Biography of Henry N. Clemons

Henry N. Clemons, cashier of the First National Bank of Killingly, was born in Granby, Conn., son of Allen and Catharine Clemons. He was educated in the district school, the Granby Academy, the Suffield Literary Institution and the Williston Seminary, East Hampton, Mass. He began teaching at sixteen years of age, and taught in Hartland, Granby and Hartford. Conn., and Woonsocket and Central Falls, R. I. He was for a while in the office of the commissioner of the school fund in Hartford, Conn. In 1844 he commenced railroading on the New Haven & Northampton road, with the engineer corps. … Read more

Biography of William J. Combs

William J. Combs. Among the families which have been known in business circles of Leavenworth for more than half a century, one which had always borne an honorable reputation and a name for absolute integrity combined with notable achievements is that of Combs, as represented here by the late William J. Combs, who was connected with a number of business enterprises dating from the year 1858 until his death, and his son, George W. Combs, general superintendent of the Great Western Manufacturing Company, and the inventor of several appliances which have made his name widely known. William J. Combs, with … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Samuel D. Cowles

COWLES & MCDANIEL. – Samuel D. Cowles, senior member of the firm above-mentioned, was born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1829, his father being a wealthy broker. He received a ten years’ naval training and finished his education in New York City, where in after years he was in business for himself. In 1849 he crossed the plains to California. In 1862 we find him crossing the plains once more, coming from Missouri in company with a nephew and niece. At Soda Springs a band of Indians, under the leadership of one of his own employe’s, attacked is party and after … Read more

Ancestors of John Richardson Bronson of Attleboro, MA

J. R. Bronson

JOHN RICHARDSON BRONSON, M. D., who for over half a century was one of the best known practitioners of medicine in southern Massachusetts and part of Rhode Island, and who for upward of fifty years was a resident of Attleboro, was a native of Connecticut, born in the town of Middlebury, New Haven county, June 5, 1829, son of Garry and Maria (Richardson) Bronson.

The Bronson family was early planted in the New World. John Bronson (early of record as Brownson and Brunson) was early at Hartford. He is believed, though not certainly known, to have been one of the company who came in 1636 with Mr. Hooker, of whose church he was a member. He was a soldier in the Pequot battle of 1637. He is not named among the proprietors of Hartford in the land division of 1639; but is mentioned in the same year in the list of settlers, who by the “towne’s courtesie” had liberty “to fetch woods and keepe swine or cowes on the common.” His house lot was in the “soldiers’ field,” so called, in the north part of the old village of Hartford, on the “Neck Road” (supposed to have been given for service in the Pequot war), where he lived in 1640. He moved, about 1641 to Tunxis (Farmington) He was deputy from Farmington in May, 1651, and at several subsequent sessions, and the “constable of Farmington” in 1652. He was one of the seven pillars at the organization of the Farmington Church in 1652. His name is on the list of freemen of Farmington in 1669. He died Nov. 28, 1680.

Walter Street Todd of Lawley FL

Walter Street Todd8, (Ira7, Jehiel6, Stephen5, Stephen4, Samuel3, Samuel2, Christopher1) born Jan. 31, 1821, in Hartford, Conn., died June 22, 1891, in Lawley, Fla., married July 9, 1843, Emily Magee, who was born Sept. 6, 1820, in Decatur, N. Y., died June 22, 1899, in Lawley, Fla. Walter S. Todd went into partnership with three of his brothers, Horatio N., Andrew and Ira, and together operated a general store in Wenona, Ill. Also, he and his brother Ira owned and managed a wholesale grocery store in Lasalle, Ill., also a flouring mill. This latter business seems to have greatly interested … Read more

Biography of Sheldon Griswold Catlin

Sheldon Griswold Catlin. A notable figure in the commercial life of the City of Leavenworth was the late Sheldon Griswold Catlin. He was a Yankee, of Connecticut birth and ancestry, and possessed the genius of a typical New Englander for trade. Bulwarking his genius in this direction was a remarkable integrity of character and a wholesomeness and breadth of mind which made his presence in any community a source of strength and uplift. It was in 1863 that he came to Leavenworth and became a member of the old wholesale shoe firm of George O. Catlin & Company, a business … Read more

Biography of Louis H. Chapman

Louis H. Chapman, commissioner of water and light of Kansas City, Kansas, is the man chiefly responsible for bringing these municipally owned plants to a perfection of service where they completely justify the management and control by the city. Mr. Chapman is an expert electrician and general engineer, and has achieved a significant success through his own energies and ambitions. He has been a resident of Kansas the greater part of the time since 1886. He was born at Hartford, Connecticut, June 17, 1873, the youngest of the nine children of John Oliver and Louisa E. (Smart) Chapman. His parents … Read more

Charles Jarvis Todd of New Haven CT

Charles Jarvis Todd8, (Ambrose S.7, Ambrose6, Jonah5, Stephen4, Samuel3, Samuel2, Christopher1) born Nov. 24, 1833, married Emily M., daughter of William Lorenzo and Anna Maria (Scofield) Holly, who was born in Stamford, Conn., Dec. 15, 1829, died in New Haven, Conn., Sept. 9, 1894. Mr. Todd served through the civil war as Paymaster in the Navy, on U. S. S. Shockokow, North Atlantic Squadron, William B. Cushing of the ram Albermarle fame was Captain. At one time, Mr. Todd was engaged in the dry goods business in Stamford, Conn. Moved to New Haven, Conn., in 1884. Later he was in … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Luke Guyer

Luke Guyer, one of the three original settlers, came to Wolcott about 1790, from Hartford, Conn., and located on what is now known as the Guyer farm. He was a blacksmith by trade, and built the first blacksmith shop in the town. John, son of Luke, came here with his father, and was a resident of the town until his death. John reared a family of four children, none of whom are now living. Hezekiah, son of John, died on the old homestead, in 1895, aged eighty-one years. His widow still survives him, age seventy-nine years. Earl Guyer, son of … Read more

Biographical Sketch of William Smith

William Smith, a native of Hartford, Conn., immigrated to Williston, Vt., at an early date, where he married Anna Blanchard, and a few years later, about ,806, came to this town and located upon the farm now occupied by his grandsons, where he resided until his death, at the age of fifty-nine years. He had a family of six children, three of whom, Charity, widow of Roswell Town, Lemuel B., and Abel P., now reside here.

Biographical Sketch of John Sheldon

John, son of Isaac (2) Sheldon, was born December 5. 1658. He settled in Northampton, Massachusetts. He removed to Deerfield and conducted a public house. He was one of the first board of selectmen, ensign of the first military company and captain in 1707. and deacon of the church. He built the old Hoyt house, the door of which, cut by tomahawks and bullets, is preserved in Memorial Hall. In the winter of 1705 he was sent by Governor Dudley on a difficult and dangerous mission to Canada to redeem the captives and returned the following spring with five, two … Read more

Michael Todd of Hartford County CT

Michael Todd4, (Michael3, Michael2, Christopher1) born Aug. 10, 1729, died May 6, 1776, married first Aug. 10, 1749, Eunice, eldest daughter of Capt. James and Mary (Hitchcock) Peck, of New Haven, Ct., who was born Feb. 14, 1731-32, died Nov. 1765; second Sept. 15, 1766, Mary, eldest daughter of John and Hannah (Smith) Rowe, of East Haven, Conn., who was born March 22, 1744, died about 1789. She married second(???)Holt. Mr. Todd fulfilled his fathers desires as expressed in his will and testament and graduated from Yale college in 1748. He afterward became an extensive merchant in New Haven, Conn. … Read more

Biography of Harmon Pumpelly Read

HARMON PUMPELLY READ AMONG the young men of note in our city whose ancestry has filled an honorable place in American history, and who by his interest in the prosperity of his native town and his extensive knowledge of men and things in other lands, is the genial and accomplished Major H. P. Read. Born in the city of Albany on the 13th of July, 1860, when the storm of civil war was fast gathering to burst over the country, he descended from a long line of illustrious ancestors. His father, General John Meredith Read, was born in Philadelphia on … Read more

Biographical Sketch of James Albion Perkins

Treasurer of the Perkins Appliance Company, Inc., of Springfield, Massachusetts, and one of Springfield’s representative business men, he is a brother of Julian L. Perkins. James Albion Perkins engaged in the lumbering business when his school days were over, and operated sawmills in Blanford, Williamsburg, and Goshen, Massachusetts. When he attained his majority, however, James Albion decided to make a change and went to Hartford, Connecticut, where for a time he was engaged in photo-engraving. He came to Springfield and entered the employ of the Springfield Photo-Engraving Company; but after a time he transferred his association to the Phelps Publishing … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Lewis Hall

Hall, Lewis; life insurance; born, Ox Bow, N. Y., Nov. 19, 1S57; son of Caleb G. and Catherine J. Lewis Hall; educated, Cazenovia, N. Y., Evanston, Ill.; married, Theresa, N. Y., March 31, 1896, Henrietta C. Simonds; twenty years representative The Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Co., Newark, N. J., at present with The Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Co., Hartford Conn.; director T. H. Geer & Co.; member of Wade Park Lodge, No. 800, I. O. O. F.

William Lewis Genealogy

Lewis Family Genealogy

Professor K. O. Thompson, author of the Lewis Family Genealogy descended the family tree through the line of Nathaniel Lewis, son of William Lewis and Mary Cheevers, for nine total generations in this free manuscript. If you descend from Nathaniel Lewis or William Lewis then this rare manuscript could be quite valuable to you.

Early Indian Wars in New England

Early New England Tribes Map

The history of the settlers of New England is fraught with the troubles of Indian hostilities. This is a history of the early Indian wars in New England. In 1620, a company belonging to Mr. Robinson’s church, at Leyden, in Holland, foreseeing many inconveniences likely to increase, from the residence of English dissenters under a foreign government, and hoping to find an asylum, and a refuge from persecution in the New World, applied to King James for liberty to place themselves in some part of New England; and obtained a grant of some place about Hudson river. They set sail … Read more

Hardships of the Early Natchez Emigrants

History of Alabama and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period

Taking the reader with us, to the settlements of the distant Natchez region, he will find that emigrants continued to pour in, upon those fertile hills and alluvial bottoms, from all parts of “his majesty’s Atlantic plantations.” Many were the hardships and perils they encountered, in reaching this remote and comparatively uninhabited region. It is believed that the history of one party of these emigrants will enable the reader to understand what kind of hardships and deprivations all the others were forced to undergo. Major General Phineas Lyman, a native of Durham, a graduate of Yale, a distinguished lawyer, and … Read more

Sarah Ann Todd Debaum of St. Louis MO

DEBAUM, Sarah Ann Todd8, (Ira7, Jehiel6, Stephen5, Stephen4, Samuel3, Samuel2, Christopher1) born Feb. 17, 1819, in Hartford, Conn., died April, 1849, in St. Louis, Mo., married Nov. 9, 1845, George DeBaum. Child: I. Albert, b. 1847.

Some Descendants of Thomas Rowley of Windsor, Connecticut

Some descendants of Thomas Rowley of Windsor Connecticut

Some descendants of Thomas Rowley of Windsor. Thomas Rowley. Thomas Rowley (Rowell) a cordwainer, was in Windsor Connecticut as early as 1662, and Simsbury Connecticut by 1670. He died 1 May, 1705/8, estate inventory dated 1 May 1708. Married at Windsor, 5 May, 1669 by Rev. Wolcott, Mary Denslow, daughter of Henry, Windsor, born 10 Aug. 1651, died at Windsor 14 June, 1739, ae 91. Mary was admitted to Windsor Church in 1686. Thomas served in the Colonial Wars. On the list of those who gave to the poor. Contents: Book Notes: