George Brintnell Thurston

George Brintnell Thurston was born in Tariffville on February 17, 1840, son of Daniel Brintnell and Sarah Jemima Catlin Smith Thurston. He married Jane Eliza Clark on June 28, 1865. They had two children, Lizzie and Sarah.

Prior to the Civil War, Thurston worked with his father, who owned the Thurston House hotel in Tariffville. On August 18, 1862, he enlisted in the Civil War, serving in the 25th Connecticut Volunteers as first sergeant of Company E. He was mustered out on August 20, 1863.

After the war, he owned a farm in Bloomfield. In 1871, he joined the then-Hartford & Connecticut Western Railroad (later the Central New England Railroad). He was first a fireman and then became an engineer, a position he held until his death.

He died on December 22, 1902, in Millerton, New York, in a railroad accident. He was crossing the track of the Newburgh, Dutchess and Connecticut raiload, passing between two separated cars just as they were being coupled by an engine. He was crushed and killed instantly. (CRUSHED BY CARS: ENGINEER GEORGE B. THURSTON KILLED AT MILLERTON Veteran of the Civil War and Old Employee of the Central New England

The Hartford Courant (1887-1922); Hartford, Conn.. 23 Dec 1902: 4)