Commemorative biographical record of Middlesex County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Part 118

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 118

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in Middlefield, where he has ever since carried on business. His trade is pros- perous and profitable, and at times calls for the employment of three assistants, his being the only first-class shop in the town. As a citizen he is of broad, enlightened public spirit, as a man genial and hospitable, true to his friends and charitable to the frailties to- ward which he has never been tempted. Whole-souled, conscientious and hard-working he enjoys the respect of the community, and the sincere love of those who know him best. The architect of his own fortune, he has built upon the triple cornerstone of industry, good judgment and sterling probity.

Mr. Peckham was married, June 27, 1867, to Fannie I. Miller, a descendant of one of the most honored families of the State, whose gen- ealogical history is given in a succeeding para- graph. A Republican in political faith, he is able to rise above partisanship on local issues. Both he and his wife are attendants upon the Congregational Church of Middlefield. Stal- wart in frame, keen in perception and conserva- tive in judgment, Mr. Peckham enjoys the un- failing and outspoken confidence of the com- munity of which he is a prominent and in- fluential citizen.

To Mr. Peckham and his wife have been born three children. The eldest, Delano W., early exhibited a marked fondness, as well as a rare aptitude, for railroading. At the age of seventeen he was station agent of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railway Company at Middlefield, and he is now one of the company's train despatchers at New Haven. He married Miss May Hopkins, and has one child, Rachel. They live in Middlefield, at the home of his father. Mr. Peckham's second child, Glenne, died in infancy. Millard E., the youngest of the family, is unmarried, and lives at home, superintending the farm.

Mrs. Peckham's maiden name, as has been stated, was Fannie I. Miller. She is of Eng- lish descent, the first American progenitor of her family having been one Thomas Miller, who emigrated from Birmingham, England, tnd settled in Rowley, Mass., where he was made a freeman in 1639. From Rowley he moved to Middletown, Conn., about 1654. He erected a large mill at South Farm, upon land which is now the site of the plant of the Rus- sell Manufacturing Company. His first wife, Isabel, bore him a daughter, Ann. After her

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death he married, at the age of fifty-six years, Sarah, daughter of Samuel Nettleton, of Brad- ford. Of this union came eight children : Thomas, born May 6, 1666; Samuel, April I, 1668; Joseph, August 21, 1670; Benjamin, July 20, 1672; John, March 10, 1674; Mar- garet ; Sarah ; and Mehitabel, born March 28, 1681. Thomas Miller died August 14, 1680, and his widow, Sarah, survived him until 1727.

Benjamin Miller, the fourth son of the second marriage, was one of the first settlers of Middlefield, locating in the southern por- tion of the town about the year 1700. Tradi- tion has it that he was given the honorary title of "Governor," partly because of his strong character and great influence with the Indians, and partly on account of his large holdings of real estate. His first wife, Mary Johnson, bore him eight children: Rebecca, who mar- ried David Robinson, of Durham; Sarah, the wife of Joseph Hickox; Mary, who died un- married; Benjamin, Jr., who married Hannah Robinson; Hannah, who became the wife of Ephraim Coe; Isaac, who died unmarried ; Mehitabel, Mrs. Barnes; and Ichabod, who is mentioned below. After the death of his first wife, Benjamin Miller, Sr., the "Gov- ernor," married Mercy Bassett, by whom he became the father of seven children, namely : Lydia, Amos, Ebenezer, Martha, Rhoda, David and Thankful. Lydia married Eliakim Snow, and Amos married Abigail Cromwell. Eben- ezer died unmarried. Martha married Thomas Atkins, and Rhoda became the wife of Ben- jamin Bacon. David married Slizabeth Brain- erd. Thankful died unmarried. "Governor" Benjamin died November 2, 1747, and Mercy. his widow, on February 9. 1756.

Deacon Ichabod Miller, the youngest child of the first marriage of Benjamin, Sr., was born December 15, 1709, and died August 22, 1788. Ile was a deacon in the Congrega- tional Church. Like his father, he was twice married, his first wife being Mary Elton, and his second Elizabeth, the widow of Jeremiah Bacon. The issue of the first union was four sons and one daughter: Elizabeth, who was born December 10, 1732, married Joseph Bacon, and died September 2, 1752: Recom- pense, the eldest son, who married Isabel Ives ; Ichabod, who married the daughter of his fa- ther's second wife by her first marriage, Eliza- beth Bacon; Timothy, who married Mary

Hale; and Richard, the fifth and youngest child, who married Anna Ward. The chil- dren of the second union were four in number : Elizabeth, Seth, Mary and Rachel. Elizabeth, born in 1753, married James T. Ward. Seth married Hannah Parsons. Mary became Mrs. Seth Coe and Rachel, who was born in 1761, married Eli Coe.

Ichabod Miller (2), the son of Deacon Ichabod Miller, had four daughters and three sons : The eldest daughter, Irene, married Isaac Miller, and Rhoda married William Bab- bitt. Sally became Mrs. Jonathan Turner. Elizabeth died unmarried. Jesse was twice married, first to Susie Wetmore, and after her death to Mrs. Sarah Prior. Jeremiah married Mary Ives. Capt. Ichabod Miller. the youngest son, married Sarah, daughter of Capt. David Birdsey. The father of this fam- ily was a lieutenant in a militia company and a citizen held in high esteem.

Capt. Ichabod and Sarah ( Birdsey ) Miller had eight children, as follows: Electa. born July 3, 1796, married Ira Miller ; Martha, born April 15. 1799, was the wife of Bethuel Roberts ; Sarah E., born July 31. 1802, became Mrs. Almon Miller; David B., born March 5. 1805, married Nancy Hale: Louisa, born October 1, 1807, was the wife of Isaac Miller ; Ichabod, born March 13. 1810. was the hus- band of Aurelia M. Coe: Jesse, born April 7. 1815, married Roxana Coe : and Elbert. the fa- ther of Mrs. Peckham, born May 20. 1818, married Rachel Coc.

Elbert Miller first saw the light of day in a house which stood in what is now the north- ern part of Middlefield, on the site of the present residence of David Lown. This was his home until several years after his marriage, when the house was destroyed by fire, and he removed to the farm on which he passed the remainder of his life. He died, of apopless.

April 16, 1801. He was a member of the Con- gregational Church at Middlefield, a man of gentle, quiet disposition and massuming man- ners, and was much beloved. He held the rank of captain in the local militia, and was usually addressed by that title. His marriage to Miss Coe occurred October 8, 1810. She was born July 28, 1821, daughter of Bela Coc (at one time a large land owner in Middlefield ) and his wife Hannah Ward, and died February 1. 1800, at her home in Middlefield, after a short illness. To Elbert Miller and his wife came

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three daughters, of whom Fannie I., Mrs. Peckham, is the second. The eldest, Imogene C., was born July 3, 1841, and was married March 9, 1859, to Henry J. Camp, a farmer, of Durham. Their home is in Middlefield. They have had three children, Edward H. (born March 22, 1864), Elmore P. (July 16, 1865), and Mary L. ( April 6, 1882). Ed- ward married Agnes Hotchkiss, and died at his home, at Shelton, Conn., February 2, 1895, leaving one child, Roland E. Elmore P. mar- ried Adriana Nado, and lives in Middlefield; they are the parents of one daughter, Bertha R. Mary L., the youngest child, is unmar- ried, and remains at home with her parents. Mrs. Peckham's youngest sister Lucina C., born May 2, 1850, is unmarried, and resides in Middlefield, at the old homestead.

JAMES POST REDFIELD HAYDEN who ranked among the prominent and substan- tial farmers of Westbrook, Middlesex county, and resided on his estate in the western part of the town near the Clinton line, a successful self-made man.

Mr. Hayden came from an old family, tracing his ancestry to John Hayden, who was made a freeman in 1704, and resided in what is now known as Essex. Nehemiah Hayden, the great-great-grandfather of James P. R., married Temperance Parker, and died in 1774. His son Elias, the great-grandfather, was born in Essex in 1744, and was a ship carpenter by trade. He made his home during his last years with his son Calvin, who was our sub- ject's grandfather, and was also born in Essex. Calvin Hayden was a ship carpenter. Resid- ing in Essex for several years after his mar- riage, he then came to Westbrook to follow the same line of work. The shipyards along the Pochaug river belonged to him, and he re- sided near them. For his time he was con- sidered a wealthy man, and became prominent- ly mentioned in the public affairs of the town. He was a consistent member of the Congrega- tional Church, and especially noted for his generosity and kindness to the poor. Politi- cally he was a stern and unflinching Old-line Whig. Calvin Hayden married Betsey Griffin, a native of Greenport, L. I., and the following named children were born to them: Mary, who married Horace Kelsey; Elias, who mar- ried Maria Smith; Calvin; Betsey, who mar- ried Joseph Spencer; Gideon; Hannah, who

married Thomas Tripp; Sophia, who married John Hayden ; and Miriam.

Calvin Hayden, the father of James P. R., was born in March, 1812, in Essex, and came to Westbrook when about eleven years of age. As was the custom he early began to make himself useful, engaging in work in the ship- yards belonging to his father. His literary education was such as the rather limited op- portunities of that time afforded. The work in which he engaged was easily learned by him, as he was a natural mechanic, and during life he became so proficient that he was master builder on many of the vessels sent out from the Connecticut river yards. He assisted in the building of twenty-seven vessels, built at the various yards, being employed by the Gaines family of Rocky Hill; one of these ships, the "Mary," is still in the West India trade. For a number of years Mr. Hayden was in the employ of David Mallory, as master

builder, and many of the clipper ships owned by that gentleman were built under his direc- tion, at Mystic, Conn. His work was so well known that his name was a guarantee for perfection in that line. Until about three months before his death he kept employed, but his busy hands were stilled July 25, 1866; his death occurred at his house in Westbrook, and he was buried in the South cemetery, being later removed to the new cemetery.

Calvin Hayden married Mary E. Redfield, who was born in 1810 in Meriden, Conn., daughter of James and Emeline ( Farrington) Redfield, and died February 16, 1893. The following children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hayden : Mary F., who through life was an invalid, died at the age of sixty-three; Sarah J., who married Daniel Fields, lives on the old homestead, in Westbrook; James P. R. is men- tioned below; Imogene married William Cal- houn; Grace A. married William Pendleton; Calvin B., who was for many years a commis- sion merchant in Chicago, now resides in Phoenix, Ariz. ; Cora L. is the widow of Wal- ter Lathrop, of Hartford; Elisha K. married Margaret A. Williams; Isabella married James Brown; Edward P. was a mine owner for inany years, resided at Phoenix, Ariz., later went to the Klondike regions, and on his re- turn was drowned; Charles lives in Portland, Conn. ; Gertrude married Horace Warner, and died in Ellington, Connecticut.

James P. R. Hayden was born June 12,

JAMES P. R. HAYDEN.

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1833, in Westbrook, and was the eldest son in a large family. He had rather limited school- ing, and came up the hard road of toil and self- denial to be the prominent and prosperous man he was. With his father away from home so frequently, the cares of the family fell more or less upon his shoulders before he was old enough to bear them, but his cheerful good nature and honest effort assisted him through the years from the time of early boyhood until he was twenty-five. Learning his father's trade, his first work performed away from his native town was when he was eighteen, in Essex, on the clipper ship "Essex," although he never handled his wages, all of his money going into the family purse. A few years later he went South and engaged in shad fish- ing, being thus employed by Capt. Griffin dur- ing one winter, and the two following winters he worked alone, fishing in Florida waters, also along Georgia and South Carolina. This business was so well conducted that it proved successful, and thus Mr. Hayden was able to get his first start in life, earning every penny by unceasing effort and persevering toil. In nearly all the yards along the Connecticut river he worked at his trade, also at Norwich, on the Thames. In Fair Haven he was asso- ciated with Edwin Bartlett, in doing contact work in the finishing of vessels, and while so engaged he was called upon by Sereno Scranton to go to Saybrook and build a spe- cial spile, from a draft made in East Boston. The spiles were to be used in the construction of the railroad bridge across the Connecticut river, at that point. The making of these spiles had been attempted by other mechanics, who had totally failed, but our subject success- fully completed the job, the work being pro- nounced better than the draft called for. For the long period of fifty-nine years Mr. Hayden was engaged in ship carpentry, but for a mi- ber of years he was also interested in pound fishing, and had the record of having made the largest catch ever made at Westbrook-3,600 in a single hanl. Mr. Hayden contrived and invented a number of new fishing devices use- ful in pound fishing, which have been adopted by others and are still in use.

The first marriage of Mr. Hayden, to Ann Maria Daniels, a native of Lying, daugh- ter of Thomas C. and Elizabeth ( Dart) Dan- iels, was celebrated in Saybrook. The follow- ing named children were born to this union:

Charles, who resides in Brooklyn, N. Y .; James P., also of Brooklyn; Frank A., who lives in Westbrook; and John G., who is pilot on a South ferry boat in New York. Mrs. Hayden died November 21, 1865, aged twenty- two. The second marriage of our subject, on December 19, 1866, was to Mrs. Amanda M. Otis, a native of Westbrook, daughter of Sam- uel and Keturah (Jones) Chapman, who were married December 22, 1802, and had ten chil- dren : Chauncey, born July 26, 1803. mar- ried Louisa Bushnell, and died February 5, 1881 : Mercy Eliza, born September 30, 1805. died September 27, 1806; David B., born April 18, 1808, married Hester Pratt, and died Oc- tober 22, 1892; Ambrose, born May 24, 1810, married Sarah Bennett, and died December 23, 1880; Mercy D., born March 17, 1812, married (first) Melson H. Burdick, and (sec- ond) Linas Stevens, and died September 7, 1897; Eliza, born July 7, 1814, ihrried Ar- temus Rogers, and died March 13, 1871; Sallie B., born December 6, 1816, married Al- bert Dibble; Elizabeth J., born October 4, 1819, married Sidney Burdick, and died Jan- uary 2, 1877; Hannah A., born April 21, 1824, married Samuel Clapp, and died August 10, 1894; Amanda M. was born September 27, 1827. On June 15, 1848, the last named married Calvin S. Otis, of South Wilbraham, Conn., who was born July 25. 1824. On De- cember 15, 1856. she married Erastus S. Otis, and her third marriage was to Mr. Hayden.

Our subject's late home and farm was for- merly known in the neighborhood as the Elisha Kirtland farin, and was a very profitable one under the care it received. Mr. Hayden car- ried on his farming business in an original and scientific way, and proved himself as good as an agriculturist as he was a mechanic and fisherman. Among his possessions were a number of vessels which plied between New London and other points, in the coasting trade. A firm Democrat in politics, he was ever ready to uphold the principles of his party, and he was, as his wife is, a consistent member of the Westbrook M. E. Church, where he was known to be in sympathy with every charitable and benevolent association. He served his town as member of the school board. Mr. Hayden died suddenly January 14, 1002, and was laid away in the new cemetery, leaving many friends besides his dear ones to feel his loss.

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BENJAMIN W. KELSEY, whose name is one of the oldest in New England, has re- tired after a long, active life in the service of the United States, to his native town of Had- dam, Middlesex Co., Conn., where he lives in comfort.

Mr. Kelsey's first ancestor in America came from Scotland, and settled .at Killingworth (or Guilford, both being then included in the same town).

The first of the family of whom any relia- ble trace can be found was Jonathan Kelsey, who married Hannah Hayton March 23, 1699, and reared a family of twelve children. He died March 8, 1740. Gideon Kelsey, born in Killingworth, married Esther Chatfield, daughter of George (2) and Esther (Hull) Chatfield, and they had eight children. Gid- eon died March 5, 1764. Benjamin, son of Gideon, born in October, 1762, died in July, 1809. In 1784 he married Zillah Cone, who was born February 27, 1764, and died Jan- nary 16, 1835.

Benjamin Kelsey, son of Benjamin, and father of Benjamin W., was born November 12, 1796, and was married August 22, 1822, to Rebecca Smith, who was born on April 6, 1793, and died October 18, 1846. Her fa- ther, Jonathan Smith, was born in 1746 in Haddam, and died March 7, 1834. Mr. Smith married Rebecca Brainerd, daughter of Gideon and Sarah (Seldon) Brainerd. Benjamin Kelsey was a life-long resident of Haddam, where he pursued the trade of carpenter. He was a Whig in politics. He and his wife had children as follows: Henry, Henry (2), Jonathan, Catherine, Rebecca, and Benjamin Wilson.

Benjamin W. Kelsey was born December 25, 1833, in the Beaver Meadow District, town of Haddam, where he resided up to the age of sixteen, attending the village school. The next four years he was employed in a general store, and also by George E. and William H. Good- speed, at East Haddam, collecting the first money needed, and organizing what is now the National Bank of New England, of which William H. Goodspeed was for many years the head. Later Mr. Kelsey secured employment in a store in Baltimore, Md., where he re- mained for over a year. In 1854 he enlisted in the regular army, Company D, Second Unit- ed States Dragoons, stationed at Fort Leaven- worth, Kan., and while there took part in the

Sioux expedition ; he was also at Salt Lake City when the Mormons attempted to resist the United States authority; at Fort Bridges, where Johnson's army wintered; and was dis- charged at Fort Laramie, in 1859, with the rank of first sergeant. The following year he again entered the service of the Government, in the quartermaster's department, being chief clerk for Capt. William H. Gill, military store- keeper, stationed at Cincinnati and New York, continuing in this capacity until 1871. In 1872 Mr. Kelsey was stationed in the Schuylkill Arsenal, in Philadelphia, and later was made physical instructor of the Y. M. C. A. in New York City. There he continued for twenty- three years, in 1892 purchasing some property on which he is now living in well-earned ease.

On August 22, 1870, Mr. Kelsey was mar- ried to Annie W. Groves, of New York City, daughter of John and Eliza Jane (Wearing) Groves, natives of England. To Mr. and Mrs. Kelsey came one son, Benjamin Richard, born March 12, 1873, who married Elizabeth A. Scovil, and resides in Waterbury, Conn., where he is a publisher and lithographer.

Mr. Kelsey is a stanch Republican, has been town treasurer one year, and town clerk since October, 1896. Few men can boast of a rec- ord similar to his. Nearly all of his active life has been passed in the service of the Govern- ment he feels to be the greatest upon earth; and when he gazes upon the stars and stripes, as they rise and fall upon the breeze during some popular demonstration, he knows how many lives have been offered up that this glori- ous emblem of our freedom may float above a country unsullied by any smirch of dishonor.

BARTON. The name of Barton is an old Colonial one, and members of several genera- tions of the family have been prominent in the manufacture of bells in East Hampton, Mid- dlesex county, throughout the nineteenth cen- tury.

Capt. William Barton, of the Society of Wintonbury, now the town of Bloomfield, Hartford Co., Conn., was an armorer in Springfield, Mass., during the Revolutionary war. He married Sarah Sage, and their son, William Barton, Jr., born November 26, 1762, worked with his father. After the close of the war he returned to Wintonbury, Conn., where he was engaged in the manufacture of fire- arms until 1790, and then went to New York,

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where he made andirons and brass work. In the spring of 1808 he came to East Hamp- ton, Conn., where he engaged in the manu- facture of hand and sleigh bells. He was the first man in this country to make round sleigh bells of solid pattern. Previously they had been cast in two parts and soldered together. Mr. Barton was a liberal-minded man, and kindly disposed toward others, whom he de- lighted to benefit, and the community about him began to flourish. In 1826 he moved to Cairo, N. Y., and after a residence there of twenty years returned to East Hampton, where he died July 15, 1849, honored and respected. His wife, Clarissa Betts (born February 10, 1768), whom he married February 14, 1790, was a daughter of Hezekiah and Betsey ( Penoyer) Betts. She died October 4, 1858, in her ninety-first year. Their children were: Nancy, who (first) married Vine Starr and (second) Walter Sexton; Clarissa, who mar- ried Cyrus Brainerd, and removed to Kanka- kee, Ill .; Hubbard, referred to below; Hiram, who is more fully spoken of in the sketch of his son, Henry V. Barton, elsewhere; Bar- zillai; Philura; Jason, who was a bellmaker of Middle Haddam, and inventor of the method of polishing common bells, also the possessor of numerous other bell patents (he died May 4, 1862) ; William; and Joseph.

Hubbard Barton, son of William, and the grandfather of Lucian A. Barton, was born in 1797, and succeeded his father in the manu- facture of bells, but later in life he turned his attention to farming. On December 6, 1821, he married Deborah G. Clark, and to their union were born eleven children : Adeline married Frank Morrell, of Philadelphia; Clarissa died in infancy ; Clarissa (2) became the wife of George Sexton; Mary was twice married, first to Walter Bailey, and after his death to Worcester Smith, whom she has sur- vived, making her home in Lawrence, Mass. ; Lucian (deceased ) resided at Spokane, Wash. ; Lawton B. is also dead ; Elijah C. is the father of Lucian A. Barton ; Jason H. died of wounds received in the Civil war; Emma T., ummar- ried, resides at East Hampton; Joseph D. is a grocer and hardware dealer in that village; Edwin D. is employed in the bell shops there. Three of the sons of this family served in the Union army during the Civil war; Jason H. was wounded at Antietam, and again at Petersburg, and yielded up his young life at

Fort Schuyler, in 1864. The father of this family died April 10, 1860, aged sixty-three years, and the mother passed away April 22, 1884, aged eighty-two years.

Mrs. Deborah G. (Clark) Barton was a daughter of Deacon David Clark and his sec- ond wife, Eunice (Griffith) to whom he was married by Rev. Joel West, November 15, 1801. She bore her husband three daughters, and died July 27, 1811, at the early age of thirty-two. Her children were: Amelia Adeline (baptized April 28, 1805), Jerusha Ann (baptized May 1, 1808), and Deborah G. After the death of his second wife Deacon Clark married, on May 2, 1813, Mehitabel Hubbard. Their first-born child, Mary Esther, was baptized July 10, 1814; other children blessed their union, but the names cannot be given with accuracy. The name of Deacon David Clark's first wife (other than that she was baptized Jerusha) is not known. She died August 24, 1800.

Elijah C. Barton was born in East Hamp- ton, October 25, 1836, and died March 29, 1901. He was a man of earnest piety and pro- found conviction, and a warm advocate of the cause of temperance, in politics a Prohibition- ist. In religious connection he was a Con- gregationalist, and a deacon in the church. He was a stockholder in the Gong Bell Man- ufacturing Company, of East Hampton, or- ganized in 1866, the other members of which firm were Ezra G. Cone, A. H. Conklin, and H. H. Abbe, who were together in business from 1866, without a break. until 1898, when E. G. Cone died. In April. 1866. they put the first Abbe patent gong door bells on the market, establishing an agency with Messrs. Sargent & Co., of New Haven, who have continued as agents for the hardware trade up to the present time. In 1867 Cone's globe hand bells were introduced, a novelty in bell manufacture made by mounting two gong- shaped bells of different tones on a frame so arranged as to strike both bells at the same tinie, giving a very pleasant and musical sound, loud and clear. These bells are still in popular demand. Cone's patent acorn- shaped sleigh bells were also made about this time. Later Elijah C. Barton invented a re- volving call bell, made upon the same princi- ple as the Cone Globe hand bell. This call bell had a large sale for a number of years. This idea of a revolving call bell was also

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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 118

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