Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut, Part 4

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

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Sabbath, and at the weekly gatherings, was an example to others and a valued helper of his pastor and brethren. No one has been more missed from his accustomed seat in the sanctuary.

Mr. Lyon was married (first) to Miss Hettie Ann Thompson, of Stratford, and (second) to Annie Mackey Frye, daughter of Daniel M. and Ann (Butler) Frye, of New York City. The children by the first marriage were: Frederick H. (referred to farther on); Sarah J., who mar- ried Judge Edward I. Sanford, of New Haven; William T., unmarried, who was a druggist at Bridgeport, then for twenty-five years or more was a resident of California; Josephine, widow of Henry T. Shelton, who was a business man of Bridgeport. and died in 1889 (of their two chil- dren, Harry is an attorney in Bridgeport, and Frederick died at the age of fifteen months); and Adelaide, unmarried, who resides in Bridgeport, Conn. The children born to the second mar- riage were: Edward (now deceased) formerly a grocer of Bridgeport, Conn., married Jessie, daughter of Dr. D. H. Porter; Frank C., for- merly engaged in business in New York, but now living in Bridgeport (he married Ida Mitchell, of Brooklyn, N. Y.); Charles G. (married) is a res- ident of New York; and Alice C., wife of Thomas L. Watson, of Bridgeport.

FREDERICK H. LYON, the eldest son of Han- ford Lyon, was born in Bridgeport, where he received his elementary education. Here he be- gan his business career, which has been passed amid the scenes of his childhood. For many years he has been a member of the hardware firm of Halcomb & Lyon, one of the leading business concerns of Park City. Of late years he has lived in retirement from active business. He is one of the substantial business men of Bridge- port, and enjoys the respect and esteem of his fellow citizens. In politics he is a Republican, but, like his father, has never aspired to political honors.

In December, 1849, Mr. Lyon was married to Bessie A., daughter of Abijah Hawley. a mem- ber of one of the oldest and most prominent fam- ilies of Bridgeport and New England, mention of which is made elsewhere. To this marriage have been born children as follows: Hanford is deceased; Julia is now Mrs. N. Wilson, of Bridgeport; Henry M. is deceased; Josephine; William K .; and Helen C. is now the widow of Charles D. Mills, of Bridgeport.

M AJOR PHILO C. MERWIN. While the Hindoo in his knowledge and his reason- ing in occult science may lay claim through his

preceding existences to a memory that extends back thousands of years over a past fraught with deeds of barbaric splendor and daring, or in the calm and peace of a series of lives spent in the contemplation of things divine, we, more active races of the colder Northland, bow in reverence before the man whose actual existence has far passed the allotted three-score and ten years; who has lived through the stirring epochs in the history of the nineteenth century, and can proudly say, like Æneas of old-" a great part of which I was." Such a man is the venerable Philo C. Merwin, who was born September 29, 1809, on the place where he now resides.

Samuel Merwin, his grandfather, was of the sturdy Scotch race, and was born on the eastern shores of the broad Atlantic. In the early days of the eighteenth century he came to the New World, and locating on a farm in Brookfield, Fair- field Co., Conn., passed the rest of his life in agricultural pursuits, acquiring a large amount of property. His wife was a native of Wales, and in their family were the following children: Samuel, Isaac, Nathan, Andrew, Levi and Philo. Of these, Nathan and Andrew were among those patriots who shouldered the musket, and endured the hardships of the soldier's life in the war that freed the Colonies from English oppression. The entire family were faithful adherents to the doctrines of the Congregational Church.

Philo Merwin was born in the town of Brook- field, and there received his education. The art of healing proving a fascination to him, he at an early age began to read medicine with Dr. Wood, and for thirty years he was one of the foremost physicians in the county. After so long a faith- ful service in ministering to all ills the flesh is heir to, he attempted to retire from active prac- tice, but until the day of his death in 1848, when he had reached the advanced age of eighty-three years and seven months, his services were in almost constant requisition among his old friends and relatives. He was married Novem- ber 27, 1796 (when thirty years old), to Miss Polly Starr, daughter of Elijah Starr, and to them were born six children: Samuel, who died at the age of thirty-five; Minerva (deceased), who was twice married, (first) to Isaac T. Wise, and after his death she wedded George Treadway; Laura (deceased), who became the wife of Sherman Smith; Philo C., whose name introduces this sketch; Caroline (deceased), who married Ralph B. Peck; and Polly, deceased, who became Mrs. John S. Graves. The mother of this family lived to the age of seventy-six years, ten months and ten days. In his early life Mr. Merwin inclined to the faith of his fathers, and

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attended the Congregational Church, but in later life he turned to the mother Church, and became a communicant in the Episcopal Church. In politics he was a Democrat.

Major Philo C. Merwin received his earlier education in the district school of Brookfield, later attending a private school. He attained his business education in that best of all commercial- training schools-the arena of actual business. He clerked for some time, and then built a groc- ery store at Bridgeport, where he continued in business nntil 1837. In 1839, being impelled by the ambition for the larger profits of the West. he took a stock of good to Galveston and Hous- ton, Texas, but a year later he returned to the older civilization of New England, and took up his residence in his native town. His life has been a busy one; for some time he traveled in the South with Turner, Bailey & Co.'s Circus, of which he was a partner; he bought the right of way on the Boston, Hartford & Erie R. R. from Waterbury to the New York State line. His legal business has been extensive. In 1850 Mr. Merwin was united in marriage with Julia A. Shepherd, a native of Bethel, and daughter of Oliver Shepherd. To bless this union there came two children: Florida S., who is the wife of Barzillai Kellogg, of New Fairfield; and . Julia B., who is unmarried and living at home.

In politics Major Merwin has always been a Democrat, and has taken an active interest in party work all his life. From 1841 up to the time he was seventy years old, he was one of the officers of the town; in 1863 and '64 he served as a member of the Legislature, and as such left a lasting record in the House as an able, conscien- tious official. For many years he served as a member of the State Militia, and was appointed, by Governor Tomlinson, major in the Connecti- cut militia. He was a member of the New Hav- en Grays of New Haven, Conn. In spite of his advanced years Major Merwin still stands among the foremost men of Brookfield, quick of mind, alert and watchful, he has maintained an honor- able place in the history of Connecticut for many years, and now, with his race so nearly run, finds himself able to say " It is finished."

W INFIELD SCOTT MOODY. The value of an upright character is not to be set down in words, but the influence of such a per- sonality as was that of Winfield Scott Moody, of Norwalk, is one that the most casual observer must recognize as a power for good in any com- munity. In a study of the life and character of the late Mr. Moody it is clear that the hidden

springs of the outward actions which made him notable came from the strength of a sturdy pio- neer ancestry, the name of the family having been early associated with ideal citizenship.

The family originated in Wales. William Moody, the head of the American line, came to this country in 1633, and in 1635 was one of the first settlers of Newbury, Mass., in which vicinity his descendants may still be found.

Josiah Moody, the grandfather of our sub- ject, was born in 1746. He served in Col. John Stark's regiment of New Hampshire militia in 1775, and afterward in the Fifth Regiment New Hampshire Continental Infantry under Col. John Waldron. Coming to the site of the present vil- lage of Unity, N. H., he selected a place on the wooded hills adjacent, where he laid the founda- tion of his future home, and to which he brought his young wife. He lived to see an energetic community spring up around him, and he left his son, Laurin Moody, the inheritor of his acres and the upholder of an honored name. Of the five children of Laurin Moody who grew to man- hood or womanhood, the subject of this memoir was the eldest son.

Winfield Scott Moody was born October 23, 1815, at the old homestead in New Hampshire, and received an academic education, chiefly in his native State. In 1835 he went to New York City as a clerk in a tea store, and after two years' experience he established a business of his own, first leasing, then buying and rebuilding, to meet the requirements of a prosperous trade, the busi- ness house which he conducted until the spring of 1861, when he retired from business. In 1865 he moved with his family to Norwalk.

On the organization of the Norwalk Mills Company he was induced to take a pecuniary and personal interest in that corporation. He served for a decade as its president, and, by his sound judgment and knowledge of affairs, he did his full share in making it one of the well- established and thriving industries of Connecti- cut.

At the time of his death he was a director in the National Bank of Norwalk, and president of the Fairfield County Savings Bank, also of Nor- walk. In politics he was a conservative sup- porter of Republican principles. He was deeply interested in all that concerned his city and town, and served fifteen years as water commis- sioner. While never a candidate for office which might be considered a political reward, he did efficient and conscientious work for the public good. He was a member of Grace Church (Episcopal) Parish, and was an attendant at and supporter of its services. On August 30, 1894,

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

peacefully and serenely as he had lived, he passed to the unseen world in the 79th year of his age.

On October 5, 1854, Mr. Moody was married to Abby A. Perkins, who survives him with three sons, Winfield Scott, Joseph Perkins and Ralph. She still occupies the beautiful residence on East avenue, Norwalk. Mrs. Moody traces, as did her husband, a direct lineage from the first of the family name in New England. John Perkins, a fellow passenger with Roger Williams, sailed from Bristol, England, in the ship "Lyon" December 1, 1630, and landed at Nantasket on February 5, 1631. The family name is promi- nent in the early annals of Massachusetts. Her grandfather, Jacob Perkins, came from Topsfield, Mass., about the year 1785, and settled on a farm at West Unity, where he brought up a family of fourteen children.

Her father. Hon. Amos Perkins, was a farmer by occupation. He was one of the best known and most respected citizens of Sullivan county, taking active interest in political affairs to the very close of his 95 years of life. He repre- sented unity in the State Legislature several years, and held almost every office in the gift of his fellow townsmen, and also filled various other positions of trust and honor.

SIMON WILLARD OLEY, M. D. The phy- sician occupies one of the most responsible, as well as confidential, relations in our social ex- istence. To him are entrusted our innermost secrets, as well as the lives and welfare of our dearest friends. To worthily and acceptably fill such a position is one of the most difficult tasks ever imposed upon man. Such a task we find successfully assumed by Dr. Simon W. Oley, of whom we write.

Dr. Oley's ancestors were among the early settlers of New York State. His paternal great- great-grandfather was born in Germany, and emi- grating to this country became one of the early settlers of Albany, N. Y., where a son, Christo- pher Oley, was born to him. This son married Sarah Van Ant Wer Pen, daughter of Maria Van Ant Wer Pen, a Holland woman, who brought into the family a Dutch Bible, printed in Amster- dam in 1682. It is stained with water and shows the effects of having been underground, the Oley ancestors having buried it at the time of the burning of Schenectady, N. Y., during the French and Indian war in 1690. This large Bible is now in the possession of Dr. Oley. To Christopher and Sarah (Van Ant Wer Pen) Oley were born four children, viz .: Sarah Maria Oley; John

Oley; Eleanor Oley, who married John Manning, father of Daniel Manning. Cleveland's first Sec- retary of the Treasury; and Simon Van Antwerp Oley. The last named was born in Albany Feb- ruary 3, 1801, and died June 1, 1857, in Utica, N. Y., whither he moved in about 1820. He was an extensive boot and shoe manufacturer. He was a prominent and respected citizen, and was one of the founders and earnest supporters of Grace Episcopal Church, of which he was one of the first two wardens, holding that office until his death. He married, early in the " twenties," for his first wife, Rachel Hunt, whose grandfa- ther, Stephen Hunt, emigrated from Holland about 1770 and settled in Dutchess county, N. Y. His son, Stephen Hunt, Jr., married Anna McDougall, daughter of Hugh and Mary (Wes- ley) McDougall, the former of whom came from Scotland about 1773; he served in the Revolu- tionary war. Mary Wesley came from England, where she left a brother named Charles Wesley, from whom come the names in the family Charles Wesley Hunt, Charles Hunt Oley and Charles W. Oley. To Simon Van Antwerp and Rachel (Hunt) Oley were born five children, of whom we have the following record:

(1) Charles Hunt Oley, born December 5, 1826, died June 2, 1892. He was married twice, and his second wife was Jennie Hedges, of Brook- lyn; he had no children. When the Civil war first broke out he went to the front and became a captain, serving through the entire struggle.

(2) Simon Oley, born September 29, 1828, died July 22, 1891. At an early age he became possessed of the idea that he wished to become a farmer, so he engaged at farm work in order to familiarize himself with the mysteries of agri- culture. In 1845 he went to Livingston county and worked at farming for eight years, in 1853 purchasing a farm in Monroe county, N. Y., where he passed the remainder of his days. He kept thoroughly abreast of the times in every- thing that pertained to. his calling, and was known as a most progressive farmer-advanced in his ideas and methods-among his neighbors and fellow townsmen, by whom he was highly respected. He was a zealous member of the Episcopal Church, and served as warden for years. On December 21, 1853, Simon Oley married Martha Jane Wheeler, a native of Liv- ingston county, N. Y., who survives him, and to this union came three children, Simon Willard (who is fully spoken of farther on), Charles Wheeler and Jennie Louise. Charles Wheeler Oley, born March 22, 1856, graduated from the Geneseo State Normal, and later from the Uni- versity of the City of New York, class of '94-95.

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He wandered out to Dakota in 1884, and spent two years on the plains, after which he took up school teaching as a profession, becoming prin- cipal of the schools at Dunellen, N. J. For the last eight years he has been principal of the Union school at Freeport, L. I. On June 28, 1888, while in Dunellen, he married Theodora J. Wilcox, and they have two children: Warren Wheeler. born April 12, 1889, and Theodora Madeline, born November 11, 1890. Jennie Louise Oley, born December 28, 1857, was mar- ried December 28, 1881, to Edwin H. Cutler, who was born May 4, 1856, son of Charles F. Cutler; the last named was born May 24. 1809. They have four children: Jessie Jane, born July 8, 1883; Franc Lucinda, June 20, 1884; Simon Oley, September 10, 1886; Emily Louise, June 3, 1894.

(3) John Hunt Oley, born September 24, 1830, died March 11, 1888. He never married. When the Civil war commenced he was a mem- ber of the Seventh New York Home Guards, and was sent south to drill troops. He was rapidly promoted until he attained the rank of brevet brigadier-general, with which title he was mustered out at the close of the war. He was then appointed Internal Revenue collector for West Virginia, and after four years of this work became land agent of the well-known railroad king, C. P. Huntington, for whom he established the city of Huntington, on the Ohio river, in a cornfield. Huntington grew very rapidly. and John H. Oley held in succession every office in the gift of the citizens.

(4) Sarah Oley, born Septemher 5, 1832, died July 22, 1886. She married Wallace Mer- riam, and had one daughter, Edith Merriam.

(5) Mary Elizabeth Oley, born November 4, 1834. was a teacher for many years in New York City in the special work of finishing education for young ladies.

Simon Van Antwerp Oley married, for his second wife, Harriet H. Hitchcock, by whom he had three children: (1) Harriet Maria Oley, born July 30, 1843, died November 19, 1876. She married Guilford Chace, of the firm of Archer, Pancost & Co., the oldest and largest firm of gas fixture manufacturers in the United States, and left two children, Louise and Harry. (2) Horace Hitchcock Oley. born January 31, 1842, died March 10, 1866. He was a lieu- tenant in the Civil war, and died as a result of exposure while storming a fort on the coast of Florida. (3) Louise Hitchcock Oley, born July 23, 1845, married Augustus C. Merriam, brother of her sister Sarah's husband. He was profes- sor of Latin, Greek and Sanscrit in Columbia

College, and was sent to Athens to take charge of the English Classical School in that city. There he caught pneumonia, and died in 1895. When "Cleopatra's Needle " was brought to this country from Egypt and set up in Central Park he was given the laborious task of trans- lating the hieroglyphics on the crabs that were originally under the corners of the Needle. After months of work he finished the task, and pub- lished a pamphlet, which was accepted by schol- ars throughout the world.

On the maternal side Dr. Oley is descended from Ebineser Stebbins and Diadama Burt. Their daughter, Roxana Stebbins, married a Wheeler, son of one of three brothers who came from England about 1775. Their son, Warren Wheeler, who was born January 12, 1798, and died May 6, 1884, was Dr. Oley's maternal grand- father. He was raised in Vermont, and at the age of nineteen married and went to western New York, at a time when the city of Rochester, N. Y., consisted of one frame house and about a dozen log ones. The following year he drew a load of wheat to Albany in order to sell it for cash, and then he took his wife back with him, in the farm wagon with which he drew the wheat. The wife

died soon after, and Mr. Wheeler waited until he was twenty-eight before he married again, his second union, with Marinda Baker, being cele- brated February 16, 1826. She was born April 26, 1803, and died February 22, 1869. Her fa- ther, Timothy Baker, who was born in 1759, and died February 9, 1844, served three years in the Revolutionary army, enlisting at Hancock, Mass. Timothy Baker had four daughters: Marinda, (Mrs. Wheeler), Lucy (Mrs. Odell), Sally (Mrs. Howe) and Mehitable (Mrs. Sharp); and one son, Timothy. The last named had a son, Harvey, who married Amy Hudnot, of Geneseo, N. Y. The elder Timothy Baker married, for his second wife, Sally Gould, and to them were born four children: Shelby, who served in the Civil war, and is now living in Livonia, N. Y .; Philena, who married Nelson James, of Geneseo, N. Y., and had two daughters; Lucina, Mrs. Kenedy; and Orange Baker. Warren Wheeler and his wife Marinda Baker had four children: (1) Sarah Maria, born December 5, 1827, married Henry Coe, of Conesus, N. Y., and to them were born three children-Fred, Kit and Adella. Mrs. Coe is deceased. (2) Willard Warren Wheeler, born December 15, 1829, died August 12, 1896. He married Eliza McDonall, but they had no chil- dren. He was a successful wholesale grain deal- er, and in the early oil times in Pennsylvania was one of the first to take engines into the work of boring wells. In this he was also successful,

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sinking a number of wells, from which he derived a handsome fortune. (3) Adella married, and died childless. (4) Martha Jane, born May 9, 1835, is the mother of Dr. S. W. Oley. Warren Wheeler settled in Livingston county, N. Y., and became a wealthy and honored farmer. He long held offices of trust that were in the gift of the people, for many years serving as justice of the peace, trying many cases of dispute among the early settlers of his section. The court in those days was almost invariably held in the 'Squire's kitchen. He not only tilled the soil, but did the family tailoring and shoemaking, shod his horses and manufactured the machinery that was needed to thresh his grain, make the cider, card the flax and spin it into thread, and then the looms with which to weave it into cloth for the clothes of the family.

Simon Willard Oley was born September 19, 1854, in the town of Rush, Monroe county, N. Y. He received his elementary education in one of those little country schoolhouses where there are many children, and only one teacher to hear recitations from thirty to forty classes every day. Being bronght up on a farm he early un- derstood what work was, and at the age of four- teen he was doing the regular work of a man. Having a love for study, he now attended school as he was able. which was only during the four- months winter term, walking nearly two miles to and from school. By the kindness of the teach- ers he took up studies that were not in the regu- lar school curriculum, and thus he and his brother and sister became students of algebra, philosophy, physiology, etc. In mathematics he always stood at the head of his classes. At the age of sixteen he was obliged to give up attend- ing school even in the winters, and worked upon the farm, little thinking that he would ever be called upon to use his modest education in teach- ing others. But in the fall of 1874, while in the apple orchard picking apples, he was waited upon by the trustee of an adjoining school district, who urged him to get a license from the school commissioner and teach his school for him the following winter. The trustee said that he knew there was no doubt as to Oley's ability to teach the school, for he had heard that he was a good student, and our subject accordingly took the school and had a very successful term, the fol- lowing winter teaching again, in a neighboring district. This gave him an impetus to further study, and the following winter of 1876-77 found him and his brother as students in the Geneseo State Normal at Geneseo, Livingston Co., N. Y. In June, 1876, he visited the Philadelphia Cen- tennial Exhibition, with his sister, spending

three weeks there and in Washington, and while on this trip they were many times amused by being taken by the porters and trainmen for a young bride and groom on their wedding trip. Oley graduated at the Geneseo Normal in the full classical course in 1879. He then became principal of the Henrietta (N. Y.) Academy dur- ing the years of 1879-80; was principal of the Parma (N. Y.) Union Free School. in 1881; and was principal of the Wayland (N. Y.) Union Free School for the two years following, while there making the acquaintance of Miss Fannie Weld Bennett, who taught with him and whom he afterward married. He also taught as first Eng- lish teacher in the German-American Institute in Second avenue, New York City, for one year, during which time he commenced the study of medicine, attending the college and clinics Sat- urdays and holidays. In October, 1884, he en- tered the Medical Department of the University of the City of New York, and took the full course. In February, 1885, he became a private tutor in the family of Col. Hiram Crosby, at Throgg's Neck, Westchester Co., N. Y., which incum- bency he filled six months, keeping up his study of medicine, as he had a great deal of time on his hands. In October, 1885, he entered the Homeopathic Medical College, New York, from which institution he graduated April 15, 1886. Soon afterward Dr. Oley located in Lambert- ville, N. J., and although he was a perfect stranger there and had no introduction he en- gaged in practice successfully for three years, making a living from the first month. On May 1, 1889, he removed thence to Danbury, Conn., where he has since remained, making a specialty of treating diseases of the eye, ear and throat, in connection with general and family practice, and has proved remarkably successful.

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Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut, Part 4

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