USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 5 > Part 17
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Sidney Miller Hollister married, Sep-
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tember 29, 1875, Kate Elizabeth Phelps, a direct descendant of William Phelps, the emigrant ancestor, who came to New England in the ship "Mary and John" in 1630. The Phelps family originally came from Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, Eng- land. There James Phelps was born about 1520. William Phelps, son of James and Joan Phelps, was born at Tewkesbury, baptised August 4, 1560, died about 1611, and his wife Dorothy about 1613. Their son, William Phelps, baptised August 19, 1599, emigrated to America from Plymouth, England, March 20, 1630, and landed May 30, 1630, at what is now Hull, Massachusetts. He settled in Dorchester and was among the first founders and settlers of that place. During the first six months William Phelps was made a freeman and was very active in the town's affairs. In 1635 he emigrated to Windsor. He married, in England, Mary Dover, who died in 1635. Their son, Lieutenant Timothy Phelps, was born September 1, 1639, in Windsor, and lived there on land purchased from the Indians by his father, and was made a freeman, May 2, 1664. In 1709 he was appointed a lieutenant and served under Colonel William E. Whitman, in Captain Matthew Allyn's regiment, 1704-1711, in Queen Anne's War. He married, March 19, 1661, Mary Griswold, daughter of Edward and Margaret Griswold, of Killingworth, born in Windsor and baptised October 13, 1644. Lieutenant Phelps died in 1719, and his wife Mary previous to this time, the exact date not being on record. Their son, Cornelius Phelps, was born in Wind- sor, April 26, 1671, died 1741 ; married, November 2, 1704, Sarah Mansfield, daughter of John and Sarah (Phelps) Mansfield, born January 6, 1685, in Wind- sor, died 1774. Their son, Timothy Phelps born February 3, 1713, in Wind- sor, lived in Windsor and Colebrook. He
married, April 24, 1746, Margaret Gillett, daughter of Daniel and Margaret (Eno) Gillette, born December 31, 1723, in Windsor. Their son, Timothy Phelps, born July 14, 1748, in Windsor, lived there and served in the Revolutionary War from the town of Hebron. He enlisted in May and was a member of the Tenth Company, served at siege of Boston, Cap- tain John Harmon's company, Colonel Durkie's regiment, for three years, in May, 1777. His name appears in the list of pensioners of Hartford county. He died in Windsor, November II, 1827. On November 3, 1785, he married Ruth Wil- son, daughter of Timothy and Mary (Pal- mer) Wilson, born in Windsor, March IO, 1755, and died December 2, 1827. Their son, Hiram Phelps, born October 14, 1790, in Windsor, lived there and fol- lowed the trade of wheelwright, also was a farmer, died November 5, 1873. He married, November 15, 1813, Laura Abiah Griswold, daughter of Solomon and Abiah (Allyn) Griswold, born November 29, 17-, in Windsor, died November 29, 1874. Their son, Timothy Phelps, born April 26, 1825, in Windsor, spent his en- tire life there, and died February 7, 1893. He married, September 29. 1850, Char- lotte Elizabeth Cobb, born June 4, 1826, in Winchester, Connecticut, died in Wind- sor, April 25, 1913. Their daughter, Kate Elizabeth Phelps, was born March 3, 1858, in the old Moore House in Wind- sor, which was built by old Deacon John Moore and presented to his son John as a setout on his marriage day in 1690. In its day it was a very fine house ; it finally served as a kitchen to a more modern house, which occupies its original site. Some of the ornaments are still to be seen, a reminder of its one-time splendor. In every door of the original old house there was a passage for the house cat, as in those days it was quite the custom to
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have such passages in order that this much beloved household pet could ramble to attic and cellar at its will. To those who had the good fortune to live in this house, the old elm trees were as endeared as the house itself; they are the oldest and most beautiful in the town of Windsor.
Kate E. (Phelps) Hollister attended the Windsor public schools, after which she studied for a time at Miss William's Seminary in Windsor. Upon finishing her course there, she lived at home with her parents until her marriage. Mrs. Hol- lister's home ties have been such that she has been unable to take any active part in those local affairs common to women. She is a reliable authority on the history of the town of Windsor and that of the older families there. To Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Miller Hollister were born the following children: I. Carrie Phelps, No- vember 26, 1876; 2. Edward Buell, April 12, 1878, of Hartford, married Emma Warrenton, daughter of William and Em- ma Warrenton, of Windsor; 3. Edith May, September 15, 1879, married Edwin Apgar, of Windsor ; one child, Ruth, born October 22, 1898; 4. Ralph Spencer, Oc- tober 1, 1881 ; 5. Timothy Phelps, May 22, 1893.
STOCKER, Eben H., Manufacturer.
Prominent among the successful busi- ness men of the city of Hartford, Con- necticut, Eben H. Stocker, secretary of the Billings & Spencer Company, of Hartford, was born in Hartland, Ver- mont, April 23, 1846, son of Eben M. and Lucia D. (Lull) Stocker.
He is descended from a non-conform- ist clergyman of Scotland, who was the first of the family to come to America, settling in Massachusetts. Eben Stocker,
grandfather of Eben H. Stocker, was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, and there passed the early years of his life. It was in this generation that the family removed to Vermont. Eben Stocker was engaged in farming on a large scale, and prominent in the civic affairs of Hart- land. He was an adherent of the Demo- cratic party and devoted much of his time to upholding its principles. He mar- ried (first) Abigail Kimball, born in Hop- kinton, and they were devout members of the Congregational church of Hart- land, where for many years Eben Stocker served as deacon. They were the par- ents of nine children, of whom the fourth was Eben M., of whom further.
Eben M. Stocker was born in Windsor, Vermont. He received his education in the district schools of Hartland, and en- gaged at an early age in mercantile pur- suits. He was the owner of the largest store at that time in the town. Like his father, he was keenly interested in the welfare of the town and the respect and and esteem in which he was held by his townsmen is evidenced from the fact that for thirty years he was town clerk and also represented the town in the Leg- islature for several terms. Mr. Stocker married Lucia D. Lull, a daughter of Timothy and Susanna (Delano) Lull, of Hartland. Her father, Timothy Lull, was one of the first settlers of Hartland, having made the journey there from Charlestown up the river in a canoe. Mr. and Mrs. Stocker were the parents of three children, among whom was Eben H., of whom further.
Eben H. Stocker was educated in the public schools of Windsor and Hartland, Vermont. In 1872 he removed to Hart- ford, Connecticut, and there entered the employ of the Billings & Spencer Com- pany in the capacity of bookkeeper. Mr. Stocker, through industry and attention
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to details of his business, steadily and surely worked his way upward to his present official position with that com- pany. He is also a member of the board of directors of this large and flourishing concern, and is connected with the C. Billings Manufacturing Company in an official manner. Mr. Stocker is an Inde- pendent in politics, and although always alive to the vital issues of the day, is not a seeker for public office.
Mr. Stocker married (first) Jennie, daughter of Willard and Emily Hey- wood, of Windsor, Vermont. They were the parents of a son, Frank H. Stocker, who is now engaged as assistant secre- tary of the Billings & Spencer Company in Hartford. Mrs. Stocker died in 1881. Mr. Stocker married (second) Lucy M. Birge, a daughter of Edward and Esther Birge, of East Hartford, Connecticut.
WOOD, Olin Rensselaer,
Attorney-at-Law, Judge of Probate.
Judge Wood has been engaged in the general practice of law in Manchester, Connecticut, since 1871, and for twenty- eight years has filled the office of judge of probate. He was born May 29, 1848, in South Windsor, Connecticut, son of James B. and Mary A. (Buckland) Wood. The father was a paper-maker and was employed in the paper-mill of Robert Lyle, Cherry Hill, near Lancaster, Penn- sylvania.
He was a member of a Quaker family, and when a boy came from Eastern Maryland to Hartford, Connecticut, later to Burnside and Buckland in Manches- ter, Connecticut. He was a man of ex- emplary character, of religious nature and respected wherever he lived. He married Mary A. Buckland, daughter of Peter and Caroline (Bissell) Buckland, and settled for a time in South Windsor, Connecticut, whence he removed to Man-
chester, where he died July 12, 1866. His wife died December 29, 1899. James B. Wood was active in church matters, and a liberal contributor toward the construc- tion of the Methodist Episcopal church in Manchester and the current expenses of that church.
Olin Rensselaer Wood was educated at Wilbraham, Massachusetts, and at Newbury, Vermont, and studied law at the New Haven Law School, from which he graduated in 1869. Immediately after graduating, Mr. Wood took a trip to Europe and spent ten months in travel, visiting all the countries of Great Bri- tain and travelling through continental Europe and the Orient. In 1871 he was admitted to the bar and immediately began the practice of law in Manchester, where he met with gratifying success. In 1888 he was appointed clerk of the Court of Probate for the District of Man- chester, Connecticut, by Judge John S. Cheney, whom he succeeded in 1889, and since that time has administered the office with faithfulness and efficiency. He has long been retained by the selectmen as counsel for the town of Manchester, and has been active in the handling of estates and the affairs of corporations, as also in general practice of law. In 1891 he was elected to represent the town of Manchester in the Connecticut Legisla- ture, and served two terms. In his first term he was a member of the commit- tee on contested elections, and in the second term was placed on the judiciary committee, being house chairman of each of those committees. In 1893 he was the only Republican lawyer in the House of Representatives. He is a member of King David Lodge, No. 71, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
He attends the Methodist Episcopal church of Manchester, of which his par- ents were members. He is a student of the Bible, and prizes it as one of God's
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best gifts to man, in spite of misconstruc- tion. He believes that truth is inde- structible, that right is might, and must prevail, that each one has a part to do in overcoming error, and that the more Christ is exemplified in the life of indi- viduals the sooner the millennium will arrive. Victor Hugo, Theodore Parker, James Freeman, Clark Ralph Waldo Emerson, Philips Brooks and Andrew D. White are favorites of his.
He is fond of men; he estimates them by their fruits; and reckons as his friends many whom he has not seen. He re- gards Lincoln as the marvel of his age. Grant unexcelled as a conqueror, peace- maker and reconciler of discordant sec- tions, and Chief Justice Marshall, Dan- iel Webster, Senator Orville H. Platt, and Horace Gray, Associate Justice, United States Court, he looks upon as Master Builders of Constitutional Law and Civil Liberty as established and enforced in the United States. He loves his home, presided over by his daughter, Myrtle B., where his invalid wife is confined, and there he spends most of his time when not engaged in business, and there he finds great delight in the company of his wife and their daughters and friends.
Mr. Wood, on April 19, 1876, married Roselle E. Weaver, at Chester, Connecti- cut, and they have two daughters: Myr- tle Beatrice, and Ruth W., who married William Foulds, Jr., and resides in Man- chester. Judge Wood became seventy years of age, May 29, 1918, and retired from the office of judge of probate at that date by Constitutional Limitation, hav- ing served as judge of probate continu- ously since 1889.
CLARK, Albert H. and Robert L., Tobacco Growers.
The brothers. Albert H. and Robert L. Clark, of Popuonock, Windsor, Connecti-
cut, are probably the largest individual owners of Connecticut land upon which shade-grown tobacco is the main crop, and their success is in great measure due to their own superior qualities in con- ducting a business in which no haphaz- ard conditions are present. Their agri- cultural operations have, from the out- set, been stamped by an efficiency and method as clearly defined as that to be found in a well directed factory; and they fully appreciate that it is only by such close up-to-date supervision of the work in hand that noteworthy success is, in these days of strenuous competition and high labor cost, achieved. The ex- tent of their success may be gauged by the knowledge that upon their Connecti- cut plantations over one hundred hands find employment during the harvesting season. The brothers are factors in the tobacco growing circles of Connecticut, and also for the last six years have been identified with the Sumatra Tobacco Company, which has extensive interests in Georgia, Florida and Connecticut.
Clark is a name frequently encountered in Colonial records of Connecticut. The two brothers, who are of the tenth gen- eration from that of Joseph Clarke, pro- genitor in America, worthily continue, by their industry, a connection that has been honorable and unbroken since the first Clark came into the colony in 1637; a connection unbroken also in its associa- tion with the affairs of the town of Wind- sor since then.
Joseph Clark, according to the "Genea- logical and Family History of the State of Connecticut" (Lewis Historical Pub- lishing Company, 1911), is stated to have been the founder of the old Colonial New England family of that name of the line generally supposed to have been headed, as American progenitor, by the Hon. Daniel Clark, an early settler in the town of Windsor, Connecticut. That author-
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ity states that Joseph Clarke came from Cambridge, England, in 1637; that his wife, whose maiden name is unknown, died in 1639. The "History of Ancient Windsor" (Stiles), in the chapter regard- ing the "distribution and plan of ancient Windsor" makes reference to a Joseph Clarke; on page 129 of that work is the entry, among the list of proprietors : "Joseph Clarke. Early at Dorchester, Dr. Harris says in 1630;" and the name "Mr. Clark" appears on the plan as owner of a home lot within the first palisado built by residents of Windsor in 1637, upon the outbreak of the Pequot War. This prob- ably is the Joseph Clarke, as the records of those of that name throughout the book all come under the one classification in index-as Clarke; and in the same work, among genealogical data regarding the Clark, or Clarke, family, of which also was the Hon. Daniel, is the information that "Joseph, had Joseph and Mary, both baptized September 30, 1638; this may be the Joseph who, the 'History of Dor- chester' says was at that place early ; Dr. Harris thinks about 1630." Taking excerpt from the record stated by the first-named authority, the succeeding gen- erations from Joseph to the present are : (II) Hon. Daniel Clark, son of Joseph Clark (Clarke), was "a first settler" in Windsor, Connecticut, and "a man of great prominence. He was an attorney- at-law, and held many public offices, among which was that of secretary of the colony, 1664-66" (Stiles records it as 1658 to 1663; and another historian as 1658-64, and again in 1665-66). He was appointed to sit in "ye great pew," wains- coted for the sitting of magistrates. He married (first) June 13, 1644, Mary New- berry, who died August 29, 1688; (sec- ond) Martha Wolcott, widow of Simon Wolcott, sister of William Pitkin, Es- quire, of Hartford. His children "mar-
ried into the first families of the ancient town of Windsor, and were among the aristocracy there." His granddaughter, Sarah Drake, was the wife of Governor Roger Wolcott, of Connecticut, and his great-grandson, the Hon. Roger Wolcott, was representative to the General Assem- bly, member of the Council, and judge of the Superior Court. Clark's great-grand- son, Oliver Wolcott, graduated at Yale in 1747, and was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and in 1787 was elected Governor of the State. All the ten children of the Hon. Daniel Clark were born to his first wife, Mary (New- berry) Clark, and were: Mary, Josiah, Elizabeth, Daniel, John, Mary (born thir- teen years after the first, who probably was then deceased), Samuel, Sarah, Han- nah, and Nathaniel, who was killed by Indians in 1690.
(III) Samuel Clark, son of Hon. Dan- iel and Mary (Newberry) Clark, was born in Windsor, Connecticut, July 7, 1661. He married, in 1687, Mehitable Thrall, who bore him four children : Samuel, David, Nathaniel, and Joseph.
(IV) Samuel (2) Clark, son of Sam- uel (1) and Mehitable (Thrall) Clark, was born November 10, 1688, and died in 1741. He married Abigail Owen. They had six children : Joel, Abigail, Samuel, Hannah, David, and Ann.
(V) Joel Clark, eldest child of Samuel (2) and Abigail (Owen) Clark, was born in 1717, and died in 1777. He married, in 1742, Lydia Forbes, who died in 1796. They had four children: Samuel, Joel, Reuben, and Lydia.
(VI) Joel (2) Clark, son of Joel (1) and Lydia (Forbes) Clark, was born in 1747. He married, March, 1764, Martha Pinney, who died October 5, 1808. They had four children: Grove, Joel, Lydia, and Patty.
(VII) Captain Grove Clark, son of
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Joel (2) and Martha (Pinney) Clark, was born in Windsor, about 1766, and died there, September 27, 1846, aged eighty years. He married, at Windsor, January 13, 1791, Mercy Griffin, who died aged eighty-two years, and whose father was a soldier in the Revolution. Their chil- dren were: Henry, of whom further; Emeline, who married Stephen Earle, and lived at Penn Yan, New York; Delia, who married a Mr. Stanley, and lived in Vermont; Peneul, who served in the French War of 1813; Eliza, who mar- ried Adin Hunt, of Windsor ; Phelps, who never married; Electa, unmarried, and Isaac Shelby, who married Phidelia Phelps, and lived in Windsor until his death, at the age of eighty-six years.
(VIII) Henry Clark, son of Captain Grove and Mercy (Griffin) Clark, was born in Windsor, and eventually ac- quired an agricultural property in the parish of Poquonock, Windsor, and there passed his life. He married Chloe Riley. Among their children was Lucius Pome- roy, father of Albert H. and Robert L., who are the principal subjects of this article.
(IX) Lucius Pomeroy Clark, son of Henry and Chloe (Riley) Clark, was born in Windsor village, August 19, 1825. Opportunities for academic education were in his day and place very limited, and when only nine years of age he began the serious work of life. Until he had reached sixteen years he was employed by neighboring farmers, but he then be- came apprenticed to a carpenter and fol- lowed carpentry for some years. One employment in this connection was with the Hartford Carpet Company, at Tariff- ville, Connecticut, and for four years he worked in the United States Armory at Springfield, Massachusetts. In the win- ter of 1861-62, he benefited by the will of a maternal aunt, Mrs. Elisha Barber,
the bequest being landed estate at Wind- sor. This circumstance caused Mr. Clark to resume agricultural occupations, and it may be considered that from 1863 until his death, which occurred on December 30, 1910, he did practically no carpenter - ing, saving perhaps such as became necessary on his own farm. In the spring of 1865 he purchased the farm now owned by his sons, and then known as the Guy Griswold farm. It was impoverished, but hard work and judicious management made it eventually one of the most pro- ductive estates of its size in the town. He was highly esteemed in the town, his success in business having been won by strictly honest methods. Staunchly Re- publican in politics, Mr. Clark might have, had he wished, held public office. But he was more concerned in doing one thing well than two things moderately well, and he had resolved to become a success- ful and extensive tobacco grower and that he became. In May, 1849, he mar- ried Katherine, born March 2, 1830, died March 14, 1907, daughter of Thomas and Mary (Porter) McKnight, of Great Falls, New Hampshire, and they were destined to have each other's company for almost fifty-eight years, Mrs. Clark's unfailing help to her husband during the early years of their business enterprise consti- tuting in all probability an important fac- tor in his ultimate success. Their chil- dren were: Albert H., and Robert L., of both of whom further mention is made below :
(X) Albert H. Clark, son of Lucius Pomeroy and Katherine (McKnight) Clark, was born September 1, 1853, at Tariffville, Connecticut, and for a time was engaged in mercantile business at Poquonock, but at present devotes his entire time to the tobacco operations of Clark Brothers. On April 19, 1900, he married Ida A., daughter of George F.
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and Jane (Smith) Hardy, of Holyoke, Massachusetts, but formerly of Poquo- nock, Connecticut, where Ida A. was born. To Albert H. and Ida A. (Hardy) Clark was born a son, George Lucius, now living with his parents on the Clark homestead.
(X) Robert L. Clark, son of Lucius Pomeroy and Katherine (McKnight) Clark, was born in Tariffville, January 28, 1856, and early became associated with his father and elder brother in the busi- ness of tobacco growing on the paternal estate. He married Hattie L. Day, who died in March, 1886. To them was born a son, Frank S., in October, 1878. He now is an independent and prosperous farmer at Poquonock.
The brothers, Albert H. and Robert L. Clark, have been the directing heads of the Clark tobacco interests since the retirement and death of their father. They are aggressive and shrewd man- agers, and were well trained in a good school-that of hard work under the watchful interested eye of their father, who worked perhaps even harder than they. They became expert in all phases of agriculture, but especially in the culture of tobacco. Their Connecticut tobacco lands are more than seventy-five acres in extent, their product being alto- gether shade-grown tobacco. An average of one hundred hands are employed on the estate during the harvesting season, and, generally, the business is of such extent as to keep the brothers quite fully occupied for a considerable portion of each year. They probably are the larg- est individual owners in Connecticut of shade-grown tobacco, and the extensive tobacco sheds on the estate are all equipped with the most modern improve- ments for the curing and production of high grade tobacco. As practical grow- ers, the Clark brothers are always ready
to co-operate in any movement that may tend to interest and benefit the tobacco industry, especially that of Connecticut, and for the last six years they have been connected with and financially interested in the Sumatra Tobacco Company, a com- bine of extensive interests in Georgia, Florida and Connecticut. The Sumatra Tobacco Company take the whole of the crop from the Clark property, but the brothers are owners of all the land and buildings used by the company, under lease.
And, generally, the brothers are rec- ognized as leading residents of the Windsor district of Connecticut; both are members of the Windsor Busi- ness Men's Association, and both were active organizers of the movement which established the Poquonock Grange, of which they are still enthusias- tic members. Neither brother has taken political office, and both are very busy men of business, taking good part in the maintenance in profitable productive in- dustry of the State of Connecticut. Rob- ert L. Clark also comes into financial cir- cles of the district in his capacity of direc- tor of the Windsor Trust and Safe Deposit Company.
GRISWOLD, Frederick Albert, Insurance Actuary.
Frederick Albert Griswold, of Weth- ersfield, manifests in his personality cer- tain praiseworthy characteristics inher- ited from forebears who took valiant part in the early upbuilding of this Nation. The annals of the State of Connecticut bear testimony to, and record of, the activities within its borders of many worthy ancestors of the subject of this present writing, the Griswold family name having held creditable place in the legislative, military and business life of
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Connecticut since the early half of the seventeenth century.
The patronymic, Griswold, originated in the early centuries, the name being recorded, for the most part, in England. The derivation is not readily determinate, but following the customary presumption in regard to most other names of ancient origin, it may be asserted that the family of Griswold included others whose names were somewhat allied. Therefore, it is found that, anterior to the fourteenth cen- tury, the name was rendered as Greswold and Gryswould. A branch, bearing the patronymic of Greswold, was established in genteel state at Solihull, in Warwick- shire, prior to 1400. They were of the family of John Greswold, who, in the fourteenth century, came from Kenil- worth, and married the daughter of Henry Hughford, of Huddersly Hall in Solihull, and being of the gentry, the fam- ily was privileged to maintain a coat-of- arms. The immediate antecedents of the progenitors of the various Griswold fami- lies of Connecticut have not been identi- fied. Two brothers, Edward and Mat- thew Griswold, however, it can be authentically stated, came to Windsor, Connecticut, from Kenilworth, England, and that Matthew Griswold was largely instrumental in effecting the settlement of Lyme, Connecticut. Later, another of the family, Michael Griswold, who was born in 1610, came from England and settled in Wethersfield. Both Matthew and Michael Griswold established lines which, in the subsequent generations, brought the family name into prominence in reference to matters concerning vari- ous sections of Connecticut.
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