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 135

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 135

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JOHN SHEEHAN, a prominent resident of New Britain, is a successful business man, and as a citizen has made his influence a recognized factor in local affairs.

Mr. Shechan was born in New Britain Jan. 22, 1859, and is of Irish ancestry in both paternal and maternal lines. Thomas Sheehan, his father, was a native of County Clare, Ireland, born about 1829, and received a limited education in the schools of that country. In 1850 he came to America, locating immediately in New Britain, where he was employed for a time as a common laborer and afterward be- came a contractor with P. & F. Corbin and the Landers & Frary Co. In this line he was success- ful, but after twelve years he engaged in the grocery and liquor businesss, opening a store on Lafayette street, about 1872, and continuing same until his death, which occurred in 1885. For some time he carried on a truck and dray business in addition to huis other interests, and in all his enterprises he dis- played the energy and shrewd judgment which command success. He was a leading member of St. Mary's Catholic Church at New Britain, and

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politically was a strong Democrat, although he never took an active share in party work. He married Sarah Mead, and they had twelve children, as fol- lows: Thomas S., Patrick and Michael, all now deceased : Katharine: John, and Hanora, who are living : James, Martin, and William, deceased ; Mary and Helen, who are living; and Sarah, de- ceased.

Our subject attended the old town school on Myr- tle street, New Britain, until he was seventeen years old, receiving a good English education. On leav- ing school he turned his attention to his father's business, and removed to a new building at NNo. 124 High street, where he remained about ten years. In 1895 he built his present store at No. 120 High street, where he enjoys a large custom. He is a director in the New Britain Brass Co., of which he was an incorporator. and his judgment in business maters is considered exceptionally good. In politics he is a Democrat, and he takes an active part in municipal affairs, having served as a councilman from the Fifth ward, in 1891-92-93, and was alder- man for five years, from 1894 to 1898, inclusive.

Mr. Sheehan married Miss Bridget DeWitt, daughter of Michael DeWitt, a native of Ireland, and now a respected citizen of New Britain. Six children brighten his home: Sarah, Thomas, John, Frederick, Helen and Katharine. He and his family are popular socially, and he is an active worker in the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Order of Foresters, having served as treasurer in both, and belongs to the order of Knights of Columbus, a Catholic organization.

DWIGHT A. HARRIS, superintendent of the water works of the city of New Britain, is a man whose energies have been disciplined by the stren- nous effort to overcome adverse conditions in youth, and his present high standing reflects great credit upon him. His sound judgment, developed by self- reliant work in earlier years, is of recognized value to the city, and the water-works system, under his able and efficient management, has been a success- ful venture, and is constantly increasing in extent and usefulness.

Mr. Harris was born Sept. 17. 1849, in She- boygan Falls, Wis., and comes of a family which has long been noted for industry and enterprise. Asel Harris, our subject's grandfather, was born in 1790, and spent mich of his life in the town of Middleville, Herkimer Co., N. Y., where he engaged extensively in farming. lle was an excellent citizen, but was somewhat reserved in his manner, and never took an active part in public affairs, preferring to devote his attention to his business in which he was very successful. For many years he was a leading member of the Meth- odist Church in his locality, and died in that faith. His wife was Mariah Bushnell, of New York. Of their children Richard was a produce and commis- sion merchant in New York City; Walter and Gailord also reside in New York City ; William W.

is mentioned below ; Erastus was a carpenter ; and Emma married Seymour Jackson, then of Fairfield, Herkimer Co., N. Y., and now a farmer in Cali- fornia.

William W. Harris, our subject's father, was- born June 1, 1818, in Fairfield, N. Y., and received a district-school education. He learned the car- penter's trade in his native town, and in 1847 went to Sheboygan Falls, Wis., where he was connected with a sash and blind factory for sev- eral years. Soon afterward he removed to Boon- ville, N. Y., and resumed his trade. He was a man of good mental ability, but his retiring disposition kept him from achieving the prominence which others, less worthy, gained readily. In religious faith he was a Presbyterian, and in politics he affiliated with the Republican party, although he was never active in partisan work. His estimable wife, whose maiden name was Jane Adelia Jackson, was born Feb. 21, 1819, and died Feb. 17, 1887: hc survived her but a few years, dying Jan. 18, 1808. The Jackson family is well known in Herkimer county, N. Y and our subject's ma- ternal grandfather, General John Jackson, born Dec. 30, 1795, died in 1830 at the age of thirty-five vears, a successful farmer, and took a prominent part in military affairs as an officer in the State militia. Hester Necley Jackson, wife of General Jackson, was born Nov. 13. 1797, and died Sept. 2, 1881. Four children were born to William H. Harris and wife : Mary, who married Rosell Pitcher ; Dwight Augustus, our subject : Anna G., who died at the age of eighteen ; and Nettie M., wife of Will- iam D. Sipplle, of Boonville, New York.

Dwight A. Harris was educated mainly in the public schools of Boonville, and his love of reading has led to private study of various topics. On leaving school, at the age of eighteen, he learned the tinner's trade, serving an apprenticeship at Boon- ville. For a few years he followed the trade as a journeyman, but he gave it up to become a guide in the Adirondacks. His five years in that occupa- tion brought good financial returns, and many in- teresting experiences. He shot many deer, and dur- ing the close seasons, in company with Samuel Dunokin, engaged in trapping otter, marten and mink, often having 500 traps set. In vis- iting his line of traps he would often spend two weeks, as they covered a range from ten to thirty iniles. In June, 1872, he came to New Britain to work for W. J. Bulkeley in the steam and gas piping business, and his ability and skill so im- pressed the community that when a superintendent was wanted for the new water-works system, in 1883. he was chosen for the place, which he has held ever since. He is also engineer of fire engine No. 2, New Britain. Politically Mr. Harris is a Repub- lican, but he is not especially active in the work of the party, and socially he is identified with the Order of United American Mechanics ; the I. O. O. F .. Phoenix Lodge, No. 52, and with Lodge No. 19. B .. P. O. E.

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DA Harris

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RALPH GILLETT, former president of the State Mutual Fire Insurance Co., of Hartford, Conn., whose death occurred April 17, 1894, was descended from ancestors on both sides who were among the earliest colonists of New England.

Rev. Nathan Gillett, the father of Ralph, was a native of Connecticut ; his father, Nathan (afterward called Major), together with his brother, Capt. Zacherus, were among the first to respond to the "Lexington Alarm" from Simsbury, Conn. They belonged to the first company of volunteers, and they afterward faithfully served their country as true soldiers and throughout the Revolutionary period. They probably remembered the motive which their fathers had when they came to the rough coast of New England, a few generations before. Nathan and his brother Jonathan Gillett first settled in Dorchester, Mass., and Nathan is recorded as a land holder and was admitted a freeman in 1634. In 1635 he left Dorchester and removed to Old Wind- sor, Conn. It is said that the old family of Gilletts first fled from France to Dorchester in England, in consequence of religious persecution.

Rev. Nathan Gillett, the father of our subject, married Lydia Jones, the daughter of Capt. Samuel Jones, of Hebron, Conn. The Rev. Isaac Jones, of Litchfield, Conn., in 1822 furnished this history of his ancestors, in connection with that of Capt. Sam- uel Jones, and of Dr. Anson Jones, who afterward became the second President of the Republic of Texas.

This family are descendants of Col. John Jones, one of the judges who pronounced sentence against Charles I. King of England, who was executed June 30, 1649. On the accession to the throne of Charles II, in 1660, Col. Jones, with nine other judges, was condemned and executed. Col. Jones married Henrietta, sister of Oliver Cromwell, and their son, Hon. William Jones, married, in 1639, Hannah, daughter of Theophilus Eaton, afterward first Governor of the Colony of New Haven, Conn .. and came with him to America. From this Will- iam Jones, the first American ancestor of this branch of the Jones family, the subject of this sketch was in the sixth generation, the line of his descent being through Isaac, Capt. Samuel and Lydia Jones.

From this Isaac Jones descended many men who made their mark in their various calling3 of life, among them Hon. Joel Jones, the first president of Girard College, and Hon. Anson Jones, the second president of the Republic of Texas. Capt. Samuel Jones, son of Isaac, born in Saybrook, Conn., in 1695, married, in 1719, Rachel Dibble, and settled in Hebron, Conn., where he died in 1733, and she in 1765. Of their eight children, Lydia, daughter of Captain Samuel, became the mother of our sub- ject. Capt. Samuel was an officer in the French and Indian war, under Gen. Putnam, and his com- mission under King George II is in the possession of his grandson, Alfred S. Gillett, of Washington, D. C., together with letters written by his grandfather while in the service.

The Rev. Nathan Gillett graduated at Williams College in about 1798. He entered as minister in the Congregational Church, and became pastor of a church of Gilead Society, in Hebron, Conn., in 1799, and remained their pastor till 1824. He re- moved from there to Monson, Mass., that his sons might be placed in the Monson Academy, and his other children have the advantage of good school facilities. He later settled in Madison county, N. Y., and remained there ten years. He returned to Connecticut and died in Ellington, Conn., in 18.45. There he lies buried in the family lot of the Gilletts, and strange that this old town was once a part of Windsor, where his fathers settled two hundred

and fifty years ago. He was a man of very fair talents, a clergyman of the old school, unassumi- ing and unostentatious. He married the daughter of Capt. Samuel Jones, in the old parish where he was settled. She was born in 1781 and died in 1865. She was a woman of the most sterling character and intelligence, and possessed of great virtues. Of her children, other than our subject, Alfred S. Gillett is still living (he organized the Girard Fire and Marine Insurance Co. of Philadelphia in 1853, and was its first secretary, became its vice-presi- dent, and is now its president) ; Albert J. died in Hartford, in 1865; and Edwin Nathan died still later in Illinois.

RALPH GILLETT, our subject, was born in Gilead, Conn., Oct. 14, 1811. He received a classical edu- cation, and was prepared to enter college. He was an excellent Greek and Latin scholar, while prepar- ing for future advancement, but like most min- isters' sons he found himself poor, and abandoned his pursuit after classical literature or knowledge. He went to work in a country store in Ellington. He afterward became the owner of the Ellington High School property, established and owned by the late Judge John Hall, and at one time one of the most prosperous preparatory schools in the State. In 1849 he moved from Ellington to Hartford, and entered the general field of fire and life insurance, becoming general agent for several companies. He was the first president of the City Fire Insurance Co., of the Charter Oak Fire Insurance Co., and of the Union Fire Insurance Company. He was a strong advocate of the mutual system in both fire and life insurance, and became the president of the State Mutual Fire Insurance Co., which has recently re-insured and disposed of all its liabilities. His death, as already recorded, occurred April 17, 1894, and it can be well said of him that he was methodi- cal in all his business transactions, liberal in his charities, during his lifetime probably giving away more in charity than he left of estate. His only living relatives on the Gillett side are Albert B. Gil- lett, Mrs. Thomas R. Loomis, and Mrs. Mary P. Smith, all residing in Hartford.

IRA PECK. From the inscriptions on a sub stantial brown stone monument standing in Spring Grove cemetery, Hartford, it is learned that Ira

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Peck was born Nov. 15, 1790, and died July 4. 1870, and that his wife Penelope was born Feb. 13, 1790, and died March 12, 1809.

The birthplace of Mr. Peck was in the town of Wallingford, Conn., but soon after his advent into the world his father, John Peck, established a home for the family in Farmington. He was descended from an historic New England family of the Colon- ial period. The Connecticut Pecks are descend- ants of Joseph, of Milford, Deacon William and Henry, of New Haven, each becoming the ancestor or progenitor of a numerous race. Deacon Will- iam Peck, the ancestor of the branch of the Peck family to which our subject belongs, was born in London, England, in 1601, and with his wife Elizabeth, and one child, Jeremiah, came to New England in the ship "Hector" in 1637, with the company of which Gov. Eaton and Rev. John Daven- port were the leaders, and was one of the planters or founders of the Colony of New Haven in the spring of 1638. Deacon Peck was a merchant and a man of high standing in the colony. He was a deacon in the church at New Haven from 1659 to the time of his death, in 1694. From this emigrant ancestor our subject is a descendant in the seventh generation, the line of his descent being through John, John (2), Samuel, Samuel (2), and John (3). (11) John Peck, son of Deacon William, the emi- grant, born in 1638, settled in Wallingford in 1672, and died there in 1724.

( III) John Peck (2), son of John, born in 1674. was a resident of Wallingford, where he was a deacon of the church, and died in 1771, at the ad- vanced age of ninety-seven years.

(1\) Samuel Peck, son of John (2), born in 1704, was a prominent man in the town of Wal- lingford, where he died in 1755.

( \') Samuel Peck (2). son of Samuel, lived and died in the town of Wallingford, his death occur- ring in 1815, when he was aged eighty-one years. (VI) John Peck (3), son of Samuel (2), and the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in 1769, and resided in the town of Farmington, where he died in 1811. Of his six sons, Chauncey located in Windham, N. Y., and became the ancestor of a numerous family in that locality; the remaining five were lra, John, George. Caleb and Benjamin.

The late Ira Peck, our subject, of Wallingford, in: youth learned the blacksmith's trade, and began his career engaged in mechanical lines. Along in the carly part of the present century, when he was still a young man, he went to the State of Georgia, and became extensively engaged in mercantile pur- suits, keeping a general store, and acquired a large property. In 1858 he sold his property in Georgia, and retired from active business. Returning North he located in Hartford, where he continued to reside until his death, in 1870. He owned considerable real estate in llartford, and added largely to his property by judicious stock investments before the Civil war, and at his death left an estate amounting tu over a million dollars. To his marriage with

Penelope Keves were born six children, three sons and three daughters, but the sons are now all de- ceased : Henry K., born May 12, 1824, Gied Aug. 22, 1877; Ira H., born April 16, 1832, died Nov. 26, 1870: William H., born April 19, 1838, died Feb. 22, 1898 : Caroline P., wife of H. P. Redfield ; Mary, wife of J. Danesi, who was a member of Gen. Han- cock's staff during the Civil war ; and Cornelia C., a resident of the old homestead in Hartford. In his political affiliations Mr. Peck was first a Jackson Democrat, then a Whig, and finally a Republican.

GEORGE BEST, a prominent citizen of Hart- ford, now living in retirement, was born Oct. 22, 1826, in London, England, son of George Best, and grandson of John Best, the latter a native and lifelong resident of that country. His father was born in the west of England, and when a young man was employed at the East India docks, in London. In 1836 he came to America, and located first in Windsor, Conn., where he engaged in farming, but his last years were spent in Granby, his death occurring at the age of seventy-three. His wife, Jane ( Collett ), also a native of England, lived to the age of ninety, and both were for many years devout members of the Baptist Church. They had seven children, two of whom are living : George, cur subject ; and Susan, a resident of Danvers, Mas- sachusetts.

Our subject's early life was spent mainly in Windsor, and on completing his common-school course he learned the machinist's trade, which he fol- lowed in Simsbury and Tariffville for some time, in 1852 going to Hartford to enter Colt's Armory as a contractor. This work he resigned in 1891, and subsequently entered the carriage business, which he continued until 1898, and then sold out. He made a specialty of fine carriages for the local market, and had an extensive business. In July, 1851, Mr. Best married Miss Catherine Turnbull, a native of Scotland, and daughter of Robert Turnbull, a manufacturer, who died at an advanced age. Mr. and Mrs. Best have had eight children, three of whom died young : Agnes B. is the widow of Frank G. White, who died in 1892 : George L., a manufac- turer in Hartford, married Evaline Allen : Alice married Leon Broadhurst, who is connected with the Phoenix Bank in Hartford (they have had two children, Katherine and Nelly) ; Charles and Daisy are at home.

Mr. Best is one of the oldest residents of the city, which has doubled in population during his residence there. He is a stanch Republican, and his ability and public spirit have made him a valued member of the local organization, which he frequently rep- resents in conventions. He has served in the com- mon council, and was nine years on the board of aldermen, seven years as president. He was police commissioner one year, member of the fire board and the Hartford city committee for a time, and in 1887 was appointed a director of the State prison, serv- ing until the expiration of the Governor's term.

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His family is much esteemed socially, and all attend the Baptist Church. Mr. Best is identified with different clubs and societies, and is one of the oldest Masons in Hartford, being connected with the Blue Lodge, Council, Chapter, and Washington Com- mandery No. I, K. T., of Hartford.

CHENEY. Through the present century, spec- ially, has the name of Cheney been most closely and prominently identified with the social and business growth of Manchester. The members of the family of whom we particularly write are the posterity of George and Electa ( Woodbridge) Cheney, whose sons through their ingenuity and perseverance estab- lished ( after years of experiment and loss in silk cul- ture) and developed the great silk manufacturing plant bearing the name of Cheney Brothers, an enter- prise most remarkable for its growth. Their sons in turn followed in the footsteps of their fathers, and the mills are most successfully conducted by then1. South Manchester is deservedly credited with being the model manufacturing village in New England. The growth and appearance of the place is due to the untiring energy and philanthropy of the Cheney Brothers, whose immense silk mills are the nucleus around which have clustered the most ornate and comfortable residences for operatives and other em- ployes, as well as commodious churches, schools and other public buildings, their erection being largely due to the liberality of the firm.

Before noting the genealogy of the family and the lives of some of the individuals who have been instrumental in building up this large industry, as well as in developing the town of South Man- chester, we will refer to the history of the mills. George Cheney lived and died at the old Cheney homestead, located about a mile south of Manches- ter Center, where his father, Timothy Cheney, had improved the water power and built a saw and grist mill. In March, 1836, several of the sons of George Cheney built a small mill known as the Mount Nebo Silk Mill, and began the manufacture of sewing silk-their first venture as silk manufacturers. On the rise of the morus multicaulus ( Chinese mulber- ry) speculation, Ward, Frank, Charles and Rush Cheney went with ardor into the culture of mul- berry trees. Charles on a farm in Ohio, and the others on farms in New Jersey, having nurseries and cocooneries at Burlington, where they pub- lished for a time "The Silk Growers and Farmers Manual." In 1841 they returned to South Man- chester, re-opened the Mount Nebo Mill, and made sewing silk from imported raw silk. From this there dates the steady development of the silk industry. The next ten years they spent in study and experi- ment, aided by travel and close observation of what had been done abroad. In 1855 they made their first experiments in the production of spun silk from pierced cocoons, floss, silk waste, and whatever si'k cannot be reeled. From a small beginning this new industry, developed by years of patient and costly experiment, grew to be the specialty of the busi-

ness. In place of the old Mount Nebo Mill has arisen the group of buildings known as the Old Mill, comprising the business offices, with various depart- ments for weaving, dyeing, finishing, and preparing goods for shipment. What is known as the New Mill, built in 1871, consists of four three-story brick buildings, each 250 feet long and connected by a common front. The Lower Mill is a third group. The Cheney Brothers Silk Manufacturing Co. was incorporated in 1854, with a capital of $1,000,000. In that year the company built a mill in Hartford which was operated until 1868 under the manage- ment of Charles Cheney. The number of names on the pay-roll was increased from the half dozen in the old original mill to over fifteen hundred. In 1869 the Cheney Brothers built between South and North Manchester a railroad connecting with what is now the Highland Division of the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad.

Col. Frank Woodbridge Cheney and his brother Knight Dexter Cheney, sons of the late Charles Cheney, are secretary and treasurer and president, respectively. of the Cheney Brothers Silk Manu- facturing Co., Frank Cheney, Jr., being vice-pres ident. The other directors are Jas. W. Cheney, John S. Cheney, Harry G. Cheney and Richard O. Cheney. These men are descendants in the eighth generation from their first American ancestor, John Cheney, the line of their descent being through Peter, Peter (2). Benjamin, Timothy, George, Charles ( in the case of the brothers ), and Ralph (in the case of Richard O.).

(1) John Cheney, head of the Newbury line of the family to which the family under consideration belong. resided for a period at Roxbury, Mass. The following minute concerning him was made by Rev. John Eliot, "Apostle to the Indians," in his record of the Church, being quoted and given just as written, retaining the spelling, capitalization, etc., of the original :

"John Cheney, he came into the Land in the year 1635, he brought four children, Mary, Martha, John, Daniel, Sarah, his 5th child was borne in the last month of the same year 1635, cald February, he removed from or Church to Newvery the end of the next suer 1636. Martha Cheney the wife of John Cheney."

Jolin Cheney served several times as selectman. He was made a "freeman" May 17, 1637. He died in 1666. The children born to him after Sarah, mentioned above, were: Peter, Lydia, Hannah, Na- thaniel and Elizabeth.

(II) Peter Cheney, son of John Cheney, bo n about 1639. in Newbury, Mass., married, in 1663, Hannah, daughter of Deacon Nicholas and Mary (Cutting ) Noyes. Peter Cheney was a miller, and trained up his sons to that business. He died in 1604-95. His children were: Peter (2), John, Nicholas, Huldah, Mary, Martha, Nathaniel, Eldad, Hannah, Ichabod and Lydia.

(III) Peter Cheney (2), son of Peter Cheney, born in 1663, in Newbury, married, in 16-, at

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Watertown, Mary Holmes, and their children were: Nicholas, Rhoda and Benjamin. He served in the blockhouse against the Indians in 1704. It seems that he was engaged in the sawmill business for many years.

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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 135

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