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 15

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 15

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Edmund Tobin Halladav, father of our subject, was born on the old Halladay homestead in Suffield, was educated in the public schools, and in his ap- proach of manhood's years was taught the trade of wheelwright, which trade he followed with unvary- ing success for several years. Later he settled down to the cultivation of tobacco and general farming, in which he was equally successful, and with good reason, as he was the owner of one of the largest farms in the township-in fact, the farm, which comprised 500 acres, extended into Hampden county, Mass., to the northward. In politics Ed- mund T. Halladay was a Whig, and in religion a

Schwund Malladay

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Baptist, and his prominence in both Church and political circles necessarily gave him a pre-eminent standing with his fellow citizens, but he never availed himself of his popularity as a means for seeking public office. The first marriage of Mr. Halladay was with Caroline Noble, a native of Suffield, and to this union were born four children : Horace, who died in 1896; Calvin, of Lima, Ohio, who died May 2, 1900; Albert, a farmer of Suffield, Conn. ; and George K., of Xenia, Ohio. Mrs. Caro- line Halladay died on the home farm, and for his second wife Mr. Halladay wedded Clarissa Kendall, also a native of Suffield, and a daughter of Simon and Elizabeth (Kent) Kendall, and this union was blessed with three children : Caroline Elizabeth, who died at the age of eighteen years; Clara, who mar- ried Dr. J. K. Mason, of Suffield, and died Feb. 6, 1876, leaving one daughter ; and Edmund, whose name appears at the head of this biography. Ed- mund T. Halladay was called away when the sub- ject of this sketch was but six months old. Mrs. Clarissa Halladay still survives, being an inmate of our subject's home. She descends from one of the very old families of New England, both her great-grandfather and grandfather on her mother's side having taken part in the struggle for American independence ; she is a lady of refinement, as well as advanced educational attainments, and before her marriage was a school teacher. She is truly a de- vout Christian, and though her husband died five years after marriage, has reared her children in re- spectability and gentility.

Edmund Halladay, of whom this sketch treats principally, was trained from infancy to manhood under the care of his tender Christian mother. His primary education, obtained in the district schools, was supplemented by an attendance at the Connecti- cut Literary Institute, of Suffield, under Principals Bond, Shores and Andrews. He finished his edu- cation at Hillside Academy, under Dr. Fitch, and after returning home engaged in the tobacco busi- ness with Henry P. Kent, for three years. In 1873 he settled down to farming on the old home- stead, and up to the present time has devoted his attention to the cultivation of tobacco and to farm- ing in general, utilizing a tract of ninety acres, on which he has made extensive and substantial im- provements, erecting tobacco sheds, barns and other necessary structures. He is very prominent, also, in the leading public affairs of his town, and is a decidedly public-spirited and progressive citizen. He is secretary and treasurer of the Electric Light Co., of Suffield, is a stockholder in and director of the same, and was a promotor of the Suffield water works, in which he is likewise a stockholder.

In politics Mr. Halladay is a stanch Republi- can, and under the auspices of his party has filled many positions of honor and trust. For three years he served as constable, and for three years as as- sessor of Suffield, and in 1884 was elected by his party to the State Legislature, in which august body he served with marked ability on the committee on

Cities and Boroughs. In 1886 he was elected as se- lectman of Suffield, and for ten consecutive years was re-elected, thus serving eleven years, during which period he was honored with the position of chairman of the board. It was during his incum- bency of this office that the first stone road in the town was constructed, and altogether there were completed twenty miles of road of the same material ; seven iron bridges were also constructed; and through his influence the schools were greatly in- creased, appropriations for that purpose reaching the sum of $14,000, the first of which, for $5,200, was made in 1886, the year in which Mr. Halladay be- came a member of the board.

In 1879 the marriage of Mr. Halladay with Miss Eloise L. Warner, a native of Suffield, and a daugh- ter of Charles C. Warner, was solemnized, in Suf- field, and to the union have been born three chil- dren : Clarissa J., a graduate of the Suffield high school ; and Marjorie and Helen K., attendants at the graded school, where they are making rapid advance in their studies. The family worship at the Baptist Church, of which they are all consistent members, Mr. Halladay being also a member of the church committee. In his fraternal society re- lations Mr. Halladay stands high in the Masonic Order, being a member of Apollo Lodge No. 59, F. & A. M .; Washington Chapter No. 30, R. A. M .; Suffield Council No. 23, R. & S. M .; Washington Commandery No. 1, h. T., all of Suffield ; and Sphinx Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Hartford ; as well as of the O. U. A. M., Lv- man Council, and Gideon Granger Lodge, K. of P., both of Suffield. He is also a member of the State Board of Agriculture, Hartford, and a director of the Connecticut Agricultural College and Experi- ment Station, at Storrs, Conn. He was one of the organizers of the Suffield Agricultural Society, in which he is still a director, and in which he takes a deep and abiding interest, being one of its strongest supporters. He is also a member of the Tobacco Growers Association. Notwithstanding all the onerous duties pertaining to these multifarious po- sitions, Mr. Halladay bravely and cheerfully exe- cutes his full share of them all, never lagging nor growing tired in their performance, and by such as he are the wealth, progress and stability of the Com- monwealth made and maintained.

Mr. Halladay, as has been already mentioned, de- scends from the oldest and most respected families of New England, his ancestors having been among the gallant patriots of the Revolutionary war, which gave to the world its only model republic, and he still retains in his possession the old flint-lock musket used by his maternal great-grandfather, Capt. Elihu Kent, in that glorious struggle, and esteems it be- yond any money value whatever. Simon Kendall, grandfather of the mother of Edmund Halladay, the subject of this memoir, was a native of Suffield, was of English descent, and was a well-to-do farmer and stock raiser. He marriedl Theoda Bronson, and to. their union were born three chldren : Horace, Ma-

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hala (who was married to Calvin Spencer) and Si- mon. The parents were devout members of the Presbyterian Church, and died in that faith.

Simon Kendall, mentioned above, was born in Suffield, became a well-educated gentleman, and passed his early manhood in school teaching. Later he became the owner of 200 acres of good farming land, to the cultivation of which he devoted the re- maining years of his successful life. In politics he was a Democrat of the Jeffersonian type. He was greatly respected, was honored by his contempora- ries, and filled many responsible offices, including that of selectman. He was very domestic in his habits, was strictly temperate, and was a devout ad- herent of the Baptist Church. He married Miss Elizabetlı Kent, a native of Suffield, and a daughter of Capt. Elihu Kent and granddaughter of Col. Elihu Kent, both of whom were gallant warriors in the Revolution and took part in the battle of Lex- ington. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Simon Kendall eight children were born: George Fitch, who died in Richmond, Va. ; Betsey and Rebecca, twins, of whom the latter died voung, and the for- mer was married to Joseph W. King, now deceased, and resided near Cincinnati, Ohio; Simon B., who died in Suffield, Conn ; Clarissa, mother of our sub- ject : Mary, who married John Mckibben, of Cin- cinnati, Ohio, deceased in 1895; Henry L., who died in Baltimore, Md. ; and Jane Maria, who died at the age of ten months. Mrs. Kendall had been a successful school teacher, and four of her children were also employed in the same honorable occupa- tion. Mr. Kendall died in 1856, one of the most honored of the residents of Suffield, and Mrs. Ken- dall passed away in 1860.

The career of Mr. Halladay has been so pure, so self-sacrificing, and so devoted to the progress and improvement of the community in which he has passed his active life, that complimentary phrases here would be work of supererogation.

SAMUEL WOLCOTT LADD, deceased. The career of this well known manufacturer, who was for many years a leading resident of Springfield, Mass., furnishes an object lesson in the virtues of thrift, industry and integrity. Beginning life as a poor boy, with but a limited education, he steadily rose from a subordinate place in the Wason Manu- facturing Co., of Springfield, to that of part owner, and his sound business judgment and rare execu- tive ability became recognized factors in the success of the enterprise.

Mr. Ladd was born April 28, 1817, in the town of Ellington, Tolland Co., Conn., a son of Jacob and Rebecca (Charter) Ladd. Although his early life was spent upon a farm, he found agricultural work uncongenial, and when a young man he went to Springfield, Mass., to learn the molder's trade, which he followed for a number of years in Spring- field, Windsor Locks and other towns. While in Windsor Locks he met Miss Lavinia F. Fish, a na-

tive of East Windsor and a daughter of Norman Fish, a prominent citizen of that locality. In 1847 they were married, and soon afterward Mr. Ladd took a position as molder with Thomas W. Wason, a manufacturer of car wheels and railroad castings in Springfield, and established his home there. His ability and skill won him rapid promotion and having from time to time invested considerable money in the business he became the owner of a large amount of stock, in 1851 forming a partnership with Mr. Wason under the name of Wason, Ladd & Co. The firm continued thus until 1868, when the business was consolidated with the wood-working depart- ment which had been conducted by another com- pany of which Mr. Wason was the head, and incor- porated as the Wason Manufacturing Co. Mr. Ladd remained a member of the company, and acted as general manager of the iron department, con- tinuing in active business until his death, which occurred July 19, 1876. A handsome fortune re- sulted from his efforts. As a good citizen he was in- terested in all that pertained to the welfare of the community, and for many years he was a leading member of Trinity Methodist Church at Springfield. Socially he and his estimable wife held an enviable position in Springfield, and he was a member of Roswell Lee Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of that city.

Of four children born to Mr, and Mrs. Ladd. the eldest, Emma, died at the age of five years ; Lewis died in infancy; Everett died when eleven years old; Lawrence, who is an enterprising and successful business man, manages the stock formerly owned by our subject, and now held by himself and his widowed mother. In November, 1877, Mrs. Ladd decided to return to her native town, and she and her son now reside upon the old Fish homestead where in 1881 they built a beautiful residence, equipped with all modern conveniences. The barns and other farm buildings have also been rebuilt, making the homestead one of the finest in East Windsor township.

HON. JAMES STANLEY FORBES, repre- sentative in the Connecticut State Legislature from the town of East Hartford, and proprietor of the most extensive dairy in the town, as well as tobacco and fruit grower, descends from a family that has for 240 years been prominent in the town's affairs, as it is one of the oldest.

The Forbes family is of Scotch origin, and the name first appears in the records of Hartford coun- ty in 1658. James Forbes (supposed to be identical with Capt. James Forbes), the founder of the fam- ily in America, came from Scotland in 1654, and in 1660 bought land on the east side of "ve Greatte river," which yet remains in the family, Hon. James S. Forbes, the subject of this sketch, owning and living on a portion of this purchase. Capt. James Forbes, of Caithness, Scotland, was a younger son of Duncan Forbes, first Laird of Culloden and provost of Inverness; John, the eldest son of Dun-

Jas S. Fortis

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

can, was the second to bear the title. James was a captain in the Royal army under the Marquis of Montrose, was captured in 1645 at the battle of Philiphaugh, near Selkirk, Scotland, was impris- oned in the Tower of London until 1654, and was that year banished to America. On June 7, 1658, he purchased from John Crow twenty acres of land near the mouth of the Hockanum river, but re- linquished this land Nov. 23, 1663, to Mr. Crow, as he had purchased, March 11, 1660, from William Westwood, a tract fifteen and one-half rods wide, extending from "ye Greatte river to ye bounds," and three miles long. The residence of Capt. James Forbes was on the Meadow Bank, a short distance north of what is now Pitkin street. His daughter, Dorothy, who was married to William Roberts, re- ceived six acres of this land from her father, near the home site, and the cellar portion of her house is yet visible, the property being still in the posses- sion of her descendants. Capt. James Forbes also bought land in Hartford, in 1661, from William Westwood. He died Nov. 27, 1692. By his wife, Catherine, he had the following named children : John, who joined the first church in Hartford in December, 1695, married Marv Griffin, and his pos- terity became sea-faring men, living at Wethersfield and elsewhere, and finally in New Haven; David joined the First Church in March, 1695, married Sarah Treat, who was born in 1674, and his death occurred Dec. 16, 1729 ; Dorothy joined the Second Church in Hartford Feb. 12, 1698, and was mar- ried to William Roberts; Mary joined the First Church in 1695, and was married to Daniel Gaines ; Sarah was married to Joseph Collier ; James, born May 14, 1677, died in 1752, married (first) Sarah Williams, daughter of William and Sarah (Olcott) Williams, and for his second wife wedded Eliza- beth (Hills) Buckland, daughter of John Hills and widow of William Buckland.

The children born to James Forbes (2) and Sarah (Williams) Forbes were: James Forbes (3). baptized 1711, died April 23, 1801, married Ann Buckland, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Hills) Buckland; Jonathan, who owned the cov- enant, married Mehitable Cole, and was a taxpayer in Waterbury in 1731 : Abraham, baptized in 17II. married Elizabeth Hills, and died April 23, 1809; Thomas was still living in 1742; Timothy, born in 1716, is mentioned below; Abigail was still living in 1742; Sarah was married to Josiah Barber ; Elizabeth married Joseph Meacham. The father of this family built their first house in Scotland (now called Burnside), the ruins of which are still visible.

Timothy Forbes (1) married Susannah Good- win, who was born in 1714, the ninth child of Dea- con John Goodwin and his wife Mary (Olmstead). They were the parents of several children, of whom the names of three only can be traced: Timothy (2) is mentioned below ; Elijah, born in 1746, was a farmer at Scotland (now Burnside, the name having been changed in 1865), married Rebecca Gilman, a daughter of Solomon and Mary ( Forbes) Gilman, and died in 1826; Elizabeth is the third of

those whose record can be found. The father was a farmer and resided at Scotland (now Burnside ), where his wife died in 1811. He died in 1776.

Timothy Forbes (2) was born June 14, 1743, and died Sept. 14, 1800. He married, in 1766, Mary Roberts, who was born Jan. 19, 1745, daughter of Benjamin and Jeruslia (Pratt) Roberts, and died Sept. 28, 1825. She became the mother of twelve children : Mary, born March 23, 1767, married Eli Barber, of Windsor, and died Dec. 24, 1811; Susannah, born Oct. 15, 1768, married (first) Ebenezer Hills, and (second) wedded David Pit- kin, and died Jan. 25, 1852; Jerusha, born Feb. 21, 1770, died in March of the same year; Jerusha (2), born March 23, 1771, died May 20, 1793; Timothy (3), born July 3, 1773, married Eliza; beth Treat; George, born Feb. 26, 1775, went to Virginia, came north again to New York and there died, leaving a family ; Giles, born March 26, 1777, was captain of a sea-going craft, and died at sea in° December, 1840; Solomon, born Jan. 1, 1779, married Betsy Flint, and died at Manchester in 1838; Jemima, born Jan. 6, 1781, was married to Joseph Brewer, a papermaker, and died Aug. 26, 1834, in Cortland, N. Y., where her husband also passed away ; Abigail, born Dec. 28, 1782, died un- married in 1800; Sarah, born Jan. 14, 1785, was married to Giles Church, and died in Michigan ; and Huldah, born Sept. 25, 1786, died in 1789. During the Revolutionary war, when the Colonists borrowed money from the French Government, Timothy Forbes (2) was connected with the cattle train that conveyed it from the French vessels (which landed it at Newport) to his house in Scot- land (now Burnside). The kegs of coin were rolled into the west door of the house still stand- ing, and were subsequently taken to Philadelphia. This house was built by Timothy Forbes (I) about 1765 and is now occupied by Miss Emma Forbes, sister of the subject of this sketch.

Timothy Forbes (3), grandfather of Hon. Jantes S. Forbes, was born July 3, 1773, on the old home- stead, and married Betsey (or Elizabeth) Treat, who was born Nov. 18, 1782, at Hockanum, a daughter of Matthias and Triphena ( Risley) Treat. Matthias Treat served in the company commanded by Capt. Jonathan Wells during the Revolutionary war, and marched from Boston to the defense of Lexington ; later he was a member of the company commanded by Capt. Roswell Grant, in Col. Oba- diah Johnson's regiment, which was stationed in Rhode Island, and in 1794 became a lieutenant in a Connecticut Militia Company. The children of Timothy (3) and Betsey (Treat) Forbes were as follows: Eliza, born July 12, 1802, married Moses Chandler, a papermaker by trade, and also a mer- chant at Scotland (now Burnside), where she died April 3, 1862; Mahlon F., born Oct. 3, 1803, mar- ried Sarah Lawrence, and died May 8, 1891 ; Charles, born Dec. 27, 1805, married Marv A. Ward, Jan. 20, 1827, and died March 15, 1876; Jerusha, born Feb. 17, 1807, was married to Howell Hills, a merchant at Burnside and Hartford, on Jan. I,

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1829, and died Feb. 14, 1849: Giles became the father of our subject ; Abigail, born Sept. 15, 1811, married Francis Hanmer, a prosperous paper-mill proprietor of Burnside, and died May 10, 1880, in Burnside ; Charlotte, born June 30, 1813, was mar- ried to Henry Hills, a bookbinder, and died in Hart- ford in December, 1892; Susan, born Feb. 20, 1815, died July 6, 1883, was the wife of John B. Russell, who in the later years of his life was a broker at Hartford: Fidelia, born March 19, 1817, was the second wife of Howell Hills, and died June 30, 1884; Sarah, born Dec. 1, 1818, was married, to John Gordon Smith, and died in Hartford Sept. 2, 1886; George, born March 20, 1821, married Elizabeth Easton, and died April 13, 1876 (he was a farmer at Burnside, and was a bright man in tellectually, but became a cripple through rheuma- tism) ; Frances, born Jan. 8, 1824, married Henry M. King, of South Windsor, and died Feb. 14. 1864. Timothy Forbes (3), known familiarly as "Capt. Tim," was well-known throughout Hartford county, and was a leading man in East Hartford and vicinity. While not a member of any church society his team was always at the church door on the Sabbath day.

Giles Forbes, father of Hon. James S. Forbes, was born in 1808, and died in 1890. The house in which his birth took place, and which was erected about 1765, is still in the family. Here he was reared to farming. His school days were passed in the old "Red" school house at Scotland, and al- though farming was his legitimate occupation through life he for a number of years was employed as a teamster for paper-mills at Scotland, hauling paper stock to and from Hartford. On March 26, 1839. he married Sarah Pitkin Stanley, who was born Jan. 5, 1816, in East Hartford, a daughter of James and Temperance (Pitkin) Stanley. After marriage Giles Forbes erected his dwelling and set- tled on the farm, on which he continued to reside until his decease. Temperance Pitkin was a daugh- ter of Ashbel and Sarah (Forbes) Pitkin, and a granddaughter of William Pitkin, who was one of the most prominent statesmen of his day, judge of the county court many years, and in 1766 was made governor of Connecticut, which office he was hold- ing at the time of his death, in 1769. Numerous relics of the Governor are still held by the family.

Giles Forbes was a very successful farmer, and an enthusiastic sportsman with gun and rod, as the whole of the Forbes name are. He was of medium height, and very active up to within a few years of his death. In politics he was first a Whig, later a Republican, was a strong anti-slavery man, and al- though not aggressive as a politician was ever inter- ested in the success of his party and active in pro- moting its welfare. He served as assessor for a number of years. In religion he was a Congrega- tionalist, and was an officer in the church of that clenomination in East Hartford, of which his wife was also a member. She died in that faith in 1864. and her remains were interred in East Hartford cemetery, where those of the husband were subse-

quently laid to rest. To the marriage of Giles and Sarah Pitkin ( Stanley) Forbes were born four chil- dren : Emma S., Feb. 23, 1840; Delia A., June 27. 1842; James Stanley (subject), Dec. 29, 1845; and Julia Frances, Nov. 19, 1847. Of these, ( I) Emma S., who is still unmarried, resides on the homestead. She is possessed of a tenacious memory, takes great interest in collecting genealogical data, and furnished many of the facts connected with this sketch. (2) Delia A. married George W. Rogers, who for eight years was an engineer in the United States navy, and four years prior to the Civil war was stationed off the coast of Africa watching slavers. On the breaking out of the Re- bellion he was on the blockading squadron off Charleston. S. C., after which ne was transferred to the expedition under Farragut, and was at the cap- ture of New Orleans, La., in April, 1862, also in the expedition in Mobile Bay. Later he was the South- ern agent of the Hartford Steam Boiler Insurance Co., and the first representative of the company in the South. Mrs. Delia A. Rogers died Jan. 15, 1888, in East Hartford, and Mr. Rogers passed away Dec. 10, 1888, in Charleston, S. C. (4) Julia Frances always lived on the homestead, and died unmarried April 14, 1883.

Hon. James Stanley Forbes was born in the house in which he still lives, in the village of Burn- side, and first attended school in the old Scotland district when the school house stood in what would now be the middle of the street at what is now Burnside ; among his first teachers were his cousin, Martha Forbes, and Sarah Green, of Wapping. He next attended for three terms the graded school at East Hartford, where Mr. Camp was his tutor, and this ended his schooling. Until twenty-one years of age he remained on the home farm, and then went to Rockford, Floyd Co., Iowa, at that time a very new section of country, and was there engaged in farming for three years, selling his land and returning in 1870 to Connecticut. He took charge of his father's farm, and at once engaged in cultivating tobacco, where tobacco had never been raised before, as his father was opposed to it from principle. For four years Mr. Forbes devoted his attention to tobacco growing exclusively, then added small fruits, and finally dairying, whole- saling milk. He has 160 acres of land under his direction.

James Stanley Forbes was united in marriage. Jan. 1, 1874, in Hillstown district, with Miss Jennie M. Hills, daughter of Martin O. and Cornelia (Spencer) Hills, the former of whom was a de- scendant of William Hills, Sr., who came with the Rev. Hooker party to Hartford in 1635, and the latter a descendant of Thomas Spencer. also one of the first settlers of Hartford. Mrs. Jennie M. (Hills) Forbes is likewise a descendant of Capt. James Forbes, the founder of this family in America, . as Mary Forbes, daughter of David, the second son of the Captain, was married to Lieut. Solomon Gil- man, Jr., who served in the Revolutionary war, and their daughter, Tabitha, was married to Gideon

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Spencer, Jr., the great-grandfather of Mrs. Jennie M. (Hills) Forbes. One son has been born to Mr. and Mrs. James S. Forbes, Stanley Spencer, born March 22, 1876, who died April 14, 1883. They have two adopted children: Fanny L. M., born Feb. 17, 1880, and Francis, born July 15, 1881.

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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 15

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