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 24

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 24

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RICHARD BACON ENO, son of the subject of this sketch, received a sound district-school education, and is engaged in farming. stock raising and dairy- ing on the farm at Weatogue .. He is one of the most enterprising and progressive young agricult- urists of the town of Simsbury, besides being the operator of the Mount Philip Farm, having the largest dairy in the town; he is a director in the Connecticut Dairymen's Association. He is one of the most popular men in Simsbury, and commands. the respect of all who know him, as he is industrious. temperate, affable in demeanor, and naturally a gen- tleman. He is a member of the Sons of the Amer- ican Revolution, uniting with the chapter at Hart- ford. Mr. Eno was superintendent of the Con- gregational Sunday-school for eight years.

Richard Bacon, father of Mrs. Eno, was a de- scendant of Connecticut ancestry. He was born in Wethersfield Oct. 11. 1785. a son of Richard Bacon, and a brother of George Bacon, who became very prominent in the city of New York, as Richard was at Hartford, where he was first engaged in the- West India trade, and later, with his brother George and others, in the copper mines at Copper Hill, town of East Granby. Hartford county, which

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business took him to Europe-principally to Swan- sca, England. While in that country, in 1845, he interested several capitalists in the manufacture of safety-fuses for blasting rock. A factory was first established for this purpose at Weatogue, and conducted under the firm name of Bacon, Bickford & Co., being the first concern of the kind in Amer- ica. Mr. Bacon also owned a large farm, where he passed his declining years.

Mr. Bacon married, Jan. 12, 1813. Laura Gris- wold Humphrey, who was born Sept. 18, 1787, and died Nov. 18, 1859. To this union came seven chil- dren : Richard, born March 20, 1814. died unmar- ried Dec. 30, 1837: Harriet Humphrey, born Sept. 18, 1815, also died unmarried; Laura Elizabeth, born Oct. 1, 1819, died in 1869 ; Moses Tryon, born Jan. 27, 1822, died unmarried Aug. 17, 1843: Charles, born Feb. 14, 1824, married Anna Putnam, great-granddaughter of Gen. Israel Putnam; Maria. born Dec. 14, 1825, became the wife of Chauncey E. Eno, our subject : and Philip was born April 8, 1827.

Hon. Chauncey E. Eno was first a Whig, and became a Republican on the disintegration of the old party. He has represented his district in the General Assembly one term, although he did not seek the office, and he has always done good and active work for his party. He is a man of the strictest honor, and a devout member of the Con- gregational Church, and no man in Simsbury town is more highly esteemed.

ARCHIBALD ASHLEY WELCH, actuary of the Phoenix Life Insurance Co., Hartford, comes of a family which has long been prominently identified with the leading residents of Mansfield, Tolland Co., Conn., especially in professional circles. Rev. Daniel Welch (a graduate of Yale ) and Rev. Moses Cook Welch, the latter a native of Mansfield, great-great-grandfather and great-grandfather, re- spectively, of our subject, were both ministers of the Gospel, located at Mansfield.

Dr. Archibald Welch, grandfather of our sub- ject, was born in Mansfield, but moved to Wethers- field. Hartford county. He completed his educa- tion at Yale, receiving his degree from that Univer- sity, and was a well-known physician and prominent resident of Wethersfield. He was one of those killed on the train-bearing many of the prominent phy- sicians of this section-which went through the draw at Norwalk in 1853. Dr. Welch married Miss Cynthia Hyde, of Tolland county, and they had five children, one of whom, Moses, graduated at Yale. and took his grandfather's pulpit at Mansfield for a time, later removing to Hartford.

Henry K. W. Welch, father of our subject, was born in Mansfield, moved to Wethersfield, and, like his ancestors, was liberally educated, graduating from Yale and later studying law. Later he was a partner of Judge Nathaniel Shipman, now of the United States court, and he attained high standing

and honor in his profession. Actively interesed in the public affairs of his day, and especially in local progress, he was chosen to various positions of trust, represented his town in the State Legislature, and was member and chairman of the high school committee of the town. He was a director in the old Continental Insurance Co. Mr. Welch married Su- san L. Goodwin, who was born in Hartford, where the "Allyn House" now stands, daughter of Edward and Eliza ( Sheldon) Goodwin, who had three chil- dren. She belongs to a well-known family of the city, her father having been one of the early proprie- tors of the Hartford Courant. Five children were born to this union : Archibald A., whose name intro- duces this sketch ; Edward G., who died in 1894. in Chicago: Frances G., widow of Bernard T. Will- iams ; Henry K. W., secretary of the J. B. Williams Co., of Glastonbury ; and Lewis S., of New Haven, who is a graduate of Yale, and editor of the "Yale Alumni Weekly." The father of this family died at the age of fifty. The mother survives, making her home in Hartford. She is a member of the Con- gregational Church, to which her husband also be- longed.

Archibald A. Welch was born Oct. 6, 1859. in Hartford, where he has always had his home. Dur- ing his boyhood he attended the North school, and later the Hartford Public High School, from which he was graduated in 1878. Matriculating at Yale, he continued his studies in that institution to the end of the Junior year, leaving to enter the service of the Travelers Insurance Co., in the actuary's office. He remained with that concern until 1890, when he took the position of actuary with the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Co., with which he has since con- tinued. In 1891 he completed his college course, receiving the degree of A. B. from Yale. He is a member of the Actuarial Society of America : chair- man of the high school committee ; secretary of the American School for the Deaf, Hartford; and a member of the Farmington Avenue Congregational Church.

In 1884 Mr. Welch married Miss Ellen Bunce, who was born in Hartford, daughter of James M. and Elizabeth (Chester) Bunce, the latter a native of Wethersfield. Mr. Bunce was a wholesale grocer of Hartford, vice-president of the Hartford, Provi- dence & Fishkill railroad, and a prominent resident of Hartford.

JAMES H. OSBORNE, M. D. (deceased), was not only prominent as the acknowledged lead- ing medical practitioner of Southington, but dur- ing his long residence in the town identified himself with every interest for local improvement and benefit.

The Doctor was born in Bridgeport, Conn., July 12, 1845, received his early education at Fair- field (N. Y.) Academy, and his medical training at the New York Homeopathic Medical College, graduating from the latter as valedictorian of the

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class of 1867. During his long and varied expe- rience as an active practitioner he built up an en- viable practice, and gained a high standing as a profound thinker and man of broad intelligence, which he used for the general good. His profession naturally absorbed the greater part of his attention, but he was deeply interested in scientific questions of every nature, as well as current events, and his opinions always commanded respect. He was well known in his neighborhood as an interesting and enthusiastic speaker on any subject which he cham- pioned, and was popular among his fellow citizens of all classes. Local public affairs always had their share of his attention, especially those pertaining to the mental and physical well-being of his towns- people, and the cause of education and improvements of the town schools always received his hearty sup- port. The Doctor was secretary of the board of school visitors for twenty-one years, for thirteen years chief of the fire department, and for twenty- four years health officer. He was a director in the Southington Savings Bank.

Fraternally Dr. Osborne was well known, affil- iating with Friendship Lodge, No. 33. F. & A. M., of which he was past master : Triune Chapter, R. A. M., of which he was past high priest; and Temple Council, No. 32, of which he was T. I. M. His death, on Jan. 7, 1901, was the result of an apoplec- tic shock occurring three days before. He left a wife, Annie ( Finch) Osborne.

CHARLES H. NORTHAM, a member of the well-known firm of Smith, Northam & Co., grain dealers at Nos. 127-129 State street, Hartford, was born March 9, 1842, in Washington, R. I., son of Ilanford McKee Northam. The family is of En- glish origin, and its members have been noted for the qualities which go to the making of good citi- zenship, and have usually been active workers in the Congregational Church.

Jonathan Northam (our subject's great-grand- father ), born Aug. 29, 1725, married Anna Mack Williams in April, 1754, and resided in Colchester, Conn .. until 1796, being one of the pioneers of the place, and a leading member of the Congregational Church. Charles Northam ( the grandfather of our subject ) was born July 18, 1768, and followed agri- culture in Westchester, Conn., for many years in connection with manufacturing. He died there in March, 1852. His wife. Sally Harvey, who was born at East Haddam, Conn., July 27, 1771, died March 7, 1860, at the Westchester homestead. They were married Nov. 18. 1795, and had five children : Charles H., born Dec. 21, 1797, died Nov. 12, 1881 : Hanford McKee. our subject's father, is mentioned below : Sally M., born July 17, 1804, married George T. Loomis, a leading farmer of Bolton, Conn., and died Oct. 28. 1879; Robert C .. born June 9, 1807, married Nancy Emmons, and died Dec. 27, 1885 (he was a prominent agricultur- ist of Westchester, owning one of the largest farms

in the locality, and was much esteemed in the com- munity ) ; Emeline Eliza, born April 15, 1813, died May 5, 1886, was married ( first) March 27, 1865, to Daniel Whiteman, and (second) Feb. 10, 1881, wedded Enos Nickerson, of Rhode Island, both now deceased.

Hanford McKee Northam (our subject's father) was born Aug. 18, 1800, near Colchester, Conn., and after completing a common-school course became a teacher. He located first in Norwich, and then in Suffield, where he conducted a farm. In 1868 he removed to East Hartford, where he died Nov. I, 1886, at the age of eighty-six years. He became one of the successful farmers of East Hartford, and for some time made a specialty of raising tobacco. His judgment was sound, and, as his education and progressive spirit made him a power in the locality, he was prominent in politics as a Republican, and in religious work as a member of the Congrega- tional Church. On June 2, 1841, Mr. Northam mar- ried. in Coventry, R. 1., Marcy Howland Chace, by whom he had two children, Charles H. and Miss Helen R., the latter a highly educated lady, resid- ing on the old homestead in East Hartford; she is a leader in church and social affairs in that locality. Our subject's mother, who was a woman of quiet disposition and a noble character, was born in Rhode Island March 1, 1813, and died Feb. 6, 1894. Her father, Russell W. Chace, who lived to the age of eighty years, was a wealthy cotton manufacturer of Washington. R. I., employing a large number of workmen. Her mother, Phila Green, was born March 17, 1778, daughter of Gideon Green, of Co- ventry, R. I., who was of the same stock as Gen. Nathaniel Green, of Revolutionary fame (born July 27, 1742). Gideon Green married Marcy Howland, daughter of Daniel Howland, of Rhode Island. Russell W. and Phila Green Chace were at one time Presbyterians, but in later life they united with the Congregational Church. They had three children : Daniel, William and Marcy Howland. Daniel was in business with his father, and took charge of the estate at the latter's death. William went to Cali- fornia in 1849, and remained in the gold fields ten years, making a success of his venture. Later he engaged in business with his brother, continuing until his retirement from active cares.

Our subject was educated in the common schools of his native place and in the Connecticut Literary Institute at Suffield, Conn. When seventeen he left home to make his own way in the world, and in 1859 he settled in Hartford, where he was first employed by his uncle. C. H. Northam, in the cotton and wool business. After six months he became a clerk for Jerome & Redfield, wholesale grocers, with whom he spent three years. In 1864 he went into business for himself. as a member of the firm of Bradford Northam & Co., wholesale flour, grain and feed dealers, and in 1866 the name was changed to Smith, Northam & Robinson. In 1882 Mr. Robinson witii- drew, the others continuing as Smith, Northam &

6 db lowtham

C. DTiffany

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Co. until the death of Mr. Smith, in January, 1897. The business was then reorganized under the same name, and at present our subject's partner is Emelyn V. Mitchell. The business is the oldest and best known in the State, and has been most successful. The firm has built four large warehouses and two elevators, and the largest grain mill in New Eng- land. They occupy over two acres of ground, and tlie capacity of the mill is 6,000 bushels of corn daily; the four warehouses will hold 200 carloads of flour and feed, and the two elevators 200,000 bushels of bulk grain. Their trade, which is larger than any other hotise outside of Boston and New York, extends all over New England, and they con- stantly keep grain of all kinds in transit, in addition to the stock kept on hand at the mill and warehouses. Mr. Northam is also connected with other corporate interests where his ability and shrewd insight are valued, being a director in the American National Bank, the Phoenix Fire Insurance Co., the Broad Brook Co., the New Haven Steamboat Co., the Loan & Guarantee Co., and the Society for Savings. He is a Republican in politics, and has served in the common council two terms. In 1890 he declined election as alderman, but was appointed street com- missioner, and by reappointments served ten years, being president of the board for eight years. He is not a member of any secret society, finding his greatest pleasure in spending his evenings in the home circle, but he and his family are popular so- cially, and all are active members of the South Con- gregational Church.

In 1876 Mr. Northam built his present beautiful residence at No. 12 Charter Oak Place, one of the finest homes in the city. On Sept. 22, 1870, he was married to Miss Hattie L. Tiffany, who was born in Hartford, near her present home. They have had five children : Arline, Edwin Tiffany, Russell Chace, Katherine Tiffany, and Carl Harvey. All were edu- cated in the South school and the Hartford Public High School. Miss Arline is a graduate of La Salle Seminary, Auburndale, Mass. Edwin T. and Rus- sell C. graduated from the Peekskill Military Acad- emy, at Peekskill, N. Y. Carl Harvey belongs to the class of 1904, Wesleyan University, Middle- town, Conn. Russell C. Northam is in business with his father. He was married Dec. 14, 1899, to Miss Jane E. Hyde, daugliter of Salisbury and Elizabeth Hyde, of Hartford.

HON. EDWIN D. TIFFANY (deceased), one of the founders and for many years a member of what subsequently became the business house of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co., Hartford, and widely known as one of the city's substantial men and prominent citizens, was up to the time of his death, April 12. 1890, when he was aged eighty years, a connecting link in the city's history be- tween 1830 and 1890.

Mr. Tiffany was born Dec. 5, 1810, in the town of Sturbridge, Worcester Co., Mass., son of Jona-

than and Experience (Chamberlain) Tiffany, the father born July 20, 1782, in Attleboro, Mass. ; the mother on June 18, 1789, in Pomfret, Conn. They were married Dec. 20, 1807, in Woodstock, Conn., lived for a period in Sturbridge, and later located in Hartford, Conn., where they were esteemed and respected citizens. Mr. Tiffany died Dec. 12, 1865, his wife on July 31, 1861. Of their other six chil- dren three only are living: Palmer C., one of the successful men that went to California in 1849, is now a retired business man of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa ; Lucian is a retired merchant living in Hartford ; Susan E. is the widow of John R. Youngs, late of Hartford.

Edwin D. Tiffany began learning the printer's trade in his native town in 1827, and in 1830 located in Hartford, where his long, honorable, useful and successful life was passed. In the January number of the "Connecticut Quarterly," 1896, there ap- peared an article, under the head of "A Typographi- cal Galaxy," in which such men as Philemon Can- field, John Russell, William Boardman, James Lockwood, Corydon A. Alford, Alfred E. Burr, Elihu Geer, John W. Stedman, Edwin D. Tiffany, William Faxon and Charles Tuller were referred to, and from it we take the following concerning the life of our subject :

The publication of the New England Weekly Review was begun at Hartford in 1828 by Hanmer & Phelps. George D). Prentice was its first editor. In 1830 Edwin D. Tiffany, a young man of twenty, from Sturbridge, Mass., obtained employment in the composing-room. He began work as a "half journeyman," in the printer's parlance of the time. In the same year Mr. Prentice left the Review, going to Ken- tucky to write the life of Henry Clay, and, subsequently, became editor of the Louisville Journal, which supported Clay for the Presidency. Mr. Prentice had been among the first to recognize the ability of John G. Whittier (then about twenty-three), and to prophesy his renown. It was through Prentice'sinfluence that his successor on the Review was none other than the young Quaker poet, Whittier-who, while in Hartford, was extremely homesick-was of a retiring disposi- tion, and spent nearly all his evenings in the " sanctum." He frequently invited young Tiffany to come in and chat with him, and the poet-editor and printer became warm friends. In after years those conversations in Whittier's sanctuni were often referred to by Mr. Tiffany as among the happiest incidents of his life.

An experience of two years in the office of one of the most popular newspapers in New England naturally stimu- lated a taste for journalism, and in 1832 Mr. Tiffany re- turned to Massachusetts and conducted a weekly paper in Southbridge for twelve months, a period quite long enough to satisfy him that the field was an unsuitable one for his more matured ideas and growing ambition. Returning to Hartford, he worked for a time as journeyman on the Anti Masonic Intelligence, and later for Philemon Canfield. .

A few years before his death Mr. Tiffany, in a private conversation, told some of his experiences as a pressman, and gave the history of his first business venture in Hartford. Any reader who knew him intimately can imagine with what dry drollery and quaint humor he related the story.

" J. Hubbard Wells was a Hartford printer. His father, John I. Wells, the Quaker, was the inventor of the Wells press. When the father died, Hubbard continued the busi- ness, and added book printing to it by desire of many local book publishers.

"Speaking of presses-the first I worked on was a Ramage, the kind Ben Franklin used to struggle with. 1 had some experience with a Wells press next in the office

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where I began my trade. Philemon Canfield used the Brattleboro' presses; they made more noise than forty steamboats.

"David F. Robinson, the father of the Hon. Henry C. Robinson, was a publisher who gave Hubbard Wells a great deal of work. F. J. Huntington was another good customer. I was a pressman at the Wells establishment. Every inch of room in the building was utilized. Some of the presses were close up under the roof. It was so hot there in sum- mer that the rollers melted. That was where I worked at first. Afterward Mr. Wells took a room down by the bridge and I worked there. Then the whole establishment was brought together in Catlin's building on the corner of Main and Asylum streets. It was there that I was made foreman of the pressroom. Very soon that office became too small, and we moved into the Mitchell building, where the Courant building now stands.

" Not long atterward Mr. Wells had an opportunity to purchase a large printing establishment in Cincinnati, and he urged me to go in with somebody and buy him out. Well, to make a long story short, Newton Case and I went into partnership-that was in 1836-the firm name being Case, Tiffany & Co., and bought the Wells establishment, paying all the cash we could raise, Mr. Wells trusting us for the balance of the amount due. Alanson D. Waters was soon taken into the firm, retiring two years later, when Leander C. Burnham was admitted and his name tacked on after Tiffany's, Burnham died in 1848, when the original firm name was resumed. In 1839 we were able to purchase the largest establishment in the State, Philemon Canfield's. We consolidated the two establishments in the old jail build- ing on the corner of Pearl and Trumbull streets, and thus, without knowing it, founded the present Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co. I expect there will always be a printing office on that corner."

The first Hartford Directory (1833) was printed by Case, Tiffany & Co., for Melzar Gardner. Curiously enough Mr. Tiffany's name only appears in the imprint upon the title- page. Mr. Tiffany retired from the firm in 1857. Afterward he was for three years president of the Merchants and Manufacturers Bank of Hartford. Upon the organization of the First National Bank, in 1864, he was made its president, and continued to fill that office until 1876. From that date Mr. Tiffany was occupied wholly with private business mat- ters until his death. He died suddenly April 12, 1890, aged eighty years. Throughout his fourscore years of life Edwin D. Tiffany was an industrious worker, unostentatious in his ways, possessed of a rare fund of humor, and a true New Englander,

In 1877 Mr. Tiffany began the business of sell- ing farm mortgages, and later, with Charles H. Smith, formed the firm of C. H. Smith & Co., and in their offices, in the AEtna building, Mr. Tiffany was seen every day up to the time of his death. He was at different times connected with other corpora- tions, including that of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co., in which he was a director. He ac- quired a handsome property. Mr. Tiffany was twice a representative in the General Assembly of the State from Hartford, in 1855 and 1859. His religious connections were with the South Congre- gational Church at Hartford, with which he united in 1838, and of which he remained an honored mem- ber for fifty-two years. In former years he filled positions of trust and responsibility in the church, and ever contributed to the peace and welfare of both it and society. He was a member of the Con- necticut Historical Society from its organization.

On Sept. 19, 1838, Mr. Tiffany was married to Julia A. Camp, born Feb. 28, 1809, daughter of Capt. Samuel and Tabitha ( Seymour) Camp, and one of a large family of children, all of whom are

now deceased. Capt. Samuel Camp was born in 1770, and died Dec. 3, 1833, and Tabitha, his wife, was born May 1, 1780, and died Nov. 2, 1871, at the advanced age of ninety-one years.

To Mr. and Mrs. Edwin D. Tiffany were born six children, only two of whom survive: George Morton, of St. Louis : and Hattie L., now the wife of Charles H. Northam, a prominent business man of Hartford. The mother passed away March 9, 1886, and, as stated above, the father on April 12, 1800. The deceased children were: Julia Esther, who died Aug. 5. 1845; Edwin Palmer, who died Dec. 21. 1891 ; Robert Franklin, who died Aug. 3, 1849: and Emma Francis, who was the wife of Charles Stanton Gillette, who succeeded Mr. Tiffany as president of the First National Bank, and held the position until his death, Jan. 10, 1887, he and his wife dying within three days of each other ( they left five children: Hattie; Charles Howard, who married Marion, daughter of Col. George Pope; Norman ; Henry Camp; and Emma Tiffany Gil- lette ).

EDWIN TAYLOR, a venerable and highly re- spected citizen of Hartford, passed away at his home in that city May 11, 1888, in his eighty-first vear.

Mr. Taylor was born Oct. 6, 1807. in Glaston- bury, Conn., and was of a well-known family. His father, Samuel Taylor, was born in England in 1777, and came to America in early manhood with his brother Joseph to meet his uncle Benjamin, who was a merchant in New York. Samuel Taylor landed at Portland, Conn., where he followed the tailor's trade for a time, but in 1800 he settled in South Glastonbury and engaged in business as a contract- ing sail-maker, vessel building being then carried on extensively along the Connecticut river. He took an active interest in church matters, and "read service" for many years in the Episcopal Church in South Glastonbury, where a memorial portrait of him is now on the walls. He married Sarah P'em- berton, of Portland, and they had children as fol- lows: (1) Benjamin is mentioned more fully below. (2) Sophia, born March 7. 1801, died unmarried. (3) George, born April 26, 1803, married Eunice Harris. He was a sailor, and lived and died in Sonth Glastonbury. (4) Eliza was born Aug. 6, 1805. (5) Edwin, our subject's father, is men- tioned more fully farther on. (6) Hannah, born Feb. 17. 1810, married Edwin Miller, a farmer in Glastonbury. (7) Sallie Ann. born May 15, 1812, married Gideon Kinne, a mason and farmer in Glas- tonbury. (8) Francis, born Nov. 2. 1814. married Lucretia Miner, of Quiambog. Stonington, Conn. He was a cooper by trade, but is now engaged in farming in South Glastonbury. (9) Joseph, born Jan. 11, 1818, married ( first ) a Miss Dashiell and (second ) Mary Metz. He is an Episcopal clergy- man, living in South Plainfield, N. J. (10) Mary, born .Aug. 20, 1820, died unmarried. (II) Martha,

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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 24

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