Papers of the New Haven colony historical society

PAPERS

NEW HAVEN COLONY

HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

YOL. II.

NEW HAVEN:
PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY.

1877.

By Transfer

uiN 25 1917

CONTENTS.

Page.

Officers, ---... - . . y

Life and Annual Members, ---... yj

Constitution and By-Law.s, ------- yii

Address of the President, Rev. Dr. Beardsley, ... xiii

The Early History of Southold, Long Island; by Rev. Epher Whitaker,

Pastor of the First Church of Southold, Long Island, - - 1

Invasion of New Haven by the British Troops, July 5, 1779; by Rev.

Chauncey Goodrich, - - - - - - 27

The Poetry and Poets of Connecticut; by R. W. Wright, - - - 93

Memoranda respecting Edward Whalley and William Goffe ; by Franklin

B. Dexter, - - - - - - - - 117

Remarks on Mr. Dexter's Paper respecting Whalley and Goffe ; by Thomas

R. Trowbridge, ....... 147

Historical Sketch of Stephen Goodyear, Deputy-Governor of the New
Haven Colony from 1643 to 1658 ; as Derived from '' The Old Colony

Records," - - - - - - - - 155

Ancient Houses of New Haven ; by Thomas R. Trowbridge, Jr., - 173

Sketch of the Life and Writings of John Davenport ; by Franklin B.

Dexter, ........ 205

Medical History and Bingraphv ; by Henry Bronson, M.D., - - 239

OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY

For the Year Be^ijiiuaiiig; November 2Uli, 1»T«.

President.
Rev. E. EDWARDS BEARDSLKY. D.D., LL.D.

Vice-President.
Mr. THOMAS R. TROWBRIDGE.

Secretary.
Rev. WILLIAM G. ANDREWS, M.A.

Treasurer.
Mr. NATHAN PECK.

Advisory Committee.

(Constituting with the above named officers a Board of Directors.)

President Noah Porter, D.D., LL.D., ex-officio.

His Honor Hknry G. Lewis, LL.B., ex-officio.,

Frederick Botsford, Esq., ex-officio,

Rev. Leonard Bacon, D.D , LL.D..

Henry White, M.A.,

Henry Bronson, M.D..

Prof. Edward H. Leffingwell. M.D.,

Mr. John W. Barber,

Mr. Henry Trowbridge,

His Excellency Charles R. Ingersoll, LL.D.,

Prof. Simeon E. Baldwin, M.A.,

Mr. Frank E. Hotchkiss,

Capt. Charles H. Townsend,

Franklin B. Dextfjr, M.A.,

Prof. Johnson T. Platt, M.A.,

Mr. Henry' L. Hotchkiss,

E. HuGGiNS Bishop, M.D.,

Mr. George Petrie,

Prof. James M. Hoppin, D.D.,

Eli Whitney, M.A.,

Mr. Thomas R. Trowbridge, Jr.,

Elial T. Foote, M.D.

E. Edwards Beardsley,

Henry White,

Edward II. Leffingwell,

Executive Committee.

Simeon E. Baldwin,
Franklin B. Dexter,
William G. Andrews, ex-officio.

VI

MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY.

LIST OF MEMBERS.

Life Members.

Henry White,
Thomas R. Trowbridge,
Charles L. English,
Henry Broxson,
Leverett Candee,*
Eli Whitney,
James Brewster,*
Joseph E Sheffield,
Nathan Peck,
William W. Boardman,*
Henry Trowbridge,
Hervey Sanford,*
Augustus R. Street,*
Pblatiah Perit,*
John A. Davenport,*
Roger S. Baldwin,*
James M. Townsend,
Henry Hotchkiss,*
Erastus C. Scranton,*
Cornelius S. Bushnell,

Mary L. Hillhouse,*
James E. English,
Lucius Hotchkiss,
Ezra C. Reed,*
Richard S. Fellowes,
Nathan Beers Ives,*
William B. Goodyear.
Charles H. Townsend,
Edward H. Leffingwell,
Francis Wayland,
Henry Trowbridge, 2d,
Thomas R. Trowbridge, Jr..
Rutherford Trowbridge,
W. R. H. Trowbridge,
Henry L. Hotchkiss,
Leonard Bacon,
E. Edwards Beardsley,
Frederick J. Betts,
Joseph B. Sargent.

Annual Members.

Justus S. Hotchkiss,
Isaac Anderson,
Daniel S. Glenney,
Edwin M. Johnson,
Edward E. Salisbury,
James M. Hoppin,
E. HuGGiNS Bishop,
Henry 0. Hotchkiss,
Wm. H. Hotchkiss,
Samuel Miller,
Henry T. Blake,

1874-5.

George Petrie,
Frank E. Hotchkiss,
Franklin B. Dexter,
Joseph Parker,
Mary E. Edwards,
Wm. G. Andrews,
John W. Mansfield,
Henry C. Kingsley,
S. H. Chapman.
Theodore D. Woolsey,
Wm. H. Law.

1875-6.

J. M. Hoppin,

Elizabeth W. Davenport,

E. Huggins Bishop,
Simeon E. Baldwin,
Johnson T. Platt,
Wm. G. Andrews,

F. B. Dexter,
Geo. p. Fisher,
T. D. Woolsey,
s. h. moseley,
W. H. French,
Levi Ives,
Charles Dickerman,
W. H. Law,

Henry B Harrison,
John W. Mansfield,
Justus S. Hotchkiss,
Henry J. Prudden,
Frank E. Hotchkiss,
Sheldon Davis,
Chas. H. Fitch.
Wm. L. Kingsley,
Theodore S. Woolsey,
Thomas A. Thacher,
Frederick W. Hotchkiss,
George Petrie,
Charles Peterson.

* Deceased.

CONSTITUTION,

Article 1. Tbis association shall be known as the New
Haven Colony Historical Society.

Article 2. The object of the Society shall be to collect and
preserve such books, pamphlets, newspapers, broadsides, maps,
plans, charts, paintings, engravings, lithographs, and' other
pictorial representations ; manuscripts, autograph letters, curi-
osities and antiquities o/ every kind as may be connected with
or may illustrate the local history of the towns included within
the ancient New Haven Colony; to preserve such traditions as
now exist only in the memories of aged persons ; to encourage
historical and antiquarian investigation and to disseminate
historical information.

Article 3. A President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasu-
rer, and an Advisory Committee of not less than ten members,
shall be annually chosen on the last Mondaj^ of November.

Article 4. These officers shall together constitute a Board
of Directors, wlio shall have charge of the collections made bv
the Society, shall provide regulations for their safety and proper
use, and shall prepare business for the regular meetings of the
Society.

Article 5. Any person may become a life member of the
Society by the payment of fifty dollars ; or an annual member
by the payment of five dollars.

Article 6. The Mayor of the City of New Haven, the
President of Yale College, and the Town Clerk of New Haven,
shall be ex-officio members of the Advisor}^ Committee ; and
the Aldermen of the City, and the Selectmen of the Town of
New Haven, shall be ex-officio members of the Society.

VIU CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS OF THE

Article 7. The Society shall hokl its meetings on the last
Monday evening of each alternate month, and at such other
times as the Directors may appoint.

Article 8. The Collections made by the Society shall never
be broken up by sale nor by division among its members, nor
shall they ever be removed from New Haven, nor shall any
article be exchanged or disposed of except by the unanimous
vote of the Directors or by tbe consent of the donors.

Article 9. The Constitution, with the exception of the
eighth Article, (which is of the nature of a contract,) may be
altered or amended by a two-third vote of the members present
at any annual meeting ; provided^ that notice of such amend-
ment shall have been given at some meeting at least one month
previous.

BY-LAWS.

MEMBERS AND OFFICERS.

I. Life-members, wherever resident, and annual members
residing within the limits of the ancient Colony, or the present
County of New Haven, shall alone be entitled to vote in the
meetings of the Society ; and the term of all annual member-
ships shall expire with the Annual Meeting next after sub-
scriptions are paid.

II. Honorary members may be chosen by ballot at a regular
meeting of the Society, at which not less than ten members are
present, upon nomination of the Directors ; provided^ such
nominations shall have been made at a previous regular meet-
ing. They shall consist of persons residing out of the Colony
and County of New Haven, who may be distinguished for im-
portant public service to the cause of historic investigation and
general literature.

NEW HAVEN COLONY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. IX

III. The President shall preside at all meetings of the Society
and of the Directors; shall call, by himself or the Secretary,
special meetings, when required by five members, and shall
deliver or make provision for an address at the Annual Meeting.

IV. The Secretary shall have custody of the tiles, records
and seal of the Society, and shall keep an accurate journal of
its proceedings, and also of the jM-oceedings of the Directors.

V. The first elected member of the Advisory Committee
shall conduct the correspondence of the Society.

YI. The Treasurer shall receive all fees for membership, and
all other moneys due, and all donations or bequests of money
made to the Society ; shall pay upon the order of the President
such accounts as may be approved by the Directors of the
Society, and shall, at the Annual Meeting, render a minute
statement of his receipts and disbursements, and of the property
and debts of the Society, which statement shall be examined
and audited by a Committee appointed at such meeting for
that purpose.

VII. The Directors may appoint a Librarian and Curator,
who shall, under their supervision, arrange, protect and cata-
logue all books, pamphlets, manuscripts and other articles
deposited in the rooms of the Society ; and shall, before every
Annual Meeting, make a full report to the Boar<l of the condi-
tion of the library and collections.

VIII. The Directors shall provide each year for the public
reading of papers, or delivery of historical lectures, one in each
of the months of December, January, Februar}^ and March,
next succeeding each Annual Meeting of the Society, and to
which citizens generally shall be invited ; and the Directors
shall also, as far as practicable announce, at the commencement
of each lecture season, the subjects of the papers or lectures,
and the names of the authors and lecturers ; the manuscripts of
which papers and lectures shall, with the consent of the authors,
be owned and preserved by the Society.

IX. Committees on the various departments of the action of
the Society may be appointed by the Directors to report, as the
Board from time to time may prescribe, and also an Executive

B

X CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS OF THE

Committee consisting of five Directors, of whom the Secretary
shall be one, to whom the Directors may entrust such part of
their executive duties as they may judge best.

MEETINGS.

X. The Directors shall meet on the last Monday evening of
each alternate month, and at such other times as the President
may specify ; and five shall constitute a quorum.

XL Notice of the Annual Meeting of the Society shall be
given in one or more public prints; and in all meetings duly
called and notified, seven members shall be a quorum for the
transaction of any business.

XII. The order of proceedings at the meetings of the Society
shall be as follows :

1. To read the minutes of the preceding meeting.

2. To report donations.

3. To read letters received in correspondence.

4. To attend to unfinished business.

5. To receive written communications or lectures.

6. To receive verbal communications.

7. To transact miscellaneous business.

DONATIONS AND DEPOSITS.

XIII. All donations to the Society and deposits with the
same, shall be entered in a book kept for that purpose, and
reported to the next regular meeting of the Society, and proper
written acknowledgments shall be made therefor.

XIV. Any alteration of these By-Laws may be made at a
regular meeting of the Society, such alterations having been
proposed at a previous meeting or by the Directors.

NEW HAVEN COLONY HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

EULES RESPECTING THE LIBRARY.

1. Books and pamphlets left with the Society on deposit, and
those of special value either on account of their price or their
rarity, and to be designated by the Directors, shall not be
allowed to be taken from the Rooms of the Society, except by
vote of the Directors.

2. Books not included in the above rule may be taken from
the Rooms under the following regulations :

(a.) The Curator may loan to any person bringing a written
request from a Director, one or two volumes, to be retained not
exceeding one month.

(b.) The Curator shall take from the borrower a receipt
specifying the name of the book, and the time for which it is
loaned ; and at the end of such time shall require the book to
be returned.

ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT,

REV. DR. BEARDSLEY,

ANNUAL MEETING, NOVEMBER 27th, 1876.

ADDRESS

Gentlemen of the New Haven Colony Historical Society :

One of our Bj-laws requires that the President " shall
deliver or make provision for an Address at the annual meet-
ing.'' There has been no exact or formal compliance with
this Bydaw in previous years, though my predecessor read
valuable papers at other times which might be regarded as an
equivalent.

I propose to occupy your attention for a short time
this evening with some thoughts which have arisen in my
mind when looking back cursorily over the record of our
proceedings and progress. Had this organization been ef-
fected immediately after the close of the Revolutionary War,
and efforts then been commenced to gather and preserve
facts, traditions, documents, books, pamphlets, manuscripts,
memorials and articles of curiosity illustrating the state of
manners, laws, and opinions,— the treasures of the Society
would have been vastly richer, and the student of history
might have found in them the means of verifying many
declarations now in doubt, or at least supported only by
vague tradition. The lapse of years bears away everything
that lives simply in the memory of man. Recollections fade
and become uncertain with the decay of the intellectual facul-
ties, and incidents and adventures often repeated frequently
receive embellishments which give them a new character, and
render them hardly credible when transmitted to another
generation. What has really been lost by the neglects and
omissions of our forefathers cannot be recovered. At best we
are but gleaners " through fields time-wasted," or, to use another
figure, we are barely privileged to pick up and bring together
what the great ocean of the past has wafted forward and left
upon the shore.

xvi ADDKESS OF THE PRESIDENT.

Some thiDgs of coarse are very well preserved. The original
settlers of the New Haven Colony appear to have been careful
that there should be no misunderstanding of the fundamental
principles by which they were to be governed both in church
and state. The published records, with contemporaneous letters
and documents, till 1665 — the time of the absorption of the
Colony into Connecticut under the charter granted by King-
Charles the Second to Jolin Winthrop — are minute enough to
yield a general idea of the history of that period, and to fix
with certainty the precise and leading influences which pre-
vailed among the original planters.

In the second volume of the Society's publications, soon to
be issued, portions of that history are more fully developed.
and I would here thank the writers of these papers, as I do the
writers of all the papers that will be printed, for the fidelity
and thoroughness with which they have made their investiga-
tions and corroborated their statements. Our office as members
of this Society is to collect as far as we may, and set forth, only
what we know or believe to be true. We must be willing
to take facts as we find them, and not allow inferences and
opinions to pass in our minds for history. A writer, for
example, need not disguise his real sentiments, or refrain
from putting in as clear a light as possible the consequences
of the errors, whether public or private, which he is en-
gaged in tracing. But long ago I came to the conclu-
sion that, while it was quite proper to revive and perpetuate
traditions that have a local or family interest, it was not
the business of the historian to elevate them into the place of
authority and attach to them an importance which we are
accustomed to assign to narratives protected against change and
misrepresentation by unquestionable documents. The novels
of Sir Walter Scott may be said to have in them a vein of
historic truth, and the good woman who read them tJ] rough
and through and believed them as much as she did her Bible
might be commended for an easy credulity, but not for wisdom
and cautiousness. The more careful we are to get documentary
evidence in support of our statements, the more nearlj^ shall we

ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. xvil

come to accuracy of description and detail. Errors and mis-
apprehensions have been occasionally corrected by the infor-
mation contained in faded mannscripts and dingy pamphlets
which some bold searcher has fallen upon in the garret of an
old mansion or in the possession of those who knew not their
value. "The fundamental materials for the general history of
a country," says Goldsmith, "are the public records, ancient
monuments, and original historians of that country ; and in
proportion as they are slighted by the compiler, these venerable
originals themselves may fall into neglect, and possibly, in the
end, even into irretrievable oblivion : and when they are gone,
in vain ma}^ we look for an enlightening ray to guide us through
the darkness of antiquity ; we must then be content with the
uncertain gleam with which an erroneous or partial leader is
pleased to conduct us."

This Society was born amid the convulsions of the late civil
war, and received a charter from the Greneral Assembly of the
State of Connecticut, at its May session, in 1863. Four of the
original corporators and thirteen of our Life members have
since died, and death has taken from us, also, several who were
prominent in the incipient steps of the organization and active
afterward in helping to give it an important place in the eyes
of the community. Of this number there were two or three
who had descended from the first settlers, or, rather, who bore
names to be found among the first settlers of New Haven, — but
the rest, like the great body of us to day, were men who, from
different agencies and for good and weighty reasons, had become
denizens of this beautiful city, and identified themselves with
its interests.

One object of this Society, as stated in the second article of
the Constitution, is " to disseminate historical information," and
that contemplates that our researches may be extended far and
wide, and especially when we are attempting to show the prog-
ress of learning and science and the development of national
resources and wealth. If attention were confined to the planta-
tions which composed the ancient Colony of New Haven, it
would be a limited field in which our efforts would be directed,
c

xviii ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT.

For the Colony, as such, had an existence of but twenty -seven
years before its union with Connecticut, antl all that comes after
1665 belongs to the history of tlie whole commonwealth, how-
ever much the infusion of the New Haven mind of tliat period
may have influenced popular sentiment elsewhere. We have
a share in that history. We have a right to be proud of the
achievements and honorable distinctions won by men in every
part of the State. The noble qualities which contributed in a
hardier age to public prosperity, and the wisdom that devised
a system of common education, are ours to think of and be
grateful for, and to do what we can to see that they are not
obliterated.

The descendants of the first free planters here have travelled
beyond the territory embraced in John Wintlirop's charter, and
written their names upon cities and towns lying in the far West
and on the line of the great northern Lakes, — besides leaving
a goodly number to bear them in our old sea-side towns, and
up through, the valleys of the Housatonic, the Connecticut, and
the Thames. They have carried with them a love for the
social rights of individual freedom, and retained the traits of
their Saxon origin amid the influx of foreigners who find it
difficult to relinquish their Norwegian vernacular or their Ger-
man accents. The tongue of our Saxon ancestors, — it must
prevail over all others, at least in this country.

" It lives by clear Itasca's lake,

Missouri's turbid stream,
Where cedars rise on wild Ozark,

And Kansas' waters gleam ;
It tracks the roaring Oregon,

Through sunset valleys rolled,
And soars where Californian brooks

"Wash down rich sands of gold.
* * * *

Take heed, then, heirs of Saxon fame,

Take heed, nor once disgrace,
With venomed pen, or spoiling sword,

Our noble tongue and race.
Go forth prepared, in every clime.

To love and help each other,
And judge that they who counsel strife

Would bid you smite — a brother."

ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. xix

Of the family names enrolled among the first free planters of
New Haven, some have ceased to appear in the lists of our
present freemen, or to have any place in the current history of
Connecticut. One name in particular, which was prominent in
the earliest colonial times, is not now to be found, so far as I
have been able to discover, in New England; though in Penn-
sylvania, during the Eevolutionary war, there was one who bore
it, attainted of treason. I allude to the name of Thomas
Gregson. a few words concerning him may very properly
be spoken in this connection.

He is the only head of a family with that patronymic men-
tioned by Savage in his Dictionary of the first settlers of New
England, and according to his authority, he arrived at Boston
from London, on the twenty-sixth of June, 1637 — in company
with Theophilus Eaton and John Davenport. Having em-
barked his fortunes with theirs, he followed them and their
associates hither, and was with them when they anchored their
ships in Quinnipiack harbor and began the settlement of the
Colony. At least he was one of the original freemen of the
"Greneral Court of New Haven," as it was called, and was a
merchant who, in 1640, received tlie appointment of Truck-
master of the town for the ensuing year, to truck with the
Indians for venison, so that he might afford to sell to the
planters that had need, at a uniform price per pound, "all to-
gether, good and bad, one with another." He was chosen
Treasurer, to receive the yearly rates and keep accounts of all
disbursements for the common affairs of the town, was appointed
a magistrate, and selected with Governor Eaton to go on a
commission into the Bay of Massachusetts to treat about a
general combination for all the plantations in New England,
and to conclude and determine the same as in their wisdom
they should see cause. The Commission was repeatedly
renewed without changing its personality. Finally, when the
General Court for this jurisdiction thought of putting forth
efforts to procure a patent from Parliament, Thomas Gregson
was desired to undertake the voyage and business, and it was
agreed to furnish him with two hundred pounds — part "in

XX ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT.

good merchantable beaver," to be procured at the charge of
the public treasury, and the town was to stand to the terms of
purchasing the beaver whatever they might be.

I presume very few of the more intelligent people now resid-
ing in New Haven are ignorant of the sequel to this movement.
The story as told is like romance. The colonists linding
their commercial enterprises threatened with disaster, and their
estates melting away, attempted to retrieve their fortunes by a
great effort; and, "gathering together," so the record runs,
"almost all the strength which was left them, they built one
ship more, wdiich they freighted for England with the best part
of their tradable estates; and sundry of their eminent persons
embarked in her for the voyage." In the month of January,
1646, when the harbor was completely frozen over, " a passage
was cut through the ice with saws, for three miles." and the
"great ship," with George Lamberton for the master, and
Thomas Grregson as a commissioner " to procure a patent from
the Parliament for these })arts," floated out amid the prayers
and benedictions of the peojjle, assembled to witness the depart-
ure of their friends. That ship, with " the divers godly persons,
men and women," who embarked in it, was never heard of again.
Month after month elapsed, and finally a year, and still no
tidings were received of their fate. It was a painful suspense,
relieved by no hope. The legend of the Phantom Ship is
doubtless familiar to you all. This was nothing less than " the
mould " of Lamberton's vessel coming up the mouth of the
harbor after a great thunder storm in June, long subsequent to
the sailing, first appearing with " her main-top blown off — but
left hanging in the shrouds," then with "all her masting" gone,
and finally with the keel only, which quickly "careened," and
vanished out of sight. And so the " afflicted spirits " of the
Colonists were quieted, because they saperstitiously believed
that God had in this way condescended to give an account of
His disposal of those for whom so many prayers had been
offered.

All expectation of seeing them again having ceased, their
estates were settled according to law. " The inventory of the

ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XXI

estate of Thomas Gregson, deceased," amounting to nearly
£500, " was delivered into the Court and being viewed was
delivered to the Secretary to be recorded "' under date of
December seventh, 1647. He left no will, and his property
went to his family. His only son, Eichard, and one of his
daughters, returned and resided in England, but his widow and
the other seven daughters lived and died in this country.

By the English law of descent the eldest son inherited, and by
the colonial enactments of New Haven and Connecticut, when
a man died without a will, one-third part at least of his estate
went to the widow, if he left a widow, and the remaining two-
thirds were divided among the children, " with due respect to
the eldest son^^^ who was to have a child's double portion of the
whole estate, real and personal, unless the Greneral Court, upon
just cause and grounds shall judge otherwise, either for dividing
the estaie or for the portion of the first born.

The final settlement and distribution of Thomas Gregson's
estate did not take place until April third, 1716 ; and then,
when the son was dead, there was set off with other property, io
" the heirs of Richard, the oldest and only son of the deceased,
1 acre f and 24 rods of the Home lot. North part," and this is
the land which subsequently came into the possession of Trinity
Church, and is known in our local history as the Glebe.

Richard Gregson died in the city of Bristol, England, and
his only surviving son and heir was William Oregson^ Gentle-
man, who died in London, leaving a son and heir of the same
name, who claimed to be "seized in fee simple to the use of
himself and his heirs " of the land apportioned in the final set-
tlement and distribution of Thomas Gregson's estate. As such
owner, he conveyed it of his own free will, in 1736, to Jonathan
Arnold, then a missionary at West Haven of the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, "for the building
and erecting a church thereupon for the worship and service of
Almighty God according to the practice of the Church of Eng-
land, and a parsonage or dwelling house for the incumbent of
the said intended church for the time being, and also for a
church-yard to be taken thereout for the burial of the poor, and

xxii ADDKESS OF THE PRESIDENT.

the residue thereof to be esteemed and used as Glebe Land by
the minister of the said intended church for the time being,
forever." The motive impelling him to this conveyance, as
he himself stated it, was "piety toward God" and "zeal for
the protestant religion and the Church of England."

The deed was defective, and though Mr. Arnold attempted
under it to establisii his title and actually introduced his
servants to oceup)' the land, he failed, being "mobbed off' by
150 people, after his servants had ploughed in the field for the
best part of a day without molestation from the occupant or
claimant, who was a descendant in the female line from the
original owner." A statement of this resistance was sent home
to the Honorable Society, signed by the six Episcopal clergy-
men in Connecticut and Mr. Wetmore, of Eye — and their
testimony goes to show that there was some foundation in
equity for the claim under the deed of William Gregson. On
the 12th of September, 1765 — nearly fifteen years after the
organization of Trinity Parish, Enos Ailing purchased it of the
party in possession, and the next month conveyed it for the
consideration of two hundred and seventy-one pounds five
shillings lawful money to the Wardens and Vestrymen — naming
them — of Trinity Church in New Haven and the rest of the
members of the Episcopal Church. The title thus purchased
ran back to Daniel Thompson, a great-grandson of Thomas
Gregson, who with his father claimed in 1743 to have been in
possession more than forty years. It will be recollected that
the final settlement and distribution of the estate was in 1715.*

The late Judge Croswell, in his paper on the " History of
Trinity Church," printed in the first volume of the Society's
publications, referred to this title at some length, and spoke of
it as "sufficiently perfect " without strength from any other
source. Since his death, evidence has been discovered which
proves that Enos Ailing and his associate churchmen of that
day entertained a different opinion. For scarcely had a year
rolled round after the Parish had become possessed of the land
in question before steps were taken to obtain from the proper

* New Haven Probate Records, Vol. iv, pp. 397-8.

ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. Xxm

heir a release of bis claim in due form and a renewal of bis
former benefaction.

William Samuel Johnson was appointed by the General
Assembly of Connecticut at its October session in 1766, a
special agent to proceed to England, and defend tbe rigbts of
the Colony in tbe Mohegan case. Prior to his dei)arture, he
was entrusted with many private commissions, and among tbem
I find this entered in his memorandum book, under date of
December 6tb, 1766 : " Get a Quit-claim from Mr. Gregson to
Isaac Doolittle and Timothy Bonticou Chb' Wardens and
Stephen Mansfield and Christ Kilbj, Vestrymen of New Haven
Churcb, of the Humpbreville* Land Bounded N. upon the
Green, E on Highway, S Lands of Cook, West upon Isaacs or
Ingersoll. N. B. Isaacs holds the remainder that belongs to
tbe Chh' except about 4 or 6 feet by Cook. Mr. Gregson lives
at Exeter."

Dr. Johnson continued in England before completing the
business of his special agency nearly five years. On tbe 26th
of October, 1768, the deed, — for the consideration of five
shillings monev received, — properly executed and acknowl-
edged, was obtained from William Gregson, of Exeter, Gentle-
man, which perfected the title of Trinity Church to tbe Glebe
lands. Without it, it does not appear, in tbe judgment of Enos
Ailing and others, to have been "sufficiently perfect."

I have felt inclined to enter into these details not to derogate
in the least from the value of Judge Croswell's paper — but
somewhat by way of appendix to show from evidence which
has come to light since his decease that the orginal Episcopalians
of New Haven, attached importance to the deed of gift by
William Gregson, of the City of Exeter. I have felt inclined
to it for another reason— I would not have ignored or forgotten
by posterity the smallest benefaction made to promote the
cause of religion, learning, history, literature, or science. I
hope the time will come when some of the wealthy residents of
this city will remember the New Haven Colony Historical

* Sarah Humphreville, administratrix of Benjamin Humpbreville, deeded and
quit-claimed to Enos Ailing.

Xxiv ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT.

Society and do for its endowment and usefulness what has been
done for similar organizations in other places. We have
reached a ])oint where we ought to be looking forward to a
larger space for our collections; and the library should be in a
condition to invite constant increase. The iirst Historical
Society in the United States was that of Massachusetts in 1791,
and the Maine Society was incorporated in 1822,— both of them
now efficient agencies in developing New England history.
The Societies of Georgia, New York, Long Island, and of
several of the Western States, are full of activity, and have
their spacious buildings for collections, libraries and lectures.
Tf some wealthy gentleman "to the manor-born," — some
merchant prince, or some man who by great good fortune has
fallen unexpectedly upon large possessions, would fix his eye
upon a central location in the city, and lay his plans to secure
it for the purposes of this Society and perhaps for a public
library, he might make a place for his name in history which
would brighten with the gratitude of succeeding generations.
Should it be decided to retain the Old State House in its
present position, that might be converted to these uses, and to
what better could it be converted ? The privilege of occupying
these rooms has been accorded to us by the courtesy of the
City, and it may be a long time before we shall be disturbed, —
but if we are to make larger collections, and add to the shelves
of our Library, it will be well to be looking out for indepen-
dence in the future, and to be shaping our thoughts with
reference to a public building which shall be called after the
name of its earliest donor, or, the building of the New Haven
Colony Historical Society.

THE EARLY HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD,
LONG ISLAND.

Br Rev. EPHER WHITAKER,

PASTOR OP THE FIRST CHURCH OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND.

[Read September 24, 1866.]

There is a peculiar attraction which draws us to the source
of any stream, that having long continued to flow, still spreads
its influence far and wide, with ever-increasing volume and
usefulness. And the exi^lorations of the Nile and the Amazon
are not more cliarming to some minds than the investigation of
the fountains and currents of those historic movements which
have contributed to shape the destiny and promote the welfare
of our country and race. The origin, direction and character
of the smallest streams are full of interest to every man who
would thoroughly understand the life and wealth which the
broader and deeper river of our national and Christain historj^
now embraces and carries forward upon its ample and gen-
erous bosom.

It may be superfluous to remark, that the history of per-
manent Christain institutions, in this country, before the close
of a third of the seventeenth century, presents only

" The baby figure of the giant mass
Of things to come at large."

It is at this point that we come upon a record which directly
pertains to the early history of Southold, Long Island. It is
in these words :

2 HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND.

" The examinacion of John Yonge of St. Margaretts, Suff.
minister ageed 85 years and Joan his wife ageed 34 years with
6 eliildren John, Thomas, Anna, Eachel, Marey, and Joseph
are desirous to passe fo Salam in N England to inhabit

This man was forbyden passage by the Commissioners and
went not from Yarmouth." — See Mass. Hist. Coll., Fourth
Series, Yol. I, page 101,

This is a record of the year 1633 or 1637.

The "minister," whom it names, evidently failed in his
purpose to reacli Salem only four years after the organization
of the first Church in New England. He seems to have had
no desire to return to St. Margarets in Suffolk, a parish five
miles from Halesworth in that shire. The title given him in
the record of the Commissioners of Emigration would seem to
indicate that he had there been the minister of a congregation
of Puritans, perhaps Brownists, and not the parish priest or
clergyman of the Church of the Establishment in that place.

It would appear that after his failure in 1633 to emigrate
from the mouth of the Yare, just at the point where England
thrusts the coastdine deepest into the German ocean, he retired
a day's journey directly inland toward the west, and became
the Pastor of a church at Hingham, in Norfolk, a parish some
dozen miles nearly west of Norwich. Recent investigations in
Hingham, by Charles B. Moore, Esq., of New York, go far to
determine that the first settler of Southold was never the
Rector of the Established Church in that old Norfolk parish.
But it is most likely that he was the Pastor of a congregation
of Puritans there for several years; and it may yet be found
that he there lost his wife Joan and married a widow whose
Christian name was Mary. His wife of this name survived him,
and by his noncupative will became his executor and sole heir.

How and when he and some of his flock made their way to
the Colony of New Haven no record in my possession makes
known any further than Thompson's statement, that he reached
New Haven in 1638. (History of Long Island, first ed., p.
250.) On the twenty-first day of October, 1640, as Trumbull
says, " he gathered his church anew,'" in Southold.

HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONCx ISLAND. 3

It is thought to be a skepticism beyond the faithful scrutiny
of the true historic spirit to disregard Trumbull's statement ;
and we therefore rest in the belief that a considerable number—
if not the chief part of the first settlers of Southold— had
been the pastor and members of a church in Hingham ; that
by some means, and at some time or other, they had made their
way to New Haven, and that thence they crossed over the
Sound to Yinnecock. before the autumn of 1640, and there
made a settlement and organized the Church and Town of
Southold.

In confirmation of the historical character of this view of
the origin of Southold, it is worthy of remark, that the second
Pastor, the Eev. Joshua Hobart, was a native of Hingham ;
and the third Pastor, the Eev. Benjamin Woolsey — a remote
kinsman of the great Cardinal— and the ancestor of the
present worthy President of Yale — was a grandson of an
emigrant from Yarmouth, George Woolsey, a prominent citizen
of New York throughout its earliest history. (Thompson,
second ed.. Vol. 2, p. 487. Booth's New York, p. 183.) An
honorable ancestry of the fourth Pastor is found in the Rev.
John Davenport, the first Pastor of New Haven, who was the
great grandfather of the Rev. James Davenport of Southold.
The fifth Pastor was the Rev. William Throop, connected with
the Throops, Huntingtons and Rutherfords of Connecticut.
The sixth Pastor was the Rev. John Storrs, whose descendants
in three generations, the Rev. Richard Salter Storrs, D.D., of
Long Meadow, the Rev. Richard Salter Storrs, D.D., of Brain -
tree, and the Rev. Richard Salter Storrs, D.D., of Brooklyn,
maintain the character of the family.

New Haven had been settled two years when the Rev. John
Youngs "gathered his church anew" in Southold, and had
acquired the title to some part of the east end of Long Island.
The Governor, Hon. Theophilus Eaton, the Pastor, and all the
people seem to have held Mr. Youngs and his flock in high
esteem ; and with the favor of New Haven he founded a town
by virtue of the New Haven title, and subject to the New
Haven General Court for the Jurisdiction.

4 HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND.

Thus the oldest church on Long Island — the oldest but
one in the State of ISIew York — found its present home, and
organized the oldest town on those sea-girt shores.

It is unknown to me how many of the early settlers were at
Southold, and liow long they were there, before the organiza-
tion of the church on the 21st of October, 1640. One man sold
his house and land only four days afterward. In the planting
of the adjoining town of Southampton, it would seem that some
of the men at least were on the soil five or six months before the
formation of their church at Lynn in November, a month later
than the organization of the Southold church, and a month
previous to the purchase of the Indian title of Southampton.
The analogy of this neighboring settlement, as well as the
nature of the case, leads to the conclusion, that the early settlers
of Southold passed to and fro aci'oss the Sound between New
Haven and that place throughout the summer and early autumn
of 1640 at least. There seems to be no sufficient evidence to
overcome the current, unbroken, historic statement, made in the
words of the Eev. Dr. Prime's History, that " Southold was the
first town settled on Long Island." It was called sometimes
Yennicott and sometimes Yennicock as lately as February,
1644; but in that year its present name became firmly and
permanently established.

Among the early settlers there were the Eev. John Youngs,
William Wells, Esq., Barnabas Horton, Peter Hallock, John
Tuthill, Richard Terry, Thomas Mapes, Matthias Corwin,
Robert Akerly, John Corey, John Conklyne, John Budd,
Thomas Moore, Richard Benjamin, Philemon Dickerson,
Barnabas Wines, James Reeve, William Purrier, John Tucker,
Jeremiah Vail, Henry Case, John Swazey, Charles Glover,
Robert Smyth, Richard Skydmore, John Elton, Thomas Bene-
dict, John Booth, Richard Brown, Ral})h Goldsmith, Simon
Grover, Thomas Cooper, Caleb Curtis, Thomas Dimon, James
Haines, John Herl)ert, Peter Paine and Samuel King. Captain
John Underbill, was a freeholder and resident for a time.

The descendants of perhaps most of these early settlers
have been numerous and influential.

HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND. 5

Many who trace their lineage to the first pastor are profes-
sional men — ministers, physicians, lawyers, judges. One has
been Governor of New York.

The Horton family has become very numerous. A few
years since this name formed one-seventh of the congregation
of the First Church.

The Wells family has also multiplied greatly, and very
generally retains the lawyer-like shrewdness which was
characteristic of the first Southold Esquire.

It is thought that all the Hallocks, Halliocks, and Hallecks
in the United States are descendants of the first Peter Hallock
of Southold through his son William. Maj. Gen. Henry
Wager Halleck, whose father was born in the town, is of the
eighth generation. The poet, Fitz Greene Halleck, of the
seventh. The brothers, Eev. Jeremiah and Rev. Moses
Hallock, of the sixth. Their sons, Hon. Jeremiah, Rev. Dr.
William A., Gerard and Homan, of the seventh.

From Philemon Dickei'son liave come large families of Dick-
ersons and Dickinsons. Mahlon Dickerson, Secretary of the
Navy, who erected at Southold a massive marble monument to
the memory of his ancestors, and his brother Philemon Dick-
erson, Governor of New Jersey, as well as Daniel S. Dickinson,
United States Senator from New York, sprang from the
Southold settler, who came to the place by way of Salem and
Lynn.

The descendants of Deacon Barnabas Wines include Gen.
Wines of New Jersey, famous in the times of the Revolutionary
war ; the Rev. Dr. Abijah Wines, who was a native of South-
old, Professor of Systematic Theology in the Seminary now at
Bangor; and also the Rev. Enoch Cobb Wines, D.D., author
of the " Hebrew Commonwealth," etc.

Tapping Reeve, the eminent teacher of law at Litchfield,
was another of the Southold people.

Thomas Corwin, congressman, governor, senator, secretary
of the treasury, U. S. minister to Mexico, was a descendant ot
Matthias Corwin of the seventh generation. Both his grand-
parents were South olders.

6 HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND.

Contemporaneously with the early history of Southolcl there
were a few settlers, who were not townsmen, two or three
miles eastward. James Faret, agent of the Earl of Sterling,
sold a tract of land called Hashamommuck Neck to Matthew
Sinderland of Boston, mariner, June 18, 1639. He also sold
land on the north side of the river Mahansuck, or Shelter
Island river, that is, the channel north of Shelter Island, to
Eichard Jackson, carpenter, August 15, 1640. This Eichard
Jackson sold his dwelling house and lands, wliich were in
Hashamommuck, to Thomas Weatherby, mariner, for £15
sterling, October 25, 1610. Hence there was at least one
dwelling house in the place four days only after the re organ-
ization of the First Church. Stephen Goodyeare of New
Haven, merchant, with title from Jackson, Weatherby, and the
Indians, sold the same property to John Ketcham, the "second
day of the 4th month, 1653." Lieut. John Ketcham, of Hunt-
ington, and Susan his wife sold the same, Sept. 29, 1666, to
" Thomas Moore, under Sherrife and high Constable of the
East rideing of Yorkshire." The confirmatory deed of Wyan-
comboe, made with the approbation of his guardian, Lieut.
Lion Gardiner, is recorded in the Southold Town Eecords, and
shows' the history of Sinderland's purchase down to January 15,
1661. The preceding year. May 17, 1660, the occupants caused
this entry to be made in the Southold Eecords, namely : '• Wee
whose names are under written inhabiting upon the neck of
land comonly called Hashamommuck, consideringe that our
cumfort and quiett settlement would consist and stand in the
injoyment of good neighborhood did make this agreement at
our first sitting downe, that what man so ever should desire to
remove and endeavor so to make sale of his accommodacons
should put in such neighbor as the other inhabitants living
with him should approve of.

F William Salmon,
r Henry Whitney,
r Edward Tredwell,
Thomas Benedick."
Possibly this record was made in consequence of Salmon's

HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND. 7

sale of a part of this property, Nov. 1, 1659, to James Haynes,
late of Salem in the county of Essex, (jooper." In this deed
the seller calls himself "William Salmon formerly of Soathold
on Long Island in the jurisdiction of New Haven, blacksmith,
and now of Hasliamommuck, near Southold." When he sold,
Oct. 8, 1649, to Whitney, Tredwell and Benedick, he called
himself " William Salmon of Hashamommuck alias Neshug-
gancei." He had married Sinderland's widow Katharine, and
thus obtained this tract of land. After her death, he married
Sarah Horton, daughter of Barnabas Horton ; and after her
husband's death, she married John Conklyne, whose Conklin
descendants are now more numerous in Hashamommuck than
any other family in the place. Salmon bought the Indian title
to the whole tract except certain reservations made by Pau-
cump and his son Ambosco. Conklyne bought their title to
these reservations, Feb. 23, 1660. See Southold Records, liber

A, fol. 100, et al.

On the 24th of February, I665, the Town gave a part of its
undivided land to the Hashamommuck inhabitants, and there-
upon made this record :

" Our neighbors of Hashamommuck being present now
desired to be received as compleate Townsmen and they prom-
ised to pay rate in all things as we did, but theire tract of land
called Hashamommuck was to remayne entire to themselves:
they not to comon with us on this side Toms Creek ; theire
meadows and uplands (as ymproved) to pay rate; by moeing
and plowinge thereof; so likewise all other lands out of the
old Towne bounds are to bee rated and not otherwise. They
were hereupon received as Townsmen by voate, and so every
particular of this order confirmed." (Southold Records, liber

B, fol. 34.)

Thus this unorganized neighborhood of perhaps half a dozen
families, after an independent history of twenty-two years,
became incorporated with the Town.

The inscriptions on the tombstones of the chief men show
that the principal persons in the church and town at the time
of the settlement had already gained a mature development.

8 HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND.

The Eev. John Youngs was forty-two years old; Barnabas
Horton forty, and William Wells, Esquire, thirty-two. They
lived to direct and transact the most important civil and eccle-
siastical affairs, as the extant records of those years attest,
until they were respectively seventy-four, eighty, and sixty-
three years of age.

The first pastor was not prominent in the civil affairs of the
town. He left to others its local government ; its negotiations
and measures of intercourse with the Indians ; and its repre-
sentation in the Colonial Legislature or Greneral Court for
the jurisdiction. Throughout the whole period of Southold's
membership in the New Haven jurisdiction. Barnabas Horton
was often a member of the G-eneral Court and undoubtedly the
chief legislator of the town. In all civd transactions with the
Indians, and in strictly legal affairs, William Wells was gen-
erally employed. He had the advantage of a most thorough
education for his practice in the legal profession, and some of
his law-books in good condition are now in the hands of one of
his descendants, having passed from father to son through
seven generations in the town. In behalf of his fellow citizens
he made the purchase of the western part of the town as far
west as New Haven, buying the title from the jurisdiction as
well as from the Indians. He was in the convention, at Hemp-
stead, that accepted the laws of the Duke of York for the
government of the Island after 1665, and seems to have in-
curred the censure which that act brought upon most of the
representatives of the towns of the Island in that body, which
met March 1, 1665. He became, at that time, the High Sheriff
of Yorkshire, including Long Island, Staten Island, and West-
chester; and retained the office longer than any of his six suc-
cessors, whose service continued until a colonial legislature
was authorized in 1683, when Yorkshire and its three Hidings
was divided into five counties and its political existence ceased.
He was the first Recorder of the town, and his records are a
model of neatness and elegance. On his death, the minister's
oldest son became the most prominent man of the town. He
distinguished himself early in both civil and military affairs.

HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND. 9

In 1655 he commanded a naval force on the Sound commis-
sioned by the United Colonies of New England to restrain the
Indians of the continent from making war upon the Long
Island tribes. " In 1656," Wood says, " Massachusetts declined
further aid in suppressing the war of Ninnigrate against the
Montauks, and the whole burden of their defence devolved on
the colonies of Connecticut and New Haven. They generously
continued Captain Youngs with his vessel on the same station
that year at their sole expense." (Wood's "Towns on Long-
Island," new ed., p. Q6.) He was next in command to the less
worthy Capt. John Scott, when, with seventy horse and sixty
foot, in the winter of 1663-4, they made their famous raid from
the east to the west end of Long Island and set up a claim to
the whole of it for the British sovereign, greatly to the disgust
of the Dutch officials in New York. He as well as William
Wells signed the Hempstead Address to the Duke of York in
March, 1665 ; but he was nevertheless the first of the Commit-
tee of Three whom the town selected, Nov. 17, 1674, to do all
that could be done after the British re-conquest of New York
to retain the town's connection under the government of Con-
necticut. Wood, truly says that he " was a leading man in the
public affairs of the town during his life time. He was gen-
erally appointed the delegate to consult with the delegates of
Southampton and Easthampton respecting the difficulties to
which those three towns were exposed, both before and after
the conquest of the Dutch territories by the English. He was
appointed one of the judges of the court which was established
by the authority of Connecticut for those towns, immediately
after that colony had received the charter of 1662. In 1673,
when the three towns were again taken under the jurisdiction
of that colony, he was appointed one of the judges ot the court
which was then estal)lished for the administration of justice in
those towns. In 1681 he was high sheriff of Yorkshire, then
composed of all Long Island ; and by request of the Court of
Assize, the highest judicial tribunal in the colony, he drew the
petition for the privilege of having an Assembly, which they
sent to the Duke of York, and which was granted in 1683.

9

10 HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND.

He was made a member of the council of tlie colony in 1683,
which station he seems to have retained as long as he could at-
tend. He was also colonel of the militia of Suffolk County till
1693, when in consequence of his age, being seventy years old,
he was permitted to relinquish the command." (Wood, pp. 34,
35.) I will onlv add that on the death of his father, the town
authorized and employed him " to go into the Bay " and obtain
"an honest and godly man" for the ministry among them.
He performed his mission in the very best manner, and secured
the Rev. Joshua Hobart, who was eminent as a scholar, civil-
ian, physician, and divine.

There is abundant evidence on every hand that the intelli-
gence as well as the enterprise and piety of the first settlers
made them worthy to be the founders of a permanent and pros-
perous church and town.

It may relieve the eye to turn for a moment from the minute
speck of their settlement, while we glance over a wider field,
and mark some of the events of their own age which were most
distinctly providential, and greatly influential, and fit to shape
their character, develop their powers, and qualify them for their
work in laying foundations whose advantages have been enjoyed
by tens of thousands of their posterity.

They came from Western Europe, whose martial forces, from
the extreme limits of Spain and Italy on the south to the remot-
est cape of Sweden on the north, had already fought through
more than a score of years for the civil rights and the religious
freedom of the northern nations. They gained this end after a
conflict which made all the western regions of Europe glow and
blaze with the heat of war tliroughout a generation. This
struggle of thirty years' continuance brought the peace of West-
phalia, eight years and three days after the Rev. John Youngs
had "gathered his church anew" among the savage natives of
South old.

Gustavus Adolphus had already won renown for himself and
Sweden, and Grotius maintained the reputation of his adopted
country at the ccmrt of the most influential government of
Europe. For it was the age in which the administration of

HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND. 11

Kichelieu, at once prime minister of the king and lieutenant
general of the army, first made the French Monarchy strong
and independent.

The Dutch had shown the worth of enterprise and freedom,
and had gained so much skill and wealth and power on the sea
as to sui'pass all that Spain with her vast monopoly had been
able at any time to acquire. The Low Lands had indeed reached
the height of their history ; but their former oppressor lost a
right arm in the self-same year that the first pastor of Southold
led his little flock to their Island home.

The whole southwestern peninsula of Europe had been under
the crown of Spain for sixty years ; and Philip IV authorized
Olivarez to do every thing which this energetic statesman de-
sired to undertake, in order to retain the monarchy intact; but
the work upon his hands was too great for human powers. In
1610 the revolution led by the Duke of Braganza and Schom-
berg placed the former upon the throne of Portugal as John IV.
In the same year, Brazil, with other Spanish colonies, became a
possession of the full grown power of the Netherlands, though
it soon after fell into the hands of the Portuguese. Spain could
extend her influence only within the limits of Italy ; for there,
under the popedom of Barberini, the inhabitants could not be
allowed a respite after the dedication of St. Peter's, bat must be
induced to found the college De Propaganda Fide. Further-
more, it was necessary for the Pope to persecute Galileo for
teaching the true theory of the solar system, and to condemn
Jansenism, in order to quiet the Society of Jesus. For Jansen's
Doctrine of Augustine was printed in 1610, and forthwith added
intensity to a controvers}^ in the Papal Church which centuries
seem unable to end ; and it was a year before the first Pastoi'
of Southold sought to migrate from Yarmouth to New England
to inhabit, that Galileo published the really scientific view of
our planetary system, having previously made his telescope and
discovered the satellites of Jupiter, the rotation of the sun upon
his axis, the spots upon his disc, and the hills and valleys of
the moon. While the first settlers of the Puritan town were
laying its foundations upon the word of God, as the basis of

12 HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND.

its civil and religious order, the great astronomer was at his
house near the new capital of the present kingdom of Italy,
suffering imprisonment for heresy, while losing his eyesight
in his efforts to improve the "optic glass" of "the Tuscan
artist."

It is plain enough that the founders of Southold had grown
up from youth to manhood in a most active, progressive age,
both in science and art; in war and statesmanship; in literature
and religion. For it was in their times that Harvey discovered
the circulation of the blood ; Kepler, the remarkable relations
of planetary motion ; Des Cartes, the laws of refraction ; Torri-
celli, the weight of the atmosphere ; and Pascal expounded the
cycloid. Then it was that Kircher invented the speaking trum-
pet; Gunter, his celebrated scale; and Guericke set up his
gigantic barometer. Then Holland's greatest writer became the
champion of the free commerce of the ocean, and set forth the
rights of War and Peace. Then Sir Edward Coke wrote his
Institutes of the Laws of England ; Chillingworth, his Religion
of Protestants a Safe Way to Salvation ; Ussher, his Chronology;
Bunyan, his Pilgrim's Progress ; and Milton, his Reformation
in England, as well as all that txm be written for the Liberty of
Unlicensed Printing. The founding of Southold was, moreover,
in the times of Bochart and Selden, of Guido and Rubens, of
Van Dyke and Domenichino ; but not of these and such as these
only; for it was also in the times of Hampden and of Cromwell.

We sometimes boast of our own progress ; but the last
millenium has seen no period of greater relative advancement
than the time in which the New Haven towns were under the
government of the General Court for the Jurisdiction. The dis-
coveries, inventions and improvements then, were as remarka-
ble, and as important to the people, as those which we are
inclined to admire and laud so greatly at the present day.

In English history the advantages of that wonderful revolu-
tion which Froude has so faithfully and skillfully delineated,
had become the pro})erty of the people in the course of a cen-
tury after the publication and lawful use of the English Bible ;
and then the half-century from 1638 to 1688, saw the great up-

HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND. 13

rising of liberty ; the long civil war ; the overthrow of regal
government; the formation of the republican commonwealth ;
the abolition of the hierarchy; the supremacy of Presbyterian-
ism first and then of Independency in the councils of Church
and State ; the restoration of monarchy ; the reestablishment of
prelacy ; the resuscitation of popery ; and the successful revo-
lution for the security of civil and religious freedom. Then
English literature, advancing from the immaturity and crass-
ness of Elizabeth's age, disclosed the great names of Cowley and
Milton, Jeremy Taylor and John Bun3'an, Lightfoot and Clar-
endon, Baxter and Owen, Barrow and Tillotson, and that other
name, greater than any contemporary prelate's, namely, John
Howe. All these and more w^ere contemporaries of Southold's
first pastor.

And other influences were at work; for the country of which
the British King was a native had taken the covenanter's oath
two years before Puritanism struck its roots into the soil of the
east end of Long Island. «

The age was full of enterprize. It was in 1640 that English-
men gained their first foot-hold in India ; and within the life-
time of Southold, Victoria's present empire in the east has
grown from a few acres, without inhabitants, to a magnitude
which embraces one-sixth of tlie whole population of the globe.
It is not always that

"Westward the course of empire takes its way;"
But the English spirit of adventure and aggrandizement has
never been greater than in the days of Southold's early history,
when the frailest barks that ever sailed the ocean, crafts of forty
or fifty tons only, manned by the most daring mariners, flitted
to and fro across the Atlantic, while larger vessels of the same
English nation were in every commercial port and sea of the
globe.

Among this restless people, the spirit of discoverv, the desire
of wealth, the fascination of adventure, the social freedom of a
new country, and the conflicts of religious and political parties
were all active in sending traders and colonists to the new
world. Tens of thousands had already made their watery way
to New England alone before the meeting of the Long Parlia-

14 HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND.

rnent, which convened a fortnight after the Rev. John Youngs
had "gathered his church anew" at Southold ; and it may
be that Pym, and Hampden, and Cromwell were taking their
seats for the first time in that most momentous of all British
assemblies, at the very moment when Hallock and Horton and
the other fathers of Southold were first landing together for a
permanent settlement on that point in the harbor which has
ever since retained the name of Hallock, because, as tradition
says, he was the first to leap from the vessel to the beach and
aid the landing of his companions.

Near the point of disembarkation they forthwith made
temporary shelters for their habitation during the next win-
ter. The site of these quarters may be considered the most
beautiful for a residence witliin the bounds of the present parish.
It became a part of the settlement of the second Pastor, when,
on the 22d of May, 1674, the people voted that '' the Reverend
Mr. Joshua Huberd" should have and hold for his own, his
heirs and assigns use for ever, a part of the neck called Hal-
lock's Neck, &c., and thirty acres of woodland lying towards
the North Sea, and also all the meadow in little Hog Neck,
and a second lot of commonage ; and that one hundred pounds
should be laid out upon a dwelling house for him. His salary,
by agreement with him before he came to the place, was eighty
pounds a year ; but on the i8th of May, 1678, it was voted to
add twenty pounds to the forescore previously agreed to, and
that they should be ratified and paid to him as the other fore-
score. His house, with the part of the Neck on which it was
built, subsequently became the property of the parish, and was
the parsonage for one hundred and thirty years. It was then
sold to the town, after the parish had received the bequest of
another farm and dwelling nearer the church edifice. It is now
the beautiful site of the Town Poor House, as it has been for
mau}^ years.

The first settlers had no sooner made their temporary habita-
tions for the winter than they busied themselves in cutting tim-
ber and preparing material for building a sanctuary and more
comfortable dwellings the next year. Ground was also cleared

HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND. 15

and fenced for the growth of grain and vegetables ; and game,
and fish especially in great abundance, were caught for the chief
supply of food. In due time a road was made running nearly
north from the head of the harbor, and rising gently to the level
land at no great distance from the water. Then, at right angles
with this road, the founders laid out the main street of the vil-
lage, running a few points south of west. The angle nearest
the harbor became the house-home-lot of the first minister. The
other, on the opposite side of the street, the lawyer's. The
house-home lots of the rest of the settlers were along each side
of the street, wherever, it would seem, each man's lot happened
to fall. But the allotment of land did not prohibit the freemen
from the sale and exchange of real property among themselves.
Such exchanges for the sake of convenience and other causes
were very common. After a while the street extended about
half a mile in length almost in a right line, though bending at
last slightly towards the south. It then made an angle of about
an hundred degrees and ran directly south, ]3erhaps a third of a
mile, to the head of a creek which puts up westwardly from the
town harboi'. This head of the creek was marked by fresh
water springs which were used for watering cattle. At an early
day the street also extended eastward from the harbor road ;
and allotments of land and meadow were made from time to
time to all the freemen of the place, so that in a few years the
population greatly increased.

So much seems plain in respect to the early settlement; but
our knowledge of the history from 1640 to 1651 is fragmentary,
inferential, or traditionary. From the latter date the Town
Records are more full and orderly. They give the most vivid
view of the common life of the Puritan Plantation. They show,
for instance, how lands must be divided by lot ; how any free-
holder who wishes to remove must give the refusal of his accom-
modation to the town, and a month's time to make the pur-
chase ; how the metes and bounds of all lands must be recorded
with their situation east, west, north, south, between whom and
in what places; how they must be cleared and fenced in case
the timber should be cut; how each man's trees were legally

16 HISTORY OP SOTTTHOLD, LONO ISLAND.

protected from the axe of every other man ; what kind of fence
must enclose lots and fields for cultivation ; when woods may
be fired ; what should be the privileges of the builder of a mill
on the point of Hallock's Neck, near the place where the orig-
inal families landed and spent their first winter. They show
what kind of a ladder each inhabitant must keep, to enable him
easily to reach the top of his bouse in case of fire; how military
service must be rendered ; who should be free from training,
watching, and warding ; how the Recorder should keep a per-
manent record of the levies and payments of the town ; how
the Constable should be paid for gathering town and Minis
ter's rates year by year; and how respect for rank, wealth, and
other considerations should control the action of the committees
appointed from time to time to seat the Meeting House. They
also show in what kind of meetings of the freemen the consta-
ble, selectmen, and other officers were aiinually elected ; how
any particular duties must be performed by those to whomso-
ever the selectmen should assign them ; how Sabbath -breach
must be fined seven and a half bits of ninepence each; swearing
one and a half bits — a second offence three shillings; and how
this sliding scale at length made one citizen's fine eight shil-
lings; for the people in those days, though they knew not how
to exclude evil entirely ; yet they well knew how to make vice
and crime pay taxes, and not prove a heavy burden upon the
shoulders of the virtuous. It is one of the lost arts. The early
records show how slander was punished; and how the place was
kept free from dead animals; how the town street was main-
tained in good condition and other highways regulated. They
contain regulations for the wharf which John Youngs, mariner,
had permission to build, and likewise for the control of boats,
canoes, and skiffs, as well as for pasturing cattle, sheep and
goats; restraining hogs: prohibiting the sale or gift of dogs to
Indians, and rum and arms without an order from a magistrate
and a full record of the whole transaction. They make known
the premiums paid for killing wolves, foxes, and other kinds of
" varment," and show that these premiums year by year made
a conspicuous figure in the financial budget of the town. The

HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND. 17

local enactments on record also prescribed the way in wliich the
rateables must be presented by each inhabitant, and payment
be made within fourteen days after the publication of the rate.
These local laws were evidently made by and for a pious, intelli-
gent, thrifty and forehanded community. They show tlie ut-
most consideration for the welfare of the native tribes; how the
Montauk Indians must be protected, and how trespassers with
guns must have their guns seized and forfeited.

These specimens give an idea of the local legislation of tlie
place while it was under the New Haven Jurisdiction, from
1640 to 1662, and while church members only were voters. In
their judgment, their religion and their freedom were insepar-
ably connected, and how carefully they guarded liberty, religion,
and morals may be seen in this record :

"Januarie 19th, 1654. It was then ordered and agreed that
no inhabitant in Southold shall lett or sett or sell wholly or in
part any of his accomodacons therein or within the utmost
bounds thereof to any person or persons not being a legall
Townsman, without the approbation of the ffremen in a public
meeting of theires, as also that the Towne have the tender of
the sale of house or land and a full month's space provided to
return an answer." They thought the vacant continent broad
enough for the habitation of all disturbers, without the intru-
sion of any into this harmonious community.

Another enactment of the first settlers for their common wel-
fare and peace, we find in these words :

"Every such person as inhabiteth among us and shall be
found to bee a common tale bearer, tatler, or busie bodie in idle
matters, forger or coyner of reports, untruths or lyes, or fre-
quently using provokeinge, rude, unsavorie words, tending to
disturbe the peace, shall forfeit and pay for every default 10®."'

The force of this law has suffered some abatement perhaps in
the course of centuries; but we may be sure that it was not a
dead letter in those early days. The extant and extensive rec-
ords of the year 1658 — a remarkable year in the early history
of the place — show that most precious interests and deep feel-
ings were touched by a protracted investigation under the pro-
visions of this law of slander.
3

18 HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND.

These legal enactments and adjudications would seem to in-
dicate that there might be one at least, even in those primitive
Puritan days, who did not always and perfectly observe the dis-
tinction and difference between thine and mine. But the gen-
eral character of the })eople has always been sobriety, order, and
freedom from litigation and strife, with the utmost resoluteness
for honesty between man and man.

The early settlers shared the New Haven ideas " about civil
Government in a New Plantation whose Design is Religion,"
and doubtless h(;ld " that in a new Plantation, where all, or the
most considerable [)art of the free planters profess their purpose
and desire of securing to themselves and to their posterity the
pure and peaceable enjoyment of Christ's ordinances, such plant-
ers are bound, in laying the foundation of church and civil state,
to take order that all the free burgesses be such as are in fellow-
ship of the church or churches which are or may be gathered
according to Christ ; and that these free burgesses have the only
power of choosing from among themselves civil magistrates and
men to be entrusted with transacting all public affairs of impor-
tance according to the rules and directions of Scripture." On
this ground they founded their religious and civil institutions;
but not on the principle that " the right and power of choosing
civil magistrates belong to the church." They surely held that
civil government, by the appointment of God, belongs to the peo-
ple, and that they were free to organize themselves in such a
way as best "to promote their great end, Religion." Others
might make ease, or wealth, or voluptuousness, or anarchy their
main object ; but for themselves they made Religion their chief
pursuit and good on earth. Hence they })laced themselves un-
der the New Haven Jurisdiction ; and, as though this were not
enough, they recognized and virtually reenacted. on the nine-
teenth of January, 1654, and placed on their own Records, as
the basis of their own local legislation and jurisprudence, this
fundamental law of the General Jurisdiction, namely :

'' Att a General Court held att New Haven for the Juris-
diction the 27th of October, 1643.

"Itt was agreed and concluded as a fundamental order not

HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND. 19

to be disputed or questioned hereafter that none shall bee ad-
mitted to be free burgesses in any of the Plantacons in this Jur-
isdiconfor the future but such planters as are members of some
of the approved Churches of New England, nor shall any but
ffree Burgesses have any vote in any elleccon (the six present
freemen att Milford enjoying tlie libtie w'^ the causions agreed)
nor shall any power or trust in the ordering of any civill affaires
bee att any tyme putt into the hands of any other than such
church members, though as fif'ree-planters all have right to their
[several] inheritance and to comerce accordinge to such grants,
orders and lawes as shall be made concerning the same."

They adopted this constitution, not that the saints might rule
the earth, though, for that matter, they have as much right to
rule the earth as the world has to rule the church, but that they,
who had endured and braved every thing for liberty and reli-
gion, might here maintain those "liberties of the gospel in purity
with peace" for which they had forsaken all the scenes and as-
sociations of the dear fatherland, crossing the ocean and escap-
ing its storms only to plunge into the wilderness, and encounter
the hardships of savage nature and the perils of savage men.
With the holiest purpose they had fled from oppression, forsak-
ing the land of their birth and the graves of their kindred ; and
they were resolute, from the first, that in the new world, which
they had come to possess, whether they should live or die, they
would be free. Hence their carefulness to close every avenue
whereby their foes could enter and gain a foot-hold among them,
and their zeal to retain the power which they held and used.

That their precautions were needful and judicious is all too
evident. Here are, for instance, the Private Instructions of
Charles II, given April 23, 1664, to Nicholls, Carr, Cartwright
and Maverick, Commissioners to subdue the Dutch, establish
boundaries, and order other important matters in America.
Among other equally detestable things the king says : " Nobody
can doubt but that wee could looke upon it as the greatest
blessing God -Almighty can conferre upon us in this world that
Hee would reduce all our subjects in all our dominions to one
faith and one way of worship with us." We may accept this

20 HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND.

statement in view of the St. Bartholomew's fraud and infamy
twenty months previous and various other acts of oppression at
the time. The Southold settlers were perfectly willing that
other people should make as many new plantations elsewhere
as they chose, and on whatever principles, and for whatever
purposes they preferred. But they did not wish to suffer by
the intrusion of disturbers and oppressors among themselves, in
the Plantation which tliey had made for their own welfare.
They would not, however, resort to any arbitrary and unreason-
able means and measures against others, even for the sake of
their own defence. Hence they adopted this enactment :

" No man's life shall be taken away, no man's honor or good
name shall be stained, no man's person shall be imprisoned,
banished or otherwise punished, no man shall be deprived of
his wife or children, no man's goods or estate shall be taken
from him under color of law, or countenance of authority, un-
less it be by virtue or equity of some express law of this juris-
diction, established by the Greneral Court, and sufficiently pub-
lished, or for want of a law in any particular case, by the
Word of God."

This adoption of the Bible for their rule of judicature, in
preference to the English statutes, or the Roman code, gave
them the great advantage of a body of laws excellent for many
other qualities, and especially for mildness and comprehensi-
bility. The Bible reduced the capital offences to fifteen crimes.
But even so recently as the time when Sir Samuel Romilly
began his efforts to ameliorate the criminal laws of England, it
is said that these laws made nearly three hundred offences
punishable with death ; and to apologize for this barbarity,
Paley, in 1785, thought it not unworthy to employ his utmost
dexterity and skill.

Furthermore, almost every man in Southold doubtless had
the Bible in his hand, and read it every day ; but in the first
generation Mr. Wells was probably the only one who was
thoroughly intimate with the vast body of the English laws.

The huv-l'ooks of Mr. Wells, now in the hands of one of his
descendants in Soutliold, have already been menticMied. The

HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND. 21

first minister, also, seems to have been well supplied, for the
time, with books appropriate to his profession. He died Feb-
ruary 24, 167|^, after making a noncupative will and bequeath-
ing his property, including his house and home-lot and other
lands, as well as his library, to his wife Mary. His books were
appraised by his successor at one-sixth of the value of his
house and lands ; and his residence was the centre of the vil-
lage, and his possessions ample, though he had already and
recently given the title-deeds for most of his real estate to his
children. He was doubtless a student and teacher of the
Pauline type of theology, though he seems to have been more
closely allied in disposition to that disciple whose name he
bore. He felt the influence of an able writer of the previous
generation, the Rev. William Perkins, who "wrote in a much
better style than was usual in his time," so that his writings
were soon translated into German, Dutch, French, Spanish,
Italian and Latin. He owned, it is said, the copy of Perkins
now in my possession. It is a folio ; double columns ; alpha-
betical divisions in the space between the columns, with both
a broad border and a bi'oad margin on each side of every page ;
both general and specific headings between parallel lines at the
top of each page ; the anticipated word at the foot also between
such lines : the face of the type compact and heavy ; and the
ink very dark. It was printed in London, by the printer to
the University of Cambridge, in 1616, eleven years after the
author's death.

The Records of the Church contain its official declaration,
made in the earlier half of its history, that it had been " Cal-
vinistical time out of mind." And it also declared at the same
time, that '• we sincerely profess to believe in our hearts, those
doctrines are most agreeable to the Gospel." Furthermore, the
record proceeds, it does not a])pear "that this Cluirch ever
professedly made it a term of communion, that sanctifying
grace is a necessary qualification to communion. And by the
records of this church it is evident, this church have pur-
posely avoided making the contrar}" a term of communion: nor
have the church ever manifested the contrary as a professed

22 HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND.

principle." Yet as to the charge " of professedly admitting
unconverted persons to our communion," the Church indig-
nantly replies: "We deny the charge as groundless and with-
out any foundation." It thus maintained the Calvinistic form
of the Christian faith, and insisted that converting grace, not
speculative opinion, — religion, not theology, — should be the
condition of membership.

The early history discloses no polity or discipline of the
church apart from the government of the town, which was
strict to punish immorality and neglect of Christian duties, and
sometimes conveyed disorderly persons to New Haven to be
tried for politico-religious offences. The most notorious dis-
turber of the peace was Humphrey Norton. This man was in
Southold not more than a few months before his removal to
New Haven, and his case belongs rather to the history of the
Jurisdiction, by whose court he was tried and condemned, than
to that of the town, by whose authorities he was accused and
sent to the higher court to be tried on the charge of disturbing
the peace — a charge on which he was found guilty and severely
punished.

But it is certain that the first settlers of Southold were far
enough from accepting the Quakers' theory of the methods of
attack and defence, however courageous and incisive the latter
were in their modes of assault, and no matter how persistent
and indomitable they were in their habits of resistance. In
1640 or 1641, it is believed, that the first settlei's of Southold
erected the first or the second church edifice ever built on Long-
Island. It was not only the place of public worship and of the
town meeting, but also the fortress of defence. Perhaps it
gave name to the place, which was at first called by its Indian
name, Yennj^cott, even in the records of the General Court
for the Jurisdiction. According to this view, the church edi-
fice was the South Hold, as the name of the place was at one
time generally written and spoken, as it often is to-day. It
was a strong-hold farther south than New Haven, and directly
south of the Southold North Sea, which is the shore of the

HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND. 23

Sound at Horton's Point Light-house, where passengers from
the main often landed in early days as they sometimes do now.

The early laws made it the duty of every male from sixteen
to sixty years of age to have a good serviceable gun, in a con-
stant fitness in all respects for service, with a fit and suffieient
rest, good sword, bandaleers, or horn, a worm, a scourer, a
priming wire, a shot-bag, and charger, and whatever else is
necessary for such service, with a pound of good powder, four
pounds of pistol bullets, or four and twenty bullets fitted for
the gun, four fathom of serviceable match, for a match-lock
gun ; and four times in a year or oftener should there be cause,
the chief military officer of the town must take a strict view
how every male from sixteen to sixty is furnished with arms.
Each year six days at least must be devoted to public military
exercise, to train all the males above sixteen years of age in the
comely handling and ready use of their arms in all postures of
war, and to understand and obey all words of command.

Nor were these provisions all. It was furthermore enacted
that a fourth part of the trained band shall in their course, as
the military officers shall order, come constantly to the public
worship of God every Lord's day, and, such as can come, on
Lecture days, to be at the Meeting-house, at latest, before the
second drum hath left beating, with their arms complete, their
guns ready charged, their match for their match-locks, and
flints ready fitted to their fire-lock guns, with shot and powder
for at least five shots, beside the charge in their guns. The
sentinel also, and they that walk the rounds, shall have their
matches lighted, during the time of their meeting, if they use
their match-locks.

One might already suppose that the fathers were sufiiciently
warlike and wary. But we may add, that the racks for the
guns of those who were not on dut}^ in walking the round,
stood just inside of the church-door. One of these racks, more
than two hundred years old, has been presented to the Long
Island Historical Society, and may be seen among the ancient
curiosities which adorn their rooms in Brooklyn.

There were many other military regulations. The house-

24 HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND.

home-lots were made small so that the dwellings should be
near each other, and the whole plantation doubtless maintained
a very defensive attitude. It seems to have fitted out a mili-
tary vessel to command the Sound within fifteen years after
its settlement; and its real and conscious military strength
appeared very conspicuously in 1673, when the Dutch made a
fruitless attempt to bring it into subjection.

Freedom from all watching, warding, and training was
awarded to certain classes upon consideration of public service
and other due respects; and the old records again and again
show the grant of this privilege to individuals by the plenary
vote of the town.

As a further indication of the strength of this South Hold,
we may subjoin this record of the town meeting held more
than forty years after the building of the house.

" Desimber ye 15th, 1684. Ther was then by vote Samnell
Youngs and Thomas Clarke both carpender to vewe and
apprize ye old meeting hous in order to make a county prison
of said house."

Doubtless it was always destitute of glass ; and even " ye
fowr seder windows left out of ye new meeting house," at the
above date, have a subsequent history of their own.

When the structure was made a prison, a dungeon was built
under it; and this excavation, now surrounded by. graves,
marks the exact site of the first Meeting House — the centre of
the Puritan South Hold, and perhaps the origin of the name.

There is a less martial theory, which is most likely the true
one. It has already been remarked that the New Haven
government acquired the title to the soil before the first set-
tlers crossed the Sound and made a permanent lodgment in the
place. The New Haven people might therefore call it their
South Hold or Possession. This view accords well enough
with the manifold use of the word Hold in contemporarj^ litera-
ture ; and the New Haven people, after the biblical example,
sometimes gave new and significant names. Why should not
Yinnicock become South Hold as well as Quinnipiack, New
Haven ?

HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND. 25

The territorial limits of the town, under the New Haven
jurisdiction, extended from Wading Eiver on the west, which
is directly across the Sound from New Haven, to the extremity
of the northern branch of the Island at Orient Point, on the
east; making the length of the town, in a straight line, about
forty miles, having the Sound throughout for its northern
boundary, and Gardiner's and Peconic Bays and Peconic River
for its southern boundary. It is nowhere more than seven
miles wide, and in some places it is not one. It was divided in
1792, and its western half became the town of Riverhead.

Colonies of the First Church, divisions and colonies of later
churches, and independent formations have increased the num-
ber on the original field from one to thirty-one churches,
namely : ten Congregational, five Presbyterian, eight Methodist,
two Baptist, two Roman Catholic, two New Jerusalem, one
Universalist, and one Episcopal. There is now an organized
church with its own church edifice for every three hundred
persons in the present town, and the number of sittings is fully
equal to that of the whole population. Two-thirds of these
churches have parsonages for the homes of their ministers, and
two-thirds of these parsonages have been bought or built for
the purpose within the last ten years. It is evident that the
religious element of the founders possessed immense vitality.

The connection between the First Church and the town has
always been intimate, and is even now so close that the civil
officers of the town are wont to invite the pastor of the church
to open the annual town meeting with prayer, which service
he performs from year to year ; and the cemetery of the church
is still free to all the inhabitants of the town for the burial of
their dead.

Thus it seems that the changes of two hundred and twenty-
six years have not entirely done away the original character of
the old church and town of the New Haven jurisdiction. It is
also plain that the founders of the place breathed the spirit of
active and adventurous times, and shared the life of a pious
people. And it would be a great mistake to suppose, that the
early English colonists in this country were unsympathetic and
4

26 HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND.

destitute of intercourse with each other, however insular or
remote their respective settlements. Two hundred years ago
there was in proportion to population ten times as much per-
sonal communication as we now have between Southold and
New Haven, the Bay, the South River, the Fresh River, Vir-
ginia, the Barbadoes, and other islands of the Antilles. The
old records show the activity of the trade between Southold
and the Barbadoes, for instance, in vessels of no more than
forty-four tons burden. And whatever may be the specula-
tions of Carey and other political economists as to the priority
of trade, manufactures, or agriculture in a country, it is certain
that even the most industrious and agricultural colonies upon
the shores of America depended for support more or less on
trade and commerce in furs and peltries, and other manifold
articles of exchange, whose transportation, in connection with
the characteristic restlessness and adventurousness of the times
and the people, kept intercommunication marvelously active.
Besides the product and exchange of various kinds of fisheries,
the income from whaling was an important interest of the east
end of Long Island before Green port. Sag Harbor, and New
Bedford were born. On the 3d of July, in the year that
Southold's first pastor died, 1672, the king in council gave
heed and order as to the petition of his " subjects in three vil-
lages at the east end of Long Island in America, called East-
hampton, Southampton, and Southwold, setting forth that they
have spent much time and pains and the greatest part of their
estates in settling the trade of whale fishing in the adjacent
seas, having endeavored it above these twenty years." They
fear the Dutch will "cut down their timber which is but little
they have to casks for oyle." They pray for their continuance
under the government of Connecticut, "or else that they may
be a free corporation as his Majesty's subjects for the further
encouraging them in their said trade, otherwise they must be
forced to remove, to their great undoing."

There is some reason to suspect that these three towns made
the most of their fear of the Dutch in this matter of trade and
whale fishing ; for when New York was conquered the next

HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND. 27

year, and the officials of their High Mightinesses the States
General undertook to extend their authority over these towns,
they sent a frigate in November to Southold to subdue it ; but
the attempt came to a most ludicrous end. The ]:>eople of South-
old in arms met the Dutch officers at the shore with courtesy, and
generously conveyed them on horses to the village ; but not a
man would own allegiance to the Dutch government, even for
the sake of the honor and emolument of office. The Dutch
Councillor, Captain, and Lieutenant therefore made due pro-
test and left the village. Now it was that the Southampton
people who were present called the Dutch flag ''a thing,'' and
warned the officers " not to bring that thing within gun-shot
range of Southam})ton village." Hence the worthy Commis-
sioners, according to their own words, " resolved not to visit the
other two villages ;'" for they "clearly perceived " that it would
" do more harm than good " to go further. They returned,
therefore, to New Amsterdam, and made report to their Gov-
ernor at Fort William Henry.

This was the end of the attempt on the part of the Dutch to
conquer the old Long Lsland town of the New liaven Juris-
diction.

Thus the townsmen of Southold, with all the people whom
they permitted to settle among them, were from 1640 to 1662
under the government of New Haven. Then, wisely divining
the effect of Winthrop's patent, they transferred their connection
to the Connecticut Colony, which gladly received them Octo-
ber 9, 1662, and thereby caused no little indignation and
remonstrance on the part of New Haven. Eoyal Commissioners
authorized to determine bounderies came over the sea two years
later, and New Haven was reluctantly constrained to seek the
shelter of the Connecticut charter, fearing a division of territory
and a transfer of the western part to the Duke of York ; and
the Connecticut authorities, in order to gain as much as possible
in that quarter, were quite wilHng to abandon the Long Island
towns to the will of James.

This became their fate after the conquest of New Netherlands
the same vear, though Southold resisted the transfer to the

28 HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND.

utmost. But it could do nothing effectually until the Dutch
recovered New York in 1673. Then the people of Southold
forthwith put themselves under the government of Connecticut,
and that colony generously afforded them protection. But the
final expulsion of the Dutch authority from New York
occurred the next year, and Southold was most unwillingly
compelled to submit to the Duke's government, December 10,
1674. The people unanimously resisted it, and for a long time
made the most strenuous efforts to retain their connection with
Connecticut, whose civil and religious institutions were con-
genial and desirable in the highest degree.

But hope at length died within them, and on the thirty-first
of October, 1676, the Overseers accepted a patent from
Governor Andros for the whole town, and on the twenty-
seventh of December in the same year conveyed their title
under it to all the freemen and inhabitants. This made the
common lands the joint piroperty of the resident freeholders
at that time.

The connection with New York became more tolerable after
the attainment of a Colonial Assembly, which was gained in
1683. Yet six years later the English revolution and the
consequent dissensions in New York once more revived the
hope of restoration to the New England colony. Therefore in
June, 1689, the last effort in this direction was made, though
the two most prominent citizens of Southold at the time. Col.
John Youngs and Isaac Arnold, Esq., had been members of
the Court of eight Judges, whom Governor Slaughter had
appointed to try the popular, Protestant and liberty-loving
Leisler. This last and feeble movement on the part of South -
old to rejoin Connecticut was altogether fruitless.

Thus the first settlers of the town, in the life time of some of
them, were four times involved in all the civil and ecclesiastical
troubles incident to the change of allegiance from one superior
government to another. They also suffered all the excitement,
eml)arrassment and expense which sprang from their earnest
efforts, as unsuccessful as persistant, at sevei'al other times, to
inq)rove their condition and prospects by a change of their

HISTORY OF SOUTHOLD, LONG ISLAND. 29

political connection. Their transfer to the Duke of York was
a great blow to their prosperity ; but the}^ remained faithful to
God and to His Holy Word. They bore their burdens man-
fully throughout all their early history. And under the wise,
just and acceptable jurisdiction of New Haven, they so laid
the foundations of many generations as to secure the permanent
welfare and prosperity of their descendants for a long period.
And I may add this remark in conclusion, that I have found no
evidence of the existence of either Indian or negro slavery
there until more than a score of years after the town had been
detached from the New Haven jurisdiction and the chief men
who founded it had passed away from the earth.

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE
BRITISH TROOPS, JULY 5, 1779.

By Rev. CHAUNCEY GOODRICH.*

[Rend April 15 and May 27, 1867.]

The year of our Lord 1779 will always be memorable in the
history of New Haven, as the one in which for the first and
only time in the War of the Revolution this town was com-
pelled to undergo suffering and spoliation occasioned by an
invasion of armed enemies.

Up to that time the town had happily escaped an experi-
mental acquaintance with the ravages of war. Its inhabitants
had of course shared in the general excitement and anxiety
which pervaded the country during the great struggle for civil
liberty. They had in various ways exerted themselves for the
common welfare. They had contributed both men and means
to help win those successes by which in the good Providence of
God, independence of the mother country was at length
achieved. The example and influence of patriots like Roger
Sherman had animated them to cheerful effort and self-denial.
Nor were soldierly services wanting.

Immediately on the reception of intelligence of the battle of
Lexington, in April, 1775, Benedict Arnold, then Captain of

* Deceased, 1868.

32 DTTASIOX OF >'EW HaVEX BY THE BKITISH.

the company of Governors Foot Guards, had called together
his company and proposed to march to Cambridge iu order to
join the American army. About forty of the number con-
sented to do so. Not haying the requisite ammunition. Arnold
requested the town authorities to supply him. but they refused
to do this. On the day of the march he brought his compan}'^
in front of the building where the authorities were in session,
and sent in a demand for the keys of the powder-house,
threatening if these were not giyen to him to break open the
building and help himself. The authorities yielded to his
determined spirit and the keys were deliyered.

On its march across the country to Boston the company was
eyerywhere entertained with great hospitality, and when it
reached Cambridge took up its quarters at a splendid house
owned by Lieutenant Governor Oliver, who had been obliged
to fly from his home on account of his attachment to the
British cause. This company was the only one on the ground
complete in uniform and equipments. On this account it was
selected to parade on occasion of delivering to his friends the
body of a British officer, who having been taken prisoner after
the fight at Lexington, had died fi-om wounds then received.
Its soldier-like appearance on this occasion attracted the admir-
ation of British officers. The company remained three weeks
at Cambridge, then returning to New Haven, with the excep-
tion of Arnold, who was sent by Washington on an expedition
to Canada, and ten or twelve men of the company who went
with him. One of these was Elias Stilwell, who served through
the war and rose to the rank of captain. An interesting me-
morial of him, being a large Bible and Book of Common Prayer
in one volume, is in the collections of our Society.

In June of the same year, 1775, General David Wooster, a
native of Stratford but resident in New Haven, prepared to
march with his regiment for the service of his country. An
interesting incident respecting liim at the time, is preserved in
the narrative of our former townsman Deacon Nathan Beers,
who not long before the end of life communicated it to the
American Historical Magazine.

INVASION OF NEW HAVKN BY THE BBITLSH. 33

"The last time I saw General Woo«er wag m June. 1775. He was at the
head of his regiment, which wa« tlien emVxxlied cm the Green in front of where
thie Center Church now Btand>!. They were ready for a march ; with their arms
glittering and their knapsackis on their backs. Cclonel Wooster had already dis-
patched a messenger for hL« minister, tJie Ker. Jonathan Edwards, with a request
that he would meet the regiment and pray with them before their departure. He
then conducted hL« men in military order into the meeting house.* and seated
him-self in his own pew. awaiting tiie return of the messenger. He was si)eedily
informed that the minister was absent from home. CoL Wooster immediately
stepped into the deacon's .«eat in front of the pulpit and calling his men to attend
to prayere, offered a humble petition for his beloved country, for himseK, for the
men tinder his immediate command, and for the success of the cause in which
they were engaged. His prayers were offered with the fervent zeal of an apostle,
and in such pathetic language that it drew tears from many an eye. and affected
many a heart. When he had closed, he left the house with his men in the same
order they had entered it, and the regiment took up its line of march for New
York. With such a prayer on his l:p=. he entered the Revolution."!

Eetuming from the expedition to Canada in whieli lie bore
so distinguished a part Wooster came to his home in Xew
Haven to rest awhile from his labors and sufferings. Then
again in April. 1777, on hearing of the incursion made bj
British troops into Fairfield County, he hastened to defend the
soil of his State, and received his death-wound at Eidgefield

Yet though hostile feet had not trod our streets, much appre-
hension was felt as to the possibility of such an event The
long line of sea-coast, stretching from Horseneck to Stonington,
offered tempting opportunities to the enemy to make incur-
sions on a comparatively defenseless territory. Many towns of
considerable size seemed to hold forth a prospect of remunera-
tive pillage. Xewport at the east end of Long Island Sound,
was occupied by the British forces, to the great chagrin of the
Americans, and more than one abortive effort for its recovery
was made. At the session of the Connecticut Legislature in
January, 177S. arrangements were made to raise several com-
panies for the defense of our coast-line. Detachments were
stationed at Xew London, Groton, and Stonington. while

* The Fair Haven meeting house, standing abouT where the North Chnrdi is
now. where Gen. Wooster attended.

f Hollisters History of Coniiecticut, Vol. XL, p 306.
5

34 INVASION OF NEAV HAVEN BY THE BRITISH.

squads of twentv-foiir men each were assigned for the protec-
tion of New Haven, Fairfield, Stamford, and Greenwich. In
October of the same year, a regiment of State troops under the
command of CoL Enos, was charged with the defense of the
southwestern part of the coast ; and some provision was also
made in behalf of that part of it extending from Stratford to
Stonington.*

New York City was during this period in possession of the
British, and served as a point from which they made frequent
forays on Connecticut, especially its shores.

One such was the movement on February 25, 1779, made by
Governor Tryon against the out-post of Gen. Putnam at Horse-
neck, having for its object to surjjrise the troops stationed
there and to destroy the salt-works near by. This movement
was met by Putnam, though with an insufficient force. He
was compelled to retire as the enemy advanced, and in so
doing performed the traditional feat of riding down the steep
descent on the south side of the post-road, to the great astonish-
ment of his pursuers. Gathering a small body of men, and
pursuing the enemy, who had begun their return to New York,
he succeeded in taking several prisoners, and in recapturing
much of the plunder they had seized.

Another such excursion of the British furnishes our special
topic at this time.

It occurred on July 5, 1779. The history of the affair is pre-
served in extracts from the Connecticut Journal, a newspaper
then published in this town, in the diary of President Stiles of
Yale College, who has left on record a minute account of the
transactions of the day, and in the numerous traditions which
have come down from witnesses of the event or partakers in its
scenes.

In combining these so as to give a connected narrative, the
writer is of course repeating to a considerable extent what has
been already done by Mr. J. W. Barber in his Historical Col-
lections of Connecticut, and by others ; and has necessarily
availed himself of tlieir labors. He is also indebted for valu-

* Hollister.

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH. 35

able suggestions and for the mention of incidents pertinent to
this narrative to many residents of our city. Among them are
Henry White, Esqr., Mr. Horace Day, Eev. Leonard Bacon,
D.D.,''Mr. J. W. Barber, Mr. E. H. Leffingwell, Mrs. Judson A.
Eoot, Miss Harriet Peck, Mrs. Wooster Hotchkiss, besides
others to whom proper credit is given in connection with par-
ticular statements furnished by them.

The story as herein told will be familiar to many readers, but
doubtless to some less acquainted with the early history of the
town it may have a flavor of novelty.

The British fleet, composed of two men-of-war, with tenders
and transports to the number in all of about forty-eight ves-
sels, anchored off West Haven Point at an early hour in the
morning. It was commanded by Sir George Collier, Commo-
dore, and had on board some three thousand troops under the
orders of Major General Tryon. Fifteen hundred of these were
landed at West Haven under Brigadier General Garth, and the
rest were subsequently landed at South End, in East Haven,
Tryon himself conducting the movement in that quarter. The
day, as we have said, was Monday, July 5th, and the people of
New Haven had been expecting to commemorate the anniver-
sary of the Declaration of Independence, by suitable exercises.
In those times the observance of this anniversary was in some
respects more formal than is the case now. Not only was it a
general holiday, and an occasion of rejoicing, not only were can-
non fired and bells rung, but with rare exceptions in the larger
towns, an appropriate oration was delivered, and the Declaration
was read. These exercises were followed by a public dinner, at
which toasts were drunk, and patriotic speeches were made.
Some befitting celebration was intended to be held in this town
on that day. A meeting of the people of the town was held on
Sunday evening, — (Sunday being then kept as holy time from
Saturday evening at sunset till Sunday evening at sunset) — at
the house of worship of the First Church, to make the necessary
arrangements. But the programme then agreed on underwent
important changes. There was firing of cannon on the next
day, and quite likely the bells were rung, but the oration, and

38 INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BKITISH.

secretly Tories ; while yet others went out to meet and welcome
the invaders. Others still, less careful for their property or
leaving it to be cared for by friends, armed themselves to offer
resistance to the advance of the enemy.

Before proceeding to give the story of the encounter of this
small band of patriots with the well armed and disciplined
troops under General Gartli, let us dwell for a few moments
on some retrospections serving to remind us what the New
Haven of 1779 was.

The town then included the territory now forming the town-
ships of North Haven, East Haven, Hamden, and that part of
Orange which is now called West Haven. A census of Con-
necticut taken in 1756, gave as the ])opulation of New Haven,
including the above townships of to-day, 5,085. Another cen-
sus taken by authority of the Legislature in 1774, gave 8,022.
and in 1779 the population probably somewhat exceeded this
number. If we should allow for the part of the popidation
belonging to the four sections of the town just named, some
two thousand persons or a little more, there would be left as
belonging to New Haven in its present limits about six thou-
sand inhabitants.

As being one of the principal seaports of the State, as one
of the State Capitals, and as the seat of a college, flourishing
for those times, New Haven had a considerable degree of impor-
tance. But it was very far from being what the New Haven
of 1867 is. It had not then won the reputation for rural
beauty in close connection with city surroundings, which has
made the " City of Elms" so famous in our day. No such
stately edifices as we now see, adorned its streets. No busy
activity of manufactures existed here. No railroad trains with
almost ceaseless rattle, and ear-piercing whistle, conveyed
through it multitudes of travelers and masses of freight. No
steamboat furrowed the waters of its harbor.

The public square, the "Green," as we commonly say, now
so charming to the eye, was an unfenced common, disfigured
by roughness and hollows, overgrown with rank weeds, bushes,
and coarse grass, and crossed in various directions by wagon

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH. 39

roads laid out by no survey but such as convenience suggested
to reach some desired point. There were then only two College
buildings in the line now so imposing; these are known to us
as the Athenjeum and South Middle College. The former was
the Chapel, having a spire on its tower, from which President
Stiles watched the landing of troops at West Haven in tliose
early morning hours. The old. wooden edifice which had pre-
ceded these was yet standing in a very dilapidated condition,
within the present college yard, on the corner of Chapel and
College streets in front of the present South College. On the
southwestern corner of the upper green, nearly opposite the
New Haven House of our day, were the County House and
the Jail. The State House, built in 1763, stood on Temple
street a few rods north of the present Trinity Church. The
older State House was still standing adjacent to the County
House and Jail, and was used, perhaps then, and certainly at a
later time, as an academy. The Trinity Church of that day
was in Church street, a little south of Chapel street.

The house of worship of the First Church, finished in 1757,
and called the "New Brick Meeting House," was close on the
line of Temple street, the steps of its main door projecting
somewhat into the street. Its longest sides were parallel with
the street, the tower was on the north end, and its west side
was nearly wdiere the front of the present edifice is. Immedi-
ately west of it and partly surrounding it, was the ancient
town burying ground, having a many angled outline, and
extending somewhat beyond the east wall of the present State
House. On the corner of Elm and Church streets, where the
St. John block of buildings now stands, was the "Blue Meet-
ing House," so called from lead colored paint used in covering
it, occupied by the White Haven Church and congregation, a
company of seceders from the First Church and Society. StiU
another house of worship, called the Fairhaven Church, was
situated nearly on the site of the present North Church, having
been built in 1772 by a body of seceders from the White
Haven Church.

A house occupied by Isaac Beers was on the corner now

40 INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH.

occupied by the New Haven House, and the building was
removed to make way for that edifice.

Of the buildings which then faced on the green, but few
remain. Among them are, on Elm street, the one occupied by
the Misses Foster; on Chapel street, the one now occupied as
a store by E. Malley, the Park House, and the house formerly
occupied by Mr. William Leffingwell, next by Mr. A. K.
Street, and by Bear Admiral Foote, now used as a boarding
house. None remain on Church street, though some of us can
remember houses which were standing on it in 1779, and have
given way to the progress of improvements ; of some of which
mention will be made hereafter.

Long Wharf had, by the patient and persevering eftbrts of
its proprietors, pushed its way out into the harbor, the pier by
the side of the channel having been built, but an open space
still existed between this and the end of the wharf, over
which the cargoes of large vessels were carried in scows and
lighters.

The road to Derby went out through Broadway and what
we call Whalley avenue, by way of Hotchkisstown or West-
ville as it is to us, and part of Wood bridge. In going to East
Haven the most direct way was by crossing Leavenworth's
Ferry, nearly where Tomlinson's Bridge now is. Across this
ferry, we are told that General Tryon came into New Haven to
meet Gen. Garth on the afternoon of the day whose transac-
tions we are considering. Another but longer way to East
Haven went out through State street, crossing Mill Eiver at
Neck Bridge, (for there was then no bridge at Barnesville,) and
down to Dragon to cross the Quinnipiac b}^ a ferry maintained
there some little distance south of the now existing bi-idge.

The road to West Haven went through our Broad street,
and out a little west of Davenport avenue, bending south-
wardly to West Eiver Bridge. The travel from Cheshire and
towns above came in through Long Lane by the Ditch corner,
which was a little west of the junction of Dixwell and Whalley
avenues, or more precisely at the south end of Beaver street,
near the Beaver Ponds.

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BKITISH. 41

When we consider the comparatively limited population of
tlie town at that day, and also the withholding of efforts,
necessarily by the aged and infirm, through indifference or
timidity by others, and of choice by such as sympathized with
the enemy, it is not difiicult to see that no large force could be
gathered to repel the invaders. Some few patriotic and bold
men were indeed ready to throw themselves "in the imminent
deadly breach," for the common welfare. Lieut. Col. Sabin
and Capt. Phinehas Bradley with two field-pieces and a com-
pany of men went out to West Bridge, where the pieces were
planted so as to command the causeway across the meadows.
James Hillhouse, who was Captain of the company of the
Governor's Foot Guards, assembled such of his company as he
could, and with several volunteers, some of whom were mem-
bers of Yale College, went out with Col. Sabin, crossed the
causeway, and went down the road towards West Haven
Green, within a quarter of a mile of the British troops. One
of these volunteers was my paternal grandfather, the late Elizur
Goodrich, and I may here give his account of the affair, partly
in his own words.

He was then eighteen years of age, a member of the Senior
Class in Yale College, and was boarding at the house of his
uncle, Hon. Charles Chauncey, which stood where the Third
Church now stands. On hearing, of the approach of the
enemy, he procured a musket and equipments, and started to
join the party under Captain Hillhouse. As he was passing
along the street, a lady called to him from the window of a
house, asking whether he had a supply of bullets. He replied
that he had some. She urged him to come in and get more,
and on his entering the house, opened a drawer full of bullets
which she had been casting. He seized a handfull and hurried
on to join the party already in motion. Let me here give a
passage from his own account of the first encounter with the
enemy, forming part of a notice of Rev. Dr. Naphtali Daggett,
Professor of Divinity in Yale College, prepared for the "An-
nals of the American Pulpit,'' Vol. I., pp. 481-2.
6

40 INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH.

occupied by the New Haven House, and the buikling was
removed to make way for that edifice.

Of the buiklings which then faced on the green, but few
remain. Among them arc, on Elm street, the one occupied by
the Misses Foster; on Chapel street, the one now occujoied as
a store by E. Malley, the Park House, and the house formerly
occupied by Mr. William LefBngwell, next by Mr. A. R.
Street, and by Rear Admiral Footc, now used as a boarding
house. None remain on Church street, though some of us can
remember houses which were standing on it in 1779, and have
given way to the progress of improvements ; of some of which
mention will be made hereafter.

Long Wharf had, by the patient and persevering efforts of
its proprietors, pushed its way out into the harbor, the pier by
the side of the channel having been built, but an open space
still existed between this and the end of the wharf, over
which the cargoes of large vessels were carried in scows and
lighters.

The road to Derby went out through Broadway and what
we call Whalley avenue, by way of Hotchkisstown or West-
ville as it is to us, and part of Wood bridge. In going to East
Haven the most direct way was by crossing Leavenworth's
Ferrv, nearly where Tomlinson's Bridge now is. Across this
ferry, we are told that General Tryon came into New Haven to
meet Gen. Garth on the afternoon of the day whose ti-ansac-
tions we are considering. Another but longer way to East
Haven went out through State street, crossing Mill River at
Neck Bridge, (for there was then no bridge at Barnesville,) and
down to Dragon to cross the Quinnipiac b}' a ferry maintained
there some little distance south of the now existing bridge.

The road to West Haven went through our Broad street,
and out a little west of Davenport avenue, bending south-
wardly to West River Bridge. The travel from Cheshire and
towns above came in through Long Lane by the Ditch corner,
which was a little west of the junction of Dixwell and Whalley
avenues, or more precisely at the south end of Beaver street,
near the Beaver Ponds.

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BKITISH. 41

When we consider the comparatively limited population of
the town at that day, and also the withholding of efforts,
necessarily by the aged and infirm, through indifference or
timidity by others, and of choice by such as sympathized with
the enemy, it is not difficult to see that no large force could be
gathered to repel the invaders. Some few patriotic and bold
men were indeed ready to throw themselves "in the imminent
deadly breach," for the common welfare. Lieut. Col. Sabin
and Capt. Phinehas Bradley with two field-pieces and a com-
pany of men went out to West Bridge, where the pieces were
planted so as to command the causeway across the meadows.
James Hillhouse, who was Captain of the company of the
Governor's Foot Gruards, assembled such of his company as he
could, and with several volunteers, some of whom were mem-
bers of Yale College, went out with Col. Sabin, crossed the
causeway, and went down the road towards West Haven
Green, within a quarter of a mile of the British troops. One
of these volunteers was my paternal grandfather, the late Elizur
Goodrich, and I may here give his account of the aff'aii', partly
in his own words.

He was then eighteen years of age, a member of the Senior
Class in Yale College, and was boarding at the house of his
uncle, Hon. Charles Chauncey, which stood where the Third
Church now stands. On hearing, of the approach of the
enemy, he procured a musket and equipments, and started to
join the party under Captain Hillhouse. As he was passing
along the street, a lady called to him from the window of a
house, asking whether he had a supply of bullets. He replied
that he had some. She urged him to come in and get more,
and on his entering the house, opened a drawer full of bullets
which she had been casting. He seized a handfull and hurried
on to join the party already in motion. Let me here give a
passage from his own account of the first encounter with the
enemy, forming part of a notice of Rev. Dr. Naphtali Daggett,
Professor of Divinity in Yale College, prepared for the "An-
nals of the American Pulpit,'' Vol. I., pp. 481-2.
6

42 INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BlUTISH.

" I well remember the surprise we felt as we were marching over West Bridge
towards the enemy, to see Dr. Daggett riding furiously by us on his old black
mare, with his long fowling piece in his hand, ready for action. We knew the
old gentleman had studied tlie matter thoroughly, and settled his own mind as to
the right and propriety of lighting it out, but were not quite prepared to see him
come forth in so gallant a style to carry his principles into practice. Giving him
a hearty cheer as he passed, we turned down toward West Haven at the foot of
Milford Hill, while he ascended a little to the west and took his station in a
copse of wood where he seemed to be reconnoitering the enemy, like one who
was determined to bide his time. As we passed on toward the south we met an
advanced guard of the enemy, and taking our stand at a line of fence we fired on
them several times, and then chased them the length of three or four fields as
they retreated, till we found ourselves involved with the main body, and in dan-
ger of being surrounded. It was now our turn to run, and we did for our lives.
Passing by Dr. Daggett in his station ou the hill, we retreated rapidly across
West Bridge, which was instantly taken down by persons who stood ready for
the purpose, to prevent the enemy from entering the town by that road."

The British had rested at West Haven green about two
hours, before taking up their line of march and coming in con-
tact with Captain Hillhouse's party. They moved in a main
column of three divisions of ten companies each, Gen. Garth
being nearly in the middle of the column. Their flanking par-
ties extended perhaps fifty or sixty rods on either side. The
advanced guard was driven back to the main column by the
attack of the patriots, but coming in force the enemy pro-
ceeded steadily on. though much annoyed by the firing on
them from behind trees and stone walls. On reaching the foot
of Milford Hill, they found the fire from the field-pieces at
West Bridge so effective as to deter them from an attempt to
cross the causeway. These guns, served by Capt. Phinehas
Bradley, threw shot across to the foot of the hill, and swept
the causeway.* The enemy had two field-pieces with thera,
but do not appear to have used them on the march to town.

At this point. Adjutant Campbell rode up Milford Hill,
either to communicate with the flanking party on that side, or
to obtain a better view of the country. A young man named
Johnson, who had been engaged in tlie skirmish, was sitting
behind a tree or wall, and saw this officer riding up the hill,

* Stiles' Diary.

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH. 48

coming quite near liim. He raised his nuisket, rtred, and saw
tlie officer fall. He then ran from the approaching enemy
whose balls flew round him. escaping to live through along
life, and to tell the story of shooting this officer to a son born
some yeai's after, from whom the account came to our time,
and to those from wliom I received it* Campbell's wound
was mortal. He was carried into a house then standing on the
south side of the I'oad, where he died attended by his servant-
He was ihe idol of the British troops, and his death was greatly
lamented by them. When the enemy had passed on, and the
people of the neighl)orhood returned, his dead body was found
entirely stripped of clothing. Only a cambric handkerchief
which had been pressed into the wound to staunch the blood,
remained on him. It had his name on it, and was for a long
time preserved as a relic by those who retained it The next
day he was carried, wrapped in a blanket, on a sheep-rack, to
a place of interment on the north side of the road. His grave
was long unmarked by any memorial, and was in danger of
being wholly obliterated, but in October, 1881, Mr. J. W. Bar-
ber placed at it a small rough stone bearing Campbell's name
and the year of his death. His servant came into town after
his master died, and sold to a resident here the pocket dressing
case of Campbell, which is now in the possession of our
society. It is a valuable relic of one much honored and
beloved by all who knew him, and who fell by the hard for-
tune of war so soon after performing the act of kindness
already mentioned, to the minister of West Haven.

Not far from the scene of Campbell's death, near the second
mile-stone from New Haven, at the foot of Milford Hill, Eev.
Dr. Daggett fell into the hands of the enemy. The story of
the manner in which they treated him is on record as told by
himself, and sworn to before David Austin, a Justice of the Peace.
Inasmuch as this document is one of historical interest in this
connection, I give it here in full, as printed in Barber's His-
torical Collections of Connecticut. The original is preserved
in the office of the Secretary of State, at Hartford.

* Colton is wrong in stating that Johnson was killed by the fire of the enemy.

44 INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH.

" An account of the cruelties and barbarities wliich I received from the British
troops, after I had surrendered myself a prisoner into their hands.
"It is needless to relate all the leading circumstances which threw me in their
way. It may be sufficient to observe that on Monday tne 5th instant, the town of
New Haven was justly alarmed with very threatening appearances of a speedy
invasion from the enemy. Numbers went out armed to oppose them. I among
the rest took the station assigned me on Milford Hill, but was soon directed to
quit it and retire farther north, as the motions of the enemy required. Having
gone as far as I supposed sufficient, I turned down the hill to gain a Httle covert
of bushes which I had in my eye, but to my great surprise, I saw the enemy
much nearer than I expected ; their advanced guard l)eing little more than twenty
rods distant, plain open ground between us. They instantly fired upon me,
which they continued till I had run a dozen rods, discharging not less than 15 or
20 balls at me alone ; however, through the preserving providence of God, I es-
caped them aU unhurt, and gained the little covert at which I aimed, which con-
cealed me from their view while I could plainly see them through the woods and
bushes, advancing towards me within about twelve rods. I singled out one of
them, took aim and fired upon him. I loaded my musket again, but determined
not to discharge it any more ; and as I saw I could not escape from them, I de-
termined to surrender myself a prisoner. I begged for quarter, and that they
would spare my life. They drew near to me, I think only two in number, one on
my right hand, the other on my left, the fury of infernals glowing in their faces ;
they called me a damned old rebel, and swore they would kill me instantly.
They demanded, ' what did you fire upon me for ?' I replied, ' because it is the
exercise of war.' The one made a pass at me with his bayonet as if he designed
to thrust it through my body. With my hand I tossed it up from its direction, and
sprung in so near to him that he could not hit me with his bayonet. I still con-
tinued pleading and begging for my life with the utmost importunity, using every
argument in my power to mollify them, and induce them to desist from their
murderous purpose. One of them gave me four gashes on my head with the edge
of his bayonet, to the skull-bone, which caused a plentiful effusion of blood. The
other gave me three slight pricks with the point of his bayonet on the trunk of
my body, but they were no more than skin-deep. But what is a thousand times
worse than all that has been related, is the blows and bruises they gave me with
the heavy barrels of their guns on my bowels, by which I was knocked down
once or more, and almost deprived of life ; by which bruises I have been confined
to my bed ever since. These scenes might take up about two minutes of time.
They seemed to desist a little from their design of murder, after which they stript
me of my shoe and knee-buckles, and also my stock-buckle. Their avarice further
led them to rob me of my pocket handkerchief and a little old tobacco box.
They then bade me march toward the main body which was about twelve rods
distant, where some officers soon inquired of me who I was. I gave them my
name, station and character, and begged their protection, that I might not be any
more hurt or abused by the soldiers. They promised me their protection. But I
was robbed of my shoes, and was committed to one of the most unfeeling
savages that ever breathed. They then drove me with the main body, a hasty

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH. 45

march of five miles or more. I was insulted in the most shocking manner by the
ruffian soldiers, many of whom came at me with fixed bayonets, and swore they
would kill me on the spot. They damned me, those who took me because they
spared my life. Thus midst a thousand insults, my infernal driver hastened me
along farther than my strength would admit in the extreme heat of the day,
weakened as I was by my wounds, and the loss of blood, which at a moderate
computation could not be less than one quart. And when I failed in some degree
through faintness, he would strike ine on the back with a heavy walking staff,
and kick me behind with his foot. At length by the sup])orting power of God,
I arrived at the green in New Haven. But my life was almost spent, the world
around me several times appearing as dark as midnight. I obtained leave of an
officer to be carried into the widow Lyman's, and laid on a bed, where I lay the
rest of the day and succeeding night, in such, acute and excruciating pain as I
never felt before."

NAPIITALI DAGGETT.
New Haven, July 26, 1779."

Not to advert again at length to the case of Prof. Daggett, it
may be said here, that he was for a considerable time in much
danger of his life from physical exhaustion, and the wounds he
received. He recovered, however, so far as to be able to
preach in the College Chapel during a part of the next year.
But it cannot be doubted that his death, which occurred six-
teen months after, was hastened by this experience of hardship.

It will be observed that the account as given in his state-
ment is a little different from the story as frequently told, and
is less dramatic in the style of his answers. Doubtless the
reverend professor, in making a formal affidavit before a civil
officer, and weakened as he was by wounds and bruises, was
content to tell the story in the simplest manner. The tradi-
tional account has more than one version, and 1 may here add
that which my grandfather gave in his narration of the events
of the day. I have a recollection that he spoke of hearing
Prof. Daggett tell the story in after years. After mentioning
the retreat of the party of patriots across West Bi-idge, he said :

" In the meantime Dr. Daggett, as we heard afterwards, stood his ground man-
fully, while the British columns advanced to the foot of the hill, determined to
have the battle to himself, as we had left him in the lurch, and using his fowling
piece now and then to excellent efEect as occasion offered, under cover of the
bushes. But this could not last long. A detachment was sent up the hill-side to
look into the matter ; and the commanding officer coming suddenly to his great

46 INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH.

surprise on a single individual in a black coat, blazing away in this style, cried
out, ' What are you doing there you old fool, firing on his Majesty's troops ? '
' Exercising the rights of war,' says the old gentleman. The very audacity of the
reply, and the mixture of drollery it contained seemed to amuse the officer.

" ' If I let you go this time, you rascal.' said he, ' will you ever fire again on
the troops of his Majesty? ' ' Nothing more likely,' said the old gentleman, in his
dry way. This was too much for flesh and blood to bear, and it is a wonder that
they did not put a bullet through him on the spot. However, they dragged him
down to the head of the column, and as they were necessitated by the destruction
of West Bridge to turn their course two miles further north to the next bridge
above, they placed him at their head and compelled him to lead the way. I had
gone into the meadows in the mean time, on the opposite side of the river, half a
mile distant, and kept pace with the march as they advanced towards the north.
It was, I think, the hottest day I ever knew. The stoutest men were melted by
the heat."

These modes of telling the story are not contradictory. The
style of answer just reported was quite in keeping with the
character of Prof. Daggett, and it is very likely that in a freer
and heartier way of relating his experiences he gave more of
this somewhat piquant style than we find in his previous
declaration.

It may also be observed that Prof Daggett says nothing in
that paper, of any intercession in his behalf by persons who
were on the British side. There is a common, and no doubt
well founded tradition, that Chandler, who acted as a guide on
their march into town, and had formerly been a pupil of the
Professor, interceded for him, and secured that his life should
be spared. It is also said that when he reached the New
Haven green, in his exhausted condition, he was recognized
by one of the Tories who came forward to meet the British,
and at the request of this man was finally set at liberty. Per-
haps in the confusion of the affair, the Professor was not aware
of these acts of mediation in his behalf

To return now to the march of the enemy from the foot of
Milford hill into town, it should be remarked that they were
not free during their progress, from serious annoyance. While
most of the New Haven party of assailants had retired across
West Bridge, quite a numbei- of patriots hung on the left flank
of the British column. These were militia men of the vicinity

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH. 47

for the most part, and were under the general direction of
Aaron Burr, afterwards the Vice-President of the United
States, who, then a young man, was just at this time visiting-
relatives in New Haven. He conveyed a cousin, the youngest
daughter of Pierpont Edwards his uncle, to North Haven, and
hastened back to join the effort to repel the invaders.* From
behind trees and stone-walls a constant firing was kept up on
the enemy all along the road to Hotchkisstown, which they
could not return to advantage.

From an aged lady still living who witnessed the march of
the British troops in this part of their progress the following
account has been received. She was born in 1774, and was
consequently about five years of age when the events of which
we are speaking occurred. Although of tender age she seems
to have i-eceived a very distinct impression of the facts, and to
have retained them in a remarkable degree in advancing years.
Her father, a Mr. Mix, was a balcer by trade and resided in the
Hotchkisstown of that day. On the morning of the invasion,
a relative who lived near by came running into the house and
said to Mr. Mix, "the enemy have landed, you must take your
gun immediately and go out to meet them." He seized his
musket, had a few hurried words with his wife, directing her to
hide some valuables in the weU, and to take her children and
go to her father's house, which was a mile or moi'e farther into
the country, and then went out to meet the advancing foe.
From an eminence near the house of her grandfather the child
of five years old had a distinct view of the British troops as they
marched on. She observed their red coats, the exactness of
their march as though it was all one motion, and thought how
s7ii.aU they looked, as being at a distance of a mile or more.
On the way to her grandfather's house, the road was full of
men hurrying into town with their guns, some on loot, others
on horseback or in wagons. The day was exceedingly hot,
and the dust flew in clouds. When they reached the house,
she saw her grandfiather cutting up great pieces of raw pork
and of bread, wliich she understood to be for the men coming
* Bacons Memoir of James Hillhouse.

48 INVASION OF NEW HAVKN BY THE BEITISH.

in from the country to defend the town. This statement was
furnished me by Dr. G. O. Sumner, who received it from the
lady herself, Mrs. Eobert Brown.

From Mr. Wyllys Hotchkiss, of Derby, the following narra-
tive pertaining to this part of the invasion has been received.
His father, Leverett Hotchkiss, was in a company of militia who
came over from Derby as soon as possible after the alarm was
given. He was one of those who annoyed the enemy on
their left flank, keeping along the sides of the hills west- of
the road from Allingtown to Hotchkisstown. For a time the
attacking party were behind a stone wall, crouching down and
firing over it. They had fired several times in this way, when
the enemy made a movement intended to flank and capture
them. The captain of this company from Derby was behind a
large rock and did not perceive the movement of the enemy.
But a Lieut. Holbrook saw it. and jumping up on the rock
urged the captain to give orders to move so as to escape the
danger. He however did not enter into the state of the case
and would not give the order ior change of position. After
attempting to rouse him to the emergency of the situation,
Holbrook seeing that the enemy had nearly completed their
flanking movement, took the responsibility and shouted to the
men that everyone should take care of himself, whereupon
they scattered and retreated along the side of the hill.

Three or four of them, one of whom was named Clark, kept
too-ether and after going a little distance came to a spring of
water, where they sat down to refresh themselves, not suspect-
ing any exposure to the enemy. Suddenly seven or eight red-
coats came over the hill towards them, calling on them to sur-
render or they would be fired on. Clark replied '' Fire and be

d d," and the party ran. The enemy fired, but hit no one.

The party again stopped at a place where they thought them-
selves secure, but again the red-coats appeared, and the previous
experiment was renewed. The patriots however, got safely
away fi'om their pursuers.

Mr. Leverett Hotchkiss was retreating in company with a
man named Bradley, and in crossing a field they came under a

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH. 49

tree. One liinb of the tree hung rather low, and Hotchkiss bent
down his head in passing under it. Just then the pursuing
enemy fired at them and a bullet cut off a small branch from
the tree which fell on the neck of Hotchkiss, Bradley was hit
and killed at the same time, and as he dropped, his musket fell
on Hotchkiss. The latter escaped, and after the skirmish was
over and inquiries were made about Bradley he told the story
of their experiences and guided the way to the spot where the
body lay.

Somewhere at a later part of the fight, one of the British sol-
diers was captured, and Hotchkiss was appomted to guard him
till it was determined what to do with him. As he was watch-
ing the prisoner, a man from Derby came near them, named
Humphrey. He was of Tory proclivities and had been in the
British service, but had deserted and joined the patriots. The
British prisoner seeing him, said "I know that man, he was in
the same regiment and company and mess with me." Hotchkiss
replied, " Oh, he is not English, he belongs about here." But
the prisoner persisted in his statement. The matter dropped
for the present, but afterwards Humphrey said to some one,
" That man was right, and you see what would have become of
me if I had been captured."

The Lieutenant Holbrook referred to, was a man of much
courage and efficiency. In the morning as he was about leav-
ing home, his father said to him, " You are going to fight the
enemies of your country ; now remember that I had rather see
you brought back wounded in front than in running from the
enemy," After the enemy gained possession of New Haven
he was in and out of town several times. He saw, as evening
came on, how drunk and disorderly they became, and went to
the American General in command of the militia who had gath-
ered on the outskirts. General Ward, proposing a night attack
on them, asserting that they could easily be captured. When
this proposition was rejected, he plead hard for a few men to go
with him, and make an attack, as he was sure that he could
greatly alarm them, and probably could capture a large num-
ber. But cautious counsels prevailed, and his desire was not
7 .

50 INVASION OF NEW HAVKN BY THE BRITISH.

granted. He continued in the railitarv service during the war,
and became colonel of a regiment.

While the enemy were moving toward Thompson's Bridge,
as that at Hotchkisstown was then called, Captain Hillhouse
and the men with him, also Lieutenant Colonel Sabin, Captain
Bradley and those who managed the field pieces, went across
the fields on the east side of the river to meet and oppose the
enemy at that bridge also.

Some persons who liad fled from New Haven to the houses of
friends near West Eock, ascended the rock, and from its front
edge viewed the march of the British as they advanced and
entered the west end of the village. One of the number, in
after years described the sight as very striking and even beau-
tiful. The long column of men moving with the regular step of
disciplined troops ; the mingling colors of the uniforms worn,
as the bright red of the English Foot Guards blended with the
graver hues of the dress worn by the German mercenaries ; the
waving line of glittering bayonets ; the hurried riding back and
forth of mounted officers, and the frequent flashes of musketry,
no doubt combined to make up a scene which might well at-
tract admiration, were not the occasion so fraught with terrors
to the spectators.

At the time to which our narrative has reference, there was a
powder mill at the west end of the village. The enemy having
doubtless learned of this from the Tories with them, made a
movement in that direction for the purpose of destroying it.
This was resisted by the patriots, some sharp fighting took place,
and the attempt was given up. This mill continued to furnish
a part of the gunpowder used through the Revolutionary War.

Resuming their march towards the town of New Haven, the
enemy proceeded towards the river. Their right flank forded
the stream a few rods below the bridge, while the main body
crossed on the bridge itself Colonel Sabin and those with him
did not reach the spot in time to oppose the crossing. They
took, however, a position on top of the slight hill by which the
road ascends eastwardly, planting their guns and throwing up
some imperfect intrenchments. and gave the advancing invaders

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH. 51

a smart fire from the field-pieces and small arras. In tliis en-
counter several British soldiers were taken prisoners. The
enemy succeeded in driving back the patriots, who retreated
slowly, fighting as they retired. The contest was particularly
sharp at Ditch corner, which as already mentioned was a little
west of the junction of Whalley and Dixwell avenues.

The British preserved military order for the most part till
they reached what we call Broadway, where the_v broke ranks
and rushed to the work of cruelty and devastation. They vented
their spite on the houses along the roadsides, breaking windows,
demolishing furniture and other property. Somewhere along
the line of Whalley avenue as we call it. part of the enemy had
caught a flock of geese. Being exceedingly hungry, they did
not go through the process of plucking and dressing their game,
but boiled it in a large brass kettle at the house of a Mrs. Tut-
tle, which stood where Christ Church now is, and was used as
a tavern, and made a hasty meal. It was in this part of the en-
trance of the invaders that they encountered a Mr. Elisha
Tuttle, who had suffered from epilepsy and had lost his reason.
He would not or could not reply to their questions, and they
cut out his tongue after beating him most cruelly. He died as
the result of the injuries then received.

When the enemy reached the head of Chapel street at the
corner of York street, a field-piece was put in position and fired
down the street several times.

Thus after a slow march quite vigorously resisted bj the pa-
triots, they entered the- heart of the town a little before one
o'clock in the afternoon. This success was not effected without
considerable loss. Their dead and wounded were carried across
the green to the head of Long Wharf, in five wagons, one of
which contained ten men, and seven chairs, a name given to
the old fashioned chaise without a top. This fact was men-
tioned to President Stiles by an eye-witness, and is recorded by
him in his diary.

The ofl&cial report of losses at New Haven made by Greneral
Tryon on his return to New York and published in the London
Gazette of October 16, 1779, a copy of which is given in Bar-

52 INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH.

ber's Ilistoi'ical Collections of Connecticut is as follows : — two
officers killed and two wounded ; one sergeant killed, three ser-
geants wounded and one sergeant missing ; two drummers
wounded; six rank and file killed, thirty-two rank and file
wounded and twenty-four rank and file missing ; and one driver
wounded ; being nine killed, forty-one wounded, and twenty-
five missing. The two officers killed were Adjutant Campbell
and Captain Parker. The first was shot on Milford Hill ; the
other was wounded in York street, and was probably the officer
respecting whom a tradition exists, that he was wounded in the
fight and was carried down Chapel and Fleet streets with the
design of sending him on board the ships by boat from Long
Wharf. But on the way he became so much exhausted that it
was found necessary to take him into a tavern then kept in
Fleet street, where lie died, cidling for water to quench his thirst,
and repeating to the last, "D — n the rebels."

This report may include the loss at the invasion of East Ha-
ven, which formed part of the same expedition, where, accord-
ing to tradition, some British were killed. But inasmuch as
their chief loss was confessedly in the march from West Haven
to New Haven, the mention of the number may properly be
made in this connection.

On entering the town, the enemy distributed some printed
copies of a Proclamation, signed by Commodore Collier and
Major Gen. Tr3^on. It was as follows :

" By Sir George Collier, Commander in Chief of his majesty's ships and vessels
in North America, and Major Gen. Williain Tryon commanding his majesty's land
forces on a separate expedition.

Add/ress to the Inhabitants of Connecticvt.

The ungenerous and wanton insurrection against the sovereignty of Great
Britain into which this colony has been deluded by the artifices of designing men,
for private purposes, might well justify in you every fear which conscious guilt
could form, respecting the intentions of the present armament.

Your towns, your property, yourselves, lie within the grasp of the power whose
forbearance you have ungraciously construed into fear, but whose lenity has
persisted in its mild and noble efforts, even though branded with the most un-
worthy imputation. The existence of a single habitation on your defenseless
coast ought to be a subject of constant reproof to your ingratitude. Can the
strength of your whole province cope with the force which might at any time be

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH. 53

poured through any district in your country? Tou are conscious it cannot. Why
then will you persist in a ruinous and ill-judged resistance ? We hoped that you
would recover from the phrenzy which has distracted this unhappy country ; and
we believe the day to be near come when the greater part of this continent will
begin to blush at their delusion. You who lie so much in our power, afford that
most striking monument of our mercy, and therefore ought to .set the first example
of returning to allegiance.

Reflect on what gratitude requires of you ; if that is insufficient to move you,
attend to your own interest ; we offer you a refuge against the distress which you
universally acknowledge, broods with increasing and intolerable weight over all
your country.

Leaving you to consult with each other upon this invitation, we do now declare,
that whosoever shall be found and remain in peace, at his usual place of residence,
shall be shielded from any insult, either to his person or his property, excepting
such as bear offices, either civil or military, under your present usurped govern-
ment, of whom it will be further required that they shall give proofs of their
penitence and voluntary submission ; and they shall then partake of the like
immunity.

Those whose folly and obstinacy may slight this favorable warning, must take
notice that the}-^ are not to expect a continuance of that lenity which their
inveteracy would now render blameable.

Given on board his majesty's ship Cammilla, on the Sound, July 4, 1779.

GEORGE COLLIER.
WILLIAM TRYON."

Notwithstanding the protection pi'omisecl to those who
remained quiet in their nsaal homes, the town was given up to
promiscuous pillage, except in a few cases, chiefly where houses
were exempted as occupied by favorers of the British cause.
Buildings were forcibly entered ; articles of value, as silver
plate, watches, buckles, clothing, money and the like, were
taken often in a brutal manner; beds were cut to pieces or
otherwise destro3^ed if not carried off : provisions were used or
wasted ; furniture was demolished ; doors and windows were
dashed in. Many families were stripped of their property,
some even to the extent of having neither food nor a change of
garments left them. Nor was this the worst, for personal
violence was added in many cases to such robbery, and both
aged men and helpless females were shockingly abused.

The invaders did not always discriminate between the Whigs
and Tories, for many of the latter in spite of being known as
on the British side, were hardly treated. One lady who felt

64: INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH,

secure in her loyalty to His Majesty, was compelled to fly to
the cellar for safet}'. She concealed herself in an empty hogs-
head, but the rude soldiers found her out, and rolled the hogs-
head with her in it, over and over, till she feared for her life.
Before leaving the house, they tore her ear-rings from her ears ;
as was done in mauy other cases.

It is said that nine hundred feather beds were carried to New
York from the towu, and hundreds of others were wantonly
ripped up, some of wdiich were thrown into the harbor. Look-
ing glasses were generally broken ; some few were saved, one
of which was in Capt. Bradley's house.

It appears that in consequence of the interposition of Capt.
Bradley the life of Joshua Chandler, a Tory lawyer, had been
saved at a time when some of the furloughed American
soldiers in a drunken frolic, undertook to hang him, the rope
being around his neck, and preparations being made to suspend
him from an adjacent tree. As a return for this kindness, the
house of Capt. Bradley was protected ; a guard being stationed
there by order of the sons of Chandler who were officers in the
British service.

No buildings were set on fire while the enemy thus had
possession of the town. The pul)lic buildings, as those of
Yale College, the State House, the places of religious worship,
were injured little if at all,* The soldiers dispersed about the
town, quartering themselves on the inhabitants, and engaging
in tbe work of pillage.

In this connection, I may recount without especial regard to
succession of time or order of events, some of the traditions
respecting the occurrences of the day.

As already mentioned, numbers of people went out of town
for safety. Most of the serviceable horses belonging to
residents had been taken for military uses, hence few were left
to convey the women and children, with their effects, to places
of refuge. The fugitives went out chiefly on foot, and they
might have been seen weary and footsore plodding their way,
under a burning sun, along the roads, or often through the

* Stiles' Diary.

TNVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH. 55

cornfields, towards namden or North Haven. One old ladj
was seen to be lagging a heavy burden along. Some one asked
her " What have jon there, Mrs. Potter?" "Oh dear," she
replied, "I have some of my nice salt pork; I could not bear
to have those Britishers eat it all up." Another woman in the
excitement and hurry of leaving home, could think of nothing
more choice to carry away with her, than a bunch of home-
made tallow candles, or dips as they were and are now some-
times called. With these hanging by a string from her hand
she trudged along through the sands towards Wallingford,
when to her discomfiture on looking down she found that the
heat of the sun had melted the tallow, leaving nothing but the
wicks hanging by her side, and the grease spots with which her
best chintz dress was plentifully bespattered.

x\s a like instance of the confusion of mind created by the
alarm, the following incident is traditional. Timothy Atwater,
father of the late Charles Atwater, was a member of a military
company in New Haven. He had gone out early in the morn-
ing to work in a field somewhere in the region lying north of
our Hillhouse avenue. Hearing the alarm guns, he started to
return to town. On the road he met a woman whom he knew,
hurrying out of town with a cat in her arms. Calling her by

name he said, "Why, Mrs. , what is the matter?" She

cried out that the enemy were coming. " But where are your
children ?" said he. "Why, at home, I suppose," was her reply.
" W^ell," said Mr. Atwater, " hadn't you better go back and get
them, and leave the cat?" "Perhaps I had," she answered,
and went back.

After the enemy got possession of the town, the house of
Timothy Atwater, was entered among others by them. A
soldier who went in there, finding some of the females of the
family, attempted to kiss one of them, but being resisted, with-
drew from his undertaking. Another who had a long, straight
sword, probably that of a sergeant, went down into the cellar
and thrust it several times into the pork l)arrel till he suc-
ceeded in transfixing some pieces of pork, when he went off
with his prize.

56 INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH.

Two daughters of President Stiles were directed bj their
father to go out to Cheshire, to the house of Rev. Dr. Foote,
the Congregational clergyman there. No means of conveyance
could be had, and they started on foot. Becoming weary and
much oppressed with the heat, they sat down on a log by the
road-side, and gave vent to their feelings by tears. Presently
two men on horseback came by, going out of town, and seeing
the girls, asked who they were and where they were going.
They told their story, and thereupon the men said, " Get on
behind us, and we will take you where you wish to go." So
they mounted the horses, and were conveyed to their destina-
tion. This incident came to me from a granddaughter of one
of these ladies.

Some of the British officers, we are told, were quartered at
the house of Isaac Beers, which stood, as alread}^ mentioned, on
the present site of the New Haven House. It is said that a
barrel of sour wine had been placed in the yard behind the
house to ripen into vinegar. The officers made free with it,
drinking up the contents and saying that this was the best
wine they had tasted since leaving His Majesty's dominions.
If this was so, they were probably German officers accustomed
at home to relish the sour wines produced along the Rhine and
adjacent countries. Englishmen, more accustomed to port and
sherry, would hardly have appreciated so highly the sourness
of the half-made vinegar.

Capt. Ebenezer Peck, a West India trader, then lived in the
wooden house still standing, but soon to be removed, on Chapel
street, a little below the railroad bridge, opposite the residence
of N. A. Bacon. He had in his cellar a large number of casks
of excellent Santa Cruz rum, which had been brought up from
a store on Long Wharf, and put there for security. On hearing
that the soldiers were coming down the street, he set the faucets
of the casks so that the liquor would run easily, and invited
the soldiers to help themselves. They did so, and those who
came first told others of this plentiful supply of liquor, doubly
acceptable by reason of their thirst on that extremely hot day.
This hospitable reception by Capt. Peck, not indeed that he

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRFTISH. 57

sympathized with them, and the intoxication soon produced
by the abundance of tlie rum, resulted in his escaping with
little damage to the rest of his property.

The house of Mr. Ebenezer Huggins, in the lower part of
Crown street, and which is still standing, was also entered by
the British soldiers. An account of the experience of himself
and wife has been received from their granddaughter, Mrs.
E. B. M. Hughes, who has also furnished information as to
other families connected with her own.

Mr. Huggins had not been able to engage personally in the
military service of his country, but had hired a man to go into
the army as his substitute. Hence he w^as at home at this
time. When the alarm was given in the morning that the
enemy were approaching New Haven, Mrs. Huggins, in view
of the possibility that her husband might be taken prisoner
and carried away, sewed a guinea into the waistband of his
clothes. Having occasion to go into the street, after the enemy
had possession of the town, he took with him a musket for
self-defence. This caused him to be made a prisoner on meet-
ing some British soldiers, as "bearing arms against the King
of England." He was captured in State street, opposite the
spot now occupied by the Mechanics Bank. Being carried to
New York, he was put on board the old prison ship near the
Long Island side of the East Kiver. His wretchedness was
very great, being uncertain of the fiate of his .young and beau-
tiful wife and two little children who were left unprotected in
their home. He could neither eat nor sleep, but sat or paced
about silently in anguish insupportable. The commander of
the prison ship asked him why he did not eat, and why he
appeared so unhappy? He replied, "Should you not be
wretched had you left a wife and two babes in the midst of
the British army ?" With compassionate looks and words, the
officer directed that Mr. Huggins should not be furnished with
the ordinary prison fare, but should be supplied from his own
table — and he was treated with great kindness during the time
he remained on board the vessel. Mr. Huggins could never
forget the gratitude then called forth by the gentlemanly con-
duct of this officer during his captivity.

58 INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH.

With the guinea so fortunately sewed in his waistband, he
managed to purchase a boat, and in this made his escape at
night, crossed the Sound safely and reached New Haven. He
brought with him Mr. Robert Townsend, who had also been
taken as a prisoner from New Haven. It would almost seem
as if Mr. Huggins was allowed to buy the boat and make his
escape, for how otherwise could he have done this under the
mouths of British guns.

Mrs. Huggins sat alone in her house on that eventful after-
noon, with her two babes, the oldest being about two years old,
on her knee, and the younger in her arms, her husband gone,
and no one to advise her what to do, no one to speak to her.
A cannon boomed, and the ball passed through the room where
she was sitting. She heard the tramp of soldiers in the streets.
Her heart was very desolate as she looked forward to the
destruction of herself and children. She did not expect to see
her husband ever again, but already mourned him as dead.

The soldiers were busy everywhere in pillage and destruc-
tion ; what they could not take with them they wantonly
destroyed. She was in momentary expectation that her fate
would soon be decided, when there entered the house a gentle-
man in the splendid dress of a British officer of the highest
rank. Every word he spoke was polite, kind, and respectful,
to one whom he found so young, so beautiful, so helpless and
desolate as she who sat with those little ones clinging to her.
She was then only twenty-one years of age. He told her to
fear nothing, that no one should enter there — and he wrote on
the door of the house, "Let no one enter here, by order of
Gen. Garth." She never forgot this kind treatment, and in her
old age spoke with gratitude of the fact that there had been
human hearts in the breasts of even her country's enemies.
Later in the day her brother, Mr. Isaac Dickerman, came and
took her out to the house of Col. John Hubbard near West
Rock, where she remained in safety during her husband's
captivity.

In the early part of the day this Mr. Dickerman, who lived
where Edgewood Farm is now, came into town with an ox-cart

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH, 59

to convey persons and things from the house of his father's
family in Broadway out to that of the Mr. Hubbard just
referred to as a little back of West Eock, He went in the first
place down to the residence of Mi-. Huggins to bring away
some articles for that family. As he passed along the streets
with his cart, so many valuable articles were thrown into it b}'
persons endeavoring to save their propert}^, that by the time he
reached his father's house, little room was left for the use of
those whom he had come especially to help. Some of them
climbed on the heaped-ap load, others walked by the side of it,
driving their cows before them.

John Miles, who was the father of Mrs. Samuel Hughes, and
his family, w^ei'e members of the Church of England, and their
sympathies were with the English government. He took no
active part in the A'Var of the Revolution, having friends on
both sides, and awaited the event. A guard was placed at his
house, which was where the book-store of Mr. T. H. Pease is,
to protect the family. Still a soldier put his hand into the
pocket of one of the ladies of the family and robbed her of her
gold beads, and took the ear-rings from the ears of others.
Many of their friends came to the house for protection, and
among them was the widow of Gen. Wooster. As she came
running along the street, her handkerchief flying from her
shoulders, the soldiers in a most dastardly manner slapped her
on the back with their swords and called her a d— d rebel,
knowing that she was the widow of Gen. Wooster. After the
war was over, Mrs. Wooster was accustomed to spend the
foui-th of July, in each year, as long as she lived, at the house
of Mr. Samuel Hughes. This house is still standing on the
northwest corner of Chapel and Olive streets, being that where
William H. Elliot, Esq., lived during the later years of his life.
It was the early home of our late esteemed fellow citizen, E.
Brooks M. Hughes. Here the friends of the family gathered
to meet Mrs. Wooster on that day and talk over the events of
the war.

Mrs. Samuel Hughes was ten years old at the time of the
invasion, and had distinct recollections in her later years of

60 INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH.

what she saw and heard. She said that the British soldiers
were much exasperated by the attempts made by our people to
repulse them — that they had not expected this — that they only
came to get stores, and intended (according to their own story)
to return immediately to their vessels. She heard an officer
say that he regretted the resistance, as it only maddened the
soldiers under him. She also heard an officer speaking of the
difficulty of getting their soldiers away, so eager were they in
the work of destruction and pillage From what they said, it
seemed to her that the officers were as anxious to get their men
on board the vessels, as the people of the town were to be
delivered from them.

John Hotchkiss is mentioned as among those killed in the
skirmish on the way to Hotchkisstown. He went out on the
morning of July 5th with others to oppose the march of the
British, and was shot among the first of the patriots who fell.
He was robbed after being shot, of his silver shoe-buckles,
knee-buckles, stock-buckle, and sleeve-buttons, also of his
pistol on whicii his name was marked. The pistols were after-
wards found at a considerable distance from the scene of action,
and it was supposed that the person who took these was also
killed, as there was evidence that a body had been dragged
from the spot where they were found.

Mr. Hotchkiss had married a daughter of Timothy Jones,
who was a descendant of Theophilus Eaton in the line of his
daughter, Ann Eaton. When the marriage took place, Mr.
Jones gave to his daughter the house which many of us can
remember as formerly standing where the Alumni Hall of Yale
College is, on the corner of Ehn and High streets. In this
house Mr. Hotchkiss lived most of his married life, and to this
his body was cariied, and from it went out to burial. His
widow continued to reside in it till her death, and an unmarried,
daughter occupied it for many subsequent years.

The house of Michael Baldwin, in George street, facing College
street, is said to have been protected and so to have escaped
pillage. The story is that a British officer who was in this
expedition, had been a paroled prisoner in the latest French

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH. 61

war, and bad m some way found a temporary home at this house,
which was at tliat time a sort of country tavern. Remembering
the kindness then received from the family, he took pains to
have their successors protected from injury at this time. This
exemption did not extend to neighboring houses, many of
which were thoroughly ransacked. Such was the case with
one nearly opposite Mr. Baldwin's and a little west of it,
belonging to a Mr. Hull. It is an interesting coincidence, that
a few years ago, a Germtiu coin was dug up in the garden of
Mr. Gad Day, who lives on College street, and whose garden
had its southwestern corner adjacent to Hull's garden. It
seems probable that this coin may have dropped from the
pocket of one of the Hessian troops who were engaged in plun-
dering the neighborhood.

One of the houses in that street, which was thus entered,
was the home of a Deacon Gilbert, on the west corner of Broad
street. It was occupied within the memory of most of us, by
Dr. Virgil M. Dow, and after his death was removed to make
room for the brick house built bv his brother, L. K. Dow.
Deacon Gilbert sent away his family, but remained to save
his property so far as possible. He hid himself in a field of
Indian corn behind the house when the soldiers made their
appearance. He was taken prisoner, but managed to escape.
In his cellar were some casks of cider and of liquor. The
soldiers of course made use of these, but in drawing from the
casks were not always careful to turn the faucets so as to close
them, and hence there was a likelihood of waste Mr. Gilbert,
lying hid in the garden, would watch his opportunity, and
creeping into the cellar by door or window, would close any
faucets left open.

A family in College street, a little south of the New Haven
House corner, on hearing of the enemy's approach, tied up
their looking glasses in their feather beds, and hid them in a
field of growing corn which was east of their house, and was
then in flower.

We are also told of a man who in attempting to escape from
the enemy as they were coming into town, ran into a patch of

62 INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH.

Indian corn, which hid him from their observation. These
cases seem to indicate a forwardness in the growth of the
plant, not common with us now as early as the fifth of July.

The following incident of the time is given by Eev. Dr.
Bacon in his brief memoir of James Hillhouse, published orig-
inally in the American Journal of Education, and it is here
inserted in liis own words.

" Mrs. Hillliouse, widow of James Abraham Hillhouse, was a member of the
Church of England, and her political sympathies were with the British. Her's,
therefore, was one of the few houses to be protected from pillage. Some of the
British officers were quartered there, and were received with the courtesy due to
men who bore his Majesty's commission. Yet the loyal lady was in great danger
from the imputation of her nephew's patriotism. It happened that the newspaper
containing Captain Hillhouse's patriotic call for recuits came under the notice of
the officers almost as soon as they entered the house which was to be protected
for its loyalty.* The house and its contents would have been immediately given
up to the plundering soldiers, had not the lady with a dignified frankness which
repelled suspicion, informed her guests that though the young man whose name
was subscribed to that call was a near and valued relative of hers, and was
actually resident under that roof, the property was entirely her own, and that the
part which he had taken in the conflict with Great Britain, was taken not only on
his own responsibility, but in opposition to her judgment and her sympathies."

This explanation was accepted and her property was spared.

Another instance of the preservation of a dwelling by female
intervention was that of Mr. Amos Doolittle's house. The story
is told in Barber's Collections, as received from Mr. Doolittle
himself. He was one of the number of Governor's Foot-
guards, who went to Cambridge in 1775, and was no less
prompt in his country's service on the present occasion. When
obliged to retire from Westville as the enemy advanced, he
returned to his house, which is still standing in College street on
the west side, and a little north from Elm street. Throwing his
musket and equipments under a bed, he waited the approach
of the enemy, and the more anxiously as his wife lay on a sick
bed. When the British soldiers came in front of the house, an
Enolish ladv who was residinof with him went to the door and

* This refers to a stirring appeal written by Capt. James Hillhouse inviting
enlistments into the American army and published in the New Haven newspaper
of June 2tith, only nine days before.

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH. 63

requested of one of the officers that a guard might be assigaed
to protect it. The officer with an oath asked who she was.
She replied that she was an English woman, and had a son
in his Majesty's service. On healing this, the officer ordered a
Highlander of his command to protect the house and see that no
damage was done to its inmates. Subsec[uently some soldiei's
entered the house by the back door, and seeing the musket
where it had been thrown under the bed, inquired what this
meant, and were for taking Mr. Doolittle prisoner. The same
lady, with great presence of mind answered that the law obliged
every man to have a gun in his house, and added that its
owner was as good a friend to King George, as themselves.

A store not far from Mr. Doolittle's house having been
broken open by the soldiers, they invited him to go there and
help himself to any thing he wanted, saying that he was wel-
come to do so. But as he did not wish to take advantage of
his neighbor's misfortune he declined the offer.*

A musket captured with its owner, a Hessian, in the progress
of the fight, is now in the possession of our Society, having
been placed in our rooms by its owner, Mr. Henry Hotchkiss
of this city. It was taken by his grandfather, Jonah Hotchkiss,
who at the time had his last charge of powder and ball in his
own gun. Pointing his weapon at the Hessian he demanded
surrender on pain of immediate death. The man surrendered
readily, and on searching him, it was found that he had twenty-
three charges remaining in his cartridge-box, of which Mr,
Hotchkiss availed himself The Hessian was taken to the
dwelling of his captor, and remained there several days, being
kindly treated. When it became known that the father (Mr.
Caleb Hotchkiss) of his captor had been killed in the fight,
Jonah Hotchkiss said to him, "If I had known that your
people had killed my father, I would not have spared you."
The man at last asked permission to go, which being granted
he left town. This statement came from Mr. Henry Hotchkiss.

There are in our rooms four framed maps, not a little defaced
by time, two of which are perforated by bullets. They hung
* Barber's Historical Collections of Connecticut.

64 INVASION OF IJKW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH.

at the time of the invasion in the east front cluimber of the
Mansfield house, which we now know as on Prospect street, in
the rear of Mr. Sheffteld's garden. There was then no street
on the west of the house; the only road to it passing from the
corner of Temple and Grove streets across Hillhouse avenne in
its lower part, and then going by the east side of the honse
out into what was called the "Second Quarter." Mr. Nathan
Mansfield, the owner and occupant of this house, was a decided
favorer of the British side, and was accustomed to offer a peti-
tion every morning at family prayers, for the success of the arms
of " King George." Hence he was not among those who resisted
the invaders. His sons and sons-in-law were all ardent Whigs,
and by their personal influence saved him from much abuse
that he might otherwise have received from the patriots of the
town. When the British entered New Haven, the families of
his children, and other friends, sought refuge in his house as
likely to escape molestation on account of his known sympa-
thies. Then, too, the house was thought to be so far out of
town that the enemy would not come to it. In this last idea,
however, people were much mistaken. The enemy advanced
in that direction, and occupied an old building standing where
Sheffield Hall is now, as a guard-house. A strong guard was
stationed there, and the red-coats were soon scattered through
all the neighborhood. The day was very warm, and the sol-
diers came to the well in Mr, Mansfield's yard to obtain water.
Some of them entered the house, and one stole a silver tankard
belonging to the family, which had been secreted under a bed.
Afterwards some British officers visited the house, and Mrs.
Mansfield made complaint to them of this theft. They prom-
ised to make an efibrt to find and restore the tankard, but she
never heard any thing more of it.

The son of Nathan Mansfield, (Glover) whom many of us can
remember, was then a boy of thirteen years of age. He had
wandered off somewhere and his mother became anxious about
him. She asked some soldiers who came to the house whether
they had seen such a boy, describing his appearance. One of
them desirous to annoy her said, " Oh, yes, I saw his brains

INVAStON OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH. 65

knocked out not long ago." This cruel speech filled the
mother's heart with distress, which was not allayed till some
time after when the missing boy made his appearance, and was
received as one from the dead.

Early on Tuesday morning as the British were preparing to
leave town, some militia men from an adjacent town came into
the vicinity of the house, and seeing the red-coats fired on
them, and then retreated behind the house. The British
guard seeing from what direction the shot came, returned the
fire and some bullets passed through the front of the house,
and lodged in the wall ; the maps referred to were pierced at
the same time. One ball passed through a door, and the hole
is still visible, though partly filled with putty. Mr. Mansfield
hastened to a chamber window and hung out a white cloth,
and there was no more firing at the house.*

Among the incidents of the invasion the following, witnessed
or shared in by Mrs. Jeremiah Parmelee, have been received
from her granddaughter, Mrs Eli B. Austin : Mrs. Parmelee,
then a widow, resided in the house on the corner of Chapel
and York streets, known in late years as the home of Captain
Benjamin Beecher, who was her son-in-law. Her husband
participated in the battle of Brandywine, and was severely
wounded in the leg by a musket ball while gallantly leading
his men into the thickest of the fight. Before receiving sur-
gical aid he rode some twelve miles closely pursued by the
enemy. The ball was subsequently extracted and was long
preserved by his family.

On the near approach of the invaders to that part of New
Haven, Mrs. Parmelee prepared to take her departure for the
country. But before quite completing her arrangements, she
was both surprised and alarmed at a volley of musketry near
by, which sent the bullets flying round the house. Eecollect-
ing that a keg of gunpowder was in the cellar below, a most
precious as well as dangerous article, she went down stairs,
brought it up and with her own. hands concealed it near the
well, having previously thoroughly saturated it with water.

* Giles Mansfield.
9

66 INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH.

While she was so engaged, a ball occasionally whizzed through
the air above her head, giving token of the approach of the
enemy.

Mrs. Parmelee witnessed the assault on Mr. Nathan Beers,
which resulted in his death ; and of which an account will be
given hereafter. She also saw at a later hour the poor epileptic
Elisha Tuttle, after he had received the injuries inflicted on him
by the enemy, and before his death in consequence.

While Mrs. Parmelee was filled with horror at the occur-
rences taking place so near her house, she was still more alarmed
by the entrance of British soldiers into her dwelling. They de-
manded men's shoes, but she told them she had none, as no man
lived there. One of the soldiers who had been covetously eye-
ing a string of gold beads which she wore on her neck, clutched
it with a strong hand. She resisted with so much force and
success, that the string gave way and the beads flew into the
open fire-place among the ashes. The ruffian, discomfited by
his failure, left without further attempts at violence. In search-
ing through the ashes afterwards, she recovered all the beads
except two.

To escape further molestation in her isolated and defenceless
condition, Mrs. Parmelee left her house to seek temporary refuge
in that of Deacon Stephen Ball, which stood near the corner
of Chapel and High streets, where the " Yale School of Art"
has been erected. While going the short distance from her own
home to this house, several men were killed close at hand, and
almost in her sight. This raised new fears in the heart of the
terrified woman, who had seen in a brief time so much of the
horrors of war. Learning that the house of Jared Ingersoll,
Esq., on the corner of Chapel and Temple streets, (the Admiral
Foote house as we now recognize it,) had or was to have a guard
for its protection on account of Mr. IngersoU's Tory proclivities,
she sought shelter there, as did also a number of other women,
from the insults and violence of the English soldiers, who had
indulged largely in liquor and become extremely riotous. In
this house were huddled together for the night many wives
most anxious about husbands and many mothers about sons.

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH. 67

who went out to resist the enemy, and from whom no tidings
had been received. No preparation had been made for the ac-
commodation of so large a number of persons at this house, and
they were obliged to adapt themselves as they best could to the
circumstances of their situation. None of tlie older persons
felt disposed to sleep, but the cliildren, as the weary hours wore
on, gave way to the claims of tired nature and dropped one bv
one into feverish slumbers. Sometime after midnight one of
these little ones woke with Inirning thirst and cried for water.
Not a drop was in the house and all were afraid to venture out
in search of it. At length Mrs. Parmelee volunteered, if some
one woidd accompany her, to make an attempt to reach the well
in the yard. The two ladies with a suitable vessel, summoned
up their courage and ventured forth. To their great surprise,
not unmixed with alarm, they found that the guard had been
withdrawn. But their fears were changed to joy when they
saw in the dim morning light, the British officers driving their
intoxicated soldiers across the green on the way to the Wharf,
and learned from these movements that the enemy were about
taking their departure.

The house of Deacon Stephen Ball was mentioned in connec-
tion with the efforts of Mrs. Parmelee to find a refuge. Mr. Ball
was a deacon in the First Church, and was entrusted with the
care of the vessels used at the service of the Lord's Supper.
The cups are of solid silver and many of them were of consider-
able antiquity, having interesting associations connected with
them. When the news came that the British were actually
marching into town, the good deacon felt a natural and proper
anxiety as to saving these sacred vessels. The chimneys of
those days were generally quite large, and often provided with
ledges or recesses for the keeping in them of valuable articles.
As the chimney of Deacon Ball's house was so constructed, it
was determined to deposit the silver cups there. His daughter,
then eight years old, was lifted up into the chimney sufficiently
high to put them in the hiding place. As the British came near
the house, this daughter, with two playmates, (one of whom was
Miss Beers, who afterwards married Mr. William Leffingwell,

68 INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH.

the other Miss Atwater, who afterwards became Mrs. Anna
Townsend,) went down into the cellar. While there they dis-
tinctly heard the soldiers enter at the front door, place the mus-
kets they carried in the hall above their heads, and disperse
over the house for plunder. Mrs. Ball, who remained quietly
in the house, wore a string of gold beads, which was taken from
her neck. The church silver, however, remained in safety, and
is still used at communion services by the First Church of the
city.

These facts have been furnished by Mr. Leonard Bradley,
whose mother was the little girl of eight years old who hid the
silver in the chimney.

The remark was made in an earlier part of this paper, that
there were dwelling-houses which stood around on the green at
the time of the invasion, which have been removed within the
memory of persons now living. One of these stood where the
Tontine Hotel is now, and will be remembered by many as
"Ogden's Coffee House." This was the residence of Joshua
Chandler, Esq., a lawyer of some note in his day. He was a
strong Tory, and made himself quite offensive daring the Revo-
lution to all patriots, by his persistent advocacy of the British
side of the question. At different times threats were made of
hanging him, and on one occasion at least, a rope was put round
his neck by some American soldiers on furlough here, but he
was rescued by Capt. Phinehas Bradley, as has been already
mentioned. It is said that the family of Chandler prepared a
grand supper in anticipation of the arrival of their British
friends, but that owing to the confusion of the time and the pre-
occupation of those for whom it was designed, it was not par-
taken of. Notice was given to this family of the intention of
the troops to leave early on Tuesday morning, and an invitation
given to accompany the forces. This was accepted, and they
left the house never to return to it. They finally went to Nova
Scotia, and on some occasion when most of them were passing
from one point on the coast to another by sea, the vessel was
wrecked, and on reaching the shore, they attempted to make
their way through an unsettled country to some town, but per-
ished miserably by cold and starvation.

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH. 69

The property of Chandler, so far as known, was confiscated
to the United States government, and his house passed into
other hands. It was variously occu{)icd, until at length it was
moved to a position further north in Church street, and is now
the residence of Rev. Leonard Bacon, U.D. A few years ago,
the Hon. Mr. Upham of Salem, Mass., called on Dr. Bacon, de-
claring himself to be the .son of a daughter of Joshua Chandler,
who must have escaped the fate of her family. He asked per-
mission to look through the house which had been the early
home of his mother, from the doors of which she went out at
fifteen years of age, never returning to it again.

The house occupied by Charles Chauncey, Esq., was another
of those standing in 1779, and since removed. An account of
this house was given by Rev. E. L. Cleaveland, D.D., in his
paper contained in the First Volume of Papers published by our
Society, on "The Governor Gilbert Lot." The same paper
contains a notice more minute than is given above, of the suc-
cessive ownership of Chandler's house.

Another house of that day stood where the Leffingwell Build-
ing is now, on the corner of Church and Court streets. This
belonged to one Leavenworth, and is no longer standing.

Court street was in those days literally a courts not extending
beyond Orange street. It had but two houses in it, or three if
we count in that of Leavenworth's just mentioned as standing
on the corner of Church street. The dwelling of Capt. Phinehas
Bradley was there and the house is still standing, having been
used of late as a house of entertainment, and not long ago bear-
ing the name of "The Woodcock." There was also a noted
tavern at the bottom of the courts where the Tremont House is
now, known in its last years as the "Assembly House." Tra-
dition tells us that Talleyrand, the famous Frenchman, stopped
at this tavern when he visited New Haven.

Capt. Bradley was a silversmith and jeweller. He had em-
ployed an English journeyman in his shop, who left the busi-
ness to join the British forces in this country. He happened
to be in the detachment of Tryon's expedition which landed at
West Haven, and well acquainted with the surrounding region

70 INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH.

he assisted in piloting it through roads crossing from Alling-
towu to Ilotclikisstown.

The house now occupied by the Misses Foster, on Elm st,
was one of those standing at the time of the invasion, and was
then the residence of Mr. John Pierpont, a grandson of Rev.
James Pierpont an early pastor of the First Church. For some
time before the actual invasion, John Pierpont and his wife
(who was a daughter of Nathan Beers, Sen.,) had felt much
anxiety as to the probability of such an occurrence. This
anxiety influenced him so far that he had made arrangements
for tlie transportation of his family to a certain place in Ham-
den, and for tlieir accommodation there, if the exigency should
arrive. Mrs. Pierpont had also fornied her plans to the same
end. When, therefore, the alarm was given, they were soon
ready, and on the way to their place of refuge. Part of their
valuables were buried in the cellar, and part were carried with
them. The house was entered by the enemy or by stragglers,
and some pilfering was done. Some of the china ware belong-
ing to the family was afterward discovered in the possession of
a resident of Wallingford. One of the chambers was found,
on the return of the family, to bear marks of having been
occu]:)ied as a temporary hospital, spots of blood and cloth toj-n
in strips for bandages being on the floor. Skirts belonging to
Mrs. Pierpont, wdiich hung in a closet, were cut off from the
waist and apparently torn up for bandages or carried away.

On the wall of one of the rooms in this house, hung a por-
trait, in oil colors, of Mrs. Rev. James Pierpont. Its companion
portrait, that of the old minister, had been previously taken
to a room in one of the buildings of Yale College, and was
carried with valuables belonging to the College, out of town
for security. When the family came back, they saw that this
portrait of Mrs. Pierpont had been cut or torn by some pointed
instrument, perhaps by the thrust of a bayonet or a sword.
Fortunately it was not seriously injured, and having been
carefully repaired it remains in good condition to perpetuate
the features of this highly respected lady.

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH. 71

The members of the household left in such haste, that a
batch of bread which had been put into the oven to bake, was
overlooked. When thej came to look after it, they found it
had been taken out of the oven, and was doubtless consumed
by the hungry invaders.

These facts were communicated by the ladies who now
occupy the house,

Capt, William Lyon resided at the time of the invasion in a
house which stood where the " Lyon Building " now is, in
Chapel street. The New Haven Bank commenced operations
about 1796, in the east front room on the ground floor of this
house, and Capt. Lyon was the first cashier. Probably some
will recall the small plain sign which hung by a string on a
nail at the side of the door, to give notice of "banking hours."
At the time when the British held possession of the town, some
of them were passing down Chapel street on the opposite side
from this house, and a musket shot was fired at them from its
windows which wounded one of their number. It would
appear that the family having vacated the premises, some
person had entered, gone up stairs, and from one of the
windows had fired on this party of the enemy and then fled by
some back way. The soldiers came across the street in great
rage, and searched the rooms to find the person who fired on
them. Not finding him, they committed considerable damage
in the way of breaking doors and windows, and by ransacking
desks, drawers and other repositories, and by tearing up and
scattering papers. But they did not go so far as to attempt the
destruction of the house. Tv\ro of the doors, one of which had
a splintered panel replaced where it was dashed out, and
another which was pierced by a musket ball, continued in use
so long as the house remained.

These facts came from Mr. W. A. Eeynolds, who for many
years occupied as an office the room whose door had in it the
splintered panel.

The house in which Isaac Beers lived, on the site of the
present New Haven House, and which was a tavern in early
days, is also one of those which have been removed within a

72 INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH.

comparatively short time. The house was built by his father,
and given by him to Isaac. It was on a large and handsome
scale. During the French war the British Commissary General
Kilbourn and his suite, occupied rooms there for considerable
length of time. Some articles of furniture which this officer
brought with him from England, are still in the possession of
descendants of Nathan Beers, Sen.

Isaac Beers was a bookseller of high repute, an importer of
valuable books, and as such, well known abroad. His store
was on the College street side of the house, and was much
frequented by literary men.

The house [in College street, on the southwest corner of
Crown, where Dr. W. L. Bradley has his office, was a public
house at the time of the invasion, under the sign of " The
Grape," and was kept by Joel Atwater, who built it in 1771.

Mr. Jeremiah Atwater, then steward of Yale College, in
some way obtained protection for this house, and its owner
remained unmolested there, although his family left town.
The house is now occupied by a granddaughter of its original
owner.

There is in the collection of curiosities in the rooms of our
Society, a cannon ball which was fired from the British fleet
just before leaving the harbor, and which lodged in the chim-
nev of a house then standing at the corner of State and Fair
streets. This house, which has recently been taken down to
make way for a new brick block, was built in 1771 by Major
William Munson, who died in 1826. It was his residence at
the time of which we are speaking, but the family had gone
from it when the British entered town. In the course of the
afternoon of Monday, the mother of Major Munson's wife, a Mrs.
John Hall, who lived a few rods south of the deserted house,
went over to it in order to secure some articles of value which
had been left there. In coming out of the house after accom-
plishing her purpose, she was met by two British officers, one
of whom raised his sword in a manner which seemed to indi-
cate to the lady an intention of cutting her throat. But it was
only to cut from her neck a string of gold beads which she
wore ; he also cut the silver buckles from her shoes.

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH. 73

It is a tradition which seems well founded, that after the
enem}' had finally embarked their troops and their vessels were
leaving the harbor, a gun-boat returned uji the harbor and
fired several times toward the town. The ball in question
doubtless came from one of these discharges. The daughter of
Major Munson, Mrs. Grace Wheeler, from whom this account
was received, remembers to have heard her father say that it
came from the harbor, tearing its way through the old Sabin
house in Union street, entering his house under a window on
the south side and finally lodging in the chimney, near or in the
fireplace. She had often seen him when there were visitors at
the house, brush off the soot irom the exposed surface of the
ball, to show it to them.

A brick house is still standing on the corner of West Water
and Columbus streets, which was inhabited at that time by
Eutherford Trowbridge, Esq., who was an earnest patriot.
When the alarm was given that the "Regulars," as the British
soldiers were often called, were coming, he placed his wife and
children in a boat at the dyke just east of his house, and sent
them round up the Quinnipiac River to North Haven. The
famil}^ left in so much hurry that a batch of bread put into the
oven to bake was left there. Having thus provided for their
safety, Mr. Trowbridge took his musket, an old " King's Arm,"
with powder-horn and bullet-pouch, all of which had done good
service in the old French War in Canada, and went out with
the volunteers to West Haven. This musket and equipments
are now in the rooms of our Society. He with others went
down toward West Haven green and attacked the British, and
he was accustomed to say that "after crossing West Bridge,
every man seemed to be fighting on his own hook." When the
enemy came on in force and were compelled to march up to
Hotchkisstown, he went on to the hills at their left and aided
in annoying them by firing from behind trees and walls. He
said that the British kept together and did not attempt to pur-
sue the assailants on the hill sides, but returned the fire when-
ever they could see the patriots, and that bullets came whizzing
abundantly past the heads of those who were behind the trees.
10

74 INVASION OF NEW HAVBN BY THE BRITISH.

After the enemy gained possession of the town, Mr. Trowbridge
was in it, but did not dare to go to liis own house, lest he should
fall into their hands. This house was in plain sight from
another, which we now know as the Totten house, at the corner
of West Water and Meadow streets. At this latter place, then
inhabited by Capt. Thomas Eice, who was a Tory of those days,
and so a favorer of the British cause, Gren. Grarth and other
British officers were entertained. Capt. Eice was a strong per-
sonal friend of Mr. '^J^rowbridge, though they differed so diamet-
rically as to public affairs. Some of the British officers noticed
the house of Mr. Trowbridge and asked "Who lives there?"
On hearing the name of the owner, and that he was what they
called a "rebel," and also that he had a brother who was a cap-
tain in the " rebel" army, and a near relative who was in com-
mand of a brig of war holding a letter of marque, cruising
against British commerce, they gave orders to visit the house.
Capt. Eice, desirous of saving his friend's property, interceded,
saying that " the family had been gone from town for some
time, and the house was shut up." Whereon the orders were
countermanded, and the house escaped visitation. On the return
of Mr. Trowbridge and family, after an absence of two days,
every thing was found undisturbed, even to the bread in the
oven. When Capt. Eice was asked, after the British had gone,
how he could say that the family had been absent " for some
time," his reply was that "some time" was a very indeiinite
period.

Capt. Eice asked and obtained protection for many of his
townsfolks and their dwellings. One of his parlors was filled
with valuables brought in by neighbors, and he was quite
anxious lest in the close survey of the premises which Gen.
Garth made, this room might be entered. But the door being
locked, no one went into it and so the property stored there
was saved to its owners.

The house of Capt. Caleb Trowbridge which was across
Meadow street from Capt. Eice's, did not fare so well. It was
furnished with unusual elegance for those days, and replete
with conveniences and luxuries. The cellar was well stored

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH. 75

with choice wines and liquors. He was the relative of
Rutherford Trowbridge, referred to as in command of a war
vessel cruising against British commerce. On learning this
fact, the enemy sacked his house, brought his line furniture out
into the street and burned it there, and made a thoi'ough
demolition of the contents of the house and cellar. Some time
afterwards when the house was undergoing repairs, bullets were
found in the ceiling and wainscoting which had been fired into
the building by the British officers for amusement.

Not far from these houses, was one in Whiting street,
occupied by Rev. Bela Hubbard, D.D., the Rector of Trinity
Church. He was a man of great kindliness of heart, and at
this time of trouble many of his parishioners came to his
house for comfort and protection. A party of British soldiers
were pursuing a poor deaf and dumb girl through the street,
and she rushed into the house of Dr. Hubbard. He had
witnessed the whole affair, and both excited and anxious to
keep the pursuers from seizing the girl, he called to his wife,
"Grace, what shall I do?" After a moment's thought, she
said, " Put on your gown." He did so, and appeared at the
door of the house in his gown, with the Prayer Book in his
hand. The soldiers as soon as they saw him, said, '' Oh ! there
is a clergyman of the Church of England," took off their caps,
made a bow, and passed along.

John Whiting, Esq , Clerk of the Courts, was also a resident
of this neighborhood. He was asked, previous to the posses-
sion of the town by the enemy, whether he would not make
his escape. His reply was that he had not borne arms, that he
was loyal to the king, and pointing to an engraving of King
George which hung on the wall of the room, he added, " This
will protect me." But when the soldiers came into the house,
they did not respect his claim of loyalty. He was holding an
office under the " Rebel Government," and moreover was a
Deacon in the First Church, and they treated him much as the
English Cavaliers would treat a Roundhead. He was carried
off as a prisoner, and so summarily it is said, that he had not
time to put on his wig.

76 INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH.

These fiicts have been coinmunicuted by ThomaH R. Trow-
bridge, Jlls({., a grandson of Rutherford, and Dr. T. H. Totten,
a grandson of Capt. Rice.

It is also stated, that while thus entertained at the house of
the latter, Gen. Garth was taken around the town, and visited
many of the public and private buildings. Among others he
went to the Court House, and surveyed the town from its roof.
He expressed himself much impressed with the view, and
remarked, " It is too beautiful a town to burn."

It is said that Tryon reproached Garth for being too tender-
hearted.

Numerous traditions like those now given, no doubt exist in
old families of our city. Had the writer known how to get
access to tliem, this paper might have been much enriched with
curious details of the scenes transacted during the afternoon
and evening of the day we are describing. But these will be
sufficient to illustrate the experiences of the captured town.

It was a matter of course that the soldiers having an abund-
ant supply of liquor should become more or less intoxicated.
Gen. Garth, as President Stiles says, was quite desirous to have
them embarked on their vessels in the afternoon on this
account, and proposed to Gen. Tryon, who was in the town a
part of the afternoon, that this should be done, but Tryon
refused his consent.

Early in the afternoon, as we also learn from Stiles, a large
number of boats filled with seamen intending to share in the
pillage of the place, came from the vessels. But Garth forbade
them to land, giving as a reason that the boats might be left
on the flats by the going out of the tide ; and only a few
succeeded in getting in the town. This was certainly fortunate,
for the addition of several hundred seamen to the number of
soldiers already engaged in the work of devastation and
cruelty, would have largely increased the amount of misery
inflicted.

And so the afternoon and evening wore slowly away to the
suffering, terror stricken inhabitants of New Haven, at the
mercy of a brutal, coarse, licentious soldiery.

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH. 77

It is lime that I sLould speak of the loss of life sustained by
the patriots, and of the number of the wounded. The New
Haven paper of July 7th, sums these up as being twenty-seven
killed and seventeen wounded. It goes on to say :

" As many of our dead upon examination appear to have been wounded with
shot but not mortally, and afterwards to have been killed witli bayonets, this
demonstrates the true reason why the number of the dead exceeded that of the
living, to be, that being wounded and falling into the enemy's hands they were
afterwards killed. A further confirmation of this charge is, that we have full and
direct testimony which affirms that Gen. Garth declared to one of our militia who
was wounded and taken, that ' he was sorry his men had not killed him instead of
taking him ; and that he would not have his men give quarter to one militia-man
taken in arms.' "

The list of the killed, as given in the newspaper referred to,
is as follows : — John Hotchkiss, killed near the second mile-
stone, Caleb Hotchkiss, Jr., Ezekiel Hotchkiss, Capt. John
Gilbert, Michael Gilbert, John Kennedy, Joseph Dorman, Asa
Todd, Samuel Woodin, Silas Woodin, Benjamin English,
Isaac Pardis, Jeduthan Thomson, Aaron Russell, a lad, Jacob
Thorp, and Pomp a negro, all of New Haven ; Eldad Parker,

Wallingford ; Bradley of Derby ; Timothy Luddington

of Guilford; John Baldvvin, Gideon Goodrich of Brauford ;
and one person whose name is unknown.

The list of the wounded is. Rev. Dr. Daggett, Nathan Beers,
who died in consequence of his injuries, David Austin, Jr.,
Elizur Goodrich, Jr., Joseph Bassett, Capt. Caleb Mix, Thomas
Mix, Israel Woodin ; — and taken, John Austin, Abraham
Pinto, Nathan Dummer, Jeremiah Austin, Edmund Smith, and
Elisha Tuttle (whose tongue the enemy cut out), all of New

Haven ; Atwater and a negro of Wallingford ; and

Benjamin Howd of Branfbrd.*

These names when counted do not make the number men-
tioned in the newspaper, nor is it eas}' to reconcile the discrep-
ancy.

The story of Capt. Gilbert's death is thus given by Barber :

" As the British entered the town, Capt. Parker, a British officer, overtaking
Capt. Gilbert, ordered him to surrender ; upon which Capt. Gilbert turning round,

* Barber's Historical Collections of Connecticut.

78 INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH.

shot the officer and badly wounded him. He was immediately pursued, and being
wounded in the leg while endeavoring to escape, was soon overtaken by the
enemy, and immediately dispatched with their bayonets."

An account of the injuries and death of Nathan Beers is
given in a letter, from Isaac Beers his son to Nathan Beers,
another son, known to many of us as the late Deacon Beers of
the North Church, who was a Lieutenant in the American
arm)^ and on service in Ehode Island. This letter is in the
valuable collection of autographs belonging to Prof. E. II.
Leflfingwell the grandson of Isaac Beers, who kindly gave the
privilege of copying it for this paper. It gives so vivid an
impression of the movements and acts of the invaders, that
although it repeats some of the statements already made, and
anticipates others which are to be made, it is worth giving here
as a whole.

"New Haven, 16th July, 1779.
" Dear Brother,

I suppose long before this that you have heard of the great misfortune that has
befallen this town in being plundered by the enemy. As I was taken up in
attending on father, and was in much confusion other ways, I desired Mr. Haz-
ard, who was then here, to inform you of our situation, and that our dear father
was then near his end, by a wound received from those bloody savages, which
letter was sent by last post, and I hope came to hand. Our father was wounded
in his own house sometime after the enemy had been in town ; the shot was
aimed at his breast, but he pushed the gun so far on one side that it passed
through his liip ; it was thought at first that the wound was not dangerous ; he
had lost so much blood before he could have relief that the wound proved fatal ;
he lived from Monday afternoon, the time he received the wound, till the Saturday
following, the most of the time in great distress, and then left this troublesome
world, I hope for one far better ; thus we have lost a kind parent by the hands of
these merciless wretches at a time which added greatly to the distress we already
had to bear with.

As I suppose you will learn by the papers the particulars of the action while
they were here, I shall omit it, only just inform you of their behavior in town.
They landed at West Haven about sunrise but were kept from getting into town till
about noon on Monday, 5th July. I was made prisoner liut had the good luck to be
released soon. No sooner had the enemy got into town than they began to plun-
der without any distinction of Whig or Tory, carrying off all the valuable articles
they could, breaking and destroying the remainder ; in many houses they broke
the doors, windows, wainscot-work, and demolished every thing inside of the
house they possibly could. Some few houses escaped by mere accident, Joel
Atwater's, Michael Baldwin's, and five or six others in that neighborhood, although

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH. 79

the families had all fled. I had the good fortune to be plundered but little. Elias
was not plundered a great deal. Father's house was plundered considerably but
not damaged any. Old Mrs. Wooster staid in her house and was most shockingly
abused, everything in the house was destroyed or carried off by them, not a bed left
or the smallest article in the kitchen ; Deacon Lyman's shared as bad, also Wm.
Lyon's, and several others in different parts of the town. They left the town early
on Tuesday morning, Chandler, Botsford and Capt. Camp with their families went
off with them. Bill Chandler was their guide into town, for which the Lord reward
him. They have carried oft" several inhabitants prisoners, among them Captain
John Mix, Hezk. Sabin, Senior, Esq'r Whiting, Thomas Barrett, Jere. Townsend,
Capt. Elijah Foster, Adonijah Sherman, &c. There were killed, belonging to town,
Constable Hotchkiss, John Hotchkiss, Ezekiel Hotchkiss, Elisha Tuttle a crazy
man. Captain John Gilbert, Joseph Dorman, Asa Todd, and several others from
the farms and country round.

Since the enemy left this place they have burned the towns of Fairfield and
Norwalk, and we were again alarmed that they were returning to burn this
town. A person who made his escape from them at Norwalk, says the officers
found much fault with the general for not burning this town when they were
here, and they swore it should be done yet — this alarms us so much that we have
moved all our effects from the town back into the country, and a great many fam-
ilies have gone out, so that we are almost desolate already — indeed 'tis the most
prevailing opinion among the most judicious, that they intend to burn all the sea-
ports."

So far the letter of Mr. Beers goes, and then breaks off
abruptly. Another account of the circumstances attending the
wounding of Mr. Beers comes from some of his descendants.
It is to this effect :

When the alarm spread that the enemy were approaching
the town, the family of Mr. Beers made ready to leave their
home. But the old gentleman would, not go with them, saying
that he had never taken up arms against the king, and it was
not likely that he would be molested. So he remained quietly
in his house, oo the corner of Chapel and York streets, and his
two negro servants staid with him. As the British troops
came towards the corner, and the noise in the street attracted
his attention, he went to the door to look out. While he stood
there three shots in rapid succession were fired on the enemy
from the garden attached to the house. The smoke being seen
to rise in that direction, three British soldiers rushed towards
him, calling out, "You d — d old rebel, why do you harbor
men in your house who fire on his Majesty's troops?" He

80 INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH.

I'eplied, " Gentlemen, no one has fired from this lionse, I can't
control men outside of iny bouse." They persisted in abusing
him and aimed their muskets at him. He pushed aside two of
these, and changed the direction of the third, so that the charge
entered his hip instead of his breast as intended. This history
of the transaction was narrated b}" himself to Dr. ^neas Mon-
son, Sen., who was his medical attendant, and by whose son.
Dr. ^neas Monson, Jr., (who himself on one occasion dressed
the wound of Mr. Beers,) it was transmitted to our time.

Isaac Beers, the son of the old man, was a member of the
Church of England, and had taken no part in the contest with
England like many other men of mature or advanced years at
that time; he had much doubt about the possibility of a suc-
cessful issue. He was neutral in the matter. Owing to this
fact, perhaps, he was able to obtain the attendance of a surgeon
attached to the English forces, soon after his father received
the wound. It was properly dressed and at first was not
regarded as likely to prove serious. But he lost considerable
blood and was much reduced in consequence. It appears that
either in the afternoon of Monday or early on Tuesdaj^, as
he was lying on a sofa, his house was entered by a party of
men, more or less disguised, who demanded money from him,
saying that he was the richest man in town. He had none, for
even if he had possessed wealth all money had been concealed
or removed from the premises. Thereupon they handled him
very roughly, dragging him from the sofa, and otherwise mal-
treating him. It is quite likely that this rough treatment
while he was in an enfeebled condition, had something to do
with the rise of fever which proved fatal.

In the list of wounded in the skirmish which took place on
Monday, the names of Rev. Dr. Daggett and Elizur Goodrich
occur. A sufficient account has been given as to the experi-
ences of the former, and those of the latter will be touched on
briefly. He was wounded in one leg during the fight, by a
bullet, but not so as to prevent him from continuing to engage
in it. On returning into town he went to his room at the
house of his uncle, Charles Chauncey, Esq.. already referred to,

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BBITISH. 81

as then standing where the Third Church now is. The family,
as may be presumed, were absent. Weary with the many hours
of being on the march, and much overcome by excitement and
the heat of the day to which he adverts as excessive, he lay
down on his bed to rest. A British soldier entered the room ;
and, either informed of the part he had taken in the fight, or
suspecting this by reason of his appearance, stabbed him in the
breast. The wound was severe, but not mortal, for he sprung
up and, wounded as he was, seized the British soldier, pushed
him against the wall, and handled him so severely that the
man begged for his life, and was let off on this a,ppeal. Though
exhausted by the struggle and suffering from pain, he then
made his way down Chapel street to the house of a Mr. Camp,
originally from Durham, Mr. Goodrich's home at that time,
and a friend of his father. This house stood where the Chapel
street Church now is, and. was protected, as its owner espoused
the English side. Mr. Camp readily gave all needed assistance
to the wounded son of his former pastor, had the wound cared
for and provided him with food and shelter for the night. On
the next day Mr. Camp and his family left New Haven with
the British troops.

The list of the wounded is imperfect, for among those who
were wounded and whose names do not appear on that list,
were two brothers of the name of Bassett, James and Timothy.
They lived with their parents in a house now about one hun-
dred and fifty years old, still standing though not occupied,
close by the stopping-place of the New Haven and Northampton
Railroad in Hamden Plains. Each of them had served a term
of either draft or enlistment in the Continental army. Timothy
had been under Gren, Gates, and had taken part in the battles
near Saratoga, which preceded the surrender of Burgoyne ; and
James had served in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and came
home in broken health. On hearing the alarm, the young men
took down their muskets from hooks which are still to be seen
on the walls of the old house, and hurried into town with
others from that quarter. They participated in the fight at
Ditch-Corner, and both were wounded, James being hit by a
11

82 INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH.

musket-bull which broke his arm, and Timothy being shot
through the body. As the last fell, a British soldier stepped
forward, and after appropriating whatever on his person was of
value, was about to inflict a fatal blow, when one of the sons of
Joshua Chandler interposed, saying that he was well acquainted
with the young man, that they had often been in pursuit of foxes
together, and begged that as the existing wound seemed likely
to prove fatal, no further violence should be inflicted. James
reached home on the evening of the same day and reported
that his brother had been killed. On the next morning the
father came into town in search of Timothy and found that he
had been carried into a house near where he fell, and was yet
living, though in a condition of extreme exhaustion. With
much difficulty he was conveyed home in the family chair or
chaise, and after continuing for nearly a year in a feeble state
of health he ultimately recovered, in a measure, although suf-
fering from the effects of the wound through the rest of his life.

It is worthy of mention here that the chair or chaise in which
the wounded man was conveyed home, is still in good condi-
tion and running order, though rather antiquated in style.

These statements were furnished by Mr. George B. Bassett,
of this city.

The amount of property destroyed in New Haven by the
invaders was large for the place and the times. A committee
appointed to estimate the value of the property thus destroyed,
gave this as being £24,893, 7s. 6d or over 100,000 dollars.*
The inconvenience and suffering occasioned by the want of
food, furniture, clothing, and like necessaries, was very great
and not to be estimated by value in money.

The facts on which we have been dwelling so far have
related to the movements of that part of the invading expedi-
tion which landed at West Haven. It may be proper to dwell
for a little space on some of the incidents attending the move-
ments of the British forces which landed on the east side of the
harbor. Those which are now to be narrated have been com-
municated by Mr. Alfred W. Morris, of Bast Haven, and taken

* HolUster's History of Connecticut, Vol. II, p. 377.

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH. 83

from memoranda made by Capt. Charles H. Townsend, of the
steamship Fulton.

It appears that at the time of the invasion, a watch was
stationed at Black Rock Fort (the Fort Hale of later days), as
signals were from time to time made from that point and were
understood by the people of East Haven. Such signals were
made in the night of Sunday, July 4, 1779, near midnight, and
were recognized as indicating the approach of a hostile fleet.
Among those who heard the signal was Chandler Pardee, a
young man then eighteen years of age, who was sitting at the
door of a friend's house engaged in social chat with other
young people. He was wearing the dress-suit of those days,
part of which consisted in short breeches and shoes with silver
buckles.

On hearing the alarm gnn the young men sprung for their
muskets and hastened to the place of rendezvous agreed on
in such a contingency. Chandler Pardee with his mind more
intent on present duty to his country than on his silver buckles,
did not wait to change his dress shoes for others more suitable
for the work before him, an omission which came near costing
him his life. The little company of militia proceeded to the
point where the lighthouse now stands, taking with them in
addition to their muskets a small cannon or swivel drawn by an
old white mare. There they waited for the landing of the
enemy.

Early on the next morning the British prepared to land.
This was done in boats or barges, each of which had a small
gun mounted on the bow. These boats moved toward the
shore in line of battle, till near the rocky point, when they sep-
arated into two divisions, one of which directed its course so as
to make a landing on the south or Sound side of the point, the
other on the harbor side. As they neared the shore iire was
opened on the little company of patriots from the guns on the
bow. Our men replied with their swivel but to little effect,
and being only a handful as it were against a large force, they
saw that it would be useless to resist the landing of the enemy,
and a retreat was ordered. But one of them more plucky or
more rash than the others, declared that he would not go till

84: INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH.

he had one shot at them with his musket, and took posi-
tion behind a tree waiting till they should come within
range. As they drew near land an officer stood erect in the
foremost boat, flourishing his sword and shouting " Disperse
ye rebels:." Here was an opportune mark for the waiting man
behind the tree, of which he took advantage. He fired appar-
ently with deadly effect, as the officer fell into the bottom of
the boat, and it is certain that one of the enemy was buried
hastily a little north of the spot where the lighthouse now
stands. He was buried so near the edge of the shore tliat
some of the bones were washed from their resting place by the
tide, being seen by the family resident on the Point. The
bones were finally gathered up and removed, but by whom this
was done is not known.

The route our men took in their retreat was along the Cove
to Beacon Hill, where they halted, probably with the idea of
making a stand behind some slight breast-works which had
been thrown up there. But seeing that the enemy were mov-
ing so as to surround them, they again retired toward the main
road. The enemy followed the old road in the march from the
Point as far as the poplar trees on Morris Cove, where the
house of Capt. Samuel Thompson stands. Scouts were then
sent out who followed the line of the East Haven hills, and
who reached Beacon Hill, where a guard was posted to hold
this commanding point. The main body passed along the
the road, and were fired on by the militia who had come in
from the neighboring towns. The enemy experienced so much
annoyance from this source that, when they reached the road
which turns off from the main road down to Black Rock Fort,
they made a halt. Then the East Haven people fell back on
the east side of Prospect Hill, behind the place now occupied
by the Town send family, and retired toward the village. The
people from North Haven, Wallingford and other towns fell
back on the shore road.

The first man killed by the British in their invasion on this
side of the harbor, was Adam Thorpe, of Cheshire. He had
been drinking freely of cider-brandy, and had fired several

INVASION" OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH. 85

times on the enemy. When be came to a place in the road
o])posite the north gate of the Townsend place, he emphatically
refused to go any farther, declaring that he " would not run
another step for all Great Britain." He was as good as his
word, and was soon pierced by many bayonets. A stone was
afterwards placed on the spot where he was killed, bearing the
inscription, " Here fell Adam Thorpe, July 5, 1779."

Somewhere along the course our men retreated from Light-
house Point occurred the affair which nearly proved fatal to
Chandler Pardee, In passing through a piece of marshy
ground he missed his footing, and stepping into the soft earth
one of his feet sunk in quite deep, so that in pulling it out he
lost off his shoe with the silver buckle attached to it. Not
being willing to lose this, he tarried behind the rest in order to
I'ecover it. While in a stooping position feeling in the mud
with his hand for the shoe with its precious buckle, a musket
ball from the pursuing enemy struck him in the lower part of
his back and traversed his body to the breast where it lodged
quiet near the surface. He was able to get to a comfortable
place to lie down before the enemy came up with him. They
were in three squads, each of which stopped to hold some con-
versation with him. Those in the first and second of these
squads spoke kindly and offered assistance, which he declined.
Those in the third were quite abusive and threatened to finish
him with their bayonets, but the officer in command restrained
them from such violence, and offered to take him with them.
This offer he declined, preferring to take the chance of being
found by his friends. After examining his wounds and pro-
nouncing him surely beyond hope of recovery, the squad went
on, leaving him to his fate. Some hours passed before he suc-
ceeded by his repeated signals in attracting friends to his assist-
ance. At last he was heard and discovered, was carried into
a house near by, surgical aid was procured and the ball easily
extracted. Subsequently there were taken from the wound a
piece of the waistband of his pantaloons, a piece of the lining,
and a piece of his shirt. His recover}^ from so dangerous a
wound amazed everyone, and none more than the surgeon who

80 INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH.

attended on him. He lived to be the father of several children,
and to have many grandchildren, among which last named were
Alfred W. Morris, formerly of East Haven, now resident in
this city, and the three brothers Chandler, Lumau, and Ruel
Pardee Cowles, well known among us.

A subsequent incident in Chandler Pardee's history is of
interest in connection with the story of his wound, though not
strictly belonging to the time of the invasion. About a year
passed before he sufficiently recovered to engage in active
duties. After this period, but how soon does not appear, he
again engaged in the service of his country, and at the age of
twenty was a prisoner of war at New York city. On one occa-
sion he heard the British soldiers on guard over him and others,
in conversation about their exploits at New Haven, Connecti-
cut, in July, 1779, relating how many " rebels" they had killed
and where they had killed them. He interrupted them by call-
ing in question the accuracy of their statements, and remarked
that he thought they did not kill all whom they supposed they
had. But the soldiers were quite confident, and some one spoke
of the case of the man killed in the " fresh meadow" at East
Haven. Said young Pardee, "I can convince you that you did
not kill that man." Their reply was that they were sure they
did ; one of them claimed to have fired the fatal shot and to
have seen the man on the ground in the agonies of death, and
to have noticed the wound where the ball passed through the
body. Chandler then, by way of convincing them, related the
conversation which was had between himself and them as they
passed along. Next removing his clothing he showed where
the ball entered his back, and where it was cut out by the sur-
geon. " Yes," said he, " I am the man you shot in the fresh
meadow.'" "Well," some one said, " haven't you got enough of
fio-hting us yet?" ''No," he answered, " I hope to kill a thou-
sand of you before I die." "You are one good fellow," they
said, "come and take a glass of toddy with us."

The invaders, after halting for a time as before mentioned at
the place where the road went down to Black Rock Fort, passed
on to the hill back of Mr. Daniel Thompson's in the Wood-

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH. 87

ward-town district, a little east of the main road, and encamped.
We have little account of their movements during the rest of
Monday and through Tuesday, except that in parties they
roamed around the adjacent country, taking whatevei' they
could carry away, and destroying whatever they could not.
Some penetrated as far as the village, which was mostly de-
serted by its inhabitants, except a few Tories who were the
natural allies of the enemy and joined with them in stealing
and destroying the property of neighbors.

On Tuesday morning a scouting party of the British killed a
sheep near the house of Mr. Jedediah Andrews, back of Prospect
Hill, and commenced the operations of dressing and cooking it.
Capt. Andrews (father of Jedediah), with some other East
Haven people, crept up under cover of a dense fog and fired on
them, killing an officer and two soldiers. The three were buried
near the spot, where a thrifty evergreen tree stands covered
with "bitter-sweet" and "green-briar."

As mentioned in an earlier part of this paper, the British
made preparations to leave New Haven early on Tuesday morn-
ing. The militia of the surrounding towns were fast coming in,
and the English generals began to be afraid of being surrounded,
and possibly of being cut off from their vessels in the harbor.
Tryon in conference with Garth on the afternoon of Monday
had concluded to withdraw the troops. Hence Garth issued
orders to his division to parade on New Haven green at one
o'clock the next morning for the purpose of leaving the place.
The families of Tories in the town were notified of the intended
departure, and the names of three such are given as joining in
the departure, viz : that of Joshua Chandler, of Capt. Camp,
and of a Mr. Botsford. A fourth is said to have gone, but the
name of it is not given by tradition.

Such of the troops as were not unfitted by intoxication
crossed over to East Haven and joined the division under the
immediate command of Tryon. These marched through East
Haven street, burned several houses, and committed many acts
of brutal violence.

The houses near the point where the enemy landed on this

88 INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH.

side were geiierall)' burned. Only one remained standing in
that quarter on Wednesday afternoon when the fleet was mak-
ing sail to leave. It would seem that the enemy could not be
satisfied to let this escape, and at the last moment a boat was
sent to the shore to burn this also. It belonged to Mr. Jacob
Pardee, father of Chandler, whose adventures have been de-
scribed.

From the "East Haven Register," by Rev. Stephen Dodd,
long a Congregational minister in that town, it appears that the
enemy burned on the east side of the harbor, eleven dwelling
houses, nine barns, and several out-buildings. The value of the
property thus destroyed, as estimated by a committee of the
Legislature, was £4,154, 9s. 4d The largest individual loss
was that of Mr. Amos Morris, being £1,235, 15s. 4d

Mr. Morris, with his son Amos, Jr., residing at the Point, were
peculiarly exposed to annoyance from the British and the Tories.
They had built a fine new house only a few years before the war,
and this was among those destroyed. On that memorable Mon-
day morning, he with his large family had been busy in the
early hours removing articles of furniture and the like, to hiding-
places where they hoped they might be secure. All the stock
except swine were driven away ; small things, as tools, pieces of
crockery ware, were concealed in the woods, and a stocking leg
filled with silver, coin was thrust into a hole in a stone wall.
Much of this property, however, was found and carried off,
probably in part at least by Tories. The crockery was broken
in pieces. The stocking leg of silver remained undiscovered,
notwithstanding the fact that the "red-coats" passed directly
over the wall where it was hid, and that one end of the stocking
was exposed to view. The women and children were sent
away in full time to escape personal danger, while Mr. Morris
and his hired man remained at the work of securing the prop-
ertv to the last moment. When it seemed to him quite unsafe
to stay longer, he said, "Now I will put a tankard of cider on
the table, and perhaps they will spare my house." He went to
the cellar for the cider, and as he came back he caught sight of
the enemy, and exclaiming " Here they are upon us," made a

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH. 89

hasty retreat, followed by the man. Moving so as to keep the
house between themselves and the approaching enemy, they
reached a stone wall. In climbing over this they were seen and
a shower of bullets flew over them as tliey skulked along the
wall with heads down. Presently they came to the usual gate-
way in such walls, an open space furnished with rails for clos-
ing it As they passed this opening and were seen, another
volley of musketry greeted them, but they escaped unhurt and
were soon out of danger. The rails did not escape so well, being
riddled by the balls. One of these rails, notwithstanding its
perforated condition, continued in use as late as the year 1845,
when a relic-hunter saw and coveted it. The perforated part
was sawed out, and found its way to the rooms of the Historical
Society at Hartford, where it may still be preserved as a relic of
the Revolutionary War.

Three cannon shot have been found on the Point farm since
that war, and another was found near Beacon Hill which is
known to have been fired from the British fleet on the day it
left the harbor.

The story of their last shot in the direction of East Haven is
somewhat remarkable. On Wednesday afternoon, while the
house of Mr. Jacob Pardee was in flames, two of the residents
of the neighborhood were sitting on a log on the top of Beacon
Hill watching the fleet and congratulating themselves that the
enemy were soon to leave. They were noticed by some of the
enemy and a cannon shot was (ired at them. Strange as it may
seem, at that distance and the object of aim being only the two
men sitting on the log, one of them was killed by that last shot.
Both saw the flash of the gun when discharged, one dropped
behind the log and escaped, the other kept his position and was
struck on the head by the ball.

It was mentioned that on Tuesday morning such of the enemy
as were not unfitted for duty by intoxication crossed the river
to East Haven and joined Tryon's division. The others, who
constituted the larger part of the force under Garth, were
marched down to the head of Long Whai'f and conveyed by
boats to the vessels. A body of one hundred and fifty men
12

90 INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH.

was left to the last with orders to set fire to the stores on the
wharf, which was done between six and seven o'clock, and
thej were then taken to their ships.* The enemy carried off
several prisoners, most of whom were captured while unarmed,
and part of them had not borne arms at all against the king.
Just before the embarkation of these troops from Long Wharf,
a proclamation was read publicly, promising freedom to such
negroes belonging to residents in New Haven as would go
with the fleet. But so far as appears none availed themselves
of the opportunity. In this connection, a story touching one
such negro may be in place. He was the servant of Mr. John
Townsend who lived on the corner of Elm and College streets,
where the First Methodist Church is now. Some soldiers of
the enemy had been quartered on Mr. Townsend, and when
leaving early on Tuesday morning they called this negro,
Lantz or Lant by name, and directed him to carry their bundles
of plunder. A son of Mr. Townsend, in order to prevent the
loss of the negro which was quite likely if he went with the
soldiers, offered to carry the bundles, and they finally agreed
to this. Mr. Townsend coming out while this parley was going
on and the party had moved along a little way on the upper
part of the green, was robbed of his silver knee and shoe
buckles. Perhaps another story about " Lantz " may be per-
mitted here, though not germane to the topic of this paper.
This negro came to New Haven from Boston with the first of
the Townsends who settled here, and was a native of Africa
bought from a slaver who had brought him to Boston. A
short time after the family made their home here, he was sent
for the cows to a pasture which was near where tlie house of
Gen. Terry is, on Prospect street. When he came back he said
that there was a big black thing eating up the apples out there ;
that he had told it not to eat Massa's apples, but it took no
notice of him ; that he threw a stone at it and it went up a
tree. The neighbors suspected what it was, and going out
with their muskets shot it ; and it proved to be one of the
largest bears ever seen in the vicinity of New Haven.

* Stiles' Diary.

INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH. 91

As previously mentioned, the enemy left the town of New
Haven early on Tuesday morning. In the course of the fore-
noon, Major Gen. Ward of the State Militia who was on the
ground during part of Monday's conflict, directing in the efforts
to repel the enemy, entered the town and proceeding by way
of Neck Bridge to East Haven, took command of four regi-
ments of militia which had come in during the night. With
these he pressed Tryon closely, compelling the enemy to
evacuate Beacon Hill which our people at once occupied,
planting a field-piece there with which a lively fire was kept
up on the British vessels. Tryon in retiring burned the bar-
racks at Black Rock and embarked his troops at evening.
According to accounts given earlier, the fleet did not actually
sail, however, till Wednesday, when it proceeded westward to
repeat its work of destruction at Fairfield.

After the enemy had left our town it is said that great
numbers of people from the adjacent country came rushing in,
impelled in part no doubt by curiosity, and in part it may be
feared with an idea of profiting by the general confusion.
There can be no reasonable doubt that much of the stealing
from houses temporarily deserted by their occupants was done
by such persons. It seems hard to think so ; to think that any
would be so base as to take the opportunity afi^orded by their
townsmens' alarm and misfortunes. Yet so much testimony
exists on the subject, that the fact cannot well be doubted.
Cases are mentioned where articles of furniture, of clothing
and the like, belonging to families residing here were found in
houses in neighboring towns inhabited by persons who claimed
to be well-wishers of the American cause ; but who somehow
had obtained possession of them. It would seem as if in
pilfering from deserted houses, the thieves hoped and expected
that all the mischief and loss would be attributed to the enemy
and on this account were more bold in their work. The state-
ment has been made, that probably not less than one half of
the destruction and loss of property was occasioned by this
class of persons.

As one reason sometimes given for the escape of the town

92 INVASION OF NEW HAVEN BY THE BRITISH.

from even greater injury, and especially from a general con-
flagration, it has been said that the intoxicated state of the
British soldiers saved the town. The means of becoming drunk
were so abundant in the cellars of those days, that the soldiers
indulged freely in the pleasures of drinking and were less
systematic and thorough than they might otherwise have been
in the work of mischief.

It has also been affirmed that while the enemy were in
possession of the town, they threatened if they were fired on
in leaving, the town should be burned in retaliation. The
threat may have been efficacious in preventing such molestation
of the retiring troops, and the town was thus spared except
the stores on the wharf.

Such, then, is a connected narrative of the British invasion
of New Haven, on July 5, 1779, as made out by putting
together the facts which have been gathered from different
sources. Much in the way of additional detail might no doubt
have been added, if it had been attainable. But enough has
been related to remind us who live herein peace and quietness,
of our happy exemption from the troubles through which our
fathers passed.

May it never be the ill- fortune of our beautiful town to
undergo another hostile invasion.

THE

POETRY AND POETS OF CONNECTICUT.

By R. W. WRIGHT.

[Read March 28, 1870.]

I AM by no means certain that the paper which I shall read
this evening will be acceptable, as a historical one, to this
society. I have taken for my subject " The Poetry and Poets
of Connecticut," and shall deal with the former much more
exclusively than with the latter, for reasons that, if not appar-
ent, at least paramountly weigh in my own mind.

For, paradoxical as the proposition may seem, poetry, as an
element of beauty, must precede the poet in the order of ex-
istence, as it precedes him in the order of this paper. As it
would be impossible to project a shadow without a substance,
so, without the elements of beauty in Nature, it would be
impossible for either the poet or the painter, with mere words or
pigments, to project his thoughts upon paper or canvas ; aiid
as no painter has yet conceived, much less created a color that
does not exist in nature — that has not its primary base in the
solar ray — so no poet, "with all his longings for that upward
flight, which fancy, seraph-winged, will sometimes make," has
ever gone beyond or outreached nature in her exposition of
beauty has ever given her back a thought that was not pri-
marily of her own conception and utterance.

Mr. Poe's definition of poetry as " a rhythmical creation of
beauty," is therefore radically defective. In the strictness and
rigor of language there is no such thing as creativeness in poe-

94 POETRY AND POETS OF CONNECTICUT.

try. Tmagiiitition may body forth the forms of things unknown,
but the bodyings- forth, when known, must have their counter-
part or exposition in nature, or they will not be recognized
as creations. And it may be said, here, that the nearer the poet
strikes to nature in his word-paintings, the nearer he comes to
universal recognition as a poet — as a creative genius in his art.
Mr. Poe's definition is, also, incomplete. It would limit the poet
to the mere mechanical processes and effects of language, with-
out lifting him into that high imaginative mood in which he
becomes the interi)reter and delineator of nature.

Poetry and painting are the two arts which are nearest of
kin. As the one is an art by which we imitate or transfer the
beauties of nature upon canvas, so the other is equally an art
by which we delineate or interpret the beauties of nature into
language. And I would be understood as using the term
nature here in its widest and profoundest sense, as embodying
every aspect and principle of the universe, physical as well as
spiritual, with their correlative attributes of beauty, goodness
and truth.

As the art of painting embraces all material forms and visible
aspects of nature, as well as those more dreamy outlines or
glimmerings of existence that lie far away in the background
of the picture, like the mists or vapor-wreaths encircling some
far-off mountain, and only reflecting the haziest tints of the
atmosphere, so poetry includes all these outward forms and
aspects of nature, as material to work upon, as well as the pas-
sions, intuitions and aspirations which find their presence in
the human soul, and are as often perhaps expressed upon can-
vas as in the word-painting of the poet. The character of
grandeur, for instance — one of the most difiicult of nature's
attributes to reach — may be imparted by color in painting, the
same as vividness of expression may impart or actually realize
it in poetry. The abrupt lights and shadows of some of the old
masters, like the " light upon dark and dark upon light " in
Titian, produce perhaps as powerful an effect upon the imagin-
ation as the corresponding characteristics, or the most vivid
flashes of light upon shadow or darkness, in poetry. Even

POETRY AND POETS OF CONNECTICUT. 95

Byron's "live thunder," leaping from peak to peak among
the rattling crags of the Alps, making them actually to speak
or call to each other, is not a more difficult feat to accomplish
in painting than in poetry; at all events, the master genius in
the one art can as well reach it with all the vividness of By-
ron's coloring, as the master genius in the other. They are
equally — the poet and the painter — the worshippers and high
priests of the beautiful, the grand, and the sublime in nature;
the principal difference being, that the one worships with the
brush, the other with the pen ; the one speaks to the imagina-
tion through the eye, the other through the ear ; the one paints
with pigments, the other with words.

This brief analysis brings me to speak of our Connecticut
poetry. And first, the poetry of our own state, like that of
every other state or country, partakes largely of two predomin-
ant characteristics — the beauties of its landscape scenery, and
the mental and moral peculiarities and habitudes of its people.
The poetical grandeur, dramatical greatness, and lyrical excel-
lence of Greece, grew out of these peculiarities ; and even the
language in which her wonderful word-structures were built re-
ceived its rhythmical qualities as much from nature with her har-
monious blendings of light and shade, and the rippling cadences
of her sea- washed shores, as from the intellectual culture and de-
velopment of her people. In fact, the culture and development
of Greece were precisely what might have been predicated
of her people, from a knowledge of their character, and the
exquisitely beautiful scenery which her poets were to delineate
or interpret into language. All her ministrations of the beauti-
ful were from nature, touching the poetic soul of her bards, and
finding expression in the mellifluous language at their com-
mand. It is true, they gave to the world, in the proper sense,
c7-eatio7is of their own — scenes in which the imaginative genius
shadowed itself forth in independent and wonderfully original
word-paintings ; but the manifold forms and colors and sounds
and sentiments were all of Greece — a repetition of her land-
scape beauties, and the mental and moral characteristics and
qualities of her people. Beyond these, her most magnificent

96 POETRY AND POETS OE CONNECTICUT.

imagery and invention did not go. Even the grand mytholog-
ical machinery introduced into her poetry, was identified with,
and limited to, the soil of Greece — a part of its poetic coloring;
and the Greeks, you will recollect, carried this deification busi-
ness so far, that every locality had its god, every woman her
Juno, and every man his genius, which served as their titular or
gaardian divinity.

And this particular characteristic or feature of their religion
was a most fruitful source of poetic inspiration, as every classi-
cal scholar knows. In Connecticut, and among our own prosaic
and industrial people, we have of course no such machinery,
except as we borrow it from the ancients, or personify nature
after their characteristic invention — imparting to her an imagery
which, say what we may, is both pleasing and natui'al to the
imaginative intellect.

To preserve the more complete similitude between poetry
and painting, and thereby correctly classify the poetry and
poets of our own state, I shall be pardoned for making a still
further analysis of the two arts, as they stand co-related to each
other. In standing before the work, for instance, of a great
master in painting, we perceive at once, if we have an}' eye to
comprehend the art, that he has so combined the scattered parts
into one general whole, at least in effect, that both the universal
and the individual are alike animated in the picture, and ar-
ranged according to the just rules of the art. It is perceived
that the artist has shown no preference for this particular part
of the painting or that, except that the objects in the foreground
are delineated with more precision and depth of outline and
color than those which loom up into grandeur in the distance,
and constitute the real poetic effect of the painting. For just
in proportion as the imagination of the artist kindles upon the
canvas, the reverse of perspective is realized ; that is, the far-off
objects become grand and imposing, or have their magnitude
and beauty increased invariably, if not in a direct ratio, with
their apparent distance from the foreground. Directly the re-
verse of this is true of paintings in which there is no genius,
whether you take the drawings of a child upon a slate, or the

POETRY AND POETS OF CONNECTICUT. 97

daubings of mediocrity upon canvas. Here everything in the
way of artistic effect is expended upon the foreground, with
nothing but platitude, or the sheerest indistinctness of outline
in the distance. It is the mere eye looking upon nature and
seeing immediate objects, with everything becoming indistinct
or diminutive as it recedes, and the diminutive becoming, not
beautifully but otherwise less by degrees, until it is completely
lost in the vanishing lines. Paintings of this description, unless
designed as caricatures upon originals, are utterly devoid of
genius. They are produced from the perspective of the eye,
and not from that of the imagination ; they command neither
wonder nor admiration, and only impart pleasure as the objects
delineated are truthful to nature.

And this is precisely the effect produced by genius in esthetic
poetry. It goes out after the beautiful in nature, and proves
its divine title to recognition by attaining it in the far distance
— in the delineation of the beautiful which lies beyond the per-
spective of the natural eye, but is distinctly recognizable by the
eye of the imagination, in which it looms up into the grandeur
of objects as seen in paintings, when touched by the master
hand of genius in the art. What constitutes poetry in its high-
est esthetic sense, is not a delineation of nature in her more
common or unattractive moods or phases, but in those imagina-
tive colorings that give reality to that which is sometimes
seemingly the most unreal ; as when, instead of cities of mere
brick and mortar, disfigured by the smoke and smudge of work-
shops, and the din and hammering of the more laborious indus-
tries, you see the uprising, as through a mirage, of more won-
derful cities still, dipped in the gold of sunbeams and mist, and
standing out as reality where nothing can seem more unreal.
Such a result is at once a creation of beauty, and a delineation
of nature from the poet's imaginative stand-point. It is an up-
lifting of the soul to the realm above the real, where glimpses
of enthralling beauty are caught by the prescient eye, to be dis-
closed as a revelation to such as have not the imaginative reach,
and yet have an appreciation of what is unattainable to them
in beauty, when actually reached by another. And all of these
13

98 POETRY AND POPJTS OF CONNECTICUT.

creations lie, as it were, in the background of poetry or word-
painting, and distinguish the true poet from the mere rhythmi-
cal creator of verse, who is devoid of that higher inspiration
which goes out with unsatisfied longings after the unattainable
in beauty. The following imaginative lines, which I shall take
but a moment in reading, will serve to illustrate my meaning
in this connection better than any mere metaphysical or dialecti-
cal distinctions I can here stop to make. The poem is entitled
the " Star- Waltz " :

I.

I sometimes dream of a starry waltz

That I see in the evening sky,
And my dream, though strangely weird and wild,

Seems doubly reality ;
For I see along the azure vault.

In this dream of dreams to me,
Such a rhythmic whirl and dance of stars

As never can seem, but be.

II.
I've dreampt it not once, but a thousand times.

And every time it has seemed
More real than at first, until I have come

To think that I have not dreamed ;
But have really seen the starry waltz

That my conjuring fancy made,
In a brilliant dash at the hal au masque

By the gods in masquerade.

III.

At first a confused and misty troop

Of stars go dancing by,
In a sort of running gallopade

Along the evening sky ;
And then they take such crystalline forms

As are seen in the flaky snow,
Or such as in the kaleidoscope

Fantastically burn and glow ;

IV.

And anon they leap into rhythmic curves,

And angles and spheres and zones,
And prisms that on their axes burn

As well as glittering cones,

POETRY AND POETS OF CONNECTICUT, 99

And, thus arrayed, they join in a waltz.

Or spherical dance on high.
As if to geometrically solve

The truth of Deity I

V.

And again they flash in the merry ring,

And twinkle and burn and glow,
Like brOIiant rhombs of Iceland spar

When pierced by the sun's bright bow ;
And the skies, they change to a dusky hue,

Or a field of bluey slate.
As the starry waltzers come and go,

To flash and scintillate.

VI.

And then they take the form of a ship

With hulk and mast and spars.
And pennon and prow and gleaming sails.

All made of the flashing stars ;
And the vessel, it sails right up the sky.

As if the heavens were steel.
And a magnet burned like a seraph's thought

Through the length of its glittering keel.

VII.

And the sailors on board this flashing ship

Are mariners strange to see,
With starry foreheads that glitter and burn

Like the front of Deity ;
And the man at the helm steers straight aloft

As if he would plough his way
Through the crystal depths of the peerless night

To the stellar gates of day.

VIII.

And moving along the azure vault

Are the constellations bright,
All spangled with stars like the Runic shields

That flashed in the Norsemen's right ;
And they follow the wake of the glittering ship,

As it ploughs the stellar sea.
In a grand procession of gods and men

That crowd immensity I

100 POETRY AND POETS OF CONNECTICUT.

IX.

I shall dream this dream again to-night

Of the starry gallopade,
And shall see the merry waltzers dance

Their gambols by fancy made ;
And the wonder of wonders will be to me,

That the stars should nightly seem
Only a mystery in fact —

A reality in dream I

Here we have what Poe may call " a rhythmical creation of
beauty," with no greater imaginative stretch than that of Job,
who makes tlie morning stars to sing together, or of those other
ancients who framed the constellations and gave them distinct
individual embodiment as they took their nightly march
through the heavens.

And this further analysis suggests two classes of poets with
their intermediate grades, of which Connecticut can happily
boast of both, with all their intermediates. First^ those who
work in the foreground of the canvas, and give us rhythmical
creations of beauty, without any imagination to reverse the
perspective, or any projections into that wonderful atmosphere
of thought which invests the majestic in painting in robes of
beauty and grandeur ; and second^ those who draw aside the
curtain from the foreground of existence and at once give us
that wondrous beauty and precision of outline and detail,
which, with all their reverse effect, still harmonize with the
lines of the flying perspective.

Of the first, or more numerous class, I shall say but little
more than that the best of their poetry is only respectable
rhythm, while the greater part of it is of that quality that
neither gods nor men would tolerate, were toleration recognized
as the most commendable virtue extant. Among some twenty
or thirty names that might be given, beginning with Eoger
Wolcott and coming down to our own time, you will fail to dis-
cover anything more, at best, than here and there a few ai'tisti-
cally modulated and well arranged lines or stanzas. There is
nothing, in all the labored and voluminous productions of this
class of poets during the period named, that is either subtly

POETRY AND POETS OF CONNECTICUT. 101

analytic, original or inventive in design or execution, or that
marks its author as a master of the imaginative in any one of
its many and diversified phases. I would rather have written
that little " Epithalmium " of Brainard, commencing —

" I saw two clouds at morning
Tinged with the rising sun ;
And in the dawn they floated on
And mingled into one ;" —

than to have penned a dozen such works as the "Conquest of
Canaan," "Greenfield Hill," or the more inspiring "Columbiad."
I know that to have said this much a half century or more
ago, and made the classification which the world now recog-
nizes as just, of President D wight, Joel Barlow, Col. Hum-
phries, and all their contemporaries (if we except Trumbull as
a satirical writer), as poets, would have been high literary
treason against our local university, and the meanest sort of
estimation in which to hold that brilliant coterie of literary
gentlemen, self-styled the " Hartford Wits," which boasted of
that city as the seat of the Connecticut muses, and gave to the
world that series of literary papers entitled "Extracts from
the Anarchiad." That there was literary merit of a high order
in these productions, no one will deny ; but that there was any
of that subtle fire of intellect, distinguishing genius from
mediocrity, none will have the temerity to assert. A few
devotional hymns of Dr. Dwight have done more in handing
down his name as a poet, than all the high-sounding and wide-
flaming "heroics" that he so laboriously penned. And it is
questionable whether Barlow's reputation to-day, as a poet, is
any greater than it would have been, if his " Hasty Pudding "
and a few other fugitive pieces, had been all that he left
behind him in the way of poetical efibrt. Both of these
writers ambitiously struck for the Epic field, each attempting
to out-Homer Homer, in the distinguishing characteristics of
the Iliad and the Odyssey as translated by Pope, without
remembering that Virgil was the first and only successful
imitator of these two wonderful productions.

102 POETRY AND POETS OP CONNECTICUT.

Had either of them possessed the genius to write an epic, he
should not have attempted it in the strain of Pope's translation
of Homer. Tliat translation was bad enough to have killed
forty Homers in Homer's day, and that both D wight and
Barlow should have fallen before their attempted imitations,
was an act of literary retribution as timely as it was just. To
appreciate the force of this criticism, take the following
description in part, of the battle of Ai, from the " Conquest,"
by Dwight :

" Now the swift chariots 'gainst the stubborn oak
Dash'd ; and the earth re-echoes to the shock :

:|c 4: 4: 4: 4< 4=

Here the thick clouds, with purple lustre bright,

Spread o'er the long, long host and gradual sink in night ;

Here half the world was wrapt in rolling fires,

A.nd dreadful valleys sank between the spires ;

Swift ran black forms across the livid flame,

And oaks waved slowly in the trembling beam ;

Loud was the mingled noise ; with hollow sound,

Deep rolling whirlwinds roar, and thundering flames resound."

This quotation is a fair specimen from a literary performance
that runs through eleven mortal books ; in fact, Griswold
selects it as among the finest passages of the author. It is
enough to say that it is not poetry, but hyperbole run mad.
That a chariot, even when driven by such formidable warriors
as those assembled before Ai, should, in running against an
oak tree, have produced such a violent concussion as to cause
the whole earth to re-echo to the shock, was a vehicular per-
formance on the part of the driver that certainly entitled him
to be immortalized in the most superlative heroics ; and that
half the world should have been wrapped in *• rolling fires,"
before the little walled village of Ai, by men having only
spears, shields, and battering-rams (not villainous gunpowder)
to fight with, was another performance which no amount of
hyperbole or exaggeration could have outmatched in brilliancy
of effect ; and that the " stubborn oak " against which the chariot
dashed with such calamitous shock, should have been so pliant
and yielding as to wave to and fro at the touch of a " trembling

POETRY AND POETS OF CONNECTICUT. 103

beam of light," was something so entirely at variance with the
laws of dynamics that we do not wonder at its mention in
connection with the other marvellous incidents of the battle.

In the " Columbiad "' of Barlow, we have the same measure
and characteristic rhythm as in the " Conquest," only more
smoothness, and perhaps less turgidity, with here and there a
line or two possessing something like poetic fire. To have
attempted such a work, however, so immediately connected in
point of time with the events described, shows that the author
had no true conception of his task, or of the difficulties attend-
ing its execution. All poetry, and especially that vital quality
of it required to build the epic, must be in a measure detached
from the truth of history, and particularly that history which
is immediate and not remote. The distance in time must be
such as to throw some of those mysterious " shadowings " upon
the canvas, which shall ever afterwards haunt the imagination
as though they had been, to use the language of Allston,
" stolen from the mysterious land of dreams :"

" As in that twilight superstitious age
"When all beyond the narrow grasp of mind
Seems fraught with meanings of supernal kind."

On the contrary, all truth, and that of history above all, is stern,
severe and exacting in its demands ; it has little if any sympa-
thy with, or affinity for, the myrtles. To wrench it from its
accustomed place, or the true moral sense base, so to speak, on
which it rests, and bridge over the chasmal difference between
the two — that is between truth and poetry — is a work that has
never yet been successfully accomplished. Dr. D wight was the
more fortunate of the two in the selection of a subject, but even
with the advantage of so many intervening centuries, he could
not bridge the chasmal difference, and constantly mistook truth
for poetry ; or rather the exaggeration of it for poetry. He
wanted, however, the imaginative intellect and poetic fire to
kindle the remote parts of the canvas, and widen up the con-
verging lines of the perspective into beauty and grandeur. He
may have had an unquenchable thirst for the beautiful, but

104 POETRY AND POETS OF CONNECTICUT.

there was no crystal spring at which he could slake it — at least
he never found one. The poetical ecstasy with which he was
inspired, was seemingly satisfied by drinking at the most turgid
fountain that ever flowed from "our Connecticut Helicon" —
the precise locality of which may be inferred from the following
couplets that used to be bandied about somewhat defiantly at
Yale a quarter of a century or more ago :

" Who leaves these walls of brick and mortar
To draw outside his Hel'con water,
Shall, like old Tantalus, be cursed
With direst pangs of gnawing thirst."

But I must leave these two literary magnates, to do justice to
one of their contemporaries, and to claim for Connecticut the
best satirical poem, all points of excellence considered, that
America has yet produced. I refer of course to Trumbull's
McFingal. Of all the literary wits of his day, Trumbull was
the most modest and unpretending, for the very reason that he
possessed the most genius. Without being either novel or
boldly original in his work, he upreared the only enduring
poetical fabric of our Revolutionary period. Those who do not
agree with me in this estimate of his McFingal, will hardly
deny that it is the best imitation of the great satire of Butler
that has been written, either in this country or England. Its
popularity at the time was so great, that it passed through
several editions in this country, and was republished in Eng-
land ; and it can be found to-day on almost every scholar's
book-shelf in the United States. In fact no library of Ameri-
can literature would be complete without it ; and it is no small
credit to Connecticut that she can claim this poem as the pro-
duct of her genius.

She can, however, make still higher claims. She has pro-
duced the best American poetess^ and, in the higher esthetic
reaches of pure fancy, the best American poet As both these
affirmations may be controverted by the friends and admirers
of other American poets, I shall devote no inconsiderable share
of this paper to the enforcement of my propositions. And as

POETRY AND POETS OF CONNECTICUT. 105

fewer persons will claim a superior to Mrs. Sigourney, or the
poetess, than in the case of the poet, I shall be much briefer in
my references to and reflections upon the former than the latter.
Taking Mr. Poe's definition of poetry as " a rhythmical creation
of beauty," without reference to the far-reaching fancy, or that
power which clothes nature and the human passions with the
ideal glow that the painter gives to far-oif objects, Mrs. Sig-
ourney stands unrivalled as an American poetess. She was
endowed with a fine, rather than a vehement poetical sensibility,
and consequently realized far more delicacy than depth of
expression in her word-paintings. There are no striking or
gorgeous combinations of color, and none of those deeper and
richer tones of it that belong to the distant perspective in
painting, but there is more or less sweetness, and harraonious-
ness of rhythmical cadence, as well as uniformity of artistic
modulation, which, taken in connection with the extent and
variety of her productions — their religious and moral character,
and their effect upon the popular mind — place her in advance of
any female poet our country has produced. Other female ver-
sifiers have given us more brilliant and beautiful effusions, but
have failed to reach her general excellence in the particulars
named. The twenty-four lines written by Hannah F. Grould
upon '* a name in the sand," are unsurpassed in poetical
thought and expression by any equal number of lines by Mrs.
Sigourney ; and the same may be said of some of the more
finished productions of Mrs. Osgood and other American
female poets. What she lacks however in the ideal^ she makes
up in moral elevation, while some of her random shado wings
take the inspired tinge of those rarer prismatic colors that mark
the true genius in poetry. She has done much in delineating
our landscape scenery, and portraying the intellectual and moral
character of our people. The future scholar of history will fix
upon the period covered by her writings as one not only of
great moral excellence and purity; but as remarkably free
from the cant and intolerance of religious fanaticism. In this
respect her writings deserve the highest praise that can be
accorded them, and it is questionable whether she would have
14

106 POETRY AND POETS OF CONNECTICUT.

left us an equally valuable legacy, had her genius been of a
much higher order. Her inspiration was not of the fancy so
much as of the heart; and yet she was not like Mrs. Osgood,
an emotional poet, but rather one whose strength lay in her
intellectual and moral culture. Her word-paintings are not
suggestive, that is they leave no room for the imagination to
play outside of the picture drawn ; but they are executed with
such elaborateness of coloring and truthfulness to nature as to
disarm criticism of its rudeness, and censure of its severity
Some of her Spenserian stanzas (the grandest and most difficult
perhaps of all to construct) are of a very high order, intellect-
ually considered, and are modulated with remarkable skill
and power. Her "monody upon the death of Brainard " may
be taken as an example. But the most satisfactory evidence,
perhaps, of her superiority, is to be found in the effect of her
poetry upon the popular mind, and the almost universal
recognition of her supremacy among American female poets,
both in this country and in Europe. This, though by no
means a uniformly accurate test, is the highest that can be
given in the way of contemporaneous popularity. The title
awarded her in England as the " Hemans of America " is an
evidence that the claim of Connecticut to the " best American
female poet" is not a pretentious one; and in this universality
of her recognition lies the strength of our claim. She had the
advantage, it is true, of being the first conspicuous claimant in
the field, and she as well as her friends, no doubt, used it in
such a way as to contribute largely to her popularity. But
there were disadvantages also attending this position, which
could only be counterbalanced by earnest and indefatigable
effort on her part. The effort was made, and was successful ;
and, as her fame is a part of our literary legacy, I have en-
deavored to guard it without adulation ; neither seeking to
conceal defects, nor to exaggerate beauties beyond their just
claim to popular recognition. In fact, the recognition is con-
ceded, and the only point for us to contest is the correctness of
the popular judgment. As we have no American poetess in
the field, disputing her claims, it only remains to leave her

POETRY AND POETS OF CONNECTICUT. 107

reputation where Time — the grand arbiter of literary destinies
— shall eventually dispose of it.

I now come to my third and more substantial claim, which
is, that Connecticut has produced the best American poet in
the higher reaches of fancy and the intellect. I use the term
fancy here, not as identical with imagination^ but as the outly-
ing faculty or sentinel to it, the office of which is to seize upon
the different materials furnished by the imagination, and make
choice of those which shall be presented to the appreciative in-
tellect. With all due deference to so fine a poet, if not meta-
physical thinker, as Wordsworth, I must diifer with him in
respect to the ojQ&ces which he assigns to fancy and the imagin-
ation. In referring to their separate offices, he says :

" In what manner fancy ambitiously aims at a rivalship with
imagination^ and imagination stoops to work with the materials
oi fancy might be illustrated from the compositions of all elo-
quent writers, whether in prose or verse."

With a transposition of subjects and an interchange of predi-
cates in this sentence, we should have the true office of each of
these faculties ; for it is the fancy which works with the materi-
als of the imagination — the creative faculty — selecting the
unique, the bizarre, the fanciful (if you please), as well as the
beautiful, the majestic, the sublime. All men have imagination,
(that is, more or less of it), but it is only the inspired poet who
has the all-pervading fancy, that faculty of the mind which
goes out after the beautiful in nature, and culls it from the
materials presented by its accompanying faculty. And this
office accords with the ordinary sense in which we use the
term ; it being the esthetic taste of the poet, and not the imagin-
ation, which simply creates without the exercise of the poetic
taste. Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress is one of the most imagina-
tive works ever written, but there is no poetry in it, with all the
writer s attempt to intersperse it. He had the imaginative in-
tellect, but not the poetic fancy. He gives us a great variety
of pleasing pictures, but no paintings, and nothing in which
either unique or gorgeous combinations of color can be traced.
The same is true of De Foe's Robinson Crusoe, which is purely

108 POETRY AND POETS OF CONNECTICUT.

a work of the iuuigination, giviug lis beuutif Lilly divensilied
pictures without any of those delicate touches of fancy, or ideal
colorings, that warm up the more imaginative background of
the painting. The imagination sketches or outlines the picture
— the fancy fills it up — gives it its poetic coloring. The imagi-
nation quarries to its utmost height — the fancy works upon the
materials quarried and idealizes them into Raphaelistic life and
beauty. In other words, fancy is the eye of the imagination,
the perception and appreciation of created beauty. These dis-
tinctions seem to be uniformly present to the mind of Percival,
when in its higher poetic moods ; and it is from this fact that I
claim the distinctive excellence contended for in this paper. He
speaks of the poet as "catching his inspiration at the shrine of
fancy," "by the quick change of fancy," "fancy's wildering
dreams," " fancy full of happy visions," " fancy still playing
with shapes before our half-shut eyes, and tuning the falling
murmurs into music," "the charms that fancy weaves in the soft
twine of cultured speech ;" " fancy, with the wide glance of her
all-seeing eye," " the image of ray fancy," " the crowding fan-
cies that have made the visions of my brain realities," "before
the fancy's eye," "in fancy's dreams," "where live the forms
that /ancy oft at night sees floating on the moonbeams,'" with a
hundred other quotations that I might make, as expressing the
office of fancy. And I may add here what no one will deny,
that with the single exception of Shakespeare, Percival is the
most profoundly philosophical poet who has ever written in the
English language. In the expressions which I have quoted, he
"catches his inspiration at the shrine of fancy," at the same
time that he speaks of the " imagination as darting to her
utmost height," showing the distinctive office of the two facul-
ties. The visions that he bodies forth are all of the fancy ; it is
fancy that plays with the shapes before his eyes ; it is by the
quick change of fancy that his transitions are made from one
part of the imaginative canvas to another ; it is his fancy that
catches the warbling sounds and turns the falling murmurs into
music ; it is his fancy that weaves his thoughts into cultured
speech ; it is with the wide glance of fancy's eye that his mind

POETKY AND POETS OP" CONiSIECTIGUT. 109

pervades the universe. It is his fancy that makes the visions
of his brain realities ; what his imagination reaches is through
his fancy's eye ; and even those invisible forms floating on the
moonbeams at night are turned into living realities by the magic
of his fancy.

Of all our poets none has given such supreme command to
fancy in the high office which it holds ; and no one, not even
Shakespeare himself, has so wonderfully discriminated between
the two faculties of imagination and fancy. But the great
claim of Percival to superiority as a poet, lies in the character
and quality of his word-paintings, as projected into the back-
ground of the imaginative canvas. This power of projection is
what constitutes the highest order of poetic genius, and applies
as well to the poet-painter as the painter-poet ; and, measured
by this standard of excellence, Percival stands without a peer,
much less a rival, in American poetry. He paints in the back-
ground more completely and uniformly than any other Ameri-
can poet, and he does this with such delicate touches that his
colors dissolve into that mysterious light and distance in which
each particular tint, spreading above and beyond its companion
pigment, seems lost, as it were, in the infinitude of glowing
beauty. This same idea, in another form, is expressed of his
works in an article in the North American Review of 1823, in
which the writer says: " We regard his powers and resources as
inexhaustible. * * * He possesses the rare and divine art
of imparting to language those mysterious and unearthly
influences which come to us from the strings of an Eolian
harp," that is, from the mellowed distance. And yet the
feeling exercised by the master thoughts which he projects
upon the canvas, is not that which the shadowy mysti(;ism of
Rembrandt produces, but rather that which is felt in viewing
the graceful simplicity and beauty of Raphael.

This far-reaching character of Percival's fancy, seems to have
been consciously present in his own mind, so much so that he
fully portrays it in the appendix which he added to the first
number of " Clio " in 1822. In speaking of the poet generally,
he says : " His fancy is like a fleet bird hovering around all the

110 POETRY AND POETS OF CONNECTICUT,

shores of classic and tropic loveliness." * * * And again:
"He lias within him a creative energy which culls from the
stores of memory the choicest and the fairest, and forms them
into landscapes of surpassing loveliness, a rich and harmonizing
union of mountain and valley, w^here the sunlit rock lifts its
bald forehead from the deep gloom of foi'ests, and the leaves
are moving in the wind, and twinkling in the sunbeams ; where
the full light of heaven descends and rests on the waving
meadow, and the brook steals along from rapid to pool, and
from overbowering shade to open sunshine ; where the living
things of earth are asleep in their midday slumber, and nothing
is heard but the solitary whistle of the Phoebe in the dark
hollow, and the chirp of the locust on the oak-top ; where the
heart goes away to the blue sky, and the white clouds that
sleep around it, to meet the spirit of departed pleasures ; wdiere
it finds its loved ones in their earliest beauty, and lives over the
hallowed moments of condensed beatitude, and forgets for a
while it is still dwelling on earth, and thinks it has taken a last
leave of its grosser incumbrances, and is now a pure and
winged spirit in the bright and boundless sea of immortality."

I propose, with as much brevity as the time allotted me will
allow, to excerpt such passages from his poetical writings as will
show this distinctive quality of his poetry, and that in a more
striking light than can possibly be imparted by the mere
word-painting of another.

Take for instance his initiatory lines on Poetry :

" The world is full of poetry; — the air

Is living with its spirit ; and the waves

Dance to the music of its melodies,

And sparkle in its brightness. Earth is veil'd,

And mantled with its beauty ; and the walls

That close the universe with crystal in

Are eloquent with voices that proclaim

The unseen glories of immensity,

In harmonies too perfect and too high

For aught but beings of celestial mould.
******

The year leads round the seasons in a choir

Forever charming and forever new,

POETRY AND POETS OF CONNECTICUT. Ill

Blending the grand, the beautiful, the gay.
The mournful, and the tender, in one strain.
Which steals into the heart like sounds that rise
Far off, in moonlight evenings, on the shore
Of the wide ocean resting after storms y

The last three lines are those which color up the distant canvas,
and are particularly beautiful for their simpicity and the
grandeur of their sweeping cadence. They carry the mind
" far off," as if touched by the strings of some Eolian harp.
You will have to go to Shelley to find any lines of similar
beauty, and even there you will meet with none of greater
simplicity and grandeur combined. In his poem on " the
mind " there is great subtlety of analysis as touching its
powers, and especially its high creative power, by which it
throws upon the living canvas, or casts abroad in words of
loftiest import, those forms and images of fancy with which the
poet's brain is ever teeming. Scattered all through this poem
are lines which show the same characteristic beauty of his
word-painting, in the projections which he makes upon the
canvas. It is in solitude and loneliness that he communes with
nature, and plays with every shape of beauty — especially those
invisible forms and shapes diffused through nature, and discover-
able only by the keen eye of fancy, in the far-off clouds, the
vaulted sky, the invisible air, or on the sheerest edge of misty
horizon. And these forms when idealized^ or brought out upon
the living canvas, receive a universal recognition by the higher
and more cultivated intellect. There is none of that weird
mysticism about them to be found in the paintings of Goethe's
•' Erl King," which no beings in the world can see, or feel,
except with a finer sense than is granted to ordinary mortals.
There is no spiritual or imaginative essence about them that does
not belong to the universe, in a positive rather than a possible
sense, or that claims any recognition at the hand of mere
supernaturalism. If he holds high colloquy with the stars, he
brings them down to the comprehension of the child as well as
the man, and makes their music audible to the " most untuned
ear." As he himself paints :

112 POETRY AND POETS OF CONNECTICUT.

" The changing sky,
Cloudless, or overshadowed by half shapes.
That grow from air ; the sun who walks at noon
Untended, and the lesser light that binds
Her brow with stars, and all her retinue
Of living lamps, had each a voice for him
Distinctly audible. * * *

The mountain and its train, had all for him
A welcome, and they attired it with smiles
All the long summer, and they told to him
In winter, such high mysteries, he learned
To speak a holier language, and his heart
Was ever haunted by a silent power,
In whose immediate presence he became
Thoughtful and calm ; — and so his lofty faith
Which some of poorer spirit have pronounced
A madness, was to him the quickening spring
Of poesy, such as we cannot read
Without a sense of awe." * * *

H: ***** *

" Thus poetry, another name
For our innate philosophy,
Gives life and body to invisible things.
And animates the insensible, diffusing
The feelings, passions, tendencies of man
Through the whole range ofheing."

I had designed to give an analysis of this simple poem, (that
upon "the mind,") in order the more fully to vindicate the
claim I have made for Percival, but the introductory lines
so completely embrace the scope of his muse, in treating the
subject, that their simple reading will suffice for the pur-
pose :

" The mind and its mysterious agencies,

And most of aU, its high creative power.

In fashioning the elements of tilings

To loftier images than have on earth

Or in the sky their home ; — that come to us

In the still visitation of a dream.

Or rise in light before us when we muse.

Or at the bidding of the mightier, take

Fixed residence in fitly sounding verse.

Or on the glowing canvas, or in shapes

Hewn from the living rock ; — of these and all

That wake in us our better thoughts, and lead

POETKY AND POETS OF CONNECTICUT. 113

The spirit to the enduring and sublime,
It is my purpose now to hold awhile
Seemly discourse, and with befitting words
Clothe the conceptions I have sought to frame."

I think, with the single exception of Byron, that no one has
touched the Spenserian verse with so masterly a hand as Per-
cival. In his "Prometheus," which bears the marks both of
his earlier and later genius, there are stanzas that for beauty of
conception, perfection of rhythm, and that uplifting apprecia-
tion of grandeur which is inspired by a sense of vastness in
nature, are scarcely surpassed by the best efforts in Childe Har-
old. The beautiful stanza, in the second part of this work,
commencing :

" There is a pensive spirit in these woods,"

and several that immediately precede and follow it, could be
inserted into Byron's great poem, without breaking the thread
of the narrative, or adding anything but beauty and grandeur
to it. The stanza commencing :

"There is a war vrithin me, and a strife
Between my meaner and my nobler powers" —

seems almost too Byronic in its spirit and sentiment, to have
been written by any other than Byron himself. And his apos-
trophe to the sun, running through several stanzas, is unsur-
passed in depth, strength, versatility and power of imagery, by
anything Byron has written. If it lacks any one thing in the
comparison, it is that JiJiish which he was too impatient to be-
stow on his productions after they were once thrown oft'. It
was this poem, — the "Prometheus," — in part, which led Ed-
ward Everett, on its first appearance in 1821, to pronounce, in
the North American Review of that year, the volume contain-
ing it, as showing " marks of an inspiration more lofty and
genuine" than any similar volume that had ever been written
by a native bard.

Only two American poets have since appeared in the rhythmi-
cal field, who could with any recognized justice, dispute the
claims of Percival to the first rank in our native poetry. These
are Bryant and Longfellow ; and while no one will for a mo-
15

114 POETRY AND POETS OF CONNECTICUT.

ment question the high excellence of their productions, or the
poetic imagination that kindles to beauty in them, the closer
scholar and more observing critic will accord to Percival a
superiority in that far-reaching fancy, and more etherealized
imagination, which project themselves into the background of
the picture, or go out after the unattainable in beauty, and
make their nearest approaches to it —

" In fashioning the elements of things
To loftier images than have on earth,
Or in the sky, their home."

And I would further excerpt a few random passages — mere
threads or wefts of sentences — as showing their superiority :
"These are souls that shine along the path of centuries."
" The hollow moan
Of the far mountain-winds hath music in its tone."

"The study of high thoughts
Poured out in sainted volumes, which had been
Stamped in the mint of genius, and had come
Unhurt through darkest ages, bright as gems
That sparkle, though in dust."

" The sky
Smiles to tlie harmonizing touch of light
Like the blue iris of a joyous eye."

" Like the last tone
Of hallowed music in a minster's aisle,
Heard in the still place of graves."
" My work is ended; — I have gained the shore
"Whose flowers are fancy, and whose fruits deceit."

And tliis apostrophe to the genius of poetry :

" 0, could my mind but gain that long-sought prize,
0, could I take the early Grecian sage,
And pour Homeric tire along my wandering page;
There should be altars to thee, and the flame

Should be ethereal, no gross earthly fire
Should taint their marble purity, but tame

The spark of heaven should tremble down the wire.
And with the lightest element conspire

To well full floods of snowy light to thee ;
And I would warm my spirit in that pyre,

And all that lives within my heart should be
Devoted to thy will. Eternal Harmony I "

POETRY AND POETS OP CONNECTICUT. 115

I might quote a hundred passages of equal, if not greater
beauty, as showing that their author possessed the rare and
divine art of imparting to language those " mysterious and
unearthly influences" (as Everett calls them), which come to
us from the mellowed distance, like the strings of an Eolian
harp. The effect produced by his poetry, as it seems to me, is
more like the murmuring tones which come to us on a still
moonlight night, from the plash of distant waters, and the hol-
low moan of far mountain winds. His poems present a gallery
of word-paintings, which, for extent, variety and richness of
coloring, as well as truthfulness to nature, have never been sur-
passed by any native bard.

This is my claim, and my object has simply been to enforce
it in this paper. How far I have succeeded in doing so, I must
leave to the judgment of your society.

MEMORANDA

RESPECTING

EDWARD WHALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE

By franklin B. DEXTER.

[Read November 14, 1870.]

Rev. Ezra Stiles, President of Yale College, published at
Hartford, in April, 1795, a "History of three of the Judges of
King Charles I." which has been supposed to contain all that
could ever be known about these worthies. But in 1868 the
Massachusetts Historical Society printed in their Collections
(4th Series, vol. viii),*'^ a series of manuscripts originally belong-
ing to one of the three Judges, and not used by President
Stiles. I would not, if I could, dispel the fascination of Dr.
Stiles's book ; but the new informationf revives a local interest
in the regicides, and my object is merely to sketch the per-
sonal history of Generals Whalley and Goffe.

The parents of Edward Whalley were Richard Whalley of
Kirkton Hall, Nottinghamshire, a country member of Parlia-
ment in the last of Elizabeth's reign, and Frances Cromwell,:}:
an aunt of the future Protector. The father's losses of prop-
erty in litigation may have affected the career of the son, who
first comes into notice in the civil war. His previous occupation

* In the following pages this volume is sometimes referred to as M. H. C. (4) viii.

f The originals are now a part of the Prince Library, and deposited in the Pub-
lic Library of the City of Boston : Rev. Thomas Prince obtained them from the
Mather family, with other manuscripts, hence called " Mather Papers."

:f Frances was the second wife of Richard. Their eldest son was Thomas, who
died May, 1637, before his father, (leaving a son, Peniston Whalley, who died in
1672, aet. 48.) Edward was their second son, and Henry their third. [Thoroton's
Nottinghamshire, 2d ed., i, 249.]

118 EDWARD WHALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE.

is unknown, tbougli the Eoyalist pamphlets gossip to the effect
that he was " a woollen-draper, or petty merchant, in London ;
whose shop being out of sorts, and his cash empty, not having
wherewithal to satisfy his creditors, he fled into Scotland for
refuge, till the wars began." ("Second Narrative of the late
Parliament," 1658, in Harleian Miscellany, iii, 482. Cf. " Trea-
son Discovered," 1660.) Sir Philip Warwick, in his Memoirs
of the Keign of King Charles I (p. 307), more kindly describes
him as " a ridiculous Phanatick, as well as a crack-brained fel-
low, though he was a Gentleman of a good family, of which
sort of men they had very few among them." There is other
testimony that he sided with Parliament from religious convic-
tion, and in opposition to the sentiments of some of his nearest
relatives. (See "Noble's Memoirs of the House of Cromwell.")

In the midsummer of 1642, " Mr. Oliver Cromwell," a mem-
ber of Parliament for the town of Cambridge, began to super-
intend the defence of Cambridgeshire against the insane move-
ments of the king ; in August he was Captain of a volunteer
troop of horse, and by March, 1643, was Colonel. In the
same August, his kinsman, Edward Whalley, was Cornet of
the 60th regiment of horse (John Frennes, Captain), and by
March, 1643, was Captain.

The next mention found of his name is in the letters of Crom-
well, reporting an indecisive action at Gainsborough, in Lincoln-
shire, July 28, 1643 : "Major Whalley," he writes, "did in this
carry himself with all gallantry becoming a gentleman and a
Christian" (Carlyle's Cromwell, i, 159); and again, "The honor
of this retreat, equal to any of late times, is due to Major Whal-
ley and Captain Ayscough, next under God."

By March, 1645, when the newly modeled army was organ-
ized, with Fairfax Commander-in-Chief, Whalley was prom-
inent enough to be made Colonel of one of the eleven cavalry
regiments, and as such helped notably to win the day at
Naseby.*

* His regiment was in the front line of the Parliamentary right wing, and was
the first to become engaged with Sir Marmadnke Langdale's horse opposite to
them. See Markham's Life of Fairfax, p. 220, and Rushworth's Collections, vi,
43.

EDWAKD WHALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE. 119

The first Civil War lasted for two years longer, and no regi-
ment was more busy than Colonel Whalley's. We trace him
at the defeat of Goring's army at Langport (July 10, 1645), at
the sieges of Bridgewater (July 11-25, 1645), of Sherborne Cas-
tle (Aug. 1-15, 1645), of Bristol (Aug. 21 to Sept. 11, 1645), of
Exeter (Febr., 1646), of Oxford (March, 1646), and of Banbury.
On May 9, 1646, the day on which his letter to the Speaker,
announcing the storming of Banbury Castle, was written and
received, the House voted him their thanks and one hundred
pounds for the purchase of two horses. (" Cary's Memorials,"
1, 28.)

From Banbury he marched to Worcester, where Sir Henry
Washington (own cousin to the grandfather of General George
Washington) surrendered to him on July 23, after eleven
weeks' siege. The city of Oxford had already surrendered to
Fairfax, and the first Civil War was at an end.

Meantime, for the two years succeeding the battle of Naseby,
Kichard Baxter was the chaplain of Whalley's regiment, and in
strange contrast to camps and sieges was meditating the peace-
ful sentences of the " Saints' Everlasting Best." Years after-
ward (in 1654) he dedicated one of his works, in appreciative
words, to his old Colonel.

The next glimpse of Whalley is in June, 1647, when the
king was taken (not unwillingly) by Cornet George Joyce and
his five hundred troopers from the custody of Parliament at
Holdenby (or Holmby) House, in Northamptonshire, and
Whalley was sent by Gen. Fairfax with a strong party to meet
Charles and escort him back ; but Charles declined to return.

A little later in the " halcyon days," when the king was
lodged in Hampton Court Palace, Whalley was (through Crom-
well's influence) for the whole time (Aug. 24 to Nov. 11, 1647)
his keeper, and was suspected of connivance in his escape to
the Isle of Wight.

In the summer of 1648 came war again, and Whalley went
with Fairfax, to quell the Kentish Insurrection, and assist at
the capture of Maidstone and the siege of Colchester. In
December, he stood by the side of Colonel Pride, while he

120 EDWARD WHALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE.

purged by force the Long Parliament, so as to secure a vote
which should bring the shuffling king to trial.

Accordingly, on the fourth of January, 1649, the Commons
voted to create a High Court of Justice for the trying and
judging of Charles Stuart, and Whalley was named among the
one hundred and thirty-five Commissioners. He was present
at all save one of the sessions of that memorable Court, and
his firm, clear signature is the fourth (next after President
Bradshaw's, Lord Grey's, and Oliver Cromwell's) among the
fifty-nine signatures to the final death-warrant. There is no
direct testimony as to the convictions under which he acted at
this time; but no one can study his subsequent career and
extant letters, without the belief that he was then as afterwards
thoroughly conscientious, fearing God and not man, perhaps
fanatical, but not vindictive, crafty, or self-seeking.

During Lieut. Gen. Cromwell's Irish campaign (July, 1649
to May, 1650) Whalley's regiment apparently remained in
England. But in June, 1660, when Cromwell was made Cap-
tain-General and Commander-in-Chief, Whalley joined him for
Scotland with the rank of Commissary -General. Here Crom-
well's dispatches after the victory at Dunbar (Sept. 3, 1650)
mark the bravery of his onset, and give in the list of casual-
ties, "Col. Whalley only cut in the hand-wrist, and his horse
(twice shot) killed under him ; but he well recovered another
horse, and went on in the chase" (Carlyle's Cromwell, iii, 52).

In August, 1651, Cromwell following Charles II into Eng-
land, left Monk and Whalley in command, and Parliament
voted to each of them in September an estate in England of
the yearly value of five hundred pounds. But before many
weeks, Whalley was in London again, and present at a memor-
able conference when the leaders of the Parliament and of the
Army met to consider and arrange the settlement of the nation
(" Whitelocke's Memorials").

Parliament goes on from bad to worse, as the Army thinks,
and at the next move Whalley's name leads the signatures to a
long |)etition from the officers, dated August 13, 1652, crav-
ing and suggesting necessary religious and civil reforms and

EDWARD WHALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE. 121

arrangements for a successor to the Eump, now in its twelfth
year of service. This was tlie leaven which roused the House
to provide for its own dissolution and for a successor : but on
the eve of action, General Cromwell took affairs into liis own
hands, and Whalley stood by his side when he summarily
dismissed the Kump, on the 20th of April, 1653.

Cromwell was now openly at the head of the State, though
it was not till the 1 6th of the following December that he was
first named Lord Protector. In the scheme of government
adopted for the Commonwealth, one feature was to be a trien-
nial Parliament, of five hundred members, guaranteed from
dissoluticm or prorogation for at least five months. In the first
Parliament convened under this regulation, Whalley was a
representative for Nottinghamshire.

The most important trust which he held, however, was as
Major Greneral, when in August, 1655, the command of the
militia was divided among ten (afterwards twelve) such officers,
who retained office till January, 1657. These Major Generals
were clothed with almost absolute authority in their several
districts, in special to suppress insurrections, to call to account
suspected persons, to levy the ten per cent, income-tax on all
royalists ; and, in general, to reduce the country to the old
foundations of peace and order.

Whalley had charge of his native county, Nottinghamshire,
with the adjacent shires of Lincoln, Derby, Warwick, and
Leicester. His headquarters were at Nottingham, and twenty-
six of his despatches, preserved in Secretary Thurloe's Collec-
tion of State Papers (vols, iv and v), tell the story of his wise
and faithful administration of the duties laid on him ; written
only for the eyes of the Lord Protector and his Secretary of
State, they bear perpetual testimony to his honesty and
uprightness.

His position secured him a reelection from Nottinghamshire
to the next Parliament, whose first session was from Sept. 17,
1656, to June 26, 1657, and whose chief business was the
presentation of the " Petition and Advice " to his Highness the
Lord Protector, and the offer of the royal title. General
16

122 EDWARD WHALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE.

Whalley is mentioned as using his influence in favor of the
assumption of kingship. At the close of the year 1657, for a
casual glimpse of Whalley's activity, one may look at the
diary of the royalist, John Evelyn, who came to London on
Christmas Day to attend church service which was of course a
ceremony forbidden by the authorities ; he was apprehended
while receiving the sacrament, and tells at length the story of
his examination before Whalley and a company of officers.

A month later Parliament reassembled, and in accordance
with the " Petition and Advice," the " Other House " was
constituted by special writ. In this almost anomalous body, of
forty-two members, "Edward, Lord Whalley," sat, during its
only session, from Jan. 20, to Feb. 4, 1658.

In the following June, he was one of the committee of nine,
charged by Cromwell with preparing business for the next
meeting of Parliament in September ; but before the summons
had been issued, death had summoned the busy Lord Protector.
From that moment the restoration of the Stuarts was inevitable.

During the eight months' Protectorate which succeeded,
Whalley was a main-stay of the Cromwell dynasty ; but
Kichard's abdication came on May 5, 1659, and the Long
Parliament on reassembling withdrew Whalley's commission as
General, through fear of his influence with the army. In
October, when the army tried to seize the power, Whalley w^as
sent as one of their commissionei'S to treat with his old com-
rade. Monk ; but Monk refused to meet him, and presently the
Eestoration was accomplished.

But before pursuing his course further, there is another
actor to introduce. The public career of William Goff'e runs
nearly parallel to that of Whalley, his father-in-law and
companion in exile. Little is known of his early life. His
father, "a very severe Puritan," as Anthony a Wood calls him,
was the Eev. Stephen Goffe, a graduate (B. A. 1595, M. A.
1599) of Magdalen College, Oxford, and at one time (before
1607) rector of Bramber, a little village in Sussex. The sharp
divisions of the times are manifested in the divergent careers
of three sons of this Puritan household. Stephen, the eldest,
had his training at Merton College, Oxford (B. A, 1623), was

EDWAED WHALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE. 123

chaplain of Col. Horace Vere's regiment at the Hague in
1632-3, then by Archbishop Laud's recommendation preacher
to the English merchants in Delft, chaplain in Col. Goring's
regiment in 1641, afterwards (1645) secret agent of the Koyalist
cause in France and Holland ; turned Papist, became one of
Queen Henrietta Maria's chaplains,* and died a priest of the
Oratory in Paris, in 1681,t aet. 76. :j:

John, another brother, also an Oxford graduate (B, A. 1630),
steadily adhered to the Church of England, and was vicar of
Hackington, near Canterbury, but ejected in 1643 for his
refusal to take the "Solemn League and Covenant." Through
his brother William's influence he obtained in 1652 another
rectory at Norton, in Kent, where he died in 1661,

A third brother, James, is only known through General
Goflfe's reference to him in a letter of July, 1656, in Thurloe's
Collection.

The remaining brother, William Goffe, utter foe to both
Papist and Churchman, was probably at least ten or twelve
years younger than Whalley, whose daughter he married. Of
his occupation before 1647, no account is preserved, except the
comment of the " Second Narrative of the late Parliament,"
which describes him as " sometime Col. Vaughan's brother's
apprentice (a Salter in London), whose time being near or newly
out, betook himself to be a soldier, instead of setting up his
trade ; went out a quartermaster of foot, and continued in the
wars till he forgot what he fought for; in time became a
Colonel, and, in the outward appearance, very zealous and
frequent in praying, preaching, and pressing, for righteousness
and freedom, and highly esteemed in the army, on that account,
when honesty was in fashion."

The earliest mention of his name is in June, 1647, when the
Army accused the eleven Parliamentary Members. He next
appears as " Major Goffe," exhorting in a meeting of army
officers at Windsor Castle about the beginning of 1648. Nor

* Cf. Pepys' diary, Sept. 19, 1666, and Evelyn's correspondence, Aug., 1663.
f See page 181 of the volume of " Mather Papers," M. H. C. (4) viii, for a ref-
erence to him in 1662.

I Horsfield's History of Lewes and Vicinity, ii, 219.

126 EDWARD WIIALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE.

From tlie day of leaving Westminster until 1667, the younger
of the two exiles kept a journal, to which Governor Hutchinson,
a hundred years later, had access while writing his History of
the Colony of Massachusetts Bay ; this diary then belonged to
the Mather family, but was destroyed in the attack on Hutch-
inson's house by the mob, in 1765 ; a contemporaneous tran-
script of a few extracts, extending, however, only from May 4
to Sept. 6, 1660, found among the Winthrop family papers,
was printed in the Proceedings of the Mass. Historical Society,
for Dec, 1863.

On the landing of the two Judges in Boston, they accepted
the hospitality of their fellow-passenger, Major Gookin, and
remained openly at his house in Cambridge for seven months.
Tiie copy of Goffe's diary just mentioned preserves the form of
thanksgiving handed by them to " Matchless" Mitchell, the
minister of Cambridge, on the first day of public worship after
their arrival.

On August 29, Parliament passed the Act of Indemnity,
from the benehts of which Whalley and Goffe were excepted
by name ; on Sept. 22, a rumor having arisen that they had
"lately returned" to England, a special Royal Proclamation*
offered rewards for their apprehension,^ — alive or dead, anywhere
within the king's dominions, — of one hundred pounds each.

News of the Act of Indemnity did not reach New England
until the last day of November ; soon followed by the report
of the trial, beginning October 10, of twenty-nine persons for
connection with the death of the late king. When it was
remembered that Captain Thomas Breedon, a prominent Eoyal-
ist of jBoston, had sailed for England, and was sure to announce
that he had seen Generals Whalley and Goffe, no wonder that
some of the government began to desire to be rid of their dan-
gerous guests, and that on Febr. 22, 1661, Governor Endicott
summoned his council of Assistants (of whom their host, Gookin,
was one) to consult about securing them. The Assistants did
not agree to any measures, but the regicides removed the
cause of apprehension by leaving four days afterwards for New
Haven. And why for New Haven ?

* A copy may be seen in the British Museum.

EDWAKD WHALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE. 127

A fortnight after their landing in New Enghmd, the Eev.
John Davenport, of New Haven, in a letter to Governor Win-
throp of Connecticut (in Mass. Historical Collections, 3d Series,
V. X, p. 39), had mentioned their being in Boston, and his inten-
tion of inviting them to visit him. It is not likely that he had
ever met either of them ; the only known connection between
him and the Gofife family was in 1633, when General Goffe's
brother Stephen was Archbishop Laud's spy on the movements
of Davenport, in exile at the Hague. (Calendar of Domestic
State Papers for 1633-34, p. 324.) But the Eev. William Hooke,
whose wife was sister of Whalley, had been Davenport's asso-
ciate in the ministry of the First Church of New Haven from
1644 to 1656, and since then his regular correspondent. Wil-
liam Jones, also, who had just joined the settlement here, and
became its leading civilian, was a passenger in the ship with
the regicides. Other remoter links of connection between the
Protector's Government and the Colony of New Haven were
through Samuel Desborough, Lord Keeper of Scotland, who
lived in New Haven and Guilford from 1639 to 1650, and whose
brother. General John Desborough, married a sister of Crom-
well and cousin of Whalley ; and through the Rev. Henry
Whitfield, of Guilford, in this Colony, from 1639 to 1650, in
whose family at Winchester Gofife had lived, while at the height
of his power as Major General over three shires of England, in
1656.

On their journey of some 140 miles, the travelers passed
through Hartford and were entertained by Governor Winthrop.
It may be, also, that one of their halting-places was near the
ford of the large brook in the present township of Meriden,
twenty miles from New Haven, called Pilgrims' Harbor Brook
to this day.

In nine days from Cambridge, they reached New Haven, on
Thursday, March 7, 1661, and appeared openly as Mr. Daven-
port's guests for the next three weeks. While they were on
the road, however, there had come to Boston, by way of Bar-
bados, rumors of a Royal Proclamation for their arrest, given
at London in January, on information supplied by Captain
Breedon. Accordingly, the Governor and Assistants of Mas-

128 EDWARD WH ALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE.

sachusetts, now that their vigihmce could do no liann, cheerfully
issued, on March 8, a warrant to secure them, and sent it
through that Colony. The news of the King's Proclamation
coming to New Haven, and threatening a possible risk to their
hosts here, the Judges, on March 27, went to Milford and allowed
themselves to be seen there, as though proceeding to New
York, but the same night they returned and lay concealed at
Mr. Davenport's until May.

On April 28, another royal mandate reached Boston, dated
March 5, caused by further accounts of the residence of Whalley
and Goft'e in Cambridge, and ordering their arrest ; but directed
by some strange blunder to an official as yet unheard-of, "the
Governor of New England." Governor Endicott hesitated for
a week (during which time the news was of coui'se sent hither),
and then without summoning his Council committed the war-
rant to two young men, with letters from himself to the Chief
Magistrates of Plymouth, Connecticut, New Haven, and New
YorR. (The letter to Dep. Gov. Leete of New Haven is in
"Documents relating to Colonial History of N". Y.," iii, 41.)

On Tuesday, May 7, about 6 P. M., the two Commissioners,
Thomas Kellond, merchant, and Thomas Kirk, shipmaster,
with John Chapin as guide, left Boston for Connecticut. On
Friday they called on Governor Winthrop at Hartford, who told
them that Whalley and Goffe "did not stay there, but went
directly for New Haven." (Eeport of the Commissioners, in
Hutchinson's Collections.) He promised, however, a search in
his jurisdiction, which their Eeport says was made.*

The next day (Saturday, May 11) they came to Guilford,
where lived Deputy-Governor Leete, who since the death of
Governor Newman, in November, 1660, had been the Chief
Magistrate of the Colony of New Haven. Leete received them
in the presence of several persons, and began to read their letters
aloud ; on their objecting to sucli publicity, he withdrew to
another room and assured them (probably with truth) that he
had not seen the "Colonels," as Whalley and Goflfe were

* The warrant for a search in Windsor may be seen in N. E. Hist, and Geneal.
Register for 1868, xxii, 345.

EDWARD WHALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE. 129

called, for nine weeks, that is, since their first arrival in the
Colony. The Commissioners replied that they had information
of the Colonels being in New Haven since, and demanded
horses, about which there was some delay. On their wav to
the inn, they were told by one Dennis Crampton (Scranton, in
their Report), who called other witnesses to the facts, that the
regicides were sheltered by Davenport, and that Leete undoubt-
edly knew it ; that Mr. Davenport had recently put in ten
pounds' worth of fresh provisions at one time; that Whalley
and Groflfe on a late training-day (probably in Milford) had
openly said that if they had but two hundi*ed friends to stand
by them, they would not care for Old or New England. Other
bystanders reported that they had very lately been seen between
the houses of Mr. Davenport and Mr. Jones.

Excited by this gossip, the Commissioners returned to Leete
to demand their horses, military aid, and a warrant to search
and arrest. But apparently it was towards sundown, and a
Deputy Governor would, demur to any traveling within his
control until the approaching Sabbath was over. As to a search-
warrant and a posse^ he must consult his brother-magistrates
before seeming to recognize such an unprecedented authority
as the "Governor of New England," to whom their commis-
sion was directed. He would give them, however, a letter to
the magistrate residing in New Haven. Meantime they were
obliged to wait, chafing with the suspicion that a Guilford
Indian had already carried forwards the news of their arrival.

At daybreak on MoiTday they were allowed to depart, but
not before another messenger had preceded them from Leete to
Matthew Gilbert, the New Haven magistrate; so that when
they arrive the magistrate is nowhere to be seen. Leete had
promised to follow them, and there was nothing to be done
but wait for his slower-moving dignity. Two hours later he
appeared at the court chamber, with Magistrate Crane of Bran-
ford, and told the Commissioners that he did not believe that
Whalley and. Goffe were in New Haven (the fact being that
they had removed on Saturday night from Mr. Jones's house
to "the Mills" in VVestville). They offered, if he would allow
17

128 EDWARD WHALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE.

sachusetts, now that their vigilance could do no harm, cheerfully
issued, on March 8, a warrant to secure them, and sent it
through that Colony. The news of the King's Proclamation
coming to New Haven, and threatening a possible risk to their
hosts here, the Judges, on March 27, went to Milford and allowed
themselves to be seen there, as though proceeding to New
York, but the same night they returned and lay concealed at
Mr. Davenport's until May.

On April 28, another royal mandate reached Boston, dated
March 5, caused by further accounts of the residence of Whalley
and Goffe in Cambridge, and ordering their arrest ; but directed
by some strange- blunder to an official as yet unheard-of, "the
Governor of New England." Governor Endicott hesitated for
a week (during which time the news was of course sent hither),
and then without summoning his Council committed the war-
rant to two young men, with letters from himself to the Chief
Magistrates of Plymouth, Connecticut, New Haven, and New
YorL (The letter to Dep. Gov. Leete of New Haven is in
"Documents relating to Colonial History of N. Y.," iii, 41.)

On Tuesday, May 7, about 6 p. m., the two Commissioners,
Thomas Kellond, merchant, and Thomas Kirk, shipmaster,
with John Chapin as guide, left Boston for Connecticut. On
Friday they called on Governor Winthi^op at Hartford, who told
them that Whalley and Goffe " did not stay there, but went
directly for New Haven." (Eeport of the Commissioners, in
Hutchinson's Collections.) He promised, however, a search in
his jurisdiction, which their Eeport says was made.*

The next day (Saturday, May 11) they came to Guilford,
where lived Deputy-Governor Leete, who since the death of
Governor Newman, in November, 1660, had been the Chief
Magistrate of the Colony of New Haven. Leete received them
in the presence of several persons, and began to read their letters
aloud; on their objecting to sucb publicity, he withdrew to
another room and assured them (probably with truth) that he
had not seen the "Colonels," as Whalley and Goffe were

* The warrant for a search in Windsor may be seen in N. E. Hist, and Geneal.
Register for 1868, xxii, 345.

EDWARD WHALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE. 129

called, for nine weeks, that is, since their first arrival in the
Colon3^ The Commissioners replied that they had information
of the Colonels being in New Haven since, and demanded
horses, about which there was some delay. On their wav to
the inn, they were told by one Dennis Crampton (Scranton, in
their Report), who called other witnesses to the facts, that the
regicides were sheltered by Davenport, and that Leete undoubt-
edly knew it ; that Mr. Davenport had recently put in ten
pounds' worth of fresb provisions at one time ; that Whalley
and Goffe on a late training-day (probably in Milford) had
openly said that if they had but two hundred friends to stand
by them, they would not care for Old or New England. Other
bystanders reported that tliey had very lately been seen between
the houses of Mr. Davenport and Mr. Jones.

Excited by this gossip, the Commissioners returned to Leete
to demand their horses, military aid, and a warrant to search
and arrest. But apparently it was towards sundown, and a
Deputy Governor would demur to any traveling within his
control until the approaching Sabbath was over. As to a search-
warrant and a posse, he must consult his brother-magistrates
before seeming to recognize such an unprecedented authority
as the "Governor of New England," to whom their commis-
sion was directed. He would give them, however, a letter to
the magistrate residing in New Haven. Meantime they were
obliged to wait, chafing with the suspicion that a Guilford
Indian had already carried forwards the news of their arrival.

At daybreak on MoiTday they were allowed to depart, but
not before another messenger had preceded them from Leete to
Matthew Gilbert, the New Haven magistrate; so that when
they arrive the magistrate is nowhere to be seen. Leete had
promised to follow them, and there was nothing to be done
but wait for his slower-moving dignity. Two hours later he
appeared at the court chamber, with Magistrate Crane of Bran-
ford, and told the Commissioners that be did not believe that
Whalley and Goffe were in New Haven (the fact being that
they had removed on Saturday night from Mr. Jones's house
to " the Mills" in VVestville). They offered, if he would allow
IV

130 EDWARD WH ALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE.

it, to search the two suspected houses on their own responsi-
bility : but he replied that he neither would nor could do any-
thing until the freemen were met together. Meantime, the
other magistrates and the deputies of New Haven had come in,
and Leete spent five or six hours in consultation, only to make
the same answer. To the Commissioners' threats of his Maj-
esty's probable resentment, Leete replied, " we honor his
Majesty, but we have tender consciences." To which the Com-
missioners testily retorted that they believed the magistrates
knew all the time where the Colonels were, " and only pre-
tended tenderness of conscience for a refusal.'' Again the
magistrates deliberated, but evening found them still unyield-
ing, and when the Commissioners pressed the question "whether
they would own his Majesty or no, it was answered they would
first know whether his Majesty would own them," that is,
whether their government would be recognized as independent
of a Governor of all New-England, now for the first time dimly
threatened.

Bafiled and powerless, the Commissioners left on the follow-
ing day for New York, and returned to Boston by sea, where as
a small recompense for their pains the Governor's Council
granted them each two hundred and fifty acres of land.

The Colonels must remain hidden, at least until the present
alarm is over; and accordingly, on the day after the king's mes-
sengers had gone westwards, a cave on West Eock (which they
called Providence Hill) received them ; there they spent four
weeks, sheltered in stormy weather m the house of the only
neighbor, Richard Sperry, who also supplied them with food.
The traditions recited by Dr. Stiles (pp. 31, 78) of a visit of the
Royal Commissioners to this cave are utterly irreconcilable with
their narrative.

At the conference on Monday, the magistrates had decided
to convene the General Court, which accordingly met at New
Haven the following Friday, and by its command orders were
issued to the marshals in each plantation to search diligently
for the Colonels. One of these warrants is given in the printed
volume of Colonial Records. Nevertheless, the Judges' Cave

EDWARD WHALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE. 181

was not invaded. From this miserable shelter, only the rumor
of harm threatening Mr. Davenport through the suspicion of
his still concealing them, induced them to emerge. On June
11, says Grov. Hutchinson, thev leave West Kock, "gener-
ously resolving to go to New Haven, and deliver themselves to
the authority there ;" namely, to Gilbert, who had been made
Deputy-Governor at an election just held.

There is some uncertainty as to the place where they passed
the next ten days, since it was not till the 22d that they ap-
peai'ed in New Haven.

President Stiles supposed that they spent a part or the whole
of this time, from the 11th to the 22d of June, in Guilford, in
Governor Leete's stone cellar, and in Dr. Rossiter's house; but
his arguments are not conclusive.

There was, it is true, a tradition that the Judges were at some
time hid in Guilford, for three days and three nights (Stiles, p.
92), but there is no special reason for determining this to be the
time.

The mention in the Colony Records (May 7, 1662) in the case
of Dr. Rossiter, of Guilford (then on trial for refusal to pay
certain rates and assessments, and for denying the authority of
the colony), of his "charges about the Colonels," cannot refer,
as Dr. Stiles supposed, to his bill for shelter given to them while
visiting Guilford in June, 1661 ; the prudence of the General
Court, as well as the pronounced sympathies of Rossiter with
royal authority, forbid tlie absurd supposition that the Colonels
had been entertained at the public expense. Rossiter's charges
were probably for aiding in the search made in Guilford after
the order of the Court on May 17.

Dr. Stiles relies, also, on the second-hand testimony of Gov.
Leete's daughter Ann, who is said to have remembered a time
when she and the rest of the children of the family were forbid-
den to go to a certain old stone cellar, for which prohibition the
hiding of the Colonels was afterwards avowed as the reason ;
Dr. Stiles supposed her to have been four or five years old in
1661, but in fact the register of Guilford births shows that this
daughter of Gov. Leete was not born until March, 1662.

132 EDWARD WHALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE.

The Eev. John Davenport (in a letter written in August, to
be again referred to) says that on June 22, Whalley and GofFe
"came from another colony, where they were and had been
some time, to New Haven." The authority for their leaving
West Eock on June 11 is Goffe's diary, as used by Hutchinson.
It is hardly probable that between the two dates they made a
journey into either of the bordering colonies, where their stay
must at best have been short ; but on the other hand it is in-
conceivable that the cave "where they were and had been
sometime" was unknown to their chief friend. Mr. Davenjjort's
statement looks like a prevarication.

On Saturday, June 22, then, they appeared in New Haven,
"professing," writes Davenport, "that their true intention, in
their coming at that time, was to yield themselves to be appre-
hended," but the Deputy -Govern or took no measures for their
arrest. "The next day," says Hutchinson, "some persons
came to them to advise them not to surrender." On the day
following, the magistrates met at New Haven on other business,
but through either connivance or over-confidence deferred tak-
ing custody of their uncaged prisoners. Before the magistrates'
meeting was ended, the Colonels had disappeared ; or, to give
the account in Davenport's words, " Our Governor and magis-
trates wanted neither will nor industry to have served his Maj-
esty in apprehending the two Colonels, but were prevented and
hindered by God's overruling providence, which withheld them
that they could not execute their true purpose therein ; and the
same Providence could have done the same, in tlie same cir-
cumstances, if they had been in London, or in the Tower.
Before the magistrates issued their consultation, which was not
long, the Colonels were gone away, no man knowing how nor
whither. Thereupon a diligent search was renewed, and many-
were sent forth on foot and horseback. * * * But all in vain."

Mr. Davenport seems to imply that they escaped by miracu-
lous means, "no man knowing how ;" perhaps he believed that •
perhaps he was wilfully misled.

Rumors of this marvellous eluding of the magistrates soon
reached the authorities of Massachusetts Bay, whose agent in

EDWARD WHALLEY AND WILT.IAM GOFFE. 183

England had already alarmed tliem by reports that the Council
for Plantations were noting the slowness of the Colonies to pro-
claim Charles II, and would be ready to take offence at the
action of New Haven on the roj'^al mandate concerning Whalley
and Goffe. Accordingly, in July, Secretary Rawson wrote
from Boston, by order of the Council, to Governor Leete, advis-
ing him to arrest the regicides at once without any more eva-
sion. (See the letter in Hutchinson's Collections, New Haven
Colonial Records, ii, 419 ; and Stiles, p. 56.) The Governor
took the alarm and called together the General Court again, on
August 1, to dictate an answer; the answer (in N. H. Colonial
Records, ii, 420 ; and Stiles, p. 49) excused the treatment of the
Commissioners in May by blaming their forwardness, " retard-
ing their own business to wait upon ours without commission,"
as well as by reiterating conscientious objections to "owning a
general Governor, unto whom the warrant was directed." The
answer also laid the blame of the Colonels' second disappear-
ance on Deputy-Governor Gilbert's remissness, and was strong
in declarations of honesty.

This letter was sent on to England, and with it a copy of the
letter already cited, from the Rev. John Davenport to Col.
Temple of Boston, the trusty agent of Charles II, giving a de-
fence of the writer's conduct in this affair, in terms of unstinted
flattery and unquestioned dissimulation. (See the copy of this
letter in Mass. Hist. Collections, 3d Series, viii, 327.) It is
humiliating that his record of magnanimous fidelity and courage
in harboring the friendless exiles, is tarnished by the fawning,
disingenuous apology which his own pen has traced.

In communicating these letters. Col. Temple mentions that he
has himself joined in a secret design with Mr. John Pynchon, of
Springfield, and Capt. Richard Lord, of Hartford, and has great
hopes of seizing Whalley and Goffe. Lord died in a few
months, and nothing came of the scheme, but on August 19,
after the judges had tried cave-life for a brief three months,
" the search for them being pretty well over, they ventured to
the house of one Tomkins in Milford, where they remained two
years, withooit so much as going into the orchard." (Hutcliin-
son.)

134 p:dward whalley and william goffe.

A few weeks later (Sept. 5, 1661), the Commissioners of the
United Colonies of New England, in their annual session, held
at Plymouth,* issued a warning to all persons in the colonies,
not to shelter Whalley and Goife, but to make their hiding-
place known to the magistrates, in pursuance of the king's
mandate. Leete signed this order, as one of the Commissioners
from the Colony of New Haven ; but the signature of his fellow-
Commissioner, Benjamin Fenn, of Milford, was withheld, he
having accepted office on the last election-day with the express
stipulation that "in case any business from without should pre-
sent, he conceived that he should give no offence if he did not
attend to it." Whether his scruples were broader than this
special case, or whether the knowledge that the persons in
question lodged with one of his nearest neighbors restrained
him, may be doubted.

On his return, probably, from this meeting, Gov. Leete
stopped in Boston to secure an intercessory letter in his own
behalf from the Rev. John Norton to Richard Baxter (dated
Sept. 23), which set forth that he " being conscious of indiscre-
tion and some neglect ... in relation to the expediting the
execution of the warrant . . sent from his Majesty for the
apprehending of the two Colonels, is not without fear of some
displeasure that may follow thereupon ;" consequently, he has
since done all that he could, as his neighbors also attest. This
letter with some preceding circumstances implies that at least a
difference of opinion had arisen between Leete on the one hand
and Davenport and Gilbert on the other, as to the course of
conduct to be pursued in regard to the regicides. The follow-
ing extracts confirm this view : Rev. William Hooke says in a
letter to Davenport, dated Oct. 12 (copied by Goffe in his Mil-
ford retreat, and printed in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., (4) viii. 177),
"I understand by your letber [of August] what you have
lately met with from Mr. L. ;" and in a letter dated Febr. 12,
1662, to Mr. Gilbert, Robert Newman, one of the original pil-
lars of the First Church of New Haven, but some years since
returned to England, says, " I am sorry to see that you should

* It is to this meeting that Gov. Bradstreet refers in hii5 letter to Edward Ran-
dolph, Dec, 1 684, (Mass. Hist. Soc. Collections, 4th Series, viii, 533.)

EDWARD WHALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE. 135

be so much surprised with fears of what men can or may do
unto you - - I hear of no danger, nor do I think any will
attend you for that matter. Had not W. L. wrote such a piti-
fid letter over, the business I think would have died. What
it may do to him I know not : they have greater matters than
that to exercise their thoughts." (Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. (4),
viii, 182.)

After 1661 the most that is known of Whalley and Goffe is
to be gathered from the volume of Mass. Historical Society
Collections already referred to, which contains a selection from
the letters received by Goffe from 1662 to 1679, draughts of
his replies, his letters to Increase Mather, and his minutes of
news gleaned from despatches sent him by friends in New
England, especially by Davenport and Gilbert of New Haven,
and by Waitstill Winthrop, son of the Governor of Connec-
ticut.

This material arranged chronologically will be our chief
guide in what follows.

First, however, should be mentioned the letter which Gov.
Hutchinson printed in volume I, of his History, being the
earliest which has been preserved from Mrs. Goffe to her hus-
band. It was written between August and October, 1662, from
the house of her aunt, Mrs. Hooke, and in propria persona^ that
is, as from wife to husband, while all her later letters are worded
as if from mother to son.

The year 1668 was marked by a letter from the Eev. Mr.
Hooke (begun Febr. 25, and ended March 2), which though
directed to Davenport was meant for Goffe also: it was inter-
cepted by the treachery of a messenger and inspected by the
Government. "The Secretary said it was as pernicious a let-
ter against the Government as had been written since his
Majesty came in." An abstract of it is given in the "Calendar
of Domestic State Papers" for 1663-1 (p. 63) : it was unsigned,
and the writer undetected, though a great stir was made about
it. A second letter from Hooke (dated June 24, 1663), rehears-
ing the matter, is in the volume of Collections* (p. 122).

* This letter, also to Davenport, is erroneously supposed by the editors of the
Collections to have been addressed to Goffe.

136 EDWARD WHALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE.

In 1664 the Judges began to breathe more freely, but
towards the end of July four Royal Commissioners arrived in
Boston, instructed to visit the New England Colonies and New
York, and among other things to inquire after persons
attainted of high treason. This pointed directly to Whalley
and Goffe, and as soon as they learned of it, they " retired to
their cave, where they tarried eight or ten days," when " some
Indians, in their hunting, discovered the cave with the bed,
etc., and the report being spread abroad, it was not safe to re-
main near it.'' (Hutchinson.)

After this, possibly they again scnight aslyuni with friends in
New Haven, possibly in Guilford ; but on October 13 (while the
Royal Commissioners were at New York) the Rev. John
Russell, of Hadley, Mass., having previously agreed to receive
them,* they left for that town, seventy-five miles distant, mak-
ing the journey by night. Dr. Stiles (p. 96) finds a trace of
this journey in the name "Pilgrims' Harbor" in Meriden, and
such is now the tradition there ; but one deed at least is on
record, dated Oct. 15, 1664, not many hours after they were
passing the spot, in which the name Pilgrim Harbor Brook, or
River, is already emplo3^ed as a familiar boundary. ("Perkins'
Sketches of Meriden," p. 104.)

After their arrival in Hadley, the notices of their life are
scanty enough. For the year 1665 we have nothing but a
transcript by Gofte (M. H. C. (4) viii, p. 126) of part of a letter
from Mr. Davenport to William Goodwin, of Hadley, com-
menting on English news, with one sentence which Goffe cop-
ies in cipher, namely, "It would exceedingly refresh me, if I
could speak freely and fully with those three worthies your
neighbors." The three worthies were Whalley, Goffe, and
John Dixwell; the last regicide having joined the others on
Febr. 10, 1665 (as Hutchinson learned from the Diary), and
continued " some years." He is then lost sight of till he settles
in New Haven in 1673. From Davenport's reference to him

* Probably through Davenport's introduction: note also that Wm. Groodwin,
Davenport's co-trustee of the Hopkins fund, has lately moved to Hadley, and is
party to the secret.

EDWAED WHALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE. 137

at this early date, it is most probable that he also had already
shared the hospitalities of the friends of the Commonwealth
here. There is no other reference to him in any of Gofte's
papers.

The year 1666 is marked only by Hutchinson's statement
that they were disappointed when it past^ed without any of the
startling events which they had expected from a study of the
number of the beast in the Apocalypse.

The next four years have only scattered notices, of little
interest. Meantime Davenport left New Haven for Boston,
and after a brief ministry died there in 1670.

In 1671 there is one letter (M. H. C. (4) viii, p. 133) from
Mrs. Goffe, over her assumed signature of Frances Goldsmith,
in answer to her husband's (of Aug. 10), and referring to
Whalley in terms indicating his already enfeebled condition.

For 1672 the record is much more full, five letters giving a
tolerably clear picture of the exiles and their friends at home.
(M. H. C, 3d Series, i, 60 ; Hutchinson's Collections, 432 ; M.
H. C. (4), viii, 136-143, 260, 143.)

One event of the year was the gift of fifty pounds from Mr.
Richard Saltonstall, Jr., of Ipswich, to the Judges, on his leav-
ing for England. The letter from his agent, (Deacon Edward
Collins, of Charlestown, June 1, 1672), cautiously directed to
"the Hon^ Gentlemen, at their Lodgings wheresoever," is
preserved (M. H. C. (4), viii, 134), with the draft of a reply,
giving order for payment to Mr. Russell "or such jDcrson or
persons as he shall appoint." Referring to this gift in the next
letter to his wife, Goflfe says, " The Lord is pleased to send in
supplies for the carrying on of a little trade here among the
Indians ; as the present stock in New England money (between
my partner and myself) is somewhat above one hundred pounds,
all debts paid, therefore pray speak to Mrs. Janes" [that is,
Whalley's sister, Mrs. Jane Hooke] "not to send any more till
she be desired from hence."

Of their life in 1673 we have no glimpse, except in a muti-
lated draft of a letter from Goflfe to Mrs. Hooke (October 2),
among the unprinted papers, now in the Prince Collection, in
the Boston Public Library.
18

138 EDWARD WHALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE.

For 1674 we have a letter from Mr. Hooke (April 4 ; M. H.
C. (4), viii, 148), Goffe's reply (Aug. 5, p. 151), and a letter to
liis wife (Aug. 6, in Hutchinson's Collections, p. 453). In
writing to Hooke, GofFe says of Whalley, " I do not apprehend
the near approach of his death more now (save only he is
so much older) than I did two years ago. He is indeed very
weak ; but He that raiseth the dead, is able to restore him to
some degree of strength again, and will do it if it may make
for His glory, the edification of His people, and our best good."
In the same letter the editors of the volume insert a reference
to Dixwell, which needs correction. Mr. Hooke's letter (to
which this was a reply) had said, speaking of his family, " Our
children are all living, if he in New England be so, from whom
we have not heard these several years by letters from him,
which is a grief to us." This son is also heard of through a
letter from his father to Governor Winthrop, of Connecticut,
June 30, 1663 (M. H. C. (4), vii, 594), despatching him, then
aged 20, to live with the governor as his servant for four years.
What end poor Ebenezer Hooke may have made, no one can
tell, but Goffe in his reply says, " I am so far off the seaside,
that I seldom hear anything of your friend there. I am very
sorry he neglects to write to you. There is a friend now gone
to those parts whom I have desired to inquire after him. I
should be glad to have something to write of him that might
be a comfort to you." This certainly has no reference to Dix-
well, who was now of New Haven, but does mean Hooke's
son; but if New Haven is the "seaside" town referred to. this
extract shows conclusively that Goffe and Dixwell had not
then any specially intimate relations.

We come to the year 1675, when tradition gives a famous
glimpse of the hermit once more turned soldier. Gov. Hutch-
inson's History records the anecdote as preserved in the family
of Gov. Leverett, who had been a Captain in the Parliamentary
army early in the Civil War, and had visited the regicides
while in Hadley, as Hutchinson learned from the fragment of
Goffe's diary in his hands.

It was Wednesday, Sept. 1, and Hadley folk were keeping a

EDWARD WHALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE. 139

fast with public worship. Suddenly there came an Indian
attack, and the townspeople were rallied to victory by a ven-
erable leader, of military bearing, whom none had ever seen
before, or ever saw again. Probably the most never knew
who their helper was, though the shrewder ones may have
guessed and whispered his name. The local traditions which
Dr. Stiles (pp. 109-110) and Mr. Judd, the historian of Hadley
(pp. 14:5-147), were able to gather, add no sure details to the
romantic outline; but more than one famous novelist has
expanded the story in his fiction. It is enough to instance
Scott's "Peveril of the Peak" (v. i, ch. 14), and Cooper's "Wept
of Wish-ton-wish."

I venture to suggest that a contemporary hint at the occur-
ence may be found in a letter from the Rev. John Russell to
Increase Mather (M. H. C. (1) viii, 81), who as we shall see
later was a trusted friend of the regicides. Mr. Russell com-
ments thus on Mather's "History of the Indian Wars," in
which the attack on Hadley was briefly mentioned without
reference to the mysterious leader : " I find nothing consider-
able mistaken in your history ; nor do I know whether you
proceed in your intended second edition. That which I most
fear in the matter is, lest Mr, B. or some of Connecticut should
clash with ours, and contradict each other in the story as to
matter of fact. Should that appear in print which I have often
heard in words, I fear the event would be exceeding sad."
Viewed in the light of subsequent facts, these sentences mean
that Goffe had, before the date of this letter (April 18, 1677),
removed to Connecticut, and Mr. Russell is apprehensive lest
"Mr. B." or others with whom Goffe was now living should
contradict any printed version of the dramatic appearance at
Hadley, and lest in any event the safety of the poor hunted
regicide should be endangered. [See infra, p. 146.]

But before taking up the subject of Goffe's removal from
Hadley, the death of Whalley should be referred to. There is
now no reason whatever to doubt that Whalley's death occurred
in Hadley between August, 1674, and August, 1676. That a
regicide died and was buried in Hadley, was the common tra-

140 EDWARD WHALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE.

dition there when Dr. Stiles made his inquiries (Stiles, p. 198) ;
and sufficient proof of the tradition was found shortly after (in
1795), when the wall of the cellar under Mr. Eussell's kitchen
was removed. "In taking down the middle part of the front
wall " [of the kitchen, to which part alone of the Eussell house
there was a cellar], "next to the main street, the workmen dis-
covered about four feet below the top of the ground a place
where the earth was loose, and a little search disclosed flat
stones, a man's bones, and bits of wood. Almost all the bones
were in pieces, but one thigh bone was whole, and there were
two sound teeth. Dr. S. H. Rogers, who then resided in Hadley,
examined the thigh bone, and said it was the thigh bone of a
man of large size. . . . No other graves were found behind the
cellar wall " (" Judd's Hist, of Hadley," p. 222.)

There is no good reason for doubt that these bones were the
mortal remains of General Edward Whalley ; nor can one
doubt that if President Stiles had lived to hear of the discovery,*
he would have been the first to abandon the tradition perpetu-
ated by his credulity, that the stones on the New Haven green
marked " E. W." were erected over Whalley's dust. The
reader of Dr. Stiles may trace how his theory grew in his own
mind, and how the process by which one regicide's- grave
became three evolved itself as regularly as the story of the
three black crows. But Edward Wigglesworth died in New
Haven on the first of October, 1653 : why should not the stones
marked " E. W., 1653," be his memorial? I acknowledge that
the " 3" is more like an 8 ; but nobody except Dr. Stiles ever
suspected that the "5" was a 7. And yet even though the
figures could be supposed to be 1678, that does not fit the
present knowledge of the regicide history ; for it is certain
from Goffe's letters in the volume of Mass. Hist. Collections
that Whalley died in 1674, 1675, or 1676.

This will appear from the chronological order of events to

which we now return. On March 30, 1676, Edward Randolph

* President Stiles died May 12, 1795, less than a month after the first bound
copy of his " History of the Regicides" came from the printer. The curious fact
may be noticed that by a misprint the dedication is made to bear date, Nov. 20,
1793; this should be 1794, as Dr. Stiles's MS. diary proves.

EDWARD WHALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE. 141

left England for Boston, to convey the king's demand for
Colonial agents at Court, and to make minute inquiries into
the state of the colonies. He was in New England from June
10 to July 30, and in his report (dated in September) says of a
law in Massachusetts Bay, encouraging the succor of fugitives:
" by which law Whalley and Goffe and other traitors were
kindly received and entertained." (" Hutchinson's Collections,"
p. 483.) Undoubtedly his inquiries were noticed by Goflfe's
friends, and may have rendered a change of hiding-place
expedient.

On page 156 of the volume of Mass. Hist. Collections, is printed
an unsigned letter, directed to Increase Mather, sealed with
Whalley's seal, and dated "Ebenezer," Sept. 8, 1676. The
handwriting of tlie original is Goffe's, and in it he says, "I was
greatly beholden to Mr. Noell for his assistance in my remove
to this town. I pray if he be yet in Boston, remember my
affectionate respects to him." The only "Mr. Noell" who can
be intended is Samuel Nowell of Charlestown, who was a Chap-
lain in the Connecticut Valley during Philip's War, and was
just now starting on a visit to England. The writer of the
letter says clearly that through Mr. JSTowell's help, he had
lately changed his place of residence. The opening sentence
of the letter shows the neighborhood from which it was written.
"I have read," says Goffe, "the letters from England that you
enclosed to Mr. Whiting, and give you hearty thanks for your
continued care in that matter :" which can only refer to the
Rev. John Whiting, pastor in Hartford from 1660 to 1689.
Goffe, apparently, was not under the Hartford minister's roof,
but within his reach and securely hidden, for he goes on to
say : "I find it very difficult to attain any solid intelligence of
what is done abroad. But the works of the Lord are great,
and should be sought out of all them that have joleasure therein.
I cannot choose therefore but be shutting one eye and peeping
with the other through the crevices of my close cell to discern
the signs of my Lord's coming."

A few days later (Sept. 25) Mr. Samuel Nowell writes a
letter which is also preserved among the " Mather Papers"

142 EDWARD WHALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE.

(p. 572). The outside address is to "bis worthy friend, Mr.
Jonathan Bull, of Hartford," but the letter is fov Goffe. It
begins: "Honored Sir, — The day before the arrival of the
bearer, Mr. Bull, I had written a letter to my worthy friend,
Mr. Whiting, and it was for your sake, seeing I did not know
how to direcfa few lines to you." The letter goes on to give
the foreign news, and adds: " As for ourselves in New England,
we are fearing a General Governor. ... I suppose you will
judge it convenient to reuiove if any such thing should happen
as that a Governor should be sent." At the end the writer
promises to send further news from England, and to visit there
the relatives of the person he is addressing. The General
Governor whom New England feared did not come till 1686,
in the person of Sir Edmund Andros. As to Goffe's relatives
in England, a chance remark in a subsequent letter of Mrs.
Hooke to Increase Mather (June 27, 1678 ; M. H. C. (4) viii,
262) implies that she had had the proposed visit from Mr.
Nowell.

Jonathan Bull, by whom this letter was carried, was a son of
Thomas Bull of Hartford, now twenty-seven years old and
living unmarried at his father's house, where it is most likely
that Goffe was then secreted ; the fact that the son married a
few years later a daughter of the Eev. John Whiting may
emphasize the intimacy between the two families.

Passing on to 1677, we find only an unsigned letter from
Goffe to Increase Mather (M. H. C. (4), viii, 159), covering one
for England. Two more such letters of 1678 follow (pp. 160,
162), each signed "T. D.";* in the latter of these, dated Oct.
23, he writes, " I should take it as a great kindness to receive a
word or two from you ; if you please to inclose it to Mr,
Whiting, only with this short direction — These for Mr. T. D. —
I hope it would come safely."

* Amon^ the Mather papers in the Boston Public Library, but not printed, is one
(vol. i, p. 63) containing a report of the king's address, May, 28, 1677, in Goffe's
hand, written on the reverse of an envelope-side, vphich has the direction [in
Peter Tilton's hand?] (erased, but visible) " These for Capt. Thomas Bull [to] be
conveyed to Mr. Duffell, Mercht." Hence I conclude that " T. D." may have been
T. Duffell. Mrs. Goffe had relatives of that name in England, but there is no
other trace of it in New England during the first century.

EDWARD WHALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE. 143

Under date of April 2, 1679, is the last of Goft'e's letters
thus preserved. Gov, Hutchinson also mentions this as the
latest seen by him. It is to Increase Mather, and is signed
" T. D."

There is one later letter in the collection (p. 224), dated July
30, 1679, addressed to " T. D." (that is, to Goffe), and signed
**P, T." No doubt these initials are Peter Tilton's, a promi-
nent man in Hadley, and according to tradition one who
sheltered the exiles while concealed in that town. The letter
says, '' I have sent you by S. P." [Samuel Porter?] "£10., having
not before a safe hand to convey it, it being a token of the love
and remembrance of several friends who have you upon their
hearts. We have lately only that great news of the king's
threefold dream, with which his thoughts were sore troubled
and amazed, etc., which I presume Mr. Kussell hath given you
a full account of, as understanding he hath written to Hart-
ford. . . . Dear Sir, I hope God is making way for your
enlargement."

Here is then the plain statement that Goffe was living in
Hartford in June, 1679, but neither date nor place later in his
history can be found. I can hardly doubt that he died very
soon after, and was buried by friendly hands in Hartford, and
his private papers sent to Increase Mather.

But Dr. Stiles found an ancient stone in our burial ground,
marked "M. G. 80," which his ingenious brain led him to
fancy was " VV. G. 80 " (that is, William Gofle, died 1680),
betrayed by the stone-cutter's device in underlining the M. I
quote Dr. Stiles's words (p. 133) as to the origin of this theory, and
they are all-important: "I have not found," he says, "the least
tradition or surmise of Goffe [being buried here] till I myself
conjectured it, Jan., 1793, inferring it in my own mind without
a doubt, that if Whalley, who certainly died at Hadley, was
afterward removed here, Goffe would have been also," But
when the undisturbed grave of Whalley was found in Mr.
Russell's cellar at Hadley, the entire foundation for Dr. Stiles's
theory crumbled by his own explanation.

And, again, that was a very j^retty sentiment, worked up by
President Stiles, of the three intimate friends, Whalley, Goffe,

144 KDWARI) WIIALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE.

and Dixvvell, bound by so many experiences in life and unable
to rest quietly if separated in their graves. I am sorry to spoil
the picture; but these papers of Goffe go far to show that he
had no correspondence or intercourse with or interest in
Dixwell after his temporary stay in Hadley. If, then, Goffe's
bones were moved at all (a theory which the mere difficulties
of transportation were enough to overthrow), we must look to
Iladley, where his kinsman Whalley lay, and not to New Haven
where Dixwell was impatiently lingering in hopes of a return
to England. Nor, even if Goffe came to New Haven after
leaving Hartford, and here died, does it seem to me possible
that any friends, burying the old man who had lived in such
utter secresy, would have ventured to put over his grave a
falsely-initialed stone, corresponding to no entry in the town
record of deatlis, V)ut challenging the notice of all the gossips.
The confidants of Goffe's secret elsewhere, so far as we know
them, Russell, Tilton, Whiting, the Bulls, Saltonstall, Nowell,
Mather, kept it so sacredly that Dr. Stiles did not glean a
single fact through any gossip handed down from them. We
know, on the other hand, that Ex-Governor Matthew Gilbert
died here in 1680 (will dated Jan. 14, and inventory July 6),
that no one is more likely than he to have been buried in such
an honored central place (so near the graves of Governosr
Eaton and Jones) and that no other stone in the old cemetery
was ever shown as his. Fortunately the circumstantial evidence
is strong enough to clear Goffe from the supposition of having
been a party, dead or living, to a performance so utterly at vari-
ance with his simple, humble, unassuming character.

There is still another episode in respect to his residence in
Hartford which needs to be rehearsed. On April 20, 1680,
an adventurer named John London, who claimed to have
known Goffe in England, made oath before the New York
authorities, that in the preceding May (that is about the date
of Goffe's last letter), being then a resident of Windsor, Conn.,
he saw Goffe at the house of Capt. [Joseph, says the record ;
probably a clerical error for Thomas] Bull in Hartford, living
there under the name of Cooke, and that Capt. Bull "hath for

EDWARD WHALLI'JY AND WILLIAM GOFFE. 145

several years past kept privately Col. Goflf'e, at his own house
or his son's." London's aJiidavit set forth that he took meas-
ures to kidnap Goffe, but was betrayed by a neighbor (Thomas
Powell) to two of the Hartford magistrates (Maj. Talcott and
Capt. Ailing), who had him arrested, on charge of conspiracy
against the colony.

On May 18, nearly a month after this deposition, Gov. An-
dros of New York, wrote to the Governor (Wm. Leete) and
assistants of Connecticut, giving the substance of the charges,
(Conn. Colon. Records for 1678-89, p. 283), and it was not till
June 10 that the Secretary of Connecticut issued a search-war-
rant (Colon. Records, p. 284) to the Hartford constables, to make
diligent search in all the premises of Capt. Bull and of his .sons,
and also "in all places within your limits, where there may be
any (or the least) suspicion that they may be hid." The search
was vain, and on the next day the Governor and assistants
write (Colony Records, p. 285) to Gov. Audros, avowing amaze-
ment at the suspicion, and praying to know the names of
the informers. Nothing more seems to have been done.

This John London had been imprisoned by the Council of
Connecticut three or four years before, for reporting notorious
lies ; and it has been supposed by an eminent authority (Hon.
James Savage, in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proceedings for Jan., 1856, p.
61,) that this affidavit was one of London's lies, — either con-
cocted to bother the authorities who had had him imprisoned,
or inspired by them after Goffe's death had removed danger, to
give them the chance of showing themselves clear.

But our present knowledge that Goft'e was in Hartford at the
time when he is said to have been seen (May, 1679), and that
the Bull family were in the secret, make any other suppositions
unnecessary. There is, to be sure, a suspiciously long interval
(23 days) between the date of the letter from New York and
the Hartford search warrant, long enough to have secured the
removal of Goffe if he were still living ; and it may seem as
though if consciously innocent the authorities should have
moved more quickly ; but perhaps some technical delay in lay-
ing the letter before the Governor and assistants, or the fact
19

146 EDWAKD WHALLEY AND WILLIAM GOFFE.

that the charge was already a year old, and not therefore re-
garded important, is the explanation. Here, however, if any-
where, comes in the remote possibility of a flight to New
Haven, and a gravestone marked " M. G. 80."

There is a natural disappointment that, while these materials
open much of the lives of Wlialley and Goffe to us, they give
next to nothing about the third regicide, whose bones are
unquestionably in our keeping. A single letter from James
Davids (Dixwell's familiar pseudonym) to Inci'ease Mather, is
printed in the Collections (p. 164) for the first time, though
referred to by Hutchinson. It relates to the transmission of his
letters to England, and of letters from England to him ; the date
being March 22d, 1688-4. He was then living here in peace
and prosperity. A doubtful tradition tells us that some two
years later Sir Edmund Andros spent a Sabbath in New Haven,
when he wns edified by hearing Sternhold and Hopkins' ver-
sion of Psalm 52d given out, beginning:

" Why dost thou, Tyrant, boast abroad,
Thy wicked works to praise," —

and his suspicions excited by a glimpse of the venerable Dix-
well, then in his 80th year ; but no evil results followed.

Dixwell died in March, 1688-9, about five weeks before the
news of tlie proclamation of William and Mary, when exile
might safely have euded; but the last act in the history of the
regicides in New England was ab-eady over.

Note. — I have thought it best to leave the passage respecting the attack on Had-
ley, as it was written six years ago. It should be stated, however, that a recent
paper in the New England Genealogical Register, by Hon. George Sheldon, of
Hadley, re-examines the grounds of the common tradition, and decides against
it ; the author makes no reference to the letter of Mr. Russell, on my interpretation
of which I still rely.

August, 1816.

REMARKS ON MR. DEXTER'S PAPER

RESPECTING

WHALLEY AND GOFFE.

By THOMAS R. TROWBRIDGE.

[Kead November, 1870.]

Mr. President: — The paper which has now been read, if
permitted to go uncontradicted, will perhaps destroy one of the
historical events in the history of the town, or at least convey
to the minds of some a doubt respecting the resting place of
the renowned regicides. I am constrained therefore to give to
the meeting a few thoughts connected with the history, and
corroborative of the legend which has for so many years
been cherished by our townsmen, and particularly by the
town-born. It has, for nearly two hundred years, been most
religiously believed that the three regicides were buried in New
Haven.

Of Colonel Dixwell's long residence and death here, there is
no dispute, although he had been known to few otherwise than
as James Davids ; but all concede the fact that James Davids
was John Dixwell ; so until a comparatively late period it has
been supposed by every body that Generals Whalley and
Goffe were buried here, and that the rude stones marked
" E. W." and " M. G." were the monuments erected over their
graves. This has long been traditionary of Whalley and Gofte.

148 REMARKS ON MR. DKXTER's PAPER.

We might safely rest our belief of this upon the traditions
handed down to us for nearly two hundred years ; but we will
undertake to prove the truth of these traditions from circum-
stances connected with the history and associations of these
Judges.

We all know, and of this there is even now no dispute, that
here was the place where Whalley and GofFe were securely
protected, at the time when tbey were in the most imminent
danger of being arrested under the orders of Charles 11.
Governor Leete, of Guilford, was the first person that took
effective measures to prevent their arrest when Kellond and
Kirk came in pursuit. This was in May, 1661. We all
know from history how artfully and successfully he delayed
those officers, till information was sent to New Haven, and
timely opportunity given to the Judges to retire from New
Haven and secrete themselves ; how^ as chief magistrate it w^as
necessary he should make a show of measures to assist the
pursuers to arrest them ; how much circumlocution he used to
delay the search, and how he only ordered it when he knew
that it would be of no avail.

Our townsmen, at the risk of the displeasure of King
and Parliament, and thus almost of certain punishment, by
reason of its being so well known that the Judges had been
secreted here, were true, and did not need the caution that Mr.
Davenport gave in his memorable sermon on that Sunday,
from the words, " Hide the outcasts," for that had already been
effectually done, and they were safely protected from the
officers of the king. After the departure of Kellond and Kirk
in further search for them, we can readily perceive that a long
residence here would be attended with too mucb danger, not
only to the Judges, but to the townspeople also, and thus a
removal was necessary, and they retired to Hadley ; but does
any one doubt that their true and tried friends at New Haven —
who had so well proved their fidelity to these wanderers (for
they had now become such), and thus their attachment to the
cause for which these men were suffering — would be in constant
anxiety for their safety, and so be well informed of their

REMARKS ON" MR. DEXTER's PAPER. 149

resting places, and would have frequent communication with
them ? Could it be among the possibilities that Governor
Leete would not know everything respecting them ? I mention
Governor Leete because I shall refer to him again.

Colonel Dixwell did not come to New Haven in company
with his fellow Judges and compatriots Whalley and Goffe.
We first hear of him at Hadley, and from these Judges he
learns of their New Haven friends. Thus Dixwell retires here,
and here he resides for several years under the assumed
name of James Davids, known to all by this name and to but
few only as John Dixwell, and supposed by all from his
general appearance and bearing to be living in seclusion. Of
the death of Dixwell here, and of his grave being in the old
burial ground no one doubts even now. A common rough
stone, with the initials J. D., marks his grave. He died in 1689.
Why, I ask, does so mean a stone mark the grave of such a
man ? The reason is obvious ; he knew that if his grave was
known, his remains would be dishonored, and so he requested
that no monument should be erected to his memory. In this
our people acquiesced. He had known how the remains of his
great leader, Oliver Cromwell, had been treated in England, and
he knew that he was, with Whalley and Goffe, excepted fr-om
the amnesty on the restoration of Charles II.

It is impossible to believe or even to suppose that such men
as Dixwell, Whalley, and Goffe were not in frequent corre-
spondence with each other, and knew tiie place of their retiracy
and welfare. They had been together in the times that tried
men, and had proved their fidelity to each other ^nd to the good
cause. There can be no doubt of their fi-equent communica-
tion not only with each other, but with their friends in old En-
gland. Dixwell, we certainly know, was well advised that the
Revolution of 1689 would take place, the information of which
came just after his death. O, that he could have lived to have
heard of it, how he would have rejoiced ! And then, the will of
John Dixwell was placed on record in this town — (glorious old
records to bear such a record). I assume, therefore, that these
three Judges did know of the welfare of each other. Whalley

150 REMARKS ON MR. DEXTER's PAPER.

died in 1678 at Hadley. Goffe, the son-in-law of Whallej, had
remained at Hadley to care for him ; but soon after his death'
he left Iladley and is found at Hartford, secreted by Rev.
John Whiting. There however was no safety for him. Infor-
mation had been given to the Governor of New York that he
was at Hartford, and thus Mr. Whiting's safety was greatly com-
promised, and in 1679 Gofte leaves Hartford. Where would
he go? There was a rumor that he had gone to Virginia.
Many years previous he had made the cavaliers feel the weight
of his sword. Would he be likely to seek refuge in Virginia?
Here in New Haven was his old, true friend, Dixwell ; here
were the friends that had formerly secreted him ; here he knew
that he would be safe in his old age ; he came here, and here
Dixwell and himself planned and effected the removal of
Whalley's remains ; here they all desired to be buried. Lately
it has been said that Goffe died at Hartford ! If so, why no
record of his grave? No traditions thereof exist in that town.
So noted a person dying in 1680, and onl}^ ten years previous
to the Revolution in England, would certainly have been remem-
bered in that town. No, he came to New Haven from Hart-
ford, and this for two reasons^one that he could be near, and
cared for, and secreted by, his old friend Dixwell; another
reason was that his heart turned to the people who had early
protected him. He lived but a short time after liis removal
here, and died in 1680, and was buried in the old cemetery, by
the side of his father-in-law Whalley, where the rude rock
stone marks his grave. Dixwell knew that search was still
being made for him, and that his remains, if found, would be
treated as were those of Ci'omwell, Bradford, and Ireton.
Hence this rough stone with initials "M. G. 80'' was the only
monument that could be relied upon. He was buried by the
side of Whalley, and here Dixwell was buried : the place of
the burial of these three renowned men was appropriate.
They had fought in the same great battles, had suffered together,
were exilee together, ani they desired to be buried together
in the place where they found protection, and our ancestors
buried them together. The very fact of these three graves

REMAKKS ON MR. DEXTER's PAPER. 151

being together is proof sufficient that the traditions respecting
the graves are no fiction.

Now for the proofs to corroborate my theory and to sub-
stantiate hisL<jry in opposition to "' Iconoclasts," at the risk of
what may be deemed egotism. I must of necessity make some
mentiou of my own family in this connection, as President
Stiles has referred to some of them. Governor Leete was the
true friend of these Judges, his own safety had already been
compromised most seriously ; early at the restoration of Charles
II, in consequence of his friendship and active sympathy with
these men. From the time of leaving New Haven he knew
where they were. This cannot be doubted. In 1670, only nine
years from their first coming to New Haven, Madam Euther-
ford, my ancestress, became the wife of Governor Leete. She
had lived in New Haven since 1639, and of course knew some-
thing of these men, as everybody here did (it was an event
that everybody knew something of), but after she became the
wife of Governor Leete, who can doubt that henceforth she
would know all that her husband knew of them ? Her grandson,
John Trowbridge, married the daughter of Governor Leete, and
their daughter married a son of Rev. Mr. Cooke, who was
privy to the concealment of the Judges; a great-granddaughter
Trowbridge, of Madam Rutherford, married a grandson of Rev.
Mr. Russell of Hadley (it is authenticated that Whalley and
Gofte were secreted by Rev. Mr. Russell) ; a son of Rev. Mr.
Whiting, of Hartford, married a daughter of my ancestor, Mr.
Trowbridge. I would permit this mention of persons for no
other reason than that they are so much associated with the
history of these two Judges ; hence the traditions in these fam-
ilies respecting the burial places of these men are worthy of
credence, and are of the most reliable character. Nearly every
one of the persons mentioned by President Stiles as believing
the story of the burial of these three men, are connected with
the Governor Leete and Madam Rutherford families, and I
assume, therefore, that these traditions are historical facts, and
that these families would thus know and transmit to their
descendants the knowledge that they possessed of the graves

152 REMARKS ON MR. DEXTER'S PAPER.

of these men, and that the traditions of one liundred years
ago are true, and the facts established which President Stiles
believed when he wrote the history of these Judges.

Now I ask why is the stone E. W. marked so as to read
1658 or 1678, except that, in case of search by the British Gov-
ernment, it could not be identified; why M. G., marked with
this horizontal line under M, except by design and to read as
an inverted W ? This was what President Stiles understood
to be the cause.

It should be remembered that there was only one generation
between the death of these men and the time of President
Stiles, and thus tradition could be substantiated more easily
than after this lapse of time.

It has been suggested that the letters MG- may })ossibly
mean " Matthew Gilbert." Can anyone suppose that such a
man as Mr. Gilbert, one of the Seven Pillars of the First
Church, three times the Deputy-Governor, for many years a
magistrate, should have had such a stone to mark his grave ?
He to be buried so far from the graves of his family ! He was
too noted a man, too much honored by the colony, too much
venerated by his family to have had such a stone. Why should
a horizontal line have been placed under the M, if it was in-
tended to read M ? Not a similar instance is to be found among
all the stones removdl from the old burial ground, or under
the meeting house. It is evident that the figures 1658, to read
1678, the letter M to read W, were to prevent identification,
and thus to protect the remains of those great men from dese-
cration. Tliis was the work of Colonel Dixwell, knowing as he
did that if the graves could be recognized, they would not be
permitted to rest in security, and he took this method to protect
them. And his own grave was near them, thus " united in
theij' lives, and in death not divided." More than sixty years
ago, I was taken to these graves by a descendant of one of the
earliest settlers of this town and told the story I have now re-
lated. Our ancestors believed that these were the veritable
graves of the Judges. It has always been believed to be so.
It is doubtless true that here Whalley, Goffe and Dixwell were

REMARKS ON MR. DEXTER's PAPER. 153

buried. Trudition is not always reliable, but what is the greater
part of history but tradition ? and traditionary stories that remain
in one locality for centuries are generally facts. My learned
and most reliable friend who has just given us his views on this
subject, and from whom I am compelled to differ, must admit
that we " town-born" men must hold to our traditions when
they have so much age and so many facts to substantiate them.
I must therefore enter my caveat against this late theory that
the remains of Whalley and GoflFe rest in any other place than
here, among their early protectors.

20

HISTORICAL SKETCH

OF

STEPHEN GOODYEAR,

DEPUTY-GOVERNOR OF THE NEW HAVEN COLONY FROM 1643 TO 1658.

As Derived from "The Old Colony Records."

[Read January 13, 1873.]

To give anything like an accurate biographical sketch of a
person living more than two centuries before our own time, is
manifestly a most difficult task to undertake, even with the
amplest materials at our command. But when such materials
are scanty, with only here and there a fact of marked signifi-
cance to aid us in our undertaking, the work of preparing such
a paper as we now submit to this Society will be recognized as
one of no slight magnitude. We have this thought, however,
to encourage us, that in all ages of the world, and especially in
those times when new states and empires are to be struck out
in the path of advancing civilization, public men are measured
by what they actually do rather than by what they seeyn to be —
by what they effectually accomplish for their fellow men leather
than by what they assume^ from mere rank or position in
society, to have accomplished for them. And in this respect a
contemporaneous public opinion is not always — indeed it is
seldom — the true standard of measurement for determining the
value of public services in the day and time in which they are

156 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF STEPHEN GOODYEAK.

rendered. The very name which our own country and con-
tinent bears, is a striking exemplification of this truth, since it
was derived from a contemporaneous public judgment in which
the pretensions of an adventurer were received as paramount
in claim to the highest example of individual merit the world
had ever seen. Time, however, with its ever-recurring sense of
right and justice in all human premises, has amply vindicated
the name and fame of America's great discoverer, while the
contemporaneous public judgment is set aside as one which
only belittled the age that rendered it.

In the original list of names of all the freemen, of the Court
of New Haven, prepared probably in 1638 and still preserved
in the handwriting of Thomas Fugill, that of Stephen Good-
year appears as the forty-secOnd in their order, with no further
mention of him, in the records of the Colony, until the follow-
ing year, when articles of fundamental agreement were made
and entered into by the "free planters," as they called them-
selves, at a meeting held on the 4th of June for "determining
about and settling civil government according to God." In
these articles of agreement the names of eleven of the
principal free planters are mentioned as fit persons for the
"foundation work of the Church," or to regulate and adminis-
ter public affairs " impartially and in the fear of God," but that
of the subject of this sketch is not among them. The names
of one hundred and eleven planters are attached to these
fundamental articles, as subscribing or assenting thereto, while
that of Mr. Goodyear is the sixty -fourth in order, though tlie
first in autographic signature. From this time on, with a
public court held as often, at least, as once a month, and
sometimes much oftener, no mention is made of his name in
the public records until 1641 (if we except a mere reference in
an order of court to one of his servants), when it was ordered
by the General Court that Mr. Goodyear should " have his
upland in a place he had chosen beyond the West Kocks. In
the same year, at a court held on the 4th of August, a slander
case was referred to him for his determination and judgment,
in which he was to admonish the slanderer to the satisfaction of

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF STEPHEN GOODYEAR. 157

the person whose good name had been defaming. It also
appears that, as early as 1641, Mr. Goodyear had purchased
and oife]*ed to the town Farrett's Island, now called Shelter
Island, and that a vote was taken not to accept the purchase.
The title of this island was in Mr. Goodyear for about ten
years, when he sold it to Mr. Thomas Middleton and others for
1600 lbs. of good merchantable Muscavado sugar.

During the first four years of the settlement, but little or any
reference seems to have been made, in the colony records, to
the "modest London merchant " who was soon to take a more
prominent part in the afiairs of the Colony than any other
freeman in it, with the single exception of Theophilus Eaton,
who had from the first taken the lead in the civil magistracy.
In the various public meetings, as well as in the general courts
of tlie Colony, other parties came forward at first to take
the more prominent parts to which public opinion assigned
them ; but the first appearance of Mr. Goodyear is as a referee
of the General Court, and as a voluntary purchaser of territory
for the plantation Colony. In October, 1641, however, his
fellow townsmen seem to have recognized, for the first time,
his great personal merit and worth, and at a general court of
election held in that month, he was chosen with Mr. Eaton to
the civil magistracy of the town. From this time forward he
appears to have taken a prominent part in the management of
public affairs, more prominent in fact, in some respects, than
Mr. Eaton himself. In October, 1642, he was again chosen
magistrate with Mr. Eaton, Avhile men like Mr. Gregson, Mr.
Malbon, Mr. Newman, Mr. Gilbert, and others take subordinate
positions in the civil magistracy of the town. In 1643, Mr.
Goodyear was chosen Deputy-Governor for the Jurisdiction, as
it was called, embracing the government of New Haven,
Milford, Guilford, Stamford, and Yennicott, L. I., still holding
the position of magistrate of the town with Governor Eaton ;
and this ofiice of Deputy-Governor he continued to hold until
1658, when he died in London whither he had gone on a visit.

As early as 1648, the duty of conducting in ))art tlie diplo-
matic corresjjondence of the Colony, seems to have been

158 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF STEPHEN GOODYEAR.

assigned to Mr. Goodyear, and it will appear, as we proceed in
this paper, that this duty was discharged by him with very
marked ability. At a court held on the 6th of July of that
year, he was desired to write to the inhabitants of Yennicott,
Long Island, to let them know the " equity of the proceedings
of the court, in rating all men impartially" within the liberties
of the plantation. Again, in the same year, when two commis-
sioners were ordered to be appointed for the jurisdiction of New
Haven, to unite with those of the other colonies of New England
in the formation of articles of confederation, whereby the United
Colonies might form and enter into a firm and perpetual league
of friendship and amity, although Mr. Goodyear was not ap-
pointed one of the commissioners, for the reason no doubt that
he was Deputy-Governor of the Colony, and could not well be
absent at the same time with the Governor; still Governor
Eaton and Mr. Gregson, who were appointed the commissioners,
were directed to confer and advise with him and others, "the
better to prepare them for the great and weighty business"
upon which they were to enter. These articles of agreement,
as concluded by the commissioners of the several colonies, form
the first written federal compact or constitution ever entered
into in this country, and embody many of the more striking
features of the constitution of 1787. We have reason to believe
that, in some of the commercial' features of this compact of
1643, the suggestions of Mr. Goodyear, as made to the New
Haven Commissioners, were liberally entertained and embodied
in that instrument. Mr. Goodyear was, at this time, success-
fully conducting his commercial enterprises in New Haven, and
was rated, in his real estate tax, higher than any other freeman
in the plantation, with the single exception of Governor Eaton,
whose tax was only 13s, lOd more than that of the Deputy-
Governor.

At a general court held at New Haven for the jurisdiction,
on the 27th day of October, 1643, Mr. Goodyear and Mr. Greg-
son were chosen alternate commissioners for the jurisdiction, to
meet in Hartford, agreeably to the articles of confederation for
the New England colonies relating to the several jurisdictions

HISTORTCAL SKETCH OF STEPHEN GOODYEAH. 159

embraced therein. It will be seen, therefore, that in the course
of three years, Mr. Goodyear was called to fill several of the
most important positions in the Colony, and that over those
whose names have heretofore (for some reason or other) filled
a much more conspicuous place in our local history. This cir-
cumstance can only be explained on the theory (which we as-
sume) that Mr. Groodyear, while a man of conspicuous merit,
was nevertheless so modest in his personal character and ad-
dress, that he rarely pushed himself where the public exigencies
did not demand his presence. Directly the reverse of this was
true of Grovernor Eaton, who, though a man of marked ability
and influence for his time, was not as retiring and unassuming
in his habits and demeanor as was the Deputy-Governor.

In all matters of serious debate and moment, whether of local
concern or more general public interest in the Colony, Mr. Good-
year seems to have been almost the first person consulted. A
careful perusal of the old Colony Hecords will show this, while
in matters of lesser concern and moment he seems to have been
relieved from public duty as a consequence of the more press-
ing business engagements upon his hands. In 1644, when a
proposition was debated to turn the channel of Mill River, we
find that Mr. Goodyear was appointed chairman of the com-
mittee to view the river, " exactly to see what advantages or
disadvantages they might discern which might either encourage
or discourage the wor-k," and also to " view the bridge over the
river and report to the court what they discern or conceive is
most meet to be done concerning the premises." So, in 1645,
Mr. Goodyear was placed at the head of the auditing committee
to examine and audit the accounts of the former treasurers of
the town, and was also appointed by the general court to fix the
value of wampum, and settle all questions that might arise in
relation to the same, as it was then ordered to be received as
"current pay in this plantation in any payment under twent}^
shillings." In this latter capacity Mr. Goodyear served for
many years, the order to that effect having been embodied in
the general order-book of the court, which is still extant in very
good preservation in the hands of Henry White, Esq., an hon-

160 HISTOIUOAL SKETCH OF STEPHEN GOODYEAR.

ored member of this society. Mr. Goodyear was also one of the
committee of five, in 1645, who were desired by the court " to
agitate the business concerning the enhargement of the liberties
of the patent for this jurisdiction." It will be recollected that
it was in view of this enlargement that Mr. Grregson was desired
to go to England, and that upon his voyage there he lost his
life in the famous " phantom ship" of that time.

In the celebrated trial of Mrs. Brewster, for speaking con-
temptuously of a sermon of the Eev. Mr. Davenport, saying
that "he (Mr. Davenport) made the people believe that to come
into the church was as much as the receiving of Christ," and in
asking "what rule there was for going to the high altar," Mr,
Goodyear took a prominent, though by no means as bigoted
a part as some of the other actors in that semi-ecclesiastical
investigation and trial. The deportment of Mrs. Brewster was
manifestly unseemly, and it is not at all surprising that Mr.
Goodyear, though not, distinctively, one of the seven pillars of
the Church, should be intolerant of all such impertinence as
that shown by this strong-minded woman, in carping at the
teachings of her "learned London divine."

A still more striking instance of the independence and un-
biased judgment of Mr. Goodyear, is to be found in the part he
took in the trial of Mrs. Elizabeth Godman, who was accused
of witchcraft, the prevalent female crime of that day. It seems
that he had himself suffered from the malign power of this
woman, for he had strangely fallen into a swoon (one of the
unmistakeable evidences of the influence of witchcraft) after he
had expounded some passage of scripture in her presence,
which she took as applicable to herself, and consequently flung
herself out of the room in a fit of ungovernable rage, giving Mr.
Goodyear a fierce look as she left. The effect of this "fierce
look" was to throw him into "a deep swound," from which he
only recovered after due relief from her evil influence. Had
his mind not been above the universal delusion of his time in
respect to witchcraft, it is evident that this woman, with the
other evidence against her, and especially that of Goodwife
Thorp, whose chickens she had so bewitched that they "were

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF STEPHEN GOODYEAR. 161

all consamed in ye gizzard to water," would have been con-
demned and hanged for her most heinous offense and miscar-
riage. But the court in which Mr. Goodyear sat withstood all
appeals for conviction, notwithstanding the Eev. Mr. Davenport
authoritatively declared that "a discontented frame of spirit,"
such as Madame Godman disclosed in her conduct, was a "fit
subject for ye devil to work upon in that way." The trial was
ended some two years after the first accusations were made, by
a caution to her to cease going from house to house to give
offense, but to carry herself orderly in her own house, and to
give security for her future good behavior. It is safe to say
that the evidence in this ease, of the "power of her evil eye,"
of her producing swoons, of her muttering discontent, and
throwing persons into terrible sweats, of her bewitching chick-
ens and bedeviling beer barrels, was strong enough to have
hanged a dozen witches in Salem, had they given evidence of
only a tithe of her seemingly infernal craft. The fact that
Mr. Goodyear was Deputy-Governor of the Jurisdiction at the
time, and sat as one of the magistrates in the trial, after he had
himself been thrown (as was supposed) into a deep swoon by
her machinations, is evidence that he placed but little faith in
the power of her evil eye, and was broad-minded enough to set
all such superstitious accusations as were framed against her
firmly aside.

There is, we think, satisfactoi-y if not conclusive evidence to
be found in the Old Colony Eecords, that Mr. Goodyear was
the first person to successfully open up a trade with the Barba-
does and other West India islands. As early as 1647, we find
him purchasing a large Dutch vessel for the purpose of prose-
cuting this trade. This vessel was called the "Zwoll," and was
contracted for by him with the authorities at Fort Amsterdam
to be delivered in New Haven at a stated time. It appears
that under a pretext of conveying this vessel in safety to New
Haven, the Dutch authorities placed a large number of armed
soldiers on board to seize a ship in our harbor belonging to a
Mr. Westerhouse, and called the St. Beninio, which they did
seize and carry away to New Amsterdam. As Mr. Goodyear
21

102 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF STEPHEN' GOODYEAR.

had not 3'et paid over the money for the "Zwoll," Mr, Wester-
house made application to the court for an arrest of the money
in Mr. Goodyear's hands, by reason of his ship being thus
seized and taken away by the Dutch. Additional evidence of
the purchase of this ship to carry on the trade opened by Mr.
Goodyear with the Barbadoes, is to be found in Thompson's
History of Long Island, in which he gives the number of guns
the ship carried, her quota of men, and the character of her
cargo, while Mr. Goodyear himself states in a letter to Gov-
ernor Stuyvesant, under date of November 22, 1647, that he
" was necessitated to furnish him (the Governor) with a great
part of the beef which he had designed for the Barbadoes."
This shows conclusively that, as early as 1647, the Deputy-
Governor was actively engaged in trade with those islands, and
there is no doubt he was the first person in the Colony, if not
in all New England, to open up this trade — one that has been
continued ever since with invaluable returns in commercial
prosperity to our city.

When we consider that this was scarcely nine years from
the first settlement of the Colony, with all the disadvantages
which the settlers had to encounter in their new forest homes,
the enterprise of Mr. Goodyear, in inaugurating and successfully
pushing forward this important trade, will be recognized as an
achievement of no small magnitude for his time. In fact, we
can point to nothing in the career of Governor Eaton, con-
fessedly valuable as his services were to the infant Colony, or
in the career of the other first settlers, which can in any respect
be compared in importance to the future welfare of our city,
with this one successful undertaking of Governor Goodyear.
It is evident that he was the leading commercial spirit of the
Colony, if not of all New England, at the time, and that he,
more than any other man, set a true value upon the commercial
enterprises of that early day.

Deputy-Governor Goodyear no doubt projected and largely
aided in building and fitting out the " Great Ship" for England
in 1646-7. This unfortunate vessel had a capacity of one
hundred and fifty tons, and was freighted with the best part of

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF STEPHEN GOODYEAR, 163

the commercial estate of its projector, when it sailed for England
with Mr. Gregson, Captain Turner, Mr. Lamberton, Mrs. Good-
year (the wife of the Deputy-Governor) and several others on
board. The ship was never heard of after it sailed, and prob-
ably foundered at sea in a storm. The apparition of this ship
in the air, which was believed to have been seen several
months after it sailed, by some curious observers who repre-
sented it as sailing up from the harbor's mouth just after a
fierce thunder-storm had swept the Sound, gave it the name of
the "phantom ship," which it has since traditionally borne in
our local history. The loss of this vessel with its very valu-
able cargo, and the still more valuable lives on board, was a
serious one to the Colony, and more so to Mr. Goodyear than
to any single person in the Colony. Aside from the domestic
affliction it brought upon him, he had so largely embarked his
commercial means in the vessel that it is questionable whether
he ever fully recovered from the financial shock he experienced
in its loss.

As an evidence, however, of the general thrift of Mr. Good-
year, after the loss of the "big ship," as well as the success
attending his numerous financial ventures, we find that he is
still accumulating real estate, and seeking to retrieve the for-
tunes of the past. At a Court held on the 1st day of May,
1649, an order was passed transferring to him the 110 acres of
land, in the second division of the town, belonging to Mr.
Thomas Trowbridge, who died in England and whose estate
was sold by order of the General Court.

We have spoken of Mr. Goodj^ear as having been repeatedly
called upon to adjust the more delicate and complicated rela-
tions of the Colony in matters of diplomacy, or when difi'er-
ences of a serious nature existed between the people of one
settlement or section and another, and that in such cases his
services were generally called in requisition for an amicable
adjustment of difficulties. So it seems that when, in 1653, "a
mutinous and unquiet spirit" was found to exist in the settle-
ment of Stamford, the people there being "full of discontent
with the present government," pleading that they might have

164 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF STEPHEN GOODYEAR.

their "free votes in tlie clioice of civil officers," making "objec-
tions against the votes," and claiming that certain local expenses
should be borne by the jurisdiction, Mr, Groodyear was sent
there, with Mr. Newman, " to settle a right understanding" of
the difficulties aud disquietudes with the people of that settle-
ment. Mr. Goodyear states that, on his arrival there, he found
the people in a very mutinous way, and unwilling to have their
matters settled by any two magistrates, but would have them
issued in a full court. A public meeting of the planters was
called, at which one Robert Bassett and John Chapman made
" turbulent speeches and full of complaints against the present
government." These complaints, however, were met by Mr.
Goodyear in the calm and deliberate manner in which he dealt
with all agitating questions, and after " much debate which did
little prevail" with the people, he read an "order of the Com-
mittee of Parliament in England," requiring them to submit to
the government they were under, which, he states, "did some-
what allay their spirits for the present," when they desired
further time for considering the questions of difference, and
agreed to communicate with the Governor in writing. The
matters in dispute were afterwards adjusted, but not without
summoning both Chapman and Bassett before the General
Court at New Haven to answer such charges as should be
preferred against them.

In the delicate and threatening relations existing between the
New Haven Colony and that of the New Netherlands, in
1647-8, the part taken by the Deputy-Governor shows him to
have been a true statesman and diplomatist. The correspond-
ence growing out of these relations was opened 1)y Governor
Eaton with Peter Stuyvesant, the Governor of the Dutch
Colony, and related to the apprehension and return of prisoners
escaping from one jurisdiction into the other ; the capture by
armed men from Manhattan of a vessel in the New Haven harbor,
and the making, on the part of the Dutch Governor, of unjust
claims to the lands and plantations of the New Haven Colony.
It was at first so ungraciously, if not offensively, conducted by
Governor Eaton, that the sturdy old Governor of the Dutch

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF STEPHEN GOODYEAR. 165

Colony took high umbrage at the language used by him, and
treated his correspondence with no small contempt, even
answering him in " low Dutch " (a very undiplomatic language
at tliat time) and not in the " stately Latin "' to which the ears
of the New Haven Governor were better accustomed. Governor
Eaton complains of this as one of the evidences of an
unfriendly disposition on the part of Governor Stuyvesant,
saying, in his letter of October 8, 1647, that he had lately
" received two letters, the one sealed and the other open, but
neither of them written either in Latin (as Governor Stuyve-
sant's predecessor used to write) or in English as he (Stuyvesant)
had formerly done, but both in low Dutch whereof I under-
stand little ;" and he adds, " nor would your messenger, though
desired, interpret anything in them, so that in part, at least,
they must lie by me till I meet with an interpreter." He
takes occasion to say, however, further along in the correspond-
ence, that though he does not fully and pai'ticularly understand
the contents of the letters, yet " the sownd and sense of them
are offensive."

The Deputy- Governor, it seems, was obliged to come to the
aid of the Governor at this stage of diplomatic matters, and he
accordingly addresses a note to the " Right Worshipful Peter
Stuyvesant," in terms not only eminently courteous and re-
spectful, but so emphatic and decisive in the demands made,
that the old autocrat of the "West Lidia Companie," as he was
wont to style himself, was immediately brought to more rea-
sonable terms. The following sentence from the Deputy-Gov-
ernor's letter will show both the style and spirit in which his
correspondence with the Dutch Governor was conducted:—

"We purpose, neither have we anything in our hearts but
love and neighborly correspondence with you ; and in nothing
are, nor I hope shall be, injurious to you, or any of yours ; but
if we shall be requited with the contrary, I doubt not but,
through God's assistance, you will find us able to maintain our
just rights, and not in the least to fear the sword or threats of
any adversary ; but if you still desire our neighborly corre-
spondence {as you desired it when T was ivith you) you shall find
us ready to our utmost."

166 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF STEPHEN GOODYEAR.

It would seem from the parenthetical reference in this letter,
which we have italicised, that Governor Goodyear had been
dispatched to Governor Stuyvesant with a view to the adjust-
ment of these difficulties, or some of them at least, in advance
of the correspondence upon which he here enters with the irate
Governor of the New Netherlands, who had manifestly taken
high umbrage at the undiplomatic language addressed him by
Governor Eaton.

The letter of Governor Stuyvesant to Deputj^-Governor Good-
year is especially noticeable for the courteous terms in which it
is couched. In referring to the seizure of the vessel of Mr.
Westerhouse, within the waters of the New Haven colony, he
says, in speaking of that person : " What he hath divulged I
know not, yet sure I am, I was desirous to carry it as inoffen-
sively to my neighbors there as I could, however they may ap-
prehend ; yet you and yours shall really find me as cordially
willing, at all times and all occasions, to endeavor a continuance
of all friendly and neighborly amity between us, although haply
many vain rumors may arise whereby jealousies and discon-
tents may be fomented."

From the concluding paragraphs of this letter, it appears that
Governor Goodyear was at that time engaged in furnishing the
government at New Amsterdam with commercial supplies, not
only by a direct trade with Governor Stuyvesant, but by fur-
nishing his agents with provisions, for which the Governor re-
turns his personal thanks.

As an evidence that the Deputy-Governor was on special
terms of intimacy with Governor Stuyvesant at this time, he
concludes a business letter to him thus familiarly : "I desire
we may attend peace and neighborly love and correspondence
one with another ; and if in any thing we may pleasure you, I
shall be ready to my utmost to show it, in any friendly or
neighborly way to do it. I rejoice to hear of the late blessing
in the little one given you, and of your wife's strength ; so
committing you and your weighty affairs to God's goodness,
I rest yours in any office of love to my power."

In December, 1648, Governor Stuyvesant addresses a most

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF STEPHEN GOODYEAR. 167

important letter to Deputy-Governor Goodyear, in wliich he
details the grievances he has received at the hands of Governor
Eaton, and which bears this most significant heading : "This
underwritten is in answer to Mr. Eaton's letter, being directed
to the Deputy-Governor, Mr. Goodyear : 'the honorable gentle-
man thinking it inconvenient to answer Mr. Eaton, in respect
of his (Eaton's) unjust charges." This letter is a long one, and
bears date, " Fort Amsterdam, in New Netherlands, December
the 16th, 1647 ;" and it shows conclusively, in the estimation
of Governor Stuyvesant, that the Deputy-Governor of the
New Hav^en Colony was in no respect the inferior of Governor
Eaton, and that of the two he was the more courteous and
honorable gentleman to deal with. We should regard this
paper as incomplete in its historical value to this society were
we not to give the substance in part of this letter of Governor
Stuyvesant to Mr. Goodyear, since it shows not only the
spirit in which the much abused Dutch Governor desired to
conduct his negotiations with the English Colony of New
Haven, but the reciprocal wish, on the part of the Deputy-
Governor, to amicably arrange all matters in dispute between
the two Colonies.

Governor Stuyvesant gives his reasons, in the opening sen-
tences of his letter, why he does not reply directly to Governor
Eaton, saying that "he (Eaton) writes him (Stuyvesant) as if he
were a schoolboy, and not as one of like degree with himself,"
and that " his (Eaton's) charges are so vain, and by me so suffi-
ciently answered, that I shall be silent, and only instance two or
three of the chiefest of them." He acknowledges the letter of
the Deputy-Governor, and freely and frankly answers its com-
plaints; but of Governor Eaton's letter, the receipt of which is
also acknowledged, he saj^s : "In mine to your Governor I had
thought I had given sufficient satisfaction, and expected the like
from him ; but contrary to my expectation and opinion of his wis-
dom, his letter was full of complaints and pretended injuries."
He then goes on to say that so far as he had set up any claim
to territorial rights, "they were no just ground of complaint,
but were matters to be lawfully and rightfully adjudicated by
their respective sovereigns."

168 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF STEPHEN GOODYEAR.

"Claims to pretended rights," he adds, "are no injuries, and
give me no lawful propriety to what I claim, nnless lawfully
adjudged, (in which neither he, Grovernor Eaton, nor I, can be
competent jndges,) and I suppose that you and he well know
that many protests and passages in this nature are only pro
forma; and, therefore, for whatsoever I have done in that
kind, I have not, as I conceive, wronged him or the rights of
his countrymen there, unless I had sought to make good my
claim by force of arms, the which I have not as yet so much
as thought of."

The other complaints to which Governor Eaton had formally
called the attention of Governor Winthrop of the Massachusetts
Colony, are all answered by Governor Stuyvesant in the same
spirit as the above, in this letter of his to Deputy-Governor
Goodyear. In regard to exacting excessive duties or customs
of the traders in the New Haven Colony, he says: "I only
answer that every State hath power to make what and impose
what customs in their own precincts they shall think expedient,
wnthout being regulated or prescribed by others ; yet notwith-
standing, we have been so favorable to your countrymen trad-
ing here (in New Amsterdam) that they pay eight per cent,
less than our own people."

In refe]"ence to the charge that he (Gov. Stuyvesant) had
threatened to burn down the trading houses of the New Haven
colonists, and incite the Indians against the English, of which
hostile intentions rumor had charged him, he replies: "I had
thought he (Gov. Eaton) had more noble worth, being a Gov-
ernor, or charity, as he was a Christian, (hearing such reports
of one of like quality as himself,) not to have given credit to
them, but rather have imprisoned the reporters, unless they
could have sufficientl}' proved it; and I take it to be as great
an injury to me (to have such reports raised and believed) as
possibly ma}' be."

The whole letter is as creditable in its character and spirit to
Governor Stuyvesant, as it is honorable in its terms and tem-
per to Governor Goodyear. It is concluded as handsomely as
any diplomatic correspondence of that day well could be. Be-

I

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF STEPHEN GOODYEAR. 169

ferring, at its close, to Grovernor Eaton's letter, he says: "His
conclusion is iiiclifferent fair, but I shall not beg it from him.
If I meet in the spring with the Governors of Boston and Ply-
mouth, I hope we shall do our best for the reconciling of all
differences. To ])ut anything to them as arbitrators I am not
yet resolved, but shall willingly comply with them in what
they shall think convenient: and whereas he (Eaton) is so full
of his retaliation, according to his own words and practices, he
must give us leave to give liberty to any that shall fly from
your jurisdiction to remain under our protection until our
fugitives are delivered, which as soon as done I shall endeavor
to send yours back. So, sir, with loving respects, I take leave,
and rest your assured friend."

This correspondence, the most important in some respects
that passed between the two C )lonies, makes good oar estimate
of Mr. Goodyear's character and his services to the New Haven
Colony. It should be borne in mind that Governor Stuyvesant
was what our colonial history incontestably makes him — one of
the most remarkable men of his time. Washington Irving has
not overestimated his character in the many pleasing reminis-
cences he has given of him. He was every inch a colonial
governor, and while he ruled with a just regard to the rights of
his own colony, he was not without a just pretext for his
actions towards others. He read men as i-eadily as an expert
scholar does books — almost at a glance at their title-pages.
His opinion of Governor Eaton, though in many respects
unjust, was nevertheless correctly formed in the main. In all
of Governor Eaton's letters to him the pronominal •'!" is in
marked contrast with the more modest and unpretentious bear-
ing of the Deputy-Governo]'. This, together with his captious
and querulous manner of writing, and his constant intimation
that the Dutch Governor was seeking unrighteous and unneigh-
borly correspondence with him, was no doubt what impressed
Governor Stuj'vesant so unfavorably as to his character.

On the other hand, Mr. Goodyear was actively engaged in
commerce with the Dutch Colony, and had no doubt met Gov-
ernor Stuyvesant often. Their business transactions were
22

170 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF STEPHEN GOODYEAR.

numerous, and their relations friendly, if not intimate, as evi-
denced by his gratulatorj note to the Governor on " the late
blessing in the little one given him. and his wife's strength ;"
and the Dutch Governor was no doubt glad to drop an unprofit-
able correspondence with Governor Eaton, and enter upon one
more fruitful of results with the Deputy-Governor. This he
did, and enough of the correspondence remains to show that
the Deputy-Governor had a far truer comprehension of the
duties devolving on him ; of the unfriendly relations unfortu-
nately subsisting at the time between the two colonies, and the
issues involved in their amicable settlement, than the Governor
had, with all his superior learning and accomplishments, as
exhibited m the diplomatic correspondence he conducted.

The action taken by Mr. Goodyear in relation to the
English plantations on the Delaware Bay, affords another
marked contrast with that of Governor Eaton, as well as
other leading men in the Colony, at the time when their juris-
diction was virtually surrendered over the lands which had
been purchased with a view to a permanent settlement by a
company from New Haven. This company, which was under
the protection of the New Haven Colony, had been not only
greatly annoyed by the Swedish settlers in Delaware, but had
suffered severely at 'their hands. In 1654, they petitioned the
General Conrt for redress, askin-g that " two great guns and
powder, and what belongs to them might be granted," with
additional men, in order that the work of successfully planting
a colony there might not fall through for the want of means to
establish it. The Colony had given these settlers, then num-
bering some sixty persons, encouragement to begin their work
in this settlement, and the question presented to the General
Court was one involving the entire abandonment of the enter-
prise, if the aid asked for was not promptly granted. In this
emergency, Mr. Goodyear came forward and proposed that,
notwithstanding the discouragements in the way, if a sufficient
number of persons would accompany him, he would go to the
Bay himself, and adventure his entire fortune in the enterprise.
After much debate, and no little hesitation on the part of the

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF STEPHEN GOODYEAR. 171

other leading men of the Colony, including the Governor him-
self, Mr. Goodj^ear was sent with others to treat with the Swedes
about a peaceable settlement of the difficulties, and the establish-
ment of the rights of the New Haven settlers there. This com-
mission was fulfilled by Mr. Goodyear, but it was afterwards
thought advisable, owing to the " want of men and estate '' to
carry on the settlement, not to undertake the enterprise unless
a sufficient number of men came forward to embark in it, in
which case the General Court declared its willingness to fur-
ther it.

We have thus briefly given, from the meager incidents
related in the old Colony Records, with the limited references,
here and there, to the Deputy- Governor of the Colony, what
will appear as tlie more prominent features of his public life.
The last meeting of the General Court of Magistrates, at which
he was present, was held on the 30th of June, 1657. He went
that year to England (the same year that Governor Eaton died),
and on the 26th of May following Mr. Francis Newman was
chosen Governor of the Jurisdiction, and Mr. William Leet
Deputy-Governor. Mr. Goodyear died shortly after reaching
London, leaving several children in New Haven, from whom
all of the families of that name in the State are descended.
He was in many respects a remarkable man, entering with
spirit, and generally with success, into many of the more
important business enterprises of his day.

He was among the first to favor the establishment of a col-
lege here, long before the foundations of Yale were laid ; and
offered to give his house for that object. From the record of a
General Court held in a neighboring town of the Colony in
1652, we have not only the evidence of the deep interest which
Mr. Goodyear took in this matter, but a glimpse also is given
us of the state of depression and gloom, which at that time
hung like a dark cloud over the prospects of New Haven.
The record says: "The matter about the college was thought
to be too great a charge for us of this jurisdiction to manage
alone ; especially considering the unsettled state of New Haven
town — it being publickly declared from the deliberate judg-

172 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF STEPHEN GOODYEAR,

ment of the most understanding men to be a place of no com-
fortable subsistence for the present inhabitants there. But if
Connecticut do join, the Planters are generally willing to bear
their just proportion for erecting and maintaining of a college
there. However they desire thanks to Mr. Goodyear for his
kind proffer to the setting forward of such a work."

The offer was a generous one, under any circumstances, but
its value was the greater at that juncture from the fact that Mr.
Goodyear was one of the largest sufferers from the reverses
which befell the commercial enterprises of the people; and a
grateful remembrance of the generous offer was for a long time
preserved — twelve years afterward when Mr. Davenj)ort in
a town meeting was reciting the efforts the town had made for
the establishment of a college here, the only instance of indi-
vidual liberality mentioned was this offer of his honse by Mr.
Goodyear.

Mr. Goodyear was actually the first to embark in ship build-
ing and commerce ; was identified with the first iron foundry
in the Colony, the early iron works of East Haven ; and, gen-
erally, took a prominent j^art in all the more leading public
enterprises of the day. The promptness with wliich he attended
all the General Courts of the Jurisdiction, especially when
matters of importance were to be considered by that body,
shows not only his alacrity in business, but the importance of
his deliberations to the Colony. Few men can attentively
read the New Haven Colony Records without placing a high
estimate upon the character and public services of Stephen
Goodyear.

ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN.

By THOMAS R. TROWBRIDGE, Jr.

[Read February 21, 1876.]

Before particularly describing some of the Ancient Houses
of the New Haven Colony it will be of advantage for us to
learn something of the style of architecture which was
common in the early days of New England.

There is, as might naturally be supposed, great similarity of
style existing between the houses which are still to be seen in
several of the towns v.diich constituted the New Haven
Colony, but, in this country where we see so little to remind
us of the past, we cannot but have a feeling of reverence and
respect when visiting these plain and unattractive structures,
which were the homes of our early fathers, in which they
lived, and died, and of which but few are spared to us :
enough, however, to show us from what we came, and to
cause us to admire and respect the courage and self-abnegation
of our ancestors, who, from the green fields and valleys of
England, came to these shores, established cities and great
commonwealths, and bore a prominent part in founding this
" Empire of the West."

Among many descriptions of the ancient New England
architecture none seems quite as clear as that which is found
in " Lambert's History of Milford," a book which, like the
subject it so well describes, is fast becoming extinct.

174 ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN.

"Concerning the early architecture, it may be remembered
that the best style of the Colonial houses in New England
were built in the 'Leanto form.' "

It was usual to set them facing the south. The frames were
made of heavy white oak timber, some of the largest pieces
measuring eighteen or twenty inches in diameter.

They were covered with white oak clapboards and the space
between the interior walls and the clapboards was usually
filled with clay.

The roofs were covered with long cedar shingles nailed to ribs.

The rooms were plastered only on the sides, the sleepers and
floor above being left naked.

The window glass was small and diamond-shaped, set in
leaden frames, and swung open each way on the outside.

The shape of the window was square ; height of the rooms
about seven feet.

The floors were made of thick oak boards fastened with
wooden pins.

The doors were constructed of upright boards fastened
together with batten, and had wooden latches with a leathern
string which passed through the door to raise the latch, instead
of the thumb piece as now. The outside doors were made of
double planks and the nails were placed in the angles of small
diamonds; at night they were fastened by a strong wooden bar
placed across the door on the inside.

The chimney, built of stone, was in the middle of the house,
and was ten or twelve feet square (this seems a small estimate,
for I have measured many in Litchfield County, that were six-
teen, eighteen, and two that were twenty feet square), and the
principal fire places were large enough to admit wood six and
eight feet in length.

The ground floor was laid below the sills, which projected
into the room eight or ten inches. The apartments were two
large rooms in front, and a long narrow kitchen at the back of
the house, with a small bedroom or milkroom at one end.

The stairs went up beside the chimney in the front entry.
The cellar was under one only of the front rooms. In the

ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN. 175

sitting room, on the side opposite the chimney, stood a large
open dresser, upon which was displayed the pewter ware
belonging to the occupants.

The well which belonged to these ancient houses, generally
stood about five or six yards from the rear door, and water was
drawn by means of a beam balanced on an axle at top of a
perpendicular post of suitable height, to the end of which was
attached a small pole and bucket which was let down into the
well.

Pumps of bored logs were formerly used extensively to raise
water from wells, and not until many years after the first settle-
ments, were used the rope and two buckets, which were called
" up and downs."

From the same authority I will give an idea of the interiors
of the houses.

The table furniture of old times was very plain. At first,
pieces of board were used for plates, then trenchers turned out
of wood; next pewter plates, and dishes, basins, porringers,
etc., came into use. Spoons, for common use, were of a metal
cnlled alchymy. Instead of pitchers, silver or pewter tankards
were used, which were covered with bell-shaped covei's of
the same metal. Silver and glass cans supplied the place of
tumblers ; they were cups which held about half a pint, with a
handle attached to them. A large china punch bowl and a
beaker glass, holding nearly two quarts, were necessary articles
of crockery in those days. When tea was first used, blue
china tea sets were introduced with it. Cliina tea pots were
sometimes seen with silver nozzles, which were considered a
mark of superior elegance.

Chairs were made of maple posts, and slats, which had high
and almost severe perpendicular backs, and were rush or
splintered bottomed.

Every householder deemed it very necessary for convenience
and comfort to have a large chest of drawers in the parlor in
which the family linen and clothes were always of ready
access, and it was thought no sin to rummage them before a
room filled with company.

176 ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN.

A brass- wheeled clock in a high case, reaching from top of
the room to the floor was a piece of furniture seen only in the
houses of the affluent.

About the year 1640 (two years after the settlement of this
town) there went from here to Southold, L. I., a company of
settlers, under the leadership of Mr. John Youngs (the minis-
ter), and as leading and prominent men of this company of
settlers, were William Wells, Thomas Mapes, John Tuthil,
and Mr. Barnabas Horton.

The name of the latter appears frequently upon the Colonial
records of the New Haven jurisdiction. He came to New
Haven from Mousely, in Leicestershire, in 1639, and, after a
long life of usefulness and integrity, died at Southold, in 1680,
aged 80 years.

In the northwest corner of the old Southold burying ground
is a blue slate tombstone (a large, heavy, horizontal slab),
imported by Mr. Horton from his native town of Mousely, and
vviiich for nearly two hundred years has covered his dust. It
bears the following inscription, the four prose lines making a
square around the quaint, but pious epitaph :

" Here lyeth burried the body of Mr. Barnabas Horton, born at Mousely in
Leicestershire in Old England, dyed at Southold 13 day of July, 1G80. Aged 80
years."

" Here slepes my body, tombed in its dust,

Till Christ shall come and raise it with the just.

My soul's assended to the Throne of God,

Where with sweet Jesus, now, I make aboad.

Then hasten after me my dearest wife,

To be partaker of this blessed life,

And you, dear children, all follow the Lord

Here and obey his public sacred word,

And in your houses call upon His name,

For oft, I have advised you of the same

Then God will bless you with yr children all

And to this blessed place, He will you call.

Heh. ii, 4.

He being dead, yet speaketh."

It was this Barnabas Horton, who in 1651 (as is clearly
proved by legal documents now extant) erected in the town of

ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN. 177

Southold, the house which is still standing, and widely known
as the "Barnabas Horton House."

It is a quaint, plain building, and looks not much unlike
Shakespeare's House at Stratford-on-Avoii, or at least as the
latter appeared before its restoration in 1847.

It is most firmly built, having a very massive frame of hewn
white oak, and is covered from roof- tree to foundation with
long cedar shingles. The building is twenty-six feet square,
and a story and a half high ; on the ground floor there are four
rooms, and several chambers in the half story. The lower
floor has two quaint windows in front looking south, and two
doors opening into halls on the east. There are three win-
dows, in each story, on the west; the bottom of the windows
being one course of shingles lower than the eaves.

Adjoining the building, on the east, there is a two-story
structure thirty by thirty feet on ground ; this was erected at a
later date, and was partly intended to accommodate the County
Courts, and for many years, in fact till 1725, in this little room
were argued and settled the questions which vexed the early
colonists of Southold. The Judge's Bench was well preserved
in the house till a few years since.

In connection with this allusion to the Court house, and the
"Judge's Bench," it is interesting to read the following extract
from the third volume of Dr. Dwight's travels. He was much
impressed by the quiet, primitive condition of the place and
its people, and in speaking of the absence of strife and conten-
tion, he writes from Southold in 1798, thus :

" The County Court sits here twice annually. Assembles on Tuesday, and,
after having finished its whole business, adjourns almost always on the succeeding
day. The Court of Oyer and Terminer sits once a year ; it assembles on Tuesday
at 10 o'clock, finishes all its business, and adjourns on succeeding day also. For
twenty years, it has not sat later than Thursday evening ; and from this, you will
judge, that the business of lawyers and sheriffs is not held in great demand, nor
in high reputation. No lawyer, if I am not misinformed, has hitherto been able
to get a living in the County of Suffolk. I entertain a very high and respectable
opinion of the gentlemen of the bar, but botli you and they will cheerfully agree
with me, in saying, that this exemption from litigation, while it is pecuhar, is
also a very honorable characteristic of this County."

23

178 ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN.

The Hortoii House stands on the corner of Horton avenue
and Main street of the village. It fronts due south, and there-
fore does not range parallel with the street ; its southeast cor-
ner, some twenty feet from the sidewalk, is nearer the street
than its southwest corner. The home lot on which it stands
contains some two acres, and extends in the rear to Long Island
Railroad.

The house, home lot, etc., descended by will from father to
son for six consecutive generations, and was occupied by the
original builder, Barnabas Horton, and his descendants, for
more than two hundred years ; and, it is highly probable that
this venerable building, the center of so many associations,
and the silent witness of so many great changes in the ancient
colony and commonwealth, is nearly ten years older than the
date we can vouch for (1651). The clear and simple tradition
of the family declares that, it is the fii^st and only house which
Barnabas Horton built ; and as he went to Southold in 1640, it
is only fair to infer that it was built at that date ; in which
case, it is one of the most ancient structures, and must have
been one of the first houses built either in the New Haven or
Connecticut Colonies.

Trumbull tells us "that the first European house ever erected
in Connecticut, was built by the Dutch, at Hartford, in 1633,
and was called the " House of Good Hope," and a few weeks
after, one William Holmes, of Plymouth, built his house at
Windsor. So it is evident that this ancient Southold house
was one of the first erected in this State.

It is now occupied by a family by the name of Ledyard,
relatives of the traveler, John Ledyard, and also of that brave
and patriotic soldier of the Revolution, William Ledyard, who
commanded at Fort Griswold, and was so barbarously mur-
dered by the tory Bloomfield, upon the surrender of the fort.

Some few months since, the Horton property was conveyed
to Henry Huntting, Esq., of Southold. This is the first transfer
ever made of this property.

In this same old town, is one more historic and venerable
house, known as the "Case House," but it has also strong

ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN. 179

claims to be called the "Moore House." I find, that the Jaud
upon which it stands was purchased in 1690 of Jolin Petty by
Benjamin Moore, who died hefore 1698.

This Benjamin Moore was the second son of Thomas Moore,
who came to Massachusetts from the eastern part of England,
in 1635, "aged 18, 19, or 21 years." The next year, he and
Martha, his wife, were admitted into Salem Church, where, in
1639 and 16-1(), his children, Thomas, Martha, and Benjamin,
were baptized. In 1642 he became a freeman of the Massachu-
setts Colony, and in 1650 he removed to Southold. At the
death of his son Benjamin this land went to Benjamin's son
Benjamin, born in 1678, who died January 26, 1728. From
him, to his son. Dr. Micah Moore, who married the widowed
mother of John Led3^ard, the famous traveler. The Doctor died
during the War for Independence, and after his death the house
was kept for many years as a " Public." It has descended from
generation to generation, till the present day, and is now occu-
pied by a lineal descendant of Benjamin Moore.

In all these years, since the settlement of Southold in 1640,
there has been but one transfer and sale of this property, and
that was from Petty to Moore, in 1690. This is, for this coun-
try, really a remarkable instance.

The house faces the south, is about fort}^ feet front, and thirty
feet deep, on the ground. It is built around an immense brick
and mortar chimney, which rises a few courses of bricks above
the ridge pole, in the very center of the roof. There are three
bents of enormous oak timbers in each end ; these bents extend
north and south in the east, and east and west in the west ends,
thus making the building more firm and immovabla

On the ground floor, there is a square hall in the front center.
The entrance to it is through the double doors. From each side
of this hall a door enters a front room that extends to the end
of the building. In each of these front rooms there are two
front windows.

While the house was a " Public" the east room was the bar-
room. Southold's present oldest citizen can narrate stories of
deaths and wounds which proceeded from the bar in that

180 ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN.

ancient Puritan home, that would astonish the most insensible
hearer.

In each rear corner of the house there is a smaller room than
the front rooms. The great living room is in the rear center.
The upper story, which is a high half story in front, is divided
into chambers, etc. This house, like the " Barnabas Horton
House," is covered with cedar shingles. There are nine courses
on the front of the house, about eighteen inches apart, and for
several inches from either end of the house the shingles are
entirely weather-worn away.

The date of the building of the house is not certainly known,
but the family tradition is very clear that the house was erected
in 1662; though, if not built till Benjamin Moore purchased
the property in 1690, it still has claims to being one of the
most venerable of the colonial houses.

While the old house was a " Public," several incidents oc-
curred here which have o;iven rise to the followins; interestino;
anecdotes concerning the British and the Americans.

The most infamous Tory which Southold ever produced was
one Elnathan Burts. He was a thief as well as a Tory, one of
the description whom it was impossible to "reconstruct." He
was employed by the British as a spy, and as such, he did work
which was mean and contemptible, and which often led to
bloodshed.

He often misrepresented the conduct of his neighbors and
townsmen, and gave them infinite trouble. It was at last de-
termined to punish him for the injuries which he had done.

He received intelligence of the " rod that was in pickle for
him," ran away and hid himself in the woods near the town,
remaining concealed for some weeks. When he again made his
appearance, his pursuers, who were on the watch, started in
chase. The swiftest runner in the town, Joshua Horton, was
rapidly gaining upon him, when Burts having leaped a fence,
and ran a few yards beyoml it, turned, and warned Horton
(when the latter reached the fence) not to get over it, saying
"he would shoot him." Young Horton not paying any atten-
tion to the threat, sprang over the fence, when Burts, taking

ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN. 181

deliberate aim, fired, killing him in his footsteps. He was
never arrested or punished for this crime, but spent the remain-
der of his days most miserably in the hiding-places of the west-
ern part of the county.

While Burts yet resided in Southold, he reported to the
British that Mrs. Moore concealed traitors and rebels in her
house (which was this same house of which we have been
speaking), and soon after a young English officer, with a
troop of cavalry, and accompanied by Burts, appeared before
her dwelling, and upon entering, found her three little children
and herself the only occupants.

The officer, addi-essing her, said, "Madam, are you the lady
of this house?" She coolly answered "Yes, Sir, I am." "I un-
derstand," said he, " that you harbor traitors, and, if so, I will
burn your house." She instantly replied " And pray, Sir, who
is your informant?" Turning to Burts, he answered, "this
gentleman" She firmly replied " Elnathan Burts is an infa-
mous liar, Sir, and is so regarded by this community." The
officer, impressed by her frank and fearless manner, said no
more, but left her house, and with his troopers marched away,
leaving house and occupants unharmed.

Did our time permit, many more equally interesting anec-
dotes could be related of this ancient house and its history dur-
ing our Revolution.

Nor can we speak of the "Youngs House," which dates back
to 1688, and was the dwelling of the former Col. John Youngs,
eldest son of Mr. John Youngs, "minister of God's Word and
first settler of Southold." This house, though' somewhat trans-
formed, stands to-day an ancient landmark of the New Haven
Colony.

The builder of this house was a brave soldier during the early
days of the town, and it was in a large degree owing to him that
the Indians under their Sachem Ninigret were prevented from
crossing the Sound to annoy the early colonists of Southold.

This Col. John died in 1698, and his tomb is to be seen in
the Southold burying ground, near that of Barnabas Horton.
His monument is a structure of unhewn stones, laid up in a

182 ANCIENT HOUSES OF Ni:W HAVEN.

cement made of burnt sea-shells, and covered b}^ a large and
very thick sandstone slab, in a horizontal position, bearing an
appropriate inscription deeply cut into its surface.

Having finished our inspection of the " Southold Houses,"
we shall find in the remaining towns which originally consti-
tuted our New Haven Colony, viz : Gruilford, Branford, New
Haven, Milford, and Stamford, a number of ancient and historic
houses, bnt, with a single exception, none, which will antedate
the old "Barnabas Horton House" at Southold.

The "leveling hand of the farmer and artizan" in the latter
towns, has been more active than in Southold, and while in the
former most of the " Ancient Houses" have been swept away to
give place to those of more pretensions, they have in Southold
been allowed to remain, particularly those of which we have
spoken, solely out of respect for their great antiquity ; and for
thus preserving them, their owners are deserving of the thanks
of all who take an interest in the "olden times."

Crossing the Sound in an oblique line from Southold, we
land at the Colonial town of Guilford, one of the "old original
six," where we find two ancient houses of which to speak.

In a sermon preached in Guilford in 1802, by the Rev. John
Elliott, T find the following :

"The town of G-uilford was settled the next year after New Haven ; the plan-
ters who first purchased and settled this town, were among the adventurers who
arrived at New Haven, with Governor Eaton. They came from a town of same
name in England. The tract which lies west of East River, was purchased of a
Sachem squaw who, with the other Indians, were to remove from it ; the tract
eastward of that to Juries Pond, was bought of Uncas, a Mohican Sachem, and it
appears that the land from this to Hammanassett River, was a present to the
town from Mr. George Fenwick, of Saybrook ; the conveyance bears date of Oct.
22d, 1645."

On the stage road which leads to New Haven, near the east
corner of the Durliam turnpike, and one hundred and fifty
yards east of the public square of what is now Madison, stands
one of the most ancient houses of the old colony. It is known
as the "Graves House," and was built in 1675. Like other
houses of that date, it is built of heavy oaken timber, shingled
with cedar shingles, and is forty feet long, and thirty-four deep;

ANCIENT HOUSES OP NEW HAVEN. 183

and of all the ancient buildings I have inspected, this seems
most like what we would expect one of the old colonial houses
to have been.

There are in this house twelve rooms ; the largest, in the
southeast corner of the building, is twenty-two feet square.
The chimney is about twelve feet square. Height of the rooms
eight feet.

In the house is an attic chamber running the entire width
of the low sloping roof. From this chamber into the garret,
by the side of the chimney, runs a very curious and ancient
flight of stairs. For over one hundred and fifty years, these
stairs have been called " Stepney's stairs ;" tradition says, that
this Stepney, a negro slave, once secreted himself in this stair-
way, which since then have been called by his name. He was
finally drowned while swimming in the bay. Why these
stairs were ever built in such a private way, no one knows,
but probably to afford a hidingplace in case the house should
be attacked by Indians who, at the time this house was built,
were much to be feared in the eastern part of the colony.

This house has been occupied by the Graves family since it
was built, and has descended from the father to the eldest son
through several successive generations; the proprietors have
always been thrifty farmers, who have lived quiet lives and
cared mostly for their farms and homes.

Lieut. Graves, one of the early occupants of this venerable
house, was a soldier in the Indian War. His commission as
officer in the war he received from Governor Gurdon Saltonstall
(whose house we are soon to visit). Elias Graves, the owner of
the house from 1735 to 1775, was a soldier in the Indian and
French wars, and went with the Connecticut troops to Ticon-
deroga. After his return, he was appointed Justice of the
Peace, which office he filled for many years.

The house is now owned and occupied by the widow of the
late Mr. Hubbard Graves ; and to her kindness I am indebted
for most of the foregoing data, and also for the following copy
of an old document, which has always been most carefully kept
in the house :

18-1 ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN.

London, Feb'y the 27th, 1645.
CouzEN John Graves, in New England :

My kind love, presented to you and yo^ wife and children, hoping y* these few
lines will find you well, as I pray y^ Lord left me in. considering my age. Couzen,
having an opportunity of sending, caused me to write this, being y^ sixth letter to
you since I received yours, hoping y* some of those may come safe to y"" hand,
and so inform you yt hath pleased God to take away from me unto himself my
deare and only daughter, which is a great greefe and heavy burding to me in my
great age, (92) but considering whither she is gone, I am satisfied. She departed
this life ye 21st day of y^ last November, 1644. She had a great desire to hear
from you before she died, and, if she had, she would a remembered you at her
death.

And now Couzen, I am of a groat age, and cannot expect to live long, but have
made my will, and have left 50£ among you as a token of my remembrance after
I am dead. I have 10£ to y'' selfe, J0£ to yr Brother George, and to yr sister
10£, which is 30£, the 20£ remainder for y"" children.

If it shd please y^ Lord to take me out of this world before y"" letter comes, I
have left to good bondsmen over here, in trust, my will, y^ one is Mr. William
GrifiQng, a merchant in Austin street, and ye other is Mr. James Arbell, at
ye " White Anchor" in ye Little Minery.

Soe I close, committing you to the protection of ye Almighty God, who never
forsakes any y* wholely put their trust in him. Your loving Aunt till death,

ANNE GRAVES.

Some ten miles west of tbe house last desciibed, near the
center of the original settlement at Guilford, stands, probably
the most ancient house in New England and perhaps in the
United States.

The "old stone house" of Guilford, well known to most of
us as one of our colonial landmarks, is an object of interest to
all visitors at Guilford.

It may not be uninteresting to quote from Rev. Mr. Ruggles'
manuscript " History of Guilford" a few lines concerning the
early history of this place. He says : "The first settlers of the
town of Guilford went from New Haven in 1639, and Guilford,
like New Haven, was a pure aristocrac}', yet modeled and exer-
cised in a peculiar way."

He also says :

" The first planters, whether gentlemen or yeomen, were almost all of them
husbandmen by profession, not one blacksmith among them, and it was at great
cost that the town got one to reside among them. As they came from Kent, so
they chose for their plantation land as near like that as they could, and what justly

ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN. 185

deserves to be remembered, is, that the ancient skill and spirit of the first planters
has descended, and still continues among them, and, it is no vanity to say that
there is in this country no better husbandry to be found."

Dr. Dwight, in 1800, also says of this ancient town, or rather
of its people :

" The inhabitants have retained more than most others in our state the ancient
manners of the New England Colonists. Parents are regarded by their children
with a peculiar respect, derived not only from their domestic government and
personal character, but also in a considerable degree from the general state of
manners. Old people are in a similar manner reverenced by the young ; and laws
by the inhabitants and magistrates at large. Private contentions have heretofore
been rarely known, and law suits so rare that till lately no lawyer has been able
to acquire a living in this town. The weight of public opinion has been strongly
felt, and diffused a general dread of vice. In these convulsive times (1800), efforts
have been made to disturb this happy state of society, yet, although aided by some
imtoward events, they have been attended witli less success than was rationally
to have been expected."

Such was Guilford society in 1800, and undoubtedly as it had
been since Mr. Whitefield led his company from New Haven
to the wilderness in 1639.

The " old stone house" was built in 1640, by Rev. Mr. White-
field, the minister. The building is thirty-eight feet long by
nineteen feet wide, two stories in height ; the first story eight feet
high, the second six feet nine inches. As originally built, the
front walls terminated at the floor of the attic, and the rafters
lay upon the walls. The angle of the roof is 60°, making base
and sides equal. At the southwest corner is a wing, also of two
stories. The walls are two feet in tliickness, and windows have
broad seats in their recesses. The glass in the windows, till a
short time since, was of the ancient diamond shape.

The stones of which the walls were built are very rough, and
were stuccoed over in 1815. In 1868 the house was repaired,
but in so careful a manner as to retain as much of the ancient
form as possible. The front wall, the north wall, and gart of the
east wall, were to remain as they were, save that they were to
be raised two feet. The south wall was defective, and had to
be rebuilt, and upon exposing tbe timbers, there were evidences
that, many years before, a fire had taken place in the building.

There were originally but three main rooms on the first floor,
24

-x"

186 ANCIENT HOU.SES OF NEW HAVEN.

and the accommodations of Mr. Whitefield for his stndy, parlor,
and drawing room, kitchen and pantry, were hardly as extensive
as are thought requisite by clergymen of the present day.

Mr. Whitefield returned to London in 1650, and upon his
death in 1658, the house came into possession of liis son
Nathaniel Whitefield, merchant, of London. In 1703, lie sold it,
together with the adjacent land, to Major Eobert Thompson,
also merchant, of London ; and from that time till 1772 it re-
mained in the Thompson family. It was sold at that time to
Wylis Elliott of Guilford, and in 1776 to Jasper Griffing, of
Guilford, and since that time, now 100 years, no sale has been
made of the property. This is the house (as all who have read
"Barber's History of Connecticut" will recollect), where the first
marriage took place in the town of Guilford, and where the
wedding feast was principally composed of " pork and peas,"
which had been brought over from England.

Following the stage road we reach Branford, and there we
find the " Saltonstall House."

This ancient house was built by the Eeverend Gurdon Sal-
tonstall in 1708, soon after his appointment as Governor of the
Commonwealth. He came into possession of the land then
known as '' Furnace Farms," comprising several hundred acres
lying along the eastern shore of "Furnace Pond," so called from
the iron furnace near by, wliich I am informed was the first ever
worked in this country.

This valuable tract of land came into his possession by his
marriage with Mary, only child of William Eosewell, Esq., who
was the proprietor of the iron furnace before mentioned.

The proximity of the land to New Haven and Hartford, the
two capitals of the colony, the facility of access to both cities,
at once determined the Governor to make it his residence, or at
least so long as he should remain Governor ; and accordingly,
the same year, he erected the house which is still standing, and
requires but a moderate outlay to restore it to its former con-
dition.

It is a two-story wooden building, well and strongly built,
and whose dimensions and style of architecture show (even

ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN. 187

now) that it was designed by a man of taste and culture, and
intended for the residence of a wealthy and important per-
sonage.

The house fronts the south, about three hundred yards north
of the Bi-anford road ; its rear is to the Lake, and from its situa-
tion it commands a very extensive view of the country. The
location shows the excellent judgment of the builder ; and the
house has numerous traces of architectural art and style.

The rooms are large and spacious, numbering, I think, thir-
teen. A broad hall and massive oaken stairway are to be seen
as one enters the front door. In the two front rooms we find
those little triangular corner cupboards, so dear to the house-
keepers of the eighteenth century ; and upon several of the
doors, throughout the house, are the original brass fittings,
knobs, latches, etc. Also, one can see pieces of the original
wainscoting in the hall and rooms. In ascending the stairs is
found one of those curious hiding-places, so indispensable to the
old Marian and Elizabethan Houses in England, and which are
still to be seen in many of them, where alternately, Mass-
Priests and Puritan Divines, Cavaliers and Round-heads, hid
themselves when in open hostility to the laws of the land.

The northeast room on the ground floor was undoubtedly
the Grovernor's room, or " room of state," and, for the primitive
days of which we are writing, must have been grand and im-
posing.

In this historic room hung for nearly one hundred and
twenty years the famous "leathern tapestry," representing a
stag hunt in a forest, with a large and imposing retinue of
huntsmen, horses, and hounds ; it covered the four sides of the
room, and was imported from England. It is said by some that
it was presented to the Governor by several London merchants,
who, atone time had resided in the colony. These ''leather
hangings" were famed throughout the state, and for years were
gazed at with admiration by our primitive ancestors, such mag-
nificence being rarely seen in those days.

Some pieces of this '' tapestry," (a misnomer, by the way,)
are in the possession of the descendants of the Grovernor, and

188 ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN.

for beauty of design, elegance of material, and wonderful per-
manency of the colors, I think it is fully equal to the celebrated
leathern hangings in "Blenheim Palace," near Oxford.

These beautiful hangings, after suffering from the knives of
relic-hunters, and furnishing lire screens to many of the houses
of Branford, were finally taken to Hartford, and are now in the
rooms of the Connecticut Historical Society.

The house was furnished with many conveniences unusual
in the houses of that period ; and the large and ample pantries
and store-rooms now to be seen are evidences tliat the " inner
man" was well cared for.

The furniture of this house was imported from London, and
was of a description befitting the position and the dignity of the
Governor of so important and respectable a colony as Connec-
ticut

The Governor continued to reside alternately here and in New
London, till his death in 1724. His descendants occupied the
house till 1775, when it passed into other hands. It has fre-
quently been transferred from one party to another, till the pre-
sent time. It is now owned and occupied by a " family from
Ireland."

It is to be regretted that none of the descendants of the orig-
inal owner have retained this venerable house, as there are few
places within the limits of the old colony so susceptible of
being transformed into an attractive place, as this ancient house
and grounds ; and by so doing, a venerable and historic land-
mark would be preserved to us.

Tradition says that near the knoll where this house stands, a
company of men gathered to celebrate the " raising of the siege
of Londonderry" in 1689. They built a huge bonfire, and fired
a salute in honor of " King William and the Protestant Eeli-
gion." One man, named Nicodiah Denton, not agreeing with
the sentiments of the rest, shouted loudly for "King James,"
and "damned the Dutchman." The crowd seized and dragged
him to the pond, where they held him under water till life was
extinct.

ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN. 189

As our friend Dixwell several times passed aloDg this road,
to and from Guilford, it may be that he left directions to drown
any one that should do what the unfortunate Nicodiah did.

In 1776 the house was transferred to other parties, and in the
moving away many packages of ancient documents were found
in the building; many laid away in the "curious old hiding-
place by the stairs;" and through the kindness of F, Gr. Salton-
stall, Esq., of "New York, I am enabled to present the following-
extracts :

Received of Mr. Ashby the sum of thirty-three pounds in money.

Nov. 23d, 1644. JOHN WINTHROP.

April 9th, 1641.

Mr. Winthrop, he hath given him one Island, the outermost of Mistick Island,
that lies next to his ovni island, that upon which to put his Ram Goats.

E. Hallam, Recorder.

Also:

An act of the General Court declaring ye 2000 acres in Killingly not to be
granted unto Killingly, but to be given to Wait Winthrop, Esq.
Dated at Hartford, May 12th, 1701.

Loving friend James Rogers:

Since you went home, I found a writeing which I told the Courte I was sure
there was such a vsTiteing, which I could not then finde, which doth clearly show
that the business which now Uncas doth again contend for, was with his own con-
sent issued twelve years since, and that then Uncas did not so much as challenge
anything toward New London, further than the brook called Cochsaiack, which
is at the great Cove between the " Saw Mill" and Mowhegan. I send herewith a
coppie of that writeing.

I have the original of the Major's own hand, and Uncas, his mark is also to it
as you will see.

I kepe the original writing and this is certain that at the time Uncas had not
the least pretense to any part of the east side of the river. I hope it will not
be possible to be seen that Uncas shoulde againe have cause to make a new
claime vdthin the town boundes after such an issue under his own hand mark in
testimony of his satisfaction therein.

Not else at present but my loveing remembrance to yourself and all yours, and
rest your loveing friend.

JOHN WINTHROP.

Hartford, the 4th day of June, 1666.

190 ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN.

Also the funeral sermon preached at the burial of Grovernor
Gurdon Saltonstall, by the Eev.. Mr. Adams, January, 1724, in
which the following is to be seen :

" Who, that was acquainted with him, did not admire his consimimate wisdom,
and indefatigable application, his intimate acquaintance with men and things, and
his superior genius ?

His aspect was noble, and amiable, commanding respect and reverence, and
attaching esteem and love at the first appearance, and there was such an air of
greatness and goodness in his whole mien and deportment as showed him to be
peculiarly fitted for his station, and tliroughout his long administration of nineteen
years exemplified his own favorite maxim :

" Justice is to be given^ not sold — and that with an equal and steady hand."

We are told that " His remains were borne to their last resting
place in great pomp. The horse and foot marched in four files,
the drums, colors, halberds, trumpets, and hilts of the swords,
covered with black, and twenty cannon firing at a half minute's
distance. When the mournful train reached the vault the
people gathered around the spot and in respectful silence
waited for the body to be lowered into the grave where it now
rests. Then two volleys were fired from the Fort, and after
their echoes had died upon the ears of the multitudes, the mil-
itary companies, first the horse, and then the foot in single file,
advanced and discharged their pieces over the grave of a man"
of whom Hollister says : " He for many years wielded an
influence in the Colony equalled only by our first Winthrop."

His tomb, which is in perfect condition, bears a tablet which
has this simple inscription :

" Here lyeth the body of the Honorable Grurdon Saltonstall, Esq., in the 59th
year of his age, 1724.

One other house in Branford is worthy of a passing notice.
In 1749, Captain Ezekiel Hayes, of that town, finding a large
deposit of clay upon his farm, conceived the idea of erecting
for himself a " brick house," the clay to furnish material for
the brick.

The Captain's neighbors, one and all, did their utmost to
dissuade him from his extravagant intentions, but he perse-

ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN. 191

vered, and erected the building known to most of us as the
"Totoket House," in Branford : though only consisting of two
stories, it was at the time considered a "splendid mansion."
Many years after it passed into other hands, and having
undergone many alterations has been made into the substan-
tial building wiiich we now see.

In this same year there was erected at Wallingford a brick
house which was in every particuhir the duplicate of the Hayes
house in Branford. I may say that Capt. Ezekiel Hayes was
the great-grandfather of Governor Hayes of Ohio.

As a matter of interest it should be stated that Capt. Hayes
was so discouraged by his neighbors while building his house,
that when they saw that he was determined to go on, many
called it "Hayes' Folly."

The "Morris House" in East Haven, situate at the Cove,
now called South Haven, is one of the most venerable and his-
toric houses in this county, and at some time a representative
of the best style of New England houses.

And it may be remarked that the New Haven houses in the
early days of the settlements of New England were noted for
their large and ample proportions. Hubbard says that "the
New Haven people laid out too much of their stocks and
estates in building of ' fair and stately' houses wherein they
at first outdid the rest of the country."

Palfrey tells us of " Isaac Allerton who came from Plymouth
to New Haven, and built a grand house on the Creek with four
porches ;" and the taste for comfortable dwellings, which the
settlers brought with them, so intimately associated with the
English feeling for home, they appear to allow themselves
early to gratify in full proportion to their means.

The wife of one of the prominent Plymouth settlers, returning
from a visit to New Haven, was grieved at the "poor show"
which the houses in Boston made, when measured with the
New Haven houses. Grood old Madam Knight also admired
the houses here as she passed through the town on her memo-
rable horseback journey from Boston to New York in 1704.

The "Morris House" is a spacious one, measuring about fifty

192 ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN.

by forty feet, with an addition of thirty -five feet square. It is
built of split granite rocks, or stones, which were taken out of
the land. The mortar was made of oyster shells found on the
beach. The timber was also cut on the estate. The main
house was originally built in 1672, the addition in 1767. The
house contains some twenty rooms, and is well arranged for
comfort and convenience.

Among a large number of ancient and interesting documents
in this house is the original grant of this property, in which is
deeded by the tovvn of New Haven to Thomas Morris, Esq.,
" Lands on the Little Neck, at the Solitary Cove." This doc-
ument is dated August, 1668, and is signed by Eoger Ailing,
Samuel Whithead, and Martin Brockett.

Thomas Morris, one of the early settlers of New Haven, was
by trade a ship-carpenter, and he selected this property on
account of the numerous oak trees to be found there, and also
for its superior ship-building facilities ; and at this Cove was
built the first sea-going vessel owned in the town, Mr. Morris
enjoyed his residence at the Cove for a short time only, as his
death is recorded in Farmer's Register as having occurred in
1678, only five years after he received the grant of the property.

Another interesting document is the commission to Amos
Morris (also at one time owner of the property) as Captain of
the 3d Company, or Trainband, of New Haven, signed by
Thomas Fitch, Esq., General and Commander-in-Chief of his
Majesty's Colony of Connecticut, and witnessed by his Secre-
tary, George Wyllys, and dated October 31st, 1748.

The house was burned by the British in 1779, but the
immense stone walls and enormous chimneys suffered so little
that they were merged into the present building. Soon after
the burning of the house, Mr. Thomas Morris, who was Town
Clerk, was taken prisoner by the British, and soon afterwards
released. His parole, preserved in the house, is as follows :

" I Thomas Morris of New Haven do hereby acknowledge myself a prisoner to
the King of G. Britain, and having leave from his Excellency Geni Robertson to
go hence on my parole, do hereby pledge my faith, and word of honor that I will I

not do or say anything contrary to the interest of his Majesty or of his Govern-

ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN. 193

ment, and that when requested so to do, I will repah- to whatever place his Maj-
esty's Com'* in Chief shall judge expedient to order me." Long Island the 21st
day of May, 1780.

I certify the above to be a true Copy of the Parole of Thomas Morris.

JOHN WINSLOW, D. G. of P.

The bouse is now owned and occupied by J. H. Morris, Esq.,
who represents the eighth successive generation which has lived
on this property — a period of 208 years.

The original well is still used by the family. And by no
means the least interesting object on the place, is the "Morris
Grape Vine," planted before the Eevolution, a gigantic vine,
measuring (three feet above the ground) thirty-six inches in"
circumference, which is six inches larger than the celebrated
vine at Hampton Court.

In our own city there are no houses of great antiquity,
although there are many of considerable historic interest ; these,
however, with their history, traditions, etc., are so well known
to most of us, that it is unnecessary for us to particularize.

The truth is, that some years since, we had here in New
Haven a very large number of ancient, conservative looking
houses, which were distributed about our streets, and, in most
instances occupying '■'choice corner- lots," and ^^ most desirable
frontages" on many of our principal thoroughfares. They were
good, comfortable old houses, of the description which would
have gladdened the hearts of Wouter Van Twiller or Diedrich
Knickerbocker, and New Haven felt proud of her colonial sou-
venirs and of her slow and gradual progress. Suddenly, from
divers directions, there came a vast number of men who were
called, in the old New Haven vernacular "Interlopers;" these
men, not content with purchasing these venerable buildings —
though generally paying their full value — went to work, and
deliberately pulled them down, and in their stead, erected their
great brick stores and warerooms, their great churches and
" Man sard -roofed houses," laid down pavements, created new
streets, paved them, sewered them, and — assessed for them.

Entirely disregarding the most passionate entreaties and
prayers of the "old town born," they made New Haven a city,
25

194 ANCIENT HOUSKS OF NEW HAVEN.

with all the usual concomitants of Public Buildings, Parks,
Eailways, Railroad Bonds, Police Force, and — Tax Bills.

Since the "Corporation of the City of London" have taken
down that great and historic " Northumberland House," — to
which were attached as many historical associations as to any
private house in London — and extended a street across its site,
we cannot expect that any of the old colonial landmarks, which
are still to be seen in our large towns and cities, will long be
allowed to remain in the way of improvements.

It is in the country that we generally expect to find venerable
buildings, and let us hope that for many years to come we may
find in our country villages a few of our old colonial structures,
which will serve as a link between ourselves and an age which
has passed away.

Warwick, Kenilworth, and Meli'ose, would lose much of that
halo of romance which now surrounds them, were they in Lon-
don or Edinburgh ; and, if we can compare small things with
great, the ancient houses of which we have spoken are of far
gi'cater interest situated where they are, than if they were in the
crowded streets of our growing cities.

It may be of interest merely to name a few of the oldest
houses now standing in New Haven :

The oldest house in New Haven (as nearly as I can ascertain),
is undoubtedly the house in Water Street, known as the " Hunt
House." This house was built in 1736 by Mr. Joseph Trow-
bridge, who resided here for many years ; it was afterwards
occupied by the Hunt fiamily for a long period, from which
family it took its name.

In the front room of this old house, now used as the parlor,
Benedict Arnold and his patriotic friends met, and organized
the company which marched on to Boston ; and, in this same
room, a few years later, a French soldier taught the youth of
New Haven the "sword exercise." This was at the time Tryon
was threatening the town with an invasion.

The old " Pinto House" is the oldest brick house in New
Haven, and was erected in 1715.

ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN. 195

There are many houses which date hnvk one hundred years
and over, as the Totten House, Gad Peck House, Arnohl,
Hoadley, Carrington, Gorham, Atwater, Sherman, Dwight, and
Davis Houses; and the ''Reynolds House," which stands upon
the site of the Davenport House. Several of these are one
hundred and fifty years of age.

The Painter House, in West Haven, is one of the most an-
cient houses in the town, and was built (if I am not misin-
formed) in 1701. The house opposite is almost, and possibly
fully as old.

There are, doubtless, many of our houses of which most en-
tertaining histories could be written, did the time permit.

In 1649, William Bradley, who had been a Major in the Par-
liamentary army, and a friend of Cromwell, went from New^
Haven about eight or ten miles to the north, and commenced a
settlement, which was called North Haven. The settlers were
few, and the hamlet increased but little, till about 1660, when,
more planters going there, the growth was apparent. Here were
the " Farms of New Haven," and for forty years after Bradley
went there, the North Haven settlers came to New Haven to
church, and their dead were also brought here to be buried.

In those days there must have been most attractive preaching
in New Haven, or the North Haven settlers must have had a
yearning desire to hear " the preached word," as Dr. Trumbull
tells us, " that it was a common sight to see women going on
foot to New Haven, on the Lord's day, where they attended
two exercises" (undoubtedly long ones), and returned ; and
often they took this walk (poor creatures), carrying a child in
their arms.

A few miles above this settlement was that of Wallingford,
named in honor of a town in England, from which a number of
the first settlers emigrated. And we may for a moment admire
the affection which the early settlers entertained towards their
mother country, and which they expressed by covering New
England with settlements named after their homes in Old Eng-
land.

Bayley, in his Memoirs of New England, says:

196 ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN.

" Although England had driven them from her bosom, yet their long absence
had not destroyed that attachment which they cherished in their hearts to the land
which gave them birth, they could not endure the reflection that their children
would lose their national character, and language of their fathers.

" They wished to live under the dominion of their native sovereign, in any part
of his empire in which they could enjoy their religious faith unmolested, and they
cherished a lively hope that they should be able to rear the true church of Christ
in the American wilderness, and still form part of the great Enghsh nation."

The same sentiment is also strongly expressed in the follow-
ing from the old Tract :

" New England's Tears for Old England's Pears. Preached in a sermon on July
28, 1640, being a day of Pubhke Humiliation appointed by the churches in behalf
of our Country in time of fearful danger ; by Mr. Hooke, Minister of God's Word,
sometime of Axraouth, in Devonshire, now of Taunton in New England."

" There is no land that claims our name but Old England. We are distinguished
from all the nations in the world by the name of English. There is no potentate
breatheing that we call our dread soveraigne but King Charles; no laws of any
land have civilized us but England's ; there is no nation that calls us countrymen
but the Enghsh: Brethren! did not the Sunne first there shine upon our heads?
did we not there draw our first breath ? did not that land first beare us ? even that
pleasant island. But for its sin, I would say that Garden of the Lord, that
Paradise."

In 1671, only thirty-one years subsequent to the preaching of
this loyal sermon, and when a generation which recognized
New England as tlieir native country, was ruling here, old John
Evelyn, one of the Council of Charles II, says, in his charming
diary :

"This day (May 26, 1671) met the Council; the first thing we did, was to settle
the form of a circular letter to the Governors of all his Majesty's Plantations in the
West Indies and Islands thereof, to render to us an account of their present state
and government ; but what troubled us the most was to know the condition of
New England, which appearing to be very independent in their regard for Old
England, or his Majesty, rich and strong as they now were. There were brave
debates in what style to write them ; for the condition of that colony was such, that
they were able to contest with all the other plantations about them, and there is
a fear of their breaking from all dependence with this nation. His Majesty there-
fore commended this affair more expressly. Some of our council were for sending
them a menacing letter, which those who better understood the peevish and touchy
humor of that colony, were utterly against."

To return from this digression to our particular subject, we
find in this old settlement of North Haven a house which,
though not ancient, deserves honorable mention among the
notable houses of not only our colony, but our state.

ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN. 197

Among the many inducements offered to Dr. Trumbull by
tbe North Haven Society to induce him to settle with them, it
was voted "that Mr. Trumbull should be at liberty to get what
timber he could of all sorts for building his house if he should
want to build among us, out of the Society's lot."

The account book of Dr. Trumbull has a record of all ex-
penses incurred for labor and material in building his house,
under date of May, 1761, and the apparent cost was £113, 19 s.
6id.

The tradition of the Society claims that the house was built
before the marriage of the Doctor, and that "he brought his
bride to his new house, etc., etc." But the date in the account
book being one year subsequent to his marriage, the romantic
stories about receiving the bride and so on must be destroyed.

The house, which measures thirty by forty feet on the ground,
is two stories and a half high, strongly built, retaining its orig-
inal form and style. It has never been remodeled, and, save a
few slight changes, is as planned by Dr. Trumbull over a cen-
tury since. The floors are even now firm and level. It has but
one chimney, built entirely of brick, from foundation measuring
9x6|- feet, with separate flues for each fire-place. The roof is
high, sharp, and quite steep, giving the house a very large
garret.

The original covering still remains, and is in a good state of
preservation ; the edges of the clapboards were beveled down
to tit veiy closely.

The casings of the windows, and front door, show that they
were finished with great care and with considerable regard to
ornament ; and it seems to have been the desire of the builder
to make for himself a house in which he could have all of the
conveniences which then were possible to have, or at least
which were customary to place in houses of that period.

It is also worth noticing that the plan of the house is similar
to that of the Horton House at Southold. The rooms, though
larger, are divided and arranged in same manner. The house
has five rooms on ground floor, and five chambers on second
floor ; also the Doctor's modest study (in which he wrote the

198 ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN.

history of Coiinectioat, the most valuable yet given to us), is
between the two rear chambers on the west.

Dr. Trumbull resided in this house nearly sixty years, dying
in it in 1820. His successor, Mr. Boardman, occupied it for
some years; and in 1829 it was sold by Benjamin Trumbull
Eastman, Esq. (grandson of Doctor Trumbull), to Ezra Stiles,
Esq., and has since remained in his possession, and has been
occupied by him since that period. It is in such good repair
and so well cared for, that it j)romises for many years to come
to remain a representative house of the early days of the colony.

Fifteen years since, might have been seen on the south side
of the North Haven green, the house in which Rev. Isaac Stiles
passed thirty-six years of his life, and where his illustrious son.
Dr. Ezra Stiles, was born.

All now remaining of the old home of the Stiles family is the
well. In front of the spot where stood the Stiles homestead are
to be seen two large solitary pine trees, which are said to have
been brought by Rev. Isaac Stiles in his saddle-bags (when he
came from Windsor to North Haven), and set out by him by
his gate.

The town of Woodbridge furnishes us with still another rep-
resentative house, in the "Ancient Woodbridge Parsonage,"
which stands about three hundred rods east of the Congrega-
tional Church. It is built on one of those gentle elevations of
land, which are so frequently seen ns one ascends the road
which leads from New Haven to the northwest. In front of
this house stand two large spreading elms, which undoubtedly
were planted at the time the house was built.

The date of the building of the house is not definitely known,
but it was occupied by Mr. Woodbridge when he was first set-
tled at Woodbridge. Tradition dates the building early in the
last century.

The house stands with its end to the street, and is thirty-four
feet square, with seventeen feet posts; was originally shingled
on the sides ; at present, the east side is the only side which
has the shingles which were put on when the house was built.
The front door opens from the south near the center of the

. ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN. 199

building. The frame of the house is of heavy oak, and plates
and posts fully nine inches square. The large rooms had the
ceiling and outside walls plastered, while the partitions were
paneled boards.

The chimney was evidently a consideration of the greatest
importance. At the place where it rises through the first floor
it measured 12-^ feet square, occupying 156 square feet of the
center of the rooms ; it is the same size on the second floor, and
in the attic tapers off to the modest dimensions of nine feet by
six! It was, like the great chimney in the "Morris House,"
built of common, round, and rugged field stones, and in laying
it up, in place of mortar, common clay was used, and till this
time has withstood the test of nearly one hundred and seventy
years.

It had the inevitable kitchen fireplace, with an opening of
eight feet across, and four feet in height, affording ample ac-
commodation for some of the minister's children to seat them-
selves in its recesses.

The parlor was nineteen feet by seventeen and a half, and
eight feet high, and at the time must have been the " grand
room" of the town. In this room the wainscoting was paneled,
and variously carved. In one place on the wainscoting, there
is an extra amount of carving in the shape of scores, or tally
marks, which are accounted for in this way :

Polly Whitney, the granddaughter of Mr. Woodbridge, and
Rhoda, a young friend of hers, used to visit her aunt " Mollie
Woodbridge." She, for some reason, distrusted the truthful-
ness of the visitors, and without any warning to them, she com-
menced to put down these marks in the form of tallies, that is,
four perpendicular lines, and the fifth diagonally crossing the
four. Finally, when the number became quite large, an expla-
nation was sought, and the old lady said " they were the num-
ber of her visitors' lies."

The rooms on the second floor are large and ample. One
of them, the front room, is of the same size as the parlor, where,
during the winter months, Mr. Woodbridge taught his school.

The study was ten by fifteen, and had a large fireplace, three by

200 ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN. .

three, in it. And the same Bible wbich was used by Mr. Wood-
bridge in this study, T am informed, is in the possession of the
present pastor of the church at Woodbridge, to whom I am in-
debted for many of these details.

The Parsonage, after the death of Mr. Woodbridge, fell to
his daughter, " MoUie Woodbridge," as she was called, who
gave it to a friend of hei's. on condition that he should provide
for her during her life. It is said, that when this friend was
about making his Saturday visits to New Haven, he would say,
" Mollie, what shall- 1 get for you to-day?" and her reply in-
variably would be, '' one half pint for Sunday !"

Madam Woodbridge was the daughter of a New Haven
merchant, and she it was who introduced " tea drinking" into
Woodbridge. In those days tea was a luxury only enjoyed
by tbe affluent of our seaboard towns, and was not every day
seen upon their tables. From sixty shillings the pound in
1666, tbe price of tea declined to thirty-five shillings in 1745,
but even at that depreciation few of our early colonists were
able to indulge in such an extravagance until about 1750. It
was an Old England, not a New England, beverage.

The " Woodbridge Parsonage" is at present in an excellent
state of repair, and is still used as a residence.

Very shortly after the settlement of New Haven, a number
of the original settlers went still further south, and selecting a
convenient place, founded the town of Milford. Treating the
aboriginal inhabitants with comparative equity, they bought
their lands, and paid for them the large price of six " coats and
two blankets." The town was noted for its commercial enter-
prise and adventurous spirit as soon as it was settled ; and that
same year Mr. Bryan sent his vessel to Boston, loaded with
beaver and otter furs, and in return brought back such goods
as the settlement needed. Ship building was carried on a little
later ; and, in 1689, Bethuel Langstaff built a brig of 150 tons,
and also one of 153 tons for Elisha Bennett of Boston.

ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN. 2Ul

In an interesting paper, and one whicli shows extensive
research, Mr. J. W. Fowler of Milford says :

"That in 1650, Mr. Bryan, merchant, built a warehouse sixty feet long on the
corner of Broad street and Dock lane, which in 1653 he gave to the town on con-
dition that they should keep it in repair ; previous to this John Fowler had his
mill and wharf near this place. Richard Bryan and AVilliam East also had ware-
houses near by, and from this they sent their vessels to West India and European
ports, bringing tlaeir cargoes in return, which were taken to New Haven for sale."

'•For many years the credit of these Milford merchants was so high that their
notes of hand were as current as banknotes at a later period."

" Every trade was represented in this thriving town, but one, which was the
saddler's."

It is said :

" That for fifty years after the settlement of Milford, it was impossible to pro-
cure a saddler, and, during that time, people used sheep skins, which caused such
a demand for them, that the Stratford people said, " that if the devil should go
into Milford, in the shape of a lamb, they would skin him, and take his hide for a
saddle."

Like New Haven, Milford had " many fair and stately
houses," and many of the most ancient were noted for their
great size ; the men who built them, and who occupied them,
were for those days and times "well-to-do,'' and they wished
better houses than the first Pilgrims bad hastily erected at
Plymouth ; and many of the Connecticut settlers of 1650 and
1660 belonged to another generation who (as one of our most
polished historians has said) remembered little of what English-
men had suffered in New England for want of the necessaries
and comforts of life.

The occupations of industry were various and remunerative.
Land was cheap, and the culture of it yielded no penurious
reward to the husbandman, while he who chose to sell his
labor was at last at liberty to place his own estimate upon it,
finding it always in demand. The woods and waters were
lavish of gifts, which were to be had simply for the taking.
The white wings of commerce, in their long flight to and from
the settlers' homes, wafted the commodities which afforded
enjoyment to both sender and receiver. The many handicrafts
found liberal recompense, and manufactures on a large scale
were beginning to invite both capital and labor.
26

202 ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN.

This, in regard to our own Colony, is quite applicable, for
soon after it was settled iron was produced ; ships were built,
loaded, and sent home to England ; and many indispensable
articles were made at home, which but a few years previously
had always been brought from across the Atlantic.

The house which has the reputation of being the most ancient
in Milford is the one known as the "Stowe House," standing on
Wharf street, near the harbor. The date of its erection can be
traced with accuracy as far back as 1689, and many suppose it
even to antedate this period; at all events, we are sure that it
is now 187 years of age. It is a medium sized house, two
stories in height, with a high garret covered with a gable roof,
and, as usual with the houses of that period, it has a heavy
oaken frame, and it is so compactly put together, that there is
no reason why it should not stand for many years to come.

Save one historic incident connected with this house, there is
little of interest concerning it or which calls for special mention.
In this house lived, during the Eevolutionary War, that ster-
ling patriot, Stephen Stowe, who bore a conspicuous share in
the historic incident above referred to.

In December, 1776, shortly before night, there appeared off
the harbor of Milford, a British vessel, carrying at her fore "a
flag of truce ;" darkness increasing, she was soon lost sight of,
nor indeed was she again seen.

Near to the beach was the house of Capt. Isaac Miles (also an
earnest patriot), who with his sons sitting before his fire, hear-
ing unusual noises outside, opened the doors and found the
yard filled with a large number of wild, forlorn-looking crea-
tures, who were in the most deplorable condition, and suffering
for want of food and clothing.

On that bitter winter night they had been turned ashore
from that ship, and left upon the beach to shift for themselves,
and find their way into the town as best they could. The
sympathies of the Miles family and of the neighbors were at
once aroused, and these released American prisoners were
immediately sheltered for the night and were in a day or two
removed to the Town Hall, which was prepared for their recep-

aInTcient houses of new haven. 208

tion, and in this bailding (now in existence) the work of death
at once commenced among these unfortunate men, who stricken
with fever, were so reduced in strength that they easily fell
victims to its virulence. Here it was that the heroic work of
Stephen Stowe was done; day and night, his faithful minis-
trations to the sick and dying, and his unceasing, constant
care of these men was his sole occupation, till becoming physi-
cally exhausted he contracted the fever and fell a victim in his
work of kindness, leaving a name, which though unknown to
most, should rank with John Howard's, who a little later gave
up his life among the hospitals of Eussia.

Among the forty-six names which are to be seen upon the
monument erected in Milford burying-ground in memory of
these dead soldiers, one looks in vain for that of Stephen Stowe ;
it was accidentally omitted, but the omission has been keenly
felt, and 1 am glad to hear to-day that it is soon to be inscribed
among the names of the men for whom he gave his life.

The " DeWitt House," or mansion, as it was called, was the
grandest house in the town at the time it was erected. It is
located on Broad street, opposite the hotel, and measures about
forty by thirty feet. The rooms are of good dimensions, and
the house has a fine hall ten feet wide extending through it.
It is two stories high and has a large curbed roof garret. It is
unlike most of the houses of that time in having high ceilings
to rooms and halls.

The house was built by Mr. Garrett DeWitt in 1750. He
was a descendant of the famous Hollander of the same name,
and was no mean representative of his illustrious ancestor.
When he built his house, Mr. DeWitt thought Milford was
at no distant day destined to be a commercial center, and in
consequence he put no windows in sides of his house, because
(as he said) "other buildings would soon be placed so closely to
him that windows would be of no use."

He resided here for many years, and in 1780 sold the house
to Mr. Pond, who occupied it till early in this century. In
one of the chambers of this house is a quaint old window, upon
a pane of which is to be seen the following, cut with a diamond :

" In this room Patty Pond made a hoop skirt in 1782."

204 ANCIENT HOUSES OF NEW HAVEN.

The present owner has occupied this house since about 1856,
and keeps it in such an excellent state of repair that it will
long continue to be an interesting landmark of former days.

Near the First Congregational Church, located on Eiver
street, stands an ancient, weather-beaten house, ruin and decay
being visibly inscribed upon it. This old "Strong House," as
it has been called for generations, was built in 1690 by Ephraim
Strong, who in 1670 went from Scotland to Northampton, Mass.,
and came from thence to Milford in 1690 and built this house.
He was a prominent man in his town, and was a member of
the early Connecticut Assembly, and Justice of the Quorum of
New Haven County, and died at the age of 88 years respected
by all of his townsmen.

The house is large, measuring about thirty-eight by thirty,
and has a very heavy frame of oak, some of the beams being
twenty-one inches in diameter. It has several large rooms and
chambers, situated very much like those of the "Gi\aves House"
at Madison. The sides of the second story project nearly two
feet beyond the sides of the first story all of the way around
the house. It has a very high garret with a curb roof.

This ancient structure stands in a very desirable situation,
and it will not be long before it will be swept away to give
place to another of more pretensions, which in time will grow
old, and perhaps furnish a topic upon which some future
admirer of " Ancient Houses" may write and present to this
Society.

I regret that in this article I am unable to speak of several
ancient houses which I have inspected in some of the western
towns which in early days were under the jurisdiction of the
New Haven Colony, but the hour is so late that I shall be
obliged to postpone reading the description of the same, trust-
ing, however, to be able to do so at no far away day.

SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF

JOHN DAVENPORT

By franklin B. DEXTER.

[Read February 1, 1875.]

Some three or four years ago, I was invited to prepare for
this Society a list of the writings of the founders of the New
Haven Colony, John Davenport and Theophilus Eaton, with
the understanding that if material throwing new light on their
characters should be found, the Rev. Dr. Bacon would sum up
the results.

In fulfilling, in part, my share of the undertaking, I find at
the outset this embarrassment, that if I limit myself to the mere
titles and dates of Davenport's writings, nothing can excuse the
tediousness of the enumeration : on the other hand, I am pre-
cluded from encroaching on the province of another paper
which is to follow. I shall endeavor to confine myself to a
chronological outline of facts, with such explanations as are
needed at the distance of two centuries ; and I am well aware
that the bare outline may disappoint, both those whose lack
of knowledge will lead them to expect too much, and those
who know the story already, and who know that interesting
material cannot be manufactured to order.

206 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT.

John Davenport was baptized in the Church of the Holy
Trinity, in Coventry, in Warwickshire: the Stone font which
then served for baptisms, though afterwards banished by Puri-
tan zeal, has been restored to its ase, and is still a conspicuous
object in the beautiful Gothic church : the church retains also
its almost unique stone pulpit constructed on one of the pillars
of the nave, from which pulpit I heard a few months ago a
fiery sermon on the binding authority of a State Church, which
sounded strangely to a disciple of Davenport's Colony. Here,
in the record of baptisms, near many familiar surnames (Shaks-
peares included), under the year 1597, is the entry, " Apr. 9,
John Dampard [such the "Colloquial form], son of Henrie."
At this date, and from 1590 to 1604, the vicar of Trinity
Church was Richard Eaton, supposed to be the father of
Davenport's friend, Theophilus Eaton ; but a careful search in
the same record, while it shows five children of the vicar, does
not find any Theophilus. The record should decide also
whether one Christopher Davenport, whose name is somewhat
associated with John's, was his brother or a cousin. I can only
testify that the sole Christopher on the book was an older
brother of John, and that his baptism (Oct. 1, 1590) is eight
years in advance of the usual accounts of the birth of the well
known Christopher.

The first trace of John Davenport's boyhood, is his name
among the scholars of the Free Grammar School of Coventry,
a famous school for those days, founded some half-centary
before by John Hales, a wealthy inhabitant, and of which the
original building, of creditable sixteenth-century architecture,
is still standing and used for the purpose of the endowment.
From a glance at the school room, one might almost hope to
identify the very desk at which the young Davenport of 270
years ago sat and carved his name — so perfect is the an-
tiquity of the place. The usher of Coventry Grammar School
in those days, though by tradition not a good disciplinarian,
was a famous scholar. Dr. Philemon Holland, known even to
us by his translations of Pliny and Livy, Xenophon and Plu-
tarch ; and it is a pleasant thought that from such an enthusi-

LIFE AND WEITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT. 207

ast Davenport imbibed the taste for classical learning which led
him, in keeping with the fashion of his day, to load his pages
not rarely with original citation and reference. Dr. Holland
was subsequently head-master of the school, and lies buried in
Trinity Church.

Before leaving Coventry for the University, it is worth while
to note that in 1611 (Davenport then a boy of 14) the city was
deeply stirred by a discussion of the question of the propriety
of kneeling in receiving the sacrament: through some laxness
in the church authorities, it had come to be a custom to com-
mune in a standing posture ; but now King James hears of the
incipient nonconformity, and sends a letter from his own hand
reproving roundly the city government for allowing such a
disorderly practice. Thus early was Davenport brought to the
knowledge of the position of the head of the state on a matter
which in the issue proved the turning point of his own separa-
tion from the charch of his fathers.

To Oxford, in 1613, at the age of 16, John Davenport goes,
in company with his kinsman, Christopher. For the two years
spent there, I can add nothing to the doubtful accounts given
by Wood, in the Athence Oxonienses^ and by Mather, in his
Magnalia. It is uncertain even to what College they belonged ;
but, as the story goes in Wood, they entered as battlers (or,
beneficiaries for their food and tuition), and continued until the
head of the College refused to allow them further aid, when
John left, to earn his way elsewhere. If they were at Merton
College, as Wood states, the Master who took this step was
Sir Henry Savile, one of the most profound and elegant
scholars of the day and a prominent benefactor to the Univer-
sity : the most distinguished among the Fellows of Merton
was John Hales, the ''ever memorable," who was also Eoyal
Professor of Greek in the University and a man of abundant
learning. But the most noted figure in Oxford during these
years, and doubtless familiar to Davenport's eyes, was William
Laud, now President of St. John's College, and fated to have a
vital influence on the development of Davenport's character
and creed.

208 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT.

It is worthy of remark that out of the scores of University
men who afterwards came to these shores,* we can point to not
more than one (Thomas Parker of Newbury) as probably a fel-
low student in Oxford at this date.

As in leaving Oxford we part company with Cliristopher
Davenport, it may be worth while, for the sake of the emphatic
contrast, to call attention to his career. He is said to have
remained at the University for a few months longer, and by
that time to have been converted to the Roman Church by an
itinerant priest, so that he removed to Douay, became a Fran-
ciscan friar, and Professor of Sacred Theology at Douay, and
then a successful missionary to his native country : and when
time brought a Eoman Catholic consort to Charles I, Father
Francis de St. Clare (to use his religious name) was one of her
chaplains, much at Court, and commonly reported to be an in-
timate friend of Bishop Laud ; and in later years, when another
Catholic Queen ascended the British throne, again he was a
Court Chaplain, and as such died, full of days and of honors,
at one of the royal palaces in London, ten years after the death
of his Puritan brother in JSTew England. He had the family
trait of being a ready writer, as his Latin works, collected by
himself in two thick folios, bear witness.

Cast out of his student-home at the age of 18, the young
man had no trouble in finding his vocation. He had made
himself a name already for speaking and writing, as one (Ste-
phen Goffe) who four years later became a student at Merton
College, happens long afterwards to testify ; and we have the
means of tracing him almost without interruption from the
learner's seat to the pulpit.

Of the very few manuscripts of Davenport's sermons which
have escaped destruction, it is notable that one is the volume
in which are the records of his occupation during the winter
which followed his removal from Oxford. It was preserved in
his family until eighty years ago, and then given to the Librai'y
of Yale College. Although the volume does not contain his

* So far as the Universitj' relations of the early emigrants to New England can
be traced, about 60 were from Cambridge and about 20 from Oxford.
I

LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT. 209

name written b}^ himself, yet the handwriting throughout is
indisputably his, and the proofs that it is of the date assigned
to it are sufficient. It contains, besides some Latin notes of
lectures on philosophy, etc., forty-three sermons or outlines of
sermons. Nearest the beginning of the book are two, in what
is apparently an earlier hand than the others. On the page
between these two is a paragraph of personal apology, begin-
ning thus: "My occasions of late have bene so many (where-
with some of you have been acquainted) as y*^ I have scarsely
had any time to employ my studie for preparation herunto,
whervpon growing something timorous and almost afraid to
undertake this so great a worke, at y^ last happily I called to
mind y'^ resolution of an auncient father that nothing but death
should make him breake promise; wherupon I sodainly
resolved w^** myselfe by the helpe of God to continue firme,
hoping that his power would appeare in my weakness and pre-
suming upon your courteous and kind acceptance, either upon
consideration, of the paucity of my yeares or the paucity of my
time which I could alott to this busines, either of which I
doubt not will sufficiently excuse mee."' ....

Next is a sermon headed, " At Hilton Castle, Anno 1615.
Serm. 1, of J. D., upon Deut. 28, 1." Sermons follow in a
regularly numbered series, up to 35, after which are five others
not numbered. Number 15 of the series is indicated as a
sermon preached on Christmas Day, and between numbers 17
and 18 comes one headed "Upon New Year's Day." The
sermons are so connected by such references as "you heard in
ye forenoone," "you heard the last Sabbath," etc., as to show
that they were preached consecutively, two a day, counting
backwards and forwards from the Christmas sermon, from
November, 1615, to March, 1616. They are, as was then the
fashion, and preeminently this preacher's fashion, in the form
of a series, from half a dozen to a dozen on a single text, and
the whole set interdependent : thus, he begins the 34th sermon
(from the 1st verse of Exodus xx. Then God spake all these
words and said), "Those few sermons, in number 34, which I
have performed with much weakness in myself and yet great
27

210 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT.

strengih in respect of the all-sufficient operation of God's Spirit,
which most glorifieth himself by weak means, have been but
as a preludium unto this my present text, or purpose in handling
the Commandments." I regret to say that the discourses which
follow do not get beyond the introductory verses, and that
there is reason to fiear that the patient hearers died without
ever learning the full conclusion to which this "preludium"
tended.

These sermons were preached, as the writer testifies, at Hil-
ton Castle, the seat of the noble family of Hilton, a dozen miles
northeast of the city of Durham. The local historians all
speak of the state observed at the castle, and of its chapel as a
domestic place of worship, where chaplains were always in
attendance. The head of the house in 1615 was a young
bachelor of thirty, who died in 1641, alienating the property
and leaving his family to poverty and decay.

Our record carries us to March, 1616, when the writer is all
but 19 years of age. Probably the engagement was soon
terminated, for we learn incidentally from one of his later
writings that about midsummer of this year he began to preach
in the metropolis. In what particular church, and with what
success for a year or two we do not hear ; but by the time he
reached his majority (we have his word for it a little later) "it
pleased God to make his ministry public and eminent." From
his undistinguished field of labor, he comes to sight in June,
1619, when as the records of St. Lawrence Jewry inform
us, he was elected by the vestry of that Church, Lecturer and
Curate, the Rev. William Boswell being Vicar. Here for
upwards of five years he taught with growing reputation.
The Church of St. Lawrence Jewry was (and its successor,
built after the great fire of 1666, is) in the heart of the city,
under the eaves of Guildhall, and but a stone's throw from
Davenport's next parochial charge, St. Stephen's, Coleman street.
To modern London, St. Lawrence Jewry is well known as one
of the most ritualistic of her churches, and I should venture to
say that even Laud himself would be satisfied with the cere-
monies which one can see there now. In Davenport's day it

LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT. 211

was different: and there he grew in favor with the rising Puri-
tan part}^, became intimate with some noble families on that
side (especially, it appears, with that of Lord Horatio Vere), and
began to work out his evident destiny.

The next step was from the curacy here to the vicarage in
the adjacent parish. St. Stephen's, Coleman street, was notable
then, as it is now, for the peculiar privilege by which its
parishioners elected their own minister, without interference
from outside. In 1624 the parish became vacant, and at an
election held October 5th, all but three or four of the seventy-
three parishioners present voted for the prominent young
preacher next door. But there were reasons why such a pro-
motion was distasteful to the leaders in Church and State, and
to those we owe the preservation of some resulting documents,
and our knowledge of the f;icts.

In the State Paper Office in London is a letter from Daven-
port to the Secretary of State (who was, be it noted, a brother-
in-law of one of Davenport's noble friends, Lady Mary Yere),
dated a day or two after the Coleman street election. It begins
thus : " It hath bene the will of God (against my naturall desire
of privace and retiredness) to make my ministry, for the space of
this sixe yeares, in London, public and eminent, w^^^ hath caused
some to look vpon me with a squint eye and hearken to my
sermons with y^ least eare, and by all means to endeavor of my
discouragement and disgrace, insomuch that I am traduced (as
I hear and feare) to his Ma^ie for a Puritan, or one that is puri-
tanically affected. If by a Puritan is meant one opposite to y^
present Government — I profess (as my subscription also testi-
fyeth) the contrary. My practice hath been answerable to that
profession. I have bene a Curat, in St. Lawrence parish in
the Old Jury, above five yeares, during w'^'^ time, and in that
place (as alsoe y'^ Ministre doth offer to testify) I have baptized
many, but never any wt^out the signe of the Cross, I have
monethly administered j^ Sacrament of y^ Lord's Supper,
but at no tyme w^^out y'' Surplice, nor to any but those that
kneeled, at w^h tymes also I read the Booke of Common Prayer,
in forme and manner as is appointed by the Church Besides,
I have perswaded many to conformity, yea myne own Father

212 lifp: and writings of john davenport.

and Vncle who are Aldermen of the Citty of Coventry, and
were otherwise inclined ; yea ray desire of this pastorall charge
sheweth my resolucion for conformity. 2. If by puritanically
affected be meant one that secretly encourageth men in opposi-
tion to the present Government, I profiess an hearty detestation
of such hypocrisy ; my public sermons and private discourses
have ever aimed at this, to persuade men to give unto Cesar
the things that are Cesar's, and unto God the things that
are God's. As for other matters, m}^ plain and open appearing
in defense of y^ ceremonies hath caused vnto me some opposi-
tion from such as disaffect them.'". . . .

He goes on to ask the help of Secretary Conway with the
King, and with the Bishop of London, Dr. Montaigne. The
Secretary's suit with the Bishop elicits a reply, in which is this
passage: "Before this business was afoote, I had order from his
Ma^ie to call Mr. Damport in question for some points of doc-
trine W^ he had preached, at w*'^ many yt heard him were
scandalized and some getting so desperate y*^ they were in dan-
ger of final desperation, and the fatall accidents y^- usually
follow in such a case. Besides he was reported to be factious
and popular " [i. e., favoring the people] " and to draw after him
great congregations and assemblies of common and meane peo-
ple. After my coming home I found tliat he was chosen by a
popular election to this living in Coleman St., and therefore I
thought it my Duty to make a stay in it until I might further
know his Ma^'^^ pleasure."

A second letter follows from Davenport to Secretary Conway,
urging haste in satisfying the King and the Bishop. He be-
seeches "whereas my adversary" [Laud?] "objecteth that the
man whom he doth injuriously present to the place is more
worthy than myselfe, because he hath taken more degrees in
v^ University than I have, that this may not lessen the Bps.
esteeme of me, nor be divulged to my disgrace, since I am a
licensed and conformable Minister, and that my want of degrees
proceeded not from any want of time or of willingness or of
sufficiency (as was well known at Oxford), but from want of
meanes (my friends being unwilling) to keepe me longer at the

LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT. 213

University. My hope is, after I am settled in a certayne com-
petency of means, to recover the degrees, w^h some tliink I
have lost for want of taking the first opportunity."

Another letter follows from the Secretary to the Bishop,
urging the points made by Davenport, and speaking of having
"the assistance of my Lord of Buckingham's request" in
behalf of Davenport — an intimation that this notorious favo-
rite found it somehow to his interest to seem to befriend a
suspected Puritan.

Two days later, Oct. 17, Davenport writes a third time to
Secretary Conway, thanking him with fulsome words for his
success with the Bishop ; and urging intercession with the King,
saying, "I hear that M"^ Sidnam, y*' King's Page, hath incensed
his Ma*^'** against mee, because above a year since I reproved
him for swearing at my Lady Vere's ; w''-^ I marvayle at, since
at that time he pretended . . thankfulness."

Still another letter follows, on the 19th, from the Curate to
the Secretary of State, begging further influence with King-
James, and enclosing the list of names of the parishioners pres-
ent at the meeting when he was elected Vicar. In this list, a
few can be identified as subsequently associates of their min-
ister in the management of the Company which founded the
Colony of Massachusetts Bay ; a few others bear names early
represented among the founders of New Haven Colony, such
as Evans, Hill, Johnson, Barnes, Perkins, Eldred, Blakesly,
Jackson, and Thompson. The most notable parishioner was
Sir Maurice Abbot, brother of the then Archbishop of Canter-
bury ; but as the Primate was then in disgrace, partly on
account of a suspected leaning to Puritanism, the support of
his brother may have been worse than useless. The name of
Theophilus Eaton is not on the list; and we may infer that he
was then of some other London parish, though a few years
later he is enrolled among Davenport's hearers.

On a copy of the XXXIX Articles of the Church of England,
in the library of the American Antiquarian Society, in Worces-
ter, is the following indorsement, in Davenport's handwriting :
" Novemb, 7th, 1624. John Davenporte, Clerk, Vicar of St.

214 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT.

Stephens, in Coleman Street, London, did this day above writ-
ten being Sunday, publiquely read this booke of Articles here-
in contayned, being in number 39 besides y^ ratificacion, and
declared his full and unfeigned assent and consent thereunto,
in the tyme of Morning Prayer, next after the second lesson,
before the whole Congregacion. As also the said John did, the
same day, administer the Holy Communion in the sayd parish,
in his surplis, according to y*^ order pra3scribed by y«= Chnrch
of England ; in y^ presence of those whese names are here
underwritten." Then follow the signatures of the Churchwar-
dens and others, and this completes the transition to a new
sphere. We see him entering on his work, in strict conformity
to canonical requirements, and with the purpose of honest
observance.

The first step he takes, after settling in his new position, is
to redeem his pledge of recovering his University degree.

A gentleman in Cambridge, Mass. (Mr. Wm. A. Saunders),
is the fortunate owner of a manuscript volume, entirely in Dav-
enport's handwriting, between the years 1625 and 1633, on the
first page of which he has inscribed the Latin questions to
which he made response in his application for a degree on the
18th of May, 1625, ten years after he had been forced to end
his term of pupilage. These questions are two of the standard
commonplaces of theology : whether the death of Christ wrought
salvation for all men, and whether the truly regenerate man can
utterly fall from grace. His answers subjoined, in correct hexa-
meter and pentameter, are of course in the negative to both ques-
tions; and he went back to London, entitled to write himself a
Bachelor of Divinity.

He devotes himself now to regular parish work, which in-
cludes, too, more than the perfunctory discharge of duty : for
1625 was the great plague-year, when upwards of 35,000 died
in London alone, and one is pleased to find in the Parish Records
of St. Stephen's a testimony to his fidelity, in a special vote
passed in the spring of 1626, that Mr. Davenport shall have of
the parish funds, in respect of his care and pains taken in the
time of the visitation of sickness, as a gratuity, the sum of £20.

LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT. 215

In the manuscript volume of Davenport's to which I just
referred, I find, next to the entry of liis deg^ree-questions,
undated copies of a correspondence between himself and Dr.
Alexander Leighton, the famous father of a more famous son,
Archbishop Leighton. This correspondence must, I think, have
been in 1626 or 7. Leighton was a pertinacious Scotchman,
of advanced ideas in regard to Church ceremonies, and with
neither tact nor discretion : a few years later, for his injudicious
writings, he suffered such a sentence of mutilation and chas-
tisement as was perhaps never paralleled under a professedly
Christian government. At this time he was moved to provoke
a controversy with Davenport about the custom of kneeling in
receiving the sacrament. Davenport's moderate answer, as
appropriate now as then, begins as follows: "Sir, When we
duely consider y*' distresses of y® Reformed Churches in these
days, we shall soone conclude with him y^ sayd, Non sunt liti-
gandi ista sed orandi tempora : neyther was it my purpose to
enter into y'' lists of dispute at any tyme, much less now, about
such questions as these : for is it not worke enough to preach,
vnles we dispute also? or, if we must dispute, were it not bet-
ter to unite o"" forces against those who oppose us in Funda-
mentalls then to be divided amongst oi'sel ves about ceremonialls ?
Who can, w-^oat sorrowe and feare observe how Atheisme,
Libertinisme, Papisme and Arminianisme, both at home and
abroad, have stolne in and taken possession of y® house, whilest
we are at strife about y^ hangings and paintings of it? And
y® enimye strikes at y® hearte whilest we buisy oi'selves in
washing y® face of this body. How much better would it be-
seeme us to combine together in an holy league against y^ com-
mon adversiiry, according to Joab's agreement with Abishai
(2 Sam., X, 11.), if y^ Aramits be stronger then I, thou shalt
helpe me, and if y^ children of Amnion be too strong for thee,
I'le come and succor thee, than thus to resemble those serves of
Saul and David under y^ command of Abner and Joab, each
of w*^'' caught his fellowe by y" head, and thrust his sword into
his fellowes side, so they fell downe together." ....

Thus he goes on, and in like spirit answers Leighton's fiery

216 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT.

questions : showing that as yet he is confident in the safety
and wisdom of conformity with the ordinance in this regard :
but no principle is involved in the concession, so far as he now
sees.

In 1627, at 30 years of age, we first find him in print. In
March of this year, four of the most prominent evangelical
ministers in London (for such b}' this time he has become)
issue a circular, asking contributions for the relief of persecuted
Protestants in the Upper Palatinate, subjects of the Queen of
Bohemia, the sister of Charles I. The government had refused
aid, and the King himself and Laud (who was now a Bishop
and a Privy-Councillor) were ill-suited to have the Roman
Court offended by such Ultra-Protestant measures ; so that the
result of this seeminglj^ humane and christian appeal was to
bring its signers before the Star-Chamber and procure them a
reprimand : not a conciliatory step to one who was eager just
now to conform so far as possible.

In the next month, we have from his pen a preface of twenty
pages to a little book on the Christian's Daily Walk, by a
country minister, Henry Scudder. The preface shows a large
acquaintance with the fathers, the schoolmen, and the moderns,
and a warm interest in all the motives of practical piety. I
notice that he speaks with high praise of the writings of Joseph
Hall (afterwards Bishop), and styles him " that true Christian
English Seneca :" the phrase has attached itself familiarly to
the good Bishop, but others had probably used it as early as
Davenport.* The little book proved a great success ; my own
copy, dated fifteen years later, is of the 8th edition.

Towards the end of this year, Bishop Montaigne was trans-
feri'ed from London to Durham : an inoffensive man, apjDar-
ently — specially, perhaps, by contrast, for the king immedi-
ately nominated Laud to the vacant see, and though his actual
transfer was for some reason delayed a six-month, the shadow
of his coming began to darken the paths of suspected Puritans.

In 1628, we have the first two which are preserved (in the

* See, for example, a letter from Sir Henry "Wotton, in the appendix to Burnet's
Life of Bishop Bedell.

LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT. 217

British Museum) of a series of nine letters from Davenport to
the Lady Mary Vere, whose religious life appears to have been
under his direction, though he was some fifteen years her junior.
She was a Puritan of the Puritans, and in the coming days of
the Long Parliament was selected to take charge of the three
children of the King who wei'e in the Parliament's control: at
the present date she was with her husband at the Hague, where
he was in military command. In one of these two letters,
under date of June 30, he mentions that he has waited " in
hope to write somewhat concerning the event and success of our
High Commission troubles:" but he expects that since Parlia-
ment has risen without settling anything, Bishop Laud will
take advantage of "a former qaarreV and deprive him of his
pastoral charge. So he has had some former quarrel with
Laud, the details of which are lost to us, and he sees nothing
but deprivation before him. But what were these High Com-
mission troubles? Briefly, that some two years earlier it had
seemed necessary to a little group of earnest and godly men in
London, some preachers, some laymen, to join together in an
informal way to secure more employment of men of their own
stamp as preachers in the land. As Dr. Bacon has plirased it,
they were a sort of Home Missionary Society ; their way being
to buy in as they had opportunity the rights of patronage of
church-livings, and to establish lectureships in the cities and
towns where they could not get control of the presentation to a
vicarage. Of course this was simply extending evangelical or
Puritan ideas, at the expense of the opposite party ; and here
was a grand chance for Laud to crush them by a decision of
the Courts, before which already the Feoffees, as these Trustees
were called, had been summoned. But the end is not yet.

In 1629 we notice first his share in another enterprise of
more lasting results. The year before, a voluntary association
which had been doing something for five or six years to colo-
nize part of the New England coast, obtained a grant of Massa-
chusetts from the Council for New England, and in March,
1629, 26 of this association received a charter from the king as
"the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay." In the
28

218 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT.

list of patentees Davenport's name does not appear, for the
reason, says his biographer Cotton Mather, that he feared its
insertion might provoke the opposition of Laud in the Privy
Council : but he was one of the leading spirits in the under-
taking, paid £50 towards the expense of obtaining the charter,
and when the business of giving orders to the colonists was in
hand, and a committee was appointed with full power to draw
up directions for Captain Endecott, the head of the government
here, Davenport's name is the first on the committee. Of the
two elaborate letters of instruction which followed, the second,
at least, shows peculiar marks of his hand.

In the same year comes his first printed sermon of which we
have knowledge : it is " A Royal Edict for Military Exercises ;
published in a Sermon preached to the Captains and Gentle-
men that exercise Armes in the Artillery Garden at their gene-
ral Meeting, June 23." But one complete copy is found in this
country, and one in England. It is a very perfect specimen of
the mode in which the fathers were wont to treat a text as an
articulated animal: the six ingenious divisions of the subject
in this case being, "Also | he bade them | teach 1 the chil-
dren of Judah I the use of the bow. | Behold it is written in
the book of Jasher." The Company was the model on which
was formed the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company
of Boston, and its practice-ground was, I think, within the
limits of the parish of St. Stephen's.

In this year he appears also, in connection with Dr. Sibbes,
as editor and prefacer of four thick volumes of sermons,
preached at Lincoln's Inn by Dr. John Preston, of Cambridge,
who was the acknowledged leader of the Puritan party at the
time of his death in 1628. To these two friends Dr. Preston
had bequeathed the care of his sermons preached in London,
and the volumes passed through a quick succession of editions.

Going on to 1631, we find on record in the State Paper Office
an elaborate answer from Davenport "to certain objections
devised against him by Timothy Hood, sometime his Curate."
Hood appears to have been a factious person, who had been
dismissed by Davenport after a brief employment, because he
shirked his duties; and he showed his spirit by lodging a com-

LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT. 219

plaint, to the eifect that Davenport was addicted to Puritan
practices, not wearing the surplice, not reading the litany, not
insisting on kneeling at the sacrament, and administering to
strangers. Davenport's answer is plausible, professing (and he
was too cautious to profess it unless with truth) that he hath
and doth wear the Surplice according as the Canon doth pre-
scribe; that the litany is regularly read in his Church on
Wednesday's and Fridays, and sometimes on Sundays ; that
whereas his parish contains about 1400 communicants, they
cannot all come to the chancel to receive the sacrament, nor can
he possibly know them so as to avoid administering to those
from other parishes who may attend when their own churches
are closed; and in administering from pew to pew, many pews
are so tilled that it is impossible that many should receive
kneeling, whereby he is constrained to administer so as they
can receive, but where they can kneel as well as sit he hath
advised it, and in case of refusal hath refused to administer.

Whether the complaint was dismissed without judgment on
the case, does not appear ; but this may quite possibly be the
occasion subsequently referred to by Laud as one in which he
had used moderation with Davenport, thinking that he had
persuaded him and settled his judgment.

A slight evidence of the caution necessary in these days may
be found in an entry on the parish records in the spring of the
next year, where Davenport makes a formal minute of a case
in which he has granted a license to a weak and sickly parish-
ioner to eat flesh during the present Lent.

In the latter part of 1632 proceedings were actively resumed
ao:ainst the Feoffees and the case came before the Court. Amona;
other things, it was charged that the whole concern was a dis-
honest scheme for making money ; but Davenport subsequently
drops the remark in a private letter that he for one was much
out of pocket by the business. The answer made to the Court
is preserved, and finally in Febr., 1683, proceedings were
closed by forcing the dissolution of the association and confis-
cating the impropriations which they had purchased. Laud in
his Diary records that " they were the main instraments for the

220 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT.

Puritan faction to undo the Church ;" but even he dared not.
in the face of the popular feeling, force tlie criminal part of the
suit; so that the Trustees escaped the fines which they might
have feared.

Just after this we have a glimpse of the overworked minister
from another entry in the parish records where, in April, 1633,
it is "agreed that Mr. Davenport shall have out of the parish
stock X20. towards his charge in going and coming from the
Bathe."

The year beginning so threateningly, with criminal and civil
prosecutions impending, was destined to prove the most decis-
ive of his life. Up to this time, if we may trust his own words,
he had cherished the belief that by conformity in non-essential
ceremonies he could do his work within the pale of the Church.
But the manuscript volume which I have mentioned as con-
taining his conservative answer to Leighton on the subject of
kneeling at the sacrament, contains also some hundred pages of
notes (made, as the internal evidence shows, after 1628, and
probably not until 1633), beginning with the ominous heading,
" Grrounds whereupon y® safety of conformity is built, together
with y** sandines of y™." These pages consist of a presentation
of the current arguments for conformity, and elaborate answers
and refutations. By far the greater part turn on the old ques-
tion of kneeling, which seems to have been to Davenport the
experimentum crucis ; and the volume contains, I think, the
record of his private conversion from a conformist to a non-
conformist.

But we learn from other sources of other influences. John
Cotton, late vicar of Boston in Lincolnshire, sailed for New
England about the last of June, in company with Thomas
Hooker and Samuel Stone ; and before leaving. Cotton, and
apparently Hooker also, was in conference with Davenport and
one or two other London ministers, who hoped to reclaim these
esteemed brethren : but Davenport has left on record that this
conference did more than all his private investigations to shake
his confidence in conformity. They sailed, however, without
him, and he turned again to his work. It was reserved for
another agent to complete the change.

LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT. 221

It was Sunday, the 4th day of August, when — suddenly at
the last — carae news of the death of the old Archbishop of
Canterbury, George Abbot, a friend, so long as he had power,
of the Puritan party. No one doubted for a moment who
would be his successor, and though it was not till Tuesday,
the 6th, that the king announced to Laud his intention of
advancing him to the primacy, Davenport knew too well the
risks he should run if he attempted to retain his position
together with his newly found convictions. On Monday, Aug.
5th, he left London for some hidden retreat in the country, and
after three months' waiting, finding that messengers of Laud
were on his track, crossed to Holland. In a subsequent publi-
cation (" Apologeticall Reply," 1636, p. 107) he gives this ac-
count of the affair: —

" That I may not be altogether wanting to my seLfe, nor injurious to the
Reader, in suffering him to be guilty of the sinne of evill surmises, or of slander
in heart, for want of information, I doe seriously and sincei'ely protest, that (so
farr as I know myne owne heart) I did not withdraw myselfe, 1. out of any
disloyall affection or unduetif uU thought towards his Ma^i^ of great Brittayne, my
dread Soveraigne, for whome my hearty prayer shall be, day & night, that his
souk may he hound in the bundle of life tvith the Lord his God, & that the soules of
his enimyes may be flung out, as out of the middle of a sling. And that the Lord
will cloath his enimies with shame, but upo7i himselfe let his crowne flourish. 2, nor
out of any Schymaticall propension to forsake the church assembles of England,
as if I thought there were no true Churches of Christ in the land, as the manner
of some is. 3, Nor out of idlenes, or wearines of the Lord's plough, nor 4. out of
love of ease, that I might pamper the flesh. 5, Nor out of any unrighteous
ayme to defraud any one by any meanes. 6, Not as one ashamed of the Gospell,
to avoid witnes bearing to the trueth. 7, Nor for any trouble I was in, or
feared " [= frightened] " by the civill Magistrate, before whom I was never
questioned, in all my life, except for the good and pious buisenes about redeeming
impropriations, wherein our righteous dealing was publickly cleared even by his
Maties Atturney Generall, who prosecuted against us. But the truth is, that
having about 17 yeares exercised a publick ministry in London, (about 9 or 10
yeares whereof I was in a Pastorall charge in Colman street) in the latter part of
that time I was much perplexed with doubts about the lawiullnes of that con-
formity which I had formerly used, without scruple, in respect of some defects
and corruptions and unwarrantable human impositions, whereunto I found myself
thereby subjected."

In the Library of the American Antiquarian Societ}^, in
Worcester, is a manuscript of some seventy -five pages, believed

222 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT.

to be in Davenport's hand ; and so far as I have had oppor-
tunity to examine it, I think it unquestionably his : if so, it
must have been addressed to his parishioners at St. Stephen's,
just before his fleeing the country. The subject is " Christ's
Church, and his government of it." Prefaced is an "Epistle."
beginning thus : '' To his beloved brethren and Christian
freindes, which love the Lord and his t[ruth], grace and peace.
Beloved, there are many of you that know the reason why I
now am after a sort [driven] to speake to you by wrighting.
The earnest desires of some of you [have] bin the greatest
inducements to me to leave behind me these notes in yo[ur
keeping], some of you charging it as a point of duty and
conscience upon [me] to doe what uow I am going about in
this treatise "... Later, after opening his subject, the writer
says, " I never had the light nor liberty to preach to you about
these things : now the Lord hath shown me his truth, I declare
it unto you, which if you willfully or carelesly cast off, be it
known I am free from the blood of you.'" One very curious
passage helps to mark the date : in one place it is said ; " hence
some Jesuites, especially he that writ lately yet most subtilly
and hypocritically, Franciscus de St. Clare, that our English
Church cannot lawfully be called haereticks but scismaticks "
. . . It is our old friend, Francis de St. Clare, otherwise
Christopher Davenport (though not a Jesuit) who published in
1683 (not until after September) a famous treatise on the
Articles of the Anglican Church paraphrastically considered
and explained : a tract which two centuries later formed the
basis of the more celebrated " Tract No. 90 " by Dr. Newman,
and which has been reprinted with a translation by one of the
most advanced Anglican Churchmen of our own decade. In
it the author considers the Thirty-nine Articles from a Roman
Catholic point of view, with the proselyting aim of showing
that they are consistent with the decrees of the Council of
Trent.

Early in November, then, Davenport took refuge in Holland,
in pursuance of an invitation from his countrymen residing
there. At his landing in Haarlem, two of the elders in the

LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT. 223

Rev. John Paget's English Church at Amsterdam (ten miles
distant) met him and escorted him thither, where it was thought
that Mr. Paget, now in years, might welcome him as an
assistant. In his own mind, however, remained the hope that
some way might be opened by his friends at Court to secure
his return to England in the spring. But the parish of St.
Stephen's provided themselves early in December with a new
Vicar.

A letter to Lady Vere (at the Hague) written, I think,
immediately on his arrival at Amsterdam, is preserved, in
which he says: " G.^he persecution of the tongue is more fierce
and terrible than that of the hand. At this time I have sense
of both." [Referring, probably, to false rumors as to the
cause of his flight.] ... " The truth is I have not forsaken
my ministry, nor resigned my place, much less separated from
the Church, but am only absent a while to wait upon God,
upon the settling and quieting of things, for light to discern my
way . . . The only cause of all my sufferings is the alteration
of my judgment in matters of conformity to the ceremonies
established."

He now begins preaching (twice each Sunday at first) in Mr.
Paget's Church, but soon finds a stumbling-block in the loose
way of administering baptism which Paget had practised.
The result was a little controversy, on Davenport's side purely
on account of his scruple about baptizing all infants, without
assurance of the church-membership and Christian walk of the
parents : o.n Paget's side, other considerations had weight, a
jealousy of the fervor and eloquence of this new-comer, and
perhaps a willingness to serve his own ends by taking advantage
of the ill- favor shown to Davenport by the home-authorities.

The controversy sped so fast that Paget brought the case
before the Dutch Classis of city ministers, who named a
committee to propose a basis of settlement. This committee
of five of the most eminent theologians of Amsterdam
delivered their judgment in January (a copy of which was
transmitted to Laud, and so was insured preservation in

224 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT.

English archives),* in which, while commending Davenport's
erudition and piety, and approving his zeal in urging the
examination of parents presenting children for baptism, they
yet leave a large loop-hole for doubtful cases, in which on the
whole they would administer the ordinance. Davenport
remonstrated, but Paget prevailed, and Davenport desisted
from preaching after less than six months' service.

Meantime another side-light is thrown on these events by the
letters of a certain Stephen Goffe, at this time Chaplain of an
English Regiment at the Hague, a busybody angling for prefer-
ment, and so heartily in sympathy with Laudian tendencies
that he found his true home in the Roman Church before
many -years. A parallel instance to the divergencies in
Davenport's own family manifests itself here, for this Goffe was
a brother of the Regicide whose later life was so curiously
dependent on Davenport. This man, on Davenport's landing
at Haarlem, sends off" the news to a London friend, to be laid
before the Archbishop, and follows up his victim with a
succession of venomous epistles which still remain, labeled by
Laud's own hand. From this witness we learn that he himself
shared in the successful effort to thwart Davenport's chance of
preaching in the English Church at Amsterdam. Goffe says in
a letter of December 16th, that he has been to see Paget and
also Gerard Vossius, a Professor at Amsterdam and of the
magistracy of the city, remembered in our day as one of the
most learned of Dutch philologists, and then a recent visitor
to England and guest of Archbishop Laud. Goffe reports that
he has told Vossius that Davenport "is very dangerous in
dealing in secular affairs, to the troubling of places in which he
dwelt." He urges that Yossius should have letters from Lon-
don to encourage him, and which shall not omit to tickle him
by praising the excellent lectures which he has just published.
He makes it clear, however, that it will not do to accuse
Davenport in Holland of neglect of ceremonies, as that would

* In Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1634-5, p. 469 ; the document is
wrongly calendared (as of 163^, instead of 163f), owing to the confusion of the
Old and New Styles.

LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT. 225

be asfreeable in tliat Quarter ratlier than otherwise, but that
stress must be laid rather on his carriage towards the King as
the head of the State, in steabng out of England when writs
were issued against him, and in not reporting himself to his
Majesty's agent at the Hague. Another of Groffe's letters, in
February, claims that his plan has succeeded, and that Daven-
port cannot be elected to a position at Amsterdam, because he
is known as a deserter, and has preached (since coming over)
against the civil government of England : he hopes that " we
shall be delivered from this plague, and he will make for New
England." On the strength of this information, apparently,
Davenport was summoned by the King's agent, resident at the
Hague, to clear himself by answers to certain questions of the
charge of preaching against the English government; and his
reply, dated March 18, 1634, is preserved among the Agent's
papers in the British Museum. It begins thus :

" Honorable Sir, "When I first came into these parts, my purpose was to stay
here but 3 or 4 moneths, and that time being expired, to returne for England my
native country, had not the sinister & slanderous information, whereof I
complained in [my] last, exasperated the Arch Bp. of Cant, to reproachfull
inuectives, and bitter mena[ces] against me in the High Commission, whereby my
returne is made much more difficult, and hazardous than I could suspect ....
The particulars, wherein I have changed, are no other then the same, for
which many worthy ministers, and lights eminent for godlines and learning
have suffered the loss of theyre ministry and liberty : some whereof are
now in perfect peace, and rest, others are dispersed in seuerall countreyes, and
some yet Hue in England as priuate persons, who were and are loyall and
faythfull subjects to theyre soueraigne, and have witnessed against haeresyes,
and schysme, and against all sectaryes, as Familists, Anabaptists & Brownists,
against all which I also witnes, in this place, wherunto I had not come, if I could
have bene secure of a safe and quiett abode in my deare natiue country.

" If that way of questioning should pass upon all men, which your wisdom
iudgeth meete in this ease (as will appear upon your revew of the second ques-
tion) I thinck, they that iudge me will be found, in some particulars, to have
spoken against the gouemmt^ of England. All that I spake was concerning the
gesture of sitting, used in this country in receiuing the sacrament of y lords
supper, which I approved and preferred before kneeling, grounding what I sayd
upon Luke 22: 27 to 31 ; wherein I named not England nor the gouernment
thereof, and so carryed the discourse that it might be applyed as well to the
popish or Lulherane custom here as to any other, and passed it ouer so breifly that
all I sayd may be written in a very few lines, nor did I euer heare that any man
tooke offence thereat, but this informer, who was discontented the weeke before
29

226 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT.

at a sermon wherein some Armiuian errours were touched vpon by me, which
quickened him to watch for some advantage whereupon he might ground an accu-
sation." ....

After ceasing, in April, to preach in Paget's church, he ap-
pears to have remained through the year in Amsterdam,
holding a private service at his lodgings on Sundays, at such
an hour as not to interfere with the public preaching, and
adhered to by a large minority of his countrymen there.

At the end of the 3^ear, one of this number printed, without
the author's knowledge, Davenport's argument before the
Dutch Classis on the question of indiscriminate baptism, and
also some instructions drawn up by him for the guidance of
his adherents in the Church, and his statement of their grievan-
ces. The little pamphlet, (only two copies of which are known
to exist) made a great stir, perhaps from the justice of its con-
clusions, and brought out a reply from Paget. It brought out
also a "Protestation" from Davenport, printed at Eotterdam
in January, 1635, complaining of the unauthorized publication
of his views, and disclaiming controversy. In this connection
comes in a letter written in July, 1635, to his old friend. Lady
Vere, now in England. In this he refers to Paget thus : " my-
selfe also being in some distractions by y^ unquiett spirit of the
old man, who to all his former injuryes addeth this, that he
hath now published a tedious booke in English, full of re-
proaches and slanders against me This I am now con-

strayned to answer for y*' trueths sake.'' There is also this
paragraph: "It may be of good use to prevent praejudice in
the Queenes if your Honor when you are pleased to wright to
her, and my Lady Leicester (?), take notice of theyre favour to
me, and pray them not to be praejudiced by any suggestions
against me from that booke or otherwise till they may peruse
my answer. This I desire not f(^r any use I have of the
Queenes favour, but that shee may not be hindred from receiv-
ing good by my ministry, which yet she well esteemeth." As
this must refer to Elizabeth, dowager Queen of Bohemia (sister
of Charles I.), who had for some years resided at or near the
Hague, and who was strongly evangelical, we must conclude

LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT. 227

that he was by this time removed to that city, and that she was
an attendant on his occasional ministry.

By a letter six months later to Lady Vere, he appears to have
gone to Rotterdam, pathetically describing himself as " a poore
Pilgrim, a banished man." At Rotterdam he published in
1636 his " Apok)geticall Reply" to Paget, a volume of 350
pages, of which two or three copies are found in this country.

Late in 1636, or early in 1637, he ventured to England again,
probably as the guest of Lady Vere at Hackney ; he was re-
ported as in that neighborhood by Laud's Yicar-General in
March, 1637, but eluded all vigilance and got off safely (proba-
bly about the middle of April), with the colony of which
Theophilus Eaton was the civil leader, for New England. At
the end of April came a Proclamation, forbidding further emi-
gration, except under stringent conditions of conformity, which
ma_y have been devised to meet this very case.

At Boston they arrived on the 26th of June, and there they
tarried for nine months. During that, time Davenport assisted
at an important ecclesiastical Synod of the Colony, and was
named one of the committee of twelve, to put into effect the
vote just passed establishing a college at Newtown. But by
March, 1638, the settlement at Quinnipiac was agreed on, and
a fortnight before the little company sailed from Boston to this
harbor, Davenport and Eaton addressed to the authorities of the
Bay a farewell letter, which was written b}' Davenport, as the
autograph in existence still testifies, and as would perhaps be
betrayed by its use of the same reference to Joab and Abishai
which he quoted a dozen years before in his letter to Leighton.

To New Haven, then, Davenport is brought, in April, 1638,
at the age of 41, with the large responsibility of organizing a
new republic. There is no need that I should follow closely
the steps of our early history, so well traced by others, and for
which so little new material can be found. The first documents
of the colony are the two treaties with the Indians, for the form
of which, however, I conceive that Eaton rather than Davenport
was responsible.

228 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT.

But the first year at New Haven furnished two small con-
tributions from Davenport's pen to the press, which are most
valuable as illustrations of the spirit in which the experiment
of the New England Colonies was undertaken. The one, a
"Discourse about Civil Government in a New Plantation whose
Design is Keligion," was printed long after, in 1663, and at least
five copies are known to exist. The other, printed in 1643,
was part of '' An Answer of the Elders of the severall churches
in New-England unto Nine Positions sent over to them" by
their Puritan brethren at home, who naturally viewed with dis-
favor the new style of Church Grovernmeat. In both of these
tracts Davenport is seen at his best as a reasoner.

In 1639, we may remember, the government of New Haven
was organized : on the -ith of June, the planters met in Mr.
Newman's barn, and after a sermon from the pastor agreed on
the fundamental articles of civil government proposed by him,
as is written in full in our Colony Kecords. Then on the 22d
of August, the church was gathered, and as a permanent
memorial of the pastor's system of doctrine we have the brief
Profession of Faith which he made at that time, and which was
printed in London two years later. I am not aware that its
teaching differs anywise from that of the Church of England,
except of course in the sections concerning the manner of gath-
ering a church, and concerning church officers.

A letter sent by him the next month from Quinnipiac to
Lady Vere mentions the encouraging incidents of the colony's
progress, adding, "And, which is more, the Lord our God hath
here bestowed upon us the greatest outward priviledge under
the sun, to have and injoy all his ordinances purely dispensed
in a church gathered and constituted, according to his owne
minde."

The letter mentions that the captain of the first ship just
arrived from England was so pleased with the sight of the har-
bor "that he called it the Fair Haven:" the suggestion perhaps
for the name deliberately given to the plantation a year later.

Then in October we have the first election of magistrates,
and Davenport giving Governor Eaton a formal charge founded
on a passage from the words of Moses.

LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT. 229

The years pass vvitliout special events. In Jan., 1646, the
colony made a notable effort for commercial advancement in
the equipment of a ship for England, in which Davenport for-
warded a" stock of manuscripts for the press : among tliem a
a volume on the Power of Congregational Churches, a series of
sermons on the Hours of Temptation, and another on Christ's
shaking heaven and earth to establish his kingdom.

The vessel passed out of sight beneath the horizon, and later
into our legendary history as the 'Phantom Ship,' whose loss
cast a gloom over the colony, not lessened by the supposed
supernatural appearance which tradition has handed down.
The Power of Congregational Churches, the most elaborate of
the works thus shipwrecked, was rewritten a few years later, and
sent again for publication, but did not reach the press till after
the author's death.

As a part of the record for 1649 I find in the Prince Librarv
in Boston, a draft of a letter from Davenport to Charles
Chauncy, then a pastor in Scituate, who had applied for advice
as to immersion, which he used in baptisms : Davenport's
answer discourages the practice. The letter is doubtless one of
scores that came to him as a leader of the churches, but so far
as I know is the only one of its kind which is preserved.

In 1652 he sends over another volume to the printer. It
was a vindication of Jesus as the Jewish Messiah, and was
originally preached as a series of sermons to his people, and
then forwarded to John Cotton of Boston for his judgment as
to its fitness for publication. The interesting autograph letter
to Cotton in which this matter is referred to is now in the pos-
session of a member of this Society. In the preface to the
book he says : " My far distance from the press, and the
hazards of so long a voyage by Sea, had almost discoui-aged
me from transmitting this Copie: foreseeing that whatsoever
(r(/jnX/.iara are committed by the Printer, men disaffected will
impute to tlie Author; and being sensible of my great loss of
some Manuscripts, by a wrack at sea, together with the lives of
sundry precious ones, about six years since. Yet if the Printer
acquit liimself well in this, and God be pleased to make it

230 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT.

acceptable and profitable to the Eeader, I shall be encouraged
to publish more, as God shall give liberty and opportunity."
I give^this extract, partly to expose an absurd blunder of an
English editor of our day, the Rev. Mr. Grosart, who in his
edition of the works of Dr. Sibbes, one of the noted Puritans,
casting about for a reason why no biography of Sibbes was
left by any contemporary, unfortunately stumbles on this pas-
sage, and sagely interprets the "lives of sundry precious ones,"
the loss of which Davenport laments, and which we know to
be the company of New Haven men and women who went down
in the 'Phantom ship,' as a collection of biographies, which
likely enough included one of the great Dr. Sibbes. So much
for the perils of interpretation.

With 1653 we have the fii-st of a series of letters to Gov-
ernor Winthrop, of New London, over twenty of which have
been published, and some fifty I believe still remain unprinted,
to which I have not had access. Those published are of vary-
ing degrees of interest, but my purpose is served by the mere
reference to them.

In the Library of Yale College we have another precious
manuscript volume of Davenport's outlines of his sermons
preached from July, 1656, to August, 1658 : at that time, as
through most of his ministry here, he had an assistant who
relieved him in part: in other words, the sermons described do
not cover all the preaching from New Haven pulpit between
these dates. The most of the volume is occupied with a series
of expositions on five chapters of Luke's Gospel. During the
period covered by the volume. Governor Eaton died suddenly
(on Thursday, January 7th, 1658); and one looks curiously
to see if the sermon-book of his lifedong friend contain any
reference to the loss : but the following Sunday is occupied
with an exposition of the parable of the Pharisee and Publican,
and the notes do not yield a tear or a sigh.

In 1659 was printed in London " A Catechisme containing
the Chief Heads of Christian Religion. Published, at the
desire, and for the use of the Church of Christ at New Haven.
By John Davenport, Pastor, and William Hooke, Teacher."
One of the only two known copies is in our College Library.

LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT. 231

The preparation of this Catechism must be placed at least
three years before its publication, as Hooke had gone back to
England in 1656. As a full exhibition, in sixty-two pages,
of the form of doctrine held by Davenport, the book is of
course invaluable. To one who is not an expert in that line it
seems that there is little or no variance from the standards of
the English Church, except of course in regard to church
organization and government. For instance, the doctrine of
the resurrection of the body is taught in the plainest terms,
while the Church is defined as "aCompan}^ of believers, or
saints by calling, together with their seed, joined together in
fellowship with the Lord Jesus, and one with another as a
spiritual political body."

In 1660 we have two separate evidences of his multiform
activity. On the 4th of June he delivered up to the General
Court of the Colony his trusteeship of the fund given by
Edward Hopkins for a college at New Haven, with a long
statement of the designs of the donor and of his own desii'es.
This ceremony, which has been justly celebrated as the foun-
dation of our Grrammar School, is quite as really an epoch in
the train of events which led forty years later to the erection
of Yale College. New Haven had already furnished half a
dozen graduates for Cambridge, and the prophetic eye of
Davenport fixed on this spot as the site of a new college.
Steps to such an end had been taken long before, and it was
only the development of his ideas (working largely through his
successor in the pastoral office, the Rev. James Pierpont),
which brought the college here in the next generation.

In this year a letter was received from John Dury, a Scotch-
man who was laboring to promote the union of the Calvinistic
and Lutheran Churches, and was answered in the name of the
ministers of the Colony by Davenport in a Latin epistle, of
which large extracts are preserved in print.

In 1661, New Haven (and especial 1}^ Mr. Davenport) shel-
tered the two Regicides, Whalley and Goff'e ; and some time
before their coming he preached to his people a series of ser-
mons preparatory to such questions about harboring traitors as

232 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT.

tbeir presence might excite. These sermons were printed in
London in this year, and four or five copies are in existence.
In this connection comes also a very hard letter to read, with
our present knowledge, in which Davenport explains to the
King's agent his own ignorance of the Regicide matter, and
which I wish for his sake were blotted out.

In the spring of 1662 the separate existence of the New
Haven Colony was threatened by Grov. Winthrop's obtaining
for Connecticut a charter including this settlement. The strug-
gles of the next two or three years ended with the absorption
of this Colony in Connecticut in Jan., 1665, but every step to
this result was contested by a series of admirable state-papers,
in which Davenport's hand was plain. When this episode,
with the sacrifice which it involved of the principles on which
this Colony was founded, was over, he employs in a letter to
Gov. Leverett of Massachusetts the phrase which doubtless
reflects the prevailing tone of his thoughts for the rest of life:
"You see my zeal for preserving Christ's interest in your parts,
though in New Haven Colony it is miserably lost."

Meantime an important theological controversy also was on
his hands. In Sept., 1662, a Synod of Massachusetts ministers
met in Boston, chiefly to consider the question of the admission
of baptized children to Church privileges, — such as presenting
their children for baptism without any profession of their own
Christian faith. Against tliis new way, which in the issue led
to so much trouble in the next century, Davenport used his
pen with power. His argument, entitled "Another Essay for
Investigation of the Truth," was printed in 1663 at Cambridge,
with a preface by Increase Mather, as yet a young unordained
preacher. The Essay was answered by Richard Mather, father
of Increase, and Davenport prepared and forwarded for publi-
cation in 1 664 a Vindication of his former treatise : but through
some backwardness in those to whom he transmitted it, — prob-
ably Increase Mather himself, who was by this time converted
to his father's views, — the Vindication remained in manuscript,
and is bebeved to l)e still in existence in the autograph collec-
tion of the Rev. Dr. Sprngue : a copy, however, is in the Libraiy
of the American Antiquarian Society.

LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT. 233

We pass on to 1667. when Davenport was in his seventy-first
year. On the 7th of August, John Wilson, the original minis-
ter of the First Church in Boston, died at the age of seventy-
nine; and in September, after a struggle which resulted in the
formation of a new church, now the Old South, Davenport was
chosen his successor. Wilson, with a large minority of the
church, had supported the conclusions of the recent Synod, as
to the subjects of baptism ; and so Davenport's election was a
triumph of the Anti-Synodists, who were elsewhere clearly in
a minority. By accepting the call, he stirred the flame of con-
troversy anew, and moreover must have alienated in great
degree the affections of the people whom he had led into this
wilderness. To Boston, however, he went in 1668, arriving on
the 2d day of May, but not being installed until the 9th of
December. In the following spring he preached the Election
Sermon, which was printed, though not a single copy is now
discoverable. In the same year he published in England a
couple of fast-day sermons, and here his work ended. In
March,* 1670, he died in Boston, in his seventy-third year.
There one may see his tomb, in King's Chapel burying ground ;
and here we have his portrait, painted apparently after his
death by some rude Boston artist. The inventory of his estate
amounted to £1250, 18^, 101'^: there are books prized at £233,
17^ ; apparel, £30 ; in money, £193, 10^, 4|<J ; in plate, £50 ;
dwelling house and land, £4:00; one servant boy, £10.

* March 11th, according to the Records of the First Church; March 15th,
according to Gov. Hutchinson's History ; March 1 6th, according to John Hull's
Diary.

30

234 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT.

WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT.

[I have here included under the dates of composition (or of publication, where
the former date cannot be ascertained), all the writings of Davenport of which I
have knowledge. I have also added the whereabouts of the copies of his printed
works, so far as I know of any, not of course expecting to reach completeness in
this respect. The initials used refer to the following libraries ; A. A. S., Amer-
ican Antiquarian Society, Bodl., Bodleian; B. Ath., Boston Athenaeum; B. Publ.,
Boston Public Library; G. B., the late George Brinley ; Br. Mus., British Museum ;
F. B. D., my own; H. M. D., the Rev. Henry M. Dexter, D. D. ; H. U., Harvard
University; M. H. S., Mass. Historical Society; Pr., Prince Library; U. S.,
Library of Congress ; Y. C, Tale College.]

1615-16. MS. volume of sermons, preached at Hilton Castle; presented to
Y. C. in 1'794 by his great-great-grandson, Hon. James Davenport, of Stanford.

1624, Oct.-Nov. Five MS. letters to the Rt. Hon. Sir Edward Conway, Secre-
tary of State ; in the Record office, London. Abstracts are given in Calendar of
Domestic State Papers, 1623-25, pp. 354-7, 371.

1625, May 18. Response in his examination for degree of B.D., at Oxford; in
a MS. volume belonging to W. A. Saunders, B]sq., of Cambridge, Mass.

[1625-28?]. In the last named volume, reply to Dr. Alexander Leighton,
about Kneeling at the Sacrament ; also, other memoranda on conformity.

1627, Mch. 2. A circular letter, signed by him in conjunction with Thomas
Taylor, Richard Sibbes, and William Gouge, asking help for Palatinate Christians ;
in Calendar Dom. State Papers, 1627-28, p. 77, and in Sibbes' Works, ed. Grosart,
V. i, p. Iviii.

1627, Apr. 25. An Epistle to the Reader, prefixed to Henry Scudder's " Chris-
tian's Daily Walk."

1628, Jan. 18. The first of a series of nine manuscript letters to Lady Mary
Vere; in the Br. Mus., Birch MSS., 4275; printed in the Davenport Genealogy, 312.

1628, June 30. The second letter to the same ; ihid., 314.

1629, Apr.-June. Two letters from a committee (of which he is the first named)
of the " Company of the Massachusetts Bay," to John Endecott; in Transactions
A. A. S., iii, 30rt, 79, 96.

1629. " A Royall Edict for Military Exercises ; published in a Sermon preached
to the Captaines and Gentlemen that exercise Armes in the Artillery Garden,''^
June 23, 1629. Lond. 4°. pp. viii, 27. B. Ath., and also an imperfect copy in A. A.S.

1629, Dec. 26. The third letter to Lady Vere.

1629. Preface, signed jointly by him and the Rev. Richard Sibbes, D.D., to the
following works of the Rev. John Preston, D.D., late Master of Emmanuel College,
Cambridge : The New Covenant ; The Breast Plate of Faith and Love ; The Saints'
Qualification. These prefaces are reprinted in Grosart's edition of Sibbes' Works,
V. i, pp. xcv-c.

1631, Jan. 15. His MS answer "to certaine obiections devised against him by
Timothy Hood, sometyme his Curate;" in Record Office, London. An abstract is
given in the Calendar Dom. State Papers, 1629-31, p. 483.

LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT. 235

1633, Febr. 11. An entry made in his "Great Bible," acknowledging God's
help in the matter of the Feoffees ; quoted in the Magnalia, Bk. 3, Pt. 1, ch. 4.

[1633, Nov. ?]. MS. on " Christ's Church, and his government of it ;" in A. A. S.
[1633, Nov.?]. The fourth letter to Lady Vere; printed in Davenport Geneal.

1 634, Mch. 1 8. MS. letter to Sir Wm. Boswell, agent of the King of England at
the Hague ; in Br. Mus., Additional MSS., No. 6394, p. 196.

1631, [Dec.]. " A Ivst Complnt. against an Vnivst Doer. . . ." containing: a
translation of a Latin letter written (in Febr., 1634] to the Classis of Amsterdam ;
" Certaine Instructions delivered to the Elders of the English Church," dated Apr.
28,1634; " The Greivances, and Complaints of the . . English Church in Amster-
dam, Anno 1G34. The 18. of October;" and further remarks, This pamplilet,
(4°, pp. iii, 24) was published by VVm. Best, without the author's knowledge. In
Br. Mus. and Bodl.

1635, Jan. " A Protestation Made and Published upon occasion of a pamphlett,
Intitled A Ivst Complaint against an vnivst doer ..." Rotterdam. 4°. pp. 7.
In Rev. D. WilHams's Libr., London.

1635, July 21. Fifth letter to Lady Vere.

1635, Dec. 15. Sixth letter to the same.

1636 [Jan.?]. Seventh letter to the same; printed, in part, in Davenport
Genealogy, p. 3\1.

1636. " ApologeticaU Reply to an answer [by J. Paget] to the unjust com-
plaint of W. B[est]. . . ." Rotterdam. 4°. pp. xx, 334. In Br. Mus., Bodl., Pr.,
and G. B.

1638, Mch. 12. Letter (in his hand, but signed also by Theophilus Eaton) to
the Governor, Deputy, and Assistants of Massachusetts. Printed in Collections
of Mass. Hist. Soc, 3d Series, vol. 3, p. 165, in Savage's 2d ed. of Wintlirop's
Journal, i, 484, and in Davenport Geneal., 323.

[1638-9?]. " Discourse about Civil Government in a New Plantation whose
Design is Religion." Cambridge, New England. 1663. 4°. pp.24. "In the
Title page whereof, the Name of Mr. Cotton, is, by Mistake, put for that of Mr.
Davenport:' (Magnalia, Bk. 3, Pt. 1, Ch. 4.) In Pr., M. H. S., B. Ath., H. U.,
and G. B.

1639. '• An Answer of the Elders of the severall Churches in New-England
unto Nine Positions, sent over to them (by divers . . Ministers in England) . ."
This was printed as pages 49-78 of a volume entitled " Church-Government
and Church-Covenant discussed . ." London: 1643. 4°. Pr., A. A. S., U. S.,
and F. B. D.

[1639, Aug. 22 ?]. "A Profession of Faith, made at his admission into one of
the Churches of God in New England." I have a copy printed as pages 34-40 of
John Cotton's " Covenant of Gods free Grace." London, 1641. 4°. The same,
printed separately. (London, 1642. 4°. pp. 8,) is in Br. Mus., Bodl., U. S., H. M. D.,
the library of the late Rev. Horace BushneU, D.D., and G. B. Br. Mus. and B.
Publ. have it, appended to Cotton, as above, 1645. Reprinted with Preface, by
the Rev. Dr. Bacon, New Haven. 1853. 12°.

1639, Sept. 28. Eighth letter to Lady Vere; printed in N. E. Hist, and Geneal.
Register, ix, 149.

286 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT.

1644, Aug. 14. Remarks at the trial of Mrs. Eaton; in the records of the New
Haven Church, and printed in Bacon's Hist. Discourses, 297.

1647, Mov. 13. Ninth Letter to Lady Vere.

[1648, or earlier.] " The Knowledge of Christ Indispensably required of all
men that would be saved . . ." A volume of sermons, from Acts ii, 36, with the
running-title, " The True Messias or Crucified Jesus the Christ." London. 1653.
4°. pp. vi, 87. In Br. Mus., Bodl., Univ. of Aberdeen, A. A. S., U. S., and G-. B.

[1649?] MS. letter to the Rev. Charles Chauncy, of Scituate; no. 21 of pt. 2
of the Cotton Papers in Pr.

1G50, May 6. Letter to the Rev. John Cotton, of Boston; printed in Davenport
Geneal., 343.

[1652?] "The Power of Congregational Churches Asserted and Vindicated ;
In answer to a Treatise of Mr. J. Paget . ." London. 1672. 16°. pp. x, 179 [or,
by correct numeration, 163]. In Pr., M. H. S., H. U., A. A. S., Amer. Con-
gregational Association, H. M. D., and F. B. D.

1653, Aug. 20. Letter to Jolm "Winthrop, of New London. In Bacon, 366.

1653, Aug. 25. MS. letter to Mrs. Sarah Cotton, of Boston ; in Mather Papers,
vol. i, no. 14, in Pr. Printed in M. H. S. Coll., xxxviii, 546.

1655, Mch. 10. Letter to J. "Winthrop. In Bacon, 367, and M. H. S. Coll.,
XXX, 6.

1655, Apr. 14-19. Letter to the same. In Bacon, 369, and M. H. S. Coll.,
XXX, 8.

1655, July 6. Letter to the same. In Bacon, 370, and M. H. S. CoU., xxx, 11.

1655, Nov. 22. Letter to the same. In Davenport Geneal., 346, and M. H. S.
Coll., xxx, 12.

1655, Nov. 30. Letter to the same. In Bacon, 371, and M. H. S. Coll.. xxx, 14.
[1656, or earlier.] "A Catechisms containing the Chief Heads of Christian

Religion." By Davenport, and his assistant in the ministry, William Hooke. Lon-
don, 1659. 16°. pp. 62. In Br. Mus. and Y. C. Reprinted (with Davenport's
" Profession of Faith "), New Haven, 1853. ] 2".

1656, July 13 — 1658, Aug. 8. MS. outlines of sermons; in volume of 312
pages, 12°, in Y. C.

1658. Letter to the Church in "Wethersfield. In Conn. Hist. Soc. Coll., ii, 88.

1658. He is said by Wood (Athenas Oxonienses, ed. Bliss, iii, 891), to have
" had a considerable hand in writing the life of Mr. John Cotton . . published by
John Norton."

1658, July 20. Letter to J. Winthrop. In Bacon, 372, and M. H. S. Coll., xxx, 19.

1658, Aug. 4. Letter to the same. In Bacon, 373, and M. H. S. Coll., xxx, 21.

1658, Oct. 22. Letter to the same. In Bacon, 375.

1659, Febr. 28. Remarks at a town meeting, quoted from the Record by Bacon,
119.

1659, Mch. 18. Letter to J. Winthrop. In Bacon, 375, and M. H. S. Coll.,
xxx, 23.

1659, Apr. 15. Letter to the same. In Bacon, 377.

1659, Sept. 28. Letter to the same. In Bacon, 378, and M. H. S. CoU., xxx, 25.

1660, Febr. 22. Letter to the same. In Bacon, 379, and M. H. S. Coll., xxx, 29.

LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT. 287

1660, March '29. Letter to the same. In Davenport Geneal., 379, and M. H. S.
Coll., XXX, 30.

1660, Apr. 5. Letter to the same. In Bacon, 381, and M. H. S. Coll., xxx, 31.

1660, Apr. 13. Letter to the same. In Bacon, 382, and M. H. S. CoU., xxx, 33.

1660, June 4. Letter of resignation of trusteeship of the Hopkins Fund, ad-
dressed to the General Court of New Haven. In Trumbull's Hist, of Conn., 2d ed.,
i, 532.

1660, July 20. Letter to J. Winthrop. In M. H. S. Coll., xxx, 34.

1660, Aug. 11. Letter to the same. In Davenport Geneal., 350, and M. H. S.
Coll., xxx, 37.

1660, Oct. 17. Letter to J. Winthrop. In Davenport Geneal., 353, and M. H. S.
Coll., xxx, 42.

1660, Nov. 27. Letter to the same. In Bacon, 385, and M. H. S. Coll., xxx, 44.
[1660?] Latin letter to the Rev. John Dury. Extracts in the Magnalia, Bk. iii,

pt. i, ch. 4. See, also, S. Mather's Apology for the Liberties of the Churches, p. 166.

1661, Aug. 19. Letter to Sir Thomas Temple. In Davenport Geneal., 356,
and M. H. S. Coll., xxviii, 327.

1661. "The Saint's Anchor-Hold . . . Sundry Sermons." London. 12°. pp.
viii, 231. In Br. Mus., Pr., G. B., library of the Rev. Dr. Bacon, Librarj^ of Lane
Theol. Seminary.

1662, July. Letters to Wm. GofEe. In M. H. S. Coll., xxxviii, 198, 192, 181.

1662, Nov. 5. Answer of the Freemen of New Haven Colony to Connecticut;
believed to be written by Davenport. In Trumbull's Conn., 2d ed., i, 515.

1663, March 23. Letter to the Rev. John Cotton, of Plymouth. In M. H. S.
Coll., xxxviii, 547.

1663, May 6. A second letter to Connecticut. In Trumbull's Conn., i, 517.

1663. " Another Essay for Investigation of the Truth, . . concerning, I. The
Subject of Baptism, II. The Consociation of Churches." Cambridge, N. E. 4°. pp.
xvi, 71. The Preface (pp. xvi) is by Increase Mather; pp. 65-71 are filled by
"Considerations . . by the Rev. Nicholas Street." In Br. Mus. and G. B. Im-
perfect copies in H. U. and H. M. D.

1664. A MS. "Vindication" of the last-named Essay. In the library of the
late Rev. W. B. Sprague, D.D., of Flushing, N. Y. A copy is in A. A. S.

1664, March. "New Haven's Case Stated." In N. H. MS. Records; printed in
Bacon, 359.

1664, Dec. 14. A third letter from N. H. Colony to Conn. In Trumbull, i, 526.

1665, Jan. 5. The final letter to Conn. ; ihid., i, 528.

1665, June 24. Letter to MaJ. Gen. John Leverett, of Boston. In Hutchinson's
Collections, 392.

1665, Nov. 2. MS. letter to William Goodwin, of Hadley; no. 35« in vol. i of
Mather Papers, in Pr. ; printed (in part) in M. H. S. CoU., xxxviii, 126.

1666, Apr. 10. Letter to J. Winthrop. In M. H. S. Coll., xxx, 58.

1666, June 14. Letter to the same; ibid., xxx, 59.

1667, Sept. 18. " Epistle to the Reader," pp. xi, prefixed to Increase Mather's
'•Mystery of Israel's Salvation." London, 1669. 16°. In B. Publ., G. B., & F.B.D.

1668, Apr. 18. Transfer of the Hopkins Fund to the General Court of Conn.;
in MS. Records of N. H. Hopkins Grammar School, p. 4.

238

LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN DAVENPORT.

1669, May. Mass. Election Sermon, from II. Sam., xxiii, 3. Published, but no
copy now known to be extant.

1669. " God's Call to His People to Turn unto Him." Cambridge, England. 4°.
pp. 27. In Bodl., B. Publ., and G. B.

In 168*7 appeared a foliD sheet of " Proposals for Printing . . an Exposition of
the whole Book of Canticles by the late . . John Davenport." A copy is in Br.
Mus. Wood says that the MS. was 100 sheets, but that the intending publisher
died before the design was carried out.

In the MS. Winthrop Papers of M. H. S. are more than fifty unprinted letters of
Davenport.

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

By henry BRONSON, M.D.

[Read at different dates, between Dec. 9th, 1872, and Oct. 16th, 1876.]

[In the following papers I have aimed to collect and put in an
enduring form much valuable and often perishable material
gathered several years ago fi'om many sources — records, manu-
script documents and letters, old newspapers, traditions, and
living witnesses. In their preparation, I hoped to make an
acceptable contribution to general history, and at the same
time render a special, and much needed service to the medical
profession. To adapt them to the wants of the latter, I may
have entered into more detail than otherwise would have been
necessary. Several of the number have been read to the ISTew
Haven Medical Association. With these explanatory remarks,
I submit the results of my labor.]

HISTORY OF THE MEDICAL SOCIETY OF NEW HAVEN COUNTY,
ESTABLISHED IN 1784.

Before the Revolution there was not much intercourse
between the different sections of our country. A limited
coasting trade along the Atlantic border brought the commercial
classes in the maritime towns into frequent contact ; but the
benefits of this scarcely extended to the interior. Each colony —
in many cases each town — was, to a large extent, an isolated com-
munity. But the war which broke out in 1775 brought with it
great changes. It excited the wildest passions ; introduced self-

240 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

ishness, corruption, vice, misery, and a deluge of paper money ;
but certain incidental advantages flowed from it. Large bodies
of men were gathered from every quarter, and associated for mili-
tary purposes. To supply food and clothing, arms and equip-
ments, an extended internal trade was required. The sections,
near and remote, were for the first time brought face to face, and
bound together in desperate endeavor for a common object.
Men who had before been strangers became co-workers and per-
sonal friends. Though the standard of morality was debased,
they learned well the advantages of union, of combined effort and
social intercourse, which they were slow to forget. The accom-
plishments which individuals in high positions possessed became
by contact and the magnetism of superior natures common prop-
erty, and reproduced their like. Emulation was excited, and
society enlightened, and in a certain sense improved and refined.
Whatever one's pursuits or education, tastes, or talents might
be, he was sure to find, from his enlarged acquaintance, sym-
pathising and congenial spirits with whom he could fraternize
and reciprocate for mutual good (or evil). There were in the
army a few accomplished and many reputable physicians and
surgeons who witnessed and shared the benefits of united effort
— of familiar professional intercourse — and who when peace
returned feared the disintegrating and de[)ressing influence of
isolation.

There lived in New Haven and its vicinity several more or
less eminent practitioners who had been in the war, among
them Jared Potter, William Gould?, Ebenezer Beardsley, John
Spaulding and Levi Ives. Others had been associated in the
civil service of the State to determine the competency of those
desiring to join the army as surgeons. They doubtless felt the
loss of tlie advantages they had enjoyed, and sought to regain
them. In pursuance of this object, early in December, 1783,
through the columns of the Connecticut Journal, an invitation
was given to the "faculty of the county" to meet in New
Haven on the fifth of January following. But before the
time appointed, or January second, 1784, the New Haven
physicians formed themselves into a town association, (the city

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 241

bad not then been cbartered, its birtb happening six days later,)
and entered into an agreement, ostensibly for tlie purpose
of regulating professional intercourse and the charges for ser-
vice, and then used their organization and influence to establish
a county society. This preliminary work, personal to them-
selves, having been done, they in their associated capacity
prepared an explanatory address to be read at the county
meeting. The meeting was held according to notice on the
fifth day of January, 1784. Col. (Dr.) Leverett Hubbard was
chosen chairman, and Dr. Samuel Darling, secretary. At this
point, tlie address above alluded to was probably read.
" The associated faculty of New Haven," as they style them-
selves, thank the gentlemen convened for the respect paid to
their advertisment, and flatter themselves that their consulta-
tions will "produce harmony and love" among the faculty.
They refer to the importance of the medical profession, and the
necessity of " effectual regulations " to preserve its (so called)
dignity, but at the same time think it needless to harrangue
those present on these matters. They point to the " vast
advantages of medical societies in divers parts of the world "
as shown by their works, and call upon the " faculty through-
out the county " to unite with them in forming a society for
the following purposes :

1st. For strengthening and brightening the chain of friendship :

2d\y. For observing tlie weatlier and tlie disorders it is productive of, the
method of treatment and the event, accurately and candidly :

3dly. For the communication of new discoveries in Physic or Surgery, or any
sentiments in theory, or any discoveries in Botany :

4thly. For correspondence with the several associations within this State, the
neighboring states, or Europe :

5thly. For Joining the faculty in their application to the General Assemblj^ for
incorporation.

The address closed with the compliments of the season cus-
tomary at the beginning of the new year.

The preliminary business being concluded, the meeting
"resolved" itself into a society to be called and known by the
name of the Medical Society of New Haven County, [the
31

242 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

members] " plighting tlieir honor to each other for the observ-
ance of such regulations as may be adopted by the majority."
The Society having been organized in this manner, it was
meet that it should declare its purposes and objects. These
were stated to be

First. To lay a proper foundation for that unanimity and friendship which
are essential to t\\e dignity and usefulness of the profession :

Secondly. To make accurate observations on the air, seasons, climate, and the
various diseases incident to the inhabitants of this country, with the mode of treat-
ment and event in all singular cases :

Thirdly. For the communication of any discoveries in Physic, Surgery, Botany
and Chemistry :

Fourthly. For the purpose of a correspondence with the medical societies in
this, the neighboring states, and in Europe :

Fifthly. For uniting with the several medical societies within this State in a
joint application to the Legislature " for charter privileges."

At the same meeting, a vote was passed appointing " Messrs.
Leverett Hubbard, Eneas Munson, Jared Potter, Ebenezer
Beardsley, Samuel JSTesbitt and Samuel Darling a committee to
form further regulations to be laid before the next meeting,"
which, by a vote of adjournment, was to be held on the first
Monday of February then ensuing, at the Coffee House in
New Haven, which stood on the site of the Tontine Hotel.

At the next meeting, February sec(md, 1784, the committee
reported the following (so-called) regulations, which were unan-
imously agreed to :

First. That the Society convene once in three months, by adjournment, in the
City of New Haven :

Secondly. That in all cases where council is requisite we will be ready to
assist each other in consultation without reserve :

Thirdly. That if any physician or surgeon residing in this county shall neglect
or refuse, after six months, to become a member of this Society, the members will
utterly refuse to have any connection with him as a practitioner unless he can
give a satisfactory reason for his neglect to this Society :

Fourthly. That no person who has been in practice less than one year shall be
permitted to become a member of this Society unless he submits to an examina-
tion. [This article was repealed in 1789] :

Fifthly. That a committee shall be appointed by the Society for the purpose of
examining candidates, whose duty it shall be carefully to examine such students
as shall offer themselves for that purpose, and if they shall be found properly

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

243

qualified for the practice by a major part of said committee, they shall furnish
him or them with a certificate which he or they shall exhibit to the Society attlieir
next general meeting, and be received as members of the Society, they subscribing
to the rules and regulations of the Society :

[The sixth article has been carefully erased according to a vote (literally inter-
preted) passed January second, 1788.]

Seventhly. That there be chosen by ballot, in the month of January, a Presi-
dent who shall be entitled to a casting vote, also a Vice-President, likewise a
Secretary :

Eighthly. That any communication made within the line of the profession shall
have an hearing, and be discussed previous to any other business.

The Ninth and last article provided that the names of the members,'' the'votes
passed, and the extraordinary cases and discoveries communicated should be
placed on record.

Then follow the names of members, sixty -one in all, the first
twenty-six in the hand of the Secretary. The others, beginning
with John Spalding, are autographs.

Leverett Hubbard,
WiUiam Gould,
Eneas Munson,
"Walter Munson,
Elias Carrington,
Aaron Andrews,
Jared Potter,
Samuel Nesbitt,
Edward Carrington,
Ebenezer Beardsley,
Samuel Darling,
Edward Crafte,
Gad Pond,
Levi Ives,
William "Wright,
Elnathan Beach,
Obadiaii Hotchkiss,
Elizur "Wheeler,
Abraham Tomlinson,
Abel Brunson,
Jared Foot,
Isaac Baldwin,
Hezekiah Hooker,
John Goodrich,
Hezekiah Beardsley,
Moses Galord,

John Spaulding,
Elisha Chapman,
Phineas Clark,
Ensign Hough,
Tho. Ruggles Pynchon,
Mark Newell,
Nathan Leavenworth,
Osee Dutton,
Josiah Root,
Lewis Morgan,
Aaron Elliott,
Amzi Hull,
Preserved Porter,
James Eaton Beach,
Nathaniel Hubbard,
Eneas Munson, Jun.,
Stephen Hall, Jr.,
Joseph Darling,
Thomas T. Cornwell,
Theodore Wadsworth.
Aaron Gregory,
"William A. Tomlinson,
Nathaniel Thayer,
Horace Beardsley,
"WiUiam Sheltou, Jun.,
Aaron Burr Bradley,

244 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

Nathaniel Perry, Anthony Burriti,

James Potter, Joseph Trowbridge,

Amos Mead, Lewis Beers,

Samuel Mather, James Clarke.
Josh Poor,

At the same meeting, Dr. Hubbard (usually called Col. Hub-
bard), who had been chosen cliairman at the previous meeting,
delivered a " spirited address" which is entered at length upon
the record book. He expresses his obligations, and is pro-
foundly sensible of the honor conferred ; but like others sud-
denly called to high positions, thinks himself unequal to the
task assigned him. He hopes that his selection for the office
" will be a leading step to introduce some worthy gentleman
that will fill the chair with more dignity and honor" — for all of
which he received the formal thanks of the Society. At the
same time, Drs. William Gould, of Branford, Eneas Munson, of
New Haven, Jared Potter, of Wallingford, Samuel Nesbitt and
Ebenezer Beardsley, of New Haven, and Edward Carrington, of
Amity, afterward Woodbridge, were chosen the Committee of
Correspondence — a great distinction. They were also a com-
mittee to examine candidates for practice. A vote was also
passed thanking "The Honorable the Consul of Fi-ance at New
York [Mr. St. John] for the generous and benevolent tender of
his services to the Society in his letter of the twenty-eighth ul-
timo, and that the committee of correspondence, * * request him
to forward to the Society twelve of the books mentioned in his
late publication in the New York papers," &c. This letter,
dated January twenty-seventh, 1784, signed "St. John" and
recorded, appears to have been written to Pierpont Edwards, of
New Haven, in answer to "information" received. It is filled
with compliments and generous ofters of assistance. Among
other things, the writer suggests that a botanical garden would
" add renown to the new raised [newly chartered] city, and
honor to its founders;" profters "the seeds of upwards of two
hundred plants lately gathered from the king's garden (Paris) ;
recommends as foreign members of the Society Doctor Du
Breuil and Mr. Parmentier, of Paris ; proposes to apply " for

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 245

the freedom of the new City" of New Haven ; and begs that his
best respects may be presented to Drs. Munson, Beardsley, and
other patriotic citizens.

I find on tile a second letter from the same source, dated
March nineteenth, 1784, superscribed " Eneas Munson, Esq.,"
but addressed apparently to the Society. It acknowledges the
receipt of the "very polite, elegant and flattering letter" (from
the committee of correspondence, I presume), to which it is a
reply. It is written in a patronizing style, and excels the pre-
vious one in friendly sympathy and liberal promises. The
botanical garden is again alluded to, and the manner of planting
the seeds forwarded and labelling the plants is described. The
plants of this continent, the writer thinks, should be collected,
and an address drawn up for circulation in Europe, explaining
the objects of the botanical institution, and giving a plan of the
Medical Society, with a request that the '' great and good per-
sonages of that country" would cooperate as " patrons, associ-
ates and protectors. Such a'step [he continues] would procure
books, prints, and every succor ; and perhaps too a person well
versed in Botany would be sent here, at their expense, to con-
duct your garden, make collections, institute a liorius siccus, &c.,
till some among the pupils of the new academy might be found
capable of becoming a professor," &c. That the work might in
the mean time go on, more seeds had been sent for by packet.

"To rendcK the new medical institution more useful," the
irrepressible Consul recommends that it be " connected with the
translation and publication of the French Journal de Medecine,"
a few convincing numbers of which were sent with the letter.
The Journal, he thinks, would sell rapidly, while the under-
taking would give employment to a bookseller and editor,
reputation to the city, and renown to the Society. "A chair
of Chemistry" might at some time follow, and New Haven
become "a place desirable to live in." Further on, our liberal-
minded and enthusiastic friend expresses his unbounded admi-
ration of certain published proceedings — plainly worded and
unpretending — of a town meeting in New Haven, conferring
the privileges of citizenship on a class of persons who had been

246 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

enemies in tLe war just closed. Referring to the town's vote,
be thus delivers himself: "It is the essence of reason herself,
clothed in all the pomp of the most sublime eloquence. What
an example of philanthropy and of the true spirit of govern-
ment 3^ou have the honor of holding up to the world ! I have
just sent it [the printed document] to France, to the Marechal
Prince de Beauveau, in order to be translated, and inserted in
all the European papers." In closing, the Consul begs to return
his most cordial thanks, and to present his respects to each
member of the committee (of correspondence), and of the
Society, and subscribes himself, with unfeigned esteem and re-
spect, the very humble servant, &c.

At the next meeting in May, the Society " voted that Messrs.
John Goodrich, Leverett Hubbard, Levi Ives, Hezekiah Beards-
ley, Samuel Nesbitt, Edward Carrington, Abel Bronson, Abra-
ham Tomlinson, Eneas Munson, Jared Potter, be a committee
to take care of the botanical garden," designed, doubtless, to
receive the seeds of the French consul, and to confer greatness
upon the Society and the new-born city ; but the purpose must
have failed, and .the garden perished in its infancy, for I can
find no further trace of it. At the same date, certain persons
— Drs. Gould, Munson, Carrington and Bronson — were selected
to " prepare themselves to exhibit some observations to the
Society at the next meeting, in accordance with a custom which
was established and continued till January, 1787, when it was
abandoned. Dr. Nesbitt " exhibited to the meeting" a case of
singultus. He was formally thanked, and his " observations"
were recorded at length, in conformity with the ninth regula-
tion which was observed for two or tliree years, and then disre-
garded.

Those who organized the New Haven County Medical Society
designed from the first to employ it as a means of establishing
a state medical society. Indeed, this was with them a leading
purpose, and the state institution a main object never out of
mind. This is proved by their declaration of motives at the
outset. They wanted a charter, and seemed to have a presenti-
ment of the difficulties they would encounter. To secure their

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 247

object, they saw that a combined and general effort was re-
quired. Having united the county, they sought the aid of the
profession throughout the State. As early as April, 1784, the
committee of correspondence addressed circular letters to the
several counties, asking the appointment of delegates to meet
in Hartford. The object was to concert measures to benefit the
profession, and to petition for state legislation and a charter.
The movement was not at first, nor for a long time, successful;
but renewed endeavor and a dogged persistence, after eight
years of discouragement and defeat, secured the boon. During
this interval, much of the time of the county meetings was oc-
cupied, as proved by the records, in organizing and carrying-
out plans for an authorized state society. The details of these
plans and a particular account of the protracted struggle has
been given in the "Proceedings of the Connecticut Medical
society" for 1873. In this connection, I shall not further
notice, unless incidentally, those proceedings of the countv
society which at length brought forth, equipped for service, the
Connecticut Medical Society.

At the August meeting of this year (1784), a vote of thanks
" to Dr. Muuson for his observations" on a case of locked jaw
cured by electricity, was passed; Drs. William Grould, Abel
Bronson and Elnathan Beach were " desired to exhibit some
observations on the theory or practice of physic at the next
meeting," while each member was " recommended to bring in
the history of some case once in three months, or at farthest in
twelve months, to the clerk to be kept on file for perusal." At
the meeting in October, a case was communicated by Dr. Tom-
linson on difficult deglutition, one by Dr. Spalding on fracture
of the cranium, and one by Dr. Beach on puerperal disease.

The first anniversary meeting of the Society was held on the
fifth day of January, 1785, as by adjournment, at the Coffee
House, in New Haven. In accordance with the regulations,
Col. Hubbard was chosen President, (he had before been chair-
man) Dr. Munson, Yice-President, and Dr. Samuel Darling,
Secretary and Treasurer. The old committee of correspond-
ence, which was also to act as the committee of examination,

248 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

was re-elected. Dr. Hubbard, " pliysician and surgeon," desir-
ous perhaps to make some return for the honor conferred,
" stated and delivered " observations on gangrene of the scro-
tum, and was thanked therefor. Dr. Edward Carrington was
complimented in like manner for his "observations." At the
same time there was a movement for a society library, and the
committee of correspondence was instructed to make out a list
of books, and prepare the needful regulations. This action^
however, appears to have been premature, for the committee
afterward reported " that the procuring of a library at the pres-
ent time would not be expedient." Mr. James Eaton Beach, a
candidate for the practice of physic and surgery, at his desire,
was examined, apparently in open meeting, " with regard to his
knowledge in the aforesaid arts," found duly qualified, and
made a member of the Society. At the other meetings during
the year, Drs. Jared Potter, Ebenezer Beardsley and Nesbitt
read " dissertations," while Drs. Munson, Nesbitt and Beardsley
reported each a case. The last named was " desired to exhibit
some observations on the phthisis pulmonalis," while Drs. Wal-
ter Munson, S. Nesbitt, Elisha Chapman, L. Ives and Eneas
Munson, Jun., were selected to "exhibit," &c., according to
custom, at future meetings.

At the annual meeting in January, 1786, and afterward till
1792, the old officers were re-elected. Dr. Hubbard was added
to the committee of correspondence and examination, and the
following vote passed :

Voted, That upon the decease of any member of this Society who has de-
served well of the public and of the Society, some member shall be appointed to
deliver an eulogium on the occasion, which shall he entered on the records, to the
end that the memory of such worthy characters may be preserved from oblivion,
and their survivors encited to emulate their worthy actions.

At the next meeting in April, a form of certificate was adopted
which the committee of examination was to give to candidates
who were found "well qualified to practice," in testimony whereof
the committee were to affix to the instrument their names, and
annex the seal of the Society, "in the medical chamber of the

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 249

City of New Haven," &c. Licentiates were to pay six shillings
to the treasurer, and be recommended for membership, A cer-
tificate was also to be devised, after the manner, I suppose, of
the renowned foreign societies, and issued to all members wil-
ling to pay the cost. It was to bear the society's seal, set forth
the honorable connection of the holder, and perad venture, be
his passport to fame. Not only were these weighty matters
attended to, but during the year Drs. E. Beardsley and E.
Munson, Jr., read dissertations; Drs. Hubbard and Beardsley
reported cases ; while a tax of one shilling for expenses in-
curred was imposed on each member.

In 1787, at the adjourned annual meeting, February seventh,
the custom of selecting the same members throughout for both
the standing committees was changed, Messrs. Nesbitt, Potter,
E. Beardsley, H, Beardsley, Munson, Sen,, Elnathan Beach
and L, Ives were made the committee of coi'respondencc, and
Messrs. Hubbard, Munson, E. Beardsley, Nesbitt and H.
Beardsley, the committee of examination. The custom of
designating certain members to " exhibit observations " at future
meetings having been discontinued, a vote was passed recom-
mending members to communicate such cases and observations
as might occur to them. In conclusion, the committee of
correspondence was "desired to select a number of the most
interesting cases which have or may be exhibited to the Society,
and transmit them to some medical or philosophical society in
the United States or in Europe, and to request a literary
correspondence." At the different meetings in the year five
cases were reported by Drs, Ives, Nesbitt and E, Beardsley,
and one on the bite of a mad dog was communicated to the
Society in a letter by the distinguished Benjamin Gale, of
Killingworth. All, with one exception, were afterward
published.

In January, 1788, an important movement was initiated.
The plan adopted the previous year of selecting from the files
of the society papers to be transmitted to other societies, &c. ,
was abandoned, and a more ambitious course taken, as appears
by the following vote :
32

250 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

Voted, That ii collection of the most interesting cases communicated to the
Society be made, and tliat they be publislied in a pamphlet at the expense of the
Society. * * Messrs. Hubbard, Munsou, E. Beardsley, Nesbitt and S. Darling to
be a committee for this purpose.

"A suitable device" to be prefixed to the pamphlet was
authorized, and a subscription to defray expenses taken up,
I have a list of the subscribers with the sums subscribed.
L. Kubbard, for himself and son, gave i^l-10; E. Munson, for
himself and son, £1-10; H. Beardsley, 18s.; S. Nesbitt, E.
Beardsley. J. Spalding and E. Chapman, 12s. each, and others,
nineteen in number, 6s. each ; in all £12. Each subscriber was to
have one copy, and the nnembers of the committee of publica-
tion each three copies. The work appeared in the summer of
1788, the preface bearing the date of June fourteenth. As a
device on the title-page is a bearded, stern-looking, staring
figure, in a closely fitting striped cap or helmet, which may
have been intended for the head of Galen, with the words
^'^ plus nltra^^ underneath, the whole inclosed by a circle. The
motto may perhaps be considered as a disclaimer of merit on
the part of the Society. The work, printed by Josiah Meigs
at an expense inclusive of paper of £10-15-4, for five hundred
copies, and to be sold for one shilling and eight pence (about
twenty eight cents) per copy, is entitled : " Cases and Obser-
vations ; by the Medical Society of New Haven County, in the
State of Connecticut." It contains eighty-six pages and
twenty-six distinct papers, each of the latter (with a single
exception) embracing the statement of one or more cases, and
contributed by the most distinguished nmembers of the Society.
All or nearly all had been read in the county meetings. Of
the articles printed. Dr. Hubbard furnished two, Munson, Sen.,
two, Nesbitt, seven, Spalding, four, E. Beardsley, six, and
Elnathan Beach, Abraham Tomlinson, L. Ives, H. Beardsley,
and Benjamin Grale, (the last not a member,) each one. The
names of contributors, as given in the table of contents, are in
each case (with one exception) adorned with the characters
F. M. S. (fellow of the medical society?) — a title given probably
by the certificate of membership prescribed by the vote of

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 251

April, 1786. Dr. Gale, whose communication was presented
by Dr. Hubbard, is styled C. M. S., in anticipation perhaps of
the distinction which the expected charter of the Connecticut
Medical Society would soon confer. Nearly all the cases are
interesting, some of them important. They may at this day
be perused with profit. The publication was of a kind which
had not before been attempted in this State, and undeniably
was a great enterprise. It made a stir in the profession not
unlike that caused by a new baby in a previously luckless
family. It was of course greatly prized by those who gave it
being, and gained much notoriety and considerable reputation
for the Society, as shown by the records and papers on file.
Copies were sent to other societies and distinguished individ-
uals, and flattering letters were received in reply. Among
those who complimented the work • were the secretary of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Boston, Dr. John
Warren, of Boston, Bishop Seabury, the I'resident of the Col-
lege of Physicians, of Philadelphia, and Drs. John Morgan and
James Mease, of the same place. The general favor with
which the first eftbrt of the Society was received awakened the
enthusiasm of members and inspired confidence.

The ordinary business of the Society in 1788 was not neg-
lected. Three cases each were reported by B. Beardsley, S.
Nesbitt and J. Spalding, and one each by E. Munson, H.
Beardsley, E. Chapman, and E. Beach, several of which were
included in the published collection. The license fee, (the cer-
tificate to be printed from an engraved plate,) to be in keeping
with the increased dignity of the "faculty," was raised from six
shillings to ten and sixpence, one and sixpence of the same to
go to the secretary ; the tax on members was advanced from
one shilling yearly to one shilling quarterly, and the •' reverend
the clej'gy of the county," were requested to furnish quarterly
lists of deaths with the causes. In compliance with the request,
Kev. John Foot, and he onlj^, so far as the record shows, sent in
a list for the first Congregational society of Cheshire, in 1789.

We have seen that the movement made in the infancy of the
Society to establish a library did not succeed. But in process

252 MEDICAL HIST0H7 AND BIOGKAPHY.

of time, books by donation accumulated. The pamphlet of
"Cases and Observations," to a large extent gratuitously circu-
lated, bi'ought in return many volumes. Dr. Obadiali Hotch-
kiss, in October, 1790, was chosen librarian, with instructions
to get the works of Dr. John Fothergill, and Parkinson's Voy-
age to the South Seas, bound and lettered. A committee,
consisting of Drs. Munson and. Goodrich, was at the same time
ap})ointed to prepare regukitions for the government of the
library. These (approved in January, 1791,) provided for
•' books, philosophical apparatus, natural curiosities, and other
property," showing varied, possessions or expectations on the
part of the Society.

William A. Tomlinson, of Stratford, one of the most promis-
ing of the junior members of the Society, having died in Au-
gust, 1789, Dr. Ebenezer Beardsley was requested, in accordance
with the vote of 1786, to deliver " an eulogium" on his life and
character. The service was performed in Januar3^ 1790. The
document is recorded at length, and was "to be communicated
to the public." The next year, Dr. Hezekiah Beardsley died,
and Dr. Eneas Munson was appointed his eulogist. He dis-
charged the duty assigned him in October of that year, and was
invited to publish the paper. It is not recorded, though a vote
was passed requiring that it should be. In April, 1791, Dr. Jared
Potter was chosen as the eulogist of Dr. Ebenezer Beardsley,
then lately deceased. I do not find any evidence that he com-
plied with the wishes of the Society. In the mean time, Dr.
John Goodrich had been desired to prepare a history of the
Society, its rise and progress; a request which was acceded to,
as ni)pears by the record of January, 1791. I can find no fur-
ther trace of his "dissertation."

At a meeting held in July, 1790, a vote was passed that " the
thanks of the Society be given to any person, whether of the
faculty or not" who would offer a solution of any one or all of
the following questions :

1. Whether any sensible change in the air or season gave rise to the late
catarrhal epidemic ?

2. Whether the disease was contagious?

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGEAPHY. 253

3. Whether the humoral pathology is necessary to account for the origin or
phenomena of disease ?

To these interesting queries, replies were invited through the
columns of the Connecticat Journal. Dr. Gideon Shepard, of
Newtovv.i, forwarded an "ingenious answer to the third ques-
tion ;" Mr. Jonathan Osborne, of New Haven, " philosophical
observations" on the two first questions; and Dr. Philip Jones,
of West Springfield, " ingenious observations and answers to
the three questions." The authors were all paid by a vote of
thanks, according to contract, the vote to be published in the
Connecticut Journal. The papers are on file. They are not
weighty or convincing, and are doubtless not average specimens
of the medical literature of that day. The essay of Mr. Osborne,
who was a young man, possibly a medical student, is for the
most part correctly written, praise which cannot be bestowed on
the others.

The period between January, 1789, and Januar}^, 1792, was
one of activity in the usual as well as the extraordinary busi-
ness of the Society. Cases were reported by Dj-s. Spalding,
Hubbard, Munson, E. Beardsley, Elnathan Beach, J. Eaton
Beach, Amos Mead, Gideon Shepard and William A. Tomlin-
son, twenty-seven in number, twelve of them by Spalding, and
four by Tomlinson. At the April and October meetings, 1790,
"observations on the influenza and state of the air" were made
by Dr. E. Beardsley, which, after his death, were, by vote of
the Society, to be " perfected and finished" by Drs. E. Munson,
Jared Potter and Horace Beardsley.

In January, 1792, at the last election of the Society, Dr.
Hubbard was unanimously chosen president ; but having filled
this office seven years, he asked to be excused from further ser-
vice. He was thanked, and Dr. Eneas Munson, sen., elected in his
stead. Dr. Jared Potter was made vice-president; Dr. Darling
was continued as secretary and treasurer, and Dr. Hotchkiss,
as librarian. Drs. Munson, Hubbard, Jared Potter, Spalding
and James Clarke composed the committee of examination, and
Drs. Hubbard, Munson, Jared Potter, Elnathan Beach, J. Spald-
ing, James Clarke, Obadiah Hotclikiss, S. Darling, Amos Mead,

254 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

James Potter, Samuel Mather and Nathaniel Perry, the com-
mittee of correspondence. Several of these, it will be observed,
did not reside in the county. They had been made members
in 1790 and 1791, and were placed upon the committees for the
purpose, probably, of strengthening the Society before the Legis-
lature, in its efforts to obtain a charter. To relieve the burden
of membership and render the Society popular, the obnoxious
quarterly tax, was, January, 1792, abolished.

In May, 1792, the Connecticut Medical Society was chartered,
and the mission of the Medical Society of New Haven County
was at an end. The New Haven county section of the former
took its place,* and exercised most of its functions. But for the
purpose of winding up its affairs, the meetings of the old volun-
tary association, sometimes so called in the record, were still
occasionally held. Many members had failed to pay the quar-
terlj^ assessments, which of course could not be collected by
legal process. It was nevertheless important, on equitable
o-rounds, that the delinquents should not escape. Successive
committees were appointed to write to them, urging a speedy
settlement ; but the debtors did as they pleased, as is their
wont. The library, too, and other property remained to be dis-
posed of. The matter came up for consideration in September,
1793, but the business was postponed from time to time. Much
embarrassment resulted from the conduct of those who shirked
the old shilling tax. They were considered as having no right-
ful claims to the property of the Society, and plans were devised
to exclude them from its benefits. At length, September 25th,
1798, at a meeting "legally warned," a vote was passed to give
all the property of the Society to the Connecticut Medical Soci-
ety, the same to be assorted into parcels and delivered to the
secretary, "as a reward for such prize questions or dissertations
as should be proposed." In October following, the latter
Society, in convention, accepted the gift, and offered " Parkin-
son's Yoyage to the South Seas" as a prize for the best essay on
"scirrhus, its rise, symptoms, progress, and treatment," and
the "Works of Dr. John Fothergill, folio," for the successful

* It used the same record book ; and as the old did not expire with the birth of
the new, the entries belonging to each are more or less intermingled.

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 255

essay on the "scarlatina anginosa of Connecticut, in 1793."
Two years later, or in October, 1800, the same prizes were again
offered, the first for the best paper on scirrhus, the second, for
the best on chronic rhenmatism. Mercury was proposed for a
third question, but no reward was promised. At the end of
twelve months, the unanswered questions were renewed. A
dissertation on chronic rheumatism was laid before an ad-
journed, meeting in May, 1802, but its claims were referred to
the annual convention in October. When October came, the
old prize questions of 1800 were again brought forward, the
same to be published as before. In October, 1803, (nobody want-
ing or no one deserving the prizes,) they were continued. In
May, 1807, they were once more continued, " with the addition
of influenza, as subjects for discussion.'" I cannot ascertain from
the record book that any of the prizes proposed were ever
awarded, though one entry favors the supposition that several
essays were offered. Dr. Eli Ives, however, in his sketch of the
physicians of New Haven county, says that " some few" of the
books received in 1798 were distributed as prizes. " The re-
mainder," he continues, "were lost or not accounted for." In
this manner perished a library, which (in the words of the same
writer) contained "a number of valuable works, such as those
of Fothergill, Darwin, Cullen, Rush, and others of a like char-
acter," contributed by members, authors, and societies; and
"which, if it had been fostered till this time, would have con-
tained a valuable collection of medical books, superior to any
other library in the State."

BIOGRAPHIES.

The late Dr. Eli Ives, in the Northern Literary Messenger, of
New Haven, in January and February, 1848, and in the New
Haven Journal and Courier, October, 1852, in the last case with
additions, published sundry papers filling several columns, en-
titled " Historical Sketches of the Medical Society of New
Haven County; by a Member."* Though hastily written and

* The New Haven County Medical Society ended its active life so soon as the
Connecticut Medical Society was incorporated in 1792, as already mentioned. No
members were admitted after 1791, when Dr. Ives was twelve years old.

256 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGKAPHV.

carelessly printed, tliscursive, fragmentary, and sometimes inac-
curate, they are very interesting, containing much valuable
matter which no one else in his day could have furnished. Of
history they contain little, of reminiscence and tradition, much,
both characteristically and profusely illustrated by anecdote.
After I'emarking (incorrectly) that the Society was the first in
the State,* the writer transcribes the declaration of purposes,
the regulations, and a long letter from the French Consul in
New York, and then quits the record for more congenial topics.
The remainder consists of biographical sketches of some of the
founders of the Society, written in the Doctor's peculiar (I was
about to say original) style. The characters delineated are
those of Leverett Hubbard, Eneas Munson, Samuel Nesbitt,
Jared Potter, Ebenezer Beardsley and Levi Ives. More than
half the space devoted to these prominent individuals is dedi-
cated to Munson, of whom the delineator was a distinguished
and favorite pupil. The other notices are in several instances
meagre and unsatisfactory. Dr. Ives' information, impressions
and opinions were doubtless derived in large part from his pre-
ceptor and father, both of whom lived to an advanced age. He
had the great privilege of a personal intercourse with some of
the persons he describes, and of intimate acquaintance with the
contemporaries of the others; but these undeniable advantages,
relied on too exclusively, have proved a source of error. The
blemishes of the sketches, considered as history, are due to the
author's neglect to correct memory and verify supposed facts
by records, manuscripts and documents within reach. Those

* In another place the doctor thinks it was the first in the United States. Ac-
cording to Dr. Thatcher, in his Medical Biography, the Massacliiisetts Medical
Society was incorporated and organized in 1781, and the Medical Society of New
Jersey, in 1783. Judge Church, in his Litchfield (Ct.) Centennial Address, 1851.
states that a medical association was formed in that county in 1767 (another says
1766), of which Joseph Perry, Seth Bird, James Potter and others were distin-
guished members. In the Connecticut Courant, June fifth, 1781, "the members
of the first medical society in the thirteen United States of America, since their
independence" were notified " to meet at the dwelling house of Dr. John Cham-
berlain, in Amenia precinct, Dutchess county, New York, on the third Tuesday of
June, 1781, at 10 o'clock, A. M. (Signed) Oliver Fuller, clerk. The '-New Lon-
don [County ?] Medical Society," John Barker, president, Simon Wolcott, secre-
tary, was in existence as early at least as April twentieth, 1784.

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 267

accustomed to historical inquiries know how unreliable tra-
dition is, and' how frequently the best memory is mistaken.

I shall attempt in the following pages to collect and preserve
by authentic types all which is accessible and important relat-
ing to the subjects about which I write. I am prompted to the
work by the apprehension that much valuable material may
be lost. As I proceed, I shall use freely and gratefully Dr.
Ives' sketches so far as they go, and are suitable to ray purpose.

LEVERETT HUBBARD

Was the oldest of the eight children of Col. John Hubbard,
of New Haven, and of his wife, Elizabeth Stevens, of Killing-
worth, and was born July twenty-first, 1725. His great, great
grandfather was the Rev. William Hubbard, of Ipswich, the
historian, and his great grandmother, on the Hubbard side, the
daughter of Grov. Leverett, of Mass. His father was himself a
physician of great respectability and high social position. He
was also, for many years, judge of probate for this district, and
was often called Judge Hubbard. The daughter of the judge,
Elizabeth, married President Stiles of Yale College.

With these advantages of lineage and station, Leverett Hub-
bard was sent to Yale College, and was graduated in the class
of 1744. His professional studies were pursued under the
direction of his father. From a case which he afterward
reported to the county society, it appears that he began prac-
tice when but nineteen years old. In the expedition to Louis-
burg in 1745, he had abundant opportunity to become familiar
with surgical as well as medical cases and their treatment.
May twenty-second, 1746, he married Mrs. Sarah Whitehead.
In 1748, according to CoL Lyon's plan of New Haven, he lived
on the east side of Meadow street, the second house from
George. Afterward he built the stone house next adjoining on
the corner, still standing, where he lived when the streets of
New Haven were named in 1784. Not long before his death,
he put up a fine dwelling on the opposite side of Meadow street,
corner of Congress avenue, and moved into it. It was owned
33

258 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

and occupied by the late Nathan Peck. In 1758, at the time
of Mr, Whittlesey's ordination, both he and his wife were
members of the first church in New Haven.

That Dr. Hubbard encountered some of the embarrassments
which others meet with in their early practice is nearly cer-
tain. The " old doctors," doubtless, shook their wise heads
incredulously when his name was mentioned. Some dispar-
agingly called him a "young man," or an ''experimenter,"
without experience. Others, it may be, "dam'd him with faint
praise." But whatever the hindrances they did not prevent his
success. By courage and industry, aided by a good address,
he ran rapidly into a full practice, and gained a position in the
hearts of the people reached by few. Not only was he eminent
as a physician, but he was greatly respected and honored in the
other walks of life. He was prominent in the church to which
he belonged ; was frequently one of the society's committee,
and when he attained age and dignity, was often moderator of
society's meeting, no small distinction in those days. In the
Revolution, the Greneral Assembly selected him as one of the
committee of eighteen to examine those who proposed to enter
the army as surgeons or surgeons' mates, any three of whom
might give a certificate.* The military title of colonel which
he usually bore, and which was more honorable than that of
doctor, was earned before the war, probably in the militia
service. He was doubtless a patriot (rebel) during that first
" great rebellion," but once his conduct excited grave suspicion.
While the faithful promptly withdrew, he and his son Leverett
were among those who "remained in town with the enemy"
during its occupation by the British, July fifth and sixth, 1779,
the father detained probably by urgent professional business.
After the evacuation, the town in town meeting appointed a
trusty committee, of which Dr. Levi Ives was one, to inquire
into the proceeding. The oftenders were summoned to appear
and give reasons for conduct so questionable. At a subsequent
meeting a report was made, the delinquents classified, and the
guilt computed and apportioned. Dr. Hubbard was found to
* Hinman's War of the Revolution, p. 239.

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 259

belong to a class whose reasons, though ''not fully sufficient,"
were to be viewed with "good will and candor" because of the
circumstances.

When the Medical Society of New Haven County was organ-
ized, Dr. Hubbard, then fifty-nine years old, was chosen its
president. It was a fitting choice. He was the senior member
of the society ; was at the head of practice in the county, and
was foremost in social position and dignity of manners. His
inaugural address has one singular merit, it is short. Equally
conspicuous are its defects. It may not be proper to criticise,
but considered as a piece of brain-work, it is disjointed in its
matter, meagre in thought, and faulty in its literature. But it
must be said in extenuation that the physicians of that day
were usually untrained and unjiracticed in composition. The
reputed scholars among them were too often more ambitious
to write poor Latin than creditable English.

Dr. Hubbard was one of the active and earnest workers of
the county society. He reported to its meetings several cases
drawn from his large experience, two of which were afterward
printed in the pamphlet of " CJases and Observations." They
are interesting, and, owing to extensive corrections, read much
better in print than in manuscript. He was chairman of the
committee of publication, and of several other important com-
mittees. In January, 1791, after having been re-elected for
the seventh time, he declined to serve longer as president.

Dr. Hubbard was among the most influential of the founders
of the Connecticut Medical Society. He was often a member
of the committees and conventions which concerted the meas-
ures and unfolded the plans which at length won over the
reluctant law-givers ; and was one of the corporators (second
on the list) when the charter was obtained. At the first meeting
of the " fellows" (county delegates) of the society, in October,
1792, he, as the recognized head of the profession in New
Haven county, to which the appointment rightfully belonged,
was chosen president. His address for the occasion was deliv-
ered at the opening of the next meeting, in May, 1793, when
thanks were "returned for his elegant oration." (The manu-

260 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGEAPHY.

script document is in my possession, and does not deserve the
commendation so incontinentl}^ bestowed.) At the annual con-
vention which followed he was re-elected, and presented to the
meeting a society seal, for which he was again thanked. At the
same session the degree of M.D. was conferred on him in accord-
ance with the charter. This and another given to Elihu Tudor,
of East Windsor, by the same vote, were the first granted by
the society.

In 1794, New Haven was smitten with great and mortal sick-
ness. A putrid sore throat began in February, and lasted till
the middle of autumn. Early in June the yellow fever ap-
peared, and continued till the end of October. Among those
attacked by the latter disease were Drs. Munson, Spalding and
Northrop. Dr. Hubbard was doubtless much worn by attend-
ance on the sick. He left town, it was said, "on account of his
health," and died of yellow fever, after a brief sickness, in Hart-
ford, October first, 1794, in his seventieth year. There he was
buried ; but soon afterward the body was secretly disinterred
and conveyed to New Haven (Stiles' Diary). At the society's
convention, which met in Middletown soon after, the members
resolved "to go into mourning by wearing a scarf or black rib-
bon on the left arm for one month.'' At the same time the new
president, Eneas Munson, was appointed to deliver "an eulo-
gium in memory" of the departed. The service was performed
in presence of the convention in October, 1795. A brief, but
flattering biographical notice was published in the Connecticut
Journal, October fifteenth, 1794.

Dr. Hubbard was doubtless an able physician, and one of the
most popular of his time. He was " of medium size, symmet-
rically formed, and capable of great endurance ;" active, indus-
trious, faithful to the sick, and devoted to his profession. He
was dignified in his bearing, ("grand," said an aged lady re-
cently deceased,) affable, courteous and kind, winning the con-
fidence and affection of his patients. At the same time, he is
reported to have been a bold and efficient, but discriminating,
prescriber — one who was usually correct in diagnosis, quick to
discover the salient points in a case, and prompt to select and

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 261

apply the appropriate remedy. He did business with great dis-
patch, and was regarded by his friends and pupils as the end of
the law in medicine. With these advantages he could not fail
to gain and hold fast a large business. It extended over the
county and to more distant parts of the state, embracing all the
branches of the profession. He told Dr. Tves (so the latter
affirms) that he kept four horses, (he was fond of a good horse,)
and rode by average forty miles a day. A servant always slept
near the front door to attend to night calls, and to bring up his
horse. In 1771 he charged one shilling (nearly seventeen
cents) for a visit, and furnished medicine at the rate of one
sliilling for an emetic or sudorific, etc. In 1784, the physicians
of New Haven agreed to double their prices.

There is, in the rooms of the New Haven Colony Historical
Society, a " day book" of Dr. Hubbard covering over nine
months, from May to February, 1786-7, a period when he is
supposed to have been in full practice. Counting the visits at
different periods and taking the average, I find that he made,
or rather charged (the cash business must have been very small)
eight visits and a fraction daily. Considering that most of his
practice was at a convenient distance, this is a smaller number
than I was led to expect, and quite insufficient to require "four
good horses," and forty miles of daily travel. I at first con-
cluded that fevers and epidemic diseases were not then com-
mon, and that unusual health prevailed ; but on consulting
Dr. Webster's work on Pestilence (Vol. ii, p. 25), it appears
that the burials in New Haven, first society, in 1786 and 1787,
were somewhat above the average.

From the same account book, I ascertain that Col. Hubbard
rarely saw a patient more than once a day. Most of his cases
were medical, a few obstetrical, and still fewer surgical. A visit
was entered at two shillings, an emetic at one shilling, a cathar-
tic, one shilling, bleeding, two shillings, drawing a tooth, two
shillings. Most frequently his prescription was a cathartic,
often a sudorific, rarely an emetic, and occasionally blood-let-
ting. Mixed up with these professional items, are charges for
molasses at four and a half pence a pint, or for rum at one shil-

262 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

ling a quart, etc., as if he kept these articles for his patients, or
the families he attended. Had he owned a store, the store
books would have been the place for these things. He seems
often to have gone to AUingtown, but not frequently into ad-
joining or more distant towns.

A man with so much reputation, and controlling so large a
business, having a renown which comes from a "foreign cor-
respondence" with " eminent physicians in Europe" (see obitu-
ary notice), might be tempted to use his advantages for selfish
purposes. Indeed, he was accused of this — of sometimes being
supercilious and overbearing. Dr. Barker was introduced to
him by Rev. Dr. Dana, the latter remarking that his friend had
come to remain as a physician. " Ploughmen are more needed
in this place than doctors," Hubbard gruffly replied. It was
also said by the younger members of the profession — those par-
ticularly who adhered to the new gospel of the once famous Dr.
John Brown — that he read nothing ; that he was half a century
behind the time; that his opinions were rusty with age, and his
practice old fashioned. They at length perhaps thought it time
for him "to shuffle off," and were possibly disappointed that
the people did not think so too.

The qualities which distinguished Dr. Hubbard were not of
the highest order, or the rarest among men ; but he was famous
in his day. He had a talent for business, and tact in the man-
agement of the sick ; amassed riches ; lived in a fashionable
house ; and was greatly honored by the profession. In private
life he was sober, just and exemplary ; a good member of soci-
ety, true to the church of which he was a member, compassion-
ate, benevolent and faithful in the different relations of life.

Col. Hubbard's will was dated February nineteenth, 1790.
He left an estate worth over $27,000. His books, of all kinds,
were valued at $82 ; plate at $159 ; dwelling house, $3,000. His
first wife, Sarah Whitehead, died December fifth, 1769, in the
fiftieth year of her age; his second wife, Hester, October nine-
teenth, 1804, aged 51. They had many children :

Stephen Whitehead, b. June 16, 1747 ; graduated at Yale
College in 1766, and d. in 1771 ; a young man of great promise :

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 263

Leverett, b. Sept. 7, 1749 ; d. April 14, 1787 : Wyllis, born
February 25, 1755; died March 29, 1774: Sarah, b. May 31,
1758, and married John Trambull, poet, etc. : Bradford, un-
married; d. "June 16, 1825, aged 64:"* Nathaniel; died June
16, 1825, aged "about 63:"' Elizabeth, d. Jan. 18, 1787, aged
14: Julia, d. March 29, 1794, aged 16: Leverett, b. Sept. 7,
1794: Lucretia, after her father's death, m. Jirah Isham, and d.
in New London, aged 23 : Mary ; m. Rev. John Lewis, and d.
before Feb. 19, 1790.

ENEAS MUNSON.

On Gen. Wadsworth's Plan of New Haven, made in 1748,
may be seen on the westerly side of York Street (since so cal-
led), a little south of Chapel street, a house in red with a wing
on the north side bearing the name of "Ben Munson, school-
master."' This Benjamin, a mechanic and reputed " man of
wit," son of Benjamin, was the father of Eneas Munson. The
mother's name was Abigail, the daughter of John Punderson,
second. Their children were : Eneas, born June thirteenth,
1734: Abigail, September twenty-eighth, 1735: Benjamin,
February twenty-eighth, 1738-9 : Susannah, February twenty-
eighth, 1741 : all recorded in New Haven. The three last died
early of black canker (so called) or angina maligna. Eneas, the
only surviving child, was brought up tenderly and sent to Yale
College. Having done more than his share of the mischief, for
the most part without detection, he was graduated in 1753.
Soon after, he was in Northampton, engaged in teaching, where
he joined the church. Under the instruction of Ezra Stiles,
then a tutor in Yale College, he studied Divinity and was

* This is a part of the inscription on his grave stone, making his death occur on
the same day as that of his brother Nathaniel. I suspect some error. Adminis-
tration on his estate was taken out Nov. 8th, 1826.

Bradford was not noted for industry or enterprise. He was a " do-nothing."
On one occasion his father inquired of his grandson Leverett " "Where's Brad. ?"
"Over at Uncle Nat's." "What's he doing?" "Nothing." "Where's Nat.?''
" Helping Uncle Brad." Long afterward the phrase " helping uncle Brad.," was
used to signify idleness in its most elaborate form.

264 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

licensed to preach. He was fond of Metapliysics, and became
a rigid Calvinist, maintaining opinions he never renounced. In
1755, du)~irig the old French war, he acted as chaplain under
Lord Gardner, then stationed on Long Island. He never was
"settled," but preached as an evangelist. Says Dr. Ives, "his
manner, when speaking on religious subjects, or in the act of
devotion, was solemn and dignified." He did not continue
long a minister. Hard study (so called) and insufficient exer-
cise broke his health. He was afflicted with dyspepsia; became
a hypochondriac ; was afraid of being struck by lightning if he
rode out; and felt obliged to change his profession. Another
reason was afterward given for the change. His instinct for wit
and humor and his love of mirth sometimes got the better of
his " solemn and dignified " endeavor, causing him to place the
sacred and profane in irreverent juxtaposition, and leading to
many unseemly exhibitions. Numerous amusing anecdotes
relating to his pulpit and other official performances are yet in
circulation. On one occasion he read all the old notices which
he found in the pulpit ; on another, he rode off" with a shirt he
had borrowed of a brother minister to preach in, hotly pursued
by its destitute owner, who wanted it for the afternoon service.
After having studied medicine a short time with Dr. James
Darley, of East Hampton, (L. I.), and with some one on Gard-
ner's Island, obtaining in his own estimation a very meagre
knowledge of the profession. Dr. Munson, in 1756, began
practice in Bedford, IST. Y., within the limits of the disputed
territory then known as the Oblong or Nine Partners, whence,
in 1760, he removed to New Haven. In January following,
his parents, as an expression of their "love and affection," con-
veyed to him by deed one half of their dwelling house and
home lot, including the whole of the "new end," and one half
the well. The lot was bounded northerly and easterly by high-
way, and southerly by Naphtali Daggett. Here he is presumed
to have lived till about February, 1774, when, for £150, Stephen
Munson quit-claimed to him the house and land where said
Stephen "formerly dwelt," the land amounting to one fourth
of an acre, bounded northerly and easterly on highwa}^, south-

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 265

erly and westerly on the grantee. This is supposed to be the
house which now occupies the southwesterly corner of York
and Chapel streets, which, only a few years ago, stood twenty
feet further north than now, and in which the doctor so long-
lived and finall}^ died.

Before the Revolution, Dr. Munson had acquired a wide rep-
utation as a skillful and scientific physician. He was a patriot
during the war, but his personal courage, it is said, was not
great enough to allow him to enlist. In the more congenial
sphere of home duties, however, he was prompt, and sufficiently
zealous. He was one of the committee of distinguished medical
men selected from different parts of the State to determine the
qualifications of those proposing to enter the sargical depart-
ment of the army. Seven times between 1778 and 1781. inclu-
sive, he was a deputy to the General Court, then holding semi-
annual sessions. He was also a justice of the peace. Before
him " the committee of public safety brought all their cases for
trial." He " condemned fearlessly the enemies of the country,"
evincing thereby " no small share of political courage."

On the list of the fathers —those who organized the Medical
Society of New Haven County, and pledged themselves to sus-
tain it — Dr. Munson's name stands third, but he ranked third
only in name. No one was more influential than he in main-
taining its usefulness, and giving it a reputation at home and
abroad. From the beginning, he was a member of the commit-
tees of correspondence and examination, and did probably as
much to establish the Connecticut Medical Society as any other
individual, possibly more. His services in this regard, and his
eminence as a physician were recognized when a charter was at
last obtained in 1792. He was a fellow the first nine yeai's, and
was the first vice-president. When Dr. Hubbard died in 1794,
be was promoted to the highest office in the gift of the Societv,
notwithstanding he was from the same town as his predecessor.
He was also honored with the degree of M.D., the third con-
ferred by that body, and requested to deliver an eidogy on the
character of the late President, a duty which he discharged a
year later. For seven successive years he held the ofiice of
34

266 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

president, when his re-election was apparently prevented by
a conspiracy at the New Haven county meeting, in September,
1801. Previously to that time, and subsequently for several
years, it was the practice to elect the president for the time
being a fellow ; but at that meeting the rule was disregarded.
It was also the custom — much complained of, but supposed to
be iu conformity to the charter — to select the president from
among the fellows in convention. Dr. Munson, not being a
fellow, was not a candidate for tlie office, and Dr. James Potter,
of Fairfield county, was chosen his successor. He was thus
defeated, seemingly by the movement which left him out of the
county delegation, Dr. John Barker being chosen iu his stead.
I infer that he regarded this action in the county meeting as a
personal indignity, for he immediately asked to be "dismissed
from any further connection with the society." The request
was at that time denied, but seems finally to have been granted,
though no record is made of the fact. The breach was per-
manent, and the doctor's tax for 1801 was abated.

A biographical notice printed in the Connecticut Journal at
the time of his death, and another in Dr. Thatcher's Medical
Biography, published in 1828, state that Dr. Munson was re-
elected to the presidency of the Connecticut Medical Society
"as long as he was willing to serve." I have given an account
of the circumstances, and of the facts as they appear on record.
I may have misconstrued them.

On the list of members of the New Haven Medical Associa-
tion, when its organization was completed, January twentieth,
1803, Dr. Munson's name stands at the head. He was at that
time, and had been since Col. Hubbard's death, the first practi-
tioner in the city. For a much longer period he had ranked
highest in learning and science. Though nearly sixty-nine
years of age, he had lost none of his interest in his profession,
and continued to attend the meetings of the Association till it
went under in 1814. After its resurrection in 1818, it no
longer met at his house, and he was only an occasional attend-
ant. At this time he had nearly given up practice, though he
still prescribed for those applying to him at his house. Even

i

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 267

when much enfeebled by a protracted and painful disease, (an
enlargement of the prostate gland,) his old friends, who for
their bodily ills had alway gone to him for relief, did not feel
safe till they had taken his advice. But the time at last came
when labor must cease. He died June sixteenth, 1826, ao-ed
92, having been seventy years a physician. At the time of his
death, he was the oldest person in the city. His funeral was
attended at the Episcopal church where a sermon was preached
by Mr. Croswell. About $4,000, net value, was the whole
amount of his estate, showing that his large and long practice
and a plain way of living were in his case not profitable, or else
that he lacked the usual dollar-hoarding instinct.

It is generally believed that, up to the early part of the pres-
ent century. Dr. Munson was the ablest physician that ever
practiced for a long time in New Haven. Possessing naturally
a strong and discriminating mind and retentive memory, with
enthusiasm enough to secure earnestness and activity, he was
never weary of accumulating knowledge — reading, conversing,
observing, experimenting, corresponding by letter, &c., as he
had opportunity. His industrious habits were kept up beyond
the period when labor usually becomes irksome, his studies
being mostly confined to medicine and collateral subjects. He
may have been credulous, possibly superstitious ; he was cer-
tainly one or the other, if an opinion may be formed from the
remedies he sometimes gave. But should we not judge his
belief by the standards of his time? However we may decide
this question, it is undoubtedl}^ true that in the matter of pro-
fessional learning and scientific information, (both of which he
liked to show off,) he ranked with the eminent raen of his
country. Tt was practical knowledge which he most sought —
that which he could carry to the bedside of sickness, and make
useful in prescription. Dr. Eli Ives, his medical student and
habitual eulogist, speaks in the most exalted terms of his
attainments in science. He was surely a competent judge, and
would not intentionally exaggerate; but it may be that he was
unconsciously influenced by judgments formed in the imma-
ture period of pupilage. These judgments, reluctantly modi-

268 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

fit'd by the experience of riper years, we are prone to carry with
us through life. Oar schoolmasters — those who have moulded
our plastic brains and shaped our half-fledged thoughts; who
from their plethoric stores have poured into our lean and hun-
gry but retentive minds the varied elements of knowledge and
opinion — are ever after, in imagination, prodigies of learning,
and in our estimation are as much above other mortals as they
once seemed above ourselves. I speak only of tendencies, and
do not mean to say that Dr. Ives was unduly influenced by
early impressions. He had unusual opportunities to correct
first estimates. But I quote :

Dr. Munson was a pioneer in the science of Botany, extensively acquainted with
plants, unrivaled in his knowledge of indigenous materia medica, and in materia
medica generally probably his superior was not to be found in Europe. Few are
aware how much they are indebted to him for what knowledge they possess of
materia medica, and of the practice of medicine. He often prescribed actfea, san-
guinaria, aletris, veratrum, clirysopleninm, zanthorrhoea, and isnardia. To Dr.
Munson the faculty of this countrj' were more indebted for the introduction of
new articles and valuable modes of practice than to any other individual. His
knowledge of plants was acquired under great difficulties. The facilities afforded
by the sexual system of Linnaeus, and of the natural orders of Jussieu, he did not
possess. He possessed the knowledge of the practical ideas of Ray and Wither-
ing, and other writers of the last century, not directly from their books, but from
the sources whence they derived their facts. Many articles of the materia medica
of a doubtful character he tested in his practice ; and his ideas thence obtained
were definite, and his conclusions accurate. When unknown articles were pre-
sented to the medical society for the purpose of learning their names and uses,
all eyes were turned to him, who was able to solve tlie difficulties, and to give the
name and history of the articles.

Having so much reputation as a botanist, I cannot account
for the fact that he was placed almost at the foot of the com-
mittee appointed by the county society in 1784 to take charge
of the projected botanical garden. Nor do I understand why
his inquisitive mind did not seek aid from the works of Lin-
nasus and others who had made large advances in the study.
His alleged correspondence with the learned men of Europe
must have placed him in the way of obtaining foreign intelli-
gence, and the books so essential to a student here. Among
his correspondents was Baron Storck, of Vienna, from whom,
continues Dr. Ives :

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 269

He received the seeds of the coniiim maculatum in a lettter. The plant was not
found in this country previous to the planting of the seeds by the doctor. He
thus introduced it into practice and used it more efficiently than any other practitioner.
The extract which he used he manufactured by his own hands or under his own
eye, and it always produced its specific effects. When Dr. Anthony [?] Fothergill
visited this country, he brought letters of introduction to Dr. Munson.

Dr. Munson studied Chemistry with zeal and made many chemical experiments.
Previous to the introduction of the anti-phlogistic theory of Chemistry, he was
looked upon as a master of the science, and no one in this vicinity was as well
acquainted with Mineralogy, and he manufactured many of his medicinal chemical
compounds. On the introduction of the discoveries of Lavoisier and Chaptal, in
the latter part of the last century, he immediately adopted them, and was the first
in this country to use the new medicinal agents which were developed by those
discoveries. He was looked up to by all his medical brethren on all subjects
relating to Chemistry and Pharmacy. [Prof. Silliman, sen., was accustomed, in
his early lectures, to speak of him with deference.]

I do not suppose that Dr. Munson's knowledge of natural
science was systematic or at all comj)lete. Pursued as it was
(to a large extent) without the aid of books, and in ignorance
of what others had done, it could not have been of an advanced
kind, even when measured by the standards of that day. His
Botany in particular must have been of the primitive sort,
medical more than general, popular rather than scientific. His
Chemistry may have been of a better quality, and possibly
would have approached the low standard of that day. The
evidence however is not satisfactory on this point. Surely an
individual of that period in a private station, without instruc-
tion or assistance, and with no adequate sup])ly of books,
chemicals, apparatus and the conveniences of a laboratory,
must have been a genius indeed to have made very great
progress. He was sometimes visionary ; dreamed of wonderful
discoveries in Chemistry; was known as an experimental
alchemist:* but may in the face of all this, have achieved dis-

* Since this was written, I have met with the following items — entries in the
Diary of Dr. Stiles in 1789. I can think of no name that would fiU the blank like
that of Munson.

" March second. This afternoon Dr. visited me to discourse on Chem-
istry and inquiry concerning the hemetic Philosophy."

"^ March third. Dr. visited me again to-day to converse about the

transmutation of metals, which he says Dr. Koon performed at Wallingford last
December. He is infatuated with the notion that I know something about it. I

270 MEDICAL HISTOEY AND BIOGRAPHY.

tingaishecl success in science. His reputation, however, does
not rest so much on what he accomplished as on the fact that
he was a pioneer, laboring heroically and alone in a new and
glorious field of inquiry — a field fruitful in wonders almost as
great as those pictured by alchemy. His high reputation as a
worker and explorer in different branches of knowledge, and
his eminence as a ph3^sician were recognized when, in 1818, in
spite of his great age (79), he was selected to fill the chair of
materia medica and Botany in the new born Medical Institution
of Yale College. He was not expected to undertake the active
duties of the office. These were discharged by his younger
a.ssociate. Dr. Eli Ives.

Dr. Munson reported four cases to the county society, and
delivered an "Eulogy" on the character of Dr. H. Beardsley.
Two of the cases were printed in the pamphlet of 1788, and one
read at a later period is on file.* Though worth preservation,
they have few salient points, and disclose none of the peculiar
traits which so distinguished their author. They are drawn up
with no more than ordinary skill, make too free a use of technical
terms, and scarcely sustain the doctor's reputation as a scholar.
The style is hard, and the pathological remarks common place.
These observations have peculiar fitness when applied to the
manuscript on file. One who knew him well has said he
" wrote the Latin language with elegance and facility." If this
be so he must have cultivated it more successfully than he did
his mother tongue. Unless I mistake the indications, he wrote
with difficulty and reluctance, and was unpracticed in compo-
sition of any kind. Besides the cases above referred to, I

told him that I knew nothing but what is in the books ; that I had never pos-
sessed the secret, if there was any ; that I never saw or conversed with any one
that I thought had it ; that I had never made or seen the preparation, if that
thing was possible ; that I had never performed transmutation nor seen it per-
formed; and that I held the whole to be a vain and illusory pursuit."

I can learn nothing of " Dr. Koon." Very like he was some itinerant professor
of the black arts.

* This is a case of hydrocephalus internus. During its progress, when the
pulse became "quick, fluttering and very irregular, the skin very dry," he
" directed fowls to be split open and applied to the feet, and the body to be wrap-
ped in a sheep-skin immediately after taking it off the sheep."

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 271

cannot find that he published any thing except an account of
the yellow fever of New Haven in 1794 (he himself had an
attack) published in Dr. Webster's Collection of Papers on
Bilious Fevers, which I have not seen. It is to be regretted
that a man so able to instruct did not think more of his suc-
cessors, and make himself familiar by study and practice with
the only certain means of transmitting knowledge. Of medical
books of current date, unwieldy in size and cheap in construc-
tion, we have more than enough ; but carefully prepared works
written three-quarters of a century ago, especially in the histor-
ical department, are much needed.

For ready and genuine wit, Dr. Munson was one of the most
remarkable men of his day. His conversation was racy and
spicy, abounding in pithy sentences and amusing anecdote,
with a perennial flow of quaint, humorous remark. Having a
keen sense of the ludicrous, and an innate love of mirth, he
grouped ideas in the drollest and most unexpected manner,
and presented them in the most fantastic combinations. When
disposed to be facetious, he would catch at a trivial observation
or circumstance, and by adding a casual remark would make
it appear supremely ridiculous. His liveliest and sharpest
sallies escaped him without effort and almost unconsciously.
While others were splitting their sides with laughter, he looked
serious and unconcerned as if nothing had happened. Ever
prepared, with quiver always full, no one, even his most inti-
mate friends, were secure from his shafts.

Dr. Ives' account of him, interesting but rhapsodical, is made
up in large part of stories (several of them too long for insertion
here) illustrative of his wit and humor. They are faithfully
recited, doubtless, but some are improbable in certain of their
details; others bear the marks of having grown by repetition.
Besides these there are floating about many anecdotes and old
saws, their circulation kept up by the retiring genei'ation. I
have room for only a few of the briefest.

The doctor was once attending his son-in-law, David Daggett,
a very able lawyer, much feared by his legal opponents. An
anxious neighbor met him at the gate and inquired " How is

272 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

your patient?" "So so." "Is he dangerous?" The reply
quickly came: "No, nor will he be till he's better than now."
A woman with a large mouth, preparing to have a tooth drawn,
threw open her heavy jaws ; Munson looked into the gulf, and
stepping back, remarked blandly: "Madam, you need not ppen
your mouth so wide, I shall stand outside." He was once
dining with the corporation at commencement dinner, when
President Dwight, who was a good trencher-man, remarked,
preparatory to some observations on diet, "You observe, gen-
tlemen, that I eat a great deal of bread with my meat." " Yes,"
said the doctor, instantly, "and we notice that you eat much
meat with your bread." He gave to a student of college a
writing certifying to his indisposition. The holder took it to
President Dwight, and asked to be excused from recitation.
Tlie latter, ambitious to be thought to know symptoms, told
him to put out his tongue. " Your tongue, sir, is clean, you
cannot be excused." The doctor was again consulted, and
resolving to take the conceit out of the president, gave the
youth a bit of coloring substance, saying, " Chew this, and go
again to your master." He did so; the tongue was again
called for, and its owner promptly excused. He gave an emetic
to a troublesome neighbor, Isaac Doolittle, who in a fit of intoxi-
cation had taken an ounce of laudanum. The next day, finding
his patient sober, he admonished him in the most solemn man-
ner of the error of his ways, saying he had rescued him from a
horrible death. "I do not thank vou for what you have done,"
Doolittle replied. "Well, I am sure the neighbors wont,"
responded the doctor. Nor did he spare his own hpusehold.
His sons differed widely in their notions of the value and uses
of money, and he was accustomed to speak of their peculiarities
in a characteristic way. Thus he distinguished them : Eneas,
money-making Munson : Elijah, money-saving Munson : Elihu,
money-spending Munson : George, no-money Munson : Henry,
catch-penny Munson. The boys in retaliation termed the old
gentleman old money Munson.

Doctor Munson was sometimes sarcastic ; but his usual aim
was not to wound or stir up resentful feelings. Pleasantry

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 273

rather than satire was in harmony with his instincts. His
humor was naturally of the genial, kindly sort — of the kind
which excites agreeable emotions, and makes one a lively,
cheerful companion. He was not a ready talker ; would not
speak unless he had something to say, and did not make ran-
dom statements. A good field for the exercise of his peculiar
talent was found in his profession. He could make the sick
room cheerful, keep up the spirits of the desponding, and inspire
courage and confidence. His treatment of nervous, dyspeptic,
hysterical and hypochondriacal cases, adapted as it was to the
changing moods and fancies of his patients, was particularly
successful. Only in the lighter forms of disease, when gloom
was an obstacle to be removed, did he give rein to his mirth-
provoking proclivities. If the illness were severe and danger
imminent, his bearing was wholly changed, and no word or
expression not in keeping with the circumstances was allowed
to escape him.

Dr. Munson was above the average size, erect and dignified
in appearance. Of course he wore a wig with a pig-tail, which
is still preserved.

His grave countenance, rarely ruffled by a smile, and his
serious, somewhat reserved manner led strangers to think him
unsocial and austere. They could form no conception of the
fun which lay pressed down beneath that rigid exterior, nor of
the struggle it cost him to keep the fastenings secure. In doc-
trinal theology, he belonged to the straitest of the New England
sects; but his thoughts and speech would not conform to his
abstract opinions. Unfortunately for his ministerial hopes, the
prompting of his nature defied restraint. He regretted his in-
firmity, as he called it, but said he could not help it.

Dr. Munson belonged to the first church of New Haven, and
was a prominent member of the society ; but in 181i, dissatis-
fied with the proceedings which resulted in pulling down the
old meeting house and building a new one, he took a dismis-
sion, and went to Trinity church. He did not, it is said,
renounce his opinions. His belief, the growth of sixty years,
was too firmly established to be upi-ooted in a day. He was an
35

274 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

honest man, sincere in his professions, faithful to his convic-
tions, a good member of society, just and true in all his rela-
tions. He once chewed tobacco, but broke himself of the
habit, using for a little time bits of tarred rope as a substitute.

"The dignity of the profession," so called, was well sup-
ported by Dr. Munson. Perhaps he was fastidious, but he did
not allow himself to solicit pi'actice. To do so would have been
an act of humiliation, damaging to his self-respect. Professional
pride and opinion in his day did not permit a man of his stand-
ing to put his name on his door, and thus invite custom by
advertisement. He expected business to come to him unasked,
as it did. That very neat way of obtaining unconscious noto-
riety, and so getting patients without the aid of suasion, through
the newspaper reporter, had not then been invented.

Dr. Munson first married Susanna Howell, who died April
twenty-first, 1803. Soon after he married Sarah Perit. The
marriage jointure is dated November sixteenth, 1804. His
children, all by his first wife, and all of whom lived to adult
age, were: 1, Clarinda, unmarried; 2, Eneas; 3, Elijah; 4,
Wealthy, m. David Daggett; 5, George; 6, Elihu, m. a daugh-
ter of his mother-in-law ; had some of the ready wit of his
father; 7, Henry; 8, Frederick, d. unmarried.

ENEAS MUNSON, Jr.

He was the oldest of the sons of Dr. Eneas Munson, and
was born September eleventh, 1763. Immediately after his
graduation at Yale College in 1780, at the age of seventeen, he
received the appointment of surgeon's mate, and entered the
Revolutionary army, having probably studied medicine during
the last year of his college life with his father. The fact that
any one was received into the medical service at his immature
age is proof of the pressing need of competent surgeons. In
1780 he was connected with Col. Swift's regiment, and in 1781
with Col. Butler's (Connecticut line). He was thus exposed to
the dangers, hardships and privations of military life at that
eventful period ; was at the siege of Yorktown, and while still
a minor gained much varied and valuable experience, the inci-

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGEAPHY. 275

dents of which he was fond of recounting in after life. At the
close of the war he returned to New Haven, and took charge
of a hospital (supposed to be a private one) for the innocula-
tion and treatment of small-pox — a disease quite rife at that
day — often communicated by the returning soldiers. Capt.
James Barney (now deceased), of Westville, born in 1777,
informed me in 1870 that, in 1791 or 1792, he with sixty others
went into a pock-house on Grapevine point, under the care of
Dr. Munson, Jr., where all had the innoculated small-pox, and
were besides nearly starved. None died. At this place the
town pest-house once stood, but a new building at the foot of
Chapel street, then a secluded spot, was about 1785 substituted
for it In after life the doctor used to point out an old build-
ing near West rock, on the way to Wintergreen lake, where
he once had small-pox patients. The farther end of Goffe
street, it is said, used to be called pock-house lane.

It is understood that Dr. Munson's private practice was quite
limited. Not liking the business, he did not seek it. So soon
as he had accumulated some property, by degrees he turned
his attention to other and more lucrative pursuits. He loaned
money and made profitable investments, buying and selling as
opportunity presented. In October, 1799, he bought of David
Austin, Jr., a store on the wharf which, in February following,
he conveyed to Munson, Mulford & Co. (Eneas Munson, Jr.,
Harvey Mulford and Abraham Bradley, third). The building
is described as on or adjoining to Union Wharf, "no. 1 in the
range of stores built by David Austin, Jr." The company was
engaged in the West India and coasting trade, and had another
store on State street; but, in October, 1802, Munson quit-
claimed to his partners his interest in the Wharf property, and
at the same time probably quit the business. In May, 1806,
he had connected himself with Ransom Shelton. The company
(Munson and Shelton) sold dry goods and groceries on the
northeast corner of Elm and York streets, the store (still stand-
ing) being owned and previously " occupied " as a store-house
by himself At a later date he was associated with Harvey
Sanford in the same business. In 1808, 1809 and 1810 the

276 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

name of the firm was Shelton & Sanford, Mnnson still being
a partner. Besides ti-ade he sometimes engaged in outside
commercial enterprises or speculations, took ventures in whal-
ing voyages, etc. Before chartered insurance companies were
common, he occasionally insured against losses at sea. He
gained a wide reputation for the sagacity, prudence and success
with which he managed his own aft'airs, and in 1812 was elected
President of the New Haven Bank. Till 1881, nineteen years,
during a period of great financial difficult}', he managed this
institution with uprightness, judgment and skill. In 1832 he
was chosen President of the Mechanics' Bank, in this city,
which office he held three years. Still later, in 1837, he accepted
the presidency of the City Bank, and discharged the duties one
year.

Dr. Munson appears to have joined the county medical society
in 1785 ; read by appointment a "dissertation" at the meeting
in April, 1786 ; became a member of the Connecticut Medical
Society in September, 1792, and was dismissed, apparently' in
1802, soon after his father left the society. I do not find his
name mentioned except in connection with these dates, and
there is circumstantial evidence that he did not, unless quite
early, attend medical meetings of any kind.

In June, 1801, Dr. Munson purchased of Ezra Ford, for
$1725, one-c]^uarter of an acre of land, and the house recently
standing on the northerly side of Elm street, a little west of
College, where he resided. Two years later, he bought of Noah
Barber, for $6,500, three acres of land, with a wood dwelling
(nearly new), "and all other buildings," on the northeasterly
corner of Elm and York streets, where he afterward lived and
died.

Though never an applicant for public favor. Dr. Munson in
several instances accepted office. He was a councilman in 1804 ;
an alderman in 1805, 1819 and 1828; justice of the peace in
1808, 1818 and 1824, and perhaps at other times. In politics
he was first a federalist, next a whig ; but was never a partizan
or the slave of a party. In religion he was a congregationalist,
till about 1814, when he left the first society for the same reason
that influenced his father, and became a churchman.

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 277

To the sacrifices necessary to secure wealth, Dr. Munson will-
ingly submitted; in other words, he was content to creep till
he got strength to walk. As a business man he achieved suc-
cess by persistent industrj- and economy, by unfailing punctu-
ality and scrupulous integrity. For financial ability, sound
discretion and shrewd practical sense, no man in New Haven
had a better reputation. An undertaking or adventure which
he condemned was almost sure to turn out poorly. He had no
confidence for instance in the old Farmington canal; refused to
take stock in it, and was of course denounced for his want of
"public spirit." He was one of the very few who can safely
go outside their regular business, and embark in speculative
enterprises. His risks were so divided or otherwise guarded
that if one turned out unfortunately there was compensation in
some other, and the damage was soon repaired. So great was
the confidence of the public in his wisdom and skill tlaat they
indulged in exaggerated estimates of his riches. He had a
reasonable confidence in himself, so that when he had once
formed an opinion deliberately he was not easily driven from it.
Having made up his mind that railroads for travel were better
fitted to break the necks of people than carry them safely, he
never could be persuaded to ride on one. He held decided
opinions, but was not considered obstinate, and had none of
the family eccentricities. Though he loved anecdote and
enjoyed a good story, he lacked the sharp wit of the father.
He was a well-dressed man, a gentleman in his manners, and
an excellent card-player.

According to Dr. Dana's record. Dr. Munson was married
May third, 1794, to Mary, daughter of Levi Shepard, of North-
ampton. They had seven children, three of whom reached
adult life : Alfred Munson, M. D. (died in 1870), and Charles
Munson, both of New Haven ; and Mary Ann (now deceased),
who married George Y. Cutler, of Watertown in this State.
The father died of dysentery, August twenty-second, 1852,
aged eighty-nine, leaving property of the value of about
$65,000, and the mother February sixth, 1848, aged seventy-
six.

278 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

JOHN SPALDING.

He appears to have been born in 1739, but where I am un-
able to say. Nor do I know his parentage. I suppose he
practiced medicine before the Eevolution in Windham county,
and a memorandum which I made while searching the state
records, in Hartford, leads me to think he may have lived in
Plainlield. Rev. J. S. Spalding, of Newburyport, states that
he found on the records of Woodstock, Conn., that "Dr. John
Spalding and Mrs. Elizabeth Chamberlain were married, Jan-
uary eighth, 1771. They had a child, John, born January sixth,
1772." In April, 1775, a person by the same name was ap-
pointed surgeon of the third regiment, raised for the war,
commanded by Col. Israel Putnam. There can be little doubt
that the Dr. Spaulding spoken of in these cases was the one
who afterward settled in New Haven. From an examination
of the "Army Accounts," in Hartford, I conclude that he was
connected with the military service for several years, perhaps
continuously till the close of 1780. On the twenty-second of Jan-
uary, 1781, he seems to have been a practitioner in New Haven.
I infer it from a surgical case which he afterward reported,
in which Dr. Ives was called in to assist him. It is printed
in the collection of "Cases and Observations." I have no other
knowledge of him till January, 1784, when he appears, at the
age of forty-five, as a subscriber to the "city agreement," and
the articles of the county society. Of the latter, judging from
the record book, he was not an active member for several years,
but in 1788 was placed on the committee of examination, and
in 1789, on the committee of correspondence, which positions
he held during the remaining life of the society. He reported
one case in October, 1784, and fourteen others in 1788 and
afterward, all of them surgical cases. The four first were pub-
lished in the pamphlet of Cases, &c. One of them, which first
appeared in the Connecticut Journal, June twenty-first, 1786,
in a letter to Dr. Stiles, written at the " particular request " of
the latter, describes an extraordinary accident, by which the
breech-pin of a loaded gun "entered the right eye, and, driving
the eye with the whole of its bony orbit before it," lodged

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 279

against the vertebrae of the neck and the angle of the jaw, without
piercing the skin. This large body remained unsuspected for
six months. When discovered, it was firmly wedged in its
position, and resisted all attempts to dislodge it. After sawing
off a portion of it, and removing with a trephine a part of the
jaw, the remainder, at the end of eight months from the injury,
was extracted, the whole operation being very painful and pro-
tracted. The patient, Ezra. Curtis, speedily recovered, and the
doctor was glorified. The case is well drawn up, having prob-
ably the benefit of Dr. Stiles' correcting hand. The three other
printed cases are in substance interesting.

Dr. Spalding was one of the corporators of the Connecticut
Medical Society ; a fellow eight years, between 1793 and 1804,
inclusive ; chairman of the committee of examination for New
Haven county three years, between 1799 and 1804, inclusive ;
and a member of the committee to revise the by-laws, in 1800.
In 1793 he was in charge of a hospital for innoculated small-
pox patients; in 1794 had an attack of yellow fever; in 1802
received from the convention the degree of M.D., and in 1810
withdrew from the society. Though his name is not among
the subscribers to the articles of the New Haven Medical Asso-
ciation, he was nevertheless an early member, more distin-
guished for absence and the twenty-five cent fines incurred,
than for any thing else. The clerk, apparently discouraged,
ceased to warn him after May, 1805. Twice only, in June and
September, 1804, did the association meet at his house. Ap-
parently he sought release and oblivion, and both were vouch-
safed.

On the twenty-second day of March, 1794, for £150 ($500),
Dr. Spalding bought of Jacob Pinto a house, barn, and half an
acre of land on the easterly side of State street, near the foot of
Wall, The house, (an old wood one), stood till some five or
six years ago close by the New Haven and Northampton Rail-
road bridge, on the further side. Here the doctor afterward
lived.

Dr. Spalding seems to have been the chief surgeon in New
Haven from 1781 to the time of his death in 1813. He had an

280 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

extensive practice out of town, particularly in Fairfield county,
but had not all the business in his line nearer home. Most of
the "bone-setting" in the city, T am informed,'^ was at one
period (after 1800) done not by him but by a Mrs. Bradley, of
Westville. Some of the physicians in New Haven did not
regard his competency and skill as equal to his reputation, and
their known views may have prejudiced his standing with the
people. The statement is probably true that he was fond of
cutting instruments, and had not always the knowledge or
dexterity recpdred to use them safely. Dr. Eli Ives, in his lec-
tures, used to relate a case to prove how rash and unfortunate
a certain surgeon, supposed but not certainly known to have
been Dr. Spalding, sometimes was. Dr. Munson anrl Dr.
Beardsley had a heated controversy concerning an operation
for strangulated hernia in a child, the former objecting on
account of the proposed operator. In their excitement each
intimated that the other was a murderer. The child died,
when Di\ Munson proposed that the operation should then be
performed, and said if it were not a failure he would take upon
himself the guilt [minus the penalty, probably] of murder.
The physicians at hand were all invited to witness the result.
The surgeon began, and with the first incision laid open the
intestine, thus proving that Munson's fears were well-grounded.f
In illustration of the primitive style of his surgery, it may be
mentioned that he amputated fingers with the chisel and mal-
let— a style which did not end with him.

Though Dr. Spalding was honored to a certain extent by the

* My authority is Dr. Samuel S. Noyes, of New Canaan, Fairfield county, to
whom I am much indebted. He was about four years in the drug store of his
kinsman, Dr. Samuel Darling, of New Haven, between 1804 and Jan., 1808, study-
ing medicine, and learning the business of a druggist. The physicians of New
Haven and the neighborhood were often iu the store, and he became well ac-
quainted with them. From him I have gained much information concerning Drs.
L. Hubbard, Eneas Munson, sen., Levi Ives, Spalding, Northrop, Hotchl^iss and
others. Dr. Noyes (October, IB*? 6), is still living, aged about ninety.

f This is presumed to be the account of the operation as given by Dr. Munson,
whose pupil Dr. Ives was. I know not whether it does full justice to the
operator.

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 281

profession, his lack of professional and scientific culture is
apparent. Nor could he have had the advantages of education.
Two manuscript papers (cases not printed), reported to the
county society, now in my possession, prove this. They abound
in technical terms, but still more in literary delinquences.

Dr. Spalding, poor man, bad more than the common allot-
ment of matrimonial infelicity. As the story goes, his unfaith-
ful wife, finding him in the way of her schemes, poisoned him
with arsenic, putting it in successive doses into his drinks. The
result was he lost all the hair on his person, the privation
(which proved permanent) giving him a singular, somewhat
comical appearance. This is the account which I have received
from several old and trustworthy people ; but in President
Stiles' Diary I find, under date of July twelfth, 1788, the fol-
lowing statement :

Dr. Spalding, aged 45, [?] of this city, at my house. I examined his face and
head. His beard, eye-brows and lashes and hair of his head is entirely come off.
He first perceived it coming off in February last, and in May was the last time of
his shaving. He has been in tolerable health ; has had no fit of sickness. He
was in captivity two years, in 1780 and 1781 [he was apparently in New Haven
in January, 1781, as already stated] in Barbadoes in the "W. Indies, where he had
a fit of sickness. He suspects that might lay the foundation of the loss of hair.
He never read or heard of a similar instance till I told him of one in Capt. Lawton,
in Newport, who in 1774 lost his beard and all the hair of his head and body at
sea, in perfect health.

Dr. Stiles refers to other cases.

I conclude from this account that Dr. Spalding did not then
suspect poison, or else concealed his suspicion. The loss of hair
from the continued use of arsenic in excessive doses is an occa-
sional, but very rare occurrence, and can scarcely happen
without a previous or simultaneous loss of health. It is quite
possible that poisoning was not thought of till jealousy or some
family quarrel had sharpened the faculties, and grounds for a
divorce were sought — sought, it is understood, successfully.

Dr. Kirtland, of Ohio, met Dr. Spalding about 1800, and
thus writes : " He dined at my grandfather Potter's, and greatly
interested my young mind." '• He wore a sorrel or golden col-
ored wig which to my young eyes contrasted strangely with his
36

282 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

pale white skin, alabaster, or si,ib-])ellucid lips, hairless head,
eye-brows and eye-lids, and beardless chin." He was a tall,
spare man, a little stooping when he moved.

Dr. Spalding had a son. Dr. John Spalding, Jr., said to have
been a young man of promise, whose name appeared in connec-
tion with a lottery in October, 1795. In the ship Hope, Capt.
Nathaniel Ray, the son embarked as " surgeon and agent" on a
luckless seal-catching voyage to the South Pacific. On his
way home, says the Connecticut Journal, he died at Monte-
video, May sixth, 1801. The continued wet weather had
spoiled the skins, the losses were severe, and suicide was the
result. The doting father's heart was broken, and he never
recovered from the shock. It may be owing to his great afflic-
tion that he at length lost, to some extent, his interest in pro-
fessional matters, and sought retirement.

On the twentieth of May, 180-1, Dr. Spalding was married, in
Norwalk, to Elizabeth Scribner, and died (says his grave-
stone) August twenty-sixth, 1813, aged 74. His estate, valued
at $4,384, was distributed to his widow, Elizabeth, and an only
child, Frances Elizabeth, the last born September sixth, 1806.
The mother was admitted, by certificate, a member of the
"united church" of New Haven, in July, 1818. The daughter
was married to Charles Kellog, and was (with her husband)
living in New Haven, September eleventh, 1827, and afterward.
She died before September twenty-sixth, 1833, leaving three
children, John S., George and Frances, all minors, "of Nor-
walk," where all were residing in September, 1848, John S. of

legal age.

SAMUEL NESBITT.

I have been unable to obtain any certain information regard-
ing his origin and early life. He is said to have been a Scotch-
man, educated in Edinburgh, and must have been in New
Haven several years before the date implied by Dr. Ives'
remark that he was in practice here (in the whole) ten or twelve
years. According to Trinity parish record, (" Notitia parocJi-
ialis,'') he and his wife, Mehitable, had a child, Margaret,
baptized October twenty-first, 1772. Another, Elizabeth, was

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 283

baptized October second, 177-1, and another, Mehitable, Decem-
ber eighth, 1776. One of his cases, (supposed to have been in
New Haven,) reported to the county society, occurred ou the
thirteenth of November, 1778. Others, also reported, occurred
in 1774. In March, 1777, he was chosen vestryman of Trinity
parish, an office which he held five years. He was clerk of the
parish and vestry I'rom 1779 to 1782, junior church warden in
1786 and 1787, senior church warden in 1788, and delegate to
diocesan conventions during the last-named year. When New
Haven was captured by the British troops, he was one of those,
including several of his denomination, who did not flee from
the invader; but his reasons for not doing so were deemed by
the wrathful patriots "sufficient."

Dr. Nesbitt's name, written by himself, in a brisk, business-
like hand, is attached to the "agreement" of the New Haven
physicians, Janiiary second, 1784. He was also an original and
most respectable member of the county society, To its support
he contributed largely; was alway on its committees of corre-
spondence and examination; reported more cases during his
active membership than any other individual save one; and
was efficient and influential in every measure looking to
the good of the profession. Of his papers, seven in all were
published, covering twenty-three pages. Several of them are
interesting, one, relating to a severed tendo- Achilles, particu-
larly so. The retracted ends of the divided tendon were drawn
together and made fast by suture. Adhesion followed, and a
cure was effected in three or four weeks, the use and motion of
the limb being quite restored. The result of the operation, and
the skill witli which it was performed, procured for the doctor
a good deal of surgical reputation. An account of the case
appeared in the medical journals of Europe. But his commu-
nications are not always well drawn up. They have grave
literary defects, (for which the author, owing to his position on
the publishing committee, must be alone responsible,) and are
commonplace in thought. His practice, as described by him-
self, was highly antiphlogistic. He used the lancet with start-
ling freedom, and claimed that his patients throve by the

284 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

treatment. He had a case of " violent and copious discharge of
blood from the stomach " in the person of Capt. Noble Hinman,
aged forty, (see Oases and Observations, page twenty- nine,)
and at the close of the narrative remarks : "The patient lost, in
about thirty-six hours, ninety-two ounces of blood [nearly three
quarts] by the lancet; and, I am confident, by the most
moderate calculation, double that amount by hemorrhage."
''The treatment," he continues, "by God's blessing, had the
desired effect." I suspect the blessing would have done better
without the treatment. It should, however, be mentioned,
in extenuation, that Capt. Hinman was " of a very plethoric
habit."

At length the doctor got tired of phlebotomy and antimony,
and transferred his talents and himself from medicine to the
ministry. He was ordained deacon, October twelfth, and priest
October twenty-second, 1788, in the Episcopal church, by
Bishop Seabury, though his formal connection with the medical
societ}^ and its standing committees continued till 1790. In
1792, as I am informed by the Rev. Dr. Beardsley, of New
Haven, he became the rector of the parish of St. Thomas and
St. Dennis, South Carolina, but in the following year returned
to New York, and was chosen rector of St. Anne's church,
Brooklyn, L. I., where he remained three or four years. He
next appears as a resident of New York city without parochial
charge, having apparently met with disappointment and failure
in his new calling, as men changing their professions in middle
life are wont to do. Leaving the care of souls to those trained
to the work, he resumed his former vocation, and was in practice
there as early, at least, as May, 1800, and was occasionally
visited by New Haven people seeking medical treatment. In
the New York Directory for 1806, I find these names: "Samuel
Nesbitt, sen., physician, 194, house 60, Cherry street;" "Samuel
Nesbitt, Jr., 315 Water street." In 1811, I find only this:
"Samuel Nesbitt, physician, 175 Cherry, house 83 Beekman."
In 1817 the name had disappeared. He is supposed to have
died before 1814. The New Haven Herald for November third,
1807, announces the death in New York of " Mrs. Mehitable

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY, 285

Nesbitt, aged fifty-nine, consort of Dr. Samuel Nesbitt, formerly
of this city."

Dr. Nesbitt lived in tlic wood house on the northwesterly
corner of Chapel and Olive streets, now much enlarged, and
known as the Elliot House (hotel). He is still remembered by
one of our oldest people, Mr. Beriah Bradley,* as a very gentle-
manly and greatly respected physician, who had a good practice,
and the entire confidence of his employers. Dr. Ives, in his
short sketch of him, says : " He was a scholar, a scientific man,
an accomplished gentleman, and a learned physician, and from
his acquaintance in Europe probably did more to make the
[county] society known abroad than any other member." He
contributed much to the library of the society ; " but with all
his learning he was not a popular physician, and never did a
great amount of business. His practice was confined to a few
families of the first standing in society." So far as these remarks
are complimentary, they M^ere doubtless in the main well
deserved ; but the scholarship, if good English literature, as set
forth in written exercises, be included, is not so evident. But
the standard of that day was low, while helle-leltre accomplish-
ments did not then more than now enlarge a phj'sician's
practice.

EBENEZER BEARDSLEY

Had a respectable parentage. He was born in the ])arisli of
Stratfield (now Bridgeport) in the town of Stratford, the original
home of the Beardsleys in this country, in 1746. His father

was John Beardsley, Jr. ; his mother's name was Martha ,

of Fairfield. He had two elder brothers. Nehemiah, of New
Fairfield, was a major of militia in the Revolution, a member
of the Constitutional convention of 1788, and a prominent man
in the county. He died in March, 1811, aged seventy-nine,
leaving children. Gershom was a j)hysician and druggist, of
Mansfield, Windham county, in 1790 and afterward. Hezekiah
was a younger brother. There were also two sisters, Marv
Comstock and Lydia Hubbell, the first of whom was deceased
in 1790. (See Hezekiah Beardsley's will in the probate office
of New Haven.)

* Deceased since this was written.

286 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

J)r. Beardsley's youth, it is said, was distinguished by mai'ks
of'geuius, and a strength of mind beyond his years. By un-
common assiduity, be mastered the English and Latin languages,
and gained much philosophical and physiological knowledge.
Waterbury was the first known theater of his professional life.
At what time he went there I have been unable to learn. I do
not find his name on the records earlier than January fifth,
1773, when he bought of the administrators two-thirds of the
dwelling house of Moses Cook, deceased, one hundred rods
northeasterly of the meeting house. Dr. Frederick Leaven-
worth, of Waterbury, used to say that he built and occupied
the small one-story house which recently stood on the angle
made by the junction of North Main and Grove streets. In
November, 177-i, tie was one of the committee of fourteen
appointed in town meeting to assist in carrying "into execution
in every article thereof" the recommendations of the General
Congress. (History of Waterbury, page 335.) On the break-
ing out of the war in the following year (1775), he joined the
army, and was surgeon's mate in Col. Webb's (seventh) regiment.
In May, 1776, he was attached to Col. Willys' regiment (twenty-
second) in tbe city of New York. During his three years' con-
nection with the service, he had ample opportunity for observa-
tion and experiment, which his vigorous and inquisitive mind
diligently improved. Poor health and a delicate constitution
compelled him at last to return to private life. Soon afterward,
probably in 1779, he removed to New Haven, with the supposed
intention of becoming a druggist, In January, 1781, on the
recommendation of the first church of Waterbury, he and his
wife, after "renewing the covenant," were admitted to the
White Haven church, then under the care of Eev. Jonathan
Edwards. In the Connecticut Courant (Hartford), for March
twentieth and afterward, 1781, I find him ofiering "for sale at
his shop near the college [in New Haven] the best imported
card wire." I do not know, where he resided at this period ;
but October thirty-first, 1785, he bought for £450, of William
Mansfield, a lot on the southerly side of Chapel street, a little
below Orange, sixty feet by one hundred and thirty eight, with

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 287

a dwelling house, next east of the McCracken corner, so-called.
Here he lived and died. His trade as a druggist, etc., grew
into an extensive business, which obliged him often to go to
New York and Pliiladel])ljia, where acquaintances were formed.
" He became one of the largest importers of drugs and medi-
cines in this country," visited Europe for tlie purpose of
making purchases, and frequently "supplied the retail apothe-
caries in New York." He also dealt in paints, dye-stuffs and
shipping furs. Hezekiah, a younger brother, was at one time
(1786) his partner, the name of the firm being E. & H. Beards-
ley. At a subsequent date (1788-9), he was without a partner,
and according to an advertisement did business "at the sign of
the unicorn and mortar, a few rods below Mr. Miles' tavern."
The " tavern," still standing, is the long, low, wood building on
the northerly side of Chapel street, between Church and Orange,
next west of the stable gang-way. Still later, he connected
himself with a minor son, the company being known as E.
Beardsley & Son. The details of the trade were managed by
clerks, of which he had several, or by his partner when he had
one. Though much absorbed in his private affairs, he did not
disown his obligations to society. At the first city meeting
under the charter, in 1784, and thereafter till 1767, inclusive,
he was elected a councilman. Having accepted office, 1 hope
he did not (as many do) neglect its dnties.

Dr. Beardsley was one of the founders, and among the most
active and influential supporters of the county society. He
was always a member of the committees of correspondence
and examination, took a prominent part in the movement to
establish a state institution, and was a more frequent contrib-
utor to the medical literature of the society than any other
individual. In January, 1786, he "delivered a dissertation" on
phthisis pulmonalis — a disease which he had thoroughly inves-
tigated, and was supposed to treat with great success ; and
subsequently (1790), read two papers on air, influenza, and
epidemics, the subject to be continued. At his death a little
later, Drs. Munson, Potter, and Horace Beardsley, (the last his
son) were appointed "to perfect and finish" what the deceased

288 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

had begun ; but nothing came of the a])]x^intment. In Jan-
uary, 17yO, by request of the society, he delivered an eulogy
on the death of Dr. William A. Tomlinson, a member, which
is recorded. Though too much in the style of the funeral
orations and addresses of our day, it exhibits thought, discrim-
ination and skill. Of the twenty-six "articles" contained in
the pamphlet of "Cases and Observations," six, making sixteen
printed pages, are from the ])en of Dr. Beardsley. They are,
taken togethei', the best in the collection, well written, graphic
m description, and important in matter, setting forth the writer
as a close observer and sagacious physician, one having a dis-
tinct aim and purpose, and seeking definite results. Unlike
many of the "cases" which fill our books with rubbish, his have
a meaning and prove something; suggest new and better
modes of practice, and add to the certainties, rather than the
perplexities, of medicine. Evidently, he thought for himself,
and would not accept an error because it was sanctioned by
authority. For instance, he found no difficulty in repudiating
the received dogma which taught that all the symptoms in the
diseases of children which could not well be explained "should
be placed to the account of worms." He rejected the reasoning
as soon as it misled him, and a case occurred (see " article
eighth) which proved it dangerous. It is wise for a physician
to be governed by authority and precedent when he must act
promptly and there is no sufficient knowledge to guide him ;
but this automatic conduct can be justified no longer than the
time required to ascertain definitely what the facts are. Dr.
Beardsley 's cerebral equipments — his clear intellect and intui-
tive perception — enabled him to perceive the danger which
lurked in venerated maxims — to detect error and find the way
out of it. Judging from the evidence, I am inclined to think
that in natural and valuable gifts, and perhaps in the knowl-
edge which comes from observation and study, he stood at the
head of the profession in New Haven.

According to Dr. Ives' very brief sketch. Dr. Beardsley was
accused of introducing himself clandestinely and dishonorably
into practice, pretending that he did not want it, though ask-

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGKAPHY. 289

ing of his brethren the privilege of seeing their extraordinary
cases, and then abusing their confidence. The charge may be
true. Some eminent physicians have a broad streak of mean-
ness running through them ; but it should be remembered that
old practitioners are proverbially jealous, and sometimes use or
countenance detraction to embarrass a successful new comer
and possible rival. It is not probable that the physicians of
New Haven, shrewd and suspicious, would have been long or
dangerously taken in by a shallow trick like the one named.
But however this may be, the accused, without the aid of
family or powerful friends, ran quickly into a full professional
business, and before his short twelve years' practice had ended,
" was considered as the most popular physician in the place,
particularly among fashionable people." This is the more
remarkable from the fact that he was largely engaged in pur-
suits outside of his profession — pursuits which in the minds of
many are incompatible with the best success in practical medi-
cine. In this country, he was more extensively and advanta-
geously known, perhaps, than any man of his profession, certainly
than any one of his age, in the city. Dr. Rush was accustomed
" to speak of him in his lectures in terms of commendation." Says
Dr. Ives, whose education could not have prejudiced him in his
favor, " he was a man of no ordinary talents." In proof that his
merit was appreciated by those qualified to judge, he received
from Yale College the honorary degree of A.M., in 1784, and
in 1790 was elected a member of the Massachusetts Medical
Society. President Stiles was his friend, and when Dr. Ed-
wards charged him with believing in universal salvation, and
attempted, without success, to expel him from his church,
wrote in his memorable Diary, under the date of February
twenty-sixth, 1789, as follows :

Dr. Edwards' congregation are disgusted with his publicly, in a church meeting,
impeaching Dr. Beardsley of universal salvation before he had taken the previous
steps of a Christian brother. This is a pretext. In truth his incessant preaching
of New Divinity and rigidity in Christian administration have disgusted them.*

* See addendum, page 292.
37

290 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

That Dr. Beardsley liad previously been liberal in his re-
ligious views, or (perhaps I should say) had not the strong
denominational prejudices of some others, is evinced by the fact
that in January, 1784, he subscribed eighteen shillings to the
fund wliich was to purchase an organ for Trinity church.
Among the other subscribers were Drs. Hezekiah Beardsley,
Leverett Hubbard, and John Goodrich, the two last members
of Mr. Whittlesey's church. It will be remembered that the
war had just closed, and that "churchmen" had been, as a gen-
eral rule, royalists, and not unfrequently plotters for the over-
throw of the rebellion. It is honorable to those concerned that
they could so soon forget their contentions and animosities.

It is said that Dr. Beardsley was of middle stature and a
slender form, having fine features and a "very piercing black
eye."- Some regarded him as an ambitious man. Possibly he
was elated by his distinguished success. He lived in good
stjde, and "his family was considered as the most expensive
and fashionable in the city." In a sketch of his character pub-
lished in the Connecticut Journal, April thirteenth, 1791, soon
after his death, evidently prepared by a skillful, non-medical
hand, (perhaps by Dr. Stiles,) he is spoken of as a person of
" uncommon humanity and benevolence," whose life adorned
his Christian character, and whose faith was based on an intelli-
gent and unwearied study of the Scriptures. Dr. Ives affirms
that he renounced Universalism in his last illness, but I find no
evidence that he became reconciled to his accuser and pastor.
Dr. Edwards. His sympathizer in the controversy. Dr. Stiles,
attended him in his closing sickness, and officiated at his
funeral.

Notwithstanding his physical infirmities. Dr. Beardsley's
regular habits enabled him to discharo;e the duties of a labori-
ous profession till November, 1790, " when from a sudden
exertion a rupture in the lungs [a hemorrhage, I suppose] took
place which was succeeded by a local inflammation, and termi-
nated in an open ulcer." It was a painful illness. His friend.
Dr. Stiles, speaks of it, and of its termination, in his Diary,
thus :

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 29 L

January twenty-fifth, 1791. I visited Dr. Ebenezer Beardsley, and prayed with
him, in the last stage of a rapid and sudden consumption, or tabes pulmonahs.

April fifth, 1791. This morning died here Dr. Ebenezer Beardsley, se. forty-
five, an ingenious man.

April sixth, 1791. I attended Dr. Beardsley's funeral, and spake at his grave.

In this manner, in the prime of manhood, was closed the
career of an able physician and " ingenious man !" I have not
been able to find his tombstone. At the meeting of the county
society, held two days after his death, Dr. Jared Potter was
selected to pronounce his eulogy, but appears to have failed in
the duty. His inventory, including drugs and medicines on the
way from London, amounted to about $8,500. Among the
items were one hundred and thirty-six volumes of books,
mostly medical. His wife, Martha, and the following children
are named in his will, in the order given :

1, Horace : graduated at Yale College in 1787 ; studied medi-
cine ; was examined before the county society, January seventh,

1790, and admitted to membership. His father by will gave
him the use for one year of a house and land (which was after-
ward distributed to him) in Bran ford. He may have lived there
for a time. In connection with his brother, he continued the
business of the father ("Horace and Thomas Phillips Beard-
sley" was the name of the firm) till the death of the junior
member in February, 1793. In December of the same year he
was still in New Haven ; but in October, 1795, he and his
mother and sister, Sally, had removed to Cabot, Caledonia
county, Vermont. Here he was living in February, 1801. He
died before 1820.

2. Thomas Phillips. He was a minor at the death of his
father, and chose Horace for his guardian. October twelfth,

1791, he was married by Dr. Dana to Eunice Todd, a sister of
Eli Todd, M.D., who was born in New Haven, and studied
medicine with Dr. Beardsley. Like the druggists of that day,
he was called "doctor," and died of "a consumptive disease,"
in his twenty-second year, February nineteenth, 1793 (see Con-
necticut Journal), giving all his pi'operty to his wife.

292 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

3. John. Horace was his guardian. One "John Beardsley''
was admitted to the church of the United Society, Marcli, 1816.

4. Bennet. The mother was guardian of Bennet and Henry.
He was " of Cabot,"' Vermont, October, 1800.

5. Henry. He was baptized, February tenth, 1782, and was
''of New Haven," November eleventh, 1802, when he sold his
interest in the homestead to Samuel Hughes.

6. Sally. She was probably of age when her father died, as
I do not find that she had a guardian appointed. She was in
Cabot with her mother in October, 1795, and the wife of Tru-
man Cowles, of Farmington, in February, 1801.

ADDENDUM.— See page 289.

Dr. Stiles was an ardent friend of religious liberty, and gen-
erous to those who differed from him. It is well known that
he was himself skeptical in early life, and stood in need of the
charity which so adorned his own character. As others have
done v/ho are reluctant to take their religion on trust, he had a
long and severe struggle with himself. After having assidu-
ously studied the Christian evidences and examined the Scrip-
tures, his doubts, it is said, were removed. In 1754, says
Professor Kingsley, in his sketch of his life, he came " to some
satisfactory conclusions as to the truth of revelation," and "by
1755, he had emerged from what he denominates 'the darkness
of skepticism.' " I do not think that this representation is
sufficiently full, nor, even in the light of facts then well known,
quite accurate. It should be said, however, that the record
itself is not alway clear.

The facts, as gathered from Dr. Holmes' life of Stiles, and
the Birth Day Memoir of the latter (written in 1767) which the
volume contains, would seem to be as follows : In 1747 and
1748 Dr. Stiles, in his own words, "had not indeed a disbelief,
but was in a state of skepticism." Afterward, his doubts clear-
ing up, he was licensed to preach. Again his doubts returned
and increased till 1752, when he laid aside preaching and began
to study law, giving, as " a sufficient pretext " for the change.

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 293

his '' infirm state of health." The next year (1753) he took the
attorney's oath, and became a candidate for practice. At the
same time he applied himself "assiduously to the study of the
evidences of revelation." During these years of anxiety, that
is, from 1749 to 1755, he was a tutor in Yale College. In 1754,
according to the memoir, he "had acquired a strong and pre-
vailing preponderancy to the belief in revelation," which "soon
appeared to be the best system on the foot of natural religion."
He does not say that he had "come to certain satisfactory con-
clusions as to the truth of revelation," but (as he alleges in
another place) had "obtained a preponderancy towards Christi-
anity " which, viewed as before from the standpoint of natural
religion, "appeared to be the best system." Further on he adds,
" all difficulties " concerning " the genuineness and sufficient
authenticity of the Old and New Testaments in the originals
come down to us, and in the translation particularly of the New
Testament," he professes to have, " in a great measure, sur-
mounted by 1753 and 1754." The context shows that by authen-
ticity, he meant, not conformity to facts, but only genuineness
with a little verbal variety. He accuses himself, very justly, of a
" profusion of fancy and language." In January, 1755, he was
invited " to conform," and succeed Dr. Johnson in the Episcopal
church at Stratford, with a salary of at least £100 sterling a
year. Previously, in October, 1752, he had "sustained a vigo-
rous application to take orders, and become a minister in the
Episcopal church in Newport, then represented as a livino- of
£200 sterling a year." "I thank Grod," he goes on to say,
" none of these things moved me, nor addressed me with the
least charm of temptation. I was, indeed, at this time, inclined
to deism ; I was not disposed to profess a mode of religion
which I did not believe, for the sake of a living." It cannot
be doubted that the words " at this time," in the above quota-
tion refer to both 1752 and January 1755. This appears not
only from this but from other parts of the memoir. At the
close of the paragraph, he makes this remark : " As nearly as I
can now recollect, these were my governing views about
religion, at the age of twenty-seven, 1754." He was twenty-
seven on the tenth day of December, 1754.

294 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

According to his own statement, then, Dr. Stiles was a deist
from 1750, or a little later, to December, 1754, or January, 1755,
— an unwilling deist earnestly seeking and impatiently waiting
for more light. He was a religious man, but with his utmost
efforts for many years he could get no further than the religion
of nature. As to the things beyond, he was not a disbeliever,
as he more than once asserts, but an unbeliever, skeptic, or
doubter, withholding belief till the clouds should, clear away,
and the truth become apparent. So far as I have traced his his-
tory, it is sufficiently clear that he had yet made no progress in
the Christian faith. His account of himself, though written in a
slovenly way, is frank, candid, apparently conscientious, and
consistent with itself No one can well accuse him of duplicity.
Bat in the narration which immediately follows the period
under consideration, there are statements which, viewed in the
light of subsequent developments, are remarkable. I quote
from the memoir :

By 1755, ray doubts having given way, I could honestly devote myself to the
service of the great Iramanuel. Just as I had emerged from Deism,* or rather
the darkness of skepticism, (for I never was a disbeliever, I only wanted light,) it
pleased the great Head of the church to open a door at Newport," etc. [He then
expresses his gratitude thus :] "I thank God, I ever revered his Providence, and
submitted myself to its over-ruling guidance. I had now little objection on the
head of incredulity, the clouds of skepticism having evanished."

The date "1755," at the beginning of the preceding extract,
should not include January, 1755, when the doctor was a deist.
The invitation to preach in Newport, to which he refers,
and which he accepted, was given in April, 1755 ; the call to
become the minister of the second church there, was made in
May following, while his ordination took place in the autumn,
October twenty-second. Two months or even three (counting

* Notwithstanding this and similar passages. Prof. Kingsley and others seem
not to hav^e discovered that Dr. Stiles was a deist, or deistically inclined. In
speaking of his opinions, they do not use the plain, direct language of the nar-
rator. Omitting certain expressions, they can find in him only an indefinite sort
of " skepticism" — a word which the Memoir does not employ, except as explana-
tory of some other. In this way is given (unintentionally, doubtless), an imper-
fect, not to say inaccurate, idea of the doctor's religious belief.

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 295

from his birth-day, December tenth, 1754,) is a short time in
which to pass the gulf which sliould separate deism from the
Christian pulpit. Nor can much more be said of a somewhat
longer time, say four or six, or even nine months, when so
complete a transformation of opinion was required. Without
success he had worked hard nearly five years to extricate him-
self from the darkness of skepticism. How strange then that
he should be able, apparently without any new light, to place
himself, as it were, by a single bound, on the safe side of that
broad chasm. I am suspicious he did no such thing. There
is ground for thinking that what he supposes occurred in 1755
happened at a later period, and that the change in his mind
was much more gradual than represented. It is difficult to see
how his memory could be so much at fault, but it is easier per-
haps than to understand how he could try to deceive himself
in his private journal. It is possible, indeed highly probable,
that he undertook preaching and the care of souls, as a specula-
tion, when his faith was very weak, hoping that the exercise of
the ministerial functions would give a practical turn to his
thoughts, awaken devotional sentiments, prompt to virtuous
action, and do for his religious belief what many distracting
years of study and profitless speculation had failed to accom-
plish. Some such explanation seems necessary to save him
from the charge of dissimulation, of which, without it, the
following letter, addressed to Jared Ingersoll, Esq., the distin-
guished lawyer, of New Haven, furnishes the proof. It would
be harsh to speak of Dr. Stiles as a hypocrite or even time-
server. He had the weaknesses of our common nature ; had
the folly to write letters not in harmony with his position
before the world, and to leave a memoir of himself and a private

journal — that is all.

Newport, August 16, 1756.
Dear Sir — You have my thanks for your most acceptable favor of ninth instant.
It is unhappy that moral nature — or that ivhatever it is for which the common
Creator designed man — should suffer the fate of trifles, to be almost indiscrim-
inately intermixed with fiction and religious fooleries. The more we think and
examine, the more perplext and at a loss. The present scene is so confused that
I scarce know what path to travel. One-half of the religions of the world are
vanity. And I am much put to it to see what purpose God Almighty means to

296 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOrrRAPHY.

subserve by putting such a system of beings into existence as man, but must
submit to facts. In some cheerful moments, indeed, human nature looks hke a
fine garden, susceptible of noble improvement and high connections: at other
times 'tis such a confused, dark wilderness, I don't know what to make of it. I
many times wish myself where I might see your realities and facts, but yet I feel
afraid — Good God, what astonishing principles hast thou implanted into man !
Some seem to propel us, sure " as Du Moivre," to our happiness; others urge and
drive to sure misery. We come into this world, eat and drink, marry, etc., etc.,
etc., and lie down to sleep out the sabbath of the tomb; but who knows whether " to
wake in raptures to a life to come?" We all go "to one common chamber kept for fel-
low dusty I rather think 'tis no more to die than to lie down and take a nap when
weary with the common burdens of life. We are soon forgotten in this part of
the moral world. The registers of monumental life but barely relate —

" That once a private name, to most unknown,

•' Lived a short usual sum of common years

" With man . . . and then . . . with man in common died."

The substance of Christianity is as old as creation; if the restoration of morality
be its ultimate design. The great plan which opens our connection with futurity,
and other parts of God's moral dominions, is interspersed with many episodes (par-
don the epic phrase) — and these are mostly heeded by systematic, fanciful priests,
who use them to amuse and gull mankind out of a subsistence. But there is such
a thing as promoting unsuperstitious homage to Deity, and genuine virtue and
benevolence.

I look upon social virtue of most consequence, as it fits for that society we
expect to live in millions of ages hence ; if we survive death.

I please myself with the prospect of hereafter conversing with our good friends
that have left us, and are, I hope, ere now settled peaceably in other moral climes.
I intend hereafter to visit them, and make 'em tell me a thousand new things. I
intend, when I have got a little more moral cash, to travel largely in the Almighty's
dominions — but then I intend to take it leisurely, for we have thousands and
thousands of years before us. I should be glad to converse with Father Abraham
(though I don't think the old fellow knew more than you and I, when here) and
Paul (for I don't question but he is a boon companion) ; and the Prince Royal of
the moral world, if I may be permitted this last honor, who can readily tell us
whether he ever paid a visit to this disordered world, and what kind of orders he
gave, etc., etc.

I doubt not the imiversal Agent, which secretly and yet perceptibly acts in the
vegetable and animal world, has access to human minds, and can infuse the true
solamen of life. To him therefore I daily and fiducially apply for moral biases,
propellemics and infusions to guide me in inoffensive and virtuous behavior; and
I begin not to doubt but he pours in pledges of practical affection. You must
know the quakers and I live by the spirit ; I mean the spirit that manifestly
diffuses itself through the universe, and operates in all, for

" AU are but parts of one stupendous whole,
" Whose body nature is, and God the soul.

MEDICAL HISTORY AIND BIOGRAPHY. 297

" That seen thro' all, and yet in all the same,
" Great in the earth as in the ethereal frame,
" Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,
" Glows in the stars and blossoms in the trees."

This same principle actuates, enlivens, animates and invigorates the whole,
matter and minds :

" extends through all extent,

" Spreads undivided, operates unspent,

" As full, as perfect in man —

" As the rapt seraph "

I cannot conceive why minds should be left destitute and forsaken and forlorn
of these paternal influences. I more than half believe he invigorates all intelli-
gences, and enlivens the whole moral world. But as Job says. Where is he ?
We seek on the right hand, and he is not there ; on the left, etc. We feel for him
in whom we live, etc., but I can't see him with eyes of flesh ; he escapes our
finest optics ; and yet we sensibly perceive him acting and enlivening all, all
around us, but I can't see him; more, I can't see your soul, your think, your kinke,
when I look you in the face ; while yet I discern an ineffable something blaze in
the face of man that looks like Divinity. To that divinity which I daily discern
in the face of nature, I daily apply for paternal advice and suggestions. But I
am very young in virtue yet ; yet I am learning the art as fast as I can ; for I am
persuaded 'tis to be learnt, just as any other art is to be learnt, by application to
my master and by industry. To this great Master I go with the same freedom I
used to go to master Ingersoll. It will do me no hurt, as TuUy says by the immor-
tality of the soul.

I don't so much as desire you to read all this unconnected letter. I write just
as thoughts flow and pour in. I am naturally (in my carnal state) given to profu-
sion of fancy and language. You will read the date and some of the first lines, and
then turn to the I am, dear sir, your affectionate (for I really love you)

Don't let any ) humble servant,

body see this, i EZRA STILES.

Jared Ingersoll, Esq.

HEZEKIAH BEARDSLEY

Was a "physician and druggist," and practiced medicine, so far
as his poor health would permit, in Southington, where he
appears to have resided as early as 1778. In 1780 I find him
in Hartford. There he was engaged in some kind of business,
as appears from a notice to debtors, "of more than one year's
standing," in the Connecticut Courant, September eleventh
1781, signed by himself. There is nothing to show whether or
not he was or had been a praiiticing physician in Hartford. In
38

298 MKDICAI. HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

the game paper, June twenty-sixth, 1781, "Beardsley and Hop-
kins"" inform their old customers and the public that they
have removed their apothecary store to the house of Mr.
Cliarlcs Caldwell, a few rods east of the Court House." I con-
jecture that the " Beardsley" here named was Hezekiah, and
that the "Hopkins" was Dr. Asa Hopkins, druggist, a son of
Joseph Hopkins, Esq., of Waterbury, with whom the Beardsleys
were doubtless well acquainted. Hezekiah 's will, executed in
Hartford, was witnessed by Asa Hopkins. I cannot find his
name on the land records there.

January twenty -eighth, 1782, Dr. Beardslej^, "of Hartford,"
bought of Richard Cutler for £300 a house and lot, the latter
fifty two feet front by one hundred and thirty in depth, on the
south side of Chapel street, nearly midway between Church
and Orange, where he lived and died. His drug-store stood
next adjoining on the west side, "opposite Mr. John Miles's
tavern." In 1786 he was in company with his brother in the
drug-trade; in 1787, '88 and '89, was alone in business, and at
the time of his death was in partnership with his brother-in-law,
Isaac Davis, the firm having the name of Beardsley & Davis.

Dr. Beardsley was a member— one of the original twenty-six —
of the county society ; but his name is scarcely mentioned in the
record till February, 1787, when he was put on the committee
of correspondence — a position which he occupied during the
remainder of his life. He was also one of the committee of
examination for the year named. I cannot learn that he made
any communication to the society till April, 1788, when he
reported a case entitled "A Schirrhus in the Pylorus of an
Infant " which, some years previously, he had attended about
three years in Southington. It was printed with the papers of
the society.

Dr. Beardsley was not a signer of the "city agreement,"
so-called, January second, 1784, (the city had not then been
chartered,) from which circumstance I infer that he was not at
that period a ])racticing phj^sician. He probably never did
much, if any, professional business in New Haven, though he
may liave been a candidate for it. Appearances would indicate

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 299

that be was a man of respectable attainments, of excellent
character, and successful in trade. Several months before his
death he went South, for the benefit of the health of his wife.
In Savannah he was attacked with a "peripneumony," the
effects of which compelled him to return before December
twenty-first, 1789, (the date of the first codicil of his will,) his
wife being too ill to accompany him. He died of consumption,
May tenth, 1790, in his forty-second year; she, April twenty-
fifth, 1790, in Savannah. Her name was Elizabeth. Their
grave-stones may be seen in the northwesterly part of the old
cemetery, among those removed from the Upper green. The
Connecticut Journal, in connection with a brief notice of his
death, speaks of him in the following commendatory terms :

" He sustained an irreproachable character through life, and died universally
lamented by his acquaintance. Reading and reflection had furnished him with an
unusual portion of useful knowledge, and those who knew him best always ad-
mired that firmness, accuracy and strength of mind, which rendered him one of
the most independent of men."

Obituary notices, when dealing in eulogy, like monumental
inscriptions, or funeral sermons and addresses, are nearly worth-
less for historical purposes ; but there is reason to think that
these words of the Journal are in accordance with the truth.

Dr. Beardsley appears to have left no children. The greater
part of his property, amounting in the whole to £2,483, was
given by will to his brothers and sisters.

EDWARD CARRINGTON.

His ancestors in the direct line in this country were Edward,
of Charleston, Mass., Dr. Peter, Dr. John, and Dr. Lemuel, of
Amity parish, town of New Haven. Of the last named, who
married July 10, 1746, Mrs. Esther Riggs, of Derby, Edward
was the only son. He was born in April, 1747, and became an
orphan before he was fourteen years of age. Rev. John Wood-
bridge was his guardian, while the widow, Esther, was the
o-uardian of the only daughter, Esther. A large amount of land
belonged to the estate.

300 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

Edward probably pursued Ids preparatory studies with ids
guardian, and was graduated at Yale College in 1767. He
studied medicine witii Col. L. Hubbard, and commenced prac-
tice in New Haven, in the part then called "town plat." On
the twenty-fifth day of December, 1768, he joined the first
church, of New Haven, and, in 1771, was married to Susannah
Whittlesey. His name is occasionally met with before the
Eevolution in the society records and the book of town meet-
ings, the context attesting his respectability as a man. But
when the war came he was suspected of hostility to the patriot
cause. In October, 1776, a petition having one hundred and
two signers, prayed the "Grovernor, etc.," to decree that he and
five others, whose names are given, should "be removed to
some interior part of the country," they being dangerous men,
" inimical to the liberties of America." A citation followed,
but when the trial came, two only, Ralph Isaacs and Abiathar
Camp, were found guilty. (See Hinman's American Revolution,
p. 566-7.) But Carrington's troubles did not end here. For
remaining in New Haven (town centre) July fifth and sixth,
1779, (the faithful having fled,) he with many others was sum-
moned to appear before a town committee, to answer for con-
duct so suspicious. He was among the audacious eight (seven
beside himself, namely, Bela Hubbard, Enos Ailing, John
Ailing, David Cook, Benjamin Pardee, Daniel Upson and
Richard Woodhull) who gave no heed to the summons, "in
contempt of the authority of the town." What was done with
him does not appear, but erelong he had removed to Amity,
now a part of Woodbridge, where he had, February twenty-
second, 1779, bought the homestead of his father, with several
other tracts of land — property which he had sold five years
before. Here, away from his persecutors, he seems to have
lived in coveted but not prosperous peace, for in September,
1783, he was constrained to give a mortgage on land to secure
a note for £264. In 1785 he removed to Milford, where he
died, September twenty-third, 1795, insolvent, his widow,
Susannah, acting as administratrix. His inventory amounted
to £178-10, and the debts to £1274. In the Connecticut Jour-

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGKAPHY. 301

nal, Febraary fourth, 1796, the dwelling house and half an acre
of land, "at the Gut, so-called," in Milford, which had been the
property of Dr. Carrington, were offered for sale.

Dr. Carrington joined the county society at the outset, and
was one of its honored, and apparently influential members.
He occupied positions on the committees of correspondence
and examination, his name being placed last, for the reason
probably that he was the youngest. After October, 1786, the
record is silent regarding him. Indeed, soon after his removal
to Milford, he seemed to have lost his interest in the society.
Nor is his name found on the lists of the Connecticut Medical
Society. He may have been an invalid in his latter years, and
his intercourse with his professional brethren by this means
curtailed. Mr. Lambert, (see his "Colony of New Haven,")
in his "correct list from the first settlement" of Milford of its
physicians does not include him among the number; but "Dr.
Ned. Carrington " is familiarly spoken of by some old people
there. He died in the prime of manhood.

The children of Dr. Carrington were : Gen. Edward, of Prov-
idence, consul at Canton ; born November second, 1775, and
died December twenty-second, 1843: Henry, of Middletown,
born in 1781 ; died five or six years ago: Susan, Esther, Eliza-
beth, Mary.

LEVI IVES.

His father, Samuel Ives, who died January thirty-first, 1784,
in his seventy-fourth year, was a small farmer, of North Haven,
then a parish of New Haven, where Levi was born, June
fourth, 1750. His mother's name was Mary Gilbert. He had
a brother Samuel and a sister Lois, both older than himself.
At the age of fifteen he was afflicted with epilepsy, and went
to live with Dr. Eneas Munson to be cured. At sixteen, the
disease having been removed, his physician became his teacher
in medicine. His studies were continued till the age of twentv-
one. The friendship which grew out of the intimacy between
instructor and pupil lasted through life.

302 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

After leaving Dr. Munson, Dr. Ives entered into mercantile
business, in Derby, in company with John Sherman, a son of
the first Roger Sherman, of New Haven. Soon, however, he
abandoned trade, returned to his native town, and became a
candidate for medical practice. I find him in New Haven as
early as March, 1773, when he sold to his father the half of a
house in which he then lived. He is called in the deed "Mr.
Levi Ives." In 1778 or 1779, he dwelt in a house still standing
on the northeasterly side of Broadway, No. 69. Afterward, he
removed to the dwelling, then next adjoining, westerly, where
he died. On this spot Eleazar T. Fitch now lives.

Dr. Ives came upon the stage at a critical era, just when the
revolutionary storm was gathering. At the outset, he espoused
the rebel cause, and became an enthusiastic patriot. Because
of his trust-worthy zeal, he was, in December, 1774, and after-
ward, chosen by the town a member of the "committee of in-
spection," whose business it was to look after the tories, and
expose their machinations. Unlike many others who were con-
tent to persecute peaceable royalists, he was ever read v to gi ve
material aid — to shoulder his musket, if need be. Says the
"Historical Sketch" so often referred to, — "Dr. Ives was, early
in the war, appointed surgeori of the militia under the command
of Gen. Wooster. who fought at White Plains. During that
campaign he did the dut}' of surgeon to four regiments. He
afterward received a commission of surgeon in the army, under
the command of Gens. Montgomery and Wooster, in the expe-
dition to take Quebec."*

When Gen. Burgoyne appeared suddenly before Ticonderoga,
on his way to the Hudson river, in the summer of 1777, Dr.
Ives was "lieutenant in a company of volunteers (in which
President Daggett was a private) which marched " to oppose

* Of one of the first regiments called out by Connecticut in the beginning of the
war (April, 1775), commanded by Maj. Gen. Wooster, acting as colonel, Jared Pot-
ter was surgeon, and Levi Ives and Israel Chalker, surgeon's mates. I cannot find
that Gen. Wooster was in the fight near White Plains, and he seems to have been
left in command at Montreal when Montgomery, eleven months Itfort the White
Plains affair, set out to meet Arnold before Quebec.

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 303

the invader. At the time the British troops were making their
way from West Haven to New Haven, July fifth, 1779, ^he
was one of the plucky little band who opposed their progress
at Milford hill. While running for his life, he was " exposed
a mark for the main army in good gun shot." He also acted
as surgeon on that memorable day, being the only one on the
ground. After the enemy had retired, the soldier-surgeon was
one of the committee appointed in town meeting to probe the
motives of those who remained in town during its military
occupation. In after life he loved to relate his revolutionary
experiences, warming with emotion as the story proceeded.

When the Medical Society of New Haven County was organ-
ized, in January, 1784, Dr. Ives, then nearly thirty-four years
of age, was one of the younger members. He was not active
or prominent, his name rarely appearing on the record book ;
but in 1787 he was put on the conmiittee of correspondence,
and the next j^ear on that of examination, to which positions
he was afterward repeatedly chosen. I do not find that he
made more than one communication to the society, and that
was a case of poisoning by corrosive sublimate. It was pub-
lished in the pamphlet of "Cases and Observations," and has
at this day no special interest. He was not "one of the con-
ductors" of that work, as stated in a biographical notice in the
Connecticut Journal ; nor was he one of the " committee of pub-
lication ": nor was the work the "first medical journal in this
country," nor was it a medical jouryial at all. His name was
not connected with the movement to establish the Connecticut
Medical Society till October, 1791, near the close of the strug-
gle ; but it appears among the corporators when the charter was
obtained. Several times, first in 1794, he was elected a fellow
of the society, and in 1802 and afterward, was chairman of
county meetings. When, in October, 1804, the convention
chose a committee to examine papers for publication, he was
placed at its head : but the papers entitled " Communications
of the Medical Society of Connesticut," did not appear till 1810,
under the superintendence of another committee. (I write this
to corre(;t error in the obituary referred to.) In October, 1809,

304 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOCxRAPHY.

the society honored him with the degree of M. D., and in 1817,
dismissed him at his own request. For many years, near the
close of the hxst and beginning of the present century, he was
the surgeon of the second regiment of militia.

Dr. Ives was a good physician, much esteemed by his medi-
cal brethren, and greatly beloved by his patients. According
to my information, he had not as large a business as some
others, but it was respectable in amount and kind, and extended
to East Haven, West Haven, Hotchkisstown (Westville), Ham-
den, North Guilford, etc. He visited his patients on horseback,
equipped with saddle-bags. Neither his early advantages nor
his natural endowments qualified him to take the highest rank
among medical men — to become a leader. Though without
pretension to scholarship or science, he is said to iiave taken
two foreign medical journals, and " kept up with all the im-
provements of his profession." "He was the first to discover
the true pathology of croup, moi'e than thirty years in advance
of the European physicians. He ascertained the formation of
a membrane in the trachea, and as a proof of his opinion exhib-
ited a membrane coughed up." "As a practitioner he was
prompt, active and judicious."

As a man, Dr. Ives was enthusiastic, warm-hearted and gen-
erous ; impulsive, passionate it may be, but placable and merci-
ful. His impetuosity sometimes led him astra}', perhaps exposed
him to censure, but there was no malice in his thought, no
guile in his heart. At the same time he had decided and
durable convictions, which he was ever ready, even eager, to
carry out — to transmute into acts. In this sense he was a
courageous man. Nor was he afirighted when he found him-
self in a minority. After the adoption of the Federal Constitu-
tion in 1788, he took the liberal side in public affairs, and
became an ardent, irrepressible republican (democrat). On the
success of his party and the inauguration of his favorite, Jeffer-
son, he was enraptured. The political revolution was celebrated
by bonfires, pi'ocessions, orations and song-singing. On his
inauguration in March, 1801, a grand festival was held in
Wallingford, which was repeated in succeeding years as often

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 305

as the anniversary returned. On these occasions Dr. Ives
became more demonstrative than the federalists thought seemly.
On tlie ninth of March, 1803, the celebration was to be in New
Haven. Arrangements had been made for a procession, an
oration in the old blue meeting-house by Pierpont Edwards,
and a ball when the ceremonies were concladed. A few days
before the appointed time, there appeared in the federal papers
a song entitled Moll Gary, " to be sung [so said a head line] at
the close of the republican exercises." In these jingling and
pitiless verses, irreverent and sometimes vulgar, written in
imitation of Watts' one hundred and forty-eighth psalm, by
Theodore Dwight, Deacon Ives, derisively so called, occupied a
conspicuous place * Their appearance greatly perplexed the
republicans, and furnished boundless merriment for their oppo-
nents. For half a generation they continued to be sung, re-
hearsed and reprinted, sometimes by the republicans to show
how much they were abused. But Dr. Ives could not be
extinguished by ridicule. A man of weaker political convic-
tions would have gone into retirement discouraged : but lie^
though " all the talent and all the religion " were on the other
side, stood by his party, wondering in the mean time how his
son, Eli, could be so indifferent. At a later period, when the
workmen were preparing to lay the foundations of the center
church, digging ruthlessly among the graves, his sense of deco-
rum was shocked. To him the act seemed Avrong— sacriligious
— and he started with his shovel to assist in filling up the
trenches. But cooling off on the way — a friend of order as well
as propriety — he soon returned, his work undone. He under-
stood the vehemence of his own nature, and often mourned
over the haste and error which flowed from it.

* Ye tribes of faction join,

Your daughters and your wives ;
Moll Carey 's come to dine,
And dance with Deacon Ives.
Ye ragged throng
Of democrats

As thick as rats,
Come join the song, etc;

39

306 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

Dr. Ives was one of the select men in 1787 and the six fol-
lowing years, a councilman in 1818, a candidate for second
representative (beaten by federal machinations and seven
votes*) in 1819, and a justice of the peace the same year.
Though an active politician, he had one quality mucli needed
in our time and all times, that of honesty.

In his private character Dr. Ives was above reproach. He
joined the Fair Haven church in 1778, and was made a deacon
in 1787, which position he held at the time of his death. He
was truthful, conscientious, large-hearted, and devoted to duty.
He continued in the active exercise of his professional calling
till attacked by a painful malady (called angina pectoris) which
after three or four years of suffering terminated his life, October
seventeenth, 1826, at the age of seventy-six. Not a worshiper
of mammon, he left property of the net value of only about
$4000.

In form, the doctor was taller than the average, stout and
somewhat inclined to corpulency. He wore a wig with a pig-
tail behind, like the gentleman of his day.

Dr. Ives married as follows: I. Lydia Augur, April 22,
1772, who died September 10, 1802, aged 1:9 ; II. Margaret
Bird, daughter of Eev. Samuel Bird, January 8, 1801, who died
September 29, 1838, aged 68. His children were: 1. Levi.
He was a lawyer in New Haven, and died Jan. 31, 1811: 2.
Mary ; b. Dec. 12, 1774; d. Oct. 26, 1776: 3. Elihu; b. Aug. 10,
1777 ; baptized Oct. 5, 1777: 4. Eli; b. Feb. 7, 1779; baptized
Feb. 21, 1779, and d. Oct. 8, 1861 : 6. Polly ; b. Jan. 9, 1782 :
m. Asaph Dunbar : 6. Nancy ; b. Nov. 14, 1785 ; m. Ezra Hotch-
kiss, andd. April 19, 1836: 7. Sophia: b. March 1, 1788, died
unmarried, aged 66: 8. William ; b. same date; d. unmarried :
9. Lydia ; b. July 26, 1795 ; m. Wm. Budington, of Fairfield.
She was the mother of Eev. Dr. Budington, of Brooklyn, N. Y.,
and died in 1873 : 10. Samuel Bird ; b. Jan. 23, 1805 ; d. June

* His successful rival was Charles Bostwick, " an old school democrat" (Colum-
bian Register), for whom the federalists voted on the second ballot. Ralph I.
IngersoU (republican), was first representative.

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 307

21, 1826 : 11. Henry ; b. Feb. 21, 1807 ; a merchant tailor and
lives in Cincinnati : 12. Jennet; b. March 8, 1809; married
Joseph Magill, of New Haven. She is now a vvidow.

OBADIAH HOTCHKISS.

His father, Obadiah Hotchkiss, a worthy blacksmith, who
died in 1805, lived on the westerly side of York street, about
thirteen rods south of Elm, in a wood house still standing.
His mother's maiden name was Mary Perkins. He was born
September fourth, 1762, and was graduated, at Yale College in
1778. His practice began in East Haven, where his son Lewis
was born in December, 1786. Though his name is on the orig-
inal list of the county society, no part was assigned him in the
conduct of affairs (seemingly on account of his youthfuhiess)
till he was appointed librarian in October, 1790, at which time
he had probably removed to New Haven, Among those
attacked with the yellow fever of 1794, he was one. Six times
between 1796 and 1811, inclusive, he was a fellow of the Con-
necticut Medical Society. He was also a member of the com-
mittee of examination in 1795 and afterward; one of the
committee to nominate professors in the new Medical Institu-
tion of Yale College in 1811 ; clerk of the county meeting in
1796, and chaii'man in 1820. When the New Haven Medical
Association was organized, in 1803, he joined it, and for many
years appears to have been a very peaceable, non-demonstrative
attendant ; but after its collapse and its subsequent resuscita-
tion in 1818, he seemed wearied, and soon lost his interest in
its proceedings After October of that year, no meetings were
held at his house; he became apparently an inveterate "absen-
tee," and. the clerk, as weary as himself, ceased to warn him.
At the county meeting in January, 1820, at his own request,
he was "released from the burdens" of the Connecticut Medi-
cal Society, and then disappeared in the darkness outside.

On the thirteenth of August, 1792, Dr. Hotchkiss bought of
Isaac Davis, for £700, the lot and buildings on Chapel street

308 MRDTCAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

wliicli bad belonged to Hezekiab Beardsley, wbere be ever
afterward lived, and for a long time carried on a large business
as a druggist, etc. At first bis medicines, paints, etc., " imported
from London," were kept in tbe western part of bis bouse, but
soon after 1800, be erected a brick store next adjoining, on tbe
west, now occupied by Wallace B. Fenn & Co., and removed
bis goods into it. Before May sixteentb, 1803, be became con-
nected witb bis brotber-in-law, Natbaniel S. Lewis, and tbe
company was known as Hotcbkiss & Lewis. In 1806, May
first, Lewis retired, wben tbe doctor's son Lewis was admitted
as a partner, and tbe company name cbanged to Hotcbkiss &
Son, tbe junior partner taking cbarge of tbe store. At a later
period (after January fourteentb, 1814,) M. A. Durand entered
tbe firm, tbencefortb known as L. Hotcbkiss & Co. On the six-
teentb of November, 1819, Dr. Hotcbkiss retired, and tbe busi-
ness was carried on by tbe otber partners under tbe name of
Hotcbkiss & Durand. A few years afterw^ard, before 1880,
Durand sold out, and "Lewis Hotcbkiss" was left alone. Tbe
latter continued tbe trade till a few years before his death.

In politics. Dr. Hotcbkiss took the democratic side, but was
not noisy, showed no bitterness, and belonged to no robber-ring.
In August, 1804, President Jeiferson appointed him one of tbe
commissioners of bankruptcy. He was councilman from 1805
to 1808, and from 1819 to 1822, inclusive, and was made a jus-
tice of tbe peace in 1825. On religious questions he was
supposed to be in harmony with that circle of physicians which
included Drs. Jared Foot, of Nortbford, Wells, of Berlin, after-
ward of Hartford, Todd, of Farmington and Hartford, Beach, of
Cheshire, and others who, in their theological views, looked to
Dr. Potter, of Wallingford, as their leader and expounder. I
do not find that be felt himself obliged to annoy his friends
with his opinions. In the latter part of his life, he adopted
another creed, joined the first chnrch in New Haven, in June,
1831, and, according to Dr. Ives, "became a zealous Christian."
Whatever his position before tbe world, he was considered an
honest, sincere man, whose formal belief grew out of bis con-
victions, and whose profession and practice were at one.

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 309

As a pliysician. Dr. Hotchkiss was not eminent, but prudent
and faithful. In the matter of ability, or talent, he belonged to
the great middle class, and was content to abide there. He set
up no claim to superioi- wisdom or scholarship, and, with a cor-
rect appreciation of himself and the world outside, made no
more ado than was needful. As I understand it, he did not
boast of his business, his skill, or his cures. His practice was
not extensive, but there is abundant proof that he was a good
family physician, kind, attentive, patient and trustworthy.
Those who had long employed him, and best knew his worth,
were much attached to him. His friends thought him very
successful in the cases of chiklren, and he was doubtless a better
practitioner than some others who had more learning or reputa-
tion, or who were more pretentious. In the last years of his
life he did not seek professional business.

As a man, Dr. Hotchkiss was plain, social in his habits
genial and contented. He loved a good joke, was fond of humor,
and inclined to take life easily. In person, he was of medium
size, and well rounded in form. If he were not naturally slug-
gish, he did not (to say the least) like to heat his blood, and
fret himself by over-exertion.

Dr. Hotchkiss was married, February seventh, l7o2, to Han-
nah Lewis, of Stratford. He died of a dropsical affection,
January 28, 1832, aged 69; she, November 22, 1831, aged
74. Their children were: Silas; b. Oct. 11, 1784; d. Oct. 2,
1795: Lewis; b. Dec. 25, 1786: m. Hannah, daughter of Dr.
Joseph Trowbridge, of Danbury ; w as in business with his
father; a deacon in the first church of New Haven, and died
Oct. 14, 1859 : Hannah Frances ; b. April 7, 1796 ; d. May 4,
1815.

JOHN GOODRICH.

He was born (I know not where) about 1753, and graduated
at Yale College in 1778. I suppose he may have been the same
who, in 1777, took the "oath of fidelity" required by the Gren-
eral Assembly, in Glastenbury, where the sophomore and

310 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

junior classes of college resided during a part of that year, hav-
ing been starved out in New Haven.* A person of the same
name was in the Revolutionary army in 1781 and 1782 ; in the
former year connected with Col. Durkee's regiment, as appears
from the army accounts in the comptroller's office in Hartford.
He w^as married to Eunice Atwater, of New Haven, July tenth,
1779, joined the first church of New Haven, December thirty-
iirst, 1780, and was chosen collector of society rates in 1783.
The births of two children of his are on record in New Haven :
Fanny, born December nineteenth, 1780; John Talcott, born
March twent3^-fourth, 1785. A son (name not given) died March
twentv-eighth, 1794, aged two years and one month.

He was not a signer of the agreement of the New Haven
physicians in 1784, and was not then probably a practicing
physician in the place ; but he joined the county society a few
days later. I infer that he had some knowledge of plants from
the fact that, in May, 1784, he was appointed chairman of the
"committee to take charge of the botanical garden." At a sub-
sequent date (October, 1790), he was appointed the historian
of the society, probably a compliment to his literary attainments.
His " Dissertation on the Rise and Progress of the Society " was
delivered in January following. I cannot find that he did any-
thing more ; nor is his name found on the record except in the
cases mentioned. To the extent of six shillings he was a sub-
scriber (seemingly not a paying one) for the pamphlet printed
by the society in 1788. From the fact that his name is not
among those who from time to time paid the quarterly shilling
tax, I conclude that he did not usually attend the meetings.
Circumstances indicate that he had but little practice in New
Haven, and that he soon abandoned the hope of it. In 1786
and afterward he was a druggist, etc., having a house and store
on the southerly side of Chapel street, a little east of the present
New Haven House. (Hubbard and Atwater occupied the store
before him, Joseph Darling after him.) In an advertisement,
in 1788, he is alluded to as an " innholder.'' As early as 1793

* See Chapin's " Glastenbury Centennial," pp. 98, 100.

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 311

he had become a lawyer and squire, and during that year pub-
lished "The Civil and Executive Officer's Assistant," etc., a
book of forms. The Connecticut Register of 1795, and later,
puts his name down as a practicing attorney. He was also a
constable.

The Connecticut Journal, of January sixteenth, 1800, an-
nounces the death of Dr. Goodrich "in the fort}'^- eighth year of
his age," but does not say when it happened. In his inventory
the symbolic "saddle-bags" appear among the items, furnishing
probable evidence that he had once been, or attempted to be, a
physician. He died insolvent.

SAMUEL DARLING.

His father, Thomas Darling, Esq., of that part of N"ew Haven
which now lies in Woodbridge, a graduate of Yale College, a
tutor, a sincere loyalist in the war, a judge of the county court
and a sterling man, was married to Mrs. Abigail Noyes, July
twenty-third, 1745. Among their children were Abigail (who
married Judge Charles Chauncey, of New Haven), Susannah,
Samuel, Thomas and Joseph. Samuel was l)orn January thir-
tieth, 1751. Having entej-ed Yale College, he was graduated
in 1769, and became rector of the Hopkins Grammar School in
1770. His instructor in medicine was Dr. L. Hubbard. The
fact that he was a signer of the agreement of the New Haven
physicians, January, 1784, shows he was then regarded as a
physician, or one performing medical service for which a fee
was charged. Of the Medical Society of New Haven County,
he was an original member, and its first and only secretary,
discharging tbe duties of that important office with commend-
able fidelity. He seems to have had little to do with the society
except to keep its record, reporting no case, reading no paper,
and acting on no committee except the committee of publica-
tion of 1788. His literary education probably secured him a
place on that. When the Connecticut Medical Society was
organized in 1792, he joined it, and at the first New Haven

312 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

county meeting was chosen clerk, holding office one year. His
connection as a member and tax-payer was continued till 1811,
when at his own request he was dismissed.

According to my information, and the evidence which cir-
cumstances supply, Dr. Darling never practiced much, perhaps
scarcely at all out of his store. He was a druggist. In August,
1786, he advertised drugs and medicines " at his store in George
street near Col. Leverett Hubbard's." Probably like many
others of that day he at first entered into the drug business to
enable him to eke out a living while waiting for patients.
But patients proving coy or wayward, he at length ceased to
court them, and was content with his pestle and mortar. He
however continued to give medical advice at his store, charging
only for the medicine. He also bled those who called on him,
and drew teeth. His tooth-ache avenger is in the possession
of the New Haven Colony Historical Society. It is a blood-
curdling, brutal-looking instrument.

In February, 1785, Dr. Darling became a member of the first
church of New Haven, and in the year following was chosen a
deacon, which office he held till his death, fifty-six years. In
October, 1793, and at other times, he bought property on the
westerly side of State street, between Chapel and Crown streets,
where he ever afterward lived. His house stood in part on the
site of the present Merchant's Bank, the well being still in use
in the cellar of the bank. His drug-store was in the north part
of his house.

Dr. Darling was an eminently worthy, conscientious and
truthful man, whom everj- one respected and esteemed. For
purity of character, integrity of purpose, and kindh- instincts,
he was extensively known. He died January fifteenth, 1842,
leaving property of the net value of about $9,000.

JOSEPH DARLING,

A younger brother of the preceding, was born July first, 1759.
He was graduated at Yale College, studied medicine with Col.
Hubbard, joined the county society about 1787, and the Con-

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 313

necticut Medical Society in 1792, from the last of which he was
dismissed in 1811. It is believed he never practiced, though
he often pulled teeth. In May, 1793, he sold "groceries,'' in
the store previously occupied by Dr. Goodrich, next door east
of Isaac Beers' bookstore. At this place he bought property
soon afterward, and here he lived and kept a drug-store till
about 1810, when he purchased on the northeasterly corner of
Church and Crown streets, where he resided some thirty years,
dispensing drugs, etc. At length he sold out, and during the
w^ar of 1812 built, on the site of his former residence in Chapel
street, the brick dwelling (now three stories high) standing next
to the "New Haven House," where he afterward lived. His
drug business was also transferred. Undeniably he was a man
of truth, but like other tradesmen was sometimes oblivious.
A caller inquired if he knew a remedy for corns. " O yes," he
replied, " here's a corn-plaster, a certain cure," hobbling pain-
fully, as he spoke. "But what's the matter with your foot?"
asked the other. " 0, I've a blasted corn — ' have tried every-
thing— no use," responded the doctor.

Dr. Darling was long a justice of the peace, and often alder-
man, councilman, etc. He was competent in office, led an irre-
proachable life, and was a valuable member of society. Though
not as mild in his disposition as his brother, he was more enter-
prising and energetic. He died November fifteenth, 1850, aged
ninety-one, leaving an estate valued at about $10,000.

JARED POTTER*

Was of the fifth generation of the descendants of John Potter,
one of the signers of the "Plantation covenant" of the original

* I am chiefly indebted for the materials of this sketch to a detailed paper
kindly prepared at my request and for my use by the venerable Jared Potter
Kirtland, M.D., LL. D., a distinguished physician, medical professor and naturalist,
now of East Rockport, near Cleveland, Ohio, who formerly practiced medicine in
Wallingford and Durham, whose youth was spent in the family of his grandfather,
Dr. Potter, and whose early education and training were superintended by him.
This paper, apart from its special uses, has a general historical value. I have
appropriated whatever was germane to my purpose, often using the language of
the writer without further acknowledgment.
40

814 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOaRAFHY.

settlers of New Haven. He was the ninth child and youngest
son of Gideon and Mary Moulthrop Potter, of East Haven, (then
a part of New Haven), where he was born September twenty-
fifth, 1742. In that parish and its vicinity there prevailed at the
time a fatal form of dysentery, which returned repeatedly with
the season. The people suffered greatly from the want of physi-
cians, and the parents of the child (so says a family tradition),
determined at the outset to educate him for the medical pro-
fession. The father's will, proved March, 1758, gave to the
wife all household goods, money on hand and debts due the
estate for "the bringing up of their youngest son to learning."

At the age of eleven, the youth began to fit for college,
under the care of the Eev, Philemon Bobbins, of Branford.
At the close of the day, on every Saturday, he returned home
on foot, walking most of the distance after dark. On one oc-
casion, while passing through an obscure hollow, an incident
occurred which had an effect on his opinions and conduct in
after-life. His mind, like those of other children of that day,
had been filled with stories of ghosts and apparitions which
popular opinion connected with the place. While thinking
probably of what he had heard, he was suddenly confronted
by a headless man with extended arms, in a threatening atti-
tude. He halted, ashamed to retreat and afraid to advance.
Congestive chills crept over him, and a cold sweat broke out.
Soon, however, he regained his self-possession, and arming
himself with a club, pressed forward. Instantly the spectre
disappeared, leaving in its place a tall tree-stump with a
broken-off limb on each side. The occurrence cured him of
superstitious fears, and he was accustomed, at a later day, to tell
his experience, with salutary results, to his young friends.
Early in this century, the belief in ghosts and witchcraft,
among certain classes, was as common in Connecticut as in the
days of Cotton Mather,

In 1756, Potter became a member of Yale College, where he
was graduated in 1760, at the age of eighteen. He is believed
to have been a diligent student. Of President Clap and
Tutor Strong, particularly the latter, he used to speak with

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 315

respect and affection, but rarely referred to this period of his
life. Having been refused an honor to which he considered
himself entitled, he did not leave the institution with favorable
impressions. The officials generally, in his opinion, were pom-
pous and pedantic. In more advanced life, owing to differences
in politics and religion, mutually hostile feelings were engen-
dered, which, on his part, found expression in dissuasives
addressed to students and others disposed to patronize the col-
lege. Largely in consequence of his influence, Wallingford, the
place of his residence for the last thirty-eight years of his life,
furnished to the institution for a long period not a single gradu-
ate, a fact which President Dwight noticed in his "Travels," in
1810?.

Immediately after leaving college, Mr. Potter began the study
of medicine, which he pursued three years, the first half with
Dr. Harpin of Milford, the last with the distinguished Eev.
Jared Eliot, a clerical physician of large practice in Killing-
worth, Conn. While with the latter, he had the opportunity
to cultivate a taste for Agriculture and Horticulture, which he
never lost.

Influenced perhaps by the recent deaths of his father and an
elder brother, David, the latter leaving a large and dependent
family, Dr. Potter selected as a field for practice his native vil-
lage. There then prevailed in East Haven, especially on the
margins of the salt marshes, and on the high road to New
Haven west of the stone meeting house, an intermittent fever
which, as usual, gave its coloring to all other diseases, acute
and chronic, then existing. The young physician treated it
with teaspoonful doses of powdered Peruvian bark and Madeira
wine, at regular intervals, while as a prophylactic everybody
drank Huxham's tincture of bark. Satisfactory success and a
liberal patronage following, he "commenced building a house
on the margin of the public green, a little east of the stone
church," and soon began to think of taking a wife. On the
nineteenth day of April, 1764, he married Sarah, the oldest
daughter of Samuel and Mary Moulthrop Forbes, who lived
half a mile west of the aforesaid church, on the nortlierly side

316 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

of the main road. The bride was at the time in ill health,
caused by repeated attacks of fever and agne, and afterward
through life was a great sufferer from rheumatism, which
popular opinion attributed, without reason doubtless, to the
bark administered in her early days. After marriage, the
wedded pair, instead of going to Europe, went immediately to
house-keeping in their new dwelling. The next two or three
seasons proved unusually sickly, and the doctor's business and
reputation were much extended.

At length, as his success and rare merit became more widely
known. Dr. Potter received, pressing invitations to remove to
New Haven, old society. Erelong he sold his place in East
Haven, obtained a house near the centre of the present city,
and removed thither. It was a one-story, wooden building,
which stood at the south end and on the west side of Gregson
street, contiguous to the Sandemanian meetingdiouse. Its ex-
ternal appearance had undergone but slight change in 1865.
Here he dwelt while in New Haven, and here were born his
only children, Sarah and Polly, the last named, February tenth,
1772. They married brothers, the eldest, Billius Kirtland,
about 1790, the youngest, Turhand Kirtland, January nine-
teenth, 1793, both of Wallingford. Polly was the mother of
Jared Potter Kirtland, and died in Poland, Ohio, March twenty-
first, 1850.

After removal, the doctor's business and popularity as a
physician rapidly increased. Medical fees were larger and
more promptly paid than afterward, so that with the help of
good management and a plain way of living, he was able in a
few years to accumulate a small estate, which was greatly
needed and mostly expended in the turbulent times which fol-
lowed. At that period, the "City of Elms," grandly so called,
was only a flourishing village of some fifteen hundred inhabi-
tants. It was the seat of an extensive and prosperous com-
merce, and a fashionable resort for the people of the southern
colonies and the West Indies, and to some extent of Europe.
But a storm was gathering, and Dr. Potter, skilled in diagnosis,
was able to translate the symptoms, and prognosticate what

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 317

followed. From its exposed position, he apprehended that New
Haven was among the places which, in the coming tempest,
would be destroyed. Taking counsel of prudence, and solicit-
ous for the safety of his young family, he sought a place more
distan.t from the coast, and in 1772, at the age of thirty,
removed to Walliogford.

Here, in the centre of the village, he rented a large and com-
modious house, then owned by Aaron Hackley, and afterward
by Dr. Billius Kirtland and heirs, where his family resided till
the close of the Eevolution. In the town of his adoption,
thenceforth his permanent residence, he at once entered on a
large country practice, which was pursued without intermission
(except for the nearly two years spent in the army, and during
certain sessions of the General Court when a representative)
till the last week of his life. When the war at length came, in
1775, the general confidence in his ability and faithfulness was
evinced by his appointment as surgeon to the first of the first
six regiments raised, by order of the General Assembl}^, for the
public service, commanded by Col. David Wooster. In this
capacity, he was present at the capture of St. Johns, where a
fine supply of surgical instruments and medical stores was ob-
tained ; and afterward of Montreal, where he was detailed and
placed in charge of a hospital crowded with those suffering
from wounds, fevers, small-pox, and the long catalogue of dis-
eases incident to fresh and half-disciplined troops. The good
condition of the buildings, with the help of captured supplies,
both made effectual by the discipline and order introduced,
enabled him to make his patients comfortable so long as the
station could be held. But soon reverses came. After the
death of Montgomery and the failure of the expedition against
Quebec, the whole American army was obliged to fall back.
The hospital was bro'ken up, the inmates joined the departing
forces, and a disastrous retreat was begun by the way of lakes
Champlain and George. A scene of dismay, disaster and suffer-
ing ensued which surpasses description. At Ticonderoga the
retreat became a rout. Every hour increased the sickness and
distress. The military stores liad been abandoned or destroyed.

318 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

and there were iu the hands of the surgeons no resources for
the occasion. He used to describe those terrible times, and the
torture he endured on account of his helplessness in the midst
of so much misery. His Quaker principles were sorely tried.
Persooally, on several occasions, he narrov^ly escaped capture.

On their return to Connecticut, the surviving members of the
first regiment were discharged, the year for which they had
enlisted having expired. In the " Army Accounts" in Hai't-
ford, April fifteenth, 1776, Dr. Potter is credited with his ac-
count rendered, £58-14-8.

In obedience to orders, before he left for Canada, Dr. Potter
provided himself with a horse and waiter, a suit of green broad-
cloth, sash, feathers, and a due amount of tinsel. He made a
display only equalled by that of some of the newly fledged
surgeons and assistant surgeons in the late Rebellion. For this
he had no taste ; so when he had secured quarters in Montreal,
he packed up the trappings mentioned, and every superfluous
incumbrance. A pair of portmanteaus, filled with the rubbish
and two hundred dollars in cash, was placed on the horse in
charge of the waiter, and the latter dispatched to Mrs. Potter,
in Wallingford. On arriving at Ticonderoga, the traveller
donned the doctor's green suit and other military equipments,
and wheeling to the left passed down into Vermont, where he
pretended to be an officer and commissary detached from the
army in Canada to purchase horses for its immediate supply.
By offering high prices, paying small sums out of Mrs. Potter's
funds, and giving notes for the balance, saying he should be
back soon to make larger purchases, he secured a number of
animals which he took to Albany and sold, together with the
doctor's horse at low prices. He then moved by water down
the Hudson and around to New Haven. For a time he played
the gentleman about the country, but on the doctor's return the
money had all been spent, and the enterprising waiter had be-
come a seedy vagabond.

After the disbanding of his regiment, Dr. Potter (July, 1776)
became the surgeon of Col. Wm. Douglas' regiment or battalion
destined for the defence of New York. Wm. Grould was his

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 319

mate and Benjamin Trumbull chaplain, the latter his associate
in the same capacity, in Canada. The regiment, attached to
the command of Gen. Grreene, was stationed at an advanced post
back of Brooklyn, L. I. In the rashly conceived and wretch-
edly fought " battle " which followed, it was out-flauked by a
strong force of Waldeckers, and narrowly escaped destruction
or capture. Its safety was secured by a shot lodged in the fore-
head of the German Colonel, while his lieutenant was helplessly
drunk. In the confusion which ensued, Douglas was able to
lead off his men, one by one, over a treacherous tide-dam. It
was the opinion of Dr. Potter that the battle (so called) would
have been more creditable on our part had not Greene been
taken sick at the critical time. Owing to the remissness of the
British commander, a successful retreat was effected to New
York and so up the Hudson, the enemy in pursuit. Washing-
ton succeeded in preserving order and a degree of discipline
among his shattered forces, as proved by the conflicts at Harlem
and Chatterton hill. At the latter place, Douglas' regiment,
in particular, was distinguished for good behavior. At length
there was a temporary, halt, followed by an attack, which was
" feebly resisted," at White Plains. Repeated reverses had
much discouraged our men. A low form of fever broke out
among them, and large numbers were prostrated by a typhoid
dysentery, known as the camp distemper. Besides the sick
there were many wounded requiring attention. As in Canada,
the medical stores, when most needed, had all been lost. Of
course there was great suffering, much aggravated by depriva-
tion. The labors and responsibilities of the surgeons, crippled
for want of means, were greatly increased. The world has
never known the full extent of their trials. There is certain
evidence that Dr. Potter did his whole duty. With deep emo-
tion he used to refer to his experiences in the fall of 1776.
"The public," said he, "could see and applaud the good con-
duct of the officers of the line, but no one seemed to com-
prehend and appreciate the trials that the surgeons endured in
this and the Canadian campaigns."

320 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

After the affair at White Plains, Col Douglas' regiment was
sent among the highlands on the Hudson, where it continued
on duty till the twenty-ninth of December, 1776, when it was
mustered out of service by Gen. Heath. Dr. Potter then
returned to Wallingford. Long afterward, he was asked why
he did not remain in the army. He replied : " I considered our
cause just. I did not lack courage; but I witnessed so many
scenes of carnage, suffering and horror that, at the close of the
campaign of 1776, I entertained doubts whether war, under
any circumstances, could be justified. Besides, my constitution
was so much impaired that for the next two years I was unfit
for service." On reaching home he resumed his practice, as his
health permitted, when gradually certain threatening tubercu-
lar symptoms disappeared.

When Gov. Tryon invaded New Haven on the fifth of July,
1779, he allowed himself to be appointed the surgeon of a regi-
ment of militia, hastily collected near East rock to resist the
invader. While some of them were reconnoitering in the
neighborhood of Neck bridge, they unexpectedly received a
volley from a scouting party of the enemy. Though no one
was hurt, the surprised warriors were in too much haste to find
shelter among "the cedars" near by to return the fire. The
regimental surgical duties in that campaign, lasting one day,
were not oppressive. Thus ended Dr. Potter's military career.

Across the street, directly opposite Dr. Potter's residence, on
the great thoroughfare between New York and Boston, (by the
way of New Haven,) was the noted inn of Capt. Johnson. In
the summer of 1776, William Franklin, the loyal governor of
New Jersey, was arrested, sent to Wallingford, and lodged on
parole in this house. It was crowded with officers, soldiers and
travellers of whig proclivities. On him the occupants delighted
to vent their spite, pursuing him with jeers, insult, and even
threats of assassination. There were in the town, at that time,
several wealthy and respectable tory families who desired to
mitigate the sufferings of the Governor. They applied to Mrs.
Potter for a parlor, chamber, and private table, for his use in
her spacious, well-furnished house, offering ample compensation

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 321

in specie. She accepted, and lie was secretly removed to his
new apartments, where he was comparatively secure. He kept
himself secluded, and saw no outside company except his tory
friends. Morning, noon and night, when Mrs. Potter's little
daughters were out of school, he invariably secured their com-
pany to walk with him in a well cultivated flower garden, back
of the house. On these occasions he chatted, played and even
romped with his young companions. He became much attached
to them, and often watched the clock, impatient for the hour of
their return from school.

At length both sides became alarmed. Stories of intended
personal violence reached the Governor's ears. A very respect-
able Episcopalian had been shot at Tyler's mills for being a
tory, and the house well was to be poisoned. The whigs, on
their part, noticed the frequent visits of the tories to the pris-
oner's quarters, and suspected a conspiracy for his stealthy
removal, in the night, to the sea-shore, and thence to some
British vessel in the Sound. Each party sent a petition to Grov.
Trumbull, requesting his removal for greater safety. The re-
quest was finally complied with, but the fugitive found no rest.
On taking leave of Mrs. Potter and the children, he expressed
great gratitude for uniform kindness, and promised to secure for
her and her family full protection when, in a few months, the
country had been subjugated, and the expected hanging, con-
fiscation and proscription should begin.

After his return to Wallingford, at the end of the campaign
of 1776, Dr. Potter gradually enlarged his consultation busi-
ness, and so far as convenience permitted, declined surgical
practice. His painful experience in the army had made the
latter distasteful, though he continued to take a lively interest
in that branch of his profession, reading (as he had always
done) the new books as they appeared. In his manipulations
as an operator, he exhibited extraordinary coolness, grace and
skill, his manner contrasting with that of certain professed
surgeons of his time. His judgment in important cases was so
much valued that he continued to be called in consultation.
41

322 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

Neai' the close of the Revolution, Dr. Potter purchased a
farm of fifty acres at the foot of Main street, half a mile south
of the village center, now known as the Rice Hall place, where
he resided till 1805. Here he had the desired opportunity to
indulge his early taste for Agriculture and Horticulture. He
was a florist and })omologist, and devoted all the time which his
profession and the education of his daughters left at his dis-
posal to farming and the cultivation of fruits and flowers,
laboring with his own hands. He demonstrated practically
that the exhausted soils of Connecticut could be cheaply reno-
vated by a judicious system of farming with the aid of plaster
of Paris and clover. It is said that he was in correspondence
with Dr. Franklin as early as 1786 on the cultivation of the
white mulberry and silk-worm. He received from the doctor a
quantity of mulberry seed, and largely stocked his farm with
the plants. Considerable silk was produced from that source
as late as 1814.

Doctor Potter was one of the earliest, most honored and
influential members of the Medical Society of New Haven
County, his name standing seventh on the roll. He was always
on the committee of correspondence, and generally on that of
examination. Wherever his name is found on an important
committee, it usually stands next after that of Eneas Munson,
who was eight years his senior. He was not fond of exhibiting
himself in public, and so far as I can ascertain made no com-
munication to the society. In January, 1786, however, he was
one of a committee appointed to prepare and publish in the
[New Haven] Weekly Gazette a " history of some of the medi-
cal societies of Europe and America" which is presumed to be
the history which was printed soon after in that paper, and
which is still preserved in manuscript in the hand of the doctor.
When the much lamented Dr. E. Beardsley died in 1791, he
was requested, by vote, to become his eulogist, but no proof of
performance is on record A year later he became the vice-
president of the society.

Of those who were active and influential in obtaining the
charter of the Connecticut Medical Society, and in shaping its

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOrUiAPHY. o23

provisions, Dr. Potter was among the foremost. He was one of
the corporators, the first secretary in 1792, the vice-president in
1804 and 1805, a fellow eleven years in the first thirteen, and a
member of important committees. In 1797, he read to the
society an "essay," and in 1798 was thanked for his "philo-
sophical and ingenious dissertation." As proved by his corre-
spondence now in the hands of his grandson, Dr. Kirtland, he
was urged by leading members of the profession in different
parts of the state to become a candidate for the presidency. He
persistently declined, alleging to his friends that he had not the
confidence to preside over such a body ; that he had no means
and no taste for the style required for that position ; that a
majority of the members were his opponents in religion and
politics, and that numbers were avowedly hostile to any move-
ment of the kind. To be president of the society, it may be
remarked, was then considered a great honor, the reward of
merit of the highest order. In 1798, he received from that
body the degree of M. D.

About 1790, as already stated. Dr. Potter gave in marriage
his daughter Sarah, to Dr. Billius Kirtland, a highly intelligent
physician of Wallingford. His widely extended consultation
business had previously interfered with his local practice ; but
now he turned over the latter, as much as possible, to his son-
in-law, then recently his pupil. He was thus able to devote
himself to the former more exclusively than before. An
extensive file of his correspondence shows that he was called
into every part of the State, and even beyond its limits. On
some occasions, he was absent from home several days or even
weeks at a time. An instance will show the kind of difficulties
he encountered. About 1803, when a fatal form of dysentery
prevailed along the Housatonic river, the leading citizens of
Huntington desired his assistance, but wanted assurance from
him that he would not scatter with his prescriptions his hereti-
cal opinions on politics and religion. Accordingly, a messenger
was despatched, qualified to negotiate, who made known his
business in lofty, diplomatic style. The doctor promptl}^
agreed to the stipulation, but on the condition that he too

324 MEDICAL HISTORY AND 15IOGHAPHY.

should be allowed to enjoy undisturbed his own peculiar
views, and the twain departed. An actively inflammatory
form of dysentery was found which had been aggravated by
stimulating treatment. A change of practice soon improved
the old cases, and made of a milder type the new, modifications
which the anxious public could appreciate. As the disease
continued in its mitigated form, the doctor was fully employed
for several weeks. On taking leave he was waited on by a

committee. Gen. W and Gen. B , who, after paying

his bill and presenting a complimentary gift, expressed grate-
ful acknowledgments, and added: "Receiving our impressions
from common report and the newspapers, we expected to meet
with a hybrid, a cross between Robespierre and Tom Payne,
but have had the pleasure to find in you a kind, affable and
intelligent gentleman," or words to that effect.

In the commencement of the present century, when Dr.
Potter was much occupied with his varied duties, giving
attention to his scattered and often distant professional calls,
cultivating his farm and garden, prosecuting his studies, and
carrying on his political controversies, he proposed for a season
to intermit his labors, and devote considerable time to travel
for recreation and instruction. In particular he wished to visit
New York, Dr. Hosack's botanical garden, the book-stores, the
grave of Hamilton, and the scenes of his military experiences.
At length he fixed on 1805 as the time for the journey ; but
his plans were rudely broken by a sad occurrence. In that
year a change of constitution (diathesis) and the characters of
disease began to show itself at different points in New England.
Connected with this change, a low grade of typhus fever ap-
peared in Wallingford. Dr. Billius Kirtland and his wife were
among the first victims. Their four orphan children were im-
mediately adopted by their grandfather, and taken into his
family, as had been some years before another grandchild,
Jared Potter Kirtland. To the care, support, education and
special training of these children, he devoted, with singleness
of purpose, the remaining five years of his life. Leaving his
farm, he removed to the residence of his deceased son-indaw.

MEDICAL HISTORY AKD BIOGRAPHY. 325

and prosecuted his professional business, at home and abroad,
with renewed vigor, and to the full extent of his endurance.
A series of somewhat sickly years ensued. He had attained
the age of sixty-three, had become corpulent, but enjoyed
almost perfect health. His long " rides" and large practice
were fatiguing and laborious; the charge of his young family
gave him little rest in the intervals of business ; but instead of
complaining, he only regretted that his new responsibilities
curtailed his expenditure for books, and abridged his time for
reading. Whatever his disappointments and trials, he was
cheerful, hopeful, unwearied, bearing all his burdens with
courage and contentment.

In 1805, at the busiest period of Dr. Potter's life, the Rev.
Dr. Samuel Peters, the renowned Episcopal clergyman and
tory, of Hebron, who, in retaliation for indignities received at
the hands of the whigs in 1774, wrote and published in Eng-
land a mendacious History of Connecticut, (a work to this day
believed by half of the educated people of the West to be a
true history,) returned to this country. He had obtained from
Carver's heirs the title to a claim for lands on the Upper Missis-
sippi, and sought Mr. JeflPerson's assistance in securing it. The
President advised him to enlist in his behalf some leadino-
democratic friends in Connecticut, whom he named, thinkino-
probably that he would not get much help in that quarter. He
took the advice, and made his first visit to Dr. Potter, with
whom he had formerly been acquainted. Said he: "Doctor, I
want you to recommend my claim to Mr. Jefferson's considera-
tion." " I have no personal acquaintance with Mr. Jefferson ;
he knows nothing of me, and my recommendation would be of
no avail," replied the doctor. "You are mistaken," rejoined
the other. " Mr. Jefferson is familiar with your standing and
political influence, and would treat with deference your opinion.
He showed me the parody entitled Moll Carey, and said he
knew all the parties named in that vulgar production. They
were his warm friends, worthy members of society, and political
martyrs; and he was astonished that party strife should so
debase his opponents, many of them distinguished for their

326 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

religious professions. Avowed infidels [he continued] could
not have done worse."'

Bishop* Peters, often so styled, spent most of his time for
several days in Dr. Potters family, frequently dining at his
table. He was tall and erect, having large and commanding
features, with a lofty, dictatorial manner. As the doctor,
owing to professional engagements, could give him but little
attention, the Bishop put aside his dignity, and made the ac-
quaintance of the younger members of the family, interesting
himself in their studies, reading, and even their amusements.
His apparent familiarity with every important personage and
event in Europe and America, taken in connection with his
sociable, impressive way, made his remarks and general conver-
sation very instructive. The flower and fruit gardens were
examined critically, and valuable information given concerning
European Horticulture. The interviews with Dr. Potter were
marked by kindness and courtesy on both sides, though the
two were as wide apart as the poles in their opinions and
respective careers. Often their personal experiences were de-
tailed, and the events of the American and French revolutions
discussed. On these occasions he was accustomed to occupy a
particular seat at a table on which several books were lying.
During these conversations he would invariably take up the
books one after another, examining each. One morning, antici-
pating the usual visit, a member of the family (a young lady,
humorously inclined) removed all the books, and placed in
their stead Peters' anonymous History of Connecticut. Soon
the Bishop arrived, took the chair intended for him, and began
the conversation. When a few minutes had elapsed, he took
up the book, and catching a glimpse of the title, burst into a
laugh, in which the doctor joined. He seemed amused at the
credence which his stories had gained.

It is perhaps unnecessary to say that the recommendation to
the President which Peters sought was not obtained. He died,
neglected and in poverty, in New York, in 1826, aged ninety.

* He was chosen Bishop of Vermont in 1794, but was never consecrated.

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 327

Pressed with hard work, and the most important domestic
duties, the last years of Dr. Potter's life were passed without
note-worthy incident. His death occurred ander unusual cir-
cumstances. Passing a lield of rye on his farm, he plucked a
head of the ripe grain, shelled it in his hand, and blowing away
the chaflf, threw the kernels into his mouth. A beard lodged
on the uvula, causing inflammation, gangrene and death at the
end of six days, July 80th, 1810. An immense concourse of
people attended the funeral. His decease was felt to be a
public calamity. Even his political opponents were sincere
mourners. On a neat monument, erected by his widow, in the
Wallingford cemetery, are the following words, penned by
Abraham Bishop, of New Haven :

He was an able scholar, an instructive companion, and an eminent physician.
AH who knew and valued him will soon be added to the number of the dead ;
yet not with their applause nor with monument will perish the good fruits of his
many and distinguished virtues.

In the first decade of the present century. Dr. Potter was
probably the most celebrated and popular physician in the
State. He was an excellent judge of symptoms and specially
skilled in diagnosis. By critical examination he attained won-
derful success in detecting the nature, seat and tendency of the
most obscure diseases. In pleurisy, dysentery, puerperal fever
and other severe acute diseases, he was an enei-getic practi-
tioner. "In cases of this kind," says Dr. Miner in Thatcher's
Medical Biography, "he was esteemed, and apparently with
justice, to be superior to any physician of his time in Connec-
ticut." The same authority gives currency to the charge (by
others repeated) that " he was very sceptical of the powers of
medicine in most chronic complaints," and that his practice in
such cases was inefficient, sometimes almost inert; but I have
the best of evidence that the chnrge was unfounded, and that it
grew out of the fact that he discriminated in his treatment, giving
medicine when there were solid reasons for it, and withholding
it when a cure could be better effected by changes of diet and
regimen, or improvement in the habits and practices of his
patients. He was not accustomed to give drugs at random, or.

328 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

in other words, till he fully comprehended the difficulty to be
removed. In practice, he was particularly fond of the alkalies
and alkaline earths. Chalk was a common article in his pre-
scriptions. The famous "Potter's powder," as used by him,
was composed of chalk, carbonate of ammonia, camphor and
charcoal. He used it largely in dyspeptic and other gastric
complaints.

Like his instructor, Eliot, Dr. Potter was a famous medical
teacher, and some of the most distinguished physicians of the
State were once his pupils.

He was an accomplished scholar, and a diligent student
through life. His reading was comprehensive and very thor-
ough, as evinced by the notes and critical remarks he usually
made in the margins of his favorite books. When business
pressed, much of the night was often spent in their perusal.
His reading included the most important periodicals of the day.
His library was extensive, the miscellaneous department con-
taining works on almost every subject. That on medicine,
embracing most of the authors then known, and especially rich
in ancient lore, fell into the hands of his grandson. Dr. J. P.
Kirtland, and has by him been donated to the Western Reserve
College.

Originally a Jeifersonian democrat. Dr. Potter took a warm
interest in the politics of his later life. His prominence and
great influence made him peculiarly obnoxious to the federal
party, and the butt of their newspaper wits. One of the most
caustic and offensive passages in that famous ode or song
entitled Moll Carey refers to him, and his well-known anti-
slavery sentiments. Unpopular as they were, these sentiments
were maintained unflinchingly through life. On his marriage,
among her wedding gifts, -the bride received from her father, a
slave-trader, a black slave, aged seventeen, named Jack John,
whereat she was delighted, he surprised and annoyed. The
reputed master's keen moral sense was shocked at the idea of
holding a slave, so in 1772 Jack received emancipation papers,
now on record in Wallingford. Afterward, the latter gained
some renown as a freeman and voter. He was upright, kind

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 329

and faithful ; became a sailor and ultimately a successful farmer,
and accumulated property. When he died, in 1816, the select-
men ordered his burial in an obscure fence corner, among weeds
and briers. His grave, with its sandstone slab, surrounded by
showy and costly monuments, now occupies the center of Wal-
lingford cemetery.

Though greatly interested in the political questions of the
day, I will venture to say that Dr. Potter was in no sense a
demagogue. He was too conscientious and manly for that; did
not use his influence for base purposes, and sought nothing
for himself. Thinking his own thoughts, and forming his own
opinions, he was not deceived by names, was the slave of no
party, and followed no leader who was clearly in the wrong.
For Washington, Adams and Hamilton, as heroes and states-
men of the Revolution, he had great respect, but thought they
and the federal party were too fond of parade — too much
inclined to look with favor on the follies and vices of monarch-
ical governments. His admiration of Hamilton's financial skill
and good management was often expressed, and when that
great man fell no one mourned his death more sincerely than
he. Aaron Burr, concerning whose true character he gained
much information through his friend. Judge Pierpont Edwards,
for a time a resident of Wallingford, he regarded as a consum-
mate villain as early as the presidential election of 1800. — Many
times the doctor was a representative from Wallingford to the
Greneral Court, but though an industrious and influential mem-
ber, his modesty always prevented his making a speech. In
1801, he was voted for to " stand in nomination" for assistant,
but not chosen.

Dr. Potter's reading and intercourse made him familiar with
the whole field of theological controversy, while his knowledge
of the Bible was extensive and accurate. No biblical scholar
could quote it more promptly or apply it with more adroitness,
and he was fond of discussion. His extraordinary colloquial
powers, strong reasoning faculty, logical method, suavity of
manner, candor, and perfect command of temper, gave him a
great advantage, and often an easy victory in argument. When
42

330 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

equally matched, having a plucky opponent, the whole night
was sometimes spent in these encounters. Re delighted to
meet with an intelligent radical or enthusiast in religion,
politics, medicine, philosophy, or common business pursuits.
When he did so, a set-to was sure to occur. Occasionally
some well-wislier, a little verdant perhaps, would attempt his
conversion, but soon found the task hopeless, and himself con-
strained to retire in confusion. The doctor's great knowledge,
quickness of perception, wit and humor, made his conversation
always instructive and entertaining, while his gentlemanly
bearing made friends of his adversaries.

Though brought up in the Congregational faith of New
England, Dr. Potter embraced the doctrine of universal salva-
tion while still in college, and adhered to it unflinchingly
through life. He did this at much cost, and there is no reason
to doubt his entire sincerity. He believed that Christ died for
all — that the atonement would ultimately secure the salvation
of all, and was frank enough to say so. "T believe," said he,
"in the authenticity of the Scriptures, and the efficacy of the
atonement as tirml}^ as the most orthodox. The only difference
between us relates to the extent of that atonement. I believe
it will reach every descendant of Adam ; they that it will save
only a part of tlie human family." By his adversaries in
religion and politics he was charged with being an infidel and
sceptic, but he denied emphatically that he was either, and pro-
tested against the injustice done him. One describes hira as
a "speculating theologian," whose pupils generally left his
"office with minds tinged with sceptical notions." Another
says he was the "leader of a party of free-thinkers in and out
of the profession," among whom " were old Dr. Foote of North-
ford, Drs. Wells, of Berlin, afterward of Hartford, [Eli] Todd,
Beach, of Cheshire, and Hotchkiss," of New Haven. These
were not all free-thinkers in the sense in which that term is
usually employed, and of the whole number of Dr. Potter's
students, only one avowed infidel sentiments, and he finally
embraced Methodism. The truth is, in the latter part of the
last century, and the early part of the present, public opinion.

MEDICAL HISTORY AISD BIOGHAPHY. 331

or rather the ruling classes in this State, could not brook dis-
sent, whether in Church or State, and dissent hereabouts, in
numerous instances, took the form of Universalism. The pre-
sent generation has no adequate conception of the deep feeling
on this subject which prevailed three quarters of a century ago.
Dr. Potter was a dissenter, and chose, in the exercise of his
right, to be an universalist, and paid the penalty. Hard
names, without reference to fitness — the hardest which for the
moment could be made to stick — were applied to him ; but no
longer should his opinions be misstated. Not one of his accu-
sers probably lived a purer, more beneficent, or in an 7 sense a
better life. As a guide and standard of conduct, he often ap-
pealed to Christ's Sermon on the Mount. Young's Night
Thoughts he knew well-nigh "by heart," and in his serious
moods often quoted familiarly. When taking a final leave of
a beloved grand-child, two months before his death, his last
words were : " Be good, be virtuous, and always do as you would
be done by," tears flowing down his venerable cheeks.

Dr. Potter was himself tolerant and charitable; humane,
philanthropic and sympathetic in a high degree: kindhearted,
generous, and true in all the relations of life. In his deal-
ings he was honorable and just; in his manners easy, affa-
ble, unpretending and unceremonious. In his sketches, Dr.
Eli Ives, (who condemned unsparingly his religious views,)
speaking of his professional standing, says he was " free from
any little arts of intrigue," and "left behind him the character
of a very talented, honorable and high minded physician." His
urbanity, candor, and perfect fairness made him a most accept-
able counsellor, while his thoughtful regard for the reputations
of the young physicians he met, made this class his warm
friends. Always his dress was simple, and plain as a Quaker's.
In stature he was below the average, in early life slender, and
in later years very corpulent. With one exception, already
referred to, he was always in good health. He had a round
face, regular features, mild blue e3'es, a kindly expression, and
a fair skin, with a glow of redness on each cheek.

832 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

WILLIAM GOULD,

Of Branfbrd, was the scm of Dr. William, and the grandson of
Dr. Eicliard Gould, both of the same town. The last came
from North Taunton, parish of Oakhampton, Devonshire, Eng-
land. The subject of this notice was born November seven-
teenth, 1727. I have been unable to glean much concerning
his early life, but learu from the ''Foote Genealogy" that he
married. May fifth, 1768. for his second wife, Mary Foote,
widow of Timothy Johnson. From the " Army Accounts," in
Hartford, I lind that, in September, 1782, one with his name
was paid £18-18 for service in Col. Swift's regiment in 1781.

He was one of the earliest and oldest of the members of the
Medical Society of New Haven County, his name standing
second on the list of subscribers. In testimony of his respect-
ability, he was placed at the head of the first committees of
correspondence and for the examination of students, the highest
position after the presidency which could have been given him.
For three successive years he was thus honored, and on two
occasions was invited "to exhibit some observations," at the
next meeting, for the edification of the members. I cannot
find that he took any notice of the invitations. After August,
1786, his name is not mentioned on the record, appearances
indicating that he was negligent of his duties. Perhaps he did
not attend the meetings because he had " no time" — a very poor
excuse. Every man finds time for that which most interests
him. More likely, attendance was irksome, or paid unsatis-
factory dividends. The society survived his defection.

In 1798, Dr. Gould made known by advertisement that he
had opened a hospital for innoculated small-pox. Possibly
because he withheld assistance in the struggle for a charter, his
name is not found among the corporators of the Connecticut
Medical Society in 1792. But he became a member at the first
county meeting. On the same occasion, he was chosen a fel-
low, (or delegate to the society's convention,) an office to which
he was reelected in 1798 and 1795. After this last date his

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 333

name disappears. Once more he found " no time," or could
see no profit.

Dr. Gould was a member of the Constitutional Convention
of the State in 1788, representative to the Assembly in 1795,
and a justice of the peace many years in the latter part of liis
life. As a physician and man, I can say little more than that
he sustained a high character, — was both competent afid trust-
worthy. His death took place July twenty-ninth, 1805 ; that
of his widow, September twenty -fifth, 1818, at the age of 79.
Among liis children were Dr. William, born in 1752 ; gradu-
ated at Yale College in 1771 ; married, March second, 1775,
Kebecca Foote ; settled in Manchester. Vt., and died 1819 : Dr.
Orchard; born March tirst, 1764; graduated at Y. C, 1783;
practiced medicine in Branford; removed to Indiana about
1817 and d. 1819: James; well known as Judge Gould, of
Litchfield; was graduated at Y. C, 1791, and d. 1838: Eliza-
beth; married Judge Roger M. Sherman.

WALTER MUNSON

Was the son of Obadiah and Hannah (Booth) Munson, of New
Haven, and was born December twenty-fifth, 1733. June nine-
teenth, 1760, he married Mabel Mansfield. From the New
Haven land records, I find that he lived in North Haven parish
where he bought a house and land adjoining the "sabbath day
houses lots,'' as early as December, 1760, and afterward made
several other purchases. He joined the county society in the
beginning, and with the exception of Drs. Hubbard and Gould,
appears to have been the oldest subscriber. On one occasion
he was selected " to deliver observations on the theory and
practice of physic," a somewhat extended subject; on another,
he was named for one of the eight members from this county
of the proposed state society. Further than this he was either
not present at the meetings, or quite inaudible. I am sorry to
find that his name does not once appear among those who paid
the quarterly shilling tax. In 1792 he was still at North
Haven, and connected himself with the Connecticut Medical

834 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

Society, but the connection was only nominal, if the record
tells the whole truth. In December, 1.795, lie offered for sale,
by advertisement in the Connecticut Journal, his house and
barn and forty acres of land, with a ship yard, situated in
North Haven, on the road from New Haven to Wallingford, a
little over half a mile from the meeting house, and twenty rods
from the river. Soon after (1796 or 1797), he appeared as a
resident of New Haven. According to the aforesaid Journal,
he died December twenty-seventh, 1802. Dr. Elijah Munson
presented a bill against the estate for attendance, the fact prov-
ing a custom not as creditable as the present. The inventory
amounted to $170.70 ; the debts to $845.37.

Dr. Muns(m seems to have had a small practice and less
thrift. Of his note-worthy pei'sonal achievements I am not
informed, but on the town records he is credited with the fol-
lowing children: John, born March first, 1761; Wilmot, b.
July fourth, 1764; Bettie, b. Nov. seventh, 1765; Paulina, b.
April second, 1770.

JARED FOOT,

Of Branford, Northford society, the eldest son of Dr. Ichabod
and Hannah (Harrison) Foot, was born July seventeenth, 1785.
He was one of the older and among the earliest members of the
county society. Seemingly, however, he did not go to its quar-
terly gatherings, or lift a finger in its prolonged struggle for
charter privileges, and a higher life. Like a star he dwelt
apart, not getting near enough to be taxed. But if he held
himself aloof from those he should have assisted, he helped to
reward their completed labors, and in a moment of self-negation
invested six shillings in the pamphlet of 1788. I hope he read
it and found his ideas multiplied, and his cerebral lobes ex-
panded. But as he seems not to have joined the Connecticut
Medical Society, I conclude his os froniis was not permanently
lifted. In his isolation he may have thought he knew enough,
when in fact he knew but little.

A worthy man and a good member of society, Dr. Foot is
understood to have been a reputable physician, having a rea-

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 335

sonable amount of business. Dr. Ives classes him with those
who accepted the peculiar views in philosophy and religion of
Dr. Potter, of Wallingford ; but I learn from a lineal descendant
who was much in his family that he was considered to be an
universalist ; that he attended the congregational church, and
conducted religious services regulai-ly in his family. In his
habits he was a cold water man, offering to his professional
brethren an example of temperance, at that day, (and every
day,) greatly needed.

The Foot Genealogy gives Dr. Foot four wives (one at a
time, of course); namely, Submit Bishop, of Madison? Sarah
Stillman, of New Haven, Jemima Holcomb, and Hannah Kira-
berly, of North Gruilford. His five children were all by his first
wife. He lived two miles from the village of Northford, on the
road to Durham, and died October eleventh, 1820, aged eighty-
five. His only son, Joseph Foot, M.D., Y. C, 1787, a student
of Jared Potter, was a practitioner of distinction in North
Haven, who died April twenty-fourth, 1836, aged sixty-six.

AA.RON ANDREWS,

Of Wallingford, the son of Samuel and Abigail (Tyler) An-
drews, was born within the limits of the present town of
Meriden, August twenty-ninth, 173-1 ; married, December
eighteenth, 1771, Sarah Whiting, of Stamford, and settled as a
physician in the old village. He built and occupied the house
on Main Street now owned and occupied by Samuel B. Par-
melee. He was one of the oldest and apparently one of the
earliest members of the Medical Society of N. H. County, but I
do not find his name in the proceedings, though it is on a late
list of tax-payers. To the Connecticut Medical Societv he
attached himself in the beginning, paying his taxes like a mar-
tyr; but in 1804, having become old and weary, he asked and
received a dismission. As he seems rarely to have attended
the county meetings, thinking probably the profits did not
equal the cost of travel, he was not much missed.

386 MEDICAL Hl.STORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

From L)i'. J. P. Kirtlaud, of Ohio, I learn that Dr. Andrews
was a disciple of the Boerhaavian school, invariably used its
terms in conversation, and firmly believed its doctrines and
theories. When Cullen's views threatened to take the place of
those more ancient, he denounced them as heretical and dan-
gerous. He was a relative of the Hull family, and had great
confidence in the noted nostrum long known as "Hull's
Physic," composed of aloes, nitrate of potash and aromatics, a
famous remedy for colic, then more common than now. He
was successful in the use of the remedy, and gained some re-
nown for his treatment of the bowel-complaints of children.
Though eccentric and antiquated, he was much respected as a
man. His library contained some old and valuable medical
works, which were thoroughly studied. He died November
twenty-fourth, 1814; his widow, August twenty-eighth, 1836,
aged ninetv-two and a half.

MOSES GAYLOED.

He was a noted surgeon of Wallingford. Mr. Elihu Yale,
of New Haven, thinks he was born in Durham, and that his
father was Joseph Gaylord who married Elizabeth Rich, and
his grandfather John Graylord, who went from Waterbury to
Durham. "He married Jemima Tyler, of Wallingford, and
had Tyler who died in the State of New York ; Harriet, who
married Noah Lindsley, of Meriden, and Nancy, who married
Israel Harrison." His medical instructor was Dr. Jesse Cole, of
Durham. As a practitioner, his whole attention was given to
surgery and midwifery. Though having a wide reputation,
and doing a large business, he was a man of no reading, and a
bungler in his operations. For the most part he confined him-
self to minor surgery, leaving important cases to Dr. Spalding,
of New Haven, or Dr. Wm. B. Hall, of Middletown. Like
others having limited resources, he had great faith in salves,
plasters, liniments and washes. Dr. J. P. Kirtland is my
authority for saying so.

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGUAPHY 337

Dr. Graj'Iord joined the county society at an early period, but
after he did so his name is not found on the record. Perhaps
he thought the name was sufficient encouragement. His con-
nection with the Connecticut Medical Society was no more
eventful, for all that can be said is that he was admitted in
April, 1793, and dismissed in September, 1804. Probably he
had no abiding wish for the success, and no relish for the
objects, of either organization. According to Dr. Davis, "he
was tall and rather spare-looking, with thin face and large nose,
and when riding horse-back, as was his habit, or when walking,
was bent forward." He died of a cancer of the f;ice, August
ninth, 1830, aged seventy-seven, and his widow, Jemima (Tyler,)
February eighteenth, 1840, aged eighty-three.

ABRAHAM TOMLINSON,

According to Cothren's Woodbury, was a native of that town,
and a resident of Judea society in 1758, where he remained
several years. November eleventh, 1760, he married Mary
Gypson, had a child, Billy, born November ninth, 1761, and
finally removed to Milford. At the age of fortj-six, he
united with the Medical Society of New Haven County. His
name appears for the first time in May, 1784, when he was
chosen one of the committee who were to make real the vision
of a botanical garden. Two short cases of difficult deglutition,
bearing his name, were printed in the pamphlet of 1788. The
foreign bodies causing the mischief were removed by vomiting,
induced in one case by warm water, in the other by tartar
emetic. Beyond this small contribution, I cannot find that the
doctor, at that time, did anything worthy of remembrance. The
heroic band battling for a charter had none of his help. Among
the first to join the Connecticut Medical Society, Dr. Tomlinson
for nineteen years was a useful and faithful member. Fourteen
times he was elected fellow, and in several instances was put on
important committees. In testimony of his high respectability,
the society conferred on him, in 1802, the degree of M. D., the
43

388 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

title having then been bestowed by that body on but nine per-
sons in this State,* all renowned practitioners. These are their
names : Leverett Hubbard and Elihu (written Elisha in the
record) Tudor in 1793, Eneas Munson and Seth Bird in 1794,
James Potter and Thomas Mosely in 1795, James Clark in 1796,
and Theophilus Rogers and Jared Potter in 1798. Five others
living out of the State had been similarly complimented.

At a later period, Dr. Tomlinson read before the county
meeting a paper (he had previously reported two cases) which
the clerk with his habitual generosity calls a " very ingenious
dissertation." It may be the one published by the society in
the pamphlet of 1810, entitled " Communications of the Medical
Society of Connecticut, Number I " It occupies nearly two
pages, and relates a case of anasarca, cured by digitalis, ip which
seven gallons of water were passed by the kidneys in about
three days, nearly half the amount on the second day of treat-
ment.

But the time approached for work to cease. When, in 1813,
at the age of seventy-five, the doctor at his own request was
dismissed from the society, the clerk was directed to " make
a proper acknowledgment of the feelings of the society to Dr.
Tomlinson, for his long and useful exertions in behalf of the
society." Accoixling to his tomb-stone, he died December
twenty-ninth, 1816, aged seventy-eight. His will, to which a
codicil was added in 1814, names his wife Hester, and his sons
Abraham, David and John G., the two last executors. To
Abraham's children, he gave land and a dwelling-house in
Patterson, Dutchess County, N. Y., their father (in whom con-
fidence seems to have been wanting) to have the use and
improvement of the same. His inventory, including thirty-three
books, some of them medical, amounted to $11,320. His son,
Abraham (Y. C, 1785), educated a physician, united with the
Connecticut Medical Society in 1795, and died in 1820.

* At that time Yale College had thus honored at home and abroad four individ-
uals, all before 1792, namely: Daniel Turner in 1723, John Bartlett in 1779, and
Charles Kilby and David Ramsay in 1789.

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 389

ELIAS CARRINGTON,

Born May seventeentli, 1734, was the son of Noadiali Carring-
ton, ofWoodbridge. He studied medicine with a Dr. Warner,
settled in Milford about 1758 or '59, and married Esther Nor-
throp, of that town, in 1760? At the age of fifty he became a
member of the New Haven county society, liis name standing
fifth on the roll. Though he paid all his society taxes, I fear
he did not find the meetings edifying, for seemingly he rarely
attended them. He joined the Connecticut Medical Society in
the beginning, but the enrollment of his name appears to liave
satisfied his yearnings for knowledge.

Dr. Carrington sustained a good reputation, and did a large
professional business in Milford and its neighborhood. He
died intestate, August sixth, 1800. The inventory of his estate
amounted to £581-12-4; though nearly £1000 (including
twenty-one volumes of medical books) were distributed to the
widow and six children, namely; Elias, a physician, died, 1836 ;
Ephraim, died, 1801; John, died, 1817; Esther Foster, Sarah
Smith, and Julia. Two sons. Dr. Samuel, Y. C, 1786, and
Abijah, Y. C, 1800, state senator, comptroller, etc., are not
mentioned in the distribution. His widow married Deacon
William Atwater, and died April fourteenth. 1817, aged seventy-
two. (I am indebted to Mr. John W. Carrington, of New York,
for some facts concerning Dr. C.)

. ELNATHAN BEACH

Was the son of John, and the grandson of Capt. Elnathan
Beach, and was born in Cheshire, then a part of Wallingford,
August thirtieth, 1760. Becoming a physician in his native
village, he joined the Medical Society of New Haven Count}-,
and was an active and respected member from the beginning
to the end of its active life. Though young, he was at different
times placed on important committees, stated cases (a short one
was printed in the pamphlet of 1788), paid his shilling tax, and
bore his share of all the burdens. When the Connecticut

340 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

Medical Society was cliartered, he was one of the forty-six cor-
pofators, and was afterward a fellow, and a member of the
examining committee of New Haven county. In 1795 his
townsmen elected him tt) the General Assembly. Intelligent
and competent, he proved himself qualified for the several
positions he occupied. A manuscript case of his on file, though
liaulty in form, proves that his mind was clear and his views
definite — qualities to which some of his contemporaries, with
more reputation, could not lay claim. It is understood that he
gained the confidence of the best people of Cheshire, and was
greatly beloved by his employers ; but a young physician who
settled in the same village. Dr. Cornwall, is said to have made
considerable inroads on his practice. However this may be, he
concluded to remove, and in December, 1795, advertised, in the
Connecticut Journal, his "large and elegant house on the corner
of the green, ten rods south of the meeting house in Cheshire,"
which he had himself built, being "the first frame house in the
town." It afterward became the residence of Eev. Dr. Bronson,
and is now called, I believe, the " Bronson house." In xVugust
following. Dr. Beach notified his debtors to make payment on
or before the thirteenth of September. In the winter following,
as I am informed by Mr. Elihu Yale, he removed to Western
New York, where he settled as a physician in Marcellus. He
opened a store for the sale of dry goods, groceries and medicines,
became a politician, was appointed sheriff of Onondaga county
in 1799, and died, much respected and greatly lamented, in 1801.

THOMAS T. CORNWALL,

As Mr. Elihu Yale informs me, was born in the north part of
Middletown, now Cromwell, May first, 1767, and in early life
removed with his father to Cheshire. He was the medical
student of Dr. Elnathan Beach, and began practice in Trumbull
at the age of twenty-one. After three years he removed to
Clieshire, where he married, July twenty-ninth, 1790, Lucinda,
daughter of Kev. John Foote. She is said to have been a "fine
Greek and Hebrew scholar," who at an early date attracted the

MEDICAL HISTOEY AND BIOGRAPHY. 341

notice of President Stiles. He joined the county society, (of
which he was probably a licentiate,) apparently in 1788, and the
Connecticut Medical Society in 1792 ; but was not active or
influential, holding no office. Possibly he was too busy (as the
phrase is) to attend the meetings. His membership of the last
named society continued till 1809. I find the title of M. D.
appended to his name, but cannot learn how he came by it. A
mistake is possible.

Dr. Cornwall, popular in his manners, facile and flexible, is
said to have run quickly into a good business, to some extent
at the expense of his medical preceptor, Dr. Beach. There may
have been truth in the statement that his methods of obtaining,'
practice were objectionable. Certainly, he was not sufficiently
careful of his reputation, professional or popular. A good name
is worth more than it costs, but the groundlings cannot be
made to think so. Thirty-five or forty years ago, on the border-
land between Waterbury and Cheshire, I used occasionally to
meet Dr. Cornwall in consultation. Though without scientific
culture, he was affable, and. so far as could be discovered, unob-
jectionable in his methods. He was then nearly seven tj^, tall,
and at our last meeting stiff' and bent from rheumatism.
Scarcely ever confined by sickness, he practiced till the last
year of his life, and died February twentieth, 1846, in his
seventy-ninth year.

ELISHA CHAPMAN.

I cannot connect him with any of his name mentioned in the
genealogy of the "Chapman Family;" nor have I been able to
obtain much information from other sources. In March, 1778,
he was "of New Haven," and purchased land in Mount Carmel
society, then a part of New Haven, afterward in Hamden. In
December of the same year, he had married Rebecca, a daughter
of Samuel Bellamy, of New Haven, and through her acquired
a right to considerable real estate at Mount Carmel. From the
frequency with which they bought and sold landed property,
inclusive of family rights, in that place, at this period and after-

342 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

ward, 1 iiifei' tliat tbev lived there, though I have no certain
evidence of the fact. He was made a freeman April twentieth,
1780. I think he could not have resided in New Haven centre
in January, 1784, or he would have signed the ''agreement" of
that date. He was probably not present when the counts-
society was organized, but soon became a member, entering his
name himself At the meeting in October, 1785. he '' delivered
a dissertation," by appointment, and, in July, 1788, reported a
case of erysipelas in writing ; but I cannot find that he did any-
thing more. When the roll of the Connecticut Medical Society
was made out in May, 1793, he appears as a member from
Hamden, where he was still living in September, 1795. Jn
1797, he had removed to North Haven (where he previously
owned land), and in August, 1799, was a delegate from the
church there to the council in Durham, which ordained the
Rev. David Smith. He was dismissed from the Connecticut
Medical Society in April, 1798, but was re-admitted in January,
1800. In November of the last named year, he purchased of
Charles Chauncey, for $2000, three-eighths of an acre of land
in this city, between Union and State streets, with a house
which, before and after February, 1801, he occupied. The
house stood on the easterly side of State street, a little north of
the northerly line of Crown street. In August, 1801, he was
admitted to the United church on certificate.

Dr. Chapman was a member from the beginning of the New
Haven Medical Association, but before the end of the first year
(1803) was charged with " a breach " of the rules. His case,
says the clerk, " was passed over," and meetings were held at
his house, when his turn came, till June, 1806. By an adver-
tisement, dated July first, following, he offered for sale his
house, etc., on State street, with twelve rooms, and a front on
Union street. August fifth, of the same year, he notified his
debtors and creditors that he should leave town for New York
state by the middle of October following, and on the twentieth
of the same month deeded his place to Asa Bradley for $4000.
He removed to the state mentioned before the year closed, and
thus passed from sight.

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 343

Dr. Chapman did not do much business in New Haven, and
probably did not in Hamden and North Haven. He is said to
have been disappointed at his poor success in the city. His
frequent removals indicate restlessness or discouragement,
neither of which is compatible with a prosperous practice. I
suspect he had no abiding love for his profession. If that be
so, the fact accounts for his faltering interest in tlie medical
societies to which he belonged, his frequent absence from the
meetings, his neglect to pay the quarterly assessments, etc.
Whatever his short comings, he had one talent — that of getting
and saving. He is understood to have been a man -of property,
and of a good reputation. In a corporal sense, he was a solid,
" thick set " man.

Dr. Chapman had a son — " Master Elisha Chapman, Jr." —
who died in St. Kitts, July twelfth, 1801, aged fourteen. (See
Conn. Journal, August twelfth, 1801.) I cannot ascertain that
he had other children.

INSiaN HOUGH,

The son of Daniel and Violet (Benton) Hough, was born in
Meriden, then a society of Wallingford, September first, 1746.
In 1769 he commenced practice in his native village, charging
twenty-five cents a visit. His connection with the county
society began probabl}' in 1785, and with the Connecticut
Medical Society in 1793. From the last he withdrew in 1804.
Though he did not often attend medical meetings, he distin-
guished himself throughout as a prompt tax-payer, showing a
willingness to make sacrifices for the common good, and put-
ting to shame the sordid and thoughtless. A short, lively man,
much esteemed as a physician, he paid his last debt, December
third, 1813, at the age of sixty-seven. His wife, Mary, died
February sixth, 1820, aged seventy-two. — As early as 1801,
Dr. Hough was engaged in testing the efficacy of vaccination
as a preventive of small-pox. (See Davis' Wallingford.)

Dr. Hough was succeeded in his practice by his son, Isaac I.
Hough. M. D., an intelligent man, who sustained a high reputa-
tion and did a large business. He was a taverner in the old

844 MKDIOAL HISTORY AM> BIOGRAPHY.

village, and died in i852, weighing about three hundred and
fifty pounds. (Davis' Wallingford.)

NATHANIEL THAYER,

Of Durham? is understood to liave been born in Boston. He
was examined by the committee of the N. H. county society,
and admitted to membership in October, 1789. In November,
1791, he married Anna Fowler, of Durham. In 1792, one
Nathaniel l^hayer was a Litchfield county member of the Con-
necticut Medical Society. About 1800, says Prof. Fowler, he
removed to Lee, Mass., where he practiced many years. His
death occurred in Westfield, Mass., June twenty-fourth, 1824,
at the age of sixty -five,

THOMAS RUGGLES PYNCHON

Was an ingenious and distinguished physician and surgeon
who settled in Guilfoi'd, acc()rding to my information, in 1784.
He was educated in New York and Philadelphia, joined the
county society (probably) in 1784, and the Connecticut Medical
Society soon after its organization. He was a fellow from this
county in 1794: — a period when the choicest of the profession
were selected for that office. His death in 1795 ? was the
result of a fall with his horse down a bank twenty feet high, in
a dark night.

PRESERVED PORTER,

Born November twenty-third, 1729, was the son of Dr. Daniel,
the grandson of Dr. Daniel, (both of Waterbury,) and the great
grandson of Dr. Daniel, of Farmington, the last of whom was
licensed by the General Court, in 1654, and whose salary "in
attending the service of the country " was, in 1671, increased
from six to twelve pounds a year. All were famous bone-
setters, and, if we except the Farmington ancestor, of whom I
cannot speak, were eldest sons. The late Dr. Jesse Porter was
the youngest son, the late Dr. Joseph Porter, the nephew, and

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOOxRAPHY. 345

the still later Dr. Daniel Porter, fourth, the grand nephew, of
Dr. Preserved. The fourth Dr. Daniel, a medical graduate of
Yale College, was, I believe, the last of that lineage of doctors
in Waterbury. He was long an inmate of the insane asylum
at Brattleboro, and died a wanderer at the West, in 1863, aged
fifty-eight.

From the position on the roll of Dr. Preserved Porter's signa-
ture, I conclude that he joined the county society in 1785.
Beyond this there is nothing to show that he took an interest
in this or any other medical society. He had a wide reputa-
tion, in Waterbury and its neighborhood, as a bone-setter and
surgeon, but his practice is believed to have been unscientific,
and his skill to some extent an inlieritance. He married Sarah
Gould, of New Milford, and later, Lydia Welton, and died
October twenty-third, 1803.

ABEL BRONSON,

Of Waterbury, now Middlebury, born May tliirtieth, 1743, was
the son of Lieut. Josiah Bronson. Cothren's Woodbury places
his name among the residents of Woodbury (present limits).
He was the uncle of Silas Bronson, of New York, who left
$200,000 to the city of Waterbury for a public library, and a
more distant relative of Isaac Bronson, the banker, of Green-
field Hill. He married first, Lydia Benham, second, Lydia
Hawkins. Becoming an early but not active or prominent
member of the county medical society, he was placed on the
committee which was to take charge of the "botanical garden,"
probably for the purpose of interesting the rural districts. The
story of his connection with the Connecticut Medical Society is
all told when it is said that he was a member for the first ten
years. Of his professional business, I only know that in the
beginning of the present century he had a hospital, where he
innoculated for small-pox, which the New Haven people some-
times patronized.

The grave-stones of "Dr. Abel Bro^iuison," and of his two
wives, are in the old grave-yard in Watertown. It is there
stated that he died August second, 1805.
44

846 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

ISAAC BA.LDWIN,

Of Waterbury, was a surgeon or surgeon's mate in the Revolu-
tion. In May, 1782, he married Sarah, daughter of Rev. Mark
Leavenworth, of Waterbury. where he built a house for him-
self, still standing, on the south side of Grrand street, a little
east of the old burying yard. He became a member of the
county society in the beginning, and of the Connecticut Medi-
cal Society when that was organized, but seems to have been a
" sleeping ])artner" in both connections. He was esteemed as
a phvsician and man, but having the misfortune to lose a leg,
he removed fi'om Waterbury about 1797. For a few years his
residence was in Sharon, Mass., whence he removed to Great
Barrington, and resumed practice. His grave-stone there says
his death took place February twenty-first, 1814, in his fifty-
ninth year. His wife died February twenty- second, 1793.

The late Dr. Edward Field, a very respectaMe physician of
Waterbury, mari'ied, successively, two of Dr. Baldwin's daugh-
ters. Dr. Frederick Leavenworth of the same place, an eccen-
tric but shrewd and capable man, was Dr. Baldwin's medical
pupil. (See Leavenworth Genealogy.)

NATHAN LEAVENWORTH,

The son of Rev. Mark and Sarah (Hull) Leavenworth, of
Waterbury, was born December eleventh, 1761. In 1778 he
graduated at Yale College, and in 1779 joined tlie continental
army as surgeon's mate. He remained in the service "till the
close of the war, leaving West Point in June, 1784." Immedi-
ately afterward he must have connected himself with the county
society, for in October of that year he settled in the Darlington
district. South Carolina, where he remained in practice till
broken health compelled him to leave in 1793. "Returning
home, he lived an invalid in weakness and pain till his death,"
January ninth, 1799. He never married. — "Leavenworth Post
office," in the above district, established near his residence, and
discontinued since the Rebellion, was named after him (Leaven-
worth Genealogy).

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 347

OSEE (HOSEA) BUTTON,

Of Oxford, an autograph-subscriber, joined the society probably
as early as 1785, after which time I can find no trace of him in
any medical record. The Connecticut Journal says he prac-
ticed in Oxford about forty years, was long the town clerk, and
died January ninth, 1826, aged seventy-two.

AMZI HULL,

Of Woodbridge, became a member of the society about
1785. Like others he was invited "to furnish some observa-
tions on the theory and practice of physic," but apparently
neglected his opportunity to distinguish himself. In the first
years of its existence, he was connected with the Connecticut
Medical Society. I know of nothing else to preserve his
memory except the fact that he left a clean tax record. Ac-
cording to the Connecticut Journal, he died October second,
1795 ; his eldest daughter, January seventh, 179-1; his eldest son
in Octobei', 1794; and his only surviving daughter in Septem-
ber, 1795. His remaining son, Araetius Bevil Hull, was grad-
uated at Yale College in 1807, became a tutor, and afterward
the pastor of the Old South church, of Worcester, Mass. The
doctor lived ''on the great road from New Haven to Litchfield,
six miles from the cit3^" His wife was Mary Ann Kasson, who
afterward married Capt. Gideon Leavenworth.

HEZEKIAH HOOKER,

Of Woodbridge, was probably the son of William and Kachel
(Waller) Hooker, of Woodbury, born June wixth, 1756. (See
Cothren's Woodbury.) On the twenty-third day of March,
1780, he was " of New Haven," and bought of Jabez Bacon,
of Woodbury, two acres of land, bounded " south on the
meeting-house green," in the parish of Bethany, tlien in New
Haven, afterward in Woodbridge. with a house. At the time
of the "Dayton ]-obbery," (March fourteenth, 1780,) says the
author of "Chauncey Judd," he lived by the green in Wood-
bridge. He was an original member (more ornamental than

348 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

useful, :i})|)ai'cutlv) o\ the eouiity society, aud joined the Couuec-
ticut Medical Society in Januaiy, 1793. Administration on his
estate, represented insolvent, was taken out April fourth, 1798.
Dr. Thomas Goodsell was one of the commissioners. Among
his effects are enumerated medical books, saddle-bags and
vials. £318 were distributed to the widow and children.

EDWARD CRAFTE,

Or Crafts, of Derby, w^as an original member of the count}'
and state medical societies. In 1793, he and Liberty Kim-
berly, both of Derby, gave notice in the Connecticut Journal,
that they liad opened a hospital for the innoculation of small-
pox. When, at a county meeting, in 1798, an attempt was
made to collect mortuary and other medical statistics, Dr.
Crafte was appointed to do the work for Derby. Seemingly
he did as much as others, that is, nothing. In 1818 he "was
excused from the burdens of the society," and early in 1821
died, insolvent, his son Edward acting as administrator.

JOSIAH ROOT.

The Root Genealogy makes him the son of Josiah Root, of
Southington, born December seventeenth, 1752. He settled in the
south part of that town, became a surgeon, afterward "apothe-
cary general," in the army of the Revolution, and secured a
pension in later years. His name, affixed to the articles of
the county society in 1785, has appended to it in the hand of
the clerk, "Hon. member;" not probably because any special
honor was intended, but to distinguish him from the ordinary
members living in New Haven count}'. In 1798 he attached
himself to the Connecticut Medical Society, and in April of
that year he (or one with his name) was chosen to collect the
statistics of mortality and disease for Hamden. In January,
1803, the same person (apparentl}') advertised in the New
Haven Visitor for sale in Hamden, "dry goods, groceries, etc.."
and at the same time made known his intention " to continue
his medical profession as usual." After 1798 till his dismis-
sion in 1816, his name was continued on the roll of taxable

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 349

members of New Haven county, though in 1813 and subse-
quently he seems to have lived in Southington. (Mr. Tim-
low's Southington, published since the above was written, says
Dr. Root had returned to Southington in 1805.) He married
April first, 1786, Mirah, daughter of Lemuel Lewis, and died in
Southington, June sixth, 1841. He is described as "a man of
good abilities," and an attractive story-teller,

[The preceding names include all the members of the '"Medi-
cal Society of New Haven County" from iliis county of whom
I have been able to obtain information. From time to time,
in 1785 and afterward, residents of other counties were
admitted to membership, among them Mark Newell and Theo-
dore Wadsworth, of Southington; Anthony Burritt, of South-
bury, then in Litchfield County ; William Shelton, (Y. C,
1788,) M.D., of Huntington ; William Augur Tomlinson, a
young and promising physician of Stratford ; James Eaton
Beach, of Stratford and Bridgeport ; Lewis Beers, of Fairfield
county ; Nathaniel Perry, M.D.. of Woodbury, one of the
most respectable physicians in Litchfield County, and fourth
secretary of the state society ; Joseph Trowbridge. M.D.,
of Banbury : Samuel Mather, M.D., of Lyme ; James Clarke,
M.D., of Stratford, the second secretary of the Connecticut
Medical Society, and an eminent physician ; Amos Mead, M.D.,
an old and prominent practitioner and Whig, of Greenwich,
and James Potter ; the four last, corporators of the state
society. Of all 1 have brief sketches, but shall print in this
connection only the following.]

JAMES POTTER,

Of New Fairfield, now Sherman, is supposed by Dr. Blake-
man (see his presidential address of 1853) to have been born
in Southington. It has been conjectured that he studied
medicine with his relative, Jared Potter, but this is improbable,
for the latter was the younger of the two by several years. In
1780 he was a member of the Litchfield county medical
society, and on the last day of February, officiated at Sharon

350 MKDICAL HIS'IORV ANI> BIOGRAPHY.

in magnificent style, as orator of the day. As he was one of
the most distinguished physicians and citizens of Fairfield
county, his co-operation with others in different parts of the
state, was sought by those who were wrestling with the
state authorities for a medical charter. He united with the
New Haven county society in January, 1791, and was imme-
diately placed on the committee of correspondence, and made
chairman of a special committee to revise the bill pending
before tlie General As^sembly. By his influence and that of
others, a medical society or association was organized in Fairfield
county, and at its first meeting in March, 1792, he was put at
the head of a delegation which was to meet those from other
counties to agree on the provisions of the forthcoming charter.
On the list of corporators his name stands first, an honor yielded
him by the veterans who had labored longer in the cause, in
consideration doubtless of the chief offices of the society which
the latter were to fill. For the first eleven years he was ten
times a fellow, and first on the list from his county nine times.
In 1795 the convention conferred on him the degree of M.D.,
the fifth granted to a citizen of this State. In 1801, when
Drs. Hubbard and Munson, the fathers of the institution, had
been sufficiently rewarded, he was chosen president, the third
in order. The next year he was again elected, but in October,
1803, not being a fellow, his "resignation," says the record,
was "accepted." After his death, February tenth, 1804, at the
age of sixty-seven, the convention which met in May voted that
the " Connecticut Medical Society entertain a high respect for the
merits and zeal of their late President, Dr. James Potter," etc.

Dr. Potter was not only eminent as a physician, but prom-
inent as a citizen. Several times he was a representative
in the Legislature. He was also a member of the Constitu-
tional Convention of 1788, and a justice of the peace, etc. A
popular practitioner, he had a large and widely extended
business, and in his part of the State was considered foremost
in his profession. Dr. Blakeman, however, could " not learn
that he possessed scientific or practical qualifications superior
to many of his brethren in the county." Ardent, devoted to

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 351

his calling, social in his liabits, fond of anecdote, and some-
what famous as a medical instructor ; he was at the same time
ambitious and excessively vain. Dr. Sumner (Proceedings of
the Connecticut Medical Society, 1851,) gives an amusing and
apparently characteristic extract from his oration before the
Litchfield county society in 1780. I have read the published
original, and for elaborate bombast think it excels anything I
have ever seen in print. At this day a good reputation would
have been hopelessly ruined by its delivery or publication.
In October, 1796, he was selected by the convention of fellows,
etc., to pronounce an "oration" before that body in May follow-
ing. I presume it was on this occasion, when on the way to
discharge the duty assigned him, that he was persuaded by
some wags in Reading, where he had stopped over night, to
rehearse his speech, exhibiting himself as he expected to
appear before the convention. Standing in an armed chair, his
pompous manner and magniloquent style furnished measure-
less amusement to a motley crowd of listeners. Dr. Blakeman
describes the scene. The chair so ridiculously distinguished
is still preserved.

EARLY HISTORY OF THE NEW HAVEN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION,
ORGANIZED IN 1803*

[In my historical account of the Medical Society of New
Haven County, I spoke of a manuscript agreement in my posses-
sion by which the physicians (in another place styled the asso-
ciated faculty) of New Haven pledge themselves " in honor" to
abide by certain expressed regulations. It bears the date of
January second, 1784, three days before the organization of
the county society. It is in the hand of Samuel Darling,
and has attached to it the autograph signatures of Leverett
Hubbard, Eneas Munson, Samuel Nesbitt, Levi Ives, Samuel

* The peculiarities of style and thought noticeable in this paper — its occasional
lack of the gravity which befits history — are explained by the fact that it was
originally prepared as part of an address to be read before the Association.
See introductory remarks, p. 239.

352 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIO(iRAPHY.

Darling, Ebenezer Beaivlsley and Jolm Si)al(ling. The snb-
scribei's bonnd themselves in six articles, as follows: to assist
each other in consultation ; to give no answer to tlie application
of any physician or surgeon desirous of settling in the town
till the association had been consulted ; to indicate to the new-
comer that he need not expect to be countenanced or consulted
with till he became a member; to present bills for attendance
when the visits had been discontinued ; to settle book accounts
yearly; to meet monthly, to observe carefully, and to report
'duy extraordiuary cases. A seventh article was added which
prescribes the fees for medical attendance which were double
those which [)revailed before the war. A visit was to be two
shillings; if made in the night, four shillings; in consultation,
six shillings; attending physician in council, three shillings;
detention per hour, one shilling; day mileage, one and six-
pence, and one shilling for the visit; night mileage, three
shillings; mileage on the Sabbath, three shillings, one half to
go to the poor, "if the patient is affluent." The charge for an
emetic was fixed at two shillings, a cathartic, at two shillings,
blood-letting, two shillings. (The country, deadly sick of
depreciated paper money, was then on a specie basis.)

This appears to have been the first medical society in this
part of the State, and to have been intended for a permanent
existence. It used its influence to organize a county society,
and at the preliminary meeting of the latter appeared before it
in a formal address, congratulatory, explanatory and recom-
mendatory. What other notable thing it did. or what finally
became of it, I know not. Had it lived long, I think I should
have found some trace of it]

The New Haven Medical Association, ultimately so-called,
appears from the first entry in the record book to have originated
in "a meeting of the physicians of the city of New Haven, on
the sixth day of January, 1803," to whom application had been
made by the select men for a contract to attend the town's poor
for the ensuing year. At this meeting it was agreed as follows :

f

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 853

1st. Any gentleman of the faculty shall be at liberty to make a contract with
the select men, for the Alms-house alone, for the ensuing year.

2ndly. When any physician shall be called to attend any poor person out of the
Alms-house, he shall remain under the care of the physician first called, unless at
the particular desire of the patient.

3rdly. The following prices shall be the rule by which we will regulate our
charges in the bill to be exhibited to the select men, viz: two shillings for a day
visit in the City ; four shillings for a night visit; one shiUing for a puke; one do
for a piu-ge ; one do. for bleeding ; one do. for a mile travel ; three do. for a visit
to the hospital [pest house] for common cases, and four do. for small pox and
yellow fever ; twenty shillings for obstetrical cases.

These regulations are signed in the hand of John Barker, the

Clerk, by

Levi Ives, Elijah Monson,

Elisha Chapman, Nathaniel Hubbard,

Joel Northrop, John Skinner,

John Barker, Eli Ives,
Obadiah Hotchkiss, Jr.,

Nine in all. Eneas Munson, (sen.) signed afterward, making
ten original members. A little later, John Spalding had be-
come a member, though not a signer.

At an adjourned meeting, held at Justus Butler's (he kept
a tavern on the north westerly corner of Elm and York streets,
afterward on the site of the Post office, on Church street) on
the twentieth of January following, "the gentlemen of the
faculty," often so-called, entered into an "agreement," the
object of which was, in the words of the record, "to establish
the practice of physic in this citj on a respectable footing ; to
enable ourselves to live by the profession ; to promote a good
understanding and harmonious intercourse with each other; to
avoid the disgraceful practice of undermining one another by
doing business for a less compensation [than the established
prices], and to exclude from our communion every person who
shall obtrude himself among us without a regular introduction,
and conforming to our established rules of practice." Connected
with this statement of objects and motives is a general "fee-
table" (afterward a famous topic for discussion) which fixes the
charge for an ordinary visit at fifty cents, for a consultation
visit at one dollar, and so on ; the prices in all cases being fifty
per cent higher than the town paid for its poor. A discount
45

354 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

might he made in behalf of neeily patients. The main object
of the meeting appears to have been accomplished when the fee-
table was adopted. Through its magic influence, "a good
understanding and harmonious intercourse " were to be secured,
and "the disgraceful practice of undermining one another " bj
undercharging to be abolished. To the jireamble which I have
quoted (which is copied with little alteration in every revision
of the articles of association) and the fee table are appended, all
except the two last in the hand of the clerk, thirteen names,
that of Eneas Munson heading the list. Among them that of
Joel Northrop, before given, is not found ; while those of James
Gilbert, Henry Mead, Thomas Goodsell and Timothy P. Beers
(appearing at the bottom of the list) must have been added at
a later date.

At the next meeting at Dr. [Levi] Ives', there were not
members enough present to do business ; but at the next fol-
lowing one, February fifteenth, the clerk was dire<3ted to make
a copy of the agreement, signed by all the members for " each
gentleman of the faculty," for which service he was to receive
twenty-live cents per copy. At the same meeting, '' the price
of innoculating for kine pox," then lately introduced in this
country, was fixed at three dollars. It thus continued till after
1808.

At an adjourned meeting, at Dr. Northrop's, May tenth,
1803, certain rules of proceeding at the meetings were adopted.
These required that cases should first be called for by the
chair; then a question, proposed at the next previous meet-
ing, was to be discussed. Five were to make a quorum, and
two could adjourn. The clerk was allowed six cents each for
notices of meetings. At the next meeting held two weeks
afterward, at Dr. Skinner's, the first question — "What is the
nature or cause of jaundice?" was discussed, and "determined
by an unanimous voice." The second question was "What is
the nature and best mode of treating angina maligna?"; the third,
"What is the nature of ciioler, vulgarly so-called?" During
the summer the meetings were discontinued owing " to the
shortness of the evenings and the multiplicity of business,"

MEDICAL PIISTORY AXD BIOGRAPHY. 855

but were renewed in November, when "brother Chapman was
cited to answer to a breach of our agreement.'' At the next
meeting, ''his answer being absent, [the subject] was passed
over for the present." Thus matters went on much as thej
did seventy years later.

At the beginning of the new year (1804). when the "agree-
ment'' entered into had expired by its terras, a vote was passed
to renew it "with respect to prices with our customers," but to
charge for town paupers the same as for others. Any member
however might make a contract with the town at not less than
twenty-tive cents a visit. These weighty matters — the fee-table
and the alms-house question — being settled, the interest in the
meetings seemed to die out, and the society itself was in
danger of perishing. At length, when the prospect was gloomv
enough, some ingenious member proved equal to the occasion,
and proposed a successful remedy. At the meeting held May
first, five only in attendance, " it was agreed that each member
present should undertake to bring his man this night, one week,
and present him to the meeting at Dr. Eli Ives'.'' At the same
time Eneas Munson and Eli Ives were chosen "a committee to
report ways and means whereby a more punctual attendance
may be effected."

On the eighth of May, 1804, each agreeing member appears
to have " brought his man," according to contract, there being
but two absentees. The committee on " ways and means " made
a formal report, proposing additions to the rules. They
" observed " and thought it " necessary " that the oldest member
present should be chairman or moderator ; that no person
should be allowed to speak more than once on the same subject
(except by permission), or to digress, or to relate any anecdote
or story, or to take any "refreshment" (liquor), till the cases
had been reported and the question discussed ; that some one
should " read a dissertation upon Anatomy or any other part of
physic as often as every meeting ;" that the meetings should be
held at four o'clock, P. M., on the first Wednesday in each
month ; and that a fine of twenty-five cents should be imposed
for absence, and twelve and a half for tardiness. The report

356 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOrxRAPHY.

was " accepted " (adopted), and lively times followed. At the
June meeting, all being present but three, the question " Is
bleeding ever admissible in indirect debility?" was discussed,
but not disposed of. At the meeting in July (two absentees
only) it was "largely discussed," ever}^ one present taking a
part. Three dissertations were also read on the subject by Drs.
Munson, Eli Ives and J. Barker. At the close, the question
was settled by a negative vote " with but one dissenting voice,"
certain ponderous reasons for the decision being entered in the
record. At the same meeting Drs. Munson, Northrop and
Barker were selected as " a committee to collect the evidences
of the efficacy of kine pox." At the next meeting in August,
their report was "heard and accepted which [business] took up
the whole afternoon." The report was so satisfactory that a
vote was passed to print it in a newspaper, at the expense of
the Association. On the ninth of August and subsequently, in
1804, a paper (supposed to be the one named in the record)
appeared in the Connecticut Journal, signed by Eneas Munson,
chairman, and John Barker, clerk. It is not forcibly or
creditably v^ritten. At a later period, it was agreed, after dis-
cussion, that the asthenic inflamation of Brown had no existence.
Still later, " 'twas allowed that a certain state of the atmosphere
was the remote cause " of dysentery, while " 'twas agreed that
heat, cold, acrid bile (and the want of it) were the proximate
causes."

The new zeal of which I have spoken proved to be a tem-
porary spasm. It soon passed away, leaving the evidences of
expended energy — languor, weariness and indifference — all
symptoms of " indirect debility " following excitement, the
nature of which, but not the remedy, had just been, decided by
vote. Early in 1805, the interest in the meetings had evidently
subsided, and toward the end of the year had nearly expired.
Too often the clerk was obliged to write " no quorum," "no
business," "four present," "two present," "none present,"
" members came in too late for business," "question postpon-
ed," or (apologetically) " streets mudd3^'' " weather rainy," etc..
etc. The fines imposed were apparently not paid. Not even

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 357

the fee-table had power to rouse the comatose " faculty ;" for
in July, 1806, when the subject was called up, it was apatheti-
cally decided to do nothuig. Occasionally, it is true, some
unusal occurrence would call forth an unwonted demonstration.
In April, 1807, the festive Dr. N. Hubbard, fortunately as it
were, was accused of "contracting with the select men contrary
to our agreement." To hear the defence, nine members assem-
bled ! To the committee which had been appointed to confer
with him, Hubbard pretended ignorance of the rule, and
agreed to give up the contract. But he did not appear to
make his own statement as he had promised. Whereupon a
vote was passed that he be " specially warned " for the next
meeting. He heeded the summons, bringing "a line from one
of the select men stating that he had made no contract !" Thus
" the matter was cleared up," and harmony reigned.

The Association continued "to drag its slow leno;th alons;,"
leading a beggarly, precarious life, till some of its kind friends
became alarmed. It was evident that the " do-nothing " policy
would extinguish it utterly. At length, at a meeting held
October twenty -eighth, 1807, five members only present, " the
evening was spent in conversation about the threatening aspect
of our Association," etc. The touching question whether it
should be continued — -in other words, whether its life were
worth saving — was proposed for the next meeting, November
tenth. So extreme was the apathy that few assembled, and
the question was not discussed till December seventh, when it
"was unanimously concluded to continue it." The instinctive
love of offspring, and the assiduous care of the faithful, rescued
the society for the time. There was an awakening. New
energy inspired the members ; a few spirited meetings, as I
infer from the notes of the clerk, were held, but erelong the old
disease marked by listlessness, torpor and abseuieeis/n returned.
The case however had not yet become desperate. " The mis-
conduct of a member " — the same who had befoi-e been
threatened for a breach of the rules — came seasonably to
the relief of the society. It may have prevented a decisive
catastrophe. The accused was notified of the charges, June

358 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

sixtli, 1808. He stayed from the meetings and wrote letters.
At last he "came in but was called awa)^," and the case was
" laid over." He proved refractory, and would not be "brought
to a sense of his duty." At last, at the fifteenth meeting from
the citation, seven present and three absent, an unanimous vote
of censure and non-intercourse was passed, which was unani-
mously ratified at the next meeting, " every membei' being
present but Dr. Eneas Munson." This vote, signed by the
members, did the business — brought the delinquent to terms.
After remaining "out in the cold" six months, he sent in his
written confession (copied by the clerk), in whicli he acknowl-
edges his short-comings, expresses his sorrow, and promises
reformation. He was of course again received into fellowship.
Three years later, the same individual became once more the
subject of discipline. At length, after summary measures had
been threatened, he came forward and " made his defence."
This not proving satisfactory, he made " a clean breast of it, '
" confessed liis faults, promised to adhere to the articles of
association, and was restored to favor by an unanimous vote."

In March, 1810, Dr. James Grilbert withdrew from the Asso-
ciation "without assigning any reasons." In retaliation, a vote
was passed to " withdraw from him," and to refuse his aid in
consultations — " present Eneas Munson, L. Ives, J. Barker, O.
Hotchkiss, Elijah Munson, J. Skinner, N. Hubbard, E. Ship-
man and E. Ives." (Except on great occasions, when a vote
was expected to crush by its weight, it was not the custom at
that period to give the names of those present.)

As time wore on the Association gave still more alarming-
proofs of expiring vitality. During the last five months of

1811, but two meetings were held, and at the last of these the
members came in too late to discuss the question. In January,

1812, a vote was passed "to attend the poor out of the alms
house at one and sixpence per visit, and to supply medicines
at half price." I^his business seemed to use up the remaining
strength of the society. But four other meetings (I am guided
by the record) were held during the year. At two of these
there was no quorum; at another, no business but the admis-

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 359

sion of a new member, Timothy P. Beers. After July, 1812,
there is no evidence of a meeting till December twenty-seventh,
1814, twenty-nine months, when eight members assembled, to
wit: Drs. Eneas Munson, L. Ives, 0. Hotchkiss, Elijali Munson,
J. Skinner, Eli Ives, J. Knight, and T. P. Beers, and voted "that
the price of a visit should be seventy-five cents," with liberty
to charge fifty cents ; the consultation fee to be one dollar and
a half. With this expiring kick, the Association, which for
more than eight years had led a useful but somewhat sickly
life, again went under, and for three dark, dreary years uttered
no sound and made no sign. But it was not utterly defunct.
The result proved that it had gone into winter quarters and
was hybernating ; or rather had entered the cocoon stage of
life and become a chrysalid. It had gone through the caterpil-
lar or grub stage; had crawled on the ground its allotted time,
and had now retired to prepare by purification and metamorpho-
sis for a final resurrection and higher life. * * * *
* -X- ***** *

Just what happened during that long night of Cimmerian
gloom (between December, 1814, and January, 1818) may
never be known. Let us not be too inquisitive, but with
averted faces await the break of day. On the fifth of January,
1818, morning came. At that memorable date, in the month
of alms-house and fee-table questions, the physicians of New
Haven met at Dr. Ives'. Dr. T. P. Beers was chosen clerk, and
the prostrate Association was placed again on its legs. Drs,
Knight, Zerah Hawley, Samuel Punderson, John Tits worth, A.
S. Jones, and John Bennet were voted members. Drs. Knio;ht
Beers, and Punderson were chosen a committee to revise the
articles of association. At the next meeting, January twelfth,
their report " was unanimously agreed to." A vote was also
passed — provoked b}' a vicious practice which the select men
had fallen into of ''docking bills " — to charge for attending the
town's poor the same as for other patients. A suit was to be
brought if payment was refused, the costs, if the suitor failed,
to be borne by the Association. Ten years afterward, a claim
(under this rule apparently) was made on the Association, "for

360 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

the expenses of his suit," by Dr. Beers, but the case "was set-
tled satisfactorily."

The revised regulations, embraced in thirteen articles, with a
preamble, are similar to those adopted in 1808 and 1804, and to
those which continued in operation till 1842, when considerable
additions were made. The rules as to "refreshments" (liquors
chiefly were meant), monthly meetings and fines were not
changed. Following the articles is the fee-table revised, fixing the
visit at seventy-five cents, the night visit and consultation visit
each one dollar and a half, etc. Appended to all are fourteen
names, autographs, viz : J. Knight, Eli Ives, Timo. P. Beers, V.
M. Dow, S. Punderson, Jr., John Titsworth, Alfred S. Monson,
Charles Hooker, J. F. Hunt, J. T. Denison, J. P. Herrick,
Thomas Hubbard, Nathan B. Ives, Henry D. Bulkley. Several
names are not in the list, while the last eight must have been
added at a later date.

After its resurrection, the Association prospered moderately,
but did not lose its constitutional infirmities. Twenty-one
meetings were held (or appointed) in 1818. Of eight of these
the inevitable "no quorum" or "no business " makes up the
whole record. In the spring of 1821, there were more decided
symptoms of collapse. At the nine meetings which intervened
between May seventh and December tenth, exclusive, there
were not, at any one, members enough present to attempt busi-
ness. At the last date, the oft-recurring pauper question came
up, infusing a little animation which sufficed for four meetings,
when a wet blanket in the form of "bad weather" quenched
all the fire. Five months later, when matters were again
looking desperate, all the members "usually warned" were
gathered in council at Dr. Punderson's, to wit : Eneas Monson,
E. Ives, J. Knight, T. P. Beers, J. Skinner, J. Titsworth, S.
Punderson, A. S. Monson, and Z. Hawley, nine in all. It was
then and there agreed (languidly doubtless) that some one
should write on the question selected for discussion, but no one
did write. In the following January (1824), "all present ex-
cept Dr. Beers," it was again agreed that some member should
read an essay at each meeting, in "catalogical order," but there

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 861

was no readiug in any order. In December of this year, the
Association made its first formal contract with the selectmen
for attendance on the town's poor "both in and out of the alms
house."' Each member attended at the latter his proportion of
the year, the order being determined by lot. The contract was
renewed from year to year. The compensation was at first
$140. In 1829 it was increased to $1H0 ; in 1853 to $300.

At several meetings held in April, May and June, 1825, the
question of starting "a periodical publication in this city, to be
conducted by the members of this Association" was agitated.
At one of these, each member was required to prepare a com-
munication for the contemplated work. Beyond this nothing
apparently was done. But a better fate awaited another move-
ment. On the first day of May, 1826, the expediency of estab-
lishing a hospital in New Haven came up for consideration.
E. Ives, T. P. Beers, A. S. Monson and J. Skinner were chosen
"a committee to draft a report on, the subject." They sub-
mitted articles, nine in number, which were in substance to be
embraced in an act of incorpoi'ation. These were approved,
and the Greneral Hospital Society of Connecticut was chartered
by the Legislature then in session. A warm interest was also
taken in the rising temperance reformation. As early as Feb-
ruary, 1827, the Association, by an unanimous vote, passed res-
olutions designed to forward the enterprise, and provided for
their publication in the newspapers. . One of these alleges that
of tlie ninety-four deaths of persons over twenty occurring in
this town in 1826, "more than one-third were caused or has-
tened, directly or indirectlj^, by intemperance," and that there
was a similar proportion in the two preceding years.

At the first meeting in January, 1828, an important move-
ment was initiated. Drs. Beers and Dow were chosen a com-
mittee to ascertain the best method of obtaining a correct list
of the deaths of the city. Some of the aldermen promised to
bring the matter before the city council. As the result of the
movement, Virgil M. Dow was selected by the Association to
keep the obituary record — a service which he faithfullj^ per-
formed, without reward and with little assistance, till his health
46

362 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

failed in June, 1851, when he resigned. An attempt was also
made to keep a birth-record but without success.

In the mean time the Association had not rugged liealth.
It appeared vigorous at times, but it was subject to ill turns —
had somnolent attacks and ague rits — and was largely at the
mercy of the "weather" and its other enemies. Still there was
from 3^ear to year a little improvement in health and constitu-
tion. In 1825 twenty-five meetings were warned with only
eight perfect failures. In July, 1826, a vote was passed to
meet every Monday at two p. m. (The weekl}^ meetings con-
tinued al)out nine months.) At the same time the system of
tines (which hitherto seems not to have been enforced) was re-
vised. During the remainder of tl:ieyear regular meetings were
held, and something done at each. On the first of January,
1827, the "weather was stormy," and few attended. The fines
incurred by absentees were remitted at the next meeting. But
this vote (by skillful manoeuvering, probably) was "reconsid-
ered and rescinded" at the meeting which followed. In April,
those members who exposed themselves to fines were to be al-
lowed to " commute " at one dollar a quarter, and when the
weather was stormy were to be excused wholly. In January,
1830, some having made an improper use of the stormy clause,
it was voted that no one should be excused on acconnt of
weather. At a still later period, (March, 1833,) "the system of
fining for being absent and tardy was by vote abolislied,"
while unpaid fines were "cancelled." This vote (by more
strategy, seemingly) was rescinded in May, but the anti-penalty
members again carried their point, December, 1833. Thus
ended the attempt to make the attendance on the meetings com-
pulsory. In the revised articles which were adopted in June,
1835, the clause imposing fines for delinquency was omitted.

The rule prescribing fines was in operation seven years and
a half. During the whole period there seem to have been col-
lected (judging from the accounts of the clerks kept on the last
leaves of the first volume of records) $82.46. Of this sum,
$18.37 were paid during the first year (1826-7). The delin-
quents who paid it, with the amounts, were the following :

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 363

N. Smith, $4 ; T. P. Beers, $3.87^ ; E. Ives, J. Knight, and C.
Hooker, each $2.37^ ; Y. M. Dow, 0.87^ ; J. F. Hunt, $0.75 ;
A. S. Monson, $0.75; A. Wolcott, $0.62^: S. Punclerson,
$0.37|^. Dr. Skinner's is the only name which is not found in
this list. As he was not then a practitioner, he may have been
(by consent) excused from payment.

So soon as the fining system was given up, it was deemed
necessary to call in the aid of other means to secure punctuality,
and make the meetings more interesting. A plan was adopted,
February third, 1834, which required that the member "at
whose house the meeting was held " should make a written
communication on some subject, chosen by himself, which
should be the regular subject for discussion, no excuse except
for " adequate cause " to be received. Within a year fif-
teen papers were read by eleven members. But the effort
proved exhausting, and the Association returned to its old
routine — the statement of cases with a poor attendance. Com-
mittees, however, were set to work in good time on the articles
of Association and the fee-table, when the skies brightened.
In the new articles which were adopted May eighth, 1835, the
meetings were to be held every second Monday. The charge
for a visit was soon after raised to one dollar; consultation
visits and night visits each to two dollars, etc. The effect was
doubtless exhilerating; but as the weather continued "stormy,"'
I conclude that the changes in the articles, considered as in-
centives, were not the equivalent of the fines discontinued.

JOHN BARKER.

He was the son of Capt. Joshua Barker, of Lebanon, Conn.,
where he was born in 1757. His father s sister, Bethiah, was
the mother of the late Judge Simeon Baldwin, of New Haven.
After graduating at Yale College in 1777, he studied medicine
with Dr. John Barker, of his native town, who was probably
his uncle. Jul}' 18, 1784, he married Huldah, daughter of
E-ev. Stephen White, of Windham, and sister of Dj^er White
of New Haven. He settled in North Carolina, where, accord-

864 MEDICAL HISTORY AXD BIOGRAPHY.

ino- to his own statement, lie spent (a part, perhaps all, of the
time in Bath) the first ten years of his professional life. While
returning to Connecticut by sea, his infant daughter " was
washed out of her mother's arms " and drowned, July 28d,
1788. Thenceforth for a season his residence was in Wind-
ham. On the a])pearance of yellow fever in the summer of
1794, he had removed to New Haven. On the second of No-
vember of that 3'ear his wife became a member of Dr. Dana's
church. In October, 1802, he bought of Thomas Finch, for
$1100, twenty rods of laud on the southerly side of George
street, some fifty feet east of the easterly line of Temple street,
with a house and buildings ; the former yet standing though
apparently near its end. Here he resided.

I find Dr. Barker's name on the roll of the Connecticut Med-
ical Society in 1798. He afterward became one of the most
influential and respected of its members, both in conventions
and count}^ meetings. He was a fellow eleven years between
1801 and 1812, inclusive; one of the committee of examination
for New Haven county in 1802, 1803 and 1804 ; secretary from
1805 to 1809, inclusive; and vice president in 1812 in which
year he received the degree of M.D. Of the measures which
were adopted by the society to establish the Medical Institution
of Yale College, he was an active supporter. He was also
chairman of the committee to select and ]3ul)lish the "Commu-
nications " in a pamphlet of seventy-eight pages, which appeared
in 1810, and was a member of several other important com-
mittees.

In 1795 Dr. Barker wrote an essay on the yellow fever which
prevailed in New Haven the year previous, covering twenty-
two foolscap pages. The mutilated manuscript is in my pos-
session. Those portions of it which relate to the origin and
progress of the disease and the circumstances attending it, have
a permanent interest.* In May, 1806, the doctor read before
the county meeting " a very ingenious dissertation," so called
b}^ the clerk. Dr. Farnhain. It may be the case which was

* I liave transcribed the portions referred to, beginning with the first page
which has been preserved. See page o6G.

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 365

published in the pamphlet above referred to, and entitled " An
Aiiection of the Right Ovarium," covering two and a half
pages. The case is sufficiently uncommon, but as pi^esented, it
suggests no improvement in theory or practice, and conse-
quently has no scientific value.

When the New Haven Medical Association was organized,
in January, 1803, Dr. Barker was in attendance prepared to do
his part. He was chosen clerk, and continued faithfully to
perform the duties of the office till his death, ten years after.
A punctual attendant of the meetings, he appears to have
borne much more than his share of the burdens, and to have
contributed largely to perpetuate the association, and give it
respectability. Its decadance and final temporary extinction
was probably in part due to the loss of his services and influ-
ence. The record as kept by him (altogether too brief) covers
thirty-four pages, every entry of which was made l)y himself.
He wrote a plain, uniform, not elegant, but quite legible hand,
which scribes would do well to imitate. Though his powers
of expression and condensation (notwithstanding his large ex-
perience) were not always equal to the occasion, his services as
clerk or secretary were much sought. Besides holding that
office in the Connecticut Medical Society for five years, he per-
formed its duties for the New Haven county meetings one year,
and for Trinity^ parish during nearly the whole time of his resi-
dence in New Haven. Of the Episcopal society he was in
truth a much respected member, and more than once (in 1798
and 1801) was a delegate to the diocesan convention. In civil
life he held the commission of justice of the peace many
years in the latter part of his life.

Dr. Barker's business — it was a general practice — was not as
large as that of some others, but it steadily increased as his
merits became known till it reached a respectable amount. He
attended several of the "first families" in the city, and to a
large extent had the confidence of his associates and friends in
Trinity parish. Popular opinion gave him an honorable posi-
tion as a man of professional and scientific attainments, and the
facts which I have been able to collect are in accord with this

'S^yii MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

opinion. He was not only an esteemed physician but a good
citizen and neighbor, plain, nnassaming, peaceable, mild in his
manners, exemplary and trustworthy — a person whom all re-
spected. If I do not mistake the indications, he was more dis-
tinguished for usefulness than brilliancy — for practical rather
than speculative talent or genius. He was above the ordinary
size, impulsive, hypochondriacal at times, and thriftless in
money matters.

Dr. Barker died Februaiy 24:th, 1813, aged 55. His disease,
po])ularly supposed to have been taken from Capt. Abel Den-
ison whom he attended, was called southern fever. His wife,
Huldah, died September 19th, 1848, aged 88. Their children
were :

Julia: b. Nov. 25, 1786; died unmd. in New Haven, June
22, 1855: a daughter; b. July 2, 1788; drowned July 28,
1788: John; b. March 17, 1791; died at sea Aug. 26, 1820:
Charlotte; b. May 18, 1795; d. June 24, 1803: Charles; b.
July 4, 1799; d. Sep. 4, 1822, in New York City, unmd.:
William ; b. June 8, 1802 ; d. Oct. 25, 1833, in North Carolina ;
married and left one child : George W. ; b. Feb, 9, 1805 ; d. in
Waverly, Illinois, Nov. 22, 1843 ; married and left tive chil-
dren.

[Dr. Barker'^s account of Yelloio Fever in New JTaveti, in 1794.]

After a conflict of five days, with symptoms unusually vio-
lent and complicated, and not fairly bearing the type of our
common remittents, she [Mrs. Isaac Gorham, the first attacked]
died on the fifteenth [of June].

About the time that Mrs. Gorham died, Mr. Elijah Austin,
merchant, and Mr. Henry Hubbard, his clerk, both sickened
and were attended with like symptoms not only to those of
Mrs. Gorham but those of each othei". They were both from
home when taken sick, the former in New York, the latter at
Derby. They died within a few hours of each other on the
twentieth. About the time of the death of these two gentle-
men, a son of Isaac Gorham was taken sick witli like symp-
toms, and he died on the twentv-sixth.

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOORAPHY. 367

The very sudden death of four persons who were daily em-
ployed within a small distance (for the store of Mr. Austin was
separated from Mr. Gorham's house only by a narrow yard
about two rods wide) spread alarm through the city, and the
inquiry soon became general — What is the disease and from
whence did it originate ?

It has been observed above that the disease of which Mrs.
Gorham died had not in fact acquired a name owing to the
novelty and complication of the symptoms. Not only the sud-
denness of her death and the anomalous nature of her disease,
but those also of Mr. Austin, Mr. Hubbard and young Gorham,
all within so short a space, occasioned much speculation among
the citizens at large, and drew from every physician of the city
some observations upon the nature and origin of the disease ;
and as their opinions on both points were not unanimous, it
was not to be expected that the citizens would agree. While
one party, headed and supported in their opinion by an elderly
and respectable physician [Dr. Eneas Munson ?], was recom-
mending strenuous exertions as necessary and the only eflPectual
means to prevent the spread of the disease ; another party no
less powerful, and supported by a physician, an older man [Dr.
Leverett Hubbard?], and not less esteemed for his respectability
and usefulness in the city, was declaring it no ways different
from the prevailing epidemic of the preceding months only in
the degree of its malignit^^ Tliese two opposite opinions, sup-
ported by two such respectable physicians, produced conflicting
sentiments, and caused much delay in the adoption of effectual
measures to stay the progress of the pestilence.

I am sensible the current of opinion among the citizens is in
favor of a foreign importation of a contagion [in yellow fever].
I confess there are several circumstances that favor such an
opinion, viz : its never having existed among us before — its
beginning in a family who lived adjacent to where a vessel lay
that had been employed in the W. Indies to transfer the sick
with the fever from place to place — tlieir keeping a public house
and entertaining sailors from the vessel — and the possibility for
some time after the fever began to spread, of tracing it from that

3f>8 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

source in most of the instances where it broke out. Be it so
that all these circumstances are strictly true, and not only so but
that the contagion was actually imported in the suspected vessel
(for I think it safer to act under this belief than wholly discard
the idea), etc.

The vegetation put forth earl 3^ in the mouth of May, and
was as forward as usual ; yet by the middle of the month it
was very mucii checked by drouth, and vegetables were on the
decline. Had it not been for a refreshing rain on the twenty-
third and twenty-fourth the whole face of the earth would have
been clothed in sackcloth. Had alternate showers and sunshine
succeeded to these rains at short intervals during the remainder
of the spring and fore part of summer, we should in all proba-
bility have had a healthy season, at least if we can infer any-
thing from the contagion taking no effect in other places where
some of our citizens sickened with the fever and died.

I think the inference is plain there was a different cause to
render it active here, and this I conceive must be the state of
the air. Here the question naturally arises — Where within the
limits of our city are the sinks of filtii and putrefaction capable
of producing such a change of air as to be followed by such a
dreadful pestilence? * * * Cabbages were so much dam-
aged by it [the early drouth], that they never recovered during
the summer season. They were in a remarkable manner cov-
ered with putrid spots, but few of them headed, and they
wilted away in the fall without coming to perfection. But in
what is called the creek which runs parallel by the side of
Union street, and by the aid of springs which are numerous
upon its borders, vegetation was, as usually is the case, kept
alive later, notwithstanding the drouth, than in other parts of
tlie town — a much greater quantity [of vegetation] and that in
greater luxuriance was left there to purify when those springs
dried up than in places which partook less of moisture.

In the common channel of the creek, the tide usually ebbs
and flows about one third of its length. The rest of the way
it has been so filled and raised by art for the purpose of build-
ing necessaries, hog-pens, tan-houses and stables with the other

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGKAFHY. 369

convenience of gardens, that common tides never affect it.
Thus, then it is easy to conceive in a dry season, when there
are no rains for a series of weeks and months to wash away the
filth from the sources of corruption, there must be a great
accumulation of concentrated effluvia. It may be further ob-
served, in addition to what is usual, that in one of the tan
yards upon this creek, and contiguous to the seat of the
greatest sickness, were thrown a large quantity of putrid seal
skins brought in from the South Seas, about the time the fever
began ; that these so impregnated the air with their noxious
effluvia, the inhabitants were very much incommoded, and were
compelled to keep their windows shut next to the yard; that
these skins were thrown after a while into vats, and then
tanned, in the course of the season, to the great anno3^ance of
the neighborhood ; that besides the very offensive and stinking-
mud natural to the creek, it is a common receptacle for dead
cats and dogs, and many other animals that happen to die within
a considerable distance of it. It was no uncommon thing to
see some of these animals lying dead in the streets during the
sickness and especially cats, perhaps starved to death in the
absence of the families to which they belonged. These circum-
stances all conspired to contaminate the air; and as before
hinted, perhaps the blending of animal and vegetable putrid
exhalations thus together serves in some degree to account for
that variation, and for their possessing a higher degree of
malignancy than has been common in the yellow fever.

But if vegetable putrefaction and exhalation are essential
to the production of yellow fever, it may be inquired how it
should begin so low down upon the wharf where no vegetables
grow, rather than upon the creek where it might have had the
aid. of such exhalations, so necessary an ingredient in the com-
position of generating causes to the fever. The answer to such
an inquiry appears to me to be involved in no more difficulty
than why a person living constantly exposed to cold northerly
winds should escape an attack of pleurisy or any other acute
fever, and his next-door neighbor, living in a valley and never
exposed to such a wind, should be attacked by those fevers.
4V

370 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

The cause, when it exists in the air, may as easily be conveyed
to one as the other ; and it is a fact well known that exhala-
tions often communicate diseases at the distance of half a mile.
But in accounting how the exhalations from putrid vegetables,
if they did exist upon the creek or near the water side, should
be conveyed down upon the wharf as far as Gorham's house, I
presume we need not have recourse to supernatural causes; a
very natural one may be given for it. It is, I believe, agreeable
to the observations of eveiy one acquainted with the phenomena
of tides ebbing and flowing, that the contiguous air is so much
influenced by them that it follows them in their course by
ebbing and flowing with them. This, as ebb tides leave the
earth bare below Grorham's house twice in every twenty-four
hours, would in all probability draw the land breeze after them
as often in the coarse of every day. — Why not convey any
exhalations with which the air is pregnant along with it? * *

This naturally directs our attention to the wharf and its
appendages, the first place within the city affected by the
disease. It is composed of marsh sods bound together by the
roots of marsh vegetables ; and perhaps each sod contains a
number of mussels. These are thrown into a promiscuous
heap within a wooden frame which forms the outlines of the
wharf, and serves to confine the sods within certain bounds,
and to secure it from the wasting effects of the surrounding
waters. Here they are left in a succulent state exposed to the
heat and sun to undergo a fermenting process. Being deprived
of their common nutriment, they necessarily form a mass of
putrefaction, from whence exhalations arise of a nature destruc-
tive to the health of the inhabitants. The best method perhaps
to secure ourselves against these exhalations would be to cover
the sods about a foot deep with gravel and sand, and to empty
on pitch sufficient to form a crust about an inch thick.

[Dr. Barker finds other causes which corrupted the air on the
wharf. The cellars of the houses and stores were sunk below
the tides, and in many cases below the flats. Oftentimes these
contained putrid vegetables, such as potatoes, cabbages, etc.,
while ventilation was neglected.] The scrapings of fish often

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 371

cleaned and left in large quantities on the wharf, or thrown by
the side of it : boat-loads of clams thrown upon the flats, and a
great part of them left there till they became putrid; the
blood, harslets and bowels of beeves, sheep, etc., killed at the
slaughter-house on tlie head of the wharf, with all the other
filth and nastiness of such places lying during the spring and
summer months, above high-water mark, in a putrid state;
these are the nuisances on and about the wharf, and contribute
greatly to impregnate the air with noxious particles very un-
favorable to the health of its inhabitants.

NATHANIEL HUBBARD,

A son of Col. Leverett Hubbard, was baptized by Eev.
Mr. Whittlesey, August eleventh, 1765. Supposed to have
studied medicine with his father, he began practice early.
About 1785 he enrolled himself as a member of the Medical
Society of New Haven County ; but except in this instance his
name is not found on the record book. His connection with
the Connecticut Medical Society may be thus described in full :
He joined it at the first county meeting, September fourth,
1792 ; he was elected a fellow in 1796 ; he was " excused," etc.,
(i. e., dismissed), January fourth, 1820. Of the New Haven
Medical Association he was an original and more conspicuous
member. He had a convivial infirmity which sometimes led
him astray, and it is said that the "regulation" denying "re-
freshments" till the business had been disposed of was aimed
at him. Much trouble and some amusement grew out of his
erratic, "unprofessional conduct." Of the " rules and regula-
tions" which were made to control festive and eccentric mem-
bers, he was a hardened transgressor ; but when caught and
brought to the block was a model of humility and contrition.
At one time, when given up as an incorrigible offender grown
more contumacious from justice's delay, he was ignominiously
expelled and declared an outlaw; but erelong he came for-
ward, a penitent, and like the returning prodigal was received
with open arms and a tender embrace. When the association

372 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

was awakened from its prolonged apoplectic sleep in January,
1818, and the roll was again called, no answer came from him.
He was not dead, but "plai'^ed out," as the phrase is.

Dr. Hubbard commenced practice with advantages that are
rarely possessed. His father was then at the height of his
reputation, and at an age when one is willing, not to lose his
business, but to transfer a part of it — the drift-wood and
parings first — ^to some hopeful son. The name and blood
alone were a large inheritance for a young physician — a lifting
power to be relied on. Though medical men do not believe
skill in physic hereditary, it is difficult to make sick people
think it is not. Sustained by these external props — parental
aid, family influence and popular bias — young Hubbard could
scarcely fail of success. Improving his opportunities, he soon
obtained a good business, and ultimately became a famous ac-
coucheur. In his chosen branch, he had for many years after
his father's death (in 1 794) much more practice than any other
one in the city. He was a great favorite of expectant mothers,
and during his better days, the impression was general that no
woman could be safel}^ confined without his assistance. If he
happened to be out of the way, and another was called in, the
patient, it is said, did not thrive till he was found. One enthu-
siastic admirer declared she had rather have him drunk than
another sober. After his habits became so bad that no one
could rely on him, it is reported that those likely to need his
aid were accustomed to shut him up seasonably, and keep him
under lock and key, till his services wei*e wanted. He was one of
those men, more common half a century ago than now, who were
great doctors if you could but catch them sober. I suppose he
had no book knowledge, but practised his profession as he
learned it, without modification and improvement. A sociable,
genteel, easy-going, good-natured, shallow fellow, a reputed
libertine and gamble)-, he doubtless (when not in his cups)
acquitted himself ci-editably in the ordinary cases to which he
was called. He was fond of show, dressed well, carried a cane.
and wore white-top boots and a gold ring. In 1797 and after-
ward he was adjutant, and at a later period bi-igade-major and

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 373

inspector of militia. The passion for drink was developed
earlj, and grew on him till in the latter years of his life he
became a wreck — a helpless, harmless imbecile. His form (his
form only), is said to have been much like that of the late Dr.
Beers, but one size smaller. The latter, it will be remembered,
was large and portly.

Dr. Hubbard lived in the " stone house" on the corner of
Meadow and George streets, after his fiather removed from it.
In August, 1814, he bought, with the means he had left, for
$2,500, the house now standinoj on the northerly side of Court
street, the first east of the railroad bridge, with forty-seven rods
of land, the front extending to Artizan street, where he after-
ward resided.

December sixth, 1789, Dr. Hubbard was mai-ried by Dr.
Dana to Phebe McCleve, said to have been a woman of great
excellence, who was mortified and heart-broken at her husband's
degradation. He died, says the Columbian Register, June six-
teenth, 1825, aged about sixty-three, (some say he died in the
alms-house, where he had often been taken for safety or sup-
port,) his widow Phebe and an only daughter and child,
Jane W. Hubbard, surviving him. He left property of the
value of some $1,500, after the debts were paid. The widow
lived on the homestead several years, and died after June
nineteenth, 1830. The daughter married a Mr. Moore, of Sal-
isbury, in this State, and died, leaving no children, a few years
ago.

ELIJAH MUNSON.*

He was the son of Dr. Eneas, sen., and was born about 1766.
He is presumed to have studied medicine with his father, and
probably began practice, under favorable auspices, before 1790.
His name as a physician is not met with till January, 1793,
when he was admitted to the Coimecticut Medical Society.

* I have written the name according to the practice of both father and sons till
1800 or later. Yale triennial catalogue used the old orthograph}^ till 1826. In
that year Alfred S. Munson, of the third generation, appears as Alfred S. Monsou,
and in 1829, tlie second Eneas Munson, as Eneas Monson. The name of the first
Eneas is still (1874) printed as in the beginning.

374 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

His distinguished father was well able to give him business
and probably did so. However this may be, he soon obtained
a respectable practice. But the yellow fever of 1794 put his
courage to the test. Forgetting that he was a zealous non-con-
tagionist, but remembering the fate of the hindmost, he joined
the terror-smitten crowd, physicians, clergymen and others,
making it is said excellent time to Derb}'. This is the story as
I get it from several quarters, but I suspect a mistake. Mun-
son was apparently in the city on the twenty-third of September
(the most fatal month in the season) when, at the New Haven
county meeting, he was elected clerk and librarian for the year
then ensuing, holding the office two years. He might have left
and then returned, but had his conduct been disreputable, I
think he would not have been thus honored. It is highly
probable that it was at some other time, and on account of some
other sickness, that he was frightened and ran for his life.
There can be no doubt tbat the race as described did happen.*
For seven years, first in 1794, Dr. Munson was one of the
examining committee (twice chairman) of the Coimecticut
Medical Society for his own county, and at different times was
a member of other important committees. He was one of the
original eight or nine who founded the New Haven Medical
Association, and appears to have been an interested attendant
during the first ten years of its existence. In the meantime
he was doing a moderate professional business. In 1814 or
1815, be became somewhat distinguished for his success in
dysentery, and on one occasion President Dwight publicly

* Since the above was written, further inquiry has tended to show that tlie race
referred to came off in July, 1805. In that and the succeeding month, according
to the Connecticut Herald, a disease, called, by the board of health of the city,
malignant fever, but by the people yellow fever, prevailed in New Haven. The
doctors wrangled as usual, and the citizens were greatly alarmed. The superior
court adjourned, the students at college were dismissed, and some of " the principal
inhabitants " removed. On the twenty-ninth of July the editor of the Herald pre-
maturely pronounced the city healthy, while a writer for that paper thought the
" faculty might safely return." The board of health, on the twelfth of August,
said the " malignant fever had entirely ceased." The disease appears to have
been fatal in five cases. It was probably yellow fever, or so near it tliat the
difference was of no importance.

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 375

recommended him to bis classes for his successful treatment
of the anginose forms of scarlet fever. But before January,
1818, when the association was resuscitated, his love for his
profession seems to have died out, and his name is not found
among the subscribing members of that date. In two years
more (January, 1820) he was, at his own request, " released from
the burdens" (i. e., taxes of $1.50 per annum) of the Connecticut
Medical Society, or, in other words, was dismissed. His practice
had fallen off (perhaps it was no longer sought) ; his health was
not good, and thenceforth he devoted his time chiefly to the
drug business. His shop stood next south of his house, which
is yet standing on the southeasterly corner of Church and Crown
streets. He bought the place, " lately the property of David
Austin, Esq.," with seventy-five rods of land, September fif-
teenth, 1801, for £800.

In his mental constitution Dr. Munson departed widely from
the common standard, his thoughts flowing stubbornly in a
channel of his own. Though his mind was not refined by lit-
erature or enlarged by science, it was naturally vigorous, and
above the average in the intellectual department. He detested
Chemistry because of certain bitter experiences in boyhood.
According to his own story, his father set him to watching the
fire used in some chemical experiment, telling him how to pro-
ceed. He forgot his instructions, in consequence of which the
apparatus blew up, and he was flogged. Ever after the sound
of the word Chemistry cost him a sigh and a shudder. Nor
could he tolerate the new terms which scientitic innovators
introduced to perplex the souls of an older generation. The
late Dr. Tully, soon after he came to New Haven (1829), pre-
scribed for a patient actsea racemosa, long known in this neigh-
borhood as cohosh, and sent the recipe to the drug-store of
"Doctor 'Lige," as he was called. The latter took the paper,
and reading slowly and with difficulty — "Tincturse actasa race-
mosfe" — impatiently exclaimed : " There isn't no such medicine,
and if there was it wouldn't do to take it." He was an eccen-
tric man, uncouth, erratic, crotchety and perverse; but there
was no lack of better qualities. He was kind, charitable to the

376 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

poor, honest, conscientious and "terribly in earnest.'' Often in
his later years he reproached himself bitterly for his sacrifice
of life by bad practice, and declared that he left the profession
partly because its responsibilities pressed so heavily upon hini.
In trifling he never indulged, and was too serious to enjoy a
joke. The Bible was his favorite book, and he astonished those
with whom he conversed by his familiarity with it. Though
very religious, he did not attend ciiurch, having a creed of his
own. On one occasion, however, he was persuaded by the new
(second) wife he had married to go to Trinity. Of course the
congregation stared, but nothing serious happened till the min-
ister announced the text: "Behold! Elijah is here." The doc-
tor was greatly affronted, and never forgave the indignity. He
left his seat and, as some will have it, went stamping down the
aisle, muttering audibly that he had not come there to be
insulted.

In company. Dr. Munson talked incessantly, and would not
be suppressed. The new theology called Taylorism he de-
tested. Could he find a patient listener, he would discourse
by the hour till the latter was fagged out, and longed to escape.
He loved to descant on ecclesiastical abuses, the wiles of the
clergy, and the inconsistencies of "professors." Sometimes he
would pull a sermon he had written from his pocket, and beg
his unwilling friend to listen to it. He was not reserved in his
private opinions, and too often was inclined to be censorious,
finding fault with [)hysicians and their practice, and not sparing
his own father. The latter, he claimed, did not help him as he
ought in getting business, but preferred to assist his younger
favoi'ite, Eli Ives. He always rode a hobby, and did not leave
one till he had found another. At one time it was a point in
theology, at another, a new watch or gun, a razor of superior
manufacture, an improved rake or hoe, etc. Whatever idea
was uppermost in his mind took possession of his whole nature,
and found expression in perennial and uncontrollable speech.
Though intelligent, he was superstitious, saw spectres, and
conversed with angels in the night. As the latter visited him
often, they must have been less annoyed by his verbal infirmity
than his friends in the flesh. He tliought much, spoke as he

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGKAPHY. 377

thought, and was annoyed by criticism or remarks implying
doubt. ISTo one accused him of hypocrisy or timidity. It was
supposed lie would have died at the stake for his opinions,
though he once quailed before yellow fever. Those who could
divest themselves of prejudice, looking beneath the rugged
surface, acknowledged the vigor of his mind, and excellent
moral qualities.

In person Dr. Munson was heavily built, sluggish in his
movements (lingual excepted), and inclined to corpulency. In
his last sickness there were no decided indications of disease,
except his own belief that his end was near. Waiting patiently
the result, he died on the day he had predicted, October tenth,
1838, aged seventy-two. A post-mortem examination (while
living he was violently opposed to this method of settling
disputed questions) discovered no departure from healthy
structure, and no sufficient cause of death. On his grave-stone
the title of M.D. is appended to the name. As I cannot find
whence he obtained it, I conclude that there may be an error.

I am not aware that Dr. Munson ever held an important
public office, though he was health-officer in 1803. He was
often, in 1802 and afterward, a democratic candidate for assis-
tant and member of Congress, but never I believe when there
was a hope of his election. Had he been chosen to either of
these positions, I do not suppose he would, by plunder, have
become rich, after two or four years' service. According to
my information, he was not an active politician, and had no
ambition for political preferment. But when the anti-masonic
furor broke out in 1828, his moral sense was touched. He
took the fever in a virulent form, and became an enthusiastic
nnd loquacious anti-mason. The attack doubtless brought
satisfaction to him as it did affliction to his friends.

Dr. Munson married for his first wife, Curtis, of

Southbury; for his second, (jrace, the daughter of Elijah
Thomson, of Hotchkisstown, now Westville, the last reputed
rich. He gave by will a property amounting to about $14,000
to his brother Eneas as trustee for his only living issue, Nathan
C. Munson, his wife and their children, all of Southbury. His
widow married John H. Jacocks.
48

378 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

JOEL NORTHROP

Came from New Milforcl. Soon after his graduation at Yale
College, in 1776, he settled in Danbury, and became connected,
as surgeon's mate, with the military hospital in that place. He
removed to New Haven before July fifth, 1779, and lived in a
house which stood on the home lot of the late Leverett Can dee,
on the northerly side of Elm street, near State. , In April, 1781,
he bought, for £230, the place owned and occupied by the late
Dr. N. B. Ives, on Elm street, one hundred feet easterly of Col-
lege street. Here he lived several years, but in 1790 sold out
for £400 ($1,833.33). He then removed to the long wood house
built by himself, with a piazza in front, now known as Baker's
Hotel, on the west side of Fleet street, some nine rods below
Whiting street. In 1794 he had the yellow fever, and in 1796
removed to Branford. Before 1803 he returned, and again
occupied the dwelling in Fleet street. After October, 1805, he
left the city to reside in a stone house which he had erected on
the north side of the -Derby road, in Orange, near the hither
boundary of Maltby park. It was pulled down a few years ago.
Here he died, after a brief illness, of lung fever, February ninth,
1807, aged fifty-three. His monument, in the old cemetery,
appends M. D. to his name, but the triennial catalogue of Yale
College does not give him the title.

Dr. Northrop's name is not among those of the New Haven
physicians who signed the agreement of January, 1784; nor is
it on the list of members of the Medical Society of N. H.
County. Whether he held himself aloof from the profession,
or the profession from him. does not appear. He was, however,
an original member of the Connecticut Medical Society, as
shown by the roll of the first secretary; but in 1804 he fell
under the displeasure of the "President and Fellows," and in
October of that year, because of his "making and vending nos-
trums contrary to the by-laws," was expelled. For two or three
vears previous to that date, he had advertised and recommended
in the Connecticut Journal "Dr. Northrop's new improved Bit-
ters," but not in extravagant or very oft'ensive terms. Probably

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 379

this was not the specific infraction of law for which he suffered.
He is understood to have been in the practice of selling patent
medicines. Thenceforth (in a professional sense) he became an
outlaw ; but, like other degraded mortals in his circumstances,
snapped his fingers at those who would destroy him, and went
on dispensing nostrums.

When the original agreement out of which grew the N. H.
Medical Association was entered into, January, 1803, Dr. Nor-
throp was the third subscriber. His name again appears on
several occasions, twice when meetings were held at his house;
but after his expulsion from the fold of the faithful by the
ruling society, he is heard of no more except among the
goats outside.

As a physician. Dr. Northrop is best remembered by a few
old persons for his large practice in a certain class of contagious
diseases, and for a bad reputation in other cases. He was also
a horse-doctor. Desirous, it is said, of more business, he
rented his house on the Derby road to a select company from
New York, and thus greatly enlarged the demand for his pecu-
liar skill. He never had much general practice, though he was
occasionally called to patients out of town. Much of his time
was given to pecuniary speculations which at first brought him
large gains. At one period he is said to have been worth one
hundred thousand dollars; but the floods came, those whom
he had trusted failed, and insolvency followed.

Dr. Northrop had naturally a strong mind. His form was
stout and his muscular energy very great. He was an inveter-
ate smoker; had a strange passion for cats; but had not him-
self the confidence of the public. Old persons of the sober sort,
when his name is mentioned, shrug their shoulders and say :
"He was a very wicked man." Though hot-tempered and vio-
lent, he was kind and indulgent in several relations, and had
strong domestic attachments. He had an only daughter. Poll}'-,
whom he loved tenderly, who became the wife of " Mr. Elihu
Ives, merchant," son of Dr. Levi Ives, She was young, beau-
tiful and accomplished — " a perfect angel," said one who knew
her well. She died " very suddenly, Sunday evening," January

380 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

twenty-third, 1803, aged twenty-four, in child-bed. Dr. Munson,
sen., at a late hour, was in attendance. The doting father gave
way to the most boisterous grief, rolled upon the floor, blas-
phemed, and for a time raved like a lunatic. Nearly three
years later, his son, Joel, who was occupied in his father's
drug-store, died, in his eighteenth year. These severe afflic-
tions, aided by pecuniary misfortune, broke the wretched man's
heart. He did not recover from the shock, and in sixteen
months more closed his earthly career.

Dr. Northrop married. May fifteenth, 1777, Mabel Sarah, the
eldest daughter of Rev. Samuel Bird, the first minister of the
White Haven society. New Haven. Mr. Bird died of inocula-
ted small pox, May third, 1784, having made his son-in-law one
of his executors. Mrs. Northrop died February fourteenth,
1835, aged seventy-eight. (See Dr. Beardsley's paper in the
first volume of the N. H. Col. Hist. Society, page 117.)

JOHN SKINNER,

The son of John and Sarah (Kennedy) Skinner, of East Wind-
sor, was born March fifth, 1765. In 1795 he appears to have
been a member of the Connecticut Medical Society from East
Hartford. In the Connecticut Courant, Se])tember, 1795, he
advertised himself as a dentist. He had probably removed to
New Haven as early as Februaiy, 1800, for in that month he
and his wife Chloe, a daughter of the first Roger Sherman of
New Haven, were admitted by certificate to the church of the
United Society. In the same year and afterward, he was city
clerk ; collector of taxes in 1803, 1801, and 1805 ; and sheriff
for many years, first in 1810. Still later he was city constable
and chief police officer, whose duty it was to look after the
violators of law and good order — mischievous boys, and sus-
picious characters of every age. He was long the terror of
evil-doers. If an urchin went fishing on the sabbath, or played
ball on Fast day, or climbed a forbidden fence, or made wry
faces at a passing dignitary, he kept a look-out for Dr. Skinner.

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 881

Frail mothers secured the obedience of their children by telling
them Dr. Skinner — Dr. Skinner with the patch (nsevus) on his
nose — was coming. If the doctor was seen walking with
another up Chapel street, it was naturally supposed he was
taking him to Esq. Daggett for condemnation. On one occa-
sion he was in company with President Day, a very plain man,
when some colored boys playing on the walk saw him coming.
Hastily gathering their scattered marbles, and drawing them-
selves up by the fence, they stood breathless till the two had
passed. When the danger was over, one whispered to the
others: " I wonder who Dr. Skinner has got now." President
Day used to tell the story.

Dr. Skinner joined the New Haven Medical Association at
the beginning, and kept up the connection through life. For
a long period he was apparently a regular attendant, the meet-
ings being held at his house in turn till 1831. In May, 1826,
he was appointed by the association chairman of a committee
to solicit funds for the Greneral Hospital Society of New Haven,
in which capacity lie was efficient and faithful. Afterward he
was treasurer of the society. If he ever practiced medicine in
New Haven, it must have been at an early period. He con-
tinued however to draw teeth, the alacrity with which he did
the work leading some to think he enjoyed it — found music in
the crash of his instrument.

In every official position Dr. Skinner was faithful. Though
so much dreaded by the juveniles of the city, he was at heart a
kind man, social in his feelings, and sincere in his friendships.
His virtues were indeed of the sterner sort. He had strong
prejudices; disliked innovations; denounced wickedness, ex-
travagance and folly in public affairs ; and was not afraid to
stand alone in opposition. He loved the good old ways; was
called old fashioned ; but he was upright, conscientious, and
truthful. His death took place June twenty-fifth, 1850, at the
age of eighty -five. The New Haven Medical Association in a
body attended his funeral. His wife died December sixth,
1840, aged eighty-three. They had one son, a lawyer in New
Haven, who died in 1838.

382 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

THOMAS GOODSBLL,

Was an elder brother of the late Isaac Goodsell, M.D., of
Woodbridge, and the second son of Thomas Goodsell, of Judea,
now Washington, Litchfield county, where he was born in
June, 1775. He studied medicine with Dr. Sheldon, of Litch-
field, where he was licensed in 1795 by the county committee
of the Connecticut Medical Society. At the New Haven
county meeting of the same year, he was admitted a member
of the state society. At the date of admission he had settled
in Woodbridge, where he appears to have remained till early
in 1808. He then removed to New Haven, and became a
member of the New Haven Medical Association, In Novem-
ber of the same year, he obtained from that body "an intro-
ductory letter to the physicians of Philadelphia," where he
repaired to attend the medical lectures at the University. In
May, 1809, he had returned to New Haven, where he remained
till near the close of 1810. He then removed to Whitesboro,
Oneida County, N. Y., and went into business with Dr. Capron.
Having married a Miss Livingston, he again changed his resi-
dence, and went to Utica.

While living in Connecticut, Dr. Goodsell was elected a
fellow five times between 1805 and 1810, inclusive ; was a
member of the examining committee an equal length of time,
and, according to the clerk, read a " very ingenious disserta-
tion" to the county meeting in January, 1806. In 1822 he
received the honorary degree of M D. from Yale College, and
in 1827 was appointed professor of materia medica in the
medical college of Pittsfield, holding the office one year.*

Dr. Goodsell did a respectable business in Woodbridge, and
had a large and valuable practice in Utica. In ability and pro-
fessional attainments, he ranked above the average. Dr. Eli
Ives used to speak of him approvingly. He died January
twelfth, 1864, aged eighty-nine.

* Transactions of the Medical Societ}' of the State of N. Y., ISfi.^i, p. 295.

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGEAPIIY. 883

JAMES GILBERT.

He was the eighth and youngest child and only son of Dea.
James and Eunice (Nichols) Gilbert, and was born in a wood
house which stood on the south-westerly corner of George and
Broad streets, (where the late Dr. V. M. Dow lived and died,)
October 25th, 1779. I can learn little of his childhood except
that he was (very naturally) the pet of the family, and loved
like other boys to tease his sisters. While a member of Yale
College, where he graduated in 1800, his scholarship, it is said,
was of a high order, as "attested by the honors conferred on
him by the faculty."* He was elected into the Phi Beta Kappa
Society; but I do not find that he recieved any ''appointment"
at graduation. During his last year in college, he began the
study of medicine, giving most of his time to Chemistry and
Botany. In the former science, more especially, he made
honorable proficiency, and might, it is thought, have become
distinguished. In the winter of 1801-2, we find him in the
celebrated medical school of Philadelphia, attending the lectures
of Push, Wistar, Barton and Woodhouse. By too close appli-
cation, aided doubtless by unaccustomed confinement, his
health gave way so that he was obliged "to relinquish his plan
of continuing his studies in Philadelphia." Soon after, he
accepted an invitation from Dr. Conklin to settle in Southold
(L. I.), where he practised with reputation for more than two
years. He then (1805) left the place to attend the medical
lectures in New York. At the end of the course, thous:h ura'ed
to establish himself in that city, his friends persuaded him to
return to New Haven.

Dr. Gilbert probably joined the New Haven Medical Associa-
tion as early as the middle of the year 1806. His name is first
mentioned on the record book, November twenty-fifth, 1806.

* For the materials of this notice T am partly indebted to a biographical sketch
of Dr. Gilbert, written by his pupil, the late Dr. Punderson, of this city, and pub-
lished in the Columbian Register, March 14th, 1818, soon after the death of Dr.
Gilbert ; which sketch, with some additions and omissions, was republished in
Thatcher's American Medical Biography, 1828.

384 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

It does not again appear, except when meetings were held at
his house, till March fourteenth, 1810, when a letter was read
from him giving notice of his withdrawal from the association.
It is evident from what followed that this was not the beginning
but the clumination of some ''unpleasantness" or personal
difficulty. With the exception of Dr. G. himself, the members
were all present, called together, perhaps, in expectation of the
message. Be this as it may, they were very wroth at the
boldness of the young man, and discoursed m this wise : —
"Voted, that as Dr. James Gilbert, lately a member of this,
association, has withdrawn from the same, without assigning
any reasons, that we will withdraw from him so far as not to
consult with him in any medical case until he returns to the
association, and that the clerk notify him of this our vote by
transmitting to him a copy of the same." — And then, as if to
give weight to the sentence, and to extinguish any life which
might remain, the names of those present were added as follows :
"Drs. Eneas Munson, Levi Ives, John Barker, Obadiah Hotch-
kiss, Elijah Munson, John Skinner, Nathaniel Hubbard, Elias
Shipman and Eli Ives." The disturber defied his late associates,
and never returned to the fold of the faithful. Indeed, he held
himself aloof from the profession at large (at least formally),
for he never became a member of the Connecticut Medical
Society.

In extenuation, it is charged by Gilbert's friends that the old
physicians did not, when he first came to New Haven or after-
ward, treat him cordially. Thinking perhaps that he obtained
business faster than was seemly, "they talked about him," used
detraction when opportunity offered, and made the most of his
mistakes. On the other side, it is affirmed that he was guilty
of practices generally esteemed disreputable — resorted to the
tricks of the mountebank to attract notice and secure business.
He wore a broad brim hat. had his coat cut in Quaker style,
and drove at a fast gait in a small, very low, one-seated, queer-
looking vehicle, and pretended that his practice was different
from that of other physicians. These affectations, perhaps in
his case exaggerated, do not win the good opinion of sensible

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 8b5

men. They are the arts of the imposter and capture only fools,
but the fools in medicine are too numerous to be despised.
The explanation is probably this — Dr. Gilbert was ambitious
and energetic. Conscious of his own strength, he was deter-
mined to succeed, and used the appliances which for the
moment seemed best suited to his purpose. He acliieved
success — a success which his merits, not the appliances,
deserved. Persuaded that he was ill-used ; thinking probably
that open opposition would be more profitable than the hollow
forms of friendship, and confident that he could stand alone,
he cut loose from his medical associates, and thenceforth
pursued his divergent career untrammelled. Steadily with
unfaltering courage, he worked his way upward. His practice
in physic, surgery and obstetrics increased from year to year,
and extended into the neighboring towns. In the mean time,
the necessary intercourse between him and his brethren of New
Haven could not have been governed by much delicacy as to
prescriptive rights or professional etiquette. Dr. Gilbert may
not have been guilty of dishonorable intentions, but his course
in connection with the circumstances named was calculated to
excite jealousy and dislike, particularly in those whose business
interests were perjudiced by his success.

Dr. Gilbert had long cherished the hope of visiting Europe.
After the death of his wife, and the accumulation of some
property, he, in the spring of 1814, sailed from New York for
France. Having attended the hospitals in Paris, he crossed the
Channel, and spent the ensuing winter in the hospitals and
lecture-rooms of London, reading as he had opportunity. In
consequence of unremitting application to study, assisted by an
abstemious diet and the exchange of an active for a sedentary
life, his health again broke down. (Jnwilling to abandon his
purpose, he persevered till spring, when a severe pulmonary
affection came on, threatening a confirmed consumption. By
Sir Astley Cooper's advici', he promptly left London, and re-
turned to America. During the voyage his naturally vigorous
constitution got the better of his disease, and he reached home,
in the spring of 1815, unexpectedly restored.
49

o86 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

Dr. Gilbert's triends had not forgotten him in his absence,
and his business speedily returned. He put aside the eccen-
tricities and supposed affectations which before distinguished
him. Taught a lesson in simplicity by his intercourse with
distinguished men abroad, he discarded that foolish little
vehicle, and those whimsically cut garments, and appeared on
all occasions as a plain, unpretending, well-bred gentleman.
Hitherto he had dwelt with his mother under the parental roof,
but he now built a house on Crown street with an office adjoin-
ing, (the latter looking up High street), where he afterward
lived. Here he pursued his profession with augmented zeal
and increasing reputation, giving particular attention to sur-
gery. His health was so good that he was able to endure the
fatigues, irregularities and responsibilities of a practitioner fully
occupied. His fame w^as extending, and about this time he
was elected an honorary member of the Physico-Medical
Society of New York, to which several eminent medical men
of New Haven and Connecticut belonged. But early in
August, 1817, he was taken with what was called catarrhal
fever, which continued several weeks, and- reduced him greatly.
After a partial recovery, and the lapse of several weeks more
without improvement, the symptoms of phthisis once more
appeared. These not yielding to medicine, he determined to
try a milder climate. He sailed from New Haven, December
twenty-sixth, and arrived in Charleston, S. C, January eighth,
1818. The season proving wet and cold, after remaining
several weeks without benefit, he took passage for Havana.
Though alarmed by an " abscess which burst in his lungs" the
day before his expected departure, he sailed at the appointed
time, and died five days out from Charleston, February sixth,
1818. He left a widow and two children, and about $5,000 in
property. His books w^ere appraised at $108.22 ; his medi-
cines, surgical instruments, etc., at $337.48.

The death of Dr. Gilbert was felt to be a great calamity. He
died too early — before his sun had reached its zenith — and yet
not till he had become distinguished, and given promise of still
greater eminence. It is doubtful whether there has lived in

MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 387

New Haven another man who acquired in a medical practice
of only ten years a reputation more brilliant and solid. He
had an active, acate, discriminating and philosophical mind,
and a marked individuality of character. His views were
often original, his investigations thorough, and his scholarship
respectable. The aptness and tact which he displayed in the
application of knowledge were remarkable. He had much
theoretical knowledge, but he was also an earnest, enterprising,
assiduous and practical man of business, challenging the
respect of all. I do not learn that his practice was peculiar,
as popularly supposed, unless peculiar mean discriminating.
He had, however, his chosen remedies, and favorite methods
of management, as every observing and skillful practitioner
has. Cantharis was with him an important medicine in the
low, apathetic forms of typhus fever. He gave it, sometimes
to the extent of causing strangury, to wake the dormant ener-
gies and rouse action. He was sometimes accused of "experi-
menting," as doctors are wont to be who are supposed to depart
in the least from the beaten track. In a case of uterine
hemorrhage admitting of no delay, he gathered up some hand-
fuls of snow and applied to the abdomen. The patient died,
and the gossips charged her death to the practice, doubtless
without sufficient reason. The late Dr. Eli Ives used, in his
lectures, to speak of him and of his treatment of disease with
the greatest respect. For surgery he had a predilection. His
quick eye, steady hand and skillful manipulation qualified him
for eminent success in this department. Though his best
energies were given to his profession, his knowledge was not
confined to it. As every physician should be, he was well
informed on all those subjects which most interest the intelli-
gent world outside. A portion of his time was given to
medical instruction. His nephew, the late Virgil M. Dow,
and the late Samuel Punderson, were among his later pupils.
There was in Dr. Gilbert a vein of humor. Near the Milford
road in Orange, he was shown a place where the lightning had
torn up the soil. To the owner of the land, who was standino-
by, he remarked : "Deep into that hole has entered a thunder-

388 MEDICAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

bolt of malleable iron. Whoever finds it will make a fortune."
The hint was taken and the search made ; the excavation which
still remains proving how thoroughly the work was done. Nor
was the doctor indifferent to the sports requiring skill, having
a particular fondness for duck-shooting. Armed with a long
gun, he often went in a boat down the harbor, shooting the bird
on the wing.

Dr. Gilbert was twice married — first, to Grace Mix, Septem-
ber, 1808. She died September sixth, 1818, aged twenty-one ;
secondly, to Juliana Tyler, a daughter of Samuel Tyler, of
Wallingford, May, 1816. After the death of Dr. Gilbert, she
married Dr. Joseph Palmer, Jr., and died in Ashford, February
fourteenth, 1821. (See N. H. Herald, March 6, 1821.) His
children, all by his first wife, were Matthew J. ; b. August 14,
1809; d. May 24, 1848, in Ohio: Edward; b. Jan. 9, 1811; d.
August 20, 1813 : Grace E. ; b. August 29, 1813 ; d. December
8, 1833.

HENRY MEAD

Was in New Haven as early as 1806. At first he was suspected
as a practitioner without credentials, with whom the elect could
not honorably consult ; but an examination of his medical
diploma, from Columbia College, New York, satisfied the
doubters, and secured his admission to the New Haven Medical
Association and the Connecticut Medical Society. Though
well educated, he is understood not to have obtained much
practice. For a season he kept a drug-store on the north side
of Chapel street, a little above Orange, but, not satisfied with
his business, near the close of 1809, he removed to New York
city and became a glass manufacturer. (Dr. Samuel S. Noyes.
See p. 280.)

Biographical sketches of Eneas Monson, John Spalding, Levi
Ives and Obadiah Hotchkiss were given in my account of the
members of the Medical Society of New Haven County, while
a detailed notice of Eli Ives may be found in the Proceedings
of the Connecticut Medical Society for 1867^

4^^i2l£2^^

£ 90

»

LIDMMHY Uh CONGRESS

0014 110570 A

V

liii

i~I^

iJ

IU\

an

Hi..