Commemorative biographical record of Middlesex County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Part 136

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 136

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Clayton Derward Barton, born June 5. 1862, took a commercial course at Fast Green- wich. R. L., where he was graduated January 17. 1878. He was first employed in a butcher shop, and later in the bell shops of East Hamp- ton for two years. In March. 1885. he formed a partnership with his step-father. Mr. Buck- land, under the name of Buckland & Barton.

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

and has since successfully engaged in the gro- cery and dry goods business at that place. He aiso affiliates with the Republican party, and fraternally is a member of the Grange; Patriot Council, O. U. A. M., of East Hampton ; An- chor Lodge No. 112, A. F. & A. M .; Free- stone Chapter, R. A. M., of Portland; and Belleville Chapter, O. E. S., of East Hampton. On September 26, 1884, he married Carrie E. Adams, of Colchester, daughter of Benjamin and Martha Clarissa (Day) Adams, and they have one child, F. Howard, born August 20, 1885.

DAVID L. PHELPS, a retired fisherman and farmer, now living at Saybrook Point, Middlesex county, is a son of David Phelps, who served in the War of 1812. When a young man David Phelps came from Vermont, his native State, to Hadlyme, Conn., where he settled and was married. He was a farmer, and was also employed as a stonemason in Hadlyme, where many if not all of his thirteen children were born. He removed to Hamburg and later to Old Saybrook, where he followed farming. There he died.

David L. Phelps was born in Hadlyme, Conn., June 15, 1820, in the northern part of the town, near the three bridges. He came to Saybrook when he was twenty-two years old, and was soon afterward united in marriage with Delia Slate, a daughter of Alexander and Patty (Boulton) Slate. She died in 1892.

JAMES LAVERTY, one of the oldest tradesmen in Portland or Middletown, and probably in 'Middlesex county, was born in the town of Billey, County Antrim, Ire- land, February 8, 1829, a son of Will- iam and Elizabeth (Haney) Laverty. The mother died in Ireland. The father was a man who depended on his daily labor for his support, and in 1850 concluded to come to the United States. He left Belfast with his three sisters and his three children, for Glas- gow, en route for the United States, with Phil- adelphia as their immediate objective point. They left Glasgow on the three-master "Har- monia," a large sailing vessel, under the com- mand of Captain Henry Churchill, of Portland. During the voyage of eight weeks and three days Captain Churchill became acquainted with the party, and offered them employment. They landed in New York, on the afternoon of

Saturday, and came at once to Portland by boat. Here the father found work in the quar- ry, and James earned his first dollar in the United States as general utility boy for Cap- tain Churchill, at eight dollars a month. Young James found it a part of his duty to milk the cows, a work that he had never heard of a man's doing, and which caused him sore hands. Erastus Brainerd was his next employer, and he was put into the quarry. From the quarry he went into the service of Joseph Hall, and for three years he was a gen- eral utility man for that gentleman on his coun- try estate. As he was an energetic and active young man, he never had any trouble finding work. William Laverty, the father, always lived in Portland after coming to this country, and for a number of years worked in the quar- ry, and afterward worked for his son. He married a second time after coming to Amer- ica. His death occurred in Portland, and he is buried in the cemetery there. His chil- dren were: James; Sarah, wife of Captain Rufus Reid, of Providence, R. I .; Mary, widow of Capt. Alexander Mehaffey, of Portland; Jane, Mrs. Frederick Kelsey, of Portland; and Elizabeth, deceased wife of Gil- bert Griswold. Norah, a daughter of his sec- ond wife, is Mrs. Christopher Cramer, of Portland.

James Laverty began business for himself April 1, 1854, starting on his own capital. As a young man he was never close and penurious, though not reckless or extravagant, and saved money. After a few months he sold out his Portland establishment, and went to New York, where he engaged with a partner in bus- iness. The experiment was not satisfactory, and he shortly sold out and came back to Port- land, where he has since carried on his enter- prises without a partner. On June 4, 1884, he lost over $20,000 in a fire which totally de- stroyed his large stock of dry goods, groceries, boots and shoes, liquors, and general merchan- dise. The fire occurred on Thursday, and on Saturday night business was resumed in a tem- porary structure which had risen on the ashes of the old. He moved this back and subse- quently erected an elegant brick structure. He also conducted a livery stable in the rear of his store. It is one of the best in Port- land, and has been established since before the war. For the past two years Mr. Laverty has been retired from active life.

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

In 1858 Mr. Laverty wedded Miss Mary Lee. She was a daughter of James and Mary (Pierson) Lee. Two children were born to them : Elizabeth, now the widow of William B. Maxson, of Portland, and the mother of one child, Nellie; and William, who died young. For his second wife Mr. Laverty mar- ried Miss Sybil Brown, of Boston, a native of St. John, New Brunswick; she died Septem- ber 30, 1896, and is buried in Portland. Po- litically Mr. Laverty is in sympathy with the Democratic party, yet he voted for Lincoln, Grant and Mckinley. He was baptized in the Episcopal Church, and was confirmed by Bish- op Williams, and he has helped liberally to- wards the building of all the churches in Port- land.

HENRY TERRY POTTER, for many years a well-known business man of Saybrook, Middlesex county, was born April 25, 1845, son of Henry Potter, of Enfield, Conn., and died August 1, 1893. The father, who died in 1892, was engaged in mercantile business at Saybrook, and after the son reached ma- turity the firm was H. Potter & Son. When a young man Henry T. Potter engaged in gen- eral mercantile business at Brattleboro, Vt. Since the death of Henry T. Potter, his widow has continued the coal business under the old name. Politically Mr. Potter was a Re- publican, and in religion he was a member of the Congregational Church.

On October 17, 1877, Mr. Potter married Mary Stowe Bushnell, and to this union came : Henry Bushnell, born July 21, 1878; Frederick Terry, born May 8, 1881, who was drowned January 22, 1889; Arthur Lindsay, born Au- gust 4, 1887 : and Catherine, born January 31, 1889, who died April 9, 1889.

Mrs. Potter is descended from Jabez Stowe, who married Annah Lord June 21, 1744. Their children were: Ann, born in 1746; Jabez, born in 1749: Sybil, born in 1752; Sarah, born in 1754; and Mary, born in 1758. The last named married, in 1765, Capt. David Newell, who was a lifelong sailor. Their children were: Mary Ann, who was the first wife of John Bushnell, and grandino- ther of Mrs. Potter, and William, who sailed to all parts of the word.

Richard M. Bushnell, the father of Mrs. Potter, was born October 16, 1825, in Say- brook, and came of an old family, which is

more fully mentioned elsewhere. He received his schooling in his native place, and at the age of fifteen years engaged as clerk in a store in Clinton, Conn. Before long he made his way to the city of New York. When he was twen- ty-seven he went to Florida, where, the follow- ing year, he was married to the daughter of his employer. He was for a time an employe, and then became an important stockholder in the business, and his interest is still retained in the family. Mr. Bushnell married Sarah Over- man, daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Lindsay ) Overman, who were of German de- scent. The mother, who died at Bagdad, Santa Rosa Co., Fla., April 29, 1901, was born December 13, 1834. The father remained in the South many years, engaged in the lumber business, under the firm name of Simpson & Co., which concern owns two large mills and other valuable property. He died March 12, 1885, having spent considerable of his time for some years prior to this in his native town. To Mr. and Mrs. Bushnell were born: Will- iam John, who was drowned at Peek slip, New York; Mary Stowe, Mrs. Potter: Fanny Sterl- ing, who married Rev. Charles H. Stevens, of the city of New York; Elizabeth Lindsay, who married Ernest W. Menefee, of Montgomery, Ala .; Catherine, who married D. Arnold Kel- logg, a merchant at Saybrook Point; Richard Norton, who married Annie B. Chalker, and resides at Pensacola; Frederick Newell, who married Ida Simpson, and resides at Provi- dence, R. I. ; Annie Overman, wife of Richard B. Simpson, of Laurel Hill. Fla. ; and Ralph Gaylord, of Bagdad, Florida.

EDWIN N. HUBBARD, of the firm of Carrier & Hubbard, the leading liverymen of Middletown. Middlesex comity, was born An- gust 20, 1838, on West Long Hill, in the same town, and is a son of Hon. Alfred and Julia Ann ( Paddock ) Hubbard. His long line of an- cestry may be traced in the review of the Hub- bard family elsewhere.

Mr. Hubbard had the commion schooling afforded by the district in his boyhood days. one of his earliest teachers being Miss Mary Meigs, of Durhamn. He was reared on the home farm, but for a time was employed in the mill of Hubbard Brothers. in Middletown. When about twenty one years of age he was seized with a desire for travel and adventure. and on October 15, 1850. he and a companion.

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Dyer Crowell, sailed from New York on the clipper ship "National Guard," for Texas, with the intention of engaging in stock raising. Mr. Hubbard went to Refugio county, a bor- der locality, but did not follow stock raising very long, as he was too fond of adventure, and roamed over the greater part of the fron- tier, encountering dangers of all descriptions.

In 1861 he enlisted in the Twenty-first Texas Cavalry, under Col. Carter, and was assigned to Gen. Kirby Smith's division, Trans- Mississippi Department, and was also a part of the time under Gen. Marmaduke, of Missouri. He saw three years of active service between Cape Girardeau, Mo., and Shreveport, La. His term of enlistment expired about the time that Gen. Banks started with his expedition up the Red River, and he was discharged at Shreveport.

Mr. Hubbard then joined a party of young men from the North and went to Liberty county, Texas, thence 'riding horseback 500 miles to Mier, Mexico, where they sold their animals. They walked 125 miles to Mata- moras, where Mr. Hubbard arrived without money enough to pay toll for crossing the bridge to Brownsville, which was then held by the Federal troops. His 500-mile ride and 125-mile walk had been full of interesting and sometimes dangerous experiences but Mr. Hubbard was a care-for-nothing young man, with any amount of tact and resources. After making his way into Brownsville, he hired out in a harness shop, although he knew absolutely nothing about the business; but he was a nat- ural mechanic and deft in the use of tools, and two months later was offered the foreman- ship, so readily had he taken up the work. However, he declined, and left Brownsville in a small boat plying between Matamoras and the mouth of the Rio Grande River; but the boat ran upon a sandbar, and after a forty-mile walk Mr. Hubbard reached Brazos Santiago, took boat for New Orleans, and arrived in the Crescent City July 4, 1864, again "broke." He soon found employment on the other side of the river, at Algiers, in a harness shop, where Government work was being done, tak- ing the place of a man who had served his full time at the trade, but had been discharged for incompetency. Mr. Hubbard, nevertheless, was able to hold the position from July until October 4, 1864, at $3 per day of nine hours'

work, and then left because an attempt was made to lengthen the day to ten hours.

Mr. Hubbard had now been away from his home almost five years, the last three of which his people had not heard from him, and, as they knew he had enlisted, they supposed he had been killed. Of course, by writing, he could have secured the necessary ineans for his expenses back, but he was too independent to take such a course, and preferred to get along as he did. By the intercession of a friend who was acquainted with the head steward of the steamer "Yazoo," he was permitted to leave New Orleans on that vessel for New York Oc- tober 4, 1864, and landed in the latter port Oc- tober 15th, just five years after his departure in 1859-five years of such experience as few young men could chronicle. On arriving in Middletown he was not at first recognized, in- asmuch as it was thought, as has been men- tioned above, that he had been killed in the Civil war.

Mr. Hubbard remained at his Connecticut home until January 18, 1865, on which day he married and at once set out with his bride

Central America, where he intended to engage in raising coffee and other products of that clime. They sailed from Boston and landed at Truxillo, in Honduras, thence going to Omoa, and spent about a year in that country, when Mr. Hubbard decided that the outlook was not promising. and so returned to Middletown, Conn. There, in partnership with Wilbur F. Burrows, he engaged in wood turning, but later bought the interest of Mr. Burrows and was alone for a short time, when he sold the plant to Hubbard Brothers, in whose employ he remained awhile.

On January 1, 1870, Mr. Hubbard bought B. C. Bacon's plumbing establishment, which he conducted alone for several years, finally admitting E. B. Smith as a partner. Subse- quently Mr. Hubbard sold his interest in this branch of trade and bought the insurance agency hitherto carried on by C. Shepard, which he has managed most successfully ever since, in connection with other lines of busi- ness. In 1880 he purchased the hardware store of Nehemiah Hubbard, near the corner of Center and Main streets, but he finally closed this out and established a fish market, which, in 1896, he disposed of to George Pitt. On Feb- ruary 1, 1896, he became a member of the firm

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of Carrier & Hubbard, who have the best equipped livery establishment in Middletown.

The first wife of Mr. Hubbard bore the maiden name of Mary E. Sears, and was a daughter of Elisha Sears, of South Farms, Conn. She bore her husband two children, viz. : Hendley W., now a machinist of Mid- dletown ; and Alfred E., a graduate of the New York College of Physicians & Surgeons, of the College of Pharmacy, and also of medi- cal institutions abroad, who is now in the active practice of his profession in the city of Brook- lyn, N. Y., residing at Borough Park, that city. Mrs. Mary E. (Sears) Hubbard passed away in 1886, and Mr. Hubbard subsequently mar- ried Miss Ida S. Russell, of Haddam Neck.

In politics Mr. Hubbard was a Democrat up to 1896, when he cast his Presidential vote for William McKinley; fraternally he is a member of St. John's Lodge, F. & A. M., at Middletown. Mrs. Hubbard is a consistent member of the South Congregational Church. Notwithstanding his varied and adventurous career through life, and his extended business experience, Mr. Hubbard is a quiet, unassum- ing, plain-going gentleman, widely known and universally honored and esteemed.

CLEMAN E. BURR, a respected and well-to-do citizen of Durham, is a descendant of one of the oldest Middlesex county fam- ilies.

David Burr, his grandfather, was a farmer, and resided in the Burr District of the town of Haddam. He was the largest landholder in that vicinity, and got out a great deal of ship timber, which was disposed of to the ship- builders along the Connecticut river. He con- tinued to reside on the farm until a few years before his death, when he removed to Higga- num, making his home with a daughter, and there he died at the advanced age of eighty- six years ; he was buried in the cemetery in the Burr District. Physically he was a man of large build, and in his prime was capable of a great deal of hard work. In political faith he was a Jeffersonian Democrat, and took an active interest in public affairs. He was a member of the old militia, and was at Say- brook during the war of 1812. He attended the Methodist Church, of which his wife was an active member. David Burr married Polly Blatchley, of Killingworth, whom he sur- vived a munber of years, and they rest side by

side. They had children as follows: (I) Henry E., a farmer, resided in Haddam, where he died. He married (first) Harriet Beebe, and (second) Ellen Fuller. (2) Benjamin B., a farmer, residing in Haddam, married Clarissa Beebe. He died in 1902. (3) La- vina married Darius Skinner, of Higganum, where she died. (4) Stephen D. was the fa- ther of Cleman E. . (5) Elizabeth, widow of Samuel Dickinson, who died in the Civil war, resides in Higganum. (6) Lydia is the widow of George Lane, and lives in Guilford, Conn. (7) Leander married Adeline Lane, and resides in Middletown. (8) Polly died young. (9) David.

Stephen D. Burr was born in the Burr Dis- trist of Haddam in October, 1820, and was reared to hard work on the farm. For a few short months in the winter he attended the dis- trict school. When a young man he was em- ployed a few years in a silver plate shop at Wallingford, and later, after his marriage, he purchased a small farm near the homestead, upon which place he erected a house. In time he added to the acreage of the farm, quite suc- cessfully engaging in the cutting of fire wood. sawed lumber and cross ties. He became a well-to-do and respected citizen, continuing ac- tive until his death, in November, 1897. He was a Democrat in politics, but never cared for office. He attended the Episcopal Church. Mr. Burr married Fanny A. Lane, of Guilford. who was born in November, 1818, daughter of Hiel Lane, a farmer there. She died in March. 1895, and both she and her husband are bur- ied in the Burr District cemetery. Their chil- dren were as follows : ( 1) Walter H., a mer- chant and farmer, died in Sandstone, Vernon Co., Mo .; he married ( first ) Rosa Olin, and (second) Mary Russell. His children were Wesley S. and Vesta. (2) Cleman E. is our subject. (3) Frank O. is a farmer, residing in North Branford, Conn. He married Sarah Russell, and their children are Lucretia H. and Llewellyn F. (4) Ida R. married Henry Lane, a farmer in Guilford, Conn., and has one son, Wilbur B.

Cleman E. Burr was born October 18. 1851. in Haddam, and attended the Burr Dis- triet school. The summer season and vaca- tions were spent in assisting his father. At the age of nineteen years he left home and worked as irommolder in the foundry of I. S. Spencer's Sons, at Guilford, being employed

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there for about two years. The indoor life did not agree with him, and, having a desire for outdoor life, he returned to Haddam, and purchased of Gilbert Gladding the Eleazer Burr place, a farm of about 125 acres, located in the Burr District. On this farm he resided until November, 1898, when he removed to Durham, and he now devotes his time to the management of his business interests. While residing on the farm above mentioned he was quite extensively engaged in the timber busi- ness, getting out ties and heavy timber, in which he was very successful. About six- teen years ago he set out a cranberry bog on his farm and devoted considerable attention to the cultivation of that product. Since coming to Durham he has disposed of that farm, but he still owns large tracts of land in Haddam and Killingworth, which he had purchased from time to time. In 1897, in company with an- other party, he set out a cranberry bog in Pond Meadow District, in the town of Killing- worth, which covers twelve acres, and is the largest and best kept bog in the State.

On August 25, 1878, Mr. Burr was mar- ried, in Killingworth, to Kate A. Dewey, who was born October 27, 1850, in Columbia, Tol- land Co., Conn., daughter of Elmore G. and Elizabeth (Lyman) Dewey. She died Octo- ber 9, 1900, and is buried in Pine Grove cem- etery. Three children graced this union : Vera Elsie was born December 5, 1880; Grace Dewey was born May 13, 1884; Erwin Rupert, born August 5, 1886, was a very manly boy, dearly loved by all, and his death, April 2, 1900, was deeply mourned.

In politics Mr. Burr is a Democrat, but he has never cared for office. He attends and lib- erally supports the Congregational Church, of which denomination his beloved wife was a member at Columbia. Mr. Burr is a good citizen, highly respected for those sterling qual- ities that make honorable self-reliant men.

ROGER KENNEDY, who stands proba- bly alone in his class of the self-made men of Middletown, is well deserving of the place in the business world accorded to him.

Born in County Cork, Ireland, in 1847, Mr. Kennedy is a son of Patrick Kennedy, whose father and grandfather were both named Martin. The Kennedys were well-to- do farming people in their section, and for generations owned the same property. Mrs.

Margaret Kennedy, mother of our subject, was a daughter of David Welch, who was a merchant, as were also his progenitors. Pat- rick and Margaret (Welch) Kennedy had a family of five children: Martin, who died in New York; David, who was a member of the grocery firm of Kennedy Brothers, South Farms, Conn., and died in that village; Miss Ellen, making her home with her brother Pat- rick at South Farms; Patrick (just men- tioned), formerly of the firm of Kennedy Brothers, living retired; and Roger, the sub- ject proper of these lines. In 1847 the par- ents came to the United States with two of their sons, Martin and David, and in the fol- lowing year Ellen and Patrick were brought over by friends, Roger being left behind, as he was too young. The family lived in New York a short time, and then removed to Springfield, Mass., settling in what was then known as Cabot, now a part of the city of Springfield, and there the father followed mer- cantile pursuits. Later they came to Connecti- cut, at first locating in Portland, Middlesex county. Patrick Kennedy (the father) had been a farmer in Ireland, and before coming to this country leased his farm for twelve years, at the end of which time he returned to Ireland in order to arrange his affairs; but being a few days late in arriving, litigation followed which lasted two years before he could secure a settlement. He then returned to the United States, bringing his son Roger, who had been left in Ireland, as already related. After a voyage of two weeks they landed at New York, thence proceeding by water to Middletown, where they arrived on the morning of Good Friday, 1862. From this time on the parents made their home in Middletown, the father dying there at the age of seventy-three years, the mother when seventy-six, and both are buried in St. John's cemetery.

In Ireland Roger Kennedy was reared by friends until his fourteenth year, during which period he attended the common schools, and after coming to Middletown he pursued his studies at the Williams street school. His first work here was pulling turnips at twenty- five cents per day, his meager earnings going toward the support of the family. His ambi- tion and honesty of purpose, together with the determination to make for himself an hon- orable place and standing, soon placed him

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Roger

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on a sure foundation, and he has since marched steadily onward. His first work of any magnitude was the driving of piles and the building of caissons for the Air Line bridge between Middletown and Portland, as sub-contractor. Then followed a series of contracts in bridge and dock building that ex- tended from New Haven to New London along the shore, and from Hartford to Say- brook on the Connecticut river. Among his contracts were the building of the bridges at Westbrook and Clinton; the old ice dock at Niantic, erected some thirty years ago; the first dock at Fenwick; and many of the docks at Middletown, Portland and Glaston- bury. He has built all the dock in use along the river front with few exceptions. He also did a large business in steeving, and for sev- eral years handled all the coal that was un- loaded from boats on the river between Say- brook and Wethersfield, while for a number of years he was harbormaster at Middletown. About 1894 he began to deal in ice, and he has ice-houses at Fort Hill with a capacity of 5,000 tons, in addition to natural ice cut from his own reservoir handling the ice manufac- tured in New Haven. Until May. 1898, he was engaged in the coal business, when he sold out to the Middletown Coal Company, the company also acquiring valuable dock privileges from Mr. Kennedy ; previously. for some time, Mr. Kennedy was associated in the coal business with Hendley Hubbard, under the firm name of Kennedy & Hubbard. In addition to large real-estate holdings he has a splendid tract of some thirty acres on Fort Hill, gently sloping toward the river, the out- look of which is delightful, while the situation is healthful. It offers excellent opportunity for the location of residences. Mr. Kennedy has acquired his large property holdings solely by his energy, perseverance and good business management. Through his over twenty-five years of business experience he has made his word as good as his bond and to-day he is one of the most highly esteemed citizens in Middletown. He has always been a hard worker, exemplary in his habits, and as quiet and unassuming as man could be, while his integrity has never been questioned. To Mr. Kennedy probably more than to any other man in Middletown is due the credit for securing the location at Middletown of the New Eng- land Enameling Company, to which concern

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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 136

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