Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

vember 9, 191 5, was one of the best
known citizens of that city. He was born
in Springfield, Massachusetts, September
23, 1843, son °f Elisha, Jr. and Lois Ann
(Thayer) Bliss. He won a position
among the leading publishers of the coun-
try entirely as a result of his own ex-
ceptional ability and his own industry,
sound business judgment and business
character above reproach.
In writing the biography of a noted
physicist, Ira Remsen remarked that some
people are interesting because of their
ancestors and some ancestors become in-
teresting on account of their descendants.
This rule would seem to work both ways
in the case of Mr. Bliss, for while he was
a scion of one of New England's oldest
and most honored families, he had by his
own achievement added fresh luster to
the family name. According to family
tradition the Bliss family had been settled
in the south of England for some two
hundred years prior to the coming to
America of Thomas Bliss, the progenitor
of Francis Edward Bliss. The family
owned houses and lands, and were enti-
tled to vote for members of Parliament.
From time immemorial, they had been in-
clined to Puritanism and detested the
loose manners of most of the church
clergy and laymen and the Sunday sports
in which they indulged with the approval
of Queen Elizabeth and her successor,
James. The Bliss family joined with
others in opposing the unjust taxes imposed
by the king. On one occasion two
of them were included in a party of about
thirty who accompanied their member to
Parliament to London to withstand the
tyranny of the king. James was angered
by such demonstrations, and among the
ethers the Blisses were seized, thrown
into prison, and one time they had to pay
five thousand dollars. Another year, the
King's officers seized their cattle. Thomas
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
Bliss and his eldest son, Jonathan, were
thrown into prison. Thomas Bliss's other
sons, Thomas and George, raised the
money on the old ancestral estate with
which to secure the release of their father,
and after a time were compelled to sell
the estate, the father and mother going to
live with their daughter, the wife of Sir
John Calcliffe. The father divided the
remainder of the estate among his three
sons, Jonathan, Thomas and George, telling
them to go to America. Thomas and
George were afraid to wait for Jona-
than, who was still suffering from the
cruel lashing he had received at Exeter
and from his confinement. Accordingly
Thomas and George, with their families,
in the fall of 1635, left England. At vari-
ous times Lady Calcliffe sent them boxes
of shoes, clothing and other things which
could not be procured in the colony.
Thomas Bliss, the emigrant ancestor of
the Hartford branch of the family, was
born in Northamptonshire, England,
about 1580 or 1585. He married, in England,
about 1612-15, Margaret, whose
maiden name is not known. She accom-
panied him to America with six of their
children. Upon their arrival in Boston,
Thomas Bliss located for a time in Brain-
tree, and removed from there to Hartford,
Connecticut, where he died in 1640. After
his death his widow managed the family
affairs with great prudence and judgment.
In 1643 she sold her property in Hartford,
and with her goods and cattle and eight
children journeyed through the forest to
Springfield, where she arrived after eight
days. Her second and fourth sons, Na-
thaniel and Samuel, had preceded her
there and built a dwelling place. Mrs.
Bliss died in Springfield, August 28, 1684.
Their son, Samuel Bliss, was born in
England in 1624. On November 10, 1664-
65, he married Mary, daughter of John
and Sarah (Heath) Leonard, of Spring-