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 36

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 36

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).

Dr. Ripley is quite prominent in Masonic cir- cles ; has been master of Evening Star Lodge, No. IOI, F. & A. M .; in 1893 was elected grand patron

of the Order of the Eastern Star, and is now patron of Adah Chapter, No. 30, O. E. S. He has also been receiver of Centennial Lodge, No. 41, A. O. U. W., for the past eight years. Since making his home in Unionville Dr. Ripley has also been prom- inent in political affairs, having been elected rep- resentative in 1889, the only Republican in the town elected to office that year. In 1892 he was nominated for governor by the Peoples party, and in 1896 was the Democratic nominee for comptroller of the State.

On Feb. 10, 1870, the Doctor married Miss Helen E. Elton, daughter of the late Romeo Elton, of Burlington, Conn., and they have two sons : Edwin Elton and Herbert Jones. The latter is a member of the firm of Woodford & Ripley, brokers, No.7, Central Row, Hartford. Herbert J. Ripley enlisted in Company K, First Conn. Vols., for service in the Spanish-American war, and served until the regiment was discharged.

CHARLES ROBERT HAWLEY, a member of the well-known firm of Sanford & Hawley, lumber and hardware dealers of Unionville, is one of the most enterprising and energetic business men of that place. He has done much to promote its commercial activity, advance the general welfare and secure the material development of the town and is therefore numbered among its most valued citizens.

A native of Hartford county, Mr. Hawley was born in the town of Avon July 31, 1859. His grand- father, Zera Hawley, M. D., was also a native of that town, was a graduate of Yale College, and was the first dentist in New Haven, but his last days were passed in Avon. He married Miss Harriet Sherman. of New Haven, and to them were born three children: Edward; Harriet, wife of George Woodruff ; and Robert, father of our subject, all of whom are now deceased.

Robert Hawley was born, reared and educated in New Haven, and throughout his active business life engaged in farming. In Avon he was united in marriage with Miss Maria Hamlin, a native of Litchfield, Conn., and to them were born six chil- dren: Margarette, a resident of Guilford, Conn .; Marion, wife of Frank Sanford, of Unionville; Clarence, a merchant of Guilford; Harriet, also a resident of Guilford : Charles Robert, our subject ; and Ellsworth, of Guilford, who married Maria Clark and has three children, Ellsworth, Sherman and Robert. During the Civil war the father en- listed in Company A, 16th Conn. V. I., and after three months of active service was killed in the battle of Antietam. The family then removed to Guilford, where all now reside with the exception of our subject and Mrs. Sanford.

Charles R. Hawley is indebted to the schools of Guilford for his educational advantages, and there he continued to make his home until 1884, being employed for a time as bookkeeper by D. N. Ben- ton, a general merchant, and by the Sachem's Head

940

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Canning Co. In 1884 he went to Seattle, Wash., where he was bookkeeper for the Puget Sound Iron Co., and thence returned to Connecticut. He has since resided in Unionville, and has carried on business as a member of the firm of Sanford & Hawley with marked success.

In Guilford, Conn., Mr. Hawley married Miss Harriet E. Fowler, a native of that place, and they have two children: Marguerite and Clarence Kent. He was made a Freemason in St. Albans Lodge, No. 38, F. & A. M., at Guilford, but now belongs to Evening Star Lodge, No. 101, F. & A. M. He and his wife are members of the Con- gregational Church at Unionville. Mr. Hawley is highly respected and esteemed by all who know him.

NATHANIEL W. FRENCH. Perhaps the highest type of character is displayed by the ju- dicial mind. He who can carefully weigh evidence and dispense justice evenly, especially among his friends and neighbors, must possess that clear in- sight into the groundwork of human right which sooner or later appeals strongly to the people, and to maintain the judicial office continuously through a period of thirty or more years is the best evi- dence of worth and integrity. In the town of Glas- tonbury "Squire" French, as he is popularly called, is one of the best known citizens, representative of its best and most typical interests.

Mr. French was born in Coventry, Conn., June 3, 1823, a son of Eleazer and Fannie ( Wcod- ward) French, and the descendant of an old New England family. Aaron French, his grandfather, migrated more than a century ago from western Massachusetts with his brother, John, and settled in Coventry, Tolland county. He married Abigail Brown, and to them were born nine children: (1) Stephen, who left home when young and was never heard from: (2) Eleazer, father of our subject ; (3) John, who was one of the first post mail riders in Connecticut (carried the mail horseback), and who later migrated with his family to Orleans coun- ty, N. Y., where he farmed; (4) Jonathan, who also migrated to Orleans county, N. Y .; (5) Selah, who became a farmer of Meredith, N. Y .; (6) Irene, who married Nathan Dexter, and lived in Coventry : (7) Oliver, who when a boy ran away and enlisted in the army during the war of 1812, under the name of John Rose (too young to carry a musket, he served as a teamster, and participated in the battle of French Mills; he married Jane Doane and was a farmer at Coventry until his death) ; (8) Nabby, who died unmarried in Cov- entry ; (9) Aaron, who was a stage driver (he married Avis Dart, lived in Avon, Conn., and died there of smallpox).

Eleazer French, the father of our subject, was born in Coventry Feb. 20, 1783. Ile received a fair schooling for his time, and in his youth acquired the shoemaker's trade, which he followed for a time, and, as was then customary, bought leather and

went from house to house in the fall of the year, remaining at each house until all the needed cob- bling was completed. He made a pair of top-boots for Col. Porter, who commanded the regiment that went to the defense of New London. Later he en- gaged in farming in North Parish, Coventry, where he remained until his death. He was a man of more than ordinary intelligence, and lived to the ripe old age of eighty-three years, passing away Aug. 12, 1866, and was buried in Coventry. He married, April 30, 1807, the acquaintance of his boyhood, Miss Fannie Woodward, who was born April 13, 1792, daughter of Nathaniel and Eliza- beth (Ensworth) Woodward. She died Oct. 15, 1869, and was buried beside her husband in Cov- entry. The family of Eleazer and Fannie French consisted of eight children: (1) Eleazer W., born in 1807, was a cooper in early life, and for some years a resident of Illinois. He married Amanda Brundage, and in later life farmed in Coventry, where he died. (2) Mary E., born in 1809, mar- ried Charles Lee, a blacksmith of Vernon, whence they removed to the old homestead in Coventry, and there died. (3) Oliver B., born in 1811, mar- ried Jane K. French, and was a farmer in Geneseo, Henry Co., Ill., where he died, leaving a daugh- ter, a grandson and a great-grandson. (4) Annie E., born in 1818, married Henry Goodwin, a farmer of Coventry. (5) John B., born in 1821, married Jane Porter. He was a blacksmith, and lived and died in Coventry. (6) Nathaniel W., our subject, was the sixth child. (7) Daniel A., born in 1826, married Dorcas Bissell, followed blacksmithing many years, and now lives retired in Coventry. (8) Abbie S., born in 1833, is the widow of Ro- land Clark, a farmer of Mansfield.

Nathaniel W. French, our subject, when a child of six years went to live with his uncle, Nathaniel Woodward, who was a bachelor and resided at Coventry. He received a good common-school ed- ucation, and at the age of seventeen years began teaching school. Eager for a higher education, at the age of twenty-one he was a student for three terms at Williston Seminary, East Hampton, Mass. Proceeding to Hartford, he there took a boat for Springfield, and thence proceeded to East Hamp- ton, where he remained nine months, being a school- mate. during that time of Judge Calhoun. His funds exhausted, he returned to the home of his uncle, remaining there until the latter's death, in ·1843. Inheriting a portion of the latter's farm, our subject went to New York, where for two years he was employed as bookkeeper by Samuel Smith in the Knickerbocker brewery. He then returned to Coventry and taught school during the winter months, farming in summer. In all he taught six- teen winters. During the winter of 1848-49 he taught at Hillsdale, Mich., then the terminus of the Michigan Southern railroad, holding school in an old dry-goods store, fitted up with slab seats, his pupils numbering 103, ranging in age from three to twenty-one years.

Returning to Coventry in the spring of 18449,

Catharine 50 French Nathaniel W. French

941

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

our subject married, May 5, 1850, Miss Catherine P. Brown, who was born July 22, 1824, daugliter of Zolvah and Mary ( White) Brown, her mother being a descendant of Elder John White, a wealthy and prominent citizen of Middletown. To our subject and wife were born two children, N.

N. Dwight and Charles B., both now deceased.

Dwight was born Dec. 29, 1853. He conducted a grocery and meat market at Suffield and Windsor avenues, Hartford, until failing health compelled him to give up business. He died March 20, 1883, and was buried in Glastonbury, the remains later being removed to Cedar Hill cemetery. He mar- ried Ada G. Tylor, and their one child, Anna E., is now also deceased. Charles B., the second son, was born Dec. 7, 1858. He died unmarried Oct. 3, 1885, and was buried in Glastonbury. Mrs. French is a member of the Congregational Church.

In 1853 our subject removed from Coventry to Glastonbury, and for thirty years he was employed by the Curtis Manufacturing Co. in Naubuc. He purchased a farm near the river, and in 1867 bought his present place from Frederick Sellew, and has since engaged in farming in connection with his other duties. In 1875 he built for his son a resi- dence immediately south of his own home. In pol- itics our subject was in earlier life a Henry Clay Whig, giving him his first vote in 1844. Upon the organization of the Republican party, in 1856, Mr. French gave it his support, and has since been a loyal advocate of its principles. About 1859 he was elected justice of the peace, and he held that office until age exempted him from service. After the death of 'Squire Wells he was for many years the only trial justice in town, and for a time held court nearly every day. He was a member of the board of relief, and in 1880 was elected from his town to the State Legislature, serving in the House as clerk of the committee on Forfeited Rights. 'Squire French is now a notary public, and is fre- quently called upon to draw deeds and other legal documents. He has perhaps written more wills than any other man in Glastonbury.

'Squire French is a citizen of the highest in- tegrity, and his advice and counsel are frequently sought, not only by his friends and acquaintances in Glastonbury, lut by the residents far and wide in the surrounding country. He is widely known, and wherever known most highly respected, his sterling character, keen business judgment and pub- lic spirit commending him warmly to all right-think- ing people.

LEWIS BISSELL (deceased), late of the town of East Hartford, was of the eighth generation of his name to live in the State of Connecticut, the line of descent being as follows :

(I) John Bissell, born in 1591 or 1592 in the County of Somerset, England, came to Plymouth, Mass., in 1628. Previous to 1640 he removed to Windsor, this county, and in 1648 or 1649 he was granted by the Colony of Connecticut the sole

right to run a ferry across the Connecticut river near Hayden's Station. This old ferry is still operated, but has been moved further down the stream. He died in Windsor in 1677. (II) Sam- uel, born in England, died in Windsor. (III) John, born in Windsor in 1659, died in 1684. (IV) Capt. John, born in Windsor in 1682, died in Bol- ton, Conn., March 8, 1771. (V) Capt. Ozias, born in Bolton May 13, 1732, died in Vernon, Conn., March 16, 1828. (VI) Ozias, born in Bolton in 1779, died in Andover, Ohio, in 1853. (VII) Lewis G., born Aug. 15, 1801, in Man- chester, Conn., died in South Windsor Nov. 24, 1892. (VIII) Lewis is our subject.

The dates of birth and death having been given of the heads of the eight generations, with the exception of the present, which will be mentioned further on, it is necessary to mention only the principal events which marked the life of each fam- ily head from the fourth generation in the State up to the present time, to give a fair idea of the importance of the family.

Capt. John Bissell (fourth generation, 1682) joined the legal fraternity of Hartford in 1714 and was appointed King's Attorney for Hartford county in 1727. He was early at Bolton, where he was a selectman in 1721 and 1722, had land set out to him in the first apportionment of town lands in 1722, and in October of that year was elected and confirmed lieutenant of the company or train-band of Bolton, was later promoted to the captaincy, and in May, 1739, was appointed a justice of the peace, after which he was more frequently desig- nated as "Squire." He also represented the town in the Assembly, and was in many ways a prominent man. On Feb. 22, 1711, Capt. Bissell married Han- nah Denslow, to which union were born four chil- dren: John, Elisha, Ozias and Sarah.

Capt. Ozias Bissell (fifth generation, 1732) lived and died in that part of Bolton now known as Vernon. He served nine years in the French war, was at the battle of Lake George in 1755, was taken prisoner at Havana in 1762 and was held nearly eight months. He served as a private in the Second Company, First Regiment, raised for the subjection of Crown Point in April, 1775, and was in service twenty-eight weeks (the Point surrender- ing in May). He raised one of the first companies of the Revolutionary war by the Colonies against Great Britain, and was appointed first lieutenant of the Second Company, Fourth Regiment (his commission dated April, 1775), marched to Boston, took part in the siege of that city and was then promoted to captain. He was at the battle of Long Island in August, 1776, and was taken prisoner March 12, 1778; after his release he was com- missioned captain of the First Battalion, Connecti- cut Line, served nine months, and June 2, 1779, was appointed to captain of a foot company in Col. Wells' reginient, and with the latter was cap- tured near Horseneck, Conn., Dec. 10, 1780, and

942

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

held till June, 1781. He had served five years and eight months in the war of the Revolution, was in three general actions and seven skirmishes, was thrice wounded, once severely, was twice taken pris- oner and held in all about two years. He was well acquainted with Ethan Allen, and he, his sons and grandsons saw about 125 years in the military service of the Colonies and the States.

The first wife of Capt. Ozias Bissell was Mabel Roberts, and his second wife was Sarah Hoffman. His children, in order of birth, were: David, a farmer, who fell from a load of hay and broke his neck; Tyler; Benjamin, a hotelkeeper in Chicago, who with his son was burned to death in a railroad accident in the West; Orville, for twenty years a policeman in Brooklyn, N. Y .; Ozias, of whom further mention will be made; Caroline, who was married to Capt. Peter Buckland, the latter drowned in the Hockanum river at Oakland in 1829; Fanny, married to Ralph Owen, of Belchertown, Mass .; Lucretia, married to a Mr. Rice. The Captain was small of stature, but his children were all large. He was very wiry and active, and at an advanced age his pranks on the dancing floor were remark- abie. At a very advanced age, also, he with his son, Ozias, made the trip on foot from Ohio to Connecticut, a distance of 600 miles, within twelve days. His death took place March 16, 1828.

Ozias Bissell (sixth generation, 1779), born in Bolton, worked when a young man as a farm hand. At Manchester he met and married Sarah Bidwell, eldest daughter of Hon. Zebulon Bidwell, a native of Tolland county, Conn. Mr. Bidwell was a Rev- olutionary soldier, was very wealthy and prominent and was a member of the United States Congress. Ozias Bissell began life a poor young man, but he had the nerve and intelligence that characterized his ancestors. He began by clearing off new land, buying woodland with his savings; from this he chopped off the trees, converted them into cord- wood, hauled it to Hartford and sold it, and lived in Manchester, in that part now known as Oak- land, until the fall of 1833, when he went to Ohio and located in the town of Andover, Ashtabula county, took up his home in the then wilderness, and there remained until his death. His wife, Mrs. Sarah (Bidwell) Bissell, had met a sudden and tragic death at their home in Connecticut the evening of July 25, 1831. Just after supper she was passing from the kitchen to the parlor through the hall, a light shower of rain prevailing at the time. A string of gold beads encircled her neck, and in her hand she bore a bunch of keys. Sud- denly there was a flash of lightning, and she was the victim of the so-called electric fluid. Sixteen of the gold beads of her necklace and the keys in her hand were melted, and she was no more.

The six children that survived their parents, Ozias and Sarah Bissell, were Lewis Glover, father of our subject ; Nelson, who married a Miss Percy, of Stafford Springs, Conn., went to Ohio with his father, caught a severe cold while digging a well

and died from its effects, leaving one son, John, a carpenter of Stafford Springs, Conn .; Sarah also went to Ohio with her father, married a Mr. Per- kins, and died in Andover, aged seventy-nine years, leaving three children ; Ozias, Jr., a farmer of South Windsor, also went to Ohio, but returned, married Miss Mary Parker, of Talcottville, and died at the age of sixty-five years, the father of three chil- dren, of whom one son was killed in the army ; Law- rence B. is mentioned further in the paragraph fol- lowing; and Emma, Mrs. Manley, died aged sixty- five years in Ohio.

Lawrence B. Bissell, son of Ozias, Jr., was born March 25, 1814, was a farmer until twenty-one years of age and then became a mechanic, for fifty years filling the position of foreman in various factories-twenty-seven in a coffee-mill in Meriden. In 1883 he retired to South Windsor. His first wife was Sabra Carrington, of Farmington; his second and present wife is a native of South Wind- sor, was the Widow Elmina Greene when he mar- ried her, and is a daughter of Chester and Martha (Fowler) Barber. Lawrence B. Bissell has two children : Louise, widow of Nathan Upham, of Brooklyn, N. Y .; and Julius B., judge of the Court of Appeals and a prominent attorney of Denver, Colorado.

Ozias Bissell, Jr., was a powerful man, stood six feet in his stockings, and weighed from 165 to 180 pounds. He was a great worker and started in life by cutting wood into two-foot lengths and hauling it to Hartford, then a great market for fuel of the length mentioned; frequently he cut a load by moonlight and hauled it to market next morning. He was a member of the Congregational Church and in politics was a Whig, but had no aspiration for public office. While living in Manchester he was the captain of a militia company, but an ac- cidental cut of his knee-pan incapacitated him from further military service. He eventually acquired a competency, but met with death through a peculiar accident. While mowing with a scythe, his foot was caught in a hole, throwing his body forward upon the implement, which cut a gash in his side, the result being that he died a few days later.

Lewis Glover Bissell (seventh generation, 1801) was reared in Manchester and there received the schooling afforded by the meager opportunities of his early youth. He was reared on the home farm, and while still assisting his father found time to learn the shoemaker's trade, at which he worked during the winter seasons for several years during his early manhood, and later had a well-appointed shop on his own farm, which the neighboring man- ufacturers supplied with batches of work at con- tract prices.

Lewis G. Bissell married, in Lebanon, in 1824, Miss Parmelia Beckwith, who was born June 2), 1802, in that town, and descended from one of its oldest families. He then went to housekeeping near Oakland, in the town of Manchester, on an acre of ground which had been given him by his

943

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

father to enable him to vote. He made improve- ments from year to year, however, and in the fall of 1833 removed to South Windsor, purchased sev- enty acres, and continued to purchase until he owned a tract half a mile square. This farm he improved until it was the best in the town, but this place at his death did not represent one-half of his posses- sions. He made all his wealth at his trade and by farming -- through hard work and not by speculation. He never cultivated tobacco, although he allotted to his sons several small plats for that purpose. His chief attention, as a farmer, was devoted to live stock, and some of his oxen netted him $350 per yoke. Mr. Bissell was six feet in height, was wiry and tough and weighed about 160 pounds.

In his earlier days Mr. Bissell was a very so- ciable and companionable man, but as years rolled on he became a constant reader and a close student of the Bible. He was a member of the Methodist Church at North Manchester, in which he was a class leader. In politics he was a Whig and took pride in voting at every election from his majority until his latest hour, but thought more of his own business than he did of politics. He was noted for his physical strength in his early manhood, and it is related of him that, at Burnside, he once lifted a piece of machinery that weighed 500 pounds, and at another time took up a barrel of cider at the press and placed it in his wagon unaided. A fore- noon's work to him was equal to a full day's work to the average man; even at the age of eighty-five years he cradled grain, and at the age of eighty- seven mowed, with a scythe, one and one-half acres of grass in a forenoon. He was one of the most prosperous of farmers, as well as one of the most honored of men, in his neighborhood. He lived to be ninety-one years and three months old, and absolutely wore himself out. His remains were in- terred in Wapping cemetery, beside those of his wife, who departed this life Jan. 16, 1872.

The children of Lewis G. Bissell and wife were: Harriet, who lived to be sixty-nine years old, and died unmarried in March, 1896, in South Windsor ; Lewis, whose name opens this article; George, who lives in retirement in East Hartford; and Charles H., a farmer of South Windsor.

Lewis Bissell (eighth generation) was born in Manchester July 6, 1829, on a piece of land that had been presented to his father in order to qualify him for voting under the law as it then stood. His education was received in the common schools, then greatly inferior to what they are at this day, and in the old Manchester Academy, from which he graduated. He worked on the home farm until twenty-five years of age and the work was hard enough as well as plentiful, election day, in April, be- ing about the only holiday farmer lads were per- mitted to enjoy.

In the fall of 1854 Mr. Bissell married for his first wife Miss Cornelia A. Palmer, a native of Vernon and a daughter of Uriah and Theresa (Strong) Palmer, Theresa Strong being connected

with a prominent old family of Bolton. On this occasion Mr. Bissell's father presented him with some land, valued at $500, on which to begin house- keeping, besides which he had saved $700, which he had earned by working out when his father did not need his services at home. Mr. Bissell was also a natural trader when young and a shrewd buyer of grain, which he had ground into flour and which he sold in Hartford, realizing some money from this enterprise. He began farming on his newly acquired place, on which he lived until 1859, and then farmed at other places until 1862, when his health failed and he relinquished the vocation. In 1867 he bought and located at Griswold Place, the old Bissell farm in Manchester, erected new buildings thereon, and in 1871 moved to East Hartford, where he made his home until his death, Sept. 1, 1900. However, he still retained important real estate interests there. In 1890 hie erected his fine dwelling on Main street, one of the best houses in the town.

By his first marriage Mr. Bissell had born to him one child, Robert P., now a merchant of Man- chester. Mrs. Cornelia A. Bissell was called away Aug. 7, 1892, and on Jan. 2, 1893, Mr. Bissell married Miss Ida Griswold, a native of Manchester and a daughter of E. Hubbard and Harriet ( White) Griswold, the latter a daughter of Minor White. E. Hubbard Griswold was a school teacher in his younger days and achieved a fine reputation as an instructor ; his four daughters were also highly educated and followed the same vocation. They were: Ella, Mrs. Joseph Albertson, of Manchester ; Ida, who taught twelve years in Manchester, and is now the wife of Lewis Bissell; Hattie, Mrs. Bart- lett, of Danielson, Conn. ; and Elsie, Mrs. Howard C. Gaines, of East Hartford.

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 36

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