Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

hundred and seventy-five acres. By his
industry and thrift he has prospered and
is recognized among the most substantial
farmers of his native town. Mr. Kellogg
and his entire family are affiliated with
the Congregational church of Newington,
and he is a charter member of Newington
Grange, and member of the Sons of the
American Revolution. Mr. Kellogg is
interested in the welfare and progress of
his home town, and has served in various
capacities, such as collector of taxes,
member of the Board of Relief, selectman,
and as school committeeman of the
North District, and after consolidation of
the town schools was a member of the
Town Board. He is independent of partisan
bias, though he acts usually with the
Republican party. On his farm are located
several houses, and he is an extensive
owner of valuable real estate in the sec-
tion known as Newington Junction.
From boyhood he has been a singer in
the church choir, and chorister, now as-
sistant chorister, of the Sunday school.
For many years he was clerk of the Ec-
clesiastical Society, and assistant super-
intendent of the Sabbath school. For fif-
teen years he has acted as local correspondent
of the Hartford "Times," a
successor of his talented wife.
Mr. Kellogg married, May 31, 1893,
Frances Harriett Kirkham, born Septem-
ber 17, i860, died December 18, 1903,
daughter of Hon. John S. and Harriet S.
(Atwood) Kirkham, of Newington. They
were the parents of four children : Har-
riet Atwood, born April 17, 1894; Julia
Gardiner, December 14, 1895 ! Frances
Kirkham, August 13, 1897; Laura Camp,
January 27, 1901.
The Kirkham family is an old and
prominent one in England, having a seat
in Blagdon, and still more anciently
located at Ashcombe, under Haldon Hill.
In the time of Henry III. the family was
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
305
in possession of this property, and prob-
ably much earlier, and continued as lords
of the manor four hundred years after the
time of Henry. By intermarriage with
noble and distinguished families, they
came into high position, and two members
of the family filled the office of high
sheriff of Devonshire, the last being Sir
John Kirkham, high sheriff in 1523. He
appropriated large revenues to the support
of the chapel in Honiton, and was
buried in the aisle of the south side of the
parish church of Parington. The progenitor
of the family in America was Thomas
Kirkham, who settled in Wethersfield as
early as 1640. Henry Kirkham, a grand-
son of Henry Kirkham, was born in
Wethersfield, September 1, 1728, and was
the father of John Kirkham, the Revolu-
tionary soldier. He was the father of
William Kirkham, born March 19, 1788,
in Newington Parish, and married, November
30, 1815, Sophia Leffiingwell. He
was a clothier in early life, and for thirty
years was a teacher in Newington, Wethersfield,
Farmington, Hartford, Windsor,
and Springfield, Massachusetts. He died
October 6, 1868. His wife, born July 2.J.
1796, survived him more than twelve
years, and died November 14, 1880. Their
son, John Stoddard Kirkham, was born
April 6, 1826, in Newington, reared on the
paternal farm, and was educated in the
Springfield High School and the New-
ington Academy. He was one of the
pioneer band of Argonauts, organized in
Hartford, in 1849, which purchased a vessel
and made the voyage around Cape
Horn to California, arriving there Octo-
ber 6. In 1850 Mr. Kirkham was chosen
a member of the Board of Managers, and
also clerk of Eldorado county. His capital
before starting for California was
$500.00, and he returned home at the end
of two years with $100.00, remaining
henceforward. He lived on the old home-