USA > Connecticut > Illustrated popular biography of Connecticut > Part 68
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Mr. Gilbert was born December 17, 1822, in Mansfield, and received his education at the neigh- boring school and academies. He then entered his father's store, and at the age of eighteen engaged in teaching when his pres- ence was not required upon the farm, which he superintended. In 1859 he removed to Coventry. As a republican he has served in most of the offices in the gift of his townsmen. He was elected to the house of representatives for the sessions of 1868, 1872, and 1885, and in the latter was H. E. H. GILBERT. house chairman of the committee on temperance. He has been a member of the Congregational church for forty years, and for an equal length of time either treasurer or committee of the ecclesias- tical societies of North Mansfield and Coventry.
P. B. SIBLEY, BROOKLYN: Deputy Sheriff and Jailer Windham County Jail.
Preston P. Sibley was born in Eastford, June 25, 1840, and received a common school education, following the occupation of farmer and mechanic for the most part. He resided in Eastford till March, 1881, when he re- moved to Brooklyn, Ct., and took charge of the jail. While in Eastford he was honored many times by his fellow-citi- zens, holding various of- fices within the town and county, and representing the town in the legislature in 1873-74; and is one of the best-known men in eastern Connecticut. He P. B. SIBLEY. was first appointed deputy sheriff under Prescott May, and reappointed by C. H. Osgood, which position he held until called to take charge of the jail. His services at that institution have been highly appreciated. Although having had no pre- vious experience in prison management, he has proved a valuable officer. His business interests are extensive. He is a director in the Brooklyn Savings Bank, director in the Windham County Fire Insurance Company, and its agent; and secre- tary, treasurer, and director of the Brooklyn
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Creamery Company. He is connected with the Congregational church and society, and is clerk and treasurer for both organizations. He has been con- nected with the republican party from its organ- ization, has been a member of the State Central Committee, and has always worked for the ad- vancement of its principles. He is a member of the Ancient Order United Workmen. He has a wife and three children. Sheriff Sibley has a host of friends, won by long continued efforts both in publie and private business affairs, and is regarded as one of the most genial and companionable of men, and a force in all matters of public progress.
MARTIN H. SMITH, SUFFIELD.
The subject of this sketch, who has been con- nected with the Travelers Insurance Company of Hartford sinee 1889, has spent most of his life in educational work. He
graduated from Williams College, Williamstown, Mass., in 1857, and spent the following two years as instructor in mathematics at the Connecticut Liter- ary Institute, at Suffield, Conn., where his prepara- tory eourse had been pur- sued. In 1859 he became the principal of the Mays- ville Literary Institute at Maysville, Ky., an institu- tion chartered with eol- M. H. SMITH. legiate privileges, and remained there until 1880, when he returned to Suffield, having been elected principal of the institute by the board of trustees. Mr. Smith remained at the head of the school for nine years. Prior to his withdrawal from the posi- tion he declined the chief clerkship of the Bureau of Labor Statisties, which was offered to him by Com- missioner Hotchkiss. In 1871-2 he was the grand commander of Knights Templar in Kentucky and stands high in Masonry. The wife of Mr. Smith, who is still living, was Miss Nancie G. Thompson, daughter of Hon. E. P. Thompson of East Granby. There are two daughters, one being the wife of Charles L. Spencer of Suffield, and the second is the wife of Elmer E. Bailey and resides at San Mateo, Fla. Mr. Smith has written extensively in connection with his life work. He is a member of the Baptist church and is connected with the re- publican party. He was born at Suffield, August 5, 1833. His parents were Henry and Lydia Smith. His father was a farmer of moderate means, and the family were held in the most thorough esteem in the community where they residcd.
CHARLES H. MAIN, NORTH STONINGTON . Farmer.
Charles Henry Main, first selectman of the town of North Stonington, has been a member of the legislature through two sessions, the first being in 1883, and the second in 1887. His colleagues from New London county ineluded Colonel Wm. H. Bently and Bryan F. Ma- han of New London, N. Douglass Sevin of Nor- wieh, now of the state pharmacy commission, Eben P. Couch of Ston- ington, the Hon. Ste- phen A. Gardner of New London, and E. Burrows Brown of Stonington. He has been a member of the C. 11. MAIN. board of selectmen for nine years, and belongs to the democratic party. He is connected with the Baptist church, and oeeupies a leading po- sition in the denomination. Mr. Main has been married twiee. The first wife was Miss Louisa Mi- ner, who died September 12, 1875. The second wife was the twin sister of the first, Lovisa Miner, and is still living. There are four children in the family. Mr. Main was born January 3, 1837, and received a common sehool education. His business is that of a farmer.
NORMAN A. WILSON, HARWINTON: Farmer.
Norman Addison Wilson is a descendant of Rev. John Wilson, who emigrated from Windsor, Eng- land, and was the first one of the name in New England, arriving in Bos-
ton in 1630. The sub- jeet of this sketch was born in Harwinton, De- eember 16, 1819, and re- ceived an academic edu- cation, completing his studies in Western Re- serve College in Ohio. Mr. Wilson has been en- gaged in farming and the lumber trade, and is a prominent business man in his locality. With the exception of one year, N. A. WILSON. which was spent as a book agent in the South. Mr. Wilson has resided at Harwinton. He was mar- ried June 30, 1841, his wife being Miss Harriett Latham Griswold, only daughter of Oliver Gris- wold of Windsor. She was born May 7, 1819. The golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson oe- eurred in June of this year. There are six children
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in the family, four sons and two daughters. One daughter died in September, 1890. Mr. Wilson has held numerous town offices, including that of grand juror for nine years, first selectman for eight, justice of the peace for twenty, and registrar of births, deaths, and marriages for ten. He has been a trial justice for a great many years, and his aim has always been to do to others as he would like to be done by. He is at present a commis- sioner of the superior court, and has been a mem- ber of the board of relief. In 1869 he was a member of the general assembly from Harwinton, serving as a republican in that body. He was an original member of the know nothing party in this state. His religious connections are with the Con- gregational church. Mr. Wilson is a valued corre- spondent of several Litchfield county papers, and is held in high esteem in the community where he resides.
REV. R. P. STANTON, NORWICH: Congrega- tional Clergyman.
Rev. Robert Palmer Stanton was born in Belch- ertown, Mass., January 20, 1818, and was educated at Monson Academy and Yale College. graduating from the latter institution in 1843. His classmates included the Hon. Benj. T. Eames of Providence, R. I., W. L. Kingsley of New Hampshire, W. W. Atterbury of New York, E. W. Gilman of New York, the Hon. Gardner Greene of Norwich, Rev. Sylvester Hine of Hart- ford, and Rev. Geo. A. Bryan of Scotland. After R. P. STANTON. completing his college course Mr. Stanton grad- uated from the Theological Seminary and was settled as pastor of the Presbyterian church at Cohoes, N. Y., remaining there for five years. He then accepted a pastorate in Derby and was called from that town to the pastoral charge of the Fourth Congregational church in Norwich which he occu- pied for twenty-four years. He still resides in Nor- wich and preaches frequently, but is without pas- toral charge. In 1852 he was a delegate to the gen- eral assembly of the Presbyterian church of the United States from the Presbytery of Albany, and was a delegate to the National Congregational Council from the New London Association in 1886. He is a member of the Eastern Connecticut Con- gregational Club. Mr. Stanton is a republican in politics. His wife, who is still living, was Miss Harriet Jones, daughter of Dr. Timothy Jones of Southington. There are two daughters. Mr.
Stanton has been a school visitor in Norwich for thirty-three years, and is thoroughly interested in educational work.
AARON THOMAS, THOMASTON: President Seth Thomas Clock Company.
Aaron Thomas was born in the town of Plymouth, in Litchfield county, March 13, 1830, and received a common school education. He is associated and closely identified with the extensive clock industries in that locality, and is known throughout the country as the head of the great manufacturing in- terests which the family have established in Thomaston, the place it- self being named in their honor when it was incor- porated by the legislature in 1875. Mr. Thomas was born in that part of Ply- AARON THOMAS. mouth that was included in the new town. He has been prominently identi- fied with local interests during the entire period of his adult life. He is one of the principal managers of the noted Seth Thomas Clock Company and has been its president for the last thirty-two years. In politics Mr. Thomas is a republican ; his religious connection is with the Congregational church. His family consists of a wife and three children. The former was Miss Phœbe A. Hine prior to her marriage. Mr. Thomas is one of the most honored and respected citizens of Litchfield county.
WALTER P. WHITE, PUTNAM: Farmer.
Walter Peregrine White is of the tenth genera- tion in descent from Peregrine White, the first child of European parentage born in New England. He is a member of Quinne- baug Lodge, No. 106, F. and A. M. of Putnam, al- so of the American Order of United Workmen, a director of the Putnam Dairy Company, and of the Connecticut Dairy- men's Association. He is prominently associated with the Farmers League, being the president of the local and one of the treas- urers of the national or- W. P. WHITE. ganization. He has been the first selectman of the town, occupying that of- fice in 1888; and has also held the position of secre-
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BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
tary and president of the board of health. He is a member of the Congregational church, and is a re- publican in politics. June 5, 1890, he was married to Julia Demarest, the only daughter of Abraham Demarest, of the engraving firm of A. Demarest & Son, No. 240 Broadway, New York city. He has served for seven years in Co. G, of the Third regi- ment, C. N. G., and is a well-known National Guardsman. Mr. White was born in Putnam, May 17, 1859, and received an academic education, com- pleting his course in the Putnam High school. He is engaged in dairying and market gardening.
DEACON THOMAS WATSON, WINSTED. (De- ceased.)
During the last twenty years of his life, from 1856 to 1876, no resident of Winsted was so con- spicuous in some respects as Deacon Thomas Wat- son. A few of his local cotemporaries were bet- ter known to the outside world - Elliot Beardsley, John Boyd, and George Dudley - but in the realm of intellectual activity Deacon Watson possessed characteristics rarely found in the man of busi- ness. He was born a far- mer's son, and lived at the family homestead in the adjoining town of THOMAS WATSON. New Hartford until past fifty years of age, when he removed to Winsted, making the change that he might be relieved from the care of his large farm, and to derive the social advantages a village like Winsted offered; and here, at the age of fifty-five, he engaged in the lumber business. And though he was diligent in it, and gave to it the careful attention which brought him pecuniary success, Deacon Watson was always regarded by those who knew him inti- mately to have mistaken his calling, either in re- maining upon the farm or in engaging in active business. Had a phrenologist indicated the chan- nel in which he would come to his highest useful- ness, he would most likely have said it would be through the divinity school. It is said to have been one of the chief regrets of his life that he did not receive a " liberal education." Notwithstanding this lack, however, he was to a greater degree than any townsman of his day a thinker, and might with good reason have been called a Christian free- thinker. Although in good standing in the church with which he was connected (Congregational), he refused to be bound by dogmatic utterances of other men, however high they might be in ecclesi-
astical authority. He reserved for himself the right to be his own interpreter of hidden mysteries, though his uprightness of life and evident honesty of purpose shielded him from the severe criticism of those who held more closely upon the line of com- monly-accepted scripture interpretation. He was contemporaneous with Dr. Horace Bushnell, Hart- ford's noted and much-criticized divine, for whom he had a strong admiration, and of whose writings he was a diligent student. Those of us who can still recall to mind Deacon Watson's gifts as a re- ligious teacher, and his resources in arguing a theological point, cannot but feel that he might have become distinguished as a scholar could he have enjoyed the advantages for study which his mind and heart craved. Politically Deacon Wat- son was a republican, and represented both New Hartford and Winchester in the general assembly. He was never politically ambitious, however, car- ing more about being on what he believed to be the right side, and of performing his duties as a citizen in a conscientious and judicious manner, than of being regarded with popular favor. He possessed a keen, Puritanic sense as to the right and wrong of things, which in ante-bellum days led him to become a strong anti-slavery man.
Deacon Watson was born in the western part of New Hartford (Torringford society) in 1800, and died in Winsted March 13, 1876. His widow, a daughter of the late Deacon Elizur Curtis of New Hartford, still survives him (1891), as also do his three daughters - Mrs. Dr. G. B. Miller of Grand Rapids, Mich. ; Mrs. Henry Gay of Winsted, and Mrs. Edward R. Beardsley of Hartford.
FRANCIS BROWN, WINSTED. (Deceased.)
During the war of the rebellion no resident of Winsted gave evidence of greater regard for her citizen soldiers than did Francis Brown, and his patriotism was of the kind that took firm hold upon his pocketbook as well as his heart. It is still remembered by vet- erans of the war that when they were starting for " the front " his part- ing hand-clasp left within theirs generous gifts of money, pressed upon them without ostentation, with the suggestion that it might sometime prove FRANCIS BROWN. useful. Nor did his sense of obligation die away the moment peace was re- stored. The unique memorial tower which to-day is Winsted's most conspicuous feature was made
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AN ILLUSTRATED POPULAR BIOGRAPHY OF CONNECTICUT.
possible by his subscription of $1,000, his gift being supplemented by several thousands more from his generous widow, who still survives him. The story of Mr. Brown's life is full of suggestion and inspiration for young men and boys who aspire to become useful and honored citizens. Told in brief outline it runs as follows: He was born in Hart- ford, June 30, 1815. At the age of six years his father died, and at eleven he became motherless. He was one of ten children, and was not born "with a golden spoon in his mouth." Not long after the death of his mother he was taken to Nor- folk, where he was " bound out" to a relative who was engaged in scythe-making. After a faithful service in that business until about eighteen, he became dissatisfied, having been deprived of school- ing and clothing promised him, and decided to " strike out " on his own account. In his passage through Winsted (en route to see his sisters in Hartford, and making the journey on foot, for he started out with but eight cents in his pocket) he called upon Theodore Hinsdale, manager of the Beardsley Scythe Company, hoping to obtain employment. Mr. Hinsdale told the youngster there were no vacant positions there; but, being impressed with the boy's honest face, and his willingness to under-
take any kind of work, he was told that a place would be found for him. The young scythe-maker so grew in the estimation of his employers that at the age of twenty-three he was made foreman of the company, in due time being advanced to the positions of superintendent and president, retiring from the company in 1871, after a service of nearly forty years, having laid aside an ample competence. For several years he received a salary of $3,000 for his services. It should be remembered, however, by all young men who read this sketch that the secret of his successful and honored career was mainly the fact that the welfare of his employers was always his first concern. He did not spend his time clamoring for an eight-hour law; if his ser- vices were needed by the company for fifteen hours, they were rendered with cheerfulness. Politically Mr. Brown was a republican, and though never an aspirant for office, he was chosen to repre- sent Winchester in the legislature; on many occa- sions, however, declining political honors on account of the demands upon his time by his business affairs.
Mr. Brown's death occurred at Saratoga Springs, where he was at the time a temporary visitor, June I, 1884. His only child, now Mrs. Susan M. B. Perry, survives him, residing in Nichols, Conn.
POSTSCRIPT.
THE preparation of the foregoing Sketehes was completed and the manuscript placed in the hands of the printer about the first of May. Since that date, until the present completion of the work, the applications for place upon its pages have been so numerous from gentlemen who negleeted to respond earlier, and the disap- pointment oeeasioned by their necessary denial has been so evident, that the author has been almost compelled in some eases to encourage the hope that a second volume would shortly follow. No final decision favorable to such an undertaking has, however, yet been reached. As the present volume will doubtless eome at once under the observation of most persons within the State who have any ambition to appear in a subsequent similar work, this Postseript is introduced here for the purpose of inviting all such to now signify their wishes definitely to the undersigned, with all convenient promptness. If the desire for further biographieal work in this line should thus prove as general as many profess to believe it to be. the publieation of a second volume would be undertaken without hesitation.
HARTFORD, July, 1891.
J. A. SPALDING.
1814
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