USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 5 > Part 6
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Israel Wilcox, son of John Wilcox, was born in Middletown, June 19, 1656, and died December 20, 1689. He married, March 26, 1678, Sarah Savage, a daughter of John Savage, born July 30, 1657, and died February 8, 1725.
Samuel Wilcox, son of Israel Wilcox, was born in East Berlin, Connecticut, September 26, 1685, and died January 19, 1727. He married, March 3, 1714, Han- nah, daughter of John Sage, who died in April, 1737.
Daniel Wilcox, son of Samuel Wilcox, was born in East Berlin, December 31, 1715, and died July 29, 1789. He was a large property holder and made a present of a farm to each of his 14 children. In addition he laid out a plot of sixty rods for a burying ground, and the same is now known as the Wilcox Cemetery, and on his tombstone there is the following inscription :
I gave this ground, I'm laid here first, Soon my remains will turn to dust. My wife and progeny around, Come sleep with me in this cold ground.
Daniel Wilcox married, March 16, 1737, Sarah White, born April 22, 1716, died June 28, 1807, daughter of Daniel White, and a descendant of the immigrant, John White. They were the parents of thirteen children.
Samuel Wilcox, son of Daniel Wilcox, was born September 12, 1753, in East
Berlin, and died March 12, 1832. He was married three times and his first wife, Phebe (Dowd) Wilcox, was born May 28, 1759, and died March 9, 1796.
Benjamin Wilcox, son of Samuel Wil- cox, was born June 27, 1782, in East Ber- lin, and died May 10, 1843. He was the first to make use of the waters of the Mattabessett river for the purpose of manufacturing, and with two others erect- ed a mill for spinning cotton yarn, which was woven by women on hand looms. This property later came into the posses- sion of the Roys & Wilcox Company and then to the present owners, the Peck, Stow & Wilcox Company. He married (first) February 21, 1806, Betsey Savage, born June 25, 1787, died January 28, 1831, a daughter of Selah Savage, who was en- sign at the battle of Bunker Hill.
Samuel Curtis Wilcox, son of Benjamin Wilcox, was born in East Berlin, Decem- ber II, 18II, and died there September 21, 1886. He was a man possessed of a good education, and in early life was a school teacher. On his return to Berlin he established a general store and later a similar one at Washington, North Caro- lina, which he conducted for many years. He then opened a tinware factory, which was the first in the United States, and on its organization was conducted under the name of Carpenter, Lamb & Wil- cox. The number of employees there at first was thirty, but the firm quickly grew, and did a remarkably profitable trade es- pecially throughout the Southern States. All kinds of tinware were manufactured and the business continued for fifteen years. At this time Mr. Wilcox estab- lished at East Berlin a small manufactory for tinsmith's tools and machines, and out of this small beginning grew the widely known firm of Peck, Stow & Wilcox. This firm was established in 1870 on the con- solidation of eight similar factories, seven
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in Connecticut and one in Cleveland, Ohio. Until his death Mr. Wilcox was vice-president of the company, and was president of the Berlin Iron Bridge Com- pany, a company which he had assisted when they were financially embarassed and also through his superior business ability and judgment placed it among the leading and prosperous industries of Ber- lin. To-day it is one of the largest and most prosperous of its kind in the country and has constructed some of the finest engineering structures in both this coun- try and Europe. Berlin is heavily indebt- ed to Mr. Wilcox for much of its growth and substantial development. He was a Democrat in politics, a man of strong con- victions, withal a kindly disposition.
He married (second) Anne Scovill Peck, born March 15, 1827, died March 7, 1884, daughter of Norris and Elizabeth (Langdon) Peck, of Kensington Parish, Berlin. They were the parents of eight children.
Hon. Frank Langdon Wilcox, sixth child of Samuel Curtis and Anne Scovill (Peck) Wilcox, was born in Berlin, Jan- uary 6, 1859. He attended the Berlin Academy until twelve years of age, and then pursued a course of college prepara- tory study at St. Paul's School, Concord, New Hampshire. After his graduation in 1876, he entered Trinity College, Hart- ford, and was graduated from that insti- tution with the degree of A. B., in the class of 1880. Immediately after his grad- uation he entered the employ of the Peck, Stow & Wilcox Company in the capacity of clerk in the shops. In 1885 he had risen to the position of manager of the Ken- sington Shops, continuing until that plant was consolidated with the others. He was then elected treasurer of the Berlin Iron Bridge Company, and continued ac- tively engaged in the management of that prosperous concern until 1900, at which
time the company became a part of the great consolidation of interests, the Amer- ican Bridge Company. Since that time Mr. Wilcox has been intimately connect- ed with the financial and business corpo- rations of Hartford and New Britain. He is vice-president of the Peck, Stow & Wil- cox Company, the corporation which started him in his business career ; presi- dent of the Fidelity Trust Company of Hartford; a director in the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company of Hart- ford ; the Berlin Savings Bank of Berlin ; the American Hosiery Company, and president of the J. O. Smith Manufac- turing Company.
The rise of Mr. Wilcox has been rapid, however, it has been commensurate with his ability, as he is the architect of his own life and owes his success to no fortuitous circumstances.
In political belief a Republican, Mr. Wilcox has taken more than a passive interest in public affairs and has given much of his time to the service of the City and State. In 1893 he was the rep- resentative from Berlin to the Legislature and served on the judiciary committee. In 1903 he was state senator from the Second Senatorial District. The follow- ing year he was president of the Connec- ticut Commission to the World's Fair at St. Louis. He was a former major of the Governor's Foot Guard, and is now re- tired after years of service. Major Wil- cox is a member of many social and frater- nal organizations in his own and other cities, taking an active interest in them. He is an ex-president of the Trinity Col- lege Alumni Association ; ex-president of the College Athletic Association ; member of the fraternity, Delta Psi ; vice-president of the Connecticut Agricultural Society ; and a trustee of Trinity College. His clubs are the Hartford City and Universi- ty of Hartford, and he is affiliated with
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the Masonic order. In religious faith he is a Congregationalist and is superinten- dent of the Sunday school at Berlin. He was vice-president of the City Club of Hartford, of which he was one of the founders in 1914, and was elected vice- president of the first annual re-union of "Wilcox Family and Allied Families," held at the Center Church House, in Hart- ford, August 27, 28, 29, 1913.
On January 19, 1898, Major Wilcox was married to Harriett Churchill Webster, daughter of Deacon Charles Selah and Julia Sophia (Higgins) Webster, of Ber- lin. They are the parents of a son, Samuel Churchill, and a daughter, Margaret Web- ster.
DENNIS, Rodney,
Insurance Actuary.
Rodney Dennis, the first secretary of the Travelers Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut, was born in Tops- field, Massachusetts, January 14, 1826, and died in Hartford, Connecticut, in June, 1899. He is a descendant on both the maternal and paternal sides of the early settlers of New England. The first ancestor was Thomas Dennis, who was a soldier in King Philip's War. His grandson was an army chaplain and sur- geon for a dozen years in the middle French wars, 1737 to 1749, and was then a pastor and teacher in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
His grandson was the Rev. Rodney Gove Dennis, father of Rodney Dennis, who was born in New Boston, New Hampshire, April 17, 1791, son of Arthur and Mary (Goodhue) Dennis. He was baptized at the age of five years, and fitted for his college career at the Appel- ton Academy, New Ipswich, New Hamp- shire. In the autumn of 1811, he united with the Congregational church of that
place, and the following year entered Bowdoin College, from which he was graduated in 1816, and took his second degree in 1820. He then entered the An- dover Theological Seminary, graduating in 1819. He was ordained for the minis- try in Topsfield, Massachusetts, the next year, and preached there nine years. With his family he then removed to Somers, Connecticut, and after nine years pastorate in that town, was acting pastor at Fairfield, Connecticut, from 1841 to 1845. From 1857 to 1859 he was installed at Hillsborough, New Hampshire, and from that time until his death officiated without change at Southboro, Massachu- setts, where he died in 1865. Rev. Mr. Dennis married, in 1820, Mary Parker, born in 1793 at Billerica, Massachusetts, daughter of Stephen and Mary (Duren) Parker. Rev. and Mrs. Dennis were the parents of ten children, the fourth child and second son being Rodney.
Rodney Dennis removed with his par- ents when a child to Somers, Connecticut, and received his elementary education there, attending the High School for one term. When sixteen years of age he came to Hartford and was employed in mercan- tile business as a clerk. Through his in- dustry and thrift he soon established him- self in a business of his own, the firm of Dennis & Ives Company, the interests of which took him to Georgia, where he re- mained for two years, and was employed by the well known firm of Hand, Wil- liams & Wilcox. He then returned to Albany, New York, and in 1855 to Hart- ford, where he became associated with the Phoenix Bank of that city in the capacity of accountant, remaining there for nine years. It was at that time, 1864, that the Travelers Insurance Company was chartered, and upon the request of the President, James G. Batterson, and the Board of Directors, Mr. Dennis be-
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came the secretary of the company, a position he ably filled up to a few years before his death. To this new field Mr. Dennis brought those qualities gained in his business career which tend so much to the success of such an office, namely a quick and active mind tempered with con- servatism. "And here the reward of early discipline, self sacrifice derived from his early business training with no one to rely upon but himself, became manifest. * * * To him there was no difference between the moral obligations of a man and a corporation, and any seeming suc- cess of either was an 'Apple of Sodom' if not earned by the honest service and based on the immutable laws of God."
His faculty for following all issues to their successful fulfillment and method- ical system enabled him at all times to give a clear and concise logical presenta- tion of the intricacies of his department. His personality and high sense of honor and duty gave him a popular place among his associates and he was held in high esteem by his business contemporaries. In 1842 Mr. Dennis founded the Morgan Street Mission School, which was one of the first organizations of its kind in Con- necticut, the purpose of which was to care for and visit the poorer classes of the city and give aid and help to their chil- dren. While in Georgia, he founded a similar institution there, and was super- intendent and teacher of the Hartford School for over twelve years. From the founding in 1880 of the Connecticut Hu- mane Society, until his death, Mr. Dennis served as its president, and he was also one of its corporators. He had many in- terests, among them being the following : Auditor of the Connecticut Bible Society, vice-president of the Young Men's Chris- tian Association, director of the Overman Wheel Company and of the Connecticut Fire Insurance Company, one of the three
American trustees of the Lion Fire In- surance Company of London, trustee of the Society for Savings, director of the Hartford Trust Company, the Hartford City Gas Light Company, the Hartford Electric Light Company, the Farmington Power Company, vice-president of the American Humane Society, and of the American Anti-Vivisection Society, chair- man of the board of managers of the Hartford Retreat for the Insane, a trustee of the Connecticut Industrial School for Girls, chairman and trustee of the pru- dential committee of the Hartford Theo- logical Seminary, and trustee of the American Missionary Association. Mr. Dennis was also connected with many of the interests of the Travelers Insurance Company. He was a Republican in poli- tics, and with his family a member of the Center Congregational Church of Hart- ford.
Mr. Dennis married, at Hartford, Con- necticut, June 6, 1854, Clara Strong. a daughter of William and Naomi (Terry) Strong, of East Windsor, Connecticut, and they were the parents of the follow- ing children: William, died in infancy ; Grace, born April 6, 1855, at Albany, New York, married Ralph W. Cutler, of Hart- ford; Charlotte, born May 7, 1860, be- came the wife of Thomas Little; Bertha Parker, born January 10, 1868, resides at home; Rodney Strong, born January 12, 1870, married Cecile Meiller, died March 7, 1904.
CUTLER, Ralph William, Banker, Man of Affairs.
Ralph William Cutler needs no intro- duction to the readers of this work. For years he was one of the leading bankers of Connecticut's financial center, and his ability had long been recognized in wider banking circles.
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The Cutler genealogy is an interesting one. The family traces in this country to the earliest times of the Colonists, the im- migrant ancestor being James Cutler, who was born in England in 1606. The records show him settled in Watertown, Massachusetts, as early as 1634, when he was one of the original patentees of land in the northerly part of the town. Later he settled in what is now Lexington, where he died May 17, 1694. He had be- come possessed of considerable land which he divided by will among his chil- dren. His first wife, Anna, died Septem- ber 30, 1644.
Their son, James Cutler, was born Sep- tember 6, 1635, and died July 31, 1685, at Cambridge Farms, now called Lexington. James Cutler was a farmer and soldier in King Philip's War. He married, June 15, 1665, Lydia. widow of Samuel Wright, and daughter of John Moore, of Sudbury, where she died November 23, 1723.
Their son, Thomas Cutler, was born December 15, 1677, at Cambridge Farms. He was constable in 1719; selectman in 1729, 1731, 1733 and 1734. About 1752 he removed to what is now the town of Warren, Massachusetts, where he had purchased a farm, and where he made his will, September 15, 1759. He married Sarah, daughter of Samuel and Dorcas (Jones) Stone, who died at the age of sixty-nine years, January 10, 1750.
Their son, Deacon Thomas Cutler, Jr., was born September 30, 1719, at Lexing- ton, Massachusetts, and inherited the homestead farm from his father in War- ren. He followed the occupation of farm- ing all of his life. He died November 28, 1760. He married a widow, Mrs. Sarah Fiske, daughter of Samuel Reade, of Bur- lington, Massachusetts, born October 8, 1724, and died March 25, 1807.
Their son, Lieutenant Ebenezer Cutler, was born at Lexington, Massachusetts,
April 30, 1747, and in his turn inherited the homestead where he had been reared in Warren. He served in the Revolution- ary War. He died October 28, 1814. On April 7, 1768, he married Abigail, daugh- ter of - Stone, who died at the age of forty-one years, May II, 1790.
Their son, James Cutler, was born at Warren, Massachusetts, November 5, 1774, and died August 13, 1843. He mar- ried, December 8, 1803, Betsey, daughter of Captain Cyrus Rich, and she died March 8, 1862. Both James Cutler and his wife were earnest members of the Congregational church, and were noted for their public spirit.
Eben Cutler, son of James and Betsey (Rich) Cutler, was born in Warren, Mas- sachusetts, April 26, 1816, and was the youngest of six children. He engaged in the jewelry business in Boston with such success that he was able to retire from business several years before his death. He was not a politician in the accepted sense of the term, but took more than a passive interest in public affairs and served as a member of the City Council and Board of Aldermen in Boston, and was a member of the Massachusetts Leg- islature in 1865 and 1866. Mr. Cutler was a man of sterling character, was ambi- tious, energetic and thrifty. He was a man of high ideals and drew around him a wide circle of friends. On November 4, 1851, he married Carrie Elizabeth Hol- man, of Newton, Massachusetts, who died November 7, 1873, at the age of thirty- nine years. She was a direct descendant of Ensign John Holman, who came from England in the ship "Mary and John" and was one of the original settlers of Dor- chester, Massachusetts, in 1630. He served as selectman, was an ensign in the Pequot War, and was a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston.
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Ralph William Cutler, son of Eben and Carrie Elizabeth (Holman) Cutler, was born in Newton, Massachusetts, Febru- ary 21, 1853. and died in Hartford, Con- necticut, November 7, 1917. His boyhood was spent in Boston, where he graduated from the English High School in 1869, as a "Franklin Medal Scholar." In his early youth he showed a tendency for athletics, and without doubt his fondness for phy- sical as well as mental exertion had much to do with the physical vigor he enjoyed throughout life. For a few years after leaving school, Mr. Cutler was employed in a wholesale grocery house, and during this period he gained a knowledge of bus- iness methods and of men which was to prove of great value to him in his later years as a banker. In 1880 Mr. Cutler removed to Hartford, where he had accepted a position as treasurer of the Hartford Trust Company. He gave the performance of his daily duties the best that was in him, and used his keen powers of observation, neglected no opportunity to gain knowledge concerning the bank- ing business, with the result that within a short space of seven years he was elected president of the company. At that time he was only twenty-seven years of age and had the distinction of being the youngest bank president in Connecticut. Mr. Cutler was interested in other im- portant financial interests of which we may mention : Director of the Hartford Electric Light Company, the Hartford Morris Plan Company and of the Taylor & Fenn Company. In politics Mr. Cutler was a Republican. He served as a mem- ber of the Common Council in 1883 and 1884, and in 1896 was appointed fire com- missioner, which position he served in continuously for six years. In 1905 he was appointed commissioner of the Board of Finance, and his counsel proved of much value in matters involving the ex-
penditure of the city's money. At the time of its organization, in 1880, Mr. Cut- ler was elected treasurer of the Connec- ticut Humane Society and continued in that capacity until 1910. He had been a director since the formation and was for many years a member of its executive committee. For a long period he was a member of important committees of the American Bankers' Association and was widely known among the bankers of the country. He was made president of the Trust Company section of the American Bankers' Association in 1914, and later made a member of the executive commit- tee.
In the midst of a busy and varied life, Mr. Cutler had found time to take part in the activities of a number of patriotic and social organizations. He was com- missary of the First Company, Gov- ernor's Foot Guard, 1907 to 1916, with the rank of captain. On May 23, 1916, he was transferred to the honorary staff at his own request by Major Slocum, re- taining his rank as captain. He was re- appointed on the honorary staff by Major Charles A. Stedman, the present com- mandant (1917). Mr. Cutler was "Gen- tleman of the Council" at the organiza- tion of the Society of Colonial Wars in 1893, and served continuously as its treas- urer. He was a member of the Jeremiah Wadsworth Branch, Connecticut Society, Sons of the American Revolution, and of the Citizens Corps of Robert O. Tyler Post, Grand Army of the Republic. His clubs were the Twentieth Century, Hart- ford, Republican and Hartford Golf. Mr. Cutler was a member of the Center Con- gregational Church of Hartford.
On January 6, 1880, Mr. Cutler married Grace Dennis, daughter of Rodney Den- nis, a founder and for some years secre- tary of the Travelers Insurance Company. Mr. and Mrs. Cutler were the parents of
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three children: I. Charlotte Elizabeth, married Joseph H. Woodward, actuary of the Workman Compensation Commis- sion of New York. 2. Captain Ralph Den- nis Cutler, manager of the appliance de- partment of the Hartford Electric Light Company, and now a member of the Quartermaster Corps, United States Army, at Camp Greene, Charlotte, North Carolina. 3. Ruth Holman, wife of Charles DeLancey Alton, Jr., office man- ager of the J. B. Williams Company of Glastonbury.
Mr. Cutler owed his prominence in the business world to no fortuitous circum- stances; he was the architect of his own fortune, and his achievements in the modern world of business confer an added luster to a line of distinguished ancestors. His high ideals, unselfish interest in pub- lic affairs, and uniform courtesy won for him a high place in the esteem of his fel- low citizens. At his death the city of Hartford lost one of its substantial busi- ness men. Mr. Cutler had a genial, social side and was a recognized personality in social gatherings, clubable, cordial and entertaining. Many friends will miss him and his adopted city, Hartford, will be without one of the men she could surely rely upon.
THOMPSON, Whitefield Nelson, Alienist.
There is ample record that several of this name were among our earliest sev- enteenth century settlers. Sir William Thompson, of England, was the owner of property about Boston, and his coat-of- arms has come down through many gen- erations of James Thompson's descend- ants, but patient research fails to estab- lish the exact connection between the English and American houses. Edward Thompson came over in the "Mayflower"
in 1620; John, his brother, came over in 1643; Archibald Thompson settled in Marblehead in 1637; Edward Thompson settled in Salem in 1637; Doctor Benja- min Thompson settled in Braintree and was town clerk in 1696, and left at his death eight children and twenty-eight grandchildren.
James Thompson was among the origi- nal settlers of Woburn, Massachusetts, and settled in that part of the town which is now known as North Woburn. He came in Winthrop's great company, in 1630, and first settled in Charlestown. He was born in 1593, in England, and was accompanied on his journey by his wife Elizabeth and three sons and one daugh- ter. He was then thirty-seven years of age, and tradition has it that he was one of the party who landed at Salem, Massa- chusetts, in the early part of June, 1630. His coat-of-arms is identical with that of Sir William Thompson, a London knight, and it is probable that he came from that family. With his wife, Elizabeth, James Thompson was admitted to membership in the First Church of Charlestown, August 31, 1633. In the following December he was admitted as a freeman of the town. In December, 1640, he was one of the thirty-two men who subscribed to the noted town orders for Woburn. He was among the few adventurers who early pushed their way into this wilderness region. Charlestown Village was incor- porated in 1642, under the name of Wo- burn, and it is believed that this was in memory of the ancient town of that name in Bedfordshire, England, whence some of the emigrants probably came. James Thompson was chosen a member of the First Board of Selectmen, and continued to serve the town in that office nearly twenty years with brief intervals. In 1650 he was the commissioner to carry the votes for town officers to Cambridge.
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The exact location of his residence cannot be positively stated, but it is probable that is was near the junction of Elm street and Traverse. It appears by the records that he was an extensive land owner for that time. It is probable that he disposed of most of his property before his death, as his will makes no reference to real estate. His first wife, Elizabeth, died November 13, 1643, and he was married (second) February 15, 1644, to Susanna Blodgett, widow of Thomas Blodgett, of Cambridge. She died February 10, 1661. He survived his second wife about twen- ty-one years, and died in Woburn, 1682.
Simon Thompson, second son of James and Elizabeth Thompson, was a native of England, but there is no record of his birth. With his father, he came to Charlestown and subsequently to Woburn, and became a freeman of that town in 1648. After a residence there of several years he became a purchaser with others, from that town and from Concord, of the territory which is now the town of Chelmsford. He was one of the seven men who held a meeting in that town to arrange for some form of local govern- ment. It is the tradition that he became the first town clerk. They made prompt arrangements for the settlement of a minister. Within three years after the completion of the organization of the town, he died, in May, 1658. He was mar- ried in Woburn, December 19, 1643, to Mary Converse, a daughter of Edward Converse, one of the foremost men of that town. His widow was married Feb- ruary 1, 1659, to John Sheldon, of Bil- lerica.
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