William Sully Beebe was born at Ithaca, N. Y., in 1341, and educated with a view to his appointment to the Military Academy at West Point. He was one of the president’s appointments there in 1858, on account of the services of his uncle and adopted father, Captain John C. Casey, himself a graduate of […]
Lucius Briggs was born in Coventry, R. I., December 21st, 1825. He is the son of Wanton and Mary Tift Briggs, of Coventry, R. I. Wanton Briggs was the son of Jonathan Briggs, also of Coventry, who served in the revolutionary army from the beginning to the end of the war, taking part in many
The descent of the Converse family, of Thompson, from Roger de Coigneries, one of the trusted chieftains of William the Conqueror, has been elsewhere given in this volume, and need not be repeated here.. The first member of the family to emigrate from England to America was Deacon Edward Convers, who settled in Woburn, Mass.
The progenitor of the Elliott family in Thompson was Francis Elliott, a mariner, who settled in Salem, Mass., in 1686, and the same year married Abigail, daughter of John Nichols. Their son Thomas, who early in life resided at Middletown, in the same state, in 1723 married Lucy Flint. With his son Joseph he came
The subject of this biography, was a descendant in the fifth generation from the original purchaser of the Mashamoquet tract. He was the son of Doctor Robert Grosvenor, and was born in Killingly, Conn., April 30th, 1810. He attended the best academies of his native state, and his father, needing his early assistance in the
Samuel Messenger, the grandfather of Frank M. Messenger, married Lavina Blake, of Wrentham, Massachusetts. Their children were five sons and five daughters, of whom Silas was born in Stoddard, New Hampshire, and during his active life was both a farmer and a house carpenter in his native place. He married Arvilla, daughter of Isaac Copeland,
Elisha Murdock, the grandfather of George Taft Murdock, was a prosperous farmer in the town of Uxbridge, Mass. His wife, a Miss Chapin, became the mother of several children, of whom Fuller Murdock, one of their sons, spent his life in Uxbridge, his native town. He married Esther, daughter of James Taft, of Uxbridge. The
The only son of George Taft and Abbie A. Murdock, who was born July 4th, 1846, in Uxbridge, Mass., at the age of twelve years removed with his parents to Millbury, and later to Worcester in the same state. His education was received at the Worcester and Wilbraham Academies, after which he entered the finishing
One of the well-known business men and leading bankers in Connecticut, Franklin Nichols was born in Thompson, Conn., August 11th, 1805. His boyhood was passed in his native town, sharing the advantages of the schools of those days. At an early age he commenced business for himself, in the improvement of extensive farming lands inherited
Deacon Jason Phipps was at an early day an extensive landholder and farmer in Thompson parish, as also a justice of the peace, who exercised his prerogative with an inflexible hand. His son Jason, a soldier of the revolution, married Mary Healy, of Dudley, Mass., whose children were: Peyton Randolph, Salem T., Jason, Polly, Hannah,
John and Dacy Thayer were the grandparents of the subject of this biography. Their son John married Ruth Mowery and settled in East Douglas. The children of this marriage were: Mowery, born April 27th, 1811; Charles D., December 26th, 1813; Arrilla, August 9th, 1815. Charles D., the second son, is a native of Douglas, Massachusetts,
David Towne, the grandfather of Marcus F. Towne, married Lucy Upham. Their children were two sons and two daughters, of whom George, born in Thompson, February 18th, 1794, married Sally, daughter of Rufus Tyler. The children of this marriage were: Lucy, who died in youth; Rufus T., Marcus F., Noadiah W. and Lucy U., wife
Aaron White died at Quinebaug, in the town of Thompson, April 15th, 1886, aged 87 years and six months. He was born in Boylston, Mass., October 8th, 1798, and was the eldest of ten children, seven sons and three daughters, of Aaron and Mary White. His ancestry were of the early puritan settlers of Eastern
The grandfather of the subject of this biography was Ebenezer Bishop, a native of Lisbon, Conn., who removed in later life to North Woodstock, where he engaged in the practice of medicine until his death in October, 1834. He married Sarah Lyon, whose six children were: Amasa, Hezekiah, Elisha, Ebenezer, Tabitha and Delia. Hezekiah, of
Benjamin Child emigrated from Great Britain to America in 1630, and became the head of most of the families of that name. A type of character patriarchal in the best sense, earnest in purpose, and in the promotion of that Puritanic stamp of piety for which the Massachusetts settlers were distinguished, he was one of
Ezra Dean was born in Killingly, Connecticut, on the 31st of August, 1813, and when twelve years of age, on the death of his father, came to Woodstock to reside with an uncle, who was then engaged in the business of a tanner and currier. He attended the nearest school for one or more years
Thomas Green, the progenitor of the Green family in America, came from England in 1635, and settled in Malden, Mass. His son Henry, born in 1638, married in 1671, Esther Hasse. Among their seven children was a son Henry, born in 1672, who married in 1695, Hannah Flagg. Their son Henry, the third of the
The progenitor of the Lyon family in Connecticut was William Lyon, born in 1675, who when fourteen years of age, came with an uncle to Woodstock and settled on the homestead farm now owned by Mrs. William Lyon and Mrs. Emma Lyon Frink. William Lyon, his eldest son, born in 1700, was the father of
General Samuel McClellan, the father of the subject of this biography, was born in the town of Worcester, Massachusetts, January 4th, 1730, his parents having emigrated from Kircudbright, on the Firth of Solway, in Scotland. In the French war he served as an ensign and lieutenant of a company, during which service he was wounded.
Stephen May, the great-grandfather of Charles Harris May, first settled upon the homestead farm in Woodstock, which he bequeathed to his son Ephraim, familiarly known as ” Captain Ephraim,” who married Abigail Chandler. Their children were: Seth. Asa, Mary, Eliza, Julia and Henrietta. Asa May was born on the homestead farm now owned by the
