USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v.2 > Part 44
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Mr. Fuller married, September 23, 1862, Sarah Leonard, born February 1, 1844, in Suffield, daughter of Don and Susan (Al- den) Pease. Mrs. Fuller is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolu- tion. Mr. Fuller's record as a business man and public official adds a worthy chapter to the chronicles of an honorable ancestry.
(The Granger Line).
The origin of Launcelot Granger, the first ancestor of record, has never been definitely ascertained, but there is a tra- dition which has been handed down in various branches of the family with dif- ferences so slight that it may be assumed to be correct in regard to the essential
points. According to this tradition Launcelot Granger came of a good family in the West of England and when he was twelve or fourteen years of age was stolen from his widowed mother and brought to Massachusetts, where he was sold (apprenticed) to serve two years for his passage. In Colonial times such cases were by no means rare. Launcelot Granger was the eldest of the family and it is said that later he returned to Eng- land to obtain his inheritance. The family historian says that his name shows him to have been a Cavalier and not a Puritan, and therefore "his trip to New England would hardly have been a voluntary one 'for religion's sake'." "When Launcelot Granger was living at Ipswich he courted and married the daughter of a Puritan, an elder in the church, a man of position and means. Launcelot himself was never a member of the church at Newbury. * * * The Puritans were bitter in their hatred of those outside their church organiza- tions; they refused to associate with them ; if the sons of Belial were rich they would permit their daughters to marry them. Launcelot, a child of Satan, mar- ried a daughter of Robert Adams, a Puri- tan of the strictest kind. He must have returned from England the second time, supplied well with that golden disinfect- ant which made him acceptable to the nostrils of the old Puritan as a son-in- law." It was on January 4, 1654. that Launcelot Granger married Joanna, daughter of Robert and Eleanor Adams, of Newbury, and he then took her to a newly built house of the better class on Kent's Island, in Newbury. She was born in England, in 1634, and died at Suf- field, Connecticut, some time after 1701. The first known record of Launcelot Granger is as a resident and taxpayer of Ipswich in 1648. In 1674 he started for Suffield, Connecticut. On June 12, 1678,
Conn-2-20
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Launcelot Granger and his two sons were assigned some of the choicest lots on High street, that awarded to Launcelot Granger being almost opposite the present Gay mansion. In the summer of 1675, when King Philip's War broke out, Suf- field was abandoned by all. Launcelot Granger was wounded in the Indian fight at Westfield, on October 27, 1675. In 1678 he was back in Suffield and resided there during the remainder of his life. On March 9, 1682, he was elected land meas- urer, being several times reëlected. His death occurred September 3, 1689.
(II) Samuel Granger, son of Launcelot and Joanna (Adams) Granger, was born August 2, 1668, at Newbury, Massachu- setts, and married, May 16, 1700, Esther, born August 1, 1678, daughter of Deacon John and Esther (Pritchet) Hanchett, of Suffield, Connecticut. Samuel Granger was a farmer and on November 29, 1697, the town granted him an allotment of forty acres. He died at Suffield, April 22, 1721, and his widow survived him only one month, passing away May 21, of the same year.
(III) Robert Granger, son of Samuel and Esther (Hanchett) Granger, was born May 6, 1710, at Suffield, and held various minor town offices. He married, August II, 1731, Anne Seymour, who died April 8, 1773. Robert Granger died February 14, 1785.
(IV) Robert (2) Granger, son of Rob- ert (I) and Anne (Seymour) Granger, was born in 1747, at Suffield, and served, during the Lexington Alarm, in Captain Elihu Kent's Suffield company of minute- men. He married, October 15, 1765, Elizabeth, born March 12, 1747, daughter of Simon and Elizabeth (Adams) Ken- dall. Mrs. Granger died July 21, 1772, and the death of Robert Granger occurred August 30, 1804.
(V) Thaddeus Granger, son of Robert
(2) and Elizabeth (Kendall) Granger, was born January 27, 1766, at Suffield, where he spent his life as a farmer. He married, March 14, 1793, Silena, born March 22, 1772, daughter of Daniel and Thankful (Brownson) King. Mr. Granger died November 12, 1848, and his widow passed away March 7, 1857, at the vener- able age of ninety-five.
(VI) Emily Granger, daughter of Thaddeus and Silena (King) Granger, was born December 12, 1797, and became the wife of William Fuller, as stated above.
BINGHAM, Edwin H.,
Vice-President of Jewell Belting Company, Hartford.
Deacon Thomas Bingham, progenitor of the Bingham family of Connecticut, was baptized in Sheffield, Yorkshire, Eng- land, June 1, 1642, and came to this coun- try when about eighteen years old with his widowed mother, Anne Bingham, locating in Saybrook, Connecticut, about 1658. He also lived for a time at New London, but eventually settled with his mother and her second husband, Mr. Backus, at Norwich, Connecticut. He was one of the original proprietors of that town in 1660. His grant of four acres for a home lot extended from the meeting house to Bean Hill and from the road to the river. He married, Decem- ber 12, 1666, Mary Rudd, believed to have been a daughter of Lieutenant Jonathan Rudd, of Saybrook,and his wife, the cele- brated "Bride of Bride Brook (see "Caul- kins' History of New Haven," p. 48). In 1693 he removed to Windham, Connecti- cut, where he became prominent in civil and church affairs; selectman, deacon of the church and sergeant of the military company. His original homestead was near the Windham Center burial ground,
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which was originally a part of it. He died January 16, 1729-30, aged eighty-eight years.
(II) Thomas (2) Bingham, son of Dea- con Thomas (1) Bingham, was born in Norwich, Connecticut, December 11, 1667, and died April 1, 1710, the eldest of eleven children. He succeeded his father as pro- prietor of the town. He married, Febru- ary 17, 1691-92, Hannah Backus, daughter of Lieutenant William Backus.
(III) Nathaniel Bingham, son of Thom- as (2) Bingham, was born in Norwich, Connecticut, June 30, 1704, and died in 1756. He married, about 1724, Margaret Elderkin, who was born in November. 1700, a daughter of John and Abigail El- derkin. He sold his house and fifty acres of land, September 22, 1752, and removed tc Mansfield, Connecticut, where he bought two hundred and fifty acres in three tracts.
(IV) John Bingham, son of Nathaniel Bingham, was born in Norwich, Connec- ticut, April 1, 1727, died December 20, 1804. He married, December 13, 1750, Susanna Burnham, who was born in Nor- wich, June 20, 1731, and died April 15, 1795, daughter of Benjamin and Mary Burnham. John Bingham owned a farm of two hundred and three acres in Lisbon. (V) Captain John (2) Bingham, son of John (1) Bingham, was born in Norwich, Connecticut, February 2, 1756. He was a soldier in the Revolution, responding with his company to the Lexington Alarm of April 19, 1775. His father deeded to him the homestead in Lisbon, Connecti- cut, January 2, 1794. He died March 6, 1835. He married, December 10, 1778, Talitha Waldo, who was born in Wind- ham, August 5, 1760, and died April 5, 1852, a daughter of Zaccheus and Talitha Waldo.
(VI) Ezra Bingham, son of Captain John (2) Bingham, was born in Lisbon,
Connecticut, October 13, 1797. In early life he went to Ohio, but soon returned to the old homestead, which his father conveyed to him, February 13, 1832. He married, in Mansfield, September 29, 1830, Eliza Adams, who was born in Mans- field, April 23, 1805, daughter of Dr. Jabez and Lucy Adams, and the seventh gener- ation from John and Elinor (Newton) Adams. She died December 12, 1879, at Orange New Jersey. Ezra Bingham sold the homestead, April 1, 1864, and moved to Hanover village, where he spent his last years and died May 25, 1879. Lydia Fitch, maternal grandmother of Eliza (Adams) Bingham, was a great-grand- daughter of Major William Bradford, mentioned elsewhere in this work, a son of Governor William Bradford, who came in the "Mayflower" to Plymouth. Through her mother Eliza Adams was descended also from Richard Warren, who came in the "Mayflower." Her mother, Lucy (Swift) Adams, was a granddaughter of Rowland Swift, whose mother, Abigail (Gibbs) Swift, was a daughter of Thomas and Alice (Warren) Gibbs, and AAlice was a daughter of Nathaniel Warren, son of Richard Warren.
(VII) Henry Adams Bingham, son of Ezra Bingham, was born at Lisbon, Con- necticut, July 13, 1833, and lived with his father on the homestead until he enlisted in the Civil War, August 11, 1862. He was a private in Company C, Eighteenth Regiment, Connecticut Volunteer Infan- try. In June, 1863. during the engage- ment at Winchester, Virginia, he was taken prisoner. The rebels were on their way to Gettysburg and he was detailed as a nurse. While in the hospital he was taken with varioloid and sent to the pest house, thereby escaping imprisonment at Andersonville. In the course of time he was exchanged and returned to his regi- ment, serving in the campaigns in Vir-
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ginia and Maryland. He was commis- sioned lieutenant of the Thirtieth Regi- ment, Connecticut Volunteer Colored Troops, March 14, 1864, and as lieuten- ant of the Thirty-first United States Colored Troops, January 27, 1865, and afterward located with his command in Kentucky and at Petersburg, Virginia. At the close of the war his regiment was sent to the Mexican border, where he served from May, 1865, until he was mus- tered out, November 7, 1865. He re- turned to Lisbon, in March, 1866, leased the homestead of Andrew Burnham, and died August 30, 1866, of tetanus. He mar- ried, November 7, 1860, Nancy L. Stan- dish, born May 12, 1842, a daughter of Thomas Fitch Standish, granddaughter of Amos Standish, and a descendant through his father, Amasa, Israel, Samuel, Captain Josiah, from Captain Miles Stan- dish, who came in the "Mayflower" and whose fame has been celebrated in Long- fellow's poem, "The Courtship of Miles Standish." The wife of Amos Standish, Clarissa (Fitch) Standish, was a descend- ant of Elder William Brewster, also of the "Mayflower." Samuel Fitch, born at Saybrook, April, 1665, son of the famous minister, Rev. James Fitch, married the daughter of Elder Brewster.
(VIII) Edwin Henry Bingham, son of Henry Adams Bingham, was born at Lis- bon, in Hanover parish, Connecticut, on the old Bingham homestead, May 30, 1862. After the death of his father, when he was but four years old, he went with his mother to live with his grandparents in Hanover, town of Sprague, and at- tended the public schools there until 1876, when he came with his mother to Hart- ford, Connecticut. He graduated from the Hartford High School in the class of 1880. His business career began soon afterward. He entered the employ of the Jewell Belting Company of Hartford,
March 14, 1881, as office boy, and he has continued with that concern to the pres- ent time. From time to time he was promoted to positions of more responsi- bility, and for a number of years has been in charge of the tannery. Since 1911 he has been vice-president of the company. He is a member of Lafayette Lodge, An- cient Free and Accepted Masons, of Hart- ford ; of the Republican Club of that city ; of the Hartford Golf Club, and the Con- gregational Club of Hartford. In politics he is a Republican ; in religion a Congre- gationalist, a member and deacon of the South Congregational Church.
He married, October 26, 1899, Mary Elizabeth Goodwin, daughter of Charles S. Goodwin, of Hartford. Her father, Charles S. Goodwin, was born January 8, 1819, on the old Goodwin homestead, Pearl street, Hartford, the site of which is now occupied by the building of the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company. After completing his public school train- ing, he became a clerk in his father's shoe store, then conducted by his brother, John H. Goodwin, with whom he was afterward in partnership under the firm name of John H. Goodwin & Company. In 1866 his brother retired, leaving him the sole proprietor, and he conducted it until 1884, when he admitted his son to partnership under the firm name of Charles S. Good- win & Son. He died March 23, 1898. For many years Mr. Goodwin was a dea- con of the South Congregational Church. Of him a contemporary wrote: "He was a man of gentle spirit and kind nature, of sterling integrity, a lover of quiet ways, but ready at the call of duty, and faithful in every position which he accepted. His religious convictions were deeply rooted and his life was regulated in accordance with them. He was respected and be- loved by all who knew him." He was a director of the Phoenix Mutual Life In-
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Theodore ruaper la
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surance Company. Mr. Goodwin mar- ried, October 12, 1852, Mary Elizabeth Lincoln, born August 17, 1827, daughter of Levi and Malinda (Miles) Lincoln. Children : I. Anna Malinda Goodwin, born July 25, 1853. 2. Mary Elizabeth Goodwin, born May 18, 1855, married Edwin Henry Bingham, mentioned above. 3. Charles Lincoln Goodwin, born Sep- tember 29, 1858. 4. George Russell Good- win, born December 18, 1863. John Goodwin, father of Charles B. Goodwin, was born in East Hartford, Connecticut, April 7, 1772, died March 14, 1828. He married, December 16, 1807, Anna Belden, who died April 11, 1849, his widow, a daughter of Nathan Belden. (See sketch of James Lester Goodwin for the Good- win ancestry.)
In addition to the ancestry described in the foregoing account, Edwin Henry Bingham is descended from the following founders of Norwich: Rev. James Fitch, Robert Allyn, William Backus, Sr., Wil- liam Backus, Jr., Thomas Bingham. John Gager, Thomas Leffingwell, Josiah Reed. Nehemiah Smith, Richard Bushnell, John Downs, Thomas Gates, Robert Roath, Josiah Rockwell, Josiah Standish, Rich- ard Adams and Benjamin Burnham. Through the Fitch line he is also de- scended from Rev. Henry Whitfield, who was the father of the wife of Rev. James Fitch.
MEYER, Theodore Valentine, Jr., Lawyer.
Prominent among the younger genera- tion of lawyers who are infusing into the Connecticut bar the element of youthful vigor and enthusiasm is Theodore Valen- tine Meyer, Jr. Mr. Meyer is of German origin, although both himself and his father were natives of this country, so that the ancestry is comparatively remote,
and he inherits many of the sterling Ger- manic traits of character, many virtues which the fellow countrymen of his fore- bears have transplanted upon German soil, not the least of which is an indefat- igable pursuit of their objectives. It was his grandfather, Leonard Meyer, who first came to this country. He was a promi- nent man in his native region, but of so free and liberty-loving a disposition that he preferred to leave his honors behind and seek a new life and fortune in a New World. He was already married in Ger- many when, in the year 1846, he sailed for the United States of America, which was thereafter to be his home and the home of his descendants. He came directly to the city of Waterbury, Connecticut, and settled there permanently, conducting one of the first hotels to be run in the resi- dential quarter of the city, his establish- ment being located on Scoville street. He and his wife were the parents of four chil- dren, one of whom is now living: Emma. now the wife of Frederick Nuhn, of Waterbury.
Theodore V. Meyer, Sr., was born June 3. 1864, in Waterbury, Connecticut, and died at Elm City Hospital. New Haven. September 2, 1916, after an illness of short duration. With the exception of seven years spent in Chattanooga, Tennessee. he made Waterbury his home until his illness and death. He was engaged in the laundry business, and owned the Model Laundry situated at No. 60 Cottage Place, which he conducted successfully for a number of years. He married in Dayton, Ohio. Au- gust 19. 1891. Julia Aull, a native of that city, daughter of Nicholas and Julia Aull. To Mr. and Mrs. Meyer, Sr., two children were born: Theodore Valentine, Jr., the subject of this sketch, and a younger brother, Chester Aull Meyer, born August 3. 1896, in the family home on Point Look- out. Lookout Mountain, near Chattanoo-
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ga, now a student at Worcester Academy, Worcester, Massachusetts. Mr. Meyer, Sr., was a prominent citizen in Water- bury, active in politics, having held the office of tax collector for the city, and was also a prominent member of the Masonic Order. a Knights Templar, and a member of the Mystic Shrine.
Theodore Valentine Meyer, Jr., was born July II, 1892, at Chattanooga, Ten- nessee, during the seven years in which his father resided in that city. He gained the rudimentary portion of his education at the local private schools which he at- tended until he was eight years of age. His father then removed to Waterbury with his family, and the lad continued his studies at the Gerard private school of Waterbury and Crosby High School, also of Waterbury. He was not long in dem- onstrating his ability as a student, and drew the favorable regard of his teachers upon his work and upon himself during his years in school. At quite an early age lie had determined that he wished to fol- low some professional calling, and as time went on he decided more and more in favor of the law. In 1909, therefore, he entered Cornell University, where he combined the academic and legal courses, completing them both in five years and graduating in the month of June, 1914. The following December he was admitted to the Connecticut bar, and at once began practice in Waterbury. He has shown so unusual a degree of ability in his handling of the cases that have been entrusted to him that, in spite of his youth, he has won the confidence of the community and is in a fair way to build up a large practice and the best kind of a clientele. His office is situated at No. II East Main street, Waterbury.
It is not only as a member of the bar that Mr. Meyer has already made a place for himself in the affairs of the commu-
nity. On the contrary he has interested himself in all the worth-while aspects of the life of the community, and is well known in many circles. Among other matters he has become keenly interested in the Boy Scout movement that has spread in the last few years so widely through the country and is now himself a scout master in Waterbury. He is an active member of Trinity Episcopal Church. He is a member of a number of fraternities and other similar organiza- tions, among which should be numbered the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity, the Phi Delta Phi Fraternity, the Honorary Legal Society, and many others. Mr. Meyer is also a conspicuous figure in the social affairs of the city, and a member of the Waterbury Country Club.
Though so young a man, Mr. Meyer has already become a factor in the life of Waterbury, and it appears obvious to all those who know him that, with the talents and abilities he possesses, which have not yet reached the full power of their expres- sion, there is a great promise for him in the future, and that there is every reason to prophesy for him a brilliant and note -. worthy carcer in the service of his fellow citizens and as a member of the great and honorable profession he has chosen.
BASSETT, William Burgis, Banker, Financier.
One of the successful and progressive business men of Hartford, Connecticut, is William Burgis Bassett, vice-president and cashier of the Phoenix National Bank of that city, and a prominent figure in the financial world there. He is a son of Ozias Burdette and Alice (Brockett) Bas- sett, old and highly respected residents of Hartford, and was himself born in this city, August 16, 1879. The family of Bassett has an interesting history in New Eng-
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land, where it was planted among the earliest, and has been identified with the growth and progress of the United States in many sections.
(I) William Bassett, one of the Pilgrim Fathers, came from Holland in the ship "Fortune" in 1621 to Plymouth. He went with the English Puritans to Leyden, Holland, and married (first) Cecelia (Cecil in the Dutch records) Light. He married (second) at Leyden, August 13, 1611, Margaret Oldham, and had a third wife, Elizabeth (probably Tilden). He lived at Sandwich for a time, removed to Duxbury and finally to Bridgewater, Massachusetts, of which he was one of the original pro- prietors, and died there in 1667. He was a gunsmith by trade, a wealthy land- owner, and only four men paid a larger tax in 1633. He left what was a large library in his day, and was doubtless of good education. In 1633 he was admitted a freeman; volunteered in 1637 for the Pequot War ; served on the committee of Duxbury to lay out bounds, and on an- other to decide on the fitness of persons applying to become residents, and repre- sented his town in the old Colony Court six years.
(II) Joseph Bassett, son of William and Margaret (Oldham) Bassett, was born 1629, settled in Bridgewater, and died there in 1712. The name of his first wife is not known. He married (second) October, 1677, Martha Hobart, daughter of Edmund Hobart, of Hingham. After his death his widow moved to Norton, where her sons located, and died there, March 14, 1717.
(III) William (2) Bassett, son of Jo- seph Bassett, was born about 1670, in Bridgewater, where he lived. His first wife, Sarah, died early in 1703, and he married (second) June 23, of that year, Mary Bump. Her name also appears on the record as Sarah.
(IV) William (3) Bassett, eldest child of William (2) Bassett, was born March 11, 1694, in Bridgewater, and settled in Norton, Massachusetts, where he died November 19, 1783, in his ninetieth year. lle married (first) March 18, 1719, Mary Crosman, of Taunton. He married (sec- ond ) August 25. 1737. Thankful Briggs.
(V) William (4) Bassett, second son of William (3) and Mary (Crosman) Bassett, was born June 5, 1726, in Norton, where he made his home, and died De- cember 13, 1776. in his fifty-first year. He married, March 16, 1748, in Norton, Lydia Fisher, born March 25, 1730, in that town. daughter of Samuel and Hannah ( Thayer) Fisher.
(V1) Nathan Bassett, youngest child of William (4) and Lydia ( Fisher ) Bas- sett, was born September 11, 1709, in Norton. For some years he resided in Litchfield, Connecticut, whence he re- moved to Watertown, same State. He married, in Litchfield, October 29, 1793. Mehitable Buell. born about 1774. in Litchfield. a descendant of one of the oldest families in Connecticut, founded by William Buell, who was born about 1610, at Chesterton, in Huntingdonshire, Eng- land, and came to America about 1630. He settled first at Dorchester and re- moved to Windsor, Connecticut, about 1635-36, where he had land in the first division, and died November 23. 1681. The baptismal name of his wife was Mary, and their eldest child, Samuel Buell. born September 2, 1641. at Wind- sor, settled in Killingworth in 1664, and died there, July 11, 1720. He was one of the founders of Killingworth, lived in that part of the town now called Clinton, was a large landowner and held many posi- tions of honor and trust. He married, at Windsor. November 13 or 18. 1662, De- borah Griswold, born June 28. 1646, died February 7. 1719. daughter of Edward
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Griswold, of Windsor. Deacon John Buell, son of Samuel and Deborah (Gris- wold) Buell, was born February 17, 1671, in Killingworth, Connecticut, and re- moved thence to Lebanon, same colony, in 1695. In 1721 he was one of the pe- titioners for the establishment of the town of Litchfield, purchased two rights in the town in that year, was a pioneer settler, and died there, April 9, 1746. He married, in Windsor, November 20, 1695, Mary Loomis, daughter of Thomas and Hannah (Porter) Loomis, born January 5, 1679, died in November, 1768, in Litch- field. Their tenth child and fifth son was Solomon Buell, born August 30, baptized September 4, 1715, in Lebanon. When fifteen years of age he removed with his parents to Litchfield, where he married, January 19, 1738, Eunice Griswold, born March 21, 1721 (the first white child born in Litchfield), daughter of Jacob and Comfort Griswold. Their second son was Ira Buell, born February 20, 1745, in Litchfield, and was married at Lyme, Connecticut, January 29, 1767, to Pru- dence Deming, of that town, born May 18, 1741, daughter of Daniel and Mehit- able (Champion) Deming. Their youngest child was Mehitable Buell, born in Litch- field, who became the wife of Nathan Bassett, as previously related.
(VII) Ozias Buell Bassett, son of Na- than and Mehitable (Buell) Bassett, was born October 7, 1807, in Litchfield, lived for a time in Milton, Connecticut, and re- moved about 1838, to New Britain, same State. He was admitted to the church there, February 4, 1838, by a letter from the church at Milton. In New Britain he was a farmer, a very active and useful citizen, with residence on South Main street, south of South Park. He served as selectman, assessor and representative, and was long superintendent of the South Church Sunday school. He married Em-
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