Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

whom so many Holcombs descend. He
married Elizabeth .
Jamea Eno, the immigrant ancestor,
married, in 1648, Hannah Bidwell (Bedwel).
They had three children from
whom all the Eno and EnOS families de-
BCend. James (-' ) Eno married Abigail
Bissell, daughter of Samuel and Abigail
(Holcomb) Bissell. They had ten chil-
dren, the tenth of whom was Lieutenant
William Eno, who married Mary North,
as mentioned above. Mary North was the
daughter of John North. Her mother was
Hannah (Newell) North, daughter of
Thomas and Rebecca (Olmstead) New-
ell, of
John North, was the first settler of Avon,
and a soldier in the Indian wars. The
ancestry of Rosene Cossette, wife of Abel
Adams, is as follows:
ENCYCLOPKDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
1 [artford. Thomas North, father of
Rene Cossette was born in Paris,
France, on Place Vendome. Mis parents
had laud at Three Rivers. Canada. He
came to look the property over, and then
took a voyage down the St. Lawrence to
Boston, Providence, and New Haven,
where fate overtook him in the guise of
Ruth Porter, a young girl of about seven-
teen years of age. She refused to go to
France, so he came back about 1716 and
married her. He built a house in Granby.
He became a Protestant, and was the ancestor
of early Episcopal clergymen. He
is mentioned in the Lexington list, and
one of his sons was a captain in the Rev-
olution. His son, Rene (2) Cossette,
married Phoebe Hillier (or Hyllier),
daughter of James Hillier, of Windsor.
Her mother was Joanna (Hayes) Hillier,
daughter of George Hayes, of Granby.
His family consisted of eight children, of
whom Rosene. the youngest, married
Abel Adams. Their daughter, Lurana,
married Almon Gillette. One of the descendants
of Rene (2) Cossette became
18:
very wealthy in the South and built the
North Granby Cossette Library as a me-
nu »rial to hi-* ancesti
Ruth Porter was not found by the au-
thors of the Cossette Genealogy. She
was the daughter of Richard Porter, who
was born in Farmington, and moved to
Waterbury and later to New Haven. The
mother of Ruth Porter is not known.
Richard Porter was the son of Daniel
Porter, who was one of the earliest physi-
cians of the colony and hired by the colon
v to treat ease-. I le was paid by a land
grant which included part of Waterbury.
His wives are not known by name, and it
is not known which of them was Rich-
ard's mother.
This concludes the multiple ancestors
of Dr. Williams, and from this complete
ancestry issues the character, such as it
is, of a primitive Yankee, who like his
ancestral Adams kin says "Give me liber-
ty or give me death."
PIERCE, John William,
Textile Manufacturer.
When young John W. Pierce, now su-
perintendent and general manager of
the Bigelow-Hartford Carpet Company's
works at Thompsonville, Connecticut, began
his connection with carpet manufac-
ture in his English home, he was a lowly
beginner, and he has, by hard work, faithfulness
and natural ability, won his way
to important position in that industry,
having attained a high reputation as an
expert in the manufacture of Axminster,
Wilton and Brussels carpets and rugs.
He is a son of Samuel Pierce, who was
the only son of John Pierce, a farmer of
Kidderminster, England. Samuel Pierce
was born in Kidderminster, where he became
an inspector and exciseman in the
English civil service. The family were