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 15

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 15

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Slyvanus Franklin Cone, father of the late Jo- seph Henry Cone and Col. William E. Cone, who for many years as partners carried on successfully a first-class hardware business on Asylum street, Hartford, where it has since been continued under the old firm name by Col. Cone, was born Aug. 24, 1813, in East Haddam, Conn., a son of Joseph W. and Mehitabel S. (Swan) Cone, who died March 4, 1848, aged seventy-three, and Sept. II, 1849, aged seventy-one, respectively, both being buried in the cemetery at West Hartford Center. Sylvanus F. Cone came to Hartford in 1835, and passed the rest of his lifetime in that city, where he was a useful, honored and respected citizen. He always took a warm interest in public affairs, rarely if ever failing to exercise his rights as a citizen. For many years he was a member of the board of selectmen of the town, also served as assessor, and filled other offices of trust, always performing his dluties with scrupulous fidelity. He was possessed of a most genial and kindly disposition, retaining his youthful feelings and appearance to a wonder- ful degree to the very last. He died on June 30, 1879. esteemed and beloved by a large circle of friends and acquaintances. His first wife, formerly Miss Sarah A. Miller, to whom he was married

in April, 1835, passed away Aug. 28, 1849. Their children were as follows: Joseph H. (a sketch of whom follows), Sarah A., and Augusta M., all three deceased ; Augustus F., a resident of Toledo, Ohio; William E., in Hartford; and Helen M., deceased. For his second wife Slyvanus F. Cone married Dec. 11, 1850, Delia M. Barnard, of Hart- ford, and two children graced their union: Ella Barnard, wife of Charles W. Pratt, a sketch of whom follows : and John Barnard.

Joseph Henry Cone, who died at his home in Hartford July 7, 1892, was born in 1836, in the old Cone homestead on Farmington avenue, Hart- ford, and was a lifelong resident of that city. He was educated at the public schools, and at West Hartford Academy, a famous school half a century ago. Early in life he entered the hardware store of George M. Way & Co., there learning the busi- ness. In 1861 he entered into partnership with the late Roderick Terry, the firm name being Terry & Cone. When Mr. Terry retired the firm became J. H. & W. E. Cone by the admission of Mr. Cone's brother, Col. William E. Cone. In 1872 they pur - chased and remodeled the building at Nos. 87-89 Asylum street, which the firm occupied, and where they afterward remained.

Joseph H. Cone never held public office, al- though he was always prominent in business life. He was a man of rather retiring disposition, much attached to his family, by whom he was regarded as an affectionate husband and kind, indulgent parent. Nearly two years prior to his death he re- tired from the active business of the firm of whichi he was a member, although still retaining his in- terest in the same. He married Martha I. Mix, daughter of the late John G. and Clarissa (Isham) Mix, of Hartford, and she and her son, Henry F., and two daughters, Clara M. and Lillian C., sur- vive.

CHARLES W. PRATT, of Hartford, is a direct de- scendant in the eighth generation from Lieut. Will- iam Pratt, who, with Rev. Thomas Hooker, was one of the first settlers of Hartford, tracing his line of ancestry through Charles A., William A., Deacon Timothy, Timothy, Isaac, and John to Lieut. Will- iam, the first settler.

(I) Lieut. William Pratt came to Newtown, Mass., in 1633, thence moving to Hartford, Conn. In June, 1636, he married Miss Elizabeth Clark, daughter of John Clark, of Saybrook, Conn. He was deputy at the General Court for twenty-three sessions. He died in 1678.

(II) Ensign Jolin Pratt, eldest son of the above, was born Feb. 20, 1644. Ile married June 8, 1668, Sarah Jones, daughter of Thomas Jones, of Guilford, Conn. He was a large land owner in Saybrook, and also in Hebron, Conn. He was a blacksmith by trade, and a man of prominence, and for several terms was the representative of his town in the Legislature. He died in 1726.

(III) Isaac Pratt, son of John, was born June

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

10. 1677, and died' in 1733. He married Mary Taylor.

(IV) Timothy Pratt, son of Isaac, was born Jan. 20, 1713. He married Sarah Parker.

(V) Deacon Timothy Pratt, son of Timothy, was born Oct. 17, 1748. In 1775 he married Sarah Shipman. For many years he was a deacon of the Congregational Church at Saybrook, and he was an exemplary Christian. He died Sept. 12, 1823; Mrs. Pratt died Jan. 2, 1817.

(VI) William Augustus Pratt, son of Deacon Timothy, was born Oct. 9, 1791, and was a car- penter and builder at Saybrook. On Dec. 2, 1817, he married Sarah Lynde. He. died March 3, 1850, she on Feb. 13, 1840. Issue: Elizabeth, Sarah, William, Lynde, Charles Augustus, and John Heber.

(VII) Charles Augustus Pratt, son of William Augustus, was born March 21, 1826, and has all his life been a carpenter and builder in Saybrook, Conn. On April 1, 1849, he married Mary E. Randall and children as follows have come to them : Sarah Elizabeth, born Jan. 6, 1850, married to John Rankin, of Saybrook; Charles William, born Dec. 8, 1851 ; Isabella, May 29, 1853; George Augustus, Oct. 3, 1855 ( resides in Hartford) ; Mary Amelia, Jan. 6, 1859, married to K. N. Bill; Ed- ward Burt, May 4, 1861 ; and Frank Sterling, Oct. 3, 1867.

(VIII) Charles W. Pratt spent his early school days in Saybrook, and at the carly age of ten years became the mail carrier for that village, which position he filled four years. When fifteen he began clerking for Augustus Bushnell, at Westbrook, Conn., remaining with him some three years; at the age of eighteen he came to Hartford to fill the position of clerk in the old "Bee Hive" store. In 1887 he engaged in the ladies' dress and cloak busi- ness in partnership with a Mr. Sage, under the firm name of Pratt & Sage, which continued a couple of years, and since 1889 the firm name has been C. W. Pratt.

On Sept. 10, 1879, Mr. Pratt was married to Ella Barnard Cone, daughter of Slyvester F. Cone, as above, and children as follows have graced their union : Charles Franklin, born Sept. 10, 1880; and Warren Cone, born Jan. 31, 1888.

JAMES CHURCH PRATT, a well-known resident of West Hartford, whose home is at No. 700 Farmington avenue, was born in Hartford March 17, 1838, and traces his ancestry back to John and Elizabeth Pratt, the progenitors of the family in America. (II) John Pratt, their son, married Hepsibah Wyatt. a daughter of John Wy- att. and died in 1687. (III) John Pratt, the third of that name, was born May 17, 1661, and married Hannah Sanford. (IV) William Pratt, born in 1691, married Amy Pinney, and died Jan. 16, 1753. (V) Joseph Pratt, born in 1742. was married in 1767 to Susannah Caldwell, and died Oct. 14, 1814.

(VI) Joseph Pratt, born in Hartford June 6, 1779, was the grandfather of our subject. He was a Democrat in politics, and served as postmaster of Hartford at one time. He died in Opelousas, La., March 6, 1852. On Dec. 10, 1802, he was mar- ried to Fanny Wadsworth, and after her death he married Charlotte Wadsworth, Dec. 6, 1839. He had thirteen children: Susan Ann, born Oct. 19, 1803, married Timothy Allyn, and died in 1888; Algernon Sidney, born May 30, 1805, died Feb. 28, 1809; Esther, born May 13, 1807, died March 4, 1809; Mary, born 1808, died in 1809; Edward, born Jan. 18, 1810, died Oct. 31, 1810; Joseph, the father of our subject, was next in the family ; Harriet, born Nov. 10, 1814, married Moses Cook, and died in 1862; John G., born March 31, 1817, married (first) Adella B. King, and ( second) Mary Ann Hall, and died in 1866; Mary Esther, born Sept. 6, 1819, died in 1887 ; Frances, born Sept. 3, 1821, died in March, 1826; Edward, born Aug. 15, 1824, died Aug. 24, 1850; Ellen Frances, born Feb. 15, 1826, died Feb. 4, 1848; and Jeremiah, born in 1828, died the same year.

(VII) Joseph Pratt, father of our subject, was born in Hartford, Nov. 8, 1811, and was educated in the schools of that city. On attaining man's estate he engaged in farming in the town of Hart- ford. until forty years of age, when he became in- terested in the lumber business for one year. He took quite a prominent and influential part in public affairs; was a member of the city council, street superintendent for a year, and also chief of the fire department. After the Civil war he affiliated with the Republican party. He married Abigail Prior Church, who was born Oct. 12, 1812, a daughter of James Church. Only one child was born of this union, James Church Pratt.

(VIII) James C. Pratt spent his carly boyhood at the farm on Windsor avenue, until eight years of age, when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Hartford, and there attended public school until sixteen years of age, when, his health failing, he went to Louisiana to visit his grand- mother and an uncle, who lived there, in the hope of regaining his strength. He made his home ther'e until the outbreak of the Civil war, when he entered the Confederate service, and for a time served as captain of a company in a Louisiana regiment. He was taken prisoner in the fall of 1863, and in March, 1864. returned to the home of his childhood at Hartford. a paroled prisoner of war. After the close of the war he remained at home with his par- cnts. and later engaged in mercantile business, con- tinuing the same for about ten years, when he re- tired. He became a member of the Governor's Foot Guards in 1867, and has retained his member- ship, being now with one exception the oldest in active service. Ile was promoted from private through all the grades to captain, and now, at the age of sixty-two, is carrying a musket. He has been a resident of West Hartford for the past twelve

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

(Shields) Stedman, he a native of Hartford, and che of Philadelphia, descending from old substan- tial families there, one of which, on her mother's side, was the Jackson family. The paternal grand- father of Gen. Stedman, who also bore the name of Griffin, was a native of Hampton, Conn., and was there engaged, and afterward in Hartford, in the lumber business, the old family homestead in Hart- ford being located on Morgan street. He was one of the prominent men of Hartford of his day; was very active in religious work, identified with Christ Episcopal Church, and assisted in building the pres- ent church edifice that stands on the corner of Main and Church streets. He died at the age of

seventy years. Gen. Stedman's father was also active and prominent in the councils of Christ Epis- copal Church. He was major in the old Governor's Foot Guard, a military organizat on of historic origin and of considerable local note, and also had a brother, Edmund Stedman, who served in that organization in the same rank. This Edmund Sted- man was the father of the New York gentleman of the same name known widely as a poet and critic. From the inscriptions on the tombstones marking the graves of the parents of Gen. Stedman it is learned that his father was born in 1810 and died in 1883, and that his mother was born in 1815 and died in 1877. The children born to this couple were Mary Ada, now Mrs. Charles W. Johnson, of Hartford: Griffin Alexander, our subject; Eliza- beth Shields ; Robert Shields, now a practicing phy- sician in New York; Ernest Gordon, now a lawyer of New York: and Edmund ApOwen.

Gen. Griffin A. Stedman, the subject proper of this sketch, passed his youth and early manhood in his native city. His education was received in the schools of which Hartford is so justly proud, he graduating from Trinity College June, 1859. He began reading law in Philadelphia, entering the office of S. H. Perkins, a leading lawyer of that city. When the attack on Sumter was made he at once joined the Washington Greys of that city, but on learning that Col. Colt, of Hartford, was rais- ing a regiment for the Fourteenth U. S. Infantry, he exchanged to that command in May, 1861, just as it was taking up its quarters on the very grounds which are now marked by this young hero's statue.

Realizing amid all the excitement and enthusi- asm of the time how poorly we were prepared for the struggle, that war was a science, that numbers and bravery could not win battles unless directed by intelligence and skill, young Stedman devoted him- self with untiring energy to acquire a knowledge of his new calling. He early showed such aptitude and ability as to attract the attention of Major Baker of the regular army, in charge of the instruc- tion of the battalion, who recommended him for a commission.

The enterprise of Col. Colt was not successful, the battalion was disbanded and the Fifth regiment of Connecticut Volunteers was called for by the governor, who in recognition of Stedman's qualifi- 5

cations commissioned him as captain of Company i. He left Hartford July 29, 1861, with the regi- ment which was assigned to duty under Gen. Banks in the department of the Shenandoah. The regi- ment was at once called upon to make a series of long and rapid marches up and down the Potomac to cover threatened points, earning for itself the designation of "foot cavalry," and becoming thor- oughly acquainted with guard and out-post duty in face of the enemy; Stedman availed himself with alacrity of these opportunities for improvement, and so impressed Col. Ferry with his ability that he was selected to command a detachment sent across the Potomac to cover the retreat of our forces after the disaster at Ball's Bluff. He received great credit for the effective manner in which he per- formed this service. It is a difficult and delicate mission, and seldom accomplished without sacrific- ing a portion of the picket line on withdrawal. Stedman withdrew the picket line himself, and brought back every man.

In November, 1861, Capt. Stedman was pro- moted to be major of the Eleventh, and served with the regiment under Burnside in the expedition to North Carolina, taking part in the capture of New Haven and the different affairs of the campaign. On June II, 1862, he was promoted to lieutenant- colonel, and returned with the regiment to the Army of the Potomac, in time for the Antietam cam- paign. The regiment formed the advance guard in entering Frederick City, and was engaged at South Mountain. In the battle of Antietam Stedman had command of the right wing of the regiment in the attack on the Stone Bridge, and, after the death of the gallant Kingsbury, led in the charge by which it was captured. Here he was severely wounded, but refused to leave the field until the regiment was relieved.

On Sept. 25, of that year, Stedman was made colonel, and was in command at the battle of Fred- ericksburg. Shortly afterward he was ordered to Newport News, then in March, 1863, to Suffolk, where he took an active part in the defense dur- ing its investment by Longstreet. In June he par- ticipated in the demonstration on Richmond, and during the rest of the summer and fall was in gar- rison at Gloucester Point and Yorktown. In Jan- uary, 1864, the regiment re-enlisted, and on its re- turn to the front was assigned to the Eighteenth corps ; was engaged in the affair at Swift's Creek, May o, and in the battle of Drury's Bluff, on the 16th, where he lost nearly two hundred men. In the latter part of May, Stedman succeeded to the command of the brigade, and went with Gen. Smith's corps to the Army of the Potomac in time to join in the bloody assault upon the enemy's line at Cold Harbor. On June 15 he was present at the cap- ture of a portion of the defenses of Petersburg, and subsequently was engaged in the investment of that place. On August 5, just at the end of the at- tack which had been repulsed, and while talking with Gen. Ames he received his death wound. Repeat-

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

edly recommended for promotion by his division and corps commanders for personal gallantry and effective service while leading his brigade, his com- mission as general reached him as his life was ebb- ing away.

Such in brief outline was the career of one of Connecticut's best and bravest sons. His country called, he gave her all he had, his life. The details that would round out the study of his service are woven in the records of the Fifth and Eleventh Connecticut regiments, and of his later commands. These records tell of many a well-fought field, of patient endurance, of weary march, of defeat and victory, and all illumined with the spirit of pa- triotic devotion and self-sacrifice.

Gen. Stedman was possessed in a high degree of the qualities which mark the successful com- mander. Cool and collected he was always master of himself and of the situation, and inspired a con- fidence in those under him that was unbounded. Ever ready for any service, never complaining, al- ways setting an example of cheerful obedience to orders, and always exacting strict compliance with his own without in any degree being a martinet. By force of his personality he exerted an influence that was irresistible. He governed not so much by fear of punishment as by creating an ideal of duty which made every man feel the honor of the regi- ment was in his keeping, and that failure on his part would bring discredit on the command. Those who knew Stedman best loved him best. There was an indescribable something in his bearing and man- ner by which you realized that you had met a man. He was strong of heart and true of purpose, and withal tender as a woman, self-reliant, but always considerate of others. "Whom the Gods love die young." Lives are not like leaseholds measured by a term of years, achievement laughs to scorn the reaper death. If Stedman's years were few they sufficed to bring him honor and renown. He left a memory without a stain. He died for others. [The foregoing personal sketch of Gen. Stedman is in main taken from the oration of Col. W. S. Cogswell, delivered at the unveiling of the Sted- man monument at Hartford Oct. 4, 1900. ]

The shot that gave Gen. Stedman his mortal wound passed through his stomach. He lived until the following morning, dying Aug. 6, 1864. Gen. Ames, in announcing to Gen. Ord the fact of the receiving of the mortal wound, stated that he had lost one of the finest soldiers in the army. Gen. Stedman's remains were sent under escort to New London, Conn., the summer home of the family, and Aug. 13. 1864, his body was temporarily in- terred, with military honors, in Cedar Grove ceme- tery in that city. On Aug. 20, 1875. his remains were removed from New London to Hartford, and reburied in the family lot in Cedar Hill cemetery, where they now repose, a handsome and elaborately carved sarcophagus of military design marking his last resting place. On the base of the tomb appears the highly appropriate inscription: "Brave, just,

generous and pure, without fear and without re- proach."

On what is known as Campfield, in the southern part of the city of Hartford, there has just been erected by the Campfield Monument Association what is designated as The Campfield Monument. Campfield was made historic during the Civil war by its being the camping place and mustering-in point of many Connecticut regiments. To mark this field and commemorate the memories that cluster about it this monument was erected by the associa- tion, who likewise determined upon having it sur- mounted by a portrait statue of some typical Con- necticut volunteer, one whose military history was linked with the field. and it was unanimously decided upon that of Gen. Griffin A. Stedman. "The Com- mittee in charge has crowned the pedestal on which are inscribed the names of the regiments that were here mustered into service with a statue in bronze of one who was, in fullest measure. a type of the citizen soldier of the Republic. Of one who rep- resented in marked degree the patriotism, courage, determination, intelligence, and self-sacrifice that animated the great army by which the nation was preserved." The monument was unveiled Oct. 4, 1900.

JOHNSON. The Johnson family of Hartford, of which the late Gen. Nathan Johnson and descend- ants, among whom is Charles W. Johnson, yet a res- ident of the city, and family, and who in turn with his father has been identified with the legal profes- sion and courts of the county and State throughout the last century, is one among the oldest of New England families, and also one of prominence.

William Johnson. the emigrant ancestor, sup- posed to have come from Heonehill, a parish near Canterbury, County of Essex, England, left Lon- don, England, in 1634, at the age of thirty-two, for America and settled in Charlestown, Mass., where he had three and one-half acres of land laid out to him in that same year, 1634. He and his wife Elizabeth were admitted to the church in Charles- town in 1635. and in March of that same year he was made a freeman. His death occurred between 1677 and 1678, when he was seventy-six years of age.

From this emigrant ancestor Charles W. John- son. of Hartford, is a descendant in the seventh generation. his line being through Jonathan, Will- iam (2), Isaac, Elisha and Gen. Nathan Johnson.

(11) Jonathan Johnson. son of William. the em- igrant, born in 1641, settled in Marlboro, Mass., in 1662, where he had some thirty acres of land as- signed to him. He married Oct. 14. 1663. Mary, born in 1644, daughter of Richard and Ann Newton, of Marlboro (the first marriage recorded in the town). Jonathan was for several years the school- master, and was the first master in the first school- house erected in the town, in 1700. Ile served as selectman, and died in 1712 : his widow Mary passed away in 1728. The handwriting of Jonathan John-

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

son, samples of which exist in deeds and other doc- uments, indicates a man of education, marked indi- viduality and force of character. He wrote his will but a few days before his death at the age of seventy-one, yet the bold, clear-cut letters would do credit to a professional penman.

(III) William Johnson (2), son of Jonathan, born Dec. 15, 1665, married (first ), about 1688, Hannah Larkin, who died in 1696, and ( second) about 1699 wedded Hannah Rider. Mr. Johnson was chosen moderator of the first business town meeting, and took a prominent part in town affairs for many years, representing the town in General Court, was constable and frequently served on im- portant committees, and from 1706-08, held the office of highway surveyor for Marlborough. He had a sawmill and gristmill in 1733. His death occurred in Southborough in 1754, when aged eighty-eight years. His widow died in 1757, when aged sev- enty-nine years.

(IV) Isaac Johnson, son of William (2), born in 1713, married, in 1733 or '35, Rachel Thomas, daughter of Joseph Thomas (son of Rowland Thomas, of Springfield, and Sarah, daughter of Deacon Samuel Chapin) and Mary, first wife ( ?), or Elizabeth, second wife (?). Isaac was select- man in Southborough in 1761 and 1771. After having lived together as man and wife for sixty years, Mrs. Johnson died in 1794, aged eighty-four years, and Mr. Johnson in 1801, aged eighty-eight years.

(V) Elisha Johnson, son of Isaac, born July I, 1753, married (first), in 1774, Abigail Newton, who died in 1776, and (second) he wedded, in 1778, Sarah Perry, daughter of Nathan (Josiah, John (2), John) and Hannah Fiske (Thomas, William, John, Nathaniel, the progenitor). Mrs. Sarah (Perry) Johnson died in 1847, and Elisha Johnson passed away in 1832, aged seventy-nine years. Under the heading of "Southboro in the Revolution" in a pam- phlet from edition of Historical Sketches of that town by Deacon Peter Fay, it is stated that "South- boro evinced a noble patriotism in the Revolutionary war, sending a large number of minute-men to the "opening conflict," and in the company of Capt. Jo- siah Fay, which on Nov. 8, 1774. was ordered "to appear in the Common training field by the Meet- ing House in said Southboro with their fire arms complete on the Ninth Day of this Instant Novem- ber att eight of the Clock in the fournoon of Said Day then and thair Remain and Obay further or- ders," Elisha Johnson's name appears as a member of this company.

(VI) Gen. Nathan Johnson, son of Elisha, and the father of Charles W. Johnson, of Hartford, was born Aug. 24, 1779, and was married in August, 1818, to Sarah Butler Merrill, born Feb. 1. 1796, clied Dec. 3, 1888, in ITartford, a daughter of Heze- kiah and Catherine ( Collier) Merrill, of Hartford, and to the union were born children as follows : Elizabeth Sadler, born in 1819, married Rev. Will- iam E. Dixon, and died in 1861 ; Sarah Butler, born

in 1821; Harriet N., born in 1822; Emily Merrill, born Nov. 26, 1824, married James H. Holcombe, of Hartford; Nathan Perry, born in 1827, died in 1858; Laura, born in 1829; Charles W., born in 1831; and Catherine, born in 1834, died in 1835.

( Hezekiah Merrill, in the foregoing, was the son of Capt. Hezekiah, who was in the fourth genera- tion from Nathaniel, the first settler, through John and Deacon Daniel Merrill; and Catherine Collier was the daughter of Capt. Hezekiah Collier (2), who was in the fourth generation from Joseph Col- lier, the settler, through Joseph (2) and Capt. Heze- kiah (1), and she was also the great-granddaughter of Capt. Joseph Wadsworth, of Charter Oak fame. Hezekiah Merrill (2) was appointed cashier of the old Hartford Bank, the first bank of the place, at its organization June 16, 1792, and served as such officer until 1799 when he declined re-appointment. At an early period he had been an apothecary and bookseller at the sign of the "Unicorn and Mortar," a few rods south of the Court Ilouse, and subse- quently a merchant. He served as city treasurer from the time Hartford was incorporated as a city in 1784, until his death July 18, 1801. Mr. Merrill was the brother-in-law of Maj. Joseph Caldwell, the first president of the old Hartford Bank).

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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 15

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