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 44
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James Davis, son of James, born March 25, 1765, came to Guilford, where he died March 12, 1852. On Dec. 11, 1788, he married Ruth Griswold, born Feb. 27, 1770, died April 25. 1860. Children : Sarah, born June 8, 1789, died July 31, 1830 (mar- ried Anson Kennedy ) ; Christopher Bradley, April 23, 1791, Dec. 25, 1875 (married Betsey Hall ) ; Joel. May 13, 1793, Oct. 17, 1870 (married Polly Loper ) ; Ruth Marietta, Jan II, 1796, Oct. 4, 1830 (mar- ried Cornelius Hull) : Mary, Feb. 23, 1798, Sept. 23, 1888 (married Justin Bishop) : Betsey, Aug. 22, 1800, Dec. 9, 1887 (married John Hall) ; Con- tent, April 17, 1805, (married James S. Loper ) ; Samuel, mentioned below; George Bartlett, March 5. 1810, July 14, 1857 (married Hannah E. Hub- bard).
Samuel Davis, father of Mrs. Blatchley, born April 21, 1807, died Dec. 29, 1879. He resided in Guilford. On Feb. 6, 1833, he married Mary Hall, born Jan. 11, 1808, died Aug. 14, 1836. On March 26, 1838, he married Harriet Benton, born May 20, 1813, died Feb. 18. 1863. In 1865 he wedded Julia Fowler, born Jan. 5, 1811, died May 20, 1883. Children : Mary Hall, born March 13, 1839, married Joel H. Blatchley : Samuel R., born Aug. 11, 1841, died July 6, 1863 : Abigail Lindsley, born March 19, 1844, married William C. Bishop; Frederick R., born July 6, 1847, married Isabella C. Bishop, and died Oct. 24, 1877 ; Harriet Benton, born April 14, 1855, married Daniel R. Spencer.
THE HALL FAMILY, of Wallingford, of which Mrs. Minerva ( Hall) Blatchley, mother of our sub- ject was a member, was early settled in Wallingford. Thomas Hall, son of John Hall (the first of the name in the New Haven Colony), was born March 25, 1649, in New Haven, and when he grew to man- hood removed to Wallingford, of which town he was one of the first settlers. He died there Sept. 17, 1731. On June 5. 1673, he married Grace Wat- son, who died May I. 1731. Their marriage cere- mony was the first performed in Wallingford. Children : Abigail, born Jan. 7, 1675 (married John Tyler ) : Thomas, June 17, 1676; Mary. Nov. 22, 1677; Jonathan, July 25, 1679; Joseph, July 8, 1681 ; Esther, Feb. 23, 1683 (married Benoni At- kins) ; Benjamin, April 17, 1684; Peter, Dec. 28. 1686; Daniel, Jan. 27, 1689; Rebecca. Jan. 6, 1691 (married Daniel Holt) : Israel, Oct. 8, 1696.
Jonathan Hall, son of Thomas, born July 25, 1679, in Wallingford, died Jan. 15, 1760. On May
12, 1703, he married Diana Andrews, who was born in 1684. Children : David, born Oct. 16, 1705, died Sept. 23, 1731; Jonathan, June 13. 1708, married Dec. 15, 1739, Sarah Cook ; Joseph, May 31, 1710, married April 17, 1736, Hannah Scoville; Anna, Jan. 18, 1713; Isaac, July 11, 1714, married Nov. 5, 1739, Mary Morse, and died March 7, 1781 ; Phebe, Feb. 12, 1717, died May 14, 1735; Ezekiel, May 13, 1719, married Anna Andrews, and died Oct. 29, 1763; Thankful. Sept. 20, 1722; Benjamin, Oct. 20, 1725; Temperance, April 16, 1727.
Benjamin Hall, son of Jonathan, born Oct. 20, 1725, married Dec. 27, 1752, Mary Ives. Children : Benjamin, born Sept. 25, 1753, died young ; Eliab, born in 1755, died in camp in New York, while serving as a soldier in the Revolutionary war; Ben- jamin, born Nov. 3, 1756. On April 28, 1757, the father married ( second) Phebe (surname not given). He was a farmer in Wallingford and Plym- outh, Conn. Children by second marriage: Ben- jamin, born May 27, 1758; Andrew, Aug. 15, 1759; Mary, August, 1761 ; Phebe, Aug. 20, 1763 ; Linus, Sept. 25, 1765; David Jonathan, Nov. 17, 1767; Erastus, Feb. 12. 1770; Adnah, May 8, 1772; Sal- mon, 1774; Eliab, December. 1776 (settled in North Killingworth) ; Grace Denison, May 5, 1779; Asaph, Oct. 1, 1781.
Salmon Hall, born in 1774, married Lorena Austin, a daughter of Joel Austin, of Wallingford, and a niece of Moses Austin, who founded the city of Austin; Texas, after whom the city was named. Their nine children were Minerva, wife of William Blatchley, and mother of Joel H. Blatchley; Hiram ; Joel; Salmon; Lorena; Frances; Adnah; Louisa; and Amanda.
NATHANIEL LYMAN BRADLEY, treas- urer of the Bradley & Hubbard Manufacturing Co., of Meriden, Conn., is one of the best and most favorably known manufacturers of New England. His business career in the "Silver City" covers the manufacturing epoch in the history of Meriden, a period in which that city rapidly sprang from a quiet little New England village into a great manu- facturing center, whose name is known the world over. owing to its great variety of manufactured articles and their high grade. Such a condition of affairs has been brought about by a class of men of high character, whose energies, enterprise. tact and ability have been given to its accomplishment with- out reserve or stint. To this class belongs the sub- ject of this sketch, who was born Dec. 27, 1829, in Cheshire, New Haven county, Connecticut.
Levi and Abigail Ann (Atwater) Bradley, his parents, were pious and unassuming farming peo- ple, who reared their children to habits of industry and in the observance of correct moral principle and religious duty. Daniel Bradley, father of Levi, was a farmer in Vermont, and was driven from his home by the military operations of the British during the Revolutionary war. Removing to Ham-
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den, New Haven Co., Conn., he soon afterward set- tled in Cheshire, where his last years were passed. Levi Bradley was born Nov. 11, 1792, in Cheshire, and died in Meriden March 18, 1877. All of his active life was passed in Cheshire, where he wielded a wide influence and was recognized as a man . whose moral worth was a wholesome and strong virtue in his community. His sympathies were de- cidedly Christian, and he gave a liberal support to the work of religion. He was a thrifty and intelli- gent farmer, kept abreast of the times, was well- read, and practical in his operations. To the influ- ence of such an atmosphere about the home were undoubtedly due much of the success and useful- ness of the lives-in their several spheres-of the children there reared. Like many men who have achieved fame or great success, the subject of this sketch gives credit for it to his parents. Levi Bradley was one of the most thrifty farmers in Cheshire. His energy, good taste and judgment were such that he was bound to succeed, and he took great pride in having the best crops and best fences, in short, the best of everything, pertaining to farm improvements. Whenever he entered his farm products for State premiums he never failed to take the first prize. He was the first in his time to undertake the production of wheat in Cheshire, procuring the seed from New York State, and his growing crops of this cereal were quite a curiosity, visited by many sightseers. Mr. Bradley, besides being a good farmer, was possessed of natural abil- ity for general business. He was the discoverer of the first barytes mine in Cheshire. While driving along the highway one day, he noticed that people who were working on the highway plowed up a pe- culiar looking white stone. Getting out of his wagon to examine the stone, he found it had great weight in proportion to its size. He put it in his wagon, and next day took it to New Haven and submitted it to Prof. Silliman, of Yale College, for analysis. The latter pronounced it to be first-class barytes and very valuable. Mr. Bradley immedi- ately secured an option on the farm where the min- eral was found, and subsequently completed the purchase, and he afterward sold the place to a New Haven firm, at a handsome profit. The new purchasers opened a vein and worked the mine for years, and sold millions of dollars worth of its product. Because of the acumen displayed in the matter by Mr. Bradley the owner hastened to se- cure his services as superintendent of the mine, which position he filled two years, resigning to look after his private interests.
Mr. Bradley began at a very early age to evince his unusual energy and business capacity. Up to the time he was seventeen years old he was con- tented to remain with his father on the farm and assist in its labors. His literary training was lim- ited to that afforded by the district schools of the day. In the great university of reading, travel and observation, he supplemented the rudimentary edu- cation thus obtained, to the great advantage of
himself, his family and the community blessed by his influence. Before the completion of his eight- eenth year he made a proposition to his father to pay the latter a stipulated sum each year for his time until he attained his majority, which was ac- cepted. His enterprise must have been previously observed by others, for he found no trouble in pro- curing, on credit, a stock of tinware and a horse and wagon, with which he started South. There were no railroads in those days, and the roads were diffi- cult to travel in many places, but with characteristic pluck the young man drove to Atlanta, Ga., before offering his stock for sale. In that neighborhood, however, he sold out to such advantage that he was enabled, on his return, to pay for the goods and also to discharge his indebtedness to his father. The trip required six weeks of travel in each direc- tion, and Mr. Bradley was gone from home from September to May. After spending the summer at home he again went South, taking a stock of dry goods on the second trip, on which he was also successful, and he continued to spend his winters in this way during eight or nine years, until lie mar- ried and settled down on the farm. For several vears thereafter he was employed by several of his New England friends who peddled in the South to buy dry goods for them in New York, as they considered his judgment and taste in these matters very valuable. These qualities were also recognized by his townsmen, who chose him to represent then in the State Legislature.
On Sept. 30, 1819, Levi Bradley married Miss Abigail Ann, daughter of Samuel and Patience (Peck) Atwater, of Cheshire. Mrs. Bradley was born Oct. 17, 1800, and died May 25, 1897. Her first paternal ancestor in America, David Atwater, came from, London in 1638, and was one of the signers of the New Haven Plantation Covenant in 1639. His son, Jonathan Atwater, a prominent merchant in New Haven, married Ruth Peck. daughter of Rev. Jeremiah and Joanna (Kitchel ) Peck. Their son, Jonathan Atwater, Jr., married Abigail Bradley, and had a son, Abraham Atwater, who married Mary Ball and reared a large family. Two of his sons, Isaac and Samuel, served with their father in the Revolutionary army, the latter entering as a drummer when only fifteen years old. After the war Samuel Atwater settled in Cheshire. MIrs. Levi Bradley was the eighth of his children. Few women were as well informed upon general topics as she, and she continued to be an omnivor- ous reader ( without glasses) until her death. After her surviving children were settled in Meriden she came with her husband to reside in that city, and she was among the most highly respected members of Susan Carrington Clarke Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. there. Mr. and Mrs. Bradley had five children : Emeline Amelia. born Dec. 19, 1820; Samuel Atwater, Jan. 18, 1823; William Lambert. May 25. 1826; Nathaniel Lv- man, Dec. 27. 1829; and Abby Ann, Feb. 26, 1833 ( married Walter Hubbard).
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Nathaniel Lyman Bradley received his early education in the district schools, and subsequently was graduated from the old Meriden Academy. At the close of his academical studies, when he was fifteen years old, he became a clerk in the store of E. B. M. Hughes, a hardware merchant in New Haven, Conn., for one year. Then, because of the strong desire of his parents, he returned home, very much to the regret of Mr. Hughes, and devoted himself to the work on the farm. At twenty-one years of age Mr. Bradley had as yet conceived no other purpose than that of being a farmer. Farm- ing was not remunerative, however, and its toils not satisfying to his ambition. The little fortune he had accumulated he placed in a clock factory in Southington, a town about four miles away. His compensation was $1.25 per diem. It was here that his genius for business showed itself. Conse- quently he was offered the contract for making clocks in the factory-three hundred per day- which he readily accepted. On account of a great accumulation of goods, which necessitated the stopping of the works, it was proposed to Mr. Bradley that he visit New York, Philadelphia, Bal- timore and Washington, for the purpose of selling the goods of the company. The success of his venture was so gratifying to the president that Mr. Bradley was elected a director, and also the repre- sentative salesman of the company.
The year 1852 marked the inception of the great industry in Meriden with which Mr. Bradley's name has since been associated. A joint-stock company --- Bradley, Hatch & Co .- was formed with a capital of $5,000. William L. Bradley and Walter Hub- bard were members of the firm. So rapidly grew the business that after two years, in 1854, more capital ' became an imperative need. The Hatch Brothers, not having any money for investment, chose to sell out their interests to the company. Walter Hubbard sold out his dry-goods business, and with William L. (brother of N. L. Bradley) and Nathaniel L. Bradley organized the company under the title of Bradley & Hubbard. The prop- erty of Bradley, Hatch & Co. was purchased. and a large business was permanently located where the immense factory plant now stands. In 1862, how- ever, Nathaniel L. Bradley and Walter Hubbard bought out the interest of William L. Bradley. The business was continued under a copartnership until 1875, when a joint-stock company was again formed, under the name of the Bradley & Hubbard Mfg. Co., taking in C. F. Linsley, who was then in the employ of the company, and it has since been so conducted, no stock having changed hands since the organization of the company except on the ad- mission of C. P. Bradley, son of Nathaniel L. Brad- ley, as a stockholder and director; he is also his father's private secretary and treasurer. Since the forming of the present company the following officers have continuously served: Walter Hub- bard, president; Nathaniel L. Bradley, treasurer ;
and C. F. Linsley, secretary. In referring to this company one of the Meriden papers thus wrote: "The history of the company has been one of rapid development, due to the great energy and business ability of Messrs. Bradley and Hubbard, the found- ers of the original firm. The firm started in busi- ness in an old two-story wooden building now used as a repair shop, and a small brick foundry. A glimpse at the immense building of to-day tells the story of the growth since then better than words can do. In 1870 the first large brick structure was erected, and since then the constant demand for additional room has necessitated the erection of other factories, in which there are employed over 1,000 hands. Without doubt the company is the best known in manufacture of chandeliers, gas fixtures, lamps, electric fixtures; fancy hardware, bronzes, stationery goods, and large lines of other goods too numerous to mention. There are many of the larg- est buildings all over the country that have been fitted out by this company, and their goods are al- ways eagerly sought for, since they possess the merit of artistic beauty far ahead of all competitors, as well as stability and honest quality. The com- pany's factories are equipped with the finest machin- ery and mechanical appliances in the world. Every part of the immense establishment having been built by them for the express purpose for which it is used, their facilities for producing work in every branch are unequalled. Among the army of work- men which they employ are artists, designers, mod- elers and skilled artisans. With a rapid but sure progress the company has grown from a modest beginning to occupy a prominent position in the manufacturing industries of the world. The com- pany's great plant now occupies eleven acres of floor space. This company added a new line of goods in 1895, and has been very successful with same. It comes under the name of Architectural Metal Work, composed of bronze, brass and iron, and the reputation of the company for producing these goods also stands first in the market, although young in this line, which goes to prove that in what- ever line of goods they make they come to the front every time. The present prospects indicate that the company will be obliged to add more buildings to their immense plant in order to keep up with the growing demand for the goods."
Mr. Bradley is a business man, not a politician, and has generally been so absorbed in his business that he has given no time to looking after official positions, although frequently importuned to serve in this or that capacity. However, he at one time served Meriden as alderman and acting mayor. He is a director of the First National Bank; the City Savings Bank: the Meriden Fire Insurance Co. (of which company he is also vice-president) : the J. D. Bergen Co., Meriden ( who manufacture the finest cut glass in this country ) ; the Meriden Trust & Safe Deposit Co .; the Meriden Horse Railroad Co. (now the Meriden Electric Railroad Co.) ; the
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Meriden Republican Publishing Co .; and is also in- terested in other financial enterprises in Meriden. He is a trustee of the State School for Boys, and is president of the Meriden Hospital. In politics he is a Republican, and he cast his first vote in the basement of the Congregational Church in Cheshire at the Presidential election of 1852. Mr. Bradley is not too busy to give attention to the improvement of his town in its physical features. The streets, parks and cemeteries are objects of his special care, and he is president of the Meriden Park Co.
Mr. Bradley has been a liberal supporter of every public enterprise, and in benevolent and re- ligious circles his influence is strong. He gives freely and constantly to proper objects of charity, every good work receiving his sympathy and aid. He was among the first to liberally provide for the work of the Y. M. C. A. in Meriden, and subscribed generously for the Association building. He has been very closely related to the work of the First Congregational Church, of which he is a member, and gave a princely sum toward the erection of the handsome edifice of that congregation. For nearly twenty-seven years he has been chairman of the committee of the Society, and through all that time has earnestly studied and labored to build up a har- monious and prosperous fellowship.
On Oct. 25, 1859, Mr. Bradley was married to Harriet E., daughter of Selden and Lucy Hooker (Hart) Peck, of Kensington, Conn., a lady who encourages the good spirit of her husband and co- operates in his benevolent and religious design. One son has been born to them, Clarence Peck Bradley. The family estate and residence is one of the finest and most beautiful in the city of Meriden, located on one of the principal streets in the city.
Mr. Bradley has been quite an extensive tray- eler in foreign lands as well as in his own country, having crossed the Atlantic ocean a number of times.
GILBERT ROGERS, one of the prominent citi- zens of Meriden, entitled to honorable mention as the architect of his own fortune, was born in the town of Saybrook, Middlesex county. July 4, 1838, fifth son of the late Hervey Rogers. He is a mem- ber of the firm of C. Rogers & Bros., silver-plate manufacturers, of Meriden.
Gilbert Rogers attended the little brick school in his native town, which structure has sheltered the youth of many now noted men, and is still standing. Among the teachers of Mr. Rogers were Miss Sallie Whittlesey and Henry Pratt, well-known educators of that day. In Meriden, to which place he was brought by his parents when young, he attended a school taught bv Henry D. Smith. However. his education was very largely wrought out in the school of experience, as but little opportunity was given him to advance beyond the elementary grades. Gilbert Rogers began work for himself at the age of fourteen years, being in the employ of Luther Webb,
who was at that time making pocket-books on a somewhat extensive scale. Here he spent two years, and then learned the trade of buffer in the factory of the Charles Parker Co. For five years he was work- ing in this factory, receiving but seventy-five cents a day for two years, then $1.25 for the third year, and after that $1.50 per day. In 1858 Mr. Rogers removed to Hartford to work for the Hartford Sil- ver Plating Co., and was later employed by Rog- ers, Smith & Co. At Waterbury he was made su- perintendent of the buffing department of the Rog- ers Bros. Silver Plating factory of that city, which place he filled with satisfaction to all for two years, at the end of that time forming a partnership with Asa H. Rogers and starting a plating business for the making of silver-plated spoons and hollow ware, on Nassau street, in New York, where they con- tinued in business until the breaking out of the Civil war compelled them to close. Mr. Rogers returned to Meriden, where he was appointed enrolling offi- cer by the United States government, a position he filled for a year. At the end of this time he formed a connection with the Meriden Britannia Co., where his name was used on the silver-plated spoons, and where he was engaged for about a year. In 1866 he united with his brothers in the formation of the C. Rogers & Bros. firm, with which he has been as- sociated for thirty-five years. The personnel of this noted firm consists of Cephas B., Gilbert and Wil- bur F. Rogers. The company was incorporated in New Jersey in 1899, and in 1901 was incorporated under the laws of Connecticut. Gilbert Rogers is treasurer of this company, and is a director of the City Savings Bank of Meriden and the Walnut Grove Cemetery Association, which he helped to organize. He is also a director of the Independent Thread Co. In politics he is a Republican, and has served two years as second selectman of the town of Meriden. He has represented the First ward in the city council, where he was a member of the finance committee.
Mr. Rogers belongs to Meriden Lodge, No. 77, A. F. & A. M., and is also a member of the Chapter and Council, and a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. In religion he is a Metho- dist, and belongs to the First Church, which he serves as Sunday school superintendent, and secre- tary of the official board.
On Feb. 6, 1867, Mr. Rogers was married to Miss Estelle V. Rogers, who was born Nov. 23, 1845, a daughter of Julius W. and Esther Eliza- beth (Culver) Rogers, the latter a daughter of Moses and Esther (Hall) Culver, and granddaugh- ter of Lieut. Titus Hall, who was a soldier of the war of the Revolution. Mrs. Rogers is a member of Susan Carrington Clark Chapter. D. A. R., at Meriden. She is a lady of much culture and re- finement. To Mr. and Mrs. Rogers have come the following children : (1) Mabel Estelle, born March 23. 1871, married Frederick Arthur Wright, Feb. 12, 1889, and is the mother of two children-Har-
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old Gilbert born March 31, 1890, and Mildred Estelle, born March 21. 1892. (2) Eugene Culver, born Jan. 8, 1876, graduated from the district and Meriden high schools, and is now paymaster of C. Rogers & Bros. He is a young man of much ability, his energetic character and business acumen com- manding the respect of those with whom he is as- sociated. (3) Ralph Gilbert, born April 8, 1878, is a graduate of the city high school, and is now a bookkeeper with C. Rogers & Bros., and, like his brother, is a young man of prominence, quite popu- lar in the city of his nativity. (4) William and (5) Emmerson, twins, born Feb. 3, 1893, died in infancy.
WILLIAM O. RUSSELL (deceased) was for many years a leading farmer and popular citizen of East Haven, New Haven Co., Conn., and spent his entire life upon the old homestead where he was born Feb. 18, 1814. His paternal grandfather was Joseph Russell, who was born July 4, 1740, and died Feb. 21, 1826. He was married, Nov. 7, 1769, to Abigail Granniss, who lived to the advanced age of ninety-one years.
Major Russell, father of our subject, was also born on the old homestead in East Haven, July 20, 1778, and remained there throughout life, dying Dec. 17, 1844. He married Miss Polly Otty, who died Jan. 12, 1842. In their family were nine chil- dren, whose names and dates of birth were as fol- lows: Harriet, Nov. 15, 1807; Mary A. Jan. 7, 1810; Nancy, Dec. 1, 1811 ; William O., Feb. 18, 1814; Benjamin, April 10, 1816; Isaac S., April 9, 1818; Lydia, Nov. 1, 1820 (died in 1822) ; Erastus, Aug. 16, 1824 (died July 23, 1866) ; and Lydia, March 29, 1827.
William O. Russell passed his boyhood and youth in much the usual manner of farmer boys of his day, and when quite young took charge of the farm, which was given him by his father at the latter's death. Throughout his active business life he continued to engage in general farming, owning and operating a valuable tract of 100 acres, upon which he made many improvements that added to the attractive appearance of the place. Upon the farm is still standing the old family residence which was erected about one hundred and twenty-five years ago.
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