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^°-V 


The  Bucks  of  Wethersfield 
Connefticut 


AND  THE  FAMILIES   WITH 

WHICH     THEY    ARE 

CONNECTED  BY 

MARRIAGE 


Biographical    and   Genealogical 

Sketch 


Roanoke,  Virginia 

The  Stone  Printing  and  Manufacturino  Co. 

1909 


<Riu» 


^J 


\\ 


PREFATORY  REMARKS. 


A 


J^ 


S  these  genealogical  and  biographical  notes 
have  been  written  chiefly  for  the  enlighten- 
ment of  my  children  and  grandchildren,  and 
only  in  a  subordinate  degree  for  that  of  my 
nearest  Buck  and  Abbott  relatives,  I  have 
expressed  myself  with  rather  more  freedom  than  I 
should  consider  suitable  for  a  document  intended  for 
a  wider  circulation.  The  chief  sources  from  which  I 
have  drawn  my  information  are  the  following: — A  gen- 
ealogical record  of  the  Bucks  prepared  by  the  late  Ros- 
well  R.  Buck,  of  Buffalo,  New  York;  a  similar  record 
of  the  Manwaring  family,  prepared  by  Dr.  Howard  M. 
Buck,  of  Boston,  Massachusetts ;  the  archives  of  the  City 
of  Geneva,  Switerland;  the  register  of  births  at  the 
City  Hall  of  Landau,  Germany;  the  register  of  births, 
marriages  and  deaths  kept  by  the  Evangelical  Church 
of  Kiinzelsau,  in  Wurttemberg;  genealogical  and  bio- 
graphical memoranda  prepared  for  me  by  mother 
about  ten  years  before  her  death;  and  the  reminiscences 
of  Albert  Henri  Wolflf,  which  his  son  Philippe  wrote 
for  me  in  1896.  As  for  the  other  sources  of  informa- 
tion, I  believe  that  I  have  mentioned  them  all  in  their 
proper  places  in  the  course  of  my  narrative. 

The  title  which   I   have  chosen — "The  Bucks  of 
Wethersfield" — would  seem  to  necessitate  some  account 


of  the  descendants  of  Emanuel  Buck  by  his  first  wife, 
and  also  of  those  who  descended  from  Henry  and 
Thomas  Buck,  both  of  whom  are  reported  to  have  been 
among  the  early  settlers  of  Wethersfield.  There  are 
two  reasons  why  I  thought  it  best  to  say  little  or  nothing 
about  them.  In  the  first  place,  the  former  do  not  be- 
long to  our  direct  line  of  ancestry,  and  the  records  do 
not  show  that  Henry  and  Thomas  bore  any  relationship 
to  Emanuel,  although  it  is  extremely  probable  that  they 
were  related  to  him.  Then,  in  the  next  place,  the  chil- 
dren by  the  first  wife  appear  to  have  left  Wethersfield 
at  an  early  period.  On  the  other  hand,  many  of  the 
descendants  of  Emanuel  Buck  by  his  second  wife,  Mary 
Kirby,  have  lived  in  Wethersfield  continuously  up  to 
the  present  time,  and  the  genealogical  record  of  this 
branch  of  the  family  is  remarkably  complete.  It  is, 
therefore,  as  it  seems  to  me,  entirely  proper  to  speak  of 
this  line  of  descendants  of  Emanuel  Buck  as  "The 
Bucks  of  Wethersfield." 

I  might  add  that  up  to  the  present  time  there  has 
not  been  discovered  any  evidence  that  would  warrant 
the  belief  that  the  Wethersfield  Bucks  and  the  Bucks 
who  settled  in  the  early  days  of  the  colony  in  Maine 
came  originally  from  the  same  stock  in  England.  On 
the  other  hand,  there  is  some  ground  for  believing  that 
such  a  relationship  may  have  existed  between  the  Vir- 
ginia Bucks  and  the  ancestors  of  Emanuel  Buck. 

There  are  living  to-day  comparatively  few  descend- 
ants of  Emanuel  Buck  and  Mary  Kirby  who  are  likely 
to  take  any  interest  in  the  account  which  I  have  here 


prepared,  and  it  is  for  this  reason  that  I  have  decided 
to  limit  the  edition  of  the  present  sketch  to  thirty-six 
copies. 

For  the  careful  manner  in  which  the  mechanical 
and  artistic  part  of  the  work  upon  this  book  has  been 
done,  credit  is  due  solely  to  The  Stone  Printing  and 
Manufacturing  Company,  of  Roanoke,  Virginia. 

Albert  H.  Buck. 


PART  I. 


General  Sketch,  Chiefly  Biographical. 


Up  to  the  present  time  ( 1908)  it  has  not  been  found 
possible  to  trace  our  Buck  ancestors  farther  back  than 
Emanuel  Buck,  who  first  appeared  in  Wethersfield,  on 
the  Connecticut  River,  in  1647  or  1648/  Wethersfield 
was  settled  in  1635,  most  of  its  inhabitants  having  come 
from  Watertow^n,  Massachusetts.  So  far  as  one  can 
learn  from  the  town  records  there  were,  in  Wethers- 
field, at  the  same  time,  three  persons  who  bore  the  name 
of    Buck,    viz.:     Emanuel    Buck,    Henry    Buck,    and 

'As  will  be  seen  from  the  following  letter,  written  on  April  I7th,  190S,  by  Dr. 
Howard  M.  Ruck,  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  there  has  at  last  been  found  a  clue 
which  may  possibly  lead  to  the  discovery  of  the  original  home  of  our  Buck  ancestors 
in  England.     The  letter  reads  as  follows: 

"I  was  examining  the  Kirbys  of  New  England,"  by  Meletaiah  Ercrett  Dwight. 
and  found  a  good  deal  of  information  about  the  family.  Among  other  things  I  found 
a  lawyer's  memorandum — in  re  some  land  claimed  by  Mary's  younger  brother — to  the 
efTect  that  the  latter  should  find  out  what  your  Cousin  Buck  [i.  c.,  brother -in -law 
Emanuel]  remembers  about  the  people  in  Rowington  [Warwickshire].  As  Kirby 
Pere  came  to  America,  as  a  boy  of  twelve,  in  1635,  and  as  Emanuel  was  of  the  same 
age,  it  looks  as  if  they  might  both  have  come  from  that  neighborhood.  The  Kirbys, 
or  Kirkbys,  were  an  old  Yorkshire  family,  as  well  as  the   Bucks. 

"The  book  is  an  interesting  one;  it  gives  old  John  Kirby's  will,  etc.  There  were 
no  Bucks  nor  Kirbys  (at  least  of  the  gentry)  recorded  in  the  Visitations  as  settled  in  Row 
ington.  Warwickshire,  and  John  Kirby  evidently  belonged  to  the  gentry  class.  It  looks, 
herefore.  as  if  they  were  migrants  even  there."  This  last  statement  is  undoubtedly  cor- 
rect,  as  the  defective  registers  of  births  and  deaths  of  Rowington  fail  to  furnish  any  evidence 
of  there  having  been  Bucks  in  that  parish  early  in  the  seventeenth  century 

[7] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHRRS  FIELD,       CONN. 

Thomas  Buck.  The  records  also  mention  the  name 
Enoch  Buck.  Thus,  it  is  stated  that  Enoch  Buck,  who 
was  in  court  at  Hartford,  March,  1648,  was  fined  ten 
shillings  for  irregular  speeches,  in  court,  against  Rob- 
ert Rose,  when  under  oath.  Then,  again,  the  record 
states  that  in  1654  a  grant  of  land  for  a  home  lot  was 
made  to  Enoch  Buck.  There  is  a  tradition,  still  extant 
among  the  old  residents  of  Wethersfield,  that  the  first 
one  of  that  name  was  originally  called  Emanuel,  and 
that,  when  he  asked  for  admission  into  the  settlement, 
his  petition  was  granted  on  the  understanding  that  he 
would  change  his  name — "Emanuel  [literal  meaning: 
'God  with  us']  being  no  proper  name  for  any  man  to 
bear."  Whereupon  he  adopted  the  name  of  Enoch, 
and  was  then  admitted.  Whether  the  tradition  be  cor- 
rect or  not,  the  records  of  the  court  show  that  our  first 
American  ancestor  bore  at  one  and  the  same  time  the 
names  of  Emanuel  and  Enoch. 

The  exact  date  of  birth  of  Emanuel  Buck  is  not 
known,  but  it  must  have  been  somewhere  about  1623, 
as  he  testified  in  court  in  1684  that  he  was  then  sixty- 
one  years  old.  He  was  a  freeman  and  constable  in  1669 
and  he  was  also  frequently  a  selectman. 

Of  the  first  three  or  four  generations  of  Bucks  we 
possess  very  little  direct  information.  There  are  on 
record,  however,  a  few  facts  which  warrant  us  in  draw- 
ing certain  inferences  in  regard  to  their  characters, 
their  manner  of  life,  and  their  social  standing.     Thus, 


BUCKS       OF       W  I-:  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D  ,       C  O  X  N  . 

for  example,  Emanuel  Buck  must  have  commanded  the 
respect  and  confidence  of  his  neighbors,  and  have  pos- 
sessed considerable  force  of  character,  or  he  would  not 
have  been  chosen  to  serve  as  a  selectman  and  as  a  con- 
stable. At  the  same  time,  he  was  not  what  is  ordinarily 
termed  a  religious  man,  for  his  name  does  not  appear  on 
the  list  of  those  who  were  actually  members  of  the 
church  at  Wethersfield.' 

His  chief  occupation  seems  to  have  been  that  of  run- 
ning a  sawmill.  In  addition,  however,  he  must  have 
devoted  considerable  time  to  tilling  the  ground  and 
looking  after  his  live  stock  and  his  crops;  for  in  those 
early  days  every  male  member  of  a  pioneer  settlement 
like  Wethersfield  must  have  been  more  or  less  of  a 
farmer.  We  possess  no  data  whatever  from  which  we 
can  draw  any  conclusions  with  regard  to  the  character 
of  their  amusements  and  their  social  intercourse.  Of 
home  comforts  they  certainly  must  have  known  little  or 
nothing  until  after  the  first  sawmill  had  been  estab- 
lished, that  is,  until  after  1669  or  1670;  for  up  to  that 
time  only  log  houses  were  available.  Doubtless  there 
were,  in  these  early  years  of  the  settlement,  few  busi- 
ness transactions  in  which  actual  money  was  handled, 
but,  as  time  went  on  and  as  the  settlements  in  the  colony 

^If  we  accept  the  correctness  of  the  tradition  that  Emanuel  was  compelled  by 
his  neighbors  to  assume,  for  a  period  of  several  years,  the  name  of  Enoch,  we  shall 
have  no  difficulty  in  understanding  why  his  name  does  not  appear  on  the  list  of 
members  of  the  church  at  Wethersfield.  He  certainly  would  be  unwilling,  after  being 
compelled  by  his  neighbors  to  abandon  the  name  which  legitimately  belonged  to  him, 
to  place  himself  in  such  a  position  that  his  freedom  of  thought  and  of  action  might 
be  subjected  to  further  restraint. 

[9] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELI),       CONN. 

became  more  numerous  and  more  populous,  commer- 
cial relations  between  them  must  have  become  more 
frequent  and  cash  transactions  more  common.  Stiles  in 
his  "History  of  Ancient  Wethersfield"  (Vol.  I,  p.  646) , 
says  that  the  manufacture  of  pipe-staves  "was  one  of  the 
chief  industries  of  our  early  history.  The  General 
Court  in  1641,  provided  that  the  timber  therefor  should 
'not  be  fallen  within  three  myles  of  the  Matabezeke 
river;'  which  stream,  at  that  time,  was  largely  within 
Wethersfield  bounds.  It  also  required  the  staves  to  be 
four  feet,  four  inches  long;  four  inches  wide,  at  least, 
and  one  inch  thick.  The  timber  used  was  mostly  oak, 
and  the  staves  and  heads  were  put  into  bundles,  or 
'shooks,'  and  shipped  to  the  West  Indies  and  other 
foreign  ports;  there  to  be  used  for  pipes  and  casks,  for 
rum,  molasses,  sugar,  etc.  ****** 
"In  June,  1641,  Wethersfield  was  allowed  to  export 
30,000  pipe-staves,  and  Hartford  and  Windsor  20,000 
each.  In  1677,  the  name  'Pipestave  Swamp,'  in  the 
north  central  part  of  what  is  now  Newington,  appears 
in  the  records,  as  a  self-explaining  title  for  a  consider- 
able section,  near  the  center  of  which  a  sawmill  was, 
at  about  that  time,  established."  The  sawmill  here 
referred  to  was  established  by  Emanuel  Buck  and  three 
of  his  neighbors  in  Wethersfield.  It  is,  therefore,  a 
fair  inference  that  a  great  deal  of  this  business  of  manu- 
facturing and  exporting  pipe-staves  must  have  been 
conducted    by    our    first    American    ancestor.      This 

[10] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

thriving  commerce  must  have  brought  considerable 
ready  money  into  the  colony  of  Connecticut,  and  as  a 
result  the  log  houses  must  rapidly  have  given  place  to 
structures  of  a  more  comfortable  and  finished  type. 
This  increasing  prosperity  opened  the  way  for  still 
another  improvement  of  far-reaching  importance,  viz. : 
the  establishment,  in  1700,  of  Yale  College.  A  few 
years  later,  Daniel  Buck,  the  oldest  son  (born  in  1695) 
of  David  Buck  and  the  grandson  of  Emanuel  Buck, 
entered  this  institution  and  graduated  from  it  in  the 
class  of  1718.'  As  he  was  one  of  ten  children,  it  is  a 
fair  inference  that  his  parents,  in  order  to  be  able  to 
afYord  the  expense  of  sending  him  to  college,  must  have 
possessed  more  ready  money  than  was  actually  needed 

"A  sketch  of  the  life  of  Daniel  liuck  is  given  by  Franklin  B.  Dexter  in  his  "Bio- 
graphical Sketches  of  the  Graduates  of  Yale  College."  Henry  Holt  &  Co.,  Publishers. 
New   York,   1885. 

Among  the  later  descendants  of  the  Wethersiield  Bucks,  quite  a  number  have 
graduated  at  Yale.  David  Buck,  the  eldest  son  of  Gurdon  Buck,  graduated  in  1823, 
at  the  age  of  seventeen.  His  younger  brother.  Edward  Buck,  Kradu;itcd  in  iSjt;  . 
Then  followed:  Albert  II.  Buck,  in  1864  and  Francis  D.  Buck,  in  1869— both  of  them 
sons  of  Dr.  Gurdon  Buck;  Walter  Buck,  son  of  Edward  Buck  (Class  of  1835),  in 
1870;  Harold  W.  Buck,  son  of  Albert  H.  Buck  (Class  of  1864),  in  1894;  George  S. 
Buck,  son  of  Roswell  R.  Buck,  of  Buffalo.  New  York,  in  1896;  Henry  R.  Buck,  son 
of  Henry  Buck,  of  Wcthersfield,  Connecticut,  in  1896.  and  Charles  H.  Buck,  his 
younger  brother,  a  few  years  later;  and  Winthrop  Buck,  grandson  of  Winthrop  Buck, 
of  Welhersfield,  Connecticut,  in   1900. 

The  three  sons  of  David  Buck  (Class  of  1823,  at  Yale)  graduated:  the  eldest, 
Stuart  M.  Buck,  at  Williams  College,  in  1864;  and  the  two  younger  sons,  Henry  Hall 
Buck  and  Howard  Mcndcnhall  Buck,  at  Harvard  College— Henry  in  1875  and  How- 
ard in   1878. 

Among  the  descendants  of  John  Auchincloss  and  Elizabeth  Buck  (daughter  of 
Gurdon  Buck)  the  following  graduated  at  Yale:— In  1871,  Frederic  L. ;  in  1873. 
John  W. ;  in  1879,  Hugh  D.  :  in  1891,  Alfred  M.  Coats,  a  grandson;  in  1896,  Edgar 
S.,  a  grandson;  in  1901.  Hugh,  a  grandson;  in  1903,  Charles  C.  and  C.  Russell,— 
both  of  them  grandsons:  in  1908,  Gordon,  James  C.  and  J.  Howland.— all  three  of 
them  grandsons. 

[11] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

for  the  home  expenses.  It  is  also  possible  that  Daniel's 
father,  David  Buck,  may  have  inherited  money  from 
his  mother,  Mary  Kirby,  who  in  turn  had  probably 
received  her  share  of  her  father's  estate  in  England. 
(See  farther  on,  page  112).  But  whether  these  sur- 
mises are  correct  or  not,  we  have  a  right  to  assume  that 
Daniel's  parents  must  have  appreciated  the  value  of  a 
college  education. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact,  and  one  which  throws  con- 
siderable light  upon  the  character  of  our  early  New 
England  ancestors,  that  through  the  first  five  genera- 
tions of  Bucks — From  Emanuel  Buck  (married  in 
1658)  to  Gurdon  Buck,  senior  (married  in  1805) — the 
men  chose  for  their  wives  women  belonging  to  the  very 
best  families  in  the  colony.  Of  Emanuel  Buck,  our  first 
ancestor,  we  only  know  that  he  married,  for  his  second 
wife,  Mary  Kirby,  aged  fourteen,  daughter  of  John 
Kirby,  of  Hartford,  who  died  in  1677,  leaving  to  his 
children  an  estate  at  Rowington  near  Kenilworth,  in 
Warwickshire,  England.  Up  to  the  present  time  it  has 
not  been  found  possible  to  learn  anything  further  about 
the  Kirbys  except  the  fact  that  they  were  among  the 
very  earliest  settlers  in  Wethersfield.  On  the  other  hand, 
Hinman  states  (on  page  149  of  his  "Catalogue  of  the 
Names  of  the  First  Puritan  Settlers  of  the  Colony  of 
Connecticut,"  published  in  Hartford  in  1846)  that 
"Elizabeth  Hubbard  (also  written  Hubbert),  the  wife 

[12] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

of  David  Buck  (1690),  was  the  daughter  of  George 
Hubbard,  who  resided  at  Wethersfield,  but  remained 
in  the  colony  but  a  few  years  before  he  removed  to 
Milford,  then  to  Guilford,  and  afterward  to  Middle- 
town,  where  he  died  in  1684,  aged  about  eighty.  He  was 
one  of  the  leading  men  in  the  colony."  The  next  ances- 
tor, Mr.  Josiah  Buck,  married  (in  173 1)  Ann  Deming, 
the  daughter  of  Charles  Deming,  of  Boston.  From  Sav- 
age's Genealogical  Dictionary  it  appears  that  this 
Charles  Deming  was  the  grandson  of  John  Deming, 
of  Wethersfield,  of  whom  mention  is  made  (Op.  cit.,  p. 
128)  by  Hinman  in  the  following  sentence:  "John 
Deming,  with  William  Swain,  Thurston  Rayner, 
Andrew  Ward,  Matthew  Mitchell,  and  others,  were  the 
principal  settlers  of  the  town"  [Wethersfield].' 

After  Josiah  Buck  came  Daniel  Buck,  my  great 
grandfather  and  the  grandfather  of  Henry  Buck,  of 
Wethersfield,  who  still  lives  in  the  old  homestead  in 
that  town  and  is  now  (1908)  the  oldest  representative 
of  the  Buck  family.  Daniel  Buck,  the  youngest  son  of 
Josiah  Buck,  married  Sarah  Saltonstall,  the  youngest 


'The  descendants  of  Emanuel  Buck  by  his  first  wife  do  not  seem  to  have  remained 
in  Wethersfield,  but  to  have  joined  other  settlements  in  various  parts  of  the  country. 
In  Harvey's  wo'-k  on  the  Buck  Genealogy  it  appears  that  the  number  of  these  descend- 
ants was  very  large,  and  that  many  of  them  attained  positions  of  honor  in  the  com- 
munities in  which  they  lived.  Not  a  few  of  them  were  judges,  clergymen,  physicians, 
and  successful  men  of  business.  In  the  central  and  western  portions  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  in  Ohio,  Illinois,  Kentucky,  Virginia,  and  Georgia,  and  particularly  in 
Pennsylvania,  there  are  quite  large  groups  of  Bucks  who  appear  to  be  the  descend- 
ants of  Emanuel  Buck  by  his  first  wife. 

[13] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

child  of  General  Gurdon  Saltonstall,  and  a  grand- 
daughter of  Gurdon  Saltonstall,  Governor  of  Connecti- 
cut from  1708  to  1724.  Although  some  critics  have  been 
disposed  to  speak  disparagingly  of  Governor  Salton- 
stall,— describing  him  as  a  snob  and  as  never  forgetting 
his  aristocratic  birth,' — the  recorded  facts  of  his  career 
show  beyond  a  doubt  that  he  was  a  man  of  good  educa- 
tion, of  earnest  purpose,  of  great  executive  ability,  and 
loyally  devoted  to  the  best  interests  of  the  colony.  A 
fair  estimate  of  the  Governor's  character  should  take 
account,  therefore,  of  these  good  qualities  of  the  man, 
and  should  not  allow  the  minor  defects — disagreeable 
as  they  could  not  fail  to  be,  if  they  really  existed,  to 
those  who  came  in  contact  with  him  either  in  his  private 
life  or  in  the  discharge  of  his  official  duties — seriously 
to  influence  the  final  estimate  of  his  character.  Fur- 
thermore, it  is  by  no  means  clear  that  the  adverse  criti- 
cism to  which  I  have  just  referred  is  founded  upon 
trustworthy  evidence.' 

'Sir  Richard  Saltonstall  was  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  in  1597.  His  son,  also 
Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,  came  to  America  in  1630,  with  John  Winthrop,  as  an  asso- 
ciate governor  of  the  colony  of  Massachusetts.  Finally,  his  (the  second  Sir  Richard 
Saltonstall's)  son  Richard  married  Muriel  Gurdon,  a  direct  descendant  from  Alfred 
the  Great  and  from  William  the  Conqueror.  All  these  and  many  further  details, 
showing  how  the  Saltonstalls  were  connected  with  many  of  the  very  best  families  of 
England,  will  be  found  in  the  volume  entitled  "Sir  Richard  Saltonstall"  (a  copy  of 
which  is  in   my   possession). — A.    H.    B. 

'A  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Tribune  speaks  of  the  Saltonstalls  in  the  fol- 
lowing terms:  "Sir  Richard  Saltonstall  was  one  of  the  earliest  and  noblest  of  the 
Puritan  fathers.  He  resided,  I  think,  at  Haverhill,  on  the  Merrimack.  Colonel 
Nathaniel  Saltonstall,  a  grandson  of  Sir  Richard,  was  one  of  the  judges  of  the  court 
which  tried  the  Salem  witches,  in  16')2.  He  was  a  man  of  vigorous  and  well-cultivated 
mind,  great  firmness  of  character,  liberal  principles,  and  in  every  respect  in  advance 

[14] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

By  his  marriage  with  Rebecca  Winthrop,  General 
Gurdon  Saltonstall,  the  third  son  of  Governor  Salton- 
stall,  gave  to  his  descendants  the  right  to  claim  that 
through  both  parents  they  had  inherited  an  ancestry  as 
honorable  as  that  possessed  by  any  of  their  neighbors  in 
New  England.  The  Saltonstalls  furnished  an  associate 
governor  to  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  and  a  gov- 
ernor to  the  Connecticut  Colony;  the  Winthrops  fur- 
nished the  first  governor  to  the  Massachusetts  Colony 
and  two  governors  to  the  Connecticut  Colony;  and, 
finally,  the  Dudleys — Rebecca  Winthrop  was  the 
great  granddaughter  of  Governor  Joseph  Dudley — 
furnished  two  governors  to  the  Massachusetts  Colony. 
One  of  these  two,  Joseph  Dudley,  afterward  became 
the  first  Chief  Justice  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

Gurdon  Buck,  the  oldest  son  of  Daniel  Buck  and 
Sarah  Saltonstall,  and  the  last  one  of  our  ancestors  who 
was  born  and  brought  up  in  Wethersfield,  married 
Susannah  Manwaring,  the  daughter  of  David  Man- 


of  his  age.  He  soared  above  the  fanaticism  which  heated  the  imaginations  and  con- 
sumed the  judgments  of  the  community  around  him,  and  set  himself  sternly  against 
the  tide  of  delusion  which  was  sweeping  away  the  old  landmarks  established  by  the 
early  Pilgrims.  Opposed  to  the  proceedings  of  the  court  in  the  witchcraft  trials,  he 
boldly  denounced  the  violence  of  his  colleagues,  and  vacated  his  seat  on  the  bench. 
A  member  of  His  Majesty's  Council  and  of  the  General  Court,  he  figured  conspicu- 
ously during  the  stormy  administration  of  Sir  Edmund  Andrus,  and  was  one  of  the 
guiding  spirits  of  the  rising  colony.  His  eldest  son,  Gurdon,  who  was  Governor  of 
Connecticut  from  1708  to  1724.  was  unquestionably  one  of  the  first  men  in  New 
England— standing  at  the  head  of  the  literati,  distinguished  for  great  reasoning 
powers  and  captivating  eloquence,  a  profound  knowledge  of  men  and  things,  and 
extraordinary  dexterity  and  wisdom  in  the  despatch  of  business.  His  moral  qualities 
were  of  the  most  pure  and  exalted  kind." 

[15] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERS  FIELD,       CONN. 

waring,  of  New  London,  and  Martha  Saltonstall,  the 
youngest  daughter  of  General  Gurdon  Saltonstall. 
Both  grandfather  and  grandmother  Buck  were,  there- 
fore, great  grandchildren  of  Governor  Saltonstall. 

Our  knowledge  of  the  Manwarings,  thanks  to  the 
patient  researches  of  Dr.  Howard  M.  Buck,  is  now 
fairly  complete.  Oliver  Manwaring,  a  mariner,  first 
appeared  at  Salem,  near  Boston,  in  1662.  He  was  then 
about  twenty-nine  years  of  age  and  must  have  brought 
money  with  him,  as  it  appears  from  the  records  that  he 
purchased  a  plot  of  ground  in  that  town.  The  date  of 
his  marriage  to  Hannah  Raymond,  daughter  of  Rich- 
ard Raymond,  of  Salem  (1634)  and  afterward  of  Say- 
brook  (1664),  is  unknown,  but  there  is  a  record  which 
states  that  on  November  3,  1664,  Joshua  Raymond  pur- 
chased a  house,  home-lot  and  other  land  in  New 
London  "for  Oliver  Manwaring,  his  brother-in-law." 
The  marriage  must,  therefore,  have  taken  place  at  some 
time  between  1662  and  the  date  last  named.  Haven,  in 
his  Memoir  of  Frances  Manwaring  Caulkins,'  says: 
"The  Manwarings  who  settled  in  the  vicinity  of  New 
London,  are  said  to  have  been  noted  for  a  sanguine  tem- 
perament, resolution,  impetuosity,  and  a  certain  degree 
of  obstinacy.  They  were  lovers  of  discussion  and  good 
cheer.  A  florid  complexion,  piercing  black  eyes  and 
dark  hair  are  described  as  personal  traits,  which  are 

*New   England  Historical   and   Genealogical   Register   for  October,    1869. 

[16] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

Still  represented  in  their  descendants."'  All  that  we 
know  about  David  Manwaring,'  the  immediate  ancestor 
of  graridmother  Buck,  is  to  the  effect  that  he  was  the 
only  ««+«;  that  after  graduating  from  Yale  College 
in  the  class  of  1759,  he  entered  into  business  as  a  mer- 
chant in  New  London;  that  he  had  a  prosperous  career 
up  to  the  time  (1781)  when  the  British  burned  a  large 
part  of  that  town;  that  the  American  Congress  gave  him 
a  grant  of  lands  in  what  is  now  the  State  of  Ohio  in 
compensation  for  the  losses  which  he  had  suffered  at 
the  hands  of  the  British;  that  he  moved  to  New  York 
City  with  his  daughter,  Susannah,  and  his  two  sons, 
Gurdon  and  David,  Jr.,  in  1802;  and,  finallv,  that  he 
died  there  on  the  8th  of  May,  1804.  The  name  of  the 
firm,  Gurdon  Manwaring  &  Co.,  merchants,  177 
Water  Street,  appears  in  the  New  York  City  directory 
in  1802,  1803,  1804  and  1805.  In  1806  the  entry  reads, 
simply,  Gurdon  Manwaring,  merchant,  177  Water 
Street.  In  1807  only  the  address  of  his  residence  (85 
Beekman  St.)  is  given.    In  1808  the  name  disappears 

'In  a  letter  which  reached  mc  after  this  sketch  had  been  set  up  in  type,  Dr. 
Howard  M.  Buck  makes  the  following  statement: — "Oliver  Manwaring,  gent.,  of  Ex- 
eter and  Dawlish  (who  died  at  Dawlish  in  1672).  and  his  wife.  Prudence  (Esse),  were 
the  parents  of  a  younger  son,  Oliver.  This  Oliver  Manwaring.  born  at  Dawlish, 
March  16,  163.1,  corresponds  to  Oliver  Manwaring,  immigrant,  of  Salem  and  New 
London.  In  1903,  I  met  Cecil  R.  Manwaring  Clapp,  Esq.,  of  Exeter,  England,  a 
descendant  of  a  later  Oliver  Manwaring  (son  of  Esse  Manwaring  and  grandson  of 
Oliver  Manwaring,  of  Exeter  and  Dawlish,  aforesaid),  who  might  well  have  been 
the  'nephew   Oliver  .Manwaring'  mentioned  in  the  immigrant's  will."   (See  also  p.    114.) 

'A  brief  sketch  of  David  Manwaring  will  be  found  in  F.  B.  Dexter's  "Bio- 
graphical Sketches  of  the  Graduates  of  Yale  College,"  Henry  Holt  &  Co.,  Publisher», 
1885.   New   York. 

[17] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

altogether.  The  date  of  his  death  is  not  known.  Al- 
though David  Manwaring,  Jr.,  did  not  die  until  1811, 
his  name  appears  in  the  directory  only  in  the  year  1803. 
Both  he  and  his  sister  resided  with  their  father  during 
the  latter's  lifetime,  at  No.  i  Jacob  Street. 

Gurdon  Buck,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  ascertain, 
was  in  the  shipping  business.  A  part  of  the  time  he 
was  in  partnership  with  his  younger  brother,  Daniel, 
but  at  a  later  date  his  sons,  David  and  Charles,  were 
associated  with  him  in  business,  the  name  of  the  firm 
being  Gurdon  Buck  &  Sons.  I  have  not  been  able  to 
learn  at  what  date  he  first  came  to  New  York  from 
Wethersfield,  but  it  must  have  been  at  some  time 
between  1795  and  1800,  for  already  in  1801  his  name 
appears  in  the  City  Directory,  both  the  address  of  his 
place  of  business  and  that  of  his  residence  being  set 
opposite  his  name. 

My  first  recollections  of  grandfather,  Gurdon 
Buck,  date  back  to  1849,  at  which  time  he  was  living 
with  us  at  our  home,  No.  775  Broadway,  between  9th 
and  loth  Streets,  on  the  west  side  of  that  thoroughfare. 
I  was  at  that  time  seven  years  old.  He  was  a  tall  man, 
of  rather  large  frame  and  of  a  very  serious  countenance. 
His  face  was  that  of  the  typical  Puritan  of  two  centuries 
ago — earnest,  thoughtful,  strong.  Nevertheless,  he  was 
very  kind  to  me  in  all  sorts  of  little  ways,  and  won  my 
heart  wholly  by  allowing  me,  on  rare  occasions,  to 
inspect  and  handle  his  outfit  of  blue-fish  lines  and  squids 

[IS] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

of  different  kinds.  He  doubtless  did  most  of  his  fish- 
ing in  the  waters  around  Montauk  Point  and  Orient, 
Long  Island,  perhaps  in  company  with  his  uncle,  David 
Manwaring,  of  New  London,  at  whose  house  he  must 
often  have  been  a  visitor.  The  loss  of  his  wife  and  his 
fortune  in  1839,  when  he  was  sixty-two  years  old,  and 
after  he  had  retired  from  business,  was  certainly  enough 
to  give  him  a  very  serious  caste  of  countenance. 
Mother's  account  of  her  impressions  of  grandfather's 
character,  as  observed  by  her  during  the  first  three 
years  of  her  married  life  (1836- 1839),  favors  the  be- 
lief that  at  that  time  he  was  a  most  genial  man,  devoted 
to  his  wife  and  children,  fond  of  driving  horses  and  of 
salt-water  fishing,  and  possessing  a  generous  disposition. 

From  an  examination  of  the  New  York  City  direc- 
tories of  that  period,  I  learn  that  grandfather's  first 
place  of  business  was  (1801)  at  No.  181  Front  Street; 
his  residence  being  at  No.  42  Beekman  Street.  In  1802 
the  entry  in  the  directory  reads:  "Gurdon  &  Daniel 
Buck,  merchants,  181  Front  St."  In  1803,  1804,  1805 
and  1806,  the  business  address  was  84  South  Street.  In 
1807  it  was  given  as  183  Front  Street.  During  these 
years  grandfather  appears  to  have  changed  his  resi- 
dence twice — first,  to  No.  5  Gold  Street,  and  then  (in 
1807)  to  54  Fair  Street  (?  named,  later,  Fulton  St.). 
At  a  still  later  date  he  removed  to  No.  113  Liberty 
Street. 

In  1838  grandfather  built  at  Fort  Washington,  on 

[19] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

the  height  overlooking  the  Hudson  River,  for  use  as  a 
summer  residence,  the  house  which  is  shown  in  the 
accompanying  not  very  good  photograph.  Mother  and 
father,  with  their  infant  daughter,  Amelia,  spent  one 
summer  in  this  house  before  it  passed  out  of  grand- 
father's possession.  The  house  was  still  standing  at  the 
time  when  I  last  visited  that  part  of  the  city  (1904), 
although  it  is  likely  to  be  torn  down  at  any  moment  to 
permit  the  opening  of  a  new  street  (i8oth  St.),  or  to 
make  room  for  structures  of  a  more  substantial  charac- 
ter.' The  growth  of  trees  on  the  west  front  of  the  house 
was  then  so  luxuriant  that  the  view  was  entirely  shut 
out,  but  in  grandfather's  time  the  outlook  over  the  Hud- 
son River  and  the  Palisades  must  have  been  most  beauti- 
ful. For  a  period  of  ten  or  fifteen  years — in  the  seven- 
ties and  perhaps  later — the  house  was  owned  and  lived 
in  by  Charles  O'Connor,  in  his  day  one  of  the  most 
famous  of  New  York's  lawyers.' 

In  1836  or  1837  grandfather  retired  from  business, 
leaving  the  management  of  it  to  his  sons,  David  and 
Charles.  The  firm  name  remained  as  before,  Gurdon 
Buck  &  Sons,  but  I  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain 
whether  or  not  any  part  of  the  business  was  conducted 

^It  was  torn  down   in   1905. 

'Farther  on,  in  Part  II,  will  be  found  an  interesting  account  (by  Gurdon  S. 
Buck)  of  the  extraordinary  manner  in  which  a  small  portion  of  this  property  has 
reverted  to  the  descendants  of  Gurdon  Buck  after  the  lapse  of  nearly  three-quarters 
of  a    century. 

According  to  the  investigations  made  by  my  brother  Gurdon,  in  1901,  grandfa- 
therownedat  that  time  (1838)  over  one  hundred  separate  plots  of  ground  on  Manhat- 
tan   Island. 

[20] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D  ,       CONN. 

in  New  York  after  grandfather's  retirement.  What  is 
known  certainly  is,  that  in  1837  or  1838  both  the  sons 
were  living  in  New  Orleans,  where,  at  some  earlier 
date,  a  branch  of  the  business  had  been  established.  In 
common  with  many  other  mercantile  houses,  the  firm  of 
Gurdon  Buck  &  Sons  experienced  in  1838  very  serious 
losses.  In  the  account  just  referred  to  (see  page  44) 
it  is  stated  how  the  disaster  which  overtook  the  firm  led 
to  grandfather's  loss  of  his  private  fortune.  No  record 
can  be  found  of  his  having  gone  through  the  legal  for- 
malities of  an  assignment  for  the  benefit  of  hiscreditors; 
so  we  are  forced  to  conclude  that  the  whole  affair  was 
disposed  of  in  a  private  manner.  He  seems  to  have  given 
up  everything  that  he  possessed  to  his  creditors;  and, 
as  the  amount  thus  realized  did  not  suffice  to  extinguish 
the  indebtedness,  his  son,  Dr.  Gurdon  Buck,  abandoned 
to  them  the  fine  residence  on  Chambers  Street,  which 
his  father  had  presented  to  him  shortly  after  his  return 
from  Europe  with  his  bride  (1836). 

During  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life  grandfather 
occupied  some  position  of  trust  in  the  United  States 
Customs  Office  here  in  New  York.  A  knowledge  of  the 
manner  in  which  grandfather  played  his  part  in  this 
humbler  position  in  life  came  to  me  in  an  unexpected 
manner  in  the  summer  of  1867.  Upon  arrival  at  the 
dock,  in  New  York,  after  a  short  trip  abroad,  I  was 
placed  in  charge  of  a  somewhat  elderly  U.  S.  Customs 
Inspector.     Before  proceeding  to  examine  the  contents 

[21] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERS  FIELD,       CONN. 

of  my  trunk,  he  said:  "Your  name,  1  observe,  is  Buck. 
Are  you  perhaps  a  relative  of  the  late  Gurdon  Buck?" 
I  replied  that  I  was  a  grandson.  His  face  brightened 
and  he  said:  "The  old  gentleman  was  our  chief,  and 
we  thought  very  highly  of  him."  This  remark  did  not 
make  a  very  strong  impression  upon  me  at  the  time,  but 
in  recent  years,  since  1  have  begun  to  reflect  upon  vari- 
ous events  in  the  lives  of  my  immediate  ancestors,  I 
have  come  to  recognize  that  this  testimony,  given  spon- 
taneously by  one  of  grandfather's  former  associates, 
possesses  exceptional  value  for  all  his  descendants. 

Gurdon  Buck  died  on  August  4th,  1852.  The  Com- 
mercial  Advertiser,  in  its  issue  of  August  6th,  publishes 
the  following  brief  obituary  notice: 

"Burial  of  an  Old  Resident.— The  funeral  of  the 
late  Gurdon  Buck  took  place  yesterday  afternoon  from 
his  late  residence  in  Brevoort  Place."  His  remains  were 
followed  to  the  place  of  interment  by  a  large  number  of 
our  old  merchants,  who  knew  and  respected  the 
deceased.  There  are  many  still  living  who  recollect  the 
old  mercantile  firm  of  G.  &  D.  Buck,  a  few  years  ago 
one  of  our  largest  commercial  houses.  Both  partners 
of  that  firm  are  now  sleeping  in  death.  Mr.  Gurdon 
Buck  lived  to  the  age  of  73  [74],  and  it  is  but  a  few  days 
since  we  saw  him  almost  as  active  as  in  the  days  of  his 
youth,  and  bidding  fair  for  years  of  enjoyment  amid  the 
society  of  his  family  and  friends.     He  has  been  cut  oflf 


'The 


name  given  to  lOlh  Street  between   IJroailway  anil  University  Place. 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D  ,       CONN. 

by  dysentery,  after  a  few  days'  illness.  At  the  time  of 
his  death  he  was  a  member  of  the  Mercer  Street  Pres- 
byterian Church."  I  might  add  that  he  was  also  at  one 
time  a  director  in  the  Bank  of  New  York,  in  those  days 
one  of  the  leading  banks  of  the  city. 

Dr.  Gurdon  Buck,  the  second  son  of  the  last  named, 
and  my  father,  was  given  a  good  school  education 
(including  Latin  and  the  ordinary  course  in  mathe- 
matics), and  was  then  taken  into  the  business  house  of 
G.  &  D.  Buck,  as  a  clerk.  The  work,  however,  proved 
distasteful  to  him,  and  his  father  then  gave  his  assent 
to  the  proposition  that  he  should  fit  himself  for  the 
practice  of  medicine.  Upon  the  termination  of  his 
course  of  studies  at  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons, from  which  institution  he  received  the  degree  of 
M.  D.  in  1830,  he  entered  the  New  York  Hospital  on 
the  medical  side,  and  served  consecutively  as  junior  as- 
sistant, senior  assistant,  and  house  physician,  during  the 
following  two  years.  Then,  before  assuming  the  duties 
of  private  practice,  he  spent  about  two  years  in  Europe 
( 1 83 1  to  1 833 ) ,  visiting  the  hospitals  of  Vienna,  Berlin, 
Paris  and  London.  It  was  at  this  time,  while  on  a  visit 
to  Geneva,  Switzerland,  that  he  made  the  acquaintance 
of  Henriette  Elisabeth,  second  daughter  of  Albert 
Henri  Wolflf,  and  afterward  married  her.  At  first,  her 
parents  were  not  willing  that  she  should  make  her  home 
in  that  far-ofif  country  of  America,  and  father  was 
obliged  to  return  to  New  York  without  having  secured 

[23] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D  ,       CONN. 

the  desired  acceptance  of  his  offer.  Nearly  three  years 
later,  however,  he  crossed  the  ocean  a  second  time  and 
met  with  a  better  reception.  The  couple  were  married 
on  the  27th  day  of  July,  1836.  During  the  following 
three  months  they  traveled  over  the  continent,  visiting 
various  places  of  interest,  and  then  sailed  from  Liver- 
pool for  New  York  early  in  November,  on  the  sailing 
ship,  "Virginian,"  a  vessel  of  only  five  hundred  tons. 
Mother's  account  of  this  trip  and  of  her  first  impres- 
sions upon  arriving  at  father's  home  in  Liberty  Street, 
will  be  found  in  one  of  the  volumes  of  my  scrap-books. 
Three  or  four  other  letters,  written  by  her  to  her  parents 
at  later  dates,  will  also  be  found  there.'  The  atmos- 
phere of  her  new  social  surroundings  was  very  differ- 
ent from  that  in  which  she  had  previously  spent  her 
life,  and  she  evidently — so  far  as  one  can  judge  from  a 
perusal  of  these  letters — experienced  very  great  diffi- 
culty in  adapting  herself  to  these  strange  conditions. 
She  speaks  of  father's  devoted  love  for  her  and  of  the 
untiring  kindness  shown  to  her,  not  only  by  grandfather 
and  grandmother  and  the  brothers  and  sisters  of  her 
husband,  but  also  by  the  various  friends  and  relatives 
of  the  Bucks.  Nevertheless,  it  stands  out  plainly  in 
every  one  of  these  letters  that  mother  continued  to  have 
for  a  long  time  an  intense  longing  to  see  her  parents, 
her  sisters   and   her  brother,   and   her  beloved   Swiss 

'There  was  a  large  collection  of  these  early  letters,  but  I  destroyed  nearly  all 
of  them  for  fear  that  they  might  convey  a  wrong  impression  to  the  minds  of  later 
generations  of  Bucks. 

[24] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

mountains.  Grandfather  presented  to  them  a  comfort- 
able home  in  what  was  then  one  of  the  best  residence 
portions'  of  the  city,  and  soon  (1838)  her  first-born 
child  claimed  a  large  share  of  her  attention.  But  these 
things,  which  would  have  given  a  full  measure  of  hap- 
piness to  a  young  American  wife,  were  not  sufficient 
materially  to  diminish  the  intensity  of  mother's  longing 
for  Switzerland.  I  am  unable  to  say  for  how  long  a 
period  this  state  of  mind  continued,  but  it  certainly 
lasted  for  several  years.  Father  had  fully  expected  to 
return  with  her  soon  to  Geneva  for  a  short  visit  to  her 
old  home,  but  grandfather's  loss  of  fortune  upset  all 
their  plans.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  mother  did  not  revisit 
Geneva  until  1857, — that  is,  nearly  twenty-one  years 
after  her  marriage, — and  during  this  long  interval  her 
father,  to  whom  she  was  specially  attached,  had  died 
(1848). 

Of  father's  professional  career  I  will  say  very  little; 
the  scrap-books  contain  many  notices  that  deal  with 
this  very  point,  and  I  have  introduced  copies  of  the 
more  important  of  these  farther  on  in  this  volume. 
(See  page  48.)  For  several  years  I  assisted  him 
at  all  his  more  important  operations  in  private  prac- 
tice, and,  therefore,  I  had  ample  opportunities  for 
estimating  the  degree  of  his  skill  and  judgment  in  the 
performance  of  this  work.    He  was  bold,  but  not  reck- 


*No.   74  Chambers  Street,   on  the  south  side,  about  one  hundred  feet   to  the   west 
of  Broadway.     The  site  is  now  occupied  by  an  extension  of  the  Chemical  Bank. 

[25] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

less,  a  thoroughly  good  anatomist,  full  of  resources  for 
overcoming  the  obstacles  encountered,  skilful  in  the 
handling  of  instruments, — in  spite  of  a  degree  of  near- 
sightedness which  compelled  him  to  bring  his  face  in 
very  close  proximity  to  the  field  of  operation, — unre- 
mitting in  his  watchfulness  of  the  effects  of  the  anaes- 
thetic upon  the  action  of  the  patient's  heart  and  lungs, 
minutely  careful  in  his  final  dressing  of  the  wound,  and 
never  abating  his  interest  in  the  after-treatment  until 
all  need  for  his  further  services  had  ceased.  He  made 
relatively  few  contributions  to  medical  literature,  and 
these  were  written  in  the  most  condensed  style  pos- 
sible. As  a  teacher  at  the  bedside — when  he  made  his 
rounds  with  the  students  through  the  surgical  wards  of 
the  New  York  Hospital  and  of  St.  Luke's  Hospital,  he 
was  most  clear  and  practical.  He  never  lectured  at  the 
medical  college,  and  I  always  believed  that  he  had  a 
positive  dislike  for  speaking  in  public.  The  thing 
which  brought  him  considerable  fame  among  medical 
men  in  the  country  generally,  and  abroad,  was  his  earn- 
est and  persistent  advocacy  of  the  usefulness  of  employ- 
ing traction  (by  weight  and  pulley)  in  the  treatment  of 
fractures,  particularly  of  the  thigh.  The  idea  of  using 
traction  in  this  manner  was  not  originated  by  him;  it 
had  already  been  put  in  practice  by  (if  I  remember 
rightly)  Dr.  Physick,  an  American  surgeon  of  great 
eminence  in  his  day.  But  the  profession  generally  did 
not  seem  to  think  the  method  one  of  any  particular 

[2(i| 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

value,  and,  consequently,  it  fell  into  disuse.  Thanks  to 
father's  efforts,  however,  it  soon  became  the  established 
method  of  treating  fractures  of  the  thigh,  and  since  then 
surgeons  generally,  at  least  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic, 
have  been  in  the  habit  of  speaking  of  it  as  "Buck's 
method." 

Father  gained  additional  reputation  by  the  success 
which  he  had  in  plastic  surgery,  that  is,  in  the  repair  of 
parts  of  the  surface  of  the  body  which  had  been  dam- 
aged and  distorted  by  burns  or  mechanical  injuries  of 
any  kind.  At  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  some  of  his 
friends  among  the  army  surgeons  sent  to  him  two  or 
three  cases  of  soldiers  whose  faces  had  been  very  much 
damaged  by  gunshot  wounds.  In  one  of  these  men  the 
greater  part  of  the  nose,  the  upper  lip  and  the  adjacent 
cheek  had  been  destroyed,  and  the  poor  fellow  pre- 
sented such  a  repulsive  spectacle  that  everybody 
shunned  him.  For  a  period  of  about  two  years,  as 
nearly  as  I  can  recollect,  father  persevered  in  his  efforts 
to  reconstruct  the  missing  parts.  Operation  followed 
operation  at  intervals  of  two  or  three  months,  for  it  was 
found  impossible  to  transpose  at  one  time,  to  the  de- 
nuded area,  more  than  a  comparatively  small  patch  of 
healthy  skin.  Finally,  all  these  efforts  were  crowned 
with  success;  the  man  had  a  new  nose,  a  full  upper  lip, 
and  an  entire  cheek.  At  the  time  when  he  was  dis- 
missed to  his  home  his  face  presented  a  very  lumpy  and 
uneven  appearance;    in  fact,  he  was  anything  but  an 

[27] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

attractive-looking  man.  But,  in  the  course  of  the  next 
two  or  three  years,  all  these  grosser  irregularities  dis- 
appeared, and  it  could  then  be  seen  how  marvelously 
well  father  had  succeeded  in  solving  the  difficult  prob- 
lem presented  to  him.  In  the  meantime,  the  man  had 
married  and  was  leading  a  happy  and  useful  life  as  a 
farmer. 

Father's  early  education,  the  heavy  financial  burden 
which  he  had  to  carry  for  so  many  years  after  grand- 
father's loss  of  fortune,  and  the  chilling  atmosphere  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  to  which  he  belonged,  all 
tended  to  intensify  the  seriousness  of  his  naturally  earn- 
est character  and  to  give  him  an  e.xpression  of  sternness 
and  severity — traits  which  he  really  did  not  possess. 
Occasionally  he  would  throw  ofif  this  habitual  mask  of 
reserve  and  sternness,  and  display,  for  a  few  brief  mo- 
ments— alas!  they  were  of  rare  occurrence — a  most  gen- 
ial and  sympathetic  character.  Although  he  has  been 
dead  for  over  twenty-seven  years,  1  am  conscious  that  it 
is  only  now  that  I  am  at  last  sufficiently  far  removed 
from  the  impressions  of  my  life  at  father's  home  to  ana- 
lyze correctly  his  character  and  the  motives  of  his  ac- 
tions. He  had  a  profound  sense  of  duty;  so  profound 
that  it  overpowered  all  the  other  elements  of  his  charac- 
ter— his  warm-heartedness,  his  keen  sense  of  fun,  and 
his  love  of  travel.  As  I  was  the  oldest  son,  he  felt  very 
strongly  the  duty  which  rested  upon  him  to  bring  me 
up  in  the  ways  of  righteousness.     Hence,  many  were 

[28] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

the  occasions  upon  which  I  was  told  to  go  to  my  room 
and  meditate  for  an  hour  upon  the  sinfulness  of  what  I 
had  done  or  had  failed  to  do,  and  at  the  end  of  each 
such  period  of  meditation  I  never  failed  to  receive  the 
drubbing  which  all  true  Puritan  fathers  of  that  day 
believed  to  be  essential  to  the  welfare  of  their  growing 
sons.  Morning  prayers  and  evening  prayers  every  day; 
Wednesday  evening  and  Friday  evening  meetings  at 
the  church  ;  Sunday-school  instruction  on  Sunday  morn- 
ings, followed  by  attendance  upon  two  services  at  the 
church;  then,  finally,  on  Sunday  evening, — the  worst 
thing  of  all,  at  least  to  me, — the  committing  to  memory 
and  recital  of  a  hymn  and  eight  or  ten  verses  of  Scrip- 
ture— this  was  the  routine  course  to  which  we  older 
children  (my  two  sisters  and  I)  were  subjected  fifty 
years  ago,  our  parents  believing  fully  that  only  in  this 
way  could  we  be  taught  to  love  God  and  eschew  evil. 
If  anybody,  in  those  days,  had  the  independence  to 
think  and  act  differently,  he  was  very  likely  to  be  set 
down  (at  least  by  the  Presbyterians)  as  an  ungodly 
man  or  a  "child  of  the  world."  Is  it  to  be  wondered  at 
that,  for  so  many  years,  I  should  have  found  it  impos- 
sible to  do  full  justice  to  the  good  points  in  father's 
character? 

Before  dismissing  this  subject  altogether  I  want 
to  place  on  record  a  statement  of  what  father  and 
mother  did  when  grandfather  lost  his  fortune.  As  I 
said  before,  I  was  never  able  to  obtain  from  father  any 

[29] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

account  of  this  failure;  my  knowledge  of  the  circum- 
stances is  based  almost  entirely  upon  conversations 
which  I  had  with  mother  upon  this  subject.  Shortly 
after  the  disaster  occurred,  father  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  it  was  his  duty  to  turn  over  the  house  and  lot 
which  grandfather  had  presented  to  him,  to  grand- 
father's creditors.  He  accordingly  gave  up  the  prop- 
erty; and  he  must  have  done  so  with  mother's  full  ap- 
proval, for  all  through  his  life  it  was  his  invariable 
habit  to  consult  with  her  in  regard  to  every  step  which 
he  proposed  to  take.  His  strict  Puritan  conceptions  of 
right  and  wrong  would  not  allow  him  to  stop  even  here ; 
he  considered  himself  bound  to  pay,  from  time  to  time, 
what  he  could,  in  actual  money,  until  the  last  dollar  of 
grandfather's  indebtedness  had  been  paid.  As  nearly 
as  I  can  recollect,  this  final  payment  was  not  made  until 
1867  or  1868 — i.  e.,  fifteen  years  after  grandfather's 
death.  In  other  words,  father  carried  this  burden  of 
debt  almost  entirely  upon  his  own  shoulders — his  three 
brothers  not  being  sufficiently  prosperous  to  aid  very 
greatly — for  a  period  of  about  twenty-eight  years.  Al- 
though for  many  years  I  could  not  bring  myself  to  be- 
lieve that  father  was  morally  obligated  to  make  such 
sacrifices  for  the  preservation  of  grandfather's  honor, 
I  must  perforce  admit  that  the  act  is  one  which  re- 
dounds greatly  to  his  credit,  and  in  which  his  descend- 
ants can  take  greater  pride  than  in  the  distinction  which 
he  gained  as  a  surgeon. 

[30] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

With  the  death  of  Dr.  Gurdon  Buck  there  came  to 
an  end  the  strictly  Puritan  portion  of  our  ancestry,  un- 
broken through  six  generations.  Through  father's  mar- 
riage to  Henriette  Elisabeth  Wolfif,  of  Geneva,  Swit- 
zerland, foreign  blood,  partly  German  and  partly 
French,  was  added  to  the  stock.  I  have  already  said 
something  about  mother  and  her  early  married  life.  I 
will  now  add  a  few  remarks  about  her  more  marked 
characteristics.  In  the  first  place,  she  was  an  excellent 
pianist,  as  were,  indeed,  all  the  other  members  of  her 
family  with  the  exception  of  her  brother  Philippe, 
whose  musical  ability  was  only  of  a  mediocre  order. 
She  could  read  the  most  difficult  compositions  at  sight, 
and  her  execution  was  almost  faultless.  Her  younger 
sister  Jennie,  Madame  Richard  Monsell,  of  Neuchatel, 
was  not  only  an  excellent  pianist — the  most  brilliant 
one  of  the  family — but  also  a  composer  of  no  small 
merit.  She  possessed,  besides,  considerable  artistic 
talent,  as  may  be  judged  by  the  portraits  which  she 
drew  of  her  brother  and  her  grandmother  Hauloch  (see 
accompanying  photographic  copies).  Uncle  Philippe, 
speaking  of  her  gift  for  drawing  in  one  of  his  letters  to 
me,  says:  "She  married  an  excellent  and  learned  theo- 
logian who  cared  nothing  for  art  in  any  shape,  had  no 
sense  for  it,  and  therefore,  she  gave  it  up."  I  can  re- 
member well  how  grandmother  Wolfif,  then  nearly 
seventy  years  of  age,  used  to  put  on  her  spectacles  and 
play  duets  at  the  piano,  with  one  or  the  other  of  her 

[31] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

daughters,  with  the  greatest  facility.  This  music  was  a 
constant  source  of  enjoyment  to  her  American  grand- 
children, and  such  a  scene  could  scarcely  at  that  time 
( 1857)  have  been  duplicated  in  any  part  of  New  Eng- 
land or  New  York.  Another  strong  point  in  mother's 
character  was  her  remarkable  executive  ability.  When 
it  became  known  that  she  was  about  to  visit  Europe 
with  all  her  children — father  was  not  able  to  accom- 
pany us — various  friends  and  relatives  expressed  a  de- 
sire to  have  their  children  join  the  party.  Some  of  these 
applications  were  accepted,  and  in  this  way  mother 
found  herself,  on  arriving  in  France,  at  the  head  of  a 
party  of  seven  young  people,  all  of  them  under  twenty 
years  of  age,  and  two  of  them  aged  respectively  seven 
and  nine  years  of  age.'  For  more  than  a  year  she  kept 
this  small  caravan  of  youthful  Americans — la  grande 
famille  Americaine,  as  they  were  often  called — together 
in  a  state  of  harmony,  health  and  contentment;  found 
suitable  French,  drawing  and  music  teachers  for  the 
several  groups;  looked  after  their  clothing  outfits  and 
their  small  stores  of  pocket  money;  and  gave  them  all 
the  traveling  about  Switzerland  that  was  good  for 
them.  Very  few  mothers,  I  am  confident,  would,  in 
these  days,  be  willing  or  able  to  perform  a  like  feat.  In 
all  our  excursions  on  foot  among  the  Alps  or  the  Jura 
mountains,  it  was  never  she  who  showed  any  signs  of 

^Matthew  B.  DuBois,  a  son  of  Dr.  Abram  DuBois,  a  distinguished  physician  of  New 
York  City  and  one  of  father's  intimate  friends,  and  Fannie  Howe,  the  only  daughter  of 
Edmund  G.  Howe,  a  banker  in  Hartford,  Connecticut,  were  our  constant  companions  on 
this  trip. 

[32] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

physical  exhaustion.  A  few  years  later,  toward  the 
close  of  the  Civil  War,  she  was  invited  to  serve  on  the 
Auxiliary  Women's  Committee  of  the  United  States 
Sanitary  Commission,  and  in  this  capacity  she  gave 
efficient  aid  in  securing  a  remarkable  success  for  the 
great  fair  which  was  held  at  that  time  in  New  York 
for  the  benefit  of  the  sick  and  wounded  soldiers.  Over 
and  over  again,  between  1837  and  1870,  she  was  instru- 
mental in  finding  employment  for  the  Swiss  men  and 
women  who  had  migrated  to  this  country  in  the  hope 
of  bettering  their  condition.  And  so,  finally,  in  the 
midst  of  so  much  useful  activity — and  largely,  I  have  no 
doubt,  on  account  of  it — she  became  entirely  reconciled 
to  her  life  in  this,  her  adopted  country,  and  nobody 
would  have  suspected,  unless  it  were  for  a  slightly  for- 
eign accent  in  her  speech,  that  she  was  not  a  native 
American.  Indeed,  her  knowledge  of  English  was  ex- 
ceptionally thorough.  She  not  only  wrote  the  language 
well,  but  she  was  able  to  point  out  almost  immediately 
any  defects  that  existed  in  the  writings  of  other  people. 
Errors  in  grammar,  the  more  or  less  incorrect  use  of 
certain  words,  clumsily  framed  sentences,  presentation 
of  ideas  or  facts  in  an  illogical  order,  etc. — all  such 
deficiencies  were  quickly  noted  by  her,  and  she  never 
seemed  to  experience  any  difficulty  in  finding  the  word 
or  the  sentence  needed  to  convert  the  faulty  into  good 
English.  As  I  had  received  little  or  no  training  of 
this  nature  in  the  schools  which  I  attended,  and  prac- 

[33] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

tically  none  at  all  at  college,  I  feel  as  if  I  owed  mother 
a  heavy  debt  of  gratitude  for  the  pains  which  she  took, 
in  the  earlier  years  of  my  professional  life,  in  pointing 
out  to  me  my  deficiencies  in  the  use  of  the  English  lan- 
guage. 

The  Wolffs  came  originally  (sixteenth  century) 
from  the  small  walled  town  of  Kiinzelsau,  in  the  present 
kingdom  of  Wiirttemberg.  The  first  member  of  the 
family  who  gained  any  distinction  was  Philippe  Hein- 
rich  Wolfif,  who  in  1761,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  ob- 
tained (after  six  years  of  systematic  preparation)  from 
the  Archbishop  Elector  of  Mayence  and  Wiirtzburg — 
the  only  authority  who  could,  at  that  early  period  of 
educational  facilities  in  the  department  of  music,  have 
issued  such  a  testimonial — a  diploma  of  merit  as  a  mu- 
sician." At  a  later  period  he  took  up  his  residence  first 
at  Strasbourg  and  then  at  Landau.  His  wife's  name 
was  Catherine  Elisabeth  Keller.  While  in  Landau  he 
held  the  position  of  Kapellmeister  in  the  Regiment  of 
Waldner.  At  the  same  time  he  must  have  commanded 
the  respect  and,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  friendship  of 
the  Due  de  Deux- Fonts  (Zweibriicken),  who  was  at 
that  time  in  command  of  the  fortress  at  Landau,  and 
who  later  (1805),  under  the  title  of  Maximilian  I 
Joseph,  became  King  of  Bavaria  (the  first  king  of  that 
country)  ;  for,  when  I  examined  (1891)  the  register  of 


'This  diploma  is  now  in  the  possession  of  John   Elliott  Wolff,   Professor  of  Pet- 
rography at  Harvard  University,  Cambridge,  Massachusetts. 

[34] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

births  in  the  Town  Hall  at  Landau,  I  found,  opposite 
grandfather's  name,  the  following  memorandum  in 
French :  "Dans  /'absence  du  pere  avec  rarmee,  le  Due 
de  Deux-Ponts  s'est  presente  comme  temoin.'"  The 
date  of  Grandfather  Wolff's  birth  is  April  28,  1778. 
Of  the  four  children  of  Philippe  Heinrich  Wolff — 
three  sons  and  one  daughter — ^the  oldest,  Louis,  became 
a  captain  of  a  French  man-of-war,  and  was  eventually 
appointed  by  Napoleon,  after  the  conquest  of  Portugal, 
an  admiral  of  the  Portuguese  fleet.  The  second  and 
third  sons,  Jean  Philippe  and  Albert  Henri  (my 
grandfather),  were  compelled  by  the  situation  of  affairs 
in  Landau,  and  indeed  in  France  generally,  to  enter  the 
French  army  in  1792.  After  fifteen  consecutive  years  of 
military  service  (the  greater  part  of  the  time  in  the 
corps  of  music),  in  nearly  every  country  of  Continental 
Europe  except  Russia,  they  settled  permanently  in 
Geneva,  Switzerland — at  that  time  under  French  rule. 
Many  anecdotes  about  these  brothers,  who  served  for 
so  many  years  in  the  French  army,  will  be  found  re- 
corded in  the  "reminiscences"  of  Uncle  Philippe, 
which  are  preserved  in  my  scrap-books.  I  have  also 
introduced  some  of  these  in  the  present  sketch.  (See 
page  67.) 

In  1807  grandfather  married  Amelie  Antoinette, 
daughter  of  Antoine  Hauloch  and  Frangoise  Elisabeth 
Barral,  his  wife.     Of  the  Haulochs,  I  have  been  able 

^"Owing  to  the  abstnce  of  the  child's  father  on  military  duty  the  Duke  de  Deux- 
Ponts  presented   himself  at  the  baptism,  with  the   family,   as  a  witness." 

[35] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERS  FIELD,       CONN. 

to  learn  very  little  beyond  the  facts  that  Antoine's  father 
came  from  Strasbourg  and  that  he  himself  was  a  mer- 
chant. At  one  time  in  his  career  he  must  have  stood 
high  in  the  esteem  of  the  community,  for  Dufour,  Arch- 
iviste  of  Geneva,  speaks  of  him  in  his  report  as  having 
been  the  financial  agent  ("caissier  national")  of  the 
Swiss  Government  at  Geneva."  Toward  the  end  of  his 
life,  however,  he  lost  the  greater  part  of  his  fortune 
through  bad  investments. 

The  Barrals'  came  originally  from  the  south  of 
France.  The  first  ancestor  of  this  name,  of  whom  we 
can  find  any  certain  record,  was  Henri  Barral,  who 
died  at  some  time  previous  to  1 1;86.  His  son,  Maurice, 
who  was  married  to  Marie  Perrot  in  the  Cathedral  of 
St.  Pierre,  at  Geneva,  on  December  3d,  1581,  made 
some  provision  in  his  will  (registered  October  27th, 
1589)  for  aiding  French  refugees.  It  seems  likely, 
therefore,  that  both  he  and  his  father  were  driven  out 
of  France  by  the  same  religious  persecutions  which 
forced  John  Calvin  to  leave  that  country  (1536)  and 
take  refuge  in  Geneva.  In  iji;i;  Jean  Baptiste,  a  great 
grandson  of  Maurice,  married,  as  his  second  wife. 
Rose,  the  daughter  of  Jean  Marc  Charpillier,  a  native 
of  Geneva,  and  a  sister  of  Frani^ois  Charpillier.  It  was 
their  daughter,   Frangoise   Elisabeth   Barral,  who,   in 

^According  to  the  statement  of  his  grandson,  Philippe  WoliT,  the  large  sum  of 
money  spent  upon  the  famous  Simplon  road  (amounting  to  thirty  millions  of  francs) 
passed  through  his  hands  during  his  term  of  office. 

"They  are  also  spoken  of  as  the  Rarralis,  as  if  the  name  were  of  Italian  origin, 
but  Dufour  is  confident  that  this  is  an  error  and  that  the  correct  term  is  Barral. 

[3«i] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

1784,  married  Antoine  Hauloch;  and  it  is  stated  in 
the  record  that  her  cousin,  Abraham  Cherbuliez,"  the 
well-known  bookseller  of  Geneva  and  the  grandfather 
of  Victor  Cherbuliez,  the  distinguished  French  novel- 
ist, was  one  of  the  witnesses  of  the  marriage  ceremony. 
I  find,  in  the  Century  Dictionary,  the  statement  that 
Jean  Jacques  Rousseau  was  a  distant  relation  of  the 
Cherbuliezs,  but  up  to  the  present  time  I  have  not 
been  able  to  ascertain  what  was  the  precise  nature  of 
this  relationship. 

According  to  the  statements  of  Grandmother  Wolflf, 
her  mother,  Mrs.  Antoine  Hauloch,  was  quite  devoted 
to  worldly  pleasures  in  her  youth  and  in  the  earlier 
part  of  her  married  life.  Mondaines  (worldlings) 
was  the  term  applied  to  such  people  by  the  relatively 
small  circle  of  Christians  who  frequented  the  Ora- 
toire  and  the  church  organization  controlled  by  Rev. 
Cesar  Malan;  it  simply  meant  that  those  who  were 
thus  designated  considered  it  right  and  proper  to  de- 
vote a  fair  share  of  their  time  to  dancing,  private 
theatricals,  literary  entertainments,  and  the  enjoyment 
of  music.  Madame  de  Stael,  for  example,  was  a  typ- 
ical mondaine,  and  so,  too,  were  Voltaire  and  Rous- 
seau. During  the  last  decade  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury and  the  first  ten  or  fifteen  years  of  the  nineteenth 
there  was  a  very  active  social  life  in  Geneva  and  the 
neighboring  villages,   and   Madame    Hauloch   was   a 

'This  is  simply  a  different  spelling  of  the  name  Cbarpillier. — A.  H.   B. 

[37] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

constant  participant  in  these  pleasures.  There  came 
a  time,  however — somewhere  between  1805  and  181 5, 
as  nearly  as  I  can  learn — when  many  Genevese  felt 
moved  to  adopt  a  more  distinctly  religious  life.  They 
went  even  farther  than  this,  for  they  declared  that 
Voltaire  and  Rousseau  were  the  enemies  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  that  the  true  followers  of  Christ  must, 
therefore,  cease  to  associate  with  them.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising, then,  that  Madame  Hauloch,  who,  about  this 
time,  had  been  led  to  join  the  evangelical  party,  should 
have  yielded  a  willing  assent  to  the  doctrine  that  it 
was  wrong  for  a  Christian  to  have  in  his  or  her  pos- 
session the  printed  books,  or  even  the  written  letters, 
of  such  "wicked  authors"  as  Voltaire  and  Rousseau. 
And  so  it  came  about  that  our  great  grandmother 
committed  to  the  flames  letters  from  both  of  these 
writers  which  we,  to-day,  would  have  cherished  as 
valuable  heirlooms. 


[38] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN 


PART  II. 

ADDITIONAL    MEMORANDA    RELATING 
TO   THE    BUCKS. 


Extract  Relating  to  the  Establishment  of  Sawmills  at 
Wethersfield,  Connecticut. 

[Pages  640  and  641  of  Vol.  I  of  Stiles'  "Ancient  Wethersfield."] 


It  is  probable  that  the  first  sawmill  in  Wethers- 
field was  built  by  Thomas  Harriss,  of  Hartford.  In 
October,  1667,  the  General  Court  granted  him  forty 
acres  of  land,  east  of  the  three-mile  lots,  on  a  stream 
in  what  is  now  the  northwest  corner  of  Eastbury — 
with  liberty  to  build  a  "Sawe  Mill"  thereon.  *  *  * 
This  sawmill  was  on  the  south  side  of  "Saw-Mill 
River,  commonly  called  Hoccanum  River,"  near 
"Spar-Mill  Swamp." 

The  next  sawmill  in  the  township  was  at  Pipe- 
Stave  Swamp,  in  what  is  now  Newington.  This  swamp 
was  so  called  because  of  the  great  number  of  staves 
split  out  at  that  place  for  pipes  and  hogsheads.  On 
the  25th  of  October,  1677,  the  town  granted  to  Eman- 
uel Buck,  John  Riley,  Samuel  Boardman,  and  Joseph 
Riley,  all  of  the  village  of  Wethersfield,  twenty  acres 
of  land,  each,  "about  Pipe-Stave  Swamp"   (in  New- 

[39] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERS  FIELD,       CONN. 

ington),  with  "sufficient  ponding,  on  condition  that 
they  build  a  sawmill  thereon,  before  the  last  of  Sep- 
tember next."  They  were  also  given  liberty  to  take 
timber  from  the  common  lands.  They  were  to  sell 
boards  at  five  shillings  per  hundred  and  "slit-work" 
by  "the  rule  of  proportion."  This  was  when  the 
lumber  was  delivered  at  the  house  of  the  purchaser; 
at  the  mill,  the  price  was  four  shillings  per  hundred. 
Should  the  town  see  cause,  sawing  was  to  cease  at 
the  end  of  twelve  years.  The  land  was  laid  out  by 
Hugh  Welles,  Sergeant  John  Nott,  Sergeant  John 
Deming  and  Joseph  Edwards.  The  mill  was  built 
very  soon  thereafter,  as  it  is  mentioned  in  a  town 
vote  of  March,  1680,  when  Buck  was  granted  thirty 
acres  more  "at  the  saw-mill."  It  is  also  evident,  from 
this  vote,  that  the  town  had  not — at  the  end  of  the 
probation  period  of  twelve  years — seen  cause  why  the 
sawing  should  cease. 


"THE  OLD  ELM  AT  BUCK'S  CORNER." 

IPage  710  of  Stiles"  "Ancient  Wethersfield."  Conn.     New  York,  19(T4.| 


"In  the  year  1776  the  grandmother  of  Mr.  Henry 
Buck  [Sarah  Saltonstall,  wife  of  Daniel  Buck]  was 
standing  at  the  door  of  her  residence,  built  the  year 
before  on  the  corner  of  Wethersfield  Avenue  and 
Jordan   Lane,  when  an  old   and  earth-soiled   Indian 

[40] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

came  along  with  a  little  sprig  of  an  elm  tree  under  his 
arm.  He  pleaded  with  her  to  exchange  the  sprig  for 
a  quart  of  rum,  which  was,  at  that  time,  kept  in  every 
house  in  New  England,  and  he  was  so  weary  and 
pleaded  so  hard  that  her  kind  heart  was  touched  and 
the  exchange  was  made.  He  went  off  down  the  road 
happy  with  his  rum;  and  she,  stooping  down  near 
the  house,  planted  the  sprig.  She  has  long  since  gone 
to  her  heavenly  home;  and  the  magnificent  elm  on 
the  south  side  of  Mr.  Buck's  residence,  eighteen  feet 
in  circumference  and  its  grand  old  branches  spread- 
ing eighty  feet  above,  is  the  outcome  of  the  little  sprig 
that  was  planted  over  one  hundred  years  ago.  It  is 
one  of  the  grandest  old  trees  in  this  town,  which  is 
remarkable  for  its  many  heaven-towering  elms,  and 
many  a  time  has  the  writer  stood  beneath  its  protect- 
ing branches,  on  a  hot  summer's  day,  and  recalled,  in 
fancy's  sweet  imagination,  the  history  of  its  planting 
so  many  years  ago.  About  fifty  rods  east  of  Wethers- 
field  Avenue,  where  the  Valley  Railroad  now  crosses, 
is  a  little  hill — at  that  time  it  was  the  bank  of  the 
Connecticut  River — and  when  the  ground  was  broken 
for  the  railroad,  numerous  skulls  and  arrowheads  were 
found,  indicating  that  at  some  time  a  band  of  Indians 
had  encamped  there.  Perhaps  the  old  Indian  who 
gave  the  people  of  Wethersfield  such  ;i.  beautiful  land- 
mark belonged  to  that  tribe  and  perhaps  he  was  one 
of  the  famed  band  of  Sonquassen,  that  at  one  time  held 

[41] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

undisputed  claim  to  what  is  now  known   as   Dutch 
Point." 

[A  photograph  of  this  elm  tree  and  of  Henry 
Buck's  house  may  be  seen  opposite  page  662  of  Vol.  I 
of  "Ancient  Wethersfield."  That  which  accompanies 
the  present  sketch  is  a  reduced  copy  of  a  photograph 
which  I  commissioned  a  Hartford  photographer  to 
take  in  1897.  Except  for  the  modern  piazza  and  the 
small  extension  at  the  east  end  of  the  dwelling,  the 
building  is  the  same  as  it  was  in  1775. — A.  H.  B.] 


NET    FISHING    IN    THE    CONNECTICUT 

RIVER. 

[From   Memoranda   Furnished  by   Henry   Buck,  of  Wethersfield] 


The  present  Buck  homestead  property  was  pur- 
chased by  Daniel  Buck  in  1761,  and  it  is  probable  that 
the  family  became  interested  in  the  fishing  business 
soon  afterward.  The  land  abuts  on  an  expansion  of 
the  Connecticut  River,  which  is  known  as  "The  Cove." 
This  sheet  of  water,  the  southerly  end  of  which  lies 
over  what  is  evidently  the  former  bed  of  the  river,  is 
now  connected  with  the  main  stream  by  a  narrow 
passage,  about  fifty  rods  in  length,  through  which  the 
tide  flows  in  and  out  twice  a  day.  Those  who  have 
been  familiar  with  the  configuration  of  the  shores  of 
the  cove  and  adjacent  river  during  the  past  fifty  or 

[42] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       COxNN. 

sixty  years  are  satisfied  that  changes  in  the  course  of 
the  latter  are  still  going  on,  and  doubtless  have  been 
going  on  for  hundreds  of  years;  the  long  axis  of  the 
stream  is  steadily  being  shifted  toward  the  east.  At 
the  north  end  of  the  cove  there  is  less  depth  of  water 
and  the  shores  are  here  composed  of  broad  meadows 
through  which  flow  narrow  creeks — excellent  spawn- 
ing places  for  the  fish  during  the  spring  freshets. 

In  the  time  of  Daniel  Buck  and  his  immediate 
successors,  shad  and  salmon,  as  well  as  alewives,'  were 
plentiful.  Indeed,  the  salmon  were  so  numerous  that 
the  fishermen  were  not  willing  to  sell  any  large  number 
of  shad  unless  the  buyer  would  take  some  salmon  at 
the  same  time.  The  latter  fish  have  long  since  disap- 
peared entirely,  and  the  shad  have  become  very  scarce; 
only  five  or  six  were  caught  by  the  Bucks  in  their  nets 
during  the  early  season  of  1908.  The  catching  of  ale- 
wives,  however,  has  always  been  the  principal  fishing 
of  Wethersfield,  and  in  some  seasons  it  has  been  very 
profitable.  Thus,  for  example,  the  Bucks  alone  have 
caught  in  their  nets  in  a  single  season  such  large  quan- 
tities that  they  were  able  to  export  one  thousand  barrels 
of  these  fish  in  a  salted  condition  and  to  sell  many 
fresh  ones  besides.  But  at  the  present  time  the  fishing 
has  dwindled  to  comparatively  small  proportions, 
three  hundred  barrels  being  considered  a  good  average 
catch. 


*A  species  of  herring. 

[43] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

Salted  alewives  are  shipped  from  Wethersfield 
first  to  New  York  and  then  to  various  parts  of  the 
West  Indies,  there  to  be  used  as  food  by  the  negroes  on 
the  plantations.  It  is  quite  safe,  I  believe,  to  assume 
that  it  was  the  fishing  business  carried  on  by  his  father 
and  brothers  that  suggested  to  grandfather  (Gurdon 
Buck)  the  wisdom  of  settling  in  New  York  and  en- 
gaging in  the  shipping  business. 


CURIOUS  HISTORY  OF  THE  OLD  LANE  IN 
i8ist  STREET,  NEW  YORK. 

[By  Gurdon  S.   Buck,  of  New  York.] 


In  1834  and  1835  John  Appleton  Haven  and 
Gurdon  Buck  bought  various  tracts  of  land  at  Fort 
Washington  in  the  upper  part  of  Manhattan  Island, 
which  were  conveyed  to  them  as  tenants  in  common, 
and  they  afterward  made  a  voluntary  partition  by 
exchanging  deeds  releasing  and  conveying  their  respect- 
ive undivided  half  interests  in  pursuance  of  the  allot- 
ment agreed  upon  between  them  and  shown  on  certain 
maps  placed  on  file  by  them  in  the  Register's  Office 
of  the  County  of  New  York.  As  the  result  of  the  par- 
tition each  of  them  became  the  sole  owner  of  more 
than  twenty  acres  of  land  at  Fort  Washington,  and 
each  built  for  himself  a  country  seat  on  his  land. 

[44] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

These  lands  bought  in  common  included  the  sum- 
mit of  a  high  ridge  overlooking  the  Hudson  River 
and  extended  from  the  Kingsbridge  Road,  now  known 
as  Broadway,  on  the  east,  to  the  Hudson  River  on  the 
west,  and,  in  order  to  make  the  interior  of  the  tract 
accessible,  the  two  owners  in  common  laid  out  various 
so-called  lanes,  which  have  remained  in  use  until 
recent  times. 

Among  the  parcels  of  land  purchased,  as  above 
mentioned,  by  John  A.  Haven  and  Gurdon  Buck  was 
one  conveyed  to  them  by  Caspar  Bowers  and  others  by 
deed  dated  July  2,  1835.  This  plot  contained  a  little 
more  than  four  acres,  but  the  deed  reserves  a  right  of 
way  through  a  lane  to  be  laid  out  fifty  feet  wide  across 
the  easterly  end  of  the  parcel  conveyed,  which  lane 
may  be  described  as  extending  from  the  center  line  of 
the  intended  iSad  Street  to  the  center  line  of  i8ist 
Street,  as  shown  on  a  certain  map  referred  to  by  the 
deed,  the  use  of  the  lane  being  reserved  for  certain 
adjoining  farms  until  convenient  access  could  be  had 
through  some  public  avenue  or  street. 

The  parcel  of  land  adjoining  the  lane  was  among 
those  allotted  to  Mr.  Haven  in  the  partition,  and  by  a 
partition  deed  dated  October  15,  1835,  Gurdon  Buck 
conveyed  to  Mr.  Haven  his  undivided  half  interest  in 
this  and  another  parcel,  but  the  description  contained 
in  this  deed  did  not  include  the  lane  itself  on  the  east- 
erly side  of  the  premises  conveyed   by  the   previous 

[45] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERS  FIELD,       CONN. 

deed  of  Caspar  Bowers  and  others.  The  effect  of  this 
omission  was  to  leave  the  title  to  the  land  included  in 
the  lane  in  John  A.  Haven  and  Gurdon  Buck  as  ten- 
ants in  common  in  equal  shares. 

Gurdon  Buck  was  a  large  owner  of  real  estate  in 
New  York  City,  principally  along  the  East  River,  but 
after  his  retirement  from  business  he  incurred  obliga- 
tions for  the  benefit  of  two  of  his  sons,  who  were  en- 
gaged in  business  as  cotton  merchants.  They  were 
involved  in  one  of  the  historical  panics,  and  their 
father,  in  order  to  meet  these  obligations,  sold  all  his 
land  at  a  sacrifice  in  the  year  1840,  during  a  period 
when  the  market  value  was  greatly  depressed. 

The  interest  in  the  lane  was  apparently  forgotten, 
and,  for  fifty  years  and  more,  Mr.  John  A.  Haven  and 
his  son,  Mr.  John  Haven,  continued  regularly  to  pay 
the  taxes  and  assessments  on  this  strip  of  land. 

Some  time  in  1895,  Mr.  John  Haven  called  upon 
Mr.  Henry  B.  Auchincloss,  the  oldest  living  grandson 
of  Gurdon  Buck,  and  said  he  was  satisfied  that  the 
estate  of  Gurdon  Buck  owned  an  undivided  half  inter- 
est in  the  old  land  described  in  the  Bowers  deed  and 
comprising  about  four  city  lots  in  area,  and  that  this 
half  interest  was  not  affected  by  any  of  the  conveyances 
made  by  Gurdon  Buck  of  his  property  at  Fort  Wash- 
ington. The  records  have  been  examined  and  it  has 
been  ascertained  that  Mr.  Haven's  belief  was  correct. 

The  heirs  and  representatives  of  the  estate  of  Gur- 

[46] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

don  Buck  at  this  late  date  were  numerous  and  dis- 
persed from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the  other.  In 
order  to  concentrate  the  ownership  and  thus  make  it 
possible  to  clear  the  title  and  make  the  undivided  half 
interest  in  these  lots  marketable,  conveyances  were 
procured  from  all  the  parties  in  interest  to  Henry  B. 
Auchincloss  and  Gurdon  S.  Buck,  both  residing  in  the 
City  of  New  York,  as  joint  tenants,  and  an  application 
to  insure  the  title  is  now  pending  with  the  Lawyers' 
Title  Insurance  and  Trust  Company. 

The  other  undivided  half  interest,  formerly  vested 
in  John  A.  Haven,  passed  to  John  Haven  and  James  C. 
Carter,  the  distinguished  lawyer,  and  by  them  it  was 
conveyed  to  Charles  T.  Barney,  since  deceased.  It 
now  belongs  to  the  estate  of  Mr.  Barney. 

The  sum  due  to  Mr.  John  Haven  on  account  of 
taxes  and  assessments  paid  and  interest  accrued  was 
adjusted  by  negotiation  with  him  and  paid  in  full 
shortly  before  his  death,  in  June,  1908,  at  a  great  old 
age.  He  was  feeble  physically,  but  his  mind  was  clear 
to  the  last. 

Mr.  Haven's  conduct  throughout  these  trans- 
actions was  kindly  and  generous  and  showed  a  high 
sense  of  honor.  His  acknowledgment  of  the  rights  of 
the  estate  of  Gurdon  Buck  was  made  without  grudging 
or  hesitation,  notwithstanding  that  he,  and  his  father 
before  him,  had  believed  themselves  for  so  many  years 
to  be  the  sole  owners  of  the  property  in  question. 

[47] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

ADDITIONAL    MEMORANDA    RELATING 
TO  DR.  GURDON  BUCK. 


[From  the  Resolutions  passed  by  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  the  New  York  Dispensary.] 

"Whereas,  it  has  pleased  an  all-wise  Providence  to 
remove  by  death  Dr.  Gurdon  Buck,  for  twenty-eight 
years  a  faithful  and  devoted  member  of  this  Board, 
therefore 

"Resolved,  That  we,  his  associates,  desire  to  place 
on  record  a  recognition  and  acknowledgment  of  his 
long  and  valuable  services  in  the  interests  of  this  Insti- 
tution, first  as  Assistant  Physician  in  183 1,  as  Attend- 
ing Physician  in  1836,  and,  since  1849,  as  a  self- 
sacrificing  member  of  this  Board. 

"Resolved,  That  we  deeply  deplore  the  loss,  in  him, 
of  a  fellow  member  whose  sound  judgment  and  ripe 
experience  have  greatly  added  to  the  success  and  in- 
fluence of  this  Institution." 

[From  the  Resolutions  passed  by  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  the  New  York  Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary.] 

"Resolved,  That  in  view  of  the  recent  death  of  Dr. 
Gurdon  Buck,  the  Board  of  Directors  hereby  express 
their  feeling  of  respect  for  a  surgeon  who  gave  several 
years  of  service  to  this  Institution,  and  who  was  an 
honor  to  its  medical  stafif,  as  much  for  his  skill  as  for 
his  faithful  attention  to  its  work." 

[4S] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

[Copy  of  the  Resolutions  unanimously  adopted  by 
the  Board  of  Governors  of  the  New  York  Hospital, 
April  3,  1877,  in  relation  to  the  death  of  Dr.  Gurdon 
Buck.] 

"Dr.  Gurdon  Buck  was  elected  an  Attending  Sur- 
geon to  the  Hospital  in  the  year  1837,  having  some  time 
previously  served  as  Resident  for  the  usual  period,  and 
was,  at  the  time  of  his  decease,  the  senior  member  of 
the  Medical  Board. 

"During  the  whole  forty  years  of  his  continuous 
service,  Dr.  Buck  was  distinguished  by  his  zeal  and 
devotion  to  the  duties  of  his  position,  giving  thereto 
many  of  the  best  hours  of  his  life,  often  to  the  detri- 
ment of  his  private  interests.  The  records  of  the  hos- 
pital are  rich  in  instances  of  his  ingenuity  and  surgi- 
cal skill,  and  the  Pathological  Cabinet  contains  many 
visible  memorials  of  his  eminent  ability. 

"His  active  benevolence  was  illustrated  by  his  un- 
remitting attention  to  the  comfort  of  patients  and  the 
wants  of  the  Hospital;  and  many  improvements  in 
hospital  administration  and  construction  are  largely 
due  to  the  fertility  of  his  suggestion. 

"The  high  attainments  of  Dr.  Buck,  acknowledged 
as  they  were  both  here  and  abroad,  while  they  shed  a 
luster  upon  the  profession,  have  contributed  in  no 
small  measure  to  the  reputation  now  enjoyed  by  the 
New  York  Hospital. 

[49] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

^^Resolved,  That  the  Board  of  Governors  in  record- 
ing their  sense  of  the  great  loss  they  have  sustained,  in 
the  severance  of  the  ties  which  have  existed  for  so 
long  a  period  between  Dr.  Buck  and  themselves,  de- 
sire to  convey  to  the  family  of  their  deceased  friend 
and  associate  the  assurance  of  the  sincere  condolence 
of  the  Governors  in  their  bereavement. 

"Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  the  above  minute  and 
resolution,  duly  authenticated,  be  forwarded  to  the 
family  of  the  deceased." 

[E.xtract  from  the  Thirty-Fifth  Anniversary  Ser- 
mon preached  Sunday  morning,  January  27,  1901,  by 
the  Rev.  Marvin  R.  Vincent,  D.  D.,  in  the  Church  of 
the  Covenant,  New  York.] 

"And  this  leads  me  to  turn  aside  for  a  moment  in 
order  to  say  a  few  words  about  the  Session  of  the 
Church  of  the  Covenant.  What  a  noble  body  of  men 
it  was.  I  have  not  time  to  speak  of  all  its  members, 
and  some  are  still  living,  of  whom  it  would  not  be 
proper  for  me  to  speak  on  such  an  occasion  as  this. 
There  were  the  two  eminent  surgeons.  Dr.  Gurdon 
Buck  and  Dr.  Alfred  C.  Post.  Dr.  Buck  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  committee  appointed  to  procure  plans  and 
specifications  for  this  building.'  There  are  some  here 
who  remember  his  superb  head,  and  his  large  and 
somewhat  clumsy  frame.    He  was  simple,  direct,  often 

"The  chapel  at  No.  306-310  East  42J  Street.  The  church  itself  (corner  of  35th 
St.  and  Park  Avenue)  had  already  been  torn  down  a  few  year  previously. 

[.50] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN 


blunt  in  speech,  yet  genial,  humorous,  full  of  anecdote, 
and  the  very  soul  of  honor  as  a  man  and  as  a  physician. 
He  loved  his  profession  for  its  opportunities  of  reliev- 
ing human  suffering  no  less  than  for  its  own  sake.  Be- 
hind the  hand  that  guided  the  terrible  knife,  beat  a 
large  and  tender  heart.  He  was  one  of  the  three 
chosen  as  the  first  ruling  elders  of  the  Church.  He 
was  a  good  and  valuable  church  officer,  carrying 
weight  by  his  sturdy  common  sense  and  ripe  experi- 
ence, no  less  than  by  his  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures 
and  of  the  doctrines  and  polity  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church." 

[Extract  from  remarks  made  by  Rev.  George  C. 
Prentiss,  D.  D.,  at  the  funeral  of  Dr.  Alfred  C.  Post, 
of  New  York  City. — New  York  Evangelist.'] 

"Some  years  ago — if  I  may  be  pardoned  for  a  per- 
sonal allusion — 1  owed  my  life,  by  the  favor  of  Provi- 
dence, to  the  masterly  skill  of  the  late  Dr.  Gurdon 
Buck  and  the  friend  who  has  just  left  us.  I  recall  the 
scene  as  though  it  occurred  yesterday,  and  remember 
well  how,  notwithstanding  the  extreme  gravity  of  the 
situation,  my  admiration  was  excited  by  the  evident 
zest,  as  well  as  the  cheery  tone  and  assurance  with 
which  these  two  eminent  surgeons  addressed  themselves 
to  the  perilous  task  before  them.  I  could  see  plainly 
that  over  and  above  their  tender  solicitude  for  me, 
their  old  pastor  and  friend,  they  were  deeply  interested 

[51] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

in  the  case  itself,  as  one  fitted  to  test  anew  the  saving 
power  of  their  stern  yet  benignant  art." 

[Extract  from  remarks  made  by  Professor  T.  Gail- 
lard  Thomas,  at  the  annual  dinner  of  the  Alumni 
Association  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons, 
New  York,  in  1878.] 

"The  oldest  medical  school  in  this  country,  with  a 
single  exception,  their  Alma  Mater  could  look  down  a 
vista  of  more  than  threescore  years  and  recall  the 
names  of  graduates  whose  medical  careers  reflected 
glory  upon  the  school  that  sent  them  forth.  There 
were  Post  and  Watson,  Buck  and  Francis,  Delafield 
and  Smith — names  that  need  not  be  mentioned  with 
their  initials  to  tell  the  world  who  they  were." 

[Extract  from  an  article  on  Thyrotomy  by  Dr. 
Clinton  Wagner,  of  New  York. — Medical  Record, 
January  4,  1896.] 

"Thyrotomy,  or  laryngotomy,  as  it  was  formerly 
termed,  was  first  proposed  by  Desault  about  a  century 
ago,  although  he  never  had  occasion  to  perform  it.  To 
Bauers,  of  Louvain,  is  due  the  honor  of  having  been 
the  first  to  perform  it.  Gurdon  Buck,  of  this  city, 
did  it  in  185 1,  his  being  the  third  case  on  record." 

[Extract  from  an  article  published  by  Dr.  Stephen 
Smith  in  the  Medical  Record,  December  22,  1900.] 

"A  consultation  was  held,  and  the  unanimous  opin- 
ion was   that  amputation   must  be   immediately   per- 

[52] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

formed  to  save  his  life.  Looking  backward  to  the  per- 
sonnel of  the  stafif  of  visiting  surgeons  of  that  hospital 
(the  New  York  Hospital)  forty  years  ago,  we  recog- 
nize that  the  consultation  was  notable  for  the  character 
of  the  surgeons  composing  it.  Dr.  Valentine  Mott 
ranked  among  the  most  eminent  of  living  surgeons; 
Dr.  Alfred  C.  Post  was  noted  for  his  precision,  Dr. 
Gurdon  Buck  for  his  conservatism,  Dr.  John  Watson 
for  his  learning.  It  is  quite  certain  that  Ryan's  case 
was  thoroughly  examined  in  all  its  aspects,  for  a  con- 
sultation in  those  days  was  no  mere  formal  afifair,  but 
an  occasion  for  the  most  critical  comparison  of  the 
learning,  skill,  and  experience  of  the  consultants." 

[Extract  from  reminiscences  of  Dr.  Lewis  A. 
Sayre,  published  in  the  New  York  Times  of  October 
lOth,  1897.] 

"When  I  was  a  student  under  Dr.  Green,  in  1839, 
a  hurry  call  came  for  him.  I  went  down  to  the  docks 
and  found  the  cabin  boy  lying  senseless  on  the  deck 
of  a  vessel  then  just  on  the  point  of  sailing.  The  lad 
had  fallen  from  the  masthead,  breaking  his  thigh  on 
the  yard-arm,  and  striking  his  head  against  the  edge  of 
the  poop.  The  boy's  left  frontal  bone  was  stove  in 
and  his  face  covered  with  blood.  Novice  though  I 
was,  I  saw  that  instant  action  was  necessary.  Seizing 
an  oyster  knife,  I  pried  up,  as  best  I  could,  the  broken 
and  depressed  edges  of  the  fracture,  and  had  the  boy 
taken  to  the  old  New  York  Hospital  in   Broadway, 

[53] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

Opposite  Pearl  Street.  Dr.  Gurdon  Buck  speedily 
trephined  the  boy's  skull.  No  sooner  had  he  picked 
up  the  broken  bone  and  relieved  the  pressure  on  the 
brain  than  the  cabin  boy  began  to  speak  in  English, 
asking:    'What  are  you  doing  there?' 

"We  all  know,  now,  that  the  third  convolution  of 
the  left  side  of  the  brain  is  the  seat  of  the  faculty  of 
speech,  but  in  1839  the  functions  of  the  brain  were  not 
localized.  So  I  marveled  at  this  strange  result.  Pres- 
ently hernia  cerebri,  a  swelling  out  of  the  brain  through 
the  wound,  set  in,  and  this  caused  the  skilful  surgeon 
more  trouble,  to  overcome  which  Dr.  Buck  cut  from  a 
sheet  of  thin  lead  a  circular  piece  large  enough  to  cover 
the  wound,  and,  gently  forcing  the  protruding  brain 
back  into  its  place,  bandaged  the  lead  over  the  gaping 
aperture  in  the  skull. 

"Another  complication  set  in.  Pus  formed;  for 
pus  always  formed  in  wounds  in  those  days  long  ante- 
dating antisepsis,  and  Dr.  Buck,  to  release  the  pus 
without  removing  the  lead,  cut  in  the  center  of  the 
latter  a  slit,  into  which  a  sixpence  might  have  been 
inserted  edgewise,  and  this  drained  the  pus.  Nature 
helped,  too,  and  the  boy  made  a  fine  recovery,  and  was 
kept  in  the  hospital  for  some  time  thereafter  as  an  illus- 
tration of  what  skilful  surgery  could  do  in  those  days." 

[Extracts  from  Dr.  Frederic  S.  Dennis's  address 
before  the  New  York  State  Medical  Association. — 
New  York  Medical  Record,  December  3,   1892.] 

[.54] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

"In  1819,  Daniell,  of  Georgia,  introduced  the 
weight  and  pulley.  In  1851,  Buck  still  further  mod- 
ified Physick's  splint  so  as  to  do  away  with  the  perineal 
band,  and  accomplished  extension  of  the  limb  by  the 
weight  and  pulley,  after  the  manner  of  its  present  use. 
This  was  a  great  improvement  in  order  to  overcome 
shortening.  Van  Ingen,  in  1857,  suggested  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  foot  of  the  bed  to  permit  the  body  to  act  as 
a  counter-extending  force.  The  coaptation  splints  were 
now  used  by  Buck,  in  1861,  so  that  the  present  com- 
plete and  perfect  method  is  one  that  is  the  result  of 
evolution,  the  consummation  of  which  has  been  accom- 
plished by  the  work  of  American  surgeons." 
******* 

"In  1823  Davidge  first  tied  the  carotid  artery  for 
fungous  tumor  of  the  antrum.  The  primitive  and 
internal  carotids  were  first  tied  simultaneously  by 
Gurdon  Buck,  of  New  York  City,  in  1857,  and  again 
by  Briggs,  of  Nashville,  in  1871." 

******* 

"The  operation  for  the  relief  of  acute  appendicitis 
is  clearly  traced  to  the  work  of  American  surgeons. 
In  1843  Willard  Parker,  and  later  Gurdon  Buck,  did 
much  to  explain  the  nature  of  these  iliac  inflamma- 
tions," etc. 

******* 

"There  are  many  miscellaneous  operations  in  sur- 
gery which  are  purely  of  American  origin,  or  they 

[55] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

have  been  so  improved  in  technique  as  to  be  properly 
claimed  as  American.  The  scarification  of  the  infil- 
trated mucous  membrane  in  cedema  glottidis,  as  sug- 
gested by  Buck,  and  the  removal  of  polypi  from  the 
larynx  by  the  same  surgeon,  who  was  the  first  to  do 
this  in  America  and  second  in  the  world,  is  worthy 
of  record.'" 

[Extract  from  a  letter  written  to  me  in  1899,  by 
Dr.  Moreau  Morris,  of  New  York,  one  of  father's 
earliest  private  students. — A.  H.  B.] 

"Permit  me  to  describe  to  you  an  act  of  heroism 
performed  by  your  respected  father.  Dr.  Gurdon  Buck, 
of  which  I  was  an  eye-witness.         ***** 

"While  a  student  of  his,  and  attending,  during  his 
daily  visits  to  the  New  York  Hospital,  as  his  amanu- 
ensis, I  was  fortunate  in  seeing  and  assisting  him  in 
practicing  the  operation  of  scarification  of  oedema 
glottidis,  which  he  had  originated  and  successfully 
practiced  during  his  hospital  service.  This  disease 
being  rather  a  rare  one,  no  opportunity  had  presented 
itself  for  performing  an  operation  in  private  practice 
until  the  autumn  of  1849,  when  I  was  called  in  great 

*Dr.  F.  E.  Hopkins,  of  New  York,  in  an  article  on  "Acute  Oedema  of  the  Lar- 
ynx," puhlislud  in  the  McJual  Knord.  t)ctolnr  19.  I»'J5,  says:  "This  method  ot 
affording  relief  [scarification]  was  first  employed  by  Lisfranc  in  182.1,  but  the  opera- 
tion fell  into  disuse.  It  was  first  done  in  this  country  f>y  Buck,  who  reported  cases 
in  1848  He  was  led  to  the  adoption  of  the  method  liy  his  own  reasoning,  not  being 
Rware  that  it  had  previously  been  employed.  During  a  period  of  eleven  months  he 
saw  the  surpiising  number  of  eight  cases.  Five  of  these  he  scarified,  and  all  of  them 
recovered." 

[56] 


BUCKS       OF       VVETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

haste  to  a  young  Irish  laborer  in  his  boarding-house  on 
Fifth  Avenue,  between  57th  and  58th  Streets.  I  found 
him  with  impending  suffocation  from  greatly  swollen 
glottis  and  epiglottis.  Recognizing  the  immediate 
danger  and  recollecting  the  admirable  instruction  for 
the  relief  of  this  condition  which  my  dear  old  precep- 
tor had  inculcated,  although  I  was  without  the  proper 
instruments,  I  immediatclv  scarified  with  curved, 
blunt-pointed  bistouri  the  cedematous  swellings.  This 
aflforded  temporary  relief  from  the  suffocation  by  per- 
mitting the  escape  of  the  serous  exudation;  but,  as 
the  relief  was  only  partial,  on  account  of  the  extension 
of  the  (xdema  beyond  my  reach,  I  sent  a  hasty  messen- 
ger for  Dr.  Buck  to  come  to  my  assistance  armed  with 
the  proper  instruments  both  for  scarification  and  for 
tracheotomy.  He  came  promptly,  but  in  the  interim 
my  patient  had  been  rapidly  succumbing  to  his  increas- 
ing impeded  respiration.  Just  as  the  doctor  entered 
the  room  the  patient  fell  from  his  chair  to  the  floor, 
respiration  ceasing.  Without  a  moment's  hesitation, 
Dr.  Buck  grasped  the  situation,  dropped  to  his  knee 
beside  the  prostrate  form,  and  made  the  opening  into 
the  windpipe.  No  air  entering,  but  bloody  serum  ex- 
uding and  completely  obstructing  the  entrance  of  air, 
the  Doctor  put  his  mouth  to  the  opening  and  sucked 
out  the  obstructing  bloody  serum.  Air  immediately 
entered,  a  gasp  followed,  then  soon  another,  and 
breathing  was  resumed — a  life  had  been  saved. 

[57] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

"If  this  was  not  true  heroism,  then  there  is  no  suit- 
able term  with  which  to  describe  such  an  act  at  such 
such  imminent  peril — not  only  from  possible  poison- 
ing, but  also  from  the  threatening  attitude  of  several 
ignorant  companions  who  were  declaring  that  we  had 
killed  their  friend.  The  man  having  been  raised  to  a 
sitting  posture,  tracheal  tubes  were  inserted  and  se- 
cured, and  respiration  was  fully  established.  Under 
subsequent  treatment  and  care  the  patient,  at  the  end 
of  about  six  weeks,  had  fully  recovered  and  the  tra- 
cheal wound  had  entirely  healed." 

[Memorandum  found  among  mother's  papers  after 
her  death.] 

"The  lines  transcribed  below  were  taken  from  a 
very  humorous  address  prepared  by  Dr.  Pliny  Earle, 
of  Northampton,  Massachusetts,  for  the  first  annual 
meeting  (and  dinner)  of  the  newly  formed  'Society  in 
Behalf  of  Widows  and  Orphans  of  Medical  Men,' 
which  took  place — so  far  as  I  can  remember — in  No- 
vember, 1837.  On  reaching  New  York  City,  Dr. 
Earle  went  at  once  to  the  Astor  House,  where  the 
Committee  of  Arrangements  had  given  rendez-vous  to 
their  guests  from  out  of  the  city.  Dr.  Earle,  on  show- 
ing the  paper  which  he  had  prepared  for  the  occasion, 
— an  address  to  the  unmarried  medical  men  of  the 
Association — to  have  it  approved  or  criticized,  was 
soon  informed  of  his  mistake  in  regard  to  Dr.  Gurdon 

[58] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

Buck,  who  had  been  married  for  some  time.  He  then 
retired  for  a  short  time  in  an  adjoining  room,  and  very 
successfully  repaired  his  mistake,  as  may  be  seen  by 
the  accompanying  extract. —  (Monsieur  Louis  Agassiz, 
who  had  just  landed  on  our  shores,  coming  to  settle  in 
Harvard,  as  Professor  of  Natural  History,  etc.,  was 
an  unexpected  but  most  welcome  guest  at  this  medical 
gathering.)" 

"Let  sage  Agassiz,  with  his  wondrous  store 
Of  treasured  truths  in   zoologic  lore. 
Inform  us,  as  all  eloquent  he  can, 
If  it  conforms  to  Nature's  general  plan 
That,  roaming  lonely  through  the  world  should  go 
One  solitary  Buck    without  its    doe. 


"The  game  has    dodged  my  shot:    mistaken  elf, 
I   thought  my  friend  was  lonely  as  myself; 
But,  since  those  lines  were  penned,  I  have  heard  it  said 
That  for  this  Buck  the  doe   was  long  since  bred. 
Beyond  the  vineyards  and  the  plains  of  France, 
Where  Switzer  paysannes  o'er  the  vintage  dance. 
Where  lakes  and  ladies'  eyes  are  bright  and  clear. 
There  this  good  trapper,  in  his  love's  career. 
Caught  for  his  doe  a  Wolff,  which  now  he  calls  a  dear. 
Would  that  all   Buck-tales  came  to  such  an  end! 
Would  that  all  single  bucks  would  hence  attend! 
Follow  his  path,  e'en  to  its  glorious  close. 
Keep  wide  awake    a  while;  then  take  their  does. 
But  let  us  pass,  friend  Buck  no  longer  heeded, 
Since  we  have  learned,  for  him  no  doe  is  needed." 


[59] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  1  E  L  D,       CONN 


[Editorial  notice  in  the  Medical  Gazette,  of  New 
York,  February,  1858.] 

"Newspapers  having  announced  and  commented 
upon  an  operation  lately  performed  by  Dr.  Gurdon 
Buck  upon  a  young  lady  of  this  city,  it  would  seem 
proper  that  we  should  put  our  readers  in  possession  of 
the  facts,  in  anticipation  of  the  detailed  report,  which 
will  doubtless  be  forthcoming  in  the  medical  journals 
in  due  time,  by  authority.  The  case  is  one  of  very  great 
professional  interest  on  several  accounts,  and  its  suc- 
cessful result  will  add  another  laurel  to  the  wreath 
which  Dr.  Buck  has  won  for  New  York  surgery. 

"The  lady,  some  two  years  since,  had  a  small  fish 
bone  lodged  in  her  throat,  in  the  act  of  swallowing, 
which  she  could  feel  with  her  finger,  though,  not  being 
visible,  it  could  not  be  extracted  at  the  time.  At  first 
it  occasioned  but  little  inconvenience,  but,  later,  either 
its  presence  or  the  wound  which  if  had  inflicted  pro- 
duced so  much  irritation  at  times,  extending  to  the 
larynx  and  trachea,  as  to  become  afflictive  and  even  haz- 
ardous, by  reason  of  the  paroxysmal  recurrence  of  in- 
tense laryngismus,  sometimes  endangering  life.  The 
patient  being  nearly  connected  with  the  families  of 
several  of  our  most  eminent  physicians,  her  case  en- 
listed the  counsel  of  several  of  our  distinguished  sur- 
geons, and  of  other  medical  men,  by  whom  the  expe- 
dient of  tracheotomy  was  several  times  proposed,  but 
as  often  delayed,  a  mitigation  of  symptoms  having  been 

[60] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

obtained  by  antispasmodics  and  other  medication.  Of 
late,  however,  the  dangerous  symptoms  having  recurred 
more  frequently  and  suflfocation  threatening,  the  neces- 
sity of  some  operation  became  imperative;  and,  after 
full  consultation  and  the  heroic  consent  of  the  patient, 
Dr.  Gurdon  Buck,  on  the  loth  of  January,  performed 
it  as  the  dernier  ressort,  to  avert  the  fatal  result  which 
was  impending.  Among  the  surgeons  present  were 
Dr.  Alexander  Stevens,  Dr.  Willard  Parker,  and  Dr. 
John  Watson,  and  with  them  were  the  physicians  in 
attendance — Dr.  Alonzo  Clark,  Dr.  Cammann,  and 
Dr.  Joseph  Mather  Smith. 

"The  operation  was  undertaken,  first,  for  the  re- 
moval of  the  foreign  body,  but  also  because  it  was  neces- 
sary to  relieve  the  patient's  suffering.  The  larynx  was 
laid  open,  the  patient  being  etherized,  and  a  protracted 
and  diligent  search  was  made  in  vain,  no  trace  of  the 
fish  bone  being  discovered;  but  the  area  of  inflamed  and 
ulcerated  mucous  membrane  in  the  larynx  and  trachea 
was  exposed  to  view  and  cauterized.  Then,  finally,  the 
artificial  tube  was  introduced,  to  the  manifest  relief  of 
the  sufferer,  whose  powers  of  endurance— for  it  had 
been  found  necessary  to  suspend  the  ether — were  mar- 
velous. On  the  following  day  the  wound  was  opened, 
and,  for  the  second  time,  a  most  careful  search  for  the 
foreign  body  was  made,  but  in  vain.  The  parts  were 
then  coapted,  the  tube  replaced,  and  the  wound  fully 
dressed. 

[61] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 


"From  that  time  to  the  present  all  has  gone  well; 
the  wound  healed  by  first  intention,  there  has  been  no 
recurrence  of  the  laryngismus,  and  all  the  sufi'erings 
of  the  patient  have  been  relieved.  The  perforated 
tube,  however,  is  still  worn,  and  the  patient  has  recov- 
ered her  voice  and  speech.  Her  health  also,  which  had 
been  greatly  shattered,  is  rapidly  being  restored. 
Whether  the  fish  bone  remains  imbedded  in  any  of 
the  tissues,  which  is  possible,  or  whether  it  has  escaped 
after  inflicting  so  great  an  amount  of  misery,  are  ques- 
tions which  it  is  now  impossible  to  answer  with  pos- 
itiveness.  But  the  operation  has  succeeded  in  rescuing 
from  sufYering  and  death  a  young  wife  and  mother, 
and  in  restoring  her  to  her  husband,  children,  and  an 
endeared  family  circle,  at  the  head  of  which  stands 
one  of  our  most  esteemed  physicians.  She  will  be  a 
living  trophy  of  the  science  and  skill  of  Dr.  Buck,  of 
the  New  York  Hospital,  who  has  already  distinguished 
himself,  in  this  department  of  surgery,  beyond  any 
living  man  at  home  or  abroad." 

[E.xtract  from  the  obituary  notice  of  Dr.  Gurdon 
Buck,  published  in  the  Medical  Record,  of  New  York, 
on  March  loth,  1877.] 

"As  a  surgeon,  Dr.  Buck  was  remarkable  for  bold- 
ness in  operating  and  for  thoroughness  of  detail  in 
after-treatment.  His  patient  study  of  his  cases  was 
one  of  his  peculiar  traits.    To  cases  of  fractures  he  was 

[62] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

particularly  attentive,  spending  not  infrequently  the 
greater  part  of  the  day  in  the  wards  of  the  New  York 
Hospital  in  dressing  them.  As  a  result  of  such  pains- 
taking effort  he  was  enabled  to  revolutionize  the  pre- 
vailing system  of  treatment.  ****** 
Dr.  Buck  was  not  only  a  bold,  but  an  original  operator. 
The  various  capital  operations  which  are  described  in 
the  periodical  medical  literature  of  the  past  thirty-five 
years  abundantly  prove  the  latter  statement.  Among 
these,  what  is  now  known  as  Buck's  operation  for  oede- 
ma of  the  glottis  holds  a  deservedly  high  rank.  But  in 
no  department  did  he  gain  more  laurels  than  in  auto- 
plastic surgery.  His  devotion  to  this  branch,  during 
the  latter  part  of  his  life,  amounted  to  a  passion,  and 
his  marvelous  successes  roused  in  him  an  enthusiasm 
which  mocked  the  increasing  infirmities  of  his  age  and 
his  rapidly  declining  health.  His  work  on  'Contri- 
butions to  Reparative  Surgery,'  issued  only  within  the 
last  year,  fully  embodies  his  remarkable  experience, 
and  may  be  looked  upon  as  the  crowning  effort  of  a 
most  notable  and  distinguished  career." 

List  of  Articles  and  Monographs  Published  by 
Dr.  Gurdon  Buck. 

I.  Researches  on  Hernia  Cerebri,  following  injuries 
of  the  head. — New  York  Journal  of  Medicine 
and  Surgery,  Vol.  H,  1840. 

[63] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E T  H  E R  S  F  I  E  L  D  ,       CONN. 

2.  Excision  of  the  Elbow  Joint,  in  a  case  of  Suppur- 

ation and  Caries  of  the  Bones;  A  case  of  Anchy- 
losis of  the  Knee  Joint,  etc. — New  York  Journal 
of  Medicine  and  Surgery,  Vol.  IV,  1841. 

3.  The  Knee  Joint  Anchylosed  at  a  Right  Angle; 

Restored  nearly  to  a  straight  position,  after  the 
excision  of  a  wedge-shaped  portion  of  bone  con- 
sisting of  the  patella,  condyles,  and  articular 
surface  of  the  tibia. — American  Journal  of  the 
Medical  Sciences,  1845. 

4.  Oedematous    Laryngitis     (with    plates    showing 

instruments  and  operation). — On  the  Anatom- 
ical Structure  of  the  Genito-Urinary  Organs. — 
Transactions  of  .American  Medical  Association, 
Vol.  I,  1848. 

5.  Six  Additional  Cases  of  Oedematous  Laryngitis, 

Successfully  Treated  by  Scarification  of  the  Epi- 
glottis.— Transactions  of  American  Medical 
Association,  Vo].  IV,  1851. 

6.  A    Case   of    Croup;     Tracheotomy    Successfully 

Performed. — Transactions  of  Academy  of  Med- 
icine of  New  York,  Vol.  I,  1851. 

7.  Surgical  Treatment  of  Morbid  Growths  within 

the  Larynx. — Transactions  of  American  Medi- 
cal Association,  Vol.  VI,  1853. 

8.  Badly-United  Fractures  of  the  Thigh;  Cases  Il- 

lustrating Treatment  [Refracture]. — Trans- 
actions of  Academy  of  Medicine  of  New  York, 

1855- 

9.  A  Case  of  Deep  Wound  of  the  Parotid  Region, 

in  which  Ligatures  were  Simultaneously  Ap- 
plied   to    the    Common    and    Internal    Carotid 

[64] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

Arteries. — New  York  Medical  Times,  Novem- 
ber, 1855. 

10.  Post-Fascial    Abscess,    Originating   in    the    Iliac 

Fossa,  with  a  New  Method  of  Treatment. — New 
York  Journal  of  Medicine,  1857. 

11.  Case  of  Aneurism  of   the   Femoral   Artery,   for 

which  Ligatures  were  Successfully  Applied  to 
the  Femoral,  Profunda,  External  and  Common 
Iliacs^a  case  that  occurred  in  the  New  York. 
Hospital. — New  York  Journal  of  Medicine, 
1858. 

12.  Tracheotomy    Performed    for    Oedema    of    the 

Larynx. — New  York  Journal  of  Medicine,  1859. 

13.  Improved  Method  of  Treating  Fractures  of  the 

Thigh.  [Illustrated;  also  table  of  statistics.] 
Transactions  of  Academy  of  Medicine  of  New 
York,  1 86 1. 

14.  The  Operation   for  Strangulated   Hernia,   with- 

out Opening  the  Sac. — Bulletin  of  the  Academy 
of  Medicine  of  New  York,  February,  1863. 

15.  Strangulated   Inguinal   Interstitial   Hernia;  Tes- 

ticle retained  in  Inguinal  Canal.  Operation; 
death. — New  York  Medical  Record,  July, 
1869. 

16.  Lithotomy  and  Lithotrity. — Transactions  of  State 

Medical  Society  of  New  York,  1869. 

17.  A  Contribution  to  the  Surgical  Therapeutics  of 

the  Air  Passages. — Transactions  of  the  Academy 
of  Medicine  of  New  York,  1870. 

18.  Femoral   Aneurism   in   the   Groin,    Successfully 

Treated  by  Flexion  of  the  Limb,  After  a  Relapse 
Following  a  Previous  Apparent  Cure  by  Com- 

[65] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

pression. — American  Journal  of  the  Medical 
Sciences,  ]zn\xd.Ty,  1870. 

19.  A  Case  of  Oedema  Glottidis  in  which  a  Patient 

was  Resuscitated  by  the  Operation  of  Trache- 
otomy After  Respiration  had  Ceased. — New 
York  Medical  Record,  October,  1870. 

20.  A  Case  of  Strangulated  Hernia  of  the  Tunica 

Vaginalis  of  Rare  Variety.  Operation;  gan- 
grene; death. — American  Journal  of  the  Medi- 
cal Sciences,  187 1. 

21.  A  Biographical  Sketch  of  the  Late  Dr.  Thomas 

Cock. — Transactions  of  the  State  Medical  So- 
ciety of  New  York,  1 87 1. 

22.  On  Abscesses  originating  in  the  Right  Iliac  Fossa; 

with  table  of  statistics. — Transactions  of  the 
Academy  of  Medicine  of  New  York,  1876. 

23.  Perityphlitic  Abscess  in  the  Ileo-caecal  Region. — 

New  York  Medical  Record,  1876. 

24.  Migration    of    Pus. — Richmond    and    Louisville 

Medical  Journal,  March,  1876. 

25.  Contributions  to  Reparative  Surgery. — D.  Apple- 

ton  &  Co.,  1876.     (Pp.  237.) 


[66] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 


PART  III. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  REV.   PHILIPPE 
WOLFF. 

(Mother's  only  Brother.) 


In  1892,  Uncle  Philippe,  at  my  request,  wrote  down 
as  many  of  the  incidents  of  his  father's  military  life  as 
he  could  recall.  I  have  arranged  the  more  important 
of  these  incidents  in  their  chronological  order,  and 
have  transcribed  them  in  very  nearly  the  same  lan- 
guage as  that  in  which  they  were  written.  The  few 
alterations  which  I  have  permitted  myself  to  make 
in  the  text  affect  the  form  but  not  the  sense  of  his 
statements. 

Causes  which  led  to  My  Father's  Entrance  into 
THE  Army  at  a  very  Early  Age. 

My  grandfather,  the  Kapellmeister,  was  a  citizen 
of  Landau  (a  walled  fortress  town  then  in  the  posses- 
sion of  France).  At  the  revolution  (1792)  he  became 
a  staunch  partisan  of  the  Republic,  but  was  opposed 
to  excess  and  terrorism.  He  was  denounced  as  an 
aristocrat.  A  friendly  Jacobin  warned  him  that  the 
Club  in  secret  session  had  decided  to  send  him  forth- 

[67] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

with  to  the  guillotine,  and  that  in  the  night  his  house 
would  be  surrounded.'  Early  in  the  evening  he  made 
his  escape,  passing  through  a  gate  of  the  fortress  in 
the  disguise  of  a  peasant  returning  from  market.  He 
made  straight  for  the  army  on  the  frontier — the  only 
safe  resort  for  a  patriot  who  would  not  become  an 
emigre.  (His  age  was  then  forty-nine.)  Once  in  safety 
he  ordered  his  three  sons,  all  minors,  to  join  him  and 
enlist  as  volunteers.  Hence  their  early  military  career. 
Only  the  two  younger  sons,  however,  joined  their 
father.  The  older  son,  Louis,  took  a  more  independent 
course,  entered  the  naval  service  and  trained  at  Saint- 
Malo,  in  France.  He  was  a  fine  athlete  and  an  unri- 
valled swimmer.  From  the  proceeds  of  the  prizes 
which  he  captured  while  serving  in  the  navy  he  pur- 
chased a  plantation  in  the  Island  of  Mauritius,  and 
eventually  amassed  a  large  fortune.  In  1810,  however, 
the  English  sent  a  powerful  expedition  to  Mauritius 
and  put  an  end  to  the  French  rule  in  the  island.  Louis 
Wolff  passed  in  the  night  in  a  small  boat  through  the 
British  fleet  and  landed  at  Mozambique,  but  he  soon 
afterward  died  there  of  a  fever.  The  English  confis- 
cated his  real  estate  in  Mauritius;  his  movable  property 
went  to  a  Miss  Pajol  (of  Port  Louis,  Mauritius),  to 
whom  he  was  engaged  to  be  married. 


'The  infamous  Sohneidcr,  who  traveled  over  the  e.istern  part  of  France  with  a  com- 
pletely outfitted  guillotine  and  executed  in  this  manner  scores,  if  not  hundreds,  of  the 
country's  hest  citizens,  is  known  to  have  heen  in  the  neighborhood  of  Landau  at  this 
very  period. — A.   H,    IJ. 

[68] 


bucks     of     wethersfield,     conn. 

Incident    Illustrative    of    General    Pichegru's 

Character. 

In  1794  and  1795  my  father  was  with  General 
Pichegru  when  he  conquered  both  Belgium  and  Hol- 
land. Pichegru  made  him  his  confidential  secretary/ 
He  usually  slept  in  the  tent  of  the  General  and  had 
charge  of  all  his  correspondence/ 

During  this  campaign,  there  occurred  a  very  strik- 
ing incident,  which  I  will  relate.  Pichegru  was  driv- 
ing before  him  the  British  army,  under  the  command 
of  the  Duke  of  York.  One  morning  there  was  a  very 
thick  fog,  and  some  of  the  retreating  British  lost  their 
way.  The  French  were  following  in  their  track  at 
the  time,  but — as  they  thought— at  some  distance 
behind  them.     A  company  of  infantry  was  in  advance 

*At  iirst,  he  must  have  been  simply  one  of  Pichcgni's  assistant  stxrirlaries,  for 
in  1793  grandfather  was  only  sixteen  years  old.  And  yet  one  of  his  immediate 
predecessors  in  this  position— Charles  Nodier,  who  later  in  life  became  famous  as  a 
writer — was,  at  the  time  of  his  appointment,  only  fifteen  years  old.  Alexandre  Dumas, 
in  one  of  his  historical  novels,  gives  quite  a  detailed  account  of  Nodier*s  experiences 
while  serving  as  one  of   Pichegru's  assistant  secretaries. — A.    H.    B. 

'It  does  not  appear,  in  any  part  of  these  detached  reminiscences,  at  what  dale 
the  two  Wolff  brothers  became  leaders  of  military  bands.  I*resumably,  when  they 
first  entered  the  army,  they  were  simple  privates  in  the  musical  corps;  and  yet,  after 
the  lapse  of  so  short  a  period  as  two  years,  the  younger  brother — my  grandfather, 
Albert  Henri  Wolff — appears  to  have  been  assigned  to  duties  entirely  distinct  from 
those  of  a  musician.  I  called  my  mother's  attention  to  this  matter,  and  she  replied 
that  her  father  possessed  certain  traits  of  character  and  certain  little  accomplish- 
ments (his  handwriting  was  in  bold  characters  and  easily  legible,  and  he  was  a  fairly 
good  draughtsman)  which  led  to  his  being  fre<iuently  employed  on  what  might  be 
called  staff  work.  Ft  was  in  this  way,  she  said,  that  he  came  to  be  so  well  acquainted 
with  General  Berthicr,  Napoleon's  chief  of  slalT.  I  can  readily  understand  that  the 
leader  of  a  band  of  music,  especially  during  such  active  campaigning  as  fell  to  the 
lot  of  the  French  army  during  the  years  1792-1807,  would  have  a  great  deal  of  time 
at  his  disposal  for  wotk  that  had  no  connection  whatever  with  music.  The  rank  of 
the  leader  of  a  band  of  music  was  that  of  captain. — A.   H.   B. 

[69] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D  ,       CONN. 

and  stumbled  upon  a  party  of  the  British  halted  in  a 
field  which  was  surrounded  by  hedges.  The  captain, 
thanks  to  the  fog,  hit  upon  an  expedient  to  capture 
them.  He  had  three  drums.  He  placed  one  in  the 
center  and  the  other  two  a  long  way  in  advance — one 
on  the  right  and  the  other  on  the  left — and  ordered 
the  drummers  to  make  all  the  noise  they  could.  Then 
he  sent  a  parley  to  the  British,  to  request  an  immediate 
surrender,  as  they  were  surrounded  on  all  sides.  Dis- 
pirited, the  British  laid  down  their  arms,  which  were 
immediately  removed.  Then  a  message  was  sent  to 
Pichegru  to  hurry  up  with  the  army.  When  the  fog 
lifted,  it  was  found  that  they  had  taken  over  eight 
hundred  prisoners,  nearly  all  grenadier  guards.  Shortly 
before,  Pichegru  had  received  from  the  Convention 
an  order  in  which  it  was  stated  that,  the  English  hav- 
ing been  decreed  "les  ennemis  du  genre  humain,"  no 
prisoners  should  be  taken  from  them;  all  captives  were 
to  be  summarily  put  to  death.'    The  British,  who  had 

'On  page  55  of  "Lcs  Campagiics  il'un  Musicien  d'Etat-Major  pendant  la  Republii|ue 
et  'Empire.  1791-1810,"  by  Pliilippe-Rene  Girault.  2d  edition.  Paris,  I9U1,  I  find  tlie 
following  statement,  which  shows  that  there  were  other  occasions,  during  the  wars  of  the 
French  Republic,  when  the  troops  were  instructed  to  give  no  quarter: — "Nous  autres 
musiciens.  on  nous  avait  laisses  al'ecart  av^cles  equipages.  Comme  le  canon  avait  cess^. 
I'envie  nous  prit  h  trois  d'aller  voir  ce  qui  se 'passait  de  I'autre  c6te  du  Rhin.     Nous  par-  , 

vJnmes  \  nous  placer  dans  une  barque,  quoiqu'il  ne  fut  permis  qu'aux  combattants  d'y 
entrer.  et  nous  voil^  sur  I'autre  rivage.  A  peine  avions-nous  mis  pied  i  terre  que  nous 
entendons  un  feu  de  tons  les  diables.  C'etaient  nos  grenailiers  qui  attaquaient  le  camp 
ennemi.  Que  faire  ?  Retourner  aux  barques?  Nousavions  eu  trop  de  peine  pour  nous 
y  placer.  Nous  joindre  aux  combattants'  mais  nous  n'avions  pour  toute  arme  que 
nos  ep^es.  II  ne  manquait  pas  de  fusils  et  de  munitions  per  terre  dans  la  redoute.  Nous 
fumes  bientot  armes  et  nous  voil^  partis  en  avant  faisant  le  coup  de  fusil  avec  les  troupiers. 
Un  Autrichien  qui  fuyait  devant  moi  mit  bas  les  armes  et  voulut  se  rendre;  mais  il  6tait 
d^fendu  de  faire  des  prisonniers,  et  il  me  fallut.  i  mon  grand  regret,  lui  passer  ma  baionnette 

[70] 


^ 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

not  known  anything  of  this  before,  were  now  informed 
of  the  decision,  and  they  naturally  supposed  that  their 
last  hour  had  come.  Pichegru  called  his  officers  to  a 
conference  and  said  to  them:  "I  have  accepted  to  be  a 
General,  but  not  to  be  an  executioner.  Happen  to  me 
what  may,  I  will  never  carry  out  this  order."  All  the 
officers  approved  of  this  decision.  The  British  officers 
then  having  been  summoned,  Pichegru  said  to  them: 
"You  know  what  my  orders  are,  but  I  do  not  intend 
to  carry  them  out.  If,  however,  I  send  you  to  the  rear 
as  prisoners  of  war,  your  lives  would  still  be  in  danger. 
Pledge  yourselves  that  you  and  your  men  will  not  serve 
again  in  the  present  war,  and  depart  as  fast  as  you  can." 
When  the  news  of  this  event  reached  Paris,  the  Con- 
vention ordered  Pichegru  to  appear  at  its  bar.  His 
reply  was:  "I  am  willing  to  answer  your  summons, 
but  I  shall  appear  there  at  the  head  of  my  victorious 
army."    They  did  not  dare  to  molest  him. 

At  a  much  later  period,  when  Napoleon  had 
crushed  the  Republic  and  had  usurped  regal  power, 
Pichegru  was  arrested  by  him  as  a  traitor  who  would 
promote  the  return  of  the  Bourbons.  One  morning  he 
was  found  strangled  by  his  cravat  in  his  prison.  Na- 
poleon said,  "Suicide;"    my  father  said,  "Murder."' 

It  travers  le  corps.  Voila  !a  guerre:  tuer  ou  etre  tue.  Pour  moi,  j'aurais  aime  micux 
{aire  une  partie  de  basson." — (The  events  narrated  here  occurred  in  1795;  the  troops 
engaged  belonged  to  the  "Armde  de  Sambre  et  Meuse.") 

*For  more  than  one  hundred  years  each  one  of  these  verdicts  has  found  earnest 
supporters,  but  the  very  careful  investigations  made  by  Barbey,  and  published  only  a 
few  weeks  since  (by  Perrin,  Paris,  1909),  fail  to  discover  any  evidence  that  would 
justify  the  theory  of  murder. — A.   H.   B. 

[71] 


BUCKS   OF   WET  HERS  FIELD,   CONN. 

In  his  daily  intercourse  with  Pichegru,  and  in  the 
management  of  his  correspondence,  my  father  never 
saw  anything  that  would  justify  the  belief  that  he  was 
not  a  loyal,  convinced  Republican,  with  no  leaning 
whatever  toward  the  Bourbons. 

Supposed  Death  of  one  of  My  Father's  Friends, 
AND  His  Sudden  and  Unexpected  Reappear- 
ance Three  Years  Later. 

In  one  of  the  campaigns  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Rhine,  one  of  my  father's  friends,  a  young  captain, 
was  shot  dead — as  was  then  supposed — on  the  high 
road.  Shortly  afterward,  my  father,  in  passing  over 
the  same  road,  identified  the  body  as  that  of  his  friend, 
and,  fearing  that  it  might  be  trampled  upon  by  horses' 
hoofs  or  run  over  by  the  wheels  of  the  gun  carriages, 
he  had  it  lifted  into  a  dry  ditch  on  one  side  of  the  road. 
He  then  continued  on  his  way,  and,  at  the  last  glance 
that  he  cast  in  the  direction  of  his  friend's  body,  he 
saw  that  a  soldier  was  pulling  off  his  boots  to  appropri- 
ate them  for  his  own  use.  In  due  course  of  time  this 
death  was  reported  at  headquarters,  and  my  father 
was  called  upon  to  sign  the  "extrait  mortuaire"  as  one 
of  the  witnesses  who  had  seen  the  captain  dead.  The 
document  was  then  forwarded  to  the  captain's  young 
widow  in  Strasbourg.  One  day,  three  or  four  years 
later,  while  my  father  was  sitting  in  a  cafe  in  Genoa, 
his  regiment  having  in  the  meantime  been  transferred 

[72] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

to  Italy,  somebody  touched  him  on  the  shoulder  and 
said:  "Why,  Henri,  it  is  you;  I  am  so  glad  to  see  you." 
My  father  was  overcome  and  seized  with  a  sort  of  ter- 
ror; it  was  the  captain  whom  he  supposed  to  be  dead. 
"You  left  me  for  dead,"  said  the  captain,  "and  soon 
afterward  the  enemy  reached  the  spot.  They  ordered 
the  peasants  to  bury  me  and  several  others  whose  bodies 
were  lying  near  by.  One  of  the  peasants  placed  me 
in  his  wheelbarrow  and  transported  me  to  the  edge  of 
the  grave  which  had  been  dug.  Just  as  he  was  about 
to  cast  me  into  the  pit,  he  noticed  that  my  eyes  moved. 
I  was  simply  stiff  and  paralyzed  by  the  cold,  and  I 
soon  revived  after  he  had  carried  me  to  his  dwelling. 
His  family  nursed  me  for  months,  and  I  recovered  my 
health  and  strength;  but  the  enemy  reappeared  and  I 
was  made  a  prisoner.  They  carried  me  of?  to  some  dis- 
tant part  of  the  country  and  kept  me  confined  for  a 
long  period  without  ink  and  paper  and  out  of  reach 
of  the  post.  When  I  was  finally  released,  I  went 
straight  to  my  home  in  Strasbourg.  It  was  midday, 
and  I  walked  into  the  dining-room,  where  I  found  my 
wife  seated  at  table  with  a  gentleman  and  two  young 
children.  She  swooned,  and  as  soon  as  she  revived 
she  began  to  explain  how  she  had  received  notice  of 
my  death.  'Enough,'  I  said.  'Is  this  gentleman  your 
husband?'  'Yes.'  'Does  he  make  you  happy?'  'Yes.' 
'Are  these  your  children?'  'Yes.'  'Then  I  do  not  blame 
you.     I  will  not  disturb  your  honestly  earned  happi- 

[73] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIEl-D,       CONN 


ness.  Farewell.  You  will  never  hear  any  more  of 
me.' — Now  I  desire  above  all  things  real  death.  I  am 
on  my  way  to  the  front,  I  shall  ask  to  be  employed  in 
the  most  dangerous  expeditions,  and  I  shall  fight  in 
the  first  rank." — He  succeeded,  and  was  soon  after 
killed  in  an  engagement. 

The  Imprisonment  of  Pope  Pius  VI  in  the  Citadel 

AT  Turin. 

In  1793,  the  representative  sent  to  Rome  by  the 
French — Basseville  was  his  name — was  assassinated  at 
the  instigation  of  the  priests.  But  in  1797,  by  the  treaty 
of  Tolentino,  Bonaparte  exacted  a  public  apology  and 
a  fine  of  several  millions  of  francs.  Then  a  new  rep- 
resentative, General  Duphot,  was  sent.  But  the  Pope 
and  the  priests  excited  the  fanaticism  of  the  people, 
declaring  the  French  to  be  atheists,  infidels,  and  ac- 
cursed apostates  of  their  holy  religion;  and  Duphot 
was  massacred  by  the  very  soldiers  of  the  guard  of  the 
Pope.  Then  in  February,  1798,  General  Berthier 
came  with  an  army  to  avenge  the  crime.  Rome  was 
secularized,  and  Pius  VI  was  sent  as  a  prisoner  to  a 
convent  in  Florence.  Later,  for  greater  security,  he 
was  ordered  to  be  transferred  to  the  citadel  of  Turin. 
His  reception  there  was  a  matter  of  great  difficulty, 
for  the  fanaticism  of  the  people  in  his  behalf  was  dan- 
gerous, and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  French  officers 
professed  irreligion  and  felt  for  him  and  his  priests 

[74] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

only  wrath  and  contempt.  But  the  Pope  was  on  his 
way,  under  cavalry  escort,  and  must  be  received  and 
treated  with  decency.  My  father  was  entrusted  with 
this  duty,  and  an  escort  of  troops  was  placed  under 
his  orders.'  The  Pope  was  handed  over  to  him  outside 
the  city,  and  he  signed  a  receipt  to  the  commander  of 
the  last  escort.  Then  the  Pope  made  his  entrance 
amidst  an  immense  crowd,  my  father  riding  by  the  side 
of  the  carriage.  When  they  reached  the  gate  of  the 
citadel,  it  was  announced  to  the  Pope  that  he  had 
arrived  at  his  destination.  Upon  alighting  from  his 
carriage,  he  said  to  my  father:  "My  son,  you  have  been 
very  kind  to  me.  Will  you  receive  my  blessing?" 
"With  pleasure,"  my  father  replied.  Then  the  Pope 
extended  his  hands  over  his  head,  mumbled  something 
in  Latin,  and  said:  "Now  I  will  follow  you."  My 
father  showed  him  the  apartments  which  he  was  to 
occupy  and  he  seemed  to  be  pleased  with  them.  Asked 
if  there  was  anything  he  wished  for,  he  replied:  "No, 
my  son,  you  have  behaved  well  toward  me,  and  I 
thank  you."  The  blessing  took  place  on  the  public 
square,  just  in  front  of  the  gate  of  the  citadel,  in  the 
presence  of  both  the  military  and  the  crowd  of 
lookers-on. 

Father's  Experience  at  the  Island  of  Re. 

A   few   months   later.    Napoleon    having   returned 
from    Egypt,    the    eighteenth    Brumaire    took    place. 

'Grandfather  was  then  (1798)  only  twentjr-two  years  old. — A.   H.   B. 

[75] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

(This  was  in  1800.)  The  army  was  required  to  vote 
whether  they  wanted  him  made  Consul  a  vie,  or  not. 
The  vote  of  the  regiment  to  which  father  belonged  was 
adverse.  To  punish  them,  the  Consul  sent  them  to  the 
inglorious  duty  of  keeping  the  west  coast  of  France 
against  English  and  emigres.  Their  headquarters  were 
at  the  citadel  of  the  Island  of  Re,  opposite  La  Rochelle. 
Here  were  relegated  and  imprisoned  in  barracks  sur- 
rounded by  a  high  wall,  no  less  than  seventeen  hundred 
refractory  priests — priests  who  would  not  take  the  oath 
of  allegiance — from  all  parts  of  France.  My  father 
pitied  them,  as,  bound  by  their  religion,  they  could 
only  obey  the  injunctions  of  Rome  not  to  swear  allegi- 
ance to  the  civil  constitution  of  the  clergy.  He  found 
many  of  them  educated  and  refined,  and  some  of  them 
good  performers  on  musical  instruments,  a  few  being 
first-rate  violinists.  He  greatly  endeared  himself  to 
them  by  organizing  in  their  prison  an  amateur  orches- 
tra and  leading  them.  As  a  further  means  of  alleviat- 
ing their  discomfort — they  were  crowded  and  panting 
for  fresh  air— he  obtained  a  written  order  by  which 
he  could  at  any  time  take  out  seven  priests  and  give 
them  a  walk  under  his  own  responsibility.'    Whenever 

*In  an  article  by  Albert  Vandal  on  "Les  Raisons  du  Concordat,"  published  in  the 
Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  for  Febniary  ist.  igo7,  I  find  the  following  statement  coirob- 
orative  of  the  information  here  given  with  reg.ard  to  the  shamefully  crowded  manner  in 
which  these  priests  were  lodged  on  the  He  de  Ro : — "Sous  le  Directoire  fructidorien.  des 
centaines  de  pretres  avaient  etc  deportcs  en  Guyane.  La  plupart  y  avaient  peri,  suppli- 
ci^s  par  le  climat;  Bonaparte  ne  se  pressa  pas  de  rappeler  les  survivans,  laissant  se  pro- 
longer  leur  agonie ;  c'est  Tunc  des  taches  qui  pesent  sur  sa  memoire.  D'autres  pretres 
par  centaines    avaient    ^t^  entass^s  dans  les  iles  de  R^  et  d'Ol^ron.     On  mit  en  liberty 

[76] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

he  entered  the  prison,  there  was  a  great  rush  of  priests, 
all  calling:  "Take  me,  oh,  take  me,  Monsieur  Wolff." 
They  knew  he  was  an  heretic,  but  they  never  attempted 
to  convert  him. 

Father  Wounded  by  the  Bursting  of  a  Shell  at 

Mayence. 
My  father  was  once  seriously  wounded;  I  believe 
it  was  at  the  siege  of  Mayence  by  the  Prussians,  but  I 
am  not  sure.  He  was  in  the  citadel  of  the  city,  and 
walking  on  a  rampart,  when  a  shell  burst  and  tore  his 
cheek  from  the  nose  to  just  below  the  ear.  The  Col- 
onel, who  happened  to  be  near,  helped  him  to  arrest 
the  bleeding,  and  then  told  him  to  hurry  to  the  sur- 
geon's quarters.  The  wound  was  sewed  up  and  in 
due  time  it  healed  perfectly.  In  after  life  the  scar 
was  still  quite  visible. 

Father  Stationed  at  Geneva  in  1805. 

In  September,  1805,  the  main  body  of  the  army, 
which  had  been  stationed  for  some  time  at  Boulogne, 
on  the  seacoast,  was  sent  in  the  direction  of  Vienna.  A 
reserve  corps,  however,  was  stationed  at  Geneva,  and 
my  father's  regiment  formed  a  part  of  this  corps.  It 
was  doubtless  at  this  time  (1805  ^"d  a  part  of  1806) 
that  my  father  became  acquainted  with  the  family  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Antoine  Hauloch,  whose  only  daughter 
he  subsequently  married. 

cexix  qui  consentirent  k  signer  la  promesse;   sur  les  autres.  la  surveillance  se  rel^cha.    il  y 
eut  des  61argissements  et  des  Evasions  en  masse." 

177] 


bucks     of     wethersfield,     conn. 

Competitive  Performances  of  Military  Bands. 

In  1806,  the  regiment  was  ordered  from  Geneva, 
where  it  was  then  stationed,  to  Italy.  They  crossed 
the  Alps  by  way  of  the  Mont  Cenis.  At  Turin  a  sort 
of  competition  took  place  between  my  father's  band, 
numbering  sixty  instruments,  and  the  Imperial  band, 
which  numbered  eighty.  They  played  alternately  on 
the  square  before  the  palace,  during  the  entire  evening. 
The  critics  expressed  their  decided  preference  for  the 
smaller  band,  and  the  Imperial  conductor  himself 
assented  to  the  verdict.  He  asked  my  father:  "How 
can  that  be?  My  band  is  recruited  from  the  best  pupils 
of  the  Paris  Conservatoire."  "This  is  your  weak  point," 
replied  my  father,  "each  one  in  your  band  wants  to 
shine  as  a  solo  artist,  and  that  spoils  the  unity  of  effect. 
My  men  sacrifice  individual  ambition  to  the  success 
of  the  whole  as  a  single  entity." 

Father  and  his  Brother  Leave  the  Armv  after  a 
Service  that  Lasted  from  1792  to  1807. 

Father  and  his  brother  were  impatient  to  settle 
down  and  marry.  They  had  probably  become  en- 
gaged during  the  winter  of  1805- 1806,  when  the  re- 
serve corps,  of  which  their  regiments  formed  a  part, 
was  stationed  at  Geneva.  But  it  was  not  an  easy  matter 
to  obtain  an  honorable  dismissal  from  the  French  army 
in  the  very  middle  of  a  campaign — Napoleon's  second 

[78] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

Italian  campaign,  in  1807.  However,  they  decided  to 
ask  for  their  liberty.  On  the  occasion  of  the  next  grand 
review,'  my  father  stood  out  in  front  of  the  regiment 
as  its  deputy,  and  when  Napoleon  rode  by  with  his 
staff  officers  he  pleaded  for  the  dismissal  of  his  brother 
and  himself.  Napoleon  at  first  objected:  "I  do  not 
like  to  see  fine  young  men  like  you  leave  the  army." 
But  Berthier,  Napoleon's  Chief  of  Stafif,  interceded  in 
their  behalf,  saying  that  he  knew  all  about  their  career 
and  that  they  had  fully  earned  the  right  to  receive  their 
discharge.  It  was  accordingly  granted  to  them,  but 
they  were  instructed  to  keep  the  aflfair  secret  and  to 
leave  the  camp  at  night,  after  the  men  were  asleep. 
But  the  secret  was  not  kept.  A  party  of  their  com- 
rades escorted  them  for  some  distance  on  their  way 
and  only  left  them  after  they  had  got  beyond  the  dis- 
trict which  was  known  to  be  infested  with  robbers. 
Three  days  later,  the  two  brothers  arrived  in  Geneva, 
having  crossed  the  Alps  either  by  way  of  Courmayeur 
and  the  Little  St.  Bernard,  or  by  way  of  Aosta  and  the 
Great  St.  Bernard,  I  can  not  state  which.' 

'At  some  place  near  Turin,  in  Northern  Italy. 

'When  I  read  this  account.  I  was  disposed  to  doubt  the  accuracy  of  that  part  of  the 
story  which  relates  to  the  personal  interview  with  Napoleon  while  a  grand  review  was  in 
progress.  I  consulted  various  biographies  of  Napoleon  and  finally  I  discovered  the  fol- 
lowing statement  which  renders  it  highly  probable  that  Uncle  Philippe  has  reported  the 
events  exactly  as  they  occurred: — 

"Chaque  soldat  ^tait  autoris^  k  sortir  des  rangs  et  k  s'addresser  directement  k  TEm- 
p^reur.  en  pr^sentant  les  armes.  pour  lui  soumettre  une  demande  ou  une  reclamation. 
Jamais  aucune  requete  n'etait  negligee;  il  y  etait  repondu  sur-le-champ.  Si  le  [j^tition- 
naire  etait  digne  d'interet  sa  demande  etait  en  general  exaucee,  a  moins  qu'elle  nc  fut 
de  nature  a  provoquer  une  enquete." — Memoires  pour  servir  k  I'hifetoire  de  Napoleon, 
Par  Monsieur  le  Baron  de  Meneval ;     Paris  1894. 

[79] 


bucks     of     w  e  t  h  e  r  s  f  1  e  l  d,     conn. 

Pleasant  Episode  at  the  Chateau  de  Pregny. 

In  the  summer  of  1811  (i.  e.,  when  grandfather's 
daughter,  Henriette  [my  mother — A.  H.  B.]  was  one 
year  old)  the  Chateau  de  Pregny,'  situated  at  a  short 
distance  from  Geneva,  was  occupied  by  Hortense,  who 
is  known  to  have  been  a  passionate  amateur  of  music 
and  to  have  composed  several  songs.  Years  before,  my 
father  had  met  her,  and  now — as  the  superior  musical 
authority  in  Geneva — he  was  frequently  invited  to  play 
with  her.  She  applied  to  him  for  advice  in  regard  to, 
and  for  revision  of,  her  songs.  One  day  she  sent  to  him 
an  air  which  she  had  composed  a  short  time  previously, 
having  set  to  music  "Partant  pour  la  Syrie" — a  piece 
of  poetry  written  by  a  Mr.  Laborde.  Having  exam- 
ined the  composition,  my  father  liked  it  and  thought 
he  would  give  her  a  surprise.  Accordingly,  he  imme- 
diately wrote  the  air  down  with  piano  and  orchestra 
accompaniment,  and  in  the  evening  of  the  same  day, 
bringing  with  him  a  few  performers,  and  without  pre- 
vious notice,  started,  in  the  parlor  of  the  chateau,  "Par- 
tant pour  la  Svrie."  The  queen'  was  amazed  and 
delighted,  as  were  also  all  her  guests.  Thus,  my  father 
was  the  first  to  handle  and  play  the  future  great  and 
favorite  national  song  of  the  Second  Empire. 


'Bought  by  the  Empress  Josephine,  Napoleon's  wife,  a  short  time  previously,  for 
) 90.000  francs,  and  afterward  left  liy  her,  in  her  will,  to  her  daughter,  Hortense. 
the  wife  of  Louis  Bonaparte,  Napoleon's  brother. 

'Hortense  was  Quetn  of  Holland. 

[80] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN 


PART  IV. 

Genealogical  Schemes  of  the  Buck,  Saltonstall, 
Manwaring,  Wolff,  etc..  Families. 


SCHEME  OF  BUCK  GENEALOGY. 

(Nine  Successive  Generations.) 


Emanuel  Buck   (^d.  i6S8)  Mary  Kirby  (second  wife) 

Born   1623.  Born   1644. 

Living  in  1686.  Died  1712. 

David  Buck    (™d.  1690)  Elizabeth  Hubbard,  Guilford, 

Born  1667.  Born  1669.  Conn. 

Died  1738.  Died  1735. 

ITheir  son,  Daniel,  born  in  1695,  graduated 
from  Yale  in  1718.] 

Mr.   Josiah   Buck    (^d   i73i)  Ann  Deming,  Boston, 

Mass. 

^B"ofn  1703.  Born  1711. 

Died  1793.  Died  1772. 

Daniel  Buck   (^d.  1775)  Sarah  Saltonstall 

Born  1744.  Born  1754. 

Died  1808.  Died  1828. 

GURDON  Buck    (^d.  isos)  Susannah  Manwaring 


Born   1777.  Born  1783. 

Died  1852.  Died  1839. 

[81] 


BUCKS       OF       W  ET  H  E  RS  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 


GURDQN  Buck   (md.  1836)  Henriette  E.  Wolff 

Born  1807.  Born  1810. 

Died  1877.  Died  1899. 

Albert  H.  Buck   ("^d.  i87i)  Laura  S.  Abbott 


Born  1842.  | 

Winifred  Buck,  married  Lawrence  F.  Abbott 
I  Born  1872. 

Lyman  Abbott,  2d  (born  1907). 

Harold  Winthrop  Buck   (^d.  1902)  charlotte  Porter 


Born   1873. 


Winthrop    Porter    Buck    (t-om    1903)^    Charlotte 
Abbot  Buck  (bom  i904)^  gurdon  Buck  (torn  1906). 


COMPLETE   LIST  OF  THE  DESCENDANTS 

OF  EMANUEL  BUCK  AND  MARY  KIRBY, 

HIS  SECOND  WIFE. 

(Married  April  17,  1658.) 


Their  children : — 
Mary,  born  January  r,  1659. 

David,  born  April  3,   1667;    died  September  20, 
1738. 

Sarah,  born  April  i,  1669. 
Hannah,  born  April  12,  1671. 
Elizabeth,  born  June  4,  1676. 
Thomas,  born  June  10,  1678. 
Abigail,  born  August  5,  1682. 

[.S2] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

No  record  of  Emanuel's  death.  His  widow  died 
January  12,  1712. 

David  Buck  married  Elizabeth  Hubbert  (or 
Hubbard),  daughter  of  Daniel  Hubbert,  of  Guilford, 
Connecticut,  June  14,  1690.    Their  children  : — 

Elizabeth,  born  February  16,  1691. 

Ann,  born  April  25,  1693. 

Daniel,  born  September  13,  1695.  Graduated  from 
Yale  in  1718,  the  first  year  in  which  this  institution — 
chartered  in  1701  as  "The  Collegiate  School  of  Con- 
necticut"— received  the  name  of  Yale  College.' 

David,  born  March  13,  1698. 

Mary,  born  September  9,  1700;  died  March  19, 
1726. 

JOSIAH,  born  January  16,  1703;    died  February  8, 

1793- 

Joseph,  born  April  5,   1705;    died  September   14, 

1712. 

John,'  born  July  18,  1707;  died  February  4,  1726. 

Eunice,  born  December  19,  1709. 

Mabell,  born  June  5,  1712;  died  August  5,  1739. 
3  Elizabeth,  wife  of  David  Buck,  died  March  25, 
1735,  aged  66  years. 

•  '  ^Under  this  Charter  the  Collegiate  School  was  begun  in  November,  1701,  at 
Saybrook,  where  it  continued  until  its  removal  to  New  Haven,  in  October,  1716.  In 
September,  1718,  the  name  of  "Yale  College"  was  given  by  the  Trustees  to  the 
School,  in  honor  of  the  benefactions  of  Elihu  Yale,  of  London,  lately  Governor  of 
the  East  India  Company's  settlement  at  Madras. — General  Catalogue  of  Yale  Col- 
lege,  1904-5. 

•The  grave-stone  of  John  Buck  is  still  standing  in  the  Wethersfield  churchyard,  a 
few  feet  northeast  from  the  Moseley  family  table,  and  is  probably  the  oldest  monument 
of  the  Buck  family  in  the  churchyard. — [Roswell  R.   Buck] 

[83] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

Mabell,  their  youngest  child,  married  James 
Mitchell,  May  3,  1732.  Their  children  were:  James, 
born  March  2,  1733;  Mabel,  born  January  26,  1736; 
David,  born  December  28,  1738. 

Mr.  Josiah  Buck  married  Ann  Deming,  daughter 

of  Charles  Deming,  of  Boston,  May  28,  1731.     Their 

children: —  p 

J 

Ann,  born  February  26,  1732;   died  July  7,  1799. 

Mary,  born  October  31,  1733. 

Elizabeth,  born  April  7,  1735;  died  May  25,  1770, 
at  Sandisfield,  Massachusetts. 

Prudence,  born  December  15,  1737;  died  February 
17,  1825. 

Josiah,  born  April  23,  1742;  died  October  16,  1807. 

Daniel,  born  June  13,  1744;  died  January  6,  1808. 

Mabel,  born  March  22,  1748;  died  May  28,  1843, 
aged  95  years  and  67  days. 

Ann,  wife  of  Josiah  Buck,  died  March  9,  1772, 
aged  62  years. 

Ann,  daughter  of  Josiah  and  Ann  Buck,  married 
Joshua  Hempsted,  of  Hartford,  Connecticut. 

Elizabeth,  the  third  daughter  of  Josiah  and  Ann 
Buck,  married  Gideon  Wright,  of  Sandisfield,  Massa- 
chusetts. 

Prudence,  the  fourth  daughter  of  Josiah  and  Ann 
Buck,  married  Luke  Fortune,  of  Wethersfield,  Con- 

[S-l] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

necticut,  January  i8,  1776.  Their  only  child  was 
James  Fortune,  born  October  8,  1777. 

Josiah,  the  older  of  Josiah  and  Ann  Buck's  two  sons, 
married  Hannah,  daughter  of  Silas  Dean,  of  Groton, 
Connecticut,  January,  1775.'  Their  children  were: 
Josiah,  born  December  29,  1775;  Elizabeth,  born  Feb- 
ruary, 1778,  died  May  13,  1801 ;  Barzillai  Dean,  born 
March  16,  1781,  died  September,  1842;  Hannah,  born 
June  23,  1785. — Hannah,  wife  of  Josiah  Buck,  died 
September  3,  1824,  aged  70  years.  Hannah,  daughter 
of  Josiah  and  Hannah  Buck,  married  Chester  Bulkley, 
of  Albany,  New  York.  They  had  seven  children;  all 
of  them  died  young.    No  descendants  living. 

Mabel,  daughter  of  Josiah  and  Ann  Buck,  married 
Justus  Riley,  of  Wethersfield,  Connecticut,'  November 
10,  1774.  Their  children  were:  Ezekiel,  born  Sep- 
tember 20,  1775,  died,  unmarried ;  Roswell,  born  Octo- 
ber 15,  1780,  died,  unmarried;  Mabel,  born  July  31, 
1787,  died  February  17,  1795,  aged  8  years;  Martha, 
born  August  25,  1790.  The  last-named  daughter  mar- 
ried Chester  Bulkley  (as  his  second  wife)  November 
20,  1833.    No  children. 

'Silas  Dean  [or  Deane],  born  at  Groton,  Connecticut,  December  24,  1737;  died 
at  Deal,  England,  August  23,  1789.  An  American  statesman  and  diplomatist.  He 
was  a  delegate  from  Connecticut  to  the  Continental  Congress,  1774-76,  and  was  sent 
to  France  as  a  secret  financial  and  political  agent  in  1776.  Having  made  unauthor- 
ized promises  to  induce  French  oflicers  to  join  the  .American  service,  he  was  recalled 
by  Congress  in  1777.— Century  Dictionary. 

'Justus  Riley  was  the  son  of  Isaac  Riley,  and  was  born  June  24,  1739.  He  mar- 
ried, first,  Martha  Kilborn,  January  19,  1764.  They  bad  one  child,  named  Justus, 
born  April    17,   1766,  who  died   unmarried. 

[85] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

Daniel  Buck,  younger  son  of  Josiah  and  Ann 
Buck,  married  SARAH  Saltonstall,  daughter  of  Gur- 
don  Saltonstall,  of  New  London,  Connecticut,  Decem- 
ber 3,  1775.    Their  children  : — 

Anna,  born  November  24,  1776;  died  December  12, 
1776,  aged  18  days. 

GURDOX,  born  December  30,  1777;  died  August  4, 
1852,  aged  74  years,  7  months. 

Daniel,  born  October  27,  1779;  died  January  15, 
i860,  aged  80  years,  3  months. 

Charles,  born  March  31,  1782;  died  June  5,  1858, 
aged  76  years,  2  months. 

Winthrop,  born  December  9,  1784;  died  August  19, 
1862,  aged  77  years,  8  months. 

Ann,  born  October  12,  1786;  died  February  6,  1788, 
aged  I  year,  4  months. 

Dudley,  born  June  25,  1789;  died  May,  1867,  aged 
77  years,  1 1  months. 

Daniel  Buck  died  January  6,  1808,  aged  63i/>  years, 
and  his  wife,  Sarah  Buck,  died  November  19,  1828, 
aged  74  years. 

GURDON  Buck,  son  of  Daniel  and  Sarah  Buck, 
married  SUSANNAH,  daughter  of  David  Mawvaring, 
of  New  London  and  New  York,  April  20,  1805.  Died 
August  4,  1852.  His  remains  and  the  remains  of  his 
wife  are  buried  in  the  Auchincloss  lot  at  Woodlawn 
Cemetery,  New  York  City.    Their  children: — - 

[86] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

David,  born  January  29,  1806;  died  August  15, 
1875,  at  Marblehead,  Massachusetts. 

Gordon,  born  May  4,  1807;  died  March  6,  1877, 
at  New  York. 

Charles  Dudley,  born  November  29,  1808;  died 
September  30,  1870,  at  Orange,  New  Jersey. 

Daniel  Winthrop,  born  November  27,  1810;  died 
March  4,  1832,  at  Sainte  Croix,  West  Indies. 

Sarah,  born  December  28,  1812;  died  December, 
1855,  in  Brooklyn,  New  York. 

Edward,  born  October  6,  18 14;  died  July  16,  1876, 
at  Andover,  Massachusetts. 

Elizabeth,  born  November  16,  18 16;  died  October 
26,  1902,  at  New  York. 

Rebecca  Coit,  born  November  i,  1818;  died  July 
18,  1870,  at  Rye  Beach,  New  Hampshire. 

George,  born  August  14,  1821;  died  1824,  in  New 
York. 

Henry,  born  November  25,  1824;  died  September 
9,  183 1,  in  New  York. 

David,  the  oldest  son  of  Gurdon  and  Susannah 
Manwaring  Buck,  married  Matilda  Stewart  Hall 
(born  August  19,  1812),  of  Boston,  May  8,  1837.  Their 
children: — 

Florence,  born  July  15,  1839;  died  August  18,  1864. 

Stuart  Manwaring,  born  October  24,  1842;  now  in 
West  Virginia. 

Agnes,  born  and  died  December  7,  1847. 

[87] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

Eleanor,  born  May  24,  1850;  lives  in  Boston,  Massa- 
chusetts. 

Henry  Hall,  born  March  11,  1854;  lives  in  Boston. 

Howard  Mendenhall,  born  May  16,  1856;  lives 
in  Boston. 

Stuart  Manwaring,  oldest  son  of  David  and  Ma- 
tilda S.  Buck,  married  Grace  Ross,  of  Bangor,  Maine, 
October  30,  1872.  Grace  Ross  was  born  April  8,  1849. 
Their  children : — 

Clififord  Ross,  born  February  12,  1874.  Married 
Gertrude  Jane  Nelson.  Issue:  John  Nelson  Buck, 
born  April  9,  1906. 

_    .       (  Catherine,  born  October  27,  1877. 

[  Frances,  born  and  died  the  same  day. 

Theda,  born  July  31,  1879. 

Matilda,  widow  of  David  Buck,  aged  (1908)  over 
95  years,  is  living  at  No.  127  Marlborough  Street, 
Boston.  Her  health  is  said  to  be  very  good  for  one  of 
her  age,  and  her  mind  remains  as  active  and  clear  as 
it  ever  was. 

GURDON  Buck,  second  son  of  Gurdo.  md  Susan- 
nah Manwaring  Buck,  married  Henriette  i^l.S.^BETH 
Wolff,  daughter  of  Albert  Henri  Wolfif,  of  Geneva, 
Switzerland,  July  27,  1836.    Their  children: — 

Amelia  Henrietta,  born  February  11,  1838;  died 
1900. 

[88] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

Susan  Manwaring,  born  November  i,  1839;  lives 
abroad. 

Louisa  Monsell,  born  September  9,  1841 ;  died 
December  4,  1841. 

Albert  Henry,  born  October  20,  1842;  lives  in 
New  York. 

Alfred  Linsly,  born  November  8,  1844;  ^^^^  Febru- 
ary 10,  1848. 

Gurdon  Saltonstall,  born  October  23,  1848;  lives 
in  New  York;  is  a  bachelor. 

Francis  Dudley,  born  October  11,  1850;  lives  in 
New  York. 

Gurdon  Buck  died,  in  New  York,  March  6,  1877, 
aged  nearly  70  years.  His  widow,  Henriette  E.  Buck, 
died  September  20,  1899,  aged  nearly  90  years. 

Amelia  Henrietta,  the  oldest  daughter  of  Gurdon 
and  Henriette  E.  Buck,  married  Alfred  North,  M.  D., 
the  leading  surgeon  of  Waterbury,  Connecticut,  Sep- 
tember 24,  1863.    Their  children: — 

Helen  Winthrop,  born  July  4,  1867;  died  Novem- 
ber 27,  187c    . 

HenrieuJ  Dudley,  born  June  24,  1870;  died  Sep- 
tember 21,  1870. 

Susie  Saltonstall,  born  September  24,  1871,  married 
Herbert  S.  Rowland,  and  lives  in  Waterbury,  Connec- 
ticut.    Their  children  are:    Alfred  North  Rowland, 

[89J 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

born  January  i6,  1900,  and  Helen  Rowland,  born  in 
1902. 

Annie  Wetmore,  born  May  16,  1873  ;  lives  in  Water- 
bury,  Connecticut. 

Gurdon  Buck,  born  November  6,  1874;  died  the 
same  week. 

Albert  Henry  Buck,  oldest  son  of  Gurdon  and 
Henriette  E.  Buck,  married  LAURA  S.  ABBOTT,  daugh- 
ter of  Rev.  John  S.  C.  Abbott,  then  of  New  Haven, 
Connecticut.     Their  children  : — - 

Winifred,  born  January  2,  1872. 

Harold  Winthrop,  born  May  7,  1873. 

Francis  Dudley  Buck,  youngest  son  of  Gurdon  and 
Henriette  E.  Buck,  married  Clara  Tillou,  March  19, 
1872.  Clara  T.  Buck,  his  wife,  died  January  19,  1873. 
Their  child: — 

Francis  Tillou,  born  January  11,  1873,  married 
(1906)  Neva  Ten  Broeck,  and  lives  in  Nyack,  N.  Y. 
Their  child,  born  October  1906:  Anna  Ten  Broeck 
Buck. 

In  June,  1875,  Francis  D.  Buck  married  Anna 
Tillou,  sister  of  Clara,  his  first  wife.     No  children. 

Charles  Dudley  Buck,  third  son  of  Gurdon  and 
Susannah  Manwaring  Buck,  married  Sophronia  Smith, 

[90] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

of  Wilbraham,  Massachusetts,  September  i8,  1844. 
Their  children: — 

Charles  Gurdon,  born  April  13,  1847;  lives  at  San 
Rafael,  California. 

Grace  Winthrop,  born  July  20,  185 1;  married 
Greenwood  K.  Oliver;  died  in  Boston,  Massachusetts. 
One  daughter,  Edith. 

Margaret  Warriner,  born  April  29,  1857;  lives  in 
California  with  her  brother,  Charles  G.  Buck. 

Sarah  Buck,  oldest  daughter  of  Gurdon  and  Susan- 
nah Manwaring  Buck,  married  Jonathan  D.  Steele,  of 
New  York   (as  his  second  wife).     Their  children: — 

William  Dayton,  born  June  30,  185 1. 

James  Alexander,  born  July  15,  1853;  married 
Helen  E.  Hand,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  in  1886,  and  lives 
in  New  York.  Their  child:  Winthrop  Steele,  born 
August  26,  1888. 

Jonathan  D.  Steele  died  in  Brooklyn,  New  York, 
August  25,  1872.    Sarah,  his  wife,  died  in  December, 

1855- 

Edward  Buck,  the  fifth  son  of  Gurdon  and  Susan- 
nah Manwaring  Buck,  married  Elizabeth  G.  Hubbard 
(born  February  11,  1817),  June  8,  1841.  Their  chil- 
dren : — 

Helen  Alice  (always  spoken  of  as  Alice),  born 
April  3,  1842;  lived  in  Andover,  Massachusetts,  up  to 
the  time  of  her  death,  March  29,  1907. 

[91 J 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

A  baby  boy,  born  June  26,  1845;  died  in  infancy. 

Walter,  born  September  29,  1847;  married  Mary 
Westcott  Laurie  in  1888,  and  lives  in  Andover,  Massa- 
chusetts.    No  children. 

Edward  Buck  died  in  Andover,  Massachusetts,  July 
16,  1876,  in  his  sixty-second  year.  Elizabeth,  his  wife, 
died  at  the  same  place  on  May  14,  1890. 

Elizabeth  Buck,  the  second  daughter  of  Gurdon 
and  Susannah  Manwaring  Buck,  married  John  Auch- 
incloss,  of  New  York,  June  3,  1835.    Their  children  : — 

Henry  Buck,  born  June  7,  1836;  lived  in  New  York 
until  1904,  when  impaired  health  compelled  him  to 
move  to  Redlands,  California. 

Sarah  Ann,  born  July  8,  1838;  married  James  Coats 
(created  a  baronet  in  1905),  the  thread  manufacturer, 
of  Paisley,  Scotland,  in  1859;  died  in  June,  1887,  in 
Providence,  Rhode  Island. 

John  Stuart,  born  March,  1840;  died  March,  1842. 

William  Stuart,  born  March  19,  1842. 

Elizabeth  Ellen  (always  spoken  of  as  Ellie),  born 
July  3,  1844;  lives  in  New  York. 

Edgar  Stirling,  born  September  29,  1847;  died  in 
1892. 

Frederic  Lawton,  born  February  26,  1851  ;  died  in 
Yokohama,  Japan,  November  18,  1878. 

John  Winthrop,  born  April  12,  1853;  lives  in  New 
York. 

[92] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

Hugh  Dudley,  born  July  8,  1858;  lives  in  New 
York. 

John  Auchincloss  died  June  26,  1876,  while  on  a 
fishing  expedition  in  the  Canada  Woods.  Elizabeth, 
his  wife,  died  October  26,  1902,  in  New  York.' 

Daniel  Buck,  second  son  of  Daniel  and  Sarah  Buck, 
married  Julia,  daughter  of  Stephen  Mix  Mitchell,  of 
Wethersfield,  Connecticut,  October  14,  1805.  No 
children.  Mrs.  Julia  Buck  died  October  9,  1807, 
aged  27. 

Daniel  Buck  married  (second  time)  Elizabeth 
Belden,  daughter  of  Ezekiel  Porter  Belden,  of  Weth- 
ersfield, January  30,  1812.    Their  children: — 

Daniel,  born  February  26,  18 14;  at  last  accounts 
(1904)  he  was  alive  and  well  at  his  home  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, California. 

Ezekiel,  born  January  31,  1816;  died  (unmarried) 
March  21,  1844. 

Charles,  born  Dec.  26,  1817;  died  August  28,  1845. 

Julia,  born  July  16,  1820;  did  not  marry. 

John,  born  December  16,  1822;  died  March  21, 
1847. 

Susan,  born  March  3,  1825;  did  not  marry. 

Daniel  Buck  resided  in  Hartford  and  carried  on 
business  for  many  years  with  his  brother  Dudley,  under 
the  firm  name  of  Daniel  Buck  &  Co.    He  died  Janu- 


'The  continuation  of  the  Auchincloss  genealogy  will  be  found  on  page  120. 

[93] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  1  E  L  D,       CONN. 

ary  15,  i860,  aged  80  years  and  3  months.  Elizabeth, 
his  wife — "Aunt  Betsy,"  as  she  was  always  called  by  the 
Bucks  of  later  generations — died  March  3,  1887,  in  the 
104th  year  of  her  age,  at  Wethersfield,  Connecticut. 

Charles  Buck,  the  third  son  of  Daniel  and  Sarah 
Saltonstall  Buck,  married  Catherine  P.  Bradford,  of 
New  York,  March  17,  1813.  No  children.  He  died 
in  Wethersfield  June  5,  1858. 

Winthrop  Buck,  the  fourth  son  of  Daniel  and  Sarah 
Saltonstall  Buck,  married  Eunice  W.  Parsons,  daugh- 
ter of  Gideon  Parsons,  of  Amherst,  Massachusetts, 
January  29,  1812.  No  children.  Mrs.  Eunice  W. 
Buck  died  August  (;,  1812,  aged  24  years. 

Winthrop  Buck  married  (second  time)  Eunice 
Moseley,  daughter  of  Abner  Moseley,  M.  D.,  of 
Wethersfield,  Connecticut,  December  28,  1814.  Their 
children : — 

Martha  Ann,  born  November  26,  181 5;  did  not 
marry.    Died  August  12,  1900. 

Winthrop,  born  December  16,  1816;  died  in  1900. 

Eunice,  born  December  31,  1819;  did  not  marry. 

Maria,  born  January  30,  1821;  married  E.  G. 
Howe,  Esq.,  of  Hartford.    No  children. 

Robert,  born  March  8,  1823. 

Roswell  Riley,  born  October  21,  1826;  died  in  1904. 

Kate  Moseley,  born  February  i,  1833. 

[94] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 


Henry,  born  December  6,  1834;  married  Theresa 
Robinson,  November  30,  1875.  Issue:  (i)  Henry  Rob- 
inson Buck,  born  September  14,  1876;  married  (1901) 
Mary  L.,  daughter  of  Charles  Wolcott,  of  Wethers- 
field.  They  have  one  son,  Henry  W.,  born  May  15, 
1903.  (2)  John  Saltonstall  Buck,  born  May  7,  1879; 
married  Florence  E.,  daughter  of  Rev.  George  L. 
Clark,  of  Wethersfield.  They  have  two  children — one 
son,  Richard  Saltonstall,  born  August  10,  1906,  and  one 
daughter,  Eleanor  K.,  born  February  12,  1909.  (3) 
Charles  Hone  Buck,  born  August  2,  188 1 ;  to  be  mar- 
ried, June,  1909,  to  Eunice  C,  daughter  of  Rev.  John 
Barstow,  of  Lee,  Massachusetts.  Henry  Buck  and  his 
wife  live  in  the  old  homestead  at  Wethersfield. 

Winthrop  Buck  died  August  19,  1862,  aged  77  years, 
8  months;  Eunice,  his  wife,  died  August  24,  1862,  aged 
68  years,  10  months. 

Dudley  Buck,  the  youngest  son  of  Daniel  and  Sarah 
Saltonstall  Buck,  married  Hetty  G.  Hempsted,  daugh- 
ter of  John  Hempsted,  of  Hartford  (and  granddaugh- 
ter of  Joshua  and  Ann  Hempsted),  September  25, 
1827.    Their  children: — 

George,  born  September  16,  1830. 

Mary,  born  September  8,  1832;  died  August  3,  1833. 

Dudley,  born  June  5,    1834;   died  November  20, 

1836. 

Mrs.  Hetty  G.  Buck  died,  probably,  in  1836. 

[95] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN 


Dudley  Buck  married  (the  second  time)  Martha  C. 
Adams,  daughter  of  Nathaniel  Adams,  of  Portsmouth, 
New  Hampshire,  September  12,  1837.  Their  chil- 
dren:— 

Dudley,  born  March  10,  1839;  lives  in  Brooklyn, 
New  York.  He  has  acquired  a  great  reputation  as  a 
musical  composer. 

James,  born  November  17,  1840;  died  July  20,  1842. 

Dudley  Buck,  the  father,  died  in  May,  1867,  aged 
77  years,  11  months.  Martha  C,  his  wife,  died  Febru- 
ary 20,  1864,  aged  65  years. 

Winthrop  Buck,  oldest  son  of  Winthrop  and  Eunice 
Moseley  Buck,  married  Charlotte  Woodhouse,  daugh- 
ter of  Sylvester  Woodhouse,  December  24,  1845.  Their 
children : — 

Edward  Winthrop,  born  February  28,  1847;  lives 
in  Wethersfield,  Connecticut.  Is  married  and  has  three 
children:  (i)  Edward  Winthrop,  (2)  Edward  Os- 
borne, and  (3)  Ellen  Dudley.  The  older  son,  Edward 
Winthrop,  married  Cora  S.  Denison,  of  Saybrook,  Con- 
necticut. They  have  one  child,  Catherine  Denison, 
born  July  25,  1908. 

Louis  Dudley,  born  August  13,  1850;  lives  in 
Wethersfield,  Connecticut.  Married  Laura  Church, 
and  they  have  two  children  living:  (i)  Charlotte,  and 
(2)  Mary  Church.  A  third  daughter,  Louise  Dudley, 
died  in  1897. 

[96] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

Robert  Buck,  second  son  of  Winthrop  and  Eunice 
Moseley  Buck,  married,  at  Hastings,  Minnesota,  De- 
cember 25,  1857,  Lucinda  M.  Emerson,  who  died  June 
7,  1859.  He  married,  the  second  time,  at  St.  Albans, 
Vermont,  Helen  Frances  Jones,  August  5,  i860.  Their 
child:— 

Robert  Moseley,  born  September  5,  1865. 

Maria  Buck,  the  third  daughter  of  Winthrop  and 
Eunice  Moseley  Buck,  married  Edmund  G.  Howe,  of 
Hartford,  Connecticut,  February  5,  1856.  No  chil- 
dren.    Mr.  Howe  died  April  23,  1872,  aged  64  years. 

Kate  Moseley  Buck,  the  youngest  daughter  of 
Winthrop  and  Eunice  Moseley  Buck,  married  John 
Buckingham,  of  Chicago,  Illinois,  November  6,  1866. 
Their  children: — 

Henry  Winthrop,  born  November  28,  1868. 

Arthur  Hale,  born  October  27,  1870;  died  August 
3,  1871. 

Clifford  Hale,  born  January  i,  1876. 

Roswell  Riley  Buck,  third  son  of  Winthrop  and 
Eunice  Moseley  Buck,  married  Maria  Catherine 
Barnes,  daughter  of  Josiah  Barnes,  M.  D.,  of  Buffalo, 
New  York,  November  8,  1866.    Their  children: — 

Harriet  Moseley,  born  August  16,  1867. 

Winthrop  Seymour,  born  May  13,  1870;  died  May, 
1878. 

[97] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN 


George  Sturgis,  born  February  lo,  1875. 

Henry  Buck,  youngest  son  of  Winthrop  and  Eunice 
Moseley  Buck,  married  Theresa  Robinson,  daughter 
of  George  Robinson,  of  Wethersfield,  Connecticut, 
November  30,  1875.  (Further  details  are  given  above.) 

George  Buck,  oldest  son  of  Dudley  and  Hetty  G. 
Buck,  of  Hartford,  Connecticut,  married  Lucy  Farrar 
Hall,  daughter  of  Rev.  Richard  Hall,  of  New  Ipswich, 
New  Hampshire,  September  8,  1853.  Their  chil- 
dren:— 

Horace  Hall,  Mary  Eliza,  Lucy  Farrar,  Mary 
Eliza,  and  George  Dudley. 

Dudley  Buck  (the  musical  composer),  the  son  of 
Dudley  and  Martha  C.  Buck,  of  Hartford,  Connecti- 
cut, married  Lizzie  Van  Wagener,  of  Burlington,  New 
Jersey,  October  3,  1865.    Their  children: — 

Edward  Terry,  Dudley,  and  Madelaine. 


[OS] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN 


EARLIER  SALTONSTALL  GENEALOGY. 

(Record   Defective  at   Many   Points.) 


Thos.  DE  SALTONSTALL       (Name  of  wife  not  known.) 


(12S0-70) 


Richard  Saltonstall        (Name  of  wife  not  known.) 


(1376) 


Richard  Saltonstall 

(1475) 


(Name  of  wife  not  known.) 


Gilbert  Saltonstall        (Nameof  wife  not  known.) 


( 1507^ 

Richard  Saltonstall 


Richard  Saltonstall 


Gilbert  Saltonstall 


Died  1598. 

Samuel  Saltonstall 


[99] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

LATER  SALTONSTALL  GENEALOGY. 

Samuel  Saltonstall 


Died  1612. 

Sir  Richard  Saltonstall       Grace  Kaye 


Born  1586. 
Died  16S8. 

(Came  to  America  in   1630.) 

Richard  Saltonstall  '^d.  i633)  Muriel  Gurdon 


Born  1610. 
Died  1694. 

Nathaniel  Saltonstall  ("id.  i663)  Elizabeth  Ward 


Born  1639. 
Died  1707. 

Gurdon  Saltonstall'  Elizabeth  Rosewell 


Born  1656. 

Died    17w4.  ^See  Scheme  on  page  103  for  origin  of  the  name 

GURDON. 

(Governor  of  Connecticut  from   1708  to   1724.) 

Gen.  Gurdon  Saltonstall         Rebecca  Winthrop 


Born  1708."  (Daughter  of  John  Winthrop.) 

Died  1785. 

Sarah  Saltonstall  Daniel  Buck 

aflJ  Of  Wetherslield,  Conn. 

Martha  Saltonstall  David  Manwaring 

Of  New  London,  Conn. 


[100] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

FURTHER  DETAILS  OF  THE  SALTONSTALL 
GENEALOGY. 


Gen.  Gurdon  Saltonstall,  of  New  London,  Connec- 
ticut, married  Rebecca  Winthrop,  daughter  of  John 
Winthrop  (Governor  of  Connecticut),  March  15,  1733. 
Their  children: — 

Gurdon,  born  December  15,  1733;  died  July  18, 
1762,  at  Jamaica,  W.  L    He  was  never  married. 

Rebecca,  born  December  31,  1734;  died  in  New 
York.  She  married  David  Mumford,  of  New  London, 
Connecticut,  January  i,  1758. 

Katherine,  born  February  17,  1736;  died  March 
30,  1 82 1,  in  Wethersfield.  She  married  John  Richards, 
of  Wethersfield.    No  children. 

Winthrop,  born  June  10,  1737;  died  in  New  Lon- 
don, in  181 1.  He  married  Ann  Wanton,  daughter  of 
Governor  Wanton,  of  Rhode  Island. 

Dudley,  born  September  8,  1738;  died  at  St.  Dom- 
ingo, W.  I.    He  married  Frances  Babcock. 

Ann,  born  February  29,  1740;  date  of  death  un- 
known. She  married  Thomas  Mumford,  of  Norwich, 
Connecticut.    No  children. 

Roswell,  born  August  29,  1741 ;  date  of  death  un- 
known. He  married  Elizabeth  Stewart,  March  4, 
1764. 

Elizabeth,  born  June  12,  1742-3;  died  June  9,  1777, 

[101] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN 


in  Wethersfield.  She  married  Silas  Dean  (orDeane), 
of  Wethersfield. 

Mary,  born  March  28,  1744;  died  August  14,  1820, 
in  New  Haven,  Connecticut.  She  married  Josiah  (or 
Jeremiah)  Atwater,  of  New  Haven,  December  19, 
1797. 

Richard,  born  January  i,  1747;  lost  at  sea  on  his 
way  to  the  island  of  Martinique,  W.  I.  Was  not  mar- 
ried. 

Martha,  born  October  8,  1748;  died  October  16, 
1823,  in  New  York.  She  married  David  Manwaring, 
of  New  London,  Connecticut,  January  15,  1767.  The 
list  of  their  children  is  given  on  another  page. 

Henrietta,  born  March  19,  1750;  died  May  25,  1807, 
in  New  Haven,  Connecticut.  She  married  John  Still 
Miller,  of  New  Haven. 

Gilbert,  born  February  27,  1752;  died  in  1797  in 
New  York.  He  married  Harriet  Babcock,  March  27, 
1786. 

Sarah,  born  June  17,  1754;  died  November  19,  1828, 
in  Wethersfield.  She  married  Daniel  Buck,  of  Weth- 
ersfield, Connecticut,  December  3,  1775.  The  list  of 
their  children  is  given  on  page  86. 

Gen.  Gurdon  Saltonstall  died  September  19,  1785. 
Rebecca  Winthrop,  his  wife,  died  October  30,  1776. 


[102] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERS  FIELD,       CONN. 

ORIGIN  AND  ANCESTRY  OF  THE  GURDON 

FAMILY. 

[From  Burke's  "Landed  Gentry"  and  "Commoners  of  England."] 


This  family  came  into  England  with  the  Conqueror, 
from  Gourdon,  near  Cahors,  on  the  borders  of  Peri- 
gord,  and  the  name  is  on  the  roll  of  Battell  Abbey. 

Sir  Adam  de  Gurdon,  Knight  banneret,  living  in 
the  time  of  Henry  III,  was,  in  that  monarch's  reign, 
Bailiff  of  Alton,  but  was  outlawed  for  treason  and  re- 
bellion, as  one  of  the  Montford  faction.  He  was  re- 
stored, however,  upon  the  accession  of  Edward,  and 
constituted  Keeper  of  the  Forest  of  Wolmer. 

He  married,  first,  CONST.ANTLA,  daughter  and  heir- 
ess of  Thomas  Makarel,  of  Selborne  County,  South- 
ampton. 

Sir  Adam  married  a  second  wife,  Almerla,  from 
whom  he  was  divorced  after  having  had  two  sons,  the 
elder  of  whom  was  seated  in  Wiltshire;  the  younger 
settled  himself  in  London.  These  sons  appear  to  have 
been  disinherited,  for  their  father  had  a  third  wife, 
Agnes,  and  by  her  a  daughter,  Johanna,  to  whom  he 
left  his  property  in  Selborne.  This  lady  married 
Richard  Achard ;  and  that  estate  bears  still  the  name 
of  Gordon  Manor,  and  the  armorial  ensigns  of  Sir 
Adam  Gurdon  are  those  still  borne  by  the  family  of 
which  we  are  now  treating. — JOHN  GURDON,  of  Assing- 

[103] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERS  FIELD,       CONN 


ton  Hall,  Sir  Adam's  second  son  (by  his  second  wife, 
Almeria) .  Of  the  elder  son  there  is  no  further  account. 

Robert  Gordon  (son  of  John)  took  up  his  abode  in 
London.  He  died  in  1343,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
son — 

John  Gordon,  a  merchant  in  London,  who  died  in 
1385,  leaving  a  son — 

Thomas  Gordon,  of  Clyne,  in  Kent,  who  died  in 
1436,  and  was  father  of — 

John  Gordon,  of  Clyne,  who  was  succeeded,  in 
1465,  by  his  son — 

John  Gordon,  of  Dedham,  in  Essex,  who  died  in 
1489,  leaving  a  son — 

John  Gordon,  of  Dedham,  who  married,  first, 
Marv,  daughter  of  John  Butler,  Esq.,  of  Dedham,  but 
had  no  issue.  He  married,  secondly,  ANNE,  daughter 
of  John  Coleman,  Esq.,  of  Lynes  Hall,  in  Suffolk,  and 
left  a  son — 

Robert  Gordon,  Esq.,  who  married  Rose,  daugh- 
ter and  heiress  of  Robert  Sexton,  Esq.,  of  Lavenham, 
in  Suffolk.  This  gentleman  purchased  Assington  Hall 
from  Sir  Miles  Corbet.  ( It  belonged,  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  to  John  Gurdon,  second  son  of  Sir  Adam  Gur- 
don.)  He  served  the  office  of  sheriff,  and,  dying  in 
1577,  was  succeeded  by  his  son — 

John  Gordon,  Esq.,  who  married  AMY,  daughter 
and  heiress  of  William  Brampton,  Esq.,  of  Letton,  in 
Norfolk.     The  family  of  Brampton  is  very  ancient  in 

[104] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

Norfolk,  and  this  branch  had  long  been  settled  at 
Letton,  in  Norfolk.  (Vide  "Visitations"  of  Norfolk, 
1563  and  1613.) 

Brampton  Gordon,  Esq.,  of  Assington  Hall  and 
of  Letton,  High  Sheriff  for  Suffolk  in  1625,  and  sev- 
eral times  representative  for  the  borough  of  Sudbury 
in  Parliament.  He  married  ELIZABETH,  daughter  of 
Edward  Barrett,  Esq.,  of  Bellhouse,  in  Essex,  and  had 
issue — 

John  Gurdon,  his  heir. 

Robert,  who  married  Joyce,  daughter  of  James 
Harvey,  Esq.,  of  Essex. 

Amy,  who  married  Sir  Henry  Mildmay. 

Mr.  Brampton  Gurdon  married,  secondly,  MURIEL, 
daughter  of  Sir  Martyn  Sedley,  of  Morley,  in  Norfolk, 
and  had  another  son  and  two  daughters— 

Brampton  Gurdon,  ancestor  of  the  Gurdons  of 
Letton,  in  Norfolk. 

Muriel,  who  married  Richard  Saltonstall, 
Esq.,  of  Yorkshire  (son  of  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,  who 
came  to  America  in  1630.) 


[105] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN 


WINTHROP  GENEALOGY. 


John  Winthrop 

I  Born   1577. 

Died  1649. 
I  [Governor  of   Massachusetts    Bay   Colony,   1630.] 

John  Winthrop 

'Born  1605. 

Died  1676. 

[Elected  Governor  of  New  Haven  Colony,  1657;  first 
Governor  under  the  charter  after  the  union  of  Con- 
necticut and  New  Haven  Colonies.] 

Wait-Still  Winthrop  Mary  Brown 

Died  1690 


[Second  son  of  John  Winthrop,  1605-1676. ] 
Born  1641. 
Died  1717. 


John  Winthrop  Ann  Dudley 

Born  1681.  Born  1684. 

Died  1747.  Died  1776. 


[Daughter  of  Gov.  Joseph  Dudley. 


Rebecca  Winthrop 

Born  17127" 
Died  1776. 
[Married  to  General  Gurdon  Saltonstall] 


[106] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 


DUDLEY  GENEALOGY. 

[From    Cotton    Mather's    account.      For    the    earlier    genealogy,    see 
"The  Sutton-Dudleys  of  England,"  by  George  Adlard.] 


Thomas  Dudley  (born  in  Northampton,  England, 
in  1576;  died  in  1653)  was  the  only  surviving  son  of 
Captain  Roger  Dudley  who  was  "killed  in  the  wars." 
He  was  brought  up  in  the  family  of  the  Earl  of  North- 
ampton, and  afterward  became  a  clerk  to  his  maternal 
kinsman,  Judge  Nichols,  and  thus  obtained  some  knowl- 
edge of  the  law,  which  proved  of  great  service  to  him  in 
his  subsequent  life.  At  the  age  of  twenty,  he  received  a 
captain's  commission  from  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  com- 
manded a  company  of  volunteers  under  Henry  IV  of 
France,  at  the  siege  of  Amiens  in  1597.  On  the  con- 
clusion of  peace  (1598),  he  returned  to  England  and 
settled  near  Northampton,  where  he  was  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Dod,  Hildersham,  and  other  eminent  Puri- 
tan divines,  and  became  himself  a  non-conformist.  He 
enjoyed  also  the  ministry  of  the  Rev.  John  Cotton,  at 
Boston,  in  Lincolnshire.  After  this,  he  was  prevailed 
upon  by  the  Earl  of  Lincoln  to  resume  in  his  family  the 
place  he  had  already  filled  for  several  years  with  such 
eminent  success,  as  the  steward  of  their  whole  estate. 
And  there  he  continued  until  the  storm  of  persecution 

[107] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERS  FIELD,       CONN. 

led  him  to  join  the  company  that  were  meditating  a 
removal  to  New  England.  He  did  also  another  great 
and  good  service  to  the  family  of  the  Earl,  by  procuring 
a  match  between  the  young  Earl  of  Lincoln,  Theo- 
philus,  and  the  daughter  of  the  Lord  Say,  who  was  so 
wise,  virtuous,  and  every  way  so  well  an  accomplished 
lady  that  she  proved  a  great  blessing  to  the  whole 
family. 

Mr.  Thomas  Dudley  was  one  of  the  signers  of  the 
agreement  at  Cambridge,  August  29,  1629,  and  we  find 
him  present  for  the  first  time  at  the  Company's  courts, 
on  the  1 6th  of  October.  He  was  not  among  the  first  of 
those  that  embarked,  in  the  design  for  New  England, 
which  is  the  reason  why  he  was  not  numbered  among 
the  Patentees,  but,  as  soon  as  he  came,  they  soon  dis- 
covered his  great  wisdom  and  other  abilities,  which 
made  them  pitch  upon  him  in  the  second  place,  after 
Mr.  Winthrop  in  the  Governor's  place,  for  which  he 
was  elected  in  1634.  He  was  a  man  of  great  spirit, 
honor,  and  dignity,  as  well  as  of  great  understanding; 
suitable  to  the  family  he  was  descended  from;  and  envy 
itself  can  not  deny  him  a  place  amongst  the  first  three 
that  ever  were  called  to  intermeddle  in  the  affairs  of 
Massachusetts.  He  was  endowed  with  many  excellent 
abilities  that  qualified  him  thereunto.  He  was  well 
skilled  in  the  law;  he  was  likewise  a  great  historian. 
He  had  an  excellent  pen,  nor  was  he  a  mean  poet.  But, 
in  his  latter  times,  he  conversed  more  with  God  and 

[108] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

his  own  heart,  foreseeing  his  own  change  fast  approach- 
ing upon  him.  He  died  (1653)  at  Roxbury,  Massa- 
chusetts, where  he  was  honorably  interred. 

Thomas  Dudley  was  also  the  first  major-general 
of  Massachusetts. 

By  his  first  wife,  Dorothy ,  he  had 

six  children,  the  oldest  of  whom,  Samuel,  married,  in 
1633,  Mary,  the  daughter  of  Gov.  John  Winthrop.  By 
his  second  wife,  Catherine  Hackburne  (widow  of 
Samuel  Hackburne),  he  had  three  children,  of  whom 
the  second  one  was 

Joseph  Dudley  —  Governor  of  Massachusetts, 
Lieutenant  Governor  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and  first 
Chief  Justice  of  New  York.  He  was  born  September 
23,  1647,  and  died  April  2,  1720.  He  married  Rebekah, 
daughter  of  Edward  Tyng,  and  they  had  thirteen  chil- 
dren.   The  ninth  child, 

Ann  Dudley  (born  August  27,  1684;  died  May 
29,  1776),  married  John  Winthrop,  only  son  of  Wait- 
Still  Winthrop.    Of  their  nine  children,  the  fourth, 

Rebeckah  Winthrop  (baptized  January  11,  1712; 
died  October  30,  1776),  married  GURDON  SaltoN- 
STALL,  son  of  Governor  Gurdon  Saltonstall. 


[109] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN 


DEMING  GENEALOGY. 


John  Deming   '""i.  i637)  Honor  Treat 


Born   1615.  Born  1616. 

Died  1705. 


Jonathan  Deming  (^d.  i673)  Elizabeth  Gilbert 


Born  1639.  Born  1654. 

Died  1700.  Died  1714. 


Charles  Deming  (^d.  i706)  Anna  Wickham 

"  Born  1681.  Burn  1684. 

Died  1740.  Died  1711. 

Ann  Deming  <■"''  i^oe)  josiah  Buck. 

Born   1711. 
Died  1772. 


WICKHAM  GENEALOGY. 


Thomas  Wickham  Sarah      ?  ' 

Died  in  Wethersfield  in  1689. 

Thomas  Wickham  <"id.  i673)  Mary  Hurlburt 

Born  1651. 

Died  1716,  in  Wethersfield. 

Anna  Wickham  *mJ  i673)Charles  Deming 


Born  1684. 
Died  1711. 


*Sarah  Churchill  was  the  slaughter  of  Josiah  Churchill  and  Eliza  Foote,    who   were   mar- 
ried in  1638,  and  was  perhaps  the  second  wife  of  Thomas  Wickham,   1st. 

[110] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN 

HUBBERT  GENEALOGY. 

[More  recently  spelled  Hubbard] 


George  Hubbard  Mary      ? 


Died  1683.  Died  1676. 

Daniel  Hubbard  (^d.  Nov.  i6,  i664)  Elizabeth  Jordan 

I  Died  1720.  Daughter  of  John  Jordan,  of  Guilford. 

Elizabeth  Hubbard  (^d.  june  14,  i690)  David  Buck 


Born  Jan.  3,  1669. 
Died  March  25,  1735. 


KIRBY  GENEALOGY. 


John  Kirby  Elizabeth  (?)  Hinds 


Died  1677. 

Mary  Kirby  married  Emanuel  Buck 

I  Born  1645.  Of  Wethersfield. 

I 

Mary  Kirby,  eldest  child  of  John  Kirby,  of  Mid- 
dletown,  and  Elizabeth,  his  wife,  married — at  fourteen 
years  of  age,  as  second  wife — Emanuel  Buck,  of  Weth- 
ersfield.  Date  of  marriage,  April  17,  1658.  At  the 
time  of  her  father's  death,  in  April,  1677,  Mary  Kirby 
was  thirty-two  years  old.  She,  herself,  died,  a  widow, 
on  January  12,  1712. 

[Ill] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

John  Kirby  had  been  at  Plymouth,  in  1643,  and 
at  Hartford  and  Wethersfield ;  he  owned  a  copyhold 
estate  at  Rowington,  near  Kenilworth,  in  Warwick- 
shire. 

His  will  was  dated  April  6,  and  was  proved  April 
27,  1677. 

His  only  surviving  son,  Joseph,  had  a  lawsuit 
about  his  father's  estate. 


THE   MANWARING   FAMILY   IN  THE 
OLD  WORLD. 

I  Extracts  from  a  communication  made  to  me  by  Dr.  Howard  M.  Buck, 
Boston.  Massachusetts] 


"The  name,  as  originally  spelled — Mesnil-Guerin, 
comes  from  a  little  village  (now  Mesnil-Garnier), 
about  twenty-seven  kilometers  from  Coutances,  in  Nor- 
mandy. The  land  seems  to  have  remained  in  the  hands 
of  the  family  until  about  1590,  when  it  passed  into  the 
possession  of  the  Morants.  In  England,  the  primitive 
arms  of  the  family  are  'argent  two  bars  gules,'  and  we 
find  to-day,  scattered  over  France,  gentle  families  of 
the  names  of  Mesnil  and  Maisniel,  who  bear  modifica- 
tions of  these  arms.  *  *  *  The  original  invad- 
ing Mesnil-Guerin  was  a  follower  of  William  the  Con- 
queror's nephew.  He  received  fiefs  in  Norfolk  and 
Cheshire.       *       *       *       fhe     earlier     Mainwarings 

[112] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

were  a  fighting  race.     At  Nantwich  the  local  Main- 
warings,  cadets  of  cadets,  were  largely  interested  in  the 
salt  wells,  and  it  was  from  that  town  that  some  of  the 
family  migrated  to  Exeter,  or  Devon.    There  had  been 
other  earlier  bearers  of  the  name  in  Devon,  but  they 
had  been  chiefly  among  the  ranks  of  the  clergy  and 
seem  to  have  left  no  descendants.    The  Exeter  line  were 
civilians,  of  the  middle  class  of  gentry,  royal  bailiflfs 
and  custom  house  officials,  speculators  in   tithes   and 
church  glebe  rents.    One  of  them  seems  to  have  been  a 
confidential  clerk  to  Sir  George  Peckham  in  his  asso- 
ciation with  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  for  the  coloniza- 
tion of  America,  and  it  was  from  him  that  the  Dawlish 
or  Devon  branch  sprung.     Their  settlement  there  in 
that  healthful  fishing  village  seems  to  have  been  deter- 
mined by  the  fact  that  the  family  farmed  the  great 
tithes  of  the  parish  from  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Ex- 
eter Cathedral.    There  is  no  evidence  as  to  what  house 
they    occupied.       *       *       *       "Yhe    most    interesting 
memorials  of  the  family  are :    ( i )  The  St.  Anne's  Hos- 
pital for  eight  old  women,  just  outside  the  east  gate  of 
Exeter.    It  was  founded  by  them  in  1558,  on  the  site  of 
a  dilapidated  chapel  (built  in  1418),  and  is  in  opera- 
tion to-day.     (2)    The  coat  of  arms  of  Oliver  Manwar- 
ing,  Benefactor,  in  the  Guild  Hall,  Exeter.       *     *     * 
"The  male  line  in  direct  descent  died  out  in  Devon, 
but  the  connection  is  represented,  to-day,  in  the  Clapp 
family  in  Exeter." 

[113] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD 


CONN. 


LATER  MANWARING  GENEALOGY. 

[Mainwaring.] 


Randle  Mainwaring' 


Margery  Venables 

Of  Over  Peover,  near  Knutsford,  England.  [ISth  century] 
Died   1456. 


Randle  Mainwaring 


Of^Tarincham. 
Died  circa  1474. 


William  Mainwaring 


Of  Nantwi^TT 

George  Mainwaring 


Margaret  Savage 

*     *     *     Titley 
Juliana  Spurway 


Of  Exeter. 
Died  1570-1575, 


Oliver  Mainwaring 

Of  (?)  London. 

Oliver  Mainwaring   (""d.  16I8)  Prudence  Esse 

Of  Exeter  and  Dawlish.  Of  Sowton. 

Died  1672.  P.nrn   1599. 

Oliver  Mainwaring 

Of  Dawlish. 

Born  1633. 

The  records  in  England  furnish  no  positive  evidence 
beyond  this  point.  Three  circumstances,  however, 
furnish  strong  presumptive  evidence  that  the  Oliver 
of  Dawlish  and  the  Oliver  of  Salem  and  New  Lon- 
don are  one  and  the  same  person: — (1)  the  date  of 
the  latter's  death  in  1723,  "at  the  age  of  90,"  and 
(2)  the  occupation  which  he  followed  (that  of  mar- 
iner). If  the  Dawlish  Oliver  had  come  to  America 
[114] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN 


and  had  died  in  1723,  he  would  have  been  90  years 
old.  A  person  coming  to  this  country  in  early  man- 
hood from  a  fishing  village  like  Dawlish  would  be 
likely  to  adopt  the  very  occupation  which  the  Salem 
Oliver  followed  during  the  earlier  years  of  his  life. 
(3)  The  appearance  of  the  consecutive  names  "Pru- 
dence" and  "Love"  among  the  daughters  of  Oliver 
Manwaring,  of  New  London, — names  which  corre- 
spond to  those  of  Prudence  Esse  and  Lovedy  Moyle, 
mother  and  maternal  grandmother  of  Oliver  Main- 
waring,  of  Dawlish.  Various  circumstances  which  it 
is  not  necessary  to  mention  here,  explain  easily  Dr. 
Howard  M.  Buck's  inability  to  find  in  the  records 
any  further  evidence  of  the  fate  of  Oliver  Main- 
waring,  of  Dawlish.  This  very  silence  of  the  records 
is  in  harmony  with  the  assumption  that  the  latter 
emigrated  to  America. 


Oliver  Manwaring 


Hannah  Raymond 

Of  Salem  and  New  London.  Of  Salem. 

Died  1723  in  New  London,  "act.  90."       Born  1643. 

Died  1717. 


Oliver  Manwaring   (^d-  i^os)  Hanna  Hough 

Born  1688. 
Died  1754. 


Of  New  London. 
Born  1679. 
Died   1754. 


William  Manwaring  {"'<^-  i^as)  Rebecca  Gager 


Of  New  London. 
Born  1708. 
Died  1779. 


Born  1709. 
Died  1779. 


David  Manwaring   (md.  i767)  Martha  Saltonstall 


Of  New  London  and  New  York. 
Born   1741. 
Died  1804. 


Born  1748. 
Died  1823. 


[115] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERS  FIELD,       CONN 


Susannah  Man  waring,  (md.  isos)  Gurdon  Buck. 


Born  1783.  Of  New  York. 

Died  1839. 


FURTHER  DETAILS  OF  THE  MANWARING 
GENEALOGY. 

David  Manwaring  (born  February  3,  1741 ;  died 
May  8,  1804),  married  MARTHA  Saltonstall,  daugh- 
ter of  Gurdon  and  Rebecca  Winthrop  Saltonstall,  Jan- 
uary 15,  1767.    Their  children  : — 

William,  born  November  12,  1767;  died  May,  1768. 

Rebecca,  born  December  27,  1768;  married  Elisha 
Coit,  January  20,  1793. 

Hannah,  born  November  29,  1770;  died  July  19, 
1771. 

David,  born  May  13,  1772;  died  July,  1811.  He 
married  Lucy  Colfax. 

Martha,  born  May  15,  1774;  died  November  24, 
1788. 

Gurdon,  born  November  10,  1776;  died  January  7, 

1838.  He  married  Ann  Adams. 

Lucy,  born  December  19,  1778;  date  of  death  un- 
known. She  married  David  Greene  Hubbard,  Octo- 
ber 26,  1799;  and  he  died  December  29,  1825. 

Susannah,  born  September  23,  1783;  died  April  13, 

1839.  She  married  Gordon  Buck. 
rii6] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN 

WOLFF  GENEALOGY. 


Bernhardt  Wolff  (^d.  isss  ?)  Marie      ? 


Born  circa  1550.  Born  circa  1556. 

Died  1610.  Died  1629. 

Michel  Wolf  ("^d.  1615  ?>  Margarete  Munsch 

Keeper  of  one  of  the  gates  of  the  town  of  Kiinzelsau. 
Born  circa  1586.  Born       ? 

Died  1637.  Died  1634. 

Georg  Wolf   (n^d.  1658  ?)  Margarete  Seyter 


Born  1622.  Born  1626. 

Died  1667.  Died  1667. 

Hans  Georg  Wolf  (">d    i689?)    Marie   Magdalene 
B^rn  1662."  Schmetzer 

Died  1730.  Born  1661. 

Died  1719. 

JOHANN  Georg  Wolf  (m^.  1717  ?)  Marie  Kneller 


Born  1693.  Born  1695. 

Died  1748.  Died  1731. 

Engelbert  Heinrich  Wolf   (™d.  1739)  Susanne  Marie 


Born  1719.  Schaner 

Died  1791.  Born  1723. 

Died       ? 

Philippe  Heinrich  Wolff  ^"'<^-  i77o?)  Catherine  Elis- 


Born  1743.  abeth  Keller 

Died        ?  Dates  of  birth  and  death  unknown. 

Albert  Henri  Wolff   (^d-  ^^^y  Amelie  Antoinette 
BOTni778.  Hauloch 

Died  1848.  Born  1790. 

Died  about  1878. 

Henriette  Elisabeth  Wolff  (married)  Gurdon  Buck 

B^n  1810: 
Died  1899. 

[117] 


/^ 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN 


HAULOCH  GENEALOGY. 


Christian  Haljloch  (Name  of  wife  unknown) 

I  Of  Strasbourg. 

Christian  Hauloch  (md.  1756)  Esther  Libride' 

Came  to  Geneva  in  1753.        Of  Etivaz,  near  Chateau  d'Oex. 

i\ 

'The  pastor  of  the  church  at  Etivaz  writes  to  me  that  he  can  find  no  evidence, 
in  the  church  or  town  records,  of  there  having  been  a  family  by  the  name  of  Libride 
In  that  village  at  any  time  previous  to  1760. 

Antoine   Hauloch     ^^d.    i784)    Frangoise   Elisabeth 

Born  1757.  Born  1757.  Barral 

Died  1831.  Died  1846  or  1847. 


Amelie  Antoinette  Hauloch  (married)  Albert  Henri 

BUrtri790.  Wolff 

Died  about   1878. 
[See  Scheme  on  page  117.] 


[118] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN 


BARRAL  GENEALOGY. 


Henri  Barral  (Nameof  wife  unknown) 

I  Died  circa  1586. 

I 

Maurice  Barral  (md.  issi)  Marie  Perrot 

Died  1615.  Died  1615. 

I  Both  of  Geneva.] 

Jean  Pierre  Barral  (™d- 1636)  Helene  Petit- Maistre 

Died  circa  1647. 

Pierre  Barral  ("i^.  i663)  Jeanne  St.  Pierre 

Born  circa  1638. 
Died  1705. 

Jean  Louis  Barral  (^^-  '^ne)  Jeanne  Rambour 


Born  1677. 
Died  1723. 


Jean  Baptiste  Barral  (md.  1755)  Rose  Charpillier 


Born  1713.  (Cherbuliez.] 

Died  1761. 

Fran^oise  Elisabeth  Barral  (md.)  Antoine  Hauloch 

Born  1757.  Of  Geneva. 

[See  Schemes  on  pages  117  and  118.) 


[119] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 


PART  V. 


MORE  RECENT  GENEALOGY  OF  THE  DE- 
SCENDANTS OF  JOHN  AUCHINCLOSS 
AND  ELIZABETH  BUCK. 

(See  also  page  92.) 


(i)      Children    of   Henry   B.    Aiichincloss   and   Mary 

Cabell,  of  Charlottesville.  Virginia. 
Margaret  Cabell,  born  October   i,   1861;    married 
Richard  M.  Colgate,  April  7,  1885. 

Henry  A.  Colgate,  born  September  29,   1891. 
Muriel  Colgate,  born   November  9,  1897. 

Henry  Stuart,  born  March  i,  1863;  died  an  infant. 

Arthur  Stirling,  born  October  9,  1867;  married, 
June  II,  1896,  Margaret  Gresham  Barry. 

Elizabeth  BELDEN,born  June  17,  1869;  died  Novem- 
ber 25,  1876. 

John,  Jr.,  born  December  8,  1872. 

James  Cabell,  born  May  26,  1876;  died  September  7, 
1882. 

Mary  Dudley,  born  April  12,  1877. 

(2)       Children    of   Sarah    Ann    Auchincloss    and    Sir 

James  Coats. 
Elizabeth  Winthrop,  born  August  27,  1858;  married 
Thomas  Glen  Arthur,  of  Paisley,  Scotland. 

James  Coats  Arthur,  born  

Alice  Dudley  Arthur,  born  January  31,  1891. 

[120] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

Annie  McKenzie,  born  May  27,  i860;  married 
George  Gordon  King,  June  16,  1891. 

Mary  LeRoy,  died  an  infant. 
Dorothy  Gordon,  born  April    16,   1895. 
Violet  Gordon,  born  January  18,  1897. 
Edward,  born   March  2,   1901. 

Alice  Dudley,  born  November  29,  1862;  died  March 
2,  1889;  married  Theodore  Frelinghuysen  in  Au- 
gust, 1886. 

T.  Frederick  Frelinghuysen,  born  September  5,  1886. 
James  Coats,  died  an  infant. 

Stuart  Auchincloss,  born  March  20,  1868;  married 
Jane  Muir  Greenless,  September  8,  1891. 

James  Stuart,  born  1894. 

Muir  Dudley. 

Margaret,  born  March  18,  1901. 

Alfred  Manwaring,  born  April  12,  1869;  married 
Elizabeth  Barnevvell,  September  4,  1895. 

Archibald,  born  

Mabel  Van  R..  born  June  2,  1899. 
Elizabeth,  born  December,  1902. 

James  Munroe,  born  January  6,  1875  ;  married  Annie 
Caswell,  of  Providence,  R.  I. 

(3)     Children  of  William  S.  .Auchincloss  and  Martha 

T.  Kent. 

James  Stuart,  born  April  12,  1872;  married  April  3, 
1899,  to  Hazel  Hulbert. 

William  Stuart,  born  January  21,  1900. 

[121] 


.y 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

Jane  Kent,  bom  September  21,  1874;  married  Henry 
Allen  Truslow,  on  April  18,  1900. 

James  Laidlaw,  born  February  21,  1901. 
Frederick  Kent,  born  November  9,  1902. 
William,  born,  August  20,   1904. 
Francis  Allen,  born  May  4th,  1906. 
Elizabeth,  born  May  18,  1908. 

William  Kent,  born  October  7,  1877. 

(4)     Children  of  Edgar  Stirling  Auchincloss  and  Ma- 
ria LeGrange  Sloan. 

Samuel  Sloan,  born  March  2,  1872;  married  October 
189 — ,  to  Annie  Agnew. 

Samuel   Sloan,  Jr.,   born   October    12,   1903. 

Edgar  Stirling,  born  December  13,  1875;  married 
February  14,  1899,  to  Marie  Mott,  who  died  Sep- 
tember 3,  1899;  married  April  14,  1903,  Catherine 
S.  Agnew. 

Mary  Bliss,  born  April  6,   1904. 
Elizabeth  Ellen  3d,  born  June  27.  1905. 
Katrina,  born  October  7,  1907. 

Elizabeth  Ellen,  Jr.,  born  April  24,  1877;  died  De- 
cember 29,  1904. 

Hugh,  born  December  28,  1878;  married  September 
29,  1908,  Frances  C.  Newlands. 

Charles  Crooke,  born  September  24,  1881;  married 
June  19,  1906,  Rosamond  Saltonstall,  of  Boston. 

Rosamond  Saltonstall  2d,  born  April  2.  1907. 
[122] 


BUCKS       OF       VVETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

James  Coats,  born  January  19,  1885  ;  engaged  to  Fran- 
ces Lee  Alexander. 
Gordon,  born  June  15,  1886. 
Reginald  LeGrange,  born  January  20,  1891. 

(5)  Children  of  John  Winthrop  Auchincloss  and  Jo- 

anna Hone  Russell. 

Charles  Russell,  born  November  24,  1881 ;  married 
May  25,  1905,  to  Helen  P.  Russell,  of  Middletown, 
Connecticut. 

Helen  Russell,  born  January  22,  1907. 

Elizabeth,  born  May  ii,  1884;  married  January  12, 
1907,  to  Percy  Hall  Jennings. 

Percy  Hall,  born  October  7,  1907. 
Joanna  Russell,  born  December  15.  1908. 

John  Winthrop,  born  May  22,  1886;  died  March 

—  1888. 
Joseph  Howland,  bom  May  22,  1886. 
Joanna  Russell,  born  May  25,  1889. 
Caroline,  born  January  7,  1891. 

(6)  Children    of    Hugh    Dudley    Auchincloss    and 

Emma  Brewster  Jennings. 

Esther  Judson,  born  November  9,  1895. 
Hugh  Dudley,  born  August  28,  1897. 
Annie  Burr,  born  July  22,  1902. 

[123] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN 


PART  VI. 

BIOGRAPHICAL  AND  GENEALOGICAL 
DATA  RELATING  TO  THE  ABBOTTS. 


Obituary  Notice  of  the  Rev.  John  S.  C. 
Abbott,  D.  D. 

[From  Harper's  Weekly  of  July  7,  1877.] 

The  Rev.  John  S.  C.  Abbott  died  at  his  residence  in 
Fair  Haven,  Connecticut,  June  17,  after  a  lingering  ill- 
ness. As  a  popular  historian  he  probably  ranked  sec- 
ond to  no  one  in  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Abbott  was  one  of  five  sons,  three  of  whom  have 
left  a  remarkable  impress  on  the  age  and  nation.  The 
oldest,  Mr.  Jacob  Abbott,  may  be  regarded  almost  as 
the  creator  of  juvenile  literature  in  this  country.  His 
"Rollo"  books  are  still  without  a  peer  in  their  peculiar 
department;  his  "Harper  Story  Books"  and  his  "Red 
Histories"  (to  which  latter  series  Mr.  John  S.  C. 
Abbott  also  contributed)  are  a  permanent  classic;  and 
his  "Young  Christian"  has  been  published  in  almost 
every  European  language  and  in  some  heathen  dialects, 
we  believe.  Mr.  Gorham  Abbott  was  a  pioneer  in  the 
work  of  female  education,  and  the  now  defunct  "Sping- 
ler  Institute"  became  the  model  of  other  more  ade- 

[124] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

quately  endowed,  and  therefore,  longer-lived  institu- 
tions. Mr.  Charles  and  Mr.  Samuel  Abbott  are  less 
widely  known,  but  each  of  them  rendered  good  service 
to  the  work  of  education  by  his  remarkably  successful 
school  for  boys.  Two  only  of  the  five  brothers  are  still 
living — Charles  and  Jacob;  Samuel  died  some  thirty 
years  ago,  Gorham  about  two  years  since. 

The  father,  Jacob  Abbott,  a  citizen  of  Maine,  where 
the  boys  spent  their  boyhood,  was  a  Puritan  of  the  very 
noblest  type — a  man  of  the  most  unbending  conscience, 
tempered  with  the  most  genial  sympathy  and  the  largest 
love.  "He  had,"  said  one  of  his  old  friends,  "a  remark- 
able talent  for  being  happy";  and  this  talent  descended 
to  his  children.  He  was  an  agent  for  large  land-owners 
in  the  forests  of  Maine,  and  became  in  time  a  large 
owner  himself,  and  to  the  present  day  the  name  of  "old 
Squire  Abbott"  is  held  in  affectionate  reverence  by  the 
children  of  the  men  with  whom  he  had  to  deal.  The 
mother  had  a  rich  and  strong  and  happy  religious  faith. 
To  her,  death  had  never  any  terrors;  she  looked  to  it 
through  years  of  feeble  health  as  a  summons  to  her 
Father's  home;  and  to  the  influence  of  her  example 
Mr.  Abbott  attributed  his  own  happy  thoughts  of  death 
and  the  life  beyond. 

In  Hallowell,  where  the  earlier  years  of  the  boy 
were  spent,  was  an  English  family  by  the  name  of 
Vaughan,  into  which  his  brother,  Mr.  Jacob  Abbott, 
afterward   married.      In    the   Vaughan    mansion   was 

[125] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

what  was  in  those  days  a  magnificent  library  of  ten  or 
twelve  thousand  volumes,  which  was  placed  at  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Abbott  boys.  The  opportunity  was  appre- 
ciated and  used,  and  to  this  circumstance  may  be,  per- 
haps, attributed  the  literary  tastes  and  capabilities  of 
later  years.  John  was,  however,  no  bookworm.  He 
thoroughly  enjoyed  the  sports  of  his  time,  and  was  a 
favorite  leader  among  his  associates.  In  his  reminis- 
cences, penned — or  rather  penciled — on  his  sick-bed, 
he  gives  a  graphic  account  of  his  exploits  in  building 
snow  forts  and  excavating  snow  caves  in  the  mammoth 
drifts  of  the  Maine  winters. 

The  father  had  the  Puritan  ambition  to  give  his 
boys  a  complete  education;  and  this  included,  accord- 
ing to  the  ideas  of  those  times,  a  course  in  theology  as 
well  as  in  secular  learning.  So  he  sent  them  all  through 
college  and  the  theological  seminary,  leaving  them  to 
take  what  profession  in  after-life  they  might  choose  or 
Providence  might  open  to  them. 

Mr.  John  Abbott  was  fitted  by  his  native  constitu- 
tion for  the  ofiice  of  a  minister,  and  was,  perhaps,  the 
only  one  of  the  brothers  who  was  so  specially  fitted. 
He  had  by  nature  a  rare  command  of  language;  he  was 
a  natural  rhetorician;  he  was  a  remarkable  word- 
painter;  he  was  a  born  advocate;  he  was  an  enthusiast 
in  whatever  he  believed  or  whatever  he  undertook.  He 
was,  therefore,  from  the  first  a  remarkably  popular 
preacher,  at  a  time  when  the  power  of  the  painter  and 

[126] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

the  language  of  feeling  were  not  so  common  in  the 
pulpit  as  they  are  in  our  day.  His  first  parish  was  one 
of  the  largest  and  most  important  in  New  England, 
outside  of  Boston — that  of  Worcester,  Massachusetts; 
and  he  left  it  to  occupy  successively  that  of  Roxbury,  a 
growing  suburb  of  Boston,  and  that  of  Nantucket,  at 
that  time  one  of  the  largest  and  most  flourishing  com- 
munities in  the  State. 

Meanwhile  he  had  drifted  into  literature  in  a  singu- 
lar way.  He  had  organized  a  Maternal  Association  in 
his  first  parish,  and  to  it  he  delivered  a  course  of  famil- 
iar lectures  on  the  duties  of  mothers.  These,  after  their 
delivery,  he  put  into  a  little  book,  which  a  Boston  pub- 
lisher accepted  from  the  unknown  author  with  some 
hesitation.  But  the  book  was  small,  the  season  was  dull, 
the  risk  was  light,  and  the  volume  was  printed.  This 
was  the  now  famous  "Mother  at  Home."  It  had  just 
those  qualities  of  simplicity  of  expression,  intense  prac- 
ticality of  suggestion,  and  warmth  of  feeling  which 
conspire  to  make  both  useful  and  successful  literature. 
The  unpretending  little  treatise  was  straightway  re- 
published in  England,  and  thereafter  successively  in 
most  of  the  European  languages.  In  Calcutta,  in 
Athens,  in  Constantinople,  even  in  Africa,  the  number 
of  copies  printed  is  unknown,  but  it  is  simply  pro- 
digious. 

While  Mr.  John  Abbott  was  thus  successfully  pur- 
suing the  double  work  of  pastor  and  author,  his  elder 

[127] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

brother  (Jacob),  also  a  successful  author,  had  estab- 
lished the  famous  Mount  Vernon  School  in  Boston. 
The  underlying  principle  of  this  school  was  that  pupils 
could  be  better  governed  by  the  moral  force  of  reason 
than  by  fear  and  coercion.  So  fully  was  this  principle 
carried  out  that  there  were  absolutely  no  rules  in  the 
school  except  those  which  the  pupils  made  for  them- 
selves, and  no  other  restraint  than  such  as  the  school, 
as  a  well-regulated  community,  exercised  over  itself. 
The  success  was  so  great  that  the  four  brothers,  Jacob, 
John,  Gorham  and  Charles,  resolved  to  unite  in  estab- 
lishing a  similar  school  on  a  larger  scale,  and  selected 
for  the  field  of  their  operations  the  City  of  New  York. 
This  was  over  forty  years  ago,  and  at  that  time  the 
Turkish  idea  of  female  education  was  not  eliminated 
from  American  society.  Is  it  even  yet?  The  brothers 
entered  upon  what  seemed  to  others  a  hazardous  ex- 
periment. Their  earnestness  and  the  fundamentally 
correct  principles  which  underlay  their  plan  made  the 
school  from  the  first  a  success.  There  is  probably  to-day 
in  that  city  no  school  for  young  ladies  where  such  large 
liberty  is  enjoyed  as  was  possessed  by  the  pupils  in  the 
Abbott  School;  and  we  believe  that  we  are  perfectly 
safe  in  saying  that  it  was  never  in  a  single  instance 
abused.  The  scholars  had  the  confidence  of  their 
teachers,  and,  partly  as  a  consequence,  the  teachers  had 
the  affection  of  their  scholars. 

But  Jacob  and  John  could  not  escape  the  fascina- 

[128] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

tions  of  literature;  Gorham  withdrew  to  establish  a 
separate  school;  John  began  his  famous  history  of  Na- 
poleon, in  Harper's  Magazine,  and,  becoming  more  and 
more  interested  in  it,  left  the  school  to  devote  himself 
to  its  completion,  and  the  school  was  discontinued  in 
the  midst  of  its  prosperity. 

From  that  time  the  life  of  Mr.  John  S.  C.  Abbott 
has  been  not,  indeed,  a  quiet  one,  but  an  uneventful  one. 
He  has  always  been  fond  of  change,  and  it  is  only  in  the 
latter  years  of  his  life  that  he  has  had  a  permanent 
home.  While  chiefly  known  to  the  public  as  a  writer 
of  popular  history,  he  has  been,  during  most  of  the 
time,  a  successful  preacher  and  pastor.  He  has  spent 
the  week  in  his  historical  studies  and  writing,  and  has 
gone  into  the  pulpit  on  the  Sabbath  and  preached, 
always  to  full  churches,  but  always  extemporaneously, 
from  his  abundant  treasures.  His  career  in  this  respect 
has  illustrated  the  truth  that  the  true  pulpit  prepara- 
tion is  not  that  of  the  week,  but  that  of  the  whole  life. 
He  has  found  an  especial  delight  in  taking  parishes 
which  were,  from  one  reason  or  another,  in  a  somewhat 
typhoidal  condition,  and  building  them  up  again,  to 
leave  them,  as  soon  as  they  were  really  able  to  support 
a  competent  pastor,  to  the  care  of  successors.  He  has 
thus  served  successively  five  different  parishes,  which 
owe  their  present  prosperity  largely  to  his  labors. 

As  an  author,  Mr.  Abbott's  most  important  works 
have  been  "The  Mother  at  Home,"  "The  Child  at 

[129] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERS  FIELD,       CONN. 

Home";  the  histories  of  "Napoleon  Bonaparte,"  the 
"French  Revolution,"  the  "Civil  War,"  and  "Frederic 
the  Great";  his  contributions  to  the  "Red  Histories," 
the  "American  Pioneers  and  Patriots,"  and  a  series  of 
State  histories.  But  these  are  only  a  small  proportion 
of  his  actual  contributions  to  the  literature  of  the  age. 
Other  histories  hold  a  higher  place  in  the  great  libra- 
ries, but  the  works  of  no  other  historian  have  been  more 
widely  read  or  more  truly  useful.  This  is  not  the  place 
for  a  literary  critique  on  his  works.  But  this  may  be 
said,  that  while  no  other  historian  has  been  more  se- 
verely and  even  savegely  criticised,  few  errors  have 
ever  been  detected  in  his  narratives.  No  work  was 
ever  subjected  to  a  severer  scrutiny  than  his  "Napoleon 
Bonaparte";  but  while  his  arguments  were  assailed, 
and  even  his  motives  were  called  in  question  at  the  time, 
only  one  considerable  error  was  detected  in  any  state- 
ment of  fact,  and  that  in  a  matter  of  unimportant  detail. 
While,  too,  he  is  not  a  preacher  in  his  books,  he  never 
ceases  to  be  a  Christian,  and  the  religious  spirit,  though 
never  offensively  prominent,  is  never  absent. 

Mr.  Abbott  had  a  large  family — two  boys  and  five 
girls — who  lived  to  maturity.  The  oldest  son,  ap- 
pointed United  States  District  Attorney  in  Florida 
during  the  war,  under  President  Lincoln,  died  soon 
after  going  South.  One  of  the  daughters  also  died 
some  years  since.  Another  daughter  is  at  the  head  of 
a  very  successful  school  in  New  Haven,  of  which  she 

[130] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

was  the  founder.  The  other  daughters  are  married, 
and  are  living,  one  near  Boston,  the  others  in  New 
York  or  vicinity. 

Mr.  Abbott's  personal  appearance  was  fine,  and 
the  expression  of  his  face  was  peculiarly  winning.  He 
inherited  from  his  father  the  "remarkable  talent  for 
being  happy,"  and  imparted  it  to  every  one  with  whom 
he  came  in  contact.  The  last  year  of  his  life,  though 
at  times  he  suffered  greatly,  was  one  of  great  peace  and 
joy,  and  his  dying  was  a  simple  going  home  to  be  at 
rest  in  his  Heavenly  Father's  presence,  and  with  the 
friends  who  had  gone  before."  (End  of  obituary 
notice.) 

'Heredity  goes  for  little,  as  a  rule,  in  transmitting  literary  taste  and  ability,  as 
we  often  observe.  Three-quarters  of  a  century  ago,  five  Abbott  boys  graduated  at 
Bowdoin  College — one  of  them,  John  .S.  C.  Abbott,  the  uncle,  and  another,  Jacob 
Abbott,  the  father  of  the  four  Abbott  boys,  Henjamin  Vaughan  Abbott,  Austin  Ab- 
bott, Lyman  Abbott  and  lidward  .\bbott,  who,  about  forty  years  ago  all  graduated 
from  the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York.  John  S.  C.  Abbott  and  Jacob  Abbott 
were  both  Congregational  ministers,  and  did  much  in  that  profession.  Besides,  they 
made  their  names  known  wherever  the  English  language  is  spoken,  by  their  writings, 
including  a  series  of  biographies  and  histories,  so  comprehensive,  instructive  and 
methodical  that  the  press  of  the  whole  country  commend  them:  and  President  Lin- 
coln said  to  Mr.  John  S.  C.  Abbott  shortly  before  his  death:  "I  want  to  thank  you 
and  your  brother  for  Abbott's  Series  of  Histories.  They  give  me,  in  brief  compass, 
just  that  knowledge  of  past  men  and  events  which  I  need.  I  have  read  them  with 
the  greatest  interest." 

Now.  this,  the  second  generation,  Benjamin  Vaughan,  Austin  and  Lyman,  are 
the  authors  of  Abbotts'  Digests  and  other  law  books,  a  hundred  volumes  or  more  in 
all.  .\bbotts'  Digests  are  known  to  every  English-speaking  lawyer  and  are  on  the 
shelves  of  every  considerable  law  library  in  the  United  States.  Benjamin  Vaughan 
Abbott,  the  pioneer,  is  dead;  but  his  books  are  a  living  and  lasting  monument  to  his 
memory.  Austin  Abbott,  the  second  brother,  an  equal  sharer  in  the  merit  of  these 
books,  is  now  at  the  head  of  the  faculty  of  the  University  Law  School  where  Benja- 
min Vaughan  was,  at  one  time,  a  professor.  Dr.  Lyman  Abbott,  formerly  of 
Abbott  Brothers,  counsellors  at  law,  has  to-day  one  of  the  most  enviable  pulpits  in 
Christendom,  and  is  also  a  distinguished  journalist. 

Herbert  Spencer  ought  to  have  the  case  of  these  two  generations  of  Abbotts,  as 
evidence,  in  support  of  his  theory  of  the  Law  of  Heredity. 

[131] 


BUCKS        OF        WETHERSFIELD,        CONN. 

John  S.  C.  Abbott  was  one  of  that  distinguished 
class  of  1825  at  Bowdoin  College  which  counted  among 
its  members  Henry  W.  Longfellow,  Nathaniel  Haw- 
thorne, George  Cheever,  and  Jonathan  Cilley.  Frank- 
lin Pierce  and  William  Pitt  Fessenden  were  in  college 
at  the  same  time. 

In  the  Evening  Standard,  of  Boston,  (December, 
1898)  there  was  published  an  account  of  a  severe  storm 
which  occurred  at  Nantucket  on  November  27,  1898. 
In  the  course  of  his  narrative,  the  writer  of  this  account 
says:  *'Some  of  the  older  residents  think  the  storm  has 
not  been  surpassed  in  severity  since  the  remarkable 
gale  of  1842,  when  the  ship  Joseph  Starbuck,  of  Nan- 
tucket, was  lost  while  on  her  way  to  Edgartown  in  tow 

[The  foot-note  (p.  131)  which  ends  at  this  point  forms  an  integral  part  of  the  pre- 
ceding obituary  notice.  Twenty-nine  years  have  elapsed  since  it  was  written,  and  fur- 
ther evidence  has  accumulated  in  favor  of  the  belief  that  a  gift  for  successful  literary 
vi'ork  is  hereditary  in  the  Abbott  family.  Among  the  descendants  of  Jacob  Abbott  I 
may  mention  two  of  the  sons  of  Lyman  Abbott  as  having  inherited  this  gift — ^Lavirence 
F.  and  Ernest  Abbott,  both  of  whom  are  on  the  editorial  staff  of  Tlu:  Outlook.  A 
third  son,  Herbert  Abbott,  now  connected  with  Smith  College,  Massachusetts,  was 
for  a  tiniL-  Professor  of  KngHsli  Literature  in  Columbia  ITniversity,  New  York. 
One  of  liie  daughters  of  John  S.  C  Abbott— Laui  a  S.  AM.olt,  now  "Mrs.  Albert  H. 
Buck — published  (in  1873  or  1874)  two  books  for  children:  "Tiptoe,"  and  "How 
Tiptoe  Grew."  A  notice  published  in  a  Boston  newspaper  said  of  the  first  of  these 
books:  "'Tiptoe'  is  the  title  of  a  charming  book  by  Katherinc  Williams  [the  noni  de 
plume  adopted  by  the  authoress].  The  story  is  capitally  told  and  will  not  fail  to 
engross  the  interest  of  young  readers."  A  notice  in  the  New  York  Tribune  says  of 
it:  "One  of  the  best  and  sweetest  children's  books  on  which  we  have  lately  fallen 
is  'Tiptoe,'  by  Katharine  Williams  (American  Tract  Society,  Publishers)."  Willis  J. 
Abbott,  the  son  of  the  late  Waldo  Abbott — the  oldest  child  of  John  S.  C.  Abbott — 
is  a  well-known  journalist  and  writer  of  fiction.  His  "The  Boys  in  Blue"  which 
gained  a  great  popularity,  shows  clearly  that  he  also  has  inherited  from  his  grand- 
father the  gift  of  telling  a  story  in  a  simple  and  fascinating  manner.  It  would  be 
very  difficult  to  find  another  instance  of  a  family  in  which  so  many  of  its  members, 
belonging  to  three  successive  generations,  give  evidence  of  possessing  well-marked 
literary  gifts.— A.   H.   B.] 

[132] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

of  Steamer  Telegraph,  to  fit  for  a  whaling  voyage — 
and  it  happened  exactly  fifty-six  years  ago,  on  a  Sun- 
day, the  27th  of  November,  1842.  Five  ladies,  wives 
and  relatives  of  the  officers,  were  on  board.  The  ship, 
in  tow  of  steamer  Telegraph,  left  Nantucket  on  Satur- 
day and  the  wind  increased  to  a  gale,  blowing  so  strong 
that  the  steamer  could  make  no  headway.  The  ship 
anchored  in  Vineyard  Sound  and  the  steamer  went  into 
Edgartown.  The  ship  dragged  her  anchors  all  night, 
and  on  Sunday  morning  was  in  Nantucket  Sound, 
drifting  to  the  eastward. 

"All  three  masts  were  cut  away, but  she  still  dragged 
until  she  struck  bottom  in  the  vicinity  of  Great  Point. 
It  was  a  day  of  intense  anxiety  for  all  interested.  The 
steamboat  company  ofifered  to  send  the  steamer  Massa- 
chusetts to  rescue  the  people  on  board  if  a  volunteer 
crew  could  be  found.  The  Rev.  John  S.  C.  Abbott, 
who  was  then  pastor  of  the  First  Congregational 
Church  in  Nantucket,  immediately  volunteered  to  be 
one  of  the  rescue  party.  This  ofYer  inspired  confidence 
in  the  officers  and  crew  of  the  steamer,  and  she  went 
to  the  rescue  with  Mr.  Abbott  on  board,  and  succeeded 
in  saving  the  whole  party.  The  officers  and  crew  and 
lady  passengers  were  taken  from  the  ship  to  the  steamer 
in  a  whaleboat,  and  the  ship  eventually  went  to  pieces." 


[133] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

OBITUARY   NOTICE   OF   MRS.   JOHN    S.    C. 

ABBOTT. 


From  the  New  York  Times,  of  May  21,  1896,  I 
have  copied  the  following  obituary  notice: 

"Mrs.  John  S.  C.  Abbott,  widow  of  the  historian, 
died  on  Monday  at  the  home  of  her  daughter,  Mrs. 
Oliver  Johnson,  in  Fishkill  Village,  New  York.  She 
was  eighty-six  years  of  age.  Mrs.  Abbott  was  of  New 
England  birth  and  family,  and  a  native  of  Boston.  Her 
father,  Abner  Bourne,  was  one  of  the  public-spirited 
merchant  citizens  of  Boston  at  the  beginning  of  this 
century.' 

"She  was  married  at  an  early  age  to  the  Rev.  John 
S.  C.  Abbott,  during  his  first  pastorate  of  the  Congre- 
gational Church  in  Roxbury,  Massachusetts,  and  in- 
spired him  at  that  time  to  write  the  "Mother  at  Home," 
in  1834,  which  is  said  to  have  probably  entered  more 
homes  than  any  other  English  book,  except  the  Bible. 
It  has  been  published  in  many  languages. 

"Mrs.  Abbott  was  a  constant  and  valuable  aid  to 
her  husband  in  his  literary  labors,  although  she  had 
the  care  of  a  large  family.  Many  of  the  fifty-four 
volumes  Dr.  Abbott  wrote  were  transcribed  and  in- 
dexed by  her  pen. 

"Mrs.  Abbott  was  a  hospitable  and  social  woman, 
who  attracted  young  and  old.    She  was  a  tireless  worker 

'For  tliL-    Itourne  and   Williams   genealogies,  see   t'artlier  on,  page    138- 

[134] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN, 

in  the  New  England  parishes  of  which  Dr.  Abbott  was 
pastor,  and  in  the  Abbott  Institution  for  Young  Ladies 
in  New  York  City,  in  which  he  was  the  pioneer  in  the 
higher  education  of  young  women  in  this  country. 
Many  college  students  of  Bowdoin  and  Yale  will  re- 
member with  much  pleasure  her  receptions  and  home 
life." 


ABBOTT  GENEALOGY.' 


[From  "A  Genealogical  Register  of  the  Descendants 

of  George  Abbot,  of  Andover,"  published  in 

Boston  in  1847.] 

"Nothing  is  certainly  known  of  George  Abbot  pre- 
viously to  his  emigrating  from  England  to  this  country. 
He  and  the  first  settlers  in  Andover  were  Puritans. 
George  Abbot  emigrated,  as  tradition  reports,  from 
Yorkshire,  England,  about  1640,  and  came  over  in  the 
same  vessel  with  Hannah  Chandler,  who,  several  years 
after,  became  his  wife.  It  might,  under  other  circum- 
stances, seem  unbecoming  in  us  to  speak  of  the  virtues 
of  the  descendants  of  our  ancestor,  but,  in  a  Genea- 
logical Register  prepared  for  the  family,  it  will  not 
be  thought  to  involve  any  impropriety  if  we  commend 
to  the  living  those,  as  we  think,  characteristic  good  qual- 
ities for  which  we  honor  the  dead.     Any  one,  familiar 

'For  an  explanation  of  the  reasons  which  led  to  the  change  in   the  spelling  of 
the  name  Abbot,  !-ee  page   141. 

[135J 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

with  those  descended  from  George  Abbot,  can  not  but 
be  struck  with  the  fact  that,  from  his  time  to  the  pres- 
ent (1847),  they  have,  as  a  family  or  tribe,  possessed  a 
marked  character  of  their  own.  The  number  of  his 
grandchildren  was  at  least  seventy-three;  of  these,  as 
many  as  forty-four  had  families;  thirty  of  these  settled 
in  Andover.  A  large  number  of  his  posterity  remains 
there.  As  members  of  the  community,  they  have  been 
industrious,  temperate,  fond  of  home,  minding  their 
own  business,  honest  in  their  dealings,  punctual  in  pay- 
ing their  debts,  and  good  citizens. 

"In  1647,  George  Abbot  married  Hannah  Chand- 
ler, daughter  of  William  and  Annis  Chandler.  Her 
brother,  Thomas  Chandler,  was  among  the  first  settlers 
of  Andover,  and  progenitor  of  a  numerous  race. 
George  Abbot  died  December  24,  1681,  aged  66." 


DIRECT  LINE  OF  ABBOTT  ANCESTRY. 


The    genealogical    record    of    the    descendants    of 
George  Abbot,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  branch  of  the 
family  to  which  Jacob  and  John  S.  C.  Abbott  belong, 
is  as  follows: — 
George  Abbot  '"^i  1647)  Hannah  Chandler 


Andover,   Mass  Born  1629. 

Born  1615  Died  June  11,  1711. 

Died  Dec.  24,   1681. 


[136] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN 


Nathaniel  Abbot  (■"<!•  i695)  Dorcas  Hibbert 


Andover,   Mass.  Died  Feb.  7,  1743. 

Born  July  4,  1671. 
Died  Dec.  1749. 

Joseph  Abbot  (^d.  1731 )  Deborah  Blanchard 


Andover,   Mass.  Died  July,  1773. 

Wilton,  N.  H.,  after  1776. 
Born   Feb.  2,   1705. 
Died  Aug.  23,  1787. 


Jacob  Abbot  ("»d.  i767)  Lydia  Stevens 

Wilton,  N.  H.  Died  June,  1821. 


Brunswick,  Me.,  after  1802. 
Born  March  22,  1746. 
Died  March  5.  1820. 


Jacob  Abbot  ('"^-  i798)  Betsy  Abbot 

Concord,   N.  H.  Born  Aug.  6,  1773. 


Brunswick.  Me.  Died  July  30,  1846. 

Farmington,  Me. 
Born  Oct.  20,  1776. 
Died  circa  1848. 


John  Stevens  Cabot  Abbott  (md.  i830)  jane  Williams 

Bourne 

Bom  Sept.  8,  1810. 
Died  May  19,  1896. 


Worcester,   Mass. 

Nantucket,   Mass. 

New   York   City. 

New  Haven,  Conn. 

Born  Sept.   18,  1805. 

Died  June  17,  1877. 

Laura  S.  Abbott  wife  of  Albert  H.  Buck. 


:i37] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN 


Winifred  Buck  ("id )  Lawrence  F.  Abbott 


Born  Jan.  2,  1872.  Son  of  Lyman  Abbott, 

LL.  D.,  D.  D. 
Harold  Winthrop  Buck,  (md.)  Charlotte  Porter 
Born  May  10,  1873.  Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y. 

Lyman  Abbott  2D 

I  Born  August  6,  1907. 

I 

[See  also  pages  82  and  90.] 


BOURNE  AND  WILLIAMS  GENEALOGIES. 

Bourne  Genealogy." 
Thomas  Bourne  <^^-^       ? 


Of  Marshfield,  Mass. 


John  Bourne  <"''')  Alice  Burbridge 


Thomas  Bourne  '"^^  '^sn  Elizabeth  Rouse 


Born   1647. 


JosiAH  Bourne  ("^d.) 


Ebenezer  Bourne  (^d  1744)  Abigail  Newcomb 

Born  1724.  Born  June  7,  1720. 

Died  1759,  at  Pembroke.  Died  Dec.  10,  1821, 

at  Middleboro. 


'From   "Newcomb   Family,"   by  John    B.    Newcomb,  of  Elgin,   Illinois.     Published 
at    Elgin,   Illinois,   in    1874. 

[138] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

Deacon  Abner  Bourne  (">d.)  Mary  Torry 

And  CaptaiHl     (Second  son.)  Daughter  of  Haviland 

Born  Oct.  23,  1747.  Torry,  of  Plymouth. 

Died  March  25,  1806. 

Abner  Bourne  <'"<J  >  Abigail  Williams 

Born  1781,  in  Middlcboro,  Mass. 
Died  1840,  in  Boston. 


Williams  Genealogy." 


Samuel  Williams  ("^d.)  Bathsheba  Godfrey 

Of  Taunton. 

Col.  Gideon  Williams  (""d.)  Annah  Burt 

Born  1745,  in  Taunton.  Born   1755,  in  Berkeley, 

Died  1830,  in  Roxbury.  Bristol  Co.,  Mass. 

Died  1838,  in  Boston. 

Abigail  Williams  («"<!•)  Abner  Bourne 

Born  17^27 in  Taunton. 
Died  1845,  in  Boston. 


ADDITIONAL   BIOGRAPHICAL   DATA 

RELATLXG   TO  THE  ABBOTTS. 


The  first  JACOB  ABBOT  (1746-1820) — known  in  the 
later  years  of  his  life  as  Hon.  Jacob  Abbot — built  the 

•Some   descendants   of   Richard    Williams   are   given   in    Samuel    Hopldns    Emory'i 
"liinistry  of  Taunton,"   1853. 

[139] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

first  mills  on  Sonhegan  (now  Skowhegan)  River,  in 
Wilton,  New  Hampshire;  was  employed  in  town  busi- 
ness; was  first  Representative  to  the  General  Court; 
first  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  the  town;  Justice  of  the  C. 
C.  Pleas ;  and  a  Counsellor  of  State.  He  moved  to  And- 
over,  Massachusetts,  and  assisted  Hon.  Samuel  Phillips 
in  his  business,  and  was  a  Trustee  of  Phillips  Academy. 
In  1797,  he  moved  to  Concord,  New  Hampshire,  traded 
in  goods,  and  represented  the  town  in  the  General 
Court  three  years.  In  1802,  he  moved  to  Brunswick, 
Maine;  was  a  useful  member  of  the  Board  of  Over- 
seers of  Bowdoin  College,  and  a  Senator  for  the  County 
of  Cumberland,  in  the  Legislature  of  Maine.  In  the 
several  offices  which  he  sustained,  he  was  capable, 
faithful,  and  useful;  and  in  the  several  places  in  which 
he  lived,  he  was  influential  in  promoting  peace,  good 
order,  and  prosperity. 

"His  mind  was  active,  his  perceptions  quick,  his 
memory  prompt,  his  judgment  sound,  his  disposition 
mild.  He  was  facetious,  affable,  and  benevolent,  and 
had  a  fund  of  anecdote.  Early  impressed  with  a  sense 
of  right  and  wrong,  he  was  upright  in  his  dealings, 
faithful  in  business,  a  firm  friend  and  supporter  of 
religion  and  religious  institutions,  and  active  in  the 
cause  of  education.  One  son  and  seven  (should  be  five) 
grandsons  have  had  a  collegiate  education.  He  died 
in  Brunswick,  at  the  age  of  74. 

"The  second  JACOB  ABBOT  (1776-circa  1846)  lived 

[140] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

at  first  in  Concord,  New  Hampshire,  and  then  in 
Brunswick,  Maine.  During  the  latter  part  of  his  life, 
he  resided  in  Farmington,  Maine,  where  he  was  much 
beloved  and  highly  respected  by  his  fellow  townsmen. 
He  was  generally  addressed  as  Squire  Abbot,  and  was 
for  many  years  the  chief  personage  in  the  town  and 
vicinity.  Two  of  his  sons — Jacob  and  John  S.  C. — 
became  very  distinguished  as  authors." — A  daughter  of 
the  latter,  Laura  S.  Abbott,  is  the  mother  of  Winifred 
and  Harold  Winthrop  Buck;  and  Winifred  Buck,  in 
turn,  is  now  (1905)  the  wife  of  Lawrence  F.  Abbott, 
a  grandson  of  Jacob  Abbott  (3d)  and  son  of  the  Rev. 
Lyman  Abbott.  The  name  Abbot  was  changed  to 
Abbott  at  the  time  when  Jacob  Abbot,  3d,  was  a  student 
in  Bowdoin  College  (circa  1822).  The  change  was 
made  for  the  purpose  of  avoiding  the  necessity  of  using 
the  expression  "Junior."  It  does  not  appear,  however, 
why  the  other  brothers  should  also  have  adopted  the 
change  in  the  manner  of  spelling  the  name.  The  old 
records  show  that  in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  cen- 
turies the  name  was  spelled  in  a  variety  of  ways : — Abot, 
Abat,  Abbot,  Abbat,  Abbott,  etc. 


[141] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 


PART  VII. 


PORTER  AND  GRANGER  GENEALOGIES. 


I.    Porter  Genealogy. 

[The  following  genealogical  sketch  (pp.  14.V146)  has  been  con- 
densed from  an  article  written  by  Charles  Mulford  Robinson,  of 
Rochester,  New  York,  who  is  himself  a  grandson  of  the  late  Albert  H. 
Porter  and  Julia  Mathews.  The  article  in  its  complete  form  was 
published  in  the  Papers  of  the  Buffalo  Historical  Society.] 


foHN  Porter  ("ti 
? 


?) 


Born 

Died  Apr.  22,  1648. 

Windsor,  Conn. 


Samuel  Porter  <"id.  i659) 


Rose         ? 

Born     ? 
Died  in  1647. 


Hannah  Stanley 

Born        ? 

Died  Sept.  18,  1702. 


Born  1626  in  England. 
Died  Sept.  6,  1689. 
Windsor,  Conn. 
Hadley,   Mass. 


Nathaniel  Porter  ("^d.  Nov.  is,  i7on  Mehitabel  Buell 


Born   Nov.   15,   1680. 
Died       ? 
Hadley,   Mass. 


Nathaniel  Buell  Porter   ("id  Nov.  17.  1724)  Eunice 

Horton 


Born  Apr.  29,  1704. 
Died  Nov.  4,  1739. 
Lebanon,   Conn. 


[142J 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

Col.  Joshua  Porter  ("^d.  May  14,  1759)  Abigail  Buell 

Borirjune"26;  1730. 
Died  Apr.  2,  182S. 
Salisbury,  Conn. 

Augustus  Porter  <md.  Jan.  24.  isoi)  j^ne  Howell 

Born  Jan.   18,  1769.  Born  Apr.  22,  1779. 

Died  June  10,  1849.  Died  Jan.  31,  1841. 

Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y.  [Second  Wife.] 

Albert  H.  Porter  ("^d.  oct.  14. 1829)  juiia  Mathews 


Born  Oct.  24,  1801.  Born  April  16,  1808. 

Died  Jan.  23,  1888.  Died  November  25,  1899 
Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y. 

Albert  Augustus  Porter  (md.  sept.  ii,  i862)  juUa  e. 


Born  May  4,   18371  TefFrCV 

Died  March  15,  1888.  "^  ^ 

Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y. 

Charlotte  R.  Porter  Harold  Winthrop  Buck 


Born  Jan.  28,  1878.  Born  May  %^1873. 

Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y. 

W.  Porter  Buck    (Born  June  5.  1903.) 

Charlotte  Abbot  Buck    (Bom  October  16,  1904.) 

Gurdon  Buck      (B"--"  January  27,  1906.) 
Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y. 

John  Porter,  who  came  to  New  England  in  1637, 
was  descended  from  William  de  la  Grande,  who  came 
over  from  France  to  England  in  the  train  of  William 
the  Conqueror.  That  Norman  knight  had  a  son  named 
Ralph,  who,  as  gentleman  of  the  bed  chamber  to  King 

[143] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

Henry  I,  was  called  "Grand  Porteur,"  and  thus  gained 
the  family  surname. 

In  October,  1637,  John  Porter,  in  company  with 
others,  removed  to  Windsor,  on  the  Connecticut  River, 
above  Hartford.  He  was,  for  that  period,  a  man  of 
considerable  substance,  as  appears  by  his  will,  printed 
in  the  public  records  of  Connecticut. 

Samuel  Porter  was  born  in  England  in  1626.  He 
was,  therefore,  about  thirteen  years  old  when  he  came 
over  with  his  father  to  this  country.  He  resided  first 
at  Windsor,  then  at  Hartford,  on  the  Connecticut 
River,  and  finally  at  Hadley,  Massachusetts. 

His  wife,  Hann.ah  Stanley,  was  the  daughter  of 
Thomas  Stanley,  who  came  from  England  in  the  ship 
"Planter"  to  Lynn,  Massachusetts,  in  1635.  From 
Lynn  he  went  to  Hartford,  Connecticut,  in  1636,  and 
thence  to  Hadley,  Massachusetts,  in  1659;  and  it  was 
in  this  same  year  that  his  daughter  married  Samuel 
Porter,  of  Windsor,  a  settlement  about  thirty-five  or 
forty  miles  south  of  Hadley. 

Nathaniel  Porter  was  born  November  15,  1680, 
presumably  at  Hadley,  Massachusetts.  He  died  at 
Fort  Anne,  in  what  is  now  Washington  County,  New 
York.  In  1708,  he  joined  the  army  in  the  expedition 
against  the  French  in  Canada. 

His  wife,  Mehitabel  Buell,  born  August  22,  1682, 
was  a  descendant,  in  the  third  generation,  of  William 
Buell,  who  came  to  Dorchester,  Massachusetts,  from 

[144] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

Chesterton,  Huntingdonshire,  England,  and  later 
(1635)  removed  to  Windsor,  Connecticut.  She  died 
at  or  soon  after  the  birth  of  her  only  child,  Nathaniel 
Buell  Porter. 

Nathaniel  Buell  Porter  was  born  April  29, 
1704.  He  was  a  merchant  in  Lebanon,  Connecticut, 
and  died  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  while  there  on 
business,  November  4,  1739. 

His  wife,  Eunice  Horton,  was  born  about  1705,  at 
Southold,  Long  Island,  New  York.  She  was  a  descend- 
ant, in  the  fourth  generation,  of  Barnabas  Horton,  who 
was  born  (circa  1600)  in  Leicestershire,  England,  and 
came  with  his  wife,  Mary,  and  children  to  New  Eng- 
land in  the  ship  "Swallow,"  in  1635;  was  at  New 
Haven,  Connecticut,  in  1640;  and  settled  at  Southold, 
Long  Island,  in  October,  1640.  [Horton's  Point,  Long 
Island,  was,  in  all  probability,  named  after  him. — 
A.  H.  B.] 

Colonel  (and  Doctor)  Joshua  Porter  graduated 
at  Yale  College  in  1754,  and  settled  at  Salisbury,  Con- 
necticut— a  town  that  included  the  present  "Lakeville." 
"He  was  elected  to  the  State  Legislature  over  forty  ses- 
sions; judge  of  common  pleas  thirteen  years,  and  of  pro- 
bate thirty-seven  years.  In  the  war  of  the  Revolution  he 
was  Colonel  of  the  Fourteenth  Connecticut  Regiment, 
and  was  engaged  in  the  battles  of  White  Plains,  Mon- 
mouth, Long  Island,  Saratoga,  etc.  He  superintended 
the  Iron  Works  at  Salisbury,  Connecticut;  engaged  in 

[145] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

the  manufacture  of  cannon  for  the  use  of  the  army  of 
the  Revolution;  was  frequently  on  committees  of  the 
legislature;  was  charged  with  duties  in  the  prosecution 
of  the  war,  the  manufacture  of  gunpowder,  etc.  He 
was  one  of  the  most  active  men  in  the  country  during 
the  whole  period  of  the  critical  existence  of  the  nation. 
He  died  at  his  residence,  Salisbury,  Connecticut,  April 
2,  1825,  in  his  ninety-sixth  year,  in  the  full  possession 
of  his  faculties  to  the  last  week  of  his  life. 

[Copied  from  a  sketch  prepared  by  Albert  H.  Porter, 
of  Niagara  Falls,  New  York,  a  son  of  Judge  Porter.] 

"Judge  Augustus  Porter,  who  was  born  January 
18,  1769,  at  Salisbury,  Connecticut,  and  died  at  Niagara 
Falls,  New  York,  June  10,  1849,  was  the  second  son 
of  Doctor  (and  Colonel)  Joshua  Porter,  in  a  family  of 
three  sons  and  three  daughters.  He  received  a  common 
English  education,  including  a  course  of  mathematical 
instruction,  and  was  well  qualified  for  the  business  he 
had  chosen — that  of  land  surveying — and  also  for  the 
successful  application  of  water  power  and  kindred  en- 
terprises, requiring  mechanical  skill,  in  which  he  was 
for  many  years  engaged. 

"In  the  spring  of  1789,  at  the  age  of  twenty  years, 
he  left  his  native  state  for  Ontario  (then  Montgomery) 
County,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  as  a  well-qualified 
surveyor,  at  first  to  survey  lands  in  which  his  father 
held  an  interest,  and  afterwards  in  the  same  capacity 

[146] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 

in  the  employment  of  the  original  purchasers  of  the 
lands  of  Western  New  York  from  the  State  of  Massa- 
chusetts. He  was  an  assistant  surveyor  to  Andrew 
Elliott,  Surveyor  General  of  the  United  States,  in  run- 
ning the  line  from  Pennsylvania  to  Lake  Ontario,  as 
also  of  all  the  lands  lying  west  of  Seneca  Lake,  first  sold 
by  the  State  of  Massachusetts  to  Phelps  and  Gorham, 
and  afterward  to  Robert  Morris,  the  great  financier 
of  the  War  of  the  Revolution. 


"In  1802,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Assembly 
from  Ontario  County.  He  continued  to  reside  at  Can- 
andaigua  until  1806,  when  he  removed  his  family  to 
Niagara  Falls,  New  York,  where  he  was  the  first  per- 
manent settler.  He  was  identified  with  Niagara  during 
the  remainder  of  his  life. 

"In  1805,  Augustus  Porter,  in  connection  with  his 
brother,  Peter  B.  Porter,  and  Benjamin  Barton,  pur- 
chased of  the  State  of  New  York  a  large  quantity  of 
land  in  the  State  reservation  along  the  Niagara  River, 
including  the  water  power  and  lands  adjacent  to  the 
falls. 

"In  connection  with  his  associates,  he  immediately 
commenced  building  mills  and  making  other  improve- 
ments. They  also  built  a  number  of  vessels  on  Lakes 
Erie  and  Ontario,  and,  with  suitable  means  for  trans- 
portation around  the  falls  and  on  the  river,  were  the 

[147] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

chief  forwarders  between  Oswego  and  the  upper  lakes 
previous  to  the  War  of  1812. 

"Their  vessels  were  taken  by  the  United  States  and 
used  for  public  purposes  during  the  war.  On  its  con- 
clusion, the  business  was  resumed  and  continued  until 
the  completion  of  the  Erie  canal,  when  transportation 
westward,  by  way  of  the  Niagara  River,  was  aban- 
doned. 

"In  1808,  the  County  of  Niagara,  then  inchiding 
Erie  County,  was  organized,  with  Buffalo  as  the 
county  seat,  and  Augustus  Porter  was  appointed  first 
judge,  serving  in  that  office  for  several  years. 

"The  dwellings,  mills  and  other  buildings  at  the 
falls  were  burned  by  the  enemy  in  1813,  and  the  inhab- 
itants all  fled  from  the  frontier. 

"On  the  return  of  peace,  in  18 15,  Mr.  Porter  was 
engaged  for  some  time  in  rebuilding  his  houses  and 
mills,  and  in  making  other  improvements.  He  was  his 
own  engineer  in  constructing  the  bridge  across  the 
rapids  to  Goat  Island,  a  work  at  that  time  deemed  very 
dangerous  and  difficult. 

"At  an  early  day  he  fixed  on  a  plan  for  an  extended 
use  of  the  great  water  power  at  Niagara  Falls,  and  with 
this  in  view,  retained  an  exclusive  ownership  of  the 
land  necessary  for  that  purpose.  His  heirs  have  since 
caused  this  plan  to  be  carried  out,  by  extensive  grants 
of  land  and  water  power  of  immense  value,  now  fully 
developed. 

[148] 


BUCKS       OF       W  E  T  H  E  R  S  F  I  E  L  D,       CONN. 

"In  1821,  Judge  Porter  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  Convention  for  revising  the  Constitution  of  the 
State  of  New  York. 

"In  1825,  he  took  an  active  part  in  the  construction 
of  Black  Rock  harbor,  and,  in  1836,  he  was  among  the 
most  liberal  and  efficient  contributors  to  the  Buffalo 
and  Niagara  Falls  Railroad. 

"The  latter  years  of  his  life  were  chiefly  devoted 
to  his  private  business,  in  the  cultivation  of  his  lands, 
and  in  various  local  improvements,  with  his  character- 
istic energy,  his  mental  faculties  unimpaired,  to  the 
time  of  his  decease  in  1849,  in  the  eighty-first  year  of 
his  age. 

"He  was  a  man  of  untiring  industry,  sterling  integ- 
rity, and  sound  religious  principles — the  peer  of  the 
best  men  of  a  class  for  which  Western  New  York  was 
early  distinguished.  Of  that  section  he  had  been  a  resi- 
dent for  sixty  years,  witnessing  and  participating  in  its 
advance  from  the  condition  of  Indian  hunting-grounds 
to  that  of  cultivated  fields,  pleasant  homes  and  thriving 
villages  and  cities,  inhabited  by  a  numerous  population, 
enjoying  the  blessings  of  a  Christian  cultivation. 

"Jane  Howell,  second  wife  of  Judge  Porter,  was 
the  descendant  (in  the  sixth  generation)  of  Edward 
Howell,  of  Southampton,  Long  Island,  New  York; 
and  he,  in  turn,  was  the  son  of  Henry  Howell,  of  West- 
bury,   Buckinghamshire,   England.     Mrs.   Porter  was 

[149] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 


born  April  22,  1779,  at  Blooming  Grove,  New  York; 
she  died  at  Niagara  Falls,  January  31,  1841. 

"Albert  Howell  Porter  was  born  in  Canandaigua, 
New  York,  October  24,  1801 ;  he  graduated  at  Union 
College  in  the  Class  of  1820;  and  died  at  Niagara  Falls, 
January  23,  1888.  His  wife,  JULIA  MATHEWS,  was  the 
daughter  of  General  Vincent  Mathews,  of  Rochester, 
New  York,  and  Juliana  Strong. 

"Albert  Augustus  Porter,  son  of  the  preceding, 
was  born  at  Niagara  Falls,  May  4,  1837;  he  graduated 
at  Amherst  College  in  the  Class  of  1859;  and  died 
March  15,  1888,  at  his  home  in  Niagara  Falls.  His 
wife  was  JULL^  G.  JEFFREY,  the  daughter  of  Alexander 
Jeffrey,  of  Edinburgh,  Scotland,  and  Delia  Granger, 
of  Canandaigua,  New  York. 

"At  the  present  writing  I  am  unable  to  give  any  spe- 
cial details  with  regard  to  the  Jeffreys.  They  are 
known,  however,  to  be  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
of  Scotch  families.  The  genealogy  of  the  Grangers  is 
given  on  the  next  page.  Gideon  Granger,  of  Canan- 
daigua, New  York,  the  great  grandfather  of  Julia  G. 
Jeffrey  (Mrs.  Albert  Augustus  Porter),  was  Postmaster 
General  of  the  United  States." 


[150] 


BUCKS       OF       WETHERSFIELD,       CONN. 


II.    Granger  Genealogy. 
Launcelot  Granger  ("'^-  J^"  '♦ 


Born  m  England;  date  un- 
known. Went  first  to  New- 
bury, Mass.,  and  then  in  1679 
to  Suffield,  Conn.  Died 
Sept.  3,  1689. 


1654)  Joanna  Adams 

Born  in  England  circa  1634. 
Died  at  Suffield,  Conn.,  sub 
sequcntly  to  1701. 


Samuel  Granger  ("^d.  May  i6,  1700)  Esther  Hanchett 

Born  Aug.   1,   1678. 
Died  May  21,  1721. 


^orn  Augr2,  1668. 
Died  April  22,  1721. 
Suffield,   Conn. 


Samuel  Granger  2D  (^d.  Nov.  u,  1723)  Mary  Kent 

Born  1704. 


Born  Aug.  13,  1702. 


Died  March  6, 
Suffield,   Conn. 


1790. 


Squire  Gideon  Granger 


Died  Nov.   16,  1775. 


Tryphosa  Kent 


Born  Jan.  15,  1734. 
Died  Oct.  30,  1800. 
Suffield,   Conn. 


Gideon  Gr.-\nger  ("^^  J^"  ''''  '''^"^  Mindwell  Pease 

Born  Aug.  31,  1770. 
Died  April  17,  1860. 


1767. 


Born  July  19, 
Died  Dec.  21,  1822. 
Canandaigua,   N.   Y. 
[Postmaster  General,  U.  S.] 


John  A.  Granger 


? 


Born  Sept  11,  1795. 


Died       ? 

Delia  Granger  Alexander  Jeffrey 

Julia  Jeffrey  (Mrs.  Albert  A.  Porter),  Niagara  Falls, 
N.  Y.    (Mother  of  Mrs.  Harold  Winthrop  Buck.) 

[151] 


CONTENTS 

Prefatory   Remarks    3 

Part  I — General  Sketch,  Chiefly  Biographical   7 

Part  II — Additional  Memoranda  Relating  to  the  Bucks 39 

Part  III — Reminiscences  of  Rev.  Philippe  Wolff 67 

Part  IV — Genealogical   Schemes   of   the    Buck,    Saltonstall,   Man- 
waring,  Wolff,  etc..   Families    81 

Part  V — More    Recent    Genealogy    of   the    Descendants    of   John 

Auchincloss  and  Elizabeth  Buck   120 

Part  VI — Biographical    and    Genealogical    Data    Relating    to    the 

Abbotts     124 

Part  VI I — Porter  and  Granger  Genealogies  142 


[152] 


LIST  of  the    PHOTOGRAPHS 

Accompanying 

Twelve  of  the  Volumes   Printed 


Fig.  I.  The  Buck  Homestead,  at  Wethersfield, 
Conn.  (From  a  photograph  taken  in  1897.)  The 
house  was  built  in  1775.  The  plot  of  ground  on 
which  it  stands  was  purchased  in  1739.  Although 
both  the  exterior  and  the  interior  of  the  building 
have  been  modernized  in  recent  years,  the  structure 
as  a  whole  remains  the  same  as  it  was  when  first 
built. 


Fig.  2.  Gordon  Buck  (1777-1853)  at  the  age  of 
about  eighteen.  (From  a  photographic  copy  of 
the  miniature  painting  on  ivory  in  the  possession 
of  Dr.  Albert  H.  Buck.) 


Fig.  3.  GURDON  Buck  (1777-1853)  at  the  age  of 
about  twenty-eight.  ( From  a  silhouette  in  the  pos- 
session of  Walter  Buck,  of  Andover,  Mass.) 


Fig.  4.  GuRDON  Buck  (1777- 1853)  at  the  age  of 
about  fifty.  (From  an  oil  painting  in  the  posses- 
sion of  Mrs.  David  Buck,  of  Boston,  Mass.) 


Fig.  5.  GuRDON  Buck  (1777-1853)  at  the  age  of 
sixty-one.  (From  a  daguerreotype  taken  in  1848 
and  now  in  the  possession  of  Dr.  Albert  H.  Buck.) 


Fig.  6.  Susannah  Manwaring  (1783-1839),  after- 
ward Mrs.  Gurdon  Buck,  at  age  of  about  rvventy- 
two.  (Copy  of  silhouette  in  the  possession  of  Mrs. 
David  Buck,  of  Boston,  Mass.) 


Fig.  7.     Summer  Residence  built  at  Fort  Washing- 
ton (now  i8ist  St.),  in  1838,  by  Gurdon  Buck. 


Fig.  8.  Dr.  Gurdon  Buck  (1807-1877)  at  the  age  of 
about  sixty-four.  (From  a  photograph  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  family.) 

Fig.  9.  Mrs.  Gurdon  Buck  (1810-1899)  at  the  age 
of  about  sixty.  (From  a  photograph  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  family.) 

Fig.  10.  Henriette  Elisabeth  Wolff  (afterward  Mrs. 
Gurdon  Buck)  and  her  elder  sister,  Eliza  (after- 
ward Mrs.  Louis  Brocher),  in  early  childhood. 
(From  a  colored  miniature  in  the  possession  of 
Miss  Susan  M.  Buck.) 

Fig.  II.  The  Wolff  Homestead  ("Pre  Fleuri")  in 
Geneva,  Switzerland.  (From  a  pencil  sketch 
made  by  Helene  Brocher,  mother's  niece.)  Only 
one  corner  of  the  house  can  be  seen  (right  side  of 
the  sketch)  on  account  of  the  trees  surrounding  it. 


Fig.  12.  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall  (1586- 1 658),  the 
first  of  the  name  who  came  to  America  in  1630, 
and  the  great  grandfather  of  Gurdon  Saltonstall, 
Governor  of  Connecticut.  (Copied  from  the  por- 
trait published  in  "Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,"  a 
book  that  was  printed  for  private  circulation.) 


Fig.  13.  Gurdon  Saltonstall  (1666- 1 724),  Gover- 
nor of  Connecticut.  ( From  the  portrait  published 
in  "Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,"  a  book  printed  for 
private  circulation.) 


Fig.  14.  John  Winthrop  (1605- 1676),  first  Gover- 
nor under  the  charter  after  the  union  of  Connecti- 
cut and  New  Haven  Colonies.  (Copied  from  an 
engraved  portrait.) 


Fig.  15.  Tomb  OF  Randle  AND  Margery  Venables 
MainwarinG;  life-size  figures  in  alabaster.  (From 
a  photograph  taken  by  Dr.  Howard  M.Buck.)  Ac- 
cording to  tradition  this  tomb  was  first  erected  in 
the  churchyard  at  Over  Peover,  by  the  last  humble 
request  of  Randle  Mainwaring. — Vide  "Sir 
Thomas  Mainwaring,"  1656. 


Fig.  i6.  South  Chapel  of  Parish  Church  of  St. 
Lawrence,OverPeover, Cheshire, England.  (From 
a  photograph  taken  by  Dr.  Howard  M.  Buck.) 
Built  in  1456  as  a  chantry  chapel,  to  cover  the 
tomb  of  Randle,  by  his  widow,  Margery  Venables. 
Randle  was  often  spoken  of  as  "Handekyn  the 
Good." 


Fig.  17.  St.  Anne's  Chapel,  without  the  East  Gate 
of  the  City  of  Exeter,  England.  Founded  by 
Oliver  and  George  Mannering  (Manwaring)  in 
the  first  and  second  years  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth. 
(From  a  photograph  taken  by  Dr.  Howard  M. 
Buck.) 

Fig.  18.  David  Manwarlng  (1741-1804),  of  New 
London,  Conn.,  at  the  age  of  about  sixty.  (Copy 
of  miniature  in  the  possession  of  Winthrop  Scud- 
der,  of  Boston,  Mass.) 

Fig.  19.  Mrs.  David  Manwaring  (Martha  Salton- 
stall)  at  age  of  about  fifty-five.  (Copy  of  minia- 
ture in  the  possession  of  Winthrop  Scudder,  of 
Boston,  Mass.) 

Fig.  20.  Market  Place  at  Kunzelsau,  Wurttem- 
BERG,  on  a  festival  day.  This  little  city  was  the 
home  of  the  Wolffs  for  over  two  hundred  years. 


Fig.  21.  Photograph,  on  a  greatly  reduced  scale,  of 
the  Musical  Diploma  given  to  Johann  Philippe 
Heinrich  Wolff  in  1761.  The  original  is  in  the 
possession  of  Prof.  John  Elliot  Wolff,  of  Harvard 
University,  Cambridge,  Mass. 

Fig.  22.  FKANgorsE  Elisabeth  Barral,  at  age  of 
twenty-seven,  just  before  her  marriage  to  Antoine 
Hauloch,  of  Geneva,  Switzerland.  (From  a 
painting  on  enamel  [dated  1784]  now  in  the  pos- 
session of  Miss  Susan  M.  Buck,  of  New  York.) 

Fig.  23.  Mrs.  Antoine  Hauloch  (1757- 1846). 
(Copy  of  a  charcoal  sketch  made,  at  a  late  period 
of  her  life,  by  her  granddaughter,  Mrs.  Richard 
Monsell,  younger  sister  of  Mrs.  Gurdon  Buck. 
The  original  drawing  is  in  the  possession  of  Dr. 
Albert  H.  Buck.) 

Fig.  24.  Mrs.  Albert  Henri  Wolff  (1790- 1878). 
(From  a  photograph  taken  when  she  was  eighty 
years  old.) 

Fig.  25.  Philippe  Henri  Wolff  (1818-1905),  of 
Geneva,  Switzerland,  at  the  age  of  about  eighteen. 
(From  a  charcoal  drawing  made  by  his  sister  Jen- 
nie, later,  Mrs.  Richard  Monsell.  The  original 
drawing  is  in  the  possession  of  Dr.  Albert  H.  Buck, 
of  New  York.) 


Fig.  26.     Dr.  Albert  H.  Buck,  of  New  York.    (From 
a  photograph  taken  in  1906.) 


Fig.  27.  Mrs.  Albert  H.  Buck,  with  her  two  chil- 
dren, Winifred  and  Harold.  (From  a  photograph 
taken  about  1878  or  1879.) 


Fig.  28.    Rev.  John  S.  C.  Abbott,  D.  D.  ( 1805-1877). 
(From  a  photograph  taken  in  1872  or  1873.) 


Fig.  29.  Rev.  John  S.  C.  Abbott  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
five.  (From  a  colored  miniature  portrait  in  the 
possession  of  Mrs.  Lawrence  F.  Abbott,  of  New 

York.) 


Fig.  30.  Mrs.  John  S.  C.  Abbott  (Jane  Williams 
Bourne).  (1810-1896.)  From  a  photograph 
taken  when  Mrs.  Abbott  was  about  sixty-five  years 
old. 


Fig.  31.  Jacob  Abbot,  Esq.  (1776- 1 848).  (Enlarged 
photographic  copy  of  a  daguerreotype  taken  in 
1847.) 


Fig.  32.  Mrs.  Abner  Bourne  (Abigail  Williams). 
(1782-1845.)  From  an  oil  painting  (by  J.  M. 
Leonard)  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Lawrence  F. 
Abbott,  of  New  York.  At  the  time  when  the  por- 
trait was  painted  Mrs.  Bourne  was  thirty-nine 
years  old. 


Fig.  33.  Abner  Bourne  (1781-1840)  at  the  age  of 
forty.  (From  an  oil  painting  made  by  J.  M. 
Leonard  in  1821,  and  now  in  the  possession  of 
Mrs.  Lawrence  F.  Abbott,  of  New  York.) 


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