Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut

Donald, traces her family through the " Mac- Eachern " family of MacDonalds back to the third Clan Ronald. This Marjorie MacDoiiald was a cousin of Marshal MacDonald, one of Na- poleon's celebrated generals. Neil MacDonald, the Marshal's father, assisted the heroine Flora MacDonald during that memorable night in which they aided Prince Charles, the Pretender, to es- cape from the Island of South Uist to Skye, after the defeat of the Highland army at Cuiloden in I 746. After suffering a short period of imprison- ment for this act, he went to France and served as colonel in a Scotch regiment in the French service. The Doctor's mother is still living, and of her ten children all but two survive, (i) Ann married John Boyd; she died at Halifax, N. S., June 4, 1872. (2) John, a resident of Chi- cago since 1865, served in the Union army dur- ing the Civil war, and was severely wounded in the chest during the battle of the Wilderness. (3) Allan P. is mentioned more fully below. (4) IVIarjorie married Neil Maclnnis, of Tower, Wis. (5) Daniel resides at Antigonish, N. S.; he is a pensioner of the United States Government, hav- ing lost his left hand during the charge of Han- cock's corps in the gray dawn at Cold Harbor. (6) Mary E. married James Shaw, of Chicago. (7) William F. resides in Colorado. (8) Ellen G. married Alexander D. Chisholm, of Anti- gonish, N. S. (9) Margaret A. died in infancy in 1857. (10) Elizabeth married John J. Mac- Pherson, of Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Doctor MacDonald was born at Antigonish, N. S., May 30, 1841. His first name, Allan, is a family name, appearing seven times in his genealogy from the time of Allan MacDonald, the progenitor of the Knoydart family of MacDon- alds, to the present time. In 1856, after receiv- ing an elementary education in the public schools, he entered St. Francis Xavier College, in the same town, and took a complete course, gradu- ating in 1 86 1. He began his professional studies in Hahnemann Medical College, at Chicago, 111., and in 1874 received the degree M. D. from that noted homeopathic institution. A few months were spent in prospecting for a suitable location, and after short periods of residence at Martins- burg, W. Va., and Patterson, Putnam Co., N.Y., he settled in Port Jervis, N. Y. , where he estab- lished a fine practice and remained thirteen years. In 1887 he came to Danbury, and received an introduction to the practice of Dr. S. M. Griffin when that physician retired from active practice in October, 1887. Immediately he took a promi- nent place among the leading physicians of Dan- bury, and he enjoys a large and lucrative practice among the wealthiest and most intelligent fami- lies of that place. The Doctor is not married. Although his professional duties occupy a large part of his time, he finds leisure to keep abreast of his profession by systematic reading and study. T^HEODORE EDWARD SMITH (deceased) was one of Norwalk's leading citizens, and although his business interests required his resi- dence in New York City for many years he never lost his affection for his native place, to which he gladly refurned. As a conservative and suc- cessful business man he was held in high regard among financiers, but the qualities of character which win general esteem were also strongly marked in his nature. Mr. Smith was born June 18, 1827, at Nor- walk, where his family, which is of English origin, had resided since 1690. The first of the family (in America) was Lieut. Samuel Smith, who came on the ship "Elizabeth" from Ipswich, Eng- land, April 30, 1634, and settled in Wethersfield, September 3, 1634. He was representative from Wethersfield and Hadley for twenty-seven years, and died in December. 1680. Chiliab Smith, his son, born at Wethersfield in 1636, married Hannah Hitchcock October 2, 1661, and died March 7, 1731. Ebenezer Smith, born July 11, 1668, at Wethersfield, married Abigail Bouton, daughter of John Bouton, a Huguenot, in October, 1691. Eliakim Smith, born January 13, 1704, married in 1727 Abigail Hoyt, and died February 11, 1777. Noah Smith, born May 7, 1739, died June 5, 1794. Asa Smith, mar- ried, January 16, 1792, Jeruse Knapp. Asa Ed- ward Smith, born October i, 1798, married Sep- tember II, 1823, Ann Maria Brown, and died January 3, 1880; he was the father of Theodore Edward Smith. He (Asa E. Smith), was a native of the town, and became connected with a large pottery business there. After receiving an education in the schools of Norwalk our subject went, at the age of seven- teen, to New York City, and took charge of the salesrooms which had been established some time before by his father for the disposal of the prod- uct of the Norwalk factory, and he continued in charge of this until his death. He showed un- usual ability from the first, and throughout his life was devoted to business interests, never tak- ing any active part in public affairs, although he was a firm believer in the principles and policy of the Democratic party. Religious work claimed his active sympathy and support, and for years he was a vestryman in St. Paul's Episcopal Church at Norwalk. At his death, which occurred April 3, 1879, he was deeply mourned by a large circle 242 COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. of friends. On November lo, 1853, he married Miss Hannah Louise Camp, who survives him, and now occupies the handsome family residence at No. 33 France street, Norwalk. For some time after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Smith made their home in New York City, where two children were born to them: (i) Wilfred, who is now engaged in the pottery business, married Miss Mary E. Atwater, of Brooklyn, N. Y. , and has had two sons — Leonard Atwater and Arthur Eugene. (2) Miss Elinor Louise resides with her mother. Mrs. H. Louise Smith is a native of Nor- walk, and a member of one of the oldest and most highly-esteemed families of this State. The Camp family traces its descent from Nicholas "Camp, who lived in the town of Nasing, County of Essex, England, prior to the year 1620, and came to this country with his son, "Nicholas the younger," who was married in 1652 to Catherine Thompson, of New Haven, Conn., and made his residence, for a time' at least, at Mil- ford. Samuel Camp, Sr. , the next in the line of descent, was born at Milford, September 15, 1655, and was married November 13, 1672, to Hannah Betts, of Norwalk. Their son, Samuel Camp, Jr., was married April 28, 1696, to Re- becca Canfield. Capt. Jonathan Camp, the great-great-grandfather of Mrs. Smith, is the next in order, and was born at Milford, Decem- ber 17, 1702; he married Ann Piatt, who was born in 17 10. 'Jonathan Camp, Jr., Mrs. Smith's great-grandfather, was born at Norwalk, May 17, 1735, and was married in 1759 to Mary Burwell, who was born in the same locality, April 17, 1734. They had nine children. Jonathan Camp (3), the grandfather of Mrs. Smith, was born in Norwalk, February 20, 1768, and became a farmer by occupation. He mar- ried Hannah Bouton, a lineal descendant of Count Nicholas Bouton, a Huguenot, who is mentioned again below. Six children were born of this union: Sarah, Mary, William, Jonathan, Stephen W., and ^^ary E. Jonathan Camp (4), the father of Mrs. Smith, was born at Norwalk September 15, 1801, and engaged in agriculture in that locality. He was a leader in various progressive movements, serv- ing at times as president of different agricultural associations, and helping to promote the best in- terests of this section in every possible way. He was instrumental in securing the construction of the Danbury & Norwalk railroad, and was also connected with a large paper-mill in that city. In politics he was a Democrat, and he took much interest in Church work, being a vestryman and, later, warden of St. Paul's Episcopal Church at Norwalk. He died April 14, 1880, and his wife, Mary C. Newkirk, who was also a devout Church member, died December 4, 1896. She was born in Norwalk, February 15, 1808, where she was married January 11, 1826, and was of the fifth generation in descent from Garrett Newkirk, of Holland, who probably never came to America. His son, Conrad, who was born in Holland, crossed the Atlantic and located, it is thought, in New York. John Newkirk, the next in the line of descent, was born in 1752, probably in New York, and became a resident of Norwalk, where Garrett Newkirk, the father of Mary C. Newkirk, was born. Mrs. Smith was one of a family of six children, as follows: Stephen W. , who died November 20, 1831; Rebecca G., wife of Samuel E. Olmstead; Mary E., wife of Rev, Eugene C. Pattison; H. Louise (Mrs. Smith); Jonathan (5), formerly a civil engineer and city surveyor of Jer- sey City, N. J., who married Miss Frances J. Wood, and died in 1874; and Albert N., who is not now engaged in any business. Count Nicholas Bouton, mentioned above, was a native of France, but on account of relig- ious persecutions his son John went to England in his boyhood, where, in December, 1635, he set sail for America in the bark "Assurance," and, as a young man of twenty, landed at Bos- ton, Mass. He had a son Joseph, who had a son Jachain, whose son Esaias, a native of Norwalk, was the father of Hannah Bouton, Mrs. Smith's grandmother. LIEUT.-COL. RICHARD FITZ GIBBON. ; Among the citizens of mark in Bridgeport no-one is more worthy of consideration than he whose name here appears, and whose war record is second to none in the State. Our subject was born October 6, 1836, in Montreal, Canada, the eldest in the family of six children born to Edward and Johanna FitzGib- bon, who in 1832 emigrated from Ireland to Can- ada. Later they removed to New York, and thence came to Bridgeport. Edward FitzGib- bon was born in 18 10, at Youghal, County Cork, Ireland, where he married Johanna Lockhart, of the same country, and who died in 1S85. He was a saddler by trade, and, while a resident of Bridgeport, for a time worked for Harral & Cal- houn. He was a member of the volunteer fire department of the borough. He passed from earth in Bridgeport in 1893.