USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Plymouth > History of the town of Plymouth, Connecticut : with an account of the centennial celebration May 14 and 15, 1895 : also a sketch of Plymouth, Ohio, settled by local families > Part 25
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A faithful and active member of the Congregational Church of Terryville, he was for seven years superintendent of its large and flourishing Sunday School, concerning which it should be said, that for vigor and usefulness as an auxiliary in the work of the church, the Sunday School of Terryville is surpassed probably by but few similar institutions in corresponding com- munities in the land.
Mr. Baldwin was married, May 7, 1868, to Martha Eugenia, youngest daughter of George Merriman, of Litchfield, Conn., a lady of uncommon sweetness and beauty of disposition and character. Children were born to them as follows: Carlisle Hodges, born in Torrington, Conn., June 25, 1870; Ralph Merriman, born in Torrington, Conn., June 17, 1874; Ernest Elmore, born in Torrington, Conn., November 11, 1875; all of whom survive their parents. Two of the sons occupy positions of responsibility in the office of the Eagle Lock Company, Terryville, the eldest as estimate clerk, and the youngest as pay- master. The second son is perfecting himself as an instructor in penmanship, thus developing an inherited artistic taste and skill.
The death of Mr. Baldwin was attended with circumstances investing it with an extremely pathetic and tragic interest. The father of Mrs. Baldwin, passing the winter in the home, having reached the age of ninety-four years, was taken sick and died February 19, 1894. While he was yet ill, fatal disease fastened upon his daughter. The prostration of the wife was soon followed by that of her husband, Mr. Baldwin. She died February 21 ; five days later he departed this life, February 26, 1894. Husband and wife were buried in one grave.
Mr. Baldwin was a man of vivacious spirit, cheerful and cordial, affectionate in his relations to his family, patriotic in his regard for his country, a warm co-worker in matters of public interest, both religious and secular, a citizen respected and valued, a pleasant and beloved friend.
GEORGE H. PLUMB.
George H. Plumb, son of Samuel and Sarah Scarritt Plumb, was born in Wolcott, Conn., October 15, 1813, died in Terry- ville, August 18, 1891.
In his early life he traveled extensively in the Southern States and was one of the " Yankee clock peddlers" who earned Connecticut a reputation for shrewdness and who were known throughout the country more than half a century ago. On each
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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
trip he took with him a wagon load of clocks from Plymouth where they were then manufactured, retailing them in exchange for cash or whatever he could get in the line of produce. Though possessing the shrewdness of the typical "Yankee clock peddler," he was a man of sterling honesty and was highly respected in the place where he spent the greater part of his life.
He was married May 3, 1840, to Deidamia Minor, of Wolcott, by whom he had three children, Newell M., Wallace G., and Elsie J. Plumb, the only surviving one being Wallace G. Plumb. He moved to Terryville in January, 1841, to work for H. Welton & Co., in the clock shop, where he was employed until his health failed, when he removed to his farm on Fall Mountain in the town of Bristol. He lived there ten years, afterwards returning to Terryville where he resided until his death.
He was a contractor in the Eagle Lock Co, for fifteen years, being associated with Ira H. Stoughton. He joined the Con- gregational Church in 1842, and was an active worker, serving on the standing committee until compelled by old age to retire from the service. Mr. and Mrs. Plumb celebrated their golden wedding May 3, 1890.
GAIUS FENN WARNER.
John Warner, who was captain in the Connecticut State Guards-assisting in the defense of the sea coasts in General Waterbury's State Brigade in 1781, and for whom the long hill between Plymouth and the township now known as Thomaston, was for many years named, was the father of John Warner, Jr., grandfather of Abijah Warner and great-grandfather of Gaius Fenn Warner, who was born in the town of Plymouth in that part known as Town Hill in 1811 ; his mother, Betsy Fenn, being a sister of Elam Fenn, who lived and died where his son Jason Fenn now lives. He was the youngest of three children, but six years of age when his father died. His boyhood and early manhood were passed in his mother's home, until when at the age of twenty-one he married Harriet Jackson, of Bethlehem, Conn., and directly they settled in their own home, near that of his mother, a little to the south on the same road. Here he worked a small farm for about three years, when he moved to Waterville, to take charge of a large boarding house for the employes of a button factory there.
His two daughters, Helen and Harriet, were born during his residence in Plymouth, his son, Henry, in Waterville. During the two years of the boarding house experiment, he built for himself a commodious house, into which he moved, when he again took up a small farm and also had charge of the turn- pike road between Waterbury and Plymouth, but evidently, farming was not to his mind, for in 1843 he went back to the town of Plymouth, the eastern part of it, called Terryville. Here he kept a temperance hotel, a novel idea at that time, but which he maintained in spite of all opposition, at the same time
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carrying on, in an extended ell of his house, the manufacture of umbrellas. It was during these years that the Congregational Church was built in the village, and into this enterprise he threw his superb energies and strength. He hauled much of the timber from the woods to the mill, from there to the lot whereon the church was to be erected, and was like a young giant on the " Raising Day" of the building when "all the town" turned out to help; afterwards all were served, as was the custom of the day, to doughnuts, raised cake and cider.
It was not until about the year 1847 that he found his busi- ness life-work, when at his entertainment at his house as hotel, he met a man who was in the manufacturing business of mallea- ble iron castings, and who so urged him to also enter this work, that at last he decided to return with him to Straitsville and investigate for himself. He soon moved his family there, where he so well succeeded, that when the buildings were burned to the ground, he removed the works to New Haven, many of the principal workmen going with him. At that time, Straitsville, a very small village, had no regular church services, which Mr. Warner so deplored, that very soon after his removal there he made arrangements whereby theological students from New Haven should preach in the small chapel each Sunday for the sum of ten dollars and their board. His house was freely opened for their accommodation, and very often the compensation was also largely given from his own pocket. In this iron business he had the monopoly and made it the largest concern of its kind in the country. As he grew in prosperity, he was ever ready to respond to the numerous calls for benevolence, both public and private, notably of them was that of Home and Foreign Missions, that of Home Missions growing stronger each year of his life. He was a man of few words-while ever friendly-to those who were so fortunate as to possess his love and confidence, he showed a true and loyal heart, to be relied upon in any extremity. In his family he was the faithful husband, the kindest of fathers, and his house was ever open to all his friends. In the year 1880 he decided to build a house for himself, and chose a lot of one and one-half acres in the center of the city opposite Yale College, where he erected the substantial house, now occupied as the Republican League building, in the rear of which is now the Hyperion Theatre, and on the western side of the lot Warner Hall and the apartment building for students, erected and managed by his son Henry A. Warner.
It was characteristic of him, when questioned quite anxiously by a member of the college faculty, as to his venture to so carefully lay out this acre and more of ground, stocking it with fruit trees, graperies, and ornamental shrubs, lest he should suffer from the invasion of the mischievous boys of the college, he replied "I shall not molest them and I don't think they will trouble me," and they never did. After moving to his new home, he gave his best Christian efforts to the welfare of the College Street Church, which building joined his land on the eastern side, and was an earnest helper and exemplary member
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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
Junius Preston.
Henry A. Minor.
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until his death in October, 1890. He died as he had lived, in full trust and faith in his Savior and God, since when in his early manhood, he with his young wife united with the church in Plymouth Center, during a strong religious movement through- out the country in 1837.
MR. AND MRS. JUNIUS PRESTON.
Junius Preston and wife, who live near East Church, are probably the oldest couple in Plymouth, they having passed sixty years of married life together, fifty of which has been spent in the house where they now reside. Mr. Preston is eighty-three years old and Mrs. Preston is seventy-eight. They are still active and do their own farm work. Mr. Preston in early life was the owner of the grist mill in East Church, which he con- ducted for ten years, but was better known as the sexton of the old graveyard. This he attended to for forty-two years, filling the place made vacant by his father, who was in charge twenty- four years, making a total of sixty-six years that it was looked after by father and son. Three children were born to them, Mrs. Wallace Pardee, who lives near by ; Mrs. A. J. Hotchkiss, of Middletown ; and Almeron Preston, of New Britain. Mr. Preston has not been out of the State in fifty years, or away from home over night in all that time. He has patronized the steam railroads but little, and has never seen or ridden on an electric car.
HENRY A. MINOR.
Henry A. Minor, son of Henry J. Minor, of Woodbury, Conn., and Nancy J. Mather, of Plymouth, was born in Ply- mouth, April 15, 1843, and educated at Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Mass. He married Anna L. Woodford, of Avon, Conn., October 14, 1874, and has two children, Maurice W., born April 3, 1878, and Judson M., born July 6, 1882. His wife died March 6, 1891. He was employed with the Seth Thomas Clock Company three years and the New Haven Clock Company two years. He then entered the employ of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company, where he is still employed in the accounting department of the general office.
EMMA J. MINOR.
Emma J. Minor, a sister of Henry A. Minor, was born October 19, 1848, was educated in Hartford at T. W. T. Curtis's Young Ladies' Seminary, and married, June 3, 1868, to George T. Bradley, of the firm of Benedict & Co., coal merchants, New Haven. Their children are Milton Hobert, born April 8, 1871 ; Walter Minor, born April 14, 1873; Mabel Daskam, born August 13, 1878.
JEREMIAH MARKHAM.
Jeremiah Markham, the subject of this sketch, was born in Enfield, Conn., January 20, 1734. He was the son of Jeremiah
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and Sarah (Meacham) Markham, his father being the grandson of Deacon Daniel Markham, a brother of the Mayor (1664) of Norwich, County Norfolk, England. The deacon arrived in Cambridge in 1665, and in Middletown, Conn., in 1676, where he received the greater part of the estate of his father-in-law, William Harris, while the latter went to England in behalf of the Colony of Connecticut, as agent for a charter.
On this estate generations were born and raised, Jeremiah being brought to it when only five years of age. Here he learned his trade of blacksmith, and here were all his children born. Amy married John Driggs of Middletown, and died in Peru, Mass., they had five daughters; Jeremiah learned his father's trade and bought back the shop at Middletown, he had married Sally Clark and they had seven children, six sons and one daughter; Hester married Obadiah Bowe; John married Almira Holly, aunt of "Josiah Allen's wife," and had five children, three sons and two daughters; of Levi's children, Maria married Willard Brooks, whose sons, Silas and George became celebrated as aeronauts ; Nancy married Capt. Mark J. Bronson ; Apollos married Lucy C. Griswold, daughter of Capt. Francis Griswold, and was surveyor for Litchfield County for some years ; Levi D. married Eliza M. Lackey; Rhoda married Daniel Potter of Plymouth ; Sarah married Levi Scott and had two sons, Riley and Markham Scott; Lydia married Luther Downs and went to Armenia, N. Y.
In 1797 he had purchased two hundred acres of land in the wild west of Connecticut, being the grant to Rev. Ichabod Camp, in payment for services as chaplain in the Revolutionary Army, and in this year he went there to live, and built a blacksmith's shop. He is said to have forged knife blades equal to the English. To this tract were added two hundred acres by son and grandson, so that the homestead comprised at one time four hundred acres of rugged land in the southern part of Plymouth. The original house in which Jeremiah lived and died is still standing on the Waterbury road on the southwest corner of the lane, leading to the site of another house to the west, there being until recently still another to the south on the same lot, and to one of these, the eldest son, Jeremiah, Jr., removed two years later with his wife and two very young children, John and Oliver. 'Tis said these baby boys were slung one on either side of a horse in a saddle bag and followed the family procession from Middletown to Plymouth, whiling away the time by am us- ing themselves, tickling each other with a straw over the back of the animal.
Jeremiah, Jr., in about a year removed back to the Middle- town homestead and the Plymouth estate came into the posses- sion of the son Levi, and John went to the "Black River Country." Levi married, January 11, 1804, Rosanna Rowe, and they had five children born at the old homestead, Maria, Nancy, Lucy R., Apollos (for a time surveyor for the town), and Levi Deming, whose family still retains the Ichabod Camp property.
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On a visit to this house a few years ago, the writer found some of the spoils from the "Indian Wars," some of which were adorned by Indian artists, handed down by Sergeant Jeremiah to his children, and also accounts and pension papers, showing that Sergeant Markham acted as captain, and led the company of Captain Joseph Blague in the second battle of Saratoga, October 7, 1777, during which he was shot through the head just as they were leaping over the British breastworks (vide Walworth's Battles of Saratoga). Captain Blague was then in the hospital suffering from wounds received in the first battle, during which this company had especially distinguished itself, and Blague soon received a sword from General Washington, with a commission of Colonel.
DR. RALPH SCHUYLER GOODWIN.
Ralph Schuyler Goodwin, of Thomaston, Conn., son of Charles and Jane (Guilford) Goodwin, was born July 24, 1839, at Litchfield, Conn. He is the grandson of Uri Goodwin, a descendant of Ozias Goodwin, one of Thomas Hooker's band of pioneer settlers of Hartford, Conn. He received his high school education at Watertown Academy, Waterbury Academy, Bing- hampton, N. Y., Academy, and the New York State Normal School, from which he was graduated; commenced the study of medicine at Binghamton, N. Y., in 1862, under Dr. Burr, of Binghamton, Drs. Enos and Conklin, of Brooklyn, N. Y., and Dr. A. S. Hunter, of New York City ; attended three courses of medical lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, and the Long Island College Hospital, Brooklyn, N Y., and was graduated from the former in 1866; commenced the practice of medicine in 1867, at Plymouth Center and later removed to Thomaston, Conn., where he has since remained. He is a member of the Litchfield County Medical Society, of which he has been president; Connecticut Medical Society ; American Medical Association; and the American Public Health Association. He has been a member of the Connecticut State Board of Health eight years, as well as health officer of Thomaston, Conn. He is an Odd Fellow ; member of Thomas- ton Board of Education; acting school visitor of Thomaston, ten years ; and member of Congregational Church. Dr. Goodwin was for three years an instructor in the Collegiate and Poly- technic Institute, Brooklyn, N. Y. Among his more important medical papers are : "The Contagiousness of Tuberculosis," read before the County Medical Society, 1892; "The Thera- peutic Use of Alcohol," published in transactions State Medical Society, 1879; "The Etiology and Prophylaxis of Typhoid Fever," read before the County Medical Society, 1889; an address as chairman of section on therapeutics, at centennial anniversary of the State Medical Society, 1892 ; " Characteristics of Modern Therapeutibs."
Married, 1867, Miss Jeanie Edith Irvine, of New York City. They have two children : Ralph Schuyler Goodwin, Jr.,
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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
Dr. R. S. Goodwin
Dr. S. T. Salisbury.
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a graduate at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, and Grace Goodwin, educated at Vassar College.
DR. SAMUEL T. SALISBURY.
Dr. Samuel T. Salisbury, of whom an excellent likeness is given herewith, was born at Providence, R. I., March 17, 1814. He was of mixed English and Welsh stock, and among the ancestral names were those of Owen, Dexter, Thurber, and Salisbury. He early developed a taste for study-was a pupil in the schools of his native city and Brown University. After finishing his academic studies, he adopted medicine as his chosen profession-first as a botanic student and practitioner. He soon became dissatisfied with the limited range of this school, and resolved to adopt the allopathic. In 1834, he entered the office of that distinguished physician and teacher, Dr. Charles Hooker, of New Haven, attending lectures in the Medical Institution of Yale College, and graduated therefrom in 1836. The year of his graduation, he married Miss Harriet Fenn, of Plymouth, Conn. (where he had settled in practice), by whom he had two daughters, both of whom died in 1848. Mrs. Salisbury died two years subsequently, thus leaving him without family. In 1852, he married Miss Amelia P. Moss, of Cheshire, Conn., by whom he had three sons. Dr. Salisbury was a lover of his pro- fession-he practiced medicine from the love of it. With him it was something more lofty and ennobling than the means of acquiring a livelihood. It was a sacred calling, enlisting all his sympathies, and to it he consecrated his best energies. Though his professional life was a busy one, yet he was a man of public spirit, and found time to take an active interest in public affairs, representing the town in the State legislature and as selectman. About 1870, gradually failing health required him to relinquish his practice to a certain extent, symptoms of that insidious but surely fatal disease, locomotor-ataxia, manifested themselves. Ordinary remedies and a protracted sojourn in a southern climate failed to give more than a temporary relief, the disease culminat- ing fatally, March 1, 1874.
DR. FRANKLIN J. WHITTEMORE.
Dr. Franklin J. Whittemore was born in Washington, Mass., January 15, 1828. He was the son of Amo's Whittemore, of Middlefield, Mass., and his mother was Clarissa Hamilton, of Chester, Mass. He was educated at Easthampton and studied medicine in the New York University, graduating in 1851, He settled at once in Plymouth and in October, 1851, married Fallah Terry, daughter of Eli Terry, Jr., of Terryville. They had four children, Frank Hamilton, William Richardson, Clara and Lily. Mrs. Whittemore died in April, 1864.
Dr. Whittemore practiced medicine in Plymouth for several years, gaining a wide reputation in the surrounding country as a most successful practitioner, and was much beloved by all there.
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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTHI.
Dr. F. J. Whittemore.
Dr C. W. Bull.
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He was at different times elected to prominent offices in the town. He removed to New Haven, Conn., in May, 1868, where for fifteen years he had a large and lucrative practice. He was Surgeon General of the State on Governor Jewell's staff, and since 1883 has resided in Clyde, Ohio.
His oldest son, Frank Hamilton, was born July 6, 1854, and was educated at Hopkins Grammar School in New Haven. He studied medicine and graduated from the Bellevue Hospital Medical College in 1875, and after a few months study abroad, was appointed physician to the Jersey City Charity Hospital, where he remained two years, then returned to New Haven, and has become one of the leading physicians of the city. He married in IS76, Millie, youngest daughter of Mrs. Isaac T. Rogers, of Milford, Conn. They have one son, Edward Reed.
DR. C. W. BULL.
Cornelius Wade Bull, a son of Jabez and Mary Ford Bull, was born at Tallahassee, Fla., April 8, 1839. He was graduated from Yale College, 1863. After graduation he commenced the study of medicine at the Yale Medical School, but in the follow- ing spring gave up his studies and joined the United States Navy as acting assistant paymaster, being assigned to the Missis- sippi Squadron. He continued in this service until August, 1865, when he returned to New Haven and completed his medical course, graduating in 1867. He then became resident physician at the State Hospital remaining there until April, 1868, when he entered actively in the practice of medicine at Terryville. Too strict application to his duties injured his health and he was compelled to give up his practice in April, IS72. He died May 19, 1876.
He was married August 16, 1869, to Alice, daughter of Porter Sanford. They had one son, Cornelius Sanford (Yale '93.)
SARAH E. TOLLES PLUMB.
Sarah E. Tolles Plumb was born October 24, 1837, in that part of Plymouth known as Allentown, near Tolles Station on the New York and New England Railroad. Her father was Captain Zenas Tolles, a well known and prosperous farmer, and for many years identified with the militia interests of the State. His ancestors for several generations were residents of Plymouth. Her mother was Nancy Holt, a daughter of Daniel and Nabby Holt, who resided for many years in the southwest part of Har- winton. Mrs. Holt was a member of the Bull family which has now representatives in New York City and South Carolina. Dr. Bull of New York, who has a national reputation, is a descend- ant of this family.
On May 12, 1861, Miss Tolles was married to Dr. Henry Plumb, originally of Wolcott, but who, on his graduating from Yale, settled in New Milford. In 1862 he entered the army as
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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
Sarah E. Tolles Plumb
George Pierpont.
.
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surgeon of the 19th Connecticut Infantry Regiment, known as the Litchfield County Regiment. At the close of the war they removed west and settled in Pleasanton, Linn County, Kansas, seventy-five miles south of Kansas City.
They have two sons, Charles Waldo, and Harry Averill, the former aged thirty-two and the latter twenty-seven, both having families. Waldo is in business in Ireton, Iowa, and Harry in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
GEORGE PIERPONT.
George Pierpont was the great-great-grandson of Rev. James Pierpont, who was the second pastor of the First Church in New Haven, the principal founder of Yale College, the reputed author of the constitution of the Connecticut churches, known as the Saybrook Platform, and whose daughter was the wife of Rev. Jonathan Edwards, the eminent theologian, and President Dwight of Yale College was his grandson.
Mr. Pierpont was also connected by blood relation with Rev. Thomas Hooker, who was the first pastor of the First Church in Hartford, the author of the colonial constitution of Connecticut, and he was also related through his grandmother with Rev. Timothy Collins, who was the first pastor of the Litchfield church, and through his mother to Caleb Humaston, one of the principal founders of Northbury Society, now Ply- mouth, whose granddaughter she was. The best blood of New England thus flowed in Mr. Pierpont's veins, constituting him a
member of that nobility, not of rank, wealth or title, but of in- tellect, of learning, of piety, of culture, and of character, which has been the foundation of New England's greatness. The traces of this descent were manifest in Mr. Pierpont. Though denied the literary training which had characterized his earlier ancestry, he was a man of scholarly tastes, especially in the line of historical research, and kept himself well abreast of the general intelligence of the times. He was a man of strict integrity and of lofty honor, and scorned meanness and baseness in all its branches. He held at different times various offices of public trust, such as magistrate, selectman, and clerk of the town, judge of probate, and was a member of the State legis- lature. In 1861 he was appointed United States assistant assessor and continued to hold that office for eleven years or until it was abolished. In 1877 he was elected by the legislature county commissioner of Litchfield County. and re-elected to the same office in IS80. In April, 1840. Mr. Pierpont married Miss Caroline E. Beach, daughter of the late Isaac C. Beach, of Northfield, Conn., who was a devoted wife and helpmate for nearly thirty-four years. She died January IS, 1874. His second wife was the daughter of the late J. Sherman Titus, of Washington, Conn. George Sherman Pierpont, his son, was born in Plymouth, in 1876, and is now being educated in Dr. Carleton's family school in Bradford, Mass.
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