USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 5 > Part 16
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Her father, A. W. North, was born in New York State, September 1, 1839, and died April 18, 1909, at Hartford, Con- necticut. He first came to Connecticut
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to attend the Hall Private School as a lad, and lived for a time at Ellington, Con- necticut, where the school was located. He was later graduated from the Con- necticut Literary Institute at Suffield, and about 1862 married Louisa M. Ward, a daughter of Charles Austin Ward, of Salem, Massachusetts. Practically all of his business life was spent in the coal business, at first in the employ of Beck- with & Tyler as a bookkeeper, and with their successors, Hatch & Tyler and E. S. Tyler. Later Mr. North formed a partnership with Geo. E. Hatch under the name of Hatch & North, and this concern was still later incorporated under the name of the Hatch & North Company. This concern, of which Mr. North was treasurer. was one of the largest in its line in this part of Connecticut. Some years before his death Mr. North sold his interest in the company and retired from active business life. He was a prominent figure in the fraternal life of Hartford and was past noble grand of Charter Oak Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows. He was universally recognized among his fellow citizens as a man of sterling integrity, and his friends knew him to be genial in his contact with his fellow-men and strongly domestic in his tastes. Mrs. Bishop was his only child. While Mr. North was not a politician in any sense of the term, he took an ex- tremely active interest in public affairs and did his duty as a citizen in every way, supporting such worthy causes as were undertaken for the advancement of the common weal and generally exerting a wholesome influence upon civic affairs.
His father was Albert William North, who married Jeanette Woodruff, a native of Farmington and a sister of Sylvester Woodruff. Mr. North, Sr., was a de- scendant of John North, who came from England to the colonies in 1635 in the of support; but the desired millionaire
good ship "The Susan & Ellen" at the age of twenty years. He landed in Bos- ton, and his name appears in 1640 as one of the original proprietors of Farmington, Connecticut. His land was entered to him in 1653, and he was one of the eighty- four original landholders among whom were divided in 1676 the unoccupied lands of Farmington. His death occurred in 1691. He married Hannah Bird, a daugh- ter of Thomas Bird, and they were the parents of nine children.
GALLAUDET, Edward Miner, Educator, Author.
A distinguished scholar of international repute, Edward Miner Gallaudet was born in Hartford, February 5, 1837. He was the son of Thomas Hopkins and Sophia (Fowler) Gallaudet. His father was the first principal of the American School at Hartford for the Deaf, and founder of the education of the deaf in America ; his mother was one of his fath- er's earliest pupils. He inherited fron1 his father a keen intellect, a rare gift of persuasion, and a philanthropic spirit ; from his mother a vigorous constitution, personal comeliness, practical sagacity, and radiant vitality.
He was graduated from Trinity College at the age of nineteen, and even before graduation began his life work as a teach- er of the deaf in the Hartford School. His purpose, formed while he was still a student in college, was to establish an institution in which the deaf might have equal opportunities with hearing youth for receiving the higher education. How that was to be accomplished he did not know; the only way that then seemed feasible to him was to induce some phil- anthropic millionaire to endow the pro- posed college with the necessary means
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did not appear. Eighteen months after he began teaching at Hartford the longed- for opportunity came through an invita- tion to become the head of a school for the deaf in Washington, D. C., for which an act of incorporation had been obtained from Congress. The invitation was to take charge of a small local school with- out equipment and without endowment, but he instantly saw in it the possibility of the future realization of his cherished purpose. Seven years later the vision was no longer a dream. The college, af- terwards named Gallaudet in honor of his father, was established in 1864 by Congress, with the power to confer de- grees, and he was elected its president. Liberal appropriations for its support were made and have been continued dur- ing the past fifty-three years, chiefly through Dr. Gallaudet's personal influ- ence. People sometimes wondered that he was so successful in obtaining appro- priations from Congress. The secret lay in his strong personality. President Gar- field, for several years a member of the committee on appropriations, once said : "Nobody comes before the committee who makes so favorable an impression upon it as Dr. Gallaudet." Beautiful buildings and grounds, generous support, and a hundred free scholarships, which are the equivalent of a large endowment, are the permanent results of his untiring labors.
Dr. Gallaudet was the leading advocate in America and throughout the world of the "Combined System" of educating the deaf. He was among the first in this country to urge instruction in speech and speech-reading for all the deaf capable of profiting by it, and it was chiefly through his efforts that oral teaching was intro- duced into the older schools, but he main- tained that no single method is suitable for all deaf children and that such method
should be chosen for each child as seems best adapted for his individual case. He believed also that the language of signs, the natural language of the deaf, should have a recognized and honorable place in every school.
In 1886, at the invitation of the British government, he appeared before the royal commission on the education of the deaf. His testimony in favor of the combined system, published in the report of the commission, exerted a wide influence throughout the world. n 1912 the French Republic conferred upon him the Cross of Chevalier of the Legion of Hon- or "in recognition of his long and suc- cessful labors in the cause of the educa- tion of the deaf."
Dr. Gallaudet was the author of a "Pop- ular Manual of International Law," used as a textbook in American colleges, and the "Life of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet." He also contributed numerous articles to magazines and reviews, published many pamphlets, and delivered frequent ad- dresses before learned and philanthropic societies in the United States and Europe upon the education of the deaf.
In 1895 Yale University conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, largely in recognition of the value of his work on international law above mentioned. He had received the same degree some years before from Trinity College, and Doctor of Philosophy from Columbian (now George Washington) University. On the incorporation of the Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf in 1895 he was elected its presi- dent, and at every subsequent meeting down to the last, held at Hartford in 1917, was unanimously reelected.
During his long residence in Washing- ton Dr. Gallaudet was prominent as a citizen. In government affairs he was active in promoting civil-service reform ;
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in education, aside from his special work at Gallaudet College, as a trustee of George Washington University and How- ard University ; in religion, as a trustee and elder in the Church of the Covenant and director and president of the Young Men's Christian Association ; in literature and science, as a member of the Literary Society, the Historical Society, and many other organizations, in most of which he was honored with the highest offices. Among his intimate friends were the best men distinguished in political and social life.
In 1910, after fifty-four years of active service, Dr. Gallaudet retired from the presidency of the college, and in 1911 he returned to Hartford to live. Soon after this change of residence he was elected a member of the board of directors of the American School for the Deaf in Hart- ford. The centennial celebration of the founding of this school was held in July, 1917, and in connection with the celebra- tion the Convention of American Instruc- tors of the Deaf, the American Associa- tion of the Deaf, and the Alumni of Gal- laudet College held meetings in Hartford. The members of these bodies all looked upon Dr. Gallaudet as their father and guide, and on this occasion showed their esteem and affection for him personally while commemorating the work of his honored father.
The declining years of this great and good man were passed in the city of his birth, and to the very last he was eager and interested in its affairs. He died September 26, 1917, and the closing of his life was the closing of a long record of good deeds and charitable acts.
Dr. Gallaudet married (first) Jennie M. Fessenden, of Hartford, and after her death married (second) Susy Denison, of Royalton, Vermont. He leaves three sons and three daughters: Katharine F. Gal-
laudet, of Hartford; Mrs. William B. Closson, of Newton, Massachusetts ; Den- ison and Edson F. Gallaudet, aeroplane manufacturers of East Greenwich, Rhode Island; Rev. Herbert D. Gallaudet, now an officer in the National army of the United States ; and Mrs. John W. Edger- ton, of New Haven.
Dr. Gallaudet succeeded to a high de- gree in his work, and to-day the Gallaudet College at Washington and the thousands of graduates throughout the world bear testimony to his success. For his was the faith that increases confidence, carries conviction, and multiplies ability. He knew that faith does not think or guess but sees the way out, and is not discour- aged or blinded by mountains of diffi- culties, because it sees through them to the goal beyond. It can be said of Edward Miner Gallaudet, as was said of another great man: "The elements so mixed in him that Nature might stand up and say to all the world, 'This is a man'."
JACOBS, Ward Windsor, Financier, Civil War Veteran.
Ward Windsor Jacobs, treasurer of the Mechanics Savings Bank, Hartford, was born in Mansfield, Connecticut, June 13, 1839, the son of Leonard Warren and Al- bina (Walton) Jacobs.
Records of the Jacobs family will be found contained in the archives of the early colonial administrations of this country. The progenitor, Nicholas Ja- cobs, of the American branches of the family, was born in Hanover, Suffolk county, England, son of John Jacobs. The year 1633 saw him and his son John and daughter Elizabeth emigrate from Hingham, England, to the Hingham, Massachusetts, settlement. A fellow- voyager was Thomas Lincoln, son of Samuel Lincoln, and brother-in-law of
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Thomas Jacobs. A descendant of this Thomas Lincoln was a settler in the Wy- oming Valley of Pennsylvania at the time of the historic Wyoming Massacre. Es- caping to Kentucky, he there founded the branch of the family from which sprang the honored past-president of the Repub- lic, Abraham Lincoln. The mother of the late President Hayes, whose maiden name was Jacobs, was born at Pleasant Valley, within a half mile of the birth- place of Mr. Jacobs. Nicholas Jacobs fi- nally settled in Hanover, Massachusetts, where he died on June 5, 1657. Among the first settlers in Windham county, Connecticut, were children of Nicholas Jacobs, and many descendants of the line are still resident in the county.
In 1707-08 Daniel Jacobs, son of John Jacobs, grandson of Nicholas Jacobs, of Hingham, was one of several who ac- quired extensive tracts of land in Ashford and Eastford, Connecticut, and subse- quently Nathaniel Jacobs, son of Joseph Jacobs, and grandson of Nicholas Jacobs, became a settler in Woodstock, and later in Thompson, Connecticut, where, having purchased a tract of land, he and his five sons determinedly applied themselves to the task of converting it from wilderness into agricultural acreage, the tract even- tually becoming known as the Jacobs dis- trict. Tradition concludes that Dr. Jos- eph Jacobs, who was the first physician to locate in Mansfield, Connecticut, was a grandson of Nicholas Jacobs, the immi- grant from Hingham. Dr. Jacobs resided in that part of Mansfield designated Pleas- ant Valley, and as was customary among the old colonial physicians, he cultivated a botanical garden, so that it might fur- nish him with the healing herbs essential in his practice. Eventually he became a large landowner. He married Sarah Storrs, who was born in 1670, and was the daughter of Samuel and Mary (Huck- ins) Storrs. Samuel Storrs came from
England in 1633, settling in Mansfield, Connecticut, about the year 1698, the major portion of his life having been lived in Barnstable, Massachusetts, where he met and married his wife.
Samuel Jacobs, son of Dr. Joseph Ja- cobs, married February II, 1737, Desire, the daughter of Mr. Doughty, or Douty, of Windham, Connecticut. Their child- ren, all of whom were born between 1728 and 1746, were: Benjamin, Solomon, William, Daniel and Doughty.
Benjamin Jacobs, son of Samuel Jacobs, was born April 30, 1733, or 1738. He married twice, taking for his first wife, on January 14, 1761, Elizabeth, daughter of Captain John Balcam, and for his sec- ond wife, Elizabeth King. The following children were born between the years 1763 and 1772: Benjamin, Jerusha, El- ezar, Zalmon. Between 1772 and 1783, the following children were born: Ozias, Anthony, Luther, Elizabeth and Phila.
Luther Jacobs, son of Benjamin Jacobs, who was born in Tolland county, prob- ably in Mansfield, comes into the line re- specting which this present record is chiefly written, he having been the grand- father of Ward Windsor Jacobs, of Hart- ford.
Leonard Warren Jacobs, son of Luther Jacobs, and father of Ward Windsor Ja- cobs, was born in Mansfield, Connecticut, October 4, 1818. The extent of his in- struction in general subjects was that ob- tainable in the common schools of the locality. In 1846 he removed to Willi- mantic, where he became a clerk in a grocery store, later venturing into in- dependent business, in which he contin- ued with much success until within a few years of his death, when he retired alto- gether from business activities, passing his years of retirement in comfort in East Hartford. He married Albina, daughter of John Walton, of Willimantic.
Ward Windsor Jacobs, son of Leonard
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Warren and Albina (Walton) Jacobs, at- tended the common schools of Mansfield until his parents removed to Willimantic. He continued his studies at the public schools of Willimantic, continuing in school until he had reached the age of sixteen years, when he entered his fath- er's grocery store as an employee. In a short while he agreed to take service in the bookstore of William L. Weaver, leaving his position in 1856 to become express messenger for Phillips & Com- pany, who were the express agents of the old Hartford, Providence & Fishkill Rail- road. A year later (on May 25, 1857), he was advanced to an office position in Hartford under Daniel Phillips, who had taken the Hartford agency for the Adams Express Company. In that capacity Mr. Jacobs remained until April 1, 1866, when he became a steamship agent, opening an office for himself at No. 13 Central Row, Hartford. The steamship agency business had been established by Phillips & Company in 1846, but was much ex- panded by Mr. Jacobs, quite an appre- ciable business being represented in the railroad tickets sold from year to year.
Concurrently with the operation of the steamship agency, Mr. Jacobs became identified, in clerical capacity, with the Mechanics Savings Bank. His service to the bank dates back to April 1, 1866, at which time the assets of the bank were $178,137.15. A glance at the assets of the bank at the time of making last re- port will give clear indication of the de- velopment of the institution in the period during which Mr. Jacobs has served it. In 1866 the bank treasurer was Mr. Haynes L. Porter.
Young Jacobs steadfastly applied himself to all duties entrusted him at the bank, and was promoted from position to position until he became assistant treasurer, July 24, 1867, and on the death of Mr. Porter,
February 10, 1873, Mr. Jacobs was, on February 24, 1873, elected secretary and treasurer. As such he has continued to the present, and in point of service he is the oldest bank official in Hartford. There are very few banking officials older than he, and still in high administrative office, in the State of Connecticut. The Mechanics Savings Bank now has depos- its amounting to more than $10,000,000, and a certain degree of that prosperity is due to the faithfulness to its interests and advancement of its treasurer, Mr. Jacobs, who also has been on its board of trustees since July 28, 1866.
Mr. Jacobs holds many other offices in the business, financial and public life of the City of Hartford; he has been secre- tary and treasurer of the Hartford Hos- pital since February 19, 1880; he was secretary, treasurer and manager of Ce- dar Hill Cemetery from the time of the first interment, in 1866, until quite recent- ly when his son took the offices, and he became vice-president ; he is now the old- est director on the board of the First Na- tional Bank of Hartford and is vice-pres- ident, he having been a member of the board continuously since 1876; he has been director of the Phoenix Insurance Company of Hartford since 1887; he is a director of the Capewell Horse Nail Company and has been so for more than ten years ; he has been a director of the Shelby Iron Company of Shelby, Ala- bama, since 1886. president from 1888 to 1890 and from 1909 to 1914, holding the office of vice-president during the interim of his two presidential terms ; he has been actively connected with the Missionary Society of Connecticut since 1876, when he was elected treasurer and remained treas- urer until 1905 when he declined to longer hold the office, and was then made director and still holds that office, and since 1876 was held similar positions with the Trus-
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tees of the Fund for Ministers, both being State organizations of the Congregational Churches of Connecticut.
Perhaps chief of all his faithful services has been that which he has given the church; he has been a member of the Emanuel Church (old Pearl Street Con- gregational) since 1858, and at the mo- ment is one of the three oldest male mem- bers. Mrs. Jacobs was also a member and in the past has been an active church worker.
During the Civil War, 1861-1865. he served in the Hartford City Guard, hav- ing reached the rank of corporal at the time of his resignation and has been ma- jor of the Veteran City Guard. Also, for three years, Mr. Jacobs was in the city administration as a member of the Water Board.
Mrs. Ward W. Jacobs (his wife) was Jennie Helen, the daughter of Albert G. and Caroline (Carter) Sawtelle. They were married on June 2, 1868, and to them were born three children: I. Alice Walton, who graduated from the Hart- ford Public High School, and from Smith College, eventually marrying Arthur E. Whitmore, of Larchmont, New York; they have two children, Editha Janet and Caroline Carter. 2. Ward Sawtelle, born November 30, 1873, educated in the Hart- ford Public High School, thence proceed- ing to the Sheffild Scientific School at Yale, from which he graduated in 1896, with the degree B. S., subsequently taking post-graduate work in Cornell University, where he specialized in mechanical engi- neering. He then entered a machine shop in order to obtain practical understanding of mechanical engineering, and about four years ago in association with his father, organized The Walton Company, tool manufacturers of Hartford. 3. Editha Laura, born April 6, 1877, and in due course graduated at the Hartford Public
High School. Mrs. Ward W. Jacobs died on August 8, 1911, the union having ex- tended over more than forty-three years.
HOLLISTER, Sidney Miller, Tobacco Grower and Farmer.
Among the early residents of Windsor who engaged in the business of tobacco growing was Sidney Miller Hollister, born in Brooklyn, New York, March 27, 1856. Mr. Hollister followed the agricul- tural line throughout his entire life, and lived on the farm of his maternal grand- father. In spite of farm work, Mr. Hol- lister still found ample time to devote to the interests of the Democratic party in Windsor, and during the session of 1884 represented his town in the State Legis- lature. He was eligible to the Sons of the American Revolution on both sides of his ancestry.
The American ancestor of his family, John Hollister, is believed to have been born in England in 1612, emigrating to America about 1642. He sailed, accord- ing to tradition, from Bristol, England. This ancestor came of a very good family, and possessed a fine education, later be- coming very prominent in Wethersfield. In 1643 he was admitted a freeman, and between that time and 1656 represented the town of Wethersfield many times, and died in April, 1665. He married Jo- anna, daughter of Hon. Richard Treat, who died in October, 1694.
Their son, John Hollister, was born about 1644, in Wethersfield, and died in Glastonbury, where he had been promi- nent, in November, 1711. He married, November 20, 1667, Sarah Goodrich, daughter of William and Sarah (Marvin) Goodrich, died in Glastonbury, 1700.
Their son, Thomas Hollister, was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut, January 14, 1762, was a deacon in the church, and
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died October 12, 1741; a house built by him was still standing in 1882. He mar- ried, 1696, Dorothy Hills, born about 1677 in Glastonbury, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Hills, died October 5, 1741.
Their son, Gideon Hollister, was born in Glastonbury, September 23, 1699, was lieutenant of militia in 1736, and a deacon of the church. He married, in 1723, Rachel Talcott, born October 6, 1706, in Glastonbury, daughter of Sergeant Na- thaniel and Elizabeth (Pitkin) Talcott, died June 13, 1790.
Their son, Nathaniel Hollister, was born in 1731, in Glastonbury, died 1810. He married, October 29, 1754, Mehitable Mattison, born 1736, died September 26, 1824.
Their son, Gideon Hollister, born Jan- uary 20, 1776, in Glastonbury, settled in Andover, engaged in the business of paper manufacture, and was very influ- ential in that town, died February 22, 1864. He married, November 15, 1798, Mary Olmstead, of East Hartford, born May 3, 1778, daughter of Samuel and Jerusha (Pitkin) Olmstead, died Septem- ber 17, 1827.
Their son, Edwin Hollister, born in 1800 in Andover, settled in Hartford in business as a drygoods merchant, and af- terwards in Windsor engaged in paper manufacture, died in 1870. He married Gratia Taylor Buell, daughter of Major John Hutchinson Buell, whose ancestry dates back to William Buell, born in Chesterton, Huntingdonshire, England, about 1610. He was the emigrant to America in 1630, and settled first at Dor- chester, then in Windsor, and shared in the first land division of that town, held a high position in the community, was a large property holder, and died Novem- ber 23, 1681. He married, in Windsor, November 18, 1640, and his wife died September 2, 1684. Their first son, Sam- uel Buell, born in Windsor, September 2,
1641, removed in 1664 to Killingworth, Connecticut, lived there the remainder of his life, and died July II, 1720, in that part of Killingworth which is now called Clinton. He filled many town offices, and was a gentleman of influence, also a large land-owner. He married, in Windsor, November 18, 1662, Deborah Griswold, born June 28, 1646, died in Killing- worth, February 7, 1719, daughter of Edward and Margaret Griswold, of Windsor. Their son, Benjamin Buell, born 1686 in Killingworth, died there February 18, 1725. He married, in Leb- anon, June 28, 1710, Hannah Hutchinson, of Hebron, died 1728. Their son, Benja- min Buell, born April 4, 1722, removed to Hebron, was the ablest ecclesiastical lawyer in Connecticut, died 1811. He married, in Hebron, July 4, 1751, Mary Sprague. Their son, Major John Hutch- inson Buell, born about 1752 in Hebron, was an officer of the Revolutionary War and in the army the greater part of his life : was father of Gratia Taylor Buell, wife of Edwin Hollister, as previously noted.
Edward Hubbell Hollister, son of Ed- win and Gratia Taylor (Buell) Hollister, was born in Hartford, Connecticut, No- vember 27, 1826. He was a merchant in New York City for a long period. In 1862, he enlisted in the Twenty-second Regiment of Connecticut Volunteers, served in Virginia, after which he made a voyage to China, and died in Brooklyn, November 27, 1875. He married, Decem- ber 6, 1849, Emily H. Phelps, born in Poquonock, December 30, 1822, daughter of Josiah and Emily (Allen) Phelps, died March 14, 1878. There were two other children in addition to Sidney Miller Hol- lister : namely, Emma Gratia, born Janu- ary 4, 1852, married, October 15, 1872, Lucien Royce; Carrie Maria, born De- cember 4, 1853, died March 29, 1855.
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