BURNELL, Calvin Jones,
Manufacturer.
One of the most prominent of the successful business men of Hartford, Calvin Jones Burnell, was born January 15, 1835, in Chesterfield, Massachusetts, son of Francis and Sarah (Russell) Burnell. The Burnell family seems to be an ancient one in England, including Barons of the twelfth century, and introduced in England by William the Conqueror in 1066. The name was originally de Burnel, and like all names of Norman origin has been modified by the omission of the prefix. Sir Roger de Burnel owned lands in Suffolk, Shropshire, and one of his worthy descendants built a castle on the banks of the Severn, still known as Acton-Burnel Castle. In England the name is usually spelled with one "l," and accented on the first syllable, but after its arrival in this country the unlettered clerks of early New England gave it multitudes of terminations, among them Burnal, Burnul, Burnull, Burnet, and Burnap. William Burnell, of Yorkshire, was a member of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629, and attended one of its meetings in London in that year. He was soon after in Boston, whither he came about 1630, and in 1645 a ship load of goods was consigned by the Massachusetts Bay Company to "Goodman William Burnell." He was the owner of a lot in the old north end of Boston, opposite Copps Hill Burying Ground, in which cemetery he is buried and where many of his descendants were interred. He died in 1660. He owned a farm at Pulling's Point, and his home was on Lot No.52, North Square. His first wife, Mary, died November 16, 1645.
Their son, John Burnell, born October 2, 1643, was baptized March 2, 1644, in the old North Church, of which his parents were members, and lived in Boston, uniting with the Congregational church of which his wife, Esther, was also a member.
Their son, Robert Burnell, born about 1665, appears in Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1690. The records of that town show the death of his wife, Kathern, September 9, 1693. He married (second) February 2, 1694. Sarah Chillson, born August 4, 1673, in Lynn, died there August 13, 1731, daughter of John and Sarah (Jenkes) Chillson.
Their eldest child, John Burnell, born November 1, 1696, in Lynn, lived at Dudley, Massachusetts, where he died in 1744, and was buried there. In Dudley records the name is spelled Burnul and Burnull. He married Mehitable Edmonds, in Lynn, who died February 15, 1769, in Dudley, daughter of John Edmonds, of Lynn. Their first three children were recorded in that town, and they removed to Dudley soon after 1722. The records of that town record none of their children, but the family records establish the birth of their son, Joseph Burnell.
Joseph Burnell was born December 19, 1725, in Dudley. In 1760 he purchased some three hundred acres of land in Chesterfield, Massachusetts, upon which lay a sheet of water with water power and much timber, including sugar maples. He erected two mills, one for sawing lumber and the other for grinding grain, and also engaged in grinding salt. He died there September 23, 1807, in his eighty-second year. He married (intentions published in Dudley, January 20, 1749) in Dudley, Hannah Tucker, of Pomfret, Connecticut. They were the parents of Joseph Burnell.
Joseph Burnell was born December 13, 1756, in Dudley, and lived in Chesterfield. He was a skilled artificer and rendered valuable service to the colonies in the Revolutionary War. He was a corporal in Captain Benjamin Bonney's Company, Colonel Elisha Porter's (Hamshire county) regiment from July 21 to August 27, 1779, served at New London, roll dated Chesterfield. He was the father of Francis Burnell, who married Sarah Russell.
Calvin Jones Burnell, their son, was born January 15, 1835, at Chesterfield. He attended the district schools of his native town, and subsequently was a student at a private school preparatory to his entrance to the United States Military Academy at West Point. He was appointed to the latter by Judge Rockwell, who at that time was a member of Congress from Western Massachusetts. His plans to enter West Point did not materialize, however, as he was induced by an elder brother to enter into business with him in the manufacture of woolens. In order to prepare himself for this line of work, he was employed at the Pontoosic Woolen Mills of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Upon the completion of the mill operated by his brother he assumed charge of the weaving department, which position he held until 1855. In the latter year he went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to accept an offer from the Bank of Milwaukee as general bookkeeper. He remained there for three years and was assistant cashier at the time of his resignation. He had planned to return to the East that year, but upon being offered the position of cashier of the Bank of St. Paul, in St. Paul, Minnesota, he removed there in November, 1858, remaining until serious illness in his family made it necessary for him to return East, in April, 1860. The following year, Mr. Burnell removed to Hartford and acquired a position with the firm of Beach & Company as successor to John C. Coffing. Mr. Burnell was identified with this company until his retirement from active business in 1917. They were dealers in dye stuffs, and upon the death of Charles M. Beach, the business was sold to the National Aniline and Chemical Company with Mr. Burnell as company manager with Mr. H. S. Bidwell. At the same time Mr. Burnell served as secretary and assistant treasurer of the Broad Brook Woolen Company, continuing as such for a number of years. A member of the Asylum Hill Congregational Church of Hartford since its organization, he maintained an active part in all of its affairs. He was clerk of the meeting which called the first pastor, and served as assistant superintendent of the Sunday school for many years, also as superintendent of the home department. His death occurred March 10, 1918, after having been a resident of this city for almost half a century, one of its valued and worthy citizens. Mr. Burnell married, October 21, 1858, Harriet M. Johnson, of Lenox, Massachusetts, and they were the parents of the following children: 1. Florence Agnes, wife of Dr. Nelson J. Goodwin, of Hartford. 2. Elizabeth R., who lives in Hartford. 3. Alice Gardner, wife of Luke V. Lockwood, of New York City. 4. Harriet Johnson, wife of George T. Kendall, of Grand Rapids, Michigan. 5. Francis C., a resident of New York City.