Tarbox, Increase N. (Increase Niles), 1815-1888

Tarbox, Increase Niles (11 February 1815 - 3 May 1888)

Winnie and Walter: Story-telling at Thanksgiving

This author and clergyman was born in East Windsor, Connecticut to Thomas and Lucy Porter Tarbox. He was orphaned at the age of nine and lived with an uncle from 1825 - 1829, during which time he worked on a farm in Windsor and attended the "common schools." He began teaching in a district school at the age of 18 and then attended the academy at East Hartford before leaving for college at Yale. Following his graduation in 1839, he taught at the East Hartford Academy, served as a tutor in Latin at Yale, and studied in the Divinity School. He graduated in 1844 and was ordained in November of that year at the Hollis Evangelical Church in Farmington, Massachusetts. He was a founder and one of the original editors of the Congregationalist (1841-1851). He then became secretary of the American Education Society that was reorganized in 1874 as the American College and Education Society. From 1884 until his retirement, he devoted himself to helping students prepare for the ministry.

His diverse publications include Sunday school books, poetry (both devotional and secular), and numerous articles on historical, religious, and literary subjects which appeared in such magazines as the Congregational Quarterly and the New Englander. His books include Missionary Patriots: Memoirs of James H. Schneider and Edward M. Schneider (1867), Life of Israel Putnam ... Major-General in the Continental Army (1876), and Songs and Hymns for Common Life (1885). He served as historiographer of the New England Historic Genealogical Society from 1881 - 1888 and wrote brief memoirs of members of the society as well as seven biographies that appeared in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Grafly states that Tarbox is chiefly remembered for these articles, notes, and memoirs that, as a collection, form a valuable record (308).

Dorothy, Grafly. Dictionary of American Biography. Vol IX. New York: Scribner, 1936. 307 - 308.

Other References:

H.M. Dexter in New England History and Genealogical Register, Jan. 1890.

H.R. Stiles, The History and Genealogy of Ancient Windsor, Conn. Col II. 1892.

Fourteenth Annual Report of the American College and Educational Society. May 21 1888.

Congregationalist. May 10 1888.

Written by Stephen Rachman