Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

on a mission to Virginia in October, 1642.
During his absence his wife Abigail died
at Braintree, January 1, 1643. 1° 1640 he
was granted one hundred and twenty
acres of land, was a freeman in 1656, and
died December 10, 1666, at the age of
sixty-seven years. He brought with him
from England sons, Samuel and William.
Samuel, the elder son, born in England,
was living in Braintree in 1672, and was
town clerk there in 1690. In 1672 he exchanged
his six acres of land with house
and other buildings for other property,
his homestead being appropriated for the
use of the minister. He married, April
25, 1656, Sarah, daughter of Edward and
Violet Shepard, born 1639, and died January
15, 1680. Their second son, Edward
Thompson, born April 20, 1665, graduated
at Harvard College in 1684, and was
settled in the ministry in that part of
Simsbury, which is now Granby. The
birth of two daughters are recorded in
that town. Owing to the absence of records,
it is impossible to determine who
were his sons ; one of these was undoubtedly
the father of Samuel Thompson, who
resided in East Granby, and his wife's
name was Jemina. They were the par-
ents of Samuel Thompson, born in 1776,
and died in 1832. His wife, Lydia, born
in the same year as himself, died in 1859,
at the age of eighty-three years. Their
eldest child was Samuel Thompson, born
June 26, 1797, as previously noted, and
was the father of Jeanette A. Thompson,
who became the wife of Lothrop Griswold.
NORTHAM, Charles H.,
Corporation and Bank Director; Ex-Coun-
cilman.
The late Charles H. Northam, highlyregarded
resident of Hartford, prominent
for many years in the business, civic and
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
90
financial affairs of the city in which he
lived for more than fifty years, was born
in Washington, Rhode Island, March 9,
1842, the son of Hanford McKee and
Marcy Howland (Chace) Northam. The
Northam family have been residents in
Connecticut since Colonial times ; Jona-
than Northam, great-grandfather of
Charles H. Northam, was one of the pioneers
of Colchester, and Charles Northam,
grandfather, was a manufacturer in West-
chester, owner also of much landed estate.
Hanford McKee Northam, father of
Charles H. Northam, was born near Col-
chester, August 18, 1800, and died in East
Hartford, November 1, 1886. He had lived
in East Hartford for twenty years, since
1868, and had become one of the success-
ful farmers of that section. He was re-
puted to have been a man of sound judgment
and progressive spirit, a Republican
in politics, and a devout Congregationalism
He married, June 2, 1841, in Coventry,
Rhode Island, Marcy Howland
Chace, who was born in that State, March
1, 1813, the daughter of Russell W. Chace,
a wealthy cotton manufacturer, of Wash-
ington, Rhode Island, who lived a reputable
life to octogenarian years. Marcy
Howland Chace, who was also related to
General Nathaniel Green, of Revolution-
ary fame, was a woman of noble character
and quiet disposition, and to her husband,
Hanford McKee Northam, she bore two
children, Charles H., of whom further,
and Helen R., who remained in the old
homestead at East Hartford, and took
prominent part in church work.
Charles H. Northam was educated in
the local public schools, and for advanced
study was placed in the Connecticut Lit-
erary Institute, Suffield, Connecticut,
where he eventually graduated. At the
age of seventeen years, in 1859, he began
his business career which was destined to
become so notable. At the outset, he took