USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 7 > Part 19
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(V) Solomon Dewey, son of Josiah (3) Dewey, was born April 29, 1724, in Leb- anon, where he died May 2, 1819, at the age of ninety-five. He was a skillful cab- inet maker ; was six feet tall, and on his ninetieth birthday walked a mile to a neighbor's house, and built a wooden mould board. He married, August 30, 1770, Elizabeth Cady, who was born June 6, 1736, in Tolland, and died September 5, 1813, daughter of John and Hannah Cady.
(VI) Asahel Dewey, son of Solomon Dewey, was born June 15, 1775, in Leb- anon, and died there, April 26, 1846. He was county surveyor, and teacher of mathematics, and represented the town in the Legislature. He married, March 8, 1798, Lucina Fuller, born April 10, 1777, in Lebanon, and died December 14, 1826, daughter of Beyaleel and Phebe (Sprague) Fuller.
(VII) Silas Dewey, eldest child of As- ahel Dewey, was born June 16, 1801, in Lebanon, and died December 27, 1836. He was a farmer on the old homestead, and later a merchant in Norwich. He married, October 19, 1828, at Groton, Sally Ann Brown, born September 27, 1807, at Groton, died December 8, 1893, at Rockville, daughter of David Palmer and Fanny Eldridge (Chadwick) Brown.
(VIII) Silas Henry Dewey, son of Silas Dewey, born April 27, 1830, lived on the old homestead which had been in the family for one hundred and seventy years, and sold it after reverses of fortune. He was representative to the Legislature in 1865; was deputy sheriff in New London county, and afterwards in 1877, in Tol- land. He went to Fisher's Island in 1879, and in 1884 to Canada, where he was liv- ing in 1898. He was a member of the Eastern Star Lodge, No. 44, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He married, April 30, 1851, Nancy Maria Manley, born May 31, 1830, in Columbia, and died Novem- ber 29, 1897, in Andover, Connecticut. They were members of the Columbia Congregational Church. He died July 5,. 1909.
(IX) John Stevens Dewey, son of Silas Henry Dewey, was born February 12, 1869. He was admitted in the public schools of Columbia and Norwich, Conn- ecticut. Then went to New York City and became a commercial reporter for the Mercantile Protective Agency. He was. thus employed from 1884 to 1890, when he returned to Connecticut and engaged in farming in the town of Andover. He re- mained there for eight years, when he re- moved to East Granby. In 1903 he lo- cated on the present farm as superintend- ent for the Indian Head Plantations Cor- poration. He bought out this farm in 1913, and makes a specialty of shade grown tobacco, although he does a very considerable amount of general farming. He grows about forty acres of tobacco, about fourteen acres of corn, three and one-half of potatoes, six of oats, four of rye, and four of buckwheat. He has alto- gether about seventy acres under cultiva- tion, and has two other farms besides the Indian Head. Besides the growing end
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of the business he buys and packs tobacco very extensively. He is one of the big men in this line.
Mr. Dewey is a public spirited, whole souled man, who meets his associates as one who is interested in the human side of existence, as well as the business side. In all the various relations involved in the administration of an outdoor business in a country town, he is a man who sees both sides of a question, and meets every problem with a breadth of judgment which secures him the friendship of his fellow-workers. He is a member of St. Mark's Lodge of Masons, No. 36, of Sims- bury; Washington Commandery, No. 1 ; Connecticut Consistory ; also a member of the building committee. He is past chan- cellor of Old Newgate Lodge, No. 65, Knights of Pythias, of Tariffville, and has been master of the exchequer ever since his term of chancellor commander ex- pired. Mr. Dewey is past master of St. Mark's Lodge, and is now president of the Past Masters' Association, of Hart- ford. He is a member of the Foresters of America ; member of Star Chapter, No. 69, Order of the Eastern Star, of Granby, of which he was one of the organizers. Mr. Dewey is now past patron, and Mrs. Dewey is worthy matron.
Mr. Dewey married, June 25, 1897, Nellie Sophia, daughter of Edward and Jane Euthanasia (Babcock) Thurber, born March 6, 1868. They were the par- ents of six children : Maude Evelyn, born March 3, 1898; John S., Jr., born August 1, 1899; George Laurin, born March 26, 1901; Bertrand Manley, born July 2, 1902 ; Nelma Thurber, born December 22, 1903 ; and Grace Lucina, born March 22, 1905.
For the greater part of the genealogical data above, we are indebted to the pub- lished Genealogy of the Dewey Family.
LAMB, Henry Winslow,
Retired Business Man.
Among the early families of Massachu- setts Bay Colony, that of Lamb, first planted in Roxbury, has spread all over the New England States, and wherever the name is found is identified with every line of worthy endeavor. The founder, Thomas Lamb, came with Governor Lamb in 1630, settling in Roxbury, where he was one of the six men who pledged themselves for the support of the first free school in America, Roxbury Latin School, its Latin name. This branch of the family settled in Connecticut, where Winslow M. Lamb was engaged as a member of the mercantile firm, Lamb Brothers. His wife, Alice M. (Clark) Lamb, was a niece of Governor Loomis, of Connecticut. They were the parents of Henry Winslow Lamb, who during the past eight years of his life, 1910-18, was a resident of Tariffville, Connecticut.
Winslow M. Lamb lived at different periods of his life in Salem, Colchester and Norwich. In the last named city he engaged in the grocery business with his brothers for many years, and was a man of substance and ability. He married Alice M. Clark, and they were the parents of two sons and two daughters, namely : Henry Winslow, Charles M., Carrie B., and Hellen C.
Henry Winslow Lamb, son of Winslow M. and Alice M. (Clark) Lamb, was born in Norwich, Connecticut, May 11, 1854, died September 6, 1918. He completed preparatory study at Colchester Academy, then entered Yale University, a classmate being now ex-President William H. Taft. He was graduated from Yale, A. B., class of 1878, and for about one year thereafter was engaged as principal of the West Hartford High School. He then opened a wood yard in New Haven, and there
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continued in successful business until after his marriage, when he disposed of that business. He continued his residence in New Haven until 1910, then removed to Tariffville, Connecticut, which was his home until death. In Tariffville he was not in active business, but was fully occu- pied with the care of his invested inter- est. In New Haven Mr. Lamb was a member of old Hiram Lodge, No. 1, Free and Accepted Masons. He was a man of high moral tone and intellectually, very careful of all obligations of life, quiet, studious and companionable.
Henry W. Lamb married, February 18, 1897, Mrs. Emily A. Hotchkiss, daughter of Harrison C. and Maria A. (Jones) Smith. By her first marriage Mrs. Lamb has a son, Earl Harrison Hotchkiss. Mrs. Lamb's father, Harrison C. Smith, died in 1888. He was a machinist engaged in his business at both Deep River and Chester. He was known as the "veteran bit maker," and at the time of his death was foreman of a shop in Philadelphia, which city had been his home for several years. He was a member of Deep River Lodge, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and a member of the Baptist church. Harrison C. Smith married Maria A. Jones, daugh- ter of Richard Jones, a resident of the Deep River section called "The Plains," a substantial farmer and stock raiser. They were the parents of two children : Emily A., now widow of Henry Winslow Lamb, and Ivan Smith, of New Haven, Connecticut. Mrs. Lamb is a granddaugh- ter of Wells Smith, a farmer of Deep River, and his wife, Catherine A. (Town- er) Smith.
THOMPSON, Henry Zelah, Tobacco Grower.
To the casual sightseer motoring the level valleys in the northern part of Conn-
ecticut, the only impression left on the mind is that of one tobacco field after an- other, with scarcely a boundary between them. To the casual observer the people of the countryside are much like the fields, one man after another all engaged in the same line of work, so presumably one man after another all more or less alike. So the men of the city place all agricul- turists in a class and call them farmers. The ordinary man of business, whose in- terests do not touch those of the food and tobacco grower, fails entirely to realize that the man behind the plow in a very large measure makes our civilization. It is not the farm, not the character of the crops, but the man himself at the head of the productive work of the world, that holds the welfare of thousands in his hands. Nor are all farmers alike. Among them can be found many men of broad sympathies, of high ideals, alive to the moral and spiritual progress of their gen- eration, as well as the material needs to which they directly minister. Such a man is Henry Zelah Thompson, of East Granby.
Thompson is a very old and honored English name, and the family, many gen- erations before their transplanting to America, was the bearer of the following arms :
Arms-Azure a lion passant guardant or ; within a bordure, argent.
Crest-A lion rampant, ducally gorged or.
(I) The progenitor of this family in America was the Rev. William Thomp- son, who was born in 1598-99, in Lanca- shire, England. He matriculated at Bragen Nose College, in Oxford, January 28, 1628. He preached in Winwick, a par- ish in Lancashire. In 1637 he came to Boston, and was first engaged at Kit- tery, but later settled at Braintree, Massa- chusetts. He removed from there and
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was ordained November 11, of that year. Ile gave up the ministry in 1659, and died December 10, 1660. He brought to Amer- ica with him his wife, Abigail, two sons and two daughters. Their other children were born in America
(11) Samuel Thompson, eldest son of Rev. William Thompson, was born in England. He settled at Braintree, where he was representative for nine years. On April 25, 1656, he married Sarah Shepard, born in England, daughter of Edward and Violet Shepard, who had also emigrated to America, and at that time resided in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
(III) Edward Thompson, third son of Samuel Thompson, graduated from Har- vard College in 1684, aged nineteen He resided in Newbury and taught school for several years, before and after leaving college. He began to preach in Simsbury, Connecticut, in June, 1687, and in 1691 removed to the "west end" of Newbury, Massachusetts. He died March 16, 1705, in Marshfield, Massachusetts. He mar- ried Sarah Webster, born July 31, 1659, daughter of John and Ann (Batt) Web- ster, of Newbury.
(IV) Samuel (2) Thompson, eldest child of Edward Thompson, was born September 1, 1691, in Newbury, was grad- uated from Harvard in 1710, and ordained at Gloucester, Massachusetts, November 28, 1716. He died December 9, 1724. He married Hannah Norwood, who was born in 1694, and died June 13, 1769.
(V) Edward (2) Thompson, son of Samuel (2) Thompson, was born April 27, 1722, in Gloucester, and died June 16, 1806. He came to Simsbury in 1793 with his mother, his brother Samuel, and sis- ters, Mary, Martha and Sarah. He was baptized in 1742, and died in 1830.
(VI) Edmund Thompson, son of Ed- ward (2) Thompson, was born March 9,
1765, in Simsbury, and baptized AApril 28, 1765, by Rev. Roger Viets. He married, May 8, 1782, at Turkey Hill Church, East Granby, Sarah Moses, of that town.
(VH1) Edmund (2) Thompson, son of Edmund (1) Thompson, was born in Simsbury, January 27, 1788, and died April 21, 1861. In carly life he learned the trade of carriage making in Simsbury, then followed it also in what is now East Granby. He was a skilled and conscien- tious workman. Later he was extensively engaged in farming, and acquired large tracts of land. He was a Democrat in pol- itics, and was highly commended by his constituents when he represented the town of Granby in the State Legislature. He was held in the highest respect by a large circle of friends, who had every con- fidence in his probity. On September 11, 1809, he married Sophia Pinney, of the section now known as East Granby, a daughter of Aaron Pinney. Both were earnest members of the Baptist church. Mr. Thompson died AApril 21, 1861, and his wife died December 6, 1863. They are buried in the East Granby Cemetery.
The ancestors of Sophia (Pinney) Thompson lead down through carly New England days, the founder of the family coming from England in the "Mary and John," in 1630. He settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts, and was one of the origi- nal members of the Dorchester Church. He came to Connecticut and settled in Windsor, in 1635; he died August 21, 1683. His second son, Nathan, was born in December, 1641, was baptized in Wind- sor, in January, 1642, and died in 1676. He married Sarah, widow of Samuel Phelps, and daughter of Edward and Mary Griswold, pioneers of Windsor, born in 1638, in England. Their only re- corded son, Lieutenant Nathaniel Pinney, was born May 11, 1671, in Windsor, that
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section being then called Poquonock, and died January 1, 1764. He married, Sep- tember 21, 1693, Martha Thrall, who was born May 31, 1673, daughter of Timothy and Deborah (Gunn) Thrall. Their youngest child, Abraham, was born in February, 1710, in Windsor, and settled in the locality known as "Scotland," in Simsbury. He married Elizabeth Burton, and died September 12, 1780. Their third son, Captain Aaron Pinney, was born in 1743, and resided in Scotland. He died December 26, 1812. On June 1, 1765, he married a Miss Bidwell, who was born in 1740, and died December 20, 1772. Their third son, Aaron, was baptized July 10, 1768, and married Susannah Holcomb, who was born in 1769, and died January 28, 1802, at the age of thirty-four. Their eldest child, Sophia, born July 27, 1792, became the wife of Edmund Thompson, as above noted.
(VIII) Edward P. Thompson, son of Edmund (2) Thompson, was born Au- gust 25, 1819, and received an excellent education. After attending the district schools in the town of Granby, he went to the Hartford schools and also Westfield schools, and then attended the Suffield Institute. He was always well informed on the topics of the day, as he continued his interest in literature and current his- tory throughout his life. He learned car- riage making with his father when a young man and was very successful. He also joined with his father in the carrying on and the developing of the home farm interests, building a fine residence on the property. He was one of the first tobacco growers in this section of the county, and built extensive barns and tobacco sheds. Mr. Thompson married (first) September I, 1841, Nancy G. Holcomb, who died January 30, 1843, and she was the mother of a daughter, Nancy Holcomb Thomp-
son, born January 30, 1843, who became the wife of Martin H. Smith and the mother of two daughters: Florence, mar- ried Charles Luther Spencer, of the Conn- ecticut River Banking Company, a sketch of whom is found elsewhere in this work; Lillian, married Elmer Bailey. Mr. Thompson married (second) Mary Jean- ette, daughter of Zelah and Jeanette (Ben- ton) Case. He died at the old homestead, June 22, 1880. By his second marriage he was the father of the following child- ren : Josephine, born 1844, died young ; William, born 1853, died young; Katie M., born March 26, 1849, married Marvin H. Sanford; Delia S., born October 8, 1856, married W. M. W. Ward. Henry Zelah, who receives extended mention be- low. Edward P. Thompson was a thor- ough-going Democrat, but never desired political preferment. His wife died Jan- uary 1, 1899, at the home of her son, Henry Zelah Thompson.
(IX) Henry Zelah Thompson, son of Edward P. Thompson, was born in East Granby, August 2, 1862. He was educated in the public schools of his native town, supplementing this course with another at the Hartford grammar schools and fin- ishing at the Suffield Institute. As a young man he gave great promise of be- ing a worthy successor to the long and highly respected line of Thompsons which had done so much to establish and uphold the dignity of the town of Granby and its later offshoot, East Granby. It is cer- tainly no flattery to say that this promise has been amply fulfilled. Mr. Thompson has carried on the home farm, increasing the acreage under cultivation, keeping up the fine old buildings and presiding in the house of his fathers in a fitting manner. He raises open grown tobacco, corn and other crops. He does not fail in his duty to the public, having been chairman of
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Gev & Bidwell
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
the town committee for ten years and a member of the board of relief for five years. Neither does he confine his pub- lic interest to the boundaries of his own town. He is chairman of the Liberty Loan Committee of East Granby, and under his direction excellent work was done for the country in her time of need. He is a member of Old Newgate Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and is also a member of the Grange. He is a Democrat, as were his father and grandfather, and actively interested in the welfare of the party, but has always declined office. He is prom- inent socially as well as in business life, and altogether is a man of whom the cit- izens of his native town speak with pride.
Mr. Thompson married Mary S. Rose, a native of Suffield, daughter of Mortimer and Lucy Ann (Sheldon) Rose. They have no children of their own, but have reared a daughter, Gertrude Crane, who married Charles F. Griffin, of North Bloomfield.
BIDWELL, George Edmund, Agriculturist.
If there be any truth in the theories of heredity, a phophet would not have found it necessary to resort to occult sources of information to predict when George Ed- mund Bidwell was a lad that he would win recognition as a successful agricul- turist. The family record is unique as to vocation for Mr. Bidwell is of the sixth generation in direct line of descent, each of whom has been a successful tiller of the soil. George E. Bidwell was born in Canton, Hartford county, December 21, 1858, son of Albert F. and Henrietta R. (Pike) Bidwell.
The name, Bidwell, is of Saxon origin. According to Burke, it was originally spelled Biddulph, and is composed of "the
Saxon words-Bidde, or Bida, 'prayer, en- treaty,' and Ulph, 'assistance, protection,' indicating that he who first adopted it had been employed in some embassy or mission, to seek aid, and thence acquired the designation. The family is certainly of remote antiquity, and Erdeswick, in his Survey of Staffordshire, says: 'The Biddulphs derive themselves from one Ormus le Guidon, Lord of Darlaveston, Buckinghall, Biddulph, in Staffordshire, who lived in the time of Domesday.'" More than fifteen variations in the spell- ing of the name are recorded, the forms now most commonly found being Bid- dulph, Bedwell, Bidwell, and Biddle. The various coats-of-arms show that the bear- ers were descended from the same an- cestor. According to Burke, already quoted, the original Bidwell arms were :
Arms-Per saltire or, and gule four roundels each charged with a martle1, all counter-charged. Crest-A hand in fesse couped at the wrist holding a curling stone.
The first of the name in the Connecticut Valley was Richard Bidwell, called on the records "Goodman Bidwell." He was an carly settler at Windsor. His death oc- curred on December 25, 1647. While def- inite proof has not yet been found, it is generally supposed that he was the father of John, mentioned below.
(1) John Bidwell, a proprietor of Hart- ford "by the courtesie of the town," re- ceived four acres in the division of 1639- 40. He owned a tan yard on an island in Little river ; was chosen chimney viewer, 1655-56; was freed from watching and training in 1670. He married Sarah, daughter of John Wilcox, and he and his wife were original members of the Second or South Church, February 12, 1670.
(II) John (2) Bidwell, eldest child of John (1) Bidwell, was born about 1641, and died July 3. 1692. He married, No-
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vember 7, 1678, Sarah Welles, born 1659, and died in 1708. She was a daughter of Thomas and Hannah (Tuttle) Welles, and granddaughter of Governor Thomas Welles. John Bidwell inherited from his father all his lands and buildings west of the Connecticut river, so he resided at Hartford. He was a prominent miller, and owned the first saw mill at Glaston- bury in 1667; had three saw mills and a grist and fulling mill at Hartford, and also had a mill in each of the towns of East Hartford, Wethersfield and Middle- town. He was an engineer and was elected by the town of Hartford to deepen the channel in the Connecticut river be- tween Hartford and Wethersfield. He left an estate of £1,081, and we may therefore conclude that he was not only industrious and thrifty, but far above the average man of his day in business abil- ity. He and his wife were members of the Center Church.
(III) Thomas Bidwell, son of John (2) Bidwell, was born December 27, 1682. and died in 1716. He married, March 28, 1707, Prudence Scott, born in 1683, died February 14, 1763, daughter of Edward Scott, of New Haven. Thomas Bidwell was one of the administrators of his father's estate. He resided in Hartford and had a store north of the State House, between Exchange Corner and the Hart- ford Bank. He was also an owner of trading vessels, and was lost at sea while on a voyage to the Barbadoes for rum and sugar.
(IV) Thomas (2) Bidwell, son of Thomas (1) and Prudence (Scott) Bid- well, was born May 16, 1711, and died in 1746. He married Ruhannah Pinney, who died in 1776. About 1740 they re- moved to that part of West Simsbury, now known as Canton, and settled on a farm which has remained in the family to
the present time. He was buried at Town Hill Cemetery in New Hartford.
(V) Thomas (3) Bidwell, son of Thomas (2) Bidwell, was born in 1738, and was therefore only two years old when his parents settled in Canton. He engaged in farming on the homestead all his life. He married Esther Orton, who was born in Farmington, May 22, 1738, and died October 17, 1823. One who knew them well said "To a man of straightforward honesty, energy and kindness, with great plainness of speech she was a most suitable companion, with great intelligence and correct judgment, and was well endowed. Her tomb is be- side that of her husband in the old Can- ton burying ground." The following epi- taph is on his monument. "Unshaken in the great truth of the Gospel, in this he was an iron pillar, and steadfast as a wall of brass; he lived and died in the confi- dence of his brethren. But though dead, he yet speaketh to the church, to his fam- ily and to all who knew him." He served in the Revolutionary War. as the records show that on January 24. 1778, he lost his baggage and collected from the State for it £ 1 6s. 2d., and under date of May 30, 1778, he is referred to as Captain Thomas Bidwell in the Bennington alarm list.
(VI) Thomas (4) Bidwell, son of Thomas (3) Bidwell, was born in 1764, and engaged in farming in his native town of Canton during all his life. There his death occurred in 1848. He married Lavinia Humphrey, who was born in 1765 and died about the same time as her hus- band. She was a daughter of Oliver and Sarah (Garret) Humphrey. Oliver Hum- phrey was the first magistrate in West Simsbury. He was a son of Jonathan, grandson of Samuel, great-grandson of Samuel, and great-great-grandson of Michael Humphrey, a pioneer of Sims- bury.
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(VII) Thomas (5) Bidwell, son of Thomas (4) and Lavinia ( Humphrey) Bidwell, was born in 1792. He was a suc- cessful farmer and stock raiser in his native town. He left an enviable repu- tation as a man who carried his Chris- tianity into his business dealings, and showed that success was not incompatible with high principles of morality.
(VIH) Albert F. Bidwell, son of Thomas (5) Bidwell, was born in Can- ton, January 5, 1818. His father died when he was but a lad, and Albert F. was reared by his grandfather and his uncle, Jasper Bidwell. He started farming on his own account and made an enviable success as a tobacco grower, stock raiser and dairyman. He was noted for his in- dustry and enterprise. He made many improvements on his farm, his home and the comforts and welfare of his family being among his chief interests. He did not neglect his duties as a citizen, how- ever, but filled the office of selectman and assessor with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of his fellow-citizens. He was a prominent member of the Congre- gational church for many years. His death occurred November 4, 1873. On March 20, 1845, he married Henrietta R., daughter of Hiram and Olive (Rood) Pike, of New Marlboro, Massachusetts. Five children were born of this union: I. Mary E., born June 8, 1847, died Novem- ber 27. 1867. 2. Hiram, born January 31, 1849. married Gertrude Burr, of Bloom- field, and died June 1, 1892, leaving two children, Edna G. and Frederick H. Bid- well. 3. Frederick A., born December 16, 1850, married Sadie M. North, and has four children : Mary, Albert F., Sarah and Isabelle. 4. George E., mentioned below. 5. Thomas S., born March 29, 1861, mar- ried Harriet S. Hinman, and has three children : Clara Louise, Burton T. and Leland H. Bidwell.
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