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 13

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 13

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"He closed his business as a merchant in mid- dle manhood, although in health and in success. From time to time he secured to himself and to his family the pleasure and culture to be gained from wide travel at home and abroad. Meantime, his fortune increased. But he was watchful, per- sistent and untiring in giving of the increase, in sums large and small, in manifold ways and in numberless instances. Not only this, but he gave of his time, his strength, his knowledge; gave will- ingly of himself-charity in the highest form. By the law of his being he was hospitable. Few home doors in this city opened so easily, so widely, or so frequently as did his. There was the ever ready place at his board for friend or stranger.

"Having released himself from the cares of active business, he resumed as a diversion the oc- cupation of his early life. He improved a farm. Many will remember that in person he brought of its products to their doors as gifts; and all will remember that at last, in loving memory of a son, he gave the farm to the uses of the sick and home- less. The faculties of his mind were with him in strength to the last, even his exceptionally reten- tive memory, which enabled him to marshal in their order many even of the minor events in his life and assign to each its appropriate day, and month, and year. So of his body: he ever had that great possession, abounding health. Passing fourscore, yet the rising sun would sometimes find him by the stream with rod and fly; and sometimes on the frosted hillside waiting for the cry of the hound.

"In his business, in his recreation, in his home, and among men, he put much into his life, and drew much out of it-drew not only for himself, but for others as well. Many have lost a friend, indeed."

FRANCIS HENRY RICHARDS. mechan- ician, engineer and inventor of Hartford and New York City, with residence in the former city, is a native of the town of New Hartford, Litchfield coun- ty, Conn., a county from which have gone out into the world many men who have achieved distinction and fame.

Born Oct. 20, 1850, Mr. Richards is the son of Henry and Maria (Whiting) Richards, and is of noble lineage. On his father's side he is a descend- ant in the ninth generation from (1) Thomas Rich- ards, who was at Hartford in about 1637, and whose name is given in the Memorial History of Hartford County, edited by the late Dr. Trumbull, as one of the original proprietors of Hartford in 1639. Our subject's line of descent from this first Ameri- can ancestor is through John. Thomas (2). Thomas (3), Dr. Samuel, Capt. Aaron, Marquis and Henry Richards.

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

(II) John Richards, son of Thomas the emigrant, born in 1631, married Lydia Stocking, and settled on the homestead in Hartford.

(III) Thomas Richards, son of John, born in 1666, married, in 1691, Mary, daughter of Deacon Benjamin Parsons, of Springfield, Mass., and suc- ceeded his father on the homestead. He was deacon of the First Church for forty-three years, and was very well known in Hartford and vicinity.

(IV) Thomas Richards, son of Thomas (above), born 1694, married, in 1717, Abigail Turner, of Hartford, and resided in Southington.

(V) Dr. Samuel Richards, son of Thomas {above), born in 1726, in Hartford, married Lydia Buck. When he was one year old his parents moved to Southington. Samuel Richards rose to honorable distinction in the profession, practicing in Newing- ton, Canaan, and New Hartford, dying in Plainville in 1793. He served in the Continental army.

(VI) Capt. Aaron Richards, son of Dr. Samuel, born in 1749 in Newington, married (first), in 1778, Dorcas Adams. He purchased land in New Hartford, first in 1776, settled and passed his days in the town, dying in 1831.

(VII) Marquis Richards, son of Capt. Aaron, born in 1793, married, in 1822, Polly Carpenter, and they resided on the old homestead in New Hartford.

(VIII) Henry Richards, son of Marquis, and the father of Francis Henry Richards, of Hartford, was born Sept. 13, 1824, in New Hartford. He was married in October, 1847, to Maria S. Whiting,

On his mother's side Francis H. Richards, our subject, is a direct descendant from Maj. Wm. Whit- ing, who came to New England not more than adec- ade after the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, his name being identified as early as 1632-33 with Lords Say and Brooke in the purchase of Piscataqua, and he retained hisinterest in that enterprise through life. Maj. Whiting was also engaged in a patent for lands at Swampscott with Say and Brooke. He was one of the committee who for the first time sat with the court of magistrates in 1637. Maj. Whiting was one of the original proprietors of Hartford in 1639, and was one of the most efficient promoters of trade and commerce of the town. A merchant of wealth and a man of education, he had dealings with the people of Virginia and Piscataqua, and had a trading post at the Delaware river and at Westfield. He was treasurer of Connecticut from 1641 until his death in 1647, and was a justice of the peace from 1642 until his death. Joseph Whiting. a son of the Major. settled in Westfield, but returned to Hartford about 1675, and was treasurer of Connecticut for thirty- nine years, from 1678 to 1717, when he was suc- ceeded to the office by his son Col. John Whiting, who held it for thirty-two years. As might be ex-

pected, the families into which these early Whitings married were of the first of New England. Joseph Whiting's first wife, Mary, was a daughter of Jolin Pynchon, and granddaughter of William Pynchon, one of the founders of Springfield, Mass., whose wife, Ann, was a daughter of Hon. George Wyllys; and his second wife, Anna, a daughter of Col. John Allyn. Col. John Whiting married Jeru- sha, daughter of Richard, and granddaughter of Thomas Lord, one of the first settlers of Hartford.

Francis Henry Richards, the subject proper of this review, passed a part of his time during his early youth on the old homestead founded by his great-grandfather, Capt. Aaron Richards, in New Hartford during the period of the Revolution, and which in large part continues to be held by the fam- ily. Our subject's early training in the English branches and letters was held in the neighborhood district school, and at a private school in New Hart- ford. Descended from a race of farmer-mechanics, he exemplified in a marked degree that self-reliant spirit of the early pioneers, who never hesitated to attempt what needed to be done. What better training-school ever existed than the old-time New England homestead, with its ample fields and build- ings, and the shop where the husbandman and his boys worked the farm together in the summer, and in the winter carried on the manufacture of all that the farm and home required ?

Inheriting inventive genius from his ancestors, who taught and practiced the theory that a mechanic should always be able to make his own tools, young Richards, at the age of fifteen, began inventing and building machinery, and from that time to the pres- ent he has been actively engaged in the development of mechanical industries. In 1865 his father and family removed to New Britain, where its head was in charge of the Machinery department of the Stan- ley Rule & Level Works, an establishment with which he still retains his connection. In these fac- tories the son began his career under the tutorship of his father, who himself was an ingenious mechanic and inventor. Already the son had shown great adaptability for new ideas in mechanics, and it was but a short time after he went to work in the plant named when he was found ex- perimenting with the construction of machin- ery of his own devising. By systematic study and application extending over a period of eight years, he acquired a practical and theoretical knowl- edge of the machine-building trades, including wood- working, forging, and the allied branches. He came to Hartford in 1882, and until 1886 he was connected with the great manufacturing concern of Pratt & Whitney. By this time his frequent tours for the observation of machinery and manufactures, and his knowledge of mechanics and experience as an inven- tor. together with a thorough study of patent law, well fitted him for its practice as well as made him an expert engineer ; and from that time to this he has given much of his time in these lines, having an

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Conn. She was born in 1738, and died in 1790. Their children were: Lorrain, William, Aaron C., Daniel, Samuel, Ruth and Lucy.

(VI) William Collins (2), son of William Col- lins, born in 1760, died in 1849. He married, in 1783, Esther Morris, at Morris Point, near New Haven, Conn., where she was born in 1763. In 1783 they located in Litchfield, Conn., and in 1822 moved to Illinois. She died at Collinsville, 111., in 1834. Their children were : Eliza, William M., Amos Mor- ris, Almira, Augustus, Anson, Michael, Maria, Will- iam and Frederick. When a lad of seventeen William Collins enlisted for service in the war of the Revolution. He was a private in a company commanded by Capt. Humphrey, the regiment being under the command of Col. Jonathan Meigs. Later, in 1779, he served with his uncle, Augustus Collins, who was a major, serving as brigade major under Brig .- Gen. Ward. William was a deacon in the Church at Litchfield, Conn., while Lyman Beecher was pastor.

(VII) Amos Morris Collins, third child of Will- iam Collins (2) and Esther Morris, was born March 30, 1788, in Litchfield, Conn. His father, a deacon in Dr. Lyman Beecher's Church, was a man of rec- ognized Puritan stamp. Ilis mother was a descend- ant in a direct line from Thomas Morris, of the County of Essex, England. The Morris families of Connecticut and Massachusetts are without doubt descended from the Morris family of Roydon Parish, County of Essex, England. On April 30, 1811, Mr. Collins was married to Mary Lyman, only daughter of Col. Moses Lyman, of Goshen, Conn. Their children were: William L., Morris, Erastus, Charles, Edward. Maria E., Henry and Mary F. In 1810 Mr. Collins established himself in mercantile business in Blandford, Mass. In a few years he had turned into new channels the industry of that and large portions of the surrounding towns. The impulse which he gave was felt long after his death.

In 1819 Mr. Collins removed with his family to Hartford, Conn. He and his wife united at once, by letter, with the First Church of Hartford, then under the pastorate of Rev. Dr. Hawes. Of the historic North Church Mr. Collins was one of the founders. He was chosen one of the deacons at the time of its organization in 1824, and retained the office until his death.

In 1827 Mr. Collins erected the building which at the time of his death was occupied by Collins Brothers & Company, in Asylum street. It is a scarcely credible fact that the idea of going so far out of the way was generally considered ridiculous, and sagacious men who survived Mr. Collins ac- knowledge that they thought he had surely made a very great mistake. He retired from the mercantile business in 1842, leaving it in charge of his sons.

Mr. Collins' benevolence was systematic, as well as bountiful. For about twenty years before his death he had taken the resolve not to lay up prop- erty. "All the great societies of Christian benefi- cence were aided by his bounty. In this manner he

took the rewards of his beneficence into his own life, and grew by the Christly measures of his charities." He had always been to a marked degree actively in- terested in the general welfare of Hartford, and vigorously aided plans for its improvement and prosperity. At the time of the proposed extension into the Farmington valley of the Hartford & Prov- idence railroad he was chairman of the committee on subscriptions. He himself became as large a stock- holder as his means would permit, and personally superintended many of the labors incidental to the extension of the road. Mr. Collins was a member of the common council for several years; was elected mayor in 1843, re-elected in 1845, and declined a third term which was pressed upon him. At the proposed erection of the Hartford High school he was appointed chairman of the building committee, and with a few others contributed liberally. At its formation he became in great measure personally re- sponsible for its success. Mr. Collins was a zealous and working friend of the temperance cause, known as such from 1826. In its behalf he made excellent speeches in very nearly every neighborhood in a large circuit around Hartford. He was early an anti-slavery man, the unpopularity of a good cause seeming to him a very good reason for helping it. The Free-Soilers once or twice ran him for Con- gress. In religious matters Mr. Collins had decided views, and he could clearly and strongly express them. He was firm, enthusiastic, and also well bal- anced and just. After his death, which occurred Nov. 10, 1858, his pastor Rev. Dr. Bushnell, said of him : "Deacon A. M. Collins was one of the few men or Christians who require to be noted as spec- ialties. He was among the land-mark characters of our city, and a man so positive in every sphere of action or counsel that the void which is made by his death will be deeply felt, and for a long time to come.

"There is almost nothing here that has not some- how felt his power, nothing good which has not somehow profited by his beneficence. Banks, saving institutions, railroads, the singular anomaly of a large wholesale dry-goods trade which distinguishes Hartford as an inland city, the city councils and im- provements, the city Missions and Sunday-schools, the Asylum for the Dumb, the Retreat for the In- sane, the High School, the Almshouse, three at least of the churches, almost everything public, in fact, lias his counsel, impulse, character, beneficence, and what is more, if possible, his real work, incorporated in it. Whole sections of the city are changed by hin. "But the Church was dearest to him of all * * * There was never a better man to support and steady a Christian pastor * * * I loved him as a friend, as what brother did not? I took him for my best coun- sel, I leaned upon him as a prop. Who can estimate the value of such a man?"

In the troubles that later befell the Church, aris- ing from the charges of heresy concerning its pas- tor, Mr. Collins with two others of its members were among the first to foresee the course to be pursued. In a paper addressed by him to the Hartford Cen- .

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

tral Association, Mr. Collins said: "We think it necessary * * * * to take the position of an independent Church * * and have therefore withdrawn from our connection with the Consociation with which we united in our infancy."

The following extract is from the tribute paid to Mr. Collins by Hon. Joseph R. Hawley in the Hartford Evening Press, of which he was editor at that time: "Positively, it is precisely true, and no unmeaning eulogy, if we say that the symmetry and strength of his physical man harmonized with his fine proportions as a Christian merchant, citizen, friend and neighbor. He was such an outgrowth of New England hills, schools and churches as we can point to with pride."

(1) William Lyman Collins, eldest son of Amos Morris Collins, was born at Blandford, Mass., Feb. 10, 1812. For about thirty-five years he was con- nected with the mercantile interests of Hartford, first with the firm his father founded as A. M. Col- lins & Sons, and later as Collins Brothers & Com- pany. This firm was among the most prudent and reliable in New England, and so much confidence was reposed in it that, after the Civil war broke out, when banks and bankers were looked upon with suspicion, the house of Collins Brothers & Company was offered large sums of money, with- out security, by its correspondents. Mr. Collins was for many years a director in the City Gas Light Company, also in the Merchants Insurance Company, a member of the managing board of the Retreat, and was for a long time connected with the Society of Savings. The Park was one of his favorite projects, to which, as chairman of the Park Commissioners for a number of years, he gave his watchful attention, and Hartford is large- ly indebted to his refined tastes and persevering industry for the plans and laying out of this orna- ment to the city. He was one of the first pro- jectors of the Hartford & Wethersfield Horse rail- road. The Cedar Hill cemetery was another enterprise in which he felt deep interest, and the West End improvements were more due to him than to any other citizen. He was one of the foremost in establishing the Asy- lum Hill Congregational Church. In Mr. Col- lins' death, which occurred in Chicago, Nov. 15. 1865, the city lost one of its most enterprising and public-spirited citizens. Mr. Collins was unosten- tatious, and the public at large could not know him as he was known and respected by business men who were constantly brought in contact with him. He was modest in all things, and purely un- selfish in all. His opinions were decided and sel- dom at fault. He delighted in liberal works, in encouraging all deserving charities, and no indi- vidual case which called for assistance, and was known to be worthy, was ever turned off unre- lieved.

On Nov. 14, 1835, Mr. Collins married Harriet Pierson, daughter of Dr. Aaron Pierson, of Orange, N. J. She died Jan. 15. 1871. To this

union were born children as follows: Edward Pier- son, deceased; Mary Lyman, deceased; Ellen ; Frances, widow of Dr. William H. Palmer, of Cleveland, Ohio, who died June 19, 1871; Will- iam Pierson, deceased; and Alice, who on April 28, 1881; married Samuel Gurley Dunham, son of Austin Dunham. Their children: Ethel Collins, Alice Elizabeth, Sarah Root, Frances Collins, Austin and Beatrice Lyman.

(2) Morris Collins was born Oct. 18, 1813, and died March 19, 1873. On Nov. 4, 1852, he mar- ried Martha Wickes Blatchford, daughter of Rev. John Blatchford, of Quincy, Ill., and their chil- dren were: John Blatchford; Frances Wickes, Amos Morris, Martha Blatchford, Alice Blatchford, and Richard Ely,. For his second wife Morris Col- lins wedded Hannah Adams, and they had one child, Henry Adams, born Feb. 6, 1866, who died Aug. 19, 1867.

(3) Erastus Collins, son of Amos Morris Col- lins, and father of Atwood Collins, was born Feb. 10, 1815. in Blandford, Mass. He came to Hartford with his father's family in 1819, and for years was associated with his father in the business described above. He was a prom- inent and trusted man in Hartford interests. He was a director of the Ætna Insurance Company, and as chairman of its building committee he su- perintended the construction of the present fine brown-stone structure of that company on Main street, north of the Ætna Life building. He was also director and vice-president of the Hartford Hospital; a director of the American School at Hartford for the Deaf; an active and valuable school visitor; one of the projectors of the Hart- ford & Wethersfield Horse Railway Company; a projector of the noble Cedar Hill cemetery, and a leader in the Young Men's Institute (now the Hartford Library). For two winters before his death he was especially active in philanthropic work. Mr. Collins was a true Christian; in his own unostentatious way he lived the life he pro- fessed. His religious profession, made in his early youth, was in the old North Congregational Church (now, in another locality, the Park Church), in 1830-about the time Dr. Spring was succeeded by Dr. Bushnell, we think, and having united with that Church he remained in it until the organization, in 1852, of the Pearl Street Church. He became interested therein, and was one of the founders. He became, when the Asylum Hill Church was founded, not merely a member, but one of its leading supporters, contributing at one time largely toward the extinguishment of the debt. It is to such men as he, and Roland Mather. that the Church has been indebted for much of its prosperity. Mr. Collins built up an admirable character in Hartford. It was a life work, but it is one which wins appreciation, when fellow citizens can view such a character through a long perspec- tive of philanthropic enterprises and abounding good deeds.

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Mr. Collins was first a clerk, and later asso- ciated with his father in the business of the great house which afterward became his own. That house took, among other accounts, that of the well- known Sprague prints. Later, on the failure of the A. & W. Sprague Mfg. Co., Collins & Fenn, by a special arrangement, took all the product of the Sprague mills. This arrangement proved a safe and profitable one for the Hartford house, and, giving as it did the entire Sprague account to the Hartford house of Collins & Fenn, largely in- creased the business of the commission house. Mr. Collins was a cautious man, in business as in everything else. He went into no business trans- action without fully considering it from all points of view. He owned real-estate in Hartford, on the south side of Asylum street, between Main and Trumbull, and land on Asylum avenue, Atwood and Collins streets. He was also a large owner of gas stock and horse-railway shares, and other local securities. Toward the close of 1876 Mr. Collins retired from the active business of the house, with which he was so long connected, and afterward devoted his time largely to philanthropic enterprises.

On Jan. 26, 1848, Mr. Collins was married to Mary Atwood, daughter of the late John M. At- wood, of Philadelphia. She died March 31, 1874, he on April 8, 1880. Their children were: (I) Henrietta A. was married Feb. 17, 1876, to Daniel Robinson Howe, and their children are Edmund D., Henrietta C., and Marjorie F. (2) Atwood, married on June 9, 1880, Mary B. Brace. Their children are Gertrude, Frederick S., Elinor B., Marion A. and Emily B. (3) Caroline Lyman, married, on March 9, 1886, Dr. Charles Whitney Page, superintendent of Middletown Hospital, and their children are Atwood C., Charles W., Jr., and Ruth Whitney. (4) William Erastus is referred to below.

(4) Charles Collins, born April 2, 1817, was married Sept. 1, 1840, to Mary Ilall Terry, daugh- ter of Eliphalet Terry, of Hartford; she died in 1900; their children are: Lydia Coit married Will- iam Platt Ketcham. Charles Terry married Mary Abby Wood; children, Charles, Clarence Lyman, Mary Terry and Arthur Morris. Clarence Lyman married Mary Louise Clark; have one daughter, Edith. Arthur Morris died Jan. 3, 1861. Louise Terry married William Allen Butler, Jr.

(5) Edward Collins, born Nov. 15, 1820, passed away Aug. 4, 1822. (6) Maria Elizabeth Collins was married May 13, 1846, to Rev. Caleb Strong, who died Jan. 3, 1847. (7) Henry Collins, born Jan. 7, 1827. died Aug. 22, 1828. (8) Mary Frances Col- lins.

William Erastus Collins, son of Erastus Collins, was born Oct. 10, 1859. In 1880 he graduated from the Hartford Public High School, and in 1884 from Williams College, after which he became connected with the editorial staff of the Hartford Courant. He was an ambitious and brilliant journalist, and his

colleagues upon the newspaper state that "he pos- sessed industry, zeal, a real love of work, clever wit and an individual style, with a high ideal of journal- istic work, and was living up to it. He had read freely, traveled widely, and his range of information was large and his culture genuine. He had a home- loving nature, deeply devoted to his family, and the evident happiness of his domestic life was proverbial among his friends." He was an active member of the Congregational Church. His active, noble, manly and unselfish life was suddenly finished May 20, 1893. On May 5, 1886, Mr. Collins married, at In- dianapolis, Eva Lee Steele, and they had one daugh- ter, Ruth Lee.

HON. EDWARD WILLIAMS TWICHELL was born in the town of Southington Nov. 5, 1839, and is a descendant of Joseph Twichell, the com- mon ancestor of all who bear the name in this coun- try.

Joseph Twichell came from England about 1630, and located in Dorchester, Mass., where he was ad- mitted as a freeman May 14, 1634. He probably died there. His son Benjamin removed from Dor- chester to Bogiston about 1663, and purchased 100 acres of land in what is now Sherborn, Mass. Soon after this he moved to Lancaster, same State, where he is supposed to have died, or was killed by the In- dians. His son, Abiele Twichell, was born in No- vember, 1663, and was the father of Benoni Twich- ell, who was born about 1684, and was one of the thirty original grantees of Oxford, Mass. In 1722 and 1723 he was styled an inn-holder on the Oxford records, and between 1720 and 1740 was largely engaged in the transfer of real estate in Oxford and vicinity. In 1727 he purchased 100 acres of land in Woodstock, Conn., with a mansion in Oxford which he had previously owned, and in 1740 became pro- prietor of lands in Poquiog (now Athol), Mass. He is supposed to have died in Killingly (now Thompson), Conn. On April 18, 1705, he married Hannah Allen. Their son, Joseph Twichell, mar- ried Elizabeth Thompson. Among their children was Isaac Twichell, who was born in Oxford, Mass., and about 1767 located in Southington, Conn., where he died Feb. 10, 1776. Isaac Twichell married De- borah Alcox, and they were the parents of Joseph Twichell, grandfather of our subject, who was born in Wolcott, Hartford county, July 15, 1769, and died March 14, 1824. He first married Electa, daughter of Simeon Hopkins, of Wolcott, and for his second wife he married Phebe, daughter of Joseph and Phebe (Hall) Atkins. The latter was the grand- mother of our subject. She died Dec. 5, 1823.

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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 13

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