"345



viz.: Charles E., born in September, 1877; Loretta ;
Elizabeth ; John W., Jr. ; George, at .'school ; and
deorgiana and Harry both died in infancy, i'o-
iiticallv Mr. McDonald is a Democrat; fraternally
he is a Knig-ht of Pythias, and is a charter mem-
ber of his lodge. He also belongs to the Ancient
Order of Hibernians; the Knights of Columbusj
the Independent Order of Foresters ; lodge Xo. 25,
J!. P. O. E., of New Haven; the Union -Club ; and
other societies. Religiously he is a sincere Cath-
olic, and is one of the few original members left
of the Immaculate Concei)tion Parish of Water-
bury. He has led a strictly moral life, and although
he has sold liquor across the bar in his day, and
been strongly tempted by the constant example of
others, he has never tasted any intoxicating bev-
erage,

IIOX. DWIGHT W. TUTTLE, one of the
leailing members of the Xew Haven county Bar,
foi many years the able and efficient prosecuting at-
torney of Xew Haven county, and for a number of
years representative of his town in the General As-
sembly of Connecticut, is a member of one of the
early Xew England families who colonized Xew
Haven.

William Tuttle, the emigrant ancestor, with his
wife, Elizabeth, and three children, sailed in the
shi]j "Planter" from London, England, in 1630,
landing at Boston, and settling in Xew Haven in
If. 39.

Seventh from this ancestor is Hon. Dwiglii W.
Tuttle, his line of descent being through Jonathan,
Nathaniel. Xathaniel (2), Jesse and Jesse (2).

Jonathan Tuttle, son of William, the emigrant,
was baptized in Charleston,. ^Mass., in 1637, and
married Rebecca, daughter of Lieut, Francis Bell,
ot Stamford. Mr. Tuttle made a settlement near
the CJuinnipiac river, in what is now the southern
part of the town of Xew Haven, about 1670, and
there built a bridge over the river which was long
known as Tuttle's bridge. He died in 1705.

Xathaniel Tuttle, son of Jonathan, was born in
1676, married Esther Blakeslee, and died in 1728,
leaving a son Xathaniel, The latter was born in
1714, married first, in 1737, Mary, daughter of
Josiah Todd, and after the death of his wife in
1742, he married Abigail Ingham.

In the fifth generation, Jesse Tuttle, son of
Xathaniel {2), born in 1750, married first, Luc_\;,
daughter of Samuel and Mary (Ailing) Dickerman,
of Hamden, and for a second wife Eunice Gilbert.
Mr. Tuttle was chosen tything-man of Hamden for
the year 1794; grand juror for 1798; one of the
surveyors of highways in 1803; and a selectman in
1805. i8of>, 1807 and 1808. He died in Hamden
in 1849, having been a member of the General As-
sembly for a number of years.

Jesse Tuttle (2), son of Jesse, and the father of
the Hon. Dwight \V., was born Aug. 18, 1802, mar-
ried, Dec. 29. 1825, Danev R., daughter of T<»hn P..

85



Johnson, of Wallingford. The wife died in 1840,
and his second marriage occurred May i, 1842, to
Lucinda Williams, daughter of Willougliby Will-
iams, of Wallingford. Of the first marriage were
lx>rn John, Lucy ad Charles R. ; and of the second,
Dwight W. and Grove J.

Dwight W. Tuttle was born Jan. 11, 1845, '"
Hamden, Conn. After receiving a good common-
schcKjl education he entered the Yale Law School,
from which he was graduated, and was admitted
to the Bar in Xew Haven in 1867. Since then he
has been engaged in the practice of law in this city.
Mr. Tuttle is also interested in farming in East
Haven, and also in Florida. His political affilia-
tions are with the Republican party, and from early-
manhood he has been active and useful in public
affairs. For a number of years he held the office of
town clerk, and has served as a justice of the peace
since he was twenty-one years of age. A conspic-
uously meritorious service from many standpoints
has been that of prosecuting attorney for Xew Ha-
ven county, an office retained for a decade and a
half. He has also served his town as grand juror,
and as a member of the Board of Relief. During
1881, 1889 and 1891 he was a representative from
his town in the General Assembly, his standing as
an attorney entitling him to a place on the Judiciary
committee, on which he served in the last two ses-
sions. Mr. Tuttle has also served as chairman of
the Republican town committee, and as school visitor
in East Haven. In 1897 he was sent to the Senate
from the second district by a majoritv of 2,700. the
largest ever given in this district, and was aj^pointed
chairman of the commission in the Indian Terri-
tory by the Secretary of the Interior. Mr. Tuttle
has been prominent in all political matters, and has
been a delegate to conventions for twenty years.
He was a member of the Xational Leagite, chair-
mar of the delegation, and one of the sub-commit-
tee that drafted the resolutions adopted at that con-
vention.

Socially ^Ir. Tuttle is a member of the ^Masonic
fraternity ; the East Haven Grange, of which he is
I'ast Master ; and the Sons of Temperance, of which
he is Grand Master and Patriarch of the State. On
Sept. 16, 1879, he married Bertha Lancey, who was
born in East Haven, a daughter of John Lancey.

HOX. JULIUS PRATT, one of the foremost
citizens and business men of Meriden of his day
and generation, was one of the State's strong and-
forceful characters.

Bom Xov. 24, 1791, in Saybrook. Comi., ^Ir.
Pratt was a son of Deacon Phineas and Hepsibah
(Pratit) Pratt, and a descendant in the sixth gen-
eration from Lieut. William Pratt, who came from
the parish of Stevenage, in Hertfordshire. Eng-
land, to Xew England, supposedly with Rev.
Thomas Hooker in 1633, to Xewtown (now Cam-
bridge), Mass. Lieut. Pratt was the son of Rev.
William, the grandson of Andrew and the great-



1346



COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.



grandson of Thomas Pratt, of . Baldock. From
Cambridge, Mass., he went to Hartford, Conn., in
1636, and later to Sa)-brook. He married Eliza-
beth, daughter of John Clark, first of Saybrook and
afterward of Milford. Lieut. I'ratt was a large
landholder in Saybrook. From 1666 to 1678 (the
\ear in which lie died) he was deputy to the Gen-
eral Court — twenty-three sessions.

From Lieut. William I'ratt the lineage of Julius
Pratt, late of Mcriden, is through John, John (2),
Azariah and Deacon Phineas Pratt.

(II) John Pratt, son of Lieut. William, the set-
tler, born Feb. 20, 1644, in Hartford, Conn., mar-
ried, June 28, 1668, Sarah, daughter of Thomas
Jones, of Guilford, Conn. Mr. Pratt was a large
landholder in Saybrook, and also in Hebron, Conn.
He first settled in the old part of Saybrook on land
given to him by his father about 1672. On the
death of the father, in 1678, the homestead at Essex
Point came into his possession, and at that time he
removed thither. John Pratt was a blacksmith by
trade, and his shop was located near the spot that
early in the fifties was occupied by Elias Pratt (a
descendant in the eighth generation) for the same
purpose. John Pratt was deputy to the General
Court a number of tmies. He died, it is supposed,
in 1726.

(HI) John Pratt (2), son of John, born Sept.
5, 1671, married, Nov. 20, 1697, Hannah Williams,
and resided in that part of the town called Pauta-
paug. He died supix)sedly in 1744. „

(IV) Azariah Pratt, son of John (2), born
Aug. I, 1710, married, Jan. 18, 1738, Agnes Beebe,
He was a blacksmith by trade, and a resident of
Saybrook.

(V) Deacon Phineas Pratt, son of Azariah, born
June 27, 1747, married, Feb. 17, 1771, Hepsibah,
daughter of Nathan Pratt. Phineas Pratt was a
goldsmith by trade and a skillful mechanic. In
1777 he served in the Revolution, as a member of
Capt. Daniel Piatt's Company, Seventh Regiment,
commanded by Col. William Worthington. He
aided David Bushnell, inventor of the American
Turtle, in the construcion of that machine. Later
in life he assisted his brother Abel in the construc-
tion of machinery for makmg ivory combs. It is
said that he was the first inventor and maker of
any machinery that would enable the combmakers
to compete with the English. He was for many
years a deacon in the Second Church in Saybrook.
Ht died Feb. 4, 1813, and his wife died Jan. 9th,
of the same year.

Julius Pratt, son of Deacon Phineas, in early
life lived at the homestead which was located about
one mile west of Pautapaug Point. At the age of
fifteen he commenced work with his brothers. Abel
and I'hineas, in ivory combmaking, and at the age
of twenty-two engaged with his brother Philo in
the silversmith business in Pautapaug. In Febru-
ary. 1818, he removed to Meriden, and in connec-
tiun with Messrs. Bu'ili Williams, TTuward. Reed.



Starkey, Rogers and Spencer, soon commenced the
manufacture of ivor\- combs on Harbor brook, a
little south of the Middletown and Waierbury turn-
pike bridge. Finding the water-power too small for
his increasing business he removed to what is now
called Prattsville. Joined with Mr. Webb he con-
tinued to be a leading member of the ivorv comb
business, and his energy and enterprise contributed
in a large degree to the development of this branch
of manufacture, which in a few years distanced for-
eign competition, and thirty years ago became a
large and important business, the goods being ex-
ported to nearly all parts of the world. While Mr.
Pratt was heavily engaged in business at Pratts-
ville, he was also interested in another company at
Crow Hollow, afterward at Hanover, where nnich
of his time was occupied. He was one of the pio-
neers in the manufacture of cutlery, and had the
pleasure while living of seeing that business well
established on a firm and profitable basis. He was
a stockholder and director in the Home National
Bank of Meriden from its commencement. In this
connection, as in all other business relations, his
counsel was sought and relied upon at all times.

As a citizen Mr. Pratt always enjoyed the re-
spect and confidence of the community where he
lived. Uncompromising in principle, unflinching in
the discharge of duty, sagacious as an adviser, mod-
est in demeanor, active and liberal in private and
public charities, and alTectionate toward his family
and friends, it may well be said that the best blood
of the Puritans flowed in his veins. He never
sought for preferment, but was called to represent
his town in the State Legislature of 1852, and was
elected senator of the Sixth District of Connecticut
in 1854. In his business intercourse he may have
left the im])ression at times that he was austere,
but his apparent sternness arose from the prompt-
ness and decision with which he always transacted
his business. His language was direct, final and
rigidly business like. He was seldom misunder-
stood, and but few ever attempted to swerve ur
cajole him. Beneath his apparent harshness was an
inner life as gentle as a dove. He loved with a
woman's heart, but he spoke with the promptne-s
of a business man, and in all his movements there
was a kind of military precision which, to the un-
observing, might easily be misapprehended.

On Jan. 9, 1817, Mr. Pratt was married to
Lvdia, born March 18, 1795, daughter of John Ik
VVolfe, of Wcstbrook, Conn. Their children were :

(i) Harriet Malinda, born April 24, 1818. mar-
ried. Sept. 13, 1842, Rev. Walter R. Long, a native
of Cambridge, N. Y., a son of Edward and the
grandson of Edward Long, who was a native of
New Hampshire and a soldier of the war of the
Revolution. The mother of Rev. Walter R. Long
was Prudence (Wells), a descendant of the Wells
familv of Connecticut, and his grandmother Long
was a Comstock and a relative of the Comstocks
who fell on Groten Heights. The children born to



COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.



1347



this marriage were: Walter P. Long, born June
2S, 1843; Julius P., born May 20, 1S45 ; litlward,
born .May 0, 1847, 'l'*-''! -March 8, 1848; Frederick,
born July 31, 1848; and Harriet, born June 20,
1850, died June 30, 1850. The mother died at Meri-

(2j Julius H. Pratt, A. M., born Aug. i, 1821,
was graduated from Yale College in 1842. He
married, Nov. 8, 1843, Adeline F. Barnes. He was
engaged in business in 1849 and 1850, in California,
and later was connected with the firm of Julius
Pratt & Ci)., in the nianufacture and sale of ivory
goods, his time being mostly occupied in Xew York,
with residence in ^Montclair, New Jersey.

(3) William McLain, born Dec. 12, 1837. He
was graduated from the Rensselaer Polytechnic In-
stitine, at Troy, N. Y., with the degree of civil en-
gineer, in the class of 1857. He visited South
America in i860 and 1861, crossing the continent
fron) Buenos Ayres to \'alparaiso, via Mendoza and
the Andes. He enlisted in the Civil war as a pri-
vate in the 8th Conn. V. L, in ^klay, 1862, and was
wounded in the battle of Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862.
He was promoted to the oifice of second lieutenant
in November, 1862, and to that of first lieutenant
and adjutant in June, 1863.

PETER BASSER.MANN (deceased) was in
his life time one of the best-known German resi-
Jife on his own resources, and at his death left a
good name and comfortable competence. He was
born in Hcsscn-Darmstadt Jan. 23, 1843, t'ls son of
a baker, a highly respectable citizen of his locality.

Peter Bassermann spent his boyhood in Ger-
many until the age of fifteen, when he concluded
to seek his fortune in the United States. On cross-
ing the sea he first settled in New Haven, where
his uncle, George A. Bassermann, was a marketman
on Church street. With him he spent a couple of
years, and thus gaincil his first knowledge of the
market business. At this time he was a poor boy,
whose only capital was his energy and industry, and
his means so limited that the hospitality of friends
was necessary to supply mm with a place of shelter.
Strong and robust, he was willing to work at any-
thing to make an honest living, and finally found
eniijloyment in a slaughter-house, where he learned
the business from the bottom up, and remained with
the concern for about five years. During this time,.
b}' the exercise of strict economy he managed to
same a little money. Oct. 25, 1863, he was married
to Sophia Reni'bach, a native of Hessen Cassel, born
in 1847, and a daughter of Jacob an.d Anna C.
(Koenig) Rembach. The parents of Sophia came
to the L'nited States in 1857, and settled in Xew
York, where they eventually died. Of their five
children, Daniel, a retired business man of New
York, and Mrs. Bassermann alone survive.

With his limited means I^Ir. Bassermann began
housekeeping in a very modest way, and about



1867 went into business for himself, locating at
2d avenue and 32d street. This venture did not
prove a success, but resulted in the loss of prac-
tically all his means. Not discouraged, and with
the help of his good wife, he soon had a small capi-
tal saved, and again started into business for him-
self, opening a place of business at nth avenue and
43d street, where he was successful and made
ir.oney. He disposed ot this business advantage-
ously, and took up other lines of business, in all
of which the sympathy and help of his wife was of
great assistance.

In 1875 Mr. and Mrs. Bassermann paid a visit
to the familiar scenes of their birth in Germany^
and on their return to New York Mr. Bassermann
opened a store at 51st street and 1st avenue, and re-
mained in business there until his .removal t(j New
Haven in 1882. He here began the manufacture
of bologna, near East Rock, and after two years
opened a market business at 50th street and loth
avenue, New York. He evinced his faith in realty
by the purchase of property at 47th street and lotli
avenue, and remained in that metropolis until his
return to New Haven, in 1884. With his brother
Anton he engaged in the market business on Grand
avenue, New Haven, and after severing this con-
nection began to build the block at Nos. 900-902
State street, in which he followed the market busi-
ness until his retirement, about 1895. Since then
Mr. Bassermann has not been idle, but has spent
his time in looking after his property holdings and
in public-spirited interest in general affairs. His
death occurred Jan. 2, 1902, superinduced, no
doubt, by 'his excessive energy and unwillingness
to take needed rest.

Fraternallv -Mr. Bassermann was a member of
Rock Lodge, 'F. & A. M., the I. O. O. F. and the
Hesscn-Faren. In religious belief he .was a
Protestant. He is survived by the wife, who had
so faithfully assisted him in every work, and to
w'hose cheery counsel and encouragement he owed
so much.

-\LFRED TREAT. For three generations Mr.
Treat's family has been among the sturdy, success-
ful farmers of the town of Orange. His grand-
father, Samuel, and his father, Jonah, were both
l)orn on the same farm. The former died at the age
of fifty-nine, after rearing a family of three sons.

Jonah Treat, the father of -Alfred Treat, at-
tended the common schools while a boy, and when
a \-oung man came into possession of a portion of
his father's farm, where he passed the remainder
of his life, and died at the age of seventy-five. He
was a man of military instinct, and was chosen cap-
tain of a company of horse, made of men from Mil-
ford, Orange, Woodbridge and Bethany. His
wife, Rebecca, was the daughter of Josepli Treat,
also a farmer and early settler in Orange, who
passed away after attaining the Scriptural limit of
three score vcars and ten. Mrs. Rebecca Treat, the



1348



COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.



mother of Alfred, lived to be seventy-five. The
family were Congregationalists, and attended ser-
vices originally at Milford, but later Mr. Treat
aided in building the Congregational church at Or-
ange, and ultimately he and his wife united with
that body.

Alfred Treat was the youngest son and is the
only survivor of a family of eight children, six of
whom reached adult age. He was born March 25,
1809, on the same farm on which he now lives. As
a boy he showed remarkable physical strength and
exceptional executive capability. When only nine
years old he aided in "raising" his father's house,
and while a youth took charge of the farm on his
parents" behalf, falling heir to the property on the
latter's death. All the buildings at present stand-
ing on the premises have been erected by him with
the exception of the barn, which stood for more
than a hundred years, and which burned March 21,
1902 ; this he had frequently covered with a new
roof. Like his father, his tastes inclined him to
military service, and for seventeen years he was an
efficient member of the local troop of horse, hav-
ing as superior officers during this period four
colonels and nine captains, and remaining in the
company until it was disbanded. The organiza-
tion was famous in its day, and during- its e.xistence
acted as an escort to many of the State's governors ;
and of all those connected with it at various times
as officers or privates, Mr. Treat is the only sur-
vivor.

In 1835 Mr. Treat married Catherine, a daugh-
ter of Enoch Clark, an Orange farmer. She was
the mother of five children : Frances J., Atw^ater
J., Thelous C, Otis A., and Harriett ^I. Atwater
J. resides in Indianapolis, Ind., and is a success-
ful merchant tailor ; he married Isabelle Laidley,
of Massachusetts. Frances J. married Treet.Camp,
of Milford. Harriett M. married George S. War-
ren, of Indianapolis. Thelous C. died aged thirty-
four. Otis A. is mentioned in a succeeding para-
graph.

Alfred Treat has passed his ninetx-lhird birth-
day, yet shows a keenness of mind and an alertness
of body which are truly wonderful. He wears no
glasses, is a careful financier and manages his busi-
ness affairs with the skill and energy of a man of
twenty-five. In the autumn of 1899 he served as
grand marshal of the parade in Orange, being then
more than ninety years old. His life, while not
filled with stirring events, has been a useful and
happy one, and he can look back upon the past
without regret. He has cared for no office, al-
though he consented for two years to serve on the
school committee. He is a member of the agri-
cultural associations of Milford and Orange, in
which he takes a lively interest, having been award-
ed more premiums than any other man. In politics
he is a Republican.

Otis A. Tre.\t, third and youngest son of Al-
fred Treat, was born .\pril 10, 1845. H's educa-



tion was obtained in the conimon schools, and at
Williston Seminary, East Hampton, Mass. After
leaving school he returned to the paternal farm, as-
sisting his father in its cultivation and manage-
nunt, for more than twenty years having virtually
the charge of same. He now owns 160 acres,
where he net only carries on general farming but
also an extensive dairy, selling milk at wholesale.
He owns a large herd of finely bred cattle, and like
his father has taken premiums at many fairs. He
is a member of the Agricultural Association and
of the Grange, and he also belongs to the Royal
Arcanum. He is a member of the Congregational
church, and politically a Republican.

Otis A. Treat has been twice married. His
first wife was Emma Smith, a daughter of Lewis
Smith, a farmer in Milford; after twentv years of
married life, she died in 1893, at the :ige of forty-
six. For his second wife, Mr. Treat wedded
Evelyn, a daughter of Lewis White, a wholesale
grocer of Brooklyn, X. Y. One child, now de-
ceased, was born of this union.

ANDREW URE. A man's success is not to be
measured by the height to which he attains, but the
depths from which he came. Many are born suc-
cessful, that is to say, with wealth, advantages of
family connection or position, which assure them
much of what others acquire only after unrelenting
toil and great energy. Our subject belongs dis-
tinctively to the latter class. He was born of
Scotch-German parents, whose legacy to him was
a good training, and a liberal endowment of the
grand traits of character for 'vhicli their national-
ities are noted.

Andrew L're was born April 2~. 1854, in Ken-
sington street. Xew Haven. His father. John Ure,
and his grandfather, Andrew L're. were both na-
tives of Scotland, from the vicinity of Glasgow.
John Ure learned the trade of a carpet weaver
in his native country, and when but a boy in his
'teens came to the United States. The grandfather,
.\ndrew Ure, came soon afterward, settling in
Yonkers, N. Y. He, too. was a carpet weaver, and
worker at his trade in Yonkers. His family com-
prised several sons, one of whom was the father of
Andrew Ure, late editor of the Sunday Call, of
Newark, X. J. John Ure, father of our subject,
followed the business of carpet weaving a jrreat
many years, in fact, the greater part of his life,
workiing at same in the employ of the D. M.
Read Co.. of Bridgeport, Conn., for some years.
In the latter years of his life he conducted a small
weaving establishment of his own. in George street,
Xew Haven. He lived to the age of about seventy-
five years after 1861 residing in Highwood, where
he owned a small farm. He was a highly respected
old gentleman, possessing many of the sterling char-
acteristics of his nationality, was strictly honest in
his dealings with all, and well-meaning in every
action. Politicallv he was identified first with the





l^O\y*-AA.' — /6tA>C-



COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.



1349



I Democratic party, but later he became a Republican,
I and continued to act with that partv the remainder
of his days. John L're was married, when a young
man, to Miss Leah Spear, of Speartown (now
called L'pper Mont Clair), X. J.. oriLyinally named
in honor of the Spear family, as they were the first
settlers there. They were of (icrman extraction.
The !,'reat-,t:randfather .of Leah Spear was shot at
by an Indian one day wlien cho])pin the arrow destroyed the sight of one eye. Mrs.
Leah (Spear) L're still survives, residing at High-
wood, and though past eighty is well preserved.
To Mr. and Mrs. John L're were born children as
follows : Byron, who is a resident of Highwood
( he was a member of the 27th Regiment during
the Civil war, and was wounded at Fredericksburg,
a bullet passing through his left shoulder) ; John,
wl-.o was a member of the 2d Connecticut Heavy
.Artillery in the war of the Rebellion, and was
killed at Cold Harbor; James, who died in New
I Ltvcu ( he was a tool maker by trade) ; Welling-
ton, now residing in East Haven, who was a suc-
cessful grain and feed merchant of New Haven,
until obliged by poor health to retire : Andrew,
whose name introduces this sketch ; and Loisa,
Mrs. Robert Sutton, of Xew Haven.

Andrew Ure was little more than a child when

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