The first Asa Backus was born in 1736. His son Asa, Jr., was born May 12, 1763. The third Asa, son of the preceding Asa, and the father of the present bearer of the name, born in Norwich in 1803, died in June, 1836. He was reared to farming. Though he received but a limited education, he was generously endowed by nature, and was successfully engaged in a mercantile business as a member of the firm of Hyde & Backus at Yantic village. About the year 1831 he was married to Miss Caroline Roath. The union was blessed by the birth of three children: Caroline, who died in 1861; Cynthia M.; and Asa. The mother married a second time.

Asa Backus, the subject of this biography, was a student in the Andover Phillips Academy for a time. When about sixteen years of age he entered the employ of Ely & Co. as clerk, remaining with them three years. In the fall of 1857 he went to Toledo, Ohio, where he was employed in the same capacity for a short time. In 1858 he became a member of the dry-goods firm of Eaton & Backus, which, from a small beginning, developed a profitable business. He retired from business in 1875; and, returning to Norwich, he settled on his fine country home just outside the city limits. The original estate was purchased by him in the fall of 1874 from C. B. Rogers, Enlarged by additional land, bought since then, it now contains about twenty-five acres. On it are three good dwellings.

Mr. Backus first married Miss Julia W. Bissell, of Lockport, N.Y. She died in December, 1891, leaving three children, namely: Asa William, who lives in Toledo, Ohio; and Julia R. and Frederick Tracy, who are at home. A second marriage, contracted in 1893, united Mr. Backus to Mrs. Sarah G. (Button) Champlin, of Norwich. They have a daughter, Florence. In politics Mr. Backus is an Independent. He is a director of the old Norwich Savings Bank, which has over eleven millions on deposit. By the will of the late William W. Backus he was made executor of the large and valuable estate left by the latter. He is the secretary and treasurer of the Norwich Mutual Assurance Company, which was established in 1794; the secretary and treasurer of the Kitcmang Association of Norwich; and one of the original incorporators of the Backus Free Hospital of Norwich, one of the finest institutions in the State.

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