USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Farmington > History of New Britain, with sketches of Farmington and Berlin, Connecticut. 1640-1889 > Part 42
USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Berlin > History of New Britain, with sketches of Farmington and Berlin, Connecticut. 1640-1889 > Part 42
USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > New Britain > History of New Britain, with sketches of Farmington and Berlin, Connecticut. 1640-1889 > Part 42
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45
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as representing one of the oldest families of Farmington and New Britain.
Florence, the oldest daughter of James and Catherine Phalan, was married in 1861 to Count Paul de Gabriac, of an old family of Languedoc, closely connected with the De Gramont and De Polignac families.
Kate Phalan, another daughter, was married in 1866 to Count de Narbonne Lara, grandson of the Marquis de Cau- sans, peer of France, member of a family dating from the time of Charlemagne. (The name Lara is from the Spanish royal families of Arragon and Castile.)
Charles James Phalan, son of James and Catherine Pha- lan, married in 1873, Julia de Zakrewsky, daughter of Platon de Zakrewsky, who was Colonel in the Russian Imperial Guard, and was elected Marechal de La Noblesse in the Province of Poltava.
Mina, the only grandchild of Catherine Goodrich Phalan, daughter of the Count and Countess de Gabriac, was marod to the Marquis de Monteynard.
The Marquis and Marquise de Monteynard have one cl Diana.
George M. Landers, son of Marcellus Landers, was born at Lenox, Mass., Feb. 22, 1813. In 1820 he came to Hart- ford with his father, who for several years was a teacher in that city. He remained in Hartford until his father's death in 1826, when he returned to Lenox to live with his grand- father. At sixteen years of age he became an apprentice of Aaron Hart, New Britain, learning the carpenter and join- er's trade. He worked for a time as a journeyman and was then in business for himself, building his own house and other buildings in New Britain. He soon saw that manu- facturing promised more prompt and sure returns than his trade, and he engaged in this business, first with Josiah Dewey, and then by himself in his own name, having a shop on East Main Street, near his house. The business was suc- cessful, and in a few years was changed into the joint stock
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corporation of Landers & Smith, Levi O. Smith being inter- ested in the company. Mr. Landers was president of this corporation, and afterwards of the corporation of Landers, Frary & Clark, which office he held until he retired from ac- tive business in 1870. He is still a director and the vice- president of this company, and a director and the president of the New Britain Gas Company. He was for many years a director of the New Britain National Bank, resigning to accept his appointment as bank commissioner. He was one of the incorporators of the New Britain Bank, of the Gas Company, the New Britain Railroad, and the New Britain Institute, all of which received special charters from the General Assembly. He has for many years been a director in the New York & New England Railroad Company. He has been identified with most of the important measures of progress in the town and city since their incorporation. He was one of the water commissioners when water was intro- duer into the borough, was one of the original members of gli ard of sewer commissioners, remaining in office until incipal trunk sewers were constructed. He served for several years on the school committee. He has several times been elected to the General Assembly, being a member of the House of Representatives in 1851, 1867, and 1874, and of the Senate in 1853, 1869, and 1873. He was elected to Congress in 1874 and again in 1876, being a member of the forty-fourth and forty-fifth congresses. He has twice been appointed State bank commissioner, was chairman of the committee having charge of the erection of the Normal School building, and has been called to other offices, in all of which he has done much to advance the interests of New Britain and of the State.
William Henry Lee of New York, youngest son of Judge Thomas and Electa (Riley ) Lee, great-grandson of Col. Isaac Lec, and descendant of the eighth generation of John Lee of England, was born in New Britain May 19, 1818. He mar- ried, Jan. 6, 1849, Louisa Maria, niece and adopted daughter
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of Charles H. Northam, Hartford. Educated at the high school, New Britain, and at the academy at Hamilton, N. Y., he entered the dry goods store of Bliss & Lee, Troy, in 1835, and the English and Scotch importing house of Robert Jaf- fray, New York, in 1839. His duties in the latter position gave him the opportunity of visiting, upon business, all the large cities from Boston to New Orleans, and forming an acquaintance with leading merchants. In 1845 he became a partner in the firm of Lee & Case, with capital furnished by Amos R. Eno and John Jay Phelps, and commenced in a small way the importing and jobbing of foreign goods ex- clusively, then the only house except Jaffray's in the jobbing trade which did not include domestic with foreign goods. The business was continued under the firm names of Lee, Case & Co., William H. Lee & Co., Bliss & Co., and in 1870, of Lee, Tweedy & Co., Mr. Lee being the senior partner in all the firms, and passing every financial crisis with credit unimpaired. He early resolved to invest any surplus beyond the needs of his business in real estate in New York. He soon became an expert in the value of such property, and acquired valuable holdings on the central line of the city's growth. His New York residence is on Fifth Avenue, on the historical ground of the Colored Orphan Asylum, purchased by him soon after the destruction of the buildings by a mob in 1864. His summer residence is on Washington Avenue, Hartford. He has been active in the formation of many business corporations, was the originator of a principle of fire insurance and classification of risks, and was one of the cor- porators and is a director of the Fifth Avenue Bank. Mr. Lee was prompt and active in supporting the government and aiding in maintaining the Union in the time of the civil war. He was one of those who organized the Union League Club in 1863, was a member of the sanitary commit- tee, was one of the number that put the First Colored Regi- ment in the field, and one of the persons who volunteered to march with it from the Club House to the point of embarka- tion when prejudice was rampant with the masses. He is a
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member of the New York Historical, Genealogical, and Biographical Societies, and of the Connecticut Historical Society, and has contributed papers to cach, and also to magazines and other periodicals. He has devoted much time to biographical and genealogical researches, and is the author of Reminiscences of the Early Life of Elihu Burritt.
Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith, the youngest son of Col. Joseph Lee and Frances M. (Kirby) Smith, and a descendant of two of the oldest families of New Britain, was born at St. Augustine, Florida, May 16, 1824. He graduated at the West Point Military Academy, June, 1845, and was commis- sioned brevet second lieutenant Fifth U. S. Infantry, and on Aug. 22, 1846, second lieutenant Seventh U. S. Infantry. In the Mexican war he was with Gen. Scott's army in the memorable campaign of 1847, and for gallantry at Cerro Gordo was made brevet first lieutenant April 18, and for gal- lantry at Contreras, brevet captain Aug. 20. He had been present at the principal battles of the preceding year, and was also at the siege of Vera Cruz and of the City of Mexico. After the close of the war he was appointed professor of Mathematics at the West Point Military Academy. He be- came first lieutenant of the Seventh U. S. Infantry March 9, 1851, and captain of the Second U. S. Cavalry in 1855, and afterwards major. He was engaged with the Mexican boundary survey in 1854-5, was in battles with the Caman- ches and Kioway Indians, and was wounded by the Caman- ches in 1859. On the secession of Florida he resigned his office in the United States army, and in May, 1861, was ap- pointed lieutenant-colonel in the army of the Confederate States. On June 17 he became brigadier-general and chief of staff, and on Oct. 11, major-general of the C. S. army of the Potomac. He was wounded at the battle of Bull Run. On Oct. 9, 1862, he was appointed lieutenant-general com- manding the Department of East Tennessee, Kentucky, North Georgia, and West Carolinas, and on Feb. 19, 1864, he be- came general, having command of the Trans-Mississippi De-
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partnient, including the districts of Louisiana, Texas, Arkan- sas, and Indian Territory. In the Kentucky campaign of 1862 he commanded the corps of nearly 30,000 men, which was so successful against the Union troops. He directed the movements opposing Banks' Red River campaign, and in many ways brought strength to the Confederate forces. He received the thanks of the Legislature of Texas and of the Confederate Congress for meritorious service.
After the war closed he was president of the Atlantic & Pacific Telegraph Co., 1886-68; president of the Western Military Academy, Ky., 1868-70, and chancellor of the Uni- . versity of Nashville, 1870-75. In the latter year he was appointed professor of mathematics in the University of the South at Sewanee, Tenn., where he has since resided. He was, married to Cassie Selden at Lynchburg, Va., Sept. 24, 1861.
CHILDREN. 1. Caroline Selden, b. Oct. 5, 1862; 2. Frances Kirby, b. July 9, 1864; 3. Edmund Kirby, b. Aug. 28, 1866; 4. Lydia, b. April 4, 1868; 5. Rowena Selden, b. Oct. 2, 1870; 6. Elizabeth Chaplin, b. Jan. 2, 1872; 7. Reynold Marvin, b. June 14, 1874; 8. William Selden, b. Feb. 27, 1876; 9. Josephine, b. Oct. 11, 1878; 10. Joseph Lee, b. April 16, 1882; 11. Ephraim Kirby, b. Aug. 30, 1884.
John B. Talcott, son of Seth Talcott, was born at Thomp- sonville Sept. 4, 1824. In 1828 he went to West Hartford with his father, and when of proper age worked upon the farm or in his father's shop, attending school in the winter. He attended the Hartford Grammar School three winters, working on the farm summers, but keeping up with his classes. He graduated at Yale College in 1846, the saluta- torian of the class. He studied law with Francis Fellowes, paying his expenses by serving as clerk of the Probate Court and hearing Latin recitations in the Hartford Female Sem- inary for about a year and a half. While thus engaged, he received an appointment as tutor in the Middlebury College, Vermont, where he remained for a year, then returning to Hartford was admitted to the Hartford County bar. He soon received an appointment as tutor in Greek in Yale College,
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and filled the position for three years, at the same time pur- suing his law studies, expecting to follow the legal profes- sion.
Partially on account of impaired health from close con- finement he was induced to change his plans and accept an offer of S. J. North, to come to New Britain and engage in the manufacture of hooks and eyes, then a flourishing busi- ness. He became a partner with Mr. North, and soon after was interested in the manufacture of knit goods, and was appointed treasurer and manager of the New Britain Knitting Company, holding this position for fourteen years. In 1868 he was largely instrumental in organizing the American Hosiery Company, and became its secretary and treasurer. He has for several years been president of this company and of the New Britain Knitting Company. He is president of the New Britain Institute, and for many years was president of the New Britain Club. He is a director in the New Brit- ain Savings Bank, the Mechanics' Bank, the Hartford City Bank, and in several manufacturing companies. He was elected to the common council in 1876, alderman in 1877-79, and mayor in 1880 and 1881. He has for many years been a deacon of the South Congregational Church. 'In social and business life he is respected and esteemed.
Philip Corbin was born in Willington, Oct. 26, 1824. He married, July 4, 1848, Francina T. Whiting. In 1842 he came to New Britain and commenced work with Matteson, Russell & Co. (afterwards Russell & Erwin), and a few months later he was in the employ of North & Stanley. At this place he was accustomed, of his own choice, to go to the shop, evenings, where, by observing the work of S. Bucknall, a skillful machinist, and afterwards working with him, he became so thoroughly acquainted with the work that he took contracts of the firm and had several men working for him before he was of age. In 1848, with his brother, Frank, and Edward Doen, he began manufacturing upon his own account and laid the foundation for the manufacturing company of
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P. & F. Corbin. He has been president of the company since its organization, and also president of the Corbin Cabi- net Lock Company. He is a director of the New Britain Savings Bank and of the Mechanics National Bank. He was warden of the borough in 1849, and for eleven years was a member of the board of water commissioners. He repre- sented New Britain in the legislature in 1884, where he was house chairman of the committee on insurance. He is now (1889) senator from the Fourth District, and at the session of the General Assembly, 1889, was chairman of the Commit- tee on Finance. The intelligence, skill, and sagacity which have made him so successful in business have enabled him to do good service in the legislature, where he has been recog- nized as one of the most intelligent and valuable members.
J. Andrew Pickett, son of Albert Pickett, was born in New Milford, Litchfield County, Conn., March 9, 1829. He married Sept. 9, 1857, Caroline E. Stanley, and (2) Emma C. Lawrence. He came to New Britain Sept. 11, 1851, and was employed in the establishment of A. North & Sons, sad- dlery hardware manufacturing company. In 1855, he, with L. F. Judd, bought a one-half interest in the establishment.
January 1, 1876, he was elected president of the manu- facturing company of Landers, Frary & Clark, and held the position by repeated re-elections until his resignation in 1889. He was also president of the Union Manufacturing Company from 1878 to 1889. He is vice-president and director of the Shelby Iron Works, Shelby, Alabama, and was for many years director and vice-president of the New Britain National Bank. He is director in the Russell & Erwin Manufacturing Company, in Landers, Frary & Clark, Stanley Rule & Level Company, American Hosiery Company, Union Manufacturing Company, Mechanics National Bank, and the New Britain Savings Bank.
He has been repeatedly called to offices of trust and responsibility by his fellow citizens. He was elected town assessor for several years, and was city auditor in 1871, and
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1872. On the adoption of the system of sewerage by the city he was appointed one of the sewer commissioners, and held the office from 1874 to 1882 inclusive. He was elected mayor of the city in 1883, 1884, and 1885, and represented the town in the legislature in 1884, when he was chairman on the part of the house of the committee on insurance. By his knowledge of business and insight into the needs of the town and city, he has been able in these various positions to contribute much to the welfare and prosperity of the place.
Ambrose Beatty was born at Clughill, Coun- ty Longford, Ireland, in June, 1831. He passed three years in the mili- tary service of Great Britain, and came to this country in 1852, settling at Cherry Val- ley, N. Y. He at first engaged in farming, but in a short time was in the hardware business at Albany, and in 1856, came to New Britain, where he has been in the employ of the Russell & Erwin Manufacturing Company and of Landers, Frary & Clark. He has also been engaged in the grocery business both on Lafayette Street and on Main Street. He has held many public offices in the town and city. He has been a member of the school board, assessor, and was first select- man of the town for several years. He was seven years chief of the fire department, was alderman in 1875, and mayor of the city in 1879, '82-'86. He was appointed post- master by President Cleveland in 1887, and held the office until 1889, during which time the postal delivery system was introduced. He has three times represented the town in the legislature, where he served on important committees. His
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sympathies with the poor and unfortunate, his ardent temper- ament and his natural eloquence have ever made him a tower of strength to his party, and given him many personal friends.
Charles E. Mitchell, son of G. H. and Lurene (Hooker) Mitchell, was born in Bristol in 1837. He passed his youth in his native town, was a student at Williston Academy, Easthampton, Mass., where he fitted for college. He grad- uated from Brown University in 1861, and from the Albany Law School in 1864.
Soon after, he came to New Britain to practice law, and . in 1866 married Cornelia A. Chamberlain. In a few years he had built up a successful practice, and when New Britain became a city, in 1870, he and his partner, F. L. Hungerford, drew the charter. Mr. Mitchell was appointed the first city attorney, and had much to do in preparing the code of by- laws for the council and city. In 1880 and 1881 he repre- sented the town in the General Assembly, where, as house chairman of the Committee on Incorporations, he, with Hon. John R. Buck, re-drafted the joint stock laws. In 1881. he was a prominent member of the judiciary committee. He was also a member of the commission to consider and report upon the necessity of a new normal school building, and was largely instrumental in securing a favorable report and the appropriation necessary for its erection. For many years he has been a member of the firm of Mitchell & Hungerford. In his legal practice he has made patent law a specialty, and had for several years taken rank among the first patent law- yers of the country, practicing principally in the United States courts, when, in 1889, he was selected by President Harrison to be Commissioner of Patents. His familiarity and thorough acquaintance with patent law gave him special fitness for this position, and enabled him to make reforms in the administration of the business which secure greater effi- ciency in the service. He has been identified with the growth of the city of New Britain in many ways. He was
de. E. Mitchell
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one of the leaders in securing a large and commodious build- ing for the Young Men's Christian Association, and was president of the association when the building was completed and dedicated.
Robert J. Vance was born in New York March 15, 1854. When eleven years of age he removed to New Britain to. reside with his grandparents. He was educated in the public schools of New York, and in the New Britain High School, and by his love of reading gained much general information which prepared him for his future work. He founded the New Britain Observer in 1876, was editor and proprietor, and when it was consolidated with the Herald in 1887, he still retained an interest in the establishment. He was elected city clerk in 1878 and by successive re-elections held the office un- til 1887, when upon election to congress he resigned. He made the revision of the city charter and ordinances which was published in 1885 and was the first clerk of the boards of police and fire commissioners created by the revised charter. He represented New Britain in the legislature in 1886 and was member of the committee on cities and boroughs and of constitutional amendments. In 1886 he was elected to congress from the First District and as mem- ber of the Fiftieth Congress had much influence and rendered important service. He is president of the Herald Publishing Company and treasurer of the New Britain Electric Light Company.
Others whose portraits are not given have had an honor- able part in the government of the town and city.
A. P. Collins, son of Rev. A. B. Collins, and at the time the town was incorporated, one of the firm of Bailey & Collins, was for several years clerk, registrar, and treasurer of the town, and has continued to hold the office of treasurer until the present time (1889). He has been treasurer of the city since the city government was organized. He has been secretary and treasurer of the New Britain Gas Company
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since 1857, was cashier of, the New Britain National Bank from 1860 to 1885, and has since been its president.
Valentine B. Chamberlain, a graduate at Williams College in 1857, studied law, edited and published the New Britain News in 1860-61, and was in the civil war, 1861-65. He represented New Britain in the legislature in 1865, was pen- sion agent for several years, was State treasurer in 1886, judge of probate for six years, and he has been judge of the city and police courts most of the time since their organiza- tion. He is president of the Mechanics National Bank.
S. Waldo Hart, M.D., born in New Britain in 1825, a son of Dr. Samuel Hart, and for many years a practicing phy- sician in the town and city, was the second mayor of the city, holding office for five years, 1872-76.
John Walsh, attorney and counselor at law, the present mayor of the city, has repeatedly been appointed to offices of trust and honor in the city and town.' He was alderman in 1877, city attorney 1879-1882, and was elected mayor in 1888. He has been a member of the town school committee and its secretary and financial agent for several years, and also an acting school visitor. He was elected judge of probate for the Berlin district in 1884, and is still in office.
APPENDIX.
Note to Pages 26 and 27. - Jonathan Gilbert, who had so important an influence in the first settlement of "Great Swamp " (Berlin or Ken- sington), was born in 1618. He married, January 29, 1645, Mary, daugh- ter of elder John White, and after her death, about 1650, (2), Mary, daughter of Hugh Wells. He was one of the prominent men of Hart- ford, was townsman five years, commencing in 1658; was deputy collec- tor of customs and marshal of the colony. He had a tavern and ware- house in Hartford, and " estates on the east side of the Great River over against his warehouse." His official duties seem to have required his attendance occasionally in New Haven, and when the General Court made him a special grant of land, giving him the privilege of selecting it, he took it up at the southern part of Berlin, on the New Haven road. He had eleven children, and died Dec. 10, 1682.
Daniel Clark, or Clarke, another of the early proprietors of Great Swamp, or Kensington, was married in 1644 to Mary Newberry, and after her death to the widow of Simon Wolcott and mother of Governor Roger Wolcott, in 1689. Mr. Clark was lieutenant in 1658, and after- wards captain of the first cavalry company in Connecticut. He was a member of the Particular Court, the highest judicial body in the colony, before 1665, and afterwards was member of the Court of Assistants, was secretary of the General Court, attorney, member of the committee to treat with the Indians, and of the committee to commission officers of the militia, and one of the standing council with the governor and lieu- tenant governor.
Note to Page 28. - The owner of the most extensive tract of land in Berlin or New Britain, and the person who contributed so largely to the early improvement of Great Swamp, was Andrew Belcher, son of Andrew Belcher of Sudbury, Mass. He was born January 1, 1647. He became a wealthy merchant of Boston and was engaged in trade with the Con- necticut and New Haven colonies. He owned vessels employed in transportation, and was the agent of Connecticut in purchasing "armes and ammunition " for the colony, and was also employed by Massachu- setts to carry provisions from Connecticut to Boston for the supply of the army and the Massachusetts Colony. He married, July 1, 1670,
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Sarah, daughter of Jonathan Gilbert, and had seven children, two sons and five daughters. His youngest son, Jonathan, born in 1681, gradu- ated at Harvard College in 1699, and soon after visited Europe, where he made the acquaintance of the princess Sophia, and her son, after- ward George II. On his return, he entered upon business as a merchant. He was chosen a member of the common council of Boston, and in 1729 again went to Europe as agent of the Massachusetts Colony. He was Governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire from 1730 to 1741, and afterwards Governor of New Jersey. He was instrumental in enlarging the charter of Princeton College, of which he was patron and benefactor. His son, Jonathan, grandson of Captain Andrew Belcher, graduated at Harvard College, studied law in London, and was Lieutenant-Governor and Chief Justice of Nova Scotia. Sir Edward Belcher, a grandson of the preceding, was a commander in the British navy, commanding the expedition which was in search of Sir John Franklin in 1852-54.
Note to Page 317. - The old records of the post-office at Washington having been destroyed by fire many years ago, it was not practicable to obtain from that office the date of the establishment of the post-offices in Farmington and Berlin, but from the accounts on file in the auditor's office it appears that returns were made from the post-offices in those towns from July 1, 1799. Assuming that to be the correct date of the establishment of these offices, the different post-offices in Farmington and Berlin were established as follows:
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