Return to Index
|
Return to Index |
THE NORTHROP FAMILY |
|
THE NORTHROP FAMILY
Visitors may like to know more about members of the prominent Sherman family who built, worked, and lived in the David Northrop House and The Old Store - owned by The Historical Society. This transcript from The Commemorative Biographical Record, Middlesex County, Connecticut, J. H. Beers & Co. 1903, was researched by volunteers. Italic notes in parentheses have been added to the original text to help explain items pertinent to Sherman or its Historical Society. The spelling "Northrop/Northrup" is of the same family.
HONORABLE DAVID WARD NORTHROP, lawyer, ex-Secretary of State of Connecticut, ex-Postmaster at Middletown, Middlesex county, etc., is a worthy member of a worthy family that for generations has ranked among the best citizens of that section. Mr. Northrop is in the seventh generation in descent from Joseph Northrop, the progenitor of the American family, the line of his descent being through William, Thomas, Thomas (2), David and David (2).
(I) Joseph Northrop, born in England (probably Yorkshire), was one of the first settlers of Milford, Conn., where he united with the church January 9, 1642. Some of the first settlers of Milford came with Eaton and Davenport from England in 1637, while others came with Sir Richard Saltonstall’s company from Everton, Yorkshire, England, to Watertown, Mass., thence to Wethersfield, Conn., then to Milford. Francis Norton, the father of Mary, who married Joseph Northrup, came with the latter party.
(II) William Northrup, son of the emigrant, was born in 1666.
(III) Thomas Northrup, son of William, lived at Newtown, whither he went in the early settlement of that town, his name being of record there in 1712, along with those of his cousins, who had land allotted to them and went thither that year. They were prominent men in public affairs. Thomas Northrup married Abigail Terrill, of Newtown. After her death, and after their children were married and settled, Thomas lived with his son at Milford, Conn.
(IV) Thomas Northrup (2), son of Thomas, when a young man settled in the town of New Fairfield (now Sherman), Conn. He married Joanna Leach, of the same town.
(V) Hon. David Northrop, son of Thomas (2), born in 1758 in Sherman, married (first) Rebecca, daughter of Nehemiah Beardsley, of Scottish origin. She died, and he married (second) a sister of his first wife. The children born to the first union were: Sally, Joanna and Rebecca, and those of the second were: Nehemiah B., Thomas, David, Ezra G., Isaac and John O. The father of these children became a prominent man of the town, extensively engaged in stock dealing and farming. He served in various official capacities, among them was representative of the town in the State Legislature in 1810.
(VI) Hon. David Northrop (2), son of David, and the father of Hon. David Ward Northrop, of Middletown, was a native of Sherman, Conn., born in 1798, and became a man of prominence in the town. A democrat in politics, (he was the first Town Clerk in Sherman beginning in 1802,) he served as representative in the State Legislature in 1835. He held many local offices in Sherman, and was judge of probate, which position he resigned when he removed to Middletown, in 1864 (to live with his son.) He died there in 1873, and was buried in Pine Grove cemetery. (a large monument for the family reads: David Northrop, of Sherman, Conn.) While residing in Sherman he was one of the leading men in the Methodist Church, (the old Union Church, now The Sherman Playhouse Theater, on the knoll.) taking an interest in the same and contributing liberally of his means toward its support. During his earlier years he carried on a mercantile business, ( at" The Old Store" building, now the Society’s store museum and gift shop) later was a farmer, and after coming to Middletown, lived a quiet, retired life. Of his brothers and sisters all are now deceased, and mention may be made of the following: Thomas, who lived to be nearly one hundred years old, died in Burlington, Vt. John O. lived to be over ninety years old (in Sherman), (his only son, John E., was for some years treasurer of the well-known firm of The Comstock, Cheney & Co., at Ivoryton, Conn., and his wife was the daughter of S. M. Comstock, the founder of that business).
David Northrop was twice married, the first time to Adaline Fuller, (daughter of Revilo Fuller, of Fuller’s Tavern where the Sherman Library now stands) of Sherman, Conn., who bore him one daughter, Selina, who died young. Mr. Northrop’s second wife whom he married in 1843 was Clarissa L. Ward, who was born in Sheffield, Mass., daughter of John and Lucretia (Rogers) Ward, and three children were born to this union: David Ward, our subject, a daughter that died in infancy; and Miss Esther M., residing in Middletown.(VII) Hon. D. Ward Northrop was born February 19, 1844, in Sherman, Conn., (now the residence of the Historical Society’s Northrop House Museum) and at the district school of the place received his elementary education. He also attended a select school in Sherman, at a time when one of the teachers was Charles B. Andrews, who afterward became governor of Connecticut, and later chief justice. (This select school was held on the upper floor of "The Old Store".) Mr. Northrop was prepared for college at Amenia, Seminary, Amenia, N.Y., and in 1868 was graduated with honors from Wesleyan University, Middletown.
During his college years he taught two terms in Wilbraham Academy, and for a time after graduation (1868-69) also in Fort Edward, (N.Y.) Institute. In the spring of 1870 he was graduated from Albany (N.Y.) Law School, and the same year was admitted to the Bar of Middlesex County.
A staunch Democrat in politics, he was for several years a member of the Democratic State Central Committee. In 1873 he was elected probate judge, and served in that capacity until 1881, declining re-election. In 1871 and 1881-82 he served in the Legislature, and came to be recognized as the Democratic leader of the House. During the session of 1871 he was chairman of the School Fund committee, and in 1881-82 he was a member of the Judiciary committee, and chairman of the committee on Engrossed Bills. In 1883-84 Mr. Northrop served as Secretary of the State of Connecticut, and was appointed State auditor for the years 1891-92, and again in 1897, for four years. He was also delegate from Middletown in the Constitutional Convention of 1902.
In municipal affairs Mr. Northrop has also been highly honored, having been elected a member of the common council, member and secretary of the board of education, town attorney and assistant clerk of the courts. In 1884-85 he served as mayor of Middletown and from 1886-1890 he was postmaster of that city, receiving his appointment from President Cleveland. In social, fraternal and business relationships he stands high, and among the many concerns of which he is a member or with which he is otherwise identified, may be mentioned the board of trustees of Wesleyan University and its executive committee, of which he is a member; the Psi Upsilon Chapter, located in Middletown, he having continued his interest in the fraternity since he left college (he rendered much assistance in the erection and maintenance of the chapter house on High Street); (which in 2001 still stands as a private residence on campus) and the Middletown Electric Light Company, which he organized, and of which he has been president since its organization. He and his wife are members of the Methodist church in Middletown, and he was trustee of the same for several years. The family residence, built by him in 1875, is situated on Church Street (no longer standing).
In September, 1870, Mr. Northrop married Miss Mary A. Stewart, of Manchester, Vt., daughter of Rev. H.W. and Almira (Roberts) Stewart, the former of whom was a minister of the Methodist Church. Five children have been born to this union, of whom four are living: Clara Louise, now the wife of Dr. Charles S. Ingham, Yale 1891, a professor of Latin, who comes from a prominent Saybrook family: Mary, who recently married Arthrur H. Burdick, Wesleyan, 1899: Harold Stewart, who is now in business at Great Barrington, Mass.; and Richard David, a high school junior,(a third son "Little Willy" died in infancy.) Mrs. Northrop was born in Jay, Essex Co., N.Y., and from the age of ten years was reared in Manchester, Vt., where she made her home with her mother’s sister. She is a niece of Daniel Roberts, formerly of Burlington, Vt., in his day one of the noted lawyers of that State, and whose son is now mayor of Burlington. For a time previous to her marriage, Mrs. Northrop was a teacher in a ladies’ seminary in Kentucky. She is very prominent in D.A.R. circles, and established the first chapter of that order in Connecticut (Wadsworth Chapter, Middletown), becoming its first regent. She has been president of the Middlesex County Orphans’ Home for many years. In 1895, by appointment of Gov. Coffin, she served as one the Connecticut commissioners to the Cotton States Exposition at Atlanta, Ga. Mrs. Northrop has done some literary work of merit, especially in historical lines.