History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 102

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1317

USA > Connecticut > New London County > History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 102

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In politics he was a Federal and a Whig. He was Congregational in religious belief. He married Lucy (born 1770, died Dec. 16, 1854), daughter of John Swan, in 1792. They had children,-Sandford, Lucy, Lucy2, Robert, Joseph, George, Horatio N., John, Benjamin F., Mary. He died May 1, 1856. Benjamin F. was four years old when his father moved to Gris- wold. Received his education at common and private schools, at which he was a diligent student; was brought up as a farmer, to which avocation he has always adhered, but in connection therewith he has been a successful and highly valued teacher. Com- mencing to teach winter terms of school when about sixteen years of age, he taught probably twenty-five terms in all, one of them in Delaware.

Mr. Billings remained with his father, in care of the homestead in Griswold, and married, Dec. 28, 1834, Ann P., daughter of Luther Palmer, of North Ston- ington. She died Oct. 23, 1866. Their children are Ann S., who married, first, Harris Boardman, and had three boys ; second, Dr. Henry Carpenter, of Lancas- ter, Pa .; James F., now of Kansas; Mary P., mar- ried C. C. Palmer, of North Stonington, and lives now in Pawtucket; Lucius N., of Massachusetts ; and Arthur G., who remains with his father on the old homestead. Mr. Billings married Mrs. Abby J. (Starkweather) Stewart, Feb. 12, 1868. She was a

416

HISTORY OF NEW LONDON COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

daughter of John Starkweather, and sister of the late Hon. H. H. Starkweather.

Mr. Billings has passed his life in Griswold, ex- cepting eight years when he was a resident of North Stonington. He has held many and prominent public positions, was selectman several terms, and during the entire Rebellion period, when many difficult ques- tions requiring great care and judgment were to be decided by those holding that office. He represented Griswold in the State Legislatures of 1846 and 1852, and the Eighth Senatorial District in the State Senate in 1856. During his residence in North Stonington he represented that town in the Legislatures of 1873-74, and was first selectman when he returned to Griswold in 1880. In politics he has stanchly adhered to the Whig and Republican parties. He has been a mem- ber of the Baptist Church for many years, and for several years has held the honored position of deacon. He has all his life been an active, liberal, and public- spirited citizen, a devoted and earnest Christian, an affectionate husband and father, and as he goes down to the twilight of life enjoys the esteem and confi- dence of a large circle of friends.

Samuel Geer was born in Preston, Conn., Nov. 30, 1788. He was the son of John Wheeler and Sally (Den- ison) Geer, and grandson of Ebenezer, who was son of Robert Geer, whose father, George, was the origi- nal emigrant. [For full history of Geer family, see biography of Erastus Geer, Lebanon.] He was reared a farmer; removed, with his father, two brothers, and two sisters, to Griswold; purchased a tract of about two hundred acres of land of a Mr. Rose, on what is still known as "Geer Hill." It was an early age for him to commence a farmer's life, but he was success- ful, and when thirty years of age married, Oct. 3, 1820, Anna, daughter of David and Mary (Stanton) Geer, of Ledyard, and granddaughter of the Eben- ezer who was grandfather of Samuel. She was born Aug. 12, 1794. They commenced their married life in Preston, where their three daughters, Mary, Pru- dence Ann, and Lucy Emma, were born. After eight years' residence in Preston, Mr. and Mrs. Geer moved back to Mr. Geer's old home in Griswold, and there, after fifty-six years of happy and quiet married life, he died, Feb. 27, 1877, at the advanced age of eighty- eight years. Mrs. Geer survives him, and is now in her eighty-eighth year. Mr. Geer was always a far- mer, and an excellent one, enjoying the reputation of being one of the best in town, and accumulated a competency. In his social and family relations he was kind and affectionate; in his business prudent, economical, thoroughly honest, and very active. As a father he was indulgent; as a Christian he was earnest and sincere, giving evidence of both those qualities by the liberality with which he supported the cause of Christ.

At his death he probably had not an enemy in the world. He was a selectman, and held various other town offices, discharging these duties in the same quiet,

thorough business way in which his own personal affairs were conducted. He was a pronounced Whig and Republican in politics. Both Mr. and Mrs. Geer were for many years members of the First Congrega- tional (Pachaug) Church of Griswold. Their daugh- ter Prudence married Moses E. Norman, of Ledyard, and had two children, Samuel G. and Hannah A. The latter, a lovely and estimable girl, died May 14, 1881, aged eighteen years and two months. Lucy married Erastus Kinne, of Plainfield, Conn.

David Austin Geer .- On the land once occupied by those famed Mohegan chiefs, Uncas and Owaneco, and by them granted to his ancestors,-a most beauti- ful tract of land, a view of a portion of which may be seen in this history,-resides David Austin Geer. He was born Aug. 17, 1824, on the place where he now resides. He was third son of Elijah D. and Dor- othy Geer. Elijah was son of John Wheeler Geer, and grandson of Ebenezer, who was son of Robert, eighth child of George, the emigrant. (For full his- tory of Geer family, see biography of Erastus Geer, Lebanon.)

Mr. Geer had common-school advantages for edu- cation, which were diligently used, supplemented by a short attendance at high school. He commenced teaching winter terms of district school when about twenty-one, and acquitted himself creditably as a teacher during the four terms which he taught. But farming has been his life's work. He was bred a farmer, and thoroughly and well was he trained in the principles and details of practical agriculture. From the death of his father, Aug. 10, 1848, he has carried on the old homestead farm, and to-day enjoys the reputation of being the best farmer in town. He has taken pride in his calling, kept his place neat and trim, cleaned out the fence-corners, taken cords of material for his good stone walls from fields now clear as prairie-land, and is, as he well may be, proud of as clean-kept a farm as can be found for many miles. Plain and simple in his habits, but successful in his business, he is a careful, painstaking, industrious man.

Neither caring for nor willing to accept office, Mr. Geer has preferred to attend to his own business rather than see that neglected while he worked for the public. He is possessed of a warm social nature, his family circle is a pleasant and affectionate one, and he enjoys the esteem of the community as a man of unassuming yet solid worth. For over thirty years he has been a member of the First Congregational (Pachaug) Church of Griswold. He enjoys the satisfaction of seeing three of his sons now members of the same church. In church he accepts office as a duty ; has served on various committees, and is church treasurer. He married, Sept. 15, 1857, Sarah, daughter of Deacon Joseph Leonard and Laura Johnson, his wife. Their children are Albert S., Edward A., Henry D., and Joseph T., all industrious, intelligent, and enter- prising young men of good habits.

All in all, Mr. Geer is pronounced in favor of all

@Austin Per /

James. G food

Bonaparte Campbell

417

GRISWOLD.

things-in religion, in politics, in the social circle and community-which advance honesty, sobriety, and the education, improvement, and elevation of humanity, the betterment of his town, and the pleasing charms of the "old Geer home."

James C. Lord .- The Lord family is an early and proud New England one, the first American ancestor coming from England at an early date. The first one settling in Griswold was a Congregational clergyman named Hezekiah. He was settled pastor of the North Society of Preston, and lived where B. Campbell now (1881) resides. He had numerous children, one of whom, James, was a school-teacher in the North Dis- trict of Preston. Another son was Elias, grandfather of James C. He died young, about the time of the Revolution, and left four children,-Joseph, Zerviah (Mrs. A. Benham), James, and Elias. He was a farmer on part of the old homestead, and his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph and Mary Coit, was also of an old family. His son James was born in 1760, in Preston. By the death of Elias and the consequent sale of his property, of which pay was taken in Continental currency, which rapidly depre- ciated, his family were reduced to poor circumstances and the children were scattered. James went to live with Gen. John Tyler (who married his grandmother), and remained with him from the age of two years to that of forty-six. He was reared a farmer, and when he was about twenty-one was injured so as to inca- pacitate him from labor on the farm, and his hair was turned white by a fever. On partially regaining his health he became a surveyor, and went to Western New York, several times surveying roads in the then wilderness of the Susquehanna and Genesee Valleys. He married Lydia, daughter of John and Mehitabel Coit, and had two children, James Coit and Elias. He purchased the place now occupied by his son James and descendants about 1803, and was there- after a farmer. He was much beloved for his sterling honesty and worth, and his quiet, unobtrusive ways. He held the (at that time) very responsible office of constable and collector of Preston for fourteen years. Both himself and wife were for years members of the First Congregational Church of Preston (North So- ciety). He was successful in business, and died sud- denly, Dec. 22, 1845, at the hale old age of eighty-five. His wife survived him, dying five years later, also at the age of eighty-five.

JAMES C. LORD was born Feb. 23, 1807, on the farm where he now, in the closing years of an un- usually long and active life, yet lives. He had a com- mon-school education, supplemented by a term at Plainfield Academy. He has always been a hard- working, intelligent, successful farmer, giving his personal attention to his business, and by his judicious care, diligence, and economy has amassed a hand- some competency. All of the buildings, numerous as they are, on the place Mr. Lord has constructed him- self. He married, Feb. 14, 1838, Betsey, daughter

of John and Betsey (Clift) Prentice. Her maternal grandfather was Amos Clift, and grandmother, Mary Coit. John Prentice was son of Eleazer and Sarah Stanton, all of Preston. Mr. and Mrs. Lord have had only two children who attained maturity,-Elias and Lydia Coit. Elias married Mary Rathbun, and lives in the old home of his father, a view of which is presented on another page. Elias has two chil- dren,-Willie and Charlie. Lydia married Elisha Harris, now of Providence, R. I. Mr. and Mrs. Lord have lived in family relations forty-three years, and for years have been consistent members of the First Congregational Church of Griswold. Mr. Lord has never accepted any church, elective, appointive, or fiduciary office, and devotes to-day as much time to his business in his hale old age as in the days of early manhood.

Bonaparte Campbell was born in Voluntown, then Windham Co., Conn., Sept. 15, 1801. His great- grandfather came from Scotland a young man, mar- ried, and had children, one of whom, James, born about 1725, was a resident of Voluntown, a farmer, married Dinah McMain, and had three sons-Allen, James, and John-and several daughters. He was an industrious, economical man, successful in his busi- ness, as those days went, lived comfortably, and given to hospitality. Both he and his wife belonged to the Presbyterian Church, and served their day and genera- tion well. He died about 1810. His wife survived him a few years, dying at the age of eighty-five. Dr. Allen Campbell, their son, was born in Voluntown, about 1749, received a good common-school education, studied medicine with that skillful physician, Dr. Per- kins, of Plainfield, and in the Revolution served as surgeon in the colonial service, and was with Gen. Sullivan's army at the battle of Newport, R. I. After the war he established himself in a professional prac- tice in Voluntown, which became large and lucrative. In this he continued until his death, March 6, 1829, at the advanced age of eighty. He was social and genial, very popular, not only of ability in his pro- fession, but often called to fill positions of honor and trust; represented Voluntown in the State Legislature, was justice of the peace, and noted for the number of . marriages he performed ; held at various times all im- portant offices in the gift of his townsmen, was a de- vout Presbyterian, and at one time was licensed to preach. He married Sarah, daughter of Ezra Kinne, of Preston, now Griswold. She was born in 1759, and died in 1834, aged seventy-five. Their children were John, Sarah, Rowena, Lucinda, Harvey, Ezra, Daniel Lee, Bonaparte, Alpha R. They mostly settled in Voluntown.

Bonaparte was born when Napoleon Bonaparte was in the height of his remarkable career, and Dr. Camp- bell, an ardent admirer of the French general, called the young lad in sport Bonaparte, and it finally be- came fixed on him as his name. He was brought up a farmer on his father's farm, had common-school edu-

418

HISTORY OF NEW LONDON COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

cation, remained at home till he was eighteen, when, Nov. 11, 1819, he married Susan, daughter of Capt. Nathan Brown, a sea-captain of North Kingston, R. I. Of their children only five-Allen B., John L. (de- ceased), Sarah E. (Mrs. B. H. Browning), James H., and Napoleon B .- attained maturity. All were born in Voluntown but James, who was born in Oneida County, N. Y. Mrs. Campbell died in 1846. Mr. Campbell resided in Voluntown until 1826, when he removed to Oneida County, N. Y., where he lived until 1856, then returning to Connecticut, he bought the old Lord place of one hundred and forty acres, in Griswold, and that has been his home ever since. He married Mrs. Maria Cook Campbell in 1847, and after her death in 1869 he has lived with his son Allen, who is joint owner with him now of the old homestead. For nearly fifty years he has been a worthy and es- teemed member of the Baptist Church. In politics a Whig and Republican. He has been first selectman for many years, justice both in Griswold and Voluntown, and has represented Griswold in the State Legislature. He has ever been a quiet, industrious, unassuming man, amiable and pleasing in his ways, and noted for his thorough knowledge of agriculture.

Beriah Hopkins Browning, son of Avery and Mary (Arnold) Browning, was born in Exeter, R. I., Sept. 13, 1819. He is a lineal descendant of William Browning, the emigrant, of whom or Sarah, his wife, nothing is known of birth, marriage, or death. They are first known as residing in Portsmouth, R. I. Whether they came from England or not is only to be surmised. Before this time, in 1655, Nathaniel Browning appears on the roll of freemen in Ports- mouth, and soon after, William Browning. William had five children,-Samuel, William (2), John (1), Hannah, and Sarah. Of these, only the descend- ants of William and John can be traced. Samuel is supposed to have settled in South Kingston, but nothing is definitely known of him. John Browning (1) married Anna Hazard. They had ten children, of whom John (2), born Nov. 15, 1742, was grand- father to Beriah H. He was married three times, and had children,-Jedediah and John by first wife, Mary Davis. By second wife, Eunice Williams, he had seven children,-George, Mary, Eunice, Avery, Anne, Jesse, George W. By third wife, Elizabeth Boss, he had no children. He died Feb. 24, 1832. He was a good type of a portly English farmer and " squire," held all prominent town offices and various positions of trust, owned a large tract of land, never labored himself, but gave his personal superintend- ence to all branches of his extensive farming interests; was a genial man, fond of conversation, of great con- viviality, entertained hospitably, and died nearly ninety years of age. It was his usual practice in hot weather to leave all outside doors open on retiring, and never was troubled by thieves or robbers.

Avery Browning was born Feb. 8, 1786, in Exeter, R. I .; remained with his father and became a farmer ;

married Mary Arnold, July 17, 1808. She was born June 8, 1796, died June 22, 1879. Their children were Arnold (deceased), Hiram, Beriah H., and Eunice W. (deceased). Avery Browning was an active farmer, successful in his avocation ; was much in public affairs, was representative, held all town offices ; on the passage of the free-school law dis- tricted the town into school districts ; was called to draw many legal instruments, which were carried into the highest courts and never broken. In March, 1834, he purchased a farm in Griswold ; after residing there several years sold out and went to Preston, after- wards to Norwich, and was living there when he died, May 9, 1865. For many years he was a Baptist. Coming of good Democratie stock, he steadfastly ad- hered to the same principles during his life.

B. H. Browning lived with his father until of age, and for two years was roving around, peddling, etc. Nov. 21, 1842, he married Sarah Elizabeth, daughter of Bonaparte Campbell, and started in trade as a mer- chant at Brooklyn, Conn. In 1845 he went out of trade, removed to Griswold, and became a farmer. In 1850 he moved to his father's farm on Plain Hill, in Norwich, and subsequently purchased the farm, his father moving on to the street, where he stayed three years, then returned and boarded with Beriah until he died. In 1866, Mr. Browning sold out his Nor- wich property and moved to Griswold, purchasing the beautiful place where he now resides. His children are Joseph B., a physician in Havana, Ill .; Frank (deceased) ; Lucinda (deceased) ; Sarah E. (Mrs. Simon Brewster) ; Mattie, Nellie, Arba, Mary A., and Ralph. Mr. Browning is an active Democrat, prominent in politics and public affairs ; was ap- pointed justice before he was thirty years old, and has ever since been in some publie position. He has set- tled several important and difficult estates, one in- volving forty thousand dollars ; represented Griswold in State Legislature in 1873. In a strong Republican town he was elected by a handsome majority. He has been selectman for a number of years, and in 1878 was nominated by the Democratic Senatorial Convention for the Eighth District of Connecticut as senator by a unanimous vote, which nomination he declined. He has been many times on grand jury, and was foreman of the jury in the famous trial of Mrs. Cobb for murder. He is always active in all things tending to elevate, improve, or educate man- kind, and is especially interested in the advancement of his town, and is one of Griswold's leading citizens.

CHAPTER XXXIX. GROTON. 1

Early History .- The town of Groton,2 originally a part of the town of New London, was of ample area, embracing, as it did, all the territory of the latter

1 By William II. Potter.

2 Pronounced Grawton.

Berich ABrowning

419

GROTON.

town lying east of the Thames River as far as the Mystic River and its Lantern Hill tributaries, and from the Sound to the Preston line, north of the Poquetanock, measuring north and south about four- teen miles, and east and west an average of over six miles, giving an area of full eighty square miles. At the time of the separation from New London, A.D. 1705, these dimensions were confirmed and continued till the town of Ledyard was incorporated in 1836. That town took off the larger part of the area, in- cluding all of the North Parish, but leaving the pres- ent town of Groton a compact, well-defined boundary, and an area of probably about thirty-five square miles. It is noticeable that when New London had land to alienate she did it on a generous scale, as wit- ness her Waterford territory, as well as all of Groton; but when it came to the alienation of water-rights she discovered a weakness for the beautiful river and harbor, which she has retained within her limits from shore to shore, and from Brewster's Neck to the sea. The hills of this eastern part of New London, now Groton, on either border, and its plains in the middle portion form a striking feature of its topography. Groton Heights on the west and Pequot Hill on the east, with an expanse of table-land in the interior, ter- minating in Poquonnoc plains, in the southern part and Preston plains on the north, with a hilly barrier between them, and in the northern part, on both sides of the plain, high hills and deep but fertile valleys well watered predominate, all forming a picturesque and rather attractive picture. Besides the two border streams, the Thames and the Mystic, there is Poquon- nock River, flowing south into the Sound, dividing Poquonnoc plain, and Poquetanoc River, flowing west into the Thames, the latter at that early day being called Pequot River. These are mere inlets of the sea, but they each have their tributaries of spark- ling brooks and rivulets, and skirting these, and ex- tending over its stony hillsides, are numerous farms and hamlets. The soil is in general inferior, but towards the sea and on some of its river-banks it is fertile. Within its bosom Groton has quarries of pure granite, then almost unknown and quite unap- preciated, of which we shall have occasion to speak hereafter.

But let us now refer to its first settlement. The Morgans and the Averys purchased or received grants of lands on the east side of the Thames River, in what was, nearly half a century later, incorporated under the name of Groton, but then called New Lon- don East Side. Perhaps a year or two earlier, cer- tainly as early as 1651, grants were made at Mystic, and as early as 1653 Messrs. Robert Burrows, John Packer, and Robert Park removed their families to the banks of the Mystic and occupied their posses- sions. Burrows kept the ferry over Mystic River. Two years later Carey Latham was domiciled at Groton Bank and kept the ferry over the Thames, having se- cured its franchise for fifty years from March 25, 1655.

The highways across the settlement from Groton Bank to Mystic River,1 running through Poquonnoc, was laid out in December, 1652, with a view to facili- tate intercourse between the mother-settlement at New London and the scattered settlers of the East Side, but beyond Fort Hill it remained a mere pent- way until 1709, when the new town had it opened and worked through as one of the town's highways.

After the first few settlers came we find that the Fish family settled north of the Burrowses, on Mys- tic River, their lands running over Pequot Hill west-, ward, as early as 1655. The Allyns settled in North Groton (since Ledyard) as early as 1656, while the Bennetts, Culvers, Baileys, Chesters, Geres, and Starrs all became permanent settlers within ten years from the first settlers, embracing portions of Poquonnoc, Groton Bank, and the territory along the east bank of the Thames as far as the Poquetanock. Then Lower Mystic, or Mystic River,-Noank Neck, as it was called, -and a tract west of Lantern Hill was still in the pos- session of a remnant of the straggling Pequots, whose power had been so signally overthrown in 1637, some fourteen years before the settlement of Groton.

It was not till A.D. 1667 that Cassinamon's party of Pequots, the feeble representatives of that once powerful nation, were removed by order of the Gen- eral Court at Hartford from Noank to their new res- ervation, called Mashantuxet, in North Groton, where they have maintained their distinctive tribal relation, under commissioners appointed by the General As- sembly, to the present time. They laid it much to heart, and loud were their lamentations when they were removed from their old haunts, first at Mystic, and afterwards at Noank. Suffice it to say that the white settlers treated them with marked kindness, and allowed them to visit their former homes at pleas- ure, to gather shell-fish and tautog, and to add the material for succotash from their gardens. A week thus spent by the sea-shore in a temporary wigwam or some outhouse of their white supplanters was highly appreciated, and seemed to add to the happi- ness of the poor Indians, whilst the kindness of the pale-faces was rarely if ever repaid by ingratitude. We leave the history of the Pequots and their over- throw for a separate sketch, and only add that Groton was the seat of power, and the scene of the overthrow of a people in which not only Connecticut but all New England had a deep interest. The field of blood and fire, when five hundred of them perished by the swords and torches of Maj. Mason and his army, on a fair morning in May, 1637, on the summit of Pe- quot Hill, overlooking the valley of the placid Mystic, is still pointed out, and has been designated as the site of a monument properly commemorating an event which formed a crisis in the settlement of New England. The owners of the spot, Messrs. Horace and Edmund Clift, of Mystic River, have generously

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 102

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1317

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1317