USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v.2 > Part 7
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Descent is traced from Thomas Gates, Esq .. through his son. William Gates ; his son. Sir Geoffrey Gates. and his wife Agnes, daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Baldington, of Aldersbury, Ox- fordshire. England; their son, William Gates and his wife Mabel, daughter and heiress of Thomas Capdow, of High- easter Essex: their son. Sir Geoffrey Gates, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Clapton, Knight of Kent- well. Sussex. England: their son, Geof- frey Gates. and his wife. - - Pascall, of Essex, England: their son, Geoffrey Gates, and his wife. Joan (Wentworth) Gates: their son. Peter Gates, and his wife. Mary (Josselyn) Gates; their son,
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Thomas Gates; his son, Stephen Gates, of the tenth English generation and the founder of the family in America.
Stephen Gates, second son of Thomas Gates, of Norwich, Norfolk county, Eng- land, came from Hingham, England, to Hingham, Massachusetts Bay Colony, in the ship "Diligent," of Ipswich, England, in the year 1638 accompanied by his wife, Ann (Hill) Gates, and two children. From Hingham, Massachusetts, Stephen Gates removed to Lancaster at the settle- ment of that place, thence to Cambridge, where he died in 1662. His will, dated June 9, 1662, was probated October 7, 1662. Ann, his widow, married (second) in 1663, Richard Woodward, of Water- town, and died at Stow, February 5, 1682- 83. In early records of Lancaster, H. S. Nourse writes: "The Gates blood seems to have been of decided tropical nature. The daughter Mary boldly contradicted the minister in public assembly. Stephen Gates quarreled with his neighbors, the Whitcombes, was deprived of his con- stable's staff and moved away from Lan- caster after less than three years' resi- dence. His sons attempted unsuccess- fully to break his will alleging their father was not of disposing mind." This "trop- ical nature" evidently descended to his posterity for they were fighters in the Indian and Colonial wars, in the War for Independence, in the Mexican War and in the Civil War, and a record of their deeds would fill a volume.
Stephen (2) Gates, eldest son of the founder, was born about 1640, died at Acton, Massachusetts, in 1706. He re- ceived by his father's will the house and lot at Lancaster. He resided at Stow, Massachusetts ; was an early proprietor at Preston, Connecticut, and made his will at Stow, September 5, 1701. He married Sarah Woodward, daughter of George and Elizabeth (Hammond) Wood- ward, of Watertown, Massachusetts.
Simon Gates, second son of Stephen (2) and Sarah (Woodward) Gates, was born June 5, 1666. He married, May 4, 1688, Hannah Benjamin, of Stow.
Benjamin Gates, third son of Simon and Hannah (Benjamin) Gates, died at Barre, Massachusetts, in 1756. After his marriage he moved to Worcester, thence going to Barre. He married Bethulia Rice, born March 24, 1704, daughter of Jonathan and Anna (Derby) Rice, of Sud- bury, Massachusetts.
Israel Gates, eldest son of Benjamin and Bethulia (Rice) Gates, was born in Conway, Massachusetts, in 1727. He en- listed, May 8, 1775, and served at the siege of Boston until October, 1775, when his name was transferred to the "Alarm List". He responded to several calls, serving from a few days to a month and a half on each call, but in 1778, when drafted to fill the quota from Stow, he paid the fine for non-service. He married and had several children whose births are recorded in different towns.
Peter Gates, eldest son of Israel Gates. the Revolutionary soldier, was born at Conway, Massachusetts, in 1753. and died there, December 15, 1821. He also served in the Revolutionary War. He married (first) in 1778, Anna Childs; married (second) in 1782, Experience, daughter of Daniel Arms, who was the mother of his eight children.
Israel Gates, eldest son of Peter Gates and his second wife, Experience (Arms) Gates, was born at Conway, Massachu- setts, November 17, 1783, died September 3, 1866. He married, May 25, 1809, Han- nah Lincoln, born June 17. 1786, died at her residence, Longmeadow, Massachu- setts, August 2, 1868, the mother of three sons and four daughters.
Henry Gates, second son and fourth child of Israel and Hannah (Lincoln) Gates, was born at Longmeadow, Mas- sachusetts, August 5, 1817, died in Chico-
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pee, Massachusetts, January 14, 1907. He obtained a good education, and prepared for his life work by learning the wagon maker's trade. After his location in Chicopee he established in business for himself as builder of heavy trucks and wagons, conducting a very successful plant and acquiring a competence. He owned two valuable farms and was a well known breeder and owner of blooded horses and Jersey cattle. He was a man of strong character and upright life, de- voted to his family and highly esteemed by his townsmen. While deeply inter- ested in all that concerned his town, he took no active part in public affairs. He was a regular attendant of the Baptist church, gave liberally to its support and freely responded to the call of charity. He married (first) February 5, 1840, Abi- gail Colson, born August 1, 1815, at Windsor Locks, Connecticut, died Octo- ber 31, 1841, at Longmeadow, Massachu- setts, daughter of Roswell and Abigail (Stockwell) Colson. They had one child, Abby Francis Gates, born January 25, 1841, at Longmeadow, Massachusetts, and is still living; married Henry Col- ton. Henry Gates married (second) May 3, 1843, Almira Callista Abbey, born Sep- tember 18, 1817, at South Hadley, Mas- sachusetts, died August 14, 1888, at Chico- pee, Massachusetts. She was the daugh- ter of Abner, Jr., and Sibyl (Brown) Abbey, a descendant of Captain Thomas Abbey, of Colonial war and Revolution- ary fame, and of John Abbey, an early settler of Wenham, Massachusetts. Chil- dren : Arthur H., born February 16, 1844, died May, 1845; Mary Amanda, born Oc- tober 13, 1845; Albert H., born Novem- ber 28. 1850; Clarence E., of whom fur- ther.
Clarence E. Gates, youngest child of Henry and Almira Callista (Abbey) Gates, was born in Chicopee, Massachu-
setts, September II, 1856. After com- pleting public school courses and gradu- ating from Worcester Academy he began the study of dentistry under the instruc- tion of Dr. J. Searle Hurlburt, of Spring- field. Massachusetts. He remained under Dr. Hurlburt's preceptorship from 1872 to 1877, then entered the Philadelphia Dental College whence he was graduated D. D. S., class of 1880. The same year he began the practice of his profession in Waterbury, Connecticut, and there con- tinues until the present time (1916). The years have brought him professional fame and a clientele from among the leading families of his city, many of the names which appear in his earlier records being his patrons of to-day as well as their chil- dren and in several instances their grand- children. His reputation has spread far beyond local limits, where he is one of the oldest dental practitioners, and he is numbered among the leading New Eng- land members of his profession.
Dr. Gates in his practice has kept pace with modern professional advancement, and as dentistry has become both a sci- ence and a profession, requiring the skill of a physician and the anatomical knowl- edge of a surgeon in addition to the me- chanical expertness of a dentist, he has maintained his place in the foremost rank. He is a member of the New Haven Coun- ty, Connecticut State and National Dental societies, and is as highly esteemed among his professional brethren as by his cli- entele. He is a member of Harmony Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Waterbury, and is a Republican in poli- tics. neither seeking nor accepting public office but keenly alive to his duties as a citizen. His recreations are those of the out-of-doors, his two fast motor boats be- ing familiar sights on the Connecticut river at his summer home at East Had- dam. His clubs are the Hartford Yacht.
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Middletown Yacht and Waterbury Coun- try, and in all he is the interested popular member.
Dr. Gates married Jessie Button Mor- ley, of Springfield, Massachusetts. Their only daughter, Almira Jennie, married James G. Smith, of Bay Side, Long Island, a business man of New York City.
(The Abbey Line).
In the town of Enfield, close to the spot where the ancestral Town Hall stood, is the Abbey Memorial, a tribute erected by twentieth century descendants to the memory of their forefathers, path- finders, soldiers and pioneer settlers of Connecticut, its Western Reserve in Ohio and the Great West. The statue surmounting the memorial is of Captain Thomas Abbey, born April 11, 1731, died June 3, 1811. He was a son of Lieuten- ant Thomas Abbey, 1686-1759; grandson of John Abbey, 1612-90, the founder of this branch of the family in America. John Abbey sailed from London, Eng- land, in the "Bonaventure," January 2, 1634, and was an early settler of Wen- ham, Massachusetts. With his sons, John and Samuel, he settled in Wind- ham, Connecticut, in 1696-97, and from that branch sprang an illustrious family including Richard Abbey, 1682-1737, leg- islator ; Joshua Abbey, 1710-1807, philan- thropist ; Shuabel Abbey, 1744-1804, leg- islator; Henry Abbey, 1842-1911, poet ; Edwin Austin Abbey, 1852-1911, painter ; Cleveland Abbe, 1838, astronomer and meteorologist ; and his brother, Robert Abbe, 1850, surgeon.
Thomas Abbey, born 1656, died 1728, son of John Abbey, the founder, was a soldier of King Philip's War in Captain Appleton's company at the taking of the Indian fort in the Great Swamp fight at Narragansett, Rhode Island, December 19 1675. He was one of the first settlers
of Enfield, Connecticut, in 1683. He mar- ried, December 17, 1683, Sarah Fairfield, daughter of Walter Fairfield, representa- tive of Wenham in the General Court of Massachusetts, 1689, and granddaughter of John Fairfield, an original proprietor of Wenham.
Lieutenant Thomas Abbey, born 1686, died 1759, son of Thomas and Sarah (Fairfield) Abbey, was a sergeant in 1711, and lieutenant in 1712-13. He married, March 13, 1715, Mary Pease, daughter of Captain John Pease, founder of Enfield and the father of the first white child born there, in 1683. Mary was a great-grand- daughter of Robert Pease, of the "Fran- cis," 1634; John Adams, of the "Fortune," 1621; and of William Vassall, of the "Arabella," 1630, whose father, John Vas- sall, was commander of two ships against the Spanish Armada, 1588, and mem- ber of the Virginia company which founded Jamestown in 1607.
Captain Thomas Abbey, born April II, 1731, died June 3, 1811, son of Lieutenant Thomas and Mary (Pease) Abbey, was a soldier in the French and Indian wars. He took part in the capture of Fort Ti- conderoga in 1758 and the invasion of Canada, 1761, as corporal of the First Regiment Connecticut troops, May 25 to November 22, 1758, and as lieutenant in Captain Seth King's company, April I to December 1, 1761. According to tra- dition he drummed the congregation out of the Enfield meeting house, on the Lex- ington Alarm in April, 1775; marched to the relief of Boston with the Enfield com- pany led by Major Nathaniel Terry and Captain John Simons, Jr., and was lieu- tenant in Captain Hezekiah Parson's company. On May 9, 1776, he was ap- pointed by the Connecticut General As- sembly first lieutenant in Captain Abel Pease's company, served under General Gates at Ticonderoga and vicinity, June
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to November, 1776, and as adjutant of Chester's Connecticut State Regiment, June to December, 1776. He was com- missioned captain, January 1, 1777; was appointed by the Committee of Safety, February 1, 1777, to Colonel Samuel Wyl- lys's regiment in New York, a command he held until November 15, 1778. Captain Abbey married, June 22, 1749, Penelope Terry, born 1731, died 1811, daughter of Dr. Ebenezer Terry, earliest physician of Enfield, granddaughter of Captain Samuel Terry, pioneer settler of Enfield, whose father, Sergeant Samuel Terry, came from Barnet, England, as apprentice to Wil- liam Pynchon, founder of Springfield. The first marriage recorded in Enfield was that of Captain Samuel Terry. May 17, 1682, to Hannah Morgan, daughter of Captain Miles Morgan, defender of Springfield against the Indians, October 5, 1675. Penelope (Terry) Abbey was her father's pupil and assistant, Enfield's first woman doctor. Her obituary in the Hartford "Courant" states that she prac- ticed thirty-three years and was present at the birth of one thousand three hun- dred and eighty-nine children. She wel- comed into the world an entire generation of the inhabitants and is well worthy of commemoration. She was the mother of eleven children and left forty-five grand- children, fifty-two great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. At the time of her death, January 2, 1818. there were living one hundred and four descendants of Captain Thomas and Penelope (Terry) Abbey. From such illustrious ancestry came Almira G. (Abbey) Gates, wife of Henry Gates, and mother of Dr. Clarence E. Gates, of Waterbury. The generations descend- ing from Captain Thomas Abbey have been scarcely less illustrious, and in war, business, science, art and the professions have worthily upheld the family name
which in direct and collateral line is asso- ciated with the most ancient and honor- able families of earliest New England, even tracing to John Vassall, who was a member of the Virginia company which founded Jamestown in 1607, the earliest English settlement in this country.
The Abbey Memorial stands on the green opposite the Enfield Congregational Church on land donated forever by the town of Enfield. It consists of a marble statue of the Revolutionary soldier, Cap- tain Thomas Abbey, surrounded by four marble seats in the Greek style bearing inscriptions commemorating the achieve- ments of Captain Abbey and his descend- ants in the lines of literature, science and art. Its unveiling, November 4, 1916, was an event of national importance, six hundred members of the Abbey family being invited from all parts of the coun- try, two hundred and seventy-five mem- bers of the Cincinnati attending, with chapters of the Daughters of the Ameri- can Revolution and Grand Army posts also among the guests. The memorial was presented by Mrs. Frances Maria Abbey Freeman and her children of East Orange, much of the work having been superintended by Allen B. Freeman, a son of the donor.
Most of the Windham family cling to the ancient spelling "Abbe" which also prevails in Enfield to-day. Captain Thomas Abbey spelled his name Abbey as is shown by an autograph. His sons. Thomas, Peter and Simeon, in the an- nouncement of the dissolution of their partnership printed in the Hartford "Courant" of June, 1793, spelled the name Abbey. The obituary notice of Captain Abbey's widow in the "Courant," Janu- ary 18, 1818, also spelled the name Abbey, and the line herein recorded has used the same spelling for six consecutive gener- ations.
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ENDERS, John Ostrom,
Financier, Legislator.
The name of Enders has been promi- nently identified with financial affairs in the State of Connecticut for a long period, and John Ostrom Enders needs no in- troduction to Connecticut readers. The name is of ancient German origin, and is found at an early date in the State of Pennsylvania. John Jacob Enders, grand- father of Mr. Enders, was a native of New York State, a merchant residing at Glen, Montgomery county, New York, his wife, Relief (Ostrom) Enders, a descendant of an old Dutch family. They were the par- ents of Thomas Ostrom Enders, who was born September 21, 1832, in Glen, and died June 21, 1894, in Hartford, Connecti- cut. In youth he worked on the farm of his grandfather, and started out at the age of seventeen years to make his way amid scenes far removed from his native home. By industry and determination he succeeded, and died with honors and in the enjoyment of a handsome fortune which had been accumulated by his own efforts. On leaving home he went to Meriden, Connecticut, and there supple- mented the education of the country schools by attendance at the Meriden Academy. In the meantime he pursued such employment as a youth of his age could perform, and later removed to New Haven, where he was engaged as a clerk in the dry goods store of George Rice & Company, where his early manifestation of the habits of diligence, initiative and trustworthiness gained for him speedy advancement. Returning to Meriden, he engaged with Curtis L. North, first agent of the Aetna Life Insurance Company, and was with John C. North of the New Haven Insurance Company, continuing three years as a solicitor, following which he removed to New York City and en tered the employ of the Avery Sewing
Machine Company. He had in the mean- time attracted the attention of the secre- tary of the Aetna Life Insurance Com- pany, who induced him to return to Con- necticut and enter the office of the com- pany in Hartford as a clerk. This was in 1854, and four years later, when only twenty-six years of age, he was made secretary of the company, in which ca- pacity he continued for a period of eighteen years, and in 1872 was elected president of the company. Mr. Enders was indefatigable in his efforts to build up the business, and he had the satisfac- tion of seeing it grow under his manage- inent until the company's asets were $25,- 000,000. When he entered its employ in 1854 the assets were $175,000. Such was his zeal and devotion to the interests of this institution, that by 1879 his health had been impaired, making it necessary for him to resign the presidency, though he continued as a member of the board of directors for many years. In 1881 he was induced to accept the presidency of the United States Trust Company whose stock at that time was quoted at eighty. The name was changed to the United States Bank of Hartford, and Mr. Enders gave this institution the same persistent intelligently directed efforts that had characterized his career in the insurance world, with the result that when he de- clined reelection in 1891 it was far in ad- vance of other banks in the city in per- centage of surplus, value of shares and ratio of deposits to capital. Mr. Enders was never a politician, yet he always took an active interest in public affairs, and was elected from West Hartford on the Republican ticket as a member of the General Assembly, where he served from 1889 to 1891 on the committees on appro- priations and banks. Mr. Enders' financial interests grew with the years, and he was identified in an official capacity with many important financial organizations, of which
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John J, Huntington
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
may be mentioned the following: He was a director of the Aetna (Fire) Insurance Company ; Hartford Steam Boiler Inspec- tion and Insurance Company ; Society for Savings; Dime Savings Bank; Aetna Life Insurance Company, and Phoenix Life Insurance Company. He was a member of St. Johns Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Hartford.
Mr. Enders married, December 29, 1858, Harriet Adelaide, daughter of Den- nis and Harriet (Sloane) Burnham, born March 12, 1835, died August 7, 1901. She was a direct descendant of Thomas Burn- ham, who was born in England in 1617, and whose name is recorded in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1649, as bondsman for his servant Rushmore "that he should carry good behavior." Mr. Burnham was a lawyer, became a large land owner and was one of the prominent citizens of Hartford. To Thomas O. Enders and wife the following children were born : Harry, deceased; Harriet Burnham, de- ceased : Dr. Thomas B., of Noank, Con- necticut ; John Ostrom, mentioned below. Mr. Enders was indebted to no conditions of environment or circumstance for the prominent position he attained in the business world. He rose because of his own sterling character. his splendid men- tal endowment, and an indomitable en- ergy and will. He was of generous na- ture, but modest, unassuming and refined. lIe was frank and open, and his genial personality won multitudes of friends.
John Ostrom Enders was born Decem- ber 3. 1869, in Hartford, and was edu- cated in the public schools of West Hart- ford, and at Phillips' Exeter Academy. His entire banking career has been in association with the United States Bank of Hartford, which he entered as a young man and remained with until 1894, when he resigned his position. His fine busi- ness talents have been called to the serv-
ice of several leading Hartford institu- tions. In the spring of 1915 he was elected vice-president of the United States Bank. He is a director in the Aetna Life Insur- ance Company; Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company ; Dime Savings Bank; trustee of the Society for Savings, and during the existance of the Charter Oak Bank under that name was for several years a director. He is a director of the Hartford Retreat; trustee of the Dime Savings Bank and has other business interests of importance. While like his father in no sense a politician, he has been similarly honored and repre- sented the town of West Hartford in the Connecticut General Assembly during the session of 1899, serving on the finance committee.
He is affiliated with Wyllys Lodge, No. 99, Free and Accepted Masons, of which body he was for many years treasurer ; is a companion of Pythagoras Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; a Sir Knight of Washington Commandery, Knights Tem- plar ; member of the Society of Colonial Wars; vestryman of St. John's Protes- tant Episcopal Church, and is a member of Phi Kappa Delta, Phillips Exeter Academy Chapter. Mr. Enders holds a high place in the esteem of Hartford financiers and possesses those personal qualities that win universal respect and royal friendships.
Mr. Enders married, June 12, 1895, Harriet Goulden Whitmore. They have the following children: John Franklin, Harriet Burnham, Ostrom and Elvia.
HUNTINGTON, Rev. John Taylor, D. D.,
Clergyman.
Now rector emeritus of St. James' Prot- estant Episcopal Church, Hartford, Rev. John Taylor Huntington reviews a life
Conn-2 -- 4
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of eighty-five years, nearly sixty of which have been spent in the Christian ministry. He descends from distinguished ancestry, the Huntingtons of Norwich, Connecti- cut, numbering in their family connection men of eminence in the professions, in public life, and in business, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and many noted military men. The Enoch Huntingtons were the immediate pro- genitors; father, grandfather and great- grandfather, all professional men, and two of them ministers of Christ, the third an eminent lawyer. From his honored sires Rev. John T. Huntington inherited his scholarly intellectual tastes, and inspired by their example he fitted himself to fol- low the sacred profession. He is the oldest pastor in the city and has the dis- tinction of serving as rector and rector emeritus of the parish he organized as a Sunday school nearly half a century ago. His record of service is unusual, not only in length of years, but in the value of that service to his fellow men and to the cause he loves. Since his ordination in 1853 he has been continuously engaged in ministerial work although for several years he had no stated parish, occupying a professor's chair at Trinity College. But during that period he preached every Sunday, was engaged in Sunday school work, and even when regularly settled over St. James' parish as rector, engaged in missionary and Sunday school work beyond the confines of his own parish. His work has been blessed with abundant results, his sheaves are many, and in all things he merits the approval of all who are in sympathy with the consecrated purpose of a holy life. His wife, a de- voted Christian woman of large inherited wealth, was in complete sympathy with hier husband's work and was a blessed helpmeet. Her liberal means enabled her husband to give his consecrated services without compensation and all his years of
labor have been without salary. His whole life has been devoted to the service of mankind and now in its late evening he has no regrets save that he has not been able to accomplish more.
Rev. John Taylor Huntington, D. D., was born at New Milford, Connecticut, January 30, 1830, son of Rev. Enoch and Charlotte (Taylor) Huntington, his mother a niece of Nathaniel Taylor, of Yale College. Rev. Enoch Huntington, born at Middletown, Connecticut, was a graduate of Yale, and on entering the ministry was originally a Congregation- alist. He was first stationed at New Mil- ford, where he was annually elected pas- tor for twenty-one years, annual elections then being the law of the church. He then became a clergyman of the Protes- tant Episcopal church, and was rector of the New Milford church until about ten years before his death at the age of seven- ty-five. Rev. Enoch Huntington was a son of Enoch Huntington, of Middle- town, one of the most eminent lawyers of his day. Enoch Huntington was a son of another Rev. Enoch Huntington, a clergy- man of the Congregational church who for half a century was settled over the church at Middletown, Connecticut. Mrs. Charlotte (Taylor) Huntington died in 1895, aged eighty-eight years, the mother of seven children.
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