RpKESK
''iliiiftpssii
!;t'i;ifcii«;;i!]'^;:-:v;:1';iji'i:i;:':i';.'; :
mMm
Gc ^' L.
929.2
M1381S
V.2
1146115
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
3 1833 00861 4866
Family-Histories
AND
Genealogies
IN THREE VOLUMES— VOLUME SECOND
Family Histories
AND
Genealogies
■Volume Second
containing a series of
©entalo^ital anir BioflmpJjical iWonoijmpijQ
ON THE FAMILIES OF
GRISWOLD, WOLCOTT, PITKIN, OGDEN, JOHNSON AND
DIODATI
AND NOTES ON THE FAMILIES OF
DeWOLF, drake, BOND AND SWAYNE, AND DUNBAR
BY
t StrtoatDr smtmflt ^alfstmtn
/ AND
V. ii- 1892
PRIVATELY PRINTED
COPYRIGHT, 1892
EDWARD ELBRIDGE SALISBURY
EVELYN MeCURDY SALISBURY
^
^
s
y
^
X
^
i
111GIJ5
" (Our calmer jutigment toill ratl)cr tcnb to mobcratc t\)(in to suppress tl)c
pribe of an ancient anb roortl)]! race. ®l)e satirist man langl), tlje pliilosopl)er
mag preaci) ; but reason Ijcrsclf mill respect tijc prcjubicc anb Ijabits U)l)icl)
Ijaoc been consecrateb bn tl)c eicpcrience of manUinb. . . . 3n tIjc inucsti-
gation of past euents our curiositn is stimulateb bg tl)c immcbiatc or inbirect
reference to onrscloes ; but in tl)c estimate of Ijononr uje slionlb learn to imluc
tl)e gifts of noture abooc tijose of fortune; to esteem in our ancestors tlje
qualities tljat best promote tljc interests of societn, anb to pronounce tl]c
bescenbant of a king less trulu noble tl)an tl)e offspring of a man of genius,
mljose mritings will instruct a\ib beligljt tl)c latest posteritg "—Edward Gibbon.
CONTENTS
Title of Volume Second ....... ^^.^
On the Proper Criteria of Judgment in the Estimate of Ancestry,
BY Edward Gibbon ....... Hi
(KtfStnOltl (pp. 1-121):
Amu I
Sources of the information upon which this Monograph is
based ........ i
Two brothers, Edward and Matthew Griswold, come to America
about 1639 ........ 2
Their sworn statements of 1684, by which is fixed the date of immi-
gration ........ 2
A third brother, Thomas, remained in England, as shown by a docu-
ment quoted in full from the New London Probate Office . 4
George Griswold is proved to be father of these three brothers by a
deposition lately found, here quoted ... 5
His probable descent shown from the Greswold family of
CO. Warwick ....... 6
And his probable identity with the George Greswold whose baptism
is recorded in the Parish-register of Solihul, under date of
April 23, 1548 ....... 8
Account of the three brothers Griswold ... 9
Edward Griswold the elder of the two emigrants ... 10
His descendants ....... 11
Matthew Griswold the emigrant ..... 13
Descendants of Matthew and Anna (Wolcott) Griswold . 22
John Rogers, founder of the Rogerenes .... 23
Chief Justice Waite ...... 26
CONTENTS
Matthew Griswold the second . . . .
Letter to his future wife .......
Letter to Cotton Mather relating what had befallen his son Matthew
Children of Matthew and Phoebe (Hyde) Griswold
George Griswold's Latin salutatory, Yale 1717
Extracts from one of his sermons .....
His obituary by Rev. Jonathan Parsons ....
'26
Descendants of George and Hannah (Lynde) Griswold
Other children of Matthew and Phoebe (Hyde) Griswold
Judge John Griswold .....
Descendants of Judge John and Hannah (Lee) Griswold
Gen. Samuel Holden Parsons ....
Gov. Matthew Griswold and his wife ; her Pitkin-Wolcott
descent .......
Extracts from his correspondence
Family-circle of Mrs. Ursula (Wolcott) Griswold
Children of Gov. Matthew and Ursula (Wolcott) Griswold
Judge Matthew Griswold ......
Gov. Roger Griswold ......
Pedigree-Sketch of Descent of Fanny (Rogers) Griswold
Descendants of Gov. Roger and Fanny (Rogers) Griswold
Capt. John Griswold .....
Other children of Gov. Matthew and Ursula (Wolcott) Gris-
wold .......
Dea. John Griswold and his wife Sarah Johnson . . .1
Their descendants ....... i
82
IDS
106
Mrs. Elizabeth (Griswold) Gurley and her family
CONTENTS
Mrs. Sarah (Griswold) Gardiner and her family
Mrs. Ursula (Griswold) McCurdy and her family
Judge Charles Johnson McCurdy
Mrs. Evelyn (McCurdy) Salisbury
Notts on ttt iFamflg of BcSmolf (pp. 123-165):
The name, in various forms, common as a surname in various
languages . . . . . . . 123
Distinguished Europeans bearing the name . . . 124
Early American DeWolfs . . . . . . 125
First notices of Balthasar DeWolf, 1656 and 1661 . . .126
He and his three sons in the Lyme records of i668 ; his daughter
Mary was the grandmother of Gov. Matthew Griswold . 127
Two or three further notices of Balthasar DeWolf and his wife Alice I2g
Their son Edward and his wife Rebecca .... 130
Simon and Sarah (Lay) DeWolf ..... 131
The third son Stephen and his family ..... 131
Descendants of Simon and Sarah (Lay) DeWolf . . 133
Only four male descendants of Balthasar now live in Lyme ;
their names . . . . . . . 135
The DeWolfs of Nova Scotia : a communication from Dr. James
Ratchford DeWolf of Wolfville, N. S. . . . 136
Nathan and Lydia (Kirtland) DeWolf and their children . . 139
Benjamin and Rachel (Otis) DeWolf and their children . . 140
Children of Hon. James Fraser who married Rachel Otis DeWolf . 141
Judge Elisha DeWolf and his family .... 142
Hon. Thomas Andrew Strange DeWolf and his family . . 143
Dr. James Ratchford DeWolf and his family . . . 144
CONTENTS
Rev. Arthur Wentworth Hamilton Eaton's account of the
Nova Scotia DeWolfs .....
Notes on the Rhode Island branch of the DeWolf family,
chiefly by Dr. John James DeWolf of Providence, R. I.
PAGE
Prof. John DeWolf of Brown Universit)' .... 151
Extracts from letters of Mr. John DeWolf of New York on the
same branch . . . . . . .154
Capt. John DeWolf, " Nor'west John ; " his voyage to Alaska and his
journey through Siberia to St. Petersburg ... 155
Hon. Delos DeWolf of Oswego, N. Y. ; Dr. T. K. DeWolf of
Chester Center, Mass. ....
Dr. Oscar C. DeWolf, Professor in Chicago Medical CoUe
Calvin DeWolf, Esq. of Chicago
Dr. James DeWolf of Vail, Ohio ....
Austin DeWolf Esq. of Greenfield, Mass.
145
158
159
160
161
Arms of the DeWolf of Saxony ; and of DeWolfe of England 164
3$ftfein=saaoU(itt (pp. 169-214):
S^oUott (pp. 169-200):
Arms ......... 169
Henry Wolcott of Windsor, Conn. .... 169
His immediate ancestry ....... 170
His wife and children ...... 171
Henry Wolcott the second ..... 172
Simon Wolcott; Martha Pitkin his second wife . . 174
Henry Wolcott the third, and others of that generation . 176
Judge Josiah Wolcd'tt ; his letter on the Salem witchcraft . . 177
CONTENTS
Capt. Gideon Wolcott . . . . . . 178
Elihu Wolcott ; his son Rev. Dr. Samuel Wolcott author of
the Wolcott " Memorial " ..... 179
William, son of the first Simon Wolcott, and his descendants 180
Gov. Roger Wolcott, chiefly from his autobiography .
Letter to him from the Assembly of Massachusetts after the
capture of Louisburg . . . . . . 183
Judge Roger Wolcott ; Gen. Erastus Wolcott .
Mrs. Ursula (Wolcott) Griswold ; Gov. Oliver Wolcott the
signer ........
Mrs. Mariann (Wolcott) Goodrich ....
Extracts from her letters ......
The second Gov. Oliver Wolcott .....
87
PAGE
When over seventy years of age he writes of himself in his teens 192
Extracts from his correspondence ..... 194
His family ........ 196
Physical traits of the Wolcotts ..... 198
l^imm (pp. 201-214):
Copy of an old record of several early generations of Pitkins
William Pitkin the first ....... 201
His brother Rog-er and sister Martha .... 203
Children of William and Hannah (Goodwin) Pitkin . . .204
William Pitkin the second ; Chief Justice Pitkin . . 204
Children of William and Elizabeth (Stanley) Pitkin . . .206
William Pitkin the third : Gov. Pitkin .... 207
CONTENTS
Children of William and Mary (Woodbridge) Pitkin . . .210
William Pitkin the fourth : Judge Pitkin .... 210
Rev. Timothy Pitkin and Hon. Timothy Pitkin . . . 2it
Pitkins distinguished in military life ....
211
General summaries quoted from the " Pitkin Family " .
212
Hon. Roger Sherman Baldwin, Gov. and U. S. Senator ; Prof.
Simeon E. Baldwin ......
213
l^s^itn on tJie iFawfls of Utal^e (pp. 215-224):
Arms 215
The parents, brothers and sisters of Sergeant Job Drake who
married Mary Wolcott .....
215
John Drake Jun. and his descendants ....
216
Children of Sergeant Job Drake ....
216
Lieut. Job Drake ; his daughter Sarah marries Gov. Roger
Wolcott
217
John Drake the emigrant descended from the Drakes of Ashe
in Devonshire .......
217
Letter from Rev. W. T. T. Drake of Hemel-Hempsted, Eng.,
on this descent .......
218
Sketch of the history of this family, condensed from Burke,
Prince and Nichols ......
220
Sir Bernard Drake ; Robert Drake of Wiscombe . . .220
Sir Richard GrenviUe ; Sir Bevil Grenville ... 221
Inscription on the monument of Sir Bernard and his wife in the
parish-church of Musbury 222
His wife Gertrude Fortescue and her father Sir John Fortescue 222
CONTENTS
Robert Drake, his wife Elizabeth Prideaux, their sons and their
PAGE
grandson John the emigrant ...
223
Sir Walter Raleigh and the first Duke of Marlborough related
to the Drakes .......
223
Francis Drake of Esher ......
224
(!^fltrrn=3JoJ|Ufiion (pp. 225-351):
©flTren (pp. 225-284):
Arms ......... 225
Origin of the early emigrations from New England westward, ■
especially to New Jersey .....
225
John Ogden of Northampton, L. I., a patentee under NicoUs's grant
in 1664 settling in Elizabethtown ; the " Concessions " of the
Lords Proprietors ....... 226
Thomas Johnson one of the company from New Haven Colony in
1666 settling in Newark 227
Prominence of the Ogdens in the earlier history of New Jersey . 228
This monograph is largely indebted to the private notes pre-
pared by Mr. Francis Barber Ogden of New York :
228
His letter respecting the Ogden arms . . . . . 229 '
John Ogden's career ......
230
John Ogden's brother Richard .....
233
Children of John and Jane (Bond) Ogden
234
John Ogden and his family 235
David Ogden ; Joseph Ogden 236
Benjamin Ogden and his family 236
Dea. Jonathan Ogden and his family .... 237
CONTENTS
Robert Ogden and his family ....
PAGE
Hon. Robert Ogden ....... 241
Children of Hon. Robert and Phoebe (Hatfield) Ogden . . 243
Robert Ogden ......•• 244
His descendants .....•■ 245
Gen. Frederick Nash Ogden ; Abner Nash Ogden . . . 246
Mrs. Mary (Ogden) Haines and her family . . . 248
Mrs. Sarah Piatt (Haines) Doremus and her family . . . 249
Mrs. Sarah Piatt (Ogden) DuBois and her family ... 251
Capt. Cornelius Jay DuBois ...... 252
Col. Francis Barber of Elizabethtown, N. J., who married Mary
Ogden 254
Gen. Matthias Ogden 255
Descendants of Gen. Matthias and Hannah (Dayton) Ogden . 257
Col. Francis Barber Ogden ...... 257
His son Francis Barber Ogden ..... 259
Gov. Aaron Ogden .....
Moses Ogden and his descendants
Descendants of David and Elizabeth (Swayne-Ward) Ogden
240
Rev. David Longworth Ogden
Mrs. Elizabeth (Ogden) Johnson
Col. Josiah Ogden
Abraham Ogden
Thomas Ludlow Ogden .
Dr. Jacob Ogden
259
262
265
CONTENTS
3JoJinson(pp. 285-35 =
Arms .........
PAO«
285
lACU
Three Johnsons, early of New Haven Colony, supposed
to be
brothers ......
285
Their dates in the records ; Robert's claim to the house of his
brother John .......
Robert's first appearance in New Haven ; his Will
Letter of Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson to his son, January 6, 1757
The third brother, Thomas Johnson of New Haven and Norwalk
28G
2S7
288
289
Descendants of Robert and Adaline Johnson
291
Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson .....
.
296
His children
303
Judge Samuel William Johnson ....
305
Thomas Johnson of Newark ....
306
His epitaph and Will
His descendants .......
Eliphalet Johnson ; his Will
Nathaniel Johnson ; his Will
Descendants of Nathaniel and Sarah (Ogden) Johnson
308
310
3"
314
316
Rev. Stephen Johnson .....
317
Descendants of Rev. Stephen and Elizabeth (Diodate) Johnson
346
TJCotes on tJie iFamflits of J3onlr antr Stoiisnt (pp
353-361)
Robert Bond ......
353
William Swayne ......
355
CONTENTS
liiotrati (pp. 363-412) :
Arms ......... 363
Monuments of William Diodate and his relict Sarah removed
in 182 1 from the New Haven Public Square . . 363
New Haven Records respecting William Diodate . . 364
Extracts from his Will .....•• 365
Items of his Inventory ...... 3^6
The record in his Bible, in his own hand .... 367
Col. Joseph L. Chester's assistance in tracing his ancestry . 368
Information from the Swiss Diodatis through Rev. Dr. L. W.
Bacon ........ 369
Cornelio Diodati of Lucca in 1300; his descendants . . 370
Carolo Diodati ....... 374
Letter from Madame A. de May respecting the Mei family,
allied to the Diodatis ...... 374
Letter from Count G. Diodati relative to the female ancestry
of Carolo Diodati ....
Nicolo Diodati and his son Pompeio
Descendants of Pompeio Diodati
His brother Nicolo's sons Giovanni and Giulio .
Ottaviano Diodati and his descendants
Descendants of Carolo Diodati
Rev. Jean Diodati ......
Dr. Theodore Diodati, son of Rev. Jean ....
Rev. Philippe Diodati ......
Rev. Antoine Josue Diodati .....
376
377
380
381
382
384
384
393
394
395
CONTENTS
Dr. Theodore Diodati, son of Carolo, and his descendants
Charles Diodati, Milton's friend ..... 396
John Diodati, grandfather of the emigrant William . . . 397
List of Diodati portraits in the Villa Diodati on the Lake of
Geneva ......
John Diodati, father of the emigrant William
His wife Elizabeth Morton, and Pedigree-Sketch of he
Whicker Descent .....
Arms of Whicker ......
Children of John and Elizabeth (Morton) Diodati
Elizabeth (Diodati) Scarlett ; the Scarlett anus .
William Diodate ; Mrs. Scarlett's Will .
Articles which came to William Diodate 's granddaughters
William Diodate's son-in-law Rev. Stephen Johnson
396
398
400
400
401
402
403
404
408
411
Htscent of Sataiii (Uunliar) Mottatt (pp. 413-415)
Indexes of Family-Names in Second Volume and Pedigrees (pp. 417-503)
©risrooib
1. By Male Descent ....... 419
2. By Female Descent ...... 422
3. By Marriage ........ 428
DetOolf
1. By Male Descent ....... 435
2. By Female Descent ...... 444
3. By Marriage ........ 446
CONTENTS
toolCOtt PAGE
1. By Male Descent ....... 452
2. By Female Descent ...... 456
3. By Marriage ........ 457
JJitkin
1. By Male Descent ....... 464
2. By Female Descent ...... 465
3. By Marriage ........ 466
QDgbcn
1. By Male Descent . . . . . . .471
2. By Female Descent ...... 478
3. By Marriage ........ 480
jjoljnson
1. By Male Descent ....... 487
2. By Female Descent ...... 491
3. By Marriage ........ 492
JBonb anb Sroannc
I. 2. 3 495
iBiobati
1. By Male Descent ....... 496
2. By Female Descent ...... 499
3. By Marriage ........ 500
tOljickcr
I. 2. 3 502
SDunbar
I. 2. 3 503
Arms : Arg. a /ess Gu. between two greyhounds courant Sa. (Gresvvold of Warwickshire).
I OR the following sketch we have been favored with the use
of all the family-papers preserved by several generations of the
Griswolds of Blackball ; together with some interesting original
papers of Rev. George Griswold of Giant's Neck, now owned by Deacon
George Griswold of Niantic ; and with some notes for family-history by
James Griswold Esq. of Lyme.
We have also had several valuable documents copied for us from
the Probate Records of New London and the State Archives at Hart-
ford, the latter through the courtesy of Charles J. Hoadly Esq., State
Librarian. An examination of the collections on the Griswold family
made by the late Rev. F. W. Chapman of Rocky Hill, Conn., which
were put into our hands by his son Mr. Henry A. Chapman of Hartford,
has led to one important discovery ; and a few private letters from the
father have given us some valuable hints.
Some of the statements respecting Edward Griswold and his descend-
ants were furnished by Judge S. O. Griswold of Cleveland, Ohio, and
the late Hon. William H. Buell of Clinton, Conn., descended from him.
The printed sources of information, so far as known, have been,
of course, freely drawn upon.
It must be understood, however, that we have not undertaken to
write a complete genealogy of the Griswolds ; this monograph has
reference, especially, to the male line, and to those of the name most
closely associated with Lyme.
The earliest English settlements on the Connecticut River were
nearly contemporaneous, of the same parentage, being all offshoots from
the Bay Plantation, and bound together by many ties of intercourse and
dependence. It was about the year 1635 that Windsor, Hartford, Weth-
ersfield and Saybrook were first settled. The latter had its origin in a
fortification built by Lion Gardiner, a military engineer from England
(who had served the Prince of Orange in the Low Countries as a brave
soldier, and Engineer and Master of Works of Fortification in the
Leaguers, and afterwards became, by grant from the Crown, the first Lord
of the Manor of Gardiner's Island, or " the Worshippful Lion Gardiner,
Lord of the Isle of Wight,"'), and commanded by John Winthrop the
younger, under a commission from the Warwick Patentees. This barely
secured the site for English occupation against Dutch encroachments.
The new cluster of settlements thus formed on the beautiful banks of
the Connecticut, winding amid rich meadows ready to the hand of the
husbandman, and primitive forests stocked with aH sorts of game valuable
for skins, and opening an attractive pathway for trade, both inland and
abroad, naturally drew the attention of those in the mother-country whom
the usurpations and oppressions of the later Stuarts had forced to make
new homes for themselves in these western wilds.
Two brothers of the name of Griswold, Edward^ and Matthew,^
came to America "about the year 1639," and settled at Windsor, Conn.
The date of their emigration being fundamental, and all that relates to it,
and to years immediately following, being of interest, we quote from
affidavits of these two brothers, sworn to May 15, 1684, as follows:
" The testimony of Edward Griswold, aged about 77 years, is that about the
yeare 1639 Mr. W™. Whiteing (deceassed) was undertaker for a shipp in England, in
' For a very interesting historical sketclr of the Manor of Gardiner's Island, with notices of its suc-
cessive proprietors, by Mrs. Martha J. Lamb, see the Magazine of American History. . . . New
York, 1885, xiii. 1-30 ; also, Coll. of the Mass. Hist. Soc. Vol. x of the Third Series. Boston, 1849, pp.
173-85. A "beautiful recumbent efHgy in armor" was lately set up, as a monument to Lion Gardiner,
at Easthampton, L. L, on which occasion his remains were temporarily exhumed, showing a stature
of over six feet, and a " broad forehead." — Id. New York, 1886, xvi. 493-94. The Griswold family of
the seventh generation, as we shall see, became allied to the Gardiners by marriage.
N. B. All the imprints we give are those of the particular volumes referred to.
<!&tfsU}OlZl
which shipp I came to New England . . . and at that time many passengers
came ouer, severall of which settled at Windsor, and a gennerall expectation there
was at that time, as appeared by discourse, of many more passengers to come, and
some of note ... by which meanes land at Windsor, near the towne and redy
for improuement, was at a high price. . . . But afterward, people that were
expected out of England not coming in such numbers as was looked for, and some
returning to England,' and others remoueing to the seaside, the lands at Windsor
fell very much in price." . . .
" The testimony of Matthew Griswold, aged about 64 years, is that John Bissell,
sometimes of Windsor, now deceassed, did offer to sell mee al that part of Mr. Lud-
lowe's accomodations, both of houseing and lands, which hee bought of Mr. W"
Whiteing (as hee told mee), which lay on the west side Connecticut Riuer in the
townshipp of Windsor. . . . and I beeing not accomodated to my mind where
I then liued at Saybrook, and haueing kindred of my owne and my wiues at
Windsor, was willing to dwell at Windsor . . . also I went and adiiised with my
father-in-law Mr. Wolcot, who told mee I had bid high enoffe. . . . Further I
testifie that, when I came ouer to New England about the year 1639, land was at an
high price, and that the price thereof fell very much in some yeares after." ' . . .
It will be observed that these documents give us, also, approximately,
the important dates of birth of the two brothers^the elder, aged about
seventy-seven in 1684, must have been born about 1607 ; and the younger,
about sixty-four years old in 1684, was, of course, born about 1620.
The eminent antiquary Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull of Hartford says
he "can hardly doubt" that a brother of Edward and Matthew was
"Francis Grissell " (or "Mr. Grissell "), to whom reference is made in
the "Calendar of State Papers" (Minutes of a Committee for Provi-
dence Plantation) as having applied in England, from July 1635 to Feb.
1636, for remission of the cost of transportation of himself and wife to
New England;^ whence he infers "that Francis Grissell (Griswold) had
been at, and had returned to Great Britain from Providence Island, before
^ Plainly in consequence of the rising power of the Parliament, before the Civil War had operated
to drive Englishmen away from their mother-country.
' Conn. State Archives, Private Controversies, ii. docc, 203, 204. A/S.
* Calendar of State Papers. Colonial Series. 1574-1660. London, i860, pp. 2ii, 215, 221.
July 1635."' Whether it be true or not that this person was a brother
of our Edward and Matthew Griswold, which we leave for others to
determine, certain it is that Edward had a son named Francis, who will
be spoken of farther on ; and Mr. Chapman entertained the opinion,
though it does not appear on what ground, that the grandfather of Edward
and Matthew was a Francis Griswold, said to have been of Lyme Regis,
CO. Dorset, who had a son George, the father of our two brothers of
Windsor."
From a valuable document in the New London Probate Office
(relating to a lawsuit in which the only son of our first Matthew Griswold
was involved) we obtain proof that, beside Edward and Matthew, there
was another brother, Thomas^ by name, who remained in the old English
homestead ; and the same paper gives documentary evidence as to what
part of England the emigrants came from. It deserves to be quoted here,
exactly and in full :
" Georg Griswold, aged about 67 years, testifyeth as followeth — that in his
youthfull years he lived with his father in England, in a town called Keillinsworth'
in Warrackshire ; he did severall times since hear his father Edward Griswould say
that the house they then lived in, and lands belonging thereto, was his brother
Mathew Griswould's ; and have lately seen a letter under the hand of Thomas Gris-
would of Keillinsworth above"', directed to his brother Mathew Griswould aforesaid,
wherein the said Thomas Griswould intimated that he did then live in the abovesaid
house belonging to his said brother Mathew Griswould aforesaid.
" May 9*", 1700. George Griswould appeared before me in Hartford, and made
oath to y* above testimony."
"Joseph Curtiss, Assistant."
With regard to the ancestry of the three brothers whom we thus
distinctly trace, we have no certain information reaching beyond their
' Private letter, Dec. 30, i88i.
* Private letter, March 12, 1S74. The same letter expresses the belief, without giving any good
reason for it, however (as appears from another letter, June 4, 1874), that Michael Griswold of Wethers-
field was also a brother of Edward and Matthew ; but a document, which will be quoted presently
seems to imply that the father of Edward and Matthew had only one other son.
■■ In Queen Elizabeth's time Kenilworth was called Killingworth.
(Sivitiiaoirs
father. A deposition lately found among the papers of Rev. F. VV.
Chapman, "a full and true copy" of an original now lost, enables us to
begin the Griswold pedigree one generation farther back than it has been
hitherto traced. This valuable document is in these words :
" The testimony of Captain George Griswold, aged about 72 years, and the testi-
mony of Mr. John Griswold, aged about 69 years, they both being sons of George
Griswold, the Deponents being both of Windsor in the county of Hartford and
colony of Connecticut in New England, is as follows :
" Viz : that our Grandfather's name was Edward Griswold, and it was formerly
and has ever since been always accepted and reputed that our said Grandfather's
father's name was George W Griswold, and the said George Griswold our Great
Grandfather had three sons, the eldest named Edward, the second named Matthew,
and the third or youngest son named Thomas; and the said Edward the eldest son,
and the said Matthew the second son, came into New England from Killingsworth
in Warwickshire in England ; and in all our discourses amongst the families of said
Griswolds in New England, together with other elderly observing gentlemen, they
are and have ever been so accepted and reputed to be, without contradiction or gain-
saying, according to the best of our remembrance.
" And the Deponents further add and say that the above named Edward Gris-
wold's eldest son has always been called and reputed to be Francis Griswold, without
any contradiction (ir gainsaying as aforesaid that we know of.
"Windsor in Hartford county in Connecticut, New England, personally
appeared, on the 19th day of January, Anno Dom. 1737-8, Captain George Griswold
and John Griswold, the above named Deponents, and made solemn Oath, in due form
of law, to the truth of the above written testimony, before me.
Henry Allyn,
Justice Peace."'
* This copy was given to Mr. Chapman by Mr. J. S. Griswold of Benson, Vt., whose brother
Mr. W. D. Griswold, now of St. Louis, Mo., wrote to us (October 27, 1883) respecting the original
paper as follows :
" As regards the original paper, I remember to have seen it on occasion of a visit I made to my
native home in 1841. My Father, then alive, showed it to me, and I read it over and over with great
interest, and I then took a copy of it which I think I have sent to some inquirer, without retaining a
copy of the copy. The affidavit was evidently taken in aid of some pending legal proceeding, or in
anticipation of some legal use. fi was inhe)ited by my Father with the old papers and muniments of his
Father, and that is all that can be said of its history." In another letter (November 7, 1883) Mr. Griswold
<!S^trffiitl)OlT)r
But who was this George (4) Griswold, the father of Edward,
Matthew and Thomas, we know not with certainty. It has been assumed,
though, hitherto, without any good reasons given, that our Griswolds
belonged to the heraldic family of Greswold of the county of Warwick,
one of whom, Humphrey Greswold, deceased in 1746, unmarried, was the
first of this family who possessed Malvern Hall;" and the arms of that
family: Arg. a /esse G^i. beHveen two greyhounds courant Sa., have been
extensively used as of right belonging to Griswolds of America.
A statement has gained some credence, that our Griswold brothers
came from Lyme Regis, co. Dorset, probably for no better reason than
because this would afford a plausible explanation of the name of Lyme in
Connecticut. But careful search in the records of Lyme Regis, by the
Rector in 1874, failed to show that any person of the name ever lived
there ; while the affidavits of Edward and Matthew Griswold fully estab-
lish the fact that their old home was at Kenilworth, co. Warwick. Now
"The Visitation of the County of Warwick in the Year 1619," published
by the Harleian Society, gives us thirteen generations of the Greswold
family, of which the first-named representative was John Greswold " of
Kenelworth," who married the daughter of William Hugford of Hulderley
Hall in Solihull ; and the seat of the head of the family seems to have
said : " I read it over repeatedly, and critically observed the paper, old and faded, and the writing of
style verifying its age." These two Griswold brothers are descendants of Edward Griswold, through
his son Francis.
' The late Col. Chester, to whom the question of the English origin of the Griswolds was referred
some years since, wrote from London : " I thought I had already explained about the Griswolds of
Malvern Hall. The first one who had Malvern Hall was Humphrey G. (son of Rev. Marshall G.,
descended from the family at Solihull, co. Warwick), who died unmarried in 1746. It then went to his
brother John, who died without issue in 1760, when that branch of the family, in the male line, became
extinct. Malvern then went to their sister Mary, wife of David Lewis Esq., then to their son Henry
Greswold Lewis, who died in 1829 without issue. Malvern then went to his very distant kinsman
Edmund Meysey Wigley, who assumed the name of Greswold. He died, unmarried, in 1833, and
Malvern then went to his paternal uncle Henry Wigley, who also assumed the surname of Greswold,
but who never had a drop of Greswold blood in his veins." The present (1886) possessor of Malvern
Hall is John Francis Williams Greswolde Esq., who assumed the name of Greswolde under the Will of
an aunt, Miss Greswolde — Walford's County Families. London, 1886, p. mo.
C&^tfstoollr
been first established at Solihull after the Hugford marriage.'" Moreover,
John Greswold, of the fifth generation in this Visitation, is named Grzs-
wold in "The Visitations of the County of Nottingham in the Years
1569 and 1 6 14," published by the Harleian Society, where the marriage
of his daughter Allice to Thomas Dabridgcourt is recorded — showing that
these two forms of the name were at an early period interchangeable."
But what is more directly to our purpose is the fact that, in the
Parish-Register of Solihull— as we know from entries kindly copied for us
by the Rector Rev. Charles Evans '^ — there is recorded the baptism of a
"George Gresolde" under date of April 23, 1548, who may well have
been our first George. Yet his name is not identified in any pedigree of
Greswold which we have seen. The Visitation of Warwickshire for 16 19,
indeed, and a pedigree of Greswold published in the "Warwickshire Anti-
quarian Magazine,"''' give us two Georges, separated from one another by
a generation. But neither of these appears to have been ours. Of the
earlier one, distinguished in the pedigrees as "George Clericus," we know,
by a monument standing in the nave of the parish-church of Solihull,
which was seen by Judge S. O. Griswold of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1883, and
which is supposed to commemorate a nephew of George Clericus, that the
nephew died, a married man, in 1537; so that a George born in 1548
was probably not the uncle." As to the later George of the pedigrees, a
'» The Publications of the Harl. Soc. Vol. xii. — The Visitation of the County of Warwick in the year
1619. . . . Ed. by John Fetherston. . . . London, 1877, pp. 60-62.
" The Publications of the Harl. Soc. Vol. iv. — The Visitations of the County of Nottingham in the
years 1569 and 1614. . . . London, 1871, p. 38.
The parish-records of Solihull, as appears from obliging letters of Rev. Charles Evans, Rector,
show the following varieties in the form of the name at the dates mentioned :
1539 — Griswoolde, 1540 — Gryswoolde, 1541— Gresolde, 1547 — Grissolde, 1555— Greyswolde, 1561 —
Grisolde, 1562— Gryswoolde and Gryssold, 1570— Griswolde, 1571— Gressolde, 1575— Greswolde, 1579—
Greswoolde, 1590 — Greswold, 1593 — Gryswold, 1624 — Greswold and Griswold, 1627 — Griswoold, 1636 —
Griswold. For some of these, however, the parish-clerk alone may be responsible.
" Private letter, October 6, 1883.
" "Warwickshire Antiq. Magazine . . . Warwick, 1870, Part v."
N. B. — Our few references at second hand are marked as quoted.
'* We have been favored by Judge Griswold with a copy of the inscription on this monument.
But the same may be read in The Antiquities of Warwickshire. ... By William Dugdale. . . .
London, 1656, p. 691, where is also to be seen a drawing of the monument.
etf!$U)oltr
count of generations shows that he must have been born about 1590, and
could not, therefore, well have been the father of a son born, as our
Edward was, in 1607, but must have been of the same generation with
our Edward, Matthew and Thomas.
The George baptized at Solihull in 1548 doubtless came of some
younger branch of the family, and (supposing him the father of our three
brothers) probably lived in Kenilworth, whence his two elder sons
emigrated to America in 1639, when he was, in all probability, already
dead ; for, if alive in 1639, he would have reached the age of ninety-one
years. At the birth of Thomas, not earlier than 1621, he must have been
about seventy-three years old.
This identification seems so probable that, for the present, until it shall
be refuted, we rest upon it ; and we assume also, as probable, from circum-
stances to be referred to presently, that he was of the " gentle " Solihull
family. We are unable, however, to give the particular steps of descent
of the George Greswold baptized in 1548, because the Parish- Register tells
us nothing of his parentage. It is important to add that the Parish-
Register of Kenilworth prior to 1630 was destroyed under Cromwell,
and that the name of Griswold or Greswold does not occur in it after
1651.
As has been noticed, our Griswold family possessed lands in fee in
England, both before and after the emigration of Edward and Matthew.
We can only wonder at the enterprise, courage and energy of these early
pioneers. Matthew Griswold, at the early age of nineteen years, came
with his brother Edward to Windsor, among its earliest settlers ; then
struck out from there to find a new home in Saybrook ; then, as if that
spot had become too narrow, crossed the " Great River," and made his
final settlement as the first man who took up land in Lyme. Perhaps this
may have been partly due to the English passion for landed possessions —
also, perhaps, to a hereditary longing which could be fully gratified only
by first occupation.
^rffistoom
But from these general considerations we must now return, to record
more in detail what we know of the three brothers, Edward, Matthew
and Thomas, Griswold, of whom, as has been said, the first two emi-
grated to America in 1639, and the other remained in England. As to
this Thomas, we know, by the deposition of 1737-38 above cited, that
he was the youngest son — born, therefore, not earlier than about 1621 — but
neither from tradition nor records have we any additional facts respecting
him. The yet existing Kenilworth records (as appears from Mr. Chap-
man's papers) make mention of "Hanna the daughter of Thomas
Grissold," buried April 8, 1632; of "Mary the daughter of Thomas
Grissold," buried April 20, 1634; and of "Thomas the sonne of Thomas
Grissold and Elianor his wife . . . baptized July y'' 30"" Anno Dni
1636;" also, of a "Thomas Grissold," whose wife Joane was buried
January 28, 1632 (or 1633), and a "Thomas Grissold," married to Cath-
arine Norris June 11, 1635 — that is, certainly of two, if not more, sepa-
rate Thomases. But neither of them could have been the brother of
Edward and Matthew, because Matthew himself was not more than about
sixteen years old at the latest of these dates. On the other hand, he may
have been either a "Thomas Griswold," who was buried May 5, 1644,
or a Thomas, named in the records, who had a son Matthew born May i,
1649. The parish-records of Kenilworth, it will be seen, name at least
three distinct Thomas Griswolds.
To come then to the two emigrants, a tradition remains to be alluded
to, that their emigration was in company with the Rev. Ephraim Huet of
Windsor, who " had been a minister of Wraxall, near Kenilworth, in
Warwickshire, was proceeded against by Archbishop Laud, 1638, for
neglect of ceremonies, came next year." '^ Savage thought this tradition
plainly erroneous, for the reason that George, son of Edward, Griswold, in
his deposition above cited, testified that he lived with his father in England
" in his youthfuU years," which, according to Savage, must have extended
" Geneal. Diet. . . . B_v James Savage. Boston, i860, ii. 490.
erffsloom
later than to the year 1639. But the year of Huet's emigration, this very
year 1639, being now fixed, independently, as the date of the emigration
of Edward and Matthew Griswold, the tradition of their companionship
with Huet gains in probability ; while Savage's objection is quite set aside
by the fact that George Gnswold, having been sixty-seven years old in
1700 (as he himself affirmed), was born about 1633, not in 1638— as
Savage says — and could, therefore, well speak, when advanced in life, of a
time prior to 1639 as having been in the days of his youth.
EDWARD (i) Griswold, the eldest of the two emigrant brothers,
also lived the longest, dying in 1691, as is said,'" in his eighty-fourth year.
A colonial record of 1649 shows him to have been, at that time, still
residing in Windsor, where his sons Francis and George likewise had their
families." It is beheved that he removed to Killingworth, now Clinton,
Conn., in 1663, and gave to this New England town the name of his old
home in Warwickshire. He was a Deputy to the General Court, before
this, in 1662. Under the year 1667, as " Mr. Edw. Grissell," he is enrolled
a Deputy ; and as " Mr. Edward Griswold," a Commissioner " for Kenil-
worth."'' In 1674 there was a grant made to him of two hundred acres
of land, which were laid out, after lohg delay, in 1682, "at the north end
of Lyme bounds."'" As "Mr. Edward Griswould " he was Deputy "fr.
Kellingworth " in 1678, when he was also nominated for election as
Assistant, and as Commissioner ; represented his town in every Court held
from that year on to 1689 ; and was, during this period, repeatedly made
" Savage's Geneal. Diet., ut supra, ii. 316. Many of the particulars respecting Edward Griswold
and his descendants, stated in the text and in our Pedigree of Griswold, are drawn from The History
of Anc. Windsor. ... By Henry R. Stiles. . . . New York, 1859, pp. 640-48.
" The Public Records of the Col. of Connecticut ... to May, 1665. . . . By J. Hammond
Trumbull. . . . Hartford, 1850, p. ig6.
" The Public Records of the Col. of Conn. . . . 1665-1677 . . . By J. Hammond Trum-
bull. . . . Hartford, 1852, pp. 58, 63.
" Id., p. 240, and note.
<^VCstDOm
Commissioner.* In 1678 he was on a committee for establishing a Latin
School in New London.'' He was the first Deacon of the church of
Killingworth.
He was twice married : first, in England, to Margaret , who
died August 23, 1670;^ and secondly, in 1672 or 1673, to the widow of
James Bemis of New London. " Before coming to Windsor he had
Fratia's,^ George,^ Johti ^ and Sarah,^ probably all born in England ; and
he had at Windsor " three sons and three daughters — all, as appears by
their days of birth or baptism recorded at Windsor, by his first marriage.^
His son Francis (5) is found to have been at Saybrdok in 1655-56,^
but was one of the first proprietors of Norwich, settled in 1660, taking
"an active part in the affairs of the plantation ;"*^ and from 1661 inclusive
to 1671 was a Deputy to the General Court.^ He died in 1671,^ leaving
several children, of whom a daughter, Margaret^ (b. 1668), married
Thomas Buckingham, son of Rev. Thomas of Saybrook, in 1691.*
George (6), son of Edward, Griswold, was a freeman of Windsor in
1669,^ and seems to have lived there permanently. He died in 1704,*
™ The Public Records of the Col. of Conn. . . . 1678-16S9. . . . By J. Hammond Trum-
bull. . . . Hartford, 1859, PP- i. 3. 5. 26, ^8, 49, 75. 76. 97. 121. 139, 140. 169. 195, 230, 237, 251.
" History of Norwich. ... By Frances Manwaring Caulkins. Published by the Author,
1866, p. 92.
" " Her gravestone stands in the Clinton Congregational Burying-Ground, with the letters M. G.,
and is called the oldest monument." — W. H. B.
''Savage's Geneal. Diet., ut supra, ii. 316; and Stiles's Anc. Windsor, ut supra, p. 640. The
existing records of Kenilworth give baptisms of children of Edward Griswold, as follows : Sarah, 1631 ;
George, 1633 ; Sarah, 1635 ; Liddia, 1637.
" Caulkins's Hist, of Norwich, ut supra, p. 53.
" Id., p. 177.
""■ Id., p. 84.
" Id., p. 132.
" Stiles's Anc. Windsor, ut supra, p. 640 ; and Geneal. Diet. . . . By James Savage. Boston,
i860, i. 285.
" The Public Records of the Col. of Conn., 1665-1677, ut supra, p. 519.
'" Stiles's Anc. Windsor, ut supra, p. 641.
^tisitDOltr
lo having had sons and daughters. John'^ (b. 1668), son of George, was
12 father of Isaac^ (b. 1718), who was father of Abiel^ (b. 1755), who was
13, 14 father of Origen'^ (b. 1785), who was father of Judge 6'. Origen^ Gris-
wold, now of Cleveland, Ohio. Judge Griswold and his sisters now own
a tract of land at Windsor which once belonged to their ancestor George.
[5 The late Right Rev. Bishop Alexander Viets'^ Griswold was a great
16 great grandson of George son of Edward Griswold, through Thomas'^ the
second son of George.
Edward Griswold's third son, John (7), who was born in England,
17 died in 1642; but he had another soxi Jo/m,'^ born in Windsor in 1652,
18,19 whose grandson yi?^?'^/^ ^ (son of Daniel,'^ b. 1696) was the maternal
^9% grandfather of the late Hon. William HJ Buell of Clinton, Conn. A
20 daughter of Edward Griswold, Deborah^ (b. 1646), who married Samuel
Buell in 1662, "was the ancestral mother of all the Buells in Killingworth
(Clinton), all the Buells east of Connecticut River, and nearly all of
Litchfield, Conn." Her husband was the great grandfather in the fourth
degree of Hon. W. H. Buell, so that the latter was descended on both
sides from Edward Griswold of Killingworth. Edward Griswold's son
John (b. 1652) had a son Samuel'^ (b. 1685), whose daughter was the
'' Mary^^"^ daughter of Samuel Griswold Esq. of KilHngworth," who
married, in 1739, Elihu son of Rev. Nathaniel Chauncey of Durham,
23 Conn., and was the mother of the late Judge Charles^ Chauncey of New
Haven.^
24 Another son of Edward Griswold, named yi?j^/^ ^ (]q 1647),® had a
25, 26 son Matthew'^ (b. 1686), who had a son Matthew^ (b. 1718), who had a
27 son Elihti^ (named, perhaps, from Elihu Chauncey, the husband of his
father's second cousin Mary Griswold), who was born about 1750— Dr.
Elihu Griswold of Windsor, whose wife Mary (b. 1756) was a daughter
" Memorials of the Chaunceys. . . . By William Chauncey Fowler. Boston, 1858, pp. 112-13.
'^ Stiles's Anc. Windsor, ut supra, p. 640.
etrfistDOltr
of Dr. Alexander Wolcott, son of Gov. Roger Wolcott.** Dr. Elihu
Griswold removed to Herkimer county, N. Y., about the year 1800.
MATTHEW (2) Griswold, having come to Windsor, married,
October 16, 1646, Anna daughter of the first Henry Wolcott of Windsor
(see 3|ftftfn=212l0lt0tt), an emigrant from Tolland, co. Somerset, by
Elizabeth daughter of Thomas Saunders, of the adjacent parish of Lydiard
St. Lawrence.^ Either before or after the date of his marriage he removed
to Saybrook, in the capacity of Agent to Governor Fenwick. The exact
year of his removal to the river's mouth cannot now be fixed, but he is
said to have been the earliest actual occupant of land within the bounds of
Lyme (set off as separate from Saybrook in 1665-66), implying that he
had settled there long before this separation. Indeed, his original grant is
believed to have emanated from Fenwick,"^ which would carry us back to
1645, ^t least, when Fenwick's rights under the Warwick Patent were
extinguished by agreement with the Colony of Connecticut.^ Another
indication of his having very early become a resident of Saybrook is given
by his testimony of 1684, quoted above ; for in that he speaks of having
thought to leave Saybrook and purchase land in Windsor (" beeing not
accomodated to my mind where I then lined at Saybrook"), at a time
when land up the river had depreciated in value, the prevalence of Parlia-
mentarian rule in England having evidently lessened the inducements to
emigration, before the progress of events in the old country had again
tempted the more conservative Englishmen to expatriate themselves.
From these facts it would appear that he was a resident of Saybrook as
early as within the fifth decade of the seventeenth century, though after
the middle of October, 1646, because he was already married when he
contemplated returning to Windsor.
By the colonial records we first find him at Saybrook on the 20"' of
'^ Memorial of Henry Wolcott. . . . New York, 1881, pp. 77 and 140-42.
3*1(1., p. II.
'^ History of Ne%v London. . . . By Frances Manwaring Caulkins. . . . New London, 1852, p. 72.
=" The History of Connecticut. . . . By G. H. HoUister. New Haven, 1855, i. 135.
ffiffstooltr
March 1649-50, reference being made, under that date, to an answer to a
"petition from the inhabitants of Saybrook, presented by Matthew
Griswold and Tho. Leppingwell."^ He was a Deputy to the General
Court in 1654. In the same year Major Mason was deputed to take with
him "Matthew Griswold of Seabrooke," and "goe to Pequett and joyne
with Mr. Winthrop to draw the line betwne Pequett and Vncus according
to the bounds graunted that towne . . . and indeavo'' to compose
differences bet : Pequett and Vncus in loue and peace."® At a Court held
May I7'^ 1660, it was "granted that y" Dep : Gouverno"' and Math:
Griswold shal lend vnto N. London two great Guns from Sea Brooke w**"
shot."® In 1661 he headed a committee "to try the bounds of N.
London."* Under the year 1663 it is recorded that " Matthew Griswold"
and others were to lay out certain bounds " to p"'uent future in-conuen-
iences."" About 1664-65, when Lyme was soon to be set off from
Saybrook as a separate town, there arose a dispute between New London
and Saybrook as to the westward extent of the former town — whether or
not the land between Niantic Bay and Bride Brook, including Black
Point and Giant's Neck, belonged to New London. This lasted for
several years, when, at length, in 1671, "the town [of New London]
annulled all former grants . . . except . . ." but set apart, at
" our west bounds at Black Point," a tract of three hundred and twenty-
five acres " for the use of the ministry forever ;" which same tract had
been reserved, three years earlier, for the same use, by the town of Lyme.
In August 1671, "the people of both New London and Lyme were
determined to mow the grass on a portion of the debatable land. . . .
Large parties went out from both towns for the purpose, and, having
probably some secret intimation of each other's design, they went on the
ground at the same time. . . . The Lyme men, under their usual
leaders, Matthew Griswold and William Waller, were in possession of the
ground when the other party advanced. . . . Constables were in
2' The Public Records of the Col. of Conn, to May 1665, ut supra, p. 205.
38 Id., p. 257. 8» Id., p. 352. *" Id., p. 366. " Id., p. 418.
^rfsstooltr
attendance on either side, and Messrs. Grisvvold and Palmes were in the
commission of the peace, and could authorize warrants of apprehension
on the spot. As the New London men approached, and, swinging their
scythes, began to mow," the Lyme constable attempted to perform his
office, supported by his fellow-townsmen, " who came rushing forward
waving their weapons;" he made the arrest; upon which "a general
tumult of shouts, revilings, wrestlings, kicks and blows followed." A
warrant was afterwards issued for the arrest of Griswold, " but he was not
captured." The noisy encounter was terminated " by an agreement to let
the law decide ;" and the General Court ordered a division of the land in
dispute, by which the matter was settled.^'^ Such, in substance, is the
account of this affair given by the historian of New London, on the
authority of testimony taken at the trial of the rioters in March 1671-72.
Family-tradition among the Griswolds, however, runs to the effect that
the rights of the respective parties were finally made to depend upon the
issue of a personal combat between champions chosen on both sides, a son
of our first Matthew Griswold, the second of the name, who was noted
for his athletic form and great strength, being the representative of Lyme ;
and that the result was in favor of his town.^^
On the 13"' of February, 1665-66, the articles of separation between
Saybrook and Lyme were signed by Matthew Griswold as one of the
committee for the east side. In 1666 he and William Waller were
ordered by the General Court " vv"'in the space of one month to send up
to y" Treasurer a true valuation of all y'' rateable estate of the persons that
haue estate in that place called Lyme."" He was a Deputy to the General
Court in 1667,* and again in 1668, his name having then, first, on the
colonial records, the prefix of "Mr.," at that time distinctive of a "gen-
tleman."'" This title was afterwards always given to him on the records.
*' Caulkins's Hist, of New London, ut supra, pp. i66-6g.
■" The tradition is alluded to, as authentic history, by Dr. Dwight in his Travels in New England.
New Haven and New York, 1821, ii. 522.
■" The Public Records of the Col. of Conn., 1665-1677, ut supra, p. 48.
*' Id., p. 70. " Id., p. 83.
^tfstDom
He was chosen Commissioner for Lyme, in 1669, for the ensuii^g year ;*'
in 1676 was appointed with others "to signe bills in their respectiue plan-
tations, for what is due from the country;"*^ and in 1677 was temporary
Lieutenant of the train-bands of Lyme.* In May, 1678, he was a Deputy
for Lyme;* and the next year was appointed "to grant warrants and
marry persons in Lyme for the yeare ensueing."'' One hundred acres of
land were granted to him by the General Court in 1681, "provided he
take it up where it may not prejudice any former grants."^ He was a
Deputy for Lyme in 1685.** On the 14*'' of May, 1685 ("in the first
year of our Sovereign Lord James the Second of England ") the township
of Lyme received a patent of confirmation, when it was granted, ratified
and confirmed
" Unto Mr. Matthew Griswold, Sen^ Mr. Moses Noyes, Mr. Wm. Measure, Mr.
Wm. Ely, Ln't Abraham Brunson, Sarg' Thomas Lee and John Lay Jr., and the rest
of the said present proprietors of the Township of Lyme, their heirs, successors and
assigns forever."
In 1686 the General Court confirmed to him and others a tract of
land eight miles square, " lyeing and being near unto Connecticut River,
about twelve or thirteen miles up the said River," which had been deeded
to them in 1674 by "Captain Sannup (or Sanhop)" of the Niantics.^
The Court chose him in 1689 to be a Justice of the Peace, or Commis-
sioner, for Lyme, and he held the same office the five following years,
successively.^
To these notes from colonial records, mainly showing the public
trusts conferred on the first Matthew Griswold, we add a few others from
the public records of Lyme and the family-archives, illustrative of the
growth of the Griswold landed domain within his time. By published
«' Id., p. 106. "* Id., p. 294. "' Id., p. 317.
'» The Public Records of the Col. of Conn., 1678-1689, ut supra, p. 3.
" Id., p. 27. '' Id., p. 93. '* Id., p. 181. " Id., pp. 200-01.
''Id., p. 252; and The Public Records of the Col. of Conn. . . . 1689-1706. By Charles J.
Hoadly. Hartford, 1868, pp. 24, 43, 66, 92, 121.
^tin\sioirf
tax lists of the time of Sir Edmund Andres it is shown that he was then
the wealthiest man in Lyme. After his death the landed property of the
family was increased yet more, until it came, at length, to be an estate
almost baronial in extent, stretching along Long Island Sound and in
other directions. So early as in the third generation, as appears from a
paper preserved in the family, dated November 2, 1724, Patience Griswold
released to her brothers John and George, and to several sisters, her pro-
portion of right and title, as one of her father's legatees, to "about four
thousand five hundred and fifty acres, be y" same more or less, situate,
Lying and being in y* Township of Lyme." From a plea in answer to a
charge of trespass, of the year 1781, by Governor Matthew Griswold —
which is among the family-papers — we learn that by
" the Proprietors of the Common and Undivided Lands in the Township of
Saybrook . . . on or about y'' Year 1655 . . . were duely Sever'd and Laid
out to Matth'" Griswold Sen', then of s"* Saybrook, who then was one of s^ Propria-
tors . . . for him to hold in Severalty as part of his Share and Interest in s"
Common and Undivided Lands," certain lands including a fishery at the mouth of
the Connecticut River, on the east side :
" and the said Matth'' Griswold Sen' soon after Enclosed the same in a Good
Sufficient fence, and Continued so siez* and Possesse"* of the place . . . till the
time of his Death . . . and the same Lands . . . with all the appurtenances
to the same belonging, by sundry legal Descents Descended from the s" Matth™ Gris-
wold Sen' to his Great Grandson Matth" Griswold Esq. . . ." -
There can. be no doubt that this document refers to a part of the
estate, at the mouth of the "Great River," which has been occupied by
the family for seven generations ; and it probably fixes the date of the first
Matthew Griswold's beginning to occupy that site as a place of residence.
This family-home has been always known by the name of Blackball — a
memorial, doubtless, of some familiar English locality. There are several
places of the name in England. Here, then, not in the rich alluvial
meadows of Windsor, nor on the breezy, but sandy plain of Saybrook on
the west side of the river, did Matthew Griswold fix his home. He
^tfstuolir
settled upon the extreme point of land that stretches out between Connec-
ticut River and Long Island Sound. It was all "made land," under the
slow processes of nature ; the sea had washed up its sand to meet, and be
mingled with, the alluvial deposits brought down by the " Great River,"
in its progress from Canada to the sea. After all these centuries, the
modeling of nature's forces still appears in the roll and swell of the ground,
the hillocks and the eddies.
The land-records of Lyme show an indenture of March 8, 1664, by
which the first Matthew Griswold then had deeded to him
" A parcell of Land Lying and beeing uppon Blackball point, near the dwelling-
house of Matthew Griswold aforesaid!'^ ... the upland beeing by estimation forty
akers . . . with all the meadow or marshlands thereto belonging, part of which
meadow is adjoining to the upland, and part thereof is lying and beeing on the
southwest end of the Great Island or Marsh. . . ."
Among the family-papers is an original deed of Thomas Leffingwell
to Matthew Griswold, dated February 18, 1674, conveying his
" whole accommadations of Lands att Seabrooke, situate, lyeing and being on
both sides of Connecticot River, except . . . The p'ticulars of that w"^*" is sold
unto the s*" Mathew Griswell being as followeth : Imp"^', on the west side of the above
s" River the whole right of Commonage belonging unto one hundred and fifty pound
Allottment withe the ox-pastour, house and home-Lott ; SeC*, on the east side of the
s"" River the whole accommadations belonging unto a two hundred pound Allott-
ment, with such rights. Commonages, priviledges and appurtenances as doe or shall
belong thereunto, as also the whole right, title and interest unto and of one hundred
pound Allottment which was bought of ffrancis Griswell "... only excepted
twenty acers of Land of the first Division where the house stands . . . Resigned
unto ffrancis Griswell. . . ."
'■' Showing that Matthew Griswold had a dwelling-house at Blackhall point before March 8, 1664.
The original well belonging to it is believed to exist still, within the grounds of Mrs. Charles C. Gris-
wold, a little to the south of whose residence the first dwelling of the first Matthew Griswold is said to
have stood.
" This is, undoubtedly, Francis son of Edward, mentioned above.
^tlstoolir
Another private paper, dated July ii, 1674, records the laying out
to Matthew Griswold of
" fifty acres more or Less of upland . . . bounded west by the Sea and
Bridebrook, East by the land bought of Richard Tousland, south by the Sea, north
by the Commons,"
which seems to be a description of the promontory of Giant's Neck,^ the
home of Rev. George Griswold, of the third generation, and of a branch
of the family descended from him. On the 28'^ of February, 1676, as
Lyme records show, Matthew Griswold gave in a statement of certain
lots of land then owned by him, as follows :
" Matthew Griswold Senior, his lotts in the first division of upland and meadow,
whar his new dwelling house doth stand, Containing in Generall about one hundred and
fourty aight akers and a half . . . and is bounded Northerly by Blackball river,
Easterly by the highway as far as his dwelling house, southerly by Sea, westerly by
the Great River. . . ."
A touch of portraiture of the first Matthew Griswold is given us in a
record which has come to light recently. Until within a few years, in Con-
necticut as everywhere else in New England, the property of a wife, unless
it were settled upon her before marriage, went by law to her husband, sub-
ject to his disposal. The following record, therefore, shows that Matthew
Griswold had liberal and enlarged views, very much in advance of his age :
" April 23"*, 1663, Hannah Griswold, wife of Matthew Griswold, has a portion of
meadow- Land in Windsor, Great Meadow, Twelve acres more or less . . . this
comes to her as part of her portion that fell to her by the last will of her brother
Christopher Wolcott Dec"*, out of his Estate that was to be Devided among his
Relations ; and this parcell of meadow is allowed by her Husband Matthew Griswold to
be Recorded and made over to Hannah his wife to remain to her and her children, and
their Dispose, forever.""
" This promontory seems to have taken its name from an Indian of the Hammonasset tribe, sur-
named the Giant, and bearing the gigantic name of Mamaraka-gurgana, as Miss Caulkins says, who
once had his home upon it — Caulkins's Hist, of New London, ut supra, p. 170.
'' Copied by the Town Clerk of Windsor, from records there, in August 1882.
^rtiStDoltr
Of the Church, or Ecclesiastical Society, of Lyme, there are no
existing records early enough to show whether the first Matthew Griswold
was concerned, or took an interest, in the organization of either. But the
First Church of Saybrook possessed, within a few years, a silver com-
munion-cup which was his gift, as the inscription on it : " S. C. C. dono
domini Matthew Griswold," attests ; though the three initials at the head,
probably standing for " Saybrook Congregational Church," would seem
to prove the inscription to be of a much later date than the fact it com-
memorates.*
The foregoing sketch of the public positions held by Edward and
Matthew Griswold, in the Colony of Connecticut, strengthens the conclu-
sions to which one is led by other indications as to their social rank in
England. If Matthew Griswold, who had come to the New World in his
youth, and married a daughter of the first Henry Wolcott, might be sup-
posed to have been trained for public service by the necessities of emigra-
tion, or aided by his father-in-law to obtain that prominence in the affairs
™ After what we have learned of the prominence of the two brothers Griswold in colonial affairs,
and after what we may so probably conclude, from that and from other circumstances, as to their social
position by birth, it would not be necessary to refer to a current story, if that had not gained credence by
repetition. It has been said that the first Matthew Griswold followed the trade of a stone-cutter. This
story has arisen, first, from a receipt given by him, April i, 1679, now registered at Saybrook, for seven
pounds sterling, "in payment for the tombstone of the lady Alice Bottler [Lady Fenwick], late of
Saybrook ;" and, secondly, from a tradition that the tombstone of his father-in-law, Henry Wolcott of
Windsor (who died in 1655), was obtained by his agency — Caulkins's Hist, of New London, ut supra,
pp. 173-74; ^nd Memorial of Henry Wolcott, ut supra, pp. 12, note, and 32. As to the receipt, noth-
ing is more likely than that he gave it for money which he had previous!}' paid out as Agent to Gov.
Fenwick, who was then in England ; and as to the Wolcott tradition, that is no evidence that the monu-
ment of Henry Wolcott was a work of Matthew Griswold's hands. But if he did sculpture the simply
designed monuments of L.ady Fenwick and Henry Wolcott, it would seem to have been a labor of love.
The supposition that stone-cutting was his occupation or trade, is wholly without support, and is at
variance with all that we know of his prominence in the public affairs of his time, and inferable educa-
tion, or are led to conjecture, from his large acquisitions of land at an early period, of his having given
himself, from the first, to agriculture. Evidently he was skilled in laying foundations, and in sculptur-
ing monuments, but it was with materials, and in forms, far more enduring than stone, nay, more lasting
than the brass of the mechanic artificer, " Monumentum aere perennius."
etifiitDOltl
of Connecticut which he had from the^ first, as has been shown; his elder
brother, who was thirty-two years old at the time of his emigration, and
already married, with a family of children, could have had no such prepara-
tion for public life, but must have become one of the leading men of the
colony, as we have seen he was, by right of birth and previous culture.
Both brothers were eminently " men of affairs." In the first settlement
of New England, as is well known, the colonists took there the rank which
had belonged to them in England, the old English distinctions being
rigidly maintained, not only by titles of respect, but by all forms of defer-
ence to social distinction, including a preference of men who ranked high
socially to fill public offices. Our two emigrant brothers Edward and
Matthew Griswold were evidently "born to rule." Besides, if it be a
principle of heredity that the characteristics, physical, intellectual, moral
and social, of a strongly marked ancestor are repeated in his descendants,
so that from the offspring may be inferred what was the progenitor, then,
apart from all we know of the first generation of the Griswolds of New
England, the qualities developed by succeeding generations of the family
have been an accumulating proof that its emigrant ancestors were high-
minded, intelligent, Christian "gentlemen."
We agree with the late Colonel Chester of London that our emigrant
Griswolds came from a younger branch of the ancient heraldic family of
Greswold ; although our proofs are only circumstantial, owing to the loss
or imperfection of records, the early records of Kenilworth, as we have
said, having been destroyed, and no Wills containing the names of the
brothers having been found thus far, and no general pedigree of the family
having yet rewarded our diligent search. The brief pedigrees given in
Visitations being really intended, chiefly, to show the lines of eldest sons,
the heirs to landed estates, the lines of the younger ones are not filled
out. As we have before said, the early home of the heraldic Greswolds
was at Kenilworth ; after a marriage which we have already referred to,
they became seated at Solihull near by ; later they acquired Langdon Hall
Cftrfstooltr
in Solihull, and still later the Malvern Hall estate a few miles distant.
So far as we have learned there has been no family of the name elsewhere.
There would not be likely, therefore, to be two families of the name there
of distinct origin.
In accordance with these views, believing that the emigrants Edward
and Matthew Griswold belonged to the landed gentry of England, we do
not hesitate to place the arms of the ancient family of Greswold of War-
wickshire at the head of this monograph.
" Matthew Griswold died in his house at Lyme [September 27, 1698],
was buried at Saybrook ; his gravestone is not to be found." Mrs. Gris-
wold survived him, and was living September 1 7, 1 700, when she and her
son-in-law Abraham Brownson were both cited to appear before the New
London County Court, as administrators of her husband's estate ; but she
had, probably, died before May 22, 1701, when Brownson was summoned
alone as administrator, by the same Court. Her age in 1699 was seventy-
nine years."^
Matthew and Anna (Wolcott) Griswold had five children, named in
the following order in a family-record : Sarah^ Matthew^ John^ Eliza-
beth^ Anna? But neither the family-papers nor the existing public
records of Windsor, Saybrook or Lyme (all of which have been consulted)
give us their birth-days, excepting that of Matthew, who was born in
1653. This date being given, it is immediately evident that the order of
names, at one point at least, should be changed ; for, if Elizabeth was the
second child born after Matthew, her birth could not have occurred before
1655, whereas she was first married in 1670 — which is quite improbable.
Accordingly, we shall assume an order which seems likely to be nearer the
truth, as follows :
I. Elizabeth ;^ born, according to corrected order of names, not
later than 1652, and very likely, from the date of her first marriage
*' See her testimony of Jan. 5, 1699, in Col. Records, Private Controversies, v. doc. 145, MS.
ffirfstDoW
(early marriages being then usual), in that year ; who married : first,
October 17, 1670, John Rogers of New London, Connecticut; secondly,
August 5, 1679, Peter Pratt; and, thirdly, soon after 1688, Matthew
29 Beckwith. She had two children by her first husband : i. Elizabeth,'^ born
30 Novembers, 1671 ; 2. John,'^ born March 20, 1674; by her second hus-
31 band she had a son Peter ;'^ and, by her third marriage, a daughter,
32 Griswold^-^
In 1674 John Rogers, her first husband, departed from the established
orthodoxy of the New England churches, by embracing the doctrines of
the Seventh Day Baptists ; and, having adopted, later, " certain peculiar
notions of his own," though still essentially orthodox as respects the
fundamental faith of his time, became the founder of a new sect, called
after him Rogerenes, Rogerene Quakers, or Rogerene Baptists. Main-
taining " obedience to the civil government except in matters of conscience
and religion," he denounced, " as unscriptural, all interference of the civil
power in the worship of God."^'^ It seemed proper to give here these
particulars with regard to Rogers's views, because they were made the
ground of a petition by his wife for a divorce, in May 1675, which was
granted by the General Court in October of the next year,'^ and was fol-
lowed in 1677 by another, also granted, for the custody of her children,
her late husband "being so hettridox in his opinion and practice."® The
whole affair reminds us of other instances, more conspicuous in history,
of the narrowness manifested by fathers of New England towards any
deviations from established belief ; and of their distrust of individual con-
science as a sufficient rule of religious life, without the interference of civil
authority. There is no reason to believe that the heterodoxy "in prac-
tice," referred to in the wife's last petition to the Court, was anything else
than a non-conformity akin to that for the sake of which the shores of
"' Caulkins's Hist, of New London, ut supra, pp. 203-og.
" Id., pp. 204-05.
" The Public Records of the Col. of Conn., 1665-1677, ut supra, p. 292.
«' Id., p. 326.
^tiisiuoltr
their " dear old England " had been left behind, forever, by so many of
the very men who forgot to tolerate it, themselves, in their new western
homes. Of course, like all persecuted, especially religious, parties, the
Rogerenes courted, gloried in, and profited by, distresses. John Rogers
always claimed that the Court had taken his wife away from him without
reason. Both of his children eventually sympathized with their father,
and lived with him.
33 2. MATTHEWS (see below).
34 3. John^\ who died young, s. p.*
35 4. Sarah^ \ born, according to corrected order of names, not earlier
than 1655; who married, probably before 1675, Thomas Colton (not
George, as commonly said)^' of Springfield, Mass., by whom she had a
36 daughter Sarah,'^ born September 25, 1678,® a "third daughter" Eliza-
37 beth,'^ whose birth-day is unknown, and probably three other children.®
38 5. Anna ;^ born, according to the family-order of names, not earlier,
and probably, from the date of her marriage, not later, than 1656^ who
married, September 2, 1674, Lieut. Abraham Brownson (as he himself
spelt his name) of Lyme. With this marriage is connected the memory
of an unhappy lawsuit, in which Abraham Brownson and his mother-in-
law united against her only surviving son, the second Matthew Griswold.
This suit has left its traces in various public records, but need not be
recapitulated here. We notice it only for the reference made in an
'" Anna Griswold and John Griswold appear as witnesses to a deed of sale, among Lyme records,
dated April 25, i68r. The association of names and the date identify this John as the son of Anna
Griswold — showing that, if not born later than 1654, he lived as long as to his twenty-seventh year.
" Savage's Geneal. Diet., ut supra, i. 438.
«8 Id., ibid.
" Rev. Mr. Buckingham of Saybrook testified, September 7, 1699, " that Mr. Griswold gave Eliza-
beth, third daughter of his daughter Sarah Colton deceased, her one fiflh of moveable estate. . . ."
See Col. Records, Private Controversies, v. doc. 156. MS.
™ Her gravestone, in the Meetinghouse Hill Burying-Ground at Lyme, gives the date of her death
(April 13, 1721) without telling her age ; but that of her husband, alongside of it, shows that he was
seventy-two years old in 1719, when he died. This suits well enough with the supposition that she was
born in 1656.
<!S^tCsttlOl)r
affidavit given in the case, and now preserved in the New London
Probate Office, to certain evidences of property in England which were
withheld from Matthew Griswold, as follows :
" AflSd. before W" Ely, Justice of Peace, November 15, 1699, by Henry Meriom
— that Brunson told him he had a trunk of writings that were his father-in-law's,
which he said that it would vex his brother Mathew Griswold very much. I told
him that I heard so . . . and I told him that I believed that there was some
weighty concerns in those papers, for money either in this country or in England ;
he answered that there were some great concerns in them, and that there were some
papers there that said Griswold never knew of, and never should. . , ."
This concealment of titles to property was complained of to the
General Court by Matthew Griswold, in i 700, " that all those deeds and
writings which doe concern all or any of the lands that did belong to his
father Mr. Mathew Griswold in his life-time, both in old England and
new, are withheld, so that they cannot be entred upon the publick records.
. . ."" Had these papers been recorded, they would, in all probability,
have thrown some light upon the English ancestry of the Griswolds.
Of course "those papers" involving "great concerns" were the
missing " deeds and writings," which the second Matthew Griswold sued
to recover. Nor can it be doubted that these papers referred to property
in England, because there could have been no difficulty in the son's estab-
lishing his father's rights to any real estate in this country of which he had
had possession. But the case was different in respect to English landed
property. With our system of public records of deeds, then and now,
the loss of title-deeds would not be a serious bar to the recovery of
property. But in England there were no public land-records, so that
Matthew Griswold's loss of deeds was fatal to his claims in that country.
Without the papers the son could not even locate and describe the landed
property of his father in England. Consequently, the property was irre-
trievably lost, and with it all the family-history connected with its trans-
mission.
" The Public Records of the Col. of Conn., 1689-1706, ut supra, p. 338.
^rifiitnoltr
Abraham and Anna (Griswold) Brownson had six children, from one
39 of whom, a daughter Afary^ (b. 1680), descends the present Chief Justice
of the United States, Judge Morrison Remick Waite, as follows : Mary
Brownson married, August 26, 1 704, Thomas Wait of Lyme (from Sud-
40 bury, Mass.) ; Thomas and Mary (Brownson) Wait had Richard^ (b.
171 1), who married, Jan. 13, 1757, for his second wife, Rebecca eldest
daughter of Capt. Joseph Higgins ; Richard and Rebecca (Higgins) Wait
41 had Remick'^ (b. 1758), who married, in 1786, Susanna eldest daughter of
Nathaniel Matson of Lyme, and sister of the mother of the late ex-Go v.
42 Buckingham; Remick and Susanna (Matson) y<I-BA\.\\2i6. Henry Matson"^
(b. 1787), who married, Jan. 23, 1816, Maria daughter of Col. Richard E.
Selden of Lyme, and granddaughter of Col. Samuel Selden, a distin-
guished officer in the army of the Revolution ; Henry Matson and Maria
43 (Selden) Waite (so he spelt the name) had Morrison Remick^ (b. 18 16),
a graduate of Yale College in 1837, and now the highest expounder of
American law.
Henry Matson (42) Waite was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
of Connecticut from 1854 till the constitutional limit of age obliged him
to retire.
" It was ... in questions of law that his strength especially lay ; and his
legal erudition, patient research, power of discrimination and terseness of argument,
were fully appreciated by an able and learned court."'"
Matthew (33) Griswold,'^ the second of the name, born in 1653,
followed in public life the footsteps of his father— the " Mr. Matthew
Griswold" named in the colonial records of 1696, as Deputy and
" Conn. Reports ... of Cases . . in the Supr. Court. . . By John Hooker. Hartford, 1870,
XXXV. 597-99. Obit. Notice by Hon. C. J. M'Curdy ; and The New Engl. Hist, and Geneal. Register.
Boston, 1870, xxiv. 101-05.
" From this point onward, especially, we have more or less drawn from Chancellor Walworth's
treasury of genealogical lore, the Hyde Genealogy. This general acknowledgment is due. But
family-papers, monumental records and public archives have enabled us sometimes to correct the
Chancellor's statements, though such changes are for the most part made without notice.
etfsttiolir
Commissioner, and in 1697 as Commissioner,'* being probably the son,
and not the father (considering the age of the latter) ; and the son being
certainly intended by the designation of " Mr. Matthew Griswold " as
Deputy in 1704, 1707, 1708 and 1710.'^ But his sphere seems to have
been more private than that of his father. Not improbably in the spirit
of English law, keeping landed property in the male line, and having
respect to primogeniture, his father, a few days before his death, deeded to
him large estates, to which he himself added others by purchase. On the
21'* of May 1683, when about thirty years old, he married Phoebe Hyde,
granddaughter of the first William Hyde of Norwich, Conn., and daughter
of Samuel and Jane (Lee) Hyde.™ Our most interesting memorials of
him are copies of writings of his own. Among these is the following
incomplete letter to his sweetheart, reveaHng much of his character, and
worthy to be preserved, not only for its sentiments, but also for its form
of expression :
" Deare Heart,
" Tender of my most unfayned and Intyre Love to you, hoping you are in
good health, &c. Although my present Abilities of body and mind will nott allow
mee to Write Largely unto you, as I sho" be glad to do, yet, having this opportunity,
I was desirous to trouble you with a line or two — A Little to Remind you of the
unexpected . . . unheard of . . . which I have mett with, In the manage-
ment . . . the motion of Marriage mad by mee unto yo''selfe, which ... so
very strange that I am att a great Loss ... of mind to think what the good
pleasure of the Lord . . . case as to a fynale Issue ; though this I must saye, If
I thought you had not Reall Love and Affection for mee I should then think it
rather my Duty to desist than to prosed ; but as yet I am nott, nor can not bee, con-
vinced that It is so, for, as God and thy owne conscience knows very well, when I
was fully come to a conclusion in my own minde never to give myself nor you any
farder Trouble in this matter, you'selfe were pleased to tell mee that unexpected
'* The Public Records of the Col. of Conn., 1689-1706, ut supra, pp. 158-59, 201.
" Id., p. 482 ; and The Public Records of the Col. of Conn. . . . 1706-1716. . . . Bj' Charles
J. Hoadly. . . . Hartford, 1870, pp. 20, 67, 169.
" Hyde Genealogy. ... By Reuben H. Walworth. Albany, 1864 (one volume in two), i. 10.
^viuisyoirt
(though welcome) news, that you could not beare the thoughts of a fynale Separa-
tion ; and since, when you were last att ou'' side of the River, you told mee the same
thing, besides many things which you have in discourse told diverse of youre owne
best freynds, which gave them grounds to conclude that you had special Love for my
person. If I had thought that these things had been false, I must have Judged of
. . . according to the . . . which would have commanded a period to all
proceedings of this nature ; but conf I believed thee, and accordingly concluded
that hee which had Incindled this Love in Thee would increase It, and in his good
Time bring us together in the Relation of man and wife, and hereupon gave my
affections their full scope, concluding not only that I mite, but that it was my duty
to, Love her intirely for whose Sake I should forsake Father and mother ; and, as I
tould you when I last spake with you, I shall nott att this time Release any promise
(and you to mee, I should nott suffer for yo" Sake) which has past between us, though
I cannot desire you should proseed to Joyne yourself In marriage with mee on the
account of pittie. I desire to look to God who is able to give mee ... to all
his gracious promises which wo"' be matter of comfort . . . (for so they are
. . .) I would desire you'"* not forgett how willing I have been, according to my
Cappacity and opportunities ; so then, in kindness and in way of Requital, faure mee
with some Lynes.
" I shall not enlarge att present, but, desiring that the Good Lord would gra-
ciously guide us to that which may tend to his glory and our own everlasting peace,
I take leave and Remain thine, and thine only, in the bonds of Intire Affection,
M. G."
He also wrote verses, of limping gait, indeed, but which, not the less
for that, remind one of hymns by poets popular in his time, as if he might
have been not unfamiliar with them. Two fragmentary specimens,
inspired, as the foregoing letter was, by his love, must suffice :
" And grant me this
Token of bliss —
Some lynes for to peruse with speed.
That may to mee
A Token be
You doe mee choose in very deed."
^tifiitooltr
" Deceit is lothsome though in matters small,
And guile in things which are but triviall ;
But when the case amounts to such a height
To be of such concernment and such weight,
Those that will then Intentionaly deceive
Shall sure a curse as their Reward receive.
" Then find it true and nott a lie
Hee's thy best friend that speaks out playne ;
My deare, take heed,
And make great speed.
Lest thou give God no Just offence ;
Then for my part
A loving heart
From thee shall bee large Recompense."
But we have a fuller disclosure of character, as well as a story of
romantic adventure, and of remarkable Providential overruling of evil for
good, in a letter of his, dated November 8, 1712, at Lyme, to Cotton
Mather, relating what had befallen his eldest son, thrown, by his own fault,
amid the hazards of the war of the Spanish succession."
This very interesting document reads as follows (the italicizing being
in the printed copy used) :
"Sir,
" The' I am an Utter Stranger to You, yet, considering that it ought to be
the chief and continual care of Every Man To glorify God, 1 thought it my Duty
humbly to present unto you the following Narrative, desiring you to improve it as
God shall direct.
" A tract suggested by the facts of this narrative was written by Cotton Mather ; and published
under the following title ; " Repeated Warnings. Another Essay to warn Young People against Rebel-
lions that must be Repented of. . . . With a Pathetical Relation of what occur'd in the Remarkable
Experiences of a Young Man who made an Hopeful End lately at Lyme in Connecticut. Boston,
1712." A copy of this "very rare" pamphlet is in Yale University Library, from which we have taken
the narrative. There is another copy in the possession of the Griswold family at Blackball, which
descended to them.
cs^tffiitDom
"This last October, 'tis Five years since, my Eldest Son, having a vehement
Desire to go to Sea, and concluding that I would not consent unto it, took an oppor-
tunity to make his Escape whilst I was attending the General Court. I used utmost
Endeavours to recover him, but he got off from Piscataqua, Leaving me Sorrowfully
to think what the Event might prove, of a Child's wilful forsaking the Duty of his
Relation and the Means of Grace, and ingulfing himself into the Temptations of a Wicked
World. And I was the more concerned because he had been but a very Weakly Lad.
They had not been long at Sea before they were Surprized by a dreadful Storm, in
the Height whereof the Captain ordered my Son to one of the Yard-Arms, there to
Rectify something amiss, which whilst he was performing he wholly lost his Hold ;
But catching hold on a loose Rope he was preserved. This proved a very Awak-
eninig Providence, and he Looked at the Mercy as greatly Enhanced by reason of his
Disorderly Departure. Arriving at Jamaica he was soon Pressed aboard a Man of
War, from whence, after diverse Months of Hard Service, he obtained a Release, tho'
with the Loss of all the Little he had. He then fell in with a Privateer, on board
whereof he was Exposed unto Eminent hazard of his Life, in an hot Engagement,
wherein many were killed, and the Man that stood next unto him was with a Chain-
Shot cut all to pieces. In the time of this Fight God caused him to take up Solemn
Resolutions to Reform his Life, which Resolutions he was enabled, thro' Grace, to
observe. And he then Resolved that he would Return as soon as might be to his
Father's House. After a Skirmish or two more he was cast away. Then he was taken
by the French, and turned ashore at the Bay of Honduras, where he with fifteen more
were taken by a Party of Spanish Indians wTio were Led by a Spaniard. Having
their Hands now tied behind them, and Ropes around their Necks, they were in that
manner led unto a Place called Paten, Six hundred Miles distant from the place
where they were taken, and very far within the Land, having no Food but Water
and the Cabbage that grows upon Trees. My Son had at that time the Fever and Ague
very bad, so that many times every step seemed as though it would have been his
last. Yet God marvellously preserved him, while Three men much njpre likely to
hold the Journey than himself perished on the Road. Upon their Arrival to the
End of their Journey they were fast chained, two and two ; and so they continued
Eight Months confined, and Languishing in Exquisite Miseries. My Son was visited
with the Small Pox while he was in these Wretched circumstances.
" In this time two Godly Ministers came to see my Family, and One of them
then putting up a fervent Prayer with us, on the behalf of my Absent Child, he was
directed into such Expressions that Lwas persuaded that the Prayer was not lost, and
that my Poor Son was then in some Remarkable Distress. Noting down the Time,
iSS^tisitDOlti
I afterwards found that, at the Time when this Prayer was made, my Son was then in
Irons, and had the Small Pox upon him. I observed some other Things of this
Nature which Modesty directs to leave unmentioned. Innumerable Endeavours
were used in this Time, by the Father Confessors, to perswade them to turn Papists,
Sometimes Promising them Great Rewards, at other times threatening them with the
Mines and with Hell. Some of these Miserable men became Roman Catholicks.
Hereupon the man who took them Petitioned the Viceroy for a Liberty to Sell them
into the Mines ; which was very likely to have been granted. But there happening
an Irreconcileable Difference between the Governour of the Place and him, the
Governour then wrote to the Viceroy, informing him that they were honest men,
taken by the French and turned ashore, having no ill Intention against the Span-
iards. The Viceroy hereupon sent a special Warrant that they should all be
Released, and care taken to send them down to the Seaside, there to be put aboard
some Spanish Ship, and sent to Old Spain, there to be delivered unto the English
Consul. The New Proselytes, learning of this, took to their Heels, met them on the
Road, went with them for Old Spain, leaving their New Religion behind them,
together with a Wife which one of them had married ; and became as Good Protest-
ants (to a trifle, if 1 mistake not) as they were before. They were put aboard
Spanish Ships, and carried Prisoners to Campecha, and several other Places in the
Spanish Indies, waiting till the Plate-fleet went home. My Son with some of his
Companions were put on board of one of the Galeons. In the Voyage to Spain he
was Seized with a dread'ful Fever. The Doctor, having used his best means for him,
a considerable time, at last pronounced h\m past Recovery. However, he let him Blood,
and afterwards the Vein opened of itself, and bled so long that all his Blood seemed
to be gone, and he lay for Dead. The Bleeding stop't, and so he Quickly Recovered.
The Captain of the Galeon told him he had no Child, and, if he would Embrace the
Catholick Faith, and be Baptized into it, and Partake of the Mass, he would immed-
iately give him Three hundred Pounds, and put him into as good a Way to Live as
he could wish for. Then the Pious Instructions of a Godly Motlter, long since gone to
a better World, were of Precious use to him. For, tho' he was then Lame (and not
long after in danger of losing his Leg), he was Enabled to sleight all these Tempta-
tions, and put his Trust in the Providence of God. I must wish that such Experi-
ences as these might stir up Parents to be more careful in Catechising their children,
and that You, or some Powerful Person, would move the Authority that, if it be
possible, some more Effectual Course may be taken for the Instructing of Youth.
" My Son was Landed at Cadiz. From thence, by the Good Providence of God,
he got a Passage to Portugal. From thence to New-foundland. From thence to
<!K^tf!$tt}oi;r
Nantucket. And A Cure for his Leg. Here I may not omit my Thankful Acknowl-
edgment of the Kindness of some Good People whose Hearts God stirred up to
have Compassion on my Child in his Low Estate. There was a Gentleman of Boston
who had some Lameness in his Knees (whose name I have forgot) : He in the Voyage
from New-foundlatid to Nantucket supplied him with Money, and was very kind to
him. At Nantucket several were exceeding kind to him, Entertained him at their
Houses, gave him Monies and Garments. When I revolve the Charity of these Good
People, it often makes me think of what we read Mar. xiv. 8, 9. But I have not as
yet had an opportunity in the least to retaliate their Kindness. My Son coming to
Rhode Island got a Passage home from thence by Water.
" Thus, after Four Years were near Expired, I received my Son, The truest Peni-
tent that ever my Eyes beheld ! This he freely manifested both in Public and in
Private. Whilst as yet in perfect Health, he took diverse Opportunities to discourse
privately with me. Once he told me He verily believed he had but a very little time to
live J Said he, Tho' I am in perfect Health, I believe I have but a very little Time remaining.
And, since God has been Exceeding Merciful to me, I greatly desire to spend the Remainder of
my Time very much to His Glory. In farther Discourse he told me that a Man, whom
he then named, had formerly done him Great Wrong, and that he had often resolved
to revenge himself. Said he, / now freely forgive him. He added, / have not in my
Childhood behaved myself so Respectfully towards such a Man (whom he also named) as I
ought. I must take a Time to beg his Pardon. And upon Enquiry I since find that he
did so. He now quickly fell sick ; and he now said to me. Sir, my Business home was
to make my Peace with you, and to Dy. I asked him with what Comfort he could look
Death in the face. He answered me, My most dear Father, I will hide nothing from
you. When I was in Irons, at Paten, / had a clear Manifestation of the Love of God in
Jesus Christ unto me. I had after this ?io Burden remaining on my Conscience, but only my
wicked Departing from you. For which cause I Earnestly begged of God that I might Live
to see your Reconciled Face. This I now do, and I bless God for it. Had it not been for
that one thing, I would much rather have chosen at that Time to have died than to Live. I
could now desire to Live, if God please to grant it, that I may Glorify Him, and be a Comfort
to you in your Old Age. But I think you will find it othertvise. When I perceived that he
drew near his End, I Earnestly desired, if it might be the Will of God, that he might
have some Promise in the Word of God fixed on his Mind at the Time of his Depart-
ure. And after I had spake to him. Endeavouring to gain his stedy Attention, I said,
' At what time a Sinner ' — ' Altho' your Sins have been as Crimson ' — ' There is a Fountain '
— 'Ho, every one that thirstcth,' With other Scriptures; in all which I purposely left
out the Latter part of the Text, which he readily fill'd up, and made the sense com-
(SS^tfsiUioltr
plete. I then, turning to a Friend, said. Here is great Ground of Thankfulness ! You
see he is no Stranger to these Promises ; I hope he has improved them in the Time of his
Adversity. He readily replied, That I have ! many and many a time, God knows. He
Lived not long after this. His whole Conversation for the Eight Weeks (which was
all the Time he lived after his Return Home) was Exceeding Exemplary. Then the
Lord was pleased to take from me a Son in whom I hoped to have Enjoyed a
Blessing.
" If this Account may quicken Parents in Well Teaching and Establishing their
Children in the Fundamental Truths of Religion, and may admonish Children to
take heed of Running Undutifully from their Parents, and Irreligiously from the
Means of Grace, and may Encourage those who do so, yet humbly, in their Distress,
to Cry unto God, adhere to the Truth and hope in His Mercy, I have my End. And
I have nothing further to trouble you with, but to ask yovir Prayers, that I and all
Mine may be humbled, sanctified, and quickened to Duty to God, our own Souls,
and one another, by all His Dispensations.
/ am, R. Sir,
Your most hu7nble Servant,
M. G."
'■'■Lyme in Connecticut,
Novemb. 8, 17 12."
When this last letter was written, the " Deare Heart" of the lover's
epistle, before quoted, against whose sportive playing of fast and loose, to
try his constancy, his own simply loyal nature seems to have possessed no
weapons of defence but a somewhat too serious tone of remonstrance, had
for several years rested from her labors of love as wife and "godly mother"
(having died November 29, 1704); and Matthew Griswold had married,
secondly, May 30, 1705, Mrs. Mary Lee, widow of the first Thomas Lee
of Lyme, a DeWolf by birth (see "NOtefii OU tf^t iFaiUflff Of
19(S12%Olf at the end of this monograph). He died January 13, 1715,
and was buried in the Duck River Burying-Ground at Lyme. His last
wife survived him till 1724, when she was laid by his side.
He had eleven children, all by his first marriage :
44 I. Phoebe,^ born August 15, 1684; who died in 1702, unmarried.
CS^tflSttlOltl
49
2. Elizabeth,'^ born Nov. 19, 1685 ; who died in 1704, unmarried.
3. Sarah,^ born May 19, 1687; who died Jan. 4, 1760, unmarried.
4. Mattheiv,'^ born Sept. 15, 1688 ; who died in 171 2, unmarried — the
" prodigal son," returned to his father's house.
5. JOHN* (see below).
6. George,'^ born August 13, 1692; a graduate of Yale College in
1717; who married: first, June 22, 1725, Hannah daughter of Judge
Nathaniel Lynde of Saybrook, Conn., descended from a branch of the
great English Roman Catholic family of Digby, through Elizabeth,
heiress-daughter of Everard Digby, who was a son of Simon of Bedale,
CO. Rutland, and probably from the Van der Lindens of Holland (see
15f0tlg=3L^tllI0) J and, secondly, July 20, 1736, his second cousin
Elizabeth Lee (granddaughter of the first Thomas Lee of Lyme by his
first wife), who died in 1758.
It is interesting to notice the probability that the first marriage of
George Griswold was due to an acquaintance formed in his college-
days. For the Collegiate School which became Yale College was at
Saybrook up to the very year of his graduation ; and Judge Nathaniel
Lynde had been one of its chief patrons and its first Treasurer. George
Griswold's name heads the list of members of his class, five in number,
arranged, as usual in early times, according to reputed social rank. He
was graduated with the second honor. His salutatory oration now lies
before us, in his own handwriting, the oldest Yale College document of
this sort known to exist, the next to it in age being the valedictory oration
delivered by the elder President Edwards at his graduation in 1720. Due
regard to the scholarship of this ancient graduate of Yale, and the interest
attaching to so valuable a relic of the infancy of the College, as well as of
an early period in the history of the Colony of Connecticut, justifies our
giving here its exordium, and some other passages, in the original Latin.
Its Latinity, though occasionally faulty, challenges comparison with that
of the fifth part of any class graduating in our day :
" Nobilissimi, amplissimi, atque etiam spectatissimi auditores, omni observantia
colendi, laudibusque maximis laudandi, hancce orationem, quoad queo, quamvis non
eo modo ornatam prout me oportet, vobis medullitus consecrare volui — in qua exopta-
mus ac precamur manum divinam beneficia vobis pro vestris meritis conferre. Ves-
trarum virtutum profunditas non. potest a nobis exquiri, nee vos in nostrS oratione
congrue salutari, propter flosculorum Rhetoricae inopiam in eS repertam ; nee
assumimus aliquid de vestris virtutibus garrire, quod . . . vos omnibus maxim-
isque splendoribus animi ac corporis praediti estis, et divina humanaque doctrina
ornati.
"Vestra praesentia maximum decorem summumque nitorem huicce diei adfert,
qui supremo gaudio laetitiaque nos gaudere efficit, quern terrae quotidianae indefati-
gatae rotationes tandem tulerunt. O felix dies, O felix tempus in quo noster micro-
cosmus omnem ejus gloriam induit, ac ejus splendore resplendit, representatque
macrocosmum ; hie dies est praeferendus, omnibusque proeponendus, ac ad dextram
omnium aliorum consedere debet. Invocentur omnes Musae canticum laetissimum
cantare, et coelestes terrestresque inhabitatores in hujus diei celebratione unanimiter
conspirent. O excellentissime dies, tanta pompa, tali amplitudine, ornate, in quo
doctrina solio summae dignitatis sese tollit ab alto, ac ineffabili luce sese omnibus
illustrat. O illustrissima praesentia doctorum, O quam tantopere gaudemus perlae-
tum atque jucundissimum hujusce diei spectaculum aspicere, in quo magnates prima-
tesque nostrae Reipublicae cum profundissimo doctorum concursu congregantur.
. . . Ut hujusce diei pompa gloriaque augerentur, impediat aliquid terrae mo-
tionem, ut sol nobis immobilis stare videatur, quasi ab ejus cursu desisteret, quasique
vultu placido nostra negotia prospiceret, ne corpora coelestia, terrestria aliquo con-
tagio homines offenso afficiant [i. e., To increase the pomp and glory pf this day,
may the earth's motion be wipeded, so that the sun may appear to us to stand still, as if desist-
ing from its course, and taking note of our affairs with placid face, lest celestial or
terrestrial bodies should smite men with any contagion]. Sad omnia consentiunt
aliquid splendori literarum conferre. Studiis literarum intellectus non tantum dila-
tatur, sed etiam voluntas regulatur ; humanitas urbanitasque ex regulis ejus colligun-
tur. Philosophus non tantum rerum cognitione et intelligentia super alios eminere
solet, sed et morum praestantia, nam doctrina ' emolit mores, nee sinit esse feros.'
Sicut virtus voluntatem, sic rerum scientia intellectum perficit. O quid dicemus, O
quibus argumentis ratiocinabimur, ut homines stipulemur justos labores pro litera-
rum acquisitione suscipere, a quibus ignavi cito deterrentur ! Sed si finis coronat
opus, fructus beneficiaque e studiis literarum profluentia pro maximis difficultatibus
in ea acquirenda ferendis sufficienter satisfacient."
CS^rfsUioltr
His address to the Governor of the Colony is, in part, as follows:
" Sed ne tempus tereremus, ac omnibus et singulis, prout ordo tarn doctrinae
quam virtutum requirit, orationem nostram hunc in modum omni submissione pub-
pice indicamus : Imprimis honoratissimo, praecellentissimoque viro, doctissimo
domino Gurdon Saltonstall armigero, gubernatori Coloniae Connecticutensis, quasi
super genua flecta nostram orationem praebemus [i. e., First of all, to Mr. Gurdon
Saltonstall, bearer of heraldic arms, Governor of the Colony of Connecticut, we
tender our discourse as on bended knees], qui est homo praestantissimus, permultis,
permagnis preciosissimisque facultatibus tam animi quam corporis indutus, quibus
non tantum honor huicce Coloniae adfertur, sed etiam in peregrinis regionibus fama
ejus semper magis ac magis vagatur ; eximius fulgor ejus gloriae soli similis corcus-
cationem stellarum omnium quae ipsi praecesserunt obscurare videtur. O fons
sapientiae, quam plurimas leges tulisti, sapientissimo consilio consultus, quarum
observantia ad Reipublicae commodum plurimum tendit ! Legibus tuis requirimur
ac dirigimur utiles esse patriae, Coloniae et societatibus in quibus coUocamur.
Domine clarissime . . . o quam jucundum est nobis aspicere hominem omnibus
ac singulis virtutibus ornatum in summo imperii statu illatum . . . mansuetudo
tua, civilitas affabilitasque erga inferiores cum admiratione aspiciuntur [i. e., Most
illustrious Sir. . . . ihy gentleness, courtesy and affability to htferiors a.rshshe:lA with
admiration]. O benignitas ineffabilis quae tuis actionibus erga omnes exprimitur
. . . omnes tuae actiones in summa justitia initiantur, summSque aequitate con-
summantur. . . . Quid ultra possumus cogitare, quid ultra possumus dicere
dignum praedicari, de tali illustrissimo atque etiam fidelissimo gubernatore ? sed
tantum praecavi quod laudes operum tuorum, pro quibus tibi immortales agimus
gratias, in perpetuum vivant in ore viventium."
In a similar strain of eulogy he next addresses the Lieutenant-
Governor and other magistrates of the body politic ; and then the reverend
curators of the "Academy" thus:
" Omnis splendore generis, eruditione, prudentidque praeclarissimis dominis,
patronis ac fautoribus honorandis hancce orationem salutatoriam omni animi sub-
jectione consecrare volumus — viris sapientia pietateque praeditis, quorum curae ac
inspectioni munera publica, tam ecclesiastica quam scholastica, committuntur, in
quibus muneribus sic semetipsos gesserunt ut omnium admirationem acquisiverunt.
O fidelissimi Evangelii ministri, a Christo constituti ad verbum ejus praedicandum,
^tfsioolDf
ecclesiamque ejus regendam, O homines peritissimi, tam in ecclesi;t congreganda
quam conservanda, vestra munera tam bene perfungimini quam laudibus altissimis
laudari meremini, benedictiones plurimorum in vestra capita quiescunt, propter con-
solationes illis per vos divinitus commissas ; vestrorum laborum fructum videtis,
eoque gaudetis, vestris instructionibus ac directionibus plurimi ad Deum conversi
fuerunt. O quam confirmatam ac corroboratam ecclesiam habemus ex verbis vestro-
rum labiorum quotidie nutritam ! Vester amor benignitasque erga eam tam magna
quam multa sunt quod ea debet Deo benedicere, ac vos extollere, propter vestram
benevolentiam ei largitam. Beneficia ecclestiastica una cum scholasticis grato animo
recipimus."
Then the learned Rector, Samuel Andrew, is similarly saluted, in an
address ending with these words :
"Sed etiam haec academia summo honore summoque splendore ac laudibus dig-
nissimis a tali Rectore coronatur, qualis singulis ac omnibus doctrinae ornamentis,
et maxima animi fortitudine, decoratur, a cujus illuminatione nostra academia cum
summis academiis literatis contendere audet ; tanta enim sunt ejus erga nos merita
quanta a nobis remunerari non possunt, sed tantum gratissimo ac deditissimo animo
agnosci."
The other instructors, who were four tutors only — one a graduate of
four years standing, one of only three years, and one of only one year—
the most conspicuous of whom were Samuel Johnson, afterwards President
of King's College, and Elisha Williams (though not a graduate of Yale,
the successor of Cutler in the presidency) are saluted as follows :
" Proximoque serenissimis ac non uno literarum genere doctissimis illis viris,
omnium disciplinarum scientia praeditis, nostris nempe vigilantissimis institutoribus
orationem omni salute praebemus, qui ... ad culmen doctrinae attigerunt,
artemque a capite ad cajcem investigaverunt [i. e., Next, to those most august men,
most learned in all branches of letters, endued with knowledge of all sciences, our
most vigilant instructors, do we address ourselves with every salutation — to them
who have reached the pinnacle of learning, and have investigated tlie principles of science from
top to bottom\. O Musarum fautores, omnibus doctrinae dotibus induti, qui alios
videre pro scientia studiosissime quaerentes magnopere delectant, qui a nulla in-
dustria nulloque labore abstinuerunt liberalia principia artium in nos instillare !
©ffstoour
. . . O generosissimi homines, nobis benignissimi, omnibus illos amabiles redden-
tibus induti, summdque docendi facultate praediti, in quS unusquisque doctorum
nobis praeambulavit ! Domini clarissimi, benevolentiam omnium sub vobis doc-
trinam quaerentium adepti fueritis ; propter beneficiorum tam permagnorum quam
permultorum collationem, flumina scientiae a labiis vestris ad nos profluerunt ; dis-
tillationesque optimae ac exoptatae doctrinae in nos quotidie ceciderunt. O utinam
nos negligentiEi oblivioneque non affectos fuisse ! quam corroborati, quam confirmati
in rebus utilissimis ac nobis necessariis fuissemus, quibus propter nostram incuriam
tantum in dura matre imbuimur. Pro his beneficiis nobis gratuito collatis maximam
gratiarum redditionem reddimus.""
With which of the reverend pastors of the Colony (whose learning
and virtues were so highly extolled by the young graduate) he studied,
after the manner of his time, to prepare himself for the ministerial office,
we are not informed. He began preaching at East Lyme in 17 19; the
next year provision was made for his continuing there ; and on the 30"" of
January 1724, according to the church-records, he was invited to settle for
life. Upon his acceptance of this call a church was organized, and he was
installed Pastor.™ Of his ministerial life there exist, happily, some
memorials, in notes of sermons, dated from 1721 to 1758, and other orig-
inal memoranda. The handwriting of the sermons, however, is so minute
and faded with age that we shall give a specimen of only one of them,
preached 1757-58, on the text: "For what shall it profit" etc., Mark
viii. 36-37 :
" If the soul be so precious as has been shewn, from the word but now read, then
talce heed of abusing your souls. Christians, God hath given you souls that sparkle
'* The original manuscript of this oration is now deposited in the Library of Yale University, a gift
from Deacon George Griswold of East Lyme, Conn., great grandson of the author.
" The original meeting-house of the parish, which in the course of time took the name of the Old
Synagogue, is thus described by Miss Caulkins in her Hist, of New London, ut supra, p. 6i6: "It was
a small square building, without steeple, bell or porch. A pulpit occupied the centre of one side;
doors opening directly upon earth, air and sky were on the other three sides. The gallery was low,
projecting gloomily over the pews. The beams, pillars and pilasters were so roughly finished as to
show everywhere the marks of the hatchet. No varnish or paint in any part overshadowed the native
wood, which became in age venerably silver-gray."
^^tiistPOlTi
with divine beauty — oh, do nothing unworthy of your souls, do not abuse them !
There are divers sorts of persons that abuse their souls. You degrade your souls
that set the world above your souls, who ' pant after the dust of the earth ' — as if a
man's house were on fire, and he should take care to preserve the lumber, but let his
child be burnt in the fire. They degrade and abuse their souls that make their souls
lackeys to their bodies ; the body is but the brutish part, the soul is the angelical ;
the soul is the queen-regent who is adorned with the jewels of knowledge, and sways
the scepter of liberty ; oh, what a pity is it that this excellent soul should be made a
vassal, and be put to grind in the mill, when the body in the mean time sits in a chair
of state ! Solomon complains of an evil under the sun — Eccl. x : 7, 'I have seen
servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth ' — is it not an
evil under the sun to see the body riding in pomp and triumph, and the soul of man,
a royal and heaven-born thing, as a lackey walking on foot .' Persons abuse their
souls that sell their souls; the covetous person sells his soul for money ; as it is said
of the lawyer, he hath a tongue that will be sold for a fee, so the covetous man hath
a soul that is to be set for sale for money : Achan did sell his soul for a wedge of
gold ; Judas did sell his soul for silver. . . . The ambitious person sells his soul
for honors, as Alexander the 6'" did sell his soul to the devil for a popedom ; and
what is honour but a torch lighted by the breath of people, with the last puff of cen-
sure blown out ? how many souls have been blown to hell by the wind of popular
applause! The voluptuous person sells his soul for pleasure ; one drowned himself
in sweet water, so many drown their souls in the sweet, perfumed waters of pleasure.
Plato called pleasure the bait that catcheth souls. . . . They abuse their souls
that poison their souls ; error is a sweet poison, it is the invention of the devil ; you
may as well damn your souls by error as vice, and may as soon go to hell for a
drunken opinion as for a drunken life. You abuse your souls that starve your souls;
these are they that say they are above ordinances, but sure you shall not be above
ordinances till you are above sin. . . .
"And now, my brethren, who would serve so unprofitable a master as sin is.'
. . . let me expostulate the case with the ambitious man, who aspires unto great
dignities, honours and promotions in this world ; what are all these in comparison of
his soul ? many have great titles, honourable names in this world, who shall be
degraded of all in the world to come ! what is honour.? it is but momentary; what
would rich coats of arms, great dignities, preferments, honours, popular observance
advantage your precious soul? The apostle tells, 'Not many wise men after the
flesh, not many mighty, not many noble [are] called, but God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world :' he doth not say ' not any ' ; some are ennobled by a spiritual as
etfgU)om
well as a natural birth, but oft-times great di°;nities, preferments, honours, promo-
tions are clogs and hindrances to the soul . . . wherefore, then, should any
labour more for greatness than goodness, preferring favour of men before the favour
of God, high places on earth before the high places in heaven ? . . ."
At the same time that he ministered to his own parish, he preached
for several years to the neighboring Indian tribe of the Niantics, having a
commission as missionary to them from the Commissioners for Propa-
gating the Gospel in New England and Parts Adjacent in America. A
record of services under this commission, kept by him from 1 744 to 1 746
shows that in those years he gathered Indians together, for religious
instruction, as often as from two to five times monthly, usually in numbers
from twenty to forty. In this connection a vote of the Commissioners,
in 1757, is somewhat significant, that, considering it " likely the Indians of
Nihantic might be brought more generally to attend the Rev. Mr. Gris-
wold's lectures, in case they were less frequent, the said Mr. Griswold be
informed that the Commissioners would have him, for the future, to
preach a lecture to them only once a fortnight, instead of doing it weekly
as at present." Doubtless an assembly of Indians might try the powers of
any preacher, and Mr. Griswold was, at this time, no longer young. If he
had not the pathos of a David Brainerd, whose deeply compassionate
appeals to the dusky children of the forest at Stockbridge were often
answered by tears, yet his ministry must have been more than ordinarily
useful ; as is testified by the following contemporaneous obituary :®
" Lyme in Con'., 19 Oct. 1761.
" On Wednesday last died the Rev" Mr. George Griswold, of y' 2" Society in
Lyme, after more than Seven Weeks Painful Illness, in y" 70"' year of his age, and
in y" 37"' Year of his Ministry.
™ We copy what seems to be the original draft. Its chirography, compared with that of Rev. Jona-
than Parsons of Lyme, leads us to conjecture that he was the author of it. He was a near neighbor and
ministerial associate of Rev. George Griswold for fourteen years, and his nephew by marriage ; and the
two were in close theological sympathy with each other. Although Parsons had ceased to reside in
Lyme after 1745, family-ties must have brought him there often, as long as he lived.
<!Ktf!$UlOlll
" He was a Grave, Judicious and Godly Divine, very Laborious and Successful
in his ministry ; he was a Branch of an Honorable family in y' town ; Early under
very Serious Impressions of Religion, and Received a Remarkable Change by the
Grace of God, about j" is"" or 16"' Year of his Age, which is supposed the Begin-
ning of the Divine Life in his Soul. Thenceforward it was y^ reigning Care, and
Business and Pleasure of his Life, to Serve God, and do Good to mankind. He had
early a thirst for Learning, which was now increased in him, and was gratified in a
Liberal Education, by which he prepared for y^ Great Work for which he was de-
signed of God. He entered the Ministry under various Discouragements, but was
engaged to undertake it from an animating Love to God, to immortal Souls, and to
y° Sacred Work, which of Choice he preferred to any of y^ Imployments of this
World. He was very vigilant and Diligent and Laborious in fulfilling his Ministry
among the People of his Charge and to y' Nehantick Indians, whom he had y^ Care
of for many years. The Chief Subjects of his Preaching were y"" great Doctrines of
y" glorious Gospel ; his Manner was plain and Solemn, and his evident Aim to win
Souls, and to direct and engage to Christian Practice ; and his Labours were Blessed
of God to y'' Good of Many. He was an excellent Christian of y'' Primitive Stamp,
of great humility and Guileless Integrity in his Walk before God and Man, a lover
of God and good men, fervent in his Devotions, given to hospitality, and very exem-
plary in all Christian Duties, both relative and Personal, as a husband, Parent,
Neighbour, friend, a Shining Example to y' Believers, in Word and Doctrine, in
Conversation and Charity, in Spirit, faith and Godliness, Purity, Peaceableness,
Righteousness and every Good Work. Extremely temperate in all things, of
eminent Patience and Meekness, which shone out in him, with an amiable Lustre, in
the Severe and long trials with which it pleased God to exercise him, especially for
many latter years of his Ministry ; and in his Last Illness Christ was all his depend-
ence, and had much Peace and comfort in believing, to y^ Last.
"A well adapted Sermon was preached at his funeral By y® Rev"* Mr. Jewett to a
large and afflicted Auditory, from John i. 47, ' Behold ' etc."
50.51
52-54
He died October 14, 1761. By his marriage to Hannah Lynde he
had two sons, George^ and Sylvanus^ (afterwards Rev. Sylvanus), and
two daughters ; by Elizabeth Lee he had the same number of children,
again divided equally between sons and daughters ; his two younger sons
were Samuel^ and Andrew.'^ His daughter Elizabeth,^ by the first mar-
riage, married John Raymond of Montville, Conn., and became the
ci^tifiitoom
55 ancestress of the late Theodore^ Raymond Esq. of Norwich, Conn. This
John Raymond's father had married, for his second wife, Sarah Lynde, a
sister of the first wife of Rev. George Griswold.
The male line of descent from him branched out widely, constituting
what has been called the Giant's Neck branch of Griswolds, from the place
of his residence upon a large tract of land which had descended from the
first Matthew. His son George was the father of the princely brother-
56, 57 merchants of New York Nathaniel Lynde^ and George^ Griswold (b.
58 1773 and 1777);^' also, of Thomas^ Griswold, the father of Mrs. Eltza-
59 betk'' Griswold, now of Lyme, widow of Charles Chandler Griswold of
the Blackball branch, to which our attention will be presently given — the
Blackball branch, as it may be properly called, that property of the first
Matthew Griswold having been mostly held by them ever since his day.
The brothers Nathaniel Lynde and George Griswold, at an early
age, went into the shipping business in New York, and became eminent
and successful merchants. They may well be classed among its merchant-
princes. During the latter part of their lives they were largely engaged in
the India trade. They were physically as well as intellectually strong men,
and Mr. George Griswold was of an elegant person and commanding
presence. They were far-seeing, public-spirited, patriotic and particularly
interested in every enterprise tending to the prosperity of New York.
The younger brother George was an intimate friend of Daniel Webster,
and his trusted adviser in matters of commercial importance. They both
left children who themselves became leaders in business, and society, in
the city of New York and elsewhere.
One of the children of Mr. Nathaniel Lynde Griswold, the elder of
60 the eminent merchants of New York just named, was John Lynde ' Gris-
«' The Old Merchants of New York City. By Walter Barrett. . . . New York, 1872, i. 31-
32 ; ii. 158-68. The initials of this firm of brothers, N. L. & G. G., suggested to some humorist the
reading " No Loss and Great Gain."
©^rffiitooUr
wold, who, after a serene and beneficent life, died at Peoria, 111., January
15, 1883. Of him it was beautifully and truly said by his Pastor :
" But the life of JOHN L. GRISWOLD was rounded and full, and a grand
success. Its years were many ; running on and on and on, into the wisdom and
poise, the serenity and beauty, of old age, but stopping short of its infirmity and
decay, its weariness and sadness. ... As a structure, it was builded and fin-
ished, like some solid symmetrical edifice, upon which the capstone has been set,
and that has received its final stroke and polish and garnishing.
" Inherited capability and culture, character and competence, not neglected or
squandered, but improved and increased ; business sagacity and enterprise, and
thrift ; loyalty and patriotism to the nation in its peril ; attachment to and pride in
the city where he dwelt ; social attraction and accomplishment ; fondness for home ;
devotion to kindred and friends ; tenderness and sympathy, and generosity towards
the needy and suffering ; liberality to the church and every deserving charity ; rever-
ence and love for God ; and a desire to glorify Him in all things ; firm faith in
Christ, and humbly following in His footsteps — these, in brief, were the equipment
and traits and aims of him who, the other morning, went from us to the unfading
dawn.
" His home was to him an all-satisfying realm, and the wife who shared it with
him a more than Queen. Of his love for her — as romantic and gallant, as admiring
and enthusiastic, as tender and full, at the end of these forty-two years as in the first
flush and thrill of youth, ever growing and eternal — we may not speak." '"
61 A sister of John Lynde Griswold, Catharine Ann'^ (d. 1857), was
62 the wife of Peter Lorillard of New York ; a half-sister, MaryP is the
widow of Alfred H. Pierrepont Edwards of New York, a son of the late
Henry W. Edwards, Governor of Connecticut.
One of the sons of George Griswold, the younger of the two New
63 York merchants, was Richard SUP (d. 1847), whose second wife and
widow, Frances Augusta (Mather), now lives in Lyme. He left three
64 children : i. Louisa Mather,^ now the wife of General Joseph Griswold
*' In Memoriam. Words of Tribute spoken b}' the Rev. J. H. Morrow, at the funeral of John L.
Griswold . . . n. p., n. d.
^rfjStDom
Perkins of Lyme, whose mother was a Griswold of the Blackhall branch
65 (see below) ; 2. Richard Sill^ now of Lyme, who married Rosa Eliza-
66 beth Brown of Waterbury, Conn.; and 3. Fanny Augusta,^ now the
wife of Professor Nathaniel Matson Terry, of the United States Naval
School at Annapolis, Md. A daughter of the New York merchant
67 George Griswold, Matilda'^ (half-sister of Richard Sill, Sen"'), is the
widow of the late Frederick Frelinghuysen, Secretary of State through
the administration of President Arthur ; and a sister of hers by the whole
68 blood, Sarah Helen,'' is the widow of John C. Green of New York, an
India merchant of large wealth and great liberality in the use of it, the
great patron, in his later years, of the College of New Jersey.
Mrs. Elizabeth (59) Griswold, the widow of Charles Chandler
69 Griswold, has two children : i. Elizabeth Diodate,^ now the widow of
Judge William Griswold Lane, her second and fourth cousin, a descendant
of the first Matthew by the Blackhall branch, of Sandusky, Ohio ; and
70 2. Sarah Johnson,^ now the wife of Lorillard Spencer, and mother of four
71 children, three sons and a daughter : the latter, Eleanora Lorillard,^ is the
wife of Prince Virginio Cenci, of Vicovaro, Chamberlain of the present
King of Italy, and a Lady of Honor to her Majesty the Italian Queen.
The original Griswolds were very tall, large-boned, muscular and
powerful. Their physical traits have in a very marked manner descended
with the family, even to the latest generation, after two hundred and fifty
years. Mr. Matthew Griswold late of Blackhall, and owner of the Gov.
Roger Griswold estate, who now lives in Erie, Pa., transmits the tall
stature of his father Matthew, and of Gov. Roger and himself, to his own
sons. Marvin, the second son, now eighteen years old, stands six feet two
and a half inches ; and his brother Matthew (the eighth generation of the
name), two years older, reaches nearly to his stature. Wolcott Griswold
Lane and Charles C. Griswold Lane, sons of Judge William Griswold and
Elizabeth Diodate (Griswold) Lane, do not drop far below them. All
^ttSitDOltl
these young men are now (1887) in Yale University. By the marriage
of Rev. George Griswold to Hannah Lynde, some of the beauty of the
soft and regular features, fine complexions and dark eyes hereditary with
the Digby-Lyndes, came into that branch of the family. The Wolcotts
were also a tall race, but with fuller forms, black eyes, rich brunette com-
plexions, and much beauty of the type which is still marked in the
Wolcott family of to-day. This Wolcott beauty has characterized many
of the Blackball branch of Griswolds, who are twice Wolcotts by descent.
The ancestral property of Giant's Neck fell, in the course of time,
into the hands of those great merchants of New York who have been
named, grandsons of Rev. George Griswold ; and a stone church which
they built on the spot consecrated by the pious labors of their grandfather
was lately standing. But, ceasing to care for the old property, they sold
it, and a beautiful site near the ancestral dwelling-house is now given up to
a large factory of fish-fertilizers. Yet, on all the varied and beautiful shore
between the mouth of the Connecticut and New London, there is no spot
so picturesque and beautiful as Giant's Neck. The end of the Neck,
stretching out into the Sound, is a flat formation of rock, making a natural
wharf surrounded by deep water. As one looks out upon the pretty
islands that cluster about the rock-bound shore, and into the wide ocean
beyond, summer-villas rise to the imagination, with grounds of varied
beauty for which nature has well prepared the way, and a group of pleas-
ure-boats and yachts, some riding at anchor in the offing, others moored at
the natural wharf; while the rails, a short distance away, connect this
charming retreat of one's fancy with the great city. What might not
have been made of the site, had it been improved by the wealth of its
inheritors !
Having now completed what we propose to say of the Giant's Neck
branch of Griswolds — referring only to Chancellor Walworth's " Hyde
(S^tfistDOlty
Genealogy " for farther particulars — we return to enumerate other children
of Matthew and Phoebe (Hyde) Griswold, younger than their son Rev.
George Griswold :
7. Mary,^ born April 22, 1694; who married, September 4, 1719,
Edmund Dorr; and died February 21, 1776. One of their sons was Rev.
73 Edward^ (b. 1722, graduated at Yale College in 1742), a Pastor of the
74 First Church of Hartford, Conn., from 1748. Their daughter Eve^
(b. 1733) married, in 1762, George Griffin of East Haddam, Conn., and
75 was the mother of the distinguished clergyman Rev. Dr. Edward Dorr'^
76 Griffin, and of the great lawyer Geoi'ge ^ Griffin of New York ; also of
"J 7 Phoebe ^ Griffin, who married Joseph Lord of Lyme, the mother of Mrs.
78 Phoebe "^ (Lord) Noyes, wife of the late Col. and Deacon Daniel R.
79 Noyes of Lyme, as well as of the late Miss Harriet'^ Lord of Lyme,
80 M'\?,s Era7ices Jane "^ Lord now of Lyme, the late Mrs. Alexander Lynde
81,82 {Josephine'' Lord) M^ Curdy, and other children. Messrs. Dattzel R.^
83, 84 and Charles P.^ Noyes of St. Paul, Minn., Mrs. E. B. {Caroline Lydia^)
85 Kirby of St. Louis, Mo., the late Mrs. George {Julia Lord^) Loveland
86 of Wilkesbarr6, Pa., and Mrs. Charles H. {Josephine Lord^') Ludington
of New York City — all children of Daniel R. and Phoebe (Lord) Noyes
— are great great grandchildren of Mary Griswold (see HLOVJl).
87 8. Deborah,^ born in 1696; who married, October 19, 1721, Colonel
Robert Denison of New London, Conn, (his second wife) ; and died
between 1730 and 1733, leaving several children. Her husband "was a
captain in General Roger Wolcott's brigade at the taking of Louisburgh,
and was afterwards promoted to the rank of Major and of Colonel. He
removed to Nova Scotia," ^ and was known as " Col. Robert Denison of
Horton, N. S.," as early as 1761. Family-papers of these Denisons show
that they were royalists. Col. Robert Denison, in his Will, proved at
Horton in 1765, bequeathed his "Cape Breton gun and silver-hilted
sword," and " the gun brought from Lake George."
Hyde Genealogy, ut supra, i. 55.
€;^tf!$tt}oltr
"Two sons of Capt. Andrew^''^ Denison, Col. Robert's eldest son, whose Mother
was a Griswold, accompanied their Father and Grandfather to Nova Scotia; but, not
liking the appearance of a wild and unsettled country, or the severity of Nova Scotia
winters, would not be induced to remain, and returned after a short stay to their
native land." "
89 9. Samuel,'^ born in December 1697; who "died June 10, 1727, aged
29 years 6 months," unmarried.
90 10. Patience,'^ born in 1698; who married, between November 2, 1724
and March 28, 1728,^ John Denison, brother of her sister Deborah's hus-
band ; and died November 8, 1776, having had sons and daughters.
91 II. Thomas,'^ born in February, 1700; who "died July 27, 1716,
aged 16 years and 5 months."*
JOHN (48), fifth child and second son of Matthew and Phoebe
(Hyde) Griswold, through whom descends the Blackball branch of the
Griswold family, was born December 22, 1690; married, June 23, 1713,
Hannah Lee, his step-sister (by his father's second marriage, to Mrs. Mary
Lee — see above, and lButt)y who died May 11, 1773; and died Septem-
ber 22, 1764. His gravestone in the Duck River Burying-Ground at
Lyme reads as follows :
" Sacred to the Memory of John Griswold, who, after having sustained the
Public offices of Justice of the peace and of the quorum for many years, departed
this life September 22"", 1764, in the 74"" year of his age ;"
and in a note to a funeral sermon, preached on his daughter Phoebe's
death, it is said that he "was not only a Gentleman of great wealth ; but
also was much beloved and esteemed by his townsmen and acquaintance
for his superior wisdom and integrity." He is known in the family as
" Private letter of Mrs. Eunice Borden of Grand Pr6, N. S.
" Proved by two signatures of hers, as maid and wife respectively, of these two dates.
** The birth-months of Thomas and Samuel are determined by inscriptions on their gravestones in
the Duck River Burying-Ground at Lyme. A draft of a Will of Thomas, made when he was " very
sick and weak in body," is dated 1716.
C^^trffiiUiolT)
Judge John. As the eldest surviving son of his father, he had, by the law
as it then stood, a double portion of the paternal estate ; to which he added
by repeated purchases. A few illustrations of the state of New England
society in his time, taken from family-papers, may be instructive.
Two deeds of negro men, " sold and delivered " to him during his
life, have been preserved ; and his Inventory includes a negro girl Phillis.
In all probability these are only a representation of his household-slaves.
As Justice of the Peace, presentments were made to him, at different
times, for profanation of the Sabbath,
" in y" Time of Divine Worship . . . in y^ meeting-House . . . by unbe-
coming Carriage (viz.), by continuing to Laugh and provoke others y' sat with him
to do so also, by whispering, and by spealcing out so Loud as to be heard by several
persons, and by priclcing y'' boys with pins y' sat with him in y^ seat;" by "going,
between meetings, into y^ orchard . . . near y'= Meeting-House and beating
Down y^ apples off y° Trees ;" and that ". . . Did unnecessarily on Said Day
Travil from Said house to one Sertain Called Mason's Pond in Colchester . . .
and then and there unnecessarily, In a Canoe, proceed upon said pond, and did and
exercised Labour by fishing in said Pond ;" that ". . . Did play Cards in a pri-
vate house, Contrary to y*^ Laws of this Government;" and "a couple of young
fellows" were accused before him " with Lying."
What singular manifestations are these, in a land of dearly bought
freedom, of an over-weening zeal to enforce religious formalities, to
restrain personal liberty arbitrarily, and to treat immoralities themselves,
irrespective of the injuries to society which they occasion, as punishable by
human law !
We find, also, among the family-papers, a memorandum, dated August
12, 1746, of payment being due from the Colony of Connecticut to John
Griswold "for boarding four souldiers that were Inlisted in y" Expedition
to Canada " — a memorial of the Cape Breton Expedition in the Old
French War ; in which his brother-in-law Denison was an officer of dis-
tinction, as we have seen, and Roger Wolcott held an important command,
whose daughter had been for nearly three years the wife of his son Matthew.
<^tffiitooltr
The home of John Griswold was a house which he built where now
stands the house of the late Judge Matthew Griswold (his grandson, 1760-
1842) in the Blackhall Avenue. Judge Matthew is said to have made his
house exactly like that of his grandfather, the site of which it occupied, to
please his father the Governor.
The children of Judge John and Hannah (Lee) Griswold were :
92 1. MATTHEW B (see below).
93 2. Plwebe^^ born April 22, 1716; who married, December 14, 1731,
Rev. Jonathan Parsons of Lyme; and died December 26, 1770. Her
husband was graduated at Yale College in i 729, and settled as Pastor of
the First Church of Lyme in 1731, after having studied for the ministry
with Rev. Elisha Williams, Rector of Yale College, and with Rev. Jona-
than Edwards of Northampton, Mass. In the days of " New Light "
theology, and of the ministerial methods growing out of it, he being
warmly in favor of them, and of Whitefield, the eloquent preacher of the
new views, he encountered opposition, and finally took a dismission, and
removed to Newburyport, Mass., where he died ; and where, in his house,
as is well known, Whitefield had previously died. Whitefield twice visited
him at Lyme, and " preached from a rock on his grounds, near the present
meeting-house, since known as the 'Whitefield Rock.'" Of Mrs. Parsons
it is said, in a funeral-sermon preached on her death :
"The God of Nature was pleased to furnish her with mental endowments to an
uncommon degree. In the solidity of her judgment and penetration of mind she
shone superior to most of her sex ; in canvassing many difficult points she could dis-
tinguish with surprising clearness.
" For readiness, liveliness and keenness of wit she appeared to me unrivall'd.
The agreeable sallies of that social endowment have often excited my esteem and
admiration. Such a degree of penetration and agreable sprightliness seldom meet in
the same person. Her ingenious friends, whom she favored with her letters, can
"' Reference is to be had to the Hyde Genealogy for farther particulars respecting the younger
children of John Griswold, which we here omit — our object being, chiefly, to follow the line of descent
through his eldest child Matthew.
@;^tffiiU)olir
testify with what correctness and spirit, with what instructive solidity and elegant
vivacity, she could write.
"Such was her courage and firmness of resolution as you can seldom find in the
delicate sex. . . .
" Her indefatigable industry in the affairs of her family was truly remarkable.
" Her knowledge of Geography and History, especially her critical acquaintance
with Church History, was truly rare.
" Knowledge in Divinity enters deep into her character. Comparatively but few
of her sex, I believe, have had their minds more enriched with that treasure. . . .
" She was a person of much christian simplicity and integrity ; of an upright,
sincere and conscientious turn of mind ; a bitter enemy to all unchristian craftiness
and sly deceit. . .. .
" Though she was honorably descended, and lived in an honorable station, yet
she could, without the least self-denial, condescend to the meanest of the human
race. ...
"She was possest of great sensibility of heart, was much acquainted with the
tender and delicate emotions of humanity and sympathy. . . .""
A son of Rev. Jonathan and Phoebe (Griswold) Parsons was
94 Colonel, afterwards General, Samtiel Holden^ Parsons (b. 1737); who
studied law with his uncle Gov. Matthew Griswold, was made King's
Attorney in 1774, and removed to New London. At the commencement
of the Revolution he entered actively into military service, was at the
battle of Bunker Hill, was made a Brigadier General in 1776, distin-
guished himself in the battle of Long Island, and was appointed Major
General. After the war he removed to Middletown, Conn., resumed the
practice of his profession, and was an active member of the Convention
which ratified the Constitution of the United States in Connecticut, of
which his uncle Gov. Griswold was the President. Under an appointment
as Commissioner of Connecticut, he obtained from the Indians a cession
of their title to the "Western Reserve" of Ohio, and was afterwards
made the first Judge of the Northwestern Territory by Washington, his
confidential friend.®
*' A Funeral Sermon . . . occasioned by the death of Mrs. Phebe Parsons ... By John
Searl. . . . Boston, 1771, pp. 37-40.
«9 From an article by Hon. C. J. M<>Curdy, in the New Haven Register for Dec. 20, 1881.
erfsloQltr
95 A sister of General Parsons, Lydia^ (b. 1755), married Capt. Moses
Greenleaf of Newburyport, Mass., and was the mother of the late eminent
law-professor and author of the "Treatise on the Law of Evidence,"
96 Simon "^ Greenleaf of Harvard University. One of the daughters of
97 Prof. Greenleaf, Charlotte Kingman,^ is the wife of Rev. Dr. Samuel
Fuller, Professor Emeritus in the Episcopal Theological Seminary of
Connecticut, at Middletown.
3. Thomas,^ born Feb. 15, 1719; who married, Dec. 17, 1741,
Susannah daughter of Nathaniel Lynde Jr. of Saybrook, Conn.; and died
July 16, 1770. He is known as Ensign Thomas Griswold. His wife
died September 25, 1768. They both lie burjed in the Duck River
99 Burying-Ground' at Lyme. One of their daughters, Lois'^ (b. 1747), mar-
ried Samuel Mather, and was 'the paternal grandmother of Mrs. Richard
Sill Griswold now of Lyme.
4. Hannah,^ born January 10, 1724; who married, November 5,
1740, Benaja Bushnell (Y. C. 1735) of Norwich, Conn.; and died August
16, 1772, having had fourteen children, sons and daughters.
5. Liicia,^ born July 6, 1726; who married, January 9, 1753, Elijah
Backus Esq. of Norwich, Conn.; and died December 16, 1795, having
had nine children.
6. Sarah,^ born December 2, 1728; who married, November i, 1750,
Judge William Hillhouse of New London, North Parish (Montville),
Conn.; and died March 10, 1777. She was the mother of the late Hon.
[03 James ^ Hillhouse of New Haven, Conn., so long Senator in Congress
104 from Connecticut, and grandmother of the late James Abraham'' Hill-
house, author of " Hadad," " Percy's Masque " and other poems, by which
he will be always remembered as one of the most accomplished of
the second generation of American men of letters, subsequent to the
Revolution.
105 7. Clarissa,^ born May 30, 1731 ; who died in infancy.
106 8. Clarissa,^ born February 9, 1733; who married, October 22, 1754,
iS^rfstuoln
Nathan Elliot of Killingworth, afterwards of Kent, Conn.; and died
February ii, 1811, having had thirteen children, sons and daughters.
107 9. Deborah,^ born March i, 1735 ; who married, December 9, 1756,
Capt. Nathan Jewett of East Haddam, Conn.; and died May 16, 181 1,
having had nine children.
108 10. John,^ born May 15, 1739; who died in infancy.
109 II. Lydia,^ born in June (bapt. June 13) 1742 ; who married, before
1768, Samuel Loudon, a bookseller of New York; and died after 1770.
Two letters from her husband to her brother Governor Griswold give us
these two approximate dates ; and from one of them, dated April 1 2,
1 768, we quote the following :
" Last week I sent you three Newspapers. I now send you two more. The first
of the five begins 'The American Whig,' a Paper which I hope will be useful to the
Publick. . . . You'll see the Design of 'The Whig' is to raise a universal stir in
N°. America against the importation of a Bishop."
MATTHEW (92), the eldest child of John and Hannah (Lee)
Griswold, usually distinguished as Governor Matthew Griswold, from the
last public office which he held, was born March 25, 1714; married,
November 10, 1743, Ursula daughter of Governor Roger Wolcott* (see
3|ftftin=212iOUOtt) of Windsor, Conn.; and died April 28, 1799. She
died April 5, i 788.
Martha Pitkin, by her marriage with Simon Wolcott, had introduced
a new and more brilliant strain of talent into the Wolcott blood. Her
son Governor Roger Wolcott, educated by her, a man of much power in
many departments, transmitted a full share of this ability to the thirteenth
of his family of fifteen children, his daughter Ursula. She had the
Wolcott blood again from her mother's mother Mary daughter of the first
Henry Wolcott, who married Job Drake. Her ancestors for three gene-
rations, including Mr. Thomas Newberry and Hon. Daniel Clark, had
"' Memorial of Henry Wolcott, ut supra, p. 77.
etfstooW
been men of enlarged views, devoted to public afifairs ; and in a similar
atmosphere she grew up and passed her life. How remarkable her
environment was will be easily seen by a glance at the paper on her
" Family Circle" included in this monograph. She took a woman's part in
the old French War, in which her father was Major General in command
of the Connecticut forces in the expedition against Cape Breton ; and in
the Revolutionary War, through her brothers Erastus and Oliver, and her
husband's nephew Samuel Holden Parsons, who were Generals. She was
surrounded by these and other members of her family, men of distin-
guished talents, who were in the highest military and civil positions of the
time ; and her opportunities for knowledge of all public afifairs, were such
as few women in this country have ever possessed. Her life gave the full
results of her birth and training. Most of the traditions of her youth
have long passed away. Little is known about the personal appearance
of Ursula, except that she was a tall, commanding woman, but the fact
that she transmitted so much of the rich beauty of the Wolcott family to
her children gives us to infer that she had herself her full share.
Conspicuous as Governor Griswold became in public life, and accus-
tomed as he was from early days to express his opinions on important
subjects, he was yet naturally diffident and shy. He had some time
desired to marry a lady in Durham, Conn., of a family since distinguished
in Western New York. She, however, preferred to marry a physician,
and kept Matthew Griswold in waiting, ready to accept him in case the
doctor did not come forward. With some intimation of this state of
afifairs, and aroused by it, Matthew Griswold at last pressed the lady for a
decision. She answered hesitatingly that she "wished for more time."
"Madam," said he, rising with decision, " I give you your lifetime" and
withdrew. She took her lifetime, and never married. Naturally diffident
as he was, and rendered by this discomfiture still more self-distrustful, he
might have never approached a lady again. His second cousin Ursula
Wolcott and he had exchanged visits at the houses of their parents from
etfstoolti
childhood, till a confiding affection had grown up between them. His
feelings were understood, but not declared. Time passed ; it might be
that he would take his lifetime. At last, Ursula, with the resolution,
energy and good sense which characterized her (though only nineteen
years of age, while he was twenty-nine), seeing the situation, rose to its
control. Meeting him about the house, she occasionally asked him :
" What did you say, cousin Matthew ?" " Nothing," he answered.
Finally, meeting him on the stairs, she asked : " What did you say, cousin
Matthew ?" " Nothing," he answered. " It's time you did" said she.
Then he did, and the result was a long and happy marriage, in which his
wife shared his anxieties, counsels and successes, brought up a superior
family of children, and in his frequent absences, and when he was over-
burthened with cares, administered the concerns of a large farm, and
controlled a numerous household of negro servants and laborers.
What preparation Governor Griswold had for public hfe other than
his own native ability, and the prestige of family, we are not told. So
early as 1739 his "loyalty, courage and good conduct" were rewarded by
Governor Talcott with the appointment of Captain to the South Train-
Band of Lyme ; and in 1 766 Governor Pitkin made him Major of the
Third Regiment of Horse and Foot in the service of the Colony. But
long before this latter date he had become devoted to civil affairs, more
especially to such as involved applications of law to private interests ; in
respect to which he acquired an extensive reputation, and was consulted
from distant places. He appears to have been counsel for John Winthrop
of New London, son of the last Governor Winthrop, in a suit brought by
him against the Colony for services of his ancestors and moneys due to
them.'' In 1 75 1 he was chosen a Representative to the General Assem-
bly;* in 1757, as " Matthew Griswold Esq. of Lyme," he was appointed
" We derive this fact from a manuscript letter of Dr. Benjamin Trumbull of North Haven to the
Governor, dated October 28, 1793. See A Complete History of Connecticut. ... By Benjamin
Trumbull. . . . New Haven, i8i8, ii. 54-55-
9" HoUister's Hist, of Conn., ut supra, ii. 640.
<ifi^tffsttiom
by the Colonial Government to "sue for, levy and recover" debts "in the
name, behalf and for the use of the Governor and Company ;" in i 759 he
was elected to the Council of the Governor.* He was again a member of
the Council in 1765, when Fitch was Governor, whose Councillors were
summoned to administer to him an oath to support the requirements of
the Stamp Act. A historian has described the scene in glowing words,
and tells us that Matthew Griswold was one of those who followed the
lead of Trumbull in refusing to " witness a ceremony which so degraded
liberty, and degraded the Colony," and retired from the council-chamber. **
To February 11*'' of this year belongs a letter from Jared Ingersoll, then
in London, preserved among the family-papers, in which, after reporting
the purchase of some law-books, he says :
"The very interesting Stamp Bill for taming Americans passed the House of
Commons last Wednesday. I was present and heard all the Debate, Some of which
was truly Noble, and the whole very Entertaining, at the same time Very Affecting,
Especially to an American."
In 1766, Jonathan Trumbull being Chief Justice, Matthew Griswold
was made a Judge of the Superior Court of Connecticut. On the death
of Governor Pitkin, in i 769, when Trumbull became Governor, he took
the highest seat on the bench as Chief Justice, which office he held during
fifteen years. Meanwhile, for thirteen of those years — from 1771 till 1784
— he was Deputy-Governor or Lieutenant-Governor, of the Colony and
newly formed State. In 1770 he was chosen one of the Commissioners
for Propagating the Gospel in New England and Parts Adjacent in
America, Andrew Oliver of Boston being the Secretary. Thfe very effi-
cient Council of Safety, formed in 1775 to aid the Governor through the
struggles of the Revolution, whenever the Legislature should not be
sitting, was headed by him from the first. The list of original members is
given thus: "Matthew Griswold, William Pitkin, Roger Sherman,
" Id., ibid.
" Life of Jonathan Trumbull Senr. ... By I. M. Stuart. Boston, 1859, PP- 85-92.
^tisipom
Abraham Davenport, William Williams, Titus Hosmer, Benjamin Payne,
Gen. James Wadsworth, Benjamin Huntington, William Hillhouse,
Thaddeus Burr, Nathaniel Wales Jr., Daniel Sherman and Andrew-
Adams.** From 1 784 to 1 786 he was the Chief Magistrate of Connecticut,
taking part, as such, in establishing the so-called " continental policy " in
the State, by conceding to Congress the power of impost — an all-important
first step in the formation of a National Government. His elevation to
the chief magistracy is thus spoken of by the author of the " Life of
Jonathan Trumbull :"
" But he [Trumbull] persisted in declining the proposed office, and the people
therefore found another candidate for the gubernatorial chair in Honorable Matthew
Griswold, a gentleman who now, for thirteen consecutive years, side by side with the
veteran Trumbull, of his political faith, like him of tried conduct, high-minded and
patriotic, had occupied the post of Lieutenant-Governor of the State.""
In 1788 he presided over the Convention for the Ratification of the
Constitution of the United States, to which, as Bancroft says in his latest
historical work, "were chosen the retired and the present highest officers
of its [the State's] Government, the judges of its courts, 'ministers of
the Gospel' and nearly sixty who had fought for independence.""'
The foregoing sketch may be properly supplemented by extracts from
Governor Griswold's correspondence — letters both to him and from him —
which will serve to set him in fuller light, while at the same time they
bring some of the great public events of his time more vividly before us,
thus grouped, as it were, around an individual life. We first give, nearly
entire, so far as its tattered condition allows, a significant letter from
Roger Sherman, dated January 1 1, 1766 :
" Stuart's Life of Jonathan Trumbull Senr., ut supra, p. 203, note.
" Id., p. 641.
" History of the Formation of the Constitution of the United States of Amer
Bancroft. New York, 1882, ii. 256; and Hollister's Hist, of Conn., ut supra, ii. 456-62.
By George
€;^tff$ti}0ltr
"Sir,
" I hope you will excuse the freedom which I take of mentioning, for your
consideration, some things which appear to me a little extraordinary, and which I
fear (if persisted in) may be prejudicial to the Interests of the Colony — more espe-
cially the late practice of great numbers of people Assembling and Assuming a kind
of Legislative Authority, passing and publishing resolves &c. — will not the frequent
Assembling such large Bodies of people, without any Laws to regulate or Govern
their proceedings, tend to weaken the Authority of the Government, and naturally
possess the minds of the people with such lax notions of Civil Authority as may lead
to such disorders and confusions as will not be easily suppress'd or reformed ? espe-
cially in such a popular Government as ours, for the well ordering of which good
rules, and a wise. Steady Administration are necessary. — I esteem our present form
of Government to be one of the happiest and best in the world ; it secures the civil
and religious rights and privileges of the people, and by a due administration has the
best tendency to preserve and promote publick virtue, which is absolutely necessary
to publick happiness. . . . There are doubtless some who envy us the enjoyment
of these . . . privileges, and would be glad of any plausible excuse to deprive
. . . therefore behooves ... to conduct with prudence and caution at this
critical juncture, when Arbitrary principles and measures, with regard to the colonies,
are so much in vogue; and is it not of great importance that peace and harmony be
preserved and promoted among ourselves ; and that everything which may tend to
weaken publick Government, or give the enemies of our happy constitution any
advantage against us, be carefully avoided ? I have no doubt of the upright inten-
tions of those gentlemen who have promoted the late meetings in several parts of
Colony, which I suppose were principally Intended to concert measures to prevent
the Introduction of the Stampt papers, and not in the least to oppose the Laws or
authority of the Government ; but is there not danger of proceeding too far, in such
measures, so as to involve the people in divisions and animosities among themselves,
and . . . endanger our Charter-privileges ? May not . . . being informed
of these things view them in such a light . . . our present Democratical State of
Government will not be Sufficient to Secure the people from falling into a State of
Anarchy, and therefore determine a change to be necessary for that end, especially if
they should have a previous disposition for such a change ? Perhaps the continuing
Such Assemblies will now be thought needless, as Mr. Ingersoll has this week
declared under Oath that he will not execute the office of Distributor of Stamps in
this Colony, which declaration is published in the New Haven Gazette. I hope we
shall now have his influence and Assistance in endeavoring to get rid of the Stamp
Duties. . . .
^tisituoltr
" I hear one piece of News from the East which a little Surprizes me, that is, the
publication of some exceptionable passages extracted from Mr. Ingersoll's letters,
after all the pains taken by the Sons of Liberty to prevent their being sent home to
England. I was glad when those letters were recalled, and that Mr. Ingersoll was
free to retrench all those passages which were thought likely to be of disservice to
the Government, and to agree for the future, during the present critical situation of
affairs, not to write home anything but what should be inspected and approved by
persons that the people of the Government would confide in ; but by means of the
publication of those passages in the Newspapers they will likely arrive in England
near as soon as if the original Letters had been sent, and perhaps will not appear in
a more favourable point of light.
" Sir, I hint these things for your consideration, being sensible that, from your
situation, known abilities and interest in the Affections and esteem of the people,
you will be under the best advantage to advise and influence them to such a conduct
as shall be most likely to conduce to the publick Good of the Colony. I am. Sir,
with great esteem, your Obedient, Humble Serv'
Roger Sherman."
"New Haven, Jan. ii, 1766."
The following letter is from Rev. Stephen Johnson, " the sincere and
fervid pastor of the First Church of Lyme," who left his parish in May
1776, to serve as Chaplain to the Regiment of Col. Parsons, afterwards
present at the battle of Bunker Hill :
"Camp at Roxbury, 5"^ Oct' 1775."
" Hon'"* Sir,
" Have not forgot our parting Conversation respecting writing to you —
defer'd it a while, waiting for something important — the time of the Circuit drew on,
in which I suppos'd the Conveyance would be lengthy and uncertain — but will defer
no longer — Several vessels bound to Boston with Valuable Cargoes have fallen into
our hands — one from New Providence, with Tortoise and fruit — one from Canada
with Cattle, hogs, sheep and Poultry — one from Europe of 300 Tuns in Portsmouth,
with 2200 Barrels of flour, &c. — one that went out of Boston the Beginning of this
week for wood &c : the Majority of the hands, being in our Favor, Brought her into
our Port — a Capt'" in her, who had been taken and carried into Boston about ten
weeks ago, informs : Gen'l Gage Recalled and this day to sail for Britain — Gen'l
How succeeds, and was proclaimed Gov' Last Tuesday — Commands and Resides in
^tffStUQlTir
Boston — Clinton on Bunker's Hill : a Disserter had informed that Gen'l Burgoin
was gone to Congress in Philadelphia — this Capt" was inquired of about it, who says
some in Boston affirmed it, others denyed it — all he Could say was that he used to
see him often, but had not seen him for three days, &c. — he further says' 3 men of
war, one of 64 guns, were going out, 2 or 3 mortars were put on board, and that it
was said 2 Regiments were to go on board them, of which 49'" Reg' was one — their
destination a secret. Some suppose they are to make attacks on Seaports nigh us —
some that they are going to Philadelphia — others to Charlestown, South Carolina —
others to Quebeck, &c.; if Burgone is gone to Philadelphia, I fear an insiduous pur-
pose, am more afraid of their gaining some important advantage against us by art
and Corruption than by their arms ; perhaps the Colonies will find it expedient to
Change their Delegates often to Congress — this I believe sooner or later will be
found a Measure highly important to the General Safety and welfare — and that
Strict probity and incorruptability, Joyn'd with some prudence and Judgement, will
be safer to trust to than more shining abilities, Joyn'd with an ambitious, avaritious
and designing turn of mind ; the Camp more healthy — have lost by Sickness but 6
men out of our Regiment. My Best Regards to your Hon' and Mrs. Griswold.
Dear Love to my Children — affectionate Regards to Friends and Parishoners. I am
in haste
"Affectionately Yours &c.
Stephen Johnson."
*
A few days later, in the same month. Deputy Gov. Griswold himself
wrote from Cambridge to Governor Trumbull, as follows :
"Cambridge, 20*" Oct. 1775."
" Sir,
I have to acquaint your Hon' that an Express is arriv'd at Head Quarters
from Portsmouth, Informing that on Monday last two or three Arm'd Vessels arriv'd
at Falmouth in Casco Bay from Boston (being part of the Ministerial Force. They
were attended with Sundry Transports all full of men), with orders to Destroy that
and the Town of Portsmouth, in Case the Inhabitants Refus'd to Deliver up their
Arms, give Hostages &c. — That on a Truce the. People gave up Eight Musquets, and
had time till nine of the Clock next Morning to Consider — That y^ Post came away
about half after Eight- — Just about nine he heard a heavy firing towards that place,
Suppos'd the Terms were Rejected, and that the Cruel orders were Carrying into
Execution. Gov' Cook also has advice from Mr. Malebone, who was an Eye and
Ear Witness (and is now here Present), that Capt" Wallace has orders to do the same
CS^riistDoltr
to the Towns in Rhode Island and Connec'", where any arm'd Force appears to
oppose the Ministerial Troops : what Precaution is Necessary to be taken for the
Protection of our Colony your Hon'' and the Hon'"' Gen'' Assembly will Consider.
Some of our Connecticutt officers are very Desirous some further Provision might be
made for Those of the People in the army belonging to our Colony that are or may
be Sick. —
" It's Suppos'd not Expedient at present to Communicate any of the Matters
Transacted by the Com''^^ &c. Conven'd here, without Special Leave.
" I am, with great Respect,
Your Hon"'" most obedient humble Serv*
Matth" Griswold."
On the 27*'' of June 1778 Governor Griswold wrote a letter to
Roger Sherman of which the following is an incomplete draft :
"Woodstock, June a?**", 1778."
"Sir,
" You have undoubtedly been advis'd of the Measures taken by the General
Assembly of this State Relative to the Paper Currency : That upon a Motion made
in our lower House of Assembly it was Resolv'd not to Suspend or Repeal the Act
Regulating prices, that a letter [be] sent by our Assembly to the other New England
States, Remonstrating against their Delaying to make provision for Regulating
prices, accompanied by two Gen" sent from our Assembly to Providence and Boston,
to Enforce the Matter Contain'd in the Letter : who Returning without Success, our
Gen'' Assembly Directed an Address to Congress, Requesting them to take up the
Matter, and advise to Some Salutary Measures to prevent the Threatening Mischief
of Sinking the Credit of the paper Currency ; pointing out in Some Measure the
Dangerous Consequences to the army, and great advantage Sharpers and Disafficted
Persons might take to oppress the People and Embarras the Common Cause : That,
while the Copies were preparing, the Resolve of Congress came to hand Advising a
Repeal or Suspension of the Act ; which Induced the Assembly to suspend it till the
Rising of the Gen'l Assembly in Ocf next, apprehending it wou''' not be in the
power of this State alone to Effect a Matter of that kind : That in Consequence of
Such Suspention the price of Indian Corn Started to about 10/ and 12/ pr bushell, and
Wheat is 18/ and 20/ pr bushell, and Some Demand more : Cattle and Sheep are sold,
I believe, between ;^2o and ;£;io pr cent, higher than Ever : Sharpers siez'd the oppor-
tunity before the People were advis'd of the Suspention, and bought Cattle and Sheep
iKtfstoom
for near ^^30 pr cent. Cheaper than y" same might have been sold for 3 or 4 Days
afterwards. — I apprehend the Body of our People are much in fav''' of a Regulating
act to Restrain the Licentiousness of the People, but Despair of being able, alone, to
carry such a Measure into Execution ; That they wou'd have been greatly Dissatisfied
with the Conduct of our Assembly in the Suspention, had it not been for the Resolve
of Congress Relative thereto, but now acquiesce in what the Assembly did : — The
Avertion many of our People have to Receive the Bills for outstanding Debts, or
Indeed to have any Concern with them, has, I apprehend, Reduc'd their Creditt to a
lower State here than it was ever before, Tho' it seems the Demand for the Bills to
pay Taxes, and the prospect of their final Redemption with Silver and Gold, may
prevent their sinking much lower. — I Imagine our People will very much go into a
Gen' Barter to carry on their private affairs — what the Consequence will be I know
not, — hope the Congress will Devise some proper Measures to Support the Army. —
Our Gen' Assembly have laid 1/ Tax on the List of 1777, to be paid y" i'' Sep" next,
and also Directed the Treasurer to borrow one hundred Thousand pounds on Loan ;
but that will not be an adequate Supply of the Treasury.
" Our People are pursuing their Husbandry with great Zeal and vigour. The
Fruits of the Earth at present appear in a flourishing State, afford a hopeful prospect
of Supplies for the Current year. — The Military preparations go on Slow. The Six
Battallions order'd to be Rais'd for Defence are Reduced to two, Tho' I believe, if
the State Sho'd be Immediately Invaded, the People would Run to arms with Spirit
and vigour.
" These Threatening overtures call aloud for Reformation — the Event is known
to him alone who Sitts at the helm, and Controuls all Events with Infinite Power
and Unerring Wisdom."
The following letter was written by Deputy Governor Griswold to
Governor Trumbull :
"Lyme, August 3", 1779."
" Sir,
" Intelligence is Just Rec'd that I apprehend may be Relied on, that the Enemy
are preparing a large Fleet at New York, said to be Design'd on an Expedition East-
ward : That another lesser Fleet are now fitting out at Huntington : That a great
Premium and Wages are offered to such as will Inlist, with the whole of the Plunder
they may take — as this latter Fleet is principally mann'* with Tories, whose Rage
and Malice seems to have no bounds, it is Suppos'd their Design is to Ravage the
(Sftfstooltr
Coast of this State ; it's Conjectured that the large Fleet have New London for their
object, while that in the Sound plunder and burn the Towns lying on the Seashore.
Such an Armament must presume the Enemy have some very Important object in
view : what More Probable than to pursue the above Plan, I submit. Upon the
Present appearances, your Exilency and other Gen'" of the Council will undoubtedly
be of opinion that nessasary precaution ought to be taken to prevent the bad Conse-
quence of such an operation of the Enemy — would Recommend to Consideration
whether it wou'd not be adviseable Rather to Increase the Guards on the Sea Coast,
and that the Malitia on the Sea Shore sho'd not be drawn off to Distant places in
Case of Alarm : Perhaps the State are in great Danger from a Tory Fleet in the
Sound : Tho' their force is not sufficient to Conquer the State, yet, if the men were
call'"* off, the Families and Property wou'd be Expos'd to be Ravag'd by a Number of
Savage Mortals, whose Tender Mercies are Cruelty : whether it wou'd not bee Expe-
dient that Beacons be provided to give Notice, and that the Malitia be arrang'd under
their proper officers, with Signals to Direct them where to Repair, and to Run to the
Relief of the place attack'd : That Immediate care be taken to provide a Competent
Number of Cartridges, and Deposited in the Most Convenient places : and that
orders be Issu'd for a view of Arms once in a few Days, that So they be Kept in Con-
stant Repair. — I take the Freedom to mention these Matters as Worthy of the greatest
attention in this alarming Situation of affairs. Sho'd wait on your Excellency were
it not for attending the Circuit.
"I am, with great Respect and Esteem, Your Excellencies Most obed'' Humble Serv*
Matth" Griswold."
"His Exc'' Gov. Trumbull."
The next letter in the series selected for this paper is from Governor
Trumbull :
"Lebanon, Aug. 17, 1780."
" Gent.
" I inclose a Copy of the Doings of a Convention lately held in Boston,
for your perusal. Consideration and opinion, and very especially with respect to the
Embargoe." I have sent out for the attendance of all the Council of Safety on Wed-
'* One of the resolutions of this Convention was: "That it be recommended to the several States
that have Acts laying an Embargo on the Transportation of Articles bj' Land from one State to another,
to repeal them as being unnecessary, and tending rather to injure than serve the Common Cause we are
engaged to support and maintain ; to continue Embargos on Provisions by Water, and that particular
Care be taken to prevent all illicit Trade with the Enemy." The Acts here recommended to be repealed
<KrlBti)OlJr
nesday the 23* of Aug' inst., with a particular view to take up and conclude upon that
matter, and, as I presume your Engagem'' will not permit your attendance, wish your
attention and opinion on that Subject before the meeting : in an affair of so much
Consequence I choose to act with all the advise and assistance which can be obtained.
" I am, with Esteem and Consideration,
Gentlemen, your most Obed'
and very h'ble Servant
Jon'" Trumbull."
"Hon*"'^ Matthew Griswold,
Eliph" Dyer and Wm. Pitkin Esquires."
Next follows a letter from Samuel Huntington, touching an impor-
tant crisis in the campaign of the South, which was followed, within about
seven months, by the siege of Yorktown and the close of the war :"
" Philadelphia, March 5"", 1781."
" Gentlemen,
" My situation deprives me of the pleasure of communicating to you from
time to time many occurrencies to which Inclination would lead did time permit. '°°
" The situation of the Southern States hath been critical for some time ; after the
battle at the Cowpens where Col. Tarlton was totally defeated, and upwards of five
hundred of his Corps made prisoners by Gen'l Morgan, L** Cornwallis, enraged, as it
seems, at that Event, burnt and destroy'd his wagons and heavy baggage, and with
his whole force, consisting of about three thousand, pursued Gen'l Morgan, his first
object being suppos'd to be to retake the prisoners ; his pursuit was rapid for up-
wards of two hundred miles, until he arriv'd on the Southern borders of Virginia.
Gen'l Morgan, by his Activity and prudence, with the assistance of a kind Provi-
dence, brought off his Troops and prisoners.
"This rapid movement of Cornwallis must have thrown the Country into con-
were intended to prevent scarcity, and keep down prices — their futility liad been perceived. But the
attention of this Convention was not given solely, or chiefly, to economical questions : "They urged the
adoption of the Articles of Confederation," which is "regarded as the first public Expression of
Opinion, by a deliberative Body, in Favor of such a Measure." See Proceedings of a Conv. of Dele-
gates . . . held at Boston August 3-9, 1780. ... By Franklin B. Hough. Albany, 1867, pp. 43-^4,
and Preface p. v.; and Bancroft's Hist, of the United States. . . . Rev. ed. Boston, 1S76, vi. 343.
'' History of the United States of America. By Richard Hildreth. New York, 1S56, iii. 343-48 ;
and Bancroft's United States. Rev. ed., ut supra, vi. 380-94.
""' The writer was at this time a Member of Congress.
@^tffiitPOltr
sternation through which he marched, and met with no resistance until he arriv'd at
Dan river on the borders of Virginia.
" Gen'l Greene, with his little army, consisting of but two thousand, was obliged
to retreat over the river ; which was done without any loss of Troops or baggage.
" By a letter come to hand from Gov'' Jefferson, copy of which is enclos'd, it
appears that the malitia of the Country are rallied to that degree that Cornwallis is
retreating, in his turn, towards Hillsborough, North Carolina, and Gen'l Greene in
pursuit of him.
"The army under Cornwallis are such a distance from the protection of their
shipping, nothing seems wanting but the spirited exertions of the Country in aid of
Gen'l Greene to make them all prisoners ; but we must wait tho' with anxiety to
know the Event.
" I have the Honour to be, with the highest respect. Your Humble Serv'
Sam : Huntington."
"The Hon" =
Judges of the Sup^ Court in Connecticutt."
The next two letters which we give are from Roger Sherman :
"Philadelphia, Aug. 14"', 1781."
" Sir,
"A ship arrived here last Sabbath day from Cadiz, and brought Letters from
our Minister and his Secretary at the Court of Spain : they mention that about 8000
Troops are ready to Embark on a Secret expedition, and confirm the accounts we
have had from the London Papers of the resignation of Mr. Neckar, Financier of
France, Occasioned by some Discontent. — The President received a Letter last Satur-
day from Gen'l Green, dated July i?*"", giving account of the operations of his Army
for about a month — he mentions the evacuation of Ninety Six by the Enemy, that
they retired to Orangeburgh, about 80 miles from Charlestown ; that they also occu-
pied a Post at Monk's Corner, about 26 miles from Charlestown ; that they have no
Post in Georgia except Savannah ; that Georgia has resumed civil Government ;
That a party of our men took three waggons and stores from the Enemy on a march
from Charlestown toward Orangeburgh— that Col. Lee had taken a party of horse
consisting of one Captain, one Lt and one Cornet, and 45 privates, with their horses
and Accoutrements. It is expected that civil Government will soon be re-established
in South Carolina. Mr. Jay wrote that he expected a Safe conveyance in about a
fortnight from the time he wrote (May 29'), when he should send a long letter — I
6;^t{fi(tt}QlTr
enclose a Copy of resolutions respecting the State of Vermont, which will prepare
the way for a settlement of that controversy ; they passed very unanimously.
"The enclosed papers contain the news of the day. . . . Should be glad to
be informed whether any provision of money is made for support of Government ; I
have about ^loo due for service in the Sup"' Court which I should be glad to receive.
I wrote some time ago to the Gov' and Council of Safety for some money to be sent
to bear my expences here : if I don't have some soon, I shall be totally destitute ; it is very
expensive living here, and no money can be obtained but from the State. There are many
refugees here from South Carolina and Georgia, lately redeemed from Captivity :
Congress have recommended a loan and a Contribution for their relief.
" I am, Sir, with great Regard,
Your Honor's obedient and humble servant
Roger Sherman."
"The honorable
Matthew Griswold Esq^"
"New Haven, July 12*'', 1784."
" Sir,
" I received your Excellency's Letter of the 6^^ Instant, with the papers
inclosed. The public service requires that the men should be furnished as soon as
possible to take possession of the western Posts, which are expected soon to be evacu-
ated by the British Garrisons, as also to Aid the Commissioners in treating with the
Indians. The Secretary in the war office ought to have Informed Your Excellency
what number and kinds of officers besides the Major are to be furnished by this
State ; as the States are not to be at any expence in raising the men, I should think it
would be most for the Interest of this State that your Excellency, with such advice as
you may think proper to take, should appoint the officers, and order the men to be
inlisted. I should think it would be well for your Excellency to take the opinion of
the Hon. Oliver Wolcot who is one of the Commissioners to treat with the Indians :
there seems to be a defect in the Laws as to the powers of the Supreme Executive
authority in the State, or they are not sufficiently explicit in all cases.
" 1 have no doubt but that the Assembly would have desired your Excellency to
have executed this requi'sion if they had known it would have been made.
" Your Excellency will be best able to Judge what will be expedient.
" I am, with Great respect,
Your Excellency's humble Servant
Roger Sherman."
" His Excellency Governor Griswold."
(Ktistoollr
We give one more of Governor Grisvvold's own letters :
"Lyme, August i, 1784."
"Sir,
" I understand that our Delegate is Detain' d from Congress only for want of
money; how far the want of Representation in that Important Body may affect the
Interest and Safety of this State I linow not — it is Certainly a very Dangerous
Threatening Situation for this State to be in — I Inform'd you before that the Assem-
bly had order'd Drafts to be made on the Sheriffs for that purpose, that those Drafts
were made accordingly, and Directed you to lay by the first money for that use you cou'd
Collect. I now Repeat the same Requi'sition in the Most Pressing manner, and
Desire you will push the Collection with all Possible Dispatch, till you receive your
part of the ;^2oo ; and what money, more or less, you can obtain send forthwith to
Stephen M. Mitchel Esq'' at Weathersfield, who has the order, and is appointed one
of the Delagates— It's but a small sum that is Required of Each of the Sheriffs — The
Delay may be more Injurious than ten times the value of the Money.
" From S'r your most obedient
humble Servt
Matth" Griswold."
" Elijah Abel Esq."
The last letter to be given here, from Oliver Wolcott, Governor Gris-
wold's brother-in-law, though partly private, closes this series appropriately,
by its reference to the retirement of the governor from public life :
"Litchfield, Nov"^ 22*, 1788."
"Sir,
"Your Excellency's Favour inclosing Mr. Worthington's Sermon on the
Death of my Sister has been rec". The Object of this Sermon (without Partiality)
most certainly deserved all the Eulogium which the Preacher has bestowed upon her
personal Virtues. — By her Death I am sensible you have lost a most Valuable Com-
panion, and her other Relations and Acquaintance a Person who was most dear to
them. —
" But such is the Will of God, and it becomes us to Acquiesce in the Divine
Dispensation. May we be prepared to meet her in that State of Happiness which
will admit of no Separation ! All our Injoyments are fleeting and insecure ; that
which you mentioned relative to your discontinuance in publick Office evinces the
Truth of the Observation. — But this event, tho' disagreable, was not effected by false
^tfistDolTr
and insiduous Insinuations to the Injury of your moral Character (which others have
most unjustly supposed), but from an Apprehension that your want of Health would
render the office very burdensome to yourself, and less beneficial to the State, than
your former Administration had been, however ill-founded this Opinion might be.
Yet the Consciousness of your own Integrity, and the Universal Opinion of the State
in this respect, must render the event far less disagreable than it would otherwise
have been. — That 3'ou may finally be Approved of by that Being who cannot err is
the Devout wish of, Sir,
" Your most obed' humble
Serv*
Oliver Wolcott."
" Mrs. Wolcott presents
to you her sincere Respects."
Other letters have been preserved, from William Samuel Johnson,
Col. William Ledyard, Roger Sherman, Stephen Mix Mitchell. Charles
Thomson (Secretary of Congress), Oliver Wolcott, Samuel Huntington,
Governor Treadwell, Jonathan Sturgis, James Wadsworth and Erastus
Wolcott.
On his retirement from public life in 1788 Gov. Griswold devoted
much time to farming-operations, which indeed seem to have always inter-
ested him. Professor Dexter of Yale University has kindly called our
attention to the following curious entries in the manuscript " Itinerary " of
a journey from New London to New Haven, in October i 790, by Pres.
Stiles :
"Gov' Griswold now aet. 76, born at Lyme 1710,'" fitted for College, settled a
Farmer : studied law proprio Marte, bo't him the first considera' Law Library in
Connec', took Att° oath and began practice 1743 — a great Reader of Law.
" Has a fine Library of well chosen Books, 140 Fol. and 400 other Volumes, or
about 550 Volumes, now left in his Study, besides a part of his Libr^ given to his
Son in Norwich — about 200 Law Books, the rest Hisf and Divinity.
" On leaving the chair of Gov' he went to Farming. He has a Farm of 400
acres, stock 100 Head of Cattle, cuts 100 Loads Hay, Eng. besides Salt, 22 acres Ind"
corn, and 80 Bush' Wheal, and 400 Bush^ oats Raised this year. Hires 6 or 7 men ;
38 and 40 cows, Dairy 3m"' cheese, 400"* Butter Fall Sales. In perfect Health of
'"' A slip of the pen for 1714 — the true date — as he gives his age as 76.
Body and Mind. Lame yet vigorous. Cart^ 400 Loads Dung, sea weed &c., last
year. At close of Gov' had 40 Head Cattle, and cut 40 or 50 Loads Hay only. Has
50 acres Salt Marsh ; 18 or 20 stacks Hay now round his Barn, 3 or 4 Tons each."
On a subsequent leaf is the following Memorandum :
"Gov' Griswold's Farm Stock, 1790.
23 Hogs, 8 yoke Oxen, 17 Fat Cattle, 25 Cows, 3000"' cheese, 400"" Butter, 8000"'
Beef sale or 17 Fat Cattle, 400 Bush' Oats, 500 do. Ind. corn, 100 Loads Eng. Hay,
80 do. salt do., 500'" Flax, 45 Bush^ Wheat, 120 do. Rye, 105 sheep."
The Griswold family-archives also contain a paper entitled " Remarks
on Liberty and the African Trade," by Governor Griswold, dated July i°*
1 795, and apparently intended for publication. Domestic slaves appear to
have been owned in the Griswold family from the earliest times, as was the
case in most New England families of the higher class. But the oppor-
tunity is a rare one to know by his own words, in a somewhat lengthy
argument, how the subject was viewed by one of the Revolutionary
patriots of New England. There are several drafts of this paper, differing
slightly ; we use that which seems the most finished. The whole course
of thought will be made clear by the following abstract and quotations :
Man was created in absolute dependence upon the Almighty, and, for
his good, was originally placed under laws, obedience to which " fixes the
subject in the highest Liberty." But he willfully disobeyed, whereupon,
instead of exacting the full penalty, God allowed " fallen man to Incor-
porate into a state of Civil Government ... as the Circumstances of
Each Common Wealth sho'd Require . . ." the power of the State
being limited to temporal rights and properties, exclusive of " matters of
Conscience and a Superintending Power. . . ."
" So that upon the ground of Creation, Preservation and Redemption every man
is Born under the most Inviolable Subjection of obedience to the Divine Law, and
also under Subjection to the Civil Laws of the Common Wealth where he happens to
be, that are not Contrary to the Divine Law. . . . Nothing is more injurious to
Civil Society than using a Licentious Liberty. . . ."
Natural right to absolute liberty is a fallacy}"'' " In regard to the African Trade, to
set the matter in its true light, it is necessarj' to Consider the state of those People in
their Native Country, constantly at war with one another, and liable to be put to the
sword by the victor. . . ."
"The question arises whether Transporting those Captives from their Native
Country can be warrantable. Any suppos'd wrong must arise from one of two
things : either from a Tortious Entry into the Territories of a foreign State, tramp-
ling upon their Laws, Disturbing the Peace; or from Personal Wrong done to the
Individuals Remov'd. In Regard to the first, as the Captives, by the Laws of that
Country, are made an Article of Commerce, to Enter for Trade cannot be Tortious;
Respecting the Latter, it's nessasary to Compare the state of those Persons before
and after their Removal ;"
being in their native country in heathenish darkness, and under despotism, whereas
in Connecticut they become
"plac'd under the Government of a master who is bound to Provide nessasaries
sufficient for their Comfort in Life, are Protected by Law from Cruelty and oppres-
sion, if abused have their Remedy . . . against their own master. . . .
" The notion of some that Slavery is worse than Death is a most Capital Error. For,
as a State of Trial and Probation for Happiness thro' an Endless Eternity is the
greatest favor that was ever Granted to a fallen Creature, as Death puts a final End
to that State of Trial, so Life must be of more Importance than any other Enjoyment
can be in this world. . . .
" Those held in service may be Divided into five Classes : The aggressor in War
seems to take the first Rank : he, by taking a part in a Bloody War, forfeits both Life
and Liberty together, may be slain ; as Liberty is only a part of the Forfeiture, the
Captor, by taking a part for the whole, does the Captive no Injustice : the Instance
of the Gibeonites is a voucher for " holdirtg such to service. ..." The next
Class to be Considered is the Innocent Captives who have taken no active part in the
war ... to purchase those Captives, and bring them away, is to Save their lives,
is a meritorious act, Entitules the Purchaser, by the Laws of Salvage, to the Purchase-
Money by the Labor of the Captive. . . . The next Class . . . those sold for
Adultery or other Attrocious Crimes. . . . there can be no Doubt but they ought
to be Punished," and by the Laws of Moses were punished even by death. ". . .
The next class is those Kidnapped by Gangs of Private Robbers. . . . Many of
those Poor Children are bro't many hundred miles, and if they were Releas'd on the
"" The italicizing is ours.
Cl^tflStPOltl
Sea Coast there is no Chance they wou'd ever arrive at the places of their Nativity
. . . if the Purchase was Refus'd, those Abandoned Villains who Committed the
fact wou'd probably put all to the Sword — what then sho'ld hinder the Laws of Sal-
vage from taking place in such case of Life and Death, but that the Purchaser ought
to Step in, and Redeem the Poor Prisoners, take the part of a kind Guardian to
them, hold them in Reasonable service till they have paid the Purchase-money, then
Release them if they behave well ? ... As to those Born here, tho' some hold
that the Son must be Considered in the likeness of the Father, that, if the Father be
in Bondage, the Son must be so too . . . that seems carrying the point too far ;
but it seems those Children cannot be considered entituled to the Priviledges of free
Denizens, for, as the Father was an Alien, and that Disability not Remov'd, the Son
must be so too. . . . Political Priviledges are Hereditary. . . . Therefore, upon
the Ground of Debt, the Son may be Rightfully held till he has paid that Debt for
his Support, Education, Schooling, etc. . . .
" By a Sovereign Act to set them all free at one blow, and Dissolve the Legal Right of
the Masters to their Service, which the Masters Purchased with their own money, under the
Sanction of the Law, wou'd be Rather using the Law as a Snare to Deceive the People. . . .
" The master ought to learn his servant to Read and understand the Bible. . . .
Supply him with the nessasaries of Life in a Reasonable Manner, in Sickness and
health, speak kindly to him, Encourage him in his Business, give him the Praise
when he does well, Chear his Spirits, but not with fondness or Familiarity; let him
know his Proper Distance, at the same time give him Moral Evidence of Sensere
Friendship, frown upon vice. . . . Govern him with a steady hand, not with
Undue Severity. ... If those measures were Properly Pursued, it wou'd be lay-
ing the ax at the Root of the Tree, and I sho'd hope for better times. . . .
" I am sensible that the Idea of being Commanded at the will of another is Dis-
agreeable to the feelings of the Humane mind under its Present Depravity ; but that
Impression is merely Imaginaiy. . . . Those Servants in Connecticut under the care
and Guardianship of kind masters, and contented where they are well Provided for,
without any care or anxiety of their own, are some of the Happiest People in the
State . . . but such is the Misery of the fallen Race that many of them cannot
bear Prosperity : Preferment, Wealth, Respect and kindness Inflame their Pride and
Haughtiness. ... I wish that every Person was Possess'd of the Virtue, Industry
and Prudence that Quallifies a Person for Freedom, and Proper Measures were taken
to make all free ; But to set such free as ought to be Restrain'd wou'd tend to sap the
foundations of Civil Government. ... I wou'd Query whether the same Prin-
ciples which Induced the . . . Society [for emancipation] to undertake to Relieve
CS^tfiSiuollr
against the Tyranny and oppression of Cruel Masters does not Equally oblidge to
Endeavour, if Possible, to Relieve these Poor People against the Soul-Ruining
advise of some bad People, and also against the Excess of their own Misconduct. . . .
" I hope for wise Reasons the future Importation of Slaves into this State will be
Effectually Prevented — it seems the foundation for it is laid already. No Common
Wealth can hardly be more hurt than by bringing bad People into it, or making
them so that are in it already. Some men of Sensibility seem to hold that holding
those People in Service is one of the Crying Sins of the Land, while others Congrat-
ulate them upon their Deliverance from Heathenish Darkness ; many appear Ignorant
of the True Principles upon which natural Liberty is founded, which can consist in
Nothing Else than in a Spirit of Obedience to the Divine Law. . . . July ist, 1795."
To the foregoing a few sentences should be added with respect to
Governor Griswold's personal character. We quote from a funeral-sermon
preached on his death, by Rev. Lathrop Rockwell of Lyme :
" In this, and in all the offices which he sustained, he distinguished himself as a faith-
ful servant of the public ; and the whole tenor of his conduct was happily designated
with fidelity, integrity, uprightness and a high regard for the good of his constituents.
" But, if we descend to the more private walks of life, and view his character as
a private citizen, we shall find the social sweetly blended with the Christian virtues.
He possessed a benevolent disposition, which rendered his deportment truly engaging
in all the domestic relations. Having a frank and open heart, he was sincere in all
his professions of friendship. . . . He was truly hospitable, and abounded in
acts of charity." '"'
Governor Matthew Griswold survived his wife a few days more than
eleven years. In the Family Bible of Deacon John Griswold, their son,
it is recorded that she died in the night "in a very sudden and sur-
prising manner;"'** and Rev. John Devotion, minister at Saybrook, in
preaching her funeral-sermon, chose for his text : "And at midnight there
was a cry made, Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him "
— Matth. XXV. 6.
"" A Sermon delivered at the funeral of his Excellenc)' Matthew Griswold Esq. ... By Lathrop
Rockwell. . . . New London, 1802, pp. 14-15.
'»* Her mother Sarah (Drake) Wolcott had died in a similar manner (see ^I'tttiHsfflWolcott).
fiftfstDoltr
Near the end of this sermon the preacher addressed Governor
Griswold :
" That your Excellency has been blessed with a consort well versed in frugality,
industry and ceconomy ; one who feared God, reverenced his sanctuary, loved his
ordinances, bare testimony against vice, was a friend to order, virtue and religion,
and exemplary in the duties of the christian life. — Has your Excellency enjoyed such
a blessing so long, and shall not your soul glow with gratitude to the great disposer
of all events ?
". . . She adorned her profession, and evidenced the truth and sincerity of it,
by a love of truth, righteousness and divine things ; by alms (directed not by a weak
fanciful fondness, but) to such as she judged God's poor ; whereby it becomes evi-
dent that she viewed herself accountable to her great Lord, even as to her choice of
the objects of her charity. Skilful as a nurse in sickness, she ministered to the poor
in sickness, and under distress." '"
Governor Matthew Griswold and his wife both lie buried in the Duck
River Burying-Ground at Lyme.
The following are their epitaphs :
" This monument is erected to the memory of Matthew Griswold Esq., late Gov-
ernor of the State of Connecticut, who died on the 28"" day of April in the year 1799
— aged 85 years and 28 days.
" Sic transit gloria mundi."
" Sacred to the memory of Mrs. Ursula Griswold, the amiable consort of Matthew
Griswold Esq., late Governor of the State of Connecticut. She departed this life on
the 5"" day of April 1788, in the 64'" year of her age."
The marriage of Governor Matthew Griswold and Ursula Wolcott
re-united two of the leading families of Connecticut by a new tie of blood.
We have already alluded to the two marriages between these families.
">* A Sermon preached April S"", 1788, at the Interment of Madam Ursula Griswold. ... By
John Devotion. . . . New Haven, 1788, pp. 24-26.
CS^rffiitiioltr
But by the descent of Sarah Drake, wife of Governor Roger Wolcott,
from a daughter of the first Henry Wolcott of New England, the Gris-
wolds and Wolcotts now became akin to each other by a triple tie. Nor
was this all. The two families were also bound together by a singular
identity of official position : for Ursula (Wolcott) Griswold was both
daughter, sister, wife, aunt, and, as we shall presently see, mother, of a
governor of the State of Connecticut. This coincidence led one of the
authors of this work to discover the still more remarkable fact that around
the name of this lady could be grouped, as all belonging in a sense to her
family-circle, sixteen Governors of States, forty-three distinguished Judges
(most of them different persons from any of the governors), and many
other eminent men. Some of the particulars have been already briefly
stated in a separately printed paper,'* which we here reproduce with
additions.
Family-Circle
of
Mrs. Ursula (Wolcott) Griswold.
Ursula Wolcott was born in Windsor (now South Windsor), Connec-
ticut, October 30, 1724; married Matthew Griswold of Lyme, Connecticut,
November 1 1, 1743 ; and died April 5, 1788.
I. GOVERNORS.
1. ROGER WOLCOTT, her father, was Governor of Connecticut.
2. OLIVER WOLCOTT Sen., her brother, was Governor of
Connecticut ; also Signer of the Declaration of Independence.
3. OLIVER WOLCOTT Jr., her nephew, was Governor of Con-
necticut ; also Secretary of the Treasury under Washington.
4. MATTHEW GRISWOLD Sen., her husband, was Governor
of Connecticut.
"" In The New Engl. Hist, and Geneal. Register. Boston, 1879, xxxiii. 223-25.
^tisitDoltr
5. ROGER GRISWOLD, her son, was Governor of Connecticut;
also was offered by the elder President Adams, but declined, the post of
Secretary of War.
6. WILLIAM WOLCOTT ELLSWORTH, her first cousin's
grandson, was Governor of Connecticut.
7. WILLIAM PITKIN 3d, her second cousin, was Governor of
Connecticut.
8. WILLIAM WOODBRIDGE, her grandnephew, through her
husband, was Governor of Michigan.
9. JONATHAN TRUMBULL Sen., her third cousin through the
Drakes, was Governor of Connecticut.
10. JONATHAN TRUMBULL Jr., fourth cousin of her children,
was Governor of Connecticut ; also Speaker of the United States House
of Representatives ; also United States Senator.
11. JOSEPH TRUMBULL, her remoter cousin, was Governor of
Connecticut.
12. FREDERICK WALKER PITKIN, of the same Pitkin blood
as herself, was lately Governor of Colorado.
13. JAMES MATHER ALLEN, her great great grandson, was
the first Governor of the Territory of Dakota.
14. ROGER SHERMAN BALDWIN, Governor of Connecticut,
married Emily Perkins, also of the same Pitkin blood as herself.
15. WILLIAM ALFRED BUCKINGHAM, Governor of Con-
necticut, was of the same Lee descent as her husband.
16. GROVER CLEVELAND, of the same Hyde and Lee blood
as her husband, was Governor of New York — since President of the
United States.
II. JUDGES.
1. ROGER WOLCOTT, her father (I. i), was Judge of the
Superior Court, Connecticut.
2. ROGER WOLCOTT Jr., her brother, was Judge of the
Superior Court, Connecticut ; Lieut. Gov. and ex-officio Chief Justice.
3. ERASTUS WOLCOTT, her brother, was Judge of the Superior
Court, Connecticut.
(SSftfsttlolll
4. OLIVER WOLCOTT, her brother (I. 2), was Judge of the
Court of Common Pleas, Connecticut.
5. OLIVER WOLCOTT, her nephew (I. 3), was Judge of the
United States Circuit Court.
6. JOSIAH WOLCOTT, her first cousin once removed, was Judge
of the Court of Common Pleas, Massachusetts.
7. MATTHEW GRISWOLD Sen., her husband (I. 4), was Chief
Justice of Connecticut.
8. MATTHEW GRISWOLD Jr., her son, was Judge of the
Supreme Court, Connecticut.
9. ROGER GRISWOLD, her son (I. 5), was Judge of the
Supreme Court, Connecticut.
10. OLIVER ELLSWORTH, who married her first cousin's
daughter Abigail Wolcott, was Chief Justice of the United States
Supreme Court ; also United States Senator ; also United States Envoy
Extraordinary to the Court of France.
11. WILLIAM WOLCOTT ELLSWORTH (I. 6), son of Abi-
gail (Wolcott) Ellsworth, was Judge of the Supreme Court, Connecticut.
12. SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS, her nephew through her
husband, was appointed by Washington the first Chief Justice of the
Northwest Territory.
13. CHARLES CHAUNCEY, son of her husband's third cousin
Mary Griswold (great granddaughter of Edward Griswold), was Judge of
the Supreme Court, Connecticut.
14. ELIZUR GOODRICH, Chief Justice of the New Haven
County Court for thirteen years ; and State Representative, State Senator
and Member of Congress, for twenty-three years continuously, was a
grandson of Mary Griswold.
15. STEPHEN TITUS HOSMER, who married her husband's
grandniece Lucia Parsons, was Chief Justice of Connecticut.
16. THOMAS SCOTT WILLIAMS, who married Delia Ellsworth,
daughter of Abigail (Wolcott) Ellsworth, was Chief Justice of Con-
necticut.
17. WILLIAM PITKIN 2d, first cousin of her father, was Judge
of the Superior Court, and Chief Justice of Connecticut.
^tifiittiolti
1 8. OZIAS PITKIN, brother of the former, was Chief Justice of
Connecticut.
19. WILLIAM PITKIN 3d, her second cousin (I. 7), was Chief
Justice of Connecticut.
20. WILLIAM PITKIN 4th, third cousin of her children, was
Judge of the Supreme Court, Connecticut.
21. MATTHEW ALLYN, who married her second cousin Eliza-
beth Wolcott, was Judge of the Superior Court, Connecticut.
22. JONATHAN TRUMBULL Sen., her third cousin (I. 9), was
Chief Justice of Connecticut.
23. LYMAN TRUMBULL, Justice of the Supreme Court, Illinois,
also United States Senator, is of the same Drake descent as herself.
24. JAMES LAN MAN, who married her granddaughter Marian
Chandler, was Judge of the Supreme Court, Connecticut.
25. LAFAYETTE SABIN FOSTER, who married her great
granddaughter Joanna Lanman, was Judge of the Supreme Court, Con-
necticut ; also United States Senator, and Acting Vice-President of the
United States.
26. NATHANIEL POPE, who married her husband's grandniece
Lucretia Backus, was Judge of the United States Court, Illinois.
27. HENRY TITUS BACKUS, her husband's grandnephew, who
married her husband's great grandniece Juliana Trumbull Woodbridge,
was Judge of the United States Court, Arizona.
28. WILLIAM WOODBRIDGE, her grandnephew (I. 8), was
Judge of the Supreme Court, Michigan.
29. EBENEZER LANE, her grandson, who, married her grand-
daughter Frances Ann Griswold, was Chief Justice of Ohio.
30. WILLIAM GRISWOLD LANE, her great grandson, who
married her great granddaughter Elizabeth Diodate Griswold, was Judge
of the Court of Common Pleas, Ohio.
31. CHARLES JOHNSON M^CURDY, her great grandson,
was Judge of the Supreme Court, Connecticut ; also United States
Charge d' Affaires in Austria ; also Member of the Peace Congress
of 1861.
32. SHERLOCK JAMES ANDREWS, who married her great
(Sftfstooltr
granddaughter Ursula M^Curdy Allen, was Judge of the Superior Court
of Cleveland, Ohio.
33. JOHN HENRY BOALT, her great grandson, was Judge of
the Court of Common Pleas, Nevada.
34. CHARLES ALLEN, late Chief Justice of the Superior Court
of Massachusetts, was of the same Pitkin blood as herself.
35. AARON HACKLEY, who married Sophia Grisvvold, her
grandniece (a granddaughter of her brother Dr. Alexander Wolcott),
was Judge of the Supreme Court of New York.
36. JOSIAH HAVVES, descended from her brother Roger, was
Circuit Judge, Michigan.
37. WILLIAM LITTLE LEE, Chief Justice of the Sandwich
Islands, was of the same Hyde and Lee blood as her husband.
38. REUBEN HYDE WALWORTH, Chancellor of the State of
New York, was of the same Hyde and Lee blood as her husband.
39. SAMUEL LEE SELDEN, Judge of the Supreme Court of
New York, and
40. HENRY ROGERS SELDEN, Judge of the Court of Appeals
of New York, were of the same Hyde and Lee blood as her husband.
41. HENRY BALDWIN, son of her second cousin once removed
Theodora Wolcott, was a Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
42. HENRY MATSON WAITE, Chief Justice of Connecticut,
and
43. MORRISON REMICK WAITE, Chief Justice of the United
States Supreme Court, descended from her own and her husband's ancestor
Henry Wolcott, the first of the name in this country, and from her hus-
band's ancestor the first Matthew Grisvvold.
NOTES.
Most of those above named as Governors and Judges held, also, other
high offices. All those mentioned as connected with Mrs. Griswold
through her husband were also related to her by Wolcott blood, her hus-
band and herself having been second cousins.
(S^tlJSiDOl^
Rev. Dr. Trumbull, in his " History of Connecticut," i. 227, note, says :
"Some of the [Wolcott] family have been Members of the Assembly,
Judges of the Superior Court, or Magistrates, from the first settlement of
the colony to this time — A. D. 1797 — during the term of more than a
century and a half." According to Mr. J. Hammond Trumbull, LL.D.,
Governor William Pitkin "belonged to a family in which the honors of
office seemed to have become hereditary. A Pitkin sat at the Council-
board for three-quarters of a century, six or seven years only excepted."
A similar remark might be applied to the public life of the Griswolds and
Trumbulls.
Among the connections of Mrs. Griswold, not mentioned, have been
many men eminent in the learned professions, judges of other courts, mem-
bers of both Houses of Congress, eminent merchants, military officers of
high rank, etc.
PROFESSOR JOHN STRONG NEWBERRY, of the School
of Mines in Columbia College, is a great grandson of her sister Elizabeth
Wolcott, who married Capt. Roger Newberry of Windsor, Conn.
PROFESSOR SIMON GREENLEAF, the distinguished Profes-
sor of law in Harvard University, was her grandnephew through her hus-
band. Mr. GEORGE GRIFFIN, the eminent lawyer of New York,
and the famous REV. DR. EDWARD DORR GRIFFIN, were of the
same Wolcott and Griswold lineage as herself and her husband.
CHRISTOPHER PARSONS WOLCOTT of Ohio, who was
Attorney-General of Ohio, afterwards Judge-Advocate-General, and died
when Assistant Secretary of War, was her great grandnephew.
Governor Roger Wolcott, Mrs. Griswold's father (I. i), was Major-
General second in command of the Connecticut troops in the expedition
to Cape Breton, and in the siege and capture of Louisburg, in 1745.
Judge Erastus Wolcott (II. 3), and Governor Oliver Wolcott (I. 2) her
brother, were Brigadier-Generals in the Revolution. ROGER NEW-
BERRY, son of Captain Roger and Elizabeth (Wolcott) Newberry,
General in the Revolution, and long a Member of the Governor's Council,
was her nephew. Judge Parsons (II. 12) was Major-General in the
Revolution, and was a member of the Court Martial selected by Wash-
ington for the trial of Major Andrd
COMMODORE ISAAC CHAUNCEY was a great grandson of
her second cousin, a Wolcott by descent.
MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN POPE, U. S. A., son of Judge
Pope (II. 26), was distinguished in the late civil war ; as were many of her
young descendants, one of whom, the heroic Captain John Griswold, gave
his life at Antietam.
GENERAL JAMES S. WADSWORTH of Geneseo, N. Y.,
killed in the battle of the Wilderness, was descended from several branches
of her Wolcott family. Gen. Wadsworth's sister Elizabeth married Hon.
Charles Augustus Murray, son of the Earl of Dunmore.
Mary daughter of the late Robert and Mary Jane (Lucas) Reade of
New York, of the same Hyde and Lee blood as Governor Matthew
Griswold, is the wife of Byron Plantagenet Cary, Viscount Falkland
and Baron Cary. Her elder sister, Katharine Livingston, married Sir
George Cumine Strahan, formerly Governor of several British colonies ;
who lately died in England, while waiting to be invested with the Grand
Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, before proceeding
to take the post of Governor of Hong Kong.
Alice Starr Chipman, the wife of Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley, C.B.,
K.C.M.G., late Minister of Finance, Canada, is of the same DeWolf
descent as Governor Matthew Griswold. The present Countess of ErroU,
Lady-in- Waiting to Her Majesty Queen Victoria, is also of the same
DeWolf descent.
Mrs. Ursula (Wolcott) Griswold's great great granddaughter Eleanora
Lorillard, daughter of Lorillard Spencer and of her great granddaughter
Sarah Griswold, married Prince Virginio Cenci of Vicovaro, etc.. Cham-
berlain to the reigning King of Italy. Princess Cenci is now one of the
Ladies of Honor to the Italian Queen.
It may be noted as somewhat remarkable that, though not in the
blood of Governor and Mrs. Griswold, yet in their immediate family-
connection there had been another group of Judges. Governor Matthew
Griswold's uncle Rev. George Griswold had married Hannah Lynde, who
was a granddaughter of Judge Simon Lynde, a daughter of Judge Nathaniel
Lynde, a sister of Judge Samuel Lynde, a niece of Chief Justice Benjamin
erfstooltr
Lynde Sen., and first cousin of Chief Justice Benjamin Lynde Jun.
Governor Matthew Griswold's brother Thomas married Susannah Lynde,
niece of Hannah, who was one generation farther removed.
By a singular coincidence, Sarah Johnson, the wife of John the eldest
son of Governor Matthew and Mrs. Ursula (Wolcott) Griswold, being of
Ogden blood, through her paternal grandmother Sarah (Ogden) Johnson,
was related to all the high Judges, Governors, Generals, etc., who have
made the Ogden name one of the most distinguished in this country.
It is also remarkable that Judge M'^Curdy (II. 31), being of Wolcott,
Griswold, Lynde and Ogden descent, could be counted among Judges of
Lynde and Ogden, as well as of Wolcott-Griswold, lineage.
The children of Governor Matthew and Ursula (Wolcott) Griswold
were :
iio-ii I. JOHN 6 (see below).
112 2. Matthew,^ born April 17, 1760; graduated at Yale College in
1 780 ; who married, September 4, 1 788, Lydia daughter of Deacon Seth
Ely of Lyme; and, having settled in Lyme, died there, June 10, 1842,
J-. /. A letter from his father to him while in college, now lying before
us, is too characteristic of the times to be left out of this record :
"Lyme, Nov. 8''', 1779.
" Dear Son,
"Thro' Divine Goodness wee are all in usual health — I have herewith Sent
You a Thirty Dollar bill to purchase a Ticket in the Continental Lottery in the Third
Class : / suppose they are to be had in New Haven of Deacon Austin ; I wish you good
Success with it. If they are not to he had in New Haven., you will Enquire and purchase one
Elsewhere. — If there be no Chance to purchase one, lay up your Money, and keep it
safe. — I hope you will pursue your Studies witli Dilligence and Industry— But above
all keep Holy the Sabbath Day, and pay all Possible Regard to Religion : a vertuous Life
is the only Foundation upon which you can Depend to be Comfortable here and Happy in the
Coming World — the Joy of your Friends and a Blessing to the world.
" From your affectionate Father
Matth" Griswold."
" Matth'" Griswold Jun'."
<2S^tf!SUl0ltr
He learnt the science and practice of law from his father ; became, in
time, Chief Judge of the County Court of New London; and some of
the men of later times most eminent in the legal profession studied law
under his direction, together with that of his more distinguished brother
Roger, including Judge James Gould, afterwards at the head of the famous
law-school of Litchfield, Conn., Chief Justice Henry Matson Waite and
Judge Hungerford.
He met all his duties with dignity and ability, and passed a serene life,
apparently undisturbed by ambition. He and his wife had the kindest of
natures, and their hospitable house, built on the site of his grandfather's,
was the resort of relatives from far and near, many of whom still remem-
ber his stately form, the beauty of his regular features, their calm and
sweet expression and the cordial courtesy of his manners.
113 3. Roger,^ born May 21, 1762; graduated at Yale College in 1780,
in the same class with his brother Matthew. His inherited nature, the
example of his father, the atmosphere with which he was surrounded, and,
above all, the inspiration of his high-minded mother's words, united to
form his Hfe, and develop the noble and brilliant man that he became. A
few words of tradition bring down to us a suggestion of his veneration for
his mother. The late Chief Justice Henry Matson Waite said that he had
often heard Governor Roger Griswold say that it was the delight of his
boyhood to hear his mother and General Parsons talk of the memorable
events in which they had taken part, and the eminent persons with whom
they had been familiar. No wonder that the son's young heart was stirred
with noble impulses, which it became the purpose of his life to fulfill !
He studied law with his father; and was admitted to the bar of New
London in i 783.
On the 27"" of October 1788 he married Fanny daughter of Col.
Zabdiel Rogers, a prominent Revolutionary patriot and officer, of Norwich,
Conn., by his first wife, Elizabeth Tracy, whose ancestry, as is well known,
has been carried back, through several English sovereigns, to Egbert the
€i^tf0UlOllV
West Saxon King, and, through the First Count of Flanders, to Charle-
magne. Governor Griswold's affectionate confidence in his wife, as evi-
denced by his letters to her, shows her character better than any words of
ours could do. She survived him, as his widow, for more than fifty years,
fitting for useful and prominent positions her large family of ten children.
She lived to the age of ninety-seven years^ in her husband's house and in
the family of her son Matthew, affectionately ministered to by her children
and grandchildren. Her death occurred Dec. 26, 1863. A sketch of her
regal ancestry is here inserted (see folded sheet opposite).
In 1 794 Governor Griswold was chosen to be a Representative in
Congress, which place he filled for the ten following years. In 1801 he
was appointed Secretary of War by President Adams, but declined the
honor, having previously requested that the nomination might be with-
drawn. He was a Judge of the Superior Court from 1807 to 1809; was
elected by the Legislature Lieut-Governor of Connecticut in 1809, and
continued to hold that office till 181 1, when, by popular vote, he became
Chief Magistrate of the State. He died in the chief magistracy, October
25, 1812. In all positions he proved himself a born "master of men."
Of his early career as an advocate it is related by an eye-witness that on
one occasion, when only twenty-six years old, being called to argue before
the Supreme Court an important case " involving many intricate ques-
tions," in company with another " gentleman of the first rank in his
profession," he did his work so thoroughly well that his associate was
constrained to acknowledge " that, after the very able argument of the
very ingenious young gentleman who had just sat down, any observations
from him could answer no other purpose than to injure his cHent's
cause."'" Avery handsome man, with large flashing black eyes, a com-
manding figure and majestic mien, as described by one still living who
often saw him,"* he seemed even by outward presence born to rule.
"" An Eulogiura ... of His Excellency Roger Griswold. ... By David Daggett. . . .
New Haven, 1812, pp. 9-10.
'"8 Hon. Charles J. M'Curdy.
tOifc of ®>ot). Roger ©riswolb
5 '■ Hyde Genealogy" (one vol. in two)
r29; ii. 1160-64, "75-78
3 Ethelwulf
m. OsBURGA daii. oj
lucester 1368 and 1369
4 Edward "the Eldei
m. Edgina dau. of
.J
r
Edmund
vy Council of Henry vi. 1431
ra. Elfgiva (" the ^°"^ °^ ^^^ Manor of Coughton, co. Warwick
6 Edgar "THE PEACE/t''*50
m. Elfreda dau. o
7 ETHELRED ii. "THE ■
m. Elfleda dau. o!
Princess GodA (you'"' ^"^^ °"^ °f ''"^ •'■"s' 10 embrace the Reformation
m. Drf.ux Count (
as Count of Ve;
9 Rudolf de Mantes,,
m. Gethe, who hepspe^re s "Justice Shallow." desc. from Hugh
I led Alice dau. of Robert ii. King of France.
I • Barbara Lucy was descended from the Emperor
10 Harold de Mantes'" °'"' '"'ANdRRs. she was descended from Alfred
m. Matilda, dau.
11 John de Sudelv
m. Grace, dau. an(
12 Sir William Tracy' Wethers6eld, Conn.; removed to Saybrook, Conn.
13 Sir Oliver Tr.i
14 William Tracy of '
m. Hawis de Bor
I
1 '
15 Henry Tracy of T.
16 Rev. Henry Tracy
;-~ 1
17 Sir William Trac
18 William Tracy of
Sheriff of GIouc(
Cftfstoolir
West Saxon King, and, through the First Count of Flanders, to Charle-
magne. Governor Griswold's affectionate confidence in his wife, as evi-
denced by his letters to her, shows her character better than any words of
ours could do. She survived him, as his widow, for more than fifty years,
fitting for useful and prominent positions her large family of ten children.
She lived to the age of ninety-seven years,- in her husband's house and in
the family of her son Matthew, affectionately ministered to by her children
and grandchildren. Her death occurred Dec. 26, 1863. A sketch of her
regal ancestry is here inserted (see folded sheet opposite).
In 1794 Governor Griswold was chosen to be a Representative in
Congress, which place he filled for the ten following years. In 1801 he
was appointed Secretary of War by President Adams, but declined the
honor, having previously requested that the nomination might be with-
drawn. He was a Judge of the Superior Court from 1807 to 1809; was
elected by the Legislature Lieut.-Governor of Connecticut in 1809, and
continued to hold that office till 181 1, when, by popular vote, he became
Chief Magistrate of the State. He died in the chief magistracy, October
25, 1812. In all positions he proved himself a born "master of men."
Of his early career as an advocate it is related by an eye-witness that on
one occasion, when only twenty-six years old, being called to argue before
the Supreme Court an important case "involving many intricate ques-
tions," in company with another " gentleman of the first rank in his
profession," he did his work so thoroughly well that his associate was
constrained to acknowledge " that, after the very able argument of the
very ingenious young gentleman who had just sat down, any observations
from him could answer no other purpose than to injure his client's
cause.""" Avery handsome man, with large flashing black eyes, a com-
manding figure and majestic mien, as described by one still living who
often saw him,'* he seemed even by outward presence born to rule.
"" An Eulogium ... of His Excellency Roger Griswold. ... By David Daggett. . . .
New Haven, 1812, pp. 9-10.
■«' Hon. Charles J, M=Curdy.
OsBi'RGA dau. of OsLAC an Englisl
Bescrnt of iFannj? JSioQtvu
tDifc of iS>oti. ISogcr ®rieiDolb
From Walworth's " Hyde Genealogy" (one v
Tracy nf Toddingion (son a
riffofGloncestcr 1368 and 1369
, M. P. ; Sheriff of I
33 William Tracy of Toddington (son and h.) ; Sheriff of Gloi
I Tracy of Toddington (eldej
L John Pauncefort by Ma
; GODA (yonngest dau.
f Vexin, 956, and is sai
Drecx Count of Vexin. great grandson of Waleran who succ. Hugh ihe Great,
II John de StniELY
ID. Grace, dau. and
of Henry de Tracy. Lord of Barnst
( Toddingion, CO. Gloucester, one of 1
m and h.i, who possessed the estate at
on, who ,.as i„ arms against Kiag Jol
> assassinated Thomas i Becket
Henry Tract of Toddington (son and h
Rkv. HESicv TftACY of Toddington (elde:
Sir Willia m Tjacy .,f Toddington (sor
W11.JJAM Tracy of Toddington. elected
Sir William Tracy of Toddington (eldest s
lemp. Henry viii.
m. Margaret dan. of Sir Thomas Tkroi
Richard Tracy of Stanway (second son); Sheriff of G
m. Barbarv, dau. of Thomas Lucy of Charlecoie. co. Warwick
grandson of Baldwin v. Count of Fland:
"Th^hi;^;a„?;;.eSj™™:.ir;v
Charlemagne; and ihrough lier ancesire;
THE Great and o.har Saxon Kings of E
1 '
Nathaniel Tracv of Tcivksbury (second s.
;j—
Lieut. Thomas Tracv. b. at Tei.ksbury circ.
removed 10 Nonvich, Conn., 1660; d. i6i
do„ or KoWARO MASON ,.S.
Capt. John Tracv
m. Maev dau, of JosiAH WiNSLOW. niece (
H
John Tracv
m. Elizabeth Lepp.ngwell
J
[
Dea . Isaac Tracv
m LUABErn
^ m"cA™. Iarmel Rogers
H^_
m. Gov. Roger Griswold
>Weihersfield,Coi
: Shallow." desc. from Hu.
Robert ii. King of Frani
; was descended from Aifr
'cd toSaybrook.Con
. Edward Winsiow
jniJi iK'KH?- nsW aril ,T3iaao3 I
•loM yoaJ .m
,. „^-iuwjaHTa e
iiana nj! jAJiO 1i» .itab IfSauaaO .m
■'SJaAao/^'J am •• jiAoaa »
"vaAaanU SHT" .ii asjiJ3HT3 T
j^ioiii ,; K8oa.iJiA3 )b .oi^ AOiiJija .en
;ijii -... IV,,.-.. . .....■-;. j,.!,ia .mx-aV Id TVxlfa^xuajia .m
oiiilanovaQ ni aldisfenisfl lo hioJ ,viAaT aa y!im.hH lo ^••av
S3f*ja £ ssmorfT t9l«niz«fiaai! oriw ajrisinX srfj fe ano .i«:«95uol0 loo InbJsrt^fibof lo ..tWJI .ydajiT mauj
jiij b93?9azoq odv/ ,(.rf bnr. noa )e9bl9) Y.
giST aio\ s"iH JgniEgE amiE oi zew ••'ti-it .noJsnibboT 1<i
0*.Ei -Diio .b ,(.ri biiB nfw) no!anibboJ,)p VDAiil
I
• '-1
SEi bnr. ?lEt i-iiaaouolO >ci «tiixin^ srfj to 8no as Jns..
^tifiiiuoltr
The National Hall of Representatives was the chief field of his influ-
ence. Here, during part of President Washington's administration, the
whole of that of President Adams, and especially during a part of the
administration of President Jefferson, when he was in the opposition, he
stood forth as the fearless yet always courteous, the uncompromising
though cautious, champion of the political principles of the school of
Washington. Though commanding, he was never arbitrary. His opinions
were always respectfully heeded, even by his opponents, however they
might argue against them in frank debate, or seek for vulnerable points at
which to assail him secretly, or endeavor to pierce his armor with shafts of
raillery, as did John Randolph of Roanoke, his frequent antagonist in the
discussion of important questions. Most of the great public questions of
his time have either passed out of the minds of the present generation, or
assumed new aspects through the onward rush of events — " tempora
mutantur, nos et mutamur cum illis " — so that a detailed review of the
political life of Roger Griswold, except in an elaborate biography, might
be out of place. But justice requires that this family-memorial should
recognize his profound loyalty to principle, his supreme and unswerving
regard to what he thought to be right, irrespective of considerations of
expediency, which caused it to be said of him : " There is no duty he will
not be found adequate to, nor any one from which he will shrink,"'^" and
which " extorted even from his political adversaries an affection for his
worth, a reverence for his pre-eminent talents." "" The secret of his power
lay, as has been said, in the "wonderful promptness" of his mind, which
"penetrated every subject presented to it," and "saw it clearly and in all
its connections. What others gained by study and reflection he attained
by intuition. Having no obliquity of intention, he went directly to his
object."'" No one can read the Journal of Congress during his member-
'" Letter of Chauncey Goodrich to Oliver Wolcolt Sen., dated Mar. 26,
Administrations of Washington and John Adarns. ... By George Gibbs.
i. 324.
"° Daggett's Eulogium, ut supra, p. 12.
"' Id., ibid.
1 Memoirs of the
New York, 1S46,
d^rfstDoltr
ship in the House without noticing how invariably he viewed every subject
brought up as it was affected by the fundamental law of the land, the
Constitution, and by constitutional interpretations.
As expressive of the trust reposed in him by others of the eminent
patriots of his day, a fact not generally known, perhaps, may be here
recorded — that some of the leading Federalists who met, after his death,
in the famous Hartford Convention, had had their attention turned to him
for President in the possible contingency of a separation of the New
England States from the rest of the Union. This fact was communicated
to us by the late Mr. Frederick H. Wolcott of Astoria, L. I., as he heard
it from his father, a brother of Governor Oliver Wolcott, who often spoke
of Governor Griswold, says his son, " in terms of affection, and profound
respect for his eminent qualities," though he was not in sympathy with the
political opinions of the Old Federalist leaders.
Here it is proper to speak of the personal violence committed on
Mr. Griswold by Matthew Lyon in 1798, and Mr. Griswold's resentment
of it. We relate the occurrence in the words of a son of a fellow Congress-
man and political as well as personal friend of Mr. Griswold, the late
Josiah Quincy of Massachusetts :
"In 1797 he [Lyon] went to Congress, where he inaugurated, in Jan. 1798, the
series of acts of personal insult and violence which have disgraced Congress, from
time to time, from that day to this, by spitting in the face of Mr. Griswold of Con-
necticut, on some occasion of offense he took at him. The House refusing to expel
him by a strict party vote, Mr. Griswold took justice into his own hands, and caned
him in his seat a few days afterwards, for which singular process he too went scot-
free, also by a party vote, neither the Administration nor the Opposition commanding
the two-thirds requisite for the expulsion of a member." ""
The motives which actuated Mr. Griswold in the course he took in
this affair will be best understood from a private letter to his wife, dated
Philadelphia, February 28, 1 798, in which he says :
'" Life of Josiah Quincy ... By his son Edmund Quincy. Boston, 1868, p. 327.
©^rfstuom
"After the decision of the house which retained the wretch in his seat, I found
but two courses which (in my opinion) I cou'd possibly take— either to address a
letter to the House, and in severe language criminate the conduct of the minority in
the House, and resign my seat, or to pursue the course which I have taken — chastise
the rascal in his seat, and by that act chastise both him and the party, and in defiance
of them all let them know that I knew how to avenge my own wrongs, and that I
was not to be driven from my seat by any villainy of theirs. To the first of these
measures there were very great objections — I did not feel willing to return into
Connecticut, after the insult I had received in so public a manner, without taking
satisfaction . . . in addition to which circumstance the idea of being driven from
the House by a minority, when a majority were giving me every support in their
power, and were prepared to vindicate every step which I should take, seemed to
carry along with it a certain meanness of spirit and want of resolution which was
wholly inadmissible ; the other course, although attended with difficulties, was in my
opinion much to be preferred ; it look'd like going forward, conscious of the injury
which I had received, and at the same time with a determination to punish it, in
defiance of faction, and a resolution to maintain my situation without fearing the
efforts of villains to discourage me. The events have completely justified the meas-
ure, and, although my enemies may condemn the harshness of the remedy, yet my
friends will approve of it : the newspaper squibs which have and will appear on the
occasion are of no consequence— they may tell lies as usual, but they cannot take off
the beating."
The same views are expressed in a letter to his father, dated March
19, 1798, as follows :
" I have no idea of committing any further violence myself; the violence which
I committed by chastising the Vermonter had become absolutely necessary — I was
reduced to the necessity either of leaving Congress with disgrace to myself, and, in
addition thereto, to leave a stigma on the State which wou'd be constantly thrown at
our Representatives, or to wipe off the stigma by inflicting a public chastisement. I
chose the latter, as I believe every man A\ho possess'd any spirit wou'd have done ;
and, although I regret the occasion, yet I believe I shall never lament the measure."
This is the inner history of the much talked of "affair" between
Roger Griswold and Matthew Lyon.
Cfffstoolti
It will be seen that Mr. Griswold's course was not prompted by any
spirit of private revenge ; he shrank from the act of personal violence,
and only resorted to it in behalf of others, because no other redress could
be obtained. In accordance with the spirit of the times, " honor must be
maintained." If he had been a Southerner, he would have promptly chal-
lenged Lyon to a duel ; being a Northerner, accustomed to self-control,
and attaching a high value to human life, he did but stand on the defensive
in a manly use of nature's weapons. The power of the old Griswold
champion, his ancestor, came over him ; the sense of right and an indignant
revolt against the gross injury he had received added strength to his tall,
athletic form ; and in the presence of the Congress before which he had
been insulted he vindicated his cause, and silenced his opponent.
"Asa judge," to quote again the words of another, "that sincerity, that incor-
ruptible integrity, which adorned his life, eminently appeared. His very respectable
associates on the judgment-seat, and the suitors and advocates who witnessed his
deportment, will testify that all the vehemence and ardour of the advocate were left
at the bar, and that candour, patience and deliberation governed his conduct. His
discernment and virtue were a protection to the innocent ; the oppressor and the
fraudulent, like the wicked, were scattered with his eye.'""
During the brief time he occupied the gubernatorial chair, though
already suffering from mortal illness, he was unsparing of himself in his
devotion to the interests of his native State, amid unusual perplexities
arising from national events, as well as from the settlement of delicate
questions which they called for, concerning the relations of State to
National authority.
He was a dutiful son, an affectionate husband and father. He was of
a social nature ; warm in his friendships, gracious of deportment in the
general intercourse of society, sympathetic towards all objects of public
utility, and a benefactor of the needy.
"^ Daggett's Eulogium, ut supra, pp. 13-14.
<«fi^rf!Sti)om
The following extracts from his speeches are given as specimens of
his style of argument and modes of expression in public debate. They
are from speeches delivered by him as Member of Congress in 1802 and
1803, on a call for papers relative to the Louisiana Treaty, on a proposed
amendment to the Constitution respecting the election of President, and
on the constitutional right of Congress to unseat Judges by repealing the
law regulating their appointment.
Discussing the first of these subjects, he said :
" I am one of those who do now believe, and always have believed, that the
exclusive right of forming treaties resides in the President and Senate ; and that,
when ratified, it is the duty of every department of the Government to carry them
into effect. This treaty, then, if fairly and constitutionally made, is a law of the land,
and we are bound to execute it. But it is necessary to know its nature and effects, to
carry it into execution. If it is a mere dead letter, there is no necessity for any laws
whatever. ... In my judgment the treaty is uncertain. ... If we have
acquired the country and people, it is certainly proper to pass laws for the preserva-
tion of order and tranquillity ; but if we have acquired neither, whence the necessity
of passing such laws? It would be improper; it would be usurpation. We contend
that the treaty does not ascertain these points ; gentlemen differ from us in opinion.
But I beg them calmly and seriously to attend to its language. By the first article it
appears that Spain promised to cede Louisiana to France on certain stipulations.
She promises to cede. Gentlemen cannot mistake the import of the language ; it is a
promise, not a cession. Will it be said that France acquired any title by this
promise? . . . The terms of the treaty are, ' Whereas, in pursuance of the treaty
[of Ildefonso], and particularly of the third article, the French Republic has an
incontestible title,' &c. Will gentlemen say that this assertion on the part of France
gives her a title? It gives her no title. An assertion by France cannot affect
Spain. . . ."
And again :
" By this article it is declared : ' That the inhabitants of the ceded territory shall
be incorporated into the Union of the United States, and admitted as soon as possible,
according to the principles of the Constitution, to the enjoyment of all the rights,
advantages and immunities of citizens.' It is, perhaps, somewhat dilTicult to ascer-
CJtfStDOl^
tain the precise effect which it was intended to give the words which have been used
in this stipulation. It is, however, clear that it was intended to incorporate the
inhabitants of the ceded territory into the Union, by the treaty itself, or to pledge the
faith of the nation that such an incorporation should take place within a reasonable
time. It is proper, therefore, to consider the question with a reference to both con-
structions.
" It is, in my opinion, scarcely possible for any gentleman on this floor to
advance an opinion that the President and Senate may add to the members of the
Union by treaty whenever they please. . . . Such a power would be directly
repugnant to the original compact between the States, and a violation of the prin-
ciples on which that compact was formed. It has been already well observed that
the union of the States was formed on the principle of a copartnership, and it would
be absurd to suppose that the agents of the parties who have been appointed to exe-
cute the business of the compact, in behalf of the principals, could admit a new
partner without the consent of the parties themselves. And yet, if the first construc-
tion is assumed, such must be the case under this Constitution, and the President and
Senate may admit, at will, any foreign nation into this copartnership, without the
consent of the States. . . .
" The government of the United States was not formed for the purpose of distrib-
uting its principles and advantages to foreign nations. It was formed with the sole
view of securing those blessings to ourselves and our posterity. It follows from
these principles that no power can reside in any public functionary to contract any
engagement, or to pursue any measure, which shall change the union of the States.
. . . The President, with the advice of the Senate, has undoubtedly the right to
form treaties, but in exercising these powers he cannot barter away the Constitution,
or the rights of particular States. . . . The government having been formed by a
union of States, it is supposable that the fear of an undue or preponderating influ-
ence, in certain parts of this Union, must have great weight in the minds of those
who might apprehend that such an influence might ultimately injure the interests of
the States to which they belonged ; and, although they might consent to become par-
ties to the Union, as it was then formed, it is highly probable they would never have
consented to such a connection, if a new world was to be thrown into the scale, to
weigh down the influence which they might otherwise possess in the national
councils. . . .'""
"■■ Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States. . . . Eighth Congress. . . .
1803-04. Washington, 1852, pp. 404, 461-62.
(S^tfsUioltr
In the debate on the proposed amendment to the Constitution, mainly
to the end that only one person should be voted for as President, instead
of two, by the Electors of each State — which was adopted, and has been
ever since in force — he said :
" There is another view of this subject which furnishes to my mind a conclusive
argument against the proposed amendment. In all governments which have hitherto
existed, in which the elective principle has extended to the Executive Magistrate, it
has been impossible, for any length of time, to guard against corruption in the elec-
tions. The danger is not an imaginary one in this country. The office of President
is at this time the great object of ambition, and, as the wealth and population of this
country increase, the powers of patronage of the President must necessarily be
extended. We cannot expect to escape the fate of other republics. Candidates for
the office of President will arise who, under the assumed garb of patriotism
and disinterested benevolence, will disguise the most unprincipled ambition.
Corruption will be practiced by such candidates whenever it can be done with
" It is therefore an object of the first importance to regulate the election in such
a manner as to remove, as far as possible, both the temptation and the means of cor-
ruption. If gentlemen will attend to the proposed amendment with reference to this
point, they will find that the means and the temptation to corruption must be
increased. As the Constitution now stands, the man who aspires to the office of
President can at best but run the race on equal terms with some individual of his
own party. In order to succeed he must not only obtain for himself and his associate
a greater number of votes than his own political opponents, but he must obtain more
votes than the associate himself. The chances of success are by those means rendered
more remote, and, however desirable the office may be, the temptations to enter the
list, or to make individual exertions, are diminished. The means of corruption must
generally be found in the offices at the disposal of the President ; and these, it is
well known, constitute a fund of great extent ; and, when the election is brought to
such a point as to rest with two candidates only, this fund may be used with great
success. . . . But so long as your elections remain on this present footing, the
means of corruption are diminished, because the aspiring candidate can only promise
this corrupt distribution of offices upon eventually succeeding to the Presidency ;
and, as his chances of success are diminished by the mode of election, his promises
are of less value to the Elector, and of course will be less frequently made and more
generally rejected. . . .
®^tf»ttiom
" But there is one important lesson which the experience of that election [the
election of Jefferson by the House of Representatives] has taught the people of the
United States — it is this, that it becomes the great and solemn duty of Electors, upon
all occasions, to give their votes for two men who shall be best qualified for the office
of President. The Electors do not — they cannot — know which of their own candi-
dates will succeed. They are therefore called upon by every sacred principle to
select the most eminent of their fellow-citizens. They will be stimulated, on all
future occasions, by the experience of the last election, to do, what I trust they have
heretofore done — to give their votes for two men in either of whom they are willing
to confide the Executive power of the Government. What then can induce us to
change the form of our elections ? Some gentlemen have said a great deal about the
voice of the people, and declared that the people demand the alteration. This is a
language too frequently used within these walls. The purposes for which it is used
I leave to others to explain ; but it must be perfectly understood that the clamors of
designing men are too often mistaken for the voice of the people. The people are
rarely disposed to seek for changes, whilst they feel and enjoy the blessings of their
old establishments. Be this as it may, we have been sent into this House to obey no
voice but that of our own consciences and judgments. . . ." '"'
One sees in all these speeches the qualities of his mind and character.
But the most clear, terse, compact, conclusive and exhaustive of all his
arguments was, probably, that which he delivered in 1802, on the question
whether Congress has the power to remove Judges, during good behavior,
by abolishing their offices — a question which arose in the first session under
Jefferson's presidency, with reference to appointments made at the very
close of the administration of his predecessor. This argument has been
considered one of the very ablest ever made in Congress ; yet its power so
much depends upon its completeness that full justice cannot be done to it
by extracting single passages. We venture, however, to quote the
following :
" There is another strange position which has been advocated upon this occasion,
and which deserves some attention because it has been often repeated. It is that,
although you cannot remove the judge from the office, you may remove the office
'" Debates and Proceedings in the Congress, ut supra, pp. 749-52.
etffiitDOllIf
from the judge. To this extraordinary assertion I answer that the words of the
Constitution admit of no such construction. The expression being that the judge
shall hold his office during good behaviour, necessarily implies and secures a union
of the office and the officer, so long as the officer shall behave well; and a removal
of the office from the judge destroys as effectually this union as the removal of the
judge from the office could do. . . . If constructions of this kind can be admitted,
there is not a crime which was ever perpetrated by man which cannot be justified.
Sir, upon this principle, although you may not kill by thrusting a dagger into the
breast of your neighbor, yet you may compel your neighbor to kill himself by
forcing him upon the dagger; you shall not murder by destroying the life of a man,
but you may confine your enemy in prison, and leave him without food to starve and
to die. These may be good distinctions in the new system of philosophy, but they
can never be admitted in the old school. . . .
" The power given to the courts to pronounce on the constitutionality of laws
would be entirely defeated in those times when the exercise of that power becomes
most necessary, if the judges are not placed beyond the power of the Legislature.
The idea of giving this power to the courts, and at the same time of leaving the
courts at the mercy of that department over which the power is to be exercised, is
rather too absurd for gentlemen even in these days of extravagance ; and gentlemen
aware of this have had the confidence to deny that this power resides in the
courts. . . .
" Sir, if there is no power to check the usurpations of the Legislature, the inev-
itable consequence must be that the Congress of the United States becomes truly
omnipotent. All power must be concentrated here, before which every department
and all State-authorities must fall prostrate. Admit this principle and nothing can
resist the attacks of your national laws upon our State-sovereignties. Here is an end
of your Federal government. A consolidation of the States is the immediate effect,
and in a few short years these sovereignties will not even obtain the name. . . .
" I should now close the observations which I had to submit to the Committee
upon this interesting question, had not the gentlemen on the other side of the House
thought proper to involve in this debate a discussion of several topics not necessarily
connected with the subject . . . and, although I cannot see their application, yet
I am not disposed to set up my discernment as the standard of infallibility, and shall
therefore now pay due respect to the path which these gentlemen have marked
out. . . .
" The gentleman begins his remarks by saying that two parties have existed in
this country from the commencement of the present Government : the one what the
^tinijuoHf
gentleman has been pleased to denominate a party of energy, and the other a party
of responsibility ; the first, disposed to go forward with the affairs of the Government
with energy, as they deemed right and expedient, and the other only in submission to
the public will. Sir, it can be no news to the members of this Committee that two
parties exist in this country, nor can gentlemen be ignorant that two parties did exist
in the nation at the adoption of the Constitution ; the one consisting of its friends,
and the other composed of its enemies ; nor is it necessary for me to say how the
present have grown out of these original parties. It is sufficient for my present pur-
pose to say that the parties alluded to by the gentleman from Virginia are character-
ized by prominent features, and cannot easily be mistaken. . . . One great feature
which has characterized those whom the gentleman has been pleased to denominate
the party of energy, has been their strong attachment to the present Constitution ;
and a determination not only to leave each department to the exercise of its proper
functions, but to support them in it. Their opponents, to say nothing of their attach-
ment to the Constitution, have on the contrary been disposed to bring all the powers
of the Government into the House of Representatives, and in that way to strip the
other branches of their constitutional authority. . . .
"Again, this party of energy was disposed to establish and support public credit,
in which their opponents did not agree. This party of energy was likewise deter-
mined to defend their country against the hostile attacks of the enemy, and to support
the interests, the safety and honor of the nation ; their opponents, on the contrary,
were disposed to prostrate everything that was dear to the will of the enemy. One
party was disposed to build up and support, while the others were, and still are,
determined to pull down and destroy. . . .
" The public debt has been spoken of, and it has been charged as a crime that
these solemn engagements, which were the price of our independence, and for the
discharge of which the national faith was pledged, have been provided for by the
old Administration. Sir, are we to understand that this crime is to be ultimately
atoned for by wiping out the debt with a sponge? . . .
"The Indian war has also been alluded to in very extraordinary language, as an
event which was greedily seized to enlarge the field of Executive patronage. Sir,
the gentleman cannot intend to insinuate that the Indian war was excited by the
Administration ; the causes which produced that war are too publicly known to be
forgotten or misunderstood. And has it indeed, at this time, become criminal for
the Government to defend the inhabitants of our frontier from the attacks of the
savages ?
" The gentleman has likewise told us that the depredations upon our commerce,
<S^tfstt}olTr
by the Barbary Powers and by the French cruisers, were made a pretext for com-
mencing a Naval Establishment, and in this way of extending this bugbear of Exec-
utive patronage. Sir, this remark gives me no surprise. I know perfectly well that
there is a party in this country who are opposed to our commerce and to our navy.
I shall long recollect the depredations which were made upon our commerce by the
French, and the difficulty with which gentlemen were persuaded to repel those depre-
dations. I cannot forget that, before they would consent to our first measure of
defence, the cruisers of France were capturing your ships within the Delaware Bay.
It is certainly true that the old Administration was neither the enemy of commerce
nor of the navy ; and it is as certainly true that they were equally disposed to defend
your citizens against Algerine slavery and the depredatious of France. And to mer-
chants and seamen of this country, and the community at large, I am willing to refer
the question whether it was proper to surrender our commerce to the enemy, and
give up our seamen to slavery, or defend both by an adequate Naval Establish-
ment. . . ." '"
The representatives of some of Governor Griswold's confidential
correspondents have been applied to for letters of his which might enrich
this record, but time and the indifference of younger generations have
rendered the application fruitless. Only one letter of this sort has been
found, which is among the family-papers at Blackball. Nor have many
important letters addressed to him been handed down in the family.
The one confidential letter of Governor Griswold here referred to was
addressed to Judge Elias Perkins of New London, Conn. It is highly
worthy of preservation, both for its subject and its tone. As will be seen,
it was called forth by the failure of the negotiations of the special envoys
to France — Pinckney, Marshall and Gerry — in the time of the French
Directory, under Talleyrand as Minister of Foreign Affairs, in 1797-98,
respecting depredations on American commerce committed in pursuance
of the war then going on between France and Great Britain."' The letter
is as follows :
"* Debates and Proceedings of the Congress. . . . Seventh Congress. . . . 1801-02. Wash-
ington, 1851, pp. 779, 783, 791-93.
'" History of the United States of America. By Richard Hildreth, New York, 1855, ii. 95 S.; and
Gibbs's Admin, of Washington and Adams, ut supra, i. 558 flf., and ii. 2 S.
CS^tf!$tOOl9
"Philadelphia, June 20th, 1798."
" Dear Sir,
"I have the pleasure to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 12th
instant.
" The impressions which the reading of the dispatches from our Envoys have
made on your mind, are such as every man must feel who is alive to the honour and
interests of this Country ; the only apology which I can form for the feeble display
of spirit, which appears in their note to the minister of foreign relations, arises from
the c d situation into which they were thrown. Without knowing the real temper
of this Country, Marshall and Pinckney were connected with a New-Englander who
was supposed to represent the feelings and wishes of the New-England States : to
disagree with such a man, placed in so important a situation, and representing at best
a divided people, appeared like rushing on destruction : if by such a step they shou'd
lose the confidence of the Northern States, the Country must have been lost. From
this consideration only can I account for their subscribing to expressions which must
have put their pride and sentiments on the rack : the thing certainly admits of pallia-
tion, but after all I can hardly excuse these Gentlemen, as highly as I respect them,
for the manner in which they consented to discuss the question of a Loan. But the
business has gone past, and the mission is at an end, and we may rejoice that it has
terminated so well. Marshall is here, and a description of what he and Pinckney
have suffered. . . ."* is sufficient to render even their faults virtues.
" Your sentiments respecting the want of decision and spirit in this government
correspond with my own : if Heaven did not take better care of us than we take of
ourselves, we shou'd sink never to rise again.
"The history of the world, in every page, demonstrates that no nation ever
gained anything by forbearance or timidity — a bold, decided and manly administra-
tion allways has and allways will be crowned with success; even war itself, which the
feeble-minded so greatly dread, can only be avoided by boldness ; indecision and
pusillanimity only invite aggression, and the neck that submits will allways decorate
the gibbet. These truths have been exemplified in the progress of our disputes with
France. Mr. Marshall now declares, what a great many preached two years ago,
that, if this government had acted with spirit and decision one year ago, there wou'd
have been no difficulty in bringing the late negotiation to a fortunate issue. But
what cou'd be expected for a people who were kneeling at the footstool of French
"' The imputations cast upon Gerr)-, in connection with this celebrated mission, have been fully set
aside by a plain statement of facts, with documentary proofs, in the Life of Elbridge Gerry. ... By
James T. Austin. Boston, 1829, ii. 190-295.
^tfstooltr
despotism ? Justice has but little to do in the adjustment of disputes between nations,
and, so long as America appeared willing to put on the chains of servitude, the Gallic
Tyrants were willing to supply them. Wou'd to God that our experience even at
this time taught us wisdom ; but an unaccountable spirit of timidity and weakness
still prevails among a certain class of persons who are strongly attached to the Gov-
ernment ; this conduct is gradually undermining the main pillar of our existence —
it is sapping the foundation of that confidence on which alone our nation can rest ;
the truth really is that no one measure has been adopted by the Legislature for the
national defence which has not been forced upon it by the pressure of public opinion ;
and the Government, consisting of all its departments, which ought by its united
energy to give a tone to the public mind, and point out the path of honour and Inde-
pendence, has been driven like chaff before a torrent of public spirit which cou'd not
be entirely resisted.
"I hope the return of Mr. Marshall will bring along with it new spirit and
energy ; and those honest men who have heretofore sought for peace with meekness
and humility, will at last learn that it is only to be found in firmness, energy and
honour.
" Mr. Marshall declares that, in his opinion, the French have taken their ground
in respect to this Country, from which they will not, without a new revolution in
Paris, recede — that we are to expect nothing but War or Tribute, that we have our
choice of these alternatives ; and I trust that the choice has been long since made in
the breast of every American.
" I remain, with esteem,
Your friend and very Humble Serv'
R. Griswold."
Of letters addressed to Governor Griswold, preserved in the family,
the following are all which it seems worth while to use for this memorial :
"New London, January i8th, 1800."
"Dear Sir,
" I most sincerely concur with you in your sentiments on the death of Gen''
Washington. The citizens of this town joined last week with the garrison in paying
funeral honors to the memory of the illustrious deceas'"* — the proceedings were indeed
solemn, and calculated to make a strong impression. May the honorable sensibility
excited in this and other places have the effect to allay the envy and malignity nat-
urally arising in narrow minds towards the authors of great and noble actions, and
®^rffiiioom
turn the whole attention on the distinguished merit of the mighty Chief ! Happy
will it be for this Country if his moral and political virtues should be the criterion
by which the American character shall be formed.
" The concourse of people upon this mournful occasion, from this and the neigh-
boring towns, was immense ; an address was delivered by Gen'' Huntington and an
oration by Lyman Law, which do honor to the performers. It must be wisdom in
the friends of order to improve the present sensibility of the nation to our political
advantage. And may the Hero, like Sampson, slay more of his enemies at his death
than in his whole lifetime ! Nations as well as individuals are governed by habit ;
most people are willing to take the general opinion upon trust, if they can be freed
from the trouble of investigating its propriety. Hence the importance of establishing
right modes of thinking as well as acting. Let the principles of Washington be the
rule of faith and practice, and our children be taught that his ways were pleasantness,
and his paths peace.
" Your remark that the exertions of the Jacobins, this Election, would be power-
ful and violent, begins to be verified. We have had a specimen of it here within a
few days. Our mechanics received a communication through Holt the Printer from
the same body at New Haven. The ostensible object was to form mechanic societies
through the State, and to have a general meeting at New Haven, to consult on meas-
ures for the benefit of the craft. You will readily see that this is no other than a
different name for democratic societies. Few but Demos were invited to the meeting.
By accident it became public, and the more respectable mechanics attended and voted
the business down. . . .
" We have lately had a flood of political wickedness poured in upon us from
Virginia. But I am perfectly confident that Connec' has too much sense and integ-
rity to become the contemptible tool of democratic cunning.
" I am. Sir, your friend &c.
Elias Perkins."
"New London, Jan^ 28"", 1801."
" Dear Sir,
" Since it has been ascertained that no Federal President has been chosen,
there seems to be, so far as my observation has extended, an almost perfect apathy on
the subject of politics. The Democrats seem in a state of apprehension at their own
success. They dread the idea of responsibility. Not having it in their power to
grumble, it has given time for those that can reflect, and, having something to loose
by a convulsion, to view with alarm the dangers that may arise from the ferment
^tffiiiiiom
which they have occasioned. They dare not complain, but are wofully agitated lest
Con'^ Burr should supplant their favorite ; but it is replied by the old school that 73,
according to the most approved rules of arithmetic, is equal to 73 ; and that, accord-
ing to republican principles, there is no way of ascertaining what is right and wrong
but by the votes of the sovereign People.
" The most reflecting part of our State, and, I believe, all that would prefer a
federal President to Mr. Jefferson, expect that the federal States will vote for Mr.
Burr. I am decidedly of that opinion, and, admitting the Candidates to be equal in
point of integrity, I believe that some very good reasons may be offered in favour of
Mr. Burr which will not apply to Mr. Jefferson.
"Mr, Burr is from a State which is under a very powerful commercial influence ;
his connexion and speculations are subject to the same influence. It is, I believe, an
undeniable fact, there is very little Jeffersonian theory and republican fanaticism in
either of the leading parties of the State of New York. It is, I believe, wholly a
contention for power that has induced certain Chiefs to join the opposition. If Mr.
Burr is supported by the federalists, it may be an additional inducement for him to
pursue federal measures, and probably unite the powerful State of New York in the
New England politics. I can not in conscience express any regret that Mr. Adams
is not chosen — it would be an up-hill business to support his administration.
" Whatever course you shall take, it will be presumed that you have acted from
the best motive, and a full and adequate investigation of the subject. This will
doubtless be the sentiment of Connecticut. We shall be anxious to hear the event ;
pray let us know as soon as it is determined. . . .
" I am, dear Sir, your friend and Humble Servant
E. Perkins."
"Philad. 3 Nov. 1801."
" My dear Sir,
"... But what have we to say but to lament the downfall of federalism,
and the triumph of democracy — a triumph more compleat than its most sanguine
partisans dared to hope for. In this State more than I""' of the lower house, and a
great majority of the Senate, are of the Party. Delaware has one of the same stamp
for Governor, and Bloomfield reigns in New Jersey. Our City Elections were car-
ried against us by a very small majority, and by a manoeuvre that we hope will not
again succeed.
"Do you keep stedfast in the faith, or do you, like the Eastern inhabitants of
another region, worship the rising sun ? The line of conduct which the president in
CS^trf^Uiollr
his answer to the Merchants of New Haven professes his intention to pursue, and the
character which he attaches to the Persons turned and to be turned out,'" must, I
should think, make considerable impression on the Public mind, and the Practice
itself will have a most pernicious effect.
" We must wait for the next meeting of Congress, to be made acquainted with
the system intended to be pursued ; a majority of both houses will support the
present Administration, and I cannot suppose that the talents of our federal Gentle-
men, however exerted, can stem the torrent ; so that none of their schemes will be
abandoned from an apprehension of their being rejected. After the next apportion-
ment of the representation, the Eastern States, unless firmly united, must lose their
weight in the ballance. The great increase of population, altho' a subject of great
exultation to many, ought, in my mind, to excite serious apprehensions — a new
Interest will soon predominate, and will not that Interest clash with our own in some
essential points, and be indifferent to many others which we esteem of the greatest
importance ?
" You see that, tho' no longer a public servant, yet, like many other private Men,
the weight of public affairs still lay heavy on my shoulders, and that, not content
with bearing my share of present Evils, I am looking into futurity for an addition to
the burthen. ...
" Sincerely Yours,
Rob. Walsh."
"Norwich, 21 Feb'' 1802."
" My dear Sir,
"... I regret extremely to find the Judiciary system destroyed, fearing
and believing it done with evident marks of contempt for the Government of our
country — this great barrier being removed, there is no restraint to the passions of the
now governing characters in Congress ; and when publick opinion, or rather the
voice of the mob, becomes the law of our country, anarchy and confusion must
follow ; and I believe the supporters of that sentiment will, at some future day, when
too late, mourn in bitterness the hour they promoted it, to the destruction of order.
I have my fears that confusion is fast ripening to the state it was in in France, not
that I expect a Guillotine, but a separation of the Union, a rising of servants against
masters, and Virginia begging aid of the Northern States.
'" Alluding to the removal of Elizur Goodrich from the office of Collector of the Port of New
Haven.
iS^tfstuolir
" By reports of the debates, or rather the rapid passage of every favorite measure
of the Virginia Interest, it appears there is no use in our northern federal members
remaining there — would it not be as well for you all to return home, and leave them
to themselves ? I think it probable some might feel the force of Mr. Morris'' obser-
vation, and want the protecting force of the Judiciary to save them ; it is said here
that your business in the House of Representatives is finished to your hands before
it comes into the house, and without the knowledge of about \ of its members — if
so, f/iai one third can only experience a mortification by being present at the passage
of the business ; if they have fortitude enough to bear it, and to stand ready to
defend their own principles, much is due to them. . . .
" I believe it is well known to you that the French spoliations were more severely
felt by the commercial interest of this town and vicinity, in proportion to our mem-
bers and capital, than almost any town or place that is within my knowledge, except
Alexandria ; a great proportion of our traders have been totally ruined, and others
are great sufferers. We are now preparing a memorial to Congress, praying com-
pensation for the claims we had against the French Government, which for some
purpose have been bartered by our Government, and left us no other hope but in the
justice of the Government. . . . Should justice be refused, I fear ruin will be
attached to many, and bye and bye the commercial interest will be less tenacious of
their sacred regard to the revenue. . . . We hope for the best, but, if driven to a
pointed enmity to the revenue-system, it appears to me they could as effectually ruin
it as the Virginia interest have ruined the Judiciary, not by a majority of only one,
but by a unaninious vote. I feel a pride in the belief that our Connecticut Members
of both Houses know the true interest of their country, and that it has a warm place
in their hearts, which principle, united with their desire of justice, will secure them
to us as advocates in this cause. . . .
" ¥■■ friend and serv'
J. Howland."
" Hon'"'= Roger Griswold Esq."
" Knoxville, Dec. 26", 1803."
" Sir,
" The Exertions you have made to stem the torrent of Democratic Delusion,
and to support the constitution of our country against the insidious attacks of the
Demagogues who now rule, have induced me to address you on a subject which, if
my opinions are correct, every Friend to the Constitution is interested in. I allude
to the late requisition of the militia of this State by the General Government.
^tffittDQllI
Altho' we can not here obtain the Documents relative to this business, yet I believe
no doubt can exist but that they were called on to assist in taking possession of
Louisiana. The requisition has subjected a number of the People of this State to
great inconvenience in hiring substitutes, and a large proportion of those who have
been drafted have been fined for refusing to muster in. I see no Power given to the
General Government by the Constitution to require the services of the Militia on such
occasions, or to march them out of the United States ; and, believing that the measure
was illegal, I was determined not to submit to it, and have been fined 25 Dolls., as
have also a number of the Inhabitants of this County ; tho' I do not regard the sum,
yet, as I am unwilling to support the present Administration further than my Duty
as a citizen requires, I feel an Inclination that this business should be examined into.
If you are of opinion, with me, that the requisition was unconstitutional, I hope you
will endeavour to procure an investigation. If it has no other Effect, it will con-
tribute to open the Eyes of the People of the Western Country, and discover what
reliance can be placed on the hypocritical professions of attachment to the Constitu-
tion which the ruling Party are and have been so much in the Habit of making.
The signatures of a large proportion of the People can easily be obtained to a
remonstrance, if necessary. Trusting you will excuse the Liberty I have taken, I
remain, with sentiments of the Highest Esteem and Respect,
" Your Most Ob' Serv'
Tho : Emmerson."
"Hartford, 25 July, 1812."
" My dear Sir,
" I left home with an intention of visiting the seaboard, pursuant to an
arrangement partially made when I took my leave of you at this place. Not having
learned whether the orders you issued to the Major Gen' on the coast were executed,
hearing nothing from you or our friends who accompanied you, and receiving intel-
ligence that a British fleet had come into our waters, I felt it a duty to visit the region
in and about Lyme at least, for the purpose of ascertaining the condition and the feel-
ings of the good people in that quarter. Just as I was taking my departure, a letter
was received from the Secretary of War, in answer to the despatch I forwarded
immediately on my return from the session of the council. Copies of both are
enclosed. Of the Secretary's letter I shall say nothing — it will speak abundantly for
itself. My letter to him followed very closely the reasoning, and indeed the lan-
guage, of the council. Their result having met your approbation, I did not feel
^tffiittiollr
myself at liberty to depart essentially from it. You will perceive, my dear Sir, the
evident propriety that the reply to the Secretary should, if possible, proceed from
your hand. Aside from this consideration which is in some degree personal, a new
question arises out of the declaration of the President ' that the United States are in
imminent danger of invasion,' and one perhaps which the council did not particularly
consider. Altho' there is no difficulty in resisting this renewed requisition, on the
ground that our second objection remains in full force, still I see not but the question
above mentioned must be met.
" Mr. Dwight has just returned, and informs me you are on your way to Connec-
ticut. I despatch an express, not for the purpose of hastening your journey, which
for the sake of your health I beg you not to do, but to learn your wishes as to the
course to be pursued. Shall the council be convened ? This measure I had resolved
to take by the advice of our friends here, and should have issued letters missive on
Monday, if no intelligence had been received from you.
" Whatever directions you may please to forward shall be scrupulously
obeyed. . . .
" I am, my dear Sir, in haste, but most sincerely and affectionately yours,
J. C. Smith."
" His Excellency Governor Griswold."
The foregoing letter from Lieut. Governor John Cotton Smith is a
valuable missing link in the correspondence between State-authorities and
the General Government, on the subject of Secretary of War Dearborn's
requisition for troops of the militia of Connecticut, to be ordered into the
service of the United States, on the breaking out of the War of 1812.
It does not appear among the letters and other documents, relating to this
subject, published by Dwight in his " History of the Hartford Conven-
tion." But more important and interesting, in the same connection, is the
following draft of a letter written by Governor Griswold, on the 4"^ of
August 18 1 2, to Secretary Dearborn, which, it is believed, has never
appeared in print, and was, perhaps, never sent. Being found among the
family-papers, it is put on record here as an additional tribute to his mem-
ory. The date of the letter is the same as that of the meeting of the
^tfstttoltr
General Assembly of Connecticut, fully referred to by Dwight, in which
Governor Griswold's conduct in this affair was entirely approved.^*
" Hartford, Aug. 4'", 181 2."
" Sir,
" His Honour Gov. Smith lias put into my hands your letter of the 14"' of
Jul)', and it is with surprise I notice the construction you have put on my letter of
the 17"' of June. The unusual and exceptionable terms, also, in which your letter is
expressed, have not escaped notice ; I shall not, however, descend to any comment
upon its particular expressions, but perform my duty to the General Gov'nt in giving
the explanation which appears proper.
" When you communicated the request of the President, that any future requisi-
tion from General Dearborn for a part of the drafted militia might be complied with,
it was uncertain whether such requirement would be made, or, if made, under what
circumstances it might take place. Confident, however, that the President would
authorize no requisition which was not strictly constitutional, and particularly that
the order would not exceed the conditions of the Act of the lo*"" of April to which
you had referred, I felt no hesitation in giving a general assurance that such requisi-
tion as the President might make through General Dearborn would be complied
with. I then thought, as I do still, that decency and a due respect to the first Magis-
trate of the Union required that my assurance should be general, and that no expres-
sion should be used which carried with it a suspicion that the President might
transgress the Constitution in the direction he might give. I also expected that this
early and general assurance would be considered as evidence of a disposition which
has been uniformly felt in this State to execute every constitutional requisition from
the general gov'nt. In whatever light, however, my expressions may have been
viewed, I trust I shall be now understood, when 1 assure you that I did not intend, or
expect to be understood, by the general language of my letter, or any expression it
contained, to engage that I would execute any order which I thought, on considera-
tion, to be repugnant to the Constitution, from whatever authority it might emanate.
The light in which I have viewed the requisition now made through General Dearborn
has been already communicated by Gov. Smith ; and it is only proper to add that my
opinion of its unconstitutionality remains unchanged, and is happily confirmed by
the unanimous opinion of the Council of this State.
" The new light in which you have presented the subject in your letter to Gov.
"" History of the Hartford Convention. ... By Theodore Dwight. . . . New York and
1833, pp. 237-67.
Smith has received every attention, but cannot, in my judgment, change the opinion
already formed. The war which has commenced, and the cruising of a hostile fleet
on our coast, is not invasion, and the declaration of the President, that there is immi-
nent danger of invasion, is evidently a consequence drawn from the facts now
disclosed, and, I am compelled to say, is not, in my opinion, warranted by those facts.
If such consequence were admitted to result from a state of war, and from the facts
now mentioned, and which always must attend a war with an European power, it
would follow that every war of that character would throw the militia into the hands
of the National Gov'nt, and strip the States of the important right reserved to them.
But it is proper for me further to observe that I have found difficulty in fixing in my
own mind the meaning of the words imminent danger of invasion, used by Congress in
the Act of the aS"" of Feb^ 1805, and now repeated in your letter, as no such expression
is contained in that part of the Constitution which authorizes the President to call
the militia into service. Presuming, however, that some definite meaning, thought
consistent with the Constitution, was at the time annexed to the expression, I have
rather inferred that the Legislature must have intended only to include an extreme
case, when an enemy had not passed the line of the State, but was evidently advancing
in force to invade our country. Such a case would undoubtedly come within the
spirit of the Constitution, although it might not be included in its literal expression.
But whether the Congress of 1805 was justified in the expression, or not, is unimpor-
tant, there being no difficulty in the present case, as none of the facts disclosed permit
anything more than slight and remote danger of invasion, which the Constitution
could not contemplate, and which might exist even in time of peace.
" Whilst I regret this difference of opinion, upon a question of serious impor-
tance, I cannot doubt that the President will perceive that a sense of duty leaves no
other course to pursue, and that the general government will speedily provide the
troops deemed necessary for the defence of the coast of this State.
" I have the honour to be, &c."
"Cambridge, 3 Sept. 1812.
" Dear Sir,
" It is with great concern that we find your health so much impaired, espe-
cially at this perilous crisis. We do hope, however, that your long journey and the
mineral waters, with the blessing of Heaven, will restore it. Could your Excellency
visit Boston during the autumn, would not the journey be salutary to yourself and to
our sickly Commonwealth? I am sure it would give the highest pleasure to our
etfi$tt)olTr
statesmen in Boston, and have no doubt it would be of good political effect. Should
you do us this honour, any attentions of mine that might contribute towards the
objects of your visit would be at your command ; for, while your public services
entitle you to such attentions from every citizen, they are peculiarly due to you from
one who cherishes a very grateful sense of your early patronage, and who is,
" With great respect and regard,
" Your Excellency's humble servant
A. Holmes."
" His Excellency Gov. Griswold."
Years before this, in the midst of Mr. Griswold's greatest activity, a
disease of the heart had suddenly manifested itself ; but, though he was
thenceforth hopeless of cure, his activity never ceased. The letter last
quoted — written by Rev. Dr. Abiel Holmes, author of "American
Annals," and father of our poet Oliver Wendell Holmes — is only one of
many proofs of a really tender solicitude manifested by the public as Mr.
Griswold's health continued to fail. When death had come, a little over a
month after the date of this letter, the common admiration and mourning
found expression upon his tombstone, in the burial-ground of the family
overlooking Blackball River, in an epitaph by which it is still echoed, and
will be transmitted to later generations :
"This monument is erected to the memory of his Excellency Roger Griswold,
LL.D., late Governour of this State. He was born at Lyme, May 25th, 1762 ; and
died at Norwich, Oct. 25th, 1812.
" He was the son of his Excellency Matthew Griswold, who had been Chief
Justice of the Sup' Court. His mother was daughter of Roger Wolcott Esq. of
Windsor, who was for many years Gouvernour of this State.
"Gov. Griswold graduated at Yale College in 1780, and in 1785 entered upon
the profession of law. At the age of 34 he was elected into the Congress of the
United States. In 1807 he was appointed a Judge of the Sup' Court, in 1809 Lieut.-
Governour, and in 1811 was elected Governour; upon all these emiaent stations he
conferred dignity and honour.
" Not less conspicuous by honorable parentage and elevated rank in society than
by personal merit, talents and virtue.
^trfstooltr
" He was respected at the University as an elegant and classical scholar ; quick
discernment, sound reasoning, legal science and manly eloquence raised him to the
first eminence at the bar.
"Distinguished -in the National Councils among the illustrious Statesmen of the
age. Revered for his inflexible integrity and pre-eminent talents, his political course
was highly honorable.
" His friends viewed him with virtuous pride. His native State with honest
triumph. His fame and honors were the just rewards of noble actions, and of a life
devoted to his Country.
" He was endeared to his family by fidelity and affection, to his neighbours by
frankness and benevolence. His memory is embalmed in the hearts of surviving
relatives, and of a grateful people.
" When this monument shall have decayed, his name shall be enrolled with
honor among the great, the wise and the good."
The children of Governor Roger and Fanny (Rogers) Grisvvold
were :
114 (i.) Augustus Henry ^ born in 1789; a shipmaster; who married
Ehzabeth daughter of Thomas Lansdale of Boxhill, co. Sussex, England,
and had by her two sons and a daughter. He was a man of brilliant
natural parts, inheriting much of his father's genius. His eldest son is
1 15 Roger, ^ now of Lyme, who married Julia A. daughter of Joshua Wells of
East Windsor, Conn., and has two sons and a daughter.
116 (2.) Charles^ born in 1791 ; graduated at Yale College in 1808; a
lawyer, but commonly distinguished as Col. Charles Griswold ; Deacon
of the First Church of Lyme from 1829 ; and a man active in all relig-
ious and other public enterprises. He travelled in England in his early
years, at a time when few Americans went abroad, and had much interest
in intellectual and scientific pursuits, especially in mineralogy and in the
collection of specimens for his cabinet. The present Congregational
church at Lyme, built in 181 7, indirectly after a design by Sir Christopher
Wren in London, is a monument to his taste and public spirit. He
married Ellen Elizabeth daughter of Judge Elias Perkins of New London,
€;^tff$Uiom
Conn., by his wife Lucretia Shaw Woodbridge,'^' and had several children.
A daughter, Fanny Rogers,^ married : first. Dr. Shubael F. Bartlett of
East Windsor, Conn.; and, secondly, Daniel Bartlett, a brother of her
first husband ; and is now living at East Windsor : a son of hers is
1 18 Charles Griswold^ Bartlett, now Principal of the very successful Blackball
School for boys at Lyme.
119 Two of the sons of Col. Charles Griswold are {\.') Janies^ Griswold
Esq.; graduated at Yale College in 1848 ; a lawyer of Lyme, and a much
trusted legal counsellor ; who married his maternal cousin Mary Richards
Perkins, a lady of great loveliness of character and person : she died,
120 leaving one daughter, Ellinor Shaw,^ now the mistress of his house ; and
121 (2.) Charles Henry, ^ a farmer of the same place, whose wife, Eva Morley,
is a descendant of Rev. Sylvanus Griswold of the fourth generation of our
Griswold family in New England (see above) ; and who has one son.
Another son of Col. Griswold was {jx,.') Joseph Perkins,^ born in 1831 ;
graduated at Yale in 1851 ; who, having studied law and been admitted to
the bar in New London County, in 1853, began the practice of law in
New London, but, after about a year, removed to the Sandwich Islands.
Here he resumed the practice, and was soon after appointed Judge of the
City Police Court of Honolulu. This office he held until compelled, by
failing health, to resign it in 1859. He then returned home, and died of
consumption at his mother's house in Lyme, June 7, i860. He was fair,
had finely cut features, was very refined in person and manner, and reserved
in character.
[23 Another son was (^\^ John,^ born April 24, 1837; graduated at Yale
College in 1857; a gallant Captain of Volunteers in the late civil war,
killed in the battle of Antietam.
We are favored by his brother James with the following beautiful
sketch of his brief but noble life :
'»' The Woodbridge Record. ... By the late Louis Mitchell. . . . Privately printed. New
Haven, 1883, p. 108.
^tffStDOltr
"After graduation, in 1857, Capt. John Griswold studied civil engin-
eering at home, and was afterwards for some time engaged in surveying
public lands of the United States in the far West. In i860 he sailed from
New London to the Sandwich Islands, in the service of Messrs. Williams
and Haven ; who employed him in making voyages of discovery in the
Pacific. On hearing of the beginning of the Civil War, he returned home
in September, 1861, by the way of San Francisco, and across the plains by
stage. His first impulse was to go into the army as a private, but by
advice of friends he saw Governor Buckingham, who at once promised him
a commission, telling him to return to Lyme meanwhile, to recruit men
for his company. While thus engaged, in December, 1861, he received a
sudden telegraphic order to take the Hartford boat that night to join the
II*'' Regiment Connecticut Volunteers as Captain, and went on board
after only four hours' notice. He served with Burnside through the
Roanoke Island and Newbern expedition, was several times in action ;
and was for a time on Gen. Foster's staff as Commissary. When his regi-
ment was ordered to the North, with the prospect of active service, by his
own special request he was transferred back to the ii**", and was in the
battle of Antietam. There he was mortally wounded by a ball through
his body, while fording the river near Antietam bridge at the head of his
company. He died near the field the next day, September if^, 1862.
He was little more than twenty-five years of age. His remains were sent
North by the express order of Gen. Burnside, and are buried in the family-
graveyard on Blackball River at Lyme.
"At home he was always the life and joy of the family, and abroad he
gained very many warm friends, some of whom remember him vividly and
lovingly after all these years. He was singularly active, energetic, adven-
turous and fearless. His handsome face was full of quick intelligence ;
his form almost perfect, at once powerful and graceful ; and his carriage
and bearing so erect and poised, yet so easy and light, as to attract attention
everywhere. He was a skilled athlete, swimmer, swordsman and draughts-
man. From his Pacific wanderings he sent home many charming, spirited
sketches of the coral and volcanic islands. For his age his acquirements
were extensive. In addition to his classical knowledge he had studied
mineralogy and chemistry, and read French and Spanish with ease. He
carried a Spanish testament habitually with him, and his last words (indis-
tinctly heard) were in Spanish.
" He was a constant reader, and his memory held a store of classical
literature. One of his comrades writes that, once on a dusty march, com-
ing suddenly on a spring of fresh water, he repeated from Horace :
' O fons Bandusiae splendidior vitro ' —
" giving the whole ode from memory.
"Among his favorite books were Charles Kingsley's novels, especially
'Amyas Leigh ' — the heroic manliness of Kingsley's heroes was all his own.
" The patriotic sentiment was always strong in him. To die for the
country and the old flag — this seemed to him better than living to grow
old. Major Davis tells of walking with him during the Newbern expedi-
tion to the grave of the gallant Capt. Lee of the ii"", who had been
killed a few days before. They had gathered some wild flowers and
dropped them on Lee's grave. ' Poor Lee,' said Davis. ' Not so,' said
Griswold, ' I say happy Lee, fortunate Lee. What life could he or any
of us lead better than to die for our country ! Fortunate Lee !'
" The same feeling was supreme when his own death came. General
Burnside went to him a short time before the end, as he was lying in a
tent. As he knelt down beside him, Capt. Griswold took one of his
hands, and said : ' General, do you remember when I asked you at New-
bern to transfer me back to my Regiment, that I might again see active
service, that I told you I then gave my life to you and to my country ?
General, you have it' General Burnside, deeply affected said : ' Captain,
I thank you for myself and for our country. You have done your country
noble service ;' and, on the latter asking if he had any request to make,
he desired that if convenient when the General went North he would
see his mother and tell her he died while fighting for his country. After-
wards, seeing many of his brother-officers standing about in sorrow, all
mourning that his death was near, he said with a smile : ' Why, what is
the matter ? You do not feel sorry for me, do you ! I am just as I
wished to be — I die for my country.'
"Though there were very many heroic deaths during the war, his last
hours left an unusually deep impression on those who were present. Burn-
side spoke of it with much feeling, years afterwards, when in New London."
When news came that he was wounded, the mother and eldest brother,
James, set out to join him, taking lint and bandage for his wounds. His
mother, refined, cultivated, high-minded, romantic, saw in him the "con-
quering hero " who would return to maintain the honors of his name and
blood ; she went out full of hope, seeming to have no thought that he
could lay down forever a life so full of gifts and promise. She did not
find him living. The sad party came back with only the mournful privi-
lege of burying him with his kindred.
24 (3.) Matthew,'' born in 1792 ; who married Phoebe Hubbard daugh-
ter of Col. Seth Ely of North Lyme, and settled as a farmer on the
ancestral estate of Blackball, in a house built by his father ; where he lived
to his eighty-eighth year, dying in 1880; and left his widow with several
daughters at home. To these ladies we are chiefly indebted for the loan of
family-papers used in this memorial. He occupied the house built by his
father, and owned most of his large farm. He was a domestic man, took
care of his mother, who lived to extreme old age, devoted himself to his
family, who cherish his memory with much respect and affection, and was
always ready to give a cordial welcome to the many persons of Griswold
descent, near or remote, who came to see the family-seat at Blackball, and
25 to renew their intercourse with their kindred. His only son, Mattkczo,^ is
now of Erie, Pa., and has six sons and one daughter, by two marriages.
126 One ddiughtex, Lydia Maria,^ married John C. Selden of Erie, Pa.; and
127 another, Famiy Rogers,^ married Horace S. Ely of New York.
128 (4.) Frances Ann,'' born in 1795; who married her cousin Chief
Justice Ebenezer Lane (see below) of Sandusky, Ohio, graduated at
Harvard College in 181 1, made LL.D. there in 1880, Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court of Ohio, a learned lawyer and scholar ; and had a son,
129 William Grisivold^ Lane, the accomplished and amiable Judge of the
Court of Common Pleas for the Fourth Judicial District of Ohio, who
was born in 1824, graduated at Yale College in 1843, ^"d died in 1877.
William Griswold Lane married his second cousin Elizabeth Diodate (69)
^rfstuolTr
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
Griswold, a descendant of our first Matthew Griswold, on her father's side,
through a brother of her husband's grandfather Governor Roger Griswold
(see below), and, on her mother's side, through Rev. George Griswold
of Giant's Neck (see above). She survives her husband with four
children.
(5.) Roger Wolcott^ born in 1797; graduated at Yale College in
1818; a lawyer; who married his third cousm Jit It ct'' daughter of Thomas
(58) Griswold, niece of the New York merchants Nathaniel Lynde and
George Griswold above mentioned ; settled at Ashtabula, Ohio ; had
several sons and daughters ; and died in 1878.
A daughter of Roger Wolcott Griswold is Mrs. Joseph Badger
(Jtiliet Elizabeth^ ) Hall, now of Chicago, 111. Her son Roger Griswold^
Hall married Mary Louise daughter of William A. Patrick of Rutland,
Vt., a brother of the mother of Frederick W. Gookin of Chicago.
(6.) Eliza Woodbridge^ hoxw'va. 1799; who married Charles Leicester
Boalt of Norwalk, Ohio, a lawyer of high position ; had several sons and
two daughters; and died in 1878. One of the sons \s John Henry,^
Judge of Common Pleas in Nevada, now a lawyer of distinction in San
Francisco, Cal. One of the daughters, Frances Grisivold Lane,^ is the
wife of Jay Osborne Moss, a wealthy financier of Sandusky, Ohio.
(7.) Marian^ born in 1801; who married Thomas Shaw Perkins, a
lawyer, son of Judge Elias Perkins of New London, Conn.; and had
eleven children. A daughter, Cornelia Leonard,'^ was the wife of David
Hubbard Nevins of New York City, late of Waterford, Conn. A son,
Roger Griswold,'^ was a physician of New York, and afterwards lived on
a plantation near Camden, S. C, belonging to the family of his wife, a
cousin of his on the Perkins side. She survives him, without children,
and is now living on an ancestral estate of her own in South Carolina.
Another son of Mrs. Perkins is Gen. Joseph Griswold^ Perkins of Lyme,
brevetted General for gallant services in the late civil war, whose wife
Louisa Mather Griswold descends from both the Giant's Neck (see above)
and Blackball branches of the family. A third son is Professor Mati7'ice ^
J
^tfstiiolti
Perkins, Professor of Chemistry in Union College, who married Anna
daughter of Rev. Dr. Potts of New York. The only surviving daughter
142 is Lncrctia S/tazu Woodbridgc,^ a lady of unusual acquisitions and varied
accomplishments, which she has made useful to others by private teaching.
143 (8.) William Frederick,'^ born in 1804 ; a captain in the China trade ;
who married Sarah daughter of William Noyes of Lyme ; had two sons,
144 of whom the one now living is William Noyes^ of New York, and two
daughters; and died in 185 1. He improved the leisure of his long voyages
for much study and reading, by which he became a man of high culture.
145 (9.) Robert Harper^ born in 1806; a shipmaster; who married
Helen daughter of Edward Powers of Guilford, Conn., by whom he had
three daughters and one son, the latter not now living. He was a favorite
commander of packet-ships of the John Griswold Line, sailing between
New York and London, a man of much reading, and, in his prime, of
elegant manners and great personal beauty. He died in Lyme in 1882,
after years of lingering infirmity and pain. His daughters, with their
mother, now conduct a Family-School for young ladies in their father's
fine old house in Lyme, devoting themselves more especially to instruction
in the elegant branches, in which they are proficient.
^46 (lo-) James^ who died in infancy.
We now return to follow out the succession of the children of Gov.
Matthew and Ursula (Wolcott) Griswold :
[47 4. Urs7cla,^ born in 1744; who died an infant.
148 5. Hannah,^ born in 1746; who died in childhood.
149 6. J\Iaria7i,^ born April 17, 1750; a very handsome woman; who
married : first, September 29, 1 769, Charles Church Chandler of Wood-
stock, Conn., an eminent lawyer, "frequently a member of the State
Legislature and elected to the Continental Congress,"'^ who died in 1787 ;
by whom she had several children. One of her daughters by this first
'" Hyde Genealogy, ut supra, ii. 892.
^rCsiUiollr
150 marriage, Mary AnnP married May 18, 1794, James Lanman of Norwich,
Conn., United States Senator and Judge of the Supreme Court of Con-
necticut ; and had, with many other children :
151 I. Charles James,^ born in 1795 ; graduated at Yale College in 1814;
who married Marie Jeannie Guie, and had nine children, among whom
[52 were: (i.) Charles,^ born in 1819 ; of Washington, D. C; an author;
153 and (2.) Marianne Chandler,^ born in 1826; who married John
154 De Peyster Douw, and had, beside other children, Mary Lanman}^
now the wife of Morris Patterson Ferris, a son of the late Chancellor
Ferris of the New York University.
155 2. Eh'sa,^ born in 1800; who married Amos Hallam Hubbard of
Norwich, Conn., and had, beside other children who died young : (i.)
1 56 Marianna Lanman,^ now the widow of John F. Slater of Norwich, the
founder of the Slater Fund for education at the South ; (2.) Thomas
57 Hallam,^ who married his cousin Sarah Coit daughter of Charles James
Lanman ; and (3.) James Lanman,'^ who married Charlotte Learned of
159 Norwich, and had Charles Learned}^
160 3. Harriet,^ born in 1804; who married Jacob Wyckoff Piatt, and
161 hdid John Henry ^ (Y. C. 1855), Brevet Major in the late civil war, who
married Julia Goddard.
[62 4. Joanna Boylston,^ born in 1808 ; who was the first wife of the late
Hon. Lafayette Sabin Foster of Norwich, Conn., at one time acting Vice
President of the United States.
[63 '^. James Henry, ^ born in 181 2; the tenth child of his parents; a
lawyer, and for some years a successful writer ; author of a history of
Michigan, and of articles in " Hunt's Merchants' Magazine."
Marian (Griswold) Chandler married, secondly, Capt. Ebenezer Lane
164 of Northampton, Mass., and had by him one child. Chief Justice Ebenezer'^
Lane (b. 1 793) above mentioned.
After the death of Capt. Lane in 1808, his widow married, thirdly,
Justin Ely Esq. of West Springfield, Mass., whom she survived, without
^tCSitUOlTT
children by him; and she herself died June 17, 1829. An obituary of
Mrs. Marian (Grisvvold) Chandler-Lane-Ely, published at the time of her
death, says of her :
" She was a woman of strong and vigorous intellectual powers. The earlier part
of her life had been spent at a time when female education was considered (compar-
atively speaking) as of little or no consequence ; of course, her advantages for mental
improvement were not like those enjoyed by young ladies of the present day. Yet,
by the judicious instructions of an estimable mother, subsequent reading and an
extensive observation of men and things, combined with a very retentive memory,
her mind had been stored with such a fund of general information as rendered her
not only a very agreeable, but a very useful, companion — one whose society was
courted by people of all ages. Remarkably active in her habits, and a great econo-
mist of time, she was ever, during the successive years of a protracted life, diligently
employed in something to benefit herself or others, regarding it as an imperative
duty to consecrate every moment, and every faculty she possessed, to some useful
employment. Entitled by birth and family-connections (numbering among her
nearest relatives five Governors, and many men of acknowledged talents, occupying
the highest offices in the State) to an elevated rank in society, and placed by three
successive marriages in a commanding sphere in life, she never cherished any of
those contracted feelings of self-importance which too often characterize people of
wealth and influence ; but ever held up the idea, and acted upon the principle, that
intrinsic personal merit was all that could entitle a person to respect and esteem ;
and under the influence of this principle her affable and conciliating manners
endeared her to all classes of her fellow-creatures with whom she was in any degree
connected. She had lived through a long period of time, and been deeply interested
in many eventful scenes, but amid them all had been heard to exclaim ' It is the
Lord, let Him do as seemeth Him good.' . . . We trust that she died in the faith
of the Gospel. . . ." '"
[65 7. Ursula,^ born April 13, 1754; who inherited the Wolcott beauty ;
married, November 22, 1777, her third cousin, by Hyde descent, Lynde
M'^Curdy of Norwich, Conn., son of John M'^Curdy of Lyme (see
'" For farther notices of Mrs. Marian (Griswold) Chandler-Lane-Ely, and of her several husbands,
see The Chandler Family. . . . collected by George Chandler. . . . Worcester, 1883, pp. 131,
279-82. In this book it is said that, "when first asked to become Mrs. Ely, her grief and surprise were
manifested in her reply : ' Oh ! I can't think of burying another husband !' "
CS^tfsUioltr
1 66 JWacCurUg) ; had two sons and one daughter, Ursula ;'' and died
November 27, 1781. The daughter Ursula, a beautiful woman, married
Hon. John Allen of Litchfield, Conn., one of the great lawyers of the
State, and Member of Congress, and was the mother of Hon. John
167 William^ Allen of Cleveland, Ohio, formerly State Senator and Member
168 of Congress; and of Ursula M'Curdy^ Allen now the widow of the late
Judge Sherlock James Andrews of Cleveland (see JWat^tttJfff).
JOHN (iio-ii), the eldest child of Governor Matthew and Ursula
(Wolcott) Griswold, was born April 20, 1752 ; was Deacon of the First
Church of Lyme from 1797; married, November 5, 1772, Sarah daughter
of Rev. Stephen Johnson of Lyme, by Elizabeth daughter of William
Diodate of New Haven, Conn., of the ancient and highly distinguished
Diodati family of Lucca in Italy (see (!^0tr(n=^Otin$O}t and lifO^a^ti).
A portrait of him taken in his old age shows a very large man with a fine
head, handsome features and the large black eyes of the family. He was
offered public offices of distinction, but preferred to remain in private
life; and died November 22, 181 2. The epitaphs of him and his wife in
the Duck River Burying-Ground at Lyme are as follows :
"Deacon John Griswold was born at Lyme the 20th day of April 1752, and died
on the 22d day of November 181 2. He was the eldest son of the first Governor
Griswold, and Brother of the second. As a friend and neighbor he was hospitable
and generous, honest and honorable as a man, and in his faith and life exemplary as
a Christian. To tell those who knew him the place where he was buried, and to offer
' his character for imitation to those who knew him not, this stone to his memory is
erected."
" Sacred to the memory of Mrs. Sarah Griswold, the amiable consort of Deacon
John Griswold, who died Jan'' 4th, 1802, aged 53 years, 10 mos. and 26 days."
" Sleep on dear friend till the last morn shall come.
When Christ shall summon all his children home.
Then may we meet in realms of joy above,
And join in bonds of everlasting love."
<s;^tf!sUiolty
A funeral-sermon preached on the death of Mrs. Sarah (Johnson)
Griswold, by Rev. William Lyman of East Haddam, Conn., says : " She
was a pattern of humility, gentleness, patience, tenderness and affection."
Their children were :
[69 (i.) Diodate Johnson^ born December 16, 1773; graduated at Yale
College in 1793; who married Sarah Colt of Lyme, Conn.; and died
March 17, 1850, s. p.
It was natural that Mrs. Griswold should call her eldest son Diodate,
and give him every privilege to which his birth and other circumstances
entitled him. The traditions and interests of her family were associated
with Yale College, of which her father had been a graduate and Fellow.
Diodate Johnson entered Yale in 1789. Not only his name (Deoda-
tus) but all his surroundings expressed God's bounty. When he was born,
and afterwards for eleven years, his grandfather Griswold was Deputy-
Governor and Chief Justice, and the last year of his office as Governor
was when Diodate was thirteen years of age. Eight years later, his uncle
Roger Griswold became a Member of Congress, and his distinguished
career did not end till nineteen years after the nephew had been graduated.
His near relatives the Wolcotts were in the midst of their eminent careers.
His family on all sides, before him, and his brothers and sisters were staid,
sensible and thoroughly correct in all their conduct. Into such a circle
was Diodate born — gay, debonair, pleasure-loving, pleasure-seeking — like a
bright bubble rising on a deep and solemn sea. From what strain there
came that erratic, irresponsible nature which was his destruction, we cannot
learn. Perhaps it was some current of his Italian blood which gave him
his gay and thoughtless temperament. At the close of the Revolution,
owing, perhaps, somewhat to the examples of French officers, there was
a low state of public morals in many high places. New Haven was
affected by the taint.
His personal attractions were remarkable; old New Haven ladies
have described his beauty to the writer, and have spoken of his superb
^tisitool9
voice for singing, his great talent for acting, mimicry and dancing. An
old lady has described his appearance when she danced with him at a Com-
mencement ball : during the ball he appeared in two diiferent costumes,
which showed his elegant form to perfection — one a complete suit of black
satin, with small-clothes and silk stockings, the other also of satin, but
in light, fanciful colors. He had passed middle age when the writer first
remembers him, in her childhood. He was then still a man of fine figure,
slender, erect, very graceful, elastic and full of movement, with a finely
shaped head, handsome features and large brilliant black eyes, but pale
and hollow-cheeked ; and entertaining, witty, and quick to use his wit
to the discomfiture of the relatives who disapproved of him. He was
always. kind to the writer, and she recalls no unkind or bitter word, or
reproach, of himself or others.
In due time he became the owner of his father's house, and the estate
belonging with it, at Lyme ; and married the lady who was his wife — of
the good family of Colts of Lyme, from which sprang the Hartford family.
She was educated in Hartford, and Mr. George Griffin of New York, as
good a connoisseur of fine women as he was Judge of good law, used to
say that, for elegance of person and manners, he had never known a lady
who was her superior. But Mr. Griswold's wife did not bring to him her
heart ; and habits begun in the convivial society of his youth became con-
firmed in domestic life. She finally left him, with the consent and respect
of all his family, and Hved to old age in Wilkesbarr6, Pa., a life of refined,
literary seclusion.
His property gradually fell away from him, and for years he was
supported by his brothers. For many of his last years the Hartford
Retreat was selected as his boarding-place. After his death Dr. Butler
wrote to the writer that, in his late years, there had come over him a great
change, which he believed to be a religious one.
What a life to recall in old age ! Seventy-seven years of lost oppor-
tunities, of failure to do life's work ! Yet we hope he was received at last,
entering the vineyard at the eleventh hour. We give his history with the
^rfsbiolti
more fulness because he was the only one of his race who has left reproach
with his memory.
170 (2.) Ursula'' (see below).
71 (3.) Elizabeth^ born October 15, 1778; who married, March 28,
1802, Jacob Barker Gurley of New London, Conn., graduated at Dart-
mouth College in 1 793, a man of very astute mind and high character ; a
lawyer, State's Attorney and President of the New London Bank ; and
died a widow, June 22, 1857, having had ten children, all of whom except
one she survived.
She bore her great griefs with an almost stoical composure, and to her
last days met her friends with a calm and cheerful mien. Her only living
172 descendants are Mrs. Elizabeth^ (Gurley) Merrow, and her three children,
173 daughter of her daughter Ellen^ who married her cousin Charles Artemas
174 Gurley; three great granddaughters, children of Mrs. Ursula Wolcoit^
175 (Noyes) Grosvenor, daughter of her daughter Sarah Griswold^ who
married Joseph Noyes of Lyme, Conn.; and a great grandson, son of
76 Mrs. Mary Gurley^ (Noyes) Selden.
•-TJ (4.) Sarah,'^ born August 12, 1781; who married, March 4, 1803,
John Lyon Gardiner Esq., the seventh proprietor of the Manor of
Gardiner's Island, N. Y., by whom she had five children ; and died
February 10, 1863.
Mrs. Gardiner was a lady of much strength of mind and dignity of
character. During a long widowhood she had the management of a large
estate, and administered its hospitalities as a true "lady of the manor." At
the time of this marriage the original charter of Gardiner's Island, which
made it an entirely independent and separate plantation, with no responsi-
bility for laws civil or ecclesiastical, was no longer in force ; and the lord-
ship, with right of advowson, and to hold a court leet and a court baron,
which had been subsequently created, was extinguished by the establish-
ment of the Republic of the United States.
But the property was still entailed on the. eldest son. The eldest son
1 78 of this marriage, David Johnson,^ was the last who received the property
^rifiiUiom
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
86
by entail. Later, there were of course changes in the tenure. The island
has been retained, however, in the family down to the present time, the
present proprietor. Col. John Lyon,^ being the twelfth of this ancient
manor. His immediate predecessors were his elder brother David,^ the
eleventh lord, his father Samuel Buell,^ the tenth lord, zxx^John Griswold,^
the ninth, the last two both younger sons of this Griswold marriage. Col.
John Lyon Gardiner married Cora Livingston Jones, and has four children,
of whom the eldest bears the name of the first Lord of the Manor, Lion}^
One of the children of this marriage was Sarah Diodate^ now the
widow of the late David Thompson of New York. Mr. Thompson was
a gentleman well known and respected in New York. He was President
of the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company for nearly twenty-
five years. No one of his day was more honored for personal worth,
and high character in every respect. He was the son of Hon. Jonathan
Thompson, whose integrity is also remembered as Collector of Direct
Taxes and Internal Revenue during the war of 181 2, Collector of the Port
under Monroe and John Quincy Adams, and President of the Manhattan
Bank. The family of Thompson is descended from Mr. John Thompson
who came to Long Island in 1656, and was soon a large owner of property
there, a man of importance in those times. The family have ever since
been among the large land-owners on Long Island. The estate of Jona-
than Thompson, which he inherited from his father Judge Isaac Thompson,
is known as Sagtikos Patent, and is still owned by the family.
Mary Buell^ Gardiner, a younger daughter of this marriage, was very
refined, lovely and interesting. She died young.
One of the children of Sarah Diodate (Gardiner) and David Thompson
is Sarah Gardiner,^ now the wife of David Lyon Gardiner of New Haven,
Conn., of the same Gardiner ancestry as herself, her mother being his third
cousin. Mr. Gardiner's father was one of that distinguished company,
invited by President Tyler to an excursion on the "Princeton" in 1844,
who were killed by the explosion of a gun on board. His beautiful sister
Julia soon afterwards became the second wife of President Tyler.
®^t(fiitoolif
187 (5.) John,'' born August 14, 1783; an affluent Shipping Merchant of
New York, head of the famous old line of London packet-ships which
bore his name. He was a tall, finely formed man with a very noble hand-
some face. He married: first. May 16, 1814, Elizabeth Mary daughter of
General Zachariah Huntington of Norwich, Conn.; and, secondly, in 1826,
Louisa Wilson of Newark, N. J., an English lady, who survived him ; and
died August 4, 1856, s. p.
In memory of Mrs. Elizabeth Mary (Huntington) Griswold the
following lines were written by Mrs. Sigourney :
" She was as a rose
Gathered in loveliness 'mid perfumed flowers,
And warbling birds of love, yet drooping still
For the pure breath of that celestial clime
Where summer hath no cloud. She with firm hand
Grasped the strong hope of everlasting life,
And then, in trembling yet confiding trust,
Did dare the waves of Death's tempestuous flood."'"
188 (6.) I\Iary Ann,'' born February 25, 1786; who married, November
6, 1809, Levi H. Clark of Middletown, Conn., a lawyer; and died January
31, 1 81 2. Mrs. Elisabeth Brainerd^ (Clark) White, widow of Bushnell
White Esq., a lawyer of Cleveland, Ohio ("a very brilliant man and a
I go magnetic speaker"), and mother ol John Grisivold^ White, is her daughter.
[91 (7.) Charles Chandler,'' born November 9, 1787; who married, July
10, 1822, his third cousin Elizabeth daughter of Thomas Griswold of the
Giant's Neck branch (see above) ; by whom he had, with other children,
Elizabeth Diodate (69), who married Judge William Griswold Lane, and
Sarah Johnson (70), who married Lorillard Spencer; and died January 27,
1869, leaving a widow who died, in Lyme, December 19, 1888.
In early life Charles Chandler Griswold was in business in Savannah ;
but he returned to his family-property at Blackball, where he removed his
father's house, and built a large modern mansion, retaining near it, for his
'" Hyde Genealogy, ut supra, ii. 88s.
^tistDom
own use, the well that had been dug for the first Matthew Griswold.
There he spent the rest of his life, being a silent partner of his brother
John in New York, in his large shipping-business. By the Will of his
brother he received the greater part of his estate.
Ursula (170), second child and eldest daughter of Deacon John and
Sarah (Johnson) Griswold, was born December 2, 1775 ; married, Septem-
ber 10, 1794, her third cousin Richard M'^Curdy (see JHflt^UVtlJj) J and
died May 25, 181 1.
Mrs. M^Curdy was of a warm and enthusiastic nature, and perhaps
the Italian (Diodati) blood in the family-veins most fully expressed itself
in her. She was affectionate, overflowing with kind words and deeds,
devoted to her husband and children, and above all a devout Christian,
leaving behind her, on her death at the early age of thirty-five, many
religious writings.
Rev. F. W. Hotchkiss of Saybrook, Conn., said of her, in a funeral-
"As a daughter, sister, mother and wife she was a worthy descendant of an
illustrious line of ancestors, and justly viewed as a woman of exalted spirit. . . ."
192 One of their children is Judge Charles Johnson^ M^Curdy of Lyme,
who, having served his country in various conspicuous and important posi-
tions at home, and as representative of the United States in Austria, retired
from the bench of the Supreme Court of Connecticut in 1867, on reaching the
constitutional Hmit of age ; but still retains (1888) much of the sprightliness
and vigor of youthful years, to the delight and profit of all who come into
the sunny atmosphere of his society (see JMjltdltrJffi)* His only child,
193 Evelyn,^ is one of the authors of this work. Another child of Richard
[94 and Ursula (Griswold) M'^Curdy was the late Robert Henry^ M'^Curdy of
New York, a leading Merchant and public-spirited citizen, one of the first
and most influential movers in support of the Government in the late war ;
6;^t{£itDoiir
195
196
197
199
200
203
whose eldest son is Theodore FrelingJmysen^ M'^Curdy of Norwich, Conn.,
2iXi^ ?:tcoxi^ sow, Richard A Idrich'^ M'^Curdy, is President of the Mutual
Life Insurance Company of New York. Mr. Robert Henry M'^Curdy
had three daughters : the eldest of whom, Gertrjide Mercer,^ is the wife
of Hon. Gardiner Greene Hubbard of Washington, D. C, and mother of
Mabel Gardiner}^ now Mrs. Alexander Graham Bell ; and the two others,
Sarah Lord^ and Roberta Wolcott,^ are married, respectively, to Dr. Elias
Joseph Marsh of Paterson, N. J., and Charles Mercer Marsh Esq. of New
Yo* (see JWafC^tttlfl)). The fifth son of Richard and Ursula (Griswold)
M^Curdy was Alexander Lyndc^ M'^Curdy, lately deceased, of Santa
Barbara, California, who left two daughters (see JHaC^ttVtlff), The
youngest child of the Griswold-M^Curdy marriage was the late Mrs. Sarah
Ann^ widow of Stephen Johnson Lord of Lyme. She was admired in
her youth for her great beauty, and in later years for the refinement,
dignity and symmetry of her character. Two sons, now of Kansas City,
Mo., survive her; and a daughter, Gertrude M'Curdy,^ the wife of
Dr. Edward Dorr Griffin of Lyme, who is himself, also, a Griswold by
descent, through the eminent lawyer George Griffin of New York, above
mentioned (see JLOITlf)*
Here the writers finish their sketch of the history of the descendants
of the first Matthew Griswold, covering a period of nearly two hundred
and fifty years. The male descendants have not been very numerous. It
is the record of a family that has been unusually free from those vicissitudes
which, in the case of many families, are so apt to be found, in the lapse of
several generations, to have lowered the social standing of some of their
members or branches. This family has numbered among its members, by
blood or marriage, many individuals of distinction ; while with only few
exceptions all have been worthy in character and highly respectable in
position.
The foregoing monograph is a reprint from "The Magazine of
American History. Edited by Mrs. Martha J. Lamb. New York,
1884," xi. pp. 120-55, 218-38, 310-34. But important additions and
other changes have been made.
Tj^otes on tJje iFamClu of "Bt Wiolt
Following the suggestions of Dr. James Ratchford De Wolf of
Wolfville, Nova Scotia, who has most efficiently cooperated with us in
the preparation of this paper, we may begin by saying that " Wolf," with
or without prefixes, or its equivalent, is found very extensively used as a
surname, in different nations having different languages. Not being taken
from any name of place, but suggested by the intimate association of
primitive man with other animals, and by fancy's seeing of resemblances
in nature between the higher and the lower, we might, indeed, expect the
name to be ubiquitous. One distinction of usage, however, must be
noticed here — that, while in all Teutonic languages the name is traceable
back to a Teutonic original, the Romance languages have equivalent
derivatives from the Latin.
"Among the Romans," says Dr. De Wolf, "Lupus stood not only
for the beast which suckled the mythic founders of the State, but also
designated individuals of the human family. In the earliest records of
Saxon England we find Wulf, Beowulf, Cuthwulf, Ethelwulf and Eadwulf
as names of men of renown. The house of the Guelphs is traced to a
German family of Welf or Wolf. The German Wolfensbiirgher, i. e.
Dweller in Wolf's Fort, and Weissenwolf, i. e. White Wolf, are surnames.
The Spanish name Lopez, and the Portuguese Lopes, both have relation
to Wolf ; at all events, the Lords of Biscany, whose family-name is Lopez,
bore wolves on their shield. The Scandinavian form of the same name is
Ulph, Ulv.
" But to follow out this attractive research would carry us too far
from our subject.
Kotes on tJje iFamilff of mt Wiolt
" Many Europeans of this wide-spread name have been very distin-
guished men. In 1370, as we learn from ' Genealogien und Wappen von
Deutschland,' vol. 3, there was in attendance on King Charles the Fifth
of France a Louis de Saint Etienne, who took the name of de Loup, it
is said, from his defence of the King when he was attacked by a wolf.
In 151 7 Frederick Baron de Wolf, grandson of Louis de Loup, was
chosen Commissioner on the part of the Prince of the House of Saxe
to settle the boundaries of the various principalities with the Imperial
Diet. The Emperor Maximilian was so well pleased with the Baron's
wisdom and talent that he made him Baron of the Holy Roman Empire.
This celebrated statesman left several collections of state-papers, and manu-
script histories of his diplomatic and other negotiations, which are now
preserved in the muniment-office at Dresden. From him descended many
men of note whom we must pass by.
" From Baron de Wolf were also descended the Counts de Wolf and
Barons de Wolf of Prussia, through his grandson Frederick, who, in 1658,
concluded the negotiations acknowledging the independence of Prussia,
was created Count by Frederick the Great, and had the Grand Cross of
the Black Eagle conferred upon him. He died in 1670.
"There is, or was, another line, of Barons de Wolf of Belgium,
descended from a son of Frederick Baron of the Holy Roman Empire,
named Maximilian, who had lands near Ghent conferred upon him by the
Emperor Charles the Fifth, and took up his residence in Belgium in 1534.
Joseph de Wolf, grandson of Maximilian, went into the service of Charles
the Ninth of Sweden, in 161 1, and was the founder of the families of
Counts and Barons de Wolf of that country. Charles the eldest son of
Maximilian joined the seven revolting provinces in throwing off the yoke
of PhiHp the Second of Spain; and in 1714 the great grandson of that
Charles went to Holland, and took up his residence at Haarlem. His
great great grandson Joseph Baron de Wolf was an Admiral in the Dutch
service, and Captain General of the Dutch possessions in the East Indies
from 1 75 1 to 1757, and also Commander of the Batavian fleet in those seas.
" All these families carried the wolf in their coats of arms.
" Nor has the family of Wolf been distinguished only on the Continent.
A deed of transfer of property made about the year 1066, which I found in
an old English book giving the history of the house of Stanley, was signed
"Nottn on tJir iF»im(lj» of Ut saiolf
by William de Wolve as one of the witnesses. Right Hon. Sir Henry
Drummond Wolff, G.C.M.G. (son of Rev. Dr. Joseph Wolf, a converted
Jew), lately a leading Member of the British Parliament, Envoy Extra-
ordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Turkey, and High Commissioner
to Egypt, bears arms similar to those of the German patent. There is
also a Sir James Weston Wolff of county Hants, England, who was
authorized to assume the arms given with the German patent. Burke's
' General Armory ' gives a De Wolfe coat of arms, showing a family of
that name now existing in England."
Such is the prestige of the family of De Wolf in its European homes.
It would be highl}' gratifying if a relationship could be traced between
any European branch of the family and those who have inherited the
name, and honored it, in this western hemisphere. This, however, is not
as yet possible. All we can do, therefore, is to record what we know of
the beginnings of the history of those De Wolfs of America in whom we
have a family-interest, to disentangle, so far as we may be able, some ques-
tions of descent, and to notice some of the distinguished men of the name
in our family — leaving it for others, hereafter, to complete both the
genealogy and the biography.
In the early history of this country we have been able to find but
three persons of the name of De Wolf, beside our ancestor. One was
Abraham, of whom we know only his name and that he was in New
Amsterdam in 1661. The earliest found was Abel De Wolf, whose appli-
cation for a mining-license in the Catskill Mountains was granted by the
authorities at Amsterdam 25"' April 1659.
"In 1661 Dirck De Wolf obtained for seven years the exclusive
right of making salt in New Netherland, having secured from Gysbert
op Dyck his grant of Coney Island. Owing to the hostility of English
settlers in the immediate neighborhood he was obliged to abandon this
enterprise, notwithstanding the military aid rendered by Governor Stuy-
TKrotrs on tJje iFatntlff of Be Wiolt
vesant." ^ Abel De Wolf seems to have been concerned with Dirck in the
salt works.
When in 1664 the town and colony fell into the hands of the British,
and received the name of New York, the privileges which these Dutch
settlers had received from their government were lost. It is supposed that
Dirck and Abel De Wolf returned to Holland : for a suit which they
brought against the people of Gravesend was carried on by agents.
Queries in regard to these De Wolfs, inserted in several of the principal
American historical and genealogical magazines, have failed to bring any
reply, and it does not appear probable that they left descendants in this
country. We have made special search, thinking that these Dutch
De Wolfs might be of the family of our Balthasar. No such connection,
however, can be found, and the dates seem to contradict any theory that
they were even associated in this country. For instance, Abel De Wolf
received from Amsterdam, April 1659, his license to mine in the Catskill
Mountains ; while we find Balthasar's name in the Court-records of Hart-
ford in 1656, when he had appeared in Mattabesick, now Middletown.
Dirck De Wolf obtained from Amsterdam, in 1661, his right to make salt
on Coney Island ; and by j 664 his works were broken up. In September
1 66 1 Balthasar's family must have been living in Saybrook, where a child
of his was "bewitched to death." In 1664 he was in Wethersfield
(perhaps only casually, as his name cannot be found in the Wethersfield
records). It seems probable that Saybrook was the residence of the family
from 1 66 1, and perhaps Balthasar had already settled there in 1656. He
probably always resided in East Saybrook, which in 1664-65 was set off as
the separate town of Lyme.
Our first notices of Balthasar ^ De Wolf were found by Charles J.
Hoadly Esq., State Librarian, in the previously lost second volume of
"The Records of the Particular Court of Connecticut" (from January
1650 to June 1663). The first of these notices is from the record of
"A Perticular Court in Hartford" March s"' 1656 : it gives among "the
' Broadhead's Histoiy of the State of New York. 2d ed. New York, 1859, p. 694.
Notes on tfic iFatntls of Be WioU
names of those p"'sented for smoaking in the street contra to law . . .
Baltazer de Woolfe, p''sented by Will Marcum, constable for Mattabesick."
The second is as follows :
" Hartford Quart. Court Sept""' 5 : 6/. The Inditement of Nicholas and Margret
Jennings : Nicholas Jennings, thou art here indited by the name of Nicholas Jen-
nings of Sea Brook for not haueing the feare of God before thine eyes ; thou hast
entertained familiarity w"" Sathan the great enemy of God and mankind, and by his
help hast done works aboue the course of nature to y" loss of y'' Hues of severall
p'sons and in p'ticuler y'= wife of Reynold Marvin w"' y" child of Baalshar de Wolf,
w"" other sorceries, for w'*" according to y'^ Law of God and y" Established lawe of
this Comon Wealth thou deservest to die."
This child is spoken of as " bewitched to death."
Balthasar de Wolf is first mentioned by Mr. Savage, in his "Geneal-
ogical Dictionary," in 1664, when, as we have said, he was in Wethersfield,
Conn. He is first spoken of in Lyme records in 1668 ; at which time he
2, 3' 4 and his three sons, Edward, ^ Simon ^ and Stephen, ^ joined with him as
members of the town train-band in a petition. The fact that the sons
were members of the train-band shows that they had reached the age
of sixteen years. The age of Edward appears by the dates on his tomb-
stone still existing in Lyme. He was therefore in 1668 about twenty-two,
and Simon and Stephen from twenty to sixteen, years of age. Balthasar
may be supposed to have been at the time about forty-five years old, in
full strength, and able to serve in the same military company with his sons.
This is the only formal record of the children of Balthasar De Wolf and
Alice his wife. From the records of the Lee and Griswold families we
learn that Mary^ DeWolf (born about 1656), who must have been a
daughter of Balthasar, married Thomas Lee, as his second wife, between
1677 and 1680; and that after his death she became, in 1705, the second
wife of the second Matthew Griswold of Lyme, taking with her to his
home her daughter Hannah ^ Lee, who married Mr. Griswold's son,
afterwards known as Judge John Griswold, and became the mother of
Governor Matthew* Griswold.
Notes on tJ|t iFamClff of "BtWiolf
But we have recently learned from the Lyme probate-records that
Henry Champion (son of Henry Champion the first settler) married
Susannah 2 DeWolf in April 1684, who, from a comparison of dates,
could not have been a granddaughter of Balthasar, but must have been
8}4 his daughter. Susannah had ten children, among whom was Alice,^ the
only namesake of her mother whom we find mentioned among her descend-
ants. After his death (in July 1704) his widow married John Huntley.
That Balthasar had had another child who was "bewitched to death," by
or before 1661, is shown by the records of the witchcraft-trial above
referred to. In May 1671 Balthasar was made a Freeman by the Court
at Hartford. He is mentioned in the Lyme records for the second time
in 1674. In 1677 he was chosen "Committee of the town." His wife
Alice is mentioned in a deed from him to his son Simon, March 5, 1687,
acknowledged 19*'' February 1689-90. In 1688 he sold Calves' Island in
Connecticut River to Richard Lord. In the same year we find him and
his three sons on a roll of tax-payers under Governor Andros's adminis-
tration, and he was made again " Committee of the town." There is
mention made of him in May 1690, in a deed of gift to his son Edward ;
the last notice found of him is in town-records of 1695.
From the time of their coming to Lyme Balthasar and his sons appear
to have taken a respectable, though not prominent, part in the town-afifairs,
as having a common interest with the other settlers. Mr. Hoadley sent to
the writer the autographs of Balthasar DeWolf and his son Edward,
written thus :
" Baltasar dewolf "
" Edward de wolfe "
The date is Lyme, May 1678. Both are very well written, especially
Balthasar's ; the letters are round, firm, even, and show the habit of
writing. This, at a time when a large proportion of the English settlers
" made their mark," conveyed an evidence of education which it is difficult
to comprehend at the present day. The characters are in the style of the
T^otes on tijr iFamfls of Ut WioU
handwriting of the best educated English settlers of the period, as is shown
by autographs in the Colonial Records of Connecticut 1636-1665 ; and
are unlike the autographs of early Dutch and Huguenot settlers of New
York, given in the second volume of O'Callaghan's " History of New
Netherland." Neither in the handwriting nor the spelling is there a trace
of anything continental. Nor is there any such trace in the baptismal
names, which are those found in our English Bible, and in common English
usage — Balthasar, Alice, Edward, Simon, Stephen, Mary, and Susannah.
We have made our investigations with more care, and make our state-
ments with more precision and detail, because the name De Wolf, in its
form and sound, has given rise to many theories, pointing to a continental
origin of our family, though no two branches of the family agree in any
one of them : for instance, different branches of the descendants of
Balthasar have supposed that he was a Huguenot ; that he was Dutch ;
that he was German ; that he was a Jew ; one that he was a Pole ; and
one, giving his family-tradition in more detail, says: " I have always under-
stood that the origin of the De Wolf family was Russian — from Russia
into Germany, thence into Normandy, and from Normandy into England
with W^illiam the Conqueror !" We are ready to accept this tradition so
far as to believe that Balthasar's family was well established in England
before he came over with other English settlers ; though they were with
little doubt of more or less remote continental ancestry, as were a great
part of the English people.^
Of Balthasar De Wolf and his wife Alice we find but two or three
' The writer inquired of the late Rev. Dr. Charles W. Baird, author of History of the Huguenot
Emigration to America, whether Balthasar De Wolf was probably a Huguenot. In his reply, dated Rye,
N. Y., May 14, 1885, he says : " Have you not been misled by the prefix De, common to both French and
Dutch cognomens, and meaning, as you know, 'of or ' from ' in the former language, and, as you
may not know, 'the' in Dutch? Thus you will find, in the Dutch nomenclature of old New York,
De Graffs, De Hooges, De Milts, De Riemers, and so on. . . . I have a strong impression that the
De Wolfs were Dutch, and I see no ground whatever for the surmise that they may have been of Hugue-
not extraction." Dr. Baird, knowing nothing of the facts concerning Balthasar De Wolf, of course
refers only to the /orvi of the family-name.
Hflottu on tfir iFamilff of mt WioU
passing notices other than those detailed above. We do not know where
they were buried. Their eldest son, Edward (2), was born about 1646, and
was twenty-two years old, as has been said, when a member of the train-
band in 1668. He married Rebecca , by 1670, and had five sons,
of whom all we know will be found in our Pedigree of De Wolf. He is
spoken of in the Lyme records as " Edward de Wolf, carpenter," being
so designated in deeds of land given by him. That his high standing,
integrity and good judgment were well known and relied upon, is proved
by the fact that, about 1682, after long delays and difficulties between the
people of New London and their carpenters, relative to the building of a
church, "John Frink of Stonington and Edward de Wolf of Lyme were
called in to view the work, and arbitrate between builders and people."^
It is noted in Lyme records that in May 1686 twenty-two acres of land
were laid out by the town to " Edward de Wolf, upon the account what
he had engaged to do for the town about the meeting-house." This refers,
doubtless, to the second house built for religious worship upon the top of
Meeting-house Hills, actually built in 1689. About a year before the time
set for building it, liberty was granted to four persons, among whom was
Edward De Wolf, to build a saw-mill at Eight-Mile River,'' they agreeing
to saw the timber for the meeting-house. In 1677 an agreement was made
between the town of Lyme and Mr. Thomas Terry, by which liberty was
given him by the town to "setup a saw-mill on Mill Brook, upon the
place called the Lieutenant River, provided the saw-mill doth not damnify
the corn-mill." Balthasar De Wolf was one of the two witnesses. In 1688
' Caulkins's History of New London, p. 192.
That in the exigencies of life, in a new settlement, the useful trades were sometimes taken up by
men of good family, education and superior social station, is shown by the fact that, in 1642, Richard
and John Ogden, then of Stamford, Conn., contracted to build a stone church within the fort of New
Amsterdam, a famous work for the time. The great political and social prominence of John Ogden,
who afterwards founded towns, and governed all the English settlements in New Jersey, under Dutch
rule, as Burgomaster, will be seen in our Ogden-Johnson monograph.
* Eight-Mile River is in the north quarter of the town, several miles from the center of the village
of Lyme.
TSTotts on ttie iFamf Iff of lie 232aolf
Thomas Terry assigned this right to Edward DeWolf. In 1701 the
town gave "liberty to Edward DeWolf to set up a corn-mill upon Town
land somewhere near the saw-mill, by his house." The locality here referred
to is supposed to be the site now owned by the family of the late Mr. Oliver
Lay in what is now called Laysville, about two and a half miles from the
center of the village of Lyme. It will be seen from these records that
Edward De Wolf was a millwright, a builder and operator of two saw-mills
and a grist-mill, as well as a carpenter, and living near one of the mill-
seats ; he was probably assisted in his business by his sons. In July 1696
Edward signed a deed of gift to "my son Charles;" and, on the 26"" of
July I 709, another to " my son Stephen, his wife Elizabeth and my grand-
child Gideon." His tombstone in the Duck River Burying-Ground at
Lyme is the earliest one which now exists belonging to the DeWolf
family. The inscription reads :
" Here lieth the body of Mr. Edward DeWolf who died March y"* 24'", 1712, In
y" 66 year of his age."
His wife Rebecca survived him.
Of Balthasar's second son Simon (3) DeWolf (born about 1648-50)
only the records of his marriage and his death remain, except that it is
recorded that he had land laid out to him in Lyme in 1687, 1688 and
1689. He married Sarah daughter of John Lay Jun. and , and had
five sons and two daughters. He died 5"^ September 1695, aged about
forty-seven years.
In regard to Stephen (4) DeWolf (born as early as 1652), third son
of Balthasar, there is even less knowledge to be obtained. By his first
wife (name unknown) he had a son Edward ^ born in 1686; and by his
wife Hannah he had four sons and three daughters. In December
1776 he had a lot of twenty-four and a half acres laid out to him "on
Lefflenant's River," bounded westerly by lands of Edward DeWolf. He
died in 1702, and his Will was proved in 1703.
131'
Notes on tJje iFamf Iff of Br miolt
A family of the early De Wolfs, probably one of the sons of Balthasar
and his descendants, lived near the upper end of "the Street," on the east
side. Their well still exists in the lot between the houses of Mr. J. P.
Van Bergen and Mr. W. B. Tooker. Other members of the family owned
all, or part, of the Meeting-house Hills, and lived on or near them. One
of these was a Benjamin, probably the same as " Benjamin DcWolf "
who in 1730-31 "acted as Society'-s clerk," and who "belonged to the
committee to make arrangements for building a new Meeting-House in
1737;" who was also selected "to entertain the committee of the General
Court to ascertain the place whereon to erect a new Meeting-House." In
1 744 Rev. Mr. Parsons registers a vote of the church that the council
agreed upon by the church and certain brethren may be entertained at
Mr. Simeon De Wolf's, "provided he will take the trouble of it." These
persons would not have been selected to entertain some of the leading men
of the State, members of the General Court and pastors of churches, if
they had not been men of good social standing, living in good-sized and
well provided houses, in the vicinity of the meeting-house. In 1771
Stephen De Wolf, great grandfather of the present Lyme family, built a
house four or five miles east of the village of Lyme, on land which
belonged to his wife Theody Anderson ; and till recently the homes of the
Lyme family have been in that house and another in the same neighborhood.
It is impossible now, and probably always will be, to learn more than
the few facts we have given in regard to Balthasar De Wolf and his imme-
diate family. They were not among the large landholders, though the
sales and bequests made by Balthasar and his sons and grandsons, of lands
which had belonged to him, show that they had a good landed estate ; nor,
so far as appears from the records, were they conspicuous in the affairs of
the town. But there was some condition or quality, either in education,
character, family respectability, personal attraction, or other "unknown
quantity," which enabled them to marry into some of the best families in
Lyme and the neighboring towns. The early settlers of Lyme brought
Notts on tfie jfatnils of Wt mxoit
12, 13
with them English traditions and habits of social life : differences of social
grade between the families were accepted from the first, and have been
maintained ever since. This is another strong proof that Balthasar was
not of any other nationality than their own : with their strong insular
prejudices it is difficult to conceive that these families should have so
. soon received as one with themselves a foreigner and his family.
Lieut. Thomas Lee, who by or before 1680 married Mary daughter of
Balthasar De Wolf, was next to the first Matthew Griswold the largest
landholder and most leading man in Lyme. As we have already said,
she, when left a widow, became the second wife of the second Matthew
Griswold, a man of good family and large estate, the principal man of the
town. His son, afterwards Judge John Griswold, married her daughter
Hannah Lee, who became the mother of Governor Matthew Griswold,
and ancestress of all the Blackball line of Griswolds. The family-names
of the wives of Edward and Stephen DeWolf and those of their sons
are not recorded, except in one case, in which it is stated that Edward's
son Benjamin 3 married Susannah Douglass of New London, daughter of
one of the most respectable early settlers.
Fuller records of the names in Simon's family are given than of the
other two brothers ; which may be accounted for by the fact that his mar-
riage to Sarah Lay daughter of the second John Lay, one of the great
landholders of the town, established his branch in easier circumstances
than those of the other brothers. His daughter Phoebe ^ married Joseph
Mather, son of Richard Mather of Lyme, great grandson of the dis-
tinguished scholar and gentleman Rev. Richard Mather of England, who
settled in Dorchester, Mass. Simon* son of his son Josiah^ married Lucy
Calkins daughter of Deacon Hugh Calkins, a Deputy to the General
Court and an influential man in New London.
Simon's son Josiah married Anna daughter of Serg. Thomas Water-
man, one of the original proprietors of Norwich, Conn., a man of sub-
stance, whose wife Miriam Tracy, daughter of Thomas Tracy, a wealthy
tNTotes on tfie iFamflff of mt Wiolt
and prominent original proprietor of Norwich, was of the same high
descent which we have given in our Griswold monograph as that of Fanny-
Rogers wife of Governor Roger Griswold.
Simon's son DanieP married Phoebe daughter of Capt. Reynold
Marvin, grandson of Reynold Marvin the first, from England, who
belonged to one of the wealthiest of the early leading families in Lyme.
He died very soon. His young widow afterwards married Nathaniel
Kirtland of Saybrook, son of John Kirtland who was one of the principal
early settlers of that town. This second marriage of Daniel's widow led
to those of Nathan and Simeon DeWolf of the next generation, after-
wards of Nova Scotia, who married two sisters of the Kirtland family.
John 3 DeWolf, second son of Simon, gave his share of "the land from
[his] honored grandfather Balthasar and [his] honored father Simon to
[his] brother Josiah ;" and probably died unmarried.
Josiah's marriage to Anna Waterman brought still other property to
i6 him. His eldest son, known as "Josiahf*^ Jun.," married Martha daughter
of William Ely, the social standing of whose emigrant grandfather
Richard Ely, who married the widow of Major John Cullick, a sister
of Col. Fenwick, and held a high position in the colony, is well known.
Josiah's wife seems to have brought with her, as the natural effect of
her good blood, a higher ambition ; her youngest son, Daniel,* was sent
to Yale College, and graduated there in 1747 ; and she may be supposed
to have influenced the father of Nathan De Wolf, who was graduated at
Yale in 1743, to give his son a college-education.
Daniel son of Josiah married Azubah Lee, whose father William Lee
was a grandson of Lieut. Thomas Lee, the important first settler of Lyme
of whom we have spoken. He died very soon after his marriage, leaving
18, 19 two little boys, Elias^ and Daniel.^ He lies buried next to his mother,
near the Griswolds, in the Duck River Burying-Ground at Lyme. Their
epitaphs are as follows :
"Here lies the body of Mrs. Anna the wife of Mr. Josiah DeWolf, who died
Dec. 21" 1752, In the 63'' year of her age."
Notes on tf}t :ffmnnn of Ur WioU
"Here lies the body of Mr. Daniel De Wolf, A.M., died Oct. lo"' 1752, In his
26"' year."
As the tree is known by its fruit, we are left to draw our chief infer-
ences in regard to the traits of mind and character of Balthasar De Wolf
and his children from what we can learn of their descendants. Never rich,
the divisions and subdivisions of their lands among successive generations
would soon have made them poor. But it does not appear that any of
them waited for that fate. Very few graves of the earlier generations can
be found, and nearly all their descendants, in all the generations, went away
from Lyme. Of all the large families of Balthasar's three sons, and of his
many grandsons, only four male members of the family of his name now
20-22 live in Lyme — Messrs. John Anderson, Roger Williams, George Winthrop
223^ and Jeremiah E., De Wolf, prosperous and respectable business-men, and
useful in the town. There must have been an early energy and ambition
in the family, which carried them away from their birthplace in search of
adventures, or to better their fortunes, and made them always ready for
ventures by sea or land, in war or peace. In the old times, before business
became centralized in the large cities. New London was a thriving shipping-
port, and in Lyme vessels were built which went out to many markets,
chiefly in the West Indies, and brought back cargoes to its wharves.
Probably by these means Charles De Wolf made his " venture " to the
island of Guadeloupe, where he finally married, and, prospering, became
the founder of the wealthy and distinguished Rhode Island family of
De Wolf. Others going out to new regions for war, returned to them
afterwards in peace, to make new homes. Among these were the founders
of the Nova Scotia branch. Simeon De Wolf having been appointed,
in March 1745, "an armourer" in the expedition for the capture of
Louisburg, under Maj. Gen. Roger Wolcott, he and others of the
family were easily led there again by the special offers of the British
Government after the removal of the Acadians from Nova Scotia.^ Their
' For a farther account of the Lyme einigration to Nova Scotia see our Introduction.
Notes on tfje iFawflj? of mt Wiolf
descendants have been eminently respectable, and many have held and
are holding very high positions in the Canadian Provinces and in
England.
There are certain branches of our family of De Wolf, descendants of
Balthasar, of which we have more information than of the others.
Respecting these we now give some genealogical and biographical notes,
furnished by themselves.
The history of the De Wolfs of Nova Scotia has been sketched for
us by Dr. James Ratchford De Wolf of Wolfville, N. S. — one of the
most prominent members of 'that family — and by Rev. Arthur Wentworth
Hamilton Eaton of Boston, Mass. We are happy to incorporate into our
record the communications of both.
Dr. De Wolf writes as follows :
" The first settlers of the township of Horton, in Nova Scotia, came
from Connecticut, in 1 760, having with commendable caution previously
sent a committee to examine and report upon the state of the country
whence the hostile Acadians had been expelled. Longfellow has used a
poet's license in portraying the inoffensive character of the Acadians, and
in describing the hardships and sufferings incident to their transportation.
The act of expulsion was doubtless a cruel one, but it was a necessary
result of their own conduct, after every means of conciHation had been
exhausted. It was an act, too, of the colonial authorities, and not of the
British Government.
" ' Governor Lawrence's proclamation inviting colonists to occupy the fertile
lands thus vacated had been widely circulated, and met an early response.
" ' New England colonists of that period had been trained in habits of reflection,
forecast, industry and self-reliance, being voluntary exiles seeking the realization of
an idea, and neither peasants nor soldiers, but a substantial yeomanry.
"' They were virtually independent — a republic, but by no means a democracy.
They chose their governor and all their rulers from among themselves, made their
136
Kotts on tijt iFamflg of Br mioif
23-25
own government, and paid for it ; supported their own clergy, defended themselves,
and educated themselves.
"'The cement of common interests, hopes and duties, compacted the
people like a rock of conglomerate.' " '
'hole
" By men of this stamp the townships of Horton and Cornwalhs were
settled more than twenty years before the loyahst emigration to Nova
Scotia at the close of the American War.
"A portion of the early settlers, becoming dissatisfied, returned to
New England. A succession of bad seasons discouraged the more ardent
adventurers, while the inroads of the aborigines terrified others. Jehiel
De Wolf had a serious encounter with one of these, and came off victorious.
" Commercial intercourse was kept up with the neighboring States,
the trade being chiefly with Eastport and Boston.
" Intermarriages between the new settlers and those to whom they had
been affianced before the exodus were not unfrequent. Young men
resorted to New England to claim their brides, and brought them to their
new home in Acadia, while the daughters of the emigrants were sought in
marriage by residents of the Eastern States. Even to the present day this
form of reciprocity has not died out.
"The original grant to the inhabitants who settled the township of
Horton was issued 19"' July 1759, having been first submitted to the dele-
gates from Connecticut for their approval. The time of occupation was
however deferred until the following spring, owing to depredations by
French and Indians.' By ii**^ May 1760 forty families had arrived.
" This grant comprised one hundred thousand acres, in two hundred
shares, of which one hundred and thirty were allotted as follows : one and a
half shares each to thirty heads of families, one share each to sixty, and a half
share each to forty-nine settlers. The names of all are stated in the grant.
"On the 29"' May 1761 this was cancelled, on application from the
inhabitants, and a new grant made out affording clearer legal titles to the
individual grantees.
" Among the early settlers of Horton were three of the descendants
of Balthasar De Wolf — Simeon, Nathan and Jehiel — who emigrated to
« " Characteristics of New England Colonists of the Eighteenth Century— Parkman."
■■ " Government-records at Halifax."
Notes on tfie iFatnilff of Be 2molf
Grand Pr6 in 1761, a year later than the original settlers, and doubtless by
their invitation.
" Nathan De Wolf, who had been graduated Master of Arts at Yale
College in 1 743, practiced law and conveyancing. Nearly all the deeds
registered in King's County at that period were prepared in his office, as
were also the earhest Wills on record.
" Each of the three De Wolfs, Simeon, Nathan and Jehiel, received
on the 29*'' May 1764 a first-class allotment of five hundred acres, consist-
ing of wood-land, farm-lots and dyked land, all of which are clearly desig-
nated in the survey of the township. On the 30*'' September of the same
year they received licenses to alienate four hundred and fifty acres each, a
privilege not accorded at that time to ordinary settlers.
" Availing themselves of the privilege accorded earlier to them than
to any others, they disposed of nine-tenths of their several allotments —
retaining, however, the most valuable portion, situated near the CornwalHs
River and the Grand Pr6, where the picturesque and thriving village of
Wolfville, named in their honour, now stands as a proof of their foresight
and industry. The census-returns of 1770 show that their farms were then
well stocked, and their produce of all kinds abundant.
"Each of these three De Wolfs brought his wife and family to his
new home.
" Of their descendants some removed from Horton to other parts of
the Province. Benjamin, the eldest son of Simeon, allying himself in
marriage with the Otis family (one of the best families in New England),
settled in Windsor, formerly known as Fort Edward. He acquired large
possessions, and became the founder of the Windsor branch of the family.
His brother James removed to Liverpool, Queens Co., where descendants
of his remain to this day.
" Of the other families some members removed to Yarmouth and
engaged in ship-building ; some to Cumberland, where they had extensive
landed properties ; while others settled in Saint Stephen and in Shepody,
New-Brunswick ; and others, again, became residents of Maine and New
York. More recently the several families had representatives in every
quarter of the globe.
" Of those who remained in Nova Scotia several were elected at
various times as Members of the Provincial Parliament. Others we find
138
ttCotrs on tije iFamflff of Bt WLolf
filling the position of Justices of the Peace, Assistant Judges of the County
Court, Judges of Probate, High Sheriffs, Coroners, Post-masters, Collec-
tors of Customs and Excise ; and one a Member of the first Executive
Council of his native Province. Ten or more of their descendants became
medical practitioners, of whom three w^ere graduates of Edinburgh Uni-
versity. The Church has been the chosen profession of some, while others
have been members of the Bar. The greater number have been engaged
in agricultural or commercial pursuits, or in the various trades and handi-
crafts. As to the political status of the De Wolfs, they have been Tories
from the time any of us can remember.
" The American De Wolfs, whether of New England or Canada, are
noted for their habits of enterprise and industry, their love of change and
adventure, their freedom from ostentation, their domestic virtues and their
numerous progeny ; as also for their healthiness, and the frequent instances
of longevity among them.
26, 27
" Of the more prominent of the descendants of Balthasar De Wolf
in Nova Scotia were Nathan, Benjamin and Elisha, all natives of Connec-
ticut ; and, of a later date, the Honourable Thomas Andrew Strange
De Wolf. Respecting each of these we will now add some genealogical
and biographical items of information, as follows :
"NATHAN (24) DeWOLF, born at Saybrook, Conn., in 1720;
was graduated A.M. at Yale College, New Haven, in 1743; and engaged
in the practice of law. He had previously 'owned the covenant' (or
joined the Congregational Church), 7*^" June 1741.
"He married, in 1748, Lydia Kirtland, who was born at Saybrook,
28"" October 1721, daughter of John Kirtland by his second wife Lydia
Belden.
"They removed to Horton in 1761, with their children :
" I. Lucilla ; who married Lebbeus Harris.
"2. Edward, born in 1752.
" 3. Loran, born 7"" April 1 754.
"4. Elisha, born s**" May 1756.
" 5. Nathan.
"Nathan De Wolf married, 2""^ 12*'' October 1770, Anna Witter
(widow) n^e Prentis.
139"'
"Nottu on ifft iFamf Iff of m Wiolt
" The children of this marriage were :
33 " I. Gurdon, born ii*^ September 1771; who died in 1772.
34 "2. Sarah, born lo"" October 1773; who married : i^', Eli Perkins;
and, 2**'^ Joel Farnsworth.
35 "3. Jonathan; lost at sea.
" Nathan De Wolf, at the time of the census of 1770, was a success-
ful tiller of the soil. His legal practice did not interfere with his agricul-
tural pursuits. He was for many years senior Justice of the Peace for
King's County, N. S., having received his commission 13"" March 1767.
He was Registrar of Probate, and took an active part in all public affairs.
He died at Horton, 21^' March 1789, aged sixty-nine years.
" His residence was on the east side of the main post-road, opposite
■to the present (1887) Baptist church, at Wolfville.
"The census-returns of 1770 give a detailed account of his farm-
produce and stock, while the records of his native town show that he
owned several tracts of land in Connecticut prior to his removal.
"BENJAMIN (26) DeWOLF, son of the emigrant Simeon, was
born at Lyme, Conn., 14"^ October 1744, and baptized there 25*'' Novem-
ber following. He married, 16"" March 1 769, Rachel Otis of Scituate, Mass.
"Their children were :
" I. Sarah Hersey Otis, born 14"" May 1770; who married Major
Nathaniel Ray Thomas, Collector of Customs at Windsor, N. S.
37 "2. Rachel Hersey, born 7*'' January 1772; who died in March
following.
38 "3. Rachel Otis, born i^' February 1773 ; who married, 14^'' October
[802, Honourable James Eraser.
39 "4. John, born i^* June 1775.
40 "5. Sjisanna Isabella, born 17*'' June 1776; who died 25*^ September
41 "6. Frances Mary, born 23'^ February 1778 ; who died 17"" November
1791.
42 " 7. Isabella Amelia, born 2'^ October 1779 ; who married, i'* August
182 1, Capt. John M^'Kay, of H. M. 27"" Regiment ; and died s. p.
43 "8. Harriot Sophia, born 8"" September 1781; who married, 17""
September 1799, Rev. W. C. King; and died 7*^ July 1807.
"Nottu on tilt iFamilj? of Bt SSIolf
" Benjamin De Wolf was the founder of the Windsor branch of the
De Wolf family. He was one of the most successful men of business of
Hants County. He owned extensive tracts of land, nearly seven thousand
acres in all With a single exception he was the highest tax-payer in
Windsor.
"He was Member of Parliament from 1785 to 1798, in which latter
year he was appointed Justice of the Peace. For many years he was High
Sheriff of Hants County. He granted his slaves their freedom, but they
preferred to remain in his service. He died 2^ September 18 19, aged
seventy-five. Mrs. DeWolf died 13"" August 1818, aged seventy-eight.
She was aunt to Judge William Henry Otis Haliburton of Nova
Scotia.
" The children of Hon. James Fraser and Rachel Otis (38) daughter
of Hon. Benjamin DeWolf were:
44 "I- Sarah Rachel, born 7"" September 1803; who married,
14"" October 1824, Hon. Charles Stephen Gore, Commander of H. M.
Forces at Halifax ; and survived him. Lady Gore died at Hampton
Court Palace in 1880. The present Countess of ErroU is her daughter
45 Eliza Amelia.
46 "2. James De JVolf, born 25"' February 1S05 ; who married, i" May
1839, Catharine daughter of Hon. Charles Prescott of Cornwallis, N. S.;
and died 26"^ July 1852.
47 " 3. Harriet Amelia, born 7"" December 1806 ; who married, 28"" July
'1826, Lieut, (afterwards Colonel) Dixon of H. M. 81"' Regiment; and
died 30"" March 1880.
48 "4. Amelia Isabella, born 28"' February 1808; who died 13"' May
1837-
49 "5. Frances Mary, born 20"' October 1809; who died 10"' January
1827.,
50 "6. Benjamin De Wolf, M.D., born 4"' March 1812 ; who resides at
Windsor (1887).
51 "7. Catharine, born 16"' July 1813 ; who married, 16"^ July 1835,
Rev. Thomas George Suther, afterwards Bishop of Aberdeen ; and died
at Aberdeen, i*' April 1880.
52 "8. Mary Hidbert, born 21'' February 1815 ; who died 27"' February
1822.
Hi^ottn on tJje iFamUff of mt Wiolf
"ELISHA (27) De WOLF, son of the emigrant Nathan, was born
at Saybrook, Conn., 5"' May 1756. He married, i'' September 1779,
Margaret daughter of Captain Thomas Ratchford of Cornwallis.
" Their children were :
53 "I. Lydia Kir t land, born 14*'' July 1780; who died 17*'' March
784.
54 "2. William, born 5"" December 1781.
55 "3- Olivia, born 23'^ September 1783; who married Capt. Joseph
Barss.
56 "4. Tho7nas Leonard, born 19*'' December 1785.
57 "5- James Ratchford, born 14*'' September 1787.
58 "6. Sophia Henrietta, born 13* August 1789; who married Simon
Fitch Esq. of Horton.
59 " 7. Nancy, born 25*'' July 1791; who died young.
60 "8. Amie Ratchford, born 21^' December 1792; who married : 1°',
Thomas Woodward ; and, 2^''', Charles Randall.
61 "9. Thomas Andrew Strange, born 19*'' April 1795.
62 "10. Margaret Maria, born 23'^ September 1798; who married : i^\
James Calkin ; and, 2^^'^, Joseph Starr.
63 " II. Elisha, born 14"' March 1801.
64 " 12. Mary Lucilla, bom 13"" March 1803.
65 " 13. Desiah, who died young.
"Elisha De Wolf was High Sheriff of King's County from 1784 to
1789, and was elected to Parliament 26"" March 1793, and again ii**"
February 1819. He was Post-master, Collector of Excise, and Justice of
the Peace.
" For many years Mr. DeWolf was assistant Justice of the County
Court of King's County. He was a landed proprietor, and in his
earlier years was extensively engaged in agricultural and commercial
pursuits.
"Judge DeWolf had the honour of entertaining, at his mansion in
Wolfville, His Royal Highness Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, father of
Her Majesty Queen Victoria.
"His residence, which he built in 1779, is still in good preservation,
and is now occupied by William O. Haliburton Esq. Here the worthy
'Sotta on tf|( iFamfls of Bt WLolt
judge and his estimable lady spent nearly sixty years of their married life,
and their unbounded hospitality is well remembered at the present day.
He died 30*'' November 1837. His widow died 25"* March 1852, aged
ninety years, having never changed her residence from the dwelling to
which she went as a bride seventy-three years previously.
"THOMAS ANDREW STRANGE (61) DeWOLF, son of
Elisha, and grandson of the emigrant Nathan, was born at Horton, ig""
April 1795. He was educated at Amherst, N. S. He married, 30""
December 181 7, Nancy daughter of Colonel James Ratchford, N. S. M.
of Parrsboro'.
"Their children were :
66 '' \. James Ratchford, born ig"" November 1818;" our esteemed
correspondent, to whom we are indebted for this interesting paper.
67 "2. Frederic Augustus, hoxvi 29*^ August 1820; who died 13"' April
1821.
68 " 3. Edwin, born 29*'' June 1822 ; who died 26"" March 1880.
69 "4. Thomas Ratchford, born ii"" September 1824; who died
5*^ April 1880.
70 "5. Mai-y Sophia, born 25"' September 1826; who married W.
Howe Smith of Montreal; and died 16"' July 1865.
71 " 6. Margaret Maria, born 7"" May 1828 ; who married Chipman W.
Smith of Shediac, N. B.; and died 25"^ March 1881.
72 "7. Thomas Andrew Strange, born i" July 1830; who died
lo"" May 1832.
11 " 8. £/isa Anne, born 6"^ October 183 1 ; who died 27**" March 1834.
74 " (). John Clark, born 10^'' January 1834; who died 24*'' August
1868
10. Nancy Allison, born 8"* June 1836 ; who died 26"' July 1S43.
11. Charles Frederic, born 29"" May 1837; who died 8"" February
•jy " 12. Elisha Ratchford, born 28"" July 1839 ; who died in April 1840.
78 "13. Caroline Amelia, born i"' October 1840; who married: i",
T. Aubrey Crane ; and, 2*^'^, Rev. Benjamin Hills.
79 " 14. William Andrew, born 21'' March 1843; who died 6"' June
1869.
"Nottn on tije Sfumilp of mt Wiolt
"The Honourable Thomas Andrew Strange De Wolf was a man of
sterling integrity, of amiable disposition, and of untiring industry. He
was engaged in his early life in mercantile pursuits, but, although actively
employed in business, found time to devote his earnest attention to the
well-being of all with whom he was associated. He was for nearly sixty
years a zealous and consistent member of the Wesleyan body of Christians,
among whom he held various positions of trust and responsibility. In
1837 he was induced to accept the position of Representative of his native
County in the local Parliament, and while in the Legislature was noted for
his unflinching adherence to principle. ■
't He was appointed, lo"" February 1838, a Member of the first Exec-
utive Council of Nova Scotia, and was re -appointed when that body was
reduced in number.
" He resigned his seat in Council on the introduction, as a government-
measure, of a qualification-bill rendering non-residents eligible to seats in
Parliament. He opposed the measure strenuously in the Legislature, and
public meetings were held in the country-districts, applauding his resolute
course of action, and conveying the thanks of the community.
" He was for many years Collector of Excise for Nova Scotia, and
had his residence at Halifax. Later in life he retired to his native place,
where he spent his declining years in peaceful enjoyment.
" He died at Wolfville, 21'' September 1878, in his eighty-third year,
universally respected and esteemed.
"JAMES RATCHFORD (66) De WOLF, son of Hon. Thomas
Andrew Strange, married, 17"' November 1846, Eleanor Reade daughter
of William and Mary Sandifer (n^e Pate) of Cambridge, England.
" Their children were :
80 " I- -E^^eu Ma7id, born 25"' October 1847; who died 8*'' January 1859,
at Mount Hope, Dartmouth.
" 2. George Henry Horsfall, born 16"' December 1849, ^^ Halifax.
82 "3. Mary Sophia Ratchford, born 20*^ July 185 1 ; who married
C. Sidney Harrington, Q. C, Barrister, etc., of Halifax.
83 "4. Walter Louis Etienne, born is"" June 1855; who died
29"" December 1858.
Notes on tf)t ffnmilvf of lit Wiolf
" James Ratchford De Wolf was born at Wolfville, N. S. and edu-
cated at the Horton Institution, afterwards known as Acadia College.
After having studied medicine with Dr. E. F. Harding of Windsor, N. S.,
he proceeded to Edinburgh, at which University he was graduated M.D.
in 1 841, as also L.M.; and he took the diploma of the Royal College of
Surgeons, Edinburgh. He was while there House Surgeon to the
Maternity Hospital, Clinical Clerk to Professor Sir Robert Christison, and
Member of the Medical Society of Paris, and subsequently first Colonial
Member of the Medico-psychological Association of England. After
practicing two years at Kentville, N. S., he removed to Brigus, Newfound-
land ; and, returning thence to Halifax in 1844, he continued the general
practice of his profession in that city until he was appointed, in 1857, first
Medical Superintendent of the Nova Scotia Hospital for the Insane, a post
which he held for more than twenty years.
" He was successively President of the N. S. Philanthropic Society
(1849) ^"d of the N. S. Medical Society. Sub.sequently, 1871 to 1875,
he was Professor of Medical Jurisprudence in Dalhousie University,
Halifax ; resigning with several of the Faculty when the Medical College
was separated from the University."
Rev. Mr. Eaton's statements, which are more brief, relate chiefly to
his own line of descent, from Jehiel De Wolf, one of the three of the
name, as we have seen, who emigrated to Nova Scotia. He says :
"Jehiel (25) De Wolf (born about 1724) married, about 1752, Phoebe
daughter of Elisha and Mary (Harding) Cobb of Eastham (now Wellfleet),
Mass., a very sweet and attractive woman. They lived in Killingworth,
Conn., but in 1761 went to Nova Scotia. He died about 1798; she died
about 1800. Their children were :
84 "I. Phcebe, born December 12, 1752; who married, in September
1770, Ezekiel Comstock of Horton, N. S.
85 " 2. Jehiel, born about 1755 ; who married : i*', July 15, 1777, Eliza-
beth Martin ; and, 2'">', Anna Witter.
86 "3. Margaret, born about 1757; who married: i"', April 14, 1774,
Samuel Witter ; and, 2'"'', James Brown.
87 "4. Oliver, born about 1759; vvho married Amy Bishop.
Kotes on tlie iFamUw of mtmoli
"5. Daniel, born May 28, 1761 ; who married, March 26, 1794, Lydia
Kirtland Harris.
"6. Jerusha; who married, March 2, 1778, Peter Martin.
90 " 7. Eunice, born in 1766; who married, May 9, 1782, Caleb Forsyth.
91 " 8. Lydia, born in 1768 (my great grandmother).
92
97
" Of this family DANIEL (88) was a very prominent man in Nova
Scotia. In the assessment-roll of 1791 he is rated as a first-class farmer,
and taxed at the highest rate. In 1806 he was elected Representative to
the Provincial Assembly from the township of Horton, and again in 181 1.
He was also Justice of the Peace and Coroner for King's Co. On the
31"* May 1 8 10 he and his brother Oliver took out a grant of 1950 acres
of crown-land at River Philip.
" Jehiel's (85) family were well known ; and his children connected
themselves, in marriage, with the well known families of Ratchford, Chip-
man, Starr and Denison. Eliza Caroline Harrington, granddaughter of
Jehiel and Elizabeth (Martin) De Wolf, married, in Eastport, Me., Samuel
B. Wadsworth, uncle of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. One of his
daughters, Charlotte, married a Vanderpoel of New York ; and another,
Hannah, married Jonathan Bartlett of Eastport.
"My great grandmother, Lydia (91), a woman of noble character,
married : i^', in 1794, Samuel Starr, of the prominent family of that name ;
2^^^, September i, 1808, Cyrus Peck, one of the early emigrants from
Lyme to Nova Scotia; and, 3'*''', June 24, 1820, Moses Stevens. The
children of the first marriage were :
" I. Maria, born January i, 1795.
" 2. Henry, born December 15, 1796; who died in 1822, unmarried.
"Maria Starr married, June 19, 1813, Otho Hamilton, born in San-
ford, Maine, and had :
" I. Susan Eliza, born March 10, 18 14.
" 2. Minetta Bath, born March 15, 1816.
" 3. Henry Starr, born August 18, 1818.
"4. Margaret Maria, born February 6, 1821 ; who married, Feb-
ruary 19, 1857, Brenton Haliburton fourth son of Hon. James D. Harris,
M. L. C.
TJCotes on tJie iFawUff of mt WLolt
loi " 5. Ot/io, born August 2, 1823.
102 " d. Josephine Collins, born December 11, 1826; who married: i",
December i, 1849, John Rufus Eaton of Kentville, N. S.; and, 2'"'',
August 5, 1863, Rev. D. Stuart Hamilton, D. C. L.
103 "7. Amia Augusta Willoiighby, born September 11, 1828; who
married, February 15, 1849, William Eaton, Commissioner in the Supreme
Court, Inspector of Schools, Town Clerk, Justice of the Peace, Secretary
of the Provincial Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition ; and died Sep-
tember 23, 1883.^ They had children, as follows :
104 " I. Arthur Weutivorth Haviilton, born December 10, 1849.
105 "2. Frank Herbert, born July 29, 1851 ; now Professor of Mathe-
matics and Physics in the Provincial Normal School of Truro, N. S.
106 " 3. Anna Morton, born January i, 1853 ; who married, December 6,
1882, George Albert Leighton of Truro, N. S.
107 "4- Rufus William, born August 23, 1856.
[08 "5. Harry Have lock, born January 23, 1858; nowBarrister-at-Law
in Dighton, Kansas.
109 "6. Leslie Seymour, born May 17, 1865.
no " 7. Emily Maria Hamilton, born February 14, 1868."
The eldest of these children (104) is our valued correspondent of
Boston. He was graduated at the Newton Theological Seminary of
Massachusetts in 1876, and at Harvard University in 1880. On the 8"'
of June 1884 he was admitted to Deacon's orders in the Prot. Episc.
Church, by the Bishop of Indiana, having been previously in charge of
the church of the Holy Innocents in Indianapolis. He was made Priest,
April 22, 1885, by Assistant Bishop Henry C. Potter of New York, to
which diocese he belongs.
" Of Nathan's (24) family none have been more prominent than his
son Judge Elisha De Wolf; and Dr. James Ratchford De Wolf, for many
years Superintendent of the Hospital for the Insane at Dartmouth, N. S.
Several of Nathan's descendants are leading merchants in England and
* Genealogical Sketch of the Nova Scotia Eatons. Compiled by Rev. Arthur Wentworth Eaton
. . . Halifax, N. S., 1885.
t^oUs on tfie iFamf Iff of 3ie Wiolt
elsewhere. A female descendant, Alice Starr Chipman, is the wife of
Hon. Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley, C.B., K.C.M.G., late Minister of
Finance, Canada,* and the present Lieut.-Governor of New Brunswick.
" Nathan De Wolf married Lydia Kirtland, and had Elisha ; who mar-
112 ried Margaret Ratchford, and had William ; who married Amelia Fitch,
113 and had Mary Elizabeth ; who married Zachariah Chipman of St. Stephen,
N. B., and had Alice Starr Chipman.
" Of Simeon's (23) descendants there have been some prominent
persons in the female line. The present Countess of Erroll is the great
granddaughter of Benjamin De Wolf of Windsor, N. S., son of Simeon
— a daughter of this Benjamin, Rachel Otis (38), having married Hon.
James Eraser of Halifax ; and Sarah Rachel Eraser, of this marriage,
having married General the Hon. Sir Charles Stephen Gore, G.C.B.,
K.H.; whose daughter Eliza Amelia (45) married the Baron Kilmarnock
and Earl of Erroll."'"
114
For the following notes on the Rhode Island branch of the family of
DeWolf we are chiefly indebted to Dr. John James DeWolf of Provi-
dence, R. I., son of the late Professor De Wolf of Brown University ;
Mrs. Robert Shaw Andrews of Bristol, R. I., his half sister; Mr. John
De Wolf, their nephew, formerly of Bristol, R. I., now of New York ; and
Rev. A. W. H. Eaton of Boston. Having received them in a discon-
nected form, we here use our own words somewhat freely.
This branch sprang from Charles De Wolf, said to have been born in
1695, who "went from Lyme, Conn., to the Island of Guadeloupe as a
millwright." He married, March 31, 171 7, on that island, Margaret Potter,
an Englishwoman, who never came to this country, by whom he had :
' A Geneal. and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage.
Burke. . . . London, 1887, p. 1601.
'« Id., p. 510.
By Sir Bernard .
Notes on tfie iFaiwIlff of Be WLolf
115 I. Snuon, bom March 8, 1 718-19, 1
116 2. Prudence, bom April 26, 1721, -"who never came to America."
117 3. Sarah, born September 27, 1 724, J
18 4. Mark Anthony, born November 8, 1726 ; who married, August 25,
1744, at Bristol, R. I., Abigail Potter of Bristol.
" The Abigail Potter who married Mark Anthony De Wolf was of a
well known Bristol family. Her husband was brought to Bristol by Col.
Simeon Potter, her brother. Mark Anthony De Wolf was educated at a
French school on the island, and wrote and spoke both in that language
and in English. He was Col. Potter's secretary, and accompanied him on
many of his famous buccaneering expeditions, and afterwards commanded
ships belonging to him. He at one time lived in Killingly, then went to
Swansea, and then to Bristol, where he died. He was well-off previous
to the War of the Revolution, but during the bombardment and sacking
of the town lost most of his property. His wife is said to have been a
woman of noble character. . . . Most of their children " — eight sons
and five daughters — "grew to be men and women, and as a rule were dis-
tinguished for the elegance of their manners, and great beauty of person.
Most of them acquired great wealth, and their descendants in the next
generation inherited their personal qualities. . . ."
The children of Capt. Mark Anthony (118) and Abigail (Potter)
De Wolf were :
iig I. Charles, born February 25, 1745; a Sea-captain and Merchant;
who married : i'\ April 28, 1771, Mary daughter of Rev. Barnabas Taylor
of Bristol ; 2'^'-^, Sophia Rogerson ; and, 3""^, Abigail Greene.
2. Mark A?rthony, born January 9, 1747; who married, August 11,
1768, Elizabeth daughter of Capt. William Martin of Bristol; and was
lost at sea in December 1779.
121 3. Margaret, born September 9, 1748; who married Royal Dimond.
122 4. Abigail, born October i, 1750; who died in infancy.
23 5. Simon, horn November 12, 1753; who was lost at sea in December
1779.
124 6. Abigail 2^, born July i, 1755; who married: i", Perley Howe,
TjCotes on tur dFannilfi of 2Be ffl^olC
grandfather of Bishop Mark Anthony De Wolf Howe, of the Diocese
of Central Pennsylvania; and, 2*^'^, Jeremiah Ingraham.
25 7. Samuel, born April 17, 1757; who died at sea, October i, 1778,
on board the privateer " Oliver Cromwell."
126 8. Nancy, born March 3, 1759.
127 (). John, born March 18, 1760; "a Merchant and Ship-owner;"
who married Susan Reynolds of Wrentham, Mass.; and died in 1841.
"HON. JOHN De WOLF was for a long time a Member of the
Legislature, Judge of Common Pleas and Presidential Elector ; and was
considered the best farmer in Rhode Island. He was tall, fine-looking,
with light hair and blue eyes."
128 10. Lydia, born May 29, 1761 ; who married Atwood.
[29 II. William, born December 19, 1762 ; who married Charlotte Finney.
[30 12. Jar7tes, born March 18, 1763 ; "an opulent and enterprising Mer-
chant, and at one time Senator of the United States ;" who married Ann
(or Nancy) Bowman daughter of Lieut.-Gov. William Bradford of Rhode
Island ; and died in 1837.
13. Levi, born April 8, 1766; who married Lydia Smith, half sister
of the late Rt. Rev. Bishop Smith of Kentucky.
Of these children William and Levi also became merchants ; and all
of the sons, "when they reached middle life, retired upon farms, and ended
their days as farmers."
Capt. Charles (119) and Mary (Taylor) De Wolf had children "who
survived infancy " as follows :
132 I. Mary, born May 3, 1772.
133 2. Martha, born May 13, 1774; who married Thomas Warren, M.D.
34 3. Abigail, born March 6, 1776; who married Hersey Bradford.
135 4. George, born December 8, 1778 ; who married Charlotte Goodwin.
^Z^-il 5- Charles; who married Mary Goodwin. 6. William. By his
second marriage Capt. Charles had, with other children :
138 I. Lticia Emilia; who married Dr. Pardon Brownell of Hartford, Conn.
139 2. Eliza; who married William Vernon of Newport, R. I.
140 "Henry De Wolf Brownell of Hartford, who had some reputation
as a poet, was a grandson of Capt. Charles De Wolf. Of the same family
Kotes on tijr iFamtli? ot Be SIETolf
141 are Judge LeBaron Colt, United States District Judge, and Samuel
142 Pomeroy Colt, who was for several years Attorney General of Rhode Island,
great grandsons of Capt. Charles, and grandsons of George, De Wolf."
Hon. John (127), son of Capt. Mark Anthony and Abigail (Potter)
143 De Wolf, was the father of the late Professor John De Wolf, " who devoted
himself to literature and science, and was for many years Professor of
Chemistry in Brown University." Professor De Wolf was twice married :
first, to Elizabeth James, called the " Goddess of Beauty ;" and, secondly,
to Sylvia daughter of Rt. Rev. Alexander Viets Griswold. Of our valued
[44 correspondents, Dr. John James De Wolf of Providence is a son of the
45 first marriage ; Mrs. Robert Shaw (Eliza Viets) Andrews of Bristol is a
146 daughter of the second marriage; and Mr. John De Wolf of New York,
147 a son of Algernon Sidney De Wolf, is a grandson of Professor De Wolf
by the second marriage.
"PROFESSOR JOHN De WOLF," says his son Dr. J. J.
De Wolf, "was born in Bristol, R. I., 26"" February 1786, and died in the
same town 23'' February 1862. He entered Brown University in 1802,
but did not graduate. His chemical education was mostly obtained from
Dr. Robert Hare of Philadelphia. He was appointed Professor of Chem-
istry in 181 7, and for more than twenty years pursued a course of brilliant
success as a lecturer and experimenter. . . . During the later years of
his life he resided upon his farm in Bristol, occupied in the pursuits of
agriculture. He gave much time to reading and study. He became a dis-
tinguished scholar in the English, Latin and Greek classics, and was a
proficient in the Hebrew also. His works of history, poetry and belles-
lettres he read ; those of science he studied.
" In the course of his life he was frequently called upon to officiate
as orator at public anniversaries and before literary associations. His
addresses were always distinguished for their finished rhetoric and their
sparkling wit. . . .
" Prof. De W' olf possessed decided poetical talent, and in his earlier
years composed many fugitive pieces, which appeared in print from time to
time, but few of which have been preserved. Among the latter may be
"Nottu on tJje iFamUw of "Bt WioU
mentioned his paraphrase of the 148'^ Psahn, which was adopted in the
Hymnal of the Episcopal Church, and stands as No. 433."
" Another early poetical production of Professor De Wolf, written
during the war with Great Britain in 181 2, has been preserved, and may be
found in a volume of naval and patriotic odes published in 1813 . . .
a poem or song descriptive of the seizure and sufferings of American
seamen who were taken from our vessels by British cruisers, and impressed
into the British Navy. It is entitled ' The Youthful Sailor,' and American
seamen who were taken prisoners and confined in the famous Dartmoor
prison, in England, during the war, informed Professor De Wolf, after
their liberation and return home, that they often sung this song during
their imprisonment, and thereby excited the ire of the prison-officials, who
repeatedly forbade them to use it, but they continued to sing it nevertheless.
" The well known ' Life of Deacon Goodman, wherein is shown the
inconvenience of not having a musical ear' was written by Professor
De Wolf not many years before his death. It first appeared in a Boston
paper, and was extensively copied all over the Union.
" Professor De Wolf was not merely a literary man, but became a
highly scientific man, well versed in ethics, mathematics and astronomy,
and the various branches of natural philosophy, but more especially in
chemistry, his favorite department, to which he devoted the best years of
his life. . . ."^-
149
150
Hon. William (129), sixth son of Capt. Mark Anthony, De Wolf,
had a son Henry. This Henry married Anna Elizabeth Marston, by
whom he had :
1. William Frederick, born April 21, 181 1.
2. Anna Elizabeth, born Februarys, 1815; who married Nathaniel
Russell Middleton of Charleston, S. C.
The first verse reads:
" For farther particulai
—The Med. School . . .
1881, pp. 18-24.
" Angel bands, in strains sweet sounding,
Anthems to the Saviour raise ;
Host of heaven, his throne surrounding,
Hymn the great Creator's praise."
s respecting this eminent professor, see Rhode Island Hist. Tracts. No. 12.
in Brown University. ... By Charles W. Parsons, M.D. Providence,
tt^'otf s on tf|t iFiimflff of Be Wioif
51 3. Fitz-Hciiry, born February 28, 181 7.
52 4. Alexander Viets Griszvold, born in December 1819.
153 5. Abby, born April 26, 1822 ; who married Charles Dana Gibson.
54 6. Anna Cceilia ; who married John Barnard Swett of Boston, Mass.
\
55
Of these children, William Frederick was graduated Master of Arts
at Brown University in 1831, studied law, and in 1834 was admitted to the
Bar, " and became the partner of Mr. Burgess in the practice of his pro-
fession." On June lo"", 1835, he was married, in Providence, R. I., to
Margaret Padelford daughter of George R. Arnold, a merchant of that
city. He was made Bachelor of Laws by Brown University in 1835. In
1836 he began to practice his profession at Alton, 111. In 1846 he was
elected to the Legislature. In 1847 he removed to Chicago, where he filled
important offices until 1878. He was "an earnest Whig, and was fre-
quently mentioned as a suitable person for the offices of Lieut.-Governor
and Secretary of State." His eldest son, William, fell in the service of
his country, in the battle of The Wilderness, in 1862, as Lieut, of the 3''
U. S. Artillery — to whom his commanding officer alluded as the " hand-
some, gallant boy from Chicago, named DeWolf;" "his coolness and
gallantry, in the midst of no ordinary danger," were highly appreciated.
156
157
158
159
160
161
Hon. James (130), son of Capt. Mark Anthony, had by Ann (Brad-
ford) De Wolf five sons and five daughters :
1. James, born October 10, 1790; wiio married Julia Post of New
York.
2. Mary Ann, born April 14, 1795 ; who married : i", Raymond H.
J. Perry, a brother of Commodore Perry; and, 2'"^, Adjutant-General
William Hyslop Sumner of Massachusetts.
3. Francis LeBaroii, born December 2, 1797; who married Ellen
Post of New York.
4. Illark AntJio7iy, born September 28, 1799; who married Sophia
C. D. Chappotin of Providence, R. I.
5. William Henry, born May 15, 1802; who married Sarah Ann
daughter of Rev. Dr. Rogers of Philadelphia, Pa..
6. Harriet, born May 28, 1804; who married, October 11, 1822,
Jonathan Prescott Hall of Pomfret, Conn., who afterwards removed to
Kotes on tue iFamfli? of Be WioU
New York and was appointed U. S. District Attorney. He became
eminent in his profession, and died at Newport, R. I., s. p.
7. Catharine H., born July 16, 1806 ; who married Joshua Dodge of
Salem, Mass.
8. Nancy Bradford, born July 3, 1808; who married Fitz Henry
Homer of Boston, Mass.
9. William Bradford, born October 30, 18 10; who married,
October 22, 1834, Mary Russell daughter of Hon. John Soley of Boston,
Mass., " one of the most beautiful women ever seen," and was the father
of Mrs. General Lloyd Aspinwall of New York ; and died January
15, 1862.
\o. Josephine Maria, born September 4, 181 2; who married,
November 18, 1836, Charles Walley Lovett.
162
163
164
165
166
To these notes on the Rhode Island branch of the family we add
some extracts from very interesting recent letters of Mr. John De Wolf
now of New York.
" The most distinguished member of our branch of the family was
my grandfather Prof. John (143) De Wolf, who alone of our connection
(on that side) was a man of briUiant education, and a learned scholar, and,
when he chose to exert his abilities as an orator, was always sure of a large
and interested audience. It is said of him that, so sound were his views
and brilliant his addresses, he never failed to carry conviction to his hearers,
both on political and scientific subjects. His scientific attainments were
considered equal to those of any man of his time, and in chemistry, to
which he gave great attention, he was noted for the success of his experi-
ments, never disappointing an audience by failure to show the promised
result. At one time he destroyed a large quantity of diamonds, to prove
to his class in chemistry that they were composed of carbon. He was
fond of reading the Bible in Hebrew and Greek, and condemned all
English translations. He was also a close student of the Koran. He was
somewhat eccentric in his manners, strong in his feelings, and unsparing in
his denunciations of hypocrisy in any form. Utterly indifferent to appear-
ances and this world's goods, he seemed nevertheless to have gained the
Notes on tJie iFamflu of Bt Wiolf
respect of all who came in contact with him. Over six feet in height, he
was called one of the finest-looking of a community celebrated for fine-
appearing men. I can, however, only recollect him as an old man, broken
by age and trouble, just before he died. Most unfortunately, his literary
productions and correspondence with the eminent men of his time have
been lost, with the exception of two letters from President Jefferson.
"The Hon. James (130) De Wolf, who was so noted for his success
in commerce, and fitting out privateers, was elected United States Senator,
but, thinking himself out of place (in which he differed from his constit-
uents), he shortly resigned his seat.
" The members of the family, up to this generation, have always been
prominent in local affairs ; but, though they almost owned their own town,
both in a literal and in a metaphorical sense, they were too much self-
contained to be what ,is generally called distinguished. If you wanted
romantic or tragical events, I could fill a volume. The women of the
family have always been distinguished for their beauty, the men for gallantry
and generosity ; and both for hospitality — usually having the means to
gratify their tastes. The record is one long tale of romantic adventures in
all parts of the world. The voyages to Russia, India, Alaska and Africa,
the attack and conquest of French and Spanish American towns by small
vessels, the capture of ship after ship, belonging to the English and
French, during the old wars, and the return of the little Bristol privateers,
literally loaded down with treasures, are all most interesting subjects
to me. . . .
[67 "CAPT. JOHN DeWOLF, son of Simon (123) and great grandson
of Charles and Margaret (Potter) De Wolf, was called ' Nor' west John'
from the wonderful voyage he made many years ago to Alaska, in the ship
'Juno,' and thence across the straits, and his still more remarkable journey
overland, through Siberia, to St. Petersburg. Being the first American
who ever crossed Asia, his little book describing the journey has been in
great demand lately, since investigations into the history of Alaska have
begun. I think he must have gone over nearly the same ground as the
survivors from the ' Jeannette.' He died within fifteen years or so, at the
age of ninety-two years. He married a daughter of Major Melville of
"Noun on f^t iFamllff of Ue Wioli
Boston, who was the leader of the party that threw overboard the tea
ffom the British ship in the harbor of Boston, at the commencement
of the Revolution. His son John Langsdorf De Wolf died within two
years in Boston, leaving no descendants."
• Having read Capt. John De Wolf 's narrative of his adventures among
the Russian trading-posts of the Northern Pacific, where he spent two
winters, and of his very remarkable overland journey across Siberia to
St. Petersburg — written more than fifty years after, in his old age'^ — we
are able to speak of it for ourselves, and we do so here the more earnestly
as the author says, in his Preface, that his "only object in combining the
reminiscences and memoranda of [his] first voyage as shipmaster into a
connected narrative " was "to leave some slight record of that voyage z'n
[/«>] family. Although I am not," he continues, "one of those who
regard everything beyond the smoke of their own chimneys as marvellous,
I think my expedition to the Northwest Coast was made a little remark-
able from the circumstance that I met at Norfolk Sound his Excellency
Baron von Resanoff, to whom I sold my vessel, and then crossed the
North Pacific in a little craft of twenty-five tons burthen, and after an
overland journey of fifty-five hundred miles returned home by the way
of St. Petersburg. This was a voyage and travels more than half a
century ago, and I was probably the first American who passed through
Siberia. I know that others have claimed to be the first, and have pub-
lished descriptions of the country ; but I had gone over the same route
before any of these claimants were born."
This is not the place for even an abstract of the narrative. But no
one can read it without regarding the narrator as a typical American youth,
when, at the age of about twenty-four years, he took command of the
"Juno." His courage united with caution, his spirit of adventure, remind-
" The title is A Voyage to the North Pacific and a Journey through Siberia more than half a
century ago. By Captain John D'Wolf. Cambridge, 1861. We have used the copy presented to
Harvard University in 1861 by the author.
TJCotts on ti)t iFaniHi? of 33f saiolf
ing one of the gallant Spanish and English explorers of the sixteenth
century, without rashness, his adaptability to new conditions making the
best of everything, his self-possession and self-respect without assumption,
his modesty, and his hardihood of nature, softened by a tender sensibility
which manifested itself now in a strain of humor and now in tears of affec-
tion at the remembrance of his far-away mother — formed a 'character
which his family may be justly proud of ; while his experiences by sea and
land, from 1804 to 1807, in regions then but little tried, form a tale which
later explorers must look back upon with special interest.
The De Wolf descent of the Griswolds is so remote that, beyond
collecting all the facts which could be learned of the earliest gene-
rations, it was never intended to give a full account of the De Wolf
family. But the writer has been for several years in pleasant occasional
correspondence with prominent members of the Nova Scotia and Rhode
Island branches of the family, and would have expected to give some
statements with regard to these, in any notes upon the descendants of
Balthasar.
It has been found very difficult to reach other descendants. They
are scattered through the United States, and have only been found as some
name in print gave an opportunity to write for information. From such
chance-sources enough has been learned to make us interested to know
more, but we have not time for farther search at present, nor would the
scope of this work allow us to give more space to the subject. From the
fragmentary statements that have reached us we can add some interesting
facts. The general family-characteristics are found to be alike everywhere.
The ancestors of all the branches left Lyme with few resources for their
future careers except what they carried within themselves, in their own
integrity, and the strength of their energetic and adventurous natures.
We find them in our wars by sea and land, in later years active in abolition,
and in other Christian movements, "ready to every good work." They
l^ottn on tJir iFamilff of He Wioif
169
170
171
have followed many trades and avocations, and have been, so far as we can
hear, respectable and useful in all their pursuits. In the imperfect records
we have received, we hear of two college-professors, several lawyers, and
more physicians, all men of active usefulness and good standing in their
professions.
A few individuals among these may be here noticed by name :
The late HON. DELOS' De WOLF, a prominent citizen of
Oswego, N. Y., was born at Columbia, N. Y., in 181 1, and died in 1882.
He was a great grandson of Josiah and Martha (Ely) De Wolf, through
their son Samuel ^ and their grandson Jabez.^ Samuel De Wolf was for
a number of years engaged in trade between Lyme and the West Indies.
His son Jabez was born in Lyme, and removed, in 1806, to Herkimer
county, N. Y., and later settled at Bridgewater in Oneida county. The
education of Delos was acquired at the common schools and the Academy
of Bridgewater, and in this town he began business at the age of twenty-
two. From 1844 to 1846 he was called to fill various public positions,
on the Democratic side of politics. In 1850 he removed to Oswego,
where he established the City Bank, of which he was the President from
1865 until his death.
DR. T. K. De WOLF, now of Chester Center, Hampden county,
Mass., was born, in 1801, in Berkshire county of Massachusetts. "At
85 years," he wrote in 1886, "my sun is almost down, but I have the con-
sciousness of not having lived in vain. In my professional life I have
graduated eleven students, my son last, but not least, of whom I am very
proud, as carrying on my name and professional honors when I am in sleep
which knows no waking." In a letter of the present year (1887) he says:
" Now I am happy to inform you that I have a nice mountain-home,
carriages and horses — everything to make my friends comfortable and
happy, and if any De Wolf blood is in your veins, no matter how near or
remote, my doors will open to you and yours, and thrice welcome. I
TSTottB on ttjr JFamflff of Ut Wiolt
have given up the practice of my profession entirely, and because 1 do not
need it. I have therefore nothing to hold me from devotion to my friends
when they call."
Of his son, DR. OSCAR C. De WOLF, he writes thus: "My
oldest son, Oscar C. De Wolf, M.D., now one of the professors in Chicago
Medical College, and Health Commissioner in that city, I sent to Paris,
two years after his graduation, for instruction in the French schools ;
and during those years he travelled more or less in Switzerland. He was a
surgeon in the Massachusetts service in the war of the rebellion." A copy
of a learned paper on the disease called Glycosuria, by Dr. Oscar De Wolf
— reprinted from the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal — now lies
74 before us. Another son of Dr. T. K. De Wolf is Homer B. De Wolf, a
successful lawyer of Cleveland, Ohio.
175 CALVIN DeWOLF ESQ., born, in 18 15, in Braintrim, Luzerne
(now Wyoming) county, Pa., is "one of the oldest lawyers of continuous
practice in Chicago, one of its strong characters, a bond between the
early and the present city. He was a pioneer-abolitionist, one of the
fathers of the municipal laws, and a popular and respected Justice of the
Peace for more than a quarter of a century. . . . re-elected term after
term without regard to party-politics.
" Up to his majority he passed his time in working upon his father's
farm and in obtaining an education. With the assistance of a private tutor
and his father Giles Meigs De Wolf, who was a good English scholar and
a superior mathematician, he gained a fair knowledge of Latin, the higher
mathematics and surveying. He also taught school in two different places
before he was twenty-one years of age." In October 1837 "he arrived in
Chicago, poor, friendless and courageous." The next year he " engaged in
teaching and studying law, and other occupations, till he was admitted to
the Bar in May 1843, and commenced practice. For eleven years he held
closely to the duties of his profession, obtained a fair business, and hosts of
friends. ... At the October term of the U. S. Circuit Court for the
Notes on tJjt iFamilff of lie SHolf
Northern District of Illinois, in i860, an indictment was found against
Mr. De Wolf and four others, for the supposed crime of ' aiding a negro
slave called Eliza to escape ' from . . . her master in Nebraska ; and
his bail was fixed at $2,500. The case was dismissed in 1861. After the
expiration of his office as Justice of the Peace, in 1879, ^^- De Wolf
resumed the practice of his profession, in which he is still engaged, with
his son Wallace L. De Wolf."
In one of his letters he writes of the physical traits of his line of the
family as follows : " Of my father's brothers, Amasa, Wyllys, Elisha and
Clement were rather short, well built, with light complexion, high cheek-
bones, rather broad faces and large heads. ... I do not possess these
peculiarities, though two of my brothers do."
76
n DR. JAMES DeWOLF, now of Vail, Crawford county, Iowa, a
brother of Calvin De Wolf, was born, in 1819, in Cavendish, Vt. "His
boyhood and youth were spent in helping to clear up and cultivate a farm
of heavily timbered, hilly and rocky land " in Pennsylvania. But his thirst
for knowledge carried him through all difficulties in the way of obtaining
an education, until he at length began the practice of medicine on the
banks of the Susquehanna, "enduring the hardships and exposures to
which doctors in those days were subject, going upon horseback, day or
night, through storm and cold, on the rugged roads and stony bridle-paths
of that mountainous region," for ten years. After this, "going west," he
settled upon the wild prairie in Carroll county, Illinois, " where he threw
off his coat and went to work breaking prairie and building up a home ;"
and "soon became well-known, one of the prominent and reliable men
of his neighborhood, where he assisted materially in school- and church-
matters, and was for years Justice of the Peace, and looked upon as both
legal and medical adviser." In 1858-59 he was a member of the Illinois
Legislature. During the late war he was an active patriot, organizing and
maintaining militia and home-guard companies, raising funds for bounties,
Notts on tije iFamUi* of BtWioU
gathering and forwarding supplies for the Sanitary Commission, etc. In
1871 he became one of the first settlers of Vail, and here, too, "has
taken an active part in schools and churches, and all public interests,"
and, " wherever living has been, for many years, an Elder in the church,
and an earnest worker in the sabbath-school, ever recognizing and appre-
ciating Christian character, wherever found, without reference to sectarian
lines. His family are in sympathy with him."
178 AUSTINS DeWOLF ESQ., now a lawyer in Greenfield, Mass.,
was born in 1838, in Deerfield, Mass. He is the great great great grandson
of Josiah and Anna (Waterman) De Wolf, through Simon son of Josiah,
79-81 Elisha^ son of Simon, Simon » son of Elisha, and Almon,'' son of Simon,
who married Elvira Newton and had Austin. Mr. DeWolf writes of
himself as follows : " Modesty forbids me to write much of myself. I
have been in practice here in Greenfield since 1863. I am not a graduate
in course from any college. I received an honorary A.M., in 1881, from
Trinity." Rt. Rev. Bishop Williams of Connecticut, a native of the same
town, is a friend of his.
Beside those individuals of the family of whose useful and honorable
lives we thus catch glimpses, by the fragments of information which reach us,
there may be grouped together several others, whose special distinction has
been that they served their country in military offices. The military career
of the family began with Balthasar and his sons serving in the train-band,
or militia, of Lyme ; and there is a tradition that a De Wolf of the third
generation — said to have borne the name of Simon — died of "the plague"
(probably yellow fever), in 1741, in service under Admiral Vernon in the
West Indies. Nathan DeWolf of Saybrook, afterwards of Nova Scotia,
was, in 1755-56, Commissary in Col. Elihu Chauncey's regiment, in the
expedition to Crown Point. Simon son of Josiah and Anna (Waterman)
DeWolf served in the old French War, and died in the army, in 1756, at
the age of thirty-six, leaving a widow and four children, from one of whom
l^ottu on t'^t Tamils of "Bt Wiolt
183
^85
Austin DeWolf Esq., named above, is descended. Stephen De Wolf of
Lyme, great grandfather of the present Lyme family, served in the Revolu-
tionary War, and was a pensioner. Rev. Erastus De Wolf, an Episcopal
clergyman, died of disease contracted in taking care of the sick in the late
civil war. Thomas E. DeWolf of Salem, Mass., a member of the 18'^
Conn. Regiment, died of wounds received in the late war. As has been
mentioned, Dr. Oscar C. De Wolf was a surgeon in the service of Massa-
chusetts in the same war;, and Lieut. William DeWolf, son of Hon.
Frederick William, laid down his life in the battle of The Wilderness.
Capt. David O. DeWolf of Sackett's Harbor, N. Y., an active and
successful business-man and inventor, on the first firing upon Sumter,
left all to engage for the war, was largely instrumental in raising a
company, and then, after devoted attentions to the sick, was placed
over the Quarter Master's Department. Having had a shoulder dis-
located by an accident to the train which was carrying his regiment into
service, and been carried to New York for surgical aid, he allowed himself
but one hour for the setting of it, then escaped from his nurses and
rejoined his regiment. On the battle-field of Manassas he assumed the
responsibility of drawing off and thus saving Pope's train with material for
30,000 men. Sherman's army, up to Atlanta, was provided for largely by
his care, the money which passed through his hands often amounting to
millions in one month. A brother of Capt. David O. De Wolf is Professor
and Colonel Daniel De Wolf, now a planter in Georgia, formerly professor
of modern languages in Western Reserve College, who served through the
late war, and commanded a regiment at its close. A former college-
associate of his has favored us with the following sketch : " Early in life
he taught school and studied law ; he was a young lawyer in Toledo, Ohio,
at the outbreak of the civil war. He served through the war, and was in
command of a regiment at its close. He then became Superintendent of
Schools in Toledo. He received the honorary degrees of A.M. and Ph.D.
He went abroad in 1871. In 1876 he went to Western Reserve College
as Professor of Modern Languages. He resigned in 1880, and was elected
y^ottn on t!ie iFamflff of mt Wiolt
187
State Superintendent of Public Instruction. I think he was re-elected,
and served until 1884. He has a fine physique and is a ready, popular
speaker. He is a practical man of affairs, rather than a student. He has
had considerable influence on the public schools of Ohio, and his judgment
on matters pertaining to them has been respected."
Another brother of the same family is Henry H. De Wolf of Logans-
port, Indiana. The latter writes that his father Daniel died when he was
six years old, leaving six children, who were sent hither and thither among
relatives, getting homes as best they could. " The only legacy " he " ever
heard of was the Family Bible and Josephus." He adds "we were left to
paddle our own canoe, which, sometimes upstream and sometimes down,
has brought us to respectability and usefulness among our fellow-men, but
not to wealth."
Thomas,' James,'' John '' and George,'' De Wolf, four sons of Edward,^
a great great grandson of Stephen, son of Balthasar, by his second wife,
were in the late war for the Union. The two eldest died of wounds
received in the service.
James De Wolf, son of Mark Anthony, son of Amasa, son of Charles
of Pomfret, Conn., Assistant Surgeon in the U. S. Army, was slain in
battle with the Indians under Gen. Custer. Robinson De Wolf, son of
Amasa, enlisted in the 52d Pa. Vol., early in the war, and was captured,
and in Libby Prison over a year.
188-91
192
193
We have written to all persons of the name whom we could hear
of. With the exception of one or two in New York, of immediate
Dutch descent, all with whom we have communicated are descendants of
Balthasar of Lyme. Their traditions, records and family-names assure us
of this, though in some cases the connecting link has been lost. We shall
still seek in all directions for fuller information ; and our Pedigree of
De Wolf, which will accompany this paper, will give our latest results.
We shall there sketch the earlier generations as completely as we can trace
"Nottn on tfit iFamilff of He amolf
them out ; and, at points where our information fails, shall give our own
theories, if we have any, or leave it to others to make the connections
with full certainty.
At the request of Dr. James R. De Wolf of Nova Scotia, we give
here a paragraph which was omitted from his notes introductory to this
paper :
" The arms of the De Wolfs of Saxony are said to have been : Or
three wolves heads erased Sa. , borne on the breast of an imperial double-
headed eagle, sable-beaked, Or ; a coronet of Baron of the Empire ;
Crest : out of a ducal coronet a demi-wolf Gtc, holding in dexter paw
a fleur de lis Or ; Motto : vincit qui patittcr."
The arms of De Wolfe of England, as given by Sir Bernard Burke
(" General Armory," ed. 1878, p. 283), are : Or a lighter boat itifesse Gu.
Similar physical traits seem to exist in different branches of the family.
The writer met a few years since a Miss De Wolf of Horton, Nova Scotia",
was struck with her marked resemblance to the present Lyme branch, and
mentioned it in a letter to a correspondent of the Nova Scotia family. In
his reply he said : " It is interesting to know that the facial resemblance to
the Lyme family is so marked. The features and complexion of the
present generation in this province vary considerably. Many have the
hatchet face and prominent nasal organ, while others are broad featured ;
the latter are of dark complexion and stoutly built, while the former are
tall, with light hair and fair skin." Another correspondent belonging to
another hne of the Nova Scotia family writes : " My branch of De Wolfs
resembles the others in features. The De Wolf characteristics are very
marked and seem to perpetuate themselves." The Rhode Island branch
are said to have had " high aristocratic features." A lady of the Rhode
Island family writes: "The men of the De Wolf family have had, with
tJCotts on tlie iFam(l» of Bt WLoXi
much character and expression, strongly marked features. The older gen-
eration were nearly all tall and well formed." Another member of the
same branch writes : "The women of the family have been distinguished
for their beauty, the men for gallantry and generosity, and both for
hospitality."
Here end our De Wolf notes. We have been unexpectedly beguiled
into a much fuller sketch than we could have anticipated, finding it a new
and interesting field for the genealogist and historian. To many of the
widely scattered descendants of Balthasar De Wolf of Lyme we furnish
the missing link which proves their descent from him ; and to all we
present the first tabular pedigree ever made of their family.
ilitfeiH-^oltott
Molcott
Arms : Arg. a chevron between three chess-rooks Ermines ; Crest : a bull 's head erased Ar
armed Or, ducally gorged, lined and ringed of the last ; Motto : nullius
addictus jurare in verba magistri.
HE materials of this monograpii are drawn from the " Memorial
of Henry Wolcott . . . and of some of his Descendants,"
by the late Rev. Dr. Samuel Wolcott of Longmeadow, Mass.,
printed in 1881 for private distribution. This beautiful and elaborate
memorial-volume embraces all that was known of the male line of the
family, up to that time ; and must remain, for generations to come, the
chief authority on the subject it treats of. The following paper is, there-
fore, mostly an abstract of Dr. Wolcott's volume. We had his kind
permission to make it ; and it was submitted to him and met his
approval. The distribution of that costly book was necessarily so limited
that to provide for a wider acquaintance with its contents seemed to be
desirable. All our quotations are in the words of Dr. Wolcott, unless
otherwise credited. From the facts given in this book we have drawn up
a Pedigree of Wolcott, the first that has been made in tabular form, which
we add as our contribution to Wolcott genealogy.
HENRYS WOLCOTT, a first settler of Windsor, Conn., to whom
most of the Wolcotts of New England trace back their descent, emigrated
from Tolland, co. Somerset, where the family is found to have been living
as early as 1525, all the earlier generations being as devoted Papists as our
emigrant Wolcott ancestors were distinguished for their adherence to the
principles of the Reformation. They were of the class of English "gen-
tlemen ;" the eldest brother of the emigrant Henry held, in 1618, under
mt^in=miouon
the Great Seal of England, the ancient Manor of Galdon, Garldon, or
Garmildon, which was the principal estate in Tolland, and two Wolcott
monunaents still stand in the churchyard of the old parish-church of that
place. This manor-house was seen by the late Mr. Henry G. Somerby,
who described it as being of great antiquity and extent, originally a splendid
mansion, designed for purposes of defence as well as for a family-residence ;
richly ornamented with carved work, which, if unassailed, will still stand
for ages ; the motto of the family appears on its walls.
Mr. Somerby believed that he had traced the family, through a titled
branch in Shropshire, back to the eleventh century, in Wales, " basing his
argument on the identity of the family arms [the use of which in our family
dates, traditionally, from the emigration in 1630] and names;" and pre-
pared a genealogical table of this descent. As yet, however, our Wolcotts
have not been certainly connected with the ancient family of Walcot ' of
Shropshire. Although this connection is accepted in the family, on Mr.
Somerby's authority, the actual connecting link must be regarded as still
missing. The chess-rooks of the arms are said to have been " introduced,
early in the fifteenth century, through a knight of whom it is recorded"
that he checkmated King Henry V. with the rook.
But of the immediate ancestry of our first Henry Wolcott we know
2 only that his father was named /o/tn^ Wolcot (or Wolcott), whose Will,
3> 4 dated 1623, mentions his three sons Christopher,"^ Henry {\~) and John, ^
and several grandchildren. His grandfather is believed to have been
5 John'^ Woolcott (or Woolcot), whose Will, proved in 1572, mentions his
6, 7 wife Agnes, two brothers Henry '^ and Roger} his son John (2) and
8,9 two daughters, Alice"^ and Mary?
It was during those troublous times, in the reign of Charles I., when
so many of the best men of England were cast out for their staunch loyalty
to truth and righteousness, that Henry (i) Wolcott. in 1630, turned his
' In the family-papers the name appears in the forms of Woolcott, Woolcot, Wolcott, Wolcot,
Wollcott and Wallcott.
mmn=wiouon
back upon fair possessions in the old country, and selling " about ^8000.
worth of estate in England," as Trumbull the historian of Connecticut
says, with wife and three sons,' sought a new home, for conscience sake,
as one of the Dorchester Company, in the infant colony of Massa-
chusetts. He was a member of the first General Court of that colony.
When the Dorchester people had begun to move to the valley of the
Connecticut, he too, as one of " the principal gentlemen " (to use the
words of the histori^in Trumbull) interested in this new enterprise of colo-
nization, wandered through the wilderness; and in 1636 was settled at
Windsor, on the Connecticut River. In 1637 he was a member of the
Lower House of Assembly; "in 1640 his name stands first in the list of
inhabitants in Windsor. In 1643 he was elected a member of the House
of Magistrates . . . and was annually re-elected during life. ' He was
probably, after the pastor, the most distinguished man in Windsor.' " He
died in 1655. By the death of his brother Christopher in 1639 he had
inherited Galdon Manor ; and in his own Will he bequeathed all his land
in England to his eldest surviving son Henry.'' But his whole estate, at
his death, exclusive of English property, amounted only to ^764. 8. 10.
— showing how much he had sacrificed for his principles.
Henry Wolcott married, January 19, 1606, Elizabeth daughter of
Thomas Saunders of Lydiard St. Lawrence, co. Somerset, and had children
by her as follows :
I. JoJin,'^ baptized October i, 1607; who "was living in England in
1 63 1, and apparently never emigrated." He had died, without issue,
before 1655.
' Beside his lands in Tolland he had an estate in Wellington, in the same county. Prof. F. B.
Dexter has recently pointed out that both these Somersetshire villages are commemorated in the town-
names of Tolland and Willington (originally Wellington) in Connecticut, of which Gov. Roger Wolcott
was the chief patentee. See Proceudings of the Am. Antiq. Society. . . . April 29, 1885. Wor-
cester, 1885, p. 432.
A fac-simile of the royal licence by which Christopher Wolcott held Galdon Manor — issued under
the chancellorship of Lord Bacon, and having the Great Seal of England appended to it — is one of the
many valuable and beautiful illustrations by which the Memorial we draw from is enriched.
mtUin=mioUott
2. Anna ;^ who married, October i6, 1646, Matthew Griswold, then
of Windsor (see ^rififtOOltf).
3. Henry,^ born January 21, 1610-11; who married, November 18,
1641, Sarah daughter of Mr. Thomas Newberry, "from a Devonshire
family, ' one of the earliest settlers and largest landed proprietors of
Dorchester;'" and died July 12, 1680. His widow died July 16, 1684.
From Stiles's "Ancient Windsor"^ we learn that, according to tradi-
tion, the Newberrys were of county Devon, that they became involved in
the civil war between the Parliament and Charles I., and acted a conspicuous
part as Cromwellians ; and that Hon. J. H. Trumbull of Hartford, some
years since, found old letters of the family, pasted into an old book, in
which mention is made of an " Uncle (or Capt.) Newberry " living at
Morchard (now Marchard Bishop) fifteen miles from Exeter, in Devonshire.
Thomas Newberry, the emigrant, we farther learn, becoming a Freeman of
Dorchester in 1634, had many and large grants of land as one of the Dor-
chester Company, and, says Stiles, " laid out a large farm in Squantum,
and built a house there." But he became "early engaged in the Connecticut
enterprise, sold his Dorchester property," and would have removed, had
not his death in 1636 prevented him. His family migrated to the Connec-
ticut. His Will, dated 1635, has been printed in "The New England
Hist, and Geneal. Register." The Inventory of his estate, including land
in England to the value of ^300., amounted to ^1520. 4. 7.^ In Win-
throp's " New England " is given a letter from " Your loving friends,"
H. Vane Jr., John Winthrop and Hugh Peter, "to our loving and much
respected Friends Mr. Ludlow, Mr. Maverick, Mr. Newberry and Mr.
Stoughton, and the rest of our Friends engaged in the business of Connec-
ticut Plantations in the Town of Dorchester. . . ."^
' The History of Ancient Windsor. . . .• By Henry R. Stiles. .
and note f. Burke's General Armory gives three Newberry coats of arms.
* The New England Hist, and Geneal. Register. . . . Boston, 1853, vii. 29, and note.
" The History of New England. ... by John Winthrop. . . . With notes.
James Savage. . . . Boston, 1853, i. 477-78.
New York, 1859, P- 72o,
mt\iin=mouon
Lechford's "Manuscript Note Book"" gives articles of agreement
between John Warham, Pastor of the church of Windsor, and Jane his
wife, executrix of the last Will and Testament of Thomas Newberry, Gent.,
deceased, and Richard Wright. The editor adds the following note :
" This instrument discloses a fact not previously ascertained, that Jane, the second
wife of Rev. John Warham, and the mother of his children, was the widow of Thomas
Newberry of Dorchester. Mr. Warham's first wife died in the autumn, or early in
December, 1634 (Winth., i. app. A. 55). Mr. Newberry was early engaged in the
movement for emigration to Connecticut, and had sold a portion of his Dorchester
property with a view to removal, when prevented by death in December 1635, or
January 1636. By his will, made December 12, 1635, he gave his wife Jane ^^200.,
and constituted her his sole executrix ; and the rest of his estate was left to his chil-
dren. . . . Mr. Warham and Mr. William Gaylord were named overseers of the
will (Geneal. Reg., vii. 29 ; History of Dorchester, p. 69). It is not certain whether
Mr. Warham married the widow at Dorchester, or after the removal of the family to
Windsor ; but the former is the more probable. . . . [T.] "
The second Henry (12) Wolcott was an importing merchant, but
much engaged in public affairs both of State and Church, having been
" one of the nineteen gentlemen prominent in the Colony who were named
in the Charter of Connecticut. He was elected a member of the House
of Deputies in 1660, and of the House of Magistrates in 1662, and suc-
cessively after until his death." By a codicil to his Will he devised his
houses and lands in Tolland and Wellington to his eldest son Henry and
his heirs male, on certain conditions ; or, in default of such heirs, to the
heirs male of his other three sons and their heirs forever. It was plainly
his wish and intention to follow the English law of inheritance of land ;
but, on the death of his eldest son Henry, without male issue surviving
him, there arose a disagreement in the family, and the English law was
finally set aside by a colonial Court.
" Archaeologia Americana. Transactions and Collections of the Am. Antiq. Society. Cambridge,
1885, vii. 124-25.
mtUin=WioUott
13 4. George ;^ who settled in Wethersfield, Conn.
[4 5. Christopher ;'^ who inherited the family-homestead in Windsor,
and died September 7, 1662, unmarried.
6. Mary ;^ who married, June 25, 1646, Sergeant Job Drake of
Windsor (see "NOteS Otl tJ)e iFatUClff Of 33ta1fee at the end of this
monograph).
7. SIMON,* born between September 11, 1624, and September 11,
1625 ; who, having been seven years old at the time of his father's emigra-
tion, joined the family in New England at a later period, not exactly
known ; married : first, March 19, 1657, Joanna daughter of Aaron Cook ;
and, secondly, October 17, 1661, Martha Pitkin, '"a woman of eminent
good sense, virtue and piety,' " " sister of William Pitkin Esq. of East
Hartford, Attorney-General and Treasurer of the Colony."
Simon Wolcott, with others, in 1667, received a grant of land in Sims-
bury, Conn., and removed there in 1671. But this investment proved
unfortunate, and he returned to Windsor, and afterwards settled at South
Windsor. He died September 11, 1687, under gloomy apprehensions of
sufferings to come to the colonists from the administration of Sir Edmund
Andros. Says his son Gov. Roger Wolcott, in his autobiography :
" It was generally expected persecution for religion would soon ensue ; it filled
him with agonizing fears, and excited his fervent prayers for deliverance, but God
took him away from the evil he feared to come."
Martha Pitkin, second wife of Simon Wolcott and the mother of all
his children, had been left in England by her brother William, together
with a brother Roger who was an officer in the Royal Army ; but she
followed the former to America, with a view, it is said, to induce him to
return to England.
" This girl [about twenty-two years old at the time] put the Colony in commotion.
If possible, she must be detained ; the stock was too valuable to be parted with. It
was a matter of general consultation what young man was good enough to be pre-
mtfiin=WioUott
sented to Miss Pitkin. Simon Wolcott of Windsor [who had been about four years
a widower, in his thirty-sixth or thirty-seventh year] was fixed upon, and beyond
expectation succeeded in obtaining her hand. Her brotlicr favored the pro-
posal. . . ."
Thus wrote the late venerable Rev. Dr. Robbins of the Connecticut
Historical Society. Her son Gov. Roger Wolcott, in his autobiography,
says :
" 'She was a gentlewoman of bright natural parts, which were well improved by
her education in the City of London. She came to New England in 1661 ; the same
year was marryed to my father. The rest of her useful life she spent in this
wilderness, in doing good and setting an example of piety, prudence, charity and
patience.' "
She died October 13, 1719, in her eightieth year, as Mrs. Martha
Clark, having, after Simon Wolcott's death, married Hon. Daniel Clark,
"one of the first settlers, and a man of much influence and position, at
Windsor," ' whom she also survived.
The wise heads of the colony seldom showed more wisdom than in
their plan to retain, in this country, Martha Pitkin, who had come over
from England with no thought of remaining. Their selection of the young
widower Simon Wolcott as the most fit person, and the most likely, to
induce her to stay, was the highest compliment to him ; and the result
proved this to be one of the many cases where the sagacious interposition
of friends brings about the most successful of marriages. The laic
Rev. Dr. Samuel Wolcott told the writer that, though the early Wolcotts
' Stiles's Anc. Windsor, ut supra, p. 569. " He was a distinguished lawyer," says a record of the
Pitkin family which we shall give later as a part of this monograph, "was Secretary of State before the
Charter, and one of the Magistrates named in that instrument, and was afterwards elected Secretary of
the colony." He was also a Judge of the Particular Court, the highest judicial body in the colony, and
a member of the Governor's Council— The Mem. Hist, of Hartford County ... Ed. by J. H. Trum- .
bull. . . . Boston, 1886, i. 109 ; ii. 278. On the elevation of Mr. Clark to the magistracy, Ihc
following vote was passed at the Town Meeting in Windsor, May 5, 1651 : "'Mr. Clark was appointed
to sitt in the greate pew '" — the wainscoted church-pew appropriated to the magnates.
mmin=WLoltoii
were men of good intellect and real ability, the Pitkin marriage brought in
a more brilliant strain of talent ; and that, ever since, it had been in their
lines of Pitkin descent that the chief talent of the Wolcott family had
appeared.
We now come to the third generation of the Wolcott family in New
England, and to the eldest son of the elder branch of that generation,
Henry, ^ born in 1643. He married, in 1664, Abiah daughter of Edward
Goffe Esq. of Cambridge, Mass., and had a son Heiiry,^ who died early,
unmarried. Another son of his was Capt. Samuel,^ born in 1679, the first
Wolcott graduated at Harvard College. This Samuel Wolcott took his
degree in 1698, under the presidency of Increase Mather, and died, unmar-
ried, in 1709. Thus the line of the eldest son of the eldest son of the
Wolcott family became extinct in the male line. One of the daughters
of Henry and Abiah (Goffe) Wolcott, named Sarah,^ married Rev.
Charles Chauncey of Stratfield, Conn, (his second wife), a grandson of
Rev. Dr. Charles Chauncey, President of Harvard College, through the
President's youngest son Rev. Israel Chauncey of Stratford, Conn.**
The second child of the elder branch, Jokii,^ was born in 1645 ; mar-
ried : first, in 1677, Mary daughter of Capt. John Chester and' grand-
daughter of Governor Thomas Welles; and, secondly, in 1692, Mrs.
Hannah Nicholas of Stamford, Conn.; and died in 1711-12. One of hi's
daughters, Mary,^ married John Eliot, a son of John and Elizabeth
(Gookin)" Eliot. He had five sons, one of whom was Charles,^ born in
1681, dead in 1754; at whose death this branch of the family became
extinct in the male line.
« Memorial of the Chaunceys. ... By William Chauncey Fowler. Boston, 1858, pp. 206, 213.
' For her Gookin descent and relationships, see Family Memorials. ... By Edward Elbridge
Salisbury. Privately Printed, 1885, pp. 375-456-
mtUin=WHiUott
The seventh child, and fourth surviving son, of the third generation of
24 the family in New England, of the elder branch, was Samuel,^ born in
1656; who married, in 1678, Judith daughter of Samuel Appleton of
Ipswich, Mass.; and died in 1695.
A younger brother of the last named Samuel was Josiah,^ born in
1658 ; who married : first, in 1685-86, Penelope daughter of Capt. George
Corwin of Salem, Mass., " ' of the ancient knightly family of the Curwens,' "
says Camden, ""' ' descended from Gospatrick Earl of Northumberland,' "
and granddaughter of Governor Edward Winslow ; and, secondly, in 1694,
Mary daughter of John Freke Esq. of Boston, Mass. He settled himself
in Salem, and was engaged in mercantile business there; but "in 1722
was appointed a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, in which
office he continued until his death" in 1729. We make the following
extract from a letter of his to his brother Henry, as illustrative of the pre-
vailing sentiment of the times of the Salem witchcraft :
" ' Salem, July 25, 1692.' "
" '. . . but the unheard of Calamety of the Witch Craft Continues, and further
discoveryes made, tho 6 have already been Executed. Since w^'' (about 11 weeks
since) 5 more, of Andover, viz' G[oodwi]fe fforster, her Daughter Laury, and her
Daughter of the 3'' generai', a Comely Ingeinous young woeman of about 17 years
old, and 2 Brothers, one about 19 Years old and the other neere 16, Sirnamed Car-
riers, boath likely. Ingenious, manly and hardey Young men. Yet all these following,
and about Seaven before have Confest, and made a wonderfull Relation of there
Compacts and pranks w"" the Devell. Soe we have yet, here, at Ipswich and Boston,
about 60 accused persons in Goale, of which 12 are Confessors, and of them good
Mr. Higginson's daughter is one, who has long been melancholy and Seemed Crazed.
It appears that y" Devell has not (as formerly) Gained a fiew discontented and
Revengefull persons, but was making a Collony to set up his kingd" by force of
Armes. . . .' "
The third generation of the family in New England was also repre-
sented by the children of George (13) Wolcott. But all that is called for
respecting them and their posterity, in this brief abstract, may be found in
mtUin=mioltott
our Pedigree. We proceed, then, to the line of descent from Simon (i6),
the youngest son of the emigrant Henry Wolcott. This Simon had nine
children by his second wife, Martha Pitkin, of whom five were sons. The
26 line of Simon^ son of Simon, born in 1666, became extinct on the death
27, 28 of his son James^ in 1748. The line of Henry^ son of the first Simon
has been continued to the present time. We need not, however, here
29 speak of any of his children excepting Capt. Gideon.^
Capt. Gideon Wolcott was born in 1 7 1 2 ; married : first, Abigail
daughter of Samuel Mather of Windsor ; and, secondly, Naomi daughter
of Dea. Joseph Olmsted- of East Hartford, Conn.; and died June 5, 1761.
He "commanded one of the companies raised by the colonists in 1760
against the French and Indians. We have only this tradition of him that
' his contemporaries and those who knew him best regarded him as one of
nature's noblemen.' "
30 One son of Capt. Gideon Wolcott, by his second wife, was Samuel^
born in 1751 ; who married, in 1774, Jerusha daughter of Gen. Erastus,
and granddaughter of Gov. Roger, Wolcott, his second cousin. He was,
says a contemporary obituary of him,
" ' distinguished for incorruptible integrity, beloved by a numerous acquaintance,
a most judicious counsellor of the many who sought his assistance, and the poor
man's friend.' "
His robust frame and great manly beauty, in his youth, were remarked
31 upon. Of Samuel Wolcott's children one daughter, Naomi,^ born in
1777, married James Wadsworth of Geneseo, N. Y., and had, with other
32 children : i. Harriet,^ who married Martin Brimmer Esq. of Boston, Mass.;
33 2. Elizabeth,^ who married Hon. Charles Augustus Murray, British
Consul-General in Egypt, a son of the Earl of Dunmore ; and 3. James
34 Samtiel,^ who left his large patrimonial estates to offer his services to the
Government on the breaking out of the late civil war, was made a Major-
mtUin=mioUoti
General, and fell in the battle of The Wilderness in 1864. Another
35 daughter of Samuel and Jerusha (VVolcott) Wolcott was Sophia,^ born
in 1786; who married Martin son of Chief Justice Ellsworth, her third
36 cousin. The eldest adult son of the same parents was Elihu,^ born in
1784; who married: first, in 1806, Rachel M<^Clintock daughter of Rev.
Dr. David M'^Clure of South Windsor, and granddaughter of Rev. Dr.
Benjamin Pomeroy of Hebron, Conn.; secondly, in 1823, Juliana daughter
of Erastus Wolcott, his third cousin ; and, thirdly, in 1835, Sarah C.
daughter of Dea. John Crocker of Derry, N. H.
Elihu (36) Wolcott, in his forty-sixth year, removed to Jacksonville,
111., then a settlement of pioneers of civilization, but already selected as
the seat of Illinois College; and there he lived till his death in 1858.
" Moral questions which have since convulsed the nation were then pressing
for discussion, and Mr. Wolcott occupied no doubtful position. He never
stood in fear of his fellow-men, and his sympathy with the cause of freedom
and humanity was earnest, practical and outspoken ; the oppressed and the
weak found in him a steadfast protector and benefactor." The late Rev.
Dr. Sturtevant, President of Illinois College, said of him at his funeral :
" From the very infancy of this place he has had his home among us, and his
strong and peculiar character has made its impression upon this community. He
came with his interesting family. ... In all this period, approaching the lifetime
of a human generation, he has evinced a uniformity, steadiness and consistency of
character seldom surpassed. Three traits of character seem to me to have distin-
guished him : intuitive insight and discernment of principles ; the power of giving
to his convictions a concise, lucid and often irresistible expression in language ; and
an inflexible steadfastness in adhering to his convictions."
The eldest son of Elihu Wolcott, by his first wife, was our friend the
37 late Rev. Dr. Samuel'^ Wolcott, the author of the memorial-volume of
which this monograph is an abstract. After many years of useful labor in the
vineyard of his Lord, not long before his death, he retired to Longmeadow,
mmn=miouoit
Mass., to rest for the remainder of his days in a beautiful home provided
for his old age by filial affection in that quiet village, on the banks of the
river which the earlier generations of his family had closely clung to as
an ancestral stream. But he had scarcely settled himself there before
death called him to a better home. The names of all his children are
38 entered in our Pedigree. One of them, Hon. Henry Roger}^ is conspic-
uous in civil affairs in Colorado, his adopted State, has been candidate for
the office of governor, and seems likely to receive the gubernatorial honors
which have been bestowed on so many of his family and connections.
Of Gov. Roger Wolcott we shall speak presently. Meanwhile, we
39 take up the line of William^ son of the first Simon Wolcott. Born
in 1676, he married, in 1706, Abiah Hawley of Windsor; and had, beside
40 other children, a son William,^ born in 1711, who was taught Latin and
Greek by Rev. Timothy Edwards of South Windsor, father of the great
metaphysician Jonathan Edwards; was graduated at Yale College in 1734;
a Tutor in Yale 1735-36; married, in 1747, Abigail daughter of Abiel
Abbott ; and died in 1799. " He took an active part, as a civilian, in the
stirring discussions which preceded and attended the War of the Revolu-
tion ; was chairman of the Town Committee of Correspondence, and of
the County Committee of Observation."
As his epitaph says :
' He possessed an enlightened mind,
Aided by a liberal education.
And in early life dedicated himself
To the service of God and mankind.
By his marriage to Abigail Abbott he had, with other children, a
41 daughter Abigail,'' born in 1756; who married, in 1772, Hon. Oliver
mtkin=mLoUott
Ellsworth of Windsor, a Member of the Continental Congress, of the
Convention which framed the Constitution of the United States, and of
that which ratified it in his native State ; Senator and Chief Justice of the
United States ; and Envoy Extraordinary to France in 1 799, appointed in
compliance with overtures of the Directory, under Talleyrand, for the
renewal of diplomatic relations. One of the sons of Oliver and Abigail
42 (Wolcott) Ellsworth was Governor William Wolcoti^ Ellsworth, whose
43,44 daughter Elizabeth^ married Hon. Waldo Hutchins. Julia Sterling'^^
the only daughter of Waldo and Elizabeth (Ellsworth) Hutchins is now
45 the wife of her mother's fourth cousin Henry Goodrich ^ Wolcott (see
below). A daughter of Chief Justice Ellsworth, named Frances Eliza-
46, 47 beth,^ married Hon. Joseph Wood, and had a daughter, Dclia,^ who
married Rev. Prof. Chester Smith Lyman of Yale University.
48 For the outline of our sketch of the life of Gov. Roocr^ Wolcott we
shall depend chiefly upon his autobiography.
" 'The youngest child of [his] hon'^ father Mr. Simon Wolcott, tender
and beloved in the sight of [his] mother Mrs. Martha Pitkin,' " he was
born in 1679. His father's pecuniary embarrassments, to which we have
alluded, and some natural inertness, or tardiness of development, in him,
seem to have interfered with his early education. He says that his
" ' parents took care and pains to learn their children, and were successful with
the rest, but not with [him] by reason of [his] extreme dullness to learn.' "
When he was in his ninth year his father died. The dangers for his
country anticipated by Simon Wolcott in his last days had passed away, on
the accession of William and Mary to the English throne ; and under a
new stimulus Roger Wolcott's mind began to e.xert itself.
He writes under the year 1690 :
" ' My mind turned to learning, and I soon learned to read English and to write.' "
mf^in^mmtott
It is probable that his highly educated mother's influence had at last
made itself felt, for family-tradition says that he was educated by her.
From about his fifteenth year till the time of his marriage, December 3,
1 702, to Sarah Drake, his cousin's daughter by descent from Mary Wolcott
who married Job Drake (see above)," he was in business as apprentice and
principal. Then, beginning a very happy married life, he settled himself
on " ' [his] own land,' " on the eastern side of Connecticut River. In 1707
he took " ' [his] first step in preferment,' " as Selectman for the town of
Windsor. The year 1 709 found him representing his town in the General
Assembly, and in 1 710 he was raised to the Bench of Justices. In 1711
he "went in the expedition against Canada, Commissary of the Connecti-
cut Stores." His promotion to higher and higher stations was constant :
a Member of the Council in 1714, a Judge of the County Court in 1721,
and of the Superior Court in 1732, Deputy-Governor and Chief Justice of
the Superior Court in 1741, the year 1745 called him to another sphere of
activity, in which he won new distinction. He was commissioned by
Governor Shirley of Massachusetts to take the second command, as Major-
General, under Pepperell, in the all-important expedition, then being fitted
out, for the capture of Louisburg." The Governor wrote thus to him :
" ' And from my personal Knowledge of you, and the general Character you bear
of those Qualities which make you at least equal to this Trust, I do with the utmost
Chearfulness commit it to you. . . .' "
This trust was not misplaced, for history testifies to the great part he
bore in securing the happy results of the expedition. Not a little did he
contribute, it would appear, to inspiring and keepmg alive that religious
'» The mother of Sarah Drake was Mrs. Elifabeth (Clark) Cook, a daughter of Hon. Daniel Clark
of Windsor — so that all descendants of Gov. Roger Wolcott are also descendants of that distinguished
Magistrate and Colonial Secretary. See Stiles's Anc. Windsor, ut supra, pp. 583-84.
" Hildreth says that Roger Wolcott was " appointed iy stipulation of the Connecticut Assembly'' in
connection with their vote of five hundred men, " second in command of the expedition " — The History
of the United States. ... By Richard Hildreth. New York, 1856, ii. 396.
mtUin=WiiiUott
spirit which made the expedition to Cape Breton a sort of crusade, nerving
the arm of miHtary power, and animating with a more than earth-born
courage and spirit of self-sacrifice.
We must make room for the letter of acknowledgment which Major-
General Wolcott received, after the capture of Louisburg, from the
Assembly of Massachusetts, in these words :
" ' Boston, February i", 1745-6.' "
" ' Honourable Sir,
" ' We are very sensible Virtue carries its own Reward, and doubt not of the
Solid and lasting Pleasure you have from your own Consciousness of the good Prin-
ciples which have excited you to, and carried you thro, the many useful and publick
Services you have performed, and by your Example and Address influenced others to
do ; And how little soever the wise and virtuous are affected by such remote Consid-
erations as the opinion and Sentiments of others, yet we could not but think that
common Justice and Gratitude required Our Acknowledgements of the large Share
you had in the Reduction of Cape Breton ; to you our eyes were more particularly
turned, on our first Application to your Government in this Affair, and we happily
found Our Selves not mistaken, by their generous Assistance in that successful Expe-
dition, more particularly obtained by your Care and Influence ; for this publick Ser-
vice, and for the just and kind Sentiments you have always had towards this Province
on other Occasions, We now publickly profess our Esteem and Obligations, which
we shall ever be glad at all Opportunities to Acknowledge.
" ' In the Name and by order of the Council,
Josiah Willard, Secr'y.
" ' In the name and by order of the House of Representatives,
Thomas Cushing, Speaker.' "
" ' T/ie B'on''" Roger Wolcott Esq.' "
" 'On the 21 of January 1747 ' " he says in his autobiography, " ' God took away
the desire of my eyes with a stroke. My wife for a long time had been out of health,
but constantly attended her business, and rose this morning not well, but took care
of and went about the business of the family. About two hours after she was up she
was taken with an apoplexy, and in a short time expired in the 61" year of her age.
Upon consideration of her life and sudden death my thoughts burst out in the
following reflections :
||fm{n=212roUott
" 'This bird of Paradise upon the wings
Of flaming Seraphs mounts, she sitts and sings,
And sees as she is seen ber God above.
And in the armes of Jesus drowns in love.
Me ah ! bereaved ! me now left alone
My lovely turtle ever to bemoan ;
So long my morning star whose beaming eyes
Did never open but my day would rise ;
So long my constant help to give relief,
Double my comfort and divide my grief ;
So long my loving wife, of thee bereaven
I have no friend so good unless in Heaven ;
I'll not forget thy kindness nor thy charms.
But love thee dead that long lay in my arms.' "
From 1750 to 1754 he was Chief Magistrate of Connecticut. At the
end of that time occurred one of the violent reactions of public feeling
which often come to popular servants of the public. In the sudden out-
break of misapprehension and misrepresentation he " ' was,'" as he says in
his autobiography, " ' dismist by a great majority of voices. I had now the
common fate of discarded favorites.'" But "time" which "makes all
things even " soon restored the confidence of the public in his guileless
character, the disinterestedness of his motives, and his good judgment,
sagacity and foresight in public affairs.
" ' I am now stript,' " he says, " ' of all public trust and business, and yet have lost
nothing that was my own, or that I had a right to claim a continuance of, or anything
that, considering my age, it is not better for me to be without than to have. May I
not then take this as a benefit, and, since my mother's Sons have discharged me from
keeping their vineyard, apply myself more closely to the keeping of my own. . . .' "
We may here appropriately quote a graphic word-picture of his
personal appearance in public :
" ' Several times a week he rode out on horse-back [to Wethersfield], and never
appeared abroad but in full-dress.
184
mtUin=V^WoUott
" ' He wore a suit of scarlet broadcloth. The coat was made long, with wide
skirts, and trimmed down the whole length in front with gilt buttons, and broad gilt
vellum button-holes, two or three inches in length. The cuffs were large and deep,
reaching nearly- to the elbows, and were ornamented, like the sides of the coat, as
were also the pocket-lids, with gilt vellum button-holes and buttons. The waistcoat
had skirts, and was richly embroidered. Ruffles at the bosom, and over the hands,
were of lace. He had a flowing wig, and a three-cornered hat with a cockade ; and
rode slow and stately a large black horse whose tail swept the ground.' "
" In raising the men for the campaigns of the subsequent years, the
expeditions against Nova Scotia, Ticonderoga, Crown Point, Niagara and
Quebec, for which Connecticut provided more than her quota of troops,
the influence of her former chief magistrate was efficiently exerted."
Gov. Wolcott has told us of his slowness, as a boy, in the acquisition
of learning. When at last his natural powers were awakened, he was
" ' unalterably determined not to remain in a state of ignorance ; he borrowed
such books as he could get, and read with attention ; and, having a retentive memory
and solid natural judgment, what he read he retained, digested and made his own.
He got an acquaintance with men of the best abilities of his time, and by an indefat-
igable industry and application got acquainted with most branches of literature; for
he was an exact chronologer, well acquainted with history, ecclesiastical and civil,
and geography, both ancient and modern, and with the Newtonian philosophy, and
most of the curious discoveries of the moderns.
"'He had a taste for the Belles Lettres ; and some poetical pieces he has left
behind, to show that, had his Genious been well cultivated, he might have made a
considerable figure among the Sons of the Muses.
" ' But the law and arts of government were his favorite study. . . .
"' His body was strong and well proportioned ; his countenance and deportment
peculiarly adapted to command reverence and esteem ; his wit ready and uncommonly
bright ; his method of reasoning (free from sophistry) was clear, nervous and manly,
as became a generous inquirer after truth, and not a noisy wrangler for victory only.
. . . He was a true friend to regular and firm government, and was an equal enemy
to tyranny on the one hand, and licentiousness on the other. . . .
" ' He was a wise legislator and an able statesman. While he was a judge he held
mtUin=mioltoit
the balance of justice with a steady, unwavering hand ; and being far superior to
venality, or the influence of personal, family, or party, connections, he pronounced
the law impartially, on all the causes brought before him. As a governor he appeared
to advantage ; this was his proper element, for he seemed originally formed to govern.
He was a kind and provident husband and parent. His moral character was unblem-
ished, his religion and piety were unaffected. . . .' "
These last extracts are from an obituary published in the " Connecticut
Courant" soon after his death. He died May 17, 1767, in his eighty-ninth
year.
The eldest child of Gov. Roger Wolcott, born in 1704, bore his
49 father's name of Roger,^ and rivalled him in eminence.
" He was a Representative of the town [of South Windsor] in the
General Assembly, a Major of the Connecticut troops, a Member of the
Council, a Judge of the Superior Court, and one of the Revisers of the
laws of the State. His premature removal by death defeated and disap-
pointed the general desire and purpose of the freemen to elevate him to
the highest office in their gift." He died, suddenly, in 1759. His pastor,
in a funeral-sermon on the death of his father, several years after his death,
spoke of the son in these words :
" ' This gentleman was universally esteemed for his distinguished accomplish-
ments, natural and acquired. He was an able statesman, a most reliable friend and
an exemplary Christian. By his death not only his bereaved family and near relatives
were put into tears, but the town and government also gave expression of deep resent-
ment and bitter grief.' "
Our space will not allow us to give here the branching lines of his
descendants. Their names will be found in our Pedigree.
50 The two youngest sons of Gov. Roger Wolcott were Gen. Erasttis^
51 and Oliver,^ the last a Signer of the Declaration of Independence. The
former of these two brothers, born in 1722, though without ambition for
public office, " was repeatedly a Representative of the town in the General
mt\tin=WioUott
Assembly, and also Speaker of the Lower House, Justice of the Peace,
Judge of Probate, Judge and Chief Judge of the County Court, Repre-
sentative in Congress and Judge of the Superior Court ;" and in a funeral-
sermon preached on his decease in 1 793 '" we read :
" ' He possessed a strong and penetrating mind, a quiclc discernment and solid
judgment, beyond what is common to men. And these gifts of the Universal Parent
were united to great integrity.' "
He was familiarly known as "Old Long-Head." In 1790 Yale
College conferred on him the honorary degree of Master of Arts.
Midway between the birth-years of Erastus and Oliver Wolcott,
in 1724, was born the youngest daughter of Gov. Roger, his thirteenth
52 child, Urstila ; ^ who married, November 10, i 743, Gov. Matthew Griswold,
her second cousin's son (see ^ViSitDOlII). By this marriage the descend-
ants of Gov. Matthew Griswold became trebly Wolcotts, he himself
having been a Wolcott by descent from Matthew and Anna (Wolcott)
Griswold, and his wife having been a Wolcott on her mother's side, as
stated above, as well as on her father's.
Oliver (51) Wolcott, so named, it appears, for the great English
Protector, was born in 1726, and graduated at Yale College in 1747. We
abridge for our record a sketch of the principal particulars of his public
life copied from family-documents.
" ' On leaving College he received a commission as Captain in the
Army, from Gov. George Clinton, and . . . marched to the defence
of the Northern Frontiers,' " where he served till the peace of Aix-la-
Chapelle. When the county of Litchfield was organized, in 1751, he was
appointed the first Sheriff, and he thenceforth made Litchfield his home,
which town he represented in the General Assembly. From 1774 to
1786 he was annually elected a Member, of the Council, discharging, at
the same time, the office of Chief Judge of the Court of Common Pleas.
" By Rev. Dr. David M'Clure of South Windsor, Conn.
187"
mt'kin=mioUott
" ' On all the questions preliminary to the Revolutionary War he was a
firm advocate of the American cause.' " He drew up an eloquent preamble
and resolutions which were adopted by the town of Litchfield, in 1774,
with reference to the Boston Port Bill. He was a Member of the Conti-
nental Congress in 1775, and performed an important service for his
country in the pacification of Indian tribes of the North, and the settle-
ment of disagreements about boundaries, between certain of the colonies,
which threatened to alienate them from one another. He was, as is well
known, one of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.^^
In 1777 he was made Brigadier-General, and "'aided in reducing the
British Army under Gen. Burgoyne.' " In 1779 he was in the field in
defence of the sea-coast. From 1781 to 1783 he occasionally attended
Congress ; in 1 784-85 he was a Commissioner for Indian affairs.
" ' His military services, his known probity and judgment, his ardent
attachment to the Republican cause, and his social standing, all contributed
to give him an extended influence, which was faithfully exerted for the
public good. From the beginning to the end of the Revolutionary War
he was constantly engaged either in the Council or in the field.' " In 1786
he was chosen Lieut.-Governor of Connecticut, and for the next ten years,
until he became Governor, he continued to hold that office. In 1 788 he
was a Member of the Convention for the ratification of the Constitution
of the United States by Connecticut. In 1796 he was a Presidential
Elector, voting for John Adams and Thomas Pinckney. Yale College
conferred upon him the honorary doctorate of laws in 1 792. He died, the
Chief Magistrate of his native State, in 1797.
From a funeral-sermon preached on his death" we also make the
following extracts, the purport of which is amply verified by letters of his
printed in the " Memorial " before us :
" During the session of Congress of this year he made a visit to Connecticut, and took with him
from New York the broken pieces of a leaden statue of George III., which three of his children and
some other persons in Litchfield made into cartridges for the American army.
" By Rev. Azel Backus of Bethlehem, Conn.
3?ft!tfn=23Holcott
" ' In the discharge of these several offices, Integrity and firmness were the leading
features of his character. He was an eminent exemplification of the ' Vir tenax pro-
positi ' of the bard of Venusia. Although he possessed a strong mind, capable of
deep and thorough investigation, his abilities were not of that brilliant cast which
have often ruined men in popular governments. He always seems to have aimed
more to do his duty than to shine ; to be useful than to dazzle. By his death the true
interests of science have lost a strenuous defender; Virtue, religion and good men, a
sincere friend. Like good Hezekiah, he reverenced and loved public worship and
divine ordinances ; was a tried, but not an ostentatious, friend of the gospel ministry.
He sensibly felt every attempt to depart from puritan practice and morals. He set
his face like a flint against all the specious sophistry of new political theories, and
the madness of infidel fanaticism. . . .' "
We add only a single paragraph from one of his letters, to illustrate
that fondness for domestic life and rural quiet of which his public engage-
ments must have been a constant sacrifice. Writing to his wife from
Philadelphia, in 1776, he says:
" ' It is now a long time which I have been here, and I do most sincerely wish to
return to the Pleasures of a domestick rural Life — such a Life as Poets and Wise
men have always with so much Propriety praised. Here I see but little except human
Faces which I know not, and numerous Piles of Buildings which have long since
satiated the Sight, and the street rumble is far from being musical. But, as I was not
sent here to please myself, I shall cheerfully yield to my Duty, convinced of this
Truth, that the Noise and Bustle of this World are the best Lessons to teach a man
how few are its Enjoyments.' "
By his marriage, in 1755, to Lorraine (or Laura) daughter of Capt.
53 Daniel Collins of Guilford, Conn., he had Oliver^ the second Wolcott
54 Governor of Connecticut of that name ; Laura,'' who married William
55 Moseley of Hartford, Conn.; Mariann,'' who married Hon. Chauncey
56 Goodrich of Hartford; and Frederick^
Mariann (55) Wolcott, born in T765, was one of the most beautiful
women of her time. When she was in her thirteenth year, her father
mt^in=Wiolton
wrote to her mother from Philadelphia, referring to the recent inoculation
of herself and the children for the small pox :
" ' I perceive that Mariana has had it bad — he [the Dr.] writes, very hard. I am
heartily sorry for what the little Child has suffered, and very much want to see her.
If she has by this lost some of her Beauty, which I hope she has not, yet I well know
she might spare much of it and still retain as much as most of her Sex possess. But
I hope the Small Pox will give her no Uneasiness, tho' it may have a little hurt her
Complexion, as there is no valuable or lasting Beauty but what exists in the Mind ;
and if she cultivates these Excellencies She will not fail of being beloved and
esteemed. . . .' "
How much, if at all, her beauty was thus impaired, we are not told ;
but her celebrity in maturer years acquits her father of having been led by
parental fondness to estimate her attractions too highly. Her sprightliness
of mind, also, added to her charms. We venture to quote, in full, a letter
of hers written, in her twentieth year, to the lady who afterwards became
the wife of her brother Oliver, as follows :
" ' Litchfield, July 5'^ 1784.' "
" ' My dear Eliza :
" ' You want to know ' what we are about on this Western Hill.' Since you
will not be so good as to come and see, I will tell you that our Sister Laura is think-
ing and dreaming of her Beloved. As my soul was not made to be puffed away in
sighs, I spend many an hour of clear comfort in the Grove, the Bower and my Cham-
ber. At this delightful season, when all Nature is singing, I think it best to dismiss
all our cares, or give them a parole till sullen Winter returns, when we can think of
nothing else. And I believe after all, Eliza, that there are few of us who have not
our pensive moments — and at every season. For myself, I will confess that I have
often, this very Summer, retired to the brink of a purling stream, and thought how
convenient a place it was for a despairing Lover to end his days ! I have recom-
mended it to two or three, but they are not yet far-gone enough to be willing to take
the leap.
" ' I shall despatch Zephyr (who loves to reside in L d) with a particular
command never to quit Col. Wyllys's Arbour; and thither, my dear, I advise ye all
to repair from the sultry hours of Noon. But I cannot accompany him — my presence
^ftttfn=2molcott
is indispensably necessary at home this summer ; but I thank you from my heart for
your friendship, and from my heart I love you for it. But methinks that you, my
dear one, are sadly to blame; these short excursions that my Brother makes — it
cannot be inconvenient (I believe) for you to come with him — come then, my dear
Eliza, and see how delightfully we look on this Mountain. Laura sends love, and
so does Mr. Wolcott (I could tell you something else), and so does thy
Mariann.' "
" ' Miss Stoughton.' "
The following pleasantry we find in a letter to her brother Frederick,
written after her marriage :
New Haven folks, especially the women, are most terribly angry at Mr. G. for
quitting Miss W. . . . I had several reasons for taking the gentleman's part,
which I did with some zeal. I told them it had always been an established practice
with the Litchfield ladies to steal the hearts of all the Gentlemen who came there,
and that I thought a New Haven Lady must have a degree of modest assurance to
expect to keep her sweet-heart after he had seen the Litchfield beauties !' "
The second Oliver (53) Wolcott, born in 1760, having been at an
early age called into the Cabinet of Washington, and been all his life a
conspicuous adherent of that political party which represented the prin-
ciples, and illustrated the character, of the great founders of our General
Government, it would be out of place for us, here, to attempt any minute
statement of the events of his life, or characterization of him. Yet we
are loath to leave out of this family-record, which we seek to make a sort
of gallery of likenesses, imperfect though they be, such a portrait-sketch
as may do some justice to the subject, and so help a little to spread and
perpetuate the light of a bright example.
We begin by transferring to our pages an exquisite picture of his
boyhood in the rural retirement of Litchfield, just before the Revolution.
When over seventy years of age Oliver Wolcott wrote thus of himself in
his teens :
mt'kin=mioltott
"'Sunday was to me the most uncomfortable day of the Week, from the confine-
ment in dress and locomotion which it imposed on me. After Prayers and Breakfast
I was taken by my Mother to a Wash Tub, and thoroughly scrubbed with Soap and
Water from head to foot. I was then dressed in my Sunday Habit, which, as I was
growing fast, was almost constantly too small. My usual dress, at other times, was a
thin pair of Trowsers, and a Jacket of linsey-woolsey ; and I wore no shoes, except
in frosty weather. On Sunday morning I was robed in a Scarlet Cloth Coat with
Silver Buttons, a white Silk Vest, white Cotton Stockings, tight Shoes, Scarlet Cloth
Breeches with Silver Buttons to match my Coat, a close Stock, Ruffles at the Breast
of my Jacket, and a cocked Beaver Hat with gold lace Band. In this attire I was
marched to the Meeting House, with orders not to soil my Clothes, and to sit still,
and by no means to play during meeting-time. . . .
" ' I liked loud preaching, and suffered only from the confinement of my Sunday
dress. ... As I was not allowed to sleep during meeting-time, my sufferings
were frequently extreme.
" ' After service, new toils awaited me. ... In the interval from the end of
services in the Meeting House till Sunset, my Father read to the Family from the
Bible or some printed Sermon, and when he had done I was examined by my Mother
in the Assembly's Shorter Catechism. I learned to recite this, in self-defense ; and I
comprehended it as well then as at any time afterwards. When this task was ended,
I was allowed to resume my ordinary Habit. It exhilarates my spirits, even at pres-
ent, to think of the exstacies I enjoyed when I put on my Jacket and Trowsers, and
quit my Stockings and Shoes. I used to run to the Garden Lawn or into the orchard ;
I would leap, run, lie down and roll on the grass, in short, play all the gambols of a
fat calf when loosened from confinement.' "
He entered Yale College in 1774 — having been frightened away from
its halls the year before, when he had gone there for admission, by the
awful sight of silk-robed and bag-wigged Professors, and by not less awe-
inspiring student-gownsmen, strongly contrasting with other students who
had no gowns (all college-men will readily identify these luckless ones),
"who walked but never ran or jumped in the yard." After graduation, in
1778, he at once began the study of law with Judge Reeve of Litchfield,
though frequently interrupted by the state of the country. Arduous duties
mtfiin=mioUoU
were often required of him, either in company with his father away from
home, or at home in his father's absence. These had an important " influ-
ence' in forming and ripening his character." Leaving Litchfield in 1781,
to establish himself as a lawyer in Hartford, he was so slenderly provided
with means of living that he " accepted a clerkship in the office of the
Committee of Pay-Table." This seems to have been his first initiation into
public financial business, an augury of what was to be the great work of
his life. He rapidly rose to higher stations in the same field, until in 1 788
he was made Comptroller of the State of Connecticut, and the next year
Auditor of the National Treasury under Hamilton. In 1791 he became
Comptroller of the Treasury of the United States, and in i 795 Secretary
in place of Hamilton, which office he held for about six years, until the
approach of the great change made in the Administration by the accession
of Jefferson to the Presidency. Thereupon he received from President
John Adams the appointment of Circuit Judge of the United States, and
was confirmed ; but he never discharged the duties of that office, owing to
an extraordinary triumph of political sophistry which made Judges chosen
for life removable by the abolishment of th6ir offices. It was against this
measure that Oliver Wolcott's cousin Roger Griswold delivered the great
speech of his public life (see above). Thus cut off from preferment, and
retiring from official station in honorable poverty, he turned to mercantile
business for the support of his family. But in 181 7 he was recalled to
public service as Chief Magistrate of Connecticut ; and in that office his
next ten years were passed. In 18 19 he received the honorary degree of
LL.D. from Yale College; the same doctorate had been already given to
him, in 1799, by Brown University and the College of New Jersey. He
died in New York in 1833.
The "Memorial" before us is enriched with many pages of Oliver
Wolcott's correspondence, extracts from his official papers and tributes to
his memory. Our purpose will be best served by quoting some words of
his own, interspersed with a few from thoroughly congenial correspondents,
the pointedness and force of which entitle them to be specially remembered
mtuin=miouon
as apothegms of personal virtue and of political honor and sagacity. We
give these without farther introduction, only adding to each a date :
" ' Any considerable degree of affluence is not attainable in public service, consis-
tent with integrity ; my prospects on that head are therefore very limited'" — 1789-
" ' The favours I have received I am very happy to mention to you [his father], as
I am certain that they have been bestowed upon me under the auspices of your repu-
tation ' " — 1790.
" ' We must have a government, and this is the last that can be settled in the
United States, by the general consent of the present members' " — 1794.
" 'The people here [in New York] are driving at their private occupations, and
seem plunged in the mire of commercial avarice. They attend to nothing else; they
seem to consider themselves as having no kind of connection with the affairs of the
nation, and no interest in it !' " — 1798.
" ' I know what vexations you will experience while in your present place ; you
can't hold it with any satisfaction, and no other man could on the terms you must,
without at least being entangled in some ugly snare ' " — Chauncey Goodrich, 1800.
" ' At the same time I request that, if the liberty I have now taken to invite their
attention to a matter of personal concern should be deemed in any degree unsuitable,
the errour may be attributed to a just and reasonable desire that my conduct and
character may, on proper evidence, appear to have deserved their approbation ' "
—1800.
" ' A government which cannot tolerate the virtues which have been exhibited in
ours, cannot long enjoy the confidence of the wise and good. It cannot long be pre-
served pure, and will soon be thought not worth preserving ' " — 1800.
" ' The success of governments depends on the selection of the men who admin-
ister them. It seems as if the ruling system would rob the country of all chance, by
excluding the only classes proper to make the selection from ' " — Fisher Ames, 1800.
" ' You, Gentlemen, are all witnesses that the publick suffrages have not been
influenced by my solicitations or exertions ; neither ought I to attribute the invalu-
miUivi=WLo\cott
able proof of the confidence of my fellow citizens, which at this time demands my
grateful acknowledgements, to personal favour. If, indeed, my countrymen have
been in some degree influenced in their choice by a favourable estimate of the services
I have performed in various stations, still it is my duty to acknowledge that those
services were commenced and continued under the guidance of illustrious men who
were among the founders of our Nation ; and that to the wisdom of their precepts
whatever has appeared to be most meritorious in my conduct ought chiefly to be
referred. It is sufficient honour for me to have obtained their confidence and appro-
bation. Disclaiming all pretensions to participation of their Glory, I cannot omit to
express the reverence I entertain for those sages whom no artifices could deceive, no
temptations seduce, no dangers intimidate'" — 1817.
" ' The principles which you have advocated in the Council, and defended in the
Field, have been here triumphantly established, and by the favour of Heaven we hope
to transmit them, unimpaired, to the latest posterity.
" ' These principles are now difiEused on every side, from the ocean to the high
Plains of Missouri, and from the Lakes to the Bay of Mexico. Over this great region
our sons and our daughters, parents of future millions, are rapidly extending science,
religion, industry and all the arts which perpetuate and embellish powerful commun-
ities. Literature and commerce augment our strength and resources. We are united
with elevated spirits from every country, who have come here to enjoy all that free-
dom of opinion and of action with which our own minds are imbued. . . . and
in every class you will find an interesting proportion of Frenchmen, including num-
bers of the descendants of those early immigrants who imbibed the liberal and gallant
spirit of your Fourth Henry '" — 1824, addressed to Lafayette.
" ' When I review the incidents of my own life, I am compelled to acknowledge,
with sincere and reverential gratitude, that many of the most important, in relation
to my standing in society, my health, my fame, my family and my children, have
occurred without my contrivance, and have terminated contrary to my expectations
and wishes. I have suffered severe afflictions ; yet on the whole my life has, so far,
been happy and fortunate ' " — 1829.
But to these personal utterances of principle, character, fears and hopes
we must allow ourselves to add a summary, by one of his political associates,'^
which touches on some traits not yet distinctly brought into view :
'^ The late Hon. Joseph Hopkinson of Philadelphia.
mt^in=mioitott
"'Mr. Wolcott was a man of a cheerful and even playful disposition. His con-
versation was interesting and earnest, but gay, unless the occasion was unfit for
gaiety. He enjoyed a good joke from himself or another, and his laugh was hearty
and frequent. He delighted in the discussion of literary subjects and the works of
distinguished authors, and was particularly fond of poetry. Indeed, I understand
that in his younger days he was a poet. . . . His domestic life was most exem-
plary ; his greatest happiness was in his family, with the friends who congregated
there. His devotion to the business and duties of his office was severe and unremit-
ting. He possessed, in a high degree, a very rare qualification, the capacity for con-
tinued hard work, and was in everything systematic and orderly. His attachments to
his friends were strong and lasting, never taxing them with unreasonable exactions,
nor subjecting them to unpleasant caprices. He was open and direct in all his deal-
ings, without duplicity or intrigue in anything ; his sincerity was sure, he deceived
nobody. His political opinions were the honest convictions of a man of undoubted
integrity, of distinguished intelligence and high attainments, and, above all, of a true
and sincere lover of his Country.' "
By his marriage, in 1 785, to Elizabeth Stoughton, the second OHver
Wolcott had seven children. His third child and eldest daughter was
57 Laura,^ who married Col. George Gibbs of Newport, R. I., and whose
58 son George^ was the author of the "Memoirs of the Administrations of
Washington and Adams," largely made up from the papers of his grand-
father the Secretary of the Treasury. Another son of Col. George and
Laura (Wolcott) Gibbs is the eminent Rumford Professor Wolcott^
59 Gibbs of Harvard University.
The youngest child of the first Oliver Wolcott, Frederick (56), born
in 1767, was graduated at Yale College in 1786.
"' The younger brother ... the last of our Family who sat in
the Senate of Connecticut, or bore a part in its public affairs, was a worthy
representative of the succession which terminated with him.'" But his
life was more retired than that of either his distinguished brother, or his
father or grandfather.
mtttin=WLoUott
"'. . . the charms of his character were most attractively
unfolded,' " to use words quoted by our memorialist from a contemporary
obituary, " ' in the peaceful and retired scenes of private and social life.' "
We must hasten on to close our abstract with brief allusions to some
of his children and grandchildren. To these we are prompted by recollec-
tions of friendly meetings, or correspondence, or by other specially inter-
esting associations.
60 His eldest son \s, Joshua, Huntington,^ now of Boston, Mass., formerly
a prominent merchant of that city, of the late firm of Amos and Abbot
61 Lawrence; whose son Roger,^ a man of scholarly tastes and acquisitions,
and active public spirit, and a lawyer of prominent position, married a grand-
daughter of our classic historian Prescott. When we saw him Chief Mar-
shal of the lawyer-graduates of Harvard on her two hundred and fiftieth
anniversary in November 1886, we could but think that the mantle of
the old Wolcott leadership had fallen upon him. The son next in age was
62 Ff-ederu/; Henry ^ — now dead — whose many letters on the family-history,
addressed to one of the authors of this volume, are a pleasant and valuable
memorial of his antiquarian enthusiasm, as well as of his modest pride of
ancestry. The second daughter of Frederick Wolcott the elder was Eliza-
63 bcth,^ a lady distinguished, as was said of her on her decease, by "sweet-
ness, firmness, warm love for humanity, ardent patriotism and domestic
devotion ;" she married John P. Jackson of Newark, N. J.
These three, with others whose names will be found in our Pedigree,
were the children of the first marriage of Frederick Wolcott, in 1800, to
Betsey daughter of Col. Joshua Huntington of Norwich, Conn. It was at
the expense of these three brothers that the valuable "Memorial" of which
this paper is an abstract, was prepared and printed. A child by the second
marriage of Frederick Wolcott, in 181 5, to Sally Worthington (Goodrich)
64 Cooke, is our friend Charles Moseley^ of Roseneath, Fishkill-on-Hudson,
N. Y., a genial and agreeable gentleman, and much interested in the history
of his family, who himself has been twice married. His present wife, the
mtUin=WioltoU
mother of all his children, is Catharine A. daughter of Henry Rankin Esq.
of New York. The only surviving son of Charles Moseley Wolcott
65 is Henry Goodrich,^ whose marriage, in 1879, to Julia Sterling daughter
of Hon. Waldo Hutchins of New York, again united the families of
Wolcott and Ellsworth, which, in an earlier generation, became allied by
the marriage of Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth, as already stated (see
66 above). The first child of this marriage, born in 1880, and named Oliver'^^
"is the lineal descendant of the following seven Governors, namely:
William Bradford, one of the Pilgrim Fathers and the second Governor
of the Plymouth Colony, Thomas Welles, John Webster, WilUam Leet
and Roger Wolcott — who were Colonial governors of Connecticut ; and
Oliver Wolcott and William Wolcott Ellsworth, who were Governors of
the State of Connecticut." The eldest daughter of Charles Moseley
67 Wolcott is Katharine Rankin,^ whom we name, in conclusion, to express
our appreciation of her sweet intelligence, warmth of affection and gentle,
yet firm, dignity of character, making her a not unworthy living represen-
tative of many noble and attractive women, of her family and name, who
preceded her.
We will here add a few words in regard to the physical traits of
the Wolcotts, as understood by us. As a family they have been, so far as
tradition brings testimony, and still are, tall, well formed, stalwart and
powerful to an unusual degree. The second Matthew Griswold, the
athlete, chosen for his strength as one of the champions of Lyme against
New London, had a Wolcott mother. The early generations are said to
have been dark. Within the memory of tradition, they have had very
rich, clear, but not always brunette, complexions, and full faces, good,
though not in general finely chiselled, features, and much effective beauty.
The member of the Boston branch of the family who bears the name of
his distinguished ancestor the first Governor has the noble face and tall
figure of his ancestors, as well as their power and activity of usefulness in
public life. Beside those bearing the name, we have been led to believe
^ftltfu=S2llolrott
that the handsome family of Judge Lanman of Norwich bore in their
faces a decidedly Wolcott type. Mr. John M<^ Curdy, eldest son of Mr.
Richard M'^Curdy, was, also, in face and figure, a Wolcott, strikingly
resembling Mr. Charles M. Wolcott of Fishkill-on-IIudson. In disposi-
tion and manner, so far as we can learn, the Wolcotts have been warm-
blooded, joyous, affectionate in their families and to their friends, and,
generally, social, cordial, ready-witted, entertaining in conversation and
agreeable.
In connection with our papers on the Wolcott, Pitkin and Griswold
families, we are led to speak of the contrast between life and society in the
times which they chiefly describe and those of the present day. High
offices are now so often given to those whose money can control elections,
and so often men of the highest character and acquirements either are not
selected, or cannot afford to leave profitable business to live upon official
salaries, that the offices bring no longer the high distinction of former
times. It is therefore not easy, especially for our young readers, to under-
stand the social and public environment of the men who in the early times
held the highest offices in the State. The Connecticut colonists brought
with them their English political and social ideas, which continued after
the Revolution. Having selected, as their representatives, men from their
best families, the men of the highest character and abilities, and the best
educated, to make their laws and administer them, they left the adminis-
tration of government in their hands. With these colonists there was
little "rotation in office." They had not learned to pay debts for party-
service with political offices. No offices were given to a party, or to men,
because it was " their turn." Government was then administered for the
best good of all the people. When they had chosen such men, and found
them capable and faithful, they continued to entrust to them the care of
their public interests. They were accustomed to a "government-class,"
and to hold its members in high respect. They were accustomed to
mt^in=mioUott
" hereditary legislators," and such by their continued acts they constituted
for themselves. From the time of the founding of the Colony there had
been a " privileged class," not intentionally seeking this pre-eminence for
themselves, but accepting it as the natural result of their conditions. From
the first there had been a few leading families, of whom were the Wolcotts,
Pitkins, Trumbulls, Griswolds — all in one family-connection — to whose
wisdom and public spirit the government of the Colony and State had
been chiefly intrusted. These became hereditary legislators here, almost as
much as if, living in England, they had had a hereditary right to exalted
places. Bringing with them from England a sense of the highest respect
for " persons in authority over them," the colonists extended it to their
own high officers. It was their delight to surround them with all the
pomp, pride and pageantry within their power. No public occasion could
now be so impressive to us as the Governor's inauguration, in its solemnity,
its stateliness, its gorgeous attire, its military and civic display, was to them.
A prestige followed the governing families, and they and those nearly con-
nected with them were treated with a deference which is little seen in
modern society. These families on their part received this respect, and
these tributes, with calmness and dignity ; they were not elated by dis-
tinction, but, with a deep sense that "the powers that be" are of divine
institution, they discharged their duties in the fear of God, seeking wisdom
and strength from Him. All the leading men of the famihes we describe
" served God in their generation," and left high examples to their descend-
ants and to the people whom they guided.
mtUin=^UoUott
f
^itliiu
After the publication, during the past winter, of the " Pitkin Family
of America," '" by Mr. A. P. Pitkin, covering the whole field of the gene-
alogy of the family, from its first progenitor in this country, William
Pitkin, down to the present time, it would be superfluous to go over the
same ground again — especially as the Pitkin-Wolcott alliance was in the
very first generation of the American Pitkins. This alliance, however,
proved so important to both families that some farther recognition of it
seemed to be called for. We are happy, therefore, to preserve here
an old record of several early generations of the Pitkins, drawn up
by some unknown hand in the family, and kindly copied for us by
Mr. James Sherwood Pitkin of New Haven. All important discrepancies
between this record and the statements in the "Pitkin Family" are
marked by the initials A. P. P.
" Having since my former memoranda concerning the Pitkin family
obtained much information, particularly in relation to William Pitkin who
emigrated to Connecticut in 1659, and his son and grandson of the same
name, I, in November 1843, committed the same to writing, and here, for
more safe preservation, now transcribe the same.
" William ^ Pitkin, the first, was born in the city of London " in
1635, without the walls, and, as is supposed, at a place called Mary-le-bone,
where he lived at the time of his emigration, and where he received an
'« Hartford, 1887.
" Other Pitkin papers give Lincolnshire as the county from which William Pitkin emigrated — Pri-
vate letter of Prof. S. E. Baldwin, Nov. 25, 1886. Miss Mary K. Talcott of Hartford, on the other hand,
writes (February 8, 1887) as follows ; " Berkhamstead in Hertfordshire appears to have been the English
home of the Pitkins. Cussan's History of that county states, in vol. iii. p. 76, that the name of Pitkin
occurs frequently in the records of Great Berkhamstead, and I found the name of William Pitkin as
living there circa 1620-40. The Lincolnshire origin does not appear to be anything more than tradition
unsupported by facts."
mt'kin=moUott
excellent English, as well as law, education. For a short time after he
arrived and settled at Hartford, being an unmarried man of about the age
of twenty-five, he was on account of his superior education employed as an
instructor in that place, and was in part paid for his services out of the treas-
ury of that town. His superior law-education soon became known, and in
1662 he was appointed by the Assembly of Connecticut as a prosecutor for
the colony in a particularly important case, and, doubtless from the abihty
with which he conducted this prosecution, he was in 1664 appointed the
Attorney-General for the colony. Such was the confidence placed in him
that he was much employed, also, in the civil affairs of the colony. From
1675 to 1690, with the exception of the time of the usurpation of Sir
Edmund Andross, he was annually one of the Representatives of Hartford
in the Colonial Assembly. In 1676 he was chosen Treasurer of the
colony, was often appointed a Commissioner of Connecticut to the meet-
ings of the United Colonies of New England, and in 1690 was elected a
member of the Council, and so continued until his death. In addition to
the above general public employments, in 1683, on the arrival of Duncan
as Governor of New York, he with Nathan Gould and John Allen was
sent to New York to congratulate the new Governor on his arrival, and
with him to settle the boundaries between the two colonies ; and by them
the principles in relation to these boundaries were adjusted; and in 1693,
when Fletcher the New York Governor was commissioned to command
the militia of Connecticut, Gov. Winthrop was sent to England to adjust
this business with the King ; and William Pitkin, at the same time, was
sent to New York to make terms with Fletcher in regard to this subject,
till the royal pleasure should be known.
" He was indefatigable in his private as well as in his public business.
He was no doubt one of the most able lawyers in the colony at that period.
And the records of the Courts, particularly the High Courts, show that no
one was more generally employed in cases of importance, the records of
the High Court then giving us, at large, the written pleas of the lawyers in
the cases before it.
" The loss which the colony sustained in his death . . . was long
felt, as appears by a funeral sermon preached by the Rev'* Eliphalet Adams
at the death of Governor Saltonstall in 1724. In this sermon the preacher
said ' In this colony particularly the Lord's hand hath been heavy upon us
mt^in=mioUott
in silencing and removing our Chief Rulers and Magistrates,' and, men-
tioning among them Richard Christophers, he adds ' Another of them was
soon removed by death, the worshipful William Pitkin, a gentleman of great
worth, wisdom and piety, whose loss we feel and lament even to this day.'
" From the last expression we conclude the first William Pitkin was
meant, as the death of the second William Pitkin had happened only
in 1723.
"The great attention he paid to religion is evidenced by the manu-
scripts he left behind him on religious subjects, which are now in my
hands. These manuscripts fill a very large folio volume of about six
hundred and fifty closely written pages, in a hand plain for that period.
They embrace one hundred and sixty-three essays, of different lengths, on
various texts of Scripture.'^
" The first emigrant, it is believed, left no parents living in England,
2 and only one brother, by the name of Roger y^^"^ and one sister named
3 MartJia}-^^ The former was a military officer in the royal army ; and the
latter, strongly attached to her brother William, in the year 1660, or early
in 1 66 1, crossed the Atlantic for the purpose of finding this brother, and
inducing him to return to England, not supposing that he really intended
to remain in the wilderness.
" A tradition has always prevailed in the family, that Martha Pitkin,
at that time a young lady of twenty or twenty-two, of no ordinary natural
talents, and improved by an excellent education, having by accident found
her beloved brother, at their first meeting, feeding his swine, she (after
their first salutation) said to him ' I left one brother in England serving
his king, and found another in America serving Ijis swine.'
"The reception his sister met with in the colony was very flattering,
as has lately been given me by the Rev'' Thomas Robbins, for some years
'* Mr. A. P. Pitkin says ; " it might be inferred that he was educated for the ministry'."
" A letter of Walter Barnesley of London (November 4, 1667) to Mr. William Pitkin, quoted in The
N. E. Hist, and Geneal. Reg., xxxiv. 195, says : " Since the dreadfull fire I live not above^i stone's cast
from y' brother Roger pitkin* howse in Helmet court, but on the other side of London wall, whither I
pray you direct your letters to me At the next house to the signe of the George in the Posterne street,
neare little morefields. This day I saw y' brother Roger and his wife who are in good health (through
mercy) and theyr little son Roger. Litle Will : died in the great sicknes time. They desire to be kindly
remembred to your self and wife, together with your brother arid sister WooUcott."
3^(tftitt=smoUott
a minister at East Windsor, where she resided the greater part of her life,
a gentleman well versed in family antiquities and anecdotes. . . . [gee
above].
"In 1661 WilHam [i] Pitkin married Miss Hannah Goodwin, a lady
of a very respectable family m
children, viz :
" Roger, ^^^ born 1662.
" William,^^'^ born 1664.
"John,^^^ born .
" Nathaniel,^^^ born
" Hannah, '^^^ born
" George,^^^ born 1675.
" Elizabetk,^^ born 1677.
" Osias,^^^ born 1679.
Hartford, by whom he had the following
[A. P. P. sdijs: Hannah, b. about 1666.
John, b. about 1668.
iVaM««z>/, b. about 1670.]
" His son Roger [4] married a daughter of the Hon. Caleb Stanley in
1683. He had some mihtary appointment ; and died November 24*\ 1748,
at the advanced age of eighty-seven.
" WiUiam [5], the second son, married, in the year 1686, Elizabeth a
daughter of the Hon. Caleb Stanley ; and died April 5*^ 1723.
"John [6], the third son, died unmarried.
" Nathaniel [7], the fourth son, married Esther daughter of Stephen
Hosmer; and died in 1733.
" Hannah [8] married Timothy Cowles [of East Hartford, Conn.].
" Osias [i i], the fifth son, first married Miss EHzabeth Green of
Boston, and, after her death, Mrs. Elizabeth Caldwell [Esther Cadwell —
A. P. P.].
"The first emigrant William Pitkin died on the 16*'' of December
1694, aged fifty-nine; and though, for the greater part of his life, he had
lived on the east side of the Connecticut river, he was buried in the burial-
ground on the west side of that river. His wife survived him until Feb-
ruary 1724, when she died at the age of eighty-six.
"William [5] Pitkin, the second son of the first William, was educated
by his father as a lawyer, and like him was distinguished in his profession,
mt'^in=WioUott
and like him also was much employed in public business. In his profes-
sional practice he was not less able and happy in repartee than in argument.
He was often opposed by a brother lawyer of the name of Eels. His
opponent, supposing that, in a particular case, he had got much the better
of Pitkin in argument, said ' The Court will perceive that the Pipkin is
cracked.' ' Not so much so, may it please Your Honor,' was the reply,
' but that you will find it will do to steiv Eels in yet.'
"As to his public employments,- he represented the town of Hartford
in the General Assembly in 1696 ; and from 1697 until his death, a period
of twenty-six years, he was annually elected by the freemen to the Council
of the colony. From 1702 until 1711 he was a Judge of the County
Court. In 1703 he was appointed a Judge of the Court of Assistants.
" Upon the establishment of the Superior Court, in 171 1, he was made
a Judge of that Court, and in 171 3 he was made Chief Justice of the
same.*
" In addition to these judicial duties, he was also employed in other
important business of the colony. In the great Mohi case, to decide upon
which Royal Commissioners were appointed in 1 705, he was the first of
the agents of the colony. In 1707 he was one of the Council of War;
and for many years he, together with John Chester and William Whiting,
was employed in the settlement of the boundary line between Massachusetts
and Connecticut. I have in my possession a statement, drawn up by Wil-
liam Pitkin in his own handwriting, containing a brief account of the
proceedings under this appointment. He states that they went to Massa-
chusetts on this subject, and, after debating three weeks with Governor
Belmont, intrusted with the power of adjusting the line, all that could be
obtained was an Act of Massachusetts to appoint certain persons to find
out the line run by Woodward and Saffory.
"After a long controversy Massachusetts, though proven to be wrong,
utterly refused to begin the fine at any other point than a certain designated
station. So Connecticut finally yielded, and in 1713 the line was run by
Pitkin and Whiting, and struck the Connecticut River seven or eight miles
so "William Pitkin the second was chosen a Judge of the Superior Court in 1711, and subsequently.
In 1712 he was appointed Chief Judge in case of the absence of the Deputy Governor " — Private letter
of Charles J. Hoadly, State Librarian of Hartford, Mar. 6, 1879. See List of Judges of the Superior
Court, in " Connecticut Reports," Vol. 53, p. 595.
mt^in=mioltott
north of ' Bissel's house,' claimed by Massachusetts to be within her juris-
diction. By this new line, which was run by a large instrument made for
that purpose, a large tract of land was added to Connecticut, including
(what at that time was considered to be of great importance) the copper
mines at Simsbury.
"Though William Pitkin the second was so much engaged in his
profession, and in public business, as above stated, yet prior to the year
1 706 he was the owner of the famous mill seats on a certain river in East
Hartford, and at the Upper Falls so called had built two fulling mills, and
had also erected a clothier-shop, in which the clothier-business was carried
on to a large extent. This was done probably for the benefit of his two
oldest sons, William and Joseph, to whom by his will he gave these two
fulling mills, and all his right in the Upper Falls, and who after the death
of their father carried on the clothier-business.
"This was probably the only clothier-business of much consequence
carried on in Connecticut at that period, as Trumbull in his History Informs
us that, in answers made to certain questions put by the Board of Trade
and Plantations, in the year 1710, relative to the manufactures of Connec-
ticut, it is stated 'There is but one Clothier in the Colony.' This clothier
was probably William Pitkin the second.
" In the year 1686 he married Elizabeth daughter of the Hon. Caleb
Stanley, by whom he had the following children, viz :
12 " Elizabeth}-^^ i**', born in 1687; died in infancy.
13 " Eliza bet h,^'^ 2"^ born in 1689.
14 '' Martha}-^'^ born February 28, 1692.
15 " JVillmm,^^^ born April 30, 1694.
16 " Joseph}-^'^ born May 16, 1696.
17 " Sarah, ^^'^ i^', born March 1698; died in 1701.
[8 " Thovias,^'^ born June 18, 1701 [1700— A. P. P.].
[9 " Sarah}-^'^ 2'"', born November 28, 1702.
20 "Jo/in,^'^ i'', born July 18, 1706; died in infancy.
'Jo/m,^
^ born Decenjber 13, 1707 [Dec. 18 — A. P. P.].
'' Jerusha^^^ born June 22, 171 1 [Jan. 22, 1710 — A. P. P.].
" Elizabeth [13] married the Rev*^ Benjamin Colton of West Hartford.
"Martha [14] married Col. Thomas Welles of Glastonbury.
mt^in=Wioltott
"William [15] married Mary daughter of the Rev'' Mr. Woodbridge,
Minister at Hartford.
"Joseph [16] married : first, Mary daughter of Richard Lord of Hart-
ford [great great granddaughter of the first Thomas Lord of Hartford],
by whom he had seven [nine — A. P. P.] children — she died October 10,
1740, aged thirty-eight; secondly, Eunice daughter of John Chester of
Wethersfield ; and, thirdly, Mrs. Law, the widow of Gov. Law of Milford,
who survived him. He died November 30"', 1763 [1762 — A. P. P.], aged
sixty-seven.
"Thomas [18] married Elizabeth [Rebecca — A. P. P.] daughter of
Capt. [Samuel — A. P. P.] Welles, and removed to Bolton, which town
he frequently represented in the General Assembly. By his will he gave
three of his slaves their freedom at his decease, which took place July 20'",
1 766, when he was at the age of sixty-six.
"Sarah [19] married Col. Eleazur Porter of Hadley, TVIass.
"John [21] married Miss Ann [Elizabeth— A. P. P.] Olcott. After
being employed in many civil and military affairs, he died June 5"', 1790,
aged eighty-three.
"Jerusha [22] married: first, Samuel Edwards of Hartford ; secondly,
the Rev** Ashbel Woodbridge of Glastonbury, by whom she had seven
sons and one daughter [two daughters — A. P. P.]. Her husband served
as a Chaplain in the expedition in 1745 and 1746, and died August 6'\
1758. She survived, and died July 31*', 1799, aged eighty-nine."
"William [15 | Pitkin the third, eldest son of W^illiam Pitkin the
second, was more distinguished both in public and private life than any
other of his father's numerous family.
" The advantages of education in the colony at that time were very
small. His early education, therefore, was quite partial. Few in Connec-
ticut at that time, especially those who had large families, were able to
educate their sons at Harvard, and Yale College was then in an embryo
state. Few young men, therefore, in the colony at that period had the
advantages of a collegiate education. Their parents, however, were fully
sensible of the importance of having their sons brought up in habits of
industry, and in some steady and regular employment ; and, in case of
" The Woodbridge Record.
1883, p. 29.
Louis Mitchell.
Privately Printed. New Have
mf^in^wmitou
their want of capacity or inclination for either of the learned professions,
they must be either agriculturists, manufacturers or mechanics ; nor did
they deem it disreputable or degrading to place them in a state of appren-
ticeship to enable them to learn the manufacturing or mechanic arts.
Roger Wolcott, afterwards Governor of the colony, was at the age of
twelve placed as an apprentice to a mechanic ; and the first William Pitkin,
leaving at his decease three sons under age, in his will directed his wife to
put one to a trade in case he should desire it.
"William Pitkin the third was employed in the early part of his
life, by his father, in the business of a clothier. Possessing a mind
naturally stable, active and energetic, he no doubt profited much by the
education of his father, particularly on the important subject of the laws
of policy of the colony at that period. This, with his natural courtesy and
ease of manner, placed him in the public station he afterwards held.
"He commenced his civil career in 1728, when he was elected a
Representative of Hartford in the General Assembly ; and he continued
thus to represent that town until 1734, when he was elected into the
Council. In 1732 he was chosen Speaker of the House; and, while he
held this station, a question of no Httle importance, that of repealing the
charter of the ' New London Society, United for Trade and Commerce,'
and declaring the paper-money issued by that Society unauthorized, came
before the House ; and finally depended upon the casting vote of the
Speaker, which was given in favor of repealing the charter. This greatly
displeased his colleague Mr. Thomas Seymour, who was largely interested
in the Society, who told him that this vote would destroy his popularity in
Hartford, whose Representative he would no longer be. It so happened,
however, that in the spring following the Speaker was again elected for
Hartford, and Seymour was neglected. Neither by this vote did he lose
his popularity in the colony at large, as in 1 734 he was chosen an Assistant,
and from 1735 to 1752 was a Judge of the County Court for Hartford
County.^
"In 1754 he was elected Lieutenant Governor, and to this office he
This is not quite correct ; the third William Pitlcin " was appointed a Judge of the Superior Court
in 1741 and after. The office of Chief Judge was ordinarily annexed to, or held in connection with, that
of Deputy Governor, and Mr. Pitkin held these offices 1754-1766" — Private letter of Charles J. Hoadly,
ut supra.
mtUin=mioUott
was annually elected till 1766, when, in the manner I siiall hereafter partic-
ularly state, he was elected Governor in the room of Fitcli.
" In May 1754 he was appointed one of three Commissioners to rep-
resent Connecticut at a convention held at Albany, by the request of the
British Government, in order to form a more perfect union between the
colonies, to meet an expected war with France, and at the same time to
secure the friendship of the Northern Indians. The plan drawn up and
recommended was principally the work of Dr. Benjamin Franklin of
Pennsylvania, and was called the 'Albany Union.' It has generally been
stated that all of the Commissioners present approved of this plan ; those
from Connecticut, however, were not in favor of it, particularly of a part
which gave the veto power to a President General to be appointed by the
Crown. The plan itself, as is well known, was afterwards rejected, not
only by Connecticut, but by all the other colonies as well.
" William Pitkin the third was also very strongly opposed to the cele-
brated Stamp Act passed by the British Parliament in March 1765, to take
effect upon the i'' day of November of the same year. It became a very
serious question whether the Governor and Magistrates should take the
oath to carry the same into execution, as required by the Act. Thomas
Fitch, then Governor, and I believe four of the Council, deemed it proper,
and probably considered it their duty, to take the oath required. But
William Pitkin, then Lieut. Gov"", Jonathan Trumbull and the other
Councillors refused to take it. The two former in fact retired from the
Council Chamber, while it was being administered.*^ This proceeding of
Gov. Fitch rendered him very unpopular throughout the colony, of which
he had been Governor since 1754, and in May 1766 Lieutenant Gov.
Pitkin was chosen Governor in his stead, by so large a majority of the
votes of the freemen that the same when separated (as the actual votes
then given by the freemen were returned to the Assembly to be counted
by that body) were no^ in fact coimted.
"The 'Connecticut Gazette' gives the following brief account of this
election :
" 'General Election 8'" of May 1766. Hon''"' William Pitkin, Governor. Majority
so great, votes not counted.'
"'Hon''"= Jonathan Trumbull, Deputy Governor.'
'^ As did, also. Matthew Griswold (see ffiiistnolll).
mt^in=miouou
" The records show that William Pitkin was annually elected Governor
from May 1766 to the time of his death, which took place October i'*,
1 769, when he had reached the age of seventy-six, and that during that
period Jonathan Trumbull was chosen Lieut. Governor. The Assembly
which met in October, soon after the death of Governor Pitkin, chose
Trumbull Governor for the remainder of the year; and in May 1770 he
was elected Governor by the freemen, and was afterwards annually chosen
to the same office until i 783, when he publicly declined a re-election.
"The wife of Gov. William Pitkin died in 1766, by whom he had the
following children, viz :
23 " William,^^'^ born in 1724-5 ; died in 1789, aged sixty-five.
24 " Timothy, '''^^ born January 15 [Jan. 13 — A. P. P.], 1727; died July
8, 18 1 2, aged eighty-five.
25 "George,^'^^ born in 1729; died April 8 [April 18— A. P. P.], 1806,
aged seventy-seven.
26 "Epaphras,^^^ born in 1733 ; died in 1801, aged sixty-eight.
27 "Ashbel,^'^^ born in 1735 ; died in 1802, aged sixty-seven."
A private letter from Miss Talcott enables us to add to this record
that the fourth William (23) Pitkin was "appointed, in 1758, Major of
the Connecticut forces raised for the expedition to Canada under Gen.
Abercrombie ; was a Judge of the Superior Court [from 1 769], and a
member of the Council of Safety during the Revolutionary War." He
was also a Judge of the Supreme Court of Connecticut in 1 784-85, as James
Griswold Esq. of Lyme informs us. See List of Judges of the Supreme
Court of Errors, in Baldwin's "Connecticut Digest," Vol. I. p. ix. William
Pitkin the fourth "was Col. in the military, Sheriff of the County, and
Assistant, and Judge of the Superior Court " — so writes Prof. S. E. Baldwin
of New Haven, from a record by his mother Mrs. Gov. Baldwin. He
held the office of Sheriff from 1749 to 1767, and that of Judge of the
Superior Court from 1 769 until his death in 1 789. See " Connecticut
Reports," Vol. 53, pp. 595, 611.
mt^in=mLoUoti
The first graduate of Yale College of the Pitkin family was Rev.
Timothy (24) Pitkin of Farmington, Conn., the second son of Gov.
Pitkin ; he was graduated in 1747. From him descends Miss Talcott. A
granddaughter of his was the late Mrs. Gov. Baldwin of New Haven.
Hon. Timothy Pitkin (Y. C. 1785), Member of Congress and author
of " A Political and Civil History of the United States of America," was
a grandson of Gov. Pitkin. Our friend Mr. James S. Pitkin, to whom
we owe the record given above, is a great grandson of Elisha Pitkin
(Y. C. 1753), a nephew of Gov. Pitkin.
Gov. Frederick W. Pitkin of Colorado descends from the second
William Pitkin, through his son Joseph, and his grandson Richard, who
was the Colorado Governor's great grandfather.
Miss Talcott also informs us that " Gov. Pitkin had a seal ring with a
coat of arms," which she never saw, but which the Governor's great grand-
daughter Miss Charlotte Perkins of Hartford copied in colors. As thus
represented, " the field is blue, bearing two white swans, with a fess between
Arg., and on the fess two or three mullets." But an enlarged copy of this
device, without tinctures, given us by Mr. James S. Pitkin, enables us to
correct the description thus : "As. a bend Arg. between tivo swa?is Arg.,
on the bend a crescent between two mullets." A later note from Miss
Talcott makes the mullets to be Gules. These arms are not given either
by Burke or Papworth ; and we have no means of testing their authenticity.
The foregoing part of this paper speaks of those of the Pitkins who
have been most distinguished in civil life. But it should be mentioned that,
in all its generations, the family has contributed its full proportion of men
whose distinction has been that they have served their country, faithfully, in
military stations, — from Captain Roger Pitkin, of the second generation,
who was appointed by the General Assembly, in 1698, Captain of the first
militia-company of Hartford, on the east side of Connecticut River, and
"was actively engaged with his company in defence of the town against
the Indians in 1704, and in other troubled times;" Col. John Pitkin,
mmn=^mouou
of the third generation, commissioned as Colonel in 1 756, who, as Lieut-
Colonel, "led his command in the expedition to Crown Point in 1755;"
Major William Pitkin, of the fourth generation, who was in the expedition
to Canada, in 1758, under Gen. Abercrombie ; and Richard Pitkin, of the
fifth generation, who, "though but sixteen years of age, served in the
Revolution as driver of an ammunition-wagon ;" down to Colonel Edward
Powell Pitkin, of the seventh generation, who was " promoted to Adjutant
on the field of Fredericksburg in 1862," and received other promotions,
for his services, in later years of the war of the rebellion, — together with
many others whom we cannot stay to name, but whose names will be found
recorded with honor in the " Pitkin Family." Nor should we omit to
refer here to Capt. Roger Pitkin, the brother of the emigrant William,
who was a loyal officer of the British Army, in the old mother-country
of the family.
We quote the following general summaries from the " Pitkin
Family," pp. xxiii-xxiv :
" Among the descendants by the name of Pitkin may be found a United States
Senator, three members of Congress, and State Senators, a Speaker of the House,
forty members of the House and Senate, two Attorney-Generals, three Judges of
Supreme Court, and several Judges of County and Probate Courts, several D.D.'s,
an LL.D., several Colonial Commissioners, a trustee of the Hartford Theological
Seminary, Fellows of College Corporation, a founder of the Western Reserve College,
thirty clergymen, and numerous deacons ; two Generals and a Quartermaster-General,
six Colonels, and numerous Major Commanders ; three graduates of West Point, an
Engineer-in-Chief, a United States Marshall, two Governors, a Lieutenant-Governor,
five members of the Governor's Council, several on Councils of Safety and Councils
of War. One historian of the United States, mayors, water commissioners, and bank
presidents, surgeons in the U. S. Navy and Army, a number of physicians, lawyers,
and college graduates, — not to mention here many other important trusts conferred
upon various members of the family. . . .
" From William's sister Martha Pitkin Wolcott are also descended five Governors
of Connecticut, and other eminent men. . . .
mtUin=moUoit
". . . twenty of the daughters of Pitkins married clergymen, and ten of the
sons of Pitkins married daughters of clergymen ; adding to these thirty ministers be-
fore mentioned, we find sixty clergymen directly or nearly connected with the family.
"Mr. J. O. Goodwin, in his 'History of East Hartford,' says (p. 225) : 'Seldom
is it the fortune of any family to have numbered so many individuals raised to places
of distinction in the affairs of a State, by their own abilities, as in the case of the Pitkin
family of Hartford, East Side. No other family in our commonwealth stood so con-
stantly and for so long a time in the front of current events, unless it were the
Wolcott family of Windsor, which was also remarkable for its number of prominent
men.'
"From the charter of the Connecticut Colony, in 1662, to its formation as a
State, in 1776, and the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, in 1788,
until 1812, a period of one hundred and fifty years, the Colony was annually repre-
sented by a member of the Pitkin family in the Assembly of the Colony, or the
Governor's Council, or in the Governor's chair, and the State, in the House or in the
Senate, and in the Speaker's chair. This representation continued with but few
omissions till 1842, a period of one hundred and eighty years. We question if a
parallel case can be cited in the history of any family in any State."
One of the most prominent families of Pitkin descent is that of the
late Hon. Roger Sherman Baldwin, Governor of Connecticut and United
States Senator, whose wife. Miss Emily Perkins by birth, a granddaughter,
as we have said, of Rev. Timothy Pitkin of Farmington, Conn., was a
noble, very talented and most excellent woman, whom we shall always
remember as one of the most valued friends of our lifetime. Her son
Simeon E. Baldwin Esq., Professor of Constitutional and Mercantile Law,
etc., in the Yale Law School, one of the foremost lawyers of his native
State, and deserving of any official position in the gift of his fellow-citizens ;
her other surviving son, Mr. George William Baldwin, who, having left the
practice of law with honor, has been, for several years, gathering riches of
knowledge and culture by travels all over Europe, and in lands of ancient
civilization in Asia and Africa; her daughter Mrs. Elizabeth Wooster
Whitney, the wife of our foremost American orientalist and linguist
Prof. William Dwight Whitney of Yale University ; and her other daughter
mtUin=^!&oUoU
Mrs. Henrietta Perkins Foster, the widow of Hon. Dwight Foster, a
distinguished lawyer of Worcester and Boston, Mass., are all prominent
illustrations of Pitkin qualities of mind and character, as well as worthy-
representatives of many other lines of eminent ancestry.
Mrs. Baldwin's brother Thomas Clap Perkins Esq. was for many
years one of the most distinguished lawyers in the State, and the succession
of distinguished talent has been kept up by his children — Charles Perkins,
who followed him in the legal profession ; Frederick Beecher Perkins, a
literary man ; and Mrs. Emily Hale, wife of Rev. Edward Everett Hale
of Boston, inheriting and transmitting more than ordinary mental power.
A similar mention may be made of her brothers the late Rev. George
William Perkins, and Henry Perkins an astute financier of Hartford, Conn.
It is believed among the descendants that there is a versatility of
talent, a special wit and sprightliness of mind, which brings those of them
who were previously strangers to each other into rapid and easy relations,
and makes companionship delightful.
One of the family, who fully exemplifies all the qualities mentioned,
sends us the following sketch of family-traits :
" The Pitkins have been an active, shrewd, quick-witted race, with a good deal of
dry humor, and a keen way of ' putting things.' Their tendencies have been towards
the conservative side in most social and political movements. The men are generally
thought to have a good head for business, and the women are known to be ready in
conversation, frank and hospitable."
t
BtaUe
Kotrs on Hjt iFamClj? of WvuUt
Arms : Arj^. a iviirni with wings displayed Gu.
4-7
The father of Sergeant Job^" Drake, who married Mary Wolcott.
was the emigrant JOHN^ DRAKE, believed, by Mr. Savage, and
other antiquaries, to have come in the fleet with Winthrop. In October
1630 he requested to be made a freeman of Boston, Mass. He was of
Windsor in 1635, and was a purchaser of land at Taunton, Mass., in 1639.
His wife was Elizabeth Rodgers, as we learn from a manuscript statement,
dated in 1731, by his great grandson Dr. Matthew Rockwell, a physician
and clergyman. He was evidently a man of substance ; his family took
rank, and intermarried, with the best of the Windsor settlers ; his sons left
estates large for the period.
John Drake Sen., according to an old Windsor record, was killed,
August 17, 1659, by his oxen taking fright and running away; he trying
to take hold of the leader, a mare, was thrown down, and the cart wheel
went over him. " He was taken up for dead, being carried into his
daughter's house had life come again, but dyed in a short time, and was
buried on the 18"' of Aug. 1659." The Windsor church-record states that
his widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Drake, "died Oct. 7, 1681 at 100"' y"" of age,
having lived a widow 22 years." After the death of her husband she lived
with her son Jacob.
Most, if not all, of the children of John Drake and his wife were
born in England. Savage says there were three sons : Job, John and Jacob,
and one or more daughters. His Will now in the office of the Secretary of
State at Hartford, Conn., shows that he had four sons, in the following
order : John 1° (a document filed in Hartford says he was born in 161 2), Job
(i), Jacob^^ and Timothy}^ and two daughters, Mary^^ and Elizabeth}^
Kotes on tJie iFawUff of mvuUt
8
9, 10
11,12
13. 14
15. 16
17.18
19
20
22, 23
24
25. 26
27
28, 29
30,31
I. JOHN (3) DRAKE J UN., who married, November. 30, 1648,
Hannah Moore, daughter of Deacon John Moore who came from England
as deacon of Rev. Mr. Warham's church, and held high official station in
the colony, was one of the first settlers of Simsbury, Conn. His Inventory
was presented September 12, 1689, showing Simsbury property to the
amount of ^393. 15., and Windsor property amounting to ;^223. 2. He
had a son John (afterwards of Danbury) who in 1 708 chose a guardian.
His wife died February 16, 1686. His children were: John}'^ born
September 14, 1649 ; Job}'^ born June 15, 1651; HannahP- born August 8,
1653; EnochP- born December 8, 1655; Ruth}'^ born December 8,
1657; Simon}^ born October 28, 1659; LydiaP- born January 26, 1661;
Elizabeth}^ born July 22, 1664; Mary,'^^ born January 29, 1666;
Mjndwell}'^ born November 10, 1671; Joseph}'^ born June 26, 1674.
Hannah (10) Drake married Capt. John Higley, and had Hannah ;'^'^
who married Capt. Joseph Trumbull, and was the mother of the first
Gov. Jonathan^^ Trumbull.
Enoch (11) Drake married Sarah Porter, and had Sarah .-^"^ who
married Capt. Benoni Trumbull, younger brother of Joseph, and had
Benjamin .-"^^ who married Mary Brown, and had Rev. Dr. Benjamin^*
Trumbull, the historian of Connecticut. Hon. Lyman ^^ Trumbull, late
United States Senator, is a grandson of Dr. Benjamin.
2. SERGEANT JOB (i) DRAKE married, June 25, 1646,
Mary daughter of Henry Wolcott Sen. He died August 6, 1689. His
widow Mary died September 11, 1689. His estate was ^583. 4. His
children were: Abigail}^ born September 28, 1648; MaryP- born
December 12, 1649, who married Thomas Marshall in 1685 ; Job}'^ born
March 28, 1652; Elizabeth}'^ born November 14, 1654; Joseph}'^ born
April 16, 1657; Hepzibah}^ born July 14, 1659; Hester}^ born October
10, 1662 ; who married Thomas Griswold (see dSrlTtSiUlOltl).
Tl^otts on tijc iFama^ of TBvaUt
3. JACOB (4) DRAKE, of the tenth generation, married, April 12,
1649, Mary Bisseli. They had no children.
LIEUT. JOB (27), son of Job of the tenth generation, married
widow Elizabeth Cook (daughter of Hon. Daniel Clarke), September 13,
1677. He died November 9, i 71 1, in his sixtieth year ; she died December
22, 1729, aged seventy-eight. His children were: /od,'^^ born January 26,
33' 34 1678; Afary}^ born April 29, 1680; Jacob}"^ born January 29, 1683;
35 Saram,^2 born May 10, 1686, who married Gov. Roger Wolcott, December
36 3, 1702 ; Job}"^ born in 1705.'
John Drake the emigrant is believed to have been the "John Drake,
my cozen William Drake's sonne," to whom Francis Drake Esq. of Esher,
CO. Surrey (of the family of Drakes of Ashe in Devonshire), in his Will,
dated March 13, 1633, and proved May 7, 1634, gave £20., "to be sent
vnto hhii into New England, in comodityes such as my Executor shall
thincke fitt."~
"The family of Drake," says Dr. Stiles in his " History of Ancient
Windsor," "has been distinguished in England from the earliest ages, by
a long array of noble men — soldiers, navigators, clergymen, martyrs and
authors. . . . It is sufficient for our purpose to say that, among the
many noble families of the name in Great Britain, the family who held
their seat at Ashe were ever prominent, and from them it is supposed
that the Drakes of New England were descended."^ Henry FitzGilbert
Waters Esq., in a private letter to the writer (April 22, 1887), says of the
John Drake referred to in the Will of Francis of Esher: "who could it
be but your ancestor ?"
' These particulars respecting the sons, grandchildren and great grandchildren of the emigrant
John Drake are taken from The History of Anc. Windsor. ... By Henry R. Stiles. . . . New
York, 1859, pp. 583-84. The generation-numbers accord with the descent of the emigrant John Drake
as set forth later in this paper.
' A full abstract of this Will has been given to us by Henry FitzGilbert Waters Esq.
' Stiles's Anc. Windsor, ut supra, p. 583.
217'"
Kotrs on ti|t SPmnils of "BvaUt
During the last ten years the writer has printed " Queries," and has
made, besides, active personal inquiries for any John Drake who was in
New England at the early period when the Will of Francis Drake Esq. of
Esher was dated, 1633-34, but has obtained no trace of any person of the
name except John Drake of Windsor. As his social position and apparent
pecuniary resources correspond to the belief of genealogists and others
that he is the only person who could be the one named in the Will of
Francis Drake Esq. of Esher, and as he is accepted as such by learned
genealogists of the English family of Drake of Esher, we feel that we may
consider the fact established, and shall therefore proceed to give some
account of the family and pedigree of our John Drake as having branched
off from the Drakes of Ashe and Exmouth. As to his particular line
of descent, the antiquary S. G. Drake, late of Boston, said, in "The
New England Histor. and Geneal. Register" for 1870, that, in an extensive
pedigree of the Drakes of Ashe in Devonshire he found " but one John
who could be meant in the will of Francis Drake of Esher, and he was a
son of William Drake of Yardbury, [great] grandson of John Drake Esq.
Sheriff of Devon." This conjecture, however, has been disproved by infor-
mation lately received from Rev. W. T. Tyrwhitt Drake of Hemel-Hemp-
sted, England, with an accompanying letter as follows :
" Great Gaddesden Vicarage,
" Hemel Hempsted, England, June, 1890."
"Dear Madam :
" In reply to a communication of yours of May 2'^ which has been forwarded me
by one of my cousins, I enclose you a pedigree which Sir William R. Drake of
XII. Princes Gardens, London (the author of a ' Notelet on Richard Drake of
Esher, London,' privately printed 1878), has kindly furnished me with, and which
he says he believes correctly answers Mrs. Salisbury's enquiries. There were none
of the Tavistock Drakes at the date of Francis Drake's Will, 1633, who had migrated
to New England, though some went to the West Indies.
" The Esher Drakes were Puritans. Joan D. (nee Tothill) to wit : so was the
great Sir Francis, and the New England Francis was no doubt called after his (Sir
Francis's) godson Francis Drake of Esher.
Kotes on tfir iFamdi) of Bvalte
"If I can be of any further use to you or Mr. Salisbury in elucidating any
points connected with our pedigree, pray command me, as it will give me great
pleasure to be useful in the genealogy of the American branch of tlie family
of Drake.
" The difference between the pedigree I send and yours is that John Drake is
the great nephew, not the great grandson, of Sir Bernard Drake. This agrees better
with Richard Drake's bequest of ^^lo. 'to my nephew William Drake's second son,'
and Mr. Francis Drake's bequest 'to John Drake, my cousin William's son.' Hoping
this will be of use to you.
I remain
Yours faithfully,
VV. T. Tyrwhitt Drake."
We are also favored with a later note to us from Sir William Richard
Drake himself, giving pedigrees of the Prideaux and Dennis families,
which, as will appear, were in the line of ancestry of John Drake the
emigrant. Sir William writes that the Prideaux pedigree is taken "from
the notes contained in Westcote's 'View of Devonshire in 1630,'" and
that of the Dennis family "mainly from the Herald's Visitations of 1564."
Sir William has kindly sent us also the very interesting " Notelet," men-
tioned in the Rev. W. T. T. Drake's note, printed on the occasion of the
removal, in 1878, of the monument of Richard (53) Drake Esq. of Esher, of
the time of Queen Elizabeth, from the old church of St. George at Esher, to a
more modern Esher church. Among other interesting items, including full
copies of Wills, the "Notelet" gives particulars of Richard Drake's taking
part in the defence of England against the Spanish Armada, and informs us
that the manor-house of Esher became the place of entertainment, under
guard, of certain Spanish prisoners of high degree who were in the Armada,
The pedigrees here referred to present John Drake the emigrant to
New England as a great grandson of the Sheriff of Devon by a line
derived from Robert of Wiscombe, a brother of Sir Bernard and Richard
Drake Esq. of Esher.
The fact that a John Drake Esq. and Raleigh Gilbert Esq.— both
relatives of this John Drake (see his Gilbert descent in our Pedigree)—
KoUs on tJje iFamfls of Uratte
were members of the Council of Plymouth, may have influenced him to
emigrate to ISTew England ; and the Puritanism of the Drakes of Esher
doubtless encouraged his emigration.
We will first sketch the history of the Drakes of Devonshire, and
then give, with more precision, the place in it of the emigrant John Drake.
We condense what is to be found in Burke's " Landed Gentry,"^ Burke's
"Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies,"^ Prince's "Worthies of Devon"'*
and vol. VIII. of Nichols's " Herald and Genealogist."'
" Sir William Pole makes mention of Robert le Drak who in the
thirty-first year of Edward I. [1303] held Hurnford cum Terra de la
Woode of Dertington, and prior to that of others of this family who were
2,1 possessed of several lands in Devonshire." John^ Drake Esq. of Exmouth,
CO. Devon, described as " a man of great estate and a name of no less antiq-
uity," married in the time of Henry V. [1413-22] Christiana daughter
and coheir of John Billet Esq. of Ashe, by which alliance the estate of
Ashe, in the parish of Musbury, came to the Drake family. The heir
of this family was always called John, with one exception, for ten genera-
tions following. From John Drake above mentioned descended, in the
38. 39 seventh generation, Sir Bernard'' Drake, his brother Robert'' of Wiscombe,
40 and Richard (53) Drake Esq. They were sons of John^ Drake of Ashe and
Exmouth, High Sheriff of Devon in the fourth year of ElizabetTi (1561-62),
by his wife Amye (or Ann) " daughter of Roger Grenville Esq. of Stow,
CO. Cornwall." Sir Bernard Drake Knt, of Mount Drake and Ashe, " was
a very distinguished person and 'employed in several great offices at sea,'
being much in favour with Queen Elizabeth, who conferred the honour of
* A Geneal. and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland. By Sir
Bernard Burke. London, 1879, '• 475-76-
' A Geneal. and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, Ireland and
Scotland. By John Burke . . . and John Bernard Burke. . . . Second Ed. London. 1844,
pp. 167-68.
« Daumonii Ori.entales lUustres, or The Worthies of Devon. ... By John Prince. ... A
New Ed. . . . London, 1810, pp. 328-31.
' The Herald and Genealogist. Edited by John Gough Nichols. . . . London, 1874, viii. 310-12.
TJCottB on tJje JFamfli? of "Btu^t
knighthood upon him in 1585." Prince, in his "Worthies of Devon,"
says of him :
"I find him to descend down to us under a very honorable character, That he
was a gentleman of rare and excellent accomplishments ; and as well qualified for a
soldier as a courtier: he was in great favor with that illustrious princess of immortal
memory Queen Elizabeth; and of high esteem in her court. . . . 'That Sir
Bernard Drake . . . came to Newfound-Land with a commission ; and, having
divers good ships under his command, he took many Portugal ships, and brought
them into England as prizes.' And for his great undertakings this way he is ranked
the 2d among the most famous sea captains of our country in his time (than whom
no age before or since can boast of greater), to wit Sir Humphrey Gilbert,
Sir Francis Drake, Sir John Hawkins, &c."
We return for a moment to the parents of Sir Bernard Drake and
Robert of Wiscombe, in order to quote from Prince's "Worthies of
Devon " that a cousin of theirs on their mother's side, was the father of
"the famous Sir Richard Grenvil Kt., vice-admiral of the royal navy of England
in the days of Q. Elizabeth ; who performed the noblest sea action of that kind ever
was made by man . . . who in her Majesty's ship the Revenge maintained a battle,
for twenty-four hours, against fifty of the Spanish galleons, with but two hundred men,
whereof eighty were sick on the ballast . . . he at last yielded upon honorable
terms ; but died within two days after. . . ." His last words were : " Here die I
Richard Grenville, with a joyful and quiet mind ; for that I have ended my life as a
true soldier ought to do, fighting for his country, Queen, religion and honour : my
soul willingly departing from this body, leaving behind the lasting fame of having
behaved as every valiant soldier is in his duty bound to do.'"
A grandson of Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Grenville was Sir Bevil
Grenville, the leader of the Cornish gentry in the cause of Charles I. at
the opening of the Civil Wai^ "'the generally most loved man,' says
Clarendon, ' of that county,' a leader whose mild and conciliatory character,
joined to an indefatigable activity, and ardent courage, peculiarly qualified
him to direct the exertions of such a body in times of civil contention."
He gave up his life to win a battle for the King's cause in 1643.
' Prince's Worthies of Devon, ut supra, pp. 442-44.
Notes on tJir iFatnflff of WvuUt
"'That which would have clouded any victory, and made the loss of others less
spoken of, was the death of Sir Bevil Greenvil ; who was indeed an excellent person,
whose activity, interest and reputation was the foundation of what had been done in
Cornwall ; and his temper and affection so public that no accident which happened
could make any impressions in him ; and his example kept others from taking any-
thing ill, or at least seeming to do so. In a word, a brighter courage and a gentler
disposition were never married together to make the most cheerful and innocent
conversation.' " "
Sir Bernard Drake's last exploit was that, England being at war with
Spain, he took a Portugal ship and brought her into the harbor of Dart-
mouth. He died in his house at Ashe in 1586. He is believed to have
"nobly expended ... for the honor and safety of his country, in the
discovery of foreign regions, and such other vertuous achievements as
purchase glory and renown" — so as "greatly to have exhausted his estate."
He was buried in the parish-church of Musbury, co. Devon, where is a
large stone monument to his memory, divided by pillars into three com-
partments, each of which contains two figures (male and female) kneeling
to altar-desks in prayer, the centre division containing the effigies of
Sir Bernard and his wife, underneath which is the following inscription :
" Heer is the Monvment of S^ Barnard Drake K', who had to Wife Dame Garlhrud
the daughter of Bartholomew Fortescue of Filly, Esq^, by whom hee had three sonnes
and three daughters, whereof whear five living at his death, viz. John, Hugh, Marie,
Margaret and Helen. He died the x"' of April 1586, and Dame Garthrude his Wief
was here buried the xii*^'' of Februarie 1601. Unto the Memorie of whome John
Drake Esq', his sonne hath set this Monument. Anno 161 1."
There is also a monument of Sir' Bernard in the present Filleigh
church, built after the demolition of an older edifice.
By his wife Gertrude Fortescue, of the great old Norman house of
Fortescue, a descendant in the fifth generation from Sir John Fortescue,
Chief Justice of the King's Bench under Henry VI., and Lord Chancellor,
' Prince's Worthies of Devon, ut supra, pp. 445-47 ; and the History of the Rebellion and Civil
Wars in England. . . . Bj- Edward Earl of Clarendon. . . , Oxford, 1827, iii. 1229, 1430.
Kotrs on Hjc iFamfl» of Uvafvc
daughter of Bartholomew Fortescue Esq. of Filleigh near South Molton
41 in Devonshire, Sir Bernard had a sun John ;^ who, hy Dorothy daughter
42 of WilHaiti Button of Alton, co. Wilts, had Sir JohnS of Ashe, and
43 " William^ Drake of Yardhiry, in the parish of Culliton near adjoyning."
S. G. Drake in his "Genealogical and Biographical Account of the
Family of Drake in America"'" speaks of " Rohert of Wiscomb, the
ancestor of 'a generous tribe of Drakes,' inheriting there in Prince's
time."
Robert (39) Drake of Wiscombe married Elizabeth daughter of
Humphry Prideaux of Theuborough, co. Devon. They had, with other
44, 45 children, " Robert'^i and Henry,'^^ both distinguished military men ; the elder
a Colonel, the younger a Captain, who fell in the defence of Ostend.""
46 William^ Drake of Wiscombe, son of Robert and Elizabeth (Prideaux)
Drake, married Philip (or Phillippa) daughter of " Sir Robert Dennis of
Holcombe, Knt." Their son John (2) emigrated to New England.
Here we may notice that John Drake's grandfather Robert of
Wiscombe stood in the relation of first cousin to Sir Walter Raleigh ;
47 for a sister of his father, named Joane,^ was the first wife of Walter
Raleigh of Fardell, co. Devon, father of Sir Walter, though she was
not Sir Walter's mother.'- John Drake himself was second cousin
to the grandfather of the great Duke of Marlborough, thus : his second
48 cousin Sir John (42) of Ashe had a daughter Elizabeth, 1° who married
Sir Winston Churchill of Standish, co. Gloucester, and was the mother of
49 John^^ Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough, whose birth was in the
50 mansion of Ashe. Sir Bernard's great grandson Sir John^° Drake of
Ashe was created a Baronet by King Charles H. in 1660. The Baronetcy
became extinct on the death of Sir William ^^ Drake, the sixth Baronet,
who died s. p. in 1733.
" A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Gr
John Burke Esq. . . . London, 1836, i. 581.
'■ Nichols's Herald and Genealogist, ut supra, p. 313.
ain and Ireland
Notes on tJie jfamiiQ of mvaUt
52, 53 Francis^ Drake of Esher was a son of Richard ^ Drake of Surrey, a
brother of Sir Bernard, whom Sir Francis the circumnavigator, in his Will,
calls his "cousin." " Sir Francis," says the writer in the " Register" above
referred to, "appears to have taken him (Richard) under his patronage,
and introduced him to Elizabeth, in whose household he had a station until
his own and the Queen's death, which both happened in the same year."
Sir Francis, however, belonged to a branch of the family which had not
been prominent before his time. The emigrant John Drake was, therefore,
son of a first cousin to that Francis of Esher who made him one of his
legatees. Of Francis Drake of Esher it was said some years ago that there
is a "strong presumption that he resided for a short time in New England,
and that his family, at least himself and wife, were Puritans."'^ The
Puritanism of the Drakes of Esher is now confirmed.
The Will of Richard (53) Drake Esq. of Esher, dated 1603, contains
a bequest of ^10. to his " Nephewe William Drake's second [surviving]
Sonne John Drake" (John son of William of Wiscombe — see Pedigree).
The whole Drake descent of John Drake of New England, and the
collateral relationships which we have alluded to, together with his Prideaux
and Dennis ancestry, and the Gilbert, Grenville and Plantagenet ancestry of
his great grandmother Ann Grenville, are given in our Drake Pedigree. It
will be seen that both in the male and female lines his ancestry can be
traced from many of the most ancient and honorable families of England.
Little information has reached us concerning the descendants of
our John Drake, many of whom have been distinguished ; and we have not
attempted to trace them out, except in our own line.
" N. E. Histor. and Geneal. Register for 1870, p. 329. It is an interesting fact, which has only
lately come to light, that the Puritan Rev. Thomas Hooker, afterwards of Hartford, Conn., was from
about 1620 to 1626 the Rector of Esher, residing in the house of Francis Drake, the patron of the living,
for the special benefit of Mrs. Drake who was a hypochondriac invalid. Mr. Hooker's daughter
Johanna, to whom Francis Drake left a legacy, is supposed to have been named for Mrs. Drake, whose
baptismal name was Joan — History of the First Church of Hartford. ... By George Leon Walker.
Hartford, 1884, pp. 34-36 and notes.
>
I
©^tre«-3ol)n6on
©9 den
Arms : Gyronny of eight Arg. and Gu., in dexter chief an oak-branch fructed ppr
Crest : an oak-tree ppr., a lion rampant against it (Ogden-Oakden).
HE families of Ogden and Johnson, which became alhed to each
other, by marriage, at an early period, were both intimately
I concerned in the settlement of Elizabethtown, Newark and other
towns in New Jersey, in the seventeenth century. It is proper, therefore,
to begin this monograph with a sketch of the origin of those pioneer-
emigrations by which New England blood, and the influence of the insti-
tutions and habits of New England, so early spread themselves westward.
The grant of a Charter to Connecticut by the restored King Charles
II. gave the first impulse to renewed emigration. That patent, by swallow-
ing up the Colony of New Haven, awakened jealous fears of the loss of
liberties which had been dearly cherished here. The Restoration itself,
also, aroused anxious apprehensions in the minds of all colonists of New
England. The Dutch Government in possession of New Amsterdam,
controlling the very fertile region between Hudson River and Newark
Bay, and claiming jurisdiction even as far as Virginia, saw its opportunity ;
and in 1661 issued a general invitation to "all Christian people of tender
conscience, in England or elsewhere oppressed, to erect colonies anywhere
within the jurisdiction of Petrus Stuyvesant in the West Indies, between
New England and Virginia in America." This invitation was at once
taken up by residents within the bounds of the New Haven Colony ; but
the conditions for which they stipulated — substantially on the principle that
"the saints shall rule the earth, and we are the saints" — were not agreed
to. Not long after this, in 1663-64, the Duke of York obtained from
his royal brother a grant of the sovereignty of a vast domain, including
#fl;5fen=SoJ)nBon
Connecticut and all of New Netherland ; and sent out Col. Richard Nicolls,
as his Deputy-Governor, to take possession, and establish his authority.
New Amsterdam then became New York ; and English colonists of Long
Island renewed the project of removal westward, obtained the approval of
Nicolls, extinguished the Indian title to the tract between the Raritan and
the Passaic by purchase, and received a Patent of leasehold of the same from
Nicolls. This was in the year 1664. The double title thus secured engen-
dered a contest for eminent domain which lasted till all British sway was
abolished by the American Revolution ; we need not detail the particulars.
"Cap' John Baker of New Yorke, JOHN OGDEN of North-
hampton, John Baily and Luke watson of Jemaico on Long Island and
their associates, their heirs, Execu", admin", and assigns" were the
patentees under Nicolls's grant.
But before the proposed settlement was made the Duke of York sold
all the territory " west of the Hudson's River and east of the Delaware,"
to John Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, to be known thence
forward as Nova Csesarea, or New Jersey, in memory of the island of
Jersey off the English coast, where Carteret had his home, and had held
vantage-ground for the exiled king during the period of the Commonwealth.
The agreements entered into between "the undertakers" and Deputy-
Governor Nicolls were acknowledged and respected by Capt. Philip
Carteret, a relative of Sir George, in behalf of the Lords. Proprietors ; and
Gov. Philip Carteret even associated himself with the new planters as one
of them. Elizabethtown took its name from Lady Elizabeth wife of Sir
George Carteret. Now first were published the " Concessions " of the
Lords Proprietors, which became a sort of charter of freedom to the adven-
turers, and contributed much to induce others to share in their enterprise.
" The largest liberty of conscience was guaranteed, with the assurance that the
settlers should never be disturbed or disquieted for any difference, of opinion or
practice, in religious concernments, ' any law, usage or custom in the realm of Eng-
land to the contrary notwithstanding.' A General Assembly was provided for, one
branch of which was to consist of representatives chosen by the inhabitants in their
0g;Xitn=3oWfion
respective parishes or districts, empowered to appoint tlieir own time of meeting,
constitute Courts, levy taxes, build fortresses, make war, offensive and defensive,
naturalize strangers, allot lands to settlers, provide for the support of the Govern-
ment, and ordain all laws for the good of the Province, not repugnant to the laws of
England, nor against the Concessions of the Proprietors and their interest. Liberal
offers were also made of lands for settlement, proportionate to the numbers of those
who should come and occupy them, with only the reserve of a small quit-rent of a
half-penny per acre, to be paid annually on and after the twenty-fifth day of March
in the year 1670."
Now began a larger emigration, chiefly, if not entirely, from the
bounds of the old New Haven Colony. Before the end of May 1666 a
company, consisting, it is said, of thirty families, " from Milford and other
neighboring plantations thereabouts," led the way, and were the first settlers
of Newark, or, more properly. New Worke (Neworke, in old records),
i. e. "The New Undertaking." In this company was THOMAS
JOHNSON. The first town-meeting was held May 21, when "agents
sent from Guilford and Branford met " the first comers " ' to ask, on behalf
of their undertakers and selves, with reference to a township ' to be occu-
pied together by the two parties."
" ' It was agreed upon mutually that the aforesaid persons from Milford, Guilford
and Branford, together with their associates, being now accepted of, do make one
township ; provided they send word so to be any time between this and the last of
October next ensuing, and according to fundamentals mutually agreed upon do desire
to be of one heart and consent, [that] through God's blessing, with one hand, they
may endeavor the carrying on of spiritual concernments, as also of civil and town
affairs, according to God and a Godly Government, there to be settled by them and
their associates.' "
Thereupon a joint committee of eleven men, of whom Thomas Johnson
was one, was chosen from the two parties, to promote the enterprise.
Having thus briefly sketched the beginnings of the history of Eliza-
bethtown and Newark, and brought into view, as active participants in the
settlement of these two towns, John Ogden and Thomas Johnson, the
^QX(tn=3o'^nuon
founders of the families whose subsequent fortunes are of interest to us,
we now proceed to set forth what has been preserved of the family-history
of these two men and their descendants.
The Ogdens, having appeared first upon the scene in our prelimmary
sketch, here claim the first notice. Whitehead, in his " East Jersey under
the Proprietary Governments;"* Hatfield, in his " History of Elizabeth,
New Jersey;"^ and Stearns, in his "Historical Discourses relating to the
First Presbyterian Church in Newark " ^ (the three authorities who have
enabled us to draw the preceding historical sketch), often speak of the
important part which the Ogden family acted in all the earlier history of
New Jersey, and make mention of men of that name, or of Ogden descent,
who have distinguished themselves in that State and in other States, even
down to the present time. But we have not been restricted to published
authorities. Mr. Francis Barber Ogden of New York has allowed us the
privilege of drawing from private notes prepared by him, which have the
authority, in part, of unpublished manuscripts, and, when not so authorized,
are a valuable confirmation, within the family, of the statements of pub-
lished histories. All the quotations which follow, in this monograph, are
to be understood as made from Mr. Ogden's notes, unless otherwise cred-
ited, either in his own words or in the words of authorities referred to by
him. The accompanying Pedigree, in two sheets, has been mostly prepared
from materials presented in tabular form by Mr. Ogden.
Respecting the arms described at the head of this paper Mr. Ogden
wrote, in a private letter to one of the authors of this volume, September
19, 1883, as follows:
' East Jersey under the Proprietary Governments. ... By Williana A. Whitehead. . . .
Second Ed. . . . Newark, N. J. 1875. ... or Collection of the New Jersey Histor. Society,
Volume I. . . .
» History of Elizabeth, New Jersey. ... By Rev. Edwin F. Hatfield, . . . New York, 1868.
' First Church in Newark. Historical Discourses relating to the First Presbyterian Church in
Newark. ... By Jonathan F. Stearns, . . . Newark, 1853.
©05ftn=3Joi)nBon
" As to the right to the armorial bearings, I think that admits of no question :
there is the strongest presumptive evidence that they have been handed down from
father to son since the time of ' Good old John,' and actual evidence of their use by
different branches of the family at the time of the Revolution. . . . Quasi Herald
Offices, with convenient handbooks of reference, did not exist in those days, even if
there were any disposed to assume what was not theirs by right. I have myself seen
a painted copy of the arms dating to Revolutionary times, which the patriot-owner
changed to red, white and blue, as he would not bear the same arms as his ' Tory '
relatives. Another good proof that they were not assumed is their universal use in
the wide spread branches of the family ; and, again, the singular fact that they are
not the arms of the Ogden family as given by Burke, but of the Oakden family with
slight difference. If they had been assumed, the party assuming them would not
have made such a mistake.
" The shield and motto are the same as now carried by the English Oakdens ;
there is however a difference in the crest : we carry a Lion, they a Wolf. It is con-
jectured that this change was granted to John Ogden by Charles 2"'', on account of
services rendered to Charles i"', the lion being the Scotch lion for Stuart. Some
understand, however, that the inscription, which is printed around some copies of the
arms, refers to the whole coat, which I think is a mistake. However, this is all con-
jecture. The difference in the spelling of the name is a matter of no moment, the
English form Oakden, which is Saxon, appears in early times in the Norman dress of
de Hoton [for de Oketon] ; there are a dozen different ways of spelling the name ;
the form Ogden itself cannot be traced anterior to 1500. . . ." In the same letter
Mr. Ogden says that " what part of England they emigrated from is unknown, though
it is generally supposed to have been Kent Co."*
■* In the latest edition {1878) of Burke's General Armory is given an Ogden coat of arms, as described
at the head of this monograph, "granted temp. Charles ii. to John Ogden for his faithful services to the
King." With the exception, however, of the substitution of a lion for a wolf in the crest, it is identical
with the coat which Burke attributes to the Oakden family, and quite difTerent from those of other fami-
lies of Ogden. It is probable, therefore, as our correspondent conjectures, that the arms originally
granted to Oakdens were changed in the crest, when confirmed to the King's loyal servant John Ogden.
Who this loyal subject of his Majesty was, we do not know ; but he may have been the founder of our
family. Our John Ogden, certainly, must have been known to Charles ii. as a Patentee of Connecticut.
The family-name appears in the old records, sometimes, as " Odgden," or " Ochden," as well as in other
varieties of form.
^Q'Jitn=3o'^nnon
The record of JOHN ^ OGDEN'S career, in the notes which are
our guide, stands (with some omissions) thus :
"'JohnOgden . . . was one of the most influential founders of
the town (Elizabeth). He was at Stamford, Ct, in 1641, within a year
after its settlement. He had previously married Jane, who, as tradition
reports, was a sister of Robert Bond. In May 1642 he and his brother
Richard} both of them, at the time, of Stamford, entered into a contract
with Gov. Wm Kieft, Gisbert op Dyck and Thomas Willet, of New
Amsterdam, Churchwardens, to build a stone church in the fort 72 by 50
feet, for the sum of 2500 guilders ($1000), to be paid in beaver, cash, or
merchandise ; one hundred guilders to be added if the work proved satis-
factiry ; and the use of the company's boat to be given the builders, for
carrying stone, a month or six weeks, if necessary. The work was duly
and satisfactorily completed.^
" ' It was probably in this way that the two brothers became acquainted
with the West end of Long Island. Early in 1644, in company with the
Rev. Robert Fordham, Rev. Richard Denton and a few others, they
removed from Stamford and settled Hempstead, L. I., of which John
Ogden was one of the Patentees. At the expiration of five or six years,
not liking the control of the Dutch, with whom he had considerable deal-
ings at New Amsterdam, and disgusted with the cruelties practised upon
the natives, of whom scores, soon after his settlement at Hempstead, had
there, by order of the government, been put to death, he removed to the
' In the History of the State of New York. By John Romeyn Brodhead. New York, 1859, i. 336-37
we read respecting the building of this church ; " It only remained to secure the necessary subscriptions.
Fortunately it happened that the daughter of Domine Bogardus was married just then ; and Kieft
thought the wedding-feast a good opportunity to excite the generosity of the guests. So, ' after the fourth
or fifth round of drinking,' he showed a liberal example himself, and let the other wedding guests sub-
scribe what they would toward the church fund. All the company, with light hands and glad hearts,
vied with each other in ' subscribing richly.' Some of them, when they went home, ' well repented it,'
but ' nothing availed to excuse.'
". . . The walls were soon built, and the roof was raised and covered by English carpenters with
oak shingles, which, by exposure to the weather, soon 'looked like slate.' The honor and the owner-
ship of the work were both commemorated by a square stone inserted in the front wall, bearing the
inscription [found in 1790, when the fort was demolished, to make way for the Government House on
what is now Bowling Green, ' Ao. Dom. MDCXLII. W. Kieft Dr Gr Heeft de Gemeenten dese Tempel
doen Bouwen ']."
#0trtn=3)o)|n!9on
East end of the Island to dwell among his own countrymen. In 1647 he
had obtained permission of the town of Southampton to plant a colony of
six families at ' North Sea,' a tract of land bordering on the Great Peconic
Bay, opposite Robbin Island, and about three miles north of the village of
Southampton. Some two or three years elapsed before his removal, and
the planting of the settlement at the North Sea, called, in the Colonial
Records of Connecticut and New Haven, as well as in Nicolls's Grant,
' Northampton.'
" ' He was made a freeman of Southampton March 31, 1650, and was
chosen by the General Court at Hartford, Ct, May 16, 1656, and again in
1657 and 1658, one of the magistrates for the colony. He sat in the
General Court, as a Representative from Southampton, in May 1659; and
in the upper house May 1661, and afterwards. His name appears repeat-
edly in the new Charter of Connecticut (obtained Ap. 23, 1662, by Gov.
Winthrop, from Charles II.), as one of the magistrates and patentees of
the colony ; also, quite frequently, in the Records both of Connecticut
and New Haven. He was held in high honor at home, being one of their
first men.
" ' During his residence at Northampton Ogden, by frequent visits as
a trader to New Amsterdam, had kept up his acquaintance with his old
friends and neighbors on the West End of the Island. When, therefore,
after the conquest [by the English, under Dep.-Gov. NicoUs], it was
proposed to him to commence a fourth settlement in the new and inviting
region of Achter Kol [Newark Bay], under EngHsh rule, he readily entered
into the measure, and . . . became, being a man of substance and
distinction, the leading man of the new colony. He was among the very
first, with his five full-grown boys, John, Jonathan, David, Joseph and
Benjamin, to remove to the new purchase, and erect a dwelling on the
town-plot [of Elizabeth]. . . .
" ' He was appointed, Oct. 26, 1665, a Justice of the Peace, and, Nov.
I, one of the Governor's [Gov. Carteret's] Council. In the Legislature of
1668 he was one of the Burgesses from this town. . . .
"'Three of his sons, John, Jonathan and David, took the oath of
allegiance Feb. i66|-, and were numbered among the original Associates.
' Hatfield's Elizabeth, ut supra, pp. 64-67.
©fl;if(n=3JoJjnfiion
" The Dutch having taken possession of New York [in 1673], 'the
Generals and Council of War made choice, Sept. i, 1673, of Mr. John
Ogden to be Schout [Burgomaster] ' ... of the six towns, ' Giveing
and by these presents granting unto the s'' John Ogden and . . . full
pouwer, strenght and authority in their said offices. The said Schout
together w*'' y" Schepens or magistrates of y*" respective Townes to Rule
and governe as well their Inhabitants as Strangers.'" '
" ' For more than a year the land was at rest. The people lived on
good terms with the authorities at Fort Orange, and were secured in the
enjoyment of their lands and privileges. Ogden was virtually Governor of
the English towns in N. Jersey, and the government was administered
very much after the fashion of New England. . . .
" ' But the Dutch rule was soon terminated. A treaty of peace was
signed at Westminster, Eng., Feb. 9, 167I-, providing for the mutual
restoration of all captured territory. . . .'"^
Thereupon Gov. Philip Carteret returned to New Jersey, as the repre-
sentative of Sir George Carteret (Berkeley having sold out his proprietary
rights) ; and renewed the conflict which had begun, at an earlier period,
between the occupants of the soil and the Government, respecting titles to
lands.
" ' An unquiet time these humble pioneers had, it must be admitted.
Seventeen years had passed since Baker and Bailey, Ogden and Watson,
had acquired, lawfully and honorably, a title to the soil, and entered into
possession. Yet, year after year, almost from the beginning, they were
coming into collision with the ruling powers of the territory, and compelled
to resist what they could not but regard as encroachments on their vested
and sacred rights.
" ' Nor were these troubles without their use. They served to
strengthen and develop character, fostering and bringing into active exer-
cise, in a remarkable degree, an intelligent love for freedom, for independ-
ence, for well-regulated self-rule, for constitutional principles, for popular
■' Id., p. 158.
8 Id., pp. 176-77.
<©0trrn=Sofinsou
rights. . . . Their children, too, who were just coming to years, were
thereby subjected to an admirable training, fitting them to occupy the place
and do the work of the founders, when those sturdy yeomen should cease
from their care and toil.
" ' One by one they were dropping into the grave. . . . And
now 'good old John Ogden,' whose wanderings for forty years had justly
entitled him to rank with the ' Pilgrim Fathers ' — the acknowledged pioneer
of the town, in whose house the first white child of the settlement was
born, the accepted leader of the people, a pillar in the church and state,
honored and trusted by all — just as the year 1681 is expiring, lies down
and dies ; leaving the impress of his political and religious principles, not
only upon his children, but upon the community that he had so largely
aided in founding. He was a man of more than ordinary mark — a man of
sterling worth ; of whom the town, as well as his numerous posterity,
should be gratefully mindful. He was called a ' malcontent,' and regarded
as ' the leading malcontent of Elizabeth Town ;' but surely the man that
was held in such high esteem by the accomplished, sagacious and pious
Winthrop, the man who, both at Southampton and here, had been an
honored magistrate, loved and trusted by the people, and, during the Dutch
rule, the virtual Governor of the English portion of the Province, is not
to be ranked with restless agitators because of his persistent opposition to
an arbitrary government. A true patriot, and a genuine Christian, he
devoted himself while living to the best interests of the town, and dying
bequeathed to his sons the work of completing what he had so fairly and
effectually inaugurated — the establishment of a vigorous plantation founded
on the principles of civil and religious liberty.'"'
John Ogden had, as we have seen, a brother Richard (2). In 1667
this Richard was of Fairfield, Conn.; where he was made a freeman in
1668, and in 1670 was a large proprietor. "In 1695 a company of emi-
grants from Fairfield County, Conn., purchased the territory between
Cohansey and the Delaware Bay. Samuel, Jonathan and John Ogden
(1695) were amongst this number." Some have supposed these emigrants
to New Jersey to have been children or grandchildren of the first John
' Id., pp. 196-97.
®fltifn=3Jolinson
Ogden ; but Mr. Francis B. Ogden, whose notes we follow, is of a different
opinion. He says, with much probabihty :
" The sons of John being associates and Property-holders in Elizabeth, it is not
probable they would remove from there, nor can I find any account of any of them
doing so. I therefore conclude that the company of emigrants from Fairfield, Conn.
(Samuel, Jonathan and John), who in 1695 settled in Fairfield Township, Cumberland
Co., N. Jersey, were sons of Richard, and that they named their tract after their for-
mer home. It would be interesting to ascertain if any of the descendants of Richard
Ogden are now resident in Fairfield County, Conn."
John Ogden's sister Hannah ^ was the first wife of his brother-in-law
Robert Bond (see "NOttB Otl tlje iFaiUlUrfii Of aSonlT UUtf
S^\i}HSnt at the end of this monograph).
The children of John and Jane (Bond) Ogden, five sons, have been
already named, in the order of their birth. All of them were born before
the emigration to New Jersey. We repeat the list here for greater pre-
cision, and for the sake of a few brief notes respecting them :
John, 2 Jonathan, 2 David,^ Joseph ^ and Benjamin. ^ Of these the
three elder ones took the oath of allegiance in 1665, and were named as
original Associates under the Nicolls grant. John made himself con-
spicuous, in 1671, in the maintenance of rights secured by the Patent of
1665 ; and is mentioned as one of the largest contributors to the support
of the ministry in 1694, as is his brother Jonathan ; the latter also held the
office of Deacon in that year. All three accepted the Dutch rule in 1673 ;
and renewed their land-titles in 1676, at the demand of the restored English
Government. Jonathan Ogden's grave is in the burial-ground of the First
Presbyterian Church in Elizabethtown. Joseph and Benjamin, being
younger, seem not to have come forward into public life before 1673;
Benjamin was Sheriff in 1694.^°
'" We have gathered these particulars from Hatfield's Elizabeth, ut supra.
^Qtftn=3of^nfion
I. JOHN (4) OGDEN (b. 1640, d. 1702) married Jemima daughter
of Samuel Plumb of Newark, N. J., and had four children :
i. Joseph ; ^ who married daughter of William and Sarah
(Whitehead) Browne of Elizabethtown ; and had :
I. Joanna ;'^ who married : first, John Meeker Jr. of Elizabethtown ;
and, secondly, John Ailing.
11 2. Joseph'^ (b. 1700, d. 1761) ; who married Esther .
12 3. Daniel'^ (b. 1737, d. 1809); who married Ann ; and
13
14-16
17. 18
19
22
23
24
25
26, 27
had: (i.) Williani Lndiow^ (b. 1759, d. 1815) ; who married ;
(2.) EHakim^ (b. 1761, d. 1790) ; {j>?) Noadiah^ (b. 1763) ; (4.) Stephen^
(b. 1765); (5.) Theodore^ (b. 1768, d. 1790); (6.) Sarah^ (b. 1772, d.
1848); who married Aaron Ross of Elizabethtown; (7.) Benjamin^
(b. 1783).
ii. Isaac ; ^ who married daughter of William and Sarah
(Whitehead) Browne of Elizabethtown ; and had :
Thomas'^ (b. 1684, d. 1760) ; who married : first, Dinah ; and,
secondly, Jean ; and had :
(i.) David^ (b. 171 1, d. 1777) ; who married Anna ; and had
David.^
(2.) TJiomas^ (b. 171 3, d. 1731).
(3.) Stephen;^ who married ; and had, beside three daughters
whose names have not been ascertained : i. Jonathan;^ 2. Isaac.^
(4.) Abigail^ (b. I725,d. 1777) ; who married, in 1745, Thomas Price
of Elizabethtown.
iii. Dorothy^
iv. Jemima.^
II. JONATHAN (5) OGDEN (b. 1647, d. 1733) married Rebecca
— , and was the progenitor of a branch of the family which distin-
guished itself in Revolutionary times (see below).
<!^fltren=SoJmson
III. DAVID (6) OGDEN (d. 1691) "married [in 1676] Mrs.
Elizabeth widow of Josiah Ward. She was a daughter of Lieut. Samuel
Swayne, who died in 1681. Lieut. Samuel Swayne and Josiah Ward came
from Branford, Conn., and were members of the original company that
settled Newark, N. J., about 1666" (see below, and Notes on the Families
of Bond and Swayne at the end of this monograph).
IV. JOSEPH (7) OGDEN (d. 1691).
V. BENJAMIN (8) OGDEN (b. 1654, d. 1722) married, in 1685,
Hannah daughter of John Woodruff of Elizabethtown, N. J.; and had
three children :
31 i. John^ (d. 1759) ; who married Mary
32 ii. Benjamin'^ (b. 1688, d. 1730).
33,34 iii. WzV/zam / ^ who marned ; and had /acod* (d. 1790); who
married ; and had
35 I- George:
36 2. Isaac.
37 3. Benjamin ; ^ who married Charity daughter of Matthias Ogden, his
38, 39 third cousin's child ; and had : (i.) Benjamin ; ^ (2.) Isaac ; ^ (3.) Elizabeth
40-44 Ann ;^ {j^.^ Charity ;^ {^?) Rachel ;'^ (b.) Hannah ;^ ij.') Margaret.^
45 4. Jacob ^ (d. 1 800) ; who married
46 5. Enoch:
47 6. Abigail ; ^ who married William Milvern.
48 7. Mary Ann ; ^ who married : first, Lyman Edwards ; and, secondly,
Benjamin Brown.
49 8. Elizabeth:
We now return to the other sons of the second generation, and find
that Jonathan (5) the second son of " Old John Ogden " had, by his wife
Rebecca , five children :
®fl5en=3^oijnson
50
51
52
53.54
55.56
57-59
60-62
63.64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
i. Jonathan'^ (b. 1676); who married
I. Jonathan.'^
and had
2. Johii'^ (b. 1701, d. 1780); of Sodom, N. J., and thence called
" Righteous Lot ;" who married Mary ; and had :
(^\.') Jonathan ;^ who married ; and had Ezekiel^ (b. 1765, d.
1822) ; who married his second cousin Abigail daughter of Matthias
Ogden ; and had : i. Abraham'^ (b. 1787, d. 1812) ; 2. Ichabod'^ (b. 1789) ;
2,. EzekieP (b. 1791); \. James Kilbourn'^ (b. 1793); Abby'^ (b. 1795);
6. Phcebe'^ (b. 1796); 7. Hatjield'' (b. 1798, d. 1817); 8. Phcebe'^ (b.
1799) ; who married, in 1827, Hon. Elias Darby of Elizabethtown, N. J.;
c). Jo/in'^ (b. 1801) ; who married ; 10. SaniueP (b. 1803); who
married ; 11. Joseph Meeker'' (b. 1804) ; Rev. Dr. Joseph Meeker
Ogden of Chatham, N. J.; who married ; 12. Theodore Hamilton ''
(b. 1806); \ I. Jonathan'' (b. 1807); who married .
(2.) Rlary^ (b. 1728, d. 1757); who married Michael Meeker of
Elizabethtown, N. J.
(3.) Phcebe ;^ who married John Magie of Elizabethtown.
(4.) Abigail ; ^ who married Pierson.
{^^ John Jr^ (b. 1733, d. 1777); who married: first, Elizabeth
; and, secondly, Joanna .
The second child of Jonathan (5) Ogden of the second generation
72
ii. Samuel'^ (b. 1678, d. 1715); who married : first, Rachel Gardiner
of Gardiner's Island ; and, secondly, Joanna ; and had, by his first
marriage :
1. Rachel.'^
2. Joanna.'^
3. Rebeeca^
4. Samuel'^ (b. 1714, d. 1775); who married Hannah daughter of
Matthias Hatfield of Elizabethtown, N. J.; and had :
(•^05fen=3JoJniBOti
n
78
79.80
81
83-84
85
86-88
89, 90
91
92
(i.) Matthias^ (b. 1743, d. i"8i8) ; who married Margaret Magie ;
and had : i. Abigail^ (b. 1765, d. 1820) ; who married her second cousin
Ezekiel Ogden ; 2. Lewis'^ (b. and d. 1766) ; 3. Phcebe^ (b. 1769, d. 1830) ;
who married Benjamin Jarvis ; 4. Charity'^ (b. 1771, d. 1852); who
married Benjamin Ogden, her father's third cousin ; 5. Lewis^ (b. 1775, d.
1818) ; who married, in 1799, EHzabeth daughter of Elihu Bond ; and had
Charity;'^ who married, in 1828, Daniel Price; 6. Saviuel'^ (b. 1777, d.
1821).
Samuel (84) son of Matthias and Margaret (Magie) Ogden married, in
1807, Esther daughter of WiUiam Brown ; and had, beside one child whose
name has not been ascertained : (i.) Phoebe ; ' who married Thomas Bird ;
(2.) William;'^ (3.) Charity ;'' {i\.^ Job ;'^ who married, in 1844, Henrietta
Woodruff; (5.) Mary ;'' (6.) Margaret M.;'^ who married, in 1840, John
M^^Cord ; (7.) Susaii;'^ who married, in 1842, Caleb Camp; (8.)
Matthias ; '^ who married .
The seventh child of Matthias ij']^ and Margaret (Magie) Ogden
93
94
95
96
97
98,99
100-03
104-05
7. Ha^tnah^ (b. 1779).
8. Hatfield^ (b. 1781, d. 1793).
9. John M.^ (b. 1783, d. 1834) ; who married Nancy .
10. Matthias^ (b. 1785, d. 1821); who married Rachel .
I }. Joseph^ (b. 1786, d. 1827); who married Hannah daughter
of Henry Insley ; and had: (i.) Cathai'ine ;'' (2.) Matthias Hejiry /"^
(3.) James Lawrence ; "^ (4.) Isaac Crane ; "^ (5,) Elizabeth ; ' (6.) Albert ; ''
(7.) Albert;'' (8.) Hannah.''
106
107
The second child of Samuel (76) and Hannah (Hatfield) Ogden was :
(2.) Joanna.^
(3.) Elizabeth^ (d. 1803); who married: first, Uzal Woodruff of
Elizabethtown, N. J.; and, secondly, Joseph Periam of Elizabethtown.
238
<!^fltren=3ioJjnfiion
io8
(4.) Ann.^
109
(5.) Elihu'° (d. 1814); who married Elizabeth daughter of Jonathan
Price ; and had, beside five children whose names have not been ascertained :
1 10-13
i.EHas;^ 2. Amos;^ 3. Elizabeth:^ 4. Phcebc^ (b. 1784, d. 1857);
114
5. Susaji'^ (b. 1785, d. 1809); who married, in 1807, Samuel Lyon;
115-16
6. Elt'/iu^ (b. 1786, d. 1803) ; 7. Hannah .• ^ who married Abraham Lyon ;
1 1 7-18
8. Oliver^ {h. 1789, d. 1832); 9. Uzal.^
119
(6.) Charity^ (b. 1753). .
120
(7.) PJmbe.^
121
(8.) Samuel^ (d. 1776).
122
(9.) Hannah^ (b. 1760).
123
(10.) Rachel;^ who married David Price.
124
{11.) Joseph.^
125
(12.) Ichabod.^
126-27
(13.) Ichabod ;^ who married Mary ; and had Elizabeth.^
The third child of Jonathan (5) Ogden of the second generation
was:
128
iii. ROBERT 3 (see below).
129
iv. Hannah : 3 who married James Meeker.
130
V. Rebecca;'^ who married James Ralph.
Robert (128) Ogden "born 1687, son of Jonathan and Rebecca;
buried at Elizabethtown, N. J.; inscription upon tomb:
"' Here lieth the Remains of Robert Ogden Esquire.
Obiit Nov. 20*", 1773, Aetatis 46.
" One dear to God, to man most dear,
A pillar of both Church and State,
Was he whose precious dust lies here—
Whose soul doth with bright seraphs mate.
His name immortal shall remain,
Till this cold dust revives again.' "
®flTren=3Jofm!Son
" ' For the first time the church [First Presbyterian of Elizabethtown]
was represented in the Synod of 1721 by one of their elders, Robert
Ogden, son of Deacon Jonathan and grandson of 'old John Ogden.'""
He was twice married : first, to Hannah Crane of Newark, N. J.,
probably a daughter of Jasper Crane "who was one of the first settlers of
New Haven, Ct., in 1639, was at Branford in 1652, and at Newark in
1667. The family is quite ancient and honorable;"'^ and, secondly, to
Phoebe (Roberts) Baldwin, "widow of Jonathan Baldwin of Newark."
131
132
133
134
135
136
[37-40
141-42
who married Samuel Winans Jr. of
By his first marriage he had :
1. Hannah'^ (b. 1715, d. 1783)
Elizabethtown, N. J.
2. ROBERT* (see below).
PJmbe'^ (b. 1719, d. 1735).
Elihu'^ (b. 1 721).
MOSES* (see below).
David .-"^ Deacon David Ogden ; who married Hannah Woodruff;
3-
4-
5-
6.
and had :
(i.) Joseph;^ (2.) Sarah;^ (3.) Mary ;^ {\.^ Elizabeth^ (b. 1758,
d. 1789); who married Farrington Price of Elizabethtown, N. J.;
(5.) PImbe ;^ {6.) Jojiathan.^
The following inscription is on the tombstone of Deacon David (136)
Ogden in Elizabethtown :
" ' Here lies, in hope of a glorious resurrection, the body
of David Ogden, who was born 26*'' of October, O. S., 1726,
and who died in the triumphs of faith 26"" Nov. N. S., 1801.
For 57 years he adorned the Christian profession by a holy
and exemplary life, and for 15 years discharged the duties of
a deacon to the first Presbyterian Church in this town, with
prudence, fidelity and acceptance.
" Hatfield's Elizabeth, iit supra, p. 331.
" Id., p. 73-
<!^fltrtn=3JoJ)nson[
" ' Softly his fainting head he lay
Upon his Saviour's breast ;
His Saviour kissed his soul away,
And laid his limbs to rest.' "
♦
By his second marriage Robert (128) Ogden had :
143 I. Rebecca'^ (b. 1728, d. 1806); who married, in 1744, Caleb Halsted
[44 of Elizabethtown, N. J.; and had: (i.) " Calcb,^ born 8 July 1721, who
145 died 4 June 1784 ; (2.) Rebecca,^ born 16 June 1729 ; who married, 16 Sep.
1744, ; and died 31 Mch. 1806."
146 2. Mary'^ (b. 1729, d. 1795); who married Job Stockton of Prince-
ton, N. J.
147 3. Sai-ah;'^ who married Dr. Moses Bloomfield of Woodbridge, N.J.
ROBERT (132) OGDEN, "born 1716 at Elizabethtown, N. J.,
was a member of the King's Council for N. J. In 1751 was elected to the
Legislature, and was rechosen at' each succeeding election. In 1763 he
was chosen Speaker of the House. In 1765 he was one of the Delegates
to the Continental Congress at New York. ' This first Continental Con-
gress, emanating from the people, met as contemplated, and continued in
session until Oct. 25"". "A Declaration of Rights and Grievances," in 14
particulars, was drawn up, with an Address to the King, and a Petition to
each House of Parliament. . . . The proceedings were approved and
signed by all the members except Timothy Ruggles, the presiding officer,
and Mr. Ogden of New Jersey. These two gentlemen maintained that
the proceedings were to be submitted to the several provincial Assemblies,
and, if sanctioned, forwarded by them, as their own acts. They were
doubtless quite sincere and conscientious in maintaining this position ;
Mr. Ogden certainly was. ..." Mr. Ogden was burned in e.^^ by
the people of New Jersey." It was a blunder, to say the least, on the part
of Mr. Ogden, who was so annoyed by it as to request the Governor to
convene the Assembly, when, Nov. 27, 1765, he resigned his position and
his membership.
©flliett=3JoJ|tifiion
" '. . . Mr. Ogden, however, continued still to be honored with the
confidence and esteem of his townsmen. In 1776 he was the Chairman of
the Elizabethtown Committee of Safety.' " "*
" In 1778 Robert Ogden moved to Sparta, Sussex Co., N. J. 'About
the year 1 780 it was proposed to build a church in what was then nearly a
wilderness, but is now the village of Sparta. The people of the vicinity
had assembled to fell and prepare the timber. An ardent young carpenter,
named Talmage, said : " Deacon Ogden, you must let me have the first
stroke," and raised his axe. " Stop," said the Deacon, " we are about to
build a house for the worship of Almighty God, and we must first ask His
blessing upon our efforts. ' Except the Lord build the house, they labor
in vain that build it' " All devoutly kneeled, and he made a suitable and
fervent prayer. When they arose from their knees, silence prevailed, and
solemnity was visible on every face. After a few moments he broke the
silence by turning to the young carpenter, and pleasantly saying : " Now,
Talmage, I have given the first stroke, you may have the second. "
" Robert Ogden died at Sparta, and was buried there. The inscription
upon his tomb reads :
" ' In Memory of Robert Ogden Esq., who died January
1787, aged 70 years.
" ' In public life, both in Church and State, he filled
many important offices with ability and integrity.
" ' In his private business he was upright, Eminently
useful and humane, A friend to the poor. Hospitable and
Generous, A most faithful, tender and indulgent Husband
and Parent.
" ' And above all. His life and conversation from his
youth was becoming a professor of religion, and a believer
in the Name of the Blessed Jesus.' "
Hon. Robert Ogden married Phoebe daughter of Matthias Hatfield,
' one of the magistrates of the town [Elizabethtown]," who " became
" Id., pp. 407-08.
i< Judge Haines's MS.
0Qtitn=3o'^n^on
High Sheriff and Alderman,'"'' and great granddaughter of Matthias
Heathfield (or Hetfield, or Hatfield), who was one of the "Associates"
under the Nicolls Patent, having come from New Haven, Conn., where
he was living in 1660. Her great grandfather is supposed to have been a
son of Thomas Hatfield of Leyden, a native of Yorkshire, and member
of Robinson's church at Leyden.
Robert and Phoebe (Hatfield) Ogden had thirteen children, beside
one whose name has not been ascertained, as follows :
i. Phcebe^ (b. 1737); who married, in 1762, Col. Thomas Moseley,
M.D., of East Haddam, Conn.
ii. Anna^ (b. 1740); who married, in 1757, Col. Oliver Spencer "of
Elizabeth and Ohio." Her husband " ' commanded a regiment in the
battle of Princeton, and after the war was judge of probate in Ohio ;
where he died Jan. 22, 1811.'"'"
iii. Rhoda^ (b. 1742, d. 1822) ; who married, in 1760, Judge Timothy
Edwards of Stockbridge, Mass., eldest son of the elder President Jonathan
Edwards.
The following extract from the " Autobiography " of a nephew of
hers, by marriage, sets this lady before us vividly :
148
149
150
" ' In the summer of 1809, I met my cousin Aaron Burr at the house of our com-
mon uncle Hon. Timothy Edwards in Stockbridge. . . . The day after Burr left
our uncle's I called at the house to talk over the impressions on this unwonted visit.
My aunt was a venerable and pious woman. ' I want to tell you, cousin," said she,
' the scene I passed through this morning. When Col. Burr's carriage had driven up
to the door, I asked him to go with me into the north room, and I cannot tell you
how anxious I felt, as I, an old woman, went through the hall with that great man
Col. Burr, to admonish him, and to lead him to repentance. After we were by our-
selves, I said to him : " Colonel Burr, I have a thousand tender memories associated
with you ; I took care of you in your childhood, and I feel the deepest concern over
" Hatfield's Elizabeth, ut supra, p. 325.
" The American Biogr. Dictionary. .
750.
Bv William Alle
Third Ed. Boston, 1857,
0QX(tn=3oW^on
your erring steps. You have committed a great many sins against God, and you
killed that great and good man General Hamilton. I beseech you to repent, and fly
to the Blood and Righteousness of the Redeemer for pardon. I cannot bear to think
of you as being lost, and I often pray most earnestly for your salvation." The only
reply he made to me, continued the excellent old lady, was " Oh ! Aunt, don't feel so
badly ; we shall both meet in heaven yet ; meanwhile, may God bless you !" He then
tenderly took my hand, and left the house.' " "
iv. ROBERT 5 "'born at Elizabethtown 23 March 1746. He
entered the College of New Jersey at the age of 16, and graduated in
1765 at the age of 19. While a member of the College he united with
four others in the formation of the Cliosophic Society, then known by the
name of " The Weil-Meaning Society." He chose the profession of the
law, and pursued his preparatory course under the direction of that dis-
tinguished jurist and eminent statesman Richard Stockton, one of the
Signers of the Declaration of Independence. Having completed his term
of clerkship he was admitted to the bar, and received license from Gov.
FrankUn 21'' June 1770. In April 1772 Gov. Franklin appointed him
" one of the Surrogates of New Jersey, in the room and stead of his father
Robert Ogden Sen., resigned." He opened his Law Office at Elizabeth-
town, and soon acquired an extensive and lucrative practice, and the name
" par excellence " of " the honest lawyer." Within ten years after his admis-
sion to the bar he was called to the degree of Sergeant at Law, then held
by twelve only of the most erudite and upright counsellors. His right
arm having been disabled by a fall in childhood, he could neither wield a
sword nor handle a musket, but he rendered good service in the capacity of
Quarter Master and Commissary of Stores, during the war of the Revolu-
tion. After the establishment of American Independence Mr. Ogden
resumed his profession at Elizabeth, and practised law with great success
until about the fortieth year of his age ; when the state of his health
required his removal to a place beyond the influence of the sea-air, and he
returned to a farm in Sussex which descended to him on the death of his
father. There he became a ruling Elder, and one of the chief supporters
of the Sparta church, representing it in nearly every church-judicatory, and
being almost a standing Commissioner to the General Assembly. Having
" "Autobiography of a Blind Minister, Timothy Woodbridge, D.D., p. 63."
#0T)ftH=3Joljnfiion
no ambition for political distinction he declined all public offices, and,
except in the representation of the county in the State Legislature, on one
or more occasions, he adhered to the maxim "The post of honor is the
private station." He died on the 14"' Feb. 1826, a few days before the
completion of his eightieth year.' " "
He married : first, in 1772, Sarah daughter of Dr. Zophar Piatt of
Huntington, L. I.; and, secondly, in 1786, Hannah Piatt sister of his first
wife. Of Dr. Piatt it was " ' remarked by a neighbour that it would be
hard to say whether Dr. Piatt's medicine was more beneficial to the bodies
of his patients than were his prayers to their souls.' " By these two mar-
riages he had twelve children :
By his first marriage were born to him :
152 I. Elizabeth Platt,^ born August 10, 1773; who married. May 13,
1802, Col. Joseph Jackson of Rockaway, N. J., by whom she had:
153-54 (i.) Sarah Dubois'^ (b. 1803) ; (2.) Stephen Joseph'^ (b. 1805) ; (3.) Robert
155 Ogdeu'^ (b. 1807) ; and died in 1807.
156 2. Robert^ (b. 1775, d. 1857) ; who married, in 1803, Eliza S. daugh-
ter of Gov. Abner Nash of Newbern, N. C; and had by her, beside three
157 children whose names have not been ascertained: (i.) Robert Nash'^
(b. 1804, d. 1859); who married Frances daughter of John Nicholson of
158 New Orleans ; {2?) Frederick A^ash"^ (b. 1807); who married Carmalette
159 daughter of Lopez of Baton Rouge, La.; (3.) ABNER NASH ^
(b. 1809, d. 1875) ; Judge of the Supreme Court of Louisiana; who mar-
ried : first, Mary L daughter of Smith of Mississippi ; and, secondly,
160 Julia daughter of John T. Scott of Mississippi; <^\.') Frauds'^ (b. 1812);
161 (5.) Octaviiis N'ash ;'' who married Alethea daughter of Gen. Sprigg of
Louisiana.
A son of Frederick Nash (158) Ogden was:
" Judge Haines's MS.
#fl^tn=3Jo||ttfiion
162 "General Frederick Nash f^^ Ogden, who was born Jan. 25, 1837, at
Baton Rouge, and died in New Orleans May 25, 1886. In 1838 his father
died, and his mother removed to New Orleans. In 1853 yomig Ogden
engaged in mercantile business. At one time he was a prosperous business
man, but in late years he met with reverses. He was a State's Rights
Democrat before the war, and at the outbreak of the Rebellion he enlisted
in Drew's Battalion, the colors of which he carried through the Peninsula
campaign. Later he was an officer in Pinckney's Battalion of heavy artil-
lery, stationed at the forts below New Orleans. When that city fell into
the hands of the Federals, Ogden and some of his men made their way to
Port Hudson. As Major of the 8th Louisiana Battalion he distinguished
himself at Vicksburg. After the surrender of Vicksburg, he served chiefly
in Mississippi and Alabama, becoming a Colonel of cavalry, and surrender-
ing with Forest. He was several times a candidate for Governor, but was
always defeated in convention." 'He was called the "Chevalier Bayard"
of the South.' " During the yellow fever epidemic of 1878 he labored day
and night to save human life. He took an active part in all the movements
against the Republican Government of Louisiana, being President of the
Crescent City Democratic Club in 1868, the leader of the attack on the
Third Precinct Station in 1872 (when he was wounded), and the head and
front of the White League movement in 1874, when the Kellogg Govern-
ment was overthrown." "
" ' ABNER NASH (159) Ogden was born on the 19*" day of Sep-
tember 1809, in the town of Hillsboro' in the State of North Carolina. His
mother, Eliza S. Nash, was a daughter of Abner Nash, the second Governor
of the State of North Carolina, a man of acknowledged ability and of
high character, who died in the city of Philadelphia, while serving as a
Member of the First Congress of the United States. Mr. Ogden spent
his childhood in the home, and under the influence, of his uncle Judge
Frederick Nash, who for years presided as Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court of North Carolina. In the year 1822 Robert Ogden the father
. . . removed with his family to Louisiana, and established himself in
the neighbourhood of Franklin, on the beautiful Bayou Peche. . . .
'' New York Tribune for May 26, 1886 ; and Private Letter to F. B. Ogden, June 28, 18S7.
#0lreH=3loJinson
Judge Ogden may be said to have commenced life at sixteen years of age.
It was about that age that he rode from the neighbourhood of Franklin to
the town of Opelousas, in order to secure a place which had been adver-
tised as teacher ; and, finding it had been filled, was still so much of a boy
that he yielded to the feeling of despair, and sitting under a large tree in
the outskirts of the town wept over his misfortunes. His surrender to this
feeling was only momentary, and he recorded there a courageous resolution
which he acted up to through life. The next time he saw that tree was in
the year 1853, when, as one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of
Louisiana, he passed under it on his way to hold the annual session of that
tribunal in the town of Opelousas. He studied law under Gen. Quitman
and Mr. M^Murran, in the city of Natchez, and received his license to
practice in Mississippi at the early age of eighteen. With that license he
came immediately to New Orleans, and was examined for admission to this
Bar by Judge Alexander Porter. Under our law he could not have been
admitted to practice, as an original applicant here, while under twenty-one
years of age, but, coming from another State, as a licensed lawyer, the case
was different ; and the Supreme Court admitted him without hesitation.
He commenced practice in the office of Mr. Alfred Hennen, as an assistant
to that venerable lawyer, and in a short time afterwards was sent by him to
Baton Rouge, in full charge and management of an important suit then
pending before the Courts of that place. His employment in this matter
may account, in part, for the fact that within a few months he changed his
place of residence from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, and almost imme-
diately formed a partnership with Mr. Lawrence, a leading lawyer of that
city, and was thereby thrown into a full and lucrative practice. Not long
after this Mr. Lawrence was appointed to the judgeship of the United
States Court for this district, and the whole of his practice thus fell into
the hands of his young partner. He continued the practice of his profes-
sion, with great success, in the country-parishes until about the year 1838,
when he returned to New Orleans. In the year 1841, upon the death of
Judge Lawrence, without any consultation with him, the representatives of
Louisiana in the United States Senate procured his nomination and con-
firmation as Judge of the United States Court for this district. The first
intimation he had of the appointment was the receipt, through the Post
Office, of his commission, accompanied by an official letter from Mr.
#fl;tren=3lolinfiion
Webster, then Secretary of State, asking that he would signify his accept-
ance or rejection of the appointment. He received, also, letters from the
Hon. Alexander Barrow, then Senator from Louisiana, and others, urging
his acceptance of this place as a stepping-stone to the Supreme Bench of
the United States. He however thought it his duty to decline the office.
He was controlled in the matter by the necessities of an already large and
growing family. In 1853, under the new Constitution, which made the
Judges of the Supreme Court elective, he was nominated by the Whigs for
a seat upon that Bench as Associate Justice ; and, although the State was
at that time decidedly Democratic, and several Whig candidates were in
the field, against a single and most formidable Democratic opponent, the
Hon. Miles Taylor, he was elected by a small majority — the town of
Carrolton, near which he lived, forgetting political distinctions, and giving
him an almost undivided vote. He held his place on the Supreme Bench
only two years, being compelled to resign on account of the inadequacy of
the salary. Mr. Ogden died Aug. — , 1875.' "*'
The third child of Robert (151) and Sarah (Piatt) Ogden was :
163 3. Mary^ (b. 1778, d. 1852); who married, in 1800, Elias Haines of
New York.
164
Elias and Mary (Ogden) Haines had issue
(i.) DanielP
" Daniel Haines was born in the city of New York in the year 1801,
and descended from a family of that name who were of the earliest settlers
of Elizabethtown, N. J. Graduated at Princeton 1820, admitted to the
Bar 1823, Counsellor at Law 1826, Sergeant at Law 1837. Was Governor
of New Jersey 1843-5 ^^^d 1847-9, ^"^d Associate Justice of the Supreme
Court of New Jersey 1852-66. He was a prominent member of the
General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, and as a Member of the
Bible Society and other societies of a religious or benevolent character was
always prompt to render the aid of his influence and active exertions.
""> "New Orleans Bulletin, Sunday, Aug. 22, 1875."
243
#0ti(n=.Dotnson
Judge L. Q. C. Elmer, in his ' Reminiscences of the Bench and Bar of
New Jersey,' writes of Governor Haines in the following terms : ' Until
he was governor the second time, I had but little acquaintance with him ;
but from that time, and especially while we sat together on the bench, our
friendship was warm, and unbroken by the slightest disagreement. As a
judge, although not entitled to rank among the most eminent for acuteness
or learning, he was highly respectable. Always anxious to do justice, he
rarely failed to ascertain and give preponderance to the merits of a cause ;
and by his courteous deportment, as well as by his sound judgment, he
merited and obtained the confidence and respect of suitors and their advo-
cates. But few judges were ever freer from the influence of passion or
prejudice.' "
He married Ann Maria Austin of Warwick, N. Y.; and had issue:
[65-67 I. Mary,^ d. s. p.; 2. Rev. Alanson Aicstin ;^ A.M.; 3. Ann Maria, -^
168 who married Francis Tucker of Boston, Mass.; 4. Tliotnas Ryerson ;^
A.M.; Captain of First New Jersey Vol. Cavalry; killed in action at
169 Harrisburg, Va., June 6, 1862 ; 5. Sarah D or emus ;^ who married Arnold
Henry Guyot, Ph.D., LL.D., Prof, of Geology and Phys. Geography in
170 the College of New Jersey ; 6. Henrietta;^ who married Henry J. Pierson
of New York.
171
172
173
74-75
176
77-79
180
The second child of Elias and Mary (Ogden) Haines was :
(2.) SARAH PLATT;7 who married Thomas Cornelius Doremus
of New York ; and had issue : i. Eleanor Mandeville,^ d. s. p.; 2. Robert
Ogden, -^ M.D., LL.D., Prof, of Chemistry and Physics in the College of
the City of New York, and Prof, of Chemistry and Toxicology in the
Bellevue Medical College of New York ; who married Estelle Emma
Skidmore of New York; 3. Mary Haines;^ 4. Sarah Dubois;^
5. Elina ; ^ who married Edwin Smith of New York ; 6. Eleanor
Mandeville,^ d. s. p.; 7. Sarah Dubois ;^ 8. Charlotte Sjiydam,^ d. s. p.;
<^. Henrietta Haines ;'^ who married Edward de la Ros^ King, M.D., of
North Carolina.
©fltren=3Joimson
" There are now living, and there have been in the past, many of the
female descendants of 'good Old John Ogden ' who have inherited in a
marked degree his sturdy virtues. Conspicuous among these was Sarah
Piatt [171] Haines, who in Thomas C. Doremus found a worthy husband,
happy to cooperate with her in her good works. To those who knew
Mrs. Doremus only in later life it seemed almost incredible that a fragile
woman, suffering from delicate health and the infirmities of age, could not
only conceive, but personally execute, works of charity of a magnitude to
tax even the powers of a strong man ; but the Master whose work she was
on gave her the strength to accomplish her labors for the benefit of suffer-
ing mankind. One of the founders and President of the Mission at Grand
Ligne in Canada; one of the founders and Vice-President of 'The Nur-
sery and Child's Hospital ' (one of the most benevolent and useful institu-
tions in the city of New York) ; one of the founders and President of the
Board of Lady Supervisors of the New York State Woman's Hospital ;
President of the ' Woman's Missionary Society ;' First Directress of the
' Women's Prison Association and Home for Discharged Convicts ;' a
Manager of the 'New York House and School of Industry' — in these
and other fields of labor she spent a Hfe made beautiful by charity. Of
her warm and generous heart, of her private virtues, this is not the place to
speak ; they are enshrined in the hearts of her children, and of hundreds
who have cause to bless her memory.
" A beautiful mural tablet has been erected to her in the South
Reformed Church, Fifth Avenue, New York, which is the only tablet
which has ever been erected to a lady by any church of this denomination.
It reads :
'"In
Memory of
Sarah Piatt, wife of Thomas C. Doremus,
who peacefully " fell asleep in Jesus "
January 29th, 1877
Aged 74
" 'She united with this church September nth, 1823
" ' Well reported of for good works, she hath brought up chil-
dren, she hath lodged strangers, she hath washed the saints' feet, she
hath relieved the afflicted, she hath diligently followed every good
work — i. Tim., 5 : 10.' "
©fltrrn=3Joi|nson
The third child of Elias and Mary (Ogden) Haines was :
[8i (3.) Sidney Phcenix ;'^ who married Diadumenia Austin of Warwick,
182-83 N. Y.; and had issue: i. Elias ;^ d. s. p.; 2. Caroline;^ who married
184-85 George Schroter of St. Louis, Mo.; 3. Daniel,^ d. s. p.; 4. Sidney,^ d. s. p.;
186 5. Afinie ;^ who married Christie of Missouri.
The fourth child of Elias and Mary (Ogden) Haines was :
187 (4.) Mary Ogden ;'' who married Henry Thompson Darrah of New
88 Jersey ; and had issue : Elizabeth ; ^ who married General Louis B. Parsons
of St. Louis, Mo.
189 (5.) Robert Ogden,'' d. s. p.
[90 (6.) Elizabeth Ogden;'' who married John M=Auley Nixon of New
191 York ; and had issue : i. Sarah Dor emus ; ^ who married Clarke Hamilton
192-93 of Kingston, Canada; 2. Rev. George,^ A.B.; 3. John M<^ Atiley ;^
194-96 4. Eugene,^ d. s. p.; 5. Maria,^ d. s. p.; 6. Elizabeth ;^ who married John
197-99 M'^Auley of Canada ; 7. Kirby^ d. s. p.; 8. Henry Haines ; ^ 9. Herbert ; ^
200 10. Maria.^
The seventh and youngest child of Elias and Mary (Ogden) Haines
was :
(7.) Henrietta Broome,'' d. s. p.
" For many years the head of a celebrated Young Ladies' School in the
city of New York, where great success attended her efforts as an instructress,
and where she was held in the utmost veneration and esteem by her pupils,
gathered from all sections of the country."
We now resume the enumeration of the children of Robert (151) and
Sarah (Piatt) Ogden :
202 4. Jeremiah^ (b. 1779, d. 1785).
203 5. Sarah Plat f^ (b. 1781, d. 1835); who married Cornelius Du Bois
of New York, of " a Huguenot family settled in Ulster Co., N. Y., during
the close of the 1 7"' century ;" and had :
#0Tr(n=So)in!Son
204
205
206
207
208-09
210
21 1-12
(i.) Mary Elizabeth;'^ who married: first, Francis Potter of New
York ; and, secondly, Edward Sherman son of Judge Gould of Litchfield,
Conn.; and died in 1881, leaving one son by her second marriage, Edward
Sherman,^ who married Isabella Ludlow.
(2.) Henry Atigushis z'' graduated at Columbia College in 1827;
Doctor of Medicine 1830; made LL.D. at Yale College in 1864; who
married Helen daughter of Peter A. Jay, granddaughter of Chief Justice
John Jay ; and died in 1884, leaving six surviving children, as follows:
I. Henry Augustus ;^ who married Emily daughter of Dr. Samuel Blois
of New York; 2. John Jay ;^ 3. Augustus Jay ;^ Professor of Civil
Engineering in the Sheifield Scientific School of Yale University ; who
married Adeline Blakesley ; 4. Alfred VVagstaff ; ^ 5. Mary Rutherford
Jay;^ 6. Robert Ogden^ M.D.
"The eldest son of Henry Augustus and Helen (Jay) Du Bois was
213 Cornelms Jay^ who died Feb. 11, 1880, after a long and painful illness.
He was born in New York Aug. 30, 1836, and graduated at Columbia
Law School in 1861. On the breaking out of the civil war he went with
the Seventh Regiment to Washington. In 1862 he went with it to Balti-
more, and upon his return to his father's house in New Haven there
recruited Co. D. 27th C. Vol., and went out as Captain. He was one of
the two Companies which escaped capture in Virginia, thus saving the
regimental colors. He served in Zook's Brigade, under Hancock, at
Aquia Creek, Falmouth, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. At the
battle of Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, he received a severe wound, from which
he never fully recovered. He was, indeed, supposed to be among the
killed, but his brother Henry Augustus, then serving as Assistant Surgeon
in the regular Army, fortunately found him, dressed his wounds, and had
him conveyed to his friends in New York. Gen. Hancock sent word to
his father that he had 'never seen a more gallant charge,' and Col. Brooke
said 'there was not a more gallant soldier in the army than Capt. Du Bois.'
After partly recovering from his wounds he became Adjutant of the 20th
C. Vol., and served under Hooker and Sherman in Georgia. At the battle
of Resaca, when the Regiment was ordered to storm a strong position of
©0trtn=3ioi)nBon
the enemy, and the men, partly up the hill, began to waver under the heavy
fire, he seized the colors from the wounded bearer, rallied the men, and at
their head planted the colors on the summit. He was brevetted Major, by
the President of the United States, for bravery at Gettysburg, and Lieut.
Colonel for gallantry at Resaca ; and also brevetted Colonel, by the State
of Connecticut, for meritorious services during the war. His brother
Dr. Henry A. Du Bois received a brevet as Major, and was Assistant
Medical Director on Gen. Sheridan's Staff at the time of Lee's surrender
— being then but twenty-four years old. In July 1866 Capt. Du Bois
received the degree of M.D. at the Yale Medical College, and went abroad
for his health. On his return the rest of his life was spent in New Haven.
He bore his sufferings with the same courage he displayed in action."
214 (3.) Coriielms ;'^ who married Mary Ann daughter of John Delafield
215 of New York; and died in 18S2, leaving: i. John Delafield ;^ who
216 married AHce daughter of Judge Goddard of Ohio; 2. Marj;^ who
7-18 married Dr. J. J. Hull of New York, and had : Bu Bois^ and Marian ; ^
219-20 3. Cornelia Aiignsta ;^ who married Nicoll Floyd; ^. Eugene ;^ who
married Anna daughter of Hon. Erastus Brooks of New York ; 5. Julia
Floyd ; 8 who married John Floyd ; 6. Cornelius ; ^ who married Katharine
Reeding.
The fourth child of Cornelius and Sarah Piatt (Ogden) Du Bois was :
223 (4.) Sarah Platl ;'' who married Dr. Alfred Wagstafif ; and had:
224-25 I. Alfred;^ who married Mary Barnard; 2. Cornelius Du Bois ;^ who
226 married Amy Colt; i. Mary Du Bois ;^ who married Henry Gribble ;
227 4. Louisa;^ who married Phoeni.x Remsen.
228 (5-) George U^ashinglon ;'' who married Maria daughter of Right
229 Rev. Charles P. M<:Ilvaine, Bishop of Ohio ; and had : i. Emily M' I lvalue ; ^
230 who married Rev. William R. Mackay ; 2. Rev. George AF I lvalue ;^
who married Mary Grace daughter of Joseph Curtis of Philadelphia;
2^1 3. Rev. Henry Ogden ;^ who married Emily daughter of Rev. Dr. Mier-
#fltrrn=3Jolinf5on
232-33
234-35
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
Smith of Philadelphia, Pa.; 4. Sarah Ogden,-^
6. Mary Cornelia;^ 7. Cornelms.^'^^
Henrietta Haines ; ^
By his second marriage, to Hannah Piatt, Robert (151) Ogden had:
1. Rebecca Woods Piatt ^ (b. 1787) ; who married Dr. Samuel Fowler
of Franklin, co. Sussex, N. J.
2. Hannah Amelia J.^ (b. 1790); who married Thomas Cox Ryerson
of Newton, N. J.
3. Phcebe Henrietta M.^ (b. 1793, d. 1852); who married Thomas
Cox Ryerson, after her sister Hannah's death.
4. Zophar Piatt ^ (b. 1 795) ; who married Rebecca Wood of Mississippi.
5. Henry '^ (b. 1796).
6. William H. A.^ (b. 1797, d. 1822).
7. John Adams'^ (b. 1799, d. 1800).
We now return to the enumeration of the children of Robert (132)
and Phoebe (Hatfield) Ogden. Their fifth child and second son was :
243 V. Jo7iathan ^ (b. and d. 1 748).
244 vi. Jonathan ^ (b. 1 750, d. i 760).
245 vii. Mary^ (born in 1752); who married, in 1772, Col. Francis
Barber of Elizabethtown, N. J.; and died, without children, in 1773.
"'Colonel Francis Barber was born at Princeton in 1 751, and was
educated at the College of New Jersey. He was installed Rector of an
academic institution connected with the First Presbyterian Church at
Elizabethtown, in which situation he remained until the commencement of
the Revolution. He joined the patriot-army, and in 1776 was commis-
sioned by Congress a Major of the Third Battalion of New Jersey troops ;
at the close of the year was appointed Lieut. Colonel, and subsequently
became Assistant Inspector-General under Baron Steuben. He was in
constant service during the whole war, was in the principal battles, and was
"' The foregoing record of the Du Bois branch of the Ogden family has been kindly given to us by
Miss Mary Rutherford Jay Du Bois of New Haven.
(©flTren=3oiinfiion
present at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. He was with the Con-
tinental army at Newburgh in 1783, and on the very day when Washington
announced the signing of the treaty of peace to the army. He was killed
by a tree falling upon him while riding by the edge of a wood.' " ^
246
MATTHIAS.^ born
1754-
" ' He was a brigadier in the army of the United States, took an early
and a decided part in the contest with Great Britain. He joined the army
at Cambridge in 1775, and such was his zeal and resolution that he accom-
panied Arnold in penetrating through the wilderness to Canada in 1775.
He was engaged in the attack upon Quebec, and was carried wounded
from the place of engagement.'** On his return from this expedition he
was appointed, in 1776, Lieut-Colonel in the First Jersey Battalion. In
August 1776 he wrote to Aaron Burr from Ticonderoga : ' I shall have the
honor to command the New Jersey redoubt which I am now building with
the regiment alone. It is situated on the right of the whole, by the water's
edge. It is to mount two i8-pounders, two 12-, and four 9-pounders. In
it I expect to do honor to New Jersey.' In 1778, on Lee's retreat at Mon-
month, 'Col. Ogden among others, commanding a regiment in Maxwell's
Brigade, who was slowly following his retreating corps, with indignation
so finely intimated in the Latin poet's metaphor :
" iriique leonum vincla recusantum,"
with the fierce wrath of the lion disdaining his chains, when interrogated
by Col. Harrison as to the cause of the retreat, answered with great
apparent exasperation : ' By G — d. Sir, they are flying from a shadow.' "
When Washington was at Morristown in 1782, while Prince William
Henry (afterwards King William IV.) was serving as midshipman in the
fleet of Admiral Digby at New York, Col. Ogden planned a surprise, to
capture the prince and admiral at their city-quarters. The plan was approved
by Washington, who, however, charged Col. Ogden to treat his prisoners
" By Rev. Nicholas Murray.
" Allen's Biogr. Diet., ut supra, p. 6i8.
i!^Q'iitn=3o'^nuon
with all possible respect. But the British became alarmed by certain move-
ments which had been discovered, and the project failed.'^
" Family-tradition relates that on the occasion of Col. Matthias
Ogden's being taken prisoner by the British, at Elizabethtown, N. J., Nov.
5, 1780, he was removed to New York, and on arriving at Head Quarters
was placed on parole, and invited to join the officers' mess. Shortly after-
wards a new detachment arrived from England, and one of its officers, at
dinner, asked the company to charge their glasses, and proposed the follow-
ing toast : ' Damnation to the Rebels.' Col. Ogden had risen with the
rest ; and, on hearing these words, flinging his glass and its contents in the
face of the British officer, he exclaimed : ' Damnation to him who dares
propose such a toast in my presence.' They were both immediately placed
under arrest, and a challenge was sent, which the officer in command
refused to allow Col. Ogden to accept. The mess apologized to Col.
Ogden for the rudeness of their brother-officer, and invited him to resume
his place at their table. _ He was treated with the utmost courtesy thereafter.
" ' On the occurrence of peace he was honored by Congress with a
commission of Brigadier-General. Being granted leave of absence by
Congress in 1 783, General Ogden visited Europe, and while in France was
presented to King Louis XVI. by his friend General Lafayette. The
French monarch, desirous of paying him a compliment, and titles or orders
being out of the question with a republican officer, granted to General
Ogden the distinguished honor of ' le droit du tabouret' He died at the
early age of thirty-six years, and was buried at Elizabethtown, where may
be read this inscription on his tomb :
" ' Sacred to the memory of General Matthias Ogden, who died on the 31*' day
of March 1791, Aged 36 years.
" ' In him were united those various virtues of the Soldier, the Patriot and the
Friend which endear men to society. Distress failed not to find relief in his bounty,
Unfortunate men a refuge in his generosity.
" 'If manly sense and dignity of mind.
If social virtues liberal and refined,
Nipped in their bloom, deserve compassion's tear
Then, reader, weep, for Ogden's dust lies here.
" ' Weed his grave clean, all men of genius, for he was your kinsman ;
Tread lightly on his ashes, ye men of feeling, for he was your brother.' "
"^Life of George Washington. By Washington Irving. New York, 1857, iv. 392-94,
<^glren::3)o)ini$QtT
t
247
248
249-50
251
252
253
General Ogden married, in 1776, Hannah daughter of Brigadier-
General Elias Dayton of Elizabethtown, N. J.; and had, beside a child
whose name has not been ascertained :
1. George Montgomery'^ (b. 1779, d. 1824); who was graduated at
the College of New Jersey in 1795; "appointed First Lieutenant, nth
U. S. Inf. 3 Mch. 1799 ; became Regimental Quarter-Master in the follow-
ing month ; and on the reduction of the army, on the 25 June 1800, was
honorably discharged." He married, in 1828, Euphrosyne Merieult of
New Orleans, and had a daughter Frances Blanche'^ (b. 1822, d. 1878);
who married Celestin Defau Baron de Pontalba of Chateau de Mont
L'Evfeque, Seine et Oise, France,
" and had issue :
"(i.) Edward;^ who married Clotilde Vernois ; (2.) Louise;^ who
married Georges Demenil, Vicomte de Maricourt of Chateau Vieux
Maisons, Seine et Marne, France; (3.) Henry ;^ who married Marie de
Maricourt.
"Celestin de Pontalba was of French and Spanish descent. His
grandfather the Marquis de Pontalba being French, while his father mar-
ried, when on a visit to New Orleans, Md"" Delmonastre the daughter of
a government official under the Spanish rule."
2. Henry ^ (b. 1781, d. 1799).
3. Francis Barber,^ born in 1 783 ; who
" was appointed Consul of the United States at Liverpool by President
Andrew Jackson in 1829, and held that position until 1840, when he was
transferred by President Van Buren to Bristol, which office lie retained
until his death in 1857.
"John O. Sargent, in a lecture delivered before the Boston Lyceum,
in December 1843, thus speaks of Mr. Ogden : 'While opposed by such a
powerful array of English scientific wisdom, the inventor (John Ericson)
©fltrrn^Sofinsou
had the satisfaction of submitting his plan to a citizen of the New World
who was able to understand its philosophy, and appreciate its importance.
I allude to a gentleman well known to many who have enjoyed his liberal
hospitality in a foreign land, Mr. Francis B. Ogden, a native of New
Jersey, for many years Consul of the United States at Liverpool, and in
that position reflecting the highest credit on the American name and char-
acter. Though not an engineer by profession, Mr. Ogden has been distin-
guished for his eminent attainments in the mechanical sciences, and is
entitled to the honor of having first applied the important principles of the
expansive power of steam, and of having originated the idea of employing
right-angular cranks in marine engines. His practical experience and long
study of the subject — for he was the first to navigate the ocean by the
power of steam alone — enabled him at once to perceive the truth of the
inventor's demonstrations ; and not only did he admit their truth, but he
also joined Captain Ericson in constructing the first experimental boat to
which I have alluded, and which the inventor launched into the Thames,
with the name of the "Francis B. Ogden" as a token of respect to his
transatlantic friend.'
"As early as 1813 Mr. Ogden had taken out a patent, at Washington,
for the improvements in Marine Engines referred to by Mr. Sargent. ' In
181 7 he had the first engine ever constructed in England on this principle
built at Leeds in Yorkshire. He had submitted his plans to Mr. Watt at
Soho, who declared at once that it would make a " beautiful engine," and
that the combination was certainly original.' 'The first propellor in the
waters of the United States was the " Robert F. Stockton," an iron boat
built at Liverpool under the superintendence of F. B. Ogden, and sent
across the Atlantic, to the astonishment, on her arrival, of thousands who
congregated to get sight of her (see Publ. Docc, House Reports, Comm.
Relations, Part 3, Returns 1857).'"
He died and was buried at Bristol, England. The following is the
inscription on his monument :
" ' Sacred to the Memory of Colonel Francis Barber Ogden, a Member of the
Society of the Cincinnati, and Consul of the United States of America for this Port.
<!^fltrtn::3JoJinfiion
" 'Born at Boonton in the State of New Jersey, U. S. A., March 3"', 1783. Died
at his residence in this city July 4"", 1857. Aged 74 years.
" ' Here lies one who trusted implicitly in the mercy and the goodness of his
God.' "
Colonel Francis Barber (253) Ogden married, in 1837, Louisa Sarah
daughter of William Pownall of Liverpool, of a family said to be "of
great antiquity in the county of Chester ;" ^ and had by her :
254 (i.) Georgiana Blanche'' (b. 1838, d. 1840).
255 (2.) FRANCIS BARBER,'' born at Seacombe, co. Chester, Engl,
April 20, 1839 ; the gentleman to whom we are indebted for his valuable
notes on the Ogden family. Mr. Ogden has held for a number of
years past the office of Secretary to the Society of the Cincinnati in the
State of New Jersey, and is a Delegate to the General Conventions of that
Order.
The fourth child of Gen. Matthias (246) and Hannah (Dayton)
Ogden was :
256 4. Jajie Chandler'^ (b. 1784, d. 1785).
257 5. Peter Voorhies^ (b. 1786); "compromised with Aaron Burr in
the Blennerhasset affair ;" who married Celeste du Plessis of New Orleans ;
258 and had Henry D.;'' who married Mathilde I. daughter of George A.
Waggaman of New Orleans.
Continuing to enumerate the children of Robert (132) and Phoebe
(Hatfield) Ogden, we now come to their ninth child and fifth son :
259 ix. AARON, ^ born December 3, 1756.
" A Geneal. and Heraldic History of the Landed GentO' of Great Britain and Ireland. . . .
By John Burke. . . . London, 1838, iv. 17.
<!^0tren=:3)o)injson
" ' He graduated at Princeton in 1773. He was nurtured in the love
of Whig principles, and took an active part in the early struggles of the
patriots. In the winter of 1 775-6 he was one of a party who boarded
and captured a vessel lying off Sandy Hook, named Bbie Mountain
Valley, and carried her safely into Elizabethport. Mr. Ogden received an
appointment in the ist New Jersey regiment in the spring of 1777, and
continued in the service until the close of the war. He was in the battle
of Brandywine in the autumn of 1777, was brigade major in a portion
of the advanced corps of General Lee at Monmouth, in the summer of
1778, and served as assistant aide-de-camp to Lord Sterling during that
memorable day. He was aide-de-camp to General Maxwell in the expedi-
tion of Sullivan against the Indians in 1779, and was in the battle at
Springfield in New Jersey in 1780, where he had a horse shot under him.
On the resignation of Maxwell, Ogden was appointed to a captaincy of
light infantry under La Fayette, and was serving in that capacity when
called upon to perform the delicate service [of visiting the British head-
quarters in 1780, bearing an official account of Andre's- trial and condemna-
tion, and a letter from Andr^ to his General, with a view to a possible
exchange of Andr6 for Arnold]. ... He afterwards accompanied
La Fayette in his memorable campaign in Virginia in 1781. At the siege
of Yorktown Captain Ogden and his company gallantly stormed the left
redoubt of the enemy, for which he was ' honored with the peculiar appro-
bation of Washington.' He applied himself to the study of law after the
war, and rose rapidly in his profession.*
"'In Nov. 1796 he was chosen one of the Presidential Electors of
N. J., and Feb. 28, 1801 he was appointed to the U. S. Senate to fill a
vacancy of two years. . . . Col. Ogden was chosen by the Legislature,
Oct. 29, 1812, to succeed the Hon. Joseph Bloomfield, as Governor of the
State of New Jersey, and Feb. 27, 18 13 he was appointed by President
Madison one of the six Major-Generals provided for Feb. 24 by Act of
Congress. Gov. Ogden died at Jersey City April 19, 1839, ^^t. 83, and
his remains were buried here [at Elizabethtown] with civic and military
honors on Monday 22°^ He was honored, in 18 16, by his Alma Mater,
with the degree of LL.D.' "
" The Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution.
1859, i. 768-69, note 2.
By Benson J. Lossing. , .
©flTren^3Joiinsott
In 1827, according to a usage now antiquated and always barbaric,
Gov. Ogden, having been bankrupted by no fault of his, was thrown into
prison for debt. Meanwhile came the national holiday of Feb. 22, when
the patriot contrived to throw out a national flag between the bars of his
prison, together with the placard " Blood and Thunder ! Is this Liberty ?"
After the military review of the day, a Captain of militia, by permission,
marched his company into the prison, to salute the ex-Governor and old
soldier of freedom — which was done, while the people shouted outside.
The injured captive was soon afterward released.
Gov. Aaron (259) Ogden married, in 1787, Elizabeth daughter of
Judge John Chetwood of Elizabethtown, N. J.; and had by her :
260 I. Jllaiy Chetwood^ (b. 1789); who married, in 1809, her second
cousin George Clinton Barber of Elizabethtown, N. J.
261 2. Phcrbe Aun^ (b. 1790, d. 1865).
262 3. Alatthias^ (b. 1792, d. i860); who married Lucille Roberts of
263 Jamaica, W. I.; and had : (i.) Liicille Du Sanssay'^ (b. 1819) ; (2.) Eliza-
264-66 beth Chetioood'^ (b. 1821) ; {t,.) Josephine .-^ (4.) Mary Henrietta''
267 (b. 1826); {^.) Maria Palmer^ (b. 1828).
268 4. John Robert ^ (b. i 794, d. 1 799).
269 5. Elias Bailey Dayton,^ who was
"born at Elizabethtown, 22 May, 1799; graduated at Princeton 1819;
admitted to the bar 1824; Counsellor at Law 1829; Sergeant at Law in
1837, being the last lawyer raised to that dignity (now abolished) in New
Jersey; Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey 1848 to
1865 ; who died at Elizabethtown 24 Feb'y 1865. He was a member of
the Protestant Episcopal Church, an active influential member of its Con-
ventions,. and a Trustee of the College at Burlington."
He married: first, in 1826, Susan daughter of Rev. Dr. Frederick
Beasley ; secondly, Louisa A. daughter of Judge Henry A. Ford of Morris-
#0Trrn::3>olinfi!on
town, N. J.; and, thirdly, Alice daughter of Capt. William Chetvvood de
Hart, U. S. A., by whom he had William de HartP By his first marriage
he had : {\^ Frederick Beasley'^ (b. 1827); who married Jane daughter
of Judge Henry A. Ford of Morristown, N. J.; (2.) Aaron;'' who mar-
ried Harriet Emily daughter of John Travers of New York ; (3.) Susan
Dayton ; "^ who married William S. Biddle of Detroit, Mich.; (4.) Dayton; "^
who married Esther daughter of Archibald Gracie of New York ; (5.) Eliz-
abeth;'' who married Rev. John M. Henderson of Buffalo, N. Y.
270
271
272
273-74
275
276
277
278
279
280-83
284
285
286
.287
288
289-93
294-97
298
299
300
The other children of Robert (132) and Phoebe (Hatfield) Ogden,
omitting one whose name has not been ascertained, were :
X. Oliver ^ (b. i 760, d. i 766).
xi. Ha7inah^ (b. 1761, d. 1789).
xii. Elias ^ (b. 1 763, d. 1805) ; who married Mary Anderson ; and had :
1. Matthias Hatfield'^ (b. 1927); who married ; and had:
(i.) William;'' {2.) Henry ;'' {t,.) Sarah ;'' (4.) Thomas;'' (5.) Mat-
thias.''
2. William Anderson'^ (b. 1794); who married ; and had:
Henry Warren ; '' who married Phoebe Lautermann.
3. Phcebe^ (b. 1796) ; who married William M'^Kee.
4. Elias ® (b. 1 798) ; who married Louisa Gordon ; and had :
(i.)/. Gordon;'' (2.) /?///«/ ^ (3.) Charles;'' (4.) Mary;'' (5.) Frank;''
{6.^ Hejiry ;'' {^^ Beverly ;'' {%^ Neivton ;'' ((j.^ LonisaJ
5. Henry Warren^ (b. 1800, d. i860) ; Capt. Henry Warren Ogden,
u: s. N.
6. Thomas Anderso7i^ (b. 1802); who was graduated at the College
of New Jersey in 1821 ; a clergyman at the South ; and died in 1878.
xiii. Jonatha7i^ (b. 1765).
We now return to the fourth generation, and proceed to follow out
the line of MOSES (135) OGDEN (b. 1723, d. 1768), fifth child and
<;^0trtn^3)otinson
second son of Robert (128) and Hannah (Crane) Ogden. He married
Mary Cozzens of Martha's Vineyard ; and had :
301 i. Frances^ (b. 1750, d. 1800) ; who married, in 1769, Judge Pierpont
Edwards of New Haven, afterwards of Bridgeport, Conn., youngest son
of the elder President Jonathan Edwards ; and had children as follows :
302 I. Susan,^ born in 1771 ; who married Judge Samuel William Johnson
of Stratford, Conn, (see ^lOiltlSlOU part of this monograph) ; and died
in 1856.
303 2. John Stark,^ born August 23, 1777. Born soon after the battle of
Bennington, the name of its hero was given to him. He was graduated at
the College of New Jersey in 1796 ; studied law at Litchfield, Conn.; went
to Ohio in 1 799, and settled in Trumbull county as a lawyer, where he was
both useful and popular. He was a Colonel in the military organization
of the county, and in 181 2 was elected a Member of Congress, the first one
from his District ; but died, before taking his seat and oath as such, in
Huron, Ohio, February 22, 18 13. He married, February 28, 1807, his
cousin Louisa Maria, daughter of Gen. Lewis B. and Mary (Dwight)
Morris of Vermont."
204 3- Henry IVaggavian,^ born in i 779 ; Governor of Connecticut and
U. S. Senator; who married Lydia daughter of John Miller, and died in
1847.
305 4. Ogden,^ born in 1781 ; Judge Ogden Edwards of New York ; who
married Harriet Penfield ; and died in 1862.
306 5. Alfred Pier p07it,^ born in 1784; who married Deborah Glover ;
and died in 1862.
307 6. Henrietta Frances,^ born in 1786; who married, in 181 7, Eli
Whitney of New Haven, Conn.; and died in 1870.
308 ii. JoJm Cozzens^ (b. 1753, d. 1800); who married Mary daughter of
Major-General David Wooster of Stratford, Conn. He was
by his son William Johnson Edwards of Youngst'
#0tr(n^3)oi)n$on
"graduated at Princeton in 1770, ordained by Bishop Seabury, suc-
ceeded Mr. Browne in Portsmouth, N. H., from i 756 to i 785. He died
at Chestertown, Ind., in 1800."
His children were :
309 I. Mary Wooster^ (b. 1776, d. 1839). This daughter was never
married. She spent most of her life in New Haven, Conn., and bequeathed
considerable property to the Parish of Trinity Church in that city, where
is a tablet to her memory bearing this inscription :
" ' This Monument is erected by the Parish of Trinity Church as a
grateful tribute to the memory of Mary Wooster Ogden, who died on
Easter Sunday, A.D. 1839, aged LXIII years.
" ' Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.' "
310 2. David.^
311 3. Aaron.^
312
313
314
315
The third child of Moses (135) and Mary (Cozzens) Ogden was :
iii. Barnabas^ (b. 1755); who married: first, Nancy daughter of
Obadiah Sale of Elizabethtown, N. J.; and, secondly, Nancy Smith.
iv. Nancy ^ (b. 1757, d. 1825); who married, in 1778, Col. Francis
Barber of Elizabethtown, N. J., on the death of her cousin Mary Ogden
his first wife.
V. Mary Cozzens^ (b. 1759).
vi. Moses^ (b. 1768, d. 1780); Lieut. Moses Ogden, whose epitaph
is as follows :
" ' In memory of Moses Ogden, who was killed at Connecticut
Farms 7"" June 1780, in the 20"" year of his age.
" ' This lovely youth,
Adorned with truth,
A brave commander shone.
His soul, emerging from the dust,
With his progenitors, we trust.
Shall shine in realms unknown.' "
^Q'tttn=3oftnnon
316 vii. Aaron.^
317 viii. David^ (d. 1789). Family-tradition says that he fell in love
with his niece Susan Edwards, which, being a hopeless attachment, caused
him to become deranged. " He was just ready to be admitted to the New
Haven Bar, ordered a full suit of black, dressed himself in it, and shot
himself." His Will, dated 1789, in the Probate Registry of New Haven,
commences with these words :
" In the name of God, sole Governor of all Worlds, Jesus Christ, the Holy
Ghost, the Twelve Apostles, Saints, thrones, Powers, Virtues, Angels, Arch Angels,
Cherubim and Seraphim — Amen."
His principal legatee was his sister-in-law Mrs. Mary (Cozzens)
Ogden, to whom he bequeathed all his
" worldly Concerns, as Goods, Chatties, Lands, Tennements and Hereditaments,
which I, whilst an Inhabitant of this Planet, was in Possession of . . . she first
paying . . . Also paying to Susan Edwards, my Lovely Niece, the sum of ^25.,
New York money, to be lain out for a Mourning dress for her the said Susan, by
her the said Susan."
All the descents from JONATHAN (5) OGDEN of the second
generation, son of "Good old John Ogden," having been thus set forth,
with as much of detail and exactness as our information rendered possible,
we have next to give the lines of descent from DAVID (6) OGDEN,
next younger brother of Jonathan, by his wife Elizabeth (Swayne) Ward.
The eldest child of David and Elizabeth (Swayne- Ward) Ogden was :
318 i. David ^ (b. 1677, d. 1734) ; called Captain David Ogden, though a
lawyer by profession ; of Newark, N. J.; who married Abigail .
In the porch of Trinity Church at Newark is the following inscription :
" Here lieth interred the Body of Capt. David Ogden, who died
July y" 11'", A. D. 1734, aged 56 years."
265-
^Q'iitn=3o'^nnon
319
320
321
322-23
He had :
1. Sarah ;* born November 2, 1699 ; who married Nathaniel Johnson
of Newark, N. J. (see 3)Oi|t18$On part of this monograph).
2. John* (b. 1708, d. 1795); Judge John Ogden ; who married
Hannah daughter of Capt. Jonathan Sayre of Elizabethtown, N. J.,
descended from Joseph Sayre, one of the founders of Ehzabethtown ; and
by her had, beside other children not named: (1.) /o/in ;^ Capt. John
Ogden; (^2.) Aarofi ;^ (^.) Hanna/i^ (b. 1737, d. 1780); who, in 1763,
married Rev. James Caldwell of Elizabethtown, N. J.
324
325-26
327-2^
" Mr. Caldwell was a Virginian. His father John Caldwell, of Scotch
ancestry, came to this country from the county of Antrim, Ireland.
Located on Cub Creek, Va., a branch of the Staunton river, in what is
now Charlotte Co. Here in the wilderness, James, .the youngest of seven
children, was born in April 1734. He graduated at Princeton College
Sept. 1759, and pursued his theological course of study under the tuition
of President Davies. He was licensed by the Presbytery of New Bruns-
wick, July 29, 1760. He was ordained, Sep. 17, 1760, by the Presbytery
of New Brunswick, and appointed by the Synod to supply the southern
vacancies, particularly those in Carolina. He received a call from the
Presbyterian church of Elizabethtown in Nov. 1761, which he accepted.
. . . At various times, through the long years of the war . . .
Mr. Caldwell served not only as Chaplain of the Jersey Brigade, but as
Assistant Commissary -General. . . . After the murder of his wife
(Connecticut Farms, June 8, 1780), he purchased a small house at Turkey
(New Providence), and resided there until his decease. At the fall election
of 1 780 he was chosen by his fellow citizens, in testimony of their high
regard, a member of the State Council. He was shot by a soldier 24 Nov.
1 781." A niece of his (brother's daughter) was the mother of John
Caldwell Calhoun of South Carolina.
Rev. James and Hannah (Ogden) Caldwell had ten children :
I. Margaret,^ born in 1764; who married Isaac Canfield of Morristown,
N. J.; 2. John Dickinson,^ born in 1765 ; who died in infancy ; 3. Hannah,^
born in 1767; who married, in 1790, James R. Smith of New York;
\. JoIuL Edwards,^ born in 1769; who died in 18 19; ^. Jaines B.^ born
#05rnT=3)oJ)nBon
329 in 1771 ; 6. Esther Flynt,^ born in 1772; who married, in 1798,
Rev. Robert Finley, afterwards President of the University of Georgia ;
330~3i j./osia/iF.,^ born in 1774; 2,. Elias Boudiiiot,^ born in 1776; who died
2,2,2 in 1825 ; 9. Sarah,^ born in 1778 ; who married Rev. John S. Vredenburg
333 of Somerville, N. J.; 10. Maria,^ born in 1779; who married Robert S.
Robertson of New York."
The third child of David (318) and Abigail ( ) Ogden was:
334 3. David'^ (b. 1710, d. 1750); a lawyer of Newark, N. J.; who mar-
ried his cousin Catharine daughter of Col. Josiah Ogden. He had children
335-36 as follows : {i.') David^ (d. 1 81 3, aged 79) ; {2.) Abigail^ (d. 18 14, aged
Zn 75) ; ii-) J'^'^ob,^ born November 10, 1749 ; who married Jerusha daughter
of Capt. Joseph Rockwell of Colebrook, Conn.; and died in New Haven,
Conn., March 30, 1825.
Jacob (337) Ogden " was a successful merchant in Hartford, Conn.,
where he amassed quite a fortune. Being one of two parties to build the
State House at Hartford, he was paid in lands the title to which proved
defective, and, as Connecticut never made good the loss, Mr. Ogden
became seriously embarrassed. . . . Subsequently he moved to New
Haven, where he established a hotel, known by the name of the ' Coffee
House,' which became the most fashionable and popular resort in the city,"
both for the excellence of its larder and for the buoyant, genial disposition,
the kindness of heart and the fondness for humor, of its host— still remem-
bered by many who once shared its hospitalities.
338-39
340
341
" 'Jacob and Jerusha (Rockwell) Ogden had nine children : i. Caf/i-
arine,^ born April 26, 1773 ; who died May 1 1, 1852, unmarried ; 2. Amia,^
born Jan. 10, 1775 ; who married Judge William Wetmore of Middletown,
Conn., afterwards the first settler of Stow in the State of Ohio ; and died
June 20, 1825 ; 3. /^r?<.5-/m,8 born March 17, 1777 ; who became the second
wife of Judge Wetmore, her sister's husband, and afterwards married Jabez
Burrill of Sheffield, O.; and died Aug. 9, 1854; \. Clarissa,^ born May 5,
#fltrtu=3otinBon
342 1779; who died March 16, 1794; ^. Jacob, ^ born Jan. 12, 1781 ; and died
343 in infancy; 6. Jacob,^ born April 2, 1782; who married Harding
of Boston, Mass.; and died at sea, on a voyage from Carthagena, S. A.,
344 to Havanna, about March 181 2, leaving a daughter Sarah, -"^ who married
345 Dr. Silas Reed of Ohio, and left an only child Isabella Ogden ; ^ 7. Eliza-
346 beth M.,^ born May 17, 1784; who died Feb. 19, 1841, unmarried;
347 8. Abigail,^ born Oct. 22, 1786; who died Sept. 4, 1862, unmarried;
348 <^. David Longzv or th ;^ Rev. David L. Ogden.'"
Rev. David Longworth (348) Ogden was born October 6, 1792
and
" ' at the age of sixteen years united with the First Church of New
Haven, then under the care of Rev. Moses Stuart. ... In early
youth he evinced a fondness for books, and, having completed his prepara-
tory studies in the Hopkins Grammar School, entered Yale College in 18 10.
He was graduated in course, with honor ; spent four years in the study of
theology, at Andover and New Haven; and in 182 1 was ordained and
installed Pastor of the church in Southington, Conn. Here he labored
with marked success for fifteen years. As a Pastor he was faithful and
affectionate, sympathizing with every form of suffering and with every
condition of life — frank, artless and childlike in his feelings and expressions.
As a preacher, he was rich in thought, and distinguished for clearness and
force. In 1836 he removed to Whitesboro', N. Y.; and while there was
highly esteemed and honored. He was elected a Member of the Corpora-
tion of Hamilton College, and a Corporate Member of the American
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. After leaving Whitesboro'
he had for a while the pastoral care of a church in Marlboro', Mass. This
last charge he resigned in 1850, and retired to New Haven, to pass the
remainder of his days in the bosom of his own family and in a wide circle
of friends, especially of those who like himself had given up the duties of
public life. He died, after a short illness, Oct. 31, 1863.
" Mr. Ogden was for several years a frequent contributor to the
' Christian Spectator,' and to the ' New Englander ;' published a number
of sermons by special request ; and was the author of a volume of ' Dis-
courses on Baptism and Close Communion.'
©0^tn=3JoJinBO«
" He married, Jan. 14, 1824, Sarah Amanda daughter of Daniel Judson
of Stratford, Conn., who was a descendant of William Judson, one of the
first settlers of Stratford ; and had five children :
349 " I. CatlLarinc Amanda,'' who died in childhood.
350 " 2. Julia Elizabeth ; '' still living, unmarried.
351 "3. Abbie ;'' still living, unmarried.
352 "4. Sarah Judson ;'' who died in infancy.
353 " 5. David Judson ;'' graduated, with honor, at Yale College in 1861 ;
and at the Yale Theological Seminary in 1868. He was ordained and
installed Pastor of the Congregational church of East Lyme, Conn., May
19, 1882."^
The fourth child of David (318) and Abigail ( ) Ogden was :
354-55 4- Uzal"^ (d. 1780); who married ; and had: (i.) Uzal'^
(b. 1744, d. 1822); Rev. Dr. Uzal Ogden.
" 'Mr. Ogden was chosen, June 8, 1784, one of the Assistant Minis-
ters of Trinity Church, New York, with a salary of ^500. a year ; with
leave of absence for two-thirds of the year, for four years, and to receive
one-third of the salary. The remaining portions of the year he preached
here [at EHzabethtown] and at Newark, with an occasional visit to Sussex
county.
"' This arrangement continued to the close of 1787, was renewed in
1788, and terminated in the spring of 1789. During the latter part of this
period, in 1 788, he had become the Rector of Trinity Church, Newark,
serving there one-half of the time, and receiving from St. John's, for the
other half, ^{^120.; his residence being at Newark.' "^ Dr. Ogden has been
characterized as "a preacher of great power and effect." He afterwards
became a Presbyterian minister.
He married Mary Gouverneur ;
'* The foregoing record of Jacob Ogden of the fifth generation, and his descendants, is from notes
preserved in the family of his son Rev. David Longworth Ogden.
" Hatfield's Elizabeth, ut supra, p. 546.
©fltren=3>olinson
and had :
356 I. Nicholas Goicverneur ;^ called "' Canton Ogden ;' a leading mer-
chant in Canton, China, and very extensively mixed up in business-
transactions with the late John Jacob Ast or.' "*'
357 2. Samuel Gouverneur^ (d. i860).
" ' For a number of years [after 1800] his name was prominent in the
community as that of a successful merchant. He was the capitalist of the
celebrated Miranda expedition, which was designed to liberate South
America. Col. Smith (the son-in-law of President Adams) and Mr. Ogden
were prosecuted for having fitted out an expedition against a power in
amity with the United States. The trial was a highly interesting one.
Thomas Addis Emmett, Cadwallader D. Colden, Josiah Ogden Hoffman
and Richard Harrison were their counsel. The defendants were honorably
acquitted. Although this expedition failed, it was the first blow struck for
liberty, and led to the subsequent independence of South America. Bolivar
himself made this declaration, and expressed a readiness to compensate
Mr. Ogden for his heavy losses.' "^ After this failure " ' Mr. Ogden con-
tinued on in his business in the city of New York, for some years . . .
when he went to France, and established himself in commercial business at
Bordeaux. . . . He left Bordeaux for New York in 1825, and became
agent for several large houses in France. . . . His private residence
was at No. 41 Warren Street, a large house, where he entertained in the
most magnificent style.' "^
Samuel Gouverneur Ogden married : first, Eliza " daughter of Francis
Lewis, and granddaughter of the Signer of the Declaration of that name ;
and, secondly, Julia daughter of Major James Fairlie, a distinguished officer
in the Revolutionary army."
358 By his first marriage he had: (i.) Charlotte Seton ;'^ who married :
first, Lewis Yates; and, secondly, Isidore Guillet ; (2.) Samtiel Gouv-
359 erneur'^ (b. 1804, d. 1877); who married Louisa M. Hemmeken ;
™ The Old Merchants of New York City. By Walter Barrett, Clerk. New York, 1872 ;
" " Mrs. Mowatt's Autobiography."
" The Old Merchants, ut supra, ii, Pt. i, 212.
,Pt. 1,214.
©fltrtn=3JoJ)nfiion
360-61
362
363
364-66
367
368
369-;
371
372
373-74
375
(3.) Lavinia ;'^ (4.) Morgan Lezvts ;'' who married Eliza Glendy
McLaughlin; (5.) Louisa IV.;'' who married Dr. William Turner;
(6.) Charles William ;'' who married : first, Amelia Shaler; and, secondly,
Mary daughter of Dr. William P. Dewees of Philadelphia; (7.) Gabriel
Lewis;'' (8.) Thomas Lewis ;'' {().) Matilda G^./' who married William A.
Wellman ; (10.) Etnma Frances ; '' who married : first, Henry Mecke ; and,
secondly. Levy S. Burridge ; (i i.) Anna Cora ; "^ who married : first, James
Mowatt ; and, secondly, William Fouch^ Ritchie of Richmond, Va.:
she was the celebrated actress Anna Cora Mowatt; (12.) Mary Gouv-
erneur;'' who married Cephas G. Thompson; (13.) Gabriel Lewis;''
(14.) Julia Gabriella ;'' who married J. Kennedy Smyth.
By his second marriage he had: (i.) Emily Fair lie ;'' who married
Alfred Nelson; (2.) Grace Priscilla ;'' (3.) Florence;'' who married
Charles Tighe Henry ; (4.) Virginia.''
The third child of Rev. Uzal (355) and Mary (Gouverneur) Ogden
was :
376 3. Mary^ (d. i860, in New Haven, Conn.).
377 4. Aleda;^ who married Rev. Anson Roode of Danbury, Conn.,
afterwards of Philadelphia, Pa.
The second child of Uzal (354) and
Ogden was : (2.) Moses .
378
379 who married, in 1759, Mary Johnson ; (3.) Charles .■ ^ who married : first,
Hannah Gouverneur ; and, secondly, Ann Clark ; and had by his first mar-
380-82 riage : i. Mary :^ 2. Elisabeth ;^ who married Louis Sachs; 3. Maria;
383 who married Henry D. Merritt of Mobile, Ala.; 4. Catharine ;^
384 5. Charles C; ^ who married Anna Maria daughter of Capt. William Wade,
385-86 of the British Army ; and had : (i.) Charles Hyde ;'' (2.) Anna Maria
387 who married Reuben Leggett of New York ; (3.) Robert Wade ; '' who mar-
ried Maria Antoinette daughter of Dr. Joseph Biamonti of New Orleans,
388-89 La.; 6. Henry Merrill ;^ 7. Lhal :^ who married Harriet E. Jackson.
^Qt(tn=3ofin»on
The fourth child of Uzal (354) and Ogden was: (4.) Eliza-
390-91 beth;^ who married Robert Johnson ; {^<-^?) Lewis ;^ who married Margaret
392 Gouverneur; and had Mary^ (d. 1854); who married, in 1816, Samuel
Dwight Southmayd.
393
394
395
The other children of David (318) and Abigail ( -. ) Ogden were :
5. Elizabeth .-"^ who married Capt. John Johnson of Newark, N.J.
(see ^(l)|UfSOtt part of this monograph).
6. Abigail .-"^ who married Joseph Tuttle of Whippany, N. J.
7. Martha ; * who married : first, Caleb Sayre ; and, secondly,
Thomas Eagles.
We now return to the third generation. The second child of David (6)
and Elizabeth (Swayne-Ward) Ogden was :
396 \\. John"^ (b. 1678, d. 1732); who married Elizabeth daughter of
Nathaniel Wheeler of Newark, N. J.; and had
397 I. Charles John.'^
398 2. Hannah ; * who married David Williams of Elizabethtown.
399 3. Phcebe}
400 4- Jemima;'^ who married Daniel Pierson of Newark, N. J.
401 5. Tho7uas:
402 6. Elizabeth ;'^ who married Capt. James Nutman of Newark, N. J.
403 7- Sarah, ■'^ who married Isaac Pierson of Orange, N. J.
404 8. Isaac.'
The third child of David (6) and Elizabeth (Swayne-Ward) Ogden was :
405 iii. JOSIAH3 (b. 1680, d. 1763); Colonel Josiah Ogden. He was
a member of the Provincial Assembly of New Jersey, for Essex County,
in 1716, 1721 and 1738; and a man of wealth and great influence. When
over fifty years of age, residing at Newark, he was censured by the church
of which he was a member, for
®fll»en=3oJinfi;on
"violating the sanctity of the Lord's day, by laboring in the fields to
save his wheat . . . and although the Presbytery reversed their
decision, deeming the case one of virtual necessity, and that with ardent
endeavors to keep the peace of the town, and prevent a separation, the
breach had become too wide to be healed, and the aggrieved thereupon
began 'to declare themselves dissatisfied with the Presbyterian form of
church government' Thus . . . was brought into a distinct and
permanent form the Episcopal Church in this place [Newark] . . .
"A bitter controversy ensued. The Rev. Jonathan Dickinson [after-
wards the first President of the College of New Jersey], one of the com-
mittee appointed by the Synod, at their meeting in 1735, to correspond
with Col. Ogden, 'was, in the following summer, called by the Presby-
terians to preach a sermon against the points advocated by the Episcopal
Church ;' and several controversial pamphlets between him and the Rev.
John Beach, an Episcopal minister of Connecticut, still remain to evince
the troubled spirit of the times."*'
He left, by Will, a communion-service of plate to the Episcopal
church (Trinity Church) of Newark ; in the porch of which his remains
lie buried, with this inscription :
" Here lies interred the Body of Col. Josiah Ogden, who died May 17'", 1763,
in the 84"" year of his age."
Col. Josiah Ogden married: first, in 1705, Catharine Hardenbush
daughter of Hardenbush Low; and, secondly, Mary Bankes ; and had, by
his second marriage, five children :
406 I. Catharine ;'^ who married: first, David Ogden of Newark, N. J.,
her cousin (see above) ; and, secondly, Isaac Longworth of Newark ;
by whom she had two sons and a daughter. A full length oil-portrait of this
lady, taken when she was sixteen years old, is in the possession of the family
of her grandson Rev. David Longworth Ogden, at New Haven, Conn.
407 2. DAVID* (b. 1707, d. 1800).
33 Stearns's First Church in Newark, ut supra, pp. 143-44-
^Q.'9tn=3of^tinon
"He was graduated at Yale College in 1728, and became ' one of
these giants of the law in New Jersey.' From 1772 to 1776 he was a
Judge of the Supreme Court of New Jersey. At the breaking out of the
War Mr. Ogden went to New York, and became a very active loyalist,
Member of the Board of Refugees 1779. His correspondence with
Galloway, the Pennsylvania loyalist, evinces great bitterness against the
Americans, or ' rebels.' He drew up a plan of government for the colonies
after their subjection by Great Britain, which he said was ' sure to take
place soon.' The Upper House was to be a House of Lords, and Barons
were to be created to fill it. After peace had been declared, he went to
England, to urge the claims of the loyalists whose property had been con-
fiscated by the Americans. His own property had been confiscated, and
he was remunerated by the British Government 1 790. He returned to the
United States, and settled in Queens co., L. I., where he lived until he
died. . . . His house was burned during the Anti-Lawyer Riots of
1769-70."^
He married Gertrude daughter of Abraham Gouverneur and "grand-
daughter of Hon. Jacob Leisler, who was tried on a charge of high treason,
and executed 16 May, 1691;" by whom he had eleven children:
408-10 (i.) Isaac ,-^ (2.)/osmA;^ (t,.) Isaac.^
" ' Isaac [410] Ogden joined the British in New York, remained there
during the war, then went to England, and afterwards settled in Canada,
where he was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court, and so continued
until his death.' "^
411
412-
He was twice married : first, to Mary daughter of Rev. Isaac Browne ;
and, secondly, to Sarah Hanson. By his first marriage he had : i. Mary ; ^
2. Catharine ;^ who married Major Andrews ; 2^. Peter .-'^ who "'spent a
^ Abridged from The Provincial Courts of New Jersey, with Sketches of the Bench and Bar.
... By Richard S. Field. Collections of the New Jersey Historical Society. New York, 1849,
pp. 182-88.
»5 Id., p. 188.
^QXKn=3ofin&on
long life in the service of the N. W. Company, and died Governor of their
establishments on the Pacific.'"*
414 By his second marriage he had: i. David ;^ who married Ann
415-16 Richardson; and had: Ann Euretta;"^ 2. Henry ;^ who married Mary
417-18 Seton ; and had : (i.) William Seton .-"^ {2.') Mary Seton ;'^ iy^.) Harriett
419-21 Evans .-"^ (^^.) Henry /"^ {^$.) Emma SetonJ
422 The third child of Isaac and Sarah (Hanson) Ogden was: 3. Isaac :^
423 who married Susan Walker ; and had: (i.) Ann .-"^ who married Ed. M.
424-25 Hopkins; (2.) Elizabeth;'^ who married E. Wilgress ; (3.) William;'^
426-28 (4..) /saac ,■ "^ (^.) Henry / '' (6.) Charles;'^ who married Rosina Meyer;
429-30 {"J.) John ;'' {9>.) David.''
The fourth child of Isaac and Sarah (Hanson) Ogden was :
431-32 4. Harriett;^ who married General Evans; 5. Charles;^ Attorney-
General of the Isle of Man ; who married : first, Mary Coffin ; and,
secondly, Susan Clark.
433
434
435
The fourth child of Judge David (407) and Gertrude (Gouverneur)
Ogden was : (4.) Sarah ,- ^ who married Nicholas Hoffman ; and had by
him: \. JosiaJi Ogden .-^ "'the Atto'rney General of the State of New
York at the age of 26, and for many years the leading Commercial Lawyer
of the city;'" 2. Martin;^ " 'so long known in the city of New York
for his marked integrity.' "^
436
(5.) ABRAHAM B (d. 1798).
" ' He was United States District Attorney for the State of New
Jersey, from the inauguration of the Constitution until the time of his
death ; Member of the Legislature of New Jersey 1790. As a jury-lawyer
he is said to have been unrivalled ' " ® " ' In the office of Abraham Ogden
Isaac Ogden's Family MSS.
Isaac Ogden's MS. Memoir of Tliomas L. Ogden ; and Field's Bench and
Field's Bench and Bar, ut supra, p. i88.
<!^0lreu=3Jolinfiion
437
438
439
440
441-42
443
444
445-46
were educated some of the most eminent men of the country, among whom
were Richard Stockton, Gabriel Ford and Josiah Ogden Hoffman. In the
minds of some persons Abraham Ogden was deemed of doubtful politics,
and as such he was denounced to General Washington. To avert from
him any persecution on that score Washington proposed to make his house
the Headquarters of the army, and thus became, for several weeks, an
inmate of his family. Thomas L. Ogden was at that time a lad of 4 or 5
years of age, and the Commander-in-Chief, putting him astride the pummel
of his saddle, would often appear before the army with this youthful aide-
de-camp in front. In one of their fencing bouts, the button of the foil
dropping off, Washington was scratched in the Wrist, and thus received, it
is believed, his only wound. This, being magnified into an attempt at
assassination, alarmed the country people, and convinced them that the
General was not safe in the house of Squire Ogden. . . . Abraham
Ogden was appointed by Washington a Commissioner to obtain the relin-
quishment of a title which the Iroquois Nation of Indians had to a portion
of the Northern part of New York. This brought him to a local knowl-
edge of the county of St. Lawrence, and resulted in the purchase of a large
tract of country by Abraham Ogden, Samuel Ogden, Gouverneur Morris,
Nicholas Hoffman, Richard Harison, and Stephen Van Rensselaer, and
Ogdensburg was founded.' " ^
Abraham Ogden married, in 1767, Sarah Frances Ludlow; and had:
I. David A.^ (d. rSag) ; who married Rebecca Edwards; and had:
{i.^ Isaac Edwards ;'' who married: first, Euphrosyne (Merieult) widow
of George Montgomery Ogden (see above) ; secondly, Letitia Hannah ;
and, thirdly, Elizabeth Chamberlain; (2.) Sarah .-"^ who married
Charles R. Codman ; (3.) William;'^ who married his cousin Harriett S.
daughter of Gouverneur Ogden; (4.) Wallace;'^ (5.) Mary E.;'^ who
married H. LeRoy Newbold ; (6.) Samuel C; '' who married Sarah
Waddington ; (7.) Catharine H.;"^ who married Samuel Ogden, her
cousin ; (8.) Susan W.; '' who married William Roebuck ; (9.) Rebecca E.; '
" Isaac Ogden's MS. Memoir of Thomas L. Ogden.
©fl^en=3Jotjnfiion
447 who married her cousin George B. Ogden ; (lo.) Duncan C,- ' who mar-
448 ried Elizabeth Cox; {11.) David A..- "^ who married Louisa daughter of
Ambrose Lanfear of New Orleans, La.
" 'The brothers David A. and Thomas L. Ogden (united in a com-
munity of interests in all matters, as well as in their legal practice) yielded
to the hereditary instinct of their family, and in their town purchased the
township of Madrid, a tract of land ten miles square. To this property
David A. afterwards removed, and, building a large stone edifice upon a
beautiful Island of 700 acres, ended his days there in 1829.' "*
The second child of Abraham (436) and Sarah Frances (Ludlow)
449 Ogden was: 2. Catharine L.:^ who married Capt. Abijah Hammond of
450 Westchester, N. Y.; 3. Charles L.;^ who married Elizabeth Meredith;
451 and had: (i.) Meredith;'^ who married Ann Meredith; (2.) Charles
452-53 Le Roux .-"^ (^2i^ Samuel ;'^ who married his cousin Catharine H. daughter
454 of David A. Ogden ; (4.) Sarah ; ' who married James Hamilton ;
455-5 7 (5.) Waddington ; '^ (6.) William Meredith / ^ (7.) Elizabeth ; '^ (8. ) James
458-59 Lennox ; ' (9.) Hammond ; '^ who married Ann Berthude ; (10.) Catharine
460-62 D.,'^ (11.) Mary / ' (12.) Bayard. ^
463
The fourth child of Abraham (436) and Sarah Frances (Ludlow)
Ogden was: 4. THOMAS LUDLOW » (b. 1773, d. 1844).
" 'Thomas Ludlow Ogden, third son of Abraham Ogden and Sarah
Frances Ludlow, was born at Newark, N. Jersey, in Dec. 1773, and died
in New York, Dec. 1844. Graduated at Columbia College, studied law at
Newark under his father, afterwards completing his legal education in the
office of that learned scholar and profound jurist Richard Harison. He
was admitted to the Bar of New York in 1796. After the disbanding of
the army of the Revolution the officers were compelled to seek other pro-
fessions. Alexander Hamilton, although for a time occupying the position
#fllren=3JoJjn!Sion
of Secretary of the Treasury, eventually adopted the practice of the law.
He undoubtedly possessed the greatest qualities of a legal mind, but was
necessarily wanting in the course of reading required for an experienced
counsel. To supply such deficiency he had usually associated with him, in
important cases, Richard Harison, in whose office Thomas L. Ogden was
then studying. At the conjuncture of Hamilton's partial retirement from
the law, to assume the command of the army raised during the short French
War, he had need of an assistant to manage his unfinished business.
. . . Those who had known Thomas L. Ogden in his boyhood, and
followed with interest the early part of his professional career, were not
slow in recognizing the powers of his mind. A proposition was accord-
ingly made to him, and a business connection formed with General
Hamilton, which continued until the tragic death of that great man. The
early reputation which Mr. Ogden established for integrity and legal
capacity, had the effect of investing him with the management of large
interests. ... As Law Officer of the Corporation of Trinity Church
he was ever vigilant in protecting the title of its vast property ; Clerk and
Member of the Vestry for a period of 35 years, and at the time of his
death Senior Warden, he shared largely in the labors and responsibilities
of that body. He was an early Patron of the Theological Seminary, and
one of the original Trustees under the Act of Incorporation, also one of
the Founders of the Prot. Episc. Soc. for Promoting Religion and Learn-
ing in the State of New York, and at the time of his death Vice President
of that Society. The politics of Mr. Ogden were in correspondence with
the Federal doctrines of Washington and Hamilton, and, when the Federal
Party broke up, he ceased to be a partizan in new political combinations.
At the breaking out of the war with Revolutionary France he entered,
with three of his brothers, a company of Volunteers called the Federal
Guards. . . . The powers of his mind endured to the last. Indefati-
gable in his labors he died, with unfaltering courage, at the post of duty.' " "
"The inscription on his monument, in the robing-room of Trinity
Church, is as follows :
" ' Sacred to the Memory of Thomas Ludlow Ogden, for 38 years Vestryman of
this Parish, and at the time of his death Senior Warden. Born at Newark, N. J.,
278
^QXitn=^oi)n&on
Dec. 12, 1773. Died in the city of New York, Dec. 17, 1844. Of a sound judgment
and untiring industry, the one improved by diligent cultivation, the other quickened
by religious principle. His long life was one of usefulness and duty to his family,
his profession and to society. Born and nurtured in the bosom of the Church, he
gave back to her, with filial gratitude, his best powers, his most valued time, his
dearest affections ; and in all her institutions stood foremost in both counsel and
action. Christian obedience marked his course. Christian peace crowned his end.
And in a Christian hope he now rests from his labors.' "
464
465-66
467-68
469
470
471
472
473-74
He married Martha Hammond ; and had : (i.) Hammond ; ' (2.) Abra-
ham .-"^ (3.) Sarah;'' who married Louis P. du Luze, Swiss Consul at
New York; (4.) Catharine ;'' (5.) John /?./' who married: first,
Margaretta E. daughter of Rev. Clement Moore, President of Columbia
College ; and, secondly, Mary C. another daughter of Rev. President
Moore ; (6.) Gertrude W.; ' who married WiUiam Henry Harison ;
(7.) Thomas W.;'' who married Ruth C. daughter of Philip Schuyler of
Schuylerville ; (8.) Richard H.;'' who married Elizabeth daughter of
Philip Schuyler; (9.) Charles HJ (d. 1874); who married his cousin
Emilie daughter of Abraham Ogden ; (10.) Francis L.;'' (11.) Caroline ; "^
who married her cousin Alfred Ogden of New York.
475
476-77
478
479
480
481-83
484
485
The fifth child of Abraham (436) and Sarah Frances (Ludlow)
Ogden was: ^. Abraham ;^ who married Mary L. Barnwall ; and had:
(i.) IVilliani S.;'' (2.) Geoi-ge B.:'' who married his cousin Rebecca E.
daughter of David A. Ogden; (3.) Henry H.;'> who married Mary
Kennedy; {\.) Edward ;'' who married Caroline Callender ; {s.) Mary
Elizabeth .- ^ who married William D. Waddington of New York ;
(6.) Frederick ;'' (7.) Catharine;'' (8.) Alfred ;'' who married his cousin
Caroline daughter of Thomas L. Ogden ; (9.) Emilie ; ^ who married her
cousin Charles H. Ogden ; (10.) Euretta?
The sixth child of Abraham (436) and Sarah Frances (Ludlow)
®fl;tien=3JoJinson
486 Ogden was: 6. Gertrude Goicverneur ; ^ who married Joshua Waddington.
In a letter from Theodosia daughter of Aaron Burr, to her father, this lady-
is thus beautifully described :
" ' Since we parted, however, I have made a charming acquaintance (that is not
English). She is possessed of that unsuspicious candour, that softness and playful-
ness of disposition, which you so much admire. Modest, without too much diffidence
of herself ; possessing a good understanding, which she depends' upon without
vanity ; wealthy, she is fond of splendour ; and with fine spirits she likes gayety.
Yet neither occupies her much, because it is through her heart only that she can be
really interested ; and perhaps from this singular union of delicacy, sensibility,
vivacity and good sense, she lives in the world without becoming a part of it ; and at
thirty every variation of her feelings displays itself in her changes of colour and
countenance. Thus far this character of her is just. No doubt she has faults, but
our intimacy is not great enough to render them conspicuous ; and I never take the
trouble to seek what it would give me no pleasure to find. She is all attention to me.
I passed several days at her country-house (that formerly owned by Daniel Ludlow),
and am invited to visit her in town during the winter. . . . My friend's name is
Waddington, wife of Joshua Waddington, merchant, and daughter of Abraham
Ogden of New Jersey. Her mother Mrs. Ogden is fond of me. She said you and
my mother were quite intimate at her house. You wrote a long letter once on the
birth of one of her sons, calling him Prince. Does this bring her to your recollec-
tion.' She amuses me with many anecdotes of you.' ""
The seventh child of Abraham (436) and Sarah Frances (Ludlow)
487 Ogden was: 7. Gouvcrncur ;^ who married Charlotte Seton ; and had:
488 {\.^ Hai'riet S.;'^ who married: first, her cousin William Ogden; and,
489 secondly, Richard Harison ; (2.) JMary S.: '' who married G. W. Usborne ;
490-92 (3.) Barbara C. S.;'' (4.) Charlotte S.;'^ (5.) Goiivci-neiu- ;'^ (6.) Rebecca
493-94 E.;'^ who married Abijah Bigelow ; (7.) Gertrude G. IV. .-"^ who married
495-96 John Gordon; (8.) Catharine F.;'^ (9.) George Parish;'^ who married
" The Private Journal of Aaron Bi:
Matthew L. Davis. . . . New York,
ith Selections from his Correspondence. Ed. by
^QXitn=3o^nnon
497 Henrietta C. Craft; (lo.) William Henry V.;'^ who married Caroline Briggs ;
498-99 {\\^ John Greig ;'^ who married Ellen E. Thornton; (12.) Frances L.;"^
500 who married Francis M. Holmes; (13.) Wallace;'^ who married Louise
Bell.
The eighth child of Abraham (436) and Sarah Frances (Ludlow)
501-02 Ogden was : 8. William;^ 9. Sarah Frajices Ludlow ;^ 10. Margaret ta
503-04 E.;^ who married her cousin David B. Ogden; 11. Isaac ;^ who married
505 Sarah Meredith ; and had : (i.) Gertrude G.p who married Walford Briggs;
506 (2.) Sarah F.;'^ who married Rev. Thomas G. Clemson ; (3.) Meredith
507-10 L.;'^ (4.) Anne Meredith;'^ (5.) Morris Meredith;'^ (6.) Rebecca E.;''
511-13 (7.) William Norris M.'' 12. Sanmel N.;^ 13. Frances S.;'^ who married
Nathaniel Lawrence.
We now return to the fifth generation, in the person of the sixth
child of Judge David (407) and Gertrude (Gouverneur) Ogden, who was :
514-15 (6.) Catharine ;^ (7.) Samuel;^ who married Euphemia daughter of
516 Judge Morris of Morrisania, N. Y.; and had : i. Gertrude;'^ who married
517 William Meredith; 2. DAVID B.^ (b. 1769, d. 1849); '"an eminent
lawyer,'" and '"a man of simple manners and great kindness';"*^ who
married his cousin Margaretta E. daughter of Abraham Ogden ; and had :
518-19 (i.) Sanmel M.;'' who married Susan Hall; (2.) Sarah Ludlow;''
520 (3.) Gotiverneur M.;'' who married Harriet daughter of Cadwalader Evans
521 of Philadelphia, Pa.; (4.) Thomas L.;'' who married Jane Johnson;
522-24 (5.) Euphemia ;'' (6.) Eliza du Luze ;'' (7.) Frances L.;'' (8.) David
525 Bayard.''
The third child of Samuel (515) and Euphemia (Morris) Ogden was :
526-28 3. Sany ;^ 4. Catharine ;^ who married James Parker ; 5. Euphemia;'^
529-31 6. Morris;^ 7. Isabella;^ 8. Carohne ;^ who married J. L. Johnson.
*'' Allen's Am. Biogr. Diet., ut supra, p. 6i8.
#fltien=3loJinfiion
The eighth child of Judge David (407) and Gertrude (Gouverneur)
532-34 Ogden was: (8.) Nzc/io/as;^ (g.)Pe^er/^ (10.) A'zV/i^/a^/^ who married
535-37 Hannah Cuyler ; and had: i. David .'^ 2. Aleda ;^ 3. Henry N.;^
538-41 4. David N.;^ 5. Gertrude ;^ 6. Herman T.;^ 7. Gertrude SJ^
542 (11.) Peter. ^
The other children of Col. Josiah (405) and Mary (Bankes) Ogden
were as follows :
543 3. Mary^ (b. i7ii,d. 1761); who married James Banks of Newark,
N.J.
544 4. JACOB;* the '" distinguished Physician.'""
545
546
547
548-49
550-51
552
553
'"Dr. Jacob Ogden was born at Newark, N. J., in 1721. . . .
Entered the practice of medicine at Jamaica, L. I. He soon obtained a
large share of public patronage, and was distinguished as an excellent prac-
titioner for nearly forty years. He was an able supporter of the practice
of inoculation for the small pox. Dr. Ogden is best known by his letters
on the "Malignant Sore Throat Distemper," Oct. 28, 1769, and Sep. 14,
1774. It is contested whether the honor belongs exclusively to him as
having first introduced the mercurial treatment of inflammatory disorders
in the United States. After an active and useful life Dr. Ogden suffered
an accident by the fright of his horse, which induced a fatal illness. He
died [Sept 3, 1780] in the 59*'' year of his age.'""
Dr. Ogden married Elizabeth Bradford; and had: (i.) Catharine^
(b. 1746); who married, in 1762, Philip Van Cortlandt ; (2.) Elizabeth^
(b. 1748, d. 1749) ; (3.) Elizabeth^ (b. 1750) ; who married Peter M^Kee ;
(4.) Anna Maria, -^ who married James Creighton ; (5.) William^
(b. and d. 1756) ; (6.) William^ (b. and d. 1757) ; (7.) Sarah^ (b. 1761) ;
(8.) Jacob'° (b. 1763); who married Mary Depeyster, and \iadi James
Depeyster.^
" Field's Bench and Bar, ut supra, p. i8
*' "Thacher's Medical Biography."
®flt)irn=3ioJ)nsou
James Depeyster Ogden was a prominent merchant of New York for
many years —
" ' One of the most prominent and esteemed members of the Chamber
of Commerce for years. In politics he has always occupied a prominent
position in this city. ... He has always been a national whig of
liberal principles. He was one of the most active and prominent members
of the Union Safety Committee. He greatly dreaded the effect of the
warfare waged against slavery as it existed under the Constitution.
" ' His speech when he presided at the great meeting at the Cooper
Institute, Jan. 8"", gave his views of the then existing state of affairs, with
his opinion of the necessity of passing the " border-state resolutions " as
prepared by Mr. Crittenden.' " *^
The ninth child of Dr. Jacob (544) and Elizabeth (Bradford) Ogden
554-55 was: (9.) Philips (b. and d. 1764); (10.) William^ (b. 1766); who
556 married Susan Murray; and had: i. Elizabeth ;^ who married G. W.
557-58 Giles; 2. Stisan;^ who married Lindley Murray Hoffman; 3. J/^rrj' ,• ^
559 who married Murray Hoffman; 4. Mtcrray ;^ who married ;
560-61 <^. Harriett ;^ who married Young, (n.) Cornelia^ (b. 1768);
who married John Bainbridge. *
The fifth child of Col. Josiah (405) and Mary (Bankes) Ogden was:
562-63 <-^. Josiah ;'^ who married Mary Bancker ; and had: {i.)/ohn;^
564 (2.) Henry.^
565
566
Again returning to the third generation we come to the fourth and
last child of David (6) and Elizabeth ( S way ne- Ward) Ogden :
iv. Swayne^ (b. 1687, d. 1755) ; who married Mary ; and had :
I. David'^ (b. 1713, d. 1751).
I The Old Merchants,
ira, ii. Pt. i, 95.
#0tr(n=Soi|tfson
567 2. Abraham'^ (b. 1723, d. 1790) ; Capt. Abraham Ogden ; who mar-
ried ; and had, beside one child whose name has not been ascer-
568-70 tained : (i.) Abraham ;^ (2.) Eleazer ;^ (3.) Lydia ;^ who married
Josiah Baldwin.
571 3. John" (b. 1737, d. 1797);
and probably others.
" ' Swayne (565) Ogden established himself at Orange, and his tomb
still remains in the burying-ground there.' " ^'
<' Isaac Ogden's Family MSS.
284
(Arms of Johnson of Goldington, co. Bedford)
(Arms of Archdeacon Robert Johnson, B.D.)
^QXftn=3o'^n&on
golxusou
Arg. a chevron Sa. between three lions' heads coiiped Gu., langued As., and crowned Or
(arms granted to Robert Johnson, B.D., Archdeacon of Lincoln). Az. a
chevron Or, in chief two eagles volajit, in base a sun, of the second
(Johnson of Goldington, co. Bedford).
We now come to the second part of this monograph, which is to be
devoted to the family-history, so far as it can be made out, of Thomas
Johnson, a settler of Newark, as we have seen, not later than 1666, he
having been one of those "friends from Milford" who met agents from
Guilford and Branford, in that year " ' with reference to a township,' to be
occupied together by the two parties." * The New Haven Colony having
been his earlier home, we naturally look here for his parentage, and for
his family-history previous to the emigration to New Jersey. With this
object in view, we have carefully searched through the published Colonial
Records of New Haven ; and the ancient town- and probate-records,
together with those of the First Church, of New Haven, have been also
examined. The conclusions arrived at by our friends and fellow-townsmen
Rev. Dr. Beardsley (in his " Life and Correspondence of Samuel Johnson,
D.D.") and Rev. Edward E. Atwater, an investigator in this field before us,
have been at hand. These various sources of information, taken together,
and all duly considered, enable us to present the following statements.
Within the first few years of the history of the New Haven Colony
appear there three individuals of the name of Johnson, two of whom we
know to have been brothers ; while a third, from the repetition of the
name of Thomas in later generations, .with correspondences of dates and
other circumstances, may be safely inferred to have been another brother.
•" Stearns's First Church in Newark, ut supra, p. 12.
©0tren=3JoJ|nfiion
Their dates of birth are not known, but they first appear in the records in
2, 3 the following order: John 1639, Robert 1641, Thotnas 1647.
John 1 Johnson consented to the Planters' Covenant June 4, 1639, and
signed the Agreement later in the same year. He built a house in New
Haven (from which we infer that he was married, and had a household) ;
" but his heart drew him," says Rev. Mr. Atwater, "to Rowley, and he
sold his house to his brother Robert." He " was one of the early Select-
men at Rowley, that title being used much earlier in Massachusetts than in
the New Haven Colony." On the 3* of November 1641, Robert Johnson
having made
" clame to the house and lott of his brother John Johnson, late planter of this
towne deceased, by vertue of a contract betwixt them, the Court haveing debated itt,
and nott findeing itt ripe for issue, itt was ordered thatt those thatt can give best light
about itt should ripen their app''hensions so as they may be able to make oath to
whatt they can testifie concerning itt, w'^h may stand vpon record for posterity.""
The "ripening of apprehensions," here referred to, would seem to
have been a slow process; for, after several years had passed, in 1646,
Robert Johnson's right to the house and lot was still in question ; when it
was testified that,
" When Jn° Johnson was p'paring to goe to the Bay, he told mee he had sould
his howse and accomodations belonging to it vnto his brother (viz*) Robert Johnson,
for the 40/. he said I knew he received in Old England, vpon condicon that, if he
should see it his way to come back and live here, then he might have it, paying to his
brother the said 40/. and what chardges he should lay out about it, or, if h's brother
should sell it to come and live in the Bay, 40/. of the price he should keepe to him-
selfe, and pay the overplus to him, only deducting his chardges. But if the said John
should not returne, and the said Robert his brother should resolve to setle here, then
the said Robert Johnson should have it forever, for the said 40/. . . ." "
■" Records of the Colony and Plantation of New Haven from 1638 I
Hoadly. . . . Hartford, 1857, p. 59.
"> Col. Records, ut supra, p. 272.
1649.
By Charles J.
^QXitn=3ioftn&on
Robert Johnson's first appearance in New Haven was as claimant of
his brother John's house and lot, in 1641. In 1644 he was appointed by
the General Court a "viewer" of damage done by "cattell or hoggs " in
"the Yorkshire quarter;"'' in 1648 was put on a committee entrusted by
the General Court to devise means for effectually protecting from such
damage;® and in 1649 was made one of a committee to ascertain "what
quantity of come every man hath sowen or planted this yeere, that he is to
be p'd for." ^ Evidently he had the confidence of the community in which
he lived. In 1649, again, he "desired that he might haue libbertie to
make a well in y^ streete neere his house." ^' In 1646 he bought six and a
half acres of land "in the Necke ;" and in that year it was recorded that
"Thomas Yale hath sold vnto Robert Johnson 62 acr. of vpland."* His
Will, without date, but "apparently proved," as Hon. Samuel York, late
Judge of Probate of New Haven, informs us, "after Oct. 21", 1661, and
probably on Nov. 26, 1661, or just before that date," reads as follows :
"A writing presented as the last will and testament of Robert Johnson of New
Haven deceased.
" Imp. I bequeath my soule to Jesus Christ and mj' bodye to the dust ; Also I
give my sonne Thomas twenty pounds as y'= other two, John and William, have had,
and then my sonne Thomas, after my wife have had her thirds, to make an equall
division amongst the three brothers — the land in the Yorkshire Quarter I would have
my sone Thomas to have, that is, the nine acres belonging to the house, in part of
his portion, and I give Jeremiah Johnson " a little red cow.
" The Witnesses, " Robert Johnson,
William Bradley, his mark."
Christopher Tod, his mark."
In connection with this document it may be mentioned that there was
no formal division of Robert Johnson's estate, as New Haven Records
"Id., p. 155. "Id., p. 404. "Id., p. 466. «Id., p. 503.
" Id., pp. 273 and 301.
" It is proper to say, here, that we find several Johnsons, named in the records consulted, whom we
have not identified.
2S7
<i^0tren=3)o)infiion
show, till December 26, 1685, the year of his widow's death, about twenty-
four years after he had died. Perhaps the division may have been, in some
way, contingent on the life of the widow.
After the death of Robert Johnson his widow married : first, January
7, 1662-3, Robert Hill, who died August 3, 1663 ; and, secondly, May 22,
1666, John Scranton, who died in August 1671. She survived her third
husband till April 1685."
That there was a third brother, and that he was the ancestor of the
Johnsons of Newark, we know by a letter dated January 6, 1757, from
Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson of Stratford, Conn., to his son Hon. William
Samuel. This very important letter, after having been used by Rev. Dr.
Beardsley in his " Life " of Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson,^ and laid aside
among the family-papers at Stratford, has been lately brought to light
again through the kind search of Rev. Dr. Beardsley. We avail ourselves
of this opportunity to quote all of it which concerns us here ; only a very
small part of it has ever before appeared in print.
". . . And now I proceed to set down to you all I know of our progenitors.
The Father of our Family in this Country was John [Robert] Johnson, one of the
first founders of New Haven, and lived on the northwest Corner of the Square of
Lots Mr. Mix and the College are on, over against Darling's. He came from the
noted town of Hull [al. Kingston-upon-Hull] near York in Yorkshire, and it was said
he had two Brothers, one the Father of the Johnsons at Newark in the Jersies, the
other the Father of those in Boston Government, who settled at Rowley about 20
miles eastward of Boston. John [Robert] our ancestor had John, Robert, Thomas,
and William. John had John, Samuel and Daniel, the two last . . . died . . .
leaving no male issue . . . (N. B. these I knew) [evidently, the three sons of the
third generation, for their father John had died about 1687, before the writer of this
letter was born] . . . [John'] was Father to John (who settled at Wallingford,
whose children I know nothing of) and Thomas, who is Capt. Johnson of Middle-
town whom (and his sons) I suppose you know.
" Private Letter of Hon. R. D. Smith to Rev. Dr. Beardsley, September 24, 1869.
'* Beardsley's Life and Correspondence of Dr. Johnson, ut supra, p. 57, note.
^atftn=3oftn&on
" Robert the 2d son of John [Robert] above was bred at Cambridge, whose name
you see near the beginning of their Catalogue. He went to his unkle at Rowley,
and was said to be a very promising candidate for the ministry, and was to be settled
there, but died young. Thomas his 3'' son lived where Darling lives, and died an
Old Batchelour. William his 4'" son settled at Guilford in the early times of that
Town. He was my grandfather, whom I well remember, and was of much note there
in their public affairs, and esteemed one of the best of men. He married a Bushnell
from Saybrook, to whom all of that name were related. My Father (Samuel), born
1670, died 1727, was his only son that lived, and was well esteemed for a man of good
Sense and piety, but neither of them had much more of a turn for worldly wisdom
than I have. My mother was Mary Sage, of the Family of that name at Middletown.
N. B. My Grandfather was but 12 years old when they left England. They left a
daughter married behind them, whose name was Anne. He died, 73, 1702.""
Knowing as we do that John Johnson of the first generation, who
settled at Rowley, was the founder of the family in Massachusetts, the
other brother referred to in this letter of the first Robert must have been
the progenitor of the Johnsons of Newark. Now, so far as existing
records show, there is but one person of the name who can be supposed to
have been a brother of Robert, as well as originally of the New Haven
Colony (as was Johnson first settler of Newark) and of Newark in 1666;
and that is Thomas Johnson who took the "oath of fidelity" at New
Haven in 1647, and died at Newark, N. J., in 1694-95, aged sixty-four
years. We therefore do not hesitate to identify him as the other brother
of Robert. That there were relations of kinship kept up between the
descendants of Robert of New Haven and those of Thomas of Newark
" In 1767 Hon. William Samuel Johnson, son of the writer of this letter, visited Kingston-upon-
Hull, and wrote to his father that he had found there a Mrs. Bell whose father was a Johnson, " a
lawyer," who "died at the age of thirty-two. Her grandfather" Johnson "lived upon his estate (with-
out any profession) which . . . was very considerable. Her great uncle " Johnson "was a Doctor
of Physic, eminent in his profession, and by his monument in Cherry-Benton Church it appears he died
the i" of November 1724, at the age of ninety-four. . . . This old Dr. Johnson retained his memory,
etc., to the last, and, as he remembered the transactions of almost a centurj-, had you happened to have
met with him when you were here in 1723, he could doubtless have told you the circumstances of the
emigration of our ancestors, no traces of which can now be discovered here" — Beardsley's Life and
Corr. of Dr. S. Johnson, ut supra, pp. 319-20.
289
0QXKn=3ofinnon
is shown by two circumstances : first, that the records of Yale College
refer to a call to the ministry at Newark which was given to Rev. Samuel
Johnson in 1716, about the time when he became a Tutor in the College
— when New Jersey was a province remote from Connecticut, and Yale
College had no continental reputation ; and, secondly, that (as we learn
from the late Dr. Woolsey Johnson of New York®") Rev. Stephen Johnson
of Lyme, a great grandson of Thomas of Newark, is known to have been
a correspondent of Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson of Stratford, as well as of
his son Dr. William Samuel Johnson, second President of King's (or
Columbia) College — this correspondence being the more significant because
the writers differed so widely from each other, both in their religious and
political views, that only ties of blood would seem likely to have brought
them into correspondence. To this may be added the farther consideration
that Rev. Stephen Johnson was younger by a generation than Rev. Dr.
Samuel. We hoped to print one or more of the letters of this correspon-
dence; but, though Rev. Dr. Beardsley remembers having seen one of them,
at least, among the papers of the Johnsons of Stratford, a diligent search
by him, recently, has failed to bring any of them to light.
We are not informed of the precise year, or years, of the emigration
of the three brothers of the first generation. Rev. Dr. Beardsley only
states that Robert " with his wife Adaline and four sons, Robert, Thomas,
John and William, came from Kingston-upon-Hull, Yorkshire ;"''' with
which accords the circumstance that his residence and principal landed
property seems to have been in "the Yorkshire Quarter" of the rising
town of New Haven (now represented by York street of the present
city). From the fact that both he and his brother John entertained the
idea of removing to the Bay Plantation, which John carried into effect,
there is little doubt that both of them first touched the soil of the New
World in Massachusetts.
In a letter to Mrs. E. E. Salisbury, March 26, 1874.
Beardsley's Life and Correspondence of Samuel Johnson, D.D., ut supra, pp. 1-2.
<!^0trtn=3Joiinson
The descendants of John (i) of Rowley have not been traced. There
was, however, a John Johnson of Guilford who made his Will in 1681,
then "aged about sixty-three years " (born, therefore, about 16 18), naming
as his children John "eldest son," Isaac the executor, Ruth and Abigail.
It may be that he was of the Rowley branch, a cousin of William of
Guilford and of William's brother John ; and that he stayed behind when
his father went to Rowley. In the family of William's brother John three
of the names of children of John of Guilford are, as we shall see, repeated.
But this is mere conjecture. We have, therefore, only to follow out the
lines of descent from Robert and Thomas ; and, being ignorant of the
order of their births, we begin for convenience with the former.
ROBERT (2) and Adaline JOHNSON of New Haven had four
sons, all born, as it would appear, before the emigration :
Their birth-years, with only one exception, are unknown to us. We
adopt the order given us in the letter of Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson already
quoted :
I. John;^ who married Hannah Parmelee. He was of New Haven,
and was probably, himself, in possession of a considerable landed estate on
the road to Milford, of which the ownership can be traced, by New Haven
Records, through four generations of his descendants. In 1685 he and his
son John appear in the official list of Proprietors of New Haven. His
administrators seem to have begun to act as early as 1687, when, therefore,
he had died. The births of seven children of his are recorded :
i. Samnel,^ born February 25, 1653, and baptized March i of the
same year. According to the old letter above quoted, he left "no male
issue."
6 ii. Hannah,^ born February 4, 1656, and baptized February 8 of the
same year; who married, June 21, 1677, Samuel Hummerstone.
7 iii. John^ (see below).
<©fltren=3Joiinfiion
iv. Sarah,^ born August 26, 1664, and baptized the next day ; who
married, February 8, 1683, John Wolcott.
V. Rtith,^ born April 3, 1667; who married, October 10, 1698,
Benjamin Dorman.
vi. Abigail,^ born April 9, 1670; who married, March 30, 1692,
Joseph Foote of Branford, Conn.
vii. Daniel,^ born February 21, 1671; who, according to the old letter
quoted, left "no male issue."
John (7) son of John Johnson of the second generation was born
August 27, 1 661; married, March 2, 1684-85, Mabel Grannest (or
Granniss); and had several children. One child of his was Abraham,^
born April 7, 1694; who married, January 24, 1716, Sarah Gilbert; and
died about 1775. A son of Abraham and Sarah (Gilbert) Johnson, was
3 Ebenezer,^ born May 24, 1737; who married, January 4, 1769, Esther
Punderson of New Haven; and died October 13, 18 18. Ebenezer and
(4 Esther (Punderson) Johnson had, with other children, Ebenezer,^ born
April 30, 1774; who married, January 14, 1808, Sarah Bryan Law; and
died July 8, 1863. The last named Ebenezer was the father of Sidney
5 Law'^ Johnson, born December 15, 1808 (Y. C. 1827); late Professor of
Jurisprudence in the University of Louisiana; who died, in San Francisco,
16 in 1887; oi Ebenezer Alfred^ born August 18, 1813 (Y. C. 1833); the
well known Professor of the Latin Language and Literature in the
University of the City of New York, made Doctor of Laws by that
[61/^ University in 1867; and of Charles Andrew'' Johnson, born January 20,
1 8 18 (Y. C. 1837) ; a lawyer, now retired from practice, of New Orleans,
La., to whom we are indebted for all the most important facts, as stated,
in respect to his line of descent from the first Robert Johnson of
New Haven.
Returning to the second generation, we name :
17 n. Robert ;^ a graduate of Harvard College of the year 1645, whom
©0trni=3>o!inson
we may therefore suppose to have been born between 1625 and 1628.
Rev. Dr. Beardsley gave the information which led to this identification.
We quote the substance of the record of this early Harvard graduate
given in Sibley's " Biographical Sketches :"
" The son went to Rowley, Massachusetts, where he [had] had an uncle [Julin,
see above], 'and was said to be a very promising candidate for the ministry, and was
to be settled there, but died young.' His Will, dated ' 13 of the 7th mo. 1649,' and
proved in Court 'the 26th of the first mo. [March] 1650,' is recorded in the eighty-
fifth volume of the Essex Registry of Deeds. After payment of debts, and a distribu-
tion to the poor of Rowley, he orders that ' that which may remayne ... be
returned unto my father Robert Johnson of the new haven.'"
He had died, of course, before March 26, 1650-51.'"
18 HI. T/iomas,^ who died " an Old Batchelour," evidently, by the testi-
mony of the old letter, in New Haven. We know nothing more about
him, except that he took part with his brothers John and William in the
formal division of his father's estate in 1685. The father's Will, making
Thomas to be executor, gives the impression that he was the eldest son.
Moreover, in the papers relative to the division of 1685 the names of the
three surviving brothers stand in this order : Thomas, John and William.
Perhaps the four sons were born in the following order : Thomas, John,
Robert, William. Thomas, being unmarried, probably lived in the paternal
home till his father's death.
19 IV. William;'^ who, having died in 1702 aged seventy-three years,
was born in 1629. He settled in Guilford, Conn., in 1650; married, July
2, 165 1, Elizabeth daughter of Francis Bushnell of Saybrook, Conn.,
" became one of the leading men in that town [Guilford], and a deacon in
the Congregational Church i""" and died October 27, 1702. Fie had eight
daughters and two sons, as follows :
"''Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University. . . . By John Langdon Sibley
. . . Cambridge, 1873, i. 123.
6» Beardsley's Samuel Johnson, ut supra, p. 2.
^SUtn=3o'^nnon
20 i. Ann,^ born in 1652 ; who married John Fowler of Guilford, Conn.
21 ii. Hannah,^ born March 21, 1654; who died young.
22 iii. Mary,^ born February 21, 1657 ; who married, December 23, 1676,
Thomas Stone of Guilford.
23 iv. Martha,^ born February 27, 1659; who died May 8, 1660.
24 V. Abigail,^ born October 24, 1661; who died young.
25 vi. Mercy, "^ born January 12, 1665; who married John Scranton of
Guilford.
26 vii. Sarah,^ born August 13, 1667; who died October 11, 1669.
27 viii. SamueP (see below).
28 ix. Nathaniel,^ born April 17, 1672; who died June 25 of the same
year.
29 X. Elizabeth;^ who married, December 22, 1674, Samuel Hall of
Guilford."
Samuel (27) son of Dea. William Johnson, born June 5, 1670, was
himself a Deacon of the Congregational church in that town. He
married, November 7, 1694, Mary daughter of David Sage of Middletown,
Conn., and died May 8, 1727, having had eleven children :
I. William,'^ born September 4, 1695; who died October 18 of the
same year.
31 2. SAMUEL* (see below).
32 3. Mary,^ born March 8, 1699; who married Ebenezer Chittenden
33 of Guilford ; and was the mother of Gov. Thomas^ Chittenden of Vermont.
34 4. David,'^ born June 5, 1701; who married, settled in Durham, Conn.,
35-37 and had children David,^ Abigail,^ and Mary.^ David son of David
38-41 Johnson married, and had Timothy,^ Abraham,^ Nathaniel,^ Samuel,^
and "one or two daughters." He afterwards joined the Shakers of New
Lebanon, N. Y.; but about 1783, with all his children, removed to Gran-
" Our principal authority for the descents, in the first and second generations from Dea. William
Johnson of Guilford, is a private letter from Dr. Alvan Talcott of Guilford.
<©fltJ(rH=3JoJinson
ville, N. Y. Abigail daughter of David Johnson of the fourth generation
married Dea. Coe of Meriden, Conn.; and died s. p.; her sister
Mary " married William Johnson from England," and died childless.^
42 5. Elizabeth,'^ born October 19, 1703 ; who died September 28, 171 2.
43 6. Nathaniel,'^ born April 17, 1705; who married: first, Margery
daughter of John Morgan of Groton, Conn.; and died at the age of
eighty-seven. He "lived and died in Guilford," and "was one of the
founders of the First Church" in that town. His children were:
44 (i.) Margery ;^ who "married David Camp, and settled in Bethlehem,
45 Conn.;" (2.) Samuel^ (b. 1729); of Guilford; who married Margaret
46 daughter of Samuel Collins of that town ; and had : i. Samuel^ (b. 1775);
47-49 2. Gurdoii^ (b. 1759); 3. Clarissa;^ and 4. Margaret.^ Samuel (46)
son of Samuel Johnson married Huldah daughter of Nathan Hill of
Guilford ; and had three sons and a daughter. Gurdon (47) son of Samuel
Johnson married Esther daughter of Daniel Brainard of East Haddam,
Conn.; and had three sons and three daughters.
The third child of Nathaniel (43) and Margery (Morgan) Johnson
50-53 was: (3.) Timothy;^ (4.) Nathaniel;^ (5.) William;^ (6.) Rachel.^^
The seventh child of Dea. Samuel and Mary (Sage) Johnson was :
54 7. Abigail,'^ born April 19, 1707; who married George Bartlett.
55 8. William,^ born April 19, 1709; who settled in Middletown,
Conn., and died in old age, .y. p.
56 9. Mercy, '^ horn December 19, 1710; who died young.
57 10. Elizabeth,'^ born February 20, 1713 ; who died young.
58 II. Timothy,'^ born October 9, 1715 ; who died May 29, 1732.
" Most of these particulars respecting David son of Dea. Samuel Johnson, and his posterity, are
taken from notes sent to us by a descendant of Rev. Stephen Johnson of Lyme, Conn.
" Facts communicated by the descendant of Rev. Stephen Johnson referred to in the preceding note.
(!^fltirn=soJmfiion
Samuel (31) Johnson, second son of Dea. Samuel and Mary (Sage)
Johnson, was born October 14, 1696; and graduated at Yale College
(then the Collegiate School of Saybrook) in 1714. He was twice married :
first," September 26, 1725, to Charity (Floyd) Nicoll, daughter of Col.
Richard Floyd of Brookhaven, L. I., and widow of Benjamin Nicoll ;
and, secondly, June 18, 1761, to Mrs. Sarah ( ) Beach; and died
January 6, 1772.
Rev. Dr. Johnson, in his letter of Jan. 6, 1757, to his son, wrote thus
of his first wife's family :
"And now as to your mother's ancestors. Floyd is doubtless originally Lloyd,
LI being pronounced in Wales, wence they came, like Fl. All I can learn is that
your grandfather was born at Newcastle on the Delaware, that his Father and mother
came from Wales, and that when he came and settled at Long Island they came with
him, and lived to be old. His wife was Margaret Woodhull, whose Father was an
English Gentleman of a considerable Family, cousin German, by his mother, to Lord
Carew, Father to the late Bp. of Durham, whose niece was mother to the present Earl
of Wallgrave or Waldgrave. This is all I know. . . ."
The very conspicuous position of Rev. Dr. Johnson, Rector of Strat-
ford, Conn., and first President of King's (Columbia) College, especially
in connection with the introduction of episcopacy into Connecticut, and
the early efforts of its advocates for its extension and firm establishment in
America, by the institution here of the order of Bishops, has made the
story of his life somewhat familiar. Rev. Dr. Chandler of Elizabethtown,
N. J., in the last century, and Rev. Dr. Beardsley of New Haven, thirteen
years ago, wrote his biography in full. But this memorial would be imper-
fect without some more particular notice of the position he held, and of
his sentiments and character.
As is generally known, he became a Tutor in the College, where he
had been graduated, in 1716 — just when the first steps were being taken
for the removal of that institution to New Haven — and continued to dis-
296
<©flTien=3Jofinson
charge the duties of the tutorship till 17 19. In that year Rev. Timothy
Cutler was made Rector of the College. Johnson had early devoted him-
self to the study of theology, and in 1720 was settled as Pastor of the
First Church of West Haven, Conn. Meanwhile his theological studies
were pursued, with the aid, chiefly, of books in the College Library ; and
ere long he
"was unable to find any sufficient support for the Congregational form of church
government, or for the rigid Calvinistic tenets in which he had been educated." "
Even before this he had conceived a dislike for extempore prayers in
public, and had used forms of prayer prepared by himself for his own use
as a pastor. In a letter written to President Clap, many years later, he
said of the Church of England :
" I have been long persuaded that she is, and will eventually be found, the only
stable bulwark against all heresy and infidelity, which are coming in like a flood
upon us, and this, as I apprehend, by reason of the rigid Calvinism, Antinomianism,
enthusiasm, divisions and separations which, through the weakness and great imper-
fection of your constitution (if it may be so called), are so rife and rampant among
us. My apprehension of this was the first occasion of my conforming to the Church
(which has been to my great comfort and satisfaction), and hath been more and more
confirmed by what has occurred ever since. And I am still apt to think that no well-
meaning Doi'e, that has proper means and opportunity of exact consideration, will
ever find rest to the sole of his foot amid such a deluge, till he comes into the Church
as the alone ark of safety — all whose Articles, Liturgy, and Homilies . . . accord-
ing to their original sense, shall ever be sacred with me ; which sense, as I apprehend
it, is neither Calvinistical nor Arminian, but the golden mean, and according to the
genuine meaning of the Holy Scriptures in the original, critically considered and
understood.""
We see that the fluctuations, the ebb and flow, of theological opinion
around him were "the first occasion of [his] conforming to the Church,"
" Beardsley's Samuel Johnson, ut supra, pp. 13-14.
" Id., pp. 204-05.
®fltren=SoJ)nsou
and thus settling down, for "rest to the sole of his foot," upon the "golden
mean " of the Thirty-nine Articles. But, whatever may be inferred from
this as to his intellectual force and courage of speculative opinion, there
can be no question that he was actuated, in the course he took, by the
purest motives and the most christian sentiments of regard for the spiritual
welfare of others. After that public declaration which Johnson and his
friends made of their scruples, at the Commencement of 1722, he wrote
thus in his diary :
" Being at length bro't to such scruples concerning the validity of my ordination
that I could not proceed in administration without intolerable uneasiness of mind, I
have now at length (after much study, and prayer to God for direction), together with
my friends . . . made a public declaration of my scruples and uneasiness. It is
with great sorrow of heart that I am forced thus, by the uneasiness of my conscience,
to be an occasion of so much uneasiness to my dear friends, my poor people, and
indeed to the whole Colony. O God. . . . Let not our thus appearing for Thy
Church be any ways accessory, though accidentally, to the hurt of religion in general,
or any person in particular. Have mercy, Lord, have mercy on the souls of men,
and pity and enlighten those that are grieved at this accident. Lead into the way of
truth all those that have erred and are deceived ; and, if we in this affair are misled,
I beseech Thee show us our error before it be too late, that we may repair the damage.
Grant us Thy illumination for Christ's sake, Amen." '"
In the autumn of 1722 Johnson with his friends Cutler and Brown
embarked for England, to obtain episcopal ordination ; and they were
ordained Priests, March 31, 1723,
" at the continued appointment and desire of William [Wake] Lord Abp. of
Canterbury, and John [Robinson] Lord Bishop of London. ... by the Right
Rev*! Thomas [Green] Lord Bp of Norwich." "
Johnson returned to this country as a Missionary of the Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts ; and immediately began
™ Id., pp. 18-19.
" Id., p. 37-
<©0ifrn=3Jolinfiion
missionary work for the "organizing and settling the Church of England
in Connecticut." ^ He early made a point of asking only for " equal privi-
leges and protection." " Before the law, however, which, in his native
colony, and, in general, throughout New England, required rates from all
tax-payers for the support of the Congregational worship and ministry, a
Church of England man could not stand on an equal footing with his
Congregational neighbor. Nor was there anything more inequitable in
this than in the reverse condition of things in the mother-country.
Congregationalism was, indeed, " established " in New England ; and
those who did not conform to it were truly, in the Anglican sense.
Dissenters. Moreover, if there were rules made, in the course of time,
for the internal government of the infant College of the colony, which
tended to exclude Episcopalians from sharing its privileges, what could an
Anglican churchman then have to say against this, without at the same
time condemning the exclusiveness of the Universities of the mother-
country, which shut out those whose consciences forbade their signing
the Thirty-nine Articles ? If, indeed, we leave out of account all consid-
erations of legal status, there is no denying that there was an illiberality
of feeling, on the part of both clergy and laity of the established
Congregational order, which ought never to have existed. Yet what
wonder was it that they found it hard to bear the coming among them
of men who even in New England did not hesitate to call all non-
Anglicans by the name of Dissenters and Separatists, as, for example, when
Johnson himself, in 1742, reviewing his missionary work, wrote as follows:
" Upon the whole I can truly say, and thank God for it, my prudence has always
directed me and always shall, to avoid anything that could show the least favorable
disposition towards the separation as such, or to obstruct the growth of the Episcopal
Church." "
In later years the Anglicans of America took yet higher ground.
Id., p. 54-
Id., p. 98. " Id., p. 114.
#flTren=SoJ)uson
Under favor of Royal Governors, with the known approval of George III.
himself, they appear to have aimed at establishing their Church in
America, under American Bishops, in such a position as should destroy
the preponderance of Congregationalism. There were those, on both sides
of the Atlantic, who looked to such an establishment as a counterpoise to
the restless agitations of American patriots for political liberty. Thus,
Dr. Johnson could write to the Archbishop of Canterbury in the year
1 764, when one of his own name and blood, as we shall see, was about to
argue earnestly against the obligation of passive obedience to arbitrary
power, that
" Episcopacy is really necessary towards the better securing our dependence, as
well as many other good political purposes ;" "
and in 1 763 had written to the same dignitary :
" Is there then nothing more that can be done either for obtaining Bishops or
demolishing these pernicious charter governments, and reducing them all to one form
in immediate dependence on the King ? I cannot help calling them pernicious, for
they are indeed so, as well for the best good of the people themselves as for the inter-
ests of trvie religion ;" "
and the Archbishop wrote to Dr. Johnson, in 1766, that the King was
" thoroughly sensible that the Episcopalians are his best friends in America." "
Moreover, Dr. Johnson's foreign correspondence distinctly reflects
the theory that the Anglican Church might be established in America by
virtue of an extension to the colonies of the principle of royal supremacy
in ecclesiastical as well as civil affairs.^
" Id., p. 295. " Id., p. 279.
" Id., p. 304.
'* A recent writer on Religious Tests in Provincial Pennsylvania says : " There was indeed always
a large party in England which maintained, up to the time of the Revolution, that the principle of Royal
or Parliamentary supremacy was equally applicable to ecclesiastical as to civil affairs in the Colonies.
©fltrtn=3Jotinfiion
These remarks may suffice to set forth the aims of Dr. Johnson and
his friends, and their relations to fellow-christians of other denominations,
in America. We cannot here, of course, go farther into particulars.
Undoubtedly, as was natural, feelings grew narrower the longer the
conflict for pre-eminence continued ; until, at length, the breaking out of
the. Revolution placed matters on new ground, and opened the way for
complete toleration, on both sides, as included in liberty and independence.
Dr. Johnson had early entered into correspondence with eminent
men of the English Establishment. This was continued through life, and
enriches his biography. Soon after the coming of Dean Berkeley to
this country Dr. Johnson visited him at Newport, and thenceforth corres-
ponded with him as long as he lived, and afterwards with his son. In
the interest of theism, against materialistic infidelity, he became a convert
to Berkeley's philosophy ; '' and to his honor it should be remembered
that Yale College owed its earliest special endowment — the foundation of
the Berkeley Premiums — to Dr. Johnson's filial loyalty (he having, it
would seem, satisfied the Dean that the College was so far forth, at least,
liberal as to be not unwilling to admit the writings of Hooker and Chilling-
worth into its Library !).* Dr. Johnson seems to have been always a loyal
son of Yale : in Prof. Dexter's recently published volume of " Biographical
Sketches" attention is called to his " Introduction to the Study of Philos-
ophy," which was bound up with the Catalogue of the College Library in
1742-43, "as showing how that staunch Churchman was still helpful to
By this party it was assumed more and more distinctly, as time went on, that the English Church Estab-
lishment, by virtue of the Royal Supremacy, necessarily extended to all the Colonies as dominions of
the Crown, and that those who there dissented from that Church were not entitled to any other legal
toleration, no matter what might be the Provincial legislation on the subject, tlian that accorded to
Dissenters in England." See Relig. Tests in Prov. Pennsylvania. . . . 18S5. By Charles J. Still6,
PP- 55-56-
" This bearing of Berkeley's philosophy is very clearly stated by President Porter in his recent
Discourse on the Two-Hundredth Birthday of George Berkeley. New York, 1885, pp. 20 !f.
'" Beardsley's Samuel Johnson, ut supra, p. 75.
<©fltren=3JoJmfiiOH
his Alma Mater, and how even rigid Rector Clap was willing to accept
help from such a quarter."^'
The degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology was conferred upon him,
to his great gratification, by the University of Oxford, in 1743, "ut incred-
ibili Ecclesise incremento summam sui expectationem sustinuerit plane et
superaverit." Dr. Johnson was, from his youth up, a zealous student in all
those departments of knowledge, open in his day, which connected them-
selves with theology, but especially in the department of philosophical
speculation, and read every book he could obtain relative to them. His
latest biographer says :
" Had he lived in these times, he would have been distinguished among men of
learning, and recognized by them as an honest and patient lover of truth and justice.
That he attained to such excellence under all the disadvantages of the period in
which he was a conspicuous actor, is remarkable. He dared to think for himself,
and, if his keen penetration discovered defects in theological and philosophical
systems, he was careful not to accept any new views until he had fairly examined the
opposing arguments and tested them by the strongest proofs within his reach." "
The fullest list of his published writings which we have seen is to be
found in Prof. Dexter's book just referred to.*^
We have purposely left to the last to record his election to be the first
President of King's (Columbia) College. He removed from Stratford to
accept the presidency in 1754, and retired again to Stratford in 1763.
During these nine years the new College was largely dependent for support
upon contributions from England, but had not sufficient from this source
to raise it above a precarious existence, in striking contrast with its present
affluence, and its eminence as a seat of varied learning. Of the year suc-
" Biogr. Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College with Annals. ... By franklin Bowditch
Dexter. . . . New York, 18S5, p. 723.
*^ Beardsley's Samuel Johnson, ut supra, p. 354.
'' Dexter's Biographical Sketches, ut supra, pp. 126-28.
©05ren=3loJjnson
ceeding the third Commencement he himself said that it " 'was remarkable
only on account of hard services, which made him more and more weary
of his station.' " ** He, however, continued faithful and earnest in the
discharge of his duties as President, while, at the same time, pursuing the
religious objects still dearer to him, and especially that great aim of his
whole life, to secure the institution of the order of Bishops in America.
Rev. Dr. Samuel and Charity (Floyd-Nicoll) Johnson had two children :
59 I. William Samuel,^ born October 7, 1727; graduated at Yale
College in 1 744 ; made Doctor of Civil Law at Oxford in 1 766 ; made
LL.D. at Yale in 1788. He represented Stratford in the General
Assembly in 1761, and again in 1765, and was a Member of the Governor's
Council in 1 766 ; was appointed, in the latter year a special agent, on busi-
ness of the colony, at the British Court, where he spent four years ; was
elected to the American Congress of 1774, but declined to serve; "and
not being able conscientiously to join in a war against England he lived in
retirement in Stratford until the conclusion of peace ;" from 1784 to 1787
served as a Member of the Continental Congress ; was an important
Member of the Convention for the formation of the Federal Constitution ;
first Senator from Connecticut to the United States Congress, in 1789-91 ;
was chosen President of Columbia College in 1787, and continued in that
office till 1800; and died Nov. 14, 1819.
In Rev. Dr. Johnson's letter of January 6, 1757, written soon after
the lamented death of his second son, he expressed his hopes with respect
to the elder brother in these words :
" And indeed, my dear son, as I had set my heart on this, both with regard to
you and him, that you might be as extensive Blessings to mankind as possible, you in
Temporals and he in Spirituals — since he is gone, now both are devolved on you.
I therefore desire you will laye out your views to do all the public Good you possibly
can, for promoting the Interest of Religion and Learning, as well as Justice and the
affairs of the State."
^ Beardsley's Samuel Johnson, ut supra, p. 250.
^ti'^tn=3o'^nnon
The father's hopes were amply fulfilled by the high distinction in
professional and civil life which the second Dr. Johnson attained,- while
sacrificing none of his conscientious scruples regarding the course of public
affairs.®
60 2. William,^ born March 9, 1730; graduated at Yale College in
1748 ; prepared for Holy Orders; ordained Deacon "in the Chapel of the
Palace at Fulham," in 1756; the same year made Master of Arts at
Oxford and Cambridge ; who died in England, of small pox, June 20, 1 756.
He was unmarried.
The line of Dr. Samuel Johnson was continued only through his
eldest son, William Samuel (59), who was twice married : first, November
5, 1749, to Ann daughter of WilHam Beach of Stratford, Conn.; and,
*' This sketch of Dr. William Samuel Johnson's career is abridged from Prof. Dexter's Biogr.
Sketches, ut supra, pp. 762-64. For fuller particulars see Life and Times of William Samuel Johnson,
LL.D. . . . By E. Edwards Beardsley, D.D., LL.D. . . . Second Edition revised and enlarged.
Boston, 1886.
We here give extracts from a note of the late Dr. Woolsey Johnson of New York, great grandson of
Dr. William Samuel Johnson (November 12, 1885), in which he refers to his supposed English kinship :
" My great grandfather W" Samuel Johnson, LL.D., Pres't of Columbia College, etc., when residing in
England circa 1765, resumed the relations of kinship with the parent branch of the family, and they
have never been interrupted since his time. When I was last in England, in July 18S4, an interesting
reunion of the family was held on the occasion of the celebration of the Ter-Centenary of Uppingham
School, at Uppingham, co. Rutland, founded in 1548 by Rev. Robert Johnson, D.D., Archdeacon of
Leicester, to whom the arms were granted temp. Elizabeth.
" The then head of the family was Charles Augustus Johnson, an invalid residing at Brighton, son
of the late Lieut. Gen. W" Henry Johnson of Wytham-on-the-Hill and Uppingham. . . .
" Towards our branch they always manifest cordial and warm feelings of kindred, which after nearly
250 years is unusual in English folk."
The arms here referred to are those used by Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson, and now borne by the
Johnsons of Stratford — described by Burke thus; "Ar. a chev. Sa. betw. three lions' heads couped Gu.,
langued Az. atid crowned Or. (Gen. Arm., ed. 1878, p. 544). Dr. William Samuel Johnson, however,
in a letter to his father from England, in 1767, after visiting Kingston-upon-Hull, says that the arms
then borne by the Johnsons of that place " are not the same with those we have assumed " — Beardsley's
Samuel Johnson, p. 320.
(©fliren=3Jolinso«
secondly, December 12, 1800, to "Mrs. Mary Beach, of Kent, Conn.,
widow of a kinsman of his first wife." By his first marriage he had :
(i.) Charity,^ born July 2, 1750; who married Rev. Ebenezer
Kneeland, Associate-Rector with her grandfather after his retirement
from the Presidency of King's College.
(2.) Sarah,^ born April i, 1754; who died June 23, 1762.
(3.) Glorianna,^ born March 7, 1757; who married Roger Alden ;
and died in 1785.
(4.) Alary,^ born April 19, 1759; who died December 23, 1783.
(5.) SAMUEL WILLIAM.s born October 23, 1761; Judge
Samuel William Johnson; who married, November 27, 1791, Susan
daughter of Judge Pierpont Edwards (see ®0tftn part of this mono-
graph) ; and had : \. Ann Frances ;'^ 2. William Samuel;'^ who married
Laura daughter of William Walton Woolsey of New York ; 3. Sarah
Elizabeth;'' who married George Pollock Devereux of North Carolina;
4. Edivards ;'' who married Anne Johnson Doudall of Stratford, Conn.;
5. Robert Chariest Judge Samuel William Johnson died October 25, 1846.
(6.) Elizabeth,^ born December 13, 1763; who married, October 29,
1785, Daniel C. Verplanck of Fishkill, N. Y.
(7.) Robert Charles,^ born May i, 1766; who married Katharine
daughter of Nicholas and Katharine (Livingston) Bayard.
66,67
68
69
70
71
72
Respecting arms borne by the Johnsons of Hull, the following paragraph of Rev. Dr. Johnson's
letter of January 6, 1757, may be quoted ; " N. B. Mr. Pownall told me he was bred at the noted Gram-
mar School at Hull, where he said he knew several Gentlemen of note of my name, who doubtless are
of the same family, one of whom, you may have observed, has solved some of the mathematical prob-
lems in some late Magazines. He told me he intended, when he went to England, to visit his Friends
in the north, and would enquire for the coat of arms of those Johnsons for me ; but I believe he is so
deep in politics that he will hardly remember it. . . ."
In the line of Rev. Stephen Johnson of Lyme, Conn, (see below), there has come down a coat of
arms as follows ; " Wz. a chev. Or, in chief two eagles volant, in base a sun, of the second." (Comp. Burke's
Gen. Arm., ed. 1S78, p. 544.) The copy from which we obtained these arms was made by Ann daughter
of Stephen Johnson and granddaughter of Rev. Stephen Johnson, and is now owned by her son Joseph
Selden Huntington in Lyme. It is very nicely painted in colors, and may be supposed to have been
copied from an older painting in the family. We know no more about it. Possibly, this is the coat of
the Johnsons of Hull, which appears never to have been obtained by Rev. Dr. Johnson or his descendants.
®fl;5feit=SoIjnfiioii
Having thus followed out, as far as our information goes, the line of
descent from Robert Johnson of New Haven, we now come to his brother
Thomas of New Haven and Newark, N. J.
THOMAS (3) JOHNSON of Newark, to use the words of
Dr. Stearns, was a " most active and useful settler " — prominent in
affairs of Church and State in his new home. He
"became one of the most prominent men in the settlement. He was one of the
eleven chosen at the preliminary town meeting [see above] and during his life occu-
pied successively nearly every gradation of olBce. His residence was on the north-
east corner of Broad and Walnut streets, the site now occupied by Grace Church."
In mentioning him with several others of the early settlers Dr. Stearns
says:
". . . the records of their corporate acts and the works they accomplished
point them out as men of no ordinary excellence. Strict Puritans we have already
called them ; and they seem to have possessed all the virtues of the Puritan, with
scarcely one of the faults alleged against that ancient race."
Samuel Swaine with Thomas Johnson and three others were a com-
mittee from Newark who met John Ogden, Robert Treat and others from
Elizabethtown, to settle the boundary between the two towns ; when
Robert Treat led in prayer " that there might be good agreement between
them," and on the conclusion of their business "John Ogden prayed
among the people, and gave thanks for their loving agreement."
In 1670-71
"'the town chose Mr. Thomas Johnson' for the keeping of the ordinary, or
public house for the entertainment of travelers and strangers, ' and prohibited all
others from selling any strong liquors by retail under a gallon, unless in case of
necessity, and that by license from the town magistrate.' "
©fltrtn=3Jotjnson
The records of the New Haven Colony also present to us Thomas
Johnson as a trusted colonist, and as a man of rare independence and
courage of opinion. A very striking illustration of this is the recorded
fact that a certain Mrs. Goodman, accused of witchcraft in 1655, and
committed to prison for it, but afterwards released in consideration of
her health, " though warned at her peril to appear at the court of magis-
trates," "was suffered to dwell in the family of Thomas Johnson, where
she remained till her death, October 9'\ 1660."*' That Mr. Johnson was
entrusted by the magistracy with the custody of a person under such
suspicion, and that he was willing to brave suspicion of himself by thus
sheltering a forlorn, persecuted woman, are facts to be remembered to his
honor.''
8« Records of the Colony ... of New Haven. ... By Charles J. Hoadly. . . . Hart-
ford, 1858, p. 152, note *.
" Stearns's First Church in Newark, ut supra, pp. 37, note *, 38, 40, 41 and note *, and 81, note f.
With our present somewhat complicated political system, and with our skilled labor and division
of industries, we cannot easily adjust our ideas to the period of the Colonies. Among a people where
there was "a Church without a bishop, a State without a King" there were few high public offices.
They had few learned professions, and ver}' few men in those. To the offices they had they gave the
greater honor, and all officers being selected by the people became honorable. Our older people now
can remember when to be a «/tr;-man, was to hold a dignified and highly honored office, though it brought
no salary, and often many cares. Offices were not appraised at their money- value, but as evidence of
the respect and good will of the people. Hinman says : " Men were selected to fill every office, high or
low, with a single eye to the fact that men who held the offices should be of such standing in society
as the men should honor their offices, and not the offices the holders of them " — Puritan Settlers of
Connecticut, 1846, p. 10. In the new country, in the emergencies of pioneer-life, ingenious men took up
trades and employments that they would never have thought of attempting in the mother-country. It is
said that Rev. Ephraim Huet, who had been rector of Wraxall in Warwickshire, England, a man of
high attainments, who came to Windsor in 1639, was so busy in building a bridge there — " its reputed
master-workman "—that when his friends Rev. Messrs. Stone and Hooker came to see him, he was so
" much occupied with his work " that " he failed to pay them as much attention as usual." After watch-
ing his labors they turned to go, Dr. Stone pleasantly remarking to Dr. Hooker "Ephraim is joined
to his idols, let him alone "—Stiles's Anc. Windsor, p. 49. We cannot suppose that a man with the
masterful mind and character of John Ogden had followed the trade of stone-mason at home ; but he
was able to do anything that the public good demanded, from building a stone church to planting and
ruling a colony.
In the case of Edward De Wolf of Lyme it is recorded that the town assigned to him timber-lands
#fl5(n=3>oJ)nson
Thomas Johnson died November 5, 1694-95, aged sixty-four years —
for which we have the authority of his epitaph, as follows :
"Here lyes the body of Mr. Thomas Johnson, who died November the 5, 1694,
aged 64 ;"'°
together with his Will, proved November 21, and recorded December
5, 1694, as follows :
"Newarke, Novemb : y^ 2* Anno Dom : 1694.
"Be it known that I Thomas Johnson, inhabitant of Newarke in the province of
East Jersey, being now about sixty foure years old, of perfect memory and of good
understanding (thanks be to Almighty God for it), though in body weak and full of
paine, waiting for my change and dissolution by death, which shall be I know not
how soone : doe make and declare this my will and testament in manner and form as
followeth, revoking and annulling by these presents all and evry testament and
testaments, will and wills, heretofore by me made and declared, wether by word or
writing, and this to be taken only for my last will and testament, and in the name of
God Amen.
" Imprimis, I comit my soul imortal to God who gave it, to glorifye him and to
be glorified by him forever ; my frail and corruptible body, made of the dust, to be
in compensation for his services to the town with his sawmill and gristmill. Under these circumstances
the fact of a man's office or avocation, taken alone, did not show his social station. To ascertain that,
his life in other relations must be studied. Millwrights, innkeepers, "chimney viewers," &c., being
necessary for' the very existence of the people, were elected as public officers. We need not therefore
be surprised to learn that Samuel Swayne " Gentleman " was chosen a " millwright " (though he appears
never to have acted as such), and that Thomas Johnson, also a leader in public affairs, was for years
chosen keeper of "the ordinary." Even down to the memory of our oldest men " the tavern," as it was
then called, was the great gathering place of the town : there its balls and other entertainments were
held ; the landlord was frequently the most prominent man in the town, and, from seeing many trav-
ellers, the most intelligent and entertaining of companions. We may therefore infer, in connection
with what we know otherwise of Thomas Johnson, that in his election to keep "the ordinary" at
Newark his fellow-townsmen were paying a high compliment to his character for integrity, efficiency,
and general agreeableness, and to the good management and good housekeeping of his wife.
The same explanation is to be given of the first Robert Johnson's appointment to be hayward for
the town of New Haven : that complaints and conflicts might be avoided, the office required discretion
and dignity of character, and public confidence.
*» Stearns's First Church in Newark, ut supra, p. 8i, note f.
308
©fl^tn=3loljnfiion
decentl}' buried in hope of a glorious resurrection by Jesus Chirist my Redeemer and
only Saviour, who shall change, in his time, this vile body of mine, and make it like
unto his glorious body, when I shall be ever with the Lord, which is best of all.
Morover, as for my worldly estate which I am now possessed of, I order and dispose
as followeth, all just and lawfuU debts with funerall charges being first paid by my
Executours.
" I will and bequeath unto my youngest son Eliphalet Johnson by Name my
wholl estate real and personall, lands, medow, housing, orchard, barn building or
buildings, and improvements made thereupon, within the bounds and limits of
Newarke abovesaid, that I am now possessed of, for him the said Eliphalet to have
and to hold, possess and enjoy, as his absolute right and propriety, to the sole use,
benefit and behoof of him his heirs and assignes forever after my decease, if it shall
pleas God to take me away by this present stroke of his holy hand : I will also and
bequeath unto my said son Eliphalet all my movable estate, goods, chattels, stock
and household furniture at my deceas, obliging him hereby and provided that he pay
or cause to be paid, within two years after he shall be possessed of my estate, fourty
pounds apiece in contrey pay as it passeth between man and man, according to the
vallue and estimate of two indifferent men, I say fourty pounds apiece to each of my
sons his Naturall Brethren [i. e. brethren by ties of blood, not natural in the equivocal
sense], viz : Joseph, John and Thomas Johnson, or theirs, in manner and specie as
abovesaid.
" Morover I doe nominate, make, ordain, constitute and appoint my son Eliphalet
abovesaid my Executour of this my will, requiring and impowering and authorising
him hereby to act, doe and performe all and every thing or things that may be need-
full for or unto the accomplishment of this my will and testament, in manner and
forme as is therein expressed :
" In Witness wherof I have hereunto subscribed my name and aflixed my seal the
day and date above written.
" Thos. Jolinson [l. s."]
" Signed and sealed
in the presence of us,
John Prudden,
John Curtis."
He was three times married. The births of four of his children
previously to 1663 are proof of one marriage, though we know not to
whom it was ; the New Haven Registry, recording the marriage of Thomas
<!^flTini=3lol|nfiion
Johnson Sen'', in September 1663, to Frances Hitchcock, makes probable
a second marriage ; and an epitaph at Newark to the memory of his wife
Ellena, as follows :
" Here lyes the body of Mrs. Ellena Johnson, who died November 2, 1694,
aged 61 "°°
shows that, if married twice, he was married a third time. By his first
marriage, he had children as follows :
IZ I. Joseph,'^ born, according to New Haven Town-Records, November
30, 1 65 1, and baptized February 8, 1656, as the Records of the First
Church of New Haven show ; who married Rebecca daughter of Rev.
Abraham Pierson, and sister of Rev. Abraham Pierson Jr., first Rector of
Yale College ; by whom he had :
74 I. Joseph.^
75 2. Margaret .-"^ who married Joseph Brown.
He died March 11, 1733; one line of descent from him is farther
drawn out in our Pedigree of Johnson.
76 H. John,''' born April 27, 1654 (New Haven Town-Rec), and baptized
February 8, 1656 (First Church Rec).
T] HI. Abigail,''' born January 19, 1657 (New Haven Town-Rec), bap-
tized February 21 in the same year (First Church Rec); who died in
childhood.
78 IV. ELIPHALET2 (see below).
79 V. Saving,"^ born November.-35, 1659 (First Church Rec).
80 VI. Abigail,^ born January 14, 1662 (New Haven Town-Rec); who
died before November 2, 1694, the date of her father's Will.
By his second or third marriage he had :
VII. Thomas,^ born July 11, 1664 (New Haven Town-Rec); who
married Sarah daughter of Capt. Samuel Swayne, and sister of Elizabeth
(Swayne) Ward, wife of the first David Ogden (see (^QXitXl part of this
89 Id., ibid.
©0tftn=3JoJ)nson
monograph) ; by whom he had several children, as shown in our Pedigree
of Johnson. He removed to Elizabethtown, N. J.*
We have seen that the Will of Thomas Johnson, father of the four
sons here named, speaks of Eliphalet as his "youngest son," although he
names Thomas. It follows that, at the time of the making of the Will,
Eliphalet was his youngest surviving son, Thomas, if not John, having died
previously. He gives most of his property to Eliphalet, on condition of
his paying forty pounds, within a certain time, to each of his other sons
"Joseph, John and Thomas, or theirs."
ELIPHALET (78) Johnson was born in 1658; married: first,
Deborah daughter of John Ward, who died after 1700; and, secondly,
Abigail ; and died April 20, 1718.
With regard to him our chief source of information is his Will, which
we therefore give in full ; it has never before been printed :
" In the name of God Amen, this twenty-seaventh day of August Anno one
thousand seaven hundred and seaventeen. I Eliphalet Johnston [sic] of Newark, in
the County of Essex and Eastern Division of New Jersey, Yeoman, being in perfect
mind and memory, thanks be given unto God, but calling unto mind the frailty and
mortality of my body, and knowing that it is appointed unto man once to die, do
make and ordaine this my last will and testament (that is to say). Principally and
first of all, I give and recommend ray Soull unto the hands of God that gave it,
hoping that thorough the alone merits of Jesus Christ to have Eternall Life, and my
body I recomend to the earth, to be buried in decent Christian manner, at the dis-
cretion of my Executors, nothing doubting but at the Generall Resurection I shall
receive the same again through the Mightie Power of God ; and as touching such
worldly estate wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me in this life, I give, devise
and dispose thereof in the following manner and forme : Imprimis, I give and
bequeath unto Abigaile, my dearly beloved wife, after just debts being paid and dis-
charged, one equall third part of all my personall estate that I shall die possessed of,
«" Some of our data respecting the descendants of Thomas Johnson are drawn from Collections of
the New Jersey Histor. Society. Volume vi. Supplement. Newark, 1866, pp. 121-22.
#flTren=3lo5nson
together with the use and improvement of my dwelling house and half the homestead,
with halfe the barn, y^ s'd halfe to lye on y'^ sou-west side, with the liberty and privi-
ledge of cutting so much hay in the meadow as to keep her owne cattle and the
pasturing of three or four cows, if she see cause to keep them. All the above
mentioned to be injoyed by her so long as she remains my widow and no longer,
excepting y^ personall estate to be for her and her heirs forever.
" Item, I give, bequeath and devise unto my two sons, Eliphelet and Nathaniell
by name, those two lotts of land called the new lott and Wakeman's, their being so
many apple trees planted in the one as in y'^ other, to be equally divided as to quantity,
and then Eliphelet to have his choice. Also I give unto y" s'd Eliphelet and Nathaniell
y^ equall halfe of my salt meadow at y^ two mile brook, on that side next the upland,
to be equally divided between them. Item, I give unto Eliphelet my lott of meadow
at y" bound Creek which I bought of Wakeman. Item, I give to Nathaniell that piece
of salt meadow lying at y* Lower tide pond, the above mentioned tracts of land and
meadow to be to them, their heirs and assigns forever, with the improvement of y^
remaining halfe of my homestead five years after my decease. Item, I give and devise
unto my son John all that tract of land and pasture lying at y*' two mile brook, with
y^ one halfe of y'^ lott in y' Little Neck, with y" halfe of y'^ remaining halfe of y°
meadow at y" two mile brook, and halfe my lott of meadow at Morishes Creek, y^
above parcells to be to him y^ s'd John, his heirs and assigns forever. Item, I give
and devise unto my son Samuell all that one Lottment of Land called the Pattent
Folsome Milstone, together with the remaining halfe of y^ Lott in y° Little Neck, and
y^ remaining fourth part of y^ meadow at y" two mile brook. Also, liberty for y^ s'd
John and Samuell to cart cross y^ other halfe given to Eliphelet and Nathaniell ; also
I give to the s'd Samuell y^ remaining halfe of my lott of meadow at Morises Creek,
y* same to be and remaine to him y^ s'd Samuell, his heirs and assigns forever,
together with y^ Improvement of y"" halfe of my homestead untill my son Timothy
shall attain'to y*' age of one and twenty years, after y^ expiration of y" s'd five years
already given to Eliphelet and Nathaniell. Item, I give and devise unto my son
Timothy my whole homestead y'^ one halfe thereof not disposed of to my wife, for
him to possess and enjoy when he shall obtain to y*^ age of one and twenty years, and
y" remaining part thereof at her death or remar3'ing, together with all my land and
meadow over y"^ Great Swamp, not before disposed off, with y" mendment lott of
meadow at Plums poynt, y'' same to be for him, his heirs and assigns forever.
" Item, all my out land and right of land, not yet disposed of in this my last Will
and Testament, I give, devise and dispose thereof unto my s'd five sons (viz.) Eliphelet,
Nathaniell, John, Samuell and Timothy, to be equally divided between them, and to
®fltiru=3ioJinson
be and remain to them, and each and every of them, their heirs and assigns forever.
Item, I give and bequeath unto my two daughters Deborah and Phebie the other two
thirds of my moveable estate, to be equally divided between them, and my will is that
each of my said sons pay to them, equally between them, my s'd daughters, tenn
pounds a piece, which is fiftie pounds the whole, the said tenn pounds to be paid by
each of my said sons within one year after each of them shall possess his estate.
" Item, I do hereby ordaine, constitute and appoynt my two sons Eliphelet and
Nathaniell joynt Executors of this my last Will and Testament, and do hereby utterly
disallow, revoake and make voyd all and every other former testaments, wills and
legacies, and executors before by me named, willed and bequeathed, ratifying and
confirming this and no other to be my last Will and Testament.
" In Witness whereof I have hereunto sett my hand and seal the day and year first
within written, and I desire my loving friends Mr. Jonathan Craine and John Cooper
to be overseers of this my s'd Will and Testament, that it be duly executed according
to y" true intent and meaning thereof.
" Eliphelet Johnson " [l. s.]
" Signed, sealed, published, pronounced and declared by y" s'd Eliphelet Johnson
as his last Will and Testament in y° presence of us y" subscribers : Joseph Peck, John
Ogden, John Cooper."
This Will was proved August 13, 1 718. It is the Will of a substantial
farmer, as is farther shown by the Inventory, dated Novembers, 1718.
The testator is there called Ca/>^. Eliphalet. The amount of personal
property sworn to by the Executors was ^258. 15. 7.
By his first marriage Eliphalet Johnson had :
I. Eliphalet .-"^ Col. Eliphalet; who died November 13, 1760, aged
sixty- four years — therefore born in 1696.
83 2. NATHAN I EL 3 (see below).
He had also (whether by his first or second marriage is unknown)
four other children, as follows :
3. JoJin .-"^ Capt. John; who is said to have died October 4, 1752,
aged thirty-seven years," but was probably an older man, inasmuch as his
father's Will makes him the third son, so that he must have been born
" Id., p. 122.
#fltren=SoJinson
between 1698, the date of Nathaniel's birth, and 1706, the date of the
birth of Samuel, the fourth son. He married Elizabeth daughter of Capt.
David Ogden of Newark (see #0tfttt part of this monograph), and
sister of Sarah who became the wife of his brother Nathaniel. The line
of his descendants is drawn out to the third generation in our Pedigree of
Johnson.
85 4. Samuel;'^ who died March 14, 1777, aged seventy-one years —
therefore born in 1706. Children of his are named in our Pedigree of
Johnson.
86 5. Timothy;'^ not twenty-one years old in 17 18, the date of his
father's Will; of whom little is known. He married, and had: (i.) a
87, 88 daughter Sarah ;^ who married Caleb Camp ; (2.) a son Jabez.'^
6. Deborah.^
90 7. Phoebe.^
NATHANIEL (83) Johnson died April 6, 1765, aged sixty-seven
years — therefore born in 1698. He was entitled "Esquire," and is said to
have been "a Magistrate of respectability and wealth." But his Will, like
that of his father, is our chief source of information respecting him.
The following is a copy in full :
" In the name of God, Amen. I, Nathaniel Johnson of Newark, in the County
of Essex and Province of New Jersey, being of sound Mind and Memory, do this
twelfth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and
sixty-four, make my Last Will and Testament in manner following. Viz. Imprimis,
I give to my beloved Wife Sarah Johnson the sum of Two hundred pounds Current
Money of New Jersey at 8/ pr Oz., to be paid out of my Personal Estate, and also
the use and occupation of the room we now live in, and the furniture, and also the
use of the kitchen, during her natural life. Item, I give and Bequeath unto my Son
Stephen Johnson, his heirs and Assigns forever, all that Orchard and Lott of Land
which I bought of my Brother Eliphalett Johnson, and likewise that my Executors
hereafter Named doo pay him out of my Moveable and Personal Estate the sum of
one hundred pounds New Jersey Money as aforesaid. Item, I give to my Grand Son
Josiah Ward the sum of Fifty pounds Jersey Money as aforesaid, to be paid out of
<©fltie«=3>ofin!5iou
my Personal Estate when he comes of age. Item, I give to my Grand Son Jacob
Jamison Banks the sum of Fifty pounds Jersey Money afores'd, to be paid to him out
of my Personal Estate when he shall come of age. Item, I give and bequeath the
equal remaining half part of all my personal and Moveable Estate to my Daughter
Martha Ward, the use thereof during her Natural Life, and then to be equally divided
between the Heirs of her Body. Item, I give and bequeath the other equal Remaining
half part of my moveable and personal Estate to my Daughter Catharine Banks, the
use thereof during her natural Life, and then to be equally divided between the Heirs
of her Body. Item, I give. Bequeath and devise to my Grandson Stephen Johnson, his
Heirs and Assigns, all that house. Barn and Lott of Land which he now lives upon,
which I bought of Capt" Nathaniel Wheeler, he allowing his Mother the use of one
Room in the house, and of one 3'' part of the Land during her Widowhood. Item, I
give, Bequeath and devise to my Grandson Nath=' Johnson, his Heirs and Assigns,
that house and Lott of Land which I bought of Zophar Beach, containing Eight
Acres. Item, I give, Bequeath and devise to my Grand Son Jotham Johnson, his
heirs and assigns, all that lott of Land Lying above two Mile Brooke, which I bought
of Coll. Joseph Tuttle. Item, I give. Bequeath and devise unto my Two Grand Sons
Nathaniel and Jotham Johnson, to them, their Heirs and assigns forever, to be equally
divided between them, all the two several Lotts of fresh Meadow and Upland which
I bought of Deacon Tuttle in the Neck, and likewise that which I bought of Josiah
Lyo,n, they paying my Grand Daughter Mary Johnson the sum of Sixty pounds
Jersey Money af '', on her coming to the age of Twenty one years. Item, I give,
Bequeath and devise unto my Son David Johnson all my house and Homestead,
together with all the rest and remainder of my Land and Meadow, with all my Right
of Lands that I now have, or ought to have, that is [not] otherwise devised, or shall
hereafter be devised, together with all my Farming Utensils, with the Cyder Mill and
presses, and all the Casks belonging to the house, to him, his heirs and Assigns for-
ever ; and my will is that my Son David shall freely use and Occupy the before
devised lot of land to my son Stephen Johnson, for one year after my decease. I
likewise give and devise unto my son David Johnson, his heirs and Assigns, that lott
or piece of salt Meadow lying below Indian Corner. Item, I give, Bequeath and
devise unto my Children, viz. David Johnson, Stephen Johnson, Martha Ward and
Catharine Banks, and to my Grandson Stephen Johnson, son of Thomas Johnson
deceased, to them, their heirs and assigns forever, two equal third parts of all my
right, Title, property and Claim whatsoever which I now have or may hereafter have
of, in and to all the Lands and real estate lately belonging to my Brother Eliphalet
Johnson deceased, to be equally divided between them, share and share alike, and the
®flTien=3oiinson
remaining equal third part thereof I give and devise unto the Children of my Brother
Timothy Johnson, viz. Jabez Johnson and Sarah Camp, and to the Children of my
Brother John Johnson deceas*, (viz.) Eliphalet Johnson, Uzal Johnson and David
Johnson, to them, their Heirs and Assigns forever, to be equally devided between
them, share and share alike. Item, my Will is that my Executors hereinafter named
shall pay all my Just Debts and Funeral Charges. Lastly, I do nominate and appoint
my son David Johnson and my two Sons in Law Uzal Ward and James Banks to be
the Executors of this my last Will and Testament, hereby revoking and annulling all
other and former Wills by me at any time heretofore made, Ratifying and Confirm-
ing this only to be my last Will and Testament. In Witness whereof I have hereunto
sett my hand and seal the day and year above written."
" Nathaniel Johnson [l. s.]"
" Signed, Sealed, Published and declared by the s* Nathaniel Johnson as and for his
last Will and Testament, in Presence of us, Timothy Bruene Jun'', Theophilus Pierson,
Daniel Ball." "
91,92
93
94
95
96
97
Proved April 15 and July 5, 1765.
Nathaniel Johnson married Sarah daughter of Capt. David Ogden
(see ^StKtl part of this monograph), and sister of Elizabeth the wife of
his brother John Johnson, by whom he had :
(i.) TJiomas,^ born February 5, 1719 ; who married ; and had Stephen^
and Mary.^ He removed to Hanover, N. J.; and died November 11, 1759.
(2.) David,'^ born August 11, 1721 ; who died in 1776, in his fifty-
sixth year. He married Eunice Crane ; and had several children who are
named in our Pedigree of Johnson.
(3.) STEPHEN* (see below).
(4.) Martha,'^ born June 19, 1728; who married Uzal Ward; and
had one or more children.
(5.) Sarah,'^ born November 2, 1731 ; who died January 14, 1760.
(6.) Catharine,'^ born January 23, 1737 ; who married James Banks;
and had one or more children.
•' The Wills of Thomas Johnson, Eliphalet Johnson and Nathaniel Johnson are on file in the office
of the Secretary of State of New Jersey. We are indebted to the courtesy of Hon. H. C. Kelsey for
copies of them, with the accompanying Inventories.
316
©fitrenrjofinfiion
STEPHEN (95) Johnson was born May 17, 1724; graduated at
Yale College in 1 743 ; ordained Pastor of the First Church of Lyme,
Conn., December 10, 1746; Fellow of Yale College 1773-86; married:
first, July 26, 1744, Elizabeth daughter of William Diodate of New
Haven_(see ^ioXtUti); secondly, December i, 1762, Mary (Gardiner)
Blague, widow of Rev. Elijah Blague, and daughter of John Gardiner
the fifth Lord of the Manor of Gardiner's Island ; and, thirdly, in
May 1776, Abigail daughter of Knight and Abigail (Buttolph) Leverett
of Boston, Mass., a great great granddaughter of Gov. John Leverett of
Massachusetts.
The historian Gordon wrote of him as follows :
" In Connecticut the inhabitants were quite inattentive to the fatal consequences
that the act [the Stamp Act] might draw after it in some distant period. The judges
themselves, several of whom were of the council, appeared perfectly secure, and were
no ways alarmed. The Rev. Mr. Stephen Johnson of Lyme, vexed and grieved with
the temper and inconsiderateness of all orders of people, determined if possible to
rouse them to a better way of thinking. He consulted a neighbouring gentleman, an
Irishman by birth [Mr. John M'Curdy, see our first volume], who undertook to convey
the pieces he might pen to the New London printer, so secretly as to prevent the author's
being discovered. Three or four essays were published upon the occasion. The eyes
of the public began to open, and fears were excited. Other writers engaged in the
business, while the first withdrew, having fully answered his intention. The congre-
gational ministers saw further into the designs of the British administration than the
bulk of the colony ; and by their publications and conversation increased and
strengthened the opposition.""
Bancroft called him "the incomparable Stephen Johnson of Lyme,'""
and farther said of him :
" The History of the Rise, Progress and Establishment of the Independence of the United States
of America. ... By William Gordon. . . . London, 1788, i. 167-68.
•^ History of the United States. . . . By George Bancroft. Boston, 1854, v. 353.
^Q'tftn=3o'^tinon
" There [in Connecticut] the Calvinist ministers nursed the flame of piety and
the love of civil freedom. Of that venerable band none did better service than the
American-born Stephen Johnson, the sincere and fervid pastor of the first church of
Lyme.""
These expressions of the high estimation in which he was held by his
contemporaries in public life, confirmed by the verdict of the latest histo-
rian of our country, we propose to illustrate by some extracts from his
correspondence and published writings, or brief notices af them, both
political and religious.
But we will first put on record, here, three private letters of his which
have fortunately come into our hands, and two letters written about the
same time to his third wife and to him :
" Lyme in Connecticut, 16"" April, 1776."
" Dear Madam,
" I have deferr'd writing, to Know the Effect of the application of the Gen'
and Field Officers for me to Joyn the Regiment and attend Service in the Army this
Campain. Yesterday our Society had a meeting upon it, were so divided that at
present I do not see it duty to go — the Col' the Committee and I were together Last
night till late, he soliciting them for another meeting to Clear my way — they declined
it — I Believe he will make nothing of it — therefore I see nothing at present in the
way but we may proceed on, as we proposed, in that Case 1 sho" think it best for me
to Come and Have the matter Compleated the week before Your Gen' Election, as
that will better suit my aSairs here, and as the latter will be a week of Publick Com-
motion, and on many accounts inconvenient for such a service. I think it not prudent
to write to Mr. Eddy untill I have a line from You of Your health, affection and dis-
position in this matter — wish you to write by the first oppertunity, and at farthest that
I may have it by the post week after next, as that will leave me but a short time to
make the Necessary regulations in the affair.
" I write in haste, therefore short, as I am this day (weather permitting) to meet
and Joyn an Ecclesiastical Councel in a Neighbouring Town — upon affairs of diffi-
culty in a Society.
" Id., V. 320.
(©flTitn=3Jo!jnfiion
" whenever I have the happiness to meet you again, hope to find in You a happy
increase of health and affection, which will be very acceptable to Your affectionate
Hum'''^ Serv'
Stephen Johnson."
"To M'= Leverett."
" P. S. my Comp= to the Good Old Lady, our Landlady, Mr. Eddy," your B"^
and Sister Green," and other Friends who may inquire after me."
"S.J."
" Lyme, 8'" May 1776."
" Dear Maddam
" I have receiv'd Mr. Gordon's Informing of the Continuance of Your
Indisposition, for which I was sorry on Your account and my own — as it embarrasses
my way, and renders me somewhat doubtful what to do. to Come and not proceed
would by no means answer, my pulpit unsupplied &c. &c. — to proceed if your indis-
position would not admit your return with me would be far worse, if I could see
any Considerable advantage, would willingly defer till June — but may is usually the
most healthy and best for Travelling— a long Journey moderately pursued I think
most likely to Confirm Your health, especially when attended with Good and agreable
Company &c.
" upon these apprehensions I rather think, extraordinaries excepted, shall make
a visit at the time before propos'd, by which time hope You'll be in very Comfortable
health.
" Mr. Gordon informs You** Concluded to Publish &c., so that there is no need
of my writing to Mr. Eddy — if that Pretty little M'", Mr. Eddy's Charmer, is yet with
You, I wish You to get her to ride out with You every fair day— as I think fresh air
and moderate exercise a most likely means to throw off the relicks of Your Indispo-
sition, to recover and Confirm Your health— Since I wrote have been to Middletown,
New London &c., have made inquiry for a Chaise, but can find none to my mind —
must therefore depend on getting one in Boston— at Medfield on my return heard
there were Good and Cheap ones in Boston, second hand, and sho'' have ingaged
some Friend to have bought me one, but did not know but I sho'' go into service in
"' Apparently the Minister of Newtown, where Miss Leverett resided when this letter was written.
•" A sister of Mrs. Abigail (Leverett) Johnson, named Rebecca, had married John Greene of Boston
— A Memoir ... of Sir John Leverett, Knt. . . . Boston, 1856, p. 153.
©fl;tien=3oJinson
the Army." Could wish to have Your B'' Green to befriend me in this matter, but
have not acquaintance Eno' with him to write. You have my earnest wishes and
prayers for Your health and happiness, who am affectionately Yours &c.
" Stephen Johnson."
'To M" Leverett."
" P. S. Comp'^ to all Friends, &c.
" Lyme, 8"" May 1776."
" D' Sir,
" This day sen' night (happening at New London) receiv'd Your Kind Favor,
and Could have sent an Answer by the same post, but M"° L t's indisposition
occasion'd some Embarrassment in my way — Tho't best to take some time to delibe-
rate before writing — upon deliberation think it quite as likely a lurking fever will
leave her before as at the approach of hot weather — That a Journey about the time
proposed will be more likely to be Comfortable and healthy than in hot weather — if
we have the smiles of Heaven, hope to give You no more Trouble than to convey the
inclosed to M'^ L 1. — sho* health &c. admit our proceedure, sho"" be very glad of
Your and M"* Gordon's presence on the occasion, and dare warrant it wo'' be very
agreable to my Partner; no interesting News in this quarter — with Comp' to M"'
Gordon I am Your oblidged affect'^ Friend and B'
Stephen Johnson."
Addressed
" To the Rev"
William Gordon," at Jamaica Plains, Roxbury."
" Newtown, June 18"" 1776."
" Dear Friend,
" this attends you with our kind Love — we kept with you in our Imagina-
tions all along y^ Journey as well as cou'd be expected in such a rocky unpleasant
»* The chaise here referred to, having been at length purchased, and, whether "secondhand" or,
like " the deacon's masterpiece," " so built that it couUn' break daown," having brought the country-
pastor's Boston bride in safety to her new home, over the " rocky unpleasant road," became almost as
famous in Lyme as "the wonderful one-hoss shay" of our humorous poet. Long afterwards it was
spoken of as one of the wonders of the village.
" The historian Gordon before quoted from.
#0;rtn=3)o)|nf$on
road — we hope your Journey was tolerable, your Arrival at Lyme safe, and your
Reception among that People and in your own Family truely delightful — may your
present Situation (which I can't but suppose agreeable) produce to you every day
some new and large Encrease of happiness, in which may yr Worthy Partner and his
Amiable Family be made to enjoy an uninterrupted and plentiful Share — nothing
remarkable has occurr'd since yr departure Except that our people have drove away
y" Shipping from our lower Harbour so y' we have now a Clear Coast — how long
this will be y"^ Case is a matter utterly uncertain. —
" I deliver'd yr little memorandum to Mr. Green according to yr direction — am
sorry we are unable to send either yr Desk or easy Chair, but y* Waggoner don't
chuse to take in any thing but what he can stow with safety — enclos'd is an Inventory
of what we have sent, and shall readily observe yr direction with regard to y^ remain-
der — Ma'm Gibbs desir'd her very particular regards to Each of you — Nabby will
write a post-script for herself — mind and give my kind love to M^ Will" Johnson,
his amiable Sister and y' Miss Grisold whom I've heard him speak of with y^ utmost
respect and friendship — I have now time to add no more but y' I am, with due respect,
your sincere Friend
John Eddy."
"To M" or rather Madam Johnson."
" Miss Barrett's P. S. Mr. Eddy Says he has wrote you all the News, but he is
mistaken — for we have taken one hundred and ninety Highlanders within Sight of
Boston — they brought furniture. Seeds and Every thing necesary for a barren Land,
thinking we had deserted our Lands, and were gone as far off as you ; they Expected
to find nothing but Rocks and Weeds, as you did — I have not done your apron, but
hope to go about it Soon, perhaps M' Green will bring it — young M" Eddy Sends
kind Love to you and to Your Son Billy, for whom She has a great Regard —
Respects with Mine to M' Johnson — My love to Billy — Compliments to the young
Ladies. Do write as Soon as opertunity offers. Yours &c.
" Abigail Barrett."
" Newtown, July 17'" 1776."
" D' Sir,
" M" Gibbs was very happy in y*^ Receipt of your agreeable Epistle of June
y" 19*", before which she was almost impatient to know how Mad" Johnson wou'd
hold out under y'= Fatigues of a Journey which was to be, not only tedious in Length,
but peculiarly formidable and troublesome on Account of y" Ruggedness of y" Roads.
<!^fltren=Sotinson
we are happy to find by yr Letter that M" Johnson was neither so much fatigued,
nor y° way so formidable and rugged, as what might reasonably have been expected
from y° representation given us before yr departure — her being something Indispos'd
immediately on y° fatigue and worry of fixing off, is not much to be wonder'd at —
it's remarkable y* she bore y° Journey so well — it's happy y' she likes her Situation,
and enjoys such a share of Health, sprightliness and Vigour — these no Doubt will
conduce to heighten yr domestick and matrimonial Felicity — if our kind Wishes for
yr Happiness wou'd serve to promote it, you wou'd be happy enough. M" Gibbs,
Miss B tt and myself send our very kind regards to yr Self, y' amiable Spouse and
desirable Children — nothing of j^ News kind occurs, worthy of transmitting to such
a Distance, shall therefore subscribe, with respect, your Friend and humble Servant
John Eddy."
One of the letters here given, written May 8, 1776, alludes to
Johnson's having recently entertained the thought of going "into service
in the Army." But he had already been in the field. A letter from him
to Lieut.-Gov. Matthew Griswold, of October 5, 1775, was written
"in Camp at Roxbury " (see €irfCfiiU)Oltl)* Another of these letters,
dated April 16, 1776, speaks of a meeting of the First Ecclesiastical
Society of Lyme, the day before, at \vhich, notwithstanding the personal
solicitations of Col. Parsons, they could not agree to part with their pastor.
It is a matter of record, however, that about a month later, on the 22*^ of
May 1776, the following vote was passed at a meeting of the Society :
" At the same Meeting Voted that this Society consent that the Rev. Mr. Stephen
Johnson Accept the Appointment of the Gen' Assembly to be Chaplain to Col' S. H.
Parsons's Regiment ;"
ai.d Johnson accordingly joined the Regiment of Parsons, and probably
was present at the battle of Bunker Hill.
But ten years before the beginning of the American Revolution
Rev. Stephen Johnson, then in the vigor of manhood, had served the
cause of his country in a more memorable manner, by his pen, than he
afterwards did by his presence with the patriot-army. His writings pub-
#05en=3Jotinson
lished in newspapers of the time, and some politico-religious sermons of
his separately printed — to which reference is made, as we have seen, by
Gordon and Bancroft — constitute his chief claim to the remembrance of
posterity. These political essays, moreover, being the contemporary
expression of the fervor of actual conflict of opinion, are so valuable a
reflection of the times preceding and tending to the Revolution, that they
deserve to be treasured for their own sake. We shall here, therefore,
make extracts from them with freedom.
" The " three or four essays" which Gordon speaks of as having been
secretly conveyed to the New London printer by John M*^ Curdy are,
undoubtedly, certain papers published in the " New London Gazette " for
Sept. 6, Sept. 20, Sept. 27, Oct. 4 and Oct. 11, 1765 ; of which the first,
addressed "To the Freemen of the Colony of Connecticut," is signed
" Addison ;" and the last four, without signature, form a plainly connected
series. Internal evidence and an unpublished letter from Johnson himself
to President Stiles fully identify all of them. The letter referred to is
as follows :
" Lyme in Connecticut,
5"" March A. D. 1766."
" RevO Sir,—
"there is now in your Newport Press some Observations Printing (Thoughts
to be Seasonable for the times) which were Occasioned by the Late fast in our
Colony.
"... but a more Elaborate Peice Published in New London Gazette in way
of Continuation for five Several Papers in Sepf and Oct' last, which was Reprinted
in Boston Evening Post, signed by a Freeman of the Colony of Connecticut, is by
some ascribed to the Author of the Remarks in the Press." '°°
On the authority of this letter we cannot hesitate to include in the
series a paper in the " Gazette " of September 6, although that of September
20, by some words of general introduction, appears separated from it.
'<» Stiles MSS. in Library of Yale University.
©fl;treti=3lotinsott
The latter was reprinted in the " Boston Evening Post," and was unques-
tionably written " in way of continuation " of the paper of earlier date.
Another paper, published in the "Gazette" for November i, 1765, is
attributed to Johnson by Bancroft. It has, as we shall see, a plain internal
connection with those of September 20 to October 11.
We have also the "Observations" mentioned in Johnson's letter to
Stiles, of which the full title is " Some Important Observations Occasioned
by, and adapted to. The Publick Fast, Ordered by Authority, December
18'^ A. D. 1765. On Account of the peculiar Circumstances of the present
Day. Now humbly offered to the Publick, By the Author. Newport :
Printed and Sold by Samuel Hall, 1766."
Beside these writings of Johnson there has come down to us a sermon
preached before the General Assembly of Connecticut in 1770, which has
the following title : " Sermon Preached before the General Assembly of
the Colony of Connecticut at Hartford, on the day of their Anniversary
Election May 10'" 1770. By Stephen Johnson, A.M., Pastor of the First
Church of Christ in Lyme."
There exists, also, in the handwriting of Johnson,*" a copy of a letter
to the " Gentlemen of Committee of Inspection in New York," endorsed
as a " Copy of a Political Letter to Col. Sears ;" which from internal
evidence must have been written after the meeting of the First Congress,
at a time when the Province of New York was wavering in its adhesion
to that association of colonies which preceded the formal Confederation,
before her unanimity was made sure of in 1776. This document, not a
discussion of questions between the colonies and the mother-country — like
most of the political writings of Johnson — but an indignant remonstrance
against holding back from taking the only redress for grievances then
possible, breathes a most glowing spirit of resolute determination. It may
'"' This is among the M=Curdy family-papers preserved at Lyme; but another original, or a copy,
exists in the Library of the Conn. Historical Society. All the printed articles and sermons of Stephen
Johnson, here spoken of, are also in that Library. We owe our copies to the courtesy of Hon.
J. Hammond Trumbull, and Charles J. Hoadly Esq., State Librarian.
®flTien=3Joi)nBon
well, as we have elsewhere suggested, have been inspired by the warm
nature of Johnson's neighbor, and associate in political movements of his
time, John M^Curdy. We give it entire :
"Gent" :
" it is with astonishment and deep concern the wisest and best men of this
Colony see the defection of Your Assembly from the Grand Cause of America, and
the measures which the wisdom of America in a grand Councel have concerted for
its support, in that they have expressly refused their concurrence and accession to the
association agreed upon in Congress— and have explicitely, and it is said Unanimously,
adopted a measure of application singly by themselves, which was particularly
debated and Ruled out in Congress, and it is the more Astonishing Because Your
Delegates in Congress Behaved very reputably and well, were active and very Cordial
in the measures adopted and pursued by the Congress, and were received with Such
cordiality, Joy and thanks by Your City ; and when the doings of the Congress were
also well received, and so readily adopted, by your city, as well as by a large number
of Your Towns and Counties; and by every other Assembly that has since meet upon
the Continent, and with a very great unanimity likewise, is it possible this grand link
should so drop out of our grand chain— that You, upon whom we placed so high and
firm a dependance, as among the foremost in attachment to our great cause in Publick-
spiritedness, integrity, vertue and honour, should now Shrink back, deceive, forsake,
weaken and betray us, and hereby Sink yourselves into the most contemptible and
everlasting infamy and disgrace in the eyes of this whole Continent, of Great Britain,
and all the Nations of Europe ? but we can hardly believe You will suffer it to Remain
so. we think it Kind and Friendly to inform you a special Assembly is now Called,
and will soon meet in this Colony, if matters remain in Your Assembly as they now
are, we doubt not but ours, when they meet, will resolve against You, agreably to
the 14"- Art. of Association, to break of all commerce and usual correspondence with
Your City and Colony, as we hope New Jersy Assembly in their Present Session
will likewise do— which we doubt not will be come into by all the Assemblies
included in the Grand Association upon the Continent, as You thus break the
connection, Subvert the united measures of the Continent, and seperate Yourselves
from the rest of the Governments, Choosing to act Singly for Yourselves, for the
seperate, distinguishing advantages You hope to Yourselves ; so doubtless they in
return, in indignation against such horrid Treachery, will desert you, and leave you
to stand alone, and Sink upon your own rotten ministerial Bottom, while they, trust-
©flTien=3JoJ|nfiion
ing in God, will hope to work out their salvation without you. this early information
is given You to the end that the well affected to the Grand Cause among you, which
we doubt not are much the Greater part, may Seasonably and vigorously exert them-
selves to instruct their members, and induce a Reconsideration of the matter, and a
cordial, explicit and firm Accession to the Association which your members agreed to
in Congress — which your honour, interest and the Publick interest, we conceive,
indispensibly require ; which would be to the Great Joy of the Continent, of our
Friends in Great Britain — and particularly to an affectionate and hearty Friend in
your City."
"To The Gentlemen of Committee
of Inspection in New York."
Let US now turn back to see with what arguments our ancestor
asserted the birthrights of Englishmen for himself and his fellow-colonists ;
and sought to avoid the alternative, while not yet too late, of a separation
from their dearly loved mother-country, consistently with honor. For this
purpose we shall briefly sketch the course of thought in the series of six
papers printed in the " New London Gazette," making such quotations
from them as may serve to illustrate their substance and tone.
The first paper, of September 6, 1765, sets forth, in a general way,
the perils to English liberty of the Stamp Act then recently passed ; and,
while professing cordial loyalty to the British King, reminds the reader of
the special immunities secured to Americans by charter.
" The Colonies owe Allegiance to King George the Third, and are as loyal and
dutiful Subjects as any in his Dominions, and ought to submit to all such Orders and
Acts of Parliament as are agreable to the Constitution of the English Government,
and to the Grants and Priveleges made to and conferred on them by royal Patents
and Charters ; which are really Compacts and Agreements with the colonists, in con-
sideration of Services done and perform'd, and to be perform'd, by them for the
Crown and Kingdom, in the Enlargement of the British Dominion, and Increase of
their Commerce. If these Grants and Compacts are broke on the one Side, can any
Obligation lie on the other ? The Colonists have no Doubt of their being under the
Government of the British Parliament ; no Man questions their Power of doing
any thing within the British Dominions; but their Right to do any thing is not so
©fltrtn=Sofinson
extensive. They can't have Right to govern the Colonies in just the same Manner
as they have Right to govern the Isle of Britain, because our Distance renders it
impossible for them to be so acquainted with our Circumstances, because we have
really nobody to represent us there, and because we have by royal Grant and Compact
certain Priveleges which the exercise of such a Government necessarily vacates.
If the B sh Parliament have right to impose a Stamp Act, they have a right to lay
on us a Poll Tax, a Land Tax, a Malt Tax, a Cyder Tax, a Window Tax, a Smoke
Tax, and why not tax us for the Light of the Sun, the Air we Breath, and the Ground
we are Buried in ? If they have Right to deny us the Privelege of Tryal by Juries,
they have as good a Right to deny us any Tryals at all, and to vote away our Estates
and Lives at Pleasure.
" You ought, my Friends, no doubt, and I know you are most willing, to do all
in your Power to contribute to the general Good of the British Empire, in every way
not inconsistent with the essential Priveleges of your Charters, Grants, and of
Englishmen. These you ought not, you may not, give up. If you tamely part with
them, you are accessory to your own Death, and entail Slavery on your Posterity.
" It is in your Power, Gentlemen, to chuse your Representatives at the approach-
ing and at all your Assemblies : Let me humbly advise and entreat you for God's
Sake, for your own and for Posterity's Sake, to chuse Men of Wisdom, Courage and
Resolution, true Englishmen, who will not be bo't nor cow'd into the tame Submis-
sion of fawning Place men, nor scar'd at the Insolence of (our own) M— st— al Tools,
who (as usual) begin their Threats sooner than their Masters. . . . You have
laudable Examples of this before your Eyes. The Government of the Massachusetts
have invited all their Brethren on the Continent to join in a humble, earnest Petition
for a repeal of the Act of Slavery. ' Be not Rash nor Diffident.' The brave people
of Providence have also set a worthy Example. . . ."
The second paper, printed September 20, alludes to the possibility
of the use of military power to enforce the arbitrary measures of the
British Government, and proceeds
"to offer some tho'ts tending to evince the propriety and importance of an union
of the American governments in a general congress. ... and the rather as Civis
[a writer in the ' New Haven Gazette'] seems to think it sufficient for our general
assembly only to determine for themselves and their constituents. . . .
^QXitn=3o'^nuon
"I would therefore," says Johnson, " i*', inquire into the evils apprehended from
the late measures of the British ministry ; 2"''', what British subjects in America may
do, and what, likely, they will do ; 3^''', what the governments have done, may, and
we humbly conceive would do well to, do further. Lastly, conclude with some
advices to my dear countrymen."
Under the first head, speaking of the inalienable right of Englishmen
to be taxed by their own representatives in Parliament, he says :
" To pretend we are Virtually represented by the members of parliament is such a
weak, flimsy argument as deserves no answer. Pray by what members ? Is it those
chosen by the city of London, or any other city, Shire or Burough ? For we know
not to whom to apply as our representatives. The particular members chosen by and
for any Burough or Shire can say they are the representatives of such Burough or
Shire (tho' all are not qualified, and do not vote in their election), because chosen by
the freemen of such Shire, who, by constitution, act for the whole. But is it other-
wise as to the Americans ? Who of the members can say ' I am the representative of
the Americans,' without the consent or vote of a single American ? And if no one
can say it, the right is in no one, and consequently not in the whole. Five hundred
noughts can never make a unit. . . .
" 'Tis ridiculous to common sense that two millions of free people can be repre-
sented by a representative who is elected by no one of them. . . ." '"
Of the privilege of jury-trial, taken away by the Stamp Act, he writes
as follows :
'<" But, in the words of a distinguished writer of the present day, " What was the exact significance
of the ancient constitutional formula which connected taxation with representation? When broadly
stated by the colonists, it must have struck many Englishmen of that day as a mischievous paradox,
since it seemed to deny the right of Parliament to tax, not nnly Massachusetts, but Manchester and
Birmingham, which were not represented in any intelligible sense in the House of Commons. On the
other hand, the American contention is largely accounted for by the fact that the local assemblies in
which the colonists were represented 'were not formally instituted, but grew up by themselves, because
it was in the nature of Englishmen to assemble' . . . The truth is that, from the popular point of
view, either the affirmation or the denial of the moot point led straight to an absurdity" — Popular
Government. By Sir Henry Sumner Maine. . . . New York, 1886, pp. 222-23.
4^0Tren=3)ol)nson
"Another fundamental of British liberty is that of trial by our own Peers —
Jurymen, after the manner of England. If there be any privelege in the common
law, it is this. If any in Magna Charta, secure and sacred to the subject, it is this
right of trial by our own Peers.
" It was one thing immediately in contest in the baron war, which those sensible,
noble patrons of liberty asserted to be their right ; for which they associated and
fought, and which they would and did have secured, as an indeseasible inheritance,
to themselves and posterity forever. No privelege, I think, is oftener repeated in
Magna Charta. 'Tis express : 'An Earl and a baron shall not be amerc'd but by
their Peers ; and according to the manner of the offence.' And again : ' no freeman
shall be taken, nor imprison'd, nor disseiz'd, nor out-law'd, nor exil'd, nor destroyed,
in any manner ; nor will we pass upon him, or condemn him, but by the lawful
judgment of his Peers, or by the law of the land.' And it was fully provided, as to
what was passed, where any had suffered in lands, or chattels, or priveleges &c.,
without lawful judgment of their Peers— such judgments were annul'd, and their
rights to be restored ; and for the future 'tis brought [out] again and again, with
respect to the English and Welch both, processes should be, in England, ' by the
lawful judgment of their Peers, according to the law of England ;' in Wales, ' by their
Peers, according to the law of Wales.' ... So that this invaluable charter must
be destroyed, before we can be deprived of this precious privelege. 'Tis express in
these lines : ' We will not obtain of any one for ourselves, or for any other, any
thing whereby any of these concessions, or of these liberties, may be revok'd or
annihilated ; and if any such thing be obtained, it shall be null and void, nor shall
ever be made use of by ourselves or any other.' "...
The paper of September 27 opens in immediate connection with
that of the 20'^ thus :
" Do not these measures effectually subvert our royal charters, and the most
important priveleges we hold by them ?"
It is devoted to a description of the infringement, by the Stamp Act, of
those special charter-rights which had been granted to Americans by the
Crown ; and shows how all royal charters must stand or fall together, all
being alike rewards of merit, "granted ... for eminent services
done for the crown and kingdom."
<!^fltrtn=3JoJinson
" How then can they be annul'd, or superceded, without forfeiture and legal
trial, any more than the royal patents to Knights, Earls and Peers, who for eminent
services have been ennobled, and rewarded with their titles of honor, with lands,
with peerages &c. can " . . . be " taken away without forfeiture and legal trial ?
In short, our charters are so well founded that we think they can't be superceeded or
annul'd, in a sovereign way, without danger to the free charters in Great Britain.
And why may not this act, in subversion of the priveleges of our charters, in future
time, be improved as a precedent against Magna Charta itself, and the other charters
in England, to the ruin of their priveleges, 'with equal or stronger force. . . . ?"
The paper of October 4 considers the evil of the measures of the
British Government as tending "to destroy that good affection and confi-
dence between our gracious King, the British parliament and his American
subjects, which has most happily subsisted, and is highly important ;" and
dwells upon the thought suggested by the sameness of human nature in all
ages, and illustrated and enforced by earlier English history, that those
measures tend even to civil war, and threaten the loss to Great Britain of
her American colonies :
" Never a people more loyal than the Americans ; that more exulted in their
relations to their mother country, and enjoyment of British liberties ; that had a
greater affection for their sovereign, and more intire confidence in the British parlia-
ment. And had the just and gentle measures of the former reign been, their loyalty
had been fixed ; by every principle of affection, duty and interest it would have been
fixed immoveable forever."
But the treatment the colonies had received "has already had an
amazing effect on the minds of many thousands, and doubtless will have a
worse if continued. . . ."
"Do not these measures tend to a very fatal Civil War? I hope, in the mercy of
God, things may never be pushed to this bloody, this dreadful, issue ! which must be
attended with infinite ill consequences to the Mother country and Colonies ; and,
considering the advantage France and Spain would certainly make of such a crisis,
could scarce fail of ending in the ruin of England and America. . . .
<!^gtien=3)oi|nfiion
". . . Suppose human nature the same as in foregoing ages, and that like
causes will have like effects — and what the probable consequence ? What were the
grievances that have caused the most terrible civil wars, and rivers of blood, in
England ? Was it not the superceeding, and trampling upon, their Liberties, which
had been held by common law, time immemorial ; and afterwards confirmed in the
Norman way, under hand and seal by charter from Henry I., and afterwards by
King John ; and, particularly, sovereign judgments and executions without a trial
by their peers — that were chief causes of the Baron wars, that made those noble
patrons of liberty associate, sh^d their blood, and swear, by him that lives for ever
and ever, that they would part with their substance, and life itself, before they would
part with those liberties ? Were not the raising taxes by ship money &c., without
the consent of the good people of England who were to pay them, and arbitrary
courts of trial, contrary to the rights of Englishmen, and the common usages of the
land, principal grievances and causes of the civil war in the reign of Charles I.?
Were not the unconstitutional, arbitrary courts erected, contrary to the English
liberty, and usages of the nation ; corruption of trials by packed juries ; the arbitrary
taking away, and trampling upon, the privileges of royal charters ; and the refusing
to hear petitions and redress grievances ; arbitrary suspense of laws and executions
legally obtained — among the principal civil grievances in the reign of James II.
which caused the glorious revolution ? For which the nation needed and inexpres-
sibly joyed in a deliverer. If A — ri — ns apprehend their grievances similar to some
of these which have produced such prodigious scenes in the nation, are we sure they
will never call to mind revolution principles, taken from the great Selden and the
best writers of the English nation ? such as 'Where there is a right there is a remedy ;
And the usage of the nation is the law of the nation, as much as the usage of parlia-
ment is the law of parliament; And the law of self-preservation takes place of all
the laws of compact, when they come into competition ' &c. And can we be sure
they will have no effect? Indeed, if their measures were only a sudden heat of
passion, from the novelty of the tax, it might issue and die in some transient tumult
only ; but, if it proceeds from a deliberate apprehension that their most important
civil liberties are deeply affected ; and this uneasiness is increased and more deep
rooted, the more attentively it is considered (as is now the case in fact) — then the ill
effect is like to be great and lasting; and increase (and not abate) by length of time,
as the weight of these measures will be more painfully felt. And what makes the
matter worse is the zealous scribbling advocates for these measures seem to be
councellors of Rehoboam's stamp. . . . they are . . . for adding burthen
upon burthen, till they make the little finger of his present Majesty a thousand times
^S'iitn=3of^tinon
heavier than the loins of his great grandfather ; and would bind all fast with a
military chain. . . . How this will end, time must discover. If in a similar
event (which is not impossible to the providence of God, nor more improbable to
Britons than, five years ago, this stamp act was to Americans), the loss of two mil-
lions of the best affected subjects, and one third, some say one half, of the profits of
the national trade, must be no small weakening to the most flourishing kingdom in
the world. In fine, such are the nature and number of the evils apprehended as I
should think sufficient to awaken us to an engaged attention to our case, to evince us
of the necessity of a general congress, and excite this and the other governments,
from every principle of love and loyalty to our gracious King, to the British parlia-
ment, to the interest of the nation and of the colonies — to use their utmost efforts, in
lawful constitutional measures, to avert these evils, and for the repeal of this Stamp-
Act."
The fifth paper, dated October ii, discusses "the reasons assigned for
these extraordinary measures" by " Civis." The "better protecting and
securing of the American colonies " is first noticed ; and, with a view to
the repayment of expenses incurred for that purpose in past times, " 'tis
reasonable " it had been said, " we should contribute to diminish the vast
national debt ;"
" but " replied Johnson, " we know how it arose — by what immense sums sunk
in the ocean — Germany — in which Americans have no more concern than East
Indiamen. And is there any refunding from Germany ? We know what enormous
sums are annually expended in support of numerous idle oflBcers and placemen in
Great Britain. . . . but they are not of American appointment or good will.
. . . I hope these are not to be charged to American protection.
" When our forefathers were few and poor, and incompassed with innumerable
enemies, they greatly needed help and protection ; yet then there was no such concern
and bustle about it ; no, they were left, unassisted, to their own efforts, and the pro-
tection of their God. And no wonder — there was no money immediately to be got
by it ; but now we are numerous, and Canada and our enemies are subdued — scarce
an enemy dare lift up his head in all the land— now, hungry placemen, and those who
would be such, make a mighty bustle about our better protection ; and we must be
heavily taxed, and an hundred thousand pounds annually raised and sent over to the
exchequer for the purpose. . . . But what special protection have we ever had
<!^OTien=3JoJjnfiion
except in the two last wars, in which with great gratitude we acknowlege the favor
of our gracious King, and the British parliament ; but are of the opinion, as to the
first, that the taking of Cape Breton for the crown and realm was more than a
balance for that and all foregoing protections. And as to the last, we [bore] our full
proportion, according to our ability, which might bring us off clear. If not, we
assisted and did our part, according to what was required, till Canada and the
Havannah were conquered ; and the whole profits of these great and rich conquests
have gone to Great Britain, and not a farthing to these colonies. Yea more, has not
Great Britain, in fact, received an indemnification for the expences of the last war,
while Americans have received none ? Has not the vast territory of Canada, Louis-
iana and Florida been added to Great Britain ? By what right ? They had no prior
claim to either. Upon what consideration was it ceded to them, but as an indemnifi-
cation for the charges of the war ; and this indemnification received is our discharge."
Then, supposing future protection to be intended by those who would
thereby justify the new burthens, Johnson says :
" The expressions of the act seem to look this way. But what protection of this
kind do we want, more than the inhabitants of Great Britain ? Or why are we so
heavily taxed to fill the Exchequer, and they not a farthing raised for this purpose ?
Is this equal ? Why this distinction .' Or what tendency has this measure to our
better protection ? Do we not need our monies (even more than the British subjects)
for trade, that we may lay up something for our protection ? . . . Let us now
suppose the little silver and gold we have is drawn home by taxes, we are impov-
erished, our monies above three thousand leagues distant, and hoarded up out of our
power ever to command ; is our protection, and security against an invasion, better
in this situation than our monies and all the profits from them in our own hands?
Or will it not throw us into a state of the greatest insecurity, and expose us to be an
easy prey to any inslaving power that may invade us ? And if it be the base design
of any in the M y to reduce us to such a weak, helpless, wretched state, that
they may make us a prey, we owe them no thanks for it.
"Or," continues Johnson, "is it for present exigencies of state? Here again
we have a wild chase, to find a real occasion of state for these heavy taxes. Some
tell us they are needed to augment the salaries of Governors and Judges, &c. But
such a tax, for such a purpose, is such gross stupidity, and superlative nonsense, as
requires no answer : 'tis added, to support courts of Vice Admiralty, &c., with eight
hundred pounds salary — Indeed, we know that several thousands of it is to go to
<©flJieu=3loJinfiion
support arbitrary courts of Admiralty and Vice Admiralty, and a numerous tribe of
Stamp-officers and Taskmasters. . . . But is this our better protection ? If it
must pass by any other than its proper name, it may be called M — st — 1 policy, or
National Thrift, or any thing else ; but to pass it off for better security and protec-
tion, does it not carry a direct insult upon the understandings of Britons and Amer-
cans ? 'Tis added, to support fifteen thousand regular troops, to be dispersed through
the American governments, to awe them and keep them in order, and make them
submit to these taxes, &c. But do not such sycophants know that a standing army
for such purposes, in a time of peace, is most contrary to the British constitution ?
That it is most dangerous to the liberties of a free people— that Rome, France, and
many others, lost their Liberties by it ? Have they forgot how it alarmed our nation,
and the effects of it, in the reign of Charles the first, and James the second ? May
not such preposterous, officious impolicy send us a Caesar, to break off our connection
to Great Britain, and set up as a protector of the liberties of the colonies ? Or may
it not plunge us, here and at home, into a bloody civil war, the damage of which to
the nation an hundred thousand hireling scribblers could not countervail ? When
they speak of these dreadful measures with such a bloody gust and relish, we could
wish them to remember the fable of the Frogs : ' What is Sport to them is Death to
us.' For the moment but 300 Regulars are imposed upon Americans for such a pur-
pose, our Liberty is lost — we are in fact under a military government, which is no
government — 'tis horrid tyranny, and one of the worst sort. And who needs a
moment to determine whether it is protection or destruction such scribblers drive at ?"
But " Civis" had alleged the necessity, "ever since the peace, to keep
up a body of troops, viz. about 7,000 men, upon the frontier in America,
to preserve the people from the violence of the bordering Indians, and to
prevent disturbances from the newly conquered French inhabitants " — to
which Johnson replies :
". . . Indeed, if these troops are to be quartered, at discretion, upon the newly
conquered French, it will no doubt require the whole number, and more, to keep
them from disturbances ; for this is so contrary to the British constitution they are
under, and such an outrage upon humanity, as no people ought to bear. . . . but
were they indulged the liberties of a free people, and of British subjects, they would
be peaceable of themselves, and need but few of these troops."
#0^rn=3JofinBon
And, as to preserving the people from the violence of the bordering
Indians, he says :
" This is worse and worse. The militia of the colonies is doubtless sufficient
to defend us from the violences of the Indians in times of peace. This we judge upon
trials made — the surest test. They were so in the days of our fathers, when their
enemies were near terf times as many, and their militia an hundred times less. . . ."
But the colonies, it was said, would not exert themselves proportion-
ately : " some will do much, and some little or nothing at all." To this
Johnson replies :
" But is it not more reasonable to state and require the proportion of those who
will do little, than so heavily to tax the whole ? Some, 'tis allowed, have done much,
yes, beyond their abilities ; and must they now be subject to a heavy, perpetual, end-
less tax, equal to those who have done little ? Where is the generosity or justice of
this ? Some have done little ; but have they forfeited their essential rights as
Englishmen by it — such as their right of taxing themselves, or of trial by juries ?
by what law of reason ? If not, why are they so punished ? Or have they, or can
such incorporate bodies forfeit such privileges for their posterity, that they also shall
be disfranchised of their birthright privileges ? No, the contrary (if I mistake not)
was fully proved in the trial of the London Charter. And more — can they forfeit for
all the other governments in America, who have no more hand in their transgression
than any of the corporations in G. Britain, that they must all suffer with them, they
that have done much, in doing much, as well as they who have done little, for their
doing little ? . . . Good God ! where do such sovereign measures tend, and
where may they end ? Supposing it tried in the kingdom of Ireland, or Great Britain,
upon some delinquency found in some of the cities or corporations — the essential
rights of one and all must be superceeded and vacated, and the powers of the courts
of admiralty be extended to cases belonging to the courts of common pleas ; and the
privileges of juries denied in jury actions — would it go down in either of these king-
doms? . . 'Tis happy that this rule of administration was not adopted and
practised upon in the late rebellion, or it might have proved fatal to all the charters
and corporations in Great Britain. . . ."
®fltien=3»oljnson
The smallness of the revenue to be raised by the Stamp Act, and
other duties in the West Indies and American colonies, had been alleged
as an excuse for them.
" But were it so," writes Johnson, " is this all the damage we shall sustain by
the stamp act ? Far otherwise — the day it takes place, it sinks the value of our estates
in America more than a million. Yes, we lose the best part of our inheritance. He
must be a sordid miser indeed who does not account his privileges the better part.
It is certainly, then, no trifle that fills the minds of Americans with so great anxiety.
But now comes his grand argument : ' As to the right of parliament to lay this tax,
they say that, although the particular colonies have certain rights, powers and privi-
leges, circumscribed within their respective limits, yet these do by no means take
from the parliament that supreme jurisdiction which they, and which every supreme
legislature in every state alway must, have over every part of the dominion — as well
those who have a voice in electing them as others — for the great and national pur-
poses of guiding and defending the whole ; and to suppose the contrary would be at
once to distroy the very foundation and principles of all government.' It has been
common for extraordinary exertions of power (unsupported by reason and the con-
stitution) to be palm'd upon the people by the favorable assistance of some favorite
court maxim of a specious sound and appearance, the fallicy of which few will be at
the pains to search out and detect. I take this to be a maxim of that kind. With
proper limitations the parliament have doubtless this power — but it can not extend to
the purposes of this act. To apply this maxim in this manner — it is self-repugnant,
and contrary to the truth of fact, and to the concession they make in the introduction
of it.
" The foundation of government stands strong in compassing the great ends of
government, viz. the people's securely enjoying their essential rights. . . . Now
to suppose the supreme legislature must have a power to superceed and take away
these rights at pleasure, in order to secure and protect the people in the enjoyment,
savors of contradiction, and is plainly self-repugnant. Again, no such extraordinary
power has been claimed or exerted by the British parliament for more than half a
century past ; but the rights taken away by it have been exercised by the British
colonies, and recognized (as rightfully theirs) by the British King and parliament for
several generations ; and yet the foundation of government all the time has stood
firm, here and in Great Britain ; and the great ends of it have been very well attained
in both, and certainly much better than they are like to be under these new claims
and exertions, which threaten anarchy, confusion and destruction to the colonies.
<©flTien=3JoJ)nfiion
more than any thing which has happened to them since their first existence. All
the people see this specious maxim, so applied, is contrary to the truth of fact. And
it is likewise contrary to the concession here made, viz. ' That the particular colonies
have certain rights, powers and priveleges circumscribed within their respective
limits.' These rights must be such as we have had in possession and exercise ever
since we were colonies ; the rights superceeded and vacated by the act — if we have not
these we have none — and, if these be our rights, they are ours to have and to hold, to
possess and defend, against all claimants whatsoever. They are indeseasible rights ;
we can not yield them up, nor can they be taken away from us. Were we so base,
we could not yield them up because they are the birthright inheritance of our chil-
dren, to which they are born ; and so are ours to hold, but not to give up ; nor can
any claimants rightfully take them from us — this would make them rights and no
rights, or ours and not ours, at the same time ; for such claimants could take them
away only on account of their having a better right to them than we ; and if so, in
fact they are our rights only in name, but theirs in reality; which is contrary to the
supposition and concession allowed us in the introduction. So that this grand argu-
ment, brought from a great nation, and set out by ' Civis ' with sufficient parade,
seems to savor of such great weakness that it can by no means support itself. . . .
No legislature on earth we so highly revere as the British parliament, and feel it our
greatest calamity we have not the fullness of their patronage of our liberties, at this
time as ever heretofore ; yet cannot think it within any power to make our rights no
rights, or rightfully to take away (without forfeiture or trial) the 'certain rights,
powers and privileges ' which are allowed to belong to particular colonies and British
subjects as such. Nor can we think these measures less likely to be injurious as a
precedent than if effected by royal prerogative only. The latter has often been tried
in vain, and the nation are so much awakened and guarded, on that hand, it can never
be enslaved by it. And it has long been the opinion of our best politicians that
' England can never be undone by a parliament.' As how, but by gradually dimin-
ishing their rights? And how can it be practised but first on the colonies, then upon
Ireland, then upon Great Britain itself.' . . ."
The paper of November i, the sixth in order, is unmistakably a
continuation of the series begun on the 20"" of September ; for it takes up
the second and third points laid out for discussion in the latter, namely :
" 2'''5', what British subjects in America may do, and what, likely, they
will do," and " 3'^'^ what the governments have done, may, and we humbly
0QXitn=3oW&on
conceive would do well to, do further ;" and concludes, as was proposed,
"with some advices to my dear countrymen."
Yet Johnson, in writing to Stiles in March 1766, spoke of a series of
five papers, and of those as having been printed in September and October
of the previous year. We must suppose he had forgotten that the printing
of the series was not finished in October. The peculiar phraseology of
the letter to Stiles, with reference to the paper of September 20, " in way
of Continuation for five Several Papers," is probably to be explained by his
having written the paper of September 6 without any purpose of continu-
ation ; after which he commenced anew, on the 2o'^ on a " more Elabo-
rate" plan.
It will be of special interest to recall what modes of redress were
thought of, and what action had been already taken, by patriotic Americans,
in the year 1765. Johnson first asserts the right of free inquiry, and next
that of petitioning :
" If, upon examination, they see plainly such taxation is neither constitutional
nor equitable, but a heavy grievance upon the subject, and infringement upon their
fundamental, natural rights, they may lay their grievances before the King and British
parliament, and humbly solicit a redress ; and have an undoubted right to be heard
and relieved. These have ever been the rights of Free Briions j and, since the grand
struggle between Liberty and Tyranny in the reign of James the 2*, They are con-
firmed to us more strongly than ever by the first parliament in the reign of King
William."
Then he proceeds :
" If such application should fail of redress, wkic/i is hardly supposable^"^ if properly
made, vv^here the cause is so just, and the grievances so evident, and likely to be
attended with so many and great evil consequences— but, in case of such failure, they
may publish and spread their grievances through the whole realm, and invite the
compassion and friendly aid of their fellow subjects in Great Britain. The Press is
open and Free. . . . And our good and kind christian brethren and fellow sub-
"" Most of the italicizing that follows is our own.
®0tien=3JoJm6on
jects in Great Britain may give us their friendly aid in many ways — by instructions
to their representatives in parliament, or choice of new ones when the present parlia-
ment is dissolved, &c. &c.
" And, were these measures pursued with wisdom and rigor, I apprehend we should
7iot long have any room or occasion for a further question : Whether we may not go on
to enjoy and improve our rights and privileges as usual ? . . . Or, another
question, whether, relief failing, the American governments or inhabitants may not
(after the example of the old Barons and others), associate for the mutual security and
defence of their birthright liberties and privileges ? In general, does not this maxim
' That a person or people, collectively, may enjoy and defend their own ' seem as
plain as the law of self-preservation on which it is built ? Is not the glorious revolu-
tion, and the right of our sovereign, and of all his royal predecessors of the house
of Brunswick, to the British throne, founded and built upon this principal ? And
are not all our legal processes founded upon this maxim ? . . . But as to the
other question : What British subjects in America likely will do, if this act is forced
upon them ... I say, what they will do is not, perhaps, within human foresight to
determine. Yet, when we reflect upon the violent efforts incident to human nature
under the apprehensions of most heavy oppressions — and the tumultuous conse-
quences of the Cyder Act in England. . . . And also consider the spirited
resolves of the Virginians "" and some others, and especially how the hearts of
Americans in general are cut to the quick by this act — we have reason to fear very
interesting and terrible consequences, tho' by tio tneans equal to tyranny or slavery . . .
However, this we may be sure of, that the importing of foreign forces further to
insult and oppress us (as urged by the tools of the late M y) will not prevent,
but increase and aggravate, the evils manifold. . . . Such a measure would far
more likely produce a distrust ana hatred, terminating in a hopeless, desperate irreconcileable
enmity, than any good consequences. Nor can the forcing the act fail of producing
great tumults and violences in England, as well as America, when their trade, their
woollen and other manufactures fail for want of market.
" But I waive this as more immediately their own concern, and pass on, 3'">', To
inquire what the governments have done, may, and, we humbly conceive may do well
to, do further. . . . Several governments have well stated, and unanswerably
defended, their constitutional and essential rights, infringed by the Stamp Act, in
their several tracts published. They sent them over to their agents (we take it), to be
laid before our gracious King and the British parliament, before the passing of this
'"^ Historj- of the United States. . . . By George Bancroft. . . . Last Revision. New York,
^g;Xitn=3ofinuon
act ; but they failed, and we understand were never read in parliament. . . . Let
the fault be where it will, have not the colonies good reason for loud complaints ?
" As to what they may do further, we are very far from prescribing, and mean
only friendly hints. The measure of a general Congress is evidently the most proper
and important, and it is the joy of thousands that there is so general an union and
concurrence in it. We doubt not every thing, which can be done for our relief by
them, will be done by the honorable Commissioners, in such humble petitions to our
gracious King ; and in such a respectful, nefvous and convincing address to the
British parliament as becomes a free, most affectionate, loyal and dutiful people.
We trust they will also lay a foundation for another congress (in case this fails to gain
us a redress), to consult of further measures. And is it not highly important that
every government should moderately and loyally, but most plainly and explicitly, assert
their own rights now drawn into contest ? and, if the stamp act be obtruded upon
us, it may appear to be forced upon us . . . against the explicit resolves of all
the American colonies. ... I will add, in case the stamp act be unrepealed, and
we fail of relief by the measures that are pursued, I can't but think it highly impor-
tant that the governments spread our righteous cause and grievances before our
Christian brethren and fellow subjects of Great Britain and Ireland, and appeal to
the great and good people of the whole realm, by printing and dispersing many thousands
of the tracts already published by them — or what may be drawn up by the general
congress — or some other tracts fitted for the purpose, into various cities and parts of
Great Britain and Ireland. It can't fail of a great and good effect. While the
M rs who contrived the act, and the pensioners who hoped to riot in the
plunder of it, may have hearts as hard as the money they hoped to receive by it, the
good people of the realm (rightly informed) will see and feel for us, or at least for
themselves. . . . The stamp act, at first view, has a very plausible appearance of
great good to the inhabitants of Great Britain. But, I am bold to say, it may be
made evident that in its operation and effects it icill hurt the interest of Great Britain
far more than the colonies. ... If the colonies are inslaved, no doubt Ireland will
soon be stamped and inslaved also. 'Tis already resolved in the 6"" of George II.
they have a right to tax Ireland. ... It is allowed nothing but inexpediency
now restrains from taxing Ireland ; but greater weight of inexpediency is already
overruled in this taxing of America, and, if this succeeds . . . then I conceive
the liberty of Great Britain will be worth very little, and cannot long survive. . . .
By reason of the number of placemen, and some other things, the power of the
M y is already so great as seems not a little to endanger the liberties of Great
Britain, without any enlargement of it. . . .
©fl5ren=3Joijnfii0n
"These things I do but hint, to shew the importance of laying the truth of the
case open before the eyes of the good people of the mother country. . . . For
suppose the spirit of the late M y to revive, and in their very persons too, and
to attempt to force the Stamp Act upon Americans (were things rightly viewed), it
would be impossible they should succeed. To say nothing of any opposition from
America, and of the resources which ivill be found in it when pushed to extremities, they
would find such opposition and perplexity from the inhabitants of the mother
country that they could not proceed. . . . rather would they draw upon the
exchequer for millions now due. . . . sooner than risque their interests in the
uncertain hazzard of a bloody, civil war ; in which, by sending away their men of
war, and forces, against America, they would have every thing to fear — from the
sword in their own bowels, from the powers of France and Spain, and the invasion
of the Pretender, who would not fail to improve such an opportunity ; and, if any of
the late M y designed such a bloody and cursed revolution, would it be blacker treason
against our rightful King George III., and the British realm, than this slavish scheme
is against the colonies ? And what have Britons to hope for, as a ballance to these
tremendous evils and dangers? . . . In short, these measures of the late M y
may easily be shewn to be most fruitless and most pernicious. And the true way in
which the colonies will become of greatest service to the realm, is not by taxation
but Trade. ... In this channel of trade all the profits of North America would,
in an easy and gentle flow, naturally, and almost necessarily, terminate in the mother
country ; but this taxation, with the heavy duties on trade, necessarily turn Ameri-
cans out of this channel, and drive them to such expedients as must hurt Great
Britain, in her trade and manufactures, an hundred times more than the profits of
these taxes. . . .
" In a word, if a spirit of true wisdom guides the affairs of Americans, we have
no reason to dispare, but much to hope for — from the best of Kings, from the new ministry,
who are in favor of the colonies, we hear, from the wisdom and righteousness of the
British parliament, and from the affection, justice, humanity and even self-interest of the
British inhabitants. . . . The duties on trade eas'd, and the stamp act repealed.
The tumults in Britain die away, and all the American colonies and West Indies are
calm'd, and settled in perfect tranquility. A new spirit of love and harmony diffuses
itself thro' the whole realm, and cements all the parts of it in the firmest union.
Languishing trade by and by revives, and flourishes; nor is this all — our most
gracious King and the British ministry and parliament are exalted high, higher than
ever, in the affection and confidence of Americans. . . . Fresh support, strength
and vigor is added to the British constitution, A general joy is spread thro' the
®fl?ren=3Jofinfiion
whole realm ; and in America it exceeds the joy of our most glorious military con-
quests. If these things will not rouse us, we must be dead to the most noble and best
feelings of humanity.
"... I conclude with some advices to my dear countrymen. Your concern
is great, universal, and, which is more, it is most just. I am an American born, and
my all in this world is embarqu'd with yours ; and am deeply touched at heart for
your distress, O my country ! My dear distressed country ! for you I have wrote, for
you I daily pray and mourn, and to save your invaluable Rights and Freedom I would
willingly die. Forgive my lamenting tears — The dear Saviour himself wept over his
native country, doom'd to destruction, and they most justly ; but we May God
give us repentance and pardon for all our sins against his most blessed Majesty —
But as to man, we appeal to our supream, righteous Judge — against the human band
whence these evils are coming have we never offended, and have no pardon to ask.
No, no, in this will we have comfort and triumph — if we perish, we perish being
innocent, and our blood will be required at their hands — but how to conduct ? The
wisdom of God hath told us ' The wise man's eyes are in his head ' ; shut not yours
to your danger, O my countrymen, lest your ruin be unavoidable. Yet be not rash,
lest you precipitate into violences, which can do no good, and which cannot be vindi-
cated. Do nothing to destroy your own, or betray the invaluable rights of your
posterity ; but every thing lawful and possible for the preservation of both. Do
nothing to sully or shade the memory of your noble spirited ancestors ; be virtuous,
be pious, and after their example secure the favor of God, in whom the fatherless
find mercy, and the helpless salvation. Be loyal, yet Free. Indulge not a thought that
our gracious King, or the British parliament, designed your slavery. No, impute all
these evils to the misinformations of a misguided M y, to which they are
undoubtedly owing. Yet be not decoyed and insnared into slavery by the speciory
and lovely names ' Better Security and Protection,' nor by the terrors of a temporary
stagnation of trade, and suspension of executive courts, which may display them-
selves to the imagination beyond what they may be felt, but at the worst can't com-
pare with Tyranny and perpetual slavery. Be frugal, be very industrious, use as
little as possible of any foreign manufactures. Your heavy debts and the necessity
of the present time absolutely require it. Yet make no sullen resolves to break off com-
merce with the mother country. No, rather determine, according to your ability, to
trade as free as ever, but on this condition, and upon this only, that the Stamp Act be
repealed, and you can do it on equal terms, and not otherwise.
" Finally, Let all the governments and all the inhabitants of them unitedly
resolve to sacrifice our lives rather than be disloyal to our rightful King George III.,
<BQX(m=3o'^nuon
or be rebellious to the equitable and constitutional orders of the British parliament.
Yet let all to a man determine, with an immovable stability, io sacrifice their lives and
fortunes before they will part with their invaluable Freedotn ; and let us all, with a spirited
unbroken fortitude, act up to these resolutions. It is the most likely way to keep
you both loyal and free. It will give you a happy peace in your own breasts, and
secure you the most indearing affection, thanks and blessing of your posterity ; it
will give you the esteem of all true patriots and friends of Liberty, thro' the whole
realm; yea, and, far as your case is known, it will gain you the esteem and admira-
tion of the whole world. Amen."
All the papers from which we have given these extracts show famil-
iarity with English history ; a full knowledge of the situation of affairs, at
the time, in England and in the colonies, and of their bearing on the
interests of the mother-country ; a fervent patriotism tempered by consid-
erations of prudence ; and clear foresight of a dread crisis in the future,
only too possible if the voice of reason should not be heeded. The style
of writing is forcible, and well adapted for popular effect, but with no
attempt at graces of rhetoric.
While making these extracts we have happened to be reading a recent
work of the historian Froude, " Oceana, or England and her Colonies ;"
and have been struck with the altered relations between the home-
government and the English colonies of the present day, while yet the
same false view that the colonies exist for the benefit of the mother-
country seems to be entertained, as of old, by the British Ministers of
State. The policy dictated by that view, however, now that the colonies
are becoming more and more independent, is a policy of neglect instead
of a policy of interference. Says Mr. Froude :
"The Sibyl tore the pages from her book, and the American provinces were lost.
We have boasted loudly that we will not repeat the same mistake — that we will never
try to coerce a British colony into remaining with us against its will. But the spirit
has continued absolutely unaltered ; the contempt has been the same ; we have
opened our trade with the rest of the world ; and, the sole value of the colonies
being still supposed to lie in their being consumers of English goods, it has been
^QXttn=3ofinuon
imagined that they would consume as much whether dependent or independent, and
that therefore it was a matter of indifference whether their connection with us was
sustained or brolcen." "'
But whether the vast domain of this Western hemisphere could have
been opened and improved, as it has been, by the EngHsh race, except
through the inspiration of entire independence, and a wholly new system
of government, may well be doubted, notwithstanding the predominance
of popular institutions in Australia and New Zealand.
Having no fondness for that class of sermons in which politics and
religion contend for precedence, we shall not dwell upon the fast-day- and
election-sermons of Rev. Stephen Johnson. Still another work of his,
handed down to us, is a theological treatise : "The Everlasting Punishment
of the Ungodly, illustrated, and evinced to be a Scripture Doctrine. . . ." '*
But we must decline to follow him in his discussion of this subject.
Rev. Stephen Johnson died November 8, 1786, at Lyme, in the sixty-
third year of his age and the fortieth of his ministry there. His widow
Mrs. Abigail (Leverett) Johnson survived him many years, and died at a
very advanced age. The epitaph on his headstone in the Duck River
Burying-Ground of Lyme, "erected in token of filial respect by Mrs. Mary
Noyes, only surviving daughter of the deceased," sums up his character in
these words :
" He was wise in council, mighty in the Scriptures, powerful in eloquence,
distinguished for his prudence, fortitude, hospitality, and patience under afflictions,
Revered by his brethren in the Ministry as a Father in the Churches, and beloved by
the people of his Charge for his exemplary fidelity in their service."
'">* Froude's Oceana. . . . New York, 1886, pp. 216-17.
""Printed at New London, in 1786. This work is known in the family by the title of "Future
State Eternal."
<©fl;tn:n=3JoJ)nfiion
In her early life one of the writers knew several old people who had
been brought up under the pastorate of Rev. Stephen Johnson. One of
the younger of them, her grandfather M'^Curdy, was seventeen years of
age when his minister died. He was frequently spoken of, always as
" Parson Johnson ;" but she recalls nothing definite of what was said.
She much regrets that she did not inquire about his private character and
relations. Now it seems to be too late to collect any facts or traditions
with reference to those points, or to judge of him except by the printed
records, and his few private letters which we have preserved. We cannot
learn whether he was cheerful or grave in temperament ; yet one pleasantry
concerning him has floated down. This was told to the writer by the late
Prof. William C. Fowler, whose mother repeated it as a good joke. It
seems that Mr. Johnson was on his way to New Haven with his Diodate
wife and a young child, to see her father and mother, and on their journey
visited his friend Rev. Elnathan Chauncey. When they were leaving,
the horse was at the door, he sat in the vehicle, and his wife was handed
in by her friends. The horse, impatient, started off. The wife cried out :
"Oh, Mr. Johnson, the baby, the baby!" "Can a woman forget her
sucking child ?" exclaimed " Parson Johnson," while the child was hastily
thrown into its mother's arms as the impatient horse sped on.
Enough is learned from Mr. Johnson's public career to show that he
belonged to the "Church Militant." We can believe that he inherited
much of the spirit of the indomitable old John Ogden, who seemed born
to advance and to conquer. It was under Mr. Johnson's fiery preaching
against English usurpation that young Samuel Holden Parsons and many
other officers were trained for active military careers, and Gov. Matthew
Griswold was strengthened for his civic duties in the crisis. When
"Parson" Johnson asked leave of his people to go as Chaplain with
Parsons's Regiment to Bunker Hill, the consent of his people was reluct-
antly given, after persistent application on his part. We can believe that
there arose a struggle between his nature and his profession, and that the
sword which by natural impulse he would have sprung to use would not
<©fltini=3Jot)nson
have been the "sword of the Spirit." Perhaps he always carried with him
a lingering and secret regret that he could not go out to open battle
with the regiment; and perhaps he never knew how wide and warlike -an
influence had sprung from his preaching, his prayers, and his urgent
written appeals to the public.
Rev. Stephen and Elizabeth (Diodate) Johnson had six children :
99 I. Diodate,^ born July 29, 1745 (baptized in the First Church of New
Haven, of which his maternal grandparents were members, August 4 of
the same year) ; who was graduated at Yale College in 1 764 ; a Tutor
there from 1765 to 1766 ; and settled in the ministry at Millington, Conn.,
where his sister Elizabeth kept his house. He was a young man " eminent
for genius, learning and piety." He died of consumption in 1773, at the
age of twenty-eight. He was sitting in his chair reading the prayer in
Doddridge's "Rise and Progress" entitled "A meditation and prayer
suited to the case of a dying Christian," when he parted from this life.^
By his Will he left to Dartmouth College "a legacy of five hundred
dollars, and his valuable library.""®
2. Sarah^ born January 29, 1748; who married, Novembers, 1772,
Deacon John Griswold of Lyme, Conn, (see ^rtCsUlOlDr) ; and died
January 4, 1802.
It is one of the family-stories that when John, his eldest son, at the
age of nineteen became engaged to Sarah Johnson the daughter of the
minister, and an heiress. Gov. Matthew Griswold was so much pleased that
he built him a house near his own. The daughters of Rev. Stephen
Johnson had inherited property from their grandfather William Diodate of
New Haven, and had had special legacies from their grandfather's sister,
Mrs. Elizabeth (Diodati) Scarlett of London, with much rich wearing
apparel, porcelain, silver, etc. (see HfOTlAti).
"" Hon. Ralph D. Smith.
'™ Memoirs of the Rev. Eleazer Wheelock, D.D. ... By David M'^Clure ... and Elijah
Parish. . . . Newburyport, 1841, p. 68.
<©fitrtn=3Jof)iifiion
103
104
3. Elizabeth,^ born November 22, 1750; who married Dr. Hezekiah
Brainerd of Haddam, Conn., the leading physician of his time in Middlesex
county; and died December 12, 18 13. They had three children, who all
died of consumption — perhaps an inheritance from their Italian ancestry :
(i.) Hezekiah,^ born in 1773; who was graduated at Yale College
in 1793; and "commenced the study of law soon after" graduation;
but died June 19, 1795. He " possessed a most amiable and promising
character."
(2.) Elizabeth,^ born in 1780; who died November 29, 1792.
(3.) Mary,^ born in 1783; who died March 16, 1806.
We have heard much about Mary Brainerd from Mrs. Asa Bacon,
formerly of Litchfield, more recently of New Haven, by birth Lucretia
Champion of East Haddam, who not long since passed away just before
she reached her ninety-ninth year. The two were early friends, and both
took lessons and practiced on Mary Brainerd's piano, the only one in the
town. People gathered in front of the house, in the evenings, to hear it.
This curious instrument we saw a few years ago in an East Haddam garret.
Its shape^was similar to that of a modern grand piano, but it was long and
very narrow, with very few octaves — altogether a most primitive instrument.
We own a very pretty group of flowers delicately painted by her, and a
pleasing copy of a portrait of her, representing a slender brunette with a
young innocent face. She died at the age of twenty-three. The writer
inherited one of the mourning-rings given after her death, by her mother,
to her cousins and intimate friends. The inscription upon her gravestone
in Haddam is :
' O, death, why arm with cruelty thy power,
And spare the idle weed, yet lop the flower !
Why fly thy shafts in lawless error driven ?
Is Virtue then no more the care of Heaven !
But peace bold thought, be still my bursting heart-
We, not fair Mary, felt the fatal dart."
<!lfltren=3>o!i«fiJon
Dr. Brainerd had died in 1805 ; so that, on the death of their youngest
child, the next year, Mrs. Brainerd was left a lonely widow. Her pastor
Rev. Dr. Field speaks of her, in a funeral-sermon preached two days after
her death, as follows :
" Her understanding was originally superior, and her temper uniform and
pleasant. She . . . for nearly forty years has been an exemplary professor of
religion in this church. Her mental, social and moral qualities, improved by a
religious education, refined and virtuous society, discreet reading and regular exer-
tion, advanced her to a degree of excellence not often surpassed. The numerous and
distressing afflictions, which it pleased a sovereign and holy God to visit upon her,
served both to improve and display her worth. Through life the subject of bodily
infirmities, and not unfrequently of sickness herself, she was called to witness and
bewail the death of almost all her near kindred. Her father and mother, her brothers
and sisters, with the exception of a half-sister, have long since been removed into
eternity. Dr. Brainerd, about twenty years before his death, was afflicted with para-
lytic complaints, that gradually deprived him, to a great degree, of the use of his
limbs and speech ; in consequence of which he required the constant and special
care of his partner ; the education of the family was devolved upon her, and the
management of a large property. These calamities must have tried her soul. Nor
were these all. Her children had been her rising and joyful hope, and were trained
up for extensive usefulness — but these, with her husband, were successively removed
from her. For several years she had been comparatively alone in the world. These
various and aggravated trials she met with fortitude, and bore with patience ; her
mind was composed and cheerful, and her affairs were managed with steadiness and
discretion. As a wife and mother she was affectionate and eminently faithful. With
unaffected dignity of manners she united ease and familiarity ; and to the vast circle
of friends and people, of different ages and conditions, who visited her, her conver-
sation was pleasant and instructive. Her house has been a home of the clergy of
this vicinity, whom she loved and respected, and by whom her memory will be long
held in joyful remembrance. By hospitality and charity she has been the succourer
of many ; and as a proof of her general regard to Christianity, and particularly of
her regard to the spiritual welfare of this people, it may be mentioned in this place
that she has bequeathed by will five hundred dollars to the Missionary Society of this
State, and the like sum to this Ecclesiastical Society. Her influence, by no means
small, has been exerted on the side of order, peace and religion.
348
<©fljrrn=3Jotinson
" In her last short and painful sickness her hope in the mercy of God remained,
and in the full view of death she expressed resignation to the divine w^ill." ""
She died at the age of sixty-three. Her portrait, taken in her later
years, represents a strong face, calm and self-controlled, but suffering.
105 4. Stephen,^ born February 22, 1753; who died in 1791. Captain
Stephen Johnson married, September i, 1774, Ann Lord (see JLOttl);'"'
by whom he had :
106 (i.) Diodate,^ born in 1778 ; who died in childhood.
107 (2.) Elizabeth,^ born in 1780; who married, in 1801, Stephen Peck
of Lyme, Conn.; and died in 1803, s. p. She was described by those
who remembered her as an elegant and interesting woman.
108 (3-) Catharine,^ born in 1783 ; who married Israel Matson of Lyme ;
109 and died in 1807, leaving one child, Stephen Johnson.'^
10 (4-) Sally Banks,^ born in 1785 ; who died just as she was reaching
womanhood.
(5.) Ann,''' born in 1787; who married, in 1819, Col. Selden
Huntington of Haddam, Conn.; and died in 1823, leaving one child
2 Joseph Seidell'' (born in 1820), now of Lyme.
113 (6.) Mary,^ born in 1788; who married Dr. Sylvester Bulkeley of
Haddam, Conn., a great great great grandson of Rev. Peter Bulkeley of
Concord, Mass.;'" and died in 1824, leaving a son and a daughter.
114 5. Catharine,^ born April 6, 1755; who married Rev. Richard R.
Elliot of Watertown, Mass., and died young, s. p.
'<" A sermon preached ... at the Funeral of Mrs. Elizabeth Brainerd. ... By David D.
Field. . . . Middletown, 1814, pp. 14-16. Most of the particulars and quotations in our account
of the descendants of Rev. Stephen Johnson are taken from Walworth's Hyde Genealogy, Albany,
1864 (one vol. in two), ii. 737-38, and from this Funeral-Sermon with its notes. Some of the dates
have been verified by epitaphs still standing in Haddam.
™ Judge Stephen Johnson Field, of the Supreme Court of the United States, was named for this
Stephen Johnson.
"' The Bulkeley Family. ... By Rev. F. W. Chapman. . . . Hartford, 1875, p. 127.
<©flTrtn=35ofinson
115 6. William,^ born June 29, 1757 ; who was graduated at Yale College
in 1778; and died January 28, 1779, unmarried.
By his second marriage, to Mary (Gardiner) Blague, Rev. Stephen
Johnson had two children :
116 I. Mary,^ born August 9, 1768; who married Rev. Matthew Noyes
of the Lyme family of that name, who was settled at Northford, Conn.
He was a member of the Corporation of Yale College, stood high in the
ministry and had a large property. He died September 25, 1839, aged
seventy-six ; she died September i, 185 1, aged eighty-three.
" Aunt Noyes," as she has been always called in the family, was a
marked person in her generation, though she is only remembered in her
later years. She was a fine, energetic, resolute, active woman, intelligent,
with a wise knowledge of human nature, kind, generous, hospitable.
Surviving her husband for several years, and their only child having-died
early, she left most of her property to religious objects. After her death
were found all the treasures of her daughter, her white satin shoes, fans,
little trinkets &c., &c., which the fond mother had collected and saved for
thirty-five years. By her directions they were to be sold for a missionary
society. The administrators called in the friends for consultation. "What
could be done with them, they were of so little value !" Nobody knows
what became of the precious hoard !
117 They had one child, Mary Ann,^ who died of consumption, June
19, 1 816, at the age of twenty. On her gravestone is this inscription :
" She was admired for her talents, and beloved for her virtues, and met
death with serenity and christian resignation, cheerfully
relinquishing her brightest earthly prospects
in hope of a glorious resurrection."
In most families there is some "flower" the memory of which is not
allowed to fade with the passing years. More than usual interest lingers
in the minds of those who remember Mary Ann Noyes. They represent
©fl5e«=3lotinfi(on
her as very joyous, sprightly, witty, attracting many lovers. Mrs. Russell
Hotchkiss of New Haven, who recently died in advanced years, a daughter
of Mr. William G. Hubbard of "Cherry Hill," desired to know the writer
because of her relationship to her dear friend Mary Ann Noyes ; and it
was very touching to hear the old lady speak with such freshness of
afifection of the friend of her early years. This attachment seemed to
have been to her a life-long romance. Mary Ann Noyes in her Will gave
a piece of her own embroidery to her parents for their lives, which was
afterwards to go to Miss Eliza Hubbard. The old lady showed it to the
writer, saying: "After my death you shall have it." It now hangs upon
the walls of the old family-home at Lyme, and is considered to be a
remarkably handsome work of the kind, combining embroidery in many
stitches with water-color painting. There came with it a miniature of
Mary Ann, representing a very elegant, spirited, high-bred looking girl,
with a very sweet, tender expression. It was painted by one of her lovers,
an artist.
2. Nathaniel,^ born August 5, 1770; who died in infancy.
By his third marriage Rev. Stephen Johnson had no children.
Hf^ott^ on tJjt iFamfUts of J5onti «rntr Stoafinr
Robert Bond, whose sister Jane was the wife of John Ogden, having
married John Ogden's sister Hannah, the twofold alliance calls for a
brief notice, here, of Robert Bond.
Robert Bond is first heard of in Lynn, Massachusetts. He was " a
resident of Southampton, L. I., as early as 1643. He was appointed,
Oct. 1644, by the General Court of Connecticut, in company with Mr.
Moore, 'to demand of each family of Southampton the amount they
would give for the maintenance of scholars at Cambridge College.' He
was one of the company that settled East Hampton in 1648." He was
Magistrate in the Upper House of the General Court of Connecticut
in 1660. In 1662-63 the vote was recorded to put in nomination at the
next Court of Election "Mr. Bond" with two others. In the General
Assembly of Election in 1663 "Mr. Bond was appointed a Commissioner"
on Long Island, and "invested with magistraticall power on the Island,"
where the plantation of Southold was in an unsettled state. In 1664
"Mr. Bond" was appointed a Magistrate for East Hampton. Hinman
says: "These facts fully prove the exalted standing held by Mr. Robert
Bond in the early settlement of Long Island, while under the government
of Connecticut. ... He was for several years a Magistrate under
Connecticut on Long Island, and as such attended the Gen'l Court at
Hartford." " His intimacy with Ogden . . . and others of his
neighbors who were about to remove to these parts, led him to cast in his
lot with them, and lend his valuable counsels to the settlement of this
:j<roUs on tHe iFamflfrs of f^onXf antr Stoasne
town [Elizabeth, N. Jersey], where his influence was second only to John
Ogden's. Carteret, at his coming, was glad to avail himself of his mature
experience, and appointed him, Jan. 2, i66-|-, one of his Council, and an
Assistant to the Justices. . . ." He was one of the six members of
the Council in the first General Assembly of New Jersey at Elizabethtown,
in 1668. Gov. Winthrop of Connecticut highly commended him as a
person "of good repute and approved integrity." He became interested
in the Newark colony, and in 1672 was elected their Representative.
He continued still to reside in Elizabethtown, where he died in 1677.
Mr. Bond's second wife was a daughter of Hugh Calkins, an emigrant
from Wales in 1640, and a resident first of Gloucester, Mass., and then of
New London, Conn. Mr. Bond had children ; of whom were Stephen of
Newark and Joseph. Stephen married Bethia Lawrence, widow, in 1694,
and had Joseph and Hannah.
" Mr." Bond's distinction in character and position in this country gives
us reason to believe that he belonged to a good family in England. We
have not yet attempted to trace his ancestry, but hope to do so. In
Burke's " General Armory " we find several coats of arms belonging to
different or kindred families of the name of Bond. Hutchins's "Dorset"
gives the pedigree of the Bonds of the Isle of Purbeck. Burke's
" Commoners" describes them as descended from a family of great antiquity
in Cornwall, commencing with Robert Bond of Hache Beauchamp,
CO. Somerset, living in 143 1, father of Robert who married Mary daughter
of Lord Chief Justice Hody. Robert and Jane were frequent family-
names. One branch of his descendants settled in Dorset, and another
founded the Essex family of Bond. Of one branch was Sir George Bond,
Mayor of London in 1587, and Sir Thomas Bond, Comptroller to Queen
Henrietta Maria, created a Baronet by King Charles II. The arms of the
Bonds of Purbeck, co. Dorset are : Quarterly : i and d^ Sable, a fess Or ;
2 and 3 Argent, on a Chevron Sable three bezants.
Notts on tf)t iFamflfcs of J3ontr anXf Stoat^ne
Fragmentary notices concerning Mr. William Swayne are found in
the works of several writers, but they have never been brought into con-
nection. His distinguished and useful career seems to deserve as detailed
an account as we can give.
William Swayne (Swaine, or Swain), then aged fifty, came with
Clement Chaplin in the " Elizabeth and Ann " in April 1635, at the same
time with Mr. Thomas Lord of Hartford and his family. He was admitted
Freeman of Watertown, Mass., March 3, 1635-36, represented that town
in May 1636, and about that time, with other Watertown people, removed
to Wethersfield, Conn., he having been one of the Commissioners, con-
sisting of Gov. Ludlowe and six others beside himself, appointed by the
General Court, March 3, 1635-36, "to govern the People at Conecticutt,"
with full judicial powers. "These very early appointments to office,"
says Bond, "imply a very good repute. He could have resided in Water-
town only one year." We may add that they also imply a high reputation
brought with him from England for character, administrative abilities, and
dignity of position there. He was a member for Wethersfield of the third
General Court in the colony, held September i, 1636. There had been
five members of this Court in the preceding April ; to these was added,
in September, the name of "William Swayne, Gentleman." He was also
a member of several later Courts. He was more than once chosen
Assistant. He is designated in the records as " William Swayne, Gentle-
man," and " Mr. William Swayne [or Swaine]," more frequently as
" Mr. Swayne."
When the Pequods, in May 1637, came up the river to Wethersfield,
they killed several people, "and carried away two maids. These were
daughters of William Swayne, Gentleman. He lived on the northwest
corner of High street and Fort (now Prison) street. The eldest of the
girls was about sixteen years of age. They were transported by canoe to
Pequot, now New London, where they were rescued by the captain of a
"Noun on tJje iFamiUes of ©ontr antr SUia^^n^
Dutch vessel. They had been kindly cared for by the squaw of Monotto,
the sachem next in rank to Sassacus. At Saybrook they were received
from the Dutch by Lyon Gardiner, then in command there."
For the settlement of Branford a tract of land was sold to "Mr. Wil-
liam Swayne " and others. He removed there in 1644, and had laid out
to him 435 acres of land. He probably died there not long after, as his
name, previously so prominent, seems to have disappeared from the records.
His children of whom we have farther knowledge were Samuel and Daniel,
who removed with him to Branford in 1644, and Mary who is said to have
gone to New Haven. Daniel Swayne younger son of William, born in
England, was one of the founders of the town of Branford in 1644, and
remained there. He was Representative from 1673-77. He married, in
165 1, Dorcas daughter of Robert Rose of Stratford, Conn. Of his
family only his son John, who died in Branford in 1694, and his daughter
Deborah, and Dorcas who married a Taintor and afterwards a Wheeler,
left children.
Safmiel Swayne, born in England (who sometimes wrote his name
Swayn, without the final e) was the elder son. Between May 25, 1653
and January 7, 1663, he was twenty-seven times member of the General
Court of Connecticut, before leaving Branford. About 1667, as a friend
of Rev. Abraham Pierson, he went with him to settle Newark, N. J.,
where he was from the beginning one of the leading men, and prominent
in all the most important concerns of the colony. He was for years
chosen as " the third man " among the deputies to the General Assembly,
to supply the place of either of the others who might fail to attend. The
first was Mr. Jasper Crane, a much older man. Magistrate for the town
of Newark, President of the Town-Court, and chosen regularly, for the
first five or six years, as first in its list of deputies to the General Assembly
— whose place Samuel Swayne filled in the first General Assembly ever
held in the province. The second man was Capt. Robert Treat, after-
wards Gov. Treat of Connecticut, who was Clerk of the Town, Magistrate,
TSTotrs on tfjt iFamlUts of nonn antr Stoanwt
Deputy to the Assembly, &c. These three men ranked together in all
official positions, and in social relations. Samuel Swayne had been pre-
viously Lieutenant, but after the departure of Capt. Treat to Connecticut
he was raised to the captaincy of the Newark forces, about 1673. Samuel
Swayne and Thomas Johnson were two of five men commissioned with
full powers from the town of Newark, who met with John Ogden, Robert
Bond and two others to arrange the boundaries between Newark and
Elizabethtown (see above, p. 306).
Stearns says of Capt. Swayne that he " happening to be in New
York when disease seized him, and death seemed to be not far, thus
testified the readiness of his spirit to answer the last summons : ' I, Samuel
Swaine, being in perfect sense and memory, not knowing how long the
Lord will continue the same mercy to me, being weak under His good
hand of Providence, and willing to be at His dispose — therefore, for life
or death, do leave this as my last will and testament.' " The instrument is
dated New York March 17, 1681-82, and gives all to "his beloved wife
Joanna." Having come in 1635 he had then been in this country from
forty-six to forty-seven years. It may be presumed that he died in that
illness, as his name does not appear after the list made in 16S0. "His
wife Johanna died prior to Dec. 5, 1690." Their children were : i. Eliza-
beth, born in 1649, baptized in New Haven in 165 1. "There is a tradition
that" she "was the first to land on the shore of Newark, having been
merrily handed up the bank by her gallant lover [Josiah Ward], in his
ambition to secure for her that mark of priority. She was then . . .
nineteen years of age." She married him, and after his death married
David Ogden, and became the great grandmother of Rev. Stephen Johnson.
She died in 1691 ; 2. Christia^ia, born in 1659, wife of Nathaniel Ward ;
3. Saralt, born in 1669, wife of Thomas Johnson of the third generation
(see Pedigree of Johnson); 4. Abigail, wife of Eleazer Lampson ; and
5. Joaima, wife of Jasper Crane. Joanna Crane died Sept. 16, 1720,
aged sixty-nine.
ttCotes on tJie iFatnflCes of JJontr anti Stuasne
We have not attempted to have an official search made for the family
and arms of our " William Swayne, Gentleman," and his son Samuel.
But we have collected some notes which we consider pertinent to lay
before our readers. There can be no doubt of Mr. Swayne's high social
standing in England. It must have been the prestige of dignity and
importance there which led the colonial government to write his name
"Gentleman," to give him the respectful title of "Mr.," and to select him
at once for offices of such trust.and responsibility. He came from England
a "Gentleman" — that is, an "armiger" — the terms were synonymous:
" a gentleman in English law is one who bears or is entitled to a coat of
arms." At the time of which we write there was no general education to
level the social barriers, and no man was a " Gentleman," unless he
belonged to " the gentry," i. e. the arms-bearing class.
In English books of heraldry we find only two distinct grants of arms
to persons of the name of Swayne (Swaine, or Swain). One of them is
merely mentioned without any baptismal names, or other indications, to
associate it with our family. It will be seen that in the grants of the other
coats and their confirmations, with differences, the names which appear are
William and Samuel ; and only those who have studied genealogies know
how much proof of descent in past generations is conveyed by a corres-
pondence of family-names. The arms are given by an English correspondent
thus : " Azure, a chevron between 3 pheons Or, on a chief Guiles as many
maiden-heads ppr. crined of the second is borne by the name of Swayne, and
was confirmed in the 44''' year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth to William
Swayne of London, Gent., who produced a grant of the said coat to
WiUiam Swayne of the county of Somerset (his progenitor), tinder the
hand of Guion King of Arms, bearing date 29*'' June in the 39*^ year of
the reign of King Henry 6"" ;" and : " He beareth Azure, a chevron
betweeji 3 pheons Or, on a chief Argent 3 roses Gules, seeded [and^ barbed
ppr., by the name of Swayne. This coat was assigned by Sir W. Segar,
Garter, and William Camden, Clarencieux, the 10*'' July 161 2, in the lo**"
"Noitu on tiir iFamfUts of Uontr antr Stoasne
year of the reign of King James i'', to William, a/ias Thomas, Swayne,
Citizen of London and Merchant-adventurer." Burke says : " Samuel
Swain, of Sewardstone, co. Essex, Alderman of London, a direct descend-
ant of William Swayne, of London, gent, who had the arms confirmed in
1612, on producing a grant to his ancestor, William Swayne, bearing
date 29 June, 1444. As. a chev. bctiv. tlircc phcons or, on a chief gu. as
many maide^is heads couped ppr., crincd of the second. Crest : A maidens
head co7ipcd ppr., crined or."
Since it is certain that our Swaynes belonged to a heraldic family, the
coincidences of station and names, and perhaps of location in England,
lead us to believe, and we think' our friends will agree with us, that it was
the family whose arms we have given. In this view the writer has corres-
ponded with several persons of the name in England, but has obtained
information from only two of them : Henry James Fovvle Swayne Esq.
of Wilton, Salisbury, Wiltshire, and Miss Caroline Ann Swayne of
Clifton, Bristol, near Bath.
The name is Danish, as is shown by that of King Sweyn (Swein),
father of King Canute, who conquered England in 1013, and had in
1003 plundered and burnt Wilton and probably Sarum (Salisbury). It is
understood by the present family in England that their origin was Danish.
Mr. Swayne writes (Feb. 18, 1887) that he finds in Bath' deeds a Swein
in 1 213 and 1230, Thomas Sweyn in 1280, William Swayn Mayor in 1333,
and Nicholas Swayne M.P. for "the City" in 1362. The first grant of
arms in the Swayne family was to William Swayne of the county of
Somerset, by Guyon King of Arms, 39 H. VI. Mr. Swayne says he
believes it is the earliest known coat of arms still used in England.
Several families claiming to belong to the same stock settled in London
between about 1550 and 1680, using the same arms but with differences.
There was a branch-family of consideration in Leverington, co. Cambridge,
spelling their name Swaine, some of whom were High Sheriffs of the
' In Somerset just over the line froin Wiltshire, not far from Salisbury.
l!<oUn on tlir iFamfHes of 3$ontr antr Stua^ne
counties of Cambridge and' Huntington ; and there is now an aisle of the
church there which contains inscriptions of many persons of the name using
the coat of arms. Mr. Swayne calls his own a " Salisbury branch." His
pedigree and arms may be found in Hoare's " Modern Wiltshire." Mr.
William Swayne who was M.P. for Salisbury founded a chantry-chapel in
St. Thomas's church there in the reign of Henry VI. He was also Mayor
of Salisbury. In a general pardon granted by Edward IV. are included
William Swayne, Merchant, and Henry Swayne, Arftiiger. The latter was
William's heir, and commanded "the City-contingent " in support of Henry
VI. "Their descendant William Swayne as also themselves are always
styled 'Armigeri' in the Corporation-Books." Many of Mr. Swayne's
family-documents, some of the seventeenth century, were destroyed by a
fire in the Temple, when lent to an antiquary. Mr. Swayne knows of only
one member of his family, a lady who married a Symonds, who emigrated
to America. Miss Swayne's account (1887) of her branch of the family
begins with Rev. George Swayne who came into Somersetshire with the
first Gilbert Ironside, Bishop of Bristol, and was Rector of Sutton Montis
from 1 67 1 to 1 69 1. His son Samuel was presented with the living of
Worthy Regis and Abbotsworty in Southampton, in 1688, by Lady Rachel
Russell. He had a son Samuel. Rev. George Swayne's son Robert had
a living near Poole, co. Dorset.^ The first-mentioned Samuel, or a Samuel
of a previous generation, was tutor of Lord Strafford's children, and took
them abroad after he was beheaded.
From Hutchins's "Dorset" we learn that two important branches
of the Swayne or Swaine family were established early in Dorsetshire.
One was the family of Corfe Castle, the other of Tarent Gunvill, not far
from it. Both are now extinct in the male line, and we have been unable
to make inquiries of living persons. Corfe Castle is a town on what is
called the Isle of Purbeck, on the southeast coast of Dorset, but which is
' Poole is on the mainland, only separated from the Isle of Purbeck by a sea-channel a quarter of
a mile wide.
Notes on tiir iFamfUts of J5on5r anlf Stoanue
really a peninsula running into the sea, nearly cut off from the mainland
by a river which flows between. We wish to call attention to the fact
that the seat of the Bond family whose arms we have given was at Creech
Grange on the Isle of Purbeck, very near Corfe Castle ; and that the seat
of the Okedeii family was at Turnworth, eo. Dorset, a few miles north of
Purbeck. William Okeden was M.P. for Corfe Castle in the seventeenth
century. In the pedigree of Okeden in Hutchins's "Dorset" are men-
tioned John and Richard Okeden as brothers, in the generation immediately
preceding the time of our John and Richard Ogden. In 1562 Robert
Swaine of Gunvill married EHzabeth daughter of Denis Bond of Lutton
in Purbeck.
All the Swaynes we have referred to, of Somerset, Gloucester,
Wiltshire, Southampton and Dorset, and the Bonds and Okedens of
Dorset, lived within a circle of about fifty miles in diameter.' The Swaynes
and Bonds of the Isle of Purbeck and the Okedens were neighbors. In
view of these facts and coincidences is it too fanciful to suggest that
John Ogden or Okeden (who used the Okeden arms) and Robert Bond,
who married probably in England, before emigration, each a sister of the
other, and Samuel Swayne who was so intimately associated with them,
were from this same neighborhood, or of branches of these families who
visited relatives there ; and that thus were brought into friendship with
one another, in the old country, the emigrants of whom we write ?^
^ For our Notes on the Families of Bond and Swayne, the following works have been carefully
studied, compared and dra%vn upon: Hatfield's History of Elizabeth, New Jersey ; Public Records of
the Colony of Connecticut prior to May 1665 ; B. R. Hinman's Puritan Settlers of the Colony of Con-
necticut ; Coll. of the New Jersey Hist. Soc, Vol. vi. Supplement; Bond's Genealogies of Watertown
Vol. ii.; Trumbull's Memorial Hist, of Hartford County, Vol. ii.; Savage's Geneal. Diet., Vol. iv.
Records of the Colony and Jurisdiction of New Haven [1653-64] ; Stearns's First Church in Newark
Burke's Commoners, Vol. i.; Hutchins's Dorset, Vols. i. and iii.; Hoare's Modern Wiltshire, Vols. v.
and vi.
361"
362
Hfoiratf
nnonmni
mti
^iDlratt
Arms : " Scutum videlicet militare erect urn AquiLc bicipiti nigrce corona tic, expansis
alts et exsertis Linguis rubeis, impositum, in duas partes cequaks perpendiculariter sectum, in
cujus parte dextrd rtibed Leo aureus exsertd Lingud rtibed, cauddque a tergo projectd, dex-
trorsum versus conspicitur, sinistra vera auro et rubeo colore in sex partes ccquales divisa est ;
Telamones ex iitrdque parte sunt Leones aurei capitibus exirorsum versis, Linguis rubeis
exsertis, caudisque a tergo projectis ; et tandem in cake Scuti sequens Symbolum Deus dedit in
Scheduld inscriptitid Literis nigris legitur." i. e., An erect military shield party per pale ;
dexter Gu. a lion rampant Or, langued Gu., sinister barry of six pieces Or and Gu.j Crest :
a double-headed eagle Sa., langued Gu., the eagle's wings, tail and claws expanded to form
a mantling j Supporters : two lions rampant Or, back to back, langued Gu.; Motto : on a
scroll Deus Dedit Sa. (Diodati, according to the Patent of Joseph ii.).
HEN, in the year 1821, it had been decided to obUterate from
the Public Square of New Haven all traces of the ancient burial-
ground of the town, among the monuments removed to the
Cemetery on Grove street, which had been in use since 1796, were those
of Mr. William Diodate and his relict Sarah.' Had the New Haven
Colony Historical Society then existed, it is hardly to be doubted that its
zealous antiquarian spirit would have jealously guarded the old enclosure
as a perpetual monument to the fathers of New Haven. In that case the
grave of William Diodate would not have been, as it now is, an unmarked
spot beneath the sod ; and his descendants of the present generation would
have had a locality about which to gather a long line of associations with
the past, lately brought to light, of great interest to themselves, and not
unworthy, it is thought, to be added to the mass of early New England
family-history, now being accumulated for public as well as private ends.
To preserve the memory of these interesting facts, now to be connected
with this name, carrying us back, through England and Switzerland, to the
Italy of the Middle Ages, the following paper was prepared.
' Proceedings of the City of New Hav
Ground. . . . New Haven, 1822, p. 26.
in the Removal of Monuments from its Ancient Burying
363
miorfm
It will be proper to begin with bringing together a few items from
New Haven records, respecting William Diodate himself. For these we
are indebted to the researches of the late Henry White, who was, of all New
Haveners of recent times, the most familiar with the history of his native
town. The first notice of William Diodate, in the town-records, was in
1 71 7, when a deed of land to him, dated April 23, 1717, was recorded.
On the 4"* of March 1719-20 he purchased half an acre on the corner of
Elm and Church streets, where " the Blue Meeting-house " afterwards
stood ; which he sold January 7, 1720-21. He was married, February 16,
1720-21, to Sarah daughter of John Dunbar' of New Haven by his first
wife, whose name is unknown ; and in the month of May following he
purchased his home-lot, on State street, on the south-west corner of what
is now Court street, containing i }^ acre, with a house and a small barn
on it, for ^100. In the Registrar's Records of New Haven are given
the following items :
" Elizabeth dau. of William Diodate, b. July ii"", 1722."
"Sarah " " " b. Jan. 27, 1725-6."
In 1728-29, February 24, he purchased a vacant piece of ground next
south of his home-lot, containing i^ acre, for £ys-', and about the year
1735 several tracts of outlands were added to his real estate. His Will,
dated May 26, 1747, with a codicil dated March 9, 1748-49, was proved
on the 13"" of May 1751, in which year, therefore, he probably died.
Though the gravestone of his "relict" Sarah, who survived him several
years, still exists, his own has not been found, so that the exact date of
his death is not known. The inscription on his widow's gravestone reads
as follows :
" In memory of Mrs. Sarah Diodate, relict of Mr. William Diodate, who
departed this life the 25th April 1764, in the 75th year of her age."
' Supposed to have been a descendant of Robert Dunbar (b. circ. 1605) and Rose his wife, who
emigrated from Scotland, and settled in Hingham, Mass.
364
29foTra(t{
So much as an outline of what the New Haven town-records tell us
respecting William Diodate. From the Records of the First Church of
New Haven we learn that he made profession of his Christian faith on the
20*^ of March 1735, under the ministry of Rev. Joseph Noyes ; and that
his wife had joined the same church more than twenty years before, on the
16"' of April I 713, several years before her marriage. A tankard which,
till within a short time, made part of the communion-service of plate
owned by the First Church, was her gift, and bore her name.''
The preamble to William Diodate's Will, in the conventional phrase-
ology of his time, is as follows :
" In the name of God, Amen : I, William Diodate of New Haven Town and
County and Colony of Connecticut in New England ... do make, ordain and
Constitute this my last will and testament ; and first of all I give and recommend my
soul to God who gave it, hoping for pardon and acquitance through Jesus Christ, my
only savior, and my body to the Earth by decent Christian Burial, at the Discretion
of my executor hereinafter named, hoping for a glorious Resurrection of the same
at the last day by the Mighty power of God."
We notice that, for the possible event of a failure of heirs born to
his daughter Elizabeth, his only surviving child, or to her husband, the
testator directs that, after the death of his wife, his real estate should be
divided equally between the First Church in New Haven and the First
Church in Lyme.
3 In 1833 this piece of plate was melted up, with others, to make new cups, on two of which Mrs.
Diodate's gift is recorded as follows, in connection with that of another : " Presented to the First Church
in New Haven by Frances Brown, Rev. Mr. Noyes being pastor, And By Mrs. Sarah Diodate, in
1762. Made anew in 1833."
In 1761 there was printed at New H.iven, "for the Widow Sarah Diodate," a Discourse by Samuel
Moody, Pastor of the Church at York, Me., entitled "Judas the Traitor hung up in Chains, to give
Warning to Professors that they beware of Worldly-raindedness and Hypocrisy. . . . Concluding
with a Dialogue."
monuti
Another item of interest in this Will and the Inventory connected
with it, is the following :
" Item — all such books as I shall die possessed of, which shall have the following
latin words wrote in them with my own hand-writing, viz : ' usque quo, Domine,' I
give and devise unto my said son-in-law Mr. Stephen Johnson, to use and improve
during his natural life, and at his death I give and devise the same to my grandson
Diodate Johnson, to be at his dispose for ever."
Seventy-six volumes, mostly theological works, were thus bequeathed,
valued at ^20. 6. 7. — certainly, in themselves, a remarkable collection of
books for that time, fitted to awaken curiosity respecting its possible
origin ; and this the more when one notices, by the Inventory, that among
these volumes were " Mr. Diodate's annotation," and " Le Mercier's
History of Geneva."^ Could it be, one might ask, that the author of
those " Annotations," a celebrated divine of Geneva, of the time of the
Reformation, was related to our New Haven testator of the same name?
and did William Diodate, one might farther inquire, make an heirloom of
his library, as the words of his Will imply, not only on account of its
being so large for a hundred and forty years ago, but also on account of
family-associations connected with it, perhaps as having come down to
himself, in part at least, from that learned divine ? Was the sentiment of
the motto, moreover, which he wrote in each volume, an inheritance of
the spirit of ancestors who had, with "long patience," struggled for
freedom of faith in times of conflict and peril ? An affirmative answer to
the first of these inquiries, which suggested itself, indeed, several years
since, to one of the authors of this monograph, who is a descendant
of William Diodate, but which we are now able to give on satisfactory
grounds, almost inevitably leads to the same reply to all of them.
^ Rev. Andrew Le Mercier came to this country in 1715, and was made the Pastor of a French Protes-
tant church in Boston. " In 1732 he published a minute and interesting history of the Geneva Church,
in five books, i2mo., 200 pages ; also, in the same volume, ' A Geographical and Political Account of
the Republick of Geneva,' 76 pages" — The New Engl. Hist, and Geneal. Register. . .
1859, xiii. 315-24.
monuti
The Inventory of William Diodate also shows, as having belonged to
his estate, a considerable amount of gold and silver coin, or bonds and
notes for the same, beside silver-plate ; which accords with what we other-
wise know, that he dealt in coin and plate, as at once a banker and broker,
and a trader in the various articles of gold and silver which were in use at
the time. Not improbably, therefore, the communion-tankard, marked
with his wife's name, came from his own establishment. Family-history
says that he had "the first store," i. e., probably, the first of the kind, "in
New Haven."
It is to be noticed, farther, that his residence in Connecticut must
have dated from a yet earlier period than that of the first appearance of
his name on the town-records of New Haven, for a copy of Dr. Diodati's
"Annotations," presented to the Collegiate School at Saybrook in 1715,
was his gift. Possibly, he may have been drawn to New Haven by a
hereditary appreciation of academic learning, as well as by the new
business-life growing out of the first establishment of the College there.
The very year in which he is first heard of in New Haven was that of the
removal of the Collegiate School from Saybrook, and its beginning in New
Haven, to be known — from the next year onward (i 718) — as Yale College.
The records of the First Church of New Haven, under date of
August 14, 1755, refer to a gift of /50. to that church from William
Diodate deceased, which was then appropriated towards building a new
house of w^orship, afterwards known as the Old Brick Meeting-House.
Crossing to the shores of England, whither the personal history of
this old New Havener carries us, we take with us, as our chief thread of
connection, a record, still existing in William Diodate's Bible, in his own
hand-writing, which informs us that his father's name was John, and his
mother the eldest daughter of John Morton Esq., by the only child of
Mr. John Wicker, and the widow of Alderman Cranne (so the name here
reads) of London ; and that he had a brother John, older than himself.
367
Btotratf
and a sister Elizabeth.^ In addition to this record, we have the accepted
family-story that, after having been in America " three years," he "returned
to England ; his friends there, not having heard from him in the meantime,
supposed him to be dead ; his father and brother John Diodate (who
studied medicine and died at the age of 2 1 years) had both died during his
absence, and the estate was settled upon his sister Mrs. Elizabeth Scarlett.
He found that a new disposition of the property would be attended with
great expense, and concluded to accept of his sister's offer, she having agreed
to supply his store in New Haven with goods as long as she lived. This
promise she punctually performed, sending every year large quantities of
goods as long as her brother lived, and after his death to his widow, who
continued the store ; and after her death she sent elegant and costly
presents to her daughter and her children." We also have a copy of the
Will of the sister, under her married name of Elizabeth Scarlett, dated
July 9, 1767 (with a codicil dated February 22, 1768), in which there are
bequests to the children of her deceased brother's daughter, also deceased,
in New England (see below).
These materials for tracing the ancestry of William Diodate were put,
some years ago, into the hands of that distinguished American antiquary
the late Col. Joseph L. Chester of London ; who received them with
interest, and added to them others, of great value, from Wills and Letters
of Administration recorded in Doctors' Commons, and from the records
of several London Parishes, etc.
' The record stands thus ; "William Diodate's Book, August 24, 1728. The owners of this Bible
have been : i. Mr. John Wicker ; 2. Alderman Cranne of London, who married his only child ; 3. John
Morton Esquire, her second husband; 4. Mr. John Diodate, who married his eldest daughter ; 5. John
Diodate, M.D., his eldest son ; 6. Elizabeth Diodate, his sister, and by her given 7. to William Diodate,
her brother, Aug. y« 24, 1728, and by him given to his dear and only child [so far in W. D.'s hand-
writing] ; 8. Elizabeth Diodate, who was married, July 26, 1744, to Mr. Stephen Johnson of Newark in
Est Jersie, etc. etc."
The Bible in which is this record belongs to Mrs. Sarah (Gardiner) Thompson of New York, great
great granddaughter of William Diodate.
368
mioXfati
Meanwhile, having learnt that the family were Italian and having
traced them to Geneva, Switzerland, we had recourse, also, to a branch of
the Diodatis still residing in Geneva, through the kind intervention of
Rev. Dr. Leonard Woolsey Bacon, then a sojourner in that city. This
led to the discovery of a large mass of most interesting family-papers,
showing the Diodatis to have been an old Italian family, tracing back their
history to Lucca, in the Middle Ages, and distinguishing the race as of
high rank, in all its generations, with so many individual names of distinc-
tion belonging to it as have rarely appertained to a single family. The
family-papers also preserve, in honor, the memory of the English offset,
though without knowledge of the American branch. We owe the privi-
lege of using these papers chiefly to Count Gabriel C. Diodati" of Geneva,
who most courteously met and aided the inquiries of our friend Dr. Bacon,
beside assisting us otherwise. Dr. Bacon also sent us a Life of John
Diodati ("Vie de Jean Diodati, Th^ologien G^nevois. 1 576-1649. Par
E. de Budd Lausanne, 1869"), by which we have been farther aided in
tracing William Diodate's descent. We have drawn, also, from a Dutch
monograph entitled "Jean Diodati. Door Dr. G. D. J. Schotel. 'sGraven-
hage, 1844," to which De Bud^ refers for details, which is, evidently, the
basis of his own publication, and for which the author had the use of
family-papers. David L. Gardiner Esq. of New Haven, connected with
the Diodati family through his wife, who some years since spent much
time in Geneva, has also helped us in our investigations.
Our information from all sources harmonizes so satisfactorily that no
essential fact would seem to be wanting. But the settlement of the nearer
ancestry of William Diodate is mainly due to the thorough researches
of Col. Chester.
' Count Gabriel C. Diodati is the present possessor, by collateral inheritance, of the title first con-
ferred by Ferdinand ii. (see below), though known in republican Geneva as simple " Monsieur." He
owns the " Villa Diodati," where is kept the muniment-chest in which the family-archives are preserved.
He has been several times in America ; the last time, in 1882, he visited the Gardiners and the writers in
their homes. He with one brother and three nephews are all of the family, now living, who bear the
name of Diodati.
The most ancient records of the Diodatis tell us that the first of their
race who settled in Lucca, CORNELIO^ by name, came there from
Coreglia in the year 1300.' Whether he came as a nobleman, that is, as
one of the old lords of the land of Italy, to throw the weight of his influ-
ence on that side, in the great strife for power in the Italian cities, between
those who held the soil, and those whose claims to consideration were
based only on the possession of wealth acquired by commerce, we are not
informed. But, within the last twenty years of the thirteenth century,
according to Sismondi,^ that strife for power had ended with the absolute
exclusion of the nobility from all control in the republics of Italy. More-
over, we find the representative of the fourth generation of Diodatis in
Lucca, named Mzc/ie/e,^ to have been an Ancient, or one of the Supreme
' A pedigree of all the ramifications of the family, of which we are informed, beginning with
Cornelio, is appended to this monograph. In one of the family-documents, entitled "Notes G6n6al-
ogiques tiroes des Archives de M. Rilliet Necker, Comraissaire GSnferal," three other names are found
before that of Arrigo in our pedigree, namely: Ugolino, d. at Lucca 1150; Cristoforo, d. at L. 1194;
Uberto, d. at L. 1234 ; and Jacopo — who is called " Dominus de Barga" — d. at L. 1304 ; while the name
of Cornelio is omitted, apparently by accident. But we learn, by a letter from the late Mr. Theodore
Diodati of Geneva, that his grandfather always considered the Diodatis of Barga as forming a separate
branch ; and the dates above given seem not likely to belong to successive generations ; so that we have
here, probably, an ill-considered attempt to trace the origin of the family from a still higher antiquity.
If Schotel (Jean Diodati, ut supra, pp. 12-13) is right in his understanding of Baronius, one of the name
held the papal chair from 614 to 617, as the successor of Boniface iv. For completeness, we may add
that Schotel (p. 12) refers to " L'fitat de la Provence, dans sa noblesse. Paris, 1693, iii. 28 ;" Cesar Nos-
tradamus, "Histoire de Provence. Lion, 1614, p. 697 ;" and Mich. Baudier, "Hist, du Marfechal de
Thoiras. Paris, 1644," as showing that some have believed the Diodatis to be not originally Italian, but
of French extraction. But the last of these references — which is the only one we have been able to
follow up — has given us nothing pertinent to the subject; nor do Schotel's quotations, on pp. 97-98,
from the first two of the works referred to, seem to support his statement. Coreglia and Barga are both
small castle-towns, with dependent territories, on the torrent-worn declivity of the Appenines, four
miles (Italian) apart, and about twenty miles north of Lucca — Dizion. Geogr. Fisico Storico . . .
della Toscana. . . . Compilato da Emanuele Repetti. . . . Firenze, 1833, i. 273, ff., 796 ff.
All the names, dates and other particulars of our Pedigree of Diodati have the authority of family-
records. We have aimed at the utmost precision possible.
* Histoire des Rfepubliques Italiennes du Moyen Age. Par J. C. L. Simonde de Sismondi. . . .
Paris, 1826, iv. 164.
Bfotratf
Signoria, four times Gonfalonier, that is, the Chief Magistrate of the
Republic, and a Decemvir in 1370 (the very year of a revival of popular
liberty in Lucca, after fifty-six years of servitude through the prevalence of
the Ghibelline party) ; while his father, Alessandro,^ seems to be remem-
bered only as a physician. The probability, therefore, is that what led to
the original settlement of the family in Lucca was no ambition to assert a
prescriptive right, but was rather the new sense of widening opportunity,
for the improvement of one's condition and culture, which then animated
Italian city-life, and was destined, under the favoring circumstances of the
age, to bring upon the theatre of history all those names which have added
most to the glory of Italy in art and learning.
The year 1300, indeed, is memorable not only as marking an important
political and social crisis, but as a noteworthy epoch in the history of
Italian architecture, painting and poetry. From 1294 to 1300, the year
in which he died, Arnolfo was directing the construction of the Santa
Maria del Fiore, the Cathedral-church of Florence, of which the dome
was afterwards completed by Brunelleschi. About the year 1 300 Andrea
Pisano was at work on his gates of the Baptistery of Pisa. Giotto, too,
was passing from his shepherd-life, to carry into the art of painting a new
inspiration derived from communion with simple nature. That same year
was also the time when Dante, in imagination, wended his way through
the regions of the dead, transferring thither friendships and loves, together
with enmities and bitter judgments, of earth, in his impassioned descrip-
tions of purifying pains, hopeless agonies and seraphic bliss. Evidently,
the age was pre-eminent for intellectual movement ; and it is not a little
interesting to associate with this movement, as we so naturally may, the
coming in of our Diodatis to take part in the city-life of Lucca. For they
were, in generations to come, not only there but in foreign lands, by their
public services, literary, professional, civil, military and diplomatic, in
eminent positions in State and Church, and largely on the side of liberty
and truth, to prove themselves an eminenlly active and potent race.
Bfotratf
Michele Diodati, the Decemvir of 1370, had a son Dr. Nicolb^
Diodati, a physician of Venice ; who by marriage with Francesca di
Poggio had fifteen children. Among these the third by birth, named
Michele,^ born in 14 10, who married Caterina Buonvisi, was a distinguished
Professor in Padua and Pisa — probably of medicine — and afterwards a
physician in Lucca, where he was pensioned on three thousand crowns by the
city. Another, Antonio,^ born in 1416, held the office of Ancient, and
was Gonfalonier in 1461. Whether it was by influences favorable to liberty,
or adverse, that these members of the family were thus distinguished, cannot
be certainly told. We know, however, that for about thirty years, in the
beginning of the fifteenth century, Lucca was under a usurper, Paolo
Guinigi. The republics of Italy, generally, during that century, were
becoming more and more aristocratic in spirit, from the fact that citizen-
ship in them, not being a gift to be bestowed upon new comers, was
handed down as a privilege belonging to certain families ; while official
position must of course have become, still more, the prerogative of a
favored class.'
The race seems to have been continued only through Alessandro,''
son of the Professor Michele, born in 1459 — his son Get'onimo^ born in
1465, who was an eminent literary man, and nine times Ancient, having
died without heirs.
Alessandro (7) was repeatedly Gonfalonier from 1494. The mother
of his children was Angela Balbani, whom he married in 15 10, she being
then fifteen years old, and he fifty-five.
Now began those encroachments upon the fair domain of liberty and
culture in Italy by foreign powers, which culminated in the overthrow of
Italian independence under the Emperor Charles V., in the middle of the
sixteenth century. But with this new political influence, from beyond the
Alps there came, also, the seeds of evangelical truth ; and " in the first half
» Sismondi's Hist. d. R6publ. Ital., ut supra, xii. 4 if.
Hfo^atf
of the 1 6th century," by the blessing of God upon the zealous labors of the
erudite and devout Peter Martyr Vermigli, says De Bud6, " no city of
Italy counted so many devoted evangelical Christians as the capital of the
republic of Lucca. ^" A reformed church was founded there, which the
Diodati family was known to favor, though, apparently, without an open
departure from the old fold until a somewhat later period.
In 1 541 the Emperor Charles V. and Pope Paul III. had their mem-
orable meeting at Lucca on the affairs of Germany, the Emperor being
then in the mood to favor Protestantism for ambition's sake. Michele ^
Diodati, one of several sons of the last named Alessandro, born in 15 10,
was then Gonfalonier, and, as the family-tradition runs (confirmed by
historical records), lodged the Emperor in his palace, i. e., the Palace of
the Signoria ; and just at that time was born to the Chief Magistrate of
the Republic, by his wife Anna, daughter of Benedetto and granddaughter
of Martino Buonvisi, his third son. The Emperor, continues the tradition
of the family, stood godfather to this child, who was baptized by the Pope,
and gave him his own name, together with the lordship of the two
counties of Sarsano and Viareggio, and a quartering from the imperial
arms ; and hung upon the child's neck a decoration of diamonds which
he was wearing."
'» Vie de Jean Diodati. . . . Par E. de Bud6. Lausanne, 1869, p. 10.
" In J. B. Rietstap's Armorial Gfenferal. Deuxifeme Ed. Gouda, 1884, i. 525, we find the following:
" \i&o&zX\—Lucques, Genhve, Holl. Parti au i de gu. au lion d'or ; au 2 fascfe d'or et de gu.; C: le lion,
iss.; S.: deux lions reg. au nat.; D.: Deus dedit." A family-document preserved at Geneva informs us
with respect to Giulio Diodati, grandson of a brother of that Michele who entertained the Emperor
Charles in his palace, that "L'Empereur [Ferdinand ii.] pour reconnoitre les grands et importants ser-
vices qu'il lui avait rendCls, le fit comte, et que, si'l ne se marioit pas, le litre passeroit (J ses eollateratix, et
permit d, la fatnille d'augmenter leurs armes d'une double aigle Jmperiale [i. e., if he should not marry, the
title should pass to his collaterals, and allowed the family to augment their arms with a double eagle
Imperial] "—forming, accordingly, the background and crest in a blazon of the Diodati arms which is
attached to a Patent of Joseph ii., presently to be mentioned. An older coat, identical with Rietstap's
description, except that the left of the shield, in heraldic language, is barry of six pieces, instead of party
per fess or and gules, is still to be seen, in stone, over the door of a palace in Lucca, now known as
the Orsetti, which must, therefore, have been the old home of the family. The point of difference
mionm
This CAROLO^ Diodati was sent in his youth to Lyons, to serve
an apprentisage in one of the banking-houses of the Buonvisi, his mother's
family ; and became a frequenter of the reformed preaching there, and at
heart a Protestant. But the Massacre of St. Bartholomew drove him out
of France, and he took refuge in Geneva ; where he was tenderly received
and entertained by Nicol5 Balbani, the Pastor of the church of Italian
refugees, already established there, and was admitted into the church. He
became a citizen of Geneva on the 29"* of December 1572, and contracted
a second marriage with Marie daughter of Vincenzo Mei, by whom he had
1 1-14 four sons : Joseph}^ THEODORE}'^ JEAN^^ and Samuel; 10 and three
I5~'^7 daughters: Anne}^ Marz'e^^ and Madeleine}^
While preparing our paper on the Diodatis and their alliances, it
occurred to us to inquire whether there might not be some relationship
between the Mei wife of Carolo Diodati, the namesake of Charles V., and
a family, of similar name, of whom one was the first husband of the
second wife of the celebrated theologian De Wette of Basel. Accordingly,
a letter of inquiry on the subject was written to a granddaughter of
De Wette by his first wife, who sent the following reply from a corres-
pondent. No affinity appears to exist between the two families ; but the
letter gives authoritative information respecting the Meis who became
allied to the Diodatis by the marriage of Carolo, and is therefore worth
preserving. It is here translated from the French, for the benefit of all
who may be interested in the Diodati genealogy.
"Berne, 26 Nov. 1877."
". . . Here at last is the answer to your inquiry of the 31st of October.
. . . The May family of Lucca is entirely alien to us, as is easily proved by the
difference of names (theirs being Mey or Mei, ours dei Maggi), and of origin (they
here indicated may show, perhaps, what was the quartering granted by Charles V. The family in
Geneva, at the present time, use a coat of arms substantially the same with the blazon in the Patent
of Joseph ii.; we have reproduced it in our wood-cut, from a copy made by Miss Sarah Diodate Gardiner.
The terms of the grant to Giulio Diodati by Ferdinand ii. would seem to authorize any branch of the
family to use the imperial double eagle as part of their arms.
BfoTratf
coming from Lucca, we from Brescia), by the different coats of arms (their escutcheon
being divided into two parts— the upper of deep blue, the lower of deep yellow, with
a wild boar's head in the middle), and by the entire absence of associations. When
our ancestor Jean Rodolphe May was bailiff at Nyon, in 1659-1665, he heard speak
of the Meis of Geneva, and learned from them that the last Mei of Lucca was about
to be chosen bailiff of Bisignano in Calabria ; and he would have liked to get from
him some genealogical information. But how should he come at it ? He, being a
Protestant, would not have been honored with an answer to inquiries, any more than
the Meis of Geneva. . . .
"The work of investigation was resumed in 1730, when a letter was addressed to
the Marquis Luchesini, governor of Mirandola. The Marquis was to ask for the
pedigree of the Mei family from the Marquis Bottini, whose mother was the last Mei
in Lucca of the female line, through whom Bottini had inherited all the possessions
of this extinct family. Bottini feared and believed that there was a wish to disinherit
him, and, before complying with the request made, demanded a formal renunciation,
on the part of all the members of the May family of Berne, of all the possessions
once pertaining to the Meis of Lucca. This renunciation, signed by all the Mays, by
the "Avoyer" and by the Two Hundred, was sent to Lucca January 30th, 1735.
Soon after there came from the Republic of Lucca a document signed by the Grand
Chancellor Joseph Vincent Hiccolini, and sealed with the great seal of the Republic.
It contained the testimony of the Government of Lucca that the Mei family was
counted as one of the nobility, that several members of it had been Grand Coun-
cilors, Ancients, and Gonfaloniers— among others, Blaise, Laurence, .lEmile, and
Philippe. It was added that on the 21st of January 1628 there had been made a
catalogue of the noble families of Lucca, in which the Meis were included at page 127.
"In 1802 the May family commissioned the Chancellor Frederic May to make
genealogical researches in Lucca itself. On his return to Berne he reported minutely,
without being able to establish any relationship between the two families — which, as
we have already said, never existed.
" The Mei family expatriated itself from Lucca in the middle of the sixteenth
century, for religion's sake. Biagio (Blaise) Mei established himself in 1544 as a
merchant at Lyons. His son Vincenzo, married to a daughter of Martino Bernardini,
came to Geneva in 1550, together with one of his relatives named Cesare, who had
been of the Grand Council of Lucca from 1544 to 1548, and twice acted as Ancient.
The wife of Cesare was named Pelegrina Galganetti. In 1560 Vincenzo Mei became
a citizen of Geneva, where other families of Lucca, the Torrettini, Micheli, Bur-
lamachi [the family of the wife of Rev. John Diodati — see below], and the Passa-
lifo^atf
vanti, had settled contemporaneously with the Meis. Lucca had been for some time
the last refuge of the gospel in Italy ; and it was from this city that the Jesuits
drove away the families that maintained the most independence, and which were also,
in part, of the noblest stocks of Italy. Vincenzo Mei became a member of the Grand
Council of Geneva in 1568. Horatio was one of his six children, who, on the ist of
January 1596, was called to Berne to make an attempt to establish the silkworm in
the Canton de Vaud. This same Horatio is reckoned among the celebrities of Lyons
as a merchant or manufacturer of silk stuffs ; I think he was also made a citizen of
Berne. After some time the Meis became extinct in Geneva ; the last of the name
in Lucca, of the male line, Onofrio, bishop of Bisignano, died in 1664.
" This is about all the information which I can give respecting the Mei family of
Lucca and Geneva. As to our family, May or Maggi, it passed the Alps as early as
about the year 1300, being driven from Brescia after the defeat of the Hohenstaufen,
and the victory of the Guelphs and the Church of Rome, whose declared enemy it
has always been.
"A. de May."
The Vincenzo Mei named in this letter is doubtless the father of
Marie Mei who was married to Carolo Diodati ; and the information here
given shows that the proper form of her name is Mei, not Mai.
In this connection we print a letter from Count Diodati, relative to
the female ancestry of Carolo :
"Geneva, Nov. 12, 1881."
" Dear Sir,
" I hope you will excuse my long delay in answering your letter of the 25""
of May, if I tell you that I have been travelling for the last eight or nine months, and
have only returned home about the middle of October. Since my return I have, as
you desired, made researches in our family-archives to see if I could find out anything
about the female ancestors of Carolo Diodati, whose mother was Anna Bonvisi ; but
I find nothing except a coat of arms of the Bonvisi family, of which I enclose a copy
[displayed on our Pedigree of Diodati]. There is moreover, in the " Procedure pour
I'Admission de Jean Diodati comme Chevalier de I'ordre de Malthe," a notice of the
Bonvisi, stating that they were nobles of old descent (the mother of Giovanni being
Giulia Bonvisi, and his grandmother a Burlamachi, also an old patrician family of
Bfo^ati
Lucca). On being questioned by the Grand Master of the Maltese Knights, Aloys de
Vignacourt, 19th Oct. 1669, about the nobility of all Giovanni Diodati's ancestors,
the delegate of the Senate of Lucca answered as follows [we translate from the
Italian] :
" ' Art. 1 1. Question : Whether the Signora Giulia, daughter of Signor Benedetto
and granddaughter of Signor Martino, Buonvisi, the mother of Signor Giovanni, is
by birth and descent noble on the side of her father, grandfather and other ancestors
of the house and family of Buonvisi ? whether they have been noble, by name and
arms, for at least 200 years down ? Answer : That the family of Buonvisi, to which
the Signora Giulia belongs, by descent, has been noble and ancient, in this city of
Lucca, for more than 200 years up to this time.'
"The same is said of the Burlamachi, Balbani, Arnolphini and di Poggios, all of
which families are now extinct, as far as I know. This is all the information I have
been able to find.
" I suppose you have heard that our last relative in Holland, old Mrs. Styprian,
died last spring."
" Yours very sincerely,
"G. Diodati."
But, before we pursue the fortunes of the family in the line of Carolo
Diodati, that branch which especially interests us, on account of descendants
of the name in England and America, three other lines claim our notice.
[8 First, Michele (9) the Gonfalonier of 1541 had a brother Nzcold,^
born in 15 12, who married Elisabetta daughter of Geronimo Arnolfini, and
19 by her had a son Pompeio,^ born in 1542, "qui Pompeius," to quote a
family-document, " Catholica pejerata Fide, Genevam se contulit [i. e.,
having abjured the Catholic faith betook himself to Geneva]." Pompeio
was married at Lucca to Laura daughter of Giuliano Calandrini, and settled
at Geneva with his wife and mother in 1575.^ All of these had previously
joined the reformed congregation which originated at Lucca under Peter
Martyr, and were compelled to quit their native land, with other families, by
the new zeal of Pius V. against the Reformers, in league with Philip II.
" Schotel's Jean Diodati, ut supra, p. 125.
mortuti
" The emigrations began from the year 1555. They were favored by the habit of
travelling, at different times in the year, to which the Luccese were compelled by
their multiplied commercial relations. Among the first to exile themselves were
Vincenzo Mei, Philippo Rustici, Paolo Arnolfini, Nicolo Balbani, Francesco Micheli,
Maria Mazzei, Christoforo Trenta, Guglielmo Balbani, Scipione Calandrini, Vincenzo
del Muratori, and their families ; who were followed successively by Paolo Minutoli,
Simone Simoni, Salvatore Franceschi, Antonio Liena, Giuseppe Jova and Virginio
Sbarra. The Buonvisi, the Diodati, the Saladini, the Cenami, the Torrettini, and
many others, did not leave till later " — translated from Eynard's " Lucques et les
Burlamachi. . . . Paris, 1848," p. 184.
This writer well adds, p. 202 :
" In exiling her children she [Lucca] degraded herself in just the degree that
Geneva became great and exalted herself in opening to them her gates. The life of
the one of these two republics seems to pass into the other. The cardinal Giulio
Spinola, bishop of Lucca, was himself alarmed at this decadence, when in 1679 he
wrote to the Luccan refugees in Geneva to beg them to return to their country."
A private letter from Prof. David Masson of Edinburgh (June 26,
1876) gives us some interesting particulars respecting the Calandrinis :
" In one of Milton's Latin Familiar Epistles (to Ezekiel Spanheim of Geneva,
dated Westminster, March 24, 1654-5) he acknowledges a service done him by a
certain ' Calandrini,' apparently living at Geneva. I am disposed to identify this
Calandrini with a ' Jean Louis Calandrini ' of whom I have traces as a Genevese
merchant or banker, having many dealings with and lor the English in Geneva, and
who died in Feb. 1655-6. This in itself would point to a continuation of your
Calandrinis in Geneva, by the side of their countrymen and kinsmen the Diodatis
there. But there were Calandrinis in London, just as there were Diodatis. Wood
(Ath. iii. 269 and Fasti i. 393-4) gives an account of a ' Caesar Calendrinus ' who had
studied at Oxford, and who became 'a Puritanical Theologist,' and, after holding an
Essex rectory, was a parish-minister in London. He died in 1665, leaving a son John.
Wood calls him a German, but that is evidently a mistake. Then I hear elsewhere
of a ' Mr. Pompeio Calandrini ' as having been ' an officer of the Master of Posts
at London ' during the Civil War — before the death of Charles i. On the whole, I
378
moxmti
infer that all the Calandrinis were connected, and that the Calandrinis in England
(also, by the way, a Turretin there, of the Genevese Terretins, originally Italian an^
from Lucca) kept up relationship there with Milton's own Diodatis. All this would
be natural."
From a recent letter of Prof. Raphael Pumpelly (Newport, May 13,
1886), quoting a note by Major Papillon, one of his correspondents, on
the marriage of David Papillon (b. in Paris in 1581) to Anne Marie
daughter of Jean, and granddaughter of Giuliano, Calandrini — a refugee
from Lucca in 1560 — at the French Church in London, July 4, 161 5, we
gain the following items respecting the family of Giuliano Calandrini :
" Prior to quitting Lucca, where he had large estates, but to which he was driven
by imminent persecution from Rome on account of the reformed faith, he had opened
a commercial connexion at Lyons, France ; and there he and his family, with their
fellow-refugees and connexions, Balbani, Burlamachi, Diodati etc. first rested ; but
they soon went on to Paris, where the Calandrini hired the Chateau de Lusarches,
seven miles distant, whence, finally, at the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's day,
G. Calandrini and his family escaped to Sedan, where they lived for some time under
the protection of the Due and Duchesse de Bouillon, Lord of the place. G. C. died
there, and his family and friends were scattered, some to England, some to Germany,
and some to Geneva ; at which last place the family became extinct only a few years
ago — still much honored, I am told."
These items are from original 3/SS. in the possession of Major
Papillon's family. Schotel (pp. 1 14-30) gives us a very touching narra-
tive of the experiences of Pompeio Diodati in escaping from Lucca to
Geneva, written by himself and translated from the original Italian into
French by his grandson C^sar. It covers the years 1566 to 1575. He went
by the way of Lusarches, to Montargis, where the Duchess of Ferrara enter-
tained the exiles, to Sedan, where Madame de Bouillon was their hostess,
and then back to Lusarches — about the time of the marriage of Henry of
Navarre, which Pompeio Diodati and his wife attended — then to Sedan
again, to Spa and Aix la Chapelle. On first leaving his native land, he
Hfotratf
thus expressed his joy at escaping from the bondage of the Romish
Church (we translate from the French) : " I felt extreme satisfaction in
seeing myself delivered from so great a bondage, in which I could not
tell how many torments I had suffered." On his reaching Geneva the
same spirit found expression in these words : "At last we reached
Geneva . . . after having been delivered, by God's grace, from an
infinity of dangers and difficulties in the course of our journeyings. We
were greatly consoled to have reached this port. . . . and extremely
rejoiced ... to have been, by His infinite mercy, withdrawn from
superstition and idolatry." During their first stay at Lusarches Pompeio's
widowed mother married Giuliano Calandrini.
22, 23
As to the descendants of Pompeio (19) Diodati, beside a son Jilie}^
who became an eminent jurist, he had a son Alexandre}^ who was a distin-
guished physician, at one time Physician in Ordinary to Louis XIII. of
France, who himself had a sonjcaji}^ and a grandson Gabriel}^ In 17 19
this Gabriel received from Louis XV., "par la grace de Dieu Roy de
France et de Navarre," a Patent of nobility, still preserved in the family,
recognizing the Diodatis as one of the most ancient and noble families of
Lucca, which for several centuries had held the honors and dignities
peculiar to nobility, and allied itself with noble families in Lucca and
Geneva, " without having ever derogated from their dignity ;" and empow-
ering them, accordingly, to hold certain lands in the Pays de Gex, which
they could not enjoy without the royal grant. Possibly these lands are the
same, or in part the same, which, as we shall see, had been bequeathed by
a grandson of the namesake of Charles V., who had died thirty-nine years
before, a bachelor, to whichever of his nephews should go to Geneva to live.
Neither of them having fulfilled this condition, and his Will not having
provided for the case, the bequest lapsed ; and a royal grant may have
been consequently applied for in favor of a collateral branch of the family.
In the latter half of the last century, however, a lineal descendant of one
of those nephews built the Chateau de Vernier, in the bailiwick of Gex —
380
monuti
probably, therefore, on the Gex estate of the Diodatis — which at his death
was sold, and soon after passed, by a second sale, to the Naville family,
who hold it now. The builder of the Villa Diodati, a little way up Lake
Leman from Geneva, which was occupied by Lord Byron, and of which
we have spoken, was a Gabriel Diodati, probably the same who received
this grant from Louis XV. The line of direct descent from Pompeio
24 Diodati came to an end, by the death of Count Jcan'^'^ Diodati," in 1807.
25 It is next to be noted that Pompeio Diodati had a brother Nicolb ; ^
who, in the family-records, appears as having attained to high dignities
under the new order of things in Italy (though at one time an emigrant to
Geneva for religion's sake) ; " and had, beside many other children, two
26,27 sons, GIOVANNHO and GIULIO,!" of whom the former became a
Knight Templar of Malta, Ambassador to Sicily, and Grand Prior of
Venice ; and the latter a Chamberlain, Counsellor of War and " Summus
Copiarum Praefectus," or Major-General, of the Emperor Ferdinand II.,
The Catholic, the leader of the Catholic party in the beginning of the
Thirty Years' War, as appears from the inscription on a monument in the
Church of St. Augustine in Lucca.^^ Giulio Diodati was also made Count
" This Count Diodati was born in 1732, and is doubtless the "Count Deodati, ambassador from the
Elector of Saxony," who had an interview with John Adams at Paris, in 1784, in which he warned him
of the ingratitude of republics, ending with the words : " Your virtue must be very heroical, or your
philosophy very stoical, to undertake all those adventures, with your eyes open, for such a reward."
Evidently he had lost the patriotic traditions of his family. See The Works of John Adams. . . .
Boston, 1854, ix. 614-15.
'< De Bud6's Vie de Jean Diodati, ut supra, p. 16 ; and Schotel's Jean Diodati, ut supra, p. 7. The
former erroneously gives Calandrini as the maiden-name of the wife of this Nicolo.
" Schotel (p. 104) gives this inscription as follows:
"D. O. M."
" Et memoriae aeternae JULII DIODATI Patricii Luce
ii. Imperatore, per omnes militiae gradus inter summos Copi;
in quo Gustavus Sueciae Rex interfectus est, dextero lateri
urbes Lincium et Ratisbonara ex hostibus recepit.
" Sexies ferrea glande ictus, semel coelesti prodigio servatus, in parvo Carmelitarum habitu, globi
impetu fracto, demum ad recipiendam Moguntiam a Caesare missus ictu parvi tornienti decessit.
nsis, qui bellicae gloriae natus, Ferdinando
arum Praefectos adscitus, Luzenensi praelio
praefuit, Bdeque ac virtute singulari claras
WioTiuti
28
by Ferdinand II. (see above). 'This branch of the family, also, is now-
extinct.
Another branch of the family which retained its hold upon the
old home in Italy, and possessed a long inheritance of worldly honors,
came of Ottaviano'^ Diodati, a brother of the namesake of the Emperor
Charles V., born in 1555 ; who married, at Genoa, Eleonora di Casa Nuova.
29 He himself was Gonfalonier in 1620; his son Lorenzo'^^ held the same
30 dignity in 165 1 ; his grandson Ottaviano}'^ in 1669; his great grandson
31 Lorenzo'^'^ was repeatedly Gonfalonier and Minister to various European
32 Courts ; his great great grandson Ottaviano}^ having been, first, in holy
orders, was afterwards Senator and Ancient ; and the son of this
33 last Ottaviano, another LORENZO, ^^ was " Praefectus Militum," or
General, to Charles III. of Spain, whose reign covered the years from
1759 to 1788.
During the sixteenth century the Republic of Lucca still maintained
its independence ; but under a republican form of government aristocracy
ruled. The seventeenth century, under the malign influence of Spanish
absolutism, was a time of universal moral, intellectual and political death
to Italy. Lucca could not escape decadence by attempting, as it did, to
hide itself from observation under an enforced silence, with a law forbid-
" In ipso victoriae suae spectaculo gentis patriae militiae decus anno 1635 26 Julii aetatis xli.
"OCTAVIUS una cum fratre JOHANNE, Equite Hierosolimitano Venetiarum Priore fratre
amantissimo, cum lacrymis poni supremis tabulis jussit. NICOLAUS DEODATUS OCTAVII
haeres at curatores testamentarii posuerunt Anno Domini 1671."
In the same church is a chapel of the Diodatis, with the following inscription, as given b)' Schotel
(pp. 104-05, note I) :
"D. O. M."
" Aram in honorem S. Nicolai Tolentinati a nobili Deodatorum familia erectara, in qua Hieronimus
Deodatus, Michaelis filius, stipe monachis S. Augustini legata testamento, per Jacobum de Carolis
excepto anno 1512, sacrum alternis diebus defunctis familiae piaculo solvendis fieri in perpetuum jussit.
Octavius Deodatus, Nicolai filius, lapideo opere ornari jussitque in eS, quotidie sacramenti hostiam
immolari suis Hilariaeque uxoris et Julii fratris manibus expiandis, nee non quotannis septimo calendas
augusti sacrum majus ac triginta minora in perpetuum fieri, fundo iisdem monachis legato, qui onus
susceperunt Cal. Martii 1670. Tabulis publicis a Paulino de Carolis e& de re confectis."
382
moXtnti
ding the publication of any facts of its history ; and the same reserve and
withdrawal from all active concern for the national honor, was even more
marked as the eighteenth century came and passed.'^ Such are the histor-
ical facts in the light of which the honors of the Diodatis during this period
are to be interpreted. The generalship under Charles III. of Spain is also
significant, as showing that one of the family, at that time, was ready to
sacrifice even what little remained of the life of his country to the will of
the alien oppressor. The second Lorenzo of this branch (12th gen.) had
also, already, allied himself with Spain ; for his wife was Isabella daughter
of a noble Catalan named Bellet, Lieut. -General of the army of the King
of Spain. This branch of the family became extinct in the last century.
In this connection it may be mentioned, farther, that
" there is in the possession of the family [in Geneva] a superb folio, bound in
crimson velvet, of 14 pp. of vellum, with the imperial seal of Joseph II. [1765-90]
hanging from it in a gilt box. ... It recites the dignities of the Diodati family
in magnificent terms, and confirms to it the title of Count of the Empire. One of
the pages is occupied with a fine illumination of the family-arms, the shield being
placed on the imperial eagle." "
" Sismondi's Hist. d. Republ. Ital., ut supra, xvi. 207 ff., 220, 274, 284 if.
" Letter of Rev. Dr. L. W. Bacon, February 18, 1875. A beautiful photographed copy of this Patent
is now in our possession, through Dr. Bacon's liindness. The substance of it is that, in consideration of
the ancient nobility of the Diodati family, and its distinguished public services and dignities, both in
the old Italian home and in foreign lands, as well as of the recognition of their high position by the
King of France in 1719, and in consideration, farther, of the high personal distinction and claims of
merit of John Diodati, great great great grandson of Pompeio, grandson of Gabriel, and son of
Abraham, the Emperor confers a countship of the empire, with the amplest dignities and privileges,
upon him and upon all his children and direct descendants, bemg legitimate, of both sexes. It is dated at
Vienna, October 4, 1783. This John is the same who has been named above (p. 381), as the last in the
line of direct descent from Pompeio. Attached to this Patent is a blazon of the Diodati arms, introduced
as follows : " Ut autem eo Uiculentius de collatd hac Sacri Romani Imperii Comitatis Dignitate omni
Posteritati constet, non solum antiqua Nobilitatis ejus Insignia clementer laudamus et approbamus, ac
quatenus opus est de novo concedimus, sed ea quoque novis accessionibus exornata sequentem in
modum omni posthac tempore gestanda ac ferenda benigne elargimur. [Here follows the description
of the arms given at the head of this monograph.] Prout haec omnia propriis suis coloribus in medio
hujus Nostri Caesarei Diplomatis accuratius depicta sunt."
Bfotratt
We now return to take up the thread of our story where we dropped
it, at the mention of the names of the children of Carolo (lo) Diodati,
the namesake of the Emperor Charles V. His three daughters allied
themselves, severally, with the families Burlamaqui, Offredi and Pellissari,
all doubtless fellow-exiles with the Diodatis ; and that is all we know of
the female line of Carolo's posterity. Of the sons we are told of the
fortunes of only two, Thdodore and Jean. As it is the line of the
former which most nearly concerns us, we speak first of that of Jean.
Rev. JEAN 10 (13) DIODATI was born in Geneva in 1576. His
home was in that city during the whole of his life of seventy-three years,
but his fame and influence were spread over all Europe while he lived,
and, not being of a nature to perish with the lapse of time, like the honors
which fell to others of his race, are destined to perpetuity. The main points
in his life, and his principal works, have been often noticed ; yet with less
of living portraiture of character than could be desired, except in the
recent work of De Bud6, more than once already referred to, which we
shall chiefly follow, therefore, in the sketch here given.
From his youth, when he already manifested great acuteness of mind
and precision of judgment, he was destined for the Christian ministry. His
education was in the Academy of Geneva, under such men as Beza and
Casaubon ; and so rapid was his progress that he became a Doctor of
Theology before the age of nineteen, soon after succeeded Casaubon as
Professor of Hebrew, and in the old age of Beza assisted to fill his place.
Already in the year 1603, when he was only twenty-seven years old, he
presented to the Venerable Company of Pastors of Geneva his Italian
version of the Bible, a work which was highly esteemed by his most learned
contemporaries, and has been never yet superseded. The following is an
extract from a letter of Isaac Casaubon acknowledging a copy from the
translator (we translate from the French) :
mown
" When I lately replied to thy friendly letter, illustrious Diodati, I had not yet
received the truly divine gift with which thou hast gratified me. So I thanked thee
for it, in advance, as not having seen it, nor slaked the thirst for enjoyment by that
deep perusal which I have more recently endeavored to give to it. . . . Indeed,
my very learned friend, from the moment when I cast my eyes on thy version, and
the notes so remarkable, I was so much interested that I resolved to acquaint myself
with the entire work, with the greatest care. . . . Now that anxieties diverse
enough crush me, so to speak, I shall pursue more slowly, but more attentively, the
reading which I have begun ; and I shall do this the more perseveringly inasmuch
as I have already often experienced what great profit I shall find in the study of
both thy version and thy notes." "
But Jean Diodati was far from being a man of learning alone. He
had too much of Italian fervor of temperament, and was too deeply
imbued with the Christian spirit, not to wish to take a part in spreading
the faith which he nourished by the study of the Scriptures. His attention
was most naturally directed, in a special manner, to his beloved native
land. Venice was the outpost which he aspired to take possession of for
the cause of Reform. A great hostility to the Papal See, awakened there
by the excommunication of the Republic by Paul V.; the potent influence,
though secret, of the celebrated Fra Paolo Sarpi ; the encouragement of
the English ambassador Wotton ; and other circumstances, seemed to have
opened the way. During several years our Diodati was, more or less,
engaged in this enterprise ; and in that time he twice visited Venice in
person. His plans, however, failed ; and we refer to the undertaking more
for the light it throws upon the character of the man than for any historical
'*■ De Budfe's Vie de Jean Diodati, ut supra, pp. 164-65. Richard Simon, on the other hand, thought
Diodati's translation too periphrastic, and more definite on the side of his own theological opinions than
true to the original. But Diodati seems to have spared no labor to perfect his work in successive
editions ; the younger Buxtorf %vrote of him that his authority as an interpreter of Scripture had great
weight, inasmuch as he was chiefly occupied, all his life, " in examinando sensu textus sacri, atque
Bibliis vertendis " — Schotel's Jean Diodati, ut supra, p. 21 ; and the English editor of his Annotations,
in 1651, said that "in polishing and perfecting them, in severall editions, he hath laboured ever since"
he first finished them.
385*
Hfotratf
importance attaching to it. Between himself and Sarpi (of whom he says,
evidently with impatience, that his
" incomparable learning was diluted by such a scrupulous prudence, and so little
enlivened and sharpened by fervor of spirit, although accompanied by a very upright
and wholly exemplary life,"
that he judged him incapable of any boldness of action, to effect an
entrance for the truth) there would appear to have been little affinity of
spirit. Yet his enterprise and courage were not the fruit of inconsiderate
self-confidence.
" I shall be very careful," he wrote to Du Plessis Mornay, in France, with respect
to his plans for Venice, " not to oppose a barrier to the very free operation of the
Divine Spirit, either by the consideration of my own incapacity, or by apprehension
of any danger. I am sure that God, who beyond my hopes and aspirations used me
in the matter of His Scriptures, so opportunely for this great work, with happy
success, as the judgments of diverse distinguished persons, and your own among
others, lead me to believe, will also give me a mouth, and power and wisdom, if need
be, to serve in these parts for the advancement of His kingdom, and the destruction
of great Babylon." '"
In the year 1608 Jean Diodati was first formally consecrated to the
Christian ministry. For this, there is reason to believe, he was especially
fitted.
"His eloquent voice," it has been said by a French writer, "his impressive
delivery, and his profound convictions, produced such an effect on his numerous
hearers that they were strengthened in their belief, corrected in their conduct,
renovated in their sentiments."
But let us hear, on the other hand, with what genuine modesty he
assumed the responsibility of a preacher of the gospel.
" De Bude's Vie de Jean Diodati, ut supra, p. 85.
Bfotratf
" On my return," he writes to Du Plessis Mornay (we translate from the French),
" I was on a sudden charged with the sacred ministry, to which I had engaged myself
by promise before my departure; and not without many apprehensions and much
awe, which kept me in a state of great perplexity until I resolved to abandon myself,
aside from and contrary to all reasoning and judgment of my own, to the necessity
of the case, and the call of God, which, as it has respect to the needs of His Church,
will, I hope and am already assured, be accompanied with His powerful benediction,
so that I may in some small measure answer to the same.""
So well did he meet this call that several churches of France, in the
course of time, sought him for their Pastor; and Prince Maurice, at the
time of the Synod of Dort, pressed him to remain in the Low Countries.
But he never settled himself out of Geneva. Some want of clearness in
discourse has been charged to Diodati, which he justified, on one occasion,
by saying : " Clear waters are never deep ;" and his fervor seems to have
sometimes become vehemence. But he was ever distinguished by a noble
boldness, of which Innocent X. is said to have felt the force to his own
discomfiture, on the report of a sermon of Diodati in which he had declared
the Church of Rome to be scandalously governed by a woman, meaning
Donna Olympia.
" From Morrice's ' State Letters of the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Orrery,' " says
Chalmers, " we learn that, when invited to preach at Venice, he was obliged to equip
himself in a trooper's habit, a scarlet cloak with a sword, and in that garb he mounted
the pulpit ; but was obliged to escape again to Geneva, from the wrath of a Venetian
nobleman, whose mistress, affected by one of Diodati's sermons, had refused to con-
tinue her connection with her keeper.""
That an impetuous disposition was characteristic of him, is well shown
by an incident of the year 162 1. In that year there was great apprehension
in Geneva of an attack on the city by the Duke of Savoy ; and some
'» Schotel's Jean Diodati, ut supra, p. 17.
" The General Biogr. Diet. ... A new, ed., revised and enlarged. By Alexander Chalmers.
. . . London, 1813, xii. 107.
monuti
anonymous letters of mysterious Import were found in the street and
brought to Diodati. Regarding these letters as forecasting imminent
danger, he
" made a great stir in the city about them, saying that he had discovered treason
. . . he even went from shop to shop in the lower streets, exhorting every one to
arms . . . and, what is worse . . . broke out into a great passion, saying
that we all had the knife at our throats . . . and even preached on the subject."
This conduct on his part caused him to be cited before the Council,
as a disturber of the peace and a busybody in other men's affairs. But the
Venerable Company of Pastors took up the defence of their over-zealous
brother, thus accused of "a seditious patriotism, and the matter was
quieted."^
After the death of Henri IV. he was appointed to visit the Protestants
of France in behalf of his native city ; and succeeded in his mission.
But one of the chief marks of distinction received by our Genevese
divine was his appointment, in 1 6 18-19, jointly with Tronchin, to represent
Geneva at the Synod of Dort. Here he comes before us in a new light.
There had been doubt about inviting any delegates from the chief seat of
Calvinistic doctrine, to avoid an appearance of partiality in calling them
to take part in judging of the orthodoxy of the Remonstrants ; nor could
there have been chosen, apparently, two men less disposed to any com-
promise in matters of theological opinion than Diodati and his colleague.
Neither that tenderness of sympathy for errorists, nor that broader mental
habit of discrimination between the essential and the unessential, which we
have reason to suppose belonged to Diodati by nature, as well as through
the influence of his special training in Biblical study, seems to have pre-
served him from a certain hardness of resistance to the plea for toleration,
" Lettres Trouv^es. Pages historiques sur un Episode de la vie de Jean Diodati. Geneve, 1864.
388
Bfotiatf
or at least for a liberal and charitable judgment, without prejudice, of those
who could not conscientiously swear by Calvin. Our authority on this
subject is Brandt's " History of the Reformation and other Ecclesiastical
Transactions in and about the Low Countries," which, though from the
side of the Remonstrant party, is relied upon for its statement of facts.
In ^an early session of the Synod, on the question of its right to
adjudicate, raised by the Remonstrants, both the Genevese deputies declared
"that, if people obstinately refused to submit to the lawful determinations of the
Church, then there remained two methods to be used against them : the one 7vas that
the civil Magistrate might stretch out his arm of Compulsiofi j and the other, that the Church
might exert her Foicer in order to separate and to cut off, by a public sentence, those who
violated the laws of God." "
What more absolute control over opinion was ever asserted even by
the See of Rome ! Later, as we read,
"Deodatus said, in the name of those of Geneva, 'That the doctrines of the
Remonstrants might be sufficiently learned from the Conference at the Hague and their
books. Let them go, then, said he, as unworthy to appear any longer at the Synod
. . . there was no difficulty in coming at the knowledge of their doctrines without
them, and even against their will.' ""
Yet, at the hundred and sixth session, it is said,
" Deodatus, whose turn of haranguing in publick had been now superseded
several times, on account of his indisposition, treated about the Perseverance of the
Saints. . . . [and] spoke of the doctrine of Reprobation in milder terms than
the Contra-remonstrants were wont to do, denying that sin was a fruit of Reprobation.
When he came to the Remonstrants' arguments, relating to their opinion of Persever-
ance," the record adds, " he was heard to say, ' That he was not prepared to answer
" The History of the Reformation . . . and other Ecclesiastical Transactions in and about the
Low Countries. By the Reverend and Learned Mr. Gerard Brandt . . . Faithfully Translated
. . . London, 1722, iii. 79.
" Id., iii. 116.
389
19fo!iatf
the evasions and exceptions of those new Philosophers, who by their subtilties and
niceties overturned all principles, and brought all things into doubt. As for him, he
would keep to his good old ways.' ""
At the hundred and twenty-first session, when the opinions of several
of the foreign divines were taken on the article in the statement of the
Remonstrants relative to perseverance,
"those of Geneva said ' That they obscured the honour of God ; that they sapped the
foundations of salvation ; that they robbed men of all their comfort ; that they brought in
rank Popery again, and cooked up the old Pelagian heresy with a new sauce : They therefore
prayed to God with all their hearts, that the supreme Powers of this land would exert them-
selves couragiously and piously, in order to extirpate this corrupt leven, and to free all their
churches from the danger of this contagion.' " "
When the time came to draw up canons which should express the
decisions of this specially Calvinistic Synod, Jean Diodati was one of six
deputies chosen to act with the President for that purpose ; and meanwhile
his voice was given in favor of a
" Personal Censure " pronounced upon those whose opinions were condemned,
" as Introducers of Novelties, Disturbers of their Country, and of the Netherland churches ;
as obstinate and disobedient, Promoters of Factions and Preachers of Errors; as guilty and
convicted of corrupting Religion, of Schism, or dissolving the Unity of the Church, and of
having given very grievous scandal and offense : For all which they were sentenced to be
deprived of all Ecclesiastical and Academical offices.""
From Dort Diodati went to England, doubtless, in part, to visit his
brother Theodore.
" Id., iii. 253. *' Id., iii. 267.
" Id., iii. 281. A cruel witticism, even, is attributed to Diodati, on the occasion of the execution of
Barneveldt — that the canons of Dort liad been the death of him ; but such words seem very unlikely to
have come from his lips.
moTum
Beside his Italian version of the Scriptures, Jean Diodati also made
a French translation, from his Italian, the publication of which, though
discouraged for years, was finally permitted in 1644 ; and he is said to have
undertaken, to what end does not appear, a version in Latin. The family-
archives also intimate that a Spanish version was made by him, though it
is hardly to be believed that this could have been more than a translation,
by some other hand, of his so highly reputed Italian.
In 1 62 1 there appeared at Geneva a French translation, by Diodati, of
a History of the Council of Trent, written in Italian (" Istoria del Concilio
Tridentino "), in the interest of Protestantism, and ascribed to Fra Paolo
Sarpi. He also translated the Psalms into "rimevulgare Italiane," pub-
lished at Geneva in 1608 ; and was the author of " Annotationes in Biblia "
published there in 1607, substantially identical with the notes which
Casaubon speaks of in his letter above quoted, and with the notes which
accompany his French version. A later edition appeared in 1644, under
the title of " Glossae in Sancta Biblia." Other valuable works, and many
single dissertations on various theological and ecclesiastical subjects, which
it is needless to specify here, were also written by him.
The chief occupation of the last third of Diodati's life, beside his
duties of instruction in the Academy of Geneva, there is reason to believe,
was the revision and recasting of his notes on the Scriptures, in connection
with his translations.^ From Masson we learn, farther, that
" Besides his celebrity as professor of theology, city preacher, translator of the
Bible into Italian, and author of several theological works, Diodati was celebrated as
an instructor of young men of rank sent to board in his house. About the year
1639," Masson adds, " there were many young foreigners of distinction pursuing their
'* In the Fourth Report of The Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, Part i. . . .
London, 1874, p. 159, among " Papers relating to John Durye's Mission to the Continent, with the
Object of effecting a Reconciliation between Lutherans and Calvinists," is mentioned, under date of
August 28, 1633, "Copy of a letter of John Diodatus to [John Durye], expressing cordial approval of
John Durye's scheme for a reconciliation between the Protestant churches, but warning him of the
danger of selecting unfit persons for negotiating so great a work. Dated from Geneva."
mionuii
studies in Geneva, including Charles Gustavus, afterwards king of Sweden, and
several princes of German Protestant houses ; and some of these appear to have been
among Diodati's private pupils." "
We only mention, farther, as included in this period, that Milton in
1639, on his return from Italy, to use his own words, was "daily in the
society of John Diodati, the most learned Professor of Theology,* from
whom he probably first heard of the death of his friend Charles, the
nephew of the divine. The death of Rev. Jean Diodati occurred in 1649.
This distinguished divine married, at Geneva, in December 1600,
Madeleine daughter of Michel Burlamaqui ; " by whom he had nine
children, five sons and four daughters. Of the sons, who alone concern
" Masson's Life of Milton. Cambridge, iSsg, i. 778.
»> Id., ibid.
" A granddaughter of the Francesco Burlamachi who conspired to liberate the republics of Italy in
1546, and sacrificed his life to his patriotism — Sismondi's Hist. d. Republ. Ital., ut supra, xvi. 128 ff., and
Schotel's Jean Diodati, ut supra, pp. 11-12.
She had a sister Ren6e — so named by the celebrated Ren6e Duchess of Ferrara, who was her god-
mother — who married, first, Cesar Balbani, and, afterwards, Theodore Agrippa d'Aubign^, grandfather
of Frangoise d'Aubignd Marquise de Maintenon — Schotel, pp. 12, 92. Jean Jacques Burlamaqui, author
of the well-known " Principes de la Loi Naturelle et Politique," was a cousin of the wife of Rev. John
Diodati, and appears to have married a sister of his. The Burlamaquis were " one of those noble fam-
ilies of Lucca," says Nugent, the English translator of that work, "which, on their embracing the
Protestant religion, were obliged, about two centuries ago, to take shelter in Geneva." Between them
and the Diodatis there were several intermarriages. Schotel (pp. 85-95) gives from family-archives a
touchingly simple narrative of dangers and escapes, privations and succors, experienced by the family
of Michel Burlamaqui, father of Madeleine and Ren6e, in passing from Italy, by the way of France, to
their final resting-place in Geneva, which was written in the French language by Renfee "fetant dans la
retraite en mon bien du petit Saconnex, et m^ditant les graces que le Seigneur ra'a fait." At one
time they were sheltered in a palace of the Duchess of Ferrara at Montargis, where Renfee was born.
Again, being in Paris during the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, the very palace of the Duke of Guise,
through the intervention of some Roman Catholic relatives, became their place of refuge. Afterwards,
in the house of M. de Bouillon, temptations to a denial of their faith, by conformity to the usages
of the old Church, beset them; but from these, too, they escaped unscathed. Finally, after years of
moving from place to place, they reached Geneva, stripped of all earthly goods, but rich in the treasure
of a good
mtoXfati
34 us here, one was Th(!odore ;^'^ made Doctor of Medicine at Ley den, Feb-
ruary 4, 1643 ; and admitted Honorary Member of the Royal College of
Physicians of London in December 1664 ; who resided in London, though
not, as it seems, in the practice of his profession, but as a Merchant :
in the Letters of Administration on his estate, granted July 24, 1680, he is
called " Doctor of Medicine and Merchant." He had no children, and
bequeathed most of his property — including two estates " in the bailiwick
of Gex, one in the village and parish of Fernex, the other in the village
and parish of Verin, within a league of Geneva " — reserving a life-interest
35, 36 in the real estate to a sister Rende'^'^ — to three nephews named PJiilipP
37,38 John^"^ and Ralph^'^ (order of names in his Will), with these provisos :
that " if either revolt from the Reformed Religion in which he was brought up,
I disinherit him ;" and " if all said nephews die without issue, then my estate to go
to build a hospital for poor strangers at Geneva."
The real estate was to pass, eventually, to whichever one of his
nephews should go to Geneva to live, of whom he mentions Ralph as
most likely so to do ; and the property must not be sold, but kept in the
family. We also find the following item in his Will :
" There is also at Geneva, in my sister Renee Diodati, her keeping, a copy of the
French Bible of the translation of my deceased father, revewed and enlarged by him
with divers annotations, since the former copy which was printed before his death,
which I doe esteeme very much, and I will that it be printed," etc.
Legacies were also left to the poor of the French and Italian Churches
of Geneva, the French Churches of London and the Savoy, and the
Italian Church of London, and those of Fernex and Verin.
39 Another son of Rev. Jean Diodati was Charles ;'^^ who also went
to England; on whose estate, on the 13'" of August 165 1, Letters of
Administration were granted to " Theodore Diodati next of kin " —
evidently his brother Theodore— styling him "of St. Mary Magdalen,
Old Fish Street, London, bachelor."
monm
40 Another son, named Sam7iel}'^ " became a Merchant in Holland,'
whither he went in 1648 ; he lived single and died in 1676.
41 Another son was named Marc ;'^'^ who also died without descendants,
in 1 64 1, at Amsterdam.
The only son through whom the line of direct descent from the
42 Genevese divine was perpetuated, was PHILIPPE;" who studied
theology, first under his father and other learned professors of Geneva,
and afterwards at Montauban in France; went to Holland, and was in
1 65 1 installed Pastor of the Walloon Church of Leyden. He married
Elisabeth daughter of S6bastiaan Francken, Alderman of Dort and Coun-
sellor of the Provincial Court of Holland ; with whom he lived a happy
married life of five years, and died October 6, 1659. Four sons were born
to him, of whom one died in infancy, and the other three were Philippe
Sibastiaan (36), Riidolphe (38) and Jean (37) (order of names as given
by Schotel, p. ']i), the three nephews of Theodore (34) whom he made,
as we have seen, his principal legatees.
Philippe S^bastiaan settled in Holland ; he administered, however, in
England, in 1680, on his uncle Theodore's ^estate, jointly with his brother
Jean. In the record of Doctors' Commons he is called Doctor of Laws.
He married Lydia Blankert, and was a Counsellor at Rotterdam.
Ralph, or Rudolphe, it seems, did not go to Geneva to live, as his
uncle expected ; but went to the East ; married on the Mauritius Catharina
Saaijmans of that island ; was at one time Chief of the Dutch East India
Company in Japan ; and died at Batavia.
The only other son of Rev. Philippe Diodati was Jean, born at
Leyden, July 28, 1658, who, after passing a commercial apprentisage at
Dort, embarked for Batavia in the island of Java, in May 1697, to establish
himself as a Merchant there. He married, on the 2^ of April 1680,
Aldegonda Trouwers (Travers ?) of a prominent Irish family, as is said,
by whom he had several children ; and died in 171 1, at Surat, where his
Biotriitf
43.44
45.46
47.48
49
50,51
remains are said to have reposed beneath a " superb monument," erected
to his memory by his daughters.*^ His wife had died in 1698.
Two of the children of Jean Diodati by Aldegonda Trouwers were
Philippe^^ and Salomon}^ born at Dort in 1686 and 1688; who both
became Associates of the Dutch East India Company at Batavia. The
former died childless, in Batavia, on the 26"' of January i 733, bequeathing
15,000 rix dollars to the Cathedral of Dort, for the purchase of communion-
plate. The latter, on the 7"' of December 1713, married Geertruida
daughter of Jerome Slott ; and in 1733 returned to Holland with his wife
and two sons, Martin Jacob '^'^ and Antoine Joszie ;'^'^ and settled at the
Hague, where he died in 1753. Of these two sons, Martin Jacob estab-
lished himself in Holland, and was the founder of the family of the
Diodatis of that country. The other, ANTOINE JOSUE. born in
1728, having studied theology at Geneva, went to the Hague, and became
Chaplain to the Prince of Orange. He married Marie Aim^e Rilliet of
Geneva, and later in life settled there, and founded the Genevan family of
Diodatis. He was the builder of the Chateau de Vernier, already referred
to, and lived there till he died in 179 1. " He was a great amateur of the
fine arts, and had his house always full of artists. The consequence of his
expensive style of living, and keeping always open house, was that he
spent the greater part of his fortune, which for the time was considered a
large one, and left it very much diminished to his children," three sons
and five daughters. The name was transmitted by only one of the sons,
Jacques Aniedce ;^^ whose son Rev. Alexandre Amcdc'c Edouard}^
Professor in the Academy of Geneva, and Librarian of that city, was the
father of our friends and correspondents Gabriel Charles ^^ Diodati and
his two brothers, the late Salotnott Thiodore'^'^ and Charles Aloys.^''
These three gentlemen have worthily maintained the honors of the family
at Geneva.
'■' De Budfe's Vie de Jean Diodati, ut supra, p. 298. At our request, through the intervention of
missionarj'-friends, a search was made for this monument, in the English, Frcncii and Dutcli 1
at Surat, but without success ; the climate, time and neglect would seem to have destroyed all t
moXfuti
We now take up our immediate line, descended from Dr. Theodore
(12) Diodati.
THEODORE DIODATI, born in 1 5 74 at Geneva, being educated
as a physician, went early to England, where he is heard of, says Professor
Masson, in his "Introductions" to Milton's Latin Poems, "as living, about
the year 1609, near Brentford, in professional attendance on Prince Henry,
and the Princess Elizabeth [afterwards Queen of Bohemia]."*^ He
received the degree of Doctor of Medicine at Leyden, October 6, 161 5 ;
and was admitted a Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians in
London, January 24, 1616-17. He became an eminent practitioner,
" much among persons of rank," residing in London, apparently, to the
age of seventy-six, his burial having been in the parish-church of St. Bar-
tholomew the Less, February 12, 1650-51. "The naturalized London
physician," says Masson, " is to be fancied, it seems, as a cheery, active
veteran, with courtly and gallant Italian ways to the last."** He was twice
married : first to an English " lady of good birth and fortune," by whom
he had three children ; and afterwards to another English lady, who
brought him "goods and estate," survived him, and was his executrix,
52 The children of Dr. Diodati were PhiladelpJiia ;'^'^ buried at St. Anne's,
53 Blackfriars, August 10, 1638 ; yc/^;/,^^ "mentioned," as Col. Chester says,
"in the will of Elizabeth Cundall (widow of Henry Cundall, the partner
54 of Burbage in the Globe Theatre), dated i Sept. 1635 ;" and Charles.'^^
This Charles was the well-known youthful companion and bosom-
friend of Milton ; whose life and character are delineated, in connection
with those of Milton, in so very interesting a manner, by means of the
joint researches of Professor Masson and Col. Chester, in the former's
" Life of John Milton " and in his edition of Milton's Poetical Works.
It was to him Milton addressed two of his Latin sonnets, and he was the
'2 The Poetical Works of John Milton. Ed. ... by David Masson. . . . London, 1874,
ii. 324-
*^ The Life of John Milton. ... By David Masson. . . . London and New York, 1871,
ii. 81, note.
ISfotratf
subject of the great poet's " Epitaphium Damonis." Specially noteworthy,
in the relations of the two friends, is the contrast between Milton's studious
gravity and the blithesome cheerfulness of Diodati, whom " one fancies,"
says Masson, " as a quick, amiable, intelligent youth, with something of
his Italian descent visible in his face and manner.'"" He "was born about
1609," says Col. Chester, "as he matriculated at Oxford, from Trinity
College, 7 Feb. 1622-3, aged thirteen at his last birth-day;" and to the
same diligent antiquary we owe the discovery of the date of his death, in
August 1638, his burial having been at St. Anne's, Blackfriars, August 27,
1638, only seventeen days after that of his sister. " Letters of Administra-
tion on his estate, in which he is described as a bachelor, were granted to
his brother John in the Prerogadve Court of Canterbury, 3 Oct. 1638."*
John (grandfather of our WILLIAM, as we shall see), the brother
of Charies, was married at St. Margaret's, Westminster, July 28, 1635, to
Isabel Underwood ; she died and was buried in June 1638, leaving a son
55 Richard}'^ who was baptized June 29 of the same year.
Philadelphia and Charies, though unmarried at the time of their
death, were not living with their father, but, as Col. Chester showed, at a
"Mr. DoUam's" in Blackfriars; which is explained by the supposition of
a family-disagreement consequent upon the second marriage of their father
— a fact plainly enough alluded to, indeed, in one of the Latin letters of
Milton, addressed to his friend in 1637 :
"quod, nisi bellum hoc novercale vel Dacico vel Sarmatico infestius sit, debebis
profecto maturare, ut ad nos saltern in hyberna concedas [i. e. for, unless this step-
motherly conflict be more disastrous than Dacian or Sarmatian, thou oughtest
certainly to bring it about to come to us at least for the winter].""
« Id., i. 80.
2' In the Fourth Report of the Royal Commission of Historical Manuscripts. Part i. . . .
London, 1874, p. 36, under date of 1640, mention is made of a petition of John Diodate, administrator
to Charles Diodate, son of Doctor Diodate, for leave to proceed against the Earl of Cleveland and
Lord Wentworth for recovery of £,i<x>.
2' The Prose Works of John Milton. . . . By Charles Symonds. . . . London, 1806, vi. 117.
MoXi^ti
Nor is there any child, or grandchild, named in the Will of the old
56 physician, who makes a nephew Thdodore ^^ his residuary legatee ; so that
either all his immediate descendants had died before him, or he carried the
family-quarrel with him to his grave ; and the latter appears to be the fact.
In England, it may be well to mention, the family-name was variously
corrupted, being written as Deodate, Dyodat and Diodate, which last is the
American form.
There exist many portraits of Diodatis of successive generations.
Our friend Rev. Dr. L. W. Bacon made for us, in 1877, a list of those
which he saw in the Villa Diodati, on the lake of Geneva, as follows :
" Aldegonda Trowers, wife of John Diodati.
" Solomon Diodati, son of John, Sec'y Batavia Orphan House.
" Gertrude Colombine Slott, wife of Solomon.
" John Diodati, son of Philippe, Counsellor of Batavia India Co.
" Nicholas Diodati, Ambassador of the Republic of Lucca to Tuscany, and
Gonfaloniere.
" Dom. Jules Diodati, Count of the Holy Roman Empire, &c. &c., of Ferd. H.
and Ferd. HI. Killed July 26, 1635, at the Siege of Mayence, where he commanded,
aet. 41.
"Jean Diodati, minister, prof., and first deputy of Geneva to the Synod of Dort.
" Jean Diodati, Grand Cross of Malta, and Grand Prior of Venice ; born at
Lucca, 1595 ; died at Malta aged 94.
"Anthony Joshua Diodati, Chaplain to the Princess of Orange, and Librarian of
Geneva ; died at Geneva 1790.
" In the same room with this hangs a portrait of Mary Princess of Orange and
Queen of England."
There are also in the Villa " Portraits of the Prince and Princess of Mecklenburg-
Schwerin, presented by them to Count Diodati, 1782."
Another large collection is in the possession of the heirs of the late
Madam Elisabeth von Stipriaan Luisgius of the Hague ; of which the
following list was made in 1878, from a list by a granddaughter of hers:
398
mortnti
" Portraits of :
" Charles son of Michele,
" John son of Charles,
" Theodore son of John,
" Philip son of John,
" John son of Philip,
" Salomon son of John,
" Philip son of John,
" Martin Jacob son of Salomon,
" Anton Josue son of Salomon,
"and of their several wives."
A copy of the Genevese portrait of Rev. Jean Diodati, presented
by the representatives of the family in Geneva, is owned by the authors
of this work. Another belongs to Mr. and Mrs. David Lyon Gardiner
of New Haven, who have also a copy of the portrait of Count Giulio
Diodati. Photographs from the originals, at the Hague, of Carolo
Diodati and his Mei wife, of Rev. John Diodati, and of Rev. Philip son
of the last named, are in the possession of the authors, as well as of
Mrs. David Thompson of New York and Mr. and Mrs. David Lyon
Gardiner of New Haven. Of the twelve generations from the time of
Carolo Diodati, beginning with his own, the writers have photographs of
descendants of his for ten generations : two in the Swiss line ; the others
in the English-American line.
We have thus briefly sketched the history of this remarkable family ;
and all of the name appearing in EngUsh records have been mentioned in
their places in the line of descent, down to and including the grandfather
of our William Diodate (see above, p. 397) ; unless a separate place could
have been found for a John Diodati who engaged in business in London,
being called a "Factor" in some entries concerning him, and on whose
estate Letters of Administration were granted, in 1687-88, to his son
moxtm
John, his "relict Sarah renouncing." But this person was identified by-
Col. Chester, after thorough research, with John (53) the brother of
Milton's friend, who buried his wife Isabel Underwood in 1638, as stated
57 above — a son of his by a second marriage being the John'^'^ who is known
to have been the father of our William.
All that English records tell us of William Diodate's father, John,
is embraced in the following particulars. On the 14'^ of November 1682
a license was given him to marry Mercy Tilney of St. Michael Bassishaw,
London, being himself described, in the marriage-license, as a " bachelor,
aged about 22 [therefore born about 1660], with consent of his parents;"
and by this marriage he had four children, who are all supposed to have
died in infancy or early youth. The wife died in the parish of St. Andrew
Undershaft, London, and was buried at Blackfriars, September 18, 1689.
On the 6"" of January 1689-90 he had a license to marry Mrs. Elizabeth
Morton of Tottenham, co. Middlesex, he being then described as " of
St. Andrew Undershaft, London, Merchant, widower, aged about 30."
The history of Elizabeth Morton, worked out by Col. Chester with
much care and labor, was given by him, in brief, as follows :
" Rev. Adrian W Whicker, vicar of Kirtlington, Oxfordshire (where
he was buried 16 June 1616), by his wife Jane (buried there 8 Dec. 1641),
had several children, of whom the eldest son was John ^^ Whicker, born
in St. Aldate's parish in the city of Oxford, who became a merchant in
London, but at his death desired to be buried at Kirtlington. His Will,
dated 8 Sept. 1660, was proved 12 Feb. 1660-1. By his wife Jane, who
was buried at St. Olave, Hart Street, London, Mar. i, 1637-8, he had five
daughters, of whom three only survived. The second daughter, Elizabeth ^
Whicker, was baptized at St. Olave, Hart Street, 21 Aug. 1623. She first
married Richard Crandley, Alderman of London, who was buried at
St. Olave, Hart Street, 12 Dec. 1655. From his Will it is evident that
they had no children. She remarried John Morton at St. Olave, Hart
Street, in July 1658, and a female child (unnamed) was buried there
HfODTJltf
5 July, 1659. They had also a son Jo hi 1 Whicker ^"'^ Morton, who married
Elizabeth Medlicott, and died 15 May, 1693, and was buried at Tackley
5 in Oxfordshire ; and also a daughter Thcodosiay^ who was her father's
6 executrix, and then unmarried. Their only other daughter was Elizabelh,^*^
who married John Diodati."
The following "is in one of the copies of the Heraldic Visitation of
Devonshire of 1620, but is not in the original Visitation, and is therefore
evidently an interpolation ; and its exact value cannot be determined " —
Col. Chester : but no reason appears for discrediting it.
" ' Arms : Or, a fess Gules, arid in chief 3 crosslets fitcJUe of the same; Crest : a lion
rampant proper, the fore-paws resting on a crosslet fitchde Or.
" ' John Whicker of Gitsham co. Devon =
I
I
John Whicker of Gitsham = Ann. d. of Pine
ob. 1585 I
I \ I
Adrian Whicker John Whicker Robert Whicker
Rector of Kirtlington (of Ciilliford, co. Devon) Rector of Chalgrove
CO. Oxon., ob. 1616 =Joan d. of co. Oxon., ob. 1609, s. p.
I Walter Boden
I I
I I
John Robert Thomas Whicker = Mary dan. of John Smith
eldest son 2d son of Garsington, co. Oxon. I
living 1621 I
I - \ i
Thomas Whicker Mary Jane
son & heir, aged 21 in 1621 aged 17 in 1621 aged 14 in 1621
and then in the University of Oxford ' "
In the " Parish Registers of St. Mary Aldermary, London . . ,
from 1558 to 1754. Edited by Joseph Lemuel Chester. London, 1880,"
p. 28, the following record is among the marriages of 1658 :
"June I, John Morton, Gentelman, and Mrs. Elizabeth Cranley, widow, of
St. Olives, Hart Street."
401*
Hfojratf
A recent letter (May 28, 1886) from the venerable Rector of Tackley,
CO. Oxford, Rev. L. A. Sharpe, informs us, from records of that parish,
that this John Morton (b. 1634, d. 1702) was "late of the parish of
St. Mary's Whitechapel, in Middlesex." In the Tackley church is a tablet
of records of ten members of the Morton family ; but none of them of
earlier date than this John Morton. There is also, in the same church, a
large monument to the memory of Hon. John Morton, Chief Justice of
Chester, who died July 25, 1780, aged sixty-five. The Morton tablet
gives us the following particulars relative to children of John and Elizabeth
(Whicker-Crandley) Morton: John Whicker, eldest son, died May 15,
1693, aged thirty-three — therefore born in 1660; Emmanuel, youngest
son, died November 13, 1703, aged thirty-seven — therefore born in 1666.
The tablet also tells us that Elizabeth Medlicott, the wife of John
Whicker Morton, " late of this Parish, Gentleman " (as says the Register),
was a daughter of " Edmund Medlycote " (the Register adds "Esq.");
and died November 7, 1 734, aged seventy.
The general coincidence of these results of a search in English records
respecting the Morton marriage of John Diodati, with the facts already
stated as derived from William Diodate's Bible (see above), will not fail
to be noticed. But those statements are farther duplicated by what we
learn in England with regard to the children born of this Morton marriage ;
58 who are there seen to have been three in number, namely, JohnP
59,60 William'^^ and ElizabethP
John, son of John and Elizabeth (Morton) Diodati, was matriculated
at Oxford, from Balliol College, April 6, 1 709, aged sixteen (therefore born
about 1693) ; and graduated Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts, in course,
and afterwards Bachelor of Medicine and Doctor of Medicine. He became
a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London, June 25, 1724, and
Censor in 1726-27; and died May 23, 1727, unmarried. His Will, dated
May 19, and proved July 27, 1727, left his whole estate, both real and
personal, with the exception of a single legacy of /"50., to his sister
Bfotratf
Elizabeth, then unmarried— coinciding with the tradition that WilHam
Diodate, on returning to England after the death of his brother John, found
no property left to himself, the family having supposed him to be dead.
The sister Elizabeth Diodate afterwards married a gentleman by the
name of Scarlett. Col. Chester suggested that it may have been Anthony
Scarlett whose Will, dated May 8, 1750, and proved March i, 1757, by
his relict Elizabeth, left his entire estate to her " as a testimony of the
great love and most tender affection which" he had "for the best of
wives."
In regard to her husband, however, we have no knowledge except by
his arms on pieces of silver which were sent by his widow to her grand-
nieces in this country. The whole shield is engraved, with minute attention
to colors and other details, on a large silver waiter ; and the crest is given
on a smaller waiter and on spoons now in possession of our family. Similar
arms are carried by branches of the Scarlett family in Suffolk, Esse.x,
Sussex, Norfolk and Shropshire, with slight differences. But the exact
arms, found upon our silver, with one minor exception, are those belonging
to the family of Baron Abinger (William Frederick Scarlett), which family
is also the only one of the name that uses supporters. Baron Abinger's
arms are Chequy Or and Gu. a lion ramp. Erm ; on a canton Az. a castle
triple-towered Arg.; Crest : a Tuscan cohimn chequy Or and Gu., sup-
ported 071 either side by a lions ganibe Ermines erased Gu. Supporters :
tzvo angels vested Arg, tunics Az., wings Or, in the exterior hand of
each a sword in bend ppr., pommel and hilt Or. On our silver the canton
is plain Azure ; and the supporters, in a fanciful arabesque ornamentation,
are depicted as cherubs with an angel's head and wings on the body of a
lion, in a fashion which Burke condemns as " an absurd attempt of some
. . . artists to display " the supporters " in picturesque attitudes " when
they should be " always erect." In addition to the Scarlett arms, as
represented on our silver, is an " escutcheon of pretence " in the centre of
the shield, with three mascles, or fusils, in chief, and what looks like a
pomegranate and leaves in base.
monuti
Mrs. Scarlett died in 1768, her Will having been proved April 13
of that year, with a codicil which she added February 22 of the same year.
61 She left legacies to "the children of" her "Niece Elizabeth^^'''^ Johnson
deceas'd, late Wife of the Rev'^ Mr. Steph" Johnson of Lime, in
Connecticut in New England."
This brings us back to our WILLIAM DIODATE, the only other
child of John Diodati, by his Morton marriage, whose daughter, as appears
from his Will in the New Haven records, was that Elizabeth (Diodate)
Johnson, thus named, in the Will of her aunt Scarlett.
We here give the Will of Mrs. Scarlett, in full, from the records of
Doctors' Commons :
" In the name of God, Amen. I Elizabeth Scarlett of the Parish of St. Andrew,
Holbourn, in the county of Middlesex, do make and declare this my last Will and
Testament, in manner following, viz : I desire to be Buried in a Decent but frugal
manner in the vault belonging to my Family in the Parish of Tottenham High Cross
in the county of Middlesex. Imprimis, I give and bequeath to my Executors herein-
after named the sum of ;:^3ooo. of lawful money of Great Britain in trust, to place
out the same in some of the Publick Funds or other Government Security, for the
use and benefit of all and every the children of my Niece Elizabeth Johnson deceas'd,
late Wife of the Rev'' Mr. Step" Johnson of Lime in Connecticut in New England,
equally to be divided among them, share and share alike, to be paid to them at their
respective ages of 21 years as to the Sons, and at their respective ages of 18 years, or
Days of Marriage, as to the Daughters ; and in Case any or either of them shall
happen to Die before his, her, or their respective ages of 21 years or 18 years, or Days
of Marriage, as aforesaid, then my Will and meaning is, and I direct, that the Share
or Shares of him, her, or them so Dying shall go and be paid unto and among the
Survivor or Survivors of them, in such Shares and proportions, and at such Time
and Times, as his, her, or their, Original Shares are before directed to be paid. And
my Will and meaning further is, and I do hereby direct, that the proportion of the
Interest Dividends and Proceeds, arising or to be made from the said sum of £2,000.
Biotiatf
[is] to be paid to the said Step" Johnson their Father, for and towards the mainten-
ance and Education of such of them who shall be under Age, until he, she, or they,
shall be Intitled to and do receive their respective Share and Shares, and, in case of his
Death, then to his, her, or their. Guardian or Guardians respectively for the like pur-
pose. And whereas Esme Clarke, late of Kensington, but now of Bartlett's Build-
ings, Holborn, Attorney at Law, is indebted to me on Bond Condition'd for the
payment of ;^2oo. and Interest, Now I do hereby freely remit the said sum of ;^2oo.
and all Interest that shall be due thereon at the Time of my Decease, and likewise
the Penalty of the said Bond, and all other Sum and Sums of Money which he may
be indebted to me at the Time of my Decease by Bond or otherwise. Item, I give
unto the said Esme Clarke the sum of three hundred Pounds, but, if he shou'd happen
to die before me, then I give and bequeath the said sum of ^300. to all his Children,
to be divided equally among them. Share and Share alike, to be plac'd out in some of
the Publick Funds, and Paid them, or their Survivor, at their respective ages of 21
years, the Interest and Proceed in the meantime to be applied for and towards their
maintenance and Education ; but, in Case any of them die under the age of 21 years,
then the Share of him, her, or them, so dying is to be paid to and among such as shall
survive and Attain that age, and I consider this as a full Legacy of ^500. to the said
Mr. Clarke and his Family. Item, I give, devise and bequeath unto Dorothy Clarke,
Widow, Mother of the said Esme Clarke, all those my 2 several Annuities or yearly
sums of £10. payable to me by Virtue of two several orders or Tallies, issuing out
of his Majesty's Exchequer, for and during her natural life; and after her Decease I
give and bequeath the said Annuities or Yearly Sums of ;^io. unto Dorothy Clarke,
Spinster, her Daughter, for and during her natural life ; and after the Decease of
both Dorothy Clarke the Mother and Dorothy Clarke the Daughter, then I give,
devise and bequeath the aforesaid annuities or Yearly Sums of ^10. unto Esme
Clarke Jun', Eldest Son of the aforesaid Esme Clarke, who is my Godson, and his
Assigns. I give and bequeath unto Mary the wife of John Spencer Colepeper of the
Charter h° London, Esq''", and unto Fran' Webb Esq" her Brother, the sum of £2i°°-
in Trust, to pay the same unto Mary the Daughter of the said John Spencer Cole-
peper and Mary his Wife, at her age of 21 years or day of Marriage which shall
first happen ; and in case the said Mary the Daughter shall not live to be Intitled to
the same, then I give and bequeath the said sum of ;^3oo. unto Mary the Wife of the
said John Spencer Colepeper, and my Will and meaning is, and I hereby direct
the Interest and Proceed of the said ;^3oo. shall in the meantime, and until the said
Mary Colepeper the younger shall be Intitled to receive the Principle, in manner
aforesaid, [is] to be paid to and retain'd by her said Mother. I give unto the said
Iif0ll9tf
John Spencer Colepeper and to Mr. Rich'' Maskall of Petty France, Westminster,
Gentleman, my Executors hereinafter named, ;^ioo. each. I give and bequeath unto
Ann Shave, Wife of John Shave of Ipswich, Bookseller, ;^5o.; to Robert Hassell of the
South Sea House, Esquire, ^50.; to Mr. William Dawson, Clerk to Mr. Neave, ;^5o. ;
to my friend Sarah Wife of the said Richard Maskall ;^2o.; to Dorothy Clarke Jun'
aforesaid the farther sum of ^10.; to Miss Sarah Shave of Ipswich ;^io. I give and
bequeath the Woman Servant who shall be living with me at the Time of my Decease
/^lo., and such part of my Common Wearing Apparrel as my Executors shall in
their direction [discretion ?] think fit ; and, in case she should be a Married Woman,
for her sole and separate use, and not liable to the Debts or Contracts of her Husband.
I give and bequeath to the Rev"" Mr. Thos. Bishop of Ipswich my silver tea kettle and
silver Lamp. To Diodat Johnson, Eldest son of my late Niece Elizabeth Johnson,
my large Silver Waiter and my largest pair of Silver Candlesticks. I give and
bequeath to Stephen Johnson, his Brother, my silver stand for oil, and one of my
small silver Waiters, my silver Marrow Spoon, and one mourning Ring with a single
Rose Diamond. To W" Johnson his Brother my smallest pair of Silver Candle-
sticks, my silver Soup Ladle, and my other small Silver Waiter. I give and bequeath
to Sarah and Eliz" Johnson, Daughters of my late Niece Eliz" Johnson, my two
dozen of Silver handled Knives and Forks, my two dozen Silver Table spoons,
my silver Salts, my six gilt tea spoons and Tongues, to be divided equally
among them. To Catharine Johnson their Sister, my Silver sugar dish and Cover,
my silver Tea canister, my Silver Cream Saucepan and my two silver table spoons
marked E. S. To Miss Sarah Sparrow of Ipswich, 3 China Cups and Saucers, a
china Teapot with a Silver Spout, a Slop Bason, and a Plate belonging thereto.
To Dorothy Clarke, Widow, half of my Shifts and Holland Aprons, 4 laced night-
caps, and two laced Handkerchiefs. I give and bequeath the rest and residue of my
Wearing Apparrel, of every kind, unto Sarah, Elizabeth and Catharine Daughters
of my late Niece Eliz* Johnson, to be divided equally among them. To M"^' Eliza-
beth Hicksman, the Maid's Bed, Bolster, Pillows, Bedstead and furniture, together
with the Quilt, Blankets and 2 pair of Sheets now used on the Said Bed. I give
and bequeath to the said Sarah Maskall all my household goods and furniture of
every kind not herein bequeathed, if I should happen to Die while I am resident in
Mr. Maskall's house. All the rest, residue and remainder of my Estate and EfEects,
both Real and Personal, Whatsoever and Wheresoever, after Payment of my just
Debts and Funeral Charges and Legacies, I do hereby give, devise and bequeath unto
the said John Spencer Colepeper and Richard Maskall, their Heirs, Executors, and
Administrators, To hold the Real Estate as Tenants in Common, and the Personal
Bfotr<itt
Estate to be equally divided between them, share and share alike ; " and of this my
Will I do hereby constitute and appoint the said John Spencer Colepeper and Richard
Maskall Joint Executors, and my Will and meaning is that, if any Deficiency shall
arise in my Estate and Effects, the several Legacies of _;^3ooo. to my Niece's children,
^300. for the benefit of Mary the Wife and Mary the Daughter of y= said John
Spencer Colepeper, and the ^100. to my Executors, be first paid and satisfied, and
the other Legatees to abate in proportion to their respective Legacies ; and further
that it shall be lawful for my said Executors to deduct and retain to themselves, out
of my Estate and Effects, and out of the Several Trust Monies herein bequeathed, all
such charges and Expences as they shall be at in the Execution of this my Will, and
the several Trusts therein contain'd; and that they shall not be chargeable with any
loss that may happen by putting out any Monies to Interest, or otherwise acting in the
Execution of this my Will, without their Wilful Neglect or Default respectively ;
and that one of them shall not be chargeable with the Act of the other of them, but
each for his own Act and Deed, and lastly I do hereby revoke all other Wills by me
heretofore made, and declare this only to be and contain my last Will and Testament.
In Witness whereof I the said Elizabeth Scarlett have hereunto, and to a Duplicate
hereof, set my hand and seal this g"" day of July in the year of our Lord 1767."
"Eliz. Scarlett."
'* It appears that Mrs. Scarlett bequeathed the bulk of her property, "both Real and Personal," to
her residuary legatees John Spencer Colepeper Esq. and Richard Maskall Esq., who were also the
executors of her Will, " To hold the Real Estate as Tenants in Common, and the Personal Estate to be
equally divided between them." As these items of her Will, in connection with the fact that the
Scarlett silver which she bequeathed was given to her relatives in America, and that she was living in
the house of Mr. Maskall in her widowhood, where she made her Will, together with her evident inti-
macy, also, with the Colepeper family, seem to us to imply that her principal legatees were her own
relatives, we give some particulars in regard to the old family of Colepeper, found in Hasted's " History
of Kent."
Lord John Colepeper, dying in 1719 without issue, bequeathed two "manors [in Tenterden, co.
Kent] to his wife Frances, daughter of Sir Thomas Colepeper, of Hollingborne, who by will devised
them to her nephew John Spencer Colepeper Esq. of the Charter-house, being the last of the vast
possessions of the different branches of the family dispersed over this whole county." This gentleman
also received from his grandfather Sir Thomas Colepeper the manor of Greenway Court, Hollingborne.
John Spencer Colepeper was, in the time of Hasted, the last of the name of this ancient and honorable
family. The old Kent families of Colepeper, Mascall, and Webb are all frequently mentioned by
Hasted.
mtonuti
" Signed, sealed and Published by the above named Testatrix, as and for her last Will
and Testament, in the Presence of us, who in her Presence, and also in the Presence
of each other, have Subscribed our names as Witnesses. The alteration in the legacy
to Mr. W°' Dawson from ;^2o. to ^^50. having first been made by her direction, And
the Razure part of the iS"" and 19'-'' lines of the 2'"' side also made by the Testatrix'
Directions before the Executors.
" Thomas Hollingbery, Clerk.
" Rich<* Clark.
" Sam' Hughes."
"These Directions addressed to John Spencer Colepeper and Mr. R* Maskall my
Exe" I request may be punctually observed and considered as a ... to my last
Will and Testament. I give and bequeath to Miss Sarah Shave of Ipswich Ten
pounds besides what I gave her in my Will. Item, I give and bequeath to Mr. Thomas
Wainwright 5 Guineas for a Ring. Item, I give and bequeath to Rachel Church, if
she lives with me at the Time of my Decease, a further sum of ;^4o., to her sole and
separate use, and not subject to the Controul of her Husband. Whereas I have given
the rest of my Wearing Apparrel in my Will to be equally divided amongst my
Niece's 3 Daughters, Sarah, Eliz'' and Catharine, I think it necessary to specify what
that Rest is, as I have not kept great quantity of wearing apparrel by me for some
Time. It consists in one Green unwatered Tabby Gown, in one Crimson Work'd
Silk Petty Coat. All my Brussels and Mechlin Laced Caps, Handkerchiefs and
Ruffels, and Aprons Work'd and Laced, and one Minionet Laced Hood. I also give
to Eliz^ Spriggs, Mr. Maskall's servant, 2 Guineas."
"Dated 22'' February 1768."
"Eliz. Scarlett."
"Sign'd by Mrs. Eliz. Scarlett in the presence of John Timbury."
" W. B. Extracted by John Clarke, Proctor at Doctors' Commons."
We will mention some articles which came to the granddaughters
of William Diodate, of which some are specified in Mrs. Scarlett's
Will, others were probably sent by her to his family, and some may be
supposed to have belonged to himself. Mrs. Sarah Diodate (Gardiner)
Thompson of New York received through her mother, Mrs. Sarah
BioHatf
(Griswold) Gardiner, and has now, the large silver waiter (mentioned in
the Will) with the whole Scarlett coat of arms upon it, a pair of silver
candlesticks with the Scarlett crest, a pillar supported by two "gambes,"
some other pieces of silver, some embroidered articles of dress, the Bible
previously referred to, an oil-portrait of " aunt Scarlett," etc. The portrait
has been photographed, and the writers have a copy. It represents a tall,
well formed brunette of about thirty, with large, full, soft, dark Italian eyes,
arched brows, hair flowing over a long, graceful neck, and bare shoulders —
a very stately, elegant woman. To Mrs. Thompson came, also, aunt
Scarlett's chatelaine-chain, with cases for knife, thimble etc., as pendants —
and some curious amethyst-armlets. Her mother Mrs. Gardiner remem-
bered curious toys, and a richly dressed doll with a sovereign in its pocket,
which showed Mrs. Scarlett's interest in her grandnieces when they were
children, whom she never saw. Among the articles which remained in
Mrs. Gardiner's time there were, also, rich silken hangings etc. for a bed,
and brocaded silk gowns. Some of the other silver pieces mentioned
in the Will remain in different branches of the family. Several are in
possession of the Bulkeley descendants. Joseph Selden Huntington of
Lyme inherited from his grandfather Stephen Johnson, son of Elizabeth
Diodate, one of the small silver waiters named, which has the Scarlett
crest. He has also a portrait of George II. as Prince of Wales, which
he was when William Diodate came to this country, some very rich, large,
polychrome porcelain plates, a large, fine old Delft platter and other dishes.
There was brought to the old M^^Curdy house by Mrs. Ursula (Griswold)
M^Curdy, mother of Judge M<:Curdy, the silver-handled knives and
forks, in high, inlaid boxes to stand on a side-board. The boxes remained
within the memory of the writer, but have since disappeared. There was
a heavy old silver teapot with the Scarlett arms, and much other old silver,
which fell into neglect, under the care of a housekeeper after the death of
Mrs. M<^Curdy, when her daughter Sarah was four years old. When
Sarah, afterwards Mrs. Stephen Johnson Lord, was sixteen years of age,
her brother Robert came from New York, and, collecting most of the
Hfotratf
old silver in the house, had it melted into a large, heavy tea-set, which is
now owned by her daughter Mrs. Griffin, whose daughter Sarah owns the
old porringer of her great great great great grandparents William and
Sarah Diodate, marked vi^s • At that time none of her family cared for
the marks on the silver, or for the family-history which they might reveal.
Choice Willoughby and Digby-Lynde silver and other relics came, through
Nathaniel Lynde's family, to the other branches of his descendants, and
there is every reason to suppose that his granddaughter Mrs. Ann (Lord)
M<^ Curdy, Judge M^Curdy's grandmother, had her portion. Whatever
pieces of her silver remained in the old house doubtless shared the fate of
the rest. One of two Diodate diamond-rings, nearly alike, not mentioned
in the Will, came to Mrs. Ursula (Griswold) M^ Curdy, and is now owned
by Mrs. Griffin ; the other came down through Mrs. Elizabeth (Griswold)
Gurley, and is now owned by her granddaughter Mrs. G. W. l^.ierrow of
Mansfield, Conn. The diamonds extend half around the rings, and are
very handsome for their time. Mrs. Elizabeth Brainerd White now of
Cleveland, Ohio, received through her mother, Mrs. Mary Ann (Griswold)
Clark, the large pair of candlesticks mentioned in the Will, a pair of silver
snuffers, and a diamond-ring (the stone a large brilliant, very bright and
sparkling) marked inside "Elizabeth Gower died 1630 [or 163 1]:" she
lost the ring, and does not remember the exact date. In the M^ Curdy
house are plates of aunt Scarlett's polychrome porcelain, and others of the
finest and oldest blue porcelain of the Ming period. Among pieces of
silver not mentioned in the Will, one of which the writer has, were spoons
of a dessert-size, marked with the Scarlett crest. At the famous " historical
party " in the Hartford Athenaeum the writer, when a young girl, wore a
white-ground shaded-blue striped brocade, one of two similar dresses sent
by aunt Scarlett to her grandnieces, afterwards Mrs. Elizabeth Brainerd
and Mrs. Sarah Griswold, and fastened the long pointed bodice with aunt
Scarlett's stomacher-pin of brilliants. The family of Stephen Matson, a
great grandson of Mrs. Elizabeth (Diodate) Johnson, have from aunt
Scarlett a very rich mantel-clock of ebony and brass, with a crown upon
the top within which are musical works. There came to Mrs. Sarah
(Johnson) Griswold three old Diodate portraits. They hung in the old
house built by Gov. Matthew Griswold for his son John on his marriage
to the Johnson heiress. The old house was replaced years ago by a new
one, and the old pictures long since became shabby, and disappeared.
They were described to the writer by the late Mr. Matthew Griswold and
by Judge M<^Curdy, and were described by Mrs. Gardiner to members
of her family. They were full-length or three-quarter oil-portraits of
elegant gentlemen in rich clothing, with lace-rufBes at the wrists, described
as " court-dress ;" one portrait represented an old gentleman, whom we
may imagine to have been Dr. Theodore Diodati himself. Mrs. Thompson
remembers them, and says the gentlemen had large black eyes like Mrs.
Scarlett's.
So far as we can learn, William and Elizabeth (Scarlett) Diodate were
the only living descendants left of the old physician. We may also add
that, as Count Giulio Diodati's title, in default of direct heirs, went to his
collaterals, and is used by the present descendants of Rev. Jean Diodati,
the same title might have been properly borne by the male descendants of
Dr. Theodore, the elder brother of the divine ; and that therefore William
Diodate of New Haven could have claimed the right to the title of
" Count of the Holy Roman Empire." But to obtain it he might have
been obliged to change his country and his allegiance, to gain only an
empty title which brought with it no estates.
The son-in-law of William Diodate, Rev. Stephen Johnson, a son of
Nathaniel Johnson Esq. of Newark, New Jersey, by his wife Sarah Ogden,
was not unworthy to transmit the accumulated honors of the Diodati race
to his descendants. Beside being an honored Pastor for forty years, over
a single church, he was an eminent patriot ; and, from 1773 till his death,
a Fellow of Yale College (see ^0tir(n=3)Ol)nSiOn» a monograph in
which we have already sought to do justice to his memory). His
Bfoiratf
62 daughter Sarah ^^ became the wife of Dea. John Griswold, son of the first
Governor of Connecticut of that name by his wife Ursula Wolcott (see
^tffijlUOltr and ]^ft1^tn=SU!F0U0tt). For her it was reserved to hand
down the precious legacy of " blood that tells," in cultured manners, warm
affections, noble aspirations and quick intelligence, betokening, in the
case of some of the generations which have succeeded, in no doubtful
manner, the hereditary influence of Italian genius and temperament. It is
a singular coincidence that her great granddaughter Eleanora Lorillard
Spencer, daughter of Mrs. Sarah (Griswold) Spencer, returned, several
years ago, to Italy, the native country of the Diodatis, as the wife of
Prince Virginio Cenci, of Vicovaro, Chamberlain to King Humbert. An
earlier paper on the Diodati family, by one of the writers, showed to the
Prince his wife's ancient and high Italian ancestry.
mtmtnt of Satali (Buntiatt) mionutt
Since the preceding paper was printed, we have found ourselves able
to speak more fully, and with confidence, in regard to the descent of Sarah
Dunbar who married William Diodate.
In "Ancient Scottish Surnames. By William Buchanan of Auchmar.
Glasgow, 1820," pp. 8-9, the author gives an account of the most ancient
and pure Scottish clans. He uses arguments to prove that those who bear
their surnames are descendants from them. Among them he includes the
Dunbars, who may be found as far back as Scottish history can be traced.
In a letter of Alexander, King of Scotland in 1244, he names Patrick
Count of Dunbar. Of the three families which held the title of Earl of
March one was that of Dunbar. Little as we know of Robert Dunbar,
the emigrant, we may infer that he was a descendant of the head of the
wide-spread clan the name of which he bore. Of him, and of our line of
his descendants, we learn as follows.
In " Genealogy of the Dunbar Family. By M. Dunbar. Boston,
1886 " the author says :
" From the diary of Rev. Peter Hobart the first settled minister at Hingham,
Massachusetts, 1635, it appears that Robert Dunbar . . . settled in Hingham in 1655.
"The opinion generally prevailed in Hingham that Mr. Dunbar brought money
enough with him to begin life without embarrassment, as for years there were but
two men in the place who paid a higher tax. .
" Robert"! Dunbar, born in Scotland 1630, married Rose [probably before
emigration]. Robert died October 5, 1693. Rose died Nov. 10, 1700. Children:
John,''! b. Dec. i, 1657 ; etc."
3 There were eight younger ones, among whom were Joseph 2 and
4 James,2 the next younger brothers of John.
^tmtnt of Satati (Bttntiat) Bfolratr
From Hingham records we learn that " John Dunbar married, July
4, 1679, Mattithiah daughter of George and Catherine Aldridge (or
Aldrich) of Dorchester 1636, of Mendon 1663." Savage's "Genealogical
Dictionary" states that "George Aldridge (or Aldrich), Dorchester,
freeman 7 Dec. 1636, by wife Catherine had Mattithiah born 10 July
1656." John and Mattithiah Dunbar had at Hingham, according to the
records, Susannah, ^ Lydia,^ and two sons bearing the name of John.^
Several years intervened between the dates of birth of these children. The
last mention of the father is in May 1697; and the Town-Clerk writes:
" The record of John Dunbar's family stops here in the Hingham records,
and the inference would be that he removed." He no doubt removed to
New Haven, Conn., as a John Dunbar is mentioned in the New Haven
records July 24, 1700. It has been accepted by Prof. Charles F. Dunbar
of Harvard University, and other members of the Dunbar family, and
genealogists, with whom the writer has corresponded, that he is the same
person as the John Dunbar of Hingham. This is now confirmed by the
names of his children given in the New Haven records. By Elizabeth
Beecher, his second wife, he had several children, among whom were
9, 10 James 3 and Joseph, ^ twins, born in 1703, evidently named for the two
brothers next to himself, his boyhood's playmates in Hingham. After the
11 death of these boys, he repeated the name of Joseph ^ in 1704, and of
12 James 3 in 1708. He also repeated the name of Lydia who was born in
13 Hingham, by giving it to a child Lydia ^ born in 1714 in New Haven.
The late Henry White who kindly searched the New Haven records
for the purpose, found that John Dunbar married Elizabeth Beecher
July 24, 1 700. From a comparison of the date of this marriage with the
dates of birth of the children born of it, as given in the New Haven
records, and the fact that the widow Elizabeth Dunbar gave her property
to her own Dunbar children, and nothing to John Dunbar Jun. and Sarah
(Dunbar) Diodate, who are both mentioned in John Dunbar's Will as his
children, Mr. White concluded that they were children of a former wife.
'Bt^ttnt of Sa^rali (Buniiat) MottaU
This corresponds with the record at Hingham of his marriage in 1679 to
Mattithiah Aldridge (or Aldrich).
John Dunbar had a good estate.
It is interesting in this connection to trace the long continuation of
family-names. Robert Dunbar had a daughter Sarah. John Dunbar gave
the name to his daughter Sarah, afterwards Mrs. Diodate, who gave the
name Sarah to a child of hers who died. Her daughter Elizabeth gave
the name to her daughter Sarah who became Mrs. John Griswold ; who in
turn gave it to her daughter Sarah, Mrs. Gardiner ; who gave it to her
daughter Sarah, Mrs. David Thompson ; who repeated it to her daughter
Sarah, Mrs. David Gardiner ; who gave it to her daughter the young Sarah
Diodate Gardiner, to whom we are indebted for a copy of the Diodati
arms. Of these eight generations the last six of the name are in the direct
line of descent.
The name Elizabeth has come down in the Whicker, Morton, Diodati,
Griswold, Lane, and Moss families for nine generations in the direct line,
with only three breaks.
Each of the two names has been borne, also, by others of the descend-
ants of Sarah Dunbar and Ehzabeth Whicker.
INDEXES
FAMILY-NAMES
IN SECOND VOLUME
. AND PEDIGREES
(See First Volume for General Notes on all the Indexes)
417*
^xisxo0X& ^nUt^
I— BY MALE DESCENT
Abiel'— m. I. Pinney,
Deborah'— m. Buell— (20), 12
2. Moore,
3. Easton— (12), 12 and Pedigr.
Deborah*— m. Denison— (87), 46
Addis yicEvE.KS^— Pedigr.
Deborah'— m. Jewett— (107), 52
Agnes Wolcott^— m. lio\\\s\.er— Pedigr.
Diodate Johnson'— m. Colt— (169), 115-17 1
Alexander Viets'— (15), 12
Dwight Torrey^— Pedigr.
Xuos^— Pedigr.
Edward'— m. i. Margaret ,
2. (— ) Bemis— (i), 2, 10,
J J
Andrew'— (53), 41
Edward Lansdale'— /'co'^'/-.
Ann Ma.tu.hk''— Pedigr.
Anna'— m. Brownson— (38), 24, 26
Edyth G.^— Pedigr.
Augustus Henry'— m. Lansdale— {114), 105
Elihu"- m. Wolcott— (27), 12, 13
Elihu Marvin^— Pedigr.
Augustus Henry'— i°t'</!>r.
Benjamin^- m. Coo\i— Pedigr.
Elisha'— m. Viets— Pedigr.
Eliza Woodbridge'— m. Boalt— (134)
no
Benjamin"- m. Ga.y\oxA— Pedigr.
CATHARm^^— Pedigr.
Elizabeth'— m. i. Rogers,
2. Pratt,
Catharine Ann'— m. Lorillard— (6i), 43
3. Beckwith-(28), 22,
23
Charles'— m. Perkins— (116), 105
Elizabeth^— (45), 34
Charles^- m. Pomioy— Pedigr.
Elizabeth'— m. Raymond— (54), 41
Charles C.^— Pedigr.
Elizabeth'— m. Griswold— (59), 42, 44
119
Charles Chandler'— m. Griswold— (igi), iig
Elizabeth'— m. Gurley— (171), 117
Charles Henry*— m. Morley— (121), 106
Elizabeth*— /'e-n'4'->-.
Charlotte Yovno^— Pedigr.
Elizabeth"— /'f</i;»-r.
Charlotte Young* 2d— m. harkin— Pedigr.
Elizabeth Diodate*— m. Lane— (69),
44
Clarissa'- (105), 51
Ellen Elizabkth'— Pedigr.
Clarissa' 2d— m. Elliot— (106), 51
Ellinor Shaw'— (i2o), 106
Cornelia W.'— m. Hiiven— Pedigr.
El.\^— Pedigr.
Daniel*— m. Stevens— (ig), 12 and Pedigr.
FAymE^— Pedigr.
Daniel Evum^— Pedigr.
Fanny Augusta*— ra. Terry- (66), 44
©ftfstoow mntv
Fanny Rogers*— m, i. Bartlett,
James'— (146), iii
2. Bartlett— (117), 106
James*— m. Perkins— (119), 106
Fanny Rogers*— m. Ely— (127), 109
James B^avi^^— Pedigr.
Florence Avm^—Pedigr.
Jane'— m. Lee— Pedigr.
Florence T'E.yivwf—Pedigr.
Jeannie Whittemore'- /'^o'!;?*'.
Frances Ann'— in. Lane— (128), 109
John'- (7), 11, 12
Frances Ethelind'- m. BoAi—Pedigr.
JOHN*-(34), 24
Francis' — m. , ^5), 11
John' 2d— m. i. Bemis,
Francis'— m. i. Loomis,
2. Bathsheba (— ) , —(17), 12
2. Bingham,
and Pedigr.
3. (-) SX2.xx-Pedigr.
John*— m. Gaylord— (10), 12 and Pedigr.
Frank G?—Pedigr.
John*— m. Lee— (48), 34, 47-49
George'— m. , —(4), 5-8
John'— (108), 52
George'— m. Holcomb— (6), 11 and Pedigr.
John'— m. Johnson— (i 10), 80, 114
GEORGE^m. I. Lynde,
2. Lee— (49), 34-41
John'— m. i. Huntington,
2. Wilson-(i87), 119
George'- m. Lee— (50), 41 and Pedigr.
George'— m. i. WoodhuU.
John* son of Charles— (123), 106-09
2. Cummings— (57), 42 and Pedigr.
John* son of Charles Chandler— /'^a'j;fr.
George'— m. i. Perkins,
John Boxlt''— Pedigr.
2. ComsKocV— Pedigr.
John GnEEii^-Pedigr.
George*— m. ^osX— Pedigr.
John HuBEtij^-Pedigr.
George'— Pedigr.
John Lynde'— m. Smith— (60), 42, 43 and Pedigr.
George Catlin'— m. AUey— Pedigr.
John N. A.»— Pedigr.
Hannah'— m. Bushnell— (100), 51
John Hobw^— Pedigr.
Hannah'— (148), iii
John Noble Alsop'— m. 'Emmet— Pedigr.
Hannah'- m. Moiley— Pedigr.
Joseph'— m. Gaylord— (24), 12 and Pedigr.
Harold Ely'— Pedigr.
]0SETH^— Pedigr.
Harriet' dau. of Henry— Pedigr.
Joseph Perkins*— (122), 106
Harriet' dau. of William Noyes— Pedigr.
Joseph S.^— Pedigr.
HAKRY'-Pedigr.
Josiah'— m. , —(18), 12
Harvey'— m. , —Pedigr.
Juliet'— m. Griswold— (131), no
Harvey*— m. , —Pedigr.
Juliet Elizabeth*— m. Hall — (132), no
Helen AntLE^-Pedigr.
Katharine'— Pedigr.
Henry*— m. Booth— Pedigr.
Katharine Mov/ry^— Pedigr.
Isaac'— m. Phelps— (11), 12 and Pedigr.
L11.IAN'— Pedigr.
Isaac'— m. Latham— Pedigr.
Lillie*— m. Dziembowski— /'^</;;^>-.
Isaac'— m. , —Pedigr.
Lois'— m. Mather— (99), 51
CtffiitDolir mtitv
Louisa'— m. hay—P^digr.
Matthew'— m. Ely— (112), 75, 80
LovISA'— Pedlar.
Matthew'— m. Ely— (124), 109
Louisa K?—Pedigr.
MATTHEw'-m. Yoxing-Pedigy.
Louisa A.« 2d— ra. Pierce— A-.^r.
Matthew'— /'fi//;g-r.
Louisa Augusta*- .Pfa'^'r.
Matthew'— m. i. Olmstead,
Louisa Mather'— m. Perkins— (64), 43
2. Schenck — (i25),iogand/'f</ii';-.
Lucia"— m. Backus— (loi), 51
Matthew'- /'^a'ir;j-r.
Lucy'— m. 'Q\y€i\—Pedigr.
Minnie Emmet'— m. Foxhes—Pcdigr.
Lucy'— m. Vi3.i\.—Pedigr.
Nathaniel Lynde'— m. i. Haven,
2. Lasher,
3. Sickles— (56), 42 and
Pedigr.
Lydia"— m. Loudon— (109), 52
Lydia Maria'- m. Selden— (126), 109
Mabel Harlackenden'— /'ca';;^?-.
Nathaniel h\tiD%'— Pedigr.
Margaret-*— m. Buckingham— (g), 11
Nathaniel Lynde'— /".vfffr.
MARlA^-m. Gr2.y-Pedigr.
Nathaniel Lynde' 2d— m. Hogue— Pedigr.
Maria Matilda'- m. '^?iXner—Pedigr.
Origen''— m. , —(13), 12
Marian'- m. i. Chandler,
2. Lane,
3. Ely— (149), 1 1 1-13
Patience*— m. Denison— (90), 47
Prnm-e.'^— Pedigr.
Marian''- m. Perkins— (137). "o
Phcebe''- (44), 33
Marian'— Z"^^;;^?-.
Phcebe'— m. Parsons— (93), 49, 50
Marianna'— m. Van Rensselaer— /"("./([fr.
Phcebe UK-gym^— Pedigr.
Mary*— m. Dorr- (72), 46
Prudence Anna'— m. HM— Pedigr.
Mary'— m. Chaunce) — (22), 12
Prudence hovis^^— Pedigr.
Mary''- m. Edwards— (62), 43
RAY'-Pedigr.
M.\K^'>—Pedigr.
Richard Alsov^— Pedigr.
Mary Ann'— m. Clark— (iSS), iig
Mary ht^-s^^—Pedigr.
Richard Sill'— m. i. Mather,
2. Mather — (63), 43 and
Pedigr.
Mary Gmsoii^—Pedigr.
Richard SiLL'-m. Brown— (65), 44
Mary Gibson' 2d— m. i. Johnson,
2. Littleton— /'<-(/;;f>-.
Matilda''- m. Frelinghuysen— (67), 44
Matthew'— m. ■Wolcott-(2), 2, 13-22
Matthew'— m. i. Hyde,
2. (DeWolf) Lee— (33), 24, 26-33
Richard SiLi.'^— Pedigr.
RoMERT^— Pedigr.
Robert Hari-er'- m. Powers— (145), in
Roger'— m. Rogers— (113), 74, 75, 81-105
Roger'— m. 'Wells-Ciis), 105
MattheW— (47), 34
Roger' son of Charles— /'.•</»;?-r.
Matthew-"— m. Phelps— (25), 12 and Pfdigr.
Roger' son of Roger Wolcott— Pedigr.
Matthew'— m. , —(26), 12
Roger 'Wolcott'— m. Griswold— (130), no
Matthew'— m. 'Wolcott- (92), 49, 52-73. 75
Roger 'Wolcott'— m. Adaras— Pedigr.
0frc»tooi) mntv
Roger Wolcott' — Pedigr.
S. Origen' — (14), 12
Samuel^ — (89), 47
Samuel'' — m. i. Huntington,
2. Hannah , —Pedigr.
Samuel*— m. Sarah , —(21), 12 and Pedigr.
Samuel'— m. GtiyXoxA— Pedigr.
Samuel'— m. Marvin— (52), 41 and Pedigr.
Sarah'— (8). "
Sarah'— m. Colton— (35), 24
Sarah^46), 34
Sarah'— m. Hillhouse— (102), 51
Sarah'— m. Gardiner— (177), 117
Sarah Helen'— m. Green— (68), 44
Sarah Johnson'— m. Spencer— (70), 44
Sylvanus'— m. Marvin— (51), 41 and Pedigr.
Sylvanus*- m. I. Collins.
2. (— ) Webb,
3. (— ) Sizxr— Pedigr.
Sylvanus* — m. Denison — Pedigr.
Sylvanus CoLLins'— Pedigr.
Thomas'— (3), 4
Thomas*— (91), 47
Thomas* — m. Drake— (.16), 12 and Pedigr.
Thomas'— m. Lynde — (98), 51
Thomas'- m. Calkins— (58), 42 and Pedigr.
Thomas''— Pedigr.
Thomas'— m. Hubh^id— Pedigr.
Thomas*— Pedigr.
Ursula'— (147), 11 1
Ursula'— m. McCurdy— (165), 113
Ursula' — m. McCurdy — (170), 117, 120
William D.^— Pedigr.
William Edward Schenck' — Pedigr.
William Frederick'— m. Noyes— (143), iii
William Noyes'— m. Ely— (144), 11 1 and Pedigr.
WihLiB'— Pedigr.
Woodward Haven^— Pedigr.
2— BY FEMALE DESCENT
Allen, James Mather'— 74 and Pedigr.
Allen, Jane P^^-Kim^'-Pedigr.
Allen, John William'— m. Mather— (167), 114
and Pedigr.
Allen, Lucy Ellenor'" — PeJigr.
Allen, Ursula McCurdy'— m. Andrews— (168),
114
Atwater, William Whittlesey" — Pedigr.
Backus, Elijah'— m. (Hubbard) Tracy— Pedigr.
Backus, Henry Tytus' — m. Woodbridge — 76
and Pedigr.
Backus, James' — m. Chandler — Pedigr.
Backus, Lucretia'— m. T'o^e— Pedigr.
Backus, Lucy' — m. Woodbridge — Pedigr.
Barbey, Ethel' — Pedigr.
Barbey, ^yp?— Pedigr.
Barbey, H^l^ne' — Pedigr.
Barbey, Y{-E!^-e.\-^— Pedigr.
Barbey, Marguerite' — Pedigr.
Barbey, Mary' — Pedigr.
Barbey, Pierre' — Pedigr.
Bartlett, Adeline Champlin' — m. Allen -
Pedigr.
Bartlett, Charles Griswold'— m. Terry -
(118), 106 and Pedigr.
Bartlett, Charles Gs.i's^oixi'''- Pedigr.
Bartlett, Henrietta Coiaass'^— Pedigr.
€;^tfsUiollif KnTrcr
Bartlett, Katharine'— /'^a'!;^^.
Bartlett, Robert HARTER^—FcJi^r.
Bartlett, Sarah Pierson'" — Pedigr.
Beckwith, Griswold*— (32), 23
Boalt.Charles Griswold'— in. G\\\fiX\.G— Pedigr.
BoALT, Cornelia Elizabeth'— m. McDonald —
Pedigr.
Boalt, Frances Griswold Lane'— m. Moss—
(136), no
Boalt, Frederick Harper* — m. Wooster —
Pedigr.
Boalt, John Henry*— m. Joslyn— (135), 77, no
and Pedigr.
Boalt, Juliet Elizabeth'— /'c-yi;^^.
Boalt, William Lane«— m. 'Qqc\— Pedigr.
Brainerd, Alice Maki/^.^— Pedigr.
Brainerd, Anna Chadwick' — m. Wake —
Pedigr.
Brainerd, Henry Waue^— Pedigr.
Brainerd, Martha Tyler' — m. Farwell —
Pedigr.
Brownson, Mary^- m. Wait— (39), 26
Buell, William H.'— (ig;^), 12
Camp, Alexander' — Pedigr.
Camp. Fanny^— Pedigr.
Camp, Wili.iam^— Pedigr.
Cenci, Beatrice Eleanora Virginia'"- P^-i//^/-.
Cenci, Beatrice Fiorenza Alessandrina'" —
Pedigr.
Cenci, Eleanora Lorili^aku'"— Pedigr.
Chadwick, Anne Maria'— m. Biainerd— Pedigr.
Chadwick, Catharine DeWolf*- m. Noyes—
Pedigr.
Chadwick, Daniel'— m. Hoyes— Pedigr.
Chadwick, Walter'— m. Lay— Pedigr.
Champion, Angeline'— /'fa';;j-r.
Champion, Israel'— m. Wilkinson— /'^a';;^>-.
Champion, Susan'- m. Avery— Pedigr.
Chandler, Mary Ann'' — m. Lanman — (150), 112
Chauncev, Catharine'— m. Goodrich— i'^a'ajr.
Chauncey, Charles'— m. Darling— (23), 12, 75
and Pedigr.
Clark, Elizabeth Brainerd'— m. White— (i8g),
119
Colton, Elizabeth-* — (37), 24
Colton, Sarah*— (36), 24
Denison, Andrew''— (88), 47
Dorr, Edward' — (73), 46
Dorr, Eve''— m. Griffin— (74), 46
Dorr, George*- ra. Marvin— Pedigr.
Douw, Mary Lanman'"— m. Ferris— (154), 112
Ely, Fanny Griswold'— /'fa'j;^^.
Ely, Horace Griswold' — Pedigr.
Ely, Marian Wolcott Griswold'— /■^a'ljr,-.
Ely. Matthew Griswold'— /'^(/i^r.
Frelinghuysen, Frederick'— m. Ballintine —
Pedigr.
Frelinghuysen, George GR\%\vo\.Tfl— Pedigr.
Frelinghuysen, "Lvcy"— Pedigr.
Frelinghuysen, Matilda Cummings'— m. Gray
—Pedigr.
Frelinghuysen, Sarah Helen' — m. Davis —
Pedigr.
Frelinghuysen, Theodore'— m. Coa\.s— Pedigr.
Gardiner, T>A\m^''—Pedigr.
Gardiner, David Johnson*— (178), 117
Gardiner, David Johnson' — (180), 118 and
Pedigr.
Gardiner, John Griswold'— (182), 118
Gardiner, John Lyon'— m. Jones — (179), 118
Gardiner, Jonathan Thompson' — Pedigr.
Gardiner, Lion'" — (183), 118
Gardiner, Mary Buell'— (185), 118
Gardiner, Mary Thompson' — m. Sands —
Pedigr.
Gardiner, Robert Alexander"" — Pedigr.
Gardiner, Samuel Buell" — m. Thompson —
(181), 118 and Pedigr.
^tfjstooin Kntier
Gardiner, Sarah Diodate*— m. Thompson—
Griffin, Lydia Bvtler^— Pedigr.
(184), 118
Gardiner, Sarah DiODATE^'—Fei^igr.
Griffin, Phcebe'— m. Lord— (77), 46
Griffin, Phcebe'— m. Olmstead— /'<?</«;§•>•.
Gardiner, Sarah Griswold"— m. Tyler— /'^r/;>r.
Griffin, Sophy Day'— Pedigr.
Goodrich, Elizur'— 75 and PeJis;!'.
Gray, Elizabeth Woodhull* — m. Morris —
Pedigr.
Gray, George Griswold'— m. \T\v\n— Pedigr.
Gray, Henry Winthrop'— m. Frelinghuysen—
Pedigr.
Griffin, Theresa'— /'^fl'<;f>-.
Grosvenor, Ellen Gvri.ey^''— Pedigr.
Grosvenor, Harriet Ely'"— Pedigr.
Grosvenor, Sarah Elizabeth'"— T'^ari;^^.
GuRLEY, Anne Eliza'— Pedigr.
Greenleaf, Charlotte Kingman'— m. Fuller—
Gurley, Charles Griswold'— P^i/!;^?-.
(97), 51
GuRLEY, Elizabeth'— m. Marrow — (172), 117
Greenleaf, Simon'— m. Kingman — (96), 51, 78
Gurley, Elizabeth Griswold'— /■.^•t/;;?-/-.
and Pedigr.
Griffin, Avgxjsta^— Pedigr.
Griffin, Caroline'— /'<^</!;j-r.
Griffin, Caroline Lydia''— Pedigr.
Griffin, Charles'— m. DeForest— Pedigr.
Griffin, Charles^— Pedigr.
GuRLKY, Ellen'— m. Gurley— (173), 117
Gurley, Hannah Brigham'— /'^(/8;fr.
Gurley, John Griswold'— /'^^/z^-r.
Gurley, Mary BRAmzRD'—Pedigr.
Gurley, Sarah Griswold'— m. Noyes— (175),
117
Griffin. Charles Ferdinands— /'^<i'?>/-.
Gurley, Ursula Wolcott'— Pedigr.
Griffin, Edmund Dork''— Pedigr.
Hall, Francis Joseph'- m. Griswold— /'(^a'!;^'?-.
Griffin, Edmund Dorr'— Pedigr.
Hall, Grace GKiswOLD^—Pedigr.
Griffin, Edward Dorr«— (75), 46
Hall, Roger Griswold' — m. Patrick —(133),
Griffin, Edward Dorr'— m. Lord— Pedigr.
IIO
Griffin, ELL^ii''—Pedigr.
Griffin, Ellkh'— Pedigr.
Griffin, Emily Seton'— Pedigr.
Hall, Samuel Holden Parsons'— m. Bulkeley
-Pedigr.
Hall, Theodore Parsons'- m. Godfrey —
Pedigr.
Griffin, Francis'— m. Sands— Pedigr.
Hart, Elizabeth'— m. Wainei— Pedigr.
Griffin, Francis Bvtlkr'— Pedigr.
Hart, John Alexander'— m. Edgenon— Pedigr.
Griffin, Francis Butler' 2d— Pedigr.
Hart, Louise Ely'— m. Whittlesey— /'i?a'!;jr.
Griffin, Frederick'— /"cft;^/-.
Hart, Mortimer Edgerton"— m. McCurdy—
Griffin, George' — m. Butler— (76), 46 and
Pedigr.
Pedigr.
Haven, George Griswold^- m. i. Martin,
Griffin, George'— m. i. Neilson,
2. Cooke,
2. (Arnot) Palmer
-Pedigr.
3. Benson— /'^rt'«>r.
Hewitt, Nathaniel Augustus'— /'(r<!'z;j-;-.
Griffin, GEORSK^-Pedigr.
Hewitt, Sarah E.'— m. Bowen— Pedigr.
Griffin, George Butler^— Pedigr.
Hillhouse, Augustus Lvcas''— Pedigr.
Griffin, Josiah'— m. Gates— Pedigr.
Hillhouse, Charles BETTs'-Peaigr.
cftfstooiDr mntv
Hillhouse, Cornelia Lawrence^ — m. Hill-
Hubbard, Marianna Lanman"- m. Slater —
house— ^fa';;^-^-.
(156), 112
HiLLHOUSE, David"- m. Ponet— Pedigr.
Hubbard, Mary Sullivan'— m. TuuiW— Pedigr.
Hillhouse, Fkancis^— Pedigr.
Hubbard, Thomas Hallam"— m. Lanman— (157),
Hillhouse, Harriet'— /'fo'j^r.
112
Hillhouse, Isaphene*— /'fa'z;j-^.
. Jewett, John Griswqld"— m. Lay— Pedigr.
Hillhouse, James*— m. i. Lloyd,
Johnson, Julia W.'— Pedigr.
2. Woolsey — (103), 51
Kernochan, Catharine'— m. PeU— Pedigr.
and Pedigr.
Kernochan, James Lorillard"- /'£-<!'?;j-r.
Hillhouse, James^ son of James Abraham —
Kip, Edith'— Pedigr.
Pedigr.
Hillhouse, James» son of VfiUisim— Pedigr.
Hillhouse, James Abraham'— m. Lawrence-
(104), 51 and Pedigr.
Kip, LorillARd'— ^^a'4>-;-.
Lane, Charles .Chandler Grisvvold"— /'^rt'^'r.
Lane, Ebenezer'— m. Griswold — (164), 76, log,
112
Lane, Ebenezer Shaw»— m. Andersen— A-t/^--?-.
Lane, Elizabeth Griswold'— m. Moss— Pedigr.
Lane, Sarah Sfencek'— Pedigr.
Lane, William Griswold'— m. Griswold— (129),
76, 109
Hillhouse, John"— m. Ma.son~Pedigr.
Hillhouse, John''— Pedigr.
Hillhouse, Mary"— m. Prince— Pedigi:
Hillhouse, Ua.ry>— Pedigr.
Hillhouse, Mary Lvcas''— Pedigr.
Hillhouse, Oliver'^— Pedigr.
Hillhouse, Rachel^— m. Raymond— /'t'a'j;^?-.
Hillhouse, Rebecca'— m. Uewin— Pedigr.
Hillhouse, Samuel"— m. Comstock— Pedigr.
Hillhouse, Sakah''— Pedigr.
Hillhouse, Sarah ANt^''—Pedigr.
Hillhouse, Thomas"— m. i. Hosmer,
2. Ten Bioeck— Pedigr.
Lane, Wolcott Griswolti'— Pedigr.
Lanman, Charles'— (152), 112
Lanman, Charles James^- m. Guie— (151), 112
Lanman, Eliza'— m. Hubbard— (155), 112
Lanman, Harriet*— m. Piatt— (160), 112
Lanman, James Henry'— (163), 112
Lanman, Joanna Boylston'— m. Foster— (162),
Hillhouse, TnoMAs''—Pedigr.
Hillhouse, William"— /'e'i;'4'n
Lanman, Marianne Chandler'- m. Douw —
(153), 112
Hillhouse, William'— m. i. Hillhouse,
2. Belts-Pedigr.
Hollister, Griswold'- /'£-(/2;^r.
Hollister, Wolcott'— /•fa'4'-^.
Hubbard, Charles Learned'" — m. Mather-
Lanman, Mary Lovisa'— Pedigr.
Larkin, William^— Pedigr.
Lord, Frances Jane'— (80), 46
Lord, Gertrude McCurdy'- m. Griffin— (203),
(159), 112 and Pedigr.
Hubbard, James Lanman'— m. Learned— (158),
112
Lord, Harriet'— (79), 46
Lord, John McCvRnv^— Pedigr.
Hubbard, Mabel Gardiner'"— m. Bell— (19S),
Lord, Josephine'— m. McCurdy— (8:), 46
121
Lord, Phcebe'— m. Noyes— (78), 46
^trffiiUiolir Kntrrr
Lord, Robert McCurdy'— /•(•</!>?-.
Mather, Nancy*— m. Hart— Pedigr.
LoRiLLARD, Augusta'— m. SsLnds—Pei/i^^r.
Merrow, John Griswold GvRLEY^o—Pedigr.
LORILLARD, BeEKMAn'— /'ft/zlfr.
Merrow, Paul Gurlky^"— Pedigr.
LoRiLLARD, Catharine*— m. Kernochan— /'6-a'z;yr.
Merrow, Pauline"— /'^(/2;s-r.
LORILLARD, Emily'— m. Kent— Ffi/igr.
Moss, Augustus 1.estek>— Pedigr.
Lorillard, Ernest^— Pc-digi-.
Moss, Cornelia Emilie'- /"irrft;^.
LoRiLLARD, Eva*— m. Kip—Pfiiigr.
Moss, Elizabeth Diodati Griswold"— /'^a'z;^^.
Lorillard, George*— m. , —Pedigr.
Moss, Emeline KtiAFV^"— Pedigr.
Lorillard, George T^,?— Pedigr.
Nevins, Anna Louisa.^— Pedigr.
Lorillard, Jacob'— m. VWioia— Pedigr.
Nevins, Cornelia Leonard'— /'^a't^-r.
Lorillard, ] Acoe'—Pfdigr.
Nevins, Frakk^"— Pedigr.
Lorillard, Louis h.^— Pedigr. '
Nevins, HEiiR\">— Pedigr.
Lorillard, Louis Lasher* — m. Beekman —
Pedigr.
Nevins, Marian Griswold'- m. McDowell —
Pedigr.
Lorillard, Mary*— m. Ba.xhey— Pedigr.
Nevins, Russell'"— /'co'?;^?-.
Lorillard, Mavv^— Pedigr.
Nevins, Russell Hubbard' — m. Browne —
Lorillard, Nathaniel Griswold»— /'^■(/([j-r.
Lorillard, Pierre*— m. Taylor— Pedigr.
Lorillard, Pierre'— m. Hamilton— Pedigr.
McCuRDY, Alexander Lynde'—ih. Lord— (201),
121 and Pedigr.
Pedigr.
Nevins, William^'— Pedigr.
NoYES, Caroline Lydia*— m. Kirby— (84), 46
Noyes, Charles P.*— (83), 46
NoYEs, Daniel R.*— (82), 46
McCuRDY, Alice Josephine'— /".v/^'/-.
Noyes, Josephine Lord*— m. Ludington— (86),
McCuRDY, Charles Johnson*— m. Lord— (ig2),
76, 80, 120 and Pedigr.
46
Noyes, Julia Lord*— m. Loveland— (85), 46
McCuRDY, Evelyn' — m. Salisbur>' — (igs), 120
Noyes, Mary Gurley'- m. Selden— (176), 117
and Pedigr.
Noyes, Ursula Wolcott' — m. Grosvenor —
McCuRDY, Gertrude GRiFFiJi^-Pedigr.
^74), 117
McCuRDY, Gertrude Mercer'— m. Hubbard—
Olmstead, Harriet Griffin^— Pedigr.
(197), 121
Parsons, Lucia'— m. Hosmet— Pedigr.
McCuRDY, Richard Aldrich'— (196), 121
Parsons, Lydia*— m. Greenleaf— (95), 51
McCuRDY, Robert Henry*— m. Lee— (194), 120
and Pedigr.
Parsons, Margaret'— m. i. Hubbard,
2. Lathrop— /'ta'!^-;-.
McCuRDY, Roberta Wolcott' — m. Marsh —
Parsons, Mehetable'— m. Hall— Pedigr.
(200), 121
McCuRDY, Sarah Ann*— m. Lord— (202), 121
Parsons, Samuel HoLDEN« — m. Mather — (94),
50, 75, 78 and Pedigr.
McCuRDY, Sarah Lord'— m. Marsh— (199), 121
Perkins, Auce^— Pedigr.
McCuRDY, Theodore Frelinghuysen' — (195),
121
Perkins, Cornelia Leonard*— m. Nevins —
(138), no
McCuRDY. Ursula'— m. Allen— {166), 114
Perkins, Edith Green^— Pedigr.
©ftfstttom mntv
Perkins, Frances. Griswold* — m. Camp —
Terry, Nathaniel Matson'— /'fr%r.
/'eJisr.
Thompson, Charles Griswold^— Pedigr.
Perkins, Frederick W.^—Pedigr.
Thompson, David Gardiner'— /'t'o'^'r.
Perkins, GRiswohD^—Fedi^r.
Thompson, Elizabeth'— /'^</«:g-r.
Perkins, Joseph Griswold^ — m. Griswold —
Thompson, Frederick Diodate'— /'fi/^'r.
{140), 43, no
Thompson, Gardiner'— /'^a'/i'/-.
Perkins, Louisa Griswold"— /'6'(/z>;-.
Thompson, Mary Gardiner'— /'fr/^;^/-.
Perkins, Lucretia Shaw Woodbridge^— (142),
III
Thompson, Sarah Gardiner' — m. Gardiner —
Perkins, MAMAi^^—Peiiigr.
. (186), n8
Perkins, Maurice'— m. Potts— (141), no, in
Wait, Betsey BuRNAM'—m. Champion— /'s</«;f/-.
Perkins, Nathaniel Shaw*— /'^(//V;-.
Wait, Elizabeth'— m. Mz.ther—Pedig-r.
Perkins, Robert Griswold*— /'fo';;?-?-.
Wait, Horace'— m. Raymond— Pedigr.
Perkins, Roger Griswold*— m. Perkins— (139),
no and Pedigr.
Wait, Horace Frederick*— m. i. Taylor,
2. Garfield— /'i'l/^'-r.
Perkins, Roger Griswold'— P^rfjVr.
Wait, John Turner'— m.(Rudd) Hauis-Pedigr.
Perkins, 'R.o&^^—Pedigr.
Wait, MARViN^-m. i. Jones,
2. (— ) Saltonstall,
Perkins, Thomas SuAV/'—Pedigr
3. Turner-P.-</;:jr.
Piatt, John Henry'— m. Goddard— (161), 112
Wait, MARViN'-i°,v/,Vr.
Pierce, Matthew G?—Pedigr.
Wait, Marvin^— Pedigr.
Pope, John*— 79 and Pedigr.
Wait, Nancy'— m. Chadwick-Pedigr.
Pratt, Peter''- (31), 23
Wait, REMicK«-m. Matson-(4i), 26
Raymond, Theodore*— (55), 42
Wait, Richard'— m. i. Marvin,
Rogers, Elizabeth*— (29), 23
2. Higgins — (40), 26 and
Rogers, John*— (30), 23
Pedigr.
Selden, Grace Cak^^— Pedigr.
Waite, Christopher Chamvlin^— Pedigr.
Selden, Grosvenor'"— /'i'.r'/;?-^.
Waite, Edward TmKER'-Pedigr.
Selden, Marian Griswold'- /'f</;;j-r.
Waite, Henry Matson'— m. Selden— (42), 26, 77
Selden, Mary'"— Pedigr.
Waite, Henry Selden'— P^fl';:^^
Slater, William AhBERT^"— Pedigr.
Waite, Mary Frances"— Pedigr.
Spencer, Carolina Sara'^"— Pedigr.
Waite, Morrison Remick* — m. Warner — (43),
Spencer, Charles Griswold^— Pedigr.
26, 77 and Pedigr.
Warner, Caroline'- /'trf^'-/-.
Spencer, Eleanora Lorillard'- m. Cenci —
(71), 44, 79
Warner, Charles'— /"ft/^ifr.
Spencer, Lorillard'— m. BerTyman—Pedig:r.
Warner, ]AUEi^— Pedigr.
Spencer, Lorillard'"— /'.■a'/V?-.
Warner, Wilhelmina'— P^a'^T.
Spencer, Nina Gi.Ams^"— Pedigr.
White, John Griswold'— (190), 119
Spencer, William Augustus'— m. Desmouget
White, Mary Elizabeth'- /'<•</;>/-.
-Pedigr.
Whittlesey, Louise Hart"— m. Atwater—
Terry, Fanny Griswold'— /'i'i/?;5-?-.
Pedigr.
Terry, Louisa Griswold'- /'ta'!;^^.
Woodbridge, William'— 74, 76 and Pedigr.
etfstoow mntv
-BY MARRIAGE
, Bathsheba ( — ), — m. John (17) Griswold —
Fedigr.
, Hannah— m. Samuel^ Griswold— /'^i/j;fr.
, Margaret — m. Edward (i) Griswold — 11
, Sarah — m. Samuel (21) Griswold— /'^■(/i^?-.
Adams, Ellen — m. Roger Wolcott^ Griswold —
Fedigr.
Allen, H. S.— m. Adeline Champlin' Bartlett—
Fc-digr.
Allen, John— m. Ursula (166) McCurdy— 114
Alley, Lydia — m. George Catlin'' Griswold —
Fedig-f.
Andersen, Pallas E. — m. Ebenezer Shaw* Lane
—Fedigr.
Andrews, Sherlock James — m. Ursula Mc-
Curdy (168) Allen— 76, 114
Atwater, C. J.— m. Louise Hart'" Whittlesey—
Fedigr.
Avery, John — m. Susan* Champion — Fedigr.
Backus, Elijah — m. Lucia (loi) Griswold — 51
Ballintine, , — m. Frederick* Frelinghuysen
—Fedigr.
Barbey, Henry L — m. Mary* Lorillard — Fedigr.
Bartlett, Daniel — m. Fanny Rogers (117)
(Griswold) Bartlett— 106
Bartlett, Shubael F. — m. Fanny Rogers (117)
Griswold — 106
Beckwith, Matthew — m. Elizabeth (28) (Gris-
wold) Rogers-Pratt — 23
Beekman, Katharine — m. Louis Lasher* Loril-
lard — Fedigr.
Bell, Alexander Graham — m. Mabel Gardiner
(198) Hubbard— 121
Bemis, ( — ), — m. Edward (i) Griswold — 11
Bemis, Mary— m. John (17) Gx\svjo\A— Fedigr.
Benson, Elizabeth Frances— m. George' Grif-
fin — Fedigr.
Berryman, Caroline Suydam — m. Lorillard'
Spencer — Fedigr.
Betts, Frances Julia— m. William'' Hillhouse—
Fedigr.
Bingham, Abigail — m. Francis' Griswold —
Fedigr.
Boalt, Charles Leicester — m. Eliza Wood-
bridge (134) Griswold — 110
Boalt, John Mulford — m. Frances Ethelind*
Griswold — Fedigr.
Bock, C— m. William Lane* -QoiiXx.— Fedigr.
Booth, Harriet — m. Henry' QuswoXA— Fedigr.
Bowen, William S. — m. Sarah E.* Hewitt —
Fedigr.
Brainerd, Davis S. — m. Anne Maria* Chadwick
-Fedigr.
Brown, Rosa Elizabeth — m. Richard Sill (65)
Griswold — 44
Browne, Katie — m. Russell Hubbard' Kevins
-Fedigr.
Brownson, Abraham — m. Anna (38) Griswold —
24, 26
Buckingham, Thomas — m. Margaret (9) Gris-
wold — ir
BuELL, , — m. Lucy* Griswold — Fedigr.
Buell, Samuel — m. Deborah (20) Griswold —
Bulkeley, Emeline M. — m. Samuel Holden
Parsons" \{a\\— Fedigr.
Bushnell, Benaja — m. Hannah (100) Griswold
—51
Butler, Lydia — m. George (76) Griffin — Fedigr.
Calkins, Ethelinda — m. Thomas (58) Griswold
—Fedigr.
Camp, Jacob A. — m. Frances Griswold* Perkins
—Fedigr.
Cenci, Virginio — m. Eleanora Lorillard (71)
Spencer — 44
Chadwick, Daniel — m. Nancy' Wait — Fedigr.
Champion, Reuben— ra. Betsey Burnam' Wait—
Fedigr.
etifittuom linntv
Chandler, Charles Church— m. Marian (149)
Easton, Dridania — m. Abiel (12) Griswold —
Griswold— III
Pedigr.
Chandler, Dorothy Church — m. James"
Edgerton, Louise— ra. John Alexander' Hart—
Backus— Pedigr.
Pedigr.
Chauncey. Elihu— m. Man' (22) Griswold— 12
Edwards, Alfred H. Pierrrpont — m. Mary
Clark, Levi H.— m. Mary Ann (188) Griswold
(62) Griswold— 43
-119
Elliot, Nathan— m. Clarissa (106) Griswold —
Coats, Alice — m. Theodore* Frelinghuysen—
52
PeJigr.
Ely, Harriet L.-m. William Noyes (144) Gris-
Collins, Mary— m. Sylvanus« Griswold— />*■(/;;§-?■.
wold— /'ev^^.
Colt, Sarah— m. Diodate Johnson (169) Gris-
wold— 115
Ely, Horace S.— m. Fanny Rogers (127) Gris-
wold— 109
Colton, Thomas— m. Sarah (35) Griswold— 24
Ely, Justin— m. Marian (149) (Griswold) Chand-
ler-Lane- 112
Comstock, C. E.— m. George' Griswold— /'ft/^-r.
Ely, Lydia— m. Matthew (112) Griswold— 80
COMSTOCK, Sarah — m. Samuel* HiUhouse —
Fediirr.
Ely, PiKEBE Hubbard— m. Matthew (124) Gris-
wold— 109
Cook, Elizabeth — m. Benjamin'' Griswold —
Pedigr.
Emmet, Jane— m. John Noble Alsop' Griswold
-Pedigr.
Cooke, Mary Augusta— m. George' Griffin—
Farwell, Thomas Baldwin— m. Martha Tyler'
Pedigr.
Brainerd-Pedigr.
CuMMiNGS, Maria M.— m. George (57) Griswold
Ferris, Morris Patterson— m. Mar)' Lanman
(154) Douw— 112
—Pedigr.
Darling, Abigail— m. Charles (23) Chauncey—
Forbes, J. Murray— m. Minnie Emmet' Gris-
wold— Pi-^/zVr.
Pedigr.
Davis, John— m. Sarah Helen* Frelinghuysen—
P.'digr.
Foster, Lafayette Sabin— m. Joanna Boylston
(162) Lanman— 76, 112
Deforest, Pastora — m. Charles' Griffin —
Pedigr.
Frelinghuysen, Frederick — m. Matilda (67)
Griswold— 44
Denison, John— m. Patience (90) Griswold— 47
Frelinghuysen, Matilda Cummings*- m.
Denison, Mary — m. Sylvanus" Griswold —
Henry Winthrop' Gray— Pedigr.
Pedigr.
Fuller, Samuel— m. Charlotte Kingman (97)
Denison, Robert— m. Deborah (87) Griswold—
Greenleaf— 51
46
Gardiner, David Lyon — m. Sarah Gardiner
Desmouget, Marie Eugenie— m. William Au-
(186) Thompson— 118
gustus' Spencer— Pedigr.
Garfield, Jane Eleanor— m. Horace Frederick"
Vfait-Pedigr.
Dorr, Edmund— m. Mary (72) Griswold— 46
Douw, John DePeyster— m. Marianne Chand-
ler (153) Lanman— 112
Gardiner, John Lyon— m. Sarah {177) Griswold
— 117
Drake, Hester — m. Thomas (16) Griswold —
Pedigr.
Gates, Dorothy— m. Josiah' Gii&n— Pedigr.
Dziembovi'SKI, Maximillian — m. Lillie* Gris-
Gaylord, Abigail — m. John (10) Griswold —
wold— /'^a'i!;jr.
Pedigr.
Cftfstoour Kntrer
Gaylord, Elizabeth — m. Samuel' Griswold —
Pedigr.
GuiE, Marie Jeannie — m. Charles James (151)
Lanman— 112
Gaylord, Esther — m. Benjamin' Griswold —
Pedigr.
Gaylord, Mary — m. Joseph (24) Griswold —
Pedigr.
Gurley, Charles Artemas — m. Ellen (173)
Gurley— 117
Gurley, Jacob Barker — m. Elizabeth (171)
Griswold— 117
Gillette, Agnes— m. Charles Griswold* Boalt—
Pedigr.
Hall, Francis Joseph'- ra. Prudence Anna'
Griswold— /'tv!'!;^;-.
GoDDARD, Julia— m. John Henr)' (161) Piatt—
112
Hall, Joseph Badger— m. Juliet Elizabeth (132)
Griswold— no
GoDFROY, Alexandrine Louise — m. Theodore
Parsons' HaW— Pedigr.
Hall, William Brenton— m. Mehetable' Par-
sons— Pedigr.
Goodrich, Elizur — m. Catharine* Chauncey —
. Pedigr.
Hamilton, Caroline— m. Pierre' Lorillard —
Pedigr.
Gray, George Winthrop— m. Maria' Griswold
-Pedigr.
Harris, Elizabeth (Rudd)— m. John Turner'
^2.11— Pedigr.
Gray, Henry Winthrop*' — m. Matilda Cum-
mings' Frelinghuysen— /'?</!;?■/■.
Green, John C.— m. Sarah Helen (68) Griswold
Hart, John— m. Nancy' Malher— Pedigr.
Haven, Joseph Woodward — m. Cornelia W.'
Griswold — Pedigr.
—44
Greenleaf, Moses— m. Lydia (95) Parsons— 51
Haven, Prudence— m. Nathaniel Lynde (56)
Griswold— /"^(//Vr.
Griffin, Edward Dorr— m. Gertrude McCurdy
(203) Lord— 121
Hewitt, Nathaniel— m. Rebecca' Hillhouse—
Pedigr.
Griffin, George— m. Eve (74) Dorr— 46
HiGGiNS, Rebecca— m. Richard (40) Wait— 26
Griswold, Charles Chandler (191)— m. Eliza-
beth (59) Griswold— 42, 119
Hillhouse, Cornelia Lawrence'— m. William'
HiXWiouse— Pedigr.
Griswold, Elizabeth (59)— m. Charles Chandler
(igi) Griswold— 42, iig
Griswold, Elizabeth Diodate (69)— m. Wil-
liam Griswold (129) Lane- 44, 109
Hillhouse, William— m. Sarah (102) Griswold
—51
Hillhouse, William' — m. Cornelia Lawrence'
Hillhouse— /',-,AV;-.
Griswold, Frances Ann (128) — m. Ebenezer
(164) Lane— 109
HOGUE, Cornelia — m. Nathaniel Lynde' Gns-
vio\6— Pedigr.
Griswold, Juliet (131)— m. Roger Wolcott(i3o)
Griswold— no
Holcomb, Mary— m. George (6) Griswold —
Pedigr.
Griswold, Louisa Mather (64) — m. Joseph
Griswold (140) Perkins— 43, no
HoLLisTER, Edward P. — m. Agnes Wolcott'
Gxis\vo\d— Pedigr.
Griswold, Prudence Anna'— m. Francis Jo-
seph' l\3.\\-Pedigr.
HosMER, Harriet — m. Thomas' Hillhouse —
Pedigr.
Griswold, Roger Wolcott (130) — m. Juliet
(131) Griswold— no
Hosmer, Stephen Titus— m. Lucia' Parsons—
75 and Pedigr.
Grosvenor, Samuel Howe— m. Ursula Wolcott
(174) Noyes— 117 and Pedigr.
Hubbard, Amos Hallam— m. Eliza (155) Lan-
man — 112
C!;^rffiitDoltr Mtttv
Hubbard, Gardiner Greene — m. Gertrude
Mercer (197) McCurdy— 121
Hubbard, Ruth— m. Thomas^ Gnswold—Pedigr.
Hubbard, Stephen — m. Margaret'' Parsons —
Huntington, Elizabeth Mary— m. John (187)
Griswold — ng
Huntington, Susannah— m. Samuel* Griswold
—Pedigr.
Hyde, Phcebe— m. Matthew (33) Griswold— 27
Irwin, Susan — m. George Griswold' Gray —
P,;di«T.
Jewett, Nathan— m. Deborah (107) Griswold—
52
Johnson, E. W.— m. Mary Gibson* Griswold—
Pi;/ii^r.
Johnson, Sarah— m. John (no) Griswold— 114
Jones, Cora Livingston— m. John Lyon (179)
Gardiner — 118
Jones, Patty— m. Marvin« Vf ait— Pedtgr.
JosLYN, Elizabeth — m. John Henry (135) Boalt
—Pedi^r.
Kent, William— m. Emily' Lorillard— /'f,/;;^'^.
Kernochan, James P.— m. Catharine* Lorillard
—Pedigr.
Kingman, Hannah — m. Simon (g6) Greenleaf —
Pedigr.
Kip, Lawrence— m. Eva« Lorillard— /"^(/([j-;-.
Kirby, E. B.— m. Caroline Lydia (84) Noyes—
46
Lane, Ebenezer — m. Marian (149) (Griswold)
Chandler — 112
Lane, Ebenezer (147)— m. Frances Ann (128)
Griswold — 109
Lane, William Griswold (129)- m. Elizabeth
Diodate (69) Griswold — 44, log
Lanman, James— m. Mary Ann (150) Chandler—
76, 112
Lanman, Sarah Coit— m. Thomas Hallam(i57)
Hubbard — H2
Lansdale, Elizabeth— m. Augustus Henry (114)
Griswold — 105
Larkin, William — m. Charlotte Young' Gris-
wold— ye,/!;,'?-.
Lasher, Catharine— m. Nathaniel Lynde (56)
Griswold— /W/V/-.
Latham, Abigail— m. Isaac* Griswold— /'f(//;5->-.
Lathrop, Alfred— m. Margaret' (Parsons) Hub-
bard— />(•(%;•.
Lawrence, Cornelia Ann— m. James Abraham
(104) W-WWiOMse— Pedigr.
Lay, Adeline W. — m. Walter* Chadwick —
Pedigr.
Lay, Lee — m. i. Louisa' Griswold,
2. Mary \.z.y— Pedigr.
Lay, Lois — m. John Griswold' Jewett — Pedigr.
Lay, Mary— m. Lee V.ay— Pedigr.
Learned, Charlotte— m. James Lanman (158)
Hubbard — 112
Lee, Elizabeth — m. George (49) Griswold — 34
Lee, Elizabeth — m. George (50) Griswold —
Pedigr.
Lee, Gertrude Mercer — m. Robert Henry (194)
U.Q.C\xx&j— Pedigr.
Lee, Hannah— m. John (48) Griswold- -47
Lee, Jason — m. Jane' Griswold — Pedigr.
Lee, Mary (DeWolf) — m. Matthew (33) Gris-
wold — 33
Littleton, A. W.— m. Mary Gibson* (Griswold)
Johnson — Pedigr.
Lloyd, Sarah — m. James (103) Hillhouse —
Pedigr.
LooMis, Elizabeth — m. Francis' Griswold —
Pedigr.
Lord, Gertrude McCurdy — m. Edward Dorr'
Griffin — Pedigr.
Lord, Joseph— m. Pha;be (77) Griffin— 46
Lord, Josephine — m. Alexander Lynde (201)
McCurdy— AV^'n
Lord, Sarah Ann — m. Charles Johnson (192)
yicCuxiy— Pedigr.
Lord, Stephen Johnson — m. Sarah Ann (202)
McCurdy— 121
<si^tfsti)om mrttv
LoRiLLARD, Peter — m. Catharine Ann (6i) Gris-
wold — 43
Loudon, Samuel — m. Lydia (log) Griswold — 52
LovELAND, George— m. Julia Lord (85) Noyes—
46
LtiDiNGTON, Charles H. — m. Josephine Lord
(86) Noyes— 46
Lynde, Hannah— m. George (49) Griswold— 34
Lvnde, Susannah — m. Thomas (gS) Griswold —
51
McCuRDY, Alexander Lynde — m. Josephine
{81) Lord— 46
McCuRDY, Alice Josephine — m. Mortimer Ed-
gerton'" Hart — P<:iUgr.
McCuRDY, Lynde— m. Ursula (165) Griswold —
113
McCuRDY, Richard — m. Ursula (170) Griswold
— 120
McDonald, William Henry — m. Cornelia
Elizabeth* 'QoaXi—Pcdigr.
McDowell, Edward — m. Marian Griswold'
Nevins — Pedigr.
Marsh, Charles Mercer — m. Roberta Wolcott
(200) McCurd)'— 121
Marsh, Elias Joseph — m. Sarah Lord (igg) Mc-
Curdy — 121
Martin, Emma Warlton — m. George Griswold*
Haven — Pedigr.
Marvin, Elizabeth — m. Richard (40) Wait —
Pedigr.
Marvin, Elizabeth — m. Sylvanus (51) Griswold
Pedigr.
Marvin, Mary — m. Samuel (52) Griswold —
Pedigr.
Marvin, Sarah — ra. George* Dorr — Pedigr.
Mason, Elizabeth — m. John' Hillhouse — Pedigr.
Mather, Catharine Frances — m. Charles
Learned (i5g) Hubbard — Pedigr.
Mather, Frances Augusta — m. Richard Sill
(63) Griswold — 43
Mather, Harriet Caroline — m. John William
(167) K\\&T\— Pedigr.
Mather, Louisa Griswold — m. Richard Sill
(63) G\\i\vo\A— Pedigr.
Mather, Mehetable— m. Samuel Holden (g4)
Parson s — Pedigr.
Mather, Samuel— m. Lois (gg) Griswold— 51
Mather, Sylvester — m. Elizabeth' Wait —
Pedigr.
Matson, Susanna— m. Remick (41) Wait— 26
Merrovit, George W. — m. Elizabeth (172) Gur-
ley — 117 and Pedigr.
Moore, Chloe — m. Abiel (12) Griswold — Pedigr.
Morlev, David — ni. Hannah' Griswold — Pedigr.
Morley, Eva — m. Charles Henry (121) Griswold
— 106
Morris, James — m. Elizabeth Woodhull* Gray —
Pedigr.
Moss, Charles H. — m. Elizabeth Griswold'
Lane — Pedigr.
Moss, Jay Osborne — m. Frances Griswold Lane
(136) Boalt— 110
Neilson, Ann Augusta — m. George' Griffin —
Pedigr.
Nevins, David Hubbard — m. Cornelia Leonard
(138) Perkins— no
Noyes, Daniel R. — m. Phoebe (78) Lord — 46
Noyes, Ellen — m. Daniel' Chadwick — Pedigr.
Noyes, Joseph — m. Sarah Griswold (175) Gurley
—117
Noyes, Richard— m. Catharine DeWolf Chad-
wick — Pedigr.
Noyes, Sarah — m. William Frederick (143) Gris-
wold— 1 11
Olmstead, Augustus — m. Phoebe' Griffin —
Pedigr.
Olmstead, Sarah Lucy — m. Matthew (125)
Griswold — Pedigr.
Palmer, Fanny (Arnot) — m. George Griswold'
\iz.\&-D.— Pedigr.
Parsons, Jonathan — m. Phoebe (93) Griswold —
49
Patrick, Mary Louise — m. Roger Griswold
(133) Hall— no
cjtCfiitooiii mntv
Pell, Herbert C— m. Catharine' Kernochan—
Salisbury, Edward Eluridge— m. Evelyn (193)
McCuTdy—P^digr.
Perkins, Caroline Jumelle — m. Roger Gris-
wold (139) Peikins—PcJi^r.
Saltonstall, Harriet (— ), — m. Marvin' Wait
—Pi^digr.
Perkins, Ellen Elizaueth — m. Charles (116)
Griswold— 105
Perkins, Eliza D. — m. George' Griswold —
Perkins, Joseph Griswold (140)— m. Louisa
Mather (64) Griswold— 43
Sands, Mary- m. Francis' Gnffin—Pedigr.
Sands, William— m. Augusta' Lorillard—/'^</(;j->-.
Sands, William R.— m. Mary Thompson' Gard-
iner-Pedigr.
ScHENCK, Anna— m. Matthew (125) Griswold—
Pedigr.
Perkins, Mary Richards — m. James (iig)
Griswold— 106
Perkins, Thomas Shaw— m. Marian (137) Gris-
wold— no
Phelps, Mary — m. Matthew (25) Griswold —
Pedigr.
Selden, F. C— m.Mar)'Guriey (176) Noyes— 117
and Pedigr.
Selden, John Card— m. Lydia Maria (126) Gris-
wold— 109 and Pedigr.
Selden, Maria — m. Henry Matson (42) Waite
—26
Phelps, Mindwell— m. Isaac (11) Griswold—
Pedlar.
Piatt, Jacob Wyckoff— m. Harriet (160) Lan-
man— 112
Pierce, W. L.— ni. Louisa A.' Griswold— /'/■^'^cr;..
Pinney, Huldah — m. Abiel (12) Griswold —
Sickles, Ann B. — m. Nathaniel Lynda (56) .
GnswoXd— Pedigr.
Slater, John F.— m. Marianna Lanman (156)
Hubbard— 112
Smith, Elizabeth— m. John Lynde (60) Gris-
wold— yf^/^'r.
Pedigr.
Pomroy, Vinnie— m. Charles* Griswold— /"MV/-.
Spencer, Lorillard— m. Sarah Johnson (70)
Griswold— 44
Pope, Nathaniel— m. Lucretia' Backus— 76 and
Ped,l-r.
Starr, (— ), — m. Sylvanus' Griswold —
Pedigr.
Porter, Sarah— m. David« HiWhouse—Pedigr.
Starr, Patience (— ),— m. Francis' Griswold—
Post, Emily— m. George* Gns\vo\d—Pedigr.
Potts, Anna— m. Maurice (141) Perkins— in
Pedigr.
Stevens, Jerusha— m. Daniel (19) Griswold—
Pedigr.
Powers, Helen— m. Robert Harper (145) Gris-
wold-iii
Pratt, Peter — m. Elizabeth (28) (Griswold)
Rogers— 23
Prince, William— m. Mary« HiUhouse—Pedigr.
Taylor, Emily— m. Pierre* "LoxiWaxd— Pedigr.
Taylor, Louisa— m. Horace Frederick* Wait—
Pedigr.
Ten Broeck, Ann — m. Thomas' Hillhouse —
Pedigr.
Raymond, Daniel F.— m. Rachel* Hillhouse—
Pniigr.
Terry, Annie— m. Charles Griswold (118) Bart-
\eU— Pedigr.
Raymond, John— m. Elizabeth (54) Griswold—
41
Terry, Nathaniel MATsoN—m. Fanny Augusta
(66) Griswold— 44
Raymond, Martha— m. Horace' Wait— Pedigr.
Rogers, Fanny— m. Roger (113) Griswold— 81
Rogers, John— m. Elizabeth (28) Griswold— 23
Thompson, David— m. Sarah Diodate(i84)Gard-
Thompson, Mary Gardiner— m. Samuel Buell
(181) Gardiner— /'f,/4'r.
®^rfsU)olti MXftv
Tracy, Lucretia (HuBBARD)^m. Elijah* Backus
—J>edigr.
Turner, Nancy — m. Marvin' Wait — Pedigr.
TuRRiLL, Joel — m. Mary Sullivan' Hubbard —
Pedigr.
Tyler, John Alexander — m. Sarah Griswold'
Gardiner— /'^(/4"r.
Ulhorn, Fanny A. — m. Jacob' Lorillard —
Pedigr.
Van Rensselaer, Schuyler — m. Marianna'
Griswold — Pedigr.
ViETS, Eunice — m. Elisha' Griswold — Pedigr.
Wait, Richard — m. Lucy* Griswold — Pedigr.
Wait, Thomas— m. Mary (39) Brownson — 26
Waite, Edward T. — m. Anna Chadwick' Brain-
erd — Pedigr.
Warner, Amelia Champlin — m. Morrison
Remick (43) Vfaxic— Pedigr.
Warner, William H.— m. Maria Matilda' Gris-
wold— /'<■</;>?-.
Warner, Wyllys— m. Elizabeth' Hart— Pedigr.
Webb, Hannah ( — ), — m. Sylvanus' Griswold —
Pedigr.
Wells, Julia A. — m. Roger (115) Griswold — 105
White, Bushnell — m. Elizabeth Brainerd (189)
Clark — tig
Whittlesey, William — m. Louise Ely' Hart —
Pedigr.
Wilkinson, Harriet — m. Israel' Champion—
Pedigr.
Wilson, Louisa — m. John (187) Griswold— 119
WoLCOTT, Anna — m. Matthew (2) Griswold — 13
WoLCOTT, Mary — m. Elihu (27) Griswold — 12, 13
WoLcoTT, Ursula — m. Matthew (92) Griswold —
52, 73—80
WooDBRiDGE, DuDLEY — m. Lucy' Backus —
Pedigr.
Woodbridge, Juliana T. — m. Henry Tytus'
Backus— Pedigr.
Woodhull, Elizabeth — m. George (57) Gris-
wold — Pedigr.
WooLSEY. Rebecca— m. James (103) Hillhouse
—Pedigr.
WoosTER, Charlotte Elizabeth — m. Frederick
Harper' Boalt— Pedigr.
Young, Charlotte — m. Matthew' Griswold —
Pedigt.
pp. 123-165
I— BY MALE DESCENT
KkWH^—Pedigr.
Andrew^— Pedigr.
Abby' dau. of hey\—Pedigr.
Andrew Cvrry''— Pedigr.
Abby' dau. of 'WWWam—Pedigr.
Aj^n^— Pedigr.
Abby8— m. Gibson— (153), 153
Ann Eliza'- m. Harrington— /'i-o'!;^/-.
Abby Bradford'— m. GniXA—Pedigr.
Ai^NA^— Pedigr.
Abby Kane«— ra. Bartlette— /'fo'^^n
Anna'- m. Brewer— Pedigr.
Abdi'' (or Abda) Dolph— m. Co\em3.n—Pedig>:
Anna Cecilia'- m. Swett— (154). i53
Abel'- m. , —Pedigr.
Anna Elizabeth'— m. Middleton— (150), 152
Abigail'— (122), 149
Anna Maria^— Pedigr.
Abigail*— m. i. Howe,
Anna Spaulding' dau. of Calvin— /'<'a'2;^n
2. Ingraham— (124), 149-50
Anna Spaulding' dau. of James— Pedigr.
Abigail^— m. Bradford— (134), 150
Anne Ratchford' — m. i. Woodward,
Abner Aut.s^— Pedigr.
2. Randall— (60), 142
ACHSAH^— Pedigr.
Annie Mavd''- Pedigr.
Ada Isabella' Dolfh— Pedigr.
Apphia' Dolvh— Pedigr.
AWEKT^— Pedigr.
Augusta A.^— Pedigr.
Albert''— Pedigr.
Austin'- m. Oviatt— (178), 161 and Pedigr.
Alexander Viets Griswold*— (152), 153
AzVBAH^— Pedigr.
Algernon Sidney^- m. Diman— (147), 151 and
AzvBAU^— Pedigr.
Pedigr.
Balthasar'— m. Alice , — (i), 126-33
Alice^— Pedigr.
Barney Adams''— Pedigr.
Allen Mvnro^— Pedigr.
Benjamin'— m. Douglass— (10), 133
Almon'— m. Newton— (181), 161
Benjamin'— m. Margaret , —Pedigr.
Amanda' Dolth— Pedigr.
Benjamin''— m. Charap'ion-Pedigr.
AmASA^— Pedigr.
Benjamin' son of Edviard— Pedigr.
Amasa'— m. Robinson— 160 and Pedigr.
Benjamin' son of EV\]ah— Pedigr.
Amelia'— m. SpsiTT— Pedigr.
Benjamin'— m. Otis— (26), 139-41
Amelia''— Pedigr.
Benjamin'- m. Rockwell— /'^a'!;j-r.
mtWiolflinXttv
Benjamin'— j°^^!;j-r.
Charles U.'— Pedigr.
Benjamin'— Feiiigr.
Charles Harding'— Pedigr.
Benjamin Otis*— m. i. Marsters,
Charles Henry'— Pedigr.
2. Lushy—Pudigr.
Charles THoyLAS>— Pedigr.
Benjamin V.' DoLFH-PeJigr.
Charles W.'— m. , —Pedigr.
Bertha Mar« DoLPH—PeJi^r.
Charles William'— /'^■a'(;fr.
Betsey^— Pidigr.
Charlotte'- m. i. Brown,
Betsey''— Pedigr.
2. Vanderpoel— (93), 146
BETSEY^-Pedigr.
Charlotte' dau. of CoVin— Pedigr.
Betsey Northrup'- m. Biitnes-Pedigr.
Charlotte' dau. of John B.— Pedigr.
Bvron I>1UKN^—Pedigr.
Charlotte' dau. of William— /'^a'j^r.
Calvin'— m. Kimball— (175), 159-60 and Pedigr.
Chester* Dolph— i'^a'j;^*-.
Caroline''- m. i. Robinson,
Chester Valentine' Dolph— m. Siee\e— Pedigr.
2. Yqs\.&i— Pedigr.
d-ARA'-Pedigr.
Caroline Amelia*— m. i. Crane,
2. Hills-(78), 143
Clarissa^— Pedigr.
Catharine'— /'ir./!;^-?-.
Clement'— m. Kasson— 160 and Pedigr.
Catharine H.'— m. Dodge— (162), 154
Clement'— m. Beecher— /'<-a'z;j-r.
Catharine Ketura«— m. Randolph— i'^rf»;fr.
Colin'— m. Heary-Pedigr.
Charles'— m. Prudence , —Pedigr.
Colin' son of CoWn— Pedigr.
Charles*— Pedigr.
Colin' son of Simeoa— Pedigr.
Charles^— m. Potter— (114), 148
Cyrus' Uo-Lvn—Pedigr.
Charles'— m. i. Harding,
Cyrus A.' Dolph— m. Elise , —Pedigr.
2. Minei-Pedigr.
Daniel'— m. Marvin— (14), 134
Charles'^- m. McDonald— /'^■a'j^jr.
Daniel*— m. Lee— (17), 134
Charles*— m. i. Taylor,
XiANlE\f— Pedigr.
2. Rogerson,
Daniel'— m. AnAxas— Pedigr.
3. Greene— (119), 149, 150
Daniel'— m. Fowler— (19), 134 and Pedigr.
Charles'— m. Walbridge— 163 and Pedigr.
Daniel'— m. Harris— (88), 146
Charles' son of Charles-Pedigr.
Daniel' son of 'Ds.meX-Pedigr.
Charles' son of CoVm— Pedigr.
Daniel' son of 'EMshii-Pedigr.
Charles' son of Simeon— Pedigr.
Daniel' son of John— Pedigr.
Charles'— m. Goodwin— (136), 150
Daniel' son of Samuel— Pedigr.
Charles* son of Amasa.— Pedigr.
Daniel'— m. Hills— 163 and Pedigr.
Charles' son of Charles W.— Pedigr.
Daniel Fowler'— (186), 162 and Pedigr.
Charles'— m. TaLylor-Pedigr.
Daniel French'— m. Witridge— /'fo'^^r.
Charles Edward Baktlette''— Pedigr.
Daniel M.YNE-R'-Pedigr.
Charles Frederic'— (76), 143
T>AVi-a''—Pedigr.
mtwioumntv
David Osborne'— (185), 162 and Pedigr.
Eliza'— ni. Wren— Pedigr.
Deborah^— m. ^\xviX\e.y— Pedigr.
Eliza Ann^- m. Slone— Pedigr.
Delos'— m. Mott— (169), 158 and Pedigr.
Eliza Anne'— (73), '43
Delos^— Pedigr.
Eliza Viets*— m. Andrews— (145), 151
Desiah''— (65), 142
Elizabeth'- /'^fl'!;g-r.
DeWitt CUNTOti^— Pedigr.
Elizabeth*— i'.fi/^g-n
Ebenezer Harding'^— m. Lovetl— Pedigr.
Elizabeth*— m. Tuckei— Pedigr.
Edward*— m. Rebecca , —(2), 127, 130-31
Elizabeth'— m. Andrews— Pedigr.
ETiWXRO^— Pedigr.
Elizabeth* dau. of ]eh\e\— Pedigr.
Edward'— (9), 131
Elizabeth* dau. of ]ohn— Pedigr.
Kdv/akb*— Pedigr.
Elizabeth* dau. of MMhew— Pedigr.
Edward*- m. Ely— Pedigr.
Elizabeth*— m. Shaw— Pedigr.
Edward' son of Edward— /'^■a'zfr.
Elizabeth'— Pf^^'r.
Edward" son of Matthew— /"^iA^r.
EhLEN^'-Pedigr.
Edward«— ra. , —(29), 139
Ellen'— in. Ketchum— Pedigr.
Edward*— ra. Latimer— 163 and Pedigr.
Ellen'— m. Aicher—Pedigr.
Edward' son of EAv^^sA— Pedigr.
Ellen'— m. Bell— Pedigr.
Edward' son of John B.— Pedigr.
Ellen Maud'— (80), 144
Edward Kvsim^— Pedigr.
Emily^— Pedigr.
Edwin'<— Pedigr.
Emily' dau. of Benjamm— Pedigr.
Edwin'— (68), 143
Emily' dau. of John B.— Pedigr.
Ebwin^— Pedigr.
Ephraim*— m. Wood— Pedigr.
EtEAl^OK^—Pedig?:
Erastus^- m. Pearse— (183), 162 and P
■digr.
Eli W.'— Pedigr.
Esther*— m. Wheeler— /'fi/?;^-^
Elias"— (18), 134
Esther^— Pedigr.
Elijah*— m. Wilcoyi— Pedigr.
ESTHEK^-Pedigr.
EujAH^— Pedigr.
Esther*— m. i. Rice,
Elisha'- m. More (or Moore)— (179), 161 and
2. Goodenough— /'^a'«;j->-.
Pedigr.
Esther Prudence*— /'f^j;^/-.
Elisha«— m. AlUs— Pedigr.
Eunice' dau. of Edward-Pedigr.
Elisha«— m. Ralchford— (27)and (31), 139. 142-43,
147-48
Elisha'— (63), T42
Elisha'— m. Allen— 160 and Pedigr.
Eunice' dau. of ]ahez— Pedigr.
Eunice*— m. Forsyth— (90), 146
Eunice ANti''— Pedigr.
Evelyn McC.''— Pedigr.
Elisha Ratchford*— (77), 143
Ezekikl''— Pedigr.
Eliza''— Pedigr.
EZRA^— Pedigr.
Eliza'— m. Vernon— (139), 150
FANNY'-Pedigr.
mtmioif mrffv
VAiHiY^—Pedigr.
Harriet'— /'^ar<:fr.
Fanny Woodbury*— m. hx'mV—Pedigr.
Harriet'— m. Hall— {161), 153
Fitz-Henry^— /'?a'z;§T.
Harriet Prescott'— m. Aspinwall— (165), 154
Fitz-Henry* 2d— (151), 153
and Pedigr.
Florence Griswold'— /'<'(/?^-.
Harriot Sophia'- m. King— (43), 140
Frances Au¥.i.\A.''—Pedigr.
Harvey'— m. Woolsey-PeJigr.
Frances "LtBhViOH^—Fedigr.
Hak\e\^— Pedigr.
Frances Mary'— (41), 140
HATnE'>-Ped,gr.
Francis LeBaron'- m. Post— (158), 153
Helen MAY^'-Pedigr.
Frank S.'>—Pedis>:
Henrietta Elizabeth^— /'^(/iij-n •
FKEDKKIC'—Pedigr.
HENKY'-Pedigr.
Frederic AugustusS- (67), MS
Henry'— m. Marston— (148), 152
Freeborn'' BoLTH—Pedigr.
Henry Champion'— /'^afjlj-r.
George' Doi.PH—Pedigr.
Henry Dabhey'— Pedigr.
George'' son of James— Pedigr.
Henry 7 akisvO— Pedigr.
George' son of James Isaac— Pedigr.
Henry Farish' 2A— Pedigr.
George'— m. Goodwin— (135), 150
Henry Huntington'— m. i. French,
George KiMoa^—Pedigr.
2. Keep — (187), 163
and Pedigr.
Henry VEKK.itii'— Pedigr.
Hepzibah Champion*— m. Champion— /'ca';;^?-.
Hestek'^— Pedigr.
Homer Bingham'— (174). 159 and Pedigr.
Horatio'— m. 'Pa\iatr— Pedigr.
George Henry'— i'?rfj;jr.
George Henry Horsfall'— {81), 144
George P.'— (191), 163
George S^Mv^V—Pedigr.
George Walbridge'— /■(•(/!>;•.
George Winthrop*- m. Champion — (22), 135
and Pedigr.
G\XiEOn*—Pedigr.
Giles Meigs'— m. S^a.\i\dmg—Pedigr.
Giles ^f—Pedigr.
Grace Giddings'— /'ffl'?;j-r.
Isabella Amelia'— m. McKay— (42), 140
Israel'— m. Dodge— Pedigr.
Israel Harding'— /'<?a'!;j-r.
J ABEZ'— Pedigr.
jABEZ-i-m. Calkins— Pedigr.
Jabez'— m. 1. Adams,
Gurdon"— (33), 140
2. (Fairchild) Stoker— (171), 158 and
Gurdon'— m. , —Pedigr.
Pedigr.
llA-LSEY^—Pedigr.
James'— m. i. Calkin,
2. Lawrence,
HAKNAH^-Pedtgr.
3. Parkei— Pedigr.
UAi^NAH^-Pedl^r.
James' son of James— Pedigr.
Hannah'— m. Bartlett— (94), 146
James' son of Matthew— /'fa'j;^?-.
Harding'— P^a';;^-?-.
James'— m. Bradford— (130), 150, 153, 155
mtmioitmrttv
James'— m. i. Morris,
John''- m. , —Pedigi.
2. Mitchel— /'f</;>T.
]0HN^— Pedigr.
James' son of Benjiimin—Pedi^r.
John'— m. i. Hatch,
James' son of Benjamin Otis— Pedigr.
2. GrahvLm— Pedigr.
James' son of CoVm— Pedigr.
John*— m. Wright.— Pedij;r.
James' son of ]!imes— Pedigr.
JoHH^— Pedigr.
James' son of John B.— Pedigr.
JOHN«-(39), 140
James'— m. Ames— Pedigr.
John'- m. i. Amsden,
James'— m. Post— (156), 153
3. (— ) Graves— Pedigr.
]Ali-E,s^— Pedigr.
John''- m. Megs— Pedigr.
James'— m. Horton— (177), i6o-6i and Pedigr.
John"— m. Reynolds— (127), 150, 151
James'— (192), 163
John' son of Benjamin— /'c</4'^r.
James Andrews'— /'^(%r.
John' son of John B.—Pedisr.
James Boyd''— Pedigr.
John' son of Sivaeon— Pedigr.
James £.'—(189), 163
John'— m. i. James,
James EDWARi)''—Pedigr.
2. Griswold— (143), 151-52, 154-55
James F.^- m. Dahney— Pedigr.
John'— m. Melville— (167), 155-57
James F.'— Pedigr.
John'— (146), 151, 154
James Isaac'- m. Fitch-Pedigr.
John Anderson'— m. i. Rowland,
James IsraeV— Pedigr.
2. Pratt — (20), 135
Pedigr.
and
James Oiis'-Pedigr.
John B.«— m. Rudolph— /"?</;;?•/-.
James Ratchford'— (57), 142
John Clark'— (74). i43
James Ratchford'— m. Sandifer— (66), 143, 144-
45, 147, 164
John F.'— (190), 163
James Yeaton'— m. Owen— Pedigr.
John FloKTOa^-Pedigr.
Jane'— m. Bohnan-Pedigr.
John James' — m. Winthrop — (144), 151
Pedigr.
John Langsdorf'— (168), 156
and
]ason<^— Pedigr.
]ehiel'>— Pedigr.
John h\\vv.Y.tiCR^— Pedigr.
Jehiel'' 2d— m. Cobb— (25). 137, 145
John M.^— Pedigr.
Jehiel*— m. I. Martin,
2. Witter— (85), 145-46
John M.' Dolph— m. Van F.tten— Pedigr.
Jeremiah E.'— m. Haines— (22 1^), 135 and Pedigr.
John Oviatt'— Pedigr.
Jeremiah Winthrop'- m. Chudwick— Pedigr.
Jonathan'— (35), 140
Jerusha'— m. Martin— (89), 146
Joseph'— m. , —Pedigr.
Joel'- m. Batcheler— /',f(/;'^r.
Joseph-*- m. , —Pedigr.
J0HNM15), 134
Joseph'— m. Berry— Pedigr.
JOHii*—Pedigr.
Joseph' Dolph— m. Norton— Pedigr.
Mt Wioit Kntier
Joseph'— ra. Gibbons— />;</;;§•>-.
Lucy"— m. Y'heXps-Pedigr.
]0SK?H^—Pedi^^r.
LUCY«— ra. ^eed— Pedigr.
Joseph Norton* Dolph— m. Uulkey—I'ii/tgr.
Lucy Anni^- m. Eaton— Pedigr.
Josephine Maria'— m. Lovett— (i66), 154
LvrHER^-Pedigr.
]0S1AH^—Ped:^.
Lydia'- m. I. Starr,
2. Peck,
3. Stevens— (91), 146
Lydia" Dolfh— Pedigr.
Lvdia'— m. I. Allison,
2. Seaman-Pedigr.
Josiah'— m. I. Waterman,
2. (Comstock) Lord— (13), 133-34
JosiAH'' son of Simon— Pedigr.
Josiah* son of Stephen— Pedigr.
JosiAH«-m. Ely— (16), 134
Lydia'— m. Atwood— (128), 150
JosiAH^—Pedigr.
Judith*— m. Caiier—Pedigr.
Lydia'- m. Lay— Pedigr.
Lydia At^N''— Pedigr.
Juliana^- m. Cuning—Pcdigr.
Lydia Kirtland'— (53), 142
Lafayette^— Pedigr.
LYMAN»-/',v//Vr.
'LAWimA^—Pedigr.
Lyman E.'— Pedigr.
LAWRENCE H.'-m. Bos^weW-Pedigr.
Lykiua''— Pedigr.
Leonora'— m. 'iion)\rnp—Pedigr.
Lyntha Elvira'— m. Root— Pedigr.
Levi*— m. Smith— (131), 150
Uakasseh^— Pedigr.
Lewis'— ra. , —Pedigr.
Margaret'— m. i. Witter,
Lewis*— Pedigr.
2. Brown— (86), 145
Lewis''— Pedigr.
Makgaket^— Pedigr.
Lewis'— Pedigr.
Margaret*— m. Dimond— (121), 149
Lewis Francis'- Aa'r;j-r.
Margaret' dau. of Charles— /'^^/ij-n
Lewis Henry'— /'fi/Z^r.
Margaret' dau. of ]ames— Pedigr.
Loran«— (30), 139
Margaret'— m. Hamilton— /'^(f8;fr.
LoRin^—Pedi^?r.
MARGARET'-m. V}i\\\ams-Pedigr.
Louisa'— ra. Moore-Pedigr.
Lucia Emilia'— ra. Brownell— (138), 150
Margaret Maria'— m. i. Calkin,
2. Starr— (62), 142
Margaret Maria'— m. Smith— (71), 143
LuciLLA*- m. Harris— (28), 139
UAKiA<'—Pedigr.
LvciLhA''—Pi;digr.
Maria'— Pedigr.
hVClhl^A'— Pedigr.
Maria'— m. Rogeis—Pedigr.
Lucretia'5 jau. of Ephraim— /'crf!;^^.
Maria Griswold'— /'^,/2;§r.
Lucretiai^ dau. of Simon— Pedigr.
Mark Anthony'- m. Potter— (118), 149
Lvc\^— Pedigr.
Mark Anthony^— /'<•</!;§■'••
Lucy'— m. ViWson— Pedigr.
Mark Anthony*- m. Martin— (120), 149
Lucy'— m. A.\\\s— Pedigr.
Mark Anthony'— m. Chappotin— (159), 153
mtmioitmntv
Mark Anthony*— m. Clap— 163 and Pedigr.
Matthew*— m. (?) Patience , —Pedigr.
Martha^— P^digr.
Matthew'— m. i. Baker,
MAKTHA^—Pfdigr.
2. Burchard— /'^a'j^-r.
Martha''— Fedigr.
Matthew^- m. H'xghly-Pedigr.
Martha' Dolvh— Pedigr.
MATTHEW'^-Pedigr.
Martha'— m. Warren— (133), 150
Nancy«— (126), 150
M AKTHA^— Pedigr.
Nancy''— m. Eaton— Pedigr.
Martha Greene^- m. U3LZ2iTd— Pedigr.
Nancy'— (59), 142
Martha Noble« — m. Pingree (or Pengree) —
Pedigr.
Nancy' — m. Fisher — Pedigr.
Nancy'— m. Downing— Pedigr.
Mary'- m. i. Lee,
2. Griswold— (5), 127, 133
Mary*— Pedigr.
Mary* dau. of ]ames— Pedigr.
Nancy Allison'— (75), 143
Nancy Bradford'— m. Homer— (163), 154
Nathan"— m. i. Kirtland,
2. (Prentis) Witter — (24), 137-40,
Mary* dau. of Simon— Pedigr.
148, 161
Mary«— m. DsLiin-Pedigr.
Nathan"- (32), 139
Mary''— Pedigr.
Oliver'- ra. Bishop— (87), 145
Mary' Dolfh— Pedigr.
Olivia'— m. Barss— (55), 142
Mary'— (132), 150
Orin^— Pedigr.
Mary'— m. Haines— Pedigr.
Orpha' Volfh— Pedigr.
Mary8 dau. of Samuel Alien-Pedigr.
Orson' Dolph— Pedigr.
Mary* dau. of Wyiiys-Pedigr.
Oscar Coleman'— (173), 159, 162 and Pedigr.
Mary Anvi'— Pedigr.
Ovid' Volfh— Pedigr.
Mary Ann'— m. i. Perry,
2. Sumner— (157), 153
Parnell'- m. Allison— /'fi/;;g-/-.
Parhell''— Pedigr.
Mary Ai^ne^— Pedigr.
PATIENCE^-Pedig r.
Mary Chadwick*— m. Swaney— Pedigr.
Peter^— Pedigr.
Mary E'— m. Strong— Pedigr.
Peter''— Pedigr.
Mary Eliza''— Pedigr.
Philo^— Pedigr.
Mary Elizabeth*- m. Chipman— {113), 148
Phcebe^— Pedigr.
Mary Frances'— m. Kellogg— Pedigr.
Phcebe'— ra. Mather— (n), 133
Mary LoviSA^—Pedigr.
Phcebe*— Pedigr.
Mary Lucilla'— (64), 142
Phcebe* 2d— Pedigr.
Mary Sophia'- m. Smith— (70), 143
Phcebe'— m. Cadman— Pedigr.
Mary Sophia Ratchford' — m. Harrington —
(82), 144
Phcebe'— ra. Comstock— (84), 145
Phcebe'— m. Wehster—Pedigr.
Mary Taylor^— Pedigr.
POLLY^— Pedigr.
mtwioifiinntv
Polly* — m. Stearns — Pedigr.
Sarah'— (117), 149
Prudence"— ^<r</2;j-r.
Sarah'— m. Augur— Pedigr.
Prudence' Hoxxvl— Pedigr.
Sarah' dau. of Simon— Pedigr.
Prudence'— (ii6), 149
Sarah' dau. of Stephen— /'^</»;jr.
Prudence'— /"ff/z^jr.
Sarah'— m. i. Perkins,
Prudence'— m. Jayne—Ptdigr.
2. Farnsworth— (34), 140
Rachel'— m. Stiong— Pedigr.
SARAn''—Pedigr.
Rachel Hersey'— (37), 140
Sarah A.'— m. Gamwell— Pedigr.
Rachel Otis'— m. Fraser— (38), 140-41, 148
Sarah Elizabeth"— Pedigr.
Rebecca'— /'^a'zi'r.
Sarah Hersey Otis'— m. Thomas— (36), 140
Rebecca Eliza''— Pedigr.
Sarah Jake''— Pedigr.
Rebecca Maria'— m. Eaton— Pedigr.
Sherwood'— Pedigr.
Kebekah*— Pedigr.
SiDSEv''— Pedigr.
Robinson'— {193), 163
Simeon*— m. KirtIand-(23), 137, 148 and Pedigr.
Roger Williams' — m. Smith — (21), 135 and
Simeon'— m. Allen— Pedigr.
Pedigr.
Simeon'— m. Alleine— /'e'a'i;^?-.
Rosalie G.' Dolph— m. Ross— Pedigr.
Simon'— m. Lay— (3), 127, 131, 133
RuFUs'— m. Bishop— Pedigr.
Smo^'— Pedigr.
RVFUS''— Pedigr.
Simon'— m. Martha , —Pedigr.
Rvssell''— Pedigr.
Simon''— m. Calkins— (12), 133, 161 and Pedigr.
Ruth' DohfH— Pedigr.
SlMOn'^— Pedigr.
Sabra'— m. Taylor— Pedigr.
Simon'— m. , —(115). i49 and Pedigr.
Sabra'— m. Durkee— Pedigr.
Simon'- m. i. Bachelder (or Batcheller),
Samuel' son of ]osiah— Pedigr.
2. (Johnson) Jenks — (180), i6r and
Pedigr.
Samuel' son of Matthew— /'ca'j;^^.
Simon'— m. May— (123), 149 and Pedigr.
Samuel'— m. Keeny— (170), 158 and Pedigr.
Simon Andrew Robie''— Pedigr.
Samuel' son of Mark Anthony— Pedigr.
S0FHlA''—Pedigr.
Samuel' son of Samuel— Pedigr.
Sophia Henrietta'— m. Fitch— (58), 142
Samuel'— (125), 150
Sophronia'— ra. Maxon— Pedigr.
SamveV— Pedigr.
Sophronia'— m. RoMand— Pedigr.
Samvki,^— Pedigr.
Stephen'— m. i. ,
Samuel A.^— Pedigr.
2. Hannah ,—(4), 127. 131
Samuel Allen'— m. Durkee— Pedigr.
Stephen'— ra. Douglas {?)— Pedigr.
Samuel CuEsi.E\'''—Pedigr.
Stephen'— m. Hannah , —Pedigr.
Samuel Isaac''— Pedigr.
Stephen* son of Benjamin- /'^</:;g-?-.
SarAH^— Pedigr.
Stephen* son of Charles— Pedigr.
lie Wioli Mtitv
Stephen* son of Stephen— Pedi^r.
Wallace Leroy'— (176), 160 and Pedigr.
Stephen'— m. i. Greenfield,
Walter Louis Etienne'— (83), i44
2. Anderson,
Wentworth'— /'?(/z;jr.
3. Beckwith— (182), 162 and Fedigr.
STEfHEii^—Pedigr.
Whitman*— /',f^i;jr.
WiLLARD*— m. Vfaters— Pedigr.
Stephen*— m. Ye^ion—Pedigi:
William"- m. , —Pedigr.
SvSA.-!i''—Pedigr.
William* son of Ephiaim— Pedigr.
Susan Amelias— m. Bu\\Qc]s.—Ped{gr.
William* son of Ssunuel— Pedigr.
SvsANtiA^—Pedigr.
William* Dolph— Pedigr.
Susanna Isabella*— (40), 140
Susannah*— m. i. Champion,
William*— m. Finney— {129), 150, 152
2. Huntley— (8), 12S
William' son of Jabez-Pedigr.
SVLVINA^—Pedigr.
William' son of WilUam— Pedigr.
Tenford Robinson^— Pedigr.
William'— (137), 150
ThADDeus Kingsley^— m. Benham— (172), 158-
William'— ra. , —Pedigr.
59 and Pedigr.
William'— m. Fitch— (54) and (112), 142, 148
Theodora*— m. Co\i— Pedigr.
William"— (155), 153, 162
Theodore Harding'— /'i^a'i;^-^.
William Andrew*— {79), 143
Theody*— m. K.e\sey— Pedigr.
William Bradford'— m. Soley— (164), 154
Thomas'— Pedigr.
William Frederick* — m. Arnold— (149), i
52.
Thomas Andrew Strange' — m. Ratchford —
153
(61), 142, 143-44
William HEmy-'— Pedigr.
Thomas Andrew Strange*— (72), 143
William Henry'— ra. Rogers— (160), 153
Thomas £.'—(184) and (188), 162, 163
William Smith^— Pedigr.
Thomas 'Et>v{AKi>^— Pedigr.
William V.* Dolph— m. Read— Pedigr.
Thomas Leonard'— (56), 142
Vf IflTHROV^— Pedigr.
Thomas Marsters'— /'^a'!J'?-.
Winthrop Jeremiah'— m. Anderson— /'^</!;g->-
Thomas Parker*— P^(/j;fr.
Wyllys'— m. Brown— 160 and Pedigr.
Thomas Ratchford'— (6g), 143
Wyllys'— Pedigr.
He Wiolf MXftv
2— BY FEMALE DESCENT
Allen, Alfred REED^'—Fedi^r.
Allen, Anne Carrington'"— /'f(/2;jr.
Allen, Elizabeth Marshall'"— /"^./j;??-.
Allen, John Ernest'" — Pedigr.
Allison (or Seaman), Auei.ia''— Pedigr.
Allison (or Seaman), ^pmcy''— Pedigr.
Brownell, Charles DeVJo\jf^— Pedigr.
Brownell, Edward'— /'/rt/z^r.
Brownell, Henry DeWolf'— (140), 150
Bullock, Elizabeth Mitchelson"— m. Colt—
Pedigr.
Champion, Alice'— (8;^), 128
Champion, Henry' — Pedigr.
Champion, ]osiiv a?— Pedigr.
Champion, Skuvei.^— Pedigr.
Chipman, Alice Starr'- m. Tilley— (iii), 148
Chipman, Laura' — m. Howland — Pedigr.
Colt, LeBaron Bradford' — (141), 151 and
Pedigr.
Colt, Samuel Pomeroy'— m. Bullock— (142)
151 and Pedigr.
Dana, Abby Geeen'— i'.f.j';;^-?-.
Dana, Charles Field'— /'ifi/i;^?-.
Dana, Jane TalmanI— i'^a'zljT.
Dana, John J ames^— Pedigr.
Dana, Kate S,aloue^— Pedigr.
Dana, Lucy Maria' — Pedigr.
Dana, Mary Matilda' — Pedigr.
Dana, William DeWolf'- m. G^een— Pedigr.
Eaton, Anna' — Pedigr.
Eaton, Anna Morton' — m. Leighton — (106),
147
Eaton, Arthur Wentworth Hamilton' — (104),
147
Eaton, Clement B.''— Pedigr.
Eaton, Eliza ]av!e''— Pedigr.
Eaton, Emily Maria Hamilton'— (no), 147
Eaton, Frank Herbert'— (105), 147
Eaton, George William' — Pedigr.
Eaton, Harry Havelock'— (108), 147
Eaton, Joseph Henry''— Pedigr.
Eaton, Leonard' — Pedigr.
Eaton, Leslie Seymour'— (log), 147
Eaton, Rufus William'— (107), 147
Eaton, Susannah' — Pedigr.
Eraser, Amelia Isabella' — (48), 141
Fraser, Benjamin DeWolf'— (50), 141
Fraser, Catharine' — ni. Suther — (51), 141
Eraser, Frances Mary'— (49), 141
Eraser, Harriet Amelia'— m. Dixon— (47), 141
Eraser, James DeWolf'— m. Prescott— (46),
141
Eraser, Mary Hulbert'— (52), 141
Eraser, Sarah Rachel'— m. Gore— (44), 141
Gore, Adelaide' — ra. Kirk — Pedigr.
Gore, Charles Cuyfokh^— Pedigr.
Gore, Eliza Amelia' — m. William Henry Hay,
Earl of Erroll— (45), 141, 148 and Pedigr.
Gore, Frederic C— m. T\c\iex\ey— Pedigr.
Gore, James' — m. Bazalgette — Pedigr.
Griswold, Matthew* — (7), 127
Hamilton, Anna Augusta Willoughby' — m.
Eaton— (103), 147
Hamilton, Henry Starr'— (99), 146
Hamilton, Josephine Collins' —
m. I. Eaton,
2. Hamilton— (102), 147
Hamilton, Margaret Maria' — m. Harris —
(100), 146
Hamilton, Minetta Bath'— (98), 146
mt Wiolt Kntier
Hamilton, Otho'— (ioi), 147
King, William'— /'.rr/i^'r.
Hamilton, Susan Eliza'— (97), 146
Lee, Hannah'— m. Griswold— (6), 127
Hare, Hobart Amoky^"— P^Jigr.
PiNGREE (or Pen(-.rek), Charles DeWolf' —
Harrington, Eliza Caroline'— m. Wadsworth
-{92), 146
PiNGREE, Delia Lydia'— /'^a'l^fr.
Howe, Alfred Leighton'— Z'ca'fVr.
PiNGREE, Elizabeth'— /V</(;g-^.
Howe, Arthur'- m. Denckler— /'.•(/j'^r.
PiNGREE, Ellen Lavina'— /V</;;ir''-
Howe, EDiTH^''—Fei/i^.
PiNGREE, Frederick Judson'— /'<ra'(;s-r.
Howe, Elizabeth Amanda'"— /'tv/Z^r.
PiNGREE, Henrietta'— /".r/yr.
Howe, Elizabeth Marshall' — m. Allen—
Howe, Frank Perley'- m. Woodward— Pc;/:gr.
Howe, Grace"— /'^a'?>n
Howe, Herbert MARSHALL»-m. FeW—Peiiigr.
PiNGREE, LaLIAH BvB.VEK''—P(digr.
PiNGREE, William John'— /'^a'/jr.
Seaman (or Allison), AuEUA-'—Pedigr.
Seaman (or Allison), NANCY''—Pi^>iigr.
Howe, John'— m. Smith— PeJigr.
Starr, Henry'— (96), 146
Howe, John ¥ELi.^''—P,;£gr.
Starr, Maria"— m. Hamilton— (95), 146
Howe, Mark Anthony'— /"^t/^-n
Strong, Charles William'— T'^rfi^fr.
Howe, Mark Anthony DeWolf'-
Strong, David EATOti''—Pedtgr.
m. I. Amory,
2. Marshall,
3. V/hitney-PeJigr.
Strong, Eriv/ARD''—Pedigr.
Strong, Hannah'— /"^rfi^r.
Howe, Mary Amory'— m. Hare— Pafigr.
Strong, James X)E^o\.v''—Pedigr.
Howe, Mary Herbert"— /'ca'»;fr.
Strong, \.\DiA''—Pedigr.
Howe, Reginald Heber'— m. Adams— Pedigr.
Strong, Mary A^H''—Pedigr.
Howe, Reginald UEBEK^''—Pc't/igr.
Strong, KACHEV—Pedigr.
Howe, RnoBA^'-Peifigr.
Howe, Sarah BiGZi.ow'"'—Pedig>:
Howe, Wallis Eastburn'— /'fa';;^?-.
King, Benjamin'— /'fa'i;^'/-.
King, HARK\'''—Pfdigr.
Strong, Stephen'— /"^(/j^jr.
Strong, Svskii'-Pedigr.
Thomas, Charles Vi eutwothth'— Pedigr.
Thomas, Sarah ViAcmV—Pcdigr.
King, John Otis''— PeJigr.
Vernon, Eliza DeWolf'— m. Thayer— Pedigr.
mt Wiolt Kntrer
J— BY MARRIAGE
, Alice— m. Balthasar (i) DeWoIf— 127-29
, Elise— m. Cyrus A.* UoXl—Pedigr.
, Hannah — m. Stephen^ DeWolf — Pedigr.
, Hannah— m. Stephen (4) DeWolf— 131
, Margaret — m. Benjamin' DeWolf — Pedigr.
, Martha— m. i. Sinion^ DeWolf,
2. Nathaniel (or Nathan) Clark
-Pedigr.
, Patience — m. (?) Matthew* DeWolf —
Pedigr.
, Prudence— m. Charles^ \if^No\i— Pedigr.
, Rebecca— m. Edward (2) DeWolf— 130-31
Adams, Ellis (or Alice) — m. Jabez (171) Xie-
y^QM— Pedigr.
Adams, Susan — m. Reginald Heber' Howe —
Pedigr.
Alleine, , — m. Simeon'' He^oM— Pedigr.
Allen, Clarissa— m. Simeon^ Yi€^o\i— Pedigr.
Allen, George Pomeroy — m. Elizabeth Mar-
shall' Howe — Pedigr.
Allen, Lucy— m. Elisha' V)€^o\i— Pedigr.
Allis, Eunice — m. Elisha' DeWolf — Pedigr.
Allis, John B. — m. Lucy' DeWolf — Pedigr.
Allison, Joseph — m. Lydia' DeWolf — Pedigr.
Allison, Joseph — m. Parnell' DeWolf — Pedigr.
Ames, Naomi— m. James'' \i&^o\l— Pedigr.
Amory, Julia Bowen — m. Mark Anthony
DeWolf* Havre— Pedigr.
Amsden, Mary— m. ]oha^ DeWoU— Pedigr.
Anderson, Hepzibah — m. Winthrop Jeremiah'
BeWoU— Pedigr.
Anderson, Thodey — m. Stephen (182) DeWolf
— Pedigr.
Andrews, Robert Shaw — m. Eliza Viets (145)
DeWolf— 151
Andrews, William — m. Elizabeth^ DeWolf—
Pedigr.
Andrus, Mary — m. DanieP DeWolf — Pedigr.
Archer, Archibald — m. Ellen' DeWolf —
Pedigr.
Arnold, Margaret Padelford — m. William
Frederick (149) DeWolf— 153
Aspinwall, Lloyd — m. Harriet Prescott (165)
DeWolf— 154 and Pedigr.
Atwood, , — m. Lydia (128) DeWolf — 150
Augur, George — m. Sarah' DeWolf — Pedigr.
Bachelder (or Batcheller), Lydia — m. Simon
(180) DeVfoM-Pedigr.
Baker, Eunice— m. Matthew' DeWolf — Pedigr.
Barnes, John — m. Betsey Northrup' DeWolf —
Pedigr.
Barss, Joseph — m. Olivia (55) DeWolf — 142
Bartlett, Jonathan— m. Hannah (94) DeWolf
-146
Bartlette, Enoch — ra. Abby Kane" DeWolf —
Pedigr.
Batciieler, Polly— m. Joel* DeWoU— Pedigr.
Bazalgette, , —m. James' Goie— Pedigr. ^
Beckwith, Abel — m. Lucy (Calkins) DeWolf —
Pedigr.
Beckwith, Abigail— m. Stephen (182) DeWolf
— Pedigr.
Beecher, Frances C. — m. Clement' DeWolf —
Pedigr.
Bell, Robert B.— m. Ellen' DeVf oil— Pedigr.
Benham, Correlia— m. Thaddeus Kingsley(i72)
DeWoU— Pedigr.
Berry, Mary H.— m. Joseph' DeVfoU— Pedigr.
Bishop, Amy— m. Oliver (87) DeWolf— 145
Bishop, Mary Ann — m. Rufus' DeWolf — Pedigr.
BoHNAN, Tracy— m. Jane'' \i€^o\i— Pedigr.
Boswell, Jane — m. Lawrence H.' DeWolf —
Pedigr.
mt 2!2aolf KnUev
Bradford. Ann (or Nancy) Bowman— m. James
CiiiPMAN. ZAniAKiAH- m. Mary Elizabeth (113)
(130) DeWolf-150
DeWolf— 148
Bradford, Hersey— m. Abigail (134) DeWoIf—
Clap, Achsa — m. Mark Anthony" DeWolf —
150
P^digr.
Brewer, Charles D. — m. Anna* DeWolf —
Clark, Nathaniel (or Nathan) — m. Martha
J'c-digr.
(— ) DeWolf— Pidigr.
Brink, David— m. Fanny Woodbury^ DeWolf—
Cobb. PH(EBE-m. Jehiel (25) DeWolf-145
r.-Jigr.
Coleman, Mary— m. Abdi' Dolph—Pedigr.
Brown, , — m. Charlotte (93) DeWolf —
I'.-Jior.
Colt, Christopher— m. Theodora* DeWolf —
Brown, James— m. Margaret (86) (DeWolf) Witter
Pedlgr.
—145
Colt, Samuel Pomeroy (142) — m. Elizabeth
Mitchelson' Bullock— Pedigr.
Brown, Waity— m. Wyllys' DeWoU—P.-Jigr.
Comstock, Ezekiel — m. Phoebe (84) DeWolf—
Brownell, Pardon— m. Lucia Emilia (138) De-
Wolf-150
145
Bullock, Elizabeth Mitchelson'— m. Samuel
Crane, T. Aubrey— m. Caroline Amelia (78)
Pomeroy (142) Colt— Fedigr.
DeWolf— 143
Bullock, J. Russell— m. Susan Amelia' DeWolf
. Cutting, Robert L. — m. Juliana* DeWolf —
—Pedigr.
P.digr.
Burchard, Elizabeth— m. Matthew^ DeWolf—
Dabney, Ellen— m. James F.* DeWolf— P^-digr.
Pedigr.
Dana, Josiah— ra. Mary' DeWolf— Pedigr.
Cadman, John— m. Phoebe=^ DeWolf— />.-<%/-.
Denckler, Mary Williamson — m. Arthur'
Calkin, James— m. Margaret Maria (62) DeWolf
Howe— Pfdigi-.
—142
DiMAN, Clara Anna— m. Algernon Sidney (147)
Calkin, Keturah— m. James' DeVfoU—Pedigr.
DeWolf— Pc'digr.
Calkins. Eunice— m. Jabez< DeWolf— Pt-digr.
DiMOND, Royal— m. Margaret (121) DeWolf—
Calkins, Lucy (or Lucia)—
149
m. I. Simon (12) DeWolf,
DixON, Col. , — m. Harriet Amelia (47) Fra-
2. Abel Beckwith— 133 and P.-digr.
ser— 141
Carter, , — m. Judith'' DeWoU—Pedigr.
Dodge, Eunice— m. Israel" DeWolf— Pcdigr.
Chadwick, Mary— m. Jeremiah Winthrop* De-
Dodge. Joshua— m. Catharine H. (162) DeWolf
Wolf— Pedig>:
—154
Champion, Henry— m. Susannah (8) DeWolf—
Douglas (?), Elizabeth— m. Stephen-' DeWolf—
128
Fedigr.
Champion, Henry A.— m. Hepzibah Champion*
Douglass. Susannah— m. Benjamin (10) DeWolf
DeWolf— Pfdigr.
-133
Champion, Lena— m. George Winthrop (22) De-
Downing, . — m. Nancy* DeWolf— Pcdigr.
Wolf— P(digr.
Durkee, , — m. Sabra' DeWolf— Pedigr.
Champion, Lucy — m. Benjamin-' DeWolf —
Durkee. Sarah— m. Samuel Allen' DeWolf—
Pedigr.
Pcdigr.
Chappotin, Sophia C. D. — m. Mark Anthony
Eaton, , — m. Rebecca Maria* DeWolf —
(159) DeWolf— 153
Pedigr.
33t wioit mntv
Eaton, Henry — m. hucy Ann* DeWolf — Fedigr.
Eaton, John RuFUs—m. Josephine Collins (102)
Hamilton — 147
Eaton, William — m. A nna Augusta Willoughby
(103) Hamilton — 147
Eaton, William— m. Nancy" DeVloM—Ptdigr.
Ely, Hannah— m. Edward^ T>e.Vfo\i~PeJigr.
Ely, Martha — m. Josiah (16) DeWolf— 134
Erroll, Earl of. See Hay, William Henry
Farnsworth, Joel — m. Sarah (34) (DeWolf)
Perkins — 140
Fell, Mary W.— m. Herbert Marshall" Howe —
Pedigr.
Finney, Charlotte — m. William (129) DeWolf
—150
Fisher, , — m. Nancy' DeWolf — Pedigr.
Fitch, , — m. James Isaac' DeWolf — Pedigr.
Fitch, Amelia — ra. William (54) and (112) De-
Wolf— 148
Fitch, Simon — m. Sophia Henrietta (58) DeWolf
—142
Forsyth, Caleb — m. Eunice (90) DeWolf — 146
Foster, , — m. Caroline'' (DeWolf) Robinson
—Pedigr.
Fowler, Polly — m. Daniel (19) DeWolf — Pedigr.
Fraser, James— m. Rachel Otis (38) DeWolf—
140, 148
French, Mary M.— n
Tle^oM— Pedigr.
Henry Huntington (187)
Sarah A.' DeWolf —
3ph' T>e\No\i— Pedigr.
-m. Abby(i53) DeWolf
Gamwell, Harlo — m.
Pedigr.
GiDBONS, Sarah — m. Joi
Gibson, Charles Dana
—153
GOODENOUGH, Abner — m. Esther"^ (DeWolf) Rice
—Pedigr.
Goodwin, Charlotte — m. George (135) DeWolf
—150
Goodwin, Mary — m. Charles (136) DeWolf— 150
Gore, Charles Stephen — m. Sarah Rachel (44)
Fraser — 141, 148
Graham, Elizabeth— m. John" DeWolf — Pedigr.
Graves, (— ), — m. John« DeWoK— Pedigr.
Green, Mary Elizabeth — m. William DeWolf
Dana — Pedigr.
Greene, Abigail— m. Charles (119) DeWolf—
149
Greenfield, Sarah — m. Stephen (182) DeWolf
Pedigr.
Griswold, John — m. Hannah (6) Lee — 127
Griswold, Matthew — m. Mary (5) (DeWolf)
Lee — 127
Griswold, Sylvia — m. John (143) DeWolf — 151
Guild, William— m. Abby Bradford^ DeWolf—
Pedigr.
Haines, Eunice — m. Jeremiah E. (22;^) DeWolf
-Pedigr.
Haines, Henry — m. Mary' DeWolf — Pedigr.
Hall, Jonathan Prescott — m. Harriet (161)
DeWolf— 153
Hamilton, , — m. Margaret' DeWolf —
Pedigr.
Hamilton, D. Stuart — m. Josephine Collins
(102) (Hamilton) Eaton — 147
Hamilton, Otho — m. Maria (95) Starr — 146
Harding, Sabra— m. Charles" DeWoH— Pedigr.
Hare, William Hobart — m. Mary Amory'
H owe — Pedigr.
Harrington, C. Sidney — m. Mary Sophia
Ratchford (82) DeWolf— 144
Harrington, Daniel — m. Ann Eliza' DeWolf —
Pedigr.
Harris, Brenton Haliburton — m. Margaret
Maria (100) Hamilton — 146
Harris, Lebbeus— m. Lucilla (28) DeWolf— 139
Harris, Lydia Kirtland — m. Daniel (88) De-
Wolf— 146
Hatch, Susannah — m. John' DeWolf — Pedigr.
Hay, William Henry, Baron Kilmarnock
and Earl of Erroll — m. Eliza Amelia (45)
Gore — 141 and Pedigr.
Hazard, Samuel — m. Martha Greene* DeWolf
—Pedigr.
lie miolt Knticv
Highly, Esther— m. Matthew* DeVfoU—Petfi^'r.
Latimer, Jane— m. Edward'' V)e\Vo\i— Pedigr.
Hills, Benjamin — m. Caroline Amelia (78)
(DeWolf) Crane-143
Hills, Rachel— m. Daniel* DeWo\{—P.;iijrr.
Homer, Fitz Henry— m. Nancy Bradford (163)
DeWolf-154
HORTON, Anna — m. James (177) DeWoU —
Howe, Perley— m. Abigail (124) DeWolf— 149
HowLAND, William — m. Laura' Chipman —
Huntley, Aaron — m. Deborah^ DeWolf —
Huntley, John — m. Susannah (8) (DeWolf)
Champion— 128
Lawrence, Nancy— m. James* DeWolf— /^<-,/;Vr.
Lay, John— m. Lydia* HeWoM— Pedigr.
Lay, Sarah— m. Simon (3) DeWolf— 131
Lee, Azubah— m. i. Daniel (17) DeWolf,
2. Joseph Sill— 134 and Pedigr.
Lee, Thomas— m. Mary (5) DeWolf— 127, 133
Leighton, George Albert- m. Anna Morton
(106) Eaton— 147
Lord, Abigail (Comstock)— m. Josiah (13) V>e-
WoM— Pedigr.
Lovett, Charles WALLEV—m. Josephine Maria
(166) DeWolf— 154
Lovett, Maria— m. Ebenezer Harding" DeWolf
—Pedigr.
Lusby, Hannah— m. Benjamin Otis* DeWolf—
Ingraham, Jeremiah — m. Abigail (124) (De-
Wolf) Howe— 150
James, Elizabeth— m. John (143) DeWolf— 151
Jayne, , — m. Prudence^ DeWolf— Fedigr.
Jenks, Abigail (Johnson)— m. Simon (180) De-
WoM—Pedigr.
Pedigr.
McDonald, Mary — m. Charles* DeWolf —
Pedigr.
McKay, JoHN-m. Isabella Amelia (42) DeWolf
— 140
Kasson, Nancy— ra. Clement' TteWoM—Pedigr.
Keeny, Susannah— m. Samuel (170) DeWolf—
Marshall, Elizabeth Smith— m. Mark Anthony
DeWolf no\we— Pedigr.
Pedigr.
Keep, Caroline P.— m. Henry Huntington (187)
DeWoM—Pedigr.
Kellogg, Milo G— m. Mary Frances' DeWolf
—Pedigr.
Kelsey, , -m. Theody* T)eWo\i-Pedigr.
Ketchum, Woodruff — m. Ellen' DeWolf —
Marsters, Sarah— m. Benjamin Otis* DeWolf
-Pedigr.
Marston, Anna Elizabeth — m. Henry (148)
DeWolf— 152
Martin, Elizabeth— m. Jehiel (85) DeWolf— 145
Martin, Elizabeth — m. Mark Anthony (120)
DeWolf— 149
Pedigr.
Kimball, Frances— m. Calvin (175) DeWolf—
Pedigr.
King, W. C— m. Harriot Sophia (43) DeWolf—
140
Martin, Peter— m. Jerusha (89) DeWolf— 146
Marvin, Phojbe- m. i. Daniel (14) DeWolf,
2. Nathaniel Kirtland— 134
Mather, Joseph— m. Phoebe (11) DeWolf— 133
Kirk, George Whitworth Talbot— m. Ade-
Maxon, John— m. Sophronia' DeWolf— y.v/r^-r.
laide8 Gore— Pedigr.
Kirtland, Lydia — m. Nathan (24) DeWolf—
139, 148
Kirtland, NATHANiEL-m. Phoebe (Marvin) De-
May, Hannah— m. Simon (123) DeWolf— P^-c/^V/-.
Megs, Caroline— m. John* DeWolf— /'<-</<i'-/-.
Melville, , -m. John (167) DeWolf-155
Wolf— 134
Kirtland, Parnell— ra. Simeon (23) DeWolf—
Middleton, Nathaniel Russell — m. Anna
• Elizabeth (150) DeWolf-150
Pedigr.
Miner, Sarah— m. Charles' DeWolf— /'<-</4'r.
mtmoiti^nrftv
MiTCiiEL, Elizabeth — m. James* DeWolf —
Randall, Charles — m. Anne Ratchford (60)
(DeWolf) Woodward-142
Moore, ■ , — m. Louisa' T»eVio\l—Pedigr.
More (or Moore), Lydia— m. Elisha (179) De-
Vfo\l-Pedigr.
Randolph, Fitz— m. Catharine Ketura* DeWolf
—Pedigr.
Ratchford, Margaret— m. Elisha (27) DeWolf
Morris, Elizabeth— m. James* DeVioM—Pc-digr.
MoTT, Emily— m. Delos (i6g) TieVioM—Pedigr.
Mulkey, Augusta— m. Joseph Norton' Dolph—
Pedigr.
Neary, Harriet— m. Colin* T)e\fo\i~Pedigr.
Newton. Elvira— m. Almon (181) DeWolf— 161
NoRTHRUr, George W.—m. Leonora* DeWolf—
Pedigr.
—142
Ratchford, Nancy — m. Thomas Andrew
Strange (61) DeWolf— 143
Read, Eliza D.— m. William V.' Dolph— /'^^f^^r.
Reed, , -m. Lucy* DeV^oM-Pedigr.
Reynolds, Susan— m. John (127) DeWolf— 150
Rice, Moses— m. Esther* T)eVio\t— Pedigr.
Robinson, , — m. Caroline'' De\i o\l— Pedigr.
Norton, Elizabeth— m. Joseph* T>o\ph— Pedigr.
Robinson. Diantha — m. Amasa' DeWolf —
Pedigr.
Rockwell, Ann— m. Benjamin* T)eVIo\l— Pedigr.
Rogers, Robert— m. Maria' DeWoU— Pedigr.
Otis, Rachel— m. Benjamin (26) DeWolf— 140
OviATT, Frances O.—m. Austin (178) DeWolf—
Pedigr.
Owen, ABBi—m. James Yeaton' DeWoM— Pedigr.
Palmer, Harriet— m. Horatio* DeWolf— ^.-a'!;?-/-.
Parker, Jane— m. James' T>eWo\i— Pedigr.
Rogers, Sarah Ann— m. William Henry (160)
DeWolf— 153.
Rogerson, Sophia— m. Charles (iig) DeWolf—
149
Pearse, Hannah— m. Erastus (183) DeWolf—
Pedigr.
Root, Asahel W.— m. Lyntha Elvira* DeWolf
—Pedigr.
Peck, Cyrus— m. Lydia (gi) (DeWolf) Starr— 146
Ross, James N.— m. Rosalie G.* Dolph— Pedigr.
Perkins, Eli— m. Sarah (34) DeWolf— 140
Rowland, James A.— m. Sophronia* DeWolf—
Perry, Raymond H. J. — m. Mary Ann (157)
Pedigr.
DeWolf-153
Phelps, , — m. Lucy* DeVfoU— Pedigr.
Rowland, Mary Abigail— m. John Anderson
(20) DeWoli-Pedigr.
PiNGREE (or Pengree), Job— m. Martha Noble*
T)eV}o\i— Pedigr.
Post, Ellen— m. Francis LeBaron (15S) DeWolf
—153
Rudolph, Eliza— m. John B.* DeWoU— Pedigr
Sandifer, Eleanor Reade— m. James Ratchford
(66) DeWolf— 144
Seaman, Jeconiah— m. Lydia' (DeWolf) Allison
Post, Julia— m. James (156) DeWolf— 153
Potter, Abigail— m. Mark Anthony (iiS) De-
Wolf— 149
—Pfdigr.
Shaw, Samuel— m. Elizabeth* DeWoU— Pedigr.
Sill, Joseph— m. Azubah (Lee) DeWoU— Pedigr.
Potter, Margaret— m. Charles (114) DeWolf
-148
Smith, Chipman W. — m. Margaret Maria (71)
DeWolf-143
Pratt, Irene— m. John Anderson (20) DeWolf
—Pedigr.
Smith, Julia— m. Roger Williams (21) DeWolf
—Pedigr.
Prescott, Catharine— m. James DeWolf (46)
Smith, Louisa— m. John' Howe— Pedigr.
Eraser- 141
Smith, Lydia— m. Levi (131) DeWolf— 150
mtmoifi^n^tv
Smith, W. Howe— m. Mary Sophia (70) DeWolf
Vanderpoel, , — m. Charlotte (93) (DeWolf)
-143
Brown— 146
SoLEY, Mary Russell— m. William Bradford
Van Etten, Anna Eliza— m. John M.» Dolph
(164) DeWolf— 154
—Pc-digr.
Sparr, William— m. Amelia' DeWoU—/'^,/i^r.
Vernon, William— m. Eliza (139) DeWolf— 150
Spaulding, Anna— m. Giles Meigs' DeWolf—
Wadsworth, Samuel B.—m. Eliza Caroline (92)
J'.dij^r.
Harrington— 146
Starr, Joseph- m. Margaret Maria (62) (DeWolf)
Walbridge, Elizabeth— m. Charles* DeWolf—
Calkin— 142
Pedigr.
Starr, Samuel— m. Lydia (91) DeWolf— 146
Warren, Thomas— m. Martha (133) DeWolf— 150
Stearns, Abijah— m. Polly" DeVfo\{—Pedi[ir>-.
Waterman, Anna — m. Josiah (13) DeWolf —
Steele, Elizabeth Vanderbilt — m. Chester
133-34
Valentine' Dolph—Pc-Ji^r.
Waters, Cynthia R.-m. WiUard' DeWolf-
Stevens, Moses— m. Lydia (gi) (DeWolf) Starr-
Pedigr.
Peck— 146
Webster, John S.-m. Phoebe« DcWolf-/V,%r.
Stoker, Thankful (Fairchild)— m. Jabez (171)
Wheeler, , — m. Esther'' DeWolf— /'<'fl';i'r.
DeVfoU—Psdigr.
Whitney, Eliza— m. Mark Anthony DeWolf
Stone, William — m. Eliza Ann^ DeWolf —
Bowe—Pedigr.
Strong, Albert L.— m. Mary E.' DeWolf—
Wilcox, SuBMiT-m. Elijah^ DcW o\l-Pc-digr.
Pedi^.
Williams, ,— m. Margaret' DcWolf— 7'^,%/-.
Strong, Peter— m. Rachel« DeWoU—Ptdis-/-.
Wilson, Jonathan— m. Lucy' DeWolf— /Vr/^;-.
Sumner, William Hyslop— m. Mary Ann (157)
Winthrop, Annette Halsey — m. John James
(DeWolf) Perry-153
(144) DeWoH—Pfdigr.
SuTHER, Thomas George — m. Catharine (51)
WiTRiDGE, Jessie— m. Daniel French* DeWolf
Eraser- 141
-P.digr.
Swaney, JoHN-m. Mary Chadwick« DeWolf-
-Pedil^r.
Witter, Anna— m. Jehiel (85) DeVfoU—Pcdigr.
SwETT, John Barnard— m. Anna Cecilia (154)
Witter, Anna (PRENTis)-m. Nathan (24) De-
DeWolf— 153
Wolf— 139
Taylor, , -m. Sabra« DeWoU-Pedigr.
Witter, Samuel — m. Margaret (86) DeWolf—
145
Taylor, Clarinda — m. Charles' DeWolf —
Pedigr.
Wood, Elizabeth — m. Ephraim' DeWolf —
Pedigr.
Taylor, Mary— m. Charles (119) DeWolf— 149
Woodward, Catharine Scott — ni. Frank
Thayer, Thatcher— m. Eliza DeWolf* Vernon
Perley" Howe— Pfdigr.
—Pedigr.
Woodward, Thomas— m. Anne Ratchford (60)
Thomas, Nathaniel Ray — m. Sarah Hersey
DeWo!f-i42
Otis (36) DeWolf— 140
WoOLSEY, Cornelia — m. Harvey'' DeWolf —
TiCHERLEY, Alice — m. Frederic C Gore —
Pedigr.
P€digr.
TiLLEY, Samuel Leonard— m. Alice Starr (in)
•Wren, , -m. Eliza' DeVfoU-P^digr.
Chipman— 148
Wright, HuLi.Aii-m. John' De\WoU-P,;/igr.
Tucker, , — m. Elizabeth'' DeWoU—Pedigr.
Yeaton, Julia— m. Stephen' DeW oU—P,d!gr.
jcrkjcrtt %n&Jt£
pp. l6g-20O
I— BY MALE DESCENT
Abiah*— m. Stoughton— /"cif/;"?-.
Abiel'— m. iM^ox—Pedigr.
Abigail'— m. Ellsworth— (41), 180-81
Abigail'' — m. Keep — Pedigr.
Abigail'— m. Rockwell— /'i-rf;;^-/-.
Abigail'— m. Stoughton— /'<^</ji'r.
Abigail'— m. yjiiexhonse— Pedigr.
Abigail*— m. HoMon— Pedigr.
Abigail Marsh^ — m. Gaylord — Pedigr.
Agnes* — Pedigr.
Albert' — m. Loomis — Pi-digr.
Alexander* — m. i. Atwater,
2. {— ) Allyn,
3. Richards — Pedigr.
Alexander'— /'.'AV,-.
Alexander' — m. i. Burbank,
2. 'Waldo— Pedigr.
Alexander* — m. Kinzie — Pedigr.
Alexander* — m. Paull — Pedigr.
Alfred* — m. Craig — Pedigr.
Alice- — (8), 170
Amelia' (or Emily)— m. 'LorA— Pedigr.
Amelia*— m. Russell— /'(•a'!;^?-.
Anna"* — m. Griswold — (11), 172
Anne'— m. 'B2incY2iii— Pedigr.
Arodi'— m. V\xV\n— Pedigr.
Arthur' — m. i. Morrison,
2. Belknap — Pedigr.
Benjamin*- m. (— ) Gilhampton— i'i'a'z;^^
Benjamin'— m. (— ) hA2ims— Pedigr.
Benjamin* — m. Pinney — Pedigr.
Benjamin* — m. Rockwell — Pedigr.
Caleb'— m. Price— Pedigr.
Catharine* — m. Hinsdale — Pedigr.
Charles"— m. Hawley— (23), 176 and Pedigr.
Charles Moseley* — ra. 1. Goodrich,
2. Rankin — (64), 197-98
and Pedigr.
Charlotte Augusta'" — Pedigr.
Charlotte Bosworth' — m. Bishop — Pedigr.
Christopher*— m. , —(3), 170
Christopher'' — (14), 174
Christopher' — m. i. 
TVNews
OpenLibrary