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 73

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 73

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Mr. and Mrs. Utley have become the parents of four children, as follows: Charles H., a farmer, married Lilly Blake, and has three children, Maud, Lucius and Blake; Martin T. is at home with his father ; Herbert S., at home, has charge of the milk route : Mary L. was educated in the Connecticut schools and in Hatfield Female Seminary, in which latter institution she remained five years, and is a highly cultured young lady. In politics Mr. Utley is an ardent Republican, and takes an active part in all progressive movements.

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

CHARLES E. GILBERT, assistant secretary of the _Etna Life Insurance Co., of Hartford, is de- scended from an old Connecticut family.

(I) Jonathan Gilbert, a remote ancestor, was a citizen of Hartford in 1645, and died there in 1682, at the age of sixty-four. He was a leader on occasions of danger and importance; was at various times collector of the customs, marshal of the colony, representative in the General Court, and negotiator with troublesome Indians. His tomb- stone now stands in the rear of the Center Congre- gational church in Hartford.

(Il) Samuel Gilbert (I), son of Jonathan, was one of the proprietors to whom patents were grant- ed on the organization of the town of Colchester, about 1698, and he passed the rest of his life there, dying in 1733.

(III) Samuel Gilbert (2), son of the above, settled in Gilead, Conn., and was a member of the Society's committee of that parish at its organiza- tion, in 1748.

(IV) Samuel Gilbert (3) also lived in Gilead, Conn. He held a number of military offices, among others being captain of a company in the 3rd Regiment, raised to go. against Crown Point in 1755. He died in 1774, and is said to have left an estate worth £6,000.

(V) Samuel Gilbert (4) was a resident of Hebron. Conn. He was lieutenant in the 12th Con- necticut Regiment in 1775, was Judge of the court of common pleas for a period of twenty-one years, and deputy to the General Assembly during four sessions of that body.

(VI) Peyton Randolph Gilbert, son of Samuel (4), resided in Gilead, where he was a farmer by occupation. He served in the House of Represent- atives. and in the State Senate.

(VII) Edwin Randolph Gilbert, eldest son of Peyton R., was born Feb. 10, 1808, in Gilead, town of Hebron, and attended the public schools of his native town and the Mondon ( Mass. ) Academy. He was graduated from Yale in 1829, and from Yale Theological Seminary in 1832, immediately becoming pastor of the Congregational Church in the town of Wallingford, Conn., and retaining that office forty-one years.

(VIII) Charles E. Gilbert, the subject proper of this sketch, was born Nov. 8, 1836, in the town of Wallingford, receiving his education in the schools of that town and at Farmington, Conn. At an early age he entered the store of Joseph Langdon, in Hartford, as clerk. Later he removed to the city of New York, being employed in a wholesale dry-goods house. Returning to Connecticut, he was in 1864 and 1865 occupied in the office of the United States military commandant and chief mus- tering officer for Connecticut and Rhode Island. In 1868 he was appointed cashier of the Atna Life Insurance Co. of Hartford ; later was made assist- ant secretary, and has ever since performed the du- ties of that office. His political affiliations are with

the Republican party. He has been a member of the State militia and of the Governor's Foot Guard, and has served as adjutant of the latter. He mar- ried Virginia E., daughter of Aaron G. Crane, a merchant of New York City. Their children are : Albert Waldron, an electrician and mechanical en- gineer, now superintendent of construction in the employ of the Electric Vehicle Co. of New York ; Edwin Randolph, general manager of the Chicago Electric Traction Co .; and C. Allan, a prominent illustrator, residing in New York City.

MARCENA HITCHCOCK, who departed this life Jan. 18, 1900, left behind him a record for use- fulness and progressiveness second to none in the county.

Mr. Hitchcock was born June 19, 1832, in Leb- anon, N. Y., of an old New England family, which originated with three brothers who came from Eng- land in early times, settling in Massachusetts. Joseph Hitchcock, grandfather of our subject, was born in Massachusetts, whence he moved to New York, becoming one of the early settlers of Leb- anon, where he followed agricultural pursuits. Samuel Hitchcock, father of Marcena, was born in Lebanon, was a carpenter by trade, and died in Madison, N. Y., at the age of sixty-six years. By his wife, Prudence (Groves), he had three chil- dren, only one of whom is now living-Joseph W., of Lebanon. The mother of these passed away at the age of eighty years.

Marcena Hitchcock, the subject proper of this memoir, passed his earlier years in New York State. receiving his education at the common schools, and being a natural-born mechanic, he decided to make that trade his life work. Accordingly, at the age of twenty-one, he went to Utica, N. Y., and there worked as a machinist five years; thence moved to Philadelphia, and for a time was employed in the Sharp & Hankins Armory. In 1866 he came to Hartford, and here followed his trade in the Weed Sewing Machine Works, later, for the long period of eighteen years, being with the Pope Manufac- turing Co., and ranking among the oldest of the "contractors" with that firm. Ile was afterwards with Henry Billings. In 1883 was organized the Billings & Hitchcock Knit Goods business, in Hart- ford, Mr. Billings, however, soon afterward selling out to Mr. Curtiss, the firm name then becoming the Hitchcock & Curtiss Co., with Mr. Hitchcock as president, which position he was holding at the time of his decease. Death claimed him at the very height of his prosperity, and after he had seen the industry grow from its infancy, employing a couple of girls, to its present magnitude, equipped with modern machinery, and giving employment to some sixty hands. The product of the factory. woolen and stockinet goods, was steadily increased, mainly by Mr. Hitchcock's capable management, skill, and perseverance. His widow now holds stock in the factory. He was, without exception,

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the oldest and most successful machinist in the city, and his place will be hard to fill. He built the residence still occupied by Mrs. Hitchcock, also the factory near by, on Broad street. In politics he was a Republican, but invariably declined office of any nature. Socially he was a member of the Knights of Pythias.

In 1858 Marcena Hitchcock was married to Julia E. Read, born in New York State, a daughter of George B. and Mary Jane ( West) Read (the for- mer a native of Jewett City, Conn.), and grand- daughter of James Read, who was a cotton manu- facturer at Lebanon, N. Y., there operating a cot- ton mill for some years. From Lebanon James Read removed to New Hartford, N. Y., where he passed the rest of his days, dying in 1866, at the age of seventy years, a Democrat in politics, and a member of the F. & A. M. He married Eunice Bunce, by whom he had seven children. She died in 1866, a member of the Universalist Church, while her husband was a Baptist.

George B. Read, father of Mrs. Hitchcock, in early life moved from Lebanon to New Hartford, N. Y., and there attended a private school. By trade he was a mechanic, which he followed for a long time in Utica, N. Y., being an expert in rifling guns. He died at Jefferson, N. Y., at the age of seventy-nine years. In 1836 he married Mary Jane West, who was born in Rome, N. Y., Jan. 31, 1816, a daughter of Joseph West, a native of Massachu- setts, but who spent the greater part of his life in Rome, N. Y., as an agriculturist. He married Mary Hawley, a native of Vermont, and by her had six children, three of whom are living: Mary Jane (Mrs. G. B. Read), Benjamin and Phoebe. The mother of these died at Black River, N. Y., at the patriarchal age of ninety-eight years. At one time there were two representatives of five generations of this family living. To Mr. and Mrs. George B. Read were born five children, all yet living, as is also the mother.

Mr. and Mrs. Marcena Hitchcock became the parents of two children: (1) Lewis D. is in San Francisco, Cal., in the employ of a typewriter syn- dicate : he married M. A. Barr. (2) Alice W. is the wife of Harry F. Orcott, a civil engineer, at pres- ent residing in London, England ; they have two children, Arthur H. and Marcena. Mr. Hitchcock always attended the Universalist Church, which his family also attend.

REV. EDWARD PAYSON HAMMOND, M. A., the evangelist of Hartford, who has preached to hundreds of thousands of people in this and foreign lands, and through whose words thousands have been led to a better life, probably to-day has no superior in the art of reaching souls and bring- ing them to Christ.

Born Sept. 1, 1831, in Ellington, Tolland Co., Conn., son of Elijah and Esther ( Griswold ) Ham- mond, the evangelist has descended from a sturdy

New England ancestry of the Puritan type, through whose veins coursed some of the best blood that came to the colonies. Thomas Hammond, the first American ancestor of the family, came to this coun- try, locating at Hingham, Mass., in 1635: while George Griswold, from whom the evangelist de- scended on his mother's side, came from Kenil- worth, Warwickshire, England, in the early set- tlement of the Colony of Connecticut, and became the progenitor of some of the most distinguished men of New England, among them being Matthew Griswold, governor of Connecticut from 1784 to 1786; and Roger Griswold, governor of the State in 1811, who died in office.

At the age of seven years young Hammond ac- companied his parents to the town of Vernon, Conn., they having removed thither at the time, and there. he made his home until some years ago, when he settled in Hartford, in which city he and his wife are now passing the evening of life. Mr. Han- mond passed the years of his boyhood and youth among the hills of Vernon. He attended school in Southington, where he was converted in answer to the prayers of his God-fearing parents. Later he completed his academic preparation in Phillip's Academy, at Andover, Mass. Immediately after his conversion he began active efforts to win souls for the Master, holding meetings with other students. in the neighboring villages. In 1854 he entered Williams College, from which he was graduated in 1858. During his college course, and without neglecting his studies, he seemed to have but one end in view, that of saving souls, and bent all the force of his nature in that direction. Following his graduation he entered Union Theological Sem- inary, at New York. In 1859 he went abroad, ex- pecting to be gone a few months only, but an over- ruling Providence directed him to the Free Church College at Edinburgh, Scotland, whither he went for study. There liis desire for spiritual work was irrepressible, and he was sent by Dr. L. W. Alex- ander to Musselburgh to labor with that people, the Doctor saying in substance as he went. "if you can save this church you can succeed anywhere." He introduced American melodies and inquiry meet- ings, among both children and adults, as he preached the uplifted Christ. The blessings attending his work were marvelous. He was approved and sought after by such eminent men as Rev. William Arnot, D. D., and Rev. Horatius Boner, D. D., the former saying of him, "I should fear to offend the Lord if I did not acknowledge his servant."

After addressing immense multitudes, conduct- ing evangelistic work in Scotland, and preaching through an interpreter in Italy, Mr. Hammond re- turned, after an absence of two years, to America. The fame of God's blessings upon his labors in Scotland preceded him, as he began evangelistic work in Boston in September, 1861, after which came invitations from Portland, Maine, and other New England points. He accomplished a great

ExHammond

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work in Lewiston, which extended to Bowdoin Col- lege. In 1862 Mr. Hammond labored with great results in Canada, addressing audiences of three thousand in Montreal. He also visited New York City, speaking in Dr. Hatfield's Church, among thie converts being a sporting man who became a power in reaching and influencing men of his own class. In the year 1863 Mr. Hammond was ordained as an evangelist by the Presbytery of New York, and with that body he has ever since been connected. From this time on through the 'sixties he labored with great carnestness all over this country. At the invitation of Drs. Theodore Cuyler and Buddington, of Brooklyn, he conducted meetings in that city for a period of four weeks, holding three meetings daily, and with much blessing. As a result of his meetings in Utica and Rochester, N. Y., six hun- dred were converted in the former, and a thousand from the Sabbath-school alone added to the churches in the latter, Dr. Shaw regarding the work as the greatest that city had ever enjoyed. Mr. Ham- mond held meetings in Boston, at Auburn, Law- rence and Bridgeport, winning many souls in each place. In Newark, N. J., in 1864, that city, as the result of his efforts, witnessed its greatest revival, upward of 1,300 having been added to the churches from the Sabbath-schools. It was at this time that the hymn "Jesus of Nazareth Passeth By," which is descriptive of the scene then witnessed, was composed by Miss Campbell. This same year his labors in Buffalo, Chicago and St. Paul were crowned with conversions, and in Chicago Mr. Hammond and Mr. Moody worked together. Again in 1865 he had much blessing in New Jersey towns. That same year he was in Detroit and Ann Arbor, and during a stay of ten weeks in Philadelphia, where at times the Academy of Music was rented at an expense of $175 per night, several thousand souls were added to the churches. He also did good work that year in Binghamton and Elmira, New York.

Early in 1866 Mr. Hammond conducted meet- ings at Towanda, Penn., Corning and Hornellsville, N. Y. At Eric, in that year, many united with the churches. Peoria, Ill., it was estimated, re- ceived a thousand converts, and Springfield and vicinity three thousand, as the result of Mr. Ham- mond's efforts. Among these, at Peoria, were thirty-seven out of sixty-three inmates of the jail. As a result of his preaching for one week at Girard, Penn .. the membership of the churches was doubled.

After his marriage, in May, 1866, to Miss Eliza Overton, of Towanda, Penn., Mr. Hammond went abroad with his wife, visiting, among other places of interest, Palestine. Egypt, and the scenes of his earlier triumphs in Scotland. "Mr. Moody, then paying his first visit to London, stated that he be- lieved not less than fifty thousand had been added to the churches in the United States up to that time-1867-through the instrumentality of Mr. Hammond." In 1868 Gen. Booth ascribed to Mr.

Hammond the influence by which he was induced to enter upon his great career, and many ministers have given him the credit of having led them into the ministry. Early in 1869 Mr. Hammond re- turned to America, and for a second time labored in Rochester, where there were several thousand converts. Later he passed four weeks in Indianap- olis, and six in Cincinnati, the result of his labors in the latter city and vicinity being estimated at five thousand converts. Following this, in 1870 and 1871, Evansville, Ind., Milwaukee, Wis., Provi- dence, R. 1., Brooklyn, N. Y., Newark, N. J., Leav- enworth, Lawrence, Topeka, Atchison and other Kansas towns, were the scenes of his labors, and large additions to the churches followed. After a great work in 1874 in St. Louis he, with twenty- one workers, made a trip to Galveston and other points in Texas and the Indian Territory. He went a second time to the Pacific coast in 1874-75, and his labors through California and Washington Territory were attended with a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit. His travels extended into British Columbia and Alaska. In the great Western cam- paign of those years from seven thousand to nine thousand united with the churches.

Returning to the East, Mr. Hammond labored with great results in Washington, D. C., in 1875, and also at Harrisburg. Penn., and through the Cumberland Valley. The principal scenes of his labors in 1877 and 1878 were Yonkers and Roches- ter, N. Y. (third time), Parkersburg, W. Va., Marietta. Zanesville, Columbus and Delaware. Ohio, and Joplin, Mo. In 1879 he visited and did good work in Allegheny, Edinboro, Cambridge and South Pittsburg. In 1881 he visited the South, including the cities of Nashville and Memphis, Tenn. He labored in Cambridgeport, Boston, Middleboro and Newark (third time), in Brooklyn Tabernacle ( N. Y.), and in the Bermuda Islands. In 1883 he passed much time in Philadelphia, New Jersey, and west- ern New York.

The foregoing summary of the record of Evan- gelist Hammond is condensed from "The Reaper and The Harvest," 550 pages, edited by Rev. P. C. Hadley, which includes the record from 1862 to 1877 given by Rev. Dr. Charles L. Thompson, of New York.

During the winter of 1890-91 Mr. Hammond clid evangelistic work in Washington, D. C., and the previous winter he was in the mining districts of Colorado-two fields in as strong a contrast as can well be imagined, but neither without a harvest. He has been abroad three different times-alto- gethier seven and a half years-and through the in- fluence of his work in London, in which city he passed sixteen weeks in 1867, the "Children's Spe- cial Service Mission" was inaugurated, which So- ciety now publishes books and leaflets in fifty dif- ferent languages. Hle held meetings in Norway and Sweden, and he and Mrs. Hammond were in- vited by Queen Sophia to her palace.

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From the writings of Dr. C. E. Babb, one of the editors of the Herald and Presbyter, is extracted the following: "While a student at Edinburgh he was invited to hold meetings in a vacant church six miles distant. Here he labored so earnestly and wisely that there was a great religious awakening ; hundreds were converted ; ministers in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and other cities heard of this revival ; they recognized in the youthful evangelist a man called of God to a special work; they in- vited him to their pulpits; thousands and tens of thousands who never entered the churches were drawn to these meetings, and many of them be- came Christians. After laboring thus two years in Scotland, going only where the ministers and churches invited him, not setting himself up as a leader, but yielding to the urgency of the ablest and best men of the land, that he should use the gifts with which God had endowed him, he re- turned to his native land. He did not announce himself as an evangelist, or seek conspicuous fields of labor ; but accepted first the invitations that came to him to aid ministers in hard and comparatively obscure localities. God was always with him, as in Scotland. Wherever he went the people thronged to hear him, and multitudes were brought to Christ. After five years of evangelistic labor in New Eng- land and the far West Mr. Hammond again went abroad. He spent many months holding meetings in England, Scotland and Ireland, and on the Con- tinent. He preached daily for sixteen weeks in London to large audiences, part of the time in Spurgeon's tabernacle, which was full night after night.

"Since Mr. Hammond's return from Europe the second time, he has held meetings in towns and cities from Minneapolis, in Minnesota, to Galves- ton, Texas, and from the shores of Lake Erie to Denver. He has gone to none of these places with- out special invitation. Wherever he has been the various evangelical churches have been drawn to- gether in brotherly love and cordial co-operation. In every place there have been conversions, not only of the children, but of men and women, not a few of whom had previously been notoriously wicked. The converts, with few exceptions, are faithful and useful members of the churches. One of the most sticcessful of Mr. Hammond's meetings was that in St. Louis. The largest halls in the city were crowded day after day, and one of the pastors has recently stated that over five thousand persons were added to the churches of St. Louis as the result of these special services.'

The late Dr. Goodell, in speaking of the work in St. Louis, said : "Over two hundred union meetings have been held, those in the morning al- ways crowded, as well as those in the evening. From the first the work has continued silent, deep and powerful, and entirely free from any excess. The prayer of yesterday is answered to-day. The doctrines of the cross are uttered, and straight-

way the soul cries out, "What shall I do to be saved ?'

"A business man is strongly entrenched in world- liness to-day ; tomorrow he says, 'Sir, we would see Jesus;' and the next day he has sought his neighbor. All past enmity is reconciled, and they are kneeling together at the foot of the cross. How soon God, by his power, can change the whole moral aspect of a community, and direct into new channels the currents of thought and feeling and activity! Every Christian here feels that surpris- ing advance, which must be permanent, has been made in the spiritual tone of this city. I was pres- ent at the great Opera House last night, and saw the four thousand, five hundred people gathered there listening with rapt and tearful interest, hour after hour, to the plainest Gospel truths from the lips of Mr. Hammond, whom God has made a pillar of light and power in all this work."

Of the first four of his nine weeks in San Fran- cisco Mr. Crosby, a fellow townsman, thus wrote to the Rockville (Conn.) Journal: "I suppose I shall not exceed the truth in stating that since ar- riving in San Francisco Mr. Hammond has held one hundred services, and spoken to fully one hun- dred thousand people. I am not informed of the number of conversions, but know they reach into the thousands, and include among the number Jews, infidels, heathens, harlots, backsliders, business men, California street brokers, and children in large numbers, and, judging from the tone of the papers, some of the reporters must have been somewhat softened, if not changed. In fact, it has been a general revival of religion among all classes and conditions of men. Mr. Hammond has been blessed abundantly, and he gives the whole glory to Christ ; this seems to be his prevailing thought, 'Jesus does it all.'"

Rev. I. W. Hathaway, D. D., of New York, a conservative minister in the Presbyterian Church, at a meeting in Jersey City, in the Rev. J. L. Scud- der's church, said that he believed that Mr. Ham- mond had, during his long career as an evangelist, been the agent under God of leading more souls to Christ than any other person now present on the face of the globe. "I say this," he repeated, "de- liberately, and, I believe, intelligently, not except- ing Mr. Moody or any evangelist. and if you will fall in with his plans, and support him with your prayers and efforts, you may have a rich blessing from God here."

From his comfortable home, in the beautiful city of Hartford, Evangelist Hammond still goes forth with abiding strength on his soul-saving mis- sion. He visited Charleston, S. C., early in the year 1900, and from the Newes and Courier of that city the following estimate of the elements of his success are taken :

His place as a preacher. The cross of Christ is most distinctly outlined in his own mind, and is, therefore, vividly presented to his hearers. The substance of his sermons is

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ruin through sin and present full redemption through Christ, who was " wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities." The substitution of Christ in the sinner's place, the full satisfaction to Divine justice, the full justifi- cation of the sinner in God's sight on account of the Savior's work, and the believer's privilege to live ever in the light of conscious acceptance with God, are the notes that he is never weary of ringing in the people's ears. His powers of illustration are remarkable. He is eminently successful in picturing before his audience whatever scene he is trying to impress on their minds. The attention of children, there- fore, never flags, and his influence over them, through vivid picturing of the plan of salvation, has been greatly blessed alike to their instruction and salvation. The criticism that might be founded on his toogreat urgency in bringing children to an announcement of a decision for Christ is largely shorn of its strength by the fact that he is as careful to make them in- telligent as he is to make them decided. He gives them a reason for the hope that he would have them entertain. It is his custom in separating the young converts from the audience to have the pastors examine them as to the grounds of their faith in Christ. Brief as this examination must be, he solemnly and distinctly urges that it is to be pointedly made. and as clearly warns the children against the profes- sion of a love for Christ for which they cannot give some simple and Scriptural reason. His preaching, then, whether to children or adults, consists in a clear, well-defined and well-illustrated statement of the central doctrine of the cross. His system of truth is cast in Biblical rather than technical or theological forms. The personality of Jesus; the Fatherhood of God, calling for confidence and filial love; the joyfulness of Christ's service, and the certainty of its rewards in a real Heaven of endless progress and endless work -these truths come from his lips with the freshness and force which only a deep conviction of them can give His manner of preaching is in harmony with the matter of it. Buoyant, almost boyish, with a certain physical exuber- ance, with a fine commingling of joyfulness and seriousness, he commends his religion as something that will give relish to this life as well as blessedness to the next. He is no ascetic, removed from the people and shading their thoughts with pictures of religious gloom. He brings a dash of Chris- tian sunlight and a breath of free Christian courage and hope with every sermon. Add to this his earnestness, which never weakens; his directness of purpose, which never swerves, and he is before us as an evangelist a large measure of whose success is in his loyalty to the truth, his sense of its power, his wisdom in presenting it, and his earnestness in enforcing it as the very word of God-the charter of Chris- tian liberty and the guide to a happy Chiristian life and work.

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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 73

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