USA > Connecticut > Representative citizens of Connecticut, biographical memorial > Part 13
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One of Deacon Talcott's sons was Colonel Elizur Talcott, who was born at Glastonbury, December 31, 1709. He was a prominent man in that region and distinguished himself for gallant service in the old French War and the Revolution. He was the owner of a great deal of property in many parts
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of the country, and among these was a large tract on the Susquehanna river (Wyoming), which he afterwards lost through a defect in the title. He served in the French and Indian War in 1756, and was captain of a troop of horse in the Sixth Connecticut Regiment in the Crown Point expedition, and at the opening of the Revolution was colonel of the Sixth Connecticut Regi- ment. Colonel Talcott had already registered himself an ardent patriot and was moderator of the town meeting held in Glastonbury to denounce the Boston Port bill. He was by no means a young man when the revolt in the colonies so long smouldering at length flamed out, yet despite his sixty- seven years was promptly at the head of his command. He continued active in 1776, leading his troops in the neighborhood of New York until after the arrival of the British. At his age, however, the hardships of active military life proved too great a strain, and he was carried home on a litter, his health so broken that it was impossible for him to return to the front, though he earnestly desired to do so. He was married to Ruth Wright, a noted beauty of the day, and a daughter of Daniel and Elinor (Benton) Wright, of an old and highly respected Connecticut family, founded in this country by Thomas Wright, who settled in Wethersfield in 1639, and was the original owner of Wright's Island, in the Connecticut river. Ruth (Wright) Talcott died in Glastonbury in 1791, at the age of eighty-three years, and Colonel Talcott followed her in 1797, at the age of eighty-eight years. They were the parents of twelve children, as follows: Ruth, born October 17, 1731, died September 10, 1747; Prudence, born June 6, 1734, married John Good- rich, and died October 18, 1752; Rachel, born August 1, 1736, married, Feb- ruary 23, 1759, Theodore Hale, and died August 10, 1824; Elizur, born Au- gust 27, 1738, died February 16, 1750; Isaac, born August 29, 1740, died August 6, 1815; Daniel, born May 8, 1743, died February 12, 1748; George, born November 30, 1745, died February 22, 1750; Daniel, born July 27, 1748, died December 3, 1751 ; Elizur, born December, 1750, died at Oswego, New York, November 28, 1831 ; Ruth, born May II, 1753, married, July 7, 1773, Thomas White; George, mentioned below; and Prudence, born December 2, 1757, married, February 13, 1780, George Welles.
George Talcott, the eleventh child of this large family, was born Sep- tember 30, 1755, at Glastonbury, and passed his entire life in that charming place. He inherited from his father the house built by his grandfather, Lieutenant Benjamin Talcott, in 1699, and always lived there. He was well- to-do and prominent in the community. He served in the Revolution and was with the Continental army on its hard-fought retreat from Long Island. He was twice married, the first time to Vienna Bradford, daughter of Dr. Jeremiah and Rebecca (Dart) Bradford, of Middle Haddam, and later to Abigail Goodrich, a daughter of Captain John and Abigail (Deming) Good- rich, of Glastonbury. His oldest child by his second wife was Brigadier- General George Talcott, of the United States army, who began life as a business man in New York, but entered the regular army during the War of 1812, being promoted captain in the ordnance corps. He continued in the service and in 1832 was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the ordnance corps and also inspector of arsenals and armories ; in 1848 he was appointed colonel and chief of the ordnance corps, and in 1849, brevet brigadier-
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general. He died in Albany, New York. April 25, 1862. The youngest son of George Talcott, Andrew, born in Glastonbury, April 20, 1797, was gradu- ated from West Point in 1818, standing No. 2 in his class. He became second lieutenant in the engineer corps, and accompanied General Atkinson on an expedition to establish military posts on the upper Missouri and Yel- lowstone rivers. He was also employed on much other construction and engineering work, especially on the defenses at Hampton Roads and New- port and Fort Hamilton, New York. In 1830 he was appointed captain of the engineer corps. For seven years, 1828-1835, he served as astronomer for determining the boundary line between the States of Ohio and Michigan, and during this service he invented the astronomical instrument and the method for finding latitude by zenith distances. Both the instrument and method bear his name. He resigned his commission in 1836, and took up general practice as a civil engineer, and during that time performed much United States government work, surveying boundaries, etc. In 1857 he was appointed chief engineer in charge of the construction of the railway from Vera Cruz to Mexico City. This undertaking was interfered with by political disturbances and Colonel Talcott returned to the United States in 1859. After the breaking out of the Civil War, in 1861, he was appointed chief engineer of the State of Virginia, with charge of river, coast and harbor defences. This position he retained for about one year, then he returned to Mexico and resumed charge of his former work there under the Imperial government. After the downfall of Maximilian, in 1867, Colonel Talcott left Mexico for Europe, and finally returned to the United States. He died in Richmond, Virginia, April 22, 1883.
One of the children of George Talcott by his second wife was Russell Talcott, who was born at Glastonbury, September 22, 1788. In 1806 he went to New York City, where he remained for four years, and where his brother, afterwards General George Talcott, of the United States army, was then living. In 1810, however, he returned to Connecticut, where he took up his abode in Hartford and entered into a partnership with Ward Woodbridge, under the firm name of Woodbridge & Talcott, and engaged in the industry of manufacturing cotton goods. The firm had a cotton factory at Monson, Massachusetts, and there Mr. Talcott had to spend much of his time in active direction of the mill. He married, June 5, 1815, Harriet Kingsbury, a daughter of the Hon. Andrew and Mary (Osborn) Kingsbury, of Hart- ford. Mr. Kingsbury held the office of Treasurer of the State of Connecti- cut for twenty-five years, 1794-1818. By this union were united two old and honorable houses in Connecticut, and it is of interest that the Kingsbury family, as well as that of the Talcotts, had its first origin in Warwickshire, England. There were two children born to Mr. and Mrs. Talcott: Mary Kingsbury, born September 23, 1816, died April 28, 1838; and Russell Good- rich, mentioned below. Mr. Talcott lived but a little more than a month after the birth of his son, and died in Hartford, September 26, 1818.
Russell Goodrich Talcott, the second child and only son of Russell and Harriet (Kingsbury) Talcott, was born August 15, 1818, in Hartford, and in that city spent practically the whole of his lfe. After leaving the Hart- ford Grammar School, he began his successful business career as a clerk in
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the employ of Hudson & Goodwin, who carried on a large book business in Hartford. He left this concern to take a position with the Hartford Bank, where he remained four years. In 1844 he gave up business life temporarily to travel in Europe, spending that year and 1845 abroad. His tastes were of a kind to appreciate fully this splendid opportunity and to take advantage of it to the utmost. His natural fondness for art and literature there re- ceived a very strong stimulus, so that he was, indeed, something of an en- thusiast on these subjects all his life. Upon his return to America, he formed a partnership with E. G. Ripley, under the style of Ripley & Talcott, and engaged in the iron business in Hartford. In this enterprise they were very successful and Mr. Talcott displayed a great deal of business ability and skill. But it was not so much in the world of business and industry that Mr. Talcott was well known as through his active participation in the various movements undertaken for the advantage of the community at large. He was very public-spirited and took a keen interest in the affairs of the community, albeit he never identified himself with any political organi- zation and still less sought for public office. It was more in the direction of educational and charitable movements that his interests and activities led, and in these departments he was particularly active. He was a director in the Hartford and other banks, and he was the first vice-president and later the president of the Young Men's Institute. He was also the secretary and member of the board of managers of the Retreat for the Insane for a number of years. He was a man of strong religious feelings and beliefs and as a young man was a member of the Center Congregational Church. Later he was one of the prime movers in the founding of the Pearl Street Congrega- tional Church, now called Immanuel Church, on Farmington avenue, and after the formation of that congregation he remained a member until the time of his death.
He married, October 28, 1846. Mary Seymour, a native of Hartford, where she was born November 1, 1820, a daughter of Charles and Catherine (Perkins) Seymour, of that city. This marriage was the means of uniting another distinguished New England family with the Talcotts, the Seymours having been founded here by Richard Seymour, who settled in Hartford as early as 1639. Mrs. Talcott was descended from no less than than four Gov- ernors of Connecticut, Governor John Haynes, Governor George Wyllys, Governor John Webster and Governor William Pitkin, besides many other distinguished men in the early period of this country's history. To Mr. and Mrs. Russell G. Talcott was born one child, a daughter, Mary Kingsbury Talcott, mentioned below. Mr. Talcott's death occurred when he was still a young man but forty-four years of age, on March 3, 1863, and that of his wife twenty years later, April 18, 1883.
Mary Kingsbury Talcott, the only child of Russell Goodrich and Mary (Seymour) Talcott, was born in Hartford, November 3, 1847, and is now living in that city at No. 135 Sigourney street. She is very much of an his- torian, antiquarian and genealogist, and has written much on matters con- nected with the local history and tradition of her native region and with the records of her own and allied families. Among her most valuable work is her contribution to the "Memorial History of Hartford County," published
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in 1886, the work entitled the "Talcott Papers," edited by her for the Con- necticut Historical Society and consisting of the correspondence of Gov- ernor Joseph Talcott, the chapter on Hartford in G. P. Putnam's Sons' "Historic Towns of New England," 1898, and a genealogy of the Kings- bury family, which she compiled in collaboration with her kinsman, Fred- erick John Kingsbury, of Waterbury, published in 1905. She is a member of many societies having the preservation of the traditions of the country as their aim and purpose, among these, the Society of Mayflower Descendants, the New England Historic-Genealogical Society, the Connecticut Historical Society, the American Historical Society, the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, the Society of Genealogists of London, the Ruth Wyllys Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Connecticut Society of Colonial Dames. She also held the office of registrar of the Colonial Daines for twenty years, and has been registrar of the Ruth Wyllys Chapter since its organization in 1892.
Thomas Warham Loomis
JUDGE THOMAS WARHAM LOOMIS, in whose death on August 3, 1895, Windsor, Connecticut, lost one of its most distinguished citizens, was a member of a family which first in the old world and then in the new has held for centuries a prominent and honorable place in the community. The name is a very ancient one, and, as was the case with prac- tically all proper names in the past, was most variously spelled. Lomas, Lumas, Lommas and Lomes, as well as many other variants were used, but the first of these seems gradually to have come to be standard English spelling as Loomis has come to be the American. Derby- shire was the home of the ancient family which bore for its arms: Argent between two pallets, gules. Three fleurs-de-lis in pale sable. A chief azure. The crest was: On a chapeau a pelican vulning herself proper. The above appears in Burke's books of heraldry.
Joseph Loomis was the representative of this old house, who abandoned his home and a successful business to try his fortune in the newly found world across the sea, about which in that early perior hung a veil of romance, which every adventurous spirit in western Europe felt an overwhelming im- pulse to raise. Joseph Loomis was a substantial draper of Braintree in Essex, with much to bind him to his native land and occupation, yet at the unromantic age of forty-eight he sailed from London, April 11, 1638, landed in Boston a few months later, and making his way to Windsor, Connecticut, two years later, settled there in the wilderness. He was the founder of the family in America and occupied a position of prominence in the new com- munity. His original home at Windsor, which was situated near the mouth of the Farmington river and was known as "The Island," is still in the possession of the descendants and was the lifelong home of Judge Loomis. From the time of Joseph Loomis down to the present the family has played an active and honorable part in the affairs of the State. The father of Judge Loomis was Odiah Loomis, who was born at "The Island," September 28, 1783, and lived there, farming the old estate until his death. He was a staunch Democrat in politics, and served his town in the State Legislature for a time. He was a Congregationalist in religion, and a sturdy, independ- ent character, an excellent example of the men the new nation was turning out. He married Harriet Allyn, a daughter of Samuel and Jerusha ( Bissell) Allyn, and had by her seven children, of whom Judge Loomis was the youngest.
Thomas Warham Loomis was born March 1, 1827, at the ancient family homestead, "The Island," and made Windsor his lifelong home as had his father before him. He left the parental roof for a short time as a young man, it is true, but after a very little while returned and took up the occupation of farmer which he continued to follow to within fifteen years of his death. He received his education at the schools of his native place and upon completing his studies went to New York City, where he was
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employed for some years in a mercantile establishment. He left this occupa- tion upon being called home to take charge of the old family estate and farm, at the time when his father was obliged to give up the active care thereof. He was chosen to take the elder man's place because, being the youngest of the children, he had not at that time become deeply interested in any business, and could more easily sever such connections as he had formed than the others. After his return to Windsor, the young man settled down to the congenial duties of agriculture and continued these until about 1881, when he retired from all active work save what was involved in his official duties. He was extremely successful in his agricultural operations and lived a delightful life much on the pattern of the old planters and the rural aristoc- racy of the picturesque past. He was himself a gentleman of the old school, courtly and yet democratic, and "The Island," though it was conducted upon the most approved modern principles as far as its agricultural opera- tions were concerned, possessed an atmosphere which made it seem to the visitor like a fragment of a more gracious age.
Notwithstanding the fact that his occupation was calculated to encour- age a life of retirement, Judge Loomis was a conspicuous figure in the affairs of the community, his activity being at once the cause and the result of the offices which he held at various times in his career. The sterling, upright character of the man appealed to a community where such virtues are valued highly and in course of time he held all the more important offices within the gift of the town, his conduct in each capacity serving to make his fellow citizens only the more anxious to honor him and avail themselves of such disinterested service. He was for a number of years a judge of probate and established for himself a splendid record in that office, attending to the busi- ness of others with the same zeal and interest that he showed in his own. In the year 1857 he was elected by the town of Windsor to represent it in the State Legislature and he served in that body both then and in the year 1862. In 1874 he became State Senator, being elected to that body from the Third Senatorial District. He made his influence much felt in both of these offices and served his constituents to their great satisfaction. From an early age Judge Loomis was keenly interested in general political questions and the conduct of public affairs. He was an original thinker upon these sub- jects and a strong upholder of the general principles of the Democratic party, of which he was a life-long member. He was affiliated with the Episcopal church and was for many years an ardent worker in the interests of the church and a strong supporter of the work of his parish. In the realm of social life he was a prominent figure, and he was always ready to join in any movement undertaken for the advancement of the community or any portion thereof. He was one of the trustees of the Loomis Institute which was endowed by the children of Colonel James Loomis, who was an uncle of Thomas W. Loomis. Judge Loomis was an active factor in the preliminary work on this institution, but as he died in 1895, and the buildings were not erected until 1913-14, he, of course, had nothing to do with the erection of the buildings. In 1914 this institution, founded in memory of Joseph Loomis, the representative of this family, who first settled in Amer-
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ica, consisting of a number of fine buildings and located on the old Loomis estate, was opened.
Judge Loomis married, November 17, 1858, Jennie Griswold Cooke, a native of Windsor, Connecticut, born November 11, 1831, and a daughter of Allen and Mary (Griswold) Cooke, of that place. To them were born two children, as follows: Allyn, born November 21, 1860, a graduate of Yale at the age of twenty-three, and died June 20, 1884; Jennie, born June 21, 1871, and now resides with her mother in the old family estate, "The Island." She has inherited many of the qualities and the intelligence of her father, won her B. S. at Wellesley College, from which she graduated with the class of 1892, and has taken her father's place on the board of trustees of the Loomis Institute. She is also the secretary of the Loomis Family Association of America.
Judge Loomis' death occurred at Littleton, New Hampshire, while on a trip to the White mountains to regain his health. It was a severe blow to the entire community, where for so many years he had been a familiar figure and where for an equal period he had constantly won for himself a high degree of honor and affection from his fellows. He was a man of the most sterling virtues and the trust and confidence reposed in him by the commun- ity at large was the best tribute that could have been paid to his character and qualifications. A devoted husband and father, a faithful friend and a public-spirited citizen, he was known and loved for his virtues and winning personality far and wide among all classes of men.
Reb. Reuel hotchkiss Cuttle
T HE sudden death of the Rev. Reuel Hotchkiss Tuttle, on Au- gust 13, 1887, at the age of sixty-three years, was a severe loss to the town of Windsor, Connecticut, and deprived the Episcopal church in New England of one of its most earnest, indefatigable and devoted servants and ministers. He was a member of a very old and much honored Connecticut fam- ily, and one which of recent years, as well as in the past, has given to that State some of its most valued and prominent citizens. Espe- cially has this been so in the realm of industrial development, where the names of Eben Clark Tuttle and Bronson Beecher Tuttle will be remem- bered as among the most successful leaders and organizers.
The founder of the family in this country was William Tuttle, a de- scendant of the Tuttles of Hertfordshire, where the name is very ancient, and is supposed to have originated from the word "tuthill," signifying a round or conical hill. The Tuttle arms are thus described : Azure, on a bend doubly cotised, a lion passant, sable. Crest : On a mount vert, a bird, proper, in the beak a branch of olive. Motto: Par.
This William Tuttle sailed for the American colonies as early as the year 1635, in the good ship "Planter," with two brothers, Richard and John, one of whom returned to the old country and eventually died in Ireland, and the other became a resident of Boston, dying there in 1640. They came from the parish of St. Albans, in Hertfordshire, and William settled first in Boston, and later in Charlestown and Ipswich, and finally located in New Haven, Connecticut. From that time down to the present, Connecticut has remained the home of many branches of the family, the one which we are at present tracing having its abode in New Haven, East Haven, and of late years in Hartford. The parents of the Rev. Mr. Tuttle were Samuel and Betsey (Hotchkiss) Tuttle, of Hartford and East Haven, respectively, and long residents in the former city, where Mr. Tuttle, Sr., was a well known and successful merchant, engaged in trade with the West Indies and Can- ada. Mrs. Tuttle was also a descendant of a New England house, the immi- grant ancestor having been Samuel Hotchkiss, of Essex, England, who set- tled in New Haven as early as 1641.
Reuel Hotchkiss Tuttle was the youngest of ten children, many of whom became prominent figures in the life of Hartford and other places, and was born July 16, 1824, in Hartford, passing there his childhood and early youth. In Hartford also he gained the better part of that liberal edu- cation for which he was remarkable, with the exception of those studies especially devoted to the study of theology. He attended the excellent public schools and was a graduate of the old grammar school. He later matriculated at Trinity College, from which, after a brilliant career, he was graduated with the class of 1847.
Mr. Tuttle was naturally a close and profound student, and at the end of his college course possessed many scholarly attainments; his chief inter-
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est, however, at that time, as it had been from early youth, and as it remained throughout life, being in theology and the problems and the service of the church. To these problems and to this service he had determined to dedi- cate his life; and as a first step in this direction he entered the General Theo- logical Seminary in New York City. After his graduation from this insti- tution in the year 1849 he continued his training for the ministry as a lay reader, first in the Episcopal church at Plymouth, Connecticut, and then at Thompsonville, in the same State. His ordination occurred at Christ Church, Hartford, June 30, 1850, as a deacon, and he was in Thompson- ville. Connecticut, as a deacon from 1850 to 1853, then was called to take charge of the church at Old Town, Maine, by the Right Rev. Bishop Bur- gess, formerly of Hartford, who was well acquainted with the Tuttle family, and had been their rector. He remained in Old Town for a period of about two years, during which time he was admitted to the priesthood, and then received a call to St. John's Church, at Salisbury, Connecticut, and removed to that town, where he took charge of the parish for five years and made himself much honored and beloved there. Mr. Tuttle's next charge was at Crompton, Rhode Island, whither he was called by the Right Rev. Bishop Clark in 1858, and where he continued his service for about eighteen months. The next call which Mr. Tuttle received was to Windsor, Connecticut, where the Episcopal church, founded as a mission by Bishop Coxe, then of St. John's Church, Hartford, was in its infancy, and known as St. Gabriel's. Up to the time of Mr. Tuttle's incumbency there had been no resident clergy- man, he being the first to take the place. He at once entered upon his new labors heart and soul, and during the ten years of his connection with the parish as its rector brought it to an important position in the diocese while developing it. One of the tasks that he undertook was the erection of a suit- able church building, and this work he carried to a successful conclusion. Indeed, he was not only the prime mover in this work, but through his fam- ily was among the largest contributors to the building fund, his own first offering being the first made, and that in thanksgiving for the recovery of a little daughter from a serious illness. The result of his generosity and efforts was the handsome structure erected at a cost of twenty-five thousand dol- lars, which so long has been an ornament to the town. After ten years of the most devoted service as pastor, the Rev. Mr. Tuttle was obliged to resign his charge, to the great grief of all concerned, himself and his parishioners. The cause of this generally regretted resignation of Mr. Tuttle was a severe affection of the throat, which made it impossible for him to use his voice as required by his priestly duties. He was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Judkins in his pastorate, but did not leave Windsor, which he continued to make his home until his death. He continued also a member of the parish over which he had presided during the incumbency of three clergymen, his successors, and it is a remarkable tribute to the gentle charity of his nature that although he continued to take an active part in church affairs, he was always in perfect harmony with the men who had taken his place, nor made the extremely delicate relation in which he found himself toward them in the least apparent.
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