Commemorative biographical record of Middlesex County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Part 100

Author: Beers (J.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago : Beers
Number of Pages: 1502

USA > Connecticut > Middlesex County > Commemorative biographical record of Middlesex County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families > Part 100

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(11) John Liusley, son of Joli, the emi- grant, died in 1684. Of the children born to him and his wife, Hannah, two, John and Jonathan, were baptized in 1688.

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(III) John Linsley, the third to bear the name, was known as Ensign John. In 1699 he inarried Mary daughter of Thomas Harri- son, an early settler of Totoket, and they had five children : Mary, born June 1, 1701 ; John, February 20, 1703; Elizabeth, January 20, 1705; Lieut. Joseph, November 28, 1707; and Ebenezer, November II, 17II.

(IV) Lieut. Joseph Linsley, son of John (3), born November 28, 1707, married, May 27, 1731, Lydia Wilford. He was the first Linsley that settled in Northford. Their ten children were: Joseph, born June 2, 1732, died April 16, 1803. Dan, born October 9, 1734, is mentioned below. Josiah, born July 9, 1736, married Rachel Fowler, and died Feb- ruary 17, 1796. Lydia, married September 12, 1757, Titus Munson, and died January 23, 1776. Abigail, married July 6, 1768, Silas Benton, and died February 27, 18II. Rebecca, born Sept. 4, 1748 ( ?), married, December 31, 1772, Jared Taintor, and died April 25, 1819. Elizabeth, born in March, 1746, married, De- cember 28, 1769, Jonathan Tyler, and died October 15, 1830. James and John, twins, were born in 1750; the former died June 2, 1757; the latter married Jerusha Linsley, and died January 15, 1826. Solomon, born in 1752, died November 5, 1814; his wife's name was Thankful.

(V) Dan Linsley, son of Lieut. Joseph, born October 9, 1734, married November 13, 1758, Annie Tyler, born in 1737, and their children were: Chloe married a Mr. Dawson. Anna, born in 1759, married Medad Taintor, and died May 4, 1817. Hannah, born in 1761, married Capt. Stephen Smith, and died June 28, 1837. Jantes, born July 9, 1763, is men- tioned below. Dan, the youngest, died April 17, 1825.

(VI) James Linsley, son of Dan, born July 9, 1763, married, September 28, 1786, Sarah Maltby, who was born in May, 1763. Mr. Linsley died November 23, 1828, and Mrs. Linsley passed away March 16, 1848. He was a private in Capt. Ephraim Cook's company of Connecticut troops. which turned out to repel the enemy at New Haven, July 5, 1779, at the time of what is known as "Tryon's Invasion." James Linsley was about sixteen years of age when he took part in this patriotic work. His children were as follows: ( I) James Harvey, born May 5, 1787, married, February 1, 1818, Sophia Brainerd Lyon. He was graduated

from Yale College, became a Baptist minister, and was prominent in the early history of that church in Connecticut. He was a fine ornith- ologist, and wrote and published a book on "American Birds," and prepared a fine cabi- net of them, over sixty years ago. This col- lection is in a remarkably fine state of preserva- tion. His daughter Elizabeth took charge of the collection after the death of her distin- guished father, and upon her death it went to the Museum at Bridgeport, Conn. Rev. James Harvey was the father of Sophia Emelia Phelps, wife of S. Dryden Phelps, D. D., of New Haven, and the grandfather of William Lyon Phelps, Professor at this time of Eng- lish Literature at Yale University; Sophia Lyon, deceased ; Rev. Dryden W., of New Ha- ven; and Rev. Arthur S., of Colorado. Rev. Mr. Linsley died at his home in Stratford, Conn., December 26, 1843. (2) Olive, born September 21, 1789, married, June 2, 1811, Asa Foote. (3) Esther, born March 2, 1792, married, in November, 1822, Augustus Black- stone, and died January 19, 1866. (4) Entily, born April 14, 1794 married, in December, 1815, Samuel Cooper, and died August 18, 1839, leaving descendants in New Haven. (5) Elizabeth M., born July 21, 1796, married, August 21, 1832, Samuel Bullock; their de- scendants are in Pennsylvania. (6) Dan Eve- lyn, born March 14, 1800, married Betsey Hoadley, and removed to the West. He died in 1873, leaving descendants in Illinois and New York. (7) Sarah M., born June 2, 1802 died August 7, 1886. (8) Delight U. was born April 8, 1804. (9) John Stephen, born July 19, 1806, is mentioned at length below. (10) Jeremiah, born August 9, 1809, died in February, 18II.

(VII) John Stephen Linsley, son of James, and the father of Mrs. George F. Spencer, was born July 19, 1806. On November II, 1834, he married Eliza Ann Halsey, of Bridge- hampton, Long Island, who was born August 31, 1809, and they had six children, namely : James Halsey, John S., Hannah, Benjamin M. (deceased), Harvey and Esther Ann.

(VIII) (I) James Halsey Linsley, born September 6, 1835, son of John Stephen and Eliza Ann Halsey was graduated from the Connecticut State Normal School in 1857, and subsequently taught school several winters in Connecticut and other States. He was also a farmer. He enlisted in Company C, Tenth

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Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, in August, 1861, and served until August, 1865. He saw much arduous service, and was wounded three times in action-at Kinston, N. C., De- cember 14, 1862; at Strawberry Plains, Va., July 26, 1864; and at Fort Gregg, Va., April 2, 1865. He was commended by his de- partment commander for special service and the capture of the enemy's outposts near Dutch Gap, Va., in July, 1864. He became captain of his company and was mustered out with that rank. His two brothers, John S. and Benja- min M., were also in the service. James H. Linsley married Catherine D., daughter of Dean Conant, of New Hampshire, and has two children, Eleanor Bonney and Arthur M. Eleanor married Albert Johnson, of Elliott, Conn., and has two children, Arthur and Wil- ford.

(VIII) (2) John S. Linsley, M. D., was born January 22, 1838, was graduated from the Connecticut State Normal School in 1858, and taught school. He studied medicine one year with Dr. E. C. Sanford, of Bridgeport, Conn., and in the carly part of the great Civil war enlisted in the Tenth Connecticut Volun- teer Infantry, later being transferred to the Fourteenth United States Regulars. He was nade hospital steward and was detached from his regiment and placed on duty at the Officers Hospital on Bedloe's Island, New York Har- bor. After the close of the war he continued the study of medicine, and attended the Homeo- pathic Medical College of New York City, where he subsequently practiced his profession for over thirty-five years. He is now re- tired. He was married to Mary Lyon, of Bridgeport, Conn., and had four children : Mary, who married Cornelius J. Horton, of White Plains, N. Y., and has four children, Hubert, Muriel, Monmouth and Evelyn : Lill- ian, who married Alfred McConnell, resides at Redding, Conn., and has one child, Grace Mary: Edith ; and Gertrude, who died young.

( VIII) (3) Hannah Linsley, born No- vember 23, 1839, resides at Northford, Con .. unmarried.

(VIII) (4) Benjamin Maltby Linsley, the third son of this patriotic family, was born November 2, 1841, and attended the district schools, New Britain high school, and the Suffield ( Con. ) Literary Institute. After his graduation, in July. 1862, he also entered the army, enlisting in the Fourteenth United

States Regulars, and with his regiment partici- pated in many engagements, and was "miss- ing" and never found after the terrible battle of the Wilderness, in May, 1864. He had successfully passed an examination for a com- mission as first lieutenant in the One Hundred Eighth United States Colored Troops, and the commission arrived the morning his regiment went into the battle. He was to take command in his regiment in June, 1864, by special order No. 216, War Department, Series 1864. At the time of his enlistment he was preparing for the ministry. He was a brilliant scholar, and a devout Christian.

(VIII) (5) Harvey Linsley was born April 23, 1843, and received a liberal educa- tion, attending the Connecticut State Normal School, graduating from the Suffield (Conn.) Literary Institute in 1866 and attended Brown University one year, and the Crozier Theo- logical Seminary, at Chester, Pa., from which he was graduated in 1870. He returned to his home in Connecticut. He was ordained a minister, and became the pastor of the Bap- tist Church at Buckfield, Maine, where he re- mained four years. Removing to Colorado, he represented the Baptist work there for four- teen years, with his excellent and persevering companion doing most faithful and successful work, and organizing many churches through- out the State. Returning to Connecticut about 1889, he became pastor of the Baptist Church at New Hartford, thence going to South Wind- sor for four years, then to Zion's Hill, at Suf- field. Conn., where he is at present ( 1902). He was married in March, 1873, to Rachel Keyes, of Bennington, Vt., and their children are: Grace, born in Maine, died in Colorado; Ray, who graduated from Vermont Academy, mar- ried Flora Ladd, has one child. and lives in Bristol, Conn .; Vivian Halsey, a Baptist min- ister : Edna, a student at Holyoke College: and twins, Earl Garfield ( a student at Colgate Uni- versity ) and Paul Judson. When the war with Spain began Ray enlisted in the First Connecticut Infantry, and was in camp with his regiment in Georgia, where he had typhoid fever of which so many of his comrades died.

SILAS PAYNE. The Payne family has resided in what is now the town of Portland since the 17th century. It was about that time that settlers left Middletown, crossed the Connecticut river, and began the settlement of

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what was then East Middletown. From that time the Paynes have always been one of the first families, and numbered among the best citizens. John Payne was the first of the name to come to Middletown, where he was well known in the early days, and Silas Payne is today the only male representative of his generation left in the town.

John Payne and Mary Martin were mar- ried August 1, 1676, in Middletown, the same year that he came to this early settlement. He died in December, 1681, leaving one son, Job, and two daughters, Patience and Abigail.

Job Payne, son of John and Mary, was born in Middletown, May 1, 1678, and was the first of the family to come to East Middletown, now Portland. He located near the little lake which now bears his name, being known as Job's Pond. On January II, 1699, he mar- ried Susannah Eggleston, a daughter of Sam- uel Eggleston, and she died in 1701. In May, 1704, Job Payne married for his second wife, Elizabeth Hall. He died February 25, 1764, and his wife passed away later in the same year.

John Payne, son of Job, was born April 7, 1706, and he died June 22, 1786. He was a farmer and lived near Job's Pond, in Portland. He was twice married. His first wife was Sarah Young, who died February 28, 1773. On January 12, 1775, he married Lucy Board- man, who was the widow of Mr. Washburn and Mr. Montgomery. John Payne and Sar- ah Young had two sons, Reuben and Amasa, of whom the latter went to Ohio.

Reuben Payne was born in Portland in 1762. He received a bounty from a grateful country for his services in the War of the Rev- olution. He was a farmer, residing near the present site of the Portland town poorhouse, and was a prominent man in the community. Taking an active part in church affairs, he ex- erted a wide influence for good.

His first wife whom he married Novem- ber 4, 1784, was Elizabeth Hamlin, who was born January 30, 1763, a descendant of Giles Hamlin, who was one of the most prominent men in the early history of Middletown, ac- cording to this lineage: Giles Hamlin; Will- iam; Charles; and Elizabeth. Reuben Payne and his wife were the parents of five children : (1) John, born October 12, 1785, was a merchant in Portland, where he died. He

married Hannah Hall, and left a family, among whom was Rev. Dr. William Payne, an Episcopal clergyman. (2) Alfred, born No- vember 5, 1787, was a farmer on Penfield Hill. (3) Job Hamlin, born August 6, 1790, was the father of Silas. (4) Sally, born March 31, 1795, married a Mr. Henry Shepard, of Mid- dle Haddam, May 9, 1826. (5) Anna W., born January 7, 1805, died unmarried. The father of these children died July 31, 1810.

Job Hamlin Payne was born August 6, 1790, on the farm where his son Reuben lived in later years. His early education was ac- quired in the Penfield Hill district school, and he was reared after the fashion that shaped the training of the farmer boys of his time. Af- ter marriage he located on the same farm where Silas now lives, and where all his fam- ily were born and reared. He was one of the good farmers of his time, and reared a family that compared with the best in the town. In politics he was first a Whig, but be- came a Republican on the formation of that party. Profoundly interested in

church affairs, he was a hard worker for the interests of religion, and for many years he was a deacon of the First Congregational Church in Portland, and when that society divided he became a deacon in the second organization. He was a man of the most unswerving integrity, a hard worker, and exerted a most wholesome influence upon all with whom he came in contact. He and his brother John together owned the farm on which he lived and died, but after a little John sold out, and Job H. became the sole owner of the farm which has become a family home- stead. He added more land to it. and became one of the foremost land-owners and farmers of his day. His family of boys were of the most substantial type, and as they became men engaged in farming on the paternal estate, and. helped their sire in his very successful ca- reer. In later years the estate was divided, and provided them with good farms of their own. The father was a well-known citizen of the best type, and had a host of friends. Job Hamlin Payne was married June 28, 1815, to Orilla Shepard, who was born June. 22, 1794, daughter of Lieutenant Daniel Shepard, Jr., who lived to be ninety-seven years old, and Ruth ( Penfield) Shepard (who was the widow of John Wilcox), daughter of Col.

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John Penfield. She died July 6, 1853, at the age of ninety years. Although she became very deaf in her later years, she is remembered as a remarkable woman in many ways. The children born to Job H. Payne and wife were as follows : (I) Franklin, born June 22, 1816, was known far and wide as Deacon Franklin Payne. He was a successful farm- er and a pioneer in fruit growing, especially in the line of peaches. His first wife was Al- mira 'A. Pelton, who died in 1881. In 1884 he married Miss E. Elizabeth Wilcox, who survives him. He died March 10, 1899, highly respected as a useful citizen. He was a deacon of the Congregational Church, to which position he was chosen in February, 1851, and served in that capacity as long as he lived. He had a son Lyman, and a daugh- ter, Elizabeth, the latter now the wife of William E. Craig, of Danbury. (2) Lucy Wilcox, born June 10, 1818, died Septem- ber 4, 1885, at the home of her sister in Dan- bury. (3) Reuben, born August 29, 1820, was a successful farmer, and one of the good citizens of his time. He was married May 15, 1851, to Miss E. N. Clark, of Chatham, and his second wife was Miss Abbey Bell. He died February 27, 1897. (4) Daniel, born October 4, 1823, remained in Portland the first thirty years of his life, and then went to Windsor, where he made his home on Stony Hill. He died April 4, 1892: On November 2, 1855, he married Miss Grace E. Stewart, (5) Eliza, born October 4, 1826, married Harvey Williams, June 24, 1850. He was the first ticket agent at Hartford for the Fish- kill & Providence Railroad, and later at Danbury, on the Norwalk and Danbury divi- sion of what is now the Consolidated Rail- road. She died November 19, 1890. (6) Si- las Payne, the subject of this article, was born April 6, 1830. (7) Edward, born July 10. 1833, one of the prominent business men of Middletown, was one of the founders of the Middletown Plate Company, but is now retired (see sketcli elsewhere). (8) Harriet, born February 1, 1837, never married. and died September 4, 1880. The father of this in- teresting family died August 4. 1856, and his widow, September 11, 1881. They were both interred in Center cemetery.

Silas Payne had his education in the dis- trict schools of Penfield Hill and remembers

among his earlier teachers Cephas Brown, of Moodus, Conn. At the time of his attendance at Penfield Hill it was one of the largest schools in the town. When Harrison Whit- comb taught, it had one hundred and twenty pupils enrolled, and they were all Yankees, ex- cept one, Hugh Garvey, an Irishman. To- day this district has but seventeen atten- dants and all but two are of foreign parent- age. Such is one of the many changes wrought in the rural districts of Connecticut as compared with a half century ago. At Portland young Silas attended a select school taught by Evelyn Overton. He was reared a farmer, and spent his youthful days on the farm where he now resides. When he was fifteen years old he spent three months in a store at Deep River, and when eighteen, work- ed a few months for a farmer in Westfield, Conn. These are the only instances of his departure from the home farm.

On January 18, 1860, Mr. Payne married Miss Lucretia D. Brainerd, of Haddam, who was born in that town, a daughter of Ansel, Jr., and Sarah (Day) Brainerd. Her father was the proprietor of a stone quarry and a successful farmer. The Brainerds are one of the old families of the county, and have long been prominent in its affairs. To Mr. and Mrs. Silas Payne were born three children : (1) Anna O., who lived to be over thirty years old, died unmarried at home. (2) Alva B., born October 11, 1866, married Addie Virginia Goodrich, of Glastonbury, a daugh- ter of Jolin Goodrich, and they have two chil- dren, Marion Hepzibah (born July 18, 1896). and Anna May (born February 27. 1001). Alva B. Payne has an excellent baritone voice and is one of the best known vocalists in the county, and has been heard in some of the most exclusive church choirs in this section of the State: he resides with his father, and follows farming. (3) Mai Louisa, died at the age of eight years.

Silas Payne remained on the home farm after the death of his father, and bought ont all the other heirs, and here he has lived to the present moment. He owns a fine farm of 125 acres, and has greatly improved and en- larged the home. For years before the abo- lition of the office he was road agent in Port- land, and has served on the board of relief. Mr. and Mrs. Payne are both members of the

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Congregational Church. He has an excellent basso voice, and for twenty years was the lead- er of the choir in the North Church. Mr. Payne has taken for some years a deep inter- est in horses, and is widely known as a horseman. He has raised some very speedy animals, and has a quick eye for the fine points of a horse. The Payne name is time- honored in Portland, and it has not lost any- thing at the hands of its present possessor.

CARLOS HALE, a retired merchant of Middletown, Middlesex county, resides in his very pleasant home at South Farms, where he is enjoying an ample competence, the ac- cumulation of busy years.

The Hale family is an old one in this State, and has supplied many good citizens. They are all descended from Samuel and Thomas Hale, the former of whom was in Hartford as early as 1637, and served in the Pequot war. This family was originally settled in Wales, though it has been in this country for over two hundred and sixty-five years. The Hales were in Glastonbury, Conn., about the begin- ning of the century, and later in Chatham, Conn., and from that place the grandparents of Carlos Hale removed to Enfield.

Jonathan Hale, grandfather of Carlos, lived in what is now Portland. He died when about forty years of age from accidentally cutting his knee while building a cider mill at Enfield. He married Mary Clark from Clark's Hill, and his children were as follows: Lu- cinda married Mr. Sparks; Polly married and went to Ohio; Loriada married Capt. Alfred Davis; Nancy ; Caroline; Eben was the father of Carlos ; Chauncey lived and died in New Britain ; David lived in West Springfield. The father removed from Chatham to Enfield, where he died. He was a drum major in the Revolutionary army, and his widow received a pension for years. For her second husband she married Elisha Button, and he died at South Wilbraham. Mass. ; she died in Somers, Conn. at the age of eighty-seven.

Eben Hale was born at Chatham July I, 1780, and moved with his parents to Enfield when about twenty years old. He was a farmer, and an honorable, hard-working man. On October 16. 18II, at Enfield, he married Mary Prior, who was born February 13, 1785, and their children were as follows: Nathan- iel P., born October 14, 1812, died October 3,

1863, in Somers, Conn. Catherine, born April 4, 1815, died in Buffalo, the widow of David Clark. Jonathan C., born September 1, 1817, died in Kansas; he married Abigail Foster, of Ellington, Conn. Norton, born June 27, 1819, was in the milk business at Buffalo; he died in Somers, Conn., July 28, 1848. Carlos was born April 13, 1823. Eben Hale died in South Farms in May, I866. His wife died August II, 1858 in Long Meadow, Mass., and is buried with her husband at Somers, Conn. Mr. Hale was a farmer all his life. He bought out the other heirs in the homestead at Scitico, and resided there for years. Later selling this place, he bought a farm on Hall Hill, in the town of Somers, where his son Jonathan was in partnership with him. Still later he bought a farm in Long Meadow, Mass., at which place his wife died. A few years later, at the age of eighty-four years, he went to Middle- tow'n to make his home with his son Carlos, and there died. Politically he was a Demo- crat in his later years.

Carlos Hale was born at Enfield, and his educational advantages -were such as the dis- trict schools afforded. He attended in the short winter months and spent the summers in hard labor. At nineteen years of age he went to Hazardville, where he entered the tin shop of Albert and John Olmsted, to learn the trade. His wages for the first three years were small, but he learned the trade thorough- ly and became a master workman. He worked as a journeyman in Springfield and Pittsfield, Mass., saved his earnings and went into busi- ness in Farmington. Conn., with his brother Norton, who had been in Buffalo, and had been obliged to return to Connecticut on ac- count of his health. They did business under the firm name of C. & N. Hale. . Hr. Hale left Farmington on the death of his brother and located at Indian Orchard, Mass., where he was in business a few years. In 1853 he came to Middletown and started business in a most modest and usassuming way. He trav- eled on the road. selling tinware from the wagon, and had one hundred dollars a month salary. In later years he opened for himself a store on Main street, in Middletown, where he handled tinware and stoves, and did a plumbing business. He was a good salesman, a genial and accommodating tradesman, and it was not long before he was able to command the largest patronage of any firm in town. In

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1890 Mr. Hale sold out his business interests, and has lived retired since that time. During the many years of his business career he es- tablished a reputation for strict integrity and ability which gained for him the highest es- teem, not only of his customers, but also of his associates in the commercial world. In 1864 Mr. Hale removed to South Farms, and has lived in that attractive suburb since. He owns a fine home there and a number of at- tractive residence properties, and is said to be one of the largest real-estate owners in South Farms. Since his retirement from active busi- ness Mr. Hale has given much attention to real estate and other investments.

Mr. Hale and Miss Lenora E. Pease were married August 18, 1847, in Wilbraham, Mass. She was born September 20, 1829, at Wilbraham, daughter of Capt. Shubel and Betsy ( Kibbe) Pease. Mrs. Hale had only a common-school education, but she learned rapidly, and became a well-informed woman. They had children as follows: Katie E., born February 13, 1849, married J. J. Hubbard, and had two children, George E. and John Frederick; Mrs. Hubbard died February 20, 1895, and was buried at Farm Hill. Emma F., born September 4, 1855, married William Skinner and lives at South Farms ; they have two daughters, Mabel (now" Mrs. Bertrand Pierce, of Hartford) and Lillian M. Bertha J., born August 5, 1866, is the widow of E. R. White, of Middletown, and has one son. Percival H., who was born April 17, 1892.

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Commemorative biographical record of Middlesex County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Part 100

Author: Beers (J.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1903 Publisher: Chicago : Beers Number of Pages: 1502

Author: Beers (J.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago : Beers
Number of Pages: 1502