Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut, Part 242

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

USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut > Part 242

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In October, 1888, the Doctor was married to Miss Fannie L. Benton, daughter of Charles H. Benton, a prominent carpet merchant of Fitch- burg. Mass., and one son has blessed the union, James Putnam, born in November, 1889.

T HOMAS F. DANFORTH, who for the past fifteen years has been a resident of George- town, Fairfield county, and for thirteen years a trusted employe of the Gilbert & Bennett Manu- facturing Company, is a native of Massachusetts, born in the city of Worcester, July 22, 1854.

Patrick Danforth, father of our subject, was born in the parish of Carmerick. County Water- ford, Ireland. He received a thorough educa- tion in the parish schools. When a young man

he immigrated to the United States and located in the city of Worcester, Mass., where he be- came employed in a wire mill, remaining so occu- pied throughout his lifetime. His death occurred in 1864, when he was aged thirty-five years, the result of an injury received in a boiler explo- sion. He was married at Worcester to Miss Mary Sheehan, who was born in the same parish and county in Ireland as her husband, and came to the United States when quite a young girl, and to this marriage were born: Thomas F., our subject; Annie, who died in 1880; and Daniel. The daughter married James Conlon, a teacher and also a wire-drawer, of Worcester, Mass., and they had one child, John H.

Thomas F. Danforth received a good com- mon-school education in his native city. After his school days were over he learned the trade of wire drawer, and having served out his time con- tinued with the same firm for some years. For a time during the Civil war he was in the employ of the firm of Allen & Wheelock, manufacturers of cartridges. In 1880 he went to Trenton, N. J., where he remained three years, in December, 1883. coming to Georgetown, Conn., and enter- ing the employ of the Gilbert & Bennett Manu- facturing Company, in whose employ he has been ever since as a wire drawer. By his industrious habits and the good management of himself and wife, he has saved his earnings, and he is now. the owner of a small farm lying adjacent to the village of Georgetown. Politically he is a Re- publican; he is a member of the Roman Catholic Church of Georgetown, and, fraternally, is iden- tified with the Foresters of America.

He has the universal respect and esteem of his fellow citizens.

In 18So Mr. Danforth married Miss Nellie. L. Quinlan, and their children are: Mary L., born August 13, 1881; Alice G., born September 9, 1883: Leo Joseph, born December 16, 1885 ;; Bertha L., born October 30, 1887; Ellen A., born May 5, 1889; Annie R., born August 9, 1892, died August 2, 1894; and George T. F., born Jan- uary 3, 1895. Mrs. Danforth was born May 18, 1859, at Worcester, Mass., daughter of Peter and Alice (Kiley) Quinlan, natives of Ireland, who were reared, educated, and married in that country. They came to the United States in their early married life, locating at Worcester, Mass., where the husband found employment in a company that manufactured wire goods, and he remained in the same employ until his death .. He was a member of the Roman Catholic Church. Of his children, (1) Catharine married (first) Robert Mahagan, and had children-John J., Robert M., Alice L., Bertha M., Nellie and.

Digitized by Google

1192

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Annie: by her second husband, James Lane, she he came to Stamford, locating at the corner of | Broad and Atlantic streets. Throughout his professional career the Doctor has devoted him- self to general practice, but he has made some- | and has been unusually successful, having lost I but four patients in the former branch during his | forty years' experience. had two children-Walter J. and Mabel. (2) Mary never married. (3) Nellie L. was third in the order of birth. (4) Edwin was educated at Holy Cross College, where he was prepared for ! thing of a specialty of obstetrics and pneumonia, the priesthood. However, he became a teacher, and is at this writing teaching in the public schools of Worcester, Mass. He is not married. (5) William is also single. He learned the trade of a machinist, which he followed for a few years, then went to the State of New Jersey, and is now somewhere in the West.

G EORGE W. BIRCH, M. D., one of the lead- ing physicians of Stamford, Fairfield county, where in the course of forty years' practice he has made a reputation as a careful and safe phy- sician, counselor and a conscientious man, is a native of the Empire State, born in the City of New York, January 18, 1'831.

Samuel Ralph Birch, M. D., his father, was a physician who stood high in the profession in the State of New York. He read medicine under Doctor White, at Somerstown, N. Y., and was licensed, as in those days it was more customary than graduation. He practiced in New York City for many years, and then moved to Paw- ling, Dutchess Co., N. Y., where he lived re- tired for a number of years before his death, which occurred in 1855 or 1856. He wasa man of marked ability. Dr. Samuel R. Birch was / married in New York City to Mrs. Sarah (Chase) Spellman, who was born in 1796 and descended i from English ancestry, and to this union were born: Samuel R., a farmer of Patterson, N. Y .; Sarah, the widow of George Cromwell; George W'., our subject; Henry L .. a resident of Patter- son, N. Y. ; James G., M. D., a resident of New- burg, N. Y .; and Edward F., M. D., deceased, formerly of Norwalk, Connecticut.

George W. Birch passed the greater part of his boyhood at Pawling, N. Y. He attended school until of age. first in the public schools of Pawling, and later in the academy at Patterson, N. Y., and after his school days were over began the study of medicine under the direction of his father. In 1853 he went to Brookfield, Conn., where he continued his studies with Dr. A. L. Williams, remaining with him three years, and following this he attended medical lectures at Yale College, and was graduated from that insti- tution in 1858. standing second in his class. The same year he located at Redding Center, Fair- field Co., Conn., practicing there until January 15, 1861, when he removed to North Stamford, and there he continued until, in August, 1868,

In April, 1895, there occurred in Stamford an epidemic of fever, over which there was much discussion among the medical fraternity of the place, and which attracted widespread attention elsewhere. It was an irritative fever of some kind, and opinion differed as to just what it was, but as symptoms of typhoid were present, it was pronounced as such by some physicians. All told there were 450 cases in Stamford, and upon investigation it was found that nearly all the sick I had been using milk purchased from the same dealer; an examination of his premises showed a well from which water was taken to wash the cans, situated in close proximity to outhouse and stables, and those who adhered to the typhoid theory claimed this as the source of the trouble. that the germs of the disease were in the water. Doctor Birch, guided by his forty-years' experi- ence, in which he had treated many cases of typhoid. did not so consider it, but deemed it a case of metallic poisoning, and as there were some twenty or more of those affected who did not obtain milk from the dealer mentioned, and therefore could not have imbibed any of the perms from his well, he made an examination for causes and secured evidence which convinced him that his diagnosis was correct. He found that some two weeks before the epidemic broke out the milk dealer had purchased from a New York agent a powder which placed in milk would keep it sweet for an indefinite period. He also found that the other dealer, whose patrons had the disease, had used a similar powder, and this further strengthened him in his theory of metallic poisoning, so he followed his own methods of treatment, and his patients all recovered.

Feeling not the slightest doubt of the reli- ! ability of his position in the matter, Doctor Birch refused to report his cases as typhoid fever, and this precipitated a crisis between him and the other physicians of the place. who having what seemed exactly similar cases had reported them as typhoid. Heated arguments followed, and personal feeling ran high, but Doctor Birch was firm and would not yield a point, and it was after- ward admitted by one of the foremost advocates of the typhoid theory that a new discovery had been made and the disease was caused by poison- I ing. The following statistics may be interesting:

Digitized by

Google

1198

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

When the epidemic broke out there were thirty physicians in Stamford, and as there were 450 | cases of the fever the average would be fifteen cases for each doctor, pre-supposing an equal division. Doctor Birch had sixteen cases, and while there were a number of deaths from the disease. it is worthy of comment that every one of his cases yielded to his treatment.

As a citizen the Doctor stands high in the ·community in which he has so long lived. He is a member of the State Medical Society, of the Fairfield County Medical Society, and of the Stamford Medical Society, of which he has served as president. He was a member of the first health board organized in the city of Stam- ford, and he is again serving on that board at the present writing. He has served several terms as justice of the peace, and as a member of the school board of the town, being one of the school ·committee for several terms, and on the visiting ·committee of the board for several years.

In August, 1857, Doctor Birch was married to Miss Harriet W. Somers, a daughter of Renss- ·elaer and Eurania (Merwin) Somers, of Brook- field Center. Conn. To this union came two ·children, namely: Harriet Somers, born in 1861, who became the wife of Edward M. Prior, of Stamford, and died in 1893; and George William, born in 1871, who is married and resides in New York City, where he is an employe of the Liver- pool Globe Insurance Company. Doctor Birch's first wife died March 24. 1874, and for his second he married Gussie Gumbs, who died August 28, 1875. For his third wife he married Alice J. Scofield, a daughter of George Scofield, and to them were born: Alice A .; and a son that died in infancy.

C ARL MERTENS, a well-known resident of New Fairfield, is one of the enterprising German-born citizens of the town, and his career shows that he possesses the thrift and industry which characterize his race.

For many years the family resided in a little town in the province of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, ·Germany, and our subject's grandfather, Christoff Mertens, was born and educated there, and after leaving school engaged in the cabinetmaker's trade, which he followed successfully throughout his life. He married Dorothy Vanic, and they had two children, Chris John and Dorothy.

Chris John Mertens, the father of our subject, was born in 1820 in Germany, where he attended school, and at an early age learned the shoe- maker's trade. For many years he was engaged at same, and during this time he held the office

of clerk of his town for eighteen years. He mar- ried Miss Frederica Teamon, also a native of i Germany, and they had three children: August, Minnie and Carl, all of whom lived to adult age and married.

Carl Mertens was born and reared in the Fatherland, and in early manhood engaged in the miller's trade. He married Miss Caroline Geise, by whom he has had seven children, four born in Germany. In October, 1887, Mr. Mertens, with his wife and four children, and his honored father and mother, left the shores of his native land for this country, and in due time the party arrived at New York City. At first they lived in Danbury, where Mr. Mertens found employment in a paper mill, but later he bought a farm in the town of New Fairfield, and for eight years past has been i engaged in agriculture there, for a time making | tobacco his principal crop. This branch of his work he has now discontinued, his attention being given mainly to conducting a sawmill, gristmill and cider-mill, and to the distilling of spirits. Politically his sympathies are with the Republican party, but he has never aspired to office. His children-Arthur, Amos, Emma, Mary, Edith, Elsie and Maggie-are all at home, and they are a family of which any parent might well be proud.

H ON. JOHN O. NORTHROP (deceased) was for many years a leading citizen of the town of Sherman, and his death, on November 29, 1895, caused sincere grief throughout the com- munity. A local paper fittingly expressed the feeling of the people in the following lines:

Another of our honored citizens, J. O. Northrop, at the age of ninety-one, has finished his course. All these years, with the exception of one or two, he had spent in his native town, and thus during all the century he has been identified with the interests of the locality. He was a man of strong religious character, abhorring all dishonesty and sham, and was a faithful member of the Congregational Church, being deeply concerned in its success, and giving freely to its sup- port. He had an exalted conception of God, and of his re- sponsibility to his Maker in the use he made of this life. In his home he had daily family prayer and the thought that controlled him was an ever-thankful spirit to his Saviour. He was indeed a pillar in the temple of God.

Mr. Northrop was of English and Scottish ancestry, and his family has been established in this county since an early period. Thomas Nor- throp, his grandfather, located in the town of New Fairfield, now Sherman, when a young man, and married a native of that town, Miss Joanna Leach, by whom he had seven children: David, Thomas, Joanna, Amos, Abigail, Isaac, and Abraham. David Northrop, our subject's father, was born in the town of Sherman in 1758, and after receiving a good common-school educa-

Digitized by Google

1194

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

tion engaged in business as a stock dealer and farmer, his operations in both lines being quite extensive. In all local affairs he held a promi- nent place, serving from time to time in town- ship offices, and he was a liberal contributor to Church interest. He married (first) Miss Rebec- ca Beardsley, a lady of Scottish descent, and a daughter of Nehemiah Beardsley, Esq. She died leaving three daughters-Sally, Joanna and Rebecca-and he afterward married her sister, Salina, by whom he had six sons-Nehemiah B .. David, Ezra G., Isaac, Thomas, and John O.

The birth of our subject occurred June 27, 1804. on the old Northrop homestead in the town of Sherman, and he was educated in the district schools and a private school in the same locality. He engaged in the lines of business in which his father had been so successful, and, like the latter. he became a leader in local enter- prises of various kinds. He is said to have set- tled more estates in his time than any other man in his township. He held numerous town offices, serving for some time as selectman, and was re- garded as one of the chief supporters of the Re- publican party in this section. In 1885. when in his seventy-ninth year. he was elected to the State Legislature, and throughout his term he missed only one week's attendance. For many years he was clerk of the Church, and he always took much interest in its work.

On September 2, 1827, Mr. Northrop mar- ried his first wife, Miss Charlotte Giddings, who died December 7. 1869, leaving two children: Sarah Eunice and John Edward. The daughter married the late Rev. J. B. Stoddard, of Che- shire, Conn .. and they had two children. John Edward resides at Essex, Middlesex Co., Conn., and is the secretary and treasurer of the Com- stock & Cheney Ivory Manufacturing Company, of that place; he married (first) Miss Cornelia Bostwick, who died in March, 1870, leaving one daughter. Isabelle, and (second) Miss Elizabeth Comstock, of Essex. In 1870 our subject formed a second matrimonial union, this time with Miss Paulina W. Gelston (daughter of Deacon Hugh Gelston, a well-known resident of Sherman), who was born in that town October 3. 1835, and was educated there, developing into a woman of rare ability and character. At present she re- sides in Sherman.

J OHN TEMPLETON, who is engaged in the grocery business in the town of Wilton, was born in Ireland, January 19, 1832. After re- ceiving his education in his native country, he emigrated to the United States, a boy of fifteen

years, and settled in New York, where he learned the cooper's trade, working at same for some time. In 1862 he enlisted in Company G, 3d California Artillery, went to the Platte river, and served all through the Civil war, after the close of the struggle going to New York, where he remained four years. He then removed to Wilton, Conn., where he has since been success- fully engaged in the grocery business. Polit- ically, he has always been a strong Republican, but has not held or sought office. In religious connection he is a member of the Methodist Epis- copal Church of Wilton. Mr. Templeton mar- ried Jean Downie.

John Downie, grandfather of Mrs. John Tem- pleton, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and was educated in the schools of that city. Having finished his education, he learned the black- smith's trade, at which he worked in the old country all his life, and he also kept a store. From the earliest history of his family, the an- cestry were Scotch, and he married a Scotch lady, Miss Lillie Henderson, by whom he had the following children: James, who married Margaret --; John, who married Belle -; William, Mrs. Templeton's father; and Agnes, who remained single.

William Downie, father of Mrs. John Tem- pleton. was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and was educated in the schools of that city. Afterward he learned the trade of machinist, and established a business of his own in Glasgow, which he suc- cessfully conducted until he came to the United States in May, 1849. He first located in New York City, then went to Indiana, and afterward spent a short time in Boston. Returning to New York, he there continued to work at his trade until his death, being employed a large portion of the time in the Singer Sewing Machine works. Politically he was a strong Republican, but never sought office. Religiously he was a member of the Baptist Church. While still living in Scot- land he married Miss M. Rowen, who was born in Scotland, a daughter of Andrew and Mar- garet (Wilson) Rowen, the former of whom was a blacksmith of Glasgow. She had the follow- ing children: Margaret, wife of Archie Watt; Lillie, who remains single; Marion, who died young; John, who was killed in the late Civil war; Agnes, who died at the age of twelve; Jean, who married John Templeton; William and An- drew, both of whom are still single; and Benja- min, who died young.

John Downie, brother of Mrs. John Temple- ton, was born in Scotland, and came to the United States with his parents. When the Civil war came on he enlisted in the Seventy-ninth

Digitized by

Google

---

1195

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

New York Volunteer Infantry, and was in the first battle of Bull Run. During a light skirmish soon after this battle he was killed, being at the time about twenty-one years of age. Margaret, eldest sister of Mrs. Templeton, was married in New York to Archibald Watt, a native of Edin- burgh, Scotland, and a molder by trade, who came to the United States and settled in New York. The children born to this marriage were William G .; Marion; Marion (2); Isabella; John and James (twins), and Archibald, all of whom died young, except William G., who, born and educated in New York, is now engaged in the real-estate business in New York, though when young he learned the shoe-cutter's trade. He married twice, his first wife living only three months atfer marriage. By his second wife he had two children: Jean and Archie, both of whom died young. The mother of these children is now deceased.

James Downie, eldest brother of the father of Mrs. John Templeton, was born and educated in Scotland, and was a graduate of some college in his native country. He became a veterinary sur- geon, and followed that profession all his life. He married Miss Margaret ,by whom he had a large family. John Downie, second eldest brother of Mrs. Templeton's father, was also born and educated in Scotland, was a graduate of a college, and became a prominent lawyer in the city of Glasgow. He married there, and had one child that lived, John Downie, Jr., who also became prominent as a lawyer, and was elected sheriff's clerk, a position commanding a large salary. He is married and has three chil- dren.

A ARON HILL MALLETT, a well-known agriculturist and dairyman of Pembroke District, town of Danbury, is connected with several of the old pioneer families of this section, and his excellent standing as a citizen shows that he possesses the same sturdy qualities of charac- ter which distinguished his honored ancestry.

Mr. Mallett is a native of Fairfield county, having been born September 11, 1856, in the town of Redding, where his parents, Aaron and Abbie Jane (Hill) Mallett, were prominent farm- ing people. He was educated in the public schools of that town and of Danbury, and in a boarding school in Wilton, conducted by a Mr. Brown, under whose instruction he remained several terms. When about seventeen years old he. left school, and for some time he was employed up- on his father's farm, later engaging in similar work on his own account, renting a place in the town

of Redding. After spending three years there he became interested in the meat business at Bethel, but he did not continue it long, and he then found employment as a clerk for Birch & McKee in their dry-goods store at Danbury. After remain- ing three years in that situation he engaged for eight years in the milk business in the same city, but in January, 1894, he purchased his present farm and commenced general agriculture. He has also an excellent dairy, keeping from twenty to twenty-five head of cattle, and his farm shows careful management in all respects. It is a fine estate of 150 acres, bounded on the north by the Bear Mountain highway. and on the south and west by the lands of James Leach.

Mr. Mallett was married August 21, 1878, to Effie Araminta Barnum, who was born March 4. 1862, daughter of Stephen A. and Lydia M: (Gardiner) Barnum. Mr. and Mrs. Mallett have one child, Effie Barnum, born March 5, 1890. They are members of the Methodist Church at Danbury, and Mr. Mallett has much influence in local affairs and in the Republican organization of his district.

On the paternal side Mr. Mallett is descended from that famous old Huguenot pioneer John Mallett, who escaped from France in the seven- teenth century, during the reign of Louis XIV, being conveyed on board a vessel in a chest, through the courage and discretion of his young wife. For years before they left their native land they had endured much persecution on account of their faith, and their precious Bible was con- cealed in a hole chiseled out of a block of wood; which was used as a footstool, but at the time of their flight to America greater dangers threatened, Mr. Mallett's life being saved only by the clever ruse which allowed him to pass on the ship with- out the knowledge of his enemies. On their arrival in the New World they settled in Connec- ticut, and were among the first to locate at Tashua, where they left numerous descendants. According to the inscription on the headstone of her grave the brave wife attained the age of 101 years. Their son Peter had a son Peter (2), who had at least three children : Peter (3), Dan- iel and Philip. Of these, Peter (3) married and had five sons. Daniel, who left no descendants, was a general in the American army during the Revolutionary war, and was given a bounty of 10,000 acres of land in Tennessee, in recognition of his gallant services. Philip, who was born in 1751, in Connecticut, on Long Island Sound, died March 7, 1819. He married Sarah Frost, and they had seven children, of whom the following record has been transmitted : (1) Dimon, who died March 20, 1828, at the age of fifty years,

Digitized by Google

1196

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

married Eunice Couch, who died July 23, 1856, aged seventy-nine years, eleven months. They had a son. George B., and a daughter, who married Thomas Couch. (2) Daniel, our sub- ject's grandfather, is mentioned more fully below. (3) Levi married Rebecca Stocker, and they had three children, Jesse (who married and located in Leroy. N. Y.), Mary and Lucy. (4) Esther died in Tennessee, unmarried. (5) Naomi. (6) Philip, who did not marry, lived with his sister Esther in Tennessee until her death, when he made his home with George E. Mallett, in Wat- kins, N. Y., where he died April 27. 1856, aged sixty-seven years. (7) Isaac was never married ; after enlisting as a soldier in the war of 1812 he was taken sick and died near Buffalo, New York.

Daniel Mallett, second son of Philip and Sarah (Frost) Mallett was born December 3, 1781, and became a farmer in West Redding, where he died April 1, 1851, aged sixty-nine years, three months and twenty-eight days. He first married Mrs. Mary (Sanford) Couch (widow of Thomas Couch), who was born November 15, 1779, and died January 29. 1828, aged forty- eight years, two months, fourteen days. On November .28. 1829. he married, for his second wife , Mabel Hill, who was born December 17, 1791, and died December 17, 1845. aged fifty- four years. There were no children by the last union, but by the first there were three, viz .: Aaron, our subject's father, is mentioned more fully below. (2) Mary, born March 6, 1814, died October 9, 1832, aged eighteen years, seven months, three days. (3) Samuel, born Septem- ber 7, 1816, went to Bridgeport at the age of twenty, and in 1847 removed to New Haven, where he practiced dentistry successfully until nearly the close of his life. He died April 21, 1877. His wife, Elizabeth Ann (Turney), whom he married in 1840, died February 14, 1873, when about fifty years of age. They had three children: (a) Lizzie Turney, born March 16, 1851, was married December 30, 1874. to Dr. Walter Judson, and they had one son. Lewis Mallett, who was born November 12. 1881, and died December 31, 1883. (b) Samuel Sanford, born August 1, 1852, was married October 10, 1883, to Miss Carrie 1. Ketchum, and has three children. Charlie, born March 1, 1885: Mary Cornelia, born April 10, 1891, and a son born January 2, 1896. (c) Daniel Trowbridge, born April 16, 1862, was married June 11. 1890, to Miss Aleine Rowland.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut, Part 242

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