USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 3 > Part 37
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Richard Seymour, a descendant of Rich- ard Seymour, an original proprietor of Hartford in 1639. After the death of her husband she removed with her children to Litchfield, Connecticut, and there married Ashbel Catlin, with whom she removed to Shoreham, Vermont. Her son, Thomas Freeman Gross, born November 30, 1772, in Hartford, died at Litchfield, March 3, 1846. In 1773 he married Lydia, daughter of Jolin Mason, born April 14, 1773, died July 23, 1864. They were the parents of Mason Gross, born 1809, in Litchfield, died in Hartford, March 10, 1864. At the age of seventeen years, he located in Hart- ford and there became in time a success- ful wool merchant. For several years he was captain of the Light Infantry Com- pany of Hartford. He married, in 1832, Cornelia Barnard, daughter of John (2) and Sallie (Robbins) Barnard, of Hart- ford, and granddaughter of Captain John Barnard, a soldier of the early French wars, also of the Revolution, and one of the founders of the Society of the Cincin- nati. Their youngest child is the subject of this biography.
Charles Edward Gross was born Au- gust 18, 1847, in Hartford, where his boy- hood was passed receiving instruction in the public schools of the city. Entering Yale University, he became a member of the Alpha Delta Phi, was one of the lead- ing members of the Phi Beta Kappa, and was graduated in 1869. After leaving Yale he spent one year in teaching in Hall's School at Ellington, Connecticut. In 1870 he began the study of law under the instruction of Hon. Charles J. Hoad- ley, State Librarian, and later in the office of Waldo, Hubbard & Hyde, leading attorneys of the city. Mr. Gross was admitted to the bar of Hartford county in September, 1872, but continued four years as a law clerk with Waldo, Hubbard & Hyde. In January. 1877, he was admitted
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to partnership in the firm, and on the death of Judge Waldo in 1881 the name of the firm became Hubbard, Hyde & Gross. After the death of Governor Hub- bard in 1884 it was changed to Hyde, Gross & Hyde. Following the death of Hon. Alvin P. Hyde, the firm became Gross, Hyde & Shipman, and has thus continued to the present time. Among the members of the firm is now included Charles Welles Gross, a son of its head.
Mr. Charles E. Gross has given especial attention to corporation affairs, has handled a very extensive practice as insur- ance lawyer, has conducted many import- ant cases with remarkable skill, and stands among the first of the State in his profession. In his long and active career he has become identified with various undertakings ; has been director and coun- sel of the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company since its reorganization in 1889; is the director and counsel of the Aetna Insurance Company; and has been at times a director of the New York & New England Railroad Company, and of The Connecticut River Railroad Company. He is the president of the Society for Savings, of Hartford, the largest institu- tion of its kind in the State, having assets of over $42,000,000; since 1898 has been president of the Holyoke Water Power Company, which owns the large dam across the Connecticut river, furnishing the hydraulic power used at Holyoke, Massachusetts. As attorney for Mrs. Samuel Colt, for many years he repre- sented her in the board of directors of the Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company. He has also acted as a director in many manufacturing companies.
While deeply absorbed in his practice and in business matters, Mr. Gross has not neglected the literary and other inter- ests of life. He is the vice-president of the Wadsworth Atheneum, which has
charge of the beautiful Morgan Memorial erected by the late J. Pierpont Morgan in memory of his father. In 1917 Mr. Gross was elected president of the Connecticut Historical Society to succeed the late Dr. Samuel Hart, of Middletown, who so long filled that position with eminent satis- faction to the people of the State. Mr. Gross has served as president of the Yale Alumni Association of Hartford, is a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, and of many of the patriotic organiza- tions, two of which he has served as gov- ernor. For many years he was vice-presi- dent and since March, 1917, has been president of the Hartford Bar Association, and for eighteen years was a Park Com- missioner of the city, serving twice as president of the board. One of the organ- izers of the Hartford Board of Trade and a member of its board of directors since its organization, he was several years its president. In 1885 he became secretary of the committee of twenty appointed to arouse public interest to the importance of action on liquor licenses and other public questions. In this work Mr. Gross was deeply interested, and he strove to promote action which should best serve the general welfare. In 1891 a committee of five was appointed by the town, headed by Professor John J. McCook, on outdoor alms, and Mr. Gross was one of the most active and useful members of this com- mittee. Its investigations divulged the fact that the United States expended more per capita in outdoor alms-giving than any other nation, that Connecticut led all the other States, and that Hartford led in Connecticut. The advantage to this committee, and others on which he served, of Mr. Gross's great legal knowl- edge and perception, was very great, and the report of the McCook committee pro- duced a sensation in the city and was the direct means of abating various abuses
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This report has been established as a textbook in colleges on charity work on account of its great statistical value. Mr. Gross was made president at the creation of the City Club, organized for municipal reform, and has shown in multitudes of ways his interest in the welfare of the city and the State. The medical prac- titioners of Connecticut have shown great appreciation of the public services of Mr. Gross, who has invariably declined to accept any fee for services to the so- ciety. In speaking of this, the "Hartford Courant" said :
The doctors, however, have taken another way to testify their appreciation of his assistance, and yesterday the society, through its officers, pre- sented him with a unique and very choice testi- monial. It is in the shape of a beautiful hand- made volume, bound in white morocco, and en- closed in a rich, silk case. The book, on open- ing, is found to consist of a number of parch- ment pages on which are exquisitely engrossed the resolutions of thanks passed by the society. The illuminated lettering in colors is worthy the old monks, and the whole work is noticeably beauti- ful. *
* The resolutions which were printed in the volume are as follows: In recognition of the distinguished service rendered to the people of Connecticut by Charles E. Gross, Esq., in con- nection with the recent passage of the Medical Practice Bill by the Legislature, and in view of the fact that this service has included many scores of conferences with the members of the committee which represented this society in securing such legislation : the drafting of the bill and subse- quent modifications of it; the presentation of the most cogent of arguments in favor of its enact- ment; which latter has covered some years and all of which has been done without compensation, and often with great personal inconvenience and sacrifice of business interests, and with such de- votion to the welfare of all concerned as to render it almost if not quite unique in character; there- fore, "Resolved, That the Connecticut Medical Society hereby expresses its high appreciation of these services of Mr. Gross, and begs to extend to him in behalf of its members and its constitu- ency its thanks and congratulations, that this reso- lution be spread upon the records of the society, and that a copy be suitably engrossed for presen- tation to him."
Mr. Gross was married, October 5, 1875, to Miss Ellen C. Spencer, of Hart- ford, daughter of Calvin and Clarissa M. (Root) Spencer, and they have had two sons and a daughter: Charles Welles ; William Spencer, who died in infancy, and Helen Clarissa Gross. The elder son married, in 1905, Hilda Welch, of New Haven, and has two sons-Spencer Gross, and Mason W. Gross, and one daughter, Cornelia Gross.
DWIGHT, Gen. Henry Cecil, Man of Affairs, Civil War Veteran.
The Dwight family, represented in the present generation by General Henry Cecil Dwight, ex-mayor of Hartford and president of the Mechanics' Savings Bank of Hartford, also for many years identified with important mercantile and financial interests, is one of the oldest in New England, and has contributed an unusually large number of men who have achieved signal success in various walks of life, educators, public men, judges, lawyers, journalists, business and military men. The State of Connecticut is indebted to the Dwight family for some very able men who have been largely instrumental in its upbuilding, and prom- inent among these were the Rev. Timo- thy Dwight, former president of Yale University, and Major Timothy Dwight.
(I) John Dwight, the immigrant ances- tor, came to the New World late in the year 1634 or early in 1635, from Dedham, England, and settled first at Watertown, Massachusetts. He came not to better his fortune, but to seek the religious free- dom denied him in the land of his birth. The records of Dedham, Massachusetts. which began September 1, 1635, when the first town meeting was held, shows that John Dwight was one of the twelve per- sons there assembled. He was one of the
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original grantees of the town, and it is said that he with others brought the first water-mill to Dedham, in September, 1635. He was one of the founders of the church which was established there in 1638, and the town records speak of him as "having been publicly useful," and again as "a great peace-maker." He served as selectman from 1639 to 1655. He died January 24, 1659 (old style), and his widow, Hannah Dwight, the mother of all his children, died September 5, 1656.
(II) Captain Timothy Dwight, son of John and Hannah Dwight, was born in Dedham, England, in 1629. He was brought to this country by his parents, and although there were no schools at Dedham, Massachusetts, at that early day, his career plainly demonstrates that he was well trained at home, his mother having been a woman of superior intelli- gence and character. He was made a freeman in 1655; served ten years as town clerk; and from 1664 to 1689 as select- man; and was a representative to the General Court in 1691-92. He was one of the agents who negotiated with the In- dians for the purchase of their title to the lands comprising the town of Dedham. In his younger years he was cornet of a troop, went out ten times against the Indians, and held the rank of "Captain of Foot." It was said of him "he inherited the estate and virtues of his father, and added to both." He was married six times. The line herein followed is traced through the second child of his third wife, Anna (Flint) Dwight, born Sep- tember II, 1643, daughter of the Rev. Henry Flint, of Braintree (now Quincy ) Massachusetts, and his wife, Margery (Hoar) Flint, a sister of President Hoar, of Harvard College. She married (first) November 15, 1662, John Dassett, and (second) January 9, 1665, Captain Timo-
thy Dwight. Of her it was said, "she was a gentlewoman of piety, prudence, and peculiarly accomplished for instruct- ing young gentlewomen-many being sent to her from other towns, especially from Boston." Captain Dwight died January 31, 1717, and his third wife, above mentioned, died January 29, 1685- 86
(III) Nathaniel Dwight, son of Cap- tain Timothy and Anna (Flint) Dwight, was born November 20, 1660, and died November 7, 1711. He removed from Dedham to Hatfield, Massachusetts, and from there, about 1695, to Northampton, where he resided until his death. He was a trader, farmer, and surveyor of land on a large scale. He held the office of jus- tice of the peace. He married, December 9, 1693, Mehitable, daughter of Colonel Samuel and Mehitable (Crow) Partridge, of Hatfield, Massachusetts. Mr. Dwight died November 7, 1711, and the death of his widow occurred October 19, 1756.
(IV) Colonel Timothy (2) Dwight, son of Nathaniel and Mehitable (Part- ridge) Dwight, was born at Hatfield, Massachusetts, October 19, 1694, and died December 15, 1763, leaving an estate valued at nine thousand pounds. He was a lawyer by profession, and was noted for his disposition to discourage litiga- tion, persuading litigants to settle their differences before referees. He was looked up to as one of the leading men in the community, was very successful in his undertakings, and acquired consider- able wealth. He was selectman of the town for a number of years ; was judge of probate, 1737-41; judge of the County Court, 1748-57, a portion of the time serving as chief justice ; for many years represented Northampton in the General Court, and was colonel of a regiment. He superintended the building of Fort Dummer in Vernon (now Brattleboro),
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Vermont, in 1724; he was first com- mander of the fort, and occupied that position until 1726. In 1724 he also super- intended the building of another fort at Northfield. He was largely employed also in surveying and platting towns in that section of the country. He married, August 16, 1716, Experience, daughter of Lieutenant John King, Jr., of Northamp- ton, and his wife, Mehitable (Pomeroy) King. Mrs. Dwight died December 15, 1763.
(V) Major Timothy (3) Dwight, son of Colonel Timothy (2) and Experience (King) Dwight, was born at Fort Dum- mer, Vermont, May 27, 1726. He was a graduate of Yale University in 1747. His father had planned for him a career in the legal profession, but that did not appeal to him and he became a merchant at Northampton. He filled the office of selectman from 1760 to 1764; was town recorder from 1760 to 1765; register of, probate and judge of the Court of Com- mon Pleas from 1758 to 1774, succeeding his father who resigned that position in 1757; and was a representative to the General Court for a number of years. He conceived the idea of founding an indus- trial and religious colony at Natchez, and he accordingly purchased largely of the crown grant made to General Lyman at that place. In the spring of 1776 he set out for the southwest with his sons, Sereno and Jonathan, and his sister, Mrs. Eleanor Lyman, and her children. His health, which previously had been good, gave way within a years' time to the severe strain put upon it, and his death occurred June 10, 1777. the death of his sister Eleanor having occurred two months previously. He married, No- vember 8, 1750, Mary, daughter of the Rev. Jonathan Edwards, by whom he had thirteen children. She was "uniformly described as a lady of uncommon beauty, intelligence and excellence."
(VI) Colonel Cecil Dwight, son of Major Timothy (3) and Mary (Edwards) Dwight, was born June 10, 1774. During his young manhood he served as deputy sheriff and a colonel of militia, and he was also an auctioneer. In 1812 he was a member of the State Legislature, and served in an acceptable manner. In 1824 he retired to his farm comprising three hundred acres, which he cultivated and improved. Like his progenitors he was a sincerely religious man, and he was dis- tinguished for the positiveness of his moral convictions and conduct, and for his simplicity, modesty, gentleness, indus- try and energy. He was largely employed as an arbitrator, and actively promoted the material interests of the town. He married, in June, 1798, Mary Clap, born February 12, 1774, died May 16, 1844. She survived her husband a number of years, his death occurring at Moscow, New York, November 26, 1839.
(VII) Rev. Henry Augustus Dwight, son of Colonel Cecil and Mary (Clap) Dwight, was born at Northampton, March 7. 1804. After completing his studies, he accepted a position as clerk in a hardware store at Petersburgh, Vir- ginia, owned by James Dwight, a son of President Timothy Dwight, of Yale, and remained in that service for a number of years. He then entered Williams College, from, which he was graduated in 1829, after which he studied theology at New Haven and at East Windsor. Connecti- cut. For twenty years he taught the classics in various parts of the south- at Tuscaloosa and Demopolis, Alabama, and at Norfolk and Richmond, Virginia, and from 1860 until his death, which occurred May 24. 1879, he resided at Northampton, Massachusetts. He mar- ried, December 4, 1838, Elizabeth Brint- nell, born in 1808, died October 20 1843, daughter of Captain William Brintnell, of New Haven, Connecticut. She was
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survived by two sons: Charles Au- gustus, who died in Chicago, Illinois, Oc- tober 8, 1862, aged twenty-three years, and Henry Cecil, of whom further.
(VIII) General Henry Cecil Dwight, son of the Rev. Henry Augustus and Elizabeth (Brintnell) Dwight, was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, Janu- ary 19, 1841. He acquired a practical education in the schools of his native town, and his first employment was as clerk in a dry goods store there. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 he enlisted in a three months' regiment, but Northampton's quota being filled, he was unable to go at once to the front. In September, 1861, he was largely instru- mental in organizing Company A, 27th Massachusetts Regiment, and was ap- pointed sergeant-major of the command, which went with the Burnside expedition to North Carolina. Three months later he was appointed second lieutenant of Company H, and in April, 1862, was transferred to his original company and promoted to first lieutenant. On July I of the same year he was made captain, having just attained his majority. He was stationed with his regiment in North Carolina until the fall of 1863, and was then assigned to provost duty in Norfolk, Virginia. Captain Dwight was returned to his regiment in the spring of 1864, and participated in the campaign on the James river under General Butler. In Novem- ber, 1863, he was appointed recruiting officer of the 27th Regiment, and was suc- cessful in reënlisting three hundred and forty-three men. On May 16, 1864, he was transferred from the 27th Regiment to staff service as assistant commissary of subsistence under special order from headquarters, and he continued in that branch of the service until his term of enlistment expired, September 28, 1864.
Shortly after his return from the war, Captain Dwight became a resident of Hartford, Connecticut, and has re-ided there from that time to the present. He entered the employ of E. N. Kellogg & Company, dealers in wool, and later was with Austin Dunham & Sons. He finally decided to engage in business on his own account and formed a partnership with Drayton Hillyer under the firm name of H. C. Dwight & Company. Afterwards the firm became Dwight, Skinner & Com- pany, which continued for a number of years. Then Messrs. Hillyer and Skinner withdrew, and the firm became H. C. Dwight & Company, Mr. Dwight being the controlling factor. The venture was a success from the beginning, and the firm conducts an extensive wool business throughout New England and have con- nections in all the Western and South- western States.
General Dwight's patriotism did not exhaust itself on the field of battle. He believes that the paths of peace afford unlimited opportunities for devotion to the common good, and it was but natural that his active interest in public affairs should lead him into political life. In 1871 he was elected a member of the Common Council from the Fourth Ward; in 1875 he was elected to the Board of Aldermen ; was appointed, December 27, 1880, by Mayor Bulkeley, a member of the Board of Street Commissioners and served continuously until 1890; in April, 1890, he was elected mayor of Hartford, and in this position he had a wider scope for the exercise of those talents and char- acteristics that had hitherto marked his activities in the various public offices he had been called upon to fill. During his administration the organization of the fire department was greatly improved and new and up-to-date equipment was in-
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stalled, greatly adding to the efficiency of the department. The administration of the police department was strength- ened and improved, and the street service of the city was given due prominence and attention, and the first steps were taken to give the city an increased water sup- ply. He demonstrated his capacity for large affairs, giving the city a business- like administration, effecting many im- portant economies. He never played petty politics, but conducted matters in consonance with a high ideal of public service, and his untiring and unselfish devotion won for him universal esteem and the commendation even of those who were opposed to the party he represented. He has also taken a very active interest in educational matters, having served for many years as chairman of the South School District, with about one hundred and fifty teachers under his control, and one of the schools has been named in his honor.
General Dwight is also prominently identified with a number of the important financial institutions of the city, having been an official of the Mechanics' Savings Bank for many years and its president for a considerable period of time, and he is also a director of the American Bank- ing and Trust Company and of the Phoe- nix (Fire) Insurance Company. He has been a member of the Hartford Hospital Corps for a quarter of a century, and has always been ready to aid in any way in his power enterprises and measures in- angurated to help the unfortunate.
His interest in military affairs has never abated. In January, 1885, he was appointed paymaster-general on the staff of Governor Henry B. Harrison. This brought him into intimate contact with the National Guard of Connecticut, which added to his already great popularity in
State military circles. He commanded the Union Veteran Battalion on the memorable Battle Flag Day. He is a charter member of Robert O. Tyler Post, Grand Army of the Republic, member of the Loyal Legion, ex-president of the Society of the Army of the Potomac, and president of the Ninth and Eighteenth Corps Society of the Army of the James. He is an ex-president of the Roanoke Association, founded to perpetuate the memory of the Burnside expedition. He is also a member of the Army and Navy Club of Connecticut.
General Dwight married, October 3, 1865, Annie Maria Wright, daughter of William Lyman Wright, of Hartford. She was born September 4, 1844, died April 29, 1915. They had the follow- ing children: Major William Brintnell Dwight, of New York City, who served in the war with Spain ; Charles Augustus, deceased; Annie Maria, died in infancy ; Henry Cecil, of San Antonio, Texas ; Grace V. R., who became the wife of Daniel R. Morgan, of New York City.
No citizen of Hartford stands in higher popular esteem than General Dwight. His disinterested public serv- ice, performed at considerable sacrifice of personal interests, won the approval of all classes in the community and indicates his breadth of mind. He is a man of posi- tive convictions, with executive ability and force of will to carry to a successful conclusion any plan that his mature judgment approves. His generous nature, genial disposition and sterling character have made him one of the recognized leaders of his day, and stamp him as the worthy representative of a family that since the earliest Colonial days has wielded a powerful influence for good in moulding the moral character and institu- tions of New England.
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CLARK, Charles Hopkins,
Journalist, Public Worker.
Charles Hopkins Clark, of Hartford, director of the Associated Press, and since 1871 closely connected with the leading Connecticut State journal, the "Hartford Courant," -- at present, as its editor-in-chief and president - has been prominent in public movements within the State of Connecticut for very many years. A native of Hartford, Mr. Clark has become an influential factor in the public life of that city, and has been ever ready to use his powerful medium to the limit of its capacity and sphere of in- fluence, to further any project that in his estimation promised good to the city or State. That Charles Hopkins Clark has in matters of city betterment, industrial advancement, State and National politics, and community welfare, followed with energy and ability the example set by his public-spirited father, who did so much for the city of Hartford, has been gener- ally conceded ; and his commanding per- sonality and the high standard of his public work have earned him a well- recognized place among the present lead- ing citizens of the State.
Charles Hopkins Clark is in direct lineal descent from Lieutenant William Clark, who came to America from Eng- land in 1630, in the ship "Mary and John," settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts, and eventually, in 1659, at the invitation of the Rev. Eleazer Mather, removed to Northampton, Massachusetts, journeying thither afoot, leading his only horse, which carried his whole family-his wife in the saddle, a child in each of the side panniers, and a third in its mother's lap. William Clark, on June 1, 1659, was allotted land at Northampton-a home lot which his descendants still retain, of twelve acres, located where now stands
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