Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut

IV. Sergeant Jacob Catlin (son of Benja- min Catlin), born December 7, 1723, in Hart- ford, Conn., died in Harwinton, Conn., July i, 1802. He was a farmer in Harwinton. He married Hannah Phelps, who was born March 13, 1731, ill Windsor, Conn., and died at Har- winton in 1812, aged eighty-one years. V. Benjamin Catlin (2) (son of Sergeant Jacob Catlin), born October 6, 1772, in Harwin- ton, Conn., died there (a farmer) July 10, 1835. He was for twenty years a deacon in the Congre- gational Church. He married, November 27, 1797, Rhoda Catlin, daughter of Isaac Catlin (2) (a son of Isaac Catlin, a son of Samuel Catlin), who was of the third generation of Thomas Cat- lin, the ancestor. Rhoda Catlin was born No- vember 8, 1774, at Litchfield, Conn., and died at Harwinton, September 3, 1863. Her chil- dren were: Anna, Rhoda, Lucy, Benjamin, George, Sheldon, Clarinda, Henry and Julius. VI. Sheldon Catlin (son of Benjamin Cat- lin, and father of Hon. Lyman S. Catlin) was born October 8, 1805, in Harwinton, Conn. He married, October 22, 1834, Cornelia Baldwin, of Harwinton, born there December 23, 1806, daughter of Nehemiah Baldwin, of Woodbridge. To this marriage were born children as follows: Ellen C. and Lyman S. Sheldon Catlin was by occupation a worker of stone, and also a farmer. He died July 29, 1840, at the early age of thirty-four. Samuel Hine, the maternal grandfather of Cornelia (Baldwin) Catlin, served in the war of the Revolution. Returning to the third generation to get the ancestry of Rhoda (Catlin) Catlin:- HI. Samuel Catlin (son of John Catlin and grandson of Tjiomas Catlin), born in 1672-73, married Elizabeth North, of Farmington (now Berlin), Conn., and their children were: John, Thomas, Samuel, Isaac, Abigail, Job, Mary, Adam and Ebenezer. IV. Isaac Catlin (son of Samuel Catlin), born November 11, 1712, died May 5, 1803. He married (first) Betsey Kilbourn, of Litchfield, and (second) Widow Abigail (Desire Ives) Tuttle. The children of the first marriage were: Isaac, Elisha, Charles, Irene, Polly, Betsey, Ruth, Sarah and Bradly. Those of the second marriage were; Samuel, Caroline, Hannah, Abigail and Desire. V. Isaac Catlin (2) (son of Isaac Catlin), born August 20, 1739, married (first) Anna Barnes, of Litchfield, and (second) Huldah Matthews, of Plymouth. She was born in 1750, and died July 4, 1825. He died April 9, 1828. His children, all by his first wife, were: Betsey, Isaac, Irene, Amy, Rhoda, Hosea, Clarinda, Elisha and Sofronia. Isaac Catlin (2) served in the French and Indian war, also in the war of the Revolution. The name of Catlin has been a prominent one in the history of New England from the Colonial period, and from Harwinton and Litchfield county, Conn., have gone out men that have achieved distinction in public affairs, and success in the professions and various callings of life. VII. Lyman Sheldon Catlin (son of Sheldon Catlin), the subject proper of this sketch, re- ceived his education in the public school and academy of his native town, and remained in the town until the breaking out of the Civil war, or early in its progress. From 1862 until 1866 young Catlin was in the service of his country, in which he made an honorable record. Enlisting in 1862 as a private in Company A, 19th Conn. V. I., he remained two years with the regiment, and at the end of that period was commissioned as first lieutenant in the 13th U. S. Colored Ar- tillery. While with the colored troops Lieuten- ant Catlin was in an engagement on the Cumber- land river, in southwestern Kentucky, in which the entire company was captured by General Forrest's cavalry. The officers connected with the colored troops were ordered to be hung, but they escaped by means of a gunboat. In 1865 this command was mustered out, and its first lieutenant was commissioned by Secretary Stan- ton as lieutenant and quartermaster in the 5th U. S. Cavalry. He served with this command in Arkansas until 1866, when it was mustered out of the service. Since the Civil war Mr. Catlin has passed most of the time in Bridgeport, his only absence bemg between 1870 and 1873. Early in 1870 he located in Alabama as the agent of a Chicago insurance company, but in a few months was driven out by the "Ku-Klux." The same com- pany then sent him to Kansas, where he re- mained until 1873, when he returned to Bridge- port, Conn., and organized the Mechanics and Farmer Savings Bank of that city, and has since been its chief executive officer. The well- known success of this institution has been largely due to his energy and business talent. He is ap- proachable and genial, and commands the re- spect of all of his business associates. Mr. Catlin is universally regarded as an able and faithful exponent of Republican principles. He has filled various offices for the town of Stratford, and was elected to represent the town in the General Assemblies of 1881 and 1883. COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 2C3 The first year he served on the House committee on School Funds, and in 1883 he was House chairman of the committee on Banks. In 18S8 he was elected senator from the Thirteenth dis- trict, and in the session of 1889 was chairman of the joint committee on Banks, and was appointed by the Governor chairman of the committee on Further Accommodation for the Insane. That committee made reports to the General Assembly sessions of 1891 and 1893. His career was one of prominence and usefulness in both branches of the Legislature. Mr. Catlin is a member of Elias Howe, Jr., Post No. 3, G. A. R., of Bridgeport, of the military order of the Loyal Legion, of the ex-Prisoners of War Association, and of the I. O. O. F. He is a thorough busi- ness man and a valued citizen. On September 28, 1871, Mr. Catlin was married to Miss Helen J. Lewis, of Stratford, and their marriage has been blessed with four children, namely: Sheldon, a graduate of Yale, class of '94; Lucy Jeannette, married to Egbert Marsh, of Bridgeport, Conn. ; George Lewis, a sophomore in Yale College; and Cornelia Jud- son, at home. JrOHN M. WILLIAMS, a prosperous attor- ney of New York City, who resides at Mianus, Fairfield Co., Conn., is the son of a man whose history is perhaps more remarkable and unique than falls to the common lot of humanity. Isaac Williams, the father, was one of four brothers, who when mere lads living in a home where economy and honesty were active virtues, started in business for themselves, and without training or experience, without means or assistance, with only their pluck and determina- tion, started out, life's battles to win. Their career exemplified the niaxim that in union there is strength. Each subordinated his personal interest in the common good. There was but one treasury and one fund. It was used by the four brothers to advance their mu- tual good. The grandfather of our subject, Matthias Williams, was a man whose greatest legacy to his four boys was the inculcation of sound prin- ciples. He married Miss Elizabeth Maxwell, and attained only a very moderate success in the accumulation of worldly goods. Isaac, our subject's father" was born in New York City in 1816. He had meager opportuni- ties for an education. He was only a lad of ten years when he entered the strange business part- nership with his brothers. The business at its start was a little grocery store, so small that it scarcely deserved the name. It may be said to have begun with almost nothing. But the boys were attentive and industrious. They prospered, and the business grew larger and larger, until they launched out in other business enterprises. They bought real estate and city property as money came in and was not required in their business. Thus for twenty-five years their busi- ness was conducted, and when settlement came, each took his share according to his age, and an amicable settlement resulted. Their property had become valuable as a result of judicious in- vestments, and their business interests were by no means small. Isaac was the only one of the four brothers who married. His wife was Miss Susan Crane, of Elizabeth, N. J. In 1866 Isaac Williams, seeking retirement from his active life, removed from New York to Mianus, Fairfield Co., Conn., where he had bought the Lot Palmer place. His forty years of active business life had developed energies that could not endure a complete retire- ment, and he opened a grocery store at Mianus. After discontinuing this business he, for a pastime, devoted his attention to horticulture; he erected green-houses and built up an extensive ilorist business, the management of which afforded him a pleasant and healthful occupation. He was a man quite well preserved in mind and body, for his years. He liked good horses, and had them. He was fond of driving, and drove a great deal; was a reinsman; his horses were not of the gentle kind, and his death was directly attributed to injuries received in collision while he was en- gaged in his favorite and exciting pastime. He was thrown from his vehicle, and sustained in- juries from which he died December 31, 1895; he was buried at Woodland cemetery, Stam- ford. His wife died January 19, 1885. Isaac Williams was a member of the Universalist Church at Stamford, which his wife also at- tended, though a member of the Presbyterian Church. No stancher supporter of the Demo- cratic party could be found than he, being twice elected a representative from Greenwich town- ship; he declined a renomination for a third term. He served on the school committee, but was not an office-seeker. He was fully conscious of the evils of the liquor traffic, and so expressed him- self frequently. He possessed good judgment, and was a practical man, one who was thoroughly self-made, and who enjoyed the respect of all. He was progressive in his ideas, and spent much money in improving his home and estate at Mianus. He established the business of ex- tensive ice-cutting at Mianus, with which he was later identified, and a large ice-house was «;;>'j 264 COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.