USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 1 > Part 23
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57
157
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
States Senate adopted appropriate resolu- tions in recognition of his "eminent and patriotic services." General Lyon left nearly the whole of his fortune, some $30,- 000, to the Federal government to assist in the prosecution of the war. "The last Political Writings of General Nathaniel Lyon" was published in New York in 1862. The "Memoir," by N. A. Wood- ward (Hartford, Conn., 1862), is the basis of this sketch.
BURPEE, Thomas Francis, Colonel of Twenty-first Regiment, Connec- ticut Volunteers.
Thomas Burpee, immigrant ancestor, came from England to Massachusetts about 1644. He was settled in Rowley in 1651. There his first wife, Martha (Cheney) Burpee, was buried June 24, 1658. His second wife was Sarah, daugh- ter of John Kelly, of Newbury, Massa- chusetts, who was born February 12, 1641, married, April 15, 1659. Thomas Burpee died in Rowley, June 1, 1701, and his wife Sarah, December 25, 1713. His son, Thomas (2) Burpee, was born in Rowley, December 25, 1663; married there, December 3, 1690, Hester, daugh- ter of Jonathan Hopkinson. He died June 24, 1709, and she died October 3, 1722, in her fifty-fifth year. His son, Ebenezer Burpee, was born in Rowley, January 8, 1697-98, died there, September II, 1771. He married Miriam, daughter of Jeremiah Pearson, of Newbury, Mas- sachusetts, December 15, 1721. She died January 15, 1782. His son, Jeremiah Bur- pee, was born in Rowley, September 10, 1724. He had settled in Lancaster before 1753, and died in Sterling in 1817. His son,
Moses Burpee, was born in Lancas- ter (Sterling), August 11, 1750. He mar- ried there, Elizabeth Kendall, of Leomin- ster, about January 2, 1775. He was a
soldier in the American Revolution, and served in Captain Thomas Gates' com- pany, from Lancaster, on the Lexing- ton Alarm, April 19, 1775, and in Cap- tain Solomon Stuart's company, Colo- nel Josiah Whitney's regiment, on the Bennington Alarm, August 21, 1777. He died in November, 1827. His son, Thomas (3) Burpee, was born June 20, 1780, in Sterling. He married (first) Polly Haskell, October 5, 1804, in Lan- caster. She died there, April 6, 1816. His second wife, whom he married in Staf- ford, Connecticut, January 8, 1817, was Betsey Temple, who was born at West Boylston, Massachusetts, February 4, 1793. He died in Somers, Connecticut, August 8, 1840; his wife died in the same place, August 20, 1843. His son,
Thomas Francis Burpee, was born in Stafford, Connecticut, February 17, 1830. After a common school education and a term in the Ellington Academy, he en- gaged in the manufacture of woolen cloths in Rockville, Connecticut, and was so employed at the outbreak of the Civil War. He had already shown a liking and aptitude for military affairs. At the age of nineteen he was a corporal in the active militia company in Rockville, a year later a sergeant, and afterward lieu- tenant, adjutant, and at twenty-five cap- tain of a company in the old Fifth Regi- ment of State Militia. In response to Governor Buckingham's call for volun- teers on April 16, 1861, he offered his company, which was accepted and as- signed to the Fifth Connecticut Volun- teers. But three regiments more than filled the quota of this State, and the President of the United States declined the services of the Fourth and Fifth Regiments, and they were discharged. In July, 1862, Captain Burpee recruited a company which became Company D, Fourteenth Connecticut Volunteers, and he was mustered into service as its cap-
158
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
tain. In September following he was ap- pointed major and within a few days lieutenant-colonel of the Twenty-first Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers, of which he was afterward commissioned colonel, and which he commanded almost continuously until his death. He was a well-read and skillful tactician and a strict disciplinarian, and always zealous for the welfare and comfort of his men, who regarded him with unusual respect and affection. In the battle of Drury's Bluff, May 16, 1864, his skillful handling of his command and stubborn resistance to an unexpected attack by the enemy saved the right wing of the Federal army under Butler from destruction. He led his men coolly into the murderous as- saults at Cold Harbor, and came out un- scathed, but a week later, while doing his duties as field officer of the day in the trenches close up to the enemy's works, he was singled out by a Confederate sharpshooter and mortally wounded, Thursday morning, June 9, 1864. He was carried to White House, Virginia, where he died Saturday evening, June II, 1864. Just before his death, he di- rected that his sword be given to his older son. His remains were sent to his home in Rockville, where they were buried with military honors.
In his nature Colonel Burpee was sin- cerely religious and intensely patriotic. To his sister, whose oldest son was then serving in the Fourteenth Connecticut Volunteers, he sent this message: "Tell Louise not to be over anxious about Wil- liam. I should rather see him sacrificed for a holy principle than to see him remain in inglorious waiting at a time like this. The Lord has said, 'Whosoever would save his life shall lose it,' and this has often been the case in this accursed re- bellion. If any one lacks enthusiasm in this cause, let him go to work, and if that doesn't awaken him, then he is a coward.
The lofty inspiration of this cause is worth living a life-time to feel; and if I had a thousand lives I would not with- hold one of them. * * * Should I be laid in the grave, remember our Heavenly Father doeth all things well. Look on the bright side, and the bright side only."
To the same sister, after her son had fallen at Gettysburg, he wrote: "Nothing can be untimely which is ordered by an all-wise God. The blow which laid him low welded our hearts to our country's cause. The sacrifice of suffering and blood which he poured out sanctified to us its soil."
After the battle of Fredericksburg, he wrote to his wife: "I am thankful that it has pleased God to protect me from all harm and bring me safe to the present time. * But do not ever forget that we are always safe in the hands of our Heavenly Father."
A day or two after the battle of Drury's Bluff, above referred to, he says: "We lay at rest after reaching Drury's Bluff on the 15th, until four o'clock P. M., when we took position in front of the rebel works, which position we were ordered to hold at all hazards. On the next morn- ing we had a battle. The night had been foggy and wet, and at four o'clock the fog was so thick that nothing could be seen
two rods off. * * I had just sent out skirmishers in front of the Twenty- first, when a tremendous fire was poured on the right of my brigade, which was the right of the whole line occupied by our troops. The enemy had turned our right flank, and were in our rear.
* I will not attempt to describe the whole fight now; suffice it to say, that in an hour and a half I was left alone with the Twenty-first to cope with the enemy, who were in front and on both flanks, and a thick swampy wood was in our rear. The men fought well, in some instances hand to hand with the rebels. We changed
159
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
our front to rear, and fought for five hours through the swamp and timber, gradually falling back but often charging upon them when they pressed too hard on us. * * We lost 106 men, and * four commissioned officers. As for my- self, I received no scratch. A bullet struck the spur upon my heel, and glanced off. God covered my head in the hour of danger and brought me safely through."
Colonel Burpee's last letter was written in the trenches in front of Cold Harbor only a few days before he was shot. In it he writes: "It is appointed unto men once to die ; and it matters little when or where, if we are prepared and engaged in duty."
In a letter written after Colonel Bur- pee's death, Connecticut's great war Gov- ernor said :
Make my kindest regards to Mrs. Burpee, and say that from the time her honored husband en- tered the service to this hour I have never en- tertained any other than a high respect for his ability and fidelity as an officer, as well as for his personal character. That he is one of the few officers against whom I never heard a com- plaint. I sympathize with her in her affliction, but doubt not that so pure an offering, presented in the name of human liberty upon the altar of our country, is accepted by Him who said "That inasmuch as ye have done it for one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." I give below a sentence which is as brief as I can write one and express my views of the char- acter of Colonel Burpee, and which in my judg- ment may with propriety be placed upon his monument. Acknowledge the receipt of this and
Believe, I am, with great respect, your obedi- ent servant,
WM. A. BUCKINGHAM.
The sentence, which was accepted as Colonel Burpee's epitaph, is as follows: "In the hour of National peril he gave his life to his country, leaving this testi- mony that he was a pure patriot, a faith- ful soldier, and a sincere Christian."
Colonel Burpee married, November 28, 1852, Adaline M., born in Stafford, Con- necticut, July 29, 1829, daughter of Eb- enezer Harwood, a lineal descendant in the fifth generation from Henry Har- wood, who came to Boston with John Winthrop in 1630 and settled in Salem.
IVES, George White, Man of Enterprise.
The surname Ives is of Norman origin and Ives, spelled Yves, are numerous in the north of France to the present time. The English branches of the family trace their descent from one, Guilbert Yves, who crossed the channel from Normandy among the followers of the Conqueror. The first of the name to reach these shores, so far as known, was William Ives, who sailed from London in 1637 in the ship "Truelove" for Boston and thence came to the New Haven colony in 1638 and was one of the sixty-three original "free planters" of the settlement of Quinnipiack, his name being on the list of first signers. His two sons, John and Joseph, pushed on northward into the wilderness in 1670 and were among the first signers of the Wallingford Plan- tation. In the records of that period the name is sometimes spelled Eives.
(I) Captain William Ives, immigrant ancestor, is believed to have come from a Norfolkshire family in England. One John Ives, of Orington, Norfolk, left his estate to his son Thomas, then less than twenty years old; died October 23, 1568. Tradition has it, however, that the family was from Northamptonshire. Captain Ives and wife had seats in the meeting house at New Haven in 1646. His will was dated April 3, 1648, bequeathing to his eldest son John "when he becomes of age" and to wife who was executrix and to whom he gave the care of the "small
160
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
children" not named, until they should come of age. Children : John, mentioned below; Captain Joseph, married, January 3, 1672, Mary Yale. Probably daughters. (II) John, son of Captain William Ives, was born about 1640, married, in 1667, Hannah Merriam. The history of Wallingford indicates that he had a wife Mary. Children, born at Wallingford : John, mentioned below ; Hannah, married Joseph Dunham; Deacon Joseph, Octo- ber 14, 1674; Gideon, married, February 20, 1706, Mary Royce; Nathaniel, born May 3, 1677; Ebenezer ; Samuel, June 5, 1696; Benjamin, November 22, 1699; Ebenezer.
(III) John (2), son of John (1) Ives, was born at Wallingford, November 16, 1669, died in 1738. He married, Decem- ber 6, 1693, Mary Gillette. Children, born at Wallingford: John, mentioned below; Samuel, January 5, 1696; Benjamin, No- vember 22, 1699; Elijah, March 14, 1701 ; Mary, March 10, 1702; Lazarus, Febru- ary 5, 1703; Daniel, February 19, 1706; Hannah, February 10, 1708; Abraham, September 2, 1709; Bezaleel, July 4, 1712 ; Bezaleel, 1714; Bezaleel, 1716.
(IV) John (3), son of John (2) Ives. was born at Wallingford, September 28, 1694, died August 4, 1745. He married Hannah Royce, who died November 1, 1770, daughter of Samuel and Hannah Royce.
(V) John (4), only child of John (3) Ives, was born July 4, 1729, at Walling- ford, died February, 1816. He married (first) July 4, 1749, Mary, daughter of Dr. Isaac Hall. He married (second) Sarah Atkins, who died November 24, 1814. Children of first wife born at Wal- lingford: Lucretia M., married Captain Samuel Ives; John, married Martha Mer- riman; Isaac, mentioned below; Levi, married, June 18, 1789, Fanny Silliman ; Joseph, married Clara, daughter of Ben- jamin Hall; Joel, married Lucy Hart ; CONN-Vol I-11
Othniel, born August 17, 1779, married (first) Sarah -; (second) Rosetta Yale; Titus, married Lodema Yale; Eli; Anna, married Noah Foster ; Polly, mar- ried John Hooker; Meril, married Clark, settled in Canada.
(VI) Isaac, son of John (4) Ives, was born at Wallingford, January 13, 1764, died June 10, 1845. He graduated from Yale College with the degree of A. B. in 1788 and studied law at Yale and Litchfield, Connecticut. He lived in New York City several years and came to Danbury, Connecticut, in 1829. He and his wife joined the Congregational church at Danbury by letter from the church in New York. He married (first) March 14, 1792, Jerusha Benedict, born 1772, died August 18, 1794, daughter of Zadock and Jerusha (Russell) Benedict. He mar- ried (second) December 20, 1796, Sarah Amelia White, born May 17, 1773, died 1851, daughter of Joseph Moss and Rachel (Booth) White. The only child of first wife was Jerusha Russell, born May 18, 1793, married Lemuel W. Bene- dict; children: i. Mary Ann Benedict, born November 28, 1816, died January 30, 1889, married (first) September 27, 1837, John Augustus Rogers, who died Janu- ary 2, 1857, married (second) May 5, 1862, Harvey S. Weld, who died March 21, 1884, aged eighty years; ii. Frederick Wolcott Benedict, September 19, 1821, died October 9, 1900, married, January 17, 1842, Susan De Forest Squires. Chil- dren of second wife: Mary Ann Amelia, born October 6, 1797, died June 15, 1800; George White, mentioned below.
(VII) George White, son of Isaac Ives, was born February 28, 1799, died Decem- ber II, 1862. He was a prominent citizen of Danbury. He was instrumental in laying out the Danbury cemetery and one of the organizers of the Wooster Ceme- tery Association in 1850. He was the prime mover in organizing the first sav-
161
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
ings bank in Danbury, and provided quarters for it in his own house and afterward it occupied a small building which he built in front of his house; this building in still standing. He was treas- urer of the first railroad company that came to Danbury and was active in or- ganizing it and served as its director for twenty-five years. He was one of the founders of the Danbury Gas Company and of the Danbury National Bank. A monument was erected by the citizens of Danbury to his memory in the Wooster cemetery. He was an exceedingly useful and public-spirited citizen. He married, December 27, 1831, Sarah Hotchkiss, daughter of Edward and Sarina (Taylor) Wilcox. Sarina Taylor was born Sep- tember 12, 1774, in Danbury, died May 30, 1827, daughter of Major and Eliz- abeth (Mitchell) Taylor, who were married April 26, 1771. Major Taylor was born April 17, 1742, died October 3, 1806; his wife died May 30, 1827. He was a son of Daniel and grandson of Thomas Taylor. Children of George White Ives: Joseph Moss, born December 20, 1832, died September 24, 1908; Isaac Wil- cox, born May 6, 1835, died December II, 1910; Sarah Amelia, born July 17, 1837, married Judge Lyman D. Brewster ; Sari- na Elizabeth, born June 24, 1843, died January 10, 1845; George Edward, born August 31, 1845, died November 5, 1894.
PHELPS, Guy Rowland,
Physician and Pioneer in Life Insurance.
Guy Rowland Phelps, deceased, of Simsbury and Hartford, was a man of varied attainments and prominently iden- tified with insurance interests. Prior to the reign of Edward VI. the Phelps family patronymic was spelled Phel- lyppes. Dr. Phelps belonged to the Guelph family, tracing his ancestry to George I., of England. He was a de-
scendant in the seventh generation of William Phelps, who was born at Tewkes- bury, England, in 1599, emigrated to America about 1630, first making his home at Dorchester, Massachusetts, and became one of the first settlers of Wind- sor, Connecticut, in 1635. From him the chain of descent is as follows: Joseph, born in England, died at Simsbury in 1684; Joseph (2), born August 27, 1667; David, a lieutenant in the militia, born May 7, 1710; Major-General Noah Phelps, born January 22, 1740; and Colo- nel Noah A., the father of Guy Rowland, born May 3, 1762.
Dr. Guy R. Phelps was born at Sims- bury, April 1, 1802. His mother's maiden name was Charlotte Wilcox. His early schooling was received at Simsbury and Suffield, and he graduated from Yale in 1825. He was a close student, an apt and facile learner, and qualified himself for the profession of teacher while yet a mere youth, and in fact successfully man- aged an exceedingly disorderly school, where other- and more experienced- pedagogues had failed. For several win- ters he taught with marked success, de- voting his summers to the study of medi- cine, for which profession he felt a strong vocation early in youth. His first medi- cal preceptor was Dr. Coggswell, a noted and successful practitioner of those days, who in accordance with the custom of his times gave instruction to three or four embryo physicians. Going to New York, young Phelps pursued his studies under the tutelage of those eminent physicians and surgeons, Dr. Alexander and. Dr Valentine Mott.
After being licensed to practice Dr. Phelps opened an office in New York City, where he met with most gratifying success for three years. However, his health became impaired, and he felt that change of scene and fresh country air were necessary to restore his physical
162
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
condition to its wonted strength. He therefore returned to Simsbury, where he entered upon the tiresome but active round of duties incident to a country practice. After four years of this life he felt well enough to resume city practice and accordingly returned to New York. Once more he found the metropolis a field of success, and it was with poignant re- gret that he realized that an extensive city practice (during the epidemic he was at one time treating forty cases of small- pox) might prove the means of shorten- ing his life. Again he returned to Sims- bury, but the long rides and uncertain hours of the country practitioner were not to his liking, and in April, 1837, he opened a drug store on North Main street, Hartford. As a druggist Dr. Phelps ranked among the first, while his financial success exceeded his expecta- tions, and he was recognized as the lead- ing pharmacist of his day and section. It was he who devised the formula for the "Phelps Tomato Pill," a preparation which had a wonderful sale in its day, and which, together with the profits aris- ing from his drug business, laid the foun- dation of his fortune. He always re- tained his membership in the County and State Medical societies, with both of which he had for many years been ac- tively and prominently identified.
Perhaps, however, Dr. Phelps' most enduring claim to fame rests upon his connection with the insurance business, to which the latter years of his life were devoted almost exclusively. His atten- tion was first directed to the subject of life insurance in 1846, when he took out a policy upon his own life. In the United States the field was a terra incognita, and the scheme was regarded with disfavor, if not with positive distrust. Dr. Phelps was quick to perceive the possibilities of the situation, and his keen, well-trained mind was of a cast especially well qualified
to grapple with the intricate and perplex- ing problems which presented them- selves. Evidently the first task to be accomplished was the education of the American people as to the theory of life insurance and the fundamental principles upon which it is based. At that time the business was conducted generally in an expensive manner, while the spirit of spec- ulation was rife among managements which knew comparatively nothing of the practical value of risks. His ideas were so far in advance of his time that, while some pitied what they termed his "folly," others doubted whether his mental bal- ance was in correct equipoise. Yet what were then called his "fanciful" and "ab- surd" theories are to-day recognized (with necessary modifications) as among the underlying principles of every sound and well-managed company.
The great work of Dr. Phelps' life was the organizing, establishing and nurtur- ing of the Connecticut Mutual Life In- surance Company, and it was he who conceived the plan under which the great success of this company was achieved. In 1846 the company was organized, Dr. Phelps becoming the first secretary, and while that great corporation was struggl- ing in the swaddling bands of infancy he even swept out his own office to save ex- pense. He had carefully studied the matter in all its phases, and not long afterward made a special trip to Europe to investigate the workings of the Old World companies, on his return to Amer- ica incorporating with his own plans all the features of value he had found. He wrote the charter of the company, which was adopted practically word for word as composed by him, and fought for two sessions in the legislature to have it granted. As the company was a "mu- tual" one it was necessary to obtain a guaranty fund of $50,000-to guarantee the payment of policies during the in-
163
.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
fancy of the company -a task of far greater magnitude, but at length ten of his friends in Hartford, Simsbury and New York came to his relief by signing notes aggregating that amount, Thomas K. Brace, three of Dr. Phelps' brothers, two of his cousins and an uncle being of the number. Dr. Phelps was ever a tire- less worker for the success of the con- cern, and the "Insurance Monitor" of September, 1868, said: "It is not too much to say, for it is a well-known and conceded fact that the Connecticut Mu- tual owes its eminent success and pros- perity, in a very large measure to the skill and labor of Dr. Phelps, its principal manager from its organization to the present time." He regulated and man- aged its affairs in a most able manner, serving as secretary for a time, and later, for a number of years, as president. Though not the originator of the "mutu- al" system used in insurance he did more than any other man to "elucidate and popularize" it. Just before his death he told his daughter that the company was on such staple footing that without any management it would continue to run for twenty-five years. After his demise the Life Underwriters of Hartford passed resolutions of sympathy and regret, etc., and among other things said: "In the death of Dr. Guy R. Phelps the Life Underwriters of the United States have met with an irreparable loss." The "In- surance Times" of March, 1869, said of him : "A great and good man has left us forever. A practical, laborious and emi- nent philanthropist, who not only loved his fellow men, but spent the energies of his life, the gifts of his intellect and the goodness of his heart in their behalf. is gone to his haven of eternal peace and reward. His comfort giving and abun- dant works remain, and the spirit with which he espoused and promoted a sacred cause, and built up a great benevolent
institution, having inspired many others with its kindling sympathy, will be per- petuated and multiply on the earth for ages to come."
Dr. Phelps was a reflective reader and a profound student, particularly fond of the study of history and the languages, in both of which he was proficient. He was a man fully abreast of the times, thor- oughly posted on the current events of the day, and well-informed on general subjects. Until 1856 he was a Democrat, but after that date voted with the Re- publican party, though it was his wont to say that he had "never left his party, its name simply changed." His fellow citizens showed their appreciation of his worth by early choosing him a member of the city council, and later electing him an alderman, as well as by sending him to represent them in the legislature. For years he attended Dr. Horace Bushnell's church, and was a liberal contributor to its support and to the prosecution of its work; he became a member during his later years. Dr. Phelps was too old to enlist for service in the rebellion, but was much interested in the cause of liberty, and he volunteered to double the pay of a man who would go to the front as he had no son to send. His grandfather served in the Revolution, his father in the war of 1812, and he desired to have representation ; accordingly he sent Charles Tennant, who soon became sec- ond lieutenant, was wounded at Antie- tam, recovered, was promoted to captain, and was afterward killed. Dr. Phelps ever after took a deep interest in his fam- ily.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.