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 99

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 99

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SOLOMON ERVIN WHITING, a prominent and enterprising farmer of Southington, was born in Simsbury, this county, Jan. 29, 1828, and be- longs to quite a distinguished old family of the State, his parents being Elijah and Eunice (Buell ) Whiting, natives of West Hartford and Simsbury, respectively.

Allyn Whiting, the paternal grandfather, was born June 23, 1740, and died at West Hartford Feb. 9, 1818. He and his two sons, Allyn and Jo- seph, were soldiers in the Revolutionary war, and his father, Col. John Whiting, of West Hartford, commanded a regiment in the French and Indian war. The last named was also a merchant of Hart- ford. He married Jerusha Lord, daughter of Rich- ard Lord, and granddaughter of Thomas Lord, one of the first settlers of Hartford. Col. Whiting was born Dec. 15, 1693, and died Feb. 12. 1766. He was a son of Joseph Whiting, a merchant, first of Westfield, Mass., and later of Hartford, Conn., who was born Oct. 2, 1640, and died Oct. 8, 1717. He married Anna Allyn, a daughter of Col. John Allyn, and a granddaughter of Matthew Allyn. His parents were William and Susanna Whiting. Will- iam Whiting was a pioneer of Hartford, one of the most respected settlers of 1633, a man of wealth and education, and was styled in the records as William Whiting, gentleman. In 1647 he bore the title of major ; in 1642 was chosen magistrate : and in 1641 as treasurer of the Colony, which position he held until his death. He died in July. 1647. Elijah Whiting, the father of our subject. was born June 27, 1769, and was a prominent farmer of Simsbury, where he died Oct. 3. 1840. He married (first) Sabra Hart, and (second) Eunice Buell, a daughter of Solomon Buell, a soldier of the Revolutionary war. She died at the home of our subject in Southington Ang. 11, 1881, at the advanced age of ninety-one years.

Solomon E. Whiting, whose name introduces this review, was reared in Simsbury, and was ed-

ucated in the common schools of that town. On laying aside his text books he began life for him- self as a farmer and carpenter. In the fall of 1856 lie went to Iowa, where he spent two years in work- ing at his trade, and then proceeded to Colorado, where he engaged in mining for a time. Return- ing home in 1860, he enlisted, Sept. 23, 1861, in Company H, 12th Conn. V. 1., with which he served for two years. After the surrender of Port Hud- son he was commissioned second lieutenant in the 99th United States Colored Volunteers, later was promoted to first lieutenant, and after tendering his resignation was honorably discharged, Jan. 17, 1866. He was one of 1,000 volunteers called for by Gen. Banks to storm the works at Port Hud- son, and was there wounded, June 14, 1863. In 1867 he located in Southington, where, with the exception of sixteen months, in 1880 and 1881, spent in Colorado, he has since resided, his time and attention being devoted to agricultural pursuits.

On Jan. 29, 1861, Mr. Whiting married Miss Martha J. Barber, a daughter of Alson and Hannah (Humphrey) Barber, of Canton, this county, and by this union three children have been born: Carrie M., who died June 24, 1885; Josephine B., who married Thomas H. W. Williams; and Lizzie M., who married Frederick P. Dunham Nov. 18, 1890, and died Feb. 28, 1894. Mrs. Whiting's maternal grandfather, Solomon Humphrey, was a Revolu- tionary soldier, and her great-grandfather, John Brown, who was a captain in the same war, died in the service. Her mother was a first cousin of John Brown, the great anti-slavery agitator of Harper's Ferry fame. An uncle of Mrs. Whiting, Heman Humphrey, was an educator of note, and president of Amherst College for twenty years.

Mr. and Mrs. Whiting are consistent members of the First Congregational Church of Southington, and merit and receive the respect and esteem of all who know them. Fraternally they hold membership in Union Grange, P. of H .; and he in Trumbull Post, No. 16, G. A. R. ; politically he is identified with the Republican party.

JOHN E. MOONEY, an energetic and success- ful business man of the town of Windsor Locks, proved himself an able and popular official in the office of first selectman, his fellow citizens showing their appreciation of his efficient labors by electing him for four consecutive years. He has made a sub- stantial success, having built up a large trade as a dealer in household furnishings and similar goods and he now owns a commodious and well-stocked establishment in Oak street, carrying a complete line of furniture, stoves, crockery, tinware, etc.

Mr. Mooney was born Jan. 17, 1854, at Suf- field, and is of good Trish ancestry. Timothy Mooney, his father, was born in 1833 in Kings County, Ireland, and came to the United States a1 the age of seventeen years, locating first in the town of Suffield, Hartford Co., Conn., where he fol.

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lowed farming for about three years. He then re- moved o Windsor Locks, and is now engaged in mill work in addition to the management of a small farm. When nineteen years old he was married in Suffield to Miss Jane North, of County Meath, Ire- land, and ten children were born to them, of whom four are now living: John E., our subject, is the eldest of the survivors; James is in the livery busi- ness in Chicago; Patrick resides in Windsor Locks; and Mary married Daniel O'Connor, of Windsor Locks.

Our subject's education was obtained mainly in the public schools of Windsor Locks, and when only ten years of age he began to work in the stockinet factory, where he was employed about two years. He spent the same length of time in the woolen mills, but finding mill work uncongenial he entered upon an apprenticeship to the tinsmith's trade with Mr. Chaffee. After the expiration of his term he worked ten years as a journeyman, and for eleven years he was connected with the Seymour paper mill. In 1887 he resumed his trade, engaging in business for himself in Windsor Locks, and so well did he succeed that he has branched out into relative lines of business, and now carries an extensive stock. He has recently added the undertaking busi- ness to his other interests. In 1897 he built his present building, of which he took possession in April, 1898, and his growing trade requires nearly all the space thus gained. On the third floor there is a large hall, suitable for a club-room, and this is now occupied by the Second Division of the Ameri- can Order of Hibernians.

On Sept. 20, 1880, Mr. Mooney was married in the town of Windsor Locks to Miss Kate M. Ryan, daughter of John Ryan, a well-known citizen of that locality. Four children have blessed the union : Timothy, John C. (deceased), Mary and Kate. Mr. Mooney and his estimable wife have many friends, and he is connected with various fraternal organiza- tions, including the Knights of Columbus and the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Politically he affili- ates with the Democratic party, and at times he has served on the town committee, while his long service as selectman is sufficient evidence of his standing and influence.

JOHN H. ELMER, a successful farmer and tobacco-grower at Burnside, and a native of that place, descends from one of the oldest of New Eng- land families, his ancestors having come from Eng- land in the ship "Lion," which arrived at Boston, Mass., about the year 1630.

Moses Elmer, grandfather of John H., resided on Long Hill, in South Windsor (then a part of East Windsor), and his son, also named Moses, boin in 1810, was the father of our subject. The latter was a school teacher in his younger days, but was a powerful young man, and it is said he would chop two cords of wood after school hours, receiving fifty cents per cord. He married Ru- 28

hanna Bidwell, daughter of Johnathan and Ruey ( Webster) Bidwell, and to this union were born seven children: Esther F., who lived in Burnside, and died unmarried in 1883; John H., the subject of this sketch; Elizur B., who for three years was connected with the Thirteenth Conn. V. I. as a teamster, served in Louisiana until the close of the war, and died in Burnside in 1874; Oliver W., a farmer, who drove the stage for many years be- tween Burnside and East Hartford, was married, and died in 1891; Ellen, who died young; Laura E., who died in infancy ; and Mary A., who was married to Edwin F. Stager, and is living in Burn- side. The father of this family was usually called "Captain" Elmer, as he had command of a com- pany of militia, and was always greatly interested in military affairs.

John H. Elmer was born July 10, 1839, in a house still standing, the one in which he now lives, nearly all the land in the vicinity being then owned by the Bidwell family. He first attended the dis- trict school, and then the East Hartford Academy, under Prof. Joseph O. Hurlburt. On leaving school he drove stage between Scotland (now Burnside) and East Hartford, but after the beginning of the Civil war trade fell off, and the construction of a railroad through the town destroyed his occupa- tion. In the meantime he had been operating his farm, and on his return from a visit to some dis- tant place in 1873 was informed that he had been elected selectman by the largest majority ever be- fore accorded a candidate. He served two terms consecutively, and was afterward elected several times, between 1876 and 1891. He was one of the first advocates of macadamized roads, and after deep study decided to practically test them. In spite of great opposition, he secured an appropria- tion of $6,000 to build a plant, in 1887-88, near Tal- cottville, which was constructed after his own ideas, matured after inspection of plants erected elsewhere, and was pronounced to be the finest in the State. The unthinking ones said, "Elmer has bankrupted the town," and this cost him his office. He laid the first part of the road at Willow Brook Hill, and then another at Hockanum, and they demonstrated the wisdom of his scheme; now the town can boast of seven miles of such roads, and the present gen- eration can thank John H. Elmer for the fact. It was on his advice, also, that the first wheel-scraper in East Hartford was bought.

Mr. Elmer and his brother, Oliver W., were the first to agitate the free bridge idea, and in this the public coincided, the high charges of the East Hartford Bridge Co. were abolished, and the bridge made free. In politics Mr. Elmer is a Republican, and cast his first Presidential vote for Lincoln.

On Sept. 20, 1873, Mr. Elmer married Miss Frances Barrows, who was born June 25, 1837, in St. Louis, Mo., whence she removed to Galena, Ill. She is a daughter of D. A. and Mary A. (Loom- is) Burrows, one of the first families of the State.

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She was educated in New Haven, Conn., and in the West her father was engaged in mining, gristmilling and lumbering, and also had a confectionery.

Mr. Elmer is a member of East Hartford Grange, No. 37, and has been its overseer; also of Crescent Lodge, No. 25, I. O. O. F .; and of the O. U. A. M. He has been highway surveyor, as was his father, and is one of the most pleasant as well as popular men of the town.

GEORGE WHITFIELD BANCROFT. There is probably no farmer in Hartford county who con- ducted a more extensive business than that of the resident of South Windsor whose name here ap- pears. Mr. Bancroft in his lifetime had the active management of 400 acres of land under a high state of cultivation, and in addition carried on an extensive butcher business, besides dealing exten- sively in horses and stock.

Mr. Bancroft was born Oct. 15, 1836, on the farm in the town of South Windsor now occupied by Dennis Reardon, son of Francis Bancroft, grand- son of Anson Bancroft, and great-grandson of Lieut. Samuel Bancroft, who was an officer in the Revolutionary war.

Francis Bancroft, the father of our subject, was a wholesale butcher, and kept a general store at Bancroft Corners, South Windsor. For liis first wife he married Minerva Pritchard, by whom he had eleven children-six sons and five daughters. By his second wife, Julia Finney, he had one son, Henry Wallace, and one daughter. After her death he married Ann Waite, who died a few weeks after his death, in the fall of 1872, and soon afterward Henry Wallace, the only son living at home, also passed away.

George \V. Bancroft in his boyhood attended the district and select schools of the neighborhood, and was a student for eleven terms at the seminary, the classes of which were taught in the old town hall of East Hartford. During all that time he walked to and from the school, a distance of three miles. He remained with his father until he was twenty-one years of age, when he sailed for the Golden Gate on the "Moses Taylor," from New York, and the steamer "Golden Gate" from the Isthmus, landing at San Francisco. For a time he clerked in a hotel at Visalia, for two years con- clucted a hotel at that place, and then engaged in ranching. During the years 1861 and 1862 he herded sheep, but during one night in the latter year he lost 800 sheep, besides horses and cattle, in a flood, his financial loss being about $8.000. Mr. Bancroft then went to Folsom, where he remained a few months, finally starting by team for the Reese river. Nevada, where he engaged in mining and prospecting until 1865. He was called home on ac- count of the death of his brother David, and left San Francisco on the night President Lincoln was assassinated ..

Mr. Bancroft for two years conducted the

butcher business on his father's place, and in 1867 moved to his late residence, where he afterward remained. He purchased tracts of land from time to time, until his possessions aggregated about 400 acres, all of which he superintended. During the season of 1898 he raised 150 acres of hay, thirty acres of rye, nineteen acres of tobacco, ten acres of field corn, four acres of sweet corn, eight acres of potatoes, two acres of carrots, one and one-half acres of cabbage, and five acres of turnips. Mr. Bancroft also carried on a wholesale butcher busi- ness, and engaged in the buying and selling of horses and cattle, making quite a specialty of rais- ing hogs and farm stock generally. He made all the improvements on his place, erected the dwelling house, the barns, slaughter-house, etc. An orchard of about ten acres is one of the attractions of the farm.

Mr. Bancroft was married, in 1869, to Miss Mary A. Whiton, and to them were born ten chil- dren: Olin F. (a druggist in New York), Ed- ward A. (a farmer), Paul C., George F., Mary WV., Burdette W., Nora P., Benjamin L., Minerva Pritchard and Thomas. In politics our subject was a Republican. He was a man of positive char- acter, energetic, keen, and quick to adapt himself to the shifting conditions of trade. In all his en- terprises he was eminently successful, and ranked as one of the most prosperous farmers of Hartford county. He was a member of the Congregational Church, in which faith he entered into rest Aug. 31, 1900.

JOSEPH ANTON AMSTEAD, a prominent resident of Windsor Locks, is widely known as a tobacco grower and dealer, his fine business ability having enabled him to open up an excellent market for the product of his own farm and that of others in his vicinity. From the planting of the seed to the turning out of the finished product he is master of the science of raising and preparing the plant, and to his enterprise and acumen is due the estab- lishment of the first sweating room underlaid by steam pipes.

Mr. Amstead was born Oct. 16, 1850, in Buf- falo, N. Y., son of Joseph Anton Amstead, Sr., a native of Switzerland, who came to the United States at the age of thirty years. While in Switzer- land he had been interested in raising grapes for wine, and on locating at Buffalo he engaged in busi- ness as a wine dealer. He was married in Switzer- land to Miss Catrien Saiddler, a woman of rare ability and force of character, who became one of the first professional midwives of Buffalo. Both died in Buffalo some years ago, and of their large. family of children the following survive: Annie wife of John Rohrbacker, of Seattle, Wash .: Jo- seph A., our subject ; Conrad, a resident of Chicago and George, who settled in Buffalo.

Our subject attended school in Buffalo during boyhood, and later served an apprenticeship to the

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cigarmaker's trade. As he desired to see something of the world he spent twelve years in traveling about, working at his trade in twenty-five States during that time. In 1869 he was in Suffield, Conn., and for a time afterward was in St. Louis and other Southern points. In 1876 he returned to Suffield, and in 1880 he removed to Windsor Locks, where he manufactured cigars until 1883. In 1884 he purchased his present farm and began raising to- bacco, and since 1887 he has been extensively en- gaged in handling the crops of neighboring growers as well as his own, being now the leader in that line of enterprise. As a citizen he is much esteemed, and socially is identified with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. His estimable wife, to whom he was married in Thompsonville, Conn., was for- merly Miss Mary Ann Wilson, and her father, Michael Wilson, was a well-known citizen of Suf- field. Three children brighten their home: Henry, William and Belle.

BENJAMIN KIRKBRIDE, a worthy and hon- ored citizen of the town of Windsor, was born in Yorkshire, England, Oct. 23, 1823, the eldest son in the family of nine children born to Thomas and Susan (Ratcliffe) Kirkbride. By occupation the father was a tallow chandler, and both he and his wife spent their entire lives in England.

As his parents were in limited circumstances, our subject's early advantages were very poor. He was sent, however, to the public schools, but being anxious to earn money he ran away from school at the age of eleven years, and obtained work in a woolen mill. On May 11, 1846, Mr. Kirkbride wedded Miss Mary Ranson, also a native of York- shire, born May 15, 1826, a daughter of William and Anna (Gill) Ranson, who were also poor in this world's goods. She was the second youngest in a family of seven children, and as her father died when she was a child of five years her educational advantages were limited to the lessons taught at the Sunday-school. Of the twelve children born .o Mr. and Mrs Kirkbride, six died when young ; Mary H. died at the age of twenty-two years ; and Charles, an electrician, died of diphtheria in Au- just, 1899, aged thirty-seven years. The surviv- ors are: Ann E., who is now the wife of James Clough, of Passaic, N. J., and has six children ; Jeorge, a machinist, of Hartford; Frederick, a armer, who is working the home farm (he is mar- ied, and has three children, all living) ; and Albert, buttermaker, of New Haven, Connecticut.

In 1855 Mr. Kirkbride came alone to the New World, landing in New York City after a voyage of twenty-eight days. He first obtained work in Church's mill, at Middlefield, Mass., and later was nade overseer of a mill at Northampton, Mass. Vhen that mill failed, in 1857, he secured the po- ition of overseer of a woolen mill at Glastonbury, Conn., and in 1860 came to Windsor, where he was employed in the same capacity in a woolen mill for

nine years. Previous to this time he had been joined by his wife, who sailed from Liverpool in February, 1857, on the "Great Western," being on that vessel when it collided with the "Saranac," but she finally landed safely in New York, after being twenty- eight days upon the water, and joined her husband, who was then in Northampton, Mass. Early in the year 1869 he bought his present farm in Wind- sor town, though he went in debt for the same, and immediately turned his attention to agricultural pur- suits, but as the business was entirely new to him the first few years proved very difficult. However, he soon became master of the situation, and being enterprising, energetic and industrious he pros- pered in his new undertaking. When he located upon this farni the buildings were in a rather dilap- idated condition, but he has made many improve- ments upon the place, and now has one of the most productive and desirable farms in the locality. From a poor boy, with a meager education, Mr. Kirkbride has fought his own way to a comfortable competence, and has reared a nice family, of which he may be justly proud. During their fifty-three years of happy married life his wife has been a great help to him, and now in their declining years they merit and receive the respect and esteem of all who know them. They hold membership in the Methodist Church, and in politics Mr. Kirk- bride is a Democrat.

AUSTIN DAVID THOMPSON, blacksmith, carriage and wagon repairer and liveryman, and formerly an extensive manufacturer of carriage and wagon wheels, was born in Barnard, Vt., June 5, 1842.

Nathan Parker Thompson, father of Austin D., was born in 1815, and died in July, 1895. He had been engaged with others in the cotton-mill busi- ness up to 1850, when he came to Connecticut and for a year resided at Windsor Locks, where he man- ufactured thread. In 1851 he came to Bristol, and after 1865 was engaged in the manufacture of wagon and carriage wheels.

Mr. Thompson, at Vernon, Conn., in 1837, was married to Alvira Ellis, and to this marriage were born children as follows: Maria A., born in 1838, was married to John Matson, a farmer of Fairfield, Conn., and had three children; George Mathan, born in 1840, married Elizabeth Chicheeny, and after her death wedded a Miss Rowe, had born to him two children, and is now living on the old Bristol homestead ; Austin D., the subject of this sketch, is next in the order of birth ; Gilbert Wash- ington, born in 1844, enlisted in 1862 in Company K, Sixteenth C. V., was in the battles of Antietam and Fredericksburg, taking a severe cold at the latter place, and was mustered out of the service as corporal in 1865 ; he married, in 1867, Henrietta -, but had no children born to him. He joined his father and brother Austin D. in the manufacture of wheels under the firm name of N.

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P. Thompson & Sons, but the cold caught in the army had developed into consumption, and two years before his death he was obliged to withdraw from active work. He was a very handsome man, greatly respected by every one who knew him, and his death, in 1869, from the insidious disease which had attacked him, was universally deplored. The Gilbert W. Thompson Post, No. 13, G. A. R., was named in his honor.

Austin D. Thompson was born on his father's farm at Barnard, Vt., and was quite young when brought to Vernon, Tolland Co., Conn., where his father was foreman of the Phenix Cotton Mills, which are still standing; thence he was taken to Windsor Locks, where he attended school two years, when the family came to Bristol. Here he attended the public schools until seventeen years of age, and then one term at the Suffield Academy. He first went to work in the Welch clock factory at Forest- ville, and held his position until he enlisted, Sept. 24, 1862, at Bristol, in Company K, Sixteenth C. V .; he took part at Antietam, at Fredericksburg, and at Plymouth, also in many skirmishes, at various places and times. At Plymouth he was captured, and was held a prisoner for ten months in Ander- sonville, Charleston and Florence, being finally ex- changed and sent home, and was mustered out June 8, 1865.

Mr. Thompson now became a member of the firm of N. P. Thompson & Sons before alluded to, and manufactured wagon and carriage wheels at the site of the present Liberty Bell Company's fac- tory in Bristol, but were burned out in 1868; they resumed business at the point where the Clayton Bros.' factory now stands, and fourteen years later purchased and removed to the Darrow Manufactur- ing Company's property on Meadow street, and continued the business until 1894, when they were again burned out. The buildings were at once re- erected, but by this time improved machinery had so reduced the price of wheels that they abandoned their manufacture. Austin D., however, still con- ducts a repair and blacksmith shop at this stand, and also carries on a livery stable.

Nathan P. Thompson passed away at the ripe age of eighty years, and his widow now makes her home with her son. George N., in Bristol. Prior to the formation of the Free-soil party Mr. Thomp- son was a Democrat, but being progressive in his ideas he becanie a member of the new party, which in the course of time was merged into the Repub- lican party; however, he always applied himself closely to his own public affairs. He was a reliable, straightforward man, and had hosts of friends.

Austin D. Thompson was married, Sept. 13, 1865, to Miss Electa Maria Churchill, who was born in 1844, a daughter of John Churchill, of Bris- tol. She departed this life Jan. 4, 1880, the mother of two children: Eva Mae, born Sept. 4, 1867, still living at the parental home; and Austin Churchill, born Oct. 24, 1872, who graduated from

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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 99

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