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 3 > Part 22
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ALVERD E. WINCHELL. M. D., one of the leading physicians and substantial men of New Haven, which city has been his field of labor for thirty-five years, is a representative of one of the first families to settle in Connecticut.
Born June 21. 1831, in Egremont, Berkshire Co., Mass., son of Ezra and Lucinda ( Newman) Winchell, our subject is a descendant in the eighth generation from Robert Winchell, the first Amer- ican ancestor of this branch of the Winchell fam- ily. From the genealogy of the family prepared in 1869, by Alexander Winchell. LL. D., a professor in the University of Michigan, it is learned that the name is probably of early Saxon or Jutish orig- in, and was known in the time of Hengist and Horsa, in 449.
Robert Winchell, born probably in Wales, was at Dorchester, Mass., in 1634, and at Windsor, Conn., as early as 1637, appearing to have emi- grated from one of the lower Saxon shires in the south of England. The line of Dr. Winchell's de- scent from Robert is through Jonathan, Benjamin, Azariah, Azariah (2), and Ezra.
Jonathan Winchell, son of Robert, was born probably in Dorchester. Mass .. prior to 1635. On May 16, 1666, he married Abigail Brusan, daugh- ter of Richard Brusan, sometimes written Brown- son. She was born about 1644, and died in Suf- field March 27, 1710.
Benjamin Winchell, son of Jonathan, was born at Windsor, Conn., June 28, 1674. and married Sarah Winchell July 18, 1700. in Suffield.
Azariah Winchell, son of Benjamin, and the great-grandfather of our subject. was born in Suf- field, Conn., April 5. 1710.
Azariah Winchell (2), son of Azariah, was born in Suffieid.
Ezra Winchell. father of our subject, son of Azariah (2), was born in Hillsdale. Columbia Co., N. Y., Sept. 8. 1800, and married Lucinda New- man, who was born in Egremont, June 3, 1804.
The subject of this sketch was reared in his native town, and was prepared for college at the academy in Great Barrington, Mass .. entering Wes- leyan College, at Middletown, in 1853. He was graduated with honors in the class of 1857. receiv- ing from that institution three years later the de- gree of A. M. Following his graduation he was for three years principal of the Owosso ( Mich. ) Union Seminary, where his work was very successful and
satisfactory, so much so that those in charge were loath to give him up and urged his remaining, but desiring to enter another profession. he severed his connection with this institution and for a period studied law under the direction of a prominent at- torney of Poughkeepsie, N. Y., the well-known jurist, Judge John P. H. Tallman. His tastes, however, were in still another direction, so return- ing to Great Barrington, Mass., he there began the study of medicine under Dr. Clarkson T. Collins, a man of distinction in the profession and of ex- tended acquaintance. As time passed the young pupil, through the kindness of Dr. Collins, became acquainted with the noted physicians Alfred C. Post and Valentine Mott, of New York City, an acquaintance that was greatly appreciated and proved beneficial for the encouragement and in- spiration it gave.
After attending a course of lectures at the Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City, from which institution he was graduated in 1865. Dr. Winchell in that city had the benefit of most valuable clinical observations in the various hospitals, including Bellevue, the New York Hos- pital and others, and after finishing his course there he located for practice in New Haven, where his professional life has been spent. His career there, both professional and as a citizen, has been one of success and usefulness. Through unselfish de- votion to his useful calling he has reached a posi- tion of prominence in the profession, ranking among the most able physicians in the State. His preference in his earlier career was for surgery, and in that line he has performed a number of difficult and delicate operations, yet he has devoted himself to the general practice of medicine. His reputation as a superior obstetrician is well known. A natural student. the Doctor has advanced in his profession along with the progress made in the science of medicine, and has kept pace with the gen- eral great progress and advancement during the years of his practice.
Dr. Winchell is a member of the State Medical Society, which he has served as fellow ; of the New Haven County Medical Society; and of the New Haven City Medical Society, of which for years he served as president. Also, he is connected by men- bership with the American Medical and American Public Health Associations ; the American Academy of Political and Social Science; and the Masonic fraternity.
Dr. Winchell has long been interested in the subject of sanitation. Immediately following the Civil war he made a series of visits through dif- ferent sections of the South, and his attention was especially directed to this subject by observations. Following with investigations and study of the sub- jeet, he was well fitted for the office he subse- quently filled so efficiently and satisfactorily for many years-that of member of the board of health. of New Haven, having been appointed such in 1879
alverd & Michele m 2.
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and repeatedly thereafter for fourteen years. For a succession of terms he was president of the board, during which time much progress was made in im- proving the sanitary condition of the city.
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Dr. Winchell has been deeply interested in Christian and philanthropic work, and is actively concerned in the progress of New Haven. In his practice he has been exceedingly charitable to the [woor and unfortunate, and he has the esteem and the confidence both of his colleagues and of the public. The city is largely indebted to his energy, foresight and pecuniary outlay for the erection of the Hy- perion Theatre, pronounced by artists and public speakers to be almost unequalled for its acoustic properties and general appointments.
On February 9, 1860, Dr. Winchell was mar- ried to Helen E .. daughter of Capt. Charles E. Hinman, of Southbury. She died in February, 1863, and in October, 1865. he married Mary, daughter of Elizur Mitchell, of South Britain, Conn. She died in 1874. leaving one daughter, Mary Helen, who is now the wife of Dr. William A. Brooks, of Boston, Mass., a prominent young physician and surgeon, who has performed some re- markable operations, and is well known throughout the State. On Oct. 14, 1876, Dr. Winchell was married to his present wife, formerly Catherine Worthington Shepard, daughter of Rev. Samuel N. Shepard, who for thirty years was pastor of the Congregational Church in Madison, Conn., and granddaughter of Rev. Samuel Shepard, D. D., who for fifty years was a preacher in Lenox, Mass., and a niece of the distinguished John Todd. D. D.
TERRELL. The Terrells of New Haven coun- - ty, with the earlier families to which they are allied by marriage, were among the earliest settlers of this locality.
Roger Terrell, from whom most of the names ·of Terrell, Terrel. Tyrrel, etc., of New Haven coun- ty are descended, was among the first settlers of Milford, Conn. His name appears among the first two lists of inhabitants of the town living there in the spring of 1640. Most of the pioneer settlers of Milford came from the counties of Essex. Here- ford and York, England, and rendezvoused in New Haven in 1638 and 1639. Roger Terrell married a daughter of Thomas Nefford, and his death oc- curred in 1682. From this Roger Terrell, the emi- grant settler, Wales Terrell, of Ansonia, is a de- scendant in the eighth generation, his line being through Samuel. Phineas. Phineas (2). Eliakim and Truman. One branch of the Tyrrell family spells the name Tyrrell.
(III) Samuel Terrell, probably a grandson of Roger Terrell, lived in Milford, and by his will, made in 1751. left his estate, which was distributed in that same year. to his widow Mary and children Samuel. Abraham, Jesse, Phineas. Mary ( Tibbals) and Rebecca (Mrs. Jacob Baldwin).
(IV) Phineas Terrell, son of Samuel, born about
1725, died Oct. 13, 1791, when aged sixty-six years. His wife, Phebe, survived him. married Andrew Baldwin, and died Jan. 15, 1803, when aged seventy- six. In his will the children of Phineas named were: Phineas, Eliakim, John, Anne, Phebe and Susanna.
(V) Phineas Terrell (2), son of Phineas, mar- ried and had a number of children, among them Eli and Sarah, the latter marrying Russel Chatfield. A number of the children of Phineas are buried in the Sperry burying-ground, in Bethany, Connecticut.
(VI) Capt. Eliakim Terrell, son of Phineas (2), born about Feb. 10, 1760, married Elizabeth, also born Feb. 10, 1760, daughter of Joseph and Eliza- beth (Tomlinson ) Twitchell, and the children who survived the father were Philo, Josiah, Truman, Elizabeth, Nehemiah, Anne, Eliakim, Phineas, Sol- omon, Isaac, Andrew and Julia. All settled in Con- necticut. Capt. Terrell was a soldier in the Revolu- tion, and was known by that title. He served as selectman of Woodbridge in 1800, and died March 15, 1807, when aged forty-seven years.
(VII) Truman Terrell, son of Cant. Eliakim, baptized in the town of Derby (probably in that part now Oxford ) Feb. 29, 1784, married Hannah Lines, daughter of Eber Lines. of Bethany. Eber Lines married Hannah, daughter of Lieut. Dan Welton, of Waterbury, she being a lineal descendant of Elder William Brewster, of the "Mayflower." Truman Terrell died May 20, 1852, aged sixty-eight years. His widow married Ansel Peck, and died Nov. 19, 1866, aged seventy-six years. The children of Tru- man and his wife were: Louisa. Almira. Grace, Lauren, Elizabeth, Smith, Wales, Calvin and Henry ; the two last named died young. Two of the chil- dren are now living. Almira and Wales.
(VIII) Wales Terrell at the age of seventeen (1843) was apprenticed to one Burr Nash, of New Haven, to learn the blacksmith's trade, and in the year 1849 located at Derby, where in co-partnership with Silas Baldwin, and later with Hobart Sperry. he pursued the business, in a general line, of black- smithing and carriage building. On Oct. 25, 1851, he married Julia Irene Barbour, daughter of Luke Barbour, of Simsbury, Conn. Five children were born to this union: May Elizabeth ( who died in infancy), Arthur Wales, Florence Elizabeth, Lu- cins Barbour and Alton Truman.
On Ang. 6, 1862, Wales Terrell enlisted in Com- pany B, 20th Conn. V. I., and on the 8th of the same month was mustered into the United States service as private and promoted to corporal. The 20th was a three years' regiment, recruited under the call of June. 1862. of the President for 300,000 men, and went out under Col. Ross, Lient. William B. Wooster and Major Buckingham. They soon formed a part of the 12th Corps. Army of the Poto- mac, and were under Gen. Hooker and later under Gen. Meade. The regiment participated in the bat- tles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, the 12th Corps in the latter engagement occupying the ex-
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treme right of the Federal line at Culp's Hill, Gen. Williams in command. The Corps held Ewell's Corps at bay for seven hours, finally driving them back with heavy loss. In the fall of 1863 the 12th Corps joined the Army of the Cumberland, at Chat- tanooga, and that winter was mainly in Tennessee. A year later, in the fall of 1864, the 11th and 12th Corps were formed into the 20th Corps, and in it the 20th Regiment remained until the close of the war, forming a part of Gen. Sherman's army. It is not the intention to give in detail the history of the regiment, but only to mention some features in general and refer to others especially. The 20th distinguished itself at the battle of Peach Tree Creek, and was at the siege of Atlanta. It later moved through Atlanta, Ga., to Savannah and South Carolina, and to and from there to North Carolina. finally participating in the grand review at Wash- ington, and was mustered out of the service June 13. 1865, at Fort Lincoln, on the Bladensburg road. The engagements in which the 20th participated were: Chancellorsville, Va., May 3, 1863; Gettys- burg, Pa., July 3, 1863: Tracy City, Tenn., May 9, 1864; Peach Tree Creek, Ga., July 20, 1864; siege of Atlanta, Ga., July 21 to Aug. 7, 1864; Silver Run, N. C., March 15. 1865: Bentonville, N. C., March 19, 1865 ; and Raleigh, N. C., April 13, 1865. Young Terrell bore an honorable part from start to finish with his company, and returned home at the close of the war with an honorable record. On May 4, 1864, he was promoted to sergeant, and was mus- tered out with his company and regiment June 13, 1865. Since his return from the service he has made his home in the town of Derby, and more recently in Ansonia, where he has had an honorable business career and been a useful citizen.
On returning to civil life Mr. Terrell entered into co-partnership with Darius Wilcox, engaging in the carriage hardware and file business for several years, under the firm name of Terrell & Wilcox. and : later as Wales Terrell. Later he was associated with E. Frank Sperry, under the name of Terrell & Sperry, they continuing some years together. when Mr. Terrell withdrew and engaged with his son, Lucius B. Terrell, in the insurance and real-estate business, under the firm name of Wales Terrell & Son, handling all kinds of insurance and real-estate transactions.
(IX) Alton T. Terrell, secretary and general manager of the Ansonia O. & C. Co .. of Ansonia, was born in Ansonia Oct. 3. 1872. He was educated in the common and high schools of his native town, and when a boy entered the office of the Osborne & Cheesman Co., which concern was in 1891 suc- ceeded by the Ansonia O. & C. Co. He rose to the position of order clerk, which he held for some years, and was then promoted to purchasing agent, which position he held up to the time of Mr. Schneller's (the head of the institution) death, when he was promoted to his present position. They manufacture suspender webbing, and employ some three hundred
hands. The building is 50 feet wide, 250 feet long. and three stories high. [ For a further account ot this business, from its origin, see sketch of Mrs. Schneller, elsewhere.] Under the management of Mr. Terrell the business has steadily increased, and they send goods all over the United States and Europe. They have recently had completed a mag- nificent office, planned by Mr. Terrell, which is 40 feet square, two stories high, and is beautifully fin- ished in quarter-sawed oak and brown ash, and furnished with oak furniture. It is one of the finest office buildings in the Naugatuck Valley.
Although a young man, Mr. Terrell has seen many changes during the years that he has been with the company, and with two exceptions is the oldest in point of service now here. The number of men has been increased from two hundred to three hundred and fifty, and the output of the goods has more than doubled ; much of the machinery has been changed to the latest improved in their line. Throughout the building many improvements have been made for the benefit of the help, all of whom hold Mr. Terrell in high esteem, and since he has taken his present position no dissatisfaction has been expressed by the employes, each and all of whom are at liberty to personally lay before him any grievance which they may have, with the positive assurance that they will be listened to and treated wisely. By the introduction of the latest improved machinery this concern can at present manufacture goods which place them in successful competition with any other concern in the business.
Mr. Terrell married, Nov. 30, 1898, Lillian Whit- lock. a daughter of Senator Sturges Whitlock, of Shelton, a prominent manufacturer of the celebrated Whitlock printing presses. Sturges Whitlock is one of the most prominent men in this section of the State and is widely known. His wife was Mary O. Singer, a daughter of Isaac Singer, the inventor of the Singer sewing machine.
Alton Terrell is a member of the Board of Trade of Ansonia, director of the A. O. & C. Co., and member of the Ansonia Club.
EDWIN DOOLITTLE, one of the prominent. well-known citizens of Branford, is a native .of Connecticut, born Dec. 3, 1838, in Wallingford, New Haven county.
The founder of the Doolittle family in the New England States came from England, and is said to have been the first settler north of Watenbrook, in what is now the town of Wallingford. Jonathan Doolittle, grandfather of Edwin, was born in Wall- ingford, was a farmer by occupation, and served in the war of the Revolution. He had four sons : Enos, the father of our subject : John, who cast his lot with the Mormons, and became an apostle and elder in that church; Roswell, a farmer of Wallingford ; and Johnson, who was a farmer and grain dealer. One daugliter, Betsy, married Samuel Morse, and after her death he married her sister Delight.
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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
Enos Doolittle was born Feb. 2, 1796, in Wall- ingford, where he was a lifelong agriculturist, and died March 30, 1869. He married Charritta Davis, and by her had five children, viz. : (1) Andrew, born Nov. 8, 1826, married Lucy Hall, and had two sons, Charles D. and Frederick. Andrew was a contractor in Simpson, Hall, Miller & Co.'s factory. He was accidentally shot while out hunting, Nov. 8, 1854. (2) Albert, born Nov. 10, 1827, married Mary Bassett. He died Aug. 22, 1877, leaving 110 children. (3) Julius, born July 3, 1830, never mar- ried, and died Dec. 18, 1886. (4) Clarissa, born Nov. II, 1835, died Sept. 9, 1842. (5) Edwin is our subject. The father of this family was a Demo- crat politically.
Edwin Doolittle received his education in the common schools of Wallingford, and began his business life in the old "Farmers Exchange Variety Store," New Haven. There he remained some six years, and in 1862 he commenced in the butcher business at Wallingford, which he continued three years, after which for seven years he was engaged in farming in Wallingford. For one year thereafter he was located at Windsor Locks, Hartford county, engaged in the maufacture of manilla paper, and in the fall of 1874 he came to Branford, where for eighteen years he conducted the popular summer resort known as the "Weybossett House." Selling out in 1893, he managed the hotel for another until May, 1894, since when he has been living retired. Mr. Doolittle is independent in politics, and at pres- ent is serving in Branford as chairman of the Citi- zens party.
On Oct. 10, 1865, Mr. Doolittle was married to Miss Matilda I. Todd, daughter of Thelus and An- toinette (Harrison) Todd, of Northford, New Ha- ven county. The father was born Sept. 19, 1802, and died Aug. 29, 1875. The mother, born May 9, 1809, died March 9, 1848. They were married June I, 1828, and had seven children, Apollos E., Milo A., Venelia H., Matilda I. (Mrs. Doolittle), Miran- da J., Delia A. and Berthia S. By his second wife, Correlia Auger, Mr. Todd had one daughter, Maria A. Mr. Todd was a butcher, drover and farmer by occupation. He took an active part in the affairs of his day, and served two terms in the State Legisla- ture, having been elected on the Democratic ticket.
Mr. and Mrs: Doolittle had two children: An- toinette Todd, born May 9, 1867, died March 2, 1868; the other died in infancy. They are members of the Episcopal Church.
JAMES PEMBERTON, a highly esteemed resident of Ansonia, is now living in retirement at his pleasant home, at No. 286 Wakelee avenue, but his interest in all that concerns the welfare of the community remains as keen as during his years of active work in the business world.
Mr. Pemberton was born Nov. 18. 1828. in Birmingham. England, son of Maj. William Pem- berton and his wife, Mary Hall, both natives of
Birmingham, and both born in ISoo. Maj. Pember- ton came to America in 1829, with his family, and after two years' residence at Bloomfield, N. J., lo- cated in Waterbury, Conn., entering the employ of the Scovill Manufacturing Co. While there he in- troduced a process for plating with gold and silver, which he had learned and worked at before leaving England, and this proved very successful, giving him an important place in the firm. They made a specialty of plate for photographing, and gold plate for officers' buttons for the army and navy. In 1852 Mr. Pemberton went to Newark, N. J., and engaged in business for himself, and his death occurred there in 1880. He was a man of strong character, an expert in his line of work, and was active in politics as an old-line Whig. At one time he served as major on the staff of Gen. Collins, of Newark. and his saddle and other articles of equipment are now preserved as a relic by a brother of our subject. In religious faith he was an Episcopalian, and he gave $500 toward the new stone edifice, erected in 1846, in Waterbury. His estimable wife died in 1886, and of their eight children only three are living : Amelia is deceased; James is mentioned more fully below: William is deceased; Thomas was killed while serving with the 14th Kansas Vol- unteer Cavalry; Alfred is deceased; Samuel H .. who served in the Army of the Potomac throughout the Civil war, married Miss Jennie A. Root, of Waterbury, and resides in Newark, N. J., where he held office as city clerk for a number of years; Catherine is deceased; and Frederick, now a resi- dent of Newark, N. J., served in both army and navy during the Civil war.
James Pemberton spent much of his boyhood at Waterbury, and was educated in the common schools of that town and at Cheshire Academy. He learned his father's business in the shops of the Scovill Man- ufacturing Co., and later was employed by Holmes, Booth & Hayden, to establish it for them. For a number of years he had charge of the department, and for a time he was with a clock company of Chi- cago, but in 1866 he located in Ansonia, taking a position with the O. & C. Co., as caster. Soon after- ward he entered the employ of the A. B. C. Co., as caster in the Brass mills, and this work he con- tinued until his retirement from business in 1881. As he owns a number of houses in the town, his real-estate interests require much of his time and attention. Politically he is a Republican, and he was a member of the first common council of An- sonia. In religious work he was for years an active worker in the Episcopal Church, of which he was a member, and for a number of years he served either as warden or vestryman, and for some time was superintendent of the Sunday-school. For more than forty years he has been an active Freemason, and is now a member of George Washington Lodge, and Mt. Vernon Chapter, No. 35. R. A. M., in An- sonia, and of Waterbury Council, No. 21, at Water- bury.
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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
In 1850 Mr. Pemberton married Miss Mary J. Riggs, daughter of Garry Riggs, a hatter in Oxford, and a prominent citizen of that town. She was born in 1831, and died in 1895, and of her four sons, three are living: James R., a machinist by trade, married Jessie F. Beers, and is settled on a farm in Orange: William M., a clerk in a clothing store in New Haven, has been married twice, and has had six children: Bessie M., Lillie S., Elsie A., Allie M., William M. and Ernest L .; Edward L., the youngest, was employed for a number of years in the office of the Farrell Foundry Co., but is now in Boston, as agent for V. W. Mason, Jr., of New York.
ELI H. WAKELEE, a venerable and highly esteemed resident of Ansonia. is the oldest man now living who was born in that vicinity, and his reminiscences cover a most interesting period of the history of the section. Within his memory the city of Ansonia has been founded and developed, and when he was a boy the site of Derby, formerly Birmingham, gave no sign of its present com- mereial importance.
Mr. Wakelee was born July 11, 1829, in West Ansonia, and comes of good pioneer stock. Free- gift Wakelee. his grandfather, was born in Ansonia. and became a farmer and shoemaker by occupation. He died at the age of fifty. He married Marv Smith, who was born in Derby. and who attained the advanced age of eighty-four. They had seven sons and one daughter, all now deceased.
Watrous C. Wakelee, our subject's father, was born in West Ansonia, and learned the shoe- maker's trade. but his attention was devoted chiefly to farming at the homestead in West An- sonia, now No. 220 Wakelee avenue. He was a successful farmer, owning about 200 acres of land, and as a citizen he was held in high esteem for his sound judgment and his public spirit. Political- ly he was a Democrat, and he served as assessor and collector, and was a candidate for other offices at various times. In religious faith he was an Epis- copalian. He died in 1878, at the age of seventy- eight, and his wife, Caroline ( Hawkins ), a native of Ansonia, died aged eighty-two. The Hawkins fam- ily were early settlers in this county, and Lewis Hawkins, father of Mrs. Wakelee, was a well- known farmer. Our subject is one of a family of four sons, of whom two are still living, his brother Charles (aged sixty-three) being now in the West. Albert died in Ansonia, Jan. 14. 1901. David, the youngest, died in the West Sept. 26. 1889.
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