JAMES MONROE KIBBE
& MRS. ANNA C. KIBBE

BIOGRAPHY

AS RECORDED IN:

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF TOLLAND AND WINDHAM COUNTIES CONNECTICUT.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PROMINENT AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS AND OF MANY OF THE EARLY SETTLED FAMILIES.

PUBLISHER: J.H.BEERS & CO., CHICAGO; 1903 P. 718-719

JAMES MONROE KIBBE (deceased) was a prominent and substantial citizen of North Somers, Tolland Co., Conn., and came of a family long and creditably known in the State.

Gen. Amariah Kibbe, Jr., the father of James Monroe, was a son of Amariah and Hannah (Kibbe) Kibbe, who are mentioned more fully elsewhere. Gen. Kibbe was born on Somers street, in the town of Somers, Feb. 14, 1780, where his early life was spent. After his marriage he lived in a house in North Somers which was built for him by his father. As a farmer he was successful and in the hotel business, in which he was engaged many years, he was equally fortunate; he was also a merchant, and had a general store. Six commissions which he received in the old State militia are now prized heirlooms in the family, as are his military coat and sword. His first commission bears date of Oct. 18, 1802, and names him a captain in the 5th company of the 31st regiment of the National Guard, and is signed by Jonathan Trumbull, who also made him a major in 1808. In 1812 he was made lieutenant colonel of the 31st regiment by Gov. Roger Griswold. In 1816 Gov. John C. Smith made him colonel of the 19th regiment, and Oliver Wolcott, who made him a brigadier general in 1819, made him major general in 1822.

General Kibbe died June 23, 1840, and was buried at Center cemetery in Somers. April 29, 1799, he was married to Charlotte McKinney, who was born Oct. 22, 1783, and died Nov. 13, 1860. She was a member of the Congregational Church. Their children were as follows: Charlotte, who died when three years old; Amariah, Jr., born in 1803; Sophronia, born in 1805; Charlotte (2), born in 1807, who died in 1824; Ursula, born in 1809, who married Dr. E.E. Hamilton, died in Springfield, Mass., and is buried in Somers; Saloma A., born in 1812, who married John Pease, and died in Hartford in 1895; Sophia A., a twin of Saloma, who married Myron Billings, a farmer in Somers, where she died in 1838; Margaret, born in 1814, the widow of William Moore, residing in Springfield, Mass.; Harriet, born in 1816, who married William Prentice, and died in Norwich, Conn.; James Monroe, born May 1, 1818; Francina P., born in 1822, the widow of John Burt, living in Waltham, Mass,; Augusta M., born in 1826, who married Charles Woodman, and resides in Springfield, Massachusetts.

James Monroe Kibbe was born in the house mentioned above, and secured his education from the district schools. After the death of his father he assisted his mother and family in the care of the hotel and farm, his brother Amariah taking charge of the store. In later years he discontinued the hotel, and cared for his mother as long as she lived. His entire life was spent in the home where he was born, and there he died July 30, 1899, after having endured poor health for several years; he was buried in North cemetery in Somers.

Mr. Kibbe was a Democrat in his earlier years but became a Republican at the time of the great Civil war. Several terms were spent by him on the board of selectmen and from time to time he filled various town offices, representing the town in the General Assembly of 1868-69. A contributor to the Congregational Church, of which he was a member, he took an active interest in everything related to the morals and the progress of the community in which he lived.

Mr. Kibbe was married Dec. 21, 1847, to Hannah B. Carpenter, a native of Wilbraham, Mass., and a daughter of John and Fanny (King) Carpenter. Mrs. Kibbe died May 13, 1894. Fanny King was the daughter of Asaph King, who was born in Enfield in 1747. In 1778 he enlisted as a "forager" in the Revolutionary army, serving under Capt. Abel King. Later he was appointed "assistant forage master" at Wilbraham, Mass., by Col. Smith, and served at Springfield, also taking part in Gen. Sullivan's campaign in Rhode Island. Some time after 1832 this gallant and patriotic gentleman passed away in Wilbraham.

CARPENTER. The Carpenter family from which Mrs. Kibbe sprang, runs back to (I) William Carpenter, who was born in England in 1605, and came to New England in the ship "Bevis" in 1638. His wife's christian name was Abigail. In 1641 and again in 1643 he was a deputy to the General Court from Weymouth; in 1645 he moved to Rehoboth. He was a farmer and died in 1659, his widow surviving until 1687.

(II) Joseph Carpenter, son of William the emigrant, was born in England about 1633, and was brought to New England by his parents. In 1656 he was married to Margaret Sutton, daughter of John Sutton. In 1663 he assisted in the organization of the Baptist Church in Swansea, Mass., having removed thither the previous year, where he died in 1675.

(III) Benjamin Carpenter, son of the foregoing Joseph, was born in Rehoboth in 1658, and was married in 1680 to Renew Weeks, who was born in Dorchester, the daughter of William Weeks. She died in 1703, and her husband in 1727.

(IV) Benjamin Carpenter (2), born in Swansea, Mass., in 1680, married Mary Barry in 1706, and was engaged in farming. About 1735 he removed to Ashford, Connecticut.

(V) William Carpenter, son of the foregoing, was born in Swansea, Mass., in 1721, married Hannah Needham, of Brimfield, and moved to Ashford, Conn., later becoming a resident of Stafford. Farming was his occupation throughout his life, and he died about 1809. During the Revolution he was a gallant defender of the cause of liberty, and enlisted at the time of the alarm at Lexington in Capt. Needham's Company in Col. Danielson's regiment, and was in Col. Nixon's regiment still later. He also served in Capt. Toogood's company, and in Capt. Browning's company in Col. Murray's regiment. There was but little time in the Revolution that he was not in the army.

(VI) John Carpenter, son of William of the last paragraph, was born in East Greenwich in 1751, married Lovina Chappelle about 1777, and located in Wilbraham, Mass., going from there to East Haddam, where his children were born. In 1818 his death occurred, and that of his widow the following year.

(VII) John Carpenter (2), son of the above was born in 1785; in 1808 he was married to his first wife, Hannah Brown, of Monson, who died in 1822. The following year Mr. Carpenter married Fanny King, and followed farming in Wilbraham.

(VIII) Hannah B. Carpenter, the daughter of the John Carpenter of the last paragraph, was born Feb. 3, 1825, and in 1847 married James M. Kibbe.

To the union of James M. Kibbe and Hannah B. Carpenter were born the following children: James M., born Oct. 18, 1853, who died the same day; an infant son, Jan. 20, 1855; Anna C., July 22, 1857; Emma F., Nov. 19, 1864, who died at the age of sixteen months; Carrie Louise, Aug. 30, 1868, who died unmarried, March 7, 1891.

The only surviving member of the above family, Anna C., lives on the old homestead, and was married March 12, 1878, to Harry G. Kibbe, who was born Nov. 4, 1855, and is a son of Henry R. and Mabel C. (Gager) Kibbe. From 1872 until 1892 Mr. Kibbe was on the road as a traveling salesman for Kibbe, Chaffee & Co., of Philadelphia. The latter year he connected himself with Kibbe, Chaffee, Shreve & Co., of New York, with whom he remained until 1896, when he retired, and is now living at North Somers. They have one child, Mabel C., born Sept. 23, 1881.

Reproduced by:
Linda D. Pingel - great-great granddaughter of Cyrus White of Rockville, CT.