Genealogical and biographical record of New London County, Connecticut, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the early settled families, Part 164

Author:
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1568

USA > Connecticut > New London County > Genealogical and biographical record of New London County, Connecticut, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the early settled families > Part 164

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CHARLES MORGAN WILLIAMS, one of the best known contractors and builders of Norwich, Conn., is a thoroughly self-made man. From early boyhood, he followed the habits of industry and thrift, and his present standing in his line and com- munity is the result of well directed efforts intelli- gently planned. The family history is as follows:

Robert Williams, born in 1598, in Great Yar- mouth, England, married Elizabeth Stalham, of that town, and sailed for America in the ship "Rose," landing in New England in 1635. His wife died July 28, 1674, aged eighty years. He married again, it is supposed, Martha Strong, who died Dec. 22, 1704. He was a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston, 1644, and he died; at Roxbury, Mass., Sept. 1, 1693.

John Williams, son of Capt. Isaac, and grandsor of the emigrant Robert, removed to Stonington and there died in 1702. From him most of those bearing the name in Eastern Connecticut are de. scended.

Roger Williams, great-grandfather of Charle

Charles Morgan Williams

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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Morgan, was a farmer, and resided in what is now the town of Ledyard, Conn., where he died April 15, 1807, aged forty-three years. He married Lydia Morgan, who survived him to an old age, dying Oct. 28, 1838, aged seventy-three years. The children born of this union were: Mary R., born July 25, 1786, married Stephen Williams, and located at Brooklyn, Pa. : Lydia, born Nov. 23, 1787, married Ebenezer Stoddard, and died in Preston, Conn. ; . Freelove, born Aug. 7, 1789. married Samuel Brown, and located at Springville, Pa. : Clarissa, born June, 1791, married John Baker, of Griswold ; Ephraim, born Oct. 21, 1794; Roger, born Feb. 14. 1797, married (first) Mary Hutchinson, ( sec- ond) Theda York (he was a carpenter in Ledyard, but later in East Lyme, where he died) ; Henry, born May 17. 1799, married Ruby Rich, and died in Springville, Pa. (he was a millwright by trade) ; Shapley, born in 1801, died young : Abby, born in 1803, died young : Emily, born March 25, 1807, married Nathan Edgecomb, and resided in North Stonington.

Ephraim Morgan Williams, grandfather of our subject, was born in North Groton, now Ledyard, and followed the occupation of a farmer all his life. He resided in that town until 1841, when he pur- chased a farm in Montville, about one-half mile south of Gardner's Lake, and there resided the re- mainder of his life, dying May 13, 1880. His re- mains were interred in Yantic cemetery. He was always a Democrat, and in Montville he held a few minor offices. He served in the war of 1812, being called out twice, once to the defense of Stonington. and again at New London. For many years he was a pensioner of that war. In religious matters he was a member of the Methodist Church, and was much interested in church matters.

On Dec. 25. 1819, Mr. Williams married, in Griswold, Mary Ann Spencer, who was born in East Greenwich. R. L., daughter of Captain Rey- nolds Spencer, for many years a sea captain, who removed from East Greenwich, R. L., to Griswold, Conn., and there located on a farm, where he died. He lived to an old age, and his remains lie in the Pachaug cemetery, as do those of his wife. Mary Ann Spencer Williams was born June 12, 1809, and died May 20, 1887, at the Montville homestead. re- taining her faculties to the last in a remarkable degree. The children born of this marriage were : Rachel Mary, born June 8, 1821, never married, but resided at the homestead, where she died May 19. 1805 : Thomas Bellows, born Feb. It. 1823, married Helen Brush, and resided in Dimock, Pa, where he was a carpenter : Charles Henry, born Feb. 14. 1825, died in January, 1826; Henry, born Nov. 2.3. 1820 ; Lydia, born Sept. 2. 1820, died at the age of twenty-five years ; Susan Eliza, born June 12, 1831. died soon after her sister Lydia : Ephraim Morgan. born Oct. 28. 1833, married Eveline B. Williams, of Springville, Pa. : Roger S., born Jan. 27, 18.30, mar- ried Celia Gates, was by trade a carpenter and

wagonmaker and resided at Montville. later at Bozrah, and still later at Norwich Town, where he died June 16, 1885 : Amos, born Feb. 5. 1839. is a well-known school teacher, and resides in Norwich, unmarried.

Henry Williams was born in Ledyard, and was about fifteen years old when his parents removed to Montville. Although he received only a common school education, he added to his store of knowledge by close observation, and remained at home until he was nineteen, at which time he came to Norwich to learn the trade of a carpenter, under Erastus Will- iams, a well-known carpenter. Henry Williams served an apprenticeship of three years, under him, receiving but very small wages, for the remuneration at that time was scant. He followed his trade the remainder of his life, becoming a builder and con- tractor in Norwich, and he died Feb. 17. 1886, and was buried in Yantic cemetery.

Henry Williams was known as a skilled and con- scientious workman, and at times in his contract work, he employed a good sized force of men. to whom he was a kind and generous employer. His residence was for many years at Norwich Town. but a few years before his death he removed to the corner of Lafayette and Williams streets, and there he died. In politics he was a Democrat, but never cared for political office. In religious matters he was a member of the Park Congregational Church.

The first marriage of Henry Williams was to Mary Hull, daughter of Gardner Hull. of North Stonington, who died March 27. 1871, aged forty- three years, nine months. She bore him the follow- ing children: Walter, who died young: Charles Morgan: Henry F., who married Lina Rollinson. of Norwich, and resides in Somerville. Mass., where he is a carpenter. The second wife of Henry Will- iams bore the maiden name of Elvira Lincoln, and she came from Willimantic. After her death. he married her sister. Miss Mary Lincoln, who survived him and died in 1904. in New Rochelle, New York.

Charles Morgan Williams was born Mas 4. 1855. in Norwich, and received but a limite I could- mon school education. As soon as he was large enough, he began to assist his father in his work, and having a natural taste for mechanics, it was all dass matter for him to learn the trade. He renamed with his father nutil he became of age, and then worked as a journeyman for some years Later he engaged in contracting and building on his own account, and was this engaged nutil 1848, when he toquel with Mbert N. Carpenter, the firm of Carpenter & # 1 liams, doing a general building business. This part- nership was dissolved in lime. Han, since which time Mr. Withants has been in the same Lực pi work as an individual.

( In Het. 30, 1828. Mr Willings was minute ) in marriage with Ada La Pierre, dershter et Amind and Sarah \ (Rathbun) La Pult Tla doloren buon to Mr. and Mrs. Williams are Aune Louise. who married Frederick M. Holmes, of New Bilim.

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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Conn., and died June 1, 1904, the mother of one child-Ada Louise ; and Julian La Pierre, now at- tending Norwich Free Academy.

In his political views Mr. Williams is independ- ent, caring little for politics, his interest ending with the casting of his vote for the man he considers best fitted for the position. Fraternally he is a member of the Royal Arcanum. He and his family are attendants upon the services of the First Con- gregational Church at Norwich Town, and are very popular with the various members. His fine resi- dence on North Washington street was erected by him in 1894, and it stands on the exact spot where formerly stood the house in which the traitor Bene- dict Arnold was born.

Mr. Williams is a quiet, retiring man, of domes- tic habits, who takes a great pride in his home and family, and does not care for interests outside of his business and his home. He is a thorough and skilled workman ; demanding of his men the same conscientious work he himself turns out, he can always be relied upon to carry out to the letter any contract he enters into, and he enjoys a well earned reputation for reliability, promptness and skill. Among his business associates, Mr. Williams is very highly esteemed, for his honesty of purpose, thoroughness in his methods of dealing, and his pleasing personality, which not only gain their confidence and patronage, but also their friendship.

PENDLETON. The Pendleton family is one of the oldest in New England. The lineage here given is that of the late Charles M. Pendleton, of Bozrah, and his three sons, Alexander Bingham and Charles Adam, who reside on Wawecus Hill, and their younger brother, Claudius V., who re- sides at Yantic.

(I) Brian Pendleton was the first of the name to come to the United States, arriving at Water- town, Mass., about 1630, in company with his wife, Eleanor, and children, James and Mary. From Watertown he moved to Ipswich, Mass., in 1648, having made a brief stop at Sudbury, and from Ipswich he removed to what is now Saco, Maine. In 1654, in company with four others, he put a pe- tition before the General Court for permission to lay out the town of Portsmouth, N. H., from which he was presently sent as a deputy to the General Court. In 1655 he had charge of the fortification of the harbor, and was commissioned major to drill troops and perform other military duties. Ten years later Major Pendleton moved to Saco, and built a house and blockhouse at Winter Harbor, which is now called Biddeford Pool, where he dealt ex- tensively in land. In company with others he bought a township, six miles square. In 1674 he bought 700 acres of land, now a part of Westerly, R. I., which became a place of refuge for his descend- ants. In 1670 Maine was made a royal Colony, and Major Pendleton was appointed by King Charles II deputy governor and first councilor. He

was also town treasurer, and represented t' _ town in the General Court. In 1675, at the breaking out of the Indian war, the settlers were driven from the Province, and in the following year Major Pendleton returned to Portsmouth, fror which point he addressed a petition to King C. .. les in- 1680, the year of his death. His will bears the date of Aug. 9, 1677. His wife Eleanor bore him two children: Mary, who was married to Rev .. Seth Fletcher, of Wells, Maine, and had one son, Pendleton, who served in the French war of 1697, and was taken prisoner to Quebec, where he died; and James, who was born in England about 1628.

(II) James Pendleton accompanied his parents to America, and finally settled on the land which his father bought at Westerly, where he died. Mary, his first wife, who died in 1655, bore him three children : James, Mary and Hannah. Mr. Pendle- ton was married (second) in 1656 to Hannah, daughter of Edmund and Jane Goodnow, of Sud- bury, Mass., by whom he had the following chil- dren: Brian, born in 1659; Joseph, born in 1661; Edmund, born in 1665; Ann, born in 1667 : Caleb, born in 1669: Sarah, born in 1674; Eleanor, born in 1679: Dorothy, born in 1686; and Patience.

(III) Joseph Pendleton, the second member of the above family, born at Sudbury, Mass., was a farmer in Westerly, where he died in 1706. In 1696 he was married (first) to Deborah, daughter of Ephraim Miner, of Stonington, Conn., and by her had one child, Deborah, born in 1697. Mrs. Pendleton died in 1697, and Mr. Pendleton was married (second) in 1700 to Patience, daughter of William Potts, of New London, Conn., and a cousin of his first wife. She became the mother of the following children : Joseph, born about 1702; Will- iam, born about 1704 ; and Joshua, born in 1705. Mr. Pendleton died in 1706, and his widow, marrying again, became the mother of a large family.

(IV) William Pendleton, noted above, was a resident of Westerly, where he married Lydia, daughter of John Burrows, of Stonington, by whom he had the following children: William; Amos; Freelove, born in 1731 ; Peleg, born in 1733: John, born in 1735; Benjamin, born in 1738; Lydia A., born in 1740; Joshua, born in 1744; and Ephraim, born in 1746. Mrs. Pendleton died in 1750, and William Pendleton was married (second) the fol- lowing year to Mary (MacDowell) Chesbrough, widow of Zebulon. Four children were born of this marriage: Lucy, born in 1752; Nathan, born in 1754; Isaac, born in 1756; and Keturah, born in 1761. William Pendleton died in 1786.

(V) Joshua Pendleton, son of William, was a farmer in Westerly, but resided in various places until he located on Wawecus Hill, in Norwich, Conn., in 1794. His house was in the town of Norwich, but most of his farm was in the town of Bozrah. His death occurred April 9, 182.1, in West- erly, where he was visiting, but his remains were interred at Norwich, where he belonged to the

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BaptistChurch. On June 6, 1768, Joshua Pendle- ton ma ied Nancy (or Anna), daughter of Elisha and Mary Clark, of Westerly. To this union were born : I (I) Joshua, born May 25, 1770, married (first)/ his second cousin, Amelia Pendleton, daugh- ter of tkhujor Joseph Pendleton, of Westerly, and (second) Elsie Ann Pendleton, her sister ; he re- moved to New York, where he followed farming and died about 1828. (2) Anna, or Nancy, born June 3, 1772, married Denison Rodgers, a farmer of Norwich, Conn., where she died Aug. 1, 1857. (3) Martha, born March 3. 1774, married Walter Palmer, a farmer, and died Sept. 3, 1861, in Pres- ton, Conn. (4) Lucy Ann, born March 14, 1776, married Samuel Lathrop, and settled in New York, where he followed farming, and where she died Sept. 14, 1857; (5) Clarissa H., born April 24, 1778, married David Adams, a farmer of Royalton, Vt., where she died April 1, 1854; (6) Polly, born Aug. 16, 1780, married Amos Bennett, a farmer of Lisbon, Conn., where she died July 20, 1833. (7) William, born May 22, 1782, married Dolly Storey, was a farmer at Preston, Conn., and died March 7, 1866. (8) Elisha C., born May 16, 1784, a farmer, married Hannah, daughter of Deacon Asa Bowes, and died at Hartford, March 3, 1814, while serv- ing in the war of 1812. (9) Adam was born Dec. 4, 1786. (10) Lydia, born Feb. 4. 1789, married Elisha Bennett, and removed to Trumbull county, Ohio, where she died March 10, 1873.

(VI) Adam Pendleton, noted above, was born in Westerly, R. I., and was brought by his parents to Connecticut when he was quite young. He ac- quired a meager education in the public schools. and spent a life of hard work on the farm which his father bought. On this farm the old house that stood in the town of Norwich has been torn down, and the new house is in the town of Bozrah. Young Adam remained at home and assisted his father in the management of the home place, caring for his parents in their old age, and when they died he bought out the other heirs. His death occurred April 12, 1858. In his politics he was a Democrat, and in religion a member of the Bozrah Baptist Church. Personally he was much esteemed in the community where his quiet and useful life was passed.

On April 15, 1815, Adam Pendleton was mar- ried to Hannah Marsh, who was born in Plainfield. Conn., a daughter of James and Polly ( Bennett ) Marsh, and who when quite young moved with her parents to Brookfield, N. Y., where they remained until about 1811. In that year they located at Sandusky, Ohio, where the parents soon died, lean - ing Hannah, yet a girl in her teens, the chest of a family of eight children. The experiences of the little family of children for the ensuing few years we're distressing in the extreme, as about the time the parents died the British had captured Detroit. and the settlers at Sandusky were much afraid of a visit from the Indians, Signs of their approach

were thought evident, and the settlers fled to the woods, where they were exposed to cold wet weather for several days. The alarm was false, and after a time Hannah Marsh was able to get her brothers and sisters as far east as Cleveland, where she placed several of the children in good- families, and with the others made her way back to Brookfield, N. Y., walking and riding as they could secure wagon rides on the way. At a later period she took two of the children and went east to Lisbon, Conn., where she was living at the time of her marriage. As indicated by such a history of her early days she was a woman of much character and determination. Her death occurred March 23. 1872, while she was on a visit in the house of her son, Dr. Cyrus H. Pendleton, at Hebron, Coun. Her remains rest beside those of her husband in- Yantic cemetery, at Norwich.

The children of Adam and Hannah ( Marsh) Pendleton were: (1) Benadam, born March 23, 1816, was married June 29. 1840, to Philena J. Hyde, and removed to Natchez, Miss., to engage in the mercantile business with his uncle. Cyrus Marsh, where he died Aug. 1. 1885. (2) Charles Ml. was born Oct. 15. 1818. (3) Clarissa L., bom Oct. 17, 1822, married Henry A. Bingham. a mer- chant in Norwich, where he died ; she then re- moved to the homestead farm in Bozrah, where ker death occurred Sept. 12, 1868. They were the par- ents of Nathan A. Bingham, of Norwich, whose sketch appears elsewhere. (4) Cyrus, the next child of Adam Pendleton, born March 20, 1825. died Oct. 30, 1829. (5) Cyrus Henry, born Oct. 5. 1830. was graduated from Amherst College in 1858, and the Medical Department of Western Reserve Uni- versity, Cleveland, Ohio, in 1860. He practiced medicine for two years at Montville, and then lo- cated at Yantic until 1864. when he settled at He- bron, and has a large and successful practice in that and surrounding towns. He married Mary Maria Welles, of Hebron. (6) Mary Jane, bern July 24. 1832, was a cripple from early youth, and died unmarried Dec. 12. 1808.

(VII) CHARLES M. PENDLETON Was born El the homestead, and received a common school alu- cation. He taught school several winters in Nor- wich and Bozrah, the summer seasons bung de voted to farm work. He remained on the home farm, and after the death of his father assumed the entire management, later e song ito fel pas session of the firm Is parchanty the Bryts 01 the other heirs. He added to the home of the farm and became one of the most cheese and extensive farmers in the town He was mich in terested in the rising of stock, always owning . large number of all kinds of cattle, and when heep were owned by neuk event farmer he fell . ne of the largest tocks in that section He continued active on the farm until a few years before he death, when he gave up the management of it to his sons Alexander Bingham and Charles Alan.

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and purchasing a small place near Yantic he re- moved there, intending to make it his future home. After a few years' residence there his love for the old home caused him to return to it, and soon aft- erward he died, Aug. 24, 1887. He was through- out life until a year before his death a strong, rug- ged man, capable of doing a great deal of hard work, was of medium height, and well proportioned. He was highly esteemed and respected. In politics he was a Democrat. He held several of the minor offices in Bozrah, and represented the town in the State Legislature.

Mr. Pendleton was a member of the First Con- gregational Church at Norwich Town. He was married Dec. 10, 1845, to Susan E. Bingham, born March 30, 1819, in Bozrah, daughter of Alexander Bingham. She died Oct. 1, 1890, and was buried beside her husband in Yantic cemetery. Their chil- dren were as follows: (1) Alexander Bingham was born Dec. 17, 1846. (2) Charles Adam was born March 14, 1849. (3) Claudius Victor, born Sept. 12, 1850, married Phebe J. Bailey, of Bozrah- ville, March 20, 1879, and resides at Yantic. He graduated from Sheffield Scientific School, Yale, in 1874, and is now a civil engineer in the employ of the East Berlin Construction Co., of East Ber- lin, Conn. His children were as follows: William B., born Jan. 7, 1880; Lena M., Dec. 9, 1881 (died Aug. 5, 1882) ; Susie B., Sept. 18, 1883 (died in childhood) ; Claudius V., Jr., June II, 1885 ; Clar- ence M., Nov. 16, 1891 (died June 6, 1899).

ALEXANDER BINGHAM PENDLETON was born on the home farm, and received his education in the district schools, the public schools at Norwich, and a select school at Norwich Town kept by a Mr. Savage. He has always resided on the home farm. He was married in Hebron Sept. 27, 1877, to Fan- nie F. Brown, a native of Mt. Holly, N. J., daugh- ter of Newell and Anna L. ( Atkinson) Brown, and to this union has come one son, Henry Bing- ham, born Sept. 15, 1881. He graduated from the Norwich Business College and is now employed as a member of the office force of the American Bi- cycle Co., at Hartford. He married April 14, 1904, Mary Tracy Parkhurst, of Yantic, Conn. Alexan- der Bingham Pendleton is a Democrat, and for the past ten years has been a member of the board of assessors of Bozrah. He attends the First Congre- gational Church at Norwich Town.

CHARLES ADAM PENDLETON received his edu- cation in the district schools and Norwich Free Academy. He has always lived on the farm where he was born. He was married in September, 1881, to Jennie E. Lathrop, of Bozrah, daughter of John and Mary (Harris) Lathrop. Their children are as follows: (I) Jennie May, born Jan. 4, 1891 ; (2) Mildred A., March 23, 1893; (3) Gladys Lath- rop, Oct. 23, 1896. Mr. Pendleton is a Democrat in politics, and a member of the First Congrega- tional Church at Norwich Town.

Messrs. Alexander Bingham and Charles Adam

Pendleton conduct the farm, which consists of over 500 acres, and on which there is a great deal of valuable timber. They rank among the representa- tive agriculturists of New London county, and none have any higher standing as citizens.

GEORGE HENRY POWERS, now living re- tired in his native town of New London, Conn., after many years identified with the sea food bus - ness on Long Island Sound, is the oldest living active member of the Niagara Engine Company, No. I, of New London. The Powers family has long been resident in New London county.

Elijah P. Powers, father of George H., was born in Chesterfield, town of Montville, New London county, and when quite a small boy he left home and went to live with Gurdon Avery in the adjoin- ing town of Waterford. He made that place his home for a number of years, and then went to New York where he was engaged in the wholesale fish business in Fulton Market until the gold excitement of 1849. Joining the fortune hunters he went to California, and there remained for about a year .. Life in the West proved unattractive to him, and he returned to New London, and with William Hamil .. ton and Charles Harris, engaged in the wholesale and retail fish business, Mr. Powers purchasing the interest of Charles Miner. The business was located on the site now occupied by the Union Railroad Station. Under the firm name of Hamilton, Powers & Harris they conducted a flourishing business, Mr. Powers continuing in this business until the time of his death at the age of fifty-seven. He was an active member of the Masonic fraternity, and was the first Knight Templar in New London. His wife, Harriet L. Kilbourne, of New London, was a lineal descendant of the emigrant ancestor of the Holt family, who came to America from England in the early part of the seventeenth century. She died in New London at the advanced age of eighty-five years. To Elijah P. and Harriet L. (Kilbourne) Powers were born children as follows: George H .; Miss Harriet P., who resides in New London ; Charles K., an engineer on the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad many years, now residing in Hartford, Conn .: Josephine, who mar- ried Henry Lester, and resides in New London ; Kilbourne, who is engaged in the fish business in Fulton Market, New York City.

George H. Powers was born in New London, and in the district schools there received his educa- tion. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to learn the trade of carpenter, at which he worked during the summer months, attending school in the winters until he was nineteen years of age. He then entered the wholesale and retail fish and sea food business as a clerk for his father, and after a few years had given him a thorough knowledge of the business he bought out the interests of the various partners in the business, and successfully conducted same for a number of years. The building of the

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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

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Union Railroad Station necessitated his removal to new quarters, and later the building of the Norwich Line Steamboat Dock resulted in his retirement from business. He closed out Oet. 8, 1897, and sinee that time he has lived in retirement on a well earned competency. His methods in business were always open and above board, and when he retired he earried with him the good will and unbounded esteem of all who had had any relations with him.

Socially Mr. Powers belongs to F. F. Smith Council, No. 69, O. U. A. M., in which he has served as treasurer. He has been most prominently identified with the Volunteer Fire Department of New London, being one of the oldest living active members of that organization which he joined while attending school as a boy. He is enrolled as a member of Niagara Engine Company, No. 1, which he has served most efficiently as treasurer continu- ously since 1866. He is a charter member of the Veteran Firemen's Association, of which he has been treasurer since January, 1892, and he also belongs to the State Firemen's Association, taking a keen in- terest in everything that tends to the betterment of the department and to the prevention of fires. In his political views Mr. Powers is an ardent sup- porter of Republiean principles, and while he always votes the straight party ticket on national questions, in local affairs he supports the man he deems best fitted for the office.

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Genealogical and biographical record of New London County, Connecticut, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the early settled families, Part 164

Author: Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 1568

Author:
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1568