Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

ing his life and residence in Hartford. He
was a member of the Society of Mayflower
Descendants in the State of Con-
necticut, and had served that society as
its delegate to three of the meetings of
the Congress which was held in Old Plymouth,
Massachusetts, triennially. He
was a member of the National Association
of Museums in America, to which
he was often sent as delegate by the
Wadsworth Atheneum of Hartford, to its
meetings in Philadelphia, Boston, New
York, Washington, Milwaukee and Chi-
cago. He was a member of the Jeremiah
Wadsworth Society, Sons of the Amer-
ican Revolution ; also the Walpole Society
of New York. He gave freely of his store
of knowledge and had classified many
private collections and installed public
collections in Albany, New York; and
Waterbury, Litchfield, and New Haven,
Connecticut.
On April 23, 1874, Mr. Pitkin married
Sarah Howard Loomis, born December
12, 1854, daughter of Chester Martin and
Mary Weston (Thayer) Loomis. The
latter was a lineal descendant of John
Alden and his wife, Priscilla (Mullins)
Alden of Pilgrim fame, who came with
the company on the "Mayflower" in 1620.
The former, Chester Martin Loomis, was
a lineal descendant of Joseph Loomis,
one of the original settlers of Old Windsor,
Connecticut, in 1639. Chester Martin
Loomis and Mary Thayer were married
in Boston, and spent many years there,
coming later to Connecticut, where Sarah
Howard Loomis was born, graduated
from the Hartford High School in 1871,
when she went to Boston and passed the
examination into the New England Conservatory
of Music, studying there with
Carlisle Petersilea and Stephen A.
Emory. She united with the First
Church of Christ in 1867 and taught in
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
the Sunday school of that church for
many years.
Mrs. Pitkin was treasurer and president
of the Hartford Mc All Auxuliary, and
visited the Mission Stations in Paris in
1906. She was first secretary of the
Ruth Wyllys Chapter, Daughters Amer-
ican Revolution, and on its board of
management seven years. She was on
the board of managers of the Woman's
Christian Association. She was charter
member of the Hartford Art Club, and
served as its treasurer and president, re-
spectively. She was charter member of
member of
the Monday Morning Club ;
the Mayflower Society of the State of
New York, being No. 93, and was sent
to the first Mayflower Congress held in
this country at Plymouth, Massachusetts,
and attended the first meeting of the May-
flower Society in New York at the
Waldorf Astoria in 1894. When Mr. Pit-
kin united with the Connecticut Society
of Mayflower Descendants, Mrs. Pitkin
joined that also.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Pitkin have been
sent as delegates to the Triennial Con-
gress at Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Mrs. Pitkin lectured on Ireland, the
Holy Land, Morgan Collections, and the
Mayflower Pilgrims in the Old and New
World. She very materially assisted in
the compilation of the Pitkin Genealogy,
procuring the histories of many members
of the family, copying the entire book,
reading proof when it was in the process
of publication, and making all the indices.
She also published the Thayer (her
mother's) genealogy and had it privately
printed. She assisted in sending out
circulars to obtain genealogical material
for the Loomis genealogy, and is one of
the executive committee of the Loomis
Family Association which meets every
three years at the Loomis Institute in
Old Windsor, Connecticut. She has pub-