Commemorative biographical record of Middlesex County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Part 9

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 9

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

bore his name. His greatest success and cele- brity, however, was won as a shipping mer- chant and steamship owner, the extent of his business in that line being perhaps at that time unrivaled by that of any other individual in the United States. He started the first steam- ship between New York and Charleston, S. C., and with his usual successful management, soon developed a regular line of steamers, "owned by him. In 1836 he sent his first steam- er from New Orleans to various Texan and Other ports along the Gulf. He continued throughout his active business life in the pros- ecution of that enterprise, until the "Morgan Lines of Steamers," in the Gulf of Mexico, were as widely known in commerce as the Gulf of Mexico itself. Mr. Morgan was at one time the sole owner of no less than seven- teen heavy first-class steamships, constructed of iron, and all in active service, plying the waters of the Gulf in various lines from New Orleans, and that vast enterprise, as well as all his other business, was still, when he was in the seventy-fourth year of his age, hale, hearty and cheerful, under his personal direc- tion and management. His estate was then a princely one, and he ranked among the eminent millionaires of New York City. His tastes were for pivate life; he sought no public no- tice, honors or office. Of gentle speech and «courteous bearing, he made many friends and few enemies, and among his other excellent personal qualities, he had that which. ever marks the true gentleman, and is often one of the secrets of his success, that of treat- ing his subordinates with uniform affability and kindness. Mr. Morgan gave to the town of Clinton, Conn., the school which bears his name.

ALBERT RANDOLPH CRITTENDEN, 'of the firm of Wilcox, Crittenden & Co., Mid- dletown, Middlesex county, is one of the best known citizens of that city, and has long been recognized as an authority in the line of ship chandler's hardware. For over thirty years Mr. Crittenden has been a member of the firm, with which he has been connected since 1859. He is a Middlesex county boy in every sense. He was reared on the farm, and is a striking example of what push, energy, tact and a thor- ough knowledge of one's business lead to. He was "on the road" for some twenty-five years, and has thus familiarized himself with the

wants of his patrons with the. close touch of long experience.

The Crittenden family has an old and bril- liant history in the Colonies, and its members have intermarried with the Buckleys; Lords, Kimberleys, Shepards, Chaunceys, Robbins, Sellews and Pynchons. Albert R. is a descend- ant in the ninth generation from that Abra- ham Crittenden, of the Guilford Colony, who came from England in 1639, his line being through Abraham (2), Abraham (3), Dr. Daniel, Dr. Hopestill, Daniel, David and George. On the maternal side he is in the sixth generation from Phillip Sellew, who married Elizabeth Barin, and is buried in Harwich, Mass .: John Leland Sellow married Han- nah Hamilton; Phillip Sellew married Eliza- beth Kimberly Smith ; Thomas Sellew married Lucy Bulkley Lord; Anne Eliza Sellew mar- ried George Crittenden, the father of Albert R. The Sellew family is of Huguenot origin. The spelling of the name was originally Se Leu, and. it has been spelled at different times Seleu and Sellew.

(I) Abraham Crittenden came from Crane- brook, in the County of Kent, England. A short time after his arrival in this country he joined the New Haven Colony, and presently became one of the founders of the Guilford Colony. He and his first wife, Mary, were married in England, and he married for - his second wife Johanna Sheaffe, in Connecticut. She was born in England, daughter of Dr. Edmund and Joanna Sheaffe, of the County of Kent, and had previously married William Chittenden. She died in 1688. The children of Abraham and Mary were: Thomas, Abra- ham, Isaac, Mary, Elizabeth, Hannah and De- borah.

(II) Abraham Crittenden (2) died in 1694. He married Susannah, daughter of Thomas Greigson, and she died in 1712. Their chil- dren were: Abraham, born in 1662; Thomas, 1668; John, 1671 ; and Joseph, 1674.

(III) Abraham Crittenden (3), born in 1662, married May 6, 1686, Susannah Kirby, daughter of John and Elizabeth Kirby, of Middletown. She was born in May, 1664, and died in October, 1729. Abraham Crittenden died in May, 1725. Their children were: Abraham, born in 1688; Mary, 1690; Daniel, 1696: Anna, 1701 ; and Ebenezer, 1705.

(IV) Daniel Crittenden was married to Patience Bradley, of New Haven. He was a

a. R. Grillendere.

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

physician, and lived in Middletown prior to 1740. He died in 1750, following his wife, who passed to the "Better Land" in 1743. They were the parents of Dr. Hopestill, Icha- bod, Rhoda (1724), Chloe (1728), Ebenezer, John, Samuel and Daniel.

(V) Dr. Hopestill Crittenden married Mary Wetmore Bacon, who was born in 1719, daughter of Nathaniel and Hannah (Wet- more) Bacon. Dr. Crittenden lived in 1741 in New Haven, in 1745 in Haddam, and as late as 1780 in Wallingford. He was the fa- ther of fifteen children: Hopestill, born in 1741 : Catherine, 1743; Daniel, 1744; John, 1745 ; Mary, 1746; Gideon, 1748; Mary Bacon, 1750; Patience Bradley, 1751 ; Jeremiah, 1752 (died the following year) ; Tohn (2), 1754; Jeremiah (2), 1756 (died the same year) ; Ebenezer, 1757; Samuel, 1759; Chloe, 1761; and Hannah, 1763. Dr. Hopestill was ordered during the Revolution to visit and inspect a silver mine near White Rock, Middletown, to ascertain if bullets could be made from the lead. His work was successful. The mine was worked and bullets were made for the army, some of which, falling into the hands of the British, excited great surprise from the fact that the Yankees were "firing silver bul- lets." Dr. Crittenden acted for a short season as surgeon in the Colonial army, but took no commission. His saddle bags, holsters, instru- ment case, and other accoutrements were left to become in later days the treasures of his great-grandchildren.

(VI) Daniel Crittenden died in 1824, at the age of eighty. He was a farmer, living in what is now the town of Portland. He married Rhoda Tryon, daughter of William and Sarah (Good- rich) Tryon, who died in 1828, at the age of eighty-two. They had children as follows : Catherine, who married Amos Goodrich, of Portland: Daniel, born in 1775, who died in childhood ; Lucv, who married Asahel Wilcox ; Nellie, wife of Abel Lewis; David, mentioned below : Daniel, who married Betsey Taylor ; and Sarah, Mrs. Bidwell.

(VII) David Crittenden was married April 25. 1802, to Elizabeth Shepard, who was born July 10, 1781, a daughter of Lieut. Daniel and Phobe (Strickland) Shepard, the former a soldier of the Revolution. Mrs. Crittenden died August 19, 1821, the mother of six children : Catherine, born in 1803. died unmarried in 1878; George, born April 23, 1808, was the

father of Albert Randolph; David, born De- cember 26, 1811, died unmarried October 14, 188; Charles was born in August, 1814; Dan- iel, in April, 1817; Ralph, January 20, 1820. David Crittenden married for his second wife Jemima Strickland, who died in June, 1859. There were no children by this union. David Crittenden was a lieutenant in the war of 1812, and served at the defense of New London. His death occurred in 1859, when he was aged eighty-one.

(VIII) George Crittenden was born April 23. 1808, in what is now Portland, at the old homestead, was reared a farmer's boy, and re- ceived his education in the district school. He was the only boy of the family to remain at home, which he did from a sense of duty. On November 12, 1832, he was married, in Glas- tonbury, to Miss Anne Eliza Sellew, who was born in Glastonbury March 7, 1806, a daugh- ter of Thomas and Lucy Bulkley (Lord) Sel- lew. Mr. Crittenden died in Portland Septem- ber 20, 1852, and his wife passed away in Middletown May 10, 1891. Their children were as follows: Randolph, born November 9, 1833, died January 29, 184I. Elizabeth Shepard, born March 5, 1835, married William W. Wilcox, a sketch of whom appears else- where. Mary Lee, born September 20, 1836, died January 1, 1875. Francis, born July II, 1841, died July 18, 1841. Albert Randolph was born December 4, 1843. Following his marriage the father went to housekeeping just across the road from his parents' home, where he resided thereafter. His widow lived on the farm he left until all her children were settled in life, when the place was sold. Mr. Critten- den owned the saddle-bags and crude surgical and dental tools of his ancestor, Dr. Hopestill Crittenden. He was fond of hunting, and free- ly indulged his love of manly sport. Politically he was a Whig, and in religion a member of the Congregational Church.

Albert R. Crittenden was reared on the farm where he was born. He received his carly literary training at the district school near by, and among his teachers there were Miss Lucy Sellew, Mr. Dennison Markham and Miss Lucy Hutchinson. When eleven years old he attended the celebrated school of Dr. Daniel H. Chase, in Middletown, and in- der the instruction of that noted teacher re- ceived a course in mathematics which has proved invaluable to him. He worked the fol-

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

lowing summer for his uncle, Daniel Critten- den, of Portland, after which he was a student at George Tracy's private school. Later he was at the Brown Military Academy, in West Haven, for two years, and he left school with the intention of continuing his education, the money for which must henceforth be produced by his own exertions. From his boyhood there was an industrious spirit evident in young Crittenden, for when not at school he was al- most always employed at something, and at whatever he worked he always took a pride in doing his work well. It was in 1859 that he first went to work for Wilcox & Hall, and his connection with the ship chandlery busi- ness dates from that time. He entered the employ of the concern to learn the business, first going into the machine shop. Possessing to an unusual degree the faculty of taking up mechanical work quite readily, his progress was rapid. The winter of 1859-60 he spent at school, also the following one, his earnings from his work in the factory defraying his expenses. From the machine shop he went into the galvanizing department, where his progress was equally rapid, and where he oc- cupied the position of foreman, which for one of his years certainly indicated adaptability be- yond the ordinary. His next work was in the capacity of shipping clerk, the duties of which position he was discharging at the time of his enlistment in the Union army, in July, 1862. He became a member of Company B, Four- teenth Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, which company had 103 enlisted men, and Mr. Crit- tenden had considerable difficulty in being en- rolled on account of his somewhat delicate ap- pearance. He reached Washington with his regiment August 25, 1862, and was assigned to the command of Gen. Fitz-John Porter for a few days, early in September being assigned to Sumner's corps-the Second Army Corps- in which they served to the end of the war. They were held in reserve at South Mountain, and their first serious engagement was at An- tietam. Mr. Crittenden was with his com- mand and faithfully performed all the duties assigned him, until just before the battle of Fredericksburg, when he was stricken with "Chickahominy fever." He was found in the swamp where he had fallen, and taken to the field hospital. E. B. Chaffee, now Mr. Crit- tenden's partner, secured his transfer from the field hospital to Washington, where he passed

through a long and serious illness. His con- tinued sickness developed a lung weakness, and when he had somewhat recovered therefrom he was detailed to the medical department, and later was appointed surgeon's orderly. This appointment was made because of the skill and readiness he exhibited in caring for a sol- dier who was suffering from the amputation of a limb. The small artery had sloughed off, and the soldier was in danger of bleeding to death, no one apparently competent to check the hemorrhage being at hand. This Mr. Critten- den did with such skill that the admiration of the surgeon was aroused, and at his request Mr. Crittenden became his orderly. He was soon afterward appointed to the duty of teach- ing volunteer nurses how to do up wounds, and then became ward master at the Mower Gen- eral Hospital, Chestnut Hill, Pa. Lee's rapid advance North made "all well enough" hasten to join their commands. Mr. Crittenden did not rejoin his regiment until after the battle of Gettysburg. He served therewith until they went into the trenches at Petersburg, where he was excused from duty on account of in- juries received in the Wilderness. But he was anxious for duty, and volunteered to command a detail sent out to protect the supply station, in the rear of Petersburg, of the Third Brigade, Second Division, Second Army Corps. His ability in the performance of this work at- tracted the attention of his superior officers, and he was made commissary sergeant in charge of officers' stores, serving in that capacity until the surrender of Lee, when he joined his regi- ment on the return march through Richmond to Bailey's Cross Roads. He received his dis- charge June 10, 1865, and returned to Middle- town, where he had been but once during his three years' service. Mr. Crittenden took part in twenty-five of the thirty-four engagements participated in by his regiment, and passed through many varied experiences.

After his return home our subject spent three weeks visiting his relatives and friends, and on July Ist resumed the position of shipping clerk with Wilcox & Hall. He was in that capacity but a few weeks when he took a position as traveling rep- resentative of the firm, marking the begin- ning of a quarter of a century of that work. While on the road Mr. Crittenden cov- ered a wide territory, extending from Prince Edward Island down the Atlantic coast, over

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

the Great Lakes and including St. Lawrence river cities. As a salesman his success was only in keeping with that which had attended every previous connection he had with the business. His coming in contact with the practical men who used his goods afforded him an opportunity to study that side of the business which would have been impossible in any other capacity. It also gave him an opportunity to study men and things, all of which served to broaden his mind and views, as he is naturally a close observer.

On January 1, 1869, the firm of Wilcox, Crittenden & Co. was formed, Mr. Crittenden becoming a member of the house. His princi- pal work was on the road until 1890, when he gave up that part of the business, and he has since taken a very prominent part in the man- agement. The firm is to-day probably the lead- ing concern in the ship chandlery business in the United States. Mr. Crittenden is a thor- oughly practical man in the business, and in no sense a specialist, one of his most valuable characteristics being his familiarity with every detail, whether in the mechanical department or in the office. His forty-three years' experience in the business, in various connections, and his association with different departments, entitle him to the foremost position he holds among manufacturers in his line in the United States, and cause him to be regarded as an authority in the manufacture of ship chandlery. Since 1894 he has been a director of the Middletown Savings Bank.

On April 14, 1869, Mr. Crittenden married Miss Mary Louise Ferree, daughter of Enoch Chapin and Josephine B. (Cook) Ferree. Her father was a merchant and prominent business man in his day. Mr. and Mrs. Crittenden have no children, but Miss Maud C. Ferree, a niece of Mrs. Crittenden, has made her home with them from the age of nine years.

Mr. Crittenden is a Republican, taking the interest of a good citizen in politics and public affairs, though never seeking office. He votes. for the best man in local affairs, regardless of their party affiliation, but in State and National matters he is a stanch Republican. Fraternally he is a member of St. John's Lodge, F. & A., M .; Washington Chapter; and Cyrene Com- mandery. He is also a member of the Middle- town Conversational Club : the Middletown Sci- entific Association; and probably to him more than to any other one man is due the credit for the organization of the Middlesex County

Historical Society, the presidency of which he declined, and of which he is one of the most active members, taking a keen interest in the workings of that organization. He is also a member of Mansfield Post, No. 53, G. A. R .; the Society of the Army of the Potomac, and the Second Corps Club. Both Mr. and Mrs. Crittenden are members of the First Congre- gational Church, in which he is a deacon and member of the society's committee.

In private life Mr. Crittenden is modest and unostentatious, a man whose success in busi- ness, or whose high standing as. a. citizen, is not evidenced by even the slightest. show or claim. His success is far beyond the ordinary, and distinctively of his own creation. Pos- sessed of unusual capacity, he has the faculty of being able to dispose of an immense amount of business and yet have, to all appearances, plenty of leisure. He is very courteous, easy- going, always has a pleasant smile, never passes an acquaintance without speaking, seeming to have time to stop and chat, and yet he never neglects the great volume of business which in connection with the firm must pass through his hands. Seldom is found a more pleasing per- sonality. Mr. Crittenden is not lacking in pub- lic spirit, in fact, few men in his city to-day take as keen an interest in the city's welfare as he does, and he never shirks his duties as a loyal citizen. Though not a public man, being averse to holding office, he is ever ready to do good along the line of any worthy cause, with either his money or his personal labor. A man of the strictest integrity, of refined tastes, a reader of good literature, popular with his fel- low citizens, and with a perfect home life, Al- bert R. Crittenden is indeed a credit to an old and honorable ancestry.

HON. HIRAM VEAZEY, whose death occurred at his home in East Hampton No- vember 23, 1889, was a man of prominence and influence in Middlesex county for a long period, having filled positions of honor and trust in the performance of which he was al- ways efficient and faithful.

Born November 11, 1816, in the village in which he died, Mr. Veazey was the son of Eleazer and Elizabeth ( West) Veazey, farm- ing people of the town of Chatham. Middlesex Co., Conn., of whom more extended mention is made in the sketch of Deloc D. Brown, else- where.

nts sed ent ds He eks ep. gril that COT ince Ove

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Hiram Veazey at intervals, while working 1 on his father's farm, attended the neighbor- hood schools until nineteen years of age. Prior to this time he had also worked to some ex- tent in the bell foundry of Goff & Abell, and acquired a practical knowledge of the manu- facture of bells. Subsequently he spent two years in an iron foundry in New Jersey. Re- turning to his native State in 1839, he in con- nection with his brother commenced the busi- ness of bell manufacturing at East Hampton. Later our subject retired from; the firm and purchased the business of Goff & Abell in the same village, taking a ten-years lease of the water privilege used by them. He next formed a partnership with Charles A. Buell, which continued for ten years. In 1859 he and Al- fred B. White formed a partnership and com- menced the manufacture of a patent door bell in connection with other bells, which proved a great success. In 1882 Mr. Veazey retired. Mr. Veazey all through life took quite an ac- tive part in politics, and his ability, integrity and popularity made his services acceptable to his fellow citizens, who frequently honored him with election to offices of responsibility and honor. In 1855 he was sent by the citi- zens of his town to the General Assembly, and again in 1877; during the last term he served on the committee on Finance. He was always an enterprising and public-spirited citizen, ever ready to assist any movement to advance the interests of his town and community. Pos- sessing rare judgment, he was cautious and therefore trustworthy in any business entrust- ed to his care, and proved a very successful business man. He was a man of unquestioned integrity and strictly honorable, so that his word was always as good as his bond.

On September 27, 1842, Mr. Veazey was married to Belinda, daughter of Isaac and Anna ( Avery ) Bevin, of East Hampton, the Bevins being one of the old and prominent families of Middlesex county. Mr. and Mrs. Veazey died without issue.

HON. LYMAN ALLEN MILLS was born in Middlefield (then a part of Mid- dletown), Middlesex County, February 25, 1841, the son of Rev. Charles Lewis Mills, a Congregational minister, a graduate of Yale College in the class of 1835, and Eliza- beth Coe Lyman, daughter of William Ly- man, of Middlefield, Conn. He comes from old

New England stock, descending through both his father and mother from Robert Coe, of the County of Suffolk, England, who emigrated to this country in 1634. Through his father he is descended from John and Priscilla Alden, of the "Mayflower" pilgrims (1620). His mother, Elizabeth Coe Lyman, was a. descend- ant of Thomas Welles, fourth governor of the Colony of Connecticut, who served in 1655 and 1658; and of Richard Lyman, who came to America from High Ongar, County of Es- sex, England, in 1631. Mr. Mills is nephew of the late David Lyman.

In boyhood Lyman A. Mills attended the academies of Durham, Conn., and North Bridgewater, Mass., and early developed' an aptitude for business and financial affairs. He has devoted himself chiefly to manufacturing and to the care and management of various properties and estates, in which his great en- ergy and native ability have won for him sig- nal success. . A Republican in politics, Mr. Mills represented his town in the General As- sembly of 1895, serving on the committee on Finance. In November, 1898, he was elected lieutenant governor of the State of Connecti- cut, by a handsome majority-Middlesex coun- ty gave to him her largest vote given at that time upon the State ticket. Lieut. Gov. Mills was an eminently successful presiding officer of the Senate. His integrity and fidelity in every trust have gained for him an honorable reputa- tion, and secured the confidence and respect of the people of his State. He is president of The Lyman Gun Sight Corporation, a director of The American Wringer Company, a trustee of the Middletown Savings Bank, and president of The Levi E. Coe Library Association, and holds other positions of trust and responsibility. He has been identified with the Congregational church in Middlefield, and interested in its management for forty years.

Mr. Mills has been for many years a breed- .er of choice Jersey cattle, and has advanced the interests of dairy farming in America through the well known herds of Jerseys raised upon his farm.

On June 6, 1866, Mr. Mills married Jane Louisa, daughter of Deacon Alfred Andrews, of New Britain, Conn., the author of the "An- drews Family Genealogy," "Stephen Hart and his Descendants," and "The History of New Britain." Mrs. Mills traces her lineage to the emigrant ancestors Thomas Hooker; Thomas

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Welles, fourth governor of the Connecticut Colony; William Leete, seventh governor of the Connecticut Colony; and Capt. Thomas Willet, one of the Plymouth pilgrims, who be- came the first mayor of New York. The chil- dren of Mr. and Mrs. Mills are Herbert Lee, born February 26, 1868, and Charles Row- land, born January 28, 1877, who live, respect- ively, in New Britain and Middlefield.

RT. REV. JOHN WILLIAMS, D. D., LL. D., Bishop of Connecticut, and the senior bishop of the house of bishops of the Episco- pal Church in America, died at the Episcopal residence in Middletown on February 7, 1899.

Bishop Williams was born in Old or North Deerfield, Mass., August 30, 1817. He was the only child of Ephraim Williams-a law- yer, and author of the first volume of the Mas- sachusetts reports-and Emily (Trowbridge) Williams. His parents were Unitarians, and he was educated in that faith. He attended school at the academy in his native town, which was considered an excellent institution, and later was sent to Northfield, where there was an academy with a high reputation. In

1831 he entered Harvard College, where he remained two years. There he had an inti- mate friend, afterward Rev. Benjamin Da- vis, and in consequence of discussions with him and of careful study of the prayer book, he determined to connect himself with the Episcopal Church. On account of the change he wished to be transferred to a Church col- lege, and accordingly, with the cordial con- sent of his father, he left Harvard and en- tered what was then Washington (now Trini- ty) College, at Hartford. This brought him into relations with Bishop Brownell, who had resigned the presidency of the college in 1831, and continued to live in Hartford and take an active interest in the affairs of the college, and with Rev. Dr. Samuel F. Jarvis, then one of its professors. He graduated in 1835. In the autumn of that year, having become a candi- date for holy orders, he entered the Theological Seminary in New York, but after a short time he was called home by the illness of his father, and remained with him until his death. Then, after a little delay in Hartford, he came to Middletown, Conn., to resume his theological studies with Rev. Dr. Jarvis, who had be- come rector of Christ Church, now the Church of the Holy Trinity, in Middletown. Having 4

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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 9

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