Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut, Part 39

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

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himself a representative citizen, identified with the town all his life, and directly descended in a line of honorable ancestry from men whose pious, brave and industrious labor had contributed to nurse its infancy."

His gift of forty-three thousand dollars laid the foundation for the organization, through which a charter was granted for the establishing of the Stamford Hospital, and while Judge Clason, with his characteristic modesty, has re- fused to have his name in any manner coupled with the corporate name of the institution, he is nevertheless its recognized father. During the three years of its existence it has afforded relief to more than six hundred inmates. The State evidenced its interest in the work of the hospital by originally appropriating twenty-five thousand dollars, conditioned, on one hundred thousand dol- lars (including the donation of Judge Clason) being raised by subscription among the residents of Stamford. The Legislature of 1898-99 appro- priated six thousand dollars for the general uses and purposes during the next two years.

E ADWARD BANKS (deceased), late of the town of Redding, where he had been en- gaged in agricultural pursuits the greater part of . his life, was a native of Fairfield county, born in Redding May 29, 1822. He was a great-grand- son of Johnathan Banks, a grandson of Nehemiah Banks, and a son of Salmon B. Banks. The last-named married Martha Jackson, daughter of Stephen and Elizabeth Jackson, and they reared a family of five children, viz .: Three sons- Aaron, Stephen and Edward (our subject); and two daughters-Bessie and Sallie-all now de- ceased.

Edward Banks received a common-school education. In early life he went west and for a number of years was engaged in the lumber busi- ness in California, following same also in New York State. On returning to his native county he located on a farm, and from that time until his death he was actively engaged in agriculture. During the Civil war he served his country faith- fully, and for disability incurred therein he re- ceived a pension from the Government. Becom- ing a member of Company E, 23d Conn. V. I .. he continued in the service throughout the war, participating in the various skirmishes and bat- tles in which his company and regiment were engaged. He was an obedient soldier always, and prompt for every duty assigned him, received an honorable discharge, and on returning to his home at the close of the struggle resumed his life work. Mr. Banks was a good citizen, held in

high regard in the community in which he lived, and gave his influence to the support of all meas- ures calculated to benefit his fellowmen. His death occurred December 8, 1896. He married Mrs. Jane Hall, widow of Ammons Hall, and a daughter of Sanford Benedict, of Redding, and to their marriage were born two children, Irving J. and Benjamin B., who are mentioned more fully below.

IRVING J. BANKS was born in the town of Redding, March 19, 1873. He was reared on the farm and received a good common-school education, after his school days were over en- gaging in farming and later in the dairy business; recently, however, he sold his farm and interests to his brother Benjamin, and at present he is carrying on no business whatever. He is a bright, genial young man, and has many friends. On January 4, 1899, he was united in marriage with Miss Clara L. Zenerkow, of Redding.

BENJAMIN B. BANKS was born October 19, 1876, in the town of Redding, and was brought up on the farm. He commenced his ed- ucation in the common schools, later attending the high school which is conducted in the town, and on December 17. 1893. he entered the East- man National Business College, at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., from which he graduated in June, 1894, taking away the merit of honor, etc. Returning home, he conducted the farm with his brother until, as above stated, he bought him out, and he is now carrying on a dairy and general truck- ing business; he has made many extensive im- provements about the place, and has every pros- pect of a prosperous business future.

Sanford Benedict was born in the town of Richfield, in 1766. He attended the schools of that town and then learned the axe-maker's trade, which occupation he followed until his retire- ment from active business. He married Miss Airity Beers, and their union was blessed with children as follows: Jane is referred to farther on; Amanda married Lorenzo Nichols; Lorinda married Lumas Gould; Harriet married Edward Gould; and Stephen married Eva Jones. Jane Benedict was born June 10, 1834, in the town of Weston, where she was reared and educated. To her marriage with Ammons Hall, a farmer of Bethel, Conn., two children were born, namely: (1) Lucy married Frank Whittaker, a watchman in the works of the Gilbert & Bennett Manufac- turing Company, and had three daughters-An- nie B. (deceased), Mary A. and Ella. (2) Frank was born in the town of Weston, September 23, 1866. He received a common-school education, and has thus far in life given his attention chiefly to agricultural pursuits, in connection with his

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brother, Benjamin B. Banks, although for a pe- riod of four years he was in the employ of B. & B. Show, and later for six months with Fair- child & Shelton, manufacturers of soap at Bridgeport. During this time he traveled quite extensively throughout the country.

M ON. DANIEL B. MALLORY. Few men in the town of Sherman are able to com- mand a larger share of popular esteem than does the subject of this biography. He is an agricult- urist of that locality, who has been chosen by his fellow citizens to almost every local office, and has also represented his section in both houses of the State Legislature.

Daniel B. Mallory was born May 2, 1838, in the Fifth School District, and during his boy- hood he attended the common schools and the academy at Sherman; also received still further instruction at the Nine Partners Boarding School. He spent a few winters teaching school, but his business has been principally farming-raising some tobacco and general crops. He was one of the first to commence raising tobacco in the town of Sherman. In politics he is a strong Democrat. He has been a member of most of the Democratic State Conventions since 1860, and from early manhood he has been regarded as one of the leaders of the party in his. locality. For over twenty years the Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths is in his handwriting. also for many years he has held the office of first se- lectman, and for two years he was Judge of Pro- bate of his district. In 1876 he was elected to the lower house of the Legislature, and so well did he fulfill his duties that he was chosen, in 1877, to represent his district in the State Sen- ate. While in the Senate the Humane Society was granted enlarged privileges, and he was re- quested to act as agent in his locality, a position he has ever since held. He is and has been for many years a commissioner of the Superior Court, and has assisted many in their applications for pensions. He is a member of St. Peter's Lodge. No. 21, F. & A. M., New Milford, having joined over thirty years ago.

In 1870 Mr. Mallory purchased the Henry Sherwood place at the Center, on which he now resides. In that year he married Miss Ophelia Hungerford, daughter of Thomas and Rachel (Smith) Hungerford. She had long been a mem- ber of the Congregational Church, and organist, but on moving to the Center, and seeing the dilapidated condition of the Union church there, she exerted her energies toward raising a suffi- cient sum to put it in suitable repair. although she

still retained her membership with the former Church. She died in 1884, and on December 16, 1890, Mr. Mallory married Miss Olive Canfield, daughter of David Canfield, of Darien Center, N. Y. Mr. Mallory has two daughters, both by the first marriage: Alice, born June 29, 1872, married Henry B. Stephens, a large farmer of Patterson, N. Y., and they have one son-Dan- iel M. Miss Lillian, born July 8, 1877, is un- married. Accounts of the Hungerford and Can- field families will be given below, and we will now review our subject's ancestry.

Northrop Mallory, the father of our subject, was born March 7, 1803, in the town of Fair- field, and received such education as was obtain- able in the common schools of his day. At an early age he went to live with Capt. James Burr, of Fairfield, who owned a merchant vessel ply- ing between Boston, New York and Southern ports. While at Alexandria, Va., he was taken very ill and carried on deck for dead, but the change revived him. During the war of 1812 three British men-of-war vessels came into the harbor, lying three days, with music and dancing, and it being expected that they would attempt a landing and the burning of Fairfield, as they did thirty years before, every available person was brought into service, and he as a mere boy assisted in carrying cannon balls to the beach. When sixteen years of age, and not having a desire for a roving life. he decided to learn a trade, and to carry out that purpose he made his way on foot to Sherman, where an uncle, George Mallory, assisted in apprenticing him to Abraham and Edward Briggs, blacksmiths of the town, until he should reach the age of twenty-one years. After completing his term of service he went to Monroe. in this county, and worked. five years for Penfield Brothers, carriage builders, doing iron work necessary in the business. It was at this time that he commenced the sale of wagons for the firm, which he continued many years. Later he returned to Sherman, and for four years conducted the shop in which he learned his trade. In 1834 he purchased the place on which he resided till 1857, and erected a black- smith shop thereon. He also engaged in farm- ing, and enclosing his land with stone walls. In 1857 he purchased the Samuel Northrop farm, moving thereon.

In 1834 he married Miss Mary Briggs, daugh- ter of Abraham Briggs, his former employer. His death occurred June 7, 1871, in his sixty- eighth year, and his wife, who was born October 5, 1808, died September 1, 1887, aged about seventy-nine. They had three children: (I) Almira, (II) Daniel B. (our subject), and (III)

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Charles A. (I) Almira was born August 17, 1836, in the town of Sherman, and received a good common-school education, which was sup- plemented with study in the Sherman Academy and the Nine Partners Boarding School, after which she taught school. In 1860 she married DeWitt C. Akin, a prominent farmer of near Patterson, N. Y. Three children were born of this union: (1) William D., who married Miss Jennie Wakeman (daughter of Andrew Wake- man, of Fairfield, Conn.), who died in 1889, and for his second wife he wedded Miss May Culver, of Amenia, N. Y. (2) Charles E., who married Miss Nettie Haviland, daughter of Henry T. Haviland. (3) Albert I. has not married. (III) Charles A. Mallory, the brother of our subject, was born in Sherman March 30, 1846. [A sketch of him is given elsewhere. ]

On the maternal side our subject is a great- grandson of Edward and Ann Chase Briggs, who came from Dartmouth, Mass., about 1780. to Quaker Hill (then called Oblong), purchasing the farm now owned by his grandson, Homer Briggs. He had learned the blacksmith's trade, which he followed during the greater portion of his life. Eleven children were born of this union: (1) Elizabeth, who never married; (2) Abraham, our subject's grandfather, mentioned more fully below; (3) Michael, who married (first) Sarah and (second) Cynthia, sisters of Freelove (Os- born) Briggs (by the marriage with Sarah there were two children - George and Maria; George married Emeline Wanzer, and had four children - Adeline, Royal, Frances and M. Jay. Maria became the wife of Seth Pepper, and had four children- Jane, Oscar, Ann Ophelia and Olan- der); (4) Henry, who married Elizabeth Wan- zer, and had three children - Anan (who mar- ried Polly Akin, and had three children), Edward (who did not marry), and Henry, Jr. (who mar- ried Almira Hawes, and had three children); (5) Deborah, who became the wife of Daniel Som- mers, and had several children, among whom were Edward, Elizabeth and Deborah; (6) An- nie, who married Ira Allen, but left no children; (7) Edwin, who married Caroline Gould, and had one son, Edward P., the present town clerk of Sherman; (8) Eunice, who became the wife of Samuel Northrop (her two children died be- fore her); (9) Mary, who married John Sher- man, and had eight children, who are noted in the Dutchess county record; (10) Hannah mar- ried Daniel Wanzer, and her children and grand- children are living in New Milford and Roxbury; (11) Benjamin, who married Phebe Riggs, and had four children - James, Laura, Homer and Benjamin (Laura married Frank Durgy, and left

one son, LeRoy, who is married and resides in Danbury; Homer married, and has three chil- dren - Arthur, Benjamin and Annie).

Abraham Briggs, the grandfather of our sub- ject, was born February 9, 1780, at Quaker Hill, where he obtained a common-school education. At the age of twenty-two he married Freelove Osborn, daughter of Stephen and Sarah Bourne Osborn, and in 1803 he purchased the homestead where he resided till his death, adding from time to time to his surroundings. As prosperity came to him he invested largely in real estate, and at one time he had about eight hundred acres of land, which he divided among his children be- fore his death, which occurred January 28, 1859, when he was aged seventy-nine years. He also carried on blacksmithing with his brother Ed- ward for many years. In disposition he was re- markably cheerful, but in his later years he be- came quite deaf. He liked to tell stories, and was always fond of a joke. One instance, in his boyhood days, he amused his grandchildren by repeating when he heard of certain acts of mischievous boys, which came near resulting fatally: " During a holiday he with other boys chanced to pass an unoccupied dwelling, so thinking it rare sport they proceeded to fill the adjoining well with stones. Not many years after he purchased the same property and went to reside thereon; but in order to get water the stones which he had helped to throw into the well had to be removed at his expense. He had Jesse Sherman in the well filling a large bucket, but on drawing it out the bail broke, so near the top of the well, however, that they saved it from going on the old man's head, thereby averting a catastrophe, for the bucketful of stones would undoubtedly have crushed him. When speaking of the incident in after years Jesse said he never dared tell his wife Hannah how near he came to being crushed through the work of thoughtless boys." Abraham Briggs was a birthright Quak- er, and his faith was the rule of his daily life. Politically his support was given to the Demo- cratic party. Eight children were born to Abra- ham and Freelove Briggs, namely: Willis, born October 28, 1803; Daniel, May 4, 1806; Mary (the mother of our subject), October 5, 1808; Sarah A., April 25, 1811; Stephen E, January 7, 1813; Almira, January 14, 1815; Caroline, January 1, 1817; Charles A., February 16, 1820. (1) Willis, the eldest son, married Jane, daughter of Isaac Sherwood, and had three chil- dren: Abram, Mary Jane, and Sarah. Of these, Abram married Ann Eliza Corning, and had three children, one of whom died in infancy; the others are Fred and Jennie, who are married

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and living in Bridgeport. Mary Jane married Henry O. Warner, but she died soon thereafter. Sarah became his second wife, and by her he has three children; all are living in New Milford. (2) Mary was our subject's mother. (3) Sarah A. married Marshall Treadwell, and had two children: John M., who married (first) Susan, daughter of Diamon Durgy, and had three chil- dren; on the death of this wife he married Emma Weller, by whom he has four. Mary, daughter of Sarah Ann, married Walter Chatterton, and has two children-Robert and Carrie.

(5) Stephen E., the fifth child of Abraham and Freelove Briggs, had the educational ad- vantages of common schools and academies of his time, by which he received an excellent edu- cation. From early manhood he was engaged in farming in the town of Sherman, and he became quite prominent in the community. Like all the rest of his family, he was a Democrat, and he served his town as selectman and member of the Legislature. Although he was a birthright Quaker, he attended the Congregational Church at Sherman. He was fond of his home and fam- ily, being a model husband and father. He married Nancy Stuart, daughter of Nehemiah and Susan (Hungerford) Stuart. There were three children by this union: Walter, born No- vember 1, 1848, died at the age of five years; Carrie E., born July 7, 1852, married the late Theodore Rogers, and has two children-John Theodore and Ruth; John, born October 8. 1856, died in 1877 in his twenty-first year. (6) Almira married David Treadwell, and moved to New Fairfield; they had three children, Carrie E., who was the wife of Charles Wanzer, and had three children - Will, who married Miss Mc- Mahon; Minnie, who is the wife of George W. Durgy; and Alice, who is not married. Stephen B., second child of Almira, married Mary Bar- num, and has five children, Carrie, Charles, Will- iam, Benjamin and David. all residing in Dan- bury. Edward, third child of Almira, married Sophia Hungerford, and has three children, Nel- lie, Myra and Mattie. Caroline, the seventh child of Abraham and Freelove Briggs, died un- married. Charles A., the youngest in the fam- ily, married Ann Janette Marsh, and had three .children. In early life he was very jovial, and had many friends. In politics he was a Demo- crat, and held many town offices, besides serv- ing one term in the Legislature. His three chil- dren were Daniel F., who married Miss Burdick, and has one son, Charles, living in New York. (2) Andrew M. married Phebe Jennings, and had two children, Lottie and Stephen; Lottie died at about the age of fifteen. (3) Charles J. died

before reaching the age of twenty-one years. Of the eight children of Abraham and Freelove Briggs, Almira is now living.

Stephen Osborn, the father of Freelove Os- born, and great-grandfather of our subject, was born at Salem, Mass., in 1748, and died April 3. 1825, at the age of eighty-six. His wife, Sarah (Bourne), was born December 21, 1749, and died November 22, 1833, aged about eighty-four years. They were married July 26, 1774, and moved to New Milford, Conn. About this time a brother came to Quaker Hill, who was the grandfather of Richard Osborn. Fourteen chil- dren came of this marriage, whose names with dates of birth and death are as follows: Mary, January 30, 1776-February 15, 1860; Hannah, May 21, 1777-March 1, 1854; Isaac, January 18, 1779-October 30, 1856; Freelove, April 21, 1780-April 3, 1865: Stephen, November 4, 1781-June 14. 1829; Phoebe. May 15, 1784- October 23, 1819; Sarah, April 19, 1786-Sep- tember 9. 1862; John, December 17. 1787- July 16, 1855; Anna, December 17, 1787-April 6, 1860; Nathaniel, August 7, 1789-March 23, 1847; David, June 3, 1791-February 1, 1792; Susanna, February 20, 1793-August -, 1885; David, July 5, 1795-April 10, 1858; and Cyn- thia, April 13, 1797-March 13, 1869.

Northrop Mallory, the father of our subject, had one sister, Hetty, who married Harvey Hill and lived in Newtown. Six children were born to them: Susan, John, George, William, Sinclair and Burtis. All but the last named married. They moved to Joliet, and from there to Cen- tralia, Ill. Mrs. Hill died at that place a few years since at an advanced age.

The Hungerford family. of which Mr. Mal- lory's first wife was a member, has been repre- sented in the town of Sherman for many years. Levi Hungerford, Mrs. Ophelia Mallory's grand- father, was a native of Sherman, and he and his wife Diana (Hungerford) reared a family of six children, as follows: Thomas, father of Mrs. Mallory; Edwin, who married Susan Giddings; Orin, who married Wealthy White; Hannah, wife of Delazon Hungerford; Harriet, wife of George Shove; and Emily, wife of Carlisle Smith. Thomas Hungerford was born and reared in the town of Sherman, and was always interested in farming there, but his chief occupation was car- pentering. In politics he was a Republican, and at times he held minor town offices. He mar- ried Rachel, daughter of Nathaniel Smith and Betsey Mead, and had seven children: Sophia, who married Edward Treadwell; Ophelia (Mrs. Mallory); Mills, a resident of the town of Sher- man; Jay, who married Sarah Hoag; Nelson T.,

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who married Lucy Durgy, and has one daughter, Elsie; Watson, who married Carrie Hungerford, and has four children-Edith, Nellie, Reed, and an infant; and Allan, who married Carrie Belle Briggs, and left one child, Allie Belle. Mills Hungerford was born May 14, 1847, and was educated in the common schools of the town of Sherman and of Suffield, Conn. On leaving school he became a clerk in a store at Sherman, and while there he married his first wife, Miss Alice E. Hendricks, daughter of Lehman Hen- dricks, of Gaylordsville, Conn. Later he en- gaged in farming, and for twenty years he has raised tobacco. As he learned the carpenter's trade with his father during boyhood, he has done some work in that line, his own residence and farm buildings giving evidence of his skill. He has always been a Republican, and among the offices which he has held are those of as- sessor, member of the board of relief, and chair- man of the school board. Sickness and death have frequently visited his home. His first wife died in 1876, and he afterward mar- ried Lottie P. Cable, daughter of Abijah Cable, and after her death, in 1890, he formed a third union, this time with Mary E. Stuart, daughter of Miles Stuart, a farmer of the same town. By his first marriage he had one son, Louis J., born October 18, 1873, who died in November, 1896; he married Nettie Van Ness, of Washington, by whom he had one child, Lewis Russell. By the second marriage there were two children, Emma and Rose (Emma died in infancy); and by the the third marriage there is one son, Allen, born January 20, 1895.

Mrs. Olive (Canfield) Mallory, the second wife of our subject, was born July 27, 1845, in the town of Union, near Binghampton, N. Y., and attended school there and at the academy in Kingsville, Ashtabula Co., Ohio, receiving an excellent education. She is a prominent worker in the W. C. T. U., and previous to her marriage she helped to organize a union at her home in Darien, N. Y. David Canfield, her father, was born March 4, 1810, in the town of New Fair- field, this county, and died April 27, 1899. He was educated in the common schools of that lo- cality. He was the youngest in a family of five children. The father died while David was still a mere boy, and as there was but little provision made for them, the children had to shift for themselves. As soon as David was old enough to be of use he began working on farms, and this occupation he followed until he reached the age of thirty-two, when he purchased a farm in Sherman, which he sold, and then bought an- other. Selling that, he removed to the town of | and Chloe Chapin, influential residents of Darien,

Union, Broome Co., N. Y., where he remained two years. He then sold the place and bought another near Chenango, in the same county; in 1849 he went to California to search for gold, the trip being made by way of the Isthmus. His venture proving successful, he returned in 1851, and again engaged in farming. After a short time he removed to Sheffield, Ashtabula Co., Ohio, and having sold his place near Chen- ango he bought a beautiful farm there and re- mained eleven years. Later he settled at Da- rien Center, N. Y., where he left a fine farm of one hundred acres. He took great pride in his high-grade cattle, raised on the place, and at times he speculated profitably in live stock. As a self-made man he was entitled to much credit for his position in the business world. He was a birthright Quaker, and in politics a strong Re- publican, although he never aspired to office. Although eighty-eight years old at the time of his death, he managed his farm up till then.

His first wife, Clarissa Durgy, was born Jan- uary 25, 1815, a daughter of Joel and Olive (Wanzer) Durgy, and was reared on her father's farm, in the town of Sherman. She was the eldest in a family of nine children, the others being Diamond, who married Lucy A. Hurd; Lucy, wife of Stephen Whitehead; Susan, wife of George Barnum; Lewis, who married Helen Bacon; John, who married Mary Davis; Jay, who did not marry; James, who married Mary Smith; Caroline, who died in childhood; and Charlotte, who married Buckley Pepper. Mrs. Clarissa Canfield died in Ohio in 1861, and her remains were interred there. On October 25, 1869, Mr. Canfield married Sallie T. Sherwood, who was born December 28, 1833, a daughter of Ira and Gratia Sherwood, of Byron, Genesee Co., N. Y., where her father was a miller. Her ancestors were early settlers in this county, being identified with New Fairfield and Sherman town- ships. David Canfield has had four children, all by the first marriage: (1) Burroughs Perry, born September 13, 1840, in the town of Pawl- ing, Dutchess Co., N. Y., was educated at Bing- hampton, N. Y., and at the academy in Kings- ville, Ohio, his opportunities being better than ordinary. He has been principal of graded schools in lowa, and taught many terms in the town where he now lives. At the age of twenty he enlisted in Company G, One Hundred and Fifth Ohio V. I., but after spending three months in the service he was taken ill, honor- ably discharged and sent home. On September 20, 1869, he married Julia Chapin, who . was born February 1, 1837, the daughter of Solomon

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Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut, Part 39

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