Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut

.1 ■•■(row :.. .■^,. .l-ii;>..( ,„ 222 COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. Deborah (Mrs. Herman Warner), born March 19, 1786, died November 10, 1861; Gould (Mrs. J udson's father); Marilla, born March 11, 1790, died September 23, 1864; John, born March 3, 1792, who married Lucy Blackman, and died August 13, 1845; Phcebe, born October 25, 1793, died July iS, 1810; Hezekiah, born March 25, 1796, who married Marcia Glover; David, born July 28, 1798, who married Jeannette Shelton, •of Monroe, this county; and Daniel, born Janu- ary 26, 1 801. Gould Curtis, Jr., the father of Mrs. Judson, born December 27, 1787, married Miss Joanna Peck, by whom he had five children, Mrs. Judson being the youngest. Of the others — Mary mar- ried Cyrenius Beers; Samuel married (first) Mary Nichols, and (second) Betsey Curtis; Elizabeth married (first) Robert Peck (had by him one daughter, Charlotte, married to Eli Barnuni), and (second) wedded Simeon Peck (had by him one son, Charles); the fourth child died in in- ifancy, unnamed. MON. CHARLES W. LOUNSBURY, of Darien, is one of the wide-awake, pro- gressive citizens of Fairfield county, and holds in a marked degree the esteem and confidence of all classes of people. He bears an honorable record as a soldier, while in various responsible official positions he has displayed a devotion to •duty which has, unhappily, been none too com- jmon among public men. His family is noted for patriotism, his father and his two brothers, as well as himself, having served with gallantry during the Civil war, and one of his brothers, Joshua, met his death amid the horrors of Andersonville prison. Mr. Louns- bury's paternal ancestors were French Hugue- nots who came to this country and located in one of the Carolinas in the si.xteenth century in •consequence of the St. Bartholomew massacre, later migrating to the State of New York. His great-grandfather and grandfather were both named Joshua, The former, who was a farmer by occupation, had five sons, one of whom, Al- exander (after whom Mr. Lounsbury's father was named), was in the shoe business at North Cas- tle, Westchester Co., New York. Alexander Lounsbury, our subject's father, was a native of New York State, born in Free- hold, Greene county, and for a number of years was engaged in the shoe business at Fishkill. Between 1840 and 1850 he removed to the town of Norwalk, this county, for the benefit of his health, spending some time in agricultural pur- suits, but later he returned to New York State, where his death occurred in 1881. He was a man of much intelligence and force of charac- ter, and took a prominent part in local affairs wherever he resided. His estimable wife, Mary (Lockwood), survived about him ten years. She was also a native of the Empire State, and her par- ents and ancestry were English. Of their three sons, our subject and his brother, James H., a resident of Stamford, survive them, and three daughters are living, viz. : Susan, wife of Will- iam Mather; Cornelia, wife of Henry Green, and Josephine, wife of Horace Saunders. Charles W. Lounsbury was born March 22, 1842, in Eddyville, Ulster Co., N. Y. , and dur- ing his youth he received a common-school edu- cation. He spent several years of his boyhood upon a farm, but at an early age began to learn the tinner's trade, which he followed for a time. When the war broke out he enlisted in Company A, 17th Conn. V. L, and he remained in the service three years and two months. Fortu- nately he was neither captured nor wounded, but he did not escape severe suffering, the exposures and hardships of army life bringing on several serious attacks of illness. On his return from the army he located in Darien and established a tin shop and hardware store, which he has ever since conducted successfully, being to-day re- garded as one of the substantial business men of the place. At the same time he has found op- portunities for effective work in political lines, and has gained an influential standing among the Republicans of the State. In 1864 he attended the National Convention that nominated Lincoln and Johnson, and in 1893 and 1895 he was elected as a representative of his town to the State Leg- islature, serving two terms with distinction on the Humane committee. In the contest for sen- ator in the fall of 1898 Mr. Lounsbury defeated . George Gregory in the Twelfth District by a ma- jority greater than that given any other candidate in the State except in the Hartford District (aiid that District has more than two thousand votes to draw from), his majority exceeding thirteen hundred. He is now serving on the Woman's Suffrage committee. Possessing strong convic- tions, he never falters in his devotion to his party, and he is active in local affairs, having served as a member of the Board of School Vis- itors and District committee, and on the Supe- rior Court committee on the Oyster Grounds. For twenty years he was a trial justice in his town, and at present he is a notary public. In January, 1868, Mr. Lounsbury married Miss Jane L. Torrington, daughter of John and Elizabeth Torrington, of Baltimore, Md. ; on the maternal side Mrs. Lounsbury is lineally COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 223 descended from the Balls of Virginia. Three children have blessed this union: Charles Ernest, Ada May and Earle M. Mr. Lounsbury and his wife are members of the Baptist Church at South Norwalk, with which he united before the war. He is a member of Hobby Post No. 23, G, A. R. , and Rippowam Lodge No. 24, I. O. O. F., at Stamford, while for ten years he was an active worker of Ivanhoe Lodge, No. 107, F. & A. M., in which he has held office as warden and treas- urer. WILLIAM TALBOT (deceased) was for many years one of the leading business men of Greenwich, as well as one of its most highly respected and honored citizens. He was born in Hampshire, England, February 9, 1825, a son of William and Sarah Privet Talbot. The father, who was a shoemaker by trade, was born in 1801 and died in 1833, leaving a family of five children, our subject being the eldest; Caroline married John Locke after coming to the United States, and died in Albany, N. Y. ; Jane mar- ried William Whitty, and lives in Orange, N. J.; Robert, a partner of our subject in business at Greenwich, was killed on the railroad at that place; and Elizabeth married Henry Schenck, and died at Newark, N. J. After the death of the father, Mrs. Talbot married William Miles, a plumber, with whom pur subject learned his trade, serving a seven-years' apprenticeship. Mr. Miles left England in the early '40s and came to the New World, locating in Brooklyn, where he worked at his trade. There were three children born of the second union: Ann, who married Job DeCamp, and died in Newark, N. J.; Mary A., who wedded Dennis Ryan, and died in New Jer- sey; and John, a retired machinist, now living at Sailors Snug Harbor, Staten Island. In 1845 William Talbot left his old home in England, and after a three-weeks' voyage landed in New York. For some years he was employed by a Mr. Watkins on Catherine street, and during this time was married, May I2, 185 i, in that city, to Miss Laura Sawyer, who was born in Kingston, N. Y., July II, 1829, a daughter of Benjamin and Cornelia (Hermance) Sawyer. Her father was a native of Ulster county, N. Y. , and was the son of a farmer, who had died when Benjamin was quite small, leaving three children — Jamts, Benjamin and Kate. As a tanner and currier, he followed his trade in Van Buren's tannery at Kingston. Both he and his wife died of cholera, at Marbletown, N. Y., at the age of si.\ty-live years, and were buried in Stone Ridge, Ulster county. She was a descendant of Walter \'.in Twiller, one of the first five Colonial goveriKns of New York. In the family of Mr. and Mrs. Sawyer were ten children, namely : John, a farmer, who died in Ivingston; Harriett, who mar- ried Cornelius Brush, and died in Ulster county ; Blandina, who married Lewis Le Bars, and lives in New Haven, Conn. ; Abraham, a farmer, who died in Ulster county, N. Y. ; Catharine, who married Jacob Bunton, and died in Indiana ; Maria, wife of Andrew Schonmaker, of Mt. Ver- non ; Laura, widow of our subject; Alexander, who died in Wassing, Ulster county; Jane, wife of Jacob Bunton, of Indiana; and Ann E. , now Mrs. Peter Ruger, of Ellenville, N. Y. Mrs. Talbot was reared in Kingston, N. Y., until four- teen years of age, and obtained her education in the common schools there. Her home was then in New York City until her marriage and for a year and a half later. Mr. Talbot then removed to Stamford, Conn., where he worked at the plumber's trade for Lock- wood & Capron until 1859, when he embarked in business on his own account. During the en- tire time he worked for others, he was in the employ of only two firms, as he was always a steady and good mechanic. In connection with his brother .Robert, under the firm name of Tal- bot Bros., he established a tin and stove store in Greenwich, and also engaged in roofing and plumbing. The brother retired in 1868, and two years later George H. Mills became a mem- ber of the firm, which assumed the style of Tal- bot & Mills. After Mr. Mills withdrew, Mr. Talbot was alone in business until his death, which occurred January 20, 1884, after a linger- ing illness. His remains were interred in Union cemetery. He erected his store building in i860, but it was afterward enlarged, and with his own business he occupied the entire three-story struct- ure. In all things he was upright and thoroughly reliable, and easily won and retained the confi- dence of all with whom he came in contact in either social or business life. After his death the business was discontinued.