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 160

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 160

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William Tuttle migrated from England to America in 1635, in the "Planter." He settled at Charlestown, Mass., where he remained several years, and in 1639 removed to the Quinnipiack Colony, in Connecticut. In 1641 he was the owner of the house lot of Edward Hopkins, who had erected a house on the lot and soon after removed to Hartford. where he (Hopkins) became governor of Connecticut and founder of the grammar school which bears his name. The lot was on the square bounded by Grove, State, Elm and Church streets. William Tuttle had a family of twelve children, as follows: John, Hannah, Thomas, Jonathan, Da- vid, Joseph, Sarah, Elizabeth, Simon, Benjamin, Mercy and Nathaniel. The line of descent from William Tuttle to Albert George and Charles Loomis Tuttle, of the ninth generation, their bro- ther, Lucius Tuttle, president of the Boston & Maine Railway Co., and Mary A. Tuttle, is as follows :

(II) Jonathan Tuttle, baptized at Charles-

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town, Mass., July 8, 1637, married Rebecca, daugh- ter of Lieut. Francis Bell, of Stamford. She was born in August, 1643, and died May 2, 1676. Jon- athan. Tuttle in 1670 settled at North Ilaven, and built the bridge which there spanned the Quinni- piack river. His six children were: Rebecca, Mary, Jonathan, Simon, William and Nathaniel.

(III) William Tuttle, son of Jonathan and Rebecca ( Bell) Tuttle, was born May 5, 1673. He became a member of the church in 1707. He mar- ried Mary Abernatha, and their eleven children were: Aaron, Moses, Mary, Ezekiel, Abel, Su- sanna, Lydia, Jemima, Hannah, William, and Daniel.

(IV) Aaron Tuttle was born Nov. 25, 1698, and died in 1765. He was one of the founders of the Episcopal Society at Wallingford, Conn., and was one of the thirteen who in 1729 sent a letter to the Bishop of London. To himself and his wife, Mary, were born eleven children: Jude, Deborah, Abel, Aaron, Mary, Eleazer, Ithamar, Aaron (2), Elea- zer, Rachel, and Isaac.

(V) Jude Tuttle married Aug. 16, 1748, Lydia Atwater, born April 3, 1729, daughter of Caleb and Abigail ( Bradley ) Atwater. In 1748 he also received from his father a deed of land in "Blue Hills," New Haven county. His six children were : Hezekiah, born May 20, 1749; Eunice, July 19, 1751; Ruth, Oct. 24, 1753; Mary, July 20, 1758; Aaron, Oct. 4, 1760; and Jude, March 7, 1763.

(VI) Hezekiah Tuttle, born May 20, 1749, be- came a captain of militia. He married, March 19, 1770, Mary Turner, who was born April 5, 1754, daughter of James Turner. Their seven children were: Jesse, born March 8, 1771; Eli, March I, 1775; Elam, July 30, 1777; Caleb Atwater, Nov. 18, 1779; Lydia, March 4, 1783; Asahel, Aug. 27, 1787; and Miles, Sept. 3. 1792.

(VII) Caleb Atwater Tuttle, born Nov. 18, 1779, was married at North Haven to Sally Reed. He was engaged in farming in the towns of Hart- ford and South Windsor. Children : George, Elam, Sarah, Wealthy A., Laura, Alfred, and Frances.

(VIII) George Tuttle, son of Caleb Atwater and Sally (Reed) Tuttle, was born July 14, 1807, in Hartford, Conn., where he spent his early school days and was a lifelong farmer in that town. He filled a number of local offices, including those of selectman and assessor. In early life he was a Whig in politics, becoming a Republican upon the organization of the party. He married, Jan. 8, 1832, at Bloomfield, Conn., Mary, daughter of Benjamin and Mary (Gaylord) Loomis. She died May 27, 1874. George Tuttle died in March, 1885. The five children of George and Mary (Loomis) Tuttle were as follows: Mary A., born Jan. 5, 1833, now housekeeper at the Retreat, Hart- ford : Albert George, a sketch of whose life appears below; William Henry, born Sept. 16, 1840, who was a soldier in the Civil war, a member of Com- pany B, 25th Conn. V. I., and died in the service

Nov. 1I, 1862; Charles Loomis, (see below) ; and Lucius, who was born March 11, 1846. The last named is now a resident of Boston, Mass., and is president of the Boston & Maine Railroad Co. For his first wife he married, at Springfield, Mass., July 11, 1867, Etta F. Martin, by whom he had three children: Edith M., born Jan. 26, 1869, died Sept. 22, 1871; Jennie Downing, born July 17, 1870; and Etta, born in 1874. For his second wife Lucius Tuttle married Miss Estella Martin, a cou- sin of his first wife, and by this marriage has one daughter, Effie E.

ALBERT GEORGE TUTTLE was born in the town of Hartford May 24, 1834. His early education was obtained in the school house located on Pros- pect Hill, Hartford. In his earlier years he was engaged in farming, but while yet a young man he was appointed agent of the Adams Express Co. at Hartford, a position which he filled seven years. Later he became messenger between Hartford and Boston. In 1863 he was appointed agent of the Hartford, Providence & Fishkill Railroad Co., and in 1865 was promoted to the position of general freight agent of that road, an office which he filled until 1878. From 1878 to 1887 he was assistant general freight agent of the New England road, and since the latter date has served continuously as special freight agent of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Co., with office at New Haven, Conn. Mr. Tuttle was married, at West Hartford, Conn., in September, 1855, to Elizabeth Briggs, daughter of Josiah Briggs. She died in 1869, the mother of three children : Mamie, who was born in 1861, and died in 1863; William Henry, born in June, 1864, died in August, 1885; and Bertha, born in 1864, died in 1868. For his second wife Albert G. Tuttle married, in October, 1872, Julia, daughter of Benjamin Sprague, of Andover, Conn. By this marriage there is one daughter, Alice Gracia, born July 22, 1885.

CHARLES LOOMIS TUTTLE was born in Hart- ford Oct. 18, 1842. He was reared in that town, there received his education, and has always been one of its prominent agricultural residents, hav- ing farmed all his life; since 1868 he has been en- gaged in the milk business. He is a member of the State Board of Agriculture. Mr. Tuttle mar- ried, Jan. 4, 1865, Miss Elizabeth Utley, daughter of Henry Utley, of Hartford, and to them have been born four children, three of whom survive: Ida Louisa, born Sept. 12, 1867, died Aug. 25, 1868; Clara Elizabeth was born May 28, 1869; Robert C., April 8, 1875; and Harry U., Feb. 20, 1877. Mr. Tuttle is a Republican in political faith.

RICHARD J. DILLON, a general and popular caterer, owner of the railroad restaurants at Hart- ford, New Haven, New London and Saybrook, is of Hartford birth, having been born in that city July 16, 1852.

James Dillon, grandfather of our subject, was

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born in the Parish of Ballymore, County West- meath, Ireland, was a carpenter by trade, and made several voyages to America. Here he spent some years among his children, dying in Hartford at the advanced age of eighty-four years. By his wife Catherine ( Evans), a native of the same parish, he had eight children, seven of whom came to America. She died in Hartford, aged about eighty-three years.

Richard Dillon, father of Richard J., was also a native of Ireland, born in about 1810, in the same parish as his father, and in May, 1830, came to the United States in a sailing vessel, the voyage occu- pying twenty-one weeks, and on his arrival at New York he came direct to Hartford. Here for a time he served in the capacity of coachman, later that of watchman for Woodruff & Beach. In 1875 he em- barked in the grocery business in Hartford along with his sons James D. and Richard J., under the firm name of R. Dillon & Sons, which continued until the death of the father. He was a successful and highly respected citizen, was classed among the old residents of the city, and was a kind and very devoted husband and father, his aim in life being to see his children prosperous. In 1842 he married Mary Keenan, born in the Parish of Ballymore, County Westmeath, Ireland, and they had a family of fourteen children, three of whom are yet living : James D., Richard J. and Edward. The father of this numerous family died in 1886 at the age of seventy-six years, the mother in May, 1891, aged seventy-eight. They were members and liberal supporters of the Catholic Church.

Richard J. Dillon received his education at the Brown school in Hartford, after which he served an apprenticeship at the trade of machinist with the fırın of Woodruff & Beach, at the end of four years abandoning the life of a mechanic for that of store keeper. I11 1875, as already related, he entered the grocery business in Hartford along with his father and brother James D., in which he continued seven years, at the end of that time selling his interest to his father. In 1882 he purchased the restaurant at the railroad station, Hartford, in two years thereafter buying the restaurants at Saybrook and Fenwick Grove railroad stations, after five years discontinuing the latter, on the termination of the lease thereof. In 1888 he opened a restaurant at the New London station; in 1889 purchased the restaurant at the New Haven station, and has since conducted all four. In 1890 the present large hand- some station at Hartford was built, and here Mr. Dillon has a fine lunch counter, also a dining room capable of seating fifty people. His New Haven lunch counter seats one hundred people, and his New London lunch counter accommodates some fifty, in addition to which he has, at the latter place, a dining room which seats one hundred. Mr. Dil- lon gives employment to about sixty-five hands, and probably does a larger business than any other caterer in the city of Hartford, feeding on an aver- age some 5,000 people daily, on special occasions

having catered to even as many as twenty thousand in a single day. For many years he has catered for balls and parties, in addition to which he runs excursions to Boston and other points throughout the country.

In 1880, in Boston, Mass., Mr. Dillon was mar- ried to Margaret Mahoney, a native of that city, one of four children born to Mr. and Mrs. John Mahoney, and two children have been born to this union, Grace and Richard. The famly attend the Catholic Church, in which he takes an active inter- est. In politics he is a Democrat, and though always taking an active interest in the affairs of the party has declined nomination for office. Socially he is a member and was first treasurer of Jewell Council, Knights of Columbus, which office he has held a number of years. For a considerable time he was a member of the Hillyer Guards, is now identified with the veteran corps of same, and has taken an active part in several other Catholic orders. In 1895 he built his present fine house on Church street, owning also an attractive one adjoining.

HON. OLIVER ELLSWORTH. "History," remarks a well-known author, "is best studied by means of biography, indeed, history is biography, showing collective humanity as influenced and gov- erned by individuals." Conspicuous among the illustrious men who founded this Republic and shaped its destiny was this honored son of Hartford county, and in reviewing his career one comes in close touch with every important movement of that period. No brief account can do justice to his achievements, and still less can it give an idea of his personal worth, but the following notice, taken chiefly from Stile's "History of Ancient Windsor," cutlines the most noteworthy features of his remark- able career.

Mr. Ellsworth was a native of the town of Windsor, born April 29, 1745, and belonged to a family which is still prominent in that locality. At an early age he was placed under the instruction of Rev. Dr. Bellamy, clergyman of a neighboring parish, and in 1762 he entered Yale College, re- maining there two years. At Nassau Hall, now Princeton College, New Jersey, he attained high rank as a scholar, and in 1766 received the degree of A. B. After his graduation, his father having deter- mined to educate him for the Gospel ministry, he was placed under the instruction of the venerable John Smalley. Influenced, however, by an early inclination to the profession of law, he abandoned theology after one year's trial, and soon entered upon his favorite study with the first Gov. Gris- wold of Connecticut. Subsequently, with Judge Root, of Coventry, he completed the course of read- ing prescribed, and was admitted to the Bar of Hart- ford county, in 1771. While pursuing his profes- sional studies Mr. Ellsworth incurred debts, and these he discharged by cutting and selling wood from a tract of land which he owned, after vainly trying to sell the land itself. Freed from his pecu-

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niary embarrassment, he was ready to begin practice as a counselor at law. His father gave him a house and lot in Bloomfield (then Wintonbury), and in 1772 he married. For a little more than three years he divided his time between l.is farm and his pro- fession, the income from the latter being very small. His skill in preparing and ability in advocating an important case entrusted to him by a neighbor se- cured a verdict for his client, and obtained for him- self a high professional reputation. His practice increased, and in the autumn of 1775 he began his career as State attorney. He sold l.is farm and re- moved to Hartford, and there devoted himself to a larger and more remunerative practice than that of any of his contemporaries of the Connecticut Bar. His resolute will and power of concentrating lis mind upon the analysis of the subject in hand, to- gether with his concise statements of the points in- volved, and lucid and forcible arguments, gained for him a position at the very head of the profes- sion.

Politically Mr. Ellsworth was a Whig, and at the beginning of the Revolutionary war he was chosen to represent Windsor in the General As- sembly of Conecticut. While a member of the Leg- islature he served actively with the militia of the State, and was one of a committee of four called the "Pay Table." The duties of this committee were to "examine, liquidate, settle, and give all needful orders" for the payment of military expen- ditures. In October, 1777, he was elected one of six delegates to the Continental Congress, taking his seat twelve months afterward. He served as a member of the Marine committee, acting as a board of Admiralty, and also on the committee of Appeals, besides taking a prominent share in all general dis- cussions and measures. By yearly elections from 1780 to 1784 he was a member of the Governor's Council, in which body he served with unrivalled in- fluence. At the end of June, 1783, he left his seat in Congress, and although re-elected declined to serve. In 1784 he declined the appointment of Com- missioner of the Treasury tendered to him by Con- gress, preferring the legislative assignment of Judge of the Superior Court of Connecticut. He con- ducted the duties of this office with rare ability and great reputation until he was made a member of the Federal Convention assembled at Philadel- phia in May, 1787. In this body he bore a dis- tinguished part, and soon became conspicuous as one of the ablest advocates of the rights of individual States. To him we are largely indebted for the Federal element of our Constitution, "by which so many sovereign States are kept in distinct activity, while included under a higher sovereignty." He moved in the convention to expunge the word "Na- tional" from the constitution, and to substitute the words "government of the United States," and this was finally agreed to without a dissenting voice. To his clear discernment and strenuous exertions, coupled with those of his distinguished colleagues, Roger Sherman and Hon. Judge Patterson, more

than to any others, we owe the best government instead of the worst and most intolerable on earth. He did not put his name to the instrument when completed, solely because important domestic con- siderations compelled him to leave the convention as soon as all the provisions of the Constitution had been perfected.

In the following year, during the State Conven- tion for the adoption of the Constitution, Mr. Ells- worth, by the force and energy of his invincible ar- guments, was one of the chief factors in securing its ratification. Upon the organization of the new government at New York, April 6, 1789, he was seated as one of the senators from Connecticut. He was appointed chairman of the committee on Or- ganization of the Judiciary of the United States, and the original bill, in his handwriting, passed with but slight alteration, its provisions being still in force. He was called "The Cerebus of the Treasury," being particularly watchful over the public expenditures. He took an active part in building up the credit of the country, pro- viding for the "support of the government, for the discharge of the debts of the United States, and for the encouragement and protection of manufactur- ers." He was spoken of by John Adams as the firmest pillar in Washington's whole administration, and by common consent he was yielded precedence in the Federal ranks in the Senate, then composed of the elite of the Republic. The mission of John Jay to England in 1794 was due to his suggestion, and when the treaty then negotiated met with alarm- ing opposition in the House of Representatives he successfully defended it, and it was approved by the Senate. In 1790 Yale College bestowed upon him the degree of LL. D., in recognition of his legal ability and distinguished services to the public, and this example was followed by Dartmouth and Prince- ton Colleges in 1797. On March 4, 1796, Mr. Ells- worth was appointed as the successor of Mr. Jay as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. As he had been long estranged from the practice of his legal profession, he carefuly prepared himself for the duties of his new station by an ex- tensive course of study upon those points in which he felt himself deficient. All his habits and facul- ties were especially adapted to the discharge of judicial functions, his dignified bearing, courteous impartiality and acknowledged ability winning for him everywhere the confidence and esteem of the Bar. His clear perception aided greatly the dis- patch of business, while his decisions, as they are preserved in the records, are notably concise and sound. At the beginning of Adams' administration the relations between the United States and France had become so unfriendly that a war seemed inevita- ble, obliging the government to make military preparations. The French Directorv, seeing that the Americans were really aroused, finally made overtures for the arrangement of difficulties between the two countries. In 1799 President Adams, on the recommendation of a Senate committee, ap-

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pointed Oliver Ellsworth, Patrick Henry and Will- ianı Van Murray ambassadors of the United States and extraordinary commission to negotiate with France. Mr. Henry declined to act on account of age, and Gov. William R. Davie, of North Carolina, was named in his stead. Mr. Ellsworth entered on this duty with reluctance, but waiving all per- sonal feeling accepted the high responsibility. After receiving final instructions he sailed with Davie on the frigate "United States," Nov. 3, but meeting with many delays did not reach Paris until March 2, 1800. As envoys extraordinary and ministers plen- ipotentiary they were accorded a cordial and enthusiastic reception. They found Napoleon Bon- aparte at the head of the Republic erected on the ruins of the Directory, and being miore wise and politic than his associates in the government he soon concluded an adjustment of all disputes, pre- venting an impending war and an alliance between America and England that would have been most unfavorable to the interests of France. On the part of this country the negotiations and discussions were conducted almost exclusively by Judge Ells- worth. While it was found impossible to obtain all concessions which our envoys demanded, the convention agreed upon in September, secured all that under the actual circumstances were neces- sary. France conceded the rights to neutral vessels, agreeing to pay indemnity for depredations upon our commerce, and assured us peace without at all sacrificing our rights or interests. Although the treaty met with opposition in Congress, time has proved that the honor and welfare of this country could not have been placed in more capable hands. Mr. Ellsworth's health had for some time been seriously impaired, and the voyage to Europe and subsequent travel on the Continent only contributed to aggravate liis malady. The time of his departure for home being delayed until late in the autumn, it was thought his life would be endangered by cross- ing the ocean at that unfavorable season. He was accordingly carried to England on board the frigate "Portsmouth," the vessel that was to bring the am- bassadors back to this country, and there he tested with some benefit the efficacy of the mineral waters at Bath. His son Oliver, who had accompanied him as secretary, returned home with Commissioner Davie, bringing with him his father's resignation of the office of Chief Justice. While in England Mr. Ellsworth was the recipient of marked attention on the part of the Court and of the leading public men, as well as of the Bench and Bar. He sailed from Bristol, England, on the ship "Nancy" in April. 1801, and after a painful voyage was landed in Boston. Once safe at home and free from tlie cares of public office, Mr. Ellsworth resolved to spend his remaining years in quiet life, but in 1802 he was again elected a member of the Governor's Council, which acted as a Superior Court of Errors in Con- nectient, being the final Court of Appeals from all inferior State jurisdictions. Here his influence was controlling, for in addition to the weight of ac-

knowledged talents, he now united the authority of long and distinguished public service. In May, 1807, the Legislature of Connecticut remodeled the State Judiciary, and Judge Ellsworth was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He accepted this appointment, but, finding that the decline of his health would impair his usefulness for the duties of his office, he resigned it before the adjournment of the Legislature. The nephritic complaints to which he had so long been subject attained fatal violence in that year. He died Nov. 26, 1807, and was buried in the cemetery at Windsor, where a monument, erected by his children and suitably in- scribed, marks his resting place. It was truly said of him: "Ellsworth died greatly regretted, as in his life he had been admired for his extraordinary endowments, his accomplishments as an advocate, his integrity as a judge, his patriotism as a legislator and ambassador, and his exemplariness as a Chris- tian."

ELIJAH ROGERS, general farmer and fruit grower, town of Southington. Hartford county, Connecticut.

WILLIAM HUNGERFORD. LL. D., whose death occurred at his home in Hartford, June 15. 1873, is credited with being at that time the most learned lawyer in the State. He was born at East Haddam, Conn., Nov. 22, 1788.

Mr. Hungerford was graduated from Yale Col- lege in 1809, became a student of Hon. Matthew Griswold and Gov. Roger Griswold, at Lyme, Conn., and was admitted to the Bar in 1812. For six months previous to his commencing the study of law, and just after his graduation, he taught in the old Colchester Academy. After his admission to the Bar he practiced in his native town until 1829, when he removed to Hartford and was engaged in the practice of his profession until a few years be- fore his death, in 1873. He had little taste for political life, and was not an office-seeker. He rep- resented his native town many times in the General Assembly of the State, and after his removal to Hart- ford, was several times a delegate from this town to the General Assembly. Mr. Hungerford is said to have read Blackstone's "Commentaries" through thirty times, and to have delighted in that driest and most intricate of all legal works, "Fearne on Con- tingent Remainders." He was largely instrumental through his briefs in the Supreme Court. in set- tling the law on important points involved. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1818, and was the last survivor of that distinguished body. "Probably the history of the profession con- tains no individual lawyer of our State who reached greater attainments in learning." In 1856, Yale College conferred upon Mr. Hungerford the degree of LL. D.

The character of Mr. Hungerford is beautifully set forth in the address of the late Gov. Richard D. Hubbard, delivered at the Bar meeting just after

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his death, from which address the following is ex- tracted : "Nor was his learning a mere barren col- lection of the memory, as is often the case with great scholars, but a mass of fertile and ready mate- rial which he knew how to mould and impress to the manifold and everyday uses of his profession ; and above all, and then most of all, when some knotty question arose, having its roots in the ab- struse science of the law, or back in the ancient learning ; such questions are likely to beset us, not only in consultations, conveyancing and pleadings but all along, and at every step of the trial, and sometimes they come upon us from ambush, as it were, and confound, perhaps overthrow us by a deadly surprise ; it was on such occasions that he showed himself master of the field. He sprang to his weapons at a bound, and his weapons were a full equipment, from the strange heavy old armor of Littleton and the Year Books down to the most cunning and newly contrived fences and foils of forensic warfare. In a word, he was, I think, the most learned lawyer at the Bar of this State. In saying this, I do not forget Sherman and Baldwin and Ingersoll, and Perkins, and such as they. I doubt if, as a legal scholar, the Bar of America had his superior. To those who were not of the profes- sion, and to whom therefore its scientific learning is a dry jargon, he seemed at times, perhaps like a burdened camel, toiling through this parched and pathless desert, but to the learned judges who knew the value of his stores, his coming was a token of welcome, for he always came freighted with a bet- ter merchandise than that of spices and gold and silver. As an advocate he had few of the graces of the orator. His manner, though not awkward, was not graceful. His temperament was not magnetic, his mind was not imaginative or brilliant, and he rarely rose into eloquence. His voice was some- what harsh and untrained. His style was not free from certain mannerisms, and he sometimes smoth- ered a little his argument, as it seemed to me, with an excess of readings and citations. But in spite of all this, he was eminently successful both to the court and to the jury ; to the court of course, because he was a profound lawyer, and to the jury because, though not a brilliant advocate, he pos- sessed a vigorous common sense which pierced to the marrow of a question, and an honesty which was transparent. And then, in addition to this, he had a certain quaintness of style which served to embroider, as it were, the staple of his argument, and gift, not perhaps of wit, but of dry humor-a strange and grotesque drollery which would burst up in unexpected jets along the line of his logic, and which served to gladden what might otherwise have seemed harsh and crabbed."

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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 160

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