Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

Colonel Gay's Connecticut regiment ;
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
in
August of the same year he enlisted for
two months under Captain Timothy
Cheney, Major Pease's regiment; in 1777,
he enlisted for two months under Captain
David Johnson; in 1778 for one
month in Captain Henry Amid's com-
pany, Colonel Worthington's regiment;
in 1779, for two months, and in 1780 for
two months in Captain Ozias Bissell's
company. This is his own record, as furnished
in application for a pension, made
August 4, 1832, at which time he was living
in Manchester, and his claim was
allowed. He enlisted at East Hartford.
He married Ruth Slate, and they were
the parents of eleven children.
His son, Allen Symonds, was born November
21, 1795, and was a mill-wright,
residing at Burnside, Connecticut, where
he died December 5, 1877. He married,
about 1817-18, Amanda Hancock, who
was born February 24, 1800, and died
March 26,. 1873, at Burnside.
Their second son, Sylvester Russell
Symonds, was born August 16, 1824, in
Manchester, and in early life was a sailor.
He made three voyages on a whaling ves-
sel, and for two years subsequently sailed
on coast trading vessels. He enlisted as
a soldier in 1862, in the Civil War, becoming
a member of Company K, Twentyfifth
Regiment of Connecticut Volun-
teers, and served one year. Later, he set-
tled at Unionville, Connecticut, where he
engaged in painting, and died September
I 5> I 9°5- He married, August 25, 185 1,
at Greenport, Long Island, Sarah Bogar-
dus Wetmore, who was born August 16,
1828, in Brooklyn, New York, died September
16, 1916, in Unionville, daughter
of William Whiting and Eleanor (Beebe)
Wetmore. They were the parents of
eleven children.
William Francis Symonds, third son of
Sylvester Russell and Sarah Bogardus
(Wetmore) Symonds, was born Decem-
ber 10, 1861, at Burnside. Connecticut,
and was a child of three years when his
parents settled in Unionville. After
attending the public schools, he took a
course in shorthand, and was subse-
quently a student at Bowers' School of
Photograph in Minneapolis, Minnesota,
where he graduated in 1884. For three
years he continued in this occupation in
Minneapolis, and in 1888 returned to
Unionville, where he has been continu-
ously engaged to the present time as a
tinning, plumbing, and hardware mer-
chant. He is well-known and respected
in Unionville as a useful and patriotic
citizen. He is a member and past master
of Evening Star Lodge, No. 101, An-
cient Free and Accepted Masons ; also
a member of Columbia Chapter, No. 31,
Royal Arch Masons, and Lee Council, No.
25, Royal and Select Masters; he is a
past patron of the local chapter, Order of
the Eastern Star, in which he served two
terms. He was long a member of Tunxis
Hose Company, No. 1, of Unionville, and
belongs to the Association of Veterans of
that company. In political principle Mr.
Symonds is a Republican, but he has
never participated in active politics,
16
although he is a steadfast supporter of its
principles.
Mr. Symonds married, December 16,
1891, Grace Elizabeth Ferrell, born in
South Hadley Falls, Massachusetts,
daughter of George and Elizabeth (West)
Ferrell, of that town, died in Unionville.
They were the parents of Blanche Eliza-
beth Symonds, born September 24, 1892,
now residing with her father in Union-
ville.
Through his mother, Mr. Symonds is
descended from Thomas Wetmore, who
was born in 161 5 in one of the western
counties of England, according to family
tradition, and came to America in 1635.