USA > Connecticut > New London County > Lisbon > Historical sketch of Lisbon, Conn., from 1786-1900 > Part 7
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1862-Henry Lyon. Benjamin W. Palmer, Samuel B. Gardner. 1863 -- Samuel B. Gardner, George N. Carr, Charles Bennett. 1864-Eleazer Bushnell, Charles Bennett, Charles J. Bromley. 1865-Eleazer Bushnell. Charles J. Bromley, Charles Bennett. 1866-Henry Lyon, Charles J. Bromley, Charles Hyde. 1867-Henry Lyon. Charles J. Bromley, Charles Hyde. 1868-Henry Lyon. Charles J. Bromley, Charles Hlyde. 1860-Henry Lyon, Jeremiah K. Adams, Charles Hvde. 1870-Jabez I. Benjamin, Jeremiah K. Adams, Edmund F. Tracy. 1871-Eleazer Bushnell. Russell W. Fitch, Augustus F. Read. 1872-Eleazer Bushnell, Russell W. Fitch, Augustus F. Read. 1873-Thomas A. Clark. Benjamin G. Hull, Eben F. Yerrington.
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1874-John F. Hewett, Jeremiah K. Adams, James B. Palmer. 1873-Jeremiah K. Adams, Henry G. Palmer, James B. Palmer. 1876-Henry G. Palmer, Cornelius Murphy, Edwin Kimball. 18;7-Russell W. Fitch, Cornelius Murphy, Edwin Kimball 1878- Jabez L. Benjamin, Russell W. Fitch, George Robinson. 1879-Russell W. Fitch, Charles J. Bromley, George Robinson. 1880-Edward C. Hyde, Charles J. Bromley, George Robinson. 1881-Edward C. Hyde, Russell W. Fitch, James H. Kennedy. 1882-Russell W. Fitch, Edward C. Hyde, James H. Kennedy. 1883-Cornelius Murphy, Edward C. Hyde, James H. Kennedy. 1884-Cornelius Murphy, Joseph H. Giddings, Daniel M. Browne.
1885-Cornelius Murphy, Russell W. Fitch, Jeremiah K. Adams. 1886-Russel! W. Fitch, Augustus F. Read, James H. Kennedy. 1887-Augustus F. Read. Thomas D. Phillips, Jeremiah K. Adams. 1888-Augustus F. Read, Edgar Wall, Edward C. Hyde. 1889 --- Russell W. Fitch, John Murphy, Jeremiah K. Adams. 1890-Augustus F. Read, George A. Ross, John G. Bromley. 1891 --- George G. Young. Jeremiah K. Adams, Charles E. Lyon. 1892 -- James H. Kennedy, Charles B. Bromley, James E. Roberts. 1893-James H. Kennedy. James E. Roberts, Thomas D. Phillips. 1894-James H. Kennedy, James E. Roberts, Thomas D. Phillips. 1805-James H. Kennedy, Thomas D. Phillips, Andrew A. Adams. 1896-James H. Kennedy. Andrew A. Adams, Luther C. Gray. 1897-Henry Lyon, Michael J. Connell, James H. Kennedy. 1898-Henry Lyon, Andrew A. Adams, Thomas D. Phillips. 1809-James H. Kennedy, Michael J. Connell. Henry Lyon. 1900 -- James H. Kennedy, Michael J. Connell, John Spencer. 1901-John G. Bromley. John Spencer, Michael J. Connell. 1902-Jolin G. Bromley, Russell W. Fitch, John Spencer.
Before Lisbon was separated from Norwich, Newent furnished for selectmen of Norwich Joseph Perkins, 1736, and Robert Kins- man, 1725 to 1728, and probably others.
AUTHORS AND EDITORS WHOSE BIRTHPLACE WAS LISBON.
David Hale, editor Journal of Commerce, New York. Eleazer Lord, New York, writer on Prophesy. etc. David Nevins Lord, editor Literary and Theological Review. Charles Jewett, poetry, temperance, etc. Hezekiah Lord Read, editor of agricultural journals, and author of works on agriculture, etc.
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CHAPTER VI.
A RECORD OF SOME LIVING NATIVES OF LISBON FOLLOWS, WITH A FEW WHO HAVE RECENTLY DIED.
GILES POTTER .- On the rolls of officials in the State of Con- necticut we find Giles Potter. He is designated as agent of the State Board of Education. He was born in Lisbon, Connecticut, February 22, 1829; son of Elisha Payne and Abigail ( Lathrop) Potter: of good Puritan stock. He is a graduate of Yale College, class of 1855, and took honors in mathematics and the sciences. He has been in the service of the State for more than thirty years, which is a longer period officially than that of any person now living in the State. He is sometimes called the State's Truant Officer, whose duty it is to enforce the school laws, investigating cases of violations of these enactments, either by parents or manufacturers who employ children under age.
He now resides in New Haven, and has about thirty towns in Middlesex, Fairfield and New Haven counties under his super- vision ; formerly his duties were over the whole State, but the increase of work to accomplish the end desired has been met by a late law making four agents for the State at the present time, of which he is one and the oldest in official service.
Mr. Potter taught school at East Hartford and the Connecticut Literary Institution in Suffield, and at the School Academy at Essex, where he afterwards made his home for several years; was there made deacon of his church, superintendent of the Sabbath- school for twenty-three years, and represented that town in the Legislature three terms.
ELISHA LATHROP POTTER .- In connection with Mr. Giles Potter's brief history, it is fitting that mention should be made of his brother Elisha. He was born in Lisbon, August 5. 1827 ; died in Brooklyn, N. Y., April 21, 1880. In that large city of comparative strangers to him he had made his home a few years prior to his death. He was loved and appreciated by all who came in contact with him, was made superintendent of the Brooklyn Sunday-school Union, and his memoriam obituary speaks of him as a great loss to his pastor. church members, and Sabbath-school scholars, all of whom lamented his untimely death with great sorrow and gave him a public funeral and a suitable monument to perpetuate his memory.
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NATHAN LEE BISHOP, son of Nathan Perkins Bishop and Nancy Lee, who was a granddaughter of Rev. Andrew Lee, D.D., was born in Lisbon, served in the War of the Rebellion over three years ; enlisting as a private, he served as a first lieutenant and adjutant of his regiment, and was promoted to be a captain, but declined the commission. He is at present Superintendent of the Public Schools in Norwich, Conn., which official position he has held now nearly twenty-five years with great credit.
ELIJAH RATHBUN, Jr., a highly esteemed man of Lisbon, a self- made man; from his early boyhood he was a farmer, learned the trade of a mason, subsequently became a trader in produce at Boston and Chicago. His successful career closed a few years since with ripeness of age and richness of character, well illustrated in his benevolent interest in Christian work and exemplary life.
One of the later conspicuous residents of Lisbon was the late HEZEKIAH L. READE, who died recently, aged seventy-five years. He died in the house in which he was born, called the Owaneco Homestead. This farm was purchased by Mr. Reade's ancestors in 1640 from Owaneco, who was a half-brother of Uncas, chief of the Mohegans. Mr. Reade was appreciated beyond the narrow limits of Lisbon, although always living in the town. He was respected as an itinerant or evangelistic preacher. He was a successful manu- facturer of paper ; he had the credit of establishing the Jewett City Savings Bank, and was its President for almost thirty years. He was a writer and publisher of several books, and up to the close of his life a newspaper correspondent, whose contributions always found ready acceptance by the press.
JOSEPH CARR HEBBARD was born in Lisbon; son of Capt. Joseph Hebbard: he removed to Kansas early in life and became an influential citizen of that State. He was quite prominent in poli- tics, was very good authority in all governmental statistics, and was duly appreciated by Kansas Congressmen, one of whom he served as a private secretary for several sessions. He died recently.
BISHOPS IN LISBON.
Besides those of the Ipswich settlers, Samuel and John, who were brothers and closely allied with the Perkinses as early settlers in Lisbon, there was a later emigration to Lisbon of four Bishops (brothers) not connected on this side of the water with the ancestry of the earlier ones. Samuel and John, who also became intermixed with the Perkinses.
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It will be seen that four brothers came from the Island of Guernsey to Lisbon and vicinity-John, Ebenezer, Daniel, and Na- thaniel. The two first settled in Lisbon, one other in New Haven, and one near New London.
The descendants of John Bishop:
I. John.
2. Samuel, who married in 1770.
3. Daniel Lathrop, born 1777.
4. Samuel Perkins, born 1807, who has four sons now living : [5. Daniel Lathrop, born 1847: 5. Henry Hunter, born 1852; 5. Edward Perkins, born 1859: 5. Newton Perkins, born 1865.]
The following letter, from (5) Daniel Lathrop Bishop, speaks of his father's death last year at the age of ninety-four years. He was the oldest banker then known in the world, as was claimed by the Cincinnati papers :
CINCINNATI, O., May 28, 1903.
Dr. HENRY F. BISHOP. 332 E. 88th St., New York, N. Y.
Dear Sir :- I have come across your letter of April 13. 1902, relating to genealogy of the Bishop family. At that time I advised you I would reply when I. had the time to look over my father's papers. For some time I was so busy that I had no convenient time, and afterwards the matter was forgotten. Finding your letter I have taken up the subject. I do not find any documents relating to the family that are in the nature of records. I have found in a book of pamphlets on some inserted leaves memoranda relating to Bishops, Perkins, and other families of our connection.
From this I fear that we are not as you suppose descended from the Ipswich Bishops.
I will, however, give you the names of descendants of my great-great- grandfather. John Bishop, as noted in the memoranda, as it may be of service to you in case the items have reached you from any other source, as in your pamphlet you state there are many Samuel Bishops (page 39).
I will bring the list down to the present day as far as I am able.
Bishop-Four brothers emigrated from the Island of Guernsey. John and Ebenezer settled in Lisbon, Connecticut : Daniel and Nathaniel settled, one in New Haven. the other near New London. Connecticut.
Samuel, son of John Bishop, born October 23, 1770, married Mercy John- son, daughter of Stephen Johnson of Preston. Connecticut. He died January 14, 1793. His wife died October 16, 1833. (I do not know where Samuel died. but as my great-grandmother Mercy married a second husband -- Hough of Bozrah, Conn .- it was probably in Norwich neighborhood. Mercy, his wife, died in Ithaca, N. Y.)
The children of Samuel and Mary Bishop were:
BORN DIED MARRIED
Daniel . Nov. 24. 1772. . Sept. 24. 1775 .
Samuel Oct. 24. 1773. . Sept. 27. 1775.
Mary Oct. 30, 1775 .
Daniel Lathrop. Oct. 20, 1777. . March 26, 1548.
((2) IS24, Elizabeth Perkins
Kinney, lived at South Hero, Vt. ((1) Jan. 2, 1Sos, Lucy Perkins Temperance .... Dec. 18, 1779. . Aug. 9, IS73.
So
BORN
DIED MARRIED
Deborah .Nov. 26, 1781.
Boardman. Lived at Grand
Isle, Vt.
Lorice Feb. IS. 1733. M. Downer, of Bozrah, Cont.
Mercy March 12. 1785 . . Williams.
Sarah May 24, 1787. . . July IS, 1832 .. . Abr. Shepard, of Colchester, Conn. Jedediah .June 5, 1789. . . April 9, 1791
Daniel Lathrop Bishop and Lucy Perkins, born August 7, 1780; died February 27, 1817 (daughter of Simeon Perkins and Elizabeth (Young) Hadley), were married January 2, 1805, at Liverpool, Nova Scotia. ( Simeon Perkins formerly lived in Norwich, Conn., and moved to Liverpool in 1762.)
The children of Daniel Lathrop and Lucy were:
BORN DIED MARRIED
Henry Young .... Oct. 5, 1805. . Jan. 21, ISI7.
Samuel Perkins. . . June 12, IS07. . Feb. I, 1902. . Oct. 7. 1841, Elizabeth Hunt-
er Hoge. Elizabeth Perkins. Aug. 16, 1809. . Nov. 14, 1869. . March, 1831, J. Newton Per- kins (her cousin).
Mary Johnson .... Dec. 19, IS11. . Dec. 16, 1847. . James Thompson.
Daniel Edward . . May 22, 1813 . . Aug. 13, 1814. . ((1) 1845. Eliza Low Isaacs.
Daniel Edward (2). Aug. 21, 1815. . Dec 29, 1899 .. 3(2) Oct. 24, 1893, Ada Eliza Richards.
Samuel Perkins Bishop and Elizabeth (born March 27, 1822: died December 24. 1896) Hunter Hoge (daughter of Rev. John Blair Hoge and Ann Kean Hunter of Martinsburg. Va.) were married at Cincinnati, O., October 7, 1841.
Their children were :
BORN DIED MARRIED
John Hoge .... .. Feb. 13, 1844. . Jan. 2, 1846
Daniel Lathrop. . . March 11, 1847 .* Nov. 17. 1SS5, Caroline K. Stanley.
Lucy Perkins. .. . . Nov. 28, 18.19 .. Feb. 27, 1855
Henry Hunter ... . April 30, 1852. . t. Sept. 4, 15;4, Florence Nelson. Samuel Perkins . . Jan. 5, 1855. . June 14, IS55
Anna Hoge ... . Aug. 2, 1856. . Oct. 9, 1879
Edward Perkins. . Aug. 31, 1859. Sept. 1, 1885, Ella P. Hutch- inson.
Newton Perkins . . May 29, 1865. . S. Sept. 29, 1892, May Darling.
Daniel Lathrop Bishop and Caroline K. Stanley, born October 20, 1860. daughter of Rev. Augustin O. Stanley and Rebecca Dowdell Stanley. were married at Cincinnati November 17, 1885.
Their children :
BORN DIED
Caro. Elizabeth June 2, ISSS .May 12, 1889 James Stanley . Nov. 6, 1S0.
Elizabeth Hoge . Dec. 10, 1593 March 16, 1895
*Living at Cincinnati, O.
tLiving at Cleveland, O.
#Living at Decatur, Il1. §Living at Cleveland, O.
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Daniel Lathrop Bishop graduated from Woodward High School in 1864. Was in a bank for seven years and thirty-one years with Cincinnati Gas Co., resigning as Purchasing Agent in August, 1902.
Henry Hunter Bishop on September 4. 1874, was married at Xenia, O., to Florence Amelia Nelson, born June 7. 1852: died July 10, 1880.
Their children were:
BORN
DIED MARRIED
Carrie Hunter . . . . July 5, 1875. Jay Scott Clark.
Roy Nelson ...... Jan. 20, 1878
Florence Nelson. . May 10, ISSo. . July 31, ISSO
Carrie Hunter Bishop Clark has one child, Florence Jenny, born at Toledo, O., September 4. 1902.
Henry H. Bishop graduated from Woodward High School of Cincinnati in 1868. Engaged in mercantile pursuits in Cincinnati from 1868 to 1875. In wholesale hardware at Decatur, Ills., from November, 1875, to April 1, 1887. Since that date to present time in Cleveland. O .. in wholesale hardware.
Roy Nelson Bishop was educated at University School of Cleveland, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. Leaving in Sophomore year to enlist in Troop A, First O. V. Cavalry for Spanish-American War. After discharge, in November. 180S, entered Columbia University, New York, and received degree as Engineer of Mines October. 1902. Now pursuing that profession.
Edward Perkins Bishop was married September 1, 1885, at Lebanon, O., to Ella Parsons Hutchinson ; born March 14, 1859.
Their children were :
BORN DIED
Helen Adelia. March 31, 1887
Edward Hutchinson. Nov. 17, 1891
William Hunter March 2, 1890. March 5, 1890
Edward P., after graduation from Woodward High School, engaged in business in Cincinnati as bookkeeper until January, ISSI, when he re- moved to Decatun, Ill. Is now Treasurer of Wholesale Hardware Co. (Morehouse & Wells Co.).
Newton Perkins Bishop was married at Cincinnati, O., September 29, 1892, to May Darling.
Their daughter Dorothy May was born April 30, 1899. at Cleveland, O. Since graduating from Woodward High School. Cincinnati, Newton P. has held clerical positions in Cincinnati, O .. Chicago. Ill., and Cleveland, O. You mention that Mrs. Jno. H. Converse gave you some valuable facts. and I presume that she advised you as to her two brothers and one sister still living.
Was she able to say whether we are descended from the Ipswich family, which, as I stated, seems to me to be doubtful? If you should issue another pamphlet would be glad to receive a copy, and one of my brothers expressed the same desire.
I am a little in doubt as to correctness of the dates of birth and death of my aunt Mary J. Thompson ( Mrs. Converse's mother), but no doubt you have the right ones from her.
Regretting that I have not replied to you sooner, and that even this letter has been delayed by interruptions since I started it. I am
Your- very truly. DANIEL LATHROP BISHOP.
D. L. Bishop. 2345 Kemper Lane, Cincinnati. O.
June 11, 1903.
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The following letter discloses the fact that success can follow in special lines, as has been often proved in Lisbon, where the soil seemed not the best, but rocky and unpromising. Experiments have shown that mulberry trees for making silk, apple and peach trees for culture of fruit, have rewarded such efforts :
ROUND HILL FARM, NORWICH, May 2, 1903. To Mr. HENRY F. BISHOP, New York.
My Dear Sir :- Yours at hand. In reply, will say I went in for blooded stock seventeen years ago when I had a debt of $9,000 on my farm. I paid $600 for two cows and $ioo for a bull six months old; also $150 for three sheep. This was my foundation of a herd and flock. Since then I have bought and sold both cattle and sheep in most every State. Have shipped stock to Illinois, to California, and to Kansas. I have sold cows for $250, and bulls for $200; lots of sheep for $20 and $30 each. Have shown stock in all the leading fairs in New England for the past twelve years, and won many thousand dollars, besides medals, both gold, silver, and bronze. In fact my stock has nearly paid the debt I owed. I have on my 160-acre farmi fifty-two head of stock, mostly Guernseys, and over 100 sheep and lambs, all pure bred, and the sheep would readily bring $15 each. I have a buck and two ewes that cost ine $87.60 last fall. I have four breeds of registered sheep-Dorsets, Shropshires, Southdowns and Merinos. I use a machine to shear them and this week have sheared twenty-seven in four hours, and this without as much as a scratch, as would have been made by the shears. I have cows now that I could sell for $200: calves for $50. Have cows with butter record of 16 and 18 lbs. in seven days. I have taken over $200 in prizes at New London County fair each year for four years. I believe it a nice thing for any young man to be in debt, as he has an object in view, and will get a hustle on him.
If these statements are of any good to you or the old town, you are quite welcome to them.
Yours with respect, J. B. PALMER.
The following letter has been received from Rev. Edwin Brad- ford Robinson, who was settled in Lisbon as pastor. He has always been greatly beloved by all her people, and remembered throughout that whole vicinity for his eloquent talents in doing good, Christian work. His personal magnetism has had much to do with "inaug- urating" a new day "for Lisbon."
171 CABOT ST., HOLYOKE, MASS., May 27, 1903.
My Dear Mr. Bishop :- Your holy labor of preserving the history of Lisbon wins my profound appreciation. An honorable history is a valuable asset. Lisbon is unspeakably rich in her history.
Turning from the hoary past to the living present I must recall the lines of Wordsworth-
"Those beauteous forms, Through a long absence, have not been to me As is a landscape to a blind man's eye : But oft in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din Of towns and cities. I have owed to them In hours of weariness, sensations sweet Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart With tranquil restoration.
minuti with certain do
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The years can never efface the imprint of "the little, nameless, unre- membered acts of kindness and of love" that helped to make the "manse" the "sparrow's nest" which Mrs. Browne would term it.
Our daughter remembers with pride that Lisbon was her birthplace.
A forward look. I am confident that your book will be the means of accomplishing these results :
First --- The completion of the repairs on the church building.
Second-A renewed interest in the old town and a feeling of respon- sibility for her spiritual, social and material interests.
Third-A spirit of enterprise in the Lisbon of to-day.
I am thankful that for more than three years I labored in Newent Parish and had some part in inaugurating the new day which your book will usher in.
Very cordially yours, EDWIN BRADFORD ROBINSON.
The following letter came from Rev. Tyler Eddy Gale, who has supplied the Newent pulpit during the last year :
4 DOWNING STREET. WORCESTER, MASS., June 5, 1903. Mr. H. F. BISHOP.
My Dear Mr. Bishop :-- Your kind note of May 30th is at hand. My con- nection with the Newent Church has come to an end, but I still feel very vitally interested in its welfare, and I should be very glad indeed to go on record as appreciative in the history of Lisbon you are so self-sacrificingly preparing. The year I have spent as acting pastor of the Newent church has been the happiest of my life. The sturdy ancestry behind the Lisbon people, and their helpful interest in the future progress of society, unite to make them men and women of whom one is proud to call by the name of friends. In this time, when the social conditions of New England's small towns are so generally condemned, the presence in a community of a religious and social institution of the stability and force of the Newent church is a happy warrant for optimism as to that community's future. Worthily con- servative, nobly progressive. it guarantees Lisbon's fidelity to the best ideals of New England. May its future be bright in the truth of the past it reveres, the future advancement it hopes for, the God it worships, and the gospel it preaches !
If I can be of any service whatever to you in your work, do not hesitate to call upon me.
Very truly yours, TYLER E. GALE.
Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., gives the following response to my letter asking information of him.
Mr. Wilson, as is well known, was called to serve in the Cabinet of the late President MeKinley, and he is now serving in President Roosevelt's Cabinet, and is highly honored by all those who know him through the whole country.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, WASHINGTON, D. C., May 4. 1903.
Dr. H. F. BISHOP. 312-322 East SSth St., New York City.
Dear Sir :-- I have your letter of May Ist. I was fifteen years old when my father. in 1851, moved from Scotland to Connecticut. We lived on a farm on the Quinabang River. a little above the tunnel. You remember the Shetucket joins the Quinabang a little below the tunnel. We went
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to Lisbon to church regularly every Sunday; and there we listened to dear old Dr. Nelson, who bad preached a long time -- if I remember rightly, well on toward a half-century. My father was a devout Christian man, and saw to it that we went to church regularly: and not only that, but to mid-week prayer meetings also, in the houses of the farmers around. This enabled me to get an inside knowledge of the excellence of Connecticut families that 1 have never forgotten. I went to the district school in winter, where, I remember, Daniel Hyde was teacher. Later I went to the high school in Greenville. Those quaint neighborhoods in Connecticut have produced grand men. who have done much for the whole country. Their thorough knowledge of local self-government has extended westward. and is now being intro- duced into the islands of the Orient. I have always had a deep-seated affection for the State of Connecticut.
Very truly yours, JAMES WILSON, Secretary.
A more extended correspondence with native Lisbonites and their descendants would have furnished much more in general in- terest to have enriched the publication of this work ; but limitations must draw a line even if injustice is done to some who get no op- portunity to be heard. Among those not heard from, United States Senator Perkins of California is one. The New York Press has said of him within a few days past: "He was reared on a farm and had limited educational qualifications. Many a stone fence he helped to build and many a field he mowed in the meridian sun." Of such material is this genuine old colonial stock of Lisbon com- posed that they can arise to useful positions as statesmen and coun- sellors, as well as companions and advisers to those elected to govern this great Republic.
tate
Connecticut.
ANSTULIT
"WHO TRANSPLANTED SUSTAINS "
"Lives there a man with soul so dead That never to himself has said- This is my own, my native land."
THE END
F84635.1
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