Waterbury Green

A few years ago I wrote about the statue on the green in Wolcott and how it was paid for by Leverett Kenea, my 3^rd cousin (4 times removed) (see http://ramblinrussells.blogspot.com/2015/05/memorial-day.html). Recently a friend posted a video from Waterbury. In it, there were several pictures of the green in Waterbury and shots that featured the bronze statue of a horse that graces one end of the green as well as of the clock that is in the center. This made me wonder about the history of those items and whether there were any relationship to me there as well.

I found the answer to my questions about the horse statue in someone else’s blog (http://markorsini.blogspot.com/2004/08/carrie-welton-fountain-in.html). The horse’s name is Knight and he was owned by Caroline Welton (1842-1884) who left funds for the statue in her will. The fountain was dedicated in 1888, making it nearly 130 years old (which accounts for the lovely green patina that the statue has acquired over the years). I encourage you to read the above blog which gives a lot of details about Caroline’s life.

There are couple of connections to the Welton family in the Pierpont genealogies, including one to Austin Beecher Pierpont, the father of Morton Pierpont who owned the Pierpont dairy in East Farms. Austin would have been a 4^th cousin to Caroline, but since he is not in my direct family line, I looked for another connection. Going back up the Welton family tree, I found that Caroline’s great*3 grandfather married into the Upson family from Wolcott and Caroline’s great*4 grandfather was Stephen Upson. Since Stephen is also one of my direct ancestors, that makes Caroline my 5^th cousin (3 times removed).

The other item on the Waterbury green is the clock in the center. It is known as Colley’s Clock as Charles Colley was the individual who argued for it a century ago (it was dedicated in 1915) (see http://www.waterburyct.org/content/9586/9599/9602.aspx). Charles was the president of the Chamber of Commerce at the time. While Charles was born in Waterbury, his father was from New Hampshire and his mother from Woodbury, so we have no common ancestors. However, Charles’ wife was Mary [Bryan] and she has among her ancestors the Pardee family of New Haven. Her 1^st cousin (several times removed) Martha Pardee married into the Frisbie family who are well known in Wolcott and who are in my family tree as well. So while I have no direct connection to Charles Colley, his wife is a distant relative.

I’m proud to have connections to the individuals responsible for both the statues on the Wolcott green and the Waterbury green as well as the clock in Waterbury.