ANSEL CLARK ERNEST STIMSON – The Stimson family were settlers in the State of Vermont for generations before one of their members came to Massachusetts and founded a large family.
(I) Charles Stimson came from Dunnerstown, Vermont, to Northfield, Massachusetts. He was a cooper by trade and died in Northfield. He married Anna Robbins, and their children were: 1. Lucy. 2. Lydia. 3. William 4. Polly. 5. Charles Ezra. 6. Jonathan. 7. Royal E. 8. Sarah. 9. Lucius, of further mention.
(II) Lucius Stimson was a native of Northfield, where he was born in 1825, and died at Erving, in 1909. He enlisted in the Civil War in Company “F,” 52d Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteers, and was nine months in the war, being present at the siege of Port Hudson. He was both practical and versatile, being at the same time a farmer, a stone mason and a carpenter. Most of his life was spent in’ Northfield, but later, when he retired he settled in Erving, Massachusetts. He took an active part in the civic affairs of the community, serving on the school committee and being a surveyor of highways. He was the husband of Lucia Ann Clark, of New Salem, Massachusetts, born in 1822, and died in 1955. They were the parents of ten children, of whom six died young, and the following survived to maturity 1. Baxter S. 2. Lucia. 3. Lucien (twins). 4. Ansel Clark Ernest, of whom further.
(III) Ansel Clark Ernest Stimson was a native of Northfield, where he was born September 2, 1858, a son of Lucius and Lucia Ann (Clark) Stimson. He received his education in the public schools of Northfield, and after completing his studies, devoted himself to farming, lumbering and shoemaking. Until his twenty-eighth year he lived in Northfield He then went to Orange, Massachusetts, where he became foreman in the stitching room in a shoe factory. While staying at Orange he also interested himself in the insurance business, and in 1898 came to Greenfield, where he bought out an insurance agency and under the name of A, C. S. Stimson & Company, continued for a long time to be a successful business man of Greenfield and Franklin County.
On January 1, 1924, the business was incorporated under the name of A. C. S. Stimson & Son, Incorporated, of which Mr. A. C. S. Stimson is president, and his son, Myron C. Stimson is vice-president and secretary. They handle all kinds of insurance, life, fire, liability, etc., and cover any possible risks that can be made the subject of the insurance business. Mr. Stimson is an experienced man in that line of business, having been established thirty years. He occupies the position of director in the Cooperative Bank, the Homes Corporation, and is a member of the School Board. In politics he is a member of the Republican party and for many years has been secretary of the Republican Town Committee. In religion he is a member of the Unitarian Church. His fraternal and other associations include: The Republican Lodge, of the Free and Accepted Masons, of Greenfield; a thirty-second degree Masons of the Scottish Rite; a Past Grand of the Social Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Orange, Massachusetts; a member of the Greenfield Club, and treasurer of the Kiwanis Club; and for fifteen years has been treasurer of the Unitarian Church.
Ansel C. E. Stimson married, April 4, 1885, Julia Marie Chapin, of Northfield, a daughter of Myron Chapin, born at Belchertown, February 25, 1825, and died February 21, 1888, and Tamar (Wakefield), Chapin; and granddaughter of Daniel and Susannah (Keith) Chapin, who is a descendant of Deacon Samuel Chapin, of Springfield. Mrs. Stimson is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Mr. and Mrs. A. C. E. Stimson are the parents of one son, Myron Chapin Stimson, born in Orange, August 16, 1891, and educated in the public schools of Greenfield. Though he first took up electrical engineering Mr. Stimson has for several years been connected with his father in the insurance business. He is a member of the Pocomtuck Lodge, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Greenfield, and attends the North Parish First Congregational Church. Myron Chapin Stimson married Edith Olive Royle, of Easthampton.
The Chapins are an old Massachusetts family whose ancestor, Deacon Samuel Chapin, had a son, Henry Chapin, born December 5, 1664, died 1718, married Bethia Cooley, who died in 1711. Their son, Benjamin Chapin, born February 2, 1682, died March 22, 1765, married (first) Hannah Colton; (second) Johanna Warriner. Their son, George Chapin, born December 13, 1722, died December 10, 1782; married, May 26, 1743, Thankful Slices. She died March 6, 1797, leaving eleven children, the youngest of them Daniel Daniel Chapin was born August 1, 1767, and married, February 4, 1793, Mary Perry, with whom he had six children: Daniel, Jr., Clements, Birch, Thankful, Hannah, a child who died in infancy. Daniel Chapin, Jr., born January 18, 1794, married, February 19, 1823, Susannah Keith, born April 3, 1800. They had five children: Myron, Emerancy, Earl, George, Zadock. Myron Chapin, born February 25, 1825, died February 21, 1888. He married Tamar Wakefield, and they had a daughter, Julia Marie Chapin, who married Ansel Clark Ernest Stimson.