USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 7 > Part 8
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(VI) Amos Shepard, son of William Shepard, was born in Warren, May 9, 1769, and lived in East Windsor, Con- necticut. He married, in East Brook- field, May 27, 1792 (intentions published March 1, 1792), Thankful Janes, born July 18, 1769, daughter of Israel and Abigail (Fay) Janes.
(VII) Sumner Shepard, son of Amos Shepard, was born October 17, 1808, in Windsorville, where he died. He en- gaged in mercantile business in that town, being the owner of a store there. He held the office of judge of probate for several years. Mr. Shepard was twice married, and the father of three children by his first wife, and four by the second mar- riage. The only child to survive by the first wife was Edward Sumner.
(VIII) Edward Sumner Shepard, son of Sumner Shepard, spent the greater part
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of his life in the insurance business. He represented the Hartford companies in Western Massachusetts, living at Green- field for many years. His death occurred in 1907, and he is buried in Ellington, Connecticut. Mr. Shepard married Lora Pinney, of Ellington, who survives him, now residing in that town. They were the parents of three children: Jean Ed- ward, of further mention ; James Pinney, and Hazel. Mrs. Lora (Pinney ) Shep- ard is a direct descendant of Humphrey Pinney, who was the founder of this fam- ily in America. He came from England in 1630 and located at Dorchester, Mas- sachusetts. Five years later he removed from there and settled at Windsor, Con- necticut. He died August 20, 1683. His wife was Mary (Hull) Pinney, who came from England in the same vessel. Their son, Samuel Pinney, was born in Dor- chester, and was the oldest of their chil- dren. He removed to Simsbury in 1667, leaving there in 1676 at the time it was burned by the Indians. He was subse- quently employed at surveying in the town of Ellington, and there purchased lands from the Indians, on which he settled. At that time Ellington was a part of Windsor, and he is believed to have been the first settler in Ellington in 1717. He died there. He married Re- joice Bissell, who was a daughter of the immigrant, John Bissell. Their son, Cap- tain Benjamin Pinney, born about 1715, died in 1777. He was the father of Eleazer Pinney, born in 1753. in Ellington. He was a farmer, sergeant of militia in the campaign against Burgoyne, a member of a company of Connecticut yeomen who were famed for their bravery. He took part in the battle of Stillwater, September 19, 1777, and in the battle of Saratoga, October 7, 1777, being one of the division that stormed the camp of Burgoyne. He
was a representative in the General As- sembly ; selectman, fourteen years; ad- ministrator of many estates, and often acted as guardian to minor children. He died about 1836, one of the most esteemed and respected citizens of Ellington. He married (second) Anna Mckinney, of Ellington, and their third child was Loring Pinney. Ile was born in 1802, a farmer of Ellington, died in 1881. He married Susan Blodgett, and they were the parents of Lora Pinney, who became the wife of Edward Sumner Shepard, as above noted. The Shepard family were members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and Mrs. Shepard was very active in the women's societies of the church.
(IX) Jean Edward Shepard, son of Ed- ward Sumner Shepard, was born February 21, 1870, in Norwich. He received his education at the public schools, supple- mented with a course at the Childs Busi- ness College, of Springfield, Massachu- setts. With this practical foundation for a career, he chose to return to the old homestead farm in Ellington, and began the raising of tobacco, on his own ac- count. Few young men start in business at so early an age, but he wisely made a small beginning, with only two acres under cultivation. Working early and late, gradually increasing the acreage, building as he was able to develop the business, and providing work each year for more and more helpers, he built up the splendid industry which now covers three hundred acres annually with open grown tobacco. Besides his own product, he buys and packs great quantities of tobacco, and the business provides em- ployment for about seventy-five men on the average. Mr. Shepard is a man of progressive spirit, genial, optimistic dis- position, holding a prominent position in the social as well as the business world.
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He is a member of Evergreen Lodge, An- cient Free and Accepted Masons ; Wash- ington Commandery, No. 1, Knights Templar ; Connecticut Consistory ; Sphinx Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a director of the City Bank & Trust Com- pany, of Hartford. He is a member of the Hartford Club, of the Country Club, of Farmington, and of the Hartford Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Shepard married Mrs. Anna Nancy Storrs, who had one son, Hamilton Storrs. From the present marriage there is one son, Jean Edward, Jr., born August 26, 1917. The family attend the Congrega- tional church of South Windsor, and are active in its support.
STOCKWELL, Sidney Ernest, Manufacturing Superintendent.
From the early settlement of New Eng- land the name of Stockwell has been iden- tified with the history of Massachusetts in an honorable and worthy manner.
The founder of the family in this country was William Stockwell, born about 1650 in England, who made his home for many years in Ipswich, Massa- chusetts. According to family tradition he was induced on ship-board when a lad, and after serving a long apprenticeship became an able seaman. He continued in seafaring after locating in Ipswich. The tradition also states that he was born in Scotland, but the name is unquestionably English, and other English Stockwells were in Massachusetts before his arrival. In 1700 he had a seat in the meeting house at Ipswich, and from 1720 to 1731 the latter was in Sutton, Massachusetts. As late as 1731 his son William used the ruffix Jr. on his name. He married at
Ipswich, April 14, 1685, Sarah Lambert, who was born there July 4, 1661, daughter of William Lambert. They were the parents of five sons, the eldest, William Stockwell, born about 1686, lived in Sut- ton, Massachusetts. He married, about 1708, Mary, whose surname is undiscov- ered. Their son, William Stockwell, born about 1710-12, married, December 4, 1733, in Sutton, Elizabeth Nichols, born Jan- uary 24, 1710, in Reading, Massachusetts, daughter of Thomas Nichiols. Their son, William Stockwell, baptized September 26, 1742, in Sutton, resided for some time in Thompson, Connecticut, and in 1786, removed to the section known as West Farms in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he built a stone house. He had four sons and six daughters.
A descendant of this family, John Alonzo Stockwell, was born in July, 1840, in Northampton, Massachusetts, and has spent most of his life in agriculture in that town. He was a soldier of the Civil War, serving in Company A, Twenty-sev- enth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, and is a member of a Grand Army Post in Springfield, Massachusetts. He mar- ried Isabelle Jane, daughter of Joseph and Phoebe (Bosworth) Stockwell, of North- ampton, and they were the parents of six children, five of whom grew to maturity : Sidney Ernest, receives further mention below; Caroline, married Frank Bartlett ; Leslie J., deceased ; Anna, a teacher of manual training in a school for the feeble- minded at Newark, New Jersey ; Ora Hel- len, wife of Roy Usher, of Springfield, Massachusetts. The mother, who was born in 1851, has lost her sight, but is otherwise well preserved. Both she and her husband are members of the Method- ist Episcopal church. Mr. Stockwell is a man of domestic tastes and has never
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mingled with public affairs. His home is now in Florence, Massachusetts.
Sidney Ernest Stockwell, eldest child of John Alonzo and Isabelle Jane (Stock- well) Stockwell, was born June 30, 1877, in Northampton, Massachusetts, and when he was a small lad the family re- moved to Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts. He carly applied himself to study in the public schools, and at the age of twenty years entered the tool making establish- ment of the Waltham Tool Manufactur- ing Company of Waltham, Massachusetts. After completing his apprenticeship he entered the employ of the Pratt & Whit- ney Company of Hartford, and within a short time was engaged by the New De- parture Company, a rapidly growing in- dustrial concern of Bristol, Connecticut. He began there as a machinist, but after one year was given charge of the tool and dye making. Subsequently he was with the Jacobs Chuck Company of Hartford, and for about five years was employed by the Abbott Ball Company of Elmwood. He again entered the service of the New Departure Company and for the past three years has been connected with the Elmwood plant, first having charge of the reaming department, later also the production of cone grinding and cup grinding, and was recently made super- intendent of the Hartford plant at Elm- wood. Mr. Stockwell has demonstrated in his career what can be accomplished by ambition and intelligently directed in- dustry. He has never been contented with a subordinate position and continu- ally studied in preparation for larger re- sponsibility when opportunity presented. He is a member of Franklin Lodge. No. 56, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Bristol, and Pythagoras Chapter, No. 17, Royal Arch Masons, of Hartford, Connecticut, and is a regular attendant
and faithful supporter of the Fourth Con- gregational Church of that city.
Mr. Stockwell married, October 2, 1912, Alice, daughter of Frederick Bradford Sands, of Lewiston, Maine, a direct de- scendant of Governor William Bradford, of the Plymouth Colony. Mr. and Mrs. Stockwell are the parents of a daughter, Elizabeth Bradford, born June 15, 1914.
GRIFFIN Family,
Ancestral History.
The Griffin (originally Griffith ) family, according to historians of Wales, is one of the oldest of whom there is record, dating back some centuries before Christ. It is claimed that the Welsh originated in the Caucasian country and were the first to colonize Britain under their chief. Hu Cadarn. At later periods other Celtic colonists emigrated from Loire and Gas- cony in France and Brittany. The Welsh genealogists give the brothers, Edward and John Griffith, who founded the fam- ily in America as the ninety-eighth gener- ation in descent from Prydian, son of Aedd the Great, who led the colonists from Loire some centuries before the Christian Era. Most of the nobility of Wales, as well as some of England's royal families, trace their ancestry to early gen- erations in this Griffith line. Before the use of family surnames came into vogue, people had but one name, usually sug- gested by some personal quality. Sons took their father's name, using prefixes or suffixes indicating the relationship. The name Griffin has been derived from Gruff -plural, Griffion-a sneer, irony (femi- nine) ; Grif-plural, Grifon-an aggressive mass, (masculine). The former connotes fierceness, boldness. In a Welsh poem, "Gruffudd" is called the "Noble Speared" and "Griffon" of our "Noble Race." In
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Dwnn's Pedigrees, the family herein un- der consideration is given as Pengriffin, signifying "Head Griffin" or "Chief Grif- fin."
(I) Richard Griffith, great-grandfather of the immigrant, who is numbered in the ninety-fifth generation, is said in the Chronicle to be of the highest nobility. He was born in the troublous times of Glendower (1400-16), when Glendower failed in his rebellion against the Eng- lish, he having espoused the cause of the Red Rose. At first Richard Griffith cast his lot with the Red Rose, but later trans- ferred his allegiance to the White Rose, and as a reward for his valuable service at the battle of Bosworthy Fields, Henry Tudor, when he became King Henry VII., granted to Richard Griffith the right to wear the following coat-of-arms on his shield :
Arms-Gules, on a fesse, between three lozenges or, each charged with a fleur-de-lis of the first. A demi-rose between two gryffons, segreant of the field.
Crest-A gryffon segreant.
Motto-Semper paratus. Always ready. In Welsh, "Bob amser yn bared."
Richard Griffith married Elizabeth, a sister of William Mar, Esquire. Their son, Griffith Griffith, who married Joan, daughter of Seimant David, Esquire of Koksol, Gent. They were the parents of John Griffith, who married Ann, daughter of Edward Langford, of "Bigandr." They had two daughters and two sons: The latter, Edward, born about 1602, and John, who established the family in America.
(II) Sergeant John Griffin, from whom is descended the members of the family here under consideration, was born about 1609, and came from London, October 24, 1635, on the ship "Constance," to Vir- ginia. He was in the employ of Captain William Claiborn, secretary of the Vir-
ginia Colony, as was his brother, Lord Baltimore, who claimed that his grant superceded Claiborn's grant of Kent's and Palmer's island in the Chesapeake bay, and while Claiborn was in England re- cruiting Protestants to defend his island possessions, Lord Baltimore sent a force of forty men and two cannon to seize the islands. The Griffin brothers were among those captured, but both managed to escape. We next learn of Sergeant John Griffin in New Haven, his name ap- pearing in the directory of that town for the year 1642. There he engaged in the ship business with a man named Bell. In 1644 he took the oath of fidelity there. It is claimed that he was the first settler of Simsbury, his name being on record there in 1646. He represented the town in the General Court, 1670-74, and was the first manufacturer in that town, having invented a new process for making pitch and tar, the latter being used in the Brit- ish navy, and for which he received a large grant of land, which was in addition to the tract of ten miles square, which he had acquired as the first settler of Sims- bury, and was known as the "old Griffin Lordship." He was sergeant of the train band there. His death in August, 1681, was due to drinking water from a spring while he was over-heated. From that time the spring was called Lord Griffin's spring, he having been known by that title for a long time. He married, May 13, 1647, Anna Bancroft, of Simsbury, and at his death left ten children.
(III) Thomas Griffin, fifth child of Ser- geant John Griffin, was born October 3, 1658. He married, in 1693, Elizabeth Walton. He died in August, 1719.
(IV) Lieutenant Nathaniel Griffin, son of Thomas Griffin, was born May 24, 1706, and died April 22, 1786. He married Eliz-
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Giffest B Griffin
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
abeth Griffin, his cousin, daughter of between the growing of the crops and Ephraim Griffin.
(V) Seth Griffin, son of Lieutenant Nathaniel Griffin, was born in 1747, in Granby, and served in the Eighteenth Regiment Militia under Colonel Phillips, who defended the coast in 1780. This regiment served in New York from Au- gust 25 to September 25, 1776. Seth Grif- fin married, September 10, 1772, Mary Beower, a woman of French descent. Seth Griffin died March 26, 1817, and his widow, April 6, 1833.
(VI) Aristarchus Griffin, son of Seth Griffin, was born in 1787, and died March 13, 1866. He followed the occupation of farmer, and was a man of strong religious instinct ; a Christian who believed in prac- tical religion. When there was no church in his section of Granby, he opened his house to Methodist preaching. The out- growth of those meetings was the present Copper Hill Methodist Church of East Granby. Mr. Griffin married Jael, daugh- ter of Chauncey Gillett, and they were the parents of ten children.
(VII) Gilbert Griffin, son of Aristar- chus Griffin, was born in 1816 or 1819, in what was known as the Hungary district of Granby, and died in January, 1851. He was a farmer in Granby. He married Harriet Viets, daughter of Captain Daniel Viets, of Granby, a descendant of one of the oldest families.
GRIFFIN, Gilbert Benjamin,
Agriculturist, Tobacco Grower.
(VIII) Gilbert Benjamin Griffin, son of Gilbert and Harriet (Viets) Griffin, was born July 13, 1850. in Granby. His boy- hood and youth were spent in a rural en- vironment, and he early became accus- tomed to farm life, thus building up a strong physique. During the intervals
busy farm seasons, he attended the dis- trict schools and for a short time was a student at the Wilbraham Academy. He was only a youth of about twenty years when he started out for himself. Pos- sessed of much determination and will, he soon was achieving success, and in 1870, in company with Oliver Holcomb, his brother-in-law, he purchased a farm of three hundred acres in Granby. In addi- tion to the general crops much tobacco was raised. Subsequently Mr. Griffin took over the north half of the farm, and for about ten years continued to cultivate this section. In 1880 he purchased his present farm, consisting of one hundred and fifty acres. During the past thirty eight years he has cultivated this vast area with tobacco as the chief and largest crop. Through his skillful management and business acumen he has won a place of prominence among the growers of Con- necticut tobacco, and he is held in high esteem among his fellow-citizens. Mr. Griffin finds needed relaxation and pleas- ure in hunting and fishing. He has ever been a lover of these sports, and during the latter years has maintained a winter home in Florida, and there has had splen- did opportunities to indulge in these pas- times.
Mr. Griffin married Margaret Fleming, daughter of Charles Fleming, of Glasgow, Scotland. Mr. and Mrs. Griffin are the parents of four children: 1. Fred B., whose sketch follows. 2. Charles Flem- ing, whose sketch follows. 3. Gertrude. wife of Clifford Briggs, resides in Buffalo, New York. 4. Emma, wife of Ray Case, of Granby, Connecticut. Mr. and Mrs. Griffin attend the Congregational church of Granby, and to its charities they do- nate liberally. Among the most progres- sive and up-to-date farmers of his com-
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munity, Mr. Griffin holds a foremost place, and his achievements are the just reward of a well-spent, industrious and upright life.
GRIFFIN, Fred B.,
Tobacco Grower and Packer.
From a clerkship in an obscure country store to a position of prominence among the leading growers and packers of Con- necticut tobacco is the distance travelled within a comparatively few years by Fred B. Griffin, treasurer and general manager of The Griffin Tobacco Company of Hart- ford, Connecticut. When one talks with the men by whom he was employed dur- ing the years when his mental and moral habits were being established, one finds no expression of surprise ; he is told that "nothing else could be expected of Fred Griffin than that he would make an im- portant place for himself in the business world."
During the years that Mr. Griffin's family has been in America those sturdy, physical, mental and moral qualities that are uniformly characteristic of the Walsh have lost none of their original vigor, and Fred B. Griffin has proved himself a worthy heir to such an heritage. His early life on the farm developed that robust physique so essential to success in almost any line of endeavor. Keen of mind and ambitious, Mr. Griffin naturally devoted the best that was in him to the accomplishment of every task undertaken for others or for himself from the day he first went to work. Such effort always wins success.
(IX) Fred B. Griffin was born in Gran- by, Connecticut, June 16, 1873, son of Gil- bert Benjamin and Margaret (Fleming) Griffin. He received his education in the grammar and high schools, and at the age of sixteen entered the employ of Loomis
Brothers, who were engaged in the gen- eral merchandise business in Granby. He remained in that position for about four and one-half years, subsequently going to Plainville, Connecticut, where he held a similar position, and also served as local agent of the American Express Company. His next employment was with the Brad- ley, Smith Company, wholesale dealers in confectionery and cigars of New Haven, Connecticut. After fifteen months Mr. Griffin returned to Granby and to the em- ploy of Loomis Brothers, remaining until November 1, 1901. On the latter date Mr. Griffin became interested in his present business. It was first organized as the Krohn Tobacco Company, the members being Moses Krohn, of Cincinnati, A. H. Reeder, of Dayton, Ohio, and Mr. Griffin. That same year Mr. Krohn died and his interests were purchased by his partners who changed the firm name to the Reeder, Griffin Company. In 1910 Mr. Newberger became interested in the business and the firm name became The Griffin-Newberger Tobacco Company. In 1917 Mr. Griffin purchased Mr. Newberger's interest in the business from the Alien Property Cus- todian and the name was changed to the Griffin Tobacco Company. The company raises annually about four hundred acres of tobacco and buys the crops of other growers, which it packs and markets with its own product. Mr. Griffin is a direc- tor of the American Industrial Bank of Hartford, of which he was one of the organizers; is president of the Arthur Corry Company of Quincy, Florida, pack- ers of leaf tobacco and growers of fruits and vegetables. This company owns a plantation of thirty-three hundred acres, two thousand of which are under culti- vation. Mr. Griffin is also treasurer and general manager of the Connecticut To- bacco Company, whose business is buy- ing tobacco for export and import.
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Frd. B. Griffin
Charles F. Shiffrin.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
The trials and experiences of Mr. Grif- fin in working his own way upward have made him most charitable toward the young man of to-day who is striving for success. He is held in high respect by his employees and business associates for his qualities of uprightness and fairness for others. He possesses a keen, analytical mind, and is quick to see and appreciate faithfulness on the part of his workers. His unfailing courtesy has won for him a host of friends, both business and social. Because of his genial manner and large heartedness, Mr. Griffin is a popular mem- ber of several fraternities and clubs, tak- ing an active part in the social life of his community. He is a member of that great fraternal body, the Masonic order, and is past master of Granby Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons ; Washington Commandery, No. 1, Knights Templar, of Hartford : Sphinx Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Hartford, and the Con- necticut Consistory. His clubs are : Hart- ford Club, Hartford Golf, Sequin and Farmington Country Club.
Mr. Griffin married Bertha Shattuck, daughter of the well known artist, Aaron D. Shattuck, a member of one of the old- est Colonial families of New England. Mr. and Mrs. Griffin are the parents of five children : Marian M., Freda Bertha, Donald C., Charles G., Carol Barbara. . With his family Mr. Griffin attends the Congregational church of Bloomfield, and commensurate with his resources aids financially and otherwise in the charitable works of that institution.
GRIFFIN, Charles Fleming, Tobacco Grower.
In every activity which involves the health and comfort of a great number of people, the need is apparent of workers in constructive lines. It is the man of versa-
tile talents who does this work, and it is the man of keen ingenuity, of broad sym- pathies and comprehension, who does the work well. He must understand and ap- preciate the point of view of many kinds and classes of people. In short, he must be, in the highest sense of the term, an all-round man. Such a man is Charles Fleming Griffin, of the Griffin Tobacco Company.
(IX) Charles Fleming Griffin was born in Granby, Connecticut, December 12, 1874, and is a son of Gilbert Benjamin and Margaret (Fleming) Griffin. He received his education in the public schools of his native town, and the Huntsinger Busi- ness College of Hartford. He then learned the trade of carpenter in Granby, and later went to Florida, where he remained for a year and a half, following this trade. Upon his return North he entered the em- ploy of Anderson & Price, a prominent firm who operate numerous Northern summer resorts and Southern winter re- sorts. Mr. Griffin had charge of the re- pair and construction work of the various hotels. Later he went to New York, with Mr. Price of the above firm, and had charge of the carpentry in a hotel there, in which Mr. Price was interested, for three years. The association with Mr. Price proved very satisfactory on both sides, and the duties of purchasing agent were added to Mr. Griffin's other respon- sibilities. He continued to manage both these departments of hotel work for two years more. Then he was made assistant manager of the Briar Cliff Lodge on the Hudson, continuing for two years. On April 1, 1910, Mr. Griffin took charge of the tobacco plantation of the Griffin To- bacco Company, of which he is now vice- president, and has continued there ever since. The importance of this position and the magnitude of the plantation will be understood by the fact that he has an
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