Commemorative biographical record of Middlesex County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Part 97

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 97

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Mr. Gildersleeve is president of the First National Bank and the Middlesex Quarry Company, and treasurer of the Freestone Sav- ings Bank, all of Portland; director of the

Middlesex Mutual Assurance Company of Middletown, and the Portland Water Com- pany, and is connected in various ways with many other concerns and associations. He has been on various committees on enterprises and improvements in the town and vicinity, and has acted as trustee for school and other funds. He was president of the Middletown Ferry Company until its purchase by the Middletown & Portland Bridge Company. Believing in the best advisers, he aims as far as possible to be associated with and surrounded by able, honest and level-headed men.

He is at present chairman of the town board of education, senior vestryman of Trin- ity Episcopal Parish, of which he is a liberal supporter, and postmaster at Gildersleeve. This postoffice was established by his efforts in May, 1872, and received its name from the family. Mr. Gildersleeve has been notary public for years. In addition to his other business affairs he has and does carry on a farm of over one hundred acres, a part of which is devoted to the raising of fine tobacco.

Mr. Gildersleeve has made the most of his travel in Europe, in 1864, and, at various times in different parts of the United States and Can- ada, to add to his general knowledge and to use it to the best advantage.

Mr. Gildersleeve was married October 29, 1879, to Adelaide Edna Smith, born March 12, 1845, daughter of William R. (a descend- ant of Gov. Bradford, of Massachusetts) and Mary A. Smith, of Portland, both descend- ants of Revolutionary families. She died Sep- tember 28. 1880, leaving one child. William, born September 23. 1880. who attended the district school and Gildersleeve high school, and graduated at the Middletown high school and the Phillips Academy, at Exeter. N. 11. On September 12. 1883, Mr. Gildersleeve mar- ried Harriet Elizabeth Northam, born January 8, 1860, of Hartford, Conn., eldest daughter of Ralph and Sarah A. Northam, formerly of Gildersleeve. Her paternal grandmother, So- phia ( Smith ) Northam was a descendant of Ralph Smith, who came over from England in the barque "Talbot" with Higinson and first appeared in Hingham, Mass, in 1637. She comes of Revolutionary ancestors on both sides of her family. Mr. and Mrs. Gildersleeve have three children : Sarah, born September 28. 1885, graduated at the Misses Patten's school in Middletown in 1902, and is now at the Wal-

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nut Hill school, Natick Mass .; Richard, born October 27, 1889, is now a pupil at the Central grammar school in Middletown; and Emily, born November 3, 1891, is at the Gildersleeve grammar school.

Mr. Gildersleeve's residence is the famly homestead on the beautiful Main street of Gil- dersleeve. His record forms a prominent part of the current history of his native village and town, as well as of the enterprises with which he has been and is connected.

OLIVER GILDERSLEEVE, son of Hen- ry and Emily F. ( Northam) Gildersleeve, was born March 6, 1844. He received his educa- tion at the Hartford high school, Chase's Acad- emy, Middletown, and Beckwith's Military Academy. At the age of seventeen he entered his father's shipyard, where was then being built the firm's "No. 83." To-day "No. 194' is about ready to launch, making 112 vessels built in that shipyard since Oliver "started in." He soon acquired the art of practical shipbuild- ing and in July, 1865, became a member of the firm of S. Gildersleeve & Sons. He has been ac- tively instrumental in the enlargement of the business, and under his management there has been constructed a marine railway capable of hauling large vessels, and also an extensive ice- house which is provided with all the necessary appliances, on a large scale, for cutting ice on the Connecticut river, storing it, and ship- ping it to New York City or other markets. In 1881 Mr. Gildersleeve became a member of the firm of S. Gildersleeve & Co., at No. 84 South street, New York City, he being managing owner of the fleet of vessels controlled by that house.

To add to his store of useful knowledge, as well as for pleasure and recreation, Mr. Gilder- sleeve spent ten months in foreign travel, about the same time visiting various parts of his own country, gathering a fund of information which he has since used to good advantage in his busi- ness.

In his works of charity and benevolence Mr. Gildersleeve well sustains the reputation of the family. As senior warden of Trinity Episco- pal Church, at Portland, where he has offici- ated as lay-reader, Sunday-school superintend- ent and teacher, he has proved himself an effi- cient worker. In 1900 he established a memor- ial fund in connection with this church. He is trustee of the Gildersleeve high school fund,

has served on the district committee, and has been active in the Portland Lyceum.

Mr. Gildersleeve is a worthy representa- tive of his family, a man of robust constitu- tion and great force of character, combined with excellent business qualifications. His name is written broad and deep on the annals of the business world of the closing year of the nineteenth century in his part of Connecticut. He was mainly instrumental in securing the charters of the Portland Water Company and the Portland Street Railway Company, and in effecting the construction of their plants and was the first president of both corporations. The Portland Street Railway Company has since been merged into the Middletown Street Railway Company.

In order to facilitate his shipbuilding inter- ests, Mr. Gildersleeve established, in 1897, at No. I Broadway, New York City, an agency for selling and chartering vessels constructed at the Gildersleeve shipyard. Up to the pres- ent time there have been thirty-eight vessels of from 400 to 1250 tons burden sent from the Gildersleeve shipyard and either sold or profit- ably employed through this agency which is managed by his son Louis, who has already de- veloped much of the business tact and energy characteristic of his father.

For two years Mr. Gildersleeve as a direc- tor was actively engaged in the management of the Texas & Pacific Coal Company, a cor- poration owning the largest coal mines in Texas, and supplying over one thousand tons of steam coal per day to the Texas & Pacific railroad, besides other sizes to factories. A number of special trips to Texas were made in this connection. In 1902 he assisted in the organization of the Alabama Coal & Barge Company, and was made its vice-president. The company's coal mines are situated at Tide- water, Ala. Its prospective customers are Mo- bile and New Orleans steamship lines.

Mr. Gildersleeve is a Democrat in political faith. In 1900 he was the nominee of his party for representative in Congress, which nomina- tion was reluctantly accepted, and he made a very creditable run, carrying more than the full party vote.

At the present time Mr. Gildersleeve is president of the Portland Water Company, of the Middletown Street Railway Company and of the Phoenix Lead Company, whose mine is situated in Silver Cliff, Colo .: vice-president

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and director of the Alabama Barge & Coal Company ; a director of the Middletown Street Railway Company; the Middlesex Quarry Company ; the First National Bank of Port- land; and a trustee of the Freestone Savings Bank of Portland; a member of the Church Club, and of the Co-operative Missionary Com- mittee of the Diocese of Connecticut.

Mr. Gildersleeve was married November 8, 1871, to Mary Ellen, daughter of Hon. Al- fred Hall, a representative of an old family in Portland. They have had eight children: ( I) Alfred, born August 23, 1872, attended Trinity College, at Hartford, and is now superintend- ent of the shipyard at Gildersleeve. He mar- ried Lucy Ibbottson, by whom he has two chil- dren, Marion and Lucile. (2) Walter, born August 23, 1874. graduated from the Highland Military Academy at Worcester, and is now farming at Gildersleeve. (3) Louis, born Sep- tember 22, 1877, graduated from the Gilder- sleeve high school, and is now manager of the Gildersleeve Vessel Agency at New York City. (4) Emily Hall, born June 9, 1879, died Aug- ust 12, 1880. (5) Elizabeth Jarvis, born June 6, 1882, died January 18, 1883. (6) Charles, born December 11, 1884, is now attending the Hartford high school. (7) Nelson was born September 14, 1887. (8) Oliver, Jr., was born March 9, 1890.

N. GILMORE POST. Among the old names which are held in high esteem in the southern part of Middlesex county is that borne by N. Gilmore Post,the subject of this sketch. This family has been identified with the town of Essex for a number of generations, and through intermarriage with other old and distinguished families, has representatives throughout the state.

Benjamin Post, grandfather of N. Gilmore, was a native of Westbrook, Connecticut, where he engaged in farming, married and died at the age of eighty. His children were Aaron, and Horatio. Horatio Post, son of Benjamin, was born in Westbrook, where he grew to manhood. Shortly after removing to Essex, he there learned the trade of shoe- maker in the shop of Jared Redfield, where many other present citizens of Essex received an early training. His life was not a prolonged one, his death occurring when but forty-two years of age, his wife, Anna Tooker, a daughter of Enoch Tooker, of Essex, surviv-

ing until she had reached her eighty-seventh year. To them were born: Juliette, in 1829; Laura E., in 1831; N. Gilmore ; Henry W., in 1836, now in the employ of the Winchester Arms Company, of New Haven; and Mary- nett, in 1841, who resides with our subject in Essex. In his politics Horatio Post was a stanch Republican, and both he and his wife were members of the M. E. Church.

N. Gilmore Post was born in Essex, March 31, 1834, and secured his preliminary educa- tion in the common schools and then attended the noted Hills Academy under a scholarly man by the name of Foster. When but a boy he was obliged to contribute to his own support and after the age of eighteen was thrown en- tirely upon his own resources, the first two years being employed by the Smiths of New London, in the manufacture of pianos, where he learned piano tuning. Upon his return to Essex, in company with Edgar Griswold and William P. Gladwin, he embarked in the man- ufacture of bone and ivory goods, at Centre- brook, where an extensive business was con- ducted until the close of the Civil war, under the firm name of Griswold, Gladwin & Co., at which time our subject sold his inter- est. For several years following Mr. Post was employed in the factory of John Post and Mr. Harrison, successor to John Post, located at Chester. From 1873 to 1887 he was in the employ of M. B. Hall, of Essex, in the jewelry business, and during this time Mr. Post induced Mr. Hall to put in a line of pianos and other musical instruments and then found his time almost completely occupied in the tuning and repairing of these, a fine musi- cal ear and thorough understanding of the me- chanism of them all assisting him very mater- ially. In 1887 Mr. Post bought the interest of Mr. Hall and for some four years remained in the old store at the corner of Main and North Main streets, his new place of business being erected by him at that time. In the very commodious and suitable quarters Mr. Post carries a fine line of pianos, organs and other musical instruments and musical mer- chandise ; he also repairs jewelry. So ably has Mr. Post conducted his line of business that his sales have reached as far east as Boston, and as far west as Chicago, where he has had the pleasure of placing instruments which have given satisfaction in every way, his business methods being the same as the instru-

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ments which he carries, both square and upright. During the summer he finds renting a very lucrative line, and he handles all grades of goods to suit his customers.

Mr. Post was married in Essex to Cor- nelia Risley, a daughter of Horace and Almira (Brooster) Risley, and both he and wife and his estimable sister are consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which he has been a liberal contributor of both time and means. In politics Mr. Post has always been a Republican, is socially connected with the Ma- sonic fraternity, Burning Bush Chapter, of Es- sex. In former years, during the existence of the organization, he was a member of the Good Templars, and has always thrown his influence in the direction of temperance, religion and education. As a self-made man, Mr. Post has reason to feel gratified with his honorable busi- ness record, and possesses the esteem of the citi- zens of his native place.

GEORGE W. PETTIS was, in his day, considered one of the leading business men and reliable citizens of Portland. His long service as deputy sheriff gave him a wide ac- quaintance and an excellent reputation as an efficient officer. He was a successful man, and rose from poverty to an influential standing in life.

Mr. Pettis came from an old Rhode Island family, and was born May 10, 1818, in the town of Foster, Providence county, in that State. His father, Benjamin Pettis, is sup- posed to have been born in the same town, while the nativity of his mother, Anna ( Nott) Pettis, is unknown. The land records of the town of Coventry, the adjoining town, in Kent county, show that numerous purchases and sales were made by members of the Pettis family about the time of the Revolution. From old residents of Coventry it it learned that Jonathan Pettis (born in 1771) lived on the border of Foster, in Coventry. In 1775 Stephen Pettis bought 224 acres of land in Coventry, and two years later he and his wife Amy ( who made her mark) conveyed one-half of this to another. It is quite probable that Stephen and Amy were the parents of Jonathan and Benjamin.

When George W. Pettis was a child his parents removed to Harford, Susquehanna Co., Pa., where the father died in the following year. Subsequently the mother married a man

named Tanner, whose unkind treatment of the subject of this sketch caused the latter to leave home at a time when the boy most needed the care and counsel of a father. He was a good boy, however, and readily found a home with a neighboring farmer. His schooling was natur- ally quite limited, but his career showed him to be possessed of a keen intellect and sound judg- ment. While his youth was thus attended by hardships, and his early life yielded little pleasure, he had a stout heart and persevered in an honorable course, and made of himself a useful and contented citizen. He was the youngest of three children born to his parents. His elder brother, Richard Pettis, went South early in life, and all trace of him was lost by the younger. The sister, Sarah, married Will- iam Ward and, after his death, became the wife of Eras Bell, who is now deceased. She resides with a daughter in Berlin, Conn., and is now eighty-eight years of age.

To be near relatives Mr. Pettis removed early in life to Connecticut, and during the first few months of his residence in this State, was employed in the Portland stone quarries. He then took up the shoemaker's trade, under the instruction of Capt. Whitmore, of Portland, and followed that trade for twenty years until his appointment as deputy sheriff, in which capacity he served the town and county for a period of thirty-six years. This long and con- tinuous service testifies amply to his integrity and efficiency.

On February 13, 1840, Mr. Pettis was married to Miss Cordelia S. Hurlbut, a native of Portland, who was born October 3, 1820, daughter of Job and Cordelia (Stocking) Hurlbut, the latter a daughter of Elijah and Mary (Sage) Stocking. Job Hurlbut was a son of Seymour Hurlbut, who married a Cook. Seymour Hurlbut was a soldier of the Revolution. Job Hurlbut was a farmer. He had a family of twelve children, of whom Mirs. Pettis was the second, and only two of whom are now living, Mrs. Jane Beebe, of Milling- ton, Conn .; and Georgiana, wife of Ralph Stark, of Colchester, same State: Mrs. Pettis was reared in Portland, and taught school when a young lady in both South and North Glastonbury, receiving a salary of a dollar and a quarter per week, and "boarding round." She passed away at her home in Portland, April 10, 1900, in her eightieth year.

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began housekeeping in Portland. In 1845 Mr. Pettis built the house where both died-near the monument at Gildersleeve, and where his family still resides-and occupied it October 5th of that year. They were the parents of eleven children, five of whom now survive: Dellie, the eldest, is now' the wife of William H. Cone, of Bashan, Conn. Emma Jane is the widow of James H. Sanford, and resides at the homestead at Gildersleeve, where she taught school for a time in girlhood. Libbie H., who is much employed as a nurse, resides at the same place. Addie L. makes her home in Boston, as does also Elmer E., the youngest.

In political principles Mr. Pettis was a Democrat, and he was ever interested in the progress of his State and the Nation. For several years he acted as registrar of voters in Portland. Fraternally he was a member of Warren Lodge, No. 53, A. F. & A. M., of Portland, and when he died, May 8, 1887, his body was interred in the Episcopal cemetery at Portland, by the Masonic fraternity. At the time of his death he was a director of the Portland National Bank, having been active in the outside business of the bank. He belonged to the Congregational Church. He was a gen- erous and kindhearted man, and never refused assistance to the needy or deserving. His es- timable widow, who survived him nearly thirteen years, was highly respected by all who knew her.

BLAGUE. The Blagues are of an old English family, a grant of arms given by King Henry VII, to a Mr. Blague of Dan- forth, in Kent, being dated January 4, 1494. Henry Blague, the ancestor of the family in America, located at Braintree, Mass. His name appears on records in 1642. From Braintree he moved to Boston in 1653, and died in 1662, being buried in King's Chapel burying ground. His children were: Henry, Philip, Joseph (next in the ancestral line), Elizabeth, Rebecca, and Martha.

Joseph Blague came to Saybrook in 1680 from! Boston. The Colonial mansion on the corner of Fenwick and Water streets, which was built by him, had, among other ornamen- tations over the parlor fireplace, an immense panel, brought from England, upon which was a mural painting, with Lord Godolphin as a central figure surrounded with emblems of

knighthood and chivalry. This was for more than two hundred years an heirloom in the family. Much of the furniture was brought from England. Mr. Blague was an enterpris- ing tradesman, building a wharf and store near his residence in 1703. This property was later owned by H. Potter, and is now in the posses- sion of Mrs. Mary Stowe Potter. Joseph Blague married Martha Kirtland, who bore him the following children: Elizabeth, who mar- ried Capt. John Burrows; Mary; and Joseph, who married Mary Hamlin. After the death of Mr. Blague his widow married Capt. Will- iam Southworth, and moved to Deep River.

Joseph Blague, son of Joseph, was born in Saybrook, Conn., in 1694, was graduated from Yale in 1714, and in due time succeeded to the business of his father. An extensive land owner, he was also much interested in ship- ping interests. For years before his death, which occurred September 28, 1742, he was a deacon of the Congregational Church. Mary, his wife, was a daughter of Giles Hamlin, and they had the following children: (1) Mary, who married Rev. William Hart; (2) Joseph, who married Prudence Hale, of Glastonbury; (3) Hamlin, who married Temperance Lord ; (4) Giles, born in 1728, who married Orphana Russell; and (5) Elijah, who graduated from Yale in 1750, and married Mary, daughter of John Gardiner, owner of Gardiner's Island.

Giles Blague and his wife lived on a farm in Saybrook. They were the parents of the following children: (1) Mary, who married Willoughby Lynde, and was the mother of Joseph, Willoughby, Ann, Mary, and Melvin. (2) Rebecca, who married John Ward and be- came the mother of John B., ( who married first Martha Wiley and second Mary Wiley). Ann Sophia, Giles F., (who married Lucy Babcock), and Edward ( who married Susan Chadwell of Boston). (3) Giles is mentioned below. (4) Eliza married Elisha Foote, of Cooperstown, New York.

Giles Blague, born in 1789, was married in 1815 to Rebecca Lynde, one of the seven children of William and Sarah ( Kirtland) Lynde, the other six children being Sally, Eliza, William Henry, Maria. Susan and Enie- line. While still a very young man, Giles Blague was engaged in business in New Ha- ven, and later in Saybrook, where he owned the whari built by his great-grandfather in 1703. He was a man of standing in the con-

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munity and was elected to public office in the town, county, State and national government. He was justice of the peace, selectman, county commissioner and representative in the State Legislature, and at the time of his death, Au- gust 6, 1867, held the office of surveyor of customs. To Giles and Rebecca Blague came : (I) Theodore, born in 1816, married Eliza- beth Williamson, of Washington, D. C .; (2) William, born in 1818, died in 1819; (3) MARY, born in 1820, married Ebenezer H. Burger ; (4) Giles, born in 1823, married Eliz- abeth N. Danforth; (5) Eliza Jane, born in 1825, died in 1828; (6) William Henry, born in 1828, died in 1888; (7) Frederick Hudson was born in 1830; (8) Charles Carroll was born in 1833; (9) Joseph Lynde died when three months old; ( 10) Edward Payson, born in 1835, married Alice Thayer and is the father of Giles (born in 1876), Mabel (1881), and Mary Lynde (1889). The mother of this family died in 1839 at the age of forty-six years.

Mary Blague was married in Saybrook, · to Ebenezer H. Burger, an extensive whole- sale tea and sugar merchant of the city of New York, where he built up a large trade, and where he died in 1861. He was a mem- ber of Dr. Alexander's Church. Mrs. Burger has resided much of the time since her hus- band's death in the town of her birth.

JOSEPH BENJAMIN LORD, a son of William Richard and Cynthia (Southworth) Lord, belongs to an old New England family, and is a lineal descendant of

(I) Thomas Lord, who was one of the first settlers of Hartford. He was married in England about 1610, to Dorothy (Surname not given), who died in 1676, aged about eigh- ty-seven. The date of his death is unknown. They had eight children: Richard, born in 16II ; Thomas, 1619; Ann 1621; William, 1623: John, 1625 (married Adrean Basey, of Hartford, May 15, 1648, and soon afterward removed to parts unknown to the compiler, Mr. Goodwin) ; Robert. 1627; Aymie, 1629; Dorothy, 1631 (married John Ingersoll, of Hartford, about 1651, and died at Northamp- ton, Mass., in January, 1657).

(II) William Lord, son of Thomas and Dorothy, settled in Old Saybrook about 1643, and his first child and son, William, was born there October, 1644. This son settled in East

Haddam, and died December 4, 1696. He married Mary Shayler, and they had eight children. After his death his widow mar- ried Samuel Ingram. The other children in the family of William Lord were: (2) Thomas, born in December, 1645, settled in Lyme, Conn. He died June 27, 1730, in his eighty-sixth year. (3) Richard, born in May, 1647, also settled in Lyme, Conn., and died August 20, 1727, aged eighty years. (4) Mary was born in May, 1649; (5) Robert, in August, 1651; (6) John, in September, 1653; (7) Joseph, in September, 1656; (8) Benja- min in 1667. There were also (9) Daniel; (IO) James; ( II) Samuel; and three daugh- ters whose names are unknown, making a total of fourteen children: The father died May 17, 1678.

(III) Benjamin Lord, son of William, and grandson of Thomas, the emigrant, was born in 1667 at Saybrook, Conn., and died in 1714. He married April 12, 1693, Elizabeth Pratt, daughter of Ensign John Pratt, of Saybrook. This couple had a large family of children, but a record of all the names is not obtainable.

(IV) Deacon Andrew Lord, son of Ben- jamin, was born March 9, 1697, and died in 1759. He was twice married, first time, De- cember 13, 1721, to Hester Buckingham, born- April 16, 1701, daughter of Daniel and Sarah (Lee) Buckingham, of Saybrook, Conn. She died October 7; 1737. Deacon Andrew mar- ried (second) August 31, 1741, Huldah Lamb, of Springfield, Mass. According to Henry Dutch, Lord Genealogist, of Boston, Mass., Deacon Andrew Lord had twelve chil- dren born to him, six by each wife. Hester Buckingham bore him: (1) Andrew born in 1722 died in 1725. (2) Christopher born in 1723, was probably the Deacon Christopher, who removed to Durham, N. Y. (3) Marten, born in 1725, died young. (4) Hester was born January 21, 1727. (5) Elijah, born Sep- tember 27, 1728, is mentioned below. (6) Andrew was born July 29, 1731. The follow- ing were the children by Huldah Lamb: (7) Marten born in 1742, was married in 1768 to Concurrence Seward. (8) Huldah, born in 1743, married in 1762, Elisha Chapman. (9) Deacon William, born in 1745, was mar- ried. (10) Richard, born in 1747, was mar- ried. ( II) Stephen, born in 1751, also mar- ried. (12) Elizabeth was born in 1752.

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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 97

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