USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 7 > Part 56
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Homer Wesley Hildreth, son of John Homer and Fannie Johns (Benner) Hil- dreth, was born August 24, 1871, in New York City. His preparatory work was in the public schools of his native city, and his academic work was begun at Mt. Her- mon School (Massachusetts). Later on his studies took him to Bangor, Maine, and to Union Theological Seminary, New York. He graduated from the latter in- stitution of learning in 1897, having the distinction of being the youngest mem- ber of his class. Before graduating, he was assistant pastor to the Rev. Dr. Sam- uel H. Virgin, of the Pilgrim Church, New York City, and since his graduation he has served in the ministry as pastor of the Congregational churches in Vermont and Connecticut, his first two charges having been in Vermont. In one of the pastorates-Rochester, Vermont-he was the author of the church's one hundred years' history, and he did a similar work for the Cromwell (Connecticut ) Church at the time of its bi-centennial. During the Great War, he did considerable work as one of the "Four-Minute Men" of the State. Besides this, he was chaplain of the Connecticut House of Representatives (1919-1920), and also served as regimen- tal chaplain of the Sixth Regiment, Con- necticut State Guard. He was an en- listed member of D Company, C. S. G., of Cromwell, being one of the six men who brought about its organization, and until the time that he was commissioned regi- mental chaplain never missed a company drill. He was also enlisted by the State Council of Defense during the war for
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patriotic work, and has been in almost constant demand as a Y. M. C. A. worker and lecturer.
In his first Connecticut pastorate, which was near Waterbury, he was largely re- sponsible for the erection of the fine stone edifice which his parish then built and dedicated without debt. In July, 1919, he received a unanimous call to become pas- tor of the Enfield (Connecticut) Congre- gational Church. This church was made famous by the preaching of Jonathan Ed- wards. These new duties he assumed. having previously closed a ten years' pas- torate with the Cromwell church.
Again, this historic old parish was the scene of an impressive and inspiring serv- ice when they installed by Council, as pastor, Chaplain Hildreth, on April 26, 1920. In his paper before the Council, he not only set forth his beliefs in no uncer- tain words, he also concluded the same with his motive-motto: "All things to all men, that I might by all means win some."
On May 19, 1897, he married Tillie Emma Orr, daughter of Robert M. and Jane (Wilson) Orr, of New York City. who were of Scotch ancestry. Their son, Earl Wesley Hildreth, was born in Al- bany, Vermont. July 24, 1898, and their daughter, Frances Orr Hildreth, was born in Rochester, Vermont, April 3, 1901.
BULKELEY, William Henry, Capitalist, Public Official.
The late William H. Bulkeley, a scion of one of the oldest and most honored fami- lies of Connecticut, was identified through a long life with the business interests of Hartford, and enjoyed the esteem and confidence of his contemporaries. An ex- tended history of his progenitors is found in connection with the biography of his elder brother, Hon. Morgan G. Bulkeley, in a preceding volume of this work.
William H. Bulkeley, third son of Eli- phalet A. and Lydia S. ( Morkan ) Bulke- ley, was born March 2, 1840, in East Haddam, and was a small boy when his parents settled in Hartford. In the pub- lic schools he was a diligent student, and made a remarkable record for scholarship. Turning his attention to business at an early age, he became an office boy in the office of the Aetna Life Insurance Com- pany at a salary of one dollar per week. Subsequently, at the age of sixteen years, he began his long business career as a clerk in one of the oldest dry-goods estab- lishments of Hartford. In the spring of 1857 he became associated with the firm of H. P. Morgan & Company, dry-goods dealers in Brooklyn, New York, and sub- sequently established himself in the same line of business on Fulton street in that city, where he continued with success for a period of six years. When the Civil War of 1861 was begun, young Bulkeley was among the first to respond to his country's call, at the time of the attack on Fort Sumter. He was a member of Com- pany G, Thirteenth Regiment, New York National Guard, known as the "Brooklyn City Guard," which organization pro- ceeded to the front, April 19, 1861, and continued in service for four months. In 1862, Mr. Bulkeley organized a company which became known as Company G. Fifty-sixth Regiment, New York National Guard, of which he was made captain. Through the Pennsylvania crisis of 1863, his command was in General "Baldy" Smith's division, and the regiment also did service during the New York draft riots, after which it was disbanded, hav- ing fulfilled its term of service. Return- ing to his old home in Hartford, Captain Bulkeley embarked in the lithographic business, organizing the Kellogg & Bulke- ley Company, which still operates a
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large plant in Hartford, of which for many years he was president.
Immediately following his return to Hartford, he was elected a director of the Aetna Life Insurance Company ; from 1877 to 1879, inclusive, was vice-president of the company, and was for many years its auditor. To him must be attributed much of the success of the Aetna Life In- surance Company, for although he did not fill an executive office, he held close relations with the officers in an advisory capacity, and for more than a quarter of a century his business judgment was one of the most valuable assets of the institution. Naturally a man of his business capacity, energy and enterprise, was associated with various business interests of Hart- ford, among which may be mentioned : The United States Bank, of which he was a director and vice-president ; the Ameri- can National Bank, of which he was direc- tor. In 1878 he purchased a famous dry- goods store of Hartford, known as the "Bee Hive," which he managed with great success for several years. He was often called to the public service, and was recog- nized as a faithful servant of the people, whom he served in many capacities. For five years he was a member of the Common Council of Hartford, in which he acted successively as vice-president and president, and for several years he was a street commissioner of the city, giving to his duties the careful attention and effective service which was of great benefit to the city. Mr. Bulkeley was Commissary General of the State, and was one of its commissioners at the Yorktown Centennial Celebration. In 1880 he was elected Lieutenant-Governor, on the ticket with Governor Bigelow, and, dur- ing the sessions of the Senate of 1881- 1882, gained recognition as a superior pre- siding officer. In the latter year he was Republican candidate for Governor, and
passed through the crisis which followed that exciting campaign, conducting him- self in a manner which gained for him credit as a level-headed, public-spirited and patriotic citizen. Though technically elected, he refused to take office under conditions which practically disfranchised the majority of New Haven voters.
Mr. Bulkeley was long identified with Robert O. Tyler Post, G. A. R., of Hart- ford, and was a member of the Army and Navy Club of Connecticut. His religious affiliations were with the Pearl Street Congregational Church of Hartford, to all of whose works he was a generous con- tributor, as well as to the most worthy charities. He died at his home in Hart- ford, November 7, 1902.
Mr. Bulkeley married, September 18, 1863, Emma, daughter of Melvin and Le- titia Gurney, descendant of a very old Massachusetts family of further mention hereafter. He left three sons, all of whom are now conspicuous in business affairs in Hartford.
The Gurney family is among the earli- est in Massachusetts, where several of the name were early residents. Very meager records exist concerning the first genera- tion. Of these, John Gurney, was at Braintree, Massachusetts, where he died in 1663, and his wife the following year. Their son, Zachariah Gurney, born about 1660, resided in Weymouth, with his wife Mary. Their son, Joseph Gurney, born March 7, 1696, in Weymouth, lived in Abington, Massachusetts. He married, in Weymouth, June 10, 1718, Mary Perkins, of Hingham, Massachusetts. They were the parents of Joseph Gurney, born Feb- ruary 4, 1735, in Abington, where he passed his life and died May 13, 1814. He married, July 8, 1758, Sarah Shaw, born May 24, 1736, in Bridgewater, daughter of Rev. John and Sarah Shaw. Their son, Joseph Gurney, born March 28, 1759, in
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Abington, married there (intentions re- corded June 30, 1780), Mercy Smith, born February 24, 1759, in Abington, daughter of Jacob and Mercy (Pratt) Smith, of Weymouth, later of Abington. Their son, Melvin Gurney, born April 22, 1782, in Abington, married, January 25, 1807, Olive Holbrook, born there January 30, 1783, daughter of William and Olive (Blanchard ) Holbrook, of Weymouth, later of Abington, died July 4, 1846, in the latter town. Melvin Gurney, son of Mel- vin and Olive Gurney, was born Septem- ber 27, 1810. in Abington, where he died at the age of thirty-five years, October 19, 1845.
BULKELEY, William Eliphalet Adams, Insurance Auditor.
The senior son of the late William H. Bulkeley, and his successor in various po- sitions of trust and responsibility, Mr. Bulkeley fills a useful place in the insur- ance business of Hartford, and enjoys the esteem of his contemporaries. His busi- ness qualities are inherited from a long line of efficient American ancestors, and he enjoyed the advantage of being reared in a New England home where the pre- cepts and example inspired to worthy en- deavor.
Born February 19, 1868. in Hartford, his education was supplied by the best re- sources of his native city. In 1890 he was graduated from Trinity College with the degree of Bachelor of Science, and on the first of October of that year he became associated with the Aetna Life Insurance Company, in its Bond and Mortgage De- partment, handling western farm loans, where he continued five years. Subse- quently he became assistant cashier of the company, later cashier, and at the annual meeting following the death of his father in 1902, succeeded the latter as a director
and as auditor of the company. When subsidiary organizations of the company were formed, namely the Aetna Casualty and Surety Company and the Actna Au- tomobile Insurance Company, Colonel Bulkeley was made a director and auditor of each. About 1894 he became a trustee of the Hartford Trust Company, and thus continued until he resigned because of the new regulations of the Treasury Depart- ment which did not permit service as a director or trustee at the same time on the boards of competing banking institu- tions. Colonel Bulkeley elected to remain on the board of the larger institution, the Hartford Aetna National Bank. He suc- ceeded his father in the board of direc- tors of the United States Bank and Amer- ican National Bank. Soon after the lat- ter was absorbed by the Phoenix National Bank, he resigned from the directorate and became a director of the Hartford (now Hartford Aetna) National Bank. He is a trustee of the Mechanics' Sav- ings Bank of Hartford and a director of the Kellogg & Bulkeley Company, a large lithographing concern of Hartford.
Colonel Bulkeley has always filled a prominent place in social life and affairs. He is a member of the Epsilon Chapter of the Delta Psi fraternity, a Fellow of Trin- ity College, a member of the Hartford Golf Club, and has served two terms as president of the Hartford Club. Affil- iated with the great Masonic fraternity, he is a member of St. John's Lodge, An- cient Free and Accepted Masons, of Hartford. In 1890 he was appointed an aide-de-camp, with rank of colonel, on the staff of Governor Morgan G. Bulke- ley, and for eleven years was a member of the first company, Governor's Foot Guard, as staff officer and adjutant of the command. In 1891 he served as a mem- ber of the common council of the city, representing what was then the Fourth
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Ward. A genial and courteous gentle- man, Colonel Bulkeley readily fills any responsibility which comes to him in a worthy manner, and has formed many lasting friendships among his contempor- aries.
He was married, January 14, 19II, to Alys M. Harper, a native of Chicago, daughter of Robert C. Harper, an exten- sive stone dealer and quarryman of that city. The sarcophagus in which rests the body of General Ulysses S. Grant in the magnificent tomb on Riverside Drive, New York, came from Mr. Harper's quar- ries at Montello, Illinois.
ST. JOHN, Samuel Benedict, Physician, Surgeon.
It would be a difficult matter to find one who better than the late Dr. Samuel B. St. John gave more substantial proof of the wisdom of Abraham Lincoln, when he said: "There is something better than making a living and that is making a life." It is such men as Dr. Samuel B. St. John who create and maintain the honor of the medical profession. He was born July 24, 1845, in Hudson, Ohio, son of Samuel and Amelia Palmer Cranch (Curtis) St. John. A worthy son of an honored father, he imbibed many characteristics of the latter, of whom Dr. Willard Parker once said: "I do not say I have never seen a greater man in the profession, but taking him all in all, I have never seen a greater and better man than Samuel St. John."
(I) Originally the surname St. John was spelled Sension, and Matthias Sen- sion, who was the immigrant ancestor of the family herein mentioned, was born in England, and in 1631-32 was in Dorches- ter, Massachusetts. He was made a free- man of that town, September 3, 1634, and on January 14, 1635, received a grant of
land, twenty acres in all. In Windsor, he was among the early settlers, appearing on the records there in 1640. He removed thence to Norwalk, Connecticut, where he died in 1699. He was the father of Mat- thias, of whom further.
(II) Matthias St. John was born in 1630, and died in December, 1728. He served as selectman, and held other minor offices. The Christian name of his wife was Elizabeth, they were the parents of Matthias, of whom further.
(III) Matthias (2) St. John was born 1667-68, at Norwalk. Connecticut. About 1690 he married Rachel Bouton, born De- cember 16, 1667, daughter of John and Abigail (Marvin) Bouton. They were the parents of Benjamin, of whom further.
(IV) Benjamin St. John was born about 1700, in Norwalk, Connecticut, and died in 1782. He married, in 1729, Mary -- , born 1708, died December 3, 1774. They were the parents of David, of whom further.
(V) Lieutenant David St. John, son of Benjamin and Mary St. John, was born in 1730, and died April 14, 1796, in New Canaan, Connecticut. He was commis- sioned first lieutenant, January 1, 1777, and was surveyor of highways, selectman, and lister. He married, in New Canaan, March 9, 1758, Jemima Penoyer, born in 1738, died at New Canaan, April 4, 1813. They were the parents of Samuel, of whom further.
(VI) Samuel St. John, son of Lieuten- ant David and Jemima (Penoyer) St. John, was born August 18, 1772, and bap- tized September 20, of that year, in New Canaan, where he died December 29, 1825. He served as lister in 1795; tyth- ingman in 1799; town clerk from June 30, 1801, to 1824, and town treasurer from 1801 to 1825, and from 1818 to 1825, he was postmaster. In 1809, he was the choice of his townsmen for their repre-
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sentative in the State Legislature, serv- ing May and October sessions that year, and 1810, and again in 1816. Mr. St. John married, March 1, 1798, Hannah Benedict Richards, born July 18, 1780, in New Canaan, died there July 1, 1876, daughter of Isaac and Hannah Richards.
(VII) Dr. Samuel St. John, son of Samuel and Hannah Benedict (Richards) St. John, was born in New Canaan, March 29, 1813, and died there September 9, 1876. He was valedictorian of his class at Yale College, and was among the best known educational men in the early days on the Western Reserve. From 1838 to 1852, he was Professor of Chemistry of the faculty of Western Reserve College in Hudson, Ohio; from 1852 to 1856, he was principal of a Young Ladies' Acad- emy at Cleveland, and from 1856 until his death, served as Professor of Chemistry and Medical Jurisprudence of the Colum- bia College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York. He married Amelia Palmer Cranch Curtis, born May 15, 1815, in Salem, Massachusetts, died December 25, 1855, in Cleveland, Ohio, daughter of Abel Winship and Amelia (Palmer) Curtis. Mrs. St. John was a granddaughter of General Joseph Pearce Palmer, who was one of the "Red Indians" of the "Boston Tea Party," a descendant of General Jo- seph Palmer, one of the founders of Braintree, Massachusetts. Three children were born to Samuel St. John and his wife: George, died young; Dr. Samuel Benedict, of further mention ; and Eliza Curtis St. John.
(VIII) Dr. Samuel Benedict St. John, son of Dr. Samuel and Amelia P. C. (Cur- tis) St. John, was born July 24, 1845, in Hudson, Ohio, and attended the schools of Cleveland, preparing for entrance to Yale College in the New Canaan schools, whence he had removed. He graduated from Yale in the class of 1866, and four
years later received his degree of M. D. from the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York. Following his graduation, Dr. St. John served in dif- ferent hospitals in New York, and spent two years in study abroad, specializing in the eye and ear. Some of the positions held by him previous to receiving his de- gree, give an idea of the exceptional abil- ity he possessed. He was the first House Surgeon of the Manhattan Eye and Ear Hospital in New York in 1869; House Surgeon at Bellevue Hospital in 1870, and the year following was Assistant Demon- strator of Anatomy and Instructor in Chemistry at the College of Physicians and Surgeons. In 1872, he went to Eu- rope and spent two years in the study of Ophthalmology in the clinics of Berlin, Vienna, London and Paris, and upon his return in 1876, he was appointed Assistant Surgeon in the Ophthalmic Department of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary. In 1878, Dr. St. John located in Hartford, Connecticut, and from that time until his death, December 21, 1909, was actively identified with the medical profession of that city, and became a leading member. He was held in high respect by his con- temporaries, and enjoyed the esteem of all who knew him and of him.
Dr. St. John was officially connected with the Connecticut State Medical So- ciety, serving as its president in 1900; president of the Ophthalmological So- ciety of New York, 1890-91 ; original member of the New England Ophthalmo- logical Society in 1884, and its president in 1896; elected a member of the Amer- ican Ophthalmological Society in 1879, secretary from 1888 to 1908, a period of twenty years, and in 1908-09 was elected president. From 1882 to 1905 he was in- structor in Ophthalmology in the Yale Medical School, a period of twenty-three years ; Ophthalmic and Aural Surgeon to
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the Hartford Hospital, 1896, until his death; Consulting Surgeon to St. Francis Hospital in 1897 until his death. In addi- tion he was a member of Hartford County Medical Society, Hartford Medical So- ciety, American Otological Society, New York Academy of Medicine. He was a member of the board of directors of the Hartford Public Library, and was its first president.
Dr. St. John contributed many papers to medical literature, mainly on subjects pertaining to Ophthalmology. In 1872 he contributed a paper to the "American Journal of the Medical Sciences" on "Plas- tic Apparatus in Surgery," which estat,- lished the fact that he was the first to use plaster apparatus for fracture of the clav- icle, and of the ribs and other bones. This proved to be the initial step toward the development of the plaster jacket. An- other valuable paper, entitled "Restora- tion of the Upper Lid by a Pedicle Flap taken from below the Lower Lid," was read before the American Ophthalmologi- cal Society in 1893.
Dr. St. John married, October 11, 1882, Mary Harris Morgan, born July 21, 1850, daughter of Nathaniel and Harriet E. (Saxton) Morgan. They were the par- ents of two daughters: I. Elsa Morgan, born August 10, 1883; wife of Leonard Welles Frisbie; they have one child, Elsa Morgan Frisbie. 2. Helen Curtis, born June 15, 1893; wife of Winthrop Alden Haviland; they have two children, Win- throp Alden, Jr., and Mary Morgan.
COOLEY, Francis R., Capitalist, Enterprising Citizen.
Recognized among the leading capital- ists and business men of the State, Mr. Cooley exemplifies in his character and career those valuable qualities which characterized the pioneers of New Eng-
land, from many of whom he is descended. The Cooley family has long been conspic- uous in New England, and has many rep- resentatives found in nearly all sections of our country.
(I) The founder of the family in Amer- ica was Benjamin Cooley, who came from England accompanied by his wife Sarah, and settled in that part of Springfield, which is now known as Longmeadow. He appears to have been the progenitor of nearly all bearing that name in the country, and was evidently a man of wealth and ability. For thirteen years he served as selectman of Springfield, asso- ciated with Miles Morgan and John Pyn- chon. There he died, April 17, 1684, and was survived six days by his widow, who passed away on the 23d of the same month.
(II) Lieutenant Joseph Cooley, fifth son of Benjamin Cooley, was born March 6, 1661, in Springfield, and died May 20, 1740. He married, January 22, 1684, Mary Griswold, born April 19, 1661, in Wind- sor, and died July 13, 1739. She was the daughter of George and Mary (Holcomb) Griswold, and granddaughter of Edward Griswold and his wife Margaret, who were pioneers in the settling of Windsor. George Griswold was born about 1607 in England.
(III) Joseph (2) Cooley, eldest son of Lieutenant Joseph (1) and Mary (Gris- wold) Cooley, was born January 31, 1687, and died October 19, 1741. He married, April 28, 1713, Mary Dorchester, daugh- ter of James and Sarah (Parsons) Dor- chester, of Springfield.
(IV) George Cooley, second son of Joseph (2) Cooley, was born October 17, 1717, in Springfield, and settled in Somers, Massachusetts, now in Connec- ticut, a part of the town of Enfield. He married, April 31, 1738, Hannah Pease,
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of Somers, whose parentage is not dis- in 1679 was a member of the Ancient and closed by the records of that town.
(V) Captain George (2) Cooley, son of George (1) Cooley, was born Febru- ary 9, 1743, in Somers, Massachusetts, and died there, January 3, 1814. He married Abigail Jones, and they were the parents of Noah, of whom further.
(VI) Noah Cooley, son of Captain George (2) Cooley, was born April 2, 1792, in Somers, Massachusetts, and engaged in mercantile business in Granville, Massa- chusetts. There he married in Septen- ber (intentions recorded August 16, 1819) Sophronia Parsons, daughter of Joel and Phoebe (Robinson) Parsons, born Octo- ber 20, 1795, a descendant of Cornet Jo- seph Parsons. He was a distinguished pioneer settler of Springfield, Massachu- setts, born about 1618, at or near Great Torrington, Devonshire, England, and came to America before attaining his ma- jority. He was a witness to the deed con- veying to William Pynchon, from the Indians, the site of the present city of Springfield, July 15, 1636. Joseph Par- sons received an excellent education, and was elected surveyor of Springfield in 1646, and in 1651 was one of the selectmen of that town. In 1655 a number of indi- viduals purchased from the Indians the territory now embraced in Northampton, Massachusetts, and Joseph Parsons was one of the number. For several years after its settlement, with the exception of the second year, he served continuously as selectman of the town. It was agreed in town meeting in February, 1666, "that Joseph Parsons shall be freed from any office in the town of Northampton for one year." About 1655, by contract with Wil- liam Pynchon, he secured a monopoly of the Connecticut river fur trade upon the payment of £ 12 per year. From 1672 to 1678 he was cornet of the Hampshire Troop, under Captain John Pynchon, and
Honorable Artillery Company of Boston. He owned valuable lands in that city, in- cluding a residence and storehouse on the waterfront, which he built in 1668, and was also a large land-owner in Spring- field, Hadley and Northampton. In 1671 he was one of four persons who pur- chased from the Indians 10,000 acres of land at what is now Northfield, Massa- chusetts. He was active in the defence of the Colony from attacks, and served in King Philip's and the French and Indian wars. He is described by historians as "the most enterprising man in the Con- necticut Valley for a quarter of a cen- tury," and perhaps with one exception, "he was the most prosperous and suc- cessful of any of the settlers in that sec- tion." The last years of his life were spent in Springfield, where he died Octo- ber 9, 1683. He married Mary Bliss, born in England in 1620, a daughter of Thomas Bliss, of Hartford, Connecticut, who was a son of Thomas Bliss, of Belstone Par- ish, Devonshire, England. The latter was a wealthy landowner in the village of Belstone, and suffered many persecutions on account of his adherence to the Puri- tans. His son, Thomas Bliss, was born about 1580-85 in Belstone Parish, and em- barked at Plymouth in the autumn of 1635, landing at Boston, Massachusetts. He settled across the Bay, south of the city in what is now Braintree, where land was allotted to him upon the mount. He soon became known as "Thomas of the Mount." That section is now in the town of Quincy, which was afterwards Brain- tree. He settled in Hartford some time in 1636-37, and there died in 1640. He mar- ried in England, as early as 1615, Mar- garet, whose maiden name is believed to have been Lawrence, born about 1594. She was a woman of handsome appear- ance, of great capacity and force of char-
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