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 133

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 133

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On Jan. 11, 1878, Mr. Fish married Adalaide C. Braman, who was born in West Hartford Nov. 26, 1846, daughter of Milton and Caroline ( Wilcox ) Braman. Milton Braman was a farmer of West Hartford, a Democrat in politics, and died at New- ington at the age of sixty-six years. His wife, who was a devout member of the Congregational Church, lived to the age of seventy-two years. They had three children : Ellen A., who died aged twenty- two years; Adalaide C., wife of our subject ; and Louis D., who died unmarried aged twenty-two years. Mrs. Fish in her girlhood attended the West Hartford Academy, and later a private school in the same town conducted by Miss Gleason. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Fish consists of four chil- dren : Alfred Braman, who married Alice M. Latti- mer, of Newington, and lives in that town; Nellie E., an accomplished musician, and now a student at the New Britain Normal School; Walter J., at home ; and Edith M., student at a private school in Hartford.

In politics Mr. Fish is a Democrat, but though in sympathy with most of the principles of that party he is a sound-money man. He has served as selectman continuously from 1886 to 1892, and was again elected in 1808. In the fall of 1896 he was elected to the State Legislature. Mr. and Mrs. Fish are prominent members of the Congregational Church. Mr. Fish has served as chairman of the church committee, and as a member of the standing committee. He is a stanch advocate of education, and has given his children finished training; his family has by its attainments amply attested the wisdom of that course. Ever ready to lend en- couragement to any worthy cause, keen in judg- ment and successful in business, Mr. Fish possesses all the attributes which endear him to right-thinking people.

FRANCIS WILLIAM FAWCETT, a cheery and spirited farmer and gardener of Newington, a soldier of the Civil war, has spent in America more than fifty years of a life of unusual interest and adventure. He came to this country when a

boy of twelve years, industrious, buoyant, and not afraid of hard work. He has dwelt in many States, experienced the vicissitudes of fortune in various phases, and has won from life a competence and a rich experience.

Mr. Fawcett was born in Bradford, England, May 31, 1835, son of Robert and Jane ( Booth) Fawcett, and grandson of John and Jane (Cop- stick) Fawcett. The grandfather was a successful English farmer, and the father also a farmer and laborer. The mother of our subject died shortly after his birth, and his twin sister died at birth. In 1847, at the age of twelve years, our subject left the land of his forefathers and sailed for America in the "Ocean Monarch," then the largest vessel afloat. The passage, which was rough, con- sumed six weeks and one day, and the vessel on her arrival ran upon the rocks at Plymouth, and was in imminent danger of destruction. Crew and passengers threw overboard immense casks of crockeryware to lighten the vessel, and the passen- gers were finally rescued by the "Mayflower.'

Arriving at Boston, our subject associated him- self with the Enfield Shakers, and remained with them for two years, at the expiration of which time his father arrived from England. Mr. Faw- cett had saved the sum of $258 when his father arrived, and he decided to run away, a step which he often afterward regretted. Thus leaving the Shakers, he went to Prescott, Mass., and there bought twelve acres of land, upon which he re- mained until the arrival from England of his sis- ter, Jane, and her husband, Adam May. The fa- ther sold the farm to Mr. May. Our subject agreed to buy his time from his father until he was of age, for $300. He went to Fitchburg, and hired out to a carpenter for his board and $10 per month, expecting to learn the carpenter's trade. but he never received any money, and accordingly re- mained only until the following September. Pen- niless, he walked to Worcester, Mass., a distance of forty miles, and there engaged with a carpen- ter, named Cephus Meade, for two months at $10 per month and board. At the end of the two months winter came on, and work was slack. Our subject then went to South Brookfield, where he worked during the winter at the shoemaker's trade. With one John Durant he then hired as a farmer for eight months, at $Io per month. At the expiration of his eight months he had saved $100, earning part of it for overtime, etc. With this $roo he made his first paynient to his father for his time. Mr. Fawcett resumed work in the shoe shop, and in the spring he hired with another shoemaker, remaining with him eight months, at $16 per month. The following winter he started a shoe shop of his own in South Brookfield, con- tinuing in business for himself until spring, when an opportunity occurred to work at the carpenter's trade during the summer, starting in at $1 per clay, and later getting $1.50 per day. In the fall

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he went into the shoe business again, but, as the trade of repairing was very dull, he worked in the woods with his father, chopping at 50 cents per cord, and during the winter chopped 150 cords of wood at Rattle Snake Den, in Prescott. The next summer he worked at the carpenter's trade at $1.50 per day

At the age of twenty-one years and six months Mr. Fawcett paid his father the remaining $200 on his time. in the fall of the next year, while working at carpentering. he fell with the scaffold- ing a distance of twenty-eight feet, and broke his right leg in several places, which laid him up for the remainder of the winter. In the spring lie again worked for a time at the carpenter's trade. In 1857 he went to Clifton, Monroe Co., Wis., and settled on a government claim of 160 acres. He improved the land, but as he had no money he went to La Crosse, and there for a time engaged in raft- ing. Returning to his claim in the spring. he pur- chased a team of oxen, and gave a mortgage on his farm as security for payment. He planted his land in wheat, but the blight ruined his crop, and the mortgagee promptly foreclosed. Penniless, but not disheartened, he visited the eastern part of Wisconsin, where relatives were living, and worked at the carpenter's trade for one year, after which he returned to Prescott. Mass .. finally settling in Springfield.

When the war broke out our subject was an attendant at the North Hampton Hospital for the Insane. At the fall of Fort Sumter he immediate- ly enlisted, becoming a private in Company F. 31st Mass. V. 1. He was the patriotic leader of the attendants at the hospital, and his enlistment influenced six others to enlist in the same county. He had been in the service but six months when. at the battle of Biloxi. Miss., he was shot in the right leg. near the previous fracture. He was then taken to the Massachusetts General Hospital, where he remained three months. The wound he received so badly crippled him that he could not return to his regiment. He went to Prescott, and later to Springfield, where he worked in the Ar- mory until the close of the wai. After he received his honorable discharge he worked at his trade in Springfield.

When the railroad bridge at Warehouse Point was changed from a wooden to an iron structure Ar. Fawcett obtained a position on the same, and later bought the old timbers taken from the bridge and sawed them into kindling wood. Working with a handsaw was too slow work, so he rigged up machinery and sawed the timbers by machinery. lle also had the contract with a cork factory at Springfield to keep the cork shavings cleared away, and the shavings he also sold for fuel. The selling of the wood and cork shavings proved prof- itable. He began to speculate in timber land, and was very successful. Springfield, Mass., was then booming, and all his speculations prospered. He bought land and built houses, until he had an in-

come of over $500 .per month from his rents; he also owned a meat market and grocery; his busi- ness interests were piling up, until he had more than he could look after. He declined an offer of $45.000 for a one-half interest in all his belongings. The panic of 1875 cante on, and at the same time a very severe attack of rheumatism, brought on by overwork, compelled him to take to his bed, where he remained for over a year. Employes conducted systematic theft. and his property gradually but surely slipped from his grasp, while he was unable to rise from his bed and attend to his business in- terests. Finally. in April, 1876, the house over his head was sold, and he was compelled to vacate.

Mr. Fawcett then went to Windsor, and, still full of perseverance, borrowed Sioo and went into the kindling wood business again. He remained in Windsor about nine months, when he found a small place, between Hartford and Windsor, which he could rent for $5 per month. He remained there four years, and peddled wood in Hartford. The wood business in Hartford was then very good, as Mr. Fawcett was one of only two men who were engaged in the business there to any extent. Before he had been away from Springfield one vear he had paid all his indebtedness and was a free man. In 1881 he removed to Newington, where he purchased fourteen acres of land, togeth- er with a large house and barn. There he has since resided. He also keeps about 100 hens, and re- tails eggs and garden truck in Hartford. He is still very active, and looks after his farm in a care- ful and. exacting manner.

Mr. Fawcett was married in 1863 to Miss Ma- lintha D. Scott, of Springfield, and to this union was born a daughter. Minnie D., in 1864, and a son, George Robert, in 1865. The son died at the age of six months, of brain fever. Mr. Fawcett is a member of Robert (). Tyler Post, No. 50, G. A. R., of Hartford. In politics he is a stanch Re- publican. He is a member in good standing of the Methodist Church of Springfield, Mass., and by his long and brave contest with adverse fate has most admirably demonstrated the sterling and victorious fiber of his nature.

JOHN FRANKLIN AXTELLE, M. D., a well-known physician of Hartford, was born Aug. 28, 1854, at Morristown, N. J., son of Stephen D. and Nancy ( Sutton) Axtelle.

The family is of English origin, and John Ak- style. the first of the name of whom we have an account, was a member of a religious order in Hert- fordshire, England. about 1533. John Axtelle, our subject's grandfather, was a prominent man of Mor- ristown, N. J., and also made a high reputation as a singer and teacher of music, being gifted with an exceptionally fine voice. Stephen D. Axtelle, the father of our subject, served in the Civil war, en- listing from Washington. Ind. After marriage his home was in St. Louis for a time, but soon after the close of the war he removed to Minneapolis,

R. F. astelle

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Minn., where he was engaged in business as a dealer in farm implements until his death, in 1873. As a citizen he took an interest in furthering the best interests of the community where he made his home, and he was active in political affairs while in St. Louis, serving as assessor. His widow still re- sides in Minneapolis, and the Doctor has two brothers and two sisters there.

The Doctor attended the schools of Minneapolis during boyhood, and after the death of his father went to Elgin, 111., to enter the employ of the Elgin Watch Co. Having a desire to enter the medi- cal profession, he improved every opportunity for study, and for two years was under the direction of Profs. Whitford and Clark, of Bennett Medical College, Chicago. He then removed to Lancaster. Penn., and studied for four years with Prof. S. T. Davis, and later he made a thorough study of sur- gery in Bellevue Hospital Medical College and Long Island Hospital College. from which he was grad- uated in 1878 with honors. Before engaging in active practice he spent a year as assistant to Prof. Davis, and in 1879 located in Hartford, where his acquaintance was then limited to three people. He did not leave the city until twelve years later, when he made a trip to San Francisco and Yellowstone Park. His attention to his professional duties, to- gether with his ability and acquired skill, soon won him recognition, and he is not only widely knowni, but is regarded as one of the best practitioners of Hartford. For some time he attended to the prac- tice of the late Dr. Campbell, and at present he is medical examiner for twelve different orders and several insurance companies. As a member of the City, County and State Medical Societies, and the American Medical Association, he has done much active work, and his articles in the "Journal of the American Medical Association" have been copied in ali the prominent medical publications in this coun- try and Europe.

The Doctor was married, in Hartford, to Mrs. Ella M. Norvel. He is popular in social life, being a member of the Hartford Club: the Knights of Pythias ; the I. O. O. F. ; and the Masonic fraternity, being a thirty-second-degree Mason, and a charter member of Sphinx Temple, Mystic Shrine, in which he holds an official position.

CHARLES ALLEN GRISWOLD, a well- known tobacco dealer of West Hartford, is rapidly working his way to a foremost position among the prominent business men of his section of the coun- ty. Genuine success is not likely to be the result of mere chance of fortune, but is something to be labored for and sought out with consecutive effort. Fully appreciating this fact, Mr. Griswold has la- bored untiringly, and although comparatively a young man he has already attained a success which many an older man might well envy.

Mr. Griswold was born in West Hartford Sept. 16, 1860, and is a representative of one of its old and honored families, being a great-grand-

son of Ozias Griswold, who followed farming in West Hartford throughout life, and there died abont 1816. He married Joanna Steele, and had six children: Chester, Sally, Allen S., Thomas, Joanna and Lucy. Allen Steele Griswold, the grandfather of our subject, was born in West Hartford in 1809, and died there May 19, 1874. He was educated in the Center school district, where he spent the greater part of his life, en- gaged in farming. He was a member of the Con- gregational Church ; in politics was first a Whig and later a Republican ; and was one of the repre- sentative citizens of his community. He was mar- ried in West Hartford to Miss Mary Jane Steele, a daughter of Papphero Steele. She died in Feb- ruary, 1883. In their family were five children : Mary Jane, wife of Jason G. Shepard, of West Hartford; Samuel Allen, a resident of the same place: Charles Steele, father of our subject ; and Henry Ozias and Seth Papphero, both of West Hartford.

Charles Steele Griswold has spent his entire life in West Hartford, and is now engaged in the tobacco business with our subject, not only raising that product, but also buying and packing it for market. He married Miss Lucia J. Bishop, daugh- ter of Joseph Bishop, of West Hartford, and to them were born four children: Charles Allen, our subject: Gertrude, who died in infancy: Joseph H. : and Ethel V.

The primary education of our subject was ob- tained in the public schools of West Hartford, and later he was a student in Williston Seminary, at Easthampton, Mass. On returning home he worked for his father until 1890, when he became a partner in the business. As tobacco growers and dealers they have built up quite an extensive trade, and employ on an average sixteen men in their warehouse.

Mr. Griswold was married, in West Hartford, April 12, 1880, to Miss Mary Emma, daughter of Timothy Sedgwick, and they have two children : Ruby Louise Hawthorne, born May 6, 1882; and Charles Sedgwick, born May 4, 1889. Mr. Gris- wold is a member of Gamma Sigma fraternity of Williston Seminary, and also belongs to the Grange and to Wyllys Lodge, No. 99, F. & A. M. In re- ligious belief he is a Baptist. For several years he has been an influential member of the Republi- can town committee, and at present he is also a member of the board of assessors.

GEORGE HARRIS HALL, contractor of the trunk hardware department of J. H. Sessions & Sons' factory, Bristol, is a native of that town, born Nov. 26, 1854, and he comes of good old New England stock, being a lineal descendant of John Hall, the emigrant.

This John Hall appears first at Boston, after- ward at New Haven. He evidently was not an original settler in New Haven, as his name does not appear in any list which has been discovered

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until after 1650. Whence he came is uncertain. The name ( Hall) is a difficuit one to trace on ac- count of the great number of original settlers bear- ing that cognomen, twenty-eight having come to America prior to 1660, seven of whom bore the given name of John. That John Hall, of Boston, New Haven and Wallingford, was an emigrant. appears quite evident from certain events in his : life's history. He moved to Wallingford after the settlement had commenced, which accounts for the non-appearance of his name on the first Plantation covenant of 1669-70. His sons John, Thomas and Samuel were signers of that instrument. His name appears on the covenant of 1672, and it is quite certain that he had been some time in the place. In 1675 himself and his son John were ; chosen selectmen of Wallingford.

John Hall, Sr., was freed from training in 1665. being then in his sixtieth year, and most certainly was in New Haven as early as 1639, and at Wal- lingford about the year 1670, with the early set-' tlers there. He died early in 1676. By his wife, Jane (Woolen ), he had children as follows: John, bap- tized Aug. 9, 1646, died Sept. 2, 1721 ; Richard, born July 11, 1645; Samuel, born May 21, 1646, died March (or May) 5, 1725; Sarah, baptized Aug. 9, 1646; Thomas, born March 25, 1649, Jonathan, born April 5. 1651; and David, born March 18, 1652, died July 17, 1727.

Samuel Hall, great-great-great-great-grand- father of our subject, went to Wallingford with the first planters in 1670. By his wife, Hannah (Walker), whom he married in May, 1668, and who died Dec. 20, 1728, he had children as fol- lows: John, born Dec. 23, 1670; Hannah, March 11, 1673: Sarah, June 20, 1677; Samuel, Dec. 10, 1680 (died June 15, 1770) ; Theophilus, Feb. 5, 1686: and Elizabeth, March 6, 1690.

Samuel Hall, great-great-great-grandfather of our subject, married Lois, daughter of Nathaniel and Esther Royce, and the names and dates of birth of their children are as follows: Theophilus, ' April 1, 1707; Samuel, June 8, 1709 (died Dec. 24, 1771) : Hannah, July 15, 17LI; Sarah, Dec. 6, 1713; Mehitabel, April 25, 1716; and Esther, Nov. 7, 1719.

Samuel Hall, great-great-grandfather of our sub- ject, married Sarah Hall Dec. 7, 1731, and the names and dates of birth of their children are as follows: Samuel (1). July 11, 1732 (died in in- fancy) ; Hezekiah, Dec. 27, 1733; Louisa, June 30, 1736: Sarah, Dec. 5, 1737; Esther, Jan. 21, 1740; Love, April 30, 1742; Elizabeth, Jan. 23, 1745: Samuel (2), Feb. 28. 1750 (died Feb. 27, [821) : and Damaris, Jan. 23, 1754.

Samuel Hall (2), great-grandfather of our subject, married May 10, 1774, Elizabeth Parsons, who died Sept. 27, 1823, the mother of children as follows: Samuel, born Dec. 2, 1776: Hezekiah, June 11. 1778: George. Aug. 13, 1780; Marilla, Dec. 28. 1782: Richard, Jan. 26. 1785 : and Jared, Aug. 24, 1792 ( died April 24, 1865).

Jared Hall, grandfather of our subject, mar- ried Rebecca Hall, and had children as follows : Caroline, born Nov. 13, 1819; William D., Dec. 6,. 1821; Charles D., Dec. 13, 1824; Lucy, March, 1827. He was a farmer, and also served in the war of 1812.

CHARLES DICKERMAN HALL, father of our sub- ject, was born Dec. 13, 1824, in Wallingford,. Conn., where he received a liberal common-school. education. Until he was about twenty years of age he assisted in the labor of his father's farm,. and then entered the spoon factory of Hall & El- ton, where he temained some ten years. Moving to Yalesville, Conn., at the end of that time, he for two years worked in Charles Parker's spoon fac- tory, after which, in 1854, he came to Bristol, and entered the employ of Holmes & Tuttle, which firm was changed, in 1857, to the Bristol Brass & Clock Co., with whom he continued until 1894. He resigned in that year, on his seventieth birth- day, after a connection of forty years with the same business, during which time he was foreman. of the works from the time the firm became the Bristol Brass & Clock Co. until 1891. He is now living in retirement, and enjoying a well-earned rest. He attends the services of the Episcopal Church, while in politics he is a Republican.

On March 17, 1851, Charles D. Hall was united. in marriage with Laura Amanda Hall, who was born Sept. 25, 1828, daughter of Lyman and Sina. (Button) Hall, of Yalesville, Conn .; she died in Bristol, Conn., June 26, 1897. Their children are as follows: (1) Charles Lyman, born Aug. 4, 1852, is a farmer at Sulphur Springs, Lewis Co.,. Wash .; (2) George H. is our subject : (3) Will- iam Dickerman, born April 8, 1856, is a farmer at Seattle, Wash .; and (4) Alberta May, born. May 12, 1865, lives at home with her father.

George H. Hall, the subject proper of this sketch, received his education at the Third Dis- trict school, Bristol, and at the age of sixteen years commenced working in the factory of J. H. Sessions & Sons, in the same town, in 1880 be- coming a contractor in the trunk hardware depart- ment, in the press room, and with this .firm re- mained until 1896. In that year he received the. appointment of foreman and salesman for the Codling Mfg. Co., in which firm he was a stock- holder. In May. 1899, he again accepted his old position as foreman of the trunk hardware depart- ment of J. H. Sessions & Sons' factory, being called to same on account of his thorough famil- iarity with the institutions of that firm.

On March 19. 1873, Mr. Hall was married to Miss Jessie Althea Wooding, who was born April 28, 1856, daughter of Lawson Jared Wooding. of Bristol, and six children have been born to them, four of whom died young, the others being: Law- son Wooding, born Aug. 8, 1883, at present at- tending the Bristol high school; and Dwight Har- rison, born Sept. 28. 1888, also attending school. In 1897 Mr. Hall built a modern improved dwell-

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ing-house on Summer street, Bristol, one of the most pleasant homes in Bristol.

Mrs. Hall is a member of Prospect M. E. Church, of which Mr. Hall is a regular attendant. He is a stanch Republican, served as tax collector in 1888-89-90, and in 1895 and 1897 was elected a representative, in 1897 being chairman of the House committee on Manufactures. Socially he is affiliated with Franklin Lodge, No. 40, F. & A. MI., Bristol, and of Ethan Lodge, No. 9, K. of P., Bristol, of which he was the first chancellor com- mander : has also been captain of the Uniformed rank. Hull Company, No. 5, being still a member thereof. In municipal matters Mr. Hall has al- ways taken an active interest in the Bristol Fire Department from boyhood, for eight years served as chief, and at present is a member of the board of Fire commissioners, having been first elected in 1892.

A progressive and energetic citizen, our sub- ject is quick to respond to any call pertain- ing to his party, or to the general benefit of the town, and he is recognized as an enterprising and progressive citizen, held by all in the highest re- gard.

THOMAS LEVITT, the leading truck man in Bristol, with his office in the freight depot of the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad, was born in Enfield, Conn., Jan. 21, 1845.

William Levitt (deceased ), father of our sub- ject. was born in England, where he married Miss Agnes Herd, and where four of his eight children were born. He was a miller by trade, came to America in 1844, and while at work in the woolen mill at Broad Brook, Conn., lost an arm. He sym- pathized with the Republican party, but took little interest in politics, and he never belonged to any secret society. The eight children born to Will- iam and Agnes (Herd) Levitt were: Elizabeth, who is married to C. D. Parsons, lives in Burling- ton, Conn. : Sarah Ann, married to H. K. Parsons, is living in Florence, Mass .: George has lived in Harrisburg, Va., since the Civil war; John died in infancy; Thomas is the subject of this sketch ; Robert lives in Mystic, Conn .; Mary married William Fulton, and lives in Florence, Mass .; and William resides in Rockville, Connectcut.

Thomas Levitt at the age of ten years forsook his studies in the common schools of Enfield, and for three years worked as draw boy for the Hart- ford Carpet Co., at Thompsonville. The follow- ing three years he worked in the Broad Brook woolen factory, and then, for two years, drove the 'bus from Warehouse Point to the Warehouse Point depot. He then went to Springfield, Mass., where he was employed as a teamster nearly three years. About this time his father lost his arm, and young Levitt returned to Broad Brook, and for three years drove a four-horse team between that village and Hartford, before railroad commu- nication had been opened. His next work was in

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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 133

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