-five years of age, settled upon the farm now owned by his son, David C. Somers, father of the subject of this sketch. The farm pur- chased in Woodbury comprised only twenty- five acres of land, but in the course of time its thrifty owner extended its limits by the purchase of surrounding acres until it as- sumed the proportions of quite an estate. Here he died at sixty-six years of age. Ly- man Somers married Desire Titus, a daugh- ter of Noah Titus, a man of quick wit, a
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ready rhymer, and the father of a literary fam- ily. The raising of a barn in the neigh- borhood drew forth the following lines from Mr. Titus : -
" Hay is scarce in this place, Cattle are out at grazing ; Stephen Treat, to make complete, Has had a winkum raising."
Mrs. Desire T. Somers died aged forty- eight, she and her husband having been the parents of three children, namely: Laura P., born October 21, 1816; Charles A., born Jan- uary 4, 1819; David C., born December 15, 1821. Lyman Somers was in political faith a Democrat, in religious belief an Episcopalian. His wife was a member of the Congregational church.
David C. Somers, having acquired a good district school education, became a teacher at eighteen years of age, and followed his pro- fession for thirty-three years. He inherited in part the home farm, which he improved greatly by adding lands, erecting a new dwell- ing-house in 1853, and by remodelling and otherwise extending the out-buildings. In 1845 he married Minerva Barnes, the daughter of Mr. Merritt W. Barnes, a gentleman of Watertown. Their two children were: Marion D., born March 17, 1851, who mar- ried Mr. Charles Hill, of Wallingford, Conn. ; and David L. Somers, of Woodbury. Mr. David C. Somers held various town offices, discharging the duties thereof with signal ability, being a Justice of the Peace thirty years, and School Visitor twenty-five years. He was a prolific writer, contributing poems and articles of interest to the local papers and magazines. He and his wife were members of the Congregational church, in whose work he was an active participant, being for many years a Sabbath-school teacher, having charge
of one class of young men for twenty-three years and two classes of ladies.
David L. Somers, like his father, began his active career as a teacher at twenty-one years of age, first assuming the duties of a guide and instructor of youth, for which he was evi- dently competent, as he continued to engage in educational work for sixteen years. Young Somers was full of energy and industry; and, instead of spending his summer vacations in amusing himself, he devoted these months to practical farming, assisting in the manage- ment of the estate he was one day to own in conjunction with his father. On October 13, 1886, Mr. Somers married Anna S. Curtiss, a daughter of Mr. James G. and Mary J. (Stiles) Curtiss.
In reviewing Mr. Somers's life, one is im- pressed with the conviction that success is more frequently the result of earnest and sus- tained effort than the world is ready to admit. The community, which had followed the career of the faithful teacher and active young farmer, attested its esteem and confidence when it gave him in 1894 the largest majority of votes for the legislature ever given any candidate of the town. Besides attending to his manifold duties at home and in the inter- est of the public, Mr. Somers is Secretary of the Order of U. A. Mechanics, and is Master of the Grange of Woodbury. His experience as a teacher rendered him peculiarly fit for the office of School Visitor, a position he filled for ten years. He is a zealous and vigorous Republican in politics and a member of the Congregational church, fulfilling the two es- sential conditions of true citizenship, to serve God and the State.
The following hymn, written by Mr. Somers while under treatment in a hospital at New Haven for a cataract on the eve, was sung at the communion in the church July, 1887 : -
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COMMUNION. TUNE,- " MARTYN."
Sitting at thy table, Lord,
We are feasting on thy word : Sacred wine and holy bread From thy bleeding hands we're fed. Cruel crown, the cross, the spear, Scourgings, mockings, do we hear ; Piercings, agonies, and pain,
Rocks and mountains torn amain.
" Eloi, eloi," hear that cry, Darkness veils the mid-day sky, Hiding veil now rent in twain;
Jesus dies, for sinners slain. Laid away in new-made tomb, Angels guard that sacred room. Lo! he rises from the dead, Death is now a captive led.
Opened graves, dead saints arise, Rub the dust from off their eyes, Long-slept saints with friends now meet, Jesus his disciples greet.
See ! ascending up on high,
Myriad angels fill the sky, Gabriel's startling voice proclaims, " Like this He will come again."
Two loved youth join us to-day, Angels bear the news away ; Parents, grandsires, children, come, Sweet foretaste of heaven's harvest home. Christians, can you meet that day ?
Heaven and earth must melt away; Sinner, come, with us sit down, Bear the cross and win the crown.
ISS ADALINE GIBBS, a retired school-teacher of Litchfield, Conn., was born in Norwich, Chenango County, N. Y., September 1, 1820, daughter of Elias and Deborah (Hawkens) Gibbs. Miss Gibbs is a descendant of Benjamin Gibbs, who was born in Windsor, Conn., in 1675, and moved to Litchfield in 1721, becoming one of
the first settlers, and being the original owner of the Gibbs estate. He improved the farm, and resided here until his death, which oc- curred May 10, 1767, at the advanced age of ninety-three years. His son, William Gibbs, Miss Gibbs's great-grandfather, succeeded to the possession and management of the farm, and erected the present residence in 1776.
Solomon Gibbs, son of William and father of Elias Gibbs, was born in Litchfield in 1760. He inherited the homestead, and be- came a prosperous farmer. Although but a youth in his teens at the opening of the deci- sive struggle with the mother country, he served in the Revolutionary War. He was formerly a Congregationalist in religion, and was a member of the church of which the Rev. Dr. Lyman Beecher was pastor; but in his . latter years he attended the Episcopal church. Solomon Gibbs died in Litchfield, aged eighty- three years. His wife, whose maiden name was Honor Marsh, and who was a native of Litchfield, became the mother of six children, of whom the last survivor, Frederick, died in 1893.
Aaron Gibbs, another son of Solomon and Honor Gibbs, studied medicine with Dr. Abbey, of Litchfield, and became a physician of note in Chicago, being also a well-known politician and a strong Abolitionist. He mar- ried Miss Catherine Gulliver, of Chicago, who died at the age of sixty-eight. For a number of years Dr. Gibbs passed his summers with his niece at the old home in Litchfield. He died in 1890, at the venerable age of eighty- four years, leaving three sons, all residents of Chicago, namely: William B., a lawyer ; Frederick G., a real estate agent ; and George, also a lawyer, who married Belle Smith, of that city.
Elias Gibbs, Miss Gibbs's father, was born at the homestead in Litchfield in 1792. He
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was reared to agriculture, and resided at home until attaining his majority, when he went to Chenango County, New York, and settled as a pioneer upon a tract of forest land. He built a log cabin, and cleared and improved a farm, upon which he resided until 1843, and then, selling the property, removed to Putnam County, Indiana, where he died in 1856, aged sixty-four years. His wife, Deborah Haw- kens, was a native of Rhode Island, and of Welsh ancestry. She became the mother of five children, of whom but two are now living, namely : Adaline, the subject of this sketch ; and Caroline, who married Lindley Evans, of Iowa. Mrs. Gibbs died in Medina, N. Y., in 1838, aged forty-two years. She was a mem- ber of the Baptist church.
Adaline Gibbs received a good education, and became a school-teacher in Indiana, where she taught successfully for many years. In 1861 she came to Litchfield, and has since re- sided here at the old Gibbs homestead. Miss Gibbs is a lady of marked intellectual ability and attainments, being exceedingly well read, and is particularly interesting as a conversa- tionalist.
ENRY A. KELLOGG, a retired trav- elling salesman, who is now engaged in farming in New Hartford, Conn., his native place, was born on March 20, 1817, son of Horace and Anna (Steele) Kellogg. Mr. Kellogg is a descendant of Isaac Kellogg, a native of Hartford, who settled in New Hartford, where he followed agricultural pur- suits for the remainder of his life. He was a prominent man in his day, and was the first representative from this town to the legisla- ture in New Haven.
His son, Abraham Kellogg, Mr. Kellogg's great-grandfather, was born in New Hartford, and here spent his active life in farming, at-
taining the advanced age of eighty-five years. Abraham Kellogg, Jr., son of the first Abra- ham, was born in New Hartford, January 27, 1750, and was a lifelong resident of the town. He owned and occupied a farm in the locality known as Town Hill, where his grandson now resides, and conducted general farming with good results. He died April 29, 1812, aged sixty-two. Of his six children, Horace, Mr. Kellogg's father, was the fourth-born.
Horace Kellogg was born October 1, 1780, at the homestead on Town Hill. He was reared to farm life, and settled upon land in the vicinity of his son's present residence. He was an industrious and practical farmer, and a worthy citizen, who took a deep interest in church work. He was a member of the Con- gregational church, and was connected with the Sunday-school for many years. He died June 27, 1859, at the age of seventy-nine. He was twice married; and by his second wife, Anna Steele, who was a daughter of Isaac Steele, a prosperous farmer of New Hartford, had four children, two of whom are still living, namely : Henry A., the subject of this sketch; and Orpah Ann, who married Elijah Woodward, a well-known farmer of Torrington. Mrs. Anna S. Kellogg died on June 16, 1857, aged sixty-nine.
Henry A. Kellogg received an academic education, and, after completing his studies, taught school for a short time. At the age of eighteen he engaged in selling dry goods through his section of the State; and in 1837 he went to Illinois, where for a year he fol lowed the business of selling clocks. He then travelled through the Southern States for two years, during which time he was very success ful in his business, and in 1844o engaged in the sale of clocks in New York State. After transacting a profitable business there for some time, he returned to New Hartford, and pur-
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chased his present farm, which he cultivated successfully until 1857, with the exception of one year spent in the South. A portion of the time from 1857 to 1872 he travelled in the interest of the Beardsley Scythe Company of West Winsted; and he then went to New Haven, where he was engaged in business with his son for a short time. His last business enterprise was as jobbing agent for the Eagle Scythe Company, of Riverton, Conn., in whose interest he travelled as far West as Kansas. Since 1875 he has resided at his home in New Hartford, enjoying the healthy and indepen- dent life of a farmer.
On September 29, 1841, Mr. Kellogg mar- ried Loraine E. Butler, daughter of William Butler, a well-known merchant and prominent citizen of New Hartford. Mr. and Mrs. Kel- logg have two children - Alfred A. and Cyrus W. Alfred A. Kellogg is an extensive dealer in sporting goods in New Haven, having been established there for many years. He married Harriet L. Lane of that city. Cyrus W. Kel- logg is engaged in his brother's store as a clerk, but is also interested in other business enterprises. He married Fannie G. McLean, of East Haven, and has had three children, as follows: Annie Loraine, who died at the age of six months; Raymond M. ; and Harrison B.
Mr. Henry A. Kellogg is a Republican in politics, and has been prominent in public affairs. He has served as Treasurer and Col- lector, a member of the District School Com- mittee, a Justice of the Peace, and a grand juror; and in 1883 he represented his town in the legislature with marked ability. He has been an energetic and successful business man, and, since retiring to his farm, has con- ducted agriculture with the same spirit of per- severance and progress which characterized his mercantile career. Although fast approaching his fourscore years, he is still active and in-
dustrious, and is well up with the times. Both Mr. and Mrs. Kellogg are members of the Congregational church, and are connected with the Sunday-school.
ETH PRATT, proprietor of the Pratt Stables, the Pratt Drug Store, and the Pratt Block, the largest block in the town of Litchfield, is a self-made man in every sense implied by the term, hav- ing by his own enterprising energy and practi- cal business ability accumulated much wealth, and won a place among the solid and influen- tial citizens of this section of the county. He was born in Sheffield on Christmas Day, 1844, son of Martin and Harriet (Beach) Pratt.
Martin Pratt was a native of Litchfield County, born in the town of Cornwall, where he worked during his earlier years in a wool- len-mill, becoming familiar with the business. Later he went to Sheffield, and, after being engaged there for some time, removed to this town in 1847, the same year erecting a wool- len-mill. From that time until his death in 1850, at the age of fifty-seven years, he was engaged in manufacturing. His wife, the descendant of one of the oldest and most re- spected families of this town, was one of a large family of children born to Mr. and Mrs. Enos Beach, her father having been a prosper- ous farmer and shoemaker. She survived her husband, living in widowhood for many years, passing from earthly scenes at the age of seventy-three. Strongly imbued with Chris- tian faith, she and her husband were members of the Methodist church, she being a commu- nicant for half a century. She reared fourteen children, four of whom are now living, namely: Edwin; Riley; David; and Seth, the latter being the youngest member of this large family.
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Seth Pratt can scarcely remember any home excepting Litchfield, he having been a little fellow of three years when his parents removed from Sheffield, three years before a shadow was cast over his young life by the death of his father. He received a good common-school education, and, on attaining his majority, started out for himself, opening a small livery stable in the village. With the exception of a very short period Mr. Pratt has continued in this business, enlarging it from time to time, having now the largest and finest equipped stables in the State of Connecticut, and carrying on a business unsurpassed by any person similarly engaged. He makes a spe- cialty of buying and selling horses, purchasing them by the carload in the .West, dealing mostly in thoroughbred driving horses, and selling to New York gentlemen, who appre- ciate the good qualities of a fine roadster. For twenty years or more Mr. Pratt has made this traffic especially successful, his experience and shrewd insight rendering him competent to vic with other large dealers. For the past six years he has also owned the largest drug store in the town, carrying on a profitable business in the sale of drugs and medicines, and has further shown his enterprise and versa- tility by dealing in oats, hay, and grain, and in handling real estate to some extent.
In 1870 Mr. Pratt was united in marriage with Emma G. Blake, who was born in Litch- field, and is a daughter of the well-known den- tist, Dr. E. G. Blake. Two children have been born of their union - Clarissa and Julia C. In politics Mr. Pratt is a sound Republi- can. He held the office of Postmaster four years under the administration of Benjamin Harrison, and was Burgess of the borough one term. He has besides served his constituents with fidelity in the legislature, having been Representative in 1887 and a member of the
Senate the following year. Socially, he is a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, and, religiously, he and his family are valued and active members of the Episcopal church. As a citizen, Mr. Pratt is held in high esteem, being closely identified with the progress and prosperity of the town and county.
EORGE STODDARD, a prosperous
farmer of Morris, who now occupies
the old Stoddard homestead, was born in this town on March 11, 1833, a son of Jas- per and Sophia (Hubbard) Stoddard. Mr. Stoddard's father, Jasper Stoddard, settled in Morris when it was included in the town of Litchfield, of which he was a native. He owned a good farm, which he cultivated suc- cessfully, and was an industrious and useful citizen. He died on February 5, 1873. His wife, Sophia Hubbard, bore him fifteen chil- dren, as follows: Lavallette, Lydia, Mary Ann, Abbie, Marina, Jeannette, Catherine, Eliza, Jane, Ellen, Truman, Marette, Lucien, George, and Dewitt.
George Stoddard received his education in the public schools of Morris, and after the completion of his studies he engaged in agri- cultural pursuits at the okl homestead. He has managed his farm with energy and good judgment, and now occupies a prominent posi- tion among the leading farmers of this neighborhood.
Mr. Stoddard was united in marriage in 1853 with Julia Hayes, daughter of Ephraim Hayes, of Morris. Mrs. Julia H. Stoddard died in 1887, aged sixty eight years, leaving six children. Mr. Stoddard was again married on September 3, 1880, to Mrs. Mary E. Smith, of Oxford, Conn., who by a former husband, George Smith, had had two children - Walter (deceased) and Lula Smith. The
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children of Mr. Stoddard, all by his first wife, are as follows: Charles, who married Anna Emmons, and has nine children - namely, Edna, Irville, Ralph, Frank, Julian, Hattie, Ruth, Thaddeus, and Mary; Wilbur, who mar- ried Carrie Curtis, and has three children - Bert, Howard, and Laura; Joseph, who mar- ried Katie Derby, and has one son, named Clifford; Della (deceased), who was the wife of Caleb Morse, and had three children - Mabel, Mildred, and Harold; Birdie, who is now Mrs. Charles Nobles; and George Stod- dard, Jr.
RS. ALICE B. ADAMS, principal of the primary department of the public schools of Litchfield, Conn., is a daughter of Norman B. and Sophia (Davis) Perkins, and was born in this town. Her father, who is a native of Litchfield, was born upon the farm he now owns and occupies, June 2, 1822, son of Harvey and Berthena (Morse) Perkins, the former of whom was born in Bethany, Conn.
In early manhood Harvey Perkins engaged in farming in his native town, but later moved to Litchfield, and settled upon the present farm of his son Norman B., which is situated about three miles east of the village. He followed agriculture successfully for the rest of his life, attaining the age of seventy-four years. At nineteen he married a Miss Russell, of Beth- any, by whom he had seven children ;- namely, Julia, Lewis, Orrin, Henry, Edwin, Abigail, and Eliza. For his second wife he married Berthena Morse, who bore him five children - Norman B., Delia A., Harriet, Harvey B., and one that died soon after its birth.
Norman B. Perkins, Mrs. Adams's father, is the only one of the family now living. In his youth he assisted in carrying on the home farm ; and, on reaching his majority, he bought
a farm near by, to which he devoted his atten- tion till after the death of his father, when he returned to the parental homestead. His mother here passed her declining years, dying at an advanced age. Mr. Perkins is a success- ful farmer, and well known as an industrious and worthy citizen. At the breaking out of the Civil War (though leaving a wife and seven children), he enlisted as a private in Company A, Nineteenth Regiment, Connecti- cut Volunteers, and served three years, receiv- ing wounds which caused him to be laid up in the hospital for some time. After being hon- orably discharged from the service, he returned to Litchfield, and resumed his regular oc- cupation.
He is a Republican in politics, and has served in some of the town offices with ability. He is a comrade of Seth Plumb Post, Grand Army of the Republic, of Litchfield, and is a pensioner. Mr. Perkins married on November 25, 1847, Sophia Davis, a native of Torring- ton, Conn., and daughter of Jabez and Cyn- thia (Twing) Davis, of that town, both of whom are now deceased. The last years of Mr. and Mrs. Davis were passed on a small farm of their own, situated in the vicinity of the Perkins homestead. Mr. and Mrs. Nor- man B. Perkins have reared a family of nine children, as follows: Frederick A., who died at the age of forty years ; Frank H. ; Alice B., the subject of this sketch; Albert L. ; Charles D. ; Ella E., who married Chauncey Lincoln ; Almon N .; Arthur V .; and Mary A., who married Myron Webster. Mrs. Adams's par- ents attend the Methodist Episcopal church.
Alice B. Perkins was educated in the public schools of Litchfield and at the Connecticut State Normal School. She made rapid prog- ress in her studies, and at the age of fourteen began the work of teaching, in which vocation she has had a long and successful experience,
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being possessed of special qualifications, nat- ural and acquired, for the training of children.
In 1876 Miss Perkins was married to Or- ville L. Adams, a prosperous farmer of Litch- field, who later became proprietor of a laun- dry. The untimely death of Mr. Adams in 1882 closed a business career of much promise.
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