History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 172

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 172

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When the New York, Providence and Boston Rail- road Company was chartered by the Legislatures of Connecticut and Rhode Island, in 1836, three ap- praisers of the lands needed by the company were appointed on the part of Connecticut, and also two commissioners for the purchase of the lands. Mr. Williams was one of them, and by skillful manage- ment and fair dealing he succeeded in purchasing lands at prices satisfactory to the owners where others had failed.

Mr. Williams was a man of strict integrity and honor in his business transactions, and by his pru- dence and sagacity acquired a handsome estate. He possessed a genial disposition, was a kind and affec- tionate husband and father, a good neighbor, and an estimable citizen. He was a man of excellent judg- ment, a wise counselor, and liberal and judicious in his benefactions. The writer of this memoir can bear testimony to his kindness to him personally, having by his advice been saved from pecuniary loss. He died March 23, 1861, aged sixty-nine years and nearly nine months, regretted not only by his family but by every one to whom he was known.

Mr. Williams was married by Rev. Ira Hart, April 13, 1815, to Hannah Eliza, daughter of Amos and Hannalı (Williams) Denison. They had nine chil- dren who reached a mature age :

1. Hephzibalı Phelps, born Feb. 9, 1816; married, March 2, 1836, Dr. William Hyde, Jr., and died May 2, 1841.

2. Elizabeth, born Nov. 16, 1817 ; married, Sept. 9, 1841, Cortlandt P. Dixon.

3. Sarah Potter, born May 1, 1825; married, Oct. 21, 1846, William L. Palmer, and died May 18, 1877.

4. Ephraim, born Dec. 1, 1826; married first, Oct. 19, 1849, Pauline Denniston, who died Nov. 26, 1870, and second, July 3, 1873, Mary Denison Babcock.

5. Emeline P., born March 18, 1832; married, Oct. 23, 1855, Jabish Holmes.

6. Amos Denison, born June 30, 1834; married, Dec. 24, 1860, Elizabeth Fitch.

7. Joseph Phelps, born Aug. 8, 1836; married, Oct. 24, 1866, Elizabeth Towne.

8. Jane, born July 27, 1838; married, Sept. 9, 1868, John H. Hunter.

9. Charles Phelps, born Aug. 19, 1840; married, Oct. 28, 1868, Fanny Mallory.

Mrs. Hannah Eliza (Denison) Williams, born Jan. 11, 1799, died June 20, 1877.

Charles Phelps Williams was born at Wequete- quoc, in the town of Stonington, Conn., June 11, 1804. He was the youngest child of Ephraim Williams and Hephzibah Phelps, his wife. On both sides his pa- rentage connected him with the oldest families of the town. His mother was the daughter of Dr. Charles Phelps, a physician who in those days, when a liberal education and professional acquirements were much more rare than now, wielded great influence in the section where he lived and practiced.

Mr. Ephraim Williams died shortly after his son's birth, and the family removed to the borougli of Ston- ington, a place even at that time somewhat interested in foreign commerce, and here Mr. Williams passed his boyhood. He displayed at an early age marked business capacity, and in 1821, before he was seven- teen, he sailed to Bilboa, Spain, as supercargo of a vessel. Developing unusual capacity in this position, he sailed again to the same port, and before he was twenty made a voyage to the African coast as master of what in those days was a large vessel. At this time the sudden rise to importance of the seal-fisheries attracted his attention. He established himself per- manently in the village of Stonington, and became interested in them, laying, before he abandoned them, the foundation of his large fortune. On their decay he entered into the whaling business, and dur- ing the prosperous period in which New England gained wealth and renown he was one of the largest individual ship-owners engaged in that important pursuit. With its decadence he withdrew from active commercial life, and was one of the first corporators under the State laws of the Ocean Bank of Stoning- ton, of which he was elected president, and whose immediate and continued prosperity was largely due to his admirable management. In 1856 he went to Europe with his family, and resigned the presidency, but on his return he was elected first director, a posi- tion which he retained in the reorganization of the bank as the First National.

Mr. Williams took an active part in the building of the Providence and Stonington Railroad, and was for many years president of that corporation.

His keen business foresight had at an early period in the development of the West convinced him of its importance and future greatness, and he became largely interested there. The management of his accumulating property occupied the later years of his life, and he withdrew entirely from active business. In 1878 the severe strain of a life of intense mental activity culminated in failing health, and on Oct. 28,

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1879, he died of a rupture of a blood-vessel in the brain.

To give more than a sketch of his life would be to give a history of the business interests of the county for half a century, for in his long and active career he was prominently connected with many and widely- deviating enterprises. No man in Eastern Connecti- ent was better known in business circles throughout the country, and his wide experience and unvarying success gave pre-eminent value to his judgment and opinion on all matters of finance. In this respect he was a counselor among counselors, not only with con- temporaries, but in his younger days with men older in years and experience than himself, and his remark- able sagacity rarely erred.

One of the most marked features of his personal character was the thorough simplicity of his life. He never sought office of any kind. A man of distin- guished and commanding presence, of most courteous and polished manners, he was averse to all ostentation and avoided public life. His integrity was spotless, and in the management of all the vast interests which he controlled, with the innumerable attendant possi- bilities of error, his reputation stood always above reproach. A man of generous impulse, his charities were as unostentatious as his life, and in his death the poor lost a true and a liberal friend, and the State an upright and valued citizen.

Maria Stanton .- Humanity is one and manifold ; in the constituted whole there is a place and use for every one. No man liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself, and yet there is infinite diversity in the kind and degree of individual actions and influ- ence. Many glide along quietly and unostentatiously in their spheres, are good and useful and happy, but make no popular demonstration. They pass away not indeed unknown and unremembered within their circles of friendly intimacy.

There are those so constituted, predisposed, and conditioned that they become organizing and con- trolling forces in society, they make their mark carly, they stand out distinct in their individuality, they assume and have conceded to them place and power. It is so in the family, in the school, and in the neigh- borhood. The future is foreshadowed in the present and the passing.

As time moves on they become more prominent and efficient in social life. The widening sphere of op- portunity reveals to themselves and others increasing power of adaptability and beneficent enterprise. They are ready, and others are ready, to have them launch out into new and larger schemes of reforming experi- ment and accomplishment. Of this class was Miss Stanton ; she was from early life a person of quick discernment, positive convictions, honest purpose, and prompt action. Her natural gifts, properly developed and trained at home and in the public school, were early swayed by Christian convictions and consecrated to Christian life and activity in the best and broadest

sense, as conditions and opportunity might present. She was a Christian by profession and a Christian in fact, the fact giving credit to the profession. Her Christianity was acknowledged, and the practical evi- dences were expected and given. They were given whenever she was called upon to act. Her idea of Christian life was to task all her powers in obedience to Christ in all relations and conditions. She aimed by skillful management and fidelity to make a happy and a prosperous home; and in this her wise counsels and efficient co-operation were fully appreciated. When the Sunday-school commenced in the Road Church she became a member, and continued to be till the day of her death. She was an industrious, en- thusiastic, and skillful teacher. She was not content with routine duties, but was earnest and inquisitive to devise ways and means to give energy, life, and progressive movement to the school. She was studious herself and incited her scholars to be studious. She was intent to have them understand and appreciate their lessons. She prepared many to be teachers, and many more she led to Christ, even the most that were in her class at different times, and will have them as jewels in her crown of rejoicing in the day of the Lord Jesus. By her own written articles, and by stimulating the scholars to write, she gave intellectual and spiritual character to the concerts.

She was indefatigable in the collection and care of the library, and in stimulating the young to reading habits, and in every way the prosperity of the school was largely the result of her sagacious and untiring labors.

As in the Sunday-school, so in the church, her will to co-operate for its welfare was prompt, discreet, and persistent. She was always in her place, and always ready to act and give her reasons for acting. She was a leader from the clearness of her judgment, the warmth of her feelings, and the earnestness of her purpose to have things done and well done; and she was a leader by the assent, cheerful consent, and co- operation of those who appreciated her ability to plan and execute. The Road Church was dear to ler,-its unity, its numerical and spiritual growth, and its use- fulness. This was manifest, and manifested in such ways that everybody knew it, felt it, and was en- couraged. Even in the affairs of the society her mind and hand were visible. In the improvement of the meeting-house-in its internal arrangement, and in its exterior and surrounding adornments-her skill and taste and power of accomplishment are most ob- vious.

In the memorable bi-centennial of the church she was not only one of the managers, but was so wise, so earnest, and so practical that the marked success of the celebration was in a great measure due to her, and so acknowledged by the people. Not long after- wards, in memory of her services on this occasion, and her long and varied activity for the church, she was presented with a large silver salver and tea-ser-

Mils Maria Stanton

William Aly de

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vice and coffee-urn. But more precious memorials of her are in the hearts of the people. Though dead, she yet speaketh in the Road Church. A marked characteristic and habit of hers was a generous sym- pathy with the afflicted, and abundant kind and judicious ministrations for their relief. Quick to hear, of a tender heart and a helping hand, she was at home in the families tried and saddened by sick- ness, pain, and bereavement. Any call for help had a quick response. But she did not wait to be called. She was in scenes of suffering and sorrow in fulfill- ment of a ministry which she had received of the Lord Jesus to raise up the bowed down, to comfort those that mourn, to bind up the broken-hearted, to soothe the aching head and wipe away the falling tear. She was really a Sister of Charity, a Dorcas in good works.

Miss Stanton's tact and ability in the management of public affairs became so well known and acknowl- edged that she was appointed lady manager of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union for New London County, to raise money to purchase the house and grave of Washington ; therefore she felt a special interest in visiting Mount Vernon with a party of ladies from the Baltimore Convention in 1878. It was at her suggestion and due to her efforts that a tree was planted near the grave of Washington, and it is especially gratifying to her friends that the Women's National Christian Temperance Union, at their last session in Washington, visited Mount Ver- non and held a memorial service around the tree in honor and memory of Miss Stanton, and unanimously resolved to place a tablet by the tree, to carry down the ages the memory of Miss Stanton, whose hand set and held the tree while the other ladies filled in the soil around it.

Looking away from home and abroad upon the great world so greatly stirred with Christian sentiment, so prolific in schemes of Christian enterprise, and so intent in their accomplishment, she felt that she was one in the great host of Christian philanthropy. She was interested in the many forms of evangelizing effort, glad in their success, and glad in the contribu- tions of aid which she was permitted to make and prompt others to make.

During her later years the women's temperance crusade struck a chord in her heart of quick re- sponse. Of life-long temperance habits, and bidding God-speed to all discreet and earnest measures of ref- ormation, she hailed this new women's enterprise as opening to her the field in which to work, and she at once girded herself to the work. Her neighbors felt her inspiring influence, and gave her her place, and co-operated heartily with her. As she moved out from the home circle and found companionship in the larger county, State, and national associations, she was soon and extensively felt to be an acquisition of deliberative wisdom and executive power, and was honored with place and opportunity to give scope to

her aspirations, and to combine with the wisest and best of her sex in their assault upon the strongholds of intemperance, in their warfare, not with flesh and blood merely, but with principalities and powers, with the rulers of the darkness of this world, with spiritual wickedness in high places, in their God-ap- pointed labors to emancipate their suffering sisters from a cruel and degrading bondage, and to promote the home-training of children now hungry and ragged and exposed to vicious habits, that, instead of being a curse to the world and fuel for the never-ending fire, they may be blessings to the world and heirs to an eternal inheritance of glory and blessedness. This was to her a promising field of labor. Her mind and her heart seemed to enlarge with her opportunities, and her future to grow bright with promise. Her as- sociates thought she was the right person brought for- ward at the right time.

But He that doeth all things well had another pur- pose. He who (as she was wont to say ) never makes mistakes called her away from carth to go up higher and serve Him in his immediate presence. Those who esteemed and loved her most will say that what is their loss will be her eternal gain.

William Hyde, son of Dr. William and Rhoda (Palmer) Hyde, was born in Stonington, Conn., Oct. 27, 1808. His early life was passed in that quaint village. He received his education at Partridge's noted military school at Middletown, Conn., where he was a classmate of the distinguished Governor Thomas H. Seymour. He studied medicine with his father, and was graduated at the Medical Department of Harvard University in 1830, when he returned to Stonington and commenced practice with his father, who was a physician of celebrity, enjoying a large practice. From that time till his death, Sept. 25, 1873, he was in active and unceasing practice, and although of a frail organization and for years in poor health, never neglected a case, nor refused to go to the relief of the suffering, and perhaps there never was a physician more popular in his community than he, or one who had so large a number of warm, loving friends. His time was too much engrossed in his profession to often admit of his acceptance of public trust. At the earnest solicitations of his fellow-citi- zens he consented to be placed in candidacy, and was elected to represent Stonington in the Legislatures of 1849 and 1850.

It was through Mr. Hyde's instrumentality that the Stonington Savings-Bank was chartered. He was elected its president, and held that office during his life. The able management of this institution will illustrate his financial as well as professional ability, for the bank is one of the most reliable and prosperous savings institutions in the State. The fol- lowing preamble and resolutions, passed at a meeting of the corporators of this bank, give a just tribute to his memory, and show the opinion of his worth of those who knew him best and most intimately :

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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

" Whereas, God, in his good Providence, has seen fit to remove from among us Dr. William Hyde, who was not only the founder of this bank but the first and only president of this corporation, therefore,

" Resolved, That it is peculiarly our duty, as well as our grateful privi- lege, to express at this time our high appreciation of the great benefits he was the prime means of conferring upon this community by his action in securing the charter of this bank, and by his earnest and arduous labors for ils prosperity and success ; and recognizing the wide-extend- ing influences of his work, we regard with pride this monument he has bnikded to himself in its beneficial effects, and which, while prudence, economy, and thrift remain to be encouraged, shall be the fairest man can build.

" Resolved, That no less as his colleagues in office than as individuals is his death our affliction. A man of sterling integrity, whose action in any and everything we regarded as the stamp of candor and honesty, whose rare judgment was never warped by personal interest or misled by fraudulent pretence, and withal a man of generous heart and warmest sympathies, whose only leaning was towards humanity,-these were qualities which rendered him invaluable in counsel, and which, in the simplest and most intricate transactions of business, we had learned to honor and to respect.

" Resolved, That our personal loss is one which is irreparable. We feel that words can but feebly express the sense of bereavement which we bear. But while we sorrow, we rejoice that in the good providence of Ilim who doeth all things well our friend has finished his course as he has, that his pathway through life is still fragrant with his deeds of kindness and of love, and that, though dead, he still lives in the affec- tionate remembrance of those for and with whom he lived and worked, and who will keep his memory forever green."

Words of enlogium can but feebly express the esteem and affection with which Dr. Hyde was re- garded by the whole community. Early in life he united himself with the Congregational Church, and was a constant attendant and liberal supporter of it. His was truly a life of an unspotted Christian and an unsullied moral character. As a physician, he ex- celled in diagnosing a case. Intuitively he knew at once the exact disease, the extent of its ravages, and the proper remedial agencies to use. His judgment was clear and comprehensive, and he was soon in the front rank of his co-laborers, and won a warm place in the hearts of his patients.

During the session of 1849 he secured the incor- poration of the Stonington Cemetery Association, and was its president for twelve years. The choice selection and arrangement of flowers and shrubbery, and some of the finest specimens of monumental architecture in this most beautiful resting-place of the dead, were the results of his cultured taste.

Dr. Hyde married, March 2, 1836, Hephzibah P., daughter of Hon. Ephraim Williams, of Stonington. She died May 2, 1841. Of their four children one only, William Williams Hyde, approached maturity, and he died aged only nineteen years. Sept. 11, 1843, he married Ellen, daughter of Gen. William Wil- liams, of Stonington, who survives him.

Hon. J. F. Trumbull .- Among the old families of honorable English lineage in New England, and in every generation distinguished in art, literature, or public affairs, we find the Trumbull family. The historian pauses for a short period from the record of events to give an appropriate sketch of one of that name long identified with Stonington and its inter- ests, and without which its history would be incom- plete.

John Franklin Trumbull, youngest child of John and Lucy (Springer) Trumbull, was born July 21, 1796, at Norwich, Conn., where his father published the Norwich Packet and Country Journal, the first paper printed at that place. When but fifteen years old he came to Stonington, and commenced his busi- ness career in the store of his brother, Gurdon Trum- bull. There he remained but a short time, but went to New York, where he in a few years engaged in mercantile pursuits with marked success. When the whaling business was in its prime he returned to the village of Stonington and became largely interested in the whaling interests of that place, and was the head of one of the largest firms engaged therein. This becoming unprofitable, in 1851 Mr. Trumbull built the large stone factory adjoining the break- water, and for several years was manufacturing ma- chinery. He was always an apparently frail man, and ill health caused his withdrawal from business several years previous to his death, which occurred at Stonington, Oct. 28, 1874. Mr. Trumbull married Eliza M., daughter of Lodowick and Betsey Niles, of Stonington, Nov. 25, 1823. She was born Dec. 28, 1798, and died at Brooklyn, N. Y., Feb. 29, 1828. Their children were Horace N. and Eliza M., who died in infancy. Mr. Trumbull's second wife was Ann Eliza, daughter of Joseph and Nancy Smith, of Stonington. She was born Nov. 22, 1809, at Oxford, Chenango Co., N. Y., and was married Sept. 21, 1829. Of their fourteen children the following survived their father : Edwin B., Eliza N. (Mrs. H. C. Robin- son, of Hartford), Harriet (Mrs. Ira H. Palmer), Lucy (Mrs. D. W. Hakes, of Framingham, Mass.), Stiles S., James Van Alen, and Maria B.

Mr. Trumbull was always a leader. In business enterprises, in improvement of his village and matters of public interest, he was one of the first to assist, and whatever his hand found to do was done with all his might. To his liberality and energy much of the growth of Stonington was due. Politically he was well known in State and county circles, represented Stonington in the General Assembly in 1859 and 1864, and was honored with many other important trusts by his people, which were discharged without fear or favor, and to the satisfaction of his constitu- ents. Long before the organization of the Repub- lican party his speeches in Whig State conventions were among the most notable and pleasing events of those occasions. He was a candidate for Presidential elector on the Whig ticket in Gen. Scott's campaign. He went into the anti-slavery movement with zeal, and assisted in the nomination of at least half of the Republican State tickets from 1856 till his death. His campaign speeches will be long remembered by older people throughout this section of the State. He was a man of no little humor, with a fund of anecdote, and a quaint method of expression that won the attention and promoted good nature. He was in many respects not unlike Abraham Lincoln,

A.J. Mathews.

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for whom he cherished an ardent friendship, and with whom he corresponded. They had the same qualities of story-telling and strong, positive action, coupled with original and scintillating wit, and in their . speeches there was the same hard, practical common sense, illumined by off-hand humor, and the same faculty of always saying a good thing to point a moral. He was an effective temperance worker and speaker. In all his dealings he was honorable, in his friendships true and loyal, in his family a kind hus- band and a loving father, and when his life closed the whole community and a broad range of acquaint- ance were shrouded in gloom. He was for many years a consistent member of the Second Congrega- tional Church of Stonington, and was deeply imbued with the spirit of practical Christianity, and generous in its support.

A. S. Mathews .- The history of the Providence and Stonington Railroad is one of marked interest to this section of the State, and also to Rhode Island. No history, however, would be complete nor give a correct description without a personal sketch of one so long and so closely identified with its construction, management, and interests as Andrew S. Mathews.

He was born at Elk Ridge, Anne Arundel Co., Md., Sept. 1, 1814. His father, Dr. Wm. P. Mathews, was a native of Ireland, was educated and graduated at the University of Dublin, and shortly after emigrated to America, where lie married Eliza Sterritt, of an old and honorable Maryland family, and at once took a high rank in his profession. They had seven chil- dren, of whom Andrew was sixth. His parents dying when he was but seven years old, Andrew went to re- side with an elder brother, but early commenced to take care of himself. He was educated at Same's Seminary, at Ellicott City, Md. He left school, how- ever, when but twelve years of age, and went on a railroad to work with his brother Charles, who was a large railroad contractor. When he was sixteen years old he was in the service of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company as assistant to a civil en- gineer, and continued in that capacity two years. He next went to work on the Harlem Railroad, in New York, as superintendent of a gang of hands who were working for his brother Charles, who had a con- tract for grading that road. During the same time he was in the same employment for his brother on the Paterson and Hudson Railroad, and was on these roads about eighteen months. As he advanced in years he was advanced rapidly to responsible posi- tions. He went to Boston and took a position as civil engineer in the service of the Boston and Provi- dence Railroad Company, and occupied it three years. During that time he was also employed by the Taun- ton Branch Railroad Company as civil engineer in constructing that road. In the summer of 1836, Mr. Mathews entered the service of the New York, Prov- idence and Boston Railroad, more generally known as the Providence and Stonington Railroad, and from

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History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 172

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