USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Litchfield > Sketches and chronicles of the town of Litchfield, Connecticut : historical, biographical, and statistical : together with a complete official register of the town > Part 17
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HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
tember 10, 1848, aged 25 years. His remains were brought here for interment. His elder brothers, John Bissell, Jr., and Edward Bissell, Esq'rs., (both lawyers in New York city,) were born in the State of New York, but resided many years in Litchfield. The latter has been a Purser in the Navy.
BISSELL, Lyman, (son of Mr. Hiram Bissell,) was born in Litcli- field, October 19, 1812; was Captain in the United States Army, and Paymaster of the New England Regiment, in the War with Mexico ; and is still an officer in the Army.
BRACE, John P., was born in Litchfield, February 10th, 1793 ; graduated at Williams College in 1812; and was for some years Principal of the Litchfield Female Academy, and subsequently of the Hartford Female Seminary. For eight or ten years past, he has been one of the editors of the Hartford .Daily and Weekly Courant. Mr. Brace is the author of Lectures to Young Converts, Tales of the Devils, and The Fawn of the Pale Faces.
BRACE, Charles Loring, the celebrated traveler, is a son of Jolin P. Brace, Esq., and was born in Litchfield, June 19, 1826. Having. graduated at Yale College in 1846, and pursued a course of theologi- cal studies, he spent several years traveling in Europe ; as a part of the fruits of which, he has given to the public three or four very in- teresting volumes, viz., Hungary in 1851, Home Life in Germany, The Norse Folk, &c. In May, 1851, during the Hungarian struggle for independence, Mr. Brace was seized as a spy by the Austrian au- thorities, and imprisoned at Gross Wardein; but after a lapse of thirty days, he was released through the intervention of Mr. McCurdy, then American Minister to Austria. He is now Secretary of the Children's Aid Society in the city of New York.
BRADLEY, Abraham, (son of Abraham Bradley, Esq.,) was born in Litchfield, February 21, 1767, studied law, and became a Judge in! Luzerne county, Penn. From 1799 to 1829, he was First Assistant Postmaster General of the United States. He drew and published a Map of all the Post Roads in the Union, with the Post Offices and distances clearly defined. He died at his residence in the city of Washington a few years since.
BRADLEY, Dr. Phineas, (brother of the preceding,) was born in Litchfield, July 17, 1769; married Hannah Jones, of this town, and settled here as a physician and druggist. When the office of Second Assistant Postmaster General was created by Congress, Dr. Bradley was appointed, and retained the position for about twenty-five years. He was a gentleman of wealth, and distinguished for his hospitality and benevolence. He died at his beautiful seat, Clover Hill, two miles north of the national capitol, in the spring of 1845, aged 76.
BRADLEY, William A., (son of the preceding,) was born in Litchfield, July 25, 1794, and settled in the City of Washington, where he still resides. He has been President of the Patriotic Bank, Postmaster, and Mayor of the city.
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BIOGRAPHY.
BUEL, David, Jr., born in Litchfield, October 22, 1784; gradua- ted at Williams College in 1805 ; settled as a lawyer in Troy, where he still resides. In 1821, he was a Delegate to the Constitutional Con- vention of his adopted State ; for some years held the office of First Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Renselaer county; and in 1842, he was elected a Regent of the State University-a position which he still holds. From 1829 to 1847, Judge Buel was a Trustee of Williams College. May 24th, 1814, he married Harriet, daughter of John G. Hillhouse, Esq., of Montville, Conn., and has several sons and daughters,
BUSHNELL, Rev. Horace, D. D., (son of Ensign Bushnell, Esq.) was born in Litchfield in 1802; graduated at Yale College in 1827, and was a Tutor in that institution from 1829 to 1831. For the last twenty-seven years, he has been pastor of the North Congrega- tional Church in Hartford. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the Wesleyan University in 1842, and from Harvard College in 1852. Besides a large number of published Addresses and Sermons, he is the author of several theological works that have elicited much attention on both sides of the ocean-among which are God in Christ, Nature and the Supernatural, and Sermons for the New Life.
CATLIN, Julius, (son of Mr. Grove Catlin,) was born in Har- winton in 1799. When he was about one year old, his parents re- moved to this village, and this continued to be his home for the suc- ceeding twenty years, though at the age of fifteen he commenced his clerkship in Hartford. He became a successful merchant in that city, where he still resides. Many years ago he was a Director of the Connecticut Branch of the United States Bank, and was one of the Committee appointed to wind up the affairs of that institution, when the parent Bank had been crushed by the veto of General Jackson. In 1846, he was appointed Commissary General of the State, and subsequently he held the office of Auditor of Public Ac- counts. The President of the United States, in 1847, commissioned Colonel Catlin as a member of the Board of Visitors to the National Military Academy at West Point. In the autumn of 1856, Colonel Catlin and ex-Governor Dutton were chosen Presidential Electors for the State at large. At the annual election in April, 1858, the subject of this sketch was chosen Lieutenant-Governor of Connecti- ant-an office which, by re-election in April last, he still holds. It is pleasant to his Litchfield friends to know that long absence has not obliterated his recollections of these cherished scenes. In a recent letter to the author of this volume, he says-" I look back with de- light on the many days and years of my childhood and youth spent at my happy home. My recollections of Litchfield are indeed pleasant. I love its very name, and shall ever take a deep interest in the welfare of the place." Would that all the emigrant Sons of Litchfield might carry with them, and retain through life, the same genial love for their carly homes ! In 1829, Mr. Catlin married Mary Fisher, of Wrentham, Mass., (a sister of the wife of the Rev. Joel Hawes, D. D.,)
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and has had five children, three of whom are living. For the last fifteen years, he has resided in Asylum street, on the height of ground adjacent to the Railroad-formerly known as the Sigourney Place- one of the most beautiful situations in Hartford.
CATLIN, Putnam, (son of Mr. Eli Catlin,) was born in Litch- field, studied law with General Tracy, and was admitted to the bar in this town in 1786. He settled in Montrose, Penn., and there held the office of Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He was the father of George Catlin, the celebrated artist and historian of the American Indians, who was himself educated in Litchfield.
CHURCH, Samuel, LL. D., a native and former resident of Salis- bury, came to Litchfield to reside in 1845, and remained here until his death in the autumn of 1854. He had long been in public life ; and, while residing in this town, was chosen Chief Justice of the State and received the degree of Doctor of Laws from Trinity College.
COLLIER, John Allen, (son of Capt. Thomas Collier, editor of the Monitor,) was born in Litchfield, November 13, 1787 ; settled as a lawyer in Binghamton, Broome county, N, Y., and still resides there. He has been a member of Congress, Comptroller of the State, Commissioner to revize and codify the laws, Senatorial Elector for President and Vice President of the United States, and Delegate to and Chairman of the Whig National Convention of 1848. Mr. Col- lier has long been one of the most eminent lawyers of the State of New York. He was offered a foreign embassy by President Fillmore.
COLLIER, General James, (brother of the preceding,) was born in Litchfield, May 30, 1789; settled in the State of New York, and was Quartermaster and acting Adjutant at the Battle of Queenstown, and participated in that fight. In 1819, he removed to Steubenville, Ohio, his present residence, where he has held the offices of Colonel, Mayor of the city, State's Attorney of the county, and Paymaster General of Ohio. A few years since, he was a Commissioner, with Thomas Ewing and John Brough, to settle the boundary between Ohio and Virginia in conjunction with commissioners from the latter State. In April, 1849, General Collier was appointed by President Fillmore Collector of the Customs for Upper California, with orders to take the overland route to the Pacific. He accepted the post, and, under the escort of a company of dragoons, started for his field of labor. He was five months on his journey, sometimes fighting his way through hostile tribes of Indians, who succeeded in killing three of his men, wounding another, and stealing twenty-seven mules and all his horses. On his arrival at San Francisco, he found the Territory of California governed exclusively by military authority. Being the only civil officer of the federal government on the ground, he was not only Collector, Appraiser, Naval Officer and Surveyor, but was obli- ged also to perform the duties of District Judge, District Attorney, and Marshal. On being recalled by a new national administration, he was met with the charge of being a defaulter to the government ; but after a vexatious suit, he was fully exonerated by the U. S. Court.
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BIOGRAPHY.
DEMING, Julius, an eminent merchant of Litchfield, was born in Lyme, April 15th, 1755, and, about the year 1781, commenced business in this village. A gentleman of remarkable energy and en- terprize, he soon visited London, and made arrangements to import his goods direct from that city-which, probably, was not true of any other country merchant in Connecticut. He is universally recogniz- ed by our citizens as the most thorough and successful business man who has ever spent his life among us. Prompt in his engagements, scrupulously upright in his dealings, and discreet and liberal in his benefactions, few men in any community ever enjoyed more implicitly the confidence of all. Mr. Deming had little taste for public life. He was three times elected a member of the House of Representatives, and for several years was one of the Magistrates of this county. From 1801 to 1814, he served in the office of County Treasurer. His po- sition and influence were such, that, had he been an aspirant for politi- cal honors, there were few offices within the gift of the people of this State which he might not have filled. He died in this town, January 23, 1838, aged 83 years.
DEMING, Miner R., (son of Stephen Deming, Esq,) was born in Sharon, February 24, 1810; came to Litchfield with his parents in 1820, and continued to reside here for the next sixteen years. In 1836, he removed to Cincinnati; and in 1839, he became a resident of St. Mary's, Illinois. As Brigadier General, he was chief in com- mand of the Illinois State Troops during the famous Mormon War. General Deming died suddenly, of brain fever, September 10, 1845, while holding the office of High Sheriff of Hancock county: For some time before leaving Litchfield, he was a member of the First Church in this village, and one of the Church Committee. He married Abigail Barnum, of Danbury, and left a family .
DUTTON, Henry, LL. D., (of New Haven,) formerly Governor of Connecticut, and now Professor of Law in Yale College, was born in Plymouth, February 12, 1796. During the following summer, his father, Mr. Thomas Dutton, purchased a place in Litchfield (North- field Society,) and spent the seven succeeding years in this town, The earliest recollections of the Governor are of his Litchfield home. In subsequent years, he returned to Northfield, and taught school two or threeseasons, before his admission to the bar.
GAY, Colonel Fisher, (son of John Gay, Esq.,) was born in Litch- field, October 9, 1733 ; graduated at Yale College, and settled in Farmington, where he was long a Justice of the Peace and Repre- sentative. In the carly part of the Revolution he commanded a regi- ment of Connecticut troops sent for the defense of New York, in which city he died in 1776.
GOULD, James, LL. D., a native of Branford, graduated at Yale College in 1791 ; settled in Litchfield, and was associated with Judge Gould in conducting the Law School in this town from 1798 to 1820, and subsequently, for about thirteen years, he was the sole Principal of that institution. From 1816 to 1819, he was a Judge of the Su-
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HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
preme Court of this State. Gould's Pleading is a standard work in all our Courts. He was regarded as one of the profoundest lawyers and jurists in the country. The degree of Doctor of Laws was con- ferred upon him by his alma mater in 1819. He died May 11, 1838, aged 68. Judge Gould married Sally McCurdy, daughter of Gen. Uriah Tracy, and had nine children, viz., 1 William Tracy, now a Judge in Augusta, Georgia. 2 Henry G. 3 James R. 4 Edward S. 5 George, of Troy ; now a Judge of the Supreme Court of New York. 6 Julia. 7 Charles, of New York city ; late President of the Chicago, Alton and St. Louis Railroad Company, President of the Cumberland Coal and Iron Company, President of the Burns Club, &c. 8 John. 9 Robert Howe, of London.
HOLMES, Uriel, Jr., a native of Hartland, graduated at Yale College in 1784, and settled in Litchfield as a lawyer a few years subsequently. He was elected a Representative nine times, was a Judge of the Litchfield County Court from 1814 to 1817, and during the latter year he was chosen a member of Congress. While residing in Litchfield, he was thrown from his carriage in Canton, from the effects of which he died, May 18, 1827, aged 62. Judge Holmes married a daughter of the Hon. Aaron Austin, and had three children, viz, 1 Henry, M. D., a distinguished physician in Hartford. 2 Uriel, who died July 4, 1818, while a member of the Theological Seminary at Andover. 3 Caroline, died young.
HUNTINGTON, Charles P., (son of the Rev. Dan Huntington,) was born in Litchfield, March 24th. 1802; graduated at Harvard College in 1822 ; settled as a lawyer in Northampton, Mass., and represented that town in the Legislature in 1834, 1837, 1843, 1852 and 1855-and at the last session named, was chairman of the Ju- diciary Committee. In 1855, he was appointed Judge of the Supe- rior Court for the Suffolk District, which embraces the city of Boston. Judge Huntington now lives in the vicinity of Boston.
HUNTINGTON, Jabez W., a native of Norwich, graduated at Yale College in 1806 ; came to Litchfield as a teacher, and student at law, in 1807, and continued to reside here until October 1834, when he returned to Norwich-and died there in 1847, in his .60th year. While a resident of Litchfield, he was elected a Representa- tive, member of Congress, and Judge of the Superior Court. From 1840 until his death he was a member of the U. S. Senate.
KILBOURN, Colonel Charles, (son of Mr. David Kilbourn,) was born in Litchfield, March 3, 1758 ; fled to Canada in the revo- lution, and finally settled near Lake Memphremagog, in Stanstead, L. C., where he erected mills of various kinds. The locality still bears the name of Kilbourn's Mills on many English and American maps. In the war of 1812, he commanded a corps of provincial troops known as the Frontier Light Infantry. He was also for many years a magistrate, and Justice of the Commissionrrs Court. Colonel Kil- bourn died in Stanstead, June 19, 1834, aged 76.
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BIOGRAPHY.
KIRBY, Ephraim, (son of Mr. Abraham Kirby,) was born in Litchfield, February 22, 1757 ; studied law and settled in his native town. He was often chosen a Representative ; appointed Supervisor of the National Revenue for the State of Connecticut in 1801, and U. S. Judge for the Territory of Louisiana in 1804. (While on his way to New Orleans, whither the duties of his office called him, he died at. Fort Stoddard, Mississippi Territory, October 2d, 1804, aged 47. Col. Kirby married Ruth, daughter of Reynold Marvin, Esq., and left eight children.
KIRBY, Reynold M., Major U. S. A., (son of the preceding,) was born in Litchfield, March 13, 1790. For many years before his death, he was Assistant Adjutant General of the Army.
KIRBY, Edmund, Colonel U. S. A., (brother of the preceding,) was born in Litchfield, April 8, 1794 ; entered the army as a Lieu- tenant in 1812 ; appointed aid-de-camp to his father-in-law, Major General Brown ; served in the Blackhawk, Creek and Seminole wars ; was chief of the Pay Department, and aid-de-camp to the command- er-in-chief, during the late war with Mexico. He died at Avon Springs, N. Y., August 20, 1849, aged 55. On the election of Pres- ident Taylor, Colonel Kirby was frequently referred to in the public prints as a probable member of the new Cabinet.
MORRIS, James, Jr., was born in Litchfield, January 19, 1752, and graduated at Yale College ; was a Captain in the Revolution, and with his company headed one of the columns that led the forlorn hope at the Siege of Yorktown. After the war, he settled in his na- tive parish, South Farms, and was for many years a Justice of the Peace and Representative ; and was also the Founder and Principal of Morris Academy-an institution which became famous throughout the country. Captain Morris died in this town, September 9, 1814.
OSBORN, Rev. Ethan, (son of Captain John Osborn,) was born in Litchfield, August 21, 1758 ; graduated at Dartmouth College in 1784; and was settled as pastor of the congregational church in Fairfield, N. J., in 1789. In this small rural parish, Mr. Osborn married 706 couple, attended the funerals of 1500 persons, admitted to his church about 600 members, baptized 1146 persons, and preach- ed 10,164 sermons. His last sermon was preached in 1855, when in his 97th year. On Sunday, January 24, 1858, he attended service, addressed the audience in an appropriate manner, and made the concluding prayer-he then being 99 years and 5 months old. He died in Fairfield, May 1, 1858, in his 100th year. He was pastor of the church in that place 54 years.
PECK, John M., D. D., (son of Mr. Asa Peck,) was born in Litch- field, October 31, 1789, and became a celebrated Baptist preacher in Illinois. He'was a diligent student, and wrote and published much -especially in relation to the history of the Valley of the Mississippi. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by Har- vard College in 1853. Dr. Peck was an eloquent pulpit orutor, and one of the most popular men in Illinois-so much so that the whig party of that State once nominated him as their candidate for Gov- ernor. He died at his residence in Rock Spring, Ill., in 1858.
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HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD.
PECK, William V., of Portsmouth, Ohio, one of the present Judges of the Supreme Court of that State, was born of Litchfield parents in Cayuga county, New York, where his father, (Mr. Virgil Peck,) died during his infancy. When the subject of this paragraph was three years old, his mother returned with him to this town, and sub- sequently married Dr. Abel Catlin, in whose family he was brought up. After spending about twenty years in this village, he settled as a lawyer in Ohio.
PECK, Professor William G., (son of Mr. Alfred Peck,) was born in Litchfield, October 16, 1820 ; graduated at West Point, where he was for a few years Assistant Professor of Mathematics. As Lieu- tenant of Topographical Engineers in the U. S. Army, he was asso- ciated with Colonel Fremont in his celebrated Exploring Expeditions. He has since been a Professor in the University of Michigan ; and is now Professor of Mathematics in Columbia College, New York. He married Elizabeth M., daughter of Professor Charles Davies, LL. D.
PHELPS, Samuel Shether, (son of Captain John Phelps,) was born on Chestnut Hill, in the house now owned and occupied by Mr. Willis Law, May 13, 1793 ; graduated at Yale College and the Litch- field Law School, and settled in Middlebury, Vermont. Having been successively a Paymaster in the war of 1812, aid-de-camp to Governor Galusha, Colonel, member of the Council of Sensors, member of the Legislative Council, and Judge of the Supreme Court, he was elected a Senator in Congress in 1838-an office which held for 12 years. As a lawyer and statesman, he ranked with Clay, Webster, Critten- den and Clayton. Judge Phelps died in 1857.
PIERCE, Colonel John, (son of Mr. John Pierce, of Litchfield,) early entered the public service, and rose to the rank of Paymaster General in the Army, and was a Commissioner for settling the ac- counts of the army. Though his parents never resided out of Litch- field after their marriage, Colonel Pierce is said to have been born at the house of his maternal grandfather, Major John Patterson, in Farmington. Colonel P. died in New York, August 6, 1788. He was a brother of the late Miss Sarah Pierce, Founder and Principal of the Litchfield Female Academy.
PIERPONT, John, (son of Mr: James Pierpont,) was born in Litchfield, April 6, 1785 ; graduated at Yale College and at the Litchfield Law School, and settled in Newburyport, Massachusetts, as a lawyer. Abandoning the legal profession, he entered the ministry of the Unitarian denomination, and was for many years pastor of the Hollis-street church, Boston. He is alike distinguished as a poet, preacher and lecturer. Several editions of his Airs of Palestine, as well as of his other poems, have been published. Mr. Pierpont now resides in Medford, Mass.
PIERPONT, Robert, (son of Mr. David Pierpont,) was born in Litchfield, May 4, 1791; studied law, and settled in Rutland, Ver- mont, his present residence. He has been Lieutenant Governor of that State, and Judge of the Supreme Court.
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BIOGRAPHY.
PIERPONT, John, (brother of the preceding,) was born in Litch- field, September 10, 1805 ; graduated at the Law School in this town, and settled in Vergennes, Vermont. He is now a Judge of the Su- preme Court of that State, and has held various other offices.
SEDGWICK, Albert, was born in Cornwall Hollow in the year 1802 ; removed to Litchfield in 1830, and continued to reside here for the succeeding 25 years. In 1834, he was appointed High Sher- iff of this county, an office which he continued to hold (with the ex- ception of one term of three years,) until 1854-when he was ap- pointed by the Legislature Commissioner of the School Fund of Con- necticut: In 1855, he removed to Hartford, his present residence:
SEYMOUR, Horatio, LL. D., (son of Major Moses Seymour,) was born in Litehfield, May 31st, 1778 ; graduated at Yale College and at the Litchfield Law School; and settled in Middlebury, Vt., where he died a year or two since. He was a member of the State Council from 1809 to 1816 ; and of the United States Senate from 1821 to 1833. In 1834, he was the Whig candidate for Governor of Vermont, but the anti-masonic candidate was elected. He was also for a few years Judge of Probate. Judge Seymour received the degree of Doctor of Laws from his alma mater in 1847.
SEYMOUR, Henry, (brother of the preceding,) was born in Litch- field, May 30, 1780; settled as a merchant at Pompey, Onondaga county, N. Y., where he became wealthy. Removing to Utica, he died there, August 26, 1837. He was a Representative, Senator, Canal Commissioner, Mayor of Utica, and President of the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company. The Hon. Horatio Seymour, LL. D., late Governor of New York, is his son.
SEYMOUR, Origen Storrs, (son of Ozias Seymour, Esq., and grandson of Major Seymour,) was born in Litchfield, Feb. 9, 1804; graduated at Yale College in 1824; settled as a lawyer in his na- tive town. He has been a Representative, Speaker of the House, and member of Congress, and is now a Judge of the Superior Court.
SHELDON, Daniel, Jr., (son of Dr. Daniel Sheldon,) was born in the adjoining town of Washington in 1780, and during the following year his parents removed to Litchfield ; and here the subject of this sketch continued to reside until he entered public life. Graduating at the Litchfield Law School in 1799, hc. accepted a clerkship in the Treasury Department, and retained it until the appointment of Mr. Gallatin as Ambassador to France, when he was nominated and con- firmed as Secretary of Legation to that country. When the Ambas- sador was re-called, Mr. Sheldon remained in France as Charge d' Affaires until the arrival of Mr. Gallatin's successor. He died in Marseilles, April 14, 1828, aged 48. His funcral was attended by all the foreign ministers and consuls present in the city, and the flags of all the American ships in port were placed at half-mast.
SKINNER, Roger, (son of Gen. Timothy Skinner,) was born in Litchfield, June 10, 1773; became a lawyer, and removed from this
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town to Sandy Hill, N. Y., in 1806, where he was elected a Repesen- tative in 1810, 1811 and 1812, and a Senator from 1818 to 1821. In 1820, he was a member of the Council of Appointment ; from 1815 to 1819, U. S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York ; and from 1819 until his death, Judge of the U. S. District Court. On being appointed Judge, he became a resident of Albany, at which place he died August 19, 1825. He was an intimate friend of the Hon. Martin Van Buren, who, in a recent letter to the author, says- " Being a widower myself, and he a bachelor, we twice kept house together, and did so at the period of his lamented death. I was with him through his last illness, held his hand when he died, and mourned for him as for a sincere and affectionate friend." The visit of Mr. Van Buren to this town, with Mr. S., about 1820, is well remembered.
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