Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

1889, Isabelle Peck, born March 31, 1866,
daughter of Noah Peck, of Gananoque,
Province of Ontario, Canada. Children
G. Kenneth, born June 16, 1890; Edith,
born July 2"], 1899.
FRISBIE, Charles Brown,
Manufacturer.
Among the leading citizens of Cromwell
is Mr. Frisbie, who is descended
from a very old Connecticut family
founded by Edward Frisbie, who was
one of the earliest planters of Branford,
where he located before 1645. In that
year his name appears in the list of
those consigned lots. His wife Hannah
joined the church in 1687-88. They had
a large family of children. Their sev-
enth son, Caleb Frisbie, born 1667, lived
in Branford, where he died October 12,
1737, and was survived by his wife Hannah.
Their second son, Daniel Frisbie,
was born February 14, 1709, in Branford,
and was admitted to the church
there with his wife Ruth, June 30, 1751-
He died December 11, 1785. He mar-
ried (second) May 4, 1749, Ruth (Allen)
Brockett, widow of Brockett. His
second son, Josiah Frisbie, was born February
12, 1752, in Branford, where he was
a farmer ; he was a soldier in the Revolu-
tion ; he died at the age of ninety-four
years. He married, April 12, 1781, Sarah
Rogers, and they were the parents of
Levi Frisbie, baptized September 28,
1794; he was a fisherman at Stony Creek;
he died November 4, 1846. He married,
in May, 1819, Betsy Beach, born August
19, 1799, died May 28, 1842, daughter of
Elnathan Beach.
Russell Frisbie, son of Levi and Betsy
(Beach) Frisbie, was born January 8,
1822, in Branford, and baptized in Branford
church, July 2, of that year. When
a lad of nine years, he left home to live
:
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
152
with Captain Dowd, a farmer in the town
of Clinton, where he remained seven
years.
While still a boy he evinced consider-
able inventive genius and mechanical
ingenuity, one of the practical results of
which was a corn sheller, which proved
very useful and popular. When sixteen
years old, he went to Chester, Connecti-
cut, where he began to learn the carpen-
ter trade under Potter & Wheaton. After
about eighteen months this firm dissolved,
and young Frisbie went to Mid-
dletown, where he found employment in
the patternmaker's department of the W.
& B. Douglass Company. He had long
since made himself master of many tools,
and his quick perception of mechanical
subjects gave him rapid progress. For
twenty-six years he continued in the
shops of the Douglass firm and in that
time accumulated a substantial sum with
which to engage in business on his own
account. During this period he perfected
several articles of small hardware which
were manufactured and sold by the J. &
E. Stevens Company, of Cromwell, on a
royalty. In 1866 this company made him
an offer, under which he took charge of
its works at a liberal salary and came into
possession of a quarter-interest in t he
establishment. The business of the company
greatly increased under his admin-
istration, and a great quantity of hardware
novelties and toys were produced,
which found a wide sale. Mr. Frisbie
became assistant treasurer of the company.
For many years Mr. Frisbie made
his home in Cromwell, and was very help-
ful in building up various enterprises in
that town. He was a man of most kindly
disposition, with confidence in his fel-
low-men, and was ever ready to help the
deserving or ambitious, not only in a
financial way but with sound advice and
genial good fellowship. A man of most