History of New Britain, (Hartford County) Connecticut United States of America

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Biographies:

Elihu Burritt, philanthropist, was born in New Britain, Conn., Dec. 8, 1810; son of Elihu Burritt and grandson of Elihu Burritt, both soldiers in the Revolution. He was brought up on the farm and upon the death of his father in 1828 he apprenticed himself to a blacksmith. He was extremely studious and was assisted by his brother who conducted a small academy which Elihu for a time attended. With his brother's help he mastered Greek, Latin, mathematics and the modern languages. He became a grocer but the financial crisis of 1837 wrecked his business, whereupon he removed to Worcester, Mass., where he resumed his work at the anvil and his study of the languages in the library of the Antiquarian society. In 1839 he commenced the publication of the Literary Gemin?, a monthly periodical, printed in French and English, and designed principally as a guide to students of the French language. His translation of the Icelandic sagas, relating to the discovery of America, drew attention to his scholastic achievements. He acquired the sobriquet of The Learned Blacksmith, and during the season of 1841-42 delivered his lecture, Application and Genius, in not less than sixty cities and towns, and attracting unusually large audiences. He argued that all attainment was the natural result of persistent application, of the possibilities of which he was himself an exponent, since he had mastered some thirty-two languages during the course of his busy life. His next lecture, "Universal Peace," was delivered before a large audience at Boston. He was warmly welcomed as an able co-worker by the prominent little band of peace advocates at Boston, and, upon his return to Worcester, established and edited The Christian Citizen, a journal advocating, among other reforms, the peaceable settlement of international disagreements. In 1846 he sailed for England, where he accomplished much good work in conjunction with the peace advocates of that country, and while there he laid the foundation for the international association, called "The League of Universal Brotherhood," with which his name is indissolubly linked. He edited and published for many years The Bond of Brotherhood, a periodical which he established while in England, and he was prominently instrumental in organizing the first peace congress, held in 1848, and also those held in 1849 and 1850. In the latter year he returned to America, lecturing on peace, temperance, anti-slavery and self-culture. In 1852 he assumed editorial charge of the Citizen of the World, a Philadelphia paper, and in its columns he strenuously advocated the emancipation of the slaves by purchase. The failure of this project caused him bitter disappointment. He was successful in his efforts to secure cheap ocean postage. In 1865 he was appointed U. S. consul at Birmingham, retaining that office until the inauguration of President Grant. The later years of his life were spent in retirement on his farm at New Britain, where he devoted himself to study, to literary work, and to the moral, religious, and educational development of his fellow-citizens. A list of his books includes some thirty-two volumes, among which the more notable are: Sparks from the Anvil (1847); Peace Papers for the People (1848); Olive Leaves (1850-53); Thoughts and Things at Home and Abroad (1854); Year Book of Nations (1856); Walk from London to John O'Groat's, with Notes by the Way (1864); Walk from London to Land's End and Back (1865); Lectures and Speeches (1866); The Mission of Great Sufferings (1867); Walks in the Black Country and its Green Borderland (1868); Ten Minute Talks on all Sorts of Subjects: with Autobiography (1873); Why I left the Anvil (1877); and Chips from Many Blocks (1878). See Elihu Burritt; A Sketch of His Life and Labors, by Charles Northend (1879). He died in New Britain, Conn., March 9, 1879.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

James Kilbourne, representative, was born in New Britain, Conn., Oct. 19, 1770, He was a poor boy and supported himself by working on a farm and serving as a clerk in a store. Through the instruction of the Rev. Alexander Viets Griswold he prepared for orders in the Protestant Episcopal church, and he was made deacon in 1800 and ordained priest the same year by Bishop Jarvis. He was sent as a missionary and land agent for a company of forty immigrants desirous of settling in Ohio, and purchased 16,000 acres of land, the site of Worthington, and established St. John's parish. He organized missions and laid the foundation for the future diocese of Ohio. He retired from the ministry in 1804, and was appointed a civil magistrate of the newly-admitted state and an officer of the state militia, gaining the rank of colonel. In 1805 he became surveyor of public lands, and as such laid out the city of Sandusky. He was a trustee of Ohio university, 1804-20; one of fourteen trustees to fix a site for Miami university in 1809; a trustee and president of the corporation of Worthington college, 1812-27, and a supporter of Bishop Chase in founding the Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal church in the diocese of Ohio, known as Kenyon college, at Gambler, Ohio, in 1827. He was appointed by President Madison in 1812 one of the commissioners to fix the boundary line between the public lands and the Virginia reservation, and was a representative from Ohio in the 13th and 14th congreeses, 1813-17. While in congress he drew up a bill proposing the donation of lands to actual settlers in the northwest. He invested his fortune in establishing factories for the manufacture of woollens for the army, and continued them at a loss of all his capital, 1812-20. He then engaged in surveying. He was a representative in the state legislature, 1823-24 and 1838-39; president of the state convention of 1839 to lay the cornerstone of the capitol at Columbus and of the Whig state convention of 1840, and assessor for Franklin county, 1889-45. He was married, Nov. 8, 1789, to Lucy, daughter of John Fitch, inventor of the steamboat, and secondly, in 1808, to Mrs. Cynthia (Goodale) Barnes, daughter of Dr. L. Goodale, of Worthington, Ohio. His son, Lincoln, was a leading merchant of Columbus, Ohio, and Lincoln's son, Col. James, became prominent in banking and railroad affairs, held various important local positions in Columbus, and was a delegate to the Democratic national conventions of 1892, 1896 and 1900. James Kilbourne, St., died in Worthington, Ohio, April 9, 1850.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor