facture of notions wliich were in demand, gaining
so much encouragement that in 1892 the Silver
City Plate Co. was formed, Mr. Sheldon Beach
coming in as a partner. This company was incor-
porated under the laws of the State of Connecticut,
in 1897, when .Mr. Ray was elected president; Mr.
Graham, secretary; and .Mr. Beach, treasurer.
Twenty-five skilled hands are employed, and the
business is not only firmly established, but is in a
constantly increasing condition.
In 1877 Air. Ray was married to Ella A. Gris-
wold, who was born in Meriden, daughter of N. F.
Griswold, a well-known citizen of that city. Three
children were born to this union, viz: Stanley Gris-
wold, a graduate of the high school ; Fayoline Eliza;
and Eber Irving, all at home. Mr. Ray is a Re-
publican and has been a member of the city^ council
from the Second ward, serving efficiently for four
years on the committees on Health, Lamps and
Sewers. He is identified with all enterprises look-
ing to the city's advantage ;.nd enjoys a large meas-
ure of public esteem.
B.\ILEY. The Bailey family is an old one of
Haddam, Middlesex county. Hinman says that the
most of the Baileys of Connecticut descended from
John Bailey, of Haddam. This John Bailey was
one of the original twenty-eight purchasers and set-
tlers of Haddam in 1662. These were generally
young men who married about the time of settle-
ment. Several are known to have come immediately
from Hartford. John Bailey was a constable there
in 1656. He had sons, Benjamin and John.
(II) Benjamin, son of John the settler, had sons
John, Benjamin and Nathaniel.
(II) John (2), son of John, had sons John,
Ephraim, Jonathan and David.
(III) Nathaniel, son of Benjamiin, had sons
Daniel and Ezekiel.
(Ill) John (3), son of John Bailey (2), had
sons John, Nathaniel, Jeremiah, Amos, James and
William.
(III) Ephraim, also son of John (2), had sons
Ephraim. Jacob, Gideon, Stephen, Jabez, Caleb,
Abijali, William, Ephraim and Reuben, and daugh-
ter Olive.
(IV) Reuben Bailey was born in the town of
Haddam and there married Ruea Palmer, of Hig-
ganum. and their daughter Prualla married Ezra
Ray. Reuben Bailey served in the Revolutionary
war, as a private in the eighth company in Col.
Douglass' regiment, under Capt. Cornelius Pliggins,
and was promoted to the rank of sergeant under
Capt. Smith in 1777. He died in Haddam, June 26,
1826. at the age of seventy-two years.
Thus Mr. Eugene H. Ray is seen to be connected
with some of the oldest and most prominent families
of New England. However, a man does not
need the assistance of an honorable ancestral line
to attest his own value, his integrity, energy and
public spirit making him one of the leading men of
this citv. He serves the town when he deems his
assistance required, and he is highly considered in
the ranks of his party. For two years he was the
chairman of the town committee, taking an active
interest in politics, as he also does in Silver City
Lodge, of the A. O. U. W. His family arc nuem-
bers of the Universalist Church, and Mr. Ray is
generous in his support of the same. Although he
is not formally connected with any religious body,
his life is fashioned on moral lines, and his stand-
ards are high.
FULLER. The Fullers of East Haddam,
Conn., descended from Samuel Fuller, one of the
passengers on the "Mayflower," 1620. Mr. Fuller
was the son of Edward and Ann Fuller, both of
whom died soon after they came ashore, and Sam-
uel resided at Plymouth with his uncle Samuel, and
was at Barnstable, as appears by the church rec-
ords, as early as 1641, but it does not appear that
he was a resident of the town until after Jan. i,
1644. He was constable at Scituate in 1641, and
occasionally served as jurvman. He was a pious
man, and retiring in his habits, and he was the only
one of the passengers on the "Mayflower" who set-
tled in Barnstable. His death occurred Oct. 31,
1683, among the last of those who came to Amer-
ica on that noted vessel. His wife was not men-
tioned in his will, so it is likely she died before him.
Mr. Fuller was naarried to Jane Lothrop, daughter
of Rev. John Lothrop, in Scituate, April 8, 1635,
the ceremony being performed by Capt. Miles
Slandisli.
(II) John Fuller, called "Little John" to dis-
tinguish him from others of the name, son of Sam-
uel the emigrant settler, born about 1655, remained
on the parental estate at Scorton until 1689, when
he removed with other families to East Haddam,
Conn. His wife, Mehitable, was admitted to the
Barnstable church in October, 1688, and her sons,
Samuel, Thomas and Shubael, were baptized, and
on May 19, 1689, her daughter Thankful was bap-
tized. Their next son, John, is recorded as born
Nov. 10, 1697, at East Haddam. During the inter-
val they had Dcl)orah and other children, and the
names of children born to John and his wife
were: Charity, born Dec. 11, 1729, married Aug.
7, 1760, Silas Lovel; Isaac, born Sept. 9, 1731,
married Susan Wadsworth ; Seth, born Alay 29,
1734; Hannah, born April 9, 1736.
Haddam, Conn., was settled in 1662, and East
Haddam in 1685. Rev. David D. Field, pastor of
the church at Haddam, and who wrote a sketch of
that town which was published in 1814, says:
"John, Thomas and Shubael Fuller, brothers, from
Barnstable, Mass., settled in East Haddam soon
after the first settlers on the east side of the river,"
and he gives the following genealogy of the family:
John had sons John, William and Andrew.
Thomas had sons Jehial, Rev. Daniel (a min-
ister in Mendon, Mass.), Oliver, Nathan, Jabez and
Jonathan.
1384
COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
Shubael had sons Shubael and Jonathan.
William Ward Fuller, grandson of one of these
three Fuller brothers who settled in East Haddam,
was born Feb. 23, 1760, and died Dec. 27, 1823, in
his sixty-fourth year. He married Nov. 8,
1781, Susanna Knowlton, who was born Oct. ^i,
1759, and who died Oct. 30, 1820. Tlieir children
were : Obadiah, born Aug. 8, 1782, married Achsali
Gates, Feb. 12, 1806; Lura, born Feb. 2, 1785, died
March 5, 1788; Clara, born May 22, 1786, died Jan.
18, 1787; William Ward, born Feb. 2, 1788, mar-
ried, June 14, 181 1, Abigail Gates; Susanna, born
Feb. 27, 1790, died Oct. 30, 1820; Beulali, born
Sept. 21, 1791, married, Nov. 25, 1813, George B.
Chapman; Truman, born Nov. 9, 1793; Stephen,
born Feb. 10, 1796, married, Sept. 2, 1821, Eliza
Howell, and died in November, 1885; Hiram, born
March 18, 1798, died Sept. 15, 1818; and; Flora,
born Jan. 15, 1801, married Jan. 22, 1828, Chauncy
B. Phelps.
Truman Fuller, son of William Ward Fuller,
was born in East Haddam, Nov. 9, 1793. He mar-
ried (first) Sept. 23, 1819, Matilda Lord, who en-
tered into rest Jan. 13, 1848, aged fifty-six years.
He married (second) Louisa P. Cook, June 18,
1848. He died April 4, 1875, at the age of eighty-
one years. His children were : Stephen, born Oct.
7, 1821, married Laura A. Chapman, had two chil-
dren, Edgar and Ida, and died in November, 1885 ;
William Lord, born June 5, 1823, married Emeline
Arnold, had children Francis and William, and died
Oct. 10, 1882; Eliza K., born Feb. 13, 1826, died
Sept. 22, 1897, married David S. Purple (no chil-
dren) ; Flora L., born June 21, 1829, married Eber
R. Ray; Henry T., who resides in East Haddam,
was born Aug. 4, 1831, and married first Mary E.
Emmons, and after her death Elizabeth Lewis, who
had one child, George Lord.
The Lord Family, from which Mrs. Ray de-
scended, was one of those which gained honor and
substance in the first settling of New England. The
first of the family to come from England and found
a family in Connecticut was Thomas Lord, who
came hither, with his wife in 1635, and died in Hart-
ford in 1678, at the age of eighty-seven years. His
children were as follows : Ann, William, John,
Robert, Irene and Dorothy.
William Lord, son of Thomas, married Tabitha
(surname not g^ven), and their son, Ezekiel Lord,
was born in 1755, in Colchester, Conn., removing
in 1815 to Hamilton, Madison Co., N. Y., where he
died in 1839. He married Anna Hungerford, Nov.
8, 1783, and she died July 4, 1849. Tlicir children
w-cre : Lydia, born June 23, 1789, married Uriah
Church, and died Sept. 22, 1862; Rhoda, born Aug.
23, 1 79 1, married Frank Comstock, and died April
17, 1854; Lncinda and Matilda, twins, born April
I, 1797, the former married Hiram Hamilton, and
the latter Truman Fuller, and died in August,
185S; Daniel, horn April 4, 1787, married Amanda
Chapman; William. lx)rn May 2, 1785, married
(first) Cressa Brainard, and (second) Lucy Brain-
ard, and died Nov. 6, 1855 (he was in the war of
1812, and in 1838 was a member of the New York
Legislature lor the town of Hamilton).
EDWIN J. ALLING. Among the leading
farmers of Oxford there is probably none more
energetic or thorough-going than the gentleman
whose name opens this sketcli. He was born in that
town March 18, 1834, a son of Eli and Maria (Bald-
win) Ailing, and is one of a family of eight chil-
dren, four sons and four dau,ghters, namely:
Nancy; Bennett, deceased; Grace; Mary Ann;
Burr, deceased; Burr (2) ; Edwin J.; and Oliva N.
Eli Ailing was a native of Woodbridge, this county,
and was a farmer by occupation. He was called
out for army service in 1812.
Our subject was reared on a farm, and remained
at home until nineteen years of age, when he went
to New Haven, and there worked at the gilder's
trade for four vears. At the end of that time Mr.
Ailing returned to Oxford, remaining here until his
enlistment in June, 1862. He became a private in
Company B, 20th Conn. V. I., which was mustered
into the United States service at New Haven, and
first ordered to Washington, D. C. He participated
in the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg,
and was then in Sherman's campaign, taking part
in the battles of Lookout Mountain, Resaca. Buz-
zard's Roost, Allatoona, Peach Tree Creek, and die
operations before Atlanta. During the last named
engagement he was wounded by an explosive ball
which struck him in the back, two pieces passing
upward and three pieces taking a downward course.
While going to the rear he was again wounded, by
a buck shot, in the back of the head. It passed
through the skull and has never been taken out.
After spending some time in the field hospital, Mr.
.Ailing was sent to the hospital at Chattanooga,
Tenn., and later to one in Nashville, being confined
in these three months. At the end of that time he
was granted a furlough and returned home. Though
he rejoined his regiment in October, he was physi-
cally unable to engage in active duty, and again re-
turned home on a furlough. Later he went to
Washington, D. C. where he was honorably dis-
charged Jan. 13, 1863. Since then he has made his
home in Oxford with the exception of two years,
and in 1884 located on the farm where he now re-
sides. Here he has eighty-eight acres under a high
state of cultivation, improved with good and sub-
stantial buildings, and he also has another fine farm
of si.xty-five acres elsewhere. He carries on general
farming jirincipally, and as a thorough and skillful
agriculturist is meeting with most excellent success
in his labors. He has given considerable attention
to fruit culture, having some eighteen acres in
apples, peaches, plums, and strawberries and rasp-
berries, his market being Naugatuck. In 1900 he
had 1,000 bushels of hand-picked apples, and 150
bushels of strawberries.
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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
138s
On Xov. 30, 1854, .Mr. Allinof was united in
marriat,'(.' with Miss Laura Bigclow, who was born
in iS_53. (laus.jhtcr of Aaron and Elizabeth (Porter)
Bigelow, farming people of Colchester, and grand-
daughter of Joel Bigelow, who was a soldier in the
Revolutionary war. To Mr. and Mrs. Ailing have
been born seven children: Edwin B., born Aug.
18, 1855, lived in Branford, and died Jan. 23, 1891 ;
he married Mrs. Jennie .'\bbott, and thev had three
children, Edwin N., Jennie E., and Frederick N.,
the last named deceased. Wilbur S., born March
7, 1859. is a merchant, manufacturer and traveling
man, and resides in Norwich, Conn.; he married
May Tiffany, and they have three children, Edna P.,
\\ard and Sidney B. Noyes E., born IMarch 6,
1863, is a wholesale and retail dealer in rubber
goods in Bridgeport ; he married Enuna Squares
and has three children, Edna S., Madeline and Ruth
B. Lizzie M. is deceased. Clarence E., born Aug.
5, 1870, resides at Waterbury ; he married Susan
Rider. Arthur E., born Sept. 19, 1873, is engaged
in a rubber establishment in New Haven ; he mar-
ried I'lorence Wheaton. F'ranklin B. married Jen-
nie L. Lum, and they have one child, Doratha. The
mother of this family is a member of the Episcopal
Church.
Fraternally Mr. .\lling affiliates with Upson
Po.st, Xo. 40,'G. A. R., of Seymour, and politically
is identified with the Republican party. He has
served his town as assessor, road inspector, con-
stable and grand juror, and his duties of citizen-
shi]) are always most conscientiously and faithfully
performed. A man of strong individuality and in-
dubitable probity, one who has attained to a due
measure of success in the affairs of life, and whose
influence is always found on the side of right, this
honored veteran of the Civil war assuredly demands
representation in this volume.
GEORGE MORG.A.N is a well-known and re-
spected citizen of New Haven county, whose ex-
perience through the Civil war is one to be remem-
bered to his honor. He is a representative in the
third generation of his name in the United States.
Isaac .Morgan, the grandfather of our subject, and
his three brothers came from Wales when young
men, Isaac locating in West Haven, Conn., William
in the State of New York, George in the State of
\'ermont, while the other brother settled in the
South and became the father of the famous guer-
rilla raider, Gen. John Morgan.
Isaac Morgan married Sarah Dovvnes, of Or-
ange. Cf)nn.. and they became the parents of the fol-
lowing children: George W., the father of our
subject: Martha, who married .-Mien Northrop, and
died in New Haven: Jane, who married a Mr. Har-
mont. of New Haven : Julia, who married \\'ales
Buckingham, a farmer of North Haven : one that
died young; and Mary and Prances, both of New
Haven. Isaac Morrran and his wife died in Orange
and were buried there.
George W. Morgan was born in Orange, Conn.,
and after a meager education learned the trade of
shoemaker, under Alva J. Durant, and followed that
line almost all his life. Soon after nrarriage he
removed to Oxford, where he continued many
years, until he began to feel the confinement of a
sedentary life and changed to a more vigorous one,
engaging in the express business, and for a long
time drove an express and mail wagon between
Zoarbridge and New Haven, delivering many hun-
dreds of papers weekly along this route. While
Jiving in O.xford he filled many of the local offices,
among them that of road surveyor, and was a life-
long Democrat. In 1857 Mr. Morgan removed to
North Haven and located on the Sharon Bassett
farm, and there spent his declining years. After
settling down on the farm he resumed his old trade
for a time, making custom shoes, but later devoted
all his time to his farm until his death, which took
place in December, 1896, when he was sincerely
mourned by a large circle of friends. During his
residence in North Haven he was one of the most
valued members of the Congregational Church. He
m.arried Louisa Piatt, a native of Orange, and a
daughter of Nathan Piatt, a farmer, and her death
occurred in March, 1887. Our subject is the sur-
vivor of the two children born to his parents ; the
other, Ann, died young.
George Morgan was born July 4, 1835, in Or-
ange, Conn., where he received excellent educa-
tional advantages, and upon the family's removal to
Oxford entered a private school, later attending the
high school of that place. L^pon locating in North
Haven, he was undecided as to his occupation, and
spent some time at mason work, also becoming
slightly interested in dentistry and in the daguerreo-
type business in New Haven, but found more con-
genial employment on the farm, and was working
with his father at the opening of the Civil war. On
Aug. II, 1862, he enlisted in Co. D, 15th Conn.
V. I., imder the brave Capt. Samuel Hubbard, and
later under Capt. Willianii Burgess. Before leav-
ing New Haven he was detached to serve in the
commissary department, and accompanied the regi-
ment in the brigade commissary department when
it was sent to .\rlin.gton Heights. During the siege
of Suffolk ^Ir. Morgan was on duty, lieing later
detached to assist in the building of the slaughter-
house at Newport News and to help in the killing
of from fifty to seventy-five head of cattle daily.
At one time his department was required to supply,
food for 30,000 men. During the last year of serv-
ice he was made military conductor of the railroad
between Newbcrn and Morchead City, N. C, but at
the battle of Kinston, in the same State, ^farch 8,
1865, his usefulness was suddenly brought to an
end by his capture by the enemy, and for eighteen
clays he knew what it was to be a prisoner of war.
Sixteen were spent in marching, and two days in
Libby prison, an exchange of prisoners being made
then, and he received his parole on the day of Lee's
1^,86
COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
surrender, and was mtistered out in 1865. After
his return he assisted his father on the farm, taking
entire charge of it after the death oi his parents.
This is a very valuable 1 roperty, consisting of sev-
enty-live acres, and our subject has been very suc-
cessful! in general farming.
.Mr. iMorgan was married to Bessie A. Bassett,
of Hamden, her father, Henry Bassett, being a
farmer of the vicinity. JNIr. Morgan is a stanch Re-
publican and takes a deep and intelligent interest in
public affairs. Fraternally he is connected with
Admiral Foote Post, No. 17, G. A. R., of New Ha-
ven. Among his friends and neighbors Mr. Mor-
gan is highly esteemed, and is considered a most
valued citizen.
JOHN B. McQueen. The McQueen name
is an old and honorable one in the State of Connecti-
cut, where it is borne by members who are promin-
ent in business and professional life. The founder
of this family, Capt. William B. McQueen, came
from Scotland and settled in Branford, Conn., prior
to the Revolutionary war, in which he took an
active part and commanded a sloop in the intereits
of the colonists. Capt. McQueen was lost at sea.
James McQueen, son of Capt. William, and
grandfather of John B., of New Haven, was born
in Branford, Conn., and there lived an agricultural
life. His son, Samuel, was born also in Branford,
March i, 1822, and died in New Haven, in 1879.
In E&sex, Conn., he learned the carpenter trade,
to which he was apprenticed, and when about twen-
ty years of age, came to New Haven. Here he en-
gaged in building and contracting, accumulated
means, was a leading Democrat, and a consistent
member of the Congregational Church.
Father Samuel McQueen married Susan E.
Barnes, who was born in North Haven, a daughter
of Jared and Sarah (HemingAvay) Barnes, of East
Haven, and two children were born to them, — AI-
mira T., who married Andrew G. Smith, a merchant
in New Haven ; and John B.
John B. McQueen was reared to young manhood
in New Haven, and enjoyed educational advantages
both in the graded schools of this city and an ex-
cellent private school. After completing his edu-
cation, Mr. McQueen entered the dry goods store
of Smith, Kimberly & Co., serving for a short time
as an errand boy, but then entered upon a course
of practical work, under his father, in the carpenter
trade. In 1878 he had perfected himself sufficiently
to begin the business of contracting and building,
and with his brother-in-law, and a strong firm was
formed, Mr. McQueen attending to the practical
part, and Mr. Smith the financial part.
On June 10, 1873, Mr. McQueen was married
to Martha E. Baldwin, who was born in New
Haven, a daughter of Samuel and Mary E. Avis
Baldwin, both of New Haven. Two children were
bom to this marriage, Arthur S. and Myra S.,
the latter dying at the age of three years. Arthur
S. McQueen graduated from the Yale Medical
school with the class of 1901, and is now in the
practice of his profession in this city.
In politics, Mr. McQueen has been a life-long
Democrat, while socially he is connected with the
order A. O. U. W. For a period he was sergeant
of the New Haven Grays, and when the Governor's
Foot Guards was re-organized, in 1893, he entered
this order and holds the position of sergeant. The
religious connection of the family is with the United
Church.
EDWARD BEECHER (deceased). In every
community there are citizens whose lives are an in-
spiration to their fellow men. who by the force of
example inculcate the practice of those sterling
virtues, that make so much for good citizenship.
Edward Beecher was one of the most successful
farmers in Bethany township. Orphaned at four
years of age he came, at the age of thirteen years,
to the farm which he subsequently owned, and
which for a period of thirty-six years was his
home. Though summoned by deatii when yet a
comparatively young man, he had fought a good
fight and had won tltat commendation and admira-
tion from his fellows which keeps sacred his mem-
ory and perpetuates the force and worthiness of his
career.
Mr. Beecher was born in the town of Seymour,
New Haven county, May 14, 1841, one of a family
of eight children. With his widowed mother he
came in 1854 to the farm in Bethany, where he
passed the remainder of his years. This fami was
owned by his uncle, Anson Perkins, w-ith whom our
subject remained until the former's death, where-
upon the property came into the possession of our
subject. It is one of the finest fanns of Bethany,
and its operation by Mr. Beecher was attended by
splendid results. He did not, however, busy him-
self on his farm. He was broad and liberal minded,
and he took a deep and lasiting interest in public
affairs, becoming one of the leading citizens of
the town. He was a believer in the principles of
the Democratic party, and held many of the town
offices. In 1879 lie was nominated for the State
Legislature and elected, serving with credit and dis-
tinction. Among the fraternal orders he was prom-
inently connected with the Masonic lodge of Sey-
mour. His death occurred Aug. 3, 188 1, and in his
demise the town of Bethany lost one of its most
highly esteemed and revered citizens.
Mr. Beecher was married Jan. i, 1866, to Miss
Christina E. Tolles, daughter of Nehcmiah and
Pol.ly (Beecher) Tolles, and by this marriage there
was one daughter, Leita, who is now an accom-
plished young lady at home with her widowed
mother. She was educated in the private school of
Mrs. Cady at New Haven, and is a student of music
at Yale, on the organ and piano. Since the death
of our subject his widow, Mrs. Christina E. Beech-
er, has superintended the operation of the farm
COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
1387
most successfully. She has established by her wise
ami sagacious maiiaj^cnieiU the reputation of Ixiiif:;
one of the most successful farmers of Bethany,
carrying on in connection with general farming an
extensive dairy business, but at the present time
Mrs. Beecher and daughter are living in New Hav-
en. Besidos) her marked business abilities, she pos-
sesses many accomplishments and and grace.-: of
character, and is a recognized social factor.
JOSEPH PHOENIX, a well-known and lead-
ing h'rench-Canadian citizen of Aleriden, has licen
more than twenty-seven years a contractor in the
fitting department of the Parker Brothers' gun shop.
He was born June i, 1851, at Chambly, near j\lon-
trcal, Canada, and is a son of Narcisse Phoenix,
who was a native of the same place and a farmer by
occupation. In 1853, the latter settled with his fam-
ily at Actonville, Province of Quebec, Canada, where
were then located three other pioneer families. He
proceeded to clear up a farm in the wilderness, and
built a log hut, which for some years was the only
shelter of himself and household. Being a re-
sourceful and industrious man, be became a very
successful agriculturist and leading citizen of the
locality. He was deft in handling tools, and did his
own carpenter work, where from his own sheep and
flax fields he produced homespun cloth and Hnens,