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 3
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in 1791. Their only child was our subject. The mother died in 1866, and now sleeps by the side of her husband in Pine Grove cemetery. They were held in high regard by all who knew them. Politically the father was first a Federalist, later a Whig, and still later a Republican.
Lyman Tyler, father of Mrs. Elias Porter, was a son of Abraham Tyler, a grandson of Isaac and Susanna (Miles) Tyler (married in 1732), a great- grandson of John and Abigail ( Hall) Tyler (mar- ried in 1694), and a great-great-grandson of Will- iam Tyler. Mrs. Abigail (Hall) Tyler was a daughter of Thomas and Grace Hall (married June 5, 1673), of whom the former, Thomas Hall, was a son of John and Jane ( Woolen) Hall. Mrs. Es- ther ( Hoadley) Tyler, mother of Mrs. Elias Porter, was a daughter of William (3) and Esther ( Por- ter) Hoadley (married in 1761). a granddaughter of William (2) and Sarah ( Frisbie) Hoadley (mar- ried in 1724), and a great-granddaughter of Will- iam (1) and Elizabeth ( Frost) Hoadley. Mrs. Esther ( Porter) Hoadley, wife of William (3), was a daughter of Joshua and Elizabeth ( Burnham) Porter (married in 1734), and a granddaughter of Richard and Ruth Porter. Mrs. Sarah ( Frisbie) Hoadley, wife of William (2), was a daughter of Eben Frisbie. Mrs. Elizabeth ( Frost) Hoadley, wife of William ( I), was a daughter of John and Mercy ( Payne) Frost.
James Porter, whose name introduces this re- view, was born March 26, 1818, on the old home- stead at Mill Plain, and during his boyhood at- tended the district schools and also the Waterbury Academy. He assisted his father in the operation of the farm until twenty years of age, when he commenced work in a woolen mill. Subsequently he was employed in a roller mill for six years, and in 1843 learned the trade of a caster at the John D. Johnson rolling mills, after which he was em- ployed two years in the Brown & Elton rolling mills. and in the same capacity seventeen years in the Waterbury Brass Co.'s mill. For three years . he was a caster for the Scovill Manufacturing Co., and then became a German-silver caster for the same firm, remaining with them until 1874, 1 during which time he started silver casting at Wolcottville, Bristol and Thomaston. He then retired from business, and has since made his home on the East Farms road. in Waterbury. Although eighty-four years of age he still possesses all his faculties, and is quite active. He is an intellectual and well-informed man, of genial disposition and
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upright character. Mr. Porter cast his first presi- dential vote for William H. Harrison, the Whig candidate, and his last for William McKinley, the Republican nominee, being a stanch supporter of the Republican party and sound money principles. He is an earnest Christian, a member of the Episcopal Church, is domestic in his tastes, and is a loving husband and father.
On June- 1, 1845, in Waterbury, Mr. Porter was united in marriage with Miss Sophia Beecher, a daughter of Benjamin Dutton and Pamelia (Tuttle) Beecher. Her father was a well-known inventor, having invented, in 1835, the first propeller; which was used on canal boats, afterward on ocean steam- ers. Mrs. Porter is still living, and enjoys good health. Mr. and Mrs. Porter have five chil- dren, namely: (1) Emily Sophia was married July 1, 1868, to James Elliott, of Elmira, N. Y., and they had seven children-Nellie May, born March 28, 1869, died Dec. 10, 1877; James Porter, born Dec. 1, 1870, was married Nov. 28, 1895, to Ida Moakley, and they have two children, Irving Beecher (born Dec. 5, 1897) and James Porter (born Sept. 2, 1900) ; Sarah Beecher was born May 13, 1873; Fanny Amelia was born March 13, 1875; Sophia Alma, born Dec. 21, 1876; George Ward was born March 25. 1879; Charles Luther, born July 3, 1884, died Aug. 31, 1892. (2) Sarah Jane was married to John Hine Sept. 1, 1875, and has four children-John Wal- lace, born May 14, 1877; Mary Annie, born Jan. 9, 1879; George Ward, born Sept. I, 1880; and Frederick William, born March 18, 1882. (3) James Ward Beecher was married Jan. 18, 1876, to Elizabeth Collins, and they have six children-John Beecher, born Oct. 28, 1876; Fannie Elizabeth, born July 9. 1878: Nellie Florence, born March 25, 1880: James Ward, born June 16. 1881 : Bessie Sophia, born Aug. 11. 1882, died July 17, 1883, and Harry Clinton, born March 13, 1885. (4) Fannie Amelia and (5) Mary Florence (twins) are at home with their parents, to whom they are very devoted. They are ladies of culture and refinement. and are quite active and prominent members of the Daughters of the American Revolution. the Wom- en's Club and other social organizations.
The following lines from Mr. Porter's pen are characteristic :
PSALM XXXII, 17.
Happy the truly honest man: With no alluring wile, But cheerfully, he treats you well- In whom there is no guile.
He never will put on deceit For sake of gaining spoil; He is the one that you can trust- In whom there is no guile.
May the good Lord deliver us From all that's low or vile: So finally it will be said, In him there is no guile.
Dec. 26, 1901.
JAMES PORTER.
DAVID BROOKS, late of Brooks Vale, in the town of Cheshire, was a worthy representative of one of the prominent old families of New Haven county.
The first of the name to come to America were two brothers, Henry and John Brooks, both natives of the County of Chester, England. Henry was a stanch supporter of Oliver Cromwell, and fought under his banner. Upon the restoration of Charles II to the British throne many of the followers of Cromwell, known as Roundheads, fled to different parts of the world, a large number coming to Amer- ica. Among the latter were Henry and John Brooks, who settled in New Haven about 1670, and were among the founders of New Haven Colony. Some time later they removed to Wallingford, and, about the beginning of the eighteenth century, took up land in a part of the Colony which was afterward set off from the town of Wallingford, and to which they gave the name of Cheshire, for their native county in England. Henry Brooks, who came from Cheshire, in England, became a land owner in Cheshire, Conn .. and it was in his house that the first religious services in that place were held. Hc was an earnest, consistent Christian, and took a deep interest in the Cheshire Colony, and the infant church which he was instrumental in establishing. He was married Dec. 21, 1676, to Hannah Blakeley.
(II) Lieut. Thomas Brooks, son of Henry, was born in the New Haven Colony March 27, 1679, and about 1705 removed with his parents to Che- shire, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was deeply interested in public affairs, especially the welfare of his adopted town, and was the first to petition the General Assembly to organize the Congregational Church in Cheshire, in 1723, prior to which time religious services were held in his home. He died of smallpox May 18, 1732, and was buried in Cheshire. He was a true and earnest Christian, self-sacrificing and unselfish, doing all in his power to advance the educational and moral in- terests of his community, and his loss was deeply felt by the church. He secured his title as lieuten- ant in the militia. In Wallingford he married, March 25, 1701, Martha Hotchkiss, a native of that town, a daughter of Ensign Joshua Hotchkiss, and a granddaughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Cleaver- ly) Hotchkiss. To this union were born ten chil- dren, whose names and dates of birth were as fol- lows: Stephen. May 28, 1702; Mary, May 14, 1704; Thomas, Feb. 14, 1706; Enos, Feb. 15. 1708; Cornelius, Sept. 10, 1711 : Martha, Feb. 21, 1714; Mehitable, Feb. 23, 1716: Benjamin, April 23, 1720; Henry. March 2, 1723 : and Thankful. Dec. 19, 1725.
(III) Capt. Enos Brooks, son of Lieut. Thomas, was born Feb. 15, 1708, and spent his entire life in Cheshire, where he owned a large amount of land. Enos was the first Brooks to locate in the south- western part of the town, now called Brooks Vale. There, in about 1732, he erected an old-style "lean- to" house, on the ground where the present Brooks
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homestead stands. There he died Sept. 22, 1771, and was laid to rest in the family burying plot in Cheshire cemetery. He was captain of a company in the militia, and was a liberal supporter and active member of the church. He was noted for his indus- trions habits, honorable dealings and sterling worth. His wife, Tamar, was born in 1706, and died Oct. 7, 1775. Her remains were also interred in Cheshire cemetery.
(IV) Rev. David Brooks, son of Capt. Enos, and the father of the man whose name introduces this article, was born in Cheshire, in 1744, and was graduated from Yale in 1768; he held the degree of Master of Arts. He was an ordained minister of the Congregational Church, but on account of the unsettled state of the country. due to the Revo- lution, was never pastor, permanently. of any church. At the request of his kinsman, Gen. David Wooster, he prepared and delivered a discourse in Derby, Conn., in 1774, on the religion of the Revolution. This discourse attracted much attention, was pub- lished and helped to move public sentiment in favor of the struggle for independence; a copy of this sermon is now in the possession of his descend- ants. He was a soldier in the Continental army, being among the first quota of men furnished by the parish of New Cheshire, and was in the service for eight months; he entered as a private, but was afterward appointed quartermaster of his regiment. He was a member of the Legislature at the time of Burgoyne's sur- render, and in January. 1788, he was a delegate to the State Convention held in Hartford to ratify and adopt the Constitution of the United States. He was a broad-minded man, an honorable citizen and a good Christian. He died in Cheshire in De- cember, 1810, and was buried in the family plot in the cemetery. Rev. David Brooks married Eliza- beth Doolittle, who was born in 1753, and died Aug. 15, 1831. In their family were ten children, includ- ing David (our subject ) : Gen. Micah Brooks. a dis- tinguished citizen of Livingston county. N. Y., and a member of Congress: and Benedict Brooks, a prominent citizen of Wyoming county, that State.
(V) David Brooks, whose name introduces this sketch, was born in Brooks Vale July 26, 1791, and grew to manhood in his native town, where he at- tended school, and where he afterward followed farming on the old Brooks homestead. There he died July 24, 1873, at the age of eighty-two years, and his remains were interred in Cheshire cemetery, where a suitable monument has been erected to his memory. He was one of the leading and popular citizens of his community, and was widely and fa- vorably known throughout his county. being held in high regard by all with whom he came in contact. He was married in Cheshire to Miss Linda Hull, a native of that town. and a daughter of Samuel Hull, who is mentioned below. She died at Brooks Vale April 30, 1865. and now sleeps by the side of her husband in Cheshire cemetery. To this worthy
couple came the following children: Alonzo, born in 1814, died in 1887; Clarissa L. married S. S. Cowles, and died in Farmington, Conn., in 1861; David, born Jan. 26, 1820, is mentioned below ; Stella Law married William Seth Knowlton, of Bridgeport, and died in Cheshire July 14, 1884; Samuel Hull is a resident of New Haven : Elizabeth Brooks, born in 1829, married Henry W. Chatfield, of Brooklyn, N. Y., and died at Brooks Vale July 12, 1899; Edwin Micah, born in 1831, died in 1860; and Rosa, born Oct. 6, 1835, married Joseph H. Martin, of Grand Rapids, Mich., a native of North- ampton, England.
(VI) David Brooks, son of (V) David, was a man of high attainments and ripe scholarship. He went to Philadelphia, and with S. F. B. Morse was engaged in constructing the first telegraph line in this country. He became widely known as an emi- nent electrician, and invented an underground cable for which the Western Union Telegraph Co. paid him a large sum. He met with excellent success in his undertakings, and was highly respected and es- teemed for his sterling worth and many excellencies of character. His death occurred in Philadelphia May 30, 1891, and his remains were brought back to Cheshire for interment. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Lydia A. Gilbert, was born in Ham- den, Conn .. Feb. 11, 1823. and died in Philadelphia Sept. 22. 1893. Their children were Laura Gilbert, wife of J. Lowrie Bell : David: Linda, wife of Ed- ward Troth: Anna Le Conte, wife of Henry S. Snow ; and Edwin M.
Linda Hull, the wife of (V) David Brooks, traced her ancestry to Richard Hull. a native of Derbyshire, England, who came to America with the first settlers, and was made a freeman in Dor- chester, Mass., in 1634. About 1637 he removed to Boston, and from there came to New Haven, where he took the oath of fidelity. He was one of the founders of the New Haven Colony, and was a land owner in this county, and lived on what is now called Chapel street. He was a God-fearing man and a good citizen, but not a Puritan, and on that account came to New Haven, where he died in Sep- tember, 1662. He had two sons-John and Joseph -and one daughter. From Joseph descended Gen. William Hull and Commodore Isaac Hull.
(II) John Hull. son of Richard, was born in 1640, in New Haven, and there grew to manhood. In 1661 he removed to Stratford, Conn., where he was numbered among the planters for seven years. In 1668 he went to Pawgassett, now Derby. Conn., and it is supposed that he was one of the first set- tlers of that town, which he named Derby for his father's old home in England. There he made his home until 1677. and built several dwelling houses for his sons. He also built the first corn-flour mill in Wallingford, to which town he removed in 1687, there buving 700 acres of land, which now forms a part of Cheshire. He was known as Dr. John Hull, and is supposed to have been a physician. His death
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occurred in Wallingford Dec. 6, 1711, and he was buried there. He was three times married, and the name of his first wife is unknown. On Oct. 19, 1671, he wedded Mary Jones, and on Sept. 20, 1699, married Rebecca Turner. His children by the first marriage were: John, born March 14, 1661 ; Sam- uel, Feb. 4, 1663 ; Mary, Oct. 31, 1664; and Joseph, 1662 ( who is mentioned below ). By the second union there were five children : Benjamin, born Oct. 7, 1672, was married Dec. 14, 1695, to Elizabeth Andrews, and engaged in the practice of medicine; Ebenezer, born in 1673, was married March 4. 1706, to Lydia Mix, and died in 1709; Richard was born in 1674; Jeremiah, born in 1679, married Hannah Cook, of Wallingford, and was also a physician ; and Archer completed the family.
(III) Capt. Joseph Hull, son of Dr. John Hull, was born in 1662 in Derby, and there spent his entire life, engaged in commercial and agricultural pursuits. He was a man of great influence in the community; represented his town in the General Assembly ; was a worthy member of the Congrega- tional Church; and a captain in the militia. He died in Derby in 1744, and was buried there. He was the great-grandfather of Commodore Isaac Hull, who commanded the celebrated frigate "Con- stitution." In 1691 he wedded Mary Nichols, a daughter of Isaac Nichols. She died in 1733. and two years later he married Hannah Botsford, widow of John Prindle. She died in Derby, and was buried there. In his family were children as follows : Sam- uel, born in 1692 (he made his home in Derby) ; Joseph, in 1694; Caleb, mentioned below: Abijah, born in 1697: Andrew, in 1698: Mary (Mrs. Rus- sell, of Derby). in 1699: Sarah (Mrs. Beach, of Stamford), in 1701 : and Nathan, in 1709.
(IV) Caleb Hull, son of Capt. Joseph Hull, was born in Derby Feb. 4, 1605, and at the age of four- (VI) Samuel Hull, son of Samuel, Sr., and fa- ther of Mrs. David Brooks. was born on the old Hull homestead in Cheshire, and like his father and grandfather was a soldier of the Revolutionary war. Throughout life he followed the occupation of farni- teen went to live with his grandfather. Dr. John Hull. in Wallingford, at that gentleman's request. The Doctor gave him one hundred acres of land at Broad Swamp, now a part of Cheshire, where he 1 built a house and made many other improvements. ing in his native town, and was one of the most
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He died there in September. 1788, and was buried in Cheshire. A true patriot and loyal American, he answered to the first call for troops during the Revolution, although eighty vears of age, and went to the defense of Boston. He also answered to the Lexington call, together with his son and grand- son. He was a man of honor and integrity, and was one of the representative citizens of his community. On May 1, 1721. he married Mercy Benham. a na- tive of Wallingford. who died April 19. 1766, and was laid to rest in Cheshire cemetery. They had twelve children. namely: Sarah, born April 25, 1725. married Reuben Atwater, of Cheshire: An- drew, born Aug. 23. 1726, died Sept. 21. 1774 : Mary, born April 27. 1728. was married Oct. 3. 1745, to Jonathan Hitchcock : Samuel. horn March 22, 1730, is mentioned below; Joseph, born Aug. 29, 1732,
died in infancy; Abijah, born Oct. 11, 1733, died Dec. 14, 1733: Joseph, born June 10, 1735, died Dec. 4. 1735; Caleb, born May 31, 1736, died Aug. S, 1736; Submit, born Dec. 12, 1737, died Feb. 13, 1738; Patience, born Oct. 15, 1740, died in Septem- Der, 1764; Joseph was born April 18, 1741; and Caleb, born Dec. 16, 1742, married Mary Street, and died June 4, 1767.
(V) Samuel Hull, son of Caleb, was a well- known and highly respected citizen of Cheshire, where he was born and reared, and later followed farming, owning land in that town. He was a member of the Congregational Church. He served as a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He died April 27, 1791, and was buried in Cheshire ceme- tery. In Wallingford he was married, Dec. 26, 1753, to Eunice Cook, who was born June 29, 1735, a daughter of Capt. Samuel and Hannah ( Lewis) Cook, and granddaughter of Samuel and Hannah ( Ives) Cook, and of Ebenezer and Elizabeth ( Mer- riman ) Lewis, of Wallingford. The children of this union were as follows : A son, born Jan. 1, 1755. died in infancy: Jedediah was born Feb. 26. 1756; a son, born Feb. 2, 1758, died in infancy; Samuel, born May 27, 1759, is mentioned below : Zephaniah, born May 1, 1761, made his home in Wallingford, \t., where he died Feb. 20. 1840: Epaphras, born April 9. 1763, also died in Wallingford, Vt., April 13. 1827: Eunice, born April 16. 1765, married Sheriff Whipple, of Cazenovia, N. Y., and died Dec. 18, 1820: Lois, born Feb. I. 1767. died Oct. 20, 1777 ; Caleb, born Nov. 9, 1768, died in Wallingford, Vt .. Aug. 9. 1816: Elizabeth, born Oct. 28, 1770, died Aug. 13, 1777: Josephus, born Aug. 24. 1772, died in Wallingford. Vt .. March 18, 1813 : and Han- nah, born Oct. II, 1775, married A. Meacham, of Wallingford, Vt., and died in 1850.
highly esteemed and honored citizens of his com- munity. He died upon his farm Oct. 27, 1848, and was laid to rest in Cheshire cemetery. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Abigail Doolittle, was born May 26, 1766. and died Oct. 10. 1835: her re- mains were interred in the same cemetery. They had ten children, namely: Stella, born March 27, 1786, married Jonathan Law, and died Dec. 13, 1841: Jedediah was born in 1788: Anne was born Jan. 13. 1704 : Linda, born Feb. 6. 1796, was the wife of David Brooks, our subject: Eunice, born Nov. 12, 1798, married Birdsey Booth, of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio: Charlotte L .. born Sept. 9. 1800, married John Olmsted, of Hartford. Conn. : Samuel Cook. born Aug. 4. 1802. died Aug. 26. 1804: Samuel, born Feb. 4. 1805, died in Morris, Grundy Co .. Ill .: Julius, born July 1, 1807, married Lucy Ives, and
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removed to Ohio; and Andrew Franklin, born Jan. 13, 1811, married Adeline Munson, and died Jan. 1, 1845.
IION. WILLIAM E. DOWNES, of New Ha- ven, now retired, was, a generation ago, one of the kading manufacturers and prominent citizens of New Haven county, where his active career of law- yer, legislator and manufacturer for twenty-five years was passed.
Mr. Downes was born Aug. 22, 1824, in the town of Milford, Conn., and is strictly a New Eng- lander, a product of Connecticut, for here his an- cestors have figured from the very dawn of the Colonial period. He is the son of the late Horatio and Nancy ( Smith) Downes, who had much of the Puritan in their character and aspect, and grandson of Jolin and Hannah (Stone) Downes, the former a patriot of the Revolution, and in the family is a very interesting diary which was kept by him from 1764 to 1810, containing, with very few exceptions, an entry for every day during that long period. Among the ancestors of our subject through his grandmother, Hannah (Stone) Downes, was one of the founders of the church in Connecticut-Rev. Thomas Hooker, of Hartford; and through his miother he is in direct line from Gov. Robert Treat, Rev. Samuel Andrew, of Milford, one of the lead- ing men in New England and one of the principal founders of Yale College, and for a dozen or more years from 1707 rector of it ; and he is also through the same channel in direct line from Edmund Tapp, one of the first settlers of Milford, and one of the first five judges of that town.
In boyhood William E. Downes attended the district schools of his native town and afterward completed his studies, preparatory to entering col- lege, with the Rev. Asa MI. Train, of Milford. He entered Yale College in 1841, and four years later was graduated in the class of '45, the valedicto- rian being James G. Gould, a fine scholar and most gifted man. Mr. Downes chose the profession of the law as a life work. and in the preparation for it studied one year under the direction of the late distinguished lawyer. Hon. Alfred Blackman, of New Haven. He then entered the Yale Law School. and after the usual course of study was admitted to the Bar of the State of Connecticut in Danbury. in 1848. In December of the same year he opened an office in Birmingham, Conn., and began the practice of his profession, continuing therein until 1863. when he relinquished it and succeeded the late Dr. Howe, his father-in-law. in the management of the business of the Howe Manufacturing Co., of Birmingham, and remained in its active manage- ment until 1875, when the burden of the work was turned over to other hands. As a lawyer Mr. Downes gained and kept the confidence. respect and esteem of the community in which he lived. as well as that of his brethren at the Bar. His business surely and steadily increased as his worth and abil-
ity became known, and when he relinquished his practice, it was a source of sincere regret to a nu- merous clientage.
Since the retirement of Mr. Downes from the active management of the Howe Manufacturing Co. he has given his time to the management of his own affairs, and in the performance of the duties of the many positions of trust and responsibility which he has filled. For a decade or more he was president of the Derby Savings Bank. He is a director and member of the executive committee of the Ousatonic Water Co., and a director and valued counsellor and adviser in many other corporations in Derby and elsewhere. With the Ousatonic Water Co. he has been prominently identified from the be- ginning. having been employed as one of the coun- sel to obtain a charter for the company from the Legislature of Connecticut. As early as 1855 he was sent to the State Legislature from the town of Derby. He again represented that town in the same body in 1882, and for the third time in 1883. He took a prominent part in the establishment of the "Board of Pardons," and was chiefly instrumental in procuring the passage of the "Act Concerning Insane Persons," in the year 1889, and modestly says that such satisfaction as he has derived from his legislative experience arises from his connection with these two acts. For several years Mr. Downes, at some sacrifice. filled the office of justice of the peace in the town of Derby.
In referring to his make-up, a writer has said:
Mr. Downes is possessed of certain qualities rarely found, as in him, in harmonious combination. While a lover of books, and of reading and with the instincts and tastes of a scholar, he is at the same time a practical man of affairs, with an aptitude for business born of a thorough legal and business training, and of a large and varied experience. In the many corporations with which he is connected, his opinion carries much weight, and his counsel is rarely disregarded. While modest and retiring in disposition, and willing to yield to the judgment of others in matters of minor importance, he is steadfast in matters of principle and loyal to his convictions at all times, without regard to consequence. His conclusions are generally reached only after mature reflection and although they are held with firmness, the firmness never degenerates into obstinacy. He has an instinct for justice and a sense of honor "that feels a stain like a wound." His keen perception of the humorous side of human nature and conduct, coupled with a genial, kindly disposition, makes him a delightful companion, and relieves the "prosiness" of many a business meeting.
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