Commemorative biographical record of Middlesex County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Part 177

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 177

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Belfast, Maine, died when he was a small boy. He was reared to farming, and was early thrown upon his own resources, but being a capable and energetic young man, he acquired a good education, and then taught school to enable him to further increase his knowledge. In 1844 he graduated from Columbia Col- lege. He read medicine under a prominent physician in Maine, and began practicing when a young man at Deep River, Conn .. continuing there until 1860, when he removed to Middle- town, where he followed his profession until his death, December 28, 1891. He was bur- ied at Deep River.

Dr. Baker was a Republican in political faith, and fraternally he was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; he also belonged to the different medical societies of the State and county.

On November 18, 1844, Dr. Baker mar- ried Sarah Shailer, who was born at Haddam, May 2, 1824, and they became the parents of two children: Sarah Fisk died at the age of nine years; Charles Rufus died in infancy. Mrs. Baker is a daughter of Diodate and Eliz- abeth ( Rutley) Shailer, and springs from one of the oldest and most prominent families of Haddam. She attended the school in her na- tive town, and later a private school at Deep River, Conn. She is the only living child of her parents, who had a family of four ; Charles A., died in February, 1900, in Deep River. . \sa R. died at the age of seventy-eight. Lucre- tia married John Rogers, and died in Middle- town. Elizabeth Rutley was a daughter of Asa Rutley, and Diodate Shailer was the son of Orrin Shailer.

Mrs. Baker still resides in Middletown, and has occupied her home on College street for a number of years. She is much esteemed and beloved by all who know her. True no- bility and genuine worth characterize her, as they did also her departed husband. A friend of Dr. Baker said he had known the Doctor for fifty years, and if he had faults never knew what they were. He was firm and courageons and true as steel, a keen observer, and a phy sician equal to any occasion.

SAMUEL B. WHITBY has for thirty years been in the employ of the Shaler & Hall Quarry Company and its successor at Port- land, Middlesex county. He has risen by ste cessive steps from the position of an ox driver

to that of superintendent of the quarry, an in- cumbency he has held for ten years, and is re- garded to-day as one of the ablest men in his line in the town. He is thoroughly practical. and those who know him best pronounce him as good a citizen, and as fine a man, as he is solid and reliable in the business world.

Mr. Whitby was born in England, son of Robert and Catherine ( Burkhill ) Whitby. The father was born in the town of Overton. Cheshire, son of William and An ( Warrell ) Whitby. William Whitby was foreman in the Weston quarry about twenty miles from Liv- erpool. He was a skilled workman, and be- came very prosperous. Robert Whitby, his father, lived on Church street, Frodsham, and was a successful farmer. He married a lady from London. The family of William Whit- by, mentioned above, was as follows: Will- iam remained in England, and was a "scap- pler" in the Weston quarry. already noted. Mary married William Percival, and remained in England. Ann married. and spent her life in England, as did John. Elizabeth ( who mar- ried Benjamin Burkhill) and James. Robert was the father of Samuel B.

Robert Whitby spent his borhood and youth on his father's farm, and when he be- came a young man went to work in the Weston quarry. He was married February 12. 1852. in Trinity Church, Overton, England, to Miss Catherine Burkhill, who was born Juh 24. 1830, in the town of Frodsham, Cheshire. daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth ( Bocah ) Burkhill. Her mother was born in Rochdale. Lancashire. Samuel Burkhill was born in Kingley, Cheshire, and was a tavern keeper. llis children were Benjamin, Mary, Catherine. and James: the only one of this inunks to come In the United States was Catherine, Mrs. Whitby. On Sunday morning. April 2. 1853. Robert and Catherine Whitby left Liverpool on the sailing vessel "Onent." bound for the United States, and May 12th, of the same year they landed a New York. They were coming to Portland, where he was confident of secur- ing work, and so they took the steamer to Mil- Hetown. He was given place as a "scappler" in the Middleses quarry, where he followel that business dining Ins seine vene Alr Whitby was a severe sufferer from theminatism for eight years, and spent a year and a half in Dr Fhall's institute. in New York, Fint could secure no ichlet He died LimMary 13.

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1866, and was buried in the Episcopal Church cemetery at Portland. Politically he was a Republican. He united with the Odd Fellows while in England, and was also a member of a society of quarrymen there, and of a mutual benefit fraternity, in which he kept up his dues until his death." He was a good workman, and an upright man. His widow married Dea- con Isaac Hobson, then residing in Portland, and bore him two children : John Henry, now a clerk in the freight office of the Consolidated Railroad, at Middletown; and Frederick, a resident of Portland. To Mr. Whitby she bore the following children: Samuel B .; William H., the subject of a sketch elsewhere; Elizabeth Booth, who died when one year and eleven months old; Robert James, who lived in Middletown until his death, June 29, 1897; and Frederick H., living in Portland. Mr. Hobson died in England, his native land, whither he had gone in search of health, and is buried at Birkenhead, where his death oc- curred. Mrs. Hobson, who is still living, at an advanced age, is a member of the Method- ist Church, and is a highly respected resident of Portland.

Samuel B. Whitby was born November 12, 1852, at Five Crosses, near Frodsham, Che- shire, England, where the first year and a half of his life was spent. The family located at Gildersleeve on their arrival in this country, and when the lad was old enough he became a student of Miss Overton. Later he attended a school that stood near the present site of Waverly Hall. His school days were early ended by the death of his father, which left the widowed mother with a family of young children. Samuel B., the eldest, was only thirteen, but he went to work at whatever his tender age would permit. For two years he was engaged by Elisha Hale, a farmer of Glas- tonbury, at six dollars a month; his wages went to his mother and proved a substantial addition to her slender and precarious income. On April 1, 1869, the young lad went to work in the Shaler & Hall Quarry, driving oxen, for which he received a dollar a day. After a year of this work he was promoted to the hoisting machine, and then made foreman on the rock, and finally became superintendent of the quarry, a position he has held to the present time. He has built up a reputation as one of the ablest men who have ever come to the front

in the Portland quarries. He is a stockholder in the Shaler & Hall Quarry.

Mr. Whitby and Mary Simpson were mar- ried June 17, 1875. She was born in Port- land August II, 1857, daughter of Edward and Julia ( Penfield) Simpson, the former of whom died when she was but four years old. To Mr. and Mrs. Whitby have been born the following children : Anna Louise; Nellie, who died when six months old; Mary Frances ; and Samuel Milton. Mr. Whitby is a Repub- lican, and takes a decided interest in the suc- cess of the party. Fraternally he is a Mason, belonging to Warren Lodge, No. 51, A. F. & A. M., and Freestone Chapter, R. A. M .; and is a charter member of the Portland Lodge, I. O. O. F.

Mr. Whitby paid a visit to his native land in November, 1873, and did not return until the following March. He made the outward voyage on the "City of Chester," and returned on the "City of Richmond," both of the Inman Line. In 1890 Mr. and Mrs. Whitby located in their excellent home at the corner of Fair- view and East Main streets, which is regarded as one of the most desirable homes in the town.

FRANK H. FRISSELL, superintendent of the Russell Manufacturing Company, and a resident of South Farms, is probably one of the most efficient men in the textile line in the United States, and perhaps no other man so young in years is filling so responsible a position in the State. He was born in Thomp- son, Conn., in 1871, a son of Albert and Mary A. (Bennett ) Frissell.

Mr. Frissell's ancestors. in the paternal line were residents of Thompson for several generations, and his mother's progenitors be- longed to an old New England family. They were all highly respectable people, and Mr. Frissell began the world with a heritage of intellect, moral purpose and upright tendencies that lias not been wronged by his career. He attended the Thompson schools until he en- tered the Philadelphia Textile School, which is regarded as the best of the kind in the Unit- ed States. There he gained a knowledge of the business both in theory and practice which he has followed with much credit to himself. In 1890 he accepted the position of assistant superintendent of the Russell Manufacturing Company. He filled the position with such

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satisfaction to the management, that in May, 1896, he was made superintendent of the fac- tory, and is still holding this position. He is a young man of unusual worth and character, skilled in his work, and thoroughly familiar with every detail.

On November 1, 1893. Mr. Frissell mar- ried Miss Edith Lillian Allison, who was born on Summer street - South Farms, a daughter of Abel and Frances M. ( Woodworth) Allison, one of the best families of Middletown. They have two children : Ralph Allison, born No- vember 13, 1896; and Frank H., Jr., born Jan- uary 22, 1902.

Mr. Frissell belongs to the Royal Arca- num. In his religious belief he is a Baptist, while Mrs. Frissell is a Congregationalist. They have many friends, and are very popular in the community.

DWIGHT J. PAYNE, for several years an enterprising young manufacturer at Mid- dletown, was born August 21, 1866, on the Payne homestead, in the southeastern part of the town of Portland, Middlesex county, son of Reuben and Abbey ( Bell) Payne.

Reuben Payne, father of Dwight J., was born on the same homestead August 29, 1820, was reared as a farmer lad, and was educated in the Penfield Hill district school and at the academy of Daniel H. Chase, in Middletown. He had a strong inclination towards mechan- ics, and wanted to engage in that line of work, but his father persuaded him to adhere to ag- ricultural pursuits, and to encourage him in this respect presented him with a small farm near by, to which he added, and on which he followed general farming, giving special at- tention to fruit growing, particularly peaches, in which latter industry he and his brothers were among the few engaged at that time, and in which he met with complete success.

Reuben Payne first married Mary Norton Clark, a native of East Hampton, daughter of Amos and and Mary E. ( Norton) Clark, the latter a direct descendant of Rev. John Nor ton, the first Congregational minister of East Hampton, and a soldier of the French and Indian war. To this marriage came three children, viz. : Emma N., bett October 1. 1852, was married to D. W. Comwall, of Portland: Charles, born in November, 1857. died in January, 1858. Miss Jennie P., born August 23. 1859. resides in New Haven. Mrs.

Mary N. ( Clark ) Payne passed away Novem- ber 16, 1862, and Reuben Payne chose for his second wife Abbey Bell, whom he married in Akron, Ohio, April 15. 1865. She was born in Connecticut November 9. 1838, a daughter of Edwin and Prudence M. ( Abbey ) Bell. To this second marriage was born Dwight J. Payne. Mrs. Abbey ( Bell) Payne was called away in February, 1867. and her husband sur- vived until February 27. 1897 : his remains lie interred in the Eastern cemetery of Portland. Reuben Payne was a prominent member of the Congregational Church at Portland. in which he was a deacon for many years. In politics he was a stanch Republican, and hekdl several town offices, for several years serving on the board of selectmen. He was greatly esteemed in his community.

Dwight J. Payne was educated in the Pen- field Hill school under Prof. F. A. Lilley, and others, later attended the Portland high school. and still later the Eastman Business College at Poughkeepsie. N. Y .. from which he graduated in 1884. On his return to Middletown he was employed as clerk in the hardware store of Noxon & Whitney, with whom he remained until the fall of 1887, and in March, 1888, he established the business in Middletown which grew rapidly year by year, under his individual name conducting an industry unlike any other in the country-the manufacture of hammock chairs and hammock frames, swinging chairs and frames, folding ironing tables, wash bench- es, etc., from patents granted Wilbur F. Parmelee, father-in-law of Mr. Payne, at di- ferent times since 1888. The factory building. on Silver street, has three theors, all inlly unl- ized. the ground floor being a fully compped woodworking establishment. furnished with power by a fifteen-horse-power engine, The material comes as seasoned lumber, all of the work is done on the premises, and on leaving the factory the goods are ready for use The chairs and frames are unlike any produced else where, and are in a variety of makes The goods immediately jumped int popular favor. and the hammock, lawn nid snigog chairs. and the frames as well, are now in use at Hier all summer resorts and on ile ysgids it pri Late residences The product of the factory found ready sale in every partof the U'mon. some exporting also bente done through the large commission houses

Fach year the business las Heennosite that

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of the year preceding, and the volume for 1895 was more than three times that of 1894. In addition to the chairs already spoken of oth- ers for different purposes are also being made. The reclining chair has developed into an ex- tremely comfortable and ornamental parlor chair, while the physician's and surgeon's chair made in this establishment covers a greater range of use than that of any other maker. Its cost is less than one-half that of others, it ad- mits of compact folding, is easily moved about, and is already commended by some of the most eminent practitioners. All the goods produced are embodiments of the ideas of Wilbur F. Parmelee, and he has many other specialties in process of completion. The bus- iness is yet, virtually, in its infancy, and is sus- ceptible of vast development.

Dwight J. Payne was married, June 12, 1889, to Miss Edla L. Parmelee, who was born May 20, 1868, and is a daughter of Wilbur F. and Lodisca C. ( Blatchley) Parmelee. This marriage has been graced with four children, viz .: Reuben B., born April 10, 1890, who died in August, 1892); Wilbur B., born No- vember 24, 1891 ; Kenneth M., born Septem- ber 12, 1893; and Gabriella, born September 8, 1897. In politics Mr. Payne is a Repub- lican, but he takes very little interest in party affairs, except to see that his vote is regularly cast. Religiously he is a member of the Port- land Congregational Church.

WILBUR FISKE PARMELEE, father of Mrs. Dwight J. Payne, was born November 4, 1839, in the Lane District, in the northern part of the town of Killingworth, Middlesex Co., Conn., son of Eliab and Lucy Philetta (Lynde) Parmelee.

Eliab Parmelee, great-grandfather of Will- im F., was a farmer in the Lane District. He married Rachel Smith, and had a family of seven children, viz .: Eliab, born October 13, 1775; Bani, who first married Temperance Kelsey, and second, Charity Angevine, and lived in what is now known as Cromwell, Mid- dlesex county ; Nathaniel, who died in infan- cy ; Caroline, who married Noah Hill, a farm- er of North Madison, New Haven county ; Olive, married to David Kelsey, a farmer of Killingworth: Rachel, who married Orrin Parmelee, of the same place; and Mabel, wife of John Hull, also of Killingworth.

Eliab Parmelee, grandfather of Wilbur F. Parmelee, was a very prominent farmer resid-

ing on the homestead in Killingworth, held many of the town offices, and was an active member of the Congregational Church. He married Lydia Pierson, daughter of Samuel and Rebecca ( Parmelee) Pierson, who was of the fourth generation in descent from Rev. Abraham Pierson, the first president of Yale College. The children of Eliab and Lydia Parmelee were eleven in number, namely : Ą1- fred, born April 14. 1798, married Sylvia Rut- ty ; he engaged in farming, lived for awhile in Twinsburg, Ohio, and removed to Perry, Ind., where he passed the remainder of his life. Harlow, born June 23, 1800, died in 1803. Philemon, born February 17, 1802, died Oc- tober 6, 1803. Rebecca, born August 18, 1804, was first married to Lemuel Parmelee, and lat- er to Abel Wilcox, and died November 5, 1888. Harlow (2). born February 10, 1807, was a farmer and stonemason, and died unmarried at Newark, N. J., when twenty-eight years old. Philo, born May 3, 1809, was a farmer in Kil- lingworth, and later became a manufacturer in Haddam, where he died April II, 1878; he married Phebe Johnson. Maria, born Novem- ber 23, 1811, married Lorenzo Parmelee, and died in Killingworth, September 28, 1875, Caroline, born June 22, 1814, is the widow of William Seward Hull, who was born Decem- ber 8, 1812 ; he was a school teacher and farmer in Killingworth, and later moved to Madison, New Haven county, where he held the office of deputy sheriff twenty-eight years, and also every office, except town clerk, within the gift of the people: he died there November 18, 1890, his widow now making her home in Meriden, Conn., with her daughter, who is the wife of Dr. F. P. Griswold. Eliab H., the ninth of the family, was the father of Wilbur F. Linus, born May 29, 1819, died in June, 1819. Lydia, twin of Linus, was first mar- ried to Edward Nettleton, and subsequently to Hezekiah Willard.

Eliab Harvey Parmelee, father of Wilbur F., was born in the Lane District, Killing- worth, November 27, 1816, and there passed his early life on the home farm. He received his early education in the district schools, and for a short time attended a select school. He was very apt. and for thirty consecutive win- ters after he had acquired his own education taught in the various towns throughout the lower part of Middlesex county, being one of the best known teachers of the section. On

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one occasion, while attending a teacher's con- vention, he found that fully one-half of the members had been his former pupils. He was also a local Methodist preacher, and was wide- ly and favorably known in that capacity. In all religious movements he was very active, and he was famous as a temperance lecturer. In his later years he joined the Middlesex County Congregational Association, and served as a Congregational minister in Portland, Lebanon and Long Ridge, his last charge be- ing at River Head, Long Island, N. Y., where he died July 30, 1890; his remains were in- terred in Pine Grove cemetery, at Middletown, Conn. He was a most popular citizen, held many of the town offices in Killingworth, and was electetd from that town to serve in the State Legislature as a non-partisan.

Eliab H. Parmelee married Lucv P. Lynde, a native of Chester, Middlesex Co., Conn., born March 15, 1816. She bore her husband eight children, as follows: Harlow Marancey, born July 21, 1838, died October 2, 1842. Wilbur Fiske is mentioned below. Octavius Lyndon, born December 20, 1841, married Emma Munger ; he was a school teacher, and died in Killingworth. Edson Harvey, born January 1, 1844, was a mechanic, and resided in Middletown; he died unmarried. Samuel Benjamin, born April 30, 1846, resides in Sar- atoga, N. Y., and is a manufacturer of patent medicines; he has been twice married. Dens- more Cleveland, born February 27, 1849, mar- ried Elvina Arnold, resides in New Haven, and is a traveling salesman. Morelle Edgar- ton, born October 12, 1853, died April 19. 1866. Solon Webster, born July 20, 1857. was a traveling salesman. Mrs. Lucy P. ( Lynde) Parmelee, the venerated mother of this family, was called away AAugust 4, 1880. and her remains were also interred in Pine Grove cemetery, Middletown, where she died.

Wilbur Fiske Parmelee was well educated in the district schools and at Guilford Insti tute, under Prof. Mack and others. For eight winters he taught school, in Killingworth, Chester and Haddam, and during the summers was employed in Lane's av-handle factory as a wood worker. He was also for a time (11- ployed at Unionville, doing contract work on gun stocks for a Mr. Bunnell ; while teaching in Chester he was employed in summer in Silli man's wood-working factory, making wooden

inkstands, for which there was a great demand during the Civil war.

In 1868 Mr. Parmelee relinquished the ferule, came to Middletown, and for many years acted as a sewing machine agent, at one time being manager of the western business of the Victor Sewing Machine Company. In 1888 he entered the employ of D. J. Payne, his son-in-law, whose business is fully de- scribed in the early part of this-sketch. Mr. Parmelee does the inventing, and Mr. Payne the executing.

Wilbur F. Parmelee was first married in Haddam, January 29, 1863, by Rev. Isaac Sanford, to Lodisca Clarinda Blatchley, who was born December 9, 1839, and was a daugh- ter of Daniel W. and Rebecca ( Smith) Blatch- ley, of Haddam. This lady died April 22. 1881, and was buried in Pine Grove cemetery. at Middletown. She was the mother of four children, viz .: Bertha Edmea, born March 1. 1865, in Chester, was married Ang. 29. 1883. to Willett D. Blenus, of South Farms, and has borne her husband four children-Bertha (deceased), Maude, Walter (deceased ), and Claude. Mrs. Dwight J. Payne is the second in the family. Nettie May, the third, was born May 30, 1872, and died May 3. 1873. Lucy Rebecca, the fourth, was born February 27, 1876, and was married AAugust 30. 1899. to George J. Fisher, the well-known jeweler of Middletown. The second marriage of Mr. Parmelee took place in Boston, Mass., June 13. IS82, to Mrs. Gabriella ( Wilson) Elliott. who was born in Lowell, Mass .. September 1. 1837. There have been no children by this union.

Mr. Parmelee is a stanch Prohibitionist. He has been school visitor m Middletown. He and his family are members of the South Farms Methodist Episcopal Church, and he was Sun day-school superintendent for twenty years. but resigned in 1809.

MISS LARISSA SILAILER, until re- cently a resident of the town of East Haddam. Middlesex county, now of Hamburg, New London Co, Con , enjoys the unique distino tion of having lived in three centuries, and pre- serves her faculties to a remarkable degree Until a short time ago she resded in the ohl town of Tylerville, in Haddam where her long and useful life has been pas ol, mild the quiet

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scenes and uneventful experiences of more than a century. She has maintained the respect and esteem of the community to the highest de- gree.

Miss Shailer was born on the Shailer homestead, in Haddam, September 21, 1800, and at the dawning of the nineteenth century was an infant of little more than three months. The nineteenth century unrolled its wonderful panorama of progress before her, and she has witnessed and participated in the most won- derful advance ever made by man. The world has indeed rolled round and passed from win- ter to summer in every field of human thought and feeling since her advent. She has seen the marvelous growth, by leaps and bounds, of what was then a small and feeble Republic into one of the great powers of the world. The weak confederation of the year 1800 has be- come the great world power of the year 1900. She has seen sailing vessels give way to beau- tiful and palatial steamers on the lovely stream that has flowed unchanged through all the years in sight of her home. She has seen the stage give way to the drawing-room car and the trolley car. She has seen the world of wonders which the discovery and application of electric- ity to industry has revealed-the family horse displaced by light vehicles, propelled by steam or electricity, which daily pass her door. The world of religion has been transformed; the methods and ambitions of education have greatly changed, and she survives, the last sur- viving member of an order long since gone. The companions of her girlhood and the as- sociates of her womanhood have vanished, but she is still cheerful and happy, and has every propect of living for some years longer. Her home for a number of years was with B. H. Annis and family, where she was tenderly cared for and reverently regarded, but she now lives with relatives in Hamburg. All her fac- ulties are awake and vigorous ; she can read, knit, converse readily, and takes daily exercise out of doors.

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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 177

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