Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

was in constant demand. She lived to be
over ninety years old. Dorothy Hollister,
daughter of Thomas and Abigail Hollis-
ter, married Aaron Hubbard. The Hol-
lister family were as prominent as the
Talcotts. John (i) Hollister married Joanna
Treat, whose brother became gov-
ernor of Connecticut. His son married
Sarah Goodrich ; their son, Thomas Hol-
lister, married Dorothy Hill, daughter of
Joseph Hill, of Glastonbury. Their son,
Thomas Hollister, married Abigail Talcott,
mentioned above, and their daughter
married Aaron Hubbard, as mentioned
above.
The Adams lines of Minerva Gillette
Williams are as follows:
George Adams, early in Braintree, Massachusetts,
married a daughter of Con-
rad Streetholt in London. One of his
sons, Daniel Adams, came probably with
two brothers to Windsor early in 1660.
Mrs. Almon Gillette, who was born of
this family in 1790, and died in i860, often
told the writer in his youth that President
John Adams was her cousin. Daniel
Adams married, in Windsor, in 1667,
Mary Phelps, daughter of Samuel and
Sarah (Griswold) Phelps, of Windsor.
Her mother, Sarah (Griswold) Phelps,
was a daughter of Edward Griswold, of
Windsor. Samuel Phelps died young,
and his widow married Nathaniel Pinney
when Mary Phelps was eleven years of
age. She was probably called Mary Pinney
after her stepfather, but the wills of
her mother show her parentage. Mrs.
Almon Gillette always claimed that her
ancestress was Mary Phelps. Joseph
Adams, son of Daniel Adams, married
Mary Case, daughter of William Case.
Her mother was Elizabeth (Holcomb)
Case, of Simsbury. Matthew Adams, son
of Joseph Adams, married Susannah Eno,
daughter of Lieutenant William and
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
184
Mary (North) Eno, of Simsbury. Abel
Adams, son of Matthew and Susannah
(Eno) Adams, married Rosene Cossette,
of Granby. Abel Adams was a Revolu-
tionary soldier. His family were all tal-
ented. His daughter, Lurana Lura, married
Almon Gillette, of Granby, as mentioned
above. A sister of Lurana Adams
married a Smith, and their son, Colonel
Ashbel Smith, M. D., was called the
Franklin of the South (Yale Alumni Journal).
He was a lawyer and doctor, and
plenipotentiary from the Republic of
Texas to France and England. He
founded the medical college in Texas,
and was a colonel in the Civil War. It is
mostly on his old estate near Goose Creek
where the celebrated Goose Creek oil
wells are found. His cousin, Henry
Flavel Gillette, son of his Aunt Lurana,
and uncle of Dr. Williams, of this sketch,
was one of the pioneers of Texas and
long time educator. He conducted the
Bayland Orphan Home with his own
funds for the years of reconstruction.
President Anson Jones chose him for his
secretary of state in Texas Republic, but
Mr. Gillette would not give up his edu-
cational vocation. He had thirteen chil-
dren and has many descendants in Texas.
John Case, of Simsbury, married Sarah
Spencer. He was one of the founders of
Simsbury. Sarah Spencer was the only
daughter of William and Agnes Spencer.
After the death of William Spencer, Mrs.
Agnes Spencer married William Edwards,
of Hartford, and she became the ancestress
of Jonathan Edwards and Aaron
Burr. Elizabeth Holcomb, wife of William
Case, was the daughter of Joshua
Holcomb. Her mother was Ruth (Sherwood)
Holcomb. Joshua Holcomb was
the son of Thomas Holcomb, the original
immigrant ancestor in Hartford, from