CHARLES H. BABCOCK, superintendent
of the public schools of Westerly, R.I., a position for which he is well
fitted by natural abilities and scholarly acquirements, is a resident of
the village of Pawcatuck, on the opposite side of the river, in the town
of Stonington, New London County, Conn. He was born July 16, 1838, in the
town of Groton, this State, but is of Rhode Island stock, his father, the
late Charles Babcock, of Stonington, having been a native of Westerly and
a lineal descendant, it is said, of John and Mary (Lawton) Babcock, pioneer
settlers of that locality.
Among the twenty-four free inhabitants of
Westerly, R.I., in 1669, the year in which the town was incorporated, were
James Babcock, Sr., James Babcock, Jr., and John Babcock, the two latter,
no doubt, sons of the elder James. John Babcock, born in 1644, married
Mary Lawton; and their son James is said to have been the first white child
born in the new settlement.
Henry Babcock, great–grandfather of Charles
H., born in Westerly in 1755, son of Daniel Babcock, was a grandson of
Captain James Babcock, and is reputed to have been a near kinsman of Colonel
Harry Babcock of Revolutionary fame. He and his wife Prudence had eight
children. The eldest of these, Henry Babcock, Jr., a master mariner, who
commanded a merchant vessel, and for many years was engaged in the West
India trade, was born at Westerly, R.I., in 1779, and died at his home
in that town in the seventieth year of his age. His wife, Fanny, who was
a daughter of Timothy West, of Rhode Island, an officer of some note in
the Revolution, died in 1866, at the age of threescore and ten, having
reared two sons and four daughters, one son being Charles, the father above
named. One child is now living — Rhoda, widow of the late Matthew Barber,
of Westerly.
Charles Babcock, son of Captain Henry and
Fanny (West) Babcock, was born in Westerly, in April, 1815. After his marriage,
which took place in 1835, he removed to Stonington, where he was engaged
as a tiller of the soil during his active years. His wife's maiden name
was Lovisa Brown. She was born in 1812, in the town of Ledyard, this county,
and was a daughter of Samuel Brown, who married a Miss Latham. Ten children,
four sons and six daughters, were born to Charles and Lovisa B. Babcock;
and of these three have passed away, one having died in infancy, and John
W. and Abbie J. in mature life. John W. Babcock went to Kansas for his
health, and died there when about thirty years old, in 1871, leaving a
widow. Abbie J., the widow of John H. Cross, of Stonington, died at the
age of thirty years. The children now living are as follows: Charles H.,
the special subject of this biographical sketch; William, a physician in
Connecticut; Erastus W., a resident of Stonington borough; Amanda M., of
Stonington; Mary N., the widow of Rowse P. Babcock, of Stonington borough;
Sarah F., wife of Captain Amos Dickens, of this town; and Helen M., wife
of Captain Jesse W. Hall, also of Stonington. The mother, Lovisa B. Babcock,
died in Stonington in 1886; and the father, Charles Babcock, died there
in 1889.
Charles H. Babcock was graduated from the
East Greenwich Academy when about nineteen years of age, in 1857. Choosing
the profession of teacher, he met with marked success, not only in imparting
knowledge, but in winning the love and respect of his pupils and as a disciplinarian,
and has since continued his labors in the educational field, teaching more
or less in this vicinity. Since 1872, or for twenty-four consecutive years,
he has been a member of the Stonington School Board, an office in which
he has rendered the town most valuable aid; and for the past five years
he has been superintendent of the schools of Westerly, R.I., the home of
his ancestors for several generations. Mr. Babcock has also served in the
various township offices. He has been Assessor a number of terms and Justice
of the Peace fifteen years. In 1871 he was nominated on the Republican
ticket as a Representative to the State legislature, but was defeated.
Fraternally, he is a Master Mason, belonging to Pawcatuck Lodge, A.F. &
A.M.
On March 30, 1863, Mr. Babcock married Miss
Abbie H. Hinckley, a daughter of Henry and Prudence Mary (Chesebro) Hinckley,
of this town. She died March 14, 1883, aged forty-two years. She had been
the mother of four children, namely: a son that died in infancy; Harry
H., a druggist, who died at the early age of twenty years; Anna Lincoln,
who is the wife of Dr. John H. Eldredge, of Norwich, and has four children
; and Edith Vincent, a graduate of the Norwich Business College, and a
teacher, who now has the care of her father's house, having given up her
personal ambitions to devote herself to him and a half-sister, Mary Emma.
This child, a bright and winning little girl, is Mr. Babcock's daughter
by his second wife, formerly Mary Emma Gardner, whom he married in August,
1884, and who died in July, 1892, aged thirty-seven years. Mr. Babcock
has occupied his pleasant home at Pawcatuck since 1872.
Biographical Review Volume
XXVI
Containing Life Sketches of Leading Citizens
of New London County Connecticut
Boston
Biographical Review Publishing Company
1898
pgs 241 - 243
|
