USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v.2 > Part 22
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his profession, he stands no less so in the regard of his fellow townsmen as a type of public spirited citizenship. Nor in his purely private life are his virtues less marked. He possesses very strongly the domestic instincts, loving the intimate re- lationship of home life and household affairs, and proving himself a loving and devoted husband and father.
SPICER, Edmund, M. D., Physician, Surgeon.
There are few professions that call for so many qualities, both of mind and heart, as that of medicine, the object of which is a much more complex one than the aver- age layman imagines. The true physi- cian, while it may be said that his prime object is the healing of the body, should turn his attention with scarcely less con- centration upon the healing of the mind, since in a measure this is a means to the former. There are few of us who have had the misfortune to be invalids, even though it be for a short period, who are not aware of how greatly the presence in the sick room of the cheerful and opti- mistic physician tends to lighten the bur- den of ill health and actually hastens re- covery. Dr. Spicer has realized this simple truth intuitively and his great suc- cess in his profession is due to the fact that he adds this real therapeutic agency to a profound knowledge of the material and physical aspects of disease. Dr. Spicer is still a young man but his place in the popular approval of his fellow citi- zens of Waterbury. Connecticut, is as- sured.
Dr. Spicer comes of a fine old Connecti- cut family, the members of which have distinguished themselves in that State for many years. His grandfather, also Ed- mund Spicer, was born in Ledyard, Con- necticut, and lived in that town all his
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life, his death occurring there in 1889. He was a successful farmer and took a prominent part in village affairs. He was also active in the Masonic order and was past master of the local lodge. He mar- ried a Miss Williams, who died in Led- yard at the age of sixty-five years. Seven children were born to them, of whom John died at the age of seventy years. The six, who still survive, are as follows: Fannie, the widow of George Fanning, now resides in Hartford; Edward E., the father of Dr. Spicer; Sarah, Carrie and Cecelia, who married three brothers of the name of Lester, two of whom went with their wives to California many years ago, and the third, who married Carrie Spicer, remained in Ledyard; George, the youngest child, now lives at Deep River, Connecticut, where he is a very successful grower of fruit.
Edward E. Spicer, the father of Dr. Spicer, was born in Ledyard, Connecticut, and passed the earlier years of his life there. He then came to Groton, Connec- ticut, where he is living at the present time (1916). He is a successful business man and now owns a large ice plant in Groton. He has taken a conspicuous part in the affairs of the borough of Groton and has been identified with the political and industrial life there in an intimate manner. He married Sarah Griswold, like himself a native of Ledyard and one year younger than himself. They are the parents of five children, all of whom are living, as follows: Bethiah, born in the year 1879, and is now the wife of William E. Brown, of old Mystic, New London county, Connecticut ; Edmund, of whom further; Clare, born in the year 1883, and now the wife of Edmund Eldred, a resi- dent of Connecticut; Sarah, born in the year 1887, and now the wife of Lieuten- ant I. C. Shute, of the United States navy ; Rodger G., a resident of Groton, where he is engaged in the automobile business.
Born at Groton, Connecticut, on Sep- tember 6, 1881, Edmund Spicer passed his early childhood in his native town. He began his education in the local public schools but was afterwards sent to New London, where he attended the well known Bulkeley School of that city. He completed the preparatory portion of his education in this latter institution, and upon graduating from it at the age of nineteen, entered the School of Medi- cine of Yale University. His course there was one of distinction and he proved himself so good a student as to draw the favorable regard of his masters upon his work. He graduated in the year 1905 with his degree of Doctor of Medicine and gained his practical experience as interne in the Lincoln Hospital in New York City, being a member of the house staff of that institution for two years. In the year 1905 he came to Waterbury and took up his regular practice there, giving espe- cial attention to the surgical side of his profession. He perfected himself in this branch until he is now recognized as one of the cleverest among the rising surgeons and has received the honor of an appoint- ment as assistant surgeon in the Water- bury Hospital. His office is located at No. 292 West Main street.
The time of a physician, particularly a busy one such as Dr. Spicer, is naturally taken up very largely with his profes- sional work, the demands of that profes- sion being in the highest degree exacting. Dr. Spicer, however, is a man of wide in- terests and sympathies, a lover of social intercourse with his fellowmen, and he gains the necessary relaxation and recrea- tion in this direction through his associ- ation with the order of the Knights of Pythias. He holds the commission of first lieutenant in the Medical Reserve Corps of the United States army. In his religious belief, Dr. Spicer is a Congre- gationalist and attends the church of the
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denomination in Waterbury, giving liber- ally in support of its philanthropic under- takings. Dr. Spicer's position in the com- munity is an important one and promises to become much more so.
On December 17, 1912, at Waterbury, Dr. Spicer was united in marriage with Minnie Tracy, a native of Waterbury and a daughter of George and Sarah (Snow) Tracy. Mr. and Mrs. Tracy are also na- tives of Waterbury and lifelong residents there. Mr. Tracy is a member of the firm of Tracy Brothers, engaged in the con- tracting and building business. They have done a very large amount of fine work in the city and are very well known there. Mrs. Tracy's father came origi- nally from Morris county. Connecticut.
STODDARD, Henry Haven,
Business Man, Active in Insurance Circles.
Among the successful and prominent business men of New London, Connecti- cut, of the past generation, the name of Henry Haven Stoddard stands out as an example of one whose entire career was followed with the most scrupulous concern for the rights and interests of others, who never wittingly harmed a fellow, even a rival in business, and who left behind him an unsullied reputation and a feel- ing of loss which extended to all those who had ever come into contact with him, even the most distantly. His death there on January 19, 1913, occurred in the house where he was born, and his entire life was spent in the city of his birth. The Stoddard family, of splendid old New England stock. had made New London its residence for many years and Mr. Stoddard's father, Enoch Vine Stoddard, was a well-known and highly respected citizen of the place.
Born on March 22, 1854, Henry Haven Stoddard attended the excellent public
schools for his education and proved himself a bright and alert student, leav- ing a record of good scholarship behind him. Upon completing his studies, he turned his attention to the task of earn- ing his living and making his way in the world. His first venture was in the wholesale dealing of drugs, a business in which he saw a large future in New Lon- don at that time. He was eminently suc- cessful, but later saw an excellent oppor- tunity to engage in the manufacture of paper on a large scale and took advantage of it promptly. It was not in either of these lines, however, that Mr. Stoddard won his great success. It is with life in- surance that his name is especially asso- ciated in the city, and it was but a short time after his venture in the paper in- dustry that he turned his attention to this great business. Life insurance at that time. while it had been in existence many years, was then first making those im- mense strides forward which has placed it among the front rank of businesses in the country, and of that group of com- panies whose efforts had most to with this great development the New York Life Insurance Company was a leading member. Mr. Stoddard became the repre- sentative of this great concern for New London and proceeded at once to open a sort of educational campaign in the city on the value of life insurance in general. He was eminently successful as a getter of business and was one of the most valued agents of the company in New England. He was a man of strong per- sonality and a persuasive tongue and he was soon doing a very large volume of business for his company. He continued actively in this line until towards the close of his life when ill health intervened and caused him to suffer confinement in his home.
Mr. Stoddard was a man of large in-
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terests and wide influence and was con- nected with many of the aspects of the city's life besides that of business. He was a man of strong social instincts and devoted to the society of his fellow men, who in turn valued him most highly as a companion. He was especially inter- ested in the Masonic order, was a promi- nent member of the local bodies connected therewith and was a past master of Brain- ard Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and a past commander of Palestine Com- mandery, Knights Templar. His work as a Free Mason was of great importance to the welfare of the order in New London and it was due in no small degree to his efforts that the handsome Brainard Ma- sonic Temple was secured for that body in New London. Another matter in which his fondness for social intercourse among his fellows was shown in the founding of the Thames Club, in which he was one of the prime movers, and later an active and enthusiastic member.
Henry Haven Stoddard was united in marriage on April 22, 1884, at Zion Epis- copal Church, to Marie Day McEwen, of New York City, a daughter of Dr. John B. and Mary (Day) McEwen. Two chil- dren were born to Mr. and Mrs. Stoddard : Marie Day and Henry Haven, Jr., who survive their father and are at present making their home with their mother. The young man, Henry Haven Stoddard, Jr., is a graduate of Norwich Academy in the town of that name and contemplates shortly of entering Yale University. He is possessed of a strong taste for the student's life and is fond of books of which he is already a wide reader.
WILSON, Clifford Brittin,
Lieutenant-Governor of Connecticut.
A splendid example of the successful New Englander, who through his un-
aided efforts has risen from a position in the ranks of his fellows to the second highest office in the State, is Lieutenant- Governor Clifford Brittin Wilson, a citi- zen of whom Bridgeport, Connecticut, may well be proud. His achievement is the more remarkable when his age is considered, for Mr. Wilson is a young man whose greatest accomplishment must be looked for in the future. What the future will bring for him no one can say but there is certainly no doubt that what- ever it is it will add to the record which he has already established of personal ability and invaluable public service. Mr. Wilson's descent from one of the fine old families of Connecticut presupposes his sterling and vigorous traits of character. The stock from which he sprung is typ- ical of the best traditions of New England life, the life which has had more to do with the shaping and development of our republican institutions than that of any other single section of the country.
For generations the Wilson family has lived in the charming old town of Fair- field, Connecticut, where its members have always held a position of the highest esteem in the regard of their neighbors. The founder of the family in Fairfield was one Amos Wilson, who came to what was then a border settlement and made his home there. From that time to the pres- ent, Fairfield has remained the abode of a large portion of the Wilson family. Lieu- tenant-Governor Wilson's great-grand- father was John Squire Wilson, a man of prominence in his time. His grandfather was William Squire Wilson, who in early life followed the trade of carpenter, sub- sequently retired from that line of work, and during the remainder of his life oper- ated the family farm. He married Phoebe Ann Wilson, who bore him a large family of children, all of whom are now deceased. The father of Lieutenant-Governor Wil-
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son was James A. Wilson, who was born February 11, 1845, in the old homestead of the Wilson family at Fairfield. He was the first in the direct line to move from that place, in his youth taking up his residence in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where for several years he followed the profession of school teacher. He then took up the study of law, in which profes- sion he continued until the end of his life, his death occurring in Bridgeport, Febru- ary 12, 1897. He married Mary Eliza Wordin, a native of Bridgeport, Connec- ticut, a member of a very old and dis- tinguished family of that city, and her death occurred May 26, 1915. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson were the parents of eight children, four of whom are now living: Eva, a resident of Bridgeport ; Bertha and Mirta, twins, who died in infancy; Clif- ford Brittin, of whom further ; Lizzie, now the wife of Robert G. DeForest, a resident of Bridgeport; William W., died in in- fancy ; Marion, died in infancy ; and Har- old J., a resident of Bridgeport.
Clifford Brittin Wilson was born De- cember 2, 1879, at Bridgeport, Connecti- cut, and has lived there all his life. He obtained his preliminary education in the public schools of his native city, later attending the high school, from which he was graduated in 1898. He possessed a strong taste for the law in early youth, and upon the completion of his studies he devoted his attention to that subject in the office of Edward P. Nobbs, a promi- nent attorney of Bridgeport. In 1899, while he was yet a student of law, he was appointed assistant clerk of the Probate District of Bridgeport, a fact which speaks highly for his talent and the con- fidence which he inspired in older men. He was admitted to the bar in January, 1902, and at once began the active practice of his profession. Two years later he entered into partnership with Henry C. Stevenson, an
association which continued until the year 1915. Mr. Wilson's career at the bar was one which attracted the attention of the community to him, the ability which he displayed being of a very unusual order, and in 1907 he was elected alderman from the Fifth District, serving in that capacity until 1909, in which year he was appointed coroner for Fairfield county, which office he resigned on January 1, 1912. In 1909 he also became president of the Common Council and served as acting mayor of Bridgeport. In November, 1911, he re- ceived the election of mayor of Bridge- port, the term of service being for two years. He was reelected mayor in No- vember, 1913, and again in November, 1915. In November, 1914, he was elected Lieutenant-Governor of Connecticut for a term of two years, and was reelected to said office in November, 1916. Mr. Wil- son has been active in many departments of the public life of his native city, and particularly so in the militia of his State. He held various offices in the Third Regi- ment, which afterwards became the Fourth Company, Coast Artillery, and he is now on the State retired list as captain of militia.
Mr. Wilson has been a member of the Masonic order for many years and is par- ticularly active therein. He is a member of all the bodies connected with that order, including the Pyramid Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and has taken his Knight Templar and thirty-second degrees in Ma- sonry. He is also a member of and past grand of Pequonock Lodge, No. 4, In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows; past chief patriarch of Stratfield Encampment, No. 23, of the same order; a member of Bridgeport Lodge, Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks, and Franklin Bart- lett Camp, No. 11, Sons of Veterans.
Mr. Wilson was united in marriage, No-
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vember 10, 1914, to Anastasia C. Dorsey, a native of Middletown, Connecticut, a daughter of Patrick and Mary E. (Cahill) Dorsey, of Middletown. Mr. Dorsey came from the Isle of New Foundland, where he was born, while Mrs. Dorsey was a native of Williamsburg, Massachusetts.
WILLIAMS, Almeron Newberry, Fire Insurance Expert.
The name of Williams is very ancient and is to be found throughout the civilized world. Most of the original families of the name were doubtless of Welsh ex- traction. They form a large portion of the principality of Wales, somewhat like the O's of Ireland and the Mac's of Scot- land. At a very early date in Colonial history there were a number of distinct families of the name of Williams in this country.
(I) The pregenitor of the branch of the family herein treated, William Wil- liams, was born in England, about 1623, and died in East Hartford, Connecticut, December 17, 1689. He settled there in 1646. He was a cooper by trade. He was admitted freeman in 1654. On Octo- ber 3, 1662, the town of Hartford voted him a tract of land at Podunk, and about 1666 the town divided among the proprie- tors the upland held in common east of the river, each lot running east three miles. William Williams purchased enough of these lots to make a lot sixty- six rods wide. Some of this land is still in the possession of his descendants. On November 25, 1647, he married Jane Westover, who died December 25, 1689. His will was dated 1688.
(II) John Williams, son of William and Jane (Westover) Williams, was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the second of nine children. His will was dated in 1713.
(III) Jonathan Williams, son of John Williams, married Sarah -, who is buried at Town Hill, New Hartford.
(IV) Abraham Williams, son of Jona- than and Sarah Williams, was born in 1718, and died September 2, 1807. He married Mary Loomis, born October 6, 1728, and died April 19, 1809. David Loomis, father of Mary (Loomis) Wil- liams, was born December 2, 1694, and died January 9, 1752, in Windsor, Con- necticut. He married, November 24, 1715, Elizabeth Harmon, born December 29, 1694, died April, 1770, daughter of Na- thaniel and Mary (Skinner) Harmon. David Loomis, father of David Loomis, was born January II, 1667-68, at Wind- sor. Connecticut, and died January 9, 1751-52. He married, December 8, 1692, Lydia (Marsh) Lyman, born October 9. 1667, daughter of Jonathan and Hepzibah (Ford) Marsh, and widow of Richard Lyman. Nathaniel Loomis, father of David Loomis, was born in County Es- sex. England, about 1626, and died at Windsor, Connecticut, August 19, 1688. He was admitted freeman in 1654; joined the church, May 3, 1663; was a member of Windsor Troop of Horse in King Philip's War. His will, dated August 17, 1688, is preserved at Hartford and is signed "Nathaniel Loomys." He mar- ried. November 24, 1653, Elizabeth Moore, born at Windsor, 1638, daughter of Dea- con Jonathan and Abigail Moore (More). She married (second) Jonathan Case, and died July 23, 1728. Joseph Loomis, father of Nathaniel Loomis, was born in Eng- land, probably before 1590, a son of Jona- than and Agnes Loomis. Joseph Loomis was a woolen merchant in Braintree, County Essex, England. He came to Boston, Massachusetts, in the ship "Su- san and Ellen" arriving, July 17, 1638. He lived at Dorchester for about a year. On February 2, 1640, the town of Wind-
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sor, Connecticut, granted him twenty-one acres of land adjoining the Farmington river on the west side of the Connecticut river. He also became possessed of other land on the east side of the Connecticut river by grant and by purchase. He mar- ried, in Messing, County Essex, England, June 30. 1614, Mary White, baptized Au- gust 24. 1590, daughter of Robert and Bridget (Allgar) White, who were mar- ried June 24, 1585. Joseph Loomis died November 25. 1658; his wife died at Windsor, August 23, 1652. The name Loomis, like most family names, was spelled in various way at an early date. Two or three centuries ago the name was spelled Lummas, Lommas and Lomes ; to-day in England the name is generally spelled Lomas. In Colonial days in this country the name was spelled Lomis, Lomys and Lomas, but the name is now almost universally spelled Loomis.
(V) David Williams, son of Abraham and Mary (Loomis) Williams, was born February 2, 1756. and died October 13, 1809. He married Rachel Bidwell, who died December 24, 1828. She was a daughter of Amos and Phoebe (Wil- liams) Bidwell. Through her mother the line runs into the line of her husband. The father of Phoebe (Williams) Bidwell was Gabriel Williams, Jr., who was the son of Gabriel and Hannah Williams, and he was the son of William Williams, aforementioned.
(VI) Jonathan (2) Williams, son of David and Rachel (Bidwell) Williams. was born June 9, 1794, and died January 31, 1881. He was a farmer by occupation, and he served as a corporal in the War of 1812. He married, November 2, 1817, Clarissa Starkweather, born in South Windsor, Connecticut, May 2, 1791, died in Manchester, Connecticut, May 22, 1867, daughter of Thomas Starkweather (Starks) and his first wife, Sybil (Ander- son) Starkweather.
(VII) Elisha Williams, son of Jona- than (2) and Clarissa (Starkweather) Wiliams, was born March 14, 1819, in Manchester, Connecticut, and died March 22, 1895. In his younger days he was as- sociated with Nehemiah Rice in the gro- cery business at Hartford, Connecticut. and later, on account of his wife's health, he removed to Manchester and engaged in agricultural pursuits, continuing along that line for the remainder of his days. He was not a politician, but served sev- eral years in the capacity of selectman of the town. He married (first) November 26. 1857, Maria L. Heath, who bore him one daughter. Emma Louise. He mar- ried (second) May 7, 1860, Mary Ann Newberry, born July 4, 1828, died Au- gust 21, 1873, daughter of Joseph Mose- ley Newberry (see Newberry XXVII). They were the parents of two children : John Moseley, a resident of Manchester, Connecticut : and Almeron Newberry, of whom further.
(VIII) Almeron Newberry Williams, son of Elisha and Mary Ann (Newberry) Williams, was born in Hartford, Connec- ticut, January 19. 1862. He was educated in the public schools of Manchester, and later took up the study of shorthand, that being prior to the time that ste- nography was in such general use in business offices as it is at the present time. On April 15. 1882. he accepted a position as a stenographer for the Phoenix (Fire) Insurance Company of Hartford, and continued in that capacity until Sep- tember, 1891, when he was sent into the New York field as special agent and ad- juster for the company in that State. The following February he was transferred to the New England field in the same ca- pacity. In May, 1897, he resigned from the service of that company and accepted the same day a position as special agent and adjuster in New England for the Ætna (Fire) Insurance Company of
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Hartford, with whom he has been identi- fied until the present time (1917). In December, 1902, he was made assistant secretary of the company ; in April, 1912, was made vice-president, and in January, 1913, was elected a member of its board of directors. He also serves as director of the Travellers' Bank and Trust Com- pany and of the Connecticut River Bank- ing and Trust Company, trustee of the State Savings Bank, and member of the Sons of the American Revolution of Con- necticut, Drug and Chemical Club of New York City, and of the Hartford Golf Club. Mr. Williams is domestic in his tastes, quiet and unassuming, and pos- sesses in large degree the qualities that make for success in business, namely : Industry, perseverance, stability, capabil- ity, thoroughness in detail and a capacity for judging men and events.
Mr. Williams married, June 7, 1899, Alice Eugenia, daughter of the late J. B. Burr, a well known publisher in Hartford. Children : John Burr, born November 27, 1900; Pauline, born August 29, 1903; Eugenie, born January 10, 1910. The family attend and are members of Asylum Hill Congregational Church.
(The Newberry Line).
Like most patronymics of ancient ori- gin, that of Newberry has been spelled in various ways. It is derived from the castle of Newbourg in Normandy, whence the family came to England in the time of William the Conqueror. For more than five hundred years after that the name was spelled Newburgh, and from the beginning of the fifteenth century it was pronounced "Newborough," "New- borowe," and during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries we find the name frequently spelled in the last two forms given. From the latter spelling the trans- lation to "Newberye" and "Newberry" was natural and easy.
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