Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut

Henry S. Peck (deceased), youngest child of Henry and Eliza Peck, was born January 6, 1834, and was educated in the public schools and also at the select school at Brookfield. At the close of his school career he entered his father's store as a clerk, and there acquired the rudiments of a business knowledge that afterward developed the man of remarkable business acumen, sound judg- ment, and unimpeachable integrity, the commer- cial men knew and respected. When his father died he assumed the management of the store, and for some years carried it on alone. In 1872 he built the present store, and admitted Alfred Somers as a partner. This firm became one of the largest and most prosperous in the county, and after the death of Mr. Peck on October 2, 1884, Mrs. Peck continued partnership with Mr. Somers under the old firm name of Peck & Somers. Mr. Peck's ability was not allowed to confine itself to one line, but he was called upon to lend his light in assisting corporations outside of Brookfield, being one of the board of directors of the First National Bank of Danbury, and also of the Savings Bank of Bridgeport. The courts frequently appointed him to positions of respon- tability and trust. His best loved interests were those centered in Brookfield, and to the develop- ment and material advancement of his own town he devoted time and me'ans liberally. In 1879 he represented his town in the Legislature, elected on the Republican ticket. He was, above all else, a truly domestic man, and in his own home found his truest happiness. To his aged mother, he was the model son, kind and consid- erate, allowing no day to pass that he did ^ot go to her with words of cheer, dutifully looking after her comfort all his life. In all affairs of the Con- COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 103 gregational Church, which faith he had professed in 1862, he took a Hvely interest. To its finan- cial needs he was a willing and liberal contribu- tor. On October 4, 1865, Henry S. Peck was united in marriage with Eliza G. Fairchild, daugh- ter of Hiram h'airchild, and this union was blessed with two children: Henry Lyman, born Decem- ber 12, 1870, died December 6, 1890, and Mary Fairchild, born August 21, 1S74. This happy family circle was first broken in 1884 when the father passed peacefully away to join that " Choir Invisible, whose music is the gladness of the world;" then in 1890 Death's angel again knocked at the portal, and the widow's son, Henry Lyman, just on the verge of manhood, answered the final summons, leaving the mother and sister to mourn the loss of a devoted son and brother. He had just entered upon his second year at the School of Technology at Boston, and after graduating from there antici- pated taking a special course at Yale. Doubt- less his life would have been both brilliant and successful. He was an earnest student, and to the advancement of science he intended devoting his life. He was the sixth Henry Peck in the direct line, and the last male descendant bearing the name of a family who have for generations been inhabitants of the town strongly identified with all its interest. The Fairchild family, from which came Mrs. Eliza Fairchild Peck, widow of Henry S. Peck, is directly descended from one Thomas Fairchild (I), who was born in Scotland, and died in Strat- ford, Conn., in 1670. His children were John, Thomas (II), Samuel, Zachariah, Dina, Emma, and Bethia. Thomas Fairchild (11) was born in 1644, and was the father of John, Josiah (III), Priscilla, and Emma. Josiah Fairchild (III) was born in 1664, and was the father of Edward (IV), who was the father of Jonathan, Ebenezer (V), Moses and James. Ebenezer Fairchild (V) mar- ried Sarah Ivimberly, and the following children were born to them: Edward, born May 4, 1752; Peter, March 12, 1756; Huldah, August 30, 1759; Phebe, December 5, 1762; Clement (VI), May 2, 1764; Abiah, October 14, 1766; Tru- man, November 25, 1769, and Abram, — , 1772. Clement Fairchild (VI) always farmed in Newtown, Conn. ; he married Sarah Piatt, and by her he had a daughter, Lucinda, who be- came the wife of John Williams; Beman, born April 12, 1792, married Polly Ann Fairchild; Hiram (VII), born January 7, 1796; Lucia, born March 9, 1801, married Asel Beebe; Luzon, who died September 2, 1820, at the age of fourteen years, seven months and twenty-seven days; and Phcebe. Hiram Fairchild (VII) was educated in New- town, where he afterward engaged in the manu- facture of combs, later going to Brookfield. He engaged in the mercantile business in Brookfield Center, where for a time he was a partner of Henry L. Peck. He finally sold out his interest to Mr. Peck and engaged in farming. Mr. Fair- child was twice married, his first wife being Sarah Northrup, to whom he was wedded Janu- ary 20, 1824. By this union there was one son, Clement, born May 20, 1827. The wife died December 20, 1830, followed by the little son, November 28, 1832. For his second wife he wed- ded, December 27, 1831, Betsey Gelston, daughter of Rev. Maltby Gelston, of Sherman, Conn. This union was blessed with three children: Sidney Hawley, born November 3, 1835, died Septem- ber 18, 1892; Sarah Lucia, born August 18, 1837, and Eliza (Gelston) Peck, born February 11, 1839. Hiram Fairchild was a member of the Congregational Church, and in politics was an ardent Republican. His dignified bearing and courteous manners marked the typical gentleman of the old school. He passed to his eternal rest in 1888, and on February 9, 1894, at the age of ninety-two, his widow, Betsey (Gelston) Fair- child, went forth rejoicing to a happy reunion on that silent shore. OHN S. JONES, the proprietor and able ed- itor of T/iL' Wcstportcr-Hcrald, a semi-week- ly newspaper of Westport, Fairfield county, is one of the most widely known men of the county and most useful citizens in his locality. Born May 10, 1835, in Westport, Mr. Jones is the great-grandson of John Jones, a farmer of the town of Ridgefield, where his birth occurred, and of whom it is said that he was the first man of the locality to offer his service to the Colonial Government at the inception of the war of the Revolution, in which he enlisted and served vali- antly, becoming a lieutenant. He was of Scotch origin on his father's side. Daniel Jones, the grandfather of our subject, was born in the town of Ridgefield, and he, too, followed agricultural pursuits. He married Elizabeth Pardee, and had the following named children: Isaac, Alva, John, Elizabeth, Philo^W., Sally and Phcebe. Of these, Philo W. (our subject's father) was born May 27, 1802, in Ridgefield town, and with all of the other children was there reared on a farm. He came to Westport in 1828, and fol- lowed his trade, that of a harness maker. He was a warden of Christ (Episcopal) Church; was a Whig in politics; was infiuential in loca^ffairs, and served as sheriff of Fairfield county. He 104 COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. married Rebecca Lobdell, a daughter of Josiah Lobdell, of Engjiish extraction. John S. Jones in boyhood attended the dis- trict school of his neighborhood, where he re- ceived his entire education. He learned the plumber's and tinman's trade, which he followed for nine years, and at his next move, in a busi- ness sense, he engaged in the house-furnishing business, conducting same some eight years. He was appointed postmaster of Westport during President Johnson's administration, and per- formed the duties of the office in a business-like manner, making a good official. In 1867 he commenced the publication of I'/w IWstport Ail- vertiscr, a weekly paper, which was in existence until 1874. The next year he issued The Wcst- portcr-IIcrald, which fie has since continued to publish, and which has had a successful career. The paper has ever been a newsy sheet, ably edited and successfully managed. Mr. Jones has just retired from the presidency of the Connecticut Press Association. In his political views he is a Democrat. Back in the "sixties" Mr. Jones was for five years assistant town clerk, and for a period of thirty years he was clerk of the Pro- bate Court, holding the office under four judges. He has served as president of the Board of Trade. He was one of the organizers, in 1884, of the Connecticut State Firemen's Association, and the only secretary it has ever had, and he was also one of the organizers of the Westport Fire Department, and the only Chief Engineer the department has ever had, having performed the duties of a fireman for upward of forty years. For thirty-one consecutive years Mr. Jones has been clerk of the Church of the Holy Trinity, and for ten years he has been junior warden of the parish. Socially, too, Mr. Jones has shown great fidelity to duty, and has linked his name with societies and orders through which it will be recalled long after he himself has passed from earth. He is the oldest member and was the first secretary of Temple Lodge No. 65, F. & A. M., of Westport, and has held all of the offices in the same excepting master and senior warden. He is now, and has been, marshal of the lodge for a decade, and is secretary of the Masonic l\e- lief Association. He is an officer in the Sons of the Revolution. He was one of the members appointed to represent the State at the National Exposition held at Atlanta in 1895, and was sec- retary of the Connecticut Board. He was one of the organizers of the Westport Water & Elec- tric Light Company. He is also secretary of the Saugatuck Historical Society, and president of the Westport Board of Trade. On November 25, 1857, Mr. Jones was mar- ried to Mary Elwood, a daughter of Capt. Shel- ton Elwood, of the town of Westport, and the union has been blessed with two children: Mary L. , now Mrs. Robert K. Gault, of Westport; and Willis S. , who is assisting his father in the office of Tlic We s t po r t cr- H c raid , as local editor.