Commemorative biographical record of New Haven county, Connecticut, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens and of many of the early settled families, V. I, Pt 1, Part 11

Author: Beers (J.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, J.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1040

USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Commemorative biographical record of New Haven county, Connecticut, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens and of many of the early settled families, V. I, Pt 1 > Part 11

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

of thought or action to which Judge Sheldon has turned his attention has felt the power of his search- ing 'criticism and his vigorous personality. As a thinker he is farsighted and consistent, an un- daunted opponent of evil, and a fearless exponent of the truth as he sees it. Every great reform of the last half of the century just closed has found in him a zealous and able champion. In all stages of the unceasing contest against oppression, hypoc- risy and sham, against the stubborn inertia of stolid conservatism, he has openly pleaded for in- dependence of thought and action, and at times when men's hearts were failing them for fear he has stood firm.

STEPHEN WRIGHT KELLOGG, son of Jacob Poole and Lucy (Wright) Kellogg, was born in Shelburne, Mass., April 5, 1822. At the end of his first year in college his father died, leaving the widow and three younger children in his care. His early life was spent upon the paternal farm, where he worked in the summer until twenty years of age. He taught school in the winter months, after he was sixteen, and attended an academy at Shelburne Falls for a short time. At the age of twenty he entered Amherst College, where he remained two terms, and then entered Yale, the third term of the Freshman year and was graduated in 1846, taking one of the three highest honors of his class. He became prin- cipal of an academy at Winchendon, Mass., in the autumn of that year, but returned to New Haven and entered Yale Law School the following winter. He was admitted to the New Haven Bar in June, 1848. and immediately opened a law office at Naug- atuck, remaining there until 1854, when he removed to Waterbury, having been elected Judge of Pro- bate for the Waterhury District, which then in- cluded Naugatuck. Since 1854 he has had his law office in Waterbury, having a large practice in the higher courts of the State and in the United States courts.

Mr. Kellogg was clerk of the Connecticut Sen- ate. in 1851, a member of the Senate from the Wat- erbury District in 1853, and a member of the House in 1856. In 1854 he was appointed. by the Legisla- ture, Judge of the New Haven County Court, and he held the office of Judge of Probate for the Dis- trict of Waterbury for seven years. He was City Attorney from 1866 to. 1869, during which time he procured the first legislation for supplying the city with water. He was again City Attorney from 1877 to 1883, and during this period drew up a bill for the establishment of a sewerage system for the city, and procured its passage by the legislature. He was a delegate to the Republican National Con- vention in 1860, and was a member of the commit- tee in that convention that drew up the "platform" upon which Abraham Lincoln was first elected Pres- ident. He was also appointed delegate to the Na- tional Conventions of 1868 and 1876, and in the latter was chairman of the Connecticut delegation.

He was colonel of the Second Regiment, Connecti- cut National Guard, from 1863 to 1866, and brig- adier general from 1866 to 1870. He was elected to the XLIst Congress in 1869, and re-elected in 1871 and 1873. During his six years of service in Congress he was a member of the committees on Judiciary, Patents, War Claims and Pacific Rail- roads; was chairman of the committee on Naval Expenditures in the XLIId Congress; and of the committee on Civil Service Reform in the XLIIId. He has been one of the agents of the Bronson Li- brary since its organization in 1868, and while in Congress succeeded in making it one of the six depositories in the State for the valuable publica- tions of the United States Government. During his three terms in Washington Mr. Kellogg was con- ceded to be one of the best representatives the dis- trict ever had, with a peculiar aptitude for the prac- tical side of legislation. On April 1, 1873. shortly before his third election to Congress, the Water- bury American spoke of him as follows :

"It is not often that a Congressman at the end of four years of service receives so many testimonials -- frank and business-like in their tone-from his constituents, without reference to locality or party. The truth is that Mr. Kellogg perceives, more clear- ly than most Congressmen, what are the real duties of a representative, and honestly endeavors to ful- fill them. He has kept himself free from Congress- ional corruption, and at the same time has done a large amount of honest and valuable work for the district and the State which he has represented."

Since his retirement from Congress, Mr. Kel- logg has devoted himself to the practice of his pro- fession. He has never lost his interest in public affairs, however, and has frequently written articles for the press upon political and other subjects of interest. In 1900 he was a Presidential elector at large for Connecticut. His second son, John P. Kellogg, has been associated with him in his office during the past ten years.

On Sept. 10, 1851, Mr. Kellogg married Lucia Hosmer Andrews, a granddaughter of Chief Justice Hosmer, of Middletown. Their children, in the order of their age, are as follows: Sarah Andrews. who married F. C. Plume in 1880; Lucy Wright. who married E. H. English, of New Haven. in 1882; Frank Woodruff: John Prescott; Elizabeth Hosmer, who married Irving H. Chase. Feb. 28. 1889; Stephen Wright, Jr., who died in 1868: and Charles Poole, secretary of the State Board of Char- ities.

JOHN PRESCOTT KELLOGG was born in Water- bury March 31, 1860. He graduated from Yale Col- lege in 1882, and from Yale Law School in 1884. He commenced the practice of law as a member of the firm of Kellogg. Burpee & Kellogg, in 1884. and subsequently, on the retirement of Col. L. F. Burpee. became the junior member of the firm of Kellogg & Kellogg. In 18gt he was appointed Assistant City Attorney, an office which he held until March, 1893,

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

when lie was appointed Prosecuting Attorney of the District Court of Waterbury. He was Town Attor- ney 1801-1895, City Attorney from 1896, and As- sistant State's Attorney in 1897. In 1890 he was appointed an aid on the staff of Gen. T. L. Watson (with the rank of captain), and resigned in May, 1892. On June 1, 1892, he married Clara, daughter of Frederick A. Mason. They have two children, Fredrika Maseu and Elizabeth Hosmer.

FRANK W. KELLOGG, eldest son of Stephen W. · Kellogg, is a lieutenant in the navy. He fitted for entrance to Yale in 1875, but having an opportunity to enter the Naval Academy, at Annapolis, he chose the latter. Since his graduation at Annapolis, in 1879, he has been in the sea service about two-thirds of the time, mostly on the various Atlantic and Pacific stations. He was in the battle of Manila Bay, under Admiral Dewey, and had command of the powder division on the "Baltimore." During the action he was wounded by the explosion of some ammunition, caused by the passage of a Spanish shell through the "Baltimore." On his return to Waterbury from the Pacific station a beautiful sword was presented to him by the city, and he received an ovation in which the whole population of the city seemed to participate. A very fine model of the "Baltimore" was built on the public square for his reception, and the sword was presented to him on its deck. He is now in charge of a division at the Navy Department in Washington. On June 1, 1901, he was married to Minnie McConike, of Troy, New York.

CHARLES P. KELLOGG, youngest son of S. W. Kellogg, graduated at Yale in 1890, and at the Yale Law School in 1893. He was appointed secretary of the State Board of Charities in 1895, and has held that position since. He was a delegate in 1900 to the International Conferences of Charities at London and Paris, and to the Prison Congress in Brussels. He is unmarried.

THE MORSE FAMILY. For the past eighty years the Morses, the late Gardner Morse, sons and grandsons, in turn, have been closely identified with the history of New Haven, figuring somewhat con- spicuously in its business growth and development, and making improvements that stand as monu- ments to their enterprise and public spirit. Among the members of the family yet active in business life are Gardner Morse (secretary of the New Haven Gas Light Company), Elliott H. Morse ( secretary and treasurer of the Connecticut Savings Bank) and Joseph B. Morse (a lawyer who is extensively engaged in the insurance and real-estate business).

The Morse family is one of the oldest in New England. Joseph Morse, the emigrant ancestor of the New Haven family, was born in England about 1587, and came to New England in 1635, settling in Ipswich, Mass. prior to 1641. He mar- ried Dorathy, served as town clerk, and died in 1646. From this emigrant ancestor the sons and

daughters of the late Gardner Morse are descend- ants in the ninth generation. The ancestral line is as follows: Joseph (2), Joseph (3), Joseph (4), Joseph (5), Abner. Stephen and Gardner.

(II) Joseph Morse (2), son of Joseph the emi- grant, married Hester Bullard, and resided in Watertown, Mass., where he was one of the pro- prietors. He died in 1690.

(III) Joseph Morse (3). son of Joseph (2), was born in 1637, married Susannah Shattuck in 1661, and resided in Groton, being one of the pro- prietors of the town, where he died in 1677.

(IV) Joseph Morse (4), son of Joseph (3), was born in 1667, at Groton, married Grace War- ren, of Watertown in 1690, and lived on a farm in Marlboro, Mass.

(V) Joseph Morse (5), son of Joseph (4), born in 1691, married (first) Abigail Hubbard in 1716, and resided in Marlboro. He died in 1756.

(VI) Abner Morse, son of Joseph (5), was born in 1727, married Keziah Stow, and resided in what is now Paxton, Mass. Mrs. Morse lived to be over ninety years old, and died in Marlboro.

(VII) Stephen Morse, son of Abner, was born Dec. 14, 1759, and on Nov. 1, 1786, married Re- becca Howe, of Sudbury, Mass. He spent his life on the family homestead in Marlboro. MIrs. Morse was a lineal descendant of John How, of Hodin- hule, England, who was one of the wealthiest pro- prietors and settlers of Sudbury, Mass., where he took the freeman's oath in 1640. He was one of the petitioners for the town of Marlboro sixteen years later, and according to tradition was the first English person to reside there. Stephen Morse was a man of character, and through his long life maintained a high reputation for integrity and moral virtue.

The late Gardner Morse, of New Haven, son of Stephen, and father of Elliott H. (2), and Joseph Gardner Morse (1), of that city, was born April II, 1809, at the old Morse homestead, in Marl- boro, Mass. When thirteen years old he came to New Haven to enter the employ of Timothy and Stephen Bishop, prominent merchants of this city. His elder brother, Stephen, was collecting agent for the Suffolk Bank of Boston, and while on busi- ness in New Haven heard of the position offered by Messrs. Bishop and informed his brother. After six years' service with these gentlemen Gardner Morse became engaged in a mercantile business with Charles Peterson, under the firm name of Morse & Peterson. This connection continued

only a short time, being terminated by the election of Mr. Morse in 1837 to the office of city, town and school tax collector. This position he filled for some twenty years, having some peculiar qual- ifications for the work it entailed. Mr. Morse came into prominence as a safe and careful business man, of strict integrity, good judgment and the utmost reliability, and was called upon to execute ! many important trusts both by individuals and

· COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

corporations. Many estates were put into his hands for settlement, and much of the public business of the town and city was entrusted to him for ad- justment ; he also liad the agencies of many insur- ance companies. During the long period of fifty years he was one of the most active and public- spirited men of the city. In 1852 he was one of the three trustees entrusted by the town with the responsibility of disposing of the old almis-house farm, and he was the controlling spirit connected · with that institution for more than forty years. Mr. Morse was always active in any movement looking to the expansion of the city, laying out new dis- tricts, and extending streets into new territory, and in company with the late John W. Mansfield did much to improve unoccupied territory. He did much in developing that part of the city lying west of Park street from Oak street to Davenport ave- nue. His knowledge of real estate values was so sound that for many years he was acting trustee and member of the loaning committee of the New Haven Savings Bank, of which institution he was vice-president at the time of his death. For years he was trustee of the town deposit fund. From - 1862 to 1874 he was fire commissioner, and in early life took an active part in the State militia, rising from the position of corporal to that of colonel of the Second Regiment. He was a rigid disciplina- rian, and insisted on the letter of the law, com- pelling attendance on training days, and bringing . his command to a high pitch of excellence. His religious convictions were all with the Episcopal Church, and for more than forty years he served as vestryman, trustee and treasurer of Trinity Church.

Mr. Morse was accurate in his judgment, quick in his perception, and prompt in his acts of sym- pathy. All his life was under the control of a resolute will, tempered by good cheer and kindly sympathy.

In 1833 Gardner Morse was married to Julia A. Austin, who died in 1841. On Dec. 20, 1843, Mr. Morse wedded Mary L. Brigham, who died in 1856. His children were: Sarah A., born Feb. 2, 1834; Algernon H., born Nov. 23, 1835; Will- iam W., born Nov. 24. 1837; Gardner, born May 8, 1839; Jula A., born March 28, 1841 ; Elliott H., born July 31, 1846: Mary A., born June 5, 1848; Joseph B., born Oct. 3. 1850; and Charles T., born in 1852. For his third wife Mr. Morse married Martha Belcher, daughter of Jonathan Belcher, of Northfield, Mass., and a descendant of Gov. Bel- cher. She died about 1863. Col. Morse was prom- inently identified with the Whig party, and in his later years became a Republican.

Gardner Morse, son of Gardner and Julia Morse, was born May 8, 1839, and was reared in New Haven, acquiring his education there, and in the "Gunnery," and later in the Lovell school. For some time he was employed by a large oyster dealer in Baltimore, but in IS68 he entered the New Haven Gas Light Company, as a bookkeeper, and

rose to the position of secretary in 1875-a posi- tion he still retains. In 1871 he was married in Northampton to Mary Hamilton, who was born in that town Jan. 4, 1853, a daughter of Luther W. and a granddaughter of Loomis, who was a son of William, a grandson of James, and a great- grandson of Duke Hamilton, of Scotland. Loomis Hamilton, her grandfather, was a linen merchant, and spent his life mainly in Northampton, but crossing the ocean to make a visit to Scotland he was lost on the voyage; Ruth Waldo, his wife, was the daughter of Schulen Waldo, a prominent man of Northampton, and a colonel in the Revolutionary war, serving also in the war of 1812, and dying in his eighty-fourth year. Luther W. Hamilton was a decorator, and a much respected man : Lydia Porter Beals, his wife, was born in Plainfield, Mass., in 1817 and came of an exceedingly re- spected family.

ELLIOTT H. MORSE has spent his entire life in New Haven, completing his education at the New Haven High School, which he left to enter the ent- ploy of the Connecticut Savings Bank, where he has since served in the line of clerk, teller, sec- retary, assistant treasurer and treasurer. He be- came assistant treasurer in 1876, and secretary and treasurer in 1879, which position he holds to-day. In 1879 he married Grace A. Bowns, daughter of Henry E. Bowns, of Brooklyn, N. Y., and his wife, Grace L. Beach, daughter of the late Clark Beach, of New Haven. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Morse: John Mansfield, Gardner Warren and Dorothea How. Mr. Morse is an old-line Democrat, and has been for many years a member of the Episcopal Church.

JOSEPH B. MORSE, who was born in 1850, was associated with his father at a very early age, be- ginning work under him as a boy, and was prac- tically in charge of the business from 1878. He was graduated from Yale in the class of 1871. and from the Yale Law School in 1876, being admitted to the Bar in New Haven the same year, and there he is extensively engaged in the real estate business. In 1890 he formed a partnership with his father, and succeeded to the business on the death of that eminent citizen. For some twenty-five years he was actively engaged in examining titles, and has done much work as a conveyancer. His business in insurance and real estate is very extensive. His wife, Annie Bassett, whom he married Sept. 14. 1875, died April 19, 1881, leaving two children, a son Stephen, who died in 1886, at the age of seven years, and a daughter, Julia, who graduated from the high school in 1901. Mr. Morse was married in 1898 to Bessie E. Jones, born in South Norwalk July 12, 1878, a daughter of Edwin F. Jones, a railroad man, now living in New York City. They have one child, Joseph Bulkley, Jr. Mr. Morse is a Republican in his politics, and he- longs to the Knights of Honor. where he has filled all the chairs. He is a member of the Nava! Battalion, where he has served six years, and be-

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

longs to the Union League. He is associated with the Young Men's Club, and has been identified with the Episcopal Society of Christ all his life.

COL. WILLIAM BURR WOOSTER, promi- nent alike in civic, legal and military circles in Derby and Ausonia, died at his home Sept. 20, 1900, and his death was the cause of much genuine sorrow throughout the entire State of Connecticut. Each seemed to feel it a personal loss, and it was not until after the last sad rites had been paid that was awakened the sense of the irreparable loss to the community. He had so long given the best efforts to others, had been so ready to give wise counsel and assistance that his memory will be cherished for years to come. As the Hartford Courant remarked at his demise: "His name has stood for many years on Connecticut's roll of hon- or. He was a patriot and a gentleman. He was Derby's first citizen."

William Burr Wooster was born Aug. 22, 1821, in the town of Oxford, Conn., son of Russel and. Avis (Burr) Wooster, farming people of that town. The early life of the son was passed after the usual custom of New England farmer lads. His educa- tion was pursued in the district school and the academy, and at nineteen years of age he began to teach in the village school, teaching through the winters, but continued to devote his summers to farm work. He now seemed to himself, as he did to others, to be born for a larger sphere of opera- tion, and after a few years entered the law school at New Haven, and was graduated from Yale University in 1846, bearing a diploma signed by President Day. Judge William L. Storrs had been his instructor, and took such pride in his pupil as to give him counsel which determined the grad- uate's future. It had been the dream of the stu- dent to cast his fortunes with the great West, whither so many were tending, but Judge Storrs said, "I. want to give you unsolicited advice. I know you and I know this locality. Don't you leave Connecticut. Don't leave New Haven coun- ty, and come here as soon as you can." Bir- mingham was quite near New Haven. In Mr. Wooster's horoscope of the future there appeared what has since come to pass in fact; a growing city with suburbs which might become populous, and he carried out the advice of his eminent legal instructor by establishing himself for the practice of law in Birmingham, Conn., Oct. 1, 1846. Other of his legal instructors in Yale were Samuel Hitch- cock and Isaac Townsend. Another item in the advice of Judge Storrs was that the young lawyer should let politics alone. This he did for some twelve years, during which period he gave close attention to professional pursuits. After his ad- mission to the Bar Mr. Wooster rapidly rose to the front rank in his profession. In 1858, and again in 1861, he represented his town in the Leg- islature, in 1859 served in the Senate, and in 1867 as paymaster general.

The most conspicuous service of Mr. Wooster in the State government was performed on the Military committee, and the splendid manner in which Connecticut bore her part in the volunteer service of the army, in the Civil war, and took care of the soldiers' families, is to be credited large- ly to his efforts. He drew many of the acts and resolves which make up Connecticut's legislative war record, and supported them in their passage through that busy session of the General Assem- bly. . At the same time, and later, he was actively engaged in enlisting volunteers, making patriotic war speeches, even to the neglect of his own pro- fessional business. And when President Lincoln issued his famous "call" for 300,000 volunteers, Mr. Wooster felt it to be a call to him personally, and his sense of duty led him to act. He was commissioned Aug. 22, 1862, lieutenant-colonel of the 20th Conn. V. I., and went to the front. . The battle of Chancellorsville followed the next May, and for distinguished gallantry on the field he was . made colonel by brevet. His command held the ground against bold and fierce assaults, and only when the Federal line on both sides of him had given way did he order a retreat. His forces filed out along the base of the hill, and to escape he mounted two stray horses in succession, but both of them were shot under him. He soon found that the enemy had closed behind him. He was captured, his sword taken from him, and he was marched in the direction of Libby Prison to undergo its terrible ordeal. The sword taken from him is now in the possession of the family, and the old hat put in place of his own, taken from him a few hours after while he was sleeping on the ground, under Rebel guard, in front of General Maury's quarters. The sword, which Col. Wooster prized for association sake, was the gift to him of some of his townsmen, Wallace & Sons, and was properly inscribed. He received it as he left home to take his command in 1862. In a battle at Weldon Railroad, Va., in August, 1864, the Union forces, Lieut .- Col. Finnicum of the 7th Wis. V. I., captured an officer of a Mississippi regiment carry- ing this sword; Lieut .- Col. Finnicum returned it to its owner.

No detail of the eventful army experience of Col. Wooster is here attempted. We only allude to two or three items of it to suggest the personal quality and career of the man so widely and highly esteemed in Connecticut. On his release from Libby prison and exchange, Col. Wooster hastened to join his regiment, and led his command at Get- tysburg. His regiment was in the thickest of the fight, and his own particular command was at the very front, led in person, in the terrible conflict on Culp's Hili, on the morning of the third day of battle, when his command with other forces made the attack.

In March, 1864, Col. Wooster was assigned to the command of a colored regiment, the 29th Conn. V. I., and made colonel of it, and henceforth his

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

fortunes in the war were identical with the for- tunes of that brave regiment. Col. Wooster's com- mand was the first to enter Richmond upon its evacuation by the Rebel troops; and he was de- tailed judge under martial law in the city, a posi- tion for which his past legal life eminently qual- ified him. Col. Wooster was an ideal soldier, brave and calm in the peril of battle, watchful and con- siderate, painstaking and self-sacrificing in the wel- fare of those under him. He could take no rest himself unless his soldiers were properly cared for-a quality that made them confide in him and love him to the fullest extent, and it inspired an ambition to acquit themselves in the best manner and to follow wherever he led. Though brave and a inan of nerve, he was vet tenderhearted and kind. So full of loving tenderness was his heart that after the battle of Chancellorsville, and he was a prisoner, he induced the Rebel commander to allow him to go under guard back over the field that he might see who of his men were killed, and to gather up messages and mementoes from the wounded and dying to send back home to their friends and families.

At the close of the war Col. Wooster returned to Birmingham and opened his law office. The tide of business set toward him again, and his clients multiplied. They gave the verdict of hav- ing found a perfect honest lawyer, considerate, able, a very safe counsellor and a successful advocate. It is here worthy of passing note that Col. David Torrance (Judge of the Supreme Court) began his law studies while he was in camp, and this came about by the presentation to him of two vol- umes of Blackstone by Col. Wooster, and at the close of the war he completed his studies in Col. Wooster's office in Birminghamn, and after his ad- mission to the Bar in 1868 was admitted .as a partner, the firm being Wooster & Torrance. The firm bore a grand title, the senior member already known and eminent as a counsellor; both were army men, and brought to their office the prestige ! of brave leadership in the field; both possessed those manly graces which win favor from the pub- lic and secure popularity ; and both were known to be honest men. A large and lucrative practice was the result. On Jan. 1, 1882, Edwin Baker Gager was admitted to the firm, which became - Wooster, Torrance & Gager, and so remained un- til April 1, 1885, when Judge Torrance, who had been appointed Judge of the Superior Court, re- tired, and was succeeded by William H. Williams, and since the death of Col. Wooster the firm has been Williams & Gager.

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Commemorative biographical record of New Haven county, Connecticut, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens and of many of the early settled families, V. I, Pt 1, Part 11

Author: Beers (J.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1902 Publisher: Chicago, J.H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1040

Author: Beers (J.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, J.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1040