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 159

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 159

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ness firms of the country, and upon them he made the impression that he was not only a man of truth and integrity, but that he was a man of rare sweetness of disposition and beauty of character. That which was mean or low or impure found no response in his nature. The charm of his personality was great, as was attested by the expressions of those closely associated with him in the contact of daily intercourse, whether as equals or subordinates, or as mere acquaintances.

As a citizen, Mr. Field was ever active in pro- moting that which was for the best interests of his community. No good move was refused his sup- port, and to many lines of effort he gave more than his share of time and strength, his great in- terest in all the improvements of the village life being worthy of comment, and it was very much through his labor that the Village Library and the Worthington School came into existence, he rais- ing the money for the commencement of each. So it was in his relation to the church. He was a member of the Berlin Congregational Church, and was interested in all of its activities. His great business cares, with all their demands on his time and strength, did not deter him from a faithful and active participation in the life of the church. He was a sincere, humble, trusting, consistent Christian, and this was the secret of his rare at- tainments. The death of Mr. Field removed one of the ablest and most genial business men in the State of Connecticut. He was an indefatigable worker not only in his business, but in every walk of life-a stanch and devoted friend. A friend once said of him: "Think of what is true and ear- nest-he stood for that ; think of what is tender and sympathetic - he exemplified that. From whatever standpoint of life we view his life, as a business man, a citizen, a member of the church, a friend or the head of a family, we behold one who stood for what was best and true in all these." He affiliated with many societies, and stood high in Freemasonry, being of the 32d degree. On Feb. 18, 1891. he joined the S. A. R.

On May 5. 1886, Mr. Field was married to Juanita A. Bourland, daughter of Dr. A. M. Bour- land and Elizabeth ( Williams) Bourland, of Van Buren, Ark., the former of whom has practiced medicine nearly fifty years. He is a descendant of the Randolph, Lee and Jefferson families. There is a tradition in the family that the family name is derived from the French. His great-grandfa- ther, John Bourland, came to America from Lon- donderry, Ireland, and originally from Scotland.

DAVID E. STRONG, deceased. One of the chief benefits of biography is to illustrate the pos- sibilities of life, to present the opportunities which lie in the future of every young man, and to thus keep bright the flame of earnest endeavor which is the winning quality in the world's advancing civili- zation. The avenues by which prominence and com- petence are attained are varied. The youth who

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cultivates and practices the traits of industry, thrift and prudence may confidently look forward to a serene old age. But at times affluence comes on swifter wing. The sagacious business man, who invests wisely, may wrest fortune in shorter time. Within the span of twenty years the battle was fought and won by the subject of this sketch. Be- tween the years of thirty and fifty he achieved his success.

Mr. Strong was born in Hebron, Conn., July 29, 1849, son of Judson and Jerusha (Strong ) Strong. His paternal grandfather, David Strong, was a farmer of Hebron ; his maternal grandfather, Ebenezer Strong, of Bolton. Judson Strong, the father, was a farmer and joiner of Hebron. He died at Springfield, Mass., in 1898, and was buried in Cedar Hill cemetery, Hartford. His wife, Je- rusha, survives, residing with her son Judson, in Springfield, Mass. There were two sons: David E., our subject ; and Judson, Jr., a real-estate dealer, and proprietor of the "Russell House," Spring- field, Massachusetts.

David E. Strong spent his boyhood days at Hebron, where he attended the district schools. At the age of eighteen years he began work as a joiner at Meriden, Conn., remaining eighteen months. At the age of twenty-one years he went to East Hartford, and for four years followed car- pentering with Joseph Clark. Returning to He- bron, he erected in partnership with his father a steam sawmill, which they conducted for four years. In 1877, at the age of twenty-eight, Mr. Strong came to Hartford, and embarked in a new venture. He engaged in the shoe business with his brother Judson E. Strong, fitting up the store at No. 247 Main street, then opposite the post- office, and launched out in what proved a most prosperous career. Later his brother sold out to him, and retired from the business. In 1878 .our subject leased in addition to the store in the Cheney block, holding the old lease until he had drawn away to his new place of business most of his trade. Mr. Strong devoted himself assiduously to his enterprise, and succeeded beyond expectation. He did not, however, permit business to absorb his entire time and attention. He maintained his social position among his townspeople, and enjoyed life as it passed.

Mr. Strong married Miss Emma J. Kenyon, of Bloomfield, daughter of Edward Kenyon, and two years later he purchased from William Miller the beautiful home at No. 103 Washington street, Hartford, which was ever after the family resi- dence. To Mr. and Mrs. Strong was born one son, David Kenyon. Mirs. Strong died Aug. 5, 1892. During the closing years of her life her health gradually failed. No effort nor expense was spared to ward off the grim destroyer, and, when her case was finally given up as hopeless, the tenderness with which her declining steps were watched and guarded was a subject remarked among those who enjoyed the family acquaintance.

In 1899, before he had passed his fiftieth mile post, Mr. Strong retired from active business, and was yet in the prime of life, in robust health, well fitted to enjoy the fruits of his labor and enter- prise, when he passed away, March 7, 1900, his death occurring at the home on Washington street, above mentioned, which he continued to maintain after the death of his wife. He did not turn his retirement into listless inactivity. The manage- ment of his large real-estate investment engaged his attention. Soon after purchasing his Washing- ton street property he built a two-story tenement house there, and later he purchased a plot from the Newton Carter estate, on Church street, where he erected a fine apartment house. He owned three other properties on the same street-all profitable investments.

Mr. Strong had an early fondness for horses, and with his business success came the opportunity to gratify his tastes in this direction. His stable was a model of neatness, and had from time to time been occupied by a much better average of horses than are usually found in private stables. Some of his stock has successfully campaigned during the last half dozen years. Mr. Strong was a prominent member of the Gentlemen's Driving Club, and was also a member of Wooster Lodge, No. 10, F. & A. M., Colchester, Connecticut.

WILLIAM RUSSELL CONE, who passed away Jan. 10, 1890, at his home in Washington street, Hartford, was for nearly sixty years a resi- dent of the city, and for a long time one of its most prominent citizens, identified with its practi- cal philanthropies and its business interests, and an active force in its affairs in many ways. His death left vacant a long row of positions of trust and honor. He was the oldest member of the Hartford City Bar.

The Cone family is an old and prominent one in Connecticut, and several members thereof, closely related to the late William R., Sylvanus F. and Deacon Joseph E. Cone, of Hartford, have figured in the professional and mercantile history of that city through two-thirds of a century. The Ameri- can ancestor of this branch of the family was Daniel Cone, who with three sons-Daniel, Jared and Stephen-came in 1651 to this country from Edinburgh, Scotland, the voyage being made in the ship "John and Sarah." They located first at a point in Massachusetts, where was born another son, Caleb, thence in 1657 removing to Haddam, Conn. From there, in 1685, they came to East Haddam, which locality became the permanent home of many of their descendants. Daniel Cone, Sr., was born in 1626 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and died in 1706, in Haddam. He was one of the original twenty-eight who took up the land which had been purchased for them in 1662 for twenty- eight coats, from the Indians, and is now a part of the county of Middlesex. His second wife was the widow of Richard Walkley, of Haddam.

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William R. Cone was born June 22, 1810, in East Haddam, son of Joseph W. (a properous farmer and prominent citizen of that town) and Mehetabel S. (Swan) Cone, who died March 4, 1848, aged seventy-three, and Sept. II, 1849. aged seventy-one, respectively. Both are buried in the cemetery at West Hartford Center. William R. Cone prepared for college first under Rev. Isaac Parsons, of East Haddam, and later at Hopkins Grammar School, Hartford, and entered Yale Col- lege in 1826, graduating in 1830, in the same class with Hon. Henry Barnard, of Hartford, with the late Prof. Elias Loomis, Rev. Ray Palmer and Anthony Dumond Stanley. Mr. Cone was for a period secretary of the class, had entertained his classmates in Hartford, and always maintained a lively interest in the college. He studied in Yale Law School under Chief Justice Daggett and Prof. Hitchcock, admitted to the Bar in 1832, and came to Hartford, where he went into partnership with William Hungerford, also a native of East Had- dani, and then regarded as the most learned lawyer in the State, and with the largest practice in the highest courts.

To the firm thus formed Mr. Cone brought a rare vigor of mind and great industry, and soon became noted for the thoroughness of his prepara- tion of the cases committed to him. He took spe- cial charge of the business of the firm, leaving mainly to Mr. Hungerford the argument of the causes in the court. The firm of Hungerford & Cone became a famous one, and had for a quarter of a century the largest and most important and lucrative practice in the State. In 1860 the part- ners retired from practice, with handsome for- tunes, though the partnership was continued in the ownership of property until Mr. Hungerford's death, in 1873. These gentlemen really inaugurated the rebuilding of Hartford. The Trust Co. build- ing, of Portland stone, corner of Main street and Central row, was formerly "Hungerford & Cone's block." When they built it, in 1857, it was the finest structure in Hartford.

After his retirement from practice Mr. Cone clevoted himself to the care of his own large financial interests, and to others which were entrusted to liini. He always had the public confidence as a man of integrity and trustworthiness, as well as of sound practical judgment and sagacity, and his counsel in financial matters was regarded as of great value. He was from its organization a di- rector of the Atna Bank, and front 1869 to 1887 was its president. He was also a director in the AEtna Fire Insurance Co., the Hartford Carpet Co. (of which he was one of the reorganizers), the Security Co., and the Connecticut River Rail- road Co., and a trustee of the Society for Sav- ings : also president of the board of managers of the Retreat for the Insane, of the trustees of the Watkinson Library, and of the Wadsworth AAth- entum, and was deeply interested in the Free Li- brary plans, to which he carly forwarded his sub-

scription for a handsome amount. He had been associated with other important institutions, but in his later years had been inclined to limit the calls upon his time and strength.

Mr. Cone had no liking for public life, and would never accept a nomination to political office ; had also declined a seat upon the Superior Court. From his early residence in Hartford he had been a member of the Center Congregational Church in that city.

In 1833 Mr. Cone married Rebecca D. Brews- ter, daughter of James Brewster, then a promi- nent carriage manufacturer of New Haven, and a direct descendant of the Elder Brewster of New England history. She died four months after his death, and left three surviving children: James B. Cone, of Hartford, who graduated at Yale Col- lege in 1857; Henrietta, wife of the Rev. Louis A. Lampher, an Episcopal clergyman then settled in Wethersfield, in this State; and Alice, wife of the Rev. A. Delgarno Robbinson, a clergyman of the English Church.

ADAM CLARKE CORSON, M. D., whose death occurred Oct. 6, 1873, though a young man and only known to the profession a few years, had so conducted himself as to win the esteem and re- spect of, and be beloved by, all who knew him.

Dr. Corson was born Jan. 20, 1839, at Dumfries, Canada. He was graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, in 1865, then served for two and one-half years as a surgeon in the United States army. He practiced medicine in Hartford from 1868 until his death, in 1873, and had in that short time, through his tact, energy and force, established a good practice. He was a mem- ber of the State Medical Society, also of the Hart- ford Medical Society, and on his death the latter passed appropriate resolutions, in which a fitting tribute of respect was paid to his memory, show- ing their appreciation of his professional character and friendship, as did also the Medical Library Association. At his funeral, which took place at the residence of the late Hon. William Russell Cone, on Washington street, there was a large concourse of people, the Medical society attending in a body.

On Aug. 27, 1867. Dr. Corson was married to Miss Henrietta, daughter of the late Hon. William R. Cone, of Hartford, and to them were born chil- dren as follows: Alice Brewster, June 23, 1868; William Russell Cone. Feb. 18, 1870; and Aimee Freeland, Oct. 20, 1871.

EDWIN HOLMES MUNGER, D. D. S., a well-known dentist of Hartford, is descended in sev- eral lines from old New England settlers. The first paternal ancestor of whom we have record is Nich- olas Munger, who when sixteen years old came over with William Chittenden. It is supposed he lived in Guilford, as the Chittendens settled there. On June 2,, 1659, he was married to Sarah Hall.

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Sylvester Munger, grandfather of our subject, was born in Guilford, Conn., thence moving to Essex, where he passed the remainder of his life. He died at the age of seventy. He was a carpen- ter by occupation. He married Eliza Smith, and they had four children: Charles S., the Doctor's father ; Mrs. G. W. Pratt, of Essex ; Sarah, who died Dec. 23, 1900, unmarried ; and Gurdon S., also of Essex. The parents were members of the Congre- gational Church.

Charles S. Munger was born in October, 1835, in Essex, where he was reared, receiving his edu- cation in the common schools. At the age of six- teen he went to sea, following the water until 1861, and rising in his calling until he was captain of a merchantman. After 1865 he returned to Essex, where from 1874 to 1887 he was postmaster. Sub- sequently, for a time, he was a merchant for Miner & Co., and in January, 1898, moved to West Hart- ford, where he still resides. He is at present en- gaged in the office of the Pratt & Whitney Co., Hartford. Mr. Munger served as representative from Essex in the State Legislature in 1888. He is a Republican. He married, July 25, 1861, Miss Ellen H. Denison, who was born March 22, 1839, daughter of Selden S. and Mary ( Allen) Denison, and five children have been born to them, four of whom are living: Harry H., a machinist in Meri- den ; Frank D., who is superintendent of the Reg- istry Department in the Hartford post office : Ed- win H. ; and Mary E., wife of Edgar Lane, of Glas- tonbury. Mr. and Mrs. Munger are members of the Congregational Church.

Edwin Holmes Munger was born Aug. 13, 1869, in Essex, and received his early education in the public schools of that town, later studying with the late Dr. F. A. Shailer, of Essex. In 1892 he gradu- ated from the Philadelphia Dental College, and won the only honor which the school bestows upon its graduates, a special certificate upon anæsthesia and anæsthetics. Dr. Munger began the practice of his profession in New Hartford, Conn., immediately graduating, in 1893 opened a branch office in Col- linsville, and in January, 1899, moved to West Hart- ford, and opened his office in Hartford in the Sage- Allen building. He enjoys a lucrative practice, won by skillful and careful attention to his patrons. Dr. Munger is a member of the Hartford Dental Society, and of the Connecticut State Dental Asso- ciation. He early became associated in different branches of church work. Among other offices which he held was that of president of the Winsted Christian Endeavor Union. He is a member of the First Church of Christ (Congregational) in West Hartford, and active in its different departments of work: is a member of the Connecticut Congrega- tional Club; and an officer in the Hartford Chris- tian Endeavor Union. Socially the Doctor is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution.

Through his mother Dr. Munger is descended from William Denison, who was born in England about 1586, came to America in 1631, and settled in

Roxbury, Mass. He brought with him his wife, Margaret, and three sons, Daniel, Edward and George, and John Eliot, who seems to have been a tutor in his family. Mr. Eliot became pastor of the church in Roxbury, and also did missionary work among the Indians. Mr. Denison was a dea- con in the Roxbury Church. He had been liberally educated, and his sons were carefully trained also. He died in Roxbury Jan. 25, 1653, his wife on Feb. 23, 1645.

(II) George Denison, born in 1618, married Bridget Thompson in 1640. He lived in Stoning- ton, Connecticut.

(III) John Denison, born July 14, 1646, mar- ried Phebe Lay Nov. 26, 1667. He was a resident of Stonington.

(IV) John Denison, Jr., born Jan. 1, 1669,, mar- ried in 1690 Ann Mason. He lived in Saybrook.

(V) Daniel Denison, born Oct. 13. 1693, mar- ried Mehitabel Foster in 1728. They lived in Say- brook.

(VI) Ebenezer Denison, born in 1731, married Lydia Williams, and lived in Essex.

(VII) Wells Denison, born in March, 1765, married Jedidiah Tyler, of Haddam, Feb. 14, 1790.

(VIII) Selden S. Denison, born in September, 1809, was married May 12, 1830, to Mary Allen, a native of Windham, Conn., born April 30, 1809, who died at the age of sixty-three. He was pro- prietor of a hotel in Essex until his death, which oc- curred when he was a young man of twenty-five. They had two children, only one, Ellen H., Mrs. Charles S. Munger, now living. The parents were members of the Congregational Church.

Dr. Munger, on the maternal side also, traces his ancestry to the Tracy family, the genealogy of which has been traced by one member back to the year 956, and by another to the third century. Lieut. Thomas Tracy, the first of the line in Amer- ica, was born in 1610 on the Tewkesbury estates, son of Sir Paul Tracy, baronet, of Stanway Courts, Gloucestershire, England. In 1836 he came to America, locating in Salem, and in February, 1637, removed to Wethersfield, later to Saybrook. He married Mary Mason, and our subject is a descend- ant of their son Thomas, who was born in 1644. Jeremiah Tracy, son of Thomas, married Mary Witter. Their son, Andrew Tracy, married Ruth Smith.

Ebenezer Tracy, eldest son of Andrew and Ruth (Smith) Tracy, was born April 20, 1744, presum- ably in Lisbon, Conn., as the following inscription is found on the gravestone of his son Ebenezer, in the old Windham cemetery: "son of Col. Ebenezer Tracy, of Lisbon." However, there is no record of the place of his birth or death. He was a cabinet maker by trade, and many of his chairs are still in existence. According to family tradition and ge- nealogical records Ebenezer Tracy was a colonel, but whether he served as such in the war of the Revolution or in the militia, after the war, is not known. The record at the State Adjutant's office

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of the State of Connecticut shows that Ebenezer Tracy served as sergeant in Capt. Thomas Wheeler's Company, Col. Samuel Chapman's Regiment, Brig .- Gen. John Tyler's Brigade of Militia, State of Connecticut. In "Connecticut Men of the Revolu- tion," page 534, is found the following: "Sergeant Ebenezer Tracy entered service Aug. 3rd, dis- charged Sept. 12th, in Col. Sam'l. Chapman's Reg- iment of Militia, 1778." In August, 1778, a body of militia under Brig .- Gen. John Tyler served under Gen. Sullivan, and engaged in the attempt to dis- lodge the British at Newport. It was present at the battle of Rhode Island Aug. 29, 1778. "Com- pany commanded by Sam'l. Chapman, Esq., Col. of Foot. Gen. Tyler's Brigade of Militia, State of Connecticut, under the command of the Honorable Major-Gen. Sullivan in Newport Expedition, State of Rhode Island, in Aug. and Sept. 1778."

On May 15. 1765, Col. Ebenezer Tracy married Mary Freeman, who was a descendant of Elder Brewster, of the "Mayflower." He died March 10, 1803, aged fifty-nine years. Their daughter, Lydia, born Dec. 20, 1775, was married Aug. 18, 1796, to Amos D. Allen, and their daughter, Mary Allen, married Selden S. Denison, our subject's maternal grandfather.

HARMON GEORGE HOWE, M. D., one of the leading physicians and surgeons of Hartford, is a native of the State of Vermont, born Sept. 3, 1850, in Jericho, son of Lucian B. and Clarissa J. (Galusha) Howe.

Dr. Howe's paternal ancestors were early set- tlers in Vermont, and he is descended from the Bliss family, who went to that State from Litchfield county, Conn., in 1760. Among his mother's an- cestors were Capt. Thomas Chittenden, of Chester, Conn., the first governor of Vermont, and Gov. Martin Chittenden. The Galushas were also people of note among the pioneers of Vermont.

Harmon G. Howe, the subject of this review, ac- quired his primary education in the Essex Classical Institute, at Essex, Vt. He began his professional training in 1870, in the Medical Department of the University of Vermont, and completed it at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City, in 1875. Previous to this Dr. Howe had spent some time in the Hartford (Conn.) Hospital, and was assistant superintendent of Sanford Hall, Flushing, L. I., for over a year, under Dr. J. B. Barstow. He was subsequently assistant at the Retreat for Insane, Hartford, under Dr. H. P. Stearns, for abont the same length of time. In May, 1876, he settled permanently in Hartford, where he has since been engaged in continuous practice, his clientele being now one of the largest in the city. Dr. Howe has been a visiting surgeon of the Hartford Hospital for nearly twenty years, and for the past eleven years has been a member of the executive committee of that institution. For nine years he was surgeon of the Ist Regiment, National Guard of Connecticut, having served

two years previously as assistant surgeon on the staff of Col. Lucius Barbour. He is a member of the American Medical Association, the State Med- ical Society, the County Medical Society, and the City Medical Society, and finds time amidst the exacting requirements of a busy professional life to enjoy memberships in the Colonial Club, the Re- publican Club and the Scientific Club of Hartford, also the Country Club of Farmington. Although a stanch Republican in his political views, Dr. Howe has no taste or time for public offices, and has never held any, his energies being fully devoted to his profession.

Dr. Howe is a great reader, and an enthusiastic student of art, and at his beautiful home on High street has a valuable and unique art collection, while his library, mainly composed of medical works, is one of the best in Hartford. The Doctor is a de- voted angler, and an enthusiastic member of the St. Bernard Fishing Club, of Canada, of which there are four other members in Hartford, and a part of his vacation each year is spent in trout fish- ing at the Club's headquarters in Quebec. He has a summer cottage at Lake Sunapee, New Hamp- shire.

In April, 1876, Dr. Howe was married to Har- riet M., daughter of L. M. Stevens, of Jericho, Vt., and three children have blessed the union : Frances Bliss : Horace Stevens, a student at Yale ; and Lucia, who died in infancy. Mrs. Howe is well known in connection with the work carried 01: by the Fourth Congregational Church, in which she is very much interested, and where she is an influential member. The Doctor is a member of the South Baptist Church of Hartford.

TUTTLE FAMILY. There now . reside in Hartford, New Haven, and elsewhere in Connecti- cut and in other New England States, descendants in the ninth generation from William Tuttle, who founded the family in America about 265 years ago.

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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 159

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