Costello Lippitt was born on December 12, 1842, in East Killingly, CT. He was the only child of Reverend Norris and Eliza Leffingwell Lippitt. His early education included local schools in East Killingly and later Norwich Free Academy. Lippitt attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, graduating in 1867 with a master’s degree.
Costello settled in Norwich and began his career following in his father’s footsteps in finance as an assistant teller for the Norwich Savings Society. For fifteen years preceding July 1901, Mr. Lippitt served as a member of the board of trustees of the Connecticut Hospital for the Insane at Middletown. He was a member of the board of directors and trustees of the Norwich Savings Society and was a senior member of the board of directors of the Merchants National Bank. He also served as a trustee of the Norwich Free Academy and was secretary and treasurer of the Eliza Huntington Memorial Home at Norwich, succeeding his father on the board. In 1903, he was elected the first president of the board of trustees of the new Norwich Hospital for the Insane, and he was a director of the Norwich Street Railway Company.
Costello Lippitt was a Republican and served as Norwich’s mayor from 1908 to 1910.
Mr. Lippitt was one of the best-known members of the Masonic fraternity in the State. He was made a Master Mason in Somerset Lodge No 34 Free & Accepted Masons, and when St. James Lodge No 23 was formed in 1873, he was a charter member of that lodge. He was also a member of Franklin Chapter No 4 RAM, Franklin Council No 3 R & SM, and was Past Eminent Commander of Columbian Commandery No 4 Knights Templar. For thirty consecutive years, he held office in the Commandery and served as the Prelate. He was Past Grand Commander of the State, Treasurer of the Grand Commandery of the State, and President of the Past Grand Commanders Association, Knights Templar of Connecticut.
In Scottish Rite Masonry, he was equally proficient. He was a member of King Solomon Grand 6 Lodge of Perfection, the Van Rensselaer Council of Princes of Jerusalem, Norwich Sovereign Chapter of Rose Croix, Connecticut Sovereign Consistory of Norwich, and served three years as Commander in Chief of the last body. He also belonged to the Sphinx Temple Mystic Shrine at Hartford.
On Sept 20, 1898, at Cincinnati, he was made a member of the Supreme Council of the Sovereign Grand Inspectors General of the Thirty-third and Last Degree for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. He later became a member of the board of directors of Norwich’s Masonic Temple Corporation and served as its treasurer.
At the age of fourteen, Costello Lippitt united with the East Main Street Methodist Episcopal Church, later transferred his membership to the Central Methodist Episcopal Church, and then to the Sachem Street Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1895, when the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church was organized, he was one of the leading spirits and became president of the board of trustees, holding that office to the present time. He served as superintendent of the Sunday School for twenty years and as organist of the churches for over forty years. He was also a member of the American Missionary Board of the Methodist Church, had a wide acquaintance in Methodist circles, and also belonged to one of the societies connected with Wesleyan University.
On Aug 16, 1864, Mr. Lippitt was united in marriage to Emily Hyde Standish, adopted daughter of Nathan Standish. Mrs. Lippitt died May 20, 1889, aged forty six years. She bore her husband two children: (1) Mary B., born July 28, 1865, is the wife of C. J. Wolcott of Norwich and has two children, Marion Belle and Marguerite Standish; (2) Norris S., born Dec 25, 1867, was an assistant teller in the Norwich Savings Society and is a 32d degree Mason; he married Inez Pauline Doolittle. They had one child, Mary Esther.
On May 31, 1891, Costello Lippitt married for his second wife Gertrude H. Lamphere, a direct descendant of Stephen Hopkins, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Mrs. Lippitt was a member of the Faith Trumbull Chapter DAR
Costello Lippitt was well known and is remembered as a very kind and obliging man. He had the full confidence of a large circle of friends in both the business and social worlds.
Paragraph 2a
Paragraph 3a
Paragraph 4a