Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut

In 1855 Mr. Ferris was united in marriage with Miss Mary Knight, a native of New York, who died in 1870 and is buried in Sound Beach. She was the mother of six children, viz. : Edwin W. , of Brooklyn, who is in the employ of the Lehigh Valley Railway Company; Mary I., wife of Prof. Archibald Daniels, of Burlington (Vt.) University; Helen, wife of Dr. Harry B. Ferris, professor of anatomy at Yale; Lincoln G., who died at the age of thirty-three, in Brooklyn; Warren K., who is in the ordnance department, at Washington, D. C. ; and Jessie R., now Mrs. Richard S. Kirby, of Port Chester, N. Y. Mr. Ferris' comfortable home at Sound Beach was erected under his own supervision. A zealous member of the Congregational Church, he has taken great interest in Church and benevolent enterprises in Sound Beach since his removal there, and he was a liberal contributor to the new First Congregational Church erected there, which cost $21,500. He was active in carrying the work to completion, and since 1892 he has served as deacon, and member of the board of trustee, of that Church, in whose welfare he is deeply con- cerned. Mr. Ferris cast his first Presidential vote for John C. Fremont, and he has alwa}s been a regular voter and an interested observer of public affairs. He is active in school matters in Greenwich township, and at present is serving as justice of the peace here. MATHANIEL B. HILL. The Hill family is one of the oldest in Fairfield township, and has furnished to this section some of its ablest and most valued citizens. The first to come to America was William Hill, an English- man, who landed in Boston, June 5, 1632, from the ship "William and Frances. " On Novem- ber 2, 1635, he had land granted to him at Dor- chester, Mass., but later he removed from that place to Windsor, Conn., and he finally made his home at Fairfield, his death occurring there in 1650. He was a man of influence in the lit- tle colony, and became the first clerk of Fair- field township. He and his wife Sarah had six children: Sarah, William, Joseph, Ignatius, James and Elizabeth. II. William Hill, the next in the line of de- scent in which we are now interested, died De- cember 19, 1684. His wife's name was Eliza- beth , and among their children was a son William. III. William Hill, son of William II, died in 1728, leaving a family, among whom was a son William, known as Deacon William. IV. Deacon William Hill died in 1739. He and his wife Sarah reared a family of chil- dren, their son Joseph being the next in the line of descent. V. Joseph Hill was born April i, 1699, and died March 6, 1797. He married Abigail Dimon, and among their children was a son Moses, the great-grandfather of the well-known citizen whose name opens this sketch. VI. Moses Hill was born January 11, 1748, and died October 13, 1779. His wife, Esther (Burr), was a daughter of Ebenezer Burr. Three children were born of this union: \\'illiam, Abi- gail and Esther. VII. William Hill, the grandfather of our subject, was born April 30, 1774, and died July 6, 1808; his wife, Betsey (Barlow), who was niece of the poet, Joel Barlow, Esq., and who was born August 3, 1778, died September 9,. ^a^LcZ^ ^,:^^ COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 257 1864. They had the following children: Brad- ley, born September 9, 1798, died in the town of Redding, where he was engaged in farming for many years; Abigail, born November 23, iSoo, died at an early age; Horace, our subject's father, is mentioned below; Burr, born Decem- ber 23, 1804, died January 29, 18 10; and Will- iam, born October 6, 1807, died September 6, 1815. VIII. Horace Hill was born December 5, 1802, in Buckley's District in the town of Fair- field, and died March 9, 1877, his remains being interred in the old Greenfield cemetery. He taught school for many years, and was also en- gaged in farming and milling. Although he be- gan his career without special advantages, he acquired a handsome competence. He was six feet in height and well proportioned, and not- withstanding his many years of energetic indus- try he enjoyed excellent health until a year previous to his death. While he was not an office seeker, he took an intelligent interest in political questions, voting regularly first with the Whigs and later with the Republicans. In re- • ligion he inclined to the Congregational faith, and although not a member of that Church he attended its services frequently. On January 7, 1830, he married Miss Eleanor Lyon (born Feb- ruary 27, 1806, died February 27, 1842), a daughter of Eliphalet and Mary (Perry) Lyon, and a member of one of the old families of this section. On September 27, 1843, for his sec- ond wife, he married Miss Almira Ogden, who was born November 10, 1808. By the first union there were four children: Mary J., born February 28, 1831, die^l December 27, 1850, unmarried; Nathaniel B., our subject; Eliphalet R. , born Ooctober 16, 1833, died December 13, 1853; and William B., born March 23, 1837, who is now a farmer in Fairfield township. The only child of the second marriage, Betsey A., born September 17, 1847, died April 7, 185 i. IX. Nathaniel Barlow Hill was born Sep- tember 24, 1832, at the old homestead in F'air- field township, and his education was begun in the local schools, his father being his first teacher. Another instructor whom he especially remem- bers was Minot Banks, and after completing the course offered in the home school he studied for one winter under Zalmon Wakeman, who conducted a select school at Greenfield Hill. When seventeen years old he began to learn the miller's trade with his father, and spent three years in that business. In the spring of 1853 he sailed from New York with two comrades, Will- iam Sherwood and Edgar A. Pennoyer, on the full-rigged ship "Florida," making a voyage to Australia, via the Cape of Good Hope, and after nineteen weeks landing at Port Phillip, Mel- bourne. For more than three years he was engaged in mining in Australia, and on his return he sailed first for London in the full-rigged ship "Blackwall," by way of Cape Horn, stopping i-n route at Pernambuco, South America. From London he sailed for New York in the full-rigged ship "Southampton," thus completing a journey around the world, and soon after landing he made a trip through the Western States, pros- pecting for a congenial location. While in Illi- nois he was taken ill, compelling him to return home, and as his father was having the mill re- paired our subject resumed his work there. On December 17, 1856, as he was putting some corn in the hopper, a connecting pin in the shafting caught his trousers, irresistibly drawing him with- in its power, and he was thrown round and round by the action of the shaft. His limbs were badly injured, and his recovery seemed almost a miracle; but having a powerful constitu- tion, together with the best surgical skill obtain- able, he was able to walk without crutches after more than two years of suffering. On November 27, 1862, Mr. Hill married Miss Mary E. Morehouse, who was born June 5, 1844, next to the youngest in the family of five children of Deacon William B. and Mary (Lyon) Morehouse. Her father was an extensive agri- culturist of Fairfield township, and was held in high esteem in that locality. Mrs. Hill, who has been a most excellent helpmeet, was edu- cated in the Burr district school in Fairfield township, and in the academy on Greenfield Hill. Our subject purchased his present home- stead before his marriage, and has since resided there, his handsome dwelling house having been built by him in 1882. Of his five children, the eldest, William B., born September 22, 1863, was graduated from Yale College in 1886, and was already winning a fine reputation as a teacher and civil engineer, when death, in June, 1898, cut short a promising career. Horace E. is a resident of Bridgeport. Joseph is a farmer in Easton township. Wakeman B. is at home. Charles L., who graduated from Yale College in 1895, when less than twenty-two years old, and in 1897 from the Yale Law School, is now an attorney at Bridgeport. Deacon Hill has always taken keen interest in politics, being one of the active Republicans of his locality, and he has served as justice of the peace and registrar. I'or many years he has been a leading member of the Congregational Church at Greenfield Hill, having held the office of senior deacon some thirty years. At various 258 COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. times he served as superintendent of the Sunday- school, making eighteen years in all, anti since his resignation his son Charles L. has held the position. The family is prominent socially, and Mr. and Mrs. Hill are both greatly respected among their associates. Although he has gained a goodly share of this world's wealth, he has been thoroughly honorable in his dealings, and his word is considered as good as his bond. M ON. SAMUEL FESSENDEN. Few fam- ilies, even of the sturdy New England stock, have produced so many talented men as has the Fessenden family of Maine, of which this distinguished citizen of Stamford is a mem- ber. The late William Pitt Fessenden, an un- cle of our subject, gained an honorable place in history by his able and patriotic service as a statesman during the Civil war, and the trying period of reconstruction which followed, and an- other uncle, Hon. Thomas A. D. Fessenden, and Hon. Samuel C. Fessenden, our subject's father, both now deceased, represented Maine in the 37th Congress. Mr. Fessenden has more than maintained the enviable celebrity attaching to his name, but while he also has become widely known in the held of national politics as an or- ganizer and leader of rare sagacity and energy, his most cherished triumphs have been won in the arena of his chosen profession of law. Here his keen, logical mind finds congenial ground, and yith his unusual gifts as an orator it is not strange that he should have won and maintained a foremost place in the ranks of American law- yers, especially as he possesses the unanalyzed but unquestioned power which accompanies a magnetic personality and a genial tempera- ment.