USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v.2 > Part 8
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John Taylor Huntington attended the intermediate and high schools of New Milford, Connecticut, then entered Trin- ity College, Hartford, whence he was graduated, valedictorian, class of 1850. He hearkened to the Divine command "go thou and preach My Gospel," and after graduation from Trinity entered the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church at New York, whence he was graduated in 1853. He was regularly ordained a priest, and began his holy calling as assistant to the rector of St. James' Episcopal Church at
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Philadelphia, serving for three years. In 1856 he was settled as rector over St. John's Church at New Haven, continuing a successful pastorate of six years. In 1863 and 1864 he was rector of the Great Barrington Episcopal Church, retiring from the ministry in 1864 to accept the Greek chair at his alma mater, Trinity College.
In 1866 he organized, with the assist- ance of a number of Trinity students as teachers, a Sunday school which grew into the "Church of the Incarnation" of which Rev. Huntington was spiritual head until 1870 when a rector was set- tled over the infant church. In 1878 he resigned the professorship in Trinity and returned to the ministry as rector of the Church of the Incarnation, the name, however, being then changed to St. James' Church. He continued in that capacity until weight of years compelled him to abandon active clerical work. His successor, Rev. E. C. Thomas, was in- stalled over the church in 1913, and since then as rector emeritus he continued in close relation to the parish, the outgrowth of the little Sunday school he established in 1866. In addition to his regular cleri- cal duties he constantly engaged in mis- sionary work, was in charge of Christ Church, West Hartford. for three years. took a deep interest in Sunday school work, serving as superintendent of that branch of St. James'. The parish pros- pered, grew in numbers and in spiritual- ity, becoming one of the strong forces for righteousness in Hartford.
The devoted rector of a large and grow- ing parish could well plead that his time was fully occupied, but Rev. Huntington gave himself unreservedly to all forms of Christian service. Missions and Sunday schools were generously aided, and when there was a demand for his services from the Children's Aid Society of the State of
Connecticut he generously responded and for twenty years has been president of that institution. He is also chaplain of the Church Home of Hartford. His col- lege fraternity is Alpha Delta Phi. In 1913 Trinity College, his alma mater, con- ferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity.
Dr. Huntington married at Norwich, Connecticut, in 1856, Elizabeth T. Wil- liams, who died in 1887, aged fifty-six years, daughter of Erastus and Elizabeth (Tracy) Williams, her father a woolen manufacturer of Norwich. Children : Harwood, a graduate of Trinity College, now rector of a church at Hot Springs, Arkansas; Charlotte E., wife of Frederick J. Alexander, of Hartford.
Now in the "sere and yellow leaf" Dr. Huntington preserves that sweetness of disposition, that true humility and sim- plicity of character which has ever won men's hearts and is a living exemplifica- tion of the Christian graces. As he nears his journey's end his confidence and trust in the Saviour he loves so well and has served so faithfully grows stronger, and he can say with the Apostle Paul: "I have fought a good fight; I have finished my course ; I have kept the faith; hence- forth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the right- eous Judge shall give me at that day."
FIELD, Charles Henry,
Retired Government Official.
The greatest differences and changes made in a national life are those im- pressed by conquest. The history of England shows three distinct and marked epoches, the moving factors in the forma- tion of which have been the conquests- Roman, Saxon and Norman. Of these the greatest was the last for the reason that it brought, of course with its complement
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of suffering, the greatest good, namely the higher civilization of the continent which it literally forced on unwilling England. The tyranical impression of the French language, customs, manners and modes of life, cruel as it was, was an influence, the effect of which on the later history of England cannot be overestimated, with- out it the England of to-day would have been impossible. At the time of the Nor- man invasion of England a vast number of Norman-French crossed the channel in the wake of William the Conqueror to take up permanent abode. After Has- tings, the Conqueror despoiled the native rulers of their domains, instituting the feudal system of land tenure which di- vided the newly acquired land among those of his followers whose military services and rank merited it. One of his nobles who came to England in 1066 and received large grants of land was Sir Hubertus de la Feld, the first ancestor of the Field family of which Charles Henry Field is a member, whose record has been found. He belonged to the family Counts de la Feld, who have been traced back to about the sixth century. On account of the wars between the English and French during the fourteenth century, and the hatred of all things French which grew to such intensity in that period, the Eng- lish family dropped the "de la" from the name, which from that time on was written Field.
(I) Probably because of the unrest and upheaval, the conflagration and carnage rampant in England after the Conquest, it is impossible to find public records of the descendants of Sir Hubertus de la Feld for a period of time extending from 1066 to about 1240, when Roger Del Feld was born in Sowerly, England.
(II) His son, Thomas Del Feld, was born in the same place about 1278.
(III) John Del Feld, son of Thomas
Del Feld, was born in Sowerly, England, in 1300. His name is incorporated in the Wakefield Manor rolls in the years 1326, 1334 and 1336.
(IV) His son, Thomas Del Feld, was born in Sowerly in 1330. He was a man of importance in the town and several times held public office. There is record of his having hired Sowerly mill in 1380 with a partner. Mention is also made in records of his wife Annabelle. The name last appears on the Wakefield Manor rolls in 1391.
(V) Thomas Del Felde, son of Thomas and Annabelle Del Feld, was born in 1360. His wife was Isabel Del Felde. He died in 1429, possessed of an estate of which he disposed by will.
(VI) William Felde, son of Thomas and Isabel Del Felde, was probably born in Bradford where his father had a villa. He died in April. 1480, and his wife Kath- erine, as administratrix of his estate, was granted letters of administration on April 21, 1480.
(VII) William Felde, son of William and Katherine Felde, was born in Brad- ford and resided in East Ardsley.
(VIII) His eldest son, Richard Felde, was probably born at East Ardsley. He was a farmer by occupation. His wife was Elizabeth Felde. Richard Felde died in December, 1542.
(IX) John Field, son of Richard and Elizabeth Felde, was born in East Ards- ley about 1525, and died in May, 1587. In 1560 he married Jane, daughter of John Amyas, of Kent. She died on Au- gust 30, 1609. John Field was the first man in England to make known the dis- coveries of Copernicus. His first "Ephe- meris" was published in 1557, and in the next year another computed for the years 1558-59-60 appeared. These are preserved in the British Museum and in the Bodlein Library in Oxford University. His writ-
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ings indicate that John Field was a man of considerable mentality and unusual education in the classics for his day.
(X) John Field, son of John and Jane (Amyas) Field, was born in Ardsley about 1568. He evidently left his native town at an early age, for no mention is made of him in his father's will, and little record of him has been found.
(XI) His son, Zechariah Field, was born at East Ardsley, Yorkshire, in 1596. He was the first of the ancestors of the Field family to come to America, and was among the very earliest colonists of Mas- sachusetts, settling in Dorchester. He arrived in Boston, in 1629. In 1636 he removed to Hartford, Connecticut, and settled on Sentinel hill, which is now the north end of Main street. He also owned land through which Asylum street now runs. Zechariah Field was one of the forty-two men from Hartford who took part in the Pequot War. He removed to Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1659. where he engaged in mercantile pursuits. carrying on a large trade with the In- dians. He was one of the twenty-five persons who agreed to settle in what is now Hatfield, and was a member of the committee selected to lay out the lands. He engaged in business there until his death on June 30, 1666.
(XII) His son, Samuel Field, sergeant, was born in Hartford, Connecticut, about 1651. He held many town offices, and was prominent and influential in public affairs. On August 9, 1676, he married Sarah, daughter of Thomas and Cath- erine (Chapin) Gilbert, of Springfield. He was a sergeant at the Turner's Fall fight on May 19, 1676. On June 24. 1697. while hoeing corn in the Hatfield meadows, he was massacred by Indians.
(XIII) Thomas Field, son of Samuel and Sarah (Gilbert) Field, was born in Hatfield, Massachusetts, June 30, 1680. He married, October 4, 1713, Abigail,
daughter of Ilezekiah and Abigail ( Black- man) Dickinson. She was born Decem- ber 8, 1690, and died June 20, 1775. About 1728 Thomas Field removed to Long- meadow, Massachusetts, where he died on February 1, 1747.
(XIV) Dr. Simeon Field, son of Thom- as and Abigail (Dickinson) Field, was born in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, April 25. 1731. On December 29, 1763, he married Margaret, daughter of Rev. Peter and Elizabeth Reynolds. She was born July 16, 1742, and died February 9, 1796. Simeon Field was a graduate of Yale University, where he took a degree as a physician. He located in Enfield, Connecticut, and here developed a large practice and won a wide reputation for his skill. He also kept a tavern which a few years ago was still standing, and was known as the old Field Tavern. During the Revolutionary War he was the most important citizen in his town.
(XV) Dr. Edward Field, son of Dr. Simeon and Margaret (Reynolds) Field, was born at Enfield, Connecticut, July I, 1777. He was a graduate of the Medical School of Yale University and practiced his profession in Waterbury from the year 1800 up to the time of his death, November 17, 1840. He began his studies at home under the preceptorship of his father and completed them under Dr. Cogswell at Hartford. In 1799 he was commissioned as surgeon's mate in the navy and started on a three years' cruise for the East Indies. The ship was dis- masted in a storm, and in helping to sub- due the sailors, who had mutinied, Dr. Field was wounded in the right wrist. The voyage was given up within a year, and the experience cured Dr. Field of any longing he may have had for a life on the ocean wave.
(XVI) Henry Baldwin Field, son of Dr. Edward Field, was born in Water- bury, Connecticut, January 11, 1811. Un-
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til he was nearly forty years old he re- sided in Waterbury and New Haven. He was one of the forty-niners, and went to California in the days of the gold rush, returning to Waterbury in 1851. In 1855 he became secretary and treasurer of the Waterbury Gas Light Company, and managed the company most successfully until July, 1883. He was a man of in- dustry, perseverance and the highest moral principles. He was sound in busi- ness judgment and commanded the re- spect and esteem of all who were brought in contact with him. He retired from active business life in 1883. On June 14. 1836, he married Sarah Ann, daughter of Captain Francis and Content (Mix) Bulkley. Of their children two grew to maturity : Francis Bulkley, who was born Septem- ber 16, 1843, and married Ella Scovill Cooke, and Charles Henry, who is men- tioned at length later. Henry Baldwin Field died on January 1, 1892.
(XVII) Charles Henry Field, son of Henry Baldwin and Sarah Ann (Bulk- ley) Field, was born in Baltimore, March 21, 1849, where his father was engaged in a mercantile business until he went to California. While he was yet a child his parents moved to Waterbury, where he began his education in a private school, finishing at the New Haven Business Col- lege in 1865. When he was seventeen years of age, he became a clerk in the Waterbury National Bank afterward em- ploved with the Elton Banking Company for about two years. He then went to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as secretary of an artificial ice company. The venture proved a failure, owing to insufficient capital. Mr. Field became ill with yellow fever, which was prevalent in that section of the country and until recent years has been uncontrollable. When he had re- covered sufficiently to make travelling possible. he left for the United States, having spent one and one-half years on
the Southern Continent. During General Grant's administration he was appointed an assistant assessor under the Treasury Department, and continued in that ca- pacity until 1872, when he became a teller in the Mercantile National Bank of Hart- ford. Connecticut. He devoted his un- divided attention to his duties, looking after details carefully, with the result that he won advancement from time to time, finally reaching the post of cashier. This position he held until 1890, when he became associated with the Aetna Na- tional Bank of Hartford, remaining with that instituion until 1893. when he re- signed to become agent and inspector of the government stamped envelope agency. the output of stamped envelopes and mail- ing wrappers then totaling about three millions a day. He held this position un- til October, 1903, since which time he has been retired.
Until the campaign of James G. Blaine for the presidency, Mr. Field had always been a Republican. Finding that he could not morally agree with the principles of the party at that time, nor support their candidate, he became identified with the independent movement which elected Grover Cleveland in 1884. He was also an enthusiastic supporter of Mr. Cleve- land in the campaigns of 1888 and 1892. During President Cleveland's second ad- ministration Mr. Field was appointed to his position in the government stamped envelope agency at Hartford.
On September 20, 1871, Mr. Field mar- ried Elizabeth Rockwell, daughter of Charles I. Tremaine, of Hartford. She was born at Kinderhook, New York, July 22, 1851. They have two sons: I. Edward Bronson, born April 27, 1872; he was educated in the Hartford High School; he is now connected with the Travelers Insurance Company as State manager in the Compensation Depart- ment : he married Katharine Ames,
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daughter of Daniel A. Kimball, of Stock- bridge; they have two children, Tremaine Kimball and Eleanor. 2. Francis Elli- ott, born July 21, 1873; he was educated in the public schools and in the Hartford Classical School; for several years he has been connected with the Aetna Life In- surance Company ; he married Anna Ma- bel, daughter of Dr. William B. Dun- ning, of Hartford; they have two chil- dren, Louise Bancroft and Francis Bulk- ley.
Since the year 1903, when he retired from active business life, Charles H. Field has continued in the position of respect and honor in the eyes of all Hart- ford to which he attained by his service of many years for the government and the people. He is a member of the Na- tional Geographic Society, American Free Trade League, Connecticut Civil Service Reform Association, Connecticut Peace Society, Connecticut Forestry Associ- ation. and is the president of the board of trustees of the First Unitarian Con- gregational Society of Hartford.
MERRIMAN, William Buckingham, Financier, Man of Enterprise.
One of the old New England families that has maintained a high position in the regard of the community throughout the length of the history of that part of the world, and won distinction in the persons of its va :ous representatives, is that of Merriman, whose residence in Connecti- cut has lasted from the early Colonial period to the present, and in the course of which those that bear the name and the name itself have come most closely to be identified with the life and traditions of the State. The name itself is a very ancient one and. as is generally true in such cases, is found spelled in a number of different ways. We often find that two branches of a family, both of which can
trace their ancestry indubitably to the same source, will spell the name quite differently as in the case of two lines of descent from Joseph Merriam, of Con- cord, one of which spells the name as their progenitor and the other Merriman. These and Meriam are different forms of the same name, although in the branch with the members of which this sketch is concerned Merriman has been the form back to the founder of the house in Con- necticut. This was Captain Nathaniel Merriman, one of the first settlers of the old town of Wallingford, a man of parts, a property owner and influential in the community. From him William Bucking- ham Merriman, the distinguished gentle- man whose name heads this brief article, is descended in the ninth generation.
William Buckingham Merriman, whose death at Waterbury, Connecticut, on April 18, 1916, was felt as a great loss in that community and especially in the financial and banking world, exhibited in his own character and personality the sterling virtues for which his ancestors were remarkable and which were the cause of their occupying for so long a period the position that they have in the community. His father, Charles Buck- ingham Merriman, was a native of Water- town. Connecticut, but lived the major part of his life in Waterbury, in the affairs of which he was one of the most influential figures. He was one of most prominent merchants and manufacturers of his day and did a great deal towards the development of Waterbury, being a dominant factor in several of the largest industrial and financial concerns in the city. The part he played in public affairs also was large and he held many offices, being for a number of years a member of the Common Council of the city and at one time the mayor thereof. His wife. who was a Miss Margaret Field, a native of Waterbury, born March 12, 1817, was
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married to him June 30, 1841, and they became the parents of six children as fol- lows: Charlotte Buckingham, born Au- gust 21, 1843; Sarah Morton, August 7, 1845; Helen, January 19, 1848; Margaret Field, March 16, 1850, married Dr. Frank E. Castle, of Bethany ; William Bucking- ham, mentioned at length below; and Edward Field, September 1, 1854.
The birth of William Buckingham Mer- riman occurred in Waterbury, Connecti- cut, June II, 1853, the city which con- tinued to remain his home until the end of his active life. His education was gained chiefly at the Episcopal Academy at Cheshire, Connecticut, which he at- tended for a number of years. He was an apt student and painstaking, and in the years that he was at this excellent in- stitution he gained a splendid general education. He did not enter college, through trouble with his eyes, but after completing his studies at Cheshire at once started upon his business career. For a time in his early youth he was associated with the firm of Benedict, Merriman & Company, from which he went to the Scovill Manufacturing Company, remain- ing there for several years. Mr. Merri- man was greatly interested from early manhood in the subject of banking, and made a considerable study of its prob- lems and methods. It was, therefore, with great pleasure that he accepted an offer made to him by the Waterbury Na- tional Bank to become its teller. In this new position his talents were displayed to their best advantage and he was advanced to the office of assistant cashier and then became one of the board of directors. He was also connected with the Dime Sav- ings Institution of Waterbury, and was one of its trustees.
There were very few aspects of the life of the community in which Mr. Mer- riman did not play a leading part. Espe- cially was this true in the case of the
social and club activities and all move- ments undertaken for the benefit of the community. He was one of the strongest advocates of the founding of the Country Club of Waterbury, and at the time of its organization was a charter member. He was also a member of the Waterbury Club and the Home Club, a charter mem- ber of the Farmington Club and belonged to the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Politically he was a Republican, as his father before him had been, and a staunch supporter of the principles and policies for which that party stands. For the major part of his life, however, he did not take any active part in political affairs and was entirely without ambition for public office. In 1912, however, during that three-cornered campaign resulting in the split of the Re- publican party into Progressives and those who continued to bear the old name, Mr. Merriman was persuaded by a very strong popular pressure to accept the nomination for congressman. The year was a Democratic one, Woodrow Wilson being elected to the presidency, and Mr. Merriman was defeated with the remainder of his associates, running well ahead of his ticket, however. Mr. Merri- man was affiliated with the Episcopal church and was a member of St. John's parish in Waterbury, a member of the vestry for a number of years. He was active in the church work and liberally supported its philanthropic activities and the charities connected therewith.
In St. John's Episcopal Church, at Waterbury, on November 17, 1886, Mr. Merriman was united in marriage with Sarah Kingsbury Parsons, a native of that city, born November 30, 1864. and a daugh- ter of Guernsey S. and Eliza Jane (Brown) Parsons. Mr. Parsons came originally from Durham, Connecticut, where he had spent the greater part of his youth and young manhood, coming to Waterbury
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when he was about twenty-five years of age. Mrs. Merriman died in Waterbury, January 18, 1915, she and Mr. Merriman having become the parents of two chil- dren, both sons, as follows: Buckingham Parsons and William Buckingham, Jr. The elder, Buckingham Parsons Merri- man, was born August 18, 1887, at Water- bury. He gained the preliminary portion of his education at the Pomfret School, Connecticut, and after completing his studies there, matriculated at Yale Uni- versity. At first he took the academic courses, proving himself an excellent scholar and winning the favorable notice of his instructors. He graduated with the class of 1910 and shortly afterwards entered the Law School of the same uni- versity. Here, also, he distinguished him- self and was very active in his class's interests, a member of the board of the Yale Law Journal and of the Law School honorary fraternity of Chi Tau Kappa. Upon his graduation in 1914 he added the degree of LL. B., cum laude in recog- nition of his scholarship to the B. A. of his academic course. In 1915, he received the degree of M. A. His father was a member of the Connecticut societies of Colonial Wars and the Sons of the Amer- ican Revolution and of these the son is now also a member. The second son, William Buckingham Merriman. Jr., died March 19, 1915.
PRESTON, Edward Verrance, Civil War Veteran, Insurance Official.
Major Edward Verrance Preston, gen- cral manager of agencies of The Travelers Insurance Company of Hartford, is one of the best known insurance men in Con- necticut, his native State. He was born June 1, 1837, in Willington, son of Joshua and Caroline (Eldredge) Preston. Major Preston was born under the handicap of having to maintain the prestige of a
distinguished ancestry, which has been traced back through a number of families to early Colonial days. Major Preston has made good, not only as a volun- teer when the unity of the nation was threatened, but in the more peaceful paths of business, and as a worker in the cause of religion, in which his family through many generations has been prominent.
The Prestons have been in Connecticut for many generations, and prior to locat- ing in this State were early settlers of Masaschusetts. He also traces to Elder Thomas Dimock, Dorchester, Massachu- setts, 1635; Lieutenant Abel Wright, to whom a "homlot" was granted in Spring- field, Massachusetts, 1-2-1665; Zoeth El- dredge, a soldier in the Revolution from Willington, Connecticut; Samuel Hinck- ley, of Scituate, in 1635, whose descend- ants were patriots of the Revolution. The list of Revolutionary soldiers published by Connecticut shows twenty-five repre- sentatives of the Preston family of Con- necticut in the service. Another ancestor was Deacon Joseph Huntington, of Nor- wich. The Preston family is one of the oldest in New England, and the surname Preston is of great antiquity in North Britain. It was assumed by the family from territorial possessions in Mid-Lothi- an, in the time of Malcolm, King of Scots. Leophus de Preston, of the time of Wil- liam the Lion, in 1040, was grandfather of Sir William de Preston, one of the Scotch noblemen summoned to Berwick by Edward I. in the competition for the crown of Scotland between Bruce and Baliol, the division having been referred to Edward. After the death of Alexander III., in 1291, this Sir William de Preston was succeeded by his son, Nicol de Pres- ton, one of the Scottish barons, who swore fealty to Edward I. He died in the be- ginning of the reign of David II., of Scot- land, son of Robert Bruce, and was suc- ceeded by his, son, Sir Lawrence de
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