USA > Connecticut > Genealogical and family history of the state of Connecticut, a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Volume IV > Part 60
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(I) William Jarvis, immigrant ancestor, came from England, date unknown. and set- tled first, it is believed, in the Connecticut colony, Norwalk, and later in Huntington, Long Island, where he was one of the eleven original families. The first purchase of land within the territory of Huntington was made of the Matinnecock tribe of Indians and was known as the "Oll Purchase" of "six miles square." Among those who are on record as grantees of portions of it the name of William Jarvis frequently occurs. He mar- ried Esther and died about 1740. Children: William, Horn 1096: Samuel, Oc- tober 5. 1608, died September 2;, 1779. in Norwalk. Connecticut : Stephen. 1700. died in Huntington : Abraham, 1702: Mary. 1704.
( II) Captain Samuel Jarvis, son of William . Jarvis, was horn October 5. 1698, died Sep- tember 27. 1779 He married Naomi Brush. of Cold Spring. Long Island. born March 19, 1701. died May 3, 1756. He bought, Jan- vary 11. 1744-45. from Nathan Finch. a home- stead. barn and shed. Ile and three sons were Lovalists, and at the beginning of the revolu- tion, in August, were seized by British sol- diers and taken to Long Island in an open boat, to a family named Coles, where they were treated kindiv. Children: Samuel. born December 27, 1720; Elizabeth. December 27, 1,22: John. January 23, 1725 : Esther. August 18, 1727: Stephen. December 25, 1729, men- tioned below: Isaac, February 16, 1733; Naomi. March 15, 1736: Nathan, February 2, 1737; Abraham, May 5. 1739. second bishop of Protestant Episcopal Church in Connecti- citt : Polly, May 3. 1742: Hezekiah, July 17, 1746.
( III) Stephen, son of Captain Samuel Jar- vis, was born December 25. 1,29. died July 20. 1820. He married. February 6. 1756, Rachel Starr, born 1733. died 1824. Chil- dren : Stephen, born November 6. 1756: Sam- uel. October 20. 1758. mentioned below : Mary, November 20, 1760: Rachel. October 12. 1762; Abigail. August 16, 1764: Betsey, August II. 1766: Eli, May 23. 1768 ; Hannah. June 14, 1774. died in infancy.
(IV) Samuel (2), son of Stephen Jarvis. was born October 20. 1758, died Max 23. 18 29. He married. December 7. 1780, Abigail San- ford. Children: Samuel (twin), July 28, 1782: Abigail (twin) : Benjamin Sturges, April 13. 178 ;: Eli Starr. January. 23. 1786; Henry. April 26, 1788, mentioned below : Sarah, August 24. 1701: William Augustus, December 10. 1703: Amelia, March 2, 1:56.
(V) Henry, son of Samuel (2) Jarvis, was
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born April 26, 1788, died March 19, 1842. He married, October 13, 1817, Marietta Sanford, who died July 14, 1843. Children: Henry Sanford, August 18, ISIS, mentioned below ; - Marietta Bradley, July 1. 1820; Sarah Maria (twin), April 7. 1826; Francis C. (twin) ; Eliza Aun, April 22, 1828.
(VI) Henry Sanford, son of Henry Jarvis, was born August 18, 1818. He married, De- cember 2, 1849, at Deposit. Delaware county. New York, Rachel Peters. Children: Har- rie, born November 14. 1853 : Charles Mlaples, April 16, 1856, mentioned below : Frederick, November 6, 1860.
(VII) Charles Maples, son of Henry San- ford Jarvis, was born in Deposit, Delaware county, New York, April 16. 1856. At the time of his birth his father was operating a line of stages between New York City and .Owego, New York, with the contract of de- livering the United States mails between those two cities in forty-eight hours. At the age of two lie removed with his parents to Binghamton. New York, where he received his early education in the public schools. He graduated at the high school and entered the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, where he spent three years in the study of civil engineering and graduated with degree of Ph. B. in 1877. In April of the follow- in year he accepted a position with the Corru- gated Metal Company, of East Berlin, Con- necticut, which became in a short time the Berlin Iron Bridge Company. Mr. Jarvis at first did the entire work of making all the drawings, estimates and a portion of the con- tracts, besides keeping the books. With his coming the company began the manufacture of iron bridges and soon took the lead. espe- cially in New England as furnishing the best bridges for the heavy traffic required in this section. Later they extended their business into other parts of the country, and with the development of foreign commerce into all parts of the world. In 1880. under the man- agement and engineering guidance of Mr. Jarvis, the company commenced the manu- facture of structural iron and steel for the construction of manufacturing buildings and became the pioneers in this line. In 1886. upon the death of S. C. Wilcox. Mr. Jarvis was placed at the head of the affairs of the company, and under his leadership the busi- ness of erecting steel bridges and buildings has been marvelously developed until it has increased a hundredfold and yields over $2.000.000 per year. In May. 1900, the com- pany, together with twenty-six other leading concerns in the same line. were combined into one large corporation, known as the
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American Bridge Company, of which Mr. Jarvis was made vice-president. In the fall ot 1901 the large manufacturing concerns built up by the Corbins in New Britain, known as the P. & F. Corbin and the Corbin Cabi- net Lock Company, manufacturers of hard- ware and builders' tools, were brought under one management and Mr. Jarvis was made vice-president. The following year the great company, the American Hardware Corpora- tion, was organized. comprising the P. & F. Corbin. the Russell & Erwin Manufacturing Company, the Corbin Screw Corporation, the Corbin Motor Vehicle Corporation and the Corbin Cabinet Lock Company. Of this cor- poration Mr. Jarvis is president. He is asso- ciated with the Phoenix Mutual Life Insur- ance Company, and in 1906 was elected a director. He is at present running one of the largest farms in Hartford county and is president of the Connecticut State Agri- cultural Society.
Mr. Jarvis has never taken an active part in politics, though in 1903 he served as a mem- ber of the constitutional convention of the state, the work of which body has already served as a guide for legislators and will be a source of inspiration for years to come. Mr. Jarvis is a member of the Hartford Club, the Country Club of Farmington. the Uni- versity Club of New York, the Union League and Engineers' clubs of that city, the Ameri- can Society of Civil Engineers, and the Ameri- can Society of Mechanical Engineers, of which last he has served as vice-president. In religion he is a Congregationalist. He was made commissary general in the military de- partment of the state by Governor Woodruff. with the rank of colonel.
He married. May 27, 1880. Mary Morgan Bean. of Binghamton, and a direct descendant of Miles Morgan, of Massachusetts. They have one child. Grace Morgan, born in 1886.
(IV) Captain John (3). son of
WELLS John (2) Wells (q. v.), was born in 1675-76 at Stratford. died February 19, 1734-35. He married Mary, daughter of Isaac Judson, of Stratford. December 15, 1608. Children: David. born October 16. 1609: Mary, August 11. 1701; Elizabeth, May 13, 1703: Sarah, March 23. 1705: Phebe. February 17, 1707: Isaac Jud- son. April 28, 1708, died young : Isaac Judson. November 24. 1700: Jobn; William, men- tioned below : Hannah : Huldah.
(\') William, son of Captain John (3) Wells, was born in Wether-field. He mar- ried Mary Among their children was Benjamin. mentioned below.
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(VI) Benjamin, son of William Wells, was a soldier in the revolution, in Colonel Can- field's regiment of militia at West Point in 1781, a sergeant in Captain Nichols' com- pany ( Adjutant General's report of Conn., p. 582). He married Elizabeth Curtis. Chil- dren: Curtis Judson, mentioned below ; Reuben, never married; Mary, married John Roosevelt, of New York, and had Mary and Alfred. both of whom died young.
(VII) Curtis Judson, son of Benjamin Wells, married Ruth Hawley. Children : Lewis, married Julia Ufford: Elbert, married Sarah Peck Curtis; Benjamin. mentioned below: Maria, married Elnathan Wheeler ; Caroline, married Frederick French : Henry, married Jane Beardsley.
(VIII) Benjamin (2), son of Curtis Jud- son Wells, was born in Stratford, September 18, 1812. He was a shoe merchant in Colum- bus, Georgia, where he had the first shoe store in company with his brother. Elbert, the firm being known as Wells Brothers. He continued in this business up to the time of the war, when he came north and remained four years, when he returned and again en- gagedl in business. which he continued until about three years before his death, when he retired. The business is, however, still being conducted by his nephew, Walter Wells Cur- tis, son of Norris N. Curtis, under the firm name of Wells & Curtis. Mr. Wells always maintained a home in Stratford and took an active interest in the affairs of the town. Here his children were educated, and he built the house in Stratford, which is still occupied by his wife and daughters. Mrs. Clara E. Byington and Adeline Alice Taylor. He and his wife were members of the Episcopal church in that town, and his children were also reared in that faith. He was one of the first incorporators of the Episcopal church of Coltimbus, Georgia. and was a vestryman for many years. Benjamin Wells married Louisa Curtis, who is still living at the age of ninety-five years, daughter of Augur and Alice ( Peck ) Curtis, and their children were as follows: Adeline Alice, mentioned below ; Abbie C., unmarried : Julia L., married Tillott Kennev. of Ithaca, New York; Clara E., mar- ried William Byington, of Ithaca; Florence G .. married Wallace Porter, of New Haven.
The following is taken from a Columbus, Georgia, paper :
"DEATH OF MR. BENIAMIN WELLS. AN- OTHER GOOD MAN HAS GONE.
"At Stratford, Connecticut, on the 12th of July. 1882. Mr. Benjamin Wells died of paralysis, in the roth year of his age. Mr. Well- was one of the pioneers of the settlement of this city (viz.
Columbus, Georgia) and a pioneer of the best type. He settled here and started a shoe store when the moccasined feet of the wild Indians were more numerous on the banks of our Chat- tahocchee river than the leather-clad feet of the white man. And through all the trials and vicis- situdes of a frontier town, and among warlike savages he remained, and by habits of industry and the practice of the strictest principles of honor he went on 'pro-pering and to prosper. The writer knew Mr. Wells intimately in years agone. He knew him in the days when there are not many left to bear witness to his worth, and it is a pleasure to record the fact here. that he remembers no citizen of that period more de- serving of a kind remembrance. Mr. Well- was a brother-in-law of our townsman Mr. N. N. Curtis, and an uncle of Mr. Elbert L. Wells and returned to his natal home in Connecticut in 1856. Since his return to his old home he has made frequent if not annual visits to Columbus- and has always met here the warmest welcome from our best citizens.
"It is sad to mark the falling of the seared and yellow leaves-for they admonish u- of our own approaching time and it would be well if we could all bequeath to those who are to come after us as honorable a record as that of the modest and unassuming deceased."
(IX) Adeline Alice, daughter of Benjamin (2) Wells. was born at Columbus, Georgia. She was educated in the Academy under the tuition of Frederick Sedgwick, a celebrated teacher of his day and time. In 186o she married, at Stratford, Henry Robert Taylor, who was born at Westport, Connecticut, May 7, 1836, but moved to California as a young man, and with his brother located in San Francisco, where they were dealers in mining goods. Henry Robert Taylor invented an ore assayer and crusher which could be car- ried with very little trouble, and by the use of which the miner could crush the ore and at once assay it and determine the quantity of gold it contained. These were sent all over the world. Previous to hiis marriage Henry Robert Taylor was a mechanical engi- neer in Westport, but shortly after his mar- riage he went to San Francisco, where he re- mained thirty-four years with his brother John, firm of John Taylor & Company. resided in San Francisco ten years, then made Oakland their home, but continued business in San Francisco, where he died March 1 ;. 1903. He took an active interest in all mat- ters in the town or city where he lived and did his whole duty as a citizen. Mr. and Mrs. llenry R. Taylor were the parents of one child. Robert Henry, born October 0, 1872. educated at the Oakland public schools, after- ward entering the Worcester Polytechnic In- stitute, from which he graduated as a mechan- ieal engineer. and which profession he thi follows in Oakland. California. He married Marion Kelsey, daughter of Wright Kelsey.
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and they have two children: Dorothy Birds- eye. born April 7. 190! : Robert Howard, bora April 27, 1903. Dorothy Bird-eve Taylor is a great-great-great-granddaughter of Rev. Na- than and Dorothy Birdseye. Mrs. Henry R. Taylor is a member of the Episcopal church, also of the Daughters of the American Revo- lution.
LAKE The Lake family is of ancient English origin. and in colonial days several pioneers of this name came to New England. Captain Thomas Lake, son of Richard Lake, of Erby. England. was born in 1615. and became deputy gov- ernor of the New Haven Colony. He mar- ried Mary Goodyear and settled at an early date in Boston, where he was engaged in trade, and had extensive land interests in Maine. July 30. 1663. he deposed in Boston that he wa, about forty-eight years of age, this deposition relating to Penobscot lands in Maine for which he ha I paid rent to Colonel Temple. He was slain at Kennebec by the Indians, August 16, 1676. His will, which was dated February 27, 1663, and proved Feb- ruary 20. 1676, bequeathed to his sister. Lydia Goodyear: to Samuel Shepherd. pastor at Rowley: to cousin (nephew ) George Rokes- by ; to Mr. John Sherman, pastor of Water- town; to Mr. Henry Frenchman: to wife Mary and chillren. Stephen, Thomas and Anne. His widow died in 1705 and be- queathed her estate to cousins. John and Richard Watts and Mary Treworthy. The descendants of this Lake did not go to New Jersey, and the record of the births of his children show that he had no son William.
. Another Thomas Lake came to Dorchester, Massachusetts, and was admitted to the church there, September 20, 1640, and made a free- man, June 2. 1641. He was a proprietor and town officer. and died October 37. 1678. at the age of eighty years. His will, which was proved November 14. 1678. bequeathed to the church a piece of silver plate for the communion table : to his brother Henry Lake and children ; and to one of them, Thomas, in particular. This Thomas evidently left no children. His nephew Thomas settled in Con- necticut and was probably of age in 1659. when he was called before the church. Alice, wife of Thomas Lake. of Dorchester. died October 20. 1678, at the age of seventy years.
John Lake, a tailor. also came to Boston, where he was admitted to the church, De- cember 2, 1643, and made a freeman, May 29. 1644. June 26, 1648. he purchased land, and in 1660-70 he deposed in the administration of Thomas Millard's estate that he was about
fifty-one years of age. His will, dated August 3, proved August 9. 1677. bequeathed to wife Lucy ; brother-in-law, Matthew Co; (or Cowee) and his wife; to cousin ( nephew), - Lake; to cousins ( nephews) John and Mary Lake, children of his brother Luke: to Mary Saxton. James Taylor was appointed guardian of this nephew, John Lake, Oc- tober 6, 1677, and nothing further appears concerning the brother Luke. John Lake had several children, but as they are not men- tioned in the will of the father, it is to be presumed that none survived him or left issue.
The records of New York show a Lake family as early as 1637, viz: Robert. two Johns, and George Lake were in Dorchester county, Maryland, as early as 1661. It is not unlikely that sons of Henry or Luke Lake may have gone from Massachusetts to Staten Island, and thence with the tide of pioneers, that were known to have taken thuis course, to New Jersey.
(1) William Lake, the pioneer, settled prior to 1702 in Great Egg harbor, Gloucester county, New Jersey, now known as Atlantic county, and there purchased one hundred acres of land. Daniel Lake settled on Staten Island in 1604. removing thence from Long Island, and as William had a son Daniel. it is po :- sible that Daniel and William were brothers. There are many descen lants of Daniel Lake in Staten Island and in all parts of the copi- try. William Lake died at Egy Harbor in 1716. leaving a large estate. He bequeathed four hundred and fifty acres to his son Nathan, and to his son Daniel, who was not vet of age at the time of the death of his father, the homestead and two hundred and fifty acres, which, after the English fashion. was left to the family name of Daniel for generations. The industrial and other inter- ests of the state have been greatly benefited by various members of this family. From their settlement in this country they have hoen noted for their strict adherence to temperance principles, and were public advocates of these measures before a church opened its doors to any speaker in this cause, and the only two schoolhouses in which these principles were permitted to be advocated. each had a Lake as a member of its board of trustees.
(II) Daniel, son of William Lake. was born about 1700, and died at Egg Harbor in 1772. bequeathing his homestead to con Daniel.
(III) Daniel (2), son of Daniel to Lake, was born about 1740, died in 1700. He wille; his homestead to his son Daniel. He mat - ried Sarah, daughter of Captain Simon Lucas. of Burlington county, New Jersey. Both Daniel Lake and Captain Simon Luca, served
Simon Lake
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in the continental army in the revolutionary war. Children: 1. Christopher, born October I, 1765. 2. Daniel, August 7, 1767, married Ann Leeds. 3. Jemima, October 18, 1768. 4. Tabitha, May 27, 1770. 5. Sarah, December 2, 1771. 6. John, see forward. 7. Lida, March 17. 1776. 8. Amariah, April 5, 1778, died June 26, 1847. 9. Mary, September 15, 1780. 10. Asenath, January 23. 1783, mar- ried ( first) Levi Collins; (second ) February 13, 1815, Paul Sooy : died July 18, 1860. II. Incas. 12. Louis, twin of Lucas, born Oc- tober 25, 1785.
(IV) John, son of Daniel (2) and Sarah (Lucas) Lake. was born at Lakeville, now Pleasantville, New Jersey. December 21. 1773. He lived at Pleasantville, New Jersey, where he took a prominent part in town af- fairs. His brother Daniel was a surveyor by profession, laid out the Shore road, and had the name of the town changed from Lake- ville to Pleasantville. He married Abigail Adams, and his children, all born in Pleasant- ville, were: 1. Armenia, born April 26, 1797, died September 18, 1853; married Andrew Leeds. 2. John, January 12, 1799, married Deborah Gaskill. 3. Asenath, December 24. ISO1. 4. Daniel, May 1, 1803. died February 13, 1851. 5. Margaret. November 30, 1804, married James Tilten. 6. Sarah, March 23. 1808, married John Bryant. 7. Simon, see forward. 8. Lucas, April 25, 1816, married ( first) Rachel Scull, (second) Hannah Smith- Somers. 9. David. October 17. 18IS, mar- ried Amanda Robinson.
(V) Simon, eighth child of John and Abi- gail (Adams) Lake, was born in Pleasant- ville, New Jersey, September 3. 1813, died in 1881. He was the owner of a large es- tate of timber, meadow, bay and farm land, and extensively engaged in the oyster trade. He served as internal revenue collector, as state assemblyman and held other offices of trust and responsibility and was an active supporter of the cause of the Union during the civil war. He was one of the founders of Ocean City and with his sons owned nearly all that island. With his brothers, David and Lucas, he owned much land on Great Island, his share being sold in 18;6, and his brother David's in 1884. He married Sarah Blake and had nine children. Three of the sons becane ministers. Children. all born in Pleas- antville: I. Ezra B .. December 28, 1833, married Alice Elizabeth Core. 2. Mary Eletha, June 8, 1835, died July 10. 1857, married John Rice. 3. Abigail Ann, August 23. 1836, died August 9, 1850. 4. Annie Mar- garet, April 14. 1838, married Somers T. Champion. 5. Frances Amelia, March 27.
1842, married, February 6, 1864, Mary Jane Scull. 7. James Edward, January 19. 1845. was the founder of the town of Atlantic High- lands under temperance restrictions, and of National Park, New Jersey ; married Emily M. Venable. S. John Christopher, sce for- ward. 9. Sarah Ellen, March 15, 1851, mar- ried J. Timothy Adams.
(VI) John Christopher, son of Simon and Sarah ( Blake) Lake, was born in Pleasant- ville, New Jersey. September 2, 1847. He was a manufacturer and invented a number . of improvements in window shade rollers. What is generally known as the lock and hal- ance shade roller was manufactured by him in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and in Aurora, Illinois, and his business was an extensive and prosperous one. Subsequently he had a foundry and machine shop at Tom's River and Ocean City, New Jersey, and when he retired from active manufacturing interests he removed to Bridgeport. Connecticut, where he has devoted time and attention to various inventions and to the perfection of the flying machine. He married (first ) Miriam Mary, daughter of Elisha Adams, a sea captain. and a direct descendant of Jonathan Adams, who settled in Hartford, Connecticut, as early as 1636. He married { second) Margaret Cor- son. Children by first wife: 1. Simon, see forward. 2. Arletta, married C. E. Adams, of Bridgeport, who is associated in business with his brother-in-law.
(VII) Simon (2), son of John Christopher and Miriam Mary ( Adams) Lake, was born in Pleasantville, New Jersey, September 4, 1866. The first eight years of his life were spent in his native town. after which the family removed to Philadelphia, where young Lake attended the public schools, until he was fourteen years of age, subsequently becoming a student at the Clinton Liberal Institute at Fort Plain, New York. and finishing with a mechanical course in the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. When he was about ten years of age he read Jules Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea." which made so deep an impression on his youthful fancy that it probably had a great deal to do with shaping the course of his future life. At the age of fifteen years he con- menced to work on his idea of submarine craft. which is without doubt one of the most wonderful inventions of the present day. Upon the completion of his course of study he entered the factory of his father in Phila- delphia, and later in the machine shops and foundry of his father at Ocean City, and it was but a short time when he took charge of this, his father going to Aurora, Illinois,
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to superintend the operations of the factory at that place. In 1888 he went to Baltimore. Maryland, to sell and install steering gears which he had invented for use in packet and oyster boats. In the meantime he had been devoting his attention consistently to per- fecting his idea with regard to submarine navigation, and in the winter of 1894 he built the "Argonaut, Jr .. " doing the greater part of the work with his own hands. This was accomplished at Atlantic Highlands. New Jersey, the dimensions of the finished boat being fourteen feet in length, four and one- half feet in width, and about five feet in height. It had been the intention of Mr. Lake to build this first venture of much greater size, but he found no one willing to advance the capital necessary for what they considered such an "impossible" idea. Will- iam T. Malster, president of the Columbian Iron Works and Dry Dock Company, of Bal- timore, was the first one to begin to appre- ciate the ideas of Mr. Lake at their true value. During the months of July and August, 1895, this boat was experimented with in every possible manner, three men-Messrs. Lake. S. T. and B. F. Champion-being submerged in her at one time for one hour and fifteen minutes at a depth of sixteen feet, and dur- ing this proceeding the door was opened and articles lost from the dock or thrown over- board were easily recoveredl. These experi- ments were witnessed by many people of prominence, and, so favorable were the im- pressions made by the demonstrations. that a sufficient capital was subscribed to permit the organization of the Lake Submarine Com- pany, in November of that year, the object being to enable Mr. Lake to build a larger boat. The amount of money raise l was not sufficient to permit the construction of a 'boat of the size which Mr. Lake had had in his mind, and he was obliged to content him- self with the building of one, thirty-six feet in length. Although there was small accommodation for a crew in a vessel so lack- ing in size, yet in 1898 five men made a cruise
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