USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Stamford > History of Stamford, Connecticut : from its settlement in 1641, to the present time, including Darien, which was one of its parishes until 1820 > Part 32
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second wife, June 3, 1748, widow IIannah Blachley, by whom he had two children : Mary, born August 22, 1750, and died November 17, 1754; and Bates, born July 7, 1754. llis des- cendants are very numerous, and they have been as enterprising as they are numerous.
HOYT, AMos, was the son of Peter and Sarah Hoyt, and was born in 1762, and died September 10, 1793. He was a young man of great promise. Ilis mind was of a high order, and his opportunities for improving it had been seduously improved. HIe entered Yale college in 1788, and graduated with honor in 1792. He was among the most promising and popular mem- bers of his class.
Many years after his death, the late Thomas S. Williams, of Hartford, was pleased to recall his many excellent traits, and to acknowledge his own personal obligations to his good will and kindness. To be praised by such a man is no slight honor ; to be counted among the benefactors of such a man, is to have earned fame. This young man, so gifted and so honored, did not live to fulfill the high expectations of his friends. Ilis gravestone shows that he had just completed his academic and professional studies when he died, away from his friends, in Glastonbury. Ilis remains were buried in the Hoyt burying lot, on Hope street road, where his simple memorial stone testi- fies to the parental affection which could not leave his previous remains to lie in a stranger's grave.
The Stamford ancestors of this member of the Hoyt family, according to their historian, were: Peter, Dayid, Benjamin, Benjamin, Benjamin, and Simon, the pioneer.
HOYT, EDWIN, the son of Abraham and Sarah (Knap) Hoyt, was born in Stamford in 1804. His grandfather was that cap- tain Thaddeus who was so prominent among the patriotic civil- ians of the town during our Revolutionary period ; and who at his death had gathered one of the largest estates of the town. Among his descendants have been several who have followed the venerable patriot in wordly success; yet among them all,
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and they are quite numerous, none has attained greater emi- nence in all those special qualities which constitute the successful business man than the subject of this sketch. And I think, too, none of the sons of the town has better illustrated the leading spirit of the town, or is more exactly its business representa- tive than he. Receiving, here, the substantial rudiments of such an education as the boys of an industrious agricultural people acquire, he found his way, still a youth, into New York ; and there, beginning at the foundation, built for himself firmly, the basis of what has since been one of the most solid business characters in the metropolis. As clerk, diligent, active, studi- ons, faithful, he soon won esteem and confidence. As partner in the successive firms of Hoyt & Fearing; Hoyt & Bogart ; Hoyt, Tillinghast & Co. ; and Hoyt, Spragues & Co,, he has in each successive advance steadily increased his reputation. The great crisis in commercial and mercantile life, in which so many splendid fortunes have been wrecked, have only the more tri. umphantly shown his great energy and tact. At these periods his resources never fail. In the fearful crisis of 1837, when every movement around him foreboded disaster to his house, he calmly examined his ground and resolved, even under circum- stanees which would have appalled almost any other man in the business eirele to which he belonged, to go on. With wonder- ful courage and an activity as astonishing as it was success. ful, he provided for large amounts of the maturing paper of a long list of heavy debtors, and, though suffering heavily, came all the stronger out of the trial. Since then, his house has stood second to none in the metropolis.
With all his promptness and energy in business, and with a self-reliance which never fails him in an emergency, Mr. Hoyt is still one of the most quiet and modest of men. He lives in and for his business, and his success has fully justified this habitual and life long devotion. Mr. Hoyt married Susan, daughter of Governor William Sprague, of Rhode Island. They have had four children. all now living ; Sarah, Susan Sprague, William S. and Edwin. The family occupy during the summer their
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Prace L "Dant)
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beautiful residence on the East River in Astoria; and for the winter, their elegant mansion on Fifth avenue. With all his de- votion to business, Mr. Hoyt has maintained a deep interest in the family name in the town of his nativity, which his career has so honored.
ISAAC LOCKWOOD HOYT, the son of Thaddeus and Rebecca Hoyt was born in that part of the town which has since been incorporated as Darien. On the breaking out of the late war he cheerfully entered the Union service, though at great per- sonal sacrifiee.
In his first term of service, three months, he won for himself the love and confidence of the entire company. Though not in command, it is not too much to say that he was the man in the company to whom they had canse to look for advice and help ; and under whom they would gladly trust themselves, if the country should again call them to the field.
Accordingly, after a few weeks of rest from the severe service they had seen, when the question was raised, who shall take another company of our sons into the field. he seemed to be the one to whom all our people turned. With unaffected modesty he urged his sense of incompetency. He had received no special military training and he felt no military ambition. He had al- ready sacrificed much, but with every interest of his country still at stake, he could not long hesitate. Ile accepted the command to give himself thenceforth to his country. He was in the Tenth Connecticut, a regiment destined to win no mean honors for the state, whose name and fame they were proud to bear. In the famous Burnside expedition into North Carolina, they were not a whit behind the bravest regiment under their gallant commander, and Captain Hoyt's company was never wanting where daring was needed. The zealous patriotism, and the calm and deliberate devotion of their captain were, also, shared by the men. But he was not long to command his company. The local fever seized upon his healthy frame and he was forced to yield. Though warned again and again of his danger, he would not ask for a furlough while his company needed his care.
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He risked his own life that he might care for them; and cheer- fully paid the price of his whole-souled devotion. His death occurred on board the New Brunswick, at Newbern, N. C., March 20, 1862. Ilis remains were taken to Darien, where they were interred in the pleasant cemetery on the western slope of the Ridge on which he had spent his days. This patriot son of Stamford went to his grave amid the sincerest tokens of sorrow which a grateful people could pay to his honored and cherished memory. Our history elsewhere will show, that before the war he had been honored by his native town, having served his townsmen both as their selectman and as their representative in the state legislature.
HOYT, JAMES HENRY, fourth son of Billy and Sarah (Wood) Hoyt, was born in Stamford April 14, 1809. See sketches of Abraham and Thaddeus Hoyt.
Ilis father was a farmer, and his early educational advanta- ges were those of the sons of our ordinary New England far- mers. At the age of seventeen he was apprenticed to the cabinet-making business, and at the close of his minority he took the business of his former master into his hands. He soon con- neeted with this business the lumber trade. It will illustrate his enterprise thus early in his business life, that while engaged in this trade he imported the first cargo of hard coal ever brought to Stamford.
In 1831, the canal extending from the harbor up into the cen- ter of the village was opened. Mr. Hoyt united his business with the drygoods and grocery trade of his two brothers, Wil- liam and Roswell. Leasing the canal for five years, they purchased shipping and did their own carrying trade, and im- ported their own West India goods. In this business he continned with varied success until the expiration of their lease, when he resumed the lumber trade, in which he continued until the New York and New Haven Railway was projected. In the building of this great thoroughfare he entered into con- tracts for grading portions of it, building bridges, and furnish- ing ties. All of these contracts were promptly and acceptably
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executed. On the completion of the road, at first built with a single track, he contracted to supply it with fuel, and when the second track was laid, he was a heavy contractor for the work. From this statement it will be seen that Mr. Hoyt, from the very beginning of this great public work until it had fairly established itself as an efficiently-managed enterprise, had been connected with it in such ways as to make him familiar with its character and wants. He had enjoyed a good opportunity of watching the management of the road under its chief engineer and first superintendent, Mr. R. B. Mason, subsequently con- nected with the Illinois Central Railway; and also under its second superintendent, Geo. W. Whistler, jr. That he had not neglected the opportunity thus furnished him is evidenced in the unanimity of the choice which called him to the superin- tendency of the road on the resignation of Mr. Whistler in 1854. Still better evidence has been furnished in the increasing suc- cess which has attended his administration during the fifteen years he has held this onerous and responsible post.
His entrance upon the office was signalized by a sudden blow, which, under a less efficient administration, would have doomed the road to a partial or total suspension. But, despite the ex- tensive Schuyler frauds, and the preceding catastrophe at the the Norwalk bridge, the stock of the road has steadily risen from about 90, its market price when Mr. Hoyt entered upon its superintendency, to over 150. Nor is it more than the truth will warrant, to affirm, that no one who has been connected with the road from its opening to the present time, is its advance more certainly due than to Mr. Iloyt. His unwearied care and painstaking devotion to the interests of the road from the time of his first contract; his minute attention to the least defect, either in the road-bed, or bridges, or rolling-stock, or in the habits or manners of the employees on the road, with his prompt remedy for it, or as faithful and prompt a reference of it, if not within reach of his authority, to the board of directors, have made him first among our eminent railway superintendents ; and he has not been without abundant testimonials, both from
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his own board of directors and from the employees of the road, to the esteem and affection in which he is held.
In his private life Mr. Hoyt is eminently a domestie man. Ilis home, when not in his business, is emphatically in the bosom of his family. He married January 31, 1838, Sarah J. Grey, of Darien, and they had five children, three of whom are now living. It was a very severe stroke which bereaved him of his wife. He had entrusted to her the entire administration of his domestic matters, because his official duties required all of his strength. He only asked, what in the stress of his care and responsibility he so much needed, a quiet and restful home, in which he could find the repose that should refit him for his work. And it was just such a home that he found, under her administration, always ready to welcome him.
In politics Mr. Hoyt has always been with the democratie party. Though not an aspirant for office, he has represented his native town and his senatorial distriet in the state legisla- ture. He was a principal mover in the organization of the Stamford Savings Bank, of which he has been for several years the president.
As a practical business man, Mr. Hoyt stands among the first of his townsmen. He has reaped the rewards of his carnest and honorable enterprise, both in a most excellent business reputation, and in the still more tangible token of a handsome worldly estate.
ILOYT, JONATHAN, for several years, about the middle of the last century, stood at the head of our public men, and was especially prominent during the period of the French and Indian war. He was equally eminent in civil and religious and mili- tary affairs. As early as 1747 he was a deacon in the Congre- gational church. As one of his majesty's justices, he officiated at many of the marriages of the town, and is recorded as the " worshipful" Mr. Hoyt. IIe attained in military service the rank of colonel; and from the positions assigned him in trying days he must have been held in confidence and esteem. Ax evidence of his reputation we find this characteristic vote of the
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society, December 23, 1731; " per vote ye Society do agree and Desire Capt. Jonathan Hait to set in ye foremost pew in ye meeting house."
HOYT, THADDEUS, son of Abraham and Hannah (Bates) Hoyt, was born in Stamford, Jan. 26, 1742-3. His entire life was spent in his native town, where he became a man of influence, and, for the age in which he lived, of quite considerable wealth. During the revolutionary war he was one of the most earnest and efficient advocates of independence. He married April 28, 1766, Hannah Holmes. Their children were Frederick, born Jan. 24, 1767; IIannah, born Oct. 16, 1768, who became the wife of Joshua Scofield ; Abraham, born Oct. 16, 1770; Thad- dens, born Oct. 21, 1772; Billy, born July 30, 1774; Darius, born Jan. 30, 1776 ; Rebecca, the wife of Capt. John Brown ; Mary, the wife of Hon. James Stevens; Betsey and Bates.
LEEDS, FRANCIS RANDOLPHI, was the son of Sylvester and Susan- nah (Watson) Leeds, and was born in Stamford, June 18, 1835. He was early employed in the Stamford bank, where he won for himself a good reputation for accuracy, faithfulness and skill. He was eminently gifted with those traits of character which make the business man popular ; and few young men were ever more universally esteemed than he.
In 1862 he was authorized to raise a company of volunteers for the service of the government in suppressing the great Re- belliou. His ranks were rapidly filled up, when he received a captain's commission and left with his men for the seat of the war. Having already in his southern travels been attacked by the fever, he became again an easy prey to the insidious foe. He came north to recruit his impaired strength ; but, impatient to join his command, lie again left for that purpose, Jan. 2, 1863. He rejoined his company at Pensacola, Fla., only to be struck down, this time fatally, by the relentless disease. He died at Pensacola, Feb. 17, 1863, deeply lamented by his command, who seemed to love him with an affection truly fraternal. His remains were brought home and interred in the new cemetery.
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LEEDS, JonN, was the son of Cary and Mary (Giles) Leeds, and was born in Stamford, July 31, 1764. He was a merchant and farmer, living in New Hope district. He was long an earn- est and active member of the Episcopal church, and a most estimable citizen. His death, which took place Sep. 15, 1831, was felt to be a " public as well as private loss." He was one of those meek and quiet men whose lives are filled with nnno- ticed, beeanse unobtrusive deeds of kindly good will. He was esteemed as a model in those graceful excellences which most endear to us our most trusted and prized companions. His in- tegrity could not be questioned, and his personal friendship was courted as an honor and cherished as a blessing. He married, Dec. 6, 1796, Honor Williams, daughter of Moses and Martha (Robins) Williams, of Rocky Hill, Conn. Her paternal grand parents were Jacob and Eunice (Standish) Williams. This Eumee Standish was daughter of Thomas Standish of Hart- ford, the son of Alexander of Roxbury, Mass., the oldest son of the famous colonial captain Miles Standish. Their chil- dren were John Williams, (see following sketch), Jacob W. and Harry, the last two of whom are dead. Mrs. Leeds died, August 22, 1849, aged 83 years.
LEEDS, JOHN WILLIAMS, son of John and Honor (Williams) Leeds, was born in Stamford, August 18, 1797. He has always resided in his native town, where he has been held in deserved esteem. His business has been mainly mercantile and financial : and his success has placed him among the first men of the town. On the opening of the Stamford bank in 1834, he was chosen president of it, and has held the office until now. As a business man he ranks rather with the cautious and pru- dent than with the venturesome and daring, and his success has justified his business career.
He married Eliza, daughter of Elisha Leeds, and has had nine children, of whom six are living; Charles Henry, well known as one of the proprietors of the extensive Cove Mills; Sarah Elizabeth, wife of Gov. Win. T. Minor of Stamford : Mary Cath-
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erine, wife of Dr. Samuel Lockwood, dentist, of New York city ; Josephine Eliza ; Edward Francis, and Emily Irene.
LOCKWOOD, ISAAC, son of Isaac and Rebceca (Seely) Lock- wood was born in Stamford, Nov. 4, 1762. Like many others of the sons of the town during the last half century, he com- menced his life as a seaman. He soon abandoned his sea-life, returned to Stamford and settled down, on what was then the old turnpike, in the old Lockwood homestead, now occupied by George Hubbard, Esq. Here he spent the rest of his days. He was soon found ready and efficient in aiding forward every needed enterprise of the town, and rose rapidly to his place among the first citizens. At the beginning of this century, no man stood higher than he in the public esteem. For nineteen years he did good service as one of the select men of the town, and represented the town in eight sessions of the state legisla- ture. He was characterized for his promptness and punctuality. It was a proverb that Capt. Lockwood's rambling pony was the best time piece in the town, never failing to appear with her rider at the post office at the appointed time.
MATHER, JOSEPH was the second son of Rev. Moses Mather, D. D., of Middlesex Society, Stamford, (Darien,) where he was born, July 21, 1753. He united with his father's church, Aug. 9, 1778. He was a young man of much promise, and soon at- tained a position of influence among the citizens of the town. He distinguished himself early as a warm advocate of the inde- pendence of the American colonies; and of course, like his patriotic father, he was a constant mark for the shafts of British and tory vengeance. He lived about two miles to the north of the village, and his house was used as a depository for the more costly treasures of the citizens who were more exposed to the raids of the enemy from Long Island. But, removed as he was from the center of the parish, he was easily found and greatly harassed by his former neighbors, who had now gone over to the enemy. No less than forty-four of his father's parishioners were at one time during the war, just across the Sound on
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Lloyd's Neck, more bitter against patriots than the king's troops themselves.
He married, May 29, 1777, Sarah Scot, of Ridgefield. Their children, eight of whom are still living, (1862,) were Hannah, born June 2, 1777; Sarah, born March 28, 1780; Moses, born May 21, 1782 ; Raina, born May 4, 1784; Clare, born July 31, 1787 ; Joseph, born Sept. 30, 1789; Nancy, born Jan. 27, 1792 ; Betsey, born March 23, 1794 ; David Scott, born Dec. 14, 1795 ; and Phebe, born Nov. 27, 1798. At his death he left these ten children, forty-five grandchildren, forty-eight great-grandchild- ren, and one great-great-grandchild.
MATHER, MOSES, D. D., was the son of Timothy Mather of Lyme, Conn., where he was born March 6, 1719.
He graduated in Yale in 1739, and was settled over the church in Middlesex Society of Stamford, now Darien, June 14, 1744, having begun to preach there April 19, 1742. Here he remained a faithful and successful preacher and pastor until his death, Sept. 21, 1806-more than sixty-four years-which fact of itself is ample testimony to his usefulness. His ability is also testified in the works which he left, which though not numerous, evinee his solid learning and his deep piety. He won his doctorate from the College of New Jersey in 1791. From 1777 to 1790 he was a Fellow of Yale College.
But the doctor will be best known for his earnest and active patriotism during the struggle which won our colonial indepen- dence, of which our account of that struggle will furnish ample proof.
The following testimony from Dr. Dwight's "Travels" is abundantly corroborated by all that we hear of his character from those who remember him, or from those who heard their parents dwell upon his precious memory.
"Dr. Mather was a man distinguished for learning and piety, a strong understanding and a most exemplary life. His natural temper was grave and unbending. His candor was that of the Gospel,-the wisdom which is from above-which, while it is ' pure and peaceable' is also ' without par- tiality."
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Dr. Sprague's " Aunals of the American Pulpit" contains an interesting letter from Rev. Mark Mead of Greenwich, which gives us the following delineation of his personal appearance and social character.
" He was a man of about the middle stature, rather slender than other- wise, of a pleasant expression of countenance, and free and easy in con ver- sation. Dr. Mather, though generally a poor man, had a rich vein of hu- mor, of which there still remain many traditions. A man in his parish who pretended to be a sort of half Quaker, half infidel, and who was a mem- ber of the vigilance committee in the revolution, as he was riding in com- pany with him on horseback, said to him, 'Your Master used to ride an ass and how is it that you ride a horse?' 'Because," said the doctor, 'the asses are all taken up for committee men.'
"Dr. Mather used to wear a long, rounded, Quaker coat, with very large brass buttons from top to bottom. The Quakers, at that time, used to wear buttons made of apple tree, and just enough to fasten their coats. The same man mentioned above, on meeting Dr. Mather one day, said to him, ' Moses, why does thee wcar so many buttons on thy coat.' ' To show you, , said the Doctor, ' that my religion does not consist in a button.'"
Nor is the Dr. scarcely less to be remembered for the family which he left. Soon after his settlement, Sept. 10, 1746, he married one of his parishioners, Hannah Bell, by whom he had three children-John, born Sept. 20, 1747, Hannah, born May 20, 1751, and Joseph, born July 21, 1753. IIis wife died April 23, 1755, and he married again, Jan. 1, 1756, Mrs. Elizabeth Whiting, also a parishioner, by whom he had only one son, Noyes, born September 1, 1756. His second wife died Dec. 18, 1757. He married for his third wife, Rebecca Raymond, of Norwalk, Aug. 23, 1758, by whom, there were recorded to him four children ; Moses, born Nov. 13, 1760. Raymond, born Jan. 31, 1763, Isaac, born Dec. 6, 1764, and Samuel, born Dec. 19, 1765. Of the above children, Hannah married Philo Betts and had eleven children ; Joseph married Sarah Scott, of Ridgefield, and had ten children, six of whom, now venerable both for years and personal worth, it was the author's good fortune to meet at the homestead of their father in the summer of 1862; Noyes married and had nine children, and Samuel had five.
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Of the ten children of Joseph, eight had families, and their children to the number of fifty-five are enrolled in the "Gene- alogy of the Mather Family."
In 1855, Rev. Mr. Kinney, then pastor of the church in Darien, makes this interesting record for Dr. Sprague's " Annals of the American Pulpit :"
"I think that more than half of those who compose my congregation on the Sabbath, and nearly our whole choir of singers are his (Dr Mather's) descendants. Two of his great-grandsons have recently been ordained deacons of this church."
PROVOST, STEPHEN BISHOP, son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Bishop,) was born in Stamford, April 23, 1792. His mother was daughter of deacon Stephen Bishop of the North Stamford Congregational church, who was grandson of Rev. John Bishop, the second pastor of the first church of Stamford. Mr. Provost has spent the most of his life in his native town, where he has been suceessful in business, and much respected and honored, as our official record will show. He married, April 5, 1821, Catherine, daughter of Christopher and Elizabeth Tillman, of New York. Their children have been; Stephen Henry, now a merchant in New York city; Christopher Tillman ; David R., now in California ; Mary Catherine, the late Mrs. Edward Sco- field; Elizabeth Jane, now Mrs. Hiram Taylor, of Stamford ; and Julia Francis, who died young.
QUINTARD, GEO. W., eldest son of Isaac Quintard and his wife, Mrs. Clarissa (Hoyt) Shay, was born in Stamford, April 22, 1822. Ile went, still young, into New York city, where he was engaged a few years in the grocery business. He married, Feb. 15, 1844, Frances, daughter of Charles Morgan, Esq., later proprietor of the Morgan Iron and Ship Works, corner of Ninth-st. and East River. Disposing of his grocery business, he entered the firm of his father-in-law, then T. F. Secor & Co., Mr. Secor being the foundry-man of the firm, and Mr. Morgan the financier. Afterwards, under the title of the Morgan Iron Works, in company with his father-in-law, and later with his brother-in-law, Hon. F. M. Merrit, of Stamford, and
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