USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Bristol > Bristol, Connecticut : "in the olden time New Cambridge", which includes Forestville > Part 40
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He was born in Southington, October 24, 1815, and married Mary A., daughter of Solomon and Olive Comes Wiard of Wolcott, October 23, 1839. He died May 4, 1898.
His ability and worth were early recognized in his native town. He served as selectman of Southington a number of years. represented his town in the Legislature several terms, and occupied other positions of responsibility and trust.
As a resident of Bristol he was elected a member of the School Board and was a director of the Bristol National Bank and the Bristol Savings Bank. On June 4, 1875, through a petition to the Legislature, his homestead and adjoining lands were set off from the town of South- ington to the town of Bristol, thus making him a resident of the latter place. The property thus transferred was a portion of the original allotment of Southington land made in 1722 to John Norton, son of the pioneer ancestor and has been in the family through seven generations.
Mr. Norton inherited, with his farm the Lake Compounce property which had belonged to the family since 1787 and developed it as a summer resort in the years previous to 1850, later instituting several of the per- manent organizations which meet there annually.
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BENJAMIN F. HAWLEY.
Mr. Hawley was born in Farmington, Conn., December 7, 1808. He came to Bristol at about fourteen years of age, his father buving the house still standing at the corner of West and Pleasant Streets. Here he lived for a number of years. He made good use of the educational advantages he had received and taught school for two or more years in Stafford District. At the age of twenty-seven he went to Michigan where he taught for a year. Returning to Bristol he taught for many years in District No. 1. February 3, 1852 he was married to Mary C. Seaverns of Dorchester, Mass. They had three children all of whom are still living. In 1850 he was elected to the office of Town Clerk, serv- ing as such from 1850 to 1854, again from 1857 to 1861 and from 1864 to 1887. He was elected Judge of Probate from 1858 to 1875. In 1862 he was elected Town Treasurer and treasurer of the town deposit and town school funds which offices he held during the remainder of his life. He also served for several years on the board of school visitors. The length of time that he filled these different offices showed his fitness for them and the confidence reposed in him. He was twice sent to the Legislature. In politics he was a life-long Democrat. While he may have had political opponents yet there were none but who loved and respected him. His thirty years of official life open always to public view, was passed without a blot. He was for years active in church and Sunday school work until such time as he resigned on account of failing health. It may be truthfully said that Judge Hawley "died in the harness." He went to his office in the forenoon of the last day that he ever went out of the house, after that he conducted such business as could be done in the quietude of his own home. His death occurred August 23, 1887. Though his life filled so large a place in the activities of town and church it filled a still larger place in the hearts of those whom he loved best.
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BENJAMIN B. LEWIS.
SAMUEL M. SUTLIFF.
BENJAMIN BENNET LEWIS.
Was a native of Athens, N. Y., where he was born October 30, 1818. At nine he was left an orphan, and after a short experience as a clerk in a store in New York City, went to sea at fifteen and worked his way up to the position of Commander. In 1840 he went to Huron, Ohio, and engaged in the drug trade, also dealing in jewelry, clocks and watches, and while there he invented the calendar which brought him to Bristol, where he manufactured them in company with the late William W. Carter. He afterward entered the employ of the Welch, Spring & Co. and was foreman for many years. He died in 1890.
SAMUEL MORSE SUTLIFF.
Was born in Southington, January 28, 1828. In 1860 he married Margaret Griffin. In early life he came to Bristol, and for ten years was bookkeeper at the knitting mill of the Bristol Manufacturing Co. Under Lincoln's administration he was the postmaster. Afterward conducted a grocery store where Cook's bakery is now located. During the last seventeen years of his life he resided in Florida, where he had a large orange grove. He was a member of the Episcopal Church, and a man of marked business ability. His death occurred at his home in Haw- thorn, Fla., in January, 1899.
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ISAAC PIERCE.
One of the most genial and popular men of our town, was born in the old Pierce homestead, November 21, 1815. He spent nine years of his life in Alabama, from 1833 to 1842, returned to Bristol and went to California in search of gold in 1849. He returned to Bristol in 1850, and secured a half interest in Lake Compounce in 1851, retaining his interest there until his death which occurred July 28, 1897. He rep- resented the town in the Legislatures of 1861 and 1868. In 1864 he married Catherine Degnan, by whom he had four children, of whom three are now living: Edward, Julius and Mrs. Stanton Brown. He lived to see the Lake connected with the outside world by electric cars and become one of the most popular resorts in Connecticut.
ELIAS INGRAHAM.
Was born in Marlborough, November 1, 1805. He was a cabinet- maker in early life, and worked at his trade in Hartford coming to Bristol about 1827, and working for George Mitchell. He made clock cases by contract until 1843, when the firm of Brewster & Ingraham was formed by the admission of Deacon Elisha C. Brewster. The E. Ingraham Co. was formed in 1881, and the present immense plant is the outgrowth of good business management and excellence of product. He died in 1885.
DANIEL PIDCOCK.
Was born in Sheffield, England, July 10, 1823, where he learned the saw trade. He came to the United States in 1847, and worked for R. Hoe & Co. and Henry Disston, in New York and Philadelphia, coming to Unionville and then to Bristol in 1862, where he remained during the rest of his life, except four years spent in British Columbia, on the Pacific coast. He was employed by the Atkins Saw Co., the Porter Saw Co., and E. O. Penfield. In 1848 he married Sarah A. Hales, of Brooklyn, N. Y., by whom he had three children, only one of whom is now living, Mrs. Ida May McGar, of Prospect street.
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ELIAS INGRAHAM.
DANIEL PIDCOCK.
ELISHA MANROSS.
Was born in Bristol, May 11, 1792, and became one of the pioneers of brass clock-making in America, making the first jeweled movements ever made here. He was a Captain in the war of 1812, and commanded a company of one hundred men to guard the coast at Fort Killingly. He was also Captain of the Bristol Artillery Company. He was a deacon
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and long a member of the Congregational Church in Bristol. Three of his sons were in the Civil War, Captain Newton, Sergeant Elias and John. He was an extensive land owner in Forestville, and conducted a large clock business. In 1821 he married Maria Cowles Norton. He died September 27, 1856.
HIRAM C. THOMPSON.
The subject of this sketch was born in Bristol, October 25, 1830. He came of Revolutionary stock, his grandfather and great grandfather having been soldiers in the patriot army during the war for independ- ence. His grandmother reached the remarkable age of one hundred years, two months, and twenty-three days.
He was educated in the common school and academy in his native town. At the age of thirteen, having been in school continuously from the age of three and one half, he obtained permission of his parents to enter one of the shops and learn clock making. He continued this employment a year for two dollars a week, working eleven hours per day. He then gladly resumed his studies, attending the academy until he was sixteen. At that age he again entered a clock factory, and after working in various shops in Bristol and elsewhere, he entered the employ of Noah Pomeroy in July, 1862. He was soon promoted to the fore- manship of the business, and held this position until he bought out Mr. Pomeroy, November 20, 1878. He carried on the business until his death .
Mr. Thompson joined the Bristol Congregational Church in 1849, and was during the remainder of his life one of its most active and zealous members. He was for many years interested in the Y. M. C. A. work, and served one year as its president.
In politics Mr. Thompson was a Republican, standing with that party from its birth, and was a member of the First Republican Town Committee.
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GEORGE S. HULL, M. D.
George S. Hull, M. D., was born in Burlington, Conn., March 31, 1847, where he received a common school education. He attended the Connecticut Literary Institute at Suffield, Conn., taking a preparatory course before entering the Yale Medical College, where he spent one year. Later he attended a course of lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, and graduated from the New York Homeo- pathic Medical College in the spring of 1872.
On October 23, 1883, he was one of the charter members of Ethan Lodge, K. of P., of Bristol, Conn., and its first Past Chancellor. He was instrumental in forming the Hull Division, No. 5, Uniformed Rank K. of P. The same year, at their first field day held in Hartford, he was elected surgeon of the First Regiment, which office he held until 1890, when he was appointed surgeon of the Second Regiment. A few weeks later he received the appointment of Assistant Surgeon-General on Brigadier General E. F. Durand's staff. In 1888 he was appointed G. M. A. at the Grand Lodge session of that year; in 1889 was elected G. P .; in 1890 was made Grand Vice Chancellor; in 1891, at the Grand Lodge session held at Wallingford in February, was elected Grand Chancellor, and was obligated in the Supreme Lodge at its session in Washington.
On March 27, 1872, he located in Bristol, Conn., where he was con- tinuous in the practice of his profession until his death.
In the spring of 1872 he became a member of Franklin Lodge, F. and A. M. of Bristol, Conn., and early in the next year of Pequabuck Chapter. He was also a member of the Doric Council of New Britain, Conn. In 1888 he joined the Washington Commandery, Knight. Templars, of Hartford, and later was made a member of Pyramid Temple of The Mystic Shrine of Bridgeport. During 1889 he became a thirty-second Scottish Rite Mason of the Sovereign Consistory of Norwich, Conn.
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WALES A. CANDEE.
Son of Woodruff Candee, a well-known farmer of Chippen's Hill, was born in Oxford, in 1825. When ten or twelve years of age he went to sea as a cabin boy with his uncle, and visited all parts of the globe. At twenty-five he was a gold seeker in the California mines for two or three years, when he took up dentistry, and became a very skillful dentist. He returned to Bristol, and practiced his profession. During the war and afterward he traveled extensively as a magnetic healer. In 1869 he built the "Blue Cottage" on Prospect street, where his office was located. For many years he was in partnership with his pupil, Dr. F. L. Wright. He was twice married, and his widow survived him. He died July 24, 1883.
SAMUEL P. NEWELL.
Was born in Scott's Swamp District, Farmington, November 16, 1823, the son of Roger Newell, an honest, intelligent farmer of that place. He was graduated from the Yale Law School, and selected Bristol as his residence, where he became the leading lawyer for many years. He was married to Martha J. Brewster, in 1854, to whom five children were born, his son, Roger S. Newell, Judge of Probate, succeed- ing to his father's practice and partnership with the late John J. Jen- nings. He died suddenly, much regretted, in 1888.
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SAMUEL P. NEWELL.
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CHARLES S. BAILEY.
Charles S. Bailey was born in Thompson, Conn., February 20, 1811. At nineteen years of age he removed to Bristol and as an ap- prentice to the joiner trade, first worked upon the house owned by the late E. O. Goodwin and used by Pastor Leavenworth as the Congre-
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gational parsonage. His next work was upon the present Congrega- tional Church. In 1836, Mr. Bailey was married to Louisa Peck of this town. An acre of land was purchased by him near the head of Main street and on this he erected one of the first houses on Main street. Mr. Bailey was sexton of the Congregational Church and served for a number of years as night watchman at the factory of the Bristol Manu- facturing Company. In 1866, Mr. and Mrs. Bailey celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding. Mr. Bailey died August 23, 1890.
JOHN J. JENNINGS.
Cut loaned by the Bristol Press.
Was born at Bridgeport, in 1835; died in Bristol, April 1, 1900. Graduated from Yale in 1876. Taught school in Bristol and elsewhere for a few years. Studied law with the late Samuel P. Newell. Was ad- mitted to the bar in 1882 and practiced law till his death. He married Elizabeth Naomi Newell, the daughter of his preceptor and partner. Mr. Jennings had attained a large practice in the State and United States courts. He always took a great interest in education and was Acting School Visitor for many years. He left two sons at his death, Newell Jennings and John Joseph Jennings.
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JOHN BIRGE.
The subject of our sketch is the son of John Birge of Torrington, Conn., and was born in that town in the year of 1785. Having com, pleted his education, he was taught the trade of a carpenter and builder- and assisted in the building of Harwinton church.
Removing later to Bristol, he commenced business in the town as a wagon builder, in the north part of the town, near the Sheldon Lewis place, and also as a practical farmer, owning an extensive farm adjoining the Gad Lewis farm and taking special interest in agricultural work until his death.' He carried on the wagon business for a number of years and was very successful. 1
He afterwards purchased the patent of the rolling-pinion eight- day brass clocks, and having purchased the old woolen factory in the east part of the town, a portion of which afterwards was used by the Codling Mfg. Co., he commenced to manufacture clocks which made for him a reputation throughout the United States and Europe. He sent out peddlers to the south and west and a very extensive busi- ness was done. Quite a number of these clocks are to be found in Bristol today. He continued in the clock business and farming until a few years previous to his death.
In politics he was an Old Whig, and was a very active politician. He also served in the War of 1812. From his first coming to Bristol until his death, in 1862, he was a member of the Congregational Church.
NATHAN L. BIRGE.
Nathan L. Birge, the son of John Birge, was born at his fathers farm in Bristol, August 7, 1823; was educated and graduated from the High School, Bristol, and entered Yale College at the age of sixteen years.
After leaving college he was engaged for two years as teacher in the Albany Academy. Among his pupils were the Rev. Morgan Dix, General Massey and also the son of Secretary Seward. He afterwards entered the law office of Stevens & Cagger, Albany, where he studied
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law. Later he entered into partnership in a dry-goods store in New York. On the death of one of the partners this business was given up. He then went to London, England, to superintend the clock business there for his father, a very extensive trade being done both in England and France. He returned in 1848 and joined a gentleman on a trading expedition with the Indians on the Arkansas river, dealing in furs, skins and general merchandise, and succeeded in doing quite a large business with them.
In 1849 he started out for the gold mines in California, traveling overland. This journey, which occupied seven months, was of a varied description. The party had to swim across the Colorado river about ten times; all their baggage had to be taken across on rafts. Arriving at San Francisco the place was besieged with miners, and finding that food and every requisite was very scarce and expensive, he decided to spend the winter on the island of Hawaii. He returned to the mines in California in the spring and spent the summer in the gold mines, after which he came home, settled in Bristol, and commenced business at the knitting factory, which was carried on at the north side of the town, assisted by his two sons, John and George W., under the name of N. L. Birge & Sons.
Mr. Birge married Adeline, daughter of Samuel B. Smith of Bristol. The members of the family are John, Ellen S., George W. and Frederick Norton; none now living except Ellen S.
Mr. N. L. Birge was vice-president of the National Bank of which he was one of the original corporators; a director of the Savings Bank; and vice-president of the Bristol Water Company. He died October 29th, 1899.
HON. JOHN BIRGE.
Son of Nathan L. and Adeline M. Birge, was born August 25, 1853; began his education in the common schools and finished with an academic course at the Lake Forest Academy, Lake Forest, Ill. Active business early engaged his attention. For this he had predilections and uncommon ability. ¿ He was a member of the firm of N. L. Birge & Sons, one of
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the leading manufacturers of Bristol. He was always active in politics; was Senator for the Fourth district, and has been a member of the Re- publican state central committee for the Fourth district. In this im- portant place he discharged his duties with great efficiency, being an excellent judge of men and means. He was a believer in pure politics and also in the young men's movement. He was president of the Young Men's Republican Club, which is associated with the state league and was chairman of the Republican town committee for several terms.
He is a descendant in the tenth generation from the author of our New England system of town and municipal government, the Rev. Thomas Hooker, settler and first minister at Hartford in 1636. Senator Birge is also descended in the eighth generation from William Smith, a settler at Huntington, L. I. and again through the maternal line, in the ninth generation, from George Smith of the New Haven colony of 1638, and Theophilus Smith, who was a soldier in the Revolution. He is also a descendant of Samuel Terry, who made and put in the large wooden clock in the steeple of the Congregational church, Bristol. The Birges are descended from the Puritans, who came over on or about the time of the Mayflower.
Senator Birge married Miss M. Antoinette Roote, daughter of S. E. Root of Bristol, in 1874. She died April 25, 1891, leaving four children, Adeline, Nathan R., Marguerite and J. Kingsley, all of whom are living. In 1893, Senator Birge married M. Louise Loomis, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He died October 20, 1905.
GEORGE W. BIRGE.
The third child and second son of N. L. and Adeline M. Birge, was born in Bristol, June 8, 1870; graduated from the High School, Bristol, and afterwards went through a course at Huntsinger's Business College, Hartford. He prepared for Yale but was unable to enter on account of weakness of eyes. He married Eva May Thorpe, October, 1898. A daughter Rachel, was born September 8, 1899. He continued as Sec- retary of company up to the time of his death, September 22, 1901.
In 1893 he was admitted partner in the firm of N. L. Birge & Sons, of which he was the junior member.
NATHAN R. BIRGE.
The eldest son of Senator John Birge was born in Bristol, in June, 1877. He graduated from the Bristol High School in 1896, and was a student at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He then went to Lynn and now occupies a responsible position with the General Electric Company, Schenectady, N. Y. He is also president of the N. L. Birge & Sons Company. He was married September 14, 1904, to Bertha Elizabeth Haight, of Schenectady, A son, John Cornell, was born No- vember 3, 1905.
After the death of Geo. W. Birge, William F. Stone, Jr. who has been with the company since its incorporation was elected Secretary to fill his place and continued in this capacity until the death of John Birge when he was elected Treasurer and General Manager which position he holds at the present time.
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HENRY ALEXANDER MITCHELL.
Was born in Bristol, Nov. 25, 1805. His father was Thomas Mit- chell, son of William, the founder of the family. He graduated from Yale, the Military Institute at Norwich, Vt., and the famous law school at Litchfield, where he was a classmate of John C. Calhoun. He was admitted to the bar, and became a judge of the Superior Court and repre- sented his town in both houses of the Legislature. He edited the Hart- ford Times during the campaign of 1840, and sold it to Mr. Burr, the famous editor of that journal. He was a faithful member of the Episco- pal Church, a man of good judgment, and strict integrity of character. He died March 17, 1888.
LEVERETT GRIGGS.
Born in Tolland, November 17, 1808, died January 28, 1883. Dr. Griggs was a graduate of Yale College, and tutor there for two years, and many years later received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from his alma mater. His first pastorate was in North Haven, then in New Haven, Millbury and Bristol. He was pastor of the First Congregational Church of Bristol for fourteen years. He then was compelled by failing health to relinquish his charge. He was much interested in the public schools and after partially regaining his health, was acting school visitor in Bristol for ten years. Dr. Griggs was a very lovable man, and seemed to take every one that came to Bristol into his smiles. He was endeared alike to people of all religious faith.
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DR. LEVERETT GRIGGS.
WILLIAM CLAYTON.
A native of Sheffield, England, served an apprenticeship of seven vears{at the cutler's trade. He came to America in 1849, and worked for the John. Russell Cutlery Co., of Massachusetts. In 1866 he came
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to Whigville, where he occupied a part of the D. E. Peck factory, in the manufacture of table knives. He came to Bristol six months after- ward and established the business now conducted by his sons on Union street. In 1875 the shop was built on the site of the old drum shop, which plant was enlarged, and occupied until it was destroyed by fire. The old Waters' shop was also occupied by them, and that being burned' the present shop was erected. Since the death of the father, in 1883, the business has been conducted by his sons under the firm name of Clayton Brothers.
GEORGE JOHN SCHUBERT.
Was born in Bavaria, Germany, October 2, 1836, and became a resident of Bristol in 1853, holding for years the position of contractor in the works of the E. Ingraham Co. He served in the army during the Civil War, and was an Orderly Sergeant in Company I, Twenty- fifth C. V. He became a member of the Grand Army, of which he was Commander; organized with George H. Hall, George Merriman and George C. Hull, Ethan Lodge, K. of P., which was long known as under the rule of the Georges; and was also an Odd Fellow. In whatever he undertook he put the whole energy of his nature, and no more faithful · or efficient member, in any position to which he was called, ever entered a lodge room. He died, respected by all, December 31, 1901.
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THOMAS BARNES, JR.
LOT NEWELL, DIED 1864.
NAOMI, WIFE OF LOT NEWELL.
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WALTER ADAMS.
Was born in Wethersfield, May 3, 1810. Died at Bristol, June 22 1880, where he had spent the greater part of his life. He was identified with the clock business in Bristol during his residence here, except while serving his country in the Civil War. He led a quiet, peaceful and industrious life, and was much respected for his candor and in- tegrity of character. For many years he worked for Chauncey Board- man, and later for the Atkins Clock Company.
THOMAS BARNES.
Was born in Bristol, August 1, 1773, married Rosanna Lewis in 1798, by whom he had two children, Eveline, who became Mrs. Dr. Charles Byington; and Alphonso. His second wife was Lucy Ann Candee. He was a merchant and manufacturer, building a factory on the site of the present Dunbar factory, and made carriages. He was instrumental in opening Main street to the river, at his own expense, and built a button shop on the ground now occupied by Cook's bakery. It is little realized how much of Bristol's prosperity is due to the energy of Thomas Barnes, and a few others, possessed of the true Yankee spirit of enterprise and thrift. We do well to honor their memory. He rep- resented the town in 1826. He died in 1855.
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WILLIAM RUSH RICHARDS.
William Rush Richards was born October 16, 1816, in a log cabin in Peru, N. Y. When he was very young his father, who was a gold- smith, died, and at eight he was bound out to a farmer in Harwinton, Conn. At sixteen he was apprenticed to learn the carpenter's trade, and at the completion of his apprenticeship went to St. Louis, and later to St. Paul, where he worked at his trade. At the end of two years he came East. When he reached Chicago he found a village consisting of 14 houses. September 26, 1840, he was married to Sarah C. Champion, in Winsted, and soon after removed to Bristol, and was employed in the clock business; afterward becoming a partner in the 'firm of Birge, Peck & Co. During his last years he was employed by Welch, Spring & Co. His death occurred March 15, 1885, and his only son, William C. Richards, survived him.
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