USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 10 > Part 5
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In January, 1897, Mr. Chadeayne mar- ried Fannie L. Stevens, daughter of Stiles C. Stevens. They are the parents of a daughter, Catherine. Mr. and Mrs. Chad- eayne attend the Presbyterian church.
(The Stevens Line).
(I) Jacob Stevens, great-grandfather of Mrs. Chadeayne, was a native of Stam- ford, and a lifelong resident of High Ridge. He followed farming and died in: Stamford in the summer of 1865. He married Phebe Curtis, of High Ridge.
(II) Jared Stevens, son of Jacob and Phebe (Curtis) Stevens, was the eldest of eight children. He was born in Stam- ford, and passed his boyhood and youth
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in High Ridge, on the homestead farm. He married Sarah Provost, daughter of John Provost, of High Ridge, and they were the parents of four children.
(III) Stiles C. Stevens, the third child of Jared and Sarah (Provost) Stevens, was born in Pound Ridge, September 13, 1840. He attended the district schools there, and later conducted the homestead farm until 1868, when he struck out for himself in agricultural lines. He lived in High Ridge for two years and conducted a retail meat business. In 1870 he came to Stamford, and continued in that line, being connected with the "People's Mar- ket" until 1887, and in the latter year en- gaged in the live stock business. This he continued until a few years before his death. Mr. Stevens was a man of public spirit and progressive ideas. He served repeatedly in public office, and was select- man from 1888 to 1891, and served on the Board of Burgesses for one year. Mr. Stevens married, in December, 1865, Kate Lockwood, daughter of Lyman Lock- wood, and their only child, Fannie L., became the wife of Stephen S. Chadeayne.
SEELY, Charles H., Business Man.
The first authentic record of the name of Seely, which has been variously spelled Seely, Sealy, Seelye, and Seeley, appears in Froudes "History of Eng- land," as follows: "In the year 1563, the following petition was addressed to the Lords of Elizabeth's Council :
In most lamentable wise showeth unto your hon- ors, your humble orator, Dorothy Seely of the city of Bristol, wife of Thomas Seely of the Queen Majesty's guard, that here her husband, upon most vile, slanderous, spiteful, malicious, and most villainous words spoken against the Queen's Majesty's own person by a certain subject of the King of Spain, here not to be uttered, not being able to suffer same, did flee upon the same
slanderous person and give him a blow. So it is most honorable Lords that hereupon said husband, no other offense in respect of their religion then committed, was secretly accused to the inquisition of the Holy House and so committed, to most vile prison, and there hath remained now three whole years in miserable state with cruel torments.
A son of the aforesaid Thomas Seely is mentioned as captain in command of the "Minion," accompanying Drake in his famous voyage to the West Indies in 1685-86. The name Seely is associated with the early history of England, Shakespeare in his play, "Richard II," representing Sir Bennet Seely as hav- ing been beheaded by the followers of Bolingbroke for his loyalty to Richard, who was dethroned in 1399.
(I) Captain Robert Seely, the ances- tor of the family herein traced, was born about 1600. He came to America with Governor Winthrop, landing in Salem, Massachusetts, June, 1630, bringing with him his wife Mary, and sons, Nathaniel and Obadiah. From thence he proceeded with Sir Richard Saltonstall. Rev. George Phillips and others up the Charles river four miles from Charlestown, commenc- ing a settlement which was called Sir Richard Saltonstall's Plantation and af- terward named Watertown. Homesteads averaging five or six acres were assigned, Robert Seely receiving the maximum al- lotment of sixteen acres, near the north bank of the Charles river. This home- stead was later sold to Simon Erie. and is easily located at the present day by reference to "Bond's Map of Ancient Watertown." In July, 1630, upon the formation of the Watertown church, which was the second church in the Mas- sachusetts Bay Colony. the first being that in Salem. Robert Seely was one of the forty who entered into covenant: in 1631, he was one of the first twenty-five, together with Rev. George Phillips, R.
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Saltonstall, Jr., and Captain Patrick, to be made freeman. In 1635 Robert Seely with Rev. John Sherman and others re- moved from Watertown and formed a settlement in Connecticut which they also named Watertown, this name being later changed to Wethersfield. There he was made sergeant in command of the mili- tary organization, and when war was de- clared against the Pequots in 1637, Cap- tain John Mason and Lieutenant Robert Seely led the combined forces of Hart- ford, Windsor and Wethersfield in an ex- pedition which resulted in the annihila- tion of Fort Mistick and three hundred Indians, and eighteen days later in the complete overthrow of the Pequot tribe in the swamp of Unuowa, subsequently called Fairfield. Captain John Mason's "A Brief History of the Pequot War," says: "Lieutenant Seely was shot in the eyebrow with a flatheaded arrow, the point turning downward. I pulled it out my- self." At the close of the Pequot War, Captain Robert Seely withdrew from Wethersfield with John Davenport, Pas- tor, and Theophilus Eaton, subsequently Governor of Connecticut for twenty years, and others, and they held their first meeting, April 18, 1638, under a branch- ing oak, and entered into a covenant by which the New Haven Colony was formed and its first form of government constituted and established, being made permanent in 1639. Captain Seely was a prominent and respected member of the New Haven Colony, occupying the fourth seat in church (seats being arranged in order of prominence, the governor occu- pying the first). He was marshal of the colony, commander of the militia, on the committee of the General Court, and other judicial committees, representing the colony in times of peace, leading its forces in times of war, at all times a wise counsellor and an efficient public servant.
In addition to Watertown, Wethersfield, and New Haven, he was one of the found- ers of Fairfield and Stamford, Connecti- cut, Huntington, Long Island, and Eliz- abethtown, New Jersey. He died Octo- ber 19, 1667, leaving his wife, and one son, Nathaniel, his other son, Obadiah, being then deceased. His wife was Mary (Manning) Seely, daughter of Captain John Manning, who owned Blackwell's Island, New York.
(II) Obadiah Seely, son of Captain Robert Seely, died in Stamford, Connec- ticut, August 25, 1657. He served in the Pequot War and held the rank of lieu- tenant. In 1644 he married Mary Miller, widow of John Miller, and they lived in that part of Stamford which is now Poundridge, New York.
(III) Lieutenant Jonas Seely, son of Obadiah and Mary (Miller) Seely, was born in 1653, and died in 1711. They lived in what is now Poundridge. He married, in 1689, Mary Waterbury Weeks, daughter of Thomas Weeks. Thomas Weeks (often spelled Wyx, Wix) came to Stamford with the first company of settlers and received six acres of land in the first distribution.
(IV) Lieutenant Eliphalet Seely, son of Lieutenant Jonas and Mary W. (Weeks) Seely, was born August 20, 1701. He was a farmer. He died in 1786. He married Sarah Holly, daughter of Elisha and Martha (Holmes) Holly, December 10, 1724. Elisha Holly was born June 1, 1659, and died October 28, 1719. He married, December 2, 1686, Martha Holmes. His father, John Holly, married, in 1630, Margaret He was born in England, about 1598, and is said to be one of the three brothers of this name who came to America in the "Mayflower." He settled in Stamford, Connecticut, in 1642. His father was John Holly, born in England in 1579, and
Conn-9-3
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was a son of Dr. Luther Holly, born Oc- tober 29, 1556, at St. Leonard's Parish, Shoredith, London, England.
(V) Wyx Seely, son of Lieutenant Eliphalet and Sarah (Holly) Seely, was born September 16, 1736. He did not know how to spell his name when he first went to school and gave the spelling Wyx, in which manner his descendants have always spelled his name. He mar- ried, November 4, 1756, Mary St. John, and she died November 4, 1778, at the age of forty-two years. She was a descend- ant of Matthias St. John, one of the first settlers in Stamford. Wyx Seely died September 23, 1796.
(VI) Wyx (2) Seely, son of Wyx (1) and Mary (St. John) Seely, was born July 16, 1757, and died October 2, 1829. He married (second) Catharine Selleck, daughter of Nathan and Sarah (Clock) Selleck, October 17, 1782. Wyx Seely married a Quakeress and joined the So- city of Friends. Robert Seely was a slave owner and the family continued to own slaves down to and including the second Wyx. Slavery was abolished in Connecticut in 1812.
(VII) Selleck Seely, son of Wyx (2) Seely, was born June 16, 1786, and died January 27, 1826. He was a tanner. He married, September 10, 1807, Mary Clock, daughter of Nathaniel Clock, and she died February 7, 1868, aged seventy-nine years. At one time in his youth, Selleck Seely was a surveyor, and his tannery stood on the present site of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Noroton. After his death in 1826, the tannery was bought by Blatchley Hoyt & Brother.
(VIII) Albert Seely, son of Selleck and Mary (Clock) Seely, was born Jan- uary 18, 1809, and as a youth commenced to learn the tanner's trade with his father. He was only sixteen when his father died and it devolved upon him to support the
family, his widowed mother having been left with six children. He next went into the butcher business and remained in that until he was twenty-one years old, when he went into the real estate business. When he was twenty-six years old, he bought the Stamford House in Stamford, and later in partnership with Ellsworth Fox, under the firm name of Seely & Fox, established themselves in the lum- ber business in Stamford, which after many changes in ownership has been known for many years as The Getman & Judd Company. In 1854 the firm sold their business to Mr. Fox's brother, Rich- mond Fox, and Mr. Seely devoted his attention to a large farm which he had acquired in the meantime, and to his many interests, for he had become one of Stamford's wealthy citizens. In 1839 he built the brick building on Main street now occupied by Jones's Drug Store, and in 1861 built what was known as Seely's Block, containing Seely's Hall. These are said to be the first brick buildings erected in Stamford. The winter of 1839- 1840 was very severe, and transportation was so interrupted that his supply of bricks which came from Long Island be- came so curtailed as to interfere with his building operations. Mr. Seely was noted for his courage and daring, and on January 21, 1840, he drove a horse and sleigh from Stamford to Long Island across the Sound which was frozen all the way across. This feat was watched through a spy-glass by his neighbors, who were fearful every minute that the treacherous salt water ice would not sus- tain the weight, but he reached his desti- nation, transacted his business with the brick manufacturer and returned by the same route. This exploit is famous in the annals of Fairfield county. Mr. Seely served as mayor of Stamford, and was sheriff of Fairfield county. He was a
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staunch member of the Society of Friends and always wore a Quaker hat and coat. Albert Seely married, April 16, 1836, Emiline Brown, born December 24, 181I. They were the parents of nine children, six of whom grew to maturity : I. Selleck, married Armale Baron, both deceased. 2. Emiline B., widow of George Leonard, of Corning, Ohio. 3. Elizabeth Leeds, died unmarried. 4. Catherine Richards. 5. Charles Sands, married Hortense Flood. 6. Holly Hanford, of further men- tion.
(IX) Holly Hanford Seely, son of Al- bert and Emiline (Brown) Seely, was born in Stamford, Connecticut, December 25, 1850, and died April 7, 1904. He was educated at the famous academy of Pro- fessor Glendenning, and as a young man entered the employ of the New York Bank Note Company, where he remained until about 1890. Ten years previous to this time Mrs. Seely had launched into busi- ness in New York City and was very suc- cessful in its management. After resign- ing from the Bank Note Company Mr. Seely became identified with his wife's enterprise and was active in that business until his death. Until about 1886 they made their home in New York City, but in the latter year they removed to Noro- ton, Connecticut, to the Broadhall, one of the old Colonial houses on the Post Road, which they added to from time to time, and about 1900 they built the house where their son lives, which was at first used as the Wee Burn Golf Club House, and later converted into a home. It is on a fine eminence commanding a view of the golf links of the Wee Burn Golf Club. Holly H. Seely married Eliza Campbell, a native of Canada, and their only child was Charles Hanford, of further mention. Mr. and Mrs. Seely were members of St. Luke's Episcopal Church of Noroton for many years.
(X) Charles Hanford Seely son of Holly H. and Eliza (Campbell) Seely, was born in New York City, May 10, 1880. He was educated at Mrs. Davis' private school there, and when he was about ten years of age was entered at King's School, Stamford; thence he went to the Westminster School, Dobbs Ferry, and to Betts' School, Stamford, and com- pleted his formal education at the Berk- eley School in New York City. For years Mr. Seely played amateur golf, during which time he was also engaged in the real estate business. He started with R. V. Harnett & Company, of New York City, and was with them two years, and then went into business for himself. He makes a specialty of handling suburban property in Westchester county, New York, and Fairfield county, Connecticut. Mr. Seely is a member of the Adirondack League Club, and of the Wee Burn Golf and Woodway Country clubs. His chief recreations are hunting, fishing, golfing.
Mr. Seely married Agnes Coleman, daughter of Edward Coleman, of New York City, and they are the parents of four children: Holly Hanford, Anita Coleman, Virginia Armstrong, Coleman Campbell. Mrs. Seely is a member of St. John's Roman Catholic Church in Noroton, and Mr. Seely attends St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Noroton.
BARTLETT, Francis Alonzo, Tree Specialist.
The name Bartlett is a diminutive of Bartholomew, meaning little Bart. The English family of Bartlett or Barttelot dates back to the Norman Conquest. The ancient coat-of-arms is :
Arms-Sable, three sinister falconer's gloves, ar- gent, arranged triangularly, two above and one be- low, pendant, bands around the wrist and tas- sels or.
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At about the close of the fifteenth cen- tury the castle was granted as the crest to John Barttelot, and in the sixteenth century the Swan crest was granted in commemoration of the right granted the family by William the Conqueror to keep swans in the river Arun. The following lineage from 1086 to the present seems completely established.
(I) Adam Barttelot, an esquire. came with the Conqueror from Normandy, and had his seat in Ferring, County Sussex. He was buried in Stopham in 1100.
(II) William Barttelot de Stopham Barttelot, son of Adam Barttelot, was buried in the Stopham church.
(III) John Barttelot, son of William Barttelot was buried in the Stopham church.
(IV) Richard Barttelot, Esquire, son of John Barttelot, was buried in the Stop- ham church.
(V) Thomas Bartlett, son of Richard Barttelot, married Assoline, daughter of John of Stopham.
(VI) John (2) Bartlett, Esquire, son of Thomas Bartlett, captured Castle Fon- tenoy, in France, and to him was granted the crest on the Bartlett arms. He mar- ried the daughter and co-heiress of John de Stopham.
(VII) John (3) Bartlett, son of John (2) Bartlett, was a member of Parliament from Sussex in 1453. He married Joan, daughter and heiress of John de Lewknor.
(VIII) Richard (2) Bartlett, son of John (3) Bartlett, married Petronilla, heiress of General Walton.
(IX) John (4) Bartlett, son of Richard (2) Bartlett, died in 1493. He married Olive Arthur, daughter of John and heir- ess of Sylveston.
(X) Richard (3) Bartlett. son of John (4) Bartlett, married Elizabeth Gates, daughter of John Gates.
(XI) Edmund Bartlett, youngest son
of Richard (3) Bartlett, lived in Ernley, and died in 1591.
(XII) Edmund (2) Bartlett, son of Edmund (1) Bartlett, was of Ernley. He married Elizabeth Gore. He was the fa- ther of the immigrant ancestor mentioned below.
(XIII) Richard (4) Bartlett, son of Edmund (2) Bartlett, was born in Wilt- shire, England, in 1575. (Authority of Levi Bartlett, historian.)
(The Family in America).
(I) The immigrant ancestor, Richard (4) Bartlett, above referred to, was a shoemaker by trade, and was one of the earliest settlers of the old town of New- bury, Massachusetts, where he was liv- ing before 1637, and died there May 25, 1647.
(II) Christopher Bartlett, son of Rich- ard (4) Bartlett, was born February 25, 1623, in England. He came to America in 1630, in the ship, "Mary & John," and with his brothers engaged in the cattle business, being the first in the New World to engage in this business. He married Mary
(III) Christopher (2) Bartlett, son of Christopher (1) and Mary Bartlett, was born June 11, 1655, in Newbury, Massa- chusetts, where the family had settled. He married Deborah Weed, in Haverhill.
(IV) Samuel Bartlett, son of Christo- pher (2) and Deborah (Weed) Bartlett, was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, May 16, 1698. He married Rebekah Kib- bey. Tradition tells us that during the In- dian wars he offended the Indians and had to leave Haverhill. He travelled through the woods to Stafford, Connec- ticut, and hid in the home of a Mr. Kib- bey, whose daughter he afterwards mar- ried.
(V) Samuel (2) Bartlett, son of Sam- uel (1) and Rebekah (Kibbey) Bartlett,
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was born October 27, 1739, in Stafford, Connecticut. He married Rachel John- son.
(VI) Cyrus Bartlett, son of Samuel (2) and Rachel (Johnson) Bartlett, was born in Stafford, Connecticut, January 23, 1778. He was a farmer and removed to Bel- chertown and there bought a cold spring, which was noted even among the Indians for the coldness and purity of its waters. The original name of Belchertown, Mas- sachusetts, was Cold Spring, derived from this spring, and the farm named from it, Cold Spring Farm, was in possession of the Bartlett family up to 1900.
(VII) Cyrus Sabin Bartlett, son of Cy- rus Bartlett, was born in Stafford, Con- necticut, May 16, 1814. He was a young lad when his parents removed to Belch- ertown, Massachusetts. Cyrus Bartlett married Emily Stebbins.
(VIII) Addison Homer Bartlett, son of Cyrus Sabin and Emily (Stebbins) Bartlett, was born February 15, 1843, in Belchertown, Massachusetts. There he grew to manhood and still makes his home. He was educated in the public schools and the Wilbraham Academy, and for a time followed the vocation of teacher. He became associated with his father in the running of the home farm, and after the death of the later succeeded him in the ownership. He continued to carry on the work of the farm for several years, until his retirement from active cares, since which time he has made his home in the village. Mr. Bartlett and his family attend the Congregational church, of which he has long been deacon and one of its most ardent workers. His charities are many ; he is ever ready to listen and aid any one who is unfortunate and de- serving of assistance. Mr. Bartlett mar- ried Violet Isabelle Bardwell, of Belcher- town, and of their seven children five grew to maturity. Their children are:
Lizzie Maria, wife of Thomas Allen, of Belchertown, and mother of Francis Sam- uel Allen ; Marion Estella, lives at home ; Alice Isabella, deceased ; Henry Addison, deceased ; Dwight Stebbins, married Ma- bel Smith and has three children, Alice, Ralph and Ruth Bartlett; they reside in Springfield, Massachusetts; Francis A .; Edward Payson, dean of Pomona College, Claremont, California.
(IX) Francis Alonzo Bartlett, son of Addison Homer and Violet I. (Bardwell) Bartlett, was born November 13, 1882, in Belchertown, Massachusetts. He grad- uated from the high school of that town in 1900, and five years later from the Massachusetts Agricultural College in Amherst with the degree of B. S. Mr. Bartlett became interested in horticulture while still a student at college, and for two years subsequent to his graduation he was Horticultural Instructor in Hamp- ton Institute, Hampton, Virginia. Each succeeding year deepened his interest and his study. From 1905 to 1907 he followed his profession in White Plains, and in the latter year removed to Stamford, Connec- ticut, where he purchased a farm to en- gage in experimental work with trees.
In 1916 he incorporated the F. A. Bart- lett Company, of which he is president and treasurer, and the progress the com- pany has made in its specialty, tree sur- gery, is shown by the fact that there is but one other concern in the United States transacting an equal volume of business. The main office is in Stamford, with branches in Westbury, Long Island, Morristown, New Jersey, and Philadel- phia, Pennsylvania, with an average of seventy men employed.
For a long time Mr. Bartlett devoted his efforts toward experiments in the pro- duction of a filler for use in tree surgery that would more nearly partake of the nature of the tree itself. This he found in
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a composition of wood particles, rubber- like asphalt, asbestos fibres, and so forth, an antiseptic and preservative filling which he has protected with many pat- ents, and which has been given the trade name of "Flexifill." Tree surgery, as now practiced, is the treatment of old and decayed trees by a process of interior cleansing and bracing with horizontal metal rods, and the filling in of these cleansed and braced cavities with a flex- ible filling, the result being a complete restoration to health if the work is prop- erly done. Great improvement has been made in the treatment of the cavities, the vital point in tree surgery, for if all dead wood is not carved away back to the ac- tive healing tissues, decay will continue back of the filling, and in time there is a cavity between wood and filling, through which a new infection may be started by water or insects, or both. But if the cav- ity is properly cleansed of all infected wood, then well braced and packed with filling, the bark will gradually roll over the edges of the filling, and a perfect heal- ing is effected, with the continued life of the tree practically assured. The Bart- lett method of tree surgery is based fun- damentally upon the accumulated knowl- edge of tree specialists, and for a decade has been thoroughly in the "assay pan" of actual experience and is kept abreast of all modern discovery by the continued ad- dition to their staff of recognized experts and specialists in tree preservation. This keeps the "Bartlett Way" on the very frontier of progress, every member of the staff a skilled man before admission to the force. New men and new methods are all tested at the company's expense, and not only is every member of the Bartlett staff well grounded in the theory of tree surgery but is a successful prac- titioner. "Flexifill" is a valuable com- mercial product, not alone in its appli-
cation to tree surgery, for its potential uses are many. It stands in much the same relation to wood as concrete does to stone, is freely molded, fire-proof, and has wide possibilities in the building trade.
Mr. Bartlett is the owner of a beautiful thirty acre tract named Brookdale Farm, which he has devoted to experimental work in arboriculture. He has several acres planted in many varieties of nut trees brought from all over the world, and is working extensively with seed- lings. He is endeavoring to acclimate exotic nuts, especially those from China and Japan, and to develop new varieties. Black walnuts are the object of much of his experimenting, and he is hybridizing pecans and hickory nuts, with most en- couraging results.
Mr. Bartlett is also vice-president and a director of the Oasis Farm & Orchard Company of Rosewell, New Mexico, which is conducting one of the largest and finest private irrigation projects in the Southwest. They have eighteen hun- dred acres under intensive cultivation, five hundred acres of it in apple trees, also raising wheat, other grains, and hogs. This company shipped seven thousand hogs to the packers in one year. Mr. Bartlett is a member of the Phi Sigma Kappa.
Mr. Bartlett married Myrtle Kezar, of Massachusetts, and they are the parents of a son, Robert Addison, born October 11, 1917.
SPENCE, David,
Chemist, Engineer, Manufacturer.
As vice-president and general superin- tendent of the Norwalk Tire and Rubber Company, Dr. Spence came to Norwalk with a reputation as a research chemist and engineer already well established,
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