Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut

ON. LYMAN DENNISON BREWSTER comes from an old New England family, the first representative of which landed at Ply- mouth Rock from the "Mayfiower" in 1620. His grandfather removed from Preston, Conn., to Salisbury, Conn. Daniel Brewster, the father, was by occupation a farmer. The Judge was born at Salisbury, July 31, 1832. He prepared for college at the Williams Academy at Stock- bridge, Mass., and also at the Salisbury schools; in 1855 he graduated from Yale College. Al- though he was unable to give himself a thorough preparation, his career was marked by fair scholar- ship, and he stood among the oration men of the class and was class poet. In 1S57 he spent the season in Europe, traveling in England, Switzer- land, Germany and other countries. Judge Brewster's legal studies were pursued in the office of his uncle, Hon. Roger Averill, and he was admitted to the Bar June 21, 1858. On January i, 1859, he formed a partnership with E. R. Fry, and this lasted one year. From i860 to 1870 he was in partnership with Mr. Averill, his old preceptor. In 1870 he was appointed the first judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Fair- field County, and served for four years. Mr. Brewster has also been associated with Samuel Tweedy, Esq., in the practice of law for eight years. The partnership of Brewster, Tweedy & Scott, which followed, was dissolved in 1892, since when he has occupied the old office over the Savings Bank, where he has been located since 1870. In 1894 he admitted Samuel A. Davis as a partner. In 1S70, 1878 and 1879-, Mr. Brew- ster was a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives from Danbury. In 1880 and 1 88 1, he was State Senator and chairman of the Judiciary committee. In 1878 he was appointed by Governor Hubbard a member of the commit- tee to simplify legal procedure in the State. He was on the commission tiiat made the new code of the State of Connecticut in 1879. Since his judicial and legislative terms, the most noticeable thing of his professional history has been iiis con- nection with the Tilden will Co^e, in which, as one of the counsel for the heirs, he spent a good share of four years in making out briefs and look- ing up the case. Mr. Brewster is a member of the American Oy^y 0{^ COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 105 Bar Association, and for several years has been chairman of the coir.mittee on Uniform State Laws, and is one of the State Commissioners on Uniformity. In August, 1896, he was elected president of the Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, and re-elected to that office in 1897 and 1898. At Banbury he has been in- terested in public matters to a marked degree, and for sixteen years served as acting school visi- tor. He has been chairman of the book commit- tee in the Danbury Library since it started, about 1869. In 1868 he was united in marriage to Miss Amelia Ives, daughter of George W. Ives, of Danbury. Mr. Brewster, in public life, has displayed the qualities of an honest and pub- lic-spirited citizen. He is one of the best-known members of the Bar in the State, serving often on important committees. E »^ W. HARRAL, president of the Fairfield Rubber Company, has for many years been regarded as one of the ablest business men of this section. While he has been prominently identified with other enterprises, the business of which he is now the head may be said to repre- sent best his energy, skill and judgment as a manager, for he has been associated with it al- most from the beginning, and to his efforts its present prosperous condition is mainly due. Mr. Harral comes of excellent ancestry, being descended in the paternal line from an old South- ern family whose members for several generations have been influential citizens of Charleston, S. C. Dr. George Harral, our subject's grandfa- ther, was a successful physician of that city and Savannah, and Henry K. Harral, his father, was born and reared in Savannah, acquiring the edu- cation common to youths of good family. He owned two plantations in South Carolina, but much of his time was spent in Bridgeport, Conn., where he was extensively engaged in the manu- facture of saddles and harness. As a citizen he was much esteemed, and for seven years he served as mayor of Bridgeport. He died May 10, 18 — , in Augusta, Ga. On the maternal side Mr. Harral traces his descent from the Feet family, of England, and his ancestors in this line were among the early settlers of Stratford, I'ftr- field Co., Conn. Its members took an active part in the early wars, and by reason of his re- lationship to them, Mr. Harral enjoys the right of membership in the various societies open only to descendants of Colonial families. An extensive genealogy of the Peet family has recently been completed. Mr. Harral's mother, whose maiden name was Sarah A. Peet, was born in Bridge- port, the daughter of William Peet, and her death occurred in New York City, December 17, 1867. Our subject was one of six children — five sons and one daughter — and among his brothers were Maj. W. W. Harral, of Gen. Butler's staff, and Henry K. Harral, of Folkstone, England. Our subject was born December 12, 1845, in the city of Bridgeport, and after completing a course of study in the local schools he attended Marlborough Churchill's Military School at Sing Sing, then the leading institution of the kind in the United States. When the Civil war broke out he promptly displayed his sympathy with the Union cause by enlisting in the 14th Conn. V. I., but, owing to his youth, he was rejected. For ten years he was associated with Lacey, Meeker & Co. in the manufacture of harness and saddles, and for four years he was general agent for the Wheeler & Wilson Manufacturing Com- pany, of Bridgeport, his duties requiring him to travel over the Southern States and the Pacific slope. In 1880 he retired from that position, and soon afterward he became connected with the Fairfield Rubber Company, then in its in- fancy. Since 1881 he has made his home at Fairfield, and he and his family are prominent in the best social circles of that city. He is a pub- lic-spirited man, helping generously in any wor- thy movement, and he takes an active part in re- ligious work as a member of the Episcopal Church at Fairfield, in which he holds the office of senior warden. Political honors have no at- traction for him, and while his sympathies are mainly with the Democratic party, he votes in- dependently, his ballot having been cast for Mc- Kinley in 1896. His first wife, formerly Miss Julia Crissy, of New Canaan, this county, died, leaving one son, Crissey De F. , now a resident of Bridgeport. By his second marriage, with Miss Ellen B. Wheeler, daughter of Nathaniel and Huldah (Bradley) Wheeler, of Bridgeport, Mr. Harral has one daughter, Mary W. MEX L. PALMER, who is now living retired in Greenwich township, is a worthy repre- sentative of one of the old and honored families of Fairfield county. He was born February 17, 1820, in a house which was built in 1756 and oc- cupied the site of his present residence. His fa- ther, Abel Palmer, was born in the same house, June I, 1773, a son of John and Hannah (Smith) Palmer, the former of whom died when Abel was quite young, leaving a family of six children, namely: Sons — Abel, Zabed, Smith and Ishael. Daughters — Mrs. Naomi Knapp and Mrs. Bailey. Of the sons, Zabed and Smith were soldiers in 106 COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. the Revolutionary war, in which struggle Zabed was killed. Throughout the greater part of his life Abel Palmer engaged in agricultural pursuits, but for a time taught school through the winter months, while in the summer season he still continued to follow farming. He well remembered Gen. Washington, for he was standing on the bridge when the General passed through North Mianus when traveling on the turnpike between New York and Boston. Mr. Palmer was then only a small boy, and the great man laid his hand upon the lad's head and made some remark to him. Abel Palmer married Sarah Davis, a native of Greenwich, and a daughter of John Davis, and to them were born the following children: Han- nah, who married Walter June, and died in Illi- nois; John R. , a stone mason, who died in Green- wich; Caroline, who married Horace Dann, and died in Troy, N. Y. ; Julia, who married John Liney, and died in the same city; Lloyd, who died in West Fornes, N. Y. ; Clara, who married George Hopperton, and lives in Newark, N. J. ; Jane, who married Darius Clark, and died in Cos Cob, Fairfield Co., Conn.; Catharine, who married Dean Werden, and lives in Mianus; Susan, widow of Horace Dann; and Rex L. This is a family noted for longevity, all living to be over eighty years of age, and Mrs. Clara Hopper- ton is now ninety-four years of age. The fa- ther died in i860 in his eighty-eighth year, the mother passing away in 1874, aged ninety-two, and both were laid to rest in Sound Bqach ceme- tery. He was a large, erect and powerful man, very polite and refined, and was highly respected by all who knew him. During his boyhood and youth Rex L. Pal- mer pursued his studies in the Steep Hollow school, and among his teachers were William Grigg and a Mr. Hamilton. Our subject was reared a farmer boy, and throughout life has mainly followed that pursuit. In 1849 and 1850, however, he traveled with Van Amburg & Co. 's show, as a keeper of animals, and for several years was engaged in the stove business at Port Deposit, Md., keeping several wagons on the road selling stoves. He inherited the old home farm in Greenwich township, Fairfield *to.. Conn., and in connection with its operation he engaged in cider making for many years, estab- lishing the business in 1870, and it is still carried on by his son Frank T. On October 16, 1855, ^^r- Palmer wedded Miss Mary M. Thomas, who was born in Kent county, Md., September 2, 1S26, a daughter of William and Eliza (Pierce) Thomas. She is the fourth child and second daughter in a family of