History of Middlesex county, Connecticut, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Part 92

Author: Whittemore, Henry, b. 1833; Beers, J.B. & Company, publishers
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : J. B. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 818

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Chrystal Lodge, at Lyme; and two grand masters of the State had been furnished, viz .: Hon. James Phelps and Rev. Junius M. Willey. The lodge at present has a membership of 50. The obituary roll contains the fol- lowing names of past grands; Rev. Junius M. Willey, Edward W. Pratt, Nathan Pratt, William Gorton, James Tucker, Nathaniel A. Starkey, Eliphalet R. Post, John G. Hayden, Orson R. Tucker, and Adin Tooker. The past grands now belonging to the lodge are: George K. Stillman, R. H. Mather, Caleb C. Dibble, Benjamin Mack, Samuel B. Hunt, Edwin Salter, John I. Smith, A. E. Mack, N. E. Mack, J. R. Burnett, J. P. Southworth, Charles M. Royce, William A. Bushnell, William A. Phelps, N. A. Tripp, C. F. Kelsey, T. P. Fordham, E. O. Pollard, R. E. Tripp, George W. Swan, Joseph M. French, George B. Stillman, James K. Webb, and Osbert S. Comstock.

GOOD TEMPLARS.

Essex Lodge, No. 109, I. O. of G. T., was instituted November 20th 1868, with 19 charter members. The first officers were: M. B. Hall, W. C. T .; Mary J. Conk- lin, W. V. T .; Ezra Pratt, W. S .; Loretta Webb, W. A. S .; Edwin Pratt, W. F. S .; Cornelia Post, W. T; L. T. Spaulding, W. C .; F. H. Beebe, W. M .; Philander Wil- liams, W. I. G .; N. G. Post, W. O. G .; Cornelia Pratt, W. D. M .; Carrie D. Hall, R. H. S .; Emma Strickland, L. H. S .; L. Webb, L. D. & P. W. C. T. The lodge meets every Monday evening, at Masonic Hall. The successive presiding officers have been: M. B. Hall, L. Webb, C. H. Hubbard, Edwin Pratt, Ezra Pratt, L. T. Spaulding, James R. Post, Joseph H. Pratt, C. E. Starkey, Richard Tripp, and R. H. Mather.

UNITED WORKMEN.

Essex Lodge, No. 14, of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, was instituted August 14th 1882. Its charter members and first officers were: Charles H. Hubbard, P. M. W .; James R. Post, M. W .; Alfred E. Goddard, F .; William P. Gladwin, O .; Julius L. Wilder, R .; Morris B. Hall, Fin .; Charles S. Hough, Rec'r; George W. Swan, G .; Jacob Minke, I. W .; George E. Bushnell, O. W .; and Charles H. Hubbard, M. D., medical examiner. Meetings are held at Masonic Hall on the first and third Tuesdays in every month.

NEWSPAPERS

Three newspaper ventures have had an existence in the village of Essex. The Saybrook Mirror was started by O. G. Wilson, about the year 1850. The office was in the upper story of the building now occupied by Swan's furniture store. It was published about six years. Charles L. Howard published the Essex Gazette a year or two, about 1880. The Middlesex Republican was pub- lished a few months in 1880, by H. C. Newton.

BANKS.

Saybrook Bank, of Essex, was first organized in 1848. In 1865, it was reorganized as Saybrook National Bank

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.

of Essex. Its presidents have been successively: Samuel Ingham, Edward W. Pratt, Cornelius R. Doane, and Jared E. Redfield, who is the present incumbent. The present cashier is Charles S. Hough.

Essex Savings Bank was organized July 30th 1851. The first directors were Gideon Parker, Jared C. Red- field, James Phelps, Amasa Hayden, and Henry C. Wooster. The presidents have been: Henry L. Cham . plin, 1851-59; Cornelius R. Doane, 1859-74; James Phelps, 1874-78, and again, 1881 to the present time; Horace W. Starkey, 1878-80: Horace H. Starkey, 1880, 1881. John L. Parker was secretary and treasurer from 1851 to 1861, and Edward W. Redfield from 1861 to the present time.

CORNET BAND.

The Essex Cornet Band was organized in 1876, with 17 members. Its leaders are G. B. French and C. Har- rington. It has 21 members at the present time. An octagonal stand has been erected on the hill, near the town hall, and here the band regales the people of the village with strains of inspiring music when the atmos- phere of summer evenings invites performers and listeners to the open air. .

FIRE COMPANIES.

Washington Fire Engine Company, No. I, was organ- ized about 1832. An engine was bought in Brooklyn N. Y., in 1834, at a cost of $400. The means were furnished by individual contributions. The company soon gained a membership of about 30. The law allowed 12 to be exempt from military duty. This engine was used until 1881, when a new engine was pur- chased in New York.

Engine Company, No. 2, was organized about 1852, and purchased an engine at the same cost as the other. Previous to 1854, an engine house was built, at a cost of $200. This company was disbanded after an exist- ence of about 10 years. The engine house now occupied by Company No. I stands on North street, opposite the school house.

PROMINENT MEN.

CAPTAIN HENRY L. CHAMPLIN.

Captain Henry L. Champlin was long known and highly esteemed as a ship master and owner of the first London line of packets from New York. He was the son of Silas Champlin and Elizabeth Lay, and was born at Lyme on the 16th of July 1786. He enjoyed fair educational advantages, and commenced his seafaring life at a very early age. Reliable, steady, and correct in his deportment, strictly temperate in his habits, he soon became mate of a ship. About 1807, when he was only twenty-one years of age, he was put in charge of a packet in the Savannah trade by the firm of Hall & Hall, of New York, and continued in their employ, a favorite with owners and passengers, until the war of 1812. Sub-

sequently he was the founder and principal owner of the first line of London packet ships, in which he was com- mander for many years. His mild and manly bearing, his high moral and upright qualities, together with his prudence, carefulness, skill, and great presence of mind, made him deservedly popular as a commander. He was remarkably successful in all his voyages, and never lost a vessel, and scarcely ever a small spar or sail, and never had to call on the underwriters for a dollar; a fact more noticeable, as he had charge of many different ships of the line, as they were built from time to time. For a considerable period previous to his death he had retired from the sea, having a comfortable and tasteful residence at Essex.

Captain Champlin was no ordinary man. Coming from a highly respectable family, yet he had no wealthy or influential friends to assist him in rising in the world, and it was by his integrity, prudence, and perseverance, that he became a noted, prominent, and useful man. Having been eminently successful in business himself, he took delight in helping worthy young men forward in the world. Not a few who have attained eminence as sea captains, began their course with him, while in active service, and many others have been assisted to important posts on shipboard, and in other pursuits through his personal efforts and influence since his retirement from the sea. The poor always found in him a kind and thoughtful benefactor, and the afflicted and troubled, a sympathizing friend. He was deeply interested in the good order and intelligence of the community, and in the support of the institutions of the gospel at home and abroad. As an upright and honorable man, as a judi- cious and safe counsellor, as a liberal benefactor, and as useful and Christian citizen, he stood deservedly high in the esteem of all who knew him.

On the IIth of November 1815, he married Amelia P. Hayden, of Essex, Conn., by whom he had ten children, two only of whom are now living: one, a daughter, Mrs. E. C. Stephenson, now a resident at the homestead: the other, a son, Charles Champlin, a resident of Chicago, Ill. The death of Captain Champlin occurred on the 15th of May 1859.

HON. SAMUEL INGHAM.

The following biographical sketch of Samuel Ingham was prepared soon after his death by Hon. William D. Shipman.

Samuel Ingham was born in Hebron, Conn., Septem- ber 5th 1793, and died in Essex, in the same State, No- vember 10th 1881. All the education he received previous to his professional studies was learned from the common schools. He studied law in the office of Governor Mat- tocks at Peacham, Vermont, and with the late Judge Gilbert, in Hebron, in this State. He was admitted to the bar in Tolland county, Conn., in 1815. He practiced his profession during the first four years in Canaan, Ver- mont, and Jewett City, Connecticut. In 1819, he re- moved to Essex (then a part of the town of Saybrook), where he continued to reside until his death.

36 1

ESSEX-BIOGRAPHIES.

From 1828 to 1834, Mr. Ingham represented Saybrook in the Lower House of the Legislature. In 1834 he was speaker. He was reelected in 1835, and again made speaker. At the same election he was chosen a member of Congress, but of course on being officially notified of his election to Congress, he vacated his seat in the State Legislature. He was reelected to Congress in 1837, and served for two years as chairman of the committee on naval affairs. In 1839, he was again a candidate for Congress, but was defeated at the polls by the late Chief Justice Storrs. His failure to be returned to Congress was a source of great regret, not only to his friends at home, but to the members of that body over which he had repeatedly presided as chairman of the committee of the whole, with great skill and ability during some of its most stormy and protracted sessions. Had he been re- elected he would undoubtedly have been the candidate of his party for speaker, the third federal office in power and dignity; a position for which he was iminently fitted.

In 1843 and 1850, Mr. Ingham was a member of the State Senate. In 1851, he was returned to the lower branch of the Legislature and elected speaker.

For nine years he was state attorney for Middlesex county, and for four judge of the County Court. He was also tendered a seat on the bench of the Superior Court and Supreme Court of Errors, but declined.

From 1858 to 1861, he was commissioner of customs in the Treasury Department at Washington.

Mr. Ingham was also four times a candidate for governor of the State, receiving the full vote of his party, but failed through the defeat of the latter.

This long career in connection with prominent public office naturally suggests inquiry touching the personal and professional character of the man who, for nearly forty years, filled so large a space in the eye of the public. It will be interesting to note some of the char- acteristics of the times in which he lived. Born during the first administration of Washington, and coming to the bar at the close of the second war with Great Britain, his youth and early manhood covered a period in which our political institutions were being formed, and the foundations of the federal government laid. The conduct of public affairs involved the discussion and settlement of great questions on which preceding history shed but a feeble light. But the public men of that day were distinguished by high personal qualities and em- inent public virtues. Such an atmosphere was favorable to the development of sterling traits in rising and thoughtful young minds.

When Mr. Ingham came to the bar, and during the most active part of his professional life, he was brought into contact with many able and accomplished lawyers, both on the bench and in the forum. But it was an age of simple habits, small libraries, small . fees, and limited resources. No marked success was to be obtained ex- cept by constant, self-reliant labor, and upright conduct. These habits and qualities Mr. Ingham illustrated throughout his long life, and they made him honorably conspicuous at the bar and in public station. Though

he was without the advantage of a university education, though he was neither a polished orator nor an elegant writer, he rose to eminence in public affairs, and became, in one respect at least, a formidable power at the bar. It cannot be said that, in the discussion of legal questions, he exhibited what a distinguished lawyer has called " deadly precision;" for his mind was distinguished rather for its robust sense than for acute or exact reason- ing. But in his best days he had few equals as an ad- vocate before the jury; a function far more important in his time than at the present day. With gigantic frame, an imposing presence, a powerful voice, rendered effec- tive by deep and unaffected emotion, aroused by sympa- thy with and zeal for his cause and client, he often made a powerful impression which carried conviction to the minds he was addressing.

It can truly be said of Mr. Ingham, that he was, under Providence, the architect of his own fortunes, and rose to prominence by his own merits. From 1819 to the end of his life, he resided in a country village, in a rural county, where there was no circle of powerful friends to accelerate his advancement in public or professional life. He sprung from an humble origin. What honors he re- ceived, therefore, did not come by gift or inheritance, but were won by manly personal effort.

Mr. Ingham's private character was without a stain. His habits were simple and unostentatious. For the last twenty years of his life he was an earnest and consistent member of the Episcopal church, and until his health failed, a regular and devout attendant on its ministra- tions, and a liberal contributor to its support.

Dying at an advanced age, and after years of retire- ment from active life, Mr. Ingham's departure made no ripple on the stream of human affairs, whose current sets steadily toward the grave, and drops into its silence and darkness the distinguished and the obscure. But those who remember him in his full vigor will not soon forget the massive, antique figure which has so quietly passed away.

HON. JAMES PHELPS.

Hon. James Phelps was born in Colebrook, Litchfield county, Conn., on the 12th of January 1822. His father was Dr. Lancelot Phelps, who was for many years a prominent citizen of the State, and one of the representa- tives in Congress from 1835 to 1839.

Hon. James Phelps received his early education at the common schools of his native town, and subsequently attended the Episcopal Academy of Cheshire, Conn. He afterward entered Washington, now Trinity College, at Hartford, but owing to a severe illness during the first year of his course, he was obliged to relinquish his studies for a long period. As soon as his health would permit he commenced reading law with Hon. Isaac Toucey, of Hartford. In 1842, he removed to Essex, Conn., and studied with Hon. Samuel Ingham. He was also for a time in the law department of Yale College. He was admitted to the bar in 1845.

Besides holding the office of judge of Probate and

362

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.

other local positions, he was a member of the State Legislature in 1853, 1854, and 1856, and of the State Senate in 1858 and 1859. In 1863, he was elected by the Legislature a judge of the Superior Court for the regular term of eight years. He was reelected in 1871, and in 1873 was elected judge of the Supreme Court of Errors, and resigned in the spring of 1875, upon his little village of Essex, he has obtained a strong hold on. the hearts of the people. He is the confidential adviser and friend alike of the rich and poor, and no man has ever lived in the community whose loss would be more deeply felt. He has been for many years a faithful, consistent, and devoted member and a liberal supporter of the Episcopal church.

election to the Forty-fourth Congress. He was re-elected to the Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, and Forty-seventh Con- gresses as a democrat.

In the 44th Congress he was appointed on the stand- ing committee on the District of Columbia, pensions, and foreign affairs, and on the special committee to in- vestigate frauds in the Louisiana election, and in the revenue in the collection district of St. Louis. In the 45th and 46th Congresses he was assigned a place on the committee of ways and means, and during that time the entire subjects of tariff, internal revenue, and refunding of the national debt were exhaustively considered and reported on by that committee. He also served in the 46th Congress on the committee on- expenditures in the Navy Department.

On financial questions his votes and his views were in accord with those of a large majority of his party in the House of Representatives; but not with those of a ma- jority in his section of the Union.

He favored the resumption of specie payment when it could be safely and properly accomplished, but was op- posed to its being prematurely forced by violent and ex- treme contraction of the currency, and was an earnest advocate of the restoration of the standard silver dollar. He was noted for faithful and assiduous attention to the interests and wants of his constituents at the capital and in the different departments of the government. He was un wearied in his personal attention to the pension claims of the soldiers in his district. He procured the estab- lishment of the breakwater at the entrance of New Ha- ven Harbor, and the extensive permanent work for the improvement of the channel of the Connecticut River below Hartford, and liberal appropriations for those works and for other needed improvements in his district. During his last term he was the only democratic repre- sentative from the State in the 47th Congress, and the fact that immediately preceding his first election his dis- trict had for six years been represented by a republican is convincing evidence of his popularity with his con- stituents.

His elections to a judgeship were each tinie made by a Legislature politically opposed to him, and the two last were by the unanimous votes of both houses. His pro- fessional and public life have been so entirely honorable that no suspicion has ever thrown even a shadow over his character for uprightness and integrity.

Whatever of merit he possesses has been acquired by persevering industry, energy of purpose, and fidelity to principles, which have secured for him a reasonable measure of public confidence and support.

In his private life, he is quiet, modest, and unassum- ing, and during his forty years' residence in the

On the 30th of September 1845, he married Lydia A., daughter of Hon. Samuel Ingham. Two children were born to them: Samuel Ingham and James Lancelot Phelps.

SAMUEL MERRITT COMSTOCK.

In the Muniment office at Frankfort-on-the-Main, in Germany, is a pedigree of the Comstock family, spelled Komstock and Comstohk, which gives nine generations previous to 1547, when Charles Van Comstock, a baron of the Roman Empire, was implicated in the Van Bene- dict treason, and escaped into England with several no- blemen of Austria and Silesia.

The arms of the family are Or; two bears rampant; Sable, muzzled; Gules, in chief, and in base as word issu- ing from a crescent. Upon the arms a baronial hel- met of the German Empire mantled on gold; and Gules surmounted by a baron's coronet, jeweled, thence from an elephant rampant, also proper.

The following explanation is given of the arms,viz., the. bears imply courage; the sword issuing from a crescent shows that the family had fought against the Turks. The elephant in the crest was given as an indication of per- sonal prowess and sagacity.

It is not a difficult matter to trace in the life of Samuel M. Comstock, the subject of this sketch, the distinguish - ing characteristics peculiar to the baronial ancestor. The personal " prowess and sagacity " indicated by the ele- phant in the crest, were exhibited in Mr. Comstock to a marked degree. It was a common saying among his friends that he "laid his plans three years ahead," and saw the end from the beginning. That he was a man of great foresight, of unflinching courage, strong will, and determination of character, is admitted by all who knew him, and to the possession of these qualities he was in- debted to a great extent for his uniform success in life.

Samuel Comstock, his father, was captain of a vessel engaged in the West India trade. He married Rebecca Carter, by whom he had ten children.

Samuel M., the ninth, was born in that part of Pota- paug Parish now known as Ivoryton, in the present town of Essex, on the 14th of August 1809. He enjoyed the usual advantages of a common school education, and commenced early in life to earn his own living. When he was 20 years of age he went to work in the comb

He makes no pretension to those classical accomplish- ments which are the valuable results of a long course of university training and culture. He claims nothing from ancestry or pedigree, and nothing of popularity or ability or professional attainments and success, which are not common to all others of similar advantages. factory, located on the present site of the Connecticut

36.

other local paolo-s 0 les cinture

Eses has been, acquin of pirpose, and fidel ured for him a reason Me and support. wiet, modest, and unas- years' residence in : . Obtained a strong hole fle is the' confidential ad: " and poor, and no man ! y whose loss would be mow for many years a faithful, ther and a liberal supporter

das he married Lydia A. Two children we e on and James Lancelot

IST. COMSTOCK.

Frankfort-on-the-Main, in Comstock family, spelled o wh gives nine generations Van Comstock, a baron hipliceted in the Van Bone- mi England with several no-

Weso Or two bears rampant; Mat, and in base as word issu- aims a baronia! hel- tled on gold; and Gules whyjeweled, theace from

: . f the arms, viz .. the ving from a crescer: porsithe Turks. The Indication of pe -

when is the life of samuel watch. the distinguish. Le baron . ancestor. The way"indicated by the el- wanted In Mr Comstock to a minion saying among his Worce years ahead," and : That he was a man .. ;17 ce trage, strong will, a les, is ad.obied by all why krew bo of these qualities he was in - ilor his uniform success in afc father, was captain of a vessel trade. He married Rebec ALa children

wa horn in that part of Pota- Ivoryton in the present towr Acest 1809. He enjoyed low mimmion school cGacation, : rn his own living. When w nt to work in the condu

are not common to all others of similar advantages. factory, located on the present site of the Connecticut

JANDER M. COMSTOCK

Evy, by V, Wellstood XX

OD A Manwar

ESSEX-BIOGRAPHIES.

363

Valley Manufacturing Company. He soon acquired a knowledge of the details of the business, and doubtless saw at that time where great improvements could be made in the process of manufacture.

In 1834, he commenced the manufacture of screw drivers in connection with Joseph A., his brother, and Edwin Griswold, under the firm name of Comstock & Gris- wold, in the building at present occupied by Horace G. Jones for the manufacture of axe helves. Finding the business unprofitable it was discontinued at the end of six months, and the building fitted up with new machin- ery for the manufacture of combs and ivory goods. In this Mr. Comstock had ample opportunity for the dis- play of his inventive genius and mechanical ingenuity. Old methods were discarded and improved labor saving machinery substituted. The old fashioned tooth picks and fine tooth combs were about the only class of goods manufactured from the ivory at that time, but the prolific brain of Mr. Comstock was continually at work, devising new plans and opening new fields for utilizing the material and economizing the cost of production. No sooner was a new article of manufacture decided upon by the firm than the inventive genius of Mr. Comstock contrived the method for its production. His was a thoroughly practical mind. He had no vis- ionary theories, or castles in the air, for his plans were put into immediate execution as fast as they were de- veloped.

In 1847, he sold his interest and severed his connec- tion with Comstock & Griswold, and (having purchased the water privilege now owned by the Comstock & Cheney Company) started in the same business alone. Later he associated with him his young nephews, and for many years continued the business under the firm name of S. M. Comstock & Co.

New buildings were erected and further improvements made in the methods of manufacture, and an almost end- less variety of goods produced of every conceivable style and pattern. To his inventive and mechanical genius Mr. Comstock united rare business qualifications seldom found in any one man. This is shown by his uniform success in business. From the start the busi- ness has been one of continued steady growth. The village of Ivoryton, which a few years ago was almost a wilderness, is now one of the most beautiful villages in the State, and this has been accomplished mainly through his efforts. He was large hearted, liberal, and generous. While not connected with any particular sect or denom- ination, he gave liberally to the support of religious and benevolent objects. He was kind and considerate to his employés, and while, during working hours, he required a faithful performance of duty from every man, yet when the labors of the day were completed, he engaged heart- ily in the sports of the men and took an active interest in everything that concerned their welfare or happiness.

While deservedly popular in the community he had little time to devote to politics. In 1869, however, he accepted the nomination for the Legislature, and was elected by a large majority. In 1860, he became con-

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History of Middlesex county, Connecticut, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Part 92

Author: Whittemore, Henry, b. 1833; Beers, J.B. & Company, publishers Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York : J. B. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 818

Author: Whittemore, Henry, b. 1833; Beers, J.B. & Company, publishers
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : J. B. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 818