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 25

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 25

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born July 11, 1823, married Henry S. Parsons, of New Haven, who now resides in Northampton, Mass. She is deceased.

Edwin Taylor spent his early years in Glaston- bury, and in about 1830 went to Hartford to en- gage in mercantile business with his brother, Ben- jamin Taylor, who was living in Glastonbury at the time of Edwin Taylor's death, at the advanced age of eighty-nine years. They opened a store at the foot of State street, in a building erected by Edwin Taylor in 1833, which has been used of late years as a railroad station by the Valley Railroad Co. At that time there was no railroad, and mer- chandise was brought to Ilartford by water, the steamboats stopping at the foot of State street. In 1835 Edwin Taylor went into the lumber and planing business, succeeding Bristol & Wheaton, at Dutch Point ; not long afterward the firm became Preston & Taylor, the members being Esek J. and Zephaniah Preston and Edwin Taylor. At a later period the connection was dissolved, and Mr. Tav- lor, with his brother Benjamin, under the firm name of B. & E. Taylor, kept that well-known yard and mill until April 16, 1849, when fire de- stroved the mill and part of the stock on hand. In the same spring the new mill was built, and Ed- win Taylor started again with Edwin Spencer, then cashier of the Connecticut River Bank. The business prospered, but Mr. Spencer died in the fall of that year, and James Bartholomew bought his interest, and continued for five years, the firm name being E. Taylor & Co. In 1854 Samuel Taylor bought the Bartholomew interest, and the firm name became E. Taylor & Son, as it has since remained, although Edwin P. Taylor succeeded to his father's interest in May, 1888. In 1861 they moved to the present site. Edwin Taylor was in business for fifty-eight years, and for fifty-two years of that long period lie was in the lumber trade.

In 1832 Mr. Taylor married Miss Nancy J. Kinne, of Glastonbury, a daughter of Aaron and Amelia ( Hale) Kinne, and sister of Gideon and Aaron Kinne. Her father was a graduate of Yale College, and a teacher by occupation. She died in October, 1887, after fifty-five years of married life. Nine children were born to them, three of whom survived the father : Samuel, born April 26, 1833 : Edwin P., born Aug. 20, 1849 ; and Julia, wife of Dr. Roland G. Curtin, of Philadelphia. Edwin Taylor was a Republican in politics, and earlier a Whig. He took no active part in public affairs, al- though he was a member of the council for one term. He was a man of medium stature and mild, conservative temperament, and was highly esteemed and respected by all who knew him. At one time he was a member of Christ Church, Hartford, and helped to found St. John's Church, of which he was warden for many years.

SAMUEL TAYLOR was educated in the Hopkins grammar school of Hartford, and entered upon business life as a clerk for Watkinson & Bartholo-

mew. Later he held a similar position with Col- lins Bros., wholesale dry-goods merchants, and in 1854 he was admitted to partnership with his fa- ther. For the last quarter of a century he has been the executive head of the firm, and their continued prosperity shows his ability and enterprise. He is regarded as one of the most careful and pains- taking financiers in Hartford, is president of the State Savings Bank, and since 1875 has been one of the directors of the American National Bank of that city. He has always been a Republican, and in 1855 was a member of the council. He is an active worker in the Church of the Good Shepherd ( Episcopal), and is serving as trustee of the following: The Church Scholar- ship Society, Fisher Memorial Fund, and the Church Club. Socially he holds membership with the Hart- ford Club, Hartford Republican Club, Hartford His- torical Society, and the Hartford Sons of the Amer- ican Revolution. He married ( first ) Miss Laura Louise Lester, daughter of Chauncy Lester, and they had one daughter, Ada Louise Taylor. This wife died in June, 1870, and Mr. Taylor later mar- ried Mary Amelia Curtin, of Bellefonte, Penn., who died Oct. 11, 1887, leaving one daughter, Mary Curtin Taylor.

BENJAMIN TAYLOR, brother of Edwin Taylor, mentioned above, was born in Portland, Conn., Jan. 18, 1799, and removed with his parents to South Glastonbury during boyhood. He received a good education for that day, and when a young man went to Hartford and engaged in mercantile pur- suits on State street, near the river. In 1830 he sold out on account of failing health, and removed to North Glastonbury, where he maintained a general store and conducted the post office for over thirty years. He erected the building now occupied by his step-grandson, George F. Corbitt, and for a time his sons assisted him there. He then rented the store to Edwin H. Andrews, who was there a short time, but Mr. Taylor afterward took charge, and with his sons managed the business until his death. He died April 29, 1890, at the age of ninety-one years, and was buried in South Glastonbury. He was mar- ried ( first ), Nov. 3, 1824. to Mary Ann Hale, and (second ) on Nov. 25, 1862, to Mary Tinker Clark. His eight children were all by the first marriage, as follows: (1) Charles, born Sept. 11, 1825, is men- tioned below. (2) Mary Ann, born Nov. 9, 1827, died May 10, 1828. (3) Mary Jane, born April 14, 1829, married Elias W. Hale. now of Towanda. Penn. (4) John Hale, born Sept. 19, 1831, died Aug. 30, 1858, married Maria Tuttle, of New Haven, and had two children, John 11., his son, being one of the firm of Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, of New Haven. (5) Alfred, born April 14, 1835, died April 9, 1856. (6) Benjamin, born April 6, 1838, and died Jan. 24. 1873, served in the United States army during the Civil war; he married Emma Chamber- lain, of Hartford. (7) William, born April 4, 1841. died March 23, 1871. He married Kate Davies, and

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settled in Glastonbury. He was educated for the Universalist ministry, but never officiated. (8) James Francis, born Dec. 4, 1846, died Oct. 12, 1869, married Ada Gilbert, and lived in Glastonbury until his death.

Benjamin Taylor was a strong Democrat, as were his children. He held nearly all the local of- fices, and served the town in the Legislature in 1868 or '69. He never bought a vote in his life, and was known as a very honest, upright man in all his dealings. He was of medium stature, and of a very pleasant disposition. He was a very conscientious man, and the latter years of his life he spent in read- ing the Bible and writing on the subjects therein. He retained every faculty until his death, was well posted on nearly all important topics, being a great rcader ; was also a fine penman, and when over eighty years old wrote as well as any young man.

Charles Taylor, son of Benjamin Taylor, was born in Hartford, and removed to Glastonbury with the family in 1830. He attended the district schools of the town, and after leaving school clerked in his father's store for a time. He then went to St. Cloud, Minn., with his brother John, and started a store, but later he engaged in the lumber business. In 1871 he returned to Glastonbury, and after the death of his brother, William, he took charge of the store, and continued in business until his death, which occurred Dec. 15, 1895. He was first married to Jane Talcott, by whom he had no children, and later to Mrs. Harriet Corbitt ( nce Lee), widow of George Corbitt, who was wounded at Antietam and died in 1862, two months after the battle. Mrs. Taylor had one son by her first marriage, George Frederick Corbitt, born July 4, 1860, and now man- aging the store. He married Rebecca Kieth, and has one son. Charles L. Corbitt, born Feb. 8, 1885, who is a talented musician, and is now attending Hunt- singer's Business College.

Politically Charles Taylor was a Democrat, but never held office, preferring to spend the moments free from business in his home. The family attends the Congregational Church, of which Mrs. Taylor is a member.

HIRAM BISSELL, a leading contractor and builder of Hartford, with office at No. 83 Wads- worth street, was born Aug. 12, 1819, in Glaston- bury. Hartford county, where the family is well known.

Chester Bissell, his father, was a native of East Windsor, this county, but spent his life chiefly in Glastonbury, dying there at the age of sixty-five years. For many years he followed farming in con- nection with boating and shad fishing on the Connec- ticut river. He married Prudence Trvon, a native of Glastonbury, and a daughter of William Tryon, who engaged for many years in the manufacture of shingles by hand, and attained a good old age, our subject remembering him well. The mother, who died aged ninety-three years, was one of a family

of six children, and the same number brightened her own home.

Hiram Bissell, who is now the only survivor of the family, removed to Hartford in 1836, and learned the trade of mason with Eldridge Andrews, a prominent builder of that time. He worked four years to learn the trade, receiving $25, $30, $35 and $40 per year, respectively, and then began con- tracting in a small way, being in partnership with H. R. Tryon for a short time. He continued alone for a number of years, and then his brother Sylves- ter joined him, but for some years past he has been alone. He is the oldest contractor in the city, which he has seen grow from a city of 7,000, including West Hartford, to its present population of over 80,000. He has built hundreds of dwellings, and a large number of the prominent business blocks and churches in the city, whole or in part. Among these we may mention the south part of the Times building, the Putnam, Charter Oak, Connecticut Mu- tual, post office, State capitol, the Marble block, the Methodist church, the Memorial Arch, and many other structures. In 1899 he built the Universalist Church building on Main street, a four-story build- ing with a church in the rear and offices on the other floors, and in 1860 built the church in the rear of that. His reputation as an expert workman also extends beyond local limitations. At one time Mr. Bissell was interested in the real estate business, and put up numerous buildings for sale, and for many years he was a director in the Merchants and the National Fire Insurance Cos., and in the State Savings Bank, Cedar Hill cemetery, and a life di- rector of the Hartford Hospital. He was elected water commissioner in 1854, re-elected in 1855, and during his second term was made president, in which capacity he continued for seventeen years, retiring in 1873. He saw the entire system of wa- ter works put in, being the projector of the gravita- tion method.

In 1844 Mr. Bissell married Miss Nancy Shel- don, a native of Hartford, and a daughter of Sam- uel Sheldon, a well-known farmer of that locality. Of their four children two are living: (1) Belle married J. G. Lane, of Hartford, and has two daughters, Emma and Bertha. (2) Ella married F. S. Carey, of the Hartford Courant, and has two children, Hiram Bissell and Harold D. Mrs. Bissell died in 1863, and on Sept. 14, 1865, Mr. Bissell mar- ried Mrs. Elizabeth Barnard, widow of Dorus C. Barnard, by whom she had three children, one of whom is living, Dorus Clark Barnard, of Hartford.

Mr. Bissell is a Democrat, but in local elections votes for the best man. He has been nominated to office, but has refused to accept. He and liis family are prominent socially, and he has been a member of the F. & A. M. for many years, and was formerly a member of the I. O. O. F. He and his wife are both members of the Universalist society, and for many years he has served on the society committee.

HiramBissell

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MORRIS. The family of this name, of which the late Jonathan Flynt Morris, of Hartford, was an honored member, and of which his nephew, John Emery Morris, secretary of the Travelers Insurance Co., of Hartford, is also a member, is one of the old and prominent Colonial families of New England. Jonathan Flynt Morris was in the seventh genera- tion from Edward Morris, of Waltham, Holy Cross Abbey, County of Essex, England, who first settled in this country at Roxbury, Mass., the line of his descent being through Deacon Edward, Lieut. Ed- ward, Isaac, Edward and Edward.

(1) Lieut. Edward Morris, the American ances- tor, was a son of Thomas and Grissie ( Hewsone) Morris, of Waltham, Holy Cross Abbey, County of Essex, England, and was born in August, 1630. The earliest record of him in America is at Rox- bury, Mass., in 1652. He married Grace Bett, Nov. 20, 1655. He was a man of prominence and influ- ence, and served in many public capacities, among them as constable, selectman, and for nine years, from 1678 to 1686, as deputy to the General Court. He became in 1686 a settler of Woodstock, then in Massachusetts, but now in Connecticut, and died Sept. 14, 1690. His wife died June 6, 1705, at Rox- bury. Their children, all born in Roxbury, were: Isaac, Edward, Grace, Ebenezer, Elizabeth, Mar- garet, Samuel and Martha.

(II) Deacon Edward Morris, son of Licut. Ed- ward, born in March, 1658-59, married May 24, 1683, Elizabeth, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Johnson) Bowen, of Roxbury. He moved to Woodstock after his father's death, and seems to have taken his place in public affairs ; he was select- man the greater part of the time from 1691 to 1722, was assessor, town auditor, surveyor, etc. He was a deacon in the church for many years. He died Aug. 29, 1727, and his wife died Nov. 20, 1743. Their children were : Elizabeth, Elizabeth (2), Edward, Grace, Abigail, Susanna and Prudence.

(III) Lieut. Edward Morris, son of Deacon Ed- ward, born Nov. 9, 1688, in Roxbury, married Jan. 12, 1715, Bithiah Peake, daughter of Jonathan (Jr.) and Hannah (Leavens) Peake, of Roxbury. He served as surveyor, constable and selectman of Woodstock for years. He died. Aug. 12, 1769. His children were: Elizabeth, Hannah, Edward, Grace, Bithia, Isaac, Asa, Eunice, Martha, Mary, Jona- than, Priscilla, Dorothy and Hannah.

Darius, Isaac, Joseph, Edward, Elizabeth, Sarah, Eunice, Chester, Ebenezer, Elizabeth (2), and Ephraim.

(V) Edward Morris, son of Isaac, born Dec. 12, 1756, in Woodstock, married March 28, 1782, Lucy, daughter of Hon. John Bliss, of Wilbraham, a de- scendant of Thomas Bliss, of Hartford, Conn., 1639. Edward Morris served in the war of the Revolution, principally in the army of Canada, and with him his brother Joseph, who lost his life in the war. Ed- ward was a farmer. He died April 29, 1801, his wife on April 15, 1836. Their children were : Oli- ver B., Edward, Isaac, John B., Lucy, Abby, Thirza, Richard D., Lydia, and Edward A.

(VI) Edward Morris, son of Edward, born July 21, 1784, at the Bliss-Morris homestead in South Wilbraham, Mass., married (first) May 15, 1806, Sally, daughter of Jonathan and Mercy (Leonard ) Flynt, of Wilbraham. She was born in Greenwich, Mass., Sept. 10, 1784, and died in South Wilbraham June 24, 1807. Edward Morris married ( second) June 27, 1808, Mercy Flynt (sister of Sally ). She was born Aug. 1, 1788, in Monson, Mass., and died there Aug. 17, 1831. Mr. Morris was a merchant in South Wilbraham, and later in Belchertown. He afterward retired to a farm known as "the Kent- field place," and still later removed to another farni near Belchertown, and on Aug. 16, 1824, while bath- ing in Swift river, was seized with cramps and drowned. During the war of 1812 he was a quar- termaster in the ist Brigade, 4th Division, Massa- chusetts Militia. Himself and wife were members of the Congregational Church. In politics Mr. Mor- ris was a Federalist. He was a member of the Ma- sonic fraternity. While residing in Wilbraham he served as constable, surveyor, collector, etc. His children, all by Mercy except the first named, were: Edward Flynt, born March 24, 1807, died Feb. 14, 1830: Sally Flynt, born June 19, 1810, married Daniel D. Chaffee; Charles was born June 6, 1812; George Flynt, May 6, 1814; Maria Melissa, Nov. 2, 1816; Henry, Feb. 25, 1819; and Jonathan Flynt, March 20, 1822.

Jonathan Flynt, the father of the wives of Edward Morris, was born Nov. 13, 1747, in Windham, Conn., and died in Monson, Mass., Nov. 6, 1814. He was a descendant of Thomas Flynt, of Salem, Mass., 1640. On June 18, 1782, he married Mercy. daugh- ter of Ensign Ezra Leonard, of Hardwick, Mass., a descendant of Solomon Leonard, of Duxbury, Mass., 1637. Jonathan Flynt was a clothier, and had mills in Hardwick, Greenwich, Monson and Wilbraham, His wife was born in Hardwick Sept. 18, 1751, and died in Monson, Jan. 4, 1823.

(IV) Isaac Morris, son of Lieut. Edward, born March 26, 1725, on Woodstock Hill, married (pub- lished) Oct. 18, 1748, Sarah Chaffee, of Woodstock daughter of Joseph and Hannah (May) Chaffee, formerly of Barrington, Mass. Isaac Morris was a farmer. In 1761 he moved to Springfield, Mass., (VII) Jonathan Flynt Morris, whose death oc- curred at his residence on Farmington avenue, Hartford, Jan. 30, 1899, was the former president of the Charter Oak National Bank, and for many years a prominent citizen of Hartford. Mr. Morris was born at "the Kentfield Place" in Belchertown, and settled in that part of the town then known as Wales, later the South Parish of Wilbraham, and now the town of Hampden. He died Jan. 10, 1778, and his widow afterward married Hon. John Bliss, whom she survived, and died April 27, 1818, aged eighty-nine years. Their children were: Hannah, ) Mass., March 20, 1822, and was the fifth son of

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Edward Morris. His father died when he was two years old, and he lived with his maternal uncle, Rufus Flynt, of Monson, Mass., until 1836. He then went to New York City, where he attended school and filled various clerkships until 1843, when he went to sea as supercargo of a vessel in the Haytian trade, and for the four succeeding years was connected with commercial establishments at Port de Paix and Gonaives, in the Island of Hayti. In the autumn of 1847 he was much reduced in health by an attack of yellow fever, which was fol- lowed by relapse, and being obliged to seek a change of climate returned to New England. After recov- ering his health he entered the employ of the West- ern railroad, now the Boston & Albany, at Spring- field, in the cashier's office, where he remained until 1850, when he was offered and accepted the position of teller in the Tolland County Bank, of Tolland, Conn. On Sept. 13, 1853, Mr. Morris was chosen cashier of the Charter Oak Bank, of Hartford, and in 1879 he was chosen president of the bank, which had become the Charter Oak National Bank. He remained president until 1893. when he retired from that office, having been officially connected with the bank exactly forty years, but retained a position on the board of directors. Mr. Morris was a trustee of the Society for Savings, director in the National Fire Insurance Co., treasurer of the Hartford The- ological Seminary, and of the Connecticut Histor- ical Society. He was also trustee for many import- ant and large estates, which demanded much of his time. In business Mr. Morris was regarded as a man of the highest integrity and honor, conservative and well-grounded in his business beliefs and habits.

Mr. Morris was an ardent Republican, and was one of nine men who met in Hartford Feb. 4, 1856, to take steps toward the formation of the Republi- can party in Connecticut. Only two of those pres- ent survive him, Senator Joseph R. Hawley and Judge Nathaniel Shipman. He was a close student of historical matters, and took a lively interest in the establishment of "Flag Day" as a legal holiday, and gathered a large amount of facts about the stars and stripes, which he embodied in a pamphlet. He was intensely interested in genealogy, carried on much original research, and was regarded as all authority on the history and genealogy of Connecti- cut families. He was one of the originators of the Connecticut Society, Sons of the American Revolution, and a member of the Order of Founders and Patriots, and took the liveliest interest in all patriotic organizations. Mr. Morris was one of the most genial men, overflowing with a fund of information which could be relied upon, and he counted his friends and acquaintances by hundreds, although he was of a retiring, quiet nature. He was a member of the Asylum Hill Congregational Church.

On May 8, 1855, Mr. Morris was married to Harriet, youngest daughter of Samuel and Alpha

(Gillett) Hills, of Springfield, Mass. She died March 3, 1879, leaving two daughters : Anna, born Jan. 24, 1856, wife of Prof. Alfred Tyler Perry ( former professor and librarian of the Hartford Theological Seminary, now (1900) president of Mariette (Ohio) College), to whom she was mar- ried April 13, 1887 ; and Alice, born Nov. 18, 1858, wife of Rev. Dr. Charles Smith Mills, of Cleveland, Ohio, to whom she was married June 17, 1885.

(VII) Capt. Henry Morris, fourth son of Ed -. ward, and the father of John Emery Morris, sec- retary of the Travelers Insurance Co. of Hartford, was born Feb. 25, 1819, in Belchertown, Mass. On the death of the father, when Henry was five years of age, he went with his mother and younger brother to live with his maternal uncle, Rufus Flynt, in Monson, and afterward with his grandmother in Wilbraham. At the age of ten years he went to live with his uncle Richard Morris, in Spring- field, Mass., and later for a time he was in the book store of G. & C. Merriam, the well-known pub- lishers of Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. In 1835 he shipped as a cabin boy on the ship "Vesper," Capt. Hunt, bound for Belfast, Ireland. Later he made voyages to the Gulf of Mexico, Europe, South America, and the West Indies, during which he passed through every grade of seamanship, until, at the age of twenty years, he became a shipmaster. He was a thorough seaman, and fond of his pro- fession. He made navigation his study from the day he first went to sea. Capt. Hunt said that "Henry Morris knew more about navigation at six- teen than half the mates that ever sailed." He was a seaman for several voyages on the barque "Isaac Ellis," Capt. John H. Spring. His last voyage Olt the "Isaac Ellis" was from New York to the Med- iterranean sea and to Monte Video, South America, and back to New York. Capt. Morris was a skill- ful navigator, and had the full confidence of his employers. He was a gentleman in his ways and manners, uniformly kind and courteous, and was liked and beloved by all who knew him. He had established a high character, and was indeed a model man. Had he lived, and continued in his profession, he would have reached a high position and obtained a wide fame, but he was cut off from life just at the age of twenty-five. His first com- mand was the schooner "Julia Ann," in the New York and Haytian trade, making voyages to Port au Prince. He was part owner of the "Julia Ann," but left it in July, 1843, to engage in trade for himself. He chartered and made four voyages as supercargo with the schooner "Mary Bright," Capt. Bright, commanding, on the last of which, in March, 1844, the vessel was lost with all on board. Capt. Morris was in the "William Neilson," at Port au Prince, at the time of the great earthquake in Hayti, May 7, 1842, in which so many towns were ruined and so many lives were lost, and was the first to bring the news to the United States.

On Aug. 23, 1842, Capt. Morris was married

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to Harriet, daughter of Daniel and Harriet ( Bliss) Bontecou, of Springfield, Mass. She was born Oct. 9, 1818, at Springfield, Mass., and was a descendant of Pierre Bontecou, a Huguenot refugee from France to New York in 1684. After the death of her husband Mrs. Morris remained a widow until Dec. 1, 1859, when she married Charles Morris, a brother of Capt. Henry Morris. She died at Keese- ville, N. Y., Jan. 28, 1872, and was buried there. Capt. Morris' only child is John Emery Morris.

(VIII) JOHN EMERY MORRIS, secretary of the Travelers Insurance Co., Hartford, son of Capt. Henry Morris, and nephew of the late Jonathan Flynt Morris, of Hartford, was born Nov. 30, 1843. at Springfield, Mass., and in the spring of 1860 settled in Hartford, where he was employed in the Charter Oak Bank, of which his uncle was then cashier. He enlisted Sept. 20, 1862, and served as corporal in Company B, 22d Conn. V. I., until discharged, July 7, 1863. He entered the service of the Travelers Insurance Co. July 6, 1864, was elected assistant secretary in May, 1874, and secre- tary July 5, 1898. He is also a member of the board of directors, and is his uncle's successor in the directory of the Charter Oak National Bank. Mr. Morris has devoted much of his leisure time to genealogical investigations, and has compiled and published a number of books and pamphlets on that subject. He is a member of the Connecticut His- torical Society, succeeding his uncle, Jonathan Flynt Morris, as its treasurer ; a member of the Connecti- cut Society, the Sons of the American Revolution ; a charter member of the Order of Founders and Patriots of America ; and a member of the Hugue- not Society of America.

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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 25

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