USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v.2 > Part 17
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The value of such disinterested service as is evidenced in this act is of inestimable value to Hartford. Senator Purcell is of the type of man whose presence in a posi- tion of legal importance is a factor for good whose value cannot be over-rated. His splendid mentality and ability, backed by his aggressive though not pugnacious nature, extends hope for greater achieve- ment in the future along the same lines in which he has succeeded in his work in the Senate. He is tactful and diplomatic. and of a genial disposition which makes and keeps friends easily. His popularity in Hartford among all political factions is ever increasing and Senator Purcell is looked upon as one of the rising men of the day. Major Purcell accompanied his regiment to the Mexican border in 1916 and gave four months' duty to his coun- try under the call of President Wilson.
WHITMORE, Franklin Gray,
Real Estate Operator, Insurance Actuary.
Franklin Gray Whitmore, senior mem- ber of the firm of F. G. Whitmore & Son, real estate and insurance, of Hartford, Connecticut, and secretary of the board of park commissioners, was born at No. 162 Henry street, New York City, Sep- tember 18, 1846. He was a son of Isaiah and Elizabeth Ann (Culver) Whitmore, and a direct descendant of Francis Whit- more, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, born in 1625, he being a descendant of John Whitmore, of Wethersfield. Connecticut, who lived in that town in 1638 and was afterwards the founder of Stamford, Con- necticut, in 1641.
The Whitmore family is one of the oldest in New England and has been found in the record in old England as far back as 1215. As surnames did not begin to come into general use until about the thirteenth century, it will be seen that Whitmore is one of the oldest of family
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names. It is derived from wid, meaning spear, and mar, meaning famous, together signifying "famous with the spear," the name of a Gothic king. When King John signed the Magna Charta at Runymeade, the name of Whitmore appears. The early proprietors of the Manor were called Lords of Whytemore, and John De Whyte- more was mayor of Chester from 1369 to 1372. Whitmore Hall is situated in the village of Whitmore in Staffordshire, one hundred and forty-six miles from London. Up to this time the connection of the American family with the Whitmores of Staffordshire has not been established, but the similarity in the Christian names of the family in different generations leaves little doubt that it is of Stafford- shire origin. Tradition says that two brothers, Sir George and John, emigrated to America in the early part of the seven- teenth century, the former locating in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he served as a government officer.
The name of John Whitmore, some- times called "the lost brother," appears on the Wethersfield, Connecticut, records in 1638, when Robert Treat purchased fifty-eight acres of land belonging to him. In 1641 John Whitmore became one of the founders and settlers of Stamford. In the first distribution of land he was allotted ten acres and was admitted as freeman in 1642. He was chosen deputy to the General Court, October 27, 1643, and representative to the New Haven As- sembly in 1647. He was killed by the Indians in 1648. He was married in Eng- land, but the record of his wife's name has been lost. He was married a second time in this country. The following children were born from the first marriage: Thom- as, in 1615; Anne, in 1623; Francis, in 1625; and John, in 1627.
There can be no reasonable doubt that Francis. the fourth child, is the same man
who married Isabele Parke in Cambridge, Massachusetts, about 1648, as he gave the date of his birth in an affidavit as 1625. He died at Cambridge, October 12, 1685. His wife, who was the daughter of Rich- ard and Margery (Crane) Parke, died there March 31, 1665.
The third child of this marriage was John Whitmore, born at Cambridge, Oc- tober I, 1654. He married for his first wife Rachel, the widow of John Poulter, of Cambridge, and daughter of Francis and Mary (Saunders) Eliot. She was born October 25, 1643, and died March 20, 1723. They lived at Cambridge and Medford, Massachusetts. He served under Major Swayne in the fight with the Indians at Saco. He became pos- sessed of considerable land in Medford, Billerica and Charlestown. He was town treasurer and deacon of the First Parish Church.
His sc a, John Whitmore, was born Au- gust 27, :683, and died at Billerica, March 26 or 27, 1753. In 1706 he married Mary, daughter of Colonel John and Susan (Whipple) Lane, of Billerica. She was born May 15, 1686, and died March 27, 1783. John Whitmore learned the trade of carpenter but later went into business with his brother Francis. He owned much property in Medford, and was a liberal contributor to the church. Mrs. Whit- more was a granddaughter of Job Lane, or Laine, as the name was frequently spelled. He was a native of Rickmans- worth, England, born in 1624, and came to this country before he was twenty years of age. There is a record of him at Sekonck, Rehoboth, Massachusetts, which states that he drew a house and lot in the apportionment of lands there. His sec- ond wife was Hannah Reyner or Rayner, of Malden, whom he married July 2, 1660. This lady, who was born in the year 1632 and died April 30, 1704, was a daughter
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of the Rev. John and Sarah (Bayes) Rey- ner. Her father was a native of Gilder- somme, Yorkshire, England, was a gradu- ate of Magdalen College, Oxford, and was married in 1631. He came to Boston on the ship "James" in 1635 and the follow- ing year became pastor of the First Church at Plymouth. In 1654 he left Plymouth and went to Dover, New Hampshire, where he was the pastor of the church there until his death in 1669. Job Lane followed the trade of carpenter all his life, and on September II, 1658, signed an agreement to build the first meeting house in the community where he dwelt, and four years later built a drawbridge. He removed from Malden to Billerica, Massachusetts, about 1667 or 1668, and was a selectman in that commu- nity in 1683 and 1686. In 1680 he re- turned to Malden. His son, Colonel John Lane, the father of Mary (Lane) Whit- more, was born October, 1661, and mar- ried, March 20, 1680, Susannah Whipple. He was the leading soldier in Billerica and was in command of a troop of horse in the year 1693 and again three or four years later. He was selectman in 1693, 1696-1704 and in 1709, and he was given a grant of land for his services as deputy in the year 1707. He was a liberal con- tributor to religious and educational work in the community.
John and Mary (Lane) Whitmore had a son, Francis Whitmore, who was born at Medford, October 4, 1714, where he grew up to be a business man of impor- tance. In the years 1760, 1762, 1765, 1766 and 1767, his name appears either as a purchaser or seller of lands in the vicinity of Reed's Point on the Kennebec river, Maine, and during that time he shipped masts for the Royal Navy. The first evi- dence of milling is found on his land on the Abadagasett river and it is therefore probable that he was the pioneer lumber-
man in that part of Maine. In an account of the establishment of Bowdoinham in 1762 appears the statement that a man named Whitmore had settled previously at Reed's Point on the Kennebec and an- other account of early settlements along that river states that he was there as early as 1749. He traded with the Indians on an extensive scale. In 1763 he was moder- ator of the meeting held to incorporate the town of Bowdoinham and we find him given the title of "Captain" Francis Whitmore in a record of an appropriation made to maintain meetings, some of which were to be held at his house. On January 1, 1739, he married Mary, daugh- ter of Lieutenant Stephen and Elizabeth (Fowle) Hall. She was born April 17, 1719, and died October 20, 1791. He died April 27. 1794.
John Whitmore, son of Francis and Mary (Hall) Whitmore, was born at Medford, November 25, 1754, and died at Bath, Maine, November 29, 1820. He was married April 12, 1781, to Hulda, a daugh- ter of Isaiah Crooker. She died at Bath, February 19. 1812.
Their son, Isaiah Whitmore, born at Bath, February 21, 1792, died July 1, 1865, in New York City. Isaiah Whitmore was for many years in the shipping business in New York, having a large number of vessels in the trade with West Indian and South American ports. His office was at No. 47 South street, and as he advanced in years his participation in the business grew less and he finally completely re- tired from its management which was taken over by his sons, Henry and Fred- eric. Isaiah Whitmore was married to Elizabeth Ann Culver, a daughter of Cap- tain Culver. She was born March 29, 1803, and died December 4, 1860. Born to Isaiah and Elizabeth Ann (Culver) Whitmore was one son, Franklin Gray Whitmore, the subject of this sketch.
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Franklin Gray Whitmore was educated at Charles N. Anthon's private grammer school in New York City, Edward L. Hart's private boarding school at Farm- ington, Connecticut, and at the age of sixteen entered Columbia College in 1862. In 1864 he enlisted in the Sixth Company, Seventh Regiment, New York National Guard, under Captain Bird. That regi- ment was detailed to guard the body of the martyred Lincoln during its proces- sion through New York City and while lying in state in the City Hall there. After his marriage in 1867 he spent some years abroad and then purchased a stock farm in Fairfield county, Connecticut, where he spent his summers and engaged in breed- ing trotting horses. He owned some very fast horses. He spent his winters in Hart- ford, and beginning in 1880 made West Hartford his permanent home. In that year he built his present residence at the corner of Highland street and Farmington avenue. Subsequently Mr. Whitmore opened a real estate office in Hartford, and after a few years his son, Harold B. Whitmore, became a partner under the firm name of F. G. Whitmore & Son. For some years Mr. Whitmore was private secretary to the late Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) and probably no living man was so intimately acquainted with the great humorist as Mr. Whitmore. He has lectured on Mark Twain and written papers on him. He has a large collection of his letters and enough material to make a splendid biography of him. In 1896 Mr. Whitmore was elected secretary of the board of park commissioners.and has held that office ever since. He has been a di- rector of the Connecticut Fire Insurance Company for thirty-eight years ; a mem- ber of the Sons of Colonial Wars ; a mem- ber of the advisory board of the Hartford Art Society; a member of the advisory board of the Women's Aid Society.
He was married to Harriet Eliza, daughter of William S. Goulden, of Fair- field, Connecticut. They were the parents of six children, as follows: William Frank- lin; Frederic Culver, deceased ; Harriet Eliza, married John O. Enders, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work ; Franklin G., Jr., deceased; Harold Bur- ton, who is a partner in his father's busi- ness; Ruth, who married Robert P. Parker, a son of Rev. Edwin Pond Parker, D. D., of Hartford. Mr. Whitmore is an Episcopalian in his religious affiliations and attends St. John's Episcopal Church, to which he has given a memorial window in honor of his deceased children.
Mrs. Whitmore did a great deal of work in tracing the various lines of her ancestry, and this was published in a little book en- titled : "A Memorial of the Kindred and Ancestry of Harriet L. Sturges Goulden, of Fairfield, Connecticut, Compiled in Loving Memory by Her Daughter, Har- riet E. Goulden Whitmore." The lines traced are Sturges, Barlow, Judson, Sher- wood, Bradley, Dimon, Ward, Pinkney, Burr, Redfield, Davis, Hull, Jones, San- ford. Mrs. Whitmore was historian of the Ruth Wyllys Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, of Hartford. For several years she was vice-president of Colonial Dames of Connecticut. She declined the presidency on account of her health. She was identified with the Hartford Art School, Women's Aid So- ciety, the Blind Asylum, and the Connec- ticut Historical Society. She wrote a number of magazine articles on historical subjects. Mrs. Whitmore was truly a remarkable character, a leader in the in- tellectual life of her community where she exerted a great influence upon the life of her own sex. She was possessed of an energy which exceeded the limits of her physical strength. She was public-spirited in the extreme and gave freely of herself
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to every good work undertaken in the community. Her relations with her fam- ily were of the highest order. She was an ideal wife and mother, and the Whit- more home, in the hospitality which it ex- tended to a large circle of friends and for which it was famous, was an expression of her personality. She died June 30, 1915.
SANBORN, William A.,
Insurance Actuary, Financier.
William A. Sanborn, of Hartford, Con- necticut, is one of the energetic and suc- cessful men of that city, and one whose name is closely identified with the growth and development of the community. He comes of sturdy old New England stock, of the type that in the past wrought the foundation of the Republic, his ancestors being residents of that region from earliest Colonial times.
William A. Sanborn is a member of an old New England family. The name San- born. or Sanborne, is met with compara- tive frequency in America to-day. There is little doubt, however, owing to the great infrequency with which it appears in England that there is but one family with a single origin in that country. The coat-of-arms is as follows: Argent, a chevron sable, between three mullets gules. Crest : A right hand holding a sheaf of arrows proper. There is another branch of the family which shows the arrows sable, and still another with a crest consisting of a lion rampant azure. It is in A. D. 1194 that we find the earliest mention of the name of Sanborn in Eng- land. It then appears in the old form of De Sandeburne, while later, in 1330, we find the spelling Samborne, or Sambourne. Since the fourteenth century, the last two forms have been the accepted English spelling and the only two branches of the family which exist in England to-day.
The first American ancestors spelled their name with an "m" and with or without the final "e," the variation being quite in harmony with the loose customs in spell- ing existing at that time. For several generations this continued to be the case but slowly the "m" was changed to "n," until about 1750 the modern form was adopted, the final "e" being dropped al- together. The original and traditional pronunciation in this country was as though it was spelt Sahnbourn with a marked accent on the first syllable. At the present time there are but two fam- ilies, one living in Michigan and one in Illinois who spell their names otherwise, both of these preferring the form Sand- born.
The founder of the family was William Sanborn, who was born about 1622 in England, a son of William Sanborn, of Brimpton, Berks, and Anne (Bachiler) Sanborne. His parentage was not abso- lutely certain, but the great balance of probability is as above. William was one of four sons and he and his three brothers evidently came to America in the year 1632 with the Rev. Stephen Bachiler, their grandfather. It was not until 1639, how- ever, that we find a record of them in Hampton, New Hampshire, where they eventually settled and where "in June 1640 a house lot on the road towards the sea was granted to him." He was select- man of Hampton in 1651, 1660, 1667, 1671, 1677 and 1683, and was very active in the affairs of the community, serving in the war with King Philip. His death oc- curred on November 18, 1692, and he was married to Mary, a daughter of John Moulton, of Ormsby and of Hampton, New Hampshire.
Their son, Stephen Sanborn, was born in Hampton. September 4, 1671, and there is a tradition that he lived in a "side hill cave" for thirty years. However, this may
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be, he was a member of the garrison at D. Tilton's in 1695 and 1696, and at Ex- eter in the latter year. He was a soldier in the wars of 1704 to 1708, and his death occurred on June 21. 1750. It is an amus- ing light on the character of this old worthy that, in 1704, one Samuel Roby, of Hampton, complained that Stephen Sanborn. with others, was concerned in a riot. He was married, on July 26, 1693, to Hannah, a daughter of Lieutenant James Philbrick, of Hampton.
Their son, Stephen Sanborn, was born May 1. : 694, at Hampton, and lived in that town during his entire life. His death occurred May 30. 1778. He was inarried, November 30, 1721, to Ruth, a daughter of Aretas Levet, of Hampton, whose death occurred on the same day as that of her husband. two years earlier.
Their son, Amos Sanborn, was born in Hampton, June 1, 1726, and like his father he made his home in his native place until the elder man's death, when he removed to Moultonborough. He was married to Polly - -. He died March 3, 1815.
Their son, Robert Sanborn, was also born in Hampton, February 6, 1762, but eventually made his home at Sandwich in the same State, where he married Mary Glines. His death occurred February 24. 1851.
Their son. David Ambrose Sanborn. was born at Sandwich. New Hampshire. February 14. 1795, and died in Somerville, Massachusetts, February 19, 1875. He made his home in the latter place, where he was prominent, carrying on a good business as a brick manufacturer. He was married to Hannah Adams, a daughter of John Stone, of Somerville. She was born January 18, 1794, and died July 15, 1875.
Their son, Daniel Alfred Sanborn. was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, April 5. 1827. He was the father of the subject of this sketch. He was educated as a
civil engineer, learning this profession in the office of a prominent engineer of Bos- ton. His life was a decidedly varied one as he engaged in a number of different occupations. He was at one time superin- tendent of railroads in Maine and at an- other time held the same office in the State of Delaware. At one time he was in Boston, where he took a contract to fill in a part of what is now the Back Bay dis- trict of that city. In 1866 he was em- ployed by Mr. J. B. Bennett, the manager of the Cincinnati office of the Ætna In- surance Company, in making maps for in- surance work. The employment of maps as an aid to underwriters dates back in this country to 1850 when Mr. William Perris made one for Mr. Hope, of New York City, who was then secretary of the Jefferson Insurance Company. It was not completed until 1852. Mr. Sanborn's work under Mr. Bennett was among the earliest attempts in this direction, how- ever, and he thus became introduced to an industry in which he was engaged dur- ing the remainder of his life. There was a very small demand for these maps at the outset, and although Mr. Sanborn had the backing of Mr. Bennett and several other insurance men who were greatly impressed with the idea, it was very dif- ficult to put the business on a paying basis. Anyone who possessed less cour- age and persistence than Mr. Sanborn must have given up the attempt long be- fore anything had come of it. But, with a pertinacity characteristic of his New England ancestors, Mr. Sanborn would not give in and eventually built up the con- cern which now is by far the largest and most important engaged in this great in- dustry. Mr. Sanborn's health unfortu- nately failed at a time when his business had reached very great proportions and he was obliged to retire from active life several years before his death, which oc-
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curred on April II, 1883. He married, October 6, 1853, Ann Rogers Forster, of Somerville, Massachusetts, where she was born January 10, 1832. Her death oc- curred November 17, 1910. Her father was Charles Forster, of Somerville, and he was very prominent in the community, a school there having been named for him.
William A. Sanborn, their son, was born at Charlestown, Massachusetts, Sep- tember 4, 1864. His education was re- ceived in private schools and was com- pleted at the Brooklyn Polytechnic In- stitute. He then became associated with his father in the insurance map business. In the year 1890 he came to Hartford, Connecticut, where he has made his home from that time to the present, and in 1901 engaged there in the real estate business. He has made a specialty of developing high-class real estate propositions, par- ticularly in residential districts. He is also the agent for a number of very im- portant business buildings in the city, among which is the Connecticut Mutual Building. He is much interested in the insurance business, to which he had an introduction through the making of maps for use therein, and he is now associated with the Standard Fire Insurance Com- pany, being a member of its board of di- rectors and its local agent in Hartford. He is also a director of the Colonial Na- tional Bank, president and treasurer of the Park Realty Company, a director of the Connecticut Fair Association, all of Hartford, and secretary of the Sanborn Map Company of New York.
Some years ago Mr. Sanborn erected a beautiful summer home at Eastern Point, Connecticut, and has taken an active part in the social life of both Hartford and the former place. He is a member of many of the most important clubs of Hartford, among which should be mentioned the Hartford Club; the Hartford Golf Club,
of which he was secretary for four years ; the Hartford Yacht Club; the Hartford Curling Club, of which he was the presi- dent ; the Automobile clubs of Hartford and of America ; and the Country Club of Farinington. For a time he was vice- president of the Municipal Art Society of Hartford. He attends the Center Church.
William A. Sanborn married, October 13. 1884, Nellie A. Smiley, a daughter of Joseph E. and Nellie Aurelius (Wight- man) Smiley, of Philadelphia. To them one daughter was born, Eleanor, October 18, 1901.
BIRDSEYE, Arthur Julius,
Insurance Expert, Public Official.
Contemporary opinion - always valu- able-was recently expressed in the fol- lowing manner concerning Mr. Birdseye : "There is about Mr. Birdseye an elan, a vigor, a sincerity to which the spirit of all who come in contact with him in- stinctively responds, and these qualities coupled with his innate urbanity have made him immensely popular. He is pa- triotic, philanthropic, and public spirited to the marrow."
While the above was written concern- ing his political prominence, it applies to his success in the life insurance field as well, and goes far in explaining the promi- nence of the Mutual Benefit Life Insur- ance Company of Newark, New Jersey, in the State of Connecticut, for since 1900 Mr. Birdseye has been State agent for that company. He has made life insur- ance his deep study, is master of its detail in every department, and ranks as an au- thority. His lecture "Fundamentals in Life Insurance" has been asked for and delivered before faculty and students at a number of New England colleges and other institutions. a compliment usually reserved for the highest insurance execu-
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tives, and one that fixes Mr. Birdseye as an authority.
Perhaps he is best known to the public- at-large for his work in the State Legis- lature, where in face of powerful and wealthy opposition he forced to passage the bill known throughout the country as "Birdseye's Money Shark Bill" prohibit- ing the loaning of money at exorbitant rates to wage earners. This law effectu- ally stopped the pernicious business of such loaners in the State of Connecticut, and is deemed one of the most important and salutory enactments of recent years. The law was declared constitutional by the Supreme Court of Connecticut, and by the Supreme Court of the United States, and under its provisions a fine of $6,000 was collected from the notorious Tolman, the State of New York later ex- acting a fine of $2,000 after his conviction upon a similar charge, also inflicting a term of imprisonment in Sing Sing.
Mr. Birdseye is of the ninth American generation of the family founded by John Birdseye, who, according to an eminent authority, was a Puritan in England in 1636. He emigrated to New Haven, Connecticut, with his two sons. The line of descent from John Birdseye, "the founder," is through his son, "Deacon" John (2) Birdseye; his son, John (3) Birdseye : his son, Lieutenant Abel Birds- eye ; his son, Captain Jonas Birdseye, a soldier of the Revolution: his son, Abel Birdseye, who settled in New York State and died at Junius, October 13, 1866; his son. Julius Hiram Birdseye, father of Arthur Julius Birdseye, of Hartford.
Julius Hiram Birdseye was the first of his family in direct line born outside the confines of the State of Connecticut, his birthplace, Junius, New York. He died at Waterloo in that State in 1885, a farmer, merchant and horticulturist. He married. October 4. 1849. Elizabeth Kliner, born
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