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 94

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 94

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Allen T. Bunnell, whose name introduces this sketch, was five years old when his parents re- moved to Terryville, and here he received his schooling. At the age of fifteen he commenced as- sisting his father in the trucking business, and so continued a couple of years or until the family re- turned to Geneva, Ohio, where for the following seven years or so he assisted his father on the farm. Once more locating in Bristol, later remov- ing to Plainville, he in about a year returned to Terryville, and commenced the trucking business in company with his father, remaining so engaged some eighteen years. At the end of that time, in 1877, he removed to Bristol, making his home on Wolcott street, and engaging in trucking and farm- ing. From 1879 to 1895 he did trucking only. in the latter year retiring altogether from that line, since when he has been exclusively engaged in farming. As a truckman he did work for the Ses- sions Foundry Co. as well as the merchants of .. e place.

On March 5. 1859, our subject was married to Miss Sarah Maria Norton, who was born Dec. 24. 1840, a daughter of Porter Norton. of Bristol, and children as follows have been born to them: (I) Jennie Antoinette, born Jan. 18, 1861. is living at home. (2) Mary Pamelia, born Aug. 6, 1863, mar-

ried March 27, 1885, Charles Hart, of Unionville, and they have one child, Howard Allen, born Jan. I 6, 1886. (3) Florence Allen, born Jan. 19, 1866, is living at home. (4) Grace Sarah, born July 1, 1868, died June 20, 1895; she married, July 1, 1886, Henry Fairclough, of Wolcott, Conn .; their chil- dren : Ruby May, born Oct. 10, 1888; Pauline Bun- nell, born Nov. 6, 1890; Florence Grace, born May 9, 1893 ; and Sarah Grace, born April 28, 1895, died Aug. II, 1895. (5) Charles Romanta, born July 22, 1872, married Melora Beardsley, of Plainville, Feb. 19, 1895, and is a resident of Forestville, Conn .; their children : Allene, born June 9, 1897 ; and War- ren Russell, born July 15, 1899. (6) Alice Gert- rude, born Sept. 21, 1879, married Nov. 8, 1899, Herbert Barnum, who is employed by the New Departure Bell Co., of Bristol. (7) Bernice Lydia, born May 12, 1882.

Mr. Bunnell and all his family are members of the Advent Christian Church, of which he has been a trustee since 1890. In politics he is a Republi- can, but takes no active interest in the affairs of the party. A man of energy, he believes in making a success of his life work, and so far has deservedly prospered in all his undertakings.

NELSON AUGUSTUS MOORE, a well- known and prominent artist of Kensington, was born there in 1824, at the old homestead owned by his grandfather probably 150 years ago; the family res- idence is still standing, and has recently been re- modeled.

Mr. Moore is a lineal descendant of Deacon John. Moore, the progenitor of the family in America, who came from England in 1630 on the "Mary and John," the same vessel on which the Edwards family and the ancestors of Gen. Grant also emigrated to the United States. Deacon Moore first landed at Dorchester, Mass., and in company with Rev. Mr. Warham came to Windsor, Conn., in 1635-the same year that John Hooker and his company set- tled in Hartford. The Moores have nearly all beer of a light and florid complexion, and rather tall John Moore (2), a son of Deacon Moore, and a farmer by occupation, was born in Windsor, and married Hannah Goff. Their son, John Moore (3) was born in Windsor, and in 1693 married Abigai Strong, a representative of one of the largest and most distinguished families in America. Thei son, John Moore (4), was also born in Windsor was a farmer by occupation, and was married Dec 2, 1724, to Miss Abigail Stoughton. Roswell Moore son of this worthy couple, was also a native of Wind sor, and at an early day moved to Southington Conn., where he followed agricultural pursuits. H. married Desire Dunham, of that place, and thei son, Roswell Moore (2), was born there. He was : farmer and manufacturer. He married Lovin. Philips, and they had thirteen children, For four teen consecutive years he represented Southington in the State Legislature, and his son-in-law, Ger.

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Grannis, represented the same town for that length of time.

Roswell Moore (3), the father of our subject, was born in Southington June 28, 1793, and was there married Oct. 14, 1823, to Miss Lucy Allen, whose father was an expert engraver on gold and copper, and also a worker in gold. Later Mr. Moore, who was a manufacturer, came to Berlin in order to secure better water power. He held sev- eral local offices of honor and trust in Berlin, includ- ing that of justice of the peace, and as a member of the Connecticut Light Infantry, in which he held the offices of captain and adjutant, he took an active interest in military affairs. He was religiously in- clined, a consistent member of the Congregational Church, in which he served as deacon, and a strong temperance man. He was well liked by every one. In his family were three children, of whom our sub- ject is the eldest ; Ellen Eliza, born Dec. 30, 1828, in Kensington, graduated from Mt. Holyoke Sem- inary when Mary Lyon, the founder, was principal, and died Nov. 14, 1860. Roswell Allen, born Sept. 2, 1832, is a manufacturer in Kensington. In early life he was in business with his father, under the firm name of R. Moore & Sons, who were the first to make and succesfully introduce hydraulic cement as an article of commerce into the markets of this country.

As the father was a man of some means he was anxious that our subject should take a collegiate course at Yale, but, though the latter received what was then considered a liberal education, he neg- lected to avail himself of the higher advantages offered by his father, which fact he has in later life often regretted. Between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five years much of his time was spent in the mills, and he became able to do almost anything in the line of mechanical work. The year 1846 he spent in the railroad service, which was 'hen in its infancy, holding the position of local agent at the Berlin station, on the New Haven & Hartford rail- road, which then had its termini at those two cities.

During all these years Mr. Moore found more or less time to gratify his taste for drawing and painting, and while at the Berlin station he main- tained a studio in the attic of the little depot, where he painted a few portraits for his friends, gratui- tously. Of these it might be said that they bore a resemblance to their subjects. Although he always had a love for pictures, his first impulse to paint was when a portrait painter (the father of the present State labor commissioner, S. M. Hotchkiss) invited him to assist in painting by candle-light a portrait, or a study for one, of a little girl who had met with a fatal accident. His "assistance" was that of hold- ing the light, and watching the progress of the study. This was when he was eighteen years of age. After that he embraced every opportunity to practice in a crude way the art of painting. On leaving the serv- ice of the railroad company he decided to study in New York, and entered the studio of Thomas S.

Cummings, now the only survivor of those who or- ganized the National Academy, of which Mr. Cum- mings was treasurer, and afterward vice-president. Later Mr. Moore entered the studio of D. Hunt- ington, now and for many years the president of the Academy. On his return from New York he con- tinued to practice his art at his home in Kensington .. and soon his love for natural scenery drew him from portrait and figure painting to that of landscapes, to which he has since devoted his attention with great assiduity. Few artists have spent as much time in out-of-door study, in painstaking fidelity to nature, as Mr. Moore. His sketches comprise a great variety of subjects, including all seasons of the year, and have won favorable mention from those having a high appreciation of art.

About thirty years ago Mr. Moore erected his present residence, near the ancestral mansion above referred to, and to its natural beauty of situation he has since with the aid of nature and art, added such adornments as to entitle it now to be considered one of the most picturesque homes in New England. Many of his summers have been spent at Lake George, and prior to building his present residence in Kensington he lived for several years in Hart- ford, where he has since spent four years, in order to give his children better educational advantages. HIe has also spent much time in New York City, where at one time he had a studio in the Y. M. C. A. building.

On Jan. 25, 1853, Mr. Moore was united in mar- riage with Miss Ann Maria Pickett, who was born in Litchfield, Conn., June 3, 1832, a daughter of Hon. Alanson Jasper and Marietta (Smith) Pickett, the former a successful manufacturer and merchant of Litchfield. The children born to our subject and his wife are as follows : (1) Edwin Augustus, born Aug. 24, 1858, is also an artist, and has reached a high degree of success as a figure and animal painter, to which department of art his attention has been chiefly devoted. He makes his home with his fa- ther. (2) Ellen Maria, born Dec. 4, 1861, and also at home, has made quite a success in miniature painting on ivory, and in water colors. (3) Ethel- bert Allen, born Nov. 30, 1864, is superintendent of the Stanley Works, of New Britain, Conn. He was married June 18, 1891, to Martha Elizabeth Hart, only daughter of William H. Hart, president of the Stanley Works, and they have two children -- Barbara, born April 13, 1892; and Allen, born Sept. 23, 1896. (4) A. J. Pickett, born May 3, 1867, was married Oct. 14, 1892, to Mrs. Grace Robbins Stanley, and makes his home in New York.

Mr. Moore's ability as an artist has been justly appreciated by some of the best art critics in this country, and the "Connecticut Magazine" of Feb- ruary, 1899, reproduced his painting "The Hang- ing Hills of Meriden." The art critic of the De- troit Free Press truthfully said that his painting of water was so natural that one could drown in it. In making a sketch he studies carefully every point

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in the picture, even to the atmospheric effects. His canvases have been exhibited in the Academy more or less for the past twenty-five years, and he is a member of the Art Guild of New York. He has painted to order for many leading and wealthy men, and his works are scattered throughout the world, several being owned by gentlemen in Japan, who are acknowledged as critics as well as connoisseurs of art. As a landscape artist he has an enviable repu- tation, and among his patrons are some of the most noted picture buyers in the country. When Gen. Grant made his trip around the world Mr. Moore had an opportunity to visit Japan, as Yashida Kion- ara, the Japanese minister to the United States, wanted him to paint a picture of Fujima, the sacred mountain of the Japanese, for the emperor of Japan.

Politically Mr. Moore was first a Whig, and he is now a stanch Republican. He and his wife hold membership in the Congregational Church, to which they contribute liberally, and she also belongs to the Ladies Aid and Missionary Societies. They are very pleasant, hospitable people, and their friends are always sure of a hearty welcome at their home.

GEORGE WASHINGTON DARLIN, of East Hartford, is one of the heaviest tax-payers of that town, and is, more than any other one man, entitled to the credit of improving and building up East Hartford Meadow, where his handsome residence is located. The town does not furnish any better ex- ample of a self-made man, or one whose success is so completely the result of business foresight and management. He was born in the town of Rupert. Vt., Feb. 13, 1825, a son of Reuben and Hannah (Scripture) Darlin.

Reuben Darlin was during his early years a cooper, but the greater part of his life was passed in farming. He was twice married, his first wife being Hannah Scripture, who bore him all his children, and died at the age of sixty years. His life was prolonged to over eighty years, and he died in Dorset, Vermont.

George W. Darlin was next to the youngest of seven children born to his parents, and he and his brother Josiah were the only two to come to Con- necticut. George W. is the only survivor of the family. He was educated, as he terselv expresses it, "between the plow and harrow," but had district- school advantages for a limited period, and these were supplemented by a brief attendance at a dis- trict school in Southwick, Mass. At a very early age he began life's battle for himself, and was still in his middle 'teens when he bought his minority from his father for $100-quite a large sum for a boy to have saved from his small earnings, by working around a hotel in Rupert. About 184I he left Vermont with a drover, to assist in driving cattle to West Hartford, Conn., and when the drove reached its destination young Darlin found em- ployment with such leading farmers as Henry Whit- ing. Morgan Goodwin and Henry Phelps. He

next secured a position at the Retreat in Hartford, which was then under the administration of Dr. Brigham. Here he was employed two terms, and in 1846 came to East Hartford and began business as a general merchant in what was known as the "Red Store," for which he paid a rental of $50 per annum. There he did a very prosperous trade un- til 1862, when his increased business necesitated his removal to more commodious quarters, and he found what he wanted on the opposite side of the street, where he did an immense trade until his retirement, May 16, 1891, from mercantile business. For one year, during his early residence in East Hartford Meadow, he conducted a hotel, and al- though he made it profitable and popular, being naturally of a pleasant and genial disposition, the business was not altogether to his taste, and more important interests demanded all his attention-the superintendency of his now extensive tenement property. As a merchant he had been phenomen- ally successful, and invested his profits in real estate, which he improved with convenient and substantial buildings, and he now owns about twenty-five, in- cluding the two largest business and tenement blocks in East Hartford Meadow : thus he has been the chief promoter of the growth and prosperity of the village. His treatment of his half-hundred tenants is most humane, and some of these have been his tenants for more than twenty years. He never raises their rents, nor resorts to drastic measures to enforce payment, attends to his property person- ally, makes collections himself, remedies all defects of which any complaint may be made, is personally acquainted with each tenant, and for many has granted substantial favors; by all he is held in the highest esteem, and is regarded by many with un- disguised affection.

Mr. Darlin married Martha Marcy, who was born in Ashford, Conn., and died July 21, 1888, at the age of sixty-two years, and her remains were interred at East Hartford. George E. Darlin, the only child of George W. and Martha (Marcy) Dar- lin, was born Oct. 19, 1855, and in 1878 married Miss Minnie L. Avery, a native of Durham, Conn., and a daughter of Ichabod Avery. To this happy union one child, Mabel, was born May 1, 1894. George E. Darlin is assistant postmaster at East Hartford Meadow, under his father, who was ap- pointed postmaster in 1889, and still holds the office. He is also a valuable assistant to his father in hand- ling the details of his real-estate and tenement mat- ters, and is one of the best-known residents of the town.

In politics George W. Darlin is a Democrat, and has always been active in aid of his party's success at the polls and in advancing its principles. While not an office seeker he has been sought for to fill office, and has been selected for some very respon- sible positions. For six or seven years was a mem- ber of the board of relief; is the present treasurer of the ÆEtna Hose Company at East Hartford

Sarbio

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Meadow; is treasurer of the Meadow District school fund; and is also one of the oldest Masons belonging to Orient Lodge, No. 62, at East Hart- ford. Even at his comparatively advanced age, Mr. Darlin gives his personal attention to all his business, including the management of the traffic of the Hartford Coal Co. at East Hartford Meadow, assisted only by his son.

As a self-made man, in the business sense of the term, Mr. Darlin is unique, and in East Hartford town is the sole example-having risen from the poorest of boys to the richest of men, and that, too, with but very limited education at his start in busi- ness life. His methods as a business man were based upon the strictest adherence to honesty, backed by a liberality unusual among mercantile men. His foresight amounted almost to prescience, as it was never known to be at fault. He erected house after house while wiseacres smiled and shook their heads, and ventured predictions that they would never be tenanted ; but Mr. Darlin knew bet- ter, and of mistakes there were none. Unostenta- tious and unpretentious, he holds the "even tenor of his way," advancing daily the progress of the village, respected and honored by all who know him -and who does not ?- and known everywhere as the "Father of East Hartford Meadow."

EDWIN BILLINGS SMEAD, who has been principal of the Watkinson Farm School, Hartford, ever since its establishment, in 1884, has been no small factor in the success of that worthy institu- tion.

Mr. Smead comes of excellent New England ancestry, being a direct descendant of John Joyce, who was born in London ( England), and died there about 1736 or 1737. He was high sheriff of Bridgetown, in the Barbadoes, from which place his son William migrated with his mother, and settled in Middletown, Conn., soon afterward. Our sub- ject is also a direct descendant of Stephen Bishop, of Guilford, Conn .: and of Ebenezer Billings, son of Rev. Edward Billings, a Congregationalist, the first settled minister at Greenfield, Mass. Widow Judith Denman married a Smead about 1634, and was in Dorchester, Mass., in 1636. She was a sister of Israel Stoughton. Her son William, born in 1635, was made a freeman at Northampton in 1660, and married Elizabeth Lawrence, of Hingham, Mass., who was killed by the Indians on a forced march to Canada, in 1704. He died prior to 1704. Ebenezer Smead, born in 1675, married Esther Cat- lin. Jonathan Smead, born in 1707, of the fourth generation, married Mehitable Nims. Jonathan Smead, born in 1735, married Rosanna Patterson. He was a soldier in the French and Indian war, and exploited considerably at Crown Point, N. Y. Jonathan Smead, born in 1773, married Lucy Pur- ple, and was a resident of Greenfield, Mass. Jona- than Smead, father of our subject, was born April 8, 1812, and on Oct. 25, 1835, married Lucy B.

Adams, of West Haven, Vt. He passed away Jan. 21, 1866.

Edwin B. Smead was born in Greenfield, Mass., June 19, 1849, and was reared in his native place, there receiving his early education. He attended high school, and later the Massachusetts Agricult- ural College, from which he was graduated in 1871, with the first class. For some time follow- ing he was engaged as a civil engineer in the South, working also on the State Line & Juniata railroad (narrow-gauge) of Pennsylvania, and after the financial panic of 1872 he was engaged in the coal business with Diggs Bros., and later in the flour and grain business with Busley & Co., in Baltimore, Md. In 1884, upon the recommendation of his alma mater, Mr. Smead was made principal of the Watkinson Farm School, of Hartford, and his con- tinued connection with same through all the suc- ceeding years speaks highly for the satisfaction his- services have given. The outlining of the course to be pursued has been under his direction, and he has given that and all other matters which come under his supervision the most careful attention and study. Mr. Smead was married Nov. 12, 1874, in Baltimore, Md., to Miss Annie Whitney, of the island of Bermuda, and after her decease, Jan 25, 1876, he married, on Oct. 30, 1878, her sister, Miss Roselvina Whitney.

The Watkinson Farm School was established in 1884 by the will of the late David Watkinson, this school and the Reference Library in Hartford sharing equally his residuary estate. It was char- tered in May, 1862, and the object is the proper paternal care of boys who from their home sur- roundings obviously need employment and inspira- tion to develop citizenship. The new buildings are on the "Handicroft Farm," at Albany and Bloom- field avenues. Engaged with Mr. Smead, the prin- cipal, are Selden W. Hayes, assistant, and a corps of efficient instructors. The trustees are Daniel R. Howe, George E. Taintor, Dr. G. P. Davis, Fran- cis Goodwin , D. H. Wells, F. W. Cheney. N. Ship- man, A. C. Dunham, Jacob L. Greene, Charles MI. Beach, P. C. Royce, C. H. Clark, L. F. Robinson, C. B. Brewster, F. Parsons. Henry Barnard, who died the past year, was also a trustee.

HIRAM ROBERTS MILLS. The Mills fam- ilv in Connecticut, of which the subject of this sketch is a representative, is of ancient and hon- orable Dutch origin. Early in the seventeenth cen- tury knighthood was conferred upon Sir Peter Wouters Van der Meulen, of Amsterdam, in recog- nition of his distinguished services to the public in the improvement of the dykes and canals.

( II) Peter Van der Meulen, his eldest son, born in Holland in 1622, emigrated to America from Leyden, where he was studying for the min- istry in the university of that city. About 1650 he joined the refugees who had come to America from England for conscience sake, and he thus

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aroused the displeasure of his father, who disin- herited him. In Colonial Record, Vol. I, it is stated that, by his own request, his name was changed to Peter Mills, Van der Meulen being in Dutch "the man of the mills." He married (first ) Dorkas Messenger, of Windsor, who was born Sept. 23, 1650, and died May 18, 1688. For his second wife he married Jane Warren, of Hartford, Dec. IO, 1691. He died April 17, 1710. He owned a lot in Haddam, Conn., before Nov. 30, 1669. As a tailor he is frequently mentioned in the manu- script of Rev. Timothy Edward, of East Windsor. He settled in Windsor, near the present eastern part of Bloomfield, east of the residence of Anson A. Mills, and near the confines of Windsor Plains. His children were Peter, Return (July 12, 1689), Dorcas, and Ebenezer (Feb. 8, 1687).

( III) Peter Mills married, July 24, 1692, Joanna Porter, who was born in Hatfield, Mass., Feb. 7, 1670. He died in 1754. His children were as fol- lows: Peletiah, born April 27, 1693; Gideon, Feb. 3. 1694; Jedediah, March 23, 1696; Peter, April 12, 1701 ; Ann, 1702; Daniel, May 22, 1706; John, Feb. 14, 1708; Ebenezer, 1710; and Gideon, Aug. 15. 1715.

(IV) Capt. Peletiah Mills, born April 27, 1693. married July 5, 1720, Martha Chapman. Ile was an attorney. His children were as follows: Martha, born March II, 1721; Peletiah. Jan. 19. 1723: Elijah, May 30, 1726; Samuel, Nov. 21, 1728: Jo- anna, March 2, 1730; Susannah, March 2, 1733; and Sarah, June 5, 1737.

(V) Peletiah Mills, born Jan. 19, 1723, mar- ried March 29, 1743, Hannah Owen, who died Jan. 26. 1806. He died July 1, 1786. Their children were Peletiah; Samuel; Roger, born June 4, 1749; Martha, July 5, 1752; Eli, Nov. 4, 1753 : Frederick, Feb. 28, 1756: Susannah, Oct. 2, 1757 ; and Elihti, June, 1761.

(VI) Elihu Mills, born in June. 1761. married (first) Hetty Allen, who died July 3. 1807. His second wife. Huldah, died June 18, 1808. His third wife. Miriam, died April 12, 1816. He died in 1835. His children were Hetty. Elihu (born in September, 1793), and Ammi.

(VII) Elihu Mills was born in September. 1793. at Bloomfield. On July 15. 1818, he married Aman- da Hayden, and their children were Ezra H., born June 15, 1819: Elihu. April 24. 1820: Amanda, Tune IT, 1822: Elihu, Aug. 18. 1824; and George, July 31. 1829.

(VIII) George Mills, father of our subject, was born July 31, 1829, at Bloomfield. On Sept. 8, 1852. he married ( first ) Mary J. Roberts, who died Nov. 22. 1855. Their only child, Hiram R., was born Oct. 28, 1853. For his second wife George Mills married Sarah Harmon, and to them was born George Elihu Mills, April 21. 1862, now a ma- chinist in New York City. George Mills died April 13. 1863.

Hiram Roberts Mills, our subject, born Oct.

28, 1853, at Bloomfield, attended in his early boy- hood the schools in Bloomfield, and after the death of his father, in 1863, he went to Lexington, Mass., and lived with his aunt, Mrs. Amanda ( Mills ) Prosser. At Lexington, and at the Chauncey Hall school, Boston, he prepared for Harvard University, which he entered in 1872, and from which he grad- uated with the degree of A. B. in 1876. Mr. Mills began the study of law in the office of Chamberlin, Hall & White, at Hartford, and was admitted to practice in 1881. At the death of Mr. Hall, Nov. 3, 1877, our subject was invited to enter the firm, which then became Chamberlin, White & Mills. Since then both Mr. Chamberlin and Mr. White have died, and the large and important business of the firm is conducted individually by our subject. Mr. Mills is also interested in local business enter- prises. He was married, Sept. 20, 1882, to Miss J. Elgitha Wyckoff, daughter of Amos D. Wyckoff, of New York City. They have one child, Hirani Wyckoff, born Sept. 29, 1883.

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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 94

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