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 48
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"From the foregoing it will be seen that Mr. Atwater's life has been a very busy one. He stands an admirable type of the hustling Connecticut Yan- kee. In his undertakings he has always been very conservative. He works slowly in laying his plans, but once started his push and energy are irresist- ible. All his important undertakings have been marked by much success in conception, execution and results. He is a man of the world, having traveled extensively, yet home never loses its attrac- tion for him. His residence is one of the finest in location and construction in Meriden, and is fur- nished with artistic elegance throughout. Here his many friends are always sure of a hospitable wel- come and lavish entertainment.
"In 1879 he married Helena J. Sellew, to whom was born May 10, 1880, a son, Dorence Keith At- water, who died Aug., 23, 1900."'
SETH JACOB HALL, one of the leading busi- ness men of Meriden, is a worthy representative of one of the old and honored New England families, of which John Hall is the emigrant ancestor.
John Hall was born in England in 1605, and died in Wallingford, Conn., in 1676. He came to Hartford, Conn., either just before or in company with Rev. Thomas Hooker, and was granted six acres by courtesy of the town. He married Jane Wollen in 1641, and she died Nov. 14, 1690. Nine. children blessed the home of this pioneer couple:
( I) Richard, born July 11, 1645, married in 1699, Hannah, daughter of Jolin and Mary (Alsop) Miles, and died in New Haven in 1726, aged eighty- one years. (2) Jolin, baptized Aug. 9, 1646, mar- ried Dec. 6, 1666, Mary, daughter of Edward and Mrs. Elizabeth ( Potter) Parker ( who was baptized Aug. 27, 1648, and died Sept. 22, 1725), and died Sept. 2, 1721. (3) Sarah, twin to John, baptized Aug. 9, 1646, married in December, 1664, William, son of Thomas Johnson, of New Haven. (4) Dan- iel, born in 1647, married, in 1670, Mary, daugh- ter of Henry Rutherford, and died in Barbadoes, West Indies, in 1675. (5) Samuel, born May 21, 1648, married, in May, 1666, Hannah, daughter of John Walker, and died March 5, 1726, survived by his wife until Dec. 20, 1728. (6) Thomas, born March 25, 1649, married Grace Watson, June 5, 1673, and died Sept. 17, 1731, and she died May I, 1731. (7) Jonathan, born April 5, 1651, "ex- changed accommodations in New Haven in 1667 for those of John Stevens in New London," where he was probably a vessel owner and captain. (8) David, born March 18, 1652, married, Dec. 24. 1676, Sarah Rockwell ( who died Nov. 3, 1732), and died July 7. 1727. (9) Mary, born in 1653, is probably the Mary Hall who testified as to John Hall's nun- cupative will in 1676. She married, in 1677, Henry Cook, son of Henry and Judith ( Birdsall) Cook, of Salem, Mass., and died Oct. 31, 1718. Henry Cook was born Dec. 30, 1652, and died in 1703.
Thomas Hall, fifth son of John and Jane (Wollen) Hall, was born in New Haven, March 25, 1649, and on June 5, 1673, married Grace Watson, who was born in 1653, a daughter of Edward and Grace (Walker) Watson. This is the first marriage in Wallingford records. Their children were: Abi- gail, born Jan. 7. 1675, married John Tyler ; Thomas, born July 17, 1676, married Abigail Atwater : Mary, born Nov. 22, 1677; Jonathan, born July 25. 1679, married Dinah Andrews on May 12, 1703; Joseph, born July 8, 1681, married Bethiah Terrell : Esther, born Feb. 23, 1683. married Benoni Atkins; Ben- jamin, born April 19. 1684, married Mary Ives; Peter, born Dec. 28, 1686. married Rebecca Bar- tholomew ; Daniel, born Jan. 20, 1689, married Mar- tha Doolittle: Rebecca, born Jan. 6, 1691, married Daniel Holt; Israel, born Oct. 8, 1696, married Abi- gail Powel.
Joseph Hall, son of Thomas and Grace (Wat- son ) Hall, was born July 8, 1681, and on Nov. 13, 1706, married Bethiah Terrell. who died Dec. 28, 1753. He died Nov. 3, 1748. Their children were : Temperance, born Feb. 15, 1714, died Dec. 7. 1716: Joseph, born Sept. 23, 1718, died Sept. 6, 1737 ; and Ephraim, mentioned below.
Ephraim Hall, son of Joseph, was born April 25, 1723. He made his home at North Farms, Wall- ingford, his house being on the east side of the road in the present meadow, now opposite the houses built by Richard Andrews and David Moss Hall. The old well is there yet. Ephraim Hall was twice
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married. His first wife, Eunice, died May 9, 1763, the mother of two children : Temperance, born Oct. II, 1748, died Oct. 28, 1750; and Thankful. wlio married John Darrow, Sept. 29, 1774. On Oct. 13, 1763, Ephraim Hall married Chloe Moss, daughter of David and Mindwell ( Doolittle) Moss, who was born Dec. 6, 1739, and became the mother of nine children : Temperance, born Aug. 10, 1764, mar- ried Jesse Wetmore, of Middletown, on June 24, 1784, and moved to Ashtabula, Ohio; Joseph, born March 17, 1766, married Dorcas Wilson, and had eight children; Ephraim, born Oct. 5, 1768, died March 2, 1772; Chloe, born Nov. 13, 1770, married Sylvanus Wilson, of Camden, N. Y .; Comfort, born Feb. 25, 1773, mentioned below ; Reuben, born May 19, 1775, married (first ) Sally Miller, and ( second ) Keziah Beach; David Moss, born Oct. 24, 1777, married Mindwell Beach; Content, born March 15, 1780, married Samuel Beach, Jr., February, 1802, and died in Dover, N. H., in February, 1871, the mother of ten children ; and Bertha. born March 29, 1782, married a Mr. Wetmore and lived in Camden, New York.
Comfort Hall, son of Ephraim, was born Feb. 25, 1773, lived in Wallingford until about 1797, when he removed to Middletown, Westfield Society, and later bought the farm where he lived the re- mainder of his life. "He owned a large tract of land with meadows and orchards. He was one of the early Methodists and one of the original trus- tees of the M. E. Church at Middlefield. He was of the old type of Methodism, earnest, zealous, a de- voted attendant at church, and his home always open to entertain Methodist preachers." [Atkins' History of Middlefield.] In politics he was a Dem- ocrat. His death occurred Nov. 20, 1855. On Feb. 1, 1796, he married Jemima Bacon, who was born Feb. 2, 1775, a daughter of Phineas and Sarah (At- kins) Bacon, and died Feb. 24, 1847. The children of this union were: Sylvester, born Nov. 22, 1796; Harley, born March 21. 1799; Miles, born March 5, 1801, married (first) Ann Pelton, (second) Mrs. Louisa Miller, and (third ) Mrs. Irene Miller Abell; Abiah, born Oct. 28, 1802, died Nov. 24, 1802: Aaron, born April 5, 1804. died Nov. 24, 1804; Amos, born Aug. 17, 1807, died April 1, 1825; Cor- nelius, born Ang. 26, 1809, married, April 27, 1857, Julia Ann Hale, and died Feb. 19. 1882 (she was born Aug. 13, 1811, and died Jan. 23, 1881) ; Seth, born Aug. 4, 1812, died Feb. 15, 1826; Comfort Johnson, born June 2, 1818, died unmarried June 18, 1888; and Winsel Bacon, born Dec. 21, 1819, died Dec. 5, 1822.
Sylvester Hall was born Nov. 22, 1796. and was twice married. His first wife. Ann Wilcox, whom he wedded Nov. 5, 1820. died July 20. 1825. On Nov. 30, 1825, he married Rosetta, daughter of Comfort and Sarah ( Bacon) Johnson. She was born Oct. 15. 1806. and died Oct. 30, 1869: Syl- vester Hali died Oct. 3, 1875. By his first wife he - became the father of Lois Wilcox, born Dec. 5, 1821,
married, Sept. 8, 1846, William M. Booth, son of Abner and Lucy ( Martin ) Booth (he was born Jan. 10, 1823, and died March 18, 1901 ) : Ann Wilcox, born July 18, 1823, married ( first ) Parsons Miller, son of Elisha and Rhoda ( Parsons) Miller, and (second) Jesse Miller, born Aug. 5, 1825, a son of Almon and Sarah Miller ( he died April 22, 1885). By his second marriage Sylvester Hall became the father of Seth Jacob, born Sept. 4, 1829, inentioned below ; Enos L., born Sept. 1, 1839, married (first) Victorine A. Ives, (second) Emma Clark, and (third) Lottie Smith. Mr. Hall was educated in the common schools and academy at Wallingford, and filled various offices in the town of Middletown, and on April 25, 1834, was appointed by Gov. Samuel A. Foot captain of Ist Co., 4th Regiment of Cavalry, in the militia of the State. In politics he was a Democrat, and in religion a Methodist.
Seth Jacob Hall, eldest son of Sylvester and Ro- setta (Johnson ) Hall, was born Sept. 4, 1829. His education was acquired in the common schools and in MeGonegal's select school. He followed farm- ing until twenty-one years of age, and for nine successive winters taught district schools in the vicinity of Middletown, and in the summers he "bur- nished" for Jesse G. Baldwin, and later for the Charles Parker Co., of Meriden. In April, 1857, he entered the employ of Harrison W. Curtis, at that time engaged in the crockery and hardware busi- ness, and remained until the following winter, when, as business was very dull, he taught school, and in the spring returned to Mr. Curtis' employ, remaining until the fall of 1861, when he started in the flour and feed business, which he has followed until the present time, single handed. with the ex- ception of twenty-seven months, when he was in partnership with I. C. Lewis & Co. He then retired from the firm, and has long conducted a successful grain, feed and coal business.
Mr. Hall has been a life-long Democrat, and has held a number of offices with great credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of the public. He has served the city as alderman and councilman. and the town as treasurer, selectman and as member of the board of relief. In 1890-94 he was State Sen- ator from the 6th District. From the beginning he has been treasurer and trustee, as well as having been one of the incorporators, of Meriden Hospital : he was director in the Middletown Bank until he resigned : director of the Meriden National Bank ; vice-president and member of the board of appraisal of the City Savings Bank since its organization in 1874; and for several years was trustee and treas- urer of the State School for Boys. For sixteen years he was deacon in the First Baptist Church. and has been trustee for some years, and has also served as trustee and treasurer of the Y. M. C. A.
On Oct. 14, 1860, Mr. Hall was united in mar- riage with Lois Blakeslee, who was born Jan. 24, 1833. a daughter of Silas and Esther ( Buel) Blakes- ! lee, and this union has been blessed with the fol-
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lowing children: John Blakeslee, born Sept. 6, 1861, married, Dec. 16, 1895, Jennie Holcomb, daughter of Bertrand L. and Chloe ( Holcomb) Yale (they have two children, Leane Holcomb, born Feb. 15, 1897, and Elisabeth Yale, born July 6, 1899); Judson Sylvester, born March 30, 1866: Silas Blakeslee, born March 28. 1869; and Esther Rosetta, born July 24, 1880. When Mr. and Mrs. Hall were first married they went to housekeeping in the Meriden Bank Building, on Broad street, and in September, 1864, moved to No. 481 East Main street. This home was removed, and in its stead was erected a new and more pretentious dwelling, where, since August, 1891, the family have extended generous hospitality to friend and stranger.
JOEL FORD GILBERT has been prominent in public affairs of the city of New Haven from early manhood, and the numerous positions of trust to which he has been elected are the best evidence of the esteem in which he is held.
Mr. Gilbert was born Nov. 7, 1839, in Hamden, New Haven county, son of Griswold Ives Gilbert, also a native of that place. The father of our sub- ject was originally a farmer by occupation, engaging in agriculture and the milk business until his re- moval to New Haven in 1857. He bought a farm now comprised in Elm City Park, selling it after one year's ownership, for park purposes, and remaining with the association three years, during which time he laid out the track and park. The next year he acted as town agent, and he held various offices, serving as selectman, and for eight years as member of the board of assessors, after which he retired. He lived a long life of usefulness, reaching the ad- vanced age of eighty-five years, and became well known in the city upon taking up his residence there. He had been equally active in Hamden while a member of that community, and though a Repub- lican in a Democratic town, held a number of local offices, serving eleven years as first selectman. Mr. Gilbert married Mary Ford, also a native of Ham- den, and a daughter of Joel Ford, a farmer of that place, and the seven children born to them were as follows: Cleora, Mrs. M. W. Filley, of New Ha- ven ; Joel Ford, our subject; John, of the firm of Gilbert & Thompson, of New Haven: Sereno I., a painter of New Haven: Fred A., formerly of New Haven, who was president of the Boston Electric Light Co. (he died in New York ) : Myron W., de- ceased; and Mary, deceased. The mother passed away at the age of fifty-eight years. Both parents attended the Congregational Church.
Joel Ford Gilbert received his education in the public schools of Hamden, where he passed his early years. His life has been an exceedingly busy one, devoted to various lines of trade. After coming to New Haven he was engaged in the photograph busi- ness from 1861 to 1866. Then for twelve years he was in the butcher business, two years of the time with Todd & Gilbert and ten years with S. E. Mer-
win & Son. He has since been in the steam-heating and plumbing business, first for about five years on State street, and for the past fifteen years with what is now the Foskett & Bishop Co. Mr. Gilbert's long connection with one firm testifies amply to his business ability. His judgment and success as a manager were early recognized by his fellow citi- zens, who have repeatedly honored him with elec- tion to public office. For seven years, beginning in 1880, he was a member of the board of public works, and president of that board from February, 1885, to February, 1888. He served on the board of select- men for four years. In 1801 he was appointed on the board of supervisors of steam boilers, and has served as a member of that board ever since, hav- ing been its president since 1892. He served as a member of the city council in 1900. Like his father, Mr. Gilbert is a Republican in political sentiments, and he has long been a member of the Young Men's Republican Club. He was formerly a member of the Union League Club and the Knights of Honor, being one of the early members of both organiza- tions. Mr. Gilbert was for fourteen years a men- ber of the Horse Guard, in which for seven years he served as sergeant and orderly-sergeant ; during the next two years he was captain, and then major, which rank he held for five years. He is one of the best-known men in the city and has many friends in both political parties, being of a jovial disposition and very democratic in his manners and ideas.
Mr. Gilbert was united in marriage, in 1862, to Miss Lydia A. Todd, a native of Northford, Conn., daughter of Alfred Todd, a butcher of that place. Mr. Todd and his wife are both deceased. They had a large family, namely: Amelia E., Alson B., Theron A., Lydia A., Augusta, Edward A., and Francis H., five of whom survive. Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert attend divine worship at St. Thomas' Church. Their home, at No. 413 Whalley avenue, was bought by Mr. Gilbert in 1863, and he also owns considerable other real estate in that locality.
EDWARD ELD, a worthy representative of the agricultural interests of East Haven, is a native of this county, born on Meadow street. New Haven, Jan. 28, 1824, and he continued to live there and in the vicinity of Cedar Hill until eighteen years of age, when he went to New York City and accepted a clerkship in a counting house, where he remained five years. On Jan. 10, 1849, he started for Cali- fornia on the barque "Eugenie" and landed at Vera Cruz, Mexico, where he purchased a horse and in company with others proceeded on his way to the gold fields, but his horse broke down and he sold it in Jalapa, Mexico, and went thence via San Blas to San Francisco, traveling 600 miles on foot. and arriving in San Francisco May 14, 1849. After spending a short time in the mines at Mormon Island he went to the north fork of the American river prospecting. The winter was passed in Lahanaina, | Island of Maui (Sandwich Islands), and on his
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return to San Francisco in the spring he again went to the mines, remaining two and a half years. He then returned to San Francisco and started for home, making his return trip around Cape Horn. Soon afterward, however, he went to Omaha, Neb., thence to Niobrara, the same State, and after some time there went to Fort Laramie, and traveled with ox teams from there to Omaha, returning to Fort Laramie by way of Niobrara, and then to Pike's Peak, Colo., passing through Denver, to Omaha, all in one vear. He remained in Nebraska and Colorado four years, and in 1861 again returned to New Haven. Purchasing the farm in East Ha- ven where he now resides, he has since successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits, and is now the owner of two places aggregating seventy-five acres.
In 1875 Mr. Eld married Mrs. Frances Sperry, widow of Chauncey E. Sperry, and daughter of Garrett Bradley. By her first marriage she had seven children. She is a member of the Congrega- tional Church and a most estimable lady. Mr. Eld gives his political support to the men and measures of the Republican party, and as a citizen he is ever ready to discharge any duty that devolves upon him. A man of unbounded enterprise, his success in life is due entirely to his own efforts, and he deserves prominent mention among the leading and repre- sentative citizens of East Haven.
COL. WILLIAM E. MORGAN, local agent of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Rail- way Co., and secretary of Fitch's "Home for the Soldiers" and the Soldiers' Hospital Board of Con- necticut, is also local agent for the New Haven Steamboat Co., and one of the most prominent char- acters of the city of New Haven.
The name of Morgan has inspired confidence in business circles and in the finances of the world for upward of half a century; and members of the family who were given that confidence and achieved so great standing, in both this and the Old World, sprang from New England stock, were born and had their boyhood and business homes in the Commonwealth of Connecticut, where now re- pose the dust of many of them. Gov. Morgan, famous as the war governor of New York, is a member of this family. Col. William E. Morgan, of New Haven, traces his line of ancestry through seven generations of sturdy men to James MIor- gan, who, in March, 1636, with two younger brothers, John and Miles, sailed from Bristol, Eng- land, and arrived in Boston, Mass., in April fol- lowing. James Morgan first settled in Roxbury, Mass. He was born in Wales in 1607. His father, so says tradition, was William Morgan, of Llan- daff, Glamorganshire, Wales. The family appear to have removed from Llandaff to Bristol, Eng- land, a few years prior to 1636. John Morgan settled in Virginia, so says tradition, and Miles, born in 1615, on his arrival at Boston, or soon after, joined a party of emigrants, mostly from
Roxbury, of whom Col. William Pyncheon was at the head, and founded the settlement of Spring- fiekl, Massachusetts.
James Morgan, the emigra.it ancestor of Col. William E. Morgan, was born in Wales in 1607, and died in 1685. He was distinguished in public enterprises, and was nine times chosen a member of the Colonial Assembly. In 1640 he married Margaret Hill, of Roxbury, Mass. His children, all except the youngest, born probably in Roxbury, were: Hannah, James, John, Joseph, Abraham, and a daughter who died unnamed.
(II) Capt. Jolin Morgan, son of James, born in 1645, married (first), in 1665, Rachel Dymond, daughter of Jolin, and (second) Widow Elizabeth Williams, daughter of Lieut. Gov. William Jones, of New Haven, and a' granddaughter of Theo- philus Eaton. Capt. John Morgan died in Preston in 1712. He was a prominent public man, was In- dian commissioner and adviser, deputy to the Gen- eral Court in 1690 from New London, and in 1693- 94 from Preston. His children by Rachel were : John, Samuel, Isaac, Hannah, Mercy, Sarah and James. His children by Elizabeth were: Eliza- beth, William, Rachel, Audrea ( who was married Nov. 10, 1719, to Benjamin Fowler, of Guilford ), Margery, Joseph, Theophilus and Mary.
(III) William Morgan, son of Capt. John, born in 1693, married in 1716 Mary, daughter of Capt. James Avery. Jr., of Groton. William died in 1729, and his wife Mary died in 1780. Their chil- dren were: Mary, Elizabeth, Margaret, William, Deborah and Prudence.
(IV) Capt. William Morgan, son of William, born in 1723, married in 1744 Temperance, daugh- ter of Col. Christopher Avery, and great-grand- daughter of Capt. James Avery (1), of Groton, and died there in 1777. Temperance, his wife, died in 1801. Their children were: William, Chris -. topher, Temperance, William Avery, Israel, Mary, Simeon, Prudence, Rebecca and Jacob.
(V) Capt. William Avery Morgan, son of Will- iam, was born in 1754, and married (first) in 1776 Lydia Smith, daughter of Samuel Smith, of Gro- ton. She died in 1804, and he married ( second) Sarah Harris, daughter of Capt. Nathaniel Harris, of Colchester. Capt. Morgan was a sergeant in the Colonial army in the war of the Revolution, and was present at the battle of Bunker Hill. June 17, 1775. He settled in Groton, where eleven of his children were born, in 1796 moved to Colchester (now Salem), and in 1814 to Lebanon, where he died March 22, 1842. Sarah, his widow, a woman of rare mental endowments, died in Hartford in 1855. There were born to Capt. Morgan seventeen children, thirteen to the first and four to the second marriage, of whom all except two lived to mature age and became heads of families. Eleven were born in Groton, five in Colchester, and one, Harriet N., in Lebanon. The children by Lydia were: William, Griswold, Avery, Jasper, Lydia, Nathan,
H & Morgan
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Betsey, Denison, Nancy, Phoebe, Lucy, Rebecca and Charlotte. Those by Sarah were: Nathaniel Har- ris, Sarah M., Griswold E. and Harriet N.
(VI) Capt. Griswold E. Morgan was born in Colchester (now Salem), Jan. 30, 1811, and died Jan. 18, 1902, aged ninety years, eleven months and eighteen days. He was reared in Lebanon, where he followed farming, and for years was justice of the peace. The positions of sheriff and of county commissioner were very successfully filled by him, though it is said he never put a pair of handcuffs on a man. At the time of his death he was living with a daughter in Norwich. In politics he was a stanch Republican. He married Eliza Saxton, who was born in Lebanon, a daughter of Nathaniel and Fanny ( Chamberlain) Saxton. Of the children born to this marriage George K. was a private in Company D, 8th Conn. V. I., and saw much hard service; he died Jan. 9, 1862, a few weeks after his nineteenth birthday. Harriet K. married Capt. Sheldon J. Grant, of Wapping. Sarah E. died July 16, 1866. Nathaniel H. was a farmer in Lebanon, later a railroad agent. Fannie M. married Joseph Holmes, of Norwich. Griswold H. was a farmer in Lebanon. Mary E. is the widow of Dwight Foster, of Wapping. Col. Will- iam E. is mentioned below. The mother died in Jan. 1892, at the age of eighty years. Both parents were prominent members of the Congregational Church, the father being the leader of the choir for forty years. Of the thirty grandchildren of Gris- wold E. Morgan twenty-three are now living, and there are also twenty-three great-grandchildren liv- ing.
(VII) Col. William E. Morgan was born in Lebanon Oct. 23, 1835, and spent his early years on his father's farm, where he remained until he was nineteen. He received his education in the common schools and at Bacon Academy, in Colchester, hav- ing special instruction from a resident clergyman. When he was nineteen he went to Dorchester, Mass., to work on a truck farm, thence going to Newark, N. J., to take a position in the prison there, becoming a deputy warden before he was twenty-one. At the outbreak of the Civil war he was engaged in trucking at Hartford. Conn. On Aug. 25, 1862, he enlisted in Company K, 25th Conn. V. I., and served in the Department of the Gulf. In the battle of Irish Bend, April 14, 1863, he received a wound from a minie ball which per- manently disabled him for service. An honorable discharge was given him, and he returned to Con- necticut to spend some time with an uncle, N. H. Morgan, then town agent. In October, 1865, hay- ing somewhat recovered his health, Col. Morgan entered the employ of the Hartford & New Haven Railway Co. in 1860, becoming their agent in Hartford, a position he has held continuously and minder all the consolidations to the present time. At that time the road had only sixty-two miles of road. Col. Morgan remained at Hartford until
1885, completing twenty years of active service, when he was transferred to New Haven, and he is still agent for the railroad, and in addition repre- sents the steamboat company doing business from the city. The railroad and steamboat companies employ 250 men, doing a large business, and two magnificent boats are operated. Col. Morgan started in Hartford with twenty-five men, and there are few who have been on the road as long as he.
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