Commemorative biographical record of Hartford County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Pt 2, Part 108

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1172

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 2 > Part 108

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Thomas Willard, the eldest child of Stephen Willard by his second marriage, was born in the old Willard homestead on Broad street, in Wethers- field. His education was of a practical character, well calculated to fit him for an active business life. His boyhood and youth were pasesd under the healthful, refining influences of home life, and work upon the farm developed his physical strength. While yet in early manhood, prompted by a desire for change and a hope of bettering his fortune, he went to St. Louis, Mo., where for several years he was engaged in mercantile business. On his re- turn to Wethersfield he conducted for a few years a general store on Broad street, after which he en-

gaged in farming on the home farm where he was born, following this pursuit during the remainder of his life, until, in 1860, he was visited by an apoplectic stroke, which incapacitated him from ac- tive work. He died April 22, 1876. In politics he was first a Whig, later a Republican. As a husband and father he was gentle, sympathetic and indul- gent ; as a friend, genial, generous and true; as a citizen, patriotic and public-spiritedl.

On March 6, 1850, Mr. Willard married Eliza- beth, a daughter of Jacob Griswold, of Griswoldville. She was a woman of fine native mental power, a member of the Congregational Church, and a Chris- tian whose faith and piety controlled her every act. She was a devoted wife and mother, a true friend to all who were suffering or in want. She died May 3, 1899, aged seventy-eight. She and her husband are both buried in Wethersfield cemetery. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Willard : Stephen F .; Emma A., who died July 21, 1893, un- married; Clayton T., a farmer of Griswoldville, who married Leila F. Adams, on March 16, 1886, and is the father of one child, Warren Adams, born Oct. 7, 1887 ; and Mary E. and Lizzie H., both of whom live on the old homestead.

Stephen F. Willard was born at Wethersfield Feb. 7, 1851, was educated in the public and high schools of Wethersfield, and remained with his par- ents on the home farm until he attained his majority. He then began his business career as a traveling salesman for the Comstock-Ferre Seed Co., his route covering the New England States, filled this position for two years, and has been connected with the com- pany from that time to the present ; he is a stock- holder and director, and since 1898 has held the of- fice of president. Mr. Willard is a man of quick perceptions, methodical and accurate, hard-working and persevering. He is a member of the Congrega- tional Church. In politics he is a Republican. On Sept. 7, 1875, in Missouri, he married Irene, a daughter of John and Martha ( Wells) Havens. Five children have been born to them: Arthur, Thomas, Edward, Frank, and John.

The genealogy of the Griswold family, from which Mr. Willard is descended, through the ma- ternal line, is one of interest. Through seven gent- erations he traces his ancestry back to Michael Griswold, the first white settler in Wethersfield. Coming down the ladder of lineal descent, by gen- erations as though by rounds, we have Jacob, son of Michael; Major Josiah, who was the father of Josiahı (2), and grandfather of Josialı (3) ; the latter's son Jacob was the father of Jacob ( 2), whose daughter Elizabeth, was the mother of Stephen F. Willard. Jacob Griswold, his great-grandfather, married, on Feb. 2, 1793, Abigail, a daughter of Thomas Harris, Jr., of Weathersfield. She was born June 6, 1773. They became the parents of five children : Jacob, born Ang. 26, 1794: Jernsha, Ang. 30, 1796: Harris, Oct. 20, 1801; Alfred, Dec. 13. 1805: and Albro, Dec. 8, 1808. Jacob Griswold,

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Mr. Willard's maternal grandfather, was born Aug. 26, 1794, was a cloth dresser and farmer, and died May 14, 1854. On Jan. 22, 1818, he married Elizabeth Churchill, and they had six children, of whom Josiah was born Nov. 15, 1818; Elizabeth, born Dec. 10, 1820, married Thomas Willard ; Levi, born May 22, 1823; Ralph H., born July 24, 1827 ; Jacob, born June 22, 1830; and Jerusha, born April II, 1833. The father was a man of distinguished character for many admirable traits, and was uni- versally regarded as a good man and true. The mother attained the age of ninety-three years, dying Jan. 29, 1888.

ZERAH J. HINMAN. The Hinman family, of which this well-known resident of Canton is a worthy representative, is one of the oldest in New England.

According to tradition Sergt. Edward Hinman was a member of the bodyguard of King Charles I, being sergeant at arms, but some time during that unhappy king's persecution he fled from the wrath of Oliver Cromwell and came to America. His coat of arms bore the motto, "True as the dial to the sun." In 1652 he settled at Stratford, Conn., where he became an extensive land owner and prom- inent citizen. He was the owner of Oldside Mill, between Stratford and what is now Bridgeport. With Capt. Underhill he was one to offer military service to Peter Stuyvesant, of New York, but the offer was bluntly rejected-the wary Dutch governor evidently preferring to meet his Indian foe alone rather than trust to his English friends. Edward Hinman died at his home on Nov. 26, 1681, his remains being interred in the cemetery at Strat- ford. In 1651 he married Hannah Stiles, daughter of Francis Stiles, of Windsor, Conn. and they had the following children: Sarah, born Sept. 10, 1653; Titus, June, 1655; Samuel, 1658; Benjamin, Feb- ruary, 1662; Hannah, July 15, 1666; Mary, 1668; Patience, 1670 (who married on Jan. 10, 1694, John Burrough) ; and Edward, mentioned below.

Edward Hinman (2) was born in 1672, at Strat- ford, Conn., where he spent his entire life, being extensively engaged in farming. He was one of the first Episcopalians in Stratford ; and when Rev. Mr. Pigot opened to the people of Stratford the Church of England he was one of those who asked that the Churchmen might be sifted from the Con- gregationalists. By his marriage to Hannah Jen- nings there were the following children: Jonah A., born Nov. 5, 1700, who settled in Newark, N. J .; Hannah, born March 3, 1702; Zachariah, born Jan. 27, 1704; Samuel, mentioned below ; Justus, born Dec. 28, 1707; Ebenezer, born Oct. 5, 1709, who died young; Sarah, born in 1711; John, born Nov. 4, 1713 ; Rachel, born Dec. 4, 1715 ; Ebenezer, born Aug. 16, 1717 ; Amos, born Oct. 18, 1720; and Charity, born June 6, 1723.

Capt. Samuel Hinman was born in 1705 in Strat- ford, and died in 1784 in Goshen, Litchfield Co.,

Conn. He was well educated, and after moving to Goshen, where he was one of the original pro- prietors, he made a business of surveying land for the settlers. His family consisted of ten children : Lois, who married a Norton; Sarah, born July 5, 1731; Wilkinson, born July 8, 1733; Samuel and Mary, twins, born July 26, 1736; Joseph, born March 7, 1738; Phineas, born March 31, 1740; Asher and Lewis (a soldier in the Revolution), twins, born March 13, 1742; and Wait, born in 1748, who married Mary Home, of Wallingford. Asher Hinman, one of the twins, was born in Goshen, Litchfield Co., Conn., March 13, 1742, and died in 1809 in Canton. When a young man he removed to what is now Canton, where he became a farmer and a large land owner. In 1786 he re- moved to another part of the same town, on the, west side of the Farmington river. He married Mary Harris, who died in 1821, and they had the following children : Eliza, who married Uriah Beach; Amasa, born in 1768, who married Polly Hinman; Zerah, who is mentioned below; Rhoda, who married Moses Mills, Jr. ; Philip Harris ; Cretia, who married Elias Mills; Arad, who married Polly Richards; and Asher, who married Eunice Alder- man, and died in 1852.

Zerah Hinman, the grandfather of our subject, was born in 1771 in Goshen. He spent the greater part of his life in Canton, where he was a farmer, and owned extensive tracts of land. He was also a road builder, and a contractor for keeping in re- pair the Albany and Hartford turnpike. The house and many of the other improvements upon the homestead were made by him. While a man of domestic habits he was not a recluse, was a charter member of the A. F. & A. M. lodge, and a prom- inent worker in the Congregational Church. In politics he was known as a Whig. He died on his farm in 1848, and was buried in the Dyer cem- etery, at Canton. Mr. Hinman married Anna Mills, who was born in Canton, daughter of Moses and Abigail Mills, and granddaughter of Peter Mills, a well-known pioneer, of Dutch descent. By this marriage there were ten children: Holden, Liman, Zerah, Warren, Lewis, Eliza (I), Ann, Eliza Ann (2), Julius (the father of our subject), and Hector. Eliza (I) and Ann died when young. Eliza Ann (2) married for her first husband Rufus Moses, and for her second Warren C. Humphrey.

Julius Hinman, the father of our subject, was born at Canton, where he made his home through- out life. After receiving a good common-school education he helped his father carry on the home- stead until he became of age, when he went into the Collins ax factory. Able, industrious and con- scientious, he soon rose to the position of inspector, which place he filled for a number of years, giving entire satisfaction. But to him farming held out greater inducements than ax inspecting, and so, having prudently saved his earnings, he bought a tract of 600 acres comprising what was known as

He f.f

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the Wilcox farm. He made many improvements upon his homestead, and being a man of rare busi- ness ability became very successful. If, as has been said, "helpfulness is holiness," the respect which was paid to Mr. Hinman in his community was not without its cause. He was deeply interested in education, and gave liberally for the support of the public schools. He was well informed upon the topics of the day, and being a good Democrat he took the Hartford Times for over sixty years. Physically he had an iron constitution, and he lived to be eighty-five years old, working up to the last. In July, 1895, while passing over a railroad cross- ing near his home, he was struck by a train and killed outright. He was buried in the Dyer cem- etery at Canton. On March 6, 1842, Mr. Hinman married Laura Mills, daughter of Moses Mills, of New Hartford, and they had two children, both of whom died in infancy. Mrs. Hinman died July 22, 1850, her remains being interred in the Dyer cem- etery. On April 17, 1856, Mr. Hinman married Mrs. Pluma Rice Drake, who was born in Barkhamsted, daughter of Gideon P. and Filura (Griffin) Rice, and is still living on the homestead with our sub- ject ; she is a well-educated, refined woman. By her first husband, Mr. Marquis, she had one child, Charlotte Frances, who married Weston Barnes, and had six children. By Asel Drake, her second husband, she had one child, Nettie, who married John North. Of the six children born to her mar- riage with Mr. Hinman, (1) Laura, born in 1857, married Willard B. Case, of Canton. (2) Zerah J., our subject, is mentioned below. (3) Anna re- ceived a high-school education, and married Willard Hosmer, of Torrington. (4) Mary graduated from the Collinsville high school, and after teaching nine years married Ellis Clark, of Bakersville. (5) Hattie L. married Thomas S. Bidwell, of Canton Center. (6) Clara Belle, who taught school for seven years, married Willard Rice, of Hartford.

Our subject was born March 3, 1859, at Canton, and was given a good common-school education. Being the only son he always lived at home, and after the death of his father he inherited the home- stead, of 600 acres, where he became one of the most extensive dairymen in his section, making about 3,000 pounds of butter yearly. Being a pro- gressive man he has made many improvements upon the homestead, carries on various branches of agri- culture, stock raising, etc. Socially he is a mem- ber of the A. F. & A. M., Village Lodge, No. 29, of Columbia Chapter, No. 31, R. A. M., and is a prominent Granger. He is liberal in his church views, and in politics is a Democrat, but he never aspires to office.

On Jan. 30, 1884, Mr. Hinman married, in Roots- town, Portage Co., Ohio, Miss Jennie Himnan, who was born in Portage county April 12, 1861, daugh- ter of Lloyd and Marv (Lewis) Hinman, and great-granddaughter of Zerah Hinman, who was the grandfather of our subject. She is a highly cul-

tivated woman, and like her husband popular in society, and a member of the Grange, in which she has held office. Mr. and Mrs. Hinman have had four children: Robert, born Nov. 14, 1884: Lewis, born April 12, 1888 (who died at an early age) ; Howard A., born Aug. 21, 1890 ; and Julius L., born July 4, 1892.

LEVI B. BOUGHTON traces his lineage back to Shubaal Boughton, his great-great-grandfather, of Stephentown, N. Y., whose name appears in the parish records of St. John's church, Stamford, as having been baptized at Norwalk, Conn., on June 2, 1749, and in the same parish register it is stated that he was the son of John and Sarah Bouton. The reader's attention will at once be attracted by the variation in the orthography of the name. It is supposed, on good authority, that this John Bouton, mentioned as the father of Shubaal Boughton, was either a grandson or great-grandson of one John Bouton, a Huguenot, who fled from France to Eng- land because of religious persecution, and who was given free transportation to the American Colonies on condition of his taking the oath of allegiance to the British Crown. He is said to have been a son of Count Nicolas Bouton, and is known to have sailed from England in 1635, landing at Boston in December of that year, at the age of twenty years.

However this may be, the family genealogical history from the time of Shubaal Boughton is com- plete. He married Mary Hodge, and removed from New England to Dutchess county, N. Y., in carly life. By trade he was a weaver, but his ambition was to become a land owner and a farmer. Ac- cordingly, in 1795, he removed to Rensselaerville, in Albany county, N. Y., where he pre-empted a claim on government land, which he cleared and improved. These rather meager facts are all that can be definitely told concerning him, except that his marriage is supposed to have occurred about 1766, before leaving Connecticut, and that he was known as a "Quaker," or Friend. His wife. Mary Hlodge, was born Oct. 15, 1747, and died at Rens- selaerville on Nov. 15, 1817. The next ancestor of Levi B. Boughton, in the direct line of descent, was Ira Boughton, the son of Shubaal, who was born at Stephentown, N. Y., July 12, 1768, married Anna Dean ; and died Feb. 28, 1848. His wife was born March 6, 1761, and died in November, 1827. Their son, John, was born April 2, 1797. He married, in 1818. Justina Miller, who was born in 1797, and passed away in 1833. He died at New Fairfield. His son, Harvey M. Boughton, the father of Levi B .. was born in Chautauqua county, N. Y., in 1824. and married Maria Harvey. He was a blacksmith, and spent the greater part of his life at Stanwich, Conn. He was much devoted to social pleasures. although not at all an active worker he was fairly successful in business, his native ability being of a high order. He met his death through violence. under the circumstances narrated below. Being

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ton, and a member of one of the oldest families of this section. Thomas Barbour or Barber, the first of the name to come to America, settled in Wind- sor. Samuel Barber, son of Thomas, located in Simsbury, where he died about 1725. He married Mercy Holcomb, granddaughter of Thomas Hol- comb, the pioneer. After his death she removed with her children to West Simsbury, near Cherry Brook, where she died in 1787, at the ripe age of ninety-six years. They had the following children : Samuel; Thomas; Jonathan; John; Mercy, who married Ephraim Buel; and Sarah, who married John Case.

Dr. Samuel Barber, son of Samuel and Mercy (Holcomb) Barber, was born in Simsbury in 1714. He married (first) Tryphena Humphrey, who was born in 1722, daughter of Samuel Humphrey, and died in 1752. His second wife, Hannah (Hum- phrey), was born in 1726, daughter of Capt. Noah Humphrey, who was captain of a company that went to Havana in 1762. She died in 1819, at the home of her son, Giles, grandfather of our sub- ject. By his first marriage Dr. Samuel Barber had seven children: Samuel, born in 1740, married a Miss Cowles, and died in 1780; Timothy, born in 1742, married Keturah Riley, and died in 1817; Joseph, born in 1744, married Leah Grover, and died in 1807; David, born in 1746, married Deborah Adams ; Elijah, born in 1748, married Sarah Petti- bone, and died in 1820; Ezekiel, born in 1750, mar- ried Elizabeth Goddard, and died in 1806; and Daniel, born in 1752, died in 1776, while serving in the Revolutionary army. The children of the sec- ond marriage were: Tryphena, born in 1755, who married Nathaniel Johnson; Joel, born in 1757, who married Mary Phelps; Hannah, born in 1759, who married Aaron Rauls; Sarah, born in 1761, who married John George Bandell, and died in 1829; Asabel, born in 1763, who married Mary Cellar, and died in 1851; Jesse, born in 1766, who married Hepzibah Humphrey, and died in 1813; and Giles, our subject's grandfather.

Giles Barber, born in 1769, was a farmer and stock raiser, and spent his entire life in Canton, where he died in 1826. He married Mary Garrett, a lady of French descent, and had ten children : Flavey, who married Anson Wheeler; Mary, our subject's mother ; Julia, Mrs. Ezekiel T. Case ; Dia- dama, Mrs. Selden White; Catharine, Mrs. Will- iam McLoud; Volney G., who married Ellen At- kins, of Bristol; Lucian, who settled in the West, where he died; Quincy, who died in childhood ; Jesse L., who married Melissa Andrews, and Linus, who died unmarried.

Our subject was educated in the district and high schools of his native town, and remained at home until 1862, when he enlisted at Hartford in Company I, 22d Conn. V. I., under Col. George S Burnham and Capt. Charles Whittlesey, the regi- ment being assigned to the 5th Corps. He served in this command for one year, and was discharged

in July, 1863. On his return nome he engaged in farming, dairying and tobacco culture, and in 1886 he sold out and bought the Oliver H. Bidwell farm, a tract of 110 acres, where he has made many im- provements and is engaged in tobacco culture, dairy- ing, stock raising and general farming. He is a stockholder and director in the Canton Creamery Association. In 1884 Mr. Bristol was elected to the State Legislature, where he served on the com- mittee on Towns and Boroughs. He was a member of the board of relief at one time, and served as town clerk for eleven years, giving general satis- faction. Socially he and his family are much es- teemed, and he and his wife belong to the local Grange. He is also a member of Edward R. Lee Post, No. 78, G. A. R., of New Hartford.

On Nov. 1, 1860, Mr. Bristol was married, in Canton, to Miss Sarah E. Williams, born in Brook- lyn, N. Y., Oct. 31, 1841, a daughter of Absalom and Margaret (Rogers) Williamis, the former a native of Massachusetts, born in 1810, the latter of New Jersey, born in 1816; they died June 26, 1858, and in 1896, respectively. Of our subject's chil- dren, (1) Minnie E., born Sept. 13, 1861, received a district-school education, and taught school in Canton Center previous to her marriage to George E. Bidwell, a prominent farmer of East Granby ; she has one son, Jasper Warren, born June 11, 1883. (2) Burton E., born Jan. 29, 1863, died in infancy. (3) Burton N., born Nov. 9. 1864. was educated in district schools and the Connecticut Literary Institute, and is now in the grain busi- ness in Collinsville. He married Miss Lizzie Case. daughter of Hosea and Ruth Case, and they have four children, Amy Luella, born July 26, 1889; Richard, May 25, 1892; Robert M., May 30. 1893; and Edward R., June 2, 1894. (4) Mortimer L., born Dec. 29, 1868, was educated in the schools of Collinsville and Moody, also at the Maine U'ni- versity, and taught for some time in public schools; he is now a draughtsman in Colt's fire-arms factory. He married Miss Rosa Bill, of Hartford, and they have one daughter, Grace Bidwell, born Nov. 10, 1895. (5) Anson W .. Jr., born April 25. 1871, graduated from the Collinsville high school. and is now engaged in general farming at Canton Center. He married Miss Mae Smith, daughter of Jimes Smith, of Collinsville, and they have had three chil- dren, Florence Smith, born March 29. 1894; Start Arthur, June 20, 1896; and Herman Harvey, March 22, 1899. (6) Mary Margaret, born Aug. 27, 1873. was educated in the Collinsville high school, and is now a teacher in the Hartford public schools. (7) Helen B., born May 21, 1878, is the wife of Sammel D. Richardson, and has had two children. Panford Ward, born July 23, 1896, and one whose name is not given, born Ang. 3, 1900. (8) Kuby S and (9) Roscoe C. (twins), were born Sept 23. 1880, and the former died Feb. 12, 1882, Roscoe ( com- pleted a course in the high school at Collinsville, and is now a clerk in New Hartford. (10) Christa

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E., born Dec. 25, 1885, is attending the Collinsville high school. (II) Sterling W., born Oct. 20, 1887, and (12) Katherine B., born Jan. 22, 1890, are at home.

MRS. REBECCA P. (ALLEN) HATHA- WAY, authoress (nom de plume "Grace Appleton"), was born in Enfield, Conn., a lovely old elm-shaded town on the eastern bank of the Connecticut river. Her ancestors on both paternal and maternal sides of the house were among the very earliest settlers of the town, coming through the wilderness from the Salem Colony and locating in this spot.

Our subject at the age of thirteen removed with her parents and family from Enfield to Chicopee, Mass., at the high school of which place (at that time one of the most noted schools of the State under the charge of Prof. Calvin S. Pennell, a nephew of Horace Mann, later of Oberlin), she and a younger brother, Adams, received their educational training.

She graduated therefrom in 1849 and removed with the family to New York City, where she be- came assistant editor of various newspapers and magazines published by her eldest brother, Edward P. Allen, and continued with him up to the time of his death, in 1859.

In 1860 Miss Allen was married to Col. Samuel Hathaway, of Worcester and New York City, in which city they resided at the time of the outbreak of the Civil war, and took earnest part in the stir- ring events of that period, and the enthusiastic re- ceptions and banquets given to the different New England regiments as they passed through the city en route for the fields of battle.

Later, coming into possession of the old country home in Enfield, where her idolized brother, Ed- ward, had breathed his last, and in which she had been left a life interest, she and her husband re- moved there (though still keeping on with his busi- ness in New York), and there continued to reside for thirty-five years, until the destruction of the old homestead with all its barns and outbuildings, and their contents, including a valuable herd of Alder- ney and Guernsey cattle, by incendiary fire, in the autumn of 1896. On that occasion Mrs. Hatha- way barely escaped with her life, losing nearly everything they possessed-a collection of old ma- hogany furniture ; old silver ; many valuable manu- scripts and choice books; a cabinet of minerals ; all of her jewelry and most of their clothing. A new house was erected last year on the same site, by their son, where they are again settled and able to give hospitable welcome to friends.

During the past years, under different pen- names, Mrs. Hathaway has been corresponding for different newspapers throughout the country, also contributing poems and prose articles to different magazines and periodicals.

In the disastrous fire, above referred to, was lost a collection of her poems nearly ready for the press, as well as a manuscript volume of poems and an-

other of short stories, about to be issued, written by her son, Harold Gray Hathaway, who passed from earthly life in 1894. He was a young writer of much promise in both poetry and prose, and had he been spared would have made a name in the literary world.

Her eldest son, Allen Bigelow Hathaway, also a terse and graphic writer, is connected with the Massachusetss Mutual Life Insurance Co. in Spring- field, Mass., though residing at home.

Among the many poems that have emanated from the pen of "Grace Appleton," and become most generally known and admired, may be mentioned the following : "The Evening Hearthstone," "Mother in Heaven," "Beautiful River," "To a Night-Bloom- ing Cereus," "Under the Roses," "On Whirl the Months Immortal," and "The Funeral of Gen. Grant." There is a peculiar charm and fascination about her poems that is irresistible and enchanting, suggesting that ideas, rhythm and meter are created as it were impromptu, without forethought or effort on her part, and given to the world just as they sing themselves into existence.

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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 2, Part 108

Author: J.H. Beers & Co Publication date: 1901 Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 1172

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1172