Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

Ann Borodell in the house of her father,
John Borodell, married her, returned to
Roxbury, and finally settled at Stoning-
ton, Connecticut. He has been described
as the -Miles Standish of the Stonington
settlement, but "he was a greater and
more brilliant soldier than Miles Standish,"
and "except perhaps Captain John
Mason, he had no equal in any of the
colonies for conducting a war against the
Indians." Through his maternal grandmother,
Mr. Hinckley is descended from
William Chesebrough, the first white man
who made what is now Stonington, Con-
necticut, his permanent place of abode,
born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1594,
coming to America with John Winthrop
in 1630. He held numerous positions of
trust, not only in the Massachusetts Col-
ony, but was prominent in the settlement
of the town of Rehoboth, in the Plymouth
Colony, and was deputy to the General
Court at Hartford, in 1653-54-55-56.
Denison Chesebrough Hinckley is a
son of Charles H. and Lydia J. (Knight)
Hinckley, grandson of Charles H. and
Mary (Schofield) Hinckley. The name of
Schofield is closely linked with the textile
industry in New England, where they
were pioneers in the use of power looms
in woolen manufacture. Charles H. (2)
Hinckley was born in Stonington, Con-
necticut, May 16, 1816, and attended the
country school at Hinckley Hill, Stoning-
ton. Subsequently he was a student in
the Worcester Academy, and after a
course in Brown University became a
teacher, specializing in mathematics and
mechanical drawing. He taught first in
New Jersey and afterward in the schools
of Providence, the old Union street school
in Westerly, and the Stonington schools.
He followed pedagogy until he was forty-
five years of age, and throughout his en-
tire life retained his love for mathematical
problems of unusual intricacy. He in-
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
330
herited one of the three old Hinckley
homestead farms, known as the Hinckley
Hill farm, at Stonington, and during his
residence in the place of his birth was a
citizen of standing and influence. He
filled the office of justice of the peace,
was active on the Stonington School
Board, and in association with Charles
H. Babcock was for many years school
visitor. He became a resident of West-
erly about 1887, and affiliated with the
First Baptist Church of Westerly, also
demitting from Asylum Lodge, Free and
Accepted Masons, of Stonington, to Pawcatuck
Lodge, No. 90, of Westerly. He
was a man of rigidly upright life, as exact
and reliable in all relations of life as the
mathematical laws he knew so well, and
was regarded with universal honor and
respect. Charles H. and Mary (Schofield)
Hinckley were the parents of: Denison
Chesebrough, of whom further ; John
S., born July 9, 1870, a dealer in auto sup-
plies in Providence, Rhode Island.
Denison Chesebrough Hinckley was
born on the old home farm in Stonington,
Connecticut, July 31, 1866, and as a youth
attended the public schools of Stonington
and Westerly, graduating from the Westerly
High School, in the class of 1888. He
was employed in several mercantile estabments
of Westerly until 1887, when he
purchased the furniture business of J. M.
Aldrich, on High street. H. R. Mitchell
became his partner in 1890, and not long
afterward the establishment and stock
were totally destroyed in the fire that
consumed the entire block. The firm reopened
immediately in the Potter Loveland
block, occupying the entire second
floor, later expanding to take in the
ground floor and installing an elevator to
facilitate communication and the handling
of stock. About 1905, fire again brought
misfortune to the business, the entire
block being consumed by the flames, and