USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 1 > Part 11
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He married, May 11, 1801, Anna, daugh- ter of Richard Smith, of Roxbury. She died March 4, 1819. He married (second) May 6, 1820, Elizabeth Maltby, who died June 12, 1840, daughter of Benjamin Maltby, of Branford. He married (third) May 27, 1841, Nancy Daggett, who died at New Haven, August 14, 1867, daugh- ter of Jacob Daggett, of New Haven.
Rev. Thomas Bronson, son of Judge Bennet Bronson, was born in Waterbury, January 4, 1808, died there April 20, 1851, after a few weeks' illness of a rheumatic affection of the heart. He was fitted for college partly by his father, and partly in Farmington, and graduated at Yale in 1829. On leaving college he took charge of a school in East Windsor, but was obliged to give it up on account of a severe attack of rheumatic fever. In the spring of 1830 he began the study of law with Truman Smith, of Litchfield, and then at- tended the New Haven Law School; abandoning this, he studied theology at New Haven and Andover. He began to preach in the autumn of 1835, although he did not receive his license until 1838. He
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was never ordained, but preached in sev- eral places in Connecticut and New York. Late in the year 1843 he gave up the min- istry and removed to the South, where he taught school in Smithfield, Virginia. Later he removed to Quincy, Illinois, and taught school there until after the death of his father in 1850. He returned to Waterbury in 1851, but died soon after- ward. He married, February 13, 1839, Cynthia Elizabeth Bartlett, who died Feb- ruary 13, 1852; daughter of Cyrus M. Bartlett, of Hartford.
DAGGETT, David, Lawyer, Public Official.
John Doggett, immigrant ancestor, came to New England with Governor Winthrop in 1630, and settled at Martha's Vineyard, where his name often appeared on the records. He died in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1673. His son, Thomas Daggett, was born at Watertown, Massa- chusetts, about 1630. He changed the spelling of the name to Daggett. His son, John Daggett, was born in 1662, and his house is reported as being used as a gar- rison house. His son, Thomas (2) Dag- gett, was born about 1692. His son, Thomas (3) Daggett, was born in 1731. He married Sibulah Stanley, of Attleboro, Massachusetts, where his life was spent. They were the parents of Hon. David Daggett, of whom further.
Hon. David Daggett, son of Thomas (3) and Sibulah (Stanley) Daggett, was born at Attleboro, Massachusetts, Decem- ber 31, 1764, died in New Haven, Con- necticut, April 12, 1851.
He resided in his native town until the fall of 1779. In 1781 he went to New Haven and entered the junior class of Yale College, graduating in 1783 with high honor. He commenced the study of law with Charles Chauncey, Esq., of New
Haven, and was admitted to the bar of New Haven county in January, 1786, at the age of twenty-one, and immediately entered upon practice in the town. While pursuing his legal studies under Judge Chauncey he supported himself by per- forming the duties of butler in college and preceptor in the Hopkins Grammar School. In 1791 he was chosen to repre- sent the town of New Haven in the Gen- eral Assembly, and was annually reelected for six years until 1797, when he was chosen a member of the council or upper house. Though one of the youngest mem- bers of the House of Representatives, he soon became one of its most influential, and in 1794 was chosen to preside over it as its speaker at the early age of twenty- nine. He retained his seat in the council for seven years, until his resignation in 1804. The following year he was again a member of the House of Representatives. In 1809 he was again chosen a member of the upper house and continued to hold a place in that body until May, 1813, when he was chosen a Senator in the Congress of the United States for six years from the preceding fourth of March. In June, 18II, he was appointed State's Attorney for the county of New Haven, and con- tinued in that office until his resignation when chosen to the Senate in 1813. In 1826 he was chosen Kent professor of law in the Yale Law School. He continued in these positions until at a very advanced age his infirmities induced him to resign them. In the autumn of 1826 he received from the corporation of Yale College the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. In May, 1826, he was chosen an associate judge of the Superior Court of the State of Connecticut. During the years 1828 and 1829 he was mayor of the city of New Haven. In May, 1832, he was made chief justice of the Supreme Court, and con- tinued to perform the duties of that sta-
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tion until December 31, 1834, when he attained the age of seventy years, the limit which the State constitution assigns to the judicial office.
Judge Daggett was a true and accom- plished gentleman. He was in a very extraordinary degree polished in his man- ners, gracefully and scrupulously observ- ant of all civilities. His courtesy was re- markable. The religious life of Judge Daggett began with the thorough train- ing which he received in his childhood and youth. This "nurture and admoni- tion of the Lord" under the paternal roof, and the memories and records of his pious ancestry had a strong influence upon him. He commenced his active life with great respect for religion and its ordinances.
Judge Daggett married (first) Wealthy Ann, daughter of Dr. Eneas Munson, and they were the parents of nineteen chil- dren ; she died in 1839. He married (sec- ond) Mary, daughter of Major Lines ; she died in 1854.
Dr. Eneas Munson, father of Judge Daggett's first wife, was a noted char- acter in his day. He was born June 13, 1734, and graduated at Yale College in 1753; he became a preacher, though never a pastor, for a few years. He be- gan practice as a physician in Bedford, New York, in 1756, but removed to New Haven in 1760, where he continued in practice during seventy years. In addi- tion to the duties of his profession, Dr. Munson was a public-spirited citizen, holding many town offices, and was a member of the first common council of the city in 1784, Roger Sherman being mayor. He also represented New Haven in the State Legislature seven times. He lived to the age of ninety-two years. In 1761 he married Susannah Howell, by whom he had nine children, Mrs. Daggett being the fourth.
Dr. Eneas Munson was a descendant in
the fifth generation from Thomas Mun- son, one of the founders of New Haven, the line being as follows: Thomas Mun- son (I), 1612-85, married Joanna - Samuel Munson (II), 1643-93, married Martha, daughter of William and Alice (Pritchard) Bradley. Theophilus Mun- son (III), 1675-1747, married Esther, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Heaton) Mix. Benjamin Munson (IV), born 1711, married Abigail, daughter of John and Abigail (Alling) Punderson. Eneas was the oldest of their four children.
BALDWIN, Simeon,
Lawyer, Congressman, Judge.
The name of Baldwin appears in the Battle Abbey, and one of the name is known as early as 672. The Baldwins of the United States came largely from County Bucks, England. John Baldwin, the founder of the Norwich family of the name, appears early in Guilford, Connec- ticut, and in 1660 removed to Norwich, the year of the settlement of that town. His son, Thomas Baldwin, was born in Norwich, Connecticut, in 1662. He was a farmer by occupation. His son, Eben- ezer Baldwin, was born in Norwich, Con- necticut, April 20, 1710. He became a leading man of his native town, was known as Captain Baldwin, and held nu- merous offices of trust and importance. He married, October 10, 1738, Bethiah Barker, and they were the parents of Simeon Baldwin, of whom further.
Simeon Baldwin, son of Ebenezer and Bethiah (Barker) Baldwin, was born in Norwich, Connecticut, December 14, 1761. He was prepared for college by his brother, the Rev. Ebenezer Baldwin, of Danbury, Connecticut, and was residing with his brother when the rumor of the battle of Bunker Hill reached Danbury. He was then between thirteen and four-
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teen years of age and was despatched on horseback to the house of the minister at New Milford, who received the Boston newspaper, to obtain, if possible, the copy as a loan, in order to give the news to the people of Danbury. He accomplished his purpose, covering the fifteen miles and back in impulsive boy fashion, with but little regard to the comfort of his horse, and the important news was read to the assembled multitude awaiting his return. On the death of his brother, in October, 1776, he completed his preparatory studies at Coventry, under tutorship of Rev. Jo- seph Huntington, and at Lebanon at Mas- ter Tisdale's school. He matriculated at Yale College in 1787, and was a student in New Haven, when the British attacked the place, and he joined a company of undergraduates formed to resist the ad- vance of the enemy at "Neck Bridge." He was graduated at Yale, Bachelor of Arts, 1781 ; Master of Arts, 1784. In 1782 he went to Albany as senior preceptor in the Albany Academy, and served as tutor at Yale, 1783-86; taught in New Haven and studied law with Judge Charles Chauncy. In 1786 he was admitted to the bar and practiced his profession in New Haven, and in 1790 was elected clerk of the city court of New Haven, serving 1790-1800. He also served as clerk of the District Circuit Court of the United States, and continued an extensive prac- tice in the State courts up to 1803, when he took his seat in the United States Con- gress as a representative from the New Haven district. He served throughout the Eighth United States Congress, 1803- 05, and declined a renomination in 1804. He was reappointed clerk of the United States courts, serving up to 1806. The Legislature of Connecticut in 1806 made him an associate judge of the Superior Court and Supreme Court of Errors of the State, and he continued in that high office
for eleven years, up to May, 1817, by annual reappointment, which was at the time the custom. He was made a mem- ber of the commission which located the Farmington canal, by the General Assem- bly, and in 1822 was elected president of the board, resigning in 1830, after the canal was completed to Northampton. He was city councilman of New Haven, 1798-99; alderman, 1800-16, and 1820-25. In 1826 he was elected mayor of the city of New Haven, and at the expiration of his term of office he declined further public duties and continued in the practice of the law to within a short time of his death, which occurred at New Haven, Connecticut, May 26, 1851, in his ninetieth year.
Judge Simeon Baldwin was the last sur- vivor of the class of 1781 of Yale College, which class included Chancellor Kent. Judge Baldwin published in 1788 "An Oration pronounced before the Citizens of New Haven, July 4, 1788; in com- memoration of the Declaration of Inde- pendence and Establishment of the Con- stitution of the United States of Amer- ica." to be found in the principal large libraries of the world. In 1848 he pre- pared an interesting account of the early life of his classmate, Chancellor Kent, which was published in Kent's "Memoirs," pages 9-18 (1898).
He married (first) July 29, 1787, Re- becca, eldest daughter of Roger Sherman, the signer of the Declaration of Inde- pendence, and Rebecca (Prescott) Sher- man; children, born in New Haven: I. Rebecca, May 30, 1788, died unmarried in 1861. 2. Ebenezer, 1790, Yale, Bachelor of Arts, 1808, died unmarried in New Haven, Connecticut, January 26, 1837; was a lawyer in Albany, New York, mas- ter in chancery, surrogate, recorder and military aide to Governor Clinton, of New York, author of a "History of Yale Col- lege." 3. Roger Sherman, see forward.
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4. Simeon, 1794-1795. Rebecca (Sher- man) Baldwin died in New Haven, Con- necticut, September 4, 1795, in her thirty- second year. Simeon Baldwin married (second) April 22, 1800, Elizabeth, next younger sister of his deceased wife and widow of Sturgis Burr, of New York City, and Fairfield, Connecticut, who died in 1796. Children, born in New Haven, Connecticut : 5. Simeon, 1801 ; was a ship- ping merchant in New York City; mar- ried, October 7, 1830, Ann Mehitable, daughter of Lockwood De Forest, and had two children: Henry and Simeon, born in 1832 and 1836, respectively. 6. Elizabeth, 1804-1822, unmarried. 7. Charles, 1805-07. 8. Martha, 1808-1809. 9. Charles, 1810. The mother of these children died in New Haven, July 16, 1850, aged eighty-five years.
Roger Sherman Baldwin, son of Simeon and Rebecca (Sherman) Baldwin, was born in New Haven, Connecticut, Janu- ary 4, 1793. He was prepared for matric- ulation at Yale College in his native city and was graduated at Yale, Bachelor of Arts, 1811, with high honors, receiving his Master's degree in course. He studied law in his father's law office in New Haven and at the celebrated law school at Litchfield, Connecticut, conducted by Judges Reeve and Gould.
He was admitted to the Connecticut bar in 1814, and his law practice in New Haven was brilliant and eminently suc- cessful. His knowledge of the law was unusual in one so young, and his fame as a lawyer brought him a large clientage. In 1837 and 1838 he was a member of the Connecticut State Senate. In 1839 he was associated with John Quincy Adams, ex- President of the United States, before the United States Supreme Court in the de- fence of the negroes rescued from the slaver "Amistad" by a United States ves- sel, after the slaves had overpowered the
Spanish crew and were drifting on the high seas without a navigator. The claim of the government of Spain for a return of the property so rescued was contested by the United States government, and Mr. Baldwin conducted the case at the request of ex-President Adams. His skill in hand- ling questions of international law won praise from the bench and bar, and called out special praise from the learned Chan- cellor Kent. He represented his district in the General Assembly of Connecticut, 1840 and 1841; served as Governor of Connecticut, 1844-45; was United States Senator by appointment of the Governor to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Senator J. W. Huntington, November I, 1847, and he was retained in the position by the joint Legislature of Connecticut at its next annual convening to complete the unexpired term of Senator Huntington, ending March 4, 1851. The Republican party of Connecticut in 1860 elected him a presidential elector- at-large for the State, and when the electoral college convened in 1861, he cast the vote of the State for Abraham Lincoln for President and Henry Wilson for Vice-President of the United States, the successful candidates. Governor Buckingham made him a dele- gate to the peace congress that convened at Philadelphia in 1861. He was ex-officio a fellow of Yale College, 1844-45, and he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Trinity College in 1844, and from Yale in 1845. He married, October, 1820, Emily, daughter of Enoch Perkins, of Hartford, Connecticut.
TERRY, Eli,
Famous Clockmaker.
Eli Terry, son of Samuel Terry, was born at South Windsor, Connecticut, April 13, 1772. He removed to the north- ern part of Waterbury, now Northbury,
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in 1793. He learned the trade of clock and watch making and engraving on metals of Daniel Burnap, of Hartford. After- ward he worked under Thomas Howland, of Norwich, a native of London, England. He engaged in business at what is now Plymouth, Connecticut, making clocks and doing a variety of work in metals.
He originated the shelf clock thus giv- ing to the world a timepiece of reasonable size and price. In 1807 he took a con- tract for four thousand clocks with the seconds pendulum made of wood instead of cast brass, at four dollars apiece. Eng- lish brass clocks were imported and some were made in Connecticut. In 1814 Mr. Terry perfected a thirty-hour clock that was accurate and reasonable in price, and for twenty-five years his clocks held the market of the country, and the business grew to large proportions. The progress in the art of making sheet metal allowed the clock-makers to use metal instead of wood and to improve the work materially. He also manufactured fine clock regu- lators for the use of watch-makers and tower clocks for churches and public buildings. He devised a tower clock of which the timepiece could be placed in any part of the building. He died at Terryville, Plymouth, Connecticut, Feb- ruary 24, 1852. He was one of the most prominent and successful inventors and manufacturers of his day, achieving more than a national reputation. Eli Terry set- tled in the south part of Plymouth. He sold his business there to Silas Hoadley and Seth Thomas, the latter also becom- ing famous as a clock-maker. The place was subsequently named Hoadleyville for Mr. Hoadley. Terry built a house with a shop in the rear on Plymouth Hill, near the center. He built two houses in Terry- ville, west of the center, in 1838-39, and moved into the one nearest the church, where he lived the remainder of his life.
He married (first) Eunice, daughter of James Warner, granddaughter of John Warner and David Dutton. He married (second) Harriet Peck, widow, Novem- ber, 1840.
WELCH, Archibald,
Prominent Physician.
James Welch, the earliest known an- cestor of Dr. Archibald Welch, was a resident of Malden, Massachusetts, and was a soldier in King Philip's War in 1676. He went to Mount Hope, Rhode Island, later settled in Swansea, Massa- chusetts, Rehoboth, Massachusetts, Bris- tol, Rhode Island, and Plainfield and Vol- untown, Connecticut, his death occurring in the latter named place. His son, Thomas Welch, was born March 1, 1695, and died August 14, 1781. He removed from Bristol, Rhode Island, to Plainfield, Connecticut, and later near Windham Village, Connecticut. His son, the Rev. Daniel Welch, was born in Windham, Connecticut, March 20, 1726, and died April 29, 1782. He was a graduate of Yale College in 1749, and was ordained pastor of the church in North Mansfield, June 29, 1752, remaining there until his death. His son, the Rev. Moses Cook Welch, D. D., was born in Windham, Connecticut, February 14, 1754, and died April 21, 1824. He was a graduate of Yale College in 1772, was a teacher for a number of years, then studied theology, and he succeeded his father as pastor of the church at North Mansfield, being or- dained June 2, 1784, and he continued in the ministry until his death. Dr. Welch married (first) Chloe Evans, (second) Clarissa Ashley, (third) a daughter of the Rev. Noadiah Russell, (fourth) Mrs. Mary Leech, who survived him. He was the father of Dr. Archibald Welch, of this review.
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Dr. Archibald Welch, son of Rev. Dr. Moses Cook Welch, was born at Mans- field, Connecticut, March 13, 1794. He attended the public schools, and then be- gan the study of medicine and took two courses of lectures in medicine at Yale College, and was licensed to practice in September, 1816. For sixteen years he practiced successfully in his native town, then removed to Wethersfield, Connecti- cut, in December, 1832, and practiced an- other period of sixteen years. From 1848 to the time of his death he was a promi- nent physician of Hartford. For ten years he was in charge of the medical depart- ment of the Connecticut State prison. In 1836 he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine out of course from Yale College. Dr. Welch was prominent in public life as well as in his profession. He served his district in the General Assembly ; was secretary, vice-president and president in succession of the State Medical Society. He was highly esteemed by all who knew him; amiable, correct and skillful as a physician ; hospitable by nature and en- tertaining many friends at his fireside and table; lively, witty and entertaining in speech, he was an admirable companion on every occasion. He was generous with his wealth and freely helped those in need. He had many friends in all walks of life. Though he held strongly to his opinions, and was a man of quick temper and earn- estness, he was able to control himself and win to his views many of his towns- men whenever a controversy arose in which he had an interest. His sense of justice was keen, his kindness and mercy, truthfulness and honor, prominent char- acteristics. His demeanor was, withal, modest, frank, unaffected. He was simple and natural in his conduct under all con- ditions, and made no pretensions. From the very beginning of his practice he re- solved never to accept a drink of intoxi-
cating liquor while calling upon patients, and he was the first man in Wethersfield to proclaim himself from principle a total abstainer. He was a leader in the temper- ance movement, and at his instigation the first temperance lecture was delivered there. His interest in the temperance question never flagged, and he earnestly supported the premise that the keeping and sale of liquor was a nuisance to soci- ety and should be suppressed as other nuisances recognized in law. On all pub- lic questions he was well informed, and a formidable antagonist to meet in discus- sion or debate. He was a Whig in poli- tics. In 1841 he joined the Congrega- tional church at Wethersfield, and in his own family he maintained the time- honored daily family worship of the Puri- tans. Though he was not given to talk- ing of his religious experience, he lived an upright and consistent Christian life. He was killed in the disaster at Norwalk in 1853, when the train on which he was rid- ing went through the drawbridge. Other prominent physicians were also victims of this accident, returning from a meeting of the American Medical Association at New York.
He married, March 16, 1818, Cynthia Hyde, of Tolland county, daughter of Daniel and Mary Hyde, descendant of William Hyde, an early settler of Nor- wich, Connecticut.
SMITH, John Cotton,
Congressman, Governor.
John Cotton Smith, born at Sharon, Litchfield county, Connecticut, February 12, 1765, was a descendant of Rev. In- crease Mather; of Rev. Henry Smith, first minister of Wethersfield, and, count- ing both sides of the house, of five other clergymen. His father, the Rev. Cotton Mather Smith, was pastor of the Congre-
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gational church at Sharon for fifty years, and in 1775-76 was chaplain of a Connec- ticut regiment which served at Ticon- deroga and in Canada. The latter was married to Temperance, widow of Dr. Moses Gale, of Goshen, New York, and daughter of Rev. William Worthington, of that part of Saybrook, Connecticut, now called Westbrook. All the ancestors of John Cotton Smith were men and women of eminent virtues and of intellec- tual strength, and their best qualities were inherited by him.
He was instructed by his mother until he was six years of age, when he began his classical studies, and at the age of fifteen entered Yale College, from which he was graduated in 1783. He studied law under John Canfield, of Sharon; and after his admission to the bar in 1786, practiced in his native town. He was a representative in the Legislature in 1793, and again in 1796-1800; was clerk of the house in 1799, and speaker in 1800. In October of the latter year he was elected to Congress by the Federalists, to fill a vacancy, and held the office for six years, serving as chairman of the committee on claims in 1802-06, and presiding over the committee of the whole in the discussion on the judiciary in 1801; and under all circumstances showing himself a states- man of more than ordinary ability and an eloquent orator. "His prudence and wis- dom," says Trumbull, "doubtless pro- tracted for several years the dominion of the party with which his political life was identified."
On leaving Congress he returned to Sharon to practice and to engage in farm- ing and literary pursuits. In 1808-09 he was again called upon to serve in the State Legislature. In October, 1809, he was nominated to the bench of the Su- preme Court of Connecticut ; but before opening the second term of this court he
was called to fill the office of Lieutenant- Governor. On the death of Governor Griswold, in October, 1812, he became Acting Governor, and then for four suc- cessive years was elected to that office. On the expiration of his term he with- drew from public life and devoted himself to the care of his large estate and to study.
Governor Smith contributed occasion- ally to scientific journals, and was a mem- ber of the Northern Society of Anti- quarians at Copenhagen ; also of the Con- necticut and Massachusetts historical so- cieties. He was president of the Litch- field County Foreign Missionary Society and of the Litchfield County Temperance Society ; first president of the Connecti- cut State Bible Society ; president of the American Bible Society in 1831-45 and of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in 1826-41. The de- gree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him by Yale College in 1814. Gov- ernor Smith's mother was a beautiful woman, and he was a notably handsome man, with almost classic features. He was dignified, yet courteous, tall, slender and graceful. A member of the Legisla- ture once said : "I have never seen a man who could take a paper from the table and lay it back again so handsomely as John Cotton Smith." He was married to Margaret Evertsen. Their only child, William Mather Smith, was married to Helen, daughter of Gilbert R. Livingston, of Tivoli, New York. Governor Smith's "Correspondence and Miscellanies," ed- ited by Rev. William W. Andrews, was published in 1847. He died at Sharon, Connecticut, December 7, 1845.
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