Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut

Daniel S. Mead, our subject's father, was born November 20, 1778, at the old homestead in Greenwich township, where he passed his life in agricultural pursuits. He was of medium size, and was not blessed with a strong constitution, his death occurring in 1831 at the comparatively early age of fifty-three years. Politically, he was an anti-Democrat, and as a citizen he was much esteemed for his uprightness and integrity. His estimable wife, whose maiden name was Rachel Mead, was a daughter of Joshua Mead and a de- scendant of John Mead, the pioneer. She sur- vived him several years and at her death was in- terred beside him- in the cemetery of the Congre- gational Church at Greenwich, of which bot'h had long been active and consistent members. Our subject was the fourth in a family of nine children, the others being Jared, who was acci- dentally killed while captain of his vessel, being run down by a steamer on North river; Edwin, who resides in California; S. Merwin, a farmer in Greenwich township; Miss Zetta, who is de- ceased; Elizabeth, who was married (first) to O. Close, and (second) to David B. Mead; and three who died young. Our subject was educated in the common schools near his home, his first teacher being Reuben Holmes, a well-known educator of that day. He well remembers the old building, fitted up with rude slab seats, and has always given his hearty approval to any project which would pro- mote the efficiency of the schools and the com- fort of the pupils. As his school days ended be- fore Greenwich Academy was founded, his ^ a^Zdl-J, ^>^^^^ COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 353 opportunities were limited, but he made the best of them, and an excellent memory has enabled him to gain much information through later reading and observation. During boyhood he became familiar with the details of farm work as the eldest son of a busy farmer, and at twenty years of age he took charge of the homestead on account of his father's death. In 1832 he was married in Greenwich to Miss Huldah Mead, who was born m that town February 5, 1812, the daughter of Ephraim and Azubah Mead. For a few years he continued to reside at the old home with his widowed mother, but he then settled at his present farm on Greenwich avenue, formerly called "Steamboat road." He has made many improvements upon the place, remodeling the house and rebuilding the barn twice, and it is one of the best homesteads in the locality. As the land lies chiefly in a part of Greenwich which has been settling up rapidly of late years, it has increased greatly iji value, and although he has sold a large number of building sites, he still owns some desirable land in the town. Among the tracts which he has disposed of is the ground upon which the new school building stands. He has always taken much interest in local affairs, serving at times in minor township offices, and throughout his life he has been an ardent student of national questions, having never missed voting in a Presidential election. In early years he affiliated with the Whig party, but the slav-erv agitation led him into the Re- publican party, of which he has ever since been a firm supporter. In religious faith he is a Con- gregationalist, as most of his relatives have been from pioneer days. On October 27, 1882, his beloved wife passed to the unseen world, and her remains now rest in the Congregational cemetery at Greenwich. Their famrly is one of which any parents might well be proud. Of their ten children, the eldest, Ophelia, married William Long, who met a sol- dier's death during the Civil war; Esther A. is the wife of I. L. Mead; Daniel S. died in Green- wich, aged forty-eight years; Oliver D. is a farmer at Field Point; Abraham died at the age of seven years; Anna H., who is not married, resides at the homestead; Sarah H. died at the age of eighteen years; Miss Elizabeth J. is at home, unmarried; and two died young. E EDWARD J. COUCH, a leading citizen of 'j/ Ridgetield, Fairfield county, is a native of the town of Redding, Conn., born July 17, 1828, of honored New England ancestry. The first of the family of whom we have 83 record was Simon Couch (i), who married Mary, daughter of Francis Andrews, of Bankside, and had children: Thomas; Simon (2); Samuel; Mary, who married John Grumman; Martha, who wedded Abram Finch; Sarah; and Hannah, wife of Peter Coley. Of these, Simon (2) married Abigail Sturges, daughter of John Sturges, and had children whose names with dates of birth are as follows: Abigail, January 3 i , 1694; Thomas, June 9, 1695; Simon, July 6, 1697; Hannah, August 30, 1699; Sarah, March 30, 1706; Isabelle, September 17, 1708; and Deborah, March 30, 1710. Of these, Thomas, great-great-grandfather of our sub- ject, married Sarah Allen, daughter of Gideon Allen, December 7, 172 i, and had issue: Simon, who married Abigail Jennings, daughter of Joshua Jennings, born May 18, 1721; Thomas, born No- vember 28, 1725; Sarah, born December i, 1723, and Ann, born 17 — . Of these, Thomas, great-grandfather of our subject, married February 25, 1750, Elizabeth Jessup, who was born February 13, 1728, a daughter of Edward Jessup, and their children were as follows: Thomas, born February 12, 1751, married Sarah Nash, and died March 16, 18 17; Simon, born November 6, 1752; Sarah, born March 30, 1754, was married to Hezekiah Banks October 14, 1772, and died in 1S15; Elizabeth, born January 23, 1756, was married to Noah Hanford, and died about the year 1783; Gideon, who was born September 12, 1757, was married to Eleanor Wakeman, and they became the par- ents of Mrs. Horace Smith, of Bridgeport; Mary, baptized May 15, 1760, was married May 5, 1784, to Moses Sherwood, and died May 13, 1824; Stephen, born May 4, 1763, married Ann Edmond January 29, 1784, and died April 21, 1813. The last named went to New Hampshire, where there are now many of his descendants. Of the above named family, Simon, grandfather of our subject, was born in Fairfield and moved to Redding in 1776, on January 7 of which year he married Eleanor Nash, who was born January 14, 1758, and died March 5, 1818. Issue: Elizabeth, born October 9, 1776, married Ozias Burr, and died in 1834 in Worthington, Ohio; Jessup, born August 3, 1778, died June 30, 1821, unmarried (he was judge of the Superior Court of Ohio from i 8 1 5 to the time of his death, which occurred in Chillicothe, Ohio); Seth, born August 31, 1780, was married April 15, 1806, to Sarah Burr, and died April 30, 1841 (he was identified with the Brooklyn Basin); Eleanor, born August 26, 1782, died unmarried December 8, 1856; Simon, born December 1, 1784, died in 1793; Nash, born April 23, 1787, 354 COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. died single March 22, 1835; Priscilla, born June 27, 1790, married Edward Mailory, and settled in Worthington, Ohio, where they both died; Ed- ward, born July 14, 1792, in Redding, Conn., died April 16, 1856, in Ridgefield; Simon Andrew, born December 16, 1794, was a physician in Marion, Ohio; Caroline, born June 22, 1801, died March 8, 1802. Of these, Edward, father of our subject, married Bet- sey Marchant, who was born May 6, 1805, daughter of Joel Marchant, of Redding, Conn., and had children: Edward J., sketch of whom follows; and Simon, born March 12, 1830, who died March 11, 1893 (he was a silver-plater, and lived on the home farm most of his life). The father was a lifelong farmer and became pros- perous. Edward J. Couch, the subject proper of these lines, received his education at the public schools of his native town, and at the age of seventeen commenced learning the trade of a hatter, which he followed for several years as a journeyman in Troy, N. Y., and in Charleston, S. C. , where he also clerked; this was in 1853. From there he went to St. Louis, Mo. , where he was engaged in the business of hatter some five years; just before the Civil war he returned to Connecticut, and for some few years followed his trade there, when he abandoned it. Of late years he has been interested in real estate, and by judicious investments has acquired a comfortable compe- tency. He is a director of the Ridgefield Sav- ings Bank. Mr. Couch has traveled widely, covering in one trip in 1895 10,000 miles in the United States. He is much interested in pomol- ogy, is a member of the American Pomological Society, and in the trip (some seventy members forming the party), just mentioned, to California, etc., in 1895, the greatest hospitality was ex- tended them. He has given natural history considerable study, and has an excellent collec- tion of works on that subject, as well as a very large collection of birds, all his own mounting, as he is quite a skilled taxidermist. On November 16, 1858, Mr. Couch was united in marriage with Miss Mary Jane Hawley, who was born April 8, 1836, daughter of Eben- ezer Hawley, of South Salem, N. Y., and two children have come to them: Ida P., born July 21, 1 87 1 , was graduated at Hackettstown, N. J. , and also from the Teachers College in New York City, and is now an instructor in manual train- ing at Passaic, N. J.; Edward S., born October 16, 1879, is attending school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Mr. Couch in his political preferences was a Democrat until the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion, since when he has been a stanch Republican, and in 1S82 he served in the State Legislature. In his religious views he is con- servative, and broad and liberal in matters per- taining thereto. Socially, he is a member of the Masonic Fraternity. Public-spirited at all times, and true to his antecedents, he has always taken an active interest in all that concerns the welfare and prosperity of his adopted town. HENRY BURR OGDEN, a leading agricult- urist of the town of Fairfield, is a worthy represeniiative of a family which has long been prominent in that locality. His present home- stead in Banks South District has been held in the family name for three generations, and, aside from its interesting associations, it is a valuable and attractive estate, Mr. Ogden's scientific knowledge and skill being shown to good ad- vantage in its management.