Commemorative biographical record of Middlesex County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Part 75

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 75

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To Capt. Tyler and his wife, Susan (Clark) were born children as follows. (1) Alpheus Williams, born July 9, 1828, is men- tioned below. {2) Warren Clark, born Feb- ruary 19, 1832, died March 3, 1847, aged fifteen. (3) Susan Maria, born November 26, 1835, married Capt. Orlando S. Shailer, who died at sea October 4, 1873. She is liv- ing in Tylerville. They had two sons,-(a) Irving Tyler, born May 19, 1865, married Edith M. Webb, of Higganum, May 24, 1899; he was a representative from Haddam in 1899. (b) Edwin Ellis, born August 16, 1870, is unmarried.

Alpheus Williams Tyler, the father of Rol- lin U. Tyler, was born July 9, 1828, and was educated in Wilbraham, Mass. He followed farming as his business for life, and has al- ways been an influential citizen of the town. For about thirty years he has been a member of the Board of Education, serving as secre- tary and acting school visitor for ten years. For three years he was first selectman, and at various periods of his life has filled most of the town offices. In 1874, while representing the town in the State Legislature, he was chairman of the committee on agriculture. He has been a director in the Deep River Na- tional Bank for over forty years.

Alpheus Williams Tyler was married, De- cember 29, 1857, to Melissa Usher, daughter of Selden and Sarah (Hubbard) Usher. She was born September 8, 1835, and was grad- uated from Mt. Holyoke Seminary in the

class of 1856. To them were born: (1) Warren graduated from Wesleyan Academy, Wilbraham, Mass., in 1879, and from Wes- leyan University, Middletown, in the class of 1883, and from the Boston Law School in 1886. He is now cashier of the Polk County National Bank, in Bartow, Fla. He married. September II, 1889, Marie E., daughter of George and Frances (Starkey) Pratt of Es- sex, Conn. (2) Rollin Usher is our subject. (3) Mary Noyes, born July 6, 1868, gradu- ated from Hartford high school in the class of 1885, and from Wellesley College in the class of 1890. She married June 22, 1893, Frederick H. Jones, of Andover, Mass., and resides at Wakefield Mass. (4) Selden Will- iams, born August 27, 1872, graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., class of 1891 and from Yale College class of 1895. He married, October 22, 1900, Ethel Howe, daughter of John M. and Margaret (Howe) Perley, of Wakefield, Mass. He has been in business in Hartford, Conn., and Lynn, Mass.

Rollin Usher Tyler, the subject of this re- view, is one of the youngest members of the Middlesex County Bar. His early education was obtained in the public schools, and at Brainerd Academy, in Haddam, his native town. He attended the Middletown high school for two years, and graduated at Wes- leyan Academy, Wilbraham, Mass., in 1882. Entering Yale College the same year, he grad- uated at the age of twenty-one from that in- stitution in 1886. The next three years he taught Greek, Latin and Mathematics at Nichols Academy, Dudley, Mass., after which he continued the same line of work for a year at the Stevens school, at Hoboken, N. J., and as a private tutor at Oyster Bay, L. I. He spent three years at the Yale and Harvard Law Schools, receiving the degree of LL. B. at Yale in 1893, and being admitted to prac- tice at Middletown in July of that year. He has made public addresses, and published arti- cles upon matters of local history and geneal- ogy, in which he takes much interest. For several years he has been clerk of the Had- dam Congregational Church, of which he is a member. In 1898 he was the Democratic candidate for State senator in the Twenty- first District, which is strongly Republican, and was defeated. In 1900 he was eleccted, as a Democrat, one of the representatives from

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Haddam in the General Assembly, a position ccupied by his father, Alpheus W. Tyler, in 873 and 1874; by his grandfather Capt. Varren Tyler, in 1836 and 1837; and by his reat-grandfather, Jonathan Usher, in 1823. n the House Mr. Tyler was a member of the ommittees on Cities and Boroughs, on Con- titutional Amendments (House), and on Constitutional Convention. On the question f calling a convention he took the position hat there was a reasonable demand for con- titutional reform, that it could not be much onger delayed, and that it would be wiser to all a convention now than to wait until in- reasing agitation should sweep away town epresentation altogether. He accordingly itroduced the Convention bill, and worked or its passage, both in committee and on the oor of the House, successfully. His con- tituents thought differently and defeated him s a candidate for delegate by a vote of 304 ) 73. Since then Mr. Tyler has been prac- cing his profession in Deep River and Mid- letown. He resides with his parents at the id home in Tylerville. As a lawyer he en- ›ys the confidence of the legal profession of le county, and is a public-spirited citizen. . straightforward and honorable man, he has cured the respect of all who know him, and as many warm personal friends.

CHARLES D. MOWRY, a prominent tizen of Middletown, holds the very respon- ble position of foreman of the galvanizing apartment of the Wilcox Crittenden Con- iny, in that city, and has a large force of men der his direction.

The first of his family in America was ohn Mowry (a son of Roger Mowry), who ume to Boston, where he was made a freeman 1631. He was a younger brother of Na- aniel Mowry, and a genealogy of the de- endants of his brother has been prepared id printed. The Mowry family are quite nu- erous in Rhode Island. John Mowry lived id died at what is now North Smithfield, s death occurring previous to May 8, 1695. e was the father of John (2), Meribah and xperience.

John Mowry (2) married (first) April 3. 1701, Marjory Whipple, a daughter of cazer Whipple, of Providence. Their chil- en were: Mary, Ananias, Phillip, John,

Abigail, Marjory, Amy and Meribah. After the death of the mother of these children, Mr. Mowry married, July 9, 1722, Johannalı Packard, who bore him two children, Ezekiel and Lydia. Mr. Mowry died September 19, 1732, and his widow afterward married Henry Mowry, a cousin to her first husband.

Ananias Mowry married in 1735 Zeruiah (surname not given), of Smithfield, where she was born in 1718. She died in 1806, and her husband passed away in 1789, at the age of eighty-four years. These were their chil- dren : Phillip, Ananias, John, David, Gideon, Roger. Zeruiah and Sarah.

Phillip Mowry, the eldest of the above family, was born November 11, 1738. In 1762 he married Elizabeth Newell. born in 1741. She died in 1825, and her husband sur- vived until 1828. Their children were: Jona- than, Seth, Lydia, Mary, Eliza, Phillip, Ze- ruiah, John, Sarah and Moses,

Jonathan Mowry, eldest son of Phillip. was born in 1763, and died in 1818. Patience Twitchell, a daughter of Benjamin Twitchell, became his wife in 1789. They had the fol- lowing children : Levi, grandfather of Charles D., born January 12, 1790; Lucy, who mar- ried Joel Aldrich; Dutee; Dan; Sarah, who married John Colwell; and Newell. For his second wife, Jonathan Mowry married Febru- ary 10, 1799, Ruth MacIntire, of Gloucester. daughter of Simeon MacIntire, born Novem- ber 27, 1777. She died February 24, 1865, the mother of the following children: Samuel. born June 20, 1800; Spencer, November 27, 1802; Nelson, June 20, 1804 (died Novem- ber 8, 1826) ; George Washington, October 7, 1806 (died October 9. 1861) ; Patience, December 7, 1808 (died December 11. 1831) ; Phillip, December 17, 1810 (died in child- hood ) ; and Elizabeth, September 13. 1813.

Levi Mowry, eldest son of Jonathan, lived in Woonsocket, R. I., where he was engaged in business as a cotton manufacturer, his fac- tory being in the outskirts of that city. The latter years of his life were spent in retirement. and he died October 10. 1863. He married Alpha Aldrich, of Naaman, who died July 28. 1868, at Pleasant Plains, Ill. Their children were: Mark Aldrich, born June 12. 1815: Dutee : Lyman, born April 16. 1819, who mar- ried Mary Whiting, of Whitinsville. Mass .. and died January 14, 1855: Lewis .A., born

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

May 27, 1821, who located at Pleasant Plains, Ill. (his mother was a member of his house- hold at the time of her death) ; Miranda Bal- lou, born January 29, 1824, who married Bax- ter Arnold, and lived at Woonsocket, where her husband was engaged in farming; Mar- tin, who went to Missouri to engage in min- ing; George, deceased in 1877; and Jarvis Hiram, born May 28, 1827, who died March II, 1830.

Dutee Mowry, father of Charles D., was born March 19, 1817, in Rhode Island, and spent his early life near Woonsocket. In the early 'fifties he went to California in search of gold, making the outward journey by Cape Horn. Locating in San Francisco, he became established in business, and lived there unti: his death, in 1892. On October 7, 1841, Mr. Mowry was married to Anna Maria Thayer, who was born February 15, 1825, a daugh- ter of Hiram and Sarah ( Pierce) Thayer, and who died January 4, 1893, at the home of Charles D. Mowry, in Middletown. They be- came the parents of the following children : Ellen M., born August 7, 1843, married John J. Coburn, and is now living at South Fram- ingham, Mass. Charles D. is mentioned be- low. Dutee B., born April 17, 1849, who in early manhood changed his name to Byron D., lives in Carterville, Mo., where he is one of the well known men of the town; he has served several terms as mayor of Carterville, and is now superintendent of the water works, has considerable mining interests, and a flat- tering insurance business; on September 28, 1879, he married Hattie L. Cohen, and has three children, Nellie M., Arthur B. and Inez.

Charles D. Mowry was born December II, 1846, in Woonsocket, R. I., where he lived un- til March, 1861, when he removed with the family to Presque Isle, Maine. He received a common school education. At the first call for troops he left school, in 1861, and enlisted in Company I, Seventh Maine Volunteer In fantry, under Capt. Henry Rolfe. On ac- count of the objection of his mother he was unable to secure admission into the service. In 1862 he ran away from home and walked forty miles to Houlton, Maine, and enlisted in what was later Company G, Ninth Maine Vol- unteer Infantry, under Capt. Hines. His mother again objected, and he was brought

home. On September 3, 1863, he made his third enlistment, this time as a recruit in Coni- pany C, Seventeenth Maine Volunteer Infan- try, under Capt. Edward Moore and Col. C. P. Mattox, now living in Portland, Maine. Mr. Mowry joined his regiment in Culpeper, Va., and served until March 24, 1864, when he was sent to the general hospital for disabil- ity. He was given a permanent detail in the dispensaries of the medical department at Grace Church and Sickles Hospital, at Alex- andria, Va., and remained there on duty until the close of the war, when he was mustered out May 23, 1865, at Washington, District of Columbia.

The young soldier returned to Presque Isle, and attended the local academy for a year. In 1866 he went to Boston to enter the employ of Weeks & Potter, wholesale drug- gists. He was with them for a few months and then became an employe of the Bailey Wringer Company, at Woonsocket, R. I. There he remained three years, learning the galvanizing trade thoroughly, and at the end of that time removed to Cambridge, Mass., where he established and for four years super- intended the galvanizing works of the Dover Stamping Company, having charge of thirty men. In January, 1875, he resigned at Cam- bridge and came to Middletown to assume the duties of the position he now holds. He has charge of the work of forty men, and is re- garded as a steady and careful man. The confidence and trust of all who deal with him have been earned by a clear and upright life.

Previous to 1875 it was considered utterly, impossible practically to tin cast iron. About this time Mr. Mowry perfected a process by which this could be done-the perfection of the process being the result of years of steady experiment and a thoroughly practical knowl- edge of the business. Since that time his methods have been copied and imitated until they are now in use, not only in America, but all over the world where such work is done. Mr. Mowry was distinctively the originator of the process and the pioneer in its use, but while he received some pecuniary benefit from his discovery the compensation was vastly in- significant as compared with the importance and value his contribution represented to man- ufacturers along that line, owing to the fact

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

that the originator of a process, according to patent laws does not receive the protection that is accorded the inventor of a device.

On November 28, 1868, Mr. Mowry was married to Miss Sarah Law, who was born December 17, 1844, in Woonsocket, R. I., a daughter of George H. and Clarinda Clark, the former of whom was foreman in a high grade cotton establishment. To Mr. and Mrs. Mow- ry came one child, Edward S., born September 22, 1871. They occupy a pleasant and attrac- tive home on William street. In politics Mr. Mowry is a Republican, and has creditably served on the city council two years. He is quite public-spirited, and keenly interested in every movement tending toward the advance- ment of his town. He introduced the first fire alarm telegraph in Middletown, and had charge of it for eight years. In religious con- nection he is a regular attendant and liberal contributor to the Congregational Church. Fraternally he belongs to Mansfield Post, No. 53, G. A. R., and he is also a member of the Middletown Yacht Club and Mattabessett Ca- noe Club.

EDWARD S. MOWRY, only son of Charles D. Mowry, is one of the enterprising young men of Middletown, and is now efficiently serving as first assistant to his father in the factory. He has taken an active part in the work of the Republican party, was elected to the city coun- cil of Middletown by a flattering majority, and was the youngest member of that body. He is also a member of the town committee. For some time he was a member of the Mansfield Guards, and attained to the rank of lieutenant, but resigned his commission in 1900. He is a member of Cyrene Commandery, Knights Templar; a charter member of Middletown Lodge, No. 771, B. P. O. E .; and also be- long's to the Middletown Yacht Club and the Colonial Club of Middletown. On March 22, 1900, Edward S. Mowry was united in mar- riage with Mame Burr, of Cayuga, N. Y., and they have one child Charles Edward, born in February, 1901.

CHARLES FRANKLIN SHEPARD, one of Chatham's successful general and dairy farmers, in his long and useful life of seventy- one years has been engaged in various voca- tions.

Abel Shepard, the first of this family of whom we have record, was born May 4, 1747.

in Middletown, and died October 9, 1833. On April 16, 1769, he married Mary Lewis, who was born July 5, 1750, in what is now known as Cromwell. In his early youth he removed from Middletown to Middle Haddam, and there carried on the business of a shipbuilder, his yard being on the banks of the Connecticut river not far from the present home of his grandson, Charles F. Shepard. There he built sea-going craft, among them being the ship "Liberty" and the bark "Magnolia," both fa- mous vessels of their day. Abel Shepard was a slaveholder, and it is said he owned and emancipated two slaves. That such was the case with at least one is evidenced by two highly prized documents now in the posses- sion of Charles F. Shepard, and which read as follows :

December ye 10 1773.

Know all Men by these presents that I Benjamin Boardman of Chatham in the County of Hartford & Colony of Connecticut, for the Consideration of twelve Pounds L: M: received to my full satisfaction of Abel Shepherd of the afforesaid Town & County do sell,bar- gain & deliver to the said Abel Shepherd a Negro Boy named Tom aged a Year & eight Months, which Negro before this Conveyance was my just Right & property, & that no Person or persons whatever had any just Claim to sd Negro, & I do promise to defend the above Named Abel Shepherd, his Heirs, Executors, & Administrators from any Claim any person or persons shall pretend to said Negro; In witness whereof I set my Hand and Seal in presence of:

Thomas Fuller

Benjn Boardman [Seal]

Mary Fuller

Chatham January 31st AD 1797

Whereas Tom Seaser, my Negro man Servant is desir- ous To be Emansipated & Set free, I do hereby Emansi- pate the Negro man Tom Seaser and Set him free from me and my Heirs forever.

Abel Shepard.

Chatham January 31st AD 1797

whereas Mr. Abel Shepard of sd Chatham has made application to us the Subscribers Civel Authority & Select Men of the Town of Chatham that he is Desirous of Emansipating his Negro man Slave Tom Seaser who is within the age that the Law Requires for Emansipation, we therefore being Satisfied that the sd Tom Seaser is Desirous of his Emansipation and that he is in good helth at this time, we do hereby as the Law in such Case has Impowered us, Give the sd Abel Shepard full and Compleat Liberty to Emansipate the sd Tom Seaser and he is hereby Emansipated and Set free. given under our hands to be Recorded this 31st Day of January AD 1797 Bryan Parmele Danl. Shepard Jr Chancy Bulkley Civel Authority Select Men

Jos Sage Moses Cook.

On the back of the latter document is in- cribed :"Tom Seasor's Emansipation Reed Jan- tiary 31st 1797 & Recorded Lib. Sthi page 206 Test Daniel Shepard Register paid for Re- cording."

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Both papers are in an excellent state of preservation.

The ten children of Abel Shepard were: (I) Sarah born March 27, 1771, married Isaac Hinckley December 12 1799. (2) Lucy born April 24, 1773, married John Sel- den November 25, 1800. (3) Hannah, born March 15, 1775, married Selden Smith May 28, 1797. (4) Mary, born February 3, 1777, married Amasa Daniels May 15, 1798. (5) Bartlett, who was a sea captain, was born May 15, 1779, and married Hope Marshall, June [2, 1803. (6) Abel, born March 30, 1781, on May 15, 1803, married Clarissa Arnold; he was a carpenter and shipbuilder, removing from his native State to Cleveland, Ohio. (7) Edward, born June 26, 1783, passed his life at Wethersfield. (8) A daughter born Feb- ruary 3, 1785, died unnamed. (9) Anna, born June 12, 1787, died May 1, 1851, un- married. (10) Henry (or "Harry," as he was commonly known), was the father of our subject.

Henry Shepard was born February 23, 1794, and died March 2, 1862, in his sixty- ninth year. The house in which he first saw the light stood directly opposite the site of that now occupied by his son, but has since been torn down. He was a farmer, but fond of military evolutions and training, and was for several years a captain of Light Infantry in the Connecticut Reserves. He was twice mar- ried. His first wife was Eliza Young, whose father, Elisha Young, was a resident of Mid- dle Haddam. The issue of this marriage was one son, William Henry, who died at Middle Haddam in 1895. The second wife of Henry Shepard was Sally Payne-born March 31, 1795, died November 9, 1872-a daughter of Reuben and Elizabeth ( Hamlin) Payne. They were married May 9, 1826. Her father was a highly esteemed citizen and a deacon in the Congregational Church. Henry Shepard was a Democrat in his early days, but gave his ad- herence to the Republican party on its organi- zation, casting a vote for Fremont in 1856. Religiously both he and his wife were Con- gregationalists. The children of Henry and Sally (Payne) Shepard, besides Charles F., the eldest, were : Sarah Elizabeth Hamlin, born November 9, 1831, died in 1880; she was the wife of Harrison Brainard, of Middle Had- dam. Theodore Alonzo, born February 7.

1835, married Ellen Ransdale, was a captain of a packet plying between New Haven and New York, and died in February, 1889.

Charles F. Shepard was born in the house which he now occupies, June 19, 1829. He enjoyed the advantages of a good common- school education and. was blessed by. nature with quick perception and a retentive mem- ory. Early in life he learned the art of work- ing in block tin, and after two years' employ- ment, engaged in business as a maker of coffin trimmings, and electroplater of bells at Cobalt, Conn. The name of the firm was Bailey & Shepard, which concern continued in existence from 1852 until 1858, Harrison Brainard be- ing admitted to partnership in 1855. In 1858 Mr. Shepard disposed of his interest and with- drew. His next business venture was as part owner of three and

schooners three sloops engaged in the carrying trade between New York and New Haven. In 1859, his father's health giving way before the steady march of old age, hc returned to the old homestead, where he has ever since been engaged in general farm- ing, besides carrying on business as a dairy- man, and where he is now spending his years in serene retirement and well earned repose. For several years he engaged in tobacco cul- tur, but advancing age led him to abandon it. Politically he is a Republican, and in the early "fifties" he was a member of the "Know- nothing" party.

In June, 1858, Mr. Shepard married Han- nah Elizabeth Warner, daughter of William and Lydia ( Roe) Warner, of East Haddam, and to this union came seven children: Ed- gar Eugene, born December 17, 1859, died at the age of two years, eight months thirteen days; Harry Addison, born July 17, 1863, died October 4, 1863; Charles Franklin, Jr., born in November, 1864, is a molder by trade, and employed in the Union Works, at New Britain (in 1897 he represented his town in the Legislature) ; Dwight Hamlin, born Octo- ber 7,. 1866, married Mary Ellen Hunt, of New Britain, in which city he is overseer of the Corbin shops: Sarah Ellen, born January 20, 1871, died January 24, 1871 ; Mary Elizabeth Davenport was born April 30, 1872, and on October 24, 1894, married Charles Arnold, of New Britain; Hannah Ethel, born June 25, 1874, is unmarried and lives with her parents.

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

GEORGE A. CHAFEE, the genial pro- prietor of the "Hotel Chafee," at Middletown, Middlesex county, has a widespread reputation as the landlord of one of the very best hos- telries to be found in all New England. He takes a commendable pride in the excellence of its cuisine, and the perfection of all its ap- pointments for the comfort and satisfaction of his patrons.

Coming from one of the old New England families, whose history begins in the early days of the Massachusetts Colony, Mr. Chafee was born December 14, 1840, at Bristol, R. I., where his parents, George and Harriet Newell (Austin) Chafee, were living at the time.

Stephen Chafee, the grandfather of George A., came from Rehoboth, Mass., to Bristol, where he and his wife, Deborah ( Usher ) lived and died. A prominent merchant, he was ex- tensively interested in the West Indies trade and in the handling of country produce. At one time he had accumulated a large fortune, which, however, he lost in his later years. Though slight in his stature, he is remem- bered as a man of great muscular strength. In religion he was a member of the Methodist Church, and an active worker in its affairs. In politics he was a Jeffersonian Democrat, but never active, his devotion to his business leav- ing him little time or inclination for office secking. He had a brother who went into Wisconsin at an early day, and left a numer- · ous progeny. A sister, Betsy, married a Mr Maxfield. Stephen and Deborah Chafee were the parents of the following named children : (1) George was the father of George A. (2) Zachariah, a tailor, went to California in 1849, making the outward trip around Cape Horn, and was 188 days on the way to San Francisco. For five years he remained in that distant State, bringing back to his Rhode Island home a suug little fortune and a diary of events and experiences very fully written and containing many interesting records of that eventful and exciting time. For years he was a successful merchant in Rehoboth, Mass. He died in Bristol. Eliza LeCroix, his wife, was born and reared in Maine. (3) Stephen, (4) Eunice and (5) Cyril died in Bristol. (6) Sophia died unmarried. (7) Thomas was a soldier in the war of the Rebellion and died in Bristol.

The old town burying ground in Bristol is the last resting place of many of this name.

George Chafee was born in Bristol, R. I., in 1814, and died in 1890 in Middletown, where he had lived for many years. When fifteen years old he went to sea on the whaler "Corinthian," and followed the sea until about the time of his marriage. He was on the "Corinthian" for over three years, during which time he rounded Cape Horn and later he was on a United States man-of-war, under Commodore Downs. In Bristol he married Miss Harriet Newell Austin, a daughter of Samuel and Mary (Goddard) Austin. She was reared in North Kingston, R. I., where her father was an extensive farmer and a very prosperous man. Mr. and Mrs. Chafee located at Bristol, where she died at the age of thir- ty-four years. Of their children, the follow- ing lived to adult age: Stephen; George A .; Samuel ; Lucinda, wife of W. A. Manchester, of Bristol, R. I. ; Harriet, who died unmarried : and Clark, of Middletown, now associated with George A. Chafee. George Chafee was again married, and by his second wife had three children : Ida, Mrs. James Bosworth, of Bristol; Cyril, who died at Middletown; and one that died in infancy,

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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 75

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