NATHANIEL SELBY CHILD

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. 721

NATHANIEL SELBY CHILD. One of the prominent residents of Windham county, Conn., is Nathaniel S. Child, who was born March 5, 1833, in East Woodstock, near which place he still makes his home.

Deacon William Child, father of Nathaniel S., was born in Woodstock, Sept. 24, 1786, and there died April 10, 1872. He was thrice married; first Jan. 23, 1812, to Sally Lyon; she was born July 19, 1787, and died April 4, 1816, the mother of one child Samuel Moore, who was born Aug. 1, 1815, in Woodstock, was a farmer by calling, married Jan. 29, 1840, Sally Ann Perry, and died June 9, 1868; his widow is now a resident of Woodstock.

The second marriage of Deacon William Child, solemnized Oct. 21, 1818, was to Sally Moore, who was born Dec. 15, 1793, and died June 2, 1821, without issue. The third marriage of the Deacon was to Sophia Selby, Jan. 28, 1829. This lady was born Dec. 22, 1790, in Hartland, Conn., and died in Woodstock, May 10, 1874, the mother of three children, namely: Sarah Moore, who was born March 23, 1853, and married Carlo May, son of Major Asa May, whose biography will be found in the sketch of the May family, on another page; Nathaniel S., whose name heads this article; and William Lyon, who was born in Woodstock, Aug. 15, 1835, served in the war of the Rebellion in Co. F,
18th C.V.I., and resides, unmarried, with his brother Nathaniel S.

Deacon Child followed farming all his life in East Woodstock, near Muddy Brook, and was very successful. In politics he was a Whig, later a
Free-Soiler, and finally a Republican. He was elected to the office of selectman, served a term and was then elected to the State Legislature, but as there was no session of that body that year, he did not serve.

The Deacon was of medium stature, was very sedate and reflective, but of a genial and kindly disposition, was deeply imbued with a sense of his
religious obligations and served as a deacon of the East Woodstock Congregational Church for many years.

Nehemiah Child, father of Deacon William Child, and grandfather of Nathaniel S., and of the fifth generation of the American family, was born Feb. 3, 1751, in Woodstock, and died Jan. 2, 1838, in the same town. He first married Elizabeth Shipman, May 24, 1774, to which union was born one child, Charity, in 1775, who married Eleazer Clark, of Belchertown, Mass. The second marriage of Nehemiah took place in 1785 to Mary McClellan, of Woodstock, and this union was crowned with six children, namely: William; Faith, who was born March 10, 1790, and died unmarried Aug. 12, 1824; Lucretia, born April 2, 1791, who married Oct. 1, 1813, Henry Child, son of Capt. Willard Child, of Woodstock, and who died April 3, 1816, leaving one daughter, Eleanor Lucretia, married to Ralph Perry; Mary, born Aug. 8, 1793, who died, unmarried, March 5, 1859; Nathaniel, born Feb. 15, 1796, who died unmarried, in 1824; Betsey, born in 1800, who also died unmarried
in 1848. Nehemiah Child was a farmer all his life and a very successful one, owning large tracts of land; he was also a justice of the peace and a surveyor, and was popularly known as Squire Child.

Nathaniel Child, father of Nehemiah, was born April 13, 1717, and first married, May 28, 1747, Jemima Bugbee, who was born in 1726, and died Oct. 29, 1769. The second marriage of Nathaniel took place Sept. 19, 1776, to Mrs. Eleanor Fox. Nathaniel died June 19, 1791, at the age of seventy-four years, but his widow survived until November, 1822, when she was called away at the advanced age of ninety-four years. Seven children graced the union of Nathaniel and his wife, namely: Darius, who died at the age of eleven years; Nehemiah, grandfather of Nathaniel Selby Child; Alpha, who married Mary May; Spencer, who served in the Revolutionary war and died unmarried in 1784, when twenty-eight years old; Jemima, who was first married to Samuel Jones, and secondly, to a Mr. Bacon; Charity, who died in infancy;
and Cyril, who was born in 1771.

Capt. Benjamin Child, great-great-grandfather of Nathaniel S. Child, was born in Roxbury, Mass., July 19, 1685, and in September, 1712, married Patience Thayer, of Mendon, Mass.; soon afterward he removed to Woodstock, Conn., at that time called New Roxbury. Both joined the church in Woodstock in 1740. Mrs. Child died March 15, 1764, the mother of seven children, viz.: Benjamin, Grace, Nathaniel, Elijah, Patience, Sarah and Moses. (More of this interesting family may be found in the sketch of Deacon Abel Child, on another page.)

Nathaniel S. Child was educated in the district schools of East Woodstock, which he attended until he was eighteen years of age, when he went to work for his father on the home farm and remained with him until he had reached his majority. He then went to Fork Union, Fluvanna Co., Va., and was employed for six months in getting out barrel timber, after which he returned to East Woodstock, where he owns 110 acres and keeps from twenty to twenty-five cows, finding a market for his dairy products in Boston. In the same town and in the same vicinity the ancestors of Mr. Child at one time owned about 300 acres.

Mr. Child is a member of the Second Advent Church at East Woodstock, of which his wife is also a devout adherent. In politics he is a Republican and a strong temperance advocate, but has never sought for office.

The first marriage of Mr. Child took place March 20, 1856, to Georgiana Sholes, of Brooklyn, Conn. She was born June 13, 1837, and died in March, 1857, leaving one child, Wilhelmina, who was born Oct. 5, 1857 (**see footnote), in East Woodstock, and was married Sept. 1, 1874, to George A. Paine, a farmer and a son of John Paine; Mrs. Wilhelmina Paine was called away Aug. 4, 1875.

The second marriage of Nathaniel S. Child was solemnized Oct. 27, 1858, with Nancy May, who was born march 18, 1823, a daughter of Chester May, of Woodstock. Two sons were born to this union, but both died in infancy. Mr. Child has a very pleasant home in East Woodstock, and is one of the most respected residents of the town, his own merits and time-honored descent fully entitling him to the high regard in which he is held.

**footnote: either the date of Wilhelmina’s birth or the date of her mother ’s death, is incorrect. However, it has been reproduced as published.

Reproduced by:

Linda D. Pingel – great-great granddaughter of Cyrus White of Rockville, Ct.