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 6
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Mrs. Terry is a member of the D. A. R., and took a prominent part in the organization of the chapter in Ansonia, of which she was first regent, filling that office for two years. She is a member of the Woman's Club of Ansonia and Derby, and an earnest worker in the Congregational church, of which she is a member-and of all of its differ- ent societies. Mr. Terry has been quite an exten- sive traveler, and has visited nearly every State in the Union, and has made trips to Cuba and Alaska.
JEROME COAN (deceased), a twin brother of Joseph Coan, was born in North Guilford June 19, 1834, and during his lifetime was one of the more prominent men of that section. He received a common school education, and began life for him- self very early as clerk in a store in North Guilford. He was employed in the same capacity at Branford at the breaking out of the Civil war. He and his brother Joseph enlisted in Company E. 15th Conn. V. I., and our subject participated in many battles and skirmishes, discharging his duties with such in- trepidity that he was made a corporal. During the latter part of his military career he was detailed for duty in the office of the provost marshal, and was so engaged when the war ended.
Jerome Coan returned to Guilford, engaged in farming for a time, eventually embarking in a mer- cantile career, in which he was highly successful. For more than thirty years he was one of the leading business men of the community, and until he died, Nov. 4, 1899, held the regard and confidence of the public to a marked degree. He was buried in the local cemetery. Mr. Coan was a leading and highly respected member of the Masonic fraternity, and affiliated with St. Alban's Lodge, of Guilford. He also belonged to Parmelee Post. G. A. R. As a member of the Congregational Church his life re- flected no discredit upon his faith. In his early life he was a member of the Democratic party, but in his later years he became a Republican. For some years he served as justice of the peace.
Mr. Coan was twice married, his first wife be- ing Frances D. Griswold, a daughter of Russell
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Griswold, and a native of North Guilford, where she died. On Sept. 14, 1860, he was married to Mary Frances Judd, who was born in Bloomfield, Conn., daughter of Henry. Green and Sarah Re- becca (Raymond) Judd. Mr. Coan's son, Josephi Franklin, is now engaged in a store at North Guil- ford, and has already displayed marked aptitude for a mercantile career. His youngest child and only daughter, Fannie Louise, a teacher of music, married Charles O. Bartlett, of North Guilford, Jan. 1, 1901.
Mrs. Coan is a lady of marked character and re- finement, a devoted mother and a notable housewife. The family is one of the most respected in the com- munity, and it is a comfort to the bereaved widow to feel that her children are beginning life on so high a plane of character and ambition.
JOHN BRADLEY YALE, who is drawing near his seventy-first birthday, is one of the best- known and most highly valued citizens of Nauga- tuck. Three generations of the family have been born in Litchfield county, his grandfather, Eber, his father. Charles, and himself, and both of his nearest lineal progenitors were farmers.
Thomas Yale, son of David and Ann ( Morton) Yale, born in England or Wales about 1616. came to America in 1637 with his step-father, Gov. The- ophilus Eaton, and others. After the death of David Yale, his widow, Ann, married Theophilus Eaton, then an opulent merchant of London. Mr. Eaton settled as a merchant in New Haven in 1638, with an estate of £300. Gov. Eaton died at New Haven in 1657, and in 1658 Thomas Yale accom- panied his mother and Hannah Eaton, his half- sister, son Elihu and brother David, to England. from which country Mrs. Ann. ( Morton) Eaton never returned. In the following year, 1659, Thomas Yale returned to New Haven, and pur- chased lands in part of the town which is now North Haven, settling on them as early as 1660. He had married, in 1645, Mary, daughter of Capt. Nathaniel Turner, of New Haven. Mr. Yale was one of the principal men in the colony, a signer of the Plantation Covenant of New Haven, and filled with honor many offices of trust with credit to him- self and to the satisfaction of his friends and fellow colonists. He died in 1683, leaving an estate of £479. His wife Mary died in 1704.
(II) Thomas Yale (2), son of Thomas the set- tler, born in New Haven' about 1647, married (first) Dec. II, 1667, Rebecca Gibbards, born Feb. 26. 1650, daughter of William Gibbards, of New Haven. Mr. Yale hecame one of the first settlers of Wallingford, removing thither in 1670, with a small band of other adventurers. By the records of that town it appears that he was one of the most active and energetic men among them. He assisted in the formation of the church, and in the call of the first and second ministers. Rev. Samuel Street and Rev. Samuel Whittelsey. Mr. Vale was a justice of the
peace, captain of the train-band and moderator of their meetings. He died in Wallingford, Jan. 26, 1736, and Rebecca, his first wife, and the mother of all his children, died in Wallingford.
(III) Theophilus Yale, son of Thomas (2). born Nov. 13, 1675, married Sarah. daughter of Rev. Samuel and Alma Street, of the same town ( Wallingford). Mr. Yale was a magistrate from about 1724 to the date of his death, Sept. 13, 1760. He also filled many other offices, both civil and military. His widow, Sarah, passed away aged ninety-four years.
(IV) Elihu Yale, son of Theophilus, born May 25, 1703, married (second ) Jan. 19, 1732, Judith Howe, and died at Cape Breton, Dec. 31, 1745, hav- ing gone there in the expedition against the French. He was a farmer of Wallingford.
(V) Elisha Yale, son of Elihu, born Aug. 29, 1742, married in 1771 Rebecca North, of Farming- ton. Mr. Yale was a farmer of Wallingford, and afterward in Canaan, Conn. He died April I, IS25.
(VI) Eber Yale, son of Elisha, and grandfather of John B., was born Aug. 1, 1776, and settled in South Canaan, where he married Phebe Pendleton. He died there Nov. 25, 1816. He was the father of two daughters-Julia and Caroline-and four sons -Frederick, Roderick, Charles and Eber. Julia married Constant Southwick, a mechanic of Great Barrington, Mass., and Caroline became the wife of L. B. Miller, of the same place. Frederick ( de- ceased) lived in South Canaan, and was the father of two sons-Henry, a joiner in that town, and John, who resides in Hartford. Roderick was a farmer in Canaan, Conn., and reared a family of five children, Grove Edward, Dexter, George. Eliz- ! abeth and Maria. Eber, the youngest child of Eber (I), was likewise a farmer in South Canaan ; his children were three in number. Wells, Albert and Eliza.
(VII) Charles Yale, the father of Jolin B., was the fifth of the family in order of birth. He was born April 25. 1800, grew to manhood upon his father's farm. and died in Litchfield county about 1851. In 1820 he married Laura Phelps. daughter of Samuel Phelps, also a South Canaan farmer. She survived her husband some twenty-eight years, dying about 1879. Charles Yale and his wife were the parents of six sons and three daughters, John B. being the fourth son and fifth child. The others were as follows : Caroline, born Nov. 30, 1822, died Dec. 7. 1847. William, born Nov. 16, 1824. married Nov. 7. 1848, Lucy Roberts, of Colebrook, and is now deceased : in company with his brother Pitkin he operated a tannery, having learned the trade, and he was also a farmer, conducted a hotel, and in later life practiced surgery. Pitkin. born Oct. I. 1826, is deceased. Frederick, born Dec. 10, 1828, is a farmer living in East Hartford. Albert, born Nov. 15, 1832, died in 1897; he was a farmer. Lucy, born Nov. 10, 1834, became the wife of
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Charles Meigs, and died in California. Charles, born Nov. 20, 1837, is the proprietor of a market in East Haven. Nettie Cebelia, born Sept. 27, 1840, is the wife of Philo B. Norton, a well-known livery- man of Waterbury. Charles Yale, the elder, was a Democrat in politics, and he and his family at- tended the services of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The boyhood of John B. Yale was spent after much the same fashion as that of the sons of other Connecticut farmers of his day and generation. He was born Nov. 8, 1830, and the first twenty-four years of his life were passed upon his father's farm. In 1854 he came to Naugatuck, to enter the employ of the Goodyear Rubber Shoe Co., with which cor- poration he was connected for forty years, retiring to private life in 1894, with a handsome fortune, accumulated through persistent perseverance, in- domitable industry, sound judgment and quick fore- sight. His home is one of the most beautiful in Naugatuck, and there he dispenses generous hospi- tality to his friends. He is fond of horses, and in his stable may be found some of the finest speci- mens in New Haven county. Generous and genial in private life, he is never derelict to his obligations as a citizen, nor unmindful of other and more seri- ous duties which have devolved upon him as a churchman. He is one of the town's most public- spirited residents, and an earnest and consistent member of the Episcopal Church in Naugatuck, which he was largely instrumental in founding, sub- scribing liberally to its establishment, and going about personally to solicit contributions for the cause. In personal appearance Mr. Yale is of fine physique, bearing his threescore and ten years with the same ease with which men of less vigor carry the weight of half a century. He is a Republican in politics, and a member of the Masonic Fraternity.
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In 1860 Mr. Yale married Miss Frances E. Is- bell, whose father, John Isbell, was an old and highly esteemed resident of Naugatuck. Her only brother, John, was a gallant soldier during the Civil war, and died from a fever contracted while in the service. Mr. and Mrs. Yale have but one child. a daughter Laura Yale, who became the wife of Charles H. Ensign, of Hartford. They had one child, Howard Yale Ensign.
NELSON JAMES WELTON, who was born Feb. 15, 1829, in Waterbury, at Buck's Hill, three miles north of the Center, is a descendant in direct line from John Welton. The latter was born in Wales, and came to America, settling in Saybrook, living for a time in Farmington, and finally, in 1679, moving to Waterbury, where he died June 18, 1726. Seven consecutive generations of the Weltons have lived in Waterbury, and six have died there.
Richard Welton, the first male child of European parentage born in Waterbury, was a son of John. the emigrant, and was born Sept. 27, 1679; he died in 1755. He was a builder, and erected the home
at Buck's Hill. There was a fort at Waterbury where the settlers would gather to sleep at night under protection from hostile Indians. Eliakim Welton, son of Richard, was born Jan. 21, 1715, and died Nov. 20, 1794.
Richard Welton, son of Eliakim, was born on the old honie Oct. 10, 1743, and died Feb. 26, 1820.
Thomas Welton, son of Richard, was born Dec. 8, 1774, was baptized Jan. 5, 1775, and died April 18, 1856. He married Sybil Cook, of Wallingford, and had a family of six children, of whom the eldest was Lyman, the father of Nelson J .; Eveline, born Jan. 23, 1800; Minerva, born March 19, 1802 ; Sally D., deceased in infancy; Sally D. (2) was born June 14, 1810; and Nancy, born April 12, 1812. Eveline married Anson Downs, of Waterbury. Minerva married Burton Payne, of Bristol. Sally D. married Henry Bronson, of Middlebury, and Nancy became Mrs. Frederick A. Bradley, of Bridgeport.
Lyman Welton was born June 15, 1798, and died Nov. 18, 1882. He was a farmer all his life, resid- ing on the old place at Buck's Hill. He married Minerva Judd, who was born in Watertown June 29, 1800, a daughter of Benjamin H. and Anna (Prindle) Judd, the latter of whom was a daughter of the Rev. Chauncey Prindle. Three children came to Lyman Welton and his wife: Henry A .. born Dec. 2, 1823, is a retired mechanic, now living in Hartford. Franklin L., born Dec. 11, 1827, died Nov. 1, 1886; he was engaged in the fire insurance business in Waterbury, where he held the office of town clerk and selectman. Nelson J. is mentioned below.
Benjamin H. Judd, father of Mrs. Lyman Wel- ton, was born Sept. 30, 1770, a son of Joel Judd, and died May 26, 1860. He was a mechanic and cabi- netmaker of Watertown. The Judd family is de- scended from one Deacon Thomas Judd, who emi- grated from England about 1633, and settled in Cambridge, Mass. In 1636 he moved to Hartford, and in 1644 to Farmington. He was one of the deputies to the General Court in 1647. His death occurred in 1688. Lieut. Thomas Judd, the rep- resentative of the second generation of the family in America, came to Waterbury, where he was one of the first planters, and represented the town in the General Sessions for eleven years. He died in 1703, aged about sixty-five. John Judd, son of Lieut. Thomas, was born in Farmington, married, and became the father of Benjamin Judd. He died in 1717. Benjamin Judd was born Aug. 28, 1710, : became a physician of considerable ability. and mar- ried Abigail Adams, who bore him several children. Among them was Joel Judd, who was born in Wat- erbury, July 15, 1748, and became a soldier in the Revolutionary war, in which he was wounded by a bullet which he carried the remainder of his life. Toel Judd married Mercy Hickox, and became the father of Benjamin H., mentioned above as the father of Mrs. Lyman Welton.
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Velsont, Wilton
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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
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Nelson J. Welton spent his boyhood days on the farnı at Buck's Hill. He was educated in the dis- triet school and the Waterbury Academy, where he studied surveying and civil engineering under Charles Fabrique. At the age of eighteen he began teaching a district school, and for five years taught school in the winters in Wolcott and Naugatuck, and spent his summers in surveying. In 1850, at the age of twenty-one, he was appointed county surveyor for New Haven county. For more than fifty years Mr. Welton has been a civil engineer and surveyor, and for many years was the only surveyor in this part of the county. He still has his office and is a consulting civil and hydraulic engineer. The building in which his office is located was built in 1856, and on its completion Mr. Welton took up his quarters there. In politics Mr. Welton is a Demoerat, and has held many important offices in the gift of his party, although his personal popular- ity has gained him many votes outside of the striet party vote. From 1853 to 1885 he was eity en- gineer ; for five years from 1853 he was city clerk ; from 1852 to 1856, grand juror ; from 1856 to 1863, town clerk: for twenty-eight years justice of the peace ; in 1859, judge of probate for the district of Waterbury; in 1861, representative from Water- bury to the General Assembly: in 1863 and 1864, recorder of the city court of Waterbury: in 1867, president of the board of water commissioners, a position he held until 1896, with the exception of a break of two years. He built the water works, and for more than thirty years was the general mana- ger. He was engineer in charge of the construction of the city's system of sewerage, and in 1878 was appointed one of the State Board of Engineers for the inspection of reservoirs and dams, which posi- tion he still holds. From the formation of the Riv- erside Cemetery ' Association in 1853 Mr. Welton has been its secretary and superintendent. and since 1865 has served also as its treasurer He has served several terms as alderman of the eity, was acting mayor (in the absence of Mayor Spencer) and rendered valuable service in securing the be- quest under the will of the late Silas Bronson, and in the establishment of the Bronson library in 1870. Mr. Welton has been identified with many of the progressive institutions of Waterbury, being one of the incorporators of the Waterbury Savings Bank, of which he is at present a director, and he is also a director in the Waterbury National Bank. He is greatly interested in the cause of education. and is a member of the corporation and the present treasurer of St. Margaret's School for Girls in Waterbury.
In religious connection Mr. Welton is a com- municant of the Episcopal Church, where his kin- dred on both sides have been found. He is a member and senior warden of St. John's Church, is agent of the parish and vestry, and is active in all Church work. For fifty-two years he was con- nected with the Sunday-school as pupil and
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teacher, and for thirty-two years was a vestryman. From 1877 to 1889 he was parish clerk. In the Masonie fraternity he has taken high rank. Hc took his first degree of Masonry in Harmony Lodge, No. 42, F. & A. M., Waterbury, Feb. 14, 1856, and was made a Master Mason March 20, same year. As Master of the lodge he did good work from 1865 to 1866, and on the formation of Continental Lodge, No. 76, he became one of its charter members. Mr. Welton was made a Royal Arch Mason in Eureka Chapter, No. 22, R. A. M., March 10, 1858, and was High Priest of the chap- ter in 1863 and 1864. On October 13, 1865, he was knighted in New Haven Commandery, No. 2, and became a charter member of Clark Commandery, No. 7, K. T., of which he was Eminent Com- mander in 1873 and 1874. In 1881 he received the Scottish Rite degrees in E. G. Storer Lodge of Per- feetion, in Elm City Council, P. of J., and New Haven Chapter, Rose Croix. The next year he be- came a 32d degree Mason, receiving the consistory grade in Lafayette Consistory, Bridgeport, Conn. He also belongs to Pyramid Temple, Ancient Arabie Order, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, Bridgeport, and is an honorary member of Mecca Temple, New York City. In the Grand Masonie bodies of Connecticut Sir Nelson J. Welton served as Grand Commander of the Grand Commandery of Conncetieut in 1881 and 1882.
On Jan. 20, 1869, Mr. Welton was married to Mrs. Frances R. P. Lyon, who was born in Smyrna, N. Y., Oet. 17, 1832, and died Aug. 9, 1900. She was the daughter of John and Abbie (Chapin) Phillips.
GEORGE MARSHALL AVERILL, the ge- nial proprietor of "The Ark" at Indian Neck, town of Branford, was born in that town Oct. 12, 1838, a son of John and Almira ( Hemingway) Averill, and grandson of David Averill (a seafaring man of Branford) and his wife, Polly Morris.
John Averill made his home in Branford and followed the sea. He was a coaster speculator and captain of vessels for several years, and built several vessels. He was a native of Branford, in which town he ever made his home. He married Almira Hemingway, daughter of Stephen and Polly (An- drews ) Hemingway ,of East Haven, and his chil- dren were: George M., Harriet J. (Mrs. Lewis Frisbie), Roland G., Asahel, Frank and Alvira ( Mrs. Adrian Ely).
George M. Averill was educated in the com- mon schools and Branford Academy, and for a number of years followed the coast, holding all pos- sible positions from cook to captain. For twenty- two years he has been proprietor of "The Ark," a most popular resort on Indian Neck, famous for its shore dinners. The cheery welcome of the proprietor and the excelleney of the entertainment have won the good will of the public.
On March 20, 1864, Mr. Averill was united in
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marriage with Miss Harriet E., daughter of Russell Babcock, of North Lyme, Conn., and this union has been blessed with five children: Fred L., an at- torney by profession, and the present clerk of the Court of Common Pleas ; George Walter, John R., Louis S. and Ernest L. In politics Mr. Averill is a stanch Republican, and fraternally is identified with Widows Sons Lodge, No. 66, F. & A. M.
HENRY WATSON FRENCH, the subject of this sketch, was born in the town of Chicopee, Mass., July 23, 1837, son of Arasmus French, who was born in Wendell, Mass., in March, 1813, and died in New Haven, Conn .. in June, 1890.
Samuel French, grandfather of Henry W., was born in Wendell, Mass., where he lived all his days and died at a good old age. He married Lucy Nor- cross, and a family of seven children was born to them: Allen, who died young : Arasmus, father of Henry W .; Arad, of whom little is known, as he was of a roving disposition, and after reaching man- hood wandered away and was never heard from ; Adaline, who was blind, and died unmarried; El- mira, now deceased, who married a Mr. Armstrong and lived in Montague. Mass. ; Thankfull. who mar- ried Milton Sawyer and removed to Glens Falls, N. Y. (both are deceased ) ; and Lucy, a school teacher in her younger days, who married a Mr. Upham and lived in Royalston, Mass., and now a resident of Athoi, that State ( she is now about eighty years of age ). Samuel French was the "vil- lage blacksmith" of his town. He served in the war of the Revolution and in the war of 1812. His ancestry served in the French and Indian war.
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Arasmus French, the father of Henry W., spent his boyhood days in his native town, Wendell, work- ing with his father, the village blacksmith. It is said of him that at the age of twelve he could shoe horses. At the age of sixteen he walked to the town of Lowell, Mass., where he learned the trade of machinist with the Lowell Machine Co. From Lowell he moved to the town of Chicopee, Mass., and at the age of twenty-one married Lydia Mor- ton, daughter of Dr. Joshua Morton, of Athol, Mass., where she was born in March, ISII. She died in September, 1892, in New Haven, Conn. Six children were born to this union: Lucy Jane mar- ried J. L. Hungerford, of New Haven, and died in that city; Henry Watson is the subject proper of these lines : Ellen Maria died in infancy ; Carrie Ar- delia died in Ravenswood, L. I., at the age of three years ; William Arasmus is a machinist and lives in Ansonia, Conn .; Emma Morton married Charles L. Deming, and lives in New Haven.
Arasmus French was connected with the Ames Manufacturing Co. of Chicopee for over ten years, and while there conceived the idea of knitting stock- ings by machinery and invented the necessary ap- paratus. The machine was considered a great won- der at the time, and was on exhibition in Boston and later in Barrum's Museum, New York. The
patents covering the invention were first secured by Philadelphia parties, and later by a company in Waterbury, Conn., and it was the foundation of the American Hosiery Co., one of the industries of the latter city. About 1856 Mr. French removed to New Haven and became connected with the Win- chester Arms Co. He was one of the early inventors of what is now known as the Win- chester Repeating Rifle, and he had much to do with selecting the necessary ammunition therefor. He was connected with this company at different periods for nearly forty years. He was also the inventor of the process of making paper boxes from paper and other pulp, and of many other devices of value now in use. In politics Mr. French was a Whig and later a Republican. In religion he was first a Congregationalist, and later in life a free-thinker and spiritualist. Both the French and Morton tam- ilies were of the old New England type, and were associated with the history and development of that part of Massachusetts to which they were native. Arasmus French and his wife are buried in the New Haven cemetery, New Haven, Connecticut.
Henry W. French, son of Arasmus. spent his ear- ly boyhood days in the town of Chicopee, Mass., where he was born. and at the age of six removed with his parents to Boston, Mass., and later to New York, where he attended the public schools of the city up to the age of twelve. It then became nec- essary for him to begin to do for himself. He worked in various offices and stores until, at about the age of fifteen, he went to the town of Ravens- wood, L. I., where his father was engaged in the manufacture of ammunition. In 1852 the entire factory was destroyed by an explosion of powder, and twenty-eight people were killed. Upon this disaster the father gave up that dangerous business and removed to Waterbury, Conf. At this time- at the age of sixteen-Henry W. took up an unfin- ished order for a million cartridges for the use of the insurgents in Cuba, and completed the same in West Troy, N. Y. On the completion of this work he took a position with an uncle in New Bed- ford, Mass., who was a merchant. In 1854 he went to Waterbury and was with his father's family again, and here he learned the trade of machinist with the Blake & Johnson Co .. by whom he was employed for about ten years. He then accepted a position as toolmaker with the Waterbury Button Co., with whom he remained two years. The man- ufacture of cloth buttons was then in its infancy in this country, and Mr. French made some valuable improvements in the manufacture. After leaving the last named concern he engaged with the Lane Manufacturing Co., taking charge of their tool de- partment, and later advanced to the position of su- perintendent, which he held for twelve years. In 1891 he was placed in charge of the claim depart- ment of his city. In 1892 he became connected with the Waterbury Horse Railway Co. and had consid- erable to do with the amendment of their charter,
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