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 2 > Part 20
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Since his retirement from the manufacturing business Mr. Gates has given much of his time to his private affairs, and has been occupied largely in public life. His public service has been of a most valuable order to the town of Derby and county of New Haven, and his integrity and efficiency have been productive of telling results. He was select- man of the town from 1881 to 1887, the last four years of that period serving as town agent, and dur- ing his administration the board of which he was president reduced the public debt from nearly $100,- 000 to, in round numbers, $42,000. His careful handling of the finances of the town won him the friendship and support of the leading citizens. without regard to party lines. When waited upon by his friends who urged him to become a candi- date for office of sheriff of New Haven county, he was given an idea of his popularity. This, how- ever, was more significantly demonstrated at the sub- sequent county election in 1883, when elected to that office by a large majority, overturning the district previously largely Democratic-a feat unprece- dented in the county's history. He brought to this important office the same energy and ability that had characterized his successful career as a manu- facturer and town official, and his efficient and con- scientious work were sustained by a re-election with a more flattering vote. So great was his popularity at the near close of his first term in 1886, when the County Republican Convention assembled in New Haven, that he was enthusiastically and unanimous- ly renominated. On this event one of the New Haven papers said :
"The action of the convention to nominate a
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sheriff was just what it was expected to be and what it ought to have been. Sheriff Gates has performed the duties of his office in such a way as to win the admiration and respect of all who have watched his course. He has been firm, dignified, prompt and courteous. Even his political opponents have noth- ing to say against him, for the very good reason that he has done his work so well that nothing can fairly be said. He deserves a re-election, and the indica- tions are that he will get it."
Mr. Gates has been one of Derby's enterprising and public-spirited citizens, always taking an ac- tive interest and important part in public improve- ments, and for twenty years was one of the trus- tees of the Birmingham Burying Ground Associa- tion, seventeen years of which period he was presi- dent of it, a position he resigned along in the mid- dle nineties, to the regret of all concerned. His great interest in the cemetery and long service as president of the association resulted in the present beautiful "City of the Dead" from a rude burying ground once sadly neglected. He, too, should be credited with the most gratifying manner in which the finances of the association were handled dur- ing the long term of years of his presidency. On his assuming charge the association was in debt some $3,000; this he liquidated, and on his retirement a good, comfortable surplus had accrued.
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Some years after the expiration of his eight years of official life as sheriff of New Haven county, Mr. Gates was looked upon as being a most valuable man to lead his party in the race for Congress in the second district. He had been a successful business man, and most efficient and popular as a county official. His knowledge of New Haven county poli- tics was thorough. He had shown the power of attracting to himself Democratic votes. The press of the county was outspoken and strong in his praise as to his fitness for that high office, as well as to his availability, he being considered the strong- est man that the Republicans could nominate. One paper, referring to Mr. Gates in this connection, said : "A more competent man to fill the office could not be found. He possesses the ability and financial knowledge. His popularity is extensive, and his nomination would be received here with unbounded satisfaction by the Republicans and many of his Democratic friends." Had he consented to have made the race there is no doubt in the minds of his friends but he could have received the nomination and been elected. But on retiring from the office of sheriff he felt that he had been well rewarded at the hands of his party, and was disposed to keep out of politics thereafter. His name also at one time was mentioned in connection with the office of State Comptroller.
Mr. Gates is a prominent Freemason, a member of the New Haven Commandery Knights Templar. He is a leading member of the Derby Board of Trade, and was formerly a director of the Star Pin Company. From a lifelong residence and an 1
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active participation in public, business and social life, Sheriff Gates is known as one of the most in- fluential and able of Derby's residents.
On Dec. 9. 1868, Mr. Gates was married to Le- titia Fletcher Hegeman, of New York City, and the union has been blessed with children as follows: Frank Hegeman, Ross Fletcher, Georgia Waldron and Laura Hegeman.
Mrs. Letitia Fletcher ( Hegeman) Gates is a descendant in the seventh generation from Adrian Hegeman and wife, Katrina, a native of Holland, who came from Amsterdam, Holland, to New Am- sterdam in 1650 or 1651, and a few years later lo- cated at Flatbush, Kings county, N. Y. Mr. Hege- man was prominent in public affairs, and served as Burgomaster.
From this emigrant settler Adrian Hegeman, Mrs. Gates' line is through Abraham, Adrian (2), Adrian (3), Peter Adrian and Peter Adrian (2). Adrian (2).
(II) Abraham Hegeman, son of Adrian the set- tler, married Geertray Jansze.
(III) Adrian Hegeman (2), son of Abraham, married Adriaantje, a native of Flatbush, New York.
(IV) Adrian Hegeman (3), son of Adrian (2), married Sytje Strykhes.
(V) Peter Adrian Hegeman, son of Adrian (3), born Sept. 11, 1758, in Flatbush, N. Y., married Letitia, a daughter of Nicholas Fletcher, of Eng- land. Mr. Hegeman died Nov. 7, 1815.
(VI) Peter Adrian Hegeman (2), son of Peter Adrian, born Sept. 25, 1796, in New York City, married Dec. 31, 1839, Laura Nancy Hotchkiss, born Oct. 4, 1818, in New Haven, daughter of Jolm Owen Hotchkiss and Mary (Townsend) Hotchkiss, of New Haven, Connecticut.
(VII) Letitia Fletcher Hegeman, daughter of Peter Adrian (2), married Dec. 9, 1868, in New York City, Robert Owen Gates, of Derby, Connecti- cut.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Robert Owen Gates on their mothers' side are of the same ancestry, which is one of distinction in the annals of New England, they being in direct line of several governors of the com- monwealth, as well as many of the most prominent and influential settlers of New England. This couple are descendants in the ninth generation from Samuel Hotchkiss, who supposedly came to New England from Essex, England. He was at New Haven in 1641, and in 1642 married Elizabeth Cleaverly. His death as given in the Tuttle Gene- alogy, occurred in 1653. From this Samuel Hotch- kiss Mr. and Mrs. Robert Owen Gates' line is through John, Joshua, Caleb, John (2), Gabriei, John Owen, and Ann Maria Townsend, and Laura Nancy Hotchkiss, respectively.
(II) John Hotchkiss, son of Samuel the settler. born in 1642, married in 1672, Elizabeth, born in 1649, daughter of Henry Peck, of New Haven. Mr. Hotchkiss died in 1689.
(III) Joshua Hotchkiss, son of John, born in
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1675, married Susannah, daughter of William and Mary (Clark) Chatterton, the latter a daughter of James Clark, of New Haven.
(IV) Caleb Hotchkiss, son of Joshua, born in 1703. married in 1728, Ruth, born in 1708, daugh- ter of Capt. John and Sarah ( Cooper) Munson, a descendant in direct line from Capt. Thomas Mun- son, William Bradley, and John Cooper, of New Hlaven, and John Thompson, of East Haven. Mr. and Mrs. Hotchkiss died in 1785.
(V) John Hotchkiss, son of Caleb, born in 1731, married in 1755, Susannah, born in 1732, daughter of Timothy and Jane (Harris) Jones, and a descendant in direct line from Deputy Governor William Jones and Governor Theophilus Ea- ton, of New Haven. Mr. Hotchkiss was
graduated from Yale in 1748, taught in the Hopkins Grammar School in New Haven from 1749 to 1751, and from 1752 to 1764 was engaged in merchandising. When the British invaded New Haven in 1779, Mr. Hotchkiss was one of the vol- unteers who went out July 5, to oppose the march of the enemy, and he was among the first of the patriots to fall. His widow survived until May 6, 1813.
(VI) Gabiiel Hotchkiss, son of John, born in 1757, married about 1780, Hilpah Rosetta, born in 1763, daughter of Capt. Elisha and Rosetta (Owen) Phelps, of Simsbury, Conn., and a descendant in direct line from William Phelps, Samuel Humphrey, Matthew Grant. Gov. Thomas Dudley, Gov. Will- iam Lcete and Rev. John Woodbridge. Mr. Hotch- kiss was graduated from Yale in 1774. He died in 1818.
(VII) John Owen Hotchkiss, son of Gabriel, born Nov. 28, 1781, married Oct. 17, 1805, Mary, born March 8, 1788, daughter of Elias and Hul- dah (Shepard) Townsend, and a descendant in direct line from Thomas Townsend, Edward Hitch- cock, Matthew Moulthrop and John Thompson. Mr. Hotchkiss died July 6, 1870. His wife, Mary (Townsend) Hotchkiss, died in May, 1847.
(VIII) Ann Maria Townsend Hotchkiss and Laura Nancy Hotchkiss, daughters of John Owen, married Robert Wilder Gates and Peter Adrian Hegeman, respectively.
(IX) Robert Owen Gates, son of Ann Maria Townsend (Hotchkiss) Gates, and Letitia Fletcher (Hegeman), daughter of Laura Nancy (Hotchkiss) Hegeman, were married Dec. 9, 1868.
LYMAN F. BASSETT, deceased, a leading agriculturist of Hamden, was a native of New Haven county, born in the town of North Haven, Feb. 27, 1827, and was a worthy representative of one of its honored and highly respected familics. His father, Jared Bassett, was born upon the same farm in 1801. and it was also the birthplace of the grandfather, Eli Bassett. His great-grandfather Bassett died in New York during the Revolutionary war.
Jared Bassett spent his entire life upon the old homestead in North Haven, and followed the occu- pation of farming with marked success. He took quite an active and prominent part in local politics and was honored with several offices, including those of selectman and assessor. He died in 1892, at the advanced age of ninety-one years. For his first wife he married Miss Polly Fenn, of Plymouth, Conn., and to them were born five children, of whom our subject was the eldest ; David, born in 1829, died in 1893 ; Eli died at the age of eighteen years; Aaron is a resident of North Haven ; and Jared lives on the old homestead in that town. After the death of the mother of these children, the father married her sister, Miss Thankful Fenn, and for his third wife wedded Mrs. Laura (Button ) Foote.
During his boyhood, Lyman F. Bassett attended the common schools and academy of North Haven, where he acquired a good practical education. He assisted in the operation of the home farm until eighteen years of age, and then turned his attention to the butcher business, which he followed in North Haven at intervals for thirty years. He continued to reside upon the old homestead until 1873, when he removed to the farm of twelve acres in Hamden, upon which he last resided, having retired from the butcher business about 1892. This business he had carried on in Hamden at different times as his health permitted.
On Sept. 14, 1858, Mr. Bassett was married to Miss Emily J. Pierpont, of Waterbury, Conn., who was born Jan. 25, 1832, a daughter of Luther and Delia M. (Waugh) Pierpont, natives of Water- bury and Litchfield, respectively. The father, who was an extensive farmer and highly esteemed man, died at the age of seventy-seven years. In his family were seven children : William H., James E., Chloe M., Emily C., Jane A., Henry S., and Emily J., all now deceased with the exception of Mrs. Bassett. Mr. Bassett held membership in the Con- gregational Church of North Haven since 1868, as has also his wife, and he took an active interest in everything tending to advance the moral, intellectual or material welfare of the town or community. While a resident of North Haven, Mr. Bassett served as justice of the peace for two years, and also filled the office of assessor in a most creditable and acceptable manner. He died July 9, 1901, and was buried at North Haven.
STILES J. TREAT, a successful and progres- sive farmer of the town of Orange, widely known and as widely respected, lives in the house in which he was born Sept. 2, 1835. He is a lineal descend- ant of Gov. Treat, of Colonial days, whose name and fame brightly illumine one of the pages of Con- necticut's history.
Jonathan Treat, grandfather of Stiles J., was born in Orange, not far from the birthplace of Stiles J., and was a farmer. He bought his holdings early in the century, and his son, Jonathan (2), father of
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.Stiles J., received the land by inheritance. The
grandfather was a deacon in the church. He mar- ried Susanna Gunn, of Milford, who reached the remarkable age of ninety, and they had three chil- dren : Mrs. Benjamin Clark. Jireh and Jonathan (2).
Jonathan Treat (2) was born in Orange, not far from the birthplace of our subject, and died in 1886, at the age of eighty-six. He was a Republican, a man of public spirit, and was held in high regard. Re- ligiously he was a member of the Congregational Church. He married Mary, daughter of Hezekiah ยท Baldwin, of Woodbridge, who had a family of nine .children. Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Treat, of whom four reached maturity, and two are yet living, Stiles J. and his elder sister, Mary, who married Silas Baldwin. The mother died in 1877, in her seventy-ninth year.
Stiles J. Treat was raised upon the paternal farm, and after his father's death became owner of the ancestral estate, consisting of 136 acres. This he sold in 1898 to his son-in-law, Arthur D. Clark, with whom he makes his home. Mr. Clark carries on general farming, but makes a specialty of dairying.
On Dec. 25, 1855, Mr. Treat was married to Miss Anna M. Fitts, of Seneca Falls, N. Y., daugh- tei of John Fitts, a wealthy retired farmer. She was the youngest of seven children born to her par- ents. Mrs. Treat died July 9, 1888. Their mar- riage was blessed with two children : Fannie E. married Charles H. Dewell ( who died May 6, 1899), and has one son, Robert Treat Dewell, now attend- ing Storrs Agricultural College, and Mary B. be- came the wife of Arthur D. Clark, son of Charles A. Clark, and died Nov. 12, 1900. Mr. Treat is independent politically, and has been justice of the peace for eight years. He is a member of the Grange. In religious connection, he attends the Congregational Church, and is a member of the Society's committee.
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HERRICK PAYNE FROST (deceased), late of New Haven, where for many years of a busy life he was one of the useful citizens and substantial business men of that city-first as a wholesale gro- cer, and then as a telephone projector, as well as manager-was descended from the Frost family, of Wolcott, Connecticut.
Mr. Frost was born Jan. 16, 1835. in the town of Wolcott, a son of Sylvester and Philanda (Tut- tle) Frost, and was in the fourth generation from David Frost, of the same town. David Frost was born Sept. 5, 1742, and his wife. Mary, was born Dec. 22, 1740. They had their home three miles east of Waterbury, on the Southington road, at what is now called East Farms. His death occurred Dec. 15, 1812, and that of his wife, Feb. 6, 1819, when she was aged seventy-nine years. From this David Frost, Herrick P. Frost's lineage is through David Frost (2) and Sylvester.
David Frost (2) was born March 1, 1767, and was married June 14, 1790, to Mary Ann, a daugh-
ter of David Hitchcock, of Southington. Mr. Frost settled on Southington Mountain, north of Capt. N. Lewis, and became a man of influence and responsi- bility in the town. He died March 18, 1850, and his wife, Nov. 24, 1832. Sylvester Frost, his son, was the father of Herrick Frost, and was born May 8, 1807. He married Philanda Tuttle, and was en- gaged in farming in Wolcott. His death occurred in Southington, Connecticut.
Herrick P. Frost passed his boyhood for the greater part at the home of his uncle, Herrick Payne, and was educated at the Academy. In his seven- teenth year he secured a team and wagon and went on the road selling goods of various kinds through a number of States, and in this manner soon be- came self-reliant and confident, as well as experi- enced and fairly successful. For a number of years he was engaged in this line, and in 1856 made his home in New Haven, where after several experi- ments in various enterprises, in 1858 he formed a partnership with Julius Tyler, Jr., establishing the wholesale grocery house of Tyler & Frost, on State street. This business Mr. Frost prosecuted with great energy and varied success for nearly twenty years, the partnership being dissolved in 1876, at about the time the telephone was just coming into public notice. The attention of Mr. Frost was turned to it, and after a careful examination of its merits, its practical character was quickly revealed to him. Associated with George W. Coy, an electrician and at one time a telegraph manager, Mr. Frost and his partner, in January, 1877, projected the first tele- phone company ever formed for a general exchange business in New Haven, under the name of the New Haven Telephone Co., and the first telephone exchange, it is said, that the world ever saw, was established. The new enterprise attracted from its novelty general attention, and in less than three months after its inauguration it had 150 subscribers, and within a year over 400. Mr. Frost and his part- ner were thus instrumental in giving to New Haven the credit of leading the world in this important line. By 1880 capital had become interested in the farther development of the system, and the New Haven Telephone Co. was merged into the Connecticut Telephone Co., with the late Mar- shall Jewell, of Hartford, as president, and Hon. Charles L. Mitchell and Morris F. Tyler as directors. This company in 1884 underwent another change, becoming the Southern New England Telephone Co., with a capital of one and a half million dollars. Through the foresight, energy and ability of Mr. Frost, to whom was committed the general man- agement of this great and growing corporation, the lines of the company were carried into nearly every town, hamlet and school district, within the terri- tory in which they operated, and until a very few years ago there was no district in the world with so many telephones in use, in proportion to its pop- ulation, as Connecticut. The Boston Electric Light Co., of Boston, was projected by Mr. Frost, and
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Fred A. Gilbert, of New Haven, was placed in the presidency of that company by Mr. Frost, and voted by him a salary of $8,000 per year. Previous to this Mr. Gilbert was in the paper hanging business in New Haven. The New Haven Electric Light Co. and the New Haven Steam Heat Co. were also projects of his, and he was interested in the Chesa- peake and Potomac Telephone Co., Washington, D. C. ; and he was director and stockholder in thirty- four electric light and telephone companies. He was also one of the organizers of the opposition line of steamboats.
As a man and a citizen Mr. Frost commanded the esteem and respect of his fellow citizens. He had been connected with the city government in various relations-as a councilman, alderman, police com- missioner, as well as in other capacities. For a number of years he was chairman of the city board of finance, and in all official relations acquitted him- self with credit.
Mr. Frost was married April 22, 1858, to Miss Olive Amelia, a daughter of Ashbel Mix, a highly respected citizen of the town of Bristol. and to this union were born: (1) Louie Herrick, who mar- ried Clara Drake, a direct descendant of Sir Francis Drake; (2) Helen Louise, who died when five years old; (3) Pauline Amelia, who married Archibald Ward Ives, of Boston, and is now the mother of two children, Paul Frost and Olive; and (4) Dwight S. M. Mr. Frost died Nov. 3, 1888, and was interred in Evergreen cemetery, New Haven.
The Mix family, to which belongs Mrs. Herrick P. Frost, traces its authentic history back to Tim- othy Mix, who was born in 1725, and died Jan. 23, 1800, his will bearing date of Jan. 14, 1800. His wife's christian name was Elizabeth.
Ashbel Mix, who was born in 1760, and died Feb. 15, 1807, was married to Hannah Byington, a daughter of Lieut. Joseph and Hannah ( Warren) Byington, who was born Nov. 10, 1773, and died June 27, 1836.
Joseph Byington, the father of Mrs. Hannah Mix, was born in 1736, and died Aug. 25, 1798. Jemima Hungerford, who became his wife in 1757, died in 1759. His second wife, Hannah Spencer, whom he married in 1760, bore him the follow- ing children: Isaac, born in 1761; Noah, born in 1762; Isaiah, born in 1764; Martin, born in 1767; and Clarissa, born in 1770. Hannah (Spencer) Mix died in 1771; and the third wife of Mr. Mix was Hannah Warren, who was born in 1752, and died May 13, 1819. To this marriage. which oc- curred Feb. 20, 1772, were born the following chil- dren : Hannah, born Nov. 10, 1773 ; Meliscent, born in 1775: Chloe, born in 1777; Joseph, born in 1778: Asahel, born in 1780; Enos, born in 1781; and Newell, born in 1787.
Joseph Byington served as a lieutenant in the war of the American Revolution, and his name ap- pears on the records from the "Lexington Alarm."
Ashbel Mix, the father of Mrs. Herrick P. Frost,
New Haven, Conn., was born in Bristol, Hartford county, where he was known as a modern and pro- gressive farmer, serving his town in many public capacities. His wife, Olive Eliza Foote, was a daughter of Truman Sherman Foote, of Woodbury, Conn. Mr. Mix died in Bristol, where his industri- ous and useful life was passed.
CULLEN BEECHER FOOTE, an enterpris- ing agriculturist of New Haven county, is the owner of a. fine farm in the town of Hamden, and his management of the estate is marked by the scientific knowledge and skill which characterize the modern farmer.
Mr. Foote is the only male representative of his family left in Hamden. There he was born Nov. 28, 1838, son of Jared Foote, a native of North Haven. His paternal grandfather, Dr. Joseph Foote, was also born in North Haven, and there made his home throughout life. He was a grad- uate of Yale College, and was one of the most prominent and influential citizens of his community, as well as one of its most successful physicians. Religiously he was an active member in the Con- gregational Church. He wedded Miss Mary Bas- sett. The farm now owned and occupied by our subject was the ancestral home of the Bassett family.
Jared Foote, father of our subject, was born in North Haven in 1800. In 1821 he was gradu- ated from Yale, and the day of his graduation his father gave him the old Bassett homestead. On the same day he married Miss Rebecca Beecher. of Kent, Conn., who was born in 1800, and they be- came the parents of six children, namely: Joseph. deceased ; Wilfred, a resident of New Haven ; Robert, deceased; Frederick, a retired merchant of Binghamton, N. Y .; Mary, who married Henry C. Griggs, of Waterbury, and is now deceased (her husband preceded her to the grave) : and Cullen B., our subject. Soon after his marriage the father located on the farm. now belonging to our subject, which then embraced about 300 acres, and there he spent the remainder of his life en- gaged as a farmer and dealer in live stock. Hc died in July, 1873, and his wife in October, 1877. Their remains rest in the North Haven cemetery. Both were active members of the Congregational Church, and were held in high esteem by all who knew them. He was a Whig and later a Republi- can, though no politician, taking only the interest of a public spirited citizen in political matters. He was a great reader, and well informed, and for several years conducted a private school at his liome.
Cullen B. Foote attended public school in Ham- den, private school at North Haven, and the North Haven Academy and later took a supplementary course, by private instruction, in Chicago. From: youth he had a passion for railroad service, and was but a boy when he commenced that work. He
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took kindly to it, and his progress was rapid. He was engaged in the railroad train service at differ- ent times, and when but thirteen years old was fireman between New York and New Haven. Though up to this time his service had not been continuous, he was competent to perform duties much in advance of his years. At an early age he went to Chicago, Ill., where he secured a position as brakeman on the Illinois Central railroad. On his first trip the engineer was taken severely ill, and our subject took his place and ran the train on time. He was then but seventeen. After serving as train baggage master he was made passenger conductor on the road, and continued to fill that position until he attained his majority, when on account of ill health he returned home. Soon afterward he pur- chased the farm, and has since devoted his energies to its improvement and cultivation with marked success. He has constructed stone drains through the farm, and now has one of the best improved and most fertile and productive places in the coun- ty. Until 1889 he gave his attention almost en- tirely to dairy farming. He is a prominent mem- ber of the Hamden Grange, P. of H., and is a mem- ber of the county, State and national organizations of that order, displaying a most intelligent interest in everything pertaining to his calling.
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