Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume III, Part 31

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 986

USA > Massachusetts > Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume III > Part 31

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men. His relations with his directors were also uniformly pleasant and high-minded and though they several times sought permission to advance his salary beyond $12,000 he would not listen to it. He was also extremely care- ful that charges against his personal account should not get into the railroad accounts, and this was especially true of the provisions which went into his private car on his railroad jour- neys. As a railroad man he was held in high regard by his associates throughout the country. He was a director in the New York Central road and had several times refused offers con- nected with the management of other railroad properties. In the year or somewhat more following his accession to the presidency he made a proposition looking toward the pur- chase of the New Haven & Northampton rail- road as a means of extending the road so as to secure an independent connection with New York City. The directors of the New Haven road, however, received word of the negotia- tions and they purchased the road of Presi- dent Yeamens in time to checkmate Mr. Bliss's purpose.

His death was due to heart trouble which manifested itself a few months before his demise, reaching an acute stage but a week before his death. He was seventy-three years of age, and for forty years had been actively engaged in railroad work in Massachusetts. His family life was singularly happy and although Mrs. Bliss experienced a long period of invalidism before her death, her husband was especially devoted to her. His only daugh- ter, Mrs. Hamilton Perkins, and her family made their home in Boston with Mr. Bliss after the death of Mrs. Bliss. William Bliss and Margaret C. Chapin, of Springfield, born May 23, 1834, died March 11, 1895, daughter of Chester W. and Dorcas (Chapin) Chapin, were married, September 22, 1858, at Spring- field, Massachusetts, and were the parents of two children: Chester W., mentioned below ; Elizabeth, born December 8, 1860, who mar- ried Hamilton Perkins, of Boston, September 18, 1884. Two children, one of whom is living, Margaret, married Charles D. Greenough (2), January 11, 1906; one child, Charles D. Greenough (3), born November 16, 1908.

(IX) Chester William, only son of William (2) and Margaret (Chapin) Bliss, was born in New York City, July 3, 1859. He was edu- cated in the Gunnery school, Washington. Con- necticut, the Noble school, Boston, and the Adams Academy at Quincy. From the latter institution he went to Harvard College, enter-

ing with the class of 1884, but did not con- tinue. In 1881 he became rodman on a survey- ing corps of the Pennsylvania railroad at Paoli, Pennsylvania, and in the next three or four years was all over the state, finally leaving the company, having attained the position of assist- ant supervisor of track. He soon afterward entered the employ of the Boston & Albany road as assistant road master with headquarters at Springfield and by a series of promotions became assistant general superintendent of the road. In 1900 he resigned and made a tour of Europe which in the years following he lias several times repeated, visiting the prin- cipal countries of the Continent and Britain. In February, 1907, he was elected president of the Chapin National Bank of Springfield, of which he had for some years been a director. In 1908 he was elected to the directorate of the Boston & Albany railroad. Mr. Bliss is a man of hard financial sense, deliberate in his movements in business, yet closely observant of what is transpiring and the financial pros- perity of the bank, since he was elected its chief officer, attests to his qualifications to con- duct one of the great monetary institutions of the state. He is social with his fellowmen and genial in his manner. He is a member of no secret order. In politics he is a Republican, but has never held a public office or a position in the party organization. His love for society finds expression in associations with men in many organizations for amusement. He is a member of the Somerset, Union, Tennis and Racket clubs of Boston; the Country Club in Brookline, the Eastern and New York Yacht Clubs; the Harvard Club of New York, and the Automobile Club of Springfield. He mar- ried, June 9, 1883, Isadora Leech, of Erie, Pennsylvania, who was born in Leechburg, Pennsylvania, daughter of Addison and Mary (Reynolds ) Leech. They have had six chil- dren: I. Dorcas, born August 2, 1884, died August, 1884. 2. William, July 27, 1886, died September 6, 1896. 3. Katherine, April 24, 1888, died November 19, 1888. 4. Elizabeth, June 15, 1890. 5. Addison, November 21, 1891. 6. Isadora, December 17, 1898.

(The Chapin Line).

(II) Henry, second son of Deacon Samuel (q. v.) and Cicily Chapin, does not appear to have resided in Springfield in the early part of his manhood, but took up his residence there about 1659. The town records show that he was prominent in town affairs, and was a representative in the general court in 1689.

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Tradition says he was impressed on board a British man-of-war and served seven years, during which time he was in a severe engage- inent with the Dutch. He afterward com- manded a merchant ship and made several voyages between London and Boston, but at length, tired of a seafaring life, took up his residence in Boston, and afterward in Spring- field, where his father and family resided. He settled in that part of Springfield now Chico- pee, built a house on the south side of Chico- pee river in what is now the village of Chico- pee, on Ferry street, facing south on West street near where a large elm tree now stands. This house was burned in 1762. He bought of John Pynchon, May 9, 1659, two hundred acres of land on the north side of Chicopee river, for which he was to pay in wheat the sum of twenty pounds in money by March, 1663. The greater part of these premises have been and still are in the possession of the descendants of Henry. He married Bethia, daughter of Benjamin and Sarah Cooley, at Longmeadow, December 5, 1664. She died December II, 17II; and he died August 15; 1718. Children found on record: Henry, Sarah, Bethia, Henry (again) and Benjamin, next mentioned.

(III) Deacon Benjamin, youngest child of Henry and Bethia (Cooley) Chapin, was born in Springfield, February 2, 1682, and died March 22, 1756. He was one of the first dea- cons of the church in Chicopee, elected to that office in 1752. He lived on Chicopee street, near where Deacon Giles S. Chapin lived some years ago. Benjamin Chapin married (first) November 9, 1704, Hannah, daughter of Isaac and Mary Colton, of Longmeadow. She died March 5, 1739, and he married (second) Joanna, widow of Ebenezer Warriner. She died October 13, 1764. Children by first wife : Hannah, Benjamin, Isaac, Abner, Jacob, Bethia, Sarah, George, Abigail, Mary, Ephraim and Eunice.

(IV) Captain Ephraim, sixth son of Dea- con Benjamin and Hannah (Colton) Chapin, was born October 29, 1729, and died October 12, 1805. He built the house where his grand- son Briant Chapin lived in late years, and kept a tavern there for a long time. He was a good farmer, was one of the largest land holders of his time in the Connecticut Valley, having large tracts in Springfield, Ludlow and Chicopee, and fatted many cattle for market. He was a captain of a military company, and was out with a part or all his company during a portion of the old French war. He married,

May 1, 1755, Jemima, daughter of Abel and Hannah ( Hitchock ) Chapin, and granddaugh- ter of Thomas and Sarah ( Wright) Chapin ; Thomas being a son of Japhet and Abilenah (Cooley) Chapin, and grandson of Deacon Samuel the settler. She died November 1, 1804. They had: Abel, Ephraim, Jemima, Benjamin and Bezaleel (died young), (twins) Kezia, Bezaleel, and Frederick.

(V) Captain Ephraim (2), second son of Ephraim (I) and Jemima (Chapin) Chapin. was born April 3. 1759, and died December 26, 1806. He resided for several years in South Hadley and Ludlow, but removed to Chicopee, and died there, a farmer. He married, Feb- ruary, 1782, Mary Smith, born March 30, 1763, daughter of Phineas Smith of Granby. or South Hadley. She died January 9, 1844, aged eighty-one. Children: Erastus, Sophia, Giles Smith, Ephraim, Mary S., Betsey, and Chester William, next mentioned.

(VI) Hon. Chester William, youngest child of Ephraim (2) and Mary (Smith) Chapin, was born January 16, 1797, and died June 10, 1883. His father died before he was of age, and his elder brother Ephraim being in college, Chester was left with his mother to look after the interests of the family. He was educated in the common schools and at Westfield Acad- emy, and after a brief service with his brother Erastus, who kept the old Williams House in Springfield, he became a partner in business with his life-long friend, Stephen C. Bemis. Believing that outdoor employment would be of benefit to his health, he bought an interest in the great stage line of the Connecticut Valley, which at that time was controlled by Jacob W. Brewster, of Sackett's Harbor, and Horatio Sargent, of Springfield. This busi- ness was carried on at a profit until the steam- boats furnished a quicker, cheaper and more satisfactory mode of transportation. He then bought out the interests of Thomas Blanchard, and afterward entered into an alliance with Commodore Vanderbilt, then engaged in the transportation business at Hartford. This alliance proved of great mutual benefit, and laid the foundation of a lifelong community of interest and close personal friendships. Mr. Chapin was an early and zealous promoter of railroads. Having established a successful line of steamboats between New Haven and New York, on Long Island Sound, he with others undertook the construction of the Hart- ford & Springfield railroad, of which, with the extensions and additions, he was an active director during the rest of his life. One of

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his favorite and oft-quoted maxims to young men was: "When you can't stem the current, get in and steer," and his career showed that lie made a personal application of the maxim. In 1850 he was made a director of the Western railroad, then running from Worcester to Albany, and the same year was elected presi- dent of the Connecticut River Railroad Com- pany, which office he held until 1854. He then became president of the Western Railroad Company, and filled that position with marked ability and success for twenty-four years. He found the road in 1854 with inadequate rolling stock, wooden bridges, light rails, a single track, a depleted treasury, and poor credit ; and one of his first moves was to go to Lon- don, where through his acquaintance with Mr. Sturgis, the active partner in the great banking house of Baring Brothers & Company, he obtained a loan of five hundred thousand dollars for the purpose of supplying those things which were imperatively demanded to meet the growing traffic of the road. From that time until he effected its consolidation with the Boston & Worcester road, and until it passed into the keeping of his successors, the history of the Boston & Albany railroad was a conspicuous and uninterrupted success. His practical knowledge of all the details of the business, his wise judgment and foresight, his accurate estimate of men and his skill in so placing and directing them as to utilize their respective capacities, and above all, his integrity and high notions of honor, coupled with a rare sense of justice, combined to attract the atten- tion of the business world and distinguished him as a man. He was a man of large capacity and was connected with many large enterprises other than the transportation lines mentioned. As president of the Agawam Bank, and sub- sequently of the Chapin Banking & Trust Com- pany, as director in the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad Company, the Con- necticut River Railroad Company, the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Com- pany, the Springfield Fire and Marine Insur- ance Company, the Agawam Canal Company. the New Haven Steamboat Company, the City Library Association, and the other less con- spicuous enterprises, his rare judgment and exceptional business sagacity were consulted, Ile was for a time president of the Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad, and was offered the, presidency of the Hudson River Railroad Company, which he declined. He was a meni- ber of the constitutional convention which met at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1854, and

was elected to a seat in the Forty-fourth Con- gress from a district largely Republican, although he was a lifelong Democrat. His public benefactions were liberal, and his purse was ever open to those in need. Amherst College received fifty thousand dollars during his life, and the church of the Unity, where he was a regular attendant, counted him among its most liberal supporters, receiving from him at one time twenty-six thousand dollars. In 1878 he retired from the presidency of the Boston & Albany Railroad Company, and from active business, and on June 10, 1883, died at his residence in Springfield, deeply mourned by the community which he had served so honorably and so faithfully. Chester W. Chapin married, June 1, 1825, Dorcas Chapin, born April 11, 1801, youngest daughter of Col. Abel and Dorcas Chapin. She was a woman of rare worth and of great usefulness in the com- munity, her benefactions extending to most of the successful charities of Springfield. Four children were born of this marriage, who attained maturity. Abel D .; Margaret C. who married William Bliss ( see Bliss VIII) ; Anna C., married James A. Rumrill, of Springfield ; and Chester W.

(For preceding generations see Thomas Bliss 1). (VI) Ebenezer, eldest son of

BLISS Jedediah and Miriam (Hitchcock) Bliss, was born June 26, 1750, in Springfield, and died there February 26, 1826. He married (first) about 1774, Anna Nevins, who died August 3, 1788. Children: Anna, Mary, Hubbard, Parmela, David and James. He married (second) in 1790, Sarah Ferree, who died October 21, 1848, aged eighty-nine. Children : Sally, Luther, Eunice, Ebenezer, Lois Ferree, David and Anna.

(VII) Luther, eldest son of Ebenezer and Sarah (Ferree) Bliss, was born in Springfield, June 19, 1792, died at his home, 640 Main street, Springfield, May 23, 1886, being within a month of ninety-four years of age. He was brought up to his father's trade, shoemaking, but afterward conducted the tannery that the father had built for a younger son. While conducting the tannery his health failed and he was compelled to surrender the business. After trying the retail boot and shoe trade on State street for awhile he drifted into real estate transactions, from which he amassed a comfortable property. About 1836, in part- nership with his cousin, Harvey Bliss, he opened William street through his home lot and laid out lots on each side. A newspaper

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account of Mr. Bliss says: "He was bred to the tanner's trade and had a tannery at the South end and also a shoe shop on Main street in the Center. He had a farm on South Main street that stretched to the river and through it later on opened William street. He was a shrewd, clever man in business and keen and bright in conversation. Always liberal-minded he espoused the abolition cause heartily, scorn- ing its unpopularity ; he also was ready to wel- come the newly-founded Baptist and Methodist churches in the city when others were looking askance at them. By diligence and ability he amassed a comfortable property of perhaps $50,000, largely invested in real estate here- about." Another account says: "Mr. Bliss's anti-slavery convictions were of the strongest type. It is believed that he was the first to seriously suggest the organization of an inde- pendent anti-slavery political party in Massa- chusetts. While entertaining a party of Aboli- tionists who were here to address a convention, he said to them: 'Gentlemen, you can never make this movement a success until you start an independent political party, whose chief object shall be the abolition of slavery.' They exclaimed that that would ruin them. 'We are weak and our opponents would swallow us.' 'Not at all,' replied Mr. Bliss, 'Such men as Dr. Osgood of the first church and Dr. Hawes of Hartford cannot be swallowed up by any political opponents.' The more the suggestion was thought of the sounder it seemed, and the next year it was acted on, an anti-slavery ticket being put in the field, and from that day on the Abolitionist party grew in strength and numbers until its final triumph." Mr. Bliss never held public office, but took a deep interest in politics, reading the news- papers closely, and in his last days having them read to him, and so kept abreast of current events. In 1820 Mr. Bliss built the house in which he resided the remainder of his life. This was on a lot which formed a part of the land apportioned to his ancestors a few years after the settlement of the town, and here he was born. In 1827 Mr. Bliss and his wife became members of the First Church, but left with the colony which formed the South Church in 1856. Of this he was for some time the oldest member. His religious career was one of happy faith, pure and consistent. He was often urged to accept.some office in the church, but always declined. At the time of his death Mr. Bliss was the oldest native-born resident of Springfield. He retained his mental faculties to a remarkable degree until about

the time of his death. Living with him and keeping house for him was the widow of his son James H., who with great kindness during his declining years took the best of care of him, three of which he was in almost complete helplessness. Luther Bliss married, September 30, 1819, Rebecca, daughter of Moses and Jerusha (Easton) Ferree. She was born at Hartford, Connecticut, April 17, 1792, and died July 1, 1866. Children: Jerusha E., Luther, Ebenezer, James H., James Ferree (died young), James and Homer.

(VIII) James Henry, son of Luther and Rebecca (Ferree) Bliss, was born in Spring- field, October 22, 1830, and died September 6, 1867. He was engaged in the retail grocery business in Springfield. He married, at Lyme, Connecticut, October 22, 1863, Annie Louise, daughter of John G. and Julia Ann (Bill) Hughes. She was born March 23, 1837, and since her marriage has resided at the old Bliss homestead, now a period of forty-six years. Mrs. Bliss is held in highest esteem by a large circle of friends. She is noted for her prac- tical sense, and is the inventor of the Bliss charcoal stove, which has been widely used. The issue of his marriage was one child, Annie Rebecca, the subject of the next paragraph.

(IX) Annie Rebecca, only child of James H. and Annie Louise (Hughes) Bliss, was born in Springfield, September 25, 1864, died July 25, 1904. She was educated and always resided in Springfield. She was an active worker in Mercy Warren Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and was for three years corresponding secretary of the chapter. She was a charter member of Faith Church and was one of the most earnest workers in the days when Rev. Dr. S. G. Buck- ingham first started his branch chapel from the parent South Church, of which she was a member. Miss Bliss had a large circle of friends, to whom her beautiful character was an inspiration. She died of bronchitis, which developed from a severe cold she took at Easter preceding her death.

(The Bill Line).

Bill is numbered among the oldest surnames in England, being directly traceable in a single county, that of Shropshire, for a period of over five hundred years. Dr. Thomas Bill. born in Bedfordshire, about 1490, was one of the physicians of Henry VIII and Edward VI, and an attendant of the Princess Elizabeth. William Bill, LL. D., born in Hertfordshire, about 1505, held at the same time the import-

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ant positions of Master of Trinity College, Provost of Eton College, and Dean of the Westminster. Charles Bill, born about 1550, believed to be a son of the preceding, was recommended in 1609 to succeed Sir Thomas Smith as Latin secretary to King James I. John Bill, baptized in 1576, was publisher to King James I, in 1613. In America several of the name have attained honorable positions. The name is claimed to have first been assumed by one of the class of soldiers who were armed with the bill, a sort of battle-ax.

(I) John Bill is assumed to be the first of the name in this country, and in the records of Boston is found this statement: "John Bill died 10 mo., 1638." A month later, January 21, 1639, Richard Tuttell became responsible to the town of Boston for "one Dorothie Bill,

widdowe, a sojourner in his house," and "for anything about her." Dorothy Bill is believed to have been the widow of John Bill, deceased, and sister of the Richard Tuttell in whose house she was a "sojourner ;" and the last clause of the quotation used above, means that her brother engaged to meet any expense which might arise on account of her and her children. She had at this time at least one son, James Bill, who was then twenty-three years old. There is no record of the arrival of John and Dorothy Bill in America, but it is assumed that they came over before 1635. In the latter year a boy named John Bill, aged thirteen, came in the ship "Hopewell;" and about the same time a girl, Mary Bill, aged eleven, came in the ship "Planter," both supposed to be children of John and Dorothy. The name of Mary Bill immediately follows the names of the Tuttells, who came in the "Planter," and she is thought to have come as one of their family. The relations the members of the two families sustained to each other thereafter imply relationship. From what can now be learned it seems that John and Dorothy Bill were husband and wife, and that they had children: James, Thomas, Philip, John and Mary.

(II) Philip Bill, as stated above, is believed to have been a son of John and Dorothy Bill, to have been born in England about 1620, and to have been a grandson of the King's printer, John Bill. Philip Bill is first found at Pulling Point, then forming a part of Boston, near James Bill, who had settled there some years previously. Philip appears in 1660 as debtor to the estate of William Burnell, of Pulling Point. He seems to have moved to Ipswich soon after that time. May 11, 1663, according

to the court record, Philip Fowler, Sen., of Ipswich, puts into the hands of Philip Bill two young heifers for seven years. After a few years residence in Ipswich Philip Bill probably thought he could profit by removing, for his name appears among those of the arrivals in New London, Connecticut, "about 1668." Philip Bill settled on the east side of the Thames river, in that portion of the township of New London that in 1705 was incorporated as the town of Groton. Philip Bill settled near Robert Allyn and George Geer, probably at or near Allyn's Point, now in the town of Ledyard. As is shown by the part of the New London records still extant, he became possessed of con- siderable real estate. In 1677 he sold one hundred acres of land to Richard Lord, and in 1707 or thereabouts devised other real estate to his children. Philip Bill died July 8, 1689, of a fatal throat distemper, which prevailed that summer, and his daughter Margaret died the same day of the same disease. He left a widow Hannah, who afterward married Samuel Bucknall, of Buckland, of New Lon- don, and died in 1709. Children, the last two born in Connecticut : Philip, Mary, Margaret, Samuel, John, Elizabeth, Jonathan, and Joshua, next mentioned.

(III) Joshua, youngest child of Philip and Hannah Bill, was born in New London, Con- necticut, October 16, 1675, baptized March 29, 1676, and died in 1735. He was a blacksmith and seems to have been a man of much more than ordinary education. February II, 1707, Joshua Bill, of Groton, mortgaged eighty acres of land to Jonathan Bill, of Boston. January 17, 1721, Joshua Bill was granted three hun- dred acres of land by John Pelton. He appears as a party to other deeds. Through an old Bible, printed by Charles Bill, of London, about 1660, which became the property of Joshua Bill, and in which he wrote with his own hand the family record, and which Bible and record afterward fell into the hands of Ledyard Bill, the compiler of the "History of the Bill Family," the family records of Joshua and others of the Bill family were obtained. Joshua Bill was selectman for many years, and was also one of the town committee from 1719 to 1730. April 16, 1719, he was moderator of the town meeting held to consider the propriety of dividing the town commons. A committee was appointed, of which he was one, to take such action as was deemed best, and the lands were afterwards divided and disposed of by the committee. The same committee granted six hundred acres of land to the Pequot Indians

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for their use, March 20, 1721. Joshua Bill was also one of those who laid out in 1773 what is now the main traveled road between Groton and Preston, and divides the town of Led- yard nearly in halves. Joshua Bill married (first) November 1, 1699, Joanna Potts, daugh- ter of William Potts, of New London. She was born in May, 1679, was admitted to the church at New London, May 9, 1701, and died November 3, 1718. He married (second) October 4, 1719, Hannah Swodel, born in December, 1697, daughter of William Swodel, of Groton. The children by wife Joanna were : A son (died young), Joshua, Edward, Benajah and Mary ; by wife Hannah: Phineas, Naomi, Orpah, Hannah, Sarah, Esther, Joanna and Phebe.

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Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume III, Part 31

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848- Publication date: 1910 Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company Number of Pages: 986

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 986