DWIGHT N. HATHEWAY

BIOGRAPHY

AS RECORDED IN:

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF
TOLLAND AND WINDHAM COUNTIES CONNECTICUT.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PROMINENT AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS AND OF MANY OF THE EARLY SETTLED FAMILIES
PUBLISHER: J.H.BEERS & CO., CHICAGO; 1903 P. 941

DWIGHT N. HATHEWAY is the leading tobacco grower in the town of Ellington, Tolland County, and was born in Suffield, Conn., where the Hatheways are a numerous family.

Charles Hatheway, great-grandfather of Dwight N., was born in 1726 and died in 1807; his wife, Aphia, was born in 1729 and died in 1810. Their children were: Aphia, Philisinda, Charles, Charles (2), Erchiel, Luther, Anna, Lucy, Elijah and Jemima.

Elijah Hatheway was a farmer in Boston Neck, Suffield, and his son, Luther, was born July 12, 1763, in Suffield, where he followed farming. He also operated an oil mill near his home. At the age of eighty-four years, he completed a long and busy life on his own farm. In his active days he sold his oil in Boston, and the journey there and back with loaded teams required two weeks. The homeward load was supplies for the local store. Luther Hatheway was a member of the Baptist Church, and was buried in the old cemetery. Clara Safford, his wife, was a native of Vermont, born Feb. 3, 1774. She lived to be ninety-two years of age, and was buried by the side of her husband. They had six children: (1) Emily, born April 3, 1795, who married Park Loomis, Dec. 15, 1814, and had Luther H., Emily, Jane L., George R., Francis P., Mary S. and Georgiana H.; (2) Milton; (3) Eliza, born Oct. 2, 1799, wife of Allen Loomis, and mother of William R., Henry A., Calvin, Roland Newton, Burdett and Eliza; (4) Maria, born Aug. 12, 1801, wife of Gamaliel Fuller, and mother of Hiram, Apollas, Luther, Marie and James; (5) Clara, born Aug. 16, 1805, wife of Neland Loomis, and mother of Byron and Elizabeth F.; (6) Mary, born Oct. 13, 1809, wife of Charles Mather, and mother of Emily A., Augusta M. and Clara, now living in Hartford, a widow. Emily, Maria and Clara died in Suffield.

Milton Hatheway was born in 1797 on the old homestead, which is now owned by his son, Safford. He was brought up as a farmer boy, and when he became older, took charge of the farm, caring for his parents in their old age, and on their death bought the interest of the other heirs, becoming the sole owner of the family patrimony. As long as it was profitable he operated the oil mill, and he was a tobacco raiser. He died of old age, Sept. 12, 1888. Quite prosperous and wealthy, he gave each of his children $2,000 as a marriage portion. When he died he left a good estate. In politics he was a Democrat, held office as a selectman for a number of years, and was repeatedly elected to the State Legislature.

Milton Hatheway was married Jan. 20, 1819, to Mary Heath, a native of Suffield, who died in 1846, when her son, Dwight N., was four years old. She became the mother of six children. (1) Caroline Maria, Dec. 6, 1819, who married George Champlin, May 11, 1837, was the mother of Mary Jane, born in March, 1840; and Cordelia Elizabeth, born in January, 1842. She died in New London, Conn., Nov. 24, 1848. (2) George Miller, April 2, 1822, married Harriet L. Hyde, Feb. 22, 1848. She was born Sept. 10, 1826, and died Feb. 23, 1858, leaving two children: Harriet Augusta, born March 6, 1851, deceased Oct. 29, 1868; and Willie Hyde, born Sept. 9, 1855. April 14, 1859, George M. Hatheway married for his second wife, Julia M. Purpin, born June 12, 1836, deceased Sept. 27, 1868, who also left two children: George Eugene, born Oct. 14, 1861, who died Aug. 15, 1863; and Carrie E., born Sept. 27, 1864. George Hatheway married (third) April 11, 1869, Lucy M. Adams, born Sept. 17, 1833. (3) Elizabeth Cordelia, born Oct. 16, 1824, married March 10, 1847, Ralph P. Mather, who was born May 26, 1818. They had two children: Henry Milton, born May 30, 1849; and Mary Elizabeth, born Dec. 8, 1855. (4) Luther Bliss, born Oct. 20, 1828, married Nov. 27, 1862, Mary E. Hurburt, born Aug. 17, 1838. Their son, Edward F., was born Dec. 25, 1863. (5) Henry Safford, born Nov. 19, 1830, married June 28, 1857, Mary Jane Denslow, born Jan. 30, 1834. Their children were: Ada Eliza, born Jan. 3, 1860; Melissa Inez, Feb. 23, 1862; and Frank Safford, Dec. 15, 1865. (6) Dwight N.

Milton Hatheway was again married Oct. 20, 1847, to Elizabeth Bliss, born in Middletown, Conn., Aug. 26, 1817, who survived him one year. They were the parents of two children, Sarah Elizabeth, born Feb. 14, 1850, who became the wife of Benjamin Jerome, a fruit grower in Florida; and Frederick Bliss, born Jan. 28, 1851, who married Emma Blush, and is a Suffield farmer.

Dwight N. Hatheway was born March 18, 1842, and attended the district school, and for one term the Manchester high school. Remaining on his father’s farm until the age of twenty-five years, he was then married, Nov. 6, 1867, to Alice T. Pease, who was born Sept. 27, 1841, and died July 23, 1870. After marriage he settled on a small farm which he rented in Suffield, for a year, and then spent a year in Enfield on a farm which he bought, where his wife died. After her death he sold the Enfield property and returned to the home of his parents, where he spent the next five years. At the expiration of that period he was again married, and followed farming until March 31, 1882, when he moved to Ellington, where he bought a farm which is part of the present place where he lives. It was sold by a Mr. James Avery, and was a portion of the original McCray farm, at one time a tract of twenty-two acres. Since then the entire McCray homestead has come into his possession, a farm of 115 acres. An extensive dealer and a leader in tobacco culture, he has about ten acres yearly which he devotes to the better grades, and for the products commands a high price; he sells at wholesale in the bundle.

Mr. Hatheway was again married April 10, 1875, to Hannah Connelly, daughter of Dennis and Mary Connelly, who was born in County Cork, Ireland, March 24, 1852, and came to this country when she was sixteen years old, being two weeks en route. In 1877 they made a long visit to her old home, and spent a year among its pleasant associations. Their children are as follows: (1) Charles H., born March 27, 1876, is a member of the Ellington Grange, and is an inmate of the family home; (2) George B., born Nov. 5, 1882, educated in the district schools, with three years in Rockville high school, and now at home with her (**see footnote) father, assisting him in business; (3) Mary C., born Aug. 14, 1884, educated in the district schools and Rockville high school, class of 1903; (4) Nellie E., born July 9, 1888, now in the Rockville high school; (5) John E., born Feb. 27, 1889, attending the district school.

Mr. Hatheway is a Democrat, and he and his family are members of the Catholic Church at Rockville.

**footnote: “her father” does not seem correct since the child’s name is George, but “her father” is how it was published.

Reproduced by:

Linda D. Pingel

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