History of Middletown, (Middlesex County) Connecticut United States of America

Frederic Grant Gleason, musician, was born at Middletown, Conn., Dec. 18, 1848; son of Frederic Lathrop and Martha (Willard) Gleason; grandson of Lathrop and Clarissa (Grant) Gleason; and a descendant of Matthew Grant, who landed in America, May 30, 1630. Both his father and mother were amateur musicians. In 1864 he began an oratorio called "the Captivity," which was cast aside, and he completed the same year a "Christmas Oratorio." Although he was not then a master of harmony, the composition exhibited marked talent, and he began study at Hartford under Dudley Buck. In 1869 he went to Europe and studied at Leipzig under Mascheles, Richyer, J. C. Lobe and Plaidy, and in Berlin under Carl Friedrich Weitzmann, August Haupt, A. Loeschhorn, Oscar Raif and other eminent teachers. While in Berlin he prepared Gleason's motette collection. Upon his return to America he accepted a position as organist in a Hartford, Conn., church, continuing his compositions. In 1877 he removed to Chicago and was for some years music editor of the Chicago Tribune. In 1884 he was elected a member of the board of directors and an examiner of the American college of musicians; was president of the Chicago manuscript society, 1896-98; and became president-general of the American patriotic musical league in 1897. He was awarded a gold medal of honor by the Associatione dei Benemeriti Italiano of Palermo, Sicily, "for distinguished services in the cause of art." Among his compositions are: a three act romantic opera, Otho Viscnti (1876); an Overture Triumphale (1879), for the organ; two cantatas, God, Our Deliverer (1879), and The Culprit Fay (1880); another romantic opera, Montezuma (1884); a Praise Song to Harmony (1885); the Auditorium Ode (1889), specially composed for the dedication of the Chicago Auditorium; Processional of the Holy Grail (1893); Edris, a symphonic poem (1890); The Song of Life, a symphonic poem (1899); and various symphonic works, besides a number of minor pieces for the voice and piano.

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

Titus Hosmer, delegate, was born in Middletown, Conn., in 1736; son of Stephen Hosmer; and brother of Timothy Hosmer, a surgeon on the staff of General Washington in the war of the American Revolution, and judge of Ontario county, N.Y., 1798. His maternal grandfather, Thomas Titus, of Hawkhurst, England, an officer in Cromwell's army, came to America after the accession of Charles II., settled in Boston, and subsequently removed to Middletown, Conn. Titus Hosmer was graduated at Yale, A.B., 1757, A.M., 1760; practised law in Middletown; served in the state council and in the assembly, 1773-78; was speaker of the latter, 1777; was a delegate to the Continental congress, 1778-79, where he signed the Articles of Confederation, and was a judge of the maritime court of the United States, 1780. His son, Stephen Titus, was a graduate of Yale, 1782, chief justice of Connecticut, 1815-33, and died, Aug. 5, 1834. Hosmer the delegate died in Middletown, Conn., Aug. 4, 1780.

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

Samuel Farmar Jarvis, historiographer, was born in Middletown, Conn., Jan. 20, 1786; son of the Rt. Rev. Abraham and Ann (Farmar) Jarvis. He was graduated at Yale, A.B., 1805, A.M., 1808; studied theology, became deacon in the Episcopal church in 1811, and was ordained priest in 1813. He was rector of St. Michael's church, Bloomingdale, N.Y., 1811-19; of St. James's church, New York city, 1813-19; professor of biblical learning in the General Theological seminary, New York city, 1818-19; first rector of St. Paul's church, Boston, 1820-26; in Europe, 1826-35, where he made a study of the history of the church; professor of oriental languages and literatures in Trinity college, Connecticut, 1828-37, seven years of which time he spent in Europe, studying architecture with a view of a new college building for Trinity; and rector of Christ church, Middletown, Conn., 1837-47. He was chosen church historiographer by the general Convention of 1838 and from 1842 devoted much of his time to literary work. He was a trustee of Trinity college, 1841-51, and of the General Theological seminary; secretary and treasurer of the Christian Knowledge society, and secretary of his diocese. He edited the Gospel Advocate, 1821-26, and the American edition of Thomas H. Horne's Mariolatry (1884). He received from the University of Pennsylvania the honorary degree of D.D. in 1819, and from Trinity college that of LL.D. in 1837. He is the author of: discourses on The Religion of the Indian Tribes of North America (1820), Regeneration (1821), Christian Unity (1837), Prophecy (1843); and of No Union with Rome (1843); A Chronological Introduction to the History of the Church (1844); The Colonies of Heaven (1846); A Reply to Dr. Milner's "End of Controversy" (1847); The Church of the Redeemed (Vol. I., 1850). He died in Middletown, Conn., March 26, 1851.

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

Jeremiah Leaming, clergyman, was born in Middletown, Conn., in May, 1717; sonof Jeremiah and Abigail (Turner) Learning, and grandson of Christopher and Esther (Burnett) Learning, of Southampton, L.I., and of Edward and Sarah (HaLl) Blake Turner, of Middletown. He was graduated from Yale in 1745; studied theology under the Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson, and was lay reader at Norwalk, Conn., 1745-47. He was ordained deacon, June 5, 1748, by Bishop Gilbert, of Llandaff, Wales, and priest, June 19, 1748, by Bishop Hoadly, of Winchester, England. He was master of the Charity school, Newport, 1748-58; assistant to the Rev. James Honeyman, rector of Trinity church, Newport, 1748-50; minister in charge, 1750-54; and rector at Norwalk, Conn., 1758-79. His first wife, Ann, died in Newport, July 22, 1752, and in 1755 he was married to Elizabeth Peck, of New York. He was imprisoned as a Tory in 1776, and in July, 1779, his church, parish hoase and all personal effects were laid waste during Tryon's raid on Norfolk, and he was taken to New York by the invaders and remained there till peace was declared. During his imprisonment he contracted hip disease, which crippled him for life and forced him to decline the nomination of first bishop of the American church in 1783. He was rector at Stratford, Conn., 1783-91, and in 1787 refused to go to England for consecration as coadjutor to Bishop Samuel Seabury, who had been consecrated at Aberdeen, Scotland, Nov. 14, 1784. He resided inNew York and at New Haven, Conn., 1791-1804, and during the last few years of his life was totally blind. He received from Yale the degree of A.M. in 1765, and from Columbia the honorary degree A.M. in 1765, and that of S.T.D. in 1789. He is the author of: Defense of the Episcopal Government of the Church (1766); Second Defense in Answer to Noah Welles (1770); Evidences of the Truths of Christianity (1785); Dissertations (1789). He died in New Haven, Conn., Sept. 15, 1804.

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

History of Middletown, (Middlesex County) Connecticut

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