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 142

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 142

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Mention may now be made of the genealogy of the Taft family. Robert Taft came to America from England about 1678, and located in Brain- tree, Mass., as is shown by the town records, which connect his name with a house and lot in the vil- lage at that date, but in 1680 he appears to have removed to Mendon.

It is thought that Robert Taft was born in Scot- land, as a tradition runs to the effect that he was a Scotch Puritan and an adherent of the Common- wealth, became disgusted with the conduct of the Cavaliers during the reign of Charles II of Eng- land, and sought refuge from civil and religions persecution in the forests of New England. It is also thought that he was born in 1640, and had been in Mendon, Mass., before the Indian war. His death took place Feb. 8, 1725. His wife was named Saralı, and she was born about 1640, but of her kindred no trace can be had. She outlived her husband, but the date of her death is not on record.

The second generation of Tafts in America comprised Thomas, Robert (born in 1674, married in 1694, and died April 29, 1748), Daniel, Joseph, and Benjamin.

The third generation, or Robert's children, comprised Elizabeth, Robert, Israel, Mary, Re- becca. Elizabeth (2), Alice, Eunice, John, Jemima, and Gideon.

The fourth generation, the children of Israel, mmmm11bered nineteen, among whom was Samuel, born Sept. 3. 1736, and who died Aug. 16, 1816. By Mary, his first wife, who was born Jan. 3, 1743, he had the following named children: Fred- erick (born June 19, 1759, died Feb. 10, 1846), Lyman, Sibyl, Mercy, Willard, Sibyl, Marcy, Porter, Washington, Parla, Merrett, Otis, Phila, G. Wash-

ington. Samuel Taft for his second wife married lexperience Humes, Jan. 9, 1786; she was born May 27, 1750, and died Jan. 14, 1837. The children born to this union were Danbridge, Warner, Ex- perience and Polly.

Frederick Taft, son of Samuel, in 1782 married Abigail Wood, who was born Aug. 29, 1761, and died June 2, 1801. Their children were Samuel, Murdock, Calista, Frederick A., Augustus, Naba, Harriet, Parla, Ezra Wood (born Aug. 24, 1800, died Sept. 26, 1885. grandfather of Dr. Charles E. Taft), Mary Ann and Margaret.

Ezra Wood Taft, son of Frederick A., and grandfather of Dr. Charles E. Taft, was twice married, his first wife and four children all dying before he was twenty-nine years of age. On Sept. 8, 1830, he married Lendamine Draper, eldest daughter of Calvin Guild, of Dedham, and this family consisted of six children: Josephus Guild, Edwin Wheaton ( who died at about fifty years of age), Cornelius A., Minerva L., Louise and Ezra Fletcher. Mr. Taft, at the age of thirty-two, built a large cotton mill in Dedham, which he owned for over thirty years. Later in life he was elected to the State Legislature, and held other prominent official positions, being chairman of the board of se- lectmen for twelve years. He was also president of the Dedham Institution for Savings, and president of the Dedham National Bank, besides being a di- rector in many corporations.

CHARLES W. HILLS, member of the firm of Hills & Marchant, funeral directors and en- balmers, Hartford, is a native of that city, born June 2, 1833.

Osias Hills, his father, was born in Rocky Hill, Conn., in 1799, son of Richard Hills, who when a young man came from his native land, England, to America, settling in Glastonbury, Conn., where he passed the rest of his days, dying at the age of sixty-two years. Osias, liis son, was reared and educated at Glastonbury, and there learned the trade of cabinet maker. When a young man he moved to Hartford, and here opened out a furni- ture establishment, in course of time adding under- taking, both of which lines he successfully con- ducted for many years, being at the time of his death, in 1888, one of the oldest business men in the city. In 1829 he married Clarissa Cooley, who was born in Hartford, a daughter of William and Lucinda Cooley, and four children were born to them, our subject being the only survivor. Osias Hills took great interest in church matters as a member of the M. E. Church, in which he was class- leader for many years.

Charles W. Hills received a liberal education at the public schools of Hartford, also at the Brown school, after which he commenced learning the upholstering and furniture business with his father. In 1860 he commenced the undertaking business on his own account, and has conducted same ever since, the establishment being now the

1407

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

second oldest and largest in the city, averaging 300 funerals per annum, and has been at its present stand, No. 53 Ann street, forty years. In 1893 Mr. Hills took into partnership his son-in-law, William T. Marchant (who had been in his employ some seven years), and the style of the firm has since been Hills & Marchant. Both members are graduates of the New York School of Embalming, and are thoroughly versed in the art, besides being excellent business men.

In 1857 Charles W. Hills was married to Jane E. Spencer, born in Saybrook, Conn., a daughter of Capt. Chauncey and Eliza Spencer, who were the parents of seven children, Mrs. Hills being the only daughter. The father died at the age of eighty- nine years, the mother when seventy-four. To Mr. and Mrs. Hills were born four children: The eldest, a son, died in infancy. Hattie E., who be- came the wife of Morgan Johnson, is deceased. Carrie E. is the wife of William T. Marchant. Ernest S., who is engaged in the grocery business, married Carrie M. Gubitz, a native of Germany, by whom he has two children, Hattie G. and Arline H. Mrs. Ernest S. Hills' father, August C. Gubitz, is in the employ of the Colt Mfg. Co., Hartford. To him and his wife were born nine children, seven living-four sons and three daughters-the sons being all machinists. The other two died in infancy.

The Hills family are members of the Asylum Street M. E. Church. in which Mr. Hills is a trus- tee, and in politics he is a Republican. Fraternally he is affiliated with the F. & A. M., Hartford Lodge, No. 88: with the K. of P., of which order he is past chancellor ; with the I. O. O. F., Hartford Lodge, No. 82; with the O. U. A. M., and other similar organizations. He is also a member of the National Funeral Directors' Association, of the Connecticut Funeral Directors' Association, of which he was one of the organizers, and its first presi- dent : and a director of the N. E. Association, of which he was also president.

JAMES FRANCIS GLEESON, whose reputa- tion as an undertaker is widespread, and whose place of business is in Bristol, is a native of Con- necticut, born Sept. 15, 1875, in Wolcottville (now Torrington). Litchfield county.

Patrick Henry Gleeson, father of our subject, was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, May 29, 1846, and received his education there. In 1867 he went to London, England, and there made his home four years, during three of which he was foreman of the then famous Wood's Brewery. From London he proceeded to this country, land- ing at New York. and after a time spent in that city he in May, 18,71, came to what is now Tor- rington. Conn .. where for eleven years he was watchman at the Excelsior Needle Co.'s plant, his steadiness and fidelity in that position securing him the confidence of his emplover, as well as making him many friends. In 1886, the year of the World's Exposition in London, England, he

revisited that city, and shortly after his return to Torrington embarked in business as a general con- tractor. His sheds and yards are on Spear street, and his operations cover everything in the way of grading, curbing, concreting, excavating and stone work, manufactured stone and brick flagging, etc., in which lines he does a vast amount of work, and gives employment to a large force of men. The grading of nearly all of the principal streets in Torrington has been done by him, and among the more important works that have been intrusted to him may be mentioned that of the Protestant cemetery.

About the year 1890 Mr. Gleeson engaged in the undertaking business, being the only under- taker in that section of the State, and the thorough- ness that is characteristic of him is well exempli- fied in the manner in which this and all the varied branches of his business are conducted. The art of embalming he learned in the best New York colleges, and in accordance with the more advanced ideas of the profession, and he has adopted the most approved methods. His undertaking outfits, while rich, are in good taste, while the parapher- nalia generally in the establishment are all of mod- ern design. He has branch offices in this line of business in Thomaston and New Hartford.

In other than business ways Mr. Gleeson has become prominent, especially in Torrington, where for the past five years he has been assessor every year except one, and is an honorary member of the fire department. Gleeson street takes its name from him, he having been the first to erect any buildings thereon, and he still owns one side of that thoroughfare. Socially he is a member of var- ious fraternal organizations, among them the For- esters; Knights of Columbus, of which he was sec- retary three years; Benevolent Order of Elks; Ancient Order of United Workmen; and Ancient Order of Hibernians, in which he has been presi- lent of the Torrington branch three years, and for the past four years has been county president; in 1896 he was a delegate to the National Convention, held at Detroit in that year.

In 1867 Patrick H. Gleeson was married to Miss Annie Garvin, born in 1848 in London, and children as follows have been born to them: John, Joseph, Patrick Henry, James Francis, Thomas, William A., Mary, Katherine, and two that died in infancy.

James Francis Gleeson, the subject proper of this sketch, received his education at the schools of Torrington, graduating from the high school in 1892. For some eighteen months thereafter he acted as bookkeeper for his father, and then, in partnership with his brothers John and Patrick, opened a grocery in Torrington under the firm name of Gleeson Bros., in which they continued about two vears. when they dissolved partnership and closed out the business. Our subject then, in February, 1895, removed to Bristol, and engaged in the under- taking business, having learned same under his

1408

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

father's tuition ; he has met with well-merited suc- cess. At the same time he opened a gents' fur- nishing store in Bristol, which he closed out after carrying it on about two years, and has since de- voted his time and attention exclusively to his un- dertaking business.

Socially our subject is a member of the Knights of Columbus, being a past grand knight ; a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, in which he has passed all the chairs; of the Zealots Hook & Ladder Co., of which he was treasurer three years ; of the Independent Order of Foresters; and of St. Joseph's Catholic Church. In political prefer- ence he is a Democrat, but does not take much in- terest in the affairs of either of the parties. Mr. Gleeson is popular among a large number of friends, not only in Bristol, but in many of the towns in the State where he is known, and in his particular line of business he is perfectly familiar with every detail, his reputation for efficiency extending to many of the surrounding towns.

GEN. LEONARD A. DICKINSON, a vet- eran of the Civil war, former postmaster of Hart- ford, of which city he has been a substantial and prominent citizen for forty years, has descended from a sturdy New England ancestry. Born Nov. 5, 1826, in New Haven, son of Raphael and Nancy (McNeil) Dickinson, Gen. Dickinson traces his an- cestry in an unbroken line from the time of Ed- ward I of England, in 1272, and in America from Josiah Dickinson, who landed in Boston in 1630. Several of his later descendants were officers in the Revolutionary war, it thus appearing that the military tastes of the subject of this sketch are really a matter of inheritance. Both his parents dying when he was quite young, Gen. Dickinson was obliged to earn his own living from the carly age of nine years, being thus deprived of the means of obtaining a more liberal education than a few months of each year as the district school afforded. He has always evinced a genuine fondness for mili- tary affairs, and for fifteen years following 1846 was a member or officer in various military organi- zations in his native city, and in Hartford, after takng up his residence there, in 1860.

On Oct. 19, 1861, Mr. Dickinson enlisted, be- coming a private in the 12th Conn. V. I., for active service in the war of the Rebellion. He was com- missioned captain of Company C, Nov. 20 of that year, was mustered into service the first of the following January, and participated in all the en- gagements in which his regiment took part. In

1864 he was assigned to duty as assisting adjutant- general of the Second Brigade, First Division, Nineteenth Army Corps, and in that capacity took part in Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley campaign. until mustered out of the service, Nov. 21, 1864. He was then commissioned major of the Twelfth Regiment, but declined the appointment. He could not be mustered because the condition of the regi- ment was too small to admit of three field officers.

Since his discharge from service in the army Gen. Dickinson has made Hartford his home. He has held the local agency of the Ætna Insurance Co. since 1869, in the discharge of the duties of which position he is now principally engaged. The General has been honored with many posi- tions of honor and trust, and has most efficiently and creditably performed the duties of each. He was quartermaster-general three years, on Gov. Jewell's staff ; postmaster of Hartford four years, under President Garfield; has been a member of the Connecticut Soldiers Hospital board since 1886; and is a trustee of "Fitch's Home" for the soldiers. He was made a Freemason in New Haven in 1856. His affiliations in Hartford are with St. John's Lodge, No. 4, F. & A. M., in which he has held the principal offices ; with Pythagoras Chapter, No. 17, Royal Arch Masons, of which he was for five years the secretary; with Wolcott Council, No. 1, Royal & Select Masons; and with Washington Commandery, No. I, Knights Tempiar. He has received from the Grand Lodge the appointments of grand junior steward and grand marshall, and the electoral offices of grand senior deacon and grand junior warden. He is an active member of St. Thomas Episcopal Church of Hartford, and for several years has been the senior warden of that parish. He is also a member of the military order of the Loyal Legion.

Gen. Dickinson is a gentleman of the highest honor and probity, a firm friend, kind neighbor and useful citizen, carrying with him each day the good will and good cheer of hosts of friends, and the esteem and respect of the community. He mar- ried, in 1848, Miss Eliza A. Hendrick, of New Haven, Conn. Mrs. Dickinson died in Novem- ber, 1892.

WILLIAM TUCKER, of the firm of Tucker & Goodwin, merchants, Hartford, is a native of Connecticut, born Feb. 5, 1848, in New Britain, and is a descendant in the seventh generation from Robert Tucker, as follows:

(I) Robert Tucker, Weymouth, Mass., 1635 removed to Milton, Mass., 1662. He married Elizabeth Allen.

(II) Ephraim Tucker, born in 1652, served as town clerk and selectman for many years. He married Hannah Gulliver.

(III) Stephen Tucker, born April 8, 1691. il Milton, Mass., settled in 1715 in Preston, Conn. Aug. 30, 1716, he married Hannah Belcher.

(IV) William Tucker, born May 28, 1737, il Preston, Conn., married Esther Morgan June 4 He died Nov. 5, 1819.

(V) Stephen Tucker, born April 30, 1768. il Preston, was married Jan. 17, 1793, to Eunic Baldwin, of Stonington, Conn., and died Aug. 15 1853. During the war of 1812 he was captain o an artillery company at Stonington Point.

(VT) Erastus Tucker, born Aug. 10, 1794. i Griswold, Conn., married (first) Eliza, daughte

1409

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

of Dudley and Mary ( Moore) Hovey, of Wind- ham, Conn. She was born July 29, 1804, and died March 9, 1837. On March 6, 1838, he married ( second) Emma Augusta, daughter of Capt. Sam- uel and Dolly (Ingalls) Dresser, of Abington, Conn. She was born May II, 1812, and died June 14, 1874. Her father was captain of a company at New London in 1813. Children by first wife: (1) Mary Frances, born Aug. 18, 1829, married D. W. C. Pond; (2) Edwin, born Nov. 7. 1831, died Sept. 18, 1879; (3) Henry, born March 11, 1834, married Amelia E. Olmstead : (4) George, born March 5. 1837, married Emma H. Hunt. Children by second wife: (5) John Dresser, born Dec. 19, 1838, married (first ) Sarah Louise Ing- ham and (second) Kate Abbott Fox: (6) Eliza Emma, born June 3. 1846; and (7) William, a sketch of whom follows. Erastus Tucker died in September, 1868. He was a manufacturer of pa- per, and spent the greater part of his life in Hart- ford.

(VII) William Tucker, whose name opens this sketch, came to Hartford in early childhood, and here received his education. His first business ex- perience was as clerk in the wholesale dry-goods house of Collins Bros. & Co., in that city, remain- ing in that capacity some eleven years. In January. 1878, he became connected with what is now the extensive business firm of Tucker & Goodwin. This business was established in 1800 b, Joseph Keney, on the corner of Main and Ely streets, the firm name, in 1830, becoming H. & W. Keney. In 1855 the new partnership of Keneys, Roberts & Goodwin was formed. which on the death of Mr. Goodwin became Keneys & Roberts. In 1889 Will- iam Tucker and H. H. Goodwin were admitted as members of the firm. Upon the death of Walter Keney the firm became Keney. Roberts & Co., and. after the death of Henry Keney, was Roberts, Tucker & Goodwin. On March 7, 1896. Mr. Rob- erts died, and soon the firm took its present name -Tucker & Goodwin-and Mr. Tucker's connec- tion with same covers a period of twenty-two vears.

Mr. Tucker is a member of the Twentieth Cen- tury Club, and of the Park Church, Hartford. He is unmarried.

EMIL SCHMIDT, proprietor, manufacturer and patentee of the celebrated "English Horse and Cattle Food," is a native of Germany, born Sept. 20, 1850, in the city of Weimar, Thuringia, called also llm Athen. He came to the city of Hartford Aug. 2, 1867, directly from the Fatherland, and entered the night school and Mr. Martin's Writing School, later attending Hannum's Commercial Col- lege for three seasons, Father R. Cecil Roy's French School. Quebec, Mlle. M. A. Girard's Department of Montreal, and Dr. A. Jo. Pagett's, of Lacolle. Canada. He thus fitted himself for business, and mastered English, French and German in all branches for business use, after many years of toil

and perseverance. His training has proved of much advantage in his present affairs, as he does busi- ness with different countries and people.

When Mr. Schmidt first settled in Hartford he entered the employ of Robert H. Schmidt, as a file and tool maker, and later was in the Colt Co.'s works. After his training at Hannum's College he learned the wholesale tobacco business in all its details, with Major M. Westphal, the veteran to- bacco merchant, also traveling for the concern. From 1880 to 1886 he was a trusted employe of the Hartford City Gas Light Co., as a collector, and finally established himself in the manufacturing of "English Horse and Cattle Food," in which he has built up a substantial and growing business over the States and Canada, meeting with well-merited success through good business acumen, sound judgment, and characteristic perseverance.

Mr. Schmidt was married March 8, 1877, to Miss Sarah A. Faddow, born in Sheldon, Vt., a daughter of Abraham Faddow, a farmer and pro- fessional guide for government and private expe- ditions. Mrs. Schmidt's mother is a descendant of Jules Bunoir, a French Huguenot of Toulon, who was a soldier in the American Revolution. He settled on Grand Isle, Lake Champlain, and at Albany Springs, Vt., about 1871. Mr. and Mrs. Schmidt have no children. They are members of the Congregational Church, and their home, No. 8 Bond street, is one of the most hospitable in the city. Socially our subject is a member of Putnam Phalanx battalion, a veteran of Company A. Ger- mania Guard, C. N. G., and one of the charter members of said organization: member of the Hartford Sharp Shooting Verein ; Sængerbund ; Colt Revolver Club; League of American Wheel- men ; and German Aid Society. Business takes him from home a good deal, and he travels all over the United States, from North to South, and from East to West.

Carl F. Schmidt, father of our subject, was a native of Weimar. He was a file and tool maker, and master temperer, being a substantial citizen of that ancient and famous place, for it was in the dear old home that the poets Schiller, Goethe, Wie- land. Herder, the celebrated Franz Liszt, Bulow. Grand Duke Carl August, and many other men of distinction worked, lived and died-the city of beautiful parks, castles, lovely mountains, valleys, clear pebble-bedded rivers, brooks and springs, with miles of green meadows, and vineyards dot- ting the verdure-clad hilltops. There in peace rest the parents since 1890," Auf den Friedhof." Frau Johanna Renecke, the mother, was a descendant of a Greek political refugee, sculptor, architect and master builder in the city of Weimar, the home of Mr. Schmidt. Johannis Renecke, at the begin- ning of the nineteenth century, was a companion and friend of the great Schiller, and later on was intimately associated with Goethe. Mr. Renecke died in Weimar at the age of ninety-six years. in his stately home upon the Fursten Platz. Emil

1410

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Schmidt possesses several mementoes of Schiller and Goethe, among them some locks of hair, chains and medahons of Schiller, which he prizes very highly. Mr. Schmidt has one brother and two sis- ters: Richard F. Schmidt, of No. 938 Bushwick avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y., a retired merchant ; Ahna, wife of Charles Wagner, a furniture dealer of Hartford; and Lina, wife of Gustav Pfennig, Stallupoenen, West Prussia, Germany, an officer in the German army, Luppey Department.

HERBERT NELSON GALE, prominent as an original and artistic photographer, Bristol, was born in Sheboygan Falls, Wis., April 2, 1858, a son of Daniel Jackson Gale, a native of Vermont. Daniel Gale left his home in the Green Moun- tain State in 1855, and located in Wisconsin. He . was a man of remarkable mechanical skill, and was the inventor of a number of ingenious con- trivances. His most complicated invention was a calendar clock, which gave the days of the week, month, year, sunrise and sunset. In 1869 he re- turned to New England, and located in Bristol, Conn., to place his clock in the hands of the E. N. Welch Clock Co., with whom he remained for sey- eral years. He married Lucy Ann Wheeler, a na- tive of New York State, who bore him three chil- dren: Herbert Nelson: Floyd H. ; and Ella, wife of Howard G. Arms, chief of police, Bristol.

Herbert N. Gale passed his early school days in Sheboygan Falls, Wis .. and completed his edu- cation in the Bristol high school. When only a boy he gave evidence of great artistic talent, his free- hand drawing being considered remarkable. As he grew older he took up portrait work, and, finally deciding to become a photographer, studied his trade, serving an apprenticeship which fitted him to become a skilled workman. He has made a successful photographier, keeping abreast of the times and up-to-date in all of his methods. In 1878 he established himself in the photographic business, and opened the gallery he still occupies, meeting with the success his talents so well merit. Ile has made many inventions applied to the pho- tograplier's art, and was the originator of the Gale Glass Photo Mount, which became a standard article of the photographic trade throughout the United States.

On Nov. 30, 1880. Mr. Gale was united in mar- riage with Miss Lola M. Whitman, of Terryville. Fraternally Mr. Gale is a member of the I. O. O. F., and socially both he and his wife are deservedly popular among their acquaintances.

HENRY DUDLEY ELY, a well-known resi- dent of Hartford, was born Feb. 10, 1863, in Brook- lyn. N. Y., but comes of an old family of Hartford county, his father. John R. Ely, having been born lug. 31. 1836, in Simsbury, where his grandfather, Henry Ely, resided.

Benjamin Ely, great-grandfather of our sub- ject, was a son of Ezra and Anne Ely, born at

Lyme, Conn., July 18, 1767, and died Aug. 26, 1852. He married April 14, 1796, Polly Pettibone, daughter of Dudley and Mary Pettibone, born in Simsbury, Conn., Sept. 19, 1776, and died June 17, 1850. Their children were as follows: Ezra Styles, born May 17, 1797, died October, 1863; Edwin Dwight, born June 30, 1798, died Aug. 25, 1831; Mary Anne, born Nov. 16, 1800, died Nov. 7, 1875; Henry, grandfather of Henry D., is men- tioned more fully farther on; Seth, born April 20, 1805, died April 28, 1828; Nathan C., born Sept. 13, 1807, is deceased; Rosetta, born Nov. 10, 1809, died Oct. 18, 1831; Nancy Humphrey, born Oct. 6, 1812, died April 19, 1877 ; and Dudley P., born Nov. 16, 1817, is also deceased.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 142

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