CHARLES R. HALL

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. 1215

CHARLES R. HALL is a prosperous and thrifty farmer of North Coventry, Tolland county, and descends from a branch of the Hall family that made Rhode Island its home for many generations. The name is a difficult one to trace in New England annals on account of the great number of that name who came at different times from the Old World to make their home on these shores. Twenty-eight came in the years prior to 1660, and seven of these were John Hall.

The great-grandfather of Charles R. Hall was Freeborn Hall, and his son, Solomon, was born and lived in West Greenwich. He married Phoebe Green, of Coventry, R.I.; he died young, his widow living to be eighty-four. To Solomon and Phoebe Hall were born: Alma C., the wife of Welcome Johnson, of East Providence, R.I.; Amos, the father of Charles R.; Eunice, the wife of Jefferson H. Welch, of Tolland; one who died very young.

Amos Hall was born at West Greenwich, R.I., June 22, 1822, where he remained until manhood, when he married Eunice Green, June 22, 1851, and died at Coventry, Conn., April 23, 1874. Mrs. Eunice Hall was born at Coventry, R.I., Feb. 1, 1828, and died April 9, 1888. She was a daughter of Reuben and Esther (Whaley) Green, being a member of the following family: Rachel, the wife of Samuel Andrew, of Coventry, R.I.; Job W., who lived at Coventry, R.I., where he died; Eunice, who is mentioned above; Barbara, wife of Clark Knight, of Coventry, R.I., where she lived and died; James H., of Coventry, Rhode Island.

Amos Hall owned a farm in West Greenwich, R.I., until 1858, when he sold it, and the same year bought 143 acres in Coventry, Conn., this farm now being owned by his son, Charles R. Here Mr. Hall spent the remaining years of his life engaged in farming and cattle dealing, killing and dressing beef, and making himself successful in several lines. In politics he was a Democrat, and filled several local positions.

Mr. and Mrs. Amos Hall had the following children: Charles Rhodes, the subject of this article; Oliver C., a farmer in Coventry, who is married and has a family; Phoebe Easther,**(see footnote) the wife of William R. Rosebrook, a business man of East Hartford, Conn.; Emma Jane, the wife of Elisha P. Brown, of Bloomfield, Connecticut.

Charles Rhodes Hall was born in West Greenwich, R.I., and was brought by his parents when five years of age to Coventry, Conn., where he had his schooling mainly in the public school, being a pupil in a private school for a time, and for a year and a half at the Natchaug high school of Willimantic. Reared on his father’s farm, he helped to carry the burdens of farm life, as he was the oldest of the children. After the death of his father, Charles R. Hall bought out the other heirs, and has since carried on the homestead farm.

Mr. Hall was married by Rev. W.J. Jennings, April 30, 1875, to Mary E. Goodwin, a native of Coventry, and a daughter of Henry S. and Anna (French) Goodwin.

The Goodwin family has been long established in New London, Conn., where Azel Goodwin was born, Aug. 31, 1769. He had one brother, Jonathan, a minister in Mansfield, Conn. He married in 1809 for his second wife, Clarissa Hunt, a sister of Gad Hunt, and aunt of Governor Washington Hunt, of New York. This Mrs. Goodwin died in 1829, leaving four children: Clarissa H., married to Sedgwick White, of South Hadley, Mass.; Eveline, married to Porter Edwards, of Hartford; Charles F., of Waterbury, who married Rebecca Bridgeman, of Northhampton, Mass.; Henry S., born in Coventry, who married Anna E., a daughter of Eleazer and Fanny (Woodward) French, by whom he had the following children: (1) Charles Henry, who died at the age of seventeen years; (2) Horace Hunt; (3) Mary E., the wife of Charles R. Hall, born April 30, 1855; (4) Amelia F.

To Mr. and Mrs. Charles R. Hall were born: (1) Ernest Leslie, born Jan. 27, 1876, who had his business training at Huntsinger’s Business College and is now in the employ of J.P. Root, a prominent merchant of Tolland, Conn.; (2) Leroy Archie, born Oct. 21, 1880, who graduated from the Rockville high school in 1901; (3) Edna Anna, and (4) Elsa Eunice, twins, born Nov. 14, 1889.

Mr. Hall does not devote his entire time to farming, but is engage in getting out timber, and at one period was interested in buying and selling cattle. For fifteen years past he has sold fertilizer, and now represents the Agricultural Chemical Company. Mr. Hall is Democratic in his politics, and has always taken a very active part in local affairs. For six consecutive terms of three years each he has been a member of the school board, and has been chairman of the board for eight or ten years; in 1880 he was tax collector, and assessor in 1891 and 1893; he has held the office of selectman for the past six years; his services as justice of the peace were creditable, and altogether his record is a good one. In 1892 Mr. Hall united with the A.O.U.W., of South Coventry, and for the past four years has been an agent for the Tolland County Mutual Insurance Company.

**footnote: “Easther” is the spelling per the publication.

Reproduced by:

Linda D. Pingel

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