USA > Connecticut > New London County > Norwich > History of Norwich, Connecticut: from its possession by the Indians, to the year 1866 > Part 63
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William A. Buckingham, 1857,-18th presidential election; James Buchanan elected; opposition candidate, J. C. Fremont.
In these four elections Connecticut gave her whole vote for the minority candidate.
Members of Congress who were residents and citizens of Norwich, and Rep- resentatives of this part of Connecticut.
1. Gov. Samuel Huntington, President of the Continental Congress.
2. Judge Benjamin Huntington, of the Continental Congress, and also a member under the Constitution from 1789 to 1791.
3. Calvin Goddard, M. C. from 1801 to 1805; afterward Judge of the Superior Court of Connecticut.
4. General Ebenezer Huntington, an officer of the Revolution,-twice elected to Congress, in 1810 and again in 1817.
5. James Lanman ; U. S. Senator for six years, from 1819 to 1825.
6. Jabez W. Huntington, M. C. from 1829 to 1834; U. S. Senator from 1840 to his death,-six years. Between these two periods of Con- gressional duty, he served as Judge of the Supreme Court of Errors and of the Superior Court of Connecticut. He died Nov. 1, 1847, aged 59. Senator Huntington was widely known and appreciated for his prudence, sagacity and decision as a counselor and judge.
7. John A. Rockwell, M. C. from 1845 to 1849. Mr. Rockwell was for many years a successful practitioner in the Court of Claims at Wash-
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ington, and in connection with this branch of public business, digested and published a work on Spanish and Mexican law. In political life he was more of a national man than a partizan; a true lover of his country ; warmly interested in its past history, honoring its founders, and firmly believing in its high mission to expand the boundaries of knowledge and free government. He died at Washington, Feb. 10, 1861, aged 59. His remains were interred at Norwich.
8. La Fayette S. Foster, U. S. Senator since 1855. Mr. Foster is a native of Franklin, born Nov. 22, 1806, and a graduate of Brown Uni- versity. As a lawyer and political orator, he has acquired an honorable reputation, and is particularly noted for the tact, decision and impartiality that are necessary to make a good presiding officer in large assemblies. This has been manifested in his public life, as Mayor of the City, chair- man of many political meetings, Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives, and President pro tem. of the U. S. Senate. To this last office he was chosen at the first session of the 39th Congress, March 6, 1865.
The following members of Congress from other States are natives of Norwich, in its present limits :
Phineas L. Tracy, from New York. William Woodbridge, from Mich.
Albert H. Tracy,
Charles Miner, " Penn.
Erastus Corning,
Thomas L. Harris, " III.
Abel Huntington,
Decease of Persons connected with the Legal Profession.
1. J. G. W. Trumbull, a native of Lebanon, settled at Norwich in 1815; died Sept. 5, 1852, aged 65.
2. Roswell Morgan, died July 12, 1853, aged 77.
3. James Stedman, a native of Hampton, graduated at Yale in 1801, and remained as tutor for two years; studied law with Theodore Dwight, and entered into practice at Norwich in 1806. He was for many years Clerk of the County Court. In private life he was social and hospitable; in his profession a wise and safe counselor, and in the church a revered and beloved officer. He died May 18, 1856, aged 76.
4. George Bliss, County Sheriff, died at the old homestead of his an- cestors, in the town-plot, Sept. 12, 1857, aged 53.
5. Asa Child, d. May 11, 1858, aged 59.
6. George B. Ripley, Judge of the Probate Court, d. July 9, 1858.
7. Levi II. Goddard, d. May 9, 1862, aged 53.
La Magette S. Master
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8. Edmund Perkins, d. Aug. 2, 1865, aged 46.
9. Joseph Williams, d. Nov. 28, 1865, in the 87th year of his age.
Mr. Williams graduated at Yale College in 1798, in a class of twenty- one, and for several of the last years of his life his name was the only one in the catalogue of the class against which the ominous asterisk was not placed. He studied law in New Haven, and was in the office and family of the Hon. Simeon Baldwin at the time of the sudden decease of his father, Gen. Joseph Williams, in October, 1800. He soon entered into practice in his native town, and his father having left a young family and an embarrassed estate, he was not only brother, but father, friend and guardian to the remainder of the household, administering to their welfare and success in life with duteous affection and persistent generosity. Dur- ing the sixty years that he liad an office in the city, he held a great variety of public offices, and discharged the duties of each with fidelity and dis- cretion. In 1813-14, an exciting period of the war with Great Britain, Joseph Williams and Nathaniel Shipman were the calm, judicious men that the town sent to represent them in the Legislature. Mr. Williams was for a series of years the State agent for the Mohegans, and in his retentive memory various interesting incidents, gathered in his intercourse with the tribe, were treasured.
He was justice of the peace forty years ; alderman of the city twenty- two years ; the first secretary and treasurer of the Fire Insurance Com- pany, and held the office nearly fifty years, beginning with 1803; cashier of the Merchants' Bank upwards of forty years, and at the time of his death, president of the Norwich Savings Society, of which he was one of the original corporators.
He was a member of the Congregational Church for thirty-five years, and in his conduct and conversation a consistent Christian .*
Of the living members of the Norwich bar, the oldest on the list is Samuel C. Morgan. He is a native of Lisbon ; commenced practice in Jewett City in 1816, but has been for nearly thirty years a resident in Norwich.
The whole number in the town, enrolled as attorneys at the present date, is nearly thirty. Those who have been in practice for thirty years or more, are
George Perkins, La Fayette S. Foster,
John T. Adams, John T. Wait.
* Mr. Williams took a lively interest in the proposals of the author of this work to prepare a complete history of the town, and when the earlier pages went to the press, was still on the stage of life. It is a source of painful regret that many aged citizens from whose reminiscences so many interesting facts have been derived, should have passed away without sharing in the pleasure of seeing the finished work.
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Physicians of Norwich.
John Olmstead, (or Holmstead,) one of the first company of settlers from Saybrook in 1660 ; died in 1686.
Samuel Abell, oldest son of Caleb and Margaret (Post) Abell ; he died Nov. 21, 1731, aged 59.
Solomon Tracy, a youth at the time of the settlement ; d. July 2, 1732, aged about 80.
Caleb Bushnell, a native of the town ; d. Feb. 18, 1725, aged 46.
Samuel Law, a transient resident, 1718-20.
Robert Bell, from Ipswich ; father-in-law of Capt. John Fillmore ; died Aug. 23, 1727.
David Hartshorn, from Reading, Mass., about 1700; settled at the West Farms; d. Nov. 3, 1738, aged 82.
Elijah Hartshorn, also of the West Farms, practising in 1780 and onward; d. in 1839, aged 85.
John Sabin, of West Farms; d. March 2, 1742, aged 46.
Thomas Worden, d. 1759 ; he had probably been in practice more than thirty years.
Christopher Huntington, son of that Christopher who was the first-born son of Norwich. He married for his first wife the daughter of Dr. Caleb Abell, and settled in the parish of New Concord. That he was a physi- cian we infer from the title of Doctor which was attached to his name in 1718.
Christopher Huntington, son of the above, born in 1719, died in 1800. A third Dr. Christopher Huntington, son of the last named, though a reg- ular and highly esteemed physician, does not properly belong to our list, as he practised in Bozrah after it became a distinct town.
Joseph Perkins, of Newent Society ; graduated at Yale College in 1727, and in 1729 was styled the town doctor. He was distinguished for surgical skill as well as for successful treatment of diseases. He died July 7, 1794, aged 90.
Joseph Perkins, oldest son of the above, born in 1733, was also a prac- tising physician, studying with his father, but not taking a degree. He was the father of Major Joseph Perkins of Norwich, and died at the age of 37.
Benjamin Wheat, from Cambridge, Mass., settled in Norwich as a phy- sician about 1730; died in 1758, aged 49.
John Barker, of Norwich West Farms, forty years in practice, and first President of the County Medical Society. He died June 13, 1791, aged 62. A contemporary notice gives him credit for a "peculiar readiness to communicate for general information whatever his penetrating genius, per- severing observation and long experience had brought to view."
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Samuel H. Barker, of West Farms ; d. June 11, 1794, in the 30th year of his age.
" If worth and merit from death's jaws could save,
Barker, our friend, had always shunned the grave."
[Obituary verses by one of his pupils.
Theophilus Rogers, a son of Capt. Ezekiel Rogers of Lynn, Mass., re moved to Norwich about 1720 ; d. Sept. 29, 1753, aged 54.
Ezekiel Rogers, oldest son of the above, was prepared for the medical profession, but died at the age of 22.
Theophilus Rogers, Jr., like his brother, acquired his professional knowl- edge by study and practice with his father. His name stands first on the list of eleven physicians who in 1773 applied to the Legislature for per- mission to organize a State Medical Society. Dr. Rogers was afterwards President of the New London County Medical Association. He was highly esteemed, not only as a physician, but for public spirit and social amenity. He was nearly fifty years in practice, and died Sept. 29, 1801, aged 70.
Elisha Tracy, graduated at Yale College in 1738, and studied for his profession with the senior Dr. Rogers. He was eminently skillful in med- icine and surgery, and one of the earliest advocates for inoculation as a preventive of small pox. He died May 1, 1783, aged 71.
Philemon Tracy, son to the above ; fifty-five years in practice, an able physician, faithful in his vocation, respected and beloved in the commu- nity. He was distinguished for his skill in the treatment of chronic dis- eases ; discriminating, thorough and attentive in all his professional duties. He died April 26, 1837, aged 80.
Elihu Marvin, a native of Lyme; student and son-in-law of the second Dr. Theophilus Rogers. He had been a lieutenant in the Revolutionary war, and was appointed brigadier-general of militia in 1793. He died of yellow fever in 1798, aged 45.
Seth Marvin, a young physician who studied and practised in Norwich, but died at sea in the ship Hope in 1799.
Jonathan Marsh, practised in Norwich ; joined the expedition against Crown Point as a surgeon in 1755; died in 1766.
Jonathan Marsh, Jr., noted for surgical skill, and particularly in the line of bone-setting. He died April 17, 1798, aged 44.
Elisha Lord, nephew of the Rev. Dr. Lord of the First Church. He served in the army on the Canadian frontier as a surgeon ; died March 16, 1768, aged 40.
Doctor Lodema, born in Norwich, March 16, 1759; died in Canterbury, Feb. 21, 1855, nearly 96 years of age.
Richard Tozor, a student with Dr. Benjamin Wheat. He joined the Louisburg expedition in 1745, as surgeon's mate, and never returned.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
Dominie Touzain. On the grave-stone of Col. John Durkee is the fol- lowing memorial :
"In memory of Doct" Dominie Touzain who was lost in a hurricane in March 1782 in ye 31st year of his age."
Benjamin Moore practiced a few years at the Landing. In 1793, he advertised that he was about to leave Norwich. He died in Demarara, not long afterward.
Azor, son of Eliphalet Carew, a short time in practice, but went abroad for his health, and died on his passage from London to New York, Jan. 18, 1800.
Philip Turner, student and son-in-law of Dr. Elisha Tracy, surgeon- general of the Eastern department in the Revolutionary war. In the line of surgery he stood at the head of the medical faculty in this country. The credit has been awarded to him of being the first surgeon in America that performed the operation of tying the femoral artery. He died at New York in 1815, aged 75.
John Turner, son of the above, a man of genial disposition and genuine benevolence ; as a physician, skillful and popular. He died May 7, 1837, aged 73.
George W. Trott studied with Dr. Tracy, and was licensed by the Con- necticut Medical Society. His card, offering his services as a physician at Norwich, was dated Jan. 18, 1803. He soon removed to Wilkesbarre, Penn.
Benjamin Butler studied with Dr. Turner, practiced a short time in Norwich, and then removed to New York.
Charles Worthington, in the year 1800, offered his services as a physi- cian, advertising that he had been licensed by the Medical Society.
Lemuel Boswell, for many years the principal practicing physician in Chelsea ; died Aug. 18, 1804, aged 69.
Thomas B. Boswell, died Feb. 3, 1829, aged 49.
George Tisdale, began practice at Norwich in June, 1799, and died in November, 1824, aged 51.
Nathan Tisdale, died July 15, 1830, aged 58. These were brothers, and natives of Lebanon .*
Rufus Spalding, removed from Nantucket to Norwich-town in 1812; died Aug. 22, 1830, aged 70.
Alfred E. Perkins, son of Major Joseph Perkins, graduated at Yale College in 1830; acquired the degree of M. D. in 1833, but died Oct. 29, 1834, before entering on professional duty. He was a young man of high attainments and fine promise. In his will he bequeathed to the Library
* George H., only son of Dr. Nathan Tisdale, emigrated to Alabama in 1837, and there died at Selma, Sept. 22, 1865, aged 51.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
of Yale College a fund of $10,000, the interest to be used in the purchase of books .*
Chauncey Burgess, died Aug. 8, 1850, aged 56.
John P. Fuller, died May 15, 1861, of scarlet fever. Dr. Fuller was originally from Providence, but had practiced, before removing to Nor- wich, in Salem, Ct. He had a wide-extended popularity, as a skillful surgeon and successful practitioner, and was often summoned to neighbor- ing towns for operation or advice in critical cases.
At the present time there are more than twenty surgeons and physi- cians, practitioners of the different systems, in the town. Richard P. Tracy is the veteran of the list, having been nearly fifty years in practice.
Worthington Hooker, a native of Springfield, Mass., began to practice in Norwich in 1829. He removed to New Haven in 1852, and has since been connected with the Medical Department of Yale College.
William P. Eaton, a native of Plainfield, has been for forty-six years a resident in Norwich,-Nov. 19, 1819, being the date of his settlement in the place as a medical practitioner. He withdrew from professional practice after a few years, and has since been engaged in the drug busi- ness ; taking always an active interest in the public improvements, discus- sions, and municipal affairs of the city.
Elijah Dyer, originally from Canterbury, has been for nearly forty years a resident of the town, and in constant practice.
Ralph Farnsworth, a native of Groton, Mass., began his professional career in Norwich in 1826.
Ashbel B. Haile, from Otsego Co., N. Y., about the year 1840.
These are the only physicians in town whose practice extends over twenty years.
Druggists.
The following persons, bearing the title of Doctor, were probably drug- gists, and not practicing physicians :
Dr. McClure, of Norwich, 1791.
Dr. Joseph Coit, who died Dec. 18, 1799.
Dr. Gurdon Lathrop, son of Azariah, 1800; died 1828.
Dr. Joseph Thomas, died April 20, 1840, aged 68.
The most noted druggists of the place, in modern days, whose names now belong to the history of the past, are the following :
* This was the third considerable donation to Yale College from citizens of Norwich. Major James Fitch endowed it in its infancy with 637 acres of land in the town of Kil- lingly, and Dr. Daniel Lathrop in 1782 left a legacy to the College of £500.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
Dwight Ripley, died Nov. 18, 1835, aged 71 .*
Samuel Tyler, d. Sept., 1854, aged 80 years and 20 days.
William S. Tyler, d. Sept. 29, 1864, aged 57.
Charles Lee, d. Oct. 26, 1865, aged 75.
Dr. Lee, of the firm of Lee & Osgood, entered into the drug business at Norwich in 1831. He was brother to Dr. Samuel Lee of Windham, the original proprietor of the Windham Lee's Pills, (as distinguished from the pills of Dr. S. H. P. Lee of New London,) and succeeded him in making and vending this popular specific.t
The 59th Annual Meeting of the State Medical Society was held at Norwich, May 9, 1855, by invitation of the City Medical Association. It had never before held its anniversary except at one of the State cap- itals. Dr. Jonathan Knight of New Haven was present, who 47 years before had been the principal of the Proprietors' School in Norwich.
Business Sketches and Current Events.
After the Revolution, the growth of Chelsea in buildings, population, and commerce, was rapid, and the tide of prosperity continued without any serious check to the close of the century.
Thomas Mumford was a thriving merchant, living in handsome style, and was extensively known as a gentleman and a patriot. He died in 1799.
Joseph Howland was in business at Norwich for nearly forty years. He came to the place about the year 1770; married Lydia, daughter of Capt. William Coit, May 27, 1772, and was made a freeman in 1773. He was afterward of the firm of Howland & Coit, Norwich, Howland & Allyn, New London, and at a later period, in connection with his son, Joseph Howland, Jr., and Jesse Brown, Jr., established the firm of Howland, Brown & Co. This concern owned and fitted out the ship Charlotte, and
* J. D. Ripley, a grandson of Dr. Dwight Ripley, perished in the burning of the steamer Commonwealth at Groton, Ct., Dec. 29, 1865. He was engaged in medical studies when the war commeneed, and enlisted in the 18th C. V. as Hospital Steward, but often during his three years' service performed the duties of Assistant Surgeon, particularly at Winchester, where he was left by the enemy in charge of the severely wounded. On retiring from the army, he resumed the study of his profession, and had been attending medieal lectures in New York, practicing also in the wards of the hos- pital, and was returning home to spend the holidays, when he met with his untimely fate,-being, as it was supposed, suffocated in his berth.
1 Before Dr. Lee removed to Norwich, he had been in business at Willimantic, and was largely instrumental in establishing a Congregational church in that village, of which church he was the first deacon, and superintendent of its first Sabbath School.
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some fifteen or twenty brigs, schooners and sloops ; often having on hand live stock sufficient for three or four deck-loads to the West Indies, and inboard freight to a proportionate extent. This partnership was dissolved in May, 1806.
Mr. Howland built the house on Union street, which was afterward for forty years the residence of Dr. Dwight Ripley and his family. Having relinquished business and settled his affairs in Norwich, he removed to New York, where his children, both sons and daughters, had previously settled, and died in that city, March 11, 1836, aged 86 .*
Capt. John Howland, the elder brother of Joseph, was originally con- nected with him in maritime affairs, and was also a practical ship-master, sailing chiefly from New York, and making both West India and Euro- pean voyages. He was at Liverpool in 1785, in command of the brig Mary, and died at sea in 1789, aged forty. After his death, his son, Na- thaniel Howland, born at New York in 1775, came to reside with his rel- atives in Norwich, and was introduced by them into the mercantile and shipping business. In the course of a few years he had a rope-walk in West Chelsea, a duck manufactory at the Falls, and a wharf and store at the Landing. He held also the military rank of colonel, but removed about the year 1814 to Brooklyn, New York, where he died July 7th, 1839.
Gen. Ebenezer Huntington, though a resident in the town-plot, was in business at the Landing more than thirty years, occupying a store in She- tucket street, nearly opposite the bridge.
Gen. Jedidiah Huntington, also an up-town resident, transacted business in Shetucket street, at the blue store,t the former premises of Trumbull, Fitch & Trumbull, and was here engaged in merchandise, when the Rev- olutionary war commenced. Most of the commissary business of Col. Joshua Huntington was executed at this stand. It was afterwards occu- pied for the cutlery and hardware business, by Huntington & Glover, the firm changing to Jabez Huntington & Co.
Thomas Coit was a merchant in Norwich for about fifteen years. He was burnt out in 1793, but most of his goods were saved, and he continued in trade till 1798, when he sold out and removed to Canterbury.
Jacob and John De Witt, father and son, together and in succession, were in business for more than seventy years.
* His oldest son, Joseph Howland, Jr., died young and unmarried. His other sons, Samuel S. and Gardiner G., went to New York at an early age, and in the course of a few years rose to the highest rank as merchants and bankers, founding a large com- mercial house from which they retired with overflowing wealth in 1837, leaving the business to their sons and nephews. It is now the firm of Howland & Aspinwall.
t Fanciful colors for mercantile buildings seem to have been at one time in vogue. One of the old stores in Chelsea was painted red with yellow trimmings.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
The name of Peter Lanman, father and son, was conspicuous in mer- cantile affairs for nearly the same length of time .*
The Breeds, father, son, and grandsons, have pursued the same business at the same hardware and shipping store in Water street, for more than a hundred years. The building has been enlarged, but the main part re- mains nearly the same as when built by Gershom Breed in 1764.t
The Tyler drug-store on Water street was built in 1784, and has been occupied by three successive generations of the family. The firm was at first, "Tyler & Tyler," the partners being Samuel Tyler of Norwich, and Pascal P. Tyler of Brooklyn, Conn. Col. Tyler had served seven years with Dr. Joshua Lathrop, and was familiar with those old recipes which the elder Dr. Lathrop had obtained in England, in the efficacy of which there was a strong traditionary faith.
Joseph Williams and Lynde Mc Curdy, active merchants and esteemed citizens, were taken from their spheres of usefulness in the prime of life. The former died Oct. 23, 1800, at the age of 47; the latter in 1803, aged 48. Mr. McCurdy was a native of Lyme but his mature years were all spent in Norwich, where he was distinguished for generosity and public spirit. His epitaph says, "Short were the admonitions of sickness, and suddenly was the grave his house."}
In the early part of the present century, Hezekiah Perkins, Andrew and Joseph Perkins, Farewell and Benjamin Coit, and Erastus Coit, were prominent as citizens and merchants. Woodbridge & Snow was a well- known firm. Samuel Rudd, Henry Gordon, Devotion & Storrs, Felix A. Huntington & Co., were dealers both in dry goods and groceries.
The brief partnership of Raymond & Dodge (Joshua Raymond and David L. Dodge) was broken up by Mr. Raymond's decease in 1806.
In 1805, we meet with the firm of Pliny Brewer & Co. The partner in this instance was Joseph Otis, to whom Norwich is indebted for her public library.
Of citizens now living, a few that have been long in business, or prom- inently engaged in public affairs, may with propriety be noticed.
Giles Buckingham, from Saybrook, removed to Norwich in. 1808, and for many years was an active dealer in dry goods; the firm changing in 1815 to G. Buckingham & Co. The elder partner died Nov. 7, 1831,
* The second Peter Lanman died at Norwich, Dec. 29, 1854, aged 83. Commodore Joseph Lanman of the U. S. Navy is one of his sons.
t The river formerly ran directly in the rear of these buildings on Water st., where the railway connection track is now laid.
# The residence of Mr. McCurdy, still known by his name, is on the pitch of the hill overlooking Main st. It was built in 1786, by Nathaniel Backus for his son Erastus, who died in 1791. It was then purchased by Mr. MeCurdy.
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aged 53. The other partner, Hamlin B. Buckingham, is the present libra- rian of the Otis Library.
Relationship to these merchants brought William A. Buckingham to Norwich in 1825. He was at first in their employ, but soon became a successful merchant on his own account, and has since been extensively engaged in various manufactures. The town has been greatly indebted to his example and influence.
He was chosen Governor of Connecticut in 1858, and has been annually re-elected by continually increasing majorities. This position is not the result of political management, or party compromise, but may be consid- ered as a popular tribute to his high character for judgment and integrity. He is a practical man, connected with the manufacturing and industrial interests of the State; a friend to the poor and unfortunate, and of un- wearied industry in doing good.
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