USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 5 > Part 24
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tacle arouse among the people of the country and numerous neighbors came to his father saying that the world had come to an end. His father was a devout and religious man and answered them saying that "God was the ruler of the uni- verse," urging them to be calm. A great terror swept over the entire country and many bade their friends good-bye, firmly believing that the judgment day was at hand. Mr. Weeks recalled that this con- tinued for two weeks and then disap. peared, and the world resumed its normal tenor. While he was a student at the New York School, Mr. Weeks also saw the Donati Comet and believed it to be more brilliant than the Halley Comet.
In spite of his advanced age at the time of his retirement, Mr. Weeks was pos- sessed of rugged health and was very active. He visited the Clark School at Northampton, Massachusetts, and con- versed orally, reading the lips of pupils and officers there.
Mr. Weeks married Mary M. Allen, of Melrose, Massachusetts, in 1858, and they were the parents of a son, Harry Allen, who died in 1895. Mrs. Weeks died in 1893, and Mr. Weeks December 7, 1917, five years after his retirement, at the age of eighty-nine years.
His was a long life, full of good deeds and love for his fellowmen. In spite of his trouble, he was always cheerful and pleasant ; he was possessed of sterling qualities, a man of high moral and intel- lectual character, and at his death left a large number of friends and acquaint- ances throughout the entire country who were saddened as a consequence.
NEWTON, Charles Edward, Business Man.
Charles Edward Newton, former treas- urer and general manager of the Jewell Belting Company of Hartford, Connecti-
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cut, was descended from old Puritan stock, his ancestry tracing back to early Colonial days and including in both maternal and paternal lines a number of patriots who were active participants in the war for independence. Mr. Newton was born in Hartford, January 26, 1859, a son of the late Duane E. and Clarissa Barnes (Ludington) Newton, and died there, November 15, 1917.
The progenitor of the Newton family in America was Richard Newton, who came from England, probably in the sum- mer or autumn of 1638, at which time he must have been somewhere between thirty-six and thirty-eight years of age. He died in Marlborough, Massachusetts. August 24, 1701, and according to the record was almost a hundred years old. He located first in Sudbury, Massachu- setts, with many of the citizens of which he seemed to be already acquainted. In 1643, three divisions of meadow land were made, and in 1642 another allotment was made, in all of which Richard New- ton shared. In May, 1645, he took the freeman's oath. We find his name signed to what is known as the petition for Marl- borough. He was one of the thirty-eight persons to whom the petition was granted, receiving thirty acres as his allotment upon the following terms: "four pence an acre for each acre of their house-lotts to the minister," and "nine pence an acre of their house-lotts to town charges," and subsequently "three pence per pound upon cattle for the minister."
His son, Daniel Newton, was born at Sudbury, December 21, 1655, and died at Southborough, Massachusetts, November 29, 1739. On December 30, 1679, he married Susanna, daugh- ter of Joseph and Susanna (Shattuck) Morse, who was born at Groton, January II, 1662-63, and died May 30, 1729. Her father was born April 30, 1637, and died
in 1667. He was married in Watertown, February II, 1661, to Susanna, daughter of William and Susanna Shattuck, of that town, who was born in 1643. Joseph Morse settled at Groton, but was driven out by the Indians in 1675, when he returned to Watertown. His father, Jo- seph Morse Sr., was twenty-four years old when he left England in April, 1634. He came in the ship "Elizabeth" which sailed from Ipswich, and was one of the first proprietors of Watertown. He took the freeman's oath, May 6, 1635. He married Hester, daughter of John and Eliza Pierce, of Watertown. He died March 4, 1690-91. His father, John Morse, came to New England with his wife, Dorothy, a year or two after his son Joseph. He settled in Ipswich and there his will was probated September 29, 1646. Daniel Newton was a small child when his parents removed to Marlborough and there he remained until his death.
His son, Samuel Newton, was born August 10, 1695, and died in 1771. On November 28, 1716, he married Mary, a daughter of Simon and Mary Tozer, who was born in Weston. August 16, 1693. She was the granddaughter of Richard Tozer, who was married in Bos- ton, July 31, 1656, to Judith Smith. He was a resident of Kittery, Maine, as early as 1659, and was killed by the Indians in October, 1675. His son, Simon, died De- cember 30, 1718 in what is now the town of Weston, Massachusetts. Samuel New- ton with his brother Nathaniel bought from their father all the "lands I am now possessed of," including his interest in a grist mill and personal property.
His son, Lemuel Newton, was born in Marlborough, March 17, 1718, and mar- ried Abigail - -; they settled in the town of Southborough, where he enlisted as a private in Captain Moses Harring- ton's company, Colonel Nicholas Dike's
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regiment, and fought in the Revolution. His service covered from December, 1776, to March 1, 1777. He died in Southbor- ough, September 27, 1793.
His son, Winslow Newton, was born April 9, 1756, and on September 3, 1777, married Anna Bemis, of Watertown. The evidence indicates that she was a daugh- ter of Elisha and Lucy (Ellton) Bemis, and great-grandmother of John Bemis, of Watertown, who was born in August, 1659, and died in 1732. Winslow New- ton served in the Revolution as a member of Captain Elijah Bellow's regiment which marched on the Lexington alarm. Later he was a member of Captain Manassah Sawyer's company, Colonel Nicholas Dike's regiment, and served from September 1, 1776, to December I, 1776. He also served in the same com- pany with his father and for the same period and he subsequently marched to Tiverton, Rhode Island, in Colonel Dean's regiment of militia, serving eleven days from March 7, 1781.
His son, Ivah Newton, was born Au- gust 19, 1784, in Southborough, but later lived at Philipston, Massachusetts, and finally located in Hinsdale, New Hamp- shire, where all of his children were born and where he died September 12, 1840. He married Sarah, a daughter of Daniel and Sarah Rugg, who was born in Fram- ingham, April 10, 1785, and died at Fitch- burg, March 24, 1882. Her father was born in Framingham, April 19, 1751, a son of Jonathan Rugg, and served in the Massachusetts militia in the Revolution.
Norman Bemis Newton, son of Ivah Newton, was born at Hinsdale, New Hampshire. He married Mary, a daugh- ter of Alexander, of Winchester. He engaged with his brothers in the man- ufacture of oyster kegs and eventually removed to Fair Haven, Connecticut.
ton, the father of Charles E. Newton, was born September 6, 1833, and died March 3, 1906, at Winchester, New Hampshire. He received his education in the public schools of his native town, and while yet a boy entered the employ of Pliny Jewell, the founder of the Jewell Belting Com- pany. When the business was moved to Hartford, he went with it and remained identified with the concern until his death. Through his intelligently directed industry, careful study of the business and unswerving loyalty, he rose from one position of responsibility to another until at one time he was superintendent of the factory. As he advanced in years, how- ever, he was relieved gradually of his more onerous duties by the company who had never failed to appreciate his faith- ful, conscientious service. Mr. Newton was a member of St. John's Lodge, No. 4, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Washington Commandery, Knights Templar. For a number of years he belonged to the well-known Hartford mil- itary body, the Governor's Foot Guards. Mr. Newton married Clarissa Barnes, a daughter of Jesse and Julia Ann (Story) Ludington. She was a granddaughter of Amos and Huldah (Chidsey) Ludington, and a great-granddaughter of Levi Chid- sey, a corporal of Connecticut troops in the Revolution. The following children were born of this union: Charles Ed- ward, of further mention ; Lillian L., born April 11, 1861, married Wilbur M. Stone, of East Orange, New Jersey; Arthur Duane, born April 8, 1863, married Ger- trude A. Hyde, a daughter of Salisbury Hyde; Mary A., born June II, 1865, mar- ried Charles H. Huntting; Edith L., born December 4, 1869, married Charles P. Marshall, of Newton, Massachusetts ; and Carrie M., deceased.
Charles Edward Newton was born
Their son, Duane Epaphroditus New- January 26, 1859, in the city of Hartford,
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Connecticut, the eldest child of Duane E. and Clarissa Barnes (Ludington) Newton. He was educated in the public schools of his native city, and graduated from the Hartford public high school. After the completion of his studies, he secured a position in the month of No- vember, 1876, with the Jewell Belting Company, with which his father was already prominently associated. He began in the humble capacity of office boy, and it may be said that there is no work in connection with the entire concern which Mr. Newton had not done, either in the office, the factory or on the road. He early displayed an unusual degree of industry and aptitude for his task, and it did not take him long to advance to much more responsible positions. Before many years were out, he had become a book- keeper, then the head of the bookkeeping department, and from this position stepped into that of cashier. In the mean- time his attention was becoming more and more directed to the industrial side of the concern, and he soon discovered that to master this side of the work with any degree of completeness would require special knowledge which he did not pos- sess. Particularly was it necessary for him to become an expert in mathematics, and with this end in view he took up the study of the subject about 1882, with the special object of mastering the prob- lems of power transmission. This he did to such good purpose that he was soon regarded as an expert in his subject and given many of the difficult problems with which such a concern must of necessity be constantly faced. He it was who devised the first power transmission cable ever compiled and it is his which is still in universal use by engineers. Mr. New- ton was not merely a therotician, how- ever, but on the contrary put on his over- alls and jumper and entered the factory
to deal with the practical side of the work. It was his idea that theory should have a basis or practical experience in order that it should be applied with the greatest degree of effectiveness. He learned in the factory how to curry leather and learned also the trade of belt- maker, thus gaining a direct experience of the practical element with which his problems were concerned. This he did after he had risen to the position of secre- tary of the company, and it is this spirit which undoubtedly accounted for his phenomenal success, nor was he less zeal- ous in learning the purely business side of the enterprise, and for a long time was on the road and engaged in the actual selling of the products of the mill. In the month of July, 1905, he was made treas- urer of the company, which position he held until his death. The Jewell Belting Company, of which Mr. Newton was so important a figure, is the oldest business of the kind in the United States, and one of the largest, the product from its great plants finding a large market throughout the country. Besides his office of treas- urer, Mr. Newton was a director of the concern, nor did his business interests stop there, for he was connected promi- nently with several large concerns in the capacity of director, among which should be mentioned the Johns Pratt Company and the Hart & Hegeman Company.
Mr. Newton did not limit his interest, however, to the business world, and took an active part in the social life of Hart- ford; he was a member of St. John's Lodge, No. 4, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Washington Commandery, Knights Templar, and the Sphyna Tem- ple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Mr. Newton was a member of the Asylum Hill Congregational Church.
Mr. Newton married, October 25, 1882, Alice Huntington, a daughter of Charles
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W. and Martha Elizabeth (Eddy) Hunt- ington, of New London, Connecticut. To Mr. and Mrs. Newton were born three children, as follows: Florence Hunting- ton, September 21, 1883, now the wife of Noyes B. Prentice, of Cleveland, Ohio, to whom she bore one son, Newton Alden ; Arthur Gove, December 28, 1884, who married Florence M. Griswold, a daugh- ter of Dr. Gilbert Griswold, by whom he has had two children, Alice Huntington and Richard Griswold; Marjorie Lud- dington, July 10, 1887, who became the wife of Raymond M. Burnham, of South- bridge, Massachusetts, and who has borne to him one daughter, Jane Newton.
Charles Wesley Huntington, the father of Mrs. Newton, was born at New Lon- don, March 13, 1829, and was one of the most prominent figures in the musical world in that region. He was engaged in teaching music, both instrumental and vocal, for many years, and with a very high degree of success, making a large reputation for himself in his profession. For a long period of years he was the organist at the South Congregational Church in Hartford and was the organist and choirmaster at the Park and Pearl Street Congregational Church at a later time. He was also the organist at the large Baptist church on Main street. Be- sides these various positions he was appointed Professor of Music at the State Normal School in New Britain. He lived for some time in New London, but on August 12, 1856, came to Hartford, and there made his home until the year 1904. In that year he went to Andover, Connecticut, and finally, on October 1, 1908, returned to Hartford, where he is situated at present and has his musical studio. He was married at New Britain, October 6, 1858, to Martha Eliza- beth Eddy, a daughter of Norman and Maria Warner (White) Eddy. She was
born January 16, 1839, at New Britain, and died October 31, 1913. They were the parents of two children: Alice, now Mrs. Newton, and Robert Eddy, born De- cember 18, 1873, and died August 12, 1874.
MULLIGAN, William Joseph, Counsellor-at-Law.
William Joseph Mulligan, one of the prominent attorneys of Thompsonville and Hartford, Connecticut, is a member of a family which has resided in this State for the better part of three generations, and which is of Irish origin, having come over to this country from Ireland during the second decade of the nineteenth cen- tury. His grandfather, Andrew Mulli- gan, was born in County West Meath, who migrated as a young man to the United States somewhere about the year 1815. He settled at East Windsor, Con- necticut, and resided there for a time, but later removed to Rockville, and event- ually to Thompsonville in this State. He was engaged in business as a stone mason and was very successful thereat. He married Margaret Fay and they were the parents of a number of children among whom was William Mulligan, of whom further.
William Mulligan was born at East Windsor, April 11, 1849, and was the recipient of a public school education in his youth. Upon completing his school- ing he worked in the factory at Rockville, then engaged in the tinning business at Manchester. After a few years he moved to Windsor Locks, where he engaged in the plumbing and heating business, and remained there for five years. Moving to Thompsonville to become engaged in the furniture and undertaking business, in which he pros- pered highly and eventually grew to be
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a prominent figure in the life of this com- munity. He served in several important offices here, among which should be included that of selectman and president of the district sewer board. When the Enfield Electric Light Company organ- ized he was its vice-president. He mar- ried Frances Browne, of Thompsonville, Connecticut, at Thompsonville, April 19, 1872, and among their children was Wil- liam Joseph Mulligan, of this sketch.
Born June 2, 1881, at Thompsonville, Connecticut, William Joseph Mulligan has made this place his home during prac- tically his entire life. As a child he attended (first) the Parochial schools connected with St. Patrick's Catholic Church and later the public schools of the town. After studying for a time at the Enfield High School, he attended Willis- ton Seminary at Easthampton, Massa- chusetts, from which he was graduated in 1901, having been prepared there for a course in college. He had in the mean- time determined upon the law as a pro- fession and with this object in view ma- triculated at the law school connected with Yale University. Completing his studies at Yale in 1904, he at once was admitted to the bar of Hartford county and opened an office and engaged in the general practice of his profession in August of that year. In this he has pros- pered highly, and in February, 1916, opened an office in Hartford, where by attendance to the business intrusted to him he made friends and secured clients. Although Mr. Mulligan has devoted his attention principally to the law he has nevertheless been interested in several other departments of the city's life and has come to hold a prominent position in ยท its business and financial circles. In the year 1908 he organized The Advance Printing and Publishing Company, and since then he has held the double office of
secretary-treasurer therein as well as a membership on its board of directors. He has also become associated with the pub- lic affairs of the community and has held the office of prosecuting attorney in Thompsonville for six years. He has been counsel for the town for several terms, and is now a director of the State Chamber of Commerce. He is a Republi- can in politics and is already regarded as a leader in the State organization of that party. Mr. Mulligan is a well-known fig- ure in the social life of Thompsonville and and is a very prominent member of the Knights of Columbus, having been State deputy for Connecticut for six terms and now holds the office of supreme director of the National Organization. He is also a member of the Enfield Country Club, the Hartford Club, Connecticut Editorial Association, the American Bar Associa- tion, and the Connecticut State Bar Asso- ciation. Mr. Mulligan has interested him- self in a most public-spirited manner with the general life of the community, and indeed few men have done more than he to promote its material interests. Mr. Mulligan is an active worker in the Red Cross and has given many addresses throughout the State in connection with the State Council of Defense. For the benefit of the soldiers and sailors he has charge of raising $200,000.00 in Connecti- cut for the War Work being carried on by the Knights of Columbus. In this work he has also helped in other States from Vermont to Oklahoma. In addition to Mr. Mulligan's activity in Connecticut in relation with the War Work, he was signally honored by being appointed rep- resentative of the board of directors of the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus to go to France for the pur- pose of purchasing buildings at three ports of entry and at Paris, as well as purchasing equipment and supplies for
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the hundreds of secretaries who will be left in charge of providing comfort and entertainment for the American soldiers. Mr. Mulligan left this country for France in April, 1918, and remained there until the purpose for which he had been sent was accomplished. In his religious be- lief Mr. Mulligan is a Roman Catholic and attends Saint Patrick's Church of this denomination at Thompsonville.
William Joseph Mulligan was united in marriage, June 15, 1905. at New Haven, Connecticut, with Kathleen Byron Keefe, a daughter of William Joseph and Jane (Harringan) Keefe, old and well known residents of New Haven, Connecticut, where Mr. Keefe was engaged in a large furniture business. To Mr. and Mrs. Mulligan three children have been born. as follows : William, September 14, 1906; Jeannette, April 26, 1910: and Kathleen, June 13, 1915. Like Mr. Mul- ligan, all the members of his family are Roman Catholics and are very active in the interests of their church in Thomp- sonville and Hartford.
CLARK, Charles Oliver, Tobacco Grower.
Charles Oliver Clark, who is one of the largest individual growers of tobacco in the Hayden Station section of Wind- sor, Connecticut, is a native of that town, and comes of one of the oldest of Colonial New England families. He was born on November II, 1863, the son of Salmon and Laura Z. (Thrall) Clark, and his descent is from Joseph Clark, or Clarke, who was of Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1630. The line from Joseph, progeni- tor in America, to Charles Oliver, of the seventh American generation. is through : Nathaniel, born 1658; Nathaniel (2), born 1705 ; Amos, born 1730: Salmon, baptized December 4, 1768; Salmon (2). born 1824.
The Clark, or Clarke, family is one of great antiquity in England, particularly the Suffolk branch, in which county Jo- seph Clarke, immigrant ancestor of the Clarkes of Medfield, Medway, and that vicinity of Massachusetts, was born. Regarding the British generations of Clarkes, records indicate that they were of gentle blood, and mostly well circum- stanced financially. An ancestor, Thomas Clarke, of Bury St. Edmunds, "gentle- man," mentions in his will of 1506 "a Seynt Antony Crosse, a tau Crosse of gold, weying iij.li.," which was borne in an armorial coat, and was assumed as an augmentation in consequence of hav- ing been worn by Nicholas Drury, his great maternal grandsire, in the expe- dition to Spain with John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, in 1 386.
Joseph Clarke, who was brother of Thomas and Bray Clarke, many enteries regarding both of whom are to be found in Colonial New England records, was born in 1597, in the County of Suffolk, England. He was among the first set- tlers of the Dorchester Company that embarked at Plymouth, England, on March 20, 1630, in the "Mary and John," a vessel of four hundred tons, Captain Squeb, master. On May 30 of that year, the "Mary and John," the first of "that distinguished fleet of eleven vessels," arrived at Nantasket. In the Dorches- ter (Massachusetts) town records, under date November 22, 1634, Joseph Clarke and twelve other persons are mentioned as having a "grant of six acres of land for their small & great lotts, at Naponset, betwixt the Indian feild and the mill." After Joseph Clarke received the grant of land in 1634 he appears to have returned to England, for his name is contained in a sailing list of those who, on October 24, 1635, at "ye Port of London were aboard the 'Constance,' Clement Campion, Mr., bound for Virginia. Jo. Clarke, aged 38
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years, and Alice Brass, aged 15 years." The Clarke genealogy states that she was "undoubtedly" the Alice Pepper, or Pep- pitt, whom he married after his return to America, and after his removal from Dor- chester to Dedham. It is presumed that the "Constance" after completing her voyage to Virginia called with passengers at northern ports, and so Joseph Clarke returned to Dorchester. The "Genealog- ical and Personal Memoirs, relating to the families of the State of Massachu- setts" (Lewis Historical Publishing Com- pany, 1910) states that Joseph Clarke "married, in 1640, just prior to sailing for America, Alice Pepper." Whether he again returned to England between 1635 and 1640 cannot be traced, but his rec- ord is clear from the year of his settle- ment (1640) in Dedham, Massachusetts, and his signing of the Dedham Covenant. He was one of the thirteen original gran- tees and founders of the adjoining town of Medfield, and was admitted a freeman there, May. 15, 1653. His homestead in Medfield was on the west side of South street, and an old cellar hole near the corner of Oak street for many years has marked the site of his former dwelling. In 1660 he became selectman and, acquir- ing substance, became a man of influence in the town. He served in the Narragan- sett campaign in the war against King Philip. He died January 6, 1684, aged eighty-seven years, leaving "an abiding influence for good on his numerous and honorable posterity," and in his will be- queathed lands to his sons, on the west side of Charles river, afterwards Med- way, Massachusetts. Alice (Brass-Pep- per) Clarke, his widow, died March 17, 1710, and was stated to have then been eighty-seven years old. Of their nine children, Nathaniel was the eighth.
Nathaniel Clarke was born October 6, 1658, and died July II, 1733. He resided
on the paternal estate in Medfield, and married Experience, born July, 1679, died February 3, 1734, daughter of Ephraim and Mehitable (Plimpton) Hinsdale, of Deerfield, Massachusetts. Their eldest child was Nathaniel.
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