WILLIAM DAVIS ROUND

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. 759

WILLIAM DAVIS ROUND was born Nov. 25, 1831, in Foster, R.I., and is a son of Alvah Round, who was born in the same place about 1800, and died in Scituate, R.I. about 1850.

The father was a thrifty farmer, and owned a place of sixty acres, which he cultivated on advanced and progressive lines. In 1842 he was a Doorite. He was always a deeply religious man, belonging to the Seven Day Baptist Church, where he took a very active part. The elder Round was married March 8, 1829, to Miss Mary Arnold, a daughter of Russell Arnold of Scituate, R.I. She died in 1894, and was mother to the following children: William D.; Freelove, who married George W. Hawkins, and died at the age of 50 years; Warren, a stone mason, who died in Scituate, when about sixty years old; Cynthia, who died young; Joseph B., a machinist in Scituate, where he is now living; Cornelia A., living in Kent county, R.I., the wife of Elisha Watson; Richard B., who learned the tinner’s trade, and is now a merchant in Scituate; Mary Josephine, who married Burrill Moon, and lives in Washington, Rhode Island.

Constant Round, the grandfather of William D., was born in Foster, R.I., and became a thrifty farmer, and his land is now being cultivated by his great-grandchildren. In politics he was a Whig, and was a good man and a useful citizen. Constant Round married Mollie Davis, and both attained a great age. They were the parents of thirteen children. Simeon Round, his father, and the great-grandfather of William D., was probably born in England, whence he came to America at an early age. In the American Revolution he was a bold advocate of the people’s rights, and became a soldier in the Continental forces, and it is known that he was present at the bombardment of Boston.

William Davis Round accompanied his parents on their removal from Foster to Scituate, R.I., when he was a mere child, and there had his schooling. At the age of sixteen years, he took up his life work, and for a time worked at farming and then learned the carpenter trade, which was his business for some thirty years. In 1854 he established himself on a seven-acre farm near Coventry, where he remained until 1868, when he removed to Holmanville, N.J., to work at carpentering. For a few months he was at that point, and then spent a year in Rockville. In 1869 he purchased the Smith farm in Tolland, a place then consisting of thirty-three acres, to which he added an adjoining tract of seventy-five acres. For twenty years he conducted farming on his fertile farm, and at the end of that time sold it to his daughter, Mrs. J.M. Metcalf, purchasing for himself the old Harry Cogswell homestead on Grant’s Hill, a farm of sixty-five acres, where he still carries on general farming.

Mr. Round was an active member of the Tolland Grange for a year. A staunch Democrat, he has served a assessor, and was elected justice of the peace, but refused to serve.

Mr. Round was married July 23, 1854, to Susan Jane Whitman, born Nov. 8, 1835, at North Coventry, a daughter of Rueben and Betsy (Eddy) Whitman, and a most worthy and estimable lady. To this marriage were born: Alvah William, born July 19, 1855, in Vernon, Conn., a farmer at home; Mary Jane, born May 27, 1858, who married Edwin J. Crandall, of Tolland; Frank Ella, born Jan. 5, 1861, who married D.H. Benton, a farmer of Tolland; Anna Louisa, born Sept. 27, 1864, who married Joseph M. Metcalf, of Tolland; John P., born Aug. 7, 1866, married to Martha (Chamblin) Wright, widow of Elijah Wright, of Coventry; Enoch A., born Aug. 13, 1871, married to Jennie Staples, of Tolland.

Although Mr. Round is, as they say, “getting along in years,” he still keeps up his industrious habits, works every day, and takes delight in it. He is a successful farmer, and is much esteemed by his neighbors.

Reproduced by: Matthew Markert, grandson of Dorcas Smith and Leroy T. Markert of Rockville, CT.

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