History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 88

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 88

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Eng 2 by A & Fit VE

David Smith

Henry 13 Tracy

26. P. Stimmer.

yours truly DS Bully

Engeby A. H Ritchie

HGB Norton

359

NORWICH.

The character of Mr. Tracy was distinguished by sterling uprightness, and it was said of him by those who placed business transactions in his hands that he discharged the trusts assigned to him with the same promptness, energy, and fidelity that he would in the conduct of his own affairs. Socially he was loved and esteemed by a large circle of friends and admirers, who valued him not less for his genuine personal qualities than for his integrity, justness, and high- minded business habits. Politically he was a Demo- crat.

Henry Barker Norton, born in the town of Bran- ford, State of Connecticut, county of New Haven, May 5, 1807, came to the town of Norwich, county of New London, in the month of April, 1824. From then to the present time has been continually occupied in merchandise, commerce, and manufactures.

Hiram P. Arms was born at Windsor, Conn., June 1, 1799, a descendant in the fifth generation of Wil- liam Arms, of Deerfield, Mass. Fitted for college under the tuition of the Rev. Nathan Perkins, of Amherst, Mass., class of 1795, and at Phillips Acad- emy, under John Adams, LL.D., class of 1795. After graduation taught a private school in New Haven, and pursued theological studies under the instruction of Profs. Taylor, Fitch, and Gibbs. Took charge of the Kingston Academy, N. Y., for a year or two.

After preaching a few years in Sing Sing, N. Y., and in Longmeadow, Mass., was ordained at Hebron, Conn., June 30, 1830. Dismissed at his own request, Oct. 10, 1832. Installed pastor of the Congregational Church in Wolcottville, Conn., Feb. 6, 1833. Dis- missed July 6, 1836, to accept a call from the First Church in Norwich, Conn., where he was installed Aug. 3, 1836.

On the 20th of February, 1873, being then seventy- four years of age, he resigned the active duties of his pastorate, but continues to reside among his people as pastor emeritus.

On retiring from the active labors of the ministry, the parish generously presented him with a life-an- nuity, which gives to his family a comfortable support while he lives.

He has been twice married, first to Lucy Ann Wad- hams, of New Haven, Sept. 12, 1824. She died July 3, 1837, leaving five children. His second wife was Abby Jane Baker, of New York, to whom he was married Sept. 12, 1838.

The evening of his uneventful life he is passing pleasantly in a quiet home, among a kind and affec- tionate people. .

Rev. David Niles Bentley was born in North Stonington, Conn., July 27, 1785. He was the third son of Mr. Ezekiel Bentley, who died Feb. 4, 1834, in the ninety-seventh year of his age. His mother was Miss Anna Chapman, eldest daughter of Deacon Joseph Chapman, of Groton, now Ledyard. She died Oct. 25, 1853, aged ninety-seven years.

On the last of April, 1799, young Bentley was hired

as a chore-boy to Mr. Barzillai Davison, of this city. He, with the family of Mr. Davison, attended the old Episcopal Church, of which Rev. John Tyler was pastor. He obtained the English Prayer-Book then in use, and read the lessons and prayers with the con- gregation, and made the responses as audibly as Deacon Warren. At the expiration of six months he went home, where he spent most of the winter in at- tending the district school. The intermissions were passed with the teacher in study. In the spring of 1800 he was " bound out" as an apprentice to Mr. Barzillai Davison, of Norwich, to learn the trade of a goldsmith. Soon after he went with a fellow-ap- prentice, Mr. Nicholas Chevalier, several years older, to the Methodist meeting, where the latter, who was very wicked, soon professed to be converted, quit his business, and went about holding meetings. About this time Capt. William Davison, brother of his em- ployer, ran a packet from Norwich to New York, and coming home sick with the yellow fever, and dying, with his mate, the citizens became alarmed and many families went into the country. Among them was the family of Mr. Barzillai Davison, leaving Mr. Bentley to take care of the house and shop. He had now but little to do other than reading the Bible, watching with the sick, and attending prayer-meet- ings. Just at this time the eccentric Lorenzo Dow came into the place and preached in a room then oc- cupied by the Methodists, in an old wooden building on the north side of Water Street. In his unsettled and gloomy state of mind he went to hear, taking a seat directly behind him, partially concealed by the door. During his discourse the preacher described the condition and feelings of a sinner under conviction for sin. After he had very clearly portrayed to the congregation his condition, he turned himself squarely round, and laying his hand on the head of Mr. Bent- lcy, said, " Young man, is not that the truth, and you can't deny it ?"

He was baptized in the Yantic River, near the New London depot, by Rev. Peter Vannest, in the same year, and began the practice of fasting on Friday, which he continued nearly three years (when he was taken with the yellow fever1), and still continued it until he was instructed by his physician that the habit was injurious to his health. After convalescence, be- coming free from the indentures of his employer, and being at leisure, he traveled on horse the New London Circuit with Rev. Nathan Emory. Believing that he could be more useful in local than itinerant ministry, he commenced business as a plumber and brass- founder in 1805. In the fall of this year he married Miss Letitia Gardner, daughter of David Gardner, Esq., of Bozrah. She was an earnest Christian, an af- fectionate mother, an obliging friend, and a devoted wife. Eleven children lived to realize and return her undying love, and four died in infancy.

1 1804.

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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

Mr. Bentley began business with nothing but his hands, the respect of the community, and His blessing " that maketh rich ;" yet by honesty and integrity in his transactions, despite the expenses of a numerous family, he amassed property, and has presented a noble instance of generosity which should lead others to emulate his heaven-deposited charity. Chiefly by his liberality and indemnification the church was built upon the Wharf Bridge, previous to which a large part of the expenses accruing from the rents of religious conventicles-"keeping" the preachers' horses, fuel, and lights-was met by his unstinted charity. The Sachem Street, Main Street, Central, and Greenville Churches were all early indebted largely to his con- tributions, both of money and exertions. In order to prosecute the erection of the church that was lost by the flood, after suffering it to absorb his ready means, he mortgaged his house to furnish the requisite defi- ciency, making it a security for a note of six hundred dollars. His name, in gold, at least, is inscribed on all the pillars of the above churches, and the memory of his munificence can hardly be less than " apples of gold in baskets of silver."

In 1817 he was solicited to remove to Zanesville, Ohio, and taking the precaution to go and become fully apprised of the position before concluding the agreement, he passed most of the journey in a single team, and decided to emigrate by the 25th of Decem- ber following. He was prevented from going by a fall from a horse, and was disabled for three months, the effects of which have never been fully removed. His peculiar experience in 1827 is transcribed from his own pen :

"It was the commencement of the great 'anti-Masonic excitement,' which extended all over the country, from one end to the other, enter- ing every circle, domestic, political, and religious. If any one did not take sides with either party he was despised by both. I was a Free- mason ; had passed through every degree of the institution from an Entered Apprentice to the Council, but had not met with the lodge since the laying of the corner-stone of the Sachem Street Methodist Episcopal Church, not because there was anything wicked in the institution, but because my time was required by duties to my family, the church, and the salvation of my fellow-men. After a while it became known that I had not renounced the institution, and a committee was appointed to wait on me and inform me that I must renounce Masonry or be re- nounced as a preacher. I wrote to them that I did not understand what they meant by 'renouncing.' If they meant that I must expose or di- vulge any secret, mark, or sign, I never should do it. They said there were no 'secrets' now, that they had been all revealed and published to the world. 'Then,' I replied, ' I can't reveal that which is already ex- posed to public view.' So they let me alone, threatening to raise a mob and pry out the corner-stone of the church which the Freemasons had laid."

As will be remembered from the previous references, Mr. Bentley commenced his labors as a local preacher soon after conversion, and continued in this unre- munerative field as long as his health would permit. In 1811, and for several succeeding years, he alter- nated with the traveling ministry at the Landing and Bean Hill, except at such times as an exchange was effected with other local ministers. He also at this early date began to preach at the almshouse.

This abbreviated account of his life cannot be better concluded than in his own language :

" It is now (1859) more than sixty-two years since I received my first license to preach, although the world culled my labors 'preaching' two or three years before. During all those many years I never have pocketed a dollar beyond my expenses of traveling to and from my appointments. More than half of that time I kept a team of my own. It may truly be said I have been the poor man's minister. For more than sixty-three years I have held meetings at the almshouse in this city regularly once in three weeks, and when sick or absent I have supplied a substitule. During that length of time I have attended two hundred and three funerals at the almshouse.

"I began the world with nothing but my hands. I have literally labored seven days in the week for fifty years. Quite a number of times when I have been at work casting brass a messenger has called for me to go and nttend a funeral three or six miles off. Such calls, or some- thing not altogether dissimilar, I have answered in all the towns within twenty miles of my residence. And now, if I can but see weeping peni- tents inquiring what they shall do to be saved, and hear them shout the praise of a sin-forgiving God, I think I shall feel like exclaiming, with Simeon, 'Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.'"

Mrs. Betsey Bentley, the venerable consort of Rev. David N. Bentley, was the fourth child of Mr. James Rogers, of Montville, Conn. Her mother's maiden name was Miss Elizabeth Howard. She was born Aug. 9, 1790.

Mr. Bentley is now one of the oldest, if not the oldest, living natives of the county, being ninety-six years of age.

Franklin Nichols, one of the successful business men and leading bankers in Connecticut, was born in Thompson, Conn., Aug. 11, 1805. His boyhood was passed in his native town, sharing the advantages of the schools of those days. At an carly age he com- menced business for himself in the improvement of extensive farming lands inherited from his father, which honorable vocation he continued, with an older brother, until May, 1840, when he removed to Nor- wich and became a member of the firm of Nichols & Eddy, wholesale grocers. The firm subsequently changed to Nichols & Evans, and later to Nichols, Evans & Almy.

In 1844, Mr. Nichols retired from the firm, and engaged in the cotton business in company with the late Leonard Ballou. He, however, remained in this business but about two years, and then engaged in banking operations.

In the spring of 1833 he assisted in obtaining the charter for the Thompson Bank, which was organized in the fall of the same year with eleven directors, all of whom are deceased except himself.

He has been prominently identified with the Thames Bank since 1846. He was chosen president in 1851, and has officiated in that capacity to the present time. When he entered the bank as a director it had a capi- tal of two hundred thousand dollars, with little or no surplus. It has made dividends all this time of from six to twelve per cent. per annum, and now has a capital of one million dollars, with about three hun- dred and fifty thousand dollars surplus.

Mr. Nichols has been a director in the Norwich

Eng" by A H Ruch.s

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NORWICH.

avings Society since 1851, and its president since 379. He was also one of the incorporators of the hames Loan and Trust Company in 1869, and for veral years its president. He was chosen a director 1 the Gas Company upon its organization, and is now le president and only surviving member of the original board of directors. He assisted in the organization f the Bank of Mutual Redemption in Boston, and this institution also he is the only original member ft in the board. Mr. Nichols was also a director in ne Norwich and Worcester Railroad. Politically he 3 a Republican ; was formerly a Whig.

Mr. Nichols is a public-spirited citizen, and all measures for the development of either the material, eligious, or educational interests of his adopted city nd in him an earnest supporter. He is a prominent member of Park Congregational Church, and was ctive in the organization of the society and the rection of the church edifice. He was chairman of he first meeting of the church and society.

Oct. 17, 1839, he united in marriage with Hannah ?. Fairfield, a native of Pomfret, and their family consisted of one child, a son, Franklin Nichols, de- eased.

Franklin Nichols' life has been one of steady and ictive devotion to business, and his success is the natural result of his ability to examine and readily comprehend any subject presented to him, power to lecide promptly, and courage to act with vigor and persistency in accordance with his convictions.

Hon. Lorenzo Blackstone dates his ancestry in his country to William Blackstone, to whom is ac- corded the honor of having been the first settler in Boston. William Blackstone came to America prior o 1628, and first located in Charlestown, where he re- nained until 1635, when he removed to lands which le had purchased near the present junction of Beacon ind Charles Streets. He is also of the same stock as the great English legal commentator of the last cen- ury, Sir William Blackstone.

Lorenzo Blackstone was born at Branford, Conn., June 21, 1819. His boyhood was passed in his native own, where he attended the district school and acad- emy. After spending a number of years in acquiring a Knowledge of accounts, he resolved to engage in busi- hess for himself, and in 1842 left America for Liver- pool, England, where he established an agency and commission-house for the sale of American merchan- lise. He entered into the business with energy and perseverance, and it rapidly increased, until he had branches in London and Manchester, and his trans- actions reached every part of Great Britain and even extended to the Continent and Australia. In about the year 18- he added to his business the sale of rub- ber overshoes, being the first to introduce the Good- year rubber goods into Great Britain. He had built up a large trade in this particular line of business when he was notified by Charles Mackintosh & Co., the great rubber manufacturers of Manchester, that he was in-

fringing on their rights as owners of the patents of Thomas Hancock, who was in litigation with Charles Goodyear. And just here the business tact and char- acteristic foresight of the man displayed itself. He at once entered into an arrangement with Messrs. Mack- intosh & Co. which gave him the exclusive right to sell rubber boots and shoes in every part of Great Brit- ain, and at the same time secured himself against the competition of American manufacturers and their English agents. For a time he purchased goods in- discriminately of various American companies, but in 1846 he began to sell the goods of the Hayward Rub- ber Company, of Colchester, Conn., and soon after invested in the stock, which he holds at the present time. His sales of rubber boots and shoes amounted to several hundred thousand dollars per year. He con- tinued in this business until 1855, when he returned to Branford, continuing, however, the business of his house, with its branches in England.

His intimate relations with his brothers-in-law, the Messrs. Norton, who had been for several years prom- inent merchants in Norwich, Governor Buckingham, and other officers of the Hayward Rubber Company resident in Norwich, decided him to make that thriv- ing eity his permanent home, and removed thither in 1857, where he has since resided.

Mr. Blackstone soon after closed his business in Eu- rope, and in 1859 embarked in the cotton manufacture, in which he has since continued with great success. In three years he purchased the property formerly known as the Blashfield Factory, one of the earliest en- terprises in the State. The mill had been burned prior to the purchase of the property by Mr. Blackstone, and he at once erected a substantial brick building, which is supplied with all the modern improvements and has a capacity of ten thousand spindles. The mill received the name of the Attawaugan Mill, the name being of local Indian origin. Additional ma- chinery to the capacity of eight thousand spindles was soon after added, making twenty-eight thousand in all. In 1865 he enlarged his business by the pur- chase of the privilege next above that of the Attawau- gan Mill, owned by Leonard Ballou, and erected a new mill with a capacity of eighteen thousand spin- dles. Soon after the erection of this mill he pur- chased the Amesbury privilege and erected a mill for weaving subsidiary to the Ballou Mill. The Atta- waugan Manufacturing Company, owning and oper- ating these mills, consists of Mr. Blackstone, together with his brothers-in-law, Henry B., Timothy P., and William T. Norton. In 1870 this company purchased the Potokett Mills (built in 1868 for a woolen-mill), in the town of Norwich, with a capacity of fourteen thousand spindles, and in 1877 built the Pequot Mills, Montville.

Mr. Blackstone is also largely interested in other corporations, and is a successful and progressive cap- italist. He is a director and one of the executive committee of the Ponemah Manufacturing Company,

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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

the largest cotton manufacturing company in Con- necticut, and one of the largest in New England; is president of the Chelsea Savings-Bank, and director of the Thames National Bank of Norwich, and in the Chicago and Alton Railroad Company of Illinois, and also has large interests in other railroads, mostly in the West.

Mr. Blackstone is a public-spirited citizen, and has ever labored earnestly to advance the interests of his adopted city. He is a trustee of the Norwich Free Academy ; has been alderman of the city a number of years ; mayor four years; represented his town in the Legislature in 1871, and in 1878 he was elected State Senator on the Republican ticket, and in the session of 1879 served on the Committee on Finance with marked ability and success.

Oct. 17, 1842, he united in marriage with Emily, daughter of Asa Norton, of Branford, Conn., and their family has consisted of three children,-James De Trafford, Harriet Belle, Ellen Frances, William Norton, and Louis Lorenzo, all of whom reside in Norwich.

John Mitchell was born in Stonebridge, near Bir- mingham, England. He remained in his native land until eight years of age, when he emigrated with his parents to America, settling in New York City, and three years later in Wareham, Mass.

The iron business seems to have been an heirloom in the Mitchell family, as his grandfather was engaged in the same business, and his father came to this country in the employ of the Sterling Iron Company, whose works were located on the ground now occupied by the dry-goods establishment of Lord & Taylor, on Broadway, New York. Mr. Mitchell remained in the iron business at Wareham, a portion of the time in the employ of his father, who was conducting the Wash- ington Iron-Works, until 1845, when he came to Nor- wich with his father, the latter taking the management of the Cold Spring Iron-Works. Upon the failure of these works the property was purchased, in 1850, by Mr. Mitchell, his father, and in 1852 the late J. M. Huntington also became a partner in the business, under the firm-name of J. M. Huntington & Co. This firm continued until 1862, when Mr. Huntington withdrew, and it was continued by Mr. Mitchell and his next youngest brother, under the firm-name of Mitchell Brothers. His brother was killed in May, 1864, and soon after Mr. Mitchell's eldest son, Albert G., and Mr. Azel W. Gibbs became associated with him, and in 1879 his youngest son, Frank, also became interested in the business. This enterprising firm added to their already large operations the Thames Iron-Works, which were purchased in November, 1879. Mr. Mitchell is also president of the Richmond Stove Company. The annual product of the three mills amounts to about half a million dollars.

Mr. Mitchell is a public-spirited citizen, and all meas- ures tending to advance the interests of his adopted city receive his earnest support. He has held many

positions of trust and responsibility in financial cir- cles. He is a director in the Thames National Bank, in Norwich Savings Society, and also in the Thames Loan and Trust Company. Politically he is a Repub- lican, and attends the Second Congregational Church. In 1841 he united in marriage with Joanna Dexter Gibbs, and they have two children living, Albert G. and Frank A.

Benjamin Durfey was born in the town of .Gris- wold, New London Co., Conn. He was one of a family of seven sons and daughters. His father was a sturdy farmer. His acres were like many others common to New England,-well fitted to develop both mind and muscle. The constant problem to be solved by their owners is how to extort from the unwilling soil the necessaries of life. This problem has in numerous instances been solved, and the reluctant carth made to yield to those engaged in its cultivation not a bare subsistence merely, but the means of moral and intellectual culture also, developing by the pro- cess a race of men unexcelled for physical and mental endurance.

So great was the disparity between the natural capabilities of Mr. Durfey's farm and the wants of his large family, and so apparent the blessing of God upon his labors in the harvest which followed them, that his neighbors were accustomed to say that " Mr. Durfey could not have reared his large family from the avails of such a poor farm unless he had been a very good man," thus honoring his industry and picty, two qualifications for success which seem to have descended as a rich legacy to his son, who, beginning with no other inheritance, also reared a family of seven children, and accumulated as a surplus a handsome estate. Benjamin Durfey passed the early part of his life upon his father's farm, sharing its toils and availing himself of such educational advantages as the district school afforded. In 1828 he went to Greeneville, now an important part of the city of Norwich, but then without an existence except on the surveyor's map. The waters of the Shetucket River had hitherto flowed uselessly along on their way to the sea, past the sites of the present flourishing villages of Baltic, Occum, Taftville, and Greeneville. But now the time had come for turning them into nse. A few large-minded men, among whom the late W. P. Greene and W. C. Gilman were prominent, conceived the project of throwing a dam across the river about two miles from its mouth. To carry out this project and thus make these waters available, the Norwich Water-Power Company was incorporated in 1828, and a consider- able tract of land purchased on both sides of the river. It was at this time that Benjamin Durfey ap- peared on the ground, before a stone had been laid, or a street opened, or a spade driven into the earth. In the following year he married, and commenced house- keeping in the only building then standing within the corporate limits. Thus he was literally the " pioncer" in the settlement of the large and flourishing village

John Mitchell

Willis & Austin

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NORWICH.

of Greeneville. From the first he manifested a de- cided interest in all measures to advance the material and religious welfare of the community, enjoying the confidence and respect of the people. There was scarcely an important civil office or place of trust in the gift of his fellow-citizens which he was not called to fill. He was manager of the Water-Power Con- pany, president and treasurer of the Fire Association, constable, and justice of the peace. He was repeat- edly on the Board of Relief and Board of Assessors. He was called to represent the town in the State Legislature. Before a stone in the foundation of the first factory was laid a weekly prayer-meeting was established at his house, a Sunday-school soon fol- lowed at the same place, and then public religious worship. He and nineteen others were constituted a Congregational Church by an Ecclesiastical Council convened for the purpose. For thirty-six years he served as chairman of the committee of the ecclesias- tical society connected with that church.

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History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 88

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