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 16

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 16

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Mr. Ingersoll was noted for the proportionate and harmonious development of all his powers. That he was an able lawyer. a close thinker, adequately Jearned and familiar with the whole field of practice. all admit. His voice, pleasant, almost musical and of unusual compass, could be heard distinctly in its lowest tones. The ready, fluent speech, graceful delivery and active but natural gesticulation, the energetic, earnest manner and countenance which mirrored every thought-all contributed to his power as an advocate. While his language was select, his argument was clear, logical, compact and

complete. Eminently persuasive, forgetting noth- ing and digressing rarely, he touched lightly on the weaker points and knew where to place the strain. If the chain broke the fault was not his. Though speaking well, with little premeditation. Mr. Inger- soll was accustomed to prepare his cases thoroughly, looked at both sides and weighed opposing consider- ations. Well fortified himself he was quick to see and expose an unguarded point in the enemy, dex- terously driving home his advantage. Though when speaking to the court, or a deliberative body, he addressed himself wholly to the intellect, using little ornament : when standing before a jury or popular assembly he gave himself more liberty; was some- times impetuous, often eloquent. On these occa- sions he would show his power over the common mind, putting himself in contact with those primi- tive sentiments, convictions and instincts which tie at the foundation of human nature and which are older than reason. With his hand on the hidden springs of action, he shaped and directed the cere- bral movements, awakened emotion or quickened the sense of right, carrying his auditors whither he would. Says one of large experience: "He was the best public speaker I ever saw. In a notable degree he possessed the personal magnetism by the aid of which the orator sways and sets on fire the sympathetic multitude. At one time he was witty and humorous, at another serious and pathetic. and could be sarcastic. Oppression of the weak by the strong he would vehemently denounce; a prevari- cating witness flay, if he could."

Being an accomplished and experienced writer Mr. Ingersoll was conscientiously serupulous con- cerning his facts and would state nothing that was not wholly and exactly true. No man ever lived a purer or more exemplary life than he. His charac- ter was adorned by all the public and private virtues. Honorable, manly and just, it is believed he was never guilty of a deed of meanness or conscious wrong.

Mr. Ingersoll was delicately organized, of mod- erate stature, slender, straight, and of healthy con- stitution. For his size, his head was large, full in the frontal region and prominent at the angles, with finely-cut features, thing lips and dark eyes well pro- tected by jutting brows. Till nearly eighty, with unclouded intellect, he continued his practice. and till the last went daily to his office when health per- mitted. There he would sit, reading and writing. giving a cordial welcome to any friend who might call. His intimate acquaintance with political lite and character, taken in connection with his urbanity. kindness, candor and simple dignity, made his con- versation extremely interesting. On Aug. 26, 1872, he died without an enemy. In his last years he was a communicant of Trinity Church.

On Feb. 10, 1814, Mr. Ingersoll was married to Margaret Van den Heuvel, of Dutch parentage, of New York, a lady of great energy and discretion.

HON. COLIN MCCRAE INGERSOLL, a son of Hon.

Colin M. Ingersoll

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Ralph Isaacs and brother of Hon. Charles Robert Ingersoll, of New Ilaven, was born in that city March 11, 1819, and was prepared for college at New Haven, pursuing a course of study at Trinity College, and graduating, in 1839, from Yale Law School. In 1843 he was chosen clerk of the Connec- ticut Senate and served as such. During the years 1847 and 1848 he was secretary of legation at the Court of St. Petersburg, Russia. From 1851 10 1855 he was a representative in the United States Congress, at Washington, from the New Haven District, and from 1867 to 1871 he was adjutant- general of Connecticut. Gen. Ingersoll has inher- ited many of the traits of his distinguished father and forefathers. He is an affable and courteous gentleman, companionable and an interesting con- versationalist.

On Oct. 26, 1853, in Grace Church, at Pratts- ville, N. Y., Mr. Ingersoll was married to Miss Julia Harriet, daughter of Hon. Zadock and Abigail P. (Watson) Pratt, and to them have come children as follows: Mary E., born Aug. 19, 1854; Colin McCrae, Jr., born Dec. 1. 1858, now chief engineer of the Consolidated Road ; George P., born April 24. 1861, who was married Nov. 3, 1891, to Miss Alice. daughter of Rev. Orlando Wetherspoon, of New Haven ; and Mand Margaret Seymour, who married George W. J. Angell.

GEORGE P. INGERSOLL obtained his education in the Hopkins Grammar School, of New Haven, and in Trinity College, at Hartford, graduating from the former in 1879 and from the latter in 1883. After being prepared for the law at Yale Law School he was graduated from that institution in 1883, was ad- mitted to the Bar that same year, and has since prac- ticed his profession in New Haven and in New York. In 1889 he was appointed United States com- missioner, and in 1893 a member of the Connecticut board of health.

Mrs. Julia H. (Pratt) Ingersoll is a descendant in the seventh generation from Lient. William Pratt, the emigrant ancestor of the family, sup- posed to have come with Rev. Thomas Hooker to what is now Cambridge, Mass., in 1632, thence to Hartford, Conn., and to Saybrook. In 1636 he mar- ried Elizabeth Clark, daughter of John, first of Saybrook, and afterward of Milford. Mr. Pratt attended the General Court as a deputy the twenty- third and last time in 1678, in which year he died. From this Lient. William Pratt Mrs. Ingersoll's line of descent is through Capt. William, Benjamin, Zephaniah, Zadock and Hon. Zadock Pratt.

(II) Capt. William Pratt, son of Lieut. Will- iam, was born in 1653 and married Hannah Kirt- land. He was a man of note in the civil, military and religious affairs of the town and died in 1718.

(III) Benjamin Pratt. son of Capt. William. born about 1681, married in 1702 Anna, daughter of Samuel Bates.

(IV) Zephaniah Pratt, son of Benjamin, born about 1712, died in 1758. His wife's name was Abigail.

- (V) Zadock Pratt, son of Zephaniah, born in 1755, married in 1781 Hannah, daughter of Ben- jamin Pickett, of New Milford, Conn. Mr. Pickett entered the service early in the war of the Revolu- tion and continued therein until 1783; was at Dor- chester Heights, near Boston, served in the main body of the army on Long Island, was taken pris- oner in the battle of Aug. 27, 1776, and for a time was confined in the Middle Dutch Church, New York, and also in the old sugar house and was later transferred to the "Whitby" prison ship. After his release lie returned to the army and was engaged in the storming of Stony .Point, by Gen. Wayne, in 1779. After his discharge he removed to Stephen- town, N. Y., and he died at what is now Jewett City, N. Y., in 1828.

(VI) Hon. Zadock Pratt, son of Zadock, and the father of Mrs. Julia H. ( Pratt) Ingersoll, born Oct. 3. 1790, married (third) March 16, 1835, Abi- gail P., daughter of Wheeler Watson, of Rensselaer- ville, N. Y. When a young man he resided in Lex- ington, N. Y., and from there, in 1814 .. joined the forces raised by Gov. Tompkins for the defense of New York. In 1824 he moved to Schohariekill. since known, in compliment to him, as Prattsville. After erecting the largest tannery in the country, foi nearly a quarter of a century he carried on the leather business in this, and two other extensive works of the same kind, elsewhere. From 1822 to 1826 he was colonel of the 116th Regiment of In- fantry of the State of New York. He represented his district in Congress two terms, being elected in 1836 and again in 1842, and his career in that body was pre-eminently successful and commanded the respect and esteem of his fellow members. As a legislator he proved. as he had before shown him- self. a business man as well as a public official. and was identified with important measures. In the five sessions of Congress of which he was a mem- ber he was never absent a day. For several years he was president of the Prattsville Bank, a private institution. In 1836 he was one of the electors for President and Vice-President, and as such cast his vote for Martin Van Buren and Richard M. John- son. Again in 1852 Col. Pratt was a member of the Electoral College in New York, was chosen its president, and with his colleagues. cast the vote of the State for the candidates of the Democratic party for the Presidency and Vice-Presidency of the United States. Franklin Pierce and William R. King. In the later years of his life Col. Pratt was a great traveler, visiting repeatedly the West India Islands, England and the continent of Europe. as well as traveling extensively in this country. Dur- ing his declining years he became a dairy farmer and was as successful in that line as he had been as a tanner, legislator and banker.

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

KINGSBURY. For more than one hundred years representatives of the Kingsbury family have been conspicuous in the history of Waterbury. Judge John Kingsbury, Charles Denison Kingsbury and Hon. Frederick John Kingsbury-father, son and grandson-have played well their parts in the religious, social and business life of that city. The branch of the family to which Judge John Kingsbury belonged was established in what is now the town of Franklin, then a part of Norwich, New London Co., Conn., in the person of Joseph Kingsbury, the Judge's great-grandfather, who was at Haverhill, Mass., in 1637. Joseph was a son of Henry Kings- bury, who was at Ipswich a few years earlier, in 1633. The latter was probably a nephew of Henry Kingsbury, an emigrant from England with Win- throp in 1630. [ Savage's Gen. Dict. and Blake's History of Franklin, Conn.]

Judge John Kingsbury, of Franklin and Water- bury, son of Nathaniel Kingsbury, was born Dec. 30, 1762, at Norwich Farms (now Franklin ), Conn. He remained on the farm until seventeen, when he was prepared for Yale College under the direction of his uncle, Dr. Charles Backus, an eminent min- ister, of Somers. In the following year young Kingsbury entered Yale College, but remained only a short time, the college exercises being temporarily suspended by the Revolution. He then became en- gaged as a marine on board a privateer, made two cruises and assisted in taking two prizes. Subse- quently he returned to Yale, was graduated in 1786, and coming to Waterbury was assistant to Joseph Badger, the principal of the academy there, which was opened the year previous. In the spring of 1788 he entered the law school of Judge Reeve, at Litchfield, and in 1790 was admitted to the Bar in Litchfield. The following year he settled in practice at Waterbury. In 1793 he was chosen town clerk and held the office much of the time until 1818. He was appointed justice of the peace in 1796 and con- tinued in office until 1830. He represented Water- bury seventeen times in the Legislature. In 1801. on the death of Judge Hopkins. 'Squire Kingsbury was appointed to fill the vacancies in the probate and county courts. He held the latter office until May, 1820, the last year as presiding judge. He was continued as judge of probate until disquali- fied by age, in the year 1832. He died Aug. 26. 1844. Dr. Henry Bronson, in his History of Water- bury, published in 1858, says of Judge Kingsbury: "He acquired in an eminent degree the confidence and respect of the community in which he lived. He held many public offices and always discharged his duties faithfully and acceptably. From the death of Judge Hopkins to the time of his decease no man in the town was more honored, respected and loved. Judge Kingsbury was a popular man, but he became so in consequence of the benevolence of his character, his kindly sympathies, his agreeable manners and many excellent qualities. He never sacrificed principle or consistency. He was a good

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neighbor and trusty friend. Lively in his manner, casy in conversation, often facetious in his remarks. his company was sought by persons of all ages and classes. Ilis long aquiline nose, the benevolent smile which usually played on his countenance, and his winning way, can never be forgotten by those who knew him.

On Nov. 6, 1794, Judge Kingsbury was married to Marcia, daughter of Stephen Bronson. She died March 21, 1813. Their children were: Charles D., Julius J. B., John S. and Sarah S.

CHARLES DENISON KINGSBURY. In the death of this venerable citizen of Waterbury, whose life in the town spanned ahnost one hundred years, the city lost one of the very few people who connected the Waterbury of 1890 with a previous century, and one who had lived under the administrations of all the Presidents of our country up to the time of his death, Jan. 16, 1890.

Mr. Kingsbury was born Nov. 7. 1795, in Wat- erbury, son of Judge John Kingsbury. He was educated in the schools of the town and at the school of Rev. Daniel Parker, of Ellsworth, a village of the town of Sharon, Conn. From about 1812 he was for several years clerk in a store in Waterbury and traveled in the South selling clocks and books. In the winter of 1820-21 he was Philadelphia agent for the firm of Lewis, Griley & Lewis, button mak- ers. of Naugatuck. The following spring he leased and subsequently purchased the store in which he had formerly been a clerk and carried on mercantile business for nearly twenty years and was also en- gaged in the manufacturing business. In the meantime he had become, by inheritance and by pur- chase, a considerable owner of real estate, and be- ing in somewhat delicate health and preferring an outdoor life, he gave up business as a merchant and devoted himself to the care and cultivation of his land and to transactions in real estate and in such ways was occupied for half a century. In his youth Mr. Kingsbury was very delicate and never became robust. Recognizing in himself a tendency to con- sumption he considered it necessary to take es- pecial care of his health. He accordingly lived in a very quiet way and his habits were exceedingly simple. Thus he prolonged his life until he entered upon his ninety-fifth year and was permitted to remain in the full possession of his faculties to the very last. The following is an extract from an obituary notice of Mr. Kingsbury, published in the Waterbury American at the time of his death :

A life so quiet and inconspicuous as Mr. Kingsbury's calls for but little comment. It was full of activity. but ahogether unobtrusive. He fulfilled with great fidelity the various duties of a citizen, a church member, a house- holler. and a neighbor. but did it in a way so unostenta- tious and so simple that the impression he made upon the community did not serve as a measure of his ability and breadth. Not alone in his Puritan simplicity, but in his clear-headedness and intellectual strength, he was a fine representative of the older generations of New England1 men. While indifferent to many of the modern noveltie, and notions, he had a clear apprehension of what was

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

really valuable in our modern life, and was prompt to place himself in sympathy with it. He did not produce upon those who talked with him the impression that he was being left behind in the movements of events; he was a man of the times. At the same time he delighted in the memories of the past. His memory was good and his conversational gifts were of a high order: so that it was a real pleasure to sit beside him and look upon his vivid word pictures of the days that are no more. The lessons of such a life cannot be measured off or num- bered, and they are of a kind which would gain but little heed from this busy world of ours. But we cannot but regret that there are so few to-day who covet that life of simplicity and quiet peace which Mr. Kingsbury through all these years has so beautifully illustrated.

Mr. Kingsbury became a member of the First Congregational Church when in his twenty-second year and remained in full communion therewith throughout his life and he was at the time of his death the oldest member of the church. On March 5. 182t, 'Mr. Kingsbury was married to Eliza, daughter of Dr. Frederick Leavenworth. She died Nov. 16, 1852, leaving two children : Frederick J .; and Sarah L., now the wife of Franklin Carter, president of Williams College. On Nov. 24, 1859. Mr. Kingsbury married Rebecca, daughter of Deacon Elijah Hotchkiss, and she died Dec. 7, 1873.

FREDERICK JOHN KINGSBURY, the only son of Charles Denison and Eliza ( Leavenworth ) Kings- bury, was born in Waterbury Jan. 1, 1823. He was educated in the schools of the town and also spent a year and a half partly in study with his ma- ternal uncle, Rev. Abner J. Leavenworth, in Vir- ginia. He completed his preparation for college with Rev. Seth Fuller, at that time principal of the Waterbury Academy and graduated from Yale Col- lege in the class of 1846. He studied law in Yale Law School under Judge Storrs and Isaac H. Townsend and with Hon. Charles G. Loring, of Boston, and Hon. Thomas C. Perkins, of Hartford. He was admitted to the Boston Bar in 1848. Mr. Kingsbury opened an office in Waterbury in 1849, but in 1853 he abandoned the law for the banking business, in which and in manufactures and other business enterprises he has since been engaged. In 1850 he represented his town in the Legislature. He was a member also of the Legislatures of 1858 and 1865, in both of which he was chairman of the committee on Banks. In 1865 he was a member of the committee on a Revision of the Statutes of Connecticut. Having his attention directed to savings banks and believing that a savings bank would be a benefit to the people of Waterbury he obtained a charter for one. He was appointed its treasurer and has successfully administered its af- fairs since that time. In 1853, in connection with Abram Ives, he established the Citizens' Bank, of which he has been president for many years. In Jantiary, 1858, Mr. Kingsbury was made a direc- tor of the Scovill Manufacturing Co. He was sec- retary of that company from March, 1862. to Jan- uary, 1864. and treasurer from March, 1862, to January, 1866. In 1868 he succeeded S. W. Hall

as president and has held that office ever since. He is secretary of the Detroit & Lake Superior Copper Co., organized in 1867: was for a number of years a director of the New York & New England Rail- road ; and is a director of the Naugatuck Railroad. Mr. Kingsbury has been treasurer of the Bronson Library Fund since its reception by the city in 1868; is a member of the board of agents of the library, and chairman of the Book committee. He has been treasurer of the Protestant Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut since 1879. In 188t he was elected a member of the Corporation of Yale College and was re-elected in 1887 and again in 1893. At the time of his second re-election the Waterbury Amer- ican (June 29, 1893) spoke of him is follows:

Of 1600 votes he received all but about 200. His re. election was so generally regarded as desirable that the other nominee, a distinguished editor of Worcester, Mass .. made no contest and practically conceded Mr. Kingsbury's election from the start. The qualities of fitness whose recognition . explains this gratifying unan- imity comprise locality, zeal for the college interests. in- telligent appreciation of college needs and practical busi- ness judgment in the administration of college affairs. Mr. Kingsbury's election is advantageous to the Univer- sity and gratifying to this community, which has so large a representation and so deep an interest in it.

At the centennial celebration of Williams Col- lege, Oct. 10, 1893, Mr. Kingsbury received the degree of LL. D. and he was honored with the same degree from Yale in 1899. He was elected president of the American Social Science Associa- tion in 1893 and re-elected in 1804 and 1895. He is a member of the American Antiquarian Society, the American Historical Association, the Connecti- cut. Academy of Arts and Sciences, the New Ha- ven County Historical Society, the Society of the Colonial Wars, and the University Graduates and Century Clubs. As all this would indicate, he is fond of historical and literary pursuits, and of late years has given much attention to sociological ques- tions. He has a strong taste for gencalogical in- quiries and a remarkable memory for minute events and family relationships ; so that he is a recognized authority in matters of local history. What the present writer said of him in 188t may with propri- ety be repeated here :

"Amidst engrossing cares he has found oppor- tunities for no little research in the various fields which attract scholarly men. He has always been interested in the growth and prosperity of his na- tive town and has taken an active part in plans for its improvement. In a city devoted to manufactures and trades he has long been a conspicuous repre- sentative of the best American culture, illustrating the practicability of combining an intelligent inter- est in literature, art and science with fidelity to important business trusts and to constantly accu- mulating duties."

On April 29, 1851. Mr. Kingsbury married Alathea, daughter of W. H. Scovill. She died Dec. 7, 1899. They had children as follows: William

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Charles, who died in 1864; Mary Eunice, who mar- ried Dr. Charles Stedman Bull, of New York City, and died Oct. 15, 1898, leaving three children ; Alice Eliza ; Edith Davies ; and Frederick John, Jr., who married Adele Townsend, and has one child. These children are the lineal descendants of all the clergyman, of any denomination, who were settled in Waterbury during its first hundred years.

HON. MINOTT AUGUR OSBORN, whose deatlı occurred at his home in New Haven, Oct. 24, 1877, after a prominent career of upward of fifty years as the editor and publisher of the New Haven Register, during which period he held a number of public trusts of honor and responsibility, was one of the strong journalists of the State.

Mr. Osborn was born in New Haven April 21, ISII, a son of Eli and Elizabeth (Augur) Osborn. respected and esteemed people of the community, the former of whom was engaged in the merchant tailoring business. Jeremiah Osborn, the progeni- tor of this branch of the Osborn family, was one of the patentees of the town.

Minott A. Osborn's privileges for obtaining an education were limited, as he only attended school until fourteen years of age, leaving at that time the Lancasterian school of John E. Lovell to learn the ! printer's trade. He entered the printing office of his uncle, Joseph Barber, of New Haven, from which was issued the Columbian Weekly Register. Being a bright, intelligent boy he progressed rapid- ly, and as the time passed was advanced by his uncle, and in 1834 was made a partner in the con- duct of the paper and business. Young, with vim and vigor, he enthused new interest and life into the paper, which was evidenced in the bright, 'sharp paragraphs appearing in the paper, which attracted wide attention and gave rise to many political tilts. His lance was keen and its thrusts severe, yet he always endeavored to heal these by a generous touch of kindly humor. The senior member of the firm differed from the junior member in the fact that the former was an advo- cate of the old Jeffersonian Democracy, while the latter patterned after Andrew Jackson. Their dif- ferences culminated in 1837-38 on the question of the sub-treasury scheme, which the young man sup- ported, the elder opposed, and, as the majority of the supporters of the paper favored Mr. Osborn, Mr. Barber withdrew from the paper. At this time Mr. Osborn associated with him in conducting the Register W. B. Baldwin, and the business of the office was carried on by these gentlemen, under the firm style of Osborn & Baldwin. until 1866, a period of twenty-eight years, Mr. Baldwin retiring from the paper at the end of this time. Mr. Osborn associated with him in the business his eldest son, Minott E. Osborn, the firm style becoming M. A. Osborn & Co. Nine years later, in 1875, another change occurred, a transfer of the business being made to the Register Publishing Co. Since the

death of the elder Osborn, except for an interreg- num, the latter's son, Col. Norris G. Osborn, has been the editor of the paper. The Register grew with the development of the city. The weekly edition was supplemented with a tri-weekly, and finally, in 1842, with a daily evening issue. Its circulation to- day is probably larger than that of any other paper in the State. Its controlling spirit from the start was a Democrat of the ardent type, and from the foregoing it can be imagined that he nailed his colors to the masthead of the Register, and if the paper was strongly partisan it was always frankly and honestly so.

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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 16

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