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 68
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Mr. Dibble has been identified with all of the prominent organizations in his branch of industry, is ex-president of the State Association of Master Plumbers, has been president of the Builders Ex- change, of New Haven, and is now its treasurer, has been four times the president of the New Haven Masters Plumbers Association, and an officer several times in the National Association of Plumbers, and has also served as Commissioner of the board of Health for seven years. Fraternally he is a prom- inent member of the Masonic order, being a mem- ber of Hiram Lodge, No. I, and for a third of a cen- tury has been a member of Harmony Lodge, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and has been made treasurer of the Business Men's Association of New Haven. In addition to this, Mr. Dibble was one of the pioneers in the summer colony at Pine Orchard, and was largely instrumental in the success of the Pine Orchard Union Chapel Association, of which he is treasurer, and he is secretary of the Pine Orchard Association. Politically he is a Republi- can, but no politician. Mr. Dibble was for seven- teen years prominently connected with St. Thomas' Episcopal Church on Elm street, and in 1876, when he took up his residence on Orange street, corner of Edward, he became associated with St. John's parish, with which he has since been identified, being one of the vestrymen and chairman of committee on church building and grounds. He was a mem- ber of building committee, and took out the first shovel of earth when the present edifice was erected in 1895.
On Sept. 16, 1874, Mr. Dibble was married to Miss Elizabeth Davis, of Brooklyn, N. Y., and a
family of twelve children has been born to this union : Clarence Elmer, Ethel . Gould, Eleanor Elizabeth, Samuel Edward, Lewis Acker, Albert Baldwin, Marguerite, Ruthe, Donald Alvin, John Mansfield, Benjamin Frederick and Elizabeth, all of whom are living. The family of Mr. Dibble is held in high esteem in New Haven, and he is one of the most prominent factors in the business life of this city, a strong, thorough, progressive man, pub- lic-spirited and of the highest type of citizenship.
The BOTSFORD Family with which Mr. Dibble is connected on the maternal side, is also one of the old and leading families of New England. Henry Botsford, of Milford, Conn., in 1639, was one of the early settlers of that town. His name is among the first list of freemen as a pioneer planter, which in- cluded forty-four others, the greater number of whom came from Essex, Hereford and York coun- ties, in England, and rendezvoused in New Haven, preparatory to taking up their abode in the Wepa- waug country, in the wilderness, in 1638 and 1639. After the purchase of these lands in the spring of 1639, active preparations were made to occupy and improve them, and thither their household goods were taken, in the following fall. The names of Henry Botsford and his wife, Elizabeth, are among those perpetuated in one of the stones in the Memor- ial Bridge at Milford, Conn., which was erected to the first settlers of this town, and was dedicated, in 1889, on the 250th anniversary of that event. Henry Botsford had one son and five daughters, and through the son, Elnathan, who was born in 1641, by his second wife, Hannah, who was a daughter of Timothy Baldwin, the honorable name is perpetu- ated. Some of Elnathan Botsford's grandchildren settled in Newtown Conn., and the names of John, Moses, Joseph and Henry Botsford appear on the Newtown records soon after the first settlement of the town.
FREDERICK MARTIN HOTCHKISS is one of the older settlers of Meriden, and his name has been familiar to every one acquainted with the busi- ness personnel of that city for many years. He was born in Prospect, New Haven county, Dec. 31. 1846, a son of Hervey Dwight and Eliza ( Smith) Hotch- kiss, both of whom were natives of Prospect.
Mr. Hotchkiss traces his lineage from Samuel Hotchkiss ( who was in New Haven about 1641) through Joshua, Stephen, Gideon, David. Freder- ick, David M. and Hervey D. A full account of the first six of these generations is given in the gene- alogy of Gilbert B. Hotchkiss, of Waterbury, else- where.
David Miles Hotchkiss, son of Frederick, was born Nov. 27, 1797. in Waterbury. In 1797 this section, with a portion of Cheshire, was set off as an ecclesiastical society with the name of Columbia. In 1827 it was incorporated as a town. As a mem- ber of the committee he secured the adoption of the name of Prospect. It being nine hundred feet above
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the level of the sea, and the highest point for miles around, it well merits the name. Mr. Hotchkiss was early appointed captain of the militia of Water- bury and Salem (now Naugatuck), and was ever afterwards called by his title. Prominent also in civil affairs, he often served his town as selectman, representative and in other positions of trust. He was the first man to advocate the formation of the Free-Soil party in this State, at a convention in Hartford. William Lloyd Garrison, who was pres- ent, opposed the motion, Mr. Hotchkiss alone voting in the affirmative. The next year it was carried by a large majority. An advocate of both total ab- stinence and abolition, Mr. Hotchkiss voted the Free-Soil ticket alone in his town for several years, when it cost much to go against public opinion. Those who were opposed to his views went so far as to cut down his fruit trees, girdle shade trees, de- stroy his fences, tools and farming implements. The well on Mr. Hotchkiss' farm was dug in the autumn of 1819, and has never been dry. In the following spring his house was erected, with timbers and lum- ber prepared in the preceding winter.
On Nov. 30, 1819, David M. Hotchkiss was married to Zeruah, daughter of Martin Stevens, of Prospect. She died Aug. 28, 1849, and on May I. 1850, he married Hannah, widow of Henry Bristol, of Cheshire. She was born Dec. 25, 1812, and died Dec. 25, 1893. Mrs. Hannah Hotchkiss was a daughter of Joseph Ives and Abigail Treat ( Bryan) Doolittle, the latter a daughter of John Bryan, of Hartford, later of Watertown, Conn. David M. Hotchkiss died April 15, 1878. Children as follows were born to his first marriage: Emily B., born Jan. 21, 1821, married B. B. Brown, of Windsor, N. Y., and died April 1, 1887. Laura, born Feb. 15, 1822, married Algernon S. Plumb, of Wolcott, and died Oct. 26, 1860. Hervey Dwight and Henry Kirke, twins, were born May 7, 1823 ; the latter died March 28, 1894. Frederick, born June 2. 1824, died at Preble's Mills, near Parkersburg, Va., Jan. 26, 1849. Berkley was born Sept. 1, 1826. Edward, born Aug. 24, 1829, is now living in Binghampton, N. Y. Richard Noyes, born June 15, 1833, died in Atlantic City, N. J., 1896. To the second marriage came: Julia Elizabeth, born Dec. 26. 1851, wife of Fred A. Sanford, of Westfield, Mass .; and David Bryant, born June 28, 1853, now residing on the parental homestead in Prospect.
Lyman Smith, the maternal grandfather of Frederick M. Hotchkiss, was born in Orange, Conn., April 28, 1800. At the age of eighteen he went to Columbia (now Prospect), living with Mer- rit Clark, who married his sister. While in the em- ploy of his brother-in-law he met Rebecca Wooster, of Salem ( now Naugatuck ), daughter of Walter Wooster, whom he married Dec. 17. 1821. They immediately settled on a farm adjoining that of his employer, where he lived an honorable and useful life. Rebecca, his wife. was born Jan. 21, 1799, and died in 1862. "Uncle Lyman," as he was called by
everybody, died in 1862 at Middletown, Conn. He was afflicted more or less during the latter part of his life with a malady called then "Lo Po," or bor- rowing trouble. Hallucinations of various kinds increased, and seemed to haunt him to such an ex- tent as to cause uneasiness on the part of his chil- dren as to the safety of himself and those around him, and after a long consultation it was decided to commit him to the asylum, where he died. He and his wife had children as follows: Eliza, born March II, 1823 ; Eli, Feb. 20, 1825 ; Sidney, Aug. 22, 1828. Of these, the eldest, ( 1) Eliza, married H. Dwight Hotchkiss, son of David, and was the mother of the subject of this sketch. (2) Eli. the second, lived at home on the farm until sixteen years of age, when he went to work for Hopkins & Wheeler, button manufacturers at Naugatuck, Conn. He spent two vears with them, then going with Warner & Isbell, later known as the Naugatuck Machine Co., to learn the machinist's trade. Here he advanced step by step until he was admitted to a partnership in the company and was elected secretary and general superintendent of the factory, which position he held for thirty years. During this time he held po- sitions and offices of trust under the town govern- ment, represeting the town in the State Legislature. On Feb. 25, 1849, he married Mary J. Mallory, of New Preston, Conn. They had two children-Ed- son H., born Feb. 5, 1853, and Leila E., born Feb. 3, 1859. Edson H. married Callie A. Wilcox, daugh- ter of Gen. John Wilcox, of Middletown, Conn., June 3, 1885, and settled in New Haven, Conn. He is now living in Grand Rapids, Mich., having one son, and his father and mother with him. Leila E. died Sept. 25, 1894, unmarried. (3) Sidney, the second son of Uncle Lyman, lived at home on the farm until 1864. In 1850 he married Polly Mor- gan, of Warren, Conn. An incident of Sidney's early married life will remind many of the older residents of Prospect of the time of his return home with his bride. The "Boys on the Hill," many of whom were singers in the same church choir with Sidney, thought they would serenade him. So old flint-lock muskets, cannon, shotguns, bells, and everything and anything that would make a noise were enlisted into service by scores of his former mates. Sidney was importuned, implored and teased to show his bride, but from the second-story window he flatly refused. Such a noise caused by the bombardment of old cans, stones, kettles, etc., at that south spare guests' chamber was seldom heard in that usually peaceful home. The old cider barrel was tapped, and the cider with cake, etc., passed. The over-enthusiastic party withdrew, but not till the house had been more or less defaced and some shots fired at the risk of lives. Such ac- tions in the earlier days were common as the rice and slipper act at the present writing. Sidney ( and his little wife, Polly) settled down with his father at the paternal home for a number of years, but in 1864, as stated before, he purchased what was
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known as the Hoppin farm, about one mile south of the Uncle Lyman residence. He afterwards pur- chased a farm in Watertown, Conn., where he now lives, about midway between Morris and Bethle- hem, a quiet, well to do farmer, who has a reputa- tion second to none for raising and marketing the best of everything in his line. He has also served faithfully, in an unassuming way, in different trusts imposed on him by the town. He and his wife had two children: Nellie M., born in 1855, and Lin- coln, born in 1861. The daughter married Edward Hungerford, son of a near neighbor in Watertown, and one child was born to this union, Leila. Lin- coln has never married. He enjoys the reputation of being the best steer trainer in the State, and has exhibited many pairs of matched and fancy matched at fairs for years without a peer, always taking first prize in the steer world. He assists his father in his farm work, and will probably continue his labors in this direction unless a volcano should swallow up the farm, as both think there is no other farm like it-and the compiler of this would not for a moment think of disputing it.
Hervey D. Hotchkiss, the father of Frederick Martin, was born May 7, 1823, and was reared to manhood in Prospect, engaged in the manufacture of spoons near his home, as a member of the firm of Hotchkiss & Wallace. After a time they sold out their patent, which was a device for strengthening britannia spoons with a wire in the center, and the plant was removed to Yalesville, where for a time Mr. Hotchkiss was superintendent of the factory. He subsequently moved to Meriden, and traveled on the road for Charles Parker during a number of years. He died Dec. 5, 1886. He was the father of three children. Frederick Martin is mentioned be- low. Effie, born Jan. 21, 1850, died at the age of seventeen years. Bertha, born Jan. 20, 1855, mar- ried Charles J. Wallace, of Ansonia, and is now de- ceased.
Frederick Martin Hotchkiss was reared in Mer- iden from the age of four years, and there obtained his education in the common schools and Meriden Academy. His business career was begun as clerk in a grocery store, and he continued at this occupa- tion up to 1863, when he went to New Haven, where he was engaged as bookkeeper for Yale & Bryan, wholesale grocers, some three years. At the end of that time he went on the road as salesman for the firm, being in their employ a number of years. After leaving them Mr. Hotchkiss was in a commission and brokerage house in New Haven for six months, and for two years was bookkeeper for E. Henry Barnes (now Sperry & Barnes), acting as traveling salesman a portion of the time. Mr. Hotchkiss' next move was to buy a grocery store at Waterbury. which he carried on five years. During the ensuing two years he was engaged in settling the estate of his grandfather, David M. Hotchkiss, and when that was accomplished went on the road for J. D. Dewell & Co., wholesale grocers of New Haven, remaining
with them twelve years. During the last three years of that period he carried on a carriage repository in Meriden, at his present location, being still engaged in that line of business. In 1889 Mr. Hotchkiss em- barked in the wholesale grocery business, for which his long and thorough training on the road and in the office had given him a peculiar fitness. This business under his hands became almost immedi- ately a pronounced success, and in it he has become noted as a thoroughly reliable and enterprising dealer in the best and most standard goods of the day.
Mr. Hotchkiss was married, Oct. 24. 1871, to Nellie A., daughter of Henry L. and Olive ( Brown) Spencer, of Meriden. They have one daughter, Effie Spencer, who is now Mrs. I. Burton Miller.
Mr. Hotchkiss is a member of Meridian Lodge, No. 77, A. F. & A. M .; Keystone Chapter, No. 27, R. A. M .; Hamilton Council, No. 22. K. & S. M .; Meriden Lodge, No. 35, B. P. O. E .: the veteran organization, New Haven Grays; and the Thirteen Club of New York. He is a member of the Meriden board of fire commissioners, and is president of the Connecticut Division of the Travel- ers' Protective Association, in which position he is now serving his twelfth term. Mr. Hotchkiss is a Democrat in political views, and is a thoroughly en- terprising and reliable citizen, modern and pro- gressive in his ideas, and up-to-date in every respect.
CHARLES CARROLL FOSKETT (deceas- ed). During life no citizen of Meriden, Conn., was more highly esteemed than was the late Charles C. Foskett, for a number of years the valued book- keeper of the Meriden Britannia Company.
The Foskett family is an old and honored one of Massachusetts where William A. Foskett, the father, was born in the town of New Marlborough, and where he lived until young manhood. Upon his removal to Connecticut, he located at New Hart- ford, where he lived until 1844, coming then to Meriden. Here he entered the employ of the Charles
Parker Company in the capacity of foreman, spend- ing a number of years with this great concern. Later he removed to New Haven. and there became the head of the firm of Foskett & Bishop, plumbers and steam fitters. His death occurred in that city, Nov. 28, 1901, his remains being brought to Meriden for interment in the East cemetery. In politics he had always voted the Democratic ticket. while in re- ligion, he was a consistent member of the Methodist Church.
William A. Foskett was married in Colchester. Conn., to Lucina Foote Kellogg, a lady of beautiful Christian life and character, a devoted member of the Methodist Church, who died in Meriden, in 1854, and was buried in East cemetery. The only child of this marriage was Charles C., who was born in New Hartford. Litchfield Co., Conn., Sept. 7, 1841. For his second wife Mr. Foskett married Jane Hall, a native of Great Barrington, who died
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Dec. 15, 1901, at her home in New Haven. The children of the second union were: Clara, who mar- ried Charles Brown, a professor in Vanderbilt Col- lege in Nashville, Tenn .; William A., a resident of New Haven; and Violet A., wife of Frederick Nettleton, who resides in New Haven.
Charles C. Foskett attended the public schools of Meriden and also a private school which was taught by William Charles Kellogg. At the age of fifteen he became a clerk in the Meriden postoffice, under Mr. B. L. Yale, leaving this position to be- come bookkeeper for Edward Miller & Co., with whom he remained for three years. Then Mr. Fos- kett accepted a position with the Meriden Britannia Co., which at that time had at its head some of Meriden's best-known citizens, notably Horace C. Wilcox and George R. Curtis. Mr. Foskett en- tered their service as bookkeeper, and by his talents and reliability, became the assistant treasurer of this company. While still in the prime of a useful life, he was called from earth, Oct. 4, 1876, the immediate cause of his decease having been diphtheria.
Seldom has any citizen been more truly lamented than was Mr. Foskett, his amiable qualities having made him beloved in the family and social circles, while his ability and reliability had made him equally esteemed in his business relations. He was a Re- publican in political faith, and a Methodist in re- ligious belief ; and was a man of broad mind, able to see good in everything. Through life his in- fluence had always been directed to further the cause of temperance, and he cordially supported every edu- cational enterprise.
The bereft widow of Charles Foskett, had form- erly been Mary Elizabeth Phelps, to whom he was united in marriage Nov. 11, 1862. She was born in Hebron, Tolland county, a daughter of George G. and Mary (Page) Phelps, the latter of whom was a daughter of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Root) Page, a sister of the distinguished Judge Jonathan G. Page, of Hebron, Conn. Mrs. Phelps resides with her devoted daughter, Mrs. Foskett. Left a widow with three small children, Mrs. Foskett devoted her life to their advancement, giving them every educa- tional opportunity within her power and surround- ing them with an atmosphere of culture and refine- ment. These children grew into educated, charm- ing women and are widely known in educational and exclusive social circles. Mary Page, the eldest, re- ceived her primary education in the Meriden schools, graduated from the Hartford High school, and later from Smith College, at Northampton, Mass., and prior to her marriage; was a teacher in the State Normal School, at New Britain, Conn. On May 3, 1892, she was united in marriage to Rev. George Copeland Boswell, a clergyman of the Methodist Church, and she has one daughter. Elizabeth Phelps. Emma Kellogg, the second daughter of Mrs. Fos- kett, was also educated in Meriden and Hartford. later studying at Smith College, and is now one of the valued educators in the Meriden High school,
a leading member of the Methodist Church and one of the intellectual ladies who compose the Thursday Morning Club, of this city. The third daughter is Annie Phelps, who is a graduate of the Meriden High school and attended the Woman's. College, at Baltimore, Md., and now ably fills the position of assistant principal of the Parker Avenue school ; like her sisters, she is a lady not only of intellectual | attainments, but also of social graces, and the home life of this family is typical of the very best and most refined circles of Meriden. The Phelps fam- ily traces clearly an honorable ancestry far back into the past, reaching even beyond the date of 1 599.
William Phelps, a son of William and Dorothy Phelps, of England, was baptized in Tewkesbury Abbey Church, on Aug. 19, 1599. With his wife and six children and with his brother George. un- married, he came to America in the ship "Mary and John," in 1630. As history records, the company of this ship founded Dorchester, Mass., and in the organization of its government and public affairs, William Phelps took a leading part, and was made a freeman six months after his arrival. His wife died in 1635, and in October of that year, or in the spring following, Mr. Phelps joined the company which settled Windsor, Conn., and figured promin- ently in the foundation of its early government. For a long period of years he was a magistrate and he was also deputy to the General Court, in 1651. In 1638, he married ( second) Mary Dover, who was a passenger on the "Mary & John." His death occurred July 14, 1672, his wife surviving until Nov. 27, 1675.
Lieut. Timothy Phelps, son of William the settler, was born Sept. 1, 1639, in Windsor, Conn., and was married March 19, 1661, to Mary Griswold, of Kill- ingworth, Conn., who was baptized Oct. 13, 1644, in Windsor. Lieut. Phelps performed service in Queen Anne's war as a member of Capt. Mathew Allyn's company and was later, in 1709, commis- sioned a lieutenant by the General Court and died in 1719.
Joseph Phelps, son of Lieut. Timothy, was born Sept. 27, 1666, and was married Nov. 18, 1686, to Sarah, born Sept. 27, 1666 (her husband's birth- day also), in Windsor, and there Mr. and Mrs. Phelps settled, the former owning much land in Hebron, and it is probable that late in life he re- moved there, where some of his children were liv- ing. His death occurred Aug. 30, 1716.
Jolın Phelps, son of Joseph, was born in Sep- tember, 1703, in Windsor, and was first married in February, 1725 to Ann, born Feb. 23, 1705, in Windsor, a daughter of Obediah and Mindwell ( Phelps) Hosford, and settled in Hebron. Conn., where Mrs. Phelps died in 1740; he died in the same town Feb. 10, 1769.
Amos Phelps, son of John, was born May 30, 1736, and was married May 5, 1757, to Anna, born Dec. 28, 1736, in Hebron, a daughter of Samuel and
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Anna (Burnham) Filer. Mr. Phelps was a farmer and a resident of Hebron, and was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, enlisting in August, 1778, and was discharged in September, 1780. He died in Hebron in 1800, his wife surviving until 1818.
Erastus Phelps, son of Amos, was born Jan. 15, 1763, in Hebron, and was married in April 1801, to Polly Yeomans, who was born in Stonington, Conn., in 1776. She died in Hebron Aug. 25, 1850. Mr. Phelps served in the war of the Revolution, for which service he was rewarded with a pension, be- ing on the rolls in 1832 as a resident of Tolland. His children, who were all born in Hebron, were: Charles C., born in 1802; Mary Ann, born in 1804, died in 1805; Erastus R., born Jan. 31, 1806; Henry A., born in 1808, married Harriet Dodge; George G., born Dec. 15, 1809, married Mary Page; Sarah Ann, born April 19, 1815, married Samuel H. Har- ris; and Alfred W., born July 12, 1818, married Mary A. Bunnell.
George Gurden Phelps, son of Erastus, was born Dec. 15, 1809, and was married Nov. 13, 1836, to Mary Page, and settled in Hebron, Conn., where he resided until 1854, when he removed to Meriden, and died there Sept. 23, 1862. Their children were: Mary Elizabeth, who was born May 10, 1840, and married Charles C. Foskett; and Harriet C., born Nov. 8, 1842, who married Rev. William H. Wardell.
Mrs. Foskett is most highly esteemed in Meriden, is an active and interested member of the Methodist Church. Socially she belongs to Ruth Hart Chapter of the Daughters of the Revolution.
HON. FREDERICK A. BETTS, of New Ha- ven, who has been actively in public life in this State during the past ten years, is one of Connecticut's most widely known representatives. He was ap- pointed insurance commissioner by Gov. O. Vin- cent Coffin and confirmed by the Senate during the session of the General Assembly in 1895, and entered upon the duties of the office July Ist of that year. The insurance commissionership is the most important one in the gift of the governor. The of- fice is for four years. The occupant must of neces- sity be a man of great administrative ability. From the outset Commissioner Betts showed himself to be the possessor of the requisite qualifications for the position. He mastered the details of insurance management and was the originator of important changes in the general statutes relating to different fields of underwriting. During the sessions of the General Assembly, while he was in office, he made himself thoroughly familiar with every bill that was presented for the consideration of the commit- tee on Insurance, and, without exception, his views were received by the committee with the utmost deference. The annual reports of Commissioner 'Betts, relating to fire and life underwriting, were models of actuarial and literary work. He showed in them sound judgment and intellectual capacity
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