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 88

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 88

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).

William Pitkin (2) was a member of the coun- cil of the colony for twenty-six years. He also served as judge of the county, probate and superior courts, and in 1713 became chief justice of the su- preme court.

William Pitkin, the head of the family, was an Englishman, and came to America with Rev. Thomas Hooker in 1639. On Oct. 9, 1662, he was appointed prosecutor for the Connecticut Colony, and in 1664 he received an appointment from the King as attorney-general. From 1675 to 1690 he was a representative in the General Assembly, and in 1676 he served as treasurer of the colony.

Silas Chapman, Jr., was married Dec. 10, 1868, to Julia A. Camp, who was born in Windsor, Conn., Aug. 13, 1848.

JOHN B. POYER, M. D. The subject of this sketch has attested the strength of inherited traits. Descended from men of unusual force of character and position in the world, circumstances over which he had no control threw him, while preparing for his professional life, upon his own resources. Un- shaken in purpose or determination by the whirling eddies that crossed his pathway of life, he returned as soon as the currents could be mastered to his original plan, completed his education, and has given to the people of New Britain one of its most success- ful medical practitioners.

Dr. Poyer's ancestors were millers. His great- grandfather, Joseph Poyer, was a business man of extensive means in Canada, near the New Hampshire

and Vermont State lines, engaging in mercantile- pursuits, and owning a number of mills. He mar- ried a Miss Gregory. His son, Joseph Poyer, Jr., the grandfather of our subject, was a man of like character. He was progressive, and possessed the courage of his convictions, originating many of the industries and new methods of business which chang- ing conditions necessitated. Joseph Poyer, Jr., mar- ried Mary Adams, and they had three children: Joseph, a large farmer of Holyoke, Mass .; Matilda; and John B., father of Dr. Poyer.

John B. Poyer was born in New Hampshire, near the Vermont line, in 1806. Like his father and grandfather he became a miller, and followed the business for a number of years. He was also en- gaged in farming in New Hampshire and in Can- ada, and later in life he removed to West Hartford, Conn., where he owned a farm of 600 acres, being the largest land owner in the town. For some time he was the overseer of Mr. Davenport's farm, which he subsequently worked on shares, finally purchasing the place. He prospered in rich measure until 1873, when he lost his large property through his kindness in assuming large financial liability for others. He was a self-made man, having by his own efforts ac- quired the property thus sacrificed by his generos- ity. In politics he was a Republican, in religious. faith a Catholic. He married a Miss Charbonneau, of New Hampshire, daughter of Charles Charbon- neau, a French-Canadian, and to them were born ten children who grew to adult age, as follows: Salina, wife of Cleophas La Point ; Henry, who is mentioned below; Arkaugh, who married (first) a Mr. Four- chette, and later a Mr. Cautermanche ; Rosalie, who chied at the age of twenty-three years ; Philomene, who married (first) Baptiste Solomon, and later George Robinson: William, who was killed at the battle of the Wilderness; Vitoline, who died at the age of eighteen years: Matilda, wife of Charles Brennison : Sophia, who married Cleophas La Point ; and John B., subject of these lines. The fa- ther died in 1893, the mother in 1888. Henry Poyer enlisted in the Union army in 1861, becoming a private in a Connecticut regiment, and served until Lee's surrender, being with two Connecticut regi- ments, a New York regiment, and a New Jersey regiment. Though wounded three times he re- mained continuously in the service, and rose to the rank of major, acting for one year as drilling officer on Blackwell's Island, New York. His name is on the monument in Central Park, New Britain.

John B. Poyer was born in West Hartford July II. 1859. He spent his boyhood at West Hartford and New Britain, and was a student in the grammar school at New Britain at the age of fourteen years when the change came in his father's fortune. For a time school books had to be laid aside to make way for hard work upon the farm for three or four years. Then, at the age of eighteen, he entered the private school of Prof. Camp, and spent some time prepar- atory to entrance examination for Yale College,

Jahn B. Payer. M.D.

385

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

meanwhile reading medicine at the office of Dr. Cummings. He matriculated at Yale in the fall of 1879, and remained two years, when circumstances again required a suspension in his education. From the spring of 1881 until August, 1885, lie con- ducted a tea store at New Britain in partnership with Mr. Stewart, under the name of the Union Tea Co. In the fall of 1885 Mr. Poyer entered the Senior class at Dartmouth College, and was grad- uated with the class of 1886. He subsequently went to Chicago, remaining for six months in the Cook County Hospital, after which he spent a year at Leipsic, Germany, attending lectures and clinics, and taking a post-graduate course. Dr. Poyer had thus given himself a splendid and thorough prepara- tion for the practice which he began at New Britain in 1888. At the expiration of seven years he was obliged, on account of ill health, to abandon practice for a time, but he has since resumed the exacting and conscientious duties of his profession. For four years he has been city physician, and he has now a wide and lucrative practice.

In politics Dr. Poyer is independent. Frater- nally he is a member of Harmony Lodge, No. 20, F. & A. M. He married Mary Drury, daughter of John Drury, and they have one son, John B., Jr.

GEORGE A. BINGHAM, supervisor of bridges for the New York, New Haven & Hartford Rail- road Co., has an office at Hartford, and takes charge of the work between Hartford and New Haven, Saybrook and Hartford, and Waterbury and Middle- town-150 miles in all.

Mr. Bingham was born July 9, 1840, in Andover, Conn., where his family has long been well known. George O. Bingham, Sr., the father of our subject, was born and reared in Andover, and was engaged in farming there for many years, dying at the ad- vanced age of eighty. He and his wife were prom- inent members of the Baptist Church in Andover. He married Jerusha C. Capen, a native of Boston, and one of the large family of Joseph Capen, a butcher of that city, and his wife Betsey Wadsworth, who was born in Hartford. Our subject's mother died when eighty years of age, leaving one child, George A. Bingham.

Mr. Bingham remained in his native place until he attained his majority, his time during youth be- ing spent in farm work and at the carpenter's trade. In 1863 he located at Hartford and took a position in Colt's Armory, the Civil war making the demand upon them great. On April 20, 1870, he entered the employ of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Co., as a carpenter, later became foreman, and in 1895 was promoted to his present position. He has now been with the company over thirty years, a sufficient evidence of his ability and trustworthi- ness. In all he has 250 bridges to oversee, some of them 2,000 feet long, and a number of men con- stantly carrying on this work under his direction. He builds the car houses, and makes the canopy tops

for bridges. The road is supplied with Banjo switch signals, which are made in the shop under his oversight, and afterward placed on the line by him.

In 1866 Mr. Bingham married Miss Jennie A. Loomis, a native of Andover, Conn., by whom he had one child, Grace J. In 1884 he married, for his second wife, Louisa M. Sexton. In politics he is a Republican, but he does not aspire to office, and he and his wife are prominent members of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church.

STERLING BUNNELL, manufacturer of ex- tracts, etc., in Bristol, is a native of that town, born Sept. 12, 1841. [For ancestry, see sketch of Charles R. Bunnell, elsewhere.]

Allen Bunnell, his father, was born Feb. 7, 1802, in Burlington, Conn., received his education there, and learned the trade of carriage maker. When a young man he removed to Bristol, and car- ried on a carriage shop in Divinity street. He died May 20, 1873, in what is known as Edgewood, Bris- tol. On Feb. 8, 1826, he married Rhoda Atwater, who was born Nov. 16, 1800, daughter of Lucius Atwater, and died July 20, 1879, in Bristol. Their children : (1) Caroline, born Jan. 13, 1827, married Franklin Steele, of Bristol, and died Dec. 9, 1898. (2) Emily, born Jan. 30, 1828, married John H. Sessions, of Bristol. (3) Charles R., sketch of whom appears elsewhere. (4) Susannah, born Sept. 16, 1832, married Edward Porter, of Bristol. Rhoda, born June 23, 1835, died May 3, 1836. (5) (6) Thomas, sketch of whom appears elsewhere. (7) Sterling, subject of this sketch. The father of this family was one of the first Abolitionists, and was one of the seven men of Bristol who at one time held the controlling power in the town. He was a very strong Union man, and equally aggressive on the temperance subject.

Sterling Bunnell was four years old when his parents removed to Burlington (Whigville), and here he received his education. Leaving school at the age of sixteen, he commenced work in the fac- tory of Warner & Sessions, wood turners, Polkville (now Edgewood, Bristol), whence at the end of a year he went to New Britain and entered the employ of the Stanley Rule & Level Co., wood turning for some two years, or until his enlistment, in August, 1861, in Company G, 6th Conn. V. I., in which he was sworn in Sept. 3, following. The first engage- ment of consequence in which he participated was the capture of Hilton Head or Port Royal, and after several months skirmishing he was present at the taking of Pulaski, Ga., April 10, 1862; Pocataligo, S. C., Oct. 22, 1862 ; capture of Morris Island ; and the charge on Fort Wagner, May 6, 1864. His regiment entered Virginia, and was engaged in the battles of Bermuda Hundred, Chester Station and Drury Bluffs. On May 20, 1864, while taking part in the charge on a battery above Bermuda Hundred, our subject was struck on the head, just above the

386

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

right temple, by a minie ball, which rendered him unconscious, and has since affected his nervous sys- tem. After coming to himself he thought it best to retreat carefully, or he might be seen and shot at again, but the Rebels had vacated the position. From the field hospital he was taken to a larger hos- pital, in an army ambulance, with two others, each of whom had lost a leg. The horses were balky, and the corduroy roads bad, the vehicle was overturned, and one of the men died. At Hampton Hospital our subject was kept on low diet, until he felt he should starve, and succeeded in getting a few meals that were not intended for him. But he wanted to come North, and as a boat load went every week he put on quite a determined air to be allowed to be put on the list. His father, being anxious to get him home, went to Hampton, getting there just in time to come on the same boat with him, and this circumstance save his life, which otherwise would have been sacrificed, for the crowded boat ordinarily afforded no comfortable quarters. His father hired a stateroom, and there he was cared for, and when the artery uncapped he could be attended to in time ; again in New York it uncapped, and very much re- duced his strength. In New Haven gangrene set in, and ate off the artery, and he made up his mind it was not much use to try to recover. But pure blood and good care, and a will, carried the day. However, he is minus quite a large piece of the bone of his skull, and the wound is never fully healed before it breaks out, a sore spot in another place showing a diseased skull. He was under treatment at New Haven hospital from June 4 till Aug. 10, 1864, on which day he was released on a thirty-days' furlough. On Sept. 3, same year, he was mustered out of the service at New Haven, with a pension for his services and wound. He endured an operation for trepanning, July 3, 1864.

Returning to the paths of peace, Mr. Bunnell in December, 1864, went to work for Warner & Ses- sions, in Polkville, and there remained three years, afterward purchasing and operating a small farm in Stafford district. In April, 1868, getting the Western fever, he sold his farm, and with his father- in-law, Mr. Maltby, and his brother-in-law, Mr. Porter went to Missouri to grow up with the coun- try, then filling up with Eastern people. They took up railroad land, built houses, and in June their families went out to occupy their new homes. It proved, however, an unsuccessful venture. Fever and ague were prevalent, and Mr. Bunnell finding his wound would not stand the heat of the sun, could not do farm work successfully, so he returned to Connecticut with his family in September, 1871, and again tried shop work, entering the employ of G. W. & H. S. Bartholomew, working on bit-stocks. In the fall of 1874 he went to Forestville, as night- watchman for the Welch & Spring clock factory. Resigning in the spring he returned to Polkville. In the spring of 1876, he made arrangements to op- erate a milk route, rented a farm of Asahel Mix, and

was very successful, securing a large route of good customers. On account of ill health he sold out after three years to Elbert Manchester, who still carries on the business. Mr. Bunnell then moved to town, and was engaged with Dr. Williams for the winter. In 1880 he went to work at turn- ing for George Neubauer. In 1884 he took a position as night watchman at N. L. Birge & Son's knitting factory, but not liking this he took his team and commenced peddling hardware, extracts, etc. After six months he decided to manufacture his own goods, studied up the extract business, and pre- pared a compound, called Extract Composition, which has become quite popular, and is a necessary family medicine. He carries on a wholesale and retail trade, with agents working in several towns. His extracts are acknowledged to be the best on the market.

On June 28, 1864, while in the hospital at New Haven, Mr. Bunnell was united in marriage with Emile Cordelia Maltby, daughter of Ephraim and Cynthia (Mix) Maltby, of Bristol. She went to the hospital to care for him, as he needed a constant attendant, there being danger of the artery uncap- ping, as it had done twice before he reached New Haven, and close watching was the only safety. To the credit of Knight Hospital let it be said he had most skillful and kind treatment. The children that have blessed this union are as follows: (I) Charles Allen, born June 6, 1865, died Jan. 23, 1867. (2) Ida May, born Jan. 8, 1867, is living at home. (3) Carrie Edith, born July 16, 1870, mar- ried Charles Woodward, of East Berlin, and their children are Editli Rose and Sterling Charles. (4) Julia Atwater, born Sept. 16, 1876, is teaching school at Wallingford, Conn. (5) Bessie Allena, born Aug. 22, 1878, married Charles Hendry, of Bristol, and their children are Emilie Jean and Al- lena May. (6) Alice Pearl, born March 10, 1884, died Aug. 17, 1884.

Mrs. Bunnell is a member of the Advent Chris- tian Church, and a most estimable lady. Mr. Bun- nell is a Republican, but takes no special interest in political matters. Socially he is a Freemason, and at one time was a member of the G. A. R. post at Bristol. He is a wide-awake, industrious man, and deservedly enjoys the esteem and respect of the com- munity at large.

ALFRED T. RICHARDS. Among those who, while not to the manor born, have made themselves an enviable reputation for close application to busi- ness, coupled with integrity and strict honesty, may be mentioned the name of Alfred T. Richards, gen- eral agent for the Connecticut Mutual Life Insur- ance Co., located at No. 783 Main street, Hartford.

Mr. Richards was born in Pembroke, South Wales, Aug. 28, 1843, was educated in the country schools of his native town, and, at an early age, a . strolling gypsy, who had wandered into that section, predicted that he would "go to America and become .

387

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

wealthy." He received from his parents a careful religious training, his mother impressing upon his mind the importance of a strict adherence to the truth, and living a God-fearing life, which perhaps laid the corner-stone for his future career. Coming to America, he, for a time, was a resident of St. Croix, New Brunswick, where he held the office of postmaster, and was higlily esteemed and respected by the people of that place. In 1871 he came to Hartford and engaged in mercantile pursuits, being business representative of the firm of Keney & Roberts. With keen foresight he had seen what he believed would be a future in the insurance busi- ness, and after some years spent in mercantile life he took a position as general agent for Connecticut for the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co., with headquarters at the home office, and for twenty years has labored most earnestly and successfully to build up a large and solid business for that com- pany. His efforts have been amply repaid, and there is to-day probably no better known man in insurance circles than Alfred T. Richards ; and, it goes without saying, that he is regarded very highly by the company he represents. He is also con- nected with the Connecticut Life Underwriters As. sociation, of which he was the first president.

Mr. Richards is a Republican, and, while he has held no office, has taken a deep interest in politi- cal matters. In religious faith he is a member of the Asylum Avenue Congregational Church, in all the affairs of which he takes a great personal inter- est, and has assisted very materially, and is now serv- ing his second term as Deacon.

In 1871 Mr. Richards married Miss Laura R. Johnson, a lady of rare accomplishments, and a graduate of Mt. Holyoke Seminary. She was born in Hadley, Mass., a daughter of Stephen Johnson, a farmer in that town. On her mother's side Mrs. Richards is a descendant of the Lyman family, which has been for a number of generations one of the prominent families of Hadley. The mother died at the age of sixty years, and the father when eighty-four. They had five children, four of whom are living. Mrs. Richards is a member of the Mt. Holyoke Alumnæ Association of Hartford. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Richards, three of whom are living: Edith K., Alfred Ernest and Kathryn R. Both daughters are graduates of the Hartford Public High School and Normal School at New Britain. Edith taught in the kindergarten department of the West Middle school for six years. Kathryn is now engaged as teacher in the kinder- garten department of the Lakeville (Conn.) school The son is a Yale man, having graduated in 1898, and is now professor of history and literature at the Gilbert Academy, East Winsted, Connecticut.

Mr. Richards is a member of the Twentieth Cent- ury Club (having entered the first year of its organ- ization) and of the Hartford Library Association. He is a man of excellent tastes and a great reader, being conversant with the writings of the best au-

thors of the day, such as Carlyle, Ruskin, Emerson, and others, and he has made a number of addresses upon different subjects, of a most interesting char- acter. He is a very pleasant and affable gentle- man, and has hosts of friends in the social, religious and commercial circles of Hartford.

Mr. Richards has been a great traveler, having made four trips abroad, one of the most extensive of which was in 1899, when, accompanied by his daughter Edith, he visited England, Scotland, and Wales, and several other foreign countries.

Henry Richards, father of Alfred T., was born in Wales, where he was a farmer all his life, resid- ing in the County of Pembroke, and died at the age of sixty-two. He was a man of sound judg. ment and sterling principles, and was highly re- spected. Jane (Stevens) Richards, mother of Al- fred T., was born in England, and comes of a long line of ancestry celebrated for their indomitable pluck and perseverance, and from his mother our subject inherits these sterling qualities. Mr. and Mrs. Richards had eleven children, five of whom are living, Alfred T. being the only one in America. The mother lived to be over ninety years of age, re- taining all her faculties up to the time of her death.

P. C. ROYCE may claim to be a thoroughi American. Robert Royce, the first of the name in this country, came from England, in 1631, to Boston, Mass. In 1634 he was made a freeman of that Commonwealth. He was included with the number disarmed in Boston, in 1637, for adherence to the opinions of the parties of Hutchinson and Wheel - wright. In 1644 he settled in Stratford, just west of New Haven, and in 1657 went to New Lon- don, of which place he was one of the founders. One of his sons was one of the founders of Norwich. Later in life, he, with several of his sons, went to Wallingford.

Our subject's father, Miles Royce, was born in Bristol, this county, in 1806. His father died when he was quite young, and he went, with an older brother to western New York, then on the frontier In 1834 he went, by way of the Great Lakes, to Chicago, then a frontier trading post, located in a swamp at the mouth of the Chicago river. His business was that of manufacturing agricultural im- plements. Desiring to reach high land and timber he located at Walker's Grove, now Plainfield, forty miles southwest of Chicago. Miles Royce married Sarah Goodhue Gilman, who was born in Salem. Mass., in 1808. Her father moved to Meredith village, on Lake Winnipiseogee, N. H., where she grew to womanhood. In 1834 she accompanied an uncle to the West, going there as a pioneer mission- ary teacher. Two years later she married Mr. Royce. In that new country they endured all the deprivations and hardships incident to the life of the early pioneers.

Mr. Royce well remembers his first visit to Chicago-when he was a boy nine years of age-

388

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

and the looks of the city at that time. There was not a single paved street in the city. Two streets had planks laid crosswise to keep loaded teams from sinking out of sight in the soft mud of what was practically a swamp. Mr. Royce saw the city grow to great proportions, and was resident therein when the great fire of 1871 blotted out the business sec- tion of the city and a large portion of its residences. Mr. Royce obtained his education in the village academy and Knox College, Galesburg, Ill., from which institution he was graduated in the class of 1860, and for some years was engaged in teaching, having charge of the city schools of Joliet, Ill. Be- coming dissatisfied with the income from the larg- est and best school in the county, he decided to de- vote his energies to other pursuits. He entered the insurance business in Joliet, and for some years was a local agent in that place, moving in the spring of 1871 to Chicago, where he was connected with the Merchants Insurance Co. of Chicago, bank- rupted in the great fire. In 1872 he entered the em- ploy of the Hartford Fire Insurance Co. in its west- ern department, and remained there until 1876, when he removed to Philadelphia, having accepted the position of secretary of the Girard Fire & Marine Insurance Co., of that city. In the summer of 1881, having been elected assistant secretary of the Hartford Fire Insurance Co., he removed to this city, which has since been his home. In 1886 he became secretary of the company, which incumbency he has since filled.

With no taste for political life, Mr. Royce be- lieves that certain duties are demanded of every cit- izen. When, therefore, he was asked by his neigh- bors and friends to represent his ward in the city council, he consented to serve. For four years he was a member of the council board, and during the last year its president. He then served two years on the board of aldermen. He has also served one term upon the board of school visitors.

CHRISTOPHER MINER SPENCER, a manufacturer, inventor and veritable mechanical genius, of Hartford, whose name is connected with the Spencer firearms, drop forgings, automatic screw, and turret machines, known the world over, is a native of Connecticut, where his ancestors have figured since the dawn of its settlement.

Mr. Spencer was born June 20, 1833, in the town of Manchester, son of Ogden and Asenatlı (Hollister) Spencer, and grandson of Silas Spencer. The grandfather was occupied in farming in South Manchester, and lived to a ripe old age.

On his mother's side Mr. Spencer is a descend- ant in the seventh generation from Lieut. John Hollister, the first American ancestor of the family, the line of his descent being through John (2), Thomas, Thomas (2), Josiah and Asenath Hol- lister.

(I) John Hollister, the emigrant, is said to have been born in 1612, in England, and to have im-

migrated to America about 1642. He was one of the most prominent and influential men of Weth- ersfield, Conn., where he located, his name being on record there in 1642, and of the Colony of Con- necticut. He married Joanna, daughter of Hon. Richard Treat.

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.

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 88

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