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 40

Author: Beers (J.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, J.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1010

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 40

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Mr. Birdseye married Miss Mary A., daughter of William and Eleanor Smith, of Birmingham, Conn. Their children are: Bessie Rebecca, Henry Shelton, Eleanor Louise and Mary Anna. Henry Shelton Birdseye is the efficient teller in the Derby Savings Bank.

(2) Mary Louise Birdseye resides at the Birds- eye homestead in Derby. She has been interested in the genealogy of the Birdseye family, and as a diversion has done considerable work in that line. She is interested in historical matters pertaining to the town, county and State, and is now registrar of the Derby Chapter of the Daughters of the Amer- ican Revolution, of which she is an active member.

ELAM JASON DICKERMAN, leading mer- chant and progressive citizen of Mt. Carmel, town of Hamden, is a native of that village, born Aug. 1, 1845, a son of Orin and Betsey ( Goodyear) Dicker- man. He comes of a stalwart New England family.

(I) Thomas Dickerman, the first of the name in America, and supposed to have been a native of England, came to Dorchester, Mass., about 1635-36, and spent the rest of his life there, dying June II, 1657. His widow (Ellen) married John Bullard, and they went to Medfield, Mass., July 14, 1663. The children born to Thomas Dickerman were : ( I) Thomas, born 1623, died September, 1691. (2) Abraham, a sketch of whom follows. (3) Isaac, born December, 1637. (4) John, baptized Oct. 26, 1644, died young.

(II) Abraham Dickerman (son of Thomas, above) was born in 1634, and was a year old when

taken by his parents to Dorchester, Mass., where he grew to manhood. From Dorchester he removed to New Haven, Conn., and there spent the balance of his life, dying Nov. 2, 1711. He held several public offices, and was one of the Colony's most respected citizens. He married, Jan. 2, 1653, Mary ( Cooper), born 1636, in New Haven, and died Jan. 4, 1705, a daughter of John Cooper. Children as follows were born to them: (1) Mary, born May 1, 1659, mar- ried Samuel Bassett. (2) Sarah, born July 25, 1663, married Nathaniel Sperry. (3) Hannah, born March 16, 1665, married Caleb Chidsey. (4) Ruth, born April 5, 1668, married Nathaniel Brad- ley. (5) Abigail, born Sept. 26, 1670, married Ebenezer Sperry. (6) Abraham, born Jan. 14, 1673, married (first) Elizabeth Glover, and (sec- ond) Susanna Hotchkiss. (7) Isaac, sketch of whom follows. (8) Rebecca, born Feb. 27, 1679, married Isaac Foote.

(III) Isaac Dickerman (son of Abraham), born Nov. 7, 1677, in New Haven, was a prominent and influential citizen, holding many public offices. He died there Sept. 7, 1758. On June 30, 1709, he mar- ried (first) Mary Atwater, born Dec. 31, 1686, a daughter of Jonathan and Ruth (Peck) Atwater, and granddaughter of David Atwater. He married (second) Elizabeth Alling, born November, 1691, and died April, 1767, a daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Chidsey) Alling, and a granddaughter of John Morris. Children born to Isaac Dickerman : ( I) Isaac, born March 31, 1711, died young. (2) Samuel, born Jan. 12, 1712, died young. (3) Ruth, born Dec. 13, 1713, married Eliakim Hall. (4) Isaac, born Jan. 31, 1714, graduated from Yale, in 1736, with degree of M. A., and died in 1740.(5) Samuel, sketch of whom follows. (6) Jonathan, born July 4, 1719, married (first) Rebecca Bassett, (second) Hannah Leavenworth Moss, and (third) Deborah Todd.

(IV) Samuel Dickerman (son of Isaac), born March 4, 1716, removed from New Haven to Mt. Carmel, becoming one of the pioneers of the town of Hamden, and owning a large tract of land, where- by he was one of the most extensive farmers in the town ; he died in Mt. Carmel May 10, 1760. Sam- uel Dickerman married, Dec. 6, 1739, Mary Alling, born Dec. 28, 1717, and died Dec. 5, 1802, a daugh- ter of Jonathan and Sarah (Sackett) Alling. Chil- dren: (1) Isaac, born Sept. 16, 1740, married Sybil Sperry. (2) Sarah, born Dec. 29, 1741, mar- ried Joel Munson. (3) Mary, born April 2, 1743, died Dec. 20, 1817, married Feb. 12, 1767, Phineas Castle. (4) Samuel, born April 20, 1745, married Lowly Pardec. (5) James, born June 24, 1747, married Lois Bradley. (6) Rhoda, born Nov. 24, 1748, married Sept. 9, 1778, Medad Atwater. (7) Chauncey, born Sept. 28, 1750, married (first) Re- becca Bradley, and (second) Hannah Gill. (8) Jesse, a sketch of whom follows. (9) Ruth, born March 9, 1754,and died Oct. 2, 1840, married Samuel Atwater. . (10) Susannah, born Feb. 1, 1756, mar-

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ried Wait Chatterson. (II) Lucy, born June I, 1759, married Jesse Tuttle.

(V) Jesse Dickerman (son of Samuel) was born June 16, 1752, at Mt. Carmel, where he was all his life engaged in farming, dying there May 22, 1821, and was buried in Mt. Carmel cemetery. He was a deacon in the Baptist Church formed at West- wood, New Haven county, and he willed ȘIoo to the Church, the interest on which was to go toward employing a minister. By his wife, Damaris (Ives), born Dec. 25, 1754, and died Jan. 11, 1839, a daugh- ter of James and Saralı (Tuttle) Ives, he had chil- dren: (1) Betsey, born Sept. 29, 1778, died un- married Jan. 10, 1840. (2) Elam, sketch of whom follows. (3) Russell, born 1789, died March 10, 1790. (4) Cephas, born July 26, 1793, died Sept. 18, 1796.

(VI) Elam Dickerman, son of Jesse, was born March 21, 1782, and died July 1, 1825. He mar- ried Charlotte Cook, born in 1785, and died March 10, 1860, a daughter of Cornelius Brooks and Louisa (Hotchkiss) Cook. Their children: (1) Russell, born March 1, 1804, died April 3, 1874; (2) Laura, born Aug. 27, 1810, and died April 3, 1874, married February, 1827, Willis Perkins, born July 17, 1805; and (3) Orrin, a sketch of whom follows.

(VII) Orrin Dickerman (son of Elam and the father of the subject proper of this sketch) was born Aug. 10, 1816, in Mt. Carmel, and educated at the public schcols of the town of Handen. For his life vocation he followed farming, and was also en- gaged in the butchering business, as well as in stock dealing. He bought the old Dickerman homestead, and died there June 24, 1893. In church matters he was liberal, in politics, first a Whig, later a Repub- lican, and he was an honest, upright, loyal citizen, highly respected by all. In 1838 he married Betsey Goodyear, born Jan. 8, 1816, and died Nov. 15, 1891, in Mt. Carmel, a daughter of Samuel and Lucy (Candee) Goodyear. Children by this union : Cynthia Goodyear, born Sept. 21, 1842, married H. W. Collett ; Elam Jason, a sketch of whom follows; Chloe Atwater, born Aug. 19, 1848, married March 14, 1867, Joel Augur Allen, of Wallingford, Conn .; Lucy Elizabeth, born Aug. 13, 1859, is an active member of the Episcopal Church in Hamden, where she is much beloved and respected.

(VIII) Elam Jason Dickerman (son of Orrin, and the subject of these lines) received his education in the district schools of the town of Hamden, and was reared on his father's farm. When a young man he worked in the Mt. Carmel axle shop, and then removed to Norfolk, Conn., where he spent a few week's in an axle shop there. He then found em- ployment with Messrs. Ives, Woodruff Co., at Mt. Carmel, later in the axle shops, after which he was engaged with his father in the butchering and cat- tle-droving business. In 1874 he was appointed railroad agent at Mt. Carmel, a position he held with eminent satisfaction to all for some seven years, and then embarked in his present general mercantile

business in which he has met with gratifying success. Since 1896 he has been located at Andrew's Hall, where he keeps a full supply of general merchandise, and where, by strict attention to business, he has built up a profitable trade.

On Dec. 27, 1876, Elam J. Dickerman married Emma Miller, who was born Oct. 13, 1845, at Avon, Conn., a daughter of Edward Miller, of that place, and one child, Orrin Miller, was born to them July 4, 1882; he is employed on the railroad. The mother died July 20, 1888, and Mr. Dickerman for his second wife married, June 12, 1889, Susan L. Smith, born June 25, 1846, a daughter of Garrett and Ruth A. Smith, of Milford, Connecticut.

In religious faith Mr. Dickerman is a member of the Congregational Church, and was assistant super- intendent of the Sabbath-school. Socially, he is not affiliated with any society, except the Mt. Carmel Ecclesiastical Society. In politics he is a Re- publican.

GEORGE MILES GRANT, for many years one of the leading mason builders of New Haven, was born in that city Jan. 18, 1834, and his father, William Grant, was also a native of New Haven. William Grant was one of the first regular police- men in the city, and was on the force altogether thirty-five years, being at the time of his death the oldest officer in service. He died in September, 1873, at the age of seventy. Mr. Grant was a man of irreproachable character, faithful in the dis- charge of every duty. He married Martha Miles, a native of Milford, and they had a large family, all now deceased.

George M. Grant has always made his home in New Haven. He received his education in the public schools and the Lancasterian school, and learned the trade of mason, which he followed all his life, first as a journeyman, and from 1871 until his death as a contractor. In the year mentioned he was taken into the firm of Perkins, Chatfield & Co., which in 1875, by the retirement of Mr. Per- kins, became the firm of Chatfield & Grant. They dissolved in 1886, owing to Philo Chatfield's retire- ment on account of ill health, and Mr. Grant contin- ued the business until 1894, when a joint stock com- pany was formed consisting of Mr. Grant, W. F. Gillette (who had previously been foreman) and Frederick Chatfield (who had been connected with the business for many years). This comprises the history of Mr. Grant's association with his noted New Haven firm. which has erected a great number of the principal buildings in the city.

George M. Grant was for seventeen years senior warden of St. John's P. E. Church, but on the removal of St. John's Church to its new edifice, on Orange street, he joined St. Paul's Church, it being nearer to his residence. He was a member of Hiram Lodge, I. O. O. F., and of the Knights of Honor, and was for many years president of the old Jeffersonian Club of the city. He also be-

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longed to the New Haven Chamber of Commerce, and the New Haven Historical Society. For a number of years he was a member of New Haven's board of public works, and he also served some time as a member of the city's board of health. He was a director of the Connecticut Savings Bank and of the Evergreen Cemetery Association. He always took an interest in the famous local institution of learning which he attended for several years, the Lancasterian school, and was a member of the Lan- casterian School Association. Mr. Grant was first stricken with paralysis about two years before his death, but recovered and resumed business. He

had a slight shock in December, 1900, and the third proved fatal. He died at his home in Lyon street Feb. 3, 1901, leaving a widow and one adopted child, Mrs. Minnie E. Riddel, of Redlands, Cal. Mr. Grant was interested in orange groves in Redlands, and one of his chief diversions in his later years was to visit California in the winter ; he had made a trip there annually for the last eight or nine years.

Mr. Grant was twice married, first to Miss Julia M. Freeman, of New Haven, who died about twen- ty-five years ago. For his second wife he married, in 1879, Mrs. Jane P. Judson, widow of Jerome T. Judson, and daughter of the late Alexander Hall, Esq., of Newtown. Conn. Mr. Grant was a man of much public spirit, keenly interested in all na- tional and local events of the day, and gave freely of his time and attention to the faithful discharge of the duties of the various public positions which he had occupied. He was a kind husband and fa- ther, benevolent in disposition, and a citizen whose death was indeed a loss to New Haven. The late Dr. Noah Porter once spoke of him as "radically honest," and it was a fair index of the sterling char- acter of the man.

FRANKLIN L. CURTISS, one of the older and more prominent citizens and business men of Waterbury, was born in Southbury, Conn., Jan. 19, 1835, a son of Simeon Curtiss, Jr., who was born in the same place in 1808, and died in Waterbury at the age of eighty-seven. Simeon Curtiss, Sr., the father of Simeon, Jr., was born at Southbury in 1768, and it is said that the first Curtiss who set- tled here got this land from the Indians. The Cur- tiss homestead was four miles from the Center, and the various generations of the family who have oc- cupied this farm have been prominent and re- spectable people. The first representative of the Curtiss family in this country came from England in 1644 and settled at Old Stratford, Connecticut.

Simeon Curtiss, Sr., married Miss Mary Brad- ley, of Hamden, and settled on the farm where they reared a family of six children: Erastus, Reuben, Jason, William, Mary Ann and Simeon, Jr. Of these, Erastus was a physician, and received his medical education in Yale: he located at Coopers- town, N. Y., where he practiced for about thirty years. Reuben B. was a farmer and kept a select ; ity. Mr. Curtiss has been president of the Matthew

school for boys; he was a deacon in a church at Oxford, Conn. Jason was a farmer and served as a deacon of the church in Southbury. William was. a farmer in Middlebury, Conn., where he died. Mary Ann married Josiah Hine, a farmer, who was very prominent, being first selectman many years in Middlebury, Conn. All the sons of Simeon Cur- tiss lived to be more than eighty-five years old, as did Simeon and his wife. He was a man of re- markable physical development, standing six feet two inches in his stockings, and finely proportioned ; he never had a doctor, and never was sick a day in his active life.

Simeon Curtiss, Jr., the father of Franklin L., was a life-long farmer. He married Miss Hannah Bronson, who was born in Waterbury, and they be- came the parents of three children: Josiah, Frank- lin L. and Hannah J. Josiah died in Middlebury, Conn., at the age of thirty-five years; he was en- gaged in the lumber business in Waterbury and in Bridgeport. Hannah J. married Edward D. Tuttle, who was for years connected with the Scovill Man- ufacturing Co., later moving to Kenosha, Wis.,. where he was a quarter owner in the Chicago Brass Co .; he died in that city in 1894, two years after the death of his wife. Simeon Curtiss, Jr., was a Whig and a Republican. In religion they were Con- gregationalists.

Franklin L. Curtiss spent his boyhood days on the farm in Southbury, Conn., where he attended dis- trict school, and for two years was a student in the. school of his uncle at Southbury. In 1851 he came to Waterbury and attended the high school a year and then taught school in Watertown in the winter of 1851 and 1852. The next year he was a clerk in the postoffice at Waterbury, and in 1853, when the- Citizens' Bank of Waterbury was opened by Fred- erick J. Kingsbury and Abram Ives, Mr. Curtiss entered as one of the operating force, and has been with the bank to the present time. He has been cashier since 1865, and has been assistant treasurer of the savings bank many years.

On Sept. 28, 1858, Mr. Curtiss married Miss. Mary Louise Hine, who was born in Naugatuck, Conn., a daughter of Richard Hine. Three chil- dren were born to this union: Henry N., Howard and Edith L. Henry N., who was in the bank about fifteen years, is now deceased. Howard, who was with the Waterbury Brass Co. many years, is now connected with the American Brass Co; Edith L., the only daughter, married Dr. John R. Poore, a resident physician in Waterbury. Mr. Curtiss is a Republican, but in local affairs gives his vote to the best men regardless of party affiliation. In Masonry he has risen to the Commandery Degree, and is a Mystic Shriner. In 1859 he united with the Episcopal Church, and is to-day one of its ac- tive workers. For twenty years he has been the treasurer of the parish, and is one of the active con- tributors to all religious enterprises in the commun-

Franklin. L. lentin

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& Willard Manufacturing Co. for twelve years, and has settled some of the largest estates in Waterbury. His ward has selected him as its representative in the city council. He is a large-hearted gentleman, who is active in helping everybody along, and sus- tains the respect of the community.

JOHN ROBINSON POORE, M. D., was born in Roxbury, Mass., near Boston, June 3, 1864, and comes of one of the oldest families in New England. The past representatives of the Poore family in America came from England in 1628, and settled in Ipswich, Mass. Of these, there were four brothers and one sister. At first they were farmers, but eventually branched out into mercantile life. Five Poore brothers took part in the Revolutionary war, fighting together in the patriot ranks at the battle of Lexington, March 19, 1775.

John A. Poore, the father of Dr. John R., was born in what was then called Danversport, Mass., Sept. 10, 1843, a son of John R., and a grandson of Enoch, of that settlement. He became a member of the firm of Stickney & Poore, well known throughout New England. Mr. Poore married Har- riet P. Low, who was born in the city of New York, June 23, 1845, a daughter of Ariel Low, a native of Essex, Mass. They became the parents of six chil- dren: Dr. John Robinson ; Ariel Low, who is en- gaged in the paper business at Boston; Edward Waldron, in the U. S. navy, and assigned to the new battleship "Kentucky"; Alice Adelaide, who married George Sargent, an electrical contractor ; George Wilbur, who died in infancy ; and Augustus Sprague, who was drowned in Ipswich Bay, Mass., in 1896, at the age of fourteen. Mr. Poore has been a Democrat all his life. In religious belief, he clings to the faith of the Established Church of England.

John Robinson Poore spent his boyhood days in Somerville, Mass., and in Chicago, where he at- tended school. In 1869 he came back to Somer- ville and continued his schooling, and was also a pupil of Dr. Hixon, at "Eagles Nest," Newbury- port, Mass., where he remained two years. In March, 1877, he went into the business world as a clerk in the coffee and spice house of Dwinell Hayward & Co., in Boston, and continued with this concern until 1891, with the exception of two years which he spent on his grandfather's ranch in the West. From 1882 to 1889 he made his headquar- ters at Detroit, Mich., selling coffees, spices and similar goods for his house throughout that sec- tion of the country. In 1891 Mr. Poore entered Harvard Medical School and was graduated in 1894. He had an excellent opportunity for special practice as resident physician in the Boston Lying- in Hospital, where he was engaged for some months before his graduation. As a medical attendant upon a wealthy patient he spent the year after gradua- tion in traveling through the South. Dr. Poore came to Waterbury in 1895 and opened an office for the practice of his profession in this city. His

medical skill and professional character commanded quick recognition, and he has come into a very flat- tering practice ; and he is surgeon of the police and fire departments.

Oui Oct. 18, 1898, Dr. Poore wedded Miss Edith L. Curtiss, who was born in Waterbury, daughter of Franklin L. Curtiss, cashier of the Citizens' Bank of Waterbury. To this union there is one son- Franklin Curtiss Poore, born Nov. 25, 1900. Dr. Poore is a Republican. He belongs to the Nosa- hogan Lodge, No. 21, I. O. O. F., and the Har- vard Medical Association. At the present time he is the secretary and treasurer of the Waterbury Medical Association. In the State Medical Associa- tion and in the American Medical Association he is an active member. The Doctor also belongs to the Sons of the American Revolution.

HOBART V. WELTON. The Welton family has been settled in Connecticut for more than two centuries, and during that long period its representa- tives have, in every generation, been men of char- acter and standing in the community. John Welton and his wife, Mary Upson, came from England about 1667, and two years later settled in Water- bury, Conn. They were parents of the following children : Abigail, Mary, Elizabeth, John, Stephen, Richard (the great-great-grandfather of Hobart V. Welton), Hannah, Thomas, George and Elsic.

Richard Welton married and reared the follow- ing children : Richard, John, Mary, Thomas, Kesiah, Martha, Stephen, Eliakin ( the great-grandfather of H. V. Welton), Eda and Tabitha.

Eliakim Welton married and became the father of the following family: Eliakim, Eunice, Avis, Richard, Eli, Moses, Aaron, Benoni and Benjamin.

Richard Welton, the grandfather of Hobart V., married, and in his family were the following chil- dren : Noah, Richard, Richard (2), Margaret. Thomas, Lydia, Hannah, Joseph D. (the father of Hobart V. Welton), and Bella.

Joseph D. Welton married Miss Tomlinson, and to their union were born four children, namely : Julia M., Hobart V., Joseph and Henry D.

Hobart V. Welton was born in Woodbury, Litchfield Co., Conn., and came with his parents to Waterbury, where he grew to manhood. He mar- ried Mary A. Richards, native of Vermont, and they became the parents of four children: Edward D., Sarah C., Harriet A. and HOBART L. Edward is a tool maker, and is now leading a retired life in Waterbury; Sarah C. is Mrs. D. W. Pierpont, of Cheshire, Conn .; Harriet married George Laub, of Waterbury, and died in 1875 ; and Hobart L. lives in Waterbury.

Hobart V. Welton was a man of far more than the ordinary endowment of brain and character, and held through his long life the unshaken respect and confidence of the community. After his marriage he located on his farm near Wolcott. A good farmer and a wealthy man, he maintained his fine country

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residence beyond all possible criticism. The house was built in 1830, and is a large, roomy structure, shadowed by two or three tall pines. The barn is an immense structure of granite, put up in 1858, ; and an eagle is perched on the top of the granite facing.

Mr. Welton had a gift for carving, and with home made tools effected some exquisite designs in granite and marble. A curiously carved gate admits to the premises, and its decorations all done by Mr. Welton, represent almost everything employed on the farm in his life. Within the frame of the gate are carved the plough, the harrow, the ox-yoke, the sickle, and it is one of the most interesting things to be found in many a day. Within the house are found many of his carvings still preserved, and they are carefully kept by his son, Hobart L. Mr. Wel- ton had a remarkable endowment of mechanical in- genuity, and some of his boyish carvings in wood still remain, and are kept by his son, who regards them as beyond price.

Mr. Welton once said, "If I were to write my own biography to please myself only, I should say, 'With an inborn taste for sculpture, but obliged to earn my own living from early youth, I have been of some service to society in my day and generation. Had I not been placed under some such limitations I might be nothing more than a third-rate artist.'" Could there be a sounder philosophy? Mr. Welton was a Republican, and served in the General As- sembly in 1852 and 1853. He was a regular at- tendant at St. John's Church. He was one of the founders of the Waterbury Brass Company, and one of its early directors. He was employed by the mill owners on the Mad river, to erect a system of water reservoirs, which proved to be a long and tedious task, occupying several years. Mr. Welton died in 1875, at the age of eighty-three, and his wife died in September, 1873.

DAVID ATWATER TYLER, M. D., by Ste- phen G. Hubbard, M. D., New Haven .- The mem- bers of the profession who distinguish themselves by brilliant discoveries, which confer upon mankind great benefits, and make their names widely known, are extremely few compared with the multitude of educated, skillful practitioners who give character and tone to the profession, and win for it the respect- ful homage of every community. The subject of this sketch was one of these; and he illustrated in his life and character many of those sterling quali- ties which all men admire, and which, in the physi- cian, endear him to those who are profited by, and can appreciate, his self-denying ministrations.

Dr. Tyler was born in Northford, Nov. 10, 1818. Unfitted by a natural delicacy of constitution for the laborious occupations of the farm, and being strong- ly inclined to literary pursuits, he learned the trade of a printer as a means of gaining the necessary funds for acquiring a liberal education. He was so far successful in this, that in Bacon Academy at

Colchester, he qualified himself to enter the Sopho- more class in Yale College; but the indoor life of an academic student proved so unfavorable to his already feeble health that, by the advice of instruc- tors and friends, he reluctantly abandoned all hope of obtaining a collegiate education, and entered him- self as a student of medicine in the office of the late Dr. N. B. Ives.

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Commemorative biographical record of New Haven county, Connecticut, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens and of many of the early settled families, V. I, Pt 2, Part 40

Author: Beers (J.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1902 Publisher: Chicago, J.H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1010

Author: Beers (J.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, J.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1010