USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 5 > Part 46
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Cheslieu Churchill, son of Captain
Samuel Churchill, was born December 4, 1779, baptized on the 17th in Newington, where he passed his life, and died July 9, 1857. He married, March 31, 1806, Ce- linda Hurlburt, of Portland, Connecticut, who was born January 12, 1786, and died November 27, 1863.
Their youngest child, Samuel Seymour Churchill, was born February 28. 1825, on the home farm in Newington, where he was a farmer, and died April 2, 1900. He married, November 11, 1846, Louisa Hunt, of Vernon, Connecticut, who died September 19, 1894.
George Edward Churchill, son of Sam- uel Seymour and Louisa (Hunt) Church- ill was born December II, 1858, on the farm where he now resides, in the same house where his father was born, and on the same farm which was tilled by his father. In boyhood he attended the public schools of Newington, and also pursued his stud- ies at home, having been born with a thirst for knowledge and having ambition to improve his mind. From 1880 to 1884 he taught school in the old Bell School House in Newington, which was burned in 1888. Since 1884 Mr. Churchill has devoted his time to agriculture and to the public service. Since his father's death he has occupied the paternal homestead, on which he erected his present residence and various modern farm buildings. He is an active member of the Congrega- tional church of Newington, and has been for some time president of the Christian Endeavor Society connected therewith. He is a man of the highest character, of genial nature, and friendly manners, and enjoys the esteem and friendship of all his contemporaries. He is the friend of good government, acts with the Republi- can party, and has been chosen to fill various offices of trust and responsibility. For some time he served as a member of the School Board, Board of Visitors, as
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registrar of Electors, and on the Board of Relief. He has served as assessor; in 1898 was elected to represent the town in the Legislature, receiving a majority of sixty-eight, the largest ever given to a Republican candidate in the history of the town. In 1902 he was elected a dele- gate to the Constitutional Convention. He is a member of Our Brothers Council, No. 41, Order of United American Me- chanics, in which he passed all the chairs. During the existence of the Newington Grange, both he and his wife were active members. In 1914 he was again elected to represent the town in the Legislature, and served as a member of the committee on corporations.
Mr. Churchill married, August 23, 1888, Anna M. Wickham, daughter of William and Ann S. (Sanders) Wickham, of Manchester, Connecticut. She is a descendant of Thomas Wickham, the American immigrant, from whom the Connecticut families are descended, who was born in England about 1624, and was a Puritan. His name first appears with the record of the birth of his eldest son at Wethersfield in 1648. He became a free- man in 1658, and died January II, 1688. His first wife, Sarah, was born in 1630, in England, and came to Wethersfield with her husband. He married (second) June II, 1672, Sarah Churchill, born No- vember II, 1657, daughter of Josiah and Elizabeth (Foote) Churchill, of Wethers- field, died there January 7, 1700. Her husband is believed to have built the first brick house in Wethersfield, and to have been a tanner of leather. William Wickham, born August 28, 1657, was the first landholder in what is now Glaston- bury. He married (it is believed) Sarah Long. Their son, William Wickham, in 1692, was an incorporator of the town of Glastonbury, owned much land, one tract three miles long, eastward from the Con-
necticut river. He died shortly before 1744. The family has resided in the same town and the same part of the town to the present day. Jonathan Wickham, son of William Wickham, was living in 1723 when the second division of land in Glas- tonbury was made, was born previous to 1714 (probably 1682), as land was given him at that time. In 1739 he was a school teacher, a founder of Eastbury (a parish in Glastonbury) a deacon, clerk of the parish and singing master. He died after the year 1749, leaving a wife, Mary. His son, Hezekiah Wickham, was born in 1725, married, about 1752-53, Elizabeth deacon for about twenty-six years; was a leader in the religious life of the town ; was parish clerk and school- master, and died November 9, 1792. His son, Hezekiah Wickham, was born in 1756, at Eastbury, was a farmer, a soldier of the Revolution, a man of strong religi- ous convictions, of most exemplary char- acter, and died October 2, 1800. He ınar- ried Elizabeth Perrin, whose son, John Wickham, was born May 12, 1801, seven months after his father's death. John Wickham experienced many hardships in early life, and after having established a small household in Glastonbury, all his belongings were destroyed by fire. In time, however, he secured independence, and became a responsible and useful citi- zen, living to the age of sixty-four years. He married Melinda Culver, daughter of Benjamin Culver, of Hebron, Connecti- cut. Their second son William P. Wick- ham, was educated in East Academy, Manchester, and became a farmer in that town. He married, October 8, 1861, Ann S. Sanders, who was born May 30, 1837, in Windham county, Vermont, daughter of Orin and Sally (Canedy) Sanders, the youngest of their nine children. When fourteen years old, Ann S. Sanders began teaching school at a salary of one dollar
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per week with board. Her eldest daugh- ter, Anna M. Wickham, became the wife of George Edward Churchill, as previ- ously noted. They were the parents of two children: Almeron Seymour, born July 27, 1889; Louisa Ann, September 12, 1898. Almeron S. Churchill married, April 6, 1915, Mary Johnson, daughter of Joseph H. Johnson, of Elmwood, Connec- ticut, and they are the parents of a son, Edward Charles Churchill, born June 14, 1916.
MOSER, Oran Alexander, Physician.
Dr. Oran A. Moser is probably of Ger- man descent, and traces his ancestry to Hans Michael Moser, who came from Switzerland to the United States in 1751, and settled in Pennsylvania.
His second son, Peter Moser, was the father of Peter Moser, born in Northamp- ton county, Pennsylvania, in 1796. He removed to the State of Ohio, where he left several children. One of these was Osiah Anthony Moser, born July 27, 1823, in Northampton county, Pennsylvania. He married, about 1845, Mary Ruckman, born September 2, 1824, in Ohio, daugh- ter of John Ruckman, who was born in Pike county, Ohio, about 1724, descend- ant of a Virginia family. They settled in Madison county, Iowa, and in 1880 moved to Jewell county, Kansas, where Mr. Moser died May 6, 1893. Mrs. Moser died April 24, 1893. Osiah A. Moser enlisted at the beginning of the Civil War, as a member of Company K, Tenth Iowa In- fantry, and was wounded at the battle of Vicksburg, May 22, 1863, causing his dis- charge on account of disability. He never fully recovered from this injury. For some time he was county surveyor of Madison county, Iowa, and about fifteen years recorder of deeds, until his removal to Kansas.
Dr. Oran A. Moser, youngest of the eleven children of Osiah A. and Mary (Ruckman) Moser, was born July 1, 1871, in Patterson, Madison county, Iowa. When only nine years of age he removed with his parents to the State of Kansas, and both died when he was twenty-two years old. As a boy the son was accus- tomed to work upon a farm, attending the district school only in winter after he was old enough to be of service to himself. After leaving the farm he found employ- ment as a nurse at Beatrice, Nebraska. There he spent three years in the High School, and removed thence to Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1897. In the following year he was graduated from the High School there. Entering Yale Medical School, he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1902. He provided largely the expense of his medical education by working at various occupations. After graduation, for one year he was resident physician at the State Prison in Wethersfield. In 1903 he established himself at Rocky Hill, where he is now successfully engaged in practice.
Dr. Moser has attained his ambition wholly through his own efforts, sustain- ing himself after ten years of age, over- coming misfortunes and difficulties. He has obtained recognition as a physician of worth, and is a member of the Hartford City, Hartford County, and State Medi- cal societies, and the National Medical Association. He is actively identified with the Congregational church of Rocky Hill, being at the present time (1918) chairman of its board of trustees. While not actively engaged in political action, he sustains well-founded principles and is a supporter of the Republican party.
Dr. Moser married (first) Mary Etta Wolf, a native of Pennsylvania, who died February 14, 1916. He married (second) September 27, 1916, Lottie Kierstead, of East Hartford, Connecticut, daughter of
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Aaron Kierstead, who came from Canada to East Hartford. His children are: Clarinda Rosemary, born June 20, 1909, and Oran Alexander, August 9, 1917. Mrs. Moser is a graduate nurse, and is descended from one of the oldest families of the City of New York, who owned large property in that city at the time of the Revolution. Among her ancestors may be mentioned the Annake Jans family, which owned land where Trinity Church of New York City now stands. A daugh- ter of this family married a clergyman named Kierstead, and they were the par- ents of six sons, three of whom remained Loyalists and removed to Canada.
SMITH, Edgar Robbins, Agriculturist.
There were many early families that moved from Hartford and Wethersfield to Hatfield, Massachusetts, and in later generations some representatives re- turned. This is true of one branch of the Smith family. Lieutenant Samuel Smith was born in England, about 1602, and sailed on April 30, 1634, for New England in the ship "Elizabeth," of Ips- wich, with his wife, Elizabeth, and chil- dren : Samuel, aged nine; Elizabeth, aged seven ; Mary, aged four, and Philip, aged one. He and his wife were then called thirty-two years of age. He set- tled first at Salem and was admitted a freeman, September 3, 1634, was a pro- prietor there in 1638, and removed to Wethersfield, Connecticut, where he was a leading citizen ; was chosen representa- tive more than any other man, serving almost the entire sessions from 1641 to 1653. He was one of the committee to make settlement for the purchase of Say- brook and its dependencies, and also took a very active part in the church as well as the State.
It may be of interest here to give a short account of the "Hartford Contro- versy," showing the strong feeling of the time in matters of conscience as well as the reason why Samuel Smith with others removed to Hadley in 1659. The church at Hartford was one of the largest and most eminent in New England, and the two ministers, Thomas Hooker and Sam- uel Stone, though unlike in some respects, were both great and good men, whose praise was in all the churches. Mr. Hooker was firm and decided, yet pru- dent and conciliatory, and there was no serious trouble while he lived. A few years after his death a contention arose with a majority of the church on one side and a strong minority on the other. On each side were men of distinction in the town and colony. The first disturbance was occasioned by the call of a person to supply the place of Mr. Hooker, who had died. Then arose the question about the enlarging of baptism. The minority were attached to the order professed and prac- ticed under Mr. Hooker. They preferred to adhere to the Cambridge platform and were opposed to any changes. Mr. Stone endeavored to introduce some new prac- tices into the church; these innovations were displeasing to the minority. The changes related to three subjects: Quali- fications for baptism, churchmanship, and rights of bortherhood. Only the mem- bers of the church in full communion had their children baptized. The synod, held in Boston in 1657, decided that children could be baptized if their parents were not scandalous, though not members of the church in full communion. Mr. Stone advocated it. This met with so much opposition that the minority formally withdrew from the church and formed a union with the church in Wethersfield under Mr. John Russell. The matter was brought before the court of Massachu-
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setts, who forbid their withdrawal. They then applied to the court of Massachu- setts for a grant of land in Hadley, which was given them on condition that they should submit to an orderly hearing of the differences between themselves and their brethren. In appointing the annual Thanksgiving in November one reason given for thanks was the settling of the differences in Hartford. The General Court of Massachusetts, so careful to have the members separate from the church in an orderly manner, never sug- gested that there was any irregularity in the conduct of the Wethersfield mem- bers who settled in Hadley in 1659. The Saybrook platform, in 1708, was the result of this compromise between the parties. Mr. Smith was one of the lead- ing men in Hadley, where he also held important offices in both church and State, was representative from 1661 to 1673, a commoner and magistrate of the town in 1661, lieutenant of militia from 1663 to 1667. He was a thrifty and sub- stantial farmer, and died about 1680, aged seventy-eight. The inventory of his estate was taken January 17, 1681 ; amount a little more than £700.
John Smith, youngest child of Lieuten- ant Samuel and Elizabeth Smith, born about 1637, probably in Wethersfield, was slain by the Indians in Hatfield Meadows, May 30, 1676. In 1668, in an association with his brother Philip, he purchased the three-acre homestead of his father on the west side of Broad street, Wethersfield, but later lived in Hadley. He mar- ried, November 12, 1663, Mary Part- ridge, daughter of William and Margaret (Smith) Partridge, of Hartford and Had- ley. After his death she married Peter Montague, and died May 20, 1683.
Benjamin Smith, son of John and Mary (Partridge) Smith, was born 1673, in Hadley, and settled in Wethersfield.
He married, March 14, 1700, Ruth Buck, born December 4, 1681, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Churchill) Buck.
Their fifth son, Jonathan Smith, born in February, 1719, in Wethersfield, lived in that town, where he died January 20, 1800, and was buried in the ancient ceme- tery at Wethersfield. No record of his second marriage appears. His widow, Keziah, born 1734, died April 26, 1804.
Their son, George Smith, born 1773, died June 15, 1854, in Wethersfield. He married Sarah Blinn, baptized December 10, 1775, eldest child of Hosea and Ruth (Smith) Blinn, and died November 19, 1855, in Wethersfield.
Their son, George Smith, born Decem- ber 27, 1811, died April 5, 1902. His edu- cation was supplied by the common schools of his home town, and he became one of the most active and useful citizens in the town. Early in life he was a teacher, later engaged in the insurance business, and for many years did most of the fire insurance business of the town as representative of the Hartford County Mutual Insurance Company. He was also extensively interested in the seed busi- ness and in packing and shipping tobacco. He was a Democrat in politics, filled nearly every office in the town of Weth- ersfield, and was twice postmaster there. His commissions, during the administra- tion of Andrew Jackson in 1835, and of Andrew Johnson in 1867. are preserved by his son, mentioned below. He mar- ried, November 26, 1835, Lucy Robbins Griswold, born November 9, 1812, bap- tized June 17, 1821, eldest child of James and Lucy (Robbins) Griswold, of Weth- ersfield.
Edgar Robbins Smith, eldest son of George and Lucy Robbins (Griswold) Smith, was born June 20, 1840, in Weth- ersfield, where he has made his home to the present time, and through his indus-
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try and business ability has made a suc- cess of agriculture. His education was supplied by the local schools, and very early in life he engaged in farming upon the paternal homestead, which had been cultivated by his ancestors for several generations. Mr. Smith has not taken a very active part in public affairs, though he served two years as selectman, as a matter of civic duty. Politically, he has always acted with the Democratic party. He has never employed a physician, and is still hale. He married, May 29, 1867, at New London, Connecticut, Nancy Clark (Griswold) Morgan, daughter of Edward and Sarah Margaret (Gibson) Morgan, granddaughter of Guy and Nancy Clark (Griswold) Morgan. In 1917 their golden wedding anniversary was cele- brated.
The Morgan family is descended from Richard Rhuys Morgan, son of Guillame Morgan, son of Philip Morgan. Like all of the name, the family is Welsh and is of very ancient lineage in Great Britain. Richard Rose Morgan (as he wrote the name) arrived in Boston in 1660, and was in Charlestown, Massachusetts, soon after. He married there, October 7, 1664, Hopestill Mirick, who was born Febru- ary 20, 1643, in Charlestown, daughter of John and Hopestill Mirick, pioneers in that town. About 1679-80 they settled in that part of New London, Connecticut, which is now the town of Waterford, where Richard R. Morgan died in 1698. His wife survived him about fourteen years, dying June 1, 1712. For some time his descendants used the name Rose to distinguish their family from that of James Morgan, a very prolific family, also located in New London. John Mor- gan, son of Richard Rose and Hopestill (Mirick) Morgan, born 1666, lived in New London, where he married Patience Edwards, also of Welsh extraction. They
were the parents of John Morgan, born 1689, married, 1710, Mary Caverly. Their eldest child, John Morgan, born January 16 17II, married, October 16, 1735, Grace Morgan, and was the father of Edward Morgan, born May 23, 1737. He married, April 9, 1760, Zuriah Shipman. Their son, Steven Morgan, born July 19, 1765, in New London, lived for some years in Wethersfield, after which he removed to New London, and died April 19, 1843. He married Mary Douglass, born November 25, 1766, in Norwich, daughter of Daniel and Lois (Calkins) Douglass, died in Wethersfield. Their eldest child, Guy Morgan, was born September 17, 1786, in Wethersfield, and resided for a short time in Berlin, Connecticut, where his eldest child was born. He removed to Wyoming county, New York, where he built a log cabin, the first house in the town, named Wethersfield from his native place. In 1833 he removed to Wood county, Ohio, where he was a very active and prominent citizen, filling many county offices, from supervisor to judge of Court of Common Pleas, and died Oc- tober 9, 1842. He married, October 19, 1806, Nancy Clark Griswold, born Sep- tember 10, 1788, in Wethersfield, baptized four days later, daughter of Ozias and Anne (Stanley) Griswold, granddaughter of Thomas and Mary (Francis) Stanley, of New Britain, the descendant of Mich- ael Griswold, an early settler of Weth- ersfield, through his son, Jacob, and grandson, Josiah, who was father of Ozias. Edward Morgan, son of Guy and Nancy Clark (Griswold) Morgan, was born August 20, 1818, in Wethersfield, New York, and married Sarah Margaret Gibson, of Waterford, of Scotch descent. They were the parents of Nancy Clark (Griswold) Morgan, the wife of Edgar Robbins Smith, as previously noted.
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WARNER, Frederick Walton,
Business Man, Public Official.
Family names are the product of the middle ages and as a means of distinc- tion have been a blessing to mankind. Surnames were first used in England about the year 1050, but their use was confined to a few persons for three cen- turies or more thereafter. As the name of Warner appears in the Domesday Book, it will be seen that it is one of the oldest of the English names. By some it has been supposed that it was derived from the word Warriner, the keeper of a warren, and another explanation of its derivation is to be found in the theory held by some antiquarians as follows: It appears that near the boundary of Wales, in the southwest section of England, their dwelt a race of people who were engaged in agricultural pursuits. To protect themselves from the surrounding sav- age tribes, these people were forced to appoint from among themselves the most athletic and discreet men, who might go out into the surrounding coun- try and warn the people of the approach of the enemy. Hence the name Warner, and this explanation of the origin and sig- nificance of the name corresponds with the derivation from the old high German Warjan, meaning to defend, as given by Zeuss. It seems likely that the name is derived from the ancient German and like all historic names was spelled in a variety of ways. In the seventh century we find the old German form, Warin, Guarin, Warne, Werno and Wern, and at a later time Warrerener, Warner and Werner, the latter being also common English forms of the name. The arms of the War- ner family are a bend engrailed between six roses, three and three gules, and the motto, non nobis tantum nati. These were emblazoned on their shields and are also
found carved in several parts of the ceil- ing of the South Isle of the Church of Great Waltham, England. Burke gives the significance of the motto as "we are not born for ourselves alone." Various branches of the family are now living in the counties of Kent, Norfolk, Suffolk, Warwick and York in England, Ayrshire, Scotland, and in Ireland.
The ancestors of William Warner, the founder of that branch of the family in America of which Frederick Walton Warner is to-day a representative, have not thus far been identified. He was the son of Samuel Warner, and was born at Boxted in the County of Essex, England, October 20, 1594. This William Warner with his sons, John and Daniel, and his daughter Abigail, came to this country at a very early date and settled in Ips- wich, Massachusetts, in 1637. In the same year the town granted him, "one house lot," "one acre, more or less on the Mill Street." William Warner died prob- ably before 1648, as the names of his sons appear on the tax list for that year while his name is missing.
His son, Daniel Warner, was born in England about 1618, and died in Ipswich, September 9, 1688. He married for his first wife, Elizabeth Denner, who died November 1, 1659.
Their son, William Warner, was born in 1646 at Ipswich, Massachusetts, and married, November 1, 1667, Hannah, a daughter of "Gentleman" John and Mary Robbins. She was born April 10, 1643, and died March 3, 1713-14. William Warner located in Wethersfield, Connec- ticut, in 1660. He was made freeman, October, 1669; fence viewer, 1671; lieu- tenant of the Train Band, September, 1689; deputy to the General Court, 1697, 1700, 1703, 1704, 1706, 1708, 1709 and 1710. Both he and his wife were mem- bers of the Wethersfield church, and his
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epitaph describes him as "deacon elect, pious, grave, modest and true." He died February 28, 1713-14.
Their son, Daniel Warner, was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut, January I, 1680, and married, October 3, 1706, Mary, a daughter of Samuel Borman. She was born November 3, 1685, and died in 1770. Samuel Borman was born in Wethers- field, October 28, 1648. In the Wethers- field records he is called "clerke" also "sergeant." He married, February 8, 1682, Sarah, a daughter of Lieutenant Samuel and Mary (Boosey) Steele, of Farmington. Samuel Borman was a cooper by trade; surveyor of highways, 1679; collector, 1683; on the commission to lay out road in Fearful Swamp, 1687; lister, 1693. His estate inventoried £1085, 18s., Iod., showing him to be suc- vessful beyond the average and thrifty. He died December 23, 1720. His widow died January 23, 1732-33. His father, Samuel Borman, was baptized at Ban- bury, Oxfordshire, England, August 20, 1615. His name first appears in this coun- try on the Ipswich, Massachusetts, rec- ords in 1639. He removed to Wethers- field in 1641, and married Mary, a daugh- ter of John and Mary Betts, of Claydon, Oxfordshire. She died in August, 1684, aged probably sixty-one. Samuel Bor- man received large grants of land at Wethersfield, both from the town and from the Indians, by each of which he seems to have been greatly trusted and re- spected. He was a cooper by trade. He represented Wethersfield as deputy to the General Court, commencing October, 1657, for eighteen terms, being present at thirty-four sessions. In 1649 he was ap- pointed by the General Court as sealer of weights and measures. He was first cus- toms collector for Wethersfield, being appointed in 1659, was juror for fifteen years. between 1646 and 1662; grand
juror in 1660 and 1662, served on many committees to settle church disputes, estates, disputes with the Indians and other matters. The Boardman Geneal- ogy says that the American family descends from the Boremans and that the name Bordsman or Boardman was, "from the first entirely distinct from Boreman, and has an altogether different derivation. Curiously and unaccount- ably, the descendants both of Thomas Boreman, of Ipswich, Massachusetts, and of Samuel Boreman, of Wethersfield, hav- ing at first generally employed the spell- ing Borman, by inserting after a few gen- erations the 'd,' and sometime later the 'a,' gradually changed their name to its present form, and so not only made it different from the one by which their ancestors were called, but identical with that of an entirely distinct family." This change from Boreman or Borman to Boardman, first appears in the Wethers- field line in the record of Richard of Newington, 1707. The new form was adopted by most of the family in Weth- ersfield until 1780 when the "a" is first added. In England the ancestry of the family has been traced back to William Boreman, of Banbury, Oxfordshire, 1525. Daniel Warner, who married Mary Bor- man, inherited his father's homestead on the lower end of Broad street in Weth- ersfield. He was lister in 1709. His estate was inventoried at £20,000 and included five negroes. His will is dated March 24, 1750.
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