Skip to content

Biographies

Town of Canton >> Visitors >> Sight-Seeing >> Your Silent Neighbors >> Biographies

Information on EARLY VOTING (3/26-3/28 & 3/30) ~ FEMA Flood Map Changes/Appeal Process (2/28/24-5/28/24)

 

Congratulations to our local 2023-2024 Connecticut Fire Prevention Poster Contest winner, Claire Mason! Click HERE!

Click here for the 2024 Town Budget Meeting Schedule

INSTRUCTIONS: Change the folder ID below to match the sub-folder you wish to use as sub-pages/sub-navigation. DO NOT USE THIS WITH THE "Generic Single-Column" TEMPLATE.



Your Silent Neighbors

Take a tour through the past with “Your Silent Neighbors", which introduces readers to people out of Canton’s past.

“Your Silent Neighbors” introduces readers to people out of Canton’s past.  Readers are encouraged to visit these gravesites and pay their respects to the people who have helped make our community what it is today.

Choose a name from the list to begin your journey into Canton's past:


5/16/2022 - Frank H. Bidwell

YOUR SILENT NEIGHBORS
by David K. Leff
Canton Poet Laureate & Deputy Town Historian

YOUR SILENT NEIGHBORS, Frank H. Bidwell, Long Time Collins Employee

Over 50 years a Collins Company employee, Frank H. Bidwell (1857-1924) was born in Collinsville and spent his life in the village. In his time with Collins he worked “in nearly all the shops, which gives him a general insight into the various departments of the extensive business of the company,” reported the Hartford Courant a few years before his death. In November 1881 he was appointed foreman of the plough, painting and packing department. The paper described him as “very much attached” to the company “and looked upon by the employees as a friend of the workmen as well as of the company.”

In 1884 he joined the Collins Company fire department and remained active until late in his life. He was a deputy sheriff of Hartford County and did police duty for the Collins Company on occasion.

Bidwell was a thirty-second degree Mason and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows through the Winsted lodge. For many years he was well known for keeping a scrapbook of happenings in Canton.

In 1886 Bidwell married Luella Nelson of Collinsville and had a son and a daughter. In 1917, their son Edward was one of the first to sail for France and served two years overseas during World War I. He later became a machinist with the Collins Company.

Frank H. Bidwell is buried in the Village Cemetery, Collinsville.



“Your Silent Neighbors” introduces readers to people out of Canton’s past.  Readers are encouraged to visit these gravesites and pay their respects to the people who have helped make our community what it is today.





INSTRUCTIONS: Change the content ID below to match the "Contact Us" page you wish to reference in the "sidebar".

INSTRUCTIONS: Right-click the image below to remove it or choose "Properties...". Then click the photo icon for "Choose Image" to change the photo. You do not have to change the picture width to a percent in this right-column. DO NOT USE THIS WITH THE "Generic Single-Column" TEMPLATE.

Contact Us


Kathleen Taylor
Town Historian

Carolyn Woodard
Deputy Town Historian

Christopher Hager
Deputy Town Historian

 

Office: (860) 693-5800
Fax: (860) 693-5804
Email
Location: 40 Dyer Ave, Canton, CT 06019