USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 7 > Part 15
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(I) Going back to the earliest pioneer of this name in America, we find that Dr. John Viets came from Europe previous to 1700. We find him settled in New York, and there he married Catherine Meyers, April 24, 1700. In 1710 he re- moved with his family to Simsbury, Con- necticut, and lived there until his death, November 18, 1723. His wife, Catherine (Meyers) Viets, died March 6, 1734.
(II) Captain John (2) Viets, son of Dr. John (1) Viets, was born November 3, 1712, in Simsbury. He was given a good education, then was employed in the copper mines at Newgate, and later lived for a time in Westfield, Massachu- setts. He was a farmer and hotel keeper, and is credited with introducing potato culture into Connecticut. He was a man interested in public affairs, lieutenant and captain of militia, and selectman in 1753. He was appointed keeper of the Newgate prison in 1773, and held that position for two years. He did good work during the Revolution imprisoning Tories. Before his death he became quite a rich man. He died of smallpox, April 8, 1777. He married, December 12, 1734, Lois Phelps, born March 10, 1718, a daughter of Na- thaniel and Lois Phelps, a descendant of William Phelps, one of the early settlers of Windsor. She died November 12, 1810.
hundred acres, besides which he was a lawyer and surveyor ; was also captain of militia. Hle married, in 1771, Mary, daughter of Benoni and Martha (Moore) Viets, born June 27, 1751, died Septem- ber, 1825.
(IV) Dan Viets, son of Captain Abner Viets, was born October 17, 1783, and died in December, 1866. He was a farmer and also a stone cutter. He was a pub- lic spirited man and built a highway from Granby to East Granby. He married, January 1, 1812, Beulah Phelps, daughter of Deacon Judah and Abigail (Bishop) Phelps. Deacon Judah Phelps served in the Revolution. Beulah (Phelps) Viets was born February 21, 1790.
(V) Benjamin Erskine Viets, son of Dan Viets, was the youngest of nine chil- dren, and was born June 12, 1828. He attended the district schools of his native town. At different periods he was a resident of Granby, East Granby, Suffield, Connecticut, and Springfield, Massachusetts. He married (first) Sep- tember 1, 1853, Anna Hubbard, born March 18, 1828, in Bloomfield, daughter of Benoni and Abigail (Francis) Hub- bard, a descendant of John Hub- bard, one of the early settlers of Hartford and one of the first to live in Bloomfield. Of this marriage there were three sons, Francis Hubbard, Edward Bradford, and Scott Benjamin, of whom further.
(VI) Scott Benjamin Viets, son of Benjamin Erskine Viets, was born in East Granby, May 4, 1859. He attended the public schools, after which he com- pleted his education at the Connecticut Literary Institute. In 1881 he went to Waterbury and was employed there for a year by the American Ring Company, but except for this has always been en- gaged in farming. The Viets farm lies
(III) Captain Abner Viets, son of Cap- tain John (2) Viets, was born February 15. 1747, and died July 27. 1826. He was an extensive farmer, owned a farm of four on either side of East Granby street, and
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is crossed by the tracks of the Central New England Railroad. It extends to the top of the hill, but has fully twenty-five acres of good tobacco land. In the twenty-five acres on the ridge there is one of the best trap rock quarries in the State. It is one of the most picturesque locations in the State and from the ridge can be seen the spires of Hartford, the city of Rockville, and the Heublein Tower on Talcott mountain. This is the farm to which Benjamin E. Viets came in 1869 and which then comprised one hundred acres. He repaired and remodeled the buildings which are now among the best in town. Scott Benjamin Viets has since added considerable acreage to the farm, including the Richard Phelps farm, which adjoined it on the south. The buildings include two houses and a tobacco shed 125 feet long, besides the usual farm out- buildings. This is the farm which the State of Connecticut bought in January, 1918, for the site of the proposed State prison. It is generally conceded to be a wise acquisition, as it is a most desirable piece of property and well suited to the purpose. Mr. Viets has grown five or six acres of tobacco annually, and until two years ago ran quite a large dairy. He has always kept several acres in corn. He is a Republican and served for four years as town treasurer, although he never aspired to political honors.
in 1882 Mr. Viets married Chloe M., daughter of William Ansel and Sarah (Alderman) Viets, born June 21, 1860. There are three children: Ethel May; Bernice L .; Dorothy P. In 1918 Mr. Viets purchased a residence on Five Mile road in West Hartford and there the family now reside. They are members of the Congregational church. For much of the genealogical data above we are in- debted to the published record of the Viets family.
VIETS, Willard Westley,
Tobacco Grower.
The important industry of the Connec- ticut Valley is the growing of tobacco, and engaged in this work we find many descendants and worthy representatives of the early Colonial families. Among these may be mentioned Willard Westley Viets, who was born July 7, 1870, son of Dan A. and Mary J. (Getman) Viets. He is a direct descendant of Dr. John Viets (q. v.), who was one of the best known linguists of his day.
(V) Dan Alexander Viets, son of Dan Viets (q. v.), was born Novem- ber II, 1824, in what is now East Granby, and died November 8, 1904. He was a general farmer and early engaged in the raising of tobacco. A Re- publican in politics, he held the office of selectman for several years. Mr. Viets married (first) a Miss Pheland, and their children were: Walter, Fannie and Wil- liam Viets. Mr. Viets married (second) Mary J. Getman, who died November 13, 1877. She was the mother of seven chil- dren, six of whom grew to maturity. They are: Emma, wife of William Tifft, residing in Hartford; Hartley, resides at home; Annis, wife of Warren Parker, of Westfield, Massachusetts ; Whitney ; Wil- lard Westley, of further mention ; Jessie, wife of John La Fleur, of Stoughton, Wis- consin. Mr. Viets married (third) Alice J. Grant, and there were two sons by this marriage, Harry and Frederick Viets.
(VI) Willard Westley Viets, youngest son of Dan Alexander and Mary J. (Get- man) Viets, attended the public schools of his native town, at an early age was trained to the farm work, and immedi- ately after his marriage he began farming on his own account. His farm has an acreage of one hundred and sixty-five acres, and sixteen acres are entirely de-
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voted to tobacco growing. General crops are grown in abundance also. Despite the demands upon his time by his busi- ness and farming interests, Mr. Viets has found an opportunity to lend his services in the interests of his town and State. He is a Republican in politics and for twenty years served as chairman of the Republi- can town committee. Since 1894 he has been a member of the Board of Selectmen and for twenty-one years served as first selectman. In 1909 Mr. Viets represented his town in the Legislature, and was a member of the railroad committee. For fifteen years he has been a member of the East Granby School Board at various times, and is now serving his ninth con- secutive year, and in 1918 was elected for a term of three years. Fraternally he is affiliated with Old Newgate Lodge, Knights of Pythias.
Mr. Viets married Mary Alice Wilson, daughter of David Wilson, of Simsbury, born June 17, 1869, and they are the par- ents of three sons : David, Dan and Adolph Viets. Mr. Viets and his family are regular attendants and lend their sup- port to the Methodist church of East Granby.
VIETS, Hiram Chapin,
Merchant and Postmaster.
In the less remote country districts, while the community does not to any de- gree imitate the dwellers in the cities, still community pride and individual self- respect are evident, not in isolated in- stances, but with a unity of spirit which compels the respect of the urban visitor. Of no section in Connecticut is this more literally true than of the towns in the northern part of Hartford county. Granby, and its more recent off-shoot, East Granby, have given the world many sub-
stantial citizens, whose influence has been for public progress, even if they have not invariably been the recipients of public honors. The Viets family, of East Granby, is a noteworthy example.
(V) Joseph Franklin Viets, son of Dan Viets (q. v.), was born February 6, 1827, in Granby, and died September 13, 1903. He married (second) October 11, 1870, Angeline Chapin, daughter of Hiram Chapin, of Granby. She died May 8, 1915.
(VI) Hiram Chapin Viets, the only child by this second marriage, was born August 23, 1871, in East Granby. Like many another man who has made a name for himself and has been a forceful, worthy citizen, he was educated in the public schools of his native town. He worked for others for a year or so before he started in business for himself. The ambition of the man is proved by the fact that he had only passed his eighteenth birthday when he bought out the busi- ness of E. P. Harvey, of North Granby. He ran the business for about three years, then wanting the experience of contact with men and affairs, he spent a year in Hartford. He returned, however, to the home town, and to his father's farm, which he carried on as long as his father lived. Establishing himself in the confi- dence of his townspeople, he became postmaster in East Granby. November 1, 1904. The following year he established himself in business as a general merchant there, conducting an up-to-date establish- ment. After continuing in business for four years, he sold out his store, but has con- tinued to hold the postmastership until the present time. For some years prior to the spring of 1918, Mr. Viets was en- gaged in the cattle and grain business more or less extensively, but has since re- tired from those lines of activity. Mr.
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Viets is a Republican, an upright and fair minded man, interested in every pub- lic enterprise and institution. That he enjoys the trust and confidence of the towns people goes without saying, as he has held the office of town treasurer for six years, holding both offices at the same time.
HAYES, William James,
Tobacco Grower, Public Official.
Now one of the prosperous, progres- sive tobacco growers and packers of the Connecticut Valley, having one hundred and forty acres under cultivation, Mr. Hayes can recall from the momentous day, long ago, when with many misgiv- ings, he planted his first acre in tobacco. He has been steadily progressing in area cultivated and in the quality of his pro- duct during these years, and among the many innovations which he is responsible for introducing into the business is the growing of the crop under shade. As a tobacco grower he has also had the novel and somewhat remarkable experience of growing and marketing four crops in two years, but the explanation is that in the years 1901-02, after getting his crop into the sheets, he went to Porto Rico, and there grew another crop which matured and was gathered the same year. Mr. Hayes' farm and packing house is at Tar- iffville, Hartford county, Connecticut, eleven miles from Hartford on the Farm- ington river and Central New England railroad. He is a son of Thomas and Ann (Clark) Hayes, his mother a daughter of Owen Clark, of County Meath, Ireland, who on coming to the United States set- tled at Tariffville, William J. Hayes be- ginning his tobacco growing operations on the farm of his grandfather, Owen Clark.
Thomas Hayes was born in County Wexford, Ireland, a descendant of the ancient O'h-Aodha family which derived descent from Aodh(Hugh), the ninth son of Cas. They were formerly chiefs of Musary-Luaxlura, a territory in the bar- ony of Coshlea, County Limerick. This name, O'h-Aodha, was anglicized as O'Hea, Hay, Hayes, and Hughes. The Hayes family of Ireland bore a coat-of- arms with a motto: Serva Jugum. Thomas Hayes, when a young man, came to the United States and here learned the carpenter's trade. He married Ann Clark, who died in 1865, daughter of Owen Clark, of County Meath, Ireland. The Clarks came from Ireland when their daughter, Ann, was two years old, set- tling in Tariffville, where Owen Clark for a time followed his trade of stone mason, later becoming a farmer and land owner. Thomas and Ann (Clark) Hayes resided in Bloomfield, Connecticut, where she died aged twenty-eight years, the mother of four children, John, Mary, Francis, and William James, the last named the only living member of the family. After the death of his wife, Thomas Hayes went to Cleveland, Ohio, having married a second wife, and there he died in 1875, at the age of thirty-eight years.
William James Hayes was born in Bloomfield, Connecticut, October 6, 1863. He was but two years old when his mother died, and from that time he was cared for at the home of his grandparents, Clark, in Tariffville. He attended the Tariffville public school, and worked on the Clark farm until he was eighteen years of age, then became a carpenter, at which trade he spent some time. He en- gaged in the butcher business on his own account and has a market in Tariffville. In 1890 he gave up that business and began tobacco growing on his grand-
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William &. HayEs
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father's farm, planting but one acre the first year. His success with that acre en- couraged him to continue, and each year he planted a larger acreage. In 1900 he began growing his crops under shade, being one of the first growers in his sec- tion to adopt that plan, all having hereto- fore grown their crops in the open. His experience in growing four crops in two years has been alluded to, but perhaps a still more curious fact is that now, six- teen years later, he ships tobacco to Porto Rico, seemingly another case of "carry- ing coals to Newcastle." Mr. Hayes has now one hundred and forty acres under cultivation devoted to tobacco, and since 1905 has been a buyer and packer, a part- ner in the firm, Ketcham & Hayes, dur- ing the first five years of that period. He then formed a partnership with Cullman Brothers of New York City. His farm is not wholly devoted to tobacco, but main- tains a herd of twenty-five cattle and pro- duces good crops of grain and potatoes. He is a director of the Simsbury Banking & Trust Company, and has other interests of importance.
Mr. Hayes is a member of the Knights of Columbus of Hartford, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and Foresters of America, having been grand chief ranger of the Connecticut branch of the last named order. He is a Democrat in poli- tics, and has served his town both as selectman and assessor. He is a man of high standing in his community, and holds the perfect confidence of his busi- ness associates.
Mr. Hayes married Nellie, daughter of John Cunningham, of Hartford, and they are the parents of six children : Mary E., married Thomas Mahan, of Hartford; Francis, now a resident of Detroit, Mich- igan, married Nina Downes, of Bridge- port; William T., died in 1918, aged
twenty-six, leaving a widow, May (Kel- ley) llayes, and three children, Mary, William, and James; Arthur, married Etliel Foley, and has a daughter, Eliza- beth Foley; Anna and George are living with their parents.
DANIELS, Herbert Orrin,
Deputy Dairy and Food Commissioner.
One of the most widely-known and among the most progressive farmers of the State of Connecticut, Herbert Orrin Daniels, Deputy Dairy and Food Com- missioner, was born April 11, 1868, in Middletown, Connecticut, son of Samuel Buckley and Lucy (Bailey ) Daniels.
Mr. Daniels grew up in the town of Middletown, receiving his education in the schools of that town and Durham, and during his vacation periods was accus- tomed to assist in the work of the home farm. His entire attention has been given to agriculture, to which he has brought an intelligent study, and in which he has gained a wide reputation through- out the State. Following the death of his father, in association with his brother, James Elmer Daniels, he engaged in the dairy business in 1888. The beginning was on a small scale, but through the energy and intelligent application of the proprietors it rapidly grew. They were the founders and organizers of the Mill- brook Dairy Company, now having head- quarters on Main street, Middletown, which they equipped with everything in the way of new machinery, making one of the most sanitary and successful estab- lishments of the kind in the State. Their interest in this was finally disposed of and cach of the brothers engaged inde- pendently in the dairy business. They were the first to erect a silo in the town of Middletown, and originated and built the first circular brick structure of this kind
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in their section of the State. The separa- tion took place in 1913, and Mr. Herbert O. Daniels now occupies a model farm, some three miles from the center of the city of Middletown, where he conducts a prosperous business. He was the first farm demonstrator in the State, an evi- dence of his pioneer spirit, energy and enterprise. This undertaking was fi- nanced by prominent business men, and was carried on in the manner now adopted by the farm bureaus. In time it became a part of the extension service of the Connecticut Agricultural College, and was for some time under Mr. Daniels' personal charge.
The highest compliment to Mr. Dan- iels' standing and ability was made in his appointment by the State Dairy & Food Commissioner, Thomas Holt, to the posi- tion to deputy. Mr. Holt, a steadfast Democrat, was appointed to his position by Governor Holcombe because of his especial fitness and ability, and the com- missioner made no mistake in choosing a prominent Republican as his assistant, who contributes in no small measure to the success of the department. He is in- terested in the progress of the farmer and in the work of the State to assist him in making the most and best of his oppor- tunity. Naturally, Mr. Daniels has been active in various organizations in line with his work, and he is a member and direc- tor of the Connecticut Dairymen's Asso- ciation, of which he was two years presi- dent ; is also a member and director of the Connecticut Milk Producer's Association. As a good citizen, Mr. Daniels has not confined his activities and interests to the dairy business, but has promoted and fostered various movements for the gen- eral welfare. Along these lines was the establishment of a long distance telephone system in his neighborhood, in which he was largely instrumental, and in fact pro-
vided the poles for a distance of one mile in order to secure the service. Mr. Dan- iels is an esteemed member of the Meth- odist church of Middletown, to which he gives faithful and sincere support. In political principle, he has always been a Republican with large sympathies for any reform measures.
Mr. Daniels married, February 1, 1893, Phoebe K. Baldwin, daughter of Louis and Jane (Roberts) Baldwin, both natives of Middletown. Mr. and Mrs. Daniels are the parents of a son and two daughters, namely, Grace, born April 18, 1894; Lewis Baldwin, June 18, 1899; Ruth Marion, November 18, 1902.
PHELPS, Almon Blake,
Agriculturist, Public Official.
The Revolutionary landmarks of New England are, too many of them, gone to ruin, although it is not yet a century and a half since the stirring deeds were done which gave them historical interest. But the Old Newgate Prison will stand, at least in part, while the everlasting hills remain. It is visited by many sight-seers annually, and gruesome conjectures are made of the terrible sufferings of the pris- oners as they languished in the old under- ground passages and dungeons. The prison is situated on the western decliv- ity of a greenstone mountain. In 1786 the site was in Granby, and now in what is called East Granby, since that part of the town was set off in 1858. Mines ad- jacent were until recently known as the Sims Copper Mines. These were worked in 1757 by the landed proprietor, Sims. In 1714 they were bought by a Boston concern and worked for twenty-three years. At one time German mniners were imported. In 1737 and 1739 coin was made in these mines. About 1773 they were operated by prison labor, and in
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Revolutionary times Tories were im- prisoned there. Captain John Viets was the first keeper, and his bill for one year was twenty-nine pounds, five shillings, ten pence. It was decided that the Col- ony should occupy it as a permanent prison, and its purchase and fortification price was $375. In 1790 it was estab- lished as a State Prison. The wall built in 1802 is still standing. As a tourists' resort it has gained much fame, there being five thousand visitors in the year 1910. The property is now owned by Almon Blake Phelps, a prominent dairy farmer of East Granby.
The Phelps family originated in Lom- bardy, Northern Italy, where they were called Welf. In the eleventh century in Germany the form became Guelph. In the sixteenth century they went to Scot- land the name became Phelps. The reign- ing English family are of this line, and the old English family seat was in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, where in the old Abbey church the lettered tomb- stones still remain. The name has its root in the Greek word philos, meaning friend. The escutcheon of the American branch of the family was as follows:
Arms-Per pale, or and argent, a wolf salient azure with anorle of eight crosses-crosslet and fitchie and gule, crest a wolf's head erased, azure collard or, the collard charged with a martlet sable.
The meaning is considered to be a record of fortifications against an enemy ; cour- age and endurance being signified by the wolf; the crosses-crosslets fitchee being emblems of the Second Crusade, that the arms were earned in that campaign ; also the martlet indicates that the ancestor has been on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
James Phelps was born about 1520, and the records show that his wife, Joan, ad- ministered his estate, May 10. 1588. Their eight children were baptized in the
Tewkesbury Abbey Church. William Phelps, eldest son of James and Joan Phelps, was born August 4, 1550. Ad- ministration was granted on his estate to his wife, Dorothy, September 28, 1611. She died in 1613. George Philps, son of William and Dorothy Phelps, was born at Tewkesbury, England, about 1606. He came to New England on the "Mary and John," and settled in Connecticut, his home being at the junction of the Farm- ington and Great (now Connecticut) rivers, in what is now the town of Wind- sor. On this farm there was an orchard of one thousand trees. He lived at West- field, Massachusetts, for a time, going there in 1670. He married (second) March 22, 1649, Mrs. Frances Dewey. Their son, Sergeant John Phelps, was born February 15, 1652, and lived in Po- quonock. He died about 1742. He mar- ried, in 1673, Sarah Buckland, born March 24, 1649, daughter of Thomas and Tem- perance Denslow. Thomas Phelps, the next in line, was born June 21, 1687, and died January 6, 1702. He married (sec- ond) Ann Brown, born in Windsor, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Loomis) Brown. Thomas Phelps, born July 27, 1711, lived in Poquonock, and owned land in Torrington. In 1744 he bought land in Simsbury for two hundred pounds. He died September 24, 1777. He mar- ried, November 23, 1737, Margaret Wat- son, born June 7, 1715, in West Hart- ford, daughter of John and Sarah (Steele) Watson.
Jabez Moore Phelps, the next in line, was the grandfather of Almon B. Phelps. He was born May 20, 1782, and received only a common school education, as there were no advantages at that time in coun- try districts, and transportation to schools in adjacent cities was out of the question. He lived throughout his life in the town of Suffield, following the occupation of
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farming, as his father had done. He was a Whig in politics, and both he and his family were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was an upright citizen and a consistent follower of his religious faith. He died May 8, 1848, and is buried in the town of East Granby. On January 1, 1805, he married Rebecca Hamilton, who was born in Tolland, Connecticut, December 7, 1777, and died April 13, 1858, surviving him by nearly ten years. They were the parents of four children.
Canfield Phelps, the second child, was born July 7, 1811, in the town of Suffield. He studied civil engineering and became very well educated. When a young man he traveled all through the south in the interests of a clock company in Connecti- cut, and later went west, locating for a time in Sarahsville, Noble county, Ohio. Here he followed civil engineering, and also did more or less real estate and stock business. For a considerable time he was extensively engaged in the lumber business, continuing after his removal to Edgerton, Williams county, Ohio. There he became a very prominent citizen and held numerous public offices. He died in that place, November 5, 1871. He was a staunch supporter of the Republican party. He married (second) Mary Hol- ley, and they were the parents of four children, of whom three grew to maturity : Almon B., of whom further ; Drayton, a resident of Williams county, Ohio; and Lucy R., the wife of Edwin Store.
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