Commemorative biographical record of Middlesex County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Part 87

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 87

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Toast: The Marys of the Harts. The first Mary of the American soil, born about 1640, numbered in eight generations, making sixty-two in all, fifteen of these being mothers of one hundred and five children, represented here to-day by the sixth and seventh gen- erations; may the former ever live in our memories as the noble gem of the old Puritan stock, and may the latter live to emulate the example of the noble first.

Response, Mrs. Mary Barnes, the only sister of Mr. Hart and the honored representative of the sixth generation of Mary Harts. My Friends :

I thank you for the thought that I may ever live in your memory as the representative of the sixth generation of the name of Mary. May the germ of the sixth be greatly improved in the superior talents and culture of the Mary of the seventh generation, and become noble in the Mary of the eighth.

Toast : Our Childhood Days. Happy, happy, early life, whose first recollections embrace the old wooden eradle, a smooth rocker to Elizabeth but a jolter to Alice; the standing stool where spunky May

and sly Charles were made captives; the hard-times apron in which mischievous Lewis crept; the dark closet where Kate and Fred pouted and repented; the long evenings doing out sums; sliding down-hill moon- light nights; corn-huskings; parties where the rosy cheeked girls grew more rosy all the evening; the old South Church where from nine to eleven of us arrived one hour late; the horse sheds where the boys some- times played Sunday noons : your bright days are over, but memory clings to those days long past as the hap- piest portion of life.

Response, song, The Old Oaken Bucket.

Toast: The Soldiers of the Harts. May the ris- ing generations be as loyal, brave and ready to defend their country as their ancestors have been.

Response, by Frederick J. Hart.

Toast, The Hart Nine.

Response, by Charles E. Hart ..

The evening closed with the "Golden Wedding Poem," by Mrs. Elizabeth A. Camp.

GOLDEN WEDDING.

As friends and children, we have come From other scenes away To keep in this dear, happy home, This golden wedding day. O favored home, O welcome day ! To hope and memory dear, What golden halos crown the scene We see before us here !

For half å hundred gliding years Old Coginehaug has run, Since two bright streams of youthful life, Here blended into one- One peaceful, pure, refreshing stream, Like Silva's brook that flowed, To bless and cheer in hope and fear Fast by the courts of God.

And still for many a golden year May that stream gently flow. Branches and branchlets running near And golden sands below ! Long may it here still bless and cheer, Until at length it meets And mingles with the stream of life That laves the golden streets !

Still, Father, guide this groom and bride, Through all the way they go: And may their peaceful eventide A golden sunset show. And as their sun at length goes down, When life's long day is o'er, May it then rise in brighter skies, To sink and set no more.

Thus closed the most enjoyable social event of the home life, and the last general gathering of the whole Hart family. On Au- gust 9. 1878, the Wallingford tornado visited

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the home, uprooting all the fruit trees, and doing considerable damage to the buildings. A number of the family were visiting there at the time, but all providentially escaped injury. At one time the fury of the tornado was so great that the destruction of the house and other buildings seemed inevitable, but it proved a tower of strength and withstood its power.

Early in March, 1879, Mr. Hart was strick- 'en with pneumonia, and after struggling eight days with the dread disease he died on Monday night, March 10th, at ten o'clock, aged seventy-two years, ten months, fourteen days. Peaceful in his last hours, his passing away was like falling quietly into a deep, refreshing sleep. The funeral was held Thursday, March 13, 1879, at the old home and the South Con- gregational Church, from whence he was laid at rest in the churchyard by his four sons and two sons-in-law ; his was the first open grave in the family burial lot. The funeral was at- tended by Rev. C. E. Baldwin, who thus wrote an absent member of the family of the funeral and of the life of the departed :

"It was my mournful privilege to minister at the funeral of your father.

"After reading a few scripture selections, making brief remarks and offering prayer at the house, a hymn was sung.

"I could but give 'brief expression to my feelings of sorrow at the great change his death makes in your home. How many tender memories are recalled! How sweet life has been in that dear spot! How delightful to go back again from wherever you might have been! How you will miss him! How sad to think he must be carried out never to return. Yet how many things to be grate- ful for! How long he has been spared ! How peaceful he was in his death! How much he has done to make the memories of him always pleasant !

: "The meeting house was filled full of peo- ple who came to testify their appreciation of his worth. I took as the basis of some re- marks: 'And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentations over him;' Acts viii, 2.

" 'The children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; we mourn the loss of good men, their presence, their counsels, their prayers, their material aid. To-day we feel that a trained warrior has · fallen from the ranks. A faithful witness has

been taken from his post. A light of the earth is quenched. The voice we often heard in prayer is silent now. The hand that opened in charity lies mouldering in the dust. A pillar of this earthly temple has been wrenched from its place. None of us liveth to himself and none dieth to himself alone. Well may we mourn, therefore, when an active and influen- tial Christian dies.

" 'It is a loss to the church. It is a loss to society. It is a loss to the world. We feel that he cannot be spared. Such a loss we feel has fallen upon us now.

" 'Early in life he and his wife united with the church which worshiped near this site. Ac- tive in its works, he was chosen deacon of this church November 26, 1853. As such he has truly made a good report. His death is felt as an irreparable loss by the church. He has been all his life an active and useful man in all good causes. He tried to do his whole duty as a Christian citizen.

He had a most successful life in all that makes true suc- cess. He was happy in his family, being tenderly loved by them all. He lived to see them all in the church. He was happy in the love and confidence of his fellow-citizens. He was happy in the love of the church. He was not rich in this world's goods, but all feel that he was rich toward God.

"'We can but pray that his mantle may fall upon some one else, he being dead, yet speaketh. He has left a heritage of great value-a goodly life and a good name.

" 'This useful, active, good man died like one who wraps the drapery of his couch about him and lies down to pleasant dreams.' ..

* "By his life alone,

Gracious and sweet, the better way was shown."

The children born to William Augustus Hart and his wife, Sally Maria, were: Eliza- beth Amelia, born in the ancestral home of the Harts, May 17, 1831, and in the house Mr. Hart built were born the other eight, as fol- lows :. Franklin Henry, April 29, 1834; Mary Eliza, July 10, 1836 ; William Lewis, December 28, 11838; Ellen Maria, March II, 1841; Charles Edgar, April 2, 1843 ; Frederick Jones, February 26. 1845; Catherine Saloam, August 19, 1847; Alice Louise, April 19, 1852. (I) Elizabeth A. married Charles E. Camp, of Middlefield, Conn. (3) Mary E. is deceased. (4) William Lewis is a resident of Brighton,.

٣٠

JEG.

Franklin No. Hast

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Chio. He served as a private in the First Con- necticut Heavy Artillery during the Civil war. (5) Ellen M. married Isaac Hall, of Walling- ford, and both are deceased. (6) Charles E. enlisted August 2, 1862, in Company I, Fif- teenth Connecticut Volunteers, and took, part in the first battle of Fredericksburg and the siege of Suffolk, Va. He was promoted July 31, 1864, to first lieutenant, and assigned to Company E, One Hundred Ninth United States Colored Troops; saw active service in the mountain region of eastern Kentucky and in the Army of the James, in Virginia, under Gen. B. F. Butler; organized in the Twenty- fifth Army Corps; took part in the battle of Petersburg and the final surrender of Gen. Lee and his army at Appomattox; promoted to captain on the field of Petersburg; did duty in Texas for nine months after the close of the war, and was mustered out at Louisville, Ky., February 24, 1866. (7) Frederick J. is now a resident of Joplin, Mo. He enlisted when seventeen years of age, March 19, 1862, in the First Connecticut Heavy Artillery, re-enlisted March 22, 1864, at Arlington, Va., and was mustered out at Louisville, Ky., March 26, 1866. He was promoted to second lieutenant, One Hundred Ninth United States Colored Troops, on the field at Bermuda Hundred. During his service he participated in the siege bf Yorktown, battles of Hanover Court House, Seven Pines, Gaines Mills, Chickahominy, Malvern Hill, siege of Petersburg, and engage- ments at Hatches Run and Appomattox. (8) Catherine S. lives in Durham, Conn. (9)

Alice L. is an artist. in Boston, Massachusetts.

As an appropriate closing of this sketch, we quote Mr. Hart's own words, from his manuscript written in March, 1832, entitled 'The Poor Man's Hymn" :

As much have I of worldly good As c'er my Master had; I diet on as dainty food, And am as richly clad. Though plain my garb, though scant my board, As Mary's son and nature's Lord.

The manger was his infant's bed, His home the mountain cave;

He had not where to lay his head, He borrowed c'en his grave. Earth yielded Him no resting spot,

Her Master, but she knew Him not.

As much the world's good-will I bear, Its favors and applause,

As He whose blessed name I bear-

Hated without a cause, Despised, rejected, mocked by pride, Betrayed, forsaken, crucified. .

Why should I court my Master's foe. Why should I fear its frown?

Why should I seek for rest below, Or sigh for brief renown?

A pilgrim to a better land, An heir of joys at God's right hand.

FRANKLIN HENRY HART was born in the town of Durham, on the farm which has been in the family since the time of Rev. Joseph Eliot. granted by special act of the General Court of Connecticut, in 1698, to Mary Eliot, his great-great-grandmother. His literary training was received in the public schools of Durham, and his first business ven- ture, at the age of fourteen years, was the peddling of charcoal. At sixteen he attended the first organization of the State Normal. School, in New Britain, where he was a student for two terms, in 1849-50. He had. fitted himself for teaching, but before he could obtain a school had to pass an examination, which was conducted by nine residents of the town, including the minister. One very im- portant qualification of a teacher in that dis- trict was the ability to make pens from quills furnished by the examiners. The use of steel pens was strictly prohibited, the pupils bring- ing the quills, and the teacher with his pocket- knife converting them into pens. In 1851 Mr. Hart taught a district school in Middlefield, continuing to teach for two winters in the South End District in Durham. In 1854 he became associated with H. H. Strong in busi- ness in New Haven, where he remained until March, 1856. About this time the trouble in Kansas regarding slavery was attracting at- tention from all over the United States. The. Abolition element in Connecticut was active. and in order to stimulate that side of the con- troversy a colony was formed at New Haven for migration to Kansas. The meeting to organize this colony was held in the North Church, New Haven, March 20, 1856. Henry Ward Beecher made a stirring address, and after he had conchided it was announced that while the party was well fitted to dig and plow. it was not in shape to fight. Prof. Silliman of Yale arose, and in a short speech urged the furnishing of the colonists with guns, so that they could do something for freedom, as well as for the building up of prosperity on the

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plains. He ended by subscribing $25 for the purchase of a Sharps rifle. Others followed his example, and in a short time half of the colonists had been provided with weapons for either offense or defense. Mr. Beecher, then at the zenith of his power, again took the rostrum, and in a magnetic speech gave his blessing to the new plan, and promised that if the colonists could get half enough rifles there he would promise that his church would furnish the remainder. In a few days he sent the company the required number of guns, over $600 having been subscribed by his par- ishioners for the purpose, and along with the guns came a Bible and hymn book for every member of the party. In the party were doctors, lawyers, mechanics, teachers, and preachers, and on March 29, 1856, they marched out of New Haven, as splendid a party of men as ever gathered for the coloniza- tion of the West. With them went the words of Mr. Beecher as he wrote them from his study in Brooklyn, as he sent the rifles :

Let these arms hang above your doors as the old Revolutionary muskets do in many a New Eng- land dwelling. May your children in another gen- eration look upon them with pride and say, "Our fathers' courage saved this land from blood and slavery." Every morning's breeze shall catch the blessing of our prayers and roll them westward to your prairie homes. May your sons be as large hearted as the heavens above their heads. May your daughters fill the land as the flowers do the prairies, only sweeter, fairer than they. You will not need to use arms when it is known that you have them. It is the essence of slavery to be arrogant before the weak and cowardly before the strong.

One of these historic Sharps rifles, which did service against armed invasion of the slave power, is treasured by Mr. Hart as a factor in making Kansas a free State, and the first gun fired in the preliminary skirmish of the Civil war.

Mr. Hart was a member of the colony which was under Charles B. Lines, and settled at Wabaunsee, Kans. Mr. Hart remained in Kansas until the fall of 1859, excepting during a period of about seven months, in the winter of 1858-59, when he taught school at Camp Point, Ill. He returned to Connecticut in the fall of 1859, and again associated himself in business with Mr. Strong, and since that time has been one of the reliable business men of New Haven, one whose integrity is unques- tioned, and whose success has been merited. In 1872 he became associated in the wholesale

provision business, under the firm name of Strong, Barnes, Hart & Co.

On December 24, 1860, at Durham, Mr. Hart was united in marriage with Adaline Jackson, a daughter of John Jackson, and they have had one son, Horace Sedgwick, who was born August 30, 1864, and is a brilliant young man. He graduated from Yale in 1887, studied medicine in the College of Physicians & Sur- geons, New York, graduating in 1893, spent two years in Bellevue Hospital, and began prac- tice in 1896, in Cambridge, N. Y. At Tarry- town, N. Y., he married Amy Richards, and they have two children, Gertrude Richards and Franklin Jackson. Mr. and Mrs. Hart are members of the Church of the Redeemer. He was for a number of years a member of the society's committee and its chairman.

Franklin H. Hart is a member of Wooster Lodge, F. & A. M .; of the Sons of the Ameri- can Revolution; and of the Union League. He was one of the organizers of the Republi- can League, which was organized on the de- feat of James G. Blaine, with three hundred members. His connection with civic affairs has been notable in town and city. In 1879 and 1880 he was a member of the board of selectmen, and it was during this period that Fair Haven was annexed to New Haven, and the town line extended, taking in the entire east shore of New Haven Harbor to and in- cluding Southend. From 1881 to 1891 he was a member of the board of police commission- ers during which period was introduced the Gamewell Police Telephone and Signal Sys- tem; also the patrol wagon and ambulance. It was in 1889 that the Veteran Reserve Grade pension act and Reserve fund in police depart- ment were established. In the inauguration of all these plans and devices Mr. Hart took a prominent part. While a member of this board he was presented with a valuable watch, as a testimonial of the regard in which he was held by the citizens of New Haven.

Mr. Hart is one of the well known citizens of his city, and has made life a success. While well along toward threescore and ten, he is active in mind and body- a man of regular habits, as his well-preserved physical condi- tion will attest. He is an enthusiastic and suc- cessful amateur photographer, and during his travels has collected a vast number of interest- ing views with his camera, his collection of Cuban, Jamaican and Mexican views being es-

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pecially interesting, and, to no small extent, instructive, as they embrace many photographs which a student of sociology would consider rare and extremely valuable. While he has been actively identified with the interests of the city of his adoption, his birthplace has not been neglected or forgotten. The old homestead is still maintained, and, although unoccupied by any of the Hart family, its associations are dear to them all, and frequent visits are made to this loved spot. Interest is also taken in the affairs of Durham, especially in preserving and beautifying its cemeteries, Mr. Hart being a trustee of the Durham Cemetery Association. He was also active in the building of the Dur- ham Memorial Public Library, dedicated and presented to the town August 14, 1902. His contributions to this object were in re- membrance of his father, William Augustus Hart, who represented the advanced thought and activity of his time in promoting the education of the young, and of his sister, Mary E. Hart, a successful teacher in early life, later eminent as an artist, notable for her violet productions. The dearest spot on earth to-day is the "old Mountain Home" of the Hart family.

SAMUEL HART PRATT, a well-known citizen of Old Saybrook, is a worthy repres- entative of a family that has been honored and respected in New England for two hundred and fifty years. Lieut. William Pratt, the re- mote ancestor of the Saybrook Pratts, proba- bly came with the Rev. Thomas Hooker, to what is now Cambridge, Mass., in 1633. Three years later he moved to Hartford, where he became one of the notabilities of the first age. Elizabeth Clark, his wife, was the daughter of John Clark, the first settler of that name in Saybrook, where the family was well estab- lished. Lieut. Pratt attended the General Court for the twenty-third and last time at Hartford, May 9, 1678, and died at Saybrook.

The line of descent is as follows: (1) John, (2) Isaac, (3) Humphrey, (4) Humph- rey (2), (5) George, (6) Gilbert and (7) Samuel H.

George Pratt the grandfather of Samuel H., was a native of Saybrook, where he died December 19, 1843, at the age of sixty-six. Sally Murdock, his wife, was early called away, dying January 6, 1824. Mr. Pratt was a mer- chant, engaged in the West Indies trade, and

had a store at Saybrook Point. The firm of Pratt & Hart had a wide reputation.

Mr. Pratt in his later business years moved his store from the Point into the building which stood on the corner next to the old tav- ern. At his death he left an estate of $180,000. He died in the house which was built for a tavern by his father, Humphrey, in which it is said that Lafayette spent a night. This house is still standing in a good state of pres- ervation and is owned by Samuel H. Pratt. Mr. Pratt and his wife were parents to the fol- lowing children: George, born in 1807; Hor- atio, who died in Westbrook in 1843; Charles, who died young; a son who died in infancy ; Sarah B., who died in January, 1814, a year- old infant; Edward, born March 10, 1815; Gilbert, born January 14, 1818, died February 17, 1874.

Gilbert Pratt, the father of Samuel H., was probably born in the old tavern, and he spent his youth and early manhood in Saybrook. When he had attained man's estate, he went into his father's store, and continued the busi- ness for a short time after the death of the latter, when he sold out. Following the natu- ral bent of his mind, he bought three hundred acres of land, which is the present site of the hotel and cottages at Fenwick, and engaged very extensively in farming. He owned a wharf from which he was accustomed to ship yearly more than a hundred tons of hay, as well as great quantities of produce. Very suc- cessful in his business enterprises, he accumu- lated a considerable fortune, and lived retired for some years before his death.

On April 14, 1839, Gilbert Pratt was mar- ried to Sarah Pratt, who was born May 27, 1820, a daughter of William and Sarah Pratt. she died June 15, 1852. She was descended also from Lieut. William Pratt, and her line is as follows: (1) Lieut. William, (2) John, (3) Isaac, (4) Timothy, (5) Timothy (2), (6) Timothy (3), and (7) William, her father.

Gilbert Pratt was married. second, May IS, 1858, to Elizabeth Pratt, a sister of his first wife. To the first marriage were born the fol- lowing family : Edward, born December 17, 1840, died November 13, 1865: Samuel Hart ; Charles E., born October 9, 1845, died March 30, 1866; and William born August 22, 1849, died January 11, 1851. To the second mar- riage no children were born.

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Samuel Hart Pratt was born in the old tavern, August 19, 1843, and received his pri- mary education in his native town, and for seven years attended Miss Woods' Boarding School at Saybrook. He was a student in the Saybrook Academy, when it was taught by Henry Sanford and a Mr. McCall, and also at- tended a private school which was taught by the Congregational minister. He was given a good education, and was well prepared for the active and busy life, which he has had.

On November 25, 1872, Mr. Pratt was married to Mary Spencer, a daughter of Charles C. Spencer, and a niece of D. C. Spen- cer both men of considerable standing in Say- brook. To Mr. Pratt and his wife have come the following children: Gilbert, born March 28, 1874, was educated at the Morgan Acad- emy, the high school and the Omaha High School, and for the past five years has been an employe of Lawrence & Company, in New York; Sarah, born January 1I, 1877; Edith Spencer, born December 23, 1879. For a num- ber of years Mr. Pratt was employed in the store of T. C. Acton, Jr., but since the death of his mother has devoted himself to the care of the family estate. In politics he is an active Democrat, and from time to time has been called on to fill a number of local offices. Dur- ing the two terms of President Cleveland he served as Postmaster, and for nine years he was assistant postmaster with T. C. Acton, and for two years with James Treadway, making nineteen years in the postal service. For nine years he has served as selectman, and has also filled the offices of assessor and auditor of the town. Mrs. Pratt and daughters are members of the Congregational Church, of which Mr. Pratt is a regular attendant.

CHARLES SCHONDORF (deceased) was in his lifetime one of the leading business men of Middletown, Middlesex county. He was in every respect a self-made man, rising from humble circumstances to a commanding position, and leaving a large estate. He is re- membered as a man of honorable and upright character.

Mr. Schondorf was born in New York City in 1841. His father was born in Saxony, Germany, and his mother in what was then the French province of Alsace-Lorraine .. Charles was the only son born to his parents.

His elder sister went South during the Civil war as a nurse, and died there. His other sister, Sarah, is now Mrs. Schondelmeir, of New York. The mother was twice married and had children by both husbands.

Charles Schondorf was reared in his native city, had little schooling, and was put to work as a clerk very early in life. For some time he was employed in the Washington market, where the Millermans, noted produce men, relatives of his, had a prosperous stand. In 1870 he came to Middletown, and with his savings, which at that time amounted to about three hundred dollars, bought out Louis Deck- er, the husband of his half sister, who was en- gaged in the grocery business on the corner of South Main and Warwick streets. Mr. Schon- dorf took hold of the business with push and energy, and his prosperity dates from his ar- rival in this city.

Mr. Schondorf was married, in 1876, to Miss Maria W. Francis, who was born in Providence, R. I., September 10, 1850, a daughter of George W. and Lucy ( Hall) Fran- cis. This family has long been closely identi- fied with the ocean trade, and has had many sailors in its various generations. George W. Francis was a sea-going man, as was his father, Alexander Black Francis, who died on the coast of Africa, while on a voyage. Mrs. Schondorf comes of old New England stock, and her ancestors were among the old families of the East. She is the mother of five children : Eugene, born January 14, 1877, is manager for his mother in the grocery ( from which she retired in 1902), and real-estate business; Charles M. was born December 11, 1879; George W. died when two years old; Lucy May died at the age of seven months. Robert, born October 10, 1886, is still living.

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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 87

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