Commemorative biographical record of Middlesex County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Part 170

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 170

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On January 28, 1858, Mr. Davis married Mary A. Nettleton, who was born March 19, 1840, daughter of Heman and Jerusha ( Nor- ton ) Nettleton. Her father was born Novem- ber 16, 1802, and died September 25, 1882 ; her mother was born August II, 1799, and died March 1, 1867. To Mr. and Mrs. Davis came : (I) Etta J., born December II, 1858, was married July 26, 1879, to Frank Bartlett, and died November 10, 1883, leaving two children, Clarence D. and Lena J. (2) Julia J., born March 13, 1861, married October 3, 1883, George Hastings, who died November 26, 1894, leaving two children, Olive M. and Ma- rion E. (3) George B., born February 27, 1863, was married June 23, 1887, to Ida Wol- cott, and died March 12, 1896, leaving five children, Frank J., Ralph W., Alden H., Irving B. and Walter B. (4) Charles T. is mentioned below. (5) Ira A., born March 18, 1868, married November 1, 1898, Grace Bidwell. (6) Frank W., born January 9, 1870, is a sea- faring man, and at the present time has his home in England.

Charles T. Davis was born January 12, 1865, in Killingworth, where he lived until he was sixteen years old. His schooling was con- fined to the advantages afforded in the home district. Coming to Middletown, he was em- ployed by Richard Davis, a well-known farmer

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of West Long Hill, driving the milk wagon on its daily trips through the city for eleven years. At the expiration of that period Mr. Davis en- gaged in business with Mr. Coe, running a feed store in Middletown, the firm name being Coe & Davis. Mr. Coe died after about a year, and the business, which was thriving, was sold. Mr. Davis was employed as a clerk for Mr. Chapman for about a year and a half. Short- ly after the death of his father-in-law, Eben Hubbard, in March, 1894, he took charge of the Hubbard farm, and in 1896 set up his milk business. His patronage has increased from the beginning, and he has a very fine list of customers ; he supplies more milk to the Hos- pital of the Insane than any other outside dealer. He is a prominent figure in Matta- bessett Grange, and also belongs to Apollo Lodge, Knights of Pythias. In politics he is a Democrat. Mr. Davis is an energetic and pushing business man, and is one of the most popular young citizens of his town.

Mr. Davis was married, October 11, 1893, to Grace L. Hubbard, born April 17, 1870, daughter of Eben P. and Marietta II. ( Heath) Hubbard. They have two children: Abbott H., born August 24, 1895; and Harold Il., born November 3, 1897.

Eben P. Hubbard, father of Mrs. Davis, was born June 15, 1833, son of Jeremiah and Eunice ( Prout ) Hubbard, farming people on Long Hill, who lived and died on the place where their granddaughter, Mrs. Davis, now has her home. Eben P. Hubbard also lived and died there. He built the home in 1872. He was a Democrat. On March 27, 1866, he mar- ried Maritta Il. Heath, who was born July 21, 1840, in Tyringham, Mass., and is now living with her daughter, Mrs. Davis. Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard had three children: ( 1) Bessie M., born January 26, 1867, married Dr. E. W. Pierce. of Meriden; (2) Harry H., born June 11, 1868, married Myra Nickerson, who lives in Boston, where he is engaged in business : ( 3) Grace L. is the wife of Charles T. Davis.

JOHN CURRAN, one of the most sub- stantial merchants in Portland, comes from one of the oldest Irish families in this comnum- ity, and one well known in Ireland, one of the ancestors being John Philpot Curran, an emi- ment lawyer in Ireland, whose daughter was betrothed to Robert Emmett at the time of his execution. John Curran began his busi

ness career as a poor man, and has become one of the wealthier and more influential citizens of the town. His business career has never been marred by dishonest or unscrupulous practices, and he retains the respect of all with whom he has had business dealings. He was born in Portland in 1846. a son of Philip and Mary ( Carter ) Curran.

Philip Curran and his wife came from Cas- tle Martin, in Ireland, to the United States in 1845, shortly after their marriage, and settled in Portland. The voyage was made in a sail- ing vessel, and after eight weeks on the water. they landed at New York City, and then came on to Portland by boat. They were poor in money, but rich in courage. Mr. Curran worked in a quarry, and for a time his wife was a domestic in the Ransom family. Pre- sently they were able to establish a home and here the son, John, was born. Philip Curran worked in the quarry as long as he lived, but died in September, 1856, at the early age of forty years. The widow lived until October 31, 1899. In religious faith they were Roman Catholics, and their remains rest in the con- secrated ground of the Catholic cemetery at Portland. Mrs. Curran was a woman of far more than the usual character, and her career in life showed a mighty strength of will to bat- tle with adversity, and to overcome it as brave- ly and as grandly as she did. Of her five chil- dren, four of whom lived to adult age. John is the only son now living.

John, Curran attended the public schel in Portland for a short time, as he was but ten years old when his father died. heavy burden- carly rested upon his young shoulders. He never failed in his duty to his widowed moth- Cr. Throughout her entire life he was devoted to her comfort, and in her old age showed her every attention. When about eleven years ofd. he worked for Sylvester Gilder sleeve at such work as his tender age made possible, and liis record at that time is that of an industnous and reliable lad. During the Civil war he was employed by Captain Henry Churchill, is a general utility boy around the premises of that gentleman in Portland, and as a young man he secured work in the query et Bramed A Company, and was there emplivel tin several years. In 18-2 Mr. Cortam embarked i bus mess with his brother William, under the name of Curran Brothers William ched vers cal in the following year, anl lolly was left alone

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in a business which he has conducted for thirty years. It is the leading establishment of the kind in clothing, boots, shoes, and general furnishing goods, and has a wide and well- satisfied circle of patrons. Since 1885 he has occupied the building on Main street where he is now found, and which also includes the fam- ily residence.

On June 8, 1876, Mr. Curran was wedded to Miss Mary A. Darcey, who was born in Portland, a daughter of Edward Darcey. The following children have gladdened their home: (I) Mary, who died December 23, 1896, was the wife of Dr. R. C. Downey. She was a graduate of the Portland high school, class of 1894, and had attended the Mt. St. Joseph's Seminary, where she had taken instrumental music, and was a very intelligent and accom- plished young lady. (2) Philip, who graduated from the Portland high school in 1895, and from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the city of New York in 1901, is now senior surgeon on the staff of St. Vincent's hospital in that city. (3) Catherine, (4) Elizabeth, (5) Josephine, and (6) Julia Irene, are at home. Mr. Curran is a Democrat, but holds that business need not meddle with politics. The family is identified with St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church. Mr. Curran is a charter member of the Knights of Columbus at Port- land, in which order he is very prominent. He is an active and industrious man, of great en- ergy and determination, his entire life show- ing the influence of a resolute spirit-a strik- ing illustration of a self-made man. His good wife has been of great assistance to him, and the two are among the most highly respectable people of the town.

THOMAS KELLY. In this day the wealth of Connecticut is very largely a matter of inheritance. Rarely does a man climb out of the depths of poverty with no other aids than his own brain, heart, and courage. The conditions are unfavorable for that free and active life that once prevailed. Yet Thomas Kelly, with only his own ability to push him forward, has won for himself a good character and a standing among the most successful men of Middletown, Middlesex county. Coming from good Irish stock, he has largely inherited from both father and mother traits that have guided him to success. He is a shrewd busi- ness man, but is not wedded to business alone,

and is keenly alive to the best interests of his adopted home. Mr. Kelly is vice-president of The Ebony Lamp Black Company, and is one of the leading manufacturers of the town. His career furnishes a striking illustration of what persistency, combined with push and business acumen, will accomplish. He has a business to which he hung on with grim tenacity, after several failures, and one, in particular, when not only every penny of his own had gone, but in addition, a sum which was an accommoda- tion to him, and when ninety-nine men out of a hundred would have given up in despair ; and he has long since lived to see the business be- come highly profitable, the second of its kind in the United States, and himself numbered among the successful manufacturers of Mid- dletown, and widely known throughout the State.

Mr. Kelly was born in Queens County, Ireland, in 1843, one of five children-four sons and one daughter-of Michael and Fan- ny (Pillsworth) Kelly. Three, Warner, Thomas and Bryan, are living in Middletown. The father died when Thomas was a young lad and the mother died in Middletown at an ad- vanced age. Since 1866 Thomas Kelly has resided continuously in Middletown, with the exception of the winter of 1897-98, which he spent in London, England, engaged in super- intending the construction of a factory for The Ebony Lampblack Company. He attended the schools of his native town, which were much inferior to those of the present day, and it is a knowledge of this fact, perhaps, that has induced him to give the best of schooling to his own children, and take a deep interest in the cause of popular education. When he became a young man he worked as a gardener for a year under the instruction of a practical man from London. Mr. Kelly left Ireland in 1863, and spent the ensuing three years in England. In 1866 he came to the United States, making the ocean voyage in the Inman Line steamer, "City of Baltimore," and after fourteen days on the water, landed at New York, on the last day of March. He came at once to Middle- town, where he secured work as a gardener for Rev. H. N. Colton. During the first win- ter of his residence in the city, though twenty- three years of age, he attended high school, be- ing ambitious, and realizing the need of bet- ter schooling than he had. He worked as a gardener for some years, making quite a rep-

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utation in that line, and was also engaged in a green house for a time, but it was through his work as a gardener that he became best known. He did the first landscape gardening in Pine Grove cemetery, and he was the first to undertake landscape gardening on the grounds of the Connecticut Hospital for the Insane, at Middletown.

In 1873 Mr. Kelly, in company with J. B. McGlone, went into the lamp black business, under the firm name of Kelly & McGlone. It was a new and a disastrous business to Mr. Kelly, for in less than three months he lost all the money he had saved, fifteen hundred dol- lars, and seven hundred more. This was a severe blow, but he was not discouraged. He felt that the business had great possibilities, and he was bound to reap the reward if possi- ble. He went to work to retrieve his shat- tered fortune, and when he had accumulated five hundred dollars returned to the same busi- ness in company with Merritt Baldwin. They took an abandoned plant a short distance west of New Britain, but after running it a short time, and losing half their capital, gave it up. In 1875 The Ebony Lamp Black Company was organized, the incorporators being Thomas Kelly, Merritt Baldwin and Anson A. Fowler, with a capital of $6,000. The first year that the firm manufactured lamp black the gross sales were not enough to pay a salary of fifteen dollars a week to one man. The business for several years was conducted at a loss, and in 1878 Mr. Baldwin left the company, Mr. Kelly and Mr. Fowler continuing as proprie- tors. In 1880 Mr. Fowler died, and his in- terest was thrown on the market, at that time not being considered desirable property, judg- ing from its previous history. Mr. Kelly had watched the business closely, and he was confi- dent of its future, so he bought the Fowler share for $9,000, giving long-time notes for the entire amount. The business greatly im- proved about this time, and in eighteen months Mr. Kelly paid off the notes, and owned the entire plant, without any obligations. In 188.1 J. B. McElroy bought an interest, which he only held for a year. In 1886 Gaston T. Hubbard became a partner for a year. In 1890 Mr. Kelly formed a partnership with E. H. Murdock & Co., of Cincinnati, the two companies being incorporated as one, and re taining the name of The Ebony Lamp Black Company. The next year the firm was in-

creased by the entrance of Binney & Smith, of New York, and in 1892 John Rogers & Co., of Brooklyn, became associated therewith. The next year the business of J. T. Whitehurst & Co., of Baltimore, was added. The Ebony Lamp Black Company has since absorbed other establishments, and they now have plants in va- rious parts of the United States, and with one other concern produce three-quarters of that commodity made in this country. Mr. Kelly was foremost in the construction of the plant which brought the Portland Silk Company to Middletown. As a business man he is fair and straightforward, and his word is never ques- tioned.

Thomas Kelly and Miss Hannah Condon were married in Middletown May 31. 1870. She was born in New London, Conn .. in 1845, daughter of Thomas and Catherine (Keogh ) Condon. They were the pioneer Irish family of Portland, coming hither when Mrs. Kelly was but a child. They made the trip from New London to Portland by water. In the home of Thomas Condon was said the first mass in Portland. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Kelly have been born: Richard died when less than six years old. Mary F. attended pri- vate school at Cincinnati, Ohio, at Wichita. Kans., and also at Lakeville, Conn. : she is now the wife of James T. Curran, of Cincinnati. Teresa R. attended Notre Dame, at Putnam. Conn. Charlotte C. attended Mount St. Joseph College, at Middletown. Jerome Bernard at- tended Fordham College. In 1894 Mr. Kelly built his excellent home at the northeast e truer of Liberty and High streets.

Mr. Kelly is a Democrat, and belongs to St. John's Catholic Church. He has reared an excellent family, and is highly esteemed by the Middletown public.

THOMAS D. COULTER, one of the ris ing young men in the legal profession in Mid- dlesex county, is town clerk and judge of pro- baté in the town of Essex. He was born in New York City January 11. 1873. and his early education was obtained in the public schools of his native city. Subsequently he attended Seabury Institute, Old Saybrook, and the fa- mons Morgan school, in Clinton, Connecticut.

For a year or more after finishing his school course. Mr Conhier was in the employ of Parke, Davis & Co .. mammaciting chemists of New York, but m 1801, le driged the

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drift of his life by coming to Essex and enter- ing the office of the late Judge James Phelps, in order to engage in the study of the law. Mr. Coulter later entered Yale Law School, from which he graduated in the class of 1894, and he was admitted to the Bar of Middlesex county in January of the following year. He began practice in the office of Judge James Phelps, and at the death of the latter, in Janu- ary, 1899, succeeded to his full practice, which was large and important. This was a respon- sible position for so young a practitioner to as- sume, but the result has shown that he made no mistake in the venture, his success proclaim- ing his ability to handle large and varied as well as intricate cases.

For several years Mr. Coulter performed the duties of assistant town clerk under the late James L. Phelps, and upon the death of the latter, in May, 1898, he was appointed to the full clerkship by the selectmen. In October, 1899, he was elected town clerk, overcoming a Republican majority in the town of 127 votes, and getting a majority of 212 votes over his opponent. In 1899 he was elected judge of probate to fill the unexpired term of Judge James L. Phelps, and in 1900 he overcame a Republican majority of 150 and defeated the Republican candidate by a majority of 143 for judge of probate.

In politics Judge Coulter has been an active and ardent Democrat, and has worked hard for the success of his party and for its individual members. Socially he is connected with Fen- wick Lodge, No. 20, I. O. O. F., of Essex; Mt. Olive Lodge, No. 52, F. & A. M .; and Petti- paug Lodge, No. 263, New England Order of Protection, of which he is secretary. He is a member of the Democratic State Central Com- mittee of the Twenty-first Senatorial District. For some time he has been junior warden and treasurer of St. John's Episcopal Church, of which he is a member.

The first marriage of Judge Coulter took place on June 29, 1897, to Lizzie R. Lord, a daughter of Richard M. and Ella M. (Still- man) Lord. She died in 1900, and his sec- ond marriage was to C. Adele Kutz, of Brook- lyn, New York.

The fine library which the Judge has in the office was left to him by the late Judge James Phelps ; it is valued at $10,000, and is consid- ered the finest in Connecticut, being a combi- nation of the collections of Hon. Samuel Ing-

ham and his son-in-law, the late Judge James Phelps. Mr. Coulter seems to have a natural aptitude for the law, is very popular, and has a bright future before him.

CARL AUGUST AHLQUIST is one of the most prominent men of Portland, and the conduct of his business is characterized by un- tiring energy and fine executive ability. In company with C. A. Allison he established the grocery house of Ahlquist & Allison. In 1890 Mr. Allison retired, and since that time Mr. Ahlquist has been alone, and under the inspira- tion of his energetic and hustling nature, the patronage has greatly increased until every inch of the store, front and rear, and a large basement as well, are utilized for his trade in fine grocercies, flour, feed and grain.

Mr. Ahlquist carries on a large steamship business, transferring many passengers to and from the ports of Europe. He also handles European drafts, and has met a marked and deserved success. He stands high in the esti- mation of his fellow townsmen, and their con- fidence in his good judgment and business in- tegrity has been expressed by his repeated elec- tion to the offices of selectman of the town and justice of the peace.

Anders Ahlquist, his father, was an offi- cial in Sweden, and became quite wealthy. He died in his native country when about seventy- five years of age, and his widow, Johanna, still survives. They were the parents of these chil- dren: Lars P., president of the New York conference of the Swedish Lutheran Church. and pastor in Portland; Anna, who married B. Wallen, of Quincy, Mass .; John A., formerly a merchant of Jacksonville, Ill .; Augusta, liv- ing in Sweden; Carl August; and Gustaf A., of New Britain.

Carl A. Ahlquist was born December 2, 1850, at Warberg, Sweden. He received his schooling in his native. country, and when twelve years of age entered a store as clerk. After some eight years of service in that capac- ity he came to the United States, sailing from Liverpool on the "Germanic," and landing in New York after eight days on the water. He earned his passage money, but had little to bring with him. Going directly to Jackson- ville, Ill., he took a place as clerk in a book store. In the fall of 1883 he came to Portland, and for two years was a clerk with C. J. An- derson. In 1885 he began business as noted

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above, and since that time his rise has been gradual but certain, and in these later years very marked.

Mr. Ahlquist married Miss Caroline Wall- gren, a native of Sweden. They have five chil- dren, three of whom, Edwin G., Jennie C., and Helvig C., are living. A son and a daughter both died in infancy. Mr. Ahlquist has always been a Republican, and is a stout champion of the good name of the party. He served five years as president of the Swedish-American League, and is now' vice-president, and is a leading member of the Swedish Benevolent Society. He is also president of the Swedish Republican club, and takes a leading part in the affairs of the Swedish Lutheran Church, where he has been superintendent of the Sun- day-school. He belongs to the A. O. U. W., and to Warren Lodge, No. 51, A. F. & A. M. Mr. Ahlquist paid a visit to his native coun- try in the fall of 1890, and with what mingled emotions set foot upon the soil he left as a boy of nineteen, with but five dollars in cash over and above his passage money! He has fought a good fight and he holds an honored place as one of the best citizens in his adopted home.

WILLIS ISAAC PARMELEE. Occu- pying the property in the town of Durham, Middlesex county, which for generations has been successively held by his ancestors, Mr. Parmelee has interested himself in dairying in addition to general farming, and so success- fully that he now operates the most extensive dairy farm in the town. At the age of twenty- three years he became interested in this branch of farm work, beginning with three cows. He increased and improved his stock from time to time, until now he has over one hundred head. He also deals extensively in cattle and other stock, and is well known to the leading stockmen of Connecticut.

Mr. Parmelee is a representative of an old family. . Jolm Parmelee, the emigrant to America, came from England. His son, John. of Guilford, was one of the thirty-one signers to General Court, on April 20, 1699. to ly out Coginchang '( now Durham). Through three Joel Parmelees, in succession, Willis 1. Parmelee's line is traced from John to Horace Parmelee, his grandfather.

Joel Parmelee, the great-grandfather, mar- ried Esther Hall. He was a farmer and lived on our subject's present farm. His seven chil-

dren were as follows: (1) Horace, mentioned below; (2) Isaac, who married his cousin, Eliza Cooley, of New Durham, N. Y. (he was a deacon of the Congregational Church of Durham) ; (3) Joel, who married .Ann Clark, and lived in Durham; (4) Sarah ( or Sally ), who married Samuel Hicks, and lived in Georgia; (5) Betsey, who married Samuel Newton, a deacon of the Durham Congrega- tional Church; (6) Esther, wife of Joel Aus- tin, a farmer in Durham; and (7) Mary, wife of Enos Camp, who was a farmer in Durham.

Horace Parmelee was a farner in Durham, owning and occupying the present place of his grandson, Willis I. He married ( first ) Mary Fowler. of Guilford, and, for his sec- ond wife, Zeruah ( Fowler ) Lecte, sister of the first, on October 22. 1832. His five children by his first marriage were: (1) John, born February 5. 1818, married Juliette Griswold, of Guilford, May 11, 1842. (2) Elizabeth, born January 9. 1821, married Samuel Ste- vens, May 30. 1841. (3) Sarah, born May 25, 1823, married Curtis Coe, of Middleneld. June 17, 1868. She died January 10, 1892. (4) Nancy, born August 4. 1826. is living in Durham. unmarried. (5) Frederick, born February 11. 1831, was the father of our sub- ject.

Frederick Parmelee was born in the pres- ent house of his son Willis I. He received a district school education, and, except for the time spent in the service of his country, fol- lowed farming all his life. On June 30, 1855. he married Caroline A. Blair, who was born December 12, 1832, in Blandford, Miss .. eldl- est of the nine children of Saumel O. and Eliza (Osborne) Blair, farming people of Blandford. To Frederick and Caroline A. Parmelee were born four children, nameb : 00) Laura M., born September 2, 1858, die October 22. 1881. (2) Willis Isaac was Ban Jul 18. 1801. (3) Henrietta B. bean line 12. 180 ;. is now living with Willis 1. tại Edmund 1. born April 13. 1866, died December 9. 159 ;. Frederick Parmelee, the Luther, en istel Ang- ust 22. 1802. in Company VyCapt Timothy Timilion1, 20th Connections Volunteer Infant- try. for thee vents service. He was mas tereil in September 1, 150, All went with the regime 1 Harper's Fers, Va, and. be- coming the victim of som nie, spent the following winter in the OMdecent Camp. He was discharged on thecount of all health.

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March 27, 1863. Returning home, he con- tinued farming until his death, which was the result of an accident near Reed's Gap, between Durham and Meriden, June 13, 1895; he died two days later, and was buried in Durham. While driving he was thrown from the wagon, and struck a barbed wire fence, death result- ing from concussion of the brain. Mr. Parme- lee was quiet and unostentatious in manner, and was liked by all who knew him. He was deacon in the South Congregational Church of Durham. His widow died September 28, 1900.

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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 170

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