People

The people who settled in the Tankerhoosen Valley built the mills, worked the fields, or supported in many ways those who did. In this section we introduce you to the people and families who made an impression on the Valley. Some of the people are well known while others were not but shared their stories.

Allis Family

The Allis family were important members of the 18th Century Bolton Community. Nathaniel was one of the earliest settlers and 50 original Proprietors. His son David built early saw and grist mills on the Tankerhoosen River and was also a central figure in establishing the North Bolton Parish.

» Go to Allis Family history

Peter Dobson

Peter Dobson built the first cotton mill in the area around which grew up the village of Dobsonville. He is also known for his ideas on glacial movement.

» Go to Dobson Family history

Kellogg Family

Rev. Ebenezer Kellogg came to North Bolton in 1763 to become the first minister at the new North Bolton Meetinghouse. During his 55-year tenure he guided the new parish as it grew into a town and saw the transformation of the agricultural community to an industrial community. Many of his sons and grandsons remained in Vernon and played significant roles in its growth during the Nineteenth Century.

» Go to Kellogg Family history

Jean Kanter Klothe

Jean Kanter Klothe was born in Vernon and lived on Tunnel Road about where Whitney T. Ferguson III Road is now. Her family owned a chicken farm at that location which continued until the highway expansion in the late 1970's. Her memoir, published in the Vernon Historical Society's March 2005 newsletter, describes growing up on the farm in the 1910's and 1920's and the changing seasons in Vernon Center at a time when it was still a farming community.

» Read 'A Vernon Center Childhood'

Christian Sharps

Christian Sharps was best known as the inventor of the Sharps rifle, considered one of the finest carried by Union Soldiers during the Civil War. Towards the end of his life he came to Vernon and built a trout farm at Valley Falls.

» Go to Christian Sharps' Trout Farm

Talcott Family

The Talcott brothers bought the Talcottville Mills and renamed the village after their family. But the Talcott Family was active in the area before this and also played a significant role in the development of Rockville.

» Go to Talcott Family history

Frederick Walker

Frederick Walker built Walker's Reservoir as well as his own mills, and was also a very successful farmer.

» Go to Frederick Walker

Webster Family

George Webster, Sr. bought the 87-acre Hammond Farm in 1886. For three generations the family were market farmers growing award winning crops. Grandson Kenneth was a soldier in World War I and grandson George Patterson died in the Spanish Flu epidemic. In 1929 the farm was sold to Frederick Belding and became the core of the Belding Wildlife Management Area. Kenneth's daughter's family sold the 'wood lot' to the Northern CT Land Trust as the Andrew Kenneth Webster Preserve.

» Go to Webster Family history

Updated July 2023