History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928. Volume III, Part 33

Author: Burpee, Charles W. (Charles Winslow), b. 1859
Publication date: 1928
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 1390

USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928. Volume III > Part 33

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HERBERT J. MILLS

Among the important productive industries which have made Bristol and Hart- ford a most important manufacturing center, with trade interests reaching out over an extensive territory, is that of the H. J. Mills Company, which has featured in the business development of Bristol since 1887 and of which Herbert J. Mills is the presi- dent. Broad experience and thorough training have enabled him to readily grasp every situation and direct his activities so that most gratifying results are attained, while, moreover, his interests are of a character that have contributed to the material development and consequent prosperity of the district. Year by year he has grown in capability and power, and what he has accomplished represents the fit utilization of his innate talents and his highly developed skill in business management.

Born on the 15th of September, 1851, in New Hartford, Litchfield county, Con- necticut, Herbert J. Mills is the eldest son and the third child of James Remington and Mary Elizabeth (Mix) Mills and is descended from one of the oldest families of Wind- sor, Connecticut, there established by Simeon Mills in the year 1640. He came to America with Captain Newbury, settled at Salem and married Sarah Bissell, who had made the voyage to the new world on the same vessel with her future husband. Their son, Simon Mills, who was born at Windsor, Connecticut, September 3, 1642, mar- ried Mary Buell, a daughter of William Buell, who arrived in Windsor in 1635 or 1636. Simon Mills died in Simsbury, Connecticut, in 1683. The six children born to him and his wife were: Samuel and Simon, twins, born in 1661; Mary, in 1662; Hannah, in 1665; Simon, in 1667; and John, in 1668.

The last named, the direct ancestor of Herbert J. Mills in the third generation in America, removed from his native Town of Windsor to Simsbury, Connecticut, where he married Sarah Pettibone, and there died in 1698. Of their children Deacon Joseph Mills, who was a twin brother of Benjamin Mills, was born in Simsbury, December 23, 1697, and in 1742 became one of the first settlers of West Simsbury, where he was a substantial farmer and a deacon in the Congregational church. He married Hannah Adams, who died in 1776, and he died in West Simsbury the same year.

They were parents of Deacon Joseph Mills (II), who was born in Simsbury, Feb- ruary 17, 1728, and died in Norfolk, Connecticut, in 1792. About 1759 he removed to Norfolk, where he became deacon of the Congregational church in 1772. By his first marriage he had seven children. His second wife was Hannah Remington, of Suffield, Connecticut, and his third wife was Sarah Lewis. It was a son of the second marriage, Roger Mills, who became the grandfather of Herbert J. Mills. He was born in

(Photograph by The Johnstone Studio)

HERBERT J. MILLS

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Norfolk, September 6, 1773, and died in New Hartford, May 29, 1844. He was a farmer who also possessed a fair knowledge of law and was often called upon to advise members of the community. He was long active in the church and was president of the Litchfield County Anti-Slavery Society. On the 15th of March, 1804, he married Harriet Merrill, a daughter of Captain Phineas Merrill, of New Hartford, where she passed away September 17, 1827. They had a large family, of whom two died in infancy. Their children included James Remington Mills, who was the seventh in order of birth and was born in New Hartford, Connecticut, December 19, 1818, while he died June 25, 1885. From New Hartford he removed to Beloit, Wisconsin, in 1854 and for thirteen years was there engaged in mechanical pursuits and in farming. In 1867 he returned to Connecticut, whence he removed to Chicopee, Massachusetts, where he worked as a mechanic. Afterward he resided at Springfield, Massachusetts, for a time and then again came to Connecticut, where he passed away at the age of sixty-seven years. He was married July 30, 1844, to Mary Elizabeth Mix, of Bristol, Connecticut, who died in Wisconsin in 1865. His second wife, Jane E. Wood, of Windsor, survived him. The children of his first mar- riage were: Mary Louisa, who became the wife of Delos H. Cady, of Brookfield, Mis- souri; Cordelia A., wife of Darius A. Cudworth, of St. Anthony Park, Minnesota; Herbert J .; Harriet, the deceased wife of Joseph F. Smith of Bristol, Connecticut; Anna Isabel, who has passed away; and Walter E., who married Lizzie Lundburg and resides in Bristol.

In the Buell and Griswold lines Herbert J. Mills comes of equally old and dis- tinguished ancestry. The record of another historian has it that "the Buell family, to which the wives of Simon Mills of Windsor, Connecticut, and Roger Mills of New Hartford, Connecticut, belonged, was founded in New England by William Buell of England, Dorchester, Massachusetts, and Windsor, Connecticut. The ancient his- tory of the family carries back to ancient days on the continent of Europe even to Charlemagne, and in England a Robert Beuille was knighted by his sovereign, Henry IV, in 1410. The family seat was then Huntingdonshire, the founder of the Ameri- can family, William Buell, being born in that shire. In the English record the name is Beulles, Beville, Bewille, and in New England Buell, Beull and Bewell are the common forms used, although thirty-five different forms of spelling are found in different records and localities.

"William Buell was born at Chesterdon, Huntingdonshire, England, about 1610, came to New England in 1630 in the ship 'Mary and Jane,' and died at Windsor, Connecticut, November 23, 1681. In the company which came in this ship, sailing from Plymouth, England, and arriving at Nantasket, Massachusetts, May 30, 1630, was Rev. John Wareham and members of his church, Henry Wolcott and Matthew Griswold. William Buell married, and had issue, his eldest son marrying a grand- daughter of Matthew Griswold, and Mary Buell, the eldest daughter of William Buell, becoming the wife of Simon Mills. In 1650 William Buell and his wife were indicted by the Plymouth Society as Baptists. In October, 1660, they, with others, were indicted for continuing their meetings from house to house on the Lord's Day, contrary to the laws of the court, but it does not appear that any punishment was inflicted.

"Mary Buell, daughter of William, and sister of Samuel Buell, was born in Windsor, Connecticut, August 19, 1644, and married February 23, 1660, Simon Mills, son of Simeon Mills, the founder of the Mills family in New England. They were married in Windsor, she the Buell ancestor of Herbert J. Mills, of Bristol, Connec- ticut. William Buell gave to his oldest daughter, Mary, five pounds more than he gave the others. (See Mills line, Simon, John, Deacon Joseph (I), Deacon Joseph (II), Roger, James Remington, Herbert J. Mills.)

"The Buell line to Harriet (Merrill) Mills, wife of Roger Mills, of New Hart- ford, is through her mother, Anna Buell Merrill, wife of Phineas Merrill and daugh- ter of Sergeant Archelaus Buell, son of Deacon Peter Buell, grandson of Deacon John Buell, great-grandson of Samuel Buell, and great-great-grandson of William Buell, the American ancestor. Deacon Peter Buell, son of John, son of William, was born at Killingworth, in 1710, and moved to Litchfield, Connecticut, a town which he aided in founding. His son, Sergeant Archelaus Buell, was born at Litchfield, and there married Avis Leete Collins, daughter of Rev. Timothy Collins, of Litch- field, son of John and Anna (Leete) Collins. Anna, the daughter of John Leete, son of William Leete, governor of Connecticut, 1670-1683, who died at Hartford in

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1683, his tombstone having recently been restored to its original appearance. Gov- ernor Leete was born in Huntingdonshire, England, his wife, Anne, a daughter of Robert Shute, a justice of the Kings Bench. Anna Buell, daughter of Sergeant Archelaus Buell, was born in Litchfield, March 27, 1759, and died September 4, 1855, in her ninety-seventh year. She married, in 1780, Captain Phineas Merrill, of New Hartford, and they were the grandparents of James Remington Mills, and great- grandparents of Herbert J. Mills.

"The family of Griswold derive descent from Humphrey Griswold, Lord of the Manor of Great, and are mentioned in English history as an honorable family as early as the sixteenth century. Originally they came from Cambridgeshire, where they were seated in 1135, Sir Launcelot Griswold being sheriff of the county in that year, also a member of the House of Commons.

"The Griswold, Buell and Mills families are connected through the marriage of Samuel Buell, son of William, the immigrant, to Deborah Griswold, daughter of Edward, son of Matthew Griswold (II) of Warwickshire, England. Matthew Gris- wold came to New England in the ship, 'Mary and Jane,' arriving at Nantasket, May 30, 1630, a member of the company led by Rev. John Wareham. William Buell and Henry Wolcott were in the same company, their families destined to be closely united. Matthew Griswold married Anna Wolcott, daughter of Henry Wolcott, the immigrant. Their grandson, Matthew Griswold, son of John Griswold, was gov- ernor of Connecticut, 1784-1786. He married his second cousin, Ursula Wolcott, daughter of Governor Roger Wolcott, of Connecticut, and their son, Roger Griswold, was governor of Connecticut, 1811-1813."

Herbert J. Mills was a little lad of less than three years when his parents removed with their family to Beloit, Wisconsin, where he acquired a public school education and in vacation periods aided in the cultivation of the home farm. After thirteen years spent in that state he again became a resident of Connecticut in 1867 and a little later went to Springfield, Massachusetts, where for five years he was employed in a paper box manufactory. He spent the year 1872 in New Haven, Con- necticut, and in 1873 removed to Bristol, where he has since resided, now covering a period of about fifty-five years. Through more than four decades he has been interested in paper box manufacturing here, having joined his cousin, David Mix, in leasing and operating the Hitchcock paper box factory in 1887. They showed capability in management from the beginning and under their guidance the enter- prise prospered. Mr. Mills became sole owner in 1891 and so continued until August, 1914, when he incorporated the H. J. Mills Company, of which he has since been the president. He has a splendidly equipped plant and the extensive output is now sold over a wide territory, the business having become one of the large and profit- able manufacturing concerns of Bristol. Mr. Mills loses sight of no detail of the business, while at the same time he carefully promotes its chief features, and his sound judgment and undaunted enterprise are manifest in the continued growth of the output.

On the 1st of May, 1878, in Southington, Connecticut, Mr. Mills was united in marriage to Miss Adelia Baxter Dozier, a daughter of Isaac and Lydia Dozier, of Bristol, Connecticut. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. Delavan DeWolf, who was then pastor of the Bristol Baptist church and active in the affairs of Bris- tol as the head of the board of school visitors. On the 1st of May, 1928, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert J. Mills celebrated their golden wedding anniversary at their home at 78 Summer street. They have one daughter, Bertha Dozier, born August 31, 1879, and a son, Roger Herbert, who was born April 4, 1884.

In fraternal circles Mr. Mills is widely known, holding membership in Frank- lin Lodge, No. 56, F. and A. M .; Bristol Conclave, No. 556, Independent Order of Heptasophs; Ethan Lodge, No. 9, Knights of Pythias, and in the Uniform Rank of that order; and is also a member of Brewster Lodge, No. 1010, B. P. O. E., Bristol. He is an ardent gunman and is a member of the Hartford Gun Club. He is re- garded as one of the best shots in the city. His religious faith is that of the Bap- tist church, while in his political views he is a democrat who recognizes the duties and obligations as well as the privileges of citizenship and therefore withholds his support from no project which he believes of civic worth. He served as one of the early assessors of the Borough of Bristol and prior to 1891 was elected chief burgess. He represented Bristol in the Legislature in 1899-1900 and retired from office as he had entered it-with the confidence and good will of all. The lines of his life

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have fallen in pleasant places, for his labors have been crowned with success and for many years he has enjoyed the high respect of those with whom he has come in contact. His course may well serve as an example and an inspiration to others who have the courage and the determination to press on where a less resolute individual would falter.

FREDERICK MOREHOUSE SALMON

The stability and progress of a community depend not so much upon the ma- chinery of government as upon the men who fill public offices and render service to the state. Meeting every requirement in the various positions to which he has been called, Frederick Morehouse Salmon has won the right to be classed with the valued, honored and representative citizens of Connecticut. He is now filling the office of comptroller for the third term and this followed previous effective service as state senator and in other positions of public trust. Because of his wide acquaint- ance in Connecticut his life history cannot fail to prove of interest to the readers of this volume. He was born in Westport, this state, February 27, 1870, his parents being David A. and Frances Augusta (Morehouse) Salmon. In tracing the ancestral line it is learned that during the reign of Edward III the manor of Sal- mans, in Caterham, Surrey, England, belonged to Roger Saleman, which was the orthography of that age. The year 1640 chronicled the arrival of three families of the name of Salmon to America, one settling in Massachusetts, a second in New Jersey and the third in Southold, Long Island. There are evidences that the family was originally Scottish, but during the Highland wars representatives of the name went to Southwold, England. Daniel C. Salmon, grandfather of Frederick Morehouse Salmon, was born in the town of Trumbull, Fairfield county, Connecticut. He married Mary Catherine Bradley and their son, David A. Salmon, was born September 26, 1836, in Weston, Connecticut. When a young man he was employed in the dry goods store of Sullivan Moulton of Westport. He afterward carried on business in partner- ship with his father-in-law and later purchased the interest of his partner, after which he conducted his store under the style of D. A. Salmon & Company. He served as chairman of the republican town committee and took an active interest in public affairs. His wife, Frances Augusta Morehouse, was born September 3, 1839, and was a daughter of Frederick Morehouse, of Westport, a descendant of English ancestors, the line being traced back to Thomas Morehouse, who was in Wethersfield in 1640. Mr. and Mrs. D. A. Salmon became parents of six children, of whom the following reached adult age: Catherine, now deceased; Anna Frances, who became the wife of William L. Taylor and has passed away; Frederick M .; Edith, the wife of Austin Wakeman; and David A., of Washington, D. C. The parents were consistent and active members of the Methodist Episcopal church, the father serving for a quarter of a century as Sunday school superintendent and as chairman of the board of trus- tees for an extended period. He died March 11, 1894, while his wife passed away February 11, 1913.

After attending the public schools of his native town Frederick M. Salmon con- tinued his education in Packard's Business College of New York city and then started out in the business world as the associate of his father, whom he afterward suc- ceeded as owner of the store. His interest in politics dated from early manhood, and from the time that age conferred upon him the right of franchise he has been a stalwart republican, working earnestly and effectively for the party because of his firm belief in its principles as factors in good government. For twenty-seven years he filled the position of chairman of the republican town committee and thus directed local party activities. Elected to the office of county treasurer, he filled that position for six years and for thirty years served as a member of the state prison commis- sion, acting as its secretary through twenty years of that time. In 1915 he was elected to the state senate and reelected in 1917, popular franchise thus endorsing his course during his first term. He was made chairman of the committee on roads, rivers and bridges and it was during his service in that connection that the concrete bridge was erected over the Saugatuck river at Westport. During his second term he was made a member of the important appropriations committee and his entire course was marked by devotion to the interests of his constituents and of the com-

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monwealth at large. He was an alternate delegate to the republican national con- vention which nominated Warren G. Harding for the presidency and in October, 1919, he was elected judge of probate, assuming the duties of that office on the 11th of April, 1920. On the 2d of November, 1920, he was reelected, his term expiring on the 1st of January, 1925. He was elected to the office of comptroller of the state of Connecticut in the year 1922 for a term of two years, reelected in 1924 and again in 1926. The office of comptroller is a most important one, having had bestowed upon it broad constitutional and statutory powers. Comptroller Salmon has dis- charged the duties of his office with singular success, as his repeated elections testify. During his incumbency the business of the office has grown with great rapidity, in keeping with the growth of the state's activities and the need for greater supervisory powers and for more thorough and detailed accounting. Under his direction modern methods have been adopted, use being made of the most advanced types of office machinery and equipment, in an endeavor to make the financial accounting and con- trol as efficient and as economical as obtains in the best types of private enterprise. Comptroller Salmon's keen judgment on matters of policy in the conduct of the wide range of duties which the statutes have imposed upon the office of comptroller has gained for him an enviable reputation as an administrative officer. He has gained and retained the respect and hearty cooperation, not only of his own office organi- zation, but of the several state departments, boards and commissions, all of whom come in contact with his office in one way or another. As an ex-officio member of the board of finance and control, of the board of equalization, of the bank commission, and of the former police commission, Comptroller Salmon has had a very large share in shaping the wise policies of governmental administration for which the state of Connecticut is justly famous.

On the 12th of October, 1892, Mr. Salmon wedded Martha Grace King, daughter of Theodore E. and Abigail W. (Carpenter) King, of Westport, Connecticut. Mr. and Mrs. Salmon are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which for more than a quarter of a century he has filled the office of treasurer, and has also served as chairman of the building committee which had in charge the erection of the present house of worship. His interest in community welfare has been far-reaching and beneficial. He is vice president of the Westport Bank and Trust Company and for thirteen years has been president of The Westport Country Club, is a trustee of the Staples high school, and he was entrusted with the organization of the Young Men's Christian Association, which received from E. T. Bedford a gift of six hundred thousand dollars. During the World war period he stood stanchly in support of every measure that upheld the hands of the government or safeguarded the interests of the soldiers in camp and field. He acted as chairman of the last three Liberty Loan campaigns in Westport and was also chairman of other great drives conducted in connection with World war work. In a word his entire life has been devoted to the public welfare. Men may have opposed his opinions, but they have never doubted his integrity nor the worth of his service. He is one of Connecticut's outstanding men, respected and honored by all who know him and most of all by those who are most familiar with his career.

JAMES EDWARD CANNON

James Edward Cannon, attorney at law, practicing as senior partner in the firm of Cannon & Markham in Hartford and also numbered among the jurists of the state, having been elected in 1927, by the general assembly, as judge of the Windsor Locks town court, was born in Suffield, Connecticut, October 11, 1895. Three years later, in 1898, his parents, Charles D. and Catherine (Tracy) Cannon, removed from Suffield to Windsor Locks, where they now reside, the father being widely known as a tobacco grower and dealer in leaf tobacco.

At the usual age James E. Cannon entered the public schools and after attending the high school at Windsor Locks became a pupil in St. Bonaventure's Preparatory School at Allegany, New York. In 1917 he was graduated from Holy Cross College of Worcester, Massachusetts, with the Bachelor of Arts degree, and then in prepara- tion for a legal career matriculated in the Yale Law School, which conferred upon him his LL. B. degree with the class of 1921. He was admitted to the bar in January,

BACHRACH

JAMES E. CANNON

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1922, and since that time has devoted his attention to a law practice that has con- stantly grown in volume and importance. His student days, however, were inter- rupted by his enlistment on the 2d of June, 1917, in the Connecticut National Guard and his induction into the federal service July 25, 1917, after which he was stationed at Niantic and at Camp Jackson, South Carolina, where he was commissioned a second lieutenant of infantry in April, 1918. He was afterward assigned to duty with the headquarters staff at Camp McArthur in Waco, Texas, where he remained until honorably discharged March 2, 1919, with the rank of second lieutenant. Immediately afterward he returned to Hartford and then entered the Yale Law School, finishing the summer school course on the 1st of September, 1921.

With his admission to practice Mr. Cannon entered the office of Hugh M. Alcorn, with whom he was associated until October 1, 1926, when he formed a partnership with John A. Markham, and the firm of Cannon & Markham has gained enviable position, as attested by the large clientele accorded them. It has been characteristic of Mr. Cannon that he has prepared his cases with great thoroughness and care, that he presents his cause clearly and logically, and that he has seldom failed to win the verdict desired. He enjoys the good will and high regard of his professional colleagues and contemporaries and has membership in the Hartford County, Con- necticut State and American Bar Associations.

On the list of his membership connections also appears the name of the University and City clubs, the Plymouth Meadow Country Club of Windsor and the Suffield Country Club. Fraternally he is associated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Columbus. He belongs to the American Legion and served on the state committee which organized the Legion in Connecticut, while during his last year at Yale he was senior vice commander of the Connecticut depart- ment of the American Legion. His interest in community affairs has been manifest in many tangible ways, and from 1925 until 1927 he rendered valuable aid to his city as president of the Chamber of Commerce of Windsor Locks. Since age conferred upon him the right of franchise he has voted the republican ticket, and in the session of 1927 he was elected by the state legislature to the office of judge of the Windsor Locks town court for a term of two years, and those who know aught of his career have no hesitancy in prophesying that his judicial service will equal in honor and importance his practice as a member of the Hartford bar.

HAROLD GOODWIN HOLCOMBE

One of the strong insurance firms of Hartford is that of which Harold Goodwin Holcombe is the president. Through capable management and wise direction he has built up a business of large and gratifying proportions, now conducted at No. 49 Pearl street under the name of Harold G. Holcombe, Inc. He was born in Bristol, Connecticut, November 23, 1873, his parents being John Marshall and Emily Seymour (Goodwin) Holcombe. His father was a native of Hartford, while his mother was born in Bristol. The former was an outstanding figure in insurance circles as president of the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company, and at his death on January 15, 1926, Hartford mourned the loss of one of her valued and representative citizens. He had for about three years survived his wife, who died in 1923.

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History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1928. Volume III, Part 33

Author: Burpee, Charles W. (Charles Winslow), b. 1859 Publication date: 1928 Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Number of Pages: 1390

Author: Burpee, Charles W. (Charles Winslow), b. 1859
Publication date: 1928
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 1390