USA > Connecticut > Illustrated popular biography of Connecticut > Part 61
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fire bell. At the time of the Park Central hotel disaster the signal was sounded for the first time, being ordered by Governor Bulkeley, and within twenty minutes one hundred men were en route from the armory in uniform and armed for the scene of the calamity. The service rendered by the Guard at that time under command of Colonel Cone and his associate field officers was invaluable.
Lieutenant-Colonel Thompson is one of the most respected citizens of Hartford. For six years he was assistant superintendent of the Center church Sunday-school, and was treasurer for one year of the Connecticut Temperance Union, of which Governor Buckingham was the first president. He declined a second term on account of increasing business duties. For the past eleven years he has been a member of the board of deacons and treas- urer of the Asylum Hill Congregational church. He is also a member of the board of managers of the Young Men's Christian Association. Nine years of his business life were spent with the Cheney Silk Manufacturing Co. The past fifteen years have been passed with the Connecticut Mutual Life, where he holds a responsible position in the bond and mortgage department. The wife of Lieutenant-Colonel Thompson, who is still liv- ing, was Miss Abby Frances Allen prior to her marriage. There are three children in the family, the oldest of whom is connected with the Hartford Courant in this city.
AUGUSTUS HOWARD JONES, MERIDEN: Manufacturer of Brass and Bronze Goods.
A. H. Jones was born in New York city Dec. 21, 1850, and has resided there and in Connecticut, fol- lowing the occupation of a brass moulder. He is indebted to the common school for his education, and to his own enterprise and grit for his business success and prominence in the affairs of his adopted city. He is a staunch republican, and has been a member of the city council and board of aldermen of Meriden, but at present holds no public office. He is connected with the Knight Tem- plars, with the Home A. H. JONES. Club of Meriden, and also with the Congregational church. He is in business under the firm name of the Meriden Bronze Company, manufacturers of beautiful art goods, notably of the " Meriden lamp," which is made in a great variety of artistie designs. He is married, and has one child.
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BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
HON. S. W. ROBBINS, WETHERSFIELD : Stock Farmer and Breeder.
Hon. Silas Webster Robbins is"one of the ablest business men in this locality and is known through- out the country as a successful breeder of thorough- bred cattle, including Short Horn, Jersey, and Guernsey stock, Cots- wold, South Down, and Shropshire Down sheep. For thirty years he has been a director of the American National Bank of Hartford. He is also a director in the Phœ- nix Life Insurance Com- pany, trustee of the Me- chanics Savings Bank, president of Johnson, S. W. ROBBINS. Robbins & Co .; also of the A. D. Vorce Co., and is a director in the Merrick Thread Co. of Holyoke, Mass. He was born in the town of Wethersfield October 2, 1822. His great-grandfather, on his mother's side, was a brother of the father of Noah Webster, the lexicographer - hence his middle name - while his paternal great-grandfather, John Robbins, sat in the legislature for twenty-one years as a represen- tative of Wethersfield, and was otherwise a noted man in the community. Step by step back to the settlement of the old town and to John Robbins ean be traced the genealogy, thence it passes to the north of England. The character of the family has always been high. The subject of this sketch was educated under the tutorship of the Rev. Joseph Emerson, who was at the head of a success- ful private school in Wethersfield sixty years ago. Mrs. Emerson, the principal teacher, was a sister of Mrs. Hazeltine, principal of the famous Bradford (Mass.) academy. Her methods were so incom- parable that among the other scholars attracted during Mr. Robbins' course of instruction there were a niece of Henry Clay and one of Francis P. Blair. After completing his education, he became a clerk in the provision store of Fox & Porter, on Central row, but before he was twenty he established a general store in Wethersfield, re- taining the management of it for nearly forty years. He was instrumental in establishing the seed firm of Johnson, Robbins & Co., which gained a national reputation. He was one of the incorpora- tors of the Hartford & Connecticut Valley Railroad, and of the Hartford & Wethersfield Horse Railroad Co. In politics he is a republican. In ISSS he was elected to the state senate from the second district and served with marked acceptance in that body. He has held the offices of postmaster and town treasurer in Wethersfield, and is held in the highest
personal esteem in the community in which the whole of his life has been spent. Ex-Senator Rob- bins has one son and three daughters. His wife, who was Miss Sophia Jane Johnson of Wethers- field, the daughter of one of the most prominent citizens of the town, is not living. Mr. Robbins and family have been members of the Congrega- tional church in Wethersfield from the outset, and are among the staunchest representatives of the denomination in Hartford county.
ERASMUS D. AVERY, GROTON:
Mr. Avery is now eighty-three years of age, hav- ing been born May 12, 1808. Groton is the place of his nativity. In childhood he attended the village schools there, afterward spent some time at Plain- field Academy, and fin- ished his education in the private school of Rev. Timothy Tuttle in Led- yard. At the age of eigh- teen he embarked in the mercantile business in New York city, continu- ing there for about ten years, when, his health failing, he went to Florida and engaged in similar business at Pensacola. E. D. AVERY. He regained his health, established a prosperous trade, and remained until 1861, when at the break- ing out of the war of the rebellion he was compelled to leave suddenly and abandon a very considerable property, entailing great pecuniary loss. Return- ing to Groton, he established his residence there, and has maintained it ever since, although his busi- ness connections are mostly with New London, just across the Thames. Mr. Avery was one of the in- corporators of the Mariners' Savings Bank in New London, in 1867, and has been one of its directors ever since ; he is, and has been for several years, a director in the New London City National Bank ; also a trustee of the New London Savings Bank. He has been connected with the settlement of up- wards of twenty different estates, and is now the agent and trustee of various properties. He is trustee and treasurer of the Bill memorial library. di- rector and treasurer of the Groton Cemetery Asso- ciation, and president of the Groton Monument As- sociation. Mr. Avery has represented his town or district six times in the legislature, three times in the senate and the same number of times in the lower branch. He was a member of the Groton war committee for raising troops throughout the entire period of the civil war. As a member of the general assembly he has assisted in the election of
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three United States senators, - Hon. LaFayette S. Foster of Norwich, Hon. James Dixon of Hartford, and Hon. Orville H. Platt of Meriden. He has been assessor and auditor of accounts in his native town for a number of years, and for a some time clerk and treasurer, as well as committee-man, in the Groton Congregational church, of which he has been eight years a member. His life has been one of great activity and usefulness, and his public ser- vices to the town and state have been of inestima- ble value. Mr. Avery married Miss Sarah Hinck- ley, who, with three of their four children, is still living. He was formerly a Henry Clay whig, but since the organization of the republican party has been prominently identified therewith.
C. W. HALL, SOUTHINGTON: With The Peck, Stow & Wilcox Company.
Charles Williams Hall was born in Watertown, Conn., and removed to Southington in early life. He was the son of Peter Hall, formerly of Walling- ford, and is a lineal de- scendant from John Hall, the immigrant, who came to New Haven in 1650 and settled in Wallingford, of the sixth generation. He received a common school education, mostly in the town of Cheshire, where he spent some years of his early life. He has worked at tinman's machines and tools, with the exception of the time devoted to C. W. HALL. public affairs. He con- nected himself with the Roys & Wilcox Company of East Berlin, in 1847, and was one of the first contractors when they started business. He re- turned to Southington in 1873, where he has since resided, being connected with the Peck, Stow & Wilcox Company. He is a staunch republican, pro- fessing to be " dyed in the wool," and has been a selectman for ten years, three in Berlin and seven in Southington. He has been fire commissioner since the organization of the Southington depart- ment. He is connected with the Congregational church and has been Sunday-school superintend- ent, and successfully conducted a mission school in East Berlin and in Southington. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and a director in the Mutual Benefit Association of that order; is a member of the Order of United American Mechan- ics, the Southington Agricultural Society, Union Grange, and president of the South End Cemetery Association. He married Mary A. Newell of South- ington, April 26, 1848, daughter of Asahel Newell,
and author and publisher of the Newell genealogy, who is still living. He has no children living, but has one grandchild. Mr. Hall has always been noted for his activity, push, energy, and for thor- oughness in all his undertakings.
DANIEL CHAPMAN SPENCER, OLD SAY- BROOK: Farmer and Merchant.
Among the descendants of Girard Spencer, who came to this country about 1610, and settled at what is now Cambridge, Massachusetts, is Daniel C. Spencer, the subject of this sketch, who was born in Saybrook in this state on the 3d of December, 1823. He attended the public school until he was nine years of age, when he went to work on his father's farm, where he continued until he was twenty-two. During this period he enjoyed further educational privileges at the Saybrook Academy, covering only the winter D. C. SPENCER. months while he was " in his teens." He might have lived and died a farmer, but what appeared to be a providential misfortune changed the whole current of his life. While working in the field he suffered a sunstroke, the effects of which compelled him to abandon farming, and for three years he filled a clerkship in the stores of his native town and of Westbrook. This was the stepping-stone to his subsequent advancement. He next entered the employ of L. L. Bishop of New Haven, as traveling salesman, into which business he entered enthusiastically and soon acquired a reputation that extended beyond the limits of his own state. Upon the earnest solicitation of Messrs. Moulton, Plymp- ton, Williams & Co., one of the leading wholesale dry-goods firms of New York, he assumed the en- tire charge of their fancy goods department, in which capacity he served them for two years, and then entered the establishment of Claflin, Mellen & Co., at that time located at No. III Broadway. His experience here was so satisfactory to the firm that at the end of his first year Mr. Claflin volun- tarily presented him with a check for $1,000 in addition to his salary. During Mr. Spencer's con- nection with this house, covering a period of thirteen years, the establishment advanced in the volume and extent of its transactions until it became the largest dry-goods house in the United States, the sales exceeding those of its most distinguished rival by several millions of dollars. Mr. Spencer had made almost superhuman efforts to reach this
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BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
result, and the strain proved too great for his pow- ers of endurance. In the fall of 1867 his health broke down completely, and he was compelled to give up business altogether on the first of January following. Upon his retirement he was presented by his associates with a superb silver service, appropriately inscribed, as a token of their appre- ciation and regard.
Mr. Spencer had previously purchased a number of acres contiguous to the old homestead property in Saybrook, known as the Chalker farm. Here he retired to spend his days. The old place was en- enlarged and improved, and the surroundings made attractive and healthful by the expenditure of much money and the exercise of infinite taste. Amid these environments he soon recovered his health, and again became active in affairs. He en- gaged in projects for public improvements, and be- came a power for good in the advancement of numerous worthy enterprises. He is a life mem- ber and auditor of the Acton Library Association of Saybrook, and one of the auditors of the town accounts. He was one of the pioneers in the Connecticut Valley Railroad, and was instrumental in securing the present location as the terminus of the road. He is a director in the company, and has been for many years. He was largely instru- mental in the erection of the beautiful stone build- ing occupied by the Grace Episcopal church of Old Saybrook, and one of the largest contributors to the building fund. He has been an earnest and devout member, and a liberal contributor to its support since he became connected with the church, in which he holds the office of junior warden, and where he had previously been clerk and treasurer for a number of years. He was previously for several years a member of St. Timothy Episcopal church in New York city, in which he held a similar official position.
On the 12th of October, 1851, he married Emily Maria, daughter of William Stokes, Esq., of West- brook, one of the most ardent and enthusiastic patriots and a volunteer in the war of 1812. He was one of the brave men who shouldered his musket and intercepted the retreating British troops after the burning of Essex in 1814. The issue of Mr. Spencer's marriage with Miss Stokes was eight children; William David, the eldest, born in 1852, became a practicing physician; Ella Maria, born in 1856, married Dr. B. W. Leonard, a prominent dentist of Saybrook; Daniel Stokes, born 1860; Grace Emily, born 1861, married John C. Wood of New York City, prominently connected with the H. B. Claflin Co .; George Jarvis, born 1866; Edmond Chapman, born 1869; Frederick Clarence, born 1870; and Henry Russell, born 1875, died in infancy.
Mr. Spencer's present business connections are
as director in the Deep River National Bank and the Stoddard Lock and Manufacturing Company. He is an earnest republican in politics, and as such has been twice chosen to represent Old Saybrook in the state legislature, once in 1885, when he was chairman of the State Library committee, and again in 1886 when he served on the committee on railroads. His extensive knowledge of affairs and his ripe judgment constituted him a valuable factor in state legislation, and enabled him to do conspicu- ous service for his constituents and the state.
Mr. Spencer is a man of strong and positive convic- tions, but of great kindness of heart, always seek- ing to promote the public good and increase the sum of individual happiness. His life affords a striking example of what the young men of this country are capable of accomplishing under our benign institutions. Commencing the battle of life at nine years of age, by untiring energy he con- quered all difficulties, and in his declining years is leading a quiet life of retirement in the enjoyment of a sufficient competence to place him beyond the possibility of want during the remainder of his days.
ALBERT C. GREENE, WESTMINSTER: Farmer.
Albert C. Greene of Canterbury (Westminster,) was born in Plainfield, Sept. 24, 1829, and re- ceived his education in the common schools. He has followed mechanical, mercantile, and farming pursuits in Boston, Kil- lingly, and Canterbury. He enlisted as private in Company A, Eighteenth Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers, and served with that body from 1862 to 1865, sharing the tre- mendous service of that regiment in the last year of the war west of the Blue Ridge, in West Vir- ginia. He has always A. C. GREENE. taken a great interest in matters pertaining to the veteran soldiers, and is a member of G. A. R., Post No. 77, of Central Village. He has served many years on the board of education of his town, but otherwise has not held elective office. He was an enumerator for the eleventh census. He is a republican in political faith, and active in the councils of the party. He is a deacon of the Congregational church in Westminster, and is highly esteemed for his pro- bity and his neighborly kindness. His wife was Mary E. Bemis of Oxford, N. Y., daughter of A. N. Bemis, Esq. She is still living, and they have seven children, five sons and two daughters.
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HENRY W. PECK, BETHLEHEM: Clothing Mer- chant.
Henry W. Peck has been a member of both branches of the general assembly, representing the town in which he resided in 1853 and 1862, and be- ing a member of the state senate from the old six- tecnth district in 1865. His colleagues in the lat- ter body included Judge Edward I. Sanford of New Haven, the Hon. Lynde Harrison, ex-Con- gressman John T. Wait, and the Hon. Robbins Battell. Mr. Peck was postmaster at Bethlehem from 1845 until 1867, and H. W. PECK. has been town clerk for thirteen years. He has also held various minor offices, including that of town treasurer, member of the board of selectmen, registrar of vital statistics, and justice of the peace. In politics he is a republican. He is a member of the Congregational society. He is engaged in the clothing business, and is connected with the Star Pin Company of Birmingham. Mr. Peck has been married twice. His first wife was Miss Mary Brown and the second was Miss J. E. Crossman prior to marriage. The latter is still living. There are also two children. Mr. Peck was born in Wood- bury Jan. 10, 1819, and received a common school education. He has been a resident of Bethlehem since he was twenty-one.
WILLIAM F. PALMER, SCOTLAND: Merchant.
William F. Palmer was born June 29, 1824, in Scotland, Windham county, Conn .; and, with the exception of seven years in Springfield, Mass., has passed the whole of his life in his native town. After an elementary edu- cation received at the schools near his home, he engaged until the age of twenty-two in labor on the farm. He was then for a brief time employed in teaming, and subse- quently entered the ser- vice of the Hartford, New Haven & Springfield Railroad Company. In
W. F. PALMER.
1854 he returned to Scot- land, and for a time engaged in farming. Mr. Palmer, at a later date, in connection with a part- ner, embarked in mercantile ventures, and in 1882
purchased the entire business interest, which he now controls. In 1866 he was elected by the re- publicans to represent his town in the state legisla- ture, and in 1872 was appointed postmaster, which he held until January 1, 1891, when he resigned the office to accept the state senatorship for the seven- teenth district. He also for many years held the office of justice of the peace, and has been since 1874 town treasurer and town clerk. He is a trus- tee of the Willimantic Savings Institute, and is frequently called upon to act as executor, trustee, and administrator. He is a member of the First Congregational society of Scotland, and treasurer and clerk of the society. Mr. Palmer was married October 14, 1850, to Susan B., daughter of Thomas Webb of the same town. They have one daugh- ter, Ella Brewer, the wife of James H. Johnson.
HENRY P. STAGG, STRATFORD: Town Clerk.
Henry P. Stagg was born in Stratford August 23, 1836, and received an academic education. At the outbreak of the war in 1861 he was connected with the Seventh New York Regiment and was mustered into the United States service with that command at the first call of President Lincoln for troops. The presence of the Sixth Massachusetts and the Seventh New York in Washington pre- vented the capture of the city by the confederates at the opening of hostili- ties. Mr. Stagg is a mem- H. P. STAGG. ber of Elias Howe, Jr., Post of the Grand Army at Bridgeport, and is president of the Veteran Association of Stratford. He served as a member of Company K of the Fourth Regiment, C. N. G., for five years, and is a member of the Connecticut Society of the Sons of the Revolution. He is also a member of St. John's Lodge, No. 6, F. and A. M., of Stratford, which contains the name of Representative Stiles Judson, Jr., on its roll. Mr. Stagg has held the office of town clerk since 1879, and has been a member of the school committee. He is a republican in politics, and is the secretary and manager of the Stratford Oyster Company. He was with the firm of Booth & Edgar, sugar refiners of New York, for twenty- five years. The wife of Mr. Stagg was Miss Mary E. King of New York. The family consists of four children. Mr. Stagg is connected with the Congre- gational church and an active participant in every interest that pertains to the welfare of the com- munity.
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BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
SAMUEL J. BRYANT, WEST HAVEN: Real Estate and Fire Insurance.
Mr. Bryant was born in West Stockbridge, Berk- shire county, Mass., June 26, 1851. His father was a Congregational clergyman, the seventh of eight children, and a native of Sheffield, Mass. His mother was the first of ten children and was a native of Canaan, N. Y. He therefore claims to be of good eastern blood. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1873 and from Yale Theological Semi- nary in 1876. His strug- gles for an education are typical of the American youth who is determined S. J. BRYANT. to make a place for him- self in the world. While at Oberlin he sawed wood and worked gardens to earn money to put himself through the college course. In 1869-70 he began teaching school winters and taught successively in York, Medina county, Ohio, Briar Hill, Trumbull county, Brownhelm, Lorain county, and in Oberlin during the long vacations in 1872-3. While in the Theological Seminary at New Haven in 1873-4 he taught school in Weston, Windsor county, Vermont, keeping up his studies in the seminary meanwhile. During the last year of the seminary course he preached every Sunday. In July, 1876, he was settled as pastor of the Congregational church of South Britain, where he remained until July of 1883. He then removed to West Haven. He is identified with the Maltby, Stevens & Curtiss Co. of Wallingford as a director, and was until recently secretary and assistant treasurer. He is now a member of the firm of Bryant & Main, transact- ing business in real estate, loans and fire insur- ance. Mr. Bryant is a republican and repre- sented the town of Orange in the lower house in 1889, and was clerk of the committee on humane institutions, and house chairman of the committee on contested elections. He is one of the burgesses of the borough of West Haven, and for several terms has been a member of the school board. As may be gathered from the above he is a Congregationalist, and is deacon of the church in West Haven, superintendent of the Sunday-school, and member of both the church and ecclesiastical society standing committee. May 23, 1876, Mr. Bryant married Ellen E. Tyler, daughter of Dr. David A. Tyler, for forty years a leading practi- tioner of New Haven. They have had four child- ren, two sons and two daughters, three of them still living, one daughter having been taken. Mr. Bryant is one of the live citizens of West Haven,
and is enthusiastic in the promotion of all things which are for the best good of the town. He is a Master Mason and Knight of Honor, is one of twenty-five members of the Bisby Club in the Adirondacks owning land for hunting and fishing purposes, the Bisby being one of the most complete organizations of the kind in the wilderness.
WILLIS R. AUSTIN, NORWICH: Retired Cotton Dealer and Banker.
Willis Rogers Austin was born in Norwich, Jan- uary 31, 1819, and was educated for the bar, being a graduate of the Yale Law School. He spent a number of years in Texas after his graduation from the university, being en- gaged chiefly in cotton speculation. Subsequent- ly, he engaged in the banking business in Phil- adelphia. Success was met with in each of these enterprises, enabling him to retire from active pur- suits a number of years ago. Mr. Austin traveled extensively in this coun- try and Europe before W. R. AUSTIN. finally returning to his old home in Norwich for a permanent residence. In 1874 he was elected a member of the general assembly from the town of Norwich, his colleague being the Hon. Allen Ten- ney. His associates in the house that year from New London county included Railroad Commis- sioner Wm. H. Hayward, Erastus S. Day of Col- chester, chairman for four years of the republican state central committee, and the Hon. Benjamin Stark of New London. In 1875 Mr. Austin was re-elected by the largest majority that had been given up to that time to a representative in the leg- islature from Norwich. The centennial period was also a most fortunate one, politically, for Mr. Aus- tin. After having carried the city of Norwich by the largest majority ever received there by a re- publican representative, the natural step was ad- vancement to the senatorship in the old eighth dis- trict. In 1876 Mr. Austin was elected senator from that district, his colleagues in the senate including Gen. S. E. Merwin of New Haven, Edward W. Seymour of Litchfield, now of the supreme court, Washington F. Willcox, now member of congress from the second district, Charles C. Hubbard of Middletown, subsequently state comptroller, and ex-Lieutenant-Governor E. H. Hyde of Stafford. Mr. Austin has also served as a member of the re- publican state central committee. He has been the president of the agricultural society, member of
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