Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut, Part 109

Author: H. H. Beers & Co.
Publication date: 1899
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1795

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Frederick E. Silliman was born August 23, 1845. in Bridgeport, and was educated mainly in Golden Hill Institute, in that city, although he attended a boarding school in Winthrop, Conn., for a time. As a young man he engaged in his present line of business successfully, and five years ago took in as partner his son-in-law, H. C. Godfrey. He is a member of the Bridgeport Board of Trade, and is also prominent in local politics as a worker in the Republican organiza- tion, having served in the common council for two terms under the presidency of P. T. Barnum and William H. Wessels. His wife, whose maiden name was Mariette Sherwood, is a

daughter of Alban B. Sherwood, a leading citi- zen of Greenfield Hill, and they have one son, Frederick R., a bright boy of twelve years. Mrs. Silliman had one daughter by a former marriage, who is now the wife of H. C. Godfrey. The family is identified with St. John's Episcopal Church, of which Mr. Silliman is a prominent member. Socially, he is affiliated with the Bridgeport Yacht Club, the Sea Side Club, the Algonquin Club, and with Hamilton Command- ery, Knights Templar.

P HILANDER E. ABBOTT. a prominent resident of Bridgeport, has more than a local reputation as a business man, four stores at Danbury and Meriden, Conn., and Fitchbury and Lawrence, Mass., being conducted success- fully by him at the present time. In addition to this line of enterprise he carries on an exten- sive business as contractor at different points, and at various times he has been connected with other business ventures, in which he has met with success.

Mr. Abbott was born October 27, 1845, in the town of Wilton, this county, and is of Welsh descent in the paternal line, his great- grandfather, James H. Abbott, having been the first of the family to come to America. Hiram Abbott, our subject's grandfather, was a farmer in New York State. Aaron S. Abbott, the fa- ther of our subject, was born and reared at Binghamton, Broome Co., N. Y., where he served an apprenticeship in shoemaking and cabinetmaking. As a young man he came to this county and located at Wilton, engaging in business as a cabinetmaker. He married Miss Augusta Holmes, daughter of Abbie and Clark Holmes, who resided upon a farm in the town of Wilton, and eight children were born to the union. Arminta married Newton Gallow, of Newburg, N. Y., and is now deceased; Oscar, who was wounded while serving as a soldier in the Civil war, causing the amputation of a leg, is now a shoemaker in Newburg, N. Y .; Harvey, a shoemaker by trade, resides in Bridgeport; Amelia married Richard Evans, of Norwalk, and both are now deceased; Philander E., our sub- ject, is mentioned more fully below; Miss Mary resides in Bridgeport; the seventh child died in infancy; Abbie is the youngest. The father of this family died in 1888, and the mother in 1889.

Our subject's education was obtained chiefly in the district schools of Wilton, but when only thirteen years old he started out to make a live- lihood, finding employment with a farmer in Nor- walk. At the age of sixteen he went to Winni-

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pauk, where he was employed for two years as a general helper on a farm, and later he worked for two years in the mills of Lounsbury & Bis- sell, of that place. During this time he met and married Miss Martha Grindrod, a native of Eng- land. She died in March, 1866, and in the same year Mr. Abbott located in Bridgeport, being employed for a short time by B. Ellis, a dealer in marble and stone. He then returned to Winnipauk and worked in the old mill for a time, and on his return to Bridgeport he again took a position with Mr. Ellis, with whom he learned the stone and marble trade. In 1878 Mr. Ellis failed, and our subject lost consider- able money as a result; but having determined to engage in business on his own account he opened a retail boot and shoe store, of which he made a decided success. In April, 1895, after sixteen years in the business, he sold out and established the four stores mentioned above, conducting them as five and ten-cent stores. In 1885 he began a contracting business in laying curbings and sidewalks, excavating, digging gutters, and similar work, and has filled numerous contracts in Connecticut and Massachusetts. In all his later enterprises he has had the advantage of the advice and assistance of a most capable and energetic wife, formerly Miss Lucy Coley, to whom he was married in 1876. She was born in Newtown, this county, where her father, George S. Coley, was a well-known citizen. While Mr. Abbott was engaged in the shoe business, she devoted her attention to the work, her fine tal- ents contributing largely to the success of the venture.

Politically Mr. Abbott is a Republican, and socially he is identified with various organiza- tions, including the I. O. O. F., Arcanum Lodge No. 41, and the F. & A. M., Corinthian Lodge No. 104, at Bridgeport.

L' EROY G. OSBORNE, a prominent resident of Georgetown, is deserving of especial mention in this volume, not only because of his high standing as a citizen, but for his honorable record as a soldier, his service in the Civil war having been terminated by a serious injury at the first battle of Winchester.

Mr. Osborne was born March 19, 1845, in the town of Weston, this county, a son of Aaron and Mary C. (Gregory) Osborne. His education was obtained in the common schools of George- town and Redding, and his first experience in business life was as a clerk in a drug store at Westport. After a short time in that position he went to Norwalk and spent one year, later

removing to Millersburg, Ohio, where he was engaged in a general store business for a year. He then passed some time in Brooklyn, N. Y., but at the breaking out of the Civil war he en- listed in Company C, 67th Ohio Volunteer In- fantry, in which he served as a corporal. On March 23. 1862, during the first battle of Win- chester, he was severely injured in an explosion, and on August 8, 1862. he was discharged at Harrison's Landing, Va., for disability. He now receives a pension on account of his inju- ries. As soon as he was able to resume business he went to New York, and for a time he was employed as a clerk in various places, including Lord & Taylor's, A. T. Stewart's, the Importers and Traders Bank, and the Fourth National Bank. He also engaged in a storage business there, but after a short time gave it up and set- tled at Georgetown, this county. He entered the employ of E. A. Mallory & Sons, of Danbury, and on leaving them went to New York City, and traveled for a while for Smith & Palmer, and Hooper & Pryor, hat manufacturers. Later he returned to Georgetown to make his perma- nent home, and he is now thoroughly identified with the interests of that place. He is not especially active in politics, but is a stanch Re- publican in belief, and has at times served as registrar of voters. Socially, he is connected with the G. A. R., Robert Anderson Post No. 58, and with the F. & A. M., Knickerbocker Lodge No. 642, both of New York City. In 1865 he married Miss Lida Carpenter, whose family history is given below. Their only son, Harry C., born February 21, 1869, in the town of Redding, is now in the employ of the Gilbert & Bennett Manufacturing Co. at Georgetown. He married Miss Lydia Rapson, who was born in Cheshire, Conn., September 30, 1869, a daugh- ter of John and Priscilla Rapson. Three chil- dren have blessed this union: Caroline S., born May 10, 1889; Catherine C., August 16, 1891, and Loraine G., February 16, 1896.

On the paternal side our subject is a great- grandson of Burton Osborne, who was born in the town of Weston, this county, and after ob- taining a common-school education learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed throughout his life. He and his wife, Sarah (Godfrey), reared a family of three children: Hezekiah R., our subject's grandfather; Ruth A., who married Orace Smith, and Molly Azor Batterson.

Hezekiah R. Osborne, the grandfather of our subject, was a native of the town of Redding, where he engaged in farming. He was an ex- cellent citizen, and for many years was an active member of the Methodist Church at Georgetown.

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He married Miss Esther Olmstead, and had seven children: Laura, who married Charles Scribner; Aaron, our subject's father; Eli, who married Charlotte Belden; Horace, who never married; Ann Augusta, wife of Aaron O. Lee; Lucy, wife of Samuel Perry; and Hezekiah B., who married Dell Reynolds.

Aaron Osborne, the father of our subject, was born in the town of Redding, October 11, 1818, and died January 24, 1887. His education was acquired in the common schools of that town, and in early manhood engaged in the mak- ing of cheese cases for the Gilbert & Bennett Manufacturing Co., with whom he worked some fifty-two years. Politically he is a firm believer in Republican principles, but he did not aspire to office; in religious faith he was a Methodist, denomination at Georgetown. He and his wife reared a family of four children: (1) Sarah Mal- vina was born in the town of Weston in 1843, and grew to womanhood in this county. She married (first) Dr. A. D. Sturges, a physician now practicing in Danbury, and (second) S. C. Par- malee, a dry-goods merchant of the same city, by whom she has had two sons, Paul and Sam- uel. By her first marriage she had one son, Leroy Osborne Sturges, who was born in the town of Redding. April 25, 1865, and now re- sides at Branchville, in the same township, where he is engaged in carpentering. Previous to en- tering upon that occupation he had followed farming for a time. and in his youth he was em- ployed in several different enterprises, including the Mutual Union Telegraph & Telephone Co., of New York, the Gilbert & Bennett Manufactur- ing Co., of Georgetown, where he worked one year, the Danbury Telephone Company, and the Schuyler Electric Light Company, of Danbury, with which he was connected for two years. He is a member of the Congregational Church at Georgetown, and in politics is a Republican. At times he has served on the grand jury, and he has also been constable. In 1888 he married Miss Carrie E. Fillow, who was born in the town of Redding April 21, 1866, a daughter of Aaron Fillow (a well-known carpenter of the town of Wilton), and his wife, Mariette (Gilbert). She is an excellent helpmeet, having rare business ability, and conducts an extensive trade as a dressmaker. Their only child, Mary Cordelia, was born July 13. 1889, and died November 30, 1891. Dr. Albert D. Sturges, the father of Le- roy O., was born in the town of Wilton, a son of Eliphalet and Sallie A. (Davis) Sturges, who had four children: George B., Henry B., Al- | bert D. and Addie. In early manhood he fol-

lowed the butcher's trade, but became a veteri- nary surgeon and later a physician. After the separation from his first wife, Sarah M. Osborne, he married Miss Millie Parsons, but they have no children.

(2) Leroy Gregory, our subject, was second in the order of birth in the family of four chil- dren born to Aaron and Mary C. Osborne. (3) Henry B. was born in the town of Redding, and was a prosperous carpenter there. He died September 26, 1898. He was a member of Arch Lodge No. 39, F. & A. M., at Georgetown. He married Miss Ida St. John, who died August 23, 1895, and had two children: John G. and Lida E. (4) William Hubert, a native of the I town of Redding, is in the employ of Andrews & Co., of Danbury. He married Miss Sarah San- being an active member of the Church of that | ford, and has one daughter, Grace S. Frater- nally, he is identified with the F. & A. M. and the I. O. O. F.

MRS. MARY C. GREGORY OSBORNE, who is now a highly respected resident of Georgetown, was born in August, 1821, a daughter of Miles Gregory, of Danbury. Her paternal great- grandfather, Ephraim Gregory, married Esther Stevens, and had four children: Samuel, the grandfather of Mrs. Osborne; Elijah, who mar- ried Hannah Benedict; Anna, wife of Caleb Benedict, and Eliphalet, of whom no account is given.

Samuel Gregory was married to Lorana Olm- stead as early, probably, as 1785 and, certainly, by 1790. They had ten children: Miles, Mrs. Osborne's father; Czar, who married Eliza More- house; Harry, who married Hannah Barnum; Ephraim, who was married January 4, 1815, to Rachel Stevens: Stephen O., who married Phoebe Fairchild; Esther, wife of Timothy B. Hickok; Cordelia. who married Andrew C. Hickok, and died June 7, 1885, at the age of ninety-three; Eliphalet, who married Jane Bar- num; Hannah, wife of Weed St. John; and Samuel, who married (first) Joanna - - and (second) Eliza

Miles Gregory married Annis Bronson, by whom he had nine children: (1) William Au- gustus, born October 12, 1804, died April 21, 1891. He married Mary Ann Ketchum, and had two children-Cordelia, wife of Benjamin F. Marsh, and Edwin, who married Susan Wright. (2) Bailey died when about nineteen years old. (3) Stephen Olmstead, who died January 6, 1892, married (first) Mary Perry, and (second) Ruth Ann Olmstead, by whom he had three I children-Mary Esther, wife of Dayton Truax; Cordelia, wife of Benjamin Stevens; and William | Henry, who married Susan Friend Murphy. (4)

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Dennis died at the age of six years. (5) Lorana Ann, born January 7. 1816, married (first) Henry Benedict, and (second) John Greenwood. She had one son by her first marriage, Samuel Greg- ory, who died at the age of one year. (6) Den- nis B. married Harriet Bunker. (7) Mary Cor- delia (Mrs. Osborne). (8) Sarah Maria married Levi Judd, and had one son, Eugene Gregory, who married (first) Jennie Gibson, and (second) Elizabeth Butts. (9) Nancy Jane, who died May 21, 1887, at the age of sixty, married John P. Hurlbutt, and had one child, Esther Jane.

In the maternal line Mrs. Osborne is a great- granddaughter of Rev. Thaddeus Bronson, a Baptist minister, who preached in pioneer times in an old meeting house at Miry Brook, in the town of Danbury, being the first regular pastor. The Second Baptist Church of Danbury was or- ganized through the interest awakened there, and in 1790 was admitted into the Hartford Bap- tist Association. Rev. Mr. Bronson remained in charge until 1793. when he removed to Scho- harie, N. Y., to continue his labors. His mortal remains now rest in the cemetery at Schoharie. During the Revolutionary war he took part in the struggle for freedom, and in " Connecticut Men in the War of the Revolution " we find this record: " Thaddeus Bronson enlisted in Capt. Noble Benedict's company August 21, 1776, was discharged December 25, 1776." He and his wife, Sarah, reared a family of four children: (1) Ezra, Mrs. Osborne's grandfather, is men- tioned again below. (2) Rev. Levi Bronson, a Methodist minister, lived and died at Starr's Plains, where his remains were interred; he mar- ried Abigail Knapp, daughter of Bracy and Anne Knapp, and had six children, who are indicated in the following account by letters of the alpha- bet: (a) Hawley married Annie Dykeman, and had three children-Daniel, who married (first) Clarissa Mills, (second) Deborah Delaven, and (third) Rachel Gade; Barlow B., who married (first) Mary J. Heick, and (second) Ann M. Smith; and Mary Ann, who married (first) Hiram K. Scott, and (second) Ira B. Manley. (b) Pamelia married Isaac Sirrine, and had three children- Abba Jane, who married Mr. Stocker; Sally, who married Mr. Gage; and Orrin, who married Me- lissa Morgan. (c) Thaddeus married Sally Crasy, and had eight children-William H., a physician, who married Juliette Northrup; Orin L., who married Polly Ann Wood; George T., who died unmarried; Amelia, who married Truman Judd; Clark, who married (first) Cornelia Betts, and (second) Mary Walker; Augustus, deceased; Sarah E., who married Lewis Bradley; and Mary J., who married Abel B. Betts. (d) Ora married

Edwin Mills, and had two children-Mary Abi- gail, who married Herman Taylor, and Edwin, who married Mary Bostwick. (e) Ann married Richard Osborne, and had three children- James, who married Fanny Crosby: Caroline, who married Isaac Osborne; and Eveline, who married Seth Downs. (f) Levi, a physician, married (first) Rebecca Baxter, and (second) Mary Delia Briscoe. By the first union he had five children-Sarah Ann, who married Sylvester I Gilbert; John, who married (first) Amelia Brush. and (second) Margery Albina Davis; Frank, who died at an early age; Helen and Frances Jane. By the second marriage there were three chil- dren-William, who married Janetta Hoyt; and Jennie and Jessie, who never married. (3) Lu- cinda Bronson, third child of Rev. Thaddeus Bronson and his wife Sarah, married Phineas Lobdell. (4) Amos went west, and but little is known of him. He married and had one daugh- ter, Rowena.

Ezra Bronson, the grandfather of Mrs. Os- borne, spent the latter portion of his life at Carmel, Putnam Co., N. Y., where he died June 5, 1840, aged seventy-five years. His wife, Anna, daughter of Bracy and Anne Knapp, died July 25, 1842, at the age of seventy-six, and both were buried in the Mill Plain Cemetery at Dan- bury. They had twelve children: Annis, Mrs. Osborne's mother; Hannah, who married Elbert Segar; Thomas, who married Nelly Horton; Knapp, who married Samantha Fowler; Sarah, who married Anson Batterson; Betsy, who mar- ried Cyrus Andrews; Polly, who married Thomas Andrews, a brother of Cyrus; Ezra, who married Jane Olmstead; Eli (twin of Ezra), who married Hester Ann Curry; Deborah, who never married; Hoyt. who married Sally Pettit; and Asahel. who married Philena White.

The Carpenter family, of which our subject's wife is a member, as mentioned above, has been identified with Long Island from an early date, the first ancestors coming from England. John Carpenter, the great-grandfather of Mrs. Lida M. Osborne, was born and reared at Glen Cove, L. 1., and passed his life in agricultural pursuits. He married and had four children: John Wes- ley; Elizabeth, wife of Mr. Underhill; Latten; and Searing John, the next in the line of descent. Searing J. Carpenter was born in the town of Glen Cove, and after receiving a common-school education engaged in farming. He married Miss Sallie Hawkshurst, and had seven children, viz .: James, who married Ann E. Pearsall; John, who married Marian Cole; William B., who is men- tioned again below; Eliza, wife of John Pearsall; Rozalia, wife of James Carpenter; Thomas, who

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married Mary Carpenter; and George, who is | (now Huntington), addressed a paper to the sec- not married.

! William B. Carpenter, the father of Mrs. Lida M. Osborne, was born in 1825, at the old home in Glen Cove, L. I., and was educated in the common schools of the town. He learned the carpenter's trade, but for some years of his early manhood he followed the sea. Later he was appointed on the detective force in New York City, and after a few years took a position as stage carpenter in the Metropolitan Opera House, in the same city. During the Civil war he was appointed by President Lincoln to act as a spy, and did good service in that capacity. In relig- ious faith he was a Quaker. He married Miss Susan Hoffman, a daughter of John and Eliza Willis Hoffman, and had one child, Lida M. (now Mrs. Osborne), who was born May 16, 1848, in New York City, and obtained her educa- ) tion in the public schools of the metropolis.

₲ OULD ABIJAH SHELTON, M. D. The Shelton family originated in England, and all of that name in this country are believed to be descendants of two brothers, Daniel and Rich- ard, who crossed the Atlantic prior to 1690. The ancestral home was at Shelton, in the County of Norfolk, England, but the branch of the family to which the two brothers belonged had been identified for some time with Deptford, York- shire, in which town the two brothers were born. Richard Shelton settled in Virginia, and his de- scendants are now numerous in the Southern States, the name having been changed, however, in some instances to Chilton.

Daniel located in Stratford, this county, at a place known as Long Hill, while he also owned large tracts of land in Stamford, Farmington, Oxford, Woodbury, Derby and Waterbury. Conn. His name appears among those of the earliest churchmen of Stratford, which then included Huntington, and next to the head of the list of those who petitioned the Bishop of London, in 1707, to aid them against some rigid Presbyte- rians and Independents, who had threatened seri- ous trouble to the petitioners because of the visit to the town of Stratford of a Church missionary who had conducted service and administered the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. The petition requested the Bishop to send over as a missionary "an exemplary man in conver-

retary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, asking for a pastor of their own or for stated supplies every third Sun- day from the ministers settled in Stratford and New Haven. "We are emboldened to hope this " say the petitioners, " both because we de- sign to set apart a glebe for our spiritual guide when he comes, and also because we suffer great persecution for the Church's sake from those who have the civil power here, and have made that a handle to grasp the ecclesiastical." The second signature to this document is that of Daniel Shel- ton, who did not live to see a Church established I at Ripton, while the fifteenth name is undoubted- ly that of his son, Joseph, then a young man of twenty-four. In 1709 Daniel Shelton suffered imprisonment for his devotion to the Church of England, and we take the account as given in the Documentary History of Connecticut, as fol- lows: "They [the Independents] still persisted with vigor to continue their persecution, and seized the body of Daniel Shelton at his hab- itation or farm, being about eight miles distant from the town, hurrying him away toward the town in order to carry him to the county gaol. Passing by a house, he requested of them that he might go in and warm him and take some re- freshments, which was granted; but they being in a hurry, bid him come along; but he desiring a little longer time, they barbarously laid violent hands upon his person and flung his body across a horse's back and called for ropes to tie him to the horse; to the truth of which several persons can give their testimony and are ready when thereunto called; and having brought him to the town they immediately seized the bodies of Will- iam Rowlinson and Archibald Dunlap, and car- ried them all three to the county gaol, it being the 16th day of January, 1709, and there con- fined them until such time as they disbursed such sums of money as the gaoler demanded of them, which money was last in the hands of the Lieutenant Governor, Nathaniel Gould, Esq., he promising them that the next General Court should hear and determine the matter, and that the money left in his hands should be disposed I of as the court should order; and they were at present released, being the 17th day of the same instant."

Daniel Shelton died in January, 1728, aged | about sixty years. He was married April 4. 1692, to Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel Welles, sation, fluent in preaching, and able in disputa- | of Wethersfield, Conn., and the granddaughter tion, that he might silence the cavils of the en- I of Hon. Thomas Welles, one of the early gov- emy." It is also recorded that in 1722 sixteen ernors of the Commonwealth. Nine children Episcopalians. inhabitants of the town of Ripton i were born of this marriage: . Elizabeth, Sarah,

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Joseph, Daniel, Thaddeus, Samuel, James, John and Josiah.

Samuel, through whom is traced the line of descent in which we are now particularly inter- ested, married Abigail, the daughter of Philo and Mahitabel Nichols, and had fourteen children: Mary, Daniel, Samuel. Elizabeth, David, Abi- gail, Joseph, Andrew, Sarah, Ann, Josiah, Philo, Isaac Wells and Agur.

Daniel, the great-grandfather of the well- known physician whose name opens this sketch, married Mehitabel Shelton.

Samuel Frederick Shelton, the grandfather of our subject, married Eunice Hannah Curtiss, and had six children-two sons and four daugh- ters.

Judson Curtiss Shelton, our subject's father, was born in Huntington, October 17, 1798.

Dr. Gould Abijah Shelton, fourth son of Judson C. and Hannah (Lewis) Shelton, was born August 19, 1841. at the old home in Hunt- ington, and after receiving an elementary educa- tion in the common schools of that locality he entered Staples Academy at Easton, this county. to prepare for college under the instruction of H. W. Siglar, an able and popular teacher. In 1862 he matriculated at Yale College, but during his junior year he left his class in order to en- gage in teaching, in which he met with unusual success. Late in 1864 he accepted a position as instructor in mathematics and the languages in Mountain View Seminary, at Fishkill-on-the- Hudson, and the following year he became principal of the public school at Port Washing- ton, Long Island. In 1866 he began his medical studies under the preceptorship of Dr. George W. Hall, of New York City, later attending three courses of lectures at the Yale Medical School, New Haven, where he received the degree of M. D. on January 14, 1869. He at once took charge of the practice of his uncle, Dr. James Hovey Shelton, who died in 1868 after nearly half a century of successful professional work in Hunt- ington. Dr. James H. Shelton was the son and the successor of Dr. William Shelton, who was graduated from Yale College in 1788, and prac- ticed medicine in Huntington from 1789 until his death in 1819, so that the professional mantle that fell upon the shoulders of our subject was in itself an honor. Both his predecessors were held in the highest esteem as men and physicians, and, like all of the family name, were excellent ! citizens in every respect. It is seldom that an unbroken succession of professional men of the same family, and characterized by such marked ability, has continued in one place for more than a century, as has been the case with this noted

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Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut, Part 109

Author: H. H. Beers & Co. Publication date: 1899 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1795

Author: H. H. Beers & Co.
Publication date: 1899
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1795