Hartford County CT

Hartford County CT is bounded North by Hampden county, Mass., East by Tolland county, South by the counties of Middlesex and New Haven, and West by the county of Litchfield. This is considered the most important and valuable county in the state, in regard to the variety and richness of its soil, and the high state of culture it has attained. It was constituted in 1666, since which, Tolland county and parts of Middlesex, Windham, Litchfield, and New London have been detached. Its present limits comprise an area of about 727 square miles. Besides the Connecticut, which traverses its whole length, the Farmington, Hackanum, Podunk, Scantic, and other streams, water the county in almost every direction. On these streams important manufacturing establishments have sprung up, and unite with the agricultural interest and river trade in rendering this county the center of a large and flourishing business. Hartford is the capital.

Lewis Family of Norwich Vermont

William Lewis and family, consisting of his wife, Naomi, five sons and three daughters, (Joseph, his eldest son, having been a citizen of the town for some years) came to Norwich in 1781 or 1782 from Windsor, Hartford county, Connecticut, and settled on a farm now owned by Benjamin Clifford, where he resided for a number of years. In 1787 he purchased the farm now occupied by John W. Hutchinson. From time to time he added to it by purchase until at his death it contained 250 acres of good land, mostly covered with a large growth of timber. This … Read more

Hubbard Genealogy

George Hubbard George1 Hubbard was first in Watertown, Mass., about 1633; m. Mary Bishop, who d. at Guilford, Conn., Sept. 14, 1675. She was dau. of John and Ann Bishop, who moved to Guilford in 1639, where he, Bishop, was one of the seven prop. of the town, and d. there, February, 1661. On May 6, 1635, permission from the General Court of Massachusetts was granted to the inhabitants of Watertown “to remove themselves to any place they shall think meet to make choice of, provided they still continue under the government.” Among these immigrators was George Hubbard and family … Read more

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 Charles S. Browning

CHARLES S. BROWNING-A successful druggist of Ludlow for nearly a half century, Charles S. Browning is also treasurer of that town and one of its prominent citizens. He is a banker, and active in all important public affairs. Charles S. Browning was born in Chicopee, July 7, 1854 the son of John C. and Joanna (Peck) Browning, both natives of Colerain, Franklin County, Massachusetts. Charles S. Browning was educated in the public schools of Chicopee. When he was sixteen years old he entered the employ of his brothers, A. W. and L. C. Browning, druggists, at Windsor Locks, Hartford County, … Read more

Biography of Thomas F. Lawrence

One of the splendidly organized and carefully directed organizations that has been built up in St. Louis is the Missouri State Life Insurance Company, of which Thomas F. Lawrence is the vice president. He might be termed a man of singleness of purpose, so closely has he applied himself to the interests of his business, so carefully organized the work in its different departments and so thoroughly studied every phase of the business to a point when he can speak authoritatively and instructively to any who seek advice or information. An eminent statesman has said that when eastern training and … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Eugene F. Ware

Eugene F. Ware, a soldier of Iowa, a lawyer and public man of Kansas, and an author both of that state and Missouri, was born at Hartford, Connecticut, May 29, 1841. His parents moved to Burlington, Iowa, in his childhood and he was educated in the public schools of that place. During the Civil war he reached the rank of captain in the Fourth Iowa Cavalry. He took a section of land in Cherokee County, Kansas, in 1867, studied law and was admitted to the bar at Fort Scott and to the United States Supreme Court; entered the law firm … Read more

Biography of Hon. John S. Phelps

The prominence, both State and national, of this most distinguished citizen of Greene county, may well serve as a reason why this sketch is given at greater length than that of other citizens mentioned; however, even this is but the merest outline of a life whose long public service makes up a history which would require a volume in itself, if given in a matter anything like that merited by the distinguished subject. John S. Phelps is the son of Elisha Phelps, and was born in Simsbury, Hartford county, Connecticut, December 22, 1814. The father, Elisha, was a lawyer of … 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

Slave Narrative of Mom Jessie Sparrow

Interviewer: Annie Ruth Davis Person Interviewed: Jessie Sparrow Date of Interview: December 1937 Location: Marion, South Carolina Age: 83 “No, I ain’ cold. I settin in de sun. Miss Ida, she went by here just now en call at me bout de door been open en lettin dat cold wind blow in on my back wid all de fire gone out. I tell her, it ain’ botherin me none, I been settin out in de sun. Well, I don’ feel much to speak bout, child, but I knockin round somehow. Miss Ida, she bring me dis paper to study on. … Read more

Washington Irving at Fort Gibson, 1832

The McIntosh Creeks had been located along Arkansas River near the Verdigris on fertile timbered land which they began at once to clear, cultivate, and transform into productive farms. The treaty of 1828 with the Cherokee gave the latter a great tract of land on both sides of Arkansas River embracing that on which the Creeks were located. This was accomplished by a blunder of the Government officials, in the language of the Secretary of War, “when we had not a correct knowledge of the location of the Creek Indians nor of the features of the country.” This situation produced … Read more

Early Indian Wars in New England

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

Biographical Sketch of Erastus H. Crosby

The Crosby Brothers Co. store of Topeka is not only an institution of that city but of the state at large. It is one of the metropolitan department stores of the Middle West. For thirty-six years or more the firm had been in existence at Topeka, and in that time, more than a generation, the reputation of the firm had become extended, as a result of honorable merchandising, to practically every county of the Sunflower commonwealth. It was in 1880 that Erastus H. Crosby and his brother William T. Crosby, comprising the firm of Crosby Brothers, located in Topeka and … Read more

Biographical Sketch of John Andrus

(I) John Andrus, immigrant ancestor, came from Essex county, England, and settled at Tunxis, later named Farmington, Connecticut, in 1640. A complete history of the family will be found in “Andrews Memorial,” compiled by Alfred Andrews, of New Britain, Connecticut, and published by A. H. Andrews & Company, of Chicago, Illinois, in 1872. John Andrus married Mary.

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.

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 1806, 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.

Biography of Harry Joseph Jeffway

Few men engaged in the electrical construction and contracting business in this part of the State have been trained in so practical and, indeed, in so high grade a school of experience in electrical work as Harry Joseph Jeffway, who not only has an established repute for unrivalled excellence in his Easthampton business, but who throughout the World War was on duty at submarine bases of the greatest responsibility as an electrician, afterwards also continuing in related lines for the United States Government in the shipyards. Mr. Jeffway is an expert in all matters electrical; he has built up an … Read more

Volkert, William – Obituary

Enterprise, Wallowa County, Oregon Enterprise Resident, William Volkert, died Sept. 6, 1992, at his home. He was born Nov. 19, 1934 at Manchester, Conn. On Oct. 2, 1965, he married his wife, Karen, at Canoga Park, Calif. At his request no service will be held and he was cremated. Memorials in his memory may be made to the charity of choice in his care of Bollman Funeral Home, Main at W. 3rd in Enterprise. Wallowa County Chieftain-Thursday, September 10, 1992, Page 2 Contributed by Sue Wells Transcribed by Dixie Ricker

Biographical Sketch of Samuel Ball Platner

Platner, Samuel Ball; university prof.; born, Unionville, Conn., Dec. 4, 1863; son of William and Emily Childs (Ball) Platner; brother of John Winthrop Platner (q. v.); A. B., Yale, 1883, Ph. D., 1885; married Leonora Sayre, of Utica, N. Y., June 29, 1892; instructor Latin and French, 1885-1890; asst. prof. Latin, 1890-1892; prof. since 1892; Western Reserve University, sec’y mngr. cont. 1897-1911; professor, 1899-1900; American School Classical Studies in Rome; pres. American Philological Assn, 1900-1901. Editor: Greek and Roman Versification (from German of Lucian Muller), 1892; Selected Letters of the Younger Pliny, 1894. Author: Topography and Monuments of Ancient Rome, … Read more

Genealogy of Matthew Woodruff of Farmington Connecticut

NOTE-Regarding Woodruff’s of Wooley, England. Regarding the genealogy of the Woodruff Family, published in Volume III of the Colonial Families of the United States, will say that the circumstances surrounding the record of Matthew Woodruff in said book are as follows: Sometime in 1910 a party called on me stating that his name was Norris Woodruff. that he was from England and naturally well acquainted with the Woodruff Families there, that he was a descendant of the Woodruffs of Wooley, England, and for a consideration would give out details that would establish a direct connection between the Woodruffs of England … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Aldrich, Samuel Nelson

Aldrich, Samuel Nelson, son of Sylvanus Bucklin and Lucy Jane (Stoddard) Aldrich, was born in Upton, Worcester County, February 3, 1838. His education was conducted at the Worcester and Southington, Conn., academies, and at Brown University, Providence, R. I. Subsequently he taught schools at Upton, Holliston and Worcester, Mass. He entered upon the study of law with Hon. Isaac Davis and E. B. Stoddard, at Worcester, and completed the same at the Harvard law school. In 1863 Mr. Aldrich was admitted to the bar, and then commenced practice at Marlborough. Since 1874 he has kept an office in Boston, though … Read more