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 76

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 76


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131 | Part 132 | Part 133 | Part 134 | Part 135 | Part 136 | Part 137 | Part 138 | Part 139 | Part 140 | Part 141 | Part 142 | Part 143 | Part 144 | Part 145 | Part 146 | Part 147 | Part 148 | Part 149 | Part 150 | Part 151 | Part 152 | Part 153 | Part 154 | Part 155 | Part 156 | Part 157 | Part 158 | Part 159 | Part 160 | Part 161 | Part 162 | Part 163 | Part 164 | Part 165 | Part 166 | Part 167 | Part 168 | Part 169 | Part 170 | Part 171 | Part 172 | Part 173 | Part 174 | Part 175 | Part 176 | Part 177 | Part 178


In politics Hon. William Henry Watrous is a stanch Republican. In 1894 and 1895 he did yeo- man service as a member of the Hartford board of aldermen, and in 1895 and 1896 was a repre- sentative of the city in the General Assembly of the State, but the great strain imposed upon him by multifarious business duties precludes his participa- tion in political affairs as a rule, otherwise he would be heard from in more advanced public positions, as he is extremely popular with his party, as well as with the public in general. Fraternally Mr. Watrous is a Mason of high degree under the Scot- tish Rites, up to and including the thirty-second; is at present a member of Pyramid Temple, Mystic Shrine, of Bridgeport; Washington Commandery, K. T., of Hartford, as well as the blue lodge ; and is likewise a member of Robert O. Tyler Post, G. A. R., of Hartford ; the Army and Navy Club ; and the Hartford Yacht Club, of which he was com- modore in 1895 and 1896.


Of the family relations of Commodore Watrous it will suffice to say that his mother was a sister of William Rogers, who was born in Hartford, and had a family of thirteen children. Of these, George, the eldest, is with Mr. Watrous as foreman of the repairing department; Simeon is the foreman of the Rogers & Hamilton Co., plating department, Waterbury, Conn .; Edgar R. is with our subject in the plating department ; an elder brother. Charles, was also a silver plater, and with the Silver Plate


332


COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.


Cutlery Co., of Derby, Conn .; one sister, Arabella, is the widow of William Boardman, and now re- sides in Hartford. The mother of Mr. Watrous died at the age of seventy-eight, in 1881 ; his fa- ther, Rufus Watrous, born in Hartford, was a farm- er all his life, and was killed by the cars in 1853, when fifty-four years of age. Grandfather Watrous was born in Hartford, where the family were among the early settlers, and was also a farmer. His wife was Abigail Cadwell.


Hon. William Henry Watrous married, in 1860, Miss Sarah F. Hurd, of Essex, Conn., who was called away in 1891, and in 1893 he took for his second helpmeet Agnes E. McFadyen, of Hart- ford. The family attend the M. E. Church, of which Mr. Watrous is a trustee. To comment on the phenomenal career of Mr. Watrous would be the work of supererogation.


BARTHOLOMEW. To mention the family name Bartholomew in Bristol is to recall in the minds of its residents one of the oldest and most substantial families in the history of New England, a family that traces its ancestry back to the begin- ning of the seventeenth century when, in the year 1634, the three brothers, William, Henry and Rich- ard Bartholomew, in the company of Rev. John Lothrop and others, left the mother country for America, arriving in Boston Sept. 16, 1634. This family name has been preserved in integrity and up- rightness, and to-day we find the seventh genera- tion substantially represented by Harry Shelton Bartholomew, the subject of this sketch.


That these three brothers, who transplanted the family from England to America, stood high in the estimation of the people is evidenced by the fact that William, at the age of thirty-two or thirty-three years, in 1635, was appointed to the General Court. and several times thereafter. While in the General Court he was associated with Michael Easton, who was afterward governor of Rhode Island for five years. Later William Bartholomew served as town clerk at Ipswich, and was one of the seven chosen men of the town. He was also deputy with his brother, Henry, of Salem, and in 1651 he was chosen on a committee. In England he married Ann Lord, a sister of Robert Lord, and their marriage was blessed with two sons and one daughter, as fol- lows : Mary married Major Daniel Dennison Dec. 24, 1652: Joseph, born about 1638, resided in Lon- don, England, in 1693: William, born in 1640-41, died in the spring of 1697. in Branford, Conn. Mr. and Mrs. William Bartholomew were devout and active members of the Congregational Church. Mr. Bartholomew was clerk of the Congregational Church of Ipswich for over thirty years. It is sup- posed that William and his brother were disowned for religious dissension, and came to America to es- tablish themselves in life and perpetuate the family name. (1) William died Jan. 18, 1680, at the age


of seventy-eight years. His wife died Jan. 29, 1682-83.


(II) William Bartholomew, as stated above, was born in Ipswich in 1640-41, and died in the spring of 1697, at Branford. On Dec. 17, 1663, he was married to Mary Johnson, who was born April 24, 1642, daughter of Capt. Isaac and Eliza- beth (Porter) Johnson, and was living in Branford in 1705. William learned the carpenter's trade, and was engaged very extensively as a carpenter and millwright. The Old South Mills, in Salem, were built by him and his uncle Henry. He was a man brave in times of war, and when, in 1678, the Hatfield Indian Raid occurred, he acquitted him- self with such valor that he received his title of lieutenant. In 1679 he was given twenty acres of land in Branford, conditioned that he would take up his residence in that town and build a gristmill. In 1681 he was given authority by the town to set up a sawmill on the great river ; later he was ap- pointed surveyor of the town. Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. William Bartholomew, as follows: Isaac, born Nov. 1, 1664, died Oct. 25, 1727. William, born Oct. 16, 1666, died in 1697, without issue. Mary, born Oct. 26, 1668, died before 1697. Andrew, born Dec. II, 1670, died about 1755. Abigail, born Dec. 8, 1672, died Jan. 15, 1732; she was stolen by the Indians Sept. 19, 1677, and was ransomed May 23, 1678. Elizabeth was born March 15, 1674. Benjamin, about 1677. John, about 1679. Joseph, about 1682.


(III) Isaac Bartholomew was born in Roxbury, Mass., and died in Branford. He was a farmer, and most highly esteemed by all who knew him. About 1694 he married Rebecca, daughter of John Frisbie : she was born Nov. 14, 1679, and died in May, 1738. Children were born to this marriage as follows: William, born about 1695, was living in Litchfield in 1765. Mary, born about 1697, re- sided in New Haven. Isaac, born Nov. 18, 1699, died Aug. 25, 1750. Rebecca, born April 18, 1702, married Daniel Collins, of New Haven, where she resided. Elizabeth, born April 12, 1704, married Nathaniel Barnes, of Branford, and resided in Plym- outh, Conn. Ebenezer, born June 10, 1706, died before 1727. Abraham, born June 28, 1708, died in Farmington, Conn. Josiah, born Jan. 18, 1710, died Feb. 12, 1777. Abigail married William Rog- ers, of New Haven, in 1729. Freelove married Abel Curtis Nov. 14, 1741. Jerusha, born Jan. 13, 1722-23, married Daniel Finch, of New Haven.


(IV) Abraham Bartholomew was born in Bran- ford, Conn., followed the vocation of his father, | and became a very extensive farmer in Branford. where he resided until he was forty-six years of age. In 1754 he took possession of extensive pur- chases of land with improvements in Farmington, some of which are now included within the limits of the town of Burlington, where he resided. Later he removed to the house since known as "Bartemy s


333


COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.


Tavern," situated on Peaceable street, near and south of the line between the present towns of Bristol and Burlington. He kept the first tavern and store in that section. Although about seventy years of age, he enlisted in the Revolutionary war, he and his grandson Abraham joining Sheldon's Dra- goons, and served two years. On June 18, 1730, he married Hannah, daughter of Daniel Page; she died Oct. 25, 1770. Eight children were born to them, as follows : Hannah, born May 9, 1731, mar- ried Elihu Smith, of Farmington. Abraham, born Jan. 28, 1732-33, died in 1776. Jacob, born Jan. 9, 1736-37, died Oct. 29, 1805. Lydia, born Feb. 18, 1738-39, married Joseph Hefford, of Farmington. Mary was born July 19, 1741. John, born April 15, 1744, died in 1776. Thankful, born March 24, 1745, married Elisha Bell, of Southington, who later resided in Granby, Conn., and in Nicholson, Penn., respectively. Patience was born May 19, 1748.


(V) Jacob Bartholomew was born in Branford, Conn., was a tiller of the soil, and in addition con- ducted other business enterprises successfully, and served his country well in times of peace and war. He became a tanner by trade, and carried on his business at the Edward Barnes place, on Peace- able street. In turn he became proprietor of "Bar- temy Tavern," with which was connected a store. At the organization of the town of Bristol, in 1785, he was elected its first treasurer and surveyor of highways. He served the town in several other capacities, and also served in the Revolutionary war. While nursing his brother John, who, as a Revolutionary soldier, died on board the Govern- ment hospital ship in New York harbor, he con- tracted a fever which affected his health, and he died Oct. 29, 1805. He was of good size and form, and had formerly enjoyed fine health. Jacob Bar- tholomew married Sarah, daughter of Squire Heze- kiah and Saralı (Newell) Gridley; she was born Feb. 21, 1738, and died April 10, 1801. This mar- riage was blessed with twelve children, as follows : Mercy, born July 28, 1762, died March 24, 1834, married Ambrose Hart Aug. 2, 1782. Lenma, born Feb. 27, 1764, died in 1813, unmarried. Sarah, born Feb. 6, 1766, died Sept. 22, 1846, married (first) Feb. 1, 1782, John Winston, of Bristol, and (second) Elihu Norton, of Bristol. Jacob, born Jan. 29, 1768, died Dec. 19, 1843. Rosanna, born June 2, 1770, married Asahel Cowles; no issue. Ama, born March 9, 1772, died in 1822, married John Beckwith, of Bristol, Conn. Eli, born Jan. 7, 1774, died Sept. 29, 1801, in Norfolk, Va .; he was a merchant in Hartford. Asa, born March 25, 1776, died Oct. 31, 1864. Mary, born July 1, 1778, married Luther Tuttle. Gad, born April 10, 1780, died April 16, 1780. Nancy, born Feb. 2, 1782, died in Farmington, Ohio, May 16, 1852, married Dennis Lewis. Gad, born May 7, 1783, died in 1851, married Phobe, daughter of William Stone, of Harwinton, Conn., on May 23, 1804.


(VI) Asa Bartholomew, son of Jacob, was- born in "Bartemy Tavern." Ile became a very ener- getic and successful business man. In 1805 he re- moved to Pleasant Valley, N. Y., where he kept a tavern until September, 1807, when he returned to Bristol and purchased a farm of 360 acres in Edgewood, which he conducted with very great success. On Sept. 10, 1801, he was married to Miss Charity Shelton, a daughter of Isaac Wells and. Martha Shelton, the latter of whom was a lineal descendant of IIenry Wakeley, the first lawyer of record in the Connecticut Colony, and whose grand- mother was a granddaughter of Lieut. John Hub- bell ( famed in the early Indian wars) and William Thompson (of New Haven) ; and numbered among her father's grandfathers were Gov. Thomas Welles, of Connecticut, Hon. Richard Treat, and Francis Nickols, of Stratford, the latter a brother of the first governor of New York under the Duke of York. Mrs. Bartholomew died in Bristol Sept. 15, 1859, and Mr. Bartholomew also died there. Asa Bar- tholomew was of an uncommonly independent and yet approachable nature. He was shrewd and hon- est. Ifis opinions were original, and frankly ex- pressed, but they were always founded upon good common sense, and carried great weight in the community. He never favored or cared to hold office. Possessed of a very genial, social nature, in his latter years he was most pleasantly known, by old and young, as "Uncle Asa Bartholomew." His marriage was blessed with eight children, as follows: Emily, born Jan. 1, 1804, died May 16, 1877, married Rensselaer Upson, of Bristol. George Welles, born June 19, 1805, died May 7, 1897. Har- ry Shelton, born June 3, 1807, died Oct. 7, 1827. Paulina, born June 18, 1809, died Feb. 9, 1894, married Alvin Ferry Alpress. Jennette, born March 31, 18II, married Eli Titus Merriman, M. D., of Bristol. Asa, born Feb. 1, 1815, died Oct. 7, 1896. Nancy Maria, born Dec. 22, 1818, died May 8, 1880, married Alanson Winston. Jane Charity, born Feb. 22, 1821, died Jan. 28, 1888, married Welling- ton Winston. Of this family, Asa Bartholomew, Jr., more than any of the other children, resembled his father in mental strength and character. He was educated in the common schools of Bristol and afterward devoted his time to farming, and later in life he dealt very extensively in blooded stock. He was acknowledged to be a very fine judge of horses, and at one time he was veterinary sur- geon of the Street Railway Co. of New York City. For a few years he also carried on the butch- ering and meat business in Bristol, which to him was an unprofitable undertaking. Like his ances- tors he was very prominent in Bristol, always mak- ing his home here. He never aspired to public of- fices, but took a special interest in all matters per- taining to the improvement of the town. A man of very decided views, especially in politics, he never feared to express his opinion, whatever other people might think. He was a good neighbor and


334


COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.


citizen. On Nov. 10, 1836, he married Mary Lydia Birge, who was born Feb. 9, 1818, and died April 7, 1888, having been his partner in life for nearly fifty-two years. Their family consisted of four chil- dren : Harriet A., born Feb. 17, 1839, died Jan. 23. 1893. Nathan L., born Nov. 17, 1841, married Aug. 22, 1892, Mrs. Sarah Emily (Reynolds) Newcomb. John B., born Dec. 11, 1845, married Virginia A. McElwe Feb. 12, 1880. Mary, born July 16, 1850, died Dec. 27, 1853. Nathan L. Bartholomew is cashier of the First National Bank, Albany, Texas. John B. Bartholomew is a member of the board of administration of the Southwestern Traffic Asso- ciation, St. Louis. Asa Bartholomew, Jr., lived to the age of eighty-one years.


George Welles Bartholomew, father of our sub- ject, the eldest son of Asa and Charity ( Shelton) Bartholomew, was born June 19, 1805, and died May 7. 1897, aged ninety-two years. He was inar- ried in Bristol Jan. 14, 1829, to Miss Angeline Ives, daughter of Deacon Charles Grandison Ives, of Bristol. She died March 13, 1861. His second wife was Mrs. Julia A. (Marvin) Cole, of Tol- land, Conn., who died May 2, 1896. They resided in that part of Bristol now called Edgewood, the site of his father's extensive farm, where his child- hood was spent. When about eighteen years of age he engaged in peddling, visiting in that occupation Alabama and Mississippi. The manufacture of clocks, in company with his cousin, Eli Barthol- omew, was begun in 1828. The business was con- tinued by himself alone until 1840; then it was superseded by the development of the table cutlery business. He made cabinet furniture in company with his brother-in-law, A. F. Alpress, between 1834 and 1840. In 1836 he obtained a lease of land about one mile north of his home, and with Harvey and Erastus Case opened the Bristol copper mine, his share of which he sold for a good sum to An- drew Miller, in about one year. Becoming interested in the discovery of gold in California in the fall of 1848, he started for the "New Eldorado" in Feb- ruary, 1849, in company with a small party of friends, seven in all, and remained there until 1853, visiting Bristol in 1851. Soon after his re- turn to Bristol he formed a partnership with his elder son for the manufacture of hardware, which continued under the firm name of G. W. & H. S. Bartholomew until the destruction of their factory by fire, in 1884, when he retired from business.


.


Mr. Bartholomew was one of the seventy-eight candidates admitted to the Congregational Church May 27, 1821, and was a member of the Sunday- school organized in 1818. He was a Democrat in politics, and served his town in the offices of judge of probate, selectman ten years, justice of the peace forty years, and twice as representative in the State Legislature, 1836 and . 1866. Socially he was a member of the F. & A. M. and of the I. O. O. F. Of his eight children four lived to mature years, Harry Shelton, Jane Estelle, Angeline Ives, and


George Welles, Jr. Mrs. Angeline I. (Barthol- omew ) Marvin died at her home, Columbus, Ohio, Aug. 28, 1893.


(VII) HARRY SHELTON BARTHOLOMEW, the eldest son of George Welles and Angeline ( Ives) Bartholomew, was born in Bristol March 14, 1832. He received his early education in the local schools, and at the age of fourteen was a student at Deacon Simeon Hart's school for boys in Farmington. During the time that his father was in California he assumed the responsibilities of the family for three years, and at the age of twenty he also went to California, visiting the gold mines nearly two years. During the following year, December, 1855, the business enterprise of his life was established in the formation of the manufacturing company of G. W. & H. S. Bartholomew, which continued until 1884, since which time he has had no partner. Mr. Bartholomew is a very energetic man, and his great activity and reliability have won for him the confidence and affection of all acquaintances. In addition to his business duties he has devoted much time to educational and philanthropic works; also to inventions, in which line his specialty is bit- braces. He is a natural-born machinist, has taken out sixteen patents on various inventions of his own in the bit line, and in the production of bit- braces is acknowledged to be a competitor of the longest standing in the country.


Mr. Bartholomew has occupied many positions of trust and responsibility. He is at present a director of the First National Bank of Bristol, in which capacity he has acted for twenty-three years, and is president of the Buckeye Portland Cement Co., Bellefontaine, Ohio, in which company he pur- chased a half interest in 1891. He has also served on the school board of his town. Socially he is a thirty-second degree Freemason, and in politics is a Republican. On June 20, 1860, Mr. Bartholomew was married, in Burlington, to Miss Sabra A. Peck, daughter of Capt. Joseph Samuel Peck, son of Seth, of Joseph, of Ebenezer, of Benjamin, of Henry, from England, a member of the Davenport com- pany of colonists in New Haven, Conn., 1638. Capt. J. S. Peck's mother, Hannah Alling (or Allen), was a direct descendant of Roger Alling, first treas- urer of the New Haven Colony, until made Deacon in the First or Center Church, which office he held until his death, in 1674. He was also collector of "The College Corne," the tax for the support of Harvard College. Mrs. Sabra A. ( Peck) Bartholo- mew is through her mother, Rosetta ( Fenn) Peck, a descendant of Benjamin Fenn, Rev. Peter Pru- 1 den (first minister of the Gospel in Milford. Conn.), Joseph Judson, and Nathan Gold (of Stratford).


(II) Benjamin Peck, son of Henry, married Mary Sperry, whose father. Richard Sperry, har- bored the regicides. (III) Ebenezer Peck was first clerk of the first church in Woodbridge, Conn., 1742. He married Hannah, daughter of Joshua Hotchkiss, and a descendant of William Tuttle,


-


Cyl & Bartholomew


335


COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.


early of New Haven. (IV) Joseph Peck married Keziah Lines, a granddaughter of Ralph Lines, who lived near Richard Sperry at West Rock, or "Sperry's Farms." (V) Seth l'eck was under Capt. Benedict Arnold at the engagement of Compo Hill, when Gen. Tryon was returning from burning the military supplies at Danbury, 1777. He removed soon afterward from New Haven to Bristol, Conn., where are now living some of his posterity.


The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Bartholo- mew are Alice M., a graduate of the Maplewood Institute, Pittsfield, Mass .; Harry Ives, a graduate of Yale, 1894; Joseph Peck, a graduate of Worces- ter Polytechnic Institute, 1899. Mr. and Mrs. Bar- tholomew and family worship in the Congrega- tional Church, of which Mr. Bartholomew has been a member since May 2, 1858. He served nineteen years as superintendent of the Sunday-school, and has been seventeen years a deacon, and was largely instrumental in securing the addition of church par- lors and Sunday-school rooms during his superin- tendency. Mr. Bartholomew has a summer home at Sachem's Head, Guilford, Conn., where he spends about three months each year with his family.


JACOB KNOUS (deceased) was for over thirty years a successful merchant of Hartford, where his death occurred Oct. 22, 1897, after a long illness from valvular disease of the heart. He was born Feb. 9, 1835, at Valley Forge, Penn., of Quaker parentage, and the family, which is of German ori- gin, has long been identified with that locality.


Jacob Knous, our subject's grandfather, was a farmer at Valley Forge, his home being near the Barren Hill church, where LaFayette's army was quartered. He married Elizabeth Linnensheet, a daughter of John Linnensheet. She was of Quaker ancestry, and was "read out of meeting" because she married out of the Society, but she remained a faithful believer in the Quaker faith, and always wore the Quaker dress. Samuel Knous, our subject's father, was born at the old homestead, and became an expert inspector of firearms, being appointed to service under the government at Ilion, N. Y., and at Springfield, Mass. After many years in Spring- field he accepted a position in Colt's Armory, at Hartford, in 1851, which he held until some years previous to his death, at the age of ninety years. He married Miss Ann Bartel, of Roxborough, Penn., and they had a family of six children, of whom the following are living : John, for many years a super- intendent of Weed's factory, and a prominent citi- zen of Hartford ; Mrs. Benjamin Hannis, of Spring- field, Mass. ; Mrs. Ellen A. Barrows, widow of Edwin G. Barrows, of Hartford; Mrs. John Dit- mars, of New York ; and Frank F., of New Haven.


Mr. Knous settled in Hartford in 1854, being then connected with the Bee Hive dry-goods store, conducted by Starr & Burkett. In 1857 he entered the employ of C. S. Weatherby, who carried on a dry-goods store at the corner of Main and Morgan


streets, and soon after the firm of Williams & Knous was organized, Mr. Weatherby going to New York. The firm was a very successful one, Mr. Knous being noted for his energy and business acumen. He was very popular and companionable, and greatly liked by all who had business tran- sactions with him, and his trade was large. In 1862 the firm had changed to C. S. Weatherby & Co., and occupied one of the stores in the Hills block ; afterward the firm name was Weatherby, Knous & Pelton. At the opening of the Cheney building the firm had dissolved, and Mr. Knous formed a partnership with the late John S. Ives, under the name of Knous & Ives, and the Bee Hive was re- juvenated, the southerly corner of the new build- ing having been erected on the site of the old Bee Hive. He was engaged in business at that stand for many years, until he retired, since which time he had not been much about the city, owing to physical infirmities.


Mr. Knous was for thirty years a vestryman of St. John's Episcopal Church, and was active in its affairs. He was also a member of St. John's Lodge, No. 4, F. & A. M. His patriotism was shown during the Civil war in many ways, and he gave generous assistance in raising troops.


In 1862 Mr. Knous married Miss Caroline B. Shultas, who survives him, residing at their old home, No. 633 Prospect avenue. She is a daughter of the late James B. Shultas, mention of whom is made below. Three children also survive: (1) Mrs. William H. Burtenshaw resides in Detroit, Mich., where her husband is secretary of the Michi - gan Carbon Works. (2) Mrs. Lewis D. Parker re- sides in Hartford. Mr. Parker is president of the Hartford Rubber Works. They have three chil- dren, Margery Sweet, Truman Wooster, and Lewis Pond. Mr. Parker's father, the Rev. Dr. Edwin Pond Parker, has been for forty years pastor of the South Congregational Church of Hartford. (3) Mrs. Beecher M. Crouse has one daughter, Caroline Shultas. Mr. Crouse is a prominent resident of Utica, N. Y., a member of one of the old fam- ilies of that section, a director in various banks and other corporations, and is largely interested in mining and milling at Victor, Colorado.


JAMES BABCOCK SHULTAS was born in Hartford, Oct. 6, 1805, a son of John Shultas, of Dutch an- cestry, who came to this country in his youth, and before removing to Hartford lived in Albany, N. Y. Early in life James B. Shultas was engaged in mercantile business on State Street. In 1840, in connection with Maj. James Goodwin, he purchased the "United States Hotel," and at the time of his deathi owned a half interest in that property. He assumed the management of the hotel for a short period after its purchase, but withdrew from the enterprise in the end in order to attend to other in- terests. In 1850 and 1851 he was a member of the council board from the Fifth ward, and in 1852 was elected a member of the board of aldermen.


336


COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.


During these years he took an active part in munic- ipal politics, and was identified with the progress of the city. In 1856 he was re-elected to the council board, and held the position of chairman of the com- mittee on Highways and Sewers. He also served as street commissioner, and exercised sole control in matters relating to the management of the city thoroughfares. His administration of the duties of the office was always wise and judicious, and en- titled him to the approval of his fellow-citizens.




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.