USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. II > Part 14
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and National. He was in middle life when East Windsor was set off as a separate township. For many years, at different times he represented the new town at the General Court. He was moderator of the first town-meeting in East Windsor. He was Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives, justice of the peace, judge of probate, judge and chief judge of the County Court, representative in Congress, and judge of the Superior Court. He held the rank of brigadier-general of the Connecticut troops in the Revolutionary War.1 Like his brothers, he was a tall man, and of commanding presence. He was of a strongly religious nature, like his father. He died Sept. 14, 1793, at the age of seventy.
Benoni Olcott was a prominent man upon the east side of the river, both before the town of East Windsor was organized and afterward. The Olcott family was not one of the old Windsor families ; it be- longed rather to Hartford. Benoni Olcott appears to have come when a young man Benom Olcott Schut ma from Bolton to Windsor before the middle of the last centu- ry. He mar- ried Eunice Wolcott, daughter of Lieutenant Charles Wolcott. It is quite likely that this marriage determined his settlement in Wind- sor. Mr. Olcott filled many important offices. He was in middle life when the town of East Windsor was organized, and his name is con- spicuous in all the early records of the town. He was on the board of selectmen : he was moderator of town-meetings; he was deacon of the old Edwards Church. Though not so prominent a man in public affairs as General Erastus Wolcott, yet he was largely trusted.
1 The Wolcott Memorial, pp. 142, 143.
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EAST WINDSOR.
and seemed for many years to divide public responsibilities with Mr. Wolcott. He left his full name, as a given name, to quite a number of persons who came after him. It continues to this day.
Elihu Tudor, M.D., was the son of the Rev. Samuel Tudor, and was born in Windsor, Feb. 3, 1732. He was graduated at Yale College in 1750, at the age of eighteen. He studied medicine with Dr. Ben- jamin Gale, of Killingworth. During a portion of the French War he was employed in the army as surgeon's mate. He spent two years in London, from 1762 to 1764, employed in the hospitals and perfecting himself especially in surgery. He then returned, and established him- self in East Windsor in practice both as a physician and a surgeon. In the latter capacity he was thought to have no superior in the State. At the breaking out of the Revolutionary War his sympathies were with the British, and this greatly injured, though it did not destroy, his practice. Dr. Stiles says of him : " In person he was of medium height and upright form, near-sighted, always very neat in his dress, wearing ruffles, fine silver buckles, and a nosegay in his buttonhole." He lived to the age of ninety-three, dying in 1826. He lived seventy-six years after his college graduation, - a fact not often paralleled. In conse- quence of his Tory proclivities during the Revolutionary struggle he received a pension from the British Government. His life held on to such an unusual length that an English agent, it is said, was sent over to find out if he was still alive, or whether some one was shamming in his name.
Captain Hezekiah Bissell was born in Windsor, east side of the river, May 20, 1737. He lived in what is now East Windsor, on the high land east of Scantic River, about a mile from Seantic meeting- house. He was a soldier in the French and Indian War, as also in the Revolution- ary War, and Hes ~ Difell suffered severe- ly from cold and hardships in the northern winter campaigns. He lived to great age, dying Nov. 14, 1831, in his ninety-fifth year. The writer well remembers him as he appeared from 1825 to 1830. He was a man of iron frame and of great resolution. He was also possessed of a native dignity, good judgment, and large intelligence. In the closing years of the last and the early years of the present century no man was so frequently chosen moderator of the parish meetings in the Scantic Parish as he.
The name Mather was brought to Windsor by the Rev. Samuel Mather, son of Timothy, of Dorchester, and grandson of Richard, the honored founder of the family on these shores. The Rev. Samuel Mather was graduated at Harvard College in 1671. He was settled in Branford in 1680, and was called thence and settled in Windsor in 1684. His son, Dr. Samuel Mather, a physician, was born in 1677, and was graduated at Harvard College in 1698. In the absence of medical schools and medical societies he was approbated as a physician, and
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
licensed to practice " Physick and Chyrurgy " by the General Assembly of Connecticut, May 14, 1702. A grandson of Dr. Samuel was Charles, born Sept. 26, 1742. He was son of Nathaniel and Elizabeth (Allyn) Mather, and was graduated at Yale College in 1763. He established himself in the practice of medicine in East Windsor, and obtained a high reputation. In 1795 he had gained such a name that he removed to Hartford, and became distinguished as a specialist. He died June 3, 1822, at the age of eighty. A son of the last, also named Charles, born Nov. 30, 1764, was graduated at Yale College in 1785, and estab- lished himself as a physician in New York City. He died in 1853, at the age of seventy-nine.
Samuel Wolcott, Esq., son of Gideon and Abigail (Mather) Wolcott, was born April 4, 1751. He married, Dec. 29, 1774, Jerusha, daughter of General Erastus Wolcott. He was a man of very fine personal ap- pearance, and during the time of the Revolutionary War served as commissary in the army. He was an active man of business, and, for his day, was possessed of large wealth. He died June 7, 1813.
The Rev. Chauncey Booth was born in East Windsor, March 15, 1783. He was the son of Captain Caleb and Anne (Bartlett) Booth. He was educated at Yale College, and was graduated there in 1810. He went directly from college to Andover Theological Seminary, where he was graduated in 1813. He accepted a call to the ministry from Coventry, where he was ordained Sept. 20, 1815. He remained in this pastoral charge from 1815 to 1844, when he retired from the active duties of his office. He still lived in Coventry until his death, which took place May 24, 1851.
Dr. Elijah Fitch Reed was the son of Ebenezer and Mary (Fitch) Reed, and was born May 11, 1767. Without a collegiate education, he gave himself to the study of medicine, and became a physician in East Windsor, with an extensive practice. He had a large fund of information and of instructive and amusing anecdotes. He was a physician trusted and beloved. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine from Yale College in the year 1822. He died in 1847, at the age of eighty.
John Bliss Watson was graduated at Yale College in the class of 1814. He was a prominent man of business in East Windsor, living upon a rich farm just north of the Scantic River. He and his brother Henry were very enterprising in introducing into the country improved breeds of horses, cattle, and sheep. He died in 1843.
Azel Stevens Roe, Esq., was born in New York in the year 1798. He enjoyed advantages for early culture, and though not a college tree & Roe graduate, he re- ceived in his youth an excellent edu- cation. While yet a young man, he became a merchant in New York City. After some disasters in business, and after the early death of his first wife, he was united in marriage, Nov. 12, 1828, with Miss Fanny Leffingwell Bartlett, eldest daughter of the Rev. Shubael Bartlett, of East Windsor. After this marriage Mr. Roe bought a farm in the North Parish of East Windsor, and has since made this the place of his permanent residence. Being a good student and a graceful writer, he soon entered upon plans
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EAST WINDSOR.
for social and literary culture among the young people of the place. For many years his influence in this respect was most beneficent. About the year 1850 he began to prepare for the press that series of books which has since been remarkably popular and successful. These volumes were republished in England, and have found a multitude of readers in both countries. They are moral tales, designed to inculcate useful and practical lessons on the conduct of life. As long ago as 1866 more than 110,000 volumes of this series of books had been pub- lished and sold in this country, and the circulation in England was also large. Soon after his coming to East Windsor he was chosen deacon of the East Windsor Church, which office he has retained nearly half a century.
The Rev. Eldad Barber was born in the North Parish of East Wind- sor, Sept. 24, 1801, and was graduated at Yale College in 1826, and from the Yale Divinity School in 1829. He and five other members of the Seminary were ordained Aug. 26, 1829, as evangelists, to go forth as workers in the West. From 1829 to 1832 he was pastor of the Pres- byterian Church in Marion, Ohio, and afterwards for three years the principal of the Huron Institute, Milan, Ohio. His longest pastorate was over the Presbyterian Church at Florence, Ohio, where he was set- tled from 1837 till his death, March 27, 1870. His first wife, who died soon after marriage, was Miss Mary Ballantine. His second wife, and the mother of his children, was Mrs. Hannah E. Crosby, whose maiden name was Osborn, and who was a native of East Windsor, daughter of Mr. Moses Osborn.
Judge William Barnes was not a native of East Windsor. He came from the town of Tolland, while a young man, and established himself in the practice of law at Warehouse Point. He was active in public and semi-public life for a long course of years. He represented the town in the General Assembly, and was a man whose judgment was highly valued.
The Rev. Samuel Robbins Brown, D.D., was a native of East Wind- sor (Scantic Parish), and was born June 16, 1810. He married the younger daughter of the Rev. Shubael Bartlett, - Miss Elizabeth Goodwin Bart- lett. She was born July 19, 1813, and S. R. Brown. the marriage took place in October, 1838. Dr. Brown was for many years head of the Morrison School in China, and has been most honorably known and esteemed for his missionary labors in China and Japan. While he was yet young (eight years old), S. H. Brown his family removed from East Windsor to Monson. Mrs. Phoebe Hinsdale Brown, his mother, though deprived of the advantages of early education, having lived in her youth among the wilds of the State of New York, was yet a woman of rare genius, and an authoress. The favorite hymn,
" I love to steal awhile away
From every cumbering care,"
was from her pen. Her son was fitted for college at Monson Academy, and was graduated at Yale College in the class of 1832. He pursued his theological studies at Union Theological Seminary, in New York City, graduating in 1838. The first Chinese and the first Japanese
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
students, if we mistake not, that were sent to this country for their education, were sent by Dr. Brown. They were placed under the care of Dr. Charles Hammond, for a long course of years principal of Monson Academy. Dr. Brown died suddenly at Monson, while on a visit, June 20, 1880. His wife and four children survive.
The Rev. Julius Alexander Reed was a son of Dr. Elijah Fitch and Hannah (McLean) Reed, and was born Jan. 16, 1809. He was edu- cated at Yale College, graduating in the class of 1829. He was united in marriage, Dec. 1, 1835, with Miss Caroline Blood. After finishing his studies, Mr. Reed gave himself earnestly to the home missionary work in the far West. He was prominently connected with the build- ing and growth of Iowa College, and was for many years secretary of the American Home Missionary Society, having his residence in Daven- port, Iowa. His present residence is Columbus, Nebraska.
Professor David Ely Bartlett was the son of the Rev. Shubael and Fanny (Leffingwell) Bartlett, of the North Parish in East Windsor. He was born Sept. 29, 1805. He was graduated at Yale College in 1828, and at once became a teacher in the Deaf and Dumb Asylum at Hartford. With but slight interruptions this was his occupation in different institutions until his death at Hartford, Nov. 30, 1879. At the time of his death he was said to be the oldest teacher of the deaf and dumb in this country. This circumstance is explained in part by the fact that he had been so eminently successful in this department of instruction that he could not be spared from it. He had to a remarkable degree the qualities which would fit a man to excel in this voiceless teaching. Of a most gentle nature, he had, first of all, a lively sympathy with these children of misfortune. He was a natural actor, and when using the sign language before his classes his whole body was full of this silent speech. His life was marked by Christian simplicity and beauty, and when he died he was greatly mourned. Professor Bartlett studied theology at the Union Theo- logical Seminary in New York City, and was a preacher to the deaf and dumb, as well as a week-day teacher.
The Rev. Samuel Wolcott, D.D., was the son of Elihu and Rachel MeClintock (McClure) Wolcott, and was born July 2, 1813. He was graduated from Yale College in the class of 1833, and from Andover Theological Seminary in 1837. He went, soon after finishing his course at Andover, upon a mission to Syria ; but the war between Turkey and England in 1840 so disturbed the missionary work in that part of the world that he returned to this country. He has been pastor of several important churches, his last settlement being in Cleveland, Ohio. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Marietta College in 1863. He was the compiler of the magnificent book which has recently made its appearance, entitled " The Wolcott Memorial." The expense of this rich volume has been borne by J. Huntington Wolcott, of Boston, Frederick H. Wolcott, of New York City, and Charles M. Wolcott, of Fishkill, New York, sons of Judge Frederick Wolcott, late of Litchfield. The book is not for sale. Only three hundred copies were published. and these were designed as presentation copies to public libraries and to individuals of the family kindred. Dr. Wolcott was for several years secretary of the Ohio Home Missionary Society, but has retired, and is living at Longmeadow, Mass.
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EAST WINDSOR.
Sydney Williams Rockwell, M.D., was the son of Nathaniel and Sarah (Charlton) Rockwell, and was born in East Windsor, June 4, 1814. He studied medicine, and was licensed to practice in 1843, since which time he has had an extensive range of business, chiefly in South Windsor and East Windsor, but to some extent in other towns. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine from Yale College in 1855.
The Rev. Henry Newton Bissell was born in East Windsor, June 2, 1816. After graduating at Yale College in the class of 1839, he first engaged in teaching in Ohio, and was for several years the principal of the Huron Institute, at Milan. He then entered the ministry, being settled at Lyme, Ohio, from 1846 to 1854. He was then called to the Presbyterian Church at Mt. Clemens, Mich., where he was still in charge at a very recent date. He married, May 5, 1846, Miss Elizabeth Hale Hubbard, born in Vernon.
Among the great-grandsons of the Scantic minister, Thomas Potwine, there are two who have received a public education. The Rev. Thomas Stoughton Potwin was the son of Thomas and Sarah (Stoughton) Potwine, and was born in East Windsor, April 4, 1829. He was graduated at Yale College in 1851, was tutor at Beloit College, Wisconsin, from 1851 to 1853, and was tutor at Yale from 1854 to 1857. He studied theology at the Theological Institute of Connecti- cut. The Rev. Lemuel Stoughton Potwin is brother of the above, and was born at East Windsor, Feb. 4, 1832. He was graduated at Yale College in 1854, taught two years at Norwalk, studied theology for two years in the Theological Institute of Connecticut, and was tutor at Yale College from 1858 to 1860. He was united in marriage, Sept. 12, 1860, to Miss Julia Hedges Crane, of Caldwell, New Jersey. For many years he has been Professor of Latin in Western Reserve College, which office he still holds, though the college is now known as Adelbert College, Western Reserve University.
Louis Watson, M.D., son of Henry and Julia (Reed) Watson, of East Windsor Hill, was born Oct. 29, 1817. He fitted for college at the East Hartford Academy, and entered Trinity College in 1835. In 1838 he became a private pupil in medicine under the learned and famous Professor William Tully, of New Haven, and was graduated at the Yale Medical School in 1840. He then became a pupil of the emi- nent surgeon, Dr. Alden March, at Albany, New York. He removed West, and was prominent in the organization of the Adams County Medical Society, Illinois. He had a long and prominent connection with the army as surgeon and medical director. In 1871 he removed to Ellis, Kansas, where he now lives.
Sereno Watson, Ph. D., brother of the above, was born in Decem- ber, 1826, and was graduated at Yale College in 1847. He is now connected with Harvard College in the department of Botany, having charge of the College Herbarium, and ranking among the very first scholars of the country in this branch of study. He is the author of " A Bibliographical Index to North American Botany, Part I.," pub- lished by the Smithsonian Institution, and the " Botany of California," in two volumes.
William Wood, M.D., was born in Waterbury, July 7, 1822. He was the son of the Rev. Luke and Anna (Pease) Wood. He received
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of the City of New York in 1846. In 1847 he established himself in his profession at East Windsor Hill, where he remained until his death. In addition to his wide medical practice in East and South Windsor, he gare special attention to the science of ornithology, until he was regarded as an authority in that department. He was distinguished as a natu- ralist in other branches also. He was united in marriage, Nov. 9, 1848, with Mary L., daughter of the Hon. Erastus Ellsworth, of East Windsor Hill. He died Aug. 9, 1885.
Hezekiah Bissell, the youngest son of John and Elizabeth (Thomp- son ) Bissell, was a graduate of the Sheffield Scientific School, of Yale College, in the class of 1861. After serving as assistant engineer in the construction of railroads at the West, and also in the building of the Great South American Railway across the mountains, he was some years since made engineer and superintendent of bridges on the East- ern Railroad in Massachusetts, which position he now holds.
There are many more who have borne an honorable part in the business and government of the town at home, or have gone out to act well their parts in other communities, and who would deserve hon- orable mention in this connection, did our space permit. We have selected a few representative names in the different periods of the town history.
X.
SOUTH WINDSOR.
BY THE REV. INCREASE N. TARBOX, D.D.
TN the sketch of East Windsor, preceding this, it has been shown that - the town was organized in 1768, and that the northeast portion of it was taken off in 1786, to form the town of Ellington. After that division the territory of the town remained unbroken for about sixty years. But as its population increased it was generally thought that the area of the town was too large for the convenience of the inhabi- tants. From the northern to the southern line the distance was about ten miles, and there was necessarily much travelling on the part of the people to attend town-meetings. For a long course of years these meetings were held alternately in the meeting-houses of the north and south parishes. When the gathering was in the south parish, the voters who lived near the Enfield line had to make a journey of seven or eight miles; and when it was in the north, or Scantic, house, those living near the East Hartford line had to make a journey of about the same length. As the town grew large its business also increased, and the voters had to be more frequently called together, until the burden of attending to the town affairs, under such conditions, became quite heavy. There was population enough to make two townships of re- spectable size, and there was a general readiness among the dwellers, both north and south, for a division. This will appear from the result of a special town-meeting held April 1, 1845. Though the attendance was small, the majority vote shows that there was a wide-spread un- derstanding how the question at issue would be decided. Without giving the details of the meeting, it is sufficient to state that resolutions were passed (132 to 33), expressing a strong desire to have the town divided; and Mr. Joseph M. Newberry was appointed an " Agent to attend to the forwarding sd petition."
At the meeting of the General Assembly of Connecticut in May, 1845, upon the petition of Harvey Eher and others the town was divided into East Windsor and South Windsor, the boundaries fixed, and rules and conditions usual in such cases made and established. According to the provisions thus made, the first town-meeting of South Windsor was called upon the first Monday of Angust, 1845, Theodore Elmer calling the meeting, and acting as moderator of the same. The first representative from the new town to the General Assembly was Benoni O. King.
The first pastor of the First Congregational Church of South Wind- sor was the Rev. Timothy Edwards, a native of Hartford, born in 1669, and son of Mr. Richard Edwards. He was graduated at Harvard
VOL. II .- 9.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
College in 1691. He began preaching at this place, then called " Windsor Farme," in 1694, though his ordination, as shown in the history of East Windsor, did not take place until the church was organ- ized, in 1698. About the time when he began his labors here he was united in marriage to Esther Stoddard, daughter of the Rev. Solomon Stoddard, of Northampton.
In this connection it may be well to recall the fact pointed out by J. A. Stoughton Esq., in his recently published volume entitled " Windsor Farmes," that the public services of ordination were followed by an ordination ball. Mr. Stoughton (page 51) says : -
" Those who derisively point the finger of scorn at the staid manners and wholesome plainness of the ministers of the gospel during the infancy of the Church in New England will scarcely credit the fact that Mr. Edwards's ordina- tion was followed by a ball in honor of the event. Such, however, is the truth ; and not long since there was found in the young pastor's handwriting the original invitation sent to Captain Thomas Stoughton and wife, urging their attendance at an 'Ordination Ball' given at his own house, and signed Timothy Edwards."
Mr. Edwards continued the sole minister upon this spot from the commencement of his preaching in 1694 to 1755, and was senior pastor for three years more, until his death, in 1758.
The second pastor was the Rev. Joseph Perry, who was a native of Sherborn, Mass., born in 1733. He was graduated at Harvard College in the class of 1752, was ordained colleague pastor with Mr. Edwards June 11, 1755, and continued in office till his death, in 1783.
The third pastor was the Rev. David McClure, D.D., who was born in Newport, Rhode Island, Nov. 18, 1748, though the customary David W, Cture residence of the family was in Bos- ton, Mass. He was of Scotch ancestry, as his name implies. He was graduated at Yale College in 1769. He was installed pastor, June 11, 1786. He remained sole pastor until 1809, and continued as senior pastor until his death, June 25, 1820, in his seventy-second year.
The fourth pastor was the Rev. Thomas Robbins, D.D., son of the Rev. Ammi Ruhamah Robbins, of Norfolk, in which town he was born Aug. 11, 1777. He was graduated at Yale College in 1796, was settled as ThorRobbins colleague with the Rev. Dr. McClure in
the month of May, 1809, and continued in office until 1827. He died Sept. 13, 1856.
The fifth pastor was the Rev. Samuel W. Whelpley. He received the degree of Master of Arts from Vermont University in 1818, and from Middlebury College in 1823. He was the son of the Rev. Samuel Whelpley, a somewhat copious writer on theological and general topics, and, among other works, author of "The Triangle." He was installed April 17, 1828, and dismissed in 1830. He died in 1847.
The sixth pastor was the Rev. Chauncey Graham Lee, son of the Rev. Chauncey Lec, D.D., of Colebrook. He was a graduate of Mid- dlebury College in the class of 1817, was installed in August, 1832, and dismissed in 1836. He died in 1871.
Jonathan Edwards
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SOUTH WINDSOR.
The seventh pastor was the Rev. Levi Smith, a native of Bridge- water, and a graduate of Yale College in the class of 1818. IIe was installed in May, 1840, and dismissed in 1849. He died in 1854.
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