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 2
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In 1872 Gen. Terry was appointed the head of the Board to "determine a breech-loading system of muskets and carbines for the military service." In 1878 he was one of the Board appointed by the President to examine and report upon the case of Major General Fitz John Porter. He was pro- moted to the grade of Major General March 3. 1886, and assigned to command of the Military Di- vision of the Missouri. In the spring of 1888. Gen. Terry requested that, owing to failing health, he
might be transferred to the retired list of the army, and was so transferred April 5th of that year. In May he returned to Connecticut, and planned to spend his remaining years in New Haven, to which he was much attached. After settling there, his health failed rapidly, and he died Dec. 16, 1890.
The following order issued by the War Depart- ment, marks the close of a life of unusual purity. and devotion to duty.
GENERAL ORDERS. NO. 142. HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY. ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE .. Washington, December 16. 1890.
I. The following order has been received from the War Department :
WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, December 16, 1890. ORDERS :
It is with sincere sorrow that the Sceretary of War - announces the death of Major General Alfred H. Terry, U. S. Army (retired), which occurred at his home in New Haven, Connecticut. this morning.
General Terry was one of the most gentle. kind. and brave men that ever served his country. He was an ideal soldier and gentleman, whose lionest, truthful. and up- right life gained him the highest esteem of all who knew him. His service during the war (commencing as colonel of the 2d Connecticut Volunteers. May 7. 1861) was so uniformly gallant and conspicuous, whether leading his regiment or in the exercise of higher command. as to earn him rapid promotion to the rank of brigadier general and major general of volunteers and brigadier general. U. S. Army ; the two latter grades conferred on him for the as- sault and capture of Fort Fisher. January 15. 1865. for which the thanks of Congress were tendered to him and the officers and soldiers of his command "for the unsur- passed gallantry and skill exhibited hy them in the attack upon Fort Fisher and the brilliant and decisive victory by which that important work has been captured from the rebel forces placed in the possession and under the author- ity of the United States, and for their long and faithful service and unwavering devotion to the cause of the coun- try in the midst of the greatest difficulties and dangers."
After the close of the war. General Terry was success- ively in command of the Departments of Virginia. Da- kota. the South, and again Dakota. and performed eminent service as a member of important boards and commis- sions. He was appointed major general. U. S. Army, March 3. 1886. and assigned .to the command of the Divi- sion of the Missouri, which he held until April 5. 1888. when he was retired from active service on account of disability.
REDFIELD PROCTOR. Secretary of War.
II. The major general commanding the Division of the Atlantic will give the necessary order for appropriate military ceremonies at the funeral.
Upon the day after the receipt of this order at each military post thirteen guns will be fired at intervals of one-half hour. commencing at 8 o'clock A. M.
BY COMMAND OF MAJOR GENERAL SCHOFIELD. Adjutant General.
The New Haven council adopted the following resolutions at the time of Gen. Terry's death :
WHEREAS. the Court of Common Council in common with our community has learned with profound sensibility of the death of Maj. Gen. Alfred Howe Terry, at his resi- dence in this city.
Resolved, That in the death of Gen. Terry New Haven mourns the loss of a most illustrious citizen. His splendid
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military achievements during the Civil war. his equally im- portant and not less brilliant services in statesmanship while Military Governor in the Southern States during the Reconstruction Period, and his subsequent arduous and dis- tinguished career in connection with Indian affairs and hostilities in the far West, have made his name forever conspicuous in the annals of the nation. His purity, dig- uity, and nobility of character, his unselfish patriotism and his generous, sincere and affectionate nature, will long endear his memory to his fellow citizens. He was well and worthily described as "the beau ideal of a soldier and a gentleman."
Resolved, That in recognition of the importance of this event in our city, the Mayor be requested to cause the National and City flags to fly at half-mast until after the interment, also to have the bells tolled and minute guns fired during the funeral services.
Resolved, That the Mayor, President. and one men- ber of the Board of Aldermen and the President and two members of the Board of Councilmen be, and they are hereby appointed, a committee to take such other suitable measures with regard to the obsequies of General Terry as may be acceptable to his family, and if such obsequies are public this Court of Common Council will attend the same in a body.
Resolved, That these Resolutions be entered upon the records of the Court of Common Council, and that a copy of them, suitably engrossed, be presented to the family of the deceased.
Approved, Dee. 16, 1890.
Attest :
HENRY F. PECK, Mayor.
EDWARD DOWNES, City Clerk.
HON ORVILLE HITCHCOCK PLATT, LL. D., of Meriden, lawyer and statesman, now serving his fourth term as United States senator from the State of Connecticut, is one of a number of distinguished and illustrious sons of Litchfield county, Connecticut.
The Platt family was established in New Hav- en county in 1638, when ( I) Richard Platt. an Eng- lishman, and his wife Mary, with their four children, landed at New Haven. He was one of the sixty- six who formed a church society Aug. 22, 1639, and proceeded at once to settle at Milford. Of his eight children, the third (and second son), (II) Isaac Platt, was enrolled in 1666 among the fifty-seven land owners of Huntington, L. I., where he had lived probably some years. He was recorder there in 1687. In Milford he married Phoebe Smith, March 12, 1640, and more than twenty years later married, at Huntington, Elizabeth, daughter of Jo- nas Wood. He was captain of militia, and held every office of consequence in the town, where he died July 31, 1691. He had six children, of whom the eldest son and second child, ( III) Jonas Platt, born Aug. 16, 1667, married Sarah Scudder. and had four sons. (IV) Obadiah Platt, the eldest of these, purchased lands in Fairfield in 1724. He married Mary Smith Aug. 10, 1722, and had eight children. The wife and mother died Nov. 16, 1771, at Ridgefield. (V) Jonas Platt, second son and third child of Obadiah, born Oct. 9, 1727, set- tled at Redding, where he was married Oct. 17, 1747, to Elizabeth, daughter of Ephraim Sanford, of that place. Both were admitted church members
at Redding July 5, 1749. They had ten children, of whom the eldest, (V1) John Platt, was baptized Feb. 5. 1752, at Redding. Both father and son served as soldiers in the Revolutionary army, and the former was made prisoner in the Danbury raid, in April, 1777, but appeared among those who marched to Fishkill in the following October, to reinforce Gen. Putnam. The son was taken prisoner at Fort Lee Nov. 16, 1776. On July 7, 1775, he married Elizabeth Parmle, and after the war set- tled in the town of Washington, Conn. Their chil- dren were: John, born Feb. 21, 1776; David, Aug. 31, 1778; Ruth Ann, March 30, 1782; Betsey, May 8, 1790: Daniel Gold (or Gould), July 25. 1797. (VII) Daniel Gold (or Gould) Platt married .Al- myra Hitchcock Jan. 3. 1817, and they had children : Orville, born March 11, 1822, who died in 1826; Orville Hitchcock, born July 19, 1827, in Washing- ton : and Simeon D., born Feb. 12, 1832. The fa- ther died Oct. 26, 1871. He and his wife were plain, unassuming, good farming people of the sturdy New England type, in whose home were fostered intelli- gence and picty.
Reared amid agricultural pursuits among the hills of Litchfield, the ruggedness and grandeur of which no doubt gave forth inspiration, Orville H. Platt was carefully trained and started in the right course in life. He was educated in the common schools and in the academy in later years known as "The Gunnery," after its principal, Frederick W. Gunn, an able and accomplished teacher. under whose personal supervision he was instructed in the
higher mathematics, rhetoric and the classics. Young Platt remained at home on the farm until his twentieth year. He began the study of law in the office of Hon. Gideon H. Hollister, of Litchfield, the well-known historian and able lawyer, and was admitted to the Bar in 1849. He was subsequently acimitted to practice at Towanda. Bradford Co., Pa .. and spent six months there in the office of Hon. Ulysses Mercur, later a supreme court judge of that State. Returning to Connecticut in 1851, Mr. Platt began the practice of law in Meriden, and has since made his home in that city. Soon after settling in . Meriden he became associate editor of The I'hig, a paper which had existence for about three years, and the experience he gained in that capacity has : since been useful to him in many ways.
Mr. Platt's splendid abilities first received recog- nition in 1853, when he was elected judge of pro- bate by his townsmen, and he continued to hold that office three years. In 1855-56 he was chosen clerk of the Connecticut Senate. One of the first to enlist under the standard of the Republican party on its organization, in 1856. he took a very active part in politics, and displayed such marked ability that in IS57 he was nominated on the State ticket for the office of secretary of State, was elected, and served one term. In 1861-62 he was elected to the State Senate. In 1864 he was elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives, and was honored by be-
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О. к. Нatt
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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
ing made chairman of the Judiciary committee. This appointment carried with it, by long established cus- tom, the leadership of the party, and nobly did he fulfill the trust reposed in him. The constitutional amendment providing for the extension of the elec- tive franchise to the soldiers in the field was passed by the Senate by the party vote of eighteen to three. In the House. a two-thirds vote being necessary, it received the votes of two-thirds of the members present and voting, but not two-thirds of all the members elected. The Speaker decided that the amendment was not carried. Mr. Platt appealed from this decision, and after a protracted debate the appeal was sustained, and thus the amendment was adopted. Five years later he was again chos- en to represent the town of Meriden in that branch of the General Assembly. At the beginning of his latter term he was elected Speaker of the House. and presided over its deliberations with wisdom and impartiality. When he retired from the Speaker's chair, at the close of the term, he was known and respected throughout the State as one of its purest and ablest officials, one whose qualifications for leg- islative work were of an exceptionally high order, and whose brilliant abilities, energy and influence it was eminently desirable to retain in the public service. Notwithstanding this. however, and in the face of a strong party sentiment to keep him in public life, Mr. Platt retired for a time from poli- tics, to give his attention more fully to his law prac- tice, which had grown to very extensive pro- portions and demanded his close personal super- vision.
During the whose period of the Civil war Sena- tor Platt was a firm supporter of the war measures of the Federal Government, and was untiring, both as an officer and as a private citizen, in aiding the Union cause. In 1877 he was appointed State's at- torney for New Haven county, which office he held until 1879, when he was chosen by the Legislature to succeed United States Senator W. H. Barnum, Democrat, who had been elected to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Orris S. Ferry, Republican. At this election, on the thirty-eighth ballot, out of the 149 votes cast, Mr. Platt received 76; Gen. Jos- eph R. Hawley, one of the most popular men of the State, 72; and Marshall Jewell, I. This bal- lot proving satisfactory, the nomination of Mr. Platt was on motion made unanimous, and as the Re- publicans controlled the State Legislature he was elected Senator of the United States. From his earliest manhood Senator Platt has always enjoyed the most implicit confidence of the citizens of MIeri- den. When his election became known they gave him an enthusiastic reception, members of both po- litical parties being represented. To be right has always been the leading aspiration of the Senator's life; and, in response to some kindly words, he took advantage of the opportunity to emphasize this characteristic : "That which is right is priceless to me; and in all the campaigns and achievements of
the Republican party in which I have participated 1 have never steered a middle course, but did what I thought to be right." A friend of excellent dis- crimination said of him at the time, and the words seem almost prophetic: "Senator Platt carries to the Senate independence of judgment, intimate ac- quaintance with political history, and a thorough mastery of the fundamental principles of a repub- lican form of government. We greatly mistake if the Senator does not prove to be one of the ablest and most serviceable members Connecticut has ever sent to the honorable body to which he is acered- ited."
In 1885. at the expiration of his first term as a United States senator, Mr. Platt was unanimously re-elected; and in 1891 and in 1897 had again be- stowed upon him this distinguished honor. It can be said with emphasis that his every official aet has been prompted by the purest patriotism, and has had its foundation in wisdom and honor. The only question in his mind before taking sides upon a public issue seems to be: "Do the best interests of the people require that I support or oppose this measure?" Senator Platt is a terse and forceful speaker. At the State and county conventions of his party he has been called to preside many times, and his services in such relations are characterized by ease and gracefulness. He was elected president of the Republican State Convention held at New Haven in the fall of 1890, and spoke at length on the issues of the hour. His services as a speaker are always in demand, and the announcement of a speech or oration from him is sure to attract a large assemblage. Of his speech in the Senate on the Roach case the New York Record said: "The great speech of the debate was made by Senator Platt of Connecticut. It was a masterpiece of concise state- ments and irresistible logic, and he laid before the Senate and the country coldly and relentlessly the damning charges which had been made against the North Dakota senator and which had not been de- nied." The New York Tribune said: "Senator Platt's arguments were conclusive and impregna- ble. They left the Democrats without a leg to stand on."
Like most public men, Senator Platt has per- formed a vast amount of arduous labor for which he receives no credit from the general public. Per- haps his greatest achievement in the eyes of the world at large is the amendment to the Cuban Con- stitution, which received the approval of Congress and the President, and is now an integral part of the organic law of the new republic established on our border by the magnanimity and prestige of the greatest of the world's republics. Without resort- ing to the arts of the practical politician Senator ! Platt has attained to the highest legislative rank in the Republic, and he is one of the rare examples of marked success, professionally and politically, to whose record his fellow citizens, who have known him from boyhood, can point young men, and with-
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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
out hesitation invite them to make it a study for their conduct in life.
In private life Mr. Platt holds a high place, be- ing greatly respected and esteemed by all whose privilege it is to come in contact with him, and prob- ably no man in Connecticut enjoys a wider or more enduring popularity. Without show or ostentation he has done much as a promoter of Christian and philanthropic work.
On May 15. 1850, Senator Platt was married to Miss Annie Bull, daughter of James Perry and Ann (Wallis) Bull, of Towanda, Pa., and two children were born to the marriage, James Perry and Daniel Gold. The latter died in 1864, aged six years. The mother died in November, 1893. She was a prom- inent member of the First Congregational Church of Meriden, and was ever greatly interested and active in its charities. On April 29. 1897, Mr. Platt married Jeannie P., widow of George A. Hoyt, of Stamford, and daughter of Truman Smith, formerly United States senator from Connecticut.
HON. LUZON B. MORRIS. . In the death of Gov. Morris, late of New Haven. Aug. 23, 1895, there passed away a fine type of citizen-a life furnishing an example of what one may accomplish by pluck, energy and ambition, a type of manhood, too, that the people especially delight to honor, for through his ambition and sheer force of character, unaided and alone, he rose from a lowly station in life to positions of distinction and eminence among men.
Gov. Morris was born April 16, 1827, at the old Morris homestead in Newtown, Conn., the second son of Eli Gould and Lydia ( Bennett) Morris. For generations his paternal ancestors had been residents of Fairfield county. His grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather all bore the name of Daniel, and a striking coincidence in their lives was that all lived to the same age, passing three score and ten. These ancestors were, respectively, Daniel of Bridgeport. Daniel (2), born 1715, in Bridgeport, married (first) in 1741 Sarah Mackhard, who died in 1761. He died in 1792. Daniel (3), born in 1750, in Bridgeport, married Mrs. Mary (Salter) Burritt (widow of Israel Bur- ritt), who was born in Antigua, one of the West Indies, and came thence to Bridgeport, Conn. Daniel Morris (3) located in Newtown, and later his father, Daniel (2), settled there, both engaging in agricultural pursuits at what is known as Walk- ers Farms. The son was active in local affairs, and was regarded as one of the leading men of the town in his day.
Eli Gould Morris, father of our subject, was born June 6, 1783, in Newtown, became a success- ful farmer, and was held in high regard among his associates for his excellent judgment. In 1819 he purchased from Mrs. Curtis the farm now occu- pied by his son, Hon. Eli J. Morris. His religious connections were with the Baptist Church. Polit-
ically he was a stanch Democrat. He had mar- ried, in early life, Lydia Bennett, who was born June 4. 1793, daughter of Thaddeus Bennett, of the town of Trumbull. Mr. Morris died Jan. 3, 1856, and his wife survived many years, passing away July 2, 1879. They had children as follows: Eli J., born in 1821. married in 1850 Jane E. Chambers. He died in 1901. Luzon B., late of New Haven. is the subject of this review. Martha J., born in 1835, died in 1877.
Luzon Burritt Morris attended for a time the common schools of his neighborhood in the Berk- shire District, having among others, as his early teachers, Peter C. C. Warner and Charles Beers. At fifteen years of age he began to shift for him- self, being apprenticed to a blacksmith at Roxbury, and later he worked in the edge tool factory of Raymond French, in Seymour. Ambitious for an education, he saved his earnings and applied them to that end. He attended the Connecticut Literary Institute, at Suffield, where he was prepared for college, then entered Yale, and was graduated with the class of 1854. After this event he was prepared for the profession of law, partly in the Law School and partly in an office, and was ad- mitted to the Bar in 1856. He began practice in Seymour and at once engaged in political life, identifying himself with the Democratic party. In 1855 and 1856 he was sent as a representative from the town of Seymour to the Legislature, and in 1857 he changed his residence from Seymour to New Haven, having been appointed judge of probate for the New Haven district, to which office he was elected six times. His wide experience gained in that incumbency was the cause of his having been made chairman of the commissioners appointed by the Legislature to revise the probate laws of the State. In 1870 lie represented New Haven in the Legislature, and in 1874 he served in the State Senate. In the former body he was chairman of the committee on Railroads, and in the latter he was chairman of the Judiciary committee and also president pro tem. He was returned to the Lower House in 1876, also in 1880 and 1881, and in the last two sessions was active in the discussions on the question of the boundary line between the States of Connecticut and New York, and again served on the Judiciary committee and as chairman of the committee on Incorporations. The commission to which the boundary line dispute was referred agreed to fix the line in the middle of the Sound. a decision which preserved to Connecticut lands of immense value to the oyster producers along the coast. Throughout his long period of public serv- ice Judge Morris gained a thorough knowledge of legislation and administration, and his experience, probity and faithfulness to trust commended him for an influential place in lus profession and in the public councils, and assured to him the esteem of his fellow citizens, without regard to partisan dif- ferences.
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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
For twenty-five years or more before his death Judge Morris was a distinguished member of the New Haven County Bar. his practice being largely connected with the settlement of estates. He was known as a clear-headed and conscientious lawyer. As the agent of Daniel Hand Judge Morris handled for him more than one million dollars, and was instrumental in establishing the Hand Academy, at Madison, Connecticut.
Judge Morris along in the 'eighties began to be talked about as an available and good man for governor, and in 1888 he was placed in the field as candidate of the Democratic party for that high office. He received at the election following a plurality of the votes cast, but not a majority, which the State requires to cleet, and, the Legislature being Republican, his competitor was chosen. Judge Morris was again a candidate at the next election for the same office, and although he re- ceived a majority of the votes, as shown on the face of the returns, he was restrained from assuming the duties of the office through technicalities. Again in 1892 he was for the third time a candidate, and won, and gave the State one of the best admin- istrations it ever had. His career, as referred to in. the introduction of this review, was one of his own shaping and forging, and is a good exemplifi- cation of what may be accomplished in this country by men of genius and perseverance. For years before his death and in the mature years of his life he was one of the State's most trusted coun- selors. For more than twenty years he was prom- inently connected with the Connecticut Savings Bank of New Haven. he was ever greatly inter- ested in the schools of New Haven, an interest pro- ductive of much good. He served on the New Haven board of education and also on the board at Westville, and in cach body was president.
On June 15, 1856, Gov. Morris was married to Eugenia L. Tuttle, who was born Oct. 5, 1833, daughter of Lucius and Laura Tuttle, of Seymour, Conn., and to the union came six children, namely : Robert Tuttle, born May 14, 1857. a practicing surgeon in New York ; Mary S., born Dec. 1. 1858, who married Charles M. Pratt, of Brooklyn, N. Y .; Helen H., born May 12, 1863, who married Prof. Arthur T. Hadley, of Yale College: Emily E., born June 26, 1860: Charles Gould ; and Ray. The daughters are graduates of Vassar and the sons of Yale.
Mrs. Eugenia Laura (Tuttle) Morris is a de- scendant in the eighth generation from William Tuttle, the emigrant ancestor, who came to New England in the ship "Planter" in 1635. He was at Boston. then became one of the planters of the Colony of New Haven, his name appearing of record in 1673, and that of his wife, Elizabeth, in 1684. Mrs. Morris' line of descent is through Simon, Timothy, Ephraim, Lucius, Lncins (2) and Lucius Tuttle (3).
(II) Simon Tuttle, son of William, baptized
in 1647, in New Haven, married about 1679. He removed to Wallingford about 1685, and died in 1719. His wife, Abigail, died in 1722.
( 111) Timothy Tuttle, son of Simon, born in 1682, probably in New Haven, married ( first) in 1703 Thankful Doolittle. Ile explored the coun- try, went to Wallingford, and cleared up a farm in what afterward became Cheshire. In 1723 the West Wallingford District was made a Society. Timothy Tuttle was chosen moderator, and his name is the first on the records of the town. He died in 1756 in Cheshire. His first wife died in 1728.
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