Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

in Hartford. 1 1 «.- was a good business man
and vers successful in his undertakings.
He was a Republican in politics, an attendant
of the First Presbyterian Church
of Thompsonville, and highly esteemed in
his community as a man of upright, hon-
orable life.
Mr. and Mrs. Mo-ley were the par-
ents of two sun-: i. Clarence Lathrop,
horn June 26, [885 :
graduated
ENCYCLi H'l'DIA OF BI< >GRAPHY
at Yale
College, in 1906, took up electrical engineering,
and was for several years with
the General Electric Company at San
Francisco; he married Winifred Forhes,
April 27, 1917, and now resides in Pennington,
California. 2. Harold Alden, born
September 23, 1888; a graduate of Dartmouth,
class of 19] 1 ; he settled the estate
of his uncle, Seth Alden. and other es-
tates and was engaged for a time on government
work with the Winchester Repeating
Anns Company of Xew Haven.
Connecticut.
SEXTON. Earl,
Civil Engineer, Inventor.
The name Sexton or Saxton is a very
ancient one and there appear to he at
least two possihle origins, from either of
which it may lie derived, if indeed dif-
ferent families bearing the same name are
not derived from both. The office of
Sacristan, now known as sexton or verger
of a church, is one of these, and we
have, accordingly, record of one Hugh
Sacristan who flourished in the County of
Kent in [273, A. D. The alternate source
is Saxton. a parish in the diocese of York,
which may have given its name to some
family residing there. In the case of the
latter alternative, however, it is quite possible
that even the name of the place may
have originally been derived from the
same church office. With the usual flexi-
bility of spelling in those days, we rind
263
the name anciently under many divergent
form-, and besides the common forms of
Sexton and Saxton. we have those of S
tone, Sacristan already mentioned, Sex-
teyn and it i- even probable that Saxon i-
a -till further modified spelling. In re-
gard tci the de-cent of the American fam-
ily or families bearing the name, there
cue or two i" lints of importance yet to
lie cleared up and chief among these i-
the link which connect- it or them with
the English derivations. From the re-
searches of Mr. Harold Newell Saxton, of
New York City, it would appear that the
Sexton- and Saxtons of this country are
all descended from one George Saxton, or
Sexton (his name is variously spelled),
who was of Westfield, Massachusetts
and died in that community about the
year [689. Mr. Saxton. however, admitthat
he is not certain but that there may
be other branches with which he is not
acquainted that are descended otherwise.
However this may be, there is no doubt
but that the line which is at present rep-
resented in Connecticut by Karl Sexton,
of Hartford, the president and treasurer
of the American Pump & Engineering
Company of that city, is directly descended
from this same George Saxton
or Sexton.
Five men bearing the name of Saxton
or Sexton are recorded to have come to
the Xew England colonies prior to the
middle of the seventeenth century. These
' wire iiles Saxton, Peter Saxton, Thomas
Saxton, of Boston, Richard Saxton. of
Windsor, Connecticut, and George Saxton,
of Windsor, Connecticut, and West-
field. Massachusetts. The first two of
these were Puritan ministers who did not
remain permanently in the colonies, but
eventually returned to England and there
died. Thomas Saxton, on the contrary,
continued in the Xew World and undoubtedlv
left descendants. Richard .^ax-