Prominent People of Bridgeport, Connecticut

The next-to-last town history book by Orcutt is titled “A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City of Bridgeport”. It was written 1886, and apparently exceeded the limitations of what could be contained in a single volume was published in two volumes totaling 1400 pages. This included not only the history of the area, but separate chapters on the formation of Bridgeport, Huntington, Trumbull, and Monroe. There was also an extensive section on the genealogy of families in the area. However, in a break from the format in his previous books, there was no separate section on biographies. Rather, one of the chapters on Bridgeport included much of this material – but only for Bridgeport as the individual helping him write this book was from there.

The following year, 1887, Orcutt produced a separate work, “A History of the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut,” noting in the preface that “It was believed that a number of copies of this part of the larger work might be wanted by persons not particularly interested in Stratford history, but who would like to have a history of Bridgeport.” This book was only 533 pages, essentially just the second half of the prior work. Since the list of biographies was the same in both the two-volume set and the later single volume, I will use the latter for my list of prominent individuals and their relationships.

There are three individuals who have very extensive biographies – but for very different reasons. The first is P.T. Barnum, the famous showman of Barnum and Bailey Circus. There is a discussion of several of the “exhibits” that he had during his long career with the circus and accompanying sideshow. The second is General William Noble. Not only was he a prominent individual in town with his land holdings, his position in the local bank, etc., but he had served with distinction in the Civil War – including being imprisoned in the infamous Andersonville prison. The final person with a lengthy bio is Alfred Hobbs. He was a locksmith and inventor and became famous during a tour of London where he astonished the lock manufacturers, bankers, etc. when he adeptly picked open their supposedly unopenable locks. Orcutt’s book has a lot of the details, but you can also read about him here.

I also want to make special note of two references to other of my ancestors. In the bio of Rev. Samuel Cooke where it talks about the church in Bridgeport calling him to be their pastor due to the death of Rev. Charles Chauncy, it mentions that the church in New Haven also had a vacancy in their pulpit due to the recent death of the Rev. James Pierpont (my great*7 grandfather). Secondly, in the biography of Rev. Gideon Hawley, it notes that he resolved to be a missionary to the Indians and began that career under the patronage of the Rev. Jonathan Edwards (my great*6 uncle).

There are only 41 biographies of prominent people from Bridgeport. There is also an early map of Bridgeport with all the houses on it and short bios of who lived there at the time – some of the names of these individuals were also included in the separate biography section, but I have chosen not to include the others in the below list. Of the 41 individuals, 3 have no relationship to me and are designated below by the underlined no relation. Two of them are from Germany and the other is an Irish priest. Of the remaining 38, 33 share an ancestor with me from Connecticut/New England history. There are 4 who married a cousin of mine and one whose son married a cousin (designated by the underlined word “wife” or “son”).

 

·         Rev. Charles Chauncy (1668-1714), 1C10X via Isaac Nichols (1625-1695)

·         Rev. Samuel Cooke (1687-1747), 2C8X via Robert Peck (1580-1648)

·         Hon. P. T. Barnum (1810-1891), 3C7X via Josiah Starr (1657-1715)

·         Gen. William Henry Noble (1813-1894), 5C4X via Joseph Northrup (1623-1669)

·         Rev. Ethan Ferris Bishop (1825-1883), 5C4X via Robert Lockwood (1600-1658)

·         Rev. Nathaniel Bouton (1799-1878), 4C6X via William Luddington (1607-1661)

·         Major Frederick Frye (1823-1881), 6C5X via Lion Gardiner (1599-1663)

·         Hon. Epaphras Burr Goodsell (1817-1884), 5C5X via Joseph Judson (1619-1690)

·         Robert Hubbard MD (1826-1897), 6C5X via George Hubbard (1601-1684)

·         William B. Hall (1832-1891), wife is 5C5X via Samuel Munson (1643-1688)

·         Rev. Gideon Hawley (1727-1807), 1C8X via James Bennett (1645-1736), served under Jonathan Edwards

·         Alfred Charles Hobbs (1812-1891), expert lock/safe opener, parents from England, wife is 6C4X via William Parker (1614-1686)

·         Philo Hurd (1795-1885), 4C6X via John Hurd (1639-1681)

·         William S. Knowlton (1810-1880), 5C5X via William Knowlton (1615-1655)

·         Rowland Bradley Lacey (1818-1897), 5C5X via Samuel Munson (1643-1688)

·         Rev. Peter Lockwood (1798-1882), 5C3X via Robert Foote (1627-1681)

·         Hon. James C. Loomis (1807-1877), 5C6X via Joseph Loomis (1590-1658)

·         Henry R. Parrott (1829-1919), 5C4X via John Odell (1643-1707)

·         Henry Seymour Sanford (1832-1901), judge, 6C4X via Richard Seymour (1604-1655)

·         Judge Lucius Myron Slade (1829-1901), 5C5X via Peter Cloyes (1639-1708)

·         Sidney B. Beardsley (1822-1890), 4C6X via Joseph Beardsley (1634-1712)

·         Hon. Philo Clark Calhoun (1810-1882), 5C5X via Andrew Warner (1595-1684)

·         Peter Foland (1813-1898), German ancestry, no relation

·         Hon. Civilion Fones (1836-1907), 7C5X via Matthew Allyn (1605-1670)

·         Jacob Kiefer (1829-1911), from Bavaria, no relation

·         David Benjamin Lockwood (1827-1927), 6C7X via Edmund Lockwood (1594-1634)

·         Frederick J. Lockwood (1851-1895), wife is 5C5X via John Odell (1643-1707)

·         David M. Read (1832-1893), wife is 4C6X via Josiah Starr (1657-1715)

·         James Staples (1824-1903), 7C4X via John Crow (1590-1651)

·         Hon. David H. Sterling (1819-1877), 5C5X via Joseph Judson (1619-1690)

·         Col. William H. Stevenson (1847-1901), 6C3X via Mary Hoyt (1635-1692)

·         Rev. Thomas J. Synnott (1818-1884), from Ireland, priest, no relation

·         Curtis Thompson (1835-1904), 5C4X via John Welles (1648-1697)

·         Hon. Russell Tomlinson (1807-1883), 5C5X via Henry Tomlinson (1606-1681)

·         Hon. Amos Sherman Treat (1816-1886), 5C6X via Samuel Sherman (1618-1700)

·         Col. Thomas Lansdell Watson (1847-1919), 6C5X via Isaac Nichols (1625-1695)

·         Andrew L. Winton (1822-1892), 5C4X via Nathaniel Seeley (1650-1687)

·         Thomas Cook Wordin (1787-1852), 4X5C via John Odell (1643-1707)

o   Nathaniel Sherwood Wordin (1813-), 5C4X via John Odell

·         Peter W. Wren (1847-1928), son married Edith Martin (1888-1960) 9C2X via Adam Blackman (1596-1665)

·         Col. Samuel B. Sumner (1830-1891), 6C4X via Edward Parker (1622-1662)