USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 11 > Part 17
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Harvey (2) Hubbell, of this review, is the son of Harvey (1) and Caroline (Pinto-Hadley) Hubbell, and the seventh in line of descent from Richard (the First) Hubbell, his immigrant ancestor, who came from England to America between 1631 and 1639. From Richard (the First) the line descends through :
(II) James Hubbell of Stratford, Fair- field County, Connecticut, born in 1673, died October, 1777, at New Milford, Con- necticut, son of Richard (1) Hubbell. He married Patience, daughter of Henry Summers of New Haven, Connecticut. She was born in 1683 and died September 29, 1753. Children: Andrew, of whom further; Abiah, born August 1I, 1708; Sarah, born September 12, 1711 ; Elnathan, born September 22, 1717; Patience, born April 8, 1722.
(III) Andrew Hubbell of Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, born June 22, 1706, died in 1776-77, was the son of James Hubbell. He married (first) Sarah who died July 20, 1736. Children, by the first marriage : Elijah, born May 9, 1727; Jerusha, born May 19, 1729, married Seeley; Parnach, born January 22, 1730; Hannah, born November 12, 1732, mar- ried Beers, died before 1777; Sarah, born August 5, 1734. Andrew Hubbell married (second) December 2, 1736, Mary Welles. She was born in 1714. Children by the second marriage: Gideon, born October 6, 1737; James, born November 6, 1738; Andrew (2), born February 7, 1740; Sarah, born November 18, 1741 ; Matthew, of whom further; Abiah, married Wood- cock; Mary, married Northrup; Rhoda, married Bennett.
(IV) Matthew Hubbell of Easton (then Huntington), Fairfield County, Connecti-
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cut, was born April 17, 1745, died April 12, 1812, a son of Andrew Hubbell. He married Abigail Burton, born in 1758, died February 20, 1812. Children : Gideon Summers, of whom further; Andrew Read; David Burton, died November 9, 1825; Ruth, married Winton, died Decem- ber 5, 1812; Hannah, married Lyon, died July 5, 1846.
(V) Gideon Summers Hubbell, of Easton, Fairfield County, Connecticut, was born July 3, 1768, died in Bloomfield, Ohio, January 25, 1842, a son of Matthew Hubbell. He married (first) Sarah Tread- well, born May 2, 1762, died October 19, 1805. Children, by the first marriage: Burton, born July 30, 1788, died Novem- ber 27, 1859; Philena, born February 14, 1790, died in 1873; Preston, born May 20, 1792; Nathan, died August 14, 1821 ; Zalmon, born October 27, 1794; Harvey (1), of whom further ; Eruxton, born May 7, 1800, died October 23, 1800; Washing- ton, born March 19, 1803; Preston, died August 17, 1829; Malvina, died June 29, 1823. Gideon Summers Hubbell married (second) Sarah Wheeler, born May 15, 1775, died October 5, 1846. Child by the second marriage: Sarah, born June 14, 1807.
(VI) Harvey Hubbell (1) of Long Hill, Fairfield County, Connecticut, born March 6, 1797, died July 2, 1882, was a son of Gideon Summers and Sarah (Tread- well) Hubbell. He married (first) Polly Sherman, January 5, 1819. He married (second) Caroline (Pinto) Hadley, Octo- ber 22, 1855. After he received a common school education he served four years as an apprentice in the tailoring trade to his father at Easton, Connecticut. At the age of twenty years, in company with three young men, he started for the then "far off State of Ohio" to seek his fortune. They made the journey in thirty-three days, walking leisurely from place to
place, until Harvey (1) Hubbell arrived at Columbus. There he plied his trade of tailor, and within two years of his arrival he returned to Connecticut to marry, in 1819, the young woman to whom he al- ready was engaged, Polly, daughter of David Sherman of Trumbull, Connecticut. His father entreated him to abandon the idea of returning to the West and to re- main in Connecticut for his sake. Like a dutiful son that he was, he did as his father desired and settled in Weston and there worked industriously at his trade. He was a man of unusual ability and at- tained prominence and position in the community. He was made a captain of militia and was appointed a justice of the peace. In 1836 he disposed of his tailor- ing business in Easton and removed to New York City, where he was given charge of a large clothing house in the New Orleans trade, subsequently becom- ing a partner, the concern being known as Taylor, Hubbell & Co. In 1862, shar- ing the general losses that resulted from the Civil War, he removed from New York City to Long Hill, Connecticut, where he established a factory for the manufacture of men's underwear. He was about twenty-two years of age when he married Polly Sherman. They had children : 1. Orange Scott Hubbell. 2. Charles Elliott Hubbell. 3. Harriet At- wood Hubbell. 4. John Wesley Hubbell. 5. Wilbur Fish Hubbell. By his second wife he had children: 6. Carrie L., died February 24, 1857, at the age of five months, fifteen days. 7. Harvey (2) Hub- bell, of this review. 8. Carrie, died De- cember 1, 1882, at the age of twenty-one years. Polly (Sherman) Hubbell died October 27, 1854, at the age of fifty-six years. Caroline (Pinto-Hadley) Hubbell, born July 30, 1819, died October 22, 1905, at the age of eighty-six years.
(VII) Harvey (2) Hubbell, son of
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Harvey (1) and Caroline (Pinto-Hadley) Hubbell, was born in Brooklyn, New York, December 20, 1857. His education was received at Easton Academy, Easton, Connecticut, at Eastman's Business Col- lege, Poughkeepsie, New York, and at Cooper Institute, New York City. In his early life he displayed an aptitude for mechanics, and this was especially notice- able, following his school days, when he gave it full rein to the end that he might become fully accomplished along his chosen line of work. His gift for doing things mechanical was first principally employed in the designing and manufac- ture of printing presses with the Potter Printing Works and the Cranston Print- ing Press Works of Norwich, Connecti- cut. For a time he was with John Roach & Son, ship and marine engine builders, of New York City and Chester, Pennsyl- vania. Following his days of labor he formed the commendable and profitable habit of devoting his evenings to study and drafting, by which he familiarized himself with the theoretical as well as with the practical side of his vocation. His capacity for perfecting inventions soon manifested itself, and he went to Bridgeport, where in a humble way he began the manufacture of two articles which he had designed and had patented. This small and unpretentious beginning was actually the inception of his career as an inventor and manufacturer. He de- voted himself assiduously to his business, and his keen eye perceived the possibili- ties of commercializing the electrical in- dustry, then in its infancy. To the elec- trical needs of the time Mr. Hubbell ap- plied his knowledge of mechanics, and al- most without conscious effort on his part he found himself a beneficiary of the transition into this new field of science.
in demand for general use, and the de- mands increased by leaps and bounds. Mr. Hubbell diverted his time, talents and energy in the direction of supplying that demand, and to his lines of manufacture he added numerous electrical specialties. Among his patented devices which have come into general use are the Hubbell Pull Socket and the Hubbell Interchange- able Attachment Plug, besides many other articles made practical with the use of electricity. Mr. Hubbell was the first to make rolled thread machine screws with automatic machinery, and a part of his manufacturing plant is given to this spec- ial line. One of the chief secrets of Mr. Hubbell's successful career is his deter- mination to keep pace with the developed needs of the industry-electrical and me- chanical. He maintains a close personal touch with all departments of his busi- ness, letting no important detail go un- supervised, whether it be engineering, manufacturing or selling. Therein lies the genius of the Hubbell establishment ; it is distinctively the creature of his own brain and the child of his own culture. The prestige and good-will that attach to the business have come to it through nearly four decades of faithful devotion and intelligent application. The business was incorporated under its present style in 1905.
Mr. Hubbell is a member of the Associ- ated Manufacturers of Electrical Supplies. He is a communicant of the United Church of Bridgeport and a member of its finance committee. He is of the Re- publican persuasion of politics. His clubs are the Electrical Manufacturers', Auto- mobile Club of America, Union League of New York City and the Brooklawn and Algonquin of Bridgeport.
Mr. Hubbell married, December 2, 1896, Domestic and industrial appliances were Louie E. Edwards, daughter of Robert
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and Sereta (Edwards) Edwards of Port Jefferson, New York. They have one son, Harvey (3) Hubbell, Jr., born May 23, 1901, in Bridgeport; educated in pri- vate schools and graduated from the Choate School of Wallingford, Connecti- cut; associated with his father in the Hubbell organization at Bridgeport; a member of the Brooklawn Club.
The House of Hubbell has its official headquarters and plant at State Street and Bostwick Avenue, and the Hubbell family residence is No. 262 Park Avenue, Bridgeport.
LOCKHART, Dr. Reuben A., Physician.
Beloved in a wide circle of permanent friendships and highly esteemed for his real worth as a member of the medical profession, whose life and labors among the people of Bridgeport and its vicinity had embraced a period of nearly thirty- five years, during which time he had en- deared himself to thousands to whom he had ministered, Dr. Reuben A. Lockhart laid aside the mantle of service he had worn so becomingly, November 6, 1924, at the age of fifty-four years, when seem- ingly he was in the prime of life and at the height of his powers, both as a unit of the medical profession and as a citizen who could ill be spared from a community, many of whose people felt a personal loss when he was removed from their midst. The public's sense of affliction caused by the death of Dr. Lockhart is expressed in the tribute voiced by another :
On all sides when the news of Dr. Lock- hart's death became generally known there were many sincere expressions of sympathy. As an examiner for one of the insurance companies which caters particularly to the working classes, he had been a welcome visitor in hundreds of
homes, where his sympathetic attitude made and retained for him innumerable warm friendships.
He was a prodigious worker and intensely devoted to the highest ideals of his profession. His personality was of the wholesome and friendly type, and in all circles which he frequented he was an ornament. .
In his passing the medical profession loses one of its most valuable members and the city a citizen who always strove for the best.
Reuben A. Lockhart was a fine example of the initiative, force of character and energy of the Canadian born youth who have in such great numbers become grafted into the body politic of the United States. He was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, September 18, 1870, being one of three children of his parents, who when he was five years of age removed with their family from Halifax to Bridgeport. In the city of Bridgeport, after the family had settled in their new home, the senior Lockhart engaged in the retail grocery business. His son Reuben attended the public schools of the city and was gradu- ated from the Bridgeport high school in the class of 1888. In the autumn of 1888 he matriculated at Yale, and after he had completed his medical course, he was graduated in 1891 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In his high school days and while a student of Yale, Dr. Lockhart was something of a celebrity because of his athletic prowess. At the high school he was captain of the foot- ball team and at Yale he was catcher on the varsity baseball team. He was recog- nized not only as an able student but also as possessing strength and skill which added to the prestige of his alma mater's athletic department.
Dr. Lockhart took up the practice of his profession immediately upon his gradua- tion from the Yale department of medi- cine. He made the city of Bridgeport, his by right of adoption, the scene of his pro-
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fessional and civic activities. While yet a young man in the field of medical practice Dr. Lockhart conquered many a hill of difficulty, and he recorded numerous tri- umphs over early hardships while he was winning his way into the confidence of the people whom he so earnestly desired to serve with the best that he could give them of his native talent and acquired skill. It was not long, however, before he had won many laurels and numerous friends. His patients and other acquaint- ances found in him a loyal and true friend, a wise counselor in their hours of illness and a sincere and sympathetic comforter in times of deepest trial. "His kind deeds and genial personality will be remembered for many years to come." In 1891 Dr. Lockhart was appointed a medical ex- aminer for the John Hancock Life Insur- ance Company. He continued in that as- sociation until the time of his death. Dur- ing his incumbency he had gone into thousands of homes containing applicants for insurance, and by his tact, friendly as well as formal offices, he had added to his already long list of close and enduring friendships.
Dr. Lockhart was a member of the Order of Heptasophs, the Woodmen of the World, St. John's Lodge, No. 3, Free and Accepted Masons; Samuel Harris Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows; Joseph Dowling Lodge, Knights of Pythias; Ivy Grove Lodge, Woodmen's Circle; the Foresters of America, the Bridgeport and Fairfield County Medical associations, Yale Alumni Association, Delta Epsilon Iota fraternity, Nu Sigma Nu Medical Fraternity, the Brooklawn and Algonquin clubs, and of the staff of the Bridgeport Hospital. He is a Republican in politics and served on the board of Aldermen and the Board of Education of the city of Bridgeport; a member of
Washington Park M. E. Church and trustee of Trinity M. E. Church.
Dr. Lockhart married, June 13, 1894, Elizabeth Uschman, daughter of Fred- erick and Henrietta Loezer Uschman, one of the well known and older residents of Bridgeport. To them were born two sons: R. Harold Lockhart, born November 25, 1902, a medical student at Yale, and Royal Arthur Lockhart, born June 8, 1900.
WATSON, General Thomas Lansdell, Banker and Broker.
The city of Bridgeport has produced many notable characters who have loomed large in the world of finance and industry, but none has occupied, perhaps, a larger place, inclusive of the American metrop- olis, than did General Thomas L. Watson, born in Bridgeport December 13, 1847, died December 10, 1919, who became a power in financial institutions, an execu- tive of a number of large organizations, vice-president of the New York Consoli- dated Stock Exchange and brigadier-gen- eral of the Connecticut Brigade of the National Guard, in which position, as in all others, he distinguished himself for unusual ability. General Watson was of that type of men who accomplish things by sheer force of native capacity plus a rich fund of information that came to him through long years of valued experience with men and affairs on high planes of endeavor. Like so many men who have risen from humble beginnings to places of trust and responsibility, in which they have merited the confidence reposed in them by their associates, the while they more securely and with remarkable suc- cess erected the basis of their career, Gen- eral Watson made every move count for all that was worth from every ounce of worth that was in him as he patiently and with
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courage and fortitude ascended the lad- der on whose bottom rung he had set his foot in the days of his youth. In con- nection with a commendable ambition to succeed in life he was fired with an earnest desire to be of the best service possible in him to his fellow men, and especially to those organizations with which he was associated first as an employee and later as a holder of superior positions. It was this quality of intelligent and unselfish devotion to the cause at hand that con- tributed in no little degree to the splendid record he had made in the field of finance and in military affairs and in religious cir- cles. He was noted also for his almost ceaseless activity throughout his long life of seventy-two years, and by many of his former associates in his different enter- prises he is remembered alike for his re- markable capacity for work, his celerity of movement and clarity of judgment as well as for his other personal character- istics.
Son of Dr. William Lansdell and Jean- ette (Nichols) Watson, his father having been a graduate of the University of Bal- timore, Maryland, and his mother a de- scendant of the well-known Nichols fam- ily of Greenfield Hill, Thomas L. Watson received his preliminary education in the public schools of Bridgeport, and then entered the Military Institute at Milford, Connecticut. With a view to making life in the army his profession, it was sup- posed that he would fill a cadet's uniform at West Point, but owing to a serious accident he was obliged, much against his will, to forego a federal soldier's career and instead entered the business world, where he was destined to make a brilliant record. His first employment in the sphere of business was in the position of clerk at the Farmers' Bank of Bridgeport. From that institution he advanced to a
more lucrative and responsible position at the City National Bank of Bridgeport. He had now accumulated a valuable store of knowledge of banks and banking, and after a period of service at the City Na- tional he resigned his position to become a partner in the private banking and broker- age business with Daniel Hatch. Novem- ber 1, 1866, the firm of Hatch & Watson began to do business in Bridgeport. Fol- lowing the death of Mr. Hatch, the busi- ness was carried on by Mr. Watson, the name being changed to T. L. Watson & Company. General Watson had begun to look further afield in his desire to enlarge his business, and in 1879 he ex- tended his interests to New York City, at 55 Broadway, where he became head of the brokerage firm of Watson & Gib- son. This house continued in successful operation over a period of years, and through his association with important business men and large affairs in New York City and Bridgeport, General Wat- son came to hold many positions of high responsibility and trust in both cities.
He served the City National Bank as one of its directors ; he was an auditor of the City Savings Bank, treasurer of the Board of Trade, and treasurer of the St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church build- ing fund, and for many years was a mem- ber of the vestry. All the foregoing of- fices were held in the city of Bridgeport. He was also a director of the American Loan and Trust Company of New York, a director for several years of the New York Consolidated Stock and Petroleum Exchange and of its predecessors, and has served as chairman of its finance commit- tee and as a vice-president. He afterward purchased a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, and being elected to member- ship, he became one of the most active and esteemed operators of that organiza-
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tion. He was president of an Illinois gas and water company, and president of the Fairfield Agricultural Society for many years.
General Watson made an enviable rec- ord in the Connecticut National Guard. He enlisted in the old 4th Regiment May 28, 1877, as a member of the staff of Colonel R. B. Fairchild with the rank of lieu- tenant. He afterward was appointed aide on the staff of General S. R. Smith, com- mander of the Connecticut Brigade in 1878, with the rank of captain. His next advancement was to the colonelcy of the 4th Regiment, to which office he was elected and which he held until March I, 1890, when he was appointed by Governor Bulkley to be commander of the Con- necticut Brigade, which was composed of four regiments of infantry, three com- panies of heavy artillery and a number of separate companies. His high position in the State's military establishment was marked with highly improved efficiency of the military bodies, a zeal and an en- thusiasm which were significant of the splendid morale of the troops. General Watson received his honorable discharge from the service in 1897.
In the club circles in which General Watson moved he was a popular and in- fluential member. He had served as pres- ident of the New York Athletic Club, as commodore of the Larchmont Yacht Club and as fleet captain of the Atlantic Yacht Club. He had served as vice-president and president of the Union League Club of New York, and was a member of the Pilgrim Society, the New England Soci- ety, the Sons of the Revolution, New York Yacht Club, Lotus Club and of the Brooklawn Country and Seaside clubs of Bridgeport. General Watson was of strong Republican faith in his political preferments and practices, but he con-
sistently with his policy steadfastly de- clined to accept the honor of election to public office, which he might have graced with rare ability, if he had but given his word to his large and influential follow- ing.
General Watson married Alice Cheever Lyon, daughter of Hanford Lyon of Bridgeport. To them were born two children : Arthur Kent Lansdell Watson, and Alice Lyon, who married Paul Armit- age.
Out of his varied walks of life there has departed a figure, stalwart and com- manding, who left the impress of a force- ful life upon numerous diversified en- deavors-the honors that came to Gen- eral Watson and the measure of success that resulted from his own capacity for hard work intelligently done rejoiced the hearts of his multitude of friends in the city of New York and throughout the State of Connecticut. His life and deeds comprise another chapter in the illumin- ated annals of the city of Bridgeport.
KIRKHAM, Thomas Atwood, Manufacturer.
Long before the New World was dis- covered the Kirkham name was a prom- inent and honorable one in England. "At the time of Henry III, and probably much earlier, they had their residence at Ashcombe under Haldon Hill, and of this they were possessed," according to Prince's "Worthies of Devon," C. 1700. They continued to be its lords for four hundred years after the death of that monarch. Later, in the reign of Edward I Sir Nicholas Kirkham removed his dwell- ing unto Blagdon, which was the long con- tinued seat of this name and family; an- .other property belonging to them was at Honiton. The most interesting personage
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Thomas a. Kirkham
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of this knightly race was Sir John Kirk- ham, made high sheriff of the county by Henry VIII in the fifteenth year of his reign (1523). He made the noble and large benefaction of All Hallows; he with Elizaeus Harding, clerk, by their deed bearing date 20th July, 1523. The same year he was sheriff he did grant and feo- fee and confirm unto certain persons named in the same deed about nineteen tenements in houses and lands lying in the parish of Honiton aforesaid, that the said feofee should employ and bestow from time to time all the rents and profits arising and issuing out of the said estates for and towards the reparation and main- taining the chapel of All Hallows. But then this gift is not so confined to this particular use, but also extended to such other good and charitable purposes within the said town and parish as shall be thought fit and convenient by the feofees. What other acts of charity or piety he did, or what brave exploits he performed, or exemplary virtues he was eminent for, I nowhere find. They are now all swal- lowed up in oblivion ; the upshot of all is that he died and lieth interred in the aisle of the south side of the Parish Church of Paignton.
At Paignton stands the old Parish Church built in the time of Henry V. This contains "the glorious Kirkham Chantry" with the stone parclose screen. The tomb of the Kirkham family is within the Chantry ornamented with their ar- morial bearings, with the cross and crown and the motto: Spes et Corona. The eastern and western bays of the parclose screen each contain two recumbent effi- gies which tradition says are those of Sir John Kirkham, who died in 1529, and his lady; of his father, Sir Nicholas Kirk- ham, who died in 1515, and his lady.
Among the first settlers of Connecticut
from England was Thomas Kirkham, of Wethersfield. The first English settlement was made in 1635. There are no records to show whether or not Thomas Kirkham came there direct from England or came from Watertown, Massachusetts, with the original settlers; probably the latter is correct, as he is referred to in a will made in Wethersfield in 1640. He evidently then was an established resident. He probably was a cabinet-maker or joiner, as the testator names him as executor and leaves in his will a sum of money to be paid him for making his coffin. From that time on the Kirkham family has fig- ured prominently in military, financial, industrial, and professional affairs of Connecticut and of the nation. A father and his son gave their lives to their coun- try in the war of the Revolution; Henry Kirkham, the father, died of camp fever at Saratoga, and John, the son, enlisted at the age of sixteen years and received a wound from which he never recovered. His death, thirty-seven years later, was caused by the closing of the gunshot wound, which had never healed. The family has been identified with Wethers- field and with Newington, which was the western part of Wethersfield till it be- came a separate town in 1870, in an un- broken line since the first settlement till the death of John S. Kirkham in 1918. The home farm is still in the possession of the family, and Judge John H. Kirk- ham of New Britain still represents the family in Hartford County. In all gen- erations the family name has been em- bellished by leadership in the various call- ings, as soldiers, scholars, churchmen, municipal officers, legislators and indus- trialists, who have borne the name of Kirkham. They have left, and still are maintaining a lofty standard of family pride and virtue.
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