Commemorative biographical record of Hartford County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Pt 1, Part 116

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1336

USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Commemorative biographical record of Hartford County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Pt 1 > Part 116

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Nathan Sisson (2), the grandfather of our sub- ject, was also a soldier in the Revolutionary army. He was born in Vermont, and made his permanent home in Enfield, this county, where he engaged in business as a builder and joiner. He was liberal in religion, and politically was a strong Democrat. In Vermont he was married to Abigail Biglow, of Montpelier, Washington county, who died in En- field, and eleven children were born to them: Har- riet (who married a Mr. Johnson), Addi Biglow, Jason, Charles, Lyman, Gardner, Sophia, Sabrina, Sophrona (who died in childhood), Nathan, and Elbridge (who was lost at sea).

Addi Biglow Sisson, our subject's father, was born in 1805 at Wilbraham, Mass., and came to this county during childhood. He learned the dis- tiller's trade, and about 1840 settled at Bushy Hill, in the town of Simsbury, where he carried on gen- cral farming in connection with distilling. He died in 1873, and was buried in Bushy Hill cemetery.

He was an active worker in the Democratic party, and served in varous offices, including those of assessor and selectman. Like all of his family, he was liberal in his religious views, but his esti- mable wife was a member of the Methodist Church. He was married, at Somers, Tolland Co., Conn., to Hulda Hall, who was born there, a daughter of Joseph Hall, a well-known citizen of that county. She died at Bushy Hill about 1888. They had four children: Horton B., a resident of Bushy Hill; Giles A., our subject; Miss Sarah J .; and Hulda Etta, widow of Rollin Higley.

Our subject was educated in part in the district school at Bushy Hill, in part in the Connecticut Literary Institute, at Suffield, and for several win- ters was engaged in teaching in the Bushy Hill District and at the East Hill District of Canton. He remained at home until twenty-two years old, when he went to Canton to engage in mercantile business, and a year later he bought his present farm, known as the Warren C. Humphrey farm, a tract of eighty acres, to which he has added 120 acres, making a fine estate. He has made all the improvements on the place, building a fine dwell- ing house, barns and other structures, and in ad- dition to general farming he is interested in to- bacco growing, dairying and the manufacture of lumber. In 1869 Mr. Sisson was elected selectman for a term of five years, and in 1896 he was again elected, and held the office for two years. He has been a member of the board of relief, justice of the peace, assessor and member of the school board, his duties in every office being discharged ably and faithfully. He is a member of Village Lodge, No. 29, F. & A. M., of Collinsville, and also be- longs to the Grange. He is not a member of any church, but his family attend the Congregational Church at Canton Center.

On July 3, 1855, Mr. Sisson married Miss Caro- line Higley, daughter of Pomeroy Higley, and four children have blessed the union: Ella J. married Edwin Lamphier, of Winsted, Conn. Addie mar- ried Ralph E. Alford, now of Winsted. Frank died in childhood. Arthur G. has traveled extensively in the West, and is now at home, where he is en- gaged in lumber manufacturing. He is a member of the Masonic Fraternity. On Jan. 15, 1894, he married Emma B. Barbour, daughter of Henry M. Barbour, but she died Aug. 19, 1896.

The HIGLEY family is among the oldest in the county, and its members have ever been noted for good citizenship. John Higley, an ancestor of Mrs. Sisson, was one of the first settlers in Windsor, and later became one of the pioneers of Simsbury, locating near Tariffville, which was then called Higleytown, in his honor. He was prominent in public affairs, and in 1698 was chosen the first militia captain, a high office in those days. He also served as justice of the peace and judge of the county courts, and in 1698 he was a member of the General Assembly. In 1671 he married Han-

Miles a Jisson Mrs bibe A Pisem

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

nah Drake, daughter of John and Hannah ( Moore) Drake, and granddaughter of Deacon John and Hannah Moore. They had six children: John, born in 1673; Jonathan, born in 1675; Hannah, born in 1677 ; Rebecca, born in 1679; Brewster, born in 1681; and Hannah, who married Joseph Trum- bull in 1704, and was the mother of Gov. Jonathan Trumbull, of Connecticut.

Brewster Higley, born in 1681, in Simsbury, was a land owner, and followed farming. He was married, in 1708, to Esther Holcomb, a daughter of Nathaniel Holcomb. and granddaughter of Thomas Holcomb, a pioneer settler. Eight children were born to them: Brewster, 1711 ; Joseph, 1713; David, 1715; Hannah, 1717 (married to Elijah Owen) ; Hester, 1719 (married to Capt. Josiah Case) : John. 1721; Elizabeth, 1723 (who married Rev. Gideon Mills, a minister of West Simsbury) ; and Naomi, 1725 (married to Solomon Humphrey ).

John Higley, born in 1721, resided in West Simsbury (now Canton), where he engaged in farming, and he died there in May, 1802. He married Apphia Humphrey, daughter of Jonathan Humphrey, and great-granddaughter of Michael Humphrey, the first of the name in this country. Their children were John; Carmi, who married Hester Case, widow of Thomas Case, and daugh- ter of Capt. Josiah Case, a soldier in the Revolu- tionary army, who died in prison in New York, having been captured by the British; Obed; Isaac; Eber ; Roger; and Job.

Obed Higley, grandfather of Mrs. Sisson, was born in 1757, in what is now Canton, and was quite a prominent man in his day. He settled on the farm of Col. Talcott, and became the owner of a large section of land, upon which he made many improvements. He was a soldier in the Rev- olutionary war, and in politics was a Democrat. He died in 1841, aged eighty-four years, and his wife, Rebecca (Mills), who was born in 1766, died in 1827, both being buried in the Canton cem- etery. They had ten children: Sally, born Sept. 30, 1788, married Allen Case, and died in 1815; Thede, born April 19, 1790, married Benjamin Goff, and died in 1853; Obed, born Jan. 5, 1791, married Mary Dickinson ; Alson, born Feb. 20, 1793, married Christian Robbins; Luther, born Nov. 9, 1794, married (first) Electa Woodford, (second) Flora Bidwell, and (third) Sarah F. Bidwell; Cor- rel, born Feb. 12, 1796, married Nancy Phelps; Pomeroy, born Nov. 10, 1798, was the father of Mrs. Sisson ; Amelia, born Oct. 7, 1801, married Austin N. Humphrey ; Almenia, born April I, 1805, married Leonard S. Sweet ; and Emeline, born Nov. 4, 1808, married (first) Luke Fuller, and (second) Z. Kempton.

Pomeroy Higley was engaged in farming in Canton, where he died in 1869. He married Eunice D. Humphrey, and they had nine children: Pom- eroy, who married Minerva Shepard; Warren, a resident of Canton, married to Caroline Miller ;

Clarissa, who married (first) John Robertson, and (second) Isaac Alcott; Eunice (deceased), who married Sherman Wilcox; Mary, who died in child- hood; Martha, married to Edward Wilcox; Caro- line; Howard, who married Maryette Case; and Susan, who married Edmund Hough.

ELIJAH CHURCH, who is practically living a retired life in Berlin, is a native of Connecticut, born in Barkhamsted, Litchfield county, Feb. 22, 1830, and is of English descent. His grandfather, Samuel Church, was a resident of Barkhamsted, whither he removed from Haddam when quite young, and where he owned and operated over one hundred acres of land. He died when our subject was about twenty-four years of age, and was buried in Canton, where the remains of his wife were also interred.

Joseph Church, father of our subject, was born in Barkhamsted in June, 1800, and died there in August, 1849. He owned a farm, consisting of one hundred acres of rocky land, but being a hard- working man he managed to support his family. In 1820 he married Miss Hannah Baker, who was born in New Hartford in 1800, and died in 1888, being laid to rest beside her husband in the Barkhamsted cemetery. He was quite a politician, a stanch sup- porter of the Democratic party, and he attended the Episcopal Church. Of his family of six children, only our subject and Rollin, a resident of Winsted, Conn., are now living.

The boyhood of Elijah Church was passed upon the home farm in Barkhamsted, and his primary education, acquired in the schools of that town, was supplemented by a course in the schools of Canton. After laying aside his text-books he started to burnish spoons, knives and forks for the firm of Hall & Elton, in Wallingford, and was one of the first to learn the burnishing business. After five or six years spent with that company he went to Bristol, where he worked for the Hall Spoon Co. for about three years, and then went to New York City, and there for two years worked for various concerns in the same line of business. The follow- ing three years he passed at Albany, N. Y., in the employ of the Rathbone-Smith Co., in their "Hol- low Ware Department," and for a short time he was in Boston, working along the same line. Com- ing to Hartford, he was in the employ of William Rogers & Co. for about three years, and later was with Smith & Co., in New Haven, for two years. Subsequently he spent a short time in New York, and from there went to Elizabethport, N. J., where he remained six months. While there the Civil war broke out, and, as the product of the factory was sold principally in the South, the plant shut down. Mr. Church then turned his attention to tobacco raising in Canton, Conn., and also dealt in that commodity until 1880. For the following nine years he engaged in general farming in Canton, where he owned 150 acres of land. He also had

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at this time quite an estate in Barkhamsted, owning two large farms there, and yet another valuable farm in the county seat of Illinois, situated twenty- five miles west of Chicago. In 1889 he came to Kensington, where he purchased the Newton Hart farm, of fourteen acres, on the Kensington road. Upon this place he has since made many improve- ments which add greatly to the value and attractive appearance of the property, including a large and commodious residence, adjoining his own home, for his only child, Ada, who was married, Oct. 27, 1897, to Frederick Billian, who holds a responsible position in P. & F. Corbin's box department, New Britain.

On Oct. 24, 1877, Mr. Church was united in marriage with Miss Sarah A. W. Baker, of Whea- ton, Ill., who was born Feb. 4, 1841, a daughter of Prof. Freeborn Garrettson and Louise Baker. In the summer of 1881 Prof. Baker and wife came East, thinking to spend their vacation with their daughter, but he was taken sick and in nine days died,his remains being interred in Bakersville,Conn .; the mother now makes her home with her son, Wil- bur Freeborn Baker, in East Orange, N. J. Prof. Baker was musical director in Wheaton College, Ill., for twenty-three years, teaching both instru- mental and vocal music. His daughter, Mrs. Church, is also a talented musician, her specialty being the piano, and for ten years she taught in- strumental music in Wheaton College under her father. She still follows that line of work to some extent in Berlin.

Mr. Church in his early manhood was identified with the Democratic party, but is opposed to the free coinage of silver, for which and other reasons he left that party and identified himself with Re- publicans. From 1893 until 1897 he served as jus- tice of the peace of Berlin in a most acceptable manner, but has never taken a very prominent part in political affairs. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Church of New Britain, and while residents of Canton they took a very active and prominent part in church work. They have a pleas- ant home in Berlin, where, surrounded by a large circle of friends and acquaintances who esteem them highly for their sterling worth, they expect to spend their remaining days in ease and quiet.

JOSEPH L. BARTLETT. No better tribute perhaps can be paid to American citizenship than to speak of its intelligence and education, for in a self-governed society no qualities are more essen- tial. The subject of this sketch has warmly espoused the cause of public education, is deeply interested in the schools, and has especially equipped his own children with the education that broadens and uplifts, and many of the latter, imbibing the principles of their parents, became public teachers. Mr. Bartlett has been prominent not only in an educational way. As a public-spirited citizen he is honored and respected. The possessor of unswerv-

ing principles in matters of conscience, the exem- plar of industry, integrity and thrift, the recipient of various public recognitions of his ability and hon- esty, he has carved his name upon the landmarks of history in the community in which he lives as one most worthy of esteem.

The Bartlett family in England descended from Adam Bartelot, a Norman, who in 1066 accompa- nied William the Conqueror from France to Eng- land. £ The family in America was founded by Robert Bartlett, who in 1632 voyaged from Eng- land to the Massachusetts Colony in the ship "Lyon," which after a passage of twelve weeks landed 122 passengers on Sept. 16 of that year at Boston harbor. Robert Bartlett located at Cam- bridge, and in 1639 migrated with the Hooker band to Hartford, Conn. There he was elected the first selectman of the village, and in the division of land in that year was granted eight acres, residing west of the present Lafayette street. He was made a freeman April 10, 1645. In 1655 he removed with twenty others to a tract of land in Northamp- ton, Mass., which they bought from the Indians, but he owned land at Hartford as late as 1664. He was first selectman at Northampton. He was killed by the Indians during King Philip's war, March 14, 1676. His widow, Anna, died July 3, 1676. Their four children were: Samuel, born in Cambridge in 1639; Nathaniel, who died unmar- r:ed ; Abigail, who married John Stebbins, of North- ampton, Mass .; and Deborah, born March 8, 1646.

Samuel Bartlett, son of Robert Bartlett, was born in Cambridge in 1639, and while an infant re- moved with his parents to Hartford, and thence to Northampton, Mass., where he farmed and oper- ated a gristmll in the southern part of that city, re- siding on Bartlett street, more recently named Pleas- ant street. He was first selectman of Northamp- ton, and one of its prominent citizens. He died in 1712, and was buried in Northampton county. In 1672 he married, in Northampton, Mary, daughter of James Bridgman. She died in 1674, leaving no children, and for his second wife Samuel Bartlett married Sarah, daughter of Joseph Baldwin, who bore him children as follows: Samuel, in 1677; Sarah, 1679; Mindwell, 1681; Joseph, 1683; Eb- enezer, 1685; Elizabeth, 1687; Preserved, 1689; ! William, 1693; David, 1695; Benjamin, 1696.

Samuel Bartlett, the eldest of these children, born in 1677, removed in 1723, with his wife Sarah and family, as an original proprietor of Bolton, Tol- land Co., Conn. Two years later he and his wife joined by letter from the Northampton Church the Baptist Church at Bolton. Samuel died in 1746. His children were as follows: Samuel, born in 1714; Jonathan, born in 1716; Eleanor, born in 1719, died in 1795 at Bolton; Eunice, born in 1720, died Feb. 7, 1725 (she was the first white person . buried in the North Bolton cemetery).

Capt. Jonathan Bartlett, born in Northampton Aug. 11, 1716, removed with his parents to Bolton,

Joseph Le Barchelt

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

and when a young man removed to East Windsor, Hartford county. He married Jan. 26, 1743, Han- nah, widow of John Bissell, who had been for some years his employer, and who died in 1737. She was a daughter of Ebenezer and Abigail (Kelsey) Watson, of East Windsor. Capt. Jonathan Bart- lett was commissioned ensign of the train band of East Windsor by the Connecticut Assembly in 1752; lieutenant of the 6th Company in 1761 ; and subse- quently captain. Ile died in 1799, aged eighty- three years, and was buried at East Windsor. The four children of Jonathan and Hannah Bartlett were as follows: Samuel, born Jan. 13, 1744; Hannah, born Nov. 8, 1746, married (first) Roswell Blodgett, and (second) Job Belknap; Eunice, born May 18, 1749, married Daniel Chapin; Ann, born March 10, 1750, married Caleb Booth.

Samuel Bartlett, born Jan. 13, 1744, at East Windsor, married Ann Crane, of that town, Sept. 14, 1767. £ He was a farmer, and died at East Windsor, Nov. 29, 1825, aged eighty-one years. His wife, born March 12, 1749, died March 17, 1831. Samuel was quite a mathematician and an inventor, receiving patents for drain tile and screen for screening rye. During the Revolution he trans- ported beef from Boston to the American troops along the Hudson at Albany, and while so engaged had his legs broken by a sled loaded with meat. His children were as follows: Jonathan, born July 25, 1769; Abigail, born June 25, 1772, who married Joshua Allen, of East Windsor ; Samuel, born Sept. 6, 1779; Anna, who married James Harper, of En- field, and died in July, 1830; Sarah, who married Capt. Clark Foster, of Ellington.

Jonathan Bartlett, born July 25, 1769, at East Windsor, married Margaret Harper, of East Wind- sor. She died Jan. 1, 1840. He commanded the Ist Regiment of Connecticut Cavalry (militia), and held many civil offices in town and county. After the death of his wife Col. Bartlett removed to Simsbury, in 1846, with his son Joseph S., where he died April 2, 1858, and was buried at East Wind- sor. The children born to Jonathan and Margaret Bartlett were as follows : Margaret (Peggy), born Nov. 4, 1791, married Thomas Potwine, and died March 2, 1875; James Harper, born April 22, 1794, died Nov. 15, 1871; Jonathan, born May 17, 1796, died March 1, 1836; Joseph, born June 14, 1798, died Oct. 8, 1802; Fannie, born June 23, 1801, died Sept. 30, 1802; Joseph Samuel, born April 10, 1804, died Feb. 23, 1896; Charles, born April 1, 1808, died Sept. 23, 1891 ; Ralph Edward, born March 21, 1811, died Oct. 1I, 1837; Elisha, born Jan. 9, 1816, died Feb. 9, 1816.

Joseph Samuel Bartlett, the father of our sub- ject, was born April 10, 1804, at East Windsor, where he attended school and grew to manhood. He was engaged in farming all liis life, and re- moved with his family, in 1846, to Simsbury, where he spent the balance of his life engaged in farm- ing. He commanded the 25th Regiment, Connect-

icut Militia, and held many civil offices of import- ance both at East Windsor and Simsbury. In poli- tics he was a life-long Democrat. In Simsbury he bought a tract of 160 acres of land owned by Judge J. O. Phelps, and there engaged in tobacco culture and general farming. He was selectman in East Windsor and in Simsbury, also justice of the peace at both places, in Simsbury for over 25 years. On Nov. 13, 1833, he married Emeline Strong, born at East Windsor June 10, 1813, a daughter of Ira Strong, of East Windsor. The children born to Joseph Samuel and Emeline Bartlett were as fol- lows: (1) Joseph Loomis, born March 11, 1835, is the subject of this sketch. (2) Lucinda Crane, born April 19, 1837, married Albert Day, of Brook- lyn, and has three children-Albert Putnam, born Feb. 2, 1860, and married to Helen Maria Palmer ; Clara Bartlett, born July 24, 1866; and Samuel Charles, born Sept. 18, 1868, who died March 31, 1896. (3) Emeline Strong, born June 6, 1843, mar- ried James H. Sanford, of Simsbury, and to them were born three children-Jennie Emeline, born Dec. 17, 1864, died Jan. 10, 1866; Charles Bartlett, born Sept. 30, 1867 ; and Joseph Harper, born May 1, 1870, died Jan. 29, 1898. Emeline Strong San- ford died Feb. 2, 1881. The father of our subject was a member of the Congregational Church. The mother was a good Christian woman, and a loving mother and wife. Mr. Bartlett was well known for his honor and honesty. He was active in poli- tics, was a stanch supporter of the principles of Jefferson and Jackson, and was faithful in every relation in life. The mother passed away Oct. 13, 1885, the father surviving until Feb. 23, 1896.

Joseph L. Bartlett, our subject, was born at East Windsor, March II, 1835. He was educated in the district and high schools of Simsbury, also attended the Connecticut Literary Institute, and Wilbraham Academy, at Wilbraham, Mass. During his youth and early manhood he struggled for a livelihood, but his intellectual equipment fitted him for teaching, and in that vocation he engaged for several years during the winter months, both at East Granby and at Bloomfield, receiving $22 per month and his board. During the summer months he remained at home until he was about twenty-four years of age.

In 1858 Mr. Bartlett was married to Miss Ellen Maria Weston, daughter of Lorin and Lucy (Case) Weston, born at Simsbury, Sept. 4, 1837. Her father, a well-known citizen of Simsbury, was a native of Bloomfield, in politics was a Whig, and died at Hartford, July 10, 1857. Her mother was a sister of Job Case, of Simsbury a member of the Method- ist Episcopal Church, and a good Christian woman ; she died in Kansas, Oct. 26, 1870. Prior to her marriage the wife of our subject had taught school for three years. She was educated in the district and high schools of Simsbury, at the Milford high school, and at Wilbraham Academy, has had the same high educational and intellectual aims as her husband,and in the nearly half-century of their mar-

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ried life has most fittingly presided at his home, and assisted in winning the battle of life.

They began housekeeping for themselves on the P. E. Weston farm of fifty-four acres, in Terrys Plains District, which our subject at the age of twenty-four years purchased. Since then he has added eighty-one acres to that nucleus, and now cultivates a well-improved farm of 135 acres, upon which he has expended in improvements over $8,000. He has engaged in dairy and general farming and in tobacco growing, having for over twenty years been an extensive dealer and packer of tobacco, and also operates a cider mill for the manufacture of vinegar.

To our subject and wife have been born ten children: (1) Ellen Marie, born Oct. 30, 1858, was educated in the district schools, also in the Connecticut Literary Institute at Suffield, and taught school for one year; on Sept. 4, 1878, she married Amos G. Chesebro, of Stonington, Conn. (2) Joseph L., Jr., born Feb. 8, 1860, in his youth was given an education in the district schools and the Connecticut Literary Institute, at Suffield; on March 13, 1890, he married Mary J. Crotts, of Partridge, Kans .; he is now engaged in the whole- sale fish business in New York (3) Mary Jane, born June 13, 1862, received a good education in the Įdistrict schools, also in the Connecticut Literary Institute, and taught school for four years ; she mar- ried, May 17, 1883, Samuel Z. Chesebro, of Ston- ington, Conn. (4) Emeline Strong, born March II, 1865, attended the public schools of Simsbury, also the Connecticut Literary Institute, and for seven years was engaged in teaching school; she is now a trained nurse in Brooklyn. (5) Isabelle, born Dec. 19. 1866, received a thorough education in the same institutions attended by her elder sis- ters, and for five years was an efficient teacher in the public schools ; she was married Feb. 17, 1891, to George F. White, of Canton, Conn. (6) John, born Nov. 10, 1868, after leaving the district schools became a student in the Connecticut Literary In- stitute ; he married, April 6, 1892, Leticia Strong, of East Hartford, Conn. ; he has embarked in business at Hartford, as proprietor of a fish and meat market. (7) Harriet Louise, born .Jan. 17, 1871, died July I, 1889, when about to graduate from the Connecticut Literary Institute. (8) Emerson, born March 3. 1873, died in infancy. (9) Francis Ariel, born Jan. 6, 1875. is a graduate of Storr's College, and by pro- fession is a bookkeeper, being now in New York. (10) George Weston, born Jan. 27, 1878, was acci- dentally crushed and killed by a roller. Oct. 31, 1888.

In politics Mr Bartlett is a stanch Democrat, a strenuous advocate and supporter of the principles made memorable by the utterances of Jefferson and Jackson. He has filled the office of selectman of Simsbury, for six years served as deputy sheriff under Sheriff Seymour, has been judge of pro- bate for three terms, and has served his town as justice of the peace and as school visitor. In relig-

ious views he is liberal and charitable, though un- flinchingly faithful to principle. His character is so eminently clear and forceful, his career so guided by truth and honesty, his intelligence so masterful, that from all parties and all classes of men he re- ceives the highest respect and esteem.

G. A. LOOMIS. The Loomis family, of which this successful young agriculturist of the town of Windsor is a worthy representative, has long been prominent in this section, and the name has be- come a synonym for industry, thrift and loyal devo- tion to the best interests of the community. Our subject is one of the ninth generation in direct de- scent from (I) Joseph Loomis, an Englishman, who was born about 1590, and for some years be- fore coming to America was in business as a woolen draper in Braintree, County of Essex, Eng- land. In 1639 he came to Windsor, being among the first settlers of the town, and his death occurred there in 1658.

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Commemorative biographical record of Hartford County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Pt 1, Part 116

Author: J.H. Beers & Co Publication date: 1901 Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 1336

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1336