History of Pomfret, (Windham County) Connecticut United States of America

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Biographies:

Asa Lyon, representative, was born in Pomfret, Conn., Dec. 31, 1763. He was graduated from Dartmouth college in 1790; and studied theology with the Rev. Charles Backus. He was pastor of the Congregational church at Sunderland, Mass., 1792-93; organized and was first minister of the Congregational church at Grand Isle, Vt., serving for over forty years, though he was never installed as pastor. He secured a tract of valuable land in North Hero, Vt., and built a house of cedar logs in which he lived with his family most of his life. He was a representative from South Hero in the general assembly, 1799-1803, 1804-08, and from Grand Isle, 1812-15. He was chief justice of the county court, 1805, 1806, 1808 and 1813, and a representative in the 14th congress, 1815-17. He died in Grand Isle, Vt., April 4, 1841.

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

Charles Henry Grosvenor, representative, was born at Pomfret, Conn., Sept. 20, 1833; son of Maj. Peter and Ann (Chase) Grosvenor; grandson of Thomas Grosvenor, a soldier in the Revolutionary war, colonel on the staff of General Washington, and judge of the circuit court of Connecticut; and a descendant of John Grosvenor, who came from England to Roxbury, Mass., where he died in 1690, leaving a family of six sons, from whom were descended all the Grosvenors in America. Charles was taken by his parents to Athens county, Ohio, in 1838, where he attended the district schools, taught school for a number of years, and studied law under the Hon. Lot L. Smith. He was admitted to the bar in 1857 and practised in partnership with the Hon. S. S. Knowles, 1858-61. At the beginning of the civil war in 1861 he enlisted as a private soldier, being soon promoted major, and in June, 1863, lieutenant-colonel. He commanded a brigade at the battle of Nashville and for gallant action on the battle-field was recommended for promotion. He was then brevetted colonel and brigadier-general, and in April, 1865, he was raised to the full rank of colonel. At the close of the war he returned to his law practice. He was married first, Dec. 1, 1858, to Samantha Stewart, who died April 2, 1866; and secondly, May 21, 1867, to Louisa H. Currier. He was a representative in the 61st and 62d assemblies of Ohio, 1874-78, and in the latter term was speaker of the house. He was a presidential elector in 1872 and again in 1880. He was a Republican representative in the 49th, 50th and 51st congresses, 1885-91, serving in all the congresses on the committee on rivers and harbors. He failed of renomination because of a change in congressional districts, but was re-elected to the 53d-58th congresses, 1893-1905, serving on the committee on ways and means, as chairman of the committee on mines and mining in the 55th congress, and as chairman of the committee on merchant marine and fisheries in the 56th congress. He was a delegate-at-large from the state of Ohio to the Republican national convention at St. Louis in 1896.

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

Louise Chandler Moulton, author, was born in Pomfret, Conn., April 10, 1835; daughter of Lucius Lemuel and Louisa Rebecca (Clark) Chandler; granddaughter of Charles and Hannah (Cleveland) Chandler, and of Alien Gates and Selinda (Darling) Smith Clark, and a descendant of Will Jam Chandler, who settled in Roxbury, Mass., with his wife Annis and four children about 1637. She was educated in Pomfret, Conn., and at Mrs. Emma Willard's seminary in Troy, N.Y., and in 1854 published a collection of sketches and poems entitled "This, That and the Other," of which nearly 20,000 copies were sold. She was married, Aug. 27, 1855, to William Upham Moulton, editor of a weekly paper published in Boston, Mass. She was the Boston literary correspondent of the New York Tribune, 1870-76, and a regular contributor to the Boston Sunday Herald, 1887-92. She traveled in Europe at various times and after 1878 made London her place of residence during the season. She contributed to the leading magazines and newspapers and edited and prefaced with a biographical sketch of the author, "Garden Secrets," by Philip Bourke Marston (1887)," The Last Harvest," a posthumous publication (1891) and "A Collected Edition of Marston's Poems" (1892). She also edited a volume of selections from Arthur O'Shaughnessy with a biographical sketch. She considered her poems to he her most important work, and she is classed by critics among the leading modern sonnet writers. She is the author of: This, That and the Other (1854); Juno Clifford (1855); My Third Book, short stories (1859); Bed-Time Stories for children (1873); Some Women's Hearts (1874); More Bed-Time Stories (1875); Swallow-Flights, poems (1877); New Bed-Time Stories (1880); Random Rambles (1881); Firelight Stories (1883); Ourselves and Our Neighbors: Short Chats on Social Topics (1887); Miss Eyre from Boston and Others (1889); In the Garden of Dreams (1889); Stories Told at Twilight (1890); Lazy Tours in Spain (1896); In Childhood's Country, poems (1897); At The Wind's Will, poems (1899).

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

Oliver Payson Hubbard, scientist, was born in Pomfret, Conn., March 31, 1809; son of Stephen and Zeruah (Grosvenor) Hubbard; grandson of Col. Benjamin Hubbard, and of Oliver Grosvenor; and a descendant of John Grosvenor, who died at Rexbury, Mass., in 1691. He was a student at Hamilton college, 1825-26; and was graduated at Yale, A.B., 1828; A.M., 1831. He taught in Geneva, N.Y., 1828-29; and in Richmond, Va., 1829-31; was assistant in Yale chemical laboratory, 1831-36; and lecturer on chemistry, mineralogy and geology at Wesleyan university, 1835. He was connected with Dartmouth college as professor of chemistry, mineralogy and geology, 1836-66; lecturer on the same branches, 1866-69; lecturer on chemistry and pharmacy, 1869-71; professor of chemistry and pharmacy, 1871-83; and professor emeritus, 1883-1900. He was a representative in the state legislature of New Hampshire, 1863-64. He was an overseer of Tbayer School of Civil Engineering, Dartmouth college, N.H., 1871-95; travelled in Europe, 1878; was secretary, vice-president and president of the New York Academy of Sciences; member of the Association of American Geologists, of the American Historical association and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; corresponding member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, of the Boston Natural History society and the Montreal Natural History society; and honorary member of the Medical Society of the State of New York, and of the New Hampshire Medical society. He was married, May 17, 1837, to Faith Wadsworth, daughter of Professor Benjamin Silliman, of Yale college, and their son, Grosvenor Silliman Hubbard, became a prominent lawyer in New York city. Dartmouth gave him the honorary degree of A.M. in 1873; the South Carolina Medical college that of M.D. in 1837, aud Hamilton that of LL.D. in 1861. He is the author of a number of scientific contributions published in the American Journal of Science and of History of Dartmouth Medical College and Dr. Nathan Smith its Founder (1880). He died in New York city, March 9, 1900.

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