History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

SA.MUEL ALLEN NICHOL.S.* Samuel Allen Nichols, son of Hezekiah and Anna Penfield Nichols, was born in the town of Fairfield, Conn., May, 178!l. His father was a farmer by occu- pation. He had five sons and four daughters, of whom Samuel A. was tlie youngest. Samuel A. had such advantages for an education as the eoumion schools of his time afforded. Thus he laid the foundation of an education which, aided by a life-long perusal of the best books and papers at his command, made liim one of the best-informed men oi' his day. On the 20th of March, 181(!, he married Wilsana, daughter of Capt. Wilson Wheeler, who died at sea. Mrs. Nichols was born in I!ridgei>ort, Conn., in 17.S1I, and died in Fairfield, Conn., in 1S.">7, aged sixty-eight years and three months. Their children are as fol- lows : Abby B., Julia B. (deceased ), Anna P., .laiie .\., John (deceased), Jcdin (2), Henry (deceased |. He was a farmer and dealer in general merclianilise. He was by choice and the general bent of his mind a Whig and Republican, and as such one of the lead- ing men of his town. He was town clerk of Fairfield from 1837 to 1SG8, a i>eriod of twenty-six consecutive years, and the books kept by him attest his ability; selectman several years, and magistrate for many years. His efhciency and jiopularity were such that lie was elected by a unanimous vole of buth tlie oiiposing l)arties. Jlr. and Jlrs. Nichols were iiieiiibers of the Con- gregational Church of Fairfield for more than forty years, and he was elected deacon of the same in ]84<l, which position he filled at the time of his ileatli, Feb. 4, lX(;i. Deacon Nichols is spoken of by tliose wlio kiK'w him a.s an upright Christian genlliiiKiii. a iiuiii respected by all. He was courteous in his liearing towards others, and thus won a host of friends. He was a man of trust, and occupied an honoralile place in society. He took a great interest in town matters, and in a measure the citizens are grateful to liim for the elms which beautify the green in Fairfield, as he assisted in setting them out, and in watering them through a drought till they were self-sustaining. He left a family of daughters, who are engaged in eveiy good work, and are ladies of education, refineinent, and cidture, and one son. He was a firm friend, kind and hospitable to the i>oor, and the cliurcli round in him a strong pillar. As a husliand he was affectionate and true ; as a father, kind and indulgent; as a citizen, patriotic and benevolent, and as a man, honest. Mr. Nichols built a fine residence, opposite II. J. Beers', in Fairfield, which is occupied by his daughters, Mrs. Klppen, Anna, and Abby }{. This family is descended from William Nichols, an early settler in Fairfield. (See "Cohmials," 10, 18.) 24 ' Bj- .Ml!.. Kuto E. rcTi}'. avillia:\[ werb wakeman. William Webb M'akemau was the eldest son of Jesuj) Wakeman, who was a lineal descendant of Rev. Samuel Wakeman, the second pastor, from 10(i.') to 1002, of the old church of " The Prime Ecclesiastical Society" of Fairfield, coexistent with the town itself Samuel was the son of .John Wakeman, who was the first treasurer of the New Haven colony, and one of the founders of New Haven. The genealogical order is: .lohn, Samuel, Joseph, Stephen, .lesup, Jesup, Jr., and William Webb. Samuel was educated in part at Harvard College, and became an able and strong man. He was not only one of the ecclesiastical lights of his day, but exerted a large inflnerice in .State mat- ters as well, and left his impress U]>on the legislation of those early colonial times. His "election sermon" before the (icneral Court in 108') called forth the thanks of that body, with a vote to jirint it at its ex- pense. Jesup Wakeman, fifth in descent from the ahove, was born at tireen's Farms, in the then " West Farms Parish of Fairfield," Feb. 12, 1771, and settled in .Mill River, a village situated at the mouth of the river of tiiat name, in the western part of the town of Fair- field, now called Southiiort, and who, with the Perry and Bulkley families, by their industry and enterprise, may rightfully be called the founders of its prosperity. 362 HTSTOItV OF F ATl!FIi;!.I> COUNTY, CONNECTICUT. Jesup engaged in trade and navigation, in which he was succ-cssful, and died May 4, 1844, leaving for his cliildren a comfortable inheritance. He married Esther Dinion, daughter of William Dimon and Esther Sturges, of Fairfield. They had eight chil- dren,— Susan, William Webb, Maurice, Zalmon, Jesup, .Tulia, Hetty, and Cornelia. William Webb, the subject of this sketch, was horn at Mill Kiver, now Soutlijiort, on June 10, 1799. Af- ter his education ut the " Fairfield Academy," he first went into business with his father at 5Iill Kiver, and soon after engaged in navigation on his own account, and while yet a young man became master of his own vessel. He then embarked in the coast trade between New York and Salem and Boston, and while .so em- ployed had the misfortune to wreck one of his vessels near Holmes' Hole, in which was brought out his characteristic coolness and determination, for every man on board was sent in safety to the shore before he would leave his stranded vessel. He then extended his coasting trade to Georgetown, D. C, and to other Southern i)orts, and soon, with others, established a line of vessels to nin between New York and Savasi- nah, Ga. He was also engaged in the China trade, and was one of the first that sent his vessels to Cali- fornia after its annexation to the United States. With the increa.se of capital and of vessels, he found it expedient to organize a shipi>ing-house in New York, under the firm-name of Wakeman, Dinion & Co., afterwards Wakeman, Gookin & Dickinson, and subsequently W. W. Wakeman & Co. To the prosperous line to Savannah, a few years afterwards, Wakeman, Gookin & Dickinson added a ship-line to Galveston, Texas, known as the "Star Line," and wliich before the war of the Kebellion gave place to a line of steamers, by which for some years they carried on a large and profitable traffic. Besides their heavy shipping intcrest.s, tiiis house became largely interested in gold and silver mining in California and Nevada, and at one time acted as the New York agent for some of those mines. On Oct. 2i», 1K:S3, Mr. Wakeman married Mary Catharine Hull, daughter of Lyman Hull and Amelia Bulkley, of Hull's Farms, town of Fairfield. Their children were : Eliza H., married Charles M. Taintor, of New York City; Delia M., married Dwight Baker, of New York City (both now deceased); Cornelia C, married Charks B. Tompkins, of New York City; William W., married C. .\iigusta Wood, daugljter of Boss Wood, of New York City ; Mary C, who died young; Jesup, married Elizabeth Dut- ton, daughter of James Dutton, of Utica, N. Y. ; and Susan A. Mr. Wakeman was by nature a man of great energy and force of character, and so he made his influence felt, and often paramount, in whatever he undertook. Thi.s not only gave him .success in busincs-s, but made him a valuable acquisition to any cause that he was leil to espouse. In all public movements that ]>rom- ised moral or material improvement to the place or ! people among whom he lived, he was ever ready by ' labor or contribution to give his efficient aid. He warmly advocated, and was one of the com- mittee to build, a suitable house for a good graded public school in Southport in 1801-52; one of the original trustees of the Southport Savings Bank in 1854, and of the Oak Lawn Cemetery Association in 1865. He became a member of the Congregational Church ! of Stmthport March 7, 1847, and was elected to the ! oflice of deacon Jan. 5, 1849. His church life, like I his daily life, was earnest and faithful to what«ocver ! duty called, allowing no ordinary obstacle to hinder or defeat its conscientious ])erformance. True to his convictions, prompt in his engagements, and 0])en- handed to the poor and neeily, he was always found a staunch friend on the side of right, and an out- spoken foe to whatever he esteemed to be wrong. His works live after him, not only in his wholesome ex- ample and consistent religious life, but in his testa- mentary benefactions to his church, and to the leading benevolent institutions of the day, bearing testimony to those objects which in his later years lay verj- near to his heart. Late in 1868 he went to California to look after his ' Pacific interests, and while there was developed the ; di.sease which, after his return to New York, put an end to his life on the 19th of April, l.S6y, in the seventieth year of his age, — a true, earnest, well- rounded life. HEXRY J. BEEIW. Henry ,1. Beers represents an old and honorable New England family, and was born in Fairfield in 181lt. When a lad of fifteen he went to New York City ; and, after serving diligently as a clerk for several years with a firm in the wholesale grocery business, a thor- ough knowledge of which his natural force and per- sistent application enabled him scjon to accpiire, he in connection with Peter L. Bogart formed a ])artnersliip in the same line. I'ndcr the title of Beers & Bogart the new firm started at 177 South Street, from whence they removed to 34 Broadway, where they, for upwards of twenty years, were widely known as a reliable and successful grocery-house. Mr. Beers retired from active mercantile life in 18.56 with a fair competency, and. returning to his native town, built the residence which the accompanying iii- graving fairly represents. With the jmblication of this History, ilr. Beers iii- ters upon his seventy-first year, and is as hale and liearty as if a quarter of a century younger. Hospitable and o|>en-handcd, taking a lively inter- est in all that concerns his native town and its peojile, he has a large acquaintance, and commands that ster- ling regard that comes fron\ manly straightforward- ness and good citizenship. / z^, /t> y^Tn^ci 0^.^^!^ ^e/jM-^j-Y^' JAj^i.'-^^^ FAIRFIELD. 363 ^.pyl_'^.^^/^^