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 23

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 23

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On Nov. 27, 1851, Judge Coe was married to Miss Sophia Fidelia. daughter of Harley and Martha Cone Hall, and they had two children: A son that died in infancy unnamed: and Charles Levi, born Dec. 4, 1860, who died Feb. 19, 1862.

ELBRIDGE LEWIS HOWE, the senior mem- ber of the finin of Howe & Stetson. proprietors of an extensive dry-goods and department store. at Nos. 767-773 Chapel street. New Haven, was born in Marlborough. Mass., Oct. 11, 1871. Stephen Austin Howe, his father, was born April 10, 1841, in Marlborough, where his father, Elbridge Howe, was also born, Nov. 15, 1816.

The Howes were among the first settlers of Marlborough, and in every period of the history of that place have been numbered among the most numerously represented families. Abraham Howe emigrated from England about 1640, and about 1660 his name appears among the proprietors of Marlborough, whither he came probably from Wat- ertown, Mass. He had a numerous family, and many of his descendants remain in the town at the present time. On May 6, 1657, he married Hannah Ward, and soon after 1660 they came to Marlbor- ough, where he died June 30, 1695, his widow on Nov. 3, 1717. They had ten children.

Joseph Howe, third child of Abraham, was born in 1661 in Watertown, and in 1688 married Dorothy Martin. They had six children.

Joseph Howe (2), fourth child of Joseph, was born in Marlborough in February, 1697. On Feb. 20, 1722, he married Zerviah Howe, his cousin, who died Dec. 10. 1723. On July 12, 1727, he married Ruth Brigham. His family consisted of ten chil- dreu

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Artemas Ilowe, son of Joseph (2), born Jan. 15, 1743. married May 28, 1767, Mary Bigelow, and they had twelve children.

Stephen Howe, son of Artemas, born March 21, 1780, married June 29, 1809, Susanna Brigham, and they had six children.

Elbridge Howe, son of Stephen, and grandfather of J. Wikler and Elbridge L., was a building con- tractor by trade, and put up the first frame house in the city of Austin, Texas. Ilis stay in the Lone Star State, however, was not prolonged, and he returned to Marlborough. In his later years lie became prominent in local affairs, and was elected chairman of the board of selectmen, and was also chairman of the board of water works. For many years he was president of both the Savings and National Banks, He died at the age of sixty-nine. On June 25, 1840, he married Sabra Holman, a native of Bolton, who bore him four children: Stephen A. (deceased), the father of J. Wilder and Elbridge L. Howe: Emily B .: George A .; and Sabra, who married William C. Hazeltine. The three survivors reside in Marlborough, Massachusetts.

George A. Howe, the brother of Stephen A. Howe, and an uncle of Elbridge L. and J. Wilder, was one of the youngest soldiers in the Civil war, having entered the Union army at the age of fifteen. In after years he became engaged in the lumber business. He is a prominent resident of Marlbor- ough, of which city he was second mayor.

STEPHEN AUSTIN HOWE was reared on the farm, and received his early education in the schools of Marlborough, finishing in the seminary at Fulton, N. Y. At the beginning of the war of the Rebellion he enlisted as a member of the band in the 13th Mass. Regiment. After he had served fourteen months all regimental bands were dis- charged. In 1864 he re-enlisted, becoming a private in the 57th Mass. Regiment. After going through the Wilderness campaign he was taken sick, in the vicinity of Richmond, was transferred to hospital ship, and taken to Mount Pleasant Hospital. Wash- ington. Upon his recovery he was retained as a member of the hospital band until the close of the war. Mr. Howe's business career was begun in 1866. in Marlborough, as a member of the firm of Wilson & Howe, and after a time he became sole proprietor of the business by reason of the retire- ment of Mr. Wilson, whose interest in the firm he bought. In 1885 he sold his interest in the business to Mr. Stetson, whom he had taken in as a junior partner some time previous. In May, 1886, Mr. Howe and Mr. Stetson removed to New Haven, and bought out J. N. Adam, continuing the business until 1893, when Mr. Stetson withdrew, Mr. Howe continuing the business until his death, Nov. 29. 1898, at the age of fifty-seven years. The business was started in the J. N. Adam store, and later re- moved to the present store, known as the Wilcox store, and the Moses and Greenwood stores were

afterward added. The business has assumed very large proportions.

While in Marlborough Mr. Howe was promi- nent in business circles and an active member of the Unitarian Church. In New Haven he was pres- ident of the Retail Merchants Association. Ile was truly a grand man in every respect, towering above the level of his day. In business he had all the qual- ifications of success-integrity, industry, a clear comprehension of the needs of his custom ; kindness and courtesy that never failed, making him beloved and respected by all who knew him, The day of his funeral, Dec. 2, 1898, was marked by the closing of all the dry goods stores in the city. Mr. Howe be- longed to the Masons, the Union League, the Cham- ber of Commerce, and Admiral Foote Post, No. 17, G. A. R., of New Haven.

On Oct. 11, 1866, Mr. Howe married Anna Elizabeth Wilder, who was born in Rindge, N. II., a daughter of Josiah and Elizabeth ( Fosdick) Wilder. The father was prominent in Rindge, where he was born. The mother was born in Charlestown, Mass. Mr. and Mrs. Howe had two children, Josiah Wilder and Elbridge L. The wid- owed mother is still living in New Haven.

Elbridge L. Howe spent the earlier years of his. life in Marlborough, where he attended the public schools, and was later a student in the Giles private school, of New Haven. While he was still a boy he worked three years in his father's store, and then went to New York for a year, with B. Altman & Co. On his return home, in 1893, he entered his father's store at New Haven, of which he became manager, holding the position until his father's death, when he formed a partnership with his brother J. Wilder.

Elbridge L. Howe was married May 11, 1892, to Mary A. Hannan, who was born in Deep River, Conn., and they have two children : Stephen Rollin, born Dec. 18, 1893; and Anna Wilder, born Nov. 12, 1895. In polities Mr. Howe is a Republican, as was his father before him. He is a member of the Young Men's Republican Club. the Union League, the Pequot Club, the New Haven Golf Club, the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Men's Association. He is a director of the Dry Goods Alliance of New York, is president of the Allesan- dro Mining & Land Co. ( which owns 5.000 acres of land in New Mexico), is on the Home Board of Or- ganized Charities, and belongs to the Plymouth Society.

J. WILDER HOWE, partner in the New Haven store with his brother, Elbridge L. Howe, was born July 31, 1869, in Marlborough, Mass., and received his early education in the public schools of that city. Later he was at Allen's School, West Newton, and still later, after a lapse of several years, took a course of civil engineering in the Massachusetts In- stitute of Technology, which profession he prac- ticed for six years after receiving his education,

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

first going with the Board of Survey, Boston, and later to the City Engineer's office, at Cambridge. He was first identified with the general work of the office and later with the designing and construction of the new reservoir pipe lines, of which work he was resident engineer. In June, 1898, he was ap- pointed, by the President, second lieutenant in the 2d U. S. Volunteer Engineers, but resigned in De- cember, 1898, on account of the death of his father, tu go into partnership with his brother. Mr. Howe belongs to the Union League and Pequot Chibs, the . National Army Spanish War Veterans, the New Haven Grays, Y. M. C. A., Military Order of For- eign Wars of the United States, and is an honorary member of the Union Veterans Union.

EDWARD LEONARD BRONSON (de- ceased). For forty or more years Mr. Bronson was prominent in business circles in Waterbury, and he was pre-eminently an exemplary man and useful citizen. His ancestors in both paternal and maternal lines were among the first to settle in Waterbury.

John Brownston's, or Bronston's, name ap- peared in the list of original proprietors of Hart- ford-those coming there prior to February, 1640- given in the Memorial History of Hartford coun- ty. He is believed to have been one of the com- pany who came with Rev. Thomas Hooker in 1636. He was a soldier in the Pequot war in 1637. After the purchase of Tunxis ( Farmington) by the Hart- ford people John Bronston removed thither about 1641.

Edward Leonard Bronson was a descendant in the seventh generation from John Bronson, of Hartford and Farmington, the line of his descent being through Sergeant Isaac Bronson, Isaac Bron- son (2), Isaac Bronson (3), Titus Bronson and Leonard Bronson.

(II) Sergeant Isaac Bronson, son of John Bron- son, married Mary, daughter of John Root.

(III) Isaac Bronson (2), son of Sergeant Isaac Bronson, born in 1670, in Farmington, married (first) in 1701 Mary, daughter of Richard Mor- gan, of New London, Conn .; she died and he mar- ried (second) in 1750 Widow Sarah Lewis. He died in 1751.

(IV) Isaac Bronson (3), son of Isaac Bron- son (2), born in 1707, married, in 1734, Eunice, daughter of Thomas Richards.

(V) Titus Bronson, son of Isaac Bronson (3), born Oct. 5, 1751, married, Feb. 11, 1779, Hannah, daughter of Moses Cook. He died in 1820, and she in 1811.

(VI) Leonard Bronson, son of Titus Bronson, and the father of the subject of this sketch, was born June 24, 1797. He married Nancy ( Richard- son) Platt, widow of M. Platt, and daughter of Nathaniel Richardson, a descendant of one of the old families of the town. To this union were born children as follows: Julia M., born in 1820, died

in 1841 ; George F., born in 1821; Catherine died when young; Isaac R., born in 1826; and Edward L., our subject, is referred to farther on. Leonard Bronson was successively a school teacher, sur- veyor and farmer, a man of much ability and was most thoroughly respected. From 1853 to 1857 he was president of the Waterbury Savings Bank.

The late Edward Leonard Bronson, son of Leonard and Nancy (Richardson Platt) Bronson, was born Jan. 18, 1828, in the town of Middlebury Conn. His mother was a devout and strong-minded woman, and with her husband a stanch member of Church. The son found about his early life influ- ences that developed his manhood along severe and exacting lines. A most intense sense of responsi- bility was the result of his home training, and Mr. Bronson's life was an exemplification of it in every detail and requirement. After passing a period of six months in the dry goods store of Benedict & Merriman in 1848 he concluded to lo- cate permanently in Waterbury, but soon left the store to teach in the Centre school district in Middle- bury. After a short experience there he returned to his former employers, Messrs. Benedict & Merri- man. Later on he became bookkeeper and ac- countant at the factory, afterward Benedict & Burn- ham's. From that time on he was identified with that factory, and was a potent hand in its steady growth, giving to the business the most undivided and faithful services. He was chosen secretary of the company in 1881, and in 1885 he was elected treasurer, a position he held at the time of his death. Mr. Bronson was one of the incorporators of the Waterbury Watch Company in 1880, and from that time on served as one of its directors and secretary. In 1888 he was chosen treasurer of the company to succeed Charles Dickinson. Early in the 'fifties, in company with his brother, Isaac R. Bronson, he established a book store and general stationery business, including a bindery, in Water- burv. Edward L. Bronson was thoroughly imbued with that public spirit which very many men, who devote their lives to business pursuits, sadly lack. Everything that interested his native city interested him, and he practiced as well as theorized on this point. He was made a member of the board of Regents of the Bronson Library in 1886. He had several times been an alderman; was a strong ad- herent to the principles of the Republican party, and was that party's candidate for mayor in 1887, but was not elected. At the age of thirteen he became a member of the Congregational Church in Middlebury. In 1852 Mr. Bronson united with the First Congregational Church, of Waterbury, and was a consistent exponent of his Christian be- lief in every branch of his life's work. He was chosen a deacon in that Church in 1857, and also as superintendent of its Sunday-school, serving in the latter position until 1869. He was also clerk of the Church for some years, and treasurer of its funds from 1873 until his death. He was an

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

enthusiastic worker for all the interests of the Church. The Young Men's Christian Association of Waterbury, of which he was vice-president, owes to his efforts more than to those of any other in- dividual its existence and prosperity. He had great confidence in young men, and to advise with them and do something for their welfare was one of his great pleasures. Mr. Bronson died July 20, 1890.

The Waterbury American of July 21, 1890, said editorially :

In the death of Edward L. Bronson Waterbury loses a citizen conspicuous for strict integrity and for scrupu- lons fidelity to every trust. This can be truthfully said of Mr. Bronson, equally as a man of business, as a man in public office, as a worker in the church and as a friend and neighbor. He did not measure conduct by different stand- ards according to the nature of his employment. To all life's various affairs he brought the same conscientious pur- pose to do his duty upright as he saw it. In Mr. Bron- son is well illustrated the value of what we call character. Its influence on the many with whom he was brought in contact will long be felt, an influence none the less lasting because it will gradually grow silently impersonal as the years go by.

On Oct. 22, 1851, Mr. Bronson was married to Miss Cornelia Townsend, daughter of Charles Townsend, of Middlebury, who with a daughter, Julia M., and an adopted son, Charles P., survived husband and father. One son died in infancy.

ABRAHAM BENNETT HOTCHKISS was born in Prospect, New Haven Co., Conn., in 1810, son of Joel and Esther (Beecher) Ilotchkiss ( the latter a daughter of Benjamin Beecher, of Che- shire), and one of the 155 great-grandchildren of Capt. Gideon Hotchkiss, a soldier of the French and Indian and Revolutionary wars. When Ben- nett was about twelve years of age his family mi- grated to northern Pennsylvania, settling on a large tract of farm lands and primeval forests, in Har- ford, Susquehanna county. On this wide field Joel Hotchkiss, by his advanced intelligence and skill in scientific and horticultural farming, developed, with the co-operation of his sons, an almost ideal estate.

With his father and brothers Bennett Hotchkiss spent the summers at work on the farm, and in winters pursued his education in the village acad- emy. His intellectual tastes and bias were very strong, and he had intended to fit himself for a profession. But, while he had developed a stature and physique of remarkable proportions and vigor, he had also an inherited bronchial infirmity, which ultimately determined his pursuits. For several ycars he maintained an outdoor life, pursuing his mechanical tastes, and it is probable that northern Pennsylvania is still using the turbine and other waterwheels his skill and ingenuity put in operation along its waterways. Mr. Hotchkiss married, in 1834, Lucy Ann Daggett Fuller, whose family had migrated from Attleboro, Mass., into the town of Harford several years previously. A few years

later, in 1838 or 1839, he came back to Connecticut, with his young family, and in New Haven estab- lished the business of pattern making, and was thereafter an influence to be reckoned with in the mechanical and scientific interests of New Haven. For fifty years he lived and labored in sincerest brotherhood with the industrial classes in New Ha- ven, ambitious for their interests, especially in the establishment of the course of lectures for Me- chanics, in the Scientific School of Yale University. Mr. Hotchkiss had inherited his mechanical tastes from his Beecher ancestry. His brain was teem- ing with inventions, several of which he patented in this and foreign countries, notably his air-spring hammer, now in universal use, and under the high- est testimonials, originally patented in 1859, and renewed in 1863; also his rock drill and match patent. He continued abreast of the remarkable scientific advancement of the period, and predicted with singuiar accuracy many of the great electrical discoveries. Mr. Hotchkiss believed implicitly in the ultimate navigation of the air, and was much occupied with the problem of the storage of solar heat for utilitarian purposes. He was interested in real estate, and at one time built hundreds of houses in different localities, contributing to their development. His was a character of singular sim- plicity, probity and dignity. He died in 1883, aged seventy-three years.

DENNIS TUTTLE, son of Capt. Leverett and Electa (Kimberly) Tuttle, of Hamden, New Ha- ven Co., Conn., and grandson of Ezra Kimberly, a Revolutionary soldier, was born in Hamden in 1826. He prepared for college in the military acad- cmy in Cheshire, Conn., and was graduated from Yale Law School in 1850. For several years Mr. Tuttle practiced his profession in New Haven. He was married in 1855 to Anna U. Hotchkiss, daugh- ter of Bennett Hotchkiss, and removed to Iowa City. Iowa, where he engaged in the entry of pub- lic lands in connection with his law practice. Three years later he went to Hudson, Wis .. and remained. as prosecuting attorney for St. Croix county, until the beginning of the Civil war.

In December, 1861, Mr. Tuttle enlisted in the 20th Ind. V. I., and was present in the memorable engagement between the Rebels and the Union forces during the "Monitor" and "Merrimac" fight. He was commissioned by Gov. Morton, of Indi- ana, first lieutenant and quartermaster of the 20th Ind. V. I., and served with them four years in the Army of the Potomac, re-enlisting with them for veteran service in 1864, at Indianapolis. He was discharged with them from service in 1865, at Louisville, Ky., having served as acting brigade quartermaster of the Provisional Division of the Army of the Tennessee. Mr. Tuttle returned to Connecticut and soon after engaged in cranberry culture in Madison, New Haven county. For sev- eral years hie served the town as chairman of its

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board of education, and town clerk for a term or two.

Since 1879 Mr. Tuttle has resided in New Ha- ven, still engaged in active business. He regis- tered during the late Bicentennial of Yale Univer- sity as among its oldest graduates. Mr. Tuttle is a member of Admiral Foote Post, Grand Army of the Republic.

JOHN BIRNEY TUTTLE, son of Dennis and Anna U. ( Hotchkiss) Tuttle, and grandson of Abraham Bennett and Lucy Ann Daggett ( Fuller) Hotchkiss, was born in New Haven, Conn., May 19, 1864, during the memorable "Wilderness Cam- paign" of the Army of the Potomac, with which his father was serving as an officer during the war of the Rebellion. His family is of the oldest New England stock, prominent during earlier and later wars of the country and in its civil affairs. Two of his great-grandfathers were soldiers in the Revolutionary war-Ezra Kimberly, of Connecti- cut, and Joab Fuller, of Massachusetts. In the ma- ternal line he is a descendant of Capt. Gideon Hotchkiss, Revolutionary officer and patriot ; also from the Daggetts, of Attleboro, Mass., of whom Napthah, one of the early presidents of Yale, . was a distinguished son.

Mr. Tuttle was graduated from the Hillhouse high school, in New Haven, in 1884. and from the Yale Law School in 1891. He spent five years on the editorial staff of the New Haven Register, re- signing when elected assistant city clerk of New Haven in 1889; was admitted to the Bar in June, 1891 ; was assistant clerk of the court of common pleas for New Haven county in 1890, in which year he was also special agent for the United States census. He wrote the history of New Haven, pub- lished in the City Year Book in 1888, and the his- tory of the Police and Fire Departments of New Haven, published in 1889. Mr. Tuttle was for sev- eral years an active member of the New Haven Grays, serving as secretary of same. Since his ad- mission to the Bar he has addressed himself ex- clusively to his profession.

GEN. GEORGE MORRIS HARMON, one of New Haven's prominent citizens, is a gentleman well known throughout Connecticut and New England. The name Harmon has for years been well known in business circles in New Haven, where our subject and his sons are prominently identified with business interests. With his business connections elsewhere, Gen. Harmon is proprietor of the men's furnishings store at No. 880 Chapel street, New Haven (con- ducted under the firm name of Harmon Bros.), and associated with him therein is his son Frank.

Gen. Harmon, whose long business career has been largely passed in New Haven, where he has been a useful citizen, and attained an honorable position, was born in 1837 in the town of Brookfield, Mass., son of Marvin and Lavina H. Jackson

(Jenks) Harmon. His mother was a daughter of Rev. Henry Jenks, who was a lineal descendant of Roger Williams. Young Harmon was reared and schooled in his native town, but owing to the death of his father, when he was sixteen years old, was thrown upon his own resources, and obliged to care for himself. For a time following that event he was occupied as clerk in a store in Worcester, Mass., and then taught school for a year and a half in Pennsylvania. While thus engaged his mother had contracted a second marriage, and was living in New Haven. There the young teacher visited her, and decided to make New Haven his home. This was in his twentieth year, and, coming to New Haven, he at once secured employment in a shirt factory. At the outbreak of the Civil war he was in the factory of Winchester & Davis. When Sum- ter was fired upon, and President Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand men, Mr. Harmon, filled with enthusiastic devotion to the cause of the Union, at once responded, and enlisted May 23, 1861, in Com- pany F, 4th Conn. V. I. In reorganization this regi- ment became the Ist Connecticut Heavy Artillery, under command of Col. Robert O. Tyler. The regi- ment is believed to have been the first to have been fully prepared for service to respond to the first call. Young Harmon was mustered in May 23, 1861, as second lieutenant of Company F, was promoted to first lieutenant of Company F, Oct. 26, '61, and niade captain of Company G, of the same regiment, May 3. 1862. On Dec. 1, 1863, he resigned his commission, after a year and a half of active service, in which he participated, among many other engage- ments, in the following battles: Yorktown, Va., Hanover Court House, Gaines Mills, Chickahominy, Golden Hill, and Malvern Hill. On returning to New Haven Capt. Harmon, at the request of Gov. Buckingham. assisted Benjamin A. Pardee in rais- ing a colored regiment. Capt. Harmon's army ex- perience was a rare one, for he did not receive an injury, nor was he in the hospital, but while in the service his health and strength improved, and he gained in weight thirty pounds.

Capt. Harmon resumed his connection with Winchester & Davis, but presently became engaged for himself in the manufacture of corsets. In 1869, associated with Charles A. Baldwin, he came into control of the L. H. Foy corset business, of Worces- ter, Mass., which had been removed to Boston, and from there to New Haven. This partnership was terminated in 1873 by the retirement of Mr. Bald- win, and the firm became Foy & Harmon. From 1880 to 1885 the firm was Foy, Harmon & Co., and for some time afterward it was Foy, Harmon & Chadwick. A few years later this firm was giving employment to some two hundred operatives, turn- ing out a hundred dozen corsets a day. The factory was at the corner of George and Church streets, and goods were shipped to every State in the Union. Gen. Harmon proved himself a man of remarkable business ability, and very largely through his fine

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

management the firm met with unusual success. In 1879, in company with S. W. Banning and C. M. Chadwick, he opened a notion and commission house in the city of New York. In 1883 he organized a company for the preparation of corset cloth for manufacturing purposes, and presently this house came to control three-fifths of all the corset mate- rial offered throughout the country. The General is still actively engaged in the corset material business in Boston, where he has built up one of the largest concerns of its kind in the world. However, he has always retained his residence in New Haven.

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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 23

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