Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut

Sanford Benedict was born in the town of Richfield, in 1766. He attended the schools of that town and then learned the axe-maker's trade, which occupation he followed until his retire- ment from active business. He married Miss Airity Beers, and their union was blessed with children as follows: Jane is referred to farther on; Amanda married Lorenzo Nichols; Lorinda married Lumas Gould; Harriet married Edward Gould; and Stephen married Eva Jones. Jane Benedict was born June 10, 1834, in the town of Weston, where she was reared and educated. To her marriage with Ammons Hall, a farmer of Bethel, Conn., two children were born, namely: (i) Lucy married Frank Whittaker, a watchman in the works of the Gilbert & Bennett Manufac- turing Company, and had three daughters — An- nie B. (deceased), Mary A. and Ella. (2) Frank was born in the town of Weston, September 23, 1866. He received a common-school education, and has thus far in life given his attention chiefly to agricultural pursuits, in connection with his COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 187 brother, Benjamin B. Banks, although for a pe- riod of four years he was in the employ of B. & B. Show, and later for six months with Fair- child & Shelton, manufacturers of soap at Bridgeport. During this time he traveled quite extensively throughout the country. HON. DANIEL B. MALLORY. Few men in the town of Sherman are able to com- mand a larger share of popular esteem than dues the subject of this biography. He is an agricult- urist of that locality, who has been chosen by his fellow citizens to almost every local office, and has also represented his section in both houses of the State Legislature. Daniel B. Mallory was born May 2, 1838, in the Fifth School District, and during his boy- hood he attended the common schools and the academy at Sherman; also received still further instruction at the Nine Partners Boarding School. He spent a few winters teaching school, but his business has been principally farming — raising some tobacco and general crops. He was one of the first to commence raising tobacco in the town of Sherman. In politics he is a strong Democrat. He has been a member of most of the Democratic State Conventions since 1S60, and from early manhood he has been regarded as one of the leaders of the party in his locality. For over twenty years the Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths is in his handwriting, also for many years he has held the office of first se- lectman, and for two years he was Judge of Pro- bate of his district. In 1876 he was electeii to the lower house of the Legislature, and so well did he fulfill his duties that he was chosen, in 1877, to represent his district in the State Sen- ate. While in the Senate the Humane Society was granted enlarged privileges, and he was re- quested to act as agent in his locality, a position he has ever since held. He is and has been for many years a commissioner of the Superior Court, and has assisted many in their applications for pensions. He is a member of St. Peter's Lodge, No. 21, F. & A. M., New Milford, having joined over thirty years ago. In 1870 Mr. Mallory purchased the Henry Sherwood place at the Center, on which he now resides. In that year he married Miss Ophelia Hungerford, daughter of Thomas and Rachel (Smith) Hungerford. She had long been a mem- ber of the Congregational Church, and organist, but on moving to the Center, and seeing the dilapidated condition of the Union church there, she exerted her energies toward raising a suffi- cient sum to put it in suitable repair', although she still retained her membership with the former Church. She died in 18S4, and on December 16, 1890, Mr. Mallory married Miss Olive Canfield, daughter of David Canfield, of Darien Center, N. Y. Mr. Mallory has two daughters, both by the first marriage: Alice, born June 29, 1872, married Henry B. Stephens, a large farmer of Patterson, N. Y., and they have one son — Dan- iel M. Miss Lillian, born July 8, 1877, is un- married. Accounts of the Hungerford and Can- field families will be given below, and we will now review our subject's ancestry. Northrop Mallory, the father of our subject, was born March 7, 1803, in the town of Fair- field, and received such education as was obtain- able in the common schools of his day. At an early age he went to live with Capt. James Burr, of Fairfield, who owned a merchant vessel ply- ing between Boston, New York and Southern ports. While at Alexandria, Va., he was taken very ill and carried on deck for dead, but the change revived him. During the war of 1812 three British men-of-war vessels came into the harbor, lying three days, with music and dancing, and it being expected that they would attempt a landing and the burning of I'airfield, as they did thirty years before, every available person was brought into service, and he as a mere boy assisted in carrying cannon balls to the beach. When sixteen years of age, and not having a desire for a roving life, he decided to learn a trade, and to carry out that purpose he made his way on foot to Sherman, where an uncle, George Mallory, assisted in apprenticing him to Abraham and Edward Briggs, blacksmiths of the town, until he should reach the age of twenty-one years. After completing his term of service he went to Monroe, in this county, and worked five years for Penfield Brothers, carriage builders, doing iron work necessary in the business. It was at this time that he commenced the sale of wagons for the firm, which he continued many years. Later he returned to Sherman, and for four years conducted the shop in which he learned his trade. In 1834 he purchased the place on which he resided till 1857, and erected a black- smith shop thereon. He also engaged in farm- ing, and enclosing his land with stone walls. In 1857 he purchased the Samuel Northrop farm, moving thereon. In 1834 he married Miss Mary Briggs, daugh- ter of Abraham Briggs, his former employer. His death occurred June 7, 1871, in his sixty- eighth year, and his wife, who was born October 5, 1808, died September i, 1887, aged about seventy-nine. They had three children: (I) Almira, (II) Daniel B. (our subject), and (III) 188 COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. Charles A. (I) Almira was born August 17, 1836, in the town of Sherman, and received a good common-school education, which was sup- plemented with study in the Sherman Academy and the Nine Partners Boarding School, after which she taught school. In i860 she mcirried DeWitt C. Akin, a prominent farmer of near Patterson, N. Y. Three children were born of this union: (i) William D., who married Miss Jennie Wakeman (daughter of Andrew Wake- man, of Fairfield, Conn.), who died in 1889, and for his second wife he wedded Miss May Culver, of Amenia, N. Y. (2) Charles E., who married Miss Nettie Haviland, daughter of Henry T. Haviland. (3) Albert I. has not married. (HI) Charles A. Mallory, the brother of our subject, was born in Sherman March 30, 1846. [A sketch of him is given elsewhere.] On the maternal side our subject is a great- grandson of Edward and Ann Chase Briggs, who came from IDartmouth, Mass., about 1780, to Quaker Hill (then called Oblong), purchasing the farm now owned by his grandson. Homer I^riggs. He had learned the blacksmith's trade, which he followed during the greater portion of his life. Eleven children were born of this union; (i) Elizabeth, who never married; (2) Abraham, our subject's grandfather, mentioned more fully below; (3) Michael, who married (first) Sarah and (second) Cynthia, sisters of Freelove (Os- born) Briggs (by the marriage with Sarah there were two children — George and Maria; George married Emeline Wanzer, and had four children — Adeline, Royal, Frances and M. Jay. Maria became the wife of Seth Pepper, and had four children — Jane, Oscar, Ann Ophelia and Olan- der); (4) Henry, who married Elizabeth Wan- zer, and had three children — Anan (who mar- ried Polly Akin, and had three children), Edward (who did not marry), and Henry, Jr. (who mar- ried Almira Hawes, and had three children); (5) Deborah, who became the wife of Daniel Som- mers, and had several children, among whom were Edward, Elizabeth and Deborah; (6) An- nie, who married Ira Allen, but left no children; (7) Edwin, who married Caroline Gould, and had one son, Edward P., the present town clerk of Sherman; (8) Eunice, who became the wife of Samuel Northrop (her two children died be- fore her); (9) Mary, who married John Sher- man, and had eight children, who are noted in the Dutchess county record; (10) Hannah mar- ried Daniel Wanzer, and her children and grand- children are living in New Milford and Roxbury; (11) Benjamin, who married Phebe Riggs, and had four children — James, Laura, Homer and Benjamin (Laura married Frank Durgy, and left one son, LeRoj', who is married and resides in Danbury; Homer married, and has three chil- dren— Arthur, Benjamin and Annie).