Connecticut

Biography of Danford Atwood

Danford Atwood was born in Connecticut in 1823. His parents were Mormons and moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, at an early day, and from thence to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where in 1850 Mr. Atwood married Miss Jane Garner, of Hancock County, Illinois. She was the daughter of George and Elizabeth (Hedrick) Garner, natives respectively of North Carolina and Indiana. They had six children. Mrs. Garner died in Illinois at the age of thirty-two, and Mr. Garner married Lydia Hill. In 1836 he went to Council Bluffs, where he remained nearly two years, and then came to California, in 1852, by ox … Read more

Biography of Samuel J. Hayes

Samuel J. Hayes, residing in Redlands, on Cypress Avenue, was born in Litchfield County, Connecticut, June 20, 1826. His father, Gaylord Hayes, was a second cousin to ex-President Rutherford B. Hayes. When Samuel was a lad of seven his father removed to La Salle County, Illinois, where he engaged in stock-raising until his death, which occurred in 1838, when Samuel was but twelve. His mother died in 1842, and he had to provide and care for his three younger brothers and sister. In 1850 he crossed the plains to California, where he mined for six months and then returned to … Read more

Biographical Sketch of F. E. Brown

Mr. F. E. Brown was born in New Haven, Connecticut, graduated at the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale College, and came to California in 1877. He was the engineer of the Redlands Water System and the discoverer of Bear valley as a reservoir; and more to him than any one else is California indebted for that great reservoir. The Bear valley dam was built by him. He has been one of the foremost citizens of Redlands, and in connection with Mr. E. G. Judson he has projected and built up that lively colony.

Biographical Sketch of E. G. Judson

E. G. Judson. About 1881-’82 Judson & Brown secured 1,500 acres of land on the sloping hillsides south of the Mill Creek zanja, surveyed and platted the same into five, ten and twenty-acre lots, with wide avenues traversing the whole plat. This enterprise was regarded as an experiment from the fact that the red soil of the slope had never been tested as to its adaptability to horticultural pursuits. With plenty of water and good cultivation the doubt as to the value of the land was soon removed and the success of the colony enterprise was assured. Thus encouraged the … Read more

Biography of James B. Summons, Jr.

James B. Summons, Jr., is one of the early pioneers of Riverside, having located in the colony in 1870. He is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, born in 1845. His grandfather, Captain John B. Summons, was a prominent and well-known citizen of Cincinnati, an owner of river steamers carrying the mail, and commander of same. He was a member of the city council of that city for more than twenty-five years. He was a Kentuckian by birth, who in his early manhood settled in Cincinnati. Mr. Summons was reared and educated in Cincinnati until 1861, receiving his education in the … Read more

Biography of Colonel William R. Tolles

Colonel William R. Tolles, President of the San Bernardino Board of Trade and one of the most enterprising and public-spirited citizens of the county, was born in Litchfield County, Connecticut, in 1823. His father was one of the original settlers of the famous “Western Reserve” in northern Ohio, having moved there and settled in Geauga County in 1837; there William passed his youth, excepting five or six winters which he spent in the South for the benefit of his health. He was in Arkansas when the Legislature of that State declared its secession from the Union, and he was a … Read more

Biography of James E. Mack

James E. Mack, Public Administrator of San Bernardino County, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in November 1848, and resided there until twelve years of age. At the breaking out of the war in 1861 he enlisted in the Fourteenth Massachusetts Infantry, serving ninety days as drummer boy. On the expiration of his term he re-enlisted in the Twenty-seventh Massachusetts Infantry for three years, but his mother prevented him being mustered in. In the fervor of his youthful patriotism he determined to try again, and enlisted in the United States Naval Marine Corps, but was again prevented from entering the service … Read more

Biographical Sketch of E. P. Clarke

E. P. Clarke is the senior member of the firm of Clarke Brothers, publishers of the Ontario Record, and is also the editor of the paper. He is a native of the State of Maine and reared and educated in that State, closing his educational career in Kent’s Hill (Maine) Seminary and the Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, graduating at the latter institution with high honors in 1885. He then was engaged for some months on the United States geological survey in Maine and New Hampshire. In October 1885, he came to California and located at Ontario, and in December of … Read more

Meier, Joseph Henry – Obituary

Joseph Henry Meier, 74, a former Baker City resident who purchased Leo Adler’s magazine and book wholesale distributorship in 1977, died Feb. 6, 2004, at Portland after suffering a massive stroke related to Alzheimer’s disease. His funeral was today at Tualatin. Mr. Meier was born on Aug. 15, 1929, in the home of his grandparents’ in the then-rural Gardenville section of northeast Baltimore. He was the oldest of four children of the late Catherine Ann Worline Meier and Joseph William Meier. He grew up helping his grandfather work his farm, including work with a team of horses. Part of that … Read more

Biography of Nelson L. Jarvis

NELSON L. JARVIS is known throughout the United States through his association with Jarvis & Jarvis, one of the leading concerns in the country in the field of rubber tired castors. Mr. Jarvis, who is senior partner in the firm, is known as one of the prominent men of Palmer. He is a trustee of the Palmer Savings Bank, and is active and well known in civic and fraternal circles. Nelson L. Jarvis was born in Malone, New York, September 23, 1883, the son of Bernard Jarvis, a native of New York State, who was a carpenter, and Virginia (Boyea) … Read more

Biographical Sketch of John Rowlee Fausey

JOHN ROWLEE FAUSEY – To the general advancement of the interests of the public schools of Massachusetts, and particularly of Springfield and West Springfield, Mr. Fausey has devoted the larger part of his career as a teacher and superintendent, and with results that are recorded as having enlarged the bounds and increased the value of the educational institutions in those communities where he has taught and held official position. John Rowlee Fausey, son of James Seldon and Caroline Helen (Blauvelt) Fausey, was born March 19, 1870, in Elmira, New York, where he attended the public school, and he afterwards graduated … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Archer Roberts Simpson

ARCHER ROBERTS SIMPSON – A lawyer, well established in Springfield, Massachusetts, and prominent in social and other circles, Archer Roberts Simpson was born in Dover, New Hampshire, May 6, 1885. He was graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, in 1907, entered Yale University, and was graduated from that institution in 1911, and then went to the Law School of George Washington University, from which he was graduated in 1915. He has now practiced law for ten years and is senior member of the firm of Simpson, Clason & Callahan. Mr. Simpson was a member of the Springfield City Council for … Read more

Biography of Ernest Moore Bolles

ERNEST MOORE BOLLES, boot and shoe dealer, in Amherst, Massachusetts, was born in Amherst, March 12, 1876. He was the son of Lemuel Nelson Bolles. The Bolles (Bowles) family goes back to the Norman Conquest of England. One name “Bolls” is found on the Roll of the Butte Abbey, as given by Holl:ngshead. Duchesne, from a charter in that abbey, gives a list of the conquerors in England under William of Normandy, among them the name of “Bools.” The names, Boll, Bol, Bole and Bolle occur frequently in Domesday Book. One family named Bolles, of long standing in the county … Read more

Biography of John Wilson

JOHN WILSON-The family of Wilson, of Greenfield, is of Scotch Origin, Robert Wilson, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, having been the father of Mr. John Wilson, who is the founder and senior partner of the firm of John Wilson & Company, of Greenfield Robert Wilson was born in Glasgow in 1839, and died in New Cummock, Ayrshire, Scotland, in 1870, in the part of the country that Robert Burns, at the early age of thirty-one years, made famous the world over. He was general manager of the Bank Colliery at New Cummock, was a hard worker and had to apply … Read more

Biography of Israel Newton

ISRAEL NEWTON-The Newton family of Orange is one of the oldest New England families on record, the first American ancestor of whom we have positive knowledge having come to the shores of New England in the early autumn of 1639. He was one of the four men who came with Roger Ludlow, deputy governor, who had obtained a commission from the General Court of Connecticut to begin a plantation at Poquonock. Thomas Newton moved to Newton, Long Island, in 1636, and in 1645 was chosen as representative from Fairfield to the General Court. Deacon Israel and Lois T. Newton had … Read more

Biography of John Francis Mariz

JOHN FRANCIS MARIZ – A man who by his devotion to his business in real estate matters has made his name and methods very favorably and popularly known throughout the western part of the State, as representing reliability of the highest type, John Francis Mariz, long established in Northampton, is an all-round business man who thoroughly knows his territory and his patrons. From the outset of his career he has made it a point to carry on business in the public interest, and that principle has been maintained by him in all his valued associations with civic and community projects. … Read more

Biographical Sketch of James T. Brown

JAMES T. BROWN, manager of the Hotel Worthy, Springfield, Massachusetts, was born in Luzeme, New York, February 24, 1885. His father was William E. Brown, and his mother Jennie I. (Taylor) Brown. The father was engaged in the mill business at Norwich, and also conducted a tannery. The family removed from the New York village where the early years of Mr. Brown were passed, to Norwich, Connecticut, when he was twelve years old. There the boy attended the public schools. He completed his studies to become a hotel employe, and his chosen occupation he has followed steadily through life. After … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Samuel Hayes

(II) Samuel, son of George and Abigail (Dibble) Hayes, was born in Simsbury. 1699. He was granted sixty acres of land in Simsbury, 1723; was on church covenant with wife in 1739, and served as tythingman in 1751. He must have lived to an unusually advanced age, as there is on record at Granby a deed, executed March 7, 1787, in which he conveys property to his son Silas. He married, in Simsbury, July 16. 1719, Elizabeth Willcockson (Wilcox), probably a daughter of Samuel Willcockson, of Meadow Plain, Simsbury, granddaughter of Sergeant Samuel Willcockson and great-granddaughter of William Willcockson. of … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Captain Samuel Hayes

(III) Captain Samuel (2), son of Samuel (1) and Elizabeth (Willcockson) Hayes, was born in Simsbury, March 26, 1730, died in Granby, December 25, 1801. In the Simsbury records he is designated captain. In 1753 he erected a substantial dwelling-house at Bushy Hill, two miles west of Salmon Brook, which he and his descendants occupied for nearly a century. He was a selectman of Simsbury, 1774, and of Granby at its organization, 1786; represented Simsbury in the general assembly, 1778; served as deacon of the church at Salmon Brook from 1786 to ’80. He possessed superior physical strength, excelled in … Read more

Biography of Edward F. Groark

EDWARD F. GROARK-Insurance has for many years held the attention of Edward F. Groark, whose usefulness in this realm in Western Massachusetts is widely recognized. With interests centering in North Adams he covers a considerable territory in this immediate section and his work is contributing definitely to the progress of the community. Mr. Groark’s practical ability and progressive attitude are constructive influences in the local progress as well as in his own success. He is a son of Patrick and Margaret (Feign) Groark, esteemed citizens of New Haven, Connecticut. Edward F. Groark was born in New Haven, September 11, 1878. … Read more