USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 5 > Part 13
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Being of a retiring and modest disposi- tion, Mr. Alford has always applied him- self with great delight to the affairs per- taining to his outdoor life. In early life he was affiliated with the Universalist church, but since the services of that de- nomination were discontinued in his sec- tion, he has been a supporter of the Con- gregational church. He is a member of the Business Men's Association of Wind- sor, and of the New England Tobacco Growers' Association. In later years he has made his home in the village of Po- quonock, but still continues to look after his home farm. In the Windsor "Town Crier" of May, 1917, the following is said of Mr. Alford: "A genuine Yankee, a witty philosopher, a consistent optomist, a true gentleman, a good sportsman, a successful business man, a practical Chris- tian, and a helpful friend-these titles are fittingly applied to Hestes W. Alford by everyone who knows him, because it is somewhere written of him, as of Abou Ben Adhem, that 'he is one who loves his fellow men.' He is liked by young peo- ple and he likes them. Their elders have in many ways expressed in public and private their confidence in him. It is doubtful if he has an enemy in the world. In former years hunting was his greatest pleasure, and readers of this paper will sometime later have the privilege of read- ing his reminiscences of 'Windsor Hunt- ing and Hunters'."
Mr. Alford married, March 30, 1882, Alice Jeanette Griswold, the daughter of Lothrop and Jeanette (Thompson) Gris- wold. She is a descendant of Edward Griswold, a pioneer settler of Windsor. The name of Griswold is an ancient one in England, derived like many other
names from the locality. The ancient seat of the family was at Solihull, Warwick- shire, prior to the year 1400. About the middle of the fourteenth century John Griswold came from Kenilworth, and married a daughter and heiress of Henry Hughford, of Huddersley Hall, at Soli- hull, and the family has been known as the Griswolds of Kenilworth and Soli- hull. Solihull is on the northwest border of Warwickshire, and Yardley in Worces- tershire is on the south and west. It is but eight miles from Kenilworth to the westward, and twelve miles northwest of Stratford-on-Avon, and was a place of importance before the Norman Conquest.
The two American immigrants, Edward and Matthew Griswold, came to America from Kenilworth. Matthew came over in 1639, and settled in Windsor, Connecti- cut ; died at Lyme, Connecticut, Septem- ber 21, 1698, and was buried at Saybrook ; assisted in the settlement of Lyme and was a large landowner ; was deputy to the General Assembly in 1664, and after- wards. Edward Griswold, the son of George Griswold, born about 1607, in Windsor, came to Connecticut in 1639, and located in Windsor, where he acted as attorney for a Mr. St. Nicholas, of Warwickshire, for whom a house was built at Windsor, and a tract of land re- served. Edward Griswold had a grant of land at what is now Poquanock, and his house there, which he occupied in 1649, was the outpost of the colony. This was located in a bend of the Tunis river, which bordered near on the south and west. He was active in public affairs, helped build the fort at Springfield, Mas- sachusetts, for William Pynchon in 1650. He was deputy to the General Court from Windsor in 1656, and for many years thereafter. About 1663 he removed with his younger children to West Saybrook, deeding his Windsor property to his sons,
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George and Joseph. The latter were bound to pay him a small annuity. He died in 1690, in that part of Killingworth, now Clinton, Connecticut. Killingworth is a corruption of the name Kenilworth, which was originally given to the town in honor of the birthplace of Edward Gris- wold. He was first deputy from the town, in which capacity he served more than twenty years, being succeeded by his son, John, who was also a magistrate. While in the Legislature, he served in associa- tion with his son, Francis, and brother, Matthew, and the record of "Province of State" as nearly always, includes one or more of the name. He was deacon of the Killingly church, and served on a committee to establish a Latin school at New London. His first wife, Margaret, was the mother of George Griswold, born in 1633, who remained on his father's lands in Windsor, and was also an exten- sive purchaser of lands from the Indians. He died at Windsor, September 3, 1704; he married, October 3, 1655, Mary Hol- comb, the daughter of Thomas and Eliz- abeth Holcomb, and she died April 4, 1708. Their eldest son, Daniel Griswold, was born October 1, 1656, in Windsor, where he lived through life. He married there, February 3, 1680, Mindwell Bissell, born October 23, 1663, and died Decem- ber 31, 1728, the eldest child of Nathaniel and Mindwell (Moore) Bissell, and grand- daughter of John Bissell. Mindwell Moore was born July 10, 1643, and was a daughter of Deacon John and Abigail Moore, who came from England in 1630. John Moore was a son of Thomas Moore. Ensign Nathaniel Griswold, the twin of Daniel, son of Daniel and Mindwell (Bis- sell) Griswold, was born February 14, 1684, in Windsor, and resided in Poquo- nock, where he died September 16, 1753. He married, in 1731, Ruth Gaylord, born April 10, 1700, and died September 16,
1753, the daughter of Nathaniel and Abi- gail (Bissell) Gaylord. Their eldest son, Nathaniel Griswold, was born July 27, 1742, lived in Poquonock, and was ad- mitted to the Wintonbury church, June 10, 1764, with his wife, Abigail, and she died April 26, 1820. Their son, Friend Griswold, was baptized June 10, 1764, and died February 4, 1831. He married in Wintonbury, March 12, 1787, Dorothy Weller, who died March 12, 1797. Their son, Bradford Griswold, was born 1796, and died September 3, 1855. He married Sophia Winchell, born 1776, and died Au- gust 25, 1854. They were the parents of Lothrop Griswold, born February 22, 1819, in Poquonock, and died July 6, 1890. He was a successful farmer, living all of his life in the town of Windsor. He mar- ried there, previous to 1855, Jeanette A. Thompson, born February 6, 1824, in East Granby, and died in Windsor, March 24, 1915. She was the daughter of Sam- uel and Asenath (Clark) Thompson. Samuel Thompson was born June 26, 1797, in East Granby, and died November 2, 1837. He married Asenath Clark, born April 9, 1789, died September 17, 1871, the daughter of David Clark, who was born in 1755, in East Granby, and died Febru- ary 9, 1829. His wife, Sarah (Hawley) Clark, was born in 1761, probably in Windsor Locks, and died July 31, 1852.
The Thompson family is descended from Rev. William Thompson, a native of Lancashire, England. The name for- merly appears as Tomson and Tompson. William Thompson matriculated at Bra- zan Nose College, Oxford, July 28, 1620, at the age of twenty-one years, and was subsequently a preacher in Winwick, Lancastershire. In 1637 he came to America and was engaged to preach in Kittery and York, in what is now Maine. He was ordained pastor of the church at Braintree, November 19, 1637, and went
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on a mission to Virginia in October, 1642. During his absence his wife Abigail died at Braintree, January 1, 1643. In 1640 he was granted one hundred and twenty acres of land, was a freeman in 1656, and died December 10, 1666, at the age of sixty-seven years. He brought with him from England sons, Samuel and William. Samuel, the elder son, born in England, was living in Braintree in 1672, and was town clerk there in 1690. In 1672 he ex- changed his six acres of land with house and other buildings for other property, his homestead being appropriated for the use of the minister. He married, April 25, 1656, Sarah, daughter of Edward and Violet Shepard, born 1639, and died Jan- uary 15, 1680. Their second son, Edward Thompson, born April 20, 1665, gradu- ated at Harvard College in 1684, and was settled in the ministry in that part of Simsbury, which is now Granby. The birth of two daughters are recorded in that town. Owing to the absence of rec- ords, it is impossible to determine who were his sons; one of these was undoubt- edly the father of Samuel Thompson, who resided in East Granby, and his wife's name was Jemina. They were the par- ents of Samuel Thompson, born in 1776, and died in 1832. His wife, Lydia, born in the same year as himself, died in 1859, at the age of eighty-three years. Their eldest child was Samuel Thompson, born June 26, 1797, as previously noted, and was the father of Jeanette A. Thompson, who became the wife of Lothrop Gris- wold.
NORTHAM, Charles H., Corporation and Bank Director; Ex-Coun- cilman.
The late Charles H. Northam, highly- regarded resident of Hartford, prominent for many years in the business, civic and
financial affairs of the city in which he lived for more than fifty years, was born in Washington, Rhode Island, March 9, 1842, the son of Hanford McKee and Marcy Howland (Chace) Northam. The Northam family have been residents in Connecticut since Colonial times; Jona- than Northam, great-grandfather of Charles H. Northam, was one of the pio- neers of Colchester, and Charles Northam, grandfather, was a manufacturer in West- chester, owner also of much landed estate.
Hanford McKee Northam, father of Charles H. Northam, was born near Col- chester, August 18, 1800, and died in East Hartford, November 1, 1886. He had lived in East Hartford for twenty years, since 1868, and had become one of the success- ful farmers of that section. He was re- puted to have been a man of sound judg- ment and progressive spirit, a Republican in politics, and a devout Congregational- ist. He married, June 2, 1841, in Coven- try, Rhode Island, Marcy Howland Chace, who was born in that State, March 1, 1813, the daughter of Russell W. Chace, a wealthy cotton manufacturer, of Wash- ington, Rhode Island, who lived a reputa- ble life to octogenarian years. Marcy Howland Chace, who was also related to General Nathaniel Green, of Revolution- ary fame, was a woman of noble character and quiet disposition, and to her husband, Hanford McKee Northam, she bore two children, Charles H., of whom further, and Helen R., who remained in the old homestead at East Hartford, and took prominent part in church work.
Charles H. Northam was educated in the local public schools, and for advanced study was placed in the Connecticut Lit- erary Institute, Suffield, Connecticut, where he eventually graduated. At the age of seventeen years, in 1859, he began his business career which was destined to become so notable. At the outset, he took
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clerical capacity in the employ of his uncle, the Hon. Charles H. Northam, who attained much eminence in Hartford busi- ness and public life, was esteemed for his philanthropy, and who was for many years prior to his death, in 1881, president of the Mercantile National Bank and of the old Connecticut River Steamboat Company, and whose deeds are com- memorated in Northam Memorial Chapel and Northam Hall at Trinity College. Charles H. Northam, however, only re- mained in the cotton and wool business conducted by his uncle for six months, leaving to take service as clerk with Jerome & Redfield, wholesale grocers, with which firm he remained for three years, in which time he gathered a com- prehensive knowledge of general mercan- tile business, acquiring also some capital, and the confidence in others that he was a capable, enterprising and reliable young man of much business promise. This combination of circumstances made it possible for him to become a junior part- ner of a firm then established, under the name of Bradford, Northam & Company, to conduct a wholesale business in flour, grain and feed, and the fact that the com- pany is still in existence and that in the more than sixty years of its existence it has progressed so that it is now one of the leading firms in its line in the New England States is an indication that the supporters of the young man in its found- ing did not misjudge his capability. For more than sixty years Mr. Northam was one of the principals of the firm, which soon developed a substantial business. There have, of necessity, been several changes in the construction and consti- tution of the company since its begin- ning, but for the greater part of its dec- ades of operation, Mr. Northam was the directing head. In 1866, with the admis- sion of a Mr. Robinson to partnership,
the firm name became Smith, Northam & Robinson; in 1882, it became Smith, Northam & Company ; and with the death of Mr. Smith in 1892, Mr. Emelyn V. Mitchell was admitted, but the firm name, Smith, Northam & Company, was con- tinued and still is the same excepting that it subsequently became necessary to add "incorporated," when the business so in- creased in volume that the owners re- solved to secure corporate powers for their operations. A contemporary, writ- ing some years ago of Mr. Northam, and of the business of Smith, Northam & Company, stated :
The business is one of the oldest and best known of its kind in all Connecticut, and has always been a prosperous one. Their plant occupies more than two acres of ground; their grain mill is the largest in New England; their four warehouses can store two hundred carloads of flour, and their two elevators 200,000 bushels of grain in bulk. They conduct a business not exceeded in magnitude outside of New York and Boston, their trade extending all over the New England states. Mr. Northam, a man of ability, keen fore- sight and progressive ideas, has ever been the mainspring of the business, and although many of the heavier burdens have been transferred to the shoulders of his capable son, Russell C. Northam, he continues the acting directing head.
The benefit of Mr. Northam's advice and interest was sought by many lead- ing business corporations, and he became of prominence in financial circles of Hart- ford. He was a director of the Phoenix National Bank, of the Loan and Guaran- tee Company, of the New Haven Steam- boat Company, of the Phoenix Fire Insur- ance Company, and of the Broad Brook Company, and also was a trustee of the Society of Savings. In addition, Mr. Northam came into public notice in the municipal affairs of Hartford; he was in the Common Council for two terms, but declined election to the aldermanic body in 1890. However, he consented to join
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the board of street commissioners, and as such served the city for ten years, for eight of which he was president of the board.
He was a sincere churchman, member of the South Congregational Church, and actively participated in church adminis- tration for many years. Socially, he be- longed to the following clubs: Hartford, Hartford Golf, Hartford Congregational, and being an enthusiastic automobilist during the latter part of his life, he was a member of the Hartford Automobile Club, and the Automobile Club of Amer- ica.
Mr. Northam married, September 22, 1870, Hattie L., daughter of Edwin D. and Julia A. (Camp) Tiffany. She was born in Hartford, and both paternal and maternal lines connect her with old Con- necticut families, her father especially being well known and respected by Hart- ford people during his life. Six years after their marriage, Mr. Northam built a handsome residence at No. 12 Charter Oak Place, Hartford. Mr. Northam died at the above home, June 6, 1916. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Northam: I. Arline, a graduate of La Salle Seminary, Auburndale, Massachu- setts ; married Walter Bliss, of Hartford ; child, Donald Tiffany. 2. Edwin Tiffany, a graduate of Peekskill Military Acad- emy, and now living in Chicago, Illinois ; married Lenore F. Ledyaid. 3. Russell Chace, graduate of the same academy, later an associate with his father in busi- ness, and at present vice-president of the company ; he married, December 14, 1899, Jane E., daughter of Salisbury and Eliza- beth Hyde, of Hartford; children: Rus- sell Hyde and Barbara Northam. 4. Kath- erine Tiffany, who married J. Irving Romer, of New York City; children : Arline Northam and John Irving, Jr. 5. Carl Harvey, who graduated at Wesleyan
University, Middletown, Connecticut, in 1904, and who has since been also with the firm founded by his father.
HART, Gerald Waldo,
Manufacturer.
Among those who followed Rev. Thomas Hooker to Hartford in 1636 was Stephen Hart, American ancestor of Ger- ald Waldo Hart, president of the Hart Manufacturing Company, of Hartford.
Although an original proprietor of Hartford with a house lot in the town on what is now Front street, he did not re- main until his death, but in company with others bought land in the valley of the Farmington river of the Indians, and in 1672 became one of the original pro- prietors of Tunxis, later Farmington. He was one of the leading men of his day. He sat as deputy in the General Court for fifteen sessions, was commissioner for the town of Farmington, was first deacon of the Farmington church, and owned con- siderable land. But his greatest gift to the colony was sons, John, Stephen and Thomas, all of whom married and gave to their native State noble sons to main- tain the honor of the family. The name of Hart runs through every chapter of Connecticut history, and each generation has borne well its part in their chosen occupation, business or profession, law, medicine and the ministry calling many of the name who have risen to high dis- tinction. Gerald W. Hart is of the sev- enth American generation, son of Dr. Samuel Waldo and Cordelia M. (Smith) Hart, his father an eminent physician of New Britain, Connecticut, which city he served five times as mayor ; also a grand- son of Dr. Samuel Hart, who practiced in New Britain, Connecticut.
Gerald Waldo Hart was born at New Britain, Connecticut, July 23, 1856, and
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spent his youth in his native town, there obtaining his earlier education. He pre- pared at the Episcopal Academy, Che- shire, Connecticut, then entered Sheffield Scientific School, Yale University, class of '78. Inclination led him to that school, for he possessed decided mechanical and inventive genius which the technical training obtained at Sheffield developed, particularly in the then not so well under- stood science of electrical development. He was one of the prominent athletes of his class, specializing in aquatic sports, making the freshman crew in 1876 and rowing "bow" in the "Varsity" in 1877. After graduation he entered the employ of the Thompson Houston Electric Com- pany in New Britain as their first em- ployee, and from 1880 until 1887 con- tinued with that company. With the ther- ough training in mechanical engineering received at Sheffield, reinforced by those seven years of practical experience with one of the strong electrical companies of the country, he was fairly established in the electrical world, his name even at that early day not an unfamiliar one. In 1890 the Hart & Hegeman Manufacturing Company was organized, and in 1897, upon the death of Mr. Hegeman, Mr. Hart withdrew and organized his pres- ent company, the Hart Manufacturing Company. In 1887 he accepted a call from Kansas City, Missouri, and resign- ing his position in New Britain, became superintendent of the Edison Electric Light and Power Company, also assist- ant general manager of the Kansas City Electric Light Company. He remained in the West during the next three years, returning in 1890 to Connecticut, where for twenty-five years he has been success- fully engaged in the manufacture of Elec- trical Supplies. His inventive genius has been directed along electrical lines, and many patents have resulted, his most noted inventions being in connection with
electrical switches. In 1898 the Hart Manufacturing Company was organized for the manufacture of switches and elec- trical supplies. He is fond of yachting and sports of the open, indulging in his favorite recreations as a member of the Hartford Yacht and the Farmington Country clubs. His social club is the Hartford, other local organizations also claiming his interests. He is a Repub- lican in politics, but has never taken active part in public affairs, further than to register his preferences at the polls. He is a member of the Society of Found- ers and Patriots.
Mr. Hart married Lucie I. Janes, a lineal descendant of William Janes, who came to Connecticut with the John Dav- enport Company.
HUNTTING, Charles H., Merchant.
From the County of Norfolk, in the eastern section of England, the progeni- tor of the Huntting family in America came in the summer of 1638, and located in Dedham, Massachusetts. At the same time that the Rev. John Allen was or- dained minister there, he was ordained a ruling elder of the church. The follow- ing year he was made a freeman by vir- tue of his having been one of the found- ers the previous year. Before coming to America he had married, in England, Esther Seaborn and they were the par- ents of John Huntting, Jr., who married Elizabeth, a daughter of John (or Thomas) Payne, of Dedham.
Rev. Nathaniel Huntting, third son and child of John and Elizabeth (Payne) Huntting, was born November 15, 1675, and died September 21, 1753. He was a graduate of Harvard College, and settled in 1696, in Easthampton, Long Island, where he was the beloved minister of his people until the time of his death. He
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has the lasting gratitude of all historians and genealogists for the excellent and accurate manner in which he kept the church records of his congregations. His wife was Mary Green, of Boston.
Rev. Nathaniel Huntting, Jr., son of Rev. Nathaniel and Mary (Green) Hunt- ting, was born in August, 1702. He re- ceived an excellent education, and was prepared for the ministry, but through ill health was obliged to forego this vocation and take up an outdoor life. Accordingly he engaged in farming and continued in that occupation until his death in 1770. He married, September II, 1728, Mary Hedges, a descendant of William Hedges, the Puritan and the founder of the family on Long Island.
William Huntting, fourth child of Rev. Nathaniel and Mary (Hedges) Huntting, was born in June, 1738, and died July 6, 1816. He married Puah Osborne, born December 29, 1747, died August 24, 1809.
Jeremiah Huntting, son of William and Puah (Osborne) Huntting, born in 1772, and died June 19, 1845. He was the father of three sons, the oldest of whom was Jeremiah.
and had the respect and esteem of all who knew him. At the rise in values to their normal condition he recouped something of his loss. In the community in which he lived he was recognized as one of their influential citizens, and in appearance he resembled the Hedges family rather than the Huntting line, being short in stature. He married Joanna A., a daughter of Charles R. Hand, and they were earnest and consistent members of the Presby- terian church of Easthampton. Mr. Huntting died in 1867, and his widow in December, 1898. They were the parents of the following children: William L., born in 1841 ; Charles H., of further men- tion ; Jeremiah, 1846; David H., 1852; Samuel B., 1856; John P., 1860; Mary E., 1862, became the wife of Josiah Dayton ; and Edward.
Charles H. Huntting, son of Jeremiah and Joanna A. (Hand) Huntting, was born in Easthampton, Long Island, Janu- ary 3, 1844. He has been the architect of his own fortune and has won his way to a foremost place in his line of business, dealer in fruits, through his own native energy, business ability and straightfor- ward methods of doing business. He is a worthy member of one of the oldest and most distinguished families of America.
Jeremiah Huntting, Jr., son of Jeremiah Huntting, was born at Easthampton in 1812. As a youth he learned the trade of shoemaker and continued in that capacity Mr. Huntting married (first) Decem- ber 13, 1871, Ann E. Fowler, who died July 4, 1891, leaving two daughters, Janet S. and Ella. Mr. Huntting married (sec- ond) October 30, 1895, Mary A., daugh- ter of Duane E. Newton, the ancestry of whose family appears elsewhere in this work. They have one daughter, Eliza- beth. for a few years. Feeling the greater at- traction of outdoor life, he took up farm- ing with marked success and was engaged thus until his death. He was originally a believer in the principles of the Demo- cratic party, but at the time of the Mis- souri compromise he, like thousands of other staunch Abolitionists, joined the ranks of the Republican party. He was a heavy loser at the time of the deprecia- NEWTON, Philo Woodhouse, tion of values preceding the outbreak of the Civil War and was forced to sell at Merchant. a great sacrifice in order to meet his obli- Philo Woodhouse Newton, president and treasurer of the Newton Drug Com- gations. He was a man possessed of the highest integrity and moral principles, pany, of Hartford, is one of the oldest re-
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tail druggists in that city. Through his own industry, foresight and sound busi- ness methods he has won a prominent place among the retail merchants of his native city, and has also become promi- nent in Masonic and military circles.
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