USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 4 > Part 39
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John Merriam Page was descended from an old English family, typifying the dominant character of its race, the race which in the early period of American history was chiefly instrumental in form- ing the institutions of the new nation born in the Western Hemisphere, and in laying that social foundation upon which has been erected in safety the whole sub- sequent fabric of American citizenship, the most composite in the world.
His father and grandfather before him both bore the name Benjamin Page, and both passed their entire lives at North Branford, New Haven county, Connecti- cut, where the Page family had resided since its immigration to this country. Here both followed the occupation of farming and became prominent figures in the community, and were highly es- teemed on account of their many admira- ble traits of character. The younger man, father of John Merriam Page of this sketch, was also prominent in politics, and held a number of local offices, includ- ing those of town treasurer, town clerk and justice of the peace. He was married to Sarah E. Merriam, of Meriden, Con- necticut, and had five children.
John Merriam Page, the eldest of the five children of his parents, was born February 14, 1838, in the home of his for- bears at North Branford, Connecticut. His education was obtained in the local public schools, and later at a school in Meriden, where, however, he remained but one year. He was at that time seventeen years of age, and left his studies to be- come apprenticed to a tinner at North- ford, Connecticut ,where he learned that trade. When the years of his apprentice- ship were accomplished, he worked as a journeyman at Northford and Clinton,
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Connecticut, and at Newark, New Jer- sey. Eventually he returned to his na- tive State from the latter city, and settled at Naugatuck, which at that time was undergoing a large industrial develop- ment. This was in 1874, and he was then the possessor of a considerable sum of money which he had amassed by dint of hard toil, just dealings and thrift. With this money he was in a position to gratify one of his strongest ambitions, that of embarking on his own business enter- prise, to be his own master, and be justi- fied in applying his own methods in its management. Accordingly he purchased a general hardware and tinware business, which prospered highly under his direc- tion from the outset. Added to his great knowledge of and skill in his trade, he possessed an unusual degree of practical sense, and a talent in organizing and con- ducting affairs. He rapidly added to the business, both in scope and character, in- troducing a plumbing department, in which contracts were taken for the in- stalment of steam, hot water and hot air heating apparatus and plants. He even took up the manufacture of sheet iron, tin, copper and brass ware, with great success, until his establishment under the name of John M. Page & Company, was one of the largest and most prominent of its kind in that part of the State.
A mind as alert and capable as that of Mr. Page could not rest content within the confines of his personal business, however great the demands this might make upon him, but was bound to engage itself with matters of more general con- cern. Like his father before him, he took a keen and intelligent interest in politics, and participated in their local activities. Like his father also, he was a member of the Democratic party, often running suc- cessfully on that ticket for offices of trust and responsibility. He was elected town
treasurer, a position his father had held in the past, and served in this capacity so acceptably to the people generally that they kept him in this office for more than ten years. In the year 1898 he was the successful candidate for the State Legis- lature from his district, and at the end of the two-year term was reelected. It was not alone in politics, however, that Mr. Page took an interest in the life of his town. He was of a social nature, and took part prominently in that department of the community life. He was an ex- tremely popular man and very prominent in the Masonic fraternity, having attained the thirty-second degree. He was a member of Corinthian Lodge, No. 103, Free and Accepted Masons; Allerton Chapter, No. 39, Royal Arch Masons ; Waterbury Council, No. 21, Royal and Select Masters ; Clark Commandery, No. 7, Knights Templar ; Doric Lodge of Per- fection, No. 14, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite; Ionic Council, No. 16, Princes of Jerusalem, Ancient and Ac- cepted Scottish Rite ; Lafayette Sovereign Consistory (thirty-second degree), An- cient and Accepted Scottish Rite; Pyra- mid Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; Evergreen Chapter, No. 22, Order of the Eastern Star, in which he was grand patron of the State in 1887; Court No. 2, Order of the Amaranth; Natatuck Tribe, Improved Order of Red Men.
Mr. Page married (first) Carrie C., a daughter of Leverett Cook, of Walling- ford, Connecticut, and by this marriage there was one child, a son who died in infancy. He married (second) Rebecca, a daughter of Harry Williams, of Wal- lingford, Connecticut, and had four daughters, as follows: Carrie C., married Horace E. Baldwin, of Naugatuck, Con- necticut ; Nellie M., married W. P. Clark, of Naugatuck; Leafie B., married W. H.
Conn-4-18
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Miner, of Naugatuck ; Mattie R., married Frank Squires, also of Naugatuck. Mr. Page married (third) in St. Andrew's Church, in Meriden, August 3, 1898, Saralı Celia, a daughter of Henry Wil- liams, of Wallingford. She is now a resi- dent of Naugatuck, and was identified with the schools of Meriden for many years. She is a member of Sarah Rogers Chapter, Daughters of the American Rev- olution, at Naugatuck, and past matron of Evergreen Chapter, No. 22, Order of the Eastern Star.
The death of Mr. Page, which occurred August 21, 1912, was a great loss, not merely to his family and the large circle of friends and admirers, but to the com- munity at large, where his influence was always for progress and uplift. He was a man of the greatest kindness of heart, and at the same time clear judgment, whose charities were not only generous but well directed. Both he and his wife were members of St. Michael's Episcopal Church of Naugatuck, and strong sup- porters of the work of that body. It will be appropriate to close with a quotation from the "Parish Record" of this church of September, 1912, in memory of the valued friend and co-worker, whose death had left such a gap, so difficult to fill and so impossible to forget :
The death of John M. Page on August 21 st has brought a great loss, as well as a deep sorrow, upon St. Michael's Parish. Mr. Page has been a member of this parish for thirty-eight years, and a warden for thirty-five years.
It is not too much to affirm that Mr. Page afforded an ideal both as parishioner and warden. Thoroughly loyal at all times to St. Michael's, eager for its best interests and advancement, a most regular and devout church attendant, liberal supporter of the parish, unusually well informed in diocesan and general church inatters,-as such he will long be remembered. In the commu- nity and in his home he has left the equally happy memory of good citizenship, quiet but un-
movable uprightness, gentle kindliness and unfail- ing loyalty.
Such men as Mr. Page are a distinct gain to any parish, and while we grieve that he has been taken from us, we ought yet to thank God for the record he has left of loyalty and devotion, and take courage for the future under the stimu- lus of that good example. It would be a pity if we, both as a parish and as individuals, were not the better for his having been with us.
(The Douglas Line).
Colonel William Douglas, great-great- grandfather of Mrs. Sarah Celia (Wil- liams) Page, was born in Plainfield, Con- necticut, January 27, 1742. He was but sixteen years of age when he engaged in the French and Indian war, and was chosen orderly sergeant in a company under Israel Putnam, and participated in the expedition which resulted in the sur- render of Quebec in 1759 and the speedy termination of the war. Soon afterward he removed from Plainfield to New Haven, there engaged in the seafaring business, and was soon the commander of a merchant ship plying between New Haven and the West Indies. In this enterprise he was very successful, and accumulated a fortune, which was con- sidered ample for those days. At the breaking out of hostilities between this country and Great Britain, he abandoned the sea and raised a military company in New Haven. He was commissioned cap- tain of this company, May 16, 1775, and immediately proceeded to the north with provisions and supplies for the troops under Montgomery. When he reported, General Montgomery, finding he was a good seaman, requested him to take com- mand of the flotilla on Lake Champlain. He accepted the position of commodore of this little fleet. and in the fall of 1775 rendered important service in the siege and capture of St. Johns, at the head of the lake, taking large quantities of pro- visions, arms and other military stores,
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together with cannon, which were car- ried across the country and used in the defense of Boston. Early in the year 1776 he raised a regiment of soldiers in the vicinity of New Haven, of which he was commissioned colonel by Governor Jonathan Trumbull, June 20, 1776. As soon as the regiment was equipped, he marched to New York, and joined the Continental army under General Wash- ington. He participated in the disastrous campaign of Long Island, taking part at Harlem Heights, White Plains, Phillips Manor, Croton River and New York. In the battle of September 15, his clothes were perforated by bullets and his horse shot from under him. In this engage- ment he became so exhausted that, in connection with subsequent exposure, he lost his voice, and was never able after- ward to speak a loud word. From the day of this battle until the middle of De- cember, he was so constantly on duty that he rarely slept beneath a roof. When the war broke out, and after Colonel Douglas had joined the army, New Haven, being in an exposed position, was constantly beset by the British soldiers. To save his young wife and children from these annoyances, Colonel Douglas pur- chased a farm of one hundred and fifty acres about eight miles from New Haven, in the town of Northford, and moved his family there. When he was disabled at the battle of New York, and was no longer able to render service to his coun- try, he returned to his family in North- ford, where, surrounded by those near- est and dearest, he quietly breathed his last, May 28, 1777, at the age of thirty- five years. While on his dying bed, speculators came out from New Haven and persuaded him to sell his New Haven property and paid him in Conti- nental bills. These bills became almost worthless after the war, so that Colonel
Douglas' family lost all his large prop- erty in New Haven by the depreciation of Continental money. Thus Colonel Douglas literally sacrificed his life and fortune for his country.
Captain William (2) Douglas, son of Colonel William (1) Douglas, also early entered the service of his country. While a lad of eleven years he was sent by his uncle, General Douglas, then of Plain- field, to Colonel Ledyard, of Groton, the day before the awful massacre. Defying all the dangers of the way, one of which was the swimming with his horse across the Thames near New London, he safely delivered his dispatches. Among his children were: Hon. Benjamin Douglas, of Middletown, Connecticut, who was lieutenant-governor of that State in 1861 and 1862; and Sarah Jennett Douglas, who became the grandmother of Mrs. Sarah Celia (Williams) Page.
BALDWIN, Simeon E.,
Lawyer, Statesman, Author.
Simeon Eben Baldwin comes of a dis- tinguished ancestry, descended from John Baldwin, of Norwich, Connecticut, who came to America about 1738. He was born in New Haven, Connecticut, Febru- ary 5, 1840, son of Roger Sherman and Emily (Perkins) Baldwin. His paternal grandfather, Judge Simeon Baldwin, and his father, the distinguished Roger Sher- man Baldwin, a first authority on inter- national law, are written of on other pages of this work.
Simeon Eben Baldwin was prepared for college in the Hopkins Grammar School, New Haven, and was graduated at Yale, Bachelor of Arts, 1861; Master of Arts, 1864, and after pursuing a course in law in the law schools of Yale and Harvard, he was admitted to the bar of Connecti- cut in 1864. He at once began the prac-
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tice of law in New Haven, and was in- structor in law at Yale University, 1869- 72, and professor of constitutional law, of law governing mercantile transactions, corporate bodies and wills, and of private international law, accepting the chair in 1872 and holding it continuously to the present time.
He was made a member of the commis- sion to revise the general education laws of the State in 1872, the revised statutes of the State of Connecticut in 1873 and in 1874, and a member of the commission to consider the subject of taxation as existing in the State, in 1885 and 1887. As chairman of that commission he drew up the report outlining a more equitable system of taxation, which became opera- tive through the passage of an act em- bodying the report of the committee, and which added largely to the revenues of the State. In 1893 he was elected an associate judge of the Supreme Court of Errors of the State of Connecticut, and he was advanced to the position of Chief Justice of the court in 1907, the highest judicial position in the gift of the State. He was the originator of the movement made before 1878 to introduce code plead- ings in Connecticut, and the Legislature appointed him a member of the commis- sion that put the plan in shape for legis- lative action. His standing as a jurist learned in the law was recognized by the American Bar Association, of which he was a member, by electing him president of the association in 1890. In the coun- cils of the International Law Association he was recognized by being made its president, 1899-1901. The Association of American Law Schools also honored him with the presidency of the association in 1905. The learned societies likewise rec- ognized the value of his membership, and he was elected president of the American Social Science Association in 1897: the
New Haven Colony Historical Society, 1884-96; the American Historical Asso- ciation, 1905; the Connecticut Society of Archæological Institute of America, 1905 ; the American Political Science Associa- tion, 1910 ; director of the Bureau of Com- parative Law of the American Bar Asso- ciation, 1907. The National Institute of Arts and Letters and the International Law Association of London elected him to membership; the Massachusetts His- torical Society made him a corresponding member and the American Antiquarian Society a life member. The Yale Club of New York and the Yale Graduates' Club of New Haven elected him to member- ship, and Harvard University conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws in 1891.
He has enriched the law libraries of his State and Nation by authorship as follows: "Baldwin's Connecticut Digest ;" "Baldwin's Cases of Railroad Law" (1896): "Modern Political Institutions" (1898): "Two Centuries Growth of Amer- ican Law" (1901), of which valued work he was co-author; "American Railroad Law" (1904); "American Judiciary" (1905); "The Relation of Education to Citizenship" (1912). Judge Baldwin pre- serves in a remarkable degree both physi- cal and mental vigor. Having been re- tired from the bench by the age limit in 1910, he was made the candidate of the Democratic party for the Governor of the State in that year, was triumphantly elected after a hard campaign, and was inaugurated in January, 1911. Reelected, he served another two-year term ending 1915.
Governor Baldwin married, October 19, 1865, Susan, daughter of Edmund and Harriet (Mears) Winchester, of Boston. Children, born in New Haven, Connecti- cut : I. Florence, January 3. 1868, died September 16, 1872. 2. Roger Sherman,
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January 17, 1869, Bachelor of Arts, Yale, 1891 ; Bachelor of Laws, 1893. 3. Helen Harriet, January 27, 1872, wife of War- ren Randall Gilman, M. D., of Worcester, Massachusetts.
BRANDEGEE, Frank Bosworth, Lawyer, United States Senator.
Frank Bosworth Brandegee, United States Senator, was born in New London, Connecticut, July 8, 1864, son of Augus- tus and Nancy Christina (Bosworth) Brandegee, and a descendant of Jacob Brandegee, Jr., a native of Nine Points, New York, who emigrated to Connecti- cut and settled in the vicinity of New Britain about 1750. The records of the town of Newington show that he was married to Abigail Dunham in 1753.
Senator Frank B. Brandegee graduated from Yale College in 1885 with the de- gree of Bachelor of Arts. He was ad- mitted to the bar of New London county CHENEY, Colonel Frank W., Soldier, Manufacturer. in 1888, and has ever since practiced his profession in New London. In 1888 he was a representative from New London The name of Cheney is derived from the French word "Chêne," meaning oak, and came into use originally in England or Normandy to signify the residence probably of the progenitor. It belongs to the same class of surnames as Wood, Tree, Lake, Pond, Way, etc., and it is certain that Cheney, Chine, Cheyney, or Cheyne, as it was variously spelled, was one of the earliest surnames in use in England, and was borne by men of note. in the General Assembly of Connecticut, and was chairman of the committee on cities and boroughs ; and was again elect- ed to the General Assembly in 1899, and was Speaker that year. He was elected corporation counsel of the city of New London in 1889, and held the office con- tinuously (with the exception of two years when his party was not in power) until he resigned it upon his election to the House of Representatives in 1902. He (I) John Cheney, immigrant ancestor, was born in England, and of him John Eliot, the famous Indian apostle, minis- ter of Roxbury, wrote as follows: "John Cheny came into the land in the yeare 1636. He brought 4 children, Mary, Mar- tha, John, Daniel. Sarah his 5th child was borne in the last month of the same was a delegate to the Republican National conventions of 1888, 1892, 1900 and 1904, and in the last named he was chairman of the Connecticut delegation. He was for seven years a member of the Repub- lican State Central Committee. He was elected to the Fifty-seventh Congress to fill a vacancy, and reelected to the Fifty- year 1636 called February. He removed
eighth and Fifty-ninth congresses. On May 5, 1905, he was nominated in the Re- publican legislative caucus for the office of United States Senator to succeed the late Orville H. Platt on the thirty-sixth ballot, and was elected by the Legislature on May 9 following, and was also reëlect- ed United States Senator for the term 1909-15, and again for the term 1915-21. He was chairman of the committee on Pa- cific railroads ; member of the committee on interoceanic canals, interstate com- merce, judiciary, patents, and University of the United States. Senator Brandegee is a member of the University Club of New York, the Metropolitan Club of Washing- ton, the Hartford Club of Hartford, the Union League and Graduates' clubs of New Haven, the Thames Club of New London, and the Arcanum and Colonial clubs of Meriden. His home is in New London, Connecticut.
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from our church to Newbury the end of the next su'er 1636. Martha Cheny the wife of John Cheny." At Newbury, John Cheney prospered, and his allotment of land was a large one. He was a member of the grand jury, April 27, 1648; select- man often ; member of a committee to lay out a way to the neck, and through the neck to the marshes, on the east side of the old town, November 29, 1654. He was interested in public affairs, and was one of the famous ten men of Newbury who took such interest in the campaign of Governor Winthrop against Sir Harry Vane that they made a journey of forty miles from Newbury to Cambridge to take the freeman's oath, and were ad- mitted, May 17, 1637. He died July 28, 1666, his will, which was dated June 5, 1666, being written in his own hand. In this document, which was proved Sep- tember 25, 1666, he provided liberally for his wife and family.
(II) Peter, third son and sixth child of John and Martha Cheney, was born in 1640, died in January, 1694-95. June 18, 1663, he bought of John Bishop "all the mill and mill house lately erected in New- bury on the little river between land of Nicholas Noyes and land lately of Wil- liam Gerrish, with the stones, wheel, cog, trough, six mill bills, iron barr, the rope that puts up the stone, and a shop lately sett up heere to ye above said mill." March 7, 1670, he applied for a grant of an acre of land near the mill in order to erect a windmill to grind corn for the town when the water mill failed. This was granted him on condition that he served the town well. January 5, 1687, a committee was appointed to treat with him concerning the setting up of a corn mill and a fulling mill on the Falls river. He gave away the greater part of his property to his sons before his death. Peter Cheney married, May 14, 1663.
Hannah, born October 30, 1643, died Jan- uary 5, 1705, daughter of Deacon Nich- olas and Mary (Cutting) Noyes, and granddaughter of the Rev. William and Anne (Parker) Noyes, of Cholderton, England.
(III) Peter (2), eldest child of Peter (1) and Hannah (Noyes) Cheney, was born in Newbury, November 6, 1664. His father gave him fifteen acres of land and a half interest in the saw mill on Falls river, December 3, 1690, and he gave him twenty-four additional acres of land, Jan- uary 10, 1694-95. He continued in the saw mill business for many years, and, July 2, 1714, sold half his homestead to his son Nicholas. He served as a soldier in the block house, defending it against the attacks of the Indians in 1704. He married, in Watertown, October 7, 1691, Widow Mary Holmes, born in 1664, died at Watertown, January 28, 1746.
(IV) Benjamin, youngest child of Peter (2) and Mary (Holmes) Cheney, was born January 6, 1698-99. He removed to Hartford, Connecticut, and on August 18, 1721, bought a quarter part of the upper saw mill in East Hartford, of John Pel- lett, and another quarter of the same property of Thomas Olcott, December 19, following. He was also a house car- penter, wheelwright and joiner, and car- ried on that business for many years, in addition to cultivating his farm, which was an extensive one, and accumulated considerable property. He was a man of education for those days, prominent in the affairs of the community, and his house was located on the hill near the western end of what is now Burnside avenue, East Hartford. The mill was the upper mill on the Hockanum, where a paper mill now stands. Administration on his estate was granted to his sons, Benjamin and Timothy, June 17. 1760. Benjamin Cheney married, in Hartford.
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November 12, 1724, Elizabeth, born at Windsor, 1696, died November 3, 1759, daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Eliner) Long.
(V) Timothy, third son and fourth child of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Long) Cheney, was born at East Hartford, May 10, 1731, died September 27, 1795. His home was in the "five miles" district, which was later incorporated as Man- chester, Connecticut. He joined the East Hartford church, October 27, 1758, and was clerk of the Orford Ecclesiastical Society at its establishment in 1792. He was captain of the militia, and tradition says that he was detailed by request of General Washington to make powder sieves for the army. He married (first), January 19, 1758, Mary, born in 1738, died April 4, 1786, daughter of Nathaniel and Hannah (Pitkin) Olcott. He married (second) May 9, 1787, Martha, born March 2, 1740, died January 28, 1803, widow of Lemuel White, of East Hart- ford, and daughter of Matthew and Mar- tha (Perkins) Loomis, of Bolton.
(VI) George, third son and fifth child of Timothy and Mary (Olcott) Cheney, was born in Orford parish, later Man- chester, Connecticut, December 20, 1771, and lived in South Manchester. He mar- ried, October 18, 1798, Electa, born Janu- ary 2, 1781, died October 12, 1853, daugh- ter of Deodatus and Esther (Wells) Woodbridge. Her line of descent is through Deodatus, Russell, Rev. Samuel, Rev. Benjamin, Rev. John, of Newbury, to Rev. John Woodbridge, of Stanton, England.
(VII) Charles, third son and child of George and Electa (Woodbridge) Cheney, was born at South Manchester, Decem- ber 26, 1804, died there, June 20, 1874. He was for several years a merchant in Providence, Rhode Island, remaining there until 1837, then went to Ohio and
bought a farm near Cincinnati, conduct- ing the same until 1847. He then joined his brothers in the manufacture of silk at South Manchester and Hartford, Con- necticut. A detailed account of this, his most important business industry, will be found forward. He was a most sys- tematic business man and an upright gen- tleman. He was an Abolitionist, and served in the State Legislature. Benevo- lent without ostentation, his loss was deeply felt and sincerely mourned by the entire community. Mr. Cheney married (first), October 21, 1829, Waitstill Dex- ter, born in Boston, October 17, 1809, died at Mulberry Grove Farm, Mount Pleas- ant, Ohio, April 6, 1841, daughter of Ma- son and Mary Brown (Howell) Shaw, of Belchertown. He married (second) Sep- tember 15, 1847, Harriet A. Bowen, born in Providence, Rhode Island, November 28, 1811, died at South Manchester, Jan- uary 12, 1870.
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