USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 8 > Part 34
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(VI) Edgar A. Strang, son of Joseph White and Elizabeth Morgan (Belcher) Strang, was born December 3, 1833, in New York City, and died February 10, 1909. Edgar A. Strang's opportunities for formal education were few. He was only nine years of age when he went to work in a wholesale grocery store. But he possessed a fine type of mind, with splendid powers of observation and per- ception. He read extensively and pon- dered well all that came within his ken, so that his mind showed a much better development than many minds which have been favored with greatly superior educational advantages. At the time of the Civil War Mr. Strang was suffering from a spinal disease which prevented him from seeking enlistment, but so strongly did he feel it to be the duty of every loyal citizen to serve his country that he paid a man to go for him. At the time of his marriage he was engaged in the banking business in New York City, and continued in it until the condition of his health made it necessary for him to give up all physical activity. He became a resident of Peekskill, about 1901. He and his wife were earnest Christians, identified with the Dutch Reformed church for many years.
Mr. Strang married Anna Suydam, born January 12, 1839, in New York City, died December 21, 1907, in Peekskill, New York, aged sixty-eight years, eleven months, nine days, daughter of Cornelius R. Suydam, born July 31, 1793, near Bed- ford, Long Island, died November 12, 1845, in New York City, aged fifty-two years, three months, twelve days, and his wife, Jane Eliza (Heyer) Suydam, born March 13, 1779, daughter of Cornelius Heyer, born September 30, 1773, died
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January 5, 1843 ; granddaughter of Wil- liam Heyer, born December 14, 1723, died April 1, 1880; great-granddaughter of Walter Heyer, born in 1699, died October 27, 1772. Mr. and Mrs. Strang were the parents of the following children: James Suydam, of further mention ; Clifford H., died August 30, 1903; Jane H., married C. L. Mason, of Peekskill, New York.
(VII) James Suydam Strang, son of Edgar A. and Anna (Suydam) Strang, was born December 12, 1863, in Yonkers, New York. His education was received in the public schools and at the famous old Peekskill Military Academy and Rut- gers Preparatory School. After working for a time for a firm of wholesale drug- gists, he went into a retail drug store, June 26, 1882, in Verplanck's Point. There he applied himself diligently to the mas- tery of every detail of the art of phar- macy, and passed successfully the exam- ination for a license as pharmacist, No- vember 30, 1886. He later clerked for Charles Dickinson, a New Britain drug- gist, for about eighteen months. Mr. Strang then opened a store of his own in Mount Vernon, New York. Three years more of the exacting life of a druggist, made all the more arduous by his ambi- tion to make his venture highly success- ful, sufficed to cause a breakdown in his health, compelling Mr. Strang to abandon his profession. He sold his business, and later became a clerk for the Union Trans- fer & Storage Company, of New York City. After a year and a half there, he removed to Stamford, Connecticut, in July, 1894, and there entered the office of Doty & Bartel, lumber dealers, as book- keeper. The following year Mr. Doty sold his interest out to Mr. Strang and his brother-in-law, Mr. C. W. Harper, and the business was continued under the name of Bartel & Company. After five years Mr. Strang and Mr., Harper sold
their interests to Mr. Bartel, and Mr. Strang became identified with the Blick- ensderfer Manufacturing Company, where he remained until August, 1914. Then the present partnership with W. W. Graves, under the firm name of Graves & Strang, Inc., was formed to engage in the coal and wood business. In the spring of 1919, Mr. Strang and his part- ner with others incorporated The Spring- dale Ice and Coal Company, of which Mr. Strang is secretary. Mr. Strang is a di- rector of the Stamford Morris Plan Com- pany and of the Young Men's Christian Association in that city.
From the time he was made a Master Mason in Union Lodge, No. 5, of Stam- ford, May 3, 1899, Mr. Strang entered actively and zeålously into the cause of Free Masonry and has attained the thirty- second degree. He is treasurer of Union Lodge; treasurer of Rittenhouse Chap- ter, No. 11, Royal Arch Masons; treas- urer of Washington Council, No. 6, Royal and Select Masters ; member of Clinton Commandery, Knights Templar, of Nor- walk; Lafayette Consistory, Ancient Ac- cepted Scottish Rite ; and Pyramid Tem- ple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Bridgeport. Mr. Strang thinks Masonry, like religion, is some- thing to be lived in everyday life. Since 1884 Mr. Strang has been a member of Courtland Lodge, No. 6, Independent Or- der of Odd Fellows, of Peekskill, New York. During the time he was associated with the Blickensderfer Manufacturing Company, he had charge of their office in Detroit for sixteen months, and while there he affiliated with Palestine Lodge, No. 357, Free and Accepted Masons, as permanent visiting member. He is also a member of the Kiwanis and Suburban clubs of Stamford.
On October 8, 1885, Mr. Strang was united in marriage with Grace E. Harper,
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daughter of Rev. J. A. Harper, a clergy- man of the Dutch Reformed church. He was born in the North of Ireland, and came as a young man to Mount Vernon, New York. There Mrs. Strang was born on April 2, 1867. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Strang: Alma E., who graduated from the Stamford High School, and Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, and is now taking the nurses training course at St. Luke's Hospital, New York City ; Lorena S., like her sister graduated from the Stamford High School, and Pratt In- stitute, and at the time of writing is em- ployed as assistant dietician, Blooming- dale Hospital, White Plains, New York.
The family are members of the Pres- byterian church in which Mr. Strang has served some years as elder. In outward demeanor he is most unassuming. His ideas of man's duty to man are firmly es- tablished, however, and he adheres rig- idly to those ideals of right living that have ever been the bulwark of American family and national life. His sympathies are broad, and his interest is ever keen in what concerns the welfare of his fel- lowman. These qualities have won for him a host of loyal friends.
CROSBY, Joseph Porter, Builder, Public Official.
A residence of thirty-five years in Greenwich, during which time he has es- tablished himself as one of the leading business men of his community, has made Mr. Crosby's name so familiar and so highly respected that its appearance is sure to be greeted with instant and cor- dial recognition. In public life Mr. Crosby is even better known than in the world of business, having served most creditably as a member of the Legislature and having filled, most honorably to him- self and most satisfactorily to his constit-
uents, more than one local office of trust and responsibility.
The name of Crosby signifies Town of the Cross and is the designation of eight places in Great Britain. Its earliest men- tion as a family name occurs in records of 1204.
Simon Crosby, founder of the American branch of the family, came from England in 1635 and settled in Cambridge, Mas- sachusetts. His descendants established themselves on Cape Cod which has thus become the permanent home of the larg- est branch of this numerous family.
(I) Lemuel Crosby, the progenitor of the line herein followed, married and among his children was Theophilus, of whom further.
(II) Captain Theophilus Crosby, son of Lemuel Crosby, married Anna Brown, daughter of Benjamin Brown, and his death occurred November 14, 1831.
(III) Captain Ansel Crosby, son of Captain Theophilus and Anna (Brown) Crosby, was born June 11, 1786, in Nova Scotia, whither his father had migrated from Cape Cod. He married Tabitha Dennis, daughter of Ambrose Dennis. Captain Crosby died July 17, 1865.
(IV) Captain Ansel (2) Crosby, son of Captain Ansel (1) and Tabitha (Dennis) Crosby, was born in 1825, in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and there grew to manhood. In youth he began to follow the sea, be- coming captain at an early age and mak- ing deep-sea voyages for the most part between New York City and different Eu- ropean ports. After some years he retired from the sea, and in 1873 engaged in business as a ship chandler in Boston, Massachusetts. About five years later he went to New York City and opened a shipping office which he continued to con- duct as long as he lived. Mr. Crosby married Elizabeth Porter, born 1822, whose ancestral record is appended to
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this biography, and their children were: Alice, of Brooklyn, New York; Charles W., also of Brooklyn, New York ; Joseph Porter, of whom further; and Harry A., a resident of Brooklyn. Mr. Crosby died November 24, 1902. He and his wife were members of the Baptist church.
(V) ·Joseph Porter Crosby, son of Cap- tain Ansel (2) and Elizabeth (Porter) Crosby, was born April 4, 1855, in Yar- mouth, Nova Scotia. He received his ed- ucation in the public schools of his home town. He learned the carpenter's trade, and in connection with his trade he learned draughting, studying the theory as well as mastering the practical art of building, and after finishing his appren- ticeship he went into business for him- self in Yarmouth. In 1880 he removed to Newton, Massachusetts, and served for five years as superintendent for a con- tractor and builder. In 1885 he removed to Greenwich, Connecticut, and went into business for himself, his specialty being fine country houses. Among those which he has erected may be mentioned the resi- dences of James Mccutcheon, A. W. Johnson, N. Wetherell, the Hon. R. J. Walsh and many others, all these being in Greenwich. He constructed the interior finish in the Greenwich Trust Company's building, and since 1887 has operated a wood-working mill, thus getting out nearly all his own finish.
In politics Mr. Crosby is a Republican, and has long taken an active part in pub- lic affairs. After serving a term as a member of the Board of Burgesses he was elected, in 1915, to the Legislature, where he served on the committee on cities and boroughs. The same year he was elected warden of the borough of Greenwich, an office which he has ever since continu- ously retained. Among the results ac- complished during his administration are the building of permanent roads and the
sewage disposal plant. When Mr. Crosby became warden the borough was under a floating debt of $200,000. The borough has since been bonded to cover that amount and the bonds are being retired. From 1845 until Mr. Crosby became war- den the borough borrowed money every year, but during his administration it did not borrow a dollar and has retired about $25,000 of its old indebtedness. Among the minor offices held by Mr. Crosby is that of secretary of the school committee that erected three modern schoolhouses, situated, respectively, at Hamilton ave- nue, Coscob street and New Lebanon. He affiliates with Acacia Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which for some years Mr. Crosby held the office of steward.
Mr. Crosby married, August 27, 1878, Maria D. Trefry, daughter of De Lancey and Rachel (Wescott) Trefry, of Yar- mouth, Nova Scotia, and they are the par- ents of the following children: I. Charles, born September 12, 1879; mar- ried Elsie Cliff, of Greenwich. 2. Chester N., born October 19, 1884 ; married Hilda Wiederman, and they have three chil- dren : Joseph P. (2), Chestine and Ruth L. 3. Joseph Elton, born October 21, 1889; married Estelle White, and they have one child, Joseph Elton, Jr. (see fol- lowing sketch). 4. Genevieve, born Oc- tober 23, 1891; married Ralph Benson Hurlbutt, and they have one child, Ralph Benson, Jr. 5. Helen, deceased.
The record of Joseph Porter Crosby is that of an all-round man. As a business man he has by his ability and enterprise helped to increase the material prosperity of his community, and in the different offices to which he has been summoned by the voice of his fellow-citizens, he has, by his public-spirited devotion to the rights and privileges of his constituents,
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rendered service of a valuable and lasting character. Most richly does he merit the high esteem and cordial regard in which he is held by his friends and neighbors and the entire community.
(The Porter Line).
This ancient family, which has a rec- ord of nearly three centuries in New Eng- land, was founded by William de la Grande, a Norman knight, who accom- panied William the Conqueror to Eng- land, and in return for his services was given lands in or near Kenilworth, War- wickshire.
Ralph, or Roger, son of William, be- came Grand Porteur to King Henry the First, and from his tenure of this high office was derived the family name.
The escutcheon of the Porters is as follows :
Arms-Argent, on a fesse sable between bar- rulets or, three bells of the first.
Crest-A portcullis argent chained or. Motto-Vigilantia et virtute.
(I) John Porter, founder of the Amer- ican branch of the family, was born in England about 1596, and about 1637 is known to have been of Hingham, Mas- sachusetts. Later he removed to Salem and there passed the remainder of his life. He was a man of prominence in the community, holding high and responsible offices, and is said to have been a per- sonal friend of Governor Endicott. John Porter married Mary -. His death occurred in 1676.
(II) Samuel Porter, son of John and Mary Porter, was born, probably, in Eng- land, and was a mariner, owning a farm in Wenham, near Wenham pond. He married Hannah Dodge. He died about 1660.
(III) John (2) Porter, son of Samuel and Hannah (Dodge) Porter, was born in 1658, and about 1680 moved from Dan-
vers to Wenham. He was a maltster and lived on a farm. He married Lydia Her- rick. Mr. Porter was an active and influ- ential citizen, and lived to the venerable age of ninety-five years, passing away in 1753.
(IV) Nehemiah Porter, son of John (2) and Lydia (Herrick) Porter, was born in 1692, in Wenham, Massachusetts, and was a weaver and yeoman, living on a farm in Ipswich given him by his father. He married, in 1717, Hannah Smith, daughter of Hezekiah Smith, of Beverly. He died in Ipswich in 1784.
(V) Nehemiah (2) Porter, son of Ne- hemiah (I) and Hannah (Smith) Porter, was born March 22, 1720. He early deter- mined to study for the ministry. He graduated from Harvard College, and in 1750 was ordained pastor of the church in Chebacco parish where he remained sixteen years. At the end of that time he went to Nova Scotia where, however, he spent but a few years, returning ere long to Massachusetts and accepting a pastor- ate in Ashfield, which he retained to the close of his long life. He married (first) January 20, 1749, Rebecca Chipman, daughter of the Rev. John Chipman, of Beverly, Massachusetts. The Chipmans were numbered among the old Colonial families of the Province. Mr. Porter mar- ried (second) Elizabeth Nowell, of Bos- ton. During the Revolutionary War he volunteered as chaplain and always be- lieved that his prayers turned the tide of battle at Saratoga. To his great honor be it recorded that he was strongly anti- slavery. Many anecdotes are related il- lustrative of his strength of principle, his originality of mind and his trenchant and ready wit. A gentleman who refused to attend church ended his argument with "I have a right to think as I have a mind to." To which Mr. Porter instantly re- plied, "You have no right to think
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wrong." On February 29, 1820, this de- voted man "ceased from earth." He had rounded out, in years, very nearly a cen- tury, seventy-five of those years having been spent in the Christian ministry. His character, considered from every side, is one of the noblest in our history.
(VI) Nehemiah (3) Porter, son of Nehemiah (2) and Rebecca (Chipman) Porter, was born January 12, 1753. He married, July 18, 1776, Mary Tardy, of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
(VII) Joseph Blaney Porter, son of Nehemiah (3) and Mary (Tardy ) Porter, was born June 28, 1795. He married, De- cember II, 1817, in Nova Scotia, Elizabeth Wyman, daughter of Matthew Wyman. Mr. Porter died April 12, 1859.
(VIII) Elizabeth Porter, daughter of Joseph Blaney and Elizabeth (Wyman) Porter, became the wife of Captain Ansel Crosby (see Crosby IV). She died in November, 1868.
CROSBY, J. Elton, Business Man.
J. Elton Crosby, one of the men who have won success in life by virtue of their natural ability and strength of will, was born October 21, 1889, in Greenwich, Connecticut, son of Joseph Porter Crosby (q. v.).
He was educated in the Brunswick School in Greenwich, after which he ma- triculated in Worcester Polytechnic In- stitute with the class of 1914. There he became a member of the Alpha Tau Mega fraternity. After completing his formal education, Mr. Crosby was associated with his father in the contracting busi- ness for about seven or eight years. In 1919 he took charge of the real estate of- fice of Prince & Ripley, in Greenwich, in the managership of which he has been very successful. On November 1, 1920,
he opened business on his own account with offices at No. 29 Greenwich avenue, and does an extensive business in local real estate and insurance.
Mr. Crosby married Estelle White, daughter of Warren P. and Jane (Sut- ton) White, of Purchase, New York. They are the parents of two children: J. Elton, Jr., born October 21, 1915; Ger- trude Estelle, born, 1920.
Warren P. White, father of Mrs. Cros- by, was born November 20, 1854. He was reared in Greenwich, Connecticut, and went to school there. Thence he went to Brooklyn and clerked in a retail grocery store for some years, and then formed a partnership to engage in the re- tail grocery business. He was in business in Greenwich for many years, and part of this time was alone, having bought the interest of his partner. In 1910 Mr. White retired from active cares. He married Jane Sutton, daughter of James and Phoebe T. (Carpenter) Sutton. James Sutton was born in the town of Green- wich, Connecticut, and died in November, 1880. He was a farmer all his life. His wife, Phoebe T. Carpenter, was a daugh- ter of Elnathan and Hannah (Haviland) Carpenter. Warren P. White and his wife, Jane (Sutton) White, were the par- ents of three children : Stephen, Edna and Estelle. Mrs. White is a member of the Society of Friends. Estelle White be- came the wife of J. Elton Crosby, as above noted.
WINCHESTER, Albert Edward, Electrical Engineer, Inventor.
When all things were made, none was better made than the man (the same through all generations) who having found his work does it with all his might. stays on the job and attends to business, honors all men and is honored. The high
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character and strength of such men are reflected in the enterprises they manage; their personality imparts the human touch and commands confidence and respect. Such a man is Albert E. Winchester, gen- eral superintendent of the South Nor- walk (Connecticut) Electric Works. In his lineage are to be found many strains that from the Colonial period have con- tributed to give to America its unique character among the nations. His ances- tors were of English, French, Irish and Scotch extraction, including John Win- chester, Royal Governor Belcher, of Mas- sachusetts and later of New Jersey, the Jackson family of the Southern States, and the French Huguenots, Devone and Bennett, of New York and Canada.
The family name of Winchester is among the oldest in England, being de- rived from the city of that name in the County of Hants. The name of Ralph de Wincestre is found in the Hundred Rolls, A. D. 1273.
(I) John Winchester, who has been re- ferred to as one of the "Founders of New England," established this family in America. He was born in England in 1616, and is said to have been an ad- venturous, religious, independence-loving scion of a titled family of Hertfordshire. On April 6, 1635, he sailed on the ship "Elizabeth" and landed in Boston, Mas- sachusetts. He was allotted five acres of land on what is now South street, Hing- ham, July 3, 1636, and settled there. In the same year he became a member of the first church of Boston. He was made a freeman, March 9, 1637, and a year later joined the Ancient and Honorable Artil- lery Company of Boston. About 1650 he and others moved to Muddy River, then a remote part of Boston, but now the aristocratic town of Brookline. There he was surveyor in 1664, 1669 and 1670; in
1672 was constable; and in 1680 was tythingman. He and his family united with the Roxbury church in 1674. His estate, at his death, April 25, 1694, as in- ventoried, indicates that he was well- to-do for those days, for it was appraised at £307, and consisted principally of all the land in Harvard street, Brookline, to the top of Corey's hill and west to the Brighton line.
(II) Josiah Winchester, son of John Winchester, married Mary Lyon, or Lyons, and their son, Elhanan, is of fur- ther mention.
(III) Elhanan Winchester, son of Jo- siah and Mary (Lyon or Lyons) Winches- ter, married Mary Taylor, and their son, Elhanan, is of further mention.
(IV) Elhanan (2) Winchester, son of Elhanan (1) and Mary (Taylor) Win- chester, was a deacon in the Church of the "New Lights." In 1777 he advanced £300 to the town of Newton, Massachu- setts, to pay the needy soldiers, whom the town in its impoverished condition on account of the war was unable to provide for. This loan greatly reduced his re- sources, and no record that it was repaid has been found. He married Sarah Bel- cher, a daughter of Royal Governor Bel- cher. He held the office of governor of his native colony of Massachusetts from 1730 to 1741, and at his death in 1757 was royal governor of New Jersey.
(V) Samuel Winchester, son of El- hanan (2) and Sarah (Belcher) Winches- ter, served in the Revolutionary War under General Gates. He participated in the battle of Stillwater, and was present at the surrender of General Burgoyne's army in Saratoga, New York. Samuel Winchester married for his third wife Hannah Woods.
(VI) Ebenezer Winchester, son of Samuel and Hannah (Woods) Winches-
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ter, was born in Marcellus, New York, March 30, 1814, and died in Valley Springs, California, February 1, 1897. He was an editor in his early days, being a fellow-worker with Horace Greeley and Whitelaw Reid on the New York "Tri- bune." For some time he was the pub- lisher of the Fredonia, New York. "Cen- sor." At another time he established the "New World," said to have been New York's first society illustrated paper. He also did much editorial and other writing for other newspapers. During the sixties and seventies he and his son, Theodore Winchester, owned and operated a news- paper and printing establishment in Marietta, Ohio. The latter years of Eben- ezer Winchester's life were spent in Oak- land and Valley Springs, California, where until he became blind he pursued writing and research work of a literary nature.
Mr. Winchester married Elizabeth Nel- son Story, who was born in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, March 26, 1815. She was a direct descendant of John Story, who came from England in the first half of the eighteenth century and settled in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he became an extensive ship merchant. His young- est son, Francis Story, father of Elizabeth Nelson Story, was born in Laurencetown, near Halifax, June 24, 1776. Being a commander of ships in the West India trade, he was known as Captain Story. Quite early in the nineteenth century he became a resident of Westchester county, New York. Maternally, Elizabeth Nel- son Story was descended from the French Huguenot families of Devone-now called Devoe-and Bennett, founders of the numerous Westchester county families bearing those names. The original De- vones and Bennetts, having left Rochelle, France, in consequence of the revocation
of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, were early settlers in New Rochelle, New York. Frederick Devone, great-grandfather of Elizabeth Nelson (Story) Winchester, was born there early in the seventeen hun- dreds. He engaged in business in New York City, where he resided during the winter seasons on Franklin square, spend- ing his summers at his country home in New Rochelle. He was the owner of a considerable estate. Frederick Devone was a vestryman of St. Paul's Chapel, New York. Being a Royalist, he removed to Nova Scotia after the British evacuated New York, taking with him his ward, David Bennett, who was born in New Rochelle, March 31, 1757. David Bennett was married at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, to Charity Devone, a daughter of his guardian, Frederick Devone, who was born in New Rochelle, New York, Janu- ary 27, 1759. This marriage took place about 1782 or 1783. Their oldest daugh- ter, Sarah Bennett, who was born in An- napolis, Nova Scotia, December 21, 1784, was married at that place, March 13, 1806, to Captain Francis Story, and they were the parents of Elizabeth Nelson Story, who as the wife of Ebenezer Win- chester was the grandmother of Albert E. Winchester.
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