Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

Hartford Lodge, No. 88, Ancient Free
and Accepted Masons, Chapter,
Royal Arch Masons ; Council,
Royal and Select Masters ; Washington
Commandery, Knights Templar; Sphynx
Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of
the Mystic Shrine, and Connecticut Consistory,
Sovereign Princes of the Royal
Secret. He is also a member of the Hartford
Club and the Wethersfield Country
Club.
Mr. Warner married (first) October 9,
1878, Emma J. Willard, a daughter of
William Willard, who for years was warden
of the State Prison at Wethersfield,
and who was murdered by an inmate.
Mrs. Warner died January 26, 1888.
Three children were born of this union,
as follows : Alice Willard, born January
12, 1881, who became the wife of H. A.
Hamilton, of West Hartford, and the
mother of three children, Erskine Erasmus,
born September 14, 1908, Frederick
Warner, October 26, 191 1, and Grace
Bernard, September 19, 1913; Frederick
Willard, born August 29, 1887; John
Chester, born January 24, 1888, who mar-
ried, February 18, 1912, Marjorie Stev-
ens, and they are the parents of a son,
John Chester Warner, 3d, born November
25, 1913. Mr. Warner married (sec-
ond) Grace Bernard, a daughter of
Charles Bernard, of Cleveland, Ohio. Mr.
Warner and his wife are members of the
Congregational church at Wethersfield.
MORRIS, William Samuel,
Market Gardener.
One of the most industrious and prosperous
citizens of Wethersfield, Mr. Morris
bears in his veins the blood of many
early Connecticut families, and in his
character and career has justified the
promise of such antecedants.
The first of his family in this country
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
333
was Mr. Edward Morris, supposed to
have been the Edward Morris who was
born in 1630, baptized on the 8th of that
month in the Abbey Church, of the Holy
Cross Abbey of Essex, England, baptized
by the Rev. Joseph Hall, rector, afterward
Bishop of Norwich. The first record of
Edward Morris in this country is at
Roxbury, Massachusetts, where he was
granted four acres of land, February 23,
1652, which he forfeited by failure to
build upon it. At this time he was a sin-
gle man and propably not prepared to
build. Subsequently, he owned land in
the southeastern part of Jamaica Plain,
where he was living in 1663. On January
27, 1661, he was chosen chairman of the
committee to survey the common lands
of the town, and in 1664 was chosen con-
stable, an office of dignity and responsi-
bility in that day. In 1666 he purchased
about forty acres of land on the road to
Dedham. For twelve years he served as
selectman of the town ; in 1676 was trus-
tee of the High School at Jamaica Plain;
in 1678 deputy to the General Court, in
which office he continued for nine years,
and served as a member of a committee
of three to audit the accounts of the treas-
urer of the colony. It is thus apparent
that he was a man of intelligence and influence,
and this is further testified by
the title of "Mr.," which was given only
to those of high blood or unusual attainments.
In 1686 Edward Morris removed
to Woodstock, Connecticut, then a part
of Massachusetts, was one of the com-
mittee to conduct the drawings of lands,
and himself received fifty acres in the
first division. In 1689, when he was a
member of the Board of Selectmen, he
was called lieutenant. He died Septem-
ber 14, 1689-90. This record reads 1689,
but in another place his election as selectman
in March, 1690, is recorded. He mar-
ried, in Roxbury, November 29, 1655,