Commemorative biographical record of Middlesex County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Part 64

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 64

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count as a teamster. This pursuit he followed until 1870, in which year he received the ap- pointment of station agent at Middlefield, for the Air Line Division of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. In 1884 he was transferred to Rockfall, where, in addition to his employment as agent, he had a half inter- est in a general store conducted by the firm of Safford & Francis. In 1889 he resigned his station agency and removed to his present farm, of which he became the owner a few years later, and where he now carries on general farming and teaming.

On September 8, 1863, in Middlefield, Mr. Safford married Eunice Melissa Metcalf, who was born in Tunbridge, Orange Co., Vt., April 5, 1841, daughter of George S. and Roxana ( Mosher ) Metcalf. To Mr. and Mrs. Jedediah C. Safford have come three children: Annetta, Mary and Grace. Annetta, born March 30, 1864, mar- ried George J. Francis, of Durham, and died January 29, 1889, leaving one child, Annetta, who was born on the Ist of that same month. Mary, born July 8, 1866, is unmarried. Grace, born February 22, 1880, is a successful school teacher.

Mr. Safford is a member of the Methodist Church, in which he has held several offices of trust and prominence. He was formerly con- nected with the K. of P. and the Good Tem- plars, when those orders had lodges in Mid- dlefield. His fellow townsmen, recognizing his keen sense, sound judgment and rare integ- rity, have chosen him to fill various offices. For four years he was first selectman, and for six years tax collector. At present (1900) he is assessor. He represented Middlefield in the Legislature in 1887, and served as a member of the committee on Fisheries. In politics he is a Republican.

HERBERT E. SMITH, treasurer of the J. O. Smith Manufacturing Company, of Westfield, Middlesex county, belongs to a fam- ily that has long been prominent in this part of the State.

John Smith, his grandfather, came from England with his family in 1825, and located in New York, where he continued in the bus- iness until some time in the fifties. He was a japan worker, and was so proficient in the business that he was accustomed to sign him-

James OSmitto

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self "John Smith, Japanner." In 1826 he bought the distillery of Nathaniel Bacon, in Westfield, and converted it into a japan fac- tory, the first of the kind in the United States. He died in Westfield, Conn., in November, 1857, and was the first to be buried in the Miner cemetery. Mr. Smith was married be- fore he left England to a Mrs. Owen, of Wales, and their children were as follows: (1) Eliza married Thomas Cooke and died in Westfield. Mr. Cooke was also a japanner. (2) James O. is mentioned below. (3) Harriet, married Thomas Smith, a member of the Smith-Bald- win Manufacturing Company, of New York, dealers in varnish. (4) Sophia, married John Murch and is still living, in Jersey City.

JAMES OWEN SMITH, father of Her- bert E., was born May 1, 1813, in Birming- ham, England, and his education was some- what limited, as he had to leave school when he was eight years old and go to work for his father, with whom he remained until he was of age. During the later years of his boyhood he attended night school. In the fifties he bought his father's business in New York, but soon removed to Westfield, having bought his father's plant there, and he conducted both. From 1863 to 1873 he lived in New York, in the last-named year moving back to Westfield, and devoting his entire time to the factory at that place. In 1878 the firm was reorganized, with J. O. Smith as president and Herbert E. Smith as secretary and treasurer. It was a joint stock company, and the incorporators were J. O. Smith, Sam- uel Wilcox, Julius W. Burr, of Berlin, and Thomas B. Odell, of New York, the capital stock being fixed at $30,000. The fire of 1874 swept away all their structures except the old distillery, but the works were at once rebuilt, of brick and much more substantial. The out- put of the company consists of japans, var- nishes, wood enameled goods, and sign and ferro plates. Employment is furnished to thirty men. The goods sent forth from this establishment have gained a high standing for quality throughout the United States, and none better are to be found. After the death of J. O. Smith, which occurred in October, 1880, his son Alfred became president of the com- pany, and acted in that capacity until his death in 1893. Julius W. Burr, the father-in-law of Herbert E. Smith, is now president.

James O. Smith is remembered as a man of unusual intelligence, and possessed a valuable fund of information. He was noted for his business ability, and did much to advance the interests of his firm. He knew every detail of the work, and could do anything connected with the business. In social circles he was well known. In politics he was a Whig, and then non-partisan, and he insisted on character and ability as essential qualifications for local can- didates. In his more active days he was se- lectman, but in his later years he declined all official honors. He took a deep interest in school matters, and was always an advocate of a liberal and progressive policy in educa- tional matters. In New York Mr. Smith was a member of the Episcopal Church. He married Mary A. Smith, a native of Orange county, N. Y., who was a daughter of Mich- ael Smith, and a granddaughter of Michael Smith. The last named was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and in the war of 1812 was a colonel, having the fortifications of New York in charge. Mr. and Mrs. Smith had the following children : (I) Alfred O., born in June, 1836, was a bookkeeper for the firm, and as noted above, was president from 1880 until his death in 1893. Exceptionally bright and capable, he was elected selectman when he was but twenty-one years old. His system of book- keeping is followed to this day. He belonged to St. John's Lodge, No. 2, F. & A. M., and also to the local lodge of K. T., of which he was first commander and a charter member. Mr. Smith married Ellen Wilcox, of South Farms, and they had children-Edward V., Ellen G. ( who married Charles M. Cromwell), Edward A. and Albert E., the eldest and youngest dying in infancy. Edward A. is the present secretary of the firm. Born in 1865, he graduated from Yale Scientific School, and was employed as a mechanical en- gineer in Middletown, and later in New York. When his father died he came to Westfield, and since that time has filled the position of secre- tary. On June 6, 1894, he was married to Lottie, daughter of James and Anın ( Black) WVier, and is the father of two children Made- line and Marjory. (2) James S., who died in Westfield, was general agent for the company. He married Angie Church, who is still living in Westfield with their children, Angie, Edna and James C. (3) Mary A., married Jolin

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Schlesinger, an importer of New York, and is the mother of a large family. (4) Sophia C., is the widow of John Constant, and has a son, Theodore E. (5) G. Henry, who grad- uated from Kenyon College, at Gambier, Ohio, and from the Theological Seminary in New York, is an Episcopal clergyman in Kent, Conn. He married Ellen Cornwall, and is the father of three children, Rev. H. Mendenhall, Merrit H., and Paul. (6) Theodore V. is now living in Stamford, Conn. Until 1893 he was secretary of the firm. He married Imogene Adee, of New York, and is the father of two children, Mabel and Elmer. (7) Herbert E. is mentioned below. (8) Edson W. married Minnie Pratt, who is now living in Brooklyn. He was a promising dentist in New York, where he died at the age of twenty-nine years. (9) Harriet and (10) Arthur, both died in in- fancy.

Herbert E. Smith was born January 28, 1849, in Westfield, where he received a good common-school education, and in 1863 re- moved with his parents to New York, where he attended the public schools and the College of the City of New York, from which he was graduated in 1871. He made a specialty of civil engineering, and took a postgraduate course in Yale Scientific School. In 1872 he was engaged in railroad construction work at Fort Wayne, Ind., and then in Ohio, on the Continental railroad, which is now a part of the Nickle Plate. In the panic of 1873 he was laid off, and coming back to Connecticut, be- came a part of the working force of the firm with which he has ever since been connected. In 1878, on the reorganization of the firm, he became secretary and treasurer, and he has served as treasurer to the present time, the greater part of the business of the firm passing through his hands.

Herbert E. Smith was married, April 21, 1874, to Ella J. Burr, of Berlin, Conn., who was born April 15, 1849, daughter of Julius WV. and Julia E. (Cornwall) Burr, and died January 26, 1899. She was a member of the Episcopal Church at East Berlin, to which Mr. Smith also belonged. To this union came children as follows: (I) Eugene H., born August 18, 1877, died in infancy. (2) Clifford B., born June 13, 1879, graduated from the Middletown high school in 1896. In 1901 Herbert E. Smith married Mrs. Carrie S. Sey-

mour Hewes, of Waterbury. Mr. Smith is a member of the A. D. P., College of the City of New York, and also affiliates with the Royal Arcanum.

GEORGE WAKEMAN, one of the lead- ing agriculturists of East Haddam, Middlesex county, is descended from good old Puritan stock. The first of the family to come to America was John Wakeman, who was born in Bewdley, Worcestershire, England, March 29, 1601, and crossed the Atlantic in the spring of 1640, locating first in Roxbury, Mass. His brother Samuel, who probably came later, was a resident of Cambridge and was a man of con- siderable note, holding several important offi- cial positions ; he was killed in the Bahama Islands. Shortly after coming to America John Wakeman joined the New Haven Col- ony, being one of its original settlers and one of its prominent citizens. He was deacon of the First Church, and held various public offices, including that of treasurer of the Col- ony. In 1661 he moved to Hartford, where he died the same year. He was married in England January 28, 1629, to Elizabeth Hopkins, daughter of William Hopkins, a member of the famous "Long Parliament." She died in 1658, leaving four children: John, Helena, Samuel and Elizabeth.

(II) Rev. Samuel Wakeman, son of the pioneer, was born in England June 7, 1635, and was educated at Cambridge, Mass. He was the first of the family to locate in Fairfield, Conn., of which place he became an active and influential citizen, and was the second pastor of the First Congregational Church there, being ordained September 30, 1665. He died March 8, 1692. His wife was Hannah Goodyear, daughter of Hon. Stephen Goodyear, who in 164I was chosen deputy governor of the Col- ony of Connecticut and served until he went home, in 1656 or '57. [Savage's Genealogical Dictionary, Vol. II, Page 278.] Hollister's History of Connecticut, Vol. I. Page 509, says : "Stephen Goodyear, an early magistrate of New Haven Colony, and one of its wealthi- est and most enterprising citizens, became a resident there in 1637. He was chosen deputy governor in 1641, and continued to hold the office until 1650." Palfrey's History of New England, Vol. I, Page 231, refers to the elec- tion of Stephen Goodyeare in 1643 as deputy

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governor, and Vol. II, Page 391, in a list of the officers of the Colony, says, "Deputy Gov- ernors, 1643-1657, Stephen Goodyeare.".

(III) Capt. Joseph Wakeman, son of Rev. Samuel, was married in 1697 or 1698 to Eliz- abeth Hawley, who was born May 6, 1679, and died August 17, 1753.

(IV) Jabez Wakeman, son of Capt. Jo- seph, was married June 1, 1727, to Ruth Treadwell. He died in 1774.

(V) William Wakeman, of Fairfield, son of Jabez, was born April 1, 1730, married June 21, 1753, Sarah Hill, daughter of Joseph and Abigail (Dimon) Hill. He served as ser- geant in Capt. Dimon's Company, May, 1775, and as sergeant in Capt. Burr's Company, Col. Whiting's Regiment, Fourth Militia, com- manded by Lieut. Col. Johnathan Dimon, at Peekskill, in October, 1777. [See Record Connecticut Men in Revolution, Pages 521 and 616.] He was "established to be Ensign of the Seventh Company of the Alarm List, in the Fourth Regiment in this State," at the January, 1778, session of the General Assem- bly. [Records of the State of Connecticut, 1776-1778, Vol. I, Page 485.] He died March 22, 1802.

(VI) Levi Wakeman, son of William and grandfather of George, was born in Fairfield. Fairfield Co., Conn., in 1764, and migrated to. Georgia, Vt., where he owned a farm and saw- mill. He was married, about 1786, to Sarah Osborne, and died in the West Indies while there on a business trip, leaving four children : Lois, who married a Mr. Osborn, of Trumans- burg, N. Y .; Sarah; William, father of George; and Levi Hill.

(VII) William Wakeman was born March 27, 1793, and died November 22, 1881. He was a native of Vermont, but was only four years old when his parents returned to Fair- field, Conn., and there grew to manhood. In Wilton, this State, he was married, February 10, 1816, to Polly Hurlbutt. During his youth he served an apprenticeship to the shoe- maker's trade, and he followed that occupa- tion in connection with farming throughout life. His death occurred at Stamford, Conn. Relig- iously he was an carnest Baptist, and politically he was first a Whig and later a Republican. He was a strong believer in the abolition of slavery before many of the people of the North favored the cause. Rev. Nathaniel Colver,

D. D., a Baptist minister, and one of the agents of the "underground railway," while deliver- ing an oration against slavery at Danbury, Conn., was mobbed, but he continued to lec- ture every night in the Baptist Church at Georgetown, though masked men formed a part of his audience, and on the third evening the building was blown up. After this occur- rence Mr. Wakeman took an active part in the abolition movement, and invited Rev. Mr. Col- ver to his house, where he lectured to immense crowds. The house not being large enough to accommodate the people, a wagon was drawn up in front of it, and from it Rev. Mr. Colver spoke. Mr. Wakeman took two loads of fugi- tive negroes north in broad daylight. He was many times threatened on account of the active part he took in the abolition movement, but was never molested. George is the youngest of his five children, and the only one now liv- ing. The others were as follows: Levi Hurl- butt, born December 28, 1816, died April 21, 1889; Sarah, born March 23, 1820. died Au- gust 18, 1833; Orrilla, born February 24, 1822, died January 24, 1830: and Minerva, born April 12, 1824, died August 23. 1829.

(VIII) George Wakeman was born in Wil- ton October 12, 1827, and came to Moodus, Middlesex county, in 1846. He attended both the common and select schools near his boy- hood home, and also an academy at Suffield for a short time. He began life for himself as a book agent, and was later a clerk and all- around useful man at Leesville, where his em- ployer ran a store and mill. For several years he was engaged in mercantile business at Moo- dus, at Thomaston one year, and at Bristol three years, but the greater part of his life has been devoted to agricultural pursuits, though for a time he was interested in the undertak- ing business. He returned to East Haddam in 1872, and there he has since made his home.

On June 12, 1856, Mr. Wakeman married Miss Virginia Bulkeley, a daughter of Daniel and Cynthia ( Bigelow) Bulkeley, of Colches- ter, and a descendant of Rev. Peter Bulkeley. who negotiated with the Indians for the trade of a tract of land six miles square, which he- came the town of Concord. Mass. She was related to Gov. Bulkeley. of Connecticut. Mrs. Wakeman died August 12. 1862, leaving three children, namely: ( 1) George Bulkeley, born August 30, 1857, was graduated from Brown

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University in 1884, and from Cornell in 1898, with the degree of Ph. D. He was connected with the History Department of the Univers- ity of Cincinnati for a time, subsequently with the same department in the University of Cal- ifornia. (2) William Walter, born July 29, 1860, graduated from Brown University in 1887, and from the Newton Theological In- stitute in 1890. His first pastoral charge was at Hampton Falls, N. H., where he remained from 1890 to 1897; he was at South Medford Mass., from 1897 to 1900; and has since been at Reading, Mass. On June 26, 1900, he mar- ried Miss Lucia Jane Howe. (3) Levi Vir- ginus, born August 10, 1862, died October 20, 1864.

Mr. Wakeman was again married, Novem- ber 23, 1863, his second union being with Miss Mary Mehetabel Spencer, and to this marriage have also come three children : Mary Virginia, born January 30, 1865, is at home; Arthur Elijah, born April II, 1873, is now at the head of the Boston Custom Shirt Works, of Boston; and Violet Mehetabel, born May 7, 1877, graduated at the William W. Backus Training School for Nurses, Norwich, Conn., in June, 1902.

Originally Mr. Wakeman was a Democrat in politics, but of late years he has affiliated with the Republican party. He served as post- master of Moodus from 1854 to 1861, has been a member of the school board, and was justice of the peace for a number of years, but has refused all other offices. In his religious views he is a Baptist, and in all the relations of life he has been found true to every trust re- posed in him.

ERNEST ARTHUR MARKHAM, M. D., a well-known physician and surgeon of Durham, Middlesex Co., Conn., and one of the most influential citizens of the town, was born October 16, 1853, in Windsor, Vt., a son of Oliver and Sarah Ann (Clark) Mark- ham, natives of Middletown, Conn. He is of remote English origin, and is of the seventh generation of the Markham family in Amer- ica, the line of descent being as follows: Dan- iel Markham, born in England, first married Elizabeth Whitmore, who died in 1676, and second, Patience Harris. Daniel (2) was born in Cambridge, Mass., November 1, 1671, married Deborah Meacham, and died in En-

field, May 6, 1760. Jeremiah born February 19, 1709, or 1710, married Sarah Meacham, who was born in 1709, and died in 1787, his own death having occurred September 22, 1753. Jeremiah (2) was born January 20, 1734, and died in 1827; he married Amy Deming, who was born in 1743, and died in 1825. Jeremiah (3) was born July 13, 1771, married Sally Clark, who was born in 1776; he died Octo- ber I, 1853. John born March 5, 1797, died in 1874, the husband of Polly Clark, who was born in 1795, and died in 1873. Oliver was born in 1825, and married Sarah Ann Clark, who was born the same year.

The name Markham originated in 1066, in England, at a settlement near the border of Mercia (now Scotland), the name being as- sumed for trading purposes. Its origin is well given in the following lines :

Once Ancient Mercia did her borders mark, With home among the leafy woods disorder, Whose forest bounds upon the Isle's arc, A Saxon set to mark the outer border.

A Saxon hamlet for a border home, A home, a hame upon the Angle border, A march, a mark beyond the city's dome, A march-home, a mark-hame, seat of civil order.

Around this clustered sturdy yeomen few, This was the valiant Saxon leader's hame, Claron, a noble chief and father true, On whom "ye towne" bestowed its Saxon name.

(I) Claron, of West Markham, was â Saxon chief and a member of this family, and; for services rendered in the war of the Con- quest, was rewarded with a grant of land- which land, however, had been held by his fa- ther and grandfather before him.

(II) Roger de est Markham succeeded to the lands of his father, Claron, in West Mark- ham, and later acquired lands in East Mark- ham, located on the banks of the Idyl river.

(III) Fulc de est Markham was of the third generation.

(IV) Sir Alexander, known as Knight Castellane, of Nottingham Castle, Nottingham- shire, was born in 1130, was a sort of sheriff or commander, and held other high offices in the time of Henry II.

(V) Sir William Markham, of Markham and Tuxford, succeeded to his father's es- tates, and married Cecilia de Lexington, daughter of Richard de Lexington.

(VI) Sir Richard, eldest son of Sir Will-

EA. Markham.

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iam, succeeded to his father's estate and half of a Knight's fee from his mother's 'estate, but died young.

(VI) Richard, second son of Sir William, fell heir to the estates of his father and elder brother, but did not inherit the title of the latter, because of a peculiar law in existence at the time of his brother's death.

(VII) John, Lord of East Markham, lived partly through the reigns of the first® three Edwards, of the English dynasty, was a lawyer and King's Sergeant, and married Joan, daughter and heiress of Nicholas Bot- tomsell.

( VIII) Sir Robert, also a lawyer and King's Sergeant, married Isabell Caunton.

(IX) Sir John, barrister and judge, com- mitted Henry, Prince of Wales and son of King Henry IV, to the Fleet prison, in London, for a misdemeanor. He first married Eliza- beth De Cressi, and secondly, Millicent, daugh- ter of Thomas De Pickering, and died on St. Sylvester's day, 1409. .

(X) Sir Robert De Markham married Elizabeth Burdon, and died about 1413.

(XI) Sir Robert, knight, married Sarah Joan Daubeney, receiving, with her, estates in Cotham, and died in 1496.

(XII) Sir John married Alicia Skipworth, and received an estate. He commanded a bat- talion at the battle of Stoke-one of the im- portant engagements that took place in the reign of Henry VIII.

(XIII) Sir John (2) was lieutenant of the famous Tower of London, and one of his daughters was maid of honor to Queen Eliza- beth, and was married to the noted writer Har- rington. Sir John first married Ann Neville, whose mother was a granddaughter of the Earl of Somerset, the son of the Duke of Lan- caster, son of King Henry III. His second marriage was to Margery Langford, and his third to Ann Strelly Stanhope. It is said that a grandson of his came to Virginia and was the progenitor of the Markham family in that state.

(XIV) John (3) married Catherine Bab- bington, and was probably still young at the time of his death.

(XV) Robert, only son of the last named John, was born in Sireton, Nottinghamshire, in 1536, and inherited the estate of his grand- father. He first married Maria, daughter of 23

Sir F. Leeke, and next married Jane, daughter of William Bunnell, and had five sons, of whom Francis and Gervase were soldiers and writers. Francis in 1601 published the "Pete- gre" (pedigree) of the Markhams, of Mark- ham, Cotham, Axton, Allerton and Sedge- brook.

(XVI) Sir Robert, of Cotham, married Ann Warburton. He was a sporting man, and squandered the estates of Cotham and East Markham.

(XVII) Daniel, third son of Sir Robert, inherited a small estate, engaged in commer- cial pursuits and died in Plumstead, now known as Pirney, Norfolk county, in 1690, having regained fortune by pursuit of mercan- tile commerce.

(XVIII) Daniel (2) the American em- igrant, was born in Plumstead Manor, near Norwich, England, of which ancient city, his brother Matthew, was mayor in 1634. Mat- thew had a son, also named Daniel, who was a Colonel in the British army, and came to New York with the Duke of York, in 1664. He was the ancestor of the present Admiral Markham, of the British Navy, whose mother, brothers and sisters are now living in Indepen- dence, Iowa. Sir Clements Markham of the Royal Geographical Society, also comes from the same ancestor. Daniel Markham (2) the original American emigrant, arrived in Cam- bridge, Mass., in 1665, whence he removed to Middletown, Conn., in 1667, and was made a freeman in 1674. He was a deacon in the First Congregational Church in 1690, and one of the proprietors of the first bell that hung in the meeting-house, November 18, 1679. He was first married, November 3. 1669. to Eliz- abeth, daughter of Lieut. Francis Whitmore, of Cambridge. This marriage was favored with three children, viz .: Daniel, born in No- vember, 1671; Elizabeth, born July 3. 1673. was married to John Bates, ancestor of the Bates family, of Haddam; and James, born March 16, 1675. married Elizabeth Locke. Mrs. Elizabeth ( Whitmore) Markham died about 1676, and Daniel Markham, for his sec- ond wife, married Patience, daughter of Will- iam Harris, of Middletown. To this sec- ond marriage there were also born three chil- dren : Martha died in infancy: Martha (sec- ond), born January 7, 1685, was married to Jonathan Center; and Edith, born May II,

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1694, was first married to Gideon Webb, and afterward to John Arnold (they were the ancestors of the Arnold family of Haddam).

(XIX) Daniel Markham, the eldest child born to Daniel the immigrant, married, April 2, 1703, Deborah, daughter of Capt. Isaac Meacham. Daniel died in Enfield, Conn., May 6, 1760, leaving a family of ten children, viz. : Daniel, born November 19, 1704, married Pa- tience Miller ; Deborah, born March 3, 1705- 06; Israel, born September 28, 1707, married Ann Spencer, in Willimantic; Jeremiah, born February 19, 1709-10; Isaac, born December 2, 17II, married Jemima Pease, May 9, 1734; Phebe, born 1713, was married January 2, 1732-33, to William Bement; Margery, born November 13, 1715; Joseph, February 16, 1717; Sybil, born in Enfield February 1, 1719, was baptized in Middletown and was married in Somers to Aaron Chapin; and Edith was born May 14, 1722.

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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 64

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