USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 1 > Part 52
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From the time he engaged in manufac- turing, Mr. Atwood displayed his great inventive genius in many patented de- vices. During a period of forty years he took out seventy patents, many of which
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proved of great value and usefulness to the world and brought him a handsome financial return. Perhaps no mechanic in the world did more to develop the science of domestic lighting. He devised many burners for oil and kerosene lamps, var- ious lamps and fixtures for all kinds of uses. He built an ingenious hydraulic press for forcing scrap metal into a com- pact form to prepare it for remelting, a process formerly accomplished by pound- ing the metal with hammers in a cast-iron vessel, technically known as "cabbaging." Mr. Atwood's process is in general use at the present time. Mr. Atwood's substan- tial success as an inventor and manufac- turer gave him a place in the front rank of the industrial and financial leaders of this city of large and varied manufactur- ing interests.
Mr. Atwood was an earnest and prac- tical Christian, a member for many years of the Second Congregational Church, of which he was deacon since 1884, and he served on the building committee when the present fine edifice was erected. He was president of the Young Men's Chris- tian Association of Waterbury for five years and was chairman of the building committee of that organization when the present home was constructed and paid for. He was generous in other charities and active in other benevolent organiza- tions. In politics he was a Republican. He died February 23, 1909, after a short illness. Faithful, upright and conscien- tious in business and private life, Mr. At- wood expected others to follow his ex- ample, and his influence has been most wholesome as an employer and citizen.
He married, January 12, 1852, Sarah Elizabeth, daughter of Almon Platt. Chil- dren: Elizabeth Elvina, died in child- hood; Frances Finnette, married Albert J. Blakesley ; Irving Lewis, born May 19, 1861, married Jennie Ford, of Lakeville,
Connecticut; he is the only surviving child ; now a resident of Waterbury.
At the funeral his pastor, Rev. Dr. J. G. Davenport, said :
Of the notable group of far-seeing and en- ergetic men, who have built their life into this rapidly-growing community, I suspect that there is scarcely one whose influence has been more uniformly valuable and inspiring, conservative of all that was best among us and ever looking for something better, with clearer vision and more progressive spirit establishing our city's industrial life upon sound and enduring foun- dations, than he whom we mourn to-day. To him and his fellow workers our city owes more than it can ever repay. To-day it honors this our brother's memory. In the humble home of many a laborer his name is mentioned with re- spect and regard. In every class of society among us his departure awakens keen regret. This great gathering testifies to the place he held in the thought and esteem of Waterbury. Through skillful management of men and of matters, by the exercise of habitual integrity and faithfulness to obligation, by business foresight and enterprise which never failed him, he has made his way quite to the front among our use- ful and honored citizens. We rejoice in all that he has accomplished; we are proud of his suc- cesses; we feel that in many respects he presents a model for the imitation of our youth.
One of our city papers represents him as say- ing what in one form or another many of us have heard him declare as advice to the young man who would make a success of life: "Be honest and truthful; lose sight of yourself in your in- terest in your employer's prosperity; have the courage of your convictions in matters of right and wrong; use the best judgment at your com- mand in dealing with men and affairs; be kindly, considerate in your relation with others; give good heed to the needs of your higher nature and you will not fail to succeed in life." These are sentiments worthy to be written in letters of gold and placed in sight of all the youths of our city. I wish that they might be hung upon the walls of our Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation, where those who gather there could read and think upon them and apply them to their own profit. * * * We would have been glad for many years to sit under the shadow of his wisdom and grace, but he had more than completed four- score years, the work of his life was done and well done, he has made an impression for good
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that will abide, he has left with us a noble and inspiring memory, and has gone on to the realiza- tion of the hopes he so fondly cherished.
Bryant's poem, "The Old Man's Fu- neral," was read at the close of the address.
TALCOTT, Russell Goodrich, Representative Citizen.
The Talcott family is of ancient English origin, and the family are said to have come from Warwickshire to County Essex. The coat-of-arms borne by the family is: Argent, on a pale sable, three roses of the field. Crest: A demi-griffin erased, argent, wings endorsed collared sable, charged with three roses of the first. Motto: Virtus sola mobilitas.
The first known ancestor of the line herein traced was John Talcott, who was a resident of Colchester, County Essex, England, before 1558, and died there, leaving a large estate. His son, John Talcott, who was a resident of Brain- tree, England, died early in 1604, before his father's death. His son, John Tal- cott, was born in Braintree, England, and he was the pioneer ancestor of the family in America. He embarked for New England, June 22, 1632, in the ship "Lion," and first settled in Cambridge, Massachu- setts, and was admitted a freeman, No- vember 6, same year. He served as deputy to the General Court, selectman, and was the fifth largest owner of land in Cam- bridge. He removed to Hartford, Con- necticut, in 1636, and was one of the founders of that city. He was a member of the first Court of Magistrates, deputy to the General Court, assistant treasurer of the Colony, commissioner of the United Colonies, and was called "the Worshipful Mr. John Talcott." His son, Captain Sam- uel Talcott, was born probably in Cam- bridge, Massachusetts, about 1634-35, and
died in Wethersfield, Connecticut, No- vember II, 1691. He graduated at Har- vard College in 1658; he was admitted a freeman in 1662; commissioner in Wethersfield from 1669 to 1684; deputy to the General Court during the same period; secretary of October session, 1684; lieutenant in the Wethersfield train band ; lieutenant of Hartford county troop ; captain of troop of Hartford county ; commanded the company of dragoons sent to Deerfield at the out- break of King William's War, 1670; and from 1683 until his death, except the year 1688, during the Andros administration, he served as assistant. His son, Deacon Benjamin Talcott, was born in Wethers- field, Connecticut, March I, 1674, and died in Glastonbury, Connecticut, November 17, 1727. He erected his house in Glaston- bury in 1699 on Main street and it was fortified and used as a garrison house; it stood until torn down in 1851. He was lieutenant of the train band and later was captain. His son, Colonel Elizur Talcott, was born in Glastonbury, Connecticut, December 31, 1709, and died November 24, 1797. He was deputy from Glaston- bury to the General Assembly; was moderator of the meeting of the town of Glastonbury when the Boston Port Bill was denounced ; served in the old French War, 1756-58; colonel of a troop of horse and of the Sixth Regiment before and during the Revolution, and which he com- manded in the campaign around New York in 1776, and served with and com- manded the Connecticut troops; was in New York when the British came; was taken home sick and was never able to return to the service. His son, George Talcott, as born in Glastonbury, Connec- ticut, September 30, 1755, and died there, June 13, 1813. He and two of his brothers also served for a short time in the Revolu- tion, and he was in the retreat of the
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American army from Long Island. His son, Russell Talcott, was born in Glas- tonbury, Connecticut, September 22, 1788, and died in Hartford, Connecticut, Sep- tember 26, 1818. He was engaged in busi- ness in New York City for four years, then returned to Hartford where he was a member of the firm of Woodbridge & Talcott, and he served as superintendent of their cotton mill at Monson, Massachu- setts. He married, June 5, 1815, Harriet, daughter of Hon. Andrew and Mary (Os- born) Kingsbury, and they were the par- ents of Russell Goodrich Talcott, of whom further.
Russell Goodrich Talcott was born in Hartford, Connecticut, August 15, 1818. He began his business life as a clerk in the store of Hudson & Goodwin, book- sellers, and entered the Hartford Bank as clerk in 1840. In 1844 and 1845 he traveled in Europe, and acquired a taste for art and literature which remained with him through life. After his return he en- gaged in the iron business under the firm name of Ripley & Talcott, which after- wards became E. G. Ripley & Company. He held various offices of trust ; was first vice-president and then president of the Young Men's Institute ; a director of the Hartford Bank. He was much interested in the founding of the Pearl Street Church, now the Farmington Avenue Church, and was clerk of the society and church. He was a member of the board of managers and secretary of the Retreat for the In- sane. He died in Hartford, March 3, 1863.
He married, October 28, 1846, Mary Seymour, born in Hartford, November I, 1820, died April 18, 1883, daughter of Charles and Catherine (Perkins) Sey- mour, and a descendant of Richard Sey- mour, a settler of Hartford in 1639, and also of other early Connecticut settlers, among them Governor John Haynes, Gov- ernor George Wyllys and Governor John
Webster. Child: Mary Kingsbury, born November 3, 1847, living in Hartford, un- married.
Miss Talcott has done much historical and genealogical work. She prepared five chapters in the "Memorial History of Hartford County," 1886; edited two vol- umes of the "Talcott Papers," consisting of the correspondence of Joseph Talcott, Governor of Connecticut from 1725 to 1741, for the publications of the Connec- ticut Historical Society; wrote the ac- count of Hartford in "Historic Towns of New England," published by G. P. Put- nam's Sons, 1898; the chapter on "Hart- ford in the Revolution," 1899; sketches of the Woodbridge Family, the Wyllys Fam- ily, and others, and has done much other work more strictly genealogical, includ- ing the compilation of the "Genealogy of the Descendants of Henry Kingsbury, of Haverhill, Mass.," a volume of 730 pages, published in 1905. She has held the office of registrar of the Ruth Wyllys Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, since its organization in November, 1892, and has been a member of the board of managers, and registrar of the Connecti- cut Society of Colonial Dames since 1894. She is a member of the Society of May- flower Descendants, the Connecticut His- torical Society, the American Historical Association, the New England Historic- Genealogical Society, and the Society for the Preservation of New England An- tiquities, besides two organizations men- tioned above.
TRUMBULL, James Hammond, Philologist, Historian.
James Hammond Trumbull was born at Stonington, Connecticut, December 20, 1821. After completing his preliminary studies, he entered Yale College in 1838, but was prevented by illness from com-
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pleting his undergraduate course. In 1842-43 he assisted in the preparation of catalogues of the mammalia, reptiles, fishes and shells of Connecticut. In 1847 he was appointed Assistant Secretary of State, in which office he served two terms, and in 1858 he was again appointed to the same office, serving until 1861, in which year he was elected Secretary of State, and remained in office as such dur- ing the Civil War.
In Hartford, in which city he took up his residence upon his first appointment as Assistant Secretary of State, he associ- ated himself with the Connecticut His- torical Society, and served in the capacity of corresponding secretary for fourteen years from 1849 to 1863, and subsequently was president for a quarter of a century. He was also chosen as trustee and libra- rian of the Watkinson Free Library of Hartford, trustee of the Wadsworth Athe- naeum, State Librarian of Connecticut, and for a short time was lecturer on In- dian languages at Yale College. He pre- pared a dictionary and vocabulary to Eliot's Indian Bible, which it was said no other man had the ability to read. The various honors which were conferred upon Dr. Trumbull were in recognition of his merits as historian and philologist. By his historical research he threw consider- able light on the early history of New England, and as a philologist was the ac- cepted authority on matters pertaining to Indian dialects. He also attained dis- tinction as a bibliographer, particularly as the compiler of the catalogue of the Brinley Library. Yale College conferred upon him the honorary degree of M. A. in 1850, and of LL. D. in 1871; Harvard similarly honored him, and Columbia gave him the degree of L. H. D. He was a member of nearly all the learned societies of the country, and in several of them held the office of president.
His publications comprise a quantity of articles written for magazines and various learned societies, and a number of larger works, some of which, though only edited by him, were made practically new by his learned annotations : "The Colonial Rec- ords of Connecticut" (1850-59) ; "Histori- cal Notes on Some Provisions of the Con- necticut Statutes" (1860-61) ; "The De- fense of Stonington Against a British Squadron in 1814" (1864); "Roger Wil- liams' Key Into the Language of Amer- ica" (1866) ; "Thomas Lechford's Plain Dealing; or Newes from New England" (1867) ; "The Origin of McFingal" (1868) ; "The Composition of Indian Geographical Names" (1870) ; "The Best Method of Studying the Indian Languages" (1871) ; "Some Mistaken Notions of Algonkin Grammar" (1871); "Historical Notes on the Constitution of Connecticut" (1872) ; "Notes on Forty Algonkin Versions of the Lord's Prayer" (1873) ; "On the Al- gonkin Verb" (1876) ; "The True Blue- Laws of Connecticut, and the False Blue- Laws Invented by the Rev. Samuel Peters" (1871) ; "Indian Names of Places in and on the Borders of Connecticut, with Interpretations" (1881) ; "Memorial History of Hartford County, Conn." (2 vols., 1886).
Dr. Trumbull married, in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1855, Sarah A., daughter of David Franklin and Anne (Seymour) Robinson. Their daughter, Annie Eliot, has published a number of stories, of high order. Dr. Trumbull died at his home in Hartford, August 5, 1897.
CLEMENS, Samuel Langhorne,
Author.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known under his nom de plume of "Mark Twain," was born in Florida, Monroe county, Missouri, November 30, 1835, son
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of John Marshall and Jane L. (Lambton) Clemens. Soon after his birth, his parents removed to Hannibal, Missouri, and in the village school the lad obtained a modest practical education, attending the same until he was twelve years old. His father died at that time, leaving the mother and children without means, as he had lost all his savings by endorsing notes for friends. The son, in order to contribute to the support of the family, entered the office of the Hannibal "Cou- rier" as an apprentice, and continued in the employ of that newspaper office for nearly three years, during a portion of the time assisting in editing the same. He also worked in the printing office of his brother, Orion Clemens. In 1853 he jour- neyed to Philadelphia and New York, in which cities he worked at his trade, and from 1854 to 1857 worked at his trade in Cincinnati, St. Louis, Muscatine and Keo- kuk. In the latter named year he returned to Hannibal, and carried out his long- cherished ambition to become a steam- boat pilot, in due course of time receiving his pilot's license. From 1857 to 1861 he served as pilot on a steamboat plying be- tween St. Louis and New Orleans, and this period of his life is graphically de- scribed in "Old Times on the Mississippi."
At the outbreak of the Civil War he entered the service of the Confederate army, being appointed second lieutenant, but his service only covered a period of two weeks, after which he went with his brother to Nevada, of which territory the elder Clemens had been appointed secre- tary, and Samuel L. acted for a short time as his brother's private secretary. He then engaged in silver mining, but with- out success. In 1862 he accepted the city editorship of the "Enterprise," of Vir- ginia City, Nevada. He was sent to Car- son to report the proceedings of the legis- lature, and he signed his letters "Mark
Twain," a familiar call from the leadsman to the pilot of every Mississippi river steamboat. He remained with the "En- terprise" for two years, and he then ac- cepted the position of reporter on the "Morning Call," of San Francisco, Cali- fornia, and in the following year (1865) engaged in mining in Calaveras county, but soon returned to his more congenial work in San Francisco. In 1866 he vis- ited the Hawaiian Islands, and wrote for the Sacramento "Union" a series of brilli- ant letters, principally upon the sugar in- dustries of the islands, several of which were afterward incorporated in his "Roughing It." Upon his return to the United States, he located in California and began his vocation as a humorous lec- turer, his first audiences being the miners of that State and Nevada. In 1867 he went to New York and there published his "Celebrated Jumping Frog of Cala- veras." The same year he joined a party of tourists in an excursion on the "Quaker City" to the Old World, visiting France, Italy and Palestine. On his return he went to California, where he wrote out his experiences of the voyage in book form under the title, "Innocents Abroad," which, sold by subscription, proved in- stantly successful, and gave its author an international reputation, passing into American literature as a standard humor- ous work. He then became editor of the "Express," of Buffalo, New York, of which he was also part proprietor. He soon, however, retired from journalism, and in 1871 settled in Hartford, Connec- ticut, where he resided for many years. He was in constant demand as a platform lecturer and magazine correspondent. In 1872 he went to Europe on a lecturing tour, and in 1884 established in New York City the publishing house of C. L. Web- ster & Company, which firm assumed the publication of his works. In 1885 they
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brought out the "Memoirs of General Grant," which had the largest circulation of any popular subscription book up to that time, paying to Mrs. Grant a copy- right of $350,000. In 1893 the firm failed, and Mr. Clemens was obliged to return to his pen and the lecture platform to re- cover his fallen fortunes. He succeeded so well that in 1898 he had liquidated the entire indebtedness of the firm. In 1895- 96 he made a tour of the world, under direction of a lecture bureau, and in 1896 went to London, where he wrote "Follow- ing the Equator." His works have all been republished in England, the earlier ones with his sanction, and many of them have been translated in German and French.
Among his works are: "Innocents Abroad," 1869; "Roughing It," 1872; "The Gilded Age," written in conjunc- tion with Charles D. Warner, 1874; "Sketches, Old and New," 1875; "Adven- tures of Tom Sawyer," dealing with his boyhood experiences in Missouri, 1876; "Punch Brothers, Punch," 1878; "A Tramp Abroad," 1880; "The Stolen White Elephant," 1882; "The Prince and the Pauper," 1882; "Old Times on the Mis- sissippi," 1883; "Adventures of Huckle- berry Finn," 1885; "A Library of Hu- mor," 1888; "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," 1889; "The Ameri- can Claimant," 1891; "Tom Sawyer Abroad," 1894; "The Tragedy of Pud- d'nhead Wilson," 1894; "The Comedy," 1894; "Those Extraordinary Twins," 1894; "Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc," 1896; "How to Tell a Story, and Other Essays," 1897; and "Following the Equator," 1898.
Mr. Clemens also attracted attention as an inventor, and for a number of years more than one hundred thousand of his scrap-books were sold annually. He long since took rank as the foremost humorist
of his time. His humor was unctious and natural. He was a shrewd and kindly student of human nature, and his style was strong and terse. He was a man of marked personality and rare conversa- tional powers, and in manner he was gen- erous, kindly and democratic. Mr. Clem- ens died April 21, 1910.
HARRISON, Benjamin F., Physician, Civil War Soldier.
Benjamin F. Harrison, M. D., in whose death, April 23, 1886, the town of Walling- ford, Connecticut, lost one of its most dis- tinguished citizens and one whose name was identified more closely, perhaps, than that of any other with its recent develop- ment, was a native of Northford in the town of North Branford, Connecticut, where he was born April 19, 1811. His parents, Elizur and Rebecca (Bartholo- mew) Harrison, were old residents of that region, where his father owned and oper- ated a farm.
This farm was the scene of Dr. Har- rison's youthful life, he there grew to manhood and there was the recipient of that farm training, which in the earlier days of our national history produced that sturdy, self-possessed kind of man- hood which has come to be looked upon as typically American. Like the average farmer's son of that epoch, Dr. Harrison's schooling was chiefly conspicuous by its absence. His parents were not well off and though they desired to give him every advantage possible, it was necessary to terminate his studies and put him to work on the farm as soon as his size and strength made him of use there. But though his educational advantages were meagre enough, he was of that ardent nature which makes the best of such opportunities as offer, and he was not slow to supplement what he picked up in
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the district school with such study and observation as he could manage on his own account. Whatever his means may have been he was able to educate himself to the point where he could himself fill the position of teacher in the very district school where he had shortly before been a student. This place he filled during winter, and in the holiday season he re- turned to his father's farm and continued his labors there. By this means he was able in the course of time to accumulate sufficient funds to take a course in medi- cine in Yale University, having made up his mind to a professional career.
He graduated with the class of 1836 and immediately went to New York City to gain the requisite hospital experience. This final portion of the training com- pleted, he returned to Connecticut and became associated with Dr. French, of Milford, who was engaged in active prac- tice in that town. He did not remain a great while in Milford, however, a much more favorable opportunity arising in Wallingford at about that time. He re- moved to that town, which with a few short years excepted, was to be his home for the remainder of his life. Here he established himself in a successful prac- tice which continued uninterruptedly for a period of ten years, at the end of which time Dr. Harrison had won for himself an enviable reputation as a skillful and con- scientious physician. It was character- istic of the man, however, that he would not rest content with a degree of skill and knowledge in his profession fully the equal of the average practitioner and which had already placed him well to the front of his profession in that region, while there was more knowledge to be had. He decided, therefore, to take up his residence in Europe for a time, where in addition to the usual aims of the trav- eler, he could acquaint himself with the
state of the theory and practice of medi- cine in the great centers of culture abroad. He made Paris his headquarters and there attended the courses of the most famous exponents of his own subject and the cognate branches of science. He also visited the other important European centers, where he still pursued his object of becoming conversant with the most modern developments of science. After spending a considerable period of time in this manner, Dr. Harrison returned to the United States, it being his intention to begin practice in Cincinnati, Ohio. He actually opened an office in that city, but circumstances seemed to render it the part of wisdom to return to Wallingford and it was but a short time before he was once more installed there. In Walling- ford he quickly resumed the thread of success, and was once more firmly estab- lished, when his practice was again dis- turbed, this time by an external and ter- rible event. This was nothing less than the outbreak of the Civil War, Dr. Har- rison being prompt to respond to the need of the Union. He was commissioned on August 1, 1862, by Governor Morgan, of New York, as surgeon of the Independent Corps, New York Volunteer Light Infan- try, which had already taken the field and was at that time stationed at Yorktown, Virginia. The term of his regiment's service expired February 7, 1864, on which date Dr. Harrison was mustered out and found himself once more free to follow his own purpose. But Dr. Har- rison was ever a man to place public obligation, as he saw it, ahead of personal wishes, so he at once entered the service of the government sanitary commission and was assigned to duty in South Caro- lina and Florida. At the close of the year 1864, however, he returned to Walling- ford and there continued to make his home during the remainder of his life.
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