Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume IV, Part 63

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 886

USA > Massachusetts > Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume IV > Part 63

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In 1864 he began his long connection with the Springfield Fire and Marine Insurance Company as bookkeeper, and for this insti- tution he rendered faithful and efficient serv- ice in that capacity until April 9. 1872. when he was elected treasurer of the company, and all his future became identified with it. In December, 1890, he was elected a director to fill vacancy caused by the death of N. A. Leonard, and was also made vice-president at that time. Mr. Dunham, who had succeeded Dwight R. Smith in 1880, had a high regard for Mr. Wright, and came more and more to confide in and rely on him. On the death of Mr. Dunham, in 1891, there was no question as to who ought to succeed him, and Mr. Wright was called to the duties of the presi- dency. From that time forward his time was closely devoted to the work of the office, and everything indicated a long and successful ad- ministration when he was cut down in the prime of life. He caught a severe cold which settled in his head, and resulted primarily in influenza, suppuration of the middle ear and mastoid cells ; and secondarily in septic men- ingitis, from which he died after an illness of three weeks. Mr. Wright was thoroughly identified with the local life of Springfield. He was always manly and upright, and his prog-

ress in business was steady and his success fairly earned by hard work and perfect fidelity to each task undertaken. All his life was clean and open and wholesome after the New Eng- land ideals. He had come to be one of the strong men of the city, and was expected to grow into a still larger place in the respect and confidence of the community when his career of usefulness came to a sudden conclusion. Mr. Wright was an ardent Republican, and be- fore his business duties became so absorbing he took a somewhat active part in politics, and served as chairman of the city committee and as president of the Ward Five Republican Club. He also did admirable work in the city government as member and president of the common council, in which body he served in 1877-78, holding the presidency in the latter year. In short, he was public spirited and alive to the duties of good citizenship. He was long identified with the South Church, ac- tive on committees, and interested in all that concerns its welfare. He was a member of both the Winthrop and Nayasset Clubs. His business associations outside of the insurance company included a directorship in both the Agawam National Bank of Springfield and the Franklin County National Bank of Greenfield, while he was a trustee and member of the finance committee of the Hampden Savings Bank.

Andrew J. Wright married, South Manches- ter. Connecticut, May 22, 1867, Mary Jane Case, born in what is now South Manchester, Connecticut. March 6, 1835, daughter of Charles and Mary Ingals ( Clough) Case, who died May 19. 1908. ( See Case, VII.) They were the parents of five children: Fred Case, born March 1, 1868; Grace Sherman, May 21, 1870, wife of H. H. Bosworth of Springfield ; Harry Andrew. mentioned below: Royal Jo- siah. August 22, 1875 ; Josephine Mary, Octo- ber 28, 1877. now wife of James M. Gill, of Springfield.

(IX) Harry Andrew, second son of An- drew J. and Mary J. (Case ) Wright, was born in Springfield. June 30, 1872, and was edu- cated in the public schools and Springfield Business College. On leaving school he took a position as clerk in the supply department of the Springfield Fire and Marine Insurance Company, and filled that place till the death of his father. He then became a partner in the insurance business with his brother Fred. In 1905 he left this business to become man- ager of the Michigan Corset Company of Jack- son. Michigan. In January, 1906, he removed

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the business to Springfield, reorganized and in- corporated the company, of which he became principal stockholder and president, and has since had charge of the business, which is successful and constantly growing in volume. Mr. Wright has for many years taken a deep and intelligent interest in local Indian antiqui- ties, and in 1905 compiled and published a limited edition of "Indian Deeds of Hamp- den County," containing copies of all deeds from Indians affecting lands in Hampden county ; and of some deeds from other sources, together with notes and translations of Indian place names. Mr. Wright is an earnest stu- dent of the lower animals and their habits, and sometimes takes his time of recreation in hunt- ing. He is a Republican in political faith, but is neither a partisan nor an office seeker. He is a member of Springfield Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; George Washington Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution ; and L. A. Tifft Encampment, Sons of Veter- ans. In 1897 he spent six months in Europe visiting points of interest in Italy, Switzer- land, France and England. May 13, 1897, he married, at Rome, Italy, Florence M. Carr. born in Springfield, December 18, 1876, daugh- ter of Lewis F. and Susan D. ( Carter ) Carr of Springfield. They have one child, Susan, born May 30, 1904.

Mrs. Wright is descended from Scotch- Irish ancestry as follows :

(1) John Carr, born in Londonderry, Ire- land, July 16, 1700, died April 23, 1770. He married Jane. probably a daughter of John Anderson, who came with his wife and family from Ireland and settled in Londonderry as early as 1725. They removed from Ireland to America and settled Londonderry, New Hampshire, with a colony of compatriots and founded a town, which in honor of the native city of some of them which had become cele- brated on account of the gallant defence it made against the Catholics, they named Lon- donderry. There they had children born.

(2) Timothy, son of John and Jane Carr, born in Londonderry, New Hampshire, August 22, 1747, died at North Danville, Vermont, August 16, 1822. His wife's forename was Margaret, and they were married in London- dlerry, New Hampshire.

(3) James, son of Timothy and Margaret Carr, born in Londonderry, New Hampshire, December 7, 1770. died in Danville, April 19. 1837. Between 1777 and 1780 he moved from Londonderry to Antrim, New Hampshire. He married, in Walden, Vermont, July 30, 1807,

Hannah Page, born in Walden, January 29, 1788, died May 9, 1864.

(4) John Stanton, son of James and Han- nah ( Page) Carr, was born July 5, 1821, and died in Springfield, Massachusetts. He mar- ried, in Eumery, New Hampshire, August 26, 1847, Maria Leslie Merrill, born January 15, 1824, died March 17, 1870. She was of Or- ford, New Hampshire, and her parents were Richard Merrill, born January 17, 1790, and his wife Mary Woodbury, born January 17, 1794, died April 3, 1839.

(5) Lewis F., son of John S. and Maria L. ( Merrill) Carr, born in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, June 25, 1850, resides in Springfield. He married April 23, 1874, Susan D. Carter, daughter of E. Y. and Re- becca (Dickinson) Carter. To Lewis F. and Susan D. (Carter ) Carr were born three chil- dren, as follows : Florence C., Rebecca D., and Harriet M.

(The Case Line).

The earliest records of this family state that in the year 1200 certain of its members moved from York to Aylsham, England, where they are now represented by wealthy tanners and farmers who own so much land around Ayl- sham that it is said to be "Cased in." These lands surround those once the property of Anne Boleyn, one of the wives of Henry VIII. The Case and Boleyn families were closely connected by intermarriages. The records are also said to show the names of several Cases who were locally prominent associates and supporters of Oliver Cromwell, under whose patronage they accumulated much prop- erty by furnishing leather to the English army.

(I) Richard Case, ancestor of the American family, a native of England, was an inhabitant of Hartford, Connecticut. The date of his settlement is not certain, but he bought ninety acres of land on the east side of the Connecti- cut river, June 31, 1669, of William Edwards and Agnes his wife, and bounded as follows : "North by William Pitkin ; south on John Bid- well's; east on the wilderness ; the rear on the swamp." He became a freeman at Hartford in 1671, and died March 30, 1694. His will, .made September 8, 1690, was witnessed by William Pitkin and Thomas Olcott. The ex- ecutors were "my wife" and "my kinsman, Mr. Thomas Olcot." Richard Case married Elizabeth, daughter of John and Joan Pur- chase. This Mr. Purchase (or Purkas) was in Hartford before 1639. Children of Rich- ard and Elizabeth : Richard, John and Mary.

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(II) Richard (2), eldest child of Richard (I) and Elizabeth ( Purchase) Case, died in East Hartford, February 22, 1624. The Hart- ford land records show that the estate of Richard Case was settled among his heirs by deed dated November 6, 1729, and received for record October 31, 1765. He married, before 1703, Sarah Children : Sarah, Joseph and Elizabeth.

(III) Joseph, son of Richard (2) and Sarah Case, was born in East Hartford, De- cember 27, 1705, and died there May 26, 1791. He was buried in the East Hartford Center cemetery. Like his father he was a farmer. He married, 1731, Esther, daughter of Ebe- nezer Hills, of East Hartford. Children : Joseph, David, Richard, Abigail, Thomas, Sarah and Hannah.

(IV) David, second son of Joseph and Esther ( Hills) Case, was born in East Hart- ford. Record, volume 25. page 269, contains record of grant of administration on estate of David Case, late of East Hartford, to George Griswold. Distribution of the estate was made (no date given) to widow not named, sons Uriah, William and David, and daughters Tryphena and Assenath Keeney. He owned land in Glastonbury. He married Abigail Among their children were : Abigail, died January 26, 1774, aged three ; Abigail (lied November 20, 1789, aged sixteen.

(V) Uriah, son of David and Abigail Case, was baptized in the East Hartford Congrega . tional Church, May 20, 1764, and died July 30. 1821. The Hartford land records attest that on December 12, 1815. Uriah Case, George Hacket and Anna his wife, of East Hartford, as heirs to David Case and Abigail Case, sold land to Thomas Case. "Connecticut Men in the Revolution" states that Uriah Case was a quartermaster of the Fifth Regiment of Con- necticut, organized May, 1776. The name of the wife of Uriah Case does not appear. His children were : Eli, John, Ambrose, David, Dudley. Charles, Lucy, Sarah and Ros- anna.

(VI) Charles Case, sixth son of Uriah Case, was born June 30, 1807, and died May 22, 1860. He married Mary I. Clough. Chil- dren: Frank, Mary Jane, Henry, Wallace, Wells and Fred.

(VII) Mary Jane, eldest daughter of Charles and Mary Ingals ( Clough) Case, was born in what is now South Manchester, Con- necticut, March 6, 1835, and married, May 22, 1867, Andrew J. Wright, of Springfield, Mass- achusetts. (See Wright, VIII.)

William Cross, of Wethersfield, CROSS Connecticut, and afterwards of Windsor, Connecticut, was the first of the name in this country. There is a tradition in every branch of the family that it was originally French Huguenot and the name was De La Croix. At the be- ginning William spelled his name Crosse and sometimes La Crosse. In vol. 47, New England Hist. and Gen. Register, p. 420, is a copy of the probate of the will of Johannus De Peister, of London, England, but formerly of Ghent, Belgium, which shows that William Crosse, of London, was his father-in- law, and that Peter Crosse was the son of William ; also that John, James and Lieun De Peister, of Haarlem, were his nephews, and to them he left the bulk of his estate. This Johannus De Peister died in London, Decem- ber 5. 1638. The history of the De Peister family in America as found in Valentine's Common Council of New York, seems to show that this nephew, John, was none other than the well-known Johannus De Peister, who emigrated to New York in 1651, was mayor of that city, and one of the leading Hugue- nots of America. The De Peisters were for several generations very exclusive, always marrying French Huguenots, and usually go- ing back to Holland for that purpose. They were originally of noble rank in France, and were seated at Rouen, from which they were driven by the massacre of St. Bartholomew, which commenced in Paris, August, 24, 1572, and soon extended to Rouen. This exclusive- ness of the De Peisters leads to the conclusion that William and Peter Crosse who were made executors of Johannus will, must have been of like rank, faith and nationality. This coupled with the above tradition, appears to justify the conclusion that the Cross family belonged to the De La Croixs of Rouen. This family, as appears by the history of the Huguenots in France, were prominent. One of their num- ber was a minister who sat in the ecclesiastical council of La Rochelle.

William Cross served in the Pequot war as a soldier from Wethersfield in 1637 ( Memorial Hist. of Hartford, vol. i, p. 435). He was early at Windsor, landowner in 1644 at Weth- ersfield. He appears to have been a seafaring man, and died in Fairfield about 1655, leaving a wife, and perhaps children. (Vol. i, "An- cient Windsor," p. 156.) Following this are other entries which seem to make it plain that his children were: Peter, mentioned below, Captain Samnel, John, Nathaniel.

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(II) Peter, son of William Cross, was born in England and was apparently an adult when he came to America with his father. Chil- dren : I. Peter, born June 3, 1650; mentioned below. 2. Mary, June 3, 1659.

(III) Peter (2), son of Peter (I) Cross, was born June 3, 1650, in Windsor, Connecti- cut. He was a resident of Norwich in 1672 and 1698, but afterwards removed to Wind- ham (vol. 27, New Eng. Hist. Reg. p. 77). He was among the first planters of Windham in 1690, removing from Norwich, and his daughter married John Crane (Conn. Col. Reg. p. 417) we find: "Land in Windham granted to Peter Cross, Jonathan Crane and others to organize the town." That Peter was a man of standing appears from the fact that his name appears first in this grant and from the fact that he was by act of the general court appointed one of the administrators of the Wade estate; and that he stood at the head of the company which was authorized to and did organize the town of Mansfield, Connecti- cut, out of territory that had belonged to Wind- ham in 1703. In 1698 he was the leading citizen of Windham and the head of a squad of citizens who were building a home for the minister. He died April 9, 1739. In Hin- man's Early Puritan Settlers of Connecticut, p. 762, is the following: "Peter Cross and his wife Mary of Windham ( from Ipswich a town in Windham county, Connecticut) had chil- dren, viz": I. Mary, April 20, 1679. 2. Stephen, May 15, 1681. 3. Elizabeth, June 14, 1683. 4. Peter, November 8, 1685. 5. Daniel, March 8, 1688; mentioned below. 6. Experience, December 1, 1691. 7. Abigail, June 23, 1694. 8. Mary, December 9, 1695; died same day. 9. Mary, 1697. 10. Wade, December 15, 1699. The last two by the sec- ond wife. His wife Mary died December 9, 1695, in childbirth. Some of his children were probably born before he settled in Windham.

(IV) Daniel, son of Peter (2) Cross, was born March 8, 1688. He married, November 5. 1712, Desire (Mansfield records, p. 226). Children : I. Daniel, July 20, 1713; mentioned below. 2. Zebulon, November 19, 1714; died May 4, 1774. 3. Abigail, May 31, 1718. 4. William, May 25, 1720. 5. Desire, May 8, 1723. 6. John, March 8, 1724. 7. Experience, April 24, 1728. (Son.) (Mans- field records 1. 53.)

(V) Daniel (2), son of Daniel (I) Cross, was born at Mansfield, Connecticut, July 20, 1713. He lived in Mansfield until 1750, when he removed to the adjoining town of Lebanon,

and from there went to Orford, New Hamp- shire, in June, 1765, where he was the first settler, building his hut on the bank of the Connecticut river. In vol. xiii, N. H. State Papers, pp. 126-127, is the following : "Among the first settlers of the town of Orford, New Hampshire, were Daniel Cross, Gen. Isaac Morey and Major John Mann, all from Con- necticut." "Daniel Cross and his wife came from Lebanon, Connecticut, in June, 1765." Also that soon after this, among the residents of Orford were: "Experience Cross and his wife, with children Hetty, aged II, Bethuel, age 6 and Olive I. Also Shubael Cross and his wife and children, Joseph, aged two and Lydia, an infant." From page 108 of the Orford Centennial, we find that Experience Cross was Daniel's brother and that they came from Mansfield, Connecticut. In an address deliv- ered by Rev. Joel Mann and appearing on pages 13-16, is a paper which had been in the Mann family for many years and which con- tains the following: "When our parents ar- rived in Orford there were Daniel Cross and his wife, who had come the June preceding. They were living in a small log hut covered with bark of trees, a floor of split logs and no chimney or hearth. Mr. Cross admitted the new-comers into his cabin, agreeing to be equal in cutting wood and keeping a fire in the mid- dle, which would accommodate both. For a partition between them, blankets were hung up so that they were now comfortably situated. When an auger was needed to make a bed- stead it was only to step nine miles through the woods to a Mr. John Chamberlain's in Thet- ford and borrow of him, who was the only person in that town. The corn, with or with- out roasting, was pounded in large mortars. which were made in hard-wood logs excavated at one end by burning deep enough to hold from three to eight quarts. The finest part of this grain was made into cakes and the coarse parts called hominy, was boiled and eaten with milk, Mr. Cross having a cow." It is prob- able that Theophilus and Uriah, the two younger children, were with their father. Cal- vin Cross, often said that Uriah and his broth- ers, six in all, served in the revolution. Dur-

ing the war Ichabod remained at Shaftsbury, Bennington county, Vermont, and acted as a committee of the town to collect provisions for the troops. (Vermont Gazeteer, vol. 1, 232.) Shubael was a sergeant and served through the war (N. H. State Papers, vol. xiv, pp. 269-291, 277). Later he was captain and removed over the line into Vermont and settled in the town

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of Orange, Brookfield county, in 1779, where he was the first and for many years the most prominent citizen (vol. i, Vermont Hist. Gaz- eteer, pp. 856, 857) John and Daniel's names appear frequently in these pages as serving in the war. Calvin often said that he had seen his grandfather and that he lived to be over one hundred and three years old. When he was so active that he engaged in a wrestling match, the last year of his life, on a general training day and threw the man he wrestled with, who was some years younger and who said : "You ought to have thrown me, as you are older than I am."

Daniel Cross married, November 13, 1735, Elizabeth Abbe, born September 19, 1709, daughter of Ebenezer Abbe, of Windham. Children : 1. Ichabod, born June 16, 1736-37. 2. Mary, June 4, 1739. 3. Daniel, May 20, 1741. 4. Abigail, April 14, 1743 ; died Novem- ber 29, 1749. 5. John, October 14, 1745. 6. Shubael, December 15. 1747. 7. Theophilus, April 1, 1750. 8. Uriah, June 9, 1752 ,( Mans- field records). It is probable that the record of the last two are baptisms instead of births, as it is certain that Uriah was born April 3, 1750.

(VI) Uriah, son of Daniel (2) Cross, was born April 3, 1750, in Mansfield, and it is prob - able that about 1765 he followed his father to Orford. In 1768 he built his log hut in what was afterward the town of Lunenburg, Ver- mont, on the west bank of the Connecticut river about twenty miles north of Orford. Here it was near the borders of Canada that he acquired the knowledge of Canadian French which afterward saved him from the fate of Ethan Allen when that officer was captured before Montreal. In vol. i, Vt. Hist. Gaz. pp. 1015, 1016, is the following: "Lunenburg. Essex county, Vermont, chartered July 5, 1763, by Governor Wentworth of New Hamp- shire to colony composed of Samuel Gates and others * * It is difficult to determine when the first settlement was made within the present limits of the town, but probably as early as 1768, by Uriah Cross, Thomas Gus- tin, Ebenezer Rice, who made their log huts on the near bank of the Connecticut river, where game and fish were most easily obtained and the deer were plentiful, where salmon at the head of the fifteen miles falls were caught with little trouble in the night with torch and spear ; some weighing forty pounds were taken by the first settlers." Some years prior to the breaking out of the war, Uriah Cross mar- ried Anna Payne, daughter of Abraham Jr.

and Rebecca ( Freeman) Payne, and before the war was living on a farm belonging to his father-in-law in the town of Cornwall, Litch- field county, Connecticut. She was born in 1750 and died in Stafford, Genesee county, New York, in 1825.

She was descended from Thomas Payne, who settled on Truro, Cape Cod, in 1632, and whose ancestor, Thomas de Pagen, was a Nor- man nobleman who came to England with William the Conqueror and was a favorite of that monarch. To this Payne family belong Robert Treat Paine, famous as a lawyer and patriot ; John Howard Payne, the author of "Home, Sweet Home," and which perhaps in- cludes more authors and public men than any other family in the country. Abraham Payne Jr. was third cousin of John Adams, the presi- dent, also of Samuel Adams, the patriot, being descended from Henry Adams, of Braintree, Massachusetts, the ancestor of the famous Adams family. His father and uncle com- posed that Paine family of Windham county, Connecticut, who were the head and front of the Separatists of Connecticut, who divided the established church of that colony, and finally went over almost in a body to the Bap- tists. Anna Payne's mother, Rebecca Free- man, was descended from General Constant Southworth, the son by her first husband of Alice (Carpenter ) (Southworth ) Bradford, wife of Governor William Bradford, governor of Plymouth colony for thirty-one years, and perhaps the greatest of all the men who came in the "Mayflower." Among her ancestors was also Stephen Hopkins, the Pilgrim. Gen- eral Southworth belonged to the noble family of the Southworths of England and numbered among his ancestors, not only many of the leading nobility of England, but a number of the Saxon Kings, including Canute and Alfred the Great, also William the Conqueror, Hugh Capet. and Charles Martel, of France, with Kings of Sweden, Emperors of Germany, Grand Dukes of Russia, etc., etc. It is famil- iar history that Ethen Allen's Green Moun -. tain Boys were mostly Connecticut men, who entered Vermont about 1768 and built their huts there that they might be in a situation to resist the encroachments of New York upon that territory. Ethan Allen was also a de- scendant of William Cross. Cornwall adjoin- ing Salisbury was the home of the Allen fam- ily. Uriah's son Calvin often said that his father was with Allen long before the break- ing out of the revolution, and has recounted many of the exploits of Allen and affirmed

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that Uriah participated in them. The military record of Uriah made and sworn to by himself and on file in the interior department at Wash- ington. D. C., shows that in May, 1775, he was a resident of Cornwall and enlisted from that place under Ethan Allen, with whom he was at the capture of Ticonderoga on the tenth of the month. Also that in June, 1775, he was made a sergeant, which office he held through- out the war. He was in service during the remainder of 1775 and 1776, participating in all the hardships of the northern army in the campaign in Canada, for an account of which see Bancroft's History, vol. viii, pp. 176-212. 415-433 : also vol. ix, pp. 151, 157.

Calvin always said that his father was a man of great stature and remarkable physical strength. that he had seen him pick up a blacksmith anvil by the horn, carry it around and slap it down on the block. That the Green Mountain Boy Regiment was the very flower of the northern army in this expedition is familiar history. On pp. 183-184 of vol. VII of Bancroft's History is the following : "Ethan Allen had been sent to raise a corps of

Canadians at Chambly. They gathered about him with spirit and his officers advised him to send them without delay to the army, but daz- zled by vanity and false ambition, he attempted to surprise Montreal. Dressed as was his cus- tom on a recruiting tour, in a short fawn-skin double-breasted jacket, a vest and breeches of woolen serge and a red worsted cap, he passed on from Longville to Long Point in the night preceding the 25th of September, 1775, with about eighty Canadians and twenty Americans, though he had so few canoes that only about a third of his party could embark at once. On the next day he discovered that Brown, whom he had hoped to find with two hundred men on the south side of the town, had not crossed the river. Retreat from the island was impossible. About two hours after sunrise he was attacked by a motley party of regular English residents of Montreal, Canadians and Indians, in all about five hundred men, and, after a defense of an hour and three-quarters, he with thirty- eight men, was obliged to surrender; the rest fled to the woods." Calvin Cross often said that his father was one of those twenty Ameri- cans. His knowledge of Canadian-French, not to mention his strength and courage, made him invaluable as a recruiting officer among the people of that language. He stood by Ethan Allen, when the latter threw his gun at the British troops who surrounded him, and surrendered. But Uriah had no intention of

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Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume IV, Part 63

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848- Publication date: 1910 Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company Number of Pages: 886

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 886