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 36

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 36

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SHAYLER FAMILY. (1) Thomas Shayler in 1673 married Alice, widow of Thomas Brooks, and daughter of Gerard Spencer, of Haddam. He died at sea in 1692, while on a voyage to the West Indies.

(II) Abel Shayler, son of Thomas, was born in Haddam, Conn., and became an early settler of Bolton: was admitted to Church in 1725. (III) Jemima Shayler, daughter of Abel, married Daniel Dart April 13. 1719, as above recorded.

(VII) JOSEPH DART, son of Edmund and Mary

A. B. ( Withenbury ) Dart, and the subject proper of this biography, was born Aug. 5, 1839, in West Hartford, near the old Wadsworth Tavern. His education was received partly at the schools of West Hartford, and party at those of llartford. After laying aside his books he took up the steam- boat business, in both the South and West, and sailed up the Mississippi on the last trip before the blockade of the river about the commencement of the war of the Rebellion. During that struggle he was in the picture-frame business in Hartford, after which we find him for several years, or until 1874, associated with his father-in-law in the man- ufacture of cotton twines in South Woodstock, Conn., and Oxford, Mass. On giving up this in- dustry Mr. Dart removed to New York and em- barked in the cotton-goods commission business, engaging in same for some nineteen years, part of the time selling goods "on the road." In the spring of 1893 he returned to Hartford, where he has since been engaged in stock farming and im- proving his real estate, in connection with which latter it may be mentioned that he opened many streets on his own property.

On Sept. 18. 1802, Mr. Dart married Adelaide A. Warner, of South Woodstock, Windham Co .. Conn., and three children have been born to them : (1) Alice Louise, born Oct. 21, 1864, is the wife of Charles J. Goff, designer for the Butterick Pat- tern Co., of Brooklyn, N. Y. ; they have one child, Edith. (2) Fred W., born Sept. 2, 1872, married Claribel Ashton, and they have one son, Harold Ashton. Fred W. was for a few years in the em- ploy of C. P. Rogers, manufacturers of iron bed- steads. New York City, and later was associated in business with his father : he is now a member of the West End Land Co., of Hartford. (3) Willie J. died in infancy. The parents of this family are members of the Baptist Church. In politics Mr. Dart is a Republican : socially he is a Freemason, and was identified with lodges in Oxford. Mass .. and New York City. He is looked upon as one of the substantial business men of the county, and is extremely popular.

DR. CHARLES SWEET. The Sweet family is one of the oldest in New England, and the sub- ject of this memoir, for many years a prominent sur- geon of Hartford and Lebanon, traced his descent through five generations to James Sweet, son of Isaac and Mary Sweet, of Wales.

James Sweet came to America in 1630, and set- tled in Salem, Mass., at what is now known as Sweet's Cove, and afterward removed to North Kingston, R. I., where members of the family were living in 1882. As far back as their history can be obtained, and tradition leading us still farther, we find that they have always been accredited with a capacity or an ability in an eminent degree for bone-setting, though uneducated in any department of surgery, and as we follow along down the gene-

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alogical line we find members of the family that have become especially eminent in the practice of this art.

Dr. John Sweet, grandfather of Dr. Charles Sweet, gained a wide-spread reputation during the Revolution by his successful practice among the officers and men of both the French and American armies, though not himself in the government serv- ice. His son Benoni, father of Charles Sweet, had for a few years followed in the footsteps of his fa- ther, but removing to Lebanon, Conn., in 1793, he determined not to practice bone-setting more, but to give his whole attention to farming. This resolution, however, he was unable to carry out, for a dislocated shoulder in his own neighborhood which baffled the surgeons forced him again into the practice of this, his legitimate and natural call- ing, which he never afterward abandoned during active life. He died Aug. 26, 1840, at the age of eighty years, after an honored and useful life. Before leaving Kingston he married Sarah Champ- lin. and had one child. The rest of the family were born in Lebanon : Susannah, Thomas, Benoni, Stephen, Sally, Mary, Lydia, Hannah, Lucy and Charles, all now deceased. Thomas died at the age of nineteen: Benoni, Jr., practiced bone-setting at Guilford; Stephen at Franklin: Sally for a time at Willimantic ; and Charles for many years at the old homestead and later at Lebanon Centre.

Dr. Charles Sweet was born Dec. 20, 1811, and died at Lebanon Dec. 22, 1896. The history of New London county, published in 1882, from which we have obtained the facts given above, says of him : "He commenced the practice of bone-setting as young as sixteen years of age, and for nearly forty years he maintained offices in Hartford and New London, Conn., and at Springfield, Mass., each of which he visited one day each month, successfully treating all kinds of bone dislocations, fractures and diseases. The greater part of his time was devoted to this calling, in which he mani- fested an intuitive perception truly surprising. In the intervals he carried on farming to some extent more for a pasttime than for pecuniary profit. At an early age he married Eliza W. Throop, of his native town. Of their children : Sophia, born March 18, 1835, died March 29, 1898: Sarah E .. born April 7, 1837, died March, 1886: Maria F .. born Nov. 28. 1838; Marietta, born Oct. 24, 1812, died Sept. 9. 1873: Charles J., born Jan. 1, 1845, (lied Oct. 18. 1893: J. Henry T., born Nov. 4. 1848. Their mother died Feb. 14, 1860, at the early age of forty-four years." Charles, Jr., was located near the old home, and practiced with his father. J. Henry T. is in practice in Hartford, where he has gained an enviable reputation. Dr. Sweet mar- ried, for his second wife, Sarah Elizabeth Williams, of Mystic, Conn. By this marriage he had three children: Bessie, born Nov. 28, 1869: F. Benoni, M. D., born Oct. 7, 1870, graduated at Yale Medi- cal School in the class of 1893, and is now practic- ing in Springfield, Mass .; and George H., born

June 3. 1875, died June 25, 1894. Bessie died Jan- uary 10, 1870, and their mother departed this life after having been married about nineteen years. His third wife was Laura A. Anderson, of Clinton, Conn., whose years ran parallel with his own. The Doctor was always of the strictest temperate habits, and his life the life of a Christian both by pro fession and practice, in which he ever had the fullest co-operation of his three respective wives.

DR. J. HENRY T. SWEET, son of Dr. Charles, was born and reared in Lebanon, and was given a good English education in the common schools of that locality and in the Bowles school in Ellington, which he attended for about three years. He studied anatomy under Prof. Hinkley, while a boy riding with his father, and as a young man he ran his father's institution for remedial purposes in their line of treatment. This institution had an average of from eighteen to thirty patients month- ly during the three years the Doctor was in charge. His certificate to practice "surgery and medicine connected therewith" was granted by the State medical board in New Haven, Dr. Lindsley being the president of the board. On Nov. 4. 1874, the Doctor opened an office in Hartford and removed the institution there, the latter being continued by him three years. He also maintained a treatment room in Hartford, locating first on Main street, near the South Green, for three years, and after six years on Trumbull street he went to North Main street, near Trumbull; in April, 1887, he re- moved to Blue Hills avenue. From the beginning he has had a most successful practice, and it has grown continuously, extending at present through New London, Windham, Litchfield and Hartford counties, and up and down the river more or less. The Doctor has been a Republican all his life, and has taken an active part in school matters. He was formerly a member of the F. & A. M. in Columbia, but the lodge having gone out of ex- istence he is not now affiliated. He is fond of reading, but is a thinker as well, and in practice original in his methods, his individuality being per- haps one of the main factors in his success. He takes ideas from every source, and has the power of elucidation to an unusual degree, while his me- chanical, tact is unusual.

Dr. Sweet married Miss Sally J. Boyd, of North Garden, Va., and has four children: Jennie E., born March 31, 1876, who married Karl Bishop. and has one son, Richard Sweet Bishop, born April 27. 1898; Nellie P., born March 22, 1878; Lucy, born March 27, 1880 ; and John Henry T., Jr., Nov. 27, 1884.

WILLIAM WOLCOTT ROBERTS, deceased. The subject of this memoir, for many years a prom- inent citizen of Hartford, was born Nov. 6, 1813, at Newington, the son of Abner and Sally ( Wol- cott) Roberts.

Abner Roberts died in 1814, leaving several chil-

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dren. Our subject's mother died in 1821, when he was but seven years old, and he was bound out to Martin Kellogg, of Newington, Conn., with whom he remained about six years. He then went to Hartford, where he found employment in a gro- cery and liquor store on the corner of Main and Pratt streets ; but as the liquor business was dis- tasteful he soon left the place, and learned the car- penter's trade. In a few years he built up a good business for himself as a cabinet maker, and later added a furniture and undertaking branch, his shop then being located on Pratt street, opposite the Bank of the Society for Savings. He conceived a number of successful inventions, and was the pioneer undertaker to manufacture coffins, and keep them in stock for immediate delivery, the custom having been to make them to order after death. His tasty hearse, drawn by a fine four-in-hand team, attracted much attention ; it was the first in Hart- ford to have glass sides, and brought him busi- ness from the best class of people ; during the war he buried many of the generals and other prominent soldiers from this section. He frequently was called away from this vicinity to officiate at State funerals. His skill as a cabinetmaker won him a high reputation ; he made many fine cases of rose- wood for Col. Samuel Colt, to contain revolvers which were presented to the crowned heads of Europe.

In 1866, Mr. Roberts built the Roberts Block, on Main street, the ground, 65x110 feet, having been purchased for $54,000, then considered an enormous price. He planned and directed the building. In 1869 he drew the plans for and erected the Hartford Opera House, at that time the finest theatre in New England, outside of Boston. Hav- ing seen so much of the dark side of life, inci- lent to his undertaking business, he said that he "was going to try to amuse the people," and for many years under his management it was a miost popular play house, and even now on an average about ten thousand people enter through its portals each week of the theatrical season. After twenty years management he turned the theater over to a lessee, but his business affairs were transacted by himself alone until his death. He died at the age of eighty-four, on May 23, 1898.

While eminently successful in business, he held progressive views of life and kept well abreast of the times, reading the best literature and taking deep interest in politics as a member of the Repub- lican party. He was particularly fond of good horses, and until reaching the advanced age of seventy-five was an ardent sportsman. By nature he was retiring, and his friendship was prized by his associates. Early in life he was identified with the Fourth Congregational Church of Hartford, and although he ceased to attend church in later years he maintained the strictest rules of Sabbath observance, his teams never being taken out on that day.

Mr. Roberts' first wife, Sarah Ann Chapman, was a daughter of Orrin Chapman, of Glaston- bury, and a descendant of Robert Chapman, the settler, who came to Saybrook in pioneer times and whose descendants lined the banks of the Con- necticut river. By this marriage he had one daugh- ter. Sarah Augusta, who was born Jan. 8, 1834, on Village street, in Hartford, and died May 15, 1883. She married James A. Williams, and had five chil- dren, of whom only one is now living, Harry Rob- erts Williams. By his second marriage, to Jane Abby, of Enfield, Mr. Roberts had two children : William H. Roberts, now living in Hartford, and Carrie (now deceased ), who was the wife of S. N. Ryder, of Plainville, Connecticut.

James A. Williams, born in Rocky Hill, on June 9. 1833, has been successfully engaged in the dry- goods business since early manhood, having started in Hartford with a brother. Later he went to New York, but returned to Hartford, and he is now lo- cated on Asylum street. For some time previous to beginning business for himself he was associated with Bolles & Sexton, Weatherby Knouse & Pelton, and then with William N. Pelton & Co., being now alone.

HARRY R. WILLIAMS, one of Hartford's suc- cuessful professional men, was born in that city Oct. 18, 1861, and received his education in its public schools. During his Junior year in the high school he gave up his books for a time to take a posi- tion with the Travelers Insurance Co. In 1883 he began the study of patent law with Simonds & Burdett. In 1887 he engaged in practice for him- self, and his speedy success furnishes a convincing evidence of his ability and skill. From the Rob- erts line of ancestry he inherited marked aptitude in scientific and mechanical matters, which lead him to take natural interest in patents for inventions, in matters pertaining to which he is considered an ex- pert. In connection with this work he has traveled all over this country ; has crossed the Atlantic six times ; and has made various trips to our neighbor- ing islands. He and his family are well known so- cially ; he is a member of the Asylum Avenue Bap- tist Church ; St. John's Lodge, No. 4, F. & A. M .; the Knickerbocker Athletic Club, of New York ; the Megantic Fish and Game Club of Maine, with headquarters in Boston : and at one time was a mem- ber of Company K, Ist Regiment, C. N. G. In 1888, he married Miss Allie Barnum Stone, daugh- ter of Rev. George M. Stone, of the Asylum Avenue Baptist Church. She died Feb. 12, 1889, leaving one son, Harold, who died in August, 1889. Mr. Williams afterward married Miss Harriet Beard Holley, daughter of Samuel C. Holley, of Danbury, and they have three daughters, Beatrice, Lois and Elizabeth.

JAMES S. TRYON ( deceased ) was by birth and training eminently fitted for the prominent and useful position which through life he held in the

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business and financial world. As banker he was for many years intimately acquainted with the growth and prosperity of Hartford county, and in fostering and developing its best institutions he was a power for good in the influential community in which he lived.

Mr. Tryon was born in Fayetteville, N. C., Nov. 7, 1820, son of Thomas and Emily ( Root ) Tryon, and grandson of Moses Tyron, a prominent and well-known naval officer, commander of the flag- ship "Hartford." Thomas Tryon, father of our subject, was a native of Wethersfield, Conn., and became a West Indian merchant. He met an un- timely death from yellow fever while at sea, about 1833. His wife, Emily ( Root), of Hartford, was a descendant of Judge Jesse Root.

James Seymour Tryon, our subject, spent his boyhood days at Brooklyn, N. Y., and there at- tended school. At the age of fourteen he com- menced his business career as a clerk in the bank of James Seymour, of Auburn, N. Y. A few years later he began the study of law at Rochester, N. Y., and in due time was admitted to the Bar. For a time he practiced at Rochester, but his tastes were for business rather than a professional career, and in 1848 he returned to Auburn, N. Y., to become cashier in the bank above mentioned. From 1850 until 1857 he was connected with a bank in Roches- ter, N. Y., and in 1857 he came to Hartford as cash- ier of the Merchants & Manufacturers Bank, which later, through his efforts, was re-organized as the First National Bank of Hartford. Mr. Tryon re- mained officially connected with the First National Bank for sixteen years. In 1873 he went to New York, and there entering the banking business con- tinued for several years, maintaining his residence in Hartford. at No. 991 Asylum street, from 1861 till his death. Mr. Tryon was for many years in- terested in the manufacture of book-stitching ma- chines, as secretary and treasurer of the Smythe Manufacturing Co. He was deeply interested in church work, and was instrumental in the organi- zation of the Asylum Hill Congregational Church, of Asylum avenue.

Mr. Tryon was married, in Moscow, N. Y., in 1848. to Miss Eliza Horsford, daughter of Hon. Jedediah Horsford, of Moscow, who had come to western New York many years before, as a mis- sionary to the Indians. He served several terms as United States Senator. To our subject and wife were born three children : (1) James Seymour, who married Miss Mary Vincent Harrington. of New Bedford, Mass., resides at Providence, R. I., and has two children, Dorothy and Henry ; (2) Mary mar- ried George F. Stone, an instructor in the American School for the Deaf at Hartford, and has three children, Janet, Rachel and Mary: (3) Thomas is an architect of New York. Mr. Tryon died Jan. 6. 1895, completing his allotted three score years and ten, and presenting in his earnest and successful career a type of the best American manhood.

IRVING DE LOSS BLANCHARD, M. D., city physician of Hartford, was born Jan. 30, 1874, at Foster, R. I., son of Rev. Albert D. Blanchard, and grandson of William l'enn Blanchard, of Rhode Island. Rev. Albert D. Blanchard, an hon- ored clergyman of the Baptist Church, was born in Rhode Island, and his wife, Mary C. Burroughs, was a native of Newport, same State.

Dr. Irving D. Blanchard began his education in the schools of Foster, R. I., and graduated from the high school, and the Presbyterian Academy at Salida, Colo. In August, 1894, he returned East to enter the Medical Department of Yale Univer- sity, and in 1897 the degree of M. D. was conferred upon him by that institution. In the fall of the same year he entered the New York Hospital, corner of Fifteenth street and Fifth avenue, re- maining there a short time, and after some expe- rience in the Bridgeport Hospital he went to the Hartford Hospital, Jan. 1, 1898, as assistant phy- sician, assistant surgeon, house surgeon, and house physician. On Jan. 1. 1900, he engaged in active practice at No. 241 Main street, Hartford, and the appointment to his present post as city physician was made on the 15th of that month. Politically the Doctor is a Republican. He is a member of the Hartford County Medical Society, and of the Hartford City Medical Society.

HON JAMES RISING (deceased). The fer- tile lands of this region have made our rural com- munities the home of a superior class of agricultur- ists, progressive, enterprising and thrifty, of which the subject of this sketch, a well-known resident of West Suffield, was an excellent example.

For several generations the Rising family have been prominent in that locality, the first of the name to settle there being James Rising, who was born in England about 1617, and came to America in 1635. This worthy pioneer resided in Massachu- setts for some years, being a student in Harvard College in 1646, but after his marriage, in 1657, to his first wife, Elizabeth Hinsdale, he spent a short time in the Bermuda Islands. On his return he made his home in Salem, Mass., in 1668 he came to Windsor, Conn., and in 1679 he settled in Suffield, where he died about nine years later. During thefirst year of his stay in Windsor his first wife died, and in 1673 he married Martha Bartlett, a widow, who died in 1674. By occupation he was a farmer, and his descendants have largely followed the same pur- suit. Of his two sons. John and James, the younger, died unmarried, so that the present representatives of the family in this county are all descendants of John.

John Rising was a farmer in Suffield, his home- stead being located on High street, and for many years he was a leading citizen of the town, his death occurring in 1720. He was twice married, and had eighteen children.

James Rising, our subject's grandfather, was

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born in West Suffield, at what is now known as Rising's Corners, and his life was spent there. He owned a large amount of land, and was extensively engaged in farming and stock raising, while as a citizen he was held in high respect. He and his wife, Asenath King, died at the homestead many years ago, and their remains were interred in the cemetery adjoining the Baptist Church at Zion's Hill. They had five children : Isaac; Alfred; Ase- nath, who married Milton Cornish; Julius, who died in West Suffield ; and Emaline, wife of Rowland Phelps.

Alfred Rising, our subject's father, was born and reared on the old homestead. For some years in early manhood he operated a farm of 125 acres in Southwick, Hampden Co., Mass., lying near the line of Suffield and belonging to the family estate. He became one of the pioneer tobacco growers of that neighborhood, and after his return to West Suffield he continued that line of business in con- nection with stock raising and general farming. He was a man of high character, being especially noted for his strictly temperate habits, and while he was very liberal in his religious views he fol- lowed the golden rule in his daily life. In his carly years he was a Democrat, but the issues which culminated in the Rebellion led him into the Re- publican party, his vote being cast for Abrahani Lincoln for President. He died at his farm in West Suffield, July 4, 1879, and was buried at Zion Hill beside his wife, Marcia King, who passed away in August, 1862. She was a daughter of Ashel King, of West Suffield, and was a devout and con- sistent member of the Baptist Church. This worthy couple had three children, our subject being the youngest. (1) Lovatus, a resident of Southwick, Mass., married Phoebe Lewis, of Suffield, and their only son, Lewis A., of Southwick, who died March 28, 1900, married Abbie Leonard, and had three children-Abbot L., Jame A. and William. (2) Amoret, widow of Henry C. Phelon, resides in West Suffield.

Hon. James Rising was born July 28, 1827, at Suffield, and his early education was limited to the district schools of that town. He always resided at the homestead, and after the death of his parents took sole charge of the farm, making a specialty of stock raising, dairying and the growing of tobacco, while he also dealt in the latter commodity to some extent. He passed away at his home Sept. 24, 1899. Politically he was a Republican, but of liberal ten- dencies, having supported Greeley in 1872. For five years he was assessor in West Suffield and served in other local offices, including those of grand juror and member of the board of relief. In 1882 he was elected to the Legislature, and during his term of service he devoted to liis duties the industry and sound judgment which brought him success in private business. In 1858 he married Miss Har- riet M. Davis, a daughter of Ambrose and Cynthia (Pomeroy) Davis, well-known residents of West

Suffield. The home was one in which culture and refinement were apparent, both Mr. and Mrs. Rising being fond of the best in art and literature, giving their influence freely to the promotion of various movements for the general weltare, and Mrs. Rising was prominent in religious work as a member of the Baptist Church. She passed away Aug. 8, 1900, at her home. While our subject was noted for his honesty and uprightness, and saw the good in the underlying principles of all religious faith, he was not connected with any Church. Of the two children who blessed his marriage, (1) James A. died at the age of eighteen years, in 1878. (2) Frank W. is a graduate of the Connecticut Literary Institute, at Suffield, and has already made a fine reputation as a business man, being a packer and dealer in tobacco, and a successful grower of peaches and small fruits, to wliich a portion of the home- stead is devoted. He was elected to represent his town in the Legislature of 1901. On Oct. 19, 1887, he married Miss Minnie A. Knox, of West Suffield, and has two childdren, Grace E. and Hawley Knox.

The Knox family is of Scottish descent, the line being traced back to Malcolm I, of Scotland, and John Knox, the great reformer, was of the same stock. The coat of arms bears the motto : Moveo et Propitior. " William Knox, the first of the fam- ily to come to this country, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and on his arrival in America located first in Hardwick, Mass., and later in Blandford, that State, being one of the earliest settlers there. He cleared a farm in the wilderness, building a log cabin, and as time passed he built a fine dwelling- house, which is still standing. In religious faith he was a Presbyterian, and throughout his life he held strictly to the doctrines and practices of that Church. He died at Blandford, where his remains now rest. His wife was a Miss Ferguson, and they had ten children, their six sons being farmers. by occupation : William and Samuel, who were both captains in the Revolutionary army; John, men- tioned more fully below; Nathaniel, who was a. teamster in the Revolutionary forces ; David ; James ; Molly, who married William Stuart ; Elizabeth, who married a Mr. Fleming; Eleanor, who married a Mr. Crook ; and Eunice, who married a Mr. Thrall.

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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 36

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