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 177
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On Dec. 24. 1811, Mr. Wolcott married Mary Wells Robbins, a daughter of Robert and Mary (Wells) Robbins, of Wethersfield, where she was born Dec. 4. 1791, and they became the parents of ten children: (1) Mary, born in August, 1812, died in 1867: she married John Wells, who died in 1899. (2) Sarah Nott, born in August. 1814, died at the age of eighty, unmarried. (3) Elisha Rob- bins, born in December, 1816, died a bachelor. (4) Charles was born June 20, 1819. (5) John was
born Jan. 4, 1822. (6) Elizabeth was born Jan. 12, 1825. (7) Robert R. was born Jan. 4, 1827. (A sketch of him follows.) (8) Hannah E., born Oct. 10, 1831, died when five years old. Two died in infancy. Mrs. Mary Wolcott died in 1878, and was buried with her husband's family. She was a devout member of the Congregational Church, ex- emplifying her faith in her daily life, a faithful wife, and a fond, self-sacrificing mother.
Charles Wolcott was born in the Wolcott home- stead at Wethersfield. He attended both private and public schools at Wethersfield, and so thor- oughly improved the advantages which he en- joyed that he himself was qualified to teach (and did teach) district schools during the winter months, while yet a youth, living on the ancestral farm with his parents and devoting his summers to ordinary agricultural work. Thus his life passed until the year of his marriage (1847), when he re- moved to the house just south of the old place, where he has resided ever since, and on which he has made extensive improvements, among them being the building of several new, large, well-ar- ranged barns. In addition to carrying on general and dairy farming he is an extensive grower of tobacco and seeds, and raises large quantities of small fruits. He is energetic and enterprising, and fully abreast of the times, although wisely conserv- ative, neither discarding that which has been
proved good merely because it is old, nor condemn- ing change solely on the score of its novelty. In politics he is a Republican, in religious belief a Congregationalist. He is a member of the Weth- ersfield Grange. Despite his fourscore years he is erect, hale, and vigorous in both mind and body, still retaining the personal management of all his business interests. He is well-read, and keenly alive to all the vital questions of the day. His home is one of culture and refinement, and beneath its hospitable roof is passing his declining years in company with his wife, honored and beloved by the community in which he has dwelt for eighty years, looking back upon the past without shame, and for- ward to the future without fear.
Mr. Wolcott was married at Wethersfield, in 1847, to Hannah Blinn, daughter of Capt. James and Hannah ( Coleman) Blinn, the former of whom followed the seas most of his life: he was a popular and upright citizen. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Wolcott, Harriet Blinn and Charles F. The daughter was born June 27. 1848, and received her education at the public schools of Wethersfield and the Normal School at New Brit- ain, graduating from the last named institution, and afterward teaching school for several years. In 1876 she married George M. Chittenden, of Guilford, by whom she became the mother of two children : Elizabeth Wolcott, born March 31, 188 1, and Marion Blinn, born Oct. 9. 1888. Charles F. Wolcott was born March 21, 1858. Early attend- ance upon the district schools was supplemented by a course at Allegheny College, Meadville, Penn.,
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and while yet a young woman he went West. After teaching school for a time in Illinois he removed to Redlands, Cal., where he became an orange grower. He married Ida Tyson, a school teacher of Centralia, Ill., who died Feb. 7, 1894, and they had one son, Frank Hooton, born April 24, 1883.
Mrs. Hannah (Blinn) Wolcott died in Novem- ber, 1860, and was laid to rest in the family bury- ing-ground. She was a woman of exemplary Christian character and many domestic virtues, and was beloved by her neighbors and all, being al- ways ready to aid others as opportunity offered. On Oct. 2, 1862, Mr. Wolcott married, at Meriden, Miss Harriet B. Libby, who was born at West- brook, Maine, a daughter of Nathan and Mary (Babb) Libby. To this marriage came three sons and two daughters. (I) The eldest, Edward Wilder, was born Oct. 15, 1863, and died Aug. 30, 1865. (2) Elisha Robbins was born Feb. 2, 1865, at- tended the Hartford Public High School and Wil- braham Academy, and resided on the homestead farm. (3) Robert Rich, born Feb. 7, 1868, acquired his preparatory education at Williston Seminary and the Russel school, graduated from the Medical Department of New York University in 1890, and began the practice of his profession at Boulder, Colo. He died in 1893, at Phoenix, Arizona. On July 22, 1892, at New York, he was married to Miss Lillien de Walltearss. (4) Helen Libby, born Oct. 17, 1869, graduated from the Hartford Public High School and from Smith College, Northamp- ton, Mass., receiving her diploma from the last- named institution in 1892. She is a teacher in the Hartford Public High School. (5) Mary Ladovett, born Sept. 28, 1876, graduated from the Hartford Public High School, and in 1899 from the Emerson College of Oratory, at Boston. Both the Misses Wolcott are ladies of higli culture and refined tastes, and are popular in society, of which they are recognized leaders.
The LIBBY family, to which the present Mrs. Wolcott belongs, is one of the oldest, most prom- inent and most respected in Maine. It is of Eng- lish origin, its first member fo settle in this country having been John Libby, who was born in England about 1612 and crossed the ocean in 1630. He was a fisherman by occupation, sailing his vessel along the Maine coast, and was one of the founders of the town of Scarboro. He became a prominent citizen, being chosen town constable in 1664, and one of the four selectmen in 1669. He accumu- lated what, for his time, was regarded as a compe- tence, and died at the age of eighty years. He was twice married, and was the fatlier of twelve chil- dren: John, born in 1636: James and Samuel, both of whom lost their lives in King Philip's war; Jo- anna, who married Thomas Bickford; Henry, born in 1647, and in later life the husband of Honor Humeson : Anthony, born in 1640, and married to Sarah Drake: Sarah, born in 1653, who became the wife of Robert Tisley : Rebecca ( Mrs. Joshua Brown) ; Hannah, the wife of Daniel Fogg; David,
born in 1657; Matthew, born in 1663, and married to Elizabeth Brown; and Daniel, who became the husband of Mary Ashton.
David Libby, the tenth child, and a direct lineal ancestor of Mrs. Charles Wolcott, was born at Scarboro. He was a farmer, and after his mar- riage lived on what is now known as Libby Hill, at Eliot, Maine. He died in 1730. His wife's name was Eleanor - , and to their marriage came nine children: David, the first-born, married Esther Hanscom; Samuel was the husband of Mary Sibley; Solomon married Martha Hanscom ; Mary became Mrs. Joseph Small; John, the fifth child, was born at Portsmouth, in 1697; Elizabeth was the wife of Edward Cloudman ; Ephraim, born Feb. 2, 1702, married Mary Ambler : Eleanor, born Jan. 21, 1705, married Zebulon Hickey: Abigail, born Sept. 29. 1707, married Richard Nanson in 1729.
John Libby was a farmer. His first wife's maiden name was Sarah Libby, and the date of their marriage was Nov. 14, 1724. He died at his birthplace, Scarboro, on July 1, 1764. He was twice married, his second wife being Deborah Dunnivan, of Falmouth. Seven children were born to him: Elisha, who was born in 1725, mar- ried Elizabeth Fogg, and after her death, wed- ded Abigail Meserve : Matthew, born Feb. 25, 1729, married Sarah Hanscom, and, later, wedded Han- nah Hasty: Mark was born June 8, 1731 : Allison, born Sept. 12, 1733, married (first) Sarah Skill- ings, and (second) Mary Sibley; Nathaniel, born Sept. 5. 1735, married Mary Meserve: Luke, born Aug. 15, 1737, married Dorothy McKerney; and John, born Sept. 15, 1744.
Mark Libby was a farmer. He married Lydia Skillings, who bore him five children. He died in 1768. and Aug. 9, 1774, his widow married Sam- uel Sowell. She died Oct. 12, 1812. Mark Libby's children were: Dorcas, born Nov. 28, 1755, was married Nov. II. 1776, to William Jones : Betty, born in 1758. died in childhood ; Lois, born Nov. 15. 1759, died Feb. 15. 1832; John Skillings, born Nov. 23, 1761 ; and Amos, born Dec. 1, 1763, the liusband of Sarah Hunnewell.
John Skillings Libby, like his father, passed his life upon a farm. On Feb. 15. 1787, he married Rhoda Cummings. of Cape Elizabeth. Maine, by whom he was the father of ten children. He died Dec. 8. 1807, and his widow on Aug. 28, 1849. The children of this union, in the order of their birth, were : Mark, born Dec. II, 1787. died Oct. 22, 1807; Lydia, born Jan. 18. 1789, died Jan. II. 1834: Eu- nice, born Dec. 25, 1791, married Edward Skill- ings Oct. 12. 1812: Eliakim, born Sept. 19. 1793, died Feb. 15. 1857: Thomas, born Jan. 7, 1795, lost his life while serving as a soldier in the war of 1812; Nathan was born Jan. 4. 1797: Isaiah, born May 17, 1799, was twice married, first to Almira Skillings and afterward to Miriam Butterfield ; William, born in 1803, married Lucy Skillings June 5. 1828, and died June 6. 1845: Mehitabel,
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born Dec. 25, 1805, became the wife of Andrew Taylor ; and John Skillings, born Oct. 15, 1807, married Eliza Berry.
Nathan Libby, the father of Mrs. Charles Wol- cott, was born, as were many of his immediate ancestors, at Scarboro, Maine. He learned the trade of a stone mason in early youth, and at the age of nineteen years went to Westbrook, where he obtained a situation as a journeyman. His native intelligence, however, joined to his skill as a workman, did not suffer him to long remain in the position of a mere employe. He soon became a contractor, which business he followed until with- in a few years of his death, on Nov. 12, 1855. His wife, Mary Ledoit ( Babb), a daughter of Peter and Lucy (Bailey) Babb, survived him until Sept. 8, 1876, when she passed away at Meriden. The date of their marriage was Oct. 11, 1821, and they were the parents of twelve children : David Bailey, the eldest, was born June II. 1823, and married Sarah Libby in 1846. Rhoda Ann, born in June, 1825, lost her life through being burned, in May, 1828. Mary Elizabeth, born in April, 1827. died the following year. Cyrus Edwin, born May 3, 1828, was twice married, first, in 1852, to Ann J. Cobb, and after her demise to Sarah D. Gaskill. The fifth child died in infancy, as did also the sixth. Mary Eliza, born May 3, 1834, on Feb. 9. 1852, be- came the wife of I. A. Redman. Rebecca Jane, born May I. 1837. was married to Jabez Mariner Sept. 7. 1856. Harriet Babb (Mrs. Charles Wol- cott ), born Sept. 3. 1839. Aphia Maria, born Sept. 12, 1841, died in September, 1847. Lucy, the eleventh child, died'at the age of six months. Ella Frances ( now Mrs. Charles Lewis, of Meriden), was born Feb. 20. 1846.
ROBERT ROBBINS WOLCOTT was born Jan. 4. 1827. He acquired his education at the public schools and the academy of his native town, Wethersfield, and at the Hartford Grammar School. At the age of sixteen his father's failing health ne- cessitated his taking charge of the farm. During the winter months he taught school at Enfield. Berlin, and (for four terms) Wethersfield. Dur- ing these years he had charge of his father's busi- ness affairs, until the latter retired from active pursuits. In 1848 he bought Judge Walter Mitch- ell's farm, embracing one hundred acres. This he greatly improved, erecting one of the finest barns in the town. He has also added to his holdings. until at present he owns one of the largest and best-improved farms in Wethersfield. He has car- ried on general farming. and has devoted especial attention to tobacco and seed raising. He has in- herited his father's energy, sound business sense and sterling integrity, and enjoys the esteem of the community at large, as well as the warm regard of his wide circle of personal friends.
In 1858, at Hartford, Mr. Wolcott married Harriet Bliss Lord, a daughter of Horace Lord, of Springfield, Mass. Their union has been blessed
with two children. The elder, Alice E., was born March 10, 1859. She was educated in the district schools and the academy of Wethersfield, later graduating from the Hartford Public High School. She is a lady of refined tastes and cultivated mind, and popular in society, although of domestic tastes. She was married to Wilbur Squire on July 27, 1881, and is the mother of five children: Robert Allen, born Jan. 11, 1883: William Lord, Aug. 30, 1884; Wolcott, July 20. 1886; Roger Wolcott, Nov. 16, 1890; and Lucy Butler, Dec. 20, 1895. Mr. and Mrs. Wolcott's second child, Mary Wells, was born Oct. 23, 1860. She graduated with honor from the Hartford Public High School, and was for five years a teacher in that institution. On July 6, 1887. she became the wife of Rev. John Barstow, a Congregational minister of Medford, and they have had four children, whose names with the dates of their birth, are Eunice Clark, Ang. 19. 1888: Robbins Wolcott, Feb. 18, 1890; Harriet Lord. Nov. 15, 1892; and Alice, Dec. 10, 1897.
Mr. Wolcott is a Republican in politics, but although one of the most popular men of his town and county, he has never desired to hold office. Ile is, however, eminently public-spirited, and in 1868 he accepted a nomination as candidate for the Legislature on his party's ticket, and was elected. His fellow townsmen have also attested their ap- preciation of his worth by making him assessor, and a member of the board of relief. His energy and progressive spirit have, as it were, forced him to take a leading part in all public affairs, both town and county. He has always cherished a deep interest in the cause of education, and was one of the chief promoters of the Wethersfield High School. He reads much, and with a judicious dis- crimination, the result of which has been the stor- ing of his mind with a fund of well-assorted, well- digested information upon a variety of topics in the fields of political, literary and scientific re- search. His temperament is genial and his disposi- tion kindly, while his purse is ever open to the calls of public and private charity alike. Both Mr. and Mrs. Wolcott are members of the Congregational Church and of the Wethersfield Grange.
Mrs. Wolcott graduated from the Hartford Female Seminary in 1857. While never failing in her attention to household cares, and devotedly faithful in the discharge of her duties as a wife and mother, she still finds leisure for the further culti- vation of a finely trained, well stored mind, as well as to keep fully abreast of the current topics of the day. She is a brilliant conversationalist, and of easy, graceful manners. The following brief gene- alogical account of Mrs. Wolcott's family is of in- terest. The family is one of the oldest in Hart- ford county, and its members have been always justly considered as ranking among the county's best citizens.
The first American ancestor was THOMAS LORD, who took up his residence in Hartford
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among the earliest settlers. He was an English emigrant, and both he and his wife, Dorothy, whom he had married in England, died in Hartford, the wife in 1678, at the ripe old age of eighty-seven years. All their eight children were born in Eng- land, and came with their parents to America. Their names were Richard, who was born in 1611; Thomas, born in 1619, settled at Wethersfield ; Ann, born in 1621, married Thomas Stratton ; William, born in 1623, died at Saybrook, May 17, 1768; John, born in 1625, married a Hartford lady, on May 15, 1648, and emigrated; Robert, born in 1627, became a sea captain ; Irene, born in 1629, married Corporal John Gilbert, and died Jan. 8. 1691 ; Dorothy, born in 1631, married John Inger- soll in 1651, and died at Northampton in January, 1657. Jeremiah Lord, supposed to have been a grandson of Thomas, was one of the early settlers of East Windsor, where he spent his life. He was married to Anna Pease on Nov. 5, 1719. She was born Oct. 29, 1685. Their son, who was also named Jeremiah, was born about 1724. He mar- ried Sarah, a daughter of Israel and Sarah ( Booth) P'ease, who was born at Enfield in 1729, and died March 5. 1791. Jeremiah Lord (2) died Sept. 4. 1800, at the age of seventy-six. His son, Jere- miah (3), married Tryphena Pease, whose parents were Samuel and Jerusha (Chapin) Pease. She was born at Enfield Sept. 28, 1758, and became Mrs. Lord Feb. 5. 1777. Her husband died Oct. 14, 1812, in his fifty-eighth year : she passed away on July 27, 1839. Jeremiah Lord (3) and his wife were the parents of ten children: Jabez, the eldest, born Nov. 2, 1778, married Lydia Hamilton, who died July 11, 1853 ; he died Oct. 7, 1829. Sarah, the second child, was born July 31, 1780, and mar- ried Elam Griswold. Jeremiah was born Feb. 17, 1782, and Rhoda ( Mrs. Isaac Pinney ) on Feb. 19. 1786. Orvin was born May 8, 1788 ; married Edith Richardson, Feb. 16, 1809, and died Nov. 1, 1847. Chester and Lucretia (twins) were born Jan. 23, 1701; Lucretia became the wife of Josiah Ells- worth. Horace, the grandfather of Mrs. Robert R. Wolcott, was born March 23, 1793. Levi, born Jan. 14. 1795, married Sally, daughter of Joseph Lord, on Jan. 30, 1817, and died July 21, 1878. Henry married Ella Griswold.
Horace Lord, who, as has been said, was Mrs. Wolcott's grandfather, married Sally Buckland. who was born in 1798. The following named chil- dren were born to them: Horace (2), in Novem- ber, 1815: James Oramel, March 20, 1817: Otis A., April 13, 1819: and Havilah, March 29, 1821. The first Mrs. Horace Lord died Aug. 18, 1826, and he was afterward twice married, dying on July 30, 1845.
Horace Lord (2), Mrs. Wolcott's father, was born at East Windsor, but while quite a young man removed to Springfield, Mass., where he learned the trade of a machinist, and where he also married, in 1836, Harriet Sexton, a daughter of Oliver Sexton, of that city. After his marriage he went to Whitneyville, to become superintendent
of the Whitney Works, and in 1850 removed from there to Hartford, to work in the Colts' Armory. He rose to be superintendent of that establishment, which position he continued to fill until his death. He was a skilled mechanic and a man of excellent character and executive ability and his integrity, tact and impartial sense of justice won for him the esteem of his employers and employes alike. He died Feb. 28, 1885, and his widow followed him to the grave in 1887. Both sleep in Spring Grove cemetery. Mr. Lord was a man of recognized cap- ability and unsullied character, and honored in the community where he lived, his death being mourned as a public bereavement. He was an earn- est friend of popular education. He was endowed with musical taste and was for several years a choir leader. Politically he was at first a Whig, and afterward a Republican. Mr. and Mrs. Lord had two daughters: Harriet Bliss, born Nov. 26, 1837, now the wife of Robert Robbins Wolcott; and Alice Sophia, born June 24, 1846, who died in childhood.
MARY S. TUDOR, M. D., a successful medical practitioner of the town of South Windsor, has a maternal ancestry of marked intellectual activity, as well as a paternal ancestry that runs back into the early Colonial history of the State. She was born on the farm where she now resides, and which has been in the Tudor family for seven generations. Here were born her father, David Tu lor ; her grand- father, Oliver Tudor; and her great-grandfather, Samuel. The farm was first occupied by Owen Tudor, in the year 1651. The mother of Dr. Tudor, Sarah E. (Green), was a daughter of Col. Samuel Green, whose ancestor established the earliest pub- lishing house in the Connecticut colony, and for many years continued to print the State Colonial documents. He also edited and published the pio- neer newspaper of the colony, the New London Gasette, which was conducted by Col. Green and his son until after 1840.
Her father, David Tudor, was born in 1805, and spent his entire life upon the farm of his nativity, reaching a good old age, and dying in 1880 : his wife died Nov. 8, 1881, aged seventy-five years. To David and Sarah E. Tudor came three children : Mary Starr, born Sept. 19, 1840; Sarah Elizabeth, wife of E. Dwight Farnham, of South Windsor ; and Louise Green, wife of Dr. Pierre S. Starr, a well-known physician of Hartford.
Mary S., the subject of this sketch, after study at private school, attended Miss Draper's Seminary for young ladies at Hartford, where she graduated. She has resided on the home farm throughout life, and from 1880 to 1889 managed its affairs. In that year she entered the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, and graduated with the class of '92. She was then for a year resi- dent physician of the Northwestern Hospital, Minneapolis, Minn. Returning to the old home- stead in 1893, Dr. Tudor has since engaged
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actively in the practice of her chosen profession. Later she attended a course at the Philadelphia Polyclinic and College for graduates in medicine. She owns a well-cultivated farm of eighty acres, which she superintends in connection with her increasing and successful practice. Dr. Tudor is a member of St. John's Episcopal Church, and is a member of the Hartford County Medical Society, and the Connecticut State Medical Society. She is a charter member of the Martha Pitkin Wolcott Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolu- tion.
HON. PHILIP JOSEPH MARKLEY, A. M., one of the most prominent attorneys and public men of New Britain, is a son of one of the former business men of that city who rose to a commanding position in the commercial world from the status of an Irish emigrant, having left his native land in the year of its great famine to better his condition in America. In this instance it can be said "like father, like son," for the same determined effort, native ability and sturdy independence which won splendid achievements for the father have blessed the ca- reer of his son.
Thomas Markley was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, in 1820, and about 1848 crossed the ocean to America, locating at Farmington. Seizing the first opportunity for employment, he engaged in general work at Unionville for a family named Young. But he resolved to be the architect of his own fortune, and not long after he began his mer- cantile career as a member of the meat market firm of Stanley & Markley, doing a retail business on Main street, near where his son now has an office. About 1865, Walter Stanley, senior partner of the firm, died, and Mr. Markley then formed a partnership with J. B. Hawkins & Company, that firm consisting of several brothers named Hawkins. The new firm carried on the retail trade of meats, groceries and feed, and was one of the largest con- cerns of the kind in the city at that time. Several years later Mr. Markley withdrew to engage in the wholesale meat business. He was the pioneer of a trade which has since grown to be a most im- portant one, and continued in this business until 1879 or 1880, when Chicago dressed beef came into the market, and, as at other business centers, made the local industry no longer profitable. He retired from business, and died in 1883. Thomas Mark- ley was a successful merchant. He was well edu- cated, and was especially proficient in mathematics. He was held in high esteem throughout New Britain. In politics he was a Democrat, and in religious faith a Catholic, taking an active interest in church mat- ters. He married Ann Brady, a native of County Meath, who was born in 1824, came to America about 1848. and died in 1885. The children of Thomas and Ann Markley were as follows: Lizzie, born Dec. 25, 1853, died in 1885; Philip J. is the subject of these lines ; William, born Aug. 27, 1857, was a life and fire insurance agent of New Britain,
and died July 15, 1886; Grace A., born Sept. 8, 1859, is the wife of Dr. M. J. Coholan, of New Britain.
Philip J. Markley was born Feb. 21, 1855, at New Britain. His early education was obtained at the public schools and the high school of his native town, and in the fall of 1871 he matriculated at Holy Cross College, at Worcester, Mass. Taking a two-years preparatory course, he was graduated in 1877 with the degree of A. B., receiving the degree of A. M. in course from his alma mater in 1884. He began the study of law in the office of Mitchell & Hungerford, in the fall of 1877, and continued with them until the fall of 1879, when he entered Columbia Law School, New York City, spending the school year of 1879-80 at that institu- tion. Returning to New Britain he again entered the law office of Mitchell & Hungerford as a student, continuing there until December, 1880, when he was admitted to the Bar. He remained with the firm about six months after admission, when he began practice by himself. During his entire legal career Mr. Markley has formed no partnerships. He has enjoyed a fine practice, having an individual clientele second to none in the city. Always a Democrat, he has been elected to offices of trust and responsi- bility by the people, regardless of his party affilia- tions. He was a member of the common council of New Britain in 1883, and of the board of aldermen in 1884 and 1885; was appointed city attorney by that board for the years 1886 to 1891, again in 1892, and in 1899 was once more appointed to said office by a Republican common council of said city. He was elected by popular vote to a commissionership on the board of sewer commissioners, of which he acted as chairman from 1885 to 1890. He has been elected to the office of town auditor by popular vote for the years 1885 to 1897, inclusive, and he has been chairman of the board of education from 1893 to the present time. In 1891 he was New Britain's representative in the Legislature. Since 1886 Mr. Markley has been one of the national officers of the Order of Knights of Columbus, and he has been attorney for the entire order since that time.
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