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r. 


THE    HEROES 


OF   THE 
4 


AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


AND   THEIR 


DESCENDANTS 


Battle  of  Long  I 


ILLUSTRATED 


BY 

HENRY    WHITTEMORE 

AUTHOR    OF 

THE    REVOLUTIONARY    HISTORY    OF    ROCKLAND    COUNTY,    N.  Y., 

HISTORY  OF  THE  SEVENTY-FIRST  REGIMENT  N.  G.  S.  N.  Y., 

THE  FOUNDERS  AND  BUILDERS  OF  THE  ORANGES, 

ILLUSTRATED,  AND  OTHER  WORKS, 


The  Heroes  of  the  Revolution  Publishing  Co. 
1897. 


Copyright  1897, 
by 

HENRY    WIIITTEMOKK. 


four  men  ai 
s  a   prisonei 


on  b< 


v.     This  statement 
in]  the  Asia   ai   the 


shot,  one  of  which,  hulled  the  Asia,  killini 
is  made  on  the  authority  of  a  man  who  w 
time. 

The  journal  of  a  British  officer  refers  to  the  Denise  house  as  follows:  "The 
Admiral  directed  Sir  George  Collier  to  place  the  Rainbow,  at  dawn  of  day,  in  the 
Narrows  abreast  of  a  large  stone  building  called  Denise's,  where  he  understood 
the  rebels  had  cannon  and  a  strong  post,  in  which  situation  she  would  be  able  to 
enfilade  the  road  leading  from  New  York,  and  prevent  reinforcements  being  sent 
to  the  rebel  outposts,  as  well  as  to  their  troops  who  were  stationed  to  oppose  the 
landing." 

Lord  Howe's  letter,  describing  the  landing,  says:  "Gen.  Howe  giving  me 
notice  of  his  intention  to  make  a  descent  on  Gravesend  Bay,  on  bong  Island,  on  the 
morning  of  the  22d,  the  necessary  disposition  was  made,  and  75  flalboats,  with  11 


'HE     KRITISH     FI.KKT. 


batteaux  and  2  galleys  built  for  the  occasion,  were  prepared  for  that  service.  The 
command  of  the  whole  remained  with  Com.  Hotham.  The  Capts.  Parker, 
Wallace  and  Dickson,  in  the  Phenix,  Rose  and  Greyhound,  with  the  Thunder,  and 
Carcass  bombs,  under  the  direction  of  Col.  James,  were  appointed  to  cover  the 
landing.  The  tlatboats,  galleys  and  three  batteaux,  manned  from  the  ships  of  war, 
were  formed  into  three  divisions,  commanded  respectively  by  the  Capts.  Vander- 
put,  Mason,  Curtis,  Caldwell,  Phipps,  Caulfield,  Uppleby  and  Duncan,  and  Lt. 
Reeve,  of  the  Eagle.  The  rest  of  the  batteaux,  making  a  10th  division,  manned 
from  the  transports,  were  under  the  conduct  of  Lt.  Bristow,  an  assistant  agent. 
Early  in  the  morning  of  the  22d  the  covering  ships  took  their  station  in  Gravesend 
Bay.  The  light  infantry,  with  the  reserve  to  be  first  landed,  forming  a  corps  to- 
gether of  4,000  men,  entered  the  boats  at  Staten  Island  the  same  time.  The 
transports  in  which  the  several  brigades  composing  the  second  debarkation  (about 
5,000  men)  had  been  before  embarked,  were  moved  down  and  suitably  arranged 
without  the  covering  ship  by  8  o'clock.  The  first  debarkation  not  meeting  with 
any  opposition,  the  second  succeeded  immediately  after;  and  the  other  transports, 
carrying  the  rest  of  the  troops,   following   the  former   in    proper  succession.     The 


whole  force  then  destined  for  the  service,  consisting  of  about  15,000  men,  was 
landed  before  noon.  On  the  25th  an  additional  corps  of  Hessian  troops,  under 
Gen.  Heister,  with  their  field  artillery  and  baggage,  were  conveyed  to  Gravesend 
Bav.  Being  informed  next  day  by  Gen.  Howe  of  his  intentions  to  advance  with 
the  army  that  night  to  the  enemy's  lines,  and  of  his  wishes  that  some  diversion 
might  be  attempted  by  the  ships  on  this  side,  I  gave  directions  to  Sir  Peter 
Parker  for  proceeding  higher  up  in  the  channel  toward  the  town  of  New  York 
next  morning  with  the  Asia,  Renown,  Preston,  (Com.  Hotham  embarked  in  the 
Phenix,  having  been  left  to  carry  on  the  service  in  Gravesend  Bay,)  Roebuck  and 
Repulse,  and  to  keep  those  ships  in  readiness  for  being  employed  as  occasion 
might  require ;  but  the  wind  veering  to  the  northward  soon  after  the  break  of 
day,  the  ships  could  not  be  moved  up  to  the  distance  proposed  ;  therefore,  when 
the  troops  under  Gen.  Grant,  forming  the  left  column  of  the  army,  were  seen  to  be 
engaged  with  the  enemy  in  the  morning,  the  Roebuck,  Capt.  Hammond,  leading 
the  detached  squadron,  was  the  only  ship  that  could  fetch  high  enough  10  the 
northward  to  exchange  a  few  random  shots  with  the  battery  on  Red  Hook  ;  and 
the  ebb  making  strongly  down  the  river  soon  after,  I  ordered  the  signal  to  be 
shown  for  the  squadron  to  anchor." 

RED   LION  TAVERN. 

The  advance  guard  of  the  British  troops  struck  the  American  pickets  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  Red  Lion  Tavern  on  the  early  morning  of   August  27. 

An  officer  in  Col.  Atlee's  battalion,  referring  to  this,  says  :  "  Yesterday  about 
120  of  our  men  went  as  guard  to  a  place  on  L.  I.  called  Red  Lion  ;  about  1  1  at 
night  the  sentries  saw  2  men  coming  up  a  water-melon  patch,  upon  which  our 
men  fired  on  them.  The  enemy  then  retreated,  and  about  1  o'clock  advanced 
with  200  or  300  men  and  endeavored  to  surround  our  guard,  but  they  being  watch- 
ful gave  them  2  or  3  fires  and  retreated  to  alarm  the  remainder  of  the  bat.,  except 
one  Lt.  and  about  1  5  men,  who  have  not  been  heard  of  as  yet.  About  4  o'clock  this 
morning  the  alarm  was  given  by  beating  to  arms,  when  the  remainder  of  our  bat- 
talion, accompanied  by  the  Delaware  and  Maryland  battalions,  went  to  the  place 
our  men  retreated  from.  About  a  quarter  of  a  mile  on  this  side  we  saw  the 
enemy,  when  we  got  into  the  woods  (our  battalion  being  the  advance  guard) 
amidst  the  incessant  fire  of  their  field  pieces,  loaded  with  grape  shot,  which  con- 
tinued till  10  o'clock.  The  Marylanders  on  the  left,  and  we  on  the  right,  kept  up 
a  constant  fire  amid  all  their  cannon,  and  saw  several  of  them  fall  ;  but  they  being 
too  many  we  retreated  a  little  and  then  made  a  stand.  Our  Lt.  Col.  Parry  was 
shot  through  the  head,  and  I  retreated  with  him  to  secure  his  effects,  since  which 
1  hear  the  enemy  are  within  60  yards  of  our  lines." 

The  "  Red  Lion"  was  located  near  the  corner  of  the  present  Fourth  Avenue 
and  Thirty-sixth  Street.  It  was  kept  as  a  public  house  for  nearly  a  hundred  years, 
and  was  the  principal  place  of  resort  for  the  farmers  of  Gowanus  and  the  sur- 
rounding country.  Their  hatred  of  the  British  was  very  strong,  and  for  some  time 
after  the  close  of  the  war  they  refused  to  patronize  it  until  the  sign  of  the  "  Red 
Lion  "  was  taken  down.  A  bull's  head  was  painted  on  the  sign,  and  it  retained 
the  name  of  Bull's  Head  Tavern  until  its  final  destruction,  some  twenty-five  or 
thirty  years  ago.     It  was   a  story-and-a-half  frame  building,  resting  on  a  high 


foundation,  which  formed  the  basement.  It  had  a  wide  piazza  extending  along 
the  entire  front,  entrance  to  which  was  by  high  wooden  steps.  It  was  about  one 
hundred  feet  from  the  Gowanus  school-house.  The  Fourth  Avenue  car  stables 
were  subsequently  erected  on  or  near  the  site  of  the  old  building.  Its  historic 
associations  had  little  or  no  interest  for  the  people  of  this  locality,  and  not  a  stone 
or  shingle  remains  to  identify  the  material  of  which  it  was  composed. 

The  description  given  by  the  officer  in  Atlee's  battalion,  of  the  skirmish  at 
the  Red  Lion,  includes  the  subsequent  engagement  further  on,  at  a  place  called 

BLOKJE'S  BERG. 

This  was  called  by  the  Dutch,  Bluckie's  Barracks.  It  was  at  this  point  that 
the  British  column,  advancing  by  the  Gowanus  Road,  received  its  first  check  from 
the  American  pickets,  and  was  the  first  blood  shed  in  the  battle.  This  was  near 
the  intersection  of  Third  Avenue  and  Twenty-third  Street.  Field,  in  his  history  of 
the  Battle  of  Long   Island,  says:     "The  position   of  Wynant    Bennet's  house,  in 


conjunction  with  the  adjacent  knoll  and  creek,  gave  it  the  character  of  a  formida- 
ble redoubt,  as  the  sand-banks  and  thickets  could  not  be  battered  down  by  can- 
non shot,  and  the  house  was  below  the  range  of  the  batteries.  It  stood  about 
fifty  yards  from  the  bay,  in  one  of  those  sheltered  nooks  at  the  foot  of  the  hills,  in 
which  our  Dutch  fanners  loved  so  well  to  nestle  their  dwellings.  Half  that  dis- 
tance from  its  door,  toward  the  south,  the  tide  flowed  through  a  narrow  creek  to  a 
bog,  which  extended  in  a  southeasterly  direction  for  a  hundred  yards  beyond  the 
house.  On  a  slight  bridge,  the  road  to  the  Narrows  crossed  this  little  bayou,  and 
wound  in  a  sharp  curve  over  a  sand-hill  or  bluff  called  Bluckie's  Barracks.  Hid- 
den between  the  sides  of  a  deep  cut  in  the  hill,  the  road,  winding  along  its  eastern 
face,  was  completely  obscured  from  the  view  of  the  enemy,  advancing  from  the 
south,  and  enabled  the  American  riflemen,  under  Col.  Atlee,  to  occupy  it  with 
great  annoyance  to  the  British,  and  almost  perfect  security  to  themselves.     Added 


to  these  favorable  features  for  a  defensive  position,  the  bluff  gutted  out  so  far  into 
the  bi\  as  to  be  well  protected  by  its  waters,  and  was  covered  with  a  tangled 
forest,  which  aided  in  the  concealment  and  protection  of  its  defenders." 


BATTLE   HILL  AND  ITS  SURROUNDINGS. 

In  Lord  Sterling's  letter  to  Washington,  dated  "Eagle,  Aug.  29,  1776,"  he 
says  :  "  I  have  now  an  opportunity  of  informing  you  of  what  has  happened  to  me 
since  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you.  About  3  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the 
27th  I  was  called  up  and  informed  by  Gen.  Putnam  that  the  enemy  were  advanc- 
ing by  the  road  from  Flatbush  to  the  Red  Lion,  and  ordered  me  to  march  with  the 
two  regiments  nearest  at  hand  to  meet  them;  these  happened  to  be  Haslet's  and 
Smallwood's,  with  which  I  accordingly  marched,  and  was  on  the  road  to  the  Nar- 
rows just  as  the  daylight  began  to  appear.  We  proceeded  to  within  about  half  a 
mile  of  the  Red  Lion,  and  there  met  Col.  Atlee  with  his  regiment,  who  informed 
me  the  enemy  were  in  sight ;  indeed,  I  then  saw  their  front  between  me  and  the 
Red  Lion.  I  desired  Col.  Atlee  to  place  his  regiment  on  the  left  of  the  road,  and 
to  wait  their  coming  up,  while  I  went  to  form  the  two  regiments  I  had  brought 
with  me  along  a  ridge  from  a  road  up  to  a  piece  of  wood  on  the  top  of  the  hill  ; 
this  was  done  instantly  on  very  advantageous  ground.  Our  opponents  advanced 
and  were  fired  upon  in  the  road  by  Atlee's  regiment,  who,  after  two  or  three 
rounds,  retreated  to  the  wood  on  my  left  and  there  formed.  By  this  time  Kich- 
line's  riflemen  arrived  ;  part  of  them  I  placed  along  a  hedge  under  the  front  of  the 
hill,  and  the  rest  in  front  of  the  wood.  The  troops  opposed  to  me  were  two 
brigades  of  four  regiments  each,  under  the  command  of  Gen.  Grant,  who  advanced 
their  light  troops  to  within  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards  of  our  right  front,  and 
took  possession  of  an  orchard  there  and  some  hedges  which  extended  towards 
our  left  ;  this  brought  on  an  exchange  of  fire  between  those  troops  and  our  rifle- 
men, which  continued  for  about  two  hours  and  then  ceased,  by  those  light  troops 
retiring  to  their  main  body.  In  the  meantime  Capt.  Carpenter  brought  up  two 
field  pieces,  which  were  placed  on  the  side  of  the  hill,  so  as  to  command  the  road 
and  the  only  approach  for  some  hundred  yards.  On  the  part  of  Gen.  Grant  there 
were  two  field  pieces;  one  howitzer  advanced  to  within  300  yards  of  the  front  of 
our  right,  and  a  like  detachment  of  artillery  to  the  front  of  our  left  on  a  rising 
ground,  at  about  600  yards  distance.  One  of  their  brigades  formed  in  two  lines 
opposite  to  our  right,  and  the  others  extended  in  one  line  to  the  top  of  the  hills  in 
front  of  our  left  ;  in  this  position  we  stood  cannonading  each  other  till  near  11 
o'clock,  when  I  found  that  Gen.  Howe,  with  the  main  body  of  the  army,  was  be- 
tween me  and  our  lines,  and  saw  that  the  only  chance  of  escaping  being  made  all 
prisoners,  was  to  pass  the  creek  near  the  Yellow  Mills;  and  in  order  to  render 
this  the  more  practicable,  I  found  it  absolutely  necessary  to  attack  a  body  of 
troops  commanded  by  Lord  Cornwallis,  posted  at  the  house  near  the  Upper  Mills. 
This  I  instantly  did  with  about  half  of  Smallwood's  regiment,  first  ordering  all  the 
oilier  troops  to  make  the  best  of  their  way  through  the  creek.  We  continued  to 
attack  a  considerable  time,  the  men  having  been  rallied  and  the  attack  renewed 
five  or  six  times,  and  were  on  the  point  of    driving  Lord   Cornwallis  from  his   sta- 


5EVERAL  histories  have  been  written  and  papers  prepared  on  the  Battle  of 
Long  Island  during  the  past  half  century  by  our  ablest  historians,  the  object 
of  most  of  whom  has  been  to  demonstrate  the  causes  of  a  defeat  which  was 
inevitable  from  the  beginning.  This  opinion  is  shared  by  the  best  military  critics 
who  have  given  the  subject  any  attention.  As  one  has  truly  said  :  "  The  American 
forces  might  have  retreated  in  good  order  with  comparatively  small  loss,  but  they 
must  have  retreated.  Five  thousand  raw  recruits — few  of  whom  had  ever  been  in 
battle  and  most  of  whom  must  have  fought  without  cover — could  not  long  have 
resisted  twenty  thousand  well-appointed  veterans." 

The  compiler  of  the  present  work  has  no  hope  or  expectation  of  being  able  to 
present  any  new  facts  pertaining  to  the  subject  in  controversy.  His  aim,  first,  is 
to  give  the  reader  a  clear  and  comprehensive  view  of  the  facts,  compiled  from  the 
most  authentic  sources,  by  locating  and  illustrating  the  several  points  of  interest  ; 
second,  to  collect  and  preserve  in  permanent  form  the  names  and  personal  record 
of  those  who  participated  in  this  important  event.  Says  a  well  known  writer  on 
this  subject :  "It  is  due  to  the  brave  combatants  of  that  day,  that  their  names 
and  deeds  should  be  remembered  and  commemorated,  in  common  with  many 
others  more  distinguished  only  because  they  were  more  fortunate.''  Every  man, 
from  the  commander-in-chief  down  to  the  humblest  private,  was  a  HERO  on  that 
day,  and  deserves  to  be  remembered  by  his  descendants,  many  of  whom  are  repre- 
sented in  the  various  societies  of  the  Revolution  at  the  present  day,  and  who  will 
no  doubt  gladly  avail  themselves  of  this  opportunity  to  preserve  the  record  and 
thus  perpetuate  the  memory  of  their  distinguished  ancestors. 

"  Remember,"  said  Washington,  on  the  eve  of  the  battle,  "  that  you  are  free- 
men fighting  for  the  blessings  of  liberty  ;  that  slavery  will  be  your  portion  and  that 
of  your  posterity,  if  you  do  not  acquit  yourselves  like  men.  Remember  how  your 
courage  and  spirit  have  been  despised  and  traduced  by  your  cruel  invaders,  though 
they  have  found  by  dear  experience  at  Boston,  Charlestown  and  other  places  what 
a  few  brave  men,  contending  in  their  own  land  and  in  the  best  of  causes,  can  do 
against  base  hirelings  and  mercenaries."  The  words  of  their  commander  were 
remembered  by  these  brave  patriots  on  the  following  day,  all  of  whom  did,  indeed, 
"acquit  themselves  like  men." 


GUIDE  TO  THE  BATTLE  OF  LONG  ISLAND. 


ILLUSTRATED. 

iNE  after  another  of  the  old  Revolutionary  landmarks — those  monu- 
ments of  American  patriotism — have  disappeared,  swept  away  by 
the  ravages  of  time  and  the  march  of  improvement.  A  few  years 
hence  all  traces  will  be  lost  and  there  will  not  he  left  a  single  spot 
on  which  to  place  a  tablet  to  record  the  interesting  events  with 
which  they  are  associated.  On  the  corner  of  Fifth  Avenue  and 
Third  Street,  in  a  vacant  lot  enclosed  by  a  high  board  fence,  stands 
a  long,  low,  dilapidated  stone  building,  completely  hidden  by  the 
surroundings.  This  is  all  that  remains  of  the  Nicholas  Vechte,  or  what  is  more 
recently  known  as  the  Cortelyou  house,  near  which,  on  the  27th  of  August,  1776, 
two  hundred  and  fifty  of  Maryland's  noblest  sons  laid  down  their  lives  in  defense 
of  their  country. 


Wkrr\ 


"  Cornwallis  hail  taken  possession  of  the  Cortelyou  house,  in  the  rear  of 
Stirling's  line,  and  the  latter  saw  that  if  he  could  not  drive  him  back,  or,  at  least, 
hold  him  where  he  was,  his  whole  command  would  suffer  death  or  capture.  He 
resolved  upon  a  costly  sacrifice  to  save  his  retreating  columns,  which  were  now 
toiling  through  the  salt  marshes  and  across  the  deep  tide-water  creek  in  the  rear. 
Changing  his  front  and  taking  with  him  less  than  four  hundred  of  the  Maryland 
regiment  under  Major  Gist,  Stirling  ordered  the  rest  of  his  force  to  retreat  across 
the  Gowanus  marsh  and  creek,  which  the  rising  tide  was  making  every  moment 
less  and  less  passable.     Smallwood's  regiment,  composed  in  a  large   part   of  the 


sons  of  the  best  families  of  Maryland— nicknamed  the  Macaroni  by  the  Tories  of 
New  York— was  now  to  have  its  courage,  self-devotion  and  discipline  proved. 
Stirling  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  these  Marylanders,  and  the  little  band,  now 
hardly  numbering  four  hundred  men.  prepared  for  an  assault  upon  five  times  their 
number  of  the  troops  of  the  invading  army,  who  were  inflamed  with  all  the  arro- 
gance of  successful  combat.  Forming  hurriedly  on  ground  in  the  vicinity  of  Fifth 
Avenue  and  Tenth  Street,  the  column  advanced  with  unwavering  front  along  the 
Gowanus  Road  into  the  jaws  of  battle.  Artillery  plowed  their  fast-thinning  ranks 
with  the  awful  bolts  of  war;  infantry  poured  volleys  of  musket  balls  in  almost 
solid  sheets  of  lead,  and  from  the  adjacent  hills  the  deadly  Hessian  Jagers  sent 
swift  messengers  of  death  into  many  a  manly  form.  Still,  above  the  roar  of 
cannon,  musketry  and  rilles.  was  heard  the  shout  of  their  brave  leaders,  "Close 
up  !  Close  up  !"  and  again  the  staggering  yet  unflinching  files,  grown  fearfully  thin, 
drew  together  and  turned  their  stern  young  faces  to  their  country's  foe. 

"  At  the  head  of  this  devoted  band  marched  their  General,  to  whom  every 
victory  had  now  become  less  important  than  an  honorable  death,  which  might 
purchase  the  safe  retreat  of  his  army.  Amid  all  the  terrible  carnage  of  the  hour 
there  was  no  hurry,  no  confusion,  only  a  grim  despair  which  their  courage  and 
self-devotion  dignified  into  martyrdom.  The  advance  bodies  of  the  enemy  were 
driven  back  upon  the  Cortelyou  house,  now  become  a  formidable  redoubt,  from 
the  windows  of  which  the  leaden  hail  thinned  the  patriot  ranks  as  they  approached. 
Cornwallis  hurriedly  brought  two  guns  into  position  near  one  corner  of  the  house 
and  added  their  cannister  and  grape  to  the  tempest  of  death.  At  last  the  little 
column  halted,  powerless  to  advance  in  the  face  of  this  murderous  fire,  yet  dis- 
daining to  retreat  with  the  disgrace  of  a  flight.  Again  and  again  these  heroes 
closed  their  ranks  over  the  bodies  of  their  dead  comrades,  and  still  turned  their 
faces  to  the  foe.  But  the  limit  of  human  endurance  had  for  the  time  been  reached, 
and  the  shattered  column  was  driven  back.  Their  task  was  not,  however,  yet 
fully  performed,  As  Stirling  looked  across  the  salt  meadows,  away  to  the  scene 
of  the  late  struggle  at  Bluckie's  Barracks,  and  saw  the  confused  masses  of  his 
countrymen  crowding  the  narrow  causeway  over  Freeke's  mill  pond  or  struggling 
through  the  muddy  tide  stream,  he  felt  how  precious  to  their  country's  liberty 
were  the  lives  of  his  retreating  soldiers,  and  he  again  nerved  himself  for  a  combat 
which  he  knew  could  only  prove  a  sacrifice.  Once  more  he  called  upon  the  sur- 
vivors of  the  previous  deadly  assault,  and  again  the  noble  young  men  gathered 
around  their  general.  How  sadly  he  must  have  looked  upon  them,  scarcely  more 
than  boys,  so  young,  so  brave,  and  to  meet  again  the  pitiless  iron  hail.  The 
impetus  and  spirit  of  this  charge  carried  the  battalion  over  every  obstacle  quite  to 
their  house.  The  gunners  were  driven  from  their  battery  and  Cornwallis  seemed 
about  to  abandon  the  position.  But  the  galling  fire  from  the  interior  of  the 
house  and  from  the  adjacent  high  ground,  with  the  overwhelming  numbers  of  the 
enemy  who  were  now  approaching,  again  compelled  retreat.  Three  times  more 
the  survivors  rallied,  flinging  themselves  upon  the  constantly  reinforced  ranks  of 
the  enemy,  but  the  combat,  so  long  and  so  unequally  sustained,  was  now  hastening 
to  its  close.  A  few  minutes  more  of  this  destroying  fire  and  256  of  the  noble 
youth  of  Maryland  were  either  prisoners  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy  or  lay  side  by 
side  in  the  awful  mass  of  the  dead  and  dying.  The  sacrifice  had  been  accom- 
plished and  the  Hying  army  had  been  saved   from  complete  destruction." 


* 


MONUMENT. 

IN    HONOR     OF    MARYLAND'S     FOUR     HUNDRED,     WHO     ON    THIS     BATTLE-FIELD,    AUGUST    27, 

I776,    SAVED    THE    AMERICAN    ARMY." 


MONUMENT  TO    THE  BRAVE  MARYLANDERS. 

On  Tuesday,  August  27,  1895,  a  monument  was  unveiled  and  presented  to  the 
city  of  Brooklyn  by  the  Maryland  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution, 
erected  by  this  society  in  honor  of  the  gallant  Four  Hundred,  whose  courage, 
self-devotion  and  discipline,  saved  the  American  army  from  total  destruction  or 
capture  on  that  eventful  day,  one  hundred  and  nineteen  years  ago.  The  site 
selected  on  Lookout  Hill,  the  highest  point  in  the  park,  is  also  the  most  central 
one  from  which  to  obtain  a  view  of  almost  every  part  of  the  battle-field. 

The  monument  is  a  Corinthian  column,  thirty-nine  feet  in  height.  The 
shaft  proper  is  of  Tennessee  marble,  highly  polished,  thirty  feet  high,  surmounted 
by  a  bronzed  cannon  ball,  resting  on  ornamental  bronzed  supports.  The  die 
block  on  which  this  shaft  rests  is  of  rough  granite  suitably  dressed,  the  whole 
resting  on  a  mound  several  feet  in  height.  The  inscriptions  are  in  raised  letters, 
that  on  the  front  tablet  being : 

In  Honor  of 

Maryland's  Four  Hundred 

Who  on  this  Battlefield  on 

August  27,  1776, 
Saved  the  American  Army. 

On  the  rear  tablet  are  the  words  Washington  is  said  to  have  uttered  when  he 

saw  the  the  gallant   Marylanders  make  one  of  their  desperate  charges  upon   the 

enemy : 

"  Good  God,  What  Brave  Fellows 

Must  I  This  Day  Lose." 

On  the  third  tablet  is  the  coat  of  arms  of  the  State  of  Maryland  in  bronze, 
and  on  the  fourth  is  inscribed  : 

In  Memory  of 

Smallwood's  Regiment 

of  the  Rear  Guard  of  the 

American  Army 

In  lis   Retreat    from  Long  Island 

August  27,  1776. 

On  the  front  face  of  the  foundation  block  is  the  inscription  : 
Erected  Through  the  Efforts 

of  THE 
Maryland  Society  of  the  Sons 
of  the  American  Revolution. 


LOOKOUT    HILL— PROSPECT   PARK. 

From  this  point  nearly  all  the  places  of  interest  connected  with  the  Battle  of 
Long  Island  may  still  be  seen,  although  the  growth  of  trees  and  other  improve- 
ments have  somewhat  obstructed  the  view  since  the  original  drawing  (of  which 
the  accompanying  engraving  is  .1  copy),  was  made.  To  the  right,  near  the  Flatbush 
entrance  of    the  park,  is   the   famous    Battle  Pass,  where  Sullivan  and   his  brave 


Xll 

troops  made  such  a  gallant  tight,  and  were  finally  overcome  by  superior  numbers. 
Aboutja  mile  to  the  northwest  is  Fort  Greene  and  the  site  of  Fort  Putnam.  Follow- 
ing the  Third  Street  exit  of  the  park  to  Fifth  Avenue,  is  the  site  of  the  old 
Cortleyou  house.  Below  Fourth  Avenue  there  are  several  vacant  lots,  partly  filled 
in,  which  indicate  the  site  of  Denton's  mill-pond  and  Gowanus. Creek. 


DENISE'S  FERRY;    NOW  FORT   HAMILTON. 

South  of  the  monument,  about  six  miles  distant,  is  Fort  Hamilton,  the  site 
of  Denise's  Ferry,  where  the  British  made  their  first  landing  on  the  morning  of 
August  22,  1776.  It  is  a  remarkable  coincidence  that  the  first  resistance  made  to 
the  British  forces  in  the  colony  of  New  York  was  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  1776,  and 
was  the  first  celebration  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  while  that  important 
instrument  was  receiving  the  signatures  of  the  immortal  representatives  who 
framed  it. 

A  battery  mounting,  it  is  said,  some  two  or  three  twelve  pounders,  was  con- 
structed at  the  Narrows,  near  Denise's  ferry  landing,  by  a  party  of  Americans. 
During  the  clay  they  opened  fire  upon  the  Asia,  which   was  sailing  close  to  shore 


OENISK  S    FEKRV, 


in  the  rear  of  the  lleet.  The  ship  swung  around  and  returned  the  fire,  sending  a 
broadside  of  twenty-four  pound  shot  at  the  point  where  the  battery  was  located. 
An  account  published  in  a  Philadelphia  newspaper  at  the  time.  sa)S  :  "  One  of  the 
balls  lodged  in  the  wall  of  Mr.  Bennett's  house  without  penetrating  it.  The  house 
of  Denise  narrowly  escaped  demolition  from  the  storm  of  cannon  shot  which 
swept  around  it.  One  passed  close  to  the  kitchen  in  which  the  family  were 
assembled,  another  struck  the  barn  at  a  short  distance,  and  a  third  carried  away 
a  large  portion  of  the  garden  fence,  close  to  the  back  door  of  the  house." 

The  men   in   charge  of  the  battery  continued   their  fire,  giving  them  shot  for 


XV111 

tion,  but  large  succors  arriving  rendered  it  impossible  to  do  more  than  provide  for 
safety.  I  endeavored  to  get  in  between  that  house  [Vechte  or  Cortelyou  house], 
and  Fort  Box,  but  on  attempting  it  I  found  a  considerable  body  of  troops  In  my 
front  and  several  in  pursuit  of  me  on  the  right  and  left,  and  a  constant  firing  on 
me.  I  immediately  turned  the  point  of  the  hill,  which  covered  me  from  their  fire, 
and  was  soon  out  of  reach  of  my  pursuers.  I  soon  found  it  would  be  in  vain  to 
attempt  to  make  my  escape,  and  therefore  went  to  surrender  myself  to  Gen.  De 
Heister,  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Hessians." 

The  engraved  map  or  sketch  of  the  battle-ground  shown  on  opposite  page 
is  said  to  be  the  most  accurate  of  any  ever  published.  The  plan  was  drawn  by 
Major  A.  B.  Douglass,  formerly  of  the  U.  S.  Army,  from  personal  inspection. 

The  position  occupied  by  Lord  Sterling,  referred  to  at  the  beginning  of  his 
letter,  was  in  close  proximity  to  what  is  now  known  as  Battle  Hill,  in  Greenwood 
Cemetery.  Mr.  Nehemiah  Cleveland,  who  wrote  the  history  of  Greenwood  Ceme- 
tery, says :  "  In  the  Battle  of  Long  Island,  August  27,  1776,  the  conflict  raged  for 
a  spell  on  or  near  these  very  grounds.  *  *  *  On  one  occasion  I  went  over  the 
ground  with  Major  Douglas.  The  excavations  and  gradings  which  have  so  trans- 
formed the  aspect  of  Gowanus,  had  then  scarcely  begun.  We  stood  upon  the 
hillside  where  Lord  Stirling  posted  a  part  of  his  force,  and  traced  the  old  wall  and 
hedge  which  formed  their  temporary  and  frail  barricade.  From  this  spot  that 
accomplished  officer  and  engineer  pointed  out  to  me  what  he  believed  to  have 
been  the  position  and  movements  of  the  contending  forces,  and  the  probable 
localities  of  the  conflict.  Of  the  scene  on  which  we  then  looked,  the  swells  and 
slopes  of  Green  Wood,  and  the  bright  waters  of  the  bay,  are  almost  the  only 
features  that  remain  unchanged." 

Lossing  says  :  "  The  militia  guard  at  Martense's  Lane  were  driven  back  by 
Grant  to  the  hills  of  Greenwood  Cemetery,  a  little  north  of  Sylvan  Water,  where 
they  were  rallied  by  Parsons,  and  maintained  a  conflict  until  the  arrival  of  Stirling 
at  day-break  with  fifteen  hundred  men.  Stirling  took  a  position  upon  the  slopes  a 
little  northwest  of  "Battle  Hill,"  in  Greenwood,  and  Atlee  ambuscaded  in  the 
woods  on  the  left  of  Martense's  Lane,  near  the  Firemen's  Monument,  to  attack 
Grant  on  his  approach." 

In  his  description  of  the  battle,  Mr.  Cleveland  says  :  "  Independently  of  their 
present  and  prospective  claims  to  regard,  Greenwood  and  its  vianage  must  ever 
possess  a  strong  interest  derived  from  die  past.  In  that  vicinity — upon  ground 
traversed  in  part  by  every  visitor  to  the  cemetery,  and  lying  immediately  below 
and  around  it — occurred  the  first  serious  conflict  between  the  British  and  Ameri- 
can troops,  on  the  memorable  27th  of  August,  1776. 

"  It  is  due  to  the  brave  combatants  of  that  day  that  their  names  and  deeds 
should  be  remembered  and  commemorated  in  common  with  many  others — more 
distinguished  only  because  they  were  more  fortunate.  To  this  end  we  contribute 
our  mite.  We  would  induce  some  of  the  countless  visitors  of  Green  Wood  to 
turn  aside  and  stand  upon  the  spot  where  their  fathers  once  stood,  'shoulder  to 
shoulder  in  the  strife  for  their  country.'  At  least  we  would  have  them  know,  as 
they  ride  along,  that  the  very  earth  beneath  them  was  reddened  in  the  conflit  t 
which  secured  to  them  their  great  and  fair  inheritance. 

"The  unsparing  hand  of  improvement  is  fast  sweeping  away  not  only  the 
vestiges  of  all  the  old  defences,  but   the  very   hills  on  which  they  were  raised,  at 


PLAN    OF   THE    BATTLE-GROUND    ON    LONG    ISLAND. 


such  expense  of  treasure  and  toil.  Even  the  more  distant  grounds,  beyond  the 
lines  of  circumvallation,  upon  which  the  fight  occurred,  have  in  some  instances 
been  materially  changed." 

"  Once  this  soft  turf,  this  rivulet's  sands, 

Were  trampled  by  a  hurrying  crowd, 
And  fiery  hearts  and  armed  hands 
Encountered  in  the  battle-cloud. 

Ah  !  never  shall  the  land  forget 

How  gushed  the  life-blood  of  her  brave — 

Gushed,  warm  with  hope  and  courage  yet, 
Upon  the  soil  they  fought  to  save." 

WEYNANT    BENNETT   HOUSE. 

Referring  to  "  Bluckie's  Barracks,"  Stiles  says  :  "  It  is  mainly  memorable  as 
the  place  where  the  British  column,  advancing  by  the  Gowanus  road,  on  the 
morning  of  August  27,  1776,  received  its  first  check  from  an  American  picket- 
guard,  on  which  occasion  several  lives  were  lost,  being  the  first  blood  shed  in  that 
battle.  Near  it,  on  the  northeast  corner  of  Twenty-third  street  and  Third  avenue, 
was  the  old  Weynant  Bennett  house,  which  yet  stands  (1867),  retaining  its  ancient 
appearance  and  yet  bearing  upon  its  venerable  walls  the  marks  of  shot  and  ball 
received  on  that  disastrous  day." 

While  preparations  were  making  for  departure,  under  cover  of  the  darkness, 
a  number  of  soldiers,  with  the  recklessness  of  their  class,  occupied  their  time  in 
playing  a  game  of  cards  in  a  room  of  Weynant  Bennett's  house.  The  rays 
streaming  through  the  narrow  window  attracted  the  attention  of  some  British 
artillerymen  upon  the  hill,  and  in  a  short  time  the  card  party  were  startled  by  the 
heavy  roar  of  a  field  piece  at  no  great  distance,  but  as  no  result  followed  that 
indicated  their  group  to  be  the  target,  the  game  was  continued.  The  gun  was 
fired  again  and  again  until  the  proper  range  was  obtained,  when  the  crash  of  a 
shot  against  the  side  of  the  house,  close  to  the  window,  suddenly  terminated  the 
game.  Several  shots  struck  the  house,  marks  of  whose  passage  are  still  visible, 
the  light  which  the  party  left  burning  in  the  haste  of  their  departure,  indicating 
its  position  so  well  as  to  render  the  aim  of  the  gunners  tolerably  accurate.  *  *  * 
Bennett's  house  was  abandoned  by  the  family,  who  accompanied  the  retreating 
troops,  from  the  apprehension  that  the  repulse  which  the  enemy  had  suffered  in  its 
neighborhood  might  have  so  exasperated  them  that  little  distinction  would  be 
made  by  them  between  soldiers  and  non-combatants. — Field. 

RED   HOOK. 

The  same  night  a  regiment  went  over  to  Red  Hook  and  fortified  that  place 
likewise. — New  York  Packet,  April  11,  1776. 

The  wood  next  to  Red  Hook  should  be  well  attended  to.  Put  some  of  the 
most  disorderly  riflemen  into  it.  The  militia  are  the  most  indifferent  troops  and 
will  do  for  the  interior  work,  whilst  your  best  men  should,  at  all  hazards,  prevent 
the  enemy's  passing  the  wood  and  approaching  the  works.  The  woods  should  be 
secured  by  abates ;  traps  and  ambuscades  should  be  laid  for  their  parties  sent 
after  cattle, —  Washington  s  Instructions  to  Putnam,  August  25,  1776. 


In  a  letter  to  his  family,  dated  June  r  I,  1776,  Major  Shaw  says  :  "  I  am  now 
stationed  at  Red  Hook,  about  four  miles  from  New  York.  It  is  an  island,  situated 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  command  the  entrance  to  the  harbor  entirely,  where  we 
have  a  fort  with  four  18-pounders  to  fire  en  barbette— \.\\z\  is,  over  the  top  of  the 
works — which  is  vastly  better  than  tiring  through  embrasures,  as  we  can  now 
bring  all  our  guns  to  bear  on  the  same  object  at  once.  The  fort  is  named 
Defiance.     It  is  thought  to  be  one  of  the  most  important  posts  we  have." 

At  certain  seasons  and  in  certain  conditions  of  the  tide,  Red  Hook  became  in 
fact  an  island,  and  was  no  doubt  just  as  he  described  it.  ^ 

"  The  '  Roode  Hock,'  or  Red  Hook,"  says  Stiles,  "  so  called  from  the  color  of 
its  soil,  has  almost  entirely  lost  its  identity  in  consequence  of  the  construction  of 
the  Atlantic  Docks  and  other  extensive  and  important  improvements  in  that  part 
of  the  modern  city  of  Brooklyn.  Its  original  form  and  topographical  appearance, 
however,  has  been  faithfully  preserved  and  delineated  in  Rutzer's  map;  and  it  may 
be  described  in  general  terms  as  extending  from  Luqueer's  mill  creek  (about  Hicks 
and  Huntington  streets),  following  the  indentations  of  the  shore  around  the  cape 
and  headland,  to  about  the  western  boundary  of  the  Atlantic  Docks  on  the  East 
River;  or  in  general  terms,  as  having  comprised  all  the  land  west  of  the  present 
Sullivan  street.  Its  history  commences  with  the  year  1638,  when  Director  Van 
Twiller  petitioned  for  its  use,  which  was  granted  to  him  on  condition  that  he 
should  relinquish  it  whenever  the  Company  wanted  it.  This  and  other  lands  sub- 
sequently reverted  to  the  Company.  The  title  of  Red  Hook  being  thus  vested  in 
the  government,  was  conveyed  to  the  town  of  Breuckelen  in  1657,  by  Governor 
Stuyvesant,  and  was  subsequently  confirmed  by  Governors  Nicolls  and  Dongan. 
It  was  sold  on  the  10th  of  August,  1695,  by  the  patentees  and  freeholders  of  the 
town  to  Col.  Stephanus  Van  Cortlandt." 

WILLIAM   HOWARD'S  HALF-WAY  HOUSE. 

Referring  to  the  advance  of  the  British  army  from  Flatlands  across  the 
country  to  New  Lotts,  on  the  evening  of  the  26th  of  August,  1776,  Stiles  says: 
"  Crossing  the  fields  from  the  New  Lotts  road,  in  a  direct  course  to  this  point,  the 
army  halted  at  two  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  27th  at  William  Howard's  Half- 
way House,  which  yet  stands  at  the  cornel  of  the  present  Broadway  and  the 
Jamaica  and  Brooklyn  road." 

William  Howard  says  the  British  army  was  guided  by  N.  W.  along  a  narrow 
road  across  Schoonmaker's  Bridge  (where  a  small  force  might  easily  have  brought 
the  whole  British  army  to  a  stand).  Thence  they  turned  off  east  of  Daniel 
Rapalje's  (threw  open  the  fence)  and  crossed  the  fields  to  the  south  of  Howard's 
Half-way  House,  where  they  halted  in  front  of  his  house.  About  two  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  after  the  market  wagons  had  passed,  Howe  (?),  with  a  citizen's  hat  on 
and  a  camlet  cloak  over  his  uniform,  entered  William  Howard's  tavern  attended 
by  Clinton  and  two  aids  and  asked  for  something  to  drink,  conversed  with  him 
and  asked  him  if  he  had  joined  the  association.  Howard  said  that  he  had. 
"  That's  all  very  well ;  stick  to  your  integrity.  But  now  you  are  my  prisoner  and 
must  lead  me  across  these  hills  out  of  the  way  of  the  enemy,  the  nearest  way  to 
Gowanus."  Howard  accordingly  conducted  the  army  by  a  passage-way  between 
his   house  and   horse   shed,  over  the  hills  and  woods  east  of  his  house  till  they 


came  to  the  cleared  land  north  of  the  woods.  The  horses  drew  the  artillery  up 
the  hill  in  a  slanting  direction  and  halted  on  the  brow  to  breathe  a  little.  The 
army  then  proceeded  west  and  came  out  at  Baker's  Tavern,  by  the  Gowanus  road. 
The  British  took  Adj.  Jeronimus  Hoagland  (Lieut.  Troop)  and  Lieut.  Dunscomb, 
American  patrols,  at  the  big  white  oak  (since  struck  by  lightning),  in  the  middle  of 
the  road  by  the  mile-post,  a  little  east  of  Howard's. — Onderdonk. 

CLOVE    ROAD. 

"  Meanwhile  a  heavy  force  from  Clinton  and  Cornwallis'  left,  near  Bedford,  had 
cut  the  American  lines  at  the  Clove  Road,  and  Col.  Miles'  panic-stricken  troops 
were  flying  for  their  lives."  Two  roads  met  at  the  old  highway  to  Jamaica  (Fulton 
street),  one,  the  "Clove  road,"  running  thence  south  to  Flatbush,  and  the  other, 
the  "Cripplebush  road,"  running  north  to  Newtown,  both  nearly  parallell  to  the 
present  Nostrand  avenue. 

THE  BEDFORD  SETTLEMENT 

was  located  at  the  intersection  of  the  old  highway  to  Jamaica,  with  the  Clove 
road  to  Flatbush,  on  the  south,  and  with  the  Cripplebush  road  to  Newtown,  on 
the  north,  and  extending  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  each  way  from  that  point. 
The  main  highway,  or  Jamaica  road— that  which  led  up  from  Brooklyn  Ferry  — 
after  passing  through  Bedford,  kept  on  still  north  of  the  hills,  and  crossed  them  at 
the  "Jamaica  Pass,"  about  four  miles  from  the  fortified  line.  From  this  branched 
three  roads  leading  to  the  village  in  the  plain.  The  most  direct  was  that  to  Flat- 
bush, which  cut  through  the  ridge  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  works. 

When  the  British  columns  reached  Bedford  Corners,  the  profound  silence  and 
secrecy  which  had  previously  characterized  their  movements  gave  way  to  a  feeling 
of  exultant  joy.  It  was  then  half-past  eight  o'clock,  and  the  Americans  were  as 
yet  unaware  that  they  bad  left  Flatlands. 


THE  PORT  OR  MILL  ROAD. 

Stiles  says :  "The  impetuous  Hessian  yagers  eagerly  pressed  forward  into 
the  woods  south  of  the  Port  road,  driving  the  American  riflemen  before  them, 
and  taking  possession  of  the  coverts  and  lurking  places  from  which  they  dis- 
lodged them." 

The  Port  road  was  a  lane  diverging  from  the  Flatbush  turnpike,  near  the 
present  city  line,  and  extending  to  the  East  river  across  Frecke's  mill-dam.  It 
followed  the  general  line  of  the  present  First  street.  In  the  original  deed  from 
the  Indians,  1670,  mention  is  made  of  it  as  follows  :  "All  that  parcel  of  land  and 
tract  of  land  in  and  about  Bedford,  within  the  jurisdiction  of  Breuckelen,  begin- 
ning at  Hendrick  Van  Aarnheim's  land  by  a  swamp  of  water,  and  stretching  to 
the  hills,  then  going  along  the  hills  to  the  port,  or  entrance  thereof,  and  so  to  the 
Rockaway  footh — the  path." 

This  "  port,"  or  "  entrance,"  as  it  is  called,  is  situate  in  the  valley,  on  the  Flat- 
bush turnpike,  near  the  "  Brush,"  or  Valley  Tavern,  and  a  short  distance  beyond 
the  three-mile  post  from  Breuckelen  ferry.     A  freestone  monument  was  placed 


here  to  designate  the  patent  line  between  Breuckelen  and  Flatbush.  The  Flat- 
bush  Pass  and  road,  at  the  junction  of  the  Brooklyn  and  Flatbush  turnpike  with 
the  Coney  Island  plank  road,  and  now  within  the  limits  of  Prospect  park.  The 
defenses  of  this  Pass  were,  first,  a  sort  of  crescent-shaped  intrenchment,  just 
within  the  village  of  Flatbush,  and  lying  diagonally  across  the  main  street,  a  little 
south  of  Judge  Martense's  house,  with  a  ditch  of  considerable  depth  on  its 
northerly  side ;  and,  secondly,  a  small  redoubt,  mounting  a  few  small  pieces  of 
artillery  at  the  Valley  Grove,  to  guard  the  passage  through  the  Port  road  and  by 
direct  route  to  Brooklyn. 


,„...,   3,- 


Furman,  in  his  notes  on  Brooklyn,  says  :  "In  this  battle,  part  of  the  British 
army  marched  down  a  lane  or  road  (Port  road)  leading  from  the  Brush  tavern  (at 
Valley  Grove)  to  Gowanus,  pursuing  the  Americans.  Several  of  the  American 
riflemen,  in  order  to  be  more  secure,  and  at  the  same  time-more  effectually  to  suc- 
ceed in  their  designs,  had  posted  themselves  in  the  high  trees  near  the  road.  One 
of  them  shot  the  English  Major,  Grant ;  in  this  he  passed  unobserved.  Again  he 
loaded  his  deadly  rifle  and  tired  ;  another  English  officer  fell.  He  was  then 
marked,  and  a  platoon  ordered  to  advance  and  fire  into  the  tree,  which  order  was 
immediately  carried  into  execution,  and  the  rifleman  fell  to  the  ground,  dead. 
After  the  battle  was  over  the  two  British  officers  were  buried  in  a  field  near  where 
they  fell,  and  their  graves  fenced  in  with  some  posts  and  rails,  where  the  remains 
still  rest." 

Stiles  says:  "  Sterling,  finding  that  he  was  fast  being  surrounded,  saw  that 
his  only  chance  of  escape  was  to  drive  Cornwallis,  who  was  then  occupying  the 
Cortelyou  house  as  a  redoubt,  up  the  Port  road  towards  Flatbush,  and  by  getting 
between  him  and  Fort  Box,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  creek,  to  escape,  under 
cover  of  its  guns,  across  Brower's  mill-dam.  He  knew  that  his  attack  upon 
Sterling  would,  at  all  events,  give  him  time  for  his  escape  to  his  countrymen,  whom 
he  saw  struggling  through  the  salt  morasses  and  across  the  narrow  causeway  at 
Frecke's  mill  pond." 

Bout  received  a  confirmatory  patent  of  the  premises,  which  covered  the  neck 
of  land  on  which  a  few  years  ago  were  located  Frecke*s  and  Denton's  flour  mills 


and  also  a  considerable  tract  east  of  Frecke's  mill  pond,  extending  to  the  road  in 
the  Village  of  Brooklyn.  Upon  Bout's  patent  was  located  Frecke's  mill,  or  the 
"Old  Gowanus  Mill,"  probably  the  oldest  in  the  Town  of  Breukelen  *  *  *  This 
mill  pond  was  formed  by  damming  off  the  head  of  Gowanus  Kil,  and  the  old 
mill  was  located  just  north  of  the  present  Union,  west  of  Nevin  street,  and  be- 
tween that  street  and  Bond. 

DENTON'S  MILL, 

or  the  "Yellow  Mill,"  in  Gowanus,  was  also  built  upon  Bout's  patent,  by  Adam  and 
Nicholas,  the  sons  of  Adam  Brower,  in  1709.  The  mill  pond  was  formed  by  the 
damming  off  a  branch  of  the  Gowanus  Kil,  and  the  mill  was  located  on  the  north- 
east side  of  the  present  First  street,  about  midway  between  Second  and  Third 
avenues.  The  dwelling-house,  which  was  burned  down  about  1852,  was  in  Car- 
roll, midway  between  Nevins  street  and  Third  avenue. 

The  accompanying  illustration,  showing  the  several  places  described,  is  from 
an  old  painting  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Teunis  Bergen.  The  Gowanus  road  and 
the  old  Schoonmaker  house  is  shown  in  the  foreground  ;  beyond  this,  the  Cortleyou 
house  (a  part  of  which  is  still  standing  in  the  rear  of  the  brick  block,  corner  of 
Fifth  avenue  and  Third  street),  showing  a  small  section  of  the  Port  road.  The 
mill  pond  and  Denton's  mill  and  house  are  shown  in  the  distance. 

ALARM-POST. 

FIRST   REFORMED    PROTESTANT    DUTCH    CHURCH. 

Brooklyn  Church  was  to  be  the  alarm-post  where  the  covering  party  was  to 
concentrate  in  case  the  enemy  attacked  during  the  night.— Johnston. 

He  (Major-General  Mifflin)  then  assigned  us  our  several  stations  which  we 
•were  to  occupy  as  soon  as  it  was  dark,  and  pointed  out  Brooklyn  Church  as  an 
alarm-post,  to  which  the  whole  were  to  repair  and  unitedly  oppose  the  enemy,  in 
case  they  discovered  our  movement  and  made  an  attack  in  consequence.  My 
regiment  was  posted  in  a  redoubt  on  the  left,  and  in  the  lines  of  the  great  road 
below  Brooklyn  Church.  *  *  *  Having  arrived  at  the  left  of  the  church,  1  halted 
to  take  up  my  camp  equipage,  which,  in  the  course  of  the  night,  I  had  carried 
there  by  a  small  party. — Colonel  Hand's  Account  of  the  Retreat, 

This  church  was  the  second  one  which  had  occupied  the  same  site.  It  was 
built  in  1766,  and  stood  in  the  middle  of  the  Jamaica  road  (now  Fulton  street),  and 
immediately  opposite  to  a  burying  ground  on  the  west  side  of  Fulton  street,  be- 
tween Bridge  and  Lawrence  streets.  It  was  unprotected  by  fence  or  enclosure. 
The  road  was  spacious,  and  a  carriage  and  wagon  track  passed  around  each  end, 
forming  an  oblong  circle,  remitting  at  either  end.  There  was  a  door  at  each  end 
of  the  building. 

WASHINGTON'S    HEADQUARTERS,  BROOKLYN, 

WHERE   THE   COUNCIL    OF    WAR    WAS    HELD. 

The  question  has  often  been  raised  as  to  whether  Washington  had  a  "  head- 
quarters" in  Brooklyn,  either  previous  to  or  during  the  battle  of  Long  Island,  and 
if  so,  where  located.  Tradition,  the  most  unreliable  of  all  sources  of  information, 
locates  it  at  the  old  Reformed   Dutch  Church,  on  Fulton  street,  and  at  the  Pierre- 


pont  mansion,  on  Montague  street.  Other  places  have  been  named  on  the 
authority  of  old  veterans  who  "  remembered  all  about  it."  With  the  exception  of 
the  time  spent  in  the  "  Council  of  War,"  to  determine  the  advisability  of  a  retreat 
or  further  defensive  operations,  Washington  spent  but  very  little  time  at  any  one 
place.  He  was  too  anxious  and  too  busy  watching  the  movements  of  the  enemy 
and  examining  the  lines  of  defense  to  remain  long  at  any  one  point.  His  "head- 
quarters "  were  really  in  the  saddle. 

Stiles,  Vol.  I.,  page  57,  says:  "The  fact  is,  that  Washington's  headquarters 
were  in  New  York ;  and  although  he  went  over  to  Brooklyn  after  the  commence- 
ment of  the  unfortunate  battle  of  Long  Island,  on  the  27th  of  August,  1776,  there 
is  no  evidence  or  probability  that  he  went  outside  of  the  American  lines,  which 
extended  from  the  Wallabout  to  the  Gowanus  mill  creek." 

In  a  foot  note,  Vol.  I.,  page  284,  Stiles  says:  "The  old  Cornell  house,  after- 
wards known  as  the  Pierrepont  mansion,  which  formerly  stood  on  the  line  of  the 
present  Montague  street,  near  the  little  iron  foot-bridge  which  spans  the  carriage- 
way, was  the  headquarters  of  Washington  during  this  important  contest.  *  *  * 
It  was  here  (and  not  at  the  old  Dutch  Church  in  Fulton  street,  as  has  been 
erroneously  stated  by  Lossing  and  Onderdonk,  which  was  merely  the  alarm-post  of 
the  American  army)  that  the  council  of  war  was  held  which  determimed  upon 
the  retreat  and  where  the  orders  for  that  movement  were  promulgated.  This  is 
on  the  authority  of  Col.  Fish,  the  father  of  Governor  Hamilton  Fish,  and  one  of 
Washington's  military  family  who,  in  1824,  during  Lafayette's  visit  to  Brooklyn, 
called  the  attention  of  the  distinguished  visitor  to  the  fact,  and  designated  the  very 
positions  in  the  room  occupied  by  the  council." 

This  array  of  facts  is  very  formidable,  but  contemporaneous  authority — the 
evidence  of  one  who  was  a  member  of  that  council — is  stronger. 

Document  No.  6,  "  Memoirs  of  the  Long  Island  Historical  Society,"  Vol.  III., 
is  a  letter  from  Gen.  John  Morin  Scott  to  John  Jay,  dated  September  6,  1776,  in 
which  he  says:  "I  was  summoned  to  a  Council  of  War  at  Mr.  Philip  Living- 
ston's house,  on  Thursday,  29th  ult.,  never  having  had  reason  to  expect  a  propo- 
sition for  a  retreat  till  it  was  mentioned." 

Stiles  says  :  "  The  Livingston  mansion-house  stood  on  the  east  side  of  the 
present  Hicks  street,  about  four  hundred  feet  south  of  Joralemon  street,  and 
during  the  Revolutionary  War,  in  consequence  of  Mr.  Livingston's  adherence  to 
the  American  cause,  was  appropriated  by  the  British,  who  then  occupied  Brooklyn, 
to  the  purposes  of  a  naval  hospital.  After  Mr.  Livingston's  death  the  trustees 
appointed  by  legislative  act  of  February  25,  1784,  to  sell  his  estate,  disposed  of 
that  portion  known  as  "the  distilling  property"  to  Daniel  McCormick  in  July, 
1785,  and  on  the  29th  of  April,  1803,  they  conveyed  to  Teunis  Joralemon  the 
property  south  of  the  distillery,  and  the  Livingston  mansion  thenceforward  became 
known  as  the  Joralemon  house.     It  was  taken  down  at  the  opening  of  Hicks  street. 

"  It  was  a  large,  double  frame  house,  the  more  modern  portion  of  which  was 
built  by  Mr.  Livingston  just  previously  to  the  war  for  his  only  son,  who  was  then 
making  the  tour  of  Europe  and  was  to  be  married  on  his  return,  which,  however, 
was  prevented  by  his  death  abroad.  The  house  was  constructed  in  the  very  best 
manner,  having  costly  carved  mantels  imported  from  Italy  and  other  furniture  at 
that  day  unusual  to  American  houses.  During  the  occupation  of  the  island  it  was 
used  as  an  hospital  for  the  British  navy,  probably  as  a  justifiable  retaliation  upon 


its  owner,  who  was  a  prominent  member  of  the  Continental  Congress.  Attached 
to  the  house  was  an  extensive  garden,  which  the  well-known  taste  and  abundant 
means  of  Mr.  Livingston  had  made  the  finest  in  this  part  of  America.  *  *  * 
When  the  British  left  Brooklyn  little  remained  of  it  but  the  name." 

The  property  was  purchased  in  1803  by  Teunis  Joraleman  from  the  executors 
of  Philip  Livingston,  Esq.  It  continued  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Joralemon  up  to 
the  time  of  his  death  in  1840.     The  house  was  destroyed  by  fire  the  following  year. 

Referring  to  the  Livingston  place,  the  New  York  Mercury,  under  date  of 
February  21,  1774,  says:  "A  ferry  is  now  established  from  the  Coenties  Market, 
New  York,  to  the  landing  place  of  P.  Livingston,  Esq.,  and  Henry  Remsen,  on 
Long  Island,  and  another  from  Fly  Market,  and  a  third  from  Peck  Slip  to  the 
present  ferry  house  at  Brooklyn." 

Stiles  says  :  "  The  '  landing  place  of  P.  Livingston,  Esq.,  and  Henry  Remsen  ' 
was  near  the  foot  of  the  present  Joralemon  street.  This  ferry  was  called  '  St. 
George's  Ferry,'  but  did  not  exist  long,  being  discontinued  in  1776,  and  the  ferry- 
house,  together  with  Livingston's  distillery,  was  burned  after  the  war." 

FORT  GREENE,  OR  WASHINGTON  PARK. 

Old  Fort  Greene  was  acquired  by  the  city  in  1847  and  converted  into  a 
pleasure  ground.  It  contains  about  thirty  acres  and  has,  in  places,  an  altitude 
sufficient  to  overlook  the  highest  buildings  in  the  city.  Previous  to  the  battle  of 
Long  Island  it  was  a  thickly  wooded  hill  belonging  to  John  Cowenhoven,  Sr.,  his 
son,  Rem  Cowenhoven,  and  Carter  Wooster.  It  was  known  as  Cowenhoven's 
boschje  or  woods.  In  the  spring  of  1776,  when  the  British  forces  began  to  move 
toward  New  York,  the  hill  became  one  of  the  redoubts  along  the  American  line  of 
defence  through  Brooklyn.  It  was  partly  cleared  of  its  timber,  mounted  with 
guns  and  became  known  as  Fort  Putnam. 

After  the  Revolution,  a  road  connecting  Fulton  street  with  the  Newtown 
turnpike  was  cut  through  the  Fort  Greene  hills.  In  18 14,  when  a  descent  upon 
New  York  by  the  English  fleet  was  apprehended,  students,  societies  and  all  classes 
of  citizens  of  Brooklyn  and  New  York,  also  New  Jersey,  assisted  in  fashioning  it 
into  a  stronghold  of  defence  again,  and  it  was  garrisoned  by  troops  until  peace 
was  declared,  in  February,  181 5.  It  was  during  this  time  that  it  was  called  Fort 
Greene.  The  name  of  Fort  Greene  had  been  applied  to  a  redoubt  situated  about 
where  Atlantic  and  Pacific  avenues  and  Bond  street  now  form  a  square.  After 
the  War  of  1812  the  fort  was  used  as  a  storage  place  for  ammunition  until  the 
people  had  the  practice  abolished  because  of  menace  to  life  and  property.  For 
two  decades  before  its  conversion  to  park  purposes  the  hill  was  a  tract  of 
unused  land. 


BATTLE  OF  LONG  ISLAND. 

PRECEDING    EVENTS. 

The  first  movement  which  led  to  the  planting  of  an  independent  nation  in 
America  occurred  on  the  5th  of  September,  1774,  when  delegates  from  twelve 
British- American  provinces  met  in  the  hall  of  the  Carpenters'  Association  in  Phila- 
delphia and  organized  themselves  into  a  Continental  Congress,  having  for  their 
object  the  consideration  of  the  political  state  of  the  colonies  ;  also  the  devising  of 
measures  for  obtaining  relief  from  oppression,  and  to  unite  in  efforts  to  secure  for 
themselves  and  their  posterity  the  free  enjoyment  of  natural  and  chartered  rights 
and  liberties  in  a  perfect  union  with  Great  Britain.  Very  few  of  them  had  aspira- 
tions vet  fur  political  independence. 

Unexpected  events  followed  in  rapid  succession.  The  news  which  came  from 
Boston  from  time  to  time  of  the  petty  tyranny  of  Gage  and  his  troops  endured  by 
the  patriotic  citizens,  and  the  marvellous  fortitude  of  the  afflicted,  led  Washington 
to  exclaim  before  the  Virginia  Convention,  "  I  will  raise  a  thousand  men,  subsist 
them  at  my  own  expense,  and  march  with  them  at  the  head  for  the  relief  of  Boston." 

The  battle  of  Lexington,  fought  on  the  19th  of  April,  1775,  was  the  opening 
act  in  the  great  drama  of  the  War  for  Independence.  The  bells  that  were  rung  on 
that  warm  April  morning — the  mercury  marking  850  in  the  shade  at  noon — tolled 
the  knell  of  British  domination  in  the  old  thirteen  colonies. 

On  the  Green  at  Lexington  stands  a  monument  erected  to  the  memory  of 
the  first  patriots  who  fell  in  defense  of  American  independence ;  on  this  is  in- 
scribed the  following  : 

"  Sacred  to  the  Liberty  and  Rights  of  Mankind  !  !  !  The  Freedom  and  Inde- 
pendence of  America. — Sealed  with  the  Blood  of  Her  Sons. — This  Monument  is 
erected  by  the  inhabitants  of  Lexington  under  the  patronage  and  at  the  expense  of 
the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts."     *     *     *     * 

The  war  begun  at  Lexington  that  morning,  was  seconded  at  Concord  at  the 
middle  of  the  forenoon,  and  at  meridian  the  same  day  British  power  began  to  wane, 
when  British  regulars  made  a  hasty  retreat  before  an  inferior  number  of  provincial 
militia. 

The  Massachusetts  Committee  of  Safety  sent  a  circular  to  all  the  towns  of  the 
province  calling  on  the  people  to  "  hasten  and  arrange  by  all  possible  means  the 
enlistment  of  men  to  form  the  army,  and  send  them  forward  to  headquarters  at 
Cambridge." 

The  patriots  determined  on  aggressive  movements  to  weaken  the  British 
power  on  the  continent.  It  was  believed  that  the  ministry  intended  a  scheme  for 
separating  New  Fngland  from  the  rest  of  the  colonies  by  a  military  occupation  of 
the  Hudson  Valley  and  Lake  Champlain,  the  latter,  the  "  Indian  door  of  the 
country,"  opening  between  the  Hudson  and  the  St.  Lawrence. 


v 


GEN.  GEOPxGE  WASHINGTON 


Fort  Ticonderoga  was  captured  by  the  American  troops  under  Col.  Ethan 
Allen,  the  ioth  of  May,  1775. 

The  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  fought  on  the  17th  of  January  following,  compelled 
the  withdrawal  of  the  British  troops,  and  they  passed  over  the  water  to  Boston, 
never  again  to  appear  on  the  mainland  of  Massachusets. 

Washington  arrived  at  Cambridge  on  the  morning  of  July  2d  and  took  com- 
mand of  the  army  on  the  following  morning.  He  arranged  his  army  in  three  grand 
divisions,  and  at  once  began  the  erection  of  fortifications,  and  ere  many  months 
passed  he  was  master  of  the  situation. 

"  If  they  retain  possession  of  the  Heights,"  said  Admiral  Shuldam,  "I  cannot 
keep  a  ship  in  the  harbor."  It  was  therefore  determined  to  drive  the  Americans 
from  their  redoubts. 

Twenty- four  hundred  veterans  were  placed  under  the  command  of  Lord 
Percy  and  ordered  to  drive  the  Americans  from  their  intrenched  hills.  A  night 
was  selected  for  the  attack,  but  that  afternoon  a  violent  storm  of  wind  and  rain 
came  up  from  the  south,  which  increased  to  a  gale.  Some  of  the  British  vessels 
were  driven  ashore,  and  the  storm  prevented  any  further  movements  by  the  enemy. 
A  council  of  war  was  called,  and  it  was  determined  to  evacuate  Boston.  This  was 
delayed  until  Sunday,  the  17th.  On  Saturday,  the  16th,  Washington  seized  and 
fortified  Nook  Hill,  by  which  he  held  the  British  completely  at  his  mercy,  and  on 
the  following  morning  the  British  sailed  out  of  Boston  harbor.  For  some  ten  days 
the  fleet  lay  at  anchor  in  Nantucket  Roads  and  then  sailed  away.  "  Neither  hell, 
Hull  nor  Halifax,"  wrote  a  British  officer,  "  can  offer  a  worse  shelter  than  Boston." 
Of  the  three,  Halifax  proved  to  be  the  point  of  destination,  although  Boston  was  to 
them  no  doubt,  figurative  of  the  first.  Washington  had  ordered  five  regiments  of 
infantry  and  a  part  of  the  artillery  to  New  York  the  day  after  the  evacuation. 
When  the  fleet  sailed,  the  remainder  of  the  army  followed  with  the  exception  of  five 
regiments.  Washington  left  Boston  for  New  York  on  April  4,  fully  impressed 
with  the  idea  that  the  objective  point  of  the  British  was  New  York. 

PREPARATIONS  FOR  THE  DEFENSE  OF  NEW  YORK  HARBOR. 
Early  in  January,  1776,  General  Charles  Lee,  whose  rank  in  the  American  army 
was  next  to  that  of  Washington,  urged  a  plan  of  his  own  to  secure  New  York, 
which  was  believed  at  that  time  to  be  threatened.  Lee's  instructions  were  to 
endeavor  to  enlist  troops  in  Connecticut  and  New  Jersey,  "  such  volunteers  as  are 
willing  to  join  you,  and  can  be  expeditiously  raised,  repair  to  the  city  of  New  York, 
etc."  On  his  way  from  Cambridge,  General  Lee  stopped  long  enough  in  Connecti- 
cut to  enlist  twelve  hundred  men,  and  reached  New  York  with  his  recruits  on 
February  4.  On  reaching  the  provincial  boundary  he  was  met  by  delegates  from 
the  Provincial  Congress  begging  him  to  go  no  further.  The  captain  of  the  Asia 
man-of-war,  at  anchor  off  the  city,  with  Tryon  the  royal  Governor  on  board,  had 
threatened  to  destroy  the  city  if  he  should  enter.  Lee  paid  no  attention  to  their 
hostile  threats,  and  on  his  arrival  in  New  York  dispossessed  the  local  Committee  of 
Safety  of  all  authority,  Congress  appointing  in  its  place,  at  his  suggestion,  three 
of  their  own  number  to  confer  with  him  in  regard  to  the  best  means  of  defense. 
Notwithstanding  the  obstacles  which  confronted  him,  Lee  believed  it  possible 
to  defend  the  entrance  to  New  York  harbor  by  fortifying  all  the  approaches. 
Washington  did  not  deem  it  expedient,  but  the  Continental  Congress  had  resolved 


that  it  must  be  held,  and  he,  desiring  to  obey  the  order  of  Congress  with  scrupu- 
lous exactness,  promised  his  utmost  exertions  under  every  disadvantage.  The 
disadvantages  were,  indeed,  very  great,  and  owing  to  the  limited  time  for 
preparation,  seemed  almost  insurmountable.  It  was  necessary  to  be  on  the 
defensive  at  so  many  points,  so  many  fortifications  were  necessary,  and  so  many 
men  to  garrison  them  properly.  Lee  projected  the  fortifications  on  the  comprehen- 
sive scale  demanded  by  the  situation.  The  most  important  of  these  were  to  be  on 
Long  Island,  stretching  across  from  Wallabout  Bay  to  Gowanus  Creek.  There 
were  to  be  others  on  Long  Island  opposite  Hell  Gate,  to  guard  against  a 
movement  through  Long  Island  Sound ;  at  King's  Bridge,  where  Manhattan 
Island  almost  touched  the  mainland,  and  at  various  places  along  the  shores  of 
the  East  River  and  the  Hudson.  Hardly  had  Lee  projected  these  works  before 
he  was  ordered  to  South  Carolina  to  defend  Fort  Moultrie.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Gen.  Greene  who  continued  with  the  same  activity  and  determination, 
the  defensive  operations,  being  in  daily  expectation  of  the  appearance  of  the 
British  in  the  harbor  Immediately  on  the  arrival  of  Washington  a  thousand  men 
were  sent  to  Governor's  Island,  where  extensive  fortifications  were  erected.  Every- 
thing possible  was  done  to  obstruct  the  two  channels  by  which  East  River  com- 
municates with  the  inner  bay. 

From  Governor's  island  to  the  New  York  side,  vessels  were  firmly  anchored 
with  sharpened  timbers  projecting  from  them.  There,  too,  hulks  were  sunk  to 
increase  the  difficulty  of  forcing  a  passage.  This  precaution  had  also  been  taken 
on  the  Brooklyn  side  of  Governor's  Island,  and  the  channel  was  defended  by 
batteries  on  Brooklyn  Heights  and  Red  Hook,  as  well  as  by  the  batteries  upon 
Governor's  Island. 

The  present  area  of  Brooklyn  had  at  that  time  a  population  numbering  between 
three  and  four  thousand,  and  these  were  scattered  over  the  entire  territory,  cluster- 
ing a  little  thicker  around  the  ferry  and  the  tavern  near  it,  around  the  old  Dutch 
church  which  stood  in  the  middle  of  the  Jamaica  Road  (now  Fulton  Street) ; 
another  church  in  Bushwick,  later  known  as  Williamsburg,  and  around  Bedford 
Four  Corners,  not  far  from  where  the  present  Bedford  Avenue  intersects  Fulton 
Avenue.  These  settlements  included  but  a  small  portion  of  the  population.  The 
rest  were  scattered  about  on  the  farms  around  Flatbush,  the  village  of  Brooklyn, 
and  the  Gowanus  neighborhood. 

Field  says:"  The  lines  which  defended  the  peninsular  upon  which  the  two 
villages  of  Brooklyn  church  and  Brooklyn  ferry  were  erected,  were  more  imposing 
in  appearance  than  formidable  for  resistance." 

In  consequence  of  the  deep  indenture  of  the  land  by  Gowanus  creek  and  the 
mill-ponds  connected  with  it  on  the  south,  and  by  Wallabout  Bay  and  Remsen's 
mill-pond,  then  covering  the  site  of  City  Park  on  the  north,  a  water  front  of 
more  than  three  miles  was  guarded  by  a  line  of  entrenchments  less  than  a  mile 
and  a  half  in  extent.  The  low  ground  on  the  Wallabout  was  defended  by  a  wide 
ditch,  filled  by  the  tide,  the  channel  having  been  excavated  from  the  head  of 
Wallabout  Creek,  near  the  junction  of  Raymond  and  Tillery  Streets,  to  the  foot  ot 
the  heights  near  Boliver  Street.  Its  course  followed  by  the  low  ground  between 
Raymond  and  Navy  Streets,  through  which  the  water  falling  on  the  adjacent  hills 
was  drained.  The  earth  from  the  ditch  was  formed  into  a  breastwork, /raised 
with  sharp   stakes   set    firmly    into   the  bank,  crossing   each    other  and   projecting 


forward  at  an  angle  which  would  bring  their  points  to  the  level  of  the  breast  of 
the  assailant.  From  the  east  end  of  the  ditch,  a  breastwork  similarly  defended, 
led  up  the  face  of  the  hill  to  Fort  Putnam,  on  the  site  of  Washington  Park. 

Fort  Putnam — The  strong  redoubt  known  by  this  name,  was  an  earthwork 
defended  by  a  ditch  and  a  broad  area  of  abatis  in  front,  formed  of  the  tall  forest 
trees  which,  until  that  time,  had  covered  the  site.  The  woods  had  extended  down 
the  slope  as  far  as  the  present  junction  of  Clinton  and  Flatbush  Avenues  on  the 
west,  and  almost  to  the  Jamaica  road  on  the  south,  but  they  were  now  felled,  over 
many  acres,  with  their  tops  pointing  outwards,  and  presented  a  tangled  mass  of 
sharpened  branches  interwoven  with  the  brushwood,  that  rendered  the  passage 
of  a  body  of  troops  nearly  impossible. 

Fort  Putnam  mounted  five  heavy  guns,  and  occupied  a  height  extending 
south  of  De  Kalb  Avenue,  commanding  the  Wallabaut  Bridge  Road,  Fort  Green 
Lane  and  most  of  the  low  ground  in  front,  as  far  as  Grand  Avenue.  It  was,  how- 
ever, unfortunately  overlooked  by  an  eminence,  distant  about  six  hundred  yards 
to  the  south-east,  near  the  crossing  of  Clinton  and  De  Kalb  Avenues. 

Johnston  says:  "To  defend  the  approach  between  the  bay  and  the  marsh, 
the  engineers  laid  out  three  principal  forts  and  two  redoubts,  with  breastworks 
connecting  them.  *  *  *  On  the  left  rose  the  high  ground  now  known  as  Fort 
Green  Place  or  Washington  Park,  one  hundred  feet  above  the  sea  level,  and  on 
the  right,  between  the  main  road  and  the  marsh,  were  lower  elevations  on  lands 
then  owned  by  Rutgert  Van  Brunt  and  Johannes  De  Bevoise.  *  *  *  Two 
of  the  works  were  erected  on  the  right  of  the  road  and  received  the  names  of 
Fort  Green  and  Fort  Box  ;  three  were  on  the  left,  and  were  known  as  the  Oblong 
Redoubt,  Fort  Putman,  and  the  redoubt  on  its  left." 

Fort  Box — Field  says  :  "  South  of  Freeke's  mill-pond,  on  a  low  sand  hill 
overlooking  the  passage  between  Freeke's  and  Denton's  mill-ponds  — where  the 
Port  Road,  after  crossing  the  dam  of  the  former  to  the  west  side  of  the  pond, 
formed  a  curve  of  nearly  half  the  circumference  of  the  knoll — a  redoubt  mounting 
four  guns  had  been  constructed  to  command  the  crossing.  This  hill,  after  the 
destruction  of  the  redoubt  by  the  British  had  rendered  the  site  of  the  fortification 
doubtful,  was  known  as  Fort  Boerum  ;  but  at  this  period  it  was  called  Fort  Box,  in 
honor,  probably,  of  Major  Box,  the  officer  who  commanded  at  that  part  of  the 
lines." 

Johnston  says  :  "  That  it  stood  on  the  right  of  the  line,  is  beyond  question. 
Thus,  the  letter  of  a  spectator  of  the  battle  says  :  '  Our  lines  fronted  the  east.  On 
the  left,  near  the  lowest  part  of  the  above  described  bay  (Wallabout)  was  Fort  Put- 
nam, near  the  middle  of  Fort  Green,  and  towards  the  creek,  Fort  Box.'  In  his 
order  of  June  I,  General  Green  directs  five  companies  to  '  take  post  upon  the  right 
in  Fort  Box.'  *  *  *  The  work  appears  to  have  been  of  a  diamond  shape,  and 
was  situated  on  or  near  the  line  of  Pacific  Street,  a  short  distance  above  Bond." 

Fort  Green — "About  three  hundred  yards  to  the  left  of  Fort  Box,"  says 
Johnston,  "  a  short  distance  above  Bond  street,  between  State  and  Schermerhorn, 
stood  Fort  Green,  star  shaped,  mounting  six  guns,  and  provided  with  well  and 
magazines.  Colonel  Little,  its  commander,  describes  it  as  the  largest  of  the  works 
on  Long  Island,  and  this  statement  is  corroborated  by  the  fact  that  its  garrison 
consisted  of  an  entire  regiment,  which  was  not  the  case  with  the  other  forts,  and 
that  it  was  provided  with  nearly  double  the  number  of  pikes.     It  occupied  an  im- 


5 

portant  position  on  one  of  the  small  hills,  near  the  centre  of  that  part  of  the  line 
lying  southwest  of  Washington  Park,  and  its  guns  commanded  the  approach  by 
the  Jamaica  highway.  Being  the  principal  work  on  the  line,  the  engineers,  or 
possibly  Little's  regiment,  named  it  after  their  brigade  commander." 

Oblong  Redoubt— Still  further  to  the  left,  and  on  the  other  side  of  the 
road,  a  small  circular  redoubt  called  '  Oblong  Redoubt,'  was  thrown  up  on  what 
was  then  a  piece  of  rising  ground,  at  the  corner  of  I)e  Kalb  and  Hudson  Avenues. 
This  redoubt  had  very  nearly  direct  command  of  the  road,  and  in  connection  with 
Fort  Green,  was  depended  upon  to  defend  the  centre  of  the  line.  From  the 
Oblong  Redoubt  the  line  ascended  northeastly  to  the  top  of  the  hill  included  in 
Washington  Park,  where  the  fourth  in  the  chain  of  works  was  erected.  This  was 
Fort  Putnam. 

Redoubt  on  the  Left — At  the  eastern  termination  of  the  hill,  a  short 
distance  from  Fort  Putnam,  and  on  a  lower  grade,  stood  the  last  of  the  works, 
which  is  identified  in  the  orders  and  letters  of  the  day  as  the  "redoubt  on  the  left." 
It  was  a  small  affair  and  occupied  a  point  at  about  the  middle  of  the  present 
Cumberland  Street,  nearly  midway  between  Willoughby  and  Myrtle  Avenues,  but 
in  1776  the  site  was  twenty  feet  higher  and  appeared  as  a  well-defined  spur  extend- 
ing out  from  Fort  Putnam. 

Corkscrew  Fort  and  Cobble  Hill— "  Within  the  lines  of  the  entrench- 
ments" says  Field,  "two  other  fortifications  had  been  constructed  to  command 
important  points.  One  of  these  was  erected  upon  a  conical  hill  called  Ponkiesberg, 
which  rose  in  such  prominent  and  well-defined  outline  from  the  nearby  plane 
surface,  as  to  excite  the  query  if  it  was  not  the  work  of  human  hands.  It  occupied 
the  western  half  of  the  block  bounded  by  Atlantic,  Pacific,  Court  and  Clinton 
Streets,  and  its  elevation   above  the  present  grade  was  from  sixty  to  eighty  feet." 

"During  the  War  of  181 2  another  redoubt  was  erected  upon  this  hill  and 
called  Fort  Swift,  but  at  the  period  of  the  Revolution  it  was  known  as  Corkscrew 
Fort  and  Cobble  Hill." — American  Archives,  I,  418. 

"  The  work  mounted  four  guns,  and  from  its  central  interior  position  could 
have  prevented  the  enemy  from  securing  a  foothold  on  the  peninsular  in  the  rear  or 
flank  of  the  main  line  in  case  they  effected  a  landing  back  of  Red  Hook  or  crossed 
Gowanus  Creek  above." — Johnston. 

Redoubt  at  the  Mill — Near  the  corner  of  the  present  De  Graw  and 
Bond  Streets,  a  small  battery  or  breastwork  in  the  form  of  a  right  angle,  mounting 
one  gun,  was  thrown  up  to  cover  the  narrow  passage  over  a  mill  dam  which  here 
crossed  Gowanus  Creek.  It  stood  at  the  extremity  of  a  long,  low  sand  hill  and 
the  dam  connected  this  point  with  a  tongue  of  land  on  the  opposite  side,  on  which 
two  mills  were  built,  known  as  the  upper  or  yellow  and  lower  mills.  The  upper 
mill  was  immediately  opposite,  the  redoubt,  and  it  was  here  that  the  Port  Road 
came  down  to  the  edge  of  the  creek. 

Red  Hook — Fort  Defiance — This  work  was  originally  a  single  water 
battery,  mounting  four  eighteen-pounders,  en  barbette,  to  prevent  the  passage  of 
ships  east  of  Governor's  Island,  as  well  as  to  keep  the  enemy  from  landing  at  the 
southern  extremity  of  the  peninsular.  Washington  speaks  of  it  as  being  "  a  small 
but  exceedingly  strong  fort."  It  was  located  near  the  intersection  of  present  Con- 
over  and  Van  Dyke  Streets,  south  of  Atlantic  Docks. 

FORT  Stirling— "  The    largest   fortification     built   on    Long    Island,"    says 


Field,  "  was  erected  upon  the  heights  overlooking  the  East  River,  its  guns  sweeping 
the  channel  between  Governors  Island  and  Brooklyn,  as  well  as  the  whole  width 
of  the  river.  It  was  star-shaped  and  covered  an  area  of  two  acres,  near  the 
junction  of  Pierrepont  and  Hicks  Streets.  Remains  of  a  fortification,  supposed  to 
occupy  its  site,  were  visible  within  the  memory  of  many  persons  now  living. 
Eight  heavy  guns  were  mounted  upon  its  breastwork  and  covered  the  approach  by 
land  along  the  low  ground  from  Atlantic  to  Hamilton  Avenue/' 

THE  ARMY  OF   DEFENSE. 

Continuing,  Field  says:  "To  defend  these  interior  lines  in  front  of  the  village 
of  Brooklyn  church,  a  force  of  eight  thousand  men  was  the  smallest  to  which  they 
could  have  been  entrusted  with  any  hope  of  success.  In  addition  to  this,  the 
exterior  lines  would  require  as  large  a  number  of  troops  to  hold  them  for  a  day 
against  only  an  equal  number  of  the  enemy.  All  the  force  which  Washington  had 
at  his  disposal  on  August  8,  to  meet  these  demands  and  to  provide  for  the 
exigencies  of  his  position  in  New  York,  amounted  to  only  seventeen  thousand  two 
hundred  and  twenty-five  men,  of  whom  three  thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty- 
eight  were  sick,  and  unfit  for  duty.  These  raw  undisciplined  troops  were  extended 
over  a  line  of  defense  reaching  from  King's  Bridge  on  Manhattan  Island,  to  Bedford 
on  Long  Island,  or  more  than  seventeen  miles  in  length.  The  urgent  representa- 
tions of  Washington  to  the  governors  of  Pennsylvania,  Maryland  and  the  New 
England  States,  that  he  was  in  reality  defending  the  gate  to  each  of  their  capitals, 
brought  nearly  ten  thousand  additional  militia  to  his  camp  during  the  succeeding 
fortnight.  But  of  the  twenty-seven  thousand  men  now  in  camps  on  Long  and 
Manhattan  Islands,  seven  thousand  were  in  the  hospitals  or  unfit  for  service  from 
illness. 

Up  to  within  a  few  days  of  the  battle,  General  Greene  and  his  men  continued 
work  upon  the  defenses  at  Long  Island.  Greene  had  been  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
major  general  on  the  9th,  and  his  old  brigade  on  Long  Island  given  to  Brigadier- 
General  John  Nixon,  of  Massachusetts.  For  some  time  before  the  battle,  Colonel 
Edward  Hand's  Pennsylvania  regiment  of  riflemen,  then  enrolling  five  hundred  and 
fifty  men,  was  the  only  force  occupying  the  broad  area  of  territory  between  the 
Brooklyn  lines  and  the  New  York  Bay.  Brigadier-General  Heard's  brigade  of 
five  New  Jersey  regiments  was  ordered  to  Long  Island  to  reinforce  Greene.  His 
division  now  consisting  of  these  two  brigades — Nixon's  and  Heard's — numbered, 
August  15,  two  thousand  nine  hundred  men  fit  for  duty.  Parts  of  two  Long 
Island  regiments  under  Col.  Josiah  Smith  and  Col.  Jeronimus  Remsen,  joined  him 
about  this  date,  and  Col.  Gay's  Connecticut  levies,  who  had  been  stationed  on  the 
east  side  of  the  river  since  August  1 ,  increased  this  number  to  something  over  thirty- 
five  hundred.  The  total  number  engaged  in  the  defense  of  Long  Island  on  the  day  of 
the  battle,  was  not  far  from  ten  thousand,  according  to  the  most  authentic  reports. 
Among  those  mentioned  who  held  commands  on  that  day  were,  Col.  Samuel  Miles, 
Col.  Samuel  J.  Atlee,  Lieut.  Col.  Nicholas  Lutz,  Lieut.  Col.  Peter  Kachlein  (some- 
times spelt  Kichline)  of  Pennsylvania;  Col.  William  Smallwood,  of  Maryland,  with 
Mordecai  Gist  as  first  major,  and  Col.  John  Haslet  of  Delaware.  Of  the  Connecti- 
cut troops  were  Gen.  Samuel  Holden  Parsons,  Col.  Jedediah  Huntington,  Col. 
Samuel  Wyllys,  and  Col.  Lasher  of  the  New  York  militia. 

In  the  midst  of  his  duties  Gen  Greene  was  taken  sick  and  obliged  to  relinquish 


his  command.  "  I  am  very  sorry  "  he  wrote  Washington  on  the  i  5th,  "  that  I  am 
under  the  necessity  of  acquainting  you  that  I  am  confined  to  my  bed  with  a 
raging  fever."  On  the  20th,  Washington  issued  the  following  order  to  GeneraJ 
Sullivan  to  take  command  on  Long  Island  during  the  absence  of  Gen.  Greene: 
"  General  Sullivan  is  to  take  command  upon  Long  Island  till  General  Greene's 
state  of  health  will  permit  him  to  resume  it,  and  Brigadier  Lord  Stirling  is  to  take 
charge  of  General  Sullivan's  division  till  he  returns  to  it  again." 

General  Sullivan,  who  had  recently  returned  from  Canada,  at  once  assumed 
command,  but  was  superceded  four  days  later  by  General  Israel  Putnam.  Such 
was  the  condition  of  affairs  on  the  American  side  on  the  eve  of  the  great  battle. 


LANDING    OF    THE    BRITISH    TROOPS   ON 
LONG    ISLAND. 

In  June,  1776,  General  Howe  sailed  with  his  recruited  army  from  Halifax  for 
New  York,  and  arrived  at  Sandy  Hook  near  the  close  of  that  month.  On  the 
8th  of  July,  he  landed  nine  thousand  men  on  Staten  Island,  and  there  awaited 
the  arrival  of  his  brother,  Admiral  Howe,  with  his  fleet  bearing  British  regulars 
and  German  hirelings.  These  and  the  broken  forces  of  Clinton  and  Parker,  from 
the  Carolinas,  soon  joined  General  Howe,  and  by  the  middle  of  August  the  com- 
bined land  and  naval  force  of  the  British,  numbering  almost  thirty  thousand  men, 
prepared  to  crush  the  American  army  and  bring  the  rebellion  to  an  end.  At  Hali- 
fax, Lord  Howe  declared  :  "  Peace  will  be  made  within  ten  days  after  my  arrival." 

"The  morning  of  the  twenty-second  of  August '' says  Field,  "  dawned  with 
tropical  brilliancy,  upon  a  scene  of  unequaled  interest  to  the  spectators  of  both 
armies.  Long  before  the  sun  had  risen,  the  British  army  had  been  under  arms, 
and  from  the  various  camps  the  entire  force  was  marching,  with  the  loud  strains 
of  martial  music,  to  the  place  of  embarkation.  The  men-of-war  had  quit  their 
anchorage  and  were  standing  up  the  bay  under  easy  sail,  with  open  ports  and  guns 
ready  for  action.  At  the  landing  on  Staten  Island,  seventy-five  fleet  boats, 
attended  by  three  bateaux  and  two  galleys,  received  four  thousand  of  the  Hessian 
troops  on  board.  Another  corps  of  five  thousand  men  was  embarked  upon  the 
transports,  which  now  took  up  their  position  under  the  guns  of  the  men-of-war, 
attended  by  ten  bateaux  to  aid  in  their  landing. 

"  The  scene  was  not  less  magnificent  than  appalling.  The  greatest  naval  and 
millitary  force  which  had  ever  left  the  shores  of  England,  was  now  assembled  in 
the  harbor  of  New  York;  for  the  mightest  power  upon  the  globe  had  put  forth  its 
greatest  strength  to  crush  its  rebellious  colonies.  Thirty-seven  men-of-war 
guarded  a  transport  fleet  of  four  hundred  vessels,  freighted  with  enormous  trains 
of  artillery  and  every  conceivable  munition  of  war,  with  troops  of  artillery  and 
cavalry  horses,  and  provisions  for  the  sustenance  of  the  thirty-five  thousand 
soldiers  and  sailors  who  had  been  borne  across  the  ocean  in  their  hulls." 

Lord  Howe  had  matured  his  plans  and  was  fully  informed  of  the  strength  of 
the  American  army  and  the  condition  of  the  lines  at  every  point.  In  a  letter  of 
July  7,  to  Germaine,  he  says  :  "  I  met  with  Governor  Tryon  on  board  of  ship  at  the 
Hook,  and  many  other  gentlemen  fast  friends  to  the  government,  attending  him, 
from  whom  I  have  had  the  fullest  information  of  the  state  of  the  rebels,  who  are 


8 

numerous  and  very  advantageously  posted,  with  strong  intrenchments,  both  upon 
Long  Island  and  New  York,  with  more  than  one  hundred  pieces  of  cannon  for  the 
defense  of  the  town  toward  the  sea," 

The  landing  of  the  British  troops  was  successfully  effected  on  the  morning  of 
August  22.  About  nine  o'clock  A.  M.,  four  thousand  light  infantry,  with  forty 
pieces  of  cannon  crossed  over  from  Staten  Island  in  flat  boats,  under  the  guns  of 
the  Rainbow,  which  was  anchored  within  the  Narrows,  near  the  present  site  of 
Fort  Lafayette,  while  the  frigates  Phcenix,  Greyhound  and  Rose,  with  the 
bomb  ketches  Thunder  and  Carcass  took  their  stations  close  into  the  bay  to  cover 
the  landing,  which  took  place  at  Denise's  ferry  (now  Fort  Hamilton)  in  the  town 
of  New  Utrecht  An  hour  after  the  landing  of  this  first  division,  a  second,  com- 
prising English  and  Hessian  troops,  left  the  British  ships  and  transports,  and  in 
regular  rows  of  boats  under  the  command  of  Commodore  Hotham,  passed  over 
and  landed  in  the  bend  of  Gravesend  Bay  at  what  is  now  known  as  Bath  Beach,  on 
the  farms  of  Isaac  Cortleyou  and  Adrean  Van  Brunt,  between  the  Cortleyou  Road 
and  the  Bath  Road,  anciently  called  De  Bruyn  Road.  The  troops  were  landed 
without  opposition,  and  before  noon,  fifteen  thousand,  with  guns  and  baggage,  had 
been  safely  transferred  to  Long  Island. 

"  Cornwallis,"  says  Johnston,  "  was  immediately  detached  with  the  reserves. 
Donop's  corps  of  chasseurs  and  grenadiers,  and  six  field-pieces,  to  occupy  the 
village  of  Flatbush,  but  with  orders  not  to  attempt  to  pass  beyond  if  he  found  it 
held  by  the  rebels,  and  the  main  force  encamped  nearer  the  coast,  from  the 
Narrows  to  Flatlands.  As  Cornwallis  advanced,  Col.  Hand  and  his  two  hundred 
riflemen  hurried  down  from  their  outpost  camp  above  Utrecht,  and  keeping  close 
to  the  enemy's  front,  marched  part  of  the  way,  alongside  of  them  in  the  edge  of 
the  woods,  but  avoided  an  open  fight  in  the  field  with  superior  numbers." 

Lieut. -Col.  Chambers,  of  Hand's  riflemen,  says  :  "  On  the  morning  of  August 
23,  there  were  nine  thousand  British  troops  on  New  Utrecht  Plains.  The  guard 
alarmed  our  small  camp,  and  we  assembled  at  flagstaff.  We  marched  our  forces, 
about  two  hundred  in  number,  to  New  Utrecht,  to  watch  the  movements  of  the 
enemy.  When  we  came  on  the  hill  we  discovered  a  party  of  them  advancing 
toward  us.  We  prepared  to  give  them  a  warm  reception,  when  an  imprudent 
fellow  fired  and  they  immediately  halted  and  turned  toward  Flatbush.  The  main 
body  also  moved  along  the  great  road  toward  the  same  place.  Capt.  Hamilton 
and  twenty  men  of  the  battalion  fell  back  on  the  road  in  advance,  burning  grain 
and  stacks  of  hay  and  killing  cattle,  which  he  did  very  cleverly." 


DESCRIPTION   OF  THE  SURROUNDING  COUNTRY. 

Johnston  continues:  "The  section  of  Long  Island  which  the  enemy  now 
occupied  was  a  broad,  low  plain  stretching  northward  from  the  coast  from  four  to 
six  miles,  and  eastward  a  still  further  distance.  Scattered  over  its  level  surface 
were  four  villages,  surrounded  with  farms.  Nearest  to  the  Narrows,  and  nearly  a 
mile  from  the  coast,  stood  New  Utrechl  ;  another  mile  southeast  of  this  was 
Gravesend;  northeast  from  Gravesend,  nearly  three  miles,  the  road  led  through 
Flatlands,  and  directly  north  from  Flatlands,  and  about  half  way  to  Brooklyn 
Church,  lay  Flatbush.     Between   the  plain  and  the  Brooklyn   lines   ran  a  ridge  of 


hills  which  extended  from  New  York  bay  midway  through  the  island  to  its  eastern 
extremity.  The  ridge  varied  in  height  from  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  above  the  sea,  and  from  the  plain  it  rose  somewhat  abruptly  from  forty  to  eighty 
feet,  but  fell  off  more  gradually  in  its  descent  on  the  other  side.  Its  entire  sur- 
face was  covered  with  a  dense  growth  of  woods  and  thickets,  and  to  an  enemy 
advancing  below  it  presented  a  continuous  barrier,  a  huge,  natural  abattis, 
impassible  to  artillery,  where,  with  proportionate  numbers,  a  successful  defense 
could  be  sustained. 

"  The  roads  across  the  ridge  passed  through  its  natural  depressions,  of  which 
there  were  four  within  a  distance  of  six  miles  from  the  harbor.  The  main  high- 
way, or  Jamaica  road  -that  which  led  up  from  Brooklyn  ferry,  now  Fulton  street- 
after  passing  through  Bedford,  kept  on  still  north  of  the  hills,  and  crossed  them  at 
the  'Jamaica  Pass,'  about  four  miles  from  the  fortified  line.  From  this  branched 
three  roads  leading  to  the  villages  in  the  plain.  The  most  direct  was  that  to  Flat- 
bush,  which  cut  through  the  ridge  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  works.  Three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  to  the  left,  towards  the  Jamaica  Pass,  a  road  from  Bedford  led 
also  to  Flatbush,  and  near  the  coast  ran  the  Gowanus  road  to  the  Narrows. 
Where  the  Red  Lion  Tavern  stood  on  this  road,  about  three  miles  from  Brooklyn 
Church,  a  narrow  lane,  known  as  the  Martense  lane,  now  marking  the  southern 
boundary  of  Greenwood  cemetery,  diverged  to  the  left  through  a  hollow  in  the 
ridge  and  connected  with  roads  on  the  plain." 


OPERATIONS  OF    THE  ENEMY  PRECEDING  THE 
BATTLE  OF  THE  TWENTY-SEVENTH. 

When  word  of  the  enemy's  landing  reached  Sullivan  and  Washington  the 
troops  were  immediately  put  under  arms.  The  commander-in-chief  had  already 
been  prepared  for  the  intelligence  by  a  dispatch  from  Governor  Livingston  of  New 
Jersey,  the  night  before,  to  the  effect  that  he  had  certain  information  from  the 
British  camp  that  they  were  then  embarking  troops  and  would  move  to  the  attack 
on  the  following  day. 

Livingston  sent  a  spy  to  Staten  Island  on  the  night  of  the  20th,  who  brought 
word  that  the  British  were  embarking,  and  would  attack  on  Long  Island  and  up 
the  North  river.  Washington  received  the  information  during  the  storm  on  the 
following  evening,  and  immediately  sent  word  to  Heath  at  King's  Bridge,  that  the 
enemy  were  upon  "  the  point  of  striking  the  long  expected  stroke."  The  next 
morning,  the  22d,  he  wrote  again  instructing  Heath  to  pick  out  "eight  hundred 
or  a  thousand  light,  active  men,  and  good  marksmen,"  ready  to  move  rapidly 
whenever  they  were  most  needed  ;  and  he  promised  to  send  him  some  artillery, 
"  if,"  he  continues,  "  we  have  not  other  employment  upon  hand,  which  General 
Putnam,  who  is  this  instant  come  in,  seems  to  think  we  assuredly  shall,  this  day, 
as  there  is  considerable  embarkation  on  board  of  the  enemy's  boats. — Mass. 
I  fist.  Sac.  Coll.,  volume  for  1878. — The  Heath  Correspondence. 

As  the  report  came  in  that  the  enemy  intended  to  march  at  once  upon  Sulli- 
van, Washington  promptly  sent  him  a  reinforcement  of  six  regiments,  which 
included  Miles'  and  Atlee's  from  Stirling's  brigade,  Chester's  and  Silliman's  from 
Wadsworth's,    and    probably    Lasher's    and    Drake's    from    Scott's,    numbering 


together  some  eighteen  hundred  men.  They  crossed  with  light  spirits  and  were 
marched  to  alarm-posts;  Miles'  two  battalions  went  on  to  the  Bedford  Pass;  Silli- 
man's  was  ordered  down  into  "  a  woody  hill  near  Red  Hook,  to  prevent  any  more 
troops  from  landing  thereabout."  Hand's  riflemen,  supported  by  one  or  two  of 
the  Eastern  regiments,  watched  and  annoyed  the  Hessians  under  Donop  at  Flat- 
bush,  and  detachments  were  sent  to  guard  the  lower  roads  near  the  Red  Lion. 

Howe  established  his  quarters  at  New  Utrecht  and  dispatched  Lord  Corn- 
wallis  with  the  reserves,  Col.  Donop's  corps  of  Hessian  yagers  and  grenadiers, 
with  six  field  pieces,  to  Flatbush,  and  with  instructions  not  to  attack  the  place  if 
he  should  find  it  occupied  by  the  enemy.  Taking  his  position  at  Gravesend, 
Cornwallis  pushed  forward  Donop  s  corps  to  Flatbush,  which  the  latter  reached 
towards  evening,  the  three  hundred  American  riflemen  who  had  occupied  it  retir- 
ing before  him,  "  a  few  cannon  balls  being  sent  after  them  "  to  accelerate  their 
steps. 

General  Sullivan,  in  his  account  of  the  enemy's  movements,  says:  "On 
Friday,  23d,  a  party  of  British  took  possession  of  Flatbush,  which  brought  on  a  hot 
fire  from  our  troops,  who  are  advantageously  posted  in  the  woods  and  on  every 
eminence.  An  advanced  party  are  encamped  a  little  to  the  N.  W.  of  Flatbush 
Church,  and  have  a  battery  somewhat  west  of  Jer'h  Vanderbilt's,  whence  they  fire 
briskly  on  our  people,  who  often  approach  and  discharge  their  rifles  within  two 
hundred  yards  of  their  works.  One  of  our  gunners  threw  a  shell  into  Mr.  Axtell's 
house  where  a  number  of  officers  were  at  dinner,  but  we  have  not  heard  what 
damage  it  did. 

"August  23.  This  afternoon  the  enemy  formed  and  attempted  to  pass  the 
wood  by  Bedford  (Flatbush)  and  a  smart  fire  between  them  and  the  riflemen 
ensued.  A  number  of  musketry  came  up  to  the  assistance  of  the  riflemen,  whose 
fire,  with  that  of  the  field  pieces,  caused  a  retreat  of  the  enemy.  Our  men  followed 
to  the  house  of  Judge  Lefferts  (where  a  number  of  them  had  taken  lodgings), 
drove  them  out  and  burned  the  contiguous  buildings.  We  have  driven  them  half  a 
mile  from  their  former  station." 

Lieut.-Col.  Chambers  says  :  "  Strong  guards  were  maintained  all  day  on  the 
flanks  of  the  enemy,  and  our  regiment  and  the  Hessian  yagers  kept  up  a  severe 
firing,  with  a  loss  of  but  two  wounded  on  our  side.  We  laid  a  few  Hessions  low 
and  made  them  retreat  out  of  Flatbush.  Our  people  went  into  the  town  and 
brought  the  goods  out  of  the  burning  houses.  The  enemy  liked  to  have  lost  their 
field  pieces.  Capt.  Steele  acted  bravely.  We  would  certainly  have  had  the 
cannon  had  it  not  been  for  some  foolish  person  calling  a  retreat.  The  main 
body  of  the  foe  returned  to  town,  and  when  our  lads  came  back  they  told  us  of 
their  exploits." 

In  recognition  of  their  splendid  behavior  in  their  first  engagement  with  the 
enemy,  Gen.  Sullivan  issued  the  following  congratulatory  order :  "  The  General 
returns  his  thanks  to  the  brave  officers  and  soldiers  who,  with  so  much  spirit  and 
intrepidity,  repulsed  the  enemy  and  defeated  their  designs  of  taking  possession  of 
the  woods  near  our  lines.  He  is  now  convinced  that  the  troops  he  has  the  honor 
to  command  will  not,  in  point  of  bravery,  yield  to  any  troops  in  the  universe. 
The  cheerfulness  with  which  they  do  their  duty  and  the  patience  with  which  they 
undergo  fatigue,  evince  exalted  sentiments  of  freedom  and  love  of  country  and 
gives  him  most  satisfactory  evidence  that  when  called  upon  they  will  prove  them- 
selves worthy  of  that  freedom  for  which  they  are  now  contending." 


Washington  visited  Sullivan  on  the  morning  of  the  23d  and  made  a  thorough 
inspection  of  the  troops  and  of  the  condition  of  affairs.  In  his  orders  to  the 
army  he  formally  announced  the  landing  of  the  British,  and  reminded  his  troops 
that  the  moment  was  approaching  on  which  their  honor  and  success  and  the 
safety  of  the  country  depended. 

On  the  24th,  as  has  been  previously  stated,  a  change  was  made  in  the  chief 
command  on  Long  Island.  Sedgwick,  in  his  Life  of  Livingston,  says :  "  On 
General  Greene's  being  sick,  Sullivan  took  the  command,  who  was  wholly  un- 
acquainted with  the  ground  or  country.  Some  movements  being  made  which  the 
General  did  not  approve  entirely,  and  finding  a  great  force  going  to  Long  Island, 
he  sent  over  Putnam,  who  had  been  over  occasionally  ;  this  gave  some  disgust,  so 
that  Putnam  was  directed  to  soothe  and  soften  as  much  as  possible." 

Major  Abner  Benedict  says:  "The  General  was  received  with  loud  cheers, 
and  his  presence  inspired  universal  confidence." 

Sullivan  continued  as  second  in  command.  In  a  letter  written  at  a  subsequent 
date,  containing  a  report  of  his  operations,  he  vaguely  hints  that  the  disaster 
which  finally  overtook  the  army  might  have  been  averted  had  his  suggestions 
been  carried  out. 

On  the  25th  of  August,  the  day  on  which  Gen.  Putnam  took  command  within 
the  American  lines,  Von  Heister,  in  command  of  the  British  auxiliaries,  with  Gen. 
Knyphausen  and  two  full  brigades  of  Hessians,  landed  at  New  Utrecht  and 
advanced  on  the  middle  road  towards  Flatbush.  The  invading  army  on  Long 
Island  now  numbered  about  twenty-one  thousand  well  disciplined  and  experienced 
troops,  supported  by  a  large  Meet  in  the  bay." 

A  British  officer,  in  a  letter  of  August  4,  1776,  says:  "We  are  now  in 
expectation  of  attacking  the  fellows  very  soon,  and  if  I  may  be  allowed  to  judge, 
there  never  was  an  army  in  better  spirits  nor  in  better  health." 

Putnam  received  instructions  from  Washington  the  same  day,  to  form  a  proper 
line  of  defense  around  his  encampment  and  works  on  the  most  advantageous 
ground,  to  guard  the  passes  through  the  wooded  hills ;  to  have  a  brigadier  of  the 
day  constantly  upon  the  lines  that  he  might  be  on  the  spot  to  command.  Explicit 
directions  to  guard  against  surprise  by  compelling  all  the  men  on  duty  to  remain 
at  their  camps  or  quarters,  and  be  ready  to  turn  out  at  a  moment's  warning.  In 
accordance  with  the  instructions  to  Putnam,  General  Lord  Stirling  was  assigned  to 
duty  as  brigadier. 

Washington  again  crossed  to  Long  Island  on  the  26th,  and  made  sure  that 
everything  was  in  readiness  for  the  expected  attack.  A  writer  in  the  South 
Carolina  Gazette,  says:  "  The  evening  preceding  the  action,  General  Washington, 
with  a  number  of  general  officers,  went  down  to  view  the  motions  of  the  enemy, 
who  were  encamped  at  Flatbush."  On  the  same  day  additional  regiments  were 
sent  over  from  New  York.  Among  these  were  Haslet's  Delaware  battalion, 
Smallwood's  Marylanders,  two  or  three  independent  companies  from  Maryland, 
and  one  hundred  picked  men  from  Durkee's  Connecticut  Continentals,  under  the 
command  of  Lieut. -Colonel  Thomas  Knowlton.  Johnston  gives  the  entire  available 
force  on  Long  Island  on  the  eve  of  battle  as  seven  thousand.  Lossing  says  :  "The 
number  of  the  effective  American  troops  on  Long  Island  did  not  exceed  eight 
thousand." 

The  various  commands  consisted  of  Cols.  Moses  Little  and  Jonathan  Ward, 


^%^ 


\ 


GEN.  ISRAEL  PUTNAM 


12 

of  Massachusetts  ;  Cols.  James  Mitchell  Varnum  and  Daniel  Hitchcock,  of  Rhode 
Island;  Cols.  Jedediah  Huntington,  Samuel  Wyllys,  John  Tyler,  John  Chester, 
G.  S.  Silliman,  Fisher  Gay  and  Knowlton's  "  Rangers,"  from  Connecticut ;  Cols. 
John  Lasher  and  Samuel  Drake,  of  New  York  ;  Cols.  Josiah  Smith  and  Jeronemus 
Remsen,  of  Long  Island  ;  Cols.  Ephraim  Martin,  David  Forman,  Philip  Johnston, 
Silas  Newcomb  and  Phillip  Van  Cortlandts,  of  New  Jersey ;  Cols.  Edward 
Hand,  Samuel  Miles,  Samuel  John  Atlee ;  Lieut. -Cols.  Nicholas  Lutz,  Peter 
Kachelin,  and  Major  Hay,  of  Pennsylvania;  Col.  John  Haslet,  of  Delaware,  and 
Col.  William  Smallwood,  of  Maryland.  Among  the  artillery  officers  were  Cap- 
tains Newell  and  Treadwell ;  Captain-Lieutenants,  John  Johnston  and  Benajah 
Carpenter;  Lieutenant  Lillie,  and  "  Cadet  "  John  Callender. 

On  the  night  of  the  26th,  the  various  regiments  and  detachments  on  guard  at 
the  American  outposts  numbered  only  about  twenty-eight  hundred  men.  This 
was  the  force  assigned  to  guard  the  several  passes  or  openings  through  the  range 
of  hills  in  the  rear  of  Brooklyn.  The  first  of  these  was  "  Martense  lane,  already- 
described,  extending  along  the  southern  border  of  the  present  Greenwood  Cem- 
etery, from  the  old  Flatbush  and  New  Utrecht  road  to  the  coast  road,  which  ran 
along  the  Gowanus  bay,  nearly  on  a  line  of  the  present  Third  avenue.  The 
second  and  most  important  was  the  Flatbush  Pass  and  road,  at  the  junction  of 
the  Brooklyn  and  Flatbush  turnpike  with  the  Coney  Island  road,  within  the  limits 
of  Prospect  Park.  The  defenses  of  this  pass  were,  first,  a  sort  of  crescent- 
shaped  intrenchment,  just  within  the  village  of  Flatbush,  and  lying  diagonally 
across  the  main  street,  a  little  south  of  Judge  Martense's  house,  with  a  ditch  of 
considerable  depth  on  its  northerly  side  ;  and  secondly,  a  small  redoubt  mounting 
a  few  small  pieces  of  artillery  at  the  "  Valley  Grove,"  to  guard  the  passage 
through  the  Port  road  and  by  the  direct  route  to  Brooklyn.  A  big  white  oak  tree 
which  formed  one  of  the  boundary  marks  between  Brooklyn  and  Flatbush,  was 
felled  across  the  road  as  an  obstacle  to  the  enemy's  advance. 

The  third,  or  Bedford  Pass,  was  at  the  instersection  of  the  old  Clove  road 
with  the  Flatbush  and  Brooklyn  boundary  line,  half  a  mile  south  of  the  hamlet  of 
Bedford.  Three  miles  east  of  Bedford,  on  the  old  Jamaica  turnpike,  and  just  at 
the  entrance  of  the  Cemetery  of  the  Evergreens,  was  a  road  through  the  hills, 
known  as  the  Jamaica  Pass. 

The  natural  line  of  defense  afforded  by  this  range  of  heavily  wooded  hills 
could  not,  with  the  small  force  at  the  disposal  of  the  American  generals,  be 
properly  occupied  by  any  continuous  line  of  troops.  Hitchcock's  and  Little's 
Continental  regiments,  and  Johnston's  New  Jersey  battalion  were  posted  at  the 
Flatbush  Pass.  The  two  former  were  commanded  by  Lieut. -Cols.  Cornell  and 
Henshaw  ;  Knowlton  and  his  rangers  were  also  sent  to  this  point.  The  Coast 
road  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Red  Lion  Tavern  was  guarded  by  Hand's  riflemen,  half 
of  Atlee's  musketry,  detachments  of  New  York  troops  and  part  of  Lutz's  Penn- 
sylvanians,  under  Major  Burd.  At  the  Bedford  Pass  were  stationed  Col.  Samuel 
Wylly's  Connecticut  Continentals  and  Col.  Chester's  Connecticut  regiment,  under 
the  command  of  Lient.-Col  Solomon  Wills.  To  the  left,  a  short  distance  beyond, 
Colonel  Miles  was  encamped,  with  perhaps  five  hundred  men  on  duty.  Sullivan's 
orders  of  August  25  give  the  detail  which  was  to  mount  for  picket  on  the  follow- 
ing morning.  This  detail,  therefore,  was  the  one  on  duty  on  the  night  of  the 
26th.     The  order  was  :     "Eight  hundred  (men),  properly  officered,  to  relieve  the 


13 

troops  on  Bedford  road  tomorrow  morning,  six  field  officers  to  attend  with  this 
party.  The  same  number  to  relieve  those  on  Bush  (Flatbush)  road,  and  an  equal 
number,  those  stationed  towards  the  Narrows.  A  picket  of  three  hundred  men 
under  the  command  of  a  field  officer,  six  captains,  twelve  subalterns  to  be  posted 
at  the  wood  on  the  west  side  of  the  creek  every  night  till  further  orders."  There 
were  no  horsemen  in  Washington's  army  here  except  a  few  Long  Island  troopers 
from  Kings  and  Queens  counties,  and  these  were  now  engaged  in  driving  off 
stock  out  of  reach  of  the  enemy. 

The  difficulty  of  maintaining  an  extensive  line  of  defense  with  an  entirely 
inadequate  force  is  clearly  set  forth  in  Gen.  Sullivan's  letter  to  Congress,  under 
date  of  October  25,  1777.  He  says;  "I  know  it  has  been  generally  reported 
that  I  commanded  on  Long  Island  when  the  action  happened  there.  This  is  by 
no  means  true.  Gen.  Putnam  had  taken  the  command  from  me  four  days 
before  the  action.  Lord  Stirling  commanded  the  main  body  without  the  lines. 
I  was  to  have  commanded  the  main  body  within  the  lines.  I  was  uneasy 
about  a  road  through  which  I  had  often  foretold  that  the  enemy  would  come, 
but  could  not  persuade  others  to  be  of  my  opinion.  I  went  to  the  hill  near  Flat- 
bush  to  reconnoitre,  and  with  a  picket  of  400  men  was  surrounded  by  the  enemy, 
who  had  advanced  by  the  very  road  I  had  foretold  and  which  I  paid  horsemen  $50 
for  patrolling  by  night  while  I  had  the  command,  as  I  had  no  foot  for  the  purpose. 
What  resistance  I  made  with  these  four  hundred  men  against  the  British  army  I 
leave  for  the  officers  who  were  with  me  to  declare.  Let  it  suffice  for  me  to  say 
that  the  opposition  of  this  small  party  lasted  from  half  past  nine  to  twelve  o'clock. 
The  reason  of  so  few  troops  being  on  Long  Island  was  because  it  was  generally 
supposed  that  the  enemy's  landing  there  was  a  feint  to  draw  our  troops  thither, 
that  they  might  the  more  easily  possess  themselves  of  New  York.  I  often  urged, 
both  by  word  and  writing,  that  as  the  enemy  had  doubtless  both  these  objects  in 
view,  they  would  first  try  for  Long  Island,  which  commanded  the  other;  and  then 
New  York,  which  was  completely  commanded  by  it,  would  fall  of  course.  But  in 
this  I  was  unhappy  enough  to  differ  from  almost  every  officer  in  the  army,  till  the 
event  proved  my  conjectures  were  just." 


THE    SEVERAL    ENGAGEMENTS    AT     FLATBUSH, 
GOWANUS   AND  BROOKLYN. 

On  the  evening  of  the  26th  of  August,  in  the  impenetrable  shadow  of  the 
woods  which  crowned  the  summit  and  slopes  of  the  Flatbush  hills,  these  few  regi- 
ments of  raw,  undisciplined  troops  awaited  the  coming  of  their  foe,  whose  tents 
and  camp  fires  stretched  along  the  plain  beneath  them  in  an  unbroken  line,  from 
Gravesend  to  Flatlands. 

Stiles,  in  his  description  of  the  battle,  says  :  "  The  left  wing  of  the  British 
army,  under  Gen.  Grant,  rested  on  New  York  Bay ;  the  Hessians,  under  De 
Heister,  formed  the  centre,  opposite  to  Sullivan's  position  at  Flatbush  Pass;  while 
the  right  wing,  which  was  designed  to  bear  the  brunt  of  the  coming  battle,  and 
was  composed  of  the  choice  battalions  under  Gen.  Clinton  and  Earls  Cornwallis 
and  Percy,  stretched  along  the  eastern  foot  of  the  range  of  hills,  from  New 
Utrecht    to    Flatlands,    idly    skirmishing   and    occupying    the    attention    of    the 


Americans.  Gen.  Howe,  meanwhile,  had  been  informed  of  the  unguarded  state 
of  the  road  at  Bedford,  '  and  that  it  would  not  be  a  difficult  matter  to  turn  the 
Americans'  left  flank,  obliging  them  either  to  risk  an  engagement  or  to  retire 
under  manifest  disadvantage.'  In  view  of  this  fact  he  adopted  the  following  plan 
of  attack,  viz.:  I.  Gen.  Grant,  with  two  brigades,  one  Highland  regiment  and 
two  companies  of  New  York  Provincials,  was  to  move  forward  upon  the  coast 
road  towards  Gowanus,  while  some  of  the  ships  of  war  were  to  menace  New 
York  and  to  operate  against  the  right  of  the  American  fortified  lines.  While  the 
attention  of  the  Americans  was  thus  diverted  by  the  threatened  danger  to  the  city 
and  to  their  rear,  2.  The  German  troops  under  De  Heister  were  to  force  the 
Flatbush  Pass  and  the  direct  road  to  Brooklyn,  by  assault,  and  3.  At  evening 
gun  fire,  the  right  wing,  under  Clinton,  Cornwallis  and  Percy,  accompanied  by 
Howe  himself,  was  to  move  in  light  marching  order  from  Flatbush  across  the 
country  to  New  Lotts,  in  order  to  secure  the  passes  between  that  place  and 
Jamaica  and  to  turn,  if  possible,  the  American  left. 

"  Accordingly,  late  on  the  afternoon  of  the  26th,  De  Heister  and  his  Hessians 
took  post  at  Flatbush  and  relieved  Lord  Cornwallis,  who  withdrew  his  division 
(leaving  only  the  Forty-second  Regiment)  to  Flatlands,  about  two  miles  southeast 
of  Flatbush.  At  about  nine  o'clock  of  the  same  evening  the  vanguard  of  the  right 
army,  consisting  of  a  brigade  of  light  infantry  and  the  light  dragoons,  under 
command  of  Gen.  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  moved  eastward  on  the  road  to  New  Lotts. 
He  was  followed  by  Lord  Percy  with  the  artillery  and  grenadiers,  and  Lord  Corn- 
wallis with  a  reserve,  the  Seventy-first  Regiment  and  fourteen  field  pieces, 
accompanied  by  the  commander-in-chief,  Lord  Howe.  The  troops  were  with- 
drawn under  cover  of  the  darkness,  and  with  great  caution,  from  their  respective 
encampments,  in  which  the  tents  were  left  standing,  the  fires  burning  and  every 
appearance  of  actual  occupation  maintained.  The  intended  route  of  march  was 
known  only  to  a  few  of  the  principal  officers  and,  guided  by  a  resident  tory,  the 
army  moved  over  the  country,  through  fields  and  by-ways,  so  silently  that  their 
footfalls  could  scarcely  be  heard  at  ten  rods  distance,  moving  slowly  in  order  to 
give  time  for  the  light  troops  in  the  advance  to  secure  and  occupy  all  the  points  of 
the  anticipated  attack. 

"  Passing  thus  noiselessly  along,  irresistably  sweeping  into  its  grasp  every 
human  being  that  it  met  who  might  give  information  to  the  enemy,  the  head  of 
the  column  reached  the  vicinity  of  Schoonmaker's  Bridge,  which  spans  the  head 
of  a  little  creek  near  the  village  of  New  Lotts  and  a  short  distance  southeast  of 
the  present  East  New  York.  (The  exact  route  taken  by  the  British  army  on  this 
eventful  morning  is  a  matter  of  much  dispute  among  those  who  have  most  care- 
fully examined  the  subject,  some  maintaining  that  they  did  not  cross  Schoon- 
maker's Bridge.)  Here  was  a  point  of  defense  of  which  the  British  commander 
expected  the  Americans  would  avail  themselves,  and  he  made  his  dispositions 
accordingly,  throwing  out  skirmishers  and  taking  such  other  precautions  as 
seemed  necessary.  To  his  surprise,  the  place  was  found  to  be  entirely  unoccupied 
and  the  country  open  to  the  base  of  the  Bushwick  hills,  where  the  Jamaica  road 
enters  upon  the  plains.  Crossing  the  fields  from  the  New  Lotts  road  in  a  direct 
course  to  this  point,  the  army  halted  at  two  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  27th,  at 
William  Howard's  Half-way  House,  which  yet  stands  at  the  corner  of  the  present 
Broadway  and  the  Jamaica   and  Brooklyn   road.     In   front  of  them   on  this   road 


15 

was  the  Jamaica  Pass,  a  winding  defile  admirably  calculated  for  defense,  and  where 
the  British  expected,  as  a  matter  of  course,  that  their  passage  would  be  hotly 
contested. 

"The  perfect  success  of  the  flank  movement  which  Howe  was  now  performing 
demanded  that  this  pass  should  be  turned  without  risking  an  engagement 
or  even  attracting  the  attention  of  those  who,  as  it  was  supposed,  defended 
it.  Here  his  tory  guides  seem  to  have  been  at  fault  and  at  their  recommendation, 
perhaps,  he  pressed  into  his  service  William  Howard,  the  innkeeper,  and  his  son, 
then  a  lad  of  fourteen  years.  Father  and  son  were  compelled,  at  the  point  of  the 
sword,  to  lead  a  detachment  of  the  troops  around  the  pass,  through  a  bridle  path 
known  as  the  "  Rockaway  Path,"  which  traversed  the  present  Evergreen  Cemetery. 
Much  to  the  surprise  of  the  British  generals,  the  pass  which  they  had  so  carefully 
flanked  was  found  to  be  entirely  unguarded,  and  the  fact  was  immediately  com- 
municated to  the  main  body  then  halted  on  the  (East  New  York)  plains.  Clinton 
promptly  pushed  forward  a  battalion  of  light  infantry  to  secure  the  pass,  and  at 
daybreak  he  followed  with  his  own  command  along  the  Jamaica  road  and  soon 
completely  possessed  himself  of  the  heights  as  virtually  to  decide  the  fortunes  of 
the  day.  He  was  followed  by  Lord  Percy  with  the  main  body,  consisting  of  the 
Guards,  the  Second,  Third  and  Fifth  Brigades,  with  ten  field  pieces,  who  halted  in 
his  rear  at  an  hour  before  daylight.  They  in  turn  were  followed  by  the  Forty-ninth 
Regiment  with  four  medium  twelve-pounders  and  the  baggage,  under  its  own 
escort. 

"Being  now  in  position  on  the  Bushwick  hills,  where  they  breakfasted,  the 
troops  resumed  their  march  along  the  Jamaica  turnpike  to  Bedford,  which  they 
reached  about  half-past  eight  o'clock,  while  the  Americans  were  yet  unaware  that 
they  had  left  Flatlands.  Pressing  forward  now  with  renewed  energy,  the  head  of 
the  column  by  nine  o'clock  had  reached  and  occupied  the  junction  of  the  Flatbush 
road  and  the  Jamaica  turnpike.  The  British  line  now  extended  from  that  point  to 
Bedford,  and  at  the  distance  of  half  a  mile  from  the  rear  of  the  Americans,  who 
were  contesting  the  possession  of  the  Flatbush  hills  with  De  Heister,  all  uncon- 
scious that  the  trap  had  sprung  upon  them  and  that  they  were  hemmed  in  on  all 
sides.     Thus  the  battle  was  lost  to  the  defenders  before  it  was  really  begun. 

"  Almost  simultaneously  with  the  march  of  the  right  wing,  the  left,  under 
Gen.  Grant,  had  advanced  toward  Brooklyn,  partly  by  the  Coast  road  and  partly 
by  way  of  Martense's  lane.  (The  Coast  road  referred  to  was  not  the  present  road 
along  the  verge  of  the  high  bank  from  Yellow  Hook  to  Gowanus,  but  a  road  which 
ran  along  the  slopes  further  inland,  nearly  on  a  line  with  the  present  Third  Avenue.) 
Grant's  advance  guard  struck  the  American  pickets  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Red 
Lion  on  the  morning  of  the  27th.  There  was  hardly  more  than  an  exchange  of 
fire  with  Major  Burd's  detachment,  according  to  his  own  report,  and  he  with 
others  probably  was  taken  prisoner. 

"  Hardly  more  than  a  general  statement  can  be  made  in  regard  to  the  attack 
at  the  pickets  on  the  lower  road.  A  part  of  them  watched  Martense's  lane  where, 
it  would  appear  from  Ewing's  sketch,  Hand's  riflemen  were  posted  before  being 
relieved.  Major  Burd's  detachment,  on  the  same  authority,  was  probably  on  the 
direct  road  to  the  Narrows,  both  parties  communicating  with  each  other  at  the 
Red  Lion  Tavern,  which  stood  near  the  fork  of  the  roads.  Grant's  main  column 
advanced  by  the  Narrows  road,  and  possibly  a  part  of  the  enemy  came  through 


the  Martense  Lane  at  about  the  same  time.  The  skirmish  Major  Rurd  speaks  of 
occurred  in  the  vicinity  of  Thirty-eighth  and  Fortieth  streets,  on  the  Narrows 
road,  where  former  residents  used  to  say  the  Americans  had  a  picket  guard 
stationed.  When  the  enemy  came  up,  firing  took  place  and  some  men  were  killed, 
and  the  firing  '  was  the  first  in  the  neighborhood.' 

*'  Word  was  immediately  sent  to  Gen.  Parsons  and  to  Gen.  Putnam.  On  his 
arrival,  Parsons  found  that  the  guards  had  fled  and  that  the  enemy  were  through 
the  woods  on  this  side  of  the  main  hills.  Stirling,  who  was  occupying  the  junction 
of  the  Gowanus  and  Port  roads,  was  informed  by  Putnam  in  person  of  the 
enemy's  advance,  and  requested  to  check  them  with  the  two  regiments.  He 
immediately  ordered  out  Haslet's  and  Smallwood's  battalions,  and  hurried  to  the 
scene  of  action,  closely  followed  by  Gen.  Parsons,  with  Col.  Huntington's  Con- 
necticut Continentals,  under  Lieut. -Col.  Clark  ;  and  Kachlein's  Pennsylvania  rifle- 
men were  soon  after  started  in  the  same  direction.  Within  half  a  mile  of  the  Red 
Lion  Tavern  they  came  up  with  Col.  Atlee's  regiment,  slowly  retiring  before  the 
advancing  British  column,  whose  front  was  then  just  coming  into  sight  through 
the  gray  dawn  of  the  morning,  a  little  in  advance  of  the  present  entrance  to 
Greenwood  Cemetery.  The  American  line  of  battle  was  promptly  formed  across 
the  Coast  road,  reaching  from  the  bay  to  the  crest  of  the  hills  which  form  the 
western  boundary  of  Greenwood  Cemetery.  Placing  Atlee's  force  in  ambush  as 
skirmishers  in  an  orchard  (Wynant  Bennett's  orchard),  on  the  south  side  of  the 
Coast  or  Gowanus  road,  near  its  intersection  with  the  present  iSth  street,  Stirling 
at  the  head  of  Haslet's  and  Smallwood's  battalions,  took  his  position  on  the  slopes 
of  the  hills,  between  1 8th  and  20th  streets,  a  little  to  the  north-west  of  'Battle 
Hill,'  in  Greenwood.  Where  the  present  23d  street  intersects  the  avenue  there 
was  a  small  bridge  on  the  old  road  which  crossed  a  ditch  or  creek,  setting  up 
from  the  bay  to  a  low  and  marshy  piece  of  ground,  on  the  left,  looking  south  ; 
and  just  the  other  side  of  the  bridge,  the  land  rose  to  quite  a  bluff  at  the  water's 
edge.  This  was  known  as  •  Blockje's  Berg '  or  '  Bluckie's  Barracks."  From  the 
bluff  the  low  hill  fell  gradually  to  the  marsh  or  morass  just  mentioned,  the  road 
continuing  along  between  tbem.  Right  here  the  approach  by  the  road  was 
narrow,  and  at  the  corner  of  23d  street  was  confined  to  crossing  of  the  bridge." 

Col.  Atlee,  in  his  report,  says:  "About  half  after  seven  the  enemy,  consisting 
of  the  fourth  and  sixth  brigades  of  the  British  army,  composed  of  the  Seven- 
teenth, Fortieth,  Forty-sixth,  Fifty-fifth,  Twenty-third,  Forty-fourth,  Fifty-Seventh, 
Sixty-fourth  and  Forty-second  regiments,  were  observed  advancing  about  two  and 
a  half  miles  from  our  lines  at  Brookline,  in  regular  order,  their  field  artillery  in 
front.  I  then  received  orders  from  Lord  Stirling  to  advance  with  my  battalion 
and  oppose  the  enemy's  passing  a  morass  or  swamp  at  the  foot  of  a  fine  rising 
ground,  upon  which  they  were  first  discovered,  and  thereby  give  time  to  our  brig- 
age  to  form  upon  the  heights.  This  order  I  immediately  obeyed,  notwithstanding 
we  must  be  exposed,  without  any  kind  of  cover,  to  the  great  fire  of  the  enemy's 
musketry  and  field  pieces,  charged  with  round  and  grape  shot,  and  finally  situated 
upon  the  eminence  above  mentioned,  having  the  entire  command  of  the  ground  I 
was  ordered  to  occupy.  My  battalion,  although  new  and  never  before  having  the 
opportunity  of  facing  an  enemy,  sustained  their  fire  until  the  brigade  had  formed  ; 
but  finding  we  could  not  possibly  prevent  their  crossing  the  swamp,  I  ordered  my 
detachment  to  file   off  to  the  left   and  take  post   in  a  wood  upon  the   left  of  the 


i7 

brigade.  Here  I  looked  upon  myself  advantageously  situated,  and  might  be  enabled, 
upon  the  advance  of  the  enemy,  to  give  him  a  warm  reception.  In  this  affair  1 
lost  but  one  soldier,  shot  with  a  grapeshot  through  his  throat. 

"  I  had  not  taken  post  in  the  above  mentioned  wood  but  a  few  minutes  when 
I  received  a  reinforcement  of  two  companies  of  the  Delawares,  under  Captain 
Stedman,  with  orders  from  Lord  Stirling  to  file  off  further  to  the  left  and  prevent, 
if  possible,  a  body  of  the  enemy  observed  advancing  to  flank  the  brigade.  The 
enemy's  troops  by  this  time  had  passed  the  swamp  and  formed  in  line  of  battle 
opposite  ours.  A  heavy  fire,  as  well  from  small  arms  as  artillery,  ensued  with  very 
little  damage  on  our  side ;  what  the  enemy  sustained  we  could  not  judge. 
Upon  filing  off  to  the  left,  according  to  the  orders  I  had  received,  I  espied  at  the 
distance  of  about  three  hundred  yards  a  hill  of  clear  ground,  which  I  judged  to 
be  a  proper  situation  to  oppose  the  troops  ordered  to  flank  us  and  which  I 
determined,  if  possible,  to  gain  before  them.  At  the  foot  of  this  hill  a  few  of 
Huntington's  Connecticut  regiment  that  had  been  upon  the  picket  joined  me. 

"  In  order  to  gain  and  secure  the  hill  I  ordered  the  troops  to  wheel  to  the 
right  and  march  up  the  hill  abreast.  When  within  about  forty  yards  of  the 
summit,  we  very  unexpectedly  met  a  heavy  fire  from  the  enemy  taken  post  there 
before  us,  notwithstanding  the  forced  march  I  made.  The  enemy's  situation  was 
so  very  advantageous — the  back  of  the  hill  where  they  had  taken  post  being 
formed  by  nature  into  a  breastwork — that  had  they  directed  their  fire  properly  or 
been  marksmen,  they  must  have  cut  off  the  greatest  part  of  my  detachment.  I 
having,  before  I  advanced  the  hill,  posted  a  part  of  my  small  number  along  the 
skirt  of  a  wood  upon  my  right,  and  left  a  guard  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  to  prevent 
my  being  surrounded  and  my  retreat  to  the  brigade,  in  case  of  necessity,  being  cut 
off,  the  enemy  being  vastly  superior  in  numbers,  their  detachment  consisting  of 
the  Twenty-third  and  Forty-fourth  regiments  and  part  of  the  Seventeenth. 

"  Upon  receiving  the  above  heavy  fire,  which  continued  very  warm  and  they 
secure  behind  a  hill,  a  small  halt  was  made  and  the  detachment  fell  back  a  few 
paces.  Here  Captain  Stedman,  with  all  the  Delawares,  except  Lieutenants  Stewart 
and  Harney  with  about  sixteen  privates,  left  me,  and  drew  after  them  some  of  my 
own.  The  remainder,  after  recovering  a  little  from  this,  their  first  shock,  I  ordered 
to  advance,  at  the  same  time  desiring  them  to  reserve  their  fire  and  aim  aright. 
They  immediately,  with  the  resolution  of  veteran  soldiers,  obeyed  the  order.  The 
enemy,  finding  their  opponents  fast  advancing  and  determined  to  dispute  the 
ground  with  them,  fled  with  precipitation,  leaving  behind  them  twelve  killed  upon 
the  spot  and  a  lieutenant  and  four  privates  wounded.  In  this  engagement  I  lost 
my  worthy  friend  and  lieutenant-colonel  (Parry),  shot  through  the  head,  who  fell 
without  a  groan,  lighting  in  defense  of  his  much  injured  country.  In  the  midst  of 
the  action  I  ordered  four  soldiers  to  carry  him  as  speedily  as  possible  within  the 
lines  at  Brookline. 

"  My  brave  fellows,  flushed  with  this  advantage,  were  for  pushing  forward 
after  the  flying  enemy ;  but  perceiving  at  about  sixty  yards  from  the  hill  we  had 
gained,  across  a  hollow  way,  a  stone  fence  lined  with  wood,  from  behind  which  we 
might  be  greatly  annoyed,  and  fearing  an  ambuscade  might  be  there  placed,  I 
ordered  not  to  advance  further  but  to  maintain  the  possession  of  the  hill,  where 
kind  nature  had  formed  a  breastwork  nearly  semi-circular.  They  halted  and 
found,  by  a  heavy  fire  from  the  fence,  it  was  lined  as  I  suspected.     The  fire  was 


i8 

as  briskly  returned,  but  the  enemy,  finding  it  too  hot  and  losing  a  number  of  their 
men,  retreated  to  and  joined  the  right  wing  of  their  army." 

General  Parsons  says :  "  We  took  possession  of  a  hill  about  two  miles  from 
camp  and  detached  Col.  Atlee  to  meet  them  further  on  the  road.  In  about  sixty 
rods  he  drew  up  and  received  the  enemy's  fire  and  gave  them  a  well  directed  fire 
from  his  regiment  which  did  great  execution,  and  then  retreated  to  the  hill." 

This  advantageous  site  where  Stirling  had  now  drawn  up  his  brigade  to 
dispute  Grant's  progress,  was  the  crest  of  the  slope  which  rose  northerly  from  the 
marsh  and  low  ground  around  Bluckie's  Barracks.  Major  Douglas,  who  laid  out 
Greenwood  Cemetery,  located  Stirling's  position  on  what  was  known  as  Wykoff's 
hill,  between  Eighteenth  and  Twentieth  streets,  and  tradition  and  all  the  original 
documents  confirm  this  selection.  This  was  a  lower  elevation  in  the  general  slope 
from  the  main  ridge  towards  the  bay.  Stirling  drew  his  men  up  in  a  straight  line 
from  the  road  towards  the  hill  tops,  and  beyond  this  on  the  same  line  or  more  in 
advance  was  Parsons.  In  Col.  Reed's  account  of  the  battle,  he  says  :  "  My  lord, 
who  loved  discipline,  made  a  mistake  which  probably  affected  us  a  great  deal.  He 
would  not  suffer  his  regiments  to  break,  but  kept  them  in  lines  and  on  open  ground. 
The  enemy,  on  the  other  hand,  possessed  themselves  of  the  woods,  fences,  etc.,  and 
having  the  advantage  of  numbers — perhaps  ten  to  one — our  troops  lost  everything 
but  honor.     His  personal  bravery  was  very  conspicuous." 

Here  was  an  elevation  or  ridge  favorable  for  defense  and  here  Stirling  pro- 
posed to  make  a  stand.  On  the  right,  next  to  the  road,  he  posted  Smallwood's 
battalion,  under  Major  Gist;  further  along  up  the  hillside  were  the  Delawares, 
under  Major  McDonough,  and  on  the  left,  in  the  woods  above,  Atlee's  men  formed 
after  falling  back  from  their  attempt  to  stop  the  enemy.  A  part  of  Kachlein's 
riflemen  were  stationed  along  hedges  near  the  foot  of  the  hill,  in  front  of  the 
Marylanders,  and  a  part  in  front  of  the  woods  near  Atlee.  It  was  soon  discovered 
that  it  was  the  enemy's  intention  to  overlap  it  on  the  left ;  accordingly,  Parsons 
was  ordered  to  take  Atlee's  and  Huntington's  regiments  and  move  still  further 
into  the  woods  to  defeat  the  designs  on  that  flank. 

Finding  Stirling  thus  thrown  across  their  path  the  British  also  drew  up  in  line 
and  disposed  their  forces  as  if  intending  to  attack  him  at  once.  Nearly  opposite 
to  the  Marylanders  Grant  posted  the  Sixth  brigade  in  two  lines,  while  the  Fourth 
brigade  was  extended  in  a  single  line  from  the  low  ground  to  the  top  of  the  hills 
in  Greenwood  Cemetery.  This  was  a  regular  battle  formation — Grant  and  Stirling 
opposing  each  other— and  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  instance  in  the  Revolution 
where  we  met  the  British  in  the  open  field.  The  first  move  of  the  British  was  to 
send  forward  a  small  body  of  light  troops  from  their  left,  which  advanced  to 
within  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards  of  Stirling's  right.  This  would  bring  them 
not  far  from  the  little  bridge  on  the  road  where,  from  behind  hedges  and  apple 
trees,  they  opened  fire  on  our  advanced  riflemen  who  replied  with  spirit.  In  the 
meantime,  Stirling  was  reinforced  by  a  two-gun  battery  from  Knox's  artillery, 
under  Capt. -Lieut.  Benajah  Carpenter,  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  which  was  at  once 
placed  on  the  hillside  to  command  the  road  and,  says  Stirling,  "  the  only  approach 
for  some  hundred  yards,"  which  must  have  been  that  part  of  the  road  running 
over  the  bridge.  The  skirmishing  was  kept  up  for  about  two  hours,  our  entire 
line  occasionally   being   engaged    in    the  fire. 

"  The    enemy,"  says    one   of   the   Marylanders,   "  advanced  toward  us,  upon 


19 

which  Lord  Stirling,  who  commanded,  drew  up  in  a  line  and  offered  them  battle 
in  true  English  taste.  The  British  then  advanced  within  about  two  hundred  yards 
of  us  and  began  a  heavy  fire  from  their  cannon  and  mortars,  for  both  the  balls 
and  shells  flew  very  fast,  now  and  then  taking  off  a  head.  Our  men  stood  it 
amazingly  well  ;  not  even  one  of  them  showed  a  disposition  to  shrink.  Our 
orders  were  not  to  fire  untill  the  enemy  came  within  fifty  yards  of  us,  but  when 
they  perceived  we  stood  their  fire  so  cooly  and  resolutely  they  declined  coming 
any  nearer,  although  treble  our  number." 

Col.  Haslet  reported  that  "  the  Delawares  drew  up  on  the  side  of  a  hill  and 
stood  upwards  of  four  hours  with  a  firm,  determined  countenance  in  close  array, 
their  colors  flying,  the  enemy's  artillery  playing  on  them,"  while  the  standard  held 
by  Ensign  Stephens  "  was  torn  with  shot."  Under  the  fire  of  Carpenter's  battery 
the  British  light  troops  retired  to  their  main  line  and  the  firing  was  continued 
chiefly  by  the  artillery.  On  their  left  they  advanced  one  howitzer  to  within  three 
hundred  yards  of  Stirling's  right,  and  in  front  of  his  left  they  opened  with  another 
piece  at  a  distance  of  six  hundred  yards.  During  this  engagement  Stirling's 
men  were  encouraged  with  the  belief  that  they  were  holding  back  the  invaders. 
That  long,  thin  line  of  Stirling's  command  stood  strained  and  nerved  for  the  mad 
rush  of  combat  until  the  very  waiting  had  fatally  exhausted  the  energies  of  his 
men.  For  two  long  hours  succeeding  the  retirement  of  the  enemy's  light  troops, 
nothing  but  the  exchange  of  cannon  shot  at  long  range  had  occupied  the  atten- 
tion of  the  belligerents,  except  when  the  distant  roar  of  musketry  and  field  guns 
told  that  Gen.  Sullivan's  troops  had  work  in  hand. 

The  battle  at  this  time  was  rather  spiritless,  as  Stirling's  object  was  mainly  to 
keep  Grant  in  check  for  a  time,  while  Grant's  instructions  were  not  to  force  an 
attack  until  warned  by  guns  from  the  British  right  wing  that  Clinton  had  succeeded 
in  gaining  the  rear  of  the  American  lines.  Says  Field :  "Thus  stood  affairs  in 
this  part  of  the  battle-field  at  nine  o'clock  a.  m.,  when  the  thunder  of  great  guns 
on  the  bay  gave  notice  that  a  new  enemy  had  arrived  upon  the  scene  of  action  and 
was  adding  another  element  of  dread  to  the  fast  accumulating  horrors  of  the  dav. 
The  Roebuck,  man-of-war,  had  with  great  difficulty  and  labor  at  length  crept 
within  range  of  the  redoubt  on  Red  Hook,  and  a  combat  at  once  opened  between 
them.  Admiral  Lord  Howe  had  early  in  the  day  attempted  to  bring  his  vessels  up 
the  bay  into  supporting  distance,  but  a  strong  north  wind  combining  with  the  ebb 
tide  prevented  them  from  passing  more  than  a  mile  or  two  above  the  Narrows. 
From  the  masthead  of  the  ships  the  engagement  of  Grant's  column  was  plainly 
visible  to  their  crews,  and  their  eagerness  to  participate  in  the  contest  was  doubt- 
less but  little  less  than  that  of  their  admiral,  while  his  anxiety  for  the  success  of 
his  brother's  movements,  rendered  doubly  hazardous  by  the  uncertainty  of  a  night 
attack,  was  very  great.  Every  effort  was  therefore  made  to  bring  the  fleet  into  a 
position  for  taking  part  in  the  engagement,  but  Lord  Howe,  convinced  at  last 
of  the  futility  of  further  trial,  reluctantly  gave  the  signal  to  come  to  anchor. 

"  Had  the  attempt  succeeded  and  the  terrible  broadsides  of  five  men-of-war 
been  opened  upon  the  wavering  line  of  militia,  the  contest,  which  was  soon  to 
terminate  in  slaughter  and  defeat,  would  have  had  a  quicker  and  still  bloodier 
close.  Anchored  at  less  than  three-fourths  of  a  mile  from  the  scene  of  conflict, 
two  hundred  guns  would  have  added  their  terror  to  a  battle-field  around  which  so 
dense  and  fiery  a  gloom  was  even  now  gathering.     As  the  morning  advanced  the 


20 

guns  of  the  Roebuck,  which  had  led  the  fleet  four  or  five  miles,  opened  upon  the 
redoubt  at  Red  Hook,  the  artillerymen  of  which  had  made  several  efforts  to  reach 
her  with  their  long  range  cannon.  What  was  the  effect  of  their  tire  upon  the 
Roebuck  is  not  positively  known,  but  she  could  have  been  only  slightly  injured,  as 
a  few  days  after  she  took  part  in  the  attack  upon  the  American  lines  on  Manhattan 
Island.  The  redoubt,  however,  did  not  escape  uninjured  from  the  fire  of  the 
Roebuck,  as  Colonels  Mifflin  and  Grayson,  who  visited  it  on  the  next  day,  found  it 
greatly  damaged.  The  roar  of  ordnance  from  the  little  redoubt  on  Red  Hook, 
answered  by  the  thunder  of  the  great  guns  from  the  decks  of  the  Roebuck  far  on 
the  right ;  the  crash  of  Grant's  well-served  artillery  in  front,  gallantly  but  feebly 
returned  by  the  two-gun  battery  on  Greenwood  heights ;  the  persistent  duel 
between  Sullivan's  and  De  Heister's  cannon  and  rifles  which,  during  four  hours  of 
combat  had  not  changed  position  on  the  left,  all  combined  to  convince  Stirling 
that  he  was  well  maintaining  his  post,  and  that  the  advance  of  the  enemy  was 
everywhere  checked. 

"  The  Delaware  battalion,  under  Col.  Haslet,  had  remained  in  reserve  on 
the  left  of  Stirling's  line,  near  the  Port  road.  At  eleven  o'clock  they  were 
ordered  to  the  front  to  reinforce  the  centre  and  left,  now  becoming  weak  and  thin 
under  the  fire  of  five  times  their  number  for  nearly  six  hours.  At  this  time 
Admiral  Howe  was  reinforcing  Grant  with  two  thousand  men,  landed  from  boats 
in  Bennet's  Cove,  and  it  was  to  resist  their  attack  that  the  Delaware  reserve  was 
ordered  up.  Detachments  from  De  Heister's  column,  which  had  been  pushed 
forward  through  the  wood  from  the  hills  near  the  Port  road  with  the  intention  of 
forming  a  junction  with  Grant,  whose  position  was  readily  ascertained  by  the 
firing,  encountered  the  left  of  the  Delaware  battalion  near  Tenth  street  and 
Fourth  avenue,  at  about  the  same  time  that  the  British  were  landing  from  the 
boats.  One  of  these  detachments  commanded  by  Captain  Wragg,  mistaking  the 
Delaware  soldiers  for  Hessian  troops  and  approaching  so  near  as  to  be  incapable 
of  retreat,  surrendered. 

"  Lieut.  Popham  was  detached  with  a  guard  to  convey  the  prisoners  to  the 
lines.  They  narrowly  escaped  from  drowning  in  the  deep  mud  and  water,  and  to 
heighten  the  danger  the  enemy,  discovering  the  movement,  opened  upon  them  a 
fire  from  a  two-gun  battery  on  the  hills.  The  British  captain,  hoping  from  this 
circumstance  that  a  rescue  would  be  effected,  paused  in  the  middle  of  the  morass, 
but  he  relinguished  his  hopes  on  being  informed  by  Popham  that  he  would  be 
instantly  put  to  death  should  he  make  an  attempt  to  escape." 

While  Stirling  and  Parsons  seemed  to  be  effectually  blocking  the  advance  of 
the  British  by  the  lower  road  and  the  Greenwood  hills,  important  movements  had 
already  begun  on  another  portion  of  the  field  where  Sullivan,  on  the  Flatbush 
hills,  calmly  awaited  the  attack  of  the  British  force  in  front.  De  Heister,  at  day- 
break, opened  a  cannonade  from  his  position  at  Flatbush  upon  the  redoubt  on  the 
neighboring  hill,  where  Hand's  rifle  corps  were  posted,  supported  by  the  troops  of 
Cols.  Wyllys  and  Miles,  on  the  Bedford  road.  Hearing  this,  General  Sullivan 
hastened  forward  with  four  hundred  riflemen  on  a  reconnoissance  along  the  slope 
of  the  hills  in  part  of  his  lines  and  to  the  eastward  of  his  centre,  being  all  this 
time  in  ignorance  of  the  fact  that  Clinton  had  gained  his  rear.  General  Howe,  in 
his  report,  says  :  "  General  Clinton  being  arrived  within  half  a  mile  of  the  pass 
(Jamaica  Pass)  about  two  hours  before  daybreak,  halted  and  settled  his  disposi- 


tion  for  the  attack.  One  of  his  patrols,  falling  in  with  a  patrol  of  the  enemy's 
officers,  took  them,  and  the  general,  learning  from  their  information  that  the  rebels 
had  not  occupied  the  pass,  detached  a  battalion  of  light  infantry  to  secure  it." 

Howe  withdrew  Cornvvallis  from  Flatbush  to  Flatlands  towards  evening  on 
the  26th,  and  at  nine  o'clock  at  night  set  this  flanking  corps  in  motion.  Sir 
Henry  Clinton  commanded  the  van  which  consisted  of  the  light  dragoons  and  the 
brigade  of  light  infantry.  Cornwallis  and  the  reserve  immediately  followed,  and 
after  him  marched  the  First  brigade  and  the  Seventy-first  regiment,  with  fourteen 
pieces  of  field  artillery.  These  troops  formed  the  advance  corps,  and  were 
followed  at  a  proper  interval  by  Lord  Percy  and  Howe  himself,  with  the  Second, 
Third  and  Fifth  brigades,  the  guards  and  ten  guns.  The  Forty-ninth  regiment, 
with  four  12-pounders  and  the  baggage  with  a  separate  guardfferought  up  the  rear. 
The  whole  force  was  about  ten  thousand  strong.  With  three  tories  as  guides  it 
took  up  the  march  and  headed,  as  Howe  reports,  "  across  the  country  through  the 
new  lots  "  towards  the  Jamaica  Pass,  moving  slowly  and  cautiously  along  the  road 
from  Flatlands  until  it  reached  Schoonmaker's  bridge,  which  crossed  a  creek 
emptying  into  Jamaica  Bay,  when  the  column  struck  over  the  fields  to  the  Jamaica 
road,  where  it  came  to  a  halt  in  the  open  lots  a  short  distance  southeast  of  the 
pass  and  directly  in  front  of  Howard's  Halfway  House.— Johnston. 

De  Heister,  in  the  meanwhile,  continued  his  attack  on  the  redoubt  in  order  to 
keep  the  attention  of  the  Americans  in  that  direction  until  late  in  the  forenoon, 
when  signal  guns  from  the  northward  assured  him  that  Clinton  had  gained  the 
American  rear.  Col.  Donop,  at  the  head  of  the  Hessian  riflemen  and  grenadiers, 
now  dashed  forward  to  the  south  of  the  Port  road  and,  followed  by  De  Heister 
with  the  remainder  of  the  latter's  division,  the  redoubt  was  quickly  carried  and 
the  impetuous  Hessian  yagers  eagerly  pressed  forward  into  the  woods  south  of 
the  Port  road,  driving  the  American  riflemen  before  them  and  taking  possession  of 
the  coverts  and  lurking  places  from  which  they  had  dislodged  them.  These  slight 
covers  were  immediately  occupied  by  the  yagers  who  had  been  instructed  to 
imitate  the  American  tactics  of  irregular  skirmishers,  and  accordingly,  after 
delivering  their  fire  from  such  points  as  offered  concealment  or  protection  these 
active  troops  sprang  rapidly  forward  to  similar  covers  in  advance.  The  grenadiers 
followed  close  behind  in  well-dressed  lines  which  they  were  as  solicitous  to 
preserve,  and  slowly  but  surely  pressing  back  the  Americans  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet  upon  the  main  body,  now  fatally  weakened  by  the  withdrawal  of  the  four 
hundred  men  which  formed  Sullivan's  reconnoissance.  That  general,  alarmed  by 
Clinton's  cannon,  which  revealed  to  him  the  fact  that  his  flank  had  been  turned, 
and  fully  alive  to  the  danger  of  his  position,  was  now  in  full  retreat  for  the  Amer- 
ican lines.  < 

Sir  Henry  Clinton's  and  Cornwallis'  massive  columns  had  marched  from 
Bedford  to  the  junction  of  the  Flatbush  and  Jamaica  roads,  across  which  they  had 
pushed  their  advanced  guards.  The  British  line,  therefore,  now  stretched  for 
nearly  two  miles  between  these  points,  at  the  distance  of  half  a  mile  from  the  rear 
of  the  Americans,  who,  by  this  silent  and  masterly  movement,  had  been  fatally 
inclosed  within  the  encompassing  folds.  The  advance  guard,  thoroughly  informed 
by  the  loyalists  (who  had  escaped  to  Staten  Island  and  now  accompanied  the 
column)  of  every  wood-road,  by-path  and  farm-lane,  advanced  with  almost  the 
rapidity  and  secrecy  of  Indian  warriors,  enclosing  the  outposts  with  a  force  which 
rendered  resistance  useless,  even  where  it  continued  to  be  possible. 


As  Sullivan's  imperilled  troops  hurried  down  the  rough  and  densely  wooded 
slope  of  Mount  Prospect,  they  were  met  on  the  open  plain  of  Bedford  by  the 
British  light  infantry  and  dragoons,  and  hurled  back  against  the  Hessian  bayonets, 
which  bristled  along  the  woods.  Meanwhile,  a  heavy  force  from  Clinton  and 
Cornwallis' left,  near  Bedford,  had  cut  the  American  lines  at  the  "  Clove  road,'' 
and  Col.  Miles'  troops  were  flying  in  the  wildest  panic  and  dismay.  Parties  of 
Americans,  also  retreating  from  the  onset  of  the  Hessians  towards  the  Bedford 
road,  found  themselves  face  to  face  with  the  dense  columns  of  British  troops  from 
the  extreme  left  of  Sullivan's  line,  who  were  hurrying  forward  to  escape  by  the 
same  road.  On  all  sides  the  enemy  was  closing  around  the  feeble  bands.  Vast 
masses  of  fresh  troops  stretched  far  beyond  their  flanks  on  front  and  rear.  The 
whole  line  of  De  Heister's  army  was  advancing,  in  three  divisions,  with  the  utmost 
precision  and  exactness ;  while  the  whole  force  of  American  riflemen  was  engaged, 
the  Hessian  line  was  regularly  halted  at  short  distances  and  reformed,  before  it 
was  permitted  to  advance.  The  steady,  determined  onset  was  not  without  its 
effect  upon  the  Americans.  Overwhelmed  by  the  numbers  and  the  discipline  of 
the  foe,  their  redoubt  was  entered,  and  the  weak  line  of  fortifications  was  carried 
at  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  Many  of  the  brave  fellows  fell  in  the  intrenchments, 
the  Hessians,  in  several  instances,  pinning  them  to  the  trees.  No  mercy  was 
shown;  the  hireling  mercenaries  of  Britain  glutted  themselves  with  blood.  An 
officer  in  Gen.  Frazer's  battalion,  Seventy-first  regiment,  stated  that  "  The  Hes- 
sians and  our  brave  Highlanders  gave  no  quarters  ;  and  it  was  a  fine  sight  to  see 
with  what  alacrity  they  despatched  the  rebels  with  their  bayonets  afte.  we  had 
surrounded  them  so  that  they  could  not  resist.  We  took  care  to  tell  the  Hessians 
that  the  rebels  had  resolved  to  give  no  quarters — to  them  in  particular — which 
made  them  fight  desperately,  and  put  to  death  all  that  came  into  their  hands." 

As  an  offset  to  this  account  of  fiendish  brutality,  another  British  officer,  with 
a  finer  sense  of  honor  and  humanity,  writes :  "  The  Americans  fought  bravely, 
and  (to  do  them  justice)  could  not  be  broken  until  they  were  greatly  outnumbered, 
and  taken  in  flank,  front  and  rear.  We  were  greatly  shocked  at  the  massacre  made 
by  the  Hessians  and  Highlanders,  after  victory  was  decided." 

Driven  out  from  the  woods  upon  the  open  plain,  in  groups  of  fifty  or  sixty 
men,  and  in  full  view  of  the  troops  which  garrisoned  the  forts,  the  flying  Amer- 
icans were  met  with  squadrons  of  British  dragoons,  followed  by  columns  of 
infantry,  which  completely  blocked  their  line  of  retreat.  Hurled  back  again  upon 
the  Hessian  line  by  the  dragoon  charges  which  smote  and  crushed  them,  without 
discipline,  or  officers  who  could  restore  it,  exposed  to  equal  lines  in  front  and  rear, 
many  of  these  detached  squads  attempted  to  surrender,  flinging  down  their  arms, 
or  reversing  them,  to  indicate  submission  ;  but  they  were  enclosed  by  an  infuriated 
enemy,  indifferent  to  these  tokens  of  surrender,  and  were  inhumanly  cut  to  pieces. 
The  cry  for  quarter,  General  De  Heister  says,  was,  in  many  instances,  entirely 
unheeded  by  either  German  or  English  soldiers.  Indeed,  he  says,  the  British 
soldier  was  quite  as  sanguinary  and  inhuman  as  his  Saxon  or  Hessian  comrade, 
and  constantly  incited  these  to  grant  no  quarter. 

It  was  a  desperate  conflict  on  both  sides,  and  groops  of  militia  fought  here 
and  there  amid  the  woods,  surrounded  by  overwhelming  masses  of  the  enemy, 
whom  they  madly  struggled  to  reach  with  sword  and  bayonet,  until  one  by  one 
they  fell  beneath  the  weight  of  the  terrible  odds.     The  unequal  conflict  was  main- 

D 


23 

tained  by  the  heroic  band  of  Americans  from  nine  o'clock  until  twelve,  when  the 
survivors  surrendered.  The  few  who,  nerved  by  their  horrible  situation,  succeeded 
in  cutting  their  way  through  the  gleaming  wall  of  bayonets  and  sabres  which 
encircled  them,  were  pursued  within  musket  shot  of  the  American  lines  by  the 
grenadiers,  who  were  with  the  utmost  difficulty  restrained  by  their  officers  from 
storming  Fort  Putnam.  Other  fugitives,  less  fortunate,  were  skulking  along  the 
hills  and  seeking,  amid  the  swamps  and  thickets,  a  temporary  respite  from  capture. 
Some  in  larger  bodies  had  succeeded  in  getting  through  the  Hessian  skirmish  line, 
which  now  occupied  the  strip  of  woods  between  the  Port  road  and  salt  meadows, 
and  were  pouring  across  the  dam  of  Frecke's  Mill.  But,  upon  this  confused  and 
panic-stricken  crowd,  the  Hessians  opened  a  destructive  fire  from  some  guns 
posted  on  the  hills  near  Ninth  avenue,  and  to  escape  this  new  horror,  many 
diverged  to  the  south,  struggling  through  the  mud  and  water  of  the  creeks  which 
abound  in  that  vicinity.  General  Sullivan  was  captured  by  three  Fusileers  of  the 
Regiment  von  Knyphausen,  concealed  in  a  cornfield  about  three  hundred  feet  from 
the  position  of  Colonel  von  Heeringen. 

The  most  sanguinary  conflict  occurred  after  the  Americans  had  left  the  Flat- 
bush  Pass,  and  attempted  to  retreat  to  the  lines  at  Brooklyn.  The  place  of 
severest  contest,  and  where  Sullivan  and  his  men  were  made  piisoners,  was  upon 
the  slope  between  the  Flatbush  avenue  and  the  Long  Island  railway  (Atlantic 
street),  between  Bedford  and  Brooklyn,  near  "  Baker's  Tavern,"  at  a  little  east  of 
the  junction  of  these  avenues.  Fired  with  a  common  emulation  of  slaughter, 
Hessian  and  British  troops  were  now  pressing  forward  to  inclose  Sterling's  div- 
ision between  them  and  Grant,  in  the  same  fatal  embrace  which  had  crushed  out 
the  life  of  Sullivan's  corps. 

"  Washington,  after  watching  for  hours  the  movements  of  the  British  fleet  in 
the  harbor,"  says  Stiles,  "satisfied  that  New  York  for  the  time  was  safe,  hastened 
over  to  the  lines  of  Brooklyn,  where,  from  the  eminence  upon  which  Fort  Putnam 
stood,  he  witnessed  the  rout  and  slaughter  of  Sullivan's  command,  to  whom  he 
could  send  no  succor  without  weakening  the  lines  and  endangering  other  positions. 
As  with  anxious  and  troubled  spirit  he  watched  the  movements  of  the  struggling 
troops,  he  observed,  emerging  from  the  woods  on  his  left,  a  heavy  British  column, 
which  descended  the  hills  in  the  direction  of  Stirling's  division.  This  was  Earl 
Cornwallis,  who  had  been  detached  with  the  larger  part  of  the  right  wing  of  the 
British  army,  to  co-operate  with  General  Grant  in  his  movements  on  Gowanus 
bay,  by  occupying  the  junction  of  the  Port  and  Gowanus  roads.  Cornwallis  pro- 
ceeded as  far  as  the  Cortleyou  house,  which  he  at  once  occupied  as  a  redoubt. 
Stirling,  meanwhile,  doubtless  wondering  at  Grant's  forbearance,  was  totally  un- 
conscious of  Cornwallis'  movement  upon  his  rear,  until  startled  by  the  signal  guns 
with  which  the  earl  announced  his  approach  to  Grant.  Then,  as  the  truth  burst 
upon  him,  he  found  that  his  retreat  towards  the  lines  at  Brooklyn  was  intercepted, 
and  that  he  was  fairly  trapped  between  two  superior  forces  of  the  enemy.  At  the 
same  time  came  tidings  of  the  defeat  of  Sullivan  upon  his  left.  Grant,  largely 
re-enforced  (with  the  2,000  troops  which  landed  at  Bennet's  cove  in  the  morning), 
was  now  in  full  motion,  and  pressing  fiercely  on  his  front.  Stirling,  finding  that  he 
was  fast  being  surrounded,  saw  that  his  only  chance  of  escape  was  to  drive  Corn- 
wallis from  the  Cortleyou  house  up  the  Port  road  towards  Flatbush,  and  by  get- 
ting between  him  and  Fort  Box  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  creek,  to  escape  under 
cover  of  its  guns  across  Brower's  mill-dam. 


GEN.  LORD  STIRLING 


24 

"  He  knew  that  his  attack  upon  the  Earl  would,  at  all  events,  give  time  for 
escape  to  his  countrymen,  whom  he  saw  struggling  through  the  salt  morasses  and 
across  the  narrow  causeway  of  Frecke's  mill-pond.  The  generous  thought  was 
followed  by  heroic  action.  Quickly  changing  his  front  and  leaving  the  main  body 
in  conflict  with  Gen.  Grant,  Stirling  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  Smallwood's 
regiment  (Major  Gist  being  in  command  in  the  absence  of  Smallwood,  who  was 
unavoidably  detained  in  New  York)  and  forming  hurriedly  (in  the  vicinity  of  the 
present  Fifth  avenue  and  Tenth  street),  the  column  moved  along  the  Gowanus 
road  in  face  of  a  storm  of  fire  from  cannon,  musketry  and  rifles.  Driving  the 
enemy's  advance  back  upon  the  stone  house,  from  the  windows  of  which  a  storm 
of  bullets  were  poured  mercilessly  into  their  ranks,  they  pushed  unfalteringly 
forward  until  checked  by  a  fire  of  grape  and  cannister  from  a  couple  of  guns 
which  the  British  hurriedly  wheeled  into  position  near  the  building.  Even  then 
they  closed  up  their  decimated  ranks  and  endeavored  to  face  the  storm,  and  again 
were  repulsed.  Thrice  again  these  brave  young  Marylanders  (who  on  that  day 
for  the  first  time  saw  the  flash  of  an  enemy's  guns)  charged  upon  the  house,  once 
driving  the  gunners  from  their  pieces  within  its  shadow,  but  numbers  overwhelmed 
them  and  for  twenty  minutes  the  fight  was  terrible.  Washington,  Putnam  and 
the  other  general  officers  who  witnessed  it  from  the  ramparts  of  Ponkiesbergh 
Fort,  saw  the  overwhelming  force  with  which  their  brave  compatriots  were  con- 
tending, and  held  their  breath  in  suspense  and  fear.  As  they  saw  the  gallant 
Marylanders  attempt  to  cut  their  way  through  the  surrounding  host,  Washington 
wrung  his  hands  in  the  intensity  of  his  emotion  and  exclaimed,  '  Good  God,  what 
brave  fellows  I  must  this  day  lose  !' 

"Colonel  Smallwood,  of  the  Marylanders,  who  had  rejoined  his  regiment, 
petitioned  for  a  force  to  march  out  and  assist  Stirling,  but  the  general  declined  on 
account  of  the  risks  involved.  Douglass'  Connecticut  levies,  just  coming  up  from 
the  ferry,  were  sent  to  the  extreme  right  opposite  the  mouth  of  Gowanus  creek, 
where  with  Capt.  Thomas'  Maryland  Independent  Company  and  two  pieces  of 
artillery,  they  stood  ready  to  prevent  the  pursuit  of  the  retreating  party  by  the 
enemy.  While  Stirling  was  thus  keeping  Cornwallis  in  check,  a  large  portion  of 
those  whom  he  had  left  fighting  with  Grant  had  found  safety  by  wading  or 
swimming  across  Gowanus  creek,  which  they  did  with  difficulty,  it  is  true  ;  but 
they  finally  reached  the  lines,  carrying  with  them  the  tattered  colors  of  Small- 
wood's  regiment  and  over  twenty  prisoners.  For  some  unexplained  reason,  when 
Stirling  fell  back  he  failed  to  inform  Parsons  of  the  fact.  Both  Parsons  and  Atlee 
state  that  no  word  reached  them  to  join  the  general  and  that  it  was  greatly  to 
their  surprise  when  they  found  the  line  whose  flank  they  had  been  protecting  no 
longer  there. 

"  Left  to  shift  for  themselves,  they  did  the  best  they  could  under  the  circum- 
stances. They  found  it  impossible  to  reach  the  marsh  as  Cornwallis.  after  chiving 
the  Marylanders  back,  had  complete  command  of  the  road.  A  few  escaped,  but 
the  greater  part  of  them  turned  into  the  woods  and  were  all  made  prisoners. 
Atlee,  with  twenty-three  men,  avoided  capture  until  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  ; 
while  Parsons,  more  fortunate,  hid  in  a  swamp,  having  escaped  from  the  action  and 
pursuit  '  as  by  a  miracle,'  and  with  seven  men  made  his  way  into  our  lines  at  daylight 
next  morning.  Deprived  of  nearly  all  his  men — more  than  250  of  whom  belonged 
to  Smallwood's  gallant  Maryland  regiment,  the  flower  of  the  American  army— he 


-? 

fled  over  the  hills  until  he  found  it  impossible  to  elude  pursuit ;  but  disdaining  to 
yield  to  a  British  subject  he  sought  out  and  surrendered  himself  to  De  Heister, 
and  was  immediately  sent  on  board  the  British  flagship  Eagle,  where  he  found 
Sullivan  and  other  fellow-prisoners  of  war." 

Thus  ended  the  first  great  battle  in  the  open  field  in  the  War  for  Independ- 
ence. For  our  troops  it  was  a  total  defeat,  but  in  reality  a  "blessing  in  disguise." 
By  falling,  the  infant  learns  to  walk  ;  by  losses,  the  merchant  learns  to  gain  ;  by 
defeat — and  all  history  tends  to  prove  it  — an  army  is  taught  to  conquer.  Not  in 
vain,  then,  was  even  the  defeat  of  the  American  army  ;  not  in  vain  the  anguish 
with  which  the  usually  calm  spirit  of  Washington  was  that  day  torn  ;  not  in  vain 
were  those  two  anxious  days  and  nights  which  he  passed  on  horseback,  and  which 
saved  from  death  or  captivity  nine  thousand  men.  In  the  immortal  letters  and 
dispatches  of  the  great  commander  and  in  the  painful  annals  of  the  time  we  read 
the  cost  and  value  of  what  we  are  now  enjoying.  Without  this  we  had  not 
fully  known  how  inherent,  how  enduring  and  elastic  is  the  power  of  an  earnest 
and  virtuous  patriotism  Without  them,  even  the  transcendant  name  of  Washing- 
ton could  not  have  filled  the  mighty  measure  of  its  fame. 

The  British  troops,  flushed  with  victory,  were  with  difficulty  restrained  from 
carrying  the  rebel  lines  by  storm.  They  might  possibly  have  succeeded,  but  it 
would  have  been  a  dear  bought  victory,  for  behind  those  redoubts  were  three 
thousand  determined  troops  animated  by  the  presence  of  Washington  and  Putnam 
and  rendered  desperate  by  the  misfortunes  of  their  brave  compatriots  under 
Sullivan  and  Stirling,  to  which  they  had  just  been  witnesses.  Ignorant  of  their 
real  force  and  profiting  by  his  experience  at  Bunker  Hill,  Howe  wisely  determined 
not  to  make  the  attempt.  His  artillery  was  not  up  and  they  "had  no  fascines  to 
fill  ditches,  no  axes  to  cut  abatis,  and  no  scaling  ladders  to  assault  so  respectable 
a  work."  Preferring,  therefore,  to  save  the  further  loss  of  blood  and  to  secure  his 
already  certain  victory  by  regular  approaches,  he  withdrew  his  troops  to  a  hollow 
way  in  front  of  the  American  lines,  out  of  range  of  their  musketry,  and  encamped 
for  the  night. 

Von  Elkin's  account  states  that  "General  Von  Heister  learned  from  the 
troops  who  pursued  the  retreating  Americans  to  their  lines,  that  the  left  part  of 
the  camp  of  the  enemy  near  the  river  was  open  for  a  distance  of  several  hundred 
paces.  Accordingly,  when  the  wings  had  again  united  with  the  centre,  he 
reported  the  fact  to  Gen.  Howe  and  made  a  proposition  to  profit  by  the  confusion 
of  the  enemy  and  the  valor  of  the  troops,  to  attack  the  camp  forthwith  at  this 
weak  point,  but  Howe  manifested  a  number  of  scruples  and  so  missed  the  golden 
opportunity  of  completing  his  victory."  The  losses  in  this  battle  have  been 
variously  estimated,  and  the  differences  seem  almost  unreconcilable.  Marshall 
places  the  American  loss  at  1,000;  Lossing,  1,650;  Irving  and  Field,  2,000; 
Sparks,  1,100;  Bancroft,  800;  while  Howe,  the  British  commander,  states  our  loss 
to  have  been  3.000. 

On  the  8th  of  October  Washington  issued  the  following  order :  "  The 
General  desires  that  commanding  officers  of  each  regiment  or  corps  will  give  in  a 
list  of  the  names  and  of  officers  and  men  who  were  killed,  taken  or  missing  in 
the  action  of  the  27th  of  August,  on  Long  Island  and  since  that  period.  He 
desires  the  returns  may  be  correct,"  etc.  A  part  of  these  lists  have  been  pre- 
served and  may  be  found  in  the  American  Archives  {Force),  5th  series,  vol.  hi.,  as 


26 

follows  :  Hitchcock's  total  loss,  one  officer  and  nine  men  ;  Little's,  three  men  ; 
Huntington's,  twenty-one  officers  and  one  hundred  and  eighty-six  men  ;  Wylly's, 
one  officer  and  nine  men;  Tyler,  three  men  ;  Ward,  three  men;  Chester,  twelve 
men;  Gay,  four  men;  Lasher,  three  officers.  Smallwood's  loss,  according  to 
Gist,  was  twelve  officers  and  two  hundred  and  forty-seven  men  ;  Haslet,  two 
officers  and  twenty-five  men  ;  Johnston's  New  Jersey,  two  officers  and  less  than 
twenty-five  men,  the  rolls  before  and  after  the  battle  showing  no  greater  difference 
in  the  strength  of  the  regiment ;  Miles'  two  battalions,  sixteen  officers  and  about 
one  hundred  and  sixty  men  ;  Atlee,  eleven  officers  and  seventy-seven  men.  No 
official  report  of  the  losses  in  Lutz's,  Kachlein's  and  Hay's  detachments  or  the 
artillery  can  be  found,  but  to  give  their  total  casualities  at  one  hundred  and  fifty 
officers  and  men  is  probably  a  liberal  estimate.  Lutz  lost  six  officers,  all  prisoners; 
Kachlein,  not  more  ;  Hays,  one;  the  artillery,  three. 

Onderdonk's  '-Suffolk  County,"  (N.  Y.)  contains  the  following:  "  New  York, 
Sept,  5,  1776.  A  list  of  the  American  officers  prisoners  with  the  enemy,  who  sent 
by  flag  for  their  baggage  and  cash.  Their  friends  were  desired  to  send  next  door 
to  Gen.  Putnam's  their  trunks,  etc.,  properly  directed,  and  leave  their  cash  at  the 
General's,  that  they  might  be  sent  by  the  first  flag.  (The  names  included  in 
brackets  are   inserted  by  the  editor.) 

"First  Pennsylvania  Battalion.  Cols.  Miles,  Piper;  Capts.  Brown,  Peebles, 
Crawl:  Lieuts.  Scott,  Gray,  Spear,  Drasbach,  McPherson,  Lee,  Brodhead,  Davis, 
Wert,  Tepham  ;  Drs.  John  and  Joseph  Uavies ;  Col.  Lutz,  Mr.  David  Duncan,  Mr. 
Young,  Major  Bird,  Capt.  Herden.  [2d  Lieuts.  Jacquet  and  Carnahan,  missing  ; 
2d  Lieuts.  Sloan  and  Brownlee,  Charles  Taylor,  3d  Lieut.,  killed.] 

"  Col.  Kachlein's  Regiment.     Capt.  Graff;  Lieuts.  Lewis,  Middah,  Shoemaker. 

"  Col.  Lasher 's  N.  Y.  Battalion.  Adj.  Hoagland  ;  Lieuts.  Troup  and  Duns- 
comb ;  Mr.  Van  Wagenen  and  Gilliland,  volunteers.     [Major  Abeel,  killed.] 

"  Col.  Smallwood's  Battalion.  Capt.  Daniel  Bowie,  wounded;  Lieuts.  William 
Steret,  William  Ridgeley,  Hatch  Dent,  Walter  Muse,  Samuel  Wright,  Jos.  Butler, 
wounded,  Edward  Praul,  Edward  De  Courcey ;  Ensigns  James  Fernandes, 
William  Courts. 

"  Col.  Huntington's  Regiment.  Lieut.  Makepiece  ;  Capt.  Brewster  ;  Ensigns 
Lyman,  Chapman,  Hinman,  Bradford;  Lieut.  Orcutt,  Ensign  Higging,  Capt. 
Bissell,  Lieuts.  Gillet  and  Gay,  Adj.  Hopkins,  Dr.  Holmes,  Col.  Clark.  [Missing, 
6  captains,  6  lieutenants,  21  sergeants,  2  drummers,  126  rank  and  file.] 

"  Col.  Alice's  Regiment.  Col.  Atlee;  Capts.  Howell,  Nice,  Herbert,  Murray; 
Lieuts.  Houston,  Finney,  Henderson  ;  Dr.  Young,  volunteer. 

"John  Toms,  of  Col.  Johnston's  regiment;  Mr.  Callender,  of  artillery;  Mr. 
Kearnes,  Del.  Battery  ;  Major  Wells,  of  Col.  Wylly's  regiment  ;  Ensign  Davies, 
Capt.  Hurst.  [Lieut. -Col.  Parry,  killed  ;  Lieut.  Moore,  killed  ;  Ensign  App,  mis- 
sing.    Killed  and  missing,  13  sergeants  and  235  privates.] 

"  American  account  of  prisoners  in  the  three  Pennsylvania  battalions: 

'•  First  Battalion.  Col.  Samuel  Miles  ;  Lieut. -Col.  James  Piper  ;  Capt.  Richard 
Brown;  1st  Lieuts.  William  Grey,  John  Spear,  John  Davies,  George  Wert;  2d 
Lieuts.  Jos.  Friesback,  William  McPherson,  Luke  Brodhead;  Dr.  John  and  Joseph 
Davis.  [2d  Lieut.  Jos.  Jaquet,  missing.  Missing  of  Farmer's,  Brown's,  Longs' 
Allbright's,  Shale's,  Weitzell's,  9  sergeants,  4  drummers,  107  privates.] 

"  Second  Battalion  of  Rifle  Regiment.     Capt.  William   Peebles;   1st   Lieuts. 


27 

Mat.  Scott,  Daniel  Topham ;  2d  Lieut.  David  Sloan  ;  3d  Lieut.  Joseph  Brownlee. 
[2d  Lieut.  James  Carnagan.  missing  ;  3d  Lieut.  Charles  Taylor,  killed.  Missing 
of  Murray's,  Peeble's,  Marshall's,  Erwin's,  Grubb's,  Christ's,  6  sergeants,  1  drum- 
mer, 40  privates.] 

"Battery  of  Musketry.  Col.  Samuel  J.  Atlee;  [Lieut. -Col.  Caleb  Parry, 
killed];  Capts.  Francis  Murray,  Thomas  Herbert,  John  Nice,  Joseph  Howell ; 
Lieut.  Walter  Finney;  Ensigns  William  Henderson,  Alex.  Huston,  Septimus 
Davis,  Michael  App,  missing;  Lieut.  Joseph  Moore,  killed.  Missing  of  Ander- 
son's, Murray's,  Herbert's,  Derhoff's,  Nice's,  Howell's,  McClelland's  (late  Lloyd's), 
1  sergeant,  1  drummer,  75  privates. 

"  Howe's  return  of  prisoners  taken  August  27  :  3  generals,  3  colonels — Penn. 
Rifle  Regt.,  1  ;  Musketeers,  1  ;  N.  J.  Militia,  1.  4  lieutenant-colonels— Penn.  Rifle 
Regt.,  1;  Penn.  Militia,  2;  17th  Cont.  Regt.,  1.  3  majors — Penn.  Militia,  I;  17th 
Cont.  Militia,  1  ;  22d  Cont.  Militia,  1.  18  captains— Penn.  Rifle  Regt.,  2;  Penn. 
Musketeers,  4;  Penn.  Militia,  5;  Cont.  Regt.,  4;  Train  of  Artillery,  1  ;  Mary- 
land Provincials,  2.  43  lieutenants — Penn.  Rifle  Regt.,  1 1  ;  Penn.  Musketeers,  1  ; 
Penn.  Militia,  6;  17th  Cont.  Regt.,  6;  Del.  Bat.,  2;  1st  Bat.  N.  Y.  Cont.,  5;  nth 
Bat.  Cont.,  1  ;  N.J.  Militia,  1  ;  1st  Bat.  Maryland  Independents,  2  ;  L.  I.  Militia,  2  ; 
Train  of  Artillery,  1  ;  Maryland  Provincials,  5.  11  ensigns — Penn.  Musketeers,  4; 
17th  Cont.  Regt.,  5;  Maryland  Provincials,  2.  Staff — Adjutant,  1;  surgeons,  3; 
volunteers,  1  ;  privates,  1,006;  total,  1,097.  N  B.— 9  officers  and  58  privates  of 
the  above  wounded  " 

Howe,  in  his  official  dispatches,  places  the  British  loss  at  367.  Of  this  num- 
ber, 5  officers  and  56  subaltern  officers  and  privates  were  killed,  12  officers  and 
245  subalterns  and  privates  wounded,  and  1  officer  and  20  marines  taken  prisoners. 
The  Hessian  loss  consisted  of  two  privates  killed,  three  officers,  one  of  whom  was 
Capt.  Donop,  and  twenty-three  men  wounded. 


CONDITION  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARMY  ON  THE  EVEN- 
ING OF  THE  27TH  AND  THE  MORNING  OF  THE 
28TH    OF    AUGUST. 

The  battle  of  the  27th  of  August  was  a  series  of  unconnected  skirmishes  in 
which  detachments  of  the  American  army,  cut  off  from  the  main  body,  fought 
here  and  there  amid  the  dense  woods  or  narrow  passes,  as  accident  or  skill 
afforded  them  an  opportunity  for  successful  resistance.  Says  Field;  'In  the 
camp  within  the  Brooklyn  lines  the  night  wore  slowly  away  to  the  weary  and 
anxious  soldier  who  there  found  security  but  not  repose.  The  usual  camp  alarms, 
which  spread  anxious  thrills  through  a  body  of  broken  and  dispirited  men  in  the  pre- 
sence of  a  powerful  and  victorious  enemy,  were  not  infrequent  during  the  long  night ; 
but  when  the  dawn  arose  upon  the  dull  leaden  sky,  the  sounds  of  conflict  or  of 
angry  watchfulness  grew  more  frequent.  Here  and  there  along  the  lines  the  dis- 
charges of  musketry  or  the  sharp  ring  of  a  rifle  gave  token  of  the  proximity  of 
the  enemy.  But  as  the  morning  light  increased  other  sounds  evinced  his  energy 
and  determination,  for  the  dull  thuds  of  the  pick  announced  that  the  enemy  was 
himself  intrenching.  At  the  distance  of  six  hundred  yards  from  Fort  Putnam,  on 
the  high  ground  near  the  present  junction  of  DeKalb  and  Clinton  avenues,  just 


28 

out  of  rifle  range,  the  breastworks  of  a  redoubt  began  to  appear.  Gen.  Howe 
had  prudently  declined  the  tempting  opportunity  which  the  ardor  of  his  men 
presented  him,  of  assaulting  the  feeble  entrenchments  so  thinly  manned  by  the 
dispirited  troops  he  had  lately  defeated,  and  he  was  now  securely  making  his 
advances  by  a  regular  seige.  How  little  effective  resistance  could  have  been  made 
we  at  this  day  probably  know  much  better  than  did  either  of  the  contending 
parties. 

The  American  guards  slept  at  their  posts,  although  frequently  aroused  by 
their  officers  and  threatened  with  instant  death  on  the  repetition  of  the  offense. 
So  great  were  the  weariness  and  stupor  which  fell  on  these  worn  survivors  of  the 
battle,  that  although  the  rain  fell  in  torrents  during  the  evening,  until  the  camp 
was  flooded  with  water,  they  slept  upon  the  soaked  earth  and  in  the  pools  of 
water,  unconscious  of  the  peals  of  thunder  and  the  vivid  lightning.  The  decision 
of  Gen.  Howe,  now  so  apparent,  while  it  relieved  the  Americans  from  the  immedi- 
ate apprehensions  of  an  assault,  only  delayed  the  approach  of  a  danger  but  little 
less  threatening.  In  a  few  hours  the  cannon  shot  and  shell  from  the  redoubt  now 
being  constructed  would  be  crashing  through  the  lines  from  a  distance  which 
made  its  position  unassailable. 

PREPARATIONS  FOR  ANOTHER  ATTACK. 

"  The  night  (27th)  which  followed  the  battle,"  says  Stiles,  "  was  one  of  great 
anxiety  to  Washington.  His  fatigued,  wounded  and  dispirited  soldiers  were  but 
poorly  sheltered  against  the  heavy  storm  which  seemed  to  be  gathering.  The 
enemy  was  encamped  before  the  lines ;  the  morrow  would  probably  bring  a 
renewal  of  the  conflict.  But  his  energy  again  triumphed  over  his  fears.  The 
long  hours  of  night — yet  all  too  short  for  the  work  in  hand — were  occupied  with 
efforts  to  strengthen  his  position.  Troops  were  ordered  from  New  York,  from 
Fort  Washington  and  Kingsbridge  ;  nothing  was  left  undone  that  human  effort 
and  foresight  could  accomplish.  The  morning  of  the  28th  was  lowering  and 
heavy,  with  masses  of  vapor  which  hung  like  a  funeral  pall  over  sea  and  land. 
At  four  o'clock,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  thick  falling  mist,  Washington  visited  every 
part  of  the  works,  encouraging  his  suffering  soldiers  with  words  of  hope  and 
carefully  inspecting  the  state  of  the  defences.  By  the  gradually  increasing  light 
of  the  morning  was  revealed  the  encampment  of  over  15,000  troops  of  Britain. 
It  is  no  wonder  that  there  was  gloom  everywhere — in  the  sky,  on  the  land,  on  the 
water  and  over  the  spirits  of  the  Republicans.  They  almost  despaired,  for  the 
heavy  rains  had  injured  their  arms  and  almost  destroyed  their  ammunition,  But 
when,  at  five  o'clock,  Mifflin  crossed  the  East  River  with  the  choice  regiments  of 
Magaw  and  Shee  and  Glover's  battalion  of  Marblehead  fishermen  and  sailors,  in 
all  more  than  a  thousand  strong,  all  fresh  and  cheerful,  there  was  an  outburst  of 
joy,  for  they  seemed  like  sunshine  as  they  passed  the  lines  of  sufferers  and  took 
post  on  the  extreme  left,  near  the  Wallabout.  Their  arrival  increased  the 
American  force  to  nine  thousand.  The  British  cannonade  opened  at  ten  o'clock 
upon  the  American  lines,  and  was  followed  through  the  day  by  frequent  skir- 
mishes. The  rain  fell  copiously,  much  to  the  discomfort  of  the  Americans  who, 
in  some  parts  of  the  trenches,  stood  up  to  their  waists  in  water  and  mud.  It 
served,   however,  to  keep  the   British  within  their  tents  until   near   evening,  when 


29 

they  broke  ground  within  five  hundred  yards  of  the  American  lines  and  com- 
menced regular  approaches  by  trenches.  This  night,  also,  they  threw  up  a 
redoubt  east  of  Fort  Putnam  (now  Fort  Greene),  on  the  land  of  George  Powers, 
from  which  they  opened  a  fire  upon  the  fort. 

"  At  midnight  a  dense  fog  arose,  which  remained  motionless  and  impenetrable 
over  the  island  during  nearly  the  whole  of  the  next  day.  In  the  afternoon  of  the 
29th,  General  Mifflin,  Adjutant-General  Reed  and  Colonel  Grayson,  reconnoitered 
at  the  outposts  on  the  western  extemity  of  the  American  lines,  near  the  Red  Hook. 
While  there,  a  gentle  shift  of  wind  lifted  the  fog  from  Staten  Island  and  revealed 
to  them  the  British  fleet  in  the  Narrows  and  boats  passing  to  and  fro  from  the 
admiral's  ship  and  other  vessels.  These  signs  of  activity,  together  with  a  know- 
ledge of  the  fact  that  a  portion  of  the  fleet  had  passed  round  the  island  and  were 
anchored  in  Flushing  Bay,  betokened  a  movement  upon  the  city,  and  the  three 
officers  lost  no  time  in  hastening  back  to  camp.  The  news  which  they  brought 
was  probably  not  unexpected  to  Washington,  for  unknown  to  his  aids,  he  had 
already  made  provision  earlier  in  the  day  for  the  concentration  in  the  East  River, 
at  New  York,  of  every  kind  of  sail  or  row  boats,  which  were  to  be  ready  by  dark  ; 
but  he  immediately  convened  a  council  of  war  at  five  o'clock  the  same  evening,  for 
the  danger  was  indeed  imminent.  If  the  British  should  occupy  the  Hudson  and  the 
East  River — as  any  moment,  on  change  of  mind,  they  might  do — they  would,  by 
securing  the  position  of  Kingsbridge,  be  able  to  cut  off  all  communication  between 
Manhattan  Island  and  the  Westchester  main,  thus  imprisoning  that  portion  of  the 
American  army  in  New  York  and  separating  it  from  that  on  Long  Island." 

"  At  last,"  says  Field,  "  the  slow  hours  of  that  twenty-eighth  of  August  wore 
away.  Even  the  drizzling  rain,  the  pangs  of  hunger  and  the  dreary  wretchedness 
of  the  muddy  bivouac,  were  at  times  unfelt  when  tokens  of  an  immediate  general 
assault  upon  the  intrenchments  became  more  threatening.  Along  nearly  the  whole 
extent  of  the  lines  a  skirmishing  fire  was  maintained  during  the  day,  which 
increased  at  times,  at  different  points,  to  such  a  degree  and  was  returned  by  such 
heavy  volleys  from  the  enemy,  that  the  regiments  were  formed  and  preparations 
made  for  repelling  an  attack  by  the  enemy's  whole  line.  Indeed,  so  constant 
were  the  discharges  from  the  American  intrenchments,  and  so  frequent  the  heavy 
crash  of  concentrating  firing,  that  from  Wallabout  Bay,  across  the  entire  neck  of 
the  peninsula,  and  along  the  mill-ponds  and  the  creek  to  Gowanus  Bay,  there 
seemed  to  be  a  line  of  battle  heavily  engaged.  This  skirmishing  engagement  was 
encouraged  by  the  officers,  in  accordance  with  Washington's  orders,  as  it 
served,  in  some  degree,  to  inspire  confidence  in  his  beaten  and  dispirited  troops, 
and  also  warned  the  enemy  of  the  maintenance  of  our  lines  by  a  heavy  force. 
Washington  still  retained  his  intention  of  risking  the  battle  which  he  deemed 
inevitable,  behind  the  Brooklyn  intrenchments ;  for  all  his  movements  indicate 
that,  up  to  this  time,  the  idea  of  a  retreat  from  Long  Island  had  not  been  enter- 
tained. In  fact,  the  almost  blind  confidence  of  the  General  in  his  insubordinate, 
ill-disciplined  and  poorly  armed  forces,  is  quite  inexplicable,  for  he  manceuvered 
them  in  positions  which  would  have  tried  the  nerves  of  veteran  soldiers,  and  raw 
recruits  were  thrust  forward  into  battle  with  the  most  thoroughly  disciplined 
army  of  Europe. 

"  The  constantly  recurring  showers  had  caused  the  supension  of  work  upon  the 
British  redoubt,  but  the  enemy  seized  the  occasion  of  a  heavy  thunder  storm  to 


30 

make  a  demonstration  upon  the  American  lines.  They  doubtless  expected  to  find 
the  Americans  unprepared,  in  consequence  of  the  damage  to  their  ammunition  and 
fire-arms,  which  would  not  equally  affect  the  efficiency  of  the  assaulting  force, 
relying  solely  upon  their  bayonets.  Three  strong  columns,  said  by  the  current 
accounts  to  have  consisted  of  their  entire  force,  were  thrown  forward  at  different 
points  between  Fort  Putnam  and  Fort  Box,  but  were  met  by  such  heavy  volleys 
along  the  whole  line  that  they  were  not  pushed  to  the  assault,  but  were  recalled  as 
soon  as  the  firm  resistance  of  the  heavy  force  manning  the  works  was  demon- 
strated by  the  attempt.  The  British  officers  stormed  with  rage  at  the  restraint 
upon  their  courage  imposed  by  the  excessive  caution  of  their  commander,  and 
expressed  the  utmost  scorn  of  the  paltry  works  before  them  and  of  the  contemp- 
tible mob  of  farmers  and  tradesmen  which  defended  them." 

Gorden,  in  his  account  of  the  operations  says  :  "  The  victorious  army  encamped 
in  the  front  of  the  American  works  in  the  evening,  and  on  the  28th,  at  night,  broke 
ground,  in  from  about  four  or  five  hundred  yards  distant  from  a  redoubt  which  covered 
the  left  of  the  Americans.  The  same  day  Gen.  Mifflin  crossed  over  from  New  York 
with  1,000  men.  At  night  he  made  an  offer  to  Gen.  Washington  of  going  the 
rounds,  which  was  accepted.  He  observed  the  approaches  of  the  enemy  and  the 
forwardness  of  their  batteries  and  was  convinced  that  no  time  was  to  be  lost.  The 
next  morning  he  conversed  with  the  General  upon  the  subject  and  said  :  '  You 
must  either  fight  or  retreat  immediately.  What  is  your  strength  ?  '  The  General 
answered,  'nine  thousand.'  The  other  replied,  '  it  is  not  sufficient,  we  must  there- 
fore retreat.'  They  were  both  agreed  as  to  the  calling  of  a  council  of  war,  and 
General  Mifflin  was  to  propose  a  retreat.  But  as  he  was  to  make  that  proposal,  lest 
his  own  character  should  suffer,  he  stipulated  that  if  a  retreat  should  be  agreed 
upon,  he  would  command  the  rear,  and  if  an  action,  the  van." 


RETREAT    OF    THE    AMERICAN    ARMY    FROM    LONG 
ISLAND. 

PROCEEDINGS  OF  A  COUNCIL  OF  GENERAL  OFFICERS. 

At  a  council  of  war  held  on  Long  Island,  August  29,  1776.  Present — His 
Excellency  Gen.  Washington,  Maj.-Gens.  Putman,  Spencer,  Brig.-Gens.  Mifflin, 
McDougal,  Parsons,  Scott,  Wadsworth,  Fellows. 

It  was  submitted  to  the  consideration  of  the  Council,  whether,  under  all  cir- 
cumstances, it  would  not  be  eligible  to  leave  Long  Island  and  its  dependencies,  and 
to  remove  to  New  York.  Unanimously  agreed  in  the  affirmative  for  the  following 
reasons: 

1st.  Because  our  advanced  party  has  met  with  a  defeat,  and  the  wood  was 
lost  where  we  expected  to  make  a  principal  stand. 

2d.  The  great  loss  sustained  in  the  death  or  captivity  of  several  valuable 
officers  and  their  battalions,  or  a  large  portion  of  them,  had  occasioned  great 
confusion  and  discouragement  among  the  troops. 

3d.  The  heavy  rain  which  fell  two  days  and  nights  without  intermission,  had 
injured  the  arms  and  spoiled  a  great  part  of  the  ammunition;  and  the  soldiery,  being 
without  cover  and  obliged  to  lay  in  the  lines,  were  worn  out,  and  it  was  to  be 
feared  would  not  be  retained  in  them  by  any  order. 


3i 

4th.  From  the  time  the  enemy  moved  from  Flatbush,  several  large  ships  had 
endeavored  to  get  up,  as  supposed,  into  the  East  River,  to  cut  off  our  commuta- 
tions (by  which  the  whole  army  would  have  been  destroyed),  but  the  wind  being 
northeast,  could  not  effect  it. 

5th.  Upon  consulting  with  persons  of  knowledge  of  the  harbor,  they  were 
of  opinion  that  small  ships  might  come  between  Long  Island  and  Governor's 
Island,  where  there  are  no  obstructions,  and  which  would  cut  off  the  communica- 
tion effectually;  and  who  were  also  of  opinion  the  hulks  sunk  between  Governor's 
Island  and  the  city  of  New  York  were  no  sufficient  security  for  obstructing  that 
passage. 

6th.  Though  our  lines  were  fortified  by  some  strong  redoubts,  yet  a  great 
part  of  them  were  weak,  being  abattied  with  brush,  and  affording  no  strong  cover, 
— so  that  there  was  reason  to  apprehend  they  might  be  forced,  which  would  put 
our  troops  in  confusion,  and,  having  no  retreat,  they  must  have  been  cut  to  pieces 
or  made  prisoners. 

7th.  The  divided  state  of  the  troops  rendered  our  defense  very  precarious,  and 
the  duty  of  defending  long  and  extensive  lines  in  so  many  different  places,  without 
proper  conveniences  and  cover,  so  very  fatiguing,  that  the  troops  had  become  dis- 
pirited by  their  incessant  duty  and  watching. 

8th.  Because  the  enemy  had  sent  several  ships  of  war  into  the  Sound  to  a 
place  called  Flushing  Bay;  and  from  the  information  received  that  a  part  of  their 
troops  was  moving  across  Long  Island  that  way,  there  was  reason  to  apprehend 
they  meant  to  pass  over  land,  and  form  an  encampment  above  Kingsbridge,  in 
order  to  cut  off  and  prevent  all  communication  between  our  army  and  the  country 
beyond  them,  or  to  get  in  our  rear. 

The  deliberations  of  this  council  were  brief  and  their  decision  unanimous  in 
favor  of  an  evacuation  of  Long  Island  and  a  retreat  to  New  York  that  very  night. 
The  meeting  of  this  council  was  held  in  the  old  Philip  Livingston  mansion,  subse- 
quently known  as  the  Joralemon  House,  which  stood  on  the  east  side  of  the 
present  Hicks  street,  about  four  hundred  feet  south  of  Joralemon  street.  To 
effect  the  withdrawal  of  some  nine  thousand  men  with  their  arms  and  munitions  of 
war,  and  that  too,  in  face  of  an  enemy  at  work  in  their  trenches — so  near  that  the 
sound  of  their  pick  axes  and  spades  could  be  distinctly  heard — to  march  them  a 
considerable  distance  to  the  river  and  to  transport  them  across  its  strong,  broad 
current,  necessitated  the  greatest  skill  and  secrecy.  Orders  were  immediately 
issued  to  Colonel  Glover  to  collect  and  man,  with  his  regiment  of  hardy  marines, 
all  the  boats  of  every  kind  which  could  be  found,  and  to  be  in  readiness  by  mid- 
night for  the  embarkation,  which  was  to  be  superintended  by  General  McDougal. 
In  order  to  have  the  army  in  proper  marching  condition  without  divulging  the 
plan  of  retreat,  the  officers  were  directed  to  hold  their  men  in  readiness  for  an 
attack  upon  the  enemy's  lines  that  night.  The  order  excited  general  surprise,  but 
by  eight  o'clock  the  army  was  ready  for  movement.  That  the  enemy's  suspicions 
might  not  be  excited,  General  Mifflin  was  to  remain  within  the  lines,  and  within 
250  yards  of  the  British  advanced  works,  with  Col.  Hand's  rifle  corps  and  the 
battered  remnants  of  the  Delaware  and  Maryland  regiments,  who,  with  hardly  a 
respite  from  the  terrible  battle  of  the  27th,  had  now  cheerfully  consented  to  cover 
the  retreat  of  their  fresher  but  less  experienced  companions-in-arms.  By  nine 
o'clock  the  ebb  tide,  with  heavy  rain  and  an  adverse    wind,  rendered  the  sailboats 


32 

of  little  use,  but  by  eleven  the  northeast  wind  which  had  prevailed  for  three  days 
died  away,  the  surface  of  the  water  became  smooth,  and  with  a  southwest  breeze 
favoring,  both  the  sail  and  rowboats  were  able  to  cross  the  river  full  laden. 

By  ten  o'clock  the  troops  began  to  move  from  the  lines,  and  as  each  regiment 
left  its  position  the  remaining  troops  moved  to  the  right  and  left  and  filled  up  the 
vacancies.  Said  one  of  the  Connecticut  troops  :  "  We  were  strictly  enjoined  not 
to  speak,  or  even  cough  while  on  the  march.  All  orders  were  given  from  officer 
to  officer  and  communicated  to  the  men  in  whispers.  What  such  secrecy  could 
mean  we  could  not  divine.  We  marched  off  in  the  same  way  we  had  come  on  the 
island,  forming  various  conjectures  among  ourselves  as  to  our  destination." 
Another  says :  "  We  went  over  with  boats  about  seven  o'clock.  The  brigades 
were  ordered  to  be  in  readiness  with  bag  and  baggage  to  march,  but  knew  not 
when  or  for  what ;  the  second  did  not  know  where  the  first  had  gone,  nor  the 
second  the  third.  The  last  marched  off  at  the  firing  of  the  three  o'clock  (British) 
gun  on  Friday  morning.  The  night  was  remarkably  still,  the  water  smooth  as 
glass,  so  that  all  our  boats  went  over  safe,  though  many  were  but  about  three 
inches  out  of  water."  Washington,  taking  his  position  at  the  ferry  stairs,  at  the 
foot  of  Fulton  street,  Brooklyn,  superintended  the  embarkation,  and  the  whole 
movement  was  conducted  with  such  order  and  quiet  that  it  failed  to  attract  the 
British  sentinels.  The  intense  darkness  of  the  night  and  the  thick  fog  which  had 
settled  down  over  everything,  favored  the  patriot  boats.  At  a  little  past  midnight 
they  were  suddenly  startled  by  the  deep  roar  of  a  cannon — whether  from  the 
British  or  American  lines  no  one  could  tell.  "  The  effect,"  says  one  who  heard  it, 
"  was  at  once  alarming  and  sublime,"  but  the  deepest  silence  ensued  and  the 
retreat  went  bravely  on.  As  the  night  wore  away  the  tide  was  turning  and  a 
northeast  wind  began  to  rise,  yet  a  large  portion  of  the  troops  had  not  been  trans- 
ported over  the  river.  Fearful  of  delay,  Washington  sent  his  aide-de-camp, 
Colonel  Alexander  Scammell,  to  hasten  the  troops  who  were  on  the  march. 
Scammel,  by  mistake,  communicated  the  order  to  General  Mifflin,  who,  althongh 
somewhat  surprised,  obeyed,  and  vacated  the  lines  with  his  whole  force. 

Col.  Hand  in  his  account  of  the  retreat  says  :  "  In  the  evening  of  the  29th  of 
August,  1776,  with  several  other  commanding  officers  of  the  corps,  I  received 
orders  to  attend  Major-General  Mifflin.  When  assembled.  General  Mifflin 
informed  us  that,  in  consequence  of  the  determination  of  a  board  of  general  officers, 
the  evacuation  of  Long  Island,  where  we  then  were,  was  to  be  attempted  that  night ; 
that  the  commander-in-chief  had  honored  him  with  the  command  of  the  covering 
party  and  that  our  corps  were  to  be  employed  in  that  service.  He  then  assigned 
us  our  several  stations,  which  we  were  to  occupy  as  soon  as  it  was  dark,  and 
pointed  out  Brooklyn  church  as  an  alarm  post,  to  which  the  whole  were  to  repair 
and  unitedly  oppose  the  enemy  in  case  they  discovered  our  movement  and  made 
an  attack  in  consequence.  My  regiment  was  posted  in  a  redoubt  on  the  left  and 
in  the  lines  on  the  right  of  the  great  road  below  Brooklyn  church.  Captain  Henry 
Miller  commanded  in  the  redoubt.  Part  of  a  regiment  of  the  Flying  Camp  of  the 
State  of  New  York  were,  in  the  beginning  of  the  night,  posted  by  me.  They 
showed  so  much  uneasiness  at  their  station  that  I  petitioned  General  Mifflin  to 
suffer  them  to  march  off,  lest  they  might  communicate  the  panic  with  which  they 
were  seized,  to  my  people.  The  General  granted  my  request  and  they  marched  off 
accordingly.     After  that  nothing  remarkable  happened  at  my  post  till  about  two 


33 

o'clock  in  the  morning,  when  Alexander  Scammell,  since  Adjutant-General,  who 
acted  as  aide-de-camp  to  the  commander-in-chief,  came  from  the  left,  inquiring 
for  General  Mifflin,  who  happened  to  be  with  me  at  the  time.  Scammell  told  him 
that  the  boats  were  waiting  and  the  commander-in-chief  anxious  for  the  arrival  of 
the  troops  at  the  ferry.  General  Mifflin  said  he  thought  he  must  be  mistaken  ; 
that  he  did  not  imagine  the  General  could  mean  the  troops  he  immediately  com- 
manded. Scammell  replied  that  he  was  not  mistaken,  adding,  that  he  came  from 
the  extreme  left  and  had  ordered  all  the  troops  he  had  met  to  march  ;  that  in  con- 
sequence they  were  then  in  motion,  and  that  he  would  go  to  give  the  same  orders. 
General  Mifflin  then  ordered  me  to  call  in  my  advanced  pickets  and  sentinels,  to 
collect  and  form  my  regiment,  and  to  march  as  soon  as   possible,  and  quitted  me. 

"  Having  marched  into  the  great  road  leading  to  the  church,  I  fell  in  with  the 
troops  returning  from  the  left  of  the  line.  Having  arrived  at  the  left  of  the  church 
I  halted  to  take  up  my  camp  equipage,  which,  in  the  course  of  the  night,  I  had 
carried  there  by  a  small  party.  General  Mifflin  came  up  at  that  instant  and  asked 
the  reason  of  the  halt.  I  told  him  and  he  seemed  very  much  displeased  and 
exclaimed:  'Damn  your  pots  and  kettles,  I  wish  the  devil  had  them  ;  march  on.' 
I  obeyed,  but  had  not  gone  far  before  I  perceived  the  front  had  halted  and  hasten- 
ing to  inquire  the  cause,  I  met  the  commander-in-chief,  who  perceived  me  and  said  : 
'  Is  not  this  Col.  Hand? '  I  replied  in  the  affirmative.  His  Excellency  said  he  was 
surprised  at  me  in  particular ;  that  he  did  not  suppose  I  would  have  abandoned  my 
post.  I  answered  that  I  had  not  abandoned  it ;  that  I  had  marched  by  order  of 
my  immediate  commanding  officer.  He  said  it  was  impossible.  I  told  him  I 
hoped  if  1  could  satisfy  him  I  had  the  orders  of  General  Mifflin,  he  would  not 
think  me  particularly  to  blame.  He  said  he  undoubtedly  would  not.  General 
Mifflin  then  coming  up  and  asking  what  the  matter  was,  his  Excellency  said  :  '  Good 
God!  General  Mifflin,  I  am  afraid  you  have  ruined  us  by  so  unseasonably  with- 
drawing the  troops  from  the  lines.'  General  Mifflin  replied,  with  some  warmth  : 
'I  did  it  by  your  order.'  His  Excellency  declared  it  could  not  be.  Gen.  Mifflin 
asked:  'Did  Scammell  act  as  aide-de-camp  for  the  day,  or  did  he  not?'  His 
Excellency  acknowledged  that  he  did.  '  Then,'  said  Mifflin,  '  I  had  orders  through 
him.'  The  General  replied  it  was  a  dreadful  mistake,  and  informed  him  that 
matters  were  in  much  confusion  at  the  ferry,  and  unless  we  could  resume  our 
posts  before  the  enemy  discovered  we  had  left  them,  in  all  probability  the  most 
disagreeable  consequences  would  follow.  We  immediately  returned  and  had  the 
good  fortune  to  recover  our  former  stations  and  keep  them  for  some  hours 
longer,  without  the  enemy  perceiving  what  was  going  forward." 

Washington,  who  since  the  morning  of  the  27th,  had  scarcely  left  the  lines  on 
Long  Island,  and  for  forty-eight  hours  preceding  that  had  hardly  been  off  his  horse 
or  closed  his  eyes,  embarked  with  the  last  company.  The  first  intimation  the 
British  had  of  the  movements  of  the  American  army  was  through  a  slave.  A 
woman,  whose  husband  had  been  sent  into  the  interior  of  New  Jersey  on  suspicion 
of  disloyalty  to  the  American  cause,  on  discovering  the  preparations  which  were 
being  made  along  the  river  bank,  apparently  for  a  retreat,  determined  to  have  her 
revenge.  She  therefore  sent  her  slave  on  the  evening  previous  to  inform  the 
British  commander  of  the  fact.  Unfortunately  for  her,  however,  the  negro  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  Hessians,  who  could  not  understand  a  word  he  said,  and 
believing  him  to  be  a  spy,  held  him  until  morning,  when  he  was  handed  over  to  a 


34 

British  officer,  who  was  making  his  round  of  inspection  at  daylight.  Howe,  on 
heing  informed  of  the  facts,  through  the  negro,  was  greatly  astonished  and  at  once 
took  the  measures  to  ascertain  the  truth.  A  company,  under  Captain  Montressor, 
was  detached  to  reconnoitre  the  American  works,  which  they  found  deserted. 
Detachments  hurried  off  in  hot  pursuit,  but  they  only  reached  the  ferry  in  time  to 
see  the  heavily-laden  rear  boats  of  the  retreating  army  disappear  in  the  im- 
penetrable fog  which  yet  hung  over  the  river. 

"  Nobly  had  the  fisherman-soldiers  of  Marblehead  and  Salem,"  says  Lossing, 
"  labored  at  their  muffled  oars  during  the  long  hours  of  that  perilous  night ;  naught 
save  a  few  heavy  cannon  was  left  behind  ;  none  save  a  few  lagging  marauders 
were  captured,  and  when  the  fog  at  last  rolled  away  the  American  army  was 
joyously  moving  towards  the  upper  portions  of  Manhattan  Island.  That  retreat, 
in  all  its  circumstances,  was  truly  wonderful.  Surely,  that  fog  was  the  shield  of 
God's  providence  over  those  men  engaged  in  a  holy  cause.  If  '  the  stars  in  their 
courses  fought  against  Sisera,'  in  the  time  of  Deborah,  the  prophetess,  these  mists 
were  the  wings  of  the  cherubim  of  mercy  and  hope  over  the  Americans  on  that 
occasion." 

Another  writer  adds:  "This  splendid  retreat  won  civic  crowns  for  the 
American  hero,  and  its  parallel  is  only  to  be  found  in  the  Spanish  campaign  of 
the  conqueror  of  Gaul.  But  the  favorable  breeze,  the  calm  water,  and  the  thick 
fog,  which,  toward  two  in  the  morning,  veiled  the  Americans  from  the  British 
and  yet  left  the  river  clear,  seem  direct  interpositions  of  that  gracious  Providence, 
which  in  after  days  guided  our  revolution  to  victory." 


REPORT  OF    COL.TALLMADGE,    AS  QUOTED  BY  SIMMS. 

"By  ten  o'clock  the  troops  began  to  retire  from  the  lines,  so  that  no  chasm  was 
made;  but  as  one  regiment  left  their  station  or  guard,  the  remaining  troops  moved 
to  the  right  and  left  and  filled  up  the  vacancies,  while  Washington  took  his  station 
at  the  ferry  and  superintended  the  embarkation.  As  the  dawn  approached,  those 
of  us  who  remained  in  the  trenches  became  very  anxious  for  our  safety,  at  which 
time  there  were  several  regiments  still  on  duty,  and  a  dense  fog  began  to  rise  and 
seemed  to  settle  over  both  encampments;  so  dense  was  the  atmosphere  that  a  man 
could  not  be  discerned  six  yards  off.  When  the  sun  rose  we  had  orders  to  leave 
the  lines,  but  before  we  reached  the  ferry  the  regiment  was  orderd  back  again. 
Col.  Chester  faced  about  and  returned  to  the  lines,  where  the  regiment  tarried  till 
the  sun  had  risen,  but  the  fog  remained  as  dense  as  ever.  Finally  a  second  order 
came,  and  we  joyfully  bid  those  trenches  a  long  adieu.  When  we  reached  Brooklyn 
ferry  the  boats  had  not  yet  returned  from  their  last  trip,  but  they  soon  appeared. 
I  think  I  saw  Gen.  Washington  on  the  ferry  stairs  when  I  stepped  into  one  of  the 
last  boats.  I  left  my  horse  at  the  ferry  tied  to  a  post.  The  troops  having  all  safely 
reached  New  York,  and  the  fog  continuing  thick  as  ever,  I  got  leave  to  return  with 
a  crew  of  volunteers  for  my  favorite  horse.  I  had  got  off  with  him  some  distance 
into  the  river  before  the  enemy  appeared  in  Brooklyn.  As  soon  as  they  reached 
the  ferry  we  were  saluted  merrily  from  their  musketry,  and  finally  by  their  field 
pieces.  When  the  enemy  had  taken  possession  of  the  heights  opposite  the  city  of 
New  York,  they  commenced  firing  from  the  artillery,  and  the  fleet  pretty  soon  were 
in  motion  to  take  possession  of  those  waters." 


35 

"The  guns  of  Fort  Sterling  were  unspiked  and  turned  on  the  boats  of  the 
retreating  Americans.  Three  persons  who  left  the  Island  last  in  a  batteau  fell  into 
the  enemy's  hands." — New  England  Chronicle. 

BRITISH    ACCOUNTS    OF   THE   RETREAT. 

The  lines  could  not  be  taken  by  assault,  but  by  approaches.  We  had  no 
fascines  to  fill  the  ditches,  no  axes  to  cut  abatis,  and  no  scaling  ladders  to  assault 
so  respectable  a  work.  The  lines  were  a  mile  and  a  half  in  extent,  including 
angles,  cannon-proof,  with  a  chain  of  five  redoubts,  or  rather  fortresses  with 
ditches,  as  had  the  lines  that  formed  the  intervals;  the  whole  surmounted  with  a 
most  formidable  abatis,  finished  in  every  part.  A  corporal  and  six  men  had  a  diffi- 
culty in  getting  through  the  abatis.  They  were  reconnoitering  before  daybreak, 
and  at  4  o'clock  discovered  the  lines  were  evacuated.  The  pickets  marched  25 
minutes  after  Gen.  Robinson  heard  of  the  retreat  at  7  o'clock,  and  his  brigade  was 
ordered  to  march  at  8,  but  while  marching  to  the  ferry  he  was  ordered  toward 
Hellgate  to  meet  Lee,  reported  to  be  landing  there  with  an  army.  We  were  on  the 
rear  of  the  enemy;  some  where  killed  or  taken  prisoners  in  Brooklyn.  We  saw 
three  or  four  boats  afloat — some  boats  not  off.  The  debris  of  their  rear  guard 
embarked  about  8  or  9  o'clock.  The  Americans  fired  grape  from  their  32  pounders 
in  the  city  and  at  the  ship  yards,  850  yards  off.  Their  retreat  was  secured  by  forts 
on  Brooklyn  heights  and  floating  batteries  in  the  river.  No  boat  could  be  stationed 
so  as  to  see  the  passing  at  Brooklyn  ferry  without  exposure  to  the  American 
batteries. — Parliamentary  Register,  Vol.    13. 


GENERAL  WOODHULL'S   OPERATIONS  BEYOND 
THE  LINES. 

During  the  battle  of  the  27th,  and  for  some  days  previous,  military  operations 
were  being  conducted  beyond  the  American  lines,  which,  it  was  believed,  would  have 
an  important  bearing  on  the  final  result.  A  hostile  army  of  twenty  thousand  men 
could  not  long  remain  in  possession  of  a  country  without  local  means  of  subsis- 
tence. Aware  of  the  increasing  want  of  provisions  among  the  enemy  and  the 
American  army  being  confined  to  the  lines,  the  whole  stock  and  produce  of  Long 
Island  would  be  in  the  power  of  the  hostile  troops,  unless  means  were  promptly 
used  to  prevent  it.  The  New  York  Convention,  then  in  session,  adopted  a  policy, 
since  successfully  pursued  by  the  Russians  on  a  larger  scale.  This  was,  to  deprive 
the  invading  foe  of  supplies  and  thus  compel  their  abandonment  of  the  island,  by 
removing  the  stock  and  other  provisions  in  the  vicinity,  and  if  that  could  not  he 
effected,  by  destroying  them.  General  Nathaniel  Woodhull,  a  native  of  Long 
Island,  and  a  man  of  large  experience  in  both  civil  and  military  affairs,  was 
believed  to  be  the  best  man  for  this  undertaking.  He  had  distinguished  himself  as 
a  military  leader  during  the  French  war.  At  an  early  period  in  the  formation  of  a 
military  force  he  had  been  appointed  Brigadier-General  of  the  State  levies,  and  he 
commanded  the  district,  including  the  counties  of  Long  Island.  He  had  been 
chosen  President  of  the  Provincial  Congress  of  New  York,  and  at  this  time  held 
that  position.  It  was  considered  important,  however,  by  the  Congress,  that 
General  Woodhull,  from  his  intimate  knowledge  of  the  Island,  should  take  personal 
command  of  the  militia  drafted  from  its  towns,  and  accordingly,  soon  after  the 
landing  of  the  British  forces,  he  left  the  presidential  chair  for  the  open  field. 


36 

"  From  Yellow  Hook  to  Jamaica,"  says  Field,  "all  the  horses,  cattle  and  swine 
were  swept  out  in  great  droves  upon  the  plains  of  Hempstead  or  gathered  within 
the  Brooklyn  lines.  Columns  of  smoke  over  every  farm,  indicated  the  work  of 
destruction  in  the  burning  stacks  of  grain  and  provender.  The  inhabitants  were 
permitted,  by  the  orders  of  the  Provincial  Congress,  to  retain  only  that  portion  of 
their  crops  which  was  absolutely  necessary  for  the  sustenance  of  life.  One  cow 
and  one  horse  was  left  in  each  neighborhood  of  three  or  four  families.  The 
Provincial  Congress  had  most  unaccountably  delayed  the  execution  of  one  import- 
ant military  measure  until  the  24th  of  August,  two  days  after  the  landing  of  the 
enemy.  This  was  the  levy  en  masse  of  the  militia  of  the  island.  The  inhabitants 
of  Kings  county,  thus  hurriedly  armed,  together  with  the  Suffolk  and  Queens 
county  regiments,  commanded  by  Cols.  Smith  and  Remsen,  were  placed  under  the 
command  of  Gen.  Woodhull.  Notwithstanding  the  Provincial  Congress  of  New 
York  had  fully  provided  for  retaining  its  authority  over  the  militia  of  the  colony, 
by  the  appointment  of  its  president  to  the  command,  that  body,  jealous  of  its  own 
authority,  or  distrustful  of  the  ability  of  its  officers,  still  dictated  the  movements  of 
the  forces  under  their  command." 

When  General  Woodhull  reached  Jamaica  it  was  found  that  the  militia  there 
assembled  consisted  of  only  about  one  hundred  men,  led  by  Colonel  Potter,  of 
Suffolk,  about  forty  militia  from  Queens  and  fifty  horsemen  belonging  to  the  troop 
of  Kings  and  Queens  counties.  With  this  handful  of  men,  General  Woodhull 
advanced  to  the  westward  of  Queens  county,  agreeably  to  his  orders.  Owing, 
probably,  to  receipt  of  information  that  increased  numbers  of  British  had  disem- 
barked on  the  preceding  day  at  New  Utrecht,  the  commanding  officer  at  Brooklyn 
did  not  detach  the  Second  Long  Island  Regiment  to  join  General  Woodhull,  and 
by  some  fatality,  the  omission  was  neither  communicated  to  the  convention  nor  to 
the  expecting  General.  He  had  written  to  the  convention  of  the  critical  condition  of 
affairs  and  of  the  importance  of  sending  additional  troops.  A  part  of  the  correspon- 
dence seems  to  have  miscarried,  and  the  hasty  adjournment  of  the  convention,  to 
whom  General  Woodhull  looked  for  his  orders,  left  him  in  a  very  helpless  condi- 
tion. Disappointed  at  not  meeting  the  additional  troops,  without  whom  he  could  not 
post  any  force  on  the  heights  to  repel  depredations  of  the  enemy,  he  nevertheless 
commenced  with  vigor  the  execution  of  the  rest  of  his  orders.  He  placed  guards 
and  sentries  to  prevent  communication  between  the  tories  and  the  enemy,  and  on 
this  and  the  succeeding  days  he  scoured  the  country  southwest  of  the  hills  in 
Kings  and  a  considerable  part  of  Newtown  and  Jamaica,  and  sent  off  an  immense 
quantity  of  stock,  collected  them  toward  the  great  plains  and  ordered  off  a  further 
quantity  from  Hempstead.  In  the  meantime  his  numbers  had  dwindled  (by  the 
anxiety  of  the  militia  to  reach  their  homes  and  protect  or  remove  their  families)  to 
less  than  a  hundred  men,  who,  as  well  as  their  horses,  were  worn  down. 

During  the  battle  of  the  27th,  numbers  of  the  British  troops  posted  themselves 
on  the  hills  between  New  York  and  Jamaica,  and  detached  parties  made  incursions 
into  the  country  within  a  short  distance  of  the  General's  force.  As  a  matter  of 
precaution  he  retired  to  Jamaica,  sending,  at  different  times,  two  messages  to  the 
convention,  apprising  that  body  of  his  situation  ;  of  the  absolute  necessity  of 
reinforcements,  and  of  his  conviction  that  the  two  Long  Island  regiments  could 
not  join  him  in  consequence  of  the  interruption  of  the  communication.  Unfortu- 
nately, the   convention  did    not    sit  on    that    day   and    the   General,  receiving   no 


37 

answer,  despatched  his  brigade-major,  who  was  also  a  member  of  that  body,  to 
repeat  his  representation  and  obtain  their  orders.  The  convention,  at  their 
meeting  on  the  26th,  still  adhered  to  their  former  project,  believing  that  by  cross- 
ing the  East  River  to  York  Island  and  making  a  detour  to  Flushing,  the  two 
regiments  might  still  reach  Jamaica.  They  accordingly  sent  Major  Lawrence  to 
Gen.  Washington  with  a  letter  expressing  that  opinion,  and  referring  him  to  the 
brigade-major  for  explanations  as  to  the  means ;  at  the  same  time  they  directed 
the  necessary  preparations  for  the  transportation  and  landing  of  the  troops,  and 
receiving  soon  after  a  reiteration  of  the  call  for  an  immediate  reinforcement,  they 
deputed  two  of  their  body,  John  Sloss  Hobart  and  James  Townsend,  to  repair  to 
General  Woodhull  with  instructions  and  advice.  Owing,  probably,  to  the  inter- 
mediate roads  being  in  possession  of  the  enemy,  these  gentlemen,  it  is  believed, 
never  reached  him.  On  the  same  morning  the  convention  forwarded  a  circular  to 
the  committees  of  the  different  towns  of  Connecticut  lying  upon  the  Sound,  request- 
ing their  cooperation  in  removing  the  stock  from  Long  Island  to  that  State,  and  an 
application  to  the  Governor  for  such  force  as  could  be  speedily  obtained.  In  the 
afternoon  Maj.  Lawrence  returned  from  the  American  camp  bringing  a  letter  from 
the  commander-in-chief  declining  the  request  of  the  convention  for  the  desired 
reinforcement,  because,  in  the  opinion  of  himself  and  his  general  officers,  these 
troops  were  needed  to  the  defense  of  their  lines.  In  the  meantime,  Gen.  Wood- 
hull,  whose  notions  of  military  obedience  had  been  formed  in  the  strictest  school, 
was  awaiting  the  expected  orders  and  reinforcements.  His  situation  was  peculiarly 
embarrassing.  He  had  been  led  to  believe  that  he  should  receive  support.  Every 
communication  from  the  convention,  from  whom  he  received  his  orders,  contained 
or  implied  instructions  that  he  should  remain  in  the  western  part  of  Queens 
county  and  encouraged  him  to  expect  a  reinforcement. 

Field  says  :  "  Under  all  the  uncertainties  of  his  position,  a  brave  man  might 
have  retired  without  shame,  but  a  noble  and  conscientious  one  always  decides  on 
the  side  of  self-sacrifice.  He  adopted  the  course  which  his  own  delicate  sense  of 
honor  and  of  duty  dictated,  and  resolved  not  to  retreat  until  he  was  relieved  from 
his  perilous  service  by  absolute  orders  from  the  convention.  Unwilling  that  his 
command  should  share  his  peril,  the  General  ordered  his  troops,  on  the  morning  of 
the  28th,  to  take  a  position  about  four  miles  beyond  Jamaica,  while  he  returned 
thither,  accompanied  only  by  an  orderly  or  two,  to  receive  the  expected  message 
from  the  convention.  There  he  awaited  its  arrival  until  late  in  the  afternoon,  and 
then  returned  slowly  to  his  headquarters  of  the  day  before  only  on  receipt  of  the 
intelligence  that  the  British  outposts  were  being  pushed  rapidly  toward  the  village." 

The  enemy  had  been  informed  the  day  before  by  disaffected  persons  in  the 
neighborhood,  that  a  rebel  general  was  holding  a  position  at  Jamaica  and  a 
squadron  of  the  Seventeenth  Regiment  of  British  Dragoons,  accompanied  by  a 
detachment  of  the  Seventy-first  Infantry  was  sent  in  pursuit,  guided  by  loyalists 
who  hoped  to  be  avenged  for  the  loss  of  their  horses  and  cattle.  General  Wood- 
hull,  in  the  meantime,  unconscious  of  the  approach  of  his  pursuers,  had  reached  his 
quarters  of  the  day  before,  at  the  inn  of  Increase  Carpenter.  He  had  scarcely 
seated  himself  when  the  dragoons  appeared  almost  at  the  door,  the  roar  of  thunder 
and  the  beating  of  the  torrents  of  rain  having  deadened  the  sound  of  their  horses' 
hoofs.  Under  ordinary  circumstances  he  might  have  made  his  escape,  as  his  horse 
was  secured  nearby  ready  for  just  such  an  emergency.  Immediately  on  reaching 
the    tavern   he   ordered    Col.  Robinson    forward,  remaining    by    himself   without 


39 

attendance,  still  expecting  some  message  from  the  Congress.  On  hearing  the 
shouts  of  the  dragoons  as  they  dashed  up  to  the  door,  the  General  sprang  to  the 
rear  hall  door,  which  he  had  difficulty  in  opening,  and  he  lost  several  moments. 
He  escaped  from  the  house  and  was  in  the  act  of  clearing  the  fence  to  which  his 
horse  was  secured,  when  he  was  overtaken  and  captured  by  the  dismounted 
dragoons.  One  of  the  ruffians  approached  him  with  the  exclamation  :  "  Surrender, 
you  damned  rebel ! "  General  Woodhull,  without  any  attempt  at  resistance, 
tendered  him  his  sword.  The  officer,  with  uplifted  sword,  demanded  that  he  say : 
"  God  save  the  King."  "  God  save  us  all,"  said  the  General.  The  demand  was 
repeated,  and  on  his  refusal,  the  General  was  struck  several  times  by  the  sword  of 
the  officer  and  would  doubtless  have  been  killed  had  he  not  instinctively  raised  his 
arms  to  ward  off  the  blows.  The  brutal  officer  continued  the  attack  until  the 
General  fell  to  the  ground  without  uttering  other  words  than  of  regret  that  he  had 
surrendered.  The  ruffian  was  prevented  from  completing  his  murderous  design 
by  the  interference  of  another  officer  possessing  more  honor  and  humanity. 

William  Howard,  in  his  account  of  the  affair,  says:  "The  next  morning 
Woodhull  and  other  prisoners  were  brought  to  Howard's.  His  wife  went  out  to 
Woodhull  under  the  shed  and  asked  him  if  he  would  have  some  refreshments. 
She  then  gave  him  some  bread  and  butter,  and  smoked  beef,  and  wine  sangaree. 
His  head  was  tied  up  and  he  had  other  wounds.  She  also  treated  the  American 
prisoners.  Woodhull  was  first  taken  to  Brooklyn  church  (that  stood  in  the  middle 
of  the  street)  then  to  New  Utrecht." 

Onderdonk  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  General  and  the  other  prisoners  were 
first  taken  to  Howe's  headquarters  in  Brooklyn,  for  registration,  and  adds  :  "  We 
knew  nothing  of  the  place  and  manner  of  his  confinement  until  about  a  fortnight 
after,  when  he  was  brought  on  board  a  prison-ship  at  New  Utrecht." 

Thompson  says  :  "  The  General  was  badly  wounded  in  the  head  and  one  of 
his  arms  was  mangled  from  the  shoulder  to  the  wrist.  He  was  taken  to  Jamaica, 
where  his  wounds  were  dressed,  and,  with  other  prisoners,  was  detained  there 
until  the  next  day.  He  was  then  conveyed  to  Gravesend  and  with  about  eighty 
other  prisoners  (of  whom  Col.  Troup,  of  New  York,  was  one)  was  confined  on  board  a 
vessel  which  had  been  employed  to  transport  live  stock  for  the  use  of  the  army  and 
was  without  accommodations  for  health  or  comfort.  The  General  was  released 
from  the  vessel  on  remonstrance  of  an  officer  who  had  more  humanity  than  his 
superiors,  and  removed  first  to  the  Dutch  Church  in  New  Utrecht,  and  thence 
to  the  dwelling-house  nearby  adjoining,  where  he  was  permitted  to  receive  proper 
attendance  and  medical  assistance.  The  General  sent  for  his  wife,  with  a  request 
that  she  should  bring  with  her  all  the  money  she  had  in  her  possession,  and  this 
he  distributed  among  his  fellow-prisoners.  A  cut  in  the  joint  of  the  elbow 
necessitated  the  amputation  of  the  arm.  Mortification  set  in  and  he  died  September 
20,  1776.  His  wife  was  permitted  to  remove  the  body  seventy  miles  distance,  to 
his  home  in  Mastie,  where  his  remains  still  rest,  marked  by  a  simple  monument. 
A  movement  was  started  by  the  leading  citizens  of  Brooklyn,  headed  by  General 
Jeremiah  Johnson,  to  erect  a  suitable  monument  to  his  memory.  An  acre  plot 
was  donated  by  the  trustees  of  Cypress  Hills  Cemetery  and  the  plans  prepared  fora 
monument  to  cost  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Public  meetings  were  held  and 
quite  an  interest  aroused.  The  total  subscriptions,  however,  amounted  to  only 
about  seven  thousand  dollars,  and  this  was  subsequently  returned  to  the 
subscribers. 


40 

MAJOR    MORDECAI    GIST    AND    THE    GALLANT 
MARYLANDERS. 

Johnston,  referring  to  Major  Mordecai  Gist  and  his  Marylanders,  says : 
"  Mordecai  Gist,  Esq.,  of  Baltimore  town,  was  among  the  first  to  sniff  the  coming 
storm  and  the  first  to  act,  for  he  tells  that  as  early  as  December,  1774,  at  the 
expense  of  his  time  and  the  hazard  of  his  business,  he  organized  a  '  company 
composed  of  men  of  honor,  family  and  fortune,'  to  be  ready  for  any  emergency. 
The  Lexington  News,  four  months  later,  found  the  best  part  of  Maryland  ready  to 
arm.  In  Baltimore,  William  Buchanan,  lieutenant  of  the  county,  collected  a  body 
of  the  older  citizens  for  home  defence,  while  their  unmarried  sons  and  others 
organized  themselves  into  two  more  companies,  donned  '  an  excellent  scarlet  uni- 
form and  chose  Gist  for  their  leader.'  When  the  State  called  for  troops  at  large, 
many  of  these  young  men  responded,  and  in  the  spring  of  1776,  made  up  three 
companies  which,  with  six  other  companies  that  gathered  at  Annapolis  from  the 
surrounding  country,  formed  the  first  Maryland  battalion  of  '  State  regulars.' 
William  Smallwood,  living  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac,  in  Charles  County,  was 
chosen  colonel ;  Francis  Ware,  lieutenant-colonel,  and  Mordecai  Gist,  first  major. 
The  State  sent  no  better  material  into  the  service." 

EXTRACT  FROM  SCHARF'S  "HISTORY  OF  BALTIMORE  CITY  AND 
COUNTY,"  PAGES  70  AND  71. 

On  April  29,  1775,  the  Maryland  Convention  recommended  that  six  hundred 
pounds  be  raised  in  the  counties  by  subscription,  and  fifty-six  pounds  was  the  pro- 
portion assigned  to  Baltimore  County.  On  the  third  of  December,  1774,  as  we 
learn  from  a  letter  of  Mordecai  Gist,  himself,  the  first  military  company  in  the 
province  was  organized  for  the  Revolution.  It  was  formed  in  Baltimore  Town, 
under  the  name  of  the  "Baltimore  Independent  Cadets,"  and  the  articles  of  organ- 
ization were  as  follows : 

"  We,  the  Baltimore  Independent  Cadets,  being  impressed  with  the  sense  of 
the  unhappy  situation  of  our  suffering  brethren  in  Boston,  through  the  alarming 
conduct  of  General  Gage,  and  the  oppressive  unconstitutional  acts  of  parliament 
to  deprive  us  of  liberty  and  enforce  slavery  upon  his  majesty's  loyal  liege  subjects 
of  America  in  general. 

"  For  the  better  security  of  our  lives,  liberties  and  properties  under  such 
alarming  circumstances,  we  think  it  highly  advisable  and  necessary  that  we  form 
ourselves  into  a  body  or  company  in  order  to  acquire  military  discipline,  to  act  in 
defense  of  our  country,  agreeable  to  the  resolves  of  the  Continental  Congress. 
And  first,  as  dutiful  subjects  to  King  George  the  Third,  our  royal  sovereign,  we 
acknowledge  all  due  allegiance,  under  whose  banner  we  wish  to  support  the 
dignity  of  his  crown  and  the  freedom  and  liberty  of  this  constitution. 

"  Secondly,  we  resolve,  after  a  company  of  sixty  men  have  voluntarily  sub- 
scribed their  names  to  this  paper,  that  public  notice  thereof  shall  be  given  and  a 
meeting  called  to  elect  officers  of  said  company,  under  whose  command  we  desire 
to  be  led,  and  will  strictly  adhere  to,  by  all  the  sacred  ties  of  honor  and  the  love 
and  justice  clue  to  ourselves  and  country ;  and  in  case  of  any  emergency  we  will 
be  ready  to  march  to  the  assistance  of  our  sister  colonies,  at  the  discretion  and 
direction  of  our  commanding  officer  so  elected,  and  that  in  the  space  of  forty- 
eight  hours  notice  from  said  officer. 


4i 

"  Thirdly  and  lastly,  we  firmly  resolve  to  procure  at  our  own  expense  a  uni- 
form suit  of  clothes,  viz.:  Coat,  turned  up  with  buff  and  trimmed  with  yellow 
metal  or  gold  buttons,  white  stockings  and  black  cloth  half  boots  ;  likewise  a  good 
gun  with  cartouch  pouch,  a  pair  of  pistols,  belt  and  cutlass,  with  four  pounds  of 
powder  and  sixteen  pounds  of  lead,  which  shall  be  ready  to  equip  ourselves  with 
on  the  shortest  notice  ;  and  if  default  shall  be  found  in  either  of  us  contrary  to 
the  true  intent  and  meaning  of  this  engagement,  we  desire  and  submit  ourselves 
to  trial  by  courtmartial,  whom  we  hereby  fully  authorize  and  empower  to  deter- 
mine punishments  adequate  to  the  crimes  that  may  be  committed,  but  not  to 
extend  to  corporal  punishment. 

"  Given  under  our  hands  this  third  day  of  December,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-four.  A.  McLure,  James  Clarke,  Barnet 
Eichelberger,  Richard  Cary,  Jr.,  Christopher  Hughes,  W.  Beard,  Henry  Sheaff, 
Matthew  Scott,  John  Spear,  Mordecai  Gist.  John  McLure,  Samuel  Smith,  John 
Smith.  Jr.,  J.  Kennedy,  Hugh  Young,  YVm.  Hammond,  Wm.  Stone,  Abraham 
Risteau,  Moses  Darley,  Robert  Buchanan,  George  Lux,  N.  Ruxton  Moore,  David 
Plunkitt,  J.  Riddle,  Brian  Philpot,  Chas.  McConnell,  Christopher  Johnston,  Thomas 
Jones,  Philip  Graybell,  Thomas  Russell,  David  Hopkins,  John  Lahavan,  A.  McKim, 
Robert  McKim,  Alexander  Donaldson,  Walter  Roe,  Wm.  Sterrett,  G.  McCall, 
Jonathan  Hudson,  Thomas  Lansdale,  James  Govane,  Wm.  McCreery,  Thomas 
Ewing,  Robert  Porttens,  Christopher  Leon,  Caleb  Shields,  David  Evans,  Simon 
Vashon,  David  McMechen,  George  Peter  Keeports,  John  Weatherburn,  Matthew 
Patton,  H.  Waters,  Wm.  Yeaton,  John  Deitch,  James  Sowervell,  J.  Magoffin, 
George  Matthews,  Robert  Brown." 

This  company  was  organized  by  the  election  of  Mordecai  Gist  as  captain. 

On  January  16,  1775,  the  inhabitants  of  Baltimore  Town  "qualified  to  vote 
for  representatives,"  met  at  the  court  house  for  the  purpose  of  selecting  delegates 
to  represent  the  county  in  the  "  provincial  meeting  of  deputies,"  to  be  held  at 
Annapolis  on  April  24,  and  to  carry  out  the  resolutions  of  the  last  convention, 
Capt.  Charles  Ridgely,  Thomas  Cockey  Deye,  Walter  Tolley,  Jr.,  Charles  Ridgely 
(son  of  John),  Robert  Alexander,  Samuel  Purviance,  Benj  imin  Nicholson,  Darby 
Lux,  Jeremiah  Townley  Chase,  George  Risteau,  Thomas  Harrison,  John  Moale, 
Andrew  Buchanan.  William  Lux  and  Samuel  Worthington  were  chosen  delegates 
to  the  convention,  and  the  following  persons  were  added  to  the  Committee  of 
Observation  appointed  at  the  meeting  in  November: 

Patapsco  Lower  Hundred — Charles  Rogers,  John  Gorsuch,  William  McCubbin 
and  William  Williamson.  Patapsco  Upper— Jas.  Croxall,  John  Elliott  and  Edward 
Norwood.  Black  River  Upper— John  Cockey,  Edward  Talbot,  Joshua  Stevenson, 
Edward  Cockey,  Ezekiel  Tovvson.  Middle  River  Upper— Benjamin  Rogers, 
Robert  Cummings  Benjamin  Buck,  Joshua  Hall,  Gist  Vaughan  and  Benjamin 
Merryman.  Black  River  Lower — Moses  Galloway.  George  Goldsmith  Presbury, 
Abraham  Britton  and  Nicholas  Britton.  Soldier's  Delight— Thomas  Cradock, 
Charles  Walker,  Samuel  Ovvings,  Jr.,  Christopher  Randall,  Jr.,  and  Benjamin 
Wells.  Middlesex  -Jacob  Myers,  Richard  Cromwell  and  Thomas  Rutter.  Dela- 
ware—Christopher Owings,  Benjamin  Lawrence  and  Nicholas  Dorsey,  Jr.  North- 
John  Hall  and  Stephen  Gill,  Jr.  Pipe  Creek— John  Showers  and  George  Ever- 
hart.  Gunpowder  Upper— Samuel  Young,  Jessey  Bassey,  Thomas  Gassaway 
Howard,  James  Bosley,  Wm.  Cromwell  and  Zaccheus  Barrett  Onion.     Mine  Run — 


MAJOR  MORDECAI  GIST 


42 

Edward  Stansbury,  John  Stevenson,  Daniel  Shaw,  Wm.  Slade,  Jr.,  Joseph  Sutton 
and  John  Stewart.  Baltimore  Town— James  Sterrett,  Charles  Ridgely,  William 
Goodwin,  Dr.  Charles  Wiesenthal  and  Thomas  Ewing. 

Mordecai  Gist,  son  of  Capt.  Thomas  Gist  and  Susannah  Cockey,  was  born  in 
Baltimore  Town  in  1743.  He  was  educated  at  St.  Paul's  parish  school,  and  at  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Revolution  was  a  merchant  doing  business  on  Gay  street. 
His  ancestors  were  early  immigrants  to  Maryland  and  took  an  active  part  in  the 
affairs  of  the  province.  Christopher  Gist  was  of  English  descent,  and  died  in 
Baltimore  County,  in  1691.  His  wife  was  Edith  Cromwell,  who  died  in  1694. 
They  had  one  child,  Richard,  who  was  surveyor  of  the  western  shore,  and  was 
one  of  the  commissioners,  in  1729,  for  laying  off  Baltimore  Town,  and  was  presid- 
ing magistrate  in  1736.  In  1705  he  married  Zipporah  Murray.  Christoper  Gist, 
one  of  his  sons,  because  of  his  knowledge  of  the  country  on  the  Ohio  and  his  skill 
in  dealing  with  the  Indians,  was  chosen  to  accompany  Washington  on  his  mission 
in  1753,  and  it  was  from  his  journal  that  all  subsequent  historians  derive  their 
account  of  that  expedition. 

Christopher  Gist,  the  son  of  Richard,  married  Sarah  Howard,  ihe  second 
daughter  of  Joshua  and  Joanna  O'Carroll  Howard,  and  had  four  children — Nancy, 
who  died  unmarried,  and  Thomas,  Nathaniel  and  Richard.  Christopher,  with  his 
sons  Nathaniel  and  Richard,  was  with  Braddock  on  the  fatal  field  of  the  Monon- 
gahela,  and  for  his  services  received  a  grant  of  twelve  thousand  acres  of  land  from 
the  King  of  England.  It  is  said  that  Thomas  was  taken  prisoner  at  Braddock's 
defeat  and  lived  fifteen  or  sixteen  years  with  the  Indians  in  Canada.  Richard 
married  and  settled  in  South  Carolina,  and  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  King's 
Mountain.  He  has  descendants  living  in  that  State.  Thomas,  after  his  release 
from  captivity,  lived  with  his  father  on  the  grant  in  Kentucky  and  became  a  man 
of  note,  presiding  in  the  courts  till  his  death,  about  1786.  Gen.  Nathaniel  Gist 
married  Judith  Carey  Bell,  of  Buckingham  County,  Va.,  a  grandniece  of  Archibald 
Carey,  the  mover  of  the  Bill  of  Rights  in  the  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses. 
Nathaniel  was  a  colonel  in  the  Virginia  line  during  the  Revolution,  and  died  early 
in  the  present  century  at  an  old  age.  He  left  two  sons,  Henry  Carey  and  Thomas 
Cecil  Gist.  His  eldest  daughter,  Sarah  Howard,  married  the  Hon.  Jesse  Bledsoe, 
a  United  States  Senator  from  Kentucky  and  a  distinguished  jurist ;  his  grandson, 
B.  Gratz  Brown,  was  the  Democratic  candidate  for  Vice-President  in  1872.  The 
second  daughter  of  Gen.  Gist,  Anne  (Nancy),  married  Col.  Nathaniel  Hart,  a 
brother  of  Mrs.  Henry  Clay.  The  third  daughter  married  Dr.  Boswell,  of  Lexing- 
ton, Ky.  The  fourth  daughter,  Eliza  Violetta  Howard  Gist,  married  Francis  P. 
Blair,  and  they  were  the  parents  of  Hon.  Montgomery  Blair,  of  Maryland,  ex- 
Postmaster-General,  and  Gen.  Francis  P.  Blair,  Jr.  The  fifth  daughter  married 
Benjamin  Gratz,  of  Lexington,  Ky. 

Mordecai  Gist  was  a  member  of  the  Baltimore  non-importation  committee  in 
1774  and,  besides  being  captain  of  the  "Independent  Cadets,"  in  January,  1776, 
was  made  major  of  Smallwood's  First  Maryland  Regiment,  and  commanded  it  at 
the  battle  of  Long  Island,  in  August,  1776,  in  the  absence  of  its  colonel  and 
lieutenant-colonel,  who  were  attending  a  court-martial  in  New  York.  In  1777  he 
was  promoted  to  colonel,  and  made  brigadier-general  January  9,  1779.  He  was 
present  at  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown,  and  after  the  war  settled  near 
Charleston,  S.  C.     He  married  three  times.     His  first  wife  was  a  Mrs.  Carnan,  of 


43 

Baltimore  County,  who  died  shortly  after  marriage.  His  second  wife  was  Miss 
Sterrett,  of  Baltimore,  who  died  in  giving  birth  to  a  son.  His  third  wife  was  Mrs. 
Cattell,  of  South  Carolina.  She  also  bore  him  a  son.  One  of  the  boys  was  named 
Independent,  the  other  States.     Gen.  Gist  died  at  Charleston,  August  2,  1792. 

Johnston,  referring  to  the  important  part  borne  by  Major  Gist  at  the  battle  of 
Long  Island,  says:  "Stirling,  realizing  his  danger,  at  once  determined  upon  the 
only  manoeuvre  that  promised  escape  for  any  of  his  command.  Upon  his  left  lay 
the  Gowanus  marsh  and  creek  where  both  were  at  their  broadest  and  where  a 
crossing  had  never  been  attempted.  *  *  *  He  therefore  ordered  his  men  to 
make  their  way  as  they  could,  while,  to  protect  them  as  they  forded  or  swam,  he 
himself  took  Gist  and  half  the  Maryland  battalion  and  proceeded  to  attack  Corn- 
wallis.  The  Marylanders  followed  their  general  without  flinching  and  were  soon 
warmly  engaged  with  the  enemy  who  had  posted  themselves  at  the  Vechte — later 
known  as  the  Cortelyou  house  -  above  the  upper  mills,  near  the  intersection  of  the 
Port  and  Gowanus  roads.  Stirling's  example  was  inspiring.  '  He  encouraged  and 
animated  our  young  soldiers,'  writes  Gist,  'with  almost  invincible  resolution.'  " 


SUPPLEMENT 


SECTION     I 


The  Heroes  of  the  Revolution  and  their  Descendant 


HISTORY 


Society  Sons  of  the  Revolution, 


INCLUDING  THE 


ANCESTRAL    LINE 


FOUNDERS    AND    BUILDERS. 


1899. 


SOCIETY    OF    THE    SONS    OF    THE    REVOLUTION,  IN 
THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


"On  that  night  could  not  ihe  King  sleep,  and  he  commanded  to  bring  the  book  of  records 
of  the  chronicles;  and  they  were  read  before  the  King." 

A  well  known  writer  in  one  of  our  religious  journals  says  :  "  It  is  a  good 
thing  that  there  are  growing  up  in  our  country  patriotic  societies  composed  of 
those  who  can  trace  descent  from  men  and  women  who  lived  and  died  as  patriots. 
It  gives  a  man  something  to  live  up  to  -  to  remember  that  in  his  veins  runs  the 
Dlood  of  heroes.  He  is  more  likely  to  be  a  hero  for  remembering  it.  Let  every 
man  who  has  been  born  into  a  Christian  home  rejoice  in  his  privilege." 

Gov.  Seymour,  in  a  letter  to  the  writer,  some  years  ago,  said  :  "The  ignor- 
ance of  the  America  people  regarding  the  history  of  their  own  country  is  disrep- 
utable." Thanks  to  the  efforts  of  the  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  and 
kindred  societies,  this  can  no  longer  be  said.  From  Maine  to  California,  ancestral 
and  historical  investigation  has  been  going  on  for  the  past  twenty  years,  which 
gives  bright  promise  for  the  near  future,  and  so  far  as  our  Republic  is  concerned, 
the  charge  can  no  longer  be  made  that  "  republics  are  ungrateful." 

Washington's  Birthday  has  been  annually  observed  and  still  continues  to  be 
by  the  Society,  and  other  recurring  anniversaries  of  the  Revolution  receive  due 
recognition.  The  placing  of  tablets  in  various  parts  of  New  York  City,  to  mark 
important  places  and  events,  the  erection  of  a  bronze  statue  in  the  City  Hall  Park 
in  memory  of  Nathan  Hale,  the  "  Martyr  Spy  of  the  American  Revolution,"  constitute 
but  a  small  portion  of  the  work  done  by  this  Society.  These  notable  events,  and 
others  of  equal  importance,  will  be  fully  described  in  Section  II.  of  The  HEROES  OF 
the  American  Revolution  and  their  Descendants,  entitled,  "New  York 
and  its  Environs  in  the  Revolution."  The  SOCIETY  OF  THE  SONS  OF  THE 
Revolution  in  the  State  of  New  York,  was  incorporated  May  3,  1884,  under 
the  laws  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

The  preliminary  movement  leading  to  the  organization  of  a  patriotic  society 
which  would  render  eligible  to  membership,  the  descendants  of  the  soldiers  of  the 
Revolution,  originated  with  Mr.  John  Austin  Stevens,  in  the  autumn  of  1875. 
In  a  letter  to  F.  S.  Tallmadge,  Esq  ,  President  of  the  Society,  Mi».  Stevens  says  : 
"In  the  month  of  January,  1S76,  a  plan  of  organization  of  a  Society,  under  the 
name  of  'Sons  of  the  Revolution,'  was  drawn  up  by  me,  to  which  some 
gentlemen  set  their  names.  Its  purpose  was  dual.  First,  to  revere  and  maintain 
the  American  spirit  of  our  forefathers.  Second,  to  promote  the  codection  and 
preservation  of  historical  papers  of  the  Revolutionary  period. 

"  The  plan  of  the  Society  provided  for  the  admission  of  any  and  all  male 
applicants  of  good  standing,  who  could  show  descent  from  a  person  in  public 
service — civil,  military  or  naval — of  the  General  or  State  Governments  during  the 
period  of  hostilities. 

"  Thus  the  Society  was  inaugurated*  but  a  lack  of  public  interest  held  it 
dormant  for  several  years.  In  the  progression  of  centennial  anniversaries  which 
ensued,  the  American  spirit  was  gradually  aroused,  and  that  sentiment  of  pride  in 
a  Revolutionary  descent,  which  was  before  modestly  conceded,  was  openly  avowed. 


4  SONS      OF      THE     REVOLUTION. 

"  This  honorable  pride  led  to  the  magnificent  entertainment  by  the  State  of 
New  York  to  the  French  delegation  to  the  Yorktown  celebration  in  1881,  and  to 
the  extraordinary  display  of  public  interest  and  patriotic  spirit  by  this  community, 
under  the  most  untoward  circumstances,  on  the  anniversary  of  the  Evacuation  of 
the  City  of  New  York  by  the  British  in  1783,  the  final  act  of  the  American 
Revolution.  This  anniversary,  which  fell  on  the  25th  of  November,  1S83,  was  the 
last  of  the  Revolutionary  commemorations. 

"  Among  the  events  of  that  memorable  celebration,  was  the  dinner  at 
Fraunces's  Tavern,  on  the  evening  of  the  4th  of  December,  the  anniversary  of 
Washington's  farewell  to  his  officers.  Here  in  the  very  long  room  where 
occurred  that  touching  historic  scene,  the  plan  of  the  proposed  Society  was  sub- 
mitted, and  the  gentlemen  adjourned  to  meet  on  the  same  spot  on  the  following 
New  Year's  eve,  when  it  was  agreed  to,  signed,  and  the  organization  effected, 
under  the  name  of  SONS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION." 

The  purpose  for  which  it  was  organized,  the  character  of  its  members,  and 
the  careful  scrutiny  given  as  to  the  qualifications  for  membership,  speedily  brought 
to  it  the  respect  of  the  community.  The  accounts  of  its  patriotic  celebrations  and 
acts  in  the  way  of  erecting  memorials  and  statues,  were  read  with  interest,  and 
when  the  great  Centennial  of  the  inauguration  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  under  the  Constitution  was  held,  in  New  York,  in  April  and  May,  1889,  the 
"Sons  of  the  Revolution"  bore  a  principal  part,  both  in  its  inception  and  in 
membership,  and  chairmanship  of  the  necessary  committees. 

The  Constitution  of  the  General  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  clearly 
sets  forth  the  causes  that  necessitated,  and  which  finally  culminated  in,  the  organ- 
ization of  this  patriotic  and  thoroughly  American  society.     It  is  as  follows  : 

"  It  being  evident,  from  a  steady  decline  of  a  proper  celebration  of  the 
National  holidays  of  the  United  States  of  A^°rica,  that  popular  concern  in  the 
events  and  men  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  is  gradually  declining,  and  that 
such  lack  of  interest  is  attributable,  not  so  much  to  the  lapse  of  time  and  the 
rapidly  increasing  flood  of  immigration  from  foreign  countries,  as  to  the  neglect 
on  the  part  of  descendants  of  Revolutionary  heroes  to  perform  their  duty  in 
keeping  before  the  public  mind  the  memory  of  the  services  of  their  ancestors  and 
of  the  times  in  which  they  lived  ;  therefore,  the  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolu- 
tion has  been  instituted  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  men  who,  in  the  military, 
naval  and  civil  service  of  the  Colonies  and  of  the  Continental  Congress,  by  their 
acts  or  counsel,  achieved  the  independence  of  the  country,  and  to  further  the 
proper  celebration  of  the  anniversaries  of  the  birthday  of  Washington  and  of  the 
prominent  events  connected  with  the  War  of  the  Revolution  ;  to  collect  and  secure 
for  preservation  the  rolls,  records  and  other  documents  relating  to  that  period  ;  to 
inspire  the  members  of  the  Society  with  the  patriotic  spirit  of  their  forefathers, 
and  to  promote  the  feeling  of  friendship  among  them." 

The  objects  of  the  Society  are  further  stated  in  the  Preamble  of  the  revised 
Constitution  adopted  at  the  time  of  its  incorporation,  as  follows  :  "To  promote 
and  assist  in  the  proper  celebration  of  the  anniversaries  of  Washington's  Birthday, 
the  battles  of  Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill,  the  Fourth  of  July,  the  Capitulation  of 


'Washington  was  actually  born    O.  S.   Feb.   11,  1776,  as   the  method   of  reckoning  time 
under  the  old  style  was  then  in  vogue. 


SONS      CF      THE      REVOLUTION.  -  5 

Saratoga  and  Yorktown,  the  formal  evacuation  of  New  York  by  the  British  Army, 
on  the  3d  of  December,  1783,  as  a  relinquishment  of  territorial  sovereignty,  and 
other  prominent  events  relating  to  or  connected  with  the  War  of  the  Revolution." 

INCORPORATORS. 

John  Austin  Stevens,  John  Cochrane,  Austin  Huntington,  George  H.  Potts, 
Frederick  Samuel  Tallmadge,  George  Washington  Wright  Houghton,  Asa  Bird 
Gardiner,  Thomas  Henry  Edsall,  Joseph  W.  Drexel,  James  Mortimer  Montgomery, 
James  Duane  Livingston,  Alexander  R.  Thompson,  Jr. 

QUALIFICATIONS    FOR  MEMBERSHIP. 

The  qualifications  for  membership  are,  that  the  applicant  "  shall  be  above  the 
age  of  twenty-one  years,  who  is  descended  from  an  ancestor,  as  the  propositus 
who,  either  as  a  military,  naval  or  marine,  or  official  in  the  service  of  any  one  of 
the  thirteen  original  Colonies  or  States,  or  of  the  National  Government  represent- 
ing or  composed  of  these  Colonies  or  States,  assisted  in  establishing  American 
Independence  during  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  between  the  19th  day  of  April, 
1775,  when  hostilities  commenced,  and  the  19th  day  of  April,  1783,  when  they 
were  ordered  to  cease. 

"  Provided,  That  when  the  claim  of  eligibility  is  based  on  the  service  of  an 
ancestor  in  the  '  minute  men  '  or  '  militia,'  it  must  be  satisfactorily  shown  that 
such  ancestor  was  actually  called  into  the  service  of  the  State  or  United  States 
and  performed  garrison  or  field  duty ;  and 

"  Provided  further,  That  when  the  claim  of  eligibility  is  based  on  the  service 
of  an  ancestor  as  a  'sailor'  or  '  marine,'  it  must  in  like  manner  be  shown  that  such 
service  was  other  than  shore  duty  and  regularly  performed  in  the  Continental 
Navy,  or  the  navy  of  one  of  the  original  thirteen  States,  or  on  an  armed  vessel, 
other  than  a  merchant  ship  which  sailed  under  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal,  and 
that  such  ancestor  of  the  applicant  was  duly  enrolled  in  the  ship's  company, 
either  as  an  officer,  seaman  or  otherwise  than  a  passenger ;  and 

"  Provided  further,  That  when  the  claim  of  eligibility  is  based  on  the  service 
of  an  ancestor  as  an  '  official,'  such  service  must  have  been  performed  in  the  civil 
service  of  the  United  States  or  of  one  of  the  thirteen  original  States,  and  must 
have  been  sufficiently  important  in  character  to  have  rendered  the  official  specially 
liable  to  arrest  and  imprisonment,  the  same  as  a  complainant,  if  captured  by  the 
enemy,  as  well  as  liable  to  conviction  of  treason  against  the  Government  of  Great 
Britain. 

"Service  in  the  ordinary  duties  of  a  civil  office,  the  performance  of  which  did 
not  particularly  and  effectively  aid  the  American  cause,  shall  not  constitute 
eligibility. 

"  In  the  construction  of  this  article,  the  Volunteers  Aides-de-Camp  of  General 
Officers  in  Continental  service,  who  were  duly  announced  as  such  and  who 
actually  served  in  the  field  during  a  campaign,  shall  be  comprehended  as  having 
performed  qualifying  service. 

"  The  civil  officials  and  military  forces  of  the  State  of  Vermont  during  the 
War  of  the  Revolution,  shall  also  be  comprehended  in  the  same  manner  as  if 
they  had  belonged  to  one  of  the  thirteen  original  States. 


5  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

"  No  service  of  an  ancestor  shall  be  deemed  as  qualifying  service  for  member- 
ship in  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  where  such  ancestor,  after  assisting  in 
the  cause  of  American  Independence,  shall  have  subsequently  either  adhered  to 
the  enemy  or  failed  to  maintain  an  honorable  record  throughout  the  War  of  the 
Revolution. 

"  No  person  shall  be  admitted  unless  he  is  eligible  under  one  of  the  provisions 
of  this  Article,  nor  unless  he  be  of  good  moral  character  and  be  judged  worthy 
of  becoming  a  member." 

THE  SEAL  AND  INSIGNIA  OF  THE  SOCIETY. 

The  Seal  of  the  Society  consists  of  a  "  Minute-man  "  in  Continental  uniform 
standing  on  a  ladder  leading  to  a  belfry,  and  holding  in  his  left  hand  a  musket  ar 
an  olive  branch,  and  grasping  in  his  right  hand  a  bell-rope.  Above,  the  cracked 
"Liberty  Bell";  issuing  therefrom,  a  ribbon  bearing  the  motto  of  the  SONS  OF 
the  Revolution — " Exegi  monumentum  cere  perenntus."  Across  the  top  of  the 
ladder,  on  a  ribbon,  the  figures,  "1776,"  and  at  the  left  of  the  Minute-man,  and 
also  on  a  ribbon,  the  figures,"  1883," — the  year  of  the  centennial  commemoration  of 
the  permanent  evacuation  by  the  British  army  of  American  territory, — the  whole 
encircled  by  a  band  three-eighths  of  a  inch  wide  ;  thereon,  at  the  top,  thirteen 
stars  of  five  points  each,  and  at  the  bottom,  the  legend,  "  SONS  OF  THE  REVOLU- 
TION." 


SEAL   OF  THE   SOCIETY. 

The  insignia  of  the  Society  consists  of  a  badge,  elliptical  in  form,  with  escal- 
loped  edges,  one  and  one-quarter  inches  in  length  and  one  and  one-eighth  inches  in 
width,  the  whole  surmounted  by  a  gold  eagle  with  wings  displayed,  inverted.  On 
the  obverse  side,  a  medallion  of  gold  in  the  centre,  elliptical  in  form,  bearing  on 
its  face  the  figure  of  a  soldier  in  Continental  uniform,  with  musket  slung.  Be- 
neath, the  figures,  "  1775."  The  medallion  is  surrounded  by  thirteen  raised  gold 
stars  of  five  points  each,  upon  a  border  of  dark  blue  enamel.  On  the  reverse  side, 
in  the  centre,  a  medallion  corresponding  in  form  to  that  on  the  obverse,  and  also, 
in  gold,  bearing  on  its  face  Houdon's  portrait  of  Washington  in  bas-relief,  encircled 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  7 

by  the  legend,  "Sons  of  the  Revolution."  Beneath,  the  figures,  "  1883,"  and 
upon  the  reverse  side  of  the  eagle,  the  number  of  the  particular  lodge  engraved ; 
the  medallion  surrounded  by  a  plain  gold  border  conforming  in  dimensions  to  the 
obverse,  upon  which  members  may  have  their  names  engraved  in  script. 

The  badge  is  pendant  from  a  ribbon  by  a  ring  of  gold,  and  is  to  be  worn  by 
the  members  conspicuously,  and  only  on  the  left  breast,  on  all  occasions  when  they 
shall  assemble  as  such  for  any  stated  purpose  or  celebration.  It  is  forbidden  to 
wear  the  badge  as  an  article  of  jewelry. 


INSIGNIA   OF   THE    SOCIETY. 


OFFICERS  OF  THE  NEW  YORK  SOCIETY,  FROM  ITS  RE-ORGANIZ- 
ATION, DEC.  4,  1883. 

Presidents. — 1883-4,  John  Austin  Stevens ;  1884,  Frederick  Samuel  Tallmadge, 
still  in  office. 

Vice-Presidents. — 1883-4,  John  Cochrane;  1884-6,  Thomas  Henry  Edsall; 
1886-8,  Elbridge  T.  Gerry;  18S8-94,  Floyd  Clarkson ;  1894,  James  Mortimer  Mont- 
gomery; 1894-5,  William  Gaston  Hamilton;  1895-6,  Robert  Olyphant ;  1897, 
James  William  Beckman. 

Secretaries. — 1883,  John  Bleecker  Miller,  pro  tern.;  1883-4,  Austin  Huntington; 
1884-6,  George  Washington  Wright  Houghton;  1886-93,  James  Mortimer  Mont- 
gomery;  1893-6,  Thomas  Edward  Vermilye  Smith;  1896,  Charles  Isham,  still  in 
office. 

Assistant  Secretary. — 1891-5,  Edward  Trenchard. 

Treasurers.— 1883-5,  George  H.  Potts;  1885,  F.  J.  Huntington;  1885-6, 
Austin  Huntington;  1886-7,  Asa  Coolidge  Warren;  1887,  Arthur  Melvin  Hatch, 
still  in  office. 


g  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  ^ 

Registrars.— 1885-6,  Thomas  Henry  Edsall;  1887-9,  Asa  Coolidge  Warren; 
1889-91,  Henry  Thayer  Drowne  ;   1891-6,  Charles  Isham  ;   1897,  Henry  P.  Johnston. 

Historians.  -  1888-9,  Austin  Huntington;  1889-91,  John  Canfield  Tomlinson; 
1 89 1 -3,  Henry  Wyckoff  Le  Roy;  1893-4.  James  Mortimer  Montgomery;  1894-5. 
Talbot  Olyphant;   1895-6,  John  Lawrence. 

Chaplains.— 1889,  Rev.  Daniel  Cary  Weston,  D.D.;  1889,  Rev.  Brockholst 
Morgan,  still  in  office. 

BOARD  OF  MANAGERS  OF  THE  NEW  YORK  SOCIETY  FROM  ITS 
INCORPORATION. 

1883-4.— Frederick  Samuel  Tallmadge,  Joseph  W.  Drexel,  Thomas  Henry 
Edsall,  George  W.  W.  Houghton,  Asa  Bird  Gardiner,  James  Mortimer  Montgom- 
ery, James  Duane  Livingston,  John  Bleecker  Miller,  Alexander  R.  Thompson,  Jr. 

1884-5. — Asa  Bird  Gardiner,  James  Mortimer  Montgomery,  James  Duane 
Livingston,  John  Bleecker"  Miller,  Alexander  R.  Thompson,  Jr.,  John  B.  Ireland, 
Ethan  Allen,  Ingersoll  Lockwood,  Asa  Coolidge  Warren. 

1885-6. — James  Mortimer  Montgomery,  Alexander  R.  Thompson,  Jr.,  John 
B.  Ireland,  Ethan  Allen,  Asa  Coolidge  Warren,  Floyd  Clarkson,  Edward  L. 
Hedden,  George  Clinton  Genet,  Henry  Wyckoff  Le  Roy. 

1886-7. — John  B.  Ireland,  Floyd  Clarkson,  George  Clinton  Genet,  Henry 
Wyckoff  Le  Roy,  Horace  Barnard,  George  Parsons  Lathrop,  Edward  Rathbone 
Satterlee,  John  Clarkson  Jay,  Jr.,  James  Duane  Livingston. 

1887-8. — John  B.  Ireland,  Floyd  Clarkson,  George  Clinton  Genet,  Henry 
Wyckoff  Le  Roy,  John  Clarkson  Jay,  Jr.,  Rev.  Brockholst  Morgan,  David  B. 
St.  John  Roosa. 

1888-9. — John  B.  Ireland,  George  Clinton  Genet,  Henry  Wyckoff  Le  Roy, 
James  Duane  Livingston,  George  Parsons  Lathrop,  John  Clarkson  Jay,  Jr.,  Rev. 
Brockholst  Morgan,  William  Gaston  Hamilton,  Robert  F.  Bixby,  John  Jackson 
Riker,  pro  tem.,  Asa  Bird  Gardiner,  pro  tern.,  Francis  Lathrop,  pro  tern. 

1889-90.- John  B.  Ireland,  George  Clinton  Genet,  Henry  Wyckoff  Le  Roy, 
John  Clarkson  Jay,  Jr.,  Rev.  Brockholst  Morgan,  William  Gaston  Hamilton,  Asa 
Bird  Gardiner,  John  Jackson  Riker,  Francis  Lathrop,  William  Gordon  Ver  Planck, 
Bradish  Johnson,  Jr. 

1890-91. — George  B.  Ireland,  George  Clinton  Genet,  Henry  Wyckoff  Le  Roy, 
John  Clarkson  Jay,  Jr.,  William  Gaston  Hamilton,  Asa  Bird  Gardiner,  Bradish 
Johnson,  Jr.,  Charles  Hornblower  Woodruff,  William  Carpender,  Robert  Lenox 
Belknap,  Robert  Olyphant. 

1891-2. — Asa  Bird  Gardiner,  Bradish  Johnson,  Jr.,  Charles  Hornblower  Wood- 
ruff, William  Carpender,  Robert  Lenox  Belknap,  Robert  Olyphant,  John  Canfield 
Tomlinson,  Governeur  Mather  Smith,  William  Gaston  Hamilton. 

1892-3. -William  Carpender,  Robert  Lenox  Belknap,  Robert  Olyphant,  John 
Canfield  Tomlinson,  Governeur  Mather  Smith,  William  Gaston  Hamilton,  John 
Lawrence,  Benjamin  Douglass  Silliman,  Charles  Augustus  Schermerhorn,  William 
Alexander  Duer,  Charles  Augustus  Peabody,  Jr. 

1893-4. — John  Canfield  Tomlinson,  Governeur  Mather  Smith,  William  Gaston 
Hamilton,  John  Lawrence,  Benjamin  Douglass  Silliman,  Charles  Augustus  Scher- 
merhorn, Asa  Bird  Gardiner,  Charles  Augustus  Peadody,  Jr.,  Henry  Wyckoff  Le 
Roy,  John  Hone,  Charles  Hornblower  Woodruff. 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  Q 

1894-5. — John  Lawrence,  Benjamin  Douglass  Silliman,  Charles  Augustus 
Schermerhorn,  Asa  Bird  Gardiner,  Charles  Augustus  Peabody,  Jr.,  Henry  Wyckoff 
Le  Roy,  John  Hone,  Charles  Hornblower  Woodruff,  William  Gayer  Dominick, 
Frederick  Clarkson,  John  Taylor  Terry,  Jr.,  Robert  Olyphant,  pro  tern.,  William 
Carpender,  pro  tern. 

1895-6.— Asa  Bird  Gardiner,  Bradish  Johnson,  Henry  Wyckoff  Le  Roy,  John 
Hone,  Charles  Hornblower  Woodruff,  Chester  Griswold,  Frederick  Clarkson,  John 
Taylor  Terry,  Jr.,  William  Carpender,  James  Betts  Metcalf,  William  Gaston 
Hamilton. 

1896-7. — John  Hone,  Charles  Hornblower  Woodruff,  Chester  Griswold,  Fred- 
erick Clarkson,  John  Taylor  Terry,  Jr.,  William  Carpender,  William  Gaston 
Hamilton,  Thomas  E.  V.  Smith,  Robert  Olyphant,  Fellowes  Davis,  Henry  Deni- 
son  Babcock. 

GENERAL  SOCIETY  SONS  OF  THE   REVOLUTION. 

The  General  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  was  organized  in  the  city 
of  Washington,  D.  C,  April  19,  1S90,  by  delegates  from  the  local  societies  in  New 
York,  Philadelphia  and  Washington.     The  following  gentlemen  were  present : 

New  York. — Frederick  S.  Tallmadge,  Wm.  Gaston  Hamilton,  J.  Alsop  King, 
Timothy  Matlack  Cheesman,  Arthur  Milburn  Hatch. 

District  of  Columbia.  — Gov.  John  Lee  Carroll,  Admiral  Samuel  R.  Franklin, 
Gen.  Wm.  B.  Rochester,  Capt.  Daniel  M.  Taylor,  Col.  Charles  Worthington, 
Lieut.  T.  M.  B.  Mason  and  Arthur  II.  Dutton. 

Pennsylvania. — Richard  McCall  Cadwalader,  Major  James  Edward  Carpen- 
ter, Col.  Josiah  Granville  Leach,  Col.  Clifford  Stanley  Sims,  Dr.  Herman  Burgen 
and  Frederick  Meade  Bissell. 

Discussions  took  place  concerning  the  general  interests  of  the  Sons  of  the 
Revolution. 

The  only  business  of  importance,  other  than  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution, 
was  the  election  of  national  officers.     The  following  were  chosen  : 

General  President. — Ex-Governor  John  Lee  Carroll,  of  Maryland. 

General  Vice-President. — Major  William  Wayne,  of  Pennsylvania. 

General  Secretary.— James  Mortimer  Montgomery,  of  New  York. 

Assistant  General  Secy. — Timothy  Matlack  Cheesman,  M.D.,  of  New  York. 

General  Treasurer. — Arthur  II.  Dutton,  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 

General  Chaplain. — The  Rev.  Daniel  Cony  Weston,  D.D.,  of  New  York. 

The  present  officers,  elected  April,  1897,  air  : 

General  President. — Hon.  John  Lee  Carroll,  Maryland. 

General  Vice-Presidents. — G.  D.  W.  AToom,  New  Jersey  ;  Colonel  John 
Screven,  Georgia. 

General  Secretary. — James  Mortimer  Montgomery,  New  York. 

General  Assistant  Secy. — W.  Hall  Harris,  Maryland. 

General  Treastirer. — Richard  McCall  Cadwalader,  Pennsylvania. 

General  Assistant  Treas. — Henry  Cadle,  Missouri. 

General  Chaplain. — Bishop  H.  B.  Whipple,  Minnesota. 

General  Registrar.— ¥.  E.  Abbott,  Massachusetts. 

General  Historian. — G.  Hunt,  District  of  Columbia. 


STEVENS  ANCESTRY. 


John  Austin  Stevens,  the  founder  and  first  President  of  the  Society,  comes 
of  a  line  of  distinguished  New  England  ancestors,  who  have  been  prominent  in 
Church  and  State  affairs  for  two  hundred  years. 

Erasmus  Stevens,  the  first  of  the  family  mentioned  in  this  line  appears  in 
1 7 14  as  one  of  the  founders  of  the  New  North  Church,  in  Boston.  He  had  a  son, 
Ebenezer  (1). 

Ebenezer  Stevens  (i),  son  of  Erasmus  Stevens,  was  probably  born  in 
Boston.  He  lived  in  Roxbury,  where  he  married  Elizabeth  Wild.  They  had  a 
son,  Ebenezer  (2). 

MAJ.-GEN.  EBENEZER  STEVENS,  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution, 
son  of  Ebenezer  and  Elizabeth  (Wild)  Stevens,  was  born  in  Boston,  Mass.,  Aug.  22, 
1 75 1.  He  was  an  ardent  patriot,  and  led  the  famous  "Tea  Party,"  1773,  indisposing 
of  the  obnoxious  cargo  by  "  committing  it  to  the  deep."  He  made  little  effort  at 
disguise,  being  recognized  by  the  officers  of  one  of  the  ships.  He  soon  after- 
ward removed  to  Rhode  Island,  where  he  raised  two  companies  of  artillery,  and 
one  of  artificers,  and  was  commissioned  Lieutenant,  May,  8,  1775,  and  took  part 
in  the  expedition  against  Quebec.  He  joined  Henry  Knox's  regiment  of  artillery, 
was  made  a  Captain  on  Jan.  u,  1776,  and  on  Nov.  9,  following,  was  brevetted 
Major.  He  commanded  the  artillery  at  Ticonderoga  and  Stillwater.  As  senior 
officer  of  this  arm  of  defense  in  the  northern  department,  he  directed  the  artillery 
operations  in  the  encounters  which  led  to  the  defeat  and  surrender  of  Burgoyne, 
and  soon  after  received  a  brevet  commission  as  Lieut.-Colonel,  with  a  special 
resolution  of  thanks  from  the  Continental  Congress,  for  merit  as  commandant  of 
the  artillery  of  the  northern  department  in  the  campaigns  of  1776-7.  He  was  at 
this  time  in  the  Massachusetts  line.  On  April  30,  1778,  he  was  commissioned 
Lieut.-Colonel  and  transferred  to  Col.  John  Lamb's  regiment  of  the  New  York  line, 
in  which  he  served  to  the  end  of  the  war.  He  was  entrusted  with  the  defences  of 
the  Hudson  River  and  had  chains  and  other  obstructions  placed  across  the  river 
to  prevent  the  ships  of  the  enemy  from  ascending.  In  1781  he  prepared  a  train  of 
artillery  for  the  southern  service  and  was  selected  by  Gen.  Lafayette  to  accom- 
pany him  on  his  expedition  to  Virginia. 

Owing  to  impaired  health  he  returned  home  for  a  time,  but  after  a  brief 
respite,  he  was  commissioned  by  Gen.  Knox  to  prepare  the  artillery  force  which 
was  to  operate  against  Cornwallis.  This  was  collected  and  transported  from 
West  Point,  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  and  played  an  important  part  in  the  final 
siege  which  led  to  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis.  This  completed  his  active  service, 
though  he  continued  his  command  till  the  army  was  finally  disbanded.  It  is  be- 
lieved that  no  officer  of  his  grade  in  the  army  rendered  more  arduous,  various  and 
important  services  than  Col.  Stevens,  and  his  characteristic  energy,  courage  and 
perseverance  gave  assurance  that,  had  the  opportunity  occurred,  he  would  have 
signalized  himself  in  a  manner  worthy  of  his  patriotism  and  ambition. 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION.  II 

After  the  Revolution  he  started  in  business  in  New  York,  and  without  any 
previous  experience,  but  relying  on  his  own  prudence  and  foresight,  he  met  with 
extraordinary  success  and  became  one  of  the  leading  merchants  of  New  York  City. 
As  agent  of  the  war  department  he  constructed  the  fortifications  upon  Governor's 
Island  in  1S00.  In  1812  he  was  commissioned  Major-General  of  the  State  Militia, 
and  with  Morgan  Lewis,  mustered  for  active  service  against  the  British,  in  Sep., 
1 8 14,  at  the  time  of  an  anticipated  attack  upon  the  city.  He  resigned  his  command 
in  1815  and  withdrew  from  all  public  employment.  He  married,  first,  in  1775. 
Rebecca  Hodgson,  of  Boston.  In  1784  he  married  Lucretia,  widow  of  Richardson 
Sands,  a  daughter  of  John  Ledyard  and  sister  of  Col.  William  Ledyard,  the 
hero  of  Fort  Groton.  By  his  first  wife,  Rebecca  Hodgson,  he  had  issue  three 
children,  viz.:  Horatio  Gates,  George,  Rebecca  (married  John  P.  Schermerhorn). 
By  his  second  wife  he  had  Byam,  William,  Henry  K.,  Samuel,  Dr.  Alexander  H., 
John  Austin,  and   Mary,  wife  of  Frederick  W.  Rhinelander,  Esq. 

John  Austin  Stevens,  Sr.,  was  born  in  New  York  City,  Jan.  22,  1795,  (''e(' 
Oct.  19,  1874.  He  was  graduated  at  Yale,  in  1843;  entered  mercantile  life  and 
became  a  partner  in  his  father's  business  in  1818.  He  was  for  many  years 
Secretary  of  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  was  one  of  the  organizers 
and  first  President  of  the  Merchants'  Exchange.  From  its  first  establishment,  in 
1839,  till  i860,  he  was  President  of  the  Bank  of  Commerce.  He  was  chairman 
of  the  Committee  of  Bankers  of  New  York,  Boston  and  Philadelphia,  which  first 
met  in  August,  1861,  and  decided  to  take  $50,000,000  of  the  government  7-30 
loan.  They  subsequently  advanced  $100,000,000  more,  and  the  terms  of  the 
transaction  were  arranged  chiefly  by  Mr.  Stevens,  as  the  head  of  the  treasury  note 
committee.  His  advice  was  frequently  sought  by  the  officers  of  the  Treasury 
Department  during  the  Civil  War. 

JOHN  AUSTIN  STEVENS,  Jr.,  First  President  and  one  of  the  In- 
corporators of  the  Society  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  John  Austin 
Stevens,  Sr.,  was  born  in  New  York  City,  Jan.  23,  1827  ;  was  graduated  at  Harvard 
in  1846,  engaged  in  mercantile  business  in  New  York,  and  in  1862,  was  elected 
Secretary  of  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce,  continuing  in  office  six  years. 
He  was  librarian  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  and  devoted  himself  to  the 
investigation  of  top.cs  of  American  History.  He  founded  and  for  many  years 
edited  the  Magazine  of  American  History.  He  was  the  author  of  numerous 
works,  among  which  were  "The  Valley  of  the  Rio  Grande;  its  Topography  and 
Resources,"  (New  York,  1864)  ;  "Memorial  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  on 
Steam  Navigation,"  (1864);  "Colonial  R( cords  of  the  New  York  Chamber  of 
Commerce,"  (1867),  containing  illustrations  and  biographical  and  historical 
sketches;  "The  Progress  of  New  York  in  a  Century,"  (1876);  "The  Expe- 
dition of  Lafayette  against  Arnold,"  published  by  the  Maryland  Historical 
Society,  (Baltimore,   1878),  and  other  works. 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 


TALLMADGE  ANCESTRY. 

Line    of    Frederick    Samuel,  and    Brevet    Lieut.-Col 
Benjamin  Tallmadge. 


Frederick  Samuel  Tallmadge,  President  of  the  Society  since  1884,  traces  his 
line  of  descent  through  one  of  the  best  known  families  of  New  England,  and  the 
revolutionary  service  of  his  grandfather,  Lieut.-Col.  Benjamin  Tallmadge,  forms  one 
of  the  most  interesting  records  of  this  period  of  our  nation's  history. 

Robert  Tallmadge,  the  emigrant  ancestor  of  this  branch  of  the  Tallmadge 
family,  came  to  this  country  from  England  about  1640,  and  was  one  of  the 
original  planters  who  settled  the  New  Haven  Colony  in  1643,  ms  name  appearing 
on  the  list.  He  took  the  oath  of  fidelity  July  1,  1644.  He  married  Sarah, 
daughter  of  Thomas  Nash,  who  was  also  a  proprietor.  He  had  issue  Abigail, 
Thomas,  Sarah,  John,  Enoch,  Mary.     Robert  the  ancestor  died  in  1662. 

John  Tallmadge  fourth  child  and  second  son  of  Robert  and  Sarah  (Nash) 
Tallmadge,  was  born  in  New  Haven,  Conn.,  Sep.  17,  1654.  He  married  in  1686, 
Abigail  Bishop.     He  died  in  1770,  and  left,  among  other  children,  a  son  James. 

Capt.  James  Tallmadge,  son  of  John  and  Abigail  (Bishop)  Tallmadge,  was 
born  in  New  Haven  in  1689.  From  his  title  he  probably  served  in  the  early 
colonial  wars.  He  married  in  1713,  Hannah  Harrison,  of  Branford,  Conn.  He 
had  issue  a  son  Benjamin,  born  Dec,  31,  1725. 

Rev.  Benjamin  Tallmadge,  son  of  Capt.  James  and  Hannah  (Harrison) 
Tallmadge,  was  born  in  New  Haven,  Conn.,  Dec.  31,  1725.  He  was  graduated 
at  Yale  in  1747,  and  soon  after  obtained  a  position  as  teacher  in  the  Hopkins 
Grammar  School.  He  was  the  fourth  installed  pastor  at  Brookhaven  (Setauket 
village),  L.  I.,  in  1753,  continuing  for  over  thirty  years,  until  June  15,  1785,  when 
he  was  formally  dismissed.  Being  a  ripe  scholar  and  fond  of  teaching,  he  devoted 
considerable  time  to  the  instruction  of  young  men  preparing  for  college.  He 
married  Susannah,  daughter  of  Rev.  John  Smith  (who  was  a  brother  of  Hon. 
William  Smith,  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Colony).  He  had  issue 
William,  born  June  9,  1752,  captured  by  the  British  at  the  battle  of  Long  Island, 
died  in  prison  from  starvation  ;  Benjatnin,  born  Feb.  25,  1754;  Samuel,  born  1755  ; 
John,  born  1757  ;  Isaac,  born  1762.  Mr.  Tallmadge's  first  wife  died  April  4,  1768, 
and  on  June  5,  1770,  he  married  Zipporah,  daughter  of  Thomas  Strong,  of  Brook- 
haven,  by  whom  he  had  no  issue. 

LTEUT.-COL.  BENJAMIN  TALLMADGE,  of  the  War  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, second  son  of  Rev.  Benjamin  and  Susannah  (Smith)  Tallmadge,  was  born  at 
Setauket,  L.  I.  (in  the  town  of  Brookhaven),  Feb.  25,  1754.  He  very  early 
exhibited  a  fondness  for  learning,  and  under  the  tuition  of  his  father,  made  such 
progress,  that  at  twelve  years  of  age  he  was  examined  by  President  Daggett,  then 
on  a  visit  to  Brookhaven,  and  found  well  qualified  to  enter  that  institution.  He 
did  not  enter,   however,  until  some  years  later,  and  was  graduated  in  1773.     He 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION 


soon  after  took  charge  of  the  high  school  at  Wethersfield,  Conn.,  where  he  remained 
until  the  affair  at  Lexington  called  him  from  his  studies  into  the  service  of  his 
country. 

On  June  20,  1776,  he  was  appointed  Lieutenant  and  Adjutant  of  Colonel 
Chester's  Connecticut  regiment  and  continued  in  active  service  to  the  close  of  the 
war.  He  was  engaged  in  the  battle  of  Long  Island  on  the  27th  of  August,  1776, 
and  was  one  of  the  rear  guard  when  the  army  retired  from  Brooklyn  to  New  York. 
On  Dec.  15,  1776,  he  was  appointed  by  Gen.  Washington,  Captain  of  the  2d 
regiment  light  dragoons,  and  on  April  17,  of  the  following  year,  he  was  promoted 
Major.  A  separate  detachment  for  special  service  was  committed  to  him  several 
times  during  the  war  and  he  received  his  orders  directly  from  the  commander-in- 


'^c^iS     . 


chief.  He  participated  in  the  battles  of  White  Plains,  Short  Hills,  Brandywine, 
Monmouth  ;  and  at  Germantown  his  detachment  was  at  the  head  of  Gen.  John 
Sullivan's  division.  By  order  of  Gen.  Washington,  Major  Tallmadge  repeatedly 
threw  his  dragoons  across  the  principal  thoroughfare  to  check  the  retreat  of  the 
infantry.  He  opened,  in  1777,  a  secret  correspondence  (for  Gen.  Washington) 
with  some  persons  in  New  York,  and  particularly  with  the  late  Abraham  Wood- 
hull,  of  Setauket,  which  lasted  through  the  war.  He  kept  one  or  more  boats 
constantly  employed  in  crossing  the  Sound  on  this  business.  On  Lloyd's  Neck,  an 
elevated  promontory  between  Huntington  and  Oyster  Bay,  the  enemy  had  estab- 
lished or.gly  fortified  post,  with  a  garrison  of  about  five  hundred  men.     In  the 


I4  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

rear  of  this  fort  a  band  of  marauders  had  encamped  themselves,  who  having  boats 
at  command,  were  constantly  plundering  the  inhabitants  along  the  main  shore  and 
robbing  the  small  vessels  in  the  sound.  This  horde  of  banditti  Major  Tallmadge 
had  a  great  desire  to  break  up,  and  on  the  5th  of  September,  1777,  he  embarked 
with  one  hundred  and  thirty  men  of  his  detachment,  at  Shippen  Point,  near  Stam- 
ford, at  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening.  In  about  two  hours  they  landed  on  Lloyd's 
Neck  and  proceeded  to  the  attack,  which  was  so  sudden  and  unexpected,  that 
nearly  the  whole  party  of  five  hundred  Tory  marauders  were  captured  and  landed  in 
Connecticut  before  morning.     Not  a  man  was  lost  in  the  enterprise. 

For  the  purpose  of  breaking  up  the  whole  system  of  intercourse  between  the 
enemy  and  the  disaffected  on  the  main,  he  was  appointed  to  a  separate  command, 
consisting  of  the  dismounted  dragoons  of  the  regiment  and  a  body  of  horse.  On 
Sept.,  1783,  he  was  made  Brevet  Lieut. -Col.  While  stationed  at  North  Castle, 
Westchester  County,  N.  Y.,  in  the  autumn  of  1780,  the  attempt  of  Arnold  to  betray 
the  post  at  West  Point  into  the  hands  of  the  British,  was  frustrated  by  the  capture 
of  Major  Andr6  the  British  spy,  who  was  delivered  to  Maj.  Tallmadge,  and 
remained  in  his  custody  until  the  day  of  execution,  October  2,  1780;  Major 
Tallmadge  accompanying  the  unfortunate  prisoner  to  the  gallows,  and  witnessed 
the  execution.  Years  afterwards  Maj.  Tallmadge  wrote  :  "  I  became  so  deeply 
attached  to  Major  Andre  that  I  can  remember  no  instance  where  my  affections 
where  so  fully  absorbed  in  any  man.  When  I  saw  him  swinging  under  the  gallows 
it  seemed  for  a  time  as  if  I  could  not  support  it." 

In  November  of  the  same  year,  having  obtained  information  of  Fort  St. 
George,  which  stood  on  a  point  projecting  into  the  South  Bay  at  Mastic,  L.  I.,  he 
communicated  his  project  to  the  commander-in-chief,  who,  considering  the  attempt 
too  hazardous,  desired  him  to  abandon  it.  He  finally  obtained  Washington's  con- 
sent, who  in  a  letter  dated  Nov.  11,  1780,  says:  "  The  destruction  of  the  forage 
collected  for  the  use  of  the  British  army  at  Corum,.upon  Long  Island,  is  of  so 
much  consequence  that  I  should  advise  the  attempt  to  be  made." 

In  pursuance  of  this  communication  Maj.  Tallmadge  organized  a  force  of 
about  eighty  men,  and  on  November  21,  at  four  o'clock,  P.  M.,  the  party  embarked 
in  eight  whale  boats.  They  crossed  the  sound  in  five  hours  and  landed  at  Old 
Mans  at  nine  o'clock.  After  leaving  their  boats  the  body  of  troops  marched  about 
five  miles,  when,  on  account  of  the  rain,  they  returned  and  took  shelter  under  their 
boats,  and  lay  concealed  in  the  bushes  all  that  night  and  the  next  day.  At 
evening  they  started  again,  and  at  three  o'clock  the  next  morning  were  within  two 
miles  of  the  fort.  Here  he  divided  his  men  into  three  parties,  ordering  each  to 
attack  the  fort  at  the  same  time,  at  different  points.  The  order  was  so  well 
executed  that  the  three  divisions  arrived  at  nearly  the  same  moment.  It  was  a 
triangular  enclosure  of  several  acres,  strongly  stockaded,  well  barricaded  houses  at 
two  of  the  angles,  and  at  the  third  a  fort,  with  a  deep  ditch  and  wall,  encircled  by 
an  abattis  of  sharpened  pickets,  projecting  at  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees.  The 
stockade  was  cut  down,  the  column  led  through  the  grand  parade,  and  in  ten 
minutes  the  main  fort  was  carried  by  the  bayonet.  The  vessels  near  the  fort, 
laden  with  stores,  attempted  to  escape,  but  the  guns  of  the  fort  being  brought  to 
bear  upon  them,  they  were  secured  and  burnt,  as  were  the  works  and  stores. 
The  number  of  prisoners  was  fifty-four,  of  whom  seven  were  wounded.  They 
were  marched  to  the  boats  under  an  escort  while  Maj.  Tallmadge  proceeded  with 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

the  remainder  of  his  detachment,  destroyed  about  three  hundred  tons  of  hay 
collected  at  Corum  and  returned  with  his  whole  force  to  Fairfield  the  same 
evening,  without  the  loss  of  a  man.  Washington,  in  a  letter  dated  Morristown, 
Nov.  28,  says:  "  I  beg  you  to  accept  my  thanks  for  your  judicious  planning  and 
spirited  execution  of  this  business,  and  that  you  will  offer  them  to  the  officers  and 
men  who  shared  the  honor  of  the  enterprise  with  you."  For  this  service,  Maj. 
Tallmadge  also  received  the  thanks  of  Congress.  He  performed  a  similar  feat  on 
the  night  of  Oct.  9,  1781.  With  a  small  detachment  under  the  command  of 
Major  Prescott,  he  captured  Fort  Slongo,  at  Treadwell's  Neck,  near  Smithtown. 
He  burned  the  block-house  and  other  combustible  material,  captured  a  piece 
of  brass  artillery  and  returned  safely  without  the  loss  of  a  man.  Maj. 
Tallmadge  planned  other  attacks  on  Long  Island ;  he  and  his  daring  band  of 
veterans  were  a  source  of  constant  annoyance  to  the  enemy. 

Maj.  Tallmadge  was  one  of  the  original  members  of  the  Cincinnati  Society, 
was  several  years  treasurer  and  afterwards  president.  After  the  war  he  returned 
to  Litchfield  and  engaged  successfully  in  mercantile  pursuits.  He  was  elected  to 
Congress  Dec.  7,  1800,  and  continued  to  represent  his  district  in  that  body  till  1817. 
After  sixteen  years  of  service  in  the  national  legislature  he  declined  a  reelection  and 
retired  with  dignity  and  honor  to  the  shades  of  private  life.  He  was,  however, 
by  no  means  an  indifferent  spectator  of  passing  events,  but  felt  truly  anxious  for 
the  future  glory  and  welfare  of  his  country.  To  public  objects  of  charity  and 
benevolence  he  always  gave  largely  and  freely  and  was  much  esteemed  for  his 
social  qualities.  In  1782  he  bought  the  property  in  Litchfield  that  is  still  known 
as  the  Tallmadge  place  and  is  now  the  summer  resort  of  his  granddaughter,  Mrs. 
William  Curtis  Noyes.  Yale  gave  him  the  degree  of  A.M.  in  1778.  He  prepared 
his  "  Memoirs  at  the  Request  of  his  Children,"  which  was  privately  printed  by  his 
son. 

On  March  16,  1784,  he  married  Mary,  eldest  daughter  of  General  William 
Floyd,  of  Long  Island  (one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence),  a 
lady  of  great  amiability  and  worth,  by  whom  he  had  issue,  William  Smith,  Henry 
Floyd,  Maria  Jones,  Frederick  Augustus,  Benjamin,  Harriet  Wardsworth  and 
George  Washington ;  Henry  F.  married  Maria  Canfield,  daughter  of  Hon. 
Andrew  Adams,  of  Litchfield,  Conn.  ;  Maria  J.  married  the  Hon.  John  1'. 
Cushman,  of  Troy,  N.  Y.,  one  of  the  circuit  judges  of  the  State ;  Benjamin  was  an 
officer  in  the  U.  S.  Navy,  and  died  at  Gibraltar,  unmarried;  Harriet  W.  married 
John  Delafield,  Esq.,  of  New  York  ;  George  W.  married  Pacera  M..  daughter  of 
the  Hon.  Calvin  Pease,  of  Warren,  Ohio.  Maj.  Tallmadge's  first  wife  died  June  3, 
1805,  and  on  May  3,  1808,  he  married  Maria,  daughter  of  Joseph  Hallett,  Esq.,  of 
New  York.     He  died  at  Litchfield,  March  7,  1835. 

.  Frederick  Augustus  Tallmadge,  fourth  child  and  third  son  of  Maj.  Benjamin 
and  Mary  (Floyd)  Tallmadge,  was  born  in  Litchfield  Conn.,  Aug.  29,  1792;  died 
there  Sept.  17,  i860.  He  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  181 1  ;  studied  law  at  the  Litch- 
field law  school ;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  and  began  practice  in  New  York. 
During  the  closing  months  of  the  war  with  Great  Britian,  he  commanded  a  troop 
of  volunteer  cavalry  at  Long  Island.  He  was  made  an  Alderman  of  New  York  in 
1834,  Councilman  in  1836,  and  was  a  State  Senator  from  1837  till  1840,  serving  as 
President  of  that  body,  and  at  the  same  time  as  ex-officio  judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Errors.     In  1 841  -6  he  was  Recorder  of  New  York,  and  held  this  office 


SONS      OF      THE      RKVOI.T'TION. 


from  1848  to  1851.  He  was  elected  to  Congress  as  a  Whig,  and  served  from  Dec. 
6,  1847,  till  March  3,  1849.  From  1857  to  1862,  he  was  General  Superintendent  of 
the  Metropolitan  Board  of  Police,  and  in  1862-5  he  was  Chief  Clerk  of  the  Court 
of  Appeals.  He  afterwards  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law  in  New  York  City. 
During  the  time  he  was  Recorder  of  the  city  the  Astor  Place  riot  occurred,  and  he 
was  highly  commended  for  the  firm  and  determined  stand  he  t  ok  in  suppressing 
the  riot  and  in  the  trial  of  the  ringleaders. 

Mr.  Tallmadge  married  Eliza,  daughter  of  Hon.  Judson  Canfield,  of  Sharon, 
Conn.,  a  descendant  of  Thomas  Canfield,  of  Milford,  Conn,  1646.  The  issue  of 
this  marriage  was  Eliza,  married  John  T.  White  of  Philadelphia ;  Julia,  married 
William  Curtis  Noyes,  of  New  York ;  William  Floyd  died  unmarried  ;  Frederick 
Samuel,  Mary  Floyd,  married  Hon.  Edward  W.  Seymour,  Judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  State  of  Connecticut. 

FREDERICK  SAMUEL  TALLMADGE.  President  of  the  Society  of 
the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  State  of  New  York,  fourth  child  of  Fred- 
erick Augustus  and  Eliza  (Canfield)  Tallmadge,  and  grandson  of  Maj.  Benjamin 
Tallmadge,  was  born  in  New  York  City,  Jan.  24,  1824.  He  was  graduated  at 
Columbia  College  and  studied  law  in  the  office  of  William  Curtis  Noyes,  Esq., 
with  whom  he  subsequently  formed  a  copartnership.  He  has  enjoyed  for  many 
years  a  successful  practice  and  is  ranked  among  the  leading  men  in  his  profession 
in  New  York.  Mr.  Tallmadge  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Society  of  the  Sons 
of  the  Revolution,  and  from  the  date  of  its  organization,  has  been  steadfast  and 
earnest  in  his  efforts  to  build  up  and  enlarge  its  sphere  of  influence.  He  was 
elected  President  in  1884,  soon  after  the  Society  was  incorporated,  and  still  holds 
that  position.  He  is  an  honorary  member  of  the  Connecticut  State  Society  of  the 
Cincinnati;  member  of  the  Military  Society  of  the  War  of  181 2,  constituting  the 
Veteran  Corps  of  Artillery,  and  of  other  organizations.  Mr.  Tallmadge  married  in 
1857,  Julia  Louisa,  daughter  of  George  Belden,  Esq.,  of  New  York  City.  Mrs. 
Tallmadge  died  in  1894,  leaving  no  issue,  her  surviving. 


GARDINER   ANCESTRY. 


Colonel  Asa  Bird  Gardiner  was  not  only  one  of  the  original  founders  of  the 
Society,  but  was  associated  with  John  Austin  Stevens  in  the  construction  of 
the  framework  and  in  superintending  its  erection.  His  insistence  that  the 
most  careful  scrutiny  should  be  exercised  in  the  selection  of  material  for  member- 
ship, has  evoked  criticism  on  the  part  of  some  whose  qualifications  were  not  fully  up 
to  the  standard,  but  the  maintenance  of  this  high  standard  has  held  the  Society 
together  and  given  it  a  prestige  that  it  could  not  otherwise  have  obtained,  and  the 
results  have  shown  the  wisdom  of  Col.  Gardiner's  course. 

Colonel  Gardiner  is  eighth  in  descent  from  Ensign  George  Gardiner,  one  of 
the  earlier  inhabitants  of  the  Rhode  Island  Colony  in  1638  and  a  Commissioner  to 
the  Court  of  Commissioners,  October  28,  1662. 

He  was  the  fifth  son  of  Rev.  Michael  Gardiner,  Rector  of  Greenford-Magna, 
Middlesex  and  Littlebury,  Essex,  and  Margaret,  daughter  of  Thomas  Brown, 
Gent.,  Alderman  of  London. 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION.  1/ 

Col.  Gardiner  is  a  great-grandson  of  Lieut.  Reuben  Willard. 

Great-great-grandson  of  Lieut.  Othaniel  Gardiner. 

Great-Grandson  of  Sergeant.  Jacob  Van  Rosenbergh. 

Reuben  Willard  was  a  volunteer  in  Capt.  Jonatban  Davis'  Company  of  Min- 
ute men,  "Lexington  Alarm,"  enlisted  in  24th  Regiment  Continental  Infantry, 
Col.  Ephraim  Doolittle,  April  28,  177K,  promoted  Ensign  in  same  Nov.  27, 
1775;  honorably  retired  on  reorganization  of  the  main  Continental  Army,  Jan- 
uary 1,  1776;  2d  Lieutenant  2d  Regiment  Mass.  Vol.  Infantry,  Col.  Jonathan 
Holman;  Brig-Gen.  John  Fellows'  Brigade  June  25,  Dec.  1,  1776;  volunteered 
in  Capt.  Jonathan  Davis'  Company,  Col.  Samuel  Denny's  Regiment  Mass.  Vol. 
Infantry  June  25,  1779;  appointed  Sergeant-Major,  promoted  Lieutenant  in  same 
Aug.  12,  1779;  honorably  discharged  March  25,  1780. 

Jacob  Von  Rosenbergh,  above  mentioned,  was  Sergeant,  Capt.  John  Tater's 
Company;  Col.  Cornelius  Dota's  Regiment  Vermont  Militia;  served  at  battle  of 
Bennington;  honorably  discharged  Oct.  23.  1781. 

Lieut.  Othaniel  Gardiner,  above  mentioned,  was  an  Associator  1775 ;  Lieut. 
14th  Regiment  Albany  County,  N.  Y..  Militia.  Col.  John  Knickerbocker,  Oct. 
20,  1775;  at  Bennington;  died  in  service  Dec,  1775. 

Col.  Asa  Bird  Gardiner  is  one  of  the  most  active  members  of  the  Society 
of  the  Cincinnati,  and  is  Secretary  General  of  the  National  Society.  He  served 
with  distinction  in  the  war  between  the  States.  After  the  war  practiced  law,  and 
was  appointed  Professor  of  Law  at  West  Point  Military  Academy  with  the  rank 
of  Colonel;  later  Judge  Advocate  U.  S.  A.,  and  for  some  years  had  practiced 
law  in  the  City  of  New  York.  He  was  elected  District  Attorney  on  the  Demo- 
cratic ticket  in  the  autumn  of  1897. 

JAMES  MORTIMER  MONTGOMERY.— The  continue, 1  success  and  enthu- 
siasm of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  is  probably  due  more  to  the  efforts  of  Mr. 
Montgomery  than  to  any  other  one  man.  He  has  filled  the  various  positions  in  the 
local  society  and  has  long  been  Secretary  General  of  the  National  Society. 

His  line  of  Revolutionary  and  family  descent  is  through  some  of  the  most 
distinguished  families  in  this  country.     He  is  a 

Great-great-grandson  of  Colonel  William  Malcolm. 

Great-great-great-grandson  of  Colonel  William   Henry. 

Great-great-grandson  of  Commissary  George  Henry. 

Colonel  William  Malcolm  began  his  military  service  as  Major  of  2d  Bat- 
talion New  York  City  Militia  1776:  Colonel  2d  Regiment  New  York  Volun- 
teer Infantry  1776;  Colonel  Additional  Regimental  Continental  Infantry  April 
30,  1777 — April  22,  1779,  when  regiment  was  consolidated  with  Colonel  Olivet- 
Spencer's  Additional  Regiment  Continental  Infantry;  retired  May  9,  1779;  Con- 
tinental Adjutant  General  of  the  Northern  Department,  June  2d— October,  1778; 
Colonel  1st  Regiment  New  York  Levies  1780-1;  Member  of  New  York  Provin- 
cial Congress  1776. 

Colonel  William  Henry.  The  year  book  record  shows  that  he  was  County 
Lieutenant  Philadelphia  County,  Pennsylvania,  June  6,  1777— September  10, 
1790. 


IS  SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

Commissary  George  Henry  was:  Private  Philadelphia  Troop  of  Light 
Horse,  Capt.  Samuel  Morris,  March,  1777-81,  at  Germantown;  County  Lieuten- 
ant Philadelphia  County,  Pennsylvania;  resigned  June,  1777;  Commissary  of 
Naval  Stores,  Continental  Navy,  Pennsylvania,  1778. 

RIKER— JACKSON— LAWRENCE. 

It  is  said  that  the  Rikers  were  originally  a  German  family,  located  at  a  very 
remote  period  in  Lower  Saxony,  where  they  enjoyed  a  state  of  allodial  inde- 
pendence at  that  day  regarded  as  constituting  nobility.  They  possessed  the  es- 
tate or  manor  of  Rycken  farm,  from  which  they  took  their  name,  subsequently 
changed  to  Riker.  Hans  von  Rycken,  lord  of  the  manor  of  Rycken,  and  a 
valiant  Knight,  with  his  cousin,  Melchior  von  Rycken,  who  lived  in  Holland, 
took  part  in  the  first  crusade  to  the  Holy  Land,  in  1096,  heading  800  crusaders 
in  the  army  of  Walter  the  Penniless. 

Abraham  Rycken,  or  de  Rycke,  as  his  name  appears  on  the  early  records, 
was  the  progenitor  of  the  present  Riker  families  in  New  York,  New  Jersey  and 
other  parts  of  the  Union.  He  is  supposed  to  have  emigrated  in  1638,  as  he  re- 
ceived in  that  year  an  allotment  of  land  from  Gov.  Kieft,  for  which  he  after- 
wards took  out  a  patent  dated  Aug.  8.  1640.  His  land  was  located  in  Breuckelin 
at  the  Wallabout,  and  was  near  or  possibly  within  the  lines  of  the  Battle  of 
Long  Island.  Abraham  Richer  resided  in  1642  in  New  Amsterdam  on  the  Heeren 
Gracht,  now  Broad  St.,  and  was  one  of  the  early  land  owners  of  that  locality. 
In  1654  he  obtained  a  grant  of  land  at  the  Poor  Bowery,  to  which  he  subse- 
quently removed,  afterwards  adding  to  his  domain  the  island  known  as  Riker's 
Island  in  New  York  Harbor.  He  married  Grietie,  daughter  of  Hendrick  Har- 
mensen.  His  children  were  Ryck  Abramsen  (who  adopted  the  name  of  Lent), 
Jacob,  Hendrick.  Mary,  John,  Aleita,  Abraham,  born  1655;  and  Hendrick  Abra- 
ham (1)  died  in  1689,  leaving  his  farm  by  will  to  his  son  Abraham  (2). 

Abraham  Riker  (2),  son  of  Abraham  and  Grietie  (Harmensen)  Riker, was 
in  New  Amsterdam  in  1655.  He  inherited  the  paternal  estate  and  added  con- 
siderably to  it.  He  was  for  a  number  of  years  totally  blind,  but  suddenly  recov- 
ered his  sight  and  almost  immediately  expired  Aug.  20,  1746,  in  his  91st  year. 
His  remains  were  interred  in  the  family  cemetery  at  the  Poor  Bowery.  He 
married  Grietie,  daughter  of  Jan  Gerrits  Van  Buytenhuysen,  of  New  York. 
They  had  issue:  Catharine,  Margaret,  Mary,  Abraham  (3),  John,  Hendrick, 
Andrew  and  Jacob. 

Andrew  Riker,  seventh  child  of  Abraham  (2)  and  Grietie  (Van  Buytenhuy- 
sen) Riker,  was  born  in  1700  in  New  Amsterdam.  He  inherited  the  homestead 
at  the  Bowery  Bay.  He  married  Nov.  13,  1733,  Jane,  widow  of  Capt.  Dennis 
Lawrence,  and  daughter  of  John  Berrien.  He  died  Feb.  12,  1763,  in  his  64th 
year.    He  had  issue:    Margaret,  John  Berrien.  Abraham.  Samuel  and  Ruth. 

Samuel  Riker,  soldier  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Andrew  and  Jane 
(Lawrence,  nee  Berrien)  Riker.  was  born  in  1743.  After  serving  a  clerkship  in 
the  mercantile  business  he   returned  to  the  family  estate,   which  he  ultimately 


SONS      OK      TIIK      REVOLUTION.  1Q 

purchased.  He  was  among  the  first  to  take  part  against  the  usurpation  of  the 
crown.  In  1774  he  was  chosen  as  one  of  the  Newtown  committee  of  correspond- 
ence, in  which  capacity  he  was  actively  engaged  when  the  British  army  invaded 
Long  Island.  He  was  First  Lieutenant  in  Captain  Daniel  Lawrence's  Troop  of 
Light  Horse,  Queen's  County,  New  York  Militia,  May  10,  1776,  which  rendered 
important  service  in  guarding  the  outposts  of  the  American  army  preceding  the 
battle  of  Long  Island.  He  escaped  with  others  after  the  battle,  and  on  return- 
ing, with  the  intention  of  rejoining  the  army,  was  captured  and  for  some  time 
held  as  prisoner.  After  the  war  he  was  much  engaged  in  public  life,  and  for 
several  years  held  the  position  as  Supervisor.  He  was  a  member  of  the  State 
Assembly  in  1784,  and  represented  his  district  in  Congress  in  1808-9,  having 
filled  the  same  position  on  a  previous  occasion.  He  possessed  a  well-informed 
and  vigorous  mind,  and  a  remarkably  retentive  memory.  He  was  a  man  of 
liberal  disposition,  and  was  noted  for  his  kindness  to  the  poor.  He  died  May 
19,  1823,  aged  80.  He  married  Jan.  17,  1769,  Anna,  born  Nov.  27,  1749,  daugh- 
ter of  Joseph  Lawrence,  whose  wife  was  Miss  Moore,  and  aunt  of  Bishop 
Moore  of  New  York.  Joseph  was  the  son  of  John  Lawrence,  born  March  21, 
1723,  son  of  John  Lawrence,  for  many  years  Magistrate  of  Newtown,  son  of 
Capt.  John  Lawrence,  who  was  Captain  of  the  Newtown  troop  of  horse  in  Gov. 
Leisler's  time,  and  High  Sheriff  of  the  County  in  1698.  He  was  the  son  of 
Major  John  Lawrence,  who  was  appointed  Alderman  of  New  York  when  the 
English  government  was  first  established  in  that  city  in  1665.  He  was  after- 
wards Mayor,  and  for  a  long  term  of  years  a  member  of  the  Council.  In  1692 
he  was  appointed  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  which  office  he  held  till  his  death 
in  1699.  He  was  one  of  the  six  persons  to  whom  the  patent  of  Hempstead  was 
granted  in  1644.  He  and  his  two  brothers  emigrated  to  this  country  from  Great 
St.  Albans,  in  Hertfordshire,  during  the  political  troubles  that  led  to  the  de- 
thronement and  death  of  Charles  I.  These  brothers  were  said  to  be  direct 
descendants  of  Sir  Robert  Lawrens,  of  Ashton  Hall,  Lancastershire,  Eng.,  who 
accompanied  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion  in  his  famous  expedition  to  Palestine,  and 
who  signalized  himself  in  the  memorable  siege  of  St.  Jean  d'Acre,  in  1191,  being 
the  first  to  plant  the  banner  of  the  cross  on  the  battlements  of  that  town,  for 
which  he  received  the  honors  of  knighthood  from  King  Richard. 

The  children  of  Samuel  and  Anna  (Lawrence)  Riker  were  Joseph  Law- 
rence, Andrew,  Richard,  Abraham,  Patience,  John  Lawrence,  Samuel,  Jane 
Margaret,  Ann  Elvira  and  John  L. 

John  Lawrence  Riker,  youngest  child  of  Samuel  and  Anna  (Lawrence) 
Riker,  was  born  April  9,  1787.  He  was  educated  at  Erasmus  Hall,  in  Flatbush, 
and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  entered  the  office  of  his  brother  Richard,  with  whom 
he  studied  law  five  years,  and  then  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  New 
York,  where  he  resided  until  1825,  when  he  purchased  the  homestead  at  Bow- 
ery Bay,  and  continued  his  residence  there  until  his  death  in  1861.  He  was 
commissioned  Captain  of  the  97th  Regiment  of  Infantry,  Aug.  11,  1812,  and  took 
part  in  the  War  of  1812-15.  He  married  1st  Maria,  2d  Lavina,  daughters  of 
Silvanus  Smith,  Esq.,  of  North  Hempstead,  L.  I.,  a  descendant  of  James  Smith, 


20  SONS      OF      THE     REVOLUTION. 

one  of  the  original  patentees  of  Hempstead.  By  his  first  wife  he  had  Henry 
Laurens,  a  lawyer  of  prominence  in  New  York,  died  in  1861;  Silvanus  S.,  died 
in  1897;  Mary  Anna,  died  in  1865;  Lavina.  His  children  by  his  second  wife 
were  John  Lawrence,  Samuel,  Richard,  Daniel  S.,  Jane,  William  James,  and 
Julia  Lawrence. 

JOHN  LAWRENCE  RIKER,  member  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution, 
son  of  John  Lawrence  and  Lavinia  (Smith)  Riker,  was  born  at  Bowery  Bay. 
L.  I.,  Nov.  23,  1830.  Pursuing  studies  especially  fitting  to  commercial  life,  he, 
at  the  age  of  seventeen,  entered  the  counting  rooms  of  Lawrence  &  Hicks,  Com- 
mission Merchants  in  drugs,  dyes,  chemicals,  etc.  As  this  firm  was  dissolved 
shortly  after,  he  accepted  a  proposition  from  Benj.  H.  Field,  then  the  first  house 
in  the  city,  in  this  line  of  business.  Inheriting  the  integrity  of  his  ancestors, 
faithfulness  to  trust  and  duty,  combined  with  activity,  industry  and  caution,  he 
won  he  complete  confidence  and  esteem  of  his  employer,  and  rapid  promotion 
to  the  charge  of  the  business.  He  was  admitted  to  partnership  in  1854,  which 
continued  until  i860,  when  he  withdrew  to  establish  with  his  brother,  D.  S. 
Riker — a  man  of  unusual  probity,  integrity  and  judgment — the  commission  firm 
of  J.  L.  &  D.  S.  Riker,  who,  adopting  the  "  golden  rule  "  as  their  business 
motto,  soon  won  the  confidence  and  patronage  of  the  prominent  firms  of  many 
Nations,  and  the  establishment  of  a  great  and  prosperous  business,  which  still 
continues,  passing  unscathed  through  the  various  panics  and  changes  of  nearly 
four  decades,  enjoying  the  fullest  confidence  and  friendship  of  its  numerous 
constituency.  Although  Mr.  Riker  remains  the  senior  partner,  he  has  relin- 
quished to  his  son,  John  J.,  the  active  management  of  the  house,  devoting 
most  of  his  time  in  the  care  and  attention  to  personal  interests  in  numerous  cor- 
porations and  institutions  with  which  he  is  identified.  His  uprightness  and  in- 
dependence, through  knowledge  of  finance  and  affairs,  sound  judgement  and 
close  attention  to  duties,  have  caused  him  to  be  sought  after  as  dirctor  and  trus- 
tee in  various  corporations.  He  is  Vice  President  of  several  banks,  of  the  Atlan- 
tic Trust  Company,  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  several  manufacturing  com- 
panies, and  director  in  a  score  of  others.  While  a  trustee  of  the  Holland  So- 
ciety, a  member  of  the  St.  Nicholas  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  Society  of 
Colonial  wars,  and  also  a  member  of  the  Metropolitan,  Union  League,  St. 
Nicholas  and  other  social  clubs, — the  New  York  Sewanaka,  and  other  Yacht 
Clubs,  in  all  of  which  he  is  much  interested,  he  is  unable  to  take  any  active  part, 
owing  to  the  pressure  of  business  affairs.  In  religion  Air.  Riker  is  a  broad 
Episcopalian,  and  has  served  as  vestryman  of  the  Church  of  the  Incarnation 
for  some  twenty-five  years,  and  is  now  Junior  Warden. 

Mr.  Riker  married  Mary,  daughter  of  John  C.  Jackson,  a  descendant  of  an 
old  and  well-known  English  family.  They  have  issue:  John  Jackson,  Henry 
Laurens,  Margaret  Moore,  married  J.  Armory  Haskell;  Lavina,  married  James 
R.  Strong;  Samuel,  Jr.,  Sylvanus,  twin  brother  of  Samuel,  died  in  infancy; 
Martha  J.  married  J.  H.  Proctor;    Charles  L.  and  Mary  J. 

JOPIN  JACKSON  RIKER,  of  the  Board  of  Managers,  Society  of  the 
Sons  of  the  Revolution,   1889-90,  has  been  active  in  the  affairs  of  the  Society 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION.  21 

for  many  years.  He  is  the  oldest  son  of  John  Lawrence  and  Mary  (Jackson) 
Riker,  great-grandson  of  Lieutenant  Samuel  Riker,  of  the  Revolution;  born  at 
Newtown  6th  April,  1858.  At  the  age  of  seventeen,  after  completing  his  educa- 
tion, he  entered  his  father's  employ  as  clerk,  advancing  steadily  as  circumstances 
and  qualifications  would  permit  until  he  became,  in  1888,  a  member  of  the  firm 
fully  capable  of  filling  his  father's  place  when  required.  He  has  an  honorable 
record  as  a  member  of  the  National  Guard,  State  of  New  York.  Beginning  on 
May  26,  1878,  as  private  in  the  Seventh  Regiment,  he  was  appointed  in  August. 
1879.  aid-de-camp,  with  rank  of  Lieutenant,  on  the  start  of  General  Wm.  G. 
Ward,  commanding  First  Brigade.  On  April  1,  1880,  he  was  made  senior  aid 
with  rank  of  Captain,  and  May  19,  1880,  was  appointed  Brigade  Inspector  of 
Rifle  practice,  with  rank  of  Major;  and  on  Oct.  27,  1882,  Brigade  Inspector, 
same  rank.  He  resigned  Oct.  25,  1883,  after  five  and  a  half  years'  faithful  serv- 
ice, having  at  all  times  enjoyed  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  his  superiors,  and 
the  love  and  respect  of  his  subordinates.  He  was  elected  Major  of  the  Twelfth 
Regiment  June  9,  1884.  resigning  June  14,  1889,  having  contributed  in  no  small 
degree  to  the  efficiency  for  which  his  regiment  was  noted.  During  the  Washing- 
ton Centennial,  April  2$,  1889,  Mr.  Riker  represented  the  Sons  of  the  Revolu- 
tion as  one  of  the  Marshals.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati, 
of  New  Jersey,  through  collateral  descent  from  John  Berrien  Riker  of  the  New 
Jersey  line.  He  is  a  member  of  and  former  Secretary  of  the  St.  Nicholas  Club, 
also  a  member  rof  the  Society  of  Colonial  Wrars.  He  was  a  school  trustee  of  the 
21st  Ward  for  some  years.  He  married  Edith,  daughter  of  Samuel  Blackwell 
Bartow,  of  New  York  City,  a  grandson  of  Col.  Jacob  Blackwell  of  the  Revo- 
lution. 

Henrv  Laurens  Rikek.  member  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  second 
child  of  John  Lawrence  and  Mary  (Jackson)  Riker.  was  born  at  Newtown. 
L.  I.,  June  20,  i860;  was  graduated  at  Columbia  College  at  the  age  of  eighteen, 
one  of  the  youngest  students  ever  graduated  from  this  institution.  He  has  been 
associated  with  his  father  and  brother  in  business  for  some  years. 

SAMUEL  RIKER,  JR..  Society  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  fifth  child  of  John 
Lawrence  and  Mary  (Jackson)  Riker,  was  born  at  Paris,  France.  May  17,  1868. 
He,  no  doubt,  inherited  his  fondness  for  the  profession  of  law  from  his  immedi- 
ate ancestors,  who  were  among  the  most  distinguished  lawyers  <>f  the  New  York 
Bar. 

He  was  graduated  from  Columbia  Law  School  in  1888,  and  began  the  study 
of  law  in  the  office  of  his  uncle  Samuel,  who  for  many  years  has  stood  at  the 
head  of  his  profession  in  the  special  line  which  he  chose,  viz..  that  branch  per- 
taining to  real  property,  the  investigation  o  titles  to  lands,  and  the  drawing  of 
wills,  marriage  settlements  and  trust  deeds.  Samuel  Riker,  Jr..  has  already 
achieved  a  reputation  in  this  line,  and  has  become  the  successor  of  his 
uncle. 

The  firm  of  De  Grove  &  Riker,  of  which  Mr.  Riker  is  the  junior  member, 
has  a  number  of  well-known  families  as  clients,  also  numerous  corporations, 
among  others  being  the  Sailors'  Snug  Harbor.     He  recently  married  Frances 


22  SONS      OF      THE     REVOLUTION. 

M.,  daughter  of  Frederic  R.  Townsend,  of  this  City.    They  have  one  daughter, 
Frances  J. 

DOM1NICK— DELAVAN. 

The  family  of  Dominick  or  Domenique,  as  it  was  originally  spelt,  belonged 
to  that  class  of  French  fugitives  who  fled  to  Holland  for  safety  after  the  revoca- 
tion of  the  Edict  of  Nantes. 

GEORGE  DOMENIQUE,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was  born  on  He  du 
Re,  France,  March  8,  1730,  died  in  New  York,  1826,  aged  96.  He,  with  others. 
fled  to  Holland,  and,  about  1742,  came  to  America  accompanied  by  his  brothers, 
Francois  and  Jean,  and  Francois  Blanchard  and  settled  in  New  York.  George 
early  espoused  the  cause  of  the  patriots,  and  took  a  determined  stand  in  favor 
of  the  independence  of  the  colonies.  He  fled  to  this  country  that  he  might  be 
able  to  enjoy  liberty  of  conscience,  and  gladly  availed  himself  of  the  opportunity 
to  fight  for  civil  liberty.  In  November  1775  an  attempt  was  made  to  raise  three 
regiments  of  militia  in  New  York  City;  the  second  one  of  these  was  commanded 
by  John  Jay,  who  was  commissioned  colonel  for  this  purpose.  George  Dom- 
inick, then  in  the  prime  of  life,  was  commissioned  captain.  While  the  facts  re- 
garding his  services  are  not  recorded,  it  is  highly  probable  that  he  took  part  in 
the  stirring  events  of  the  year  following  which  ended  in  the  evacuation  of  New 
York  after  the  hard  fought  battles  of  Long  Island  and  later  Harlem  Heights. 
Mr.  Dominick  became  a  prominant  merchant  in  the  city,  he  and  his  brother 
succeeding  to  the  firm  of  Francois  Blanchard  &  Sons,  who  had  extensive  lumber 
yards  on  Cherry  Street.  He  was  a  vestryman  of  Trinity  Church  and  a  faithful 
and  consistent  member,  and  a  regular  attendant  at  divine  service.  He  married 
Aug.  3,  1761,  Elizabeth  Blanchard  (died  1827  aged  94)  daughter  of  Francois 
Blanchard,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  French  Huguenot  Church  in  New  York. 
They  had  issue  lames  William, 

J*\mes  William  Dominick,  son  of  George  and  Elizabeth  (Blanchard)  Dom- 
inick was  born  in  New  York  City  Sep.  4,  1775,  died  there  May  17,  1852.  He  be- 
came a  leading  merchant  of  the  city,  an  upright  Christian  gentleman,  deeply  in- 
terested in  benevolent  and  charitable  work,  and  held  many  positions  of  trust  and 
usefulness.  He  was  a  director  of  the  Tradesman  Bank;  a  founder  of  the  Eastern 
Dispensary,  and  its  president  in  1837;  he  was  a  member  for  twelve  years  of  the 
executive  committee  of  the  American  Bible  Society;  a  trustee  of  the  American 
Tract  Society:  Senior  Warden  of  St.  Stephens  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  and 
a  vestryman  of  St.  George's  P.  E.  Church  in  Beekman  Street.  He  married 
1st,  Dec.  24,  1798,  Phoebe,  daughter  of  Major  James  Cock  and  Hannah  Howe. 

He  married  2d  Margaret  Eliza  Delavan,  daughter  of  Capt.  Daniel  Delavan. 

CAPT.  DANIEL  DELAVAN,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was  the  eighth 
child  of  Timothy  Delavan,  one  of  the  numerous  Huguenot  refugees  who  fled 
from  France  after  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  and  sought  an  asylum 
in  this  country  and  settled  in  North  Salem,  Westchester  County.  N.  Y.  He 
had  a  son  Timothy  who  was  the  father  of  ten  sons  viz.  Timothy,  Abraham, 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 


23 


Matthew,  John,  Nathaniel,  Samuel,  Nathan,  Daniel,  Stephen  and  Cornelius. 

The  records  of  the  Comptrollers  office  at  Albany  show  the  names  of  nine  of 
these  sons  who  served  the  country  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution  The  tenth 
brother,  who  was  too  young  for  active  service,  was  equally  patriotic,  and  it  is  re- 
lated of  him  that  he  paraded  with  his  brothers  on  occasions  of  celebration,  and 
joined  Wayne's  expedition  against  the  Indians  in  Ohio,  1790-2,  participating 
in  several  engagements. 

Furnow,  page  538,  states  that  Capt.  Daniel  Delavan  was  in  Colonel  Albert 
Pawling's  Levies  in  1775,  Ensign  in  1776,  Lieut,  in  Col  Graham's  regiment, 
1778-9,  and  Captain  in  Colonel  Malcolm's  regiment,  July,  1780,  and  attached  to 
the  second  New  York  regiment  of  Westchester  County  until  the  close  of  the 


war.  During  the  evacuation  of  New  York  by  the  British,  Nov.  25.  1783,  Capt. 
Delavan,  at  the  head  of  his  company,  the  Westchester  Light  Horse,  escorted 
the  civic  procession  to  meet  General  Washington,  Governor  Clinton,  and  Gen- 
eral Knox,  at  the  Bulls  Head  Tavern,  which  then  took  up  the  line  of  march 
ending  at  Fraunce's  Tavern,  corner  of  Broad  and  Pearl  streets,  where  General 
Washington  had  provided  a  generous  entertainment.  Capt.  Delavan's  portrait 
in  continental  uniform,  painted  by  Trumbull,  is  in  possession  of  the  New  York 
Historical  Society. 

By  his  marriage  with  Margaret  Eliza  Delavan,  James  W.  Dominick  had 
issue:  Robert  Johnston,  Mary  Byron,  Margaretta,  Margaret  Eliza,  and  Mar- 
inns  Willet. 

MARINUS  WILLET  DOMINICK.  Society  Sons  of  the  Revolution. 
second  son  of  James  William  and  Margaret  Eliza  (Delavan)  Dominick,  was 
born  in  New  York  City,  April  25,  1842.  He  enjoyed  the  very  best  opportunities 
for  acquiring  an  education.  He  attended  school  in  New  York,  White  Plains, 
Rye,  Bedford,  and  Brooklyn.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  entered  the  Park  Bank, 
where  he  remained  for  twenty  one  years,  and  filled  similar  positions  in  banking 


24  SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

houses.  He  joined  the  present  firm  of  Dominick  &  Deckerman  in  1883  of  which 
he  was  for  many  years  managing  clerk,  and  in  1897  became  a  partner  in  the 
house,  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  No.  &  So.  R.  R.  Co. 

He  seems  to  have  inherited  the  military  ardor  from  both  his  paternal  and 
maternal  grandfathers.  He  joined  Company  I  Seventh  Regiment  N.  G.  S.  N.  Y. 
in  1865,  and  was  in  active  service  for  nine  years,  during  which  period  the  reg- 
iment passed  through  some  trying  scenes,  notably  the  Orange  Riots  in  which 
the  Seventh  was  the  most  active  participant,  displaying  the  splendid  fighting 
qualities  and  thorough  discipline  for  which  it  had  long  been  noted.  Mr.Domin- 
ick  married  Mary  Augusta  Baldwin,  daughter  of  Edward  A.  Baldwin  of  New- 
ark, son  of  Jedediah  Johnson,  son  of  Moses,  son  of  Jonas,  son  of  John(2),  son 
of  John  (1),  son  of  Nathaniel,  the  ancestor. 

Nathaniel  Baldwin  probably  came  to  America  in  1638  or  1639  with  his  two 
brothers.  He  was  a  cooper  and  moved  to  Fairfield,  Conn.,  1641.  He  married 
Abagail  Camp,  who  joined  the  church  at  Milford,  Conn.,  June  9th,  1644,  and 
died  there  March  22,  1648.  Nathaniel  was  without  doubt  the  second  son  of 
Richard,  of  Parish  Cholesbury,  Buckinghamshire.  England.  Richard  was  the 
son,  or  grandson,  probably,  of  Richard  Baldwin  of  Denrigge  in  the  Parish  of 
Ashton  Clinton,  County  of  Bucks,  England,  yeoman,  who  made  his  will  16th 
January,  6th  year  of  Edward  VI.,  that  is,  1552  to  1553.  His  name  was  spelled 
Bauldwyn. 

Nathaniel's  eldest  child  was  John,  baptized  in  Milford,  1644.  He  received 
by  will  a  double  portion  of  his  father's  estate,  and  moved  to  Newark,  New  Jer- 
sey.    He  married  Hannah,  daughter  of  Richard  Osborne. 

John  Baldwin,  his  son,  born  1675,  lived  in  Newark.  He  married  Lydia 
Harrison.     He  died  in  1732.     His  son  was  John   (2). 

John  Baldwin  (2)  ,  born  -1675,  married  Lydia  Harrison  and  had  a  son, 

Jonas  Baldwin,  born  in  1725,  married  November  26th,  1749.  Elizabeth 
Thompson,  died  in  1800.     They  had  a  son  Moses. 

MOSES  BALDWIN,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Jonas  and  Eliza- 
beth (Thompson)  Baldwin,  was  born  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  Feb.  21,  1757.  His  name 
is  mentioned  in  the  Records  of  Essex  County  as  having  served  in  the  militia 
during  the  Revolution.  He  married  Sarah  Johnson.  March  23,  1785,  and  had  a 
son,  Jedediah. 

Jedediah  Johnson  Baldwin,  born  Nevember  9th,  1787,  married  Abby  John- 
son, daughter  of  John  Johnson,  miller,  who  at  the  time  of  the  Revolutionary 
War  had  to  stay  at  home  to  grind  for  the  families  of  American  soldiers.  At 
one  time  the  British  soldiers  visited  their  old  home  (the  old  stone  house  on  the 
Elizabeth  Road,  nearly  opposite  the  Poor  House),  inquired  of  the  miller's  wife 
for  the  "damned  Rebel.'.'  who  was  hidden  behind  the  chimney  in  the  mill,  and, 
not  finding  him,  proceeded  to  carry  out  all  the  large  cheeses.  The  officer  who 
had  the  soldiers  in  charge  apologized  for  their  rudeness  to  Mrs.  Johnson,  who 
was  sitting  with  an  infant  in  her  arms  and  another  child  at  her  side,  while  on 
the  chair  beneath  her  were  her  silver  spoons.  He  asked  her  if  she  would  give 
them  one  of  the  cheeses  if  they  would  bring  the  others  back.     Of  course  she 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION.  25 

gladly  assented,  and  after  doing  what  they  could  to  straighten  matters,  they 
passed  on.     Jedediah  Johnson  Baldwin  had  a  son  Edward  Augustus. 

Edward  Augustus  Baldwin  son  of  Jedediah  Johnson  Baldwin,  was  born 
March  26,  1817.     He  married  Mary  A.  Beach,  granddaughter  of  Elias  Beach. 

Elias  Beach  was  a  hatter  by  trade,  and  lived  in  Market  Street,  (Newark) 
opposite  the  old  market,  west  of  Broad,  at  the  time  of  the  revolution.  He  was 
taken  wih  others  during  a  foray  of  the  British  in  the  winter  in  the  night  and 
obliged  to  walk  barefooted  on  the  ice  to  New  York,  where  he  was  kept  a  pris- 
oner for  some  little  time.  He  returned  to  Newark  and  lived  ten  or  twelve  years 
after  peace  was  proclaimed,  and  was  buried  in  the  old  burying  ground  opposite 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church  on  Broad  Street.  He  was  not  a  soldier,  though 
a  patriot.  His  wife  was  very  highly  esteemed  and  was  a  member  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution. 

Edward  Augustus  Baldwin,  by  his  wife  Mary  A.  (Beach)  Baldwin,  had 
Mary  Augusta,  who  married  Marinus  W'illet  Dominick,  and  Edward  Johnson, 
at  present  assistant  cashier  of  the  National  Bank  of  New  York. 

CLINTON.    HAMILTON,    AND    ALLIED    FAMILIES 

No  two  families  are  more  closely  identified  with  the  history  of  the  Em- 
pire State  than  those  of  Clinton  and  Hamilton,  and  that  of  the  latter  is  traced 
back  in  an  unbroken  line  through  nine  centuries,  embracing  among  the  no- 
bility of  England,   the   Earls  of  Warwick  and  Leicester. 

William  Clinton,  an  early  ancestor  of  the  American  family  of  this 
name,  was  a  grandson  of  Henry,  second  Earl  of  Lincoln;  he  was  an  adherent 
to  the  cause  of  royalty  in  the  civil  wars  of  England,  and  an  officer  in  the  army 
of  Charles  I.  He  was  born  about  1620-25.  After  the  death  of  Charles  I.,  William 
Clinton,  for  political  reasons,  went  to  the  Continent,  where  he  remained  a  long 
time  in  exile  in  France  and  Spain. 

Some  years  later  he  passed  over  to  Scotland,  it  is  supposed,  to  aid  in  the 
restoration  of  Charles  II.  where  he  married  a  Miss  Kennedy  connected  with  the 
Scotch  peerage  family  of  Cassilis.  After  the  defeat  of  the  royalists  in  the  bat- 
tle of  Worcester,  he  fled  to  the  north  of  Ireland,  where  he  died,  leaving  a  son 
James,  then  about  two  years  old. 

James  Clinton,  son  of  William  and     -  (Kennedy)      Clinton,     was 

born  in  Ireland,  and  died  at  Longford,  Ireland,  Jan.  24,  1728.  He  was  an  officer 
in  the  Inniskillin  troop  of  horse;  was  in  all  the  wars  of  Ireland,  under  King  Wil- 
liam; he  was  badly  wounded  but  recovered,  and  on  coming  of  age,  he  went  to 
England  to  try  and  recover  the  patrimonial  estates,  but  the  time  limited  by  act 
of  Parliament  (1642)  had  expired,  and  he  was  unsuccessful.  He  married  Eliza- 
beth, daughter  of  Capt.  William  Smith,  about  1678,  and  soon  after  returned  t<> 
Ireland,  and  settled  in  County  Langford.  where,  for  his  military  services,  Queen 
Anne  granted  him  a  valuable  estate.  They  had  four  children,  viz.  Mary.  Chris- 
tian. Charles  and  Oliver. 

Charles  Clinton,  son  of  James  and     Elizabeth     (Smith)       Clinton,      was 


26 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 


born  at  Longford,  Ireland,  Sep.  1690,  died  at  Little  Britain,  Orange  County, 
N.  Y.,  Nov.  19,  1773.  At  the  Revolution  and  on  the  accession  of  the  house  of 
Hanover,  Ireland  was  treated  as  a  vanquished  country,  and  Charles  resolved  to 
emigrate  to  America  with  a  number  of  his  friends  and  neighbors.  For  this 
purpose  he  chartered  a  vessel  entirely  at  his  own  expense.  They  em- 
barked from  Dublin  May  20,  1729,  for  Philadelphia.  The  captain  formed  a  plan 
to  starve  the  passengers,  either  with  a  view  of  obtaining  their  property,  or  to 
deter  emigration.  After  the  death  of  many,  among  whom  was  a  son  and  daugh- 
ter of  Mr.  Clinton,  they  finally  landed  at  Cape  Cod,  Oct.  4,  Mr.  Clinton  having 
assumed  command  of  the  ship  after  deposing  the  captain.  They  remained  until 
another  settlement  was  formed  in  the  town  of  New  Windsor,  N.  Y.,  and  re- 
moved there  in  the  spring  of  1731,  and  formed  the  nucleus  of  that  industrious 


CLINTON    HOMESTEAD. 


body  of  Presbyterians  in  and  about  Little  Britain.  It  was  a  frontier  post  at 
this  time,  and  Clinton's  house  was  fortified  as  a  security  for  himself  and  neigh- 
bors. Being  a  man  of  capacity,  he  was  appointed  Judge  of  the  Common  Pleas, 
then  in  Ulster.  He  married  in  Ireland,  1722,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Alexander 
Denniston,  of  Longford.  They  bad  seven  children,  three  born  in  Ireland,  and 
four  born  in  America.  Catharine,  the  third  child,  married  Col.  James  Mc- 
Cloughry  of  the  Revolutionary  army.  The  four  children  born  in  America  were 
Alexander,  James  (2),  Charles  ( 1)  and  George. 

MAJOR  GENERAL  JAMES  CLINTON,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution 
son  of  Charles  and  Elizabeth  (Denniston)  Clinton,  was  born  Aug.  9.  1736;  died 
at  Little  Britain,  Orange  County.  N.  V.    Dec.  22,  1812.     He  had  a  thorough  edu 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 


27 


cation,  but  early  imbibed  a  fondness  for  military  life.  He  was  appointed  Ensign 
of  the  2d  Regiment  of  Ulster  County  Militia,  and  became  the  Lieutenant  Colonel 
previous  to  the  Revolutionary  War.  During  the  French  and  English  War  he 
served  as  Captain  in  the  regiment  of  which  his  father  was  Colonel,  and  which 
was  called  into  service  in  1758  for  the  reduction  of  Fort  Frontenac.  He  served 
under  Col.  John  Bradstreet,  who  commanded  the  English  forces  on  that  occa- 


sion. Captain  Clinton  particularly  distinguished  himself  by  capturing  a  French 
sloop-of-war  on  Lake  Ontario.  In  recognition  of  his  services  he  was  appointed 
Captain-commandant  of  four  regiments  levied  for  the  protection  of  the  western 
frontiers  of  Ulster  and  Orange  Counties.  He  was  appointed  Colonel  of  the 
Third  N.  Y.  Regiment  June  30,  1775,  and  was  subsequently  given  command  of 
two  regiments.  He  accompanied  Gen.  Montgomery  to  Quebec  the  same  year. 
On  June  14,  1776,  he  was  ordered  to  Fort  Montgomery  on  the  Hudson,  and 
directed  "to  use  every  possible  diligence  in  forwarding  the  works."  He  was 
made  Brigadier-General  August  9,  1776,  and  commanded  Fort  Clinton  when 
it    was    attacked    October,     1777,    by    Sir     Henry    Clinton.      After    a    gallant 


28  SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

defense  by  about  600  militia  against  3,000  Britisb  troops,  Fort  Clinton 
as  well  as  Fort  Montgomery,  of  which  his  brother,  Gen.  George  Clinton,  was 
commander-in-chief,  was  carried  by  storm.  Gen.  James  Clinton  was  the  last 
man  to  leave  the  works,  and  received  a  severe  bayonet  wound,  but  escaped  from 
the  enemy  by  riding  a  short  distance  and  then  sliding  down  a  precipice  one 
hundred  feet  to  the  creek,  where  he  made  his  way  to  the  mountain.  In  1779 
he  joined  with  1,600  men,  the  expedition  of  Gen.  Sullivan  against  the  Indians, 
proceeding  up  the  Mohawk  to  the  head  of  Otsego  Lake,  where  he  succeeded  in 
floating  a  bateaux  on  the  shallow  inlet  by  damming  up  the  lake  and  then  letting 
out  the  water  suddenly.  After  an  engagement  in  which  the  Indians  were  de- 
feated with  great  loss  at  Newton  (now  Elmira),  all  resistance  upon  their  part 
ceased;  their  settlements  were  destroyed,  and  they  fled  to  the  British  fortress 
of  Niagara.  Gen.  Clinton  commanded  at  Albany  during  a  great  part  of  the  war, 
first  with  the  rank  of  Brig.-General,  and  later  was  commissioned  Major-General. 
Dr.  Hosack  said  of  him  that  "  in  the  several  stations  that  he  filled  during  the 
war  he  distinguished  himself  as  a  brave  and  efficient  soldier,  performing  several 
acts  of  the  greatest  heroism,  and  displaying  the  most  perfect  self-possession  in 
the  midst  of  the  greatest  dangers."  He  was  present  at  the  siege  of  Yorktown 
and  at  the  evacuation  of  New  York  by  the  British.  After  the  war  he  was  com- 
missioned to  adjust  the  boundary  line  between  New  York  and  Pennsylvania; 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature  and  of  the  Convention  that  adopted  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

On  Feb.  18,  1765,  he  married  Mary,  only  daughter  of  Egbert  De  Witt,  of 
Napaneck.  Ulster  County,  and  Mary  (Nottingham)  De  Witt.  By  her  he  had 
i^sue:  Alexander,  Charles,  De  Witt,  George,  Mary,  Elizabeth  and  Catharine. 
Alexander  served  as  Lieutenant  in  Col.  Lamb's  regiment  of  artillery  during  the 
Revolutionary  War.  He  was  drowned  in  the  Hudson  River  in  his  22d  year. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati.  On  May  1,  1797,  Gen. 
Clinton  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Graham  Little,  and  widow  of  Alexander 
Gray.  She  was  born  in  the  County  of  Longford,  Ireland,  Aug.  22,  1768;  died 
at  Newburgh,  N.  Y..  June  23,  1835.  By  her  he  had  issue:  James  (died  young), 
Caroline  H.,  Emma  L.,  James  Graham,  Letitia.  Anna. 

Charles  Clinton,  second  son  of  Gen.  James  and  Mary  (De  Witt)  Clinton 
and  elder  brother  of  Governor  De  Witt  Clinton,  was  born  in  Little  Britain, 
N.  Y.,  Feb.  18,  1767;  died  in  New  York  City  April  20,  1829.  He  studied  law 
and  was  admitted  to  practice.  He  became  also  an  excellent  surveyor,  and  spent 
more  of  his  time  in  that  profession,  which  he  preferred,  than  at  the  bar.  He 
settled  at  Newburgh,  and  held  various  positions  of  trust  in  the  village  and 
town.  He  was  elected  to  the  Legislature  in  1802.  On  the  death  of  Alexander, 
his  eldest  brother,  he  became  the  successor  to  membership  in  the  Society  of  the 
Cincinnati.  In  1790  he  married  Elizabeth,  only  daughter  of  William  Mulliner, 
of  Little  Britain,  and  Mary  (Denniston),  his  wife.  She  was  born  April  27,  1770; 
died  August  15,  1865,  in  New  York  City,  and  was  buried  in  Greenwood  cem- 
etery, Brooklyn.  Her  mother  was  a  daughter  of  Alexander  Denniston,  whose 
sister  Elizabeth  married  the  first  Charles  Clinton,  the  American  ancestor.     The 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION.  2g 

name  Mulliner  was  originally  Norman— French,  and  probably  Molinieux.  They 
had  issue:  Maria  (married  Robert  Gourlay,  Jr.),  Alexander,  Ann  Eliza,  who 
married  James  Foster,  Jr. 

Alexander  Clinton,  M.D.,  only  son  and  second  child  of  Charles  and  Eliza 
beth  (Mulliner)  Clinton,  was  born  at  Little  Britain,  Orange  Co.,  N.  Y., April  7, 
1793.       He  served  as  Lieutenant  in  the  regular  army  111  the  War  of  1812.       He 
was  educated  at  Columbia  College,  where  he  was  a  classmate  of  Hon.  Hamil- 
ton Fish,  and  was  graduated  from  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  in 
1819.       He  practiced  for  some  years  in  his  native  county  and  returned  to  New 
York  in   1832,  where  he  continued  in  the  exercise  of  his  profession  until   ad- 
vanced age  obliged  him  to  abandon  it.     He  was  a  very  successful  practitioner, 
and  notwithstanding  the   great   danger  of  sensibility  and  diffidence   that  char- 
acterized him,  his  skill  and  talents  were  well  known,  and  were  justly  held  in 
high  esteem  by  his  brother  physicians,  some  of  the  most  noted  of  whom  were 
among  his  intimate  friends.       His  moral  and  religious  character  was  unusually 
pure  and  elevated.     He  was  just  and  upright,   compassionate  and  benevolent. 
giving  a  very  large  portion  of  his  time  and  services  to  the  poor.       Amiable, 
atiectionate    and    remarkably    unselfish,    his    relations    as    husband,    father    and 
friend   were   in   every   respect   irreproachable.       A   true   gentleman    of   the   old 
school,  he  was  unostentatious,  and  was  courteous  alike  to  inferior  and  equal. 
As  the  eldest  son  of  his  father,  he  inherited  the  membership  in  the  Society  of 
the  Cincinnati.       He  died  Feb.  16,  1878.       He  married  Adeline  Arden,  daughter 
of  Alexander  James  Hamilton,  son  of  James,  eldest  son  of  Alexander,  son  of 
Alexander,  son  of  Alexander,  son  of  Andrew  H.,  second  son  of  Sir  Alexander, 
son  of  Sir  Alexander,  son  of  Sir  Alexander,  son  of  Sir  James,  son  of  Sir  Alex- 
ander, son  of  Sir  Alexander,  son  of  Sir  Alexander,  son  of  James,  son  of  Hugh, 
son  of  Sir  Alexander,  son  of  Sir  Archibald,  son  of  Sir  Archibald,  son  of  John, 
who  was  the  son  of  Sir  Walter  de  Hamilton,  upon  whom  King  Robert  I  (the 
Bruce)  conferred  the  lands  and  castle  of  Cadyow  (now  Hamilton)   Lancashire, 
and  other  estates.       He  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Adam,  Lord  Gordon.       Sir 
Walter  de   Hamilton   was   the   common   ancestor   of   the   Dukes   de   Hamilton, 
Dukes  of  Abercom,  and  other  noble  families.       He  was  the  son  of  William  de 
Hamilton,  who  took  his  name  from  the  manor  of  Hambledon     in  Buckshire, 
where  he  was  born;  he  was  the  son  of  Robert  De  Blauchemans,  Earl  of  Leices- 
ter, A.  D.,  1 190;  son  of  Robert  de  Bellemont,  surnamed  Bossu,  son  of  Robert, 
Earl  of  Mellent,  created  by  Henry  I  Earl  of  Leicester;  he  commanded  the  right 
wing  of  the  infantry  at  the  battle  of  Hastings,  A.  D.  11 18.       He  married  Eliza- 
beth Isabella,  daughter  of  Hugh   Magnus,   Earl  of  Vermandois,  youngest  son 
of  King  Henry  I,  of  France:  he  was  the  son  of  Roger,  surnamed  De  Bellemont, 
created  Earl  of  Warwick  by  William  the  Conqueror,  A.  D.  1096;  he  was  the  son 
of  Humphrey,  surnamed  De  Vetulis,  son  of  Turolphe,   Lord  of  Pontaudemar, 
Normandy;  son  of  Turf  us  or  Turlofus,  who  gave  the  name  to  the  town  of  Tour- 
ville,  in  Normandy,  955,  son  of  Rollo  or  Rolfganger,  the  first  Duke  of  Nor- 
mandy. 

Archibald   Hamilton,  a  brother  of  Adeline  Arden   Hamilton   (wife   of  Dr. 


30  SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

Alexander  Clinton)  was  a  major  in  the  British  army  under  Gen.  Packenham  at 
the  battle  of  New  Orleans.  He  positively  refused  to  fight  against  his  country- 
men, and  would  no  doubt  have  been  courtmartialed  and  shot  had  the  British 
been  victorious. 

By  his  wife  Adeline  Arden  Hamilton,  Dr.  Alexander  Clinton  had  issue 
May  Elizabeth,  Adeline  Hamilton,  Alexander  James,  Ann  Eliza,  Charles  Wil- 
liam, Kate  Spencer   (died  young)    and  Dell'itt. 

ALEXANDER  JAMES  CLINTON,  Member  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revo- 
lution, third  child  and  eldest  son  of  Dr.  Alexander,  and  Adeline  Arden  (Hamil- 
ton) Clinton,  was  born  at  Canterbury  (now  Cornwall),  Orange  County,  N.  Y., 
Sep.  23.  1825.  He  was  educated  at  the  New  York  University,  and  gave  special 
attention  to  the  study  of  mathematics,  his  fondness  for  that  branch,  as  well  as 
that  of  surveying  and  civil  engineering,  which  he  took  up  immediately  after 
leaving  school,  being  an  hereditary  trait.  He  was  one  of  the  pioneers  in  the 
construction  of  the  Hudson  River  Railroad  (now  the  N.  Y.  Centra!  and  Hud- 
son River  R.  R.),  having  assisted  in  making  the  original  survey.  He  entered  the 
employ  of  the  Eagle  Insurance  Company  —  the  oldest  insurance  company  in 
the  State  of  New  York,  and  the  only  one  working  under  a  perpetual  charter, — 
in  185 1,  beginning  at  the  lowest  position,  and  advancing  through  the  several 
grades,  until  he  reached  that  of  Secretary  in  185S.  and  in  May,  1876,  the 
centennial  year  of  our  Independence,  he  became  its  President.  Under  his 
conservative  management  the  company  has  pursued  a  steady  onward  and  up- 
ward course,  promptly  meeting  all  its  losses,  and  is  to-day  one  of  the  strongest 
companies  in  the  country.  It  has  faithfully  followed  the  old  maxim,  "Never 
put  too  many  eggs  in  one  basket,"  and  has  thus  been  saved  from  heavy  losses. 

Like  his  illustrious  ancestors,  Mr.  Clinton  has  a  fondness  for  military 
affairs,  and  in  1855,  joined  Company  C  of  the  famous  Seventh  Regiment,  re- 
tiring after  eight  years  service,  but  still  keeping  up  his  connection  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Veteran  Corps.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Order  of  Bolivar  the 
Liberator,  an  order  conferred  many  years  ago  on  a  number  of  members  of  the 
Veteran  Corps  of  the  Seventh  Regiment  by  the  government  of  Venezuela. 
He  was  a  member  of  Merchants'  Lodge  No.  709,  F.  A.  M.,  but  demitted 
to  Bunting  Lodge  No.  655.  He  was  a  member  of  the  General  Committee 
at  the  Centennial  celebration  (1889)  of  Washington's  inauguration  as 
President  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Clinton  has  quite  a  reputation  as  an 
amateur  photographer,  and  some  of  his  views  in  the  Adirondacks  will  com- 
pare favorably  with  the  work  of  the  best  professionals,  and  indicate  the  true 
artist. 

As  the  oldest  son  Mr.  Clinton  succeeded  to  membership  in  the  Society  of 
the  Cincinnati,  and  was  for  fourteen  years  treasurer  of  the  New  York  State 
Society. 

Old  Father  Time  has  dealt  kindly  with  Mr  Clinton;  the  "snows  of  many 
winters"  have  not  whitened  his  locks,  nor  have  the  three  score  and  ten  years 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION.  31 

furrowed  his  cheeks.  He  is  well  preserved  for  a  man  of  his  age,  due  in  a  great 
measure  to  the  kindly  nature  which  he  inherits  from  his  ancestors. 

Mr.  Clinton  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  James  H.  Vose  and  Sophia 
Elizabeth  (Newby)  Vose,  and  sister  of  the  late  Colonel  Richard  Vose, 
71st  Regiment,  N.  G.  S.  N.  Y.  The  issue  of  this  marriage  is  Anna  Elizabeth, 
Sophie  Emily,  Kate  DeWitt  (died  young),  and  Charles  Alexander.  Mr.  Clin- 
ton's first  wife  deceased  January  2,  1875,  and  he  married  second  Annie  J.  Nestell, 
daughter  of  John  J.  Nestell  and  Jane  A.  (Schultz)  Nestell. 

Charles  Alexander  Clinton,  the  youngest  child  and  only  son  of  Mr.  Clinton 
is  a  successful  physician  in  New  York  City,  and  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Health. 

GREENWOOD  FAMILY. 

The  Greenwoods  have  filled  an  important  place  in  American  history  from 
the  colonial  period  to  the  Revolution,  and  thence  to  the  present  time.  This 
family,  which  came  from  Norwich,  England,  though  doubtless  descended  from 
the  same  stock  as  the  Greenwoods  of  Greenwood- Lee,  Yorkshire,  there  located 
since  1154,  was  probably  more  immediately  connected  with  a  branch  which 
had  settled  at  an  early  period  in  Kendal  Ward,  County  Westmoreland.  The 
first  of  the  family  name  admitted  to  the  freedom  of  Norwich,  was  Geoffrey 
Greenwood,  in  1429;  and  Richard  Greenwood,  the  herald  of  Henry,  Earl  of 
Richmond  while  in  Brittany,  became  Rouge  Croix  pursuivant  when  the  Earl 
ascended  the  English  throne  in  1485,  as  King  Henry  VII.;  he  was  also  "Baliff 
of  Richmond  Fee,  in  the  County  of  Noffolk,"  at  Swaffham. 

Nathaniel  Greenwood,  shipbuilder,  was  the  American  ancestor  of  the 
family.  His  father  and  grandfather,  both  named  Miles  Greenwood,  were  of 
Norwich,  England.  The  latter  traded  to  New  England  in  1637,  and  was,  by 
tradition,  a  Lieutenant  and  Chaplain  under  Cromwell.  Nathaniel  came  to 
America  about  1654,  and  settled  in  Boston;  died  July  31,  1684,  aged  53,  and  was 
buried  on  Copp's  Hill,  where  his  gravestone  still  stands.  He  married  Mary 
Allen,  daughter  of  Samuel  Allen,  and  had  Samuel  and  other  children. 

Samuel  Greenwood,  son  of  Nathaniel  and  Mary  (Allen)  Green- 
wood, was  born  in  Boston,  Mass.,  Sept.  24,  1662,  and  died  July  16,  1721.  He  was 
one  of  the  committee  appointed  March  11,  1711-12  to  select  the  ground  and 
oversee  the  building  of  a  schoolhouse  at  the  North  End.  He  held  other  pos- 
itions of  trust  in  the  town,  and  was  a  prominent  member  of  the  old  North 
Church.  He  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Robert  Bronsden,  and  had  several 
children,  among  whom  was  Isaac. 

Isaac  Greenwood,  son  of  Samuel  and  Elizabeth  (Bronsden)  Green- 
wood, was  baptised  in  the  old  North  Church.  May  17.  1702.  and  was  admitted 
a  member  Dec.  22,  1722.  He  was  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1721;  studied  for 
the  ministry,  visited  England  and  preached  in  London  with  some  approbation. 
On  his  return  he  was  chosen  to  fill  the  chair  of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Phi- 
losophy, founded  by  Thomas  Hollis  of  London,  thus  being  the  first  man  in  this 


32 


SONS      OK      THE      REVOLUTION. 


country  to  hold  such  a  professorship.  He  continued  in  office  for  over  ten 
years,  and  was  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  dividing  the  votes  with  Holyoke, 
who  was  subsequently  elected.  Mr.  Greenwood  afterwards  opened  a  private 
school  of  mathematics  in  Boston.  He  published  an  arithmetic  in  1729,  and  was 
the  author  of  other  works.  During  "King  George's  War,"  1 744 -6,  he  became 
Chaplain,  at  Boston,  of  the  Rose  frigate,  Capt.  Thomas  Frankland,  and  while 
serving  in  this  capacity,  died  of  fever  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  Oct.  12,  1745.  He 
married  Sarah,  daughter  of  Hon.  (Dr.)  John  Clarke.  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  and  grandson  of  Dr.  John  Clarke,  of  Colchester  (Essex)  and 
London,  who  married  Martha,  sister  of  Sir  Richard  Salstonstall,  and  became 
the  first  practitioner  of  Boston,  Mass.  Mrs.  Greenwood  was  named  for  her 
aunt,  the  wife  of  the  Rev.  Cotton  Mather.  Professor  Greenwood's  eldest  son 
was  Isaac  (2). 


ISAAC   GKKl'NWOOD. 


Isaac  Greenwood  (2),  son  of  Isaac  (1)  and  Sarah  (Clarke)  Green- 
wood, was  born  at  Cambridge.  Mass.,  March  9,  1730.  He  was  a  manufacturer 
of  mathematical  instruments.  His  apprentice,  Samuel  Maverick,  was  one  of 
those  who  were  killed  during  the  "Boston  Massacre,"  March  5,  1770.  Isaac 
Greenwood  married  Mary  Pans,  who  came  out  of  Boston  just  before  the  battle 
of  Bunker  Hill  in  search  of  her  young  son  John,  and  was  the  only  person  per- 
mitted to  reenter  the  townjuly  II,  1775,  after  Gen.  Washington  had  taken  com- 
mand of  the  American  forces.  Questioned  by  Gen.  Gage  as  to  the  condition  of 
the  "rebels"  she  boldly  answered  that  they  were  ready  for  him.  Her  sister 
Martha  was  wife  of  the  patriotic  Col.  Thomas  Walker,  of  Montreal,  whose 
sufferings  and  misfortunes  form  an  interesting  episode  in  Canadian  history  un- 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 


33 


der  English  rule.     The  issue  of  the  marriage  of  Isaac  Greenwood  to  Mary  1'ans 
was,  with  other  children,  a  son  John. 

CAPTAIN  (or  Dr.)  JOHN  GREENWOOD,  Patriot  ok  the  Revolution, 
son  of  Isaac  (2)  and  Mary  (Fans)  Greenwood,  was  born  May  17,  1760.  He  had 
been  a  fifer  in  Capt.  Martin  Gay's  company  of  the  Boston  Artillery,  and  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  Revolution  was  fifer  in  a  military  company  commanded  by  his 
uncle,  John  Greenwood,  at  Falmouth,  now  Portland,  Me.  On  the  "Lexington 
Alarm"  he  ran  away,  expecting  to  reach  his  home  in  Boston,  but,  unable  to 
cross  the  river  at  Charleston,  he  returned  to  Cambridge,  and  enlisted  May  17, 
1775,  as  fifer  in  Capt.  Theodore  T.  Bliss's  Company,  Col.  John  Paterson's  Mass. 
Regiment.  In  this  regiment,  afterward  the  15th  Regiment,  (Mass.)  Conti- 
nental Infantry,  he  served  as  Fife  Major  to  close  of  1776;  a  fifer  in  Capt.  John 
Hinkley's  Company,  Lieut-Col.  Symond's  Detachment  of  Guards  in  Boston, 
Feb.  13, — May,  1778;  Midshipman  on  privateer  "Cumberland,"  Capt.  John  Man- 


CAPTAIN  JOHN   GREENWOOD. 


ly,  Jan.,  1779;  captured  and  confined  some  months  a  prisoner  at  Barbadoes; 
Master-at-Arms  on  privateer  "Tartar,"  Capt.  David  Porter.  Nov.,  1779:  served  on 
letter-of-marque  "General  Lincoln,"  Capt.  John  Carnes,  captured  and  carried 
prisoner  to  New  York,  1780,  and  escaped;  served  as  an  officer  on  letter-of- 
marque  "Aurora,"  Capt.  David  Porter,  on  a  voyage  to  France,  Oct..  1780 — May, 
1781;  2d  mate  on  letter-of-marque  "Race  Horse,"  Capt  Nathaniel  Thayer,  and 
carried  a  prize  brig  to  Tobago,  1781;  owner  of  trading  schooner  on  the  Ches- 
peake,  captured  by  the  notorious  Whaland,  but  retook  his  vessel  and  brought 
her  and  her  prize  crew  to  Baltimore;   Mate  6— gun  schooner  "Resolution,"   of 


34  SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

Baltimore,  1782;  Captain  of  same  on  trip  to  St.  Eustatia;  captured  and  carried 
to  Kingston,  Jamaica,  and  remained  a  prisoner  to  the  close  of  the  war. 

After  this  he  made  several  trading  voyages  from  Boston  along  the  coast,  but 
soon  settled  at  his  father's  business  in  New  York,  where  he  subsequently  be- 
came interested  in  mechanical  dentistry,  and  is  believed  to  have  been  the  first 
native  practitioner.  The  employment  of  his  services  by  President  Washing- 
ton, in  1789,  led  speedily  to  his  enjoyment  of  a  large  and  fashionable  clientel. 
He  died  Nov.  16,  1819.  By  his  wife  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  William  Weaver, 
he  had  three  sons,  Isaac  John,  Clark  and  John  William,  and  one  daughter,  Jane 
\\\,  who  married  Thomas  W.  Langdon,  of  Boston  and  New  York. 

Isaac  John  Greenwood,  son  of  Captain  (or  Dr.)  John  and  Eliza- 
beth (Weaver)  Greenwood,  was  born  in  New  York  city,  July  17,  1795.  He 
was  brought  up  as  a  merchant  under  Benjamin  L.  Swan,  and  was  in  business 
in  New  York  and  Savannah,  Ga.  Succeeded  to  his  father  and  continued  in 
active  practice  until  1839,  having  received  the  degrees  of  M.  D.  and  D.  D.  S. 
He  was  a  scholarly  gentleman,  a  linguist,  and  a  deep  reader  in  several  languages, 
as  well  as  a  skilful  amateur  artist,  both  with  pencil  and  brush.  In  1856  he 
became  a  member  of  the  American  Geographical  Society.  In  early  life  he  had 
been  a  member  of  the  Independent  Battalion,  known  in  New  York  as  the 
"Governor's  Guard,"  Major  Daniel  E.  Dunscomb.  Vet.  Brigade,  N.  Y.  State 
Artillery,  and  for  services  in  the  last  war  with  Great  Britain  received  a  grant  of 
land  in  Iowa.  He  was  elected,  in  1820,  a  member  of  the  N.  Y.  State  Artillery 
Company.  He  died  in  NewYork  City  May  14,  1865,  having  lived  to  witness 
the  close  of  the  Civil  War.  which  established  on  a  firmer  basis  than  ever  the 
principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  for  which  his  father  and  compatriots 
fought  and  bled.  By  his  second  wife,  Mary,  daughter  of  John  McKay,  merchant, 
of  New  York,  he  had  sons     Isaac   John  and  Langdon. 

ISAAC  JOHN  GREENWOOD  (2) ,  Society  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  son 
of  Dr.  Isaac  John  and  Mary  (McKay)  Greenwood,  was  born  in  New  York 
City,  Nov.  15,  1833.  He  graduated  from  Columbia  College  in  1853.  A  man  of 
scientific  and  literary  tastes,  his  life  has  been  mainly  devoted  to  this  character 
of  work.  While  possessing  ample  means  to  enable  him  to  enjoy  life  and  indulge 
his  literary  tastes  he  has  by  no  means  been  idle.  He  has  been  for  many  years 
a  contributor  to  our  various  historical  magazines,  evincing  deep  research  and 
much  labor.  He  was  one  of  the  founders,  and  for  a  term  Vice  President  of  the 
American  Numismatic  and  Archadogical  Society,  and  has  a  large  and  rare 
collection  of  coins.  He  is  a  member  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society, 
England  Historic  Genealog.  Society  of  Boston  and  other  organizations.  His 
extensive  library  includes  many  rare  historical  and  other  works.  Mr.  Green- 
wood married  Mary  A.  Rudd,  a  descendant  of  an  old  English  family.  They 
have  i<<ue  Isaac  John,  Jr.,  Joseph  Rudd    Eliza  Rudd.  and  Mary  MacKaye. 


sons    of    the    revolution.  35 

DAYTON— TOMLINSON . 

RALPH  DAYTON  was  the  first  mentioned,  and  probably  the  only  ances- 
tor of  this  name  in  America.  He  was  probably  from  Bedfordshire,  Eng.,  as 
this  is  the  only  English  family  of  the  name  mentioned  by  Burke.  They  had 
Arms — "Or,  on  a  fesse  between  three  amulets  gules  as  many  standing  cups 
of  the  field."  Ralph  Dayton  was  for  a  time  a  resident  of  Boston,  but  removed 
to  New  Haven  in  1639,  and  was  one  of  the  original  settlers.  He  removed  thence 
to  Southhampton,  L.  I.,  and  later  became  one  of  the  founders  of  East  Hampton. 
The  records  show  that  "At  a  General  Court  holden  at  East  Hampton,  March 
7,  1650,  It  is  ordered  that  Ralph  Dayton  is  to  go  to  Keniticut  for  to  procure 
the  evidence  of  our  lands  and  for  an  acquittance  for  the  payment  of  our  lands 
and  for  a  boddie  of  laws."  The  descendants  of  Ralph  Dayton  settled  mostly 
in  New  York  and  New  Jersey. 

BREWSTER  DAYTON,  Soldier  of  the  Revolution,  was 
a  grandson  or  great  grandson  of  Ralph.  The  Stratford  records  state 
that  he  came  from  Long  Island  and  settled  in  Stratford.  He  was  a  private  in 
Capt.  John  Yeates'  Company,  Col.  Roger  Enos'  Regiment  Connecticut  Militia, 
May  28th,  to  Aug.  27,  1778,  served  on  the  Hudson,  also  served  in  the  Stratford 
Coast  Guard,  Connecticut  Militia,  1778.  He  married  1st  Ruth  Judson,  Aug. 
1777;  died  June  15,  1788.  He  married  Betsey  Willoughby,  daughter  of  John 
Willoughby  of  Stratford.  "The  Willoughbys  now  in  the  United  States"  says 
Hon.  James  Savage,  "I  have  reason  to  believe  are  the  heirs  of  the  dormant 
Barony  of  Willoughby  of  Parham."  Capt.  Francis  Willoughby,  the  American 
ancestor,  was  a  prominent  merchant,  was  Deputy  Governor  of  Massachusetts 
in  1650,  and  was  almost  constantly  engaged  in  public  service.  His  son  Jonathan 
preached  both  in  Wethersfield  and  Haddam,  Conn.  The  youngest  son  of 
Brewster  Dayton  and  Betsey  Willoughby  was  Charles  Willoughby. 

CHARLES  WILLOUGHBY  DAYTON,  youngest  child  of  Brewster 
and  Betsey  (Willoughby)  Dayton,  was  born  in  Stratford  in  1795.  He  came 
to  New  York  early  in  life,  and  obtained  employment  in  a  large  woolen  house. 
He  afterwards  established  business  on  his  own  account  and  became  one  of  the 
most  successful  woolen  merchants  of  that  period.  He  resided  on  Washing- 
ton Square.  He  married  Jane  Child,  daughter  of  Francis  Child;  born  Aug.  11. 
1774,  a  descendant  of  Benjamin  Child,  born  in  Suffolk  Co.,  England,  died  in 
Roxbury,  Mass.  in  affluent  circumstances,  having  contributed  generously  to 
the  fund  for  building  the  first  church  of  Roxbury.  He  was  nephew  and  sole 
heir  of  Ephraim  Child,  born  in  Berry,  St.  Edmund's.  England.  Aug..  1593.  mar- 
ried Elizabeth  Bond  Palmer;  came  to  America  with  his  neighbor  and  friend 
John  Winthrop,  in  1630,  and  settled  with  his  relative  William  Bond,  at  Water- 
town,  where  he  was  selectman,  justice  and  representative  for  many  year-.  He 
died  July  13,  1663,  leaving  a  large  estate,  and  liberal  bequests. 

By  his  marriage  with  Jane  Child,  Mr.  Dayton  had  a  son  Abram  Child. 

ABRAM  CHILD  DAYTON,  son  of  Charles  Willoughby  and  Jane  (Child) 
Davton   was   born    on    Dev    Street,    New   York.    i8tS.      He  'enjoyed    the   best 


36  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

educational  advantages  to  be  had  in  the  city,  and  completed  his  studies  abroad. 
While  he  engaged  for  a  time  in  mercantile  affairs,  he  was  a  man  of  decided 
literary  tastes  and  inclinations.  He  contributed  to  the  periodicals  of  the  day, 
and  was  greatly  interested  in  the  early  history  of  New  York.  He  wrote  "Last 
Days  of  Knickerbocker  Life"  in  which  he  gave  a  graphic  description  of  the 
times  and  customs  of  the  old  New  Yorkers,  much  of  which  was  drawn  from 
personal  experience,  he  having  lived  through  the  changing  scenes  of  the  old 
to  the  new  order  of  things,  and  witnessed  the  introduction  of  steam,  electricity 
and  the  various  modern  improvements.     His  death  occurred  in  1877. 

He  married  Maria  A.  Tomlinson,  daughter  of  David  Tomlinson  and  Cor- 
nelia Adams.     David  Tomlinson  was  the  son  of 

JOSEPH  TOMLINSON,  Soldier  of  the  Revolution,  born  in  1741, 
private  in  Captain  Humphrey's  Company,  of  Derby,  Conn.,  enlisted  Nov. 
26,  1776,  and  served  to  the  close  of  the  war,  (see  record  of  John  Canfield  Tom- 
linson). David  Tomlinson,  above  mentioned,  married  Cornelia  Adams,  grand- 
daughter of  Andrew  Adams. 

HON.  ANDREW  ADAMS,  Soldier  of  the  Revolution,  was  Major 
of  the  17th  Regiment,  Connecticut  Militia,  1777.  Lieut.  Colonel,  1779. 
Colonel  of  same  regiment  Jan..  1780.  member  Continental  Congress,  and  held 
various  important  civil  positions  after  the  war,  and  was  Cheif  Justice  of  the  State 
of  Connecticut.     He  married  Annis  Canfield,  , daughter  of  John  Canfield. 

JOHN  CANFIELD,  Soldier  of  the  Revolution,  was  the  son  of 
Jeremiah  Canfield,  and  was  born  in  1740.  He  was  Adjutant  Continental  Dra- 
goons, commanded  by  Col:  Elisha  Sheldon,  1776;  Brigade  Major  in  Brigadier- 
General  Oliver  Wolcott's  Detachment,  Connecticut  Militia,  1777,  at  Saratoga. 
Abram  Child  Dayton,  before  mentioned,  had  issue  by  his  marriage  with 
Maria  A.  Tomlinson;  Charles  Willougby,  Laura  Canfield  Spencer  (married 
Benjamin  F.  Fessenden),  William  Adams  and  Harold  Child. 

CHARLES  WILLOUGHBY  DAYTON,  member  of  the  sons 
of  the  revolution  1889,  eldest  son  of  Abram  Child  Dayton  and  Maria 
A.  Tomlinson,  was  born  in  Brooklyn,  Oct.  3,  1846.  He  entered  the  College  of 
the  City  of  New  Y'ork,  was  graduated  at  the  Law  School  of  Columbia  College 
in  1868,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  the  same  year.  He  achieved  a  reputation 
that  soon  placed  him  among  the  leading  men  in  the  profession  and  increased 
his  practice  accordingly.  His  decisions  as  a  Referee  not  only  evince  a  know- 
ledge of  he  law.  but  a  judicial  mind.  He  does  not  encourage  litigation  when  it 
is  possible  to  effect  settlement  on  an  equitable  basis.  His  public  life  has  been  one 
of  marked  success.  He  has  the  happy  faculty  of  making  and  keeping  friends. 
Frank,  open  and  generous  to  his  opponents,  he  is  steadfast  and  reliable  in  his 
friendship  to  those  who  are  admitted  into  the  inner  circle  of  his  life.  During  his 
political  career  of  more  than  twenty  years,  his  private  life  has  been  without 
spot  or  blemish,  while  his  public  acts  challenge  the  admiration  of  his  strongest 
opponents.  His  entrance  into  public  life  began  in, 1864  as  the  earnest  advocate 
of  General  George  B.  McClellan  for  the  Presidency.  It  was  almost  a  forlorn 
hope  from  the  beginning,  owing  to  the  tremendous  power  and  influence  of  the 


V 


a. 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION.  37 

Republican  party  at  that  time,  but  Mr.  Dayton  made  a  gallant  fight  for  the  man 
whom  he  believed  had  earned  the  gratitude  of  the  nation.  Mr.  Dayton  identi- 
fied himself  with  the  Democratic  party  and  adhered  to  it  even  when  it  consti- 
tuted a  minority.  He  was  elected  to  the  State  Legislature  in  1881  and  achieved 
a  reputation  for  his  earnest  advocacy  of  reform  measures  introduced  at  that  time. 
The  adoption  by  the  Legislature  of  the  primary  election  law  of  1881  was  due 
largely  to  his  efforrts.  Owing  to  the  pressure  of  professional  duties  he 
declined  a  renomination.  fie  organized  the  Harlem  Democratic  Club  in  1882, 
which  has  been  formost  in  its  advocacy  of  reform  in  municiple  affairs  and  a  no- 
table democratic  ally  in  National  contests.  The  same  year  Mr.  Dayton  was  elect- 
ed Secretary  of  the  Citizens'  Movement  and  threw  himself  earnestly  into  its 
work.  He  adhered  to  the  reform  element  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  when 
Grover  Cleveland  was  nominated  for  President  in  1884.  Mr.  Dayton  entered  the 
campaign  with  bis  accustomed  zeal  and  energy  for  the  success  of  his  party,  be- 
coming himself  one  of  the  Presidential  electors  from  his  own  State,  and  secre- 
tary of  its  electoral  college.  He  was  recognized  by  the  National  committee  as 
one  of  the  ablest  speakers  and  most  nergetic  workers  in  his  party,  and  when  the 
campaign  of  1888  opened,  his  services  were  in  constant  demand.  His  speeches 
bad  the  ring  of  true  democracy  and  were  clear,  logical  and  convinceing.  A 
speech  he  delivered  at  Burlington,  Iowa,  was  received  with  such  favor  that  it 
was  adopted  by  the  National  Democratic  Committee  as  a  valuable  campaign  doc- 
ument, and  was  extensively  circulated  throughout  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Dayton  continued  to  advocate  the  policy  of  Mr.  Cleveland  and  took 
the  stump  for  him  again  in  1892. 

In  1889  Mr.  Dayton  was  a  member  of  the  Centennial  Committee,  which  had 
charge  of  the  celebration  of  Washington's  inauguration  as  first  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  in  1893  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  New  York  State 
Constitutional  Convention.  In  1894  Mr.  Dayton  presided  at  the  Memorial  Day 
services,  G.  A.  R..  at  Carnegie  Hall,  and  in  1897  was  chosen  chairman  of  the 
Citizens'  Auxiliary  Committee.  G.  A  R..  to  provide  funds  for  the  Memorial 
services   of  that   year. 

In  recognition  of  his  long  and  distinguished  services  to  his  party,  President 
Cleveland,  without  solicitation,  on  the  3d  of  June.  1893.  nominated  Mr.  Dayton 
for  Postmaster  at  New  York  City.  The  nomination  was  promptly  and  unani- 
mously confirmed  by  the  Senate,  and  received  the  hearty  approval  of  the  people 
of  his  native  city  and  State. 

During  Mr.  Dayton's  administration  as  Postmaster  there  has  been  a  marked 
improvement  in  the  postal  service.  The  discipline  of  four  thousand  em- 
ployees has  never  been  equalled,  and  although,  in  the  natural  order  of  things, 
the  expenses  have  been  increased,  the  revenues  from  the  service  have  been  aug- 
mented. In  the  matter  of  electric  lighting  alone,  Mr.  Dayton,  as  custodian  of 
the  Post  Office  building,  has  saved  to  the  government  $30,000  per  annum,  and  the 
total  amount  saved  during  his  administration  in  various  departments  exceeds 
$160,000.  Mr.  Dayton's  government  bank  account  has  aggregated  $600,000,000, 
and    yet  there    has    not     been     a    discrepancy.     As     custodian     of     the     Post 


38  SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

Office  building  Mr.  Dayton  has  obtained  from  the  Treasury  Department  and 
from  Congress  some  $300,000  for  improvements,  and  the  building  has  never 
been  kept  in  such  perfect  order,  while  the  improvements  necessitated  by  the 
constantly  increasing  business  have  been  pushed  vigorously  forward.  In  the 
management  of  the  large  army  of  employees  Mr.  Dayton  has  displayed  the 
knowledge  and  skill  together  with  the  sagacity,  judgment  and  forethought 
required  in  the  conduct  of  our  largest  business  houses.  So  perfect  is  the  ma- 
chinery for  handling  the  mail  matter  that  out  of  the  millions  of  letters  that  pass 
through  this  office  it  is  seldom  that  one  goes  astray,  and  when  such  a  thing  does 
occur  it  is  followed  with  rapidity  until  it  reaches  its  proper  destination  or  is 
accounted  for.  It  is  the  universal  expression  of  the  business  men  of  New  York 
that  the  whole  service  of  the  New  York  post  office  has  been  better  managed, 
and  with  less  friction  than  ever  before.  This  is  explained  when  it  is  known  that 
the  most  perfect  confidence  existed  between  employer  and  employee,  and  the 
respect  entertained  by  the  latter  for  the  former  constitutes  an  important  element 
in  the  motive  power  which  keeps  the  machinery  in  such  perfect  running  order. 
As  a  proof  of  the  love  and  loyalty  of  his  employees  a  public  banquet  was  ten- 
dered to  Mr.  Dayton  June  19,  1897,  after  his  resignation,  by  fifteen  hundred 
letter  carriers  of  New  York,  at  which  he  was  presented  with  an  album  signed 
by  all  the  letter  carriers  in  that  city.  It  was  commented  upon  by  the  public 
press  as  the  largest  and  most  significant  banquet  ever  given  in  this  country. 
As  a  further  proof  of  the  esteem  in  which  he  is  held,  and  as  a  continued  reminder 
of  the  delightful  associations  of  his  nearly  four  years'  administration,  there 
stands  in  the  main  room  of  the  Post  Office  building  a  bronze  bust  of  Mr.  Day- 
ton, paid  for  by  the  employees  in  subscriptions  not  exceeding  fifty  cents  each. 
Tfiis  statue  contains  the  following  inscription: 

CHARLES  WILLOUGHBY  DAYTON, 

Postmaster 

At  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Appointed  by  President  Cleveland 

June  3,   1893. 

Erected   February,    1897, 

By  the  Employees  of  the 

New  York  Post  Office, 

who  desire  to  perpetuate 

Mr.  Dayton's  record  for 
Efficiency.  Discipline,  Justice. 

Courtesy  and  Kindness. 
As  an  evidence  of  Mr.  Dayton's  personal  popularity  and  of  his  strong  hold 
on  the  business  men  of  all  political  parties,  he  was  urged  by  President  Mc- 
Kinley  to  continue  in  office  under  a  Republican  administration.  Mr.  Dayton, 
however,  declined  the  honor,  as  his  professional  duties  required  his  undivided 
attention,  and.  on  April  14.  tendered  his  resignation,  which  was  accepted  May  22, 
1897.  I  fe  immediately  resumed  his  law  practice.  His  reputation  as  lawyer  and 
his  integrity  as  a  man  are  well  known. 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION.  39 

The  following  letter  from  President  Cleveland  evinces  personal  regard  for 
and  hearty  appreciation  and  endorsement  of  Mr.  Dayton's  public  services  : 

Westland,  Princeton,  New  Jersey.  May  24,  1897. 
Hon.  Charles  W.  Dayton: 

My  Dear  Sir:  In  reply  to  your  letter  written  upon  your  retirement  from 
the  Postmastership  of  the  City  of  New  York,  and  expressing  your  appreciation 
of  the  honor  conferred  by  your  appointment,  I  beg  to  assure  you  that  the 
faitthful  and  efficient  service  you  have  rendered  the  Government  and  your  fellow 
citizens  during  your  term  of  office,  entitles  you  to  an  acknowledgement  of  my 
personal  obligation  for  the  credit  thus  reflected  upon  the  appointing  power. 

Hoping  that  prosperity  and  contentment  await  you  in  all  your  future  under- 
takings, I  am, 

Very  truly  yours, 

GROVER   CLEVELAND. 

One  incident  in  connection  with  Mr.  Dayton's  administration  of  the  affairs 
of  the  New  York  Post  Office  deserves  mention.  For  nearly  three  years, 
involving  much  time,  labor  and  expense,  he  was  engaged  in  collecting  the  pho- 
tographs of  the  several  postmasters  of  New  York  from  1804  to  1897.  At  the 
request  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  Mr.  Dayton  supplied  duplicates 
of  these  to  be  placed  among  the  interesting  collections  of  this  Society,  which 
form  a  notable  part  of  the  business  history  of  the  metropolis.  In  recognition 
of  his  courtesy  Mr.  Dayton  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Society. 

Mr.  Dayton's  name  has  been  prominently  mentioned  as  a  candidate  for  tht 
mayoralty  of  the  Greater  New  York  and  also  for  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court. 

Mr.  Dayton  has  been  actively  identified  with  metropolitan  affairs  for  many 
years.  He  was  President  of  the  Board  fur  the  Improvement  of  Park  Ave- 
nue above  One  Hundred  and  Sixth  Street,  a  work  which  involved  the  expendi- 
ture of  several  million  dollars,  much  to  the  public  benefit.  He  organized  and 
is  a  Director  of  the  Twelfth  Ward  Bank  and  Empire  City  Savings  Bank;  also 
a  director  in  the  Seventh  National  Bank,  being  the  legal  counsel  of  each.  He 
is  a  director  in  the  United  States  Life  Insurance  Company:  a  trustee  of  the 
Harlem  Library,  trustee  of  the  Church  of  the  Puritans,  member  of  the  Harlem 
Democratic  Club,  the  Sagamore  and  Players'  Clubs:  the  Xew  York  Geograph- 
ical Society;  the  New  York  Historical  Society:  Down  Town  Association;  The 
New  England  Society.  He  was  member  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the 
Bar  Association  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  has  served  upon  important 
committees  of  the  Bar  Association  of  the  City  of  New  York:  is  a  Governor  of 
the  Manhattan  Club,  and  was  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the  Post  Graduate 
Medical  School. 

Mr.  Dayton,  in  1874,  married  Laura  A.  Newman,  daughter  of  the  late  John 
B.  Newman.  M.  D.,  and  Rebecca  Sanford.  and  has  issue:  Charles  Willoughbv 
Dayton,  John  Newman  Dayton  and  Laura  Adams  Dayton. 

Mrs.  Dayton  is  one  of  the  charter  members  of  the  Daughters  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, being  a  descendant  of  Richard  Webb,  of  Hartford,  Connecticut.  Ts  also 
member  of  the  National  Society  of  New  England  Women. 


40  SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

GILLIS.— STARK.— CODMAN,    ETC. 

Referring  to  Rome  in  her  ancient  grandeur,  when  from  her  "  Seven  Hills 
she  ruled  the  world,"  the  poet  truly  said: 

"  In  that  day  to  be  a  Roman  was  greater  than  a  King." 
The  descendants  of  the  ancient  Romans  pointed  with  pride  to  their  ancestors, 
but  the  American  citizen  of  to-day  who  can  boast  of  such  an  ancestor  as  Gen. 
John  Stark,  has  far  greater  reason  for  "  pride  of  ancestry  "  which  many  of  the 
present  time  are  seeking  to  establish. 

Both  the  Gillis  and  Stark  families  come  of  a  long  line  of  Scotch  ancestry. 

HUGH  GILLIS,  the  American  ancestor,  was  a  native  of  Argyleshire,  Scot- 
land. He  came  to  New  England  and  settled  first  in  Londonderry,  N.  H.,  now 
Merrimack,  in  1746.  He  was  an  industrious,  thrifty,  prosperous  farmer,  who 
contributed  in  his  own  humble  way  to  the  development  of  the  new  town  where 
he  located.  He  married  Sarah  Arbuckle,  an  incident  of  whose  life  forms  an 
interesting  chapter  in  American  history,  which  has  been  preserved  and  described 
in  a  little  brochure  by  Charles  J.  Gillis  of  the  New  York  State  Society,  S.  R. 

Sarah  Arbuckle  (also  of  Scotch  descent)  came  to  this  country,  at  the  age  of 
sixteen,  with  her  father  and  brothers,  the  mother  having  died  in  the  old  country, 
and  settled  in  what  is  now  the  town  of  Merrimac,  N.  H.,  in  1740,  then  an  unin- 
habited wilderness,  the  nearest  neighbor  being  some  miles  distant.  To  this  child 
of  tender  years  was  committed  all  the  cares  of  the  household.  From  early  morn- 
ing until  evening  her  father  and  brothers  were  absent  at  their  daily  toil.  It  was 
so  very  lonely  that  many  times  a  day  she  would  step  outside  of  the  house  to 
listen  to  the  sound  of  their  axes,  and  if  it  ceased  for  any  length  of  time  she 
would  tremble  with  fear  lest  they  had  been  attacked  by  Indians  or  wild  beasts. 

As  she  was  stooping  over  the  fireplace  one  morning,  making  the  usual  pot 
of  "  stir  about  "  (Indian  hasty  pudding),  she  was  startled  by  a  shadow  falling 
across  the  floor,  and  turning  suddenly  to  the  open  door  she  came  face  to  face 
with  a  large,  powerful  looking  Indian,  who  stood  at  the  threshold  with  blood 
streaming  down  over  one  side  of  his  face.  She  stood  for  a  moment  terror 
stricken,  while  he  tried  to  make  known  to  her  his  trouble.  Recovering  by 
degrees  from  her  fright,  she  saw  that  an  arrow  was  sticking  in  his  eye,  which  he 
desired  her  to  remove.  She  plucked  up  courage,  drew  the  arrow  out,  dressed 
the  wound,  fed  and  cared  for  the  Indian  for  some  days  until  he  was  sufficiently 
recovered  to  depart,  when  he  disappeared  in  the  woods.  Some  years  after  this 
word  came  to  the  settlers  that  the  Indians  were  on  the  war  path,  and  everyone 
hurried  to  the  garrison  to  protect  themselves  and  their  families.  Just  as  the 
Arbuckles  were  getting  ready  to  leave  for  a  place  of  safety  the  yell  of  the  savage 
was  heard  in  the  distance,  and,  almost  immediately  after,  their  house  was  sur- 
rounded. The  savages  burst  in  the  door,  and  the  tomahawk  of  one  was  just 
about  to  descend  on  Sarah's  head,  when  at  a  word  spoken  by  the  Chief,  who 
rushed  in  after  them,  every  warrior  dropped  his  hand  and  silently,  one  after 
another,  filed  out  into  the  darkness,  leaving  their  Chief  with  the  family.  He  had 
learned  enough  of  English  to  remind  them  of  his  visit  some  years  previous,  and 


SONS      GF      THE     DEVOLUTION.  41 

to  express  his  gratitude  for  the  kindness  shown  him  on  that  occasion.  He 
assured  the  family  that  they  need  have  no  fears,  that  their  home  would  not  be 
molested.  They  had  no  further  trouble  with  the  Indians,  and  the  one  to  whom 
they  had  shown  such  kindness,  proved  their  life-long  friend,  visiting  them  annu- 
ally for  some  years  and  always  bringing  some  small  token  of  remembrance. 
This  woman  became  the  mother  of  a  large  family,  and  her  children  and  child- 
ren's children  have  told  the  simple  tale  to  each  generation.  The  issue  of  the 
marriage  of  Hugh  Gillis  to  Sarah  /Yrbuckle  was:  Jotham,  Jonathan.  Thomas, 
Josiah,  Richard,  Sarah,  Betsey. 

Jotham  Gillis,  eldest  child  of  H;;gh  and  Sarah  ( Arbuckle.)  Gillis,  was 
born  at  the  homestead  of  his  parents,  June  4,  1758;  died  June  28.  1853.  He  became 
a  leading  man  in  the  town,  an  1  entered  heartily  into  every  enterprise  for  its 
improvement.  The  first  cotton  mill  in  the  State  of  New  Hampshire  was  built 
at  Manchester  in  1803,  and  in  1809  a  stock  company  was  formed  which  was 
incorporated  in  June  of  that  year  under  the  name  of  the  Amoskeag  Cotton  and 
Woolen  Manufacturing  Company.  At  the  first  meeting  of  the  directors  there 
were  present  James  Parker.  Samuel  P.  Kidder.  John  Stark,  Jr.,  Daniel  Mc- 
Queston  and  Benjamin  Prichard.  James  Parker  was  chosen  President,  and 
Jotham  Gillis,  clerk.  Mr.  Gillis  became  the  first  agent  of  the  company,  and 
doubtless  to  his  efforts  and  enterprise,  as  much  a--  to  any  other  man,  the  com- 
pany started  on  its  prosperous  career. 

Jotham  Gillis  married  Abigail  Codman,  daughter  of  Dr.  Henry  Codman 
of  Amherst,  N.  H.,  April  19th,  1787. 

DR.  HENRY  CODMAN,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was  horn 
at  Middleton,  Mass.,  Jan.  25,  1744.  He  studied  medicine  and  practiced  at 
Amherst.  He  was  one  of  the  earliest  and  boldest  of  the  patriots  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  and  was  a  signer,  March  14,  1776,  of  the  fol- 
lowing: 

"We  the  subscribers  do  hereby  engage  and  promise  that  we  will  do  the 
utmost  of  our  power  at  the  risque  of  our  Lives  and  Fortunes  with  arms,  oppose 
the  hostile  proceedings  of  the  British  fleets  and  armies  against  the  United 
Colonies." 

Dr.  Codman  served  as  a  volunteer  surgeon  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 

The  History  of  Amherst,  page  395,  states  that  "A  regiment  under  the  com- 
mand of  Col.  Moses  Nichols  served  three  months  in  the  autumn  of  1780.  Dr. 
Henry  Codman  was  surgeon." 

As  a  physician  Dr.  Codman  was  greatly  beloved  by  the  people.  He  prac- 
ticed nearly  forty  years  in  Amherst;  he  died  in  March,  1812. 

Jotham  Gillis,  by  his  wife  Abigail  (Codman)  Gillis,  daughter  of  Dr.  Henry 
Codman  had  issue:  Josiah,  born  June  7,  1789;  Nancy,  born  Oct.  29,  1790;  Bet- 
sey, born  Oct.  23,  1792;  George,  born  April  15.  1801;  Rheny  Clagget,  born 
April  6,  1806. 

Josiah  Gillis,  eldest  son  of  Jotham  and  Abigail  (Codman')  Gillis. 
was  born  June  7,  1789.  He  was  a  well-to-do  farmer,  and  lived  for  many  years  at 
Merrimac  at  the  old  homestead.     He  removed  to  Wilmington,  Mass.,  in  1818, 


._ 

where  he  kept  a  he:-  i'so  in  the  lumber     _  .aining 

.an.  a  gooc  devoted 

4      -  -  ughter 

of  Johr    -  eral  John  Stark,  son  of  Archibald    - 

-  v- : 

S 

ting  51      ;entury. 

The  na-  g  stiff, 

ragged.     The  appearance  Scotland 

ot  Burgundy  rles  1        E 

large  body  of  Gerr.  5  to  S      .land  under  the  command  of  Gen.  Martin 

Sward,  to  join  the  invas  gland  in  support  of  1 

Pretenders  to  the  throne  Feated,   and 

- 
Among  this  nurr 

Scotlai 

age  he 
;  parents  to  Lond  le  married  Eleanor 

:::an. 
The  Tom  a  Cor    -  siderable  an- 

tz-Nig  -nan  warrior  who  accom- 

panied the  Conque-  1066.  and  to  wh  --  gned  1 

three  manors 
ford.  Ess  rthamptoT.  - 

I  with  a  co: 

:.'..  and  ther 
Londonderry.  X.  H.     He  erected  for 
he  remorec 
portion  of  land  on  the  Merrir 

-.  of  the 
"  _ :  1  which 

in  complimer-  _ 

- 

m.  John.  Samuel  and  Archibald,  all  held  commissions  in 
during  the   S 
-    od  conduct  Stark  died  June  25. 

5TARK.     Patriot  of  Archi- 

bald   Stai  as    born  at    Londonderry.   X.   H..  Aug.  :• 

died  a:  _  _  ther  owned 

land  about  Amosk-   g  Falls  g  proprietor  of  I     -.barton  (then 

called  Sfarld  gi  idvantages  jok  edu- 

t  training  ting    and  all  athletic  employments. 

Forest,  and  on  one  of  the* 

pari  Indians. 


;he    revolution.  43 

One  of  the  young  men  was  killed:    his  brother  William  made  his  escape,  and 
John  and  a  young  man  named  Eastman  were  carried  [  t 
A  custom  prevailed  among  the  North  American  Indians  requiring  cap- 
pass  between  the  young  ■  ;eir  tribe,  ranged  between  two  lines 
furnished   with   a   rod   and   prepared   to   strike   their   pr 

Eastman,  his  companion  y  whipped  as  he  passed  through:    Stark, 

more  athletic  and  adroit,  snatched  a  club  from  the  nearest  Indian,  and  - 
right  and  left  scattered  the  Indians  before  him.  greatly  to  the  delight  of  the  old 
men.  who  sat  some  distance  away  and  viewed  the  discomfiture  of  the  young 
warriors.  Young  Stark  refused  to  work  in  the  field,  saying  "  it  was  the  business 
not  of  warriors  but  of  squaws  to  hoe  corn."  This  spirited  deportment  gained 
him  the  title  of  '*  young  chief  "  and  the  honor  of  adoption  into  the  tribe.  The 
knowledge  he  thus   obtained  of  forest  life  and  the  topogr ,  border 

was  of  great  service  in   subsequent  conflicts  ree  months  of  captivhy 

he  was  ransomed  by  the  colony  of  Mass  ~:: 

of  the   Seven   Years'    War.    he    was   appointed   a    Lieutenant   in   Major   Robert 
Rogers'   famous   corps   of   rangers   and   served   w  I     -  -  :ig  to  the    r 

Captain,  through  all  the  campaigns  around  Lake  George  and  Lake  Champlain. 
where  traditions   still   ex  .^acity  and  bravery.      In   the  attack   upon 

Ticonderoga  in  June.  1758.  he  behaved  with  great  gallantry.     In  this  action  fell 
the  young  and  gallant  Lord  Howe,  between  whom  an<:  Si  -     r    ndship 

existed.      At   the    capture    of   Ticonderoga    and  -irk   rendered 

efficient  service  to  Lord  Amherst.     At  the 
army  and  engaged  in  farming  at  Derryficld  (now  Manchester).  X.  H. 

When  the  report  of  the  batt*  -  reached  him  he  was  engaged  at 

work  in   his   saw-mill.     Within   ten   minute-   after  the   new-  had  been  received 
he  mounted  his  horse  and  was  on  his  -  ring  left  dii 

for  such  of  his  neighbors  as  des  r  eet  him  at  Medford.     The 

morning  after  his  arrival  he  rec  .  and  in  th 

of  a  few  hours  had  enlisted  800  men. 

On  June  17.   1775.  he  was  stationed  about  thr  n  in  a 

position  from  which  he  had  a  front  view  of  Bunker  and  Breed's  Hill, 
a  battle  was  inevitable,   he  waited  :'  5.  but  s  "'or  the 

ground,  which  he  reachc  I  began.     He  took  up  a  • 

behind  a  fence  extending  down  Breed's  Hill  to  the  wal 

-ition   he  had   his   men   pile   up   hay   behind   the   fence.      As 
marched  up  he  opened  fire.  sa;.  ing 

This   suggestion  became  proverbial  thror.-.  -   ~ved  in 

every  engagement.     The  aim  of  the  British  in  this  attack  was  to  march  around 
this  point  of  land  and  capture  the  whole  army. 
time  they  received  another  volley,   and  after  the  third_  attempt   tl 
General  Stark  held  his  position  until  his  ammunit 
in  perfect  order  ac-    -- 

Boston  he   marched   with   his   regiment   to    New   York.      H 
ordered  to  Canada,  and  then  :  g  Washingl  :h  him  at  Trenton. 


44 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 


Princeton,  and  was  also  at  the  battle  of  Springfield  N.  J.  The  term  of  service 
of  his  regiment  having  expired,  and  feeling  that  he  had  been  slighted  in  the 
promotions,  he  resigned  his  commission,  and  replied  to  his  friends  who  tried 
to  dissuade  him,  "that  an  officer  who  could  not  maintain  his  rank  was  unworthy 


to  serve  his  country."  He  retired  to  his  farm,  where  he  remained  until  the 
urgent  demand  and  the  threatened  dangers  to  his  own  State  compelled  him 
again  to  take  the  field.  When  information  arrived  that  Gen.  Arthur  St.  Clair 
had  retreated  and  Ticonderoga  had  been  taken,   New   Hampshire  flew  to  arms 


SONS      OK      THK      REVOLUTION.  45 

and  called  for  Stark  to  command  her  troops.  He  consented  on  condition  that 
he  should  not  be  subject  to  any  order  but  his  own;  and  this  the  Council  of 
State  agreed  to,  because  the  nun  would  not  march  without  him.  Setting  out 
with  a  small  force  for  Bennington,  he  then  learned  that  Burgoyne  had  dis- 
patched Col.  Frederick  Baum  with  fiv'e  hundred  men  to  seize  the  stores  collected 
at  that  place.  Sending  out  express  to  call  in  the  militia  of  the  neighborhood, 
Stark  marched  out  to  meet  him,  hearing  of  which  Baum  intrenched  himself  in 
a  strong  position  about  six  miles  from  Bennington,  and  sent  to  Burgoyne  for 
reinforcements.  Before  they  could  arrive  Stark  attacked  him  on  the  16th  of 
August  1777.  Tradition  says  that  he  called  to  his  men  as  he  led  them  to  the 
assault:  "There  they  are,  boys!  We  beat  them  to-day  or  Molly  Stark's  a  widow!" 
another  of  his  sentences  that  has  gone  into  history.  The  second  British  force 
of  five  hundred  men  under  Col.  Breyman  presently  arriving  was  likewise  totally 
defeated.  Of  the  one  thousand  British,  not  more  than  a  hundred  escaped,  all 
the  rest  being  killed  or  captured;  a  result  of  great  importance  as  it  led  ultimately 
to  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne  at  Saratoga.  Col.  Baum,  who  was  mortally 
wounded,  said  of  the  provincials:  "They  fought  more  like  hell-hounds  than 
soldiers."  The  American  loss  was  only  about  seventy.  It  is  noteworthy  that 
this  was  the  anniversary  month  of  the  Battle  of  Long  Island,  fought  one  year 
previous  in  which  five  thousand  raw  militia  were  defeated  by  twenty  thousand 
British  regulars.  Stark  retrieved  the  fortunes  of  the  American  army,  the  moral 
effect  of  which  can  never  be  estimated.  Molly  Stark  was  not  left  a  "widow," 
but  lived  to  share  the  honors  of  her  noble  husband  for  many  years.  Washing- 
ton spoke  of  it  immediately  as  "the  great  stroke  struck  by  Gen.  Stark  at 
Bennington,"  and  Baroness  Reisdel,  then  in  the  British  camp,  wrote:  "This 
unfortunate  event  paralyzed  our  operations."  For  this  victory  Stark  was  made 
a  Brigadier-General,  Oct.  4,  1777,  and  received  the  thanks  of  Congress.  He 
was  made  a  Major  General  by  act  of  Congress  in  1786.  He  continued  in  active 
service  during  the  remainder  of  the  war,  displaying  everywhere  distinguished 
ability.  In  1778-9  he  served  in  Rhode  Island  and  in  1780  in  New  Jersey  and  in 
1781  commanding  the  northern  department  of  Saratoga.  In  1781  he  retired  to 
his  farm  where  he  lived  in  republican  simplicity  till  his  death  at  the  age  of 
94.  When  he  was  89  years  old  Congress  allowed  him  a  pension  of  sixty  dollars 
per  month;  but  with  his  simple  tastes  and  habits  this  was  not  essential  to  his 
comfort.  He  was  a  good  type  of  the  class  of  men  who  gave  success  to  the 
American  Revolution.  With  the  exception  of  Gen.  Thomas  Sumpter,  he  was 
the  last  surviving  general  of  the  Revolutionary  army.  He  was  buried  on  his 
own  grounds,  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Merrimac  river,  at  Manchester,  N.  H., 
where  a  simple  granite  obelisk  was  placed  in  1829  by  the  members  of  his  family 
to  mark  his  resting  place.  The  citizens  of  Manchester  planted  memorial  trees 
around  it  in  1876.  These  grounds  came  into  possession -of  Elizabeth  Stark, 
daughter  of  John  Stark  (3),  and  great  grand-daughter  of  Gen.  Stark,  who 
donated  it,  with  additional  grounds,  to  the  city  of  Manchester  to  be  used  as  a 
public  park.  The  State  of  New  Hampshire  has  caused  to  be  erected  in  front  of 
the  State  House  at  Concord,  a  fine  bronze  statue  of  the  General,  and  another 


46  SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

one  in  the  rotunda  01  the  capitol  at  Washington.  In  August,  1887,  the  corner- 
stone was  laid  in  Bennington  of  another  monument.  It  is  an  obelisk  of  lime- 
stone 301  feet  high  from  foundation  to  apex. 

Gen.    Stark   married    Elizabeth    Page    (born    Feb.    16,    1737,    died   June   29, 
1814),  daughter  of  Capt.  Caleb  Page. 

CAPT.  CALEB  PAGE,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was  born  in  1705- 
He  was  one  of  the  grantees  of  Starkstown  (which  retained  the  name  for  four- 
teen years  and  then  became  Dunbarton),  and  was  in  the  charter  of  incorporation 
in  1765.  He  was  a  large  proprietor  in  the  new  township,  and  the  locality  still 
bears  the  name  of  "Page  Corner."  He  was  one  of  the  most  efficient  cooperators 
in  advancing  the  progress  of  the  settlement.  His  and  the  house  of  Israel  Clif- 
ford were  the  first  frame  buildings  erected  in  that  vicinity.  In  1758  he  was 
appointed  by  Governor  Wentworth  Captain  of  Provincials.  He  was  a  firm 
patriot,  and  in  1775  he  was  chosen  a  delegate  to  the  Provincial  Congress.  He 
possessed  a  noble  and  benevolent  spirit  with  ample  means  to  carry  out  his 
generous  intentions.  His  bank,  which  contained  his  treasure  of  golden  guineas, 
silver  crowns  and  dollars,  was  a  half  bushel  measure  constantly  kept  under 
his  bed.  His  house  was  the  abode  of  hospitality  and  the  scene  of  many  a  joyous 
festival  in  the  olden  time.  He  was  the  son  of  Caleb,  born  1685,  son  of  Benjamin 
Page,  the  ancestor,  born  in  Dedham,  Eng.,  in  1640.  Came  to  Haverhill,  Mass., 
in  1660;  married  Sept.  21,  1666,  Alary  Whittier,  daughter  of  Thomas  Whittier, 
of  Newbury,  Mass.,  the  progenitor  of  the  poet  Whittier. 

Gen.  John  Stark,  by  his  wife  Elizabeth  Page  (daughter  of  Capt.  Caleb 
Page)  had  eleven  children,  of  whom  John,  Jr.,  was  the  third. 

John  Stark,  Jr.,  son  of  General  John  and  Elizabeth  (Page)  Stark,  was  born 
in  Dunbarton,  N.  H.,  April  17,  1763.  He  married  Mary  Huse  of  Methuen, 
Mass.,  and  had  among  his  twelve  children  a  daughter  Mary. 

Mary  Stark,  daughter  of  John  Stark,  Jr.,  was  born  Jan.  18,  1795;  married 
Josiah  Gillis,  Sept.  14,  1813. 

Josiah  Gillis,  by  his  wife  Mary  (Stark)  Gillis,  had  six  children,  of  whom 
Charles  Josiah  Gillis  was  the  fifth. 

CHARLES  JOSIAH  GILLIS,  New  York  State  Society  Sons  of 
the  Revolution,  son  of  Josiah  and  Mary  (Stark)  Gillis,  was  born  at 
Wilmington,  Mass.,  April  15,  1822.  As  a  child  he  was  studious  and  fond  of 
books.  He  graduated  at  the  high  school  of  Lowell,  and  in  1846  left  his  native 
town  and  went  to  Philadelphia,  where  for  four  years  he  was  engaged  as  a  oook- 
seller  and  publisher.  In  1853  he  came  to  New  York  and  established  his  present 
business  of  steam  heating  and  ventilating  apparatus  under  the  firm  name  of 
Morse  &  Gillis,  which  was  changed  in  1869  to  that  of  Gillis  &  Geoghegan. 
For  nearly  half  a  century  Mr.  Gillis  has  been  one  of  the  leaders  in  this  line  of 
trade,  and  the  business  of  this  firm  is  now  probably  one  of  the  largest  in  the 
world.  Mr.  Gillis  enjoys  the  unique  position  of  popularity  among  his  competi- 
tors. He  was  for  some  years  President  of  the  Master  Steam  and  Hot  Water 
Fitters'  Association,  and  in  1896  his  associates,  desiring  to  give  expression  to 
their  high  appreciation  of  his  worth  and  of  his  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  associa- 


SONS    OF    THE    REVOLUTION.  47 

tion,  presented  him  with  an  elegant  silver  Loving  Cup,  made  by  Tiffany  &  Co., 
on  which  was  inscribed: 

"'  Charles  J.  Gillis,  from  his  Competitors  for  Services  freely  given  to  their 
ultimate  advantage,  January,  1896." 

Mr.  Gillis  has  traveled  the  world-wide  over,  and  is  a  great  observer  of  men 
and  things.  He  has  written  and  published  several  accounts  of  his  travels, 
beautifully  illustrated  from  photographs  taken  of  the  several  places  where  he 
visited.  One  of  these,  "A  Summer  Vacation  in  Norway,  Sweden  and  Russia," 
is  beautiful  as  a  work  of  art  and  highly  creditable  as  a  literary  production. 
Another,  entitled  "Around  the  World,"  contains  a  graphic  description  of  the 
various  places  visited  by  Mr.  Gillis  in  his  travels.  He  has  not,  like  many 
American  travelers,  overlooked  the  beauties  and  places  of  interest  in  his  own 
country  in  their  anxiety  to  "  take  in  "  the  world.  His  description  of  Yellow- 
stone Park  and  Alaska  is  an  interesting  work  of  75  pages  written  in  the  simple 
style  of  a  diary,  which  renders  it  of  far  greater  interest  than  the  usual  style 
adopted  by  travelers.  All  of  Mr.  Gillis's  work  in  this  direction  has  been  for 
"  private  circulation,"  and  his  numerous  friends  are  thus  enabled  to  enjoy  the 
benefit  of  his  extensive  travels.  He  has  a  large  and  interesting  collection  of 
curios,  which  he  has  gathered  in  the  various  countries  where  he  has  visited 
The  most  interesting  of  all,  however,  are  the  relics  associated  with  the  life  and 
Revolutionary  services  of  his  distinguished  ancestor,  General  Stark,  among 
them  being  a  lock  of  the  General's  hair,  a  piece  of  a  silk  flag  captured  at  the 
battle  of  Bennington,  and  a  piece  of  Mollie  Stark's  wedding  dress. 

Mr.  Gillis  is  a  member  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  Geographical 
Society,  Museum  of  Art  and  other  organizations,  and  during  its  existence  was 
a  director  in  the  Empire  State  Bank.  He  married  in  Montreal,  Canada,  Oct.  19th, 
the  Ascension.  He  married  in  Montreal,  Canada,  Oct.  19th,  1847,  Francis  Ellen 
1847,  Francis  Ellen  Goodenough,  (laughter  of  Asa  Goodenough,  one  of  the  best 
known  and  popular  hotel  keepers  in  the  Dominion,  but  a  native  of  New  England 
and  a  descendant  of  an  old  Maine  family  of  this  name.  They  have  one  son, 
Frederic  Stark  Gillis,  born  Dec.  29,  1857.  He  was  graduated  at  Columbia  Col- 
lege Law  School  and  completed  his  studies  abroad,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
of  New  York  in  1880.     He  has  since  been  associated  with  his  father  in  business. 

WARNER.— MILLER.— FISHER. 

"  The  mills  of  the  gods  grind  slow,"  but  sure,  is  a  trite  saying,  and  applies 
with  peculiar  force  to  the  Miller  family,  the  name  of  which  indicates  its  origin. 
The  "  grinding  "  began  in  this  country  as  early  as  1680,  and  for  more  than  two 
hundred  years  the  "  hopper  "  has  never  been  empty.  Patriots,  statesmen, 
inventors,  etc.,  have  continued  the  grinding  process,  and  the  nation  has  been 
liberally  supplied  with  wholesome  food  from  the  brains  of  the  "  Millers,"  while 
the  wealth  of  the  country  through  their  efforts  has  been  largely  increased. 
The  name  carries  with  it  the  patent  of  nobility,  and  while  no  "  blazoned  arms  " 
are   to   be   found   as   relics   of  the   feudal   ages,   the   impress   of   noble   deeds   is 


48  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

"  blazoned  "  on  each  generation.  The  military  career  of  the  first  patriot  in  this 
line  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution  was  brought  to  a  sudden  close  by  death,  and 
that  of  the  last  (in  the  Civil  War;  through  circumstances  beyond  his  control. 
The  ceaseless  and  untiring  energy  of  the  "  mills  "  has  been  without  friction, 
and  the  machinery  stills  runs  smoothly  as  of  yore.  The  predominating  virtues 
of  the  family  embrace  the  entire  decalogue,  and  may  be  summmed  up  in  the  one 
sentence,  "  Love  to  God  and  love  to  man."  The  allied  families  have  doubtless 
given  force  and  energy  to  the  original  stock,  but  the  "  Miller  "  traits  stand  out  in 
bold  relief. 

John  Miller,  the  American  ancestor  of  this  line  of  the  Miller  family, 
is  said  to  have  emigrated  from  Germany  to  America  about  1680.  He  settled  on 
"  the  White  Plains,"  in  Westchester  County,  where  his  possessions  covered  a 
large  tract  of  country  amounting  to  some  six  hundred  acres  along  the  line  of 
the  Bronx  River,  being  about  two  miles  in  length  by  half  a  mile  in  breadth, 
located  partly  in  the  town  of  White  Plains  and  partly  in  North  Castle.  His 
family  consisted  of  himself,  wife  Mary  and  four  sons,  James,  Abram,  Elijah  and 
Anthony. 

LIEUT,  and  ADjUTAiNT  ELIJAH  MILLER,  Patriot  of  the  Revo- 
lution, son  or  grandson  of  John  Miller,  the  ancestor  was  born  in 
Westchester  County,  N.  Y.,  about  1732.  His  military  and  social  standing  is 
shown  by  the  two  commissions,  one  issued  by  Governor  Tryon,  of  the  Province 
of  New  York,  in  1772;  the  other  issued  by  General  Nathaniel  Woodhull,  as 
President  of  the  Provincial  Congress  for  the  colony  of  New  York  in  1775. 

The  following  is  a  fac  simile  of  the  commission  issued  to  him  by  Governor 
Tryon  previous  to  the  Revolution: 


At  the  beginning  of  hostilities  Elijah  Miller,  although  living  in  a  nest  of 
Tories,  immediately  threw  up  his  old  commission  and  entered  the  ranks  of  the 
patriots.     He  was  at  once  commissioned  Lieutenant  by  General  Woodhull,  Fres- 


SONS     OF    THE    REVOLUTION.  49 

ident  of  the  Provincial  Congress,  as  appears    by    the    following  fac  simile,  the 
original  of  which  is  still  in  the  hands  of  his  descendants. 


b;; 


Lieut.  Miller  was  made  Adjutant  of  Col.  Samuel  Drake's  Regiment  of  Min- 
ute Men.  The  following  brief  record  of  the  service  of  the  regiment  is  found  in 
the  New  York  State  Archives,  vol.  i,  page  75: 

"Feb.    26.    1776.      Col.    Samuel    Drake,    of    the    Minute    regiment,    from    the 
County  of  Westchester,  attending  at  the  door,  was  admitted. 

He  informed  the  Congress  that  four  months,  the  time  for  which  many  of 
his  men  had  enlisted,  was  fully  expired,  and  that  they  demanded  their  pay. 
That  if  he  is  enabled  to  pay  them  many  may  probably  enlist  anew.  As  Col. 
Drake  has  not  a  muster  roll  of  his  regiment  with  him,  the  Congress  agreed  to 
advance  him  £300." 

The  regiment  was  reorganized  soon  after  this  and  was  among  the  first  to 
take  part  in  the  erection  of  the  defenses  of  New  York.  Johnston  says: 
"  Waterbury's  Connecticut  regiment  was  the  first  on  the  ground  *  *  *  and 
from  Westchester  County,  New  York,  came  two  hundred  minute  men  under 
Col.  Samuel  Drake.  *  *  *  *  Drake's  minute  men  were  posted  at  Horn's 
Hook,  opposite  Hell  Gate,  where  they  begun  work  on  the  first  battery  marked 
out  for  the  defense  of  New  York  City  during  the  Revolution."  This  regiment 
was  attached  to  the  brigade  of  Gen.  Johnh  Morin  Scott,  which  formed  a  part  of 
the  reinforcements  sent  to  Brooklyn  on  the  morning  of  the  27th  of  August,  1776, 
and  took  an  active  part  in  the  battle  of  Long  Island.  The  sufferings  of  his 
men  the  day  after  the  battle  are  described  in  a  letter  from  Gen.  Scott,  in  which 
he  says:  "You  may  judge  of  our  situation,  subject  to  almost  incessant  rains. 
without  baggage  or  tents,  and  almost  without  victuals  or  drink,  and  in  some 
parts  of  the  lines  the  men  were  standing  up  to  their  middles  in  water."  The 
retreat  from  Brooklyn  began  two  days  after  this,  and  the  next  that  is  heard  of 


50  SONS    OF    THE    REVOLUTION. 

Col.  Drake's  regiment  is  at  the  "Kip's  Bay"  affair,  on  the  15th  of  September, 
when  the  British  landed  in  New  York  City. 

"During  these  scenes,  Wadsworth's  and  Scott's  brigades,  which  were  be- 
low Douglass  on  the  river  lines,  saw  that  their  only  safety  lay,  also,  in  imme- 
diate retreat,  and,  falling  back,  they  joined  the  other  brigades  above,  though 
not  without  suffering  and  some  loss.'' 

It  is  probable  that  in  this  affair,  or  in  the  battle  of  Harlem  Heights,  which 
followed,  that  Adjutant  Elijah  Miller  and  his  two  sons  were  killed,  as  Col. 
Drake's  regiment,  to  which  they  belonged,  participated  in  all  the  events  which 
followed  the  battle  of  Long  Island.  This  is  all  that  is  known  of  them,  and  Ann 
Fisher  Miller,  his  widow,  and  her  two  daughters  are  next  brought  into  prom- 
inence as  patriots  of  the  Revolution. 

After  the  battle  of  Harlem  Plains,  in  October,  1776,  Washington  formed  in- 
trenched camps  from  the  heights  of  Fordham  to  White  Plains,  in  Westchester 
County,  and  on  the  21st  of  October  made  his  headquarters  near  the  village  of 
White  Plains;  this  was  at  the  house  of  Ann  Fisher  Miller,  the  widow  of  Adju- 
tant Elijah  Miller.  She  was  honored  with  the  presence  of  the  Comimander-in- 
Chief,  while  the  buildings  surrounding  the  house  were  used  for  hospital  pur- 
poses. Her  land  was  covered  with  tents.  On  an  eminence,  the  highest  in  all 
White  Plains,  a  prominent  fortification  was  made  which  overlooked  her  home. 

Bolten  says:  "The  headquarters  of  Washington,  which  started  here,  were  at 
a  small  farm-house  to  the  north  of  the  village,  situated  amid  a  deep  solitude  of 
woods,  surrounded  by  woods  and  romantic  scenery." 

A  party  from  New  York,  who  visited  the  place  in  1845,  wrote:  "When  we 
entered  the  little  room  of  Mr.  Miller's  farm-house,  where  that  great  and  good 
man  [Washington]  had  resided,  and  where  he  resolved  to  try  the  hazard  of 
battle  with  a  flushed  and  successful  foe,  we  could  not  repress  the  enthusiasm 
which  the  place,  and  the  moment,  and  the  memory  inspired.  We  looked  around 
with  eagerness  at  each  portion  of  the  room  on  which  his  eye  must  have  rested; 
we  gazed  through  the  small  window  frames  through  which  he  must  have  so 
often  and  so  anxiously  looked  toward  the  enemy;  and  at  the  old-fashioned  buf- 
fets, where  his  table  service  was  deposited  for  his  accommodation.  But  little 
change  has  taken  place  in  the  building,  and  its  amiable  and  patriotic  inmates 
have  shown  their  respect  for  the  hero  by  placing  on  the  walls  his  portrait,  and 
several  representations  of  his  last  moments  at  Mount  Vernon." 

The  battle  of  White  Plains  took  place  on  the  28th  of  October,  seven  days 
after  Washington's  arrival  at  Mrs.  Miller's  house.  During  this  trying  ordeal 
the  widow  sat  in  her  little  home  with  her  five  children,  amid  the  incessant  rattle 
of  musketry  and  the  roar  of  artillery,  and  as  the  wounded  and  dying  were 
brought  to  her  place  she  tenderly  nursed  and  cared  for,  and  provided  every 
comfort  for  them.  It  was  not  until  the  31st  of  October  that  Howe,  failing  to 
dislodge  Washington  from  his  cornstalk  breastworks,  withdrew  his  forces  and 
fell  back  to  Fordham. 

In  the  summer  of  1778  Washington  was  again  for  several  weeks  at  White 
Plains.     The  British,  after  the  battle  of  Monmouth,  had  retreated  to  New  York, 


SONS     OF    THE    REVOLUTION. 


Si 


and  the  Americans  from  their  former  post  on  the  hills  of  Westchester  awaited 
further  movements  on  the  enemy's  part.  Washington  also  attempted  to  co-op- 
erate with  the  French  fleet,  which  had  just  arrived,  in  an  attempt  to  capture 
New  York.  Anna  Miller,  then  but  fourteen  years  of  age,  and  her  sister,  a  little 
older,  volunteered  to  deliver  a  message  to  a  point  desired  by  the  Commander- 
in-Chief;  he,  knowing  their  courage  and  discretion,  entrusted  them  with  this 
important  mission.     They  delivered  the  message  and  returned  home  unharmed. 


MRS.  MILLER  S  HOUSE. 


This  little  home  of  the  widow  Miller  became,  soon  after  the  Revolution, 
the  home  of  Methodism  in  Westchester  County,  and  the  first  meetings  of  the 
society  were  held  in  her  house,  she  joining  heartily  in  the  worship  and  helping 
to  spread  "the  glad  tidings  of  salvation." 

Martha  Miller,  the  young  heroine  of  fourteen,  daughter  of  Elijah  and  Ann 
(Fisher)  Miller,  became  the  wife  of  William,  son  of  Anthony  Miller,  who  mar- 
ried Hesther,  daughter  of  William  Davis. 

William  Miller,  son  of  Anthony  Miller,  moved  to  Rensselaer  County,  N.  Y., 
and  founded  the  present  village  of  North  Pittstown,  which  for  many  years  was 
was  known  as  Millertown. 

The  younger  children  were  born  after  their  removal  there. .  They  had  among 
others  a  son  Hiram. 

Hiram  Miller,  son  of  William  and  Martha  Miller,  was  born  at  Mil- 
lertown, now  North  Pitstown,  Rensselaer  Co.  N.  Y.,  July  18,  1800.  He  was  a 
thrifty,  industrious  farmer  and  made  the  most  of  his  opportunities.  His  high- 
est ambition  was  to  be  good  and  do  good.  After  residing  for  thirty-seven  years 
in  his  native  town,  he  removed  to  Hannibal,  Oswego  County,  where  he  took 


52  SONS    OF    THE    REVOLUTION. 

a  large  farm,  but  only  remained  about  a  year  and  then  returned  to  his  native 
town,  where  he  remained  until  an  advanced  age  and  then  went  to  live  with  his 
son  Hon.  Warner  Miller  at  Herkimer,  in  Herkimer  County,  N.  Y.,  where  he 
died  suddenly  in  January,  1882.  A  local  paper  in  giving  an  account  of  his  death 
says: 

"His  mother  was  a  woman  of  marked  ability  and  devotion  and  their  fireside 
was  one  of  those  precious  homes  of  the  early  itinerant.  He  early  became 
identified  with  the  church.  His  devotion  to  his  mother  was  an  intense  passion. 
His  convictions  were  positive,  his  integrity  white,  and  his  heart  generous.  His 
excellent,  godly  wife  went  from  him  quietly  and  quickly  in  Oct.  1880,  and  earth 
lost  its  beauty  and  heaven  grew  upon  him.  On  January  31st,  1882,  at  one  of 
our  best  prayer  meetings  he  sang  and  prayed  as  though  on  the  top  of  Pisgah, 
and  going  out  from  that  meeting,  and  crossing  the  railroad  track,  he  was  struck 
by  an  engine,  and  without  mutilation  of  body  or  pain  of  dying,  he  was  ushered 
into  the  presence  of  the  King." 

He  married  Mary  Ann  Warner  of  Salisbury,  Conn.,  daughter  of  William 
Warner,  son,  probably,  of  Harvey  DeFprest  Warner,  born  in  Danbury,  Aug. 
1,  1769,  died  in  Salisbury  Conn.  March  30,  1859,  son  of  Rev.  Noadiah  Warner, 
missionary  to  the  Indians,  pastor  of  First  Congregational  church  of  Danbury, 
son  of  John  Warner  or  Sunderland,  Mass.,  and  Haddam,  Conn.,  son  of  John  of 
Ipswich,  born  1616,  Norwalk,  Eng.,  son  of  William  Warner  of  Ipswich,  Mass., 
who  embarked  at  London  in  ship  Increase  in  1635,  from  Norfolk,  Eng. 

They  had  issue  Warner. 

HON.  WARNER  MILLER,  New  York  State  Society  Sons  of  the 
Revolution,  son  of  Hiram  and  Mary  Ann  (Warner)  Miller,  was  born  at  Han- 
nibal, Oswego  County  N.  Y.,  Aug.  12,  1838.  His  early  childhood  was  spent  in 
Millertown,  Rensselaer  County,  to  which  place  his  father  returned  after  a  brief 
residence  in  Oswego  County.  The  early  life  of  Warner  Miller  was  one  of 
constant  struggle  and  hard  work.  He  attended  a  select  school  near  the  home 
of  his  childhood,  afterward  taught  school  for  a  time,  earning  sufficient  to  enter 
college.  He  was  graduated  at  Union  College  in  i860,  and  immediately  began 
teaching  Latin  and  Greek  at  Fort  Edward  Institute,  where  he  remained  until  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War.  Early  in  1861  he  joined  Company  I  Fifth  N.  Y. 
Cavalry,  and  went  with  it  to  the  front.  He  began  the  study  of  military  tactics 
and  qualified  himself  for  a  higher  position.  He  was  made  Sergeant  Major  and 
drill  master  of  the  regiment  and  later  commissioned  First  Lieutenant.  He  was 
with  "Banks  in  the.  Shenandoah  Valley,  and  while  lying  sick  with  fever  in  the 
hospital  at  Winchester,  was  captured  by  the  enemy,  but  paroled  on  the  field. 
As  no  terms  of  exchange  had  .been  arranged  between  the  two  armies  at  that 
time,  he  remained  on  parole  until  June  7,  1862,  when  he  was  honorably  dis- 
charged. His  first  experience  did  not  deter  him  from  further  efforts  to  serve 
his  country.  Six  months  later  he  made  a  second  attempt  to  join  the  army,  but 
was  not  successful.  Never  idle  for  a  moment,  he  sought  and  obtained  employ- 
ment in  a  paper  mill  at  Fort  Edward.  The  knowledge  acquired  of  this  business 
was  soon  put  to  practical  use  and  formed  the  nucleus  of  his  subsequent  success. 


SONS    OF    THE    REVOLUTION.  S3 

He  was  sent  to  Belgium  to  supervise  the  construction  and  operation  of  a  paper 
mill.  On  his  return  he  began  experimenting  with  wood  pulp  in  the  manufact- 
ure of  paper,  by  which  means  the  cost  was  materially  reduced,  and  he  was  recog- 
nized as  the  inventor  and  promoter  of  an  enterprise,  the  most  extensive  and  far- 
reaching  of  any  manufacturing  enterprise  attempted  in  this  country.  He  invented 
the  machine  and  triumphed  over  every  difficulty  in  the  face  of  strong  opposi- 
tion. By  his  process  the  cost  of  ordinary  printing  paper  was  reduced  from  fif- 
teen to  three  and  a  half  cents  a  pound,  which  was  the  means  of  largely  increas- 
ing the  production,  and  reducing  the  price  of  all  publications  where  cheaper 
materials  could  be  utilized.  In  1865  he  purchased  a  large  mill  property  at 
Herkimer,  in  Herkimer  County,  N.  Y.,  and  organized  the  firm  of  Warner  Mil- 
ler &  Co.,  and  in  1875  this  became  the  Herkimer  Paper  Company,  limited,  with 
Warner  Miller  as  President.  The  plant  has  since  been  largely  increased 
with  new  manufactories  at  different  points. 

Mr.  Miller's  political  career  began  soon  after  he  became  a  resident  of  Her- 
kimer County.  He  was  made  chairman  of  the  Republican  County  Committee, 
in  which  he  displayed  marked  ability  as  an  organizer.  He  was  a  delegate  to 
the  Republican  National  Convention  in  1872,  which  nominated  Gen.  Grant  for 
President.  As  a  representative  of  Herkimer  County  in  the  State  Legislature  in 
1872-3-4  he  introduced  and  seconded  the  enactment  of  many  important  meas- 
ures, among  which  was  that  providing  for  compulsory  education.  In  1878  he 
was  elected  to  the  Forty-sixth  Congress,  as  a  representative  to  the  Forty-second 
Congressional  District,  which  embraced  the  counties  of  Herkimer,  Jefferson 
and  Lewis,  and  was  re-elected  in  1880.  While  serving  his  second  term,  soon 
after  the  election  of  President  Garfield,  political  difficulties  arose  which  led  to 
the  resignations  of  Senators  Conklin  and  Piatt,  and  the  struggle  in  the  State 
Legislature  for  their  re-election  continued  for  more  than  two  months,  resulting 
finally  in  the  election  of  Mr.  Miller  for  the  long  term  in  place  of  Senator  Piatt, 
and  later  in  that  of  Elbridge  G.  Laphamin  place  of  Senator  Roscoe  Conklin. 

Mr.  Miller's  success  in  the  new  field  to  which  he  was  suddenly  called  is  best 
described  in  the  words  of  Senator  Sherman,  one  of  the  keenest  observers  of 
modern  times,  and  one  of  the  ablest  statesmen  of  the  present  century.  He  says 
of  Mr.  Miller:  "He  is  one  of  our  ablest  senators.  Judging  by  that  crucial 
test,  the  power  to  produce  results,  he  is  one  of  the  strongest  men  we  have.  You 
notice  that  when  he  undertakes  a  thing  it  is  very  apt  to  be  carried.  He  has 
represented  New  York  right  along  with  courage  and  great  ability,  as  questions 
"have  come  up  in  which  he  had  a  stake.  Both  in  the  committee  room  and  in 
the  Senate  he  presents  a  subject  with  force  and  clearness.  In  his  relations  with 
senators  he  shows  good  judgment,  and  good  feeling,  and  does  not  weaken  his 
influence  by  the  friction  of  unnecessary  personal  antagonism.  Senator  John  A. 
Logan,  his  trusted  friend,  said  that  during  the  great  debate  on  the  tariff  in  1882, 
that  he  had  learned  not  only  to  let  Mr.  Miller  alone,  but  to  follow  his  vote  on 
any  question  that  concerned  the  tariff." 

Mr.  Miller  used  common  sense  business  methods,  and  while  he  worked 
faithfully  and  earnestly  for  the  interests  of  his  own  State,  it  was  with  an  honest, 


54  SONS    OF    THE    REVOLUTION. 

conscientious  purpose,  and  not  for  political  ends.  He  early  in  life  adopted  the 
sentiment  expressed  by  one  of  our  most  distinguished  statesmen — "I  would  rather 
be  right  than  to  be  president,"  and  during  his  entire  public  life  political  ambition 
has  never  tempted  him  to  swerve  from  a  course  which  he  believed  to  be  right, 
and  for  the  best  interests  of  the  country,  even  if  opposed  by  his  own  constituency. 
Few,  if  any,  representatives  of  the  great  State  of  New  York  have  ever  accom- 
plished as  much  in  the  same  period  of  time.  He  secured  the  enactment  of 
important  legislation  affecting  the  business  and  commerce  of  New  York,  the 
results  of  which  can  hardly  be  estimated.  He  introduced  and  carried  to  a  suc- 
cessful issue  the  bill  regulating  immigration,  known  as  the  "head  money," 
which  relieved  the  State  of  New  York  from  an  annual  burden  of  tax  amounting 
to  upwards  of  $250,000.  In  1885  he  reported  from  the  committee  and  caused  to 
be  passed  in  the  Senate  the  "alien  contract  labor"  bill.  American  sailors  owe 
him  a  lasting  debt  of  gratitude  for  his  efforts  to  protect  them  from  the  extortions 
of  sailor  boarding-house  keepers  and  sailor  "runners."  Entrance  to  New  York 
harbor  was  greatly  facilitated  through  Mr.  Miller's  efforts  in  securing  appropria- 
tions for  dredging  and  deepening  the  passage  through  Sandy  Hook  bar.  He 
secured  other  much  needed  appropriations  for  internal  improvements.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  special  committee  which  investigated  and  secured  the  necessary 
legislation  for  the  regulation  of  railroads.  His  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  laboring 
classes  are  well  known,  he  having  promoted  the  passage  of  the  eight-hour  law. 
Though  a  capitalist  himself,  he  has  always  been  the  friend  of  labor.  A  firm 
advocate  of  protection,  his  efforts  have  always  been  in  this  direction.  After  a 
hard  fight,  he  succeeded  in  having  the  tariff  on  iron  ore  raised  from  fifty  to 
seventy-five  cents  a  ton. 

At  the  beginning  of  his  second  term,  he  from  choice  was  made  chairman  of 
the  Committee  on  Agriculture,  and  placed  the  farmers  of  the  country  under 
lasting  obligations  to  him  for  his  fight  against  the  manufacturers  of  oleomar- 
gerine.  Through  his  efforts,  the  bill  creating  a  new  cabinet  office,  known  as 
the  Department  of  Agriculture,  was  secured.  Ben  Perley  Moore  said  of  him, 
that  "Warner  Miller  was  the  first  man  to  give  agriculture  a  national  prominence 
in  the  Senate."  His  efforts  have  never  been  in  the  direction  of  party  legislation 
as  such,  but  always  for  the  public  good.  No  man  ever  entered  the  United  States 
Senate  who  left  it  with  a  brighter,  cleaner  record. 

Mr.  Miller  presided  over  the  first  Republican  State  Convention  held  in  his 
own  State  after  his  election  as  Senator  in  1881.  He  was  made  permanent  presi- 
dent of  the  State  Convention  held  at  Richfield  Springs  in  1883,  and  was  elected 
a  delegate  to  the  Chicago  Convention  in  1884,  which  favored  the  nomination  of 
Blaine  for  President.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  National  Convention  in  1888, 
which  nominated  Benjamin  Harrison  for  President.  His  loyalty  to  his  friends — 
characteristic  of  the  man — was  shown  on  this  occasion,  under  circumstances 
which  would  have  tempted  many  men  to  serve  their  own  interests.  While  work- 
ing to  secure  the  vote  of  his  own  State  for  Harrison,  several  of  the  New  York 
delegates  approached  him.  and  offered  him  their  votes  if  the  New  York  delegation 


SONS    OF    THE    REVOLUTION.  55 

would  present  his  (Miller's)  name  to  the  convention.  This,  however,  he  would 
not  permit,  and  continued  his  efforts  in  behalf  of  his  friend,  which  resulted  in 
his  nomination,  and  no  one  worked  harder  than  Mr.  Miller  to  secure  his  elec- 
tion. When  the  Republican  State  Convention  met  in  the  following  September, 
Mr.  Miller's  name  was  the  only  one  presented  for  the  nomination  for  Governor. 
He  made  a  thorough  canvass  in  every  part  of  the  State,  and,  though  he  had  a 
strong  personal  following,  he  was  defeated  on  the  national  issue,  viz:  that  of  a 
high  protective  tariff,  which  he  adhered  strictly  to  throughout  the  campaign, 
and  which,  owing  to  peculiar  circumstances,  was  not  popular  with  the  masses  at 
that  time.  No  higher  compliment  could  be  paid  to  any  individual  than  was  con- 
tained in  the  remark  of  President  Harrison  in  referring  to  the  splendid  campaign 
work  of  Mr.  Miller,  viz :  that  he  "fell  outside  the  breastworks" — a  characteristic 
of  the  man,  familiar  to  all  who  know  his  methods.  Unselfish,  open  and  frank  by 
nature,  he  is  incapable  of  any  of  "the  tricks  of  trade"  so  often  resorted  to  by 
politicians  to  gain  their  ends. 

Mr.  Miller  became  greatly  interested  in  the  Nicaragua  Canal  project,  and 
in  1889  was  elected  president  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  Construction  Company, 
and  in  company  with  others  made  an  extensive  tour  of  observation  in  Nicaragua 
for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  information  as  to  its  practicability,  and  probable 
success  of  the  enterprise.  He  and  his  entire  party  were  shipwrecked  on  Roncador 
Island  in  the  Carribean  Sea,  but  all  were  saved. 

Mr.  Miller  is  still  extensively  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  wood  pulp 
and  paper,  with  plants  at  Lyon  Falls,  Herkimer  and  Palmer  Falls.  Much  of  his 
time  is  spent  on  his  farm  at  Herkimer,  said  to  be  one  of  the  most  delightful 
residences  in  the  Mowhawk  Valley. 

He  married  in  1865  Caroline  Churchill,  daughter  of  Henry  Churchill, 
a  descendant  of  John  Churchill,  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Plymouth,  Mass. 

They  have  one  daughter,  Augusta,  and  three  sons,  Max,  Burr  and  Guy. 

KENNEDY.     ROBINSON     AND     ALLIED     FAMILIES. 

Including  that  of  William  Bradford  of  the  Mayflower. 

Like  many  other  New  England  names,  that  of  Kennedy  was  probably  entered 
on  the  records  according  to  the  phonetic,  rather  than  the  correct  spelling,  and 
the  name  continued  through  three  or  four  generations  to  be  spelled  Canada  or 
Canady.  In  the  list  of  Revolutionary  soldiers  from  Massachusetts  the  name  is 
recorded  under  the  various  forms  of  Canado.  Canedy,  Canida.  Caneday,  Can- 
nedy.  Conada.  Cannada  and  Kennedy. 

The  name  of  Canada,  or  any  construction  of  the  name  spelled  with  a  "C." 
is  not  found  in  Marshall's  Genealogical  Guide  (London,  1879,),  nor  in  any  of 
Burke's  heraldry  or  other  works.  Savage  gives  the  names  of  only  two  settlers 
of  this  family,  one  as  Kennedy  and  another  James  Canada  of  Rowley,  Mass., 
1671.  There  is  hut  little  doubt  that  all  of  the  above  named  are  descendants  of 
the  old  family  of  Kennedy  of  England  and  Ireland.     Burke  says : 

"The  accounts  which  are  afforded  of  the  family  of  De  Carrick  or  Kennedy 


56  SONS    OF    THE    REVOLUTION. 

and  its  origin  are  various  and  contradictory.  It  has  been  affirmed  by  some  that 
it  sprung  from  the  Irish  house  of  Thomond,  and  by  others  the  first  of  the  name 
who  appeared  in  the  shire  of  Ayr  was  a  second  son  of  MacLean  of  the  Isles,  the 
reason  being  assigned  that  the  MacLeans  and  Kennedys  carry  the  three  cross- 
lets  in  their  armorial  bearings. 

"The  best  Scottish  historian,  Buchanan,  has  told  us  in  his  Latin  work  that 
the  district  of  Galloway,  which  then  included  Carrick,  was  made  over,  for  their 
services  in  war,  to  the  Irish  Scots  in  750.  Much  about  the  same  time,  while 
Mallachy  had  the  sovereignty  of  Ireland,  we  read  that  Kennedy,  father  of  Brian 
Boru,  was  Prince  of  Connaught.  In  850  Kennethe  was  Thane  of  Carrick;  and 
to  this  day  the  name  of  Kennedy  is  pronounced  by  the  country  people  in  Carrick, 
'Kennetie.'  Another  reference  to  the  family  states  that  'From  the  title  deeds  in 
possession  of  the  family,  beginning  with  the  precept  by  Kennedy  of  Bargeny  for 
infefting  Thomas  Kennedy  in  the  lands  of  Knocknalling  and  Knockreoch,  dated 
20  July,  147 1,  it  appears  that  the  Kennedys  have  been  proprietors  of  Knocknalling 
for  upwards  of  four  hundred  years." 

"The  name  we  thus  find,"  says  Burke,  "has  been  known  in  Ireland  and  Scot- 
and  at  a  very  remote  period;  and  it  matters  not  much  from  whom  the  Kennedys 
have  sprung — whether  from  Thomond,  MacLean.  Kilconath,  the  Prince  of  Con- 
naught,  or  from  Kennethe,  Thane  of  Carrick.  It  is,  at  all  events,  certain  that 
they  were  the  ancient  and  chief  inhabitants  of  the  country  where,  although 
decreased  in  number,  they  still  continue  to  have  the  most  extensive  possesions." 

The  first  of  the  family  mentioned  in  any  charter,  Nisbet  informs  us,  is  Dun- 
can de  Carrick,  and  from  the  document  it  appears  that  he  lived  in  the  reign  of 
Malcolm  IV.,  which  began  about  1150.  The  grandson  of  Duncan,  Roland,  of 
Carrick,  had  a  grant  of  land  of  Carrick  from  Neil,  Earl  of  Carrick,  and  was 
declared  chief  of  his  name.    This  grant  was  confirmed  by  Alexander  III. 

The  arms  of  Kennedy,  of  Bargany,  emblazoned  in  1549,  by  Sir  David  Lind- 
say, were  quartered  with  the  Royal  arms  of  France. 

Arms — Quarterly:  1st  and  4th  Kennedy,  argent,  a  chevron,  gules,  between 
three  crosslets,  fitchee,  sable;  2nd  and  3rd,  France,  azure,  three  fleur-de-lis,  or. 
The  shield  supported  on  the  dexter  side  by  a  female,  and  on  the  sinister  by  a 
wyvern.  Crest — A  fleur-de-lis,  or,  issuing  out  of  two  oak-leaves  ppr.  Motto — 
Frimus. 

Three  persons  named  Canada  are  found  in  the  early  records  of  Massachu- 
setts, viz :  Daniel,  John,  James.  They  were  probably  brothers,  although  the 
relationship  has  never  been  established. 

Daniel  Canada,  the  progenitor  of  the  Windham.  Ct.,  branch  of  the  family, 
was  born  about  1654  or  1656.  His  name  first  appears  on  the  Muster  Roll  of 
Capt.  Mosely's  company,  which  served  during  King  Philip's  war,  1675-6.  His 
name  also  appears  among  those  who  did  garrison  duty  at  Groton,  Mass.,  June  20, 
1675.  He  died  June  11,  1695.  He  married  Sept.  10th,  1681  Hannah  Cooke,  born 
1656,  probably  daughter  of  Henry  Cooke  and  Judith  Burdsall.  Their  children 
were  Daniel,  born  Aug.  10,  1682;  David,  July  7,  1683;  Josiah,  July  14,  1687; 
Isaac  (1),  July  21,  1689;  Eliza,  March  21,  1682. 


SONS     OF    THE    REVOLUTION.  57 

Isaac  Canada,  son  of  Daniel  and  Hannah  (Cooke)  Canada,  was  born  prob- 
ably in  Salem,  Mass.,  July  21,  1689.  He  removed  to  Windham  County,  Conn., 
and  settled  in  that  part  of  the  town  of  Windham  formerly  known  as  Hampton. 
Barbour,  in  his  Historical  Collections  of  Connecticut,  page  42,  says :  Hampton 
was  incorporated  a  town  in  1786.  "It  was  mostly  formed  from  the  second  society 
of  Windham,  which  was  formed  as  a  society  in  1720,  and  was  called  Kennedy, 
or  Windham  village.  The  place  appears  to  have  been  named  from  a  Mr.  Ken- 
nedy, who,  with  his  family,  were  the  first  settlers  in  the  society."  His  children, 
especially  David,  were  conspicuous  in  public  affairs  during  the  early  settlement 
of  the  county.  The  latter  appears  as  a  petitioner  to  the  General  Court  in  1765  for 
the  sale  of  the  common  and  undivided  lands  in  Windham.  Isaac  Canada  mar- 
ried Jan.  21,  1729,  Phebe  Leonard,  daughter  probably  of  Samuel  Leonard,  of 
Duxbury,  Mass.,  and  Preston,  Conn.,  son  of  Solomon  Leonard,  of  Duxbury, 
Mass. 

Solomon  Leonard,  of  Duxbury  and  Bridgewater,  Mass.,  was  horn  at  Mon- 
mouthshire, England,  about  1610,  died  at  Bridgewater,  Mass..  1675.  The  family 
is  one  of  considerable  antiquity  in  England,  and  is  represented  by  Lords  Dacre 
and  Earls  of  Sussex.  Solomon  Leonard  came  to  America  from  Leyden,  Holland, 
(whither  he  had  probably  gone  to  escape  persecution)  about  1630.  He  was  first 
in  Plymouth,  Mass.,  and  was  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the  town  of  Duxbury, 
Mass.,  1637.  He  had  land  at  "Blue  Fish,"  in  what  is  now  the  northerly  part 
of  the  village  of  Duxbury,  near  the  bay;  and  it  is  said  of  him  that  he  "escaped 
the  ravages  of  fire  and  flood."  With  Capt.  Miles  Standish,  Gov.  William  Brad- 
ford, John  Alden,  Constant  Southworth  and  others,  Solomon  Leonard  became 
one  of  the  original  proprietors  of  Bridgewater,  and  one  of  its  earliest  settlers.     Ele 

married     Mary    and     had     Samuel,      John,     Jacob,     Isaac,     Soloman, 

Mary. 

Samuel  Leonard  son  of  Solomon  and  Mary  ( )  Leonard,  was  born  in 

Duxbury  about  1645.  He  married  Abigail  Wood,  of  Plymouth,  before  1676, 
daughter  of  John  and  Sarah  Wood,  of  Plymouth.  He  lived  at  Bridgewater  at 
the  time,  but  became  an  early  proprietor  of  Worcester,  Mass.,  before  1690,  where 
his  son  Samuel  was  captured  by  the  Indians.  About  1695  he  removed  to  Preston, 
Conn.,  and  was  an  original  member  of  the  first  church  there.  Nov.  16.  1698. 
He  had  six  children,  of  whom  Phebe,  born  Oct.   17,   1703.  was  the  youngest. 

Isaac  Kennedy  or  Canada  by  his  wife  Phebe  (Leonard)  Canada  had  a  son 
Isaac   (2). 

Isaac  Kennedy  (2),  son  of  Isaac  (1)  and  Phebe  (Leonard)  Kennedy.  was 
born  in  Windham,  Conn.,  Dec.  23,  1732.  Referring  to  the  patriotism  of  the 
people  of  Windham,  Miss  Earned,  in  her  history  of  Windham  (vol.  I,  p.  566), 
says:  In  the  war  with  France,  declared  1756,  Windham  bore  her  part  with 
unshaken  courage  and  fidelity.  "Among  those  who  enlisted  from  Windham 
are  found  the  names  of  Isaac  and  Jonathan  Canada.  Although  little  mention  is 
made  of  Isaac  Kennedy,  it  is  known  that  he  was  a  man  of  considerable  education 
and  refinement  for  those  days,  and  a  man  of  property.  His  life-size  portrait  re- 
presents him  with  a  book  in  his  hand,  which  clearly  indicates  his  tastes  and  in- 
clinations.   While  his  name  does  not  appear  in  the  list  of  "Connecticut  Men  of 


S§  SONS    OF    THE    REVOLUTION. 

the  Revolution,"  he  may  have  rendered  service,  as  it  is  known  that  this  list  is  in- 
complete. His  patriotism  was  shown  in  the  fact  that  he  had  already  rendered 
service  in  the  French  war.  and  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution, 
he  was  well  advanced  in  years.  He  married  Miriam  Fitch,  daughter  of  John 
Fitch.  Jr.,  son  of  Capt.  John  Fitch,  son  of  Rev.  James  Fitch,  son  of 
Thomas. 

Thomas  Fitch,  of  Bocking,  England,  born  1590,  died  1645,  married  Aug.  8, 
[611,  Anna  Pew,  who  survived  him  and  came  to  America  with  her  three  younger 
sons,  two  elder  ones  having  came  some  years  before,  and  all  settled  in  Connecti- 
cut. Several  daughters  and  perhaps  other  sons  remained  in  England.  The  five 
sons  who  came  to  America  were:  Thomas,  who  came  in  1638,  and  Rev.  James, 
both  of  whom  settled  in  Norwich.  Joseph,  who  settled  at  Windsor,  and  Samuel, 
who  settled  at  Hartford,  and  John,  who  settled  at  Windsor. 

Rev.  Jaine^  Fitch,  of  Norwich  and  Lebanon.  Conn.,  was  the  son  of  Thomas 
and  Anna  (Pew)  Fitch.  The  monumental  tablet  that  marks  his  grave  in 
Lebanon  has  an  elaborate  Latin  inscription,  said  to  have  been  written  by  his 
son,  Rev.  Jabez  Fitch,  of  which  the  following  is  a  translation: 

"In  this  tomb  are  deposited  the  remains  of  the  truly  Reverend  Mr.  James 
Fitch,  born  at  Bocking  in  the  county  of  Essex.  England,  December  24,  1622,  who, 
after  he  had  been  instructed  in  the  learned  languages,  came  to  New  England  at  the 
age  of  16.  and  passed  seven  years  under  the  instruction  of  those  eminent  divines. 
Mr.  Hooker  and  Air.  Stone.  Afterward  he  discharged  the  pastoral  office  at 
Saybrook  for  14  years,  from  whence,  with  the  greater  part  of  his  church,  he 
removed  to  Norwich,  and  there  spent  the  succeeding  years  of  his  life,  engaged 
in  the  work  of  the  Gospel,  until  age  and  infirmity  obliged  him  to  withdraw 
from  public  labor.  At  length  he  retired  to  his  children  at  Lebanon,  where 
scarcely  half  a  year  had  passed  when  he  fell  asleep  in  Jesus  Nov.  18.  1702.  in 
the  80th  year  of  his  age.  He  was  a  man.  for  penetration  of  mind,  solidity  of 
judgment,  devotion  to  the  sacred  duties  of  his  office,  and  entire  holiness  of  life, 
as  also  for  skill  and  energy  in  preaching,  inferior  to  none." 

In  May.  1656.  while  Mr  Fitch  was  living  at  Saybrook.  the  General  Court 
granted  him  a  "compitent  farme  containing  bet :  2  &  300  Acres  at  Manun- 
keteseck." 

A  majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  Saybrook  joined  Mr.  Fitch  in  the  applica- 
tion to  the  General  Court  in  May,  1659.  to  establish  a  plantation  in  the  Mohegan 
country,  as  follows  : 

"Hartford,  May  20.  '50.  This  Court  haveing  considered  the  petition  pre- 
sented by  the  inhabitants  of  Seabrook  doe  declare  yt  they  approve  and  consent 
to  what  is  desired  by  ye  petitioners,  respecting  Mohegin.  proided  yt  within  ye 
space  of  three  years  they  doe  effect  a  Plantation  in  ye  place  pr'  pounded." 

Mr.  Fitch  was  eminently  successful  in  his  new  field  of  labor,  and  was  greatly 
beloved  throughout  the  State. 

The  oldest  Election  Sermon  in  Connecticut  of  which  any  record  has  been 
discovered  was  preached  by  Mr.  Fitch  in  1674  from  the  text:    "For  I  saith  the 


SONS    OF    THE    REVOLUTION.  59 

Lord  will  be  unto  her  a  wall  of  fire  round  about  and  will  be  the  glory  in  the 
midst  of  them." 

As  a  pastor,  Mr.  Fitch  was  zealous  and  indefatigable.  In  addition  to  other 
labors  he  trained  several  young  men  for  the  ministry  as  he  himself  had  been 
trained  by  Mr.  Hooker. 

He  was  a  man  of  true  philanthropy,  and  of  enlarged  missionary  zeal.  He 
made  early  efforts  to  instruct  the  natives  in  the  truth  of  the  gospel.  He  took 
pains  to  acquire  their  tongue  and  was  a  frequent  visitor  at  their  wigwams.  H» 
impressed  them  with  his  own  sincerity  and  benevolence,  so  that  others,  who, 
like  Uncas  himself,  remained  obstinate  in  their  unbelief,  accorded  him  their 
entire  confidence  and  regarded  him  with  affectionate  respect. 

hn  addition  to  a  tract  of  land  of  120  acres,  granted  him  by  the  General 
Assembly  of  Conn.,  Oweneco.  son  and  successor  of  Uncas,  gave  to  Mr.  Fitch 
for  favors  received,  a  tract  of  land  five  miles  long  and  one  mile  wide  along  the 
Franklin  line  to  near  the  Williamantic  river.  Mr.  Fitch  gave  the  beautiful  town 
of  Lebanon,  Conn,  its  name,  suggested  by  the  ancient  "Cedars  of  Lebanon." 

Mr.  Fitch  was  twice  married  and  had  fourteen  children,  whose  births  are 
all  recorded  at  Norwich,  though  the  first  son  was  born  in  Saybrook.  His  first 
wife  was  Abagail,  daughter  of  Rev.  Henry  Whitfield,  whom  he  married  Oct.  1648; 
she  died  at  Saybrook,  Sept.  9,  1659.  and  in  Oct..  1664.  he  married  Priscilla. 
daughter  of  Major  (known  as  Captain)  John  Mason. 

Major  John  Mason  was  noted  as  a  military  and  civil  leader  among  the  col- 
onists of  Connecticut.  In  both  of  these  capacities  he  rendered  important  ser- 
vice to  his  fellow-colonists,  first  by  the  destruction  of  the  Pequot  fort  near 
Groton,  Conn.,  freeing  the  colony  from  these  inveterate  enemies,  and  later  ser- 
ving for  years  as  magistrate  and  Deputy  Governor  of  the  colony  of  Connect- 
icut. He  was  a  prominent  member  of  Mr.  Fitche's  church  in  Saybrook,  and  it 
was  chiefly  through  his  influence  that  the  members  were  induced  to  Mohigan 
(Norwich),  of  which  town  they  were  the  founders.  Miss  Caulkins.  in  her  his- 
tory of  Norwich,  says  of  him :  "He  is  one  of  the  prominent  figures  -n  oi:r  early 
history.  He  shines  forth  as  a  valiant  soldier  and  wise  counselor.  He  was  pru- 
dent, and  yet  enterprising,  fertile  in  resources ;  prompt  and  heroic  in  the  field  of 
action.  The  natural  ardor  of  his  mind,  fostered  by  early  military  adventures, 
and  continually  called  into  exercise  by  great  emergencies  made  him  a  fearless 
leader  in  war.  Sturdy  in  frame  and  hardy  in  constitution ;  regardless  of  danger, 
fatigue  or  exposure,  he  was  invaluable  as  a  pioneer  in  difficult  enterprises,  and 
a  founder  of  new  plantations.  He  was  also  a  religious  man  and  a  patriot  of 
virtuous  habits  and  moderate  ambition." 

His  wife  Anne  (Peck)  Mason  was  a  woman  of  eminent  piety,  and  gifted 
with  a  measure  of  knowledge  above  what  is  usual  in  her  sex.  Of  the  seven 
children  of  Major  Mason.  Priscilla.  born  Oct.  1641.  was  the  eldest. 

Among  the  children  born  to  Rev.  James  Fitch  by  Priscilla  ("Mason)  Fitch. 
was  John. 

Captain  John  Fitch,  eighth  child  of  Rev.  James  and  Priscilla  (Mason) 
Fitch,  was  born  January,  1667.     He  settled  in  Windsor,  Conn. ;  had  a  superior 


60  SONS    OF    THE    REVOLUTION. 

education  for  that  day.  He  was  chosen  in  1704,  Town  Clerk,  and  held  the  office 
by  successive  re-elections  until  his  decease  in  1743,  a  period  of  thirty-eight  years. 
He  was  also  Judge  of  Probate,  Captain  of  militia,  and  represented  the  town  in 
General  Assembly  twenty  different  sessions,  owned  the  covenant  in  Norwich 
church.  1700.  He  was  a  man  of  wealth,  superior  social  position  and  extensive 
influence.  He  married  July  10.  1605.  Elizabeth,  eldest  daughter  of  Thomas  and 
Miriam  (Tracy)  Waterman. 

Thomas  Waterman  was  a  nephew  of  the  wife  of  John  Bradford,  and  the  son 
of  Robert  Waterman  and  Elizabeth  Bourne  of  Marshfield,  who  were  married 
Dec.  9.  16.38.  Thomas,  their  eldest  son.  was  born  in  1644.  and  probably  came 
to  Norwich  with  his  uncle  Bradford  in  Nov.,  1668.  He  was  joined  in  wedlock 
with  Miriam,  only  daughter  and  youngest  child  of  Thomas  Tracy. 

Thomas  Tracy  was  born  at  Tewksbury,  Gloucestershire.  Eng.,  in  1610.  His 
descent  is  traced  in  a  direct  line  through  the  several  generations  to  Woden,  the 
first  ancestor  of  the  Tracys.  who  lived  in  the  third  century.  The  line  includes 
Alfred  the  Great;  Aethelbred  II.  A.  D..  978;  John  de  Sudeley,  Lord  of  Sudeley 
and  Torrington.  who  married  Grace  de  Tracie.  daughter  and  heiress  of  Henri 
de  Tracie,  Lord  of  Barnstaple;  and  Sir  William  de  Tracie,  one  of  the  four 
Knights,  who  in  1770,  at  the  instigation  of  King  Henry  II,  assasinated  Thomas 
Becket.  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

Thomas  Tracy,  the  American  ancestor,  came  to  America  and  settled  first  at 
Salem.  Mass..  remaining  until  Feb.  23,  1637.  when  he  removed  to  Wethersfield, 
Conn.  In  1652  and  1653  he  was  at  Saybrook.  In  1645  he  and  Thomas  Leffing- 
well,  with  others,  relieved  Uncas.  the  Sachem  of  the  Mohigans.  with  provisions 
when  he  was  besieged  at  Shattuck's  Point  by  Pessachus,  Sachem  of  the  Narra- 
gansetts,  which  led  to  the  subcequcnt  grant  of  the  town  of  Norwich  in  1659.  He 
removed  there  with  his  family  in  1660.  and  became  one  of  the  proprietors.  In 
1662  he  was  chosen  by  the  people  one  of  the  court  of  commission ;  in  1666  he 
was  appointed  "ensign  at  Norridge."  He  was  deputy  to  the  General  Court  from 
Norwich  in  1667  to  1676.  and  in  1678,  and  in  1682,  '83  and  '85,  he  represented 
Preston.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Colonial  Assembly  for  more  than  twenty 
sessions.  In  1673  he  was  appointed  Lieutenant  of  the  forces  raised  in  New  Lon- 
don county  to  wage  war  against  the  Dutch  and  Indians.  In  1674  he  was  com- 
missary or  quartermaster  to  the  dragoons,  and  in  1678  was  appointed  justice.  He 
was  a  gentleman  of  consequence  in  the  community,  a  thorough  business  man 
and  of  the  very  best  personal  character.  He  left  an  estate  of  5,000  acres  of  land, 
valued  at  £680.  He  married  1st  at  Wethersfield,  1641,  Mary,  widow  of  Edward 
Mason.  She  was  the  mother  of  his  seven  children,  and  died  at  Saybrook.  He 
married  2d  at  Norwich,  before  1679.  Martha,  widow  of  Gov.  Bradford's  son  John, 
and  a  daughter  of  Thomas  Bourne  of  Marshfield,  Mass.  He  married  3d  at  Nor- 
wich. Mary,  born  1623  in  England,  widow  first  of  John  Stoddard,  who  died  in 
1664  ;  second  of  John  Goodrich,  who  died  in  1680.  a  daughter  of  Nathaniel  and 
Elizabeth  (Deming)  Foote,  of  Wethersfield.  Seven  children  were  the  issue  of 
this  marriage,  the  youngest  of  whom,  Miriam,  became  the  wife  of  Thomas 
Waterman,  whose  daughter  Miriam  was  married  to  Capt.  John  Fitch. 


SONS    OF    THE    REVOLUTION.  6l 

Capt.  John  Fitch,  by  his  wife  Miriam  (Tracy-Waterman)  Fitch,  had  four 
children,  of  whom  John  (2)  was  the  youngest. 

John  Fitch  (2)  son  of  Capt.  John  and  Miriam  (Tracy-Waterman)  Fitch, 
was  born  March  18,  1705.  He  married  Jan.  25,  1730,  Alice  (born  Jan.  30,  1713,), 
daughter  of  Ebenezer  Fitch,  son  of  Major  James  Fitch.  The  latter  was  an  influ- 
ential man,  a  brave  and  experienced  soldier  in  the  Indian  wars,  a  noted  friend  of 
the  Indians,  with  whom  (after  the  death  of  Major  John  Mason)  he  possessed 
more  influence  than  any  one  else  in  the  colony.  He  was  active  in  politics,  one  of 
the  Assistants,  1681 ;  also  an  early  patron  of  Yale  College,  to  which  he  gave  the 
glass  and  nails  for  its  first  edifice,  and  an  endowment  of  630  acres  of  land  which 
insured  its  permanent  establishment.  He  died  at  Canterbury,  Conn.,  Nov.  10, 
1727.  His  wife  Elizabeth  was  the  youngest  daughter  of  Major  John  Mason 
(sister  to  his  father's  second  wife)  ;  his  second  wife,  to  whom  he  was  married 
May  8,  1687,  was  Mrs.  Alice  (daughter  of  Major  William  Bradford,  son  of  Gov. 
Wi'liam  Bradford  of  the  Mayflower,),  and  widow  of  Rev.  William  Adams  of 
Dedham,  Mass.    She  was  the  mother  of  Alice,  wife  of  John  Fitch  (2). 

John  Fitch,  by  his  wife  Alice  Fitch,  had  a  daughter  Miriam,  born  June  3, 
1 741,  who  married  Isaac  Kennedy. 

Isaac  Kennedy,  by  his  wife  Miriam  (Fitch)  Kennedy,  had  issue  Clarinda, 
born  Oct.  19,  1761 ;  Jerusha,  Feb.  25,  1763;  Rachael,  March  20,  1765  ;Leonard, 
March  3,  1767;  Harriet,  Sep.  16,  1769;  Thomas,  Nov.  11,  1721 ;  Algernon  Sidney, 
Dec.  19.  177S;  Lucy  Fitch,  Sep.  20,  1779;  Eunice,  June  10,  1783. 


LEONARD  KENNEDY  (1). 
Leonard  Kennedy,  eldest  son  and  fourth  child  of  Isaac  and  Miriam  (Fitch) 


62  SONS    OF    THE    REVOLUTION. 

Kennedy,  was  born  in  Windham,  Conn.,  March  3,  1767;  died  Sept.  19,  1842.  He 
was  the  first  of  his  family  to  engage  in  mechanical  and  mercantile  affairs.  He 
had  a  fairly  good  education  for  the  times,  and  early  in  life  removed  to  Hartford, 
Conn.,  where  le  established  himself  in  the  manufacture  an!  sale  of  joiners' 
tools.  With  the  limited  facilities  of  those  days  he  did  an  extensive  business 
and  achieved  quite  a  reputation  in  this  line,  his  goods  being  of  the  highest  stand- 
ard and  quality,  and  comparing  favorably  with  the  best  imported  goods  in  the 
market.  He  was  the  Hartford  pioneer  in  this  branch  of  hardware  manufactures 
and  was  one  of  the  enterprising  business  men  who  gave  this  old  town  its  start  as 
a  great  manufacturing  centre. 

Like  his  father,  he  was  a  devout  adherent  of  the  old  Congregational  church 
and  a  firm  believer  in  the  Calvanist  doctrine,  but  on  listening  to  a  sermon  from  a 
Universalist  minister,  he  at  once  became  a  convert  to  that  faith,  and  was  one  of 
the  founders  of  the  First  Universalist  Church  in  Hartford.  He  was  a  firm 
believer  in  the  universal  brotherhood  of  man,  and  was  among  the  first  of  the  old 
Puritan  descendants  to  put  his  faith  in  practice.  His  love  for  his  fellow-men 
was  strong,  and  his  "faith  and  works"  went  together,  and  in  all  the  affairs  of  life 
he  exemplified  the  teachings  of  the  Master  and  was  known  in  the  community  as 
a  man  of  broad  and  liberal  views,  both  in  religion  and  politics. 

Mr.  Kennedy  married  Fanny  Parmela  Lewis,  born  in  Colchester,  April  24, 
1781,  daughter  of  Ephraim  Lewis  and  Lois  Ransom,  son  of  Ephraim,  son  of 
Benjamin,  son  of  Thomas,  son  of  George  Lewis,  the  ancestor. 

George  Lewis,  the  ancestor  of  this  branch  of  the  Lewis  family,  came  from 
East  Greenwich,  in  Kent,  Eng.  He  married  Sarah  Jenkins,  sister  of  Edward 
Jenkins,  who  afterwards  emigrated  to  Plymouth.  He  joined  the  church  at 
Scituate,  Mass.,  where  he  had  lands.  He  was  made  freeman  March  7,  1636; 
removed  to  Barnstable  1640,  where  he  resided  till  his  death. 

Referring  to  the  origin  of  this  family,  Burke  says:  "This  family  derives  in 
a  direct  male  line  from  Cadivor,  prince  or  chieftain  of  Divet,  a  portion  of 
country  which  comprised  Pembrokeshire,  and  part  of  Carmarthenshire.  Cad- 
ivor flourished  about  the  period  of  the  Norman  Conquest,  and  was  buried  in  the 
priory  of  Carmarthen.  The  family  bore  Arms— Or,  a  lion  rampant,  guardant, 
sable.  Crest— A  griffin  sejeant,  sable.  Motto— Ha  persa  la  fide,  ha,  perso 
l'honore.     Seat — St.  Pierre,  near  Chepstow. 

The  will  of  George  Lewis,  above  mentioned,  was  exhibited  at  Court,  March 
3,  1683.  It  mentions  sons  Ephraim,  George,  Thomas,  James,  Edward,  John  and 
daughter  Sarah. 

Thomas  Lewis,  sen  of  George  Lewis,  was  born  probably  in  England.  He 
married  June  15,  1653.  Mary  Davis,  daughter  of  Dola  Davis  of  Cambridge.  He 
removed  to  Swanzey,  Mass.,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  first  settlers;  was  select- 
man there;  he  remove.!  thence  to  Falmouth,  of  which  he  was  the  first  town 
clerk.     He  had  a  son  Benjamin. 

married  June  15,  1653,  Mary  Davis,  daughter  of  Dollard  Davis  of  Cambridge.    He 
daughter  of  John  and  Hannah  Crowell,  and  had  a  son  Ephraim. 

Ephraim  Lewis,  son  of  Benjamin,  was  born  in  Colchester,  Conn.,  about  1746. 


SONS    OF    THE    REVOLUTION. 


63 


Ephraim  Lewis,  son  of  Benjamin,  was  born  in  Colchester,  Conn.,  about  1746. 
He  married  Lois  Ransom,  born  Aug.  16,  1748,  daughter  of  James  Ransom  and 
Sarah  Treadway. 

Lieut.  James  Ransom,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was  Lieutenant  of  8th 
Company,  2nd  Regiment  (Spencer's).  He  served  during  the  siege  of  Boston, 
took  part  in  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  and  later  in  the  battle  of  Long  Island.  His 
name  is  on  the  list  of  New  London  pensioners  in  1832. 

Leonard  Kennedy  (1),  by  his  wife  Fanny  Parmela  (Lewis)   Kennedy,  had 


issue:    Daniel  Lewis, 


>5,  1772;  Leonard,  Nov.  4,  1794;  died  April  9,  1796; 


Fanny  Lewis,  Jan.  18,  1797:  Leonard  again,  March  30,  1799;  Algernon  Sidney, 
Jan.  2,  1802;  Miriam  Fiich,  March  18,  1804;  Jeremiah,  April  6,  1806;  died  Dec. 
30,  1807. 


LEONARD  KENNEDY  (2). 


Leonard  Kennedy  (2),  son  of  Leonard  (1)  and  Fanny  Parmela  (Lewis), 
was  born  in  Hartford.  Conn..  March  30,  1799-  His  educational  advantages  were 
superior  to  those  of  his  predecessors,  as  Hartford  had  at  that  time,  as  the  result 
of  the  sale  of  the  "Western  Reserve"  lands,  probably  the  best  free  school  system 
in  the  country.  He  succeeded  his  father  in  the  manufacturing  and  mercantile 
business  in  Hartford,  which  he  carried  on  for  several  years.  In  1847  he  went 
to  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  as  the  representative  of  the  Aetna  and  other  Hartford  in- 
surance companies,  and  was  the  pioneer  there  in  this  line  of  business.  He 
was  favorably  known  from  one  end  of  the  State  to  the  other.  In  the  very  prime 
of  life  at  that  time,  he  had  all  the  Yankee  push,  energy  and  daring,  the  most 
important  requisites  for  the  development  of  the  new  country.     He  became  spe- 


64  SONS    OF    THE    REVOLUTION. 

cially  interested  in  the  political  affairs  of  the  State,  being  identified  with  the  old 
Whig  party.  His  influence  was  felt  all  the  more  because  he  worked  for  the 
beneht  of  others  rather  than  himself.  He  became  the  Warwick  of  his  party,  and 
dictated  many  of  the  most  important  appointments  111  the  btate.  He  worked  for 
the  success  of  his  party,  but  wnen  any  great  principle  was  involved,  he  placed 
patriotism  above  partisanship. 

During  this  period  lie  was  intrusted  with  a  most  important  and  delicate  mis- 
sion by  the  U.  S.  Government,  viz:  that  of  special  agent  for  the  northwest  to  in- 
vestigate and  correct  the  abti.-es  whicn  had  gradually  crept  nno  the  several  land 
offices  throughout  that  part  ul  the  country,  it  uas  a  most  hazardous  and  difficult 
undertaking,  requiring  courage,  tact,  shrewdness  and  energy.  He  made  long 
journeys  through  the  wilderness,  sail  inhabited  by  Indians,  provided  with  a 
proper  guard,  and  lull}  equipped  for  "emergencies."  He  made  every  agent  and 
dealer  in  western  lands  feel  that  the  eye  of  the  Government  was  upon  them,  and 
would  exact  he  most  rigid  accounting  from  them  in  their  dealings  with  settlers. 
He  recommended  a  system  for  the  correction  of  the  abuses,  which  was  adopted 
by  the  Government,  removing  all  friction  between  real  estate  operators  and  set- 
tlers, restoring  confidence  and  thus  encouraging  immigration.  About  1681  he 
went  to  Marysville,  Cal.,  where  he  remained  for  a  few  years,  and  then  returned 
to  his  native  city  of  Hartford,  where  he  spent  his  remaining  days  amid  the 
scenes  of  his  childhood. 

Air.  Kenneuy  married  July  14,  1825,  Parthenia  Robinson  (born  at  More- 
town,  Vt.,  Nov.  19,  1802;  died  at  Hartford,  Conn.,  April  11,  1874),  daughter  of 
Capt.  Elijah  Robinson  (2),  son  of  Col.  Elijah  Robinson,  son  of  Benjamin,  son 
of  Lieut.  Peter,  son  of  Isaac,  son  of  Rev.  John  Robinson,  of  Scrooby,  England. 

Rev.  John  Robinson,  of  Scrooby,  England,  and  Leyden,  Holland,  was  born 
in  Lincolnshire,  England,  1575;  died  in  Leyden,  Holland,  March  11,  1625.  He 
took  his  Master's  degree  at  Cambridge,  1600.  He  was  an  eminent  divine  and  was 
the  founder  of  Congregationalism,  which  became  the  creed  of  the  Pilgrim  fathers. 
He  married  Bridget  White,  and  had  Isaac. 

Isaac  Robinson,  son  of  Rev.  John  and  Bridget  (White)  Robinson,  was  born 
in  Leyden,  Holland,  came  to  Plymouth,  Mass.,  1631,  moved  to  Duxbury  1634, 
and  to  Scituate  1636,  and  married  Margaret,  daughter  of  Rev.  Thomas  Hanford, 
of  Norwich,  Conn.  She  died  in  1649,  and  he  married  2d,  Elizabeth  Farence,  of 
Plymouth.    They  had  Peter. 

Lieut.  Peter  Robinson,  son  of  Isaac,  was  born  after  1653;  died  in  1740.  He 
settled  in  Norwich  and  Preston,  Conn.  ;  married  Experience,  daughter  of  John 
Manton. 

They  had  issue  Benjamin. 

Benjamin  Robinson,  son  of  Lieutenant  Peter  and  Experience  (Manton) 
Robinson,  born  about  1700,  settled  in  Windham  and  Lebanon,  Conn.,  married 
Jerusha  Bingham,  daughter  of  Capt.  Samuel,  son  of  Thomas  (3),  son  of 
Thomas  (2),  son  of  Thomas  (1). 

The  family  of  Bingham,  of  Saxon  origin,  was  originally  seated  at  Sutton- 
Bingham,   in  the   county  of  Somerset,   and  thence  removed  to    Melcombe   in 


SONS     OF    THE     REVOLUTION.  65 

Dorsetshire.  Sir  John  de  Bingham,  Knight,  living  in  the  reign  of  Henry  I, 
was  direct  ancestor  of  Ralph  de  Bingham,  who  had  two  sons,  Ralph,  his  heir. 
and  Robert,  a  man  of  eminent  piety  and  learning,  consecrated  in  1229.  Bishop 
of  Salisbury,  the  building  of  which  Cathedral,  commenced  by  his  predecessor, 
he  carried  on.  This  family  bore  .Inns — Azure,  a  bend,  cottised  between  six 
crosses-patee,  or.  Crest — On  a  rock  ppr.  an  eagle  rising,  or.  Motto — Spes 
mea  Christus  (Christ  my  hope). 

Thomas  Bingham  (1),  the  progenitor  of  the  American  family  of  this  name, 
may  have  been  a  son  or  grandson  of  Thomas,  son  of  Robert  Bingham,  thir- 
teenth in  descent  from  Sir  John  de  Bingham.  Knight,  the  first  of  the  name 
mentioned.  Thomas  Bingham  (  1  )  was  of  Sheffield,  Eng.,  master  cutler  in 
Cutler's  Company,  Dec.  21,  1614.     He  had  Thomas  (2). 

Thomas  Bingham  (2),  son  of  Thomas  (1),  was  of  Sheffield.  Eng.  He  mar- 
ried July  6,  1631.  Anna  Stenton.  and  had  Thomos   (3). 

Thomas  Bingham  (3),  son  of  Thomas  (2).  and  Anna  (Stenton)  Bingham, 
was  born  in  Sheffield,  Eng..  1642,  died  in  Windham.  Conn..  Jan.  16.  1730.  He 
was  an  original  settler  of  Norwich,  Conn..  1660.  freeman  [661.  He  moved  to 
Windham.  Conn.,  where  he  was  sergeant,  selectman,  deacon,  etc.  He  married 
Mary  Rudd,  daughter  of   Lieut.  Jonathan   Rudd. 

Lieut.  Jonathan  Rudd  came  to  New  Haven,  Conn.,  about  1640,  and  settled 
first  in  Saybrook,  and  later  was  one  of  the  petitioners  for  the  erection  of  the 
town  of  Preston,  Conn.,  opposite  Norwich.  He  is  best  known  in  history  as  the 
chief  actor  in  the  most  romantic  marriage  that  ever  took  place  in  the  colony. 
His  bride  was  Faith  Ripley.     It  is  known  as  the  "Bride  Brook  marriage." 

The  bans  were  published  according  to  law.  the  wedding  day  fixed,  the 
magistrate  notified,  but  alas. 

"There's  many  a  slip  between  the  cup  and  the  lip.'* 

There  came  a  heavy  fall  of  snow  which  blocked  the  roads,  and  the  magistrate, 
who  resided  at  one  of  the  up-river  towns,  could  not  possibly  reach  there  in 
time.  In  this  dilemma,  they  applied  to  Gov.  Winthrop  to  perform  the  cere- 
mony, but  he,  deriving  his  authority  from  Massachusetts,  could  not  legally 
officiate  in  Connecticut.  In  his  account  of  the  affair  he  says :  "I  told  them 
that  for  an  expedient,  for  their  accommodation,  if  they  come  to  the  plantation 
it  might  be  done.  But  that  bing  too  difficult  for  them,  it  was  agreed  that  they 
should  come  to  that  place  which  is  now  called  Bride  Brook,  as  being  a  place 
within  the  bonds  of  that  authority  whereby  I  then  acted,  otherwise  I  had  ex- 
ceeded the  limitation  of  my  commission." 

The  proposition  was  accepted.  The  couple  crossed  the  rue;-  to  what  is 
now  New  London  county,  and  on  the  :>r'mk  01  the  little  stream,  the  boundary 
between  the  two  colonies,  the  parties  met;  Winthrop  and  In-  friends  from 
Pequot  (New  London)  and  the  bridal  train  from  Saybrook.  Here  the  cere- 
mony was  performed  under  the  shelter  of  no  roof  by  no  hospitable  fireside. 
without  anv  accommodations  but  those  furnished   by   the   snow-covered   earth. 


66  SONS     OF    THE     REVOLUTION. 

the  overarching  heavens  and  perchance  the  sheltering  side  of  a  forest  of  pines 
or  cedars. 

"Firm  as  the  rocky  coast  they  stood 

And  earnest  as  the  rushing  flood 

Disdaining  fear,  yet  fearing  God, 

Each  man  was  both  a  lamb  and  lion, 
With  heart  of  flesh,  but  nerves  of  iron. 

"She  stood  like  summer  on  the  snow. 

No  morning  dawn  around  could  throw 

Such  rosy  light,  so  warm  a  glow — 

And  hovering  clouds  with  seraphs  laden 
Showered  heavenly  blessings  on  the  maiden. 

"Then  hands  were  clasped  and  Winthrop  prayed ; 
The  life-long  covenant  was  made; 
High  heaven  a  mute  attention  paid; 

Winds,  groves  and  hills  with  reverence  lowly 

Trembled  around  a  scene  so  holy." 

[Bride  Brook,  issuing  from  a  beautiful  sheet  of  water,  known  as  Bride 
Lake  or  Pond,  and  runs  into  the  Sound  about  a  mile  from  Grant's  Cove.  J 

Faith  Ripley,  the  bride,  was  the  daughter  of  Joshua  Ripley,  son  of  John, 
son  of  William  Ripley,  the  American  ancestor. 

William  Ripley,  with  his  wife,  two  sons  and  two  daughters,  came  from 
Hingham,  Norfolk  county,  England,  on  ship  Diligence,  and  settled  in  Hing- 
ham,  Ma>\,  1638.  He  married  for  his  second  wife,  Elizabeth,  widow  of  Thomas 
Thaxter,  Sept.  29,  1654.  He  died  July  20,  1656.  They  had  issue  John,  Abraham, 
Sarah. 

John  Ripley,  son  of  William  and  Elizabeth  (Thaxter)  Ripley,  was  born 
in  Hingham,  Eng. ;  died  in  Hingham,  Mass..  Feb.  3,  1683.  He  married  Eliza- 
beth, daughter  of  Rev.  Peter  Hobart,  educated  at  Magdalen  College,  Eng.,  one 
of  the  founders  of  Hingham,  Mass.,  first  pastor  of  the  church  at  Hingham, 
who  died  in  1692  in  the  60th  year  of  his  age.  John  Ripley  and  his  wife  had 
seven  children,  of  whom  Joshua  was  the  third. 

[Jael,  a  daughter  of  Rev.  Peter  Hobart,  married  Joseph,  youngest  son  of 
Gov.  William  Bradford.] 

Joshua  Ripley,  third  son  of  John  and  Elizabeth  (Hobart)  Ripley,  was  born 
May  9,  1658;  died  May  18,  1739.  He  settled  in  Windham,  Conn.  He  married. 
Nov.  28,  1682,  Hannah,  sixth  child  of  Gov.  William  Bradford,  and  Alice  South- 
worth  (widow  of  Constant  Southworth). 

Lieut.  Jonathan  Rudd,  by  his  wife.  Faith  Ripley,  had  daughter  Mary,  who 
was  married  to  Thomas  Bingham  (3)  of  Windham,  Conn.,  father  of  Capt. 
Samuel,  whose  daughter,  Jerusha,  became  the  wife  of  Benjamin  Robinson. 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  67 

Benjamin  Robinson,  by  his  wife,  Jerusha  (Bingham)  Robinson,  had  issue: 
Elijah  and  other  children. 

COL  ELIJAH  ROBINSON,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution.  The  follow- 
ing obituary,  published  after  his  death,  gives  a  brief  record  of  his  services: 

Died  at  Wethersfield,  Vt,  on  the  25th  ult.,  universally  lamented,  the  Hon. 
Elijah  Robinson,  aged  73,  an  officer  of  the  late  Revolutionary  Army  of  the 
U.  S.  Col.  Robinson  sustained  a  share  in  the  service  of  his  country  in  the  war 
of  1755,  and  was  one  of  the  number  who  in  1759  traversed  the  then  wilderness 
from  Charleston,  N  H.,  to  Crown  Point.  At  the  commencement  of  the  contest, 
which  terminated  in  the  emancipation  of  the  states  he  repaired  again  to  the 
"  tented  field  "  and  contributed  several  years'  personal  service  to  our  freedom 
and  independence.  At  the  close  of  the  Revolution  he  returned  to  the  wilderness 
to  repair  a  fortune  exhausted  in  the  service  of  his  country.  Since  his  residence 
in  this  State  he  has  sustained  and  discharged  several  important  civil  offices 
with  honor  and  integrity.  He  was,  moreover,  a  virtuous,  exemplary  and 
religious  man.  His  remains  were  committed  to  the  silent  tomb  on  the  Saturday 
following,  accompanied  by  the  greatest  concourse  of  people  ever  witnessed  in 
this  county  on  a  similar  occasion. 

Another  account  states: 

Col.  Elijah  Robinson  first  appears  in  the  Vermont  records  as  represent- 
ative from  Wethersfield,  Vt.,  1782,  when  he  was  appointed  councillor.  To  this 
office  he  was  elected  annually  until  1802.  In  1783  he  was  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  War,  and  1786  he  served  as  Lieut.  Colonel  in  suppressing  the  at- 
tempted insurrection  in  Windsor  County.  Vt.  He  was  Judge  of  Windsor 
County  Court  from  1782  until  1787;  again  from  1788  till  1801,  and  Chief  Judge 
in  1802,  making  nineteen  years  of  judicial  service.  He  was  also  a  member  of 
the  Council  of  Censors  1785  to  1793.  He  was  elected  Brigadier  General,  but 
declined  to  accept  the  office. 

Col.  Robinson  married,  Jan.  22,  1761,  in  Stafford,  Conn.,  Lydia  Scripture, 
born  April  25,  1744.    He  had  issue:  Elijah  (2). 

Capt.  Elijah  Robinson  (2),  son  of  Col.  Elijah  and  Lydia  (Scripture) 
Robinson,  was  born  in  Stafford,  Conn.,  in  1762.  Like  his  father  he  availed 
himself  of  the  first  opportunity  to  serve  his  country.  The  records  of  the  War 
Department  at  Washington  show  that  he  served  as  Ensign  in  Capt.  Oliver 
Lowry's  Fourth  Company  (Williams')  Vermont  Militia,  War  of  1812.  His 
name  appears  on  the  rolls  for  the  period  from  August  to  December,  1812, 
which  bear  the  remarks:  "Commencement  of  service,  July  13,  1812;  expe- 
dition of  service,  Dec.  8,  1812;  term  of  service,  5  months;  engaged  for  six 
months." 

The  record  also  shows  that  Elijah  Robinson  was  a  Lieut,  in  Capt.  Nehe- 
miah  Perkin's  Company,  Coming's  Detachment,  Vermont  Militia.  His  name 
appears  on  the  rolls  for  the  period  from  April  22  to  25,  1814,  with  remarks: 
"Expedition  of  service,  April  25,  1814;    term  of  service  charged,  3  days." 

The  records  further  show  that  Elijah  Robinson  served  as  Captain  in  the 
4th    (Peck's)    Regiment,    Vermont    Militia,    in    the    War    of    1812.      His    name 


68  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

appears  on  the  rolls  of  the  period  from  Sep.  7  to  Oct.  6,  1814,  which  bear  the 
remarks:  "Time  charged,  one  month."  Capt.  Robinson  married,  May  30th, 
1797,  Lydia  Bragg,  born  Nov.  19,  1778;    died  at  Moretown,  Vt,  March  28.  1864- 

Leonard  Kennedy  (2),  by  his  wife,  Parthenia  Robinson  (daughter  of  Capt 
Elijah  Robinson),  had  issue:  Miriam  Parthenia,  born  at  Utica,  N.  Y.,  May 
29,  1826;  Leonard  White,  born  at  Utica,  May  25,  1829:  died  in  Brooklyn, 
July  21,  1898;  Fanny  Lewis,  born  at  Hartford,  Conn.,  Dec.  4,  1831;  Algernon 
Sidney,  born  at  Hartford,  Aug.  20,  1834;  died  April  2,  1868;  Samuel  Lewis, 
born  at  Hartford,  Feb.  9,  1837;  Susan  Skinner,  born  at  Hartford,  Nov.  21,  1839; 
died  Feb.  20,  1840;  Elijah.  Robinson. 

ELIJAH  ROBINSON  KENNEDY,  youngest  child  of  Leonard  (2)  and 
Parthenia  (Robinson)  Kennedy,  was  born  in  Hartford,  Conn.  He  went  with 
his  parents  in  early  childhood  to  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  and  was  educated 
at  public  schools  and  Milwaukee  University.  While  this  institution 
has  ceased  to  exist,  its  pleasant  memories  are  not  permitted  to  die  out.  but 
are  kept  alive  by  an  association  made  up  principally  of  his  old  classmates,  of 
which  he  is  President.  Mr.  Kennedy  laid  the  foundation  for  a  professional 
life,  and  soon  after  his  parents  moved  to  Marysville,  Cal..  in  1861  he  began 
the  study  of  law,  and  while  circumstances  prevented  the  continuance  of  his  legal 
studies,  the  knowledge  thus  acquired  proved  of  great  advantage  to  him  in  after 
life,  and  contributed  not  a  little  to  his  business  success.  Having  finally 
decided  to  adopt  a  business  career,  he  obtained  a  position  in  a  large 
New  York  wholesale  dry  goods  house,  where  his  devotion  to  duty  and  indus- 
trious habits  soon  brought  him  into  closer  relations  with  his  employers,  which 
resulted  in  a  subsequent  partnership.  He  contiued  in  this  line  until  a  better 
opportunity  presented  itself  which  he  was  quick  to  avail  himself  of.  About 
1873  he  formed  a  partnership  with  Samuel  R.  Weed  in  a  general  insurance  busi- 
ness under  the  firm  name  of  Weed  &  Kennedy.  His  knowledge  of  law  and 
large  business  experience  proved  of  great  advantage  to  him,  and  with  a  thor- 
oughly equipped  partner  the  business  developed  rapidly,  and  possesses  business 
facilities  equal  if  not  larger  than  any  private  concern  of  the  kind  in  the  world. 
It  embraces  marine,  casualty,  liability  and  other  departments,  and  represents 
in  this  country  six  leading  European  fire  insurance  companies.  With  a  well- 
balanced  mind,  mature  judgment  and  prompt  in  action,  he  does  the  right 
thing  at  the  right  time  and  at  the  right  place.  He  has  frequently  been  repre- 
sented in  the  most  important  committees  of  the  Board  of  Fire  Underwriters, 
and  was  twice  elected  President  of  that  body.  While  chairman  of  the  Board 
he  prepared  the  standard  fire  insurance  policy,  which  has  proved  the  best  system 
of  any  yet  devised,  and  which  has  been  generally  adopted  throughout  the 
country.  Like  most  successful  business  men  his  services  have  been  sought  for 
directorships  in  various  financial  and  other  institutions,  but  these  he  has  been 
compelled  to  decline,  as  his  own  affairs  required  the  concentration  of  all  his 
energies.  He  is  a  member  of  th  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and 
frequently  participates  in  its  deliberations.  He  is  well  known  among  all  classes 
of  business  men  among  whom  he  has  extensive  dealings. 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  6g 

Since  Mr.  Kennedy  became  a  resident  of  Brooklyn  in  the  year  1872 
he  has  been  conspicuous  as  one  of  its  most  public  spirited  citizens,  and  has 
been  identified  with  many  of  the  most  important  enterprises  for  general 
improvement.  He  has  accepted  great  responsibilities,  the  duties  of  which  he 
has  discharged  with  a  singleness  of  purpose  which  does  credit  alike  to  his  heart 
and  his  head.  As  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Park  Commissioners  he  has 
rendered  valuable  service.  His  knowledge  obtained  by  extensive  travel  abroad 
was  here  utilized  to  good  purpose.  It  was  chiefly  through  his  efforts  that  the 
beautiful  soldiers'  memorial  arch,  at  the  Flatbush  entrance  to  Prospect  Park, 
was  erected  in  place  of  the  extravagant  and  costly  affair  projected  in  City  Hall 
Park.  All  the  measures  which  he  has  advocated  for  public  improvement  have 
proved  successful,  and  there  are  none  which  have  proved  so  great  a  benefit  to 
the  city  as  the  Shore  Road,  of  which  he  was  the  chief  promoter.  It  extends 
along  Bay  Ridge  Avenue  to  Fort  Hamilton  and  includes  a  part  of  the  old 
Gowanus  Road,  opening  up  a  vast  tract  of  land  which  is  being  covered  by 
beautiful  suburban  residences,  adding  immensely  to  the  city  revenues  in 
taxation  far  exceeding  the  cost  of  construction  and  other  expenses.  Mr. 
Kennedy  was  President  of  the  commission  that  perfected  the  plans  and  made 
their  execution  possible. 

His  patriotism  and  benevolence  go  hand  in  hand.  As  President  of  the 
National  Prison-ship  Martyrs  Association,  organized  for  the  purpose  of  honor- 
ing the  Revolutionary  martyrs  by  a  suitable  monument  in  Fort  Greene  Park, 
he  has  given  new  impetus  to  the  movement  which  promises  successful  results. 
He  entered  into  it  with  all  the  ardor  and  enthusiasm  of  his  nature,  which  has 
kindled  a  like  enthusiasm  among  his  associates. 

He  is  a  trustee  in  the  Brooklyn  Institute  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  a  trustee 
of  the  Long  Island  College  Hospital,  a  member  of  and  director  in  the  New 
England  Society  of  Brooklyn.  Society  of  Mayflower  Descendants,  Society  of 
Colonial  Wars,  New  York  Society  Sons  of  the  Revolution.  He  is  too  domestic 
in  his  habits  to  give  time  to  club  life,  with  a  happy  home  and  delightful  sur- 
roundings. One  of  the  most  beautiful  residences  fronting  on  Prospect  Park, 
the  interior  of  which  is  a  model  of  taste  and  refinement,  while  his  library  of 
nearly  five  thousand  volumes,  covering  every  variety  of  subjects,  is  wholly 
for  use  and  not  for  ornament,  as  his  well-stored  mind  indicates. 

Mr.  Kennedy  has  travelled  much  abroad,  and  has  taken  in  every  point  of 
interest  in  his  own  country.  He  is  a  keen  observer  of  men  and  things,  and 
blessed  with  a  retentive  memory.  Equipped  at  all  times  with  his  favorite 
camera,  in  the  use  of  which  he  is  an  expert,  he  has  gathered  rich  treasures 
abroad  which  he  has  used  to  good  advantage  as  a  means  of  entertainment  for 
his  friends  at  home  by  the  use  of  stereopticon  views.  Unselfish  in  this  as  in 
everything  else,  he  has  added  to  the  exchequer  of  churches  and  societies  by 
public  entertainments.  Easy  and  fluent  as  a  speaker,  gifted  in  the  power  of 
description,  with  ready  wit  and  unlimited  resources,  he  knows  just  how  to  say 
the  right  thing  at  the  righ  time.  A  man  of  fine  literary  tastes,  he  wields  a 
graceful  pen,  but  has  never  exercised  his  gifts  to  any  great  extent,  for  lack  of 


70  SONS     OF    THE    REVOLUTION. 

time.  He  wrote  a  pleasing  and  greatly  admired  volume  of  biography  on  his 
friend,  General  John  B.  Woodward. 

In  politics,  as  an  active  member  of  the  Republican  party,  he  has  influenced 
appointments  for  others  and  contributed  greatly  to  the  party's  success;  but 
with  a  single  exception  he  has  neither  asked  nor  received  personal  favors. 
During  President  Hays'  administration  his  name  was  prominently  mentioned 
for  the  position  of  Consul  General  to  Great  Britain,  and  but  for  the  strongly 
expressed  wish  of  General  Grant  to  retain  in  that  position  his  friend,  General 
Badeau,  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  Mr.  Kennedy  would  have  received  the 
appointment,  for  which  he  was  eminently  qualified. 

Having  inherited  so  many  characteristics  from  his  distinguised  ancestors. 
it  would  be  difficult  to  single  out  any  one  or  more  which  have  contributed  so 
materially  to  his  success  in  life.  His  is  a  composite  character  which  includes 
the  best  elements  of  all,  and  as  it  is  sometimes  pardonable  to  scatter  a  few 
flowers  along  one's  pathway  of  life  even  before  the  grave  opens  to  receive  him, 
it  may  be  said  of  him  without  exaggeration: 

"A  combination  and  a  form  indeed 
Where  every  god  did  seem  to  set  his  seal 
To  give  the  world  assurance  of  a  man." 

Mr.  Kennedy  married  Lucy  Brace  Pratt,  daughter  of  Henry  Zachariah 
Pratt  VIII.,  son  of  Harry  VII.,  son  of  Capt.  James  VI.,  son  of  Zachariah  V., 
son  of  William  IV.,  son  of  John  III.,  son  of  John  II.,  son  of  John  I.,  the 
ancestor. 

I.  John  Pratt,  1620-1655,  patentee  of  land  at  Cambridge,  Mass.  One  of  the 
original  members  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker's  church.  Was  an  original  pro- 
prietor of  Hartford,  Conn.  Representative  to  First  General  Cour':,  1639;  and 
several  terms  afterward.  Died  at  Hartford,  July  15,  1655.  He  married  Elizabeth, 
probably  in  England. 

II.  John  Pratt  (2),  son  of  John  (1),  freeman,  1657;  constable,  1670;  died 
in  Hartford,  November  23,  1687 ;  married  Hannah,  daughter  of  Lieut.  James 
Boosey,  of  Wethhersfield.  Conn.  Hannah  Boosey  was  born  in  1641.  His  second 
wife,  Hepzibah,  survived  him.  John  Pratt  (2)  had  eight  children,  probably  most 
of  them  by  his  first  wife. 

Lieut.  James  Boosey  of  Wethersfield,  father  of  Hannah  (Boosey)  Pratt. 
was  clerk  of  the  train  band.  He  was  a  gentleman  of  large  estate.  He  was  depu- 
ty to  General  Court  for  1639,  '40,  '41,  '42,  '43,  '44,  '45.  '46.  '47,  '48.  '49.  He,  with 
Hon.  Edward  Hopkins,  Gen.  John  Mason  and  John  Steel,  were  appointed  Com- 
missioners on  the  part  of  Connecticut  to  Articles  of  Agreement  with  Gov.  Fen- 
wick  of  Sea  Brook  Fort,  for  the  purchase  of  the  fort,  and  of  his  lands  and  such 
as  were  not  disposed  of  on  the  River.     He  had  five  children. 

III.  John  Pratt  (3),  born  in  Hartford,  May  17,  1661 ;  died  about  1747;. 
married  Hannah,  daughter  of  Robert  Sandford,  Jr.,  of  Hartford. 


SONS     OF     THE    REVOLUTION.  "]\ 

Robert  Sandford,  Jr.,  was  the  son  of  Robert  Sandford  and  Anne  Adam-;, 
daughter  of  Jeremy  Adams,  one  of  the  original  proprietors  of  Hartford. 

IV.  William  Pratt,  son  of  John  Pratt  (3),  was  born  in  Hartford,  169 1 ; 
died  in  Hartford,  January  19,  1753;  married  Amy  Pinncy,  born  Oct.  6,  1704;  she 
died  June  10,  1772.  She  descended  from  Humphrey  Pinncy  of  Brcadway,  Som- 
erset County,  England,  who  came  early  to  Windsor,  Conn.,  and  was  one  of  its 
founders.  She  was  also  descended  from  Wm.  Thrall  of  Windsor,  who  was  a 
soldier  in  the  Pequot  War.  Edward  Griswold,  one  of  the  founders  of  Windsor, 
was  also  her  ancestor. 

V.  Zachariah  Pratt,  son  of  William,  was  born  in  Hartford,  March  25, 
1727;  died  in  Hartford,  October  5,  1805;  married  Abigail  Cooke,  Jan.  23,  1750-1. 
She  was  born  June  29,  1727;  she  died  April  10,  1818. 

Abigail  Cooke  was  the  fourth  generation  from  Capt.  Aaron  Cooke  of  Dor- 
chester, Mass.,  and  later  at  Windsor  and  Northampton,  where  she  died  Sept.  5, 
1690,  aged  80.  She  was  also  a  descendant  in  third  generation  from  Lieut.  John 
Allyn,  and  fourth  generation  from  Hon.  Matthew  Allyn,  one  of  the  original 
settlers  of  Hartford  and  Windsor. 

VI.  Captain  James  Pratt,  Revolutionary  officer,  son  of  Zachariah,  was  born 
in  Hartford,  October  14,  1753;  died  in  Hartford,  January  3,  1820;  married  Mary 
Burr,  born  January  20,  1754;  she  died  March  23,  1822.  She  was  a  descendant  of 
Benjamin  Burr,  original  settler  of  Hartford,  in  the  line  of  Thomas,  and  Thomas 
Burr,  Jr.  The  line  of  Burrs  have  Wadsworth  and  Webster  ancestry.  Benjamin 
Burr  served  in  the  Pequot  War. 

VII.  Harry  Pratt,  son  of  Capt.  James,  was  born  in  Hartford,  June  9,  1778; 
died  in  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  Dec.  31,  1853;  married  Susan  Cleveland.  She  was 
born  in  Norwich,  Conn.,  Sept.  26,  1784:  died  in  Geneva,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  19,  1883. 
(  See  Cleveland  Family.) 

Henry     Zachariah     Pratt,  ,son     of     Harry,     born     in     Hartford,     Conn. 
March  6,  1813;  died  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  August  31,  1863;  married  Aug.  19,  1835. 
Lucy  E.  Brace,  born  July  5,  1814,  in  Hartford.  She  died  in  New  York  Feb.  1,  1866. 

IX.  Lucy  Brace  Pratt,  born  Feb.  2j,  1846,  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. ;  married  Dec. 
2,  1874,  Elijah  Robinson  Kennedy,  who  was  born  in  Hartford,  May  6,  1844. 
Their  children  are  Sidney  Robinson  Kennedy,  born  in  Brooklyn.  Nov.  19,  1875 ; 
Susan  Pratt  Kennedy,  born  in  Brooklyn,  Feb.  26.  1880;  Leonard  Kennedy,  born 
in  Brooklyn,  May  20,  1886. 

I.  Moses  Cleveland,  1624-1701-2,  was  born  in  Ipswich,  England,  about  1624. 
Came  to  America  about  1635  ;  of  Woburn,  Mass.,  prior  tc  1642.  Militia,  1663. 
Soldier  in  King  Philip's  War.  Died  Jan.  g.  1701-2.  Married  Ann  Winn,  daugh- 
ter of  Edward  and  Joanna  Winn. 

II.  Mr.  Aaron  Cleveland,  born  in  Woburn,  Jan.  10,  1654-5 ;  died  at  Wo- 
burn, Sept.  24,  1716;  married  Sept.  26,  1675,  Dorcas  Wilson,  daughter  of  John 
and  Hannah   (James)   Wilson.     She  died  in  1714. 

III.  Captain  Aaron  Cleveland  (2),  born  in  Woburn,  July  9,  1680;  died  at 
Medford,  Mass.,  about  Dec.  1,  1755;  married  at  Woburn,  Jan.   1,   1701-2.  Abigail 


7  J  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

Waters,  daughter  of  Samuel  and   Mary   (Hudson)    Waters.     She  was  born  Nov. 
29,  1683,  in  Woburn,  Mass. 

IV.  Rev.  Aaron  Cleveland  (3).  born  in  Medford,  Mass.,  Oct.  19  or  29,  1715. 
Graduated  from  Harvard  College,  1735.  Died  at  the  home  of  his  friend.  Dr. 
Benjamin  Franklin,  Second  Street,  Philadelphia.  Aug.  II,  1757,  and  is  buried  in 
Christ  church-yard  there.  Dr.  Franklin  wrote  his  obituary,  which  was  published 
in  "The  Pennsylvania  Gazette"  of  August  18,  1757,  as  follows: 

"On  Thursday  last,  after  a  lingering  illness,  died  here,  the  Res-.  Mr.  Cleve- 
land, lately  appointed  to  the  mission  at  New  Castle,  by  the  "society  for  propo- 
gating  the  Gospel.''  He  was  a  gentleman  of  a  humane  and  pious  disposition, 
indefatigable  in  his  ministry,  easy  and  affable  in  his  conversation,  open  and  sin- 
cere to  his  friends,  and  above  every  species  of  meanness  and  dissimulation.  His 
death  is  greatly  lamented  by  all  who  knew  him.  as  a  loss  to  the  public,  a  loss  to 
the  Church  of  Christ  in  general,  and  in  particular  to  that  congregation  who  had 
proposed  to  themselves  so  much  satisfaction  from  his  late  appointment  among 
them,  agreeable  to  their  own  request." 

The  Rev.  Aaron  Cleveland  (3).  married  Aug.  4,  1739,  Susannah  Porter, 
daughter  of  Susannah  (  Sewall  )  Porter  and  the  Rev.  Aaron  Porter  of  Salem. 
Susannah  Porter  was  born  in  1716;  died  1788.  She  was  the  granddaughter  of 
Major  Stephen  Sewall  of  Salem,  and  Margaret  Mitchell,  daughter  of  Rev. 
Jonathan  Mitchell,  who  in  1662.  with  Daniel  Gookin,  was  made  first  licensers  of 
the  press  of  Massachusetts. 

V.  Rev.  Aaron  Cleveland  (4  I,  born  Feb.  3,  1744,  in  Haddam,  Conn.;  died 
Sept.  21,  1815.  in  New  Haven.  He  was  a  Congregational  minister,  a  man  of  in- 
telligence, great  wit  and  humor:  also  of  much  poetical  talent.  In  1775  he  pub- 
lished a  poem  against  slavery,  and  in  1779.  while  a  representative  in  the  Legis- 
lature, "introduced  a  bill  for  its  abolition."  Married.  April  12.  1768.  at  Nor- 
wich, Conn..  Abiah  Hyde,  only  daughter  of  Capt.  James  Hyde  and  Sarah  Mar- 
shall. Abiah  Hyde  was  fourth  in  descent  from  Win.  Hyde,  one  of  the  original 
proprietors  of  Hartford  and  Norwich.  Abiah  Hyde  was  born  at  Norwich,  Dec. 
27,  1749:  died  Aug.  2.^,  1788. 

VI.  Susan  Cleveland,  born  in  Norwich,  Sept.  26,  1784;  died  in  Geneva,  N. 
Y.,  Aug.  19.  1883;  married  May  11,  1804,  Harry  Pratt,  born  in  Hartford,  June 
9.  1778;  died  in  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  Dec.  31,  1853. 

VII.  Henry  Zachariah  Pratt.   Lucy  E.  Brace. 

VIII.  Lucy  Brace  Pratt.  Elijah  Robinson  Kennedy. 

I.  Stephen  Brace.  —  —  1692.  Came  from  London.  England,  and  settled  in 
Hartford.  Conn.,  about  1660.  He  was  of  good  standing  and  estate.  He  owned 
land  in  Rocky  Hill,  Great  Meadow  and  other  places,  including  his  Podaquanck 
lands.  The  Brace  family  took  its  name  from  Brecy.  a  place  near  Caen,  Nor- 
mandy, France.  Rudolphus  de  Braccio  occurs  in  a  Norman  charter  of  1082.  His 
son  William  held  as  a  fee,  Wisterton,  Cheshire,  and  William's  son,  Robert  de 
Bracey.  held  three  Knights'  fees  in  the  same  country.  From  this  Cheshire  fam- 
ily have  descended  many  branches.     Our  New  England  ancestor  pronounced  hi* 


SON'S     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  73 

name   still   as    Bracey.      The   c    was   undoubtedly   pronounced    as    s   in    Norman 
times. 

II.  John  Brace,  born  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  1677;  married  Feby.  22,  1705-6, 
Mary  Webster,  daughter  of  Jonathan  Webster  and  Dorcas  (Bronson)  Hopkins. 
Mary  Webster  was  the  third  generation  from  Hon.  Richard  Treat,  named  in  the 
Royal  Charter,  one  of  the  Patentees  for  Connecticut,  1662.  Jonathan  Webster 
was  son  of  Lieut.  Robert  Webster,  son  of  Governor  John  Webster,  fifth  Colonial 
Governor  of  Connecticut.  Mary  Webster  was  born  Sept.  29,  1688;  died  May 
3,  1741- 

III.  Jonathan  Brace,  bapt.  Second  Church.  Hartford.  Nov.  30.  1707:  died 
about  1788  in  Harwinton,  Conn.;  married  Nov.  9,  1738,  Mary  Messenger.  "  After 
Jonathan  Brace,  the  father  of  Judge  Brace,  was  engaged  to  be  married  to  Miss 
Messenger  of  Hartford,  he  passed  over  the  bridge  between  Hartford  and  West 
Hartford  to  make  her  a  visit,  and,  while  he  was  crossing  the  bridge,  she  was 
drowning  in  the  river  under  it,  having  upset  in  a  boat ;  and  he  soon  after  married 
Mary  Messenger,  who  became  the  mother  of  his  children."  (Hinman's  Con- 
necticut Settlers,  p.  308.) 

IV.  Judge  Jonathan  Brace.  Yale.  1779:  born  Nov.  12.  1754;  died  Aug.  26. 
1837:  married  April  15.  1778.  Mrs.  Ann  White  Kimberly,  born  Oct.  23.  1753.  Mid- 
dletown.  Conn.  ;  died  Dec.  7.  1837.  in  Hartford.  Ann  White  was  fourth  in  de- 
scent from  Elder  John  White  of  Hartford;  third  in  descent  from  Lieut.  Daniel 
White  of  Hatfield.  Mass..  and  granddaughter  of  Capt.  Daniel  White.  In  1799 
Judge  Brace  was  chosen  Representative  to  Congress,  and  remained  in  office  until 
May,  1801,  which  was  the  last  meeting  of  Congress  held  in  Philadelphia.  He 
held  many  important  offices  in  Vermont  and  Connecticut. 

V.  The  Hon.  Thomas  Kimberly  Brace,  born  in  Hartford,  Oct.  if.,  1770: 
died  in  Hartford,  June  14,  i860;  married  Aug.  25.  1807,  Lucy  Mather  Lee.  daugh- 
ter of  John  Lee  and  Lucy  Mather,  daughter  of  Dr.  Samuel  Mather,  fifth  in  de- 
scent from  Rev.  Richard  Mather.  Lucy  Mather  Lee  was  born  in  Westfield. 
Mass.,  Jan.  20,  1767:  died  Oct.  T2.  T7S5.  "The  Hon.  Thomas  K.  Brace  graduated 
at  Yale  College  in  1801  ;  read  law  at  Litchfield  with  Judges  Reeve  and  Gould, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  Bar."     (Hinman's  Conn.  Settlers,  p.  308.) 

"The  first  president  of  the  Aetna  Ins.  Co.  was  Thomas  K.  Brace,  who  served 
from  i8i9to  1857.  Mr.  Brace  was  born  in  Hartford  in  1770,  and  died  June  14.1860. 
He  was  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1801.  In  1831  and  1832  he  represented 
Hartford  in  the  Legislature,  as  his  father  had  done  in  1798.  He  was  elected 
Mayor  of  Hartford  three  successive  years,  beginning  with  1840,  and  was  a  can- 
didate for  Congress  in  1843  and  18.15.  He  was  identified  with  the  Aetna  Insur- 
ance Company  from  its  organization,  and  its  great  prosperity  has  been  attributed 
in  no  small  degree  to  his  wise  management." — J.  Hammond  Trumbull. 

VI.  Lucy  Elizabeth  Brace,  born  in  Hartford.  July  5.  1814;  died  in  New 
York.  Feb.  t.  t866:  married  in  Hartford.  Aug.  19.  1835;  Henry  Zachariah  Pratt, 
born  in  Hartford.  March  6.  1813:  died  in  Hartford.  Aug.  31,  1863. 

The  following  obituary  was  taken  from  the  "Hartford  Courant."  Sept..  1863: 


74  SONS     OF     THE    REVOLUTION. 

"Our  obituary  record  for  the  past  week  announces  the  decease  of  Mr.  Henry  Z. 
Pratt,  who  has  long  been  known  among  us  as  a  high-minded  and  honorable  busi- 
ness man  and  a  valued  member  of  society.  Mr.  Pratt  was  born  in  this  city  in  the 
year  1813,  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen  became  a  clerk  in  tbe  bookstore  of  Messrs. 
George  Goodwin  &  Sons,  then  publisbers  of  the  Connecticut  Courant.  He  com- 
menced business  in  1834  as  a  member  of  the  publishing  house  of  Robinson  and 
Pratt ;  the  firm  was  removed  to  New  York  in  the  following  year,  and  after  en- 
joying several  years  of  great  prosperity,  subseque  ntly  became  Pratt,  Woodford 
&  Co.,  and  finally  in  1858,  Pratt,  Oakley  and  Co.  In  these  various  connections, 
a  large  number  of  standard  educational  works  were  published,  such  as  Olney's 
Geography,  Comstock's  Philosophy  and  Chemistry,  Bullion's  series  of  Grammars 
and  other  valuable  school  books.  In  his  business  career  Mr.  Pratt  displayed  great 
energy,  industry  and  sagacity,  and  the  highest  sense  of  mercantile  honor.  Having 
safely  weathered  the  financial  storms  of  '37  and  '57.  his  prosperity  received  its 
first  reverse  in  the  unlooked  for  and  unavoidable  crisis  caused  by  the  Southern 
rebellion.  The  large  sums  due  to  his  house  by  repudiating  Southern  merchants 
crippled  its  resources  materially  and  it  was  finally  obliged  to  succumb  to  the  tide 
of  adverse  circumstances.  The  care  and  anxiety  consequent  upon  this  calamity, 
seriously  affected  Mr.  Pratt's  health,  and  he  never  recovered  from  the  blow. 
A  year  since,  he  was  elected  vice-president  of  the  Aetna  Insurance  Co.,  with 
which  he  had  long  been  connected  as  a  director,  and  continued  to  hold  the  office 
until  his  decease.  The  large  concourse  of  friends  and  neighbors  assembled  to 
pay  the  last  sad  offices  to  this  esteemed  citizen  and  valued  friend,  attest  how 
highly  Mr.  Pratt  was  honored  in  life,  and  lamented  in  death;  but  who  may  es- 
timate the  loss  to  his  bereaved  family?  Singularly  happy  in  his  domestic  rela- 
tions, the  removal  of  this  most  tender,  devoted  husband  and  indulgent  parent, 
leaves  his  fireside  utterly  desolate.  "The  places  that  once  knew  him  shall  know 
him  no  more  forever,"  but  the  memory  of  this  noble  Christian  gentleman  will 
long  be  cherished  by  the  community  in  which  he  lived,  and  in  the  heart  of  hearts 
of  those  who  knew  and  loved  him  best. 

VII.  Lucy  Brace  Pratt,  born  in  Brooklyn.  N.  Y..  Feb.  27,  1846;  married  in 
New  York.  Dec.  2,  1874;  Elijah  Robinson  Kennedy,  born  in  Hartford,  May  6, 
1844- 

The  children  of  Elijah  Robinson   Kennedy  and    Lucy   Brace  Pratt  were: 

Susan  Pratt  Kennedy,  born  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y..  Feb.  26.   t88o. 

Leonard  Kennedy,  born  in   Brooklyn,   May  20,  1886. 

WELLES    AND    ALLIED    FAMILIES. 

In  none  of  the  old  New  England  families  has  the  law  of  heredity  been 
more  clearly  exemplified  than  in  that  of  the  Welles  family.  Men  in  each 
generation,  from  the  ancestor  to  the  latest  representative  of  the  family,  have 
borne  a  prominent  part  in  the  great  events  of  their  period,  and  have  rendered 
important  service  to  their  country.     The  allied  families  have  also  been   repre- 


SONS     OF    THE    REVOLUTION.  75 

sented  by  men  of  strong  character  and  marked  influence  in  their  day  and 
generation. 

The  derivation  of  the  name  of  Welles  is  said  to  be  traced  to  the  year  794. 
from  which  period  they  held  the  highest  rank  personally  and  by  royal  inter- 
marriages. It  was  founded  in  England  after  the  Conquest  by  Harrold  de  Vaux 
(a  near  connection  of  William  the  Conquror)  and  his  three  sons.  Baron" 
Hubert,  Ranulph  and  Robert.  The  descent  is  through  the  younger  son. 
Robert,  whose  grandson.  William,  had  four  sons.  William,  A.  D.  1194,  one  of 
these,  became  the  founder  of  that  long  line  of  noblemen  of  Lincolnshire,  whose 
history  is  given  in  full  by  Dugdale  in  his  standard  work  on  the  Baronage  of 
England. 

Governor  Thomas  Welles  the  New  England  ancestor,  was  born  in  Essex. 
England,  in  1598:  died  in  Wethersfield.  Conn..  Jan.  14.  1660.  He  came  to 
America  and  settled  in  Hartford,  Conn.  He  was  elected  one  of  the  six  magis- 
trates first  chosen  at  the  organization  of  the  government  at  Hartford,  and 
annually  re-elected  until  his  death,  a  period  of  more  than  twenty  years.  In 
1639  he  became  first  Treasurer  of  the  colony,  and  held  that  office  till  165 1.  He 
was  Secretary  of  Conn.,  1640-8,  and  was  Commissioner  of  the  united  colonies 
in  1649  and  again  in  1654.  During  the  absence  of  Gov.  Edward  Hopkins  in 
England,  in  1654,  he  was  elected  Moderator  of  the  General  Court,  and  in  the 
same  year  he  was  chosen  Deputy  Governor.  In  1655  he  was  elected  governor, 
but  after  two  years  he  returned  to  the  offiice  of  Deputy  Governor.  He  was  chosen 
Governor  for  the  second  time  in  1658,  and  in  1659  again  held  the  office  of  Deputy 
Governor. 

He  had  the  full  confidence  of  the  people,  and  many  of  the  most  important 
of  the  early  laws  and  papers  pertaining  to  the  founding  of  the  colony  were 
drafted  by  him.  The  successful  issue  of  Connecticut  from  her  difficulty  con- 
cerning the  fort  erected  at  Saybrook  on  one  side,  and  the  Dutch  encroach- 
ments on  the  other,  was  largely  due  to  his  skill  and  wisdom.  He  brought 
with  him  from  England  three  sons,  John,  Thomas  and  Samuel,  and  three 
daughters.  Mary,  Ann  and  Sarah.  He  took  for  his  second  wife  Elizabeth, 
widow  of  Nathaniel  Foote  of  Wethersfield. 

Capt.  Samuel  Welles  (i),  fifth  child  of  Gov.  Thomas  Welles, was  born 
in  Essex.  Eng..  1630.  and  in  the  autumn  of  that  year  he  moved  to  Hartford, 
where  he  lived  until  1649.  when  he  removed  to  Wethersfield  and  remained  there 
until  his  death,  July  15.  1675.  He  commanded  a  company  in  the  Great  Swamp 
Fight.  He  was  elected  Deputy  Magistrate  at  Hartford,  1657  to  1661,  inclusive. 
He  married  1st  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  John  Hollister,  of  Wethersfield.  who  was 
made  a  freeman  at  Weymouth,  Mass.,  1643.  was  a  representative  of  the  General 
Court  of  Mass.,  1644,  and  in  November  of  the  same  year  in  Conn.  He  removed 
to  Wethersfield,  and  was  a  representative  1645  and  often  until  1656.  He  was 
Lieutenant  of  the  train  band.  He,  with  others,  was  engaged  in  the  contro- 
versy with  Rev.  John  Russell  which  caused  the  plantation  of  Hadley,  Mass., 
1659.     He  married  Joanna,  daughter  of  Richard  Treat,   who  was  the  father  of 


y6  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

Gov.  Robert  Treat.  Samuel  Welles  married  for  his  second  wife  Hannah  Lam- 
bertson,  daughter  of  George  Lambertson,  of  New  Haven.  Conn.  By  his  first 
wife  he  had  six  children,  of  whom  Samuel  (2)  was  the  eldest. 

Capt.  Samuel  Welles  (2).  son  of  Samuel  (1)  and  Joanna  (Hollister) 
Welles,  was  born  in  Wethersfield  April  5,  1660.  He  removed  about  1685  to 
Glastonbury,  where  he  remained  until  his  death,  August  28,  1731.  He  was 
Captain  of  the  train  band  in  that  town  and  was  conspicuous  in  public  affairs. 
He  married  Ruth  Rice,  daughter  of  Edward  and  Mercie  Rice,  of  Sudbury  and 
Marlborough.  Mass..  son  of  Samuel,  son  of  Edmund  Rice,  born  at  Bark- 
hams'tead,  Eng.,  1594;  died  at  Sudbury.  Mass..  1663;  came  to  New  England 
1638-9;  settled  at  Sudbury,  where  he  was  prominent  in  town  affairs.  The 
family  is  of  Welsh  origin,  the  name  being  Ap  Rhys.  Capt.  Samuel  Welles. 
by  his  wife.  Ruth  (Rice)  Welles,  had  eight  children,  of  whom  Thaddeus  was 
sixth. 

Thaddeus  Welles,  sixth  child  of  Captain  Samuel  and  Ruth  (Rice)  Welles, 
was  born  at  Glastonbury,  Conn.,  May  27,  1695;  died  there  Dec.  22,  1780.  He 
was  a  successful  farmer  and  raised  high-bred,  speedy  horses.  He  refused  all 
offers  of  public  office  .  He  married,  about  1725.  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Deacon 
Timothy  (Pitkin)  Cowles.  of  East  Hartford,  son  of  Samuel,  of  Farmington, 
Conn.,  son  of  John  Cowles,  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  Hartford,  and  one  of  the 
original  proprietors  of  Farmington.  one  of  the  seven  pillars  of  the  church 
established  1652,  deputy  to  the  General  Court,  six  sessions,  beginning  1653. 
Hannah  Pitkin,  the  mother  of  Deacon  Timothy  Cowles.  was  the  daughter  of 
William  Pitkin,  of  Hartford,  a  lawyer,  Att'y  for  the  Colony  of  Conn.,  repre- 
sentative at  the  General  Court  1675.  Treasurer  1676;  married  Hannah,  only 
daughter  o1:  Ozias  Goodwin.  Thaddeus  Welles,  by  his  wife.  Elizabeth  (Cowles) 
Welles,  had  a  son  Samuel  (3). 

CAPT.  SAMUEL  WELLES  (3).  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of 
Thaddeus  and  Elizabeth  (Cowles)  Welles,  was  born  in  Glastonbury,  Conn., 
about  1727.  When  the  call  for  troops  was  made  by  Gov.  Trumbull,  in  June, 
1776,  to  reinforce  Washington  at  New  York.  Capt.  Samuel  Welles  was  placed 
in  command  of  Seventh  company,  Col.  Gay's  Battalion  of  Wadsworth's  Brigade, 
and  remained  in  the  defences  at  New  York  until  shortly  before  the  battle  of  Long 
Island.  His  company  was  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight  on  May  27,  and  in  all 
the  succeeding  events  which  included  the  Kips  Bay  affair  in  New  York  on 
Sep.  15.  Referring  to  this.  Johnson  says:  "  During  these  scenes  Wadsworth's 
and  Scott's  Brigades,  which  were  below  Douglass  on  the  river  lines,  saw  that 
their  only  safety  lay,  also,  in  immediate  retreat,  and  falling  back,  they  joined 
the  other  brigades  above,  though  not  without  suffering  some  loss."  A  soldier 
of  Gay's  regiment,  in  writing  of  the  affair,  says:  "We  soon  reached  the  main 
road  which  our  troops  were  traveling,  and  the  first  conspicuous  person  I  met 
was  Gen.  Putnam.  He  was  making  his  way  toward  New  York  when  all  were 
going   from   it." 

It   was   during  this  affair  of   Sep.    15  that   Capt.   Welles   was   captured   and 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  77 

held  as  prisoner  for  nearly  two  years;  exchanged  June.  1778.  He  was  after- 
ward attached  to  the  State  Militia,  and  commanded  a  company  during  Tryon's 
Invasion,  known  as  the  "  New  Haven  Alarm."  July  5,  1779. 

Capt.  Welles  married,  in  Aug.,  1752,  Lucy,  daughter  of  Abraham  Kilbourn 
and  Mary  Tudor,  his  wife,  son  of  John  (2),  son  of  John  (1),  of  Wethersfield. 
1647,  son  of  Thomas  Kilbourn,  from  Wood  Ditton,  Cambridge,  who  came 
to  Boston  in  the  Increase,  in  1635,  with  wife  Francis  and  children.  They  had 
issue  Samuel  (4)  and  others 

SAMUEL  WELLES.  Patriot  ok  the  Revolution  son  of  Capt.  Samuel 
and  Lucy  (Kilbourn)  Welles,  was  born  in  Glastonbury.  Conn.,  Oct.  6,  1754; 
died  Nov.  12,  1834.  His  name  is  found  among  the  list  of  troops  from  the  town 
of  Glastonbury  as  "Samuel  Welles  Jun.  who  Marched  from  the  Connecticut 
Towns  for  the  relief  of  Boston  in  the  Lexington  Alarm,"  April,  1775.  He 
enlisted  Feb.  27,  1777,  in  Fourth  Troop,  Connecticut  Dragoons,  and  continued 
in  service  until  the  close  of  the  war.  He  was  a  representative  in  the  StaV^ 
Legislature,  a  member  of  the  Convention  which  framed  the  present  State 
Constitution  of  Conn.,  presidential  elector  in  the  second  election  of  James 
Monroe.  He  was  a  prominent  ship  builder  and  ship  owner.  He  married. 
May  1,  1782,  Anna  (born  1763),  daughter  of  Gideon  Hale,  son  of  Benjamin, 
son  of  Samuel  (2),  son  of  Samuel  (1),  the  ancestor. 

Samuel  Hale  came  to  the  Colony  of  Connecticut  at  a  very  early  period, 
was  at  Hartford,  1637,  a  soldier  in  the  Pequot  war,  for  which  he  received  a 
lot  in  the  soldiers'  field.  In  1639  he  owned  land  in  Hartford  on  the  east  side 
of  the  river,  but  in  1643  he  was  a  resident  of  Wethersfield.  In  1655  he  resided 
in  Norwalk.  but  returned  to  Wethersfield  in  1660,  though  he  did  not  sell  his 
property  there  before  1669.  While  residing  in  Norwalk  he  represented  that 
town  in  the  General  Court  in  1656-7-60.  After  his  return  to  Wethersfield 
he    hired    the    Governor    Welles    estate    of    the    "  Overseers."      By    his    wife, 

Mary  .  he  had  eight  children,  of    whom    Samuel     (2)      was     the     second 

child  and  eldest  son. 

Samuel   Hale   (2)    son   of  Samuel   (1)    and   Mary   ( )    Hale,   was  born 

in  1645.  He  married  1st  Ruth,  daughter  of  Thomas  Edwards,  and  had  three 
children.  He  married  2d  Dec.  26,  1682.  Mary,  daughter  of  Capt.  SamvW 
Welles,  and  had  five  children,  of  whom  Benjamin  was  the  fourth. 

Benjamin  Hale,  son  of  Samuel  (2)  and  Mary  (Welles)  Hale,  was  born 
July  22,  1707.  He  married.  June  30.  1729.  Hannah  Talcott,  daughter  of  Lieut. 
Benjamin  Talcott,  born  March  1.  1674;  died  Nov.  27.  1727.  The  latter  married 
Sarah  Hollister.  daughter  of  John  Hollister.  Jr.  (born  1642;  died  171 1),  and 
Sarah  Goodrich.  John  Hollister.  Jr.,  was  the  son  of  Lieut.  John  Hollister. 
who  married  Joan  Treat,  daughter  of  Richard  Treat,  born  1590,  died  1669; 
Deputy  to  the  General  Court  of  Mass..  1644,  and  to  that  of  Conn,  1645-6; 
Lieut,  of  the  Train  Band.  &c.  Lieut.  Benjamin  Talcott.  father  of  Hannah 
Talcott,  born  1674,  died  1727;  Lieut,  of  Glastonbury  Train  Band,  Deputy  to 
General  Court,  &c. ;  son  of  Capt.  Samuel  Talcott,  born  1635,  was  with  the 
Hartford    Troop    of   Dragoons    at    Deerfield    in    King    William's    war;     Lieut. 


78  SONS     OF    THE     REVOLUTION. 

1677,  Captain  1681,  Deputy  to  the  General  Court  1669-84,  Assistant  1685-91; 
son  of  "  The  Worshipful  "  JohnTalcott,  born  1600,  died  1660;  Deputy  to  the 
General  Court  of  Mass.  1634-36.  Deputy  to  the  General  Court  of  Conn.  1637-53, 
Assistant  (member  of  Governor's  Council)  1654-60.  Treasurer  1652-60,  Com- 
missioner for  United  Colonies  1656-58;  son  of  John  Talcott,  of  Braintree,  Eng.. 
son  of  John,  of  Colchester,  Eng.,  son  of  John  Talcott.  of  Warwickshire,  Eng. 

Benjamin  Hale,  before  mentioned,  by  his  wife,  Hannah  (Talcott)  Hale, 
had  a  son  Gideon. 

Gideon  Hale,  son  of  Benjamin  and  Hannah  (Talcott)  Hale,  born  July  22, 
1707;  died  July  22,  1784.  He  married  Mary  White,  daughter  of  Ebenezer 
White  (born  May  12,  1707;  died  March  27,  1756),  and  Ann  Hollister,  born  Jan. 
6,  1707;  died  June  16,  1787),  son  of  Joseph  White  (born  1629;  died  Aug.  27, 
1711),  and  Elizabeth  —  —  (born  1625,  died  1690);  son  of  Elder  John  White 
(born  1600,  died  1683).  Gideon  Hale,  by  his  wife,  Mary  White,  had,  among 
other  children,  Anna  and  Hannah. 

Anna  Hale,  daughter  of  Gideon  Hale,  was  born  1763,  died  June  II,  1816; 
married  May  1,  1782,  to  Samuel  Welles;  after  her  death  Hannah,  her  youngest 
sister,  was  married  to  him. 

Samuel  Welles  (4),  by  his  firfist  wife,  Anna  (Hale)  Welles,  had  Gideon  and 
other  children. 

Hon.  Gideon  Welles,  son  of  Samuel  (4)  and  Anna  (Hale)  Welles,  was  born 
in  Glastonbury,  Conn.,  July  1,  1802;  died  at  Hartford,  Conn.,  Feb.  11,  1878.  He 
was  educated  at  the  Episcopal  Academy  at  Cheshire,  and  entered  the  University 
of  Vermont ;  but  without  completing  his  collegiate  course  he  began  the  study  of 
law  in  the  office  of  Thomas  S.  Williams,  afterwards  Chief  Justice  of  Connecti- 
cut. In  1826  he  became  editor  and  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the  Hartford  Times, 
continuing  till  1854,  although  he  retired  from  the  responsible  editorship  in  1836. 
He  made  his  paper  the  chief  organ  of  the  Democratic  party  in  the  State  and  New 
England.  This  was  the  first  paper  to  advocate  the  election  of  Andrew  Jackson 
to  the  presidency,  and  earnestly  upheld  his  administration.  Mr.  Welles  was  a 
member  of  the  Legislature,  1827-^^-  and  both  in  that  body  and  in  his  journal 
attacked  with  severity  the  proposed  measures  to  exclude  from  the  courts  wit- 
nesses that  did  not  believe  in  the  future  state  of  rewards  and  punishment.  He 
also  labored  for  years  to  secure  the  abolition  of  imprisonment  for  debt,  opposed 
special  and  private  legislation,  and  secured  the  passage  of  general  laws  for  the 
organization  of  financial  corporations.  He  was  the  first  to  advocate  low  postage. 
Ions  before  it  began  to  attract  general  attention.  He  was  chosen  Comptroller  of 
the  State  by  the  Legislature  in  1835,  and  elected  to  that  office  by  popular  vote  in 
1842  and  1843,  being  also  in  the  intervening  years  postmaster  of  Hartford.  From 
1846  till  1849  he  was  chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Provisions  and  Clothing  in  the  Navy 
Department  at  Washington. 

Mr.  Welles  had  always  opposed  the  extension  of  slavery,  and  early  identified 
himself  with  the  Republican  party.  He  began  his  work  for  the  Republicans  in  the 
columns  of  the  Evening  Press,  a  Republican  journal  which  was  started  in  1856. 
A  contemporary  writer  says:"In  building  up  the   Connecticut  Republicans   no 


SONS     OF    THE    REVOLUTION. 


70 


one  voice  was  so  powerful  through  the  press  as  that  of  Gideon  Welles."'  He  was 
Republican  candidate  for  governor  of  Connecticut  in  1856,  and  in  i860  was 
chairman  of  the  Connecticut  delegation  to  the  convention  at  Chicago  which 
nominated  Abraham  Lincoln  for  the  Presidency,  and  labored  earnestly  for  his 
election.  In  the  formation  of  his  cabinet  the  first  name  selected  by  President 
Lincoln  was  that  of  Hon.  Gideon  Welles,  who  entered  the  cabinet  as  Secretary 
of  the  Navy.  His  executive  ability  compensated  for  his  previous  lack  of 
special  knowledge,  and  though  many  of  his  acts  were  severely  criticised,  his 
administration  was  popular  with  the  Navy  and  with  the  country  at  large.     His 


So  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION'. 

facility  as  a  writer  made  his  state  papers  more  interesting  than  such  documents 
usually  are. 

In  his  first  report,  dated  July  4,  1861.  he  announced  the  increase  of  his 
effective  naval  force  from  forty-two  to  eighty-two  vessels.  This  and  the  sub- 
sequent increase  in  a  few  months  to  more  than  500  vessels  was  largely  due  to 
his  energy.  In  the  same  report  he  also  recommended  investigation  to  secure  the 
best  iron-clads,  and  this  class  of  vessels  was  introduced  under  his  administration. 
In  the  Cabinet,  Mr.  Welles  opposed  all  arbitrary  measures,  and  objected  to  the 
declaration  of  a  blockade  of  Southern  ports,  holding  that  this  was  a  virtual  ac- 
knowledgement of  belligerent  rights,  and  that  the  preferable  course  would  be 
to  close  our  ports  to  foreign  commerce  by  proclamation.  By  request  of  the 
President  he  presented  his  ideas  in  writing,  but  the  Cabinet  finally  yielded  to  the 
views  of  Secretary  Seward.  Early  in  the  war,  on  Sept.  25,  1861,  he  ordered  that 
the  negro  refugees  that  found  their  way  to  U.  S.  vessels  should  be  enlisted  in  the 
navy.  Referring  to  his  administration,  a  writer  says:  "More  than  the  country 
yet  knows  it  was  the  firmness  and  wisdom  of  Gideon  Welles  that  at  certain 
junctures,  served  unseen,  to  turn  the  tide  of  fortune  in  favor  of  the  Government. 
He  held  his  post  to  the  close  of  President  Johnson's  administration  in  1869.  A 
brief  summary  of  the  work  of  the  Navy  Department  under  Mr.  Welles  adminis- 
tration shows  that  during  the  war  208  vessels  were  commenced  and  nearly  all  of 
them  completed;  418  vessels  were  purchased;  the  number  of  men  in  the  service 
was  increased  from  7,600  to  51,500;  the  number  of  artisans  and  laborers  in 
various  navy  yards  was  increased  from  3,844  to  J  6,880;  not  to  mention  almost  as 
many  more  engaged  in  private  shipyards  and  establishments  under  contracts. 
The  total  sum  expended  by  the  navy  during  the  war  was  $314,170,960.68,  or  an 
annual  average  expenditure  of  $72,500,990.93. 

In  1872  Mr.  Welles  acted  with  the  Liberal  Republicans,  and  in  1876  he  advo- 
cated the  election  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  afterwards  taking  strong  grounds  against 
the  Electoral  Commission  and  its  decision.  After  his  retirement  fro-n  office  he 
contributed  freely  to  current  literature  on  the  political  and  other  events  of  the 
Civil  War,  and  provoked  hostile  criticism  by  what  many  thought  his  harsh  stric- 
tures on  official  conduct.  In  1872  he  published  an  elaborate  paper  to  show  that 
the  capture  of  New  Orleans  in  1862  was  due  entirely  to  the  Navy,  and  in  1873 
a  volume  entitled  "Lincoln  and  Seward." 

Mr.  Welles  married  Mary  Jane,  daughter  of  Elias  W.  Hale,  of  Lewistown. 
Pa.,  and  had  issue:  Annie  J.,  Samuel,  Edward  G.,  Edgar  Thaddcus.  Thomas  G., 
John  A.,  Herbert,  Mary  J.,  and  Hubert. 

EDGAR  THADDEUS  WELLES,  Sooetv  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  fourth 
child  of  Hon.  Gideon  and  Alary  Jane  (Hale)  Welles,  was  born  Aug.  29,  1843,  at 
Hartford,  Conn.  His  preparatory  course  of  education  was  received  at  the  High 
School  of  his  native  city  (one  of  the  best  schools  in  the  country).  He  entered 
Yale  in  i860,  graduating  in  1864.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  but  did  not  prac- 
tice. In  1866  he  was  appointed  chief  clerk  of  the  U.  S.  Navy  Department.  He 
resigned  this  position  in  1869.  He  became  treasurer  and  manager  of  the  Gatling 
Gun  Company,  of  Hartford,  which  prospered  greatly  under  his  supervision. 


SONS     OF    THE     REVOLUTION.  8l 

Later,  Mr.  Welles  became  interested  in  the  Granby  Mining  and  Smelting 
Company  (lead  and  zinc),  and  was  made  its  president.  He  was  appointed  re- 
ceiver of  the  National  Bank  of  the  State  of  Missouri ;  president  of  the  Interna- 
tional Company  of  Mexico,  and  of  the  Mexican  Steamship  Company  and  their 
subsidiary  organizations;  vice-president  of  the  Wabash  Railroad  Company;  vice- 
president  of  the  National  Heating  Company,  director  in  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
Railroad  Company,  the  Wabash  Railroad  Company,  the  Peoria  and  Union  R.  R. 
Co.,  the  United  States  Trust  Company  of  Hartford,  the  B.  and  O.  S.  W.  R.  R. 
Co.,  and  president  of  the  Consolidated  Coal  Company.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
various  clubs  and  societies  of  New  York  City,  among  which  are  the  Union,  Uni- 
versity, Lawyers'  and  Down  Town  clubs,  the  Yale  Alumni  Association,  etc. 

While  long  separated  from  the  home  of  his  early  childhood,  he  still  clings 
fondly  to  these  old  associations.  He  owns  the  original  estate  on  which  his  Hart- 
ford ancestors  settled  in  1635,  and  also  that  of  the  Hale  family  at  Glastonbury. 
Both  are  well  preserved  and  many  of  the  old  landmarks  still  remain. 


EIMiAR  TIIADDHUS  WKLLES. 


Married  Alice,   daughter   of   Charles   H.   Brainard,    of   Hartford,    and   has 
one  child,  a  daughter  Alice,  born  in  1880. 

Thomas  G.,  died  February,  1892,  left  two  sons,  Samuel  and  Thomas. 


M  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

TERRY—TAYLOR,    AND    ALLIED    FAMILIES. 

The  anci^try  of  John  Taylor  Terry,  No.  906,  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  includes 
one  distinguished  hero  of  the  American  Revolution  and  four  others  who  ren- 
dered important  service  in  "the  days  that  tried  men's  souls."  These  were  Colonel 
Nathaniel  Terry,  Eliphalet  Terry,  and  Eldad  Taylor. 

The  direct  line  of  Mr.  Terry,  including  the  marriages  with  the  Terry  and 
Taylor  family,  is  traceable  in  a  direct  line  to  some  of  the  most  distinguished  of 
the  early  New  England  colonists,  and  through  Mabel  Harlakenden  to  King  Ed- 
ward I  of  England,  and  from  him  to  William  the  Conqueror.  Among  his  New 
England  forefathers  were  George  Wyllys,  Governor  of  Connecticut,  in  1642  (the 
ancestor  of  Col.  Samuel  Wyllys,  a  distinguished  officer,  who  rendered  important 
service  at  the  battle  of  Long  Island);  John  Haynes  (husband  of  Mabel  Harla- 
kenden), the  colonial  Governor  of  Massachusetts  (1635);  the  first  Governor  of 
Connecticut  (1639),  and  re-elected  to  the  office  successively  until  his  death,  in 
1656,  with  an  exception  of  an  interim  of  five  years,  when  he  declined  re-election: 
William  Bradford,  the  famous  Governor  of  Plymouth  colony,  and  Alice,  his  wife, 
n£e  Carpenter;  William  Partridge,  treasurer  of  Connecticut;  Samuel  Terry, 
patentee  of  Enfield,  Conn. ;  Rev.  Nathaniel  Collins,  Rev.  W.  Adams,  John  White. 
Elder  W.  Goodwin,  Rev.  Henry  Flynt,  whose  wife  was  Margery  Hoar,  a  sister 
of  President  Hoar,  of  Cambridge;  Samuel  Wyllys,  and  Rev.  Edward  Taylor. 
Both  paternally  and  maternally  Mr.  Terry  is  descended  from  Samuel  Terry,  the 
American  ancestor. 

Samuel  Terry  (1)  was  born  at  Barnet,  near  London,  Eng.,  1632.  He  came 
to  America  on  the  Pynchon,  and  settled  in  Springfield,  Mass.,  1650.  He  married 
Jan.  3,  1660,  Ann  Lobdell,  supposed  to  be  a  sister  of  Simon,  one  of  the  founders 
of  Hartford,  Conn.    He  had  nine  children,  of  whom  Samuel  (2)  was  the  eldest. 

Samuel  Terry  (2),  eldest  child  of  Samuel  (1)  and  Ann  (Lobdell)  Terry, 
was  born  in  Springfield,  Mass.,  July  18,  1661 ;  died  in  Enfield,  Conn.,  Jan.  2,  1730. 
He  was  one  of  the  original  proprietors  or  patentees  of  the  town,  and  held  many 
important  positions.  In  the  public  records  he  is  mentioned  as  "gentleman."  He 
was  constable,  selectman,  captain  in  the  militia,  etc.  He  married,  1st,  May  17, 
1682,  Hannah,  daughter  of  Miles  Morgan.     They  had  issue  Ephraim. 

Ephraim  Terry,  son  of  Samuel  and  Hannah  (Morgan)  Terry,  was  born  in 
Enfield,  Oct.  24,  1701 ;  died  there  Oct.  14,  1783.  He  was  a  lawyer  by  profession 
and  a  man  of  some  prominence.  He  married  Sep.  13,  1728,  Ann,  daughter  of 
Rev.  Nathaniel  and  Alice  (Adams)  Collins,  the  latter  the  daughter  of  Rev.  W. 
Adams,  who  married  Alice,  granddaughter  of  Gov.  William  Bradford,  of  the 
Mayflower.    They  had  issue  Eliphalet. 

Eliphalet  Terry,  son  of  Ephraim  and  Ann  (Collins)  Terry,  was  born  in 
Enfield,  Conn.,  Dec.  24,  1742.  He  was  also  a  lawyer,  Probate  Judge,  Judge  of  the 
County  Court,  deacon-in  the  Congregational  church,  and  a  man  much  respected. 
He  was  from  1778  to  1812  (the  time  of  his  death)  a  member  of  the  Connecticut 
Legislature,  and  most  of  the  time  Speaker  of  the  House.  He  married  Mary 
Dwight  Hall,  of  Middletown,  and  had  issue  Roderick. 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  &3 

Roderick  Terry  son  of  Eliphalet  and  Mary  Dwight  (Hall)  Terry,  was  born 
in  Enfield,  March  12,  1788;  died  Feb.  9,  1849.  He  was  a  successful  merchant; 
was  president  of  the  Exchange  Bank  of  Hartford,  member  of  the  Common  Coun- 
cil, Alderman,  etc.  He  married  Harriet,  daughter  of  Rev.  John  Taylor,  whose 
wife  was  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Nathaniel  Terry. 

COLONEL  NATHANIEL  TERRY  of  the  Revolution  was  a  descendant 
in  the  fourth  generation  of  Samuel,  the  ancestor.  He  was  born  in  Enfield.  June 
3,  1730;  died  Feb.  20,  1792.  He  was  Major,  in  command  of  the  Enfield  troops, 
who  "marched  for  the  relief  of  Boston  in  the  Lexington  Alarm."  April,  1775. 
He  left  Enfield  immediately  with  72  men,  and  was  joined  shortly  afterwards  by 
35,  forming  a  battalion  of  107  men,  with  two  captains,  two  lieutenants  and  sub- 
ordinate officers.  Jacob  Terry,  Jr.,  Shadrach  Terry  and  Daniel  Terry  were  also 
members  of  this  battalion.  He  was  probably  in  continuous  service  from  that  time 
until  his  promotion  to  Lieut.  Colonel,  and  was  no  doubt  sent  forward  with  other 
Continental  troops  after  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  to  the  defences  on  Long  Island. 
It  is  said  that  he  bore  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  battle  of  Long  Island,  but  owing 
to  the  demoralization  of  the  American  army,  incident  to  the  defeat,  the  records 
are  imperfect.  He  was  promoted  Lieut.  Colonel  of  the  Nineteenth  Conn.  Regi- 
ment in  Dec,  1776  (Lieut.  Col.  George  Pitkin  having  resigned  on  account  of  ill- 
health),  and  in  May  of  the  following  year  was  commissioned  Colonel.  His  was 
one  of  the  fourteen  Connecticut  regiments  engaged  in  the  campaign  in  and  around 
New  York  in  1776,  some  of  which  participated  in  the  battles  of  Long  Island,  Har- 
lem Heights,  White  Plains  and  other  engagements.  He  was  a  prominent  mer- 
chant, and  a  zealous  patriot,  both  civil  and  military,  during  the  War  of  the  Revo- 
lution, in  which  he  sacrificed  a  large  property,  depending  in  his  old  age  on  his 
pension  received  from  the  government.  He  married  Abiah.  daughter  of  Samuel 
and  Mary  (Lyman)  Dwight  (born  in  Middletown  April  9,  1732;  died  June  14, 
1816).  His  daughter  Elizabeth,  as  has  been  already  stated,  became  the  wife  of 
Rev.  John  Taylor. 

Rev.  Edward  Taylor,  the  grandfather  of  Rev.  John  Taylor,  was  born  at 
Sketchley,  near  Coventry,  Leicestershire,  Eng.  He  studied  four  years  at  Cam- 
bridge University,  graduated  at  Harvard  University.  Massachusetts,  1671,  settled 
in  Westfield  as  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  1674.  He  married,  first,  Elizabeth 
Fitch  of  Norwich,  Conn.  ;  second,  Ruth  Wyllys,  daughter  of  Hon.  Samuel  and 
Ruth  ( Haynes)  Wyllys,  of  Hartford,  daughter  of  Governor  John  and  Mabel 
(Harlakenden)  Haynes,  born  in  England,  1714.  and  whose  ancestry  is  traced 
through  the  line  of  English  kings,  and  through  all  the  prominent  families  in 
England  to  William  the  Conqueror,  and  also  through  Malcomb  Canmore  and 
the  Scottish  kings  as  far  as  they  can  be  traced.  Edward  had  a  son.  The  wife 
of  Rev.  Edward  Taylor  was  Ruth  Wyllys,  daughter  of  Hon.  Samuel  Wyllys, 
who  was  Senator  for  thirty  years  and  Member  of  Congress  of  New  England 
colonies  four  years.  He  owned  the  famous  Charter  Oak,  and  was  its  custodian 
during  his  life.  His  wife  was  Ruth  Haynes,  daughter  of  Roger  Haynes,  the 
first  colonial  governor  of  Massachusetts.  Rev.  Edward  Taylor  and  his  wife 
Ruth  Wyllys  had  issue  a  son  Eldad. 


84  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

HON.  ELDAD  TAYLOR,  of  the  Revolutionary  Period,  son  of  Rev.  Ed- 
ward and  Ruth  (Wyllysj  Taylor,  was  born  in  1708.  He  lived  in  Westfield,  Mass. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Senate,  and  of  the  Governor's  Council 
during  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  died  at  his  post  in  Boston  while  still  in  the 
performance  of  his  official  duties.  He  married  Thankful  Day,  daughter  of  Major 
John  Day  and  Mary  (Smith)  Day,  and  descended  paternally  from  Robert  Day 
and  Editha  (Stebbing)  Day,  who  came  from  Braintree  in  1633.  They  had  issue 
John. 

Rev.  John  Taylor,  son  of  Hon.  Eldad  and  Thankful  (.Day)  Taylor,  was 
born  at  Westfield,  Mass.,  Dec.  23,  1762,  died  at  Bruce,  Mich.,  Dec.  20,  1840.  He 
married  Elizabeth  Terry,  and  their  daughter,  Harriet  Taylor,  through  her  mar- 
riage with  Roderick  Terry,  became  the  mother  of  John  Taylor  Terry. 

JOHN  TAYLOR  TERRY,  third  son  of  Roderick  and  Harriet  (Taylor) 
Terry,  was  born  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  Sept.  9,  1822.  He  received  a  thorough  aca- 
demic education,  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen  entered  his  father's  employ,  and  under 
his  tuition  he  became  fully  equipped  for  the  successful  business  career  which 
followed,  and  has  continued  without  interruption  during  his  long  and  useful  life. 
He  remained  in  his  father's  employ  until  1841,  and  then  went  abroad  for  a  time, 
using  his  powers  of  observation  to  acquire  a  more  thorough  knowledge  of  this 
world,  and  thus  add  to  his  store  of  useful  information.  On  his  return  he  en- 
entered  the  New  York  house  of  E.  D.  Morgan,  and  two  years  later  became  a 
member  of  the  firm,  E.  D.  Morgan  &  Co.  The  partnership  continued  without 
interruption  until  the  death  of  Governor  Morgan,  the  senior  partner,  in  1883. 
The  firm,  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  substantial  mercantile  houses 
in  the  country,  still  retains  the  same  name. 

Without  neglecting  the  affairs  of  his  own  firm,  Mr.  Terry  has  successfully 
engaged  in  other  business  operations,  and  has  been  associated  in  various  capaci- 
ties with  the  leading  business  men  of  his  day.  He  is  a  director  in  the  American 
Exchange  National  Bank,  the  Bank  of  New  Amsterdam,  and  the  Metropolitan 
Trust  Company,  and  is  Vice-President  of  the  Mercantile  Trust  Company.  He 
is  also  a  director  in  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  and  the  various 
connecting  telegraph  enterprises.  He  is  also  identified  with  railroad,  gas  and 
other  business  companies.  While  Mr.  Terry's  success  in  life  is  due  to  his  own 
exertions,  good  judgment  and  wise  forethought,  he  is  not  unmindful  of  the  fact 
that  his  equipment  is  due  in  no  small  degree  to  certain  characteristics  inherited 
through  a  long  line  of  ancestors  who  have  left  their  impress  upon  each  generation, 
and  have  been  prominent  factors  in  moulding  and  shaping  the  destinies  of  our 
nation.  Industry,  unswerving  integrity  and  unfaltering  courage  to  meet  any 
emergency  and  overcome  apparently  insurmountable  obstacles,  are  among  the 
qualities  noted  in  the  lives  of  these  great  men.  To  cherish  the  memory  and 
exemplify  the  teachings  of  these  great  men  has  been  the  aim  of  Mr.  Terry's 
life,  and  in  this  bequeaths  a  legacy  to  his  children  of  greater  value  than  the 
accumulated  wealth  of  a  life-time. 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 


85 


JOHN   TAYLOR  TERKY. 


86  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

Mr.  Terry  belongs  to  the  old  school  of  merchants — men  who  were  more 
interested  in  the  development  of  the  country  and  the  good  of  mankind  than  the 
mere  accumulation  of  wealth. 

Mr.  Terry's  religious  connections  have  always  been  with  the  church  of  his 
forefathers — that  of  the  Congregationalists,  or  the  one  near  akin  to  it,  the  Pres- 
byterian. In  his  "union  for  life"  Mr.  Terry  became  identified  with  another  Rev- 
olutionary family.  He  married  in  1846  Miss  Elizabeth  Roe  Peet,  of  Brooklyn, 
a  great-grand-daughter  of  Rev.  Azel  Roe  of  New  Jersey,  who  in  the  Revolution- 
ary War  was  captured  by  the  British,  confined  in  one  of  the  old  sugar  houses, 
and  during  his  imprisonment  was  supplied  with  food  by  the  father  of  Washing- 
ton Irving.  Mr.  Terry's  beautiful  home  on  the  Hudson  is  not  far  from  that  of 
''Sunnyside,"  the  old  home  of  Irving.     The  children  of  Mr.  Terry  are: 

Frederick  Peet  Terry.  Born  May  14,  1847;  died  May  12,  1874;  married  Ellen 
Battell  of   Norfolk.    Conn. 

Rev.  Roderick  Terry,  D.  D.,  born  April  1st,  1849;  married  Linda  Mar- 
quand,    of    New    York,    daughter    of    Henry    G.   Marquand. 

Harriet  Taylor  Terry,  born  Oct.  9,  1851;  died  April  1857. 

John  Taylor  Terry,  born  Aug.  17.  1857,  married  Bertha  Halsted  of  New 
York,  daughter  of  Wm.  M.  Halsted. 

Elizabeth  Peet  Terry,  born  Sept.  17,  1855;  died  Dec.  24,  1855. 

CHIPMAN.— GRAY.— FOSTER.— HARRISON. 

The  history  of  the  above  named  families  forms  an  interesting  contribution 
to  the  annals  of  the  Revolution,  while  the  war  record  of  Richard  Harrison 
Chipman  adds  new  lustre  to  the  name,  and  completes  the  list  of  patriots  which 
each  generation  has  given  to  the  country. 

The  name  of  Chipman  or  Chippenham  is  found  in  the  English  records  as 
early  as  the  eleventh  century.  William  de  Chippenham  was  chairman  of  the 
commisioners  (jurors)  in  the  "  Hundred  of  Staplehou  "  Co.  Cambridge.  Eng., 
who,  by  order  of  William  the  Conqueror.  A.  D.  1085,  took  the  inventory  of 
the  extensive  estates  possessed  by  the  opulent  Monastery  of  Ely.  in  that  County. 
The  family  bore  Arms — Argent,  a  bend  between  six  estoiles  gules.  Crest — 
A  leopard  sejent  argent  murally  crowned.  Motto — Unity  and  loyalty.  A 
mural  crown  was  conferred  upon  him  who  first,  at  an  assault,  mounted  the 
wall  of  a  besieged  town,  and  there  set  up  a  standard.  1 

Thomas  Chipman,  father  of  the  American  ancestor,  lived  in  or  near  Dor- 
chester, Dorsetshire,  Eng.  He  was  born  about  1567,  and  died  about  1625.  He  was 
possessed  of  land  and  tenements,  with  a  mill  and  other  edifices,  in  or  near  the 
vicinage  of  Bridgeport,  same  shire.    He  had  a  son  John. 

Elder  John  Chipman,  son  of  Thomas,  arrived  at  Boston,  Mass.,  1631. 
After  residing  in  Plymouth  and  in  Dartmouth,  Mass..  he  removed  to  Barn- 
stable and  lived  there  1649-1679,  and  at  Sandwich  thereafter  until  his  death. 
about  1708.  He  was,  in  Barnstable,  1670-1684,  one  of  the  Ruling  Elders. 
ordained  as  co-pastor  with  the  Teacher  of  the  Congregational  Church  of  Barn- 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  S" 

stable.  He  was  his  father's  only  son  and  heir.  He  was  magistrate  in  the 
Plymouth  Colony  and  representative  to  the  General  Court.  He  married  Hope 
daughter  of  John  Howland,  one  of  the  "  Blessed  Company"  of  the  Mayflower. 
They  had  issue :    A  son  Samuel. 

Dea.  Samuel  Chipman,  son  of  Elder  John  and  Hope  (Howland)  Chip- 
man,  was  born  at  Barnstable,  April  15,  1661;  died  there  1723.  He  was  an 
innholder  and  deacon  of  the  church.  He  married,  12  Dec.  1649.  Sarah,  sister  of 
Thomas  Hinkley,  Governor  of  the  Plymouth  Colony.     They  had  a  son  John. 

Rev.  John  Chipman,  third  son  of  Dea.  Samuel  and  Sarah  ( Hinkley ) 
Chipman,  was  born  in  Barnstable  16th  Feb.,  1691;  was  graduated  at  Harvard 
1711;  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  the  Precinct  or 
Salem  and  Beverly  23  Dec,  1715,  sustaining  that  position  till  his  decease. 
March  22.  1775.  He  married,  Feb.  12,  1718,  Rebecca  Hale,  and  had  a  son 
Samuel. 

Capt.  Samuel  Chipman  second  son  of  Rev.  John  and  Rebecca  (Hale) 
Chipman,  was  born  in  North  Beverly,  Mass.,  nth  Dec,  1726;  died  at  St. 
Martin's  Island,  West  Indies,  Sep.  19,  1761.  After  the  birth  of  his  eldest  child 
he  lived  at  Salem,  Mass.,  and  followed  the  sea  as  master  of  a  vessel.  He 
married  Austice,  eldest  child  of  Capt.  Richard  Manning.  They  had,  among 
other  children,  a  son  John. 

JOHN  CHIPMAN,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution  eldest  son  of  Captain 
Samuel  and  Austice  (Manning)  Chipman,  was  born  at  Ipswich,  Mass.,  Aug. 
9,  1746;  died  there  Dec.  25,  1819.  He  was  employed  directly  by  the  Colonial 
Government,  stimulated  by  its  offer  of  a  bounty,  in  the  preparation  of  sulphur. 
He  was  one  of  the  crew  of  the  letter-of-marque  ship  "Julius  Caesar,"  carrying 
14  guns  and  40  men.  He  was  Armorer  on  the  armed  brig  "  Massachusetts," 
Feb.  17-Oct.  16,  1777;  also  of  the  brig  "  Tyrannicide,"  Jonathan  Haraden, 
Commander,  Oct.  18,  1777-May  8,  1778.  He  married,  22  May.  1768,  Hannah, 
daughter  of  Capt.  Eleazer  Moses,  a  descendant,  probably,  of  John,  who  prior 
to  1640,  owned  a  shipyard  in  Duxbury.    They  had  a  son,  Richard  Manning. 

Dea.  Richard  Manning  Chipman,  son  of  John  and  Hannah  (Moses) 
Chipman,  was  born  in  Salem,  Mass.,  23  Oct.,  1786;  he  resided  there  until  his 
decease,  17th  Oct.,  1863.  He  was  for  many  years  a  deacon  of  the  Fourth  (or 
South  Congregational)  Church  in  that  city.  He  married  Elizabeth  Gray, 
daughter  of  James  Gray  and  Elizabeth  Foster. 

JAMES  GRAY,  Patriot  0  the  Revolution,  was  a  private  in  Captain 
Addison  Richardson's  company,  Col.  John  Mansfield's  Regiment.  Mass.  Militia 
May  16- August,  1775;  Private  in  Capt.  Addison  Richardson's  Company.  19th 
Mass.  Reg.  of  Foot,  Col.  Hutchinson,  Oct.  16.  1775.  June,  ^77^:  ^t  siege  of 
Boston;  Private  in  Capt.  Nathan  Brown's  Company,  27th  Reg.  Mass.  Conti- 
nental Infantry,  Col.  Israel  Hutchinson,  1776;  taken  prisoner  at  Fort  Wash- 
ington, on  the  Hudson,  Nov.  16,  1776;  Private  Colonel's  Company  5  Reg. 
Massachusetts  Line,  Col.  Rufus  Putnam,  April  1,  1777-Dec  31,  1779:  Private 
Capt.   Moses  McFarland's  Corps  of  Invalids,  January-December.   T780. 


88  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

Elizabeth  Foster,  the  mother  of  Elizabeth  (Gray)  Chipman,  was  the 
daughter  of  Robert  Foster. 

ROBERT  FOSTER,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution  father  of  Elizabeth 
Foster,  was  Captain  in  7th  Company,  1st  Reg.  local  militia,  June  6,  1776.  He 
later  enlisted  as  2d  Lieutenant  Volunteer  Company  from  Salem,  Mass.,  com- 
manded by  Capt.  Samuel  Flagg.  From  July  4,  1777,  to  June  1,  1779,  he  was 
Quartermaster  under  Col.  John  Allen  at  Machias,  for  the  defense  of  the  East- 
ern County. 

By  this  marriage  to  Elizabeth  Gray,  daughter  of  James  Gray  and  Elizabeth 
Foster,  Dea.  Richard  Manning  Chipman  had  issue :  a  son.  Rev.  Ricliard 
Manning. 

Rev.  Richard  Manning  Chipman  (2),  eldest  child  of  Richard  Manning 
and  Elizabeth  (Gray)  Chipman,  was  born  in  Salem,  Mass.,  Jan.  12,  1806.  He 
was  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College  in  1832;  pursued  his  theological  studies 
in  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Princeton,  N.  J.,  and  in  the  Theological  De- 
partment of  New  York  University  in  1833-4.  He  was  the  first  Corresponding 
Secretary  of  the  American  Peace  Society,  whose  office  was  then  in  New  York. 
He  was  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Harwinton  1835-39;  of  Evan- 
gelical Church  at  Athol,  Mass.,  1839-51,  and  of  the  Third  Congregational 
Church  in  Guilford,  Conn.,  1852-58.  He  was  afterward  at  Wolcoltville,  Conn., 
Hyde  Park,  Mass.,  and  East  Granby.  He  was  a  noted  linguist — speaking 
fourteen  different  languages;  a  man  of  fine  literary  attainments,  but  was  spec- 
ially given  to  genealogical  research.  He  prepared  genealogical  records  of 
several  early  settlers  of  Salem  with  their  descendants.  He  prepared  the  Chip- 
man  family;  a  "  History  of  the  Chipman  Lineage  in  America."  This  last 
named  work  embraced  the  arranged  result  of  research  and  correspondence 
covering  a  period  of  twenty-five  years.  He  was  a  ripe  scholar  and  an  eloquent 
speaker,  a  man  of  independent  thought  and  indifferent  to  public  opinion. 
During  his  later  years  his  whole  mind  was  absorbed  in  genealogical  work. 
He  contributed  to  the  Century  Dictionary  and  other  publications. 

He  married  Mary  Ann  Harrison,  eldest  daughter  of  Rev.  Fosdick  Har- 
rison, pastor  of  Congregational  Church  at  Roxbury,  Conn.  They  had  issue: 
Richard  Harrison. 

RICHARD  HARRISON  CHIPMAN,  Member  of  the  Sons  of  the  Rev 
olution  son  of  Rev.  Richard  Manning  and  Mary  Ann  (Harrison)  Chip- 
man,  was  born  in  Harwinton.  Litchfield  County,  Conn..  Jan.  19.  1837.  He  was 
educated  at  private  schools  and  at  Williston  Seminary.  His  first  business 
experience  was  in  a  country  store,  and  after  that  in  a  large  manufacturing 
establishment  in  Litchfield  Co.,  Conn.  Soon  after  the  breaking  out  of  the  war 
Mr.  Chipman  made  application  for  an  appointment  in  the  paymaster's  depart- 
ment in  the  navy,  a  position  which  he  was  peculiarly  fitted  for,  as  subsequent 
events  proved.  If  the  old  maxim,  that  "  poets  are  born  and  not  made,"  is 
true,  it  applies  with  even  greater  force  to  the  position  of  paymasters  and  their 
assistants.  Mr.  Chipman  wisely  began  at  the  bottom  of  the  ladder  and  worked 
his  way  up.     He  was  appointed  paymaster's  clerk  in  the  U.  S.  Navy,  June  15. 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 


89 


1862,  and  assigned  to  the  barque  Roebuck,  commanded  by  John  Sherrell,  en- 
gaged in  the  blockade  service  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  paymaster  was  a 
nephew  of  Gideon  Welles.  Mr.  Chipman  continued  in  this  position  for  about 
sixteen  months,  until  Oct.  16,  1863.  He  then  returned  home  and  was  for  some 
time  on  duty  on  the  gunboat  Hendrick  Hudson,  stationed  at  the  Charlestown 
Navy  Yard.  In  June,  1864,  he  was  commissioned  A.  A.  Paymaster,  U.  S.  N., 
and  served  in  the  capacity  of  Paymaster  until  the  close  of  the  war.  He  was 
first  assigned  to  the  U.  S.  ship  "  Isonomia,"  under  Lieut.-Commander  Edward 
Simpson;  as  Paymaster  in  the  North  Atlantic  Squadron,  off  Fort  Fisher,  N.  C. 
He  was  ordered  thence  to  the  East  Gulf  Squadron,  with  headquarters  at  Key 
West,  Fla.,  under  the  command  of  Admiral  Theodoras  Bailey,  and  was  soon 
after  transferred  to  the  Admiral's  headquarters,  relieving  two  other  paymasters. 
While  in  this  position  he  discharged  the  duties  of  paymaster  on  the  sloop-of- 
war  Dale,  the  steamer  Nita,  the  Marigold  and  the  schooner  Beaureguard 
(captured  from  the  enemy),  once  the  famous  old  captured  yacht  and  slaver 
Wanderer,  used  as  a  guard  ship. 


RICHARD  HARRISON  CHIPMAN. 

All  this  additional  service  was  performed  without  extra  pay.     When  it   is 
considered  that  the   government  never  accepts  any  statement  with  the  usual 


90  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

qualification  of  "errors  excepted,"  but  that  every  error  either  of  judgment  or 
in  calculation  is  charged  against  the  officer,  the  responsibility  of  the  position 
can  be  appreciated.  No  accounting  officer  can  receive  his  honorable  discharge 
until  every  dollar  is  accounted  for.  Such  duties  require  a  man  of  extraordinary 
ability  as  well  as  other  qualifications  with  which  comparatively  few  persons  are 
gifted.  On  October  20,  1865,  Paymaster  Chipman  closed  his  accounts  with  the 
Government,  which,  after  a  careful  examination  by  the  Auditor  U.  S.  Treasury, 
it  was  found  that  the  Government  was  indebted  to  him  in  the  sum  of  $11.81, 
and  he  was  then  honorably  discharged  with  ''thanks  of  the  Government."  It 
is  doubtful  if  a  cleaner  or  better  record  can  be  found  of  any  individual  in  the 
service  of  the  Government.  The  qualifications  for  "honesty  and  integrity"  are 
hereditary  traits;  the  others  were  acquired  by  long  experience. 

After  the  war  Mr.  Ghipman  engaged  in  the  railroad  business.  He  was  five 
years  with  the  Philadelphia,  Wilmington  and  Baltimore  R.  R.  as  chief  clerk  of 
transportation;  he  was  next  terminal  freight  agent  of  the  New  York,  Ontario 
and  Western  R  .R.  and  later,  General  Freight  Agent,  Passenger  Agent  and 
Purchasing  Agent  of  the  N.  J.  Aaidland  R.  R.  Co.  until  January  1st.  1878.  He 
then  engaged  in  the  wholesale  coal  business  which  he  carried  on  successfully 
until  1887,  when  he  became  General  Manager  of  the  Coaldale  Mining  Co.,  as 
successor  of  his  private  firm,  the  business  of  which  has  largely  increased  under 
his  management. 

Mr.  Chipman  is  a  member  of  the  Military  Order  of  the  Loyal  Legion, 
U.  S.,  is  Past  Master  of  Lodge  of  the  Temple  F.  &  A.  M.  of  Jersey  City,  Pass 
District  Deputy  Grand  Master  of  Seventh  Masonic  District  of  New  Jersey;  was 
R.  and  S.  C.  of  Enterprise  Chapter  No.  1  R.  A.  M.,  of  Jersey  City,  Captain 
General  of  Hugh  de  Payen's  commandery,  and  has  advanced  to  the  16th  degree 
in  the  Scottish  rite.  On  retiring  from  the  East,  Worshipful  Brother  Chip- 
man  was  presented  with  an  elegant  silver  service  in  recognition  of  his  faith- 
ful and  exemplary  work  and  long  continued  service.  In  his  first  advancement 
he  was  taken  from  the  floor  and  placed  in  the  West,  and  thence  to  the  East. 
Brooks,  of  Guilford,  Connecticut.  They  have  three  children,  Mary  Harrison, 
Richard  Brooks  and  Laura  Elliott. 

GRAHAM— CHAUNCEY— CLASON. 

The  Grahams  have  been  equally  distinguished  for  their  courage,  loyalty 
and  patriotism  in  this  country  as  well  as  in  England  and  Scotland.  The  line  of 
descent  established  by  Scottish  historians  from  the  renowned  Graeme,  whose 
reign  began  in  the  early  part  of  the  fifth  century.  Sir  David  Graeme  held  a 
grant  of  land  of  King  William  the  Lion,  who  reigned  from  1163  to  1214.  His 
descendant,  Sir  Patrick  Graham,  was  made  Lord  of  Parliament  about  1445,  whose 
grandson  William  Lord  Graham  was  by  Tames  IV  created  Earl  of  Montrose  in 
1504  in  consideration  of  the  gallantry  he  displayed  at  the  battle  of  Sanchyburn  in 
1488,  wherein  his  royal  master,  James  IV,  lost  his  life.  William  was  succeeded 
by  his  son  William,  the  latter  by  John,  the  third  earl,  who  died  in  1608,  leaving 
John,  fourth  earl,  died  in  1626,  and  was  succeeded  by  James,  the  fifth  earl,  born  in 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  91 

1612,  and  originally  joined  with  the  Covenanters  against  Charles  I,  but  soon  came 
over  to  the  King,  who,  in  1O44,  created  him  Marquis  of  Montrose.  His  son 
James,  2nd  Marquis,  called  "The  Good,"  was  restored  to  his  estates  and  made 
Privy  Concillor  of  Charles  II.  He  married  Isabel,  daughter  of  William,  2nd  Earl 
of  Merton.  They  had  son  James,  3d  Marquis,  whose  son  James,  the  4th  Marquis, 
was  in  1705  made  Lord  High  Admiral  of  Scotland,  and  in  1707  was  created  Duke 
of  Montrose. 

The  Rev.  John  Graham,  A.  M.,  the  second  son  of  one  of  the  Marquises  men- 
tioned, was  born  in  Edinburg  in  1694,  in  the  year  that  Queen  Mary  died.  He 
was  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Glasgow ;  studied  theology  at  Edinburg, 
where  he  received  orders  for  the  ministry.  He  came  to  New  England  in  1718, 
and  soon  after  became  pastor  of  the  church  at  Exeter,  N.  H.,  where  he  remained 
till  Dec,  1722,  when  he  removed  and  settled  over  the  church  in  Stafford,  Conn. 
He  became  the  first  minister  in  Southbury  society,  Woodbury,  Conn.,  in  1732, 
and  remained  there  until  his  death  in  1774.  During  his  ministry  he  made  two 
visits  to  London  and  Scotland,  upon  each  occasion  on  a  mission  from  Yale  Col- 
lege, to  procure  aid  in  books,  etc.  for  that  institution,  in  the  success  of  which  he 
always  felt  a  deep  interest.  He  married  Abigail,  daughter  of  Rev.  Charles 
Chauncey,  D.D. ;  born  Jan.  1,  1705,  great-grandson  of  President  Chas.  Chauncey 
of  Harvard  College.  They  had  issue :  John,  Robert,  Chauncey,  Andrew,  Love, 
Sarah,  Abigail,  died  young;  Richard  Crouch,  Abigail. 

ANDREW  GRAHAM,  M.  D.,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  fourth  child  of 
Rev.  John  and  Abigail  (Chauncey)  Graham,  was  born  in  Southbury  society. 
Woodbury,  Conn.,  in  1728;  died  June.  1785.  He  early  espoused  the  cause  of  in- 
dependence, and  was  a  most  ardent  patriot.  By  his  generous  hospitality  and 
means,  he  encouraged  and  aided  the  friends  of  the  Revolution.  His  devotion  to 
the  cause  impoverished  his  family,  for  he  would  never  allow  Continental  money 
to  be  discredited  in  his  presence;  and,  after  his  death,  a  large  chest,  filled  with 
this  worthless  paper,  issued  by  authority  of  an  American  Congress,  was  found 
among  his  possessions.  He  enlisted  as  private  in  Capt.  John  Hinman's  Company, 
Thirteenth  Regiment,  Conn.  Militia,  stationed  at  New  York,  1776.  He  was  one 
of  the  Committee  of  Safety  in  1775.  He  performed  temporarily  the  duty  of 
surgeon  in  the  American  army,  probably  during,  or  immediately  after,  the  battle 
of  Long  Island,  as  he  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  British,  sent  to  New  York  and 
confined  several  months  in  the  old  Dutch  church  in  Nassau  Street,  where  he  con- 
tracted disease  from  tainted  provisions  (said  to  have  been  poisoned),  of  which  he 
died  a  few  years  after  his  release.  He  settled  in  Southbury,  Conn.,  where  he  prac- 
ticed as  a  physician  until  his  death.  His  popularity  arose  equally  from  his  active 
benevolence  and  his  admitted  skill.  Wherever  he  went  he  was  hailed  as  the 
"Good  Samaritan."  He  was  a  devoted  adherent  of  Gen.  Washington,  and  the 
only  time  that  illustrious  man  passed  through  Southbury  he  spent  the  night  under 
the  roof  of  his  friend.  He  married  June,  1753,  Martha  Curtiss,  born  June  30, 
1735,  daughter  of  Deacon  Peter  Curtiss,.  son  of  Josiah  (2)  and  Abigal  (Judson) 
Curtiss,   son  of  Josiah    (1),   son   of  William,   the  ancestor,   one  of  the  original 


92  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

settlers  of  Stratford.    There  were  nine  children  by  this  marriage,  of  whom  John 
A.  was  the  sixth.  , 

John  A.  Graham,  sixth  child  of  Dr.  Andrew  and  Mary  (Curtiss)  Graham, 
was  born  in  Southbury,  Conn.,  June  10,  1764.  He  was  educated  under  the  tuition 
of  Rev.  John  Minor,  and  studied  law  with  Edward  Hinman,  Es.,  an  eminent 
lawyer  of  that  day.  He  removed  to  Rutand,  Vt.,  then  a  wilderness,  where  he 
began  practice.  In  1794  he  was  appointed  by  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Vermont 
special  agent  to  the  ecclesiastical  courts  in  Canterbury  and  York  at  London,  and 
to  the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  the  prominent  object 
of  the  mission  being  to  obtain  the  recognition  and  confirmation  of  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Peters,  Bishop-elect  for  the  State  of  Vermont.  The  correspondence  between  him 
and  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  together  with  the  reports  from  the  records  of 
the  mission,  were  extensively  published  and  favorably  noticed  at  the  time.  He 
rreturned  to  Vermont  in  1795,  and  shortly  afterward  revisited  England,  and  while 
there  received  the  honorary  degree  of  doctor  of  laws  from  the  ancient  and  Royal 
College  of  Aberdeen,  Scotland.  He  published  "A  Descriptive  Sketch  of  the  Pres- 
ent State  of  Vermont"  (London,  1797),  which  he  dedicated  to  the  Duke  of  Mon- 
trose, the  head  of  the  Graham  family,  which  was  kindly  received  by  his  grace. 
Mr.  Graham  returned  to  the  United  States  in  1800,  and  settled  in  New  York, 
City,  where  he  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession,  devoting  a  large  share  of 
his  time  and  talents  to  the  defense  of  those  accused  of  crime.  His  warmth  of 
heart,  quick  perception,  and  ready  talents  peculiarly  fitted  him  for  this  depart- 
ment of  jurisprudence.  He  was  one  of  the  most  popular,  as  well  as  one  of  the 
most  succesful,  advocates  of  the  New  York  courts.  The  argument  which  obtained 
for  him  the  most  celebrity  was  delivered  in  a  case  involving  the  right  of  a  magis- 
trate to  examine  in  private,  without  the  aid  of  a  counsel,  a  person  brought  before 
him  charged  with  crime,  and  then  making  use  of  that  examination  as  evidence 
against  him  on  his  trial.  Upon  the  appearance  of  the  argument,  it  produced  a 
great  sensation,  and  for  the  first  time  directing  the  public  attention  to  alarming 
abuses,  then  in  practice;  and  the  doctrines  he  advanced  in  favor  of  human  life  and 
liberty  were  responded  to  by  the  ablest  jurists  in  every  part  of  the  country.  John 
Adams,  Thomas  Jefferson,  John  Jay,  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  Andrew  Jackson, 
Chief  Justice  Spencer,  Cadwalader.  D.  Colden,  De  Witt  Clinton.  Thomas  Addis 
Emmett,  Pierre  C.  Van  Wyck,  Chancellor  Kent,  and  many  others  in  and  out  of 
the  profession  wrote  to  Dr.  Graham,  on  perusing  the  argument,  in  the  most 
approving  terms,  commending  its  doctrine,  ability  anl  eloquence.  This  effort  was 
followed  by  a  legislative  enactment,  securing  for  the  first  time  to  every  one  ac- 
cused the  right  of  consulting  counsel  before  examination  by  the  committing  mag- 
istrate. In  1828  Dr.  Graham  wrote  and  published  an  elaborate  essay  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  letters  of  Junius,  claiming  for  his  friend,  John  Horn  Tooke,  the  au- 
thorship of  those  celebrated  productions  (New  York,  1828).  He  also  published 
a  volume  of  speeches  (1812).  Dr.  Graham's  first  wife  was  the  daughter  of  Dr. 
Hodges,  of  Clarendon,  Vt.,  by  whom  he  had  one  son,  John  Hodges.  He  married 
2d,  Margaret,  daughter  of  James  Lorimer,  of  London,  by  whom  he  had  one  son, 
John  Lorimer. 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  93 

Col.  John  Lorimer  Graham,  son  of  John  A.  and  Margaret  (Lorimer)  Gra- 
ham, was  born  in  London,  Eng.,  March  20,  1797,  but  was  brought  by  his  parents 
to  New  York  on  their  return  in  1800,  where  he  continued  to  reside  until  his 
death.  After  receiving  a  preparatory  education,  he  studied  law  with  Judge 
Tapping  Reeve  at  Litchfield,  Conn.,  and  later  with  John  Anthon,  Esq.,  in  New 
York.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1821,  and  soon  achieved  a  reputation  in  his 
profession,  and  had  a  large  and  constantly  increasing  practice.  The  hereditary 
military  spirit  was  strong  in  him,  and  in  1817  he  accepted  an  appointment  on  the 
staff  of  Governor  Tompkins.  In  1819  he  was  appointed  aid-de-camp  to  Gov.  De 
Witt  Clinton,  with  the  rank  of  Colonel,  and  continued  in  that  position  for  several 
years.  He  declined  a  commission  as  brigadier-general  and  other  military  honors 
tendered  him,  He  was  a  member  of  the  New  York  Historical,  the  New  England, 
the  St.  George's  and  the  St.  Andrew's  societies;  a  life  director  in  the  American 
Bible  Society,  and  an  efficient  member  of  the  council  of  the  University  of  the  City 
of  New  York,  in  which  he  founded  a  free  scholarship.  In  1834  he  was  appointed 
Regent  of  the  State  University.  In  1840  he  was  appointed  by  President  Tyler, 
Postmaster  of  New  York.  His  administration  of  the  office  was  marked  with 
intelligence,  industry  and  system.  He  reformed  every  department  of  that  ex- 
tensive and  complicated  establishment,  and  brought  order  out  of  chaos.  He  ac- 
complished many  important  reforms  which  were  greatly  appreciated  by  the  mer- 
cantile community.  The  fitting  up  of  the  new  post  office — the  Middle  Dutch  Church 
on  Nassau  Street  (where  the  New  York  Mutual  Life  Ins.  building  now  stands)  was 
performed  with  order  and  adaptation  which  received  not  only  universal  appro- 
bation in  New  York  and  throughout  the  country,  but  obtained  very  liberal  praise 
from  the  European  press.  It  is  noteworthy  that  in  this  same  building  his  grand- 
father, Dr.  Andrew  Graham,  sixty-five  years  previous,  was  confined  a  prisoner 
by  the  British,  and  died  subsequently  from  the  effects  of  his  ill-treatment  at  that 
time.  Upon  his  retirement  from  office,  in  1843,  Mr.  Graham  resumed  the  prac- 
tice of  his  profession.  He  married  the  daughter  of  Isaac  Clason,  Esq.,  one  of 
New  York's  oldest  merchants,  a  descendant  of  Stephen  Clason,  of  Stamford, 
Conn.,  born  in  Scotland  about  1825,  and  had  issue  :  John  Lorimer,  De  Witt 
Clinton,  Ambrose  Spencer,  Augustus  Clason,  James  Varnum,  Malcolm,  Emily 
Matilda,  and  Margaret. 

MALCOLM  GRAHAM,  New  York  Society  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  sixth 
child  of  Col.  John  Lorimer  and  Emily  (Clason)  Graham,  was  born  in  Jersey  City, 
N.  J.,  July,  1832,  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Van  Vorst,  during  the  temporary  sojourn 
of  his  parents,  who  had  removed  thence  on  account  of  the  cholera  epidemic  which 
prevailed  that  year.  His  whole  life  has  been  spent  in  New  York  City.  He  was 
educated  at  private  schools,  and  was  the  first  man  in  his  line  of  descent  of  the 
present  generation  to  adopt  a  business  career,  but.  like  his  ancestors  in  other 
callings,  he  has  been  equally  successful.  He  is  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Hartley 
&  Graham,  well-known  merchants  of  New  York.  He  has  been  twice  married, 
and  has  one  daughter  and  three  sons. 


94  SONS      OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

HILL     AND     ALLIED     FAMILIES. 

While  the  ancestral  line  of  this  branch  of  the  Hill  family  is  imperfect  and 
somewhat  obscure,  the  military  record  of  Sergeant  Nicholas  Hill  presents  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  narratives  contained  in  the  annals  of  the  Revolution.  A 
drummer  boy  at  ten,  braving  the  hardships  of  a  seven  years'  campaign,  and  what 
is  still  more  remarkable,  living  up  to  a  late  period  in  the  present  century,  and 
giving  his  "recollections  of  the  war"  to  the  present  living  representative  of  the 
family,  thus  forming  a  direct  connection  between  the  Revolutionary  period  and 
the  present — a  condition  of  affairs  almost  unparalleled. 

Referring  to  the  antiquity  of  the  Hill  or  Hyll  family,  Burke  says  :  "It  derives 
from  the  Montes  of  Castle  Morton,  in  the  Parish  of  Langdon  and  Co.  Worcester. 
John  De  Marti,  20th  Edward  II,  anno.  1346,  held  lands  in  Castle  Morton,  which 
Odo  de  Monte  lately  held,  and  the  heir  of  John  De  Marti,  7th  Henry  VI,  held 
the  same  lands.  His  heirs,  the  Hylls,  lived  in  this  Morton.  The  Hylls  before 
this  were  in  Hill-Cromb  27th  Edward  I   (1299)." 

Referring  to  the  Irish  branch  of  the  family,  Burke  says:  "The  family  of  Hill 
of  Doneraile  have  been  settled  in  Ireland  for  upwards  of  two  centuries;  at  firs:, 
tiny  fixed  themselves  at  Kilmallock,  in  the  Co.  Limerick  (in  the  eld  abbey  of 
which  many  monuments  of  the  house  may  be  found),  and  thence  removed  to 
Doneraile,  in  the  Co.  Cork,  where  they  have  since  continued.  The  family  were 
granted  in  1560:  Arms — Azure,  a  chevron,  between  three  fleurs-de-lis,  or,  a 
canton,  of  the  last.  Crest — A  lion  rampant,  argent,  pierced  through  the  breast 
by  a  broken  spear,  in  bond,  ppr.,  the  head  guttea  de  sang.  Motto — Ne  tenta,  vel 
perfice  (Do  not  attempt  or  else  achieve). 

Adam  Hill,  the  immediate  ancestor  of  Sergeant  Nicholas  Hill,  came  from 
Londonderry,  Ireland,  and  settled  in  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  where  he  died,  Dec.  10, 
1764.    Nothing  is  known  of  whom  he  married.     He  left  a  son  Henry. 

Henry  Hill,  son  of  Adam  Hill  was  born  in  Co.  Londonderry,  Ireland,  about 
1730,  came  with  his  parents  to  this  country  and  settled  in  Schenectady,  N.  Y., 
where  he  died  in  1776.  That  he  was  an  ardent  and  fearless  patriot  is  shown  in  the 
narrative  of  his  son,  and,  had  he  lived,  he  would  no  doubt  have  given  a  good 
account  of  himself.  He  married  Martha  Forsen  or  Forse,  who  may  have  been  a 
descendant  of  the  old  Huguenot  family  of  America,  represented  by  Col.  Peter 
Force,  formerly  Mayor  of  Washington,  and  compiler  of  American  Archives  and 
other  works. 

Henry  Hill  left  two  sons,  Nicholas  and  Henry,  and  a  daughter  Martha. 

SERGEANT  AND  REV.  NICHOLAS  HILL,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution, 
eldest  son  of  Henry  and  Martha  (Forse)  Hill,  was  born  in  Schenectady,  N.  Y.. 
Dec.  22,  1766;  died  in  Florida,  Montgomery  Co.,  N.  Y.,  June  14,  1857.  The  inci- 
dent which  led  to  his  and  his  brother's  enlistment  in  the  Continental  army  oc- 
curred in  1774,  when  Nicholas  was  but  eight  years  of  age.  His  father  had  made 
a  remark  in  the  presence  of  British  military  officers,  which  was  construed  by  them 
as  disrespectful  to  their  sovereign.  For  this  alleged  offence  he  was  overpowered 
and  unmercifully  whipped  in  the  presence  of  his  wife  and  the  two  children,  they 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  95 

being  helpless  to  interfere.  The  indignities  and  insults  heaped  on  their  father 
rankled  in  the  hearts  of  his  two  children,  and  they  determined  to  avenge  this 
outrageous  treatment  of  their  father  the  first  opportunity.  In  the  winter  of 
1776-7,  Nicholas,  then  but  ten  years  of  age,  together  with  his  brother,  joined 
Capt.  Hick's  Company,  2d  New  York  Regiment,  as  drummer  boys,  and  continued 
until  the  close  of  the  war,  being  in  active  service  during  the  entire  period.  He 
was  not  regularly  mustered  in  for  the  first  two  years  on  account  of  his  extreme 
youth.  His  discharge,  dated  8th  of  June,  1783,  signed  by  Gen.  Washington  as 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  army,  states  that  "Nicholas  Hill,  Sergeant,  in  the 
1st  New  York  Regiment,  having  faithfully  served  the  United  States  five  years, 
and  being  enlisted  for  the  war  only,  is  hereby  discharged  from  the  American 
army."  At  the  foot  of  this  discharge  is  a  memorandum,  signed  by  Cornelius 
Van  Dyck,  Lieut.  Colonel,  as  follows:  "The  above  Sergeant,  Nicholas  Hill,  has 
been  honored  v\  ith  the  badge  of  merit  for  five  years  faithful  service."  On  the 
discharge  is  indorsed  the  following,  in  the  handwriting  of  Mr.  Hill:  "My  Cap- 
tain's name  was  Benjamin  Hicks."  The  descrepancies  which  appear  between  the 
first  and  second  statement  are  probably  accounted  for  by  the  changes  which 
occurred  in  the  reorganization  and  consolidation  of  the  regiments  and  re-enlist- 
ment of  men  and  officers. 

The  first  important  service  of  young  Hill  was  rendered  soon  after  he  enlisted. 
He  was  sent  by  General  (then  Colonel)  Ganzevoort  tc  convey  a  message  to  head- 
quarters at  Albany  of  an  anticipated  attack  by  the  Indians  on  Fort  Stanwix 
(Rome,  N.  Y.j  in  the  winter  of  1777.  After  traveling  half  the  distance,  his  com- 
panion, a  young  man  named  Snook,  who  started  with  him,  met  with  an  accident, 
and  dropped  out.  and  young  Hill,  rinding  he  was  being  pursued  by  hostile  Indians 
which  infected  the  Mohawk  Valley,  ran  all  night  over  the  crusted  snow  and  safely 
delivered  his  message  at  headquarters.  His  description  of  the  scene  as  he  ap- 
proached Albany,  and  the  impression  it  made  on  him  at  the  time,  was  very 
graphic.  He  said,  "the  smoke  from  the  forts  and  houses  stood  up  through  the  still 
1111  uning  air  like  a  forest  of  ghostly  white  tree  tops." 

He  accompanied  Sullivan's  expedition  against  the  Indians,  was  with  the 
army  at  Morristown  in  1779-80,  and  witnessed  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis  at 
Yorktown.  He  lived  to  tell  the  story  of  his  sufferings  at  Morristown ;  and  stated 
that  on  one  occasion,  when  the  army  was  on  the  verge  of  starvation,  rations  of  a 
gill  of  whiskey  to  a  man  were  distributed  among  the  troops.  A  big  Irishman 
named  Valentine  kindly  offered  to  share  with  him  his  own  allowance,  and  gave  him 
about  a  teaspoonful,  but  in  his  exhausted  condition  it  overpowered  him,  and  he 
laid  down  apparently  lifeless.  The  Irishman  took  him  on  his  back  and  carried  him 
for  miles  before  he  reached  a  place  where  he  could  receive  proper  treatment. 
Subsequently  his  hardships  and  sufferings  were  considerably  lessened  through  the 
kindness  of  Baron  Steuben,  who  became  interested  in  him,  and  took  him  to  his 
own  tent,  and  finally  offered  to  adopt  him  and  his  younger  brother.  Nicholas 
declined  the  generous  offer,  little  thinking  then  what  the  Baron  knew  through 
masonic  information  that  he  was  an  orphan,  both  of  his  parents  having  died  soon 
after  he  entered  the  army. 


96  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

In  the  summer  of  1779  his  regiment,  under  Col.  Van  Schaick,  was  sent  to  co- 
operate with  Gen.  Sullivan  in  his  expedition  against  the  Indians  along  the  Che- 
mung Valley,  and  he  participated  in  the  exciting  scenes  of  that  campaign.  He 
was  present  at  the  siege  of  Yorktown  and  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis,  and  re- 
membered to  his  dying  day  every  detail  connected  with  that  event.  I  he  facts  so 
often  narrated  were  so  deeply  impressed  upon  the  mind  of  his  surviving  wife 
(his  fourth  wife,  to  whom  he  was  married  in  1834),  that  on  her  visiting  York- 
town  at  the  Centennial  anniversary  of  the  battle,  in  Oct.,  1881,  in  company  with 
several  friends  from  Brooklyn,  she  was  enabled  to  correct  the  location  of  several 
points  of  interest  on  the  battlefield,  and  show  the  position  occupied  by  some  of 
the  New  York  troops,  and  other  divisions  of  the  American  army,  by  landmarks  as 
described  years  before  by  her  husband.  This  incident  greatly  interested  Gen. 
Hancock,  who  took  pains  to  investigate,  and  found  that  the  old  lady  was  right. 

After  the  close  of  the  war,  this  child  patriot  returned  to  his  home  in  Sche- 
nectady, there  to  receive  the  first  information  that  his  father  and  mother  had  died 
soon  after  he  left  them.  She  whom  he  especially  expected  to  find  and  for  whom 
he  had  declined  a  relation  and  patrimony  which  would  have  tempted  almost  any 
adventurous  boy  of  fifteen  was  gone  forever. 

His  sister  Martha  and  brother  Henry  were  all  that  remained  of  the  family 
of  which  he  was  the  eldest  surviving.  The  cruelty  which  had  inspired  his  patri- 
otism and  converted  the  lad  into  a  soldier  had  first  broken  his  father's  health 
and  led  to  his  untimely  death,  and  the  dangers  and  excitement  of  the  war  sur- 
rounded as  she  was  at  that  place,  by  hostile  and  barbarous  Indians,  finally  broke 
her  spirit,  so  that,  wearied  of  waiting  for  the  return  of  her  darling  boys,  who  had 
gone  forth  to  avenge  the  brutal  treatment  of  their  father,  she  laid  herself  down 
to  die,  buoyed  up  only  with  the  hope  of  that  "final  reunion  on  the  other  side."  The 
two  were  laid  side  by  side  in  the  old  Schenectady  cemetery  since  removed  upon 
the  beautiful  plateau  where  the  city  of  Schenectady  now  stands,  but  in  unmarked 
graves. 

He  soon  after  removed  to  Florida,  Montgomery  County,  to  a  small  hamlet 
which  he  called  Shalletsbush  (probably  Scotch  Bush,  where  one  of  the  most 
noted  sulphur  springs  are  located).  The  lad  grew  up  with  the  country,  and  soon 
forgot  his  early  privations  and  sufferings  in  his  efforts  to  minister  to  the  happi- 
ness and  comfort  of  others.  He  was  one  of  the  most  unselfish  of  men,  and  gen- 
erous to  that  degree  that  neglects  duty  to  self.  He  was  never  idle,  and  by  his 
industry  accumulated  a  fair  competence.  He  was  a  man  of  advanced  thought  in 
his  religous  views  and  utterly  free  from  that  cant  and  outward  demonstration  of 
piety  so  common  in  his  day.  After  careful  study  and  preparation,  he  decided  to 
enter  the  ministry  of  the  Methodist  denomination,  and  in  1803,  being  then  thirty- 
five  years  of  age,  he  was  regularly  ordained  at  a  Methodist  Conference  held  at  a 
place  called  Ash  Grove,  near  the  Vermont  line.  As  was  the  custom  of  all  minis- 
ters of  that  denomination,  he  was  an  itinerant,  and  his  "circuit"  often  embraced 
a  wide  extent  of  country.  He  was  not  dependent  on  the  meagre  support  of  volun- 
tary contributions,  as  were  most  Methodist  preachers  of  that  day.  The  products 
of  his  farm  not  only  yielded  him  a  fair  support,  but  enabled  him  ofttimes  to 


SoXS     OF     T11K     REVOLUTION.  07 

minister  to  the  necessities  and  sufferings  of  others.  He  was  a  man  of  deep  piety, 
and  as  a  preacher  he  was  simple,  earnest  and  direct,  yet  fearless  in  proclaiming  the 
truth  as  he  believed  it.  He  was  forceful  and  often  eloquent  as  he  warmed  up 
to  his  subject.  He  lived  to  be  ninety  years  of  age,  and  was  strong,  vigorous  and 
healthy  up  to  the  time  of  his  final  sickness,  the  result  of  a  fall  and  a  broken  limb. 
He  died  in  June,  1857.  Mr.  Hill  was  married  four  times.  He  married  1st,  May 
30,  1785,  Anna  Newkirk;  died  July  6,  1810;  2d,  Catharine  Rowe,  March  12,  1811; 
born  Sept.  21,  1784;  died  March  9,  1815;  3d,  Feb.  23,  1816,  Sarah  Mosier,  born 
March  19,  1792;  4th,  Sarah  Hegeman.  By  his  first  wife,  Anna  Newkirk,  he  had 
issue:  Martha,  born  May  6,  1786;  Petreshe,  born  June  3,  1783;  Henry,  born 
Aug.  13,  1791;  Eleanor,  born  March  17,  1794;  Nancy,  born  April  19,  1800;  Will- 
iam M.,  born  Sept.  21,  1802;  Nicholas,  Jr.,  born  1805.  By  his  second  wife,  Cath- 
arine Rowe,  he  had  Catharine  Anne;  born  Nov.  29.  1813.  By  the  third  wife, 
Sarah  Mosier,  he  had  Stephen  M.,  born  Nov.  20,  1816  and  Francis  Asbury,  born 
Jan.  27,  1820;  and  by  the  fourth  wife,  Sarah  Hegeman,  he  had  Adrrian  Hegeman, 
born  April  4,  1835.  and  John  Lindsay,  born  Oct.  31,  1840.  Of  the  latter  only 
John  L.  survives. 

Nicholas  Hill  (2),  son  of  Nicolas  (1)  and  Anne  (Newkirk.)  Hill,  was 
born  in  Florida,  Montgomery  Co..  N.  Y.,  Oct.  16,  1806.  He  died  May,  1859.  He 
left  his  home  at  an  early  age  to  carve  his  own  fortune.  He  maintained  himself 
by  teaching  school,  surveying  farms  and  similar  labors,  while  he  studied  law,  tir-t 
in  Montgomery,  and  afterwards  in  Schoharie  County,  until  in  August,  1829,  he 
was  admitted  to  the  liar,  and  entered  into  partnership  with  Deodatus  Wright, 
then  of  Amsterdam.  N.  Y..  afterwards  of  Albany,  and  for  a  time  Justice  of  the 
New  York  Supreme  Court.  Shortly  afterwards.  Judge  Esek  Cowen,  of  Saratoga, 
who  was  engaged  in  the  preparation  of  notes  to  Philips  on  Evidence,  associated 
Mr.  Hill  with  him.  This  work,  commomnly  cited  as  Cowen  &  Hill's  Notes,  is  one 
of  great  erudition.  Mr.  O'Connor,  in  his  remarks  at  a  meeting  of  the  bar,  at 
Mr.  Hill's  death,  refers  to  it  as  a  "gigantic  task,"  of  which  he  says  Mr. 
Hill  performed  a  large  part.  He  also  says  that  "whole  libraries  were 
taken  up  and  their  contents  reproduced  in  a  form  the  most  useful  to  the 
bench  and  the  practitioner  that  could  have  been  devised."  The  work 
had  been  commenced  and  considerable  progress  made  therein  by  Judg'J 
Cowen  before  Mr.  Hill  became  associated  with  him.  Stephen  P.  Nash. 
Esq.,  of  New  York,  wo  was  a  student  in  Judge  Cowen' s  office  at  the  time,  testifies 
that  this  period  of  his  life  was  "one  of  incessant,  laborious  and  faithful  industry." 
The  work  itself,  although  for  many  years  very  frequently  cited  and  much  used, 
especially  in  the  State  of  New  York,  in  the  accumulation  of  modern  books,  has 
gone  to  a  great  extent  out  of  general  use,  but  it  is  even  yet  of  great  practical 
value,  fully  and  thoroughly  discussing  many  branches  of  the  law  coming  properly 
under  the  head  of  evidence,  and  digesting  with  great  faithfulness  and  accuracy 
the  cases  both  in  England  and  this  country,  bearing  upon  the  questions  involved. 
This  work  was  published  in  1839.  The  completion  of  it  was  interrupted  by  Mr. 
Hill's  professional  labors,  as  he  had  some  years  previously  opened  an  office  at 
Saratoga,  in  association  with  the  late  William  A.  Beach,  which  at  that  time  was 


g8  SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

quite  a  centre  of  legal  activity,   being  the  home  of  Judge   Cowen,   Chancellor 
Walworth  and  Judge  Willard. 

From  his  first  appearance  Mr.  Hill  created  a  favorable  impression  on  the 
minds  of  the  members  of  the  court.  In  the  case  of  Tilden  vs.  Gardner,  which 
was  one  of  the  earliest  argued  by  him  before  the  General  Term,  his  argument 
was  listened  to  with  profound  attention  by  both  the  bench  and  bar.  "We  shall 
hear  from  that  man  very  often  hereafter,"  said  Chief  Judge  Nelson  to  Judge 
Bronson,  as  he  was  folding  his  papers  in  this  case  after  Mr.  Hill's  remarks. 

In  the  summer  of  1837  Mr.  Hill  was  retained  in  the  then  celebrated  case  of 
People  ex.  rel.  Barry  vs.  Mercein  (8Paige,  48,  3  Hill,  15  Wend.  64,  83). 
The  case  involved  the  custody  of  an  infant  child  as  between  the  claims  of  a  father 
and  mother  who  had  separated.  Mr.  James  W.  Gerard,  who  was  Mr.  Hill's 
opponent  in  this  case,  said  at  a  bar  meeting  that  ''the  zeal,  intelligence  and  legal 
knowledge  which  he  evinced  on  that  occasion  first  brought  him  into  public  notice, 
and  laid  the  foundation  of  his  future  fame.''  He  says  that  "Mr.  Hill,  represent- 
ing the  father,  had  thoroughly  stored  his  mind  with  all  the  book-learning  of  the 
common  law  of  England,  and  piled  his  authorities  one  upon  the  other,  mountain 
high,  in  favor  of  the  father's  paramount  claim  to  the  custody  of  his  child."  The 
decision  of  Chancellor  Walworth  was  in  favor  of  the  mother.  A  decision  was 
afterwards  rendered,  however,  by  the  Supreme  Court,  awarding  the  custody  of 
the  child  to  the  father. 

The  Bench  and  Bar  said  of  him :  "Mr.  Hill  concentrated  all  his  powers  upon 
his  profession;  this  gave  him  a  mastery  at  the  Bar,  which  few  men  are  capable  of 
attaining;  *  *  *  his  knowledge  of  the  law,  his  power  of  applying  it  to 
practical  use,  of  wielding  its  subtleties  with  facility,  and  separating  truth  from 
error,  in  a  manner  which  rendered  him  unequalled  at  the  Bar  of  the  State,  and 
we  may  say  of  him,  the  nation." 

While  Mr.  Hill  resided  in  Saratoga  Springs,  he  was,  in  September,.  1836, 
appointed  by  the  Court  of  General  Sessions  District  Attorney  of  Saratoga  County, 
which  office  he  held,  however,  but  a  few  months,  resigning  it  in  April,  1837.  While 
still  in  Saratoga,  he  was  appointed  State  Reporter,  and  after  the  preparation  at 
Saratoga  of  one  or  two  volumes  of  his  reports,  removed  to  Albany  with  Sidney  J. 
Cowen,  the  son  of  Judge  Cowen.  He  held  the  office  of  State  Reporter  from  1840 
until  1845,  when  he  resigned  this  office.  He  issued  seven  volumes  of  reports 
of  the  decisions  of  the  Court  of  Errors  and  the  Supreme  Court.  Referring  to 
these  reports,  Mr.  Nash  said  of  him: 

"In  preparing  the  cases  for  the  press,  he  labored  to  compress  the  statements 
of  facts  into  the  smallest  space,  and  removed  from  the  opinions  of  the  judges 
such  details  as  his  own  narrative  rendered  superfluous.  He  spent  hours  in  con- 
densing and  remodeling  the  syllabus  or  headnote,  till  it  should  succinctly,  clearly 
and  accurately  express  the  very  point  of  the  decision,  and  frequently  added  valu- 
able discussions  on  kindred  topics  suggested  by  the  reported  case. 

"His  reports  have  been  very  generally  considered  as  models  in  every  respect. 
No  copyright  price  per  volume  could  tempt  him  to  swell  their  number,  to  heap 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  QO, 

into  them  masses  of  mere  print,  or  to  do  his  work  hurriedly  or  negligently.    They 
will  bear  the  must  rigid  scrutiny  as  specimens  of  honest,  faithful  book-making." 

Judge  Cowen's  law  library  was  considered,  during  his  life,  one  of  the  largest 
and  best  in  the  country.  It  was  designed  to  be  complete  in  English  and  American 
reports,  and  also  contained  a  full  line  of  valuable  text-books.  Mr.  Sidney  J. 
Cowen  brought  this  library  with  him  to  Albany,  and  Mr.  Hill  had  the  use  and 
enjoyment  of  it  during  Air.  Cowen's  life;  but  not  long  after  their  removal  to 
Albany,  Mr.  Cowen  died.  His  father,  Judge  Esek  Cowen.  died  in  1844.  After 
the  death  of  the  son,  it  became  necessary  in  the  settlement  of  the  estate  to  sell 
the  library.  It  was  bought  by  Peter  Cagger,  Esq.,  who  had  just  then  dissolved  a 
long  connection  with  the  distinguished  lawyer,  Samuel  Stephens.  That  library 
constituted  one  of  the  inducements  that  led  to  Mr.  Hill's  partnership  with  Mr. 
Cowen.  Prior  to  this  time,  and  after  Mr.  Cowen's  death,  he  had  been  associated 
with  Deodatus  Wright  and  with  Stephen  P.  Nash;  but  that  association  was  dis- 
solved, and  on  the  termination  of  his  office  as  State  Reporter  he  entered  into 
partnership  with  Peter  Cagger;  and  soon  afterwards  Hon.  John  K.  Porter  be- 
came a  member  of  the  firm  which  for  many  years  commanded  a  large  and  ex- 
tensive practice  in  Albany,  under  the  name  of  Hill,  Cagger  &  Porter.  By  this 
arrangement  Mr.  Hill  was  enabled  to  continue  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  books 
which  had  so  long  been  his  companions,  and  that  library,  until  the  end  of  his  life, 
was,  in  one  sense,  Mr.  Hill's  home.  There  he  spent  a  great  portion  of  his  time, 
both  by  day  and  by  night,  and  it  was  doubtless  owing  to  overwork  among  these 
books  that  his  life  was  cut  short  at  an  age  when  he  ought  to  have  had  many 
years  remaining  for  work  in  his  profession. 

Mr.  Hill  never  held  any  public  offices  except  the  two  already  referred  to, 
namely,  that  of  District  Attorney  of  Saratoga  County  and  New  York  State  Re- 
porter. He  was  never  an  aspirant  for  office,  and  was  only  interested  in  politics 
so  far  as  questions  of  principle  were  involved.  He  was  always  a  man  of  great 
public  spirit,  having  inherited  from  his  father  a  strong  sentiment  of  patriotism 
which  nothing  ever  diminshed. 

Mr.  Hill's  manner  at  the  bar  was  calm,  dignified,  natural  and  unassuming. 
He  was  noted  for  the  keenness  of  his  analysis,  the  clearness  and  conciseness  of. 
his  statements  both  of  fact  and  law,  and  the  excellence  of  his  judgment,  which 
enabled  him  to  discuss  fully  the  natural  points  in  a  case  without  wasting  his  time 
or  his  energy  upon  minor  and  unimportant  considerations.  Perhaps  no  lawyer 
in  the  State  of  New  York  has  ever  had  so  happy  a  faculty  of  condensation  with- 
out sacrificing  any  point.  This  was.  to  a  great  extent,  owing  to  the  possession  of 
a  keen,  discriminating  intellect,  but  it  could  never  have  been  accomplished  unless 
such  intellect  had  been  united  with  indomitable  industry.  He  loved  his  profession 
as  few  men  in  this  country  have  ever  loved  it :  but  it  is  the  testimony  of  his  con- 
temporaries who  knew  him  well  that,  while  his  life  was  devoted  to  his  profess- 
ion, to  the  detriment  of  his  health  and  the  shortening  of  his  life,  he  had  many 
tastes  outside  the  law.  Mr.  Nash  said  of  him  :  "he  was  familiar  with  the  best 
English  literature,  and  a  lover  of  good  books ;  and  when  he  could  throw  off  the 
thoughts  of  his  work,  he  was  a  most  delightful  and  congenial  companion.     His 


IOO  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

tastes  were  refined,  his  sensibilities  lively  and  delicate,  his  nature  frank  and 
without  guile,  his  heart  warm  and  true."  "For  myself,"  says  Mr.  Nash,  "I  can 
never  forget  how  much  I  am  indebted  to  him  for  example,  guidance,  encourage- 
ment, nor  the  unfailing  kindness  which  in  boyhood  and  ever  afterwards  I  always 
received  from  him." 

Mr.  Hill  was  not  an  orator  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word.  His  manner 
was  cool  and  unimpassioned.  His  arguments  were  not  an  appeal  to  the  sym- 
pathies or  prejudices  of  the  court,  but  were  based  upon  reason  and  authority.  His 
clearness  and  force  of  argument  were  so  great  as  often  to  produce  the  effect  of 
eloquence,  although  he  did  not  seek  a  reputation  for  eloquence. 

Hon.  William  D.  Veeder  of  Brooklyn,  formerly  Surrogate  of  King's  County, 
said  of  him:  "My  first  recollections  of  Mr.  Nicholas  Hill  was  early  in  1857, 
when  he  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  in  the  country.*  *  *  * 
There  was  that  about  him  which  almost  immediately  won  your  confidence  and 
respect  without  any  demonstration  on  his  part.  A  few,  simple  concise  express- 
ions would  direct  your  mind  and  your  friendship  towards  him.  And  while  he 
was  absorbed  in  his  cases,  he  always  had  room  in  bis  great  mind  to  be  instruct- 
ive and  considerate  ." 

Mr.  Hill  married  June  9,  1835,  Jane  Arnold,  daughter  of  Gen.  Benedict  Ar- 
nold of  Amsterdam,  N.  Y.,  a  descendant  of  Gov.  Benedict  Arnold  of  Rhode 
Island,  and  had  two  children :  Edward  Bayard  and  Mary  Arnold,  now  the  wife  of 
Samuel  A.  Noyes,  Esq.,  a  prominent  member  of  the  New  York  bar. 

Edward  Bayard  Hill,  his  only  surviving  son,  was  admitted  to  the  Bar  in 
Albany.  Just  as  he  was  entering  upon  his  professional  career  the  war  of  the 
Rebellion  broke  out,  and  he  immediately  went  to  Washington  through  Baltimore, 
a  journey  which  at  that  time  was  attended  with  serious  difficulty  and  danger, 
and  carried  important  military  intelligence  to  the  Government.  He  was  ap- 
pointed a  Lieutenant  in  the  regular  army,  and  commanded  a  battery  in  the  first 
battle  of  Bull  Run.  He  obtained  the  credit  of  saving  his  battery  and  bringing  it 
back  to  the  Union  lines  uncaptured  and  unsurrendered.  Early  in  the  autumn  of 
1862,  at  one  of  the  battles  on  the  Chickahominy,  he  was  wounded  by  a  minnie 
ball  which  entered  his  wrist  and  came  out  near  the  shoulder.  The  wound,  al- 
though serious,  was  not  deemed  mortal,  but  he  was  brought  to  the  Brevoort 
House  in  New  York,  where  he  died  on  the  13th  of  June,  1862. 

Sarah  Hegeman,  the  fourth  wife  of  Rev.  Nicholas  Hill,  born  Jan  1,  1800, 
was  the  daughter  by  his  second  wife  of  Adrian  Hegeman,  born  Jan.  10,  1747, 
married  1st,  Catherine  Johnson,  2nd,  Bethsheba  Palmer,  daughter  of  Peter  Pal- 
mer. Adrian  Hegeman  was  the  son  of  John  Hegeman,  born  in  Holland,  married 
Sarah  Woolsey,  of  Horse  Neck,  L.  I.  daughter  of  Capt.  George  Woolsey. 

Capt.  George  Woolsey,  the  settler  was  born  at  Yarmouth,  England,  Oct.  27, 
1610.  He  was  the  son  of  Benjamin,  grandson  of  Thomas,  a  near  relative  of 
Thomas,  better  known  in  history  as  Cardinal  Woolsey,  who  to  the  liberality  of 
his  royal  master,  Henry  VIII,  was  indebted  for  his  extraordinary  elevation. 
Capt.  George  Woolsey  resided  as  is  supposed   for  some  time  in  Holland.     He 


SONS      OF     THE      REVOLUTION.  ]()1 

came  to  this  country  while  yet  a  mere  boy,  with  Dutch  emmigrants  in  1623. 
He  was  afterwards  engaged  in  trade  for  several  years  in  New  Amsterdam  with 
Isaac  Allerton,  who  came  as  a  passenger  in  the  Mayflower.  In  1647  he  pur- 
chased a  plantation  at  Flushing,  L.  I.,  but  subsequently  removed  to  Jamaica,  and 
was  among  its  original  settlers.  He  died  there  Aug.  17,  1698  or  97.  His  will, 
Nov.  2,  1691,  names  wife  Rebecca,  and  daughters  Sarah  (Hallet)  Mary,  and 
Rebecca  Wiggins. 

Rev.  Nicholas  Hill  by  his  wife  Sarah  (Hegeman)  Hill  had  Adrian  Hege- 
man,  Phcebe  King  and  John  Lindsay. 

JOHN  LINDSAY  HILL,  n.  y.  state  society  sons  of  the  revolution-, 
son  of  Rev.  Nicholas  and  Sarah  (Hegeman)  Hill,  was  born  in  Florida,  Mum 
gomery  County,  N.  Y.,  Oct.  31,  1840.  He  was  graduated  at  Union  College  in 
the  class  of  '61.  He  pursued  his  legal  studies  with  Cornelius  A.  Waldron  of 
Saratoga  and  later  with  Judge  Stephen  H.  Johnson  of  Schenectady.  He  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  1862  and  soon  after  entered  into  partnership  with  Judge 
Johnson  of  Schenectady.  He  held  a  leading  posit'on  as  a  iawyer  and  in  1864  was 
elected  District  Attorney,  continuing  until  1868.  He  was  also  counsel  for  the 
State  Commissioner  of  canals  for  the  Eastern  District.  After  a  successful  prac- 
tice of  several  years  he  came  to  New  York  City  in  1868  and  formed  a  law  co- 
partnership with  Guy  R.  and  T.  D.  Pelton,  and  in  1873  he  made  another  connect- 
ion under  the  firm  name  of  Barrett,  Redfield  &  Hill,  later  Redfield  &  Hill,  and  in 
1883,  Redfield,  Hill  &  Lydecker,  which  remained  until  1884.  In  1887  the  present 
firm  of  Lockwood  &  Hill  was  organized. 

During  the  famous  Beecher  case  Mr.  Hill  was  associate  counsel  for  the  de- 
fence, with  Gen.  Tracy.  William  M.  Evarts,  Judge  Porter,  Austin  Abbott  and 
Thomas  G.  Sharman.  He  occupies  a  leading  position  at  the  New  York  bar  and 
has  successfully  engaged  in  the  trial  of  many  notable  cases.  He  was  earnest  in 
his  support  of  the  Government  during  the  Civil  War,  and  though  formerly  a  dem- 
ocrat he  naturally  drifted  through  the  Union  party  of  those  days  into  the  repub- 
lican party.  He  supported  Horace  Greely  for  President,  and  since  has  been  inde- 
pendent in  politics.  He  is  a  member  of  the  New  York  Law  Institute,  a  life  mem- 
ber of  the  State  Bar  Association,  a  member  of  the  Brooklyn  Bar  Association, 
the  Lawyer's  Club.  New  York,  the  Brooklyn,  Oxford,  Montauk  and  Carlton 
Clubs,  N.  Y.  Medico  Legal  Society  and  has  for  several  years  been  President  of 
the  Wyandanch  Club  of  Long  Island. 

He  married  in  1863  Adelaide  Eddy,  daughter  of  Gen.  W.  Eddy,  of  Water- 
ford,  N.  Y.,  and  had  issue  Grace  Adelaide,  born  May  1.  1875,  died  Sept.  24,  1893; 
Christine  Eddy,  born  Oct.  25,  1877,  died  Aug.  24,  1896.  Both  children  were  bap- 
tised by  the  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher. 

WOODHULL   AND    ALLIED    FAMILIES. 

The  Woodhull  family  is  one  of  the  earliest  mentioned  in  English  history. 
being  traced  by  well  authenticated  proofs  to  a  certain  soldier  of  fortune,  one 
Walter  of  Flanders,  who  came  from  Normandy  into  England,  with  William 
the  Conqueror  in   1066.     After  the   conquest   he   was   created   Lord   of  Wahull 


102  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

(now  Wodhull  or  Odhull),  County  of  Bedfordshire,  and  at  the  time  of  the 
General  Survey,  he  held  as  feudal  lord  considerable  estates  in  Bedfordshire 
and  Northamptonshire  Counties,  as  shown  in  the  "  Domesday  Book."  To  this 
Walter  succeeded  Walter  de  Wahull,  whose  descendant  in  the  ninth  generation 
was  Thomas  de  Wahull,  summoned  to  Parliament  as  Baron  on  the  28th  of 
Jan.,  1297,  25th  Edward  I.  He  died  in  1304  seized  of  the  Barony  of  Wahull, 
as  also  of  the  manor  of  Wahull  in  the  County  of  Bedford  and  Pateshill,  in 
Northamptonshire,  leaving  by  his  wife  Hawise,  daughter  of  Henry  Praers,  an 
infant  son  and  heir,  John  de  Wahull,  who  although  possessing  the  honors  of 
Wahull,  had  no  similar  summons  to  Parliament,  nor  had  any  of  his  descend- 
ants. He  died  in  the  10th  Edward  III.,  leaving  two  sons,  whose  line  termi- 
nated in  heiresses,  and  Nicholas,  whose  descendant  in  the  sixth  generation  was 
Sir  Nicholas  Woodhull,  Knight,  who,  by  his  second  wife,  Elizabeth,  daughter 
and  co-heir  of  Sir  William  Parr,  Lord  Parr  of  Horton,  had  Fulk  Woodhull. 
ancestor  of  the  Woodhulls  of  Thenford.  He  was  Lord  of  the  manor  of  Then- 
ford  in  the  reign  of  James  I.  and  Elizabeth,  and  died  in  1613.  By  his  wife  Alice, 
daughter  of  William  Coles  of  Leigh,  he  had,  with  other  issue,  Lawrence  Wood- 
hull,  whose  son,  Richard,  was  born  at  Thenford. 

Richard  Woodhull  (i),  the  common  ancestor  of  the  Woodhull  family 
in  America,  was  the  son  of  Lawrence  Woodhull,  and  was  born  in  Thenford, 
Eng.,  Sep.  13,  1620.  He  came  to  this  country  in  1659,  with  a  company  of 
fifty-five  gentlemen,  and  settled  at  Saugus — now  known  as  Lynn,  Mass.  He 
removed  thence  to  Jamaica.  Long  tsland,  where  his  name  appears  associated 
with  the  early  settlers  of  that  place;  but  disliking  the  measures  of  the  Dutch 
government,  he  left  the  western  part  of  the  Island,  and  seated  himself  perma- 
nently at  Setauket,  then  called  Cromwell  Bay,  or  Ashford,  and  became  one  of 
the  most  useful  and  valuable  citizens  of  that  place.  His  particular  knowledge 
in  surveying  and  drawing  conveyances,  rendered  his  services  invaluable  at  that 
early  period  of  the  settlement,  and  his  name  is  found  associated  with  most  of 
the  transactions  of  the  town  during  his  life.  He  died  Oct.  17,  1690.  He  married 
Deborah ,  and  left  three  children,  Richard,  Nathaniel  and  Deborah. 

Richard    Woodhull    (2),    son   of    Richard    (1)     and    Deborah    ( ) 

Woodhull,  was  born  at  Setauket,  Oct.  9.  1649;  died  there  Nov.  24,  1767.  Like 
his  father  he  was  an  intelligent  and  useful  man.  He  was  chosen  Justice  of  the 
Court  of  Assize  in  1678,  and  retained  the  office  till  his  death.  His  knowledge 
and  integrity  endeared  him  to  the  people,  and  he  died  much  lamented.  He 
married,  Aug.  19,  1680,  Temperance,  daughter  of  Rev.  John  Fordham,  of 
Southampton,  L.  I.    His  sons  were :    Richard,  Nathaniel,  John  and  Josiah. 

By  an  original  letter,  now  in  possession  of  his  descendants,  it  appears  that 
a  relationship  existed  with  Thomas  Crew,  second  Baron  Crew  of  Stene,  in  the 
County  of  Northampton,  and  also  the  Rt.  Rev.  Nathaniel  Crew,  Lord  Bishop 
of  Durham. 

Richard  Woodhull  (3),  eldest  son  of  Richard  (2)  and  Temperance 
(Fordham)  Woodhull,  was  born  in  Setauket,  Nov.  2,  1691.  He  inherited  his 
father's  estate   at   Setauket.      He   was   magistrate   for   many  years,    and   was   in 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  K>j 

all  respects  a  useful  and  highly  exemplary  man.  He  married  Mary,  daughter 
of  John  Homan,  and  had  issue:  Richard,  Mary,  Nathan,  Stephen,  Henry  and 
Phebe. 

Nathaniel  Woodhull,  second  son  of  Richard  (2)  and  Temperance 
(Fordham)  Woodhull.  was  born  at  Setauket,  L.  I.,  in  1682.  He  settled  on  land 
devised  to  him  at  Mastic,  L.  I.,  where  he  died  March  9,  1760.  lie  married 
Sarah,  daughter  of  Richard  Smith  of  Smithtown,  L.  I.  He  had  issue:  Hannah, 
born  Feb.  25,  1718;  Temperance,  born  March  15.  1720;  General  Nathaniel, 
born  Dec.  30,  1722:  Dorothy,  born  Nov.  29,  1724:  Sarah,  born  Feby.  9.  1726; 
Richard,  born  May  22,  1729;  Colonel  Jesse  Smith,  born  Feb.  10,  1732;  Juliana, 
born  April  6,  1736;  Deborah,  born  March  5,  1738;  Ruth,  born  Dec.  5,  1740; 
Ebenezer,  born  Feb.  2,  1742.  Of  these,  Jesse  Smith  and  Ebenezer  settled  in 
Orange  County,   N.  Y.,  and  left  issue. 

GENERAL  NATHANIEL  WOODHULL,  Soldier  of  the  Revo- 
lution, third  child  and  eldest  son  of  Nathaniel  and  Sarah  (Smith)  Woodhull, 
was  born  at  George  manor.  Mastic,  L.  I..  Dec.  30,  1732.  His  early  life  was 
spent  in  assisting  his  father  to  cultivate  the  possession  he  inherited.  His  first 
public  employment  was  in  a  military  capacity  in  the  war  between  Great  Britain 
and  France — 1754-1760.  He  was  appointed  Major  in  the  provincial  forces  of 
New  York,  and  served  in  that  capacity  in  the  army  under  General  Abercrom- 
bie,  intended  for  the  reduction  of  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point,  and  distin- 
guished himself  by  his  daring  and  bravery  in  the  assault  on  Ticonderoga.  He 
afterwards  accompanied  Bradstreet  against  Fort  Frontenac,  which  capitulated 
under  the  assault.  In  1760  he  served  as  Colonel  of  the  Third  Regiment,  New 
York  Provincials,  under  Gen.  Amherst,  which  marched  against  Montreal  and 
effected  the  final  reduction  of  Canada.  Colonel  Woodhull  was  a  representative 
from  Suffolk  County,  N.  Y..  in  the  Colonial  Assembly  in  1769;  he  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  Provincial  Congress,  Aug.  22.  1775,  Brigadier-General  of  the 
militia  of  Suffolk  and  Queens  Counties,  L.  I.  On  the  28th  of  August,  1775. 
General  Woodhull  was  elected  President  of  the  Provincial  Congress,  which 
office  he  held  in  the  body  that  succeeded  it  in  1776.  under  the  new  form  of 
government,  which  assembled  on  the  9th  of  July,  Gen.  Woodhull  was  chosen 
President,  and  continued  in  office  until  the  25th  of  August,  when,  in  accordance 
with  the  resolution  of  the  Convention,  adopted  the  day  previous,  he  took  com- 
mand of  the  militia  at  Jamaica.  A  detailed  account  of  his  operations  after 
this  date  is  given  in  the  history  of  the  Battle  of  Long  Island. 

The  talents  of  General  Woodhull  were  peculiarly  adapted  to  a  military 
station.  With  personal  courage  he  possessed  judgment,  decision  and  firmness 
of  character,  tempered  with  conciliatory  manners,  which  commanded  the  respect 
and  obedience  of  his  troops,  and  at  the  same  time  secured  their  confidence  and 
esteem. 

Field  says  of  him:  "The  high  station  which  he  had  held  in  the  councils 
of  the  revolutionists,  the  grand  moderation  of  his  character,  combined  with 
the  firmness,  patriotism  and  self-devotion  for  which  he  was  remarkable,  would 
under  any  circumstances  have  given  him  an  honorable  reputation.     But  when 


104  SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

the  acts  of  his  pure  life  were  crowned  with  the  final  sacrifice  of  martyrdom, 
Gen.  Woodhull's  name  was  enrolled  among  his  country's  noblest  heroes." 

Gen.  Woodhull  died  at  New  Utrecht,  L.  I.,  Sep.  10,  1776,  from  wounds 
received  by  the  attack  of  British  soldiers  on  Aug.  28.  [For  full  account  see 
History  of  the  Battle  of  Long  Island.]  He  married  Ruth,  daughter  of  Henry 
Nicoll,  and  had  issue:    one  daughter,  Elizabeth,  born  Nov.  30,  1762. 

They  had  one  son,  Nathaniel,  who  died  in  infancy. 

COLONEL  JESSE  SMITH  WOODHULL,  Soldier  of  the  Revo- 
lution, seventh  child  and  third  son  of  Nathaniel  and  Sarah  (Smith)  Woodhull; 
and  a  brother  of  Gen.  Nathaniel,  was  born  at  Mastic,  L.  I.,  Feb.  10,  1732; 
he  died  in  Orange  County,  N.  Y.,  Feb.  14,  1795.  He  removed  to  Orange 
County,  N.  Y..  about  1753,  and  purchased  a  tract  of  500  acres  at  Blagg's  Clove, 
in  the  town  of  Blooming  Grove  (formerly  a  part  of  Cornwall).  He  was  a  leading 
man  in  the  county  before  the  Revolution,  and  was  conspicuous  in  all  the  public 
events  that  led  up  to  it.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  first  Provincial  Convention, 
April  20,  1775.  He  raised  the  first  regiment  in  Cornwall,  and  bore  a  prominent 
part  in  the  exciting  events  which  took  place  along  the  banks  of  the  Hudson, 
especially  in  the  autumn  of  1777.  The  account  states  that  "About  the  20th  of 
September,  while  Howe  was  marching  into  Philadelphia,  and  Burgoyne  had 
reached  Saratoga,  over  three  thousand  British  soldiers  arrived  in  New  York, 
and  there  joined  the  armament  of  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  then  in  waiting,  and  in 
a  few  days  started  to  force  their  way  up  the  Hudson.  Misleading  Gen.  Putnam 
by  feigning  an  attack  on  Peekskill,  the  force  of  the  enemy  crossed  the  river  to 
Stony  Point,  marched  around  the  western  base  of  the  Dunderburg  (Oct.  7), 
appeared  before  the  forts.  The  militia  of  the  district,  about  600  in  number,  that 
had  hastily  been  called  in  the  day  previous,  united  with  the  garrison,  and  made 
a  most  heroic  defense,  fighting  against  superior  numbers  until  twilight,  when 
they  gave  way  and  made  a  scattered  retreat,  leaving  about  300  of  their  number 
in  killed,  wounded  and  prisoners.  "Col.  Woodhull's  regiment  lost  heavily  in  this 
engagement.  He  was  conspicuous  in  the  succeeding  events,  and  was  con- 
stantly on  the  alert  to  guard  against  surprise.  After  the  massacre  of  the 
inhabitants  at  Minisink  by  the  Indians.  July  22,  1779,  "detachments  from  Wood- 
hull's,  Allison's  and  Hathorn's  regiments  were  immediately  sent  to  guard  the 
frontier  from  further  incursion."  Col.  Hathorn,  in  his  report  to  Gov.  Clinton, 
■-ays:  "I  have  acquiesced  with  Col.  Woodhull  in  ordering  one-eighth  of  our 
Regiments  to  Minisink  as  a  temporary  guard  until  your  Excellency's  pleasure 
is  known  on  the  subject." 

Col.  Woodhull  continued  in  active  service  until  the  close  of  the  war,  and 
afterwards  became  prominent  in  the  political  affairs  of  the  County.  He  was  a 
graduate  of  Yale  College  and  well  qualified  for  the  various  public  positions  he 
was  called  upon  to  fill.  He  was  a  member  of  the  State  Convention  that  ratified 
the  Federal  Constitution.  June  17,  1788.  He  was  a  member  of  the  first  Senate, 
being  associated  with  Philip  Livingston,'  John  Morin  Scott,  William  Floyd, 
Abraham  Yates,  Jr.,  Pierre  Van  Cortlant,  Jonathan  Lawrence  and  other  dis- 
tinguished men  of  that  period. 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  105 

Col.  Woodhull  married  Hester,  daughter  of  Capt.  Louis  Du  Bois,  and  had 
issue :    Nathaniel,  Richard,  Sarah,  Renilihe,  Hannah,  Jesse  and  Ebenezer. 

Ebenezer,  youngest  son  of  Col.  Jesse  Woodhull,  settled  at  Herkimer, 
Herkimer  Co.,  N.  Y.,  in  the  Mohawk  Valley,  about  the  year  1804,  upon  a  tract 
of  land  bought  of  Peter  Gansvoort  and  Jeremiah  Van  Rensselaer.  He  served 
with  honor  through  the  war  of  1812. 

He  married  Sarah,  daughter  of  Hezekiah  Tallcott,  first  Judge  of  Herkimer 
Co.,  and  had   issue:   Richard,   Eunice,   Sarah,   Hester,   Calvin,   Mary,   Hezekiah, 

Calvin,  son  of  Ebenezer,  was  born  at  Herkimer  April  4,  1813;  moved  to 
Schuyler  County,  N.  Y.,  1853;  married  Gertrude,  daughter  of  Waterman  Wat- 
kins,  and  had  issue :     Sarah,  Jesse,  Charles. 

JESSE  CALVIN  WOODHULL.  New  York  Society  of  the  Sons  of 
the  Revolution,  son  of  Calvin,  born  at  Oriskany,  Oneida  Co.,  Sept.  11.  1^47. 
He  attended  the  district  school  and  academy  at  Havana.  Schuyler  Co..  N.  Y. — 
now  Montour  Falls — and  began  his  business  career  in  early  youth.  He  moved 
to  Brooklyn  in  1878,  and  has  been  identified  with  many  business  enterprises 
in  that  city  and  in  New  York,  principal  among  which  was  the  Yellow  Pine 
lumber  business,  of  which  he  was  among  the  first  to  engage  in  it  extensively. 
He  has  been  for  some  years  connected  with  the  First  Reformed  Church,  and 
is  at  present  an  elder.  He  is  also  President  of  the  P.  M.  M.  Fraternity,  which 
has  its  rooms  in  the  Dutch  Arms:  member  of  the  Montauk  Club,  and  has  been 
active  in  the  Republican  party.  He  married  Sept.  3d,  1873.  Ann  Maria  Bergen, 
daughter  of  Gilbert  S.  Bergen,  a  descendant  of  Hans  Hansen  Bergen,  who 
settled  on  Manhattan  Island. 

Their   children   are:     Gertrude,   deceased;     Gilbert,    Caroline,    Anna,   Jesse. 

JACKSON.— CONOVER.— CONROW. 

Two  or  more  distinct  lines  of  the  Jackson  family  are  represented  among 
the  early  settlers  of  this  country;  one  as  a  descendant  of  the  English,  another, 
of  the  Irish  branch — both,  however,  having  a  common  origin,  as  the  family 
has  been  prominent  in  England  for  more  than  three  hundred  years.  The  name 
of  Francis  appears  in  both  branches,  as  a  founder  of  churches  and  schools:  Bak- 
er in  his  history  of  Northamptonshire,  speaking  of  Dreddington,  says:  "Francis 
Jackson  had  a  good  stone  house  there,  and  the  church  contains  many  memorials 
of  the  family."  His  ancestor  founded  the  school  referred  to  more  than  a 
hundred  years  previous. 

Burke  mentions  a  Francis  Jackson  of  the  Devonshire  family,  who  passed 
over  into  Kent,  Ireland,  as  captain  of  dragoons  in  Cromwell's  army,  purchasing 
extensive  landed  property  in  the  barony  of  Trawley,  County  of  Mayo.  He 
built  a  large  fortified  house  at  Enniscoe  on  the  banks  of  the  Lough  Conn,  and 
at  his  own  expense  erected  the  church  of  Crossmoline.  within  which  he  was 
buried. 

Edward  Jackson,  of  London,  an  early  settler  of  Boston,  Mass.,  gave  Har- 
vard College  "two  acres  of  land,  books,  manuscripts,  etc.,"  Robert  Jackson, 
one  of  the    original   settlers   of    Hempstead,    L.    I.,    was   magistrate   under    the 


106  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

Dutch  government,  1659,  and  one  of  the  delegates  to  the  Convention  held  in 
1665,  after  the  English  occupation,  which  adopted  the  code  of  laws  for  the 
Colony,  known  as  the  "  Duke's  Laws." 

The  first  mention  of  the  name  of  Jackson  in  West  Jersey  is  that  of  Francis 
Jackson,  who,  in  1675,  bought  Hugh  Dykeman's  share  of  land.  In  1686  a 
warrant  for  land  was  granted  by  Proprietors  to  Francis  Jackson;  also  January, 
1687,  for  179  acres  and  March  16,  1687,  for  100  acres.  He  died  about  1698. 
His  connection  with  Hugh  Dykman  may  account  for  the  frequent  name  of  Hugh 
in  later  generations.  The  same  year  of  Francis  Jackson's  death,  a  Jackson  came 
into  Court  and,  chose  George  Curlies  his  guardian;  his  first  name  is  not 
clearly  written  in  court  records,  but  it  is  probably  Hugh  and  the  date  being 
the  same  year  that  Francis  Jackson  died,  leads  to  the  inference  that  he  was  the 
eldest  son  of  the  said  Francis. 

Hugh  Jackson  (i)  was  no  doubt  the  son  of  Francis  Jackson.  In  1719 
he  bought  lands  from  Nicholas  Brown,  of  Burlington  County,  his  "  loving 
brother-in-law,"  land  in  Monmouth  then  occupied  by  said  Jackson.  It  appears 
by  this  that  he  married  a  Miss  Brown  and  had  a  son  Hugh,  and  probably 
other  children. 

Hugh    Jackson    (2),    son    of    Hugh  and  (Brown)    Jackson,   was 

born  probably  in   Monmouth   County,   N.   J.,   about   1725   or  30.     He  married 

Mary  ,  and  had  a  son   Hugh-,  also  William,  Peter,  Isaac,  Joseph,  Mary, 

and  Mercy. 

Hugh  Jackson  (3),    son   of   Hugh    (2)  and   Mary    ( )  Jackson,    was 

born  in  Monmouth  County,  N.  J.,  March  25,  1754;  died  Sept.  10,  1834.  He 
lived  in  Lower  Squankum,  where  he  carried  on  a  fulling  mill  for  many  years; 
also  an  iron  furnace,  where  he  began  the  manufacture  of  iron  grates,  among 
the  first  made  in  this  country.  He  was  a  prominent  member  of  the  Society  of 
Friends,  and  gave  the  land  at  Lower  Squankum  to  build  a  "  Meeting  House," 
the  first  in  this  locality.  He  married  Rebecca  Morris,  daughter  of  Job  Morris 
and  Mary  Ainsley.  She  died  April  8,  1806,  and  he  subsequently  married 
Lafetra,  daughter  of  James  Lafetra,  who  died  Jan.  20.  1842.  Hugh  Jackson 
died  Sep.  10,  1834,  and  was  buried  in  the  Friends'  burying  ground  at  Lower 
Squankum.     They    had    issue:     Deborah,    born    Nov.    27,    1782;    Morris,    born 

April  1,  1786;  a  son  unnamed,  born  1787;  Rebecca,  born  Aug.  31,  1788;  Hugh 
born  Oct.  9,  1790;  Peter,  born  April  2^,  1792;  William,  born  March  26,  1794; 
Isaac,  born  October  9,  1795;  Rebecca,  died  young;  James  M.,  born  Sep.  II, 
1797;  Mary,  born  March  19,  [799;  Anne,  born  Feb.  25,  180 1 ;  Benjamin,  born 
Nov.  11,  1803;  died  soon.    Nathan  H.,  born  August  15,  1805. 

Deborah  married  William  H.  Clayton,  and  had  Rebecca,  David,  Jackson, 
Peter.  Rebecca,  Mary  Ann.  Lydia.  James  and  Gifford.  Morris  married  Merebie 
Smith  and  had  Thomas,  Rebecca,  Sarah,  Mary,  Amos,  Joseph  and  Morris. 
Hugh  married  Ann  Furman,  and  had  Jane.  Mary,  Furman,  Thomas  and  Hugh. 
Peter  married  Deborah  Johnson,  and  had  Charles,  James  L.,  William,  Edward. 
John  and  Peter.  William  married  Ann  Conover,  and  had  Morris,  Rachel,  Asa, 
Peter,   Rebecca.    Susan   and  William  Lewis.     William's  first  wife   died,   and  he 


SONS     OF      THE     REVOLUTION.  lu/ 

married  2d  Martha  Waldron,  and  had  James  L..  George  H.  and  Elwood. 
James  M.  married,  Jan.  31,  1827,  Mary  Ann  King,  and  had  Sarah  Fisher, 
Samuel  King,  Elizabeth  Jones,  James  Elwood,  Edwin  Atles  and  William  Mor- 
ris. Mary  married  Barnes  Throckmorton,  and  had  Austin.  Mary,  Jackson, 
Job  and  William  Nathan.  Ann  married  Adam  Hampton,  and  had  Emeline, 
Mary  D.,  Adam  H.,  Elwood,  Elizabeth  and  John. 

Nathan  H.  Jackson,  youngest  child  of  Hugh  (3)  and  Rebecca  (Morris) 
Jackson,  was  born  at  Lower  Squankum,  N.  J.,  Aug.  15,  1805;  died  Feb.  3,  1854. 
He  went  to  New  York  City  at  the  age  of  sixteen  and  learned  the  trade  of  grate 
making  with  his  brother  Peter,  and  afterwards  entered  into  partnership  with 
him  and  his  brother  William,  under  the  firm  name  of  W.  &  N.  Jackson  Co. 
in  1827.  The  eldest  brother,  Peter,  was  the  pioneer,  being  the  first  to  establish 
the  business  in  New  York  City.  The  grates  at  this  time  were  made  of  wrought 
iron,  by  hand,  and  the  brass  fixtures  imported  from  Germany.  This  means  of 
heating  gradually  took  the  place  of  the  wood  stove,  and  was  principally  used 
for  heating  houses  until  the  introduction  of  coal  stoves  and  the  substitution 
of  anthracite  for  bituminous  coal.  Peter  carried  on  the  business  in  the  Bowery. 
while  Nathan  and  his  brother  William  were  located  at  the  corner  of  Front 
street  and  Peck  slip,  where  they  did  a  successful  business  for  many  years,  and. 
in  1851,  their  sons,  Peter  and  William  H.  Jackson,  joined  them  under  the  firm 
name  of  W.  &  N.  Jackson  &  Sons. 

Nathan  H.  Jackson  married  Sarah,  daughter  of  Ebenezer  Conover.  son  ot 
Lewis  Covenhoven,  the  Revolutionary  ancestor,  son  of  Peter,  son  of  William. 
aoii  of  Peter,  son  of  William,  son  of  Garret  Wolferson,  son  of  Wolfert  Gar- 
retson  Van  Cowenhoven. 

Wolfert  Gerretson  Van  Cowenhoven.  the  common  ancestor  of  the  Cowen- 
hoven, Kovvenhoven,  or  Covenhoven,  or  Conover  family  in  this  country,  emi- 
grated from  Amersfoort,  in  the  Province  of  Utrecht,  in  Holland,  Anno  1630, 
with  the  colonists  who  settled  Rensselacrwick.  near  Albany,  where  he  was 
employed  by  the  Patroon  as  superintendent  of  farms.  He  afterwards  resided 
on  Manhattan  Island,  where  he  cultivated  the  Company  "Bouwery."  or  "farm 
No.  6,"  and  in  1657  was  enrolled  among  the  Burghers  of  New  Amsterdam. 
On  the  16th  of  June,  1636,  he,  together  with  Andrew  Hudden.  bought  of  the 
Indians  and  obtained  from  Governor  Van  Twiller,  on  the  16th  of  June.  1037. 
a  Patent  for  the  "  Westermost  of  the  three  flats  on  Long  Island  commonly 
known  as  the  little  flats."  This  patent  was  ratified  Aug.  22.  1658,  and  they 
removed  thence  in  1662.  Wolfert  Gerretson's  children  who  came  with  him 
were:  Genet  Wolferson,  Jacob  Wolfnson  and  Peter  Wolferson.. 

Gerret  Wolferson  Couwenhoven.  eldest  son  of  Wolfert  Garretson  Van 
Couwenhoven,  was  born  in  Holland  in  1610;  came  with  his  parents  to  America 
in  1630,  and  settled  at  Flatlands,  Long  Island  in  1636.  In  1653  he,  with  others, 
signed  a  petition  to  Governor  Kieft  of  New  Amsterdam  for  leave  to  attack  the 
Marick  Kawick  or  Brooklyn  Indians,  a  branch  of  the  Canarisie  tribe.  The 
Director,  however,  in  consequence  of  these.  Indians  having  become  peaceable. 


108  SONS      OF     THE      REVOLUTION. 

wisely  refused  to  grant  the   request,  but  gave  permission  "  in  case  they   were 
a  hostile  disposition  any  man  must  do  his  best  to  defend  himself." 

Gerrett  Wolferson  Couwenhoven  was  a  Magistrate  in  1644.  In  1635  he 
married,  at  Flatlands,  Altie  Cornelis,  daughter  of  Cornelis  Lambertse  Cool, 
of  Gowanus.    They  had  four  children,  of  whom  William  Gerretse  was  the  eldest. 

Willem  Gerretse  Couwenhoven,  eldest  son  of  Gerret  Wolferson  and  Altie 
Cornelis  (Cool)  Couwenhoven,  was  born  at  Flatlands  in  1636.  He  resided  first 
in  Brooklyn,  and  was  one  of  the  founders  and  a  Deacon  of  the  First  Reformed 
Church  of  that  town.  In  July.  1727.  he  conveyed  his  farm  at  Flatlands  to  his 
son  William,  when  it  is  supposed  he  removed  -to  Monmouth  County,  N.  J.  He 
married,  in  1660,  Altie,  daughter  of  Jovis  Dercksen  Brinkerhoff;  she  died  June, 
1663;  he  married  2d,  Feb.  12,  1665,  Jannetie  or  Jonica  Monford,  daughter  ol 
Peter  Monfoort.    By  his  second  wife  he  had  issue :  Peter. 

Peter  Couwenhoven,  son  of  William  Gerretse  and  Altie  (Brinkerhoff) 
Couwenhoven,  was  born  in  Brooklyn,  Feb.  12,  1671 ;  he  married,  about  1700, 
Patience,  daughter  of  Elias  Daws.  He  removed  with  his  parents  to  Monmouth 
County,  N.  J.,  in  1727,  and  settled  on  a  farm  near  Freehold;  he  died  in  1755. 
He  had  issue  William. 

William  Couwenhoven,  or  Covenhoven,  son  of  Peter  and  Patience  (Daws) 
Couwenhoven,  was  born  May  3,  1706.  He  married  May  1,  1724,  Maryake  Colyer 
(born  1706).  He  resided  at  Englishtown,  N.  J.  He  died  in  1777;  his  wife  died 
Jan.  30,  1777.     They  had  issue  Peter  and  other  childrren. 

Peter  Conover,  son  of  William  and  Maryake  (Colyer)  Couwenhoven,  was 
born  May,  1726.  He  married  July  5,  1749,  Anna,  daughter  of  Thomas  Davis, 
and  had  a  son  Lewis. 

LEWIS  CONOVER,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Peter  and  Anna 
(Davis)  Conover,  was  born  Sept.  9,  1752.  He  resided  near  Freehold  or  at 
Rumson,  N.  J.  He  served  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution  and  was  Sergeant  of 
Infantry,  New  Jersey  troops,  in  Capt.  William  Remsen's  Troop  of  Light  Horse; 
was  bearer  of  dispatches  to  Gen.  Washington  at  the  battle  of  Monmouth;  he 
served  two  years  with  the  Connecticut  troops  as  Sergeant;  a  part  of  the  tune 
being  under  the  command  of  Col.  Nicholas  Van  Brunt  and  Col.  George 
Taylor.  He  was  granted  a  pension  on  application  made  July  31.  1832,  being 
at  that  time  a  resident  of  Freehold,  79  years  of  age.  Pension  was  also  allowed 
for  two  years'  service  as  Sergeant  with  the  Connecticut  troops.  He  married 
about  1780.  He  died  May  27,  1843;  she  died  April  5.  1813.  They  had  issue: 
Ebenezer,  Joseph,  Ann,  Lena. 

Ebenezer  Conover.  son  of  Lewis  and  Rachel  (Scott)  Conover,  was  born 
Oct.  5,  1783.  He  resided  near  Freehold,  N.  J.  He  married,  Dec.  7,  1807,  Mary 
Lefferson,  daughter  of  Ouke  Lefferson  and  Sarah  Schenck  (born  Nov.  19.  1784)- 
He  died  Nov.  18,  1857;  his  wife  died  March  16,  1861.  They  had  issue:  Sarah, 
married  Nathan  H.  Jackson,  father  of  W.  H.  Jaekson,  and  Rachel,  who  married 
Adam  Conrow,  father  of  James  Woolley,  William  Edward  and  Theodore 
Conrow.  William  E..  Mary  Ann.  J.  Scott.  Anthon  L.,  and  John  B. 

Nathan    II.   Jackson,   by   his   wife,    Sarah    Conover.   daughter   of   Ebenezer 


WILLIAM  Ho  JACKS 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  .      10y 

Conover,   had   issue:     William  H.    Edward,    Alary   Ann,   E.    Conover,    Rebecca, 
Nathan  and  Edwin  Augustus. 

WILLIAM  H.  JACKSON,  Member  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  eldest 
son  of  Nathan  H.  and  Sarah  (Conover)  Jackson,  was  born  on  Cherry  Street, 
near  Franklin  Square,  New  York,  Feb.  21,  1829.  [Cherry  Street  was  at  that  time 
a  fashionable  locality  for  residences.]  He  was  educated  at  the  Mechanics'  and 
Traders'  School,  a  well-known  educational  institution  in  its  day.  On  arriving 
at  the  proper  age  he  entered  his  father's  employ,  where  he  acquired  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  manufacture  of  grates.  A  branch  store  had  been  opened  in 
the  meantime  at  891  Broadway,  and  after  his  father's  death  the  business  was 
divided,  he  taking  charge  of  the  up-town  store,  while  his  cousins — sons  of 
William  Jackson — continued  the  down-town  store.  William  H.  evinced  great 
business  capacity,  and  when  left  to  himself  his  trade  largely  increased  from  year 
to  year.  He  kept  well  abreast  of  the  times,  changing  the  styles  and  making 
various  improvements  as  the  demand  required,  employing  at  all  times  the  most 
skilful  artisans,  and  achieving  a  reputation  far  exceeding  the  highest  expecta- 
tions or  dreams  of  his  predecessors.  From  the  simple,  plain  wrought  iron 
grate,  costing  but  a  few  dollars,  has  grown  the  most  elaborate  and  artistic 
work  of  house  ornamentation  of  which  the  mind  can  conceive,  and  limited  in 
cost  only  to  the  means  of  the  purchaser. 

Mr.  Jackson  organized  the  Jackson  Iron  Works,  one  of  the  largest  manu- 
factories of  the  kind  in  the  country,  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  successful 
industries  in  the  city,  which  has  added  largely  to  its  wealth  as  well  as  to  its 
beauty  in  various  works  of  utility  and  ornamentation.  As  President  of  the 
company  everything  is  under  the  personal  supervision  of  Mr.  Jackson,  and 
both  body  and  brain  are  just  as  active  now  as  in  the  days  of  his  youth,  it  can 
be  said  truly  of  him  as  of  Sir  Christopher  Wren: 

"  Si  queris  momentum 
Circumspice." 

Although  one  of  the  busiest  of  men,  Mr.  Jackson  has  found  time  to  devote 
to  religious,  charitable  and  benevolent  works.  He  is  President  of  the  General 
Synod  of  the  Reformed  Church,  a  member  of  the  Reformed  Church,  trustee  of 
the  Presbyterian  Hospital,  member  of  the  Museum  of  Natural  History,  the 
Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  Union  League  Club,  New  York  Historical  Society, 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  Republican  and  Adelphi  Clubs. 

Mr.  Jackson  married  1st  Mary  V.  Applegate,  daughter  of  O.  Higby  Apple- 
gate;  2d  Sarah  A.  Job.  By  his  first  wife  he  had  William  F.,  Edward  Augustus. 
Sarah  L.,  Mary  Anna,  Laura,  married  Dr.  Samuel  K.  Bremer;  by  his  second 
wife  he  had  a  daughter,  Ada. 

CONROW.— CONOVER. 

Rachel  Conover  (daughter  of  Ebenezer  Conover),  the  wife  of  Adam  Con- 
row,  was  sister  to  Sarah  Conover,  wife  of  Nathan  H.  Jackson,  father  of  William 
H. Jackson. 


110  SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

Three  brothers  of  the  name  of  Conrow  came  to  this  country  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  one  of  whom,  Isaac,  settled  in  Gloucester 
County,  N.  J.     He  had  a  son,  Isaac  (2). 

Isaac  Conrow  (2),  son  of  Isaac  (1),  probably  came  with  his  father  to  this 
country,  and  settled  in  Gloucester  County,  N.  J.  He  married  Elinor  Wright 
in  1730,  and  had  three  sons,  Darling,  Andrew  and  Thomas.  It  is  highly 
probable  that  one  of  these  brothers  was  the  father  of  Levi  Conrow  but  which 
of  these  does  not  appear  on  the  records.  He  had  three  brothers,  William,  Luke 
and  Darling.  From  the  latter  name  it  would  appear  that  they  were  sons  of 
Darling  (1),  son  of  Isaac  (2),  son  of  Isaac  (1). 

Levi  Conrow,  grandson  of  Isaac  (2)  and  Elinor  (Wright)  Conrow,  and 
son,  probably  of  Darling  Conrow,  was  born  March  29,  1781;  died  Sep.  17, 
1831;  he  married,  1806,  Deborah  Wooley,  widow  of  William  Conrow.  They 
had  issue:  Adam. 

Adam  Conrow,  son  of  Levi  and  Deborah  (Wooley)  Conrow,  was  born  at 
Squankum,  Monmouth  Co.,  N.  J.,  in  1809.  He  attended  the  country  school 
and  learned  something  of  the  grate  business,  which  was  then  being  carried  on 
in  his  native  town.  He  came  to  New  York  in  1835,  and  was  for  some  years 
associated  with  the  Jacksons  in  the  manufacture  of  grates,  etc.  He  subse- 
quently carried  on  business  for  a  time  under  the  firm  name  of  Hampden  & 
Conrow,  but  for  some  years  previous  to  his  death  he  was  associated  with  the 
firm  of  W.  &  N.  Jackson.  He  led  a  quiet,  uneventful  life,  but  lived  up  to  his 
convictions  of  right,  and  aimed  to  do  good  to  his  fellowmen.  He  married 
Rachel  Conover,  daughter  of  Ebenezer  Conover  (see  Jackson — Conover  family), 
and  had  issue:  James  W.,  Mary,  married  James  Hanford,  William  E., 
Theodore,  Sarah,  married  John  H.,  Francis  and  Louisa,  married  Theodore 
D.  Anderson. 

THEODORE  CONROW,  New  York  Society  Sons  of  the  Revolution, 
son  of  Adam  and  Rachel  (Conover)  Conrow,  was  born  in  New  York 
City  Dec.  14,  1844.  After  completing  his  education  at  the  public  school,  he 
went  with  the  firm  of  Thompson,  White  &  Co.  in  the  hat  business,  and  remained 
there  until  i860.  In  1861-3  he  was  with  the  old  and  well-known  firm  of  Demas 
Barnes  &  Co.  During  the  latter  year  he  entered  the  employ  of  J.  B.  Ayres 
&  Co.,  paper  dealers,  and  subsequently  became  a  partner  in  the  firm,  and  on 
the  death  of  Mr.  Ayres  the  firm  was  reorganized  under  its  present  name. 
Conrow  Bros.,  Theodore  Conrow  being  the  senior  member. 

During  the  Civil  War  Mr.  Conrow  joined  Company  A.,  Twelfth  Regiment, 
N.  G.  S.  N.  Y.,  which  was  called  into  active  service  in  1863,  when  Lee's  army 
invaded  Pennsylvania,  and  remained  as  a  part  of  the  reserves  until  after  the 
battle  of  Gettysburg,  being  recalled  soon  after  to  protect  New  York  City  in 
the  great  draft  riots  of  that  year.  He  was  afterwards  transferred  to  Company 
A,  Twenty-third  Regiment  of  Brooklyn,  being  then  a  resident  of  that  city, 
where  he  has  since  resided.  He  is  a  member  of  Lafayette  Post,  G.  A.  R.,  of 
New  York  City;  of  Montauk  Club,  Brooklyn,  and  of  the  New  York  Chamber 
of  Commerce. 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  Ill 

Mr.  Conrow  married,  in  1873,  Hettie  Jeanette  Stilwell,  daughter  of  Samuel 
Stilwell,  of  Brooklyn,  a  descendant  of  an  old  Long  Island  family. 
Their  children  are:    Erne  Clarke  and  Helen  Claire. 

WISNER.— ARMSTRONG.— WHEELER,    etc. 

Little  is  known  of  the  history  of  the  Wisner  family  previous  to  their  set- 
tlement in  this  country,  but  the  character  of  the  men  is  clearly  indicated  by 
the  important  service  rendered  during  the  French  and  Indian  War  and  in  the 
War  of  the  Revolution.  Every  one  who  was  of  fighting  age  was  a  patriot,  not 
one  being  found  in  the  ranks  of  the  enemy  or  even  classed  as  a  neutral.  They 
were  men  of  decided  convictions,  with  the  courage  to  maintain  them. 

Johannes  Wiesner,  or  Weesner,  the  American  ancestor,  a  native  of 
Switzerland,  was  a  soldier  in  the  allied  army  under  the  Prince  of  Orange  and 
afterwards  under  the  Duke  of  Marlborough  in  the  war  against  Louis  XIV.  of 
France.  When  the  war  closed  Queen  Anne  undertook  to  provide  some  of  the 
foreign  troops  a  home  in  the  colony  of  New  York.  Among  the  emigrants  were 
Johannes  Wiesner,  his  wife,  Elizabeth,  his  sons,  Hendrick  and  Adam,  the  latter 
being  born  on  the  passage.  These  emigrants  encamped  for  some  time  on 
Governor's  Island.  Johannes  Wiesner  availed  himself  of  the  first  opportunity 
to  provide  for  his  family,  and  accepted  a  position  on  the  farm  of  Christian 
Snedeker,  at  Hempstead,  L.  I.  Snedeker  owned  land  on  the  Wawayanda 
Patent,  in  Orange  County,  N.  Y.,  and  sent  Wiesner  there  to  bring  part  of  it 
into  cultivation.  Wiesner's  first  purchase  was  the  backwoods  farm,  June  23, 
1715,  which  was  on  the  borders  of  the  "  Drowned  Lands."  In  1732  he  bought 
a  farm  of  150  acres  of  Barent  Bloom.  His  farm  of  100  acres  at  Mount  Eve 
went  to  his  son  Adam.  Johannes  was  38  years  old  when  he  arrived  in  America 
in  1714.  By  his  wife  Elizabeth  he  had  issue:  Hendrick,  Adam,  Katharine, 
Ann  and  Mary.  Adam  learned  the  Indian  language  and  served  as  interpreter. 
He  inherited  from  his  father  the  100  acres  at  Mount  Eve. 

Hendrick  Wisner,  eldest  son  of  Johannes  and  Elizabeth  ( )   Wiesner, 

was  born  in  England  about  1698;  died  1767.  He  came  with  his  parents  to 
America  and  settled  in  Orange  County,  N.  Y.  He  made  two  purchases  of 
land  in  Goshen  township,  one  in  1726,  the  other  in  1723.  He  married  Miss 
Shaw,  a  New  England  woman,  and  had  two  sons,  Henry  and  John. 

Henry  Wisner,  the  second  son,  was  especially  distinguished  for  the  active 
part  he  took  in  behalf  of  the  colonies  both  before  and  during  the  Revolution. 
He  was  one  of  the  most  earnest  advocates  for  the  independence  of  the  colonies, 
and  it  is  claimed  that  he  signed  in  his  individual  capacity  the  original  draft 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

CAPT.   JOHN   WISNER.   Patriot  of  the  Revolution,   son  of  Hendrick 

and  (Shaw)   Wisner,  was  born  in  Orange  County,   N.   Y.,  about  1718. 

He  is  mentioned  in  the  history  of  the  county  at  a  very  early  period  as  the 
enrolling  oifficer.  He  was  a  comissioned  officer  during  the  French  and  Indian 
war,  and  during  the  Revolution  he  was  Captain  in  trie  Florida  and  Warwick 


112  SONS      OF     THE      REVOLUTION. 

Regiment,  Orange  County,  N.  Y.,  Militia,  commanded  by  Col.  Isaac  Nicoll. 
He  saw  much  active  service  in  the  early  part  of  the  war.  He  was  the  proprietor 
of  a  tract  of  land  embracing  2,000  acres,  conferred  by  royal  patent,  embracing 
what  was  formerly  known  as  the  Wisner  homestead.  He  removed  the  old  log 
house  and  erected  in  its  place  a  more  pretentious  house  of  stone.  He  married 
and  had  issue :  John,  Henry   William,  Asa,  Anna,  Charity,  Hannah. 

LIEUT.-COLONEL  HENRY  WISNER,  3d  Patriot  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, son  of  Captain  John  and  Wisner,  was  born  in  Orange 
County,  in  1742.  He  was  a  most  pronounced  patriot  and  an  active  worker  in 
the  cause  of  independence  long  before  the  separation  of  the  colonies  from  the 
mother  country.  He  was  commissioned  Captain  in  the  Florida  and  Warwick 
Regiment,  Orange  County,  N.  Y.,  Militia,  Colonel  John  Hathorn,  Sep.  22,  1775 
He  was  promoted  Major  Feb.  28,  1776.  During  this  period  he  was  frequently 
engaged  in  scouting  expeditions.  In  April,  1777,  while  in  command  of  a  scout- 
ing expedition,  he  captured  a  party  of  thirteen  Tories  in  the  passes  of  Monroe 
Mountains  while  on  their  way  to  join  the  British.  He  was  promoted  Lieut.- 
Colonel  of  the  same  regiment  Feb.  19,  1778,  and  was  in  constant  service  of  some 
kind  until  the  close  of  the  war.  He  represented  Dutchess  and  Ulster  Counties 
in  the  State  Legislature  in  1782.  He  died  Aug.  29,  181 1.  He  married  Susan- 
nah Goldsmith,  born  1745,  daughter  of  Richard  Goldsmith.  They  had  issue: 
Gabriel,  William,  Mary,  Abagail,  Henry,  Anna,  John,  Jeffrey,  Susannah,  Richard. 

Jeffrey  Wisner,  son  of  Henry  and  Susanna  (Goldsmith)  Wisner,  was 
born  April  20,  1769;  died  April  11,  1855.  His  educational  advantages  were 
limited  to  the  village  school,  but  withal  he  was  a  man  of  marked  influence  in 
the  community.  He  was  supervisor  1812-13,  1819-23,  and  for  several  successive 
years  was  justice  of  the  peace.  He  rilled  the  several  public  positions  with  great 
ability,  and  was  noted  for  his  firmness  of  character  and  his  even  sense  of 
justice,  which  he  meted  out  to  rich  and  poor  alike  without  fear  or  favor. 
He  was  one  of  the  pillars  and  deacon  of  the  Baptist  church  at  Warwick,  and 
led  an  exemplary  Christian  life.  He  married  Elizabeth  Armstrong,  daughter 
of  William,  son  of  William,  son  of  Francis. 

The  Armstrongs  from  a  very  early  date  have  been  noted  for  their  military 
prowess.  The  family  was  in  ancient  times  settled  on  the  Scottish  border,  and 
springing  from  the  parent  stock,  several  branches  at  an  early  era  became  located 
in  the  northern  counties  of  England,  and  later  in  Ireland.  Tradition  states  that 
the  original  surname  was  Fairbairn,  and  that  it  was  changed  to  Armstrong  on 
the  following  occasion:  An  ancient  King  of  Scotland,  having  his  horse  killed 
under  him  in  battle,  was  immediately  remounted  by  Fairbairn,  his  armor- 
bearer,  on  his  own  horse.  For  this  timely  assistance  the  King  amply  rewarded 
him  with  lands  on  the  Borders,  and  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  so  important 
a  service,  as  well  as  the  manner  in  which  it  was  performed  (for  Fairbairn  took 
the  king  by  the  thigh,  and  set  him  on  the  saddle),  his  royal  master  gave  him 
the  appellation  of  Armstrong  (strong  of  arm),  and  assigned  him  for  crest 
'"  an  armed  hand  and  arm,  in  the  hand  a  leg  and  foot  in  armour,  couped  at  the 
thigh  all  ppr." 


*JT.  A.  WINNER* 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION.  113 

Another  tradition  states  that  one  Armstrong,  a  Highland  Chief,  accepted 
the  challenge  of  the  champion  of  the  opposite  clan  to  single  combat  which  had 
been  given  to  any  man  in  his  clan — he  killed  his  antagonist.  The  next  day 
a  similar  challenge  was  given  by  another  champion  and  again  accepted  by 
Armstrong,  who  killed  his  antagonist.  The  next  day  another  challenge  was 
given  and  accepted  in  the  same  manner.  After  the  combat  had  been  hotly 
maintained  for  a  short  time,  Armstrong's  horse  was  observed  to  turn  back  and 
come  up  to  the  ranks  with  his  rider  dead,  but  sitting  upright  in  his  saddle. 
Scott,  in  his  "  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel,"  says: 

"Ye  need  not  go  to  Leddesdale, 

For  when  they  see  the  blazing  bale 
Elliotts  and  Armstrongs  never  fail." 

Francis  Armstrong,  the  ancestor,  came  from  Ulster  County,  Ireland,  and 
landed  in  New  York  Dec.  10,  1728.  He  settled  in  Florida,  N.  Y.,  and  became 
an  elder  of  the  Presbyterian  church  at  that  place.  He  had  a  son  William,  who 
also  had  a  son  William,  who  was  the  father  of  Elizabeth,  wife  of  Jeffrey  Wisner. 

Jeffrey  Wisner,  by  his  wife,  Elizabeth  (Armstrong)  Wisner,  had  issue: 
Gabriel,  born  Oct.  16,  1818;  Rensselaer  J.,  born  March  2,  1820;  James,  March 
17,  1822;  Richard,  Feb.  4,  1824;  Jeffrey  Amherst,  Oct.  18,  1827;  Mary  E.,  June 
3,  1830;   Vanness,  Aug.  13,  1832. 

JEFFREY  AMHERST  WISNER  was  born  in  the  old  Wisner  homestead 
at  Warwick,  New  York,  on  October  18th,  1827,  and  was  the  youngest  of  five 
sons,  the  issue  of  Jeffrey  Wisner  and  Elizabeth  Armstrong. 

His  father  Jeffrey  (son  of  Lieut.-Col.  Henry  Wisner  (3)  of  Revolutianary 
fame)  was  not  only  one  of  the  largest  farmers  about  Warwick,  but  owned  large 
tracts  of  land  in  Chemung  County,  much  of  it  being  where  now  stands  the 
City  of  Elmira,  N.  Y.  This  tract  of  land  was  originally  called  Wisnerburg, 
and  is  now  embraced  by  the  blocks  bounded  by  Baldwin,  Water,  West  and 
Gray  Streets  in  the  City  of  Elmira,  and  Wisner  Park  receives  its  name  from  the 
donor — Jeffrey  Wisner 

Jeffrey  Amherst  Wisner,  N.  Y.  State  Society  Sons  of  the  Revolution, 
the  subject  of  this  sketch,  received  his  education  at  the  District  and  High  schools 
of  Warwick.  In  185 1  he  married  Mary  Wheeler,  the  only  daughter  of  Major 
James  Wheeler  of  Wheelerville,  then  a  stirring  little  hamlet  some  two  miles  west 
of  the  Village  of  Warwick.  Lacking  a  robust  constitution,  and  having  no  taste 
for  farming,  he  joined  his  brother — Rensselaer  Jay — and  located  in  Pittston, 
Luzerne  County,  Pa.,  at  about  the  time  of  the  discovery  of  anthracite  coal  in 
that  locality.  They  were  the  pioneers  of  West  Pittston.  and  at  once  established  a 
large  foundry  and  engine  works.  Later  on  Jeffrey  Amherst  entered  the  milling 
business  in  East  Pittston.  He  was  the  first  Burgess  of  West  Pittston,  and  one 
of  the  early  attendants  of  the  East  Side  Presbyterian  Church. 

Three    children    were    the    issue    of    Jeffrey    Amherst    Wisner    and    Mary 


1X4  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

Wheeler— Grace  Aguilla,  born  at  Warwick,  and   Clinton  Wheeler  and  Mary, 
born  in  Pittson,  the  latter  dying  in  infancy. 

After  losing  his  wife,  in  i860,  he  moved  to  New  York  City  and  entered 
into  the  wholesale  grocery  business  with  Bonnell  &  Adams  of  Front  Street, 
but  soon  retired  to  become  one  of  the  firm  of  Robert  Seaman  &  Company  in 
the  same  business.  Their  increasing  business  carried  them  into  new  quarters 
on  the  west  side,  and  at  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Seaman,  the  firm  became  Berry, 
Wisner,  Lohman  &  Company.  For  many  years  this  has  been,  and  is  to-day, 
a  familiar  sign  at  the  corner  of  Murray  and  Greenwich  Streets,  although  Mr. 
Wisner  retired  from  active  business  some  ten  years  ago. 

In  1864  Mr.  Wisner  married  Sophronia  Pierce,  the  only  daughter  of  H.  S. 
Pierce,  a  prominent  banker  of  the  anthracite  regions  of  Pennsylvania.  The 
surviving  children  of  this  issue  are:  Mrs.  Kate  W.  Kingsbury,  Horatio  Sher- 
man and  Sophie. 

Mr.  Wisner  has  for  many  years  lived  in  Brooklyn,  and  was  one  of  the 
organizers  of  the  Classon  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  and  is  still  one  of  its 
Elders.  He  has  always  been  an  ardent  Republican,  and  is  an  enthusiast  in  all 
things  pertaining  to  Revolutionary  days.  As  he  grows  ripe  in  years  it  is 
pleasant  to  note  that  his  beautiful  summer  home  is  in  the  old  town  of  his  birth, 
in  the  beautiful  Warwick  Valley  ,once  the  home  of  the  Algonquins. 

CLINTON  W.  WISNER.  New  York  State  Society  Sons  of  the  Rev 
olution,  son  of  Jeffrey  A.,  and  Mary  (Wheeler)  Wisner,  was  born  at  West 
Pittston,  Pa.,  July  30,  1856.  After  the  death  of  his  mother  he  lived  for  eight 
years  with  his  uncle.  After  his  father  established  a  home  in  Brooklyn  he  joined 
him  there,  where  he  enjoyed  good  educational  advantages.  His  first  business 
experience  was  with  the  well  known  New  York  dry  goods  firm  of  Bartlett 
Beery  Reed  &  Co.,  and  later  with  George  C.  Chase  &  Co.,  importers  of  tea. 
At  the  end  of  three  years  he  severed  his  connection  with  this  firm  and  joined 
his  father  in  the  wholesale  grocery  business,  representing  the  house  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  Michigan  for  the  succeeding  twelve  years.  He  seems  to  have 
inherited  the  qualities  of  the  Armstrongs  as  well  as  the  Wisners,  for  he  has 
enjoyed  uninterrupted  success  during  his  entire  business  career  and  acquired 
a  competence  by  his  own  exertions  early  in  life. 

In  1888  he  became  the  executor  of  the  estate  of  H.  S.  Pearce.  a  million- 
aire banker  of  Scranton,  Pa.  The  care  of  this  estate,  which  has  been  success- 
fully managed,  has  since  occupied  most  of  the  time  of  Air.  Wisner.  He  is 
interested,  however,  in  other  business  enterprises,  all  of  which  have  profited  by 
his  wisdom  and  good  judgment  as  well  as  by  his  marked  executive  ability  and 
business  sagacity.  He  has  interests  in  two  large  coal  mines  in  Pennsylvania,  is 
a  director  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Carbondale,  Pa.,  and  of  the  Scranton, 
Pa.,  Electric-light  Works,  and  President  of  the  Warwick  Valley  Light  &  Power 
Company. 

Veneration  for  the  ancestral  home  led  him  in  1884  to  make  this  his  perma- 
nent place  of  residence,  and  that  year  he  built  for  himself  a  handsome  home, 
which   is    one    of   the   attractions    of   the   old   Town   of  Warwick.      Amid   these 


SONS     OF     THK     REVOLUTION. 


"5 


surroundings  he  can  point  with  pride  to  the  home  of  his  ancestors,  who  per- 
formed a  noble  part  as  founders  and  defenders  of  civil  and  religious  liberty. 
The  allied  families  of  Mr.  Wisner  include  some  of  the  leading  families  of  the 
State,  and  these  connections  render  him  eligible  to  membership  in  the  various 
colonial  and  patriotic  societies  of  the  country,  some  of  which  he  has  availed 
himself  of.  His  fellow  citizens  have  shown  their  appreciation  of  his  efforts  to 
promote  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  town  by  electing  him  Mayor  for 
five  consecutive  terms.  He  received  the  Republican  nomination  for  Assembly 
in  1892,  but  was  defeated  by  a  small  majority.  He  is  President  of  the  Republican 
Club  of  Warwick,  and  has  represented  his  town  as  a  Delegate  to  the  State 
Conventions  for  several  years.  His  religious  connections  are  with  the  Reformed 
Dutch  Church,  of  which  he  is  a  deacon. 


CLINTON     W.     WISNER. 


110  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

Mr.  Wisner  married  Martha  Willing  of  Warwick,  daughter  of  Thomas, 
son  of  Thomas  (3J,  son  of  Thomas  UJ»  son  of  Thomas  (ij. 

The  Yv  Mings  are  of  Welch  descent,  and  were  among  the  early  settlers  of 
Long  Island. 

Thomas  Welling,  the  ancestor,  purchased  lands  there  in  1704,  and  subse- 
quently moved  to  Orange  County,  N.  Y.,  where  he  acquired  land  embracing  a 
portion  of  the  village  of  Warwick.  His  children  were:  Thomas,  Richard  and 
John. 

Thomas  Welling  (2),  son  of  Thomas  (1),  married  Sibyl  Beardsley,  of  Sussex 
County,  N.  J.,  and  had  issue:  Thomas,  Edward  L.,  John,  Hannah,  Charles, 
Anna,  Elizabeth,  Lois. 

Thomas  Welling  (3),  son  of  Thomas  (2)  and  Sibyl  (Beardsley)  Welling, 
was  born  July  8,  1786.  He  married  Ann  Coleman,  and  had  John  L.,  William 
R.,  Thomas,  Elizabeth,  Harriet,  Hannah,  Ephilia  and  Samuel. 

Thomas  Welling  (4),  son  of  Thomas  (3)  and  Ann  (Coleman)  Welling,  was 
born  April  27,  1830.  He  is  a  successful  and  progressive  farmer  and  a  prominent 
citizen  of  the  town,  an  elder  in  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church  and  active  in 
mission  and  other  benevolent  work.  He  married  Caroline,  daughter  of  Aaron 
Van  Duzer,  of  Goshen,  and  had  issue:  William  R.,  Thomas,  Jr.,  Edward  L. 
{Martha,  married  to  Clinton  W.  Wisner),  Mariana,  Elizabeth,  Carrie  H., 
Sarah  Mc  C. 

Clinton  YV.  Wisner  and  his  wife,  Martha  Welling  had  issue:  Grace  Ethel, 
John  Welling,  Jeffrey  Amherst,  Thomas  Welling — the  last  two  named  being 
twins — Clinton,  Jr.,  and  Gladys. 

Thomas  Welling  (5),  son  of  Thomas  (4),  was  born  on  the  old  Welling 
homestead  at  Warwick,  April  26,  1864,  and  married  Marie  Louise  Van  Duzer, 
daughter  of  J.  Harvey  Van  Duzer  and  Sarah  Taylor,  both  of  Warwick. 

Thomas  Welling  (6),  son  of  Thomas  (5),  was  born  on  April  3,  1896. 

It  is  quite  remarkable  that  five  of  the  six  generations  of  Thomas  Wellings 
were  born  in  the  same  house  that  the  present  Thomas,  a  baby  of  scarce  three 
years,  has  its  home. 

TYLER.— MASON.— WHITING. 

As  far  back  as  the  record  extends  this  name  is  found  to  be  of  English 
origin.  One  Watt  Tyler  led  a  rebellion  against  Richard  II.,  June,  1381,  sacked 
Lambeth  Palace  and  seized  the  Tower.  The  name  is  mentioned  among  the 
Royal  Families  of  England. 

Job  Tyler,  the  American  ancestor,  was  born  in  Shropshire,  Eng.,  in 
1619,  and  was  one  of  the  founders  of  Andover,  Mass.,  in  1640.  He  was  a  leading 
man  in  the  town,  and  frequent  mention  is  made  of  him  in  the  early  records. 
He  was  in  Rhode  Island  two  years  before  he  went  to  Andover,  and  married 
there  Maria .    He  had  a  son  Samuel. 

Samuel  Tyler,   son  of    Job  and  Marie    ( )  Tyler,    was  born  in  1655, 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  H7 

and  died  in  Mendon,  Mass.,  1695.  He  married  Hannah  —  — ,  and  had  a  son 
Ebenezer. 

Ebenezer    Tyler,    son  of    Samuel  and  Hannah   ( )    Tyler,  was  born 

at  Mendon,  Mass.,  1685;  died  at  Attleboro,  Mass.,  1736.  He  married  Catherine 
Bragg,  and  had  issue:  Capt.  John  and  others. 

CAPT.  JOHN  TYLER,  Soldier  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Ebenezer 
and  Catherine  (Bragg)  Tyler,  was  born  at  Attleboro,  Mass.,  Jan  18,  724;  died 
there  Jan.  11,  1794.  He  is  mentioned  as  "  Captain  John  "  two  years  before  the 
Revolution,  and  probably  received  his  title  in  the  French  and  Indian  War. 
Dec.  6,  1774,  the  town  "  established  a  Superior  and  Inferior  Court  to  hear  and 
determine  controversies."  Capt.  John  Tyler  was  appointed  one  of  the  "  seven 
Inferior  Judges."  Captain  John  Tyler  marched  to  the  "  Lexington  Alarm," 
also  to  the  "Bunker  Hill  Alarm."  Ten  persons  by  the  name  of  Tyler  went  from 
Attleboro  to  serve  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution.  He  married  Anna  Black- 
ington,  and  had  issue :  ■  "Deacon"  John  and  others. 

DEACON  JOHN  TYLER.  Soldier  of  the  Revolution,  known  as 
John  Tyler,  Jr.,  son  of  John  and  Anna  (Blackington)  Tyler,  was  born  at  Attle- 
boro, Mass.,  April  26,  1746;  died  at  Mount  Ararat,  Pa.,  May  22.  1822.  He 
marched  with  his  father  to  the  "  Lexington  Alarm,"  and  his  name  again  appears 
on  the  muster  roll  of  the  Attleboro  troops  as  a  member  of  Capt.  Ebenezer 
May's  Company.  Aug.  22,  1778,  to  Sep.  24.  In  the  fall  of  1794  John  Tyler, 
wife  and  children,  Job,  Joab,  Achsah,  and  others,  came  from  the  Delaware  to 
the  Susquehanna  at  the  rate  of  ten  miles  per  day.  He  was  chosen  deacon  of 
the  Harford  Church  in  1803.  He  removed  to  Mt.  Ararat  and  served  in  the 
same  capacity.  He  was  the  agent  of  Henry  Dinker  in  the  disposal  of  lands  on 
the  headquarters  of  the  Tunkhannock  and  Lackawanna.  This  gave  him  influ- 
ence in  the  community,  which  his  wife  Mercy,  by  her  untiring  and  unselfish 
efforts  in  behalf  of  the  sick,  gained  much  more  in  the  sphere  allotted  to  him. 
His  wife  (to  whom  he  was  married  June,  1768)  was  Mercy  Thacher.  a  descend- 
ant of  Rev.  Peter  Thacher,  pastor  of  the  old  South  Church  in  Boston.  The 
second  son  of  this  marriage  was  Joab. 

Joab  Tyler,  second  son  of  John  and  Mercy  (Thacher)  Tyler,  was  born 
in  Attleboro,  Mass.,  June  23,  1784.  He  removed  with  his  father  to  Harford. 
and  when  his  father  removed  to  Mount  Ararat,  he  took  his  place  in  civil  and 
religious  affairs.  He  was  a  man  of  great  liberality  and  contributed  freely  to  the 
erection  of  church  and  schoolhouses;  he  built  miles  of  turnpike  and  plank 
road  at  his  own  expense.  To  his  public  spirit  Harford  owed  much  of  its 
growth  and  prosperity.  At  great  pecuniary  sacrifice  early  in  the  temperance 
reformation  he  bought  out  his  partner's  interest  in  the  distilling  busines-.  and 
stopped  the  sale  of  spirituous  products.  He  died  at  Amherst,  Mass..  Jan.  13. 
1869.  He  married  Nabby,  daughter  of  Dea.  Jonathan  and  Abigail  (Hart) 
Seymour  of  Otsego,  N.  Y.  She  was  a  descendant  of  Richard  Seymour,  one  of 
the  founders  of  Hartford,  1639.  Her  grandfather,  Eleakim  Seymour,  born  in 
Connecticut,  Oct.  1757,  was  with  Arnold  at  the  storming  of  Quebec  in  December, 
T775.  and  assisted  in  carrying  Arnold  from  the  field  after  he  was  wounded.     He 


Il8  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

also  served  with  the  Connecticut  militia  at  the  battle  of  Bemas  Heights,  and  other 
engagements  around  Saratoga,  which  resulted  in  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne. 

John  Tyler,  by  his  wife,  Nabby  (Seymour)  Tyler,  had  a  son,  William  Sey- 
mour. 

Prof.  William  Seymour  Tyler,  eldest  son  of  Job  and  Nabby  (Sey- 
mour) Tyler,  was  born  in  Harford.  Pa.,  Sep.  2,  1810.  He  was  graduated  at 
Amherst,  in  1830,  was  tutor  there  till  1834;  studied  in  Andover  Theological 
Seminary.  He  was  licensed  to  preach  in  1836,  and  from  that  date  till  1847  was 
Professor  of  Latin  and  Greek  at  Amherst,  and  later  of  Greek  only.  He  was 
ordained  without  charge  by  a  Congregational  Council  at  Amherst,  and  although 
he  never  was  a  pastor,  he  frequently  preached  as  a  supply  for  other  churches. 
He  twice  visited  Europe  and  the  East.  Harvard  gave  him  the  degree  of  D.  D. 
in  1857,  and  Amherst  that  of  LL.  .D.  in  1871.  He  is  the  author  of  a  number 
of  works,  notably:  "  History  of  Amherst  College,"  "  Prayer  for  Colleges," 
"Theology  of  Greek  Poets,"  etc.;  he  has  edited  editions  of  several  Greek 
authors.  He  was  for  many  years  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of. Mount 
Holyoke  Seminary  and  College  and  Williston  Seminary,  and  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  Smith  College,  Northampton.  He  died  at  Amherst  at  the 
age  of  eighty-eight,  Nov.  19,  1898. 

Prof.  Tyler  married  Amelia  Ogden  Whiting,  daughter  of  Mason  and  Mary 
(Edwards)  Whiting.  The  Whiting  family  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
in  the  State  of  Connecticut. 

The  Honorable  William  Whiting,  the  ancestor  of  this  branch  of  the 
Whiting  family,  is  called  one  of  the  fathers  of  Connecticut.  He  and  Major 
General  John  Mason  (the  hero  of  the  Pequot  War),  are  named  among  the 
principal  characters  who  undertook,  in  the  year  1636,  the  great  work  of  settling 
Conecticut,  and  were  the  civil  and  religious  fathers  of  the  colony.  Mr.  Whiting 
came  to  America  from  England  and  settled  at  Newtown  (now  Cambridge), 
Mass.  He  was  a  devoted  friend  and  disciple  of  Rev.  Thos.  Hooker,  called  "The 
Light  of  the  Western  Churches."  When  Mr.  Hooker,  after  his  arrival  (1633) 
in  America,  having  for  three  years  resided  at  Newtown,  removed  (in  1636)  to 
Connecticut  with  about  a  hundred  of  his  company,  Mr.  Whiting  was  one  of  his 
co-operators  in  founding  the  colony  at  Hartford.  Frequent  mention  is  made  of 
him  as  "  one  of  the  fathers  of  the  colony."  He  and  his  friend,  Capt.  Mason 
(afterwards  Gen.  Mason),  were  for  many  years  distinguished  leaders  of  the 
colonies.  Both  were  members  of  the  General  Court  for  many  years.  Mr. 
Whiting  was  also  a  magistrate,  and  in  1643  was  made  Treasurer  of  the  colony. 

Rev.  Samuel  Whiting,  second  son  of  Rev.  John  and  Sibyl  (Collins) 
Whiting,  was  born  in  Hartford  in  1670:  died  at  Enfield,  Conn.,  1725.  His 
wife  was  Elizabeth  Adams,  daughter  of  Rev.  William  Adams,  of  Dedham,  Mass. 
Her  mother  was  Alice  Bradford,  daughter  of  Deputy-Governor  William  Brad- 
ford, son  of  Governor  William  Bradford,  of  the  Mayflower,  and  his  wife. 
Alice  Southworth.    The  fourth  son  of  this  marriage  was  William  Whiting. 

Col.  William  Whiting,  fourth  son  of  Rev.  Samuel  Whiting,  served 
with  distinction  in  the  French  war.     He  "  gained  much  applause  "  for  his  gal- 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  1 19 

lant  conduct  at  Louisburg,  and  was  made  Captain  in  the  regular  British 
service.  In  the  battle  of  Sept.  8,  1755.  under  Sir  William  Johnson.  Lieut.-Col. 
Whiting  added  to  his  fame.  When  Col.  Ephraim  Williams  was  sent  to  meet 
the  French  at  Glens  Falls,  Lieut.-Col.  Whiting  brought  up  the  rear.  The 
American  troops  were  defeated  by  superior  numbers,  and  Col.  Whiting  "  con- 
ducted the  retreat  with  great  judgment  to  the  admiration  of  the  French  general." 

DR.  WILLIAM  WHITING,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  second  son 
of  Colonel  William  and  Anna  (Raymond)  Whiting,  was  born  at  Bozrah,  Conn.. 
April  8,  1730.  He  resided  in  Hartford  for  a  time  and  removed  thence 
to  Great  Barrington,  Mass.,  where  he  was  "  considered  the  first  physician  in 
the  country  as  to  medical  knowledge."  He  was  a  man  of  genius,  and  proved  of 
great  assistance  to  the  colonists  in  their  early  struggle  for  independence  by  his 
successful  experiments  in  the  manufacture  of  gunpowder.  Hon.  Robert  Treat 
Paine,  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  says:  "  I  have 
lately  caused  your  methods  to  be  reported  and  have  sent  it  to  all  the  colonies." 
Dr.  Whiting  represented  the  Towns  of  Egremont  and  Alford  in  the  Massa- 
chusetts Provincial  Congress  of  Deputies,  held  at  Cambridge  in  February. 
1775.  He  was  "  empowered  and  directed  to  collect  all  Province  arms  which  are 
in  the  County  of  Berkshire."  In  May,  1775,  when  the  Provincial  Congress  met 
at  Watertown,  he  represented  the  four  towns  of  Sheffield,  Great  Barrington, 
Egremont  and  Alford;  and  was  charged  with  the  furnishing  medicines  for  the 
army.  The  House  of  Representatives  of  Massachusetts,  Aug.  23.  1775,  resolved 
"That  Dr.  Whiting,  Deacon  Baker,  of  Boston,  and  Capt.  John  Peck,  be 
a  committee,  whose  business  it  shall  be,  faithfully  and  diligently  to  apply  them- 
selves to  the  manufacture  of  saltpetre,  etc.,  and  that  Dr.  Whiting  procure  the 
reprinting  the  several  methods  recommended  by  the  Hon.  Continental  Con- 
gress, for  making  saltpetre,  etc."  On  the  6th  of  October,  1775,  the  Doctor,  as 
Chairman  of  this  Committee,  reported  in  writing  that  he  had  attended  to  the 
matter  with  the  happiest  results.  Dr.  Whiting  married  Anna,  daughter  of 
Jeremiah  (3)  and  Mary  (Clark)  Mason,  son  of  Jeremiah  (2),  son  of  Jere- 
miah (1),  who  was  the  son  of  Major  General  John  Mason,  the  hero  of  the 
Pequot  war.    They  had,  among  other  children,  a  son  Mason. 

Mason  Whiting,  son  of  Dr.  William  and  Anna  (Mason)  Whiting,  married 
Mary,  daughter  of  Timothy  Edwards;  was  a  lawyer  and  one  of  the  founders 
of  Binghamton,  N.  Y. 

TIMOTHY  EDWARDS,  of  the  Revolution,  was  a  member  of  the 
Massachusetts  Committee  of  Safety  and  Commissary  of  Supplies  for  Massachu- 
setts. 

« 

Rhoda  Ogden,  wife  of  Timothy  Edwards,  was  the  third  daughter  of  Robert 
Ogden  2d.  He  was  Chairman  of  the  Elizabethtown  Committee  of  Safety  in  1776; 
his  son  Matthias,  was  Colonel  of  the  First  New  Jersey  Regiment ;  his  sons-in- 
law,  Col.  Oliver  Spencer  and  Major  Francis  Barber,  also  his  son,  Aaron  Ogden, 
were  officers  in  other  New  Jersey  regiments.  Aaron  Ogden  was  afterward  Gov- 
ernor of  New  Jersey.     He,  Robert  Ogden  2d,  was  speaker  of  the  New  Jersey 


j20  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

Assembly  when  the  Stamp  Act  was  passed,  and  on  the  outbreak  of  the  war  he 
was  compelled  to  leave  Elizabethtown,  removing  thence  to  Ogdensburg,  for  fear  of 
capture  by  the  British  on  account  of  the  prominent  part  taken  by  himself  and 
family  in  the  Revolutionary  War. 

Timothy  Edwards  was  the  son  of  Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards,  President  of 
Princeton  College  (who  married  Sarah,  the  daughter  of  James  Pierrepont,  of 
New  Haven),  son  of  Timothy  (married  Esther  Stoddard),  son  of  Richard  (mar- 
ried ist  Elizabeth  Tuttle,  2d  Mary  Talcott),  son  of  William,  who  came  to  Amer- 
ica with  his  mother  and  settled  in  Hartford,  Conn,  (married  Agnes  Spencer), 
son  of  Rev.  Richard  Edwards,  of  London,  Eng. 

Sarah  Pierrepont  Edwards  (wife  of  President  Edwards),  was  great  grand- 
daughter of  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker  of  Hartford,  spoken  of  above  as  "the  light  of 
the  Western  cburches." 

The  children  of  Prof.  William  S.  Tyler's  marriage  with  Amelia  Ogden  Whit- 
ing were  Col.  Mason  Whiting  and  William  Wellington  and  Henry  Mather  Tyler, 
Professor  of  Greek  in  Smith  College,  and  John  Mason  Tyler,  Professor  of  Bi- 
ology at  Amherst  College. 

COLONEL  MASON  WHITING  TYLER.  New  York  Society  Sons 
of  the  Revolution,  eldest  son  of  Professor  William  and  Amelia  Ogden  (Whit- 


C01        1  \SON   WHITING    fYLER 


ing)  Tyler,  was  bom  in  Amherst,  Mass.,  June  17,  1840.  He  was  prepared  for 
college  at  Amherst  Academy  and  Willeston  Seminary,  graduating  from  Am- 
herst   in   the  class  of  '6_\   receiving  from   his  alma  mater  in    1865   the  degree  of 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  I2I 

A.  M.  Immediately  after  graduating  he  decided  to  enter  the  service  of  his 
country  which  was  then  engaged  in  the  great  Civil  War.  He  joined  the  37th 
Reg.  Mass.  Vol.  Infantry,  and  was  commissioned  Second  Lieutenant  of  Com- 
pany F,  which  he  assisted  in  organizing.  His  regiment  was  attached  to  the 
Sixth  Army  Corps,  which  was  then  connected  with  the  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
and  afterwards  served  under  Sheridan  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley. 

He  took  part  in  the  following  engagements:  Fredericksburg,  Dec.  nth  to 
14th,  1862;  Burnside's  Expedition.  Jan.  20th  to  23rd.,  1863;  second  Fredericks- 
burg and  Marye's  Heights,  May  2nd  and  3rd,  1863;  Salem  Church,  May  3rd  and 
4th,  1863;  Gettysburg,  July  2nd  and  3rd;  Funkstown,  July  nth;  Rappahannock 
Station,  Nov.  8th;  Mine  Run,  Nov.  29th;  Wilderness,  May  5th  to  9th,  1864; 
Spotsylvania,  May  12th.  13th,  18th,  1864;  North  Anna.  May  24th  and  25th;  Cold 
Harbor,  June  1st  to  12th;  Petersburg,  June  16th,  17th,  and  18th;  Weldon  Rail- 
road, June  21st;  Ream's  Station,  June  29th;  Fort  Stevens,  July  nth  and  12th ; 
Charleston,  Aug.  21st;  Opequon,  Sept.  19th;  Cedar  Creek,  Oct.  19th;  Hatcher's 
Run,  Feb.  6,  1865;  Dabney's  Mills,  Feb.  7th;  Forts  Steadman  and  Wadsworth, 
March  25th,  1865.  He  was  breveted  Major  for  distinguished  gallantry  at  the 
battle  of  Winchester  on  Sept.  19th,  1864;  commissioned  Major.  March  4th.  1865; 
Lieut.  Col.,  May  19th,  1865;  Colonel  in  command  of  37th  Regiment.  June  26th. 
1865.  His  regiment  went  into  the  war  with  a  total  enrollment  of  1,324  men; 
lost  588  men  killed  and  wounded,  and  169  men  who  were  killed  or  died  of  their 
wounds.  The  regiment  was  noted  as  one  of  the  leading  fighting  regiments  of 
the  war. 

Colonel  Tyler  was  several  times  wounded,  but  continued  uninterruptedly 
in  active  service  until  the  latter  part  of  March,  when  he  was  temporarily  dis- 
abled by  wounds.  He  was  honorably  discharged  and  mustered  out  of  service 
on  July  1st,  1865. 

At  the  battle  of  Winchester  he  was  struck  on  the  chin  by  a  fragment  of 
shell  which  caused  a  painful  wound.  The  last  wound  he  received  was  in  front 
of  Petersburg  in  March,  1865.  He  was  struck  in  the  knee  by  a  minnie  ball 
which  disabled  him  and  caused  his  first  absence  from  his  regiment  in  a  cam- 
paign. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  Col.  Tyler  resumed  his  studies  and  spent  .me  year 
in  Columbia  College  Law  School,  and  three  years  in  the  office  of  Evarts,  South- 
mayd  &  Choate.  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  New  York  in  Oct..  1866. 
He  formed  a  partnership  in  1869  under  the  name  of  Tremain  and  Tyler,  which 
continued  until  1893,  when  the  present  firm  of  Tyler  &  Durand  was  formed. 

Col.  Tyler  has  personally  conducted  many  important  cases;  notably  the 
suit  of  Marie  vs.  Garrison,  resulting  in  the  recovery  of  a  million  dollars.  His 
firm  were  attorneys  for  the  importers  in  the  famous  "hat  trimmings"  cases — 
Hartrauft  vs.  Langfield  (125  U.  S.  R.  128).  and  Robertson  vs.  EdelhofT  (132 
U.  S.  R.  614).  They  were  counsel  in  the  treaty  cases  in  which  the  importers 
sued  to  recover  duties  paid  upon  sugar  imported  from  countries  with  which  the 
United  States  had  treaties  of  commercial  alliance  containing  the  equalities  of 
duties  clause,  which,  it  was  claimed  by  the  importers,  operated  to  make  sugar 
imported  from  these  countries  free  after  the  United  States  had  made  a  treaty 


122  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

admitting  free  sugar  imported  from  the  Sandwich  Islands  (Whitney  vs.  Robert- 
son, 124  U.  S.  R.  190).  Col.  Tyler  acted  as  counsel  for  the  appellants  and 
argued  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  the  removal  cases,  which 
determined  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  Circuit  Court  under  the  act  of 
Congress  of  March  3,  1875  (100  U.  S.  R.  457).  He  was  also  counsel  in  the  case 
of  the  Pacific  Railroad  vs.  Ketchum  (101  U.  S.  R.  289)  and  other  important 
cases  argued  in  the  United  States  Supreme  Court. 

He  is  connected  with  various  business  enterprises  both  in  official  and  ad- 
visory capacities.  He  was  for  a  time  President  of  the  Cumberland  Coal  and 
Iron  Company,  and  is  at  the  present  time  a  director  in  the  Columbus  and  Hock- 
ing Coal  and  Iron  Company.  He  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  most  public 
spirited  citizens  in  the  town  of  Plainfieid,  N.  J.,  where  he  now  resides.  He 
was  one  of  the  early  trustees  of  the  Muhlenberg  Hospital,  was  President  of  the 
Music  Hall  Association,  President  of  the  Organized  Aid  Association,  and  a 
member  of  the  New  Jersey  Historical  Society.  He  is  President  of  the  Board 
of  Directors  of  the  Plainfieid  Public  Library  and  Art  Gallery. 

He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  since 
1885,  being  eligible  through  six  of  his  ancestors  who  bore  a  conspicuous  part 
in  the  early  movements  which  lead  to  a  separation  of  the  colonists  from  the 
mother  country.  While  his  success  in  life  is  due  wholly  to  his  own  exertions, 
he  lias  just  reason  to  be  proud  of  the  fact  that  the  best  blood  of  New  England 
courses  through  his  veins,  and  the  record  shows  that  the  family  escutcheons 
have  continued  untarnished  through  the  several  generations,  and  his  ancestors 
have  nearly  all  been  founders  or  builders  in  the  various  localities  where  they 
have  resided. 

Col.  Tyler  married,  Dec,  1869.  Miss  Eliza  M.  Schroeder,  daughter  of  Rev. 
John  F.  Schroeder,  D.  D.,  formerly  rector  of  Trinity  Church,  New  York  City. 
Her  mother  was  a  daughter  of  Hon.  Elijah  Boardman,  U.  S.  Senator  from 
Connecticut,  a  descendant  of  Rev.  Daniel  Boardman.  the  first  minister  of  New 
Milford,  in  1712.  The  issue  of  this  marriage  is  two  sons:  William  Seymour, 
law  student,  and  Cornelius  Boardman,  a  member  of  the  junior  class  at  Amherst. 

CONOVER— DENISE— DEAN. 

The  history  of  the  Conover  or  Couwenhoven  family  in  this  country  is  one 
of  steady  growth  and  prosperity,  and  they  have  developed  almost  every  branch  of 
industry,  and  have  become  prominent  in  the  various  professions  as  well.  They 
were  the  most  ardent  patriots  in  the  Revolution — men  of  unflinching  courage,  de- 
voted to  the  cause  of  liberty,  few.  if  any,  have  been  found  among  the  enemies  of 
this  country. 

Wolfert  Gerretson  Van  Couwenhoven,  the  common  ancestor  of  the  Cou- 
wenhoven, Kouwenhoven  or  Conover  Family  in  this  country,  emigrated  from 
Amersfoort  in  the  Province  of  Utrecht,  in  Holland,  Anno  1630,  with  the  col- 
lonists  who  settled  Rensselaerwick,  near  Albany,  where  he  was  employed  by 
the  Patroon  as  superintendant  of  farms.     He  afterwards  resided  on  Manhattan 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  123 

Island,  where  he  cultivated  the  Company's  "Bouwery,"  or  farm  No.  6,  and  in 
1657  was  enrolled  among  the  Burghers  of  New  Amsterdam.  On  the  16th  of 
June,  1636,  he,  together  with  Andries  Hudden,  bought  of  the  Indians,  and  ob- 
tained from  Governor  Van  Twiller,  on  the  16th  of  June,  1637,  a  Patent  for  the 
"Westernmost  of  the  three  flats  on  Long  Island,  commonly  known  as  the  little 
flats."  This  Patent  was  ratified  Aug.  22,  1658.  and  they  removed  thence  in 
1662.  His  children  who  came  with  him  were  Gerret  Wolferson,  Jacob  Wolfer- 
son,  and  Peter  Wolferson. 

June  20th,  1699,  John  Bowne,  of  Monmouth  County,  N.  J.,  conveyed  to 
Gerret  Sloothofif,  Peter  Couwenhoven,  and  others,  of  King's  County,  Long 
Island  for  £550  one  thousand  acres  of  land  in  Monmouth  County,  New  Jersey, 
bounded  southwestwardly  by  "Burlington  Road,"  and  by  Spottswood,  Middle- 
brook,  etc. 

Gerret  Wolferson  Couwenhoven,  eldest  son  of  Wolfert  Gerretson  Cou- 
wenhoven, was  born  in  Holland  in  1610.  He  removed  to  America  with  his 
father  in  1630  and  settled  at  Flatlands,  Long  Island,  in  1636.  In  the  year  1643. 
he,  with  others,  signed  a  petition  to  Governor  Keift.  of  New  Amsterdam,  for 
leave  to  attack  the  Marikkawich,  or  Brooklyn  Indians,  a  branch  of  the  Can- 
arisie  tribe.  The  Director,  however,  in  consequence  of  these  Indians  having 
become  peaceable,  wisely  refused  to  grant  the  request,  but  gave  permission 
"  in  case  they  evinced  a  hostile  disposition  every  man  must  do  his  best  to  defend 
himself." 

Gerret  Wolferson  Couwenhoven  was  a  Magistrate  in  1644.  He  was  married 
in  1635  at  Flatlands  to  Alti  Cornells,  daughter  of  Cornells  Lambertse  Cool, 
of  Gowanus.    They  had  four  children,  of  whom  Willem  Gerretse  was  the  eldest. 

Willem  Gerretse  Couwenhoven,  eldest  son  of  Gerret  Wolferson  and 
Alti  Cornelis  (Cool)  Couwenhoven,  was  born  at  Flatlands  in  1636.  He  resided 
first  in  Brooklyn  and  was  one  of  the  founders  and  a  deacon  of  the  First  Re- 
formed Dutch  Church  of  that  town.  His  farm  at  Flatlands  he  conveyed  in 
July.  1727.  to  his  son  William,  when,  it  is  supposed  he  removed  to  Monmouth 
County,  N.  J.  He  married  in  1660.  Altie.  daughter  of  Joris  Dercksen  Brincker- 
hoff,  daughter  of  Maltys;  she  died  June,  1663;  he  married  2nd,  Feb.  12,  1665, 
Jannetie,  or  Jonica  Monford,  daughter  of  Pieter  Monford.  They  had  twelve 
children,  among  whom  was  Peter  and  Albert  Willemse. 

Albert  William  Couwenhoven,  seventh  child  of  William  and  Jannetie  (Mon- 
ford) Couwenhoven.  was  born  in  Flatlands,  Dec.  7.  1676.  He  removed  to  Mon- 
mouth County,  N.  J.,  where  he  died  Sept.,  1748.  He  married  Neltje  Schenck, 
daughter  of  Roelf  Martense  Schenck,  1682. 

Isaac  Conover,  probably  grandson  of  Albert  Willemse  Kouwenhoven,  was 

born  in  Monmouth  County,  N.  J.,  about  1750.     He  married  and  had  a 

son  Lewis. 

Lewis  Conover,  son  of  Isaac,  was  born  in  Monmouth  County  in  1775. 
He  married  Catherine  Denise  and  had  a  son  John  Thompson. 

John  Thompson  Conover,  son  of  Lewis  and  Catherine  (Denise)  Con- 
over, was  born  in  Warren  County,  N.  J.  in  1819.     His  opportunities  for  acquir- 


1_>4  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

ing  an  education  were  limited  to  the  district  school,  but,  by  using  his  powers 
of  observation  he  acquired  later  in  life  a  practical  knowledge  of  affairs  that  en- 
abled him  to  meet  all  its  requirements.  He  came  to  New  York  at  an  early  age 
and  was  associated  with  his  brother  who  was  already  established  as  a  builder, 
and  the  firm  soon  distanced  many  of  their  competitors  and  were  awarded  large 
contracts  for  public  and  private  buildings,  amounting  to  millions  of  dollars. 
Among  these  are  the  Masonic  Temple,  the  old  New  York  Life  Building  which 
stood  on  the  corner  of  Broadway  and  Leonard  street;  the  block  of  buildings 
between  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  streets;  the  Church  of  the  Messiah,  thirty- 
fourth  street  and  Park  avenue;  the  Manhattan  Market,  together  with  a  number 
of  elegant  private  residences  in  different  parts  of  the  city.  He  constructed  large 
sections  of  the  foundation  work  of  the  Metropolitan  Elevated  Railway,  etc. 

Mr.  Conover  was  a  man  of  large  and  liberal  ideas  and  capable  of  great 
undertakings.  He  grappled  with  and  overcame  difficulties  with  a  firm,  unyield- 
ing hand,  and  during  his  long  business  career  he  met  promptly  all  his  financial 
obligations,  leaving  a  rich  legacy  for  probity  and  honor  to  his  children.  He 
was  well  and  favorably  known  in  Masonic  circles.  Beginning  with  "Blue 
Lodge"  Masonry  a  member  of  Holland  Lodge  No.  8,  New  York  City,  he  passed 
through  the  degrees  of  Capitular  Masonry  and  the  Chivalric  Orders,  reaching 
the  32d  degree  in  the  Ancient  and  Accepted  Scottish  Rite  as  Sublime  Prince 
of  the  Royal  Secret.  He  was  High  Priest  of  the  chapter  R.  A.  M.,  and  was 
Eminent  Commander  of  Coeur  de  Leon  Commandery  of  Knight's  Templars. 
He  took  an  active  interest  in  the  General  Society  of  Mechanics  and  Tradesmen, 
the  oldest  organization  of  the  kind  in  New  York,  and  served  one  term  as  Pres- 
ident. He  was  also  President  of  the  Mechanics'  and  Traders'  Exchange  for 
some  years.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Union  League  club,  and  other  societies. 
He  married  Mary  D.  Archer,  daughter  of  John  Archer  and  Elizabeth  Dean. 
the  latter  was  the  daughter  of  John  Dean  of  Philipsburg,  Westchester  County. 
N.  Y.,  the  Revolutionary  patriot. 

JOHN  DEAN,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was  horn  in  Philipsburg 
Westchester  County,  N.  Y„  Sept.  15.  1775;  died  in  Tarrytown,  April  14,  1817. 
He  enlisted  in  May,  1775,  in  Capt.  Ambrose  Horton's  Company,  4th  Reg.  New 
York  Line,  Col.  James  Holmes.  May  to  October,  1775.  accompanied  Arnold's 
Expedition  to  Canada,  participating  in  the  several  engagements.  He  was  Ser- 
geant and  Quartermaster  in  Captain  Gilbert  Dean's  Company  of  Rangers.  He 
served  several  periods  during  the  war  from  1776  to  1780.  In  1780  he  was  Ser- 
geant in  Capt.  Gabriel  Requa's  Company,  and  had  charge  of  the  men  who  de- 
livered Mai  or  Andre,  the  British  spy.  to  Col.  Jameson.  Lossing.  vol.  I.,  p.  755- 
Field  Book  of  the  Revolution  says :  "On  the  morning  when  Andre  crossed 
Pine's  Ridge,  a  little  band  of  seven  volunteers  went  out  near  Tarrytown  to  pre- 
vent cattle  being  driven  to  New  York  and  to  arrest  any  suspicious  characters 
who  might  travel  that  way.  John  Yorks  proposed  the  expedition  the  day  before 
and  first  enlisted  John  Paulding,  John  Dean,  James  Romer  and  Abraham 
Williams.  They  were  at  North  Salem,  and  Paulding  procured  a  permit  from  the 
officer   commanding   there,    and   at   tin-    same   time   persuading   his    friend    Isaac 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  Il>5 

Van  Wart  to  accompany  them.  Four  of  the  party  agreed  to  watch  the  road 
trom  a  hill  above,  while  Paulding.  Van  Wart  and  David  Williams  were  to  lie 
concealed  in  the  bushes  by  the  stream  near  the  post  road.  Of  the  party  above 
were  John  Dean."  In  a  footnote  Lossing  says:  "While  strolling  among  the  an- 
cient graves  in  the  Sleepy  Hollow  churchyard  *  *  *  I  was  joined  by  an 
elderly  gentleman,  a  son  of  Mr.  Dean.  He  pointed  out  a  brown  freestone  at 
the  head  of  his  father's  grave,  on  which  is  the  following  inscription:  "In  mem- 
ory of  John  Dean.  He  was  born  Sept.  15,  A.  D.  1755;  died  April  4,  1807,  aged 
61  years  6  mos.  20  days. 

A  tender  father,  a  friend  sincere, 
A  tender  husband  slumbers  here; 
Then  let  us  hope  his  soul  is  given 
A  blest  and  sure  reward  in   Heaven." 

John  Dean  is  supposed  to  have  been  a  descendant  of  James  Dean  of  Ston- 
ington,  and  was  in  the  same  line  of  Hon.  Silas  Dean,  who  was  chosen  by  Con- 
gress Sept.  26,  1776  to  be  one  of  the  ambassadors  in  connection  with  Franklin 
and  Jefferson  to  transact  the  business  of  the  United  States  at  the  Court  of 
France. 

John  T.  Conover,  by  his  wife  Mary  D.  Archer  (whose  mother  was  Elizabeth 
Dean,  daughter  of  John  Dean)  had  issue  Warren  Archer,  Elizabeth  C.  and 
Frank  Edgar. 

FRANK  EDGAR  CONOVER,  Member  of  Sons  of  the  Revolution, 
youngest  son  of  John  T.  and  Mary  D.  (Archer)  Conover,  was  born  in  New 
York  City  in  1855.  He  received  a  thorough  education  at  the  well-known 
private  school  of  Dr.  Quackenboss.  His  business  training  was  acquired  under 
his  father,  and  on  the  death  of  the  latter  in  1879,  he  and  his  brother  became  the 
successors.  Under  their  supervision  the  reputation  of  the  old  firm  has  not  only 
been  fully  maintained,  but  the  business  has  largely  increased,  and  the  new  firm 
has  erected  a  large  number  of  well-known  business  and  public  buildings.  Among 
these  may  be  noted:  Postal  Telegraph  building;  Gerken  building,  corner  West 
Broadway  and  Chambers  street;  Commercial  Cable  building,  22  Broad  street; 
Queen  Insurance  building,  43  Cedar  street;  Dun  building,  corner  Broadway  and 
Read  street;  the  large  building  corner  23rd  street  and  Sixth  avenue;  Myster 
Apartment  House,  39th  street  Broadway  and  Sixth  avenue;  St.  John's  Apart- 
ment; the  Thiele  mansion  on  Riverside  drive  and  103d  street,  besides  a  number 
of  elegant  private  residences.  Both  Mr.  Conovers  are  among  the  most  enter- 
prising and  successful  builders  in  the  city. 

Mr.  Conover  inherits  all  the  patriotic  ardor  and  interest  of  his  paternal 
and  maternal  ancestors,  for  which  both  sides  are  noted.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Union  League  club,  Hardware  club.  Building  Trades  club,  Sullivan  County  club, 
the  Holland  Society,  Mechanics'  and  Traders'  Exchange,  and  General  Society 
of  Mechanics  and  Tradesmen.  He  married  Anna  C,  daughter  of  Edward  Grid- 
ley,  of  New  York.     They  have  one  child,  Marie  Louise. 


126  so.xs    of    the    revolution. 

WELD— WHITING— BAKER. 

Among  the  early  settlers  of  New  England  greater  prominence  is  given  by 
Savage  to  the  Weld  family  than  to  almost  any  other  of  the  noted  Puritans,  sev- 
eral pages  being  devoted  to  their  history  where  only  a  few  lines  are  given  to 
others.  They  were  bold,  fearless  and  uncompromising  in  their  defense  of  their 
religious  principles,  and  at  a  later  period  were  equally  zealous  in  asserting  the 
rights  of  the  colonists  to  govern  themselves  and  throw  off  the  yoke  of  Great 
Britain. 

Rev.  Thomas  Wilde,  one  of  the  boldest  of  the  Puritan  leaders,  was 
born  in  England  about  1590.  He  was  the  son  of  Edmund  Wilde  and  Amye, 
his  wife.  Rev.  Thomas  and  his  brother  Joseph  came  to  this  country  on  the 
ship  William  and  Francis,  June  5,  1632,  at  which  time  they  landed  in  Boston 
and  were  among  the  founders  of  Roxbury.  Thomas  was  graduated  at  Cam- 
bridge in  1613,  became  a  minister  of  the  established  church,  and  had  charge  for 
some  years  of  a  parish  in  Terling,  Essex,  but  his  Puritan  opinions  caused  him 
to  leave  his  native  country  and  cast  his  fortunes  with  those  who  had  preceded 
him  to  New  England.  In  July,  1632,  he  became  minister  of  the  first  church  in 
Roxbury,  Mass.,  where,  after  the  following  November,  John  Elliott,  the  "apos- 
tle" was  associated  with  him.  He  was  active  in  opposition  to  Anne  Hutchin- 
son and  her  doctrines,  took  a  conspicuous  part  in  her  trial,  and  wrote  "A  Short 
Story  of  the  Rise,  Reign  and  Ruin  of  the  Antinomian  Familists  and  Libertines 
that  infested  the  churches  of  New  England"  (London,  1644).  The  book  was 
answered  by  Rev.  John  Wheelwright  in  his  "Mercurius  Americanus."  Wilde 
was  also  associated  with  John  Eliot  and  Richard  Mather  in  preparing  by  re- 
quest of  the  authorities  the  translation  of  the  Psalms  into  metre  that  is  usually 
called  the  "Bay  Psalm  Book,"  entitled  "The  Whole  Book  of  Psalms  Faithfully 
Translated  into  English  Metre"  (Cambridge,  1640).  Wilde  was  sent  with  Hugh 
Peters  and  William  Hebbins  to  England  in  1641  as  an  agent  of  the  colony  but 
was  dismissed  in  1646  and  requested  to  return.  He  did  not  comply  but  remained 
in  England  and  was  minister  of  a  church  at  Gatshead  near  Newcastle-upon-thc- 
Tyne.  He  accompanied  Lord  Forbes  to  Ireland,  and  after  remaining  there  for 
some  time  returned  to  England  where  he  was  ejected  from  his  living  for  non- 
conformity in  1662.  Tradition  says  that  he  was  beheaded  March  2},,  1662.  He 
married  in  England  Margaret,  and  had  Thomas,  Jr. 

Thomas  Weld   Jr.,  son  of  Rev.  Thomas  and  Margaret  ( )  Welde  was 

born  in  his  father's  parish  in  England,  in  1626,  and  came  with  his  father  to 
Boston,  where  he  was  much  esteemed.  He  was  made  freeman  in  1654,  was  a 
representative  to  the  General  Court  1676-;,  and  died  of  lever  Jan.  17,  1683. 
He  married,  June  4,  1650.  Dorothy,  daughter  of  Rev.  Samuel  Whiting,  of  Lynn. 
The  latter  was  born  in  Boston,  Lincolnshire,  Eng.,  Nov.  20,  1597;  died  in 
Lynn,  Mass.,  Dec.  11.  1679.  His  lather.  John,  was  Mayor  of  his  native  city. 
The  son,  Rev.  Samuel,  graduated  at  Cambridge  in  1610,  entered  the  ministry 
and  officiated  at  Lynn,  in  Norfolk,  Eng.,  and  in  Skirback,  near  his  native  place, 
but  after  two  prosecutions  for  non-conformity  he  emigrated  to  this  country, 
where  he  was  first  minister  of  Lynn,   Mass..  serving  from  8th   Nov.,   1636,   till 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  127 

his  death.  He  was  a  close  student  and  an  accomplished  Hebrew  and  Latin 
Scholar.  "In  his  preaching,"  says  Cotton  Mather,  "  his  design  was  not  to 
please  but  to  profit;  to  bring  forth  not  high  things  but  fit  things."  His 
wife's  name  is  unknown. 

Thomas  Weld,  Jr.,  by  his  wife,  Dorothy  (Whiting)  Weld,  had  issue: 
Edmund. 

Edmund  Weld,  son  of  Thomas,  Jr.,  and  Dorothy  (Whiting)  Weld,  was 
born  in  Roxbury,  Mass.,  June  25,  1695.  Referring  to  the  old  Weld  homestead,  the 
History  of  Roxbury  says:  "  One  of  the  finest  farms  in  Roxbury  is  that  of 
Mr.  Aaron  D.  Weld,  lying  on  both  sides  of  Weld  street,  a  part  of  it  in 
Brookline,  and  containing  nearly  300  acres.  Edmund,  grandson  of  Rev. 
Thomas  Weld,  in  1642,  bequeathed  to  his  son  Edmund  his  part  of  the  homestead 
and  training  field,  and  the  land  adjoining.'*  He  married  Elizabeth  White. 
daughter  of  Lieut.  John  White,  who  was  freeman,  1677,  lived  seven  years  at 
Muddy  River,  now  Brookline,  was  lieutenant  of  the  train  band,  etc.  His  wife  was 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Elder  John  Bowles.  Edmund  Weld,  by  wife  Elizabeth 
(White)  Weld,  had  Edmund  (2). 

Edmund  Weld  (2),  son  of  Edmund  (1)  and  Elizabeth  (White)  Weld,  was 
born  in  Roxbury,  Mass.,  June  23,  1695.  He  married  Clemence  Dorr,  daughter 
of  Edward  Dorr,  of  Roxbury,  who  came  from  Pemaquod,  and  had  there  sworn 
fidelity  1674.  He  lived  a  year  or  two  in  Boston,  about  1680.  His  wife  was 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Thomas  Hawley.  who  was  killed  by  the  Indians,  April, 
8(676,  with  Capt.  Wadsworth  and  many  of  his  company.  Edmund  Weld  (2),  1>\ 
his  wife,  Clemence  (Dorr)  Weld,  had  a  son  Joseph. 

Joseph  Weld,  son  of  Edmund  (2)  and  Clemence  (Dorr)  Weld,  was 
born  in  Roxbury,  Mas>..  Oct.  30.  1733.  He  married  Mary  Ruggles.  daughter  of 
Capt.  John  Ruggles,  who  commanded  a  company  from  Roxbury  in  the  Louis- 
burg  expedition  in  1745.  He  was  a  descendant  of  the  first  Lieut.  John  Ruggles, 
who  came  in  the  Hopewell  in  1635.  The  wife  of  Capt.  John  Ruggles  was 
Elizabeth  Weld,  daughter  of  Joseph,  sou  of  Joseph,  son  of  John,  son  of  Capt. 
Joseph  Weld,  brother  of  Rev.  Thomas  Weld,  the  ancestor. 

[Capt.  Joseph  Weld,  brother  of  Rev.  Thomas  Weld,  was  a  prominent  man. 
and  kept  a  store  in  Roxbury.  He  represented  the  town  at  the  General  Court 
from  1636  to  1641.  In  military  matters  he  was  quite  prominent,  having  been 
the  first  ensign  of  the  Artillery  Company  in  1(138.  and  also  the  first  Captain  of 
the  Roxbury  Military  Company.  He  had  the  custody  of  Mrs.  Ann  Hutchinson. 
"a  woman  of  ready  wit  and  bold  spirit."  whose  unorthodox  opinions  gave  a 
world  of  trouble  to  our  Puritan  ancestor-! 

Joseph  Weld  (son  of  Edmund)  by  his  wife  Mary  (Ruggles),  had  Joseph  (2). 
JOSEPH  WELD  (2),  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Joseph  (1) 
and  Mary  (Ruggles)  Weld,  was  born  in  Roxbury  July  26,  1760.  He  was  fearless 
and  outspoken  in  his  sentiments  regarding  British  oppression,  and  when  hos 
tilities  commenced  he  was  among  the  first  in  his  native  town  to  enlist.  He  was 
Corporal  in  Capt.  Lemuel  Child's  Company,  Col.  William  Heath's  Regiment 
Mas-,.  Militia,  responded  to  the  "  Lexington  Alarm;  "  private  in  Capt.  Hopestill 


128 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 


Hall's    Company,    Col.    Samuel   Robinson's   Regiment,    Mass.    Militia,   Jan.    31, 
Feb.  20,   1776,  and  rendered  important  service  in  Rhode  Island. 

He  resided  in  Roxbury  for  some  time  after  the  close  of  the  war,  his  name 
appearing  on  the  list  of  the  first  Roxbury  Fire  Company,  "  Enterprise,"  in 
1784.  After  his  first  marriage  he  removed  to  Troy.  His  wife  was  Lois  Baker, 
daughter  of  Capt.  John  Baker,  son  of  John,  son  of  John,  son  of  John,  son  of 
Thomas. 

Thomas  Baker,  the  ancestor  of  this  branch  of  the  Baker  family,  was  born 
in  Kent,  England;  came  to  America  before  1635,  died  at  Roxbury,  Mass., 
Jan.  28,  1683.  He  was  supposed  to  be  a  son  of  Sir  Thomas  Baker,  of  Whilting- 
ham,  Suffolk,  Eng.,  by  Constance,  daughter  of  Sir  William  Kingsmill.  They 
had  a  son  John. 

In  the  history  of  Roxbury,  Mass.,  appears  the  following:  "  On  July  6, 
1675,  a  body  of  52  praying  Indians,  Elliot's  converts,  marched  from  Boston  for 
Mount  Hope  under  the  intrepid  Capt.  Isaac  Johnson,  of  Roxbury,  who  after- 
wards certified  that  the  most  of  them  acquitted  themselves  courageously  and 
faithfully.  He,  with  five  other  captains,  was  killed  while  storming  the  Narra- 
gansett  stronghold  when  that  fierce  tribe  was  destroyed  at  the  famous  Fort 
Fight,  Dec.  19,  1675.  On  the  roll  of  this  company  appears  the  name  of  Thomas 
Baker. 

John  Baker,  son  of  Thomas,  was  born  in  Roxbury,  Mass.,  1644;  died  1722. 
He  had  a  son  Thomas. 

Thomas  Baker,  son  of  John,  was  born  May  26,  1676;  died  May  10,  1761. 
He  married  1st  Sarah  Pike,  daughter  of  Moses,  son  of  Robert,  son  of  John 
Pike,  the  ancestor. 

John  Pike,  of  Newbury,  Mass.,  came  in  the  James  in  1635  from  South- 
ampton. The  clearance  papers  represented  him  to  be  from  Langsford.  He 
was  at  Ipswich  first  in  1640;  removed  early  to  Salesbury.  In  his  will  he 
provides  for  grandsons  John,  son  of  John,  and  grandson  John,  son  of  Robert. 
Robert  Pike,  of  Salesbury,  son  of  John,  was  brought  from  England,  and 
was  first  at  Newbury,  admitted  freeman  May  17,  1637;  married,  3d  April  1631, 
Sarah  Saunders,  and  had  issue:  Sarah,  Mary,  Dorothy,  Mary  again,  Elizabeth, 
John,  Robert,  1655,  Moses,  March  15,  i659-  A  Robert  Pike  was  Commissioner 
to  Maine  1668,  and  afterwards  of  the  Council. 

Moses  Pike,  son  of  Robert  and  Sarah  (Saunders)   Pike,  was  born  March 

15.  1659.     He  was  a  resident  of  Salesbury.     By  his  wife,  Susan  ,  he  had 

Moses',  Elias,  Mary,  1675 ;  Sarah,  born  Oct.  27,  1698 ;  maried  to  Thomas  Baker. 
Thomas  Baker,  by  his  wife,  Sarah  (Pike)  Baker,  had  a  son  John. 
Capt.  John  Baker,  son  of  Thomas  and  Sarah  (Pike)  Baker,  was  born  in 
Roxbury,  Mass.,  Dec.  17,  1705;  died  Aug.  10,  1781.  He  was  Ensign  and  Cap- 
tain of  Artillery  in  Roxbury.  He  married  Abigail  Draper,  born  May  18,  1738. 
daughter  of  Nathaniel,  born  Oct.  10,  1706,  son  of  Nathaniel,  born  April  12,  1684, 
son  of  James  of  Roxbury,  born  there  1654;  died  there  April  30,  1698,  manufac- 
turer of  cloth  and  a  soldier  in  King  Philip's  war  (married,  Feb.  18,  1681,  Abigail 
Whiting,  granddaughter  of  John  Dwight.  from  whom  President  Dwight,  of 
Yale  College,  descends);    son  of  James,  born  in  Hepstonstall,  England,   1618; 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 


T2Q 


died  in  Roxbury,  Mass.,  July,  1094;  came  to  America  aboul  1O50,  and  became 
a  manufacturer  of  cloth,  owning  a  number  of  looms;  son  of  Thomas  Draper, 
of  Hepstonstall,  England,  cloth  manufacturer. 

Capt.  John  Baker,  by  his  wife,  Abigail  (Draper)  Baker,  had  a  daughter 
Lois,  who  married  Joseph  Weld. 

Joseph  Weld,  by  his  wife,  Lois  (Baker)  Weld,  had  a  son  Luke  Baker. 

Luke  Baker  Weld,  son  of  Joseph  {2)  and  Lois  (Baker)  Weld,  was 
born  in  Roxbury,  Mass.,  1789;  died  July  11,  1821.  He  was  a  resident  of  Troy, 
N.  Y.  He  married  Mary  Cumming,  daughter  of  Gilbert  dimming,  a  native  of 
Sooiand.     They  had  issue:  Gilbert  Cumming. 

Gilbert  Gumming  Weld,  son  of  Luke  Baker  and  Mary  Cumming 
Weld,  was  born  in  Albany.  X.  V.,  Dec.  6,  1817.  He  received  a  preparatory 
course  at  the  Albany  Free  Academy  and  graduated  at  the  Troy  Polytechnic 
Institute.  He  came  to  New  York  about  1837,  and  engaged  in  the  dry  goods 
business  on  Cedar  Street  under  the  firm  name  of  Weld  &  Chapin.     He  resided 


r.TT.r.F.RT   CUM  XII  XG    WELD. 


at  the  time  in  Brooklyn,  and  while  there  united  with  the  Centenary  M.  E. 
Church  and  became  greatly  interested  in  the  subject  of  religion.  He  after- 
wards removed  to  Tarrytown  on  the  Hudson,  gave  up  his  business  and  was 
licensed  to  preach.  Soon  after  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California  he  decided  to 
go  there  as  a  missionary.  On  his  arrival  he  went  first  to  the  mines.  He  soon 
after  received  an  offer  from  a  Mr.  Fitch  (whose  acquaintance  he  made  on  the 
voyage  out)  to  assume  the  editorial  charge  of  a  paper  which  Mr.  Fitch  proposed 
to  start  in   Sacramento.    The  result  was  the  founding  of  the  Sacramento   Daily 


130  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

1  nuiscnpl,  the  first  paper  published  on  the  Pacific  coast,  and  printed  on  the 
first  press  ever  used  there,  taken  out  by  Mr.  Fitch,  a  practical  printer.  This 
proved  a  success  from  the  beginning,  due  largely  to  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Weld, 
who  lived  only  long  enough  to  see  it  fairly  started.  He  died  after  two  years' 
residence  there  of  typhoid  fever,  being  then  but  thirty-three  years  of  age.  He 
was  a  young  man  of  bright  promise,  and  during  his  short  residence  there  had 
greatly  endeared  himself  to  the  people.  He  exercised  great  tact  and  judgment 
in  dealing  with  the  lawless  crowds  that  collected  in  Sacramento  during  the 
first  years  of  its  existence.  He  was  fearless  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  to 
condemn  crime  and  lawlessness,  so  frequent  in  those  early  days.  He  was  a 
regular  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Journal  of  Commerce,  his  articles 
appearing  periodically  in  that  paper  up  to  the  time  of  his  death.  He  married 
Josephine  Pelerin,  of  New  York  City,  daughter  of  Hilaire  Pelerin,  originally 
from  Normandy,  France,  whose  wife  was  a  Miss  Le  Gros,  a  French  Huguenot. 
They  had  issue :  Mary,  De  Witt  Clinton  (named  from  Governor  De  Witt 
Clinton),  Elizabeth,  Mathelde,  Julia,  Louise,  and  Harriet  Corning,  died  in  in- 
fancy. 

De  Witt  Clinton  Weld,  son  of  Gilbert  Cumming  and  Josephine 
(Pelerin)  Weld,  was  born  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  March  16th,  1842.  He  moved 
with  his  parents  to  Tarrytown,  where  he  received  instruction  in  the  rudimentary 
branches  and  was  then  sent  to  the  famous  Coudert  school  at  St.  Mark's  Place, 
New  York,  kept  by  the  father  of  the  present  Frederick  Coudert,  Esq.,  who  was 
one  of  his  preceptors.  He  afterwards  went  to  Europe  and  made  a  special  study 
of  languages  and  mathematics  in  France  and  Switzerland,  intending  to  adopt 
a  profession,  but  on  his  return  home  he  decided  to  go  into  business  and  obtained 
a  position  with  R.  A.  &  G.  H.  Witthaus  &  Co.,  where,  with  the  exception  of 
two  years,  he  remained  from  1857  to  1869.  At  the  beginning  of  the  war,  1861-3, 
owing  to  the  interruption  of  business,  his  employers  consented  to  his  accepting 
a  position  as  Secretary  to  Senor  De  Yrisari,  minister  for  Guatemala  and  San 
Salvador,  his  knowledge  of  the  Spanish  language  proving  of  great  value  to 
him  at  that  time.  In  1869  he  began  business  for  himself  under  the  firm  name 
of  Topham,  Rutherford  &  Weld,  importers  and  manufacturers  of  men's  furnish- 
ing goods.  This  continued  until  1872,  when  the  title  was  Topham,  Weld  & 
Co.,  and  on  the  death  of  Mr.  Topham,  in  1881,  the  firm  became  Weld,  Colburn 
&  Wilckens,  as  it  now  remains. 

Mr.  Weld  has  been  for  some  years  a  resident  of  Brooklyn,  where  he  is 
identified  with  the  leading  social  organizations.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Society 
of  Colonial  Wars,  the  Hamilton  Club,  the  Church  Club,  etc. 

He  married  Elizabeth  Anne  Wilckens,  daughter  of  Dr.  J.  Frederick  Wilc- 
kens, who  for  many  years  stood  at  the  head  of  his  profession  in  New  York, 
Two  sons  were  the  issue  of  this  marriage:  De  Witt  C.  Weld,  Jr.,  and  Frederick 
Cumming.     The  latter  died  in  1877. 

DE  WITT  CLINTON  WELD,  JR.,  New  York  State  Society,  Sons 
of    the    Revolution,    only  surviving  son  of  De  Witt  Clinton    Weld    and    his 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  131 

wife,  Elizabeth  Wilckens  Weld,  was  borrn  in  Brooklyn  July  18,  1868.  He 
graduated  at  the  Polytechnic  Institute  of  Brooklyn  in  the  class  of  '86.  After 
filling  a  position  as  clerk  for  General  John  B.  Woodward,  he  established.,  in 
Feb.,  1896,  the  present  firm  of  Weld  &  Sturtevant,  dealers  in  printers  and 
bookbinders'  machinery.  With  the  energy  and  perseverance  characteristic  of 
the  family  a  good  and  growing  trade  has  been  established.  Mr.  Weld  has  given 
some  attention  to  military  affairs  and  served  more  than  the  usual  term  as  a 
member  of  Company  A,  Twenty-third  Regiment,  N.  G.  S.  N.  Y.,  enlisting  in 
1887,  rising  the  several  grades  to  that  of  First  Lieutenant.  During  his  con- 
nection with  the  regiment  it  was  frequently  called  out  to  quell  disturbances  in 
different  parts  of  the   State,  all  more  or  less  serious. 

Mr.  Weld,  after  his  marriage,  lived  for  a  time  in  Brooklyn,  and  later 
settled  in  Sing  Sing,  N.  Y.,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Mount  Pleasant  Field  Club 
that  place,  also  of  the  Society  of  Colonial  Wars,  Crescent  Athletic  and  Ark- 
wright  clubs  and  the  Military  Service  Institution. 

He  married,  in  1896,  Bertha  Brandreth,  daughter  of  William  Brandreth, 
then  President  of  the  Village  and  a  son  of  the  well-known  Dr.  Benjamin 
Brandreth. 

DEWEY.— TODD. 

Both  the  Deweys  and  the  Todds  appear  to  have  had  a  fondness  for  music 
as  well  as  for  military  affairs,  the  Revolutionary  ancestors  of  both  families  being 
represented  in  the  dual  capacity. 

Thomas  Dewey,  the  American  ancestor  of  this  name,  was  born  about 
1608.  He  came  from  Sandwich,  Kent,  England,  near  the  ancient  town  of 
Dover,  and  settled  in  Dorchester,  Alas-.,  in  1633,  and  was  enrolled  there  as  a 
freeman  May  14,  1634.  He  married  there,  March  22,  1638-9,  Widow  Frances 
Clarke.  He  was  cornet  of  the  mounted  light  infantry.  He  was  frequently  juror 
and  deputy  to  the  General  Court.  He  removed  to  Windsor,  Conn.,  where  he- 
died  April  27,  1648.  They  had  issue :  Thomas,  Jr.,  Josiah,  Anna,  Israel  and 
Jedediah.  The  widow  married  again,  and  removed  to  Westfield,  Mass.,  with  her 
children,  except  Israel,  who  remained  in  Windsor. 

Josiah  Dewey,     son     of     Thomas     and     Francis      (Clarke)      Dewey,     was 

born  Oct.    10.     He  married   1st  Hepzibah   Lyman,  and  2d,   Experience  . 

He  removed  in  1696  to  Lebanon,  Conn.,  where  he  died.  His  children  by  his 
second  wife  were  Ebenezer  and  Nathaniel,  twins ;  Joseph,  Elizabeth,  Experi- 
ence and  Benjamin. 

Nathanial  Dewey,     son     of    Josiah     and     Experience     ( )     Dewey, 

was  born  at  Lebanon,  Conn.,  1672,  and  was  a  prosperous  farmer.  He  married 
Margaret  Boroughs,  and  had  issue :  Nathaniel,  Margaret,  Samuel,  Noah,  Sarah, 
Thomas,  Hepzibah,  Tamar. 

Samuel  Dewey,  son  of  Nathaniel  and  Margaret  (Boroughs)  Dewey, 
was  born  at  Lebanon,  Conn..  July  5,  1704.     He  was  also  a  farmer.     He  married 


132  SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

Elizabeth  Allen,   a   descendant,   probably,   of   Samuel   Allen.     They   had   issue: 
Samuel,  Desire,  Elijah,  Jeremiah,  Elizabeth,  Nathan. 

Jeremiah  Dewey  (i),  son  of  Samuel  and  Elizabeth  (Allen)  Dewey, 
was  born  in  Lebanon,  Conn.,  Jan.  20,  1737.  He  moved  thenee  to  Coventry, 
Conn.    He  married  and  had  a  son  Jeremiah. 

JEREMIAH  DEWEY  (2),  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Jere- 
miah (1),  was  born  in  Coventry,  Conn.,  March  13,  1763.  He  removed  to  Corinth, 
Essex  County,  Vt.,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution.  He  was  about  seven- 
teen years  of  age  when  he  joined  the  army  as  fifer  in  Capt.  Samuel  Allen's  Com- 
pany, Vermont  Volunteers,  Oct.  13,  1780;  he  also  served  as  fifer  in  Capt.  James 
Brookin's  Company,  Col.  Fletcher's  Battalion,  Vermont  Militia,  1781.  He 
married  Cynthia  Claghoone,  born  in  Salisbuiy,  Conn.,  1767;  died  at  Corinth, 
Vt.,  Feb.  9,  1844.  They  had  issue:  Jeremiah,  Cynthia,  born  August  29,  1786; 
Harvey,  born  Dec.  8,  1790;  Orin,  born  Aug.  6,  1793;  Almira,  born  Aug.  27, 
1795;    Charles,  born  Sep.  11,  1797;    Royal,  born  May  6,  1799. 

Jeremiah  Dewey  (3),  son  of  Jeremiah  (2)  and  Cynthia  (Claghoon) 
Dewey,  was  born  at  Rutland,  Vt.,  Jan.  3,  1788.  He  was  engaged  principally 
in  the  manufacture  and  repairing  of  jewelry.  He  removed  to  Middlebury,  Vt., 
later  to  Randolph,  thence  to  Chelsea,  Essex  Co..  Vt,  and  finally  left  his  native 
State  in  1828,  and  went  to  Elizabethtown,  N.  J.,  thence  to  Buffalo,  and  finally 
to  Detroit,  Mich.,  where  he  finally  located  and  began  the  manufacture  of 
clocks.  He  was  quite  an  inventive  genius  and  made  many  improvements  in  the 
works,  which  have  since  been  adopted  by  other  makers.  He  died  of  cholera, 
during  the  great  epidemic,  July  29,  1849.  He  was  an  active  member  ot  the 
Methodist  Church,  and  delighted  to  entertain  his  Methodist  friends.  He  married 
Orinda  Todd,  daughter  of  Thomas  Todd,  of  Rowley,  Mass. 

THOMAS  TODD,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was  born  in 
Rowley,  Mass.,  Nov.  17.  1760.  He  was  not  quite  seventeen  years  of  age  when 
he  enlisted  as  private  in  Capt.  Bartholomew  Bloodgood's  Company,  Col.  Job 
Cushing's  Reg.  Mass.  Militia.  Aug.  20,  1777;  he  was  fifer  in  Capt.  John  Put- 
nam's Company,  Col.  Wade's  Reg.,  Worcester  Co.,  Mass.,  Militia,  June  20, 
1778;  he  served  in  the  several  engagements  in  Rhode  Island;  he  was  fifer  in 
Capt.  Woodbury's  Company,  Col.  Jacob  Davis'  Reg.  Mass  Militia,  June  30,  1780; 
fifer  in  Capt.  Reuben  Davis'  Company,  Col.  Luke  Drury's  Reg.  Levies,  July 
17,  1781;  private  in  Capt.  Crowell's  Company,  Col.  Denny's  Reg.,  Mass.  Militia, 
1781;  served  until  the  close  of  the  war.  He  erected  the  first  woolen  mill  in  the 
State  of  Vermont,  and  also  erected  a  forge  at  South  Poultney,  Vt.  He  was  a 
man  of  large  means  and  one  of  the  most  prominent  men  in  that  part  of  the 
State. 

By  his  marriage  with  Orinda  Todd,  Jeremiah  Dewey  had  children:  Mary 
Ann,  Harvey  and  Hiram  Todd. 

HIRAM  TODD  DEWEY,  Member  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revo- 
lution, son  of  Jeremiah  and  Orinda  (Todd)  Dewey,  was  born  in  Poultney, 
Vt..  July  13,   1816.     He  enjoyed  nothing  beyond  a  common   school  education, 


^HKS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 


1 33 


but  made  the  most  of  his  opportunities.  He  began  to  work  for  his  father  when 
he  was  but  thirteen  years  of  age,  and  after  acquiring  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  details  of  the  business,  he  left  home  in  1836,  before  reaching  his  majority, 
and  started  in  the  jewelry  business  at  Perrysburg,  Ohio.  In  1834  he  removed 
to  Fort  Wayne,  where  he  continued  to  carry  on  the  jewelry  business.  He 
returned  to  Sandusky,  Ohio,  in  1843.  and  began  the  manufacture  of  town  clocks, 
for  which  there  was  at  the  time  a  great  demand.  He  made  many  improvements, 
and  was  successful  in  this  line.  He  resumed  his  old  business,  later,  and  con- 
tinued at  Tiffin  and  Sandusky,  Ohio,  until  1857,  when  he  decided  on  a  new 
venture,  which  proved  the  most  successful  of  anything  he  had  ever  undertaken. 
He  purchased  a  farm  of  twenty  acres  at  Sandusky,  Ohio,  which,  from  a  personal 
examination  was  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  growth  of  grapes.  He  purchased 
a  large  number  of  vines  from  a  party  who  had  tried  and  made  a  failure  of  grape 
culture.  He  planted  every  vine  with  his  own  hands,  and  his  succe-s  from  the 
beginning  was  phenomenal.  His  first  vintage  was  sold  only  for  table  use. 
He  soon  after  began  the  manufacture  of  wine,  and  his  first  effort  in  this  direction 
proved  that  an  American  wine  could  be  produced  fully  equal  to  the  best  impor- 
ted article.    At  the  end  of  three  or  four  years  he  sold  his  Tarm  at  a  large  advance. 


HIRAM    TODD    DEWEY. 


134  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

and  devoted  all  his  time  and  energies  to  the  production  of  American  wines.  His 
successful  efforts  at  grape  culture  in  Ohio  stimulated  others  to  undertake  it, 
and  land  that  was  previously  worth  only  $50  to  $100  an  acre  for  farming  pur- 
poses brought  five  and  six  times  the  amount  and  yielded  a  much  larger  percent- 
age on  the  investment.  This  enterprise  established  by  Mr.  Dewey,  some  forty 
years  ago,  has  enriched  the  State  of  Ohio  by  millions  of  dollars,  and  he  uncon- 
sciously became  one  of  the  great  benefactors  of  the  nineteenth  century.  After 
selling  his  farm  Mr.  Dewey  came  to  New  York,  where  he  continued  the  pro- 
duction of  the  highest  grade  of  American  wines  which  have  achieved  an  almost 
world-wide  reputation.  He  has  confined  himself  strictly  to  the  production  of 
wines  for  family  use  and  has  avoided  all  connection  with  the  trade,  knowing  that 
he  could  not  control  it  in  bulk  after  it  left  his  own  cellars.  His  trade  has  in- 
creased annually,  but  visions  of  wealth  have  never  tempted  him  to  swerve  in 
the  least  from  the  high  standard  he  adopted  at  the  beginning.  Mr.  Dewey  has 
never  sought  public  office.  The  only  position  he  ever  held  was  that  of  Alderman 
of  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.  He  has  been  for  many  years  an  honored  member  of  the 
Odd  Fellows  and  Masonic  fraternities.  He  has  contributed  freely  of  his  means 
to  ameliorate  the  sufferings  and  add  to  the  happiness  of  his  fellowmen.  He 
married  Susan  L.,  daughter  of  William  Stapleford  of  Newcastle,  Del.  and  had 
issue:  Henry  Ruthven.  Jeremiah  Todd.  George  Eugene,  Mary  Elizabeth,  Susan 
Arabella,  Cora  D.,  Hiram  Stapleford,  and  William  Henry. 

FRANK  TIEFORD,  New  York  Society  Sons  of  the  Revolution, 
born  in  New  Yory  City,  July  22.  1852,  son  of  John  M.  Tilford  and  Jane  White, 
son  of  James  Tilford  and  Hannah  McDougall  of  Argyle,  N.  Y.  She  was  the 
daughter  of  Alexander  and  Jane  McDougall  of  Argyle,  N.  Y..  son  of  John  Mc- 
Dougall and  Jennie  McEashron  his  wife,  son  of  Alexander  McDougall  and 
Anna  Gilchrist,  his  wife,  both  of  Scotland. 

ALEXANDER  McDOUGALL.  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was  born  in 
Scotland,  Sept.  20,  1754.  He  was  a  citizen  of  Argyle.  Washington  County.  N.  Y., 
where  he  died  Sept.  15,  1847.  His  first  military  service  in  the  War  of  the  Rev- 
olution was  as  private  in  Capt.  Alexander  Webster's  Company,  Charlotte  (now 
Washington)  County,  \\  Y.  Militia,  commanded  by  Capt.  John  Williams,  1776; 
Sergeant  in  Capt.  Cornelius  Jenning's  Company,  Third  Regiment,  New  York 
Line,  Col.  Peter  Gansevoort,  Feb.  26,  ^777,  Feb.  26,  1780;  Sergeant  Major,  Thos. 
Armstrong's  Regiment,  Charlotte  County,  N.  Y.  Militia,  and  Capt.  Henry 
Brewster's  Company;  Lieut.  Colonel  Frederick  Weissenfel's  Regiment,  New 
York  Levies. 

Taillefer,  the  old  Normans  called  the  family  name,  and  you  will  find  it  often 
in  the  early  annals  of  that  masterful  race.  The  Ancient  Counts  of  Angouleme 
were  the  founders  of  the  family,  as  is  witnessed  by  the  illustration  of  the  surname 
in  their  heraldic  devices  for  many  generations.  One  of  the  first  known  members 
of  the  family  received  great  possessions  from  the  hand  of  Charles  the  Bald  of 
France,  in  return  for  his  services  in  uniting  Normandy  with  France,  and  his  son, 
Guilluame  de  Taillefer,  was  the  first  to  bear  his  name,  which  came  to  him 
because  of  an  act  of  valor  and  extraordinary  strength  performed  by  him  in  war, 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  135 

in  the  year  916.    From  him  the  family  line  and  the  name  may  be  traced  without  a 
break  down  to  the  present  day. 

Tilford,  the  name  became  in  Scotland,  when  some  of  the  family  settled  in  that 
country,  and  Tilford  it  has  remained  in  this  country  ever  since  it  was  brought 
hither  by  James  Tilford,  who  settled  at  Argyle,  near  Albany.  New  York,  a 
hundred  and  fifty  years  ago.  That  pioneer  was  a  soldier  in  the  American  army 
throughout  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  his  son,  James  Tilford.  was  a  captain  in 
the  war  of  1812. 

The  latter's  son,  John  M.  Tilford,  came  to  New  York  in  1835,  at  the  age  of 
twenty  years,  and  served  five  years  as  a  clerk  in  the  grocery  store  of  Benjamin 
Alboro.  Then,  with  his  fellow  clerk,  Joseph  Park,  he  organized  the  now  world- 
famous  house  of  Park  &  Tilford. 

FRANK  TILFORD,  youngest  son  and  business  successor  of  John  M.  Tilford, 
was  born  in  New  York  on  July  22nd.  1852.  and  was  educated  in  the  well-known 
Mount  Washington  Collegiate  Institute.  Then  he  entered  his  father's  store  at 
Sixth  avenue  and  Ninth  street,  and  worked  faithfully  in  one  department  after 
another  until  he  had  acquired  a  practical  mastery  of  all  the  details  of  the  busi- 
ness. In  1890  the  company  was  transformed  into  a  joint  stock  corporation  and 
the  senior  Mr.  Tilford  became  its  Vice-President.  At  his  death  in  January,  1891, 
Mr.  Frank  Tilford  succeeded  him  in  that  office  and  has  continued  to  hold  it  ever 
since.  Important  as  that  office  is,  it  does  not  monopolize  Mr.  Tilford's  business 
attention.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Real  Estate  Exchange  since  1873  and 
has  made  some  extensive  dealings  in  real  estate,  chiefly  of  an  investment  char- 
acter, in  the  upper  west  side  of  the  city.  He  became  a  director  of  the  Sixth 
National  Bank  in  1874,  and  a  trustee  of  the  North  River  Savings  Bank,  in  1885. 
In  1889  he  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Bank  of  New  Amsterdam,  of  which 
he  is  now  President  and  he  is  also  one  of  the  organizers  and  a  trustee  of  the 
Fifth  Avenue  Trust  Company;  Vice-President  of  the  Standard  Gaslight  Com- 
pany and  a  director  in  many  of  the  powerful  corporations  of  New  York  City  and 
in  many  of  the  gas  companies  throughout  the  country. 

He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce.  President  of  the  New- 
Amsterdam  Eye  &  Ear  Hospital,  a  trustee  of  the  Babies'  Hospital  and  a  member 
of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Grant  Monument  Association. 

Mr.  Tilford  was  married  in  1891  to  Miss  Julia  Greer,  daughter  of  James  A. 
Greer  and  grand-daughter  of  George  Greer,  a  famous  sugar  refiner  of  the  past 
generation.  They  have  two  daughters.  Julia  and  Elsie  Tilford.  Mr.  Tilford  has 
long  been  a  member  of  the  Union  League  Club  and  is  also  a  member  of  the 
Republican,  Colonial.  Lotos,  Press.  New  York  Athletic  and  other  clubs,  and 
of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution.  His  city  home  is  on  West  Seventy-second  street. 
It  was  chiefly  designed  by  Mr.  Tilford  himself,  and  ranks  as  one  of  the  handsom- 
est edifices  in  that  particularly  handsome  part  of  the  city. 


136  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

ELMENDORF     AND     ALLIED     FAMILIES. 

Independence  and  love  of  liberty  have  always  been  marked  characteristics 
of  the  Hollanders,  and  Sir  Henry  Clinton  told  the  truth  when  he  said  that  he 
"could  neither  buy  nor  conquer  the  Dutch." 

The  Elmendorfs,  though  originally  of  German  stock,  were  among  the  early 
settlers  on  the  Hudson,  and  intermarried  with  many  of  the  old  Holland  fam- 
ilies. Their  loyalty  and  patriotism  is  a  matter  of  history,  and  not  one  of  them 
was  ever  found  among  the  enemies  of  his  country. 

Jacobus  (Conradt)  Van  Elmendorf.  the  ancestor,  was  born  in  Rynborch, 
near  Leyden,  in  the  Rysistract,  in  the  Gilded  Cable,  and  came  to  this  country 
about  1660  or  earlier.  He  settled  at  Kingston  and  was  active  in  the  public  affairs 
of  the  town.  He  took  a  prominent  place  in  the  Esopus  meeting,  and  was  one  of 
the  Burgher's  Guard,  who  were  arrayed  against  Captain  Brodhead  of  the  English 
garrison.  He  married  April  25,  1667,  Grietje  Aertsen,  by  order  of  the  Court,  and 
with  the  consent  of  her  parents,  she  being  under  age.  After  his  death  his  wife 
was  given  a  grant  of  land  by  the  corporation  of  Kingston.  They  had  issue  sev- 
eral children,  among  whom  was  Conradt. 

Conrad  Elmendorf,  son  of  Jacobus  (Conradt)  and  Greitje  (Aersten)  Elmen- 
dorf,  was  baptized  March  12,  1669.  He  married  Anaatje  Gerretse  Van  den  Berg, 
June  28,  1693.     They  had  Cornelius  and  other  children. 

Cornelius  Elmendorf,  son  of  Conradt  and  Araatje  Gerretse  (Van  den 
Berg)  Elmendorf,  was  baptized  Oct.  31,  1697.  He  married  Engeltje  Heermans, 
Dec.  16,  1720.     They  had  among  other  children  a  son  John. 

CAPTAIN  JOHN  ELMENDORF,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of 
Cornelius  and  Engeltje  (Heermans)  Elmendorf,  was  born  in  Kingston,  N.  Y., 
April  27,  1725.  He  was  among  the  first  to  volunteer  after  hostilities  commenced, 
and  while  not  on  active  duty  during  the  whole  period  of  the  Revolution,  he  held 
himself  in  readiness  for  every  emergency.  He  was  Captain  of  a  Company,  First 
Regiment,  Ulster  County,  N.  Y.,  Militia,  commanded  by  Col.  Johannes  Snyder, 
July  15,  1777.  When  Governor  George  Clinton  was  inaugurated  in  1777  Captains 
Elmendorf  and  Bogardus  were  ordered  to  appear  at  the  Court  House  (with  their 
companies)  and  took  part  in  the  ceremonies.  He  married  Margaret  Delamater, 
probably  a  grand-daugter  of  Jacobus  Le  Maitre,  or  De  La  Maitre,  of  Kingston, 
1680,  son  of  Claude,  who  settled  in  New  Amsterdam,  1652.  They  had  a  son 
Martinus. 

Martinus  Elmendorf,  son  of  John  and  Margaret  (Delamater)  Elmendorf, 
was  born  August  24,  1769.  He  married  Feb.  19,  1792,  Rachel  Roosa,  and  had  issue 
a  son  Levi. 

Levi  Elmendorf,  son  of  Martinus  and  Rachel  (Roosa)  Elmendorf,  was  born 
August  7,  1806.  He  attended  the  public  schools  and  received  a  fair  education, 
and  spent  his  early  years  in  his  native  town,  where  he  was  much  respected  by 
his  fellow-citizens  and  enjoyed  their  confidence  and  esteem.       He     caught     the 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  ltf 

"Western  fever,"  and  went  as  far  as  Seneca  County,  where  he  was  for  some 
time  engaged  as  a  contractor.  He  came  to  New  York  in  1854,  and  from  that  time 
until  his  death,  in  1864,  he  was  engaged  with  the  varnish  house  of  Edward 
Smith.  In  politics  he  was  an  old-time  Whig,  and  remained  true  to  the  party 
until  it  went  out  of  existence.  He  married  Oct.  12,  1825,  Salitje  Meir  De  Puy, 
daughter  of  Lieut.  Ephraim  De  Puy,  son  of  Ephraim  (1),  son  of  Jacobus,  son 
of  Moses,  son  of  Nicholas. 

Nicholas  De  Puy,  the  ancestor,  married  Catharine  de  Vaux,  and  had  a  son 
Moses. 

Moses  De  Puy,  son  of  Nicholas,  was  born  in  1658.  He  was  one  of  the  nine 
petitioners  in  1703  for  grants  of  land  for  which  patent  was  issued,  June  25,  1703, 
in  that  part  of  Ulster  County,  N.  Y.,  now  known  as  Marbletown.  He  married  in 
1680,  Maria  Wyncoop  and  had  a  son  Jacobus. 

Jacobus  De  Puy,  son  of  Moses,  was  baptized  Sept.  19,  1703;  married  August 
25,  1725,  Sara  Schoonmaker.    He  died  Dec.  18,  1757.    They  had  issue  Ephraim. 

Ephraim  De  Puy  (1),  son  of  Jacobus,  was  baptized  Feb.  8,  1730.  He  mar- 
ried March  3,  1750,  Antje  Schoonmaker.    They  had  issue  Ephraim  (2). 

LIEUTENANT  EPHRAIM  DE  PUY,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution.  He 
served  as  First  Lieutenant,  Captain  Peter  Schoonmaker's  Company,  Ulster  Co., 
N.  Y.,  Associated  Exempts,  October  19.  1779.  Whether  he  rendered  additional 
service  to  this  is  not  known.  He  was  probably  a  son  or  grandson  of  John 
De  Puy,  a  Huguenot  refugee,  an  eminent  professor  of  surgery  and  medicine  for 
over  thirty  years,  who  educated  many  eminent  physicians  of  New  York.  The 
wife  of  Lieut.  De  Puy  was  Cornelia  Snyder,  daughter  of  Col.  Johannes  Snyder. 

COLONEL  JOHANNES  SNYDER,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was  a 
native  of  Ulster  County,  N.  Y.  He  was  active  in  all  the  early  movements  which 
led  to  the  separation  of  the  Colonies  from  Great  Britain.  He  was  Major  of 
First  Regiment,  Ulster  County,  N.  Y.,  Militia,  Oct.  25,  1775  ;Lieutenant-Colonel, 
Feb.  20,  1776;  Colonel,  May  1,  1776.  to  the  close  of  the  war.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Provincial  Congress,  177(1:  Member  of  New  York  Council  of  Safety. 
May  3,  1777;  Member  of  New  York  Assembly,  1777-9.  He  was  prominent  in 
the  county  and  a  man  of  great  personal  popularity.  He  was  probably  the  son  of 
Henry  Martin  Snyder,  who  came  from  German)-  in  March.  1726.  and  settled  in 
the  town  of  Saugerties.  Ulster  County.  N.  Y.  Soon  after  he  arrived  he  suc- 
ceeded, with  the  help  of  some  of  his  coutrymen  and  the  Dutch  settlers,  in  organ- 
izing a  church  society,  called  the  Kaatsban  church,  which  is  still  in  existence 
He  had  eleven  sons,  all  of  whom  served  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  except 
the  eldest,  who  remained  faithful  to  the  King,  and  in  consequence  was  obliged  to 
flee  the  country. 

The  children  of  Levi  and  Saltje  Mier  (De  Puy)  Elmendorf  were  Joachim, 
now  the  Rev.  J.  Elmendorf.  D.  D.,  of  the  Harlem  Collegiate  Church,  John 
Augustus,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  Elsie  Ann,  wife  of  Gen.  William  B.  Barton 


138 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 


Martin  Ephraim,  D.  D.  S. ;  William  Sinclair,  assayer  in  Colorado,  and  An- 
thony, who  was  a  captain  in  the  late  war  of  the  Rebellion,  serving  to  the  close, 
being  mustered  out  among  the  very  last  of  the  volunteers. 

JOHN  AUGUSTUS  ELMENDORF,  Member  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revo- 
lution, son  of  Levi  and  Saletje  Meier  (De  Puy)  Elmendorf,  was  born  at  Kings- 
ton, N.  Y.,  Sept.  ii,  1828.  His  boyhood  was  spent  in  Waterloo,  N.  Y.,  attending 
the  academy  there,  and  in  1847  came  to  New  York  City,  entering  his  mercantile 
life  in  a  wholesale  dry  goods  house  at  14  Wall  street  in  1853,  he  connected  him- 
self with  the  house  of  Smith  &  Stratton,  and  has  continued  in  the  same  through 
the  different  changes  of  firm  names  to  the  present  house  of  Edward  Smith  & 
Co.,  of  which  he  is  Vice-President.     Soon  after  he  came  to  New  York  he  made 


JOHN     AL"<;rSTl'S    ELMENDORF. 


his  residence  in  Brooklyn  and  was  a  member  of  the  old  First  Reformed  Dutch 
Church  for  many  years.  He  was  a  Lieutenant  in  the  Thirteenth  Regiment. 
N.  G.  S.  N.  Y.  In  1855  he  married  Frances  Catharine  (Richards)  Lathrop,  niece 
and  adopted  daughter  of  Dwight  Lathrop.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Catharine 
(Stebbins)  Richards,  a  grand-daughter  of  Gov.  Richard  Howley,  the  war  Gov- 
ernor of  Georgia  during  the  Revolutionary  War. 


SONS      OF     THE      REVOLUTION. 


139 


GOVERNOR  RICHARD  HOWLEY,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was  born 
in  Liberty  County,  Georgia,  about  1740.  He  was  liberally  educated  and  attained 
great  eminence  in  the  profession  of  the  law.  He  represented  bis  native  county  in 
the  State  Legislature,  and  was  a  delegate  from  Georgia  to  the  Continental  Con- 
gress. In  1780  he  was  elected  Governor  of  his  native  State.  When  the  State  was 
overrun  by  the  British  a  council  was  held  near  Augusta  at  which  Governor  How- 
ley,  bis  Secretary  of  State  and  several  Continental  officers  were  present.  After 
the  consideration  of  various  plans  they  determined  to  retreat  to  North  Carolina, 
and  narrowly  escaped  capture  on  the  way.  During  this  trying  period  the  gay  and 
joyous  temperament  of  Governor  Howley  sustained  the  spirits  of  the  fugitive 
Council  from  sinking  into  gloom  and  despondency.  Mrs.  Stebbins,  his  daughter, 
was  well  known  as  one  of  the  most  intelligent  and  amiable  ladies  in  Georgia. 

The  issue  of  the  marriage  of  John  Augustus  Elmendorf  and  Frances  Cath- 
arine Richards  was:  Dwight  Lathrop,  Grace  and  John  Barker. 

WEED.— CLOCK   AND    ALLIED    FAMILIES. 

The  name  of  Weed  is  a  contraction  of  Weedon,  and  this  name  appears  in  the 
English  records  of  a  very  early  date. 

Ralph  de  Weedon,  or  Ralph  of  Weed-on-Bes,  settled  in  Buckinghamshire, 
Eng.,  A.  D.  1307.  He  bore  Anns — Argent  two  bars  gules;  in  chief  three  man- 
tlets sable.  Crest — A  martlet  sable.  The  Nottingham  branch  of  the  family  bore 
Arms — Gules  on  a  chief  or,  three  quatrefoils  vert.  Crest — Out  of  a  ducal  coronet 
or,  a  flame  issuant  ppr. 

The  record  of  the  Weeds  family  in  the  Revolution  is  almost  without  a  par- 
allel, no  less  than  fifty-five  having  served  with  the  Connecticut  troops,  all  being 
descendants  of  the  Stamford  ancestor. 

Jonas  Weed  one  of  the  founders  of  the  town  of  Stamford,  Conn.,  is  said  to 
have  come  from  Stamford,  England.  He  was  first  at  Watertown,  Mass.,  in  1631. 
and  removed  thence  to  Withersfield,  Conn.,  and  became  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  Congregational  Church  in  that  town. 

The  History  of  Fairfield  County,  page  692,  states  that  "The  first  movement 
toward  the  settlement  of  the  town  (Stamford)  was  made  in  the  early  part  of  the 
year  1640  by  a  number  of  sturdy  pioneers  from  Wethersfield,  who  having  become 
dissatisfied  with  certain  rules  and  regulations  governing  that  parish,  desired  to 
seek  a  peaceful  retreat  elsewhere,  and  under  the  leadership  of  Rev.  Mr.  Daven- 
port of  honored  memory,  who  had  been  their  champion  in  their  dissensions  at 
Wethersfield,  resolved  to  locate  further  inland,  and  in  the  following  year,  leaving 
their  homes,  pursued  their  course  westward  and  settled  where  now  is  the  city  of 
Stamford,  then  in  the  New  Haven  jurisdiction." 

Huntington's  History  of  Stamford  states  that  "The  first  church  of  Stamford 
had  already  been  organized  in  Wethersfield.     Of  seven  men  who  constituted  the 


MO  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

Wethersfield  church  four  came  to  Stamford,  viz. :  Rev.  Richard  Denton,  Jonas 
Weed,  Robert  Coe  and  Andrew  Ward. 

It  thus  appears  that  Jonas  Weed  was  one  of  the  four  who  planted  the 
standard  of  the  Cross  in  the  town  of  Stamford.  He  died  there  in  1676,  after  a 
residence  of  thirty-five  years.  His  will,  dated  Fairfield,  Nov.  26,  1672,  refers  to 
his  wife  Mary,  and  his  children,  John,  Daniel,  Jonas,  Mary,  wife  of  George  Ab- 
bott, Dorcas,  wife  of  James  Wright,  Samuel,  Sarah,  Hannah.  Jonas  (1)  was 
propounded  for  freeman  Oct.   14,   1669. 

Lieut.  Daniel  Weed,  second  son  of  Jonas  Weed,  was  born  Feb.  if,  1669. 
He  held  many  public  positions  in  the  town  and  was  much  respected.  He  was 
deputy  to  the  General  Court  from  Stamford  Oct.  11,  1694,  Oct.  10,  1695,  and  May 
14,  1696.  On  Oct.  11,  1731,  he  was  commissioned  by  the  General  Court.  En- 
sign of  the  First  Company  or  train  band  in  the  town  of  Stamford,  and  com- 
missioned Lieutenant  of  the  same  Oct.  17,  1737.  He  was  one  of  the  committee  of 
three  appointed  to  treat  with  Rev.  John  Davenport  with  a  view  of  securing  his 
services  as  pastor  of  the  church  at  Stamford.  The  name  of  his  wife  is  not 
known.     He  had  a  son  Nathaniel. 

CAPTAIN  NATHANIEL  WEED,  son  of  Lieut.  Daniel  Weed,  was  born  in 
Stamford,  Conn.,  Oct.  22,  1696.  In  military  affairs  he  was  the  most  prominent 
man  in  the  town.  There  is  no  record  of  his  holding  any  subordinate  position 
previous  to  his  appointment  as  Captain.  At  a  regular  session,  Oct.  13,  1743, 
"This  Assembly  do  establish  and  confirm  Mr.  Nathaniel  Weed  to  be  Captain  of 
the  first  company  or  trainband  in  Stamford  and  order  that  he  be  commissioned 
accordingly."  He  represented  the  town  of  Stamford  at  the  General  Court,  Oct. 
8,  1747.     He  married  and  had  a  son  Nathan. 

NATHAN  WEED,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Captain  Nathaniel 
Weed,  died  Dec.  19,  1802,  was  born  in  Stamford,  Conn.,  Jan.  11,  1726.  He  re- 
ceived either  by  gift  or  inheritance  the  large  property  of  his  father,  and  erected 
what  in  these  days  was  a  very  pretentious  house,  in  1750.  This  is  still  in  a  good 
state  of  preservation  and  owned  by  his  descendants.  He  was  an  uncompromising 
patriot  and  a  bitter  enemy  of  the  secret  enemies  of  his  country,  who  were  among 
his  neighbors  and  former  friends.  Owing  to  feeble  health  he  was  unable  to  take 
the  field  for  active  service  in  the  Revolution,  but  he  held  himself  always  in  read- 
iness to  defend  his  native  town  against  the  frequent  incursions  of  the  British  and 
Tories.  His  name  is  found  in  the  roll  of  Minute  Men  commanded  by  Captain 
Eli  Reed,  and  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  he  gave  a  good  account  of  himself 
whenever  an  opportunity  occurred.  Owing  to  the  exposed  position  of  himself 
and  family,  he  was  compelled  to  abandon  his  home,  and  remove  farther  inland, 
where  he  was  still  liable  to  be  plundered  by  British  marauders,  or  carried  off 
prisoner,  his  sentiments  being  so  well  known  as  to  make  him  a  marked  man. 

He  married  Deborah  Clock,  born  1728,  daughter  of  John  Clock,  the  first  of 
the  name  appearing  on  the  Stamford  records.  [See  record  of  Clock  family,  fol- 
lowing that  of  Henry  L.  Weed.]     They  had  a  son  Nathan  (2). 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  141 

NATHAN  WEED  (2),  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Nathan  (1)  and 
Deborah  (Clock)  Weed,  was  born  in  Stamford,  Conn.,  Sept.  17,  1760.  Owing 
to  the  ill  health  of  the  father  he  was  compelled  at  a  very  early  age  to  become 
the  principal  stay  of  the  family,  consisting  of  father,  mother  and  elder  sister. 
When  he  reached  the  age  of  fifteen  the  battles  of  Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill  had 
been  fought,  and  he  was  eager  to  take  his  place  in  the  ranks  of  the  patriots,  but 
duty  to  his  parents  compelled  him  to  stay  at  home;  but  he  was  ever  alert  and 
ever  ready  to  act  when  necessity  required,  and  the  old  flint  lock  was  kept  in  read- 
iness for  immediate  use.  He  was  incapacitated  for  active  service  by  reason  of 
disease  brought  on  through  hardship  and  suffering,  and  while  never  regularly  en- 
rolled, he  enlisted  as  a  member  of  the  "Coast  Guard,"  winch  frequently  met  the 
small  bands  of  British  and  Tories  who  on  dark  nights  crossed  the  sound  from 
Long  Island  to  rob  and  plunder  their  old  neighbors  and  companions.  On  one 
occasion  he,  in  company  with  another  member  of  the  Guard,  narrowly  escaped 
capture,  and  was  saved  only  by  the  extreme  darkness,  which  enabled  them  to 
evade  their  pursuers.  By  wading  through  a  creek  with  water  up  to  their  necks, 
they  reached  the  quarters  of  the  Guard,  already  aroused  by  the  firing,  and  with 
them  gave  chase  to  the  plunderers,  and  nearly  overtaking  them  compelled  them  to 
abandon  the  spoil  only  too  glad  to  escape  to  their  boats.  On  another  occasion, 
while  attending  divine  worship,  the  church  (now  in  Darien)  was  surrounded  by 
the  British  and  all  the  inmates — including  the  pastor,  Rev.  Moses  Mather— ex- 
cept himself  ami  two  others  were  captured  and  sent  as  prisoners  to  Xew  York. 
Young  Weed  succeeded  in  making  his  escape  through  a  window  with  his  two 
companions.  They  were  met  outside  by  a  noted  Tory  who  fired  on  them,  wound- 
ing one  of  the  party.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  returned  to  the  old  home- 
stead farm,  which  he  worked  with  profit  and  acquired  a  fair  competence.  He 
subsequently  took  part  in  the  War  of  1812-15.  He  was  honored  by  his  fellow- 
citizens  with  important  public  trusts,  being  several  times  elected  to  the  Legis- 
lature from  his  native  town,  and  served  as  magistrate  for  a  long  series  of  years. 
He  was  a  deacon  in  the  church,  an  exemplary  Christian,  dignified,  courteous  and 
kind  in  his  demeanor,  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him.  He  married  Mary  Scho- 
field  (born  Oct.  28,  1764,  died  Aug.  1,  1842),  daughter  of  Joseph  Schofield,  one 
of  the  early  settlers  and  prominent  citizens  of  Stamford. 

JOSEPH  SCOFIELD,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  father  of  Mary 
(Weed)  Scofield,  was  private  in  Captain  Joseph  Hoit's  Company  from  Stam- 
ford, who  marched  "for  the  Relief  of  Boston  in  the  Lexington  Alarm,"  April, 
1775.  He  re-enlisted  July  10,  1776,  in  Fourth  Connecticut  Company,  Captain 
Joseph  Hart,  and  was  made  Corporal.  This  formed  a  part  of  the  Seventh  Con- 
necticut Regiment,  commanded  by  Col.  Chas.  Webb  of  Stamford  and  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Long  Island,  in  which  it  participated,  it  was  attached  to  McDougall's 
Brigade.  The  latter  commanded  the  retreat  from  Long  Island.  This  regiment 
took  part  in  the  subsequent  operations  at  Kip's  Bay  and  the  retreat  to  Harlem. 
Referring  to  Col.  Webb's  regiment  at  the  battle  of  White  Plains.  Johnston  says. 
"The  troops  formed  along  the  brow  of  the  hill,  and  stood  waiting  for  the  enemy." 


142  SONS     OP     THE     REVOLUTION. 

The  regiment  also  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Trenton.  Young  Scofield  afterwards 
enlisted  in  the  "Connecticut  Line"  of  the  Continental  Army  from  August  20, 
1779,  serving  till  Jan.  25,  1780. 

Nathan  Weed,  by  his  wife  Mary  (Scofield;  Weed  (daughter  of  Joseph  Sco- 
field), had  issue: 

Debe,  born  March  27,  1788,  died  Nov.  1865;  married  John  Bell. 

Mary,  born  May  13,  1790,  died  Oct.  io,  1798. 

Anne,  born  Dec.  8,  1791,  died  April,  1833;  married  Samuel  Richards;  no 
issue. 

Nathaniel,  born  July  23,  1794,  died  Oct.  12,  1798. 

Eveline,  born  Feb.  29,  1796,  died  Aug.  13,  1817. 

Joseph,  born  Nov.  5,  1798,  died  Nov.  14,  1798. 

Mary,  born  Nov.  21,  1799,  died  Dec.  7,  1866;  married,  first,  Alvah  Weed, 
son  of  Benjamin  Weed;  married,  second,  Hezekiah  Weed;  no  issue. 

Joseph,  born  Dec.  20,  1801,  died  March  9,  1888;  married,  first,  Louisa, 
daughter  of  Benjamin  Weed,  died  1834;  married,  second,  Jane,  daughter  of  Wil- 
liam Tweedy,  died  Dec,   1895. 

William  Franklin,  born  June  3,  181 1,  died  in  1889;  he  married  Sarah  Claflin, 
and  had  issue:    Dexter  Clailin,  Nathan  Henry  and  Mary  Adelaide. 

Joseph  Weed  son  of  Nathan  and  Mary  (Scofield)  Weed,  was  born  in  Stam- 
ford, Conn.,  Dec.  14,  1801 ;  died  March  9,  1888.  He  came  to  New  York  City  in 
1820  and  engaged  in  the  hardware  business,  which  he  carried  on  successfully  for 
a  number  of  years.  He  was  a  prominent  figure  in  New  York  politics,  where  he 
was  identified  with  the  Whig  party  and  a  firm  adherent  and  supporter  of  Henry 
Clay  for  the  Presidency.  He  served  as  Alderman  and  Deputy  Sheriff  of  New 
York.  He  went  with  the  forty-niners  to  California,  and  in  1850  was  appointed 
Collector  of  Assessments  for  San  Francisco,  and  afterwards  elected  magistrate, 
a  position  which  he  held  for  two  terms.  He  was  an  ardent  advocate  of  temper- 
ance, being  among  the  lirst  to  adopt  the  old  Washingtonian  system.  He  held  a 
leading  position  in  the  Sons  of  Temperance,  and  was  instrumental  in  building  up 
and  extending  the  influence  of  this  Order,  which  formed  the  nucleus  of  the 
various  temperance  societies  which  have  since  been  organized.  He  was  a  true 
patriot  and  took  a  special  pride  in  his  Revolutionary  ancestors.  He  wrote  a  brief 
history  of  his  immediate  branch  of  the  Weed  family  of  Stamford,  entitled, 
"Recollections  of  a  Good  Man,  Nathan  Weed,"  containing  many  interesting  facts 
and  reminiscences  of  his  father's  life.  He  died  in  San  Francisco  March  9,  1888, 
respected  and  honored  by  his  old  companions  and  friends  of  "49."  He  married, 
first,  Louisa,  daughter  of  Benjamin  Weed.     She  died  1834.    Theyhad  issue: 

Joseph  Henry,  born  Sept.  11,  1826,  died  Sept.,  1888;  married  Belinda  Web- 
ster and  had  four  daughters  and  one  son. 

Nathan,  born  July  30,  1828,  married  Elizabeth  L.  Dorian  1850  and  had  three 
sons  and  one  daughter. 

Louisa,  born  Sept.  21,  1830,  married  William  H.  Love.  1856;  had  two  daught- 
ers and  three  sons. 


SUNS     OF     1"HK     REVOLUTION.  143 

Alvah,  born  Feb.  18,  1830,  died  Dec.  27,  1838.. 
Joseph  Weed,  by  his  second  wife,  Jane  Tweedy,  had  issue: 
Samuel  Richards,  born  Feb.  9,  1837,  married  Ellen  S.  Jones,  Oct.  n,  1859. 
Arthur  {1),  born  August  23,  1838,  died  June  ij,  1839. 

Beatrice,  born  June  5,   1840,  died  August,  1804;  married   Woodbury  Kmgin 
(who  died  1888J  ;  had  one  son,  Charles  Knight,  died  1894. 
Arthur  (2),  born  Jan.  11,  1842,  died  Feb.  6,  1842. 
Mary   (1;,  born  Feb.  25,  1843,  died  June  24,  1848. 
Fdgar,  born  March  29,  1845,  died  Oct.  18,  1845. 
Edwin,  born  April  4,  1847,  died  June  18,  1848. 
Mary  Jane,  born  March  30,  1849,  died  June  3,  1858. 
Jesse  Gordon,  born  March  9,  1852;  married  Jacob  Wheeler. 
Annie  Tweedy,  born  Feb.  1,  1858,  died  Dec.  17,  1891. 

SAMUEL  RICHARDS  WEED,  New  York  Society  Sons  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, son  of  Joseph  and  Jane  (Tweedy)  Weed,  was  born  in  New  York  City  Feb. 
9,  1837.  He  was  educated  in  his  native  city,  where  he  afterwards  began  the 
study  of  law.  He  joined  his  father  in  San  Francisco  in  1851,  where  he  continued 
his  legal  studies,  and  held  the  office  of  Sergeant-at-Arms  in  the  City  Council. 
He  went  to  St.  Louis  in  1859  and  there  organized  the  news  bureaus  for  overland 
mail  service  for  a  syndicate  of  San  Francisco  journals.  He  was  interested  in 
Sanitary  Commission  work  during  the  war,  and  also  served  as  City  and  County 
Bounty  Commissioner. 

He  engaged  in  the  fire  insurance  business  in  1864  and  was  general  and  special 
agent  in  the  West  for  some  years,  doing  a  large  and  profitable  business.  He  re- 
turned to  New  York  in  1875,  and  continued  for  a  time  as  local  agent  and  man- 
ager, and  became  Vice  President  of  the  late  Liberty  Insurance  Company  of  New 
York  in  1887.  In  1877  he  became  associated  with  Elijah  R.  Kennedy,  under  the 
firm  name  of  Weed  &  Kennedy,  who  are  now  United  States  managers  for  the 
Alliance,  Helvetia,  Baloise,  Netherlands  and  Svea  insurance  companies,  and 
Eastern  managers  for  the  Aachen  and  Munich  insurance  companies. 

Mr.  Weed  has  been  for  some  years  a  resident  of  Norwalk,  Conn.,  near  the 
home  of  his  ancestors,  where  he  is  well  known  in  social  circles.  He  is  a  member 
of  several  organizations,  and  in  his  religious  associations  is  identified  with  the 
Central  Congregational  Church  of  Brooklyn. 

He  married  Oct.  11,  1859,  Ellen  S.  Jones  of  New  York  City,  daughter  of 
David  W.  Jones  and  Mary  Cabot  Newell  of  Boston.  He  was  the  son  of  Charles 
Henry,  son  of  David  Jones  and  Eunice  Davis.  She  was  the  daughter  of  James 
Davis  and  Thankful  Hinckley,  daughter  of  Joseph  Hinckley  and  Mary  Gorham; 
the  latter  was  the  daughter  of  Col.  John  Gorham,  son  of  Capt  John  Gorham,  who 
married  Desire  Howland,  daughter  of  John  Howland,  thirteenth  signer  of  the 
Mayflower  Compact,  of  whom  Bradford,  in  his  journel,  says: 

"In  a  mighty  storm  John  Howland,  a  passenger,  a  stout  young  man  by  a 
keel  of  ye  ship  was  thrown  overboard  into  ye  sea.  But  it  pleased  God.  He 
caught  hold  of  ye  Topsail  Halliards  we  hung  overboard  and  run  out  ye  length. 


T44 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 


yet  He  kept  his  hold  several  fathoms  under  water,  till  He  was  drawn  up  by  ye 
Rope  to  ye  surface,  and  by  a  Boat  Hook  and  other  means  got  into  ye  ship ;  and 
tho'  somew't  ill  upon  it,  lived  many  years,  and  became  a  useful  member  both  in 
church  and  Commonwealth."     Pie  was  one  of  the  leading  men   in  the  colony, 


SAMUEL  RICHARDS   WEED. 

both  in  civil  and  religious  matters.     He  married  Elizabeth,  daughter     of    John 
Tilley,  sixteenth  signer  of  the  Mayflower  Compact. 

Samuel  R.  Weed  by  his  first  wife,  Ellen  (Jones)  Weed,  had  issue;  Walter 
Harvey,  born  May  i,  1862,  married  1896,  Helena  C.  Hill,  daughter  of  Hon  E.  J. 
Hill,  M.  C,  Norwalk,  Conn.;  Nathan  Herbert,  born  Aug.  1,  1868,  married,  1891, 
Frances  Walker,  daughter  of  Joseph  Walker,  a  member  of  the  Military  Order  of 
the  Loyal  Legion,  U.  S. ;  Edward  Franklin,  born  June  20,  1870,  married  Louisa 
C.  Collier,  1894;  all  living. 

WEED.— WATERBURY.— CLOCK. 


The  early  history  of  the  Weed  family,  given  under  the  head  of  "Weed  and 
Allied  Families,"  refers  to  the  line  of  Daniel  and  Jonas  (2),  sons  of  the  first 
Jonas. 

Jonas  Weed  (2)  was  the  third  son  of  the  first  Jonas.  He  was  born  probably 
in  Stamford,  Conn.,  about  1646  or  '48.     Of  his  early  life  no  record  appears.     He 


SONS      OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  I45 

no  doubt  shared  a  portion  of  his  father's  estate,  and  cultivated  the  land  for  a 
living.  He  married,  Nov.  6,  1670,  Bethia  Holly,  daughter  of  John  Holly,  a  fellow- 
townsman. 

John  Holly,  of  Stamford,  was  an  early  settler  of  the  town  and  was  employed 
almost  constantly  in  the  affairs  of  the  town  or  colony.  In  1647  he  was  appointed 
marshal  of  the  settlement,  an  office  requiring  great  intelligence  and  business 
tact.  Later  he  was  made  collector  of  customs  and  excise,  which  office  he  dis- 
charged with  great  satisfaction  to  the  General  Court  from  which  he  received  the 
appointment.  He  represented  the  town  at  the  General  Court,  and  was  frequently 
one  of  the  selectmen  of  the  town.  He  was  often  appointed  on  important  commis- 
sions, both  by  the  town  and  by  the  General  Court.  He  came  of  a  distinguished 
family  in  England,  one  of  whom,  Dr.  Luther  Holly,  was  born  in  St.  Leonard's 
parish,  Shordith,  London,  Oct.  29,   1556. 

Jonas  Weed  (2),  by  his  wife  Bethia  (Holly)   Weed,  had  a  son  Jonas  (3). 

Jonas  Weed  (3),  son  of  Jonas  (2)  and  Bethia  (Holly)  Weed,  was  born 
July  26,  1678.  He  lived  at  Noroton  Corners.  He  married  Jan.  20,  1703,  Sarah, 
daughter  of  Jonathan  Waterbury,  son  of  John,  the  ancestor.  They  had  issue : 
Elanthan,  born  1705;  died  1706;  David,  1707;  Charles,  born  1710;  Epenetus 
born  Sept.  20,  1712;  Silvanus,  1713;  Gideon,  1716;  Sarah,  1718;  Thankful,  1719; 
Hezekiah,  1722.     Sarah,  his  wife,  died  Feb.  5,  1726. 

Epenetus  Weed,  son  of  Jonas  (3)  and  Sarah  (Waterbury)  Weed,  was  born 
Sept.  20,  1712.  He  married  Dec.  25.  1735,  Abigail  Waterbury,  who  died  Dec.  30, 
1736;  her  child  died  in  infancy.  He  married  2d,  Mary  Belding,  June  I,  1738,  and 
had  Epenetus,  1739;  Benjamin,  June  18,  1741,  died  in  the  army  at  Lake  George, 
Sept.  6,  175S;  Justus,  1743;  Mary,  born  Feb.  19,  1745,  died  soon;  Mary,  again 
March  14,  1748;  Abigail,  Aug.  16,  1749,  died  soon;  Abigail,  again  Nov.  20,  1757; 
Sarah,  1754.  Mary,  wife  of  Epenetus.  died  April  18,  1756,  and  he  married  3d, 
Sarah,  daughter  of  David  and  Eunice  (Scofield)  Slauson,  Feb.  22,  1758,  and  had 
Benjamin,  born  Dec.  18.  1758;  John,  born  Aug.  26,  1760;  Prudence,  horn  March 
4.  I7.63- 

BENJAMIN  WEED  (3),  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Epenetus  (2) 
and  Sarah  (Slauson)  Weed,  was  born  Dec.  18,  1758.  There  were  three  Benjamin 
Weeds  enlisted  from  Stamford  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution.  This  one  is  known 
as  "Benjamin  3d."  He  enlisted  in  Capt.  Whitney's  Company,  Ninth  Regiment, 
Conn.  Militia.  The  elder  Benjamin  Weed,  known  as  "Sergeant,"  was  sergeant  01 
this  company.  "Connecticut  Men  in  the  Revolution"  states  that:  "After  the 
battle  of  White  Plains.  Oct.  28,  '76,  the  Assembly  ordered  the  9th,  10th,  13th  and 
1 6th  militia  regiments  to  march  to  the  Westchester  border  and  place  themselves 
under  Gen.  Wooster's  command.  Later  the  State  Regiments  under  Col.  Enos 
Whiting  relieved  them.  The  9th  regiment  had  but  lately  returned  from  New 
York." 

Although  this  is  the  only  official  record  given,  there  is  no  doubt  but  that 
Benjamin  3d  served  through  the  war  and  took  part  in  the  affair  at  Ridgelield, 
Sergeant  Benjamin  being  wounded  on  that  occasion.  Huntington's  Stamford, 
oage  256,  refers  to  a  "petition  signed  June  3,  1782,  which  states  that  'since  the 


1 4fJ  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

capture  of  Cornwallis  and  his  army,  many  unprincipled  wretches  from  us  who  had 
with  arms  joined  the  common  enemy'  had  returned  home,  and  thai,  a  number 
of  them  belonged  to  the  most  infamous  banditte  called  Delanccy's  corps.'"  Among 
the  signers  cf  this  petition  was  Benjamui  Weed  3d. 

He  married  Dec.  19,  1784,  Mary  Waterbury,  daughter  of  John  Water-bury, 
Jr.,  son  of  John,  Sr.,  son  of  John  (1). 

John  Waterbury  (1),  the  ancestor,  settled  in  Stamford  soon  after  the  settle- 
ment began,  and  had  land  recorded  to  him  in  1650.  He  was  a  representative  to 
the  General  Court  in  1657  and  died  in  1658.  His  inventory  amounted  to  £  185, 
12s.    His  sons  were  John  (2),  Jonathan,  David,  and  perhaps  others. 

John  Waterbury  (2),  son  of  John  (1),  was  born  about  1685.  He  married 
Dec.  4,  1710,  Susanna  Newkirk,  and  had  issue:  Ann,  born  April  1,  1712;  Sarah, 
1720;  Susanna,  1714;  John  born  Dec.  21,  1718;  David  (Genl.  Waterbury),  born 
Feb.  12,  1722;  Peter,  Nov.  8,  1726;  Epenetus,  Sept.  24,  1735. 

JOHN  WATERBURY  (3),  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  John  (2) 
and  Susanna  (Newkirk)  Waterbury,  brother  of  Gen.  David  Waterbury,  was  born 
Dec.  21,  1718,  died  Nov.  28,  1788.  He  was  the  elder  brother  of  Gen.  David  Water- 
bury, all  of  the  younger  brothers,  David,  Peter  and  Epenetus,  having  enlisted 
in  the  patriot  army.  There  were  four  John  Waterburys  in  the  army,  known 
as  John,  John,  Jr.,  John  (2)  and  John  (5).  This  one  is  designated 
in  the  family  record,  and  was  generally 'known  as  "John,  Jr."  He  was  58  years 
of  age  at  the  beginning  of  hostilities,  but  during  the  Danbury  raid,  April  25-28, 
l777,  he  shouldered  his  musket  and  marched  by  the  side  of  the  younger  men.  He 
lived  to  witness  the  deliverance  of  his  country  from  the  yoke  of  Great  Britain. 
He  married,  Feb.  1,  1750,  Mary  Slason,  born  Aug.  12,  1724,  daughter  of  John 
Slason,  Jr,  and  Rebecca,  his  wife,  son  of  John  Slason,  Sr.,  who  died  Oct.  16, 
1706.  John  and  Mary  (Slason)  Waterbury  had  issue:  Rachel,  born  1750;  John, 
1752;  David,  1755;  Mary,  born  June  6,  1758,  married  Benjamin  Weed;  Peter, 
1760;  Epenetus,  1762;  Isaac,  1764;  Elizabeth,  1768.  (Epenetus  and  David  both 
died  in  Canada  during  the  war.) 

Mary  Waterbury,  daughter  of  John  3d  and  Mary  (Slason)  Waterbury,  and 
niece  of  General  David  Waterbury,  was  born  June  6,  1758. 

Benjamin  Weed  3d,  by  his  wife  Alary  (Waterbury)  Weed,  had  Isaac  and 
Rebecca  (twins)  born  1797;  Alvah,  born  1799;  Louisa,  1804;  Mary,  born  Oct.  7, 
1785;  Sarah,  born  1787;  Nancy,  born  1790;  John,  born  1792:  James  Harvey,  born 
\jgj\Rufus,  born  March  7,  1802. 

The  old  homestead  at  Noroton,  built  by  Epenetus,  the  father  of  Benjamin, 
in  1740,  is  still  standing,  one  of  the  oldest  houses  in  the  town  of  Stamford. 

Rufus  Weed,  youngest  son  of  Benjamin  and  Mary  (Waterbury)  Weed,  was 
born  in  Stamford,  Conn..  March  7.  1802.  Imbued  with  the  same  spirit  of  patri- 
otism that  animated  his  father  and  grandfather,  but  with  no  opportunities  for 
exercise,  he  led  a  quiet,  uneventful  life,  working  and  improving  the  homestead 
farm,  but  with  no  ambition  or  inclination  to  participate  in  its  local  affairs.  He 
was  enabled  to  give  his  children  better  advantages  than  he  had  enjoyed  and  was 
proud  of  their  success  in  life.     He  inherited  the  strong  predominating  virtues  of 


SONS      Of      THE      REVOLUTION.  I47 

his  ancestors,  and  these  have  been  further  developed  in  his  descendants,  lie  lived 
to  a  ripe  old  age  in  the  community  where  he  was  so  well  and  favorably  known. 
He  married  Phebe,  daughter  of  John  Clock,  son  of  John,  son  of  John  Clock,  the 
ancestor. 

The  earliest  record  of  the  Clock  family  in  this  country  is  that  of  Peter  Clock, 
who  bought  of  Sellout  Classen,  Aug.  16,  1649,  "a  lot  on  the  highway  near  the 
garden  of  John  Damen  on  the  island  of  Manhattan."  This  is  an  old  Holland 
name,  the  original  spelling  of  which  was  Klock.  The)'  belonged  to  a  distinguished 
family  of  Holland. 

Abraham  Martensen  Clock,  probably  a  brother  or  son  of  Peter,  was  one  of 
the  early  proprietors  of  Xew  Amsterdam.  Vol  VI,  page  72,  of  the  Dutch  Manu- 
scripts at  Albany  show  that  on  Aug.  11.  1655,  there  was  issued  an  "Order  grant- 
ing Abraham  Martensen  Clock,  miller,  a  building  lot  on  Manhattan  Island."  He 
soon  acquired  further  property,  as  there  appears  in  vol.  VIII,  pp.  310,  of  the 
records  a  "Petition  of  Abraham  Martense  Clock  for  the  grant  of  a  piece  of  land 
in  front  of  his  house  across  the  Here  weigh  (highway).  New  Amsterdam." 

The  name  of  Abraham  Clock  appears  on  an  old  map  of  New  Amsterdam, 
the  location  being  Hanover  Scpiare,  the  tradition  being  that  this  name  \vas  given 
to  it  by  the  family. 

Cornells  Clock  was  one  of  the  early  surgeons  of  New  Amsterdam.  There 
is  recorded  on  the  Council  of  Minutes,  Oct.  24,  1656,  a  ''Bill  of  Cornelis  Clock 
for  bleeding,  purging,  etc..  divers  sick  soldiers  on  board  the  Gilded  Otter  with 
request  for  payment." 

Pilgrim  Clock,  Oct.  31,  1656,  was  one  of  the  notaries  of  New  Amsterdam. 
Mis  name  appears  among  the  list  of  "Great  and  Small  Burghers"  of  New  Am- 
sterdam, April  18,  1657;  also  that  of  Abraham  Clock. 

The  records  of  the  old  Dutch  Church,  New  York— May  6,  1682— contain  a 
notice  of  the  marriage  of  Martin  Ahrahamszen  Clock  to  Lysbeth  Abrahams  Van- 
derheul,  and  on  page  57,  that  of  Albert  Clock  to  Tryntje  Abrahms,  1685. 

The  tradition  is  that  two  or  three  of  the  brothers  returned  to  Holland  and 
the  others  remained  here. 

John  Clock,  the  first  of  whose  name  appears  on  the  Stamford  records,  was 
probably  a  son  of  Albert  Clock  and  Tryntje  Abrahams.  This  conjecture  is  sup- 
ported by  the  fact  that  his  oldest  son  was  named  Albert.  John  Clock  was  ad- 
mitted an  inhabitant  of  Stamford,  Conn.,  by  vote,  1725.  He  died  May  15.  1746. 
He  married  March  21,  1725.  Deborah  Scofield,  and  had  issue:  Catharine,  born 
1725;  Deborah  (married  Nathan  Weed).  Albert,  John.  Martin.  Abraham.  Sarah. 
Jacob,  Peter.  Jonathan. 

Albert  Clock,  son  of  John  and  Deborah  (Scofield)  Clock,  was  born  May  19. 
1729.  He  married  Aug.  29.  1750.  Comfort  Clark,  and  had  Nathaniel,  born  April 
T3.  I75i:  John,  Nov.  22,  1753;  Phebe,  born  March  24.  1750. 

JOHN  CLOCK,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  John  and  Comfort 
(Clark)  Clock,  was  born  Nov.  22,  1753.  During  the  War  of  the  Revolution  he 
was  a  private  in  Capt.  Bell's  company,  Ninth  Regiment,  Conn.  Militia,  which 
"marched  to  the  Westchester  border,  and  were  there  placed  under  Gen.  Wooster's 


i48 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 


Command."  He  married  Sarah  Fancher,  born  Sept.  24,  1767,  daughter  of  David 
Fancher  and  Mary  Holmes,  son  of  John  Fancher  and  Emma  Bouton.  Their 
children  were:  Martha,  born  1790;  Abram,  1793;  Hannah,  1797;  Debby,  1799; 
David,  Oct.  24,  1801 ;  Phebe,  born  about  1803 ;  was  married  to  Rufus  Weed. 

Rufus  Weed,  by  his  wife,  Phebe  (Clock)  Weed,  had  issue:  Henry  Frank 
Weed. 

HENRY  FRANK  WEED,  New  York  State  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revo- 
lution, son  of  Rufus  and  Phebe  (Clock)  Weed,  was  born  at  Darien,  Conn. 
He  enjoyed  good  educational  advantages  to  fit  him  for  a  business  life,  and  came 
to  New  York  City  in  1859,  at  a  time  the  dry  goods  business  was  conducted  largely 
by  New  England  men,  this  being  the  centre  of  trade  for  the  whole  United  States. 
Mr.  Weed  obtained  a  position  in  one  of  the  dry  goods  houses,  continuing  until 
1864,  when  he  joined  his  brother  John  in  the  present  firm  of  Weed  &  Brother. 
Through  the  several  financial  crises  and  the  division  of  the  dry  goods  trade  with 
the  great  West,  he  has  continued  to  do  a  successful  business,  and  is  among  the 


HENRY   F.    WEED. 


very  few  left  of  the  old  New  York  merchants.  He  married  Adeline  W.,  daughter 
of  James  W.  Stanton,  seventh  in  descent  from  Thomas  Stanton,  who  came  from 
England  in  1635,  and  settled  in  Hartford,  Conn.  In  1650  he  established  a  trading 
house  at  the  present  location  of  Stonington.     He  was  an  extensive  landholder ; 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  I41J 

was  commissioner  to  try  civil  and  criminal  cases ;  deputy  to  the  General  Court, 
1666-75  5  special  Indian  interpreter  for  Connecticut  Colony,  and  appointed  Indian 
interpreter  general  of  New  England.  By  his  wife  Ann,  daughter  of  Dr.  Thomas 
Lord,  he  had  two  children. 

Henry  Frank  Weed  and  Adeline  W.  Stanton,  his  wife,  had  issue :  Walton  F., 
Florence  L.  and  Louise  S. 

ROBBINS.— WOLCOTT.— AMES.— GOODSPEED. 

John  Robbins,  the  progenitor  of  the  Connecticut  branch  of  the  family,  was 
an  original  settler  of  Wethersfield,  Conn.,  in  1638.  He  was  a  representative  to 
the  General  Court  in  i656-'57-'5Q.  He  died  June  27,  1660.  By  his  wife  Mercy 
he  had  Mary,  Hannah,  Comfort,  John  (2). 

Capt.  John  Robbins  (2),  son  of  John  and  Mercy  Robbins,  was  born  April 
29,  1649.  He  resided  at  Lyme,  Conn.,  for  a  time,  where  he  was  made  freeman, 
1671.  He  married  Mary  Dennison,  of  Roxbury,  Mass.,  daughter  of  Edward  Den- 
nison,  whose  brother  Daniel  married  Patience,  daughter  of  Gov.  Thomas  Dudley, 
of  Mass.  Edward  Dennison  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Joseph  Weld,  who 
was  made  a  freeman.  1636,  representative  to  General  Court,  1637,  and  was  for 
some  years  Captain  of  militia  or  Train  Band,  the  highest  military  office  in  the 
colony  at  the  time.     He  was  of  good  estate  and  high  repute. 

John  Robbins  (2),  by  his  wife,  Mary  Dennison,  had  a  son  Richard. 

Richard  Robbins,  son  of  John  (2)  and  Mary  (Dennison)  Robbins,  was  born 
June  8,  1687.  He  married  June  11,  17 11.  Martha  Curtis  (born  Jan  17,  1691), 
daughter  of  John  (2),  son  of  Sergeant  John,  son  of  Thomas  Curtis,  one  of  the 
early  settlers  of  Wethersfield.  Richard  Robbins,  by  his  wife  Mary  (Curtis)  Rob- 
bins, had  issue:    John  (3). 

John  Robbins  (3),  son  of  Richard  and  Martha  (Curtis)  Robbins,  was  bom 
Jan.  1,  1716.  He  was  a  magistrate,  and  represented  Wethersfield  in  the  General 
Assembly.  He  married  1st,  Martha,  daughter  of  Capt.  Jacob  Williams,  born  7th 
March,  1665,  son  of  Thomas  Williams,  an  early  settler  of  Wethersfield.  He  mar- 
ried 2d,  Sarah  Wright,  a  widow,  whose  maiden  name  was  Boardman.  By  his  first 
wife  he  had  eleven  children,  of  whom  Frederick  was  the  ninfh. 

SERGT.  FREDERICK  ROBBINS,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  John 
(2)  and  Martha  (Williams)  Robbins,  was  born  at  Wethersfield,  Conn.,  Sept.  12, 
1756.  He  enlisted  in  Capt.  (afterward  Colonel)  John  Chester's  Ninth  Company, 
jd  Reg.,  Conn.  Line,  and  was  appointed  Orderly  Sergeant.  He  was  stationed  at 
Roxbury,  and  served  during  the  siege  until  the  close  of  his  term  of  service  in 
1775.  Hollister's  History  of  Connecticut  refers  to  this  (Ninth)  Company  as 
the  "elite  of  the  American  Army,"  being  selected  as  escort  to  Gens.  Putnam 
and  Warner,  to  meet  the  British  officers  for  the  exchange  of  prisoners  after  the 
battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  in  which  young  Robbins  took  part. 

He  re-enlisted  in  June,  1776,  and  took  part  in  the  battles  of  Long 
Island  and  White  Plains.  Sergt.  Robbins  continued  with  the  army  in  the  retreat 
through  New  Jersey,  and  remained  until  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  enlistment, 


15°  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

Dec.  25,  1776.  He  afterward  assisted  in  fitting  out  a  privateer,  which  he  placed 
in  command  of  Capt.  Jabez  Riley,  with  the  intention  of  preying  on  the  commerce 
of  Great  Britain.  They  started  from  New  London,  but  being  caught  in  a  heavy 
fog,  were  captured  by  a  British  frigate,  and  sent  on  board  the  Jersey  Prison  Ship. 
He  was  permitted  to  take  with  him  his  chest  of  clothing,  which  contained  a  good 
supply  of  bread,  and  this  kept  him  in  food  for  some  days.  He  describes  the  stench 
and  filth  as  almost  unbearable,  and  the  sufferings  of  him  and  his  comrades  were 
very  great.  He  remained  in  confinement  for  some  months,  and  was  finally  ex- 
changed. He  returned  home  a  mere  wreck  of  his  former  self.  After  recovering 
his  health,  he  resumed  work  on  his  farm.  He  had  a  large  estate  which  he  re- 
ceived from  his  father.  He  married  Mehetable  Wolcott,  daughter  of  Elisha  Wol- 
cott,  son  of  Samuel  (2),  son  of  Samuel  (1),  son  of  Henry  Wolcott,  the  ancestor. 

Henry  Wolcott.  the  first  of  the  family  in  this  country,  was  the  son  of  John 
Wolcott.  of  Tolland,  in  Somersetshire,  Eng.  He  settled  first  in  Boston,  where  he 
was  made  a  freeman,  April  1,  1634.  He  moved  to  Windsor,  Conn.,  in  1636,  where 
he  married,  Nov.  18.  1641.  Sarah,  daughter  of  Thomas  Newbury,  of  Dorchester. 
Ik-  was  one  of  the  nineteen  persons  named  in  the  Charter  of  Connecticut.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Deputies.  1660,  and  of  the  House  of  Magistrates, 
1662.  Henry  Wolcott,  by  his  wife  Sarah  (Newbury)  Wolcott,  had  among  other 
children  a  son  Samuel. 

Samuel  Wolcott.  seventh  child  of  Henry  and  Sarah  (Newbury)  Wolcott, 
was  born  April  16.  1656.  He  was  a  merchant  of  Windsor,  Conn.,  was  a  deputy  to 
the  General  Court  in  1685.  He  died  June  14,  1695.  He  married  Judith,  daughter 
of  Samuel  Appleton  (2),  son  of  Samuel  Appleton  (1). 

Samuel  Appleton  (  1  )  was  born  at  Little  Waldenfield,  Co.  Suffolk.  Eng.,  1586. 
He  was  a  friend  and  neighbor  of  Gov.  Winthrop.  He  came  to  this  country  in 
1635,  and  was  made  a  freeman,  May  25.  1(136:  was  a  representative  at  the  General 
Court  for  some  years.     By  his  wife,  Mary  Everard,  he  had  Samuel  (2). 

Samuel  Appleton  (2),  son  of  Samuel  (1)  and  Mary  (Everard)  Appleton, 
was  born  in  England,  and  came  with  his  parents  to  this  country.  He  was  a 
representative  to  the  General  Court  and  most  Worshipful  Judge.  He  was  in 
command  of  500  men  in  the  great  battle  against  the  Narragansetts,  Dec.  9,  1675. 
By  his  skill  and  bravery  he  contributed  much  to  the  victory.  His  daughter  Judith 
became  the  wife  of  Samuel  Wolcott. 

Samuel  Wolcott,  by  his  wife  Judith  (Appleton)  Wolcott,  had  a  son  Samuel. 

Samuel  Wolcott  (2),  son  of  Samuel  (1)  and  Judith  (Appleton)  Wolcott. 
was  born  April  11.  1679;  he  married  Dec.  27,  1705,  Abigail,  daughter  of  Rev. 
Nathaniel  Collins  and  Mary  Whiting,  son  of  Dea.  Edward  Collins,  of  Cambridge. 
1638:  deacon,  representative  to  the  General  Court,  1654  to  1670,  except  '6r.  He 
lived  many  years  on  a  plantation  of  Gov.  Cradock  at  Medford,  and  at  last  pur- 
chased it.  and  sold  to  Richard  Russell  1.600  acres,  and  additional  acres  to  other 
parties.  Samuel  Wolcott  (2).  by  his  wife  Abigail  (Collins)  Wolcott,  had  a  son 
Elisha. 

Elisha  Wolcott,  son  of  Samuel  (2)  and  Abigail  (Collins)  Wolcott,  was  born 
Sept.  26.  t/{-.    He  married  June  28,  1746,  Sarah,  daughter  of  Gersham  Nolt.  who 


SUNS     OF     THE      REVOLUTION.  151 

married  Sarah  Waterhouse,  of  Saybrook,  daughter  of  Isaac  Waterhouse,  of  Lynn. 
whose  wife  Sarah  was  the  daughter  of  Lieut.  William  Pratt,  one  of  the  most 
prominent  men  in  the.  Connecticut  colony.  Elisha  Wolcott,  by  his  wife  Sarah 
(Nolt)  Wolcott,  had  a  daughter  Mehitable,  born  June  12,  1759,  who  was  married 
April  12,  1781,  to  Frederick  Robbins  (1). 

Sergeant  Frederick  Robbins  (1),  by  his  wife  Mehitable  (Wolcott)  Robbins, 
had  a  son  Frederick  (2). 

Frederick  Robbins  (2),  son  of  Sergeant  Frederick  and  Mehitable  (Wolcott) 
Robbins,  was  born  April  9,  1784.  He  married  Sept.  19,  1805,  Eunice  Ames,  only 
child  of  Philemon,  son  of  John  (2),  son  of  John  (1),  son  of  Robert,  son  of  John, 
son  of  John,  son  of  William,  son  of  Richard  Ames. 

Richard  Ames,  of  Somersetshire,  England,  had  two  sons,  William  and  John; 
the  latter  settled  at  Bridgwater,  Mass. 

William  Ames,  born  Oct.  6,  1605,  in  England,  came  to  this  country  and  settled 
at  Braintree,  Mass.,  1640.  By  his  wife  Hannah  he  had  six  children,  of  whom 
John  (1)  was  the  fourth. 

John  Ames,  son  of  William  and  Hannah  Ames,  married  Sarah,  daughter  of 
Dea.  John  and  Elizabeth  Willis,  who  settled  in  Bridgewater,  Mass.,  and  was  the 
first  representative  to  the  General  Court  ever  sent  from  that  town,  and  repre- 
sented it  several  times  afterward.  By  his  wife  Sarah  (Willis)  Ames,  John  Ames 
had  a  son,  John  (2). 

John  Ames  (2),  son  of  John  (1)  and  Sarah  (Willis)  Ames,  was  born  April 
14,  1672;  died  June  1,  1705.  He  moved  to  New  London,  Conn.  He  had  John, 
Robert  and  Samuel. 

Robert  Ames,  son  of  John  (2).  moved  to  Wethersfield,  Conn.,  and  died  there 
1 77 1.    He  had  a  son  John  (3). 

JOHN  AMES  (3),  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Robert  Ames,  was 
born  1733;  died  1790.  He  enlisted  1775,  2d  Company,  Sixth  Conn.  Regiment, 
commanded  by  Col.  (afterward  General)  Samuel  Holden  Parsons;  took  post  at 
Roxbury  in  Spencer's  brigade.  Later  he  was  attached  to  the  Fourth  Regiment. 
Conn.  Line,  Col.  Durkee;  was  in  the  battles  of  Germantown,  Monmouth  and  other 
engagements.  In  1779  his  name  appears  as  a  member  of  the  crew  of  the  Conti- 
nental Frigate  "Confederacy,"  which  sailed  from  Philadelphia  for  France,  having 
on  board  the  French  Minister,  Gerard,  and  the  newly  appointed  Minister  to 
Spain,  the  Hon.  John  Jay,  as  passengers.  She  encountered  a  heavy  gale  and  put 
into  Martinico  for  repairs.  She  was  subsequently  captured  off  the  Cape  of  Vir- 
ginia by  a  British  Seventy-four,  and  taken  to  Charlestown.  then  in  possession  of 
the  British. 

John  Ames  (3)  married  Abigail  Butler,  born  July  30,  1739;  died  Feb.  23, 
1800.    They  had  a  son  Philemon. 

Philemon  Ames,  son  of  John  (3)  and  Abigail  (Butler)  Ames,  was  born  Oct. 
8,  1758;  married  Ruth  Hurlbut  (born  1759;  died  March  II,  1842),  daughter  of 
David  (2) ,  son  of  David  ( 1 ) ,  son  of  John,  son  of  Thomas. 

Thomas  Hurlbut  came  from  England  in  1635.  and  was  a  soldier  under  Lion 
Gardner,   who  hail  command  of  the  fort  at   Saybrook.     He  engaged  in  the  war 


152  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

with  the  Pequots  and  was  severely  wounded  by  an  arrow.  He  was  Clerk  of  the 
Train  Band  in  1640,  deputy  to  the  General  Court,  Grand  Juror  and  Constable. 
For  his  services  in  the  Indian  war  he  was  allowed  by  the  General  Court  120  acres 
of  land.    By  his  wife  Sarah  he  had  a  son  John. 

John  Hurlbut,  son  of  Thomas  Hurlbut,  was  born  in  Wethersfield  and  moved 
thence  to  Middletown.  He  married,  Dec.  15,  1670,  Mary,  daughter  of  John 
Deming,  whose  wife  was  Honour  Treat,  daughter  of  Richard  Treat,  whose 
name  appears  in  the  charter  of  1662.  Deputy  to  the  General  Court  1644  to 
1658.  Assistant  1658  to  1665;  owned  900  acres  in  what  is  now  Glastonbury, 
Conn.   John  Hurlbut.  by  his  wife  Mary  (Deming)  Hurlbut.  had  a  son  David  (1). 

David  Hurlbut,  son  of  John  and  Mary  (Deming)  Hurlbut,  was  born  in  Mid- 
dletown, Conn.,  Aug.  11,  1688.  In  1744  he  moved  to  Groton.  He  had  a  son 
David  (2). 

David  Hurlbut  (2),  son  of  David  (1),  was  born  in  Middletown,  Upper 
Houses.  Later  he  moved  to  Portland,  on  the  east  side  of  the  river.  He  married 
Ruth  Belden  and  had  nine  children  anmong  whom  was  Ruth,  who  became  the 
wife  of  Philemon  Ames. 

Philemon  Ames,  by  his  wife  Ruth  (Hurlbut)  Ames,  bad  a  daughter  Eunice, 
who  was  married  to  Frederick  Robbins  (2). 

Frederick  Robbins  (2),  by  his  wife  Eunice  (Ames)  Robbins,  had  five  chil- 
dren, of  whom  Rowland  Ames  was  third. 

Rowland  Ames  Robbins,  second  child  of  Frederick  (2)  and  Ruth  Hurlbut 
(Ames)  Robbins,  was  born  in  Hartford,  Conn..  March  18,  1812.  He  was  not  en- 
dowed with  a  strong  constitution,  but  he  combined  the  graces  of  mind,  the  force 
of  character,  and  gentleness  of  disposition  that  made  him  one  of  the  most  lovable 
as  well  as  one  of  the  most  useful  of  men,  and  it  is  to  the  thoughtfulness  of  a  loving 
brother  and  a  devoted  son  that  the  sweet  memories  of  such  a  life  hav?  been  pre- 
served for  future  generations. 

He  united  with  the  Central  Congregational  Church  of  Hartford  at  an  early 
age,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  a  Chiistian  character,  wfrch  broadened  and 
strengthened  with  advancing  jears. 

He  received  a  fair  education,  and  at  the  age  of  eighteen  he  entered  the  em- 
ploy of  Adrian  Janes,  then  engaged  in  the  paper  hanging  business  in  Hartford, 
Conn.  That  he  won  the  confidence  of  his  employer  goes  without  saying,  for  his 
whole  life  was  spent  in  one  unselfish  desire  to  please  and  to  contribute  to  the 
happiness  of  others.  After  three  years  of  service  he  received  an  advantageous 
offer  from  a  New  York  firm  to  enter  their  employ,  but  his  employer  was  loth 
to  part  with  him,  and  proposed  a  co-partnership  which  the  young  man  readily 
accepted,  and  this  was  continued  to  their  mutual  advantage  for  some  years,  and 
during  this  period  they  were  induced  to  purchase  the  patent  for  a  hot  air  furnace, 
and  this  necessitated  their  removal  to  New  York  City,  where  the  foundation  of 
their  fortune  was  laid.  This  patent  was  subsequently  combined  with  that  of  the 
Beebe  Range,  and  a  new  co-partnership  organized  under  the  firm  name  of  Janes 
Beebe  &  Co.  The  business  increased  far  beyond  the  expectation  of  its  founders, 
and  a  branch  house  was  established  in  Baltimore.  Md.,  under  the  firm  name  of 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  153 

Heywood,  Robbins  &  Co.,  which  was  carried  on  successfully  for  some  years, 
but  the  great  increase  in  the  New  York  business  necessitated  the  combined 
energies  of  its  founders,  who  parted  with  their  Baltimore  interests,  and  Mr. 
Robbins  returned  to  New  York. 

In  addition  to  the  manufacture  of  furnaces,  cooking  ranges,  etc.,  the 
firm  concluded  to  combine  that  of  manufacturing  heavy  architectural  castings, 
and  soon  after  this,  the  United  States  Government  having  invited  proposals  for 
building  the  dome  of  the  Capitol  at  Washington,  the  firm  entered  their  bid  and 
obtained  the  contract.     The  business  assumed  greater  proportions  each  year,  and 


ROWLAND    A.    ROBBINS,    SEN. 

the  heavy  strain  proved  too  much  for  the  already  overtasked  energies  of  Mr.  Rob- 
bins, and  in  the  midst  of  his  prosperous  career  his  life  was  brought  to  an  early 
end  in  his  thirty-eighth  year  on  the  14th  of  September,  1850;  but  in  this  brief 
period  was  combined  more  than  most  men  who  reach  their  three-score-and-ten 
years.  His  capacity  for  business  was  marvelous,  and  extensive  operations,  in- 
volving immense  expenditures  of  money  were  conducted  with  that  ease  and  pre- 
cision of  a  commander-in-chief  in  moving  his  armies.  Cool,  calm,  self-possessed, 
he  met  every  emergency  with  skill  and  rare  good  judgment.  He  had  a  mind  well 
balanced  and  allowed  nothing  to  ruffle  his  temper.  With  all  of  his  gentleness  of 
disposition  there  was  no  lack  of  firmness.  No  one  ever  presumed  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  his  kindness  of  heart,  for  there  was  a  grace  and  dignity  of  manner 
that  checked  any  undue  familiarity.  As  a  husband  and  father  his  life  was  fault- 
less. With  his  children  he  was  not  only  fatherly,  but  companionable,  and  he 
enjoyed  their  closest  confidence  and  friendship,  guiding  them  by  his  wise  coun- 


154  SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

sel,  cheering  and  comforting  them  in  trouble,  and  entering  into  all  their  little 
affairs  of  life  with  the  deepest  interest.  As  a  Christian  he  said  little,  but  did 
much.  After  coming  to  New  York  he  united  with  Dr.  Cheever's  church  in 
Union  Square. 

Mr.  Robbins  married  Oct.  13,  1836,  Mary  Ann  Goodspeed,  daughter  of  Joseph 
Goodspeed,  of  East  Haddam.  Conn.,  son  of  Joseph  (2),  son  of  Joseph  (1),  son 
of  Nathan,  son  of  Moses,  son  of  Ebenezer.  son  of  Roger  Goodspeed. 

Roger  Goodspeed.  a  political  refugee  from  England,  came  to  Massachusetts 
from  England  in  1639,  settled  at  Barn  table,  married  Alice  Dayton  in  164 1  and  had 
a  son  Ebenezer. 

Ebenezer  Goodspeed.  sixth  child  of  Roger  Goodspeed,  was  born  Dec,  1655, 
married  Feb.  15.  1677,  Lydia  Crowell  of  Yarmouth.    They  had  a  son  Moses. 

Moses  Goodspeed,  thirteenth  and  youngest  child  of  Ebenezer  and  Lydia 
(Crowell)  Goodspeed,  was  born  Nov.  24,  1704.  He  married  March  30,  1726,  Han- 
nah Allen.  He  inherited  the  house  of  his  ancestor,  which  passed  to  his  son 
Seth,  and  still  remains  in  the  family.  They  had  six  children,  of  whom  Nathan 
was  the  fifth. 

Nathan  Goodspeed,  fifth  child  of  Moses  and  Hannah  (Allen)  Goodspeed, 
was  born  March  7,  1735.  He,  in  company  with  Capt.  Elijah  Atwood  and  James 
Green,  moved  to  East  Haddam,  Conn.,  about  1757.  He  married  Jan.  2,  1772,  Mary 
Kellogg  of  Colchester,  probably  grand-daughter  of  Jonathan  Kellogg.  They  had 
eight  children,  of  whom  Joseph,  was  the  youngest. 

Joseph  Goodspeed.  eighth  child  of  Nathan  and  Mary  (Kellogg)  Goodspeed, 
was  born  April  23,  1787.  He  married  Laura  Tyler  (sister  of  W.  S.  and  Chaun- 
cey  Tyler),  Sept.  21,  1811.  She  died  July  3,  1833;  he  married  2d  Rosa  Bigelow  of 
East  Haddam,  widow  of  Dr.  Bigelow.  and  daughter  of  Frederick  Robbins  (2) 
of  Wethersfield.  They  had  issue:  George  Edward.  William  Henry,  born  Dec. 
29,  1814,  married  Louisa  M.  Robbins,  daughter  of  Frederick  Robbins  of  Hartford ; 
Frederick,  Mary  Ann,  who  was  married  to  Rowland  Ames  Robbins;  Nathan  Ty- 
ler, Laura,  Sophia. 

Rowland  Ames  Robbins,  by  his  wife,  Mary  Ann  (Goodspeed)  Robbins.  had 
issue:  Laura,  born  July  23,  1837;  Russell  Hurlbut.  born  July  I,  1841  ;  Adelaide, 
born  Jan.  18,  1843;  Rowland  Ames  (2),  born  June  28,  1848;  George,  born  Sept. 
7.  1850. 

Russei.t.  II.  Robbins,  second  child  and  eldest  son  of  Rowland  Ames  and 
Mary  Ann  (Goodspeed)  Robbins,  was  born  in  Hartford.  Conn.,  where  he  received 
his  education.  In  1861  he  accepted  a  position  in  the  firm  of  Lord  &  Robinson, 
Baltimore.  Md.,  of  which  his  brother-in-law,  Charles  W.  Lord,  was  partner.  Sub- 
sequently he  became  a  member  of  the  branch  house  of  this  firm,  Robinson,  Lord 
&  Company,  in  1869.  Upon  the  dissolution  of  this  firm  in  1880  he  accepted  the 
position  of  purchasing  agent  in  the  American  Rapid  Telegraph  Company,  and  re- 
tained the  same  position  in  the  Postal  Telegraph  Company,  its  successor,  with 
which  he  remained  until  the  time  of  his  death,  July  26,  1896. 

He  enlisted  in  Company  E  of  the  22d  Regiment.  N.  G.  S.  N.  Y.,  with  his 
brother.  Dec.  27,  1867.  and  soon  after  was  appointed  and  commissioned  Captain, 


SONS      OF     THE      REVOLUTION.  1 55 

A.  D.  C,  of  the  staff  of  Brig.  Gen.  J.  M.  Varian,  commanding  3d  Brigade.  N.  G. 
S.  N.  Y.  He  was  afterwards  promoted  and  commissioned  Major  and  Engineer  in 
the  same  brigade.  He  held  this  position  for  several  years,  when  he  resigned  and 
was  honorably  discharged. 

He  became  a  member  of  the  Players'  Club,  being  one  of  the  earliest  to  join 
after  its  organization  by  the  late  Edwin  Booth.  He  inherited  many  of  the  at- 
tractive and  lovable  traits  of  his  father.  Rowland,  and  his  genial  nature  and 
generous  disposition  endeared  him  to  all  who  knew  him. 

Rowland  Ames  Robbins  enlisted  in  E  Company.  22d  Regiment,  X.  G.  S, 
N.  Y.,  Dec.  27,  1867;  appointed  and  commissioned  First  Lieutenant  and  Quar- 
termaster upon  the  staff  of  Gen.  Josiah  Porter,  Commandant  of  that  regiment. 
Oct.  22,  1871.  Resigned  and  honorably  discharged  June  25,  1875.  Appointed  and 
commisioned  First  Lieutenant,  A.  D.  C.  on  staff  of  Brig.  Gen.  J.  M.  Varian. 
commanding  Third  Brigade,  N.  G.  S.  N.  Y..  May  id.  1877.  Promoted  and  com- 
missioned Captain,  A.  D.  C,  August  7,  1877.  (Later  given  brevet  rank  of  Major 
for  continued  service  under  the  State  law.  )  Promoted  and  commissioned  Major 
and  Engineer,  June  27,  1882,  2d  Brigade,  N.  G.  S.  N.  Y.,  commanded  by  Gen. 
J.  M.  Varian.  Resigned  upon  death  of  Brigade  Commandant  in  1882.  and  honor- 
ably discharged  from  said  service  April  15th  of  that  year. 

MAJOR  ROWLAND  AMES  ROBBINS,  (2)  New  York  State  Society 
Sons  of  the  Revolution,  fourth  child  and  second  son  of  Rowland  Ames  and 
Mary  Ann  (Goodspeed)  Robbins,  was  born  in  New  York  City,  June  28,  1848. 
He  attended  the  village  school  and  later  the  Episcopal  Academy  of  Connecticut, 
completing  his  studies  at  a  private  school  in  Baltimore,  Md.  His  first  business 
experience  was  with  the  firm  of  Lord  and  Robinson,  Baltimore,  Md.,  and  in  1869 
a  branch  firm  was  organized  under  the  name  of  Robinson,  Lord  &  Co.,  Mr.  Rob- 
bins  and  his  brother  Russell  being  the  "Co.,"  located  in  New  York  City.  This 
continued  until  1880,  when  Mr.  Robbins  started  in  business  in  his  own  name, 
dealing  principally  in  Government  and  railroad  supplies,  and  in  1891  he  organ- 
ized the  present  company  known  as  the  Manhattan  Supply  Company,  of  which  he 
is  president. 

Notwithstanding  the  pressure  of  business  be  has  devoted  much  time  and  en- 
ergy to  militarv  affairs.  He  joined  Company  E.  22cl  Regiment,  N.  G  S.  N.  Y..  in 
1869  as  private  and  later  was  appointed  Quartermaster  on  the  staff  of  Col.  Porter, 
with  the  rank  of  First  Lieutenant,  and  was  subsequently  appointed  on  the  staff  of 
Gen.  J.  M.  Varian.  commanding  Third  Brigade,  as  Junior  Aide,  with  rank  of  First 
Lieutenant;  was  promoted  Senior  Aide  and  Captain  with  rank  of  Major,  and  mi 
Jan.  2-j,  1882.  he  was  appointed  Engineer  on  brigade  staff  with  full  rank  of 
Major. 

Major  Robbins  is  a  member  of  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce,  the 
Union  League.  Players  and  other  clubs.  Society  of  Colonial  Wars.  Geographical 
Society  of  New  York.  etc.  He  married  March  4.  1884.  Elizabeth  Stewart.  Their 
children  are  Russell  Hurlbut.  born  Jan.  28.  T885  ;  Gladys,  born  Aug.  30.  1889; 
Rowland   Ames.  Jr.,  born   March   t.".   t8q6. 


150  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

WEBB.— SAFFORD.— AND  ALLIED  FAMILIES. 

The  various  members  of  the  Webb,  Safford  and  allied  families  were  dis- 
tinguished for  their  courage,  loyalty  and  patriotism  in  the  colonial  wars  and  the 
War  of  the  Revolution,  and  were  conspicuous  in  the  development  of  the  several 
towns  where  they  located. 

Referring  to  the  origin  of  the  Webbs,  Burke  says:  "This  family  migrated 
to  the  county  of  Limerick  at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  or  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  from  Gloucestershire,  in  which  county  as  well  as  in  Wiltshi.e. 
it  had  been  settled  from  the  reign  of  Edward  I.,  when  its  ancestor,  a  Fleming  by 
birth,  brought  over  some  improvements  in  the  loom,  and  received  a  surname  from 
his  occupation." 

The  great  web  and  woof  of  human  life  through  the  instrumentality  of  this 
family  have  formed  beautiful  and  varied  mosaic  patterns,  and  the  life  work  still 
goes  on,  and  faithful  hands  still  ply  the  shuttle  to  and  fro,  keeping  ever  in  mind 
the  motto  inscribed  on  the  family  arms — Principia  non  homines. 

The  earliest  branch  of  the  Webb  family  was  granted  June  15,  1577.  Arms — 
Gules  a  cross  humettee  engrailed  between  four  falcons  or.  Crest — Out  of  a  ducal 
coronet  a  demi-eagle  displayed  or.    Motto — Principia  non  homines. 

From  the  fact  that  four  families  of  the  name  of  Webb  were  among  the  early 
settlers  of  Massachusetts,  it  would  indicate  that  they  may  have  been  related.  Wil- 
liam Webb  of  Weymouth,  John  Webb  of  Braintree  are  mentioned  as  early  as  1648, 
and  Richard  Webb,  the  founder  of  the  Stamford,  Conn.,  branch  was  admitted  a 
freeman  of  the  town  of  Boston  in  April  1632,  and  in  1635  accompanied  Rev.  Mr. 
Hooker  and  others  to  Hartford  and  Windsor. 

Christopher  Webb,  of  Braintree,  Mass.,  came  from  England  with  his  fam- 
ily and  settled  in  that  town  before  1645,  at  which  time  he  was  made  freeman. 
Savage  says :  "Christopher  Webb,  of  Braintree,  freeman  1645,  was  one  of  the 
petitioners  that  year  for  leave  to  go  and  possess  the  land  from  which  our  Govern- 
ment had  unrighteously  driven  Gorton,  Holden  and  other  misbelieving  planters, 
but  the  right  of  the  sufferers  was  vindicated  in  England." 

Christopher  Webb  remained  in  Braintree  during  his  life.  By  his  wife  Humil- 
ity he  had  Christopher,   Sarah,  and  Thomas. 

Christopher  Webb,  Jr.,  son  of  Christopher  (1)  and  Humility  Webb,  was 
born  in  England  about  1630.  He  removed  to  Billerica,  and  was  granted  a  six 
acre  privilege  Sept.  29.  1659.  His  home  lot  w\as  thirty-five  acres  of  land  lying  on 
the  "East  side  of  the  country  road  that  goeth  from  Woburn  to  Chelmsford."  He 
returned  to  Braintree  as  early  as  1665.  He  married  June  18,  1654,  Hannah, 
daughter  of  Benjamin  Scott.  The  marriage  was  performed  by  Captain  Torrey,  of 
Weymouth.  The  Braintree  records  give  the  following  list  of  his  children  and  the 
dates  thereof,  which  differ  from  those  given  in  "Giles  Memorial:"  John,  born 
Oct.  23,  1653,  married  Betbia  Adams;  Peter,  born  Dec.  I,  1655,  married  Amy 
Heyden  ;  Samuel,  born  Aug.  6,  1660,  married  Mary  Adams ;  Christopher,  born 
March  25,  1663,  married  Mary  Bass;  Hannah,  born  July  5,  1665,  married  Captain 
John  Adams.     Benjamin,  born  Dec.  2,  1667,  married  Susanna  Balentine;  Mary, 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  I57 

born  July  6,  1669,  married  Captain  Peter  Adams;  Joseph,  born  Jan.  15,  1672,  mar- 
ried Deborah  Bass.  Abigail,  born  Aug.  13,  1075.  Christopher  Webb,  Jr.,  died 
May  30,  1694.  Hannah,  his  wife,  died  1718.  Three  of  Christopher  Webb's  chil- 
dren married  children  of  Joseph  Adams,  the  grandfather  of  President  John 
Adams. 

Benjamin  Webb,  sixth  child  of  Christopher,  Jr.,  and  Hannah  (Scott)  Webb, 
was  born  Dec.  2,  1667.  He  lived  for  three  or  four  years  in  Boston,  but  returned  to 
Braintree,  where  he  carried  on  an  extensive  business  as  tanner  and  currier.  He 
was  a  man  of  great  intelligence  and  owned  a  fine  library  for  that  period.  Two 
of  his  sons  were  sent  to  college  and  entered  the  ministry.  After  the  Narragansett 
war,  to  relieve  the  province  of  the  heavy  indebtedness,  Bills  of  Credit  were  issued 
in  1720,  and  Benjamin  Webb  was  appointed  one  of  the  trustees  for  disposing  of 
them. 

In  1734  a  petition  was  sent  to  the  General  Court  to  grant  the  town  something 
as  a  "consideration,  and  in  lieu  of  4,000  acres  of  land  taken  from  us  and  added  to 
the  town  of  Milton,"  and  "Likewise  to  Grant  us  something  Gratis  for  our  having 
Kept  a  Free  Latin  School  for  about  90  years." 

Benjamin  Webb  was  appointed  to  manage  this  office. 

The  history  of  the  town  states  that  "The  first  tanner  and  currier  that  we  have 
any  account  of  was  Benjamin  Webb,  who  in  1700  bought  of  Benjamin  Thompson, 
the  old  schoolmaster,  one  and  a  half  acres  of  land  for  £82,  10  s.,  as  a  place  to 
erect  a  building  for  his  business."  He  married  Feb.  2,  1667,  Susanna  Ballentine, 
daughter  of  William  Ballentine  and  Hannah  Hollord  of  Boston.  The  children 
were  Hannah,  born  May  15,  1694,  died  1702;  Benjamin,  born  Dec.  13,  1695,  mar- 
ried Mehitable  Williams;  Jonathan,  born  Dec.  27,  1697,  married  Bathshelea ; 

ried  Mehitable  Williams;  Jonathan,  born  Dec.  27,  1697,  married  Bathsheba ; 

Daisy,  born  Dec.  11,  1699,  died  Jan.  15,  1800;  Jerusha,  born  Feb.  21,  1701,  mar- 
ried Samuel  Bass ;  Eunice,  born  May  6,  1703,  married  Joseph  Allen,  June  30,  1725 ; 
Nathan,  born  April  9,  1705,  married  Ruth  Adams;  Timothy,  born  June  30,  1706. 
married  Sarah  Howard;  Susanna,  born  May  20,  1710;  Esthei.  born  April  1,  1713. 
married  Ebenezer  Reade  of  Weybridge;  Benjamin  Webb,  Sen.    died  1739. 

Timothy  Webb,  son  of  Benjamin  and  Susanna  (Ballantine)  Webb,  was  born 
June  30,  1706,  in  Braintree.  He  removed  to  Windham,  Conn.,  where  his  uncle, 
Samuel  Webb,  had  preceded  him.  He  died  in  Windham,  Feb.  22,  1792.  He  mar- 
ried Sarah  Howard  and  had  issue:  Nathaniel,  born  August  9.  1726,  died  Feb.  25. 
1749;  Stephen,  born  Dec.  27.  1730;  Eunice,  born  Jan.  25,  1752,  married  Samuel 
Adams;  Abigail,  born  Dec.  25,  1734,  married  Jacob  Fuller;  Mary,  born  March 
18,  1739,  married  Barnabas  Arnable  ;  Stephen,  born  Oct.  4,  1742,  married  Con- 
tent Hewett;  Jerusha,  born  Feb.  7.  1745,  married  Enos  Palmer;  Benjamin,  born 
Nov.  14,  1747,  married  Sarah  Holmes;  Esther,  born  Oct.  13,  1750,  married  Ben- 
jamin Holt;  Jonathan,  born  June  10,  1752,  married  Nancy  Nash. 

BENJAMIN  WEBB,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Timothy  and  Sarah 
{ Howard)  Webb,  was  born  Nov.  14,  1749,  died  at  Bennington,  Vt,  Feb.  9,  1812. 
He  served  in  the  Revolution  as  Sergeant  in  Captain   Smith's  Company,   Ninth 


158  SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

Connecticut  Regiment,  and  later  as  Ensign  in  Captain  Schofield's  Company  of 
Coast  Guards.  He  married  Sarah  Holmes,  Jan.  31,  1775,  at  Nine  Partners  (now 
America),  N.  Y.,  and  had  issue:  Sarah,  born  Oct.  21,  1778;  Philomela,  August 
25,  1780;  Benjamin,  May  14,  1782;  Celinda,  Aug.  7,  1784,  married  Alson 
Squires;  Stephen,  born  June  17,  1786;  Laura,  Nov.  27,  1788,  married  Lorenzo 
Fassett;  Fanny,  born  Nov.  7,   1790;   Patty,  Oct.  22,   1792. 

Benjamin  Webb,  Jr.  son  of  Benjamin  and  Sarah  (Holmes)  Webb,  was 
born  May  4,  1782;  married  Electa  Safford,  daughter  of  Samuel  Safford  (2),  son 
of  Joseph  (3),  son  of  Joseph  (2),  son  of  Joseph   (1). 

Joseph  Safford  with  his  family  were  born  in  England,  where  he  died.  He  had 
a  son  Joseph  (2). 

Joseph  Safford  (2),  son  of  Joseph  (1),  came  from  England  to  Plymouth. 
Mass.  He  removed  thence  with  his  family  to  Norwich,  Conn.,  in  1723.  Miss 
Caulkins'  History  of  Norwich,  page  344,  refers  to  an  "Account  of  the  Surprizing 
Events  of  Providence  which  happened  at  the  Raising  of  a  Bridge  in  Norwich,  June 
28,  1728,"  in  which  the  name  of  Joseph  Safford  is  mentioned  among  the  wounded. 
By  his  wife  Abigail  he  had  issue  Joseph  (2),  born  1705;  Abigail.  John,  Sarah, 
who  died  at  Norwich ;  Solomon. 

Deacon    Joseph    Safford     (3),    son    of    Joseph     (2)     and  Abigail    ( ) 

Safford,  was  born  in  1705,  moved  to  Norwich  with  his  parents,  where  he  married 
Anna  Bottom,  and  had  Anna,  born  Dec.  31,  1730;  Elizabeth,  1735  ;  Samuel,  April 
14,  1737;  Abigail.  1740;  Joseph,  1742;  David,  1744;  Hannah,  1746;  Lucy.  June 
1748;  Esther,  Sept.  22,  1750;  Jacob.  Nov.  22,  1752;  Solomon,  Feb.  19,  1755. 

GENERAL  SAMUEL  SAFFORD,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of 
Dea.  Joseph  and  Anna  (Bottom)  Safford,  was  born  at  Norwich.  Conn.,  April  14, 
1737.  He  removed  to  Bennington,  Vt.  and  took  an  active  part  in  the  land  title 
controversy  with  New  York,  and  on  several  occasions  represented  the  town  in 
conventions  of  the  settlers  for  defense  against  the  Yorkers,  and  also  for  forming 
the  territory  into  a  separate  state.  When  the  committee  of  the  several  towns 
met  at  Dorset  in  July,  1775  to  nominate  officers  for  the  battalion  of  Green  Moun- 
tain Boys,  recommended  by  Congress,  he  was  named  as  its  Major,  the  command 
being  held  by  Lieut.  Col.  Seth  Warner.  Among  the  important  services  rendered 
by  the  regiment  was  the  decisive  defeat  of  Gen.  Carleton  at  Longuiel,  which  pre- 
vented his  furnishing  relief  to  St.  John,  and  caused  the  immediate  surrender, 
and  also  the  abandonment  of  Montreal  to  the  American  forces  under  Gen.  Mont- 
gomery. 

When  Seth  Warner's  Continental  regiment  was  raised  by  act  of  Congress  in 
July,  1776,  Major  Safford  was  commissioned  Lieut.  Colonel.  In  Stark's  cam- 
paign, which  included  the  battle  of  Bennington,  he  was  the  latter's  "right  arm." 

Hon.  Highland  Hall,  in  bis  account  of  the  battle,  says:  "To  Gen.  Stark 
should  be  assigned  the  highest  meed  of  praise  for  the  victory  *  *  *  Of  his 
officers,  Col.  Safford  is  undoubtedly  entitled  to  special  credit.  Safford  was  a 
Colonel  in  the  Continental  army  and  bad  acquired  a  high  reputation  as  a  military 
leader  by  his  services  in  Canada  and  at  Hubbardton,  and  he  had  long  been  a 
resident  of  Bennington  and  was  familiarly  acquainted  with  the  ground  occupied 


SONS      OF      THE     REVOLUTION.  !=,() 

by  the  posts  of  the  enemy  and  their  approaches.  He  was  Stark's  chief  adviser 
in  planning  the  attack  of  the  enemy;  he  went  into  the  action  by  his  side,  and  was 
his  active  associate  in  the  first  engagement  as  well  as  in  the  attack  of  Brayman's 
reinforcements." 

Dr.  Thatcher,  in  his  contemporary  Military  Journal,  says:  "Stark,  assisted 
by  Safford,  matured  his  plans  for  battle.'' 

In  1781  Col.  Safford  was  made  General  of  State  Militia.  He  represented  his 
town  in  the  State  Legislature  in  1781-2,  and  in  1783  was  elected  State  Counselor 
and  served  as  such  for  nineteen  successive  years;  and  for  twenty-six  successive 
years,  ending  in  1807  he  was  Chief  Judge  of  the  County  Court  for  Bennington 
County.  He  was  an  upright,  intelligent  man  of  sound  judgement,  and  univer- 
sally respected.  He  died  at  Bennington,  March  3,  1813.  He  married  Mary 
Lawrence  (born  in  Norwich,  April  8,  1741),  daughter  of  Jonathan  Lawrence, 
who  removed  with  his  family  to  Bennington,  1772.  Gen.  Samuel,  by  his  wife, 
had  issue:  Samuel,  born  June  24,  1761 ;  Mary,  June  16,  1763;  John,  Aug.  16,  1765; 
Ruth,  Dec.  3,  1768;  Anna,  Sept.  1,  1771  ;  Clara,  Feb.  3,  1774;  Electa,  March  24. 
1776;  Amelia,  April  1,  1780;  Jonas. 

Electa  Safford,  daughter  of  Gen.  Samuel  and  Mary  (Lawrence)  Safford, 
was  born  March  24,  1776;  married  Benjamin  Webb. 

Benjamin  Webb,  by  his  wife  Electa  (Safford)  Webb),  had  issue:  Samuel  S., 
born  Dec.  15,  1806;  died  1807;  Myron  S.,  born  Feb.  26,  1810;  William  S.,  born 
April  15,  1816,  married  Mrs.  Laura  Stark. 

Myron  S.  Webb,  son  of  Benjamin  and  Electa  (Safford)  Webb,  was 
born  Feb.  26,  1810.  He  was  a  prosperous  farmer,  also  a  civil  engineer  and  sur- 
veyor, and  a  man  of  considerable  prominence  and  influence  in  the  town.  He 
removed  to  Windsor  Locks,  Ct.,  where  he  married  Mary  C.  Denslow,  Oct.,  1840, 
daughter  of  Carlos  Denslow,  son  of  Martin,  son  of  Joseph,  son  of  Samuel,  son 
of  Henry,  son  of  Nicholas  Denslow,  the  ancestor. 

Nicholas  Denslow,  the  ancestor,  came  to  New  England  in  the  Mary  and 
John,"  and  was  at  Dorchester,  Mass.,  in  1630;  admitted  freeman,  1635,  and  re- 
moved to  Windsor,  Conn.,  in  1635,  being  then  fifty  years  old,  probably  the  oldest 
man  of  the  early  settlers.  He  died  March  8,  1666,  aged  ninety.  He  had  children, 
Henry  and  John. 

Henry  Denslow,  son  of  Nicholas,  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  Pine 
Meadow  (present  Windsor  Locks).  Conn.,  and  was  killed  there  by  the  Indians  in 
1676.     Fie  had  eight  children,  of  whom  Samuel  was  the  sixth. 

Samuel  Denslow,  son  of  Henry,  was  born  Dec.  19.  1659.  He  married,  Dec. 
3.  1686,  Patience  Gibbs,  and  had  six  children,  of  whom  Joseph  was  the  youngest. 

Joseph  Denslow,  son  of  Samuel  and  Patience  (Gibbs)  Denslow,  was  born 
March  24.  1703;  died  Oct.  2,  1749.  He  married  Ann  Holcomb,  Oct.  10,  1733, 
and  bad  seven  children,  of  whom  Martin  was  the  sixth. 

MARTIN  DENSLOW.  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Joseph  and 
Ann  (Holcomb)  Denslow,  was  baptised  April  28,  1745.  He  eidisted  with  the 
troops  from  the  town  of  Windsor  who  marched  "for  the  Relief  of  Boston  in  the 
Lexington   Alarm,"  April,   1775.     He  was   Corporal  of  4th   Company,   Seventh 


l60  SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

Conn.  Regiment — Col.  Charles  Webb— which  was  stationed  along  the  Sound 
until  Sept.  14,  1775,  when  on  requisition  from  Washington,  it  was  ordered  to  the 
Boston  Camps  and  took  part  in  the  several  engagements  of  that  campaign.  He 
was  promoted  Sergeant  April  I,  1777;  Sergeant  Major,  May  15,  '79;  Ensign, 
Aug.  16,  '79,  and  continued  in  service  until  1781.  He  was  attached  to  the  Fifth 
Regiment,  "Connecticut  line,"  which  was  engaged  at  the  battle  of  Germantown, 
Oct  .4,  '77;  assigned  to  Huntington's  Brigade,  and  wintered  at  Valley  Forge, 
'77-' 7&1  present  at  the  battle  of  Monmouth,  June  28,  1778.  In  the  operations  of 
'79  it  served  in  Heath's  wing,  east  side  of  the  Hudson,  and  was  afterwards  de- 
tached to  Meig's  Light  Regiment  and  engaged  in  the  storming  of  Stony  Point, 
July  15,  1779.  Denslow  was  not  long  after  promoted  Lieut.,  and  his  name 
appears  among  the  early  members  of  the  Connecticut  Society  of  the  Cincinnati. 

He  married  Lois  Wizard  of  Farmington,  April  n,  1770,  and  had  Huldah  in 
1771;  Martin  in  1773;  Thaddeus  in  1775;  Lois  in  1777;  Anne  in  1782;  Carlos, 
May  4,  1786;  Almanza. 

Carlos  Denslow,  son  of  Martin  and  Lois  (Wizard)  Denslow,  was  born  May 
4,  1786;  married  Pauline  Hathaway  and  had  a  daughter  Mary  C,  who  was 
married  to  Myron  S.  Webb,  Oct.  1840. 

Myron  S.  Webb,  by  his  wife  Mary  C.  (Denslow)  Webb,  had  issue:  Charles 
Hathaway,  born  Oct.  24,  1842;  William  E.,  born  Oct.  29,  1844;  Mary  L.,  born 
Dec.  14,  1846;  Anna  D.,  born  April  25,  1857. 

CHARLES  HATHAWAY  WEBB,  New  York  State  Society,  Sons 
of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Myron  S.  and  Mary  (Denslow)  Webb,  was  born 
at  Windsor  Locks,  Conn.,  Oct.  24,  1842.  He  attended  the  district  school  in 
his  native  village  and  completed  his  education  in  a  three  years'  course  of  study 
at  Bennington  Seminary,  Vermont.  His  business  training  began  with  the  old 
and  well  established  dry-goods  house  of  Phelps  Bliss  &  Co.  in  1859.  Of  the  many 
employees  of  this  house  and  its  successors,  he  is  one  of  the  few  who,  on  his 
merits  alone,  rose  from  the  humble  position  of  a  boy  of  seventeen  to  a  partner- 
ship in  1875.  The  firm  of  Phelps  Bliss  &  Co.,  with  whom  he  commenced  was 
succeeded  by  that  of  Eldridge  Dunham  &  Co.,  which  continued  until  the  death 
of  Mr.  Eldridge  in  December,  1874,  and  in  June  1876,  the  firm  became  Dunham 
Buckley  &  Co.,  and  finally  James  H.  Dunham  &  Co.,  the  present  firm.  That  Mr. 
Webb  has  proved  an  important  factor  in  the  almost  unprecedented  success  of  this 
firm  goes  without  saying.  As  an  employee,  his  uniform  courtesy,  kindness  and 
honest  upright  dealings  with  the  patrons  of  the  house  won  their  friendship  as 
well  as  the  hearty  approval  of  his  employers  which  resulted  in  the  still  closer 
relations  which  now  exist.  In  January,  1889.  he  gave  up  the  department  over 
which  he  had  immediate  supervision  to  give  more  particular  attention  to  the 
general  details  of  the  business  which  had  so  largely  increased  as  to  demand  his 
personal  superintendancy  and  care. 

Of  the  personal  traits  of  Mr.  Webb,  much  can  be  said  without  fulsomeness 
or  undue  praise.  No  man  ever  enjoyed  a  larger  share  of  friendship  with  those 
around  him  than  Mr.  Webb.  This  is  due  to  his  kindly  and  sympathetic  nature 
and  his  recognition  of  the  rights  of  others. 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  l6l 

While  in  no  sense  a  politician,  Mr.  Webb's  affiliations  have  always  been  with 
the  Republican  party,  and  during  the  presidential  campaign  of  1896  he  was  con- 
nected with  the  Dry  Goods  Republican  club  and  worked  faithfully  for  the  success 
of  his  party. 

Mr.  Webb  has  long  been  connected  with  the  National  Accident  Society  of 
New  York,  and  latterly  as  its  President,  and  under  his  supervision  the  society 
has  enjoyed  continued  success  and  prosperity. 

The  beautiful  fabric  of  human  life  woven  by  his  ancestors  who  first  took  the 
name  of  Webb  has  served  as  a  pattern  for  him,  and  as  the  shuttle  moved  to  and 
fro,  gathering  new  material  from  the  web  and  of  wool  each  succeeding  gener- 
ation a  brighter  and  more  perfect  pattern  has  been  developed. 

Mr.  Webb  is  a  member  of  the  following  clubs  and  societies  of  New  York 
City:  Union  League;  Colonial;  Merchants;  Republican  and  Atlantic  Yacht 
clubs;  the  New  England  Society,  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  and  of 
The  Patriots  and  Founders  of  America. 

He  married  the  daughter  of  Freeman  M.  Brown  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  whose 
first  husband  was  Charles  M.  Fairbanks.  She  had  two  children;  a  son  and  a 
daughter.  The  son,  Harry  Burnside  Fairbanks,  Major  of  the  Second  Mass. 
Regiment,  distinguished  himself  in  the  late  Cuban  war  by  his  courage  and 
gallantry  in  action.    A  Worcester  paper  referred  to  him  in  the  following  terms: 

"The  Worcester  soldiers  of  the  second  regiment  all  praise  Major  H.  B.  Fair- 
banks and  say  that  he  was  unquestionably  one  of  the  best  officers  on  the  battle- 
field. Corp.  Scott  of  H.  Co.  says  he  was  at  the  Major's  side  at  San  Juan  and  El 
Caney  and  that  the  major's  conduct  was  superb  and  that  he  did  not  mind  the 
bullets  half  as  much  as  he  did  the  night  breezes  that  were  quite  strong  in  Cuba 
after  sundown. 

"The  men  of  the  2nd  say  that  at  the  battle  of  San  Juan  Maj.  Fairbanks  stood 
directing  his  men  in  a  perfect  fusilade  of  bullets.  They  fairly  rained  about  him 
and  some  of  them  cut  the  leaves  of  the  trees  within  an  inch  of  his  head.  He 
continued  to  give  his  orders  as  calmly  as  if  he  was  in  Worcester  armory. 

"During  the  San  Juan  battle  Maj.  Fairbanks  went  down  the  line  cheering 
his  men  and  telling  them  to  keep  cool.  'By  all  means,  my  men,  don't  lose 
your  heads.  When  the  bullets  go  by  you  don't  mind  them.  Keep  up  your  hearts 
and  we  shall  surely  win,'  said  the  major. 

"Corp.  Scott  says  the  men  were  all  lying  flat  on  the  ground.  Every  man  was 
on  the  ground  but  the  major.  Men  were  killed  and  wounded  by  the  major's 
side,  but  he  seemed  to  bear  a  charmed  life.  The  major,  he  says,  took  no  end  of 
interest  in  the  welfare  of  his  men  and  tried  to  cheer  up  the  sick  and  brightened 
up  the  last  moments  of  many  a  poor  fellow  who  took  a  journey  across  the  great 
river. 

"Several  members  of  the  2d  regiment  say  that  they  will  not  be  satisfied 
until  the  Major  gets  a  colonel's  berth.  They  all  want  to  see  him  promoted.  Every 
man  in  the  company  says  that  too  much  cannot  be  said  in  praise  of  Maj.  Fair- 
banks and  that  he  won  the  heart  of  every  man  under  him." 

WILLIAM  EDWARD  WEBB,  second  child  of  Myron  S.  and  Mary  (Den 


l62  SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

slow)  Webb,  was  born  at  Windsor  Locks,  Conn.,  Oct.  29,  1844.  He  was  ed- 
ucated at  the  Suffield  Literary  Institution  of  Conn.  His  business  knowledge  and 
experience  was  acquired  at  some  of  the  leading  New  York  houses.  Beginning 
with  the  old  house  of  George  Bliss  &  Co.  in  1863,  where  he  remained  for  sev- 
eral years,  he  then  went  with  W.  S.  Peak  &  Co.,  and  after  one  or  two  other 
changes  he  returned  to  the  old  house,  where  he  has  since  remained  and  has  been 
for  some  years  a  member  of  what  is  now  the  firm  of  James  H.  Dunham  &  Co.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Union  League,  Colonial,  Merchants  and  Lotus  clubs,  New 
England  Society,  Founders  and  Patriots,  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  Altair  Lodge 
F.  &  A.  M.,  of  Brooklyn,  and  Republican  Chapter  R.  A.  M.  He  married 
Juliette  Seymour  Bell,  daughter  of  William  J.  Bell,  of  New  York.  Their  chil- 
dren are  Kenneth  Seymour,  Royden,  and  Denslow. 

ROGERS.— FITCH.— PENDLETON.— WOOLSEY,     ETC. 

Although  there  are  several  branches  of  the  Rogers  family  in  this  country 
and  in  Europe,  they  doubtless  all  had  a  common  origin.  Burke  says :  "The 
Rogers  of  Home  derive  originally  from  the  family  of  Norbury, 
County  Salop.  In  the  7th  Edward  II.,  Roger  de  Norbury,  by  the  name  of  Roger, 
son  of  Philip,  son  of  Roger  de  Norbury,  had  a  grant  of  the  estate  of  Home 
(County  Salop,  England),  where  he  appears  to  have  resided.  His  son  John 
took  the  surname  of  Rogers.  From  that  time  to  the  present  day  the  descendants 
have  held  the  estate  of  Home  and  resided  there.  This  family  bore  Arms — Argent 
on  a  chevron,  vert,  between  three  bucks,  current,  sable,  five  ermine  spots  gold. 
Crest — A  buck's  head  sable,  charged  with  three  ermine  spots,  or,  erased,  gules, 
attired  of  the  second.  Motto — Nos  nostraque  Deo.  (Ourselves  and  what  we 
possess  to  God.) 

John  Rogers,  the  martyr,  was  probably  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  several 
branches  of  this  family.  He  was  born  in  Lancashire,  England ;  educated  at 
Cambridge.  While  a  young  man,  for  conscience's  sake,  he  went  to  Antwerp 
in  Brabauh,  serving  many  years  as  chaplain  to  the  English  merchant  adventurers. 
He  assisted  in  the  translation  of  the  Bible  into  the  English  language, 
which  led  to  the  introduction  into  England  in  1537,  of  the  folio  Bible, 
being  the  first  complete  edition  of  both  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments, revised  and  published  by  him  alone,  under  the  assumed  name  of  Thomas 
Matthew.  On  the  occasion  of  Queen  Mary's  entrance  into  London,  he  preached 
a  bold  and  zealous  sermon  at  St.  Paul's  cross;  was  soon  after  thrown  into  prison, 
and  on  Feb.  4,  1555,  he  was  taken  out  and  burned  at  the  stake  in  presence  of 
Rochester,  comptroller  of  the  Queen's  household,  and  a  great  concourse  of 
people.     He  left  issue  Richard  and  other  children. 

John  Rogffs,  grandson  of  John,  the  martyr,  was  born  in  1551  ;  dk(d  fib 
Dedham,  England,  Oct.  8,  1636;  educated  at  Cambridge  University  at  the  ex- 
pense of  his  uncle,  Rev.  Richard  Rogers,  of  Wethersfield.  He  was  vicar  of 
Huntington,  1502,  then  priest  at  Havershill,  being  afterwards  transferred  to 
Dedham.     The  name  of  his  father  has  not  been  ascertained.     The  name  of  his 


SONS      OF      THK      REVOLUTION.  163 

first  wife  is  unknown.  He  married  2d,  Elizabeth  Gould ;  3d,  Dorothy  Stanton. 
By  his  second  .wife  he  had  three  sons,  among  whom  was  James  and  onej 
daughter. 

James  Rogers,  the  American  ancestor,  son  of  John,  was  born  in  1615;  died 
Feb.  1687-8.  He  came  from  Smithneld,  England,  to  Rhode  Island,  in  the  ship 
Increase,  in  1635 ;  and  later  was  engaged  in  business  in  New  London,  Conn.,  and 
by  invitation  of  Gov.  John  Winthrop  settled  on  the  plantation  of  Great  Neck,  in 
New  London  County,  Conn.,  before  1660.  He  was  engaged  in  public  business 
from  1660  to  1670;  owned  much  land,  both  at  Great  Neck,  and  on  the  east  side 
of  the  river,  and  house  lots  in  New  London.  He  married  Elizabeth,  daughter 
of  Samuel  Rowland,  of  Milford,  Conn.  They  had  five  sons  and  two  daughters. 
Among  the  sons  was  James  (2). 

James  Rogers  (2),  son  of  James  (1),  and  Elizabeth  Rowland  Rogers,  was 
born  in  New  London,  Conn.,  Feb.  15,  1652;  died  Nov.  8,  1713.  He  was  a  ship- 
master, and  one  of  his  voyages  to  Europe  brought  over  a  company  of  Redemp- 
tionists,  among  whom  was  Mary  Jordan,  who  afterwards  (Nov.  5,  1674)  became 
his  wife;  she  was  the  daughter  of  Jeffrey  Jordan.  They  had  issue:  James  (3), 
Mary,  Elizabeth,  Sarah,  Samuel,  Jonathan,  Richard,  William, 

Capt.  James  Rogers  (3),  son  of  James  Rogers  (2),  the  navigator,  was  born 
in  New  London,  Conn.,  1675.  He  removed  to  Norwalk,  Conn.,  about  1726.  He 
had  fourteen  children,  and  bought  six  acres  in  the  lower  part  of  the  town,  in- 
cluding dwelling  house  and  other  buildings.  He  was  a  citizen  of  Norwalk  about 
seven  years,  and  until  his  decease  in  1733.  He  instructed  his  executors,  in  1732, 
to  make  provision  for  the  education  of  his  four  younger  children  (all  of  whom 
at  that  time  were  under  fourteen),  and  mentioned  a  certain  amount  which  should 
be  expended  upon  their  "bringing  up."  The  children  named  in  the  will  were: 
James,  Mary,  Esther,  Uriah,  Jedediah,  Nehemiah,  (Aaron,  who  removed  to  Weth- 
ersfield.),  Lemuel,  Elizabeth,  Claron,  Samuel.  Dr.  Uriah  Rogers,  the  brother 
of  Nehemiah,  was  the  grandfather  of  the  renowned  Chancellor  Kent. 

Nehemiah  Rogers,  son  of  Capt.  James  Rogers  (3),  was  born  about  1706-8. 
He  was  a  man  of  considerable  note  in  his  time  and  a  large  landholder.  He  was 
part  owner  of  the  Norwalk  Islands,  and  had  a  hundred  acres  in  one  piece  on 
Chestnut  Hill.  He  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Samuel  Fitch,  brother  of 
Gov.  Thomas  Fitch,  and  son  of  Thomas  (3),  son  of  Thomas  (2),  son  of  Thomas 
(1),  son  of  Sir  Thomas  Fitch,  of  England,  and  Anna  Pew,  his  wife. 

The  original  spelling  of  the  name  was  Fytche  of  Ffytche,  and  the  family 
probably  came  originally  from  Wales.  The  family,  from  which  Sir  Thomas 
Fitch  descended,  resided  at  Thorp  Hall,  County  Lincoln,  England,  and  was  a 
branch  of  the  family  of  Ffytches  of  Danbury  Place,  and  Woodham  Walter, 
County  Essex. 

This  family  bore  Arms — Vert,  a  chevron  between  three  leopards'  heads,  or. 
Crest — A  leopard's  face,  or,  pierced  with  a  sword,  in  bend  sinister  ppr.,  hilt  and 
panel  of  the  first.     Motto — Spes  juvat. 

Sir  Thomas  Fitch,  the  immediate  progenitor  of  the  American  family  of 
this  name,  was  a  judge  of  much  distinction,  and  was  created  a  baronet  by  Charles 


1 64  SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

I.  He  was  born  in  1590  at  Booking,  England,  and  died  in  1645.  He  married, 
Aug.  8,  161 1,  Anna  Pew,  who  survived  him,  and  came  to  America  with  her  three 
younger  sons,  two  older  ones  having  emigrated  some  years  before.  They,  per- 
haps, had  married  daughters  and  other  sons,  who  remained  in  England.  The 
five  sons  who  came  to  America  were :  Thomas,  Rev.  James,  of  Saybrook  and 
Norwich,  Conn.;  Joseph,  who  settled  in  Windsor;  Samuel,  who  settled  in  Hart- 
ford; and  John,  who  settled  at  Windsor,  dying  without  issue. 

Thomas  Fitch  was  an  early  settler  at  Norwalk,  Conn.  He  died  in  1704. 
The  land  known  as  "the  Fitch  Estate,"  which  formed  the  family  homestead  for 
more  than  a  hundred  years,  was  purchased  of  the  Indians  by  a  deed  dated  Feb. 
15,  1651.  Thomas  Fitch  was  the  wealthiest  citizen  of  Norwalk  and  a  man  of 
distinction.  He  represented  the  town  of  Norwalk  at  the  General  Court  on 
several  occasions.  He  married  Miss  Piatt  and  had  Thomas  (2),  John,  Mary 
Ann,  Samuel. 

Thomas  Fitch  (2),  of  Norwalk,  son  of  Thomas  (1),  was  Sergeant  of  Train 
Band  in  1672.  He  married  Ruth,  daughter  of  George  Clark,  and  had  Samuel, 
1663;  Thomas  (3),  1665;  Mary,  1668;  Samuel,  1681. 

Thomas  Fitch  (3),  son  of  Thomas  (2)  and  Ruth  (Clark)  Fitch,  was  born 
about  1662.  He  had  three  wives  :  Sarah — Rhoda — Rachel.  His  children  were : 
Thomas  (4),  who  became  Governor  of  the  colony;  Samuel,  James,  Elizabeth. 

Samuel  Fitch,  son  of  Thomas  (3)  and  brother  of  Governor  Thomas  Fitch, 
was  born  in  Norwalk,  Conn.,  about  1701.  He  held  office  under  the  King,  and  was 
a  large  landed  proprietor.  He  inherited  by  will  the  bay  view  tract  which  skirts 
the  harbor  to  the  east  of  Gregory  Point.  He  had  an  only  daughter,  Elizabeth, 
who  was  married  to  Nehemiah  Rogers. 

Nehemiah  Rogers  died  in  1760.  Two  of  his  sons,  Fitch  and  Nehemiah,  were 
founders  of  the  city  of  St.  Johns,  New  Brunswick.  Samuel,  Moses  and  Henry 
are  also  mentioned,  and  all  became  distinguished  as  New  York  merchants  after 
the  War  of  the  Revolution.  These  names  have  been  frequently  published  as  the 
sons  of  Samuel  Rogers,  who  was  reputed  to  have  married  the  daughter  of  Gov. 
Thomas  Fitch,  but  Rev.  Charles  M.  Sellick,  in  his  Centenary  Address  and  foot- 
notes of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Norwalk,  Conn.,  shows  conclusively  by  documentary 
evidence  that  Nehemiah  Rogers  and  not  Samuel  was  the  father  of  these  children, 
and  that  his  wife,  Elizabeth  Fitch,  was  the  daughter  of  Samuel,  the  brother  of 
Governor  Fitch. 

Moses  Rogers,  son  of  Nehemiah  and  Elizabeth  (Fitch)  Rogers,  was  born  in 
1750;  died  Nov.  30,  1825.  He  started  in  business  in  New  York  City  in  1785,  under 
the  firm  name  of  Moses  Rogers,  which  continued  until  1795,  when  he  became  asso- 
ciated with  his  brother-in-law,  William  Walter  Woolsey,  under  the  firm  name  of 
Rogers  &  Woolsey.  Their  place  of  business  was  at  206  Queen  (235  Pearl 
Street).  They  carried  on  an  extensive  iron  business  and  had  a  large  trade  with 
the  West  Indies.  In  1795  Moses  withdrew  from  the  firm,  and  was  succeeded  by 
his  son,  under  the  firm  name  of  Woolsey  &  Rogers.  Moses  Rogers  then  started 
in  the  sugar  refining  business  at  the  old  house  adjoining  the  Dutch  Church  at 
42  Liberty  Street,  in  a  building  which  had  been  used  as  a  prison  house  during 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION.  165 

the  Revolution.  The  firm  was  then  Moses  Rogers  &  Co.  This  continued  until 
1806,  when  he  retired  from  business.  He  was  one  of  the  princely  merchants  of 
his  day,  and  in  1806  was  one  of  the  fifteen  persons  in  New  York  who  kept  a 
carriage.  During  the  first  years  of  his  business  life  he  lived  near  the  corner  of 
the  present  Beekman  and  Pearl  Streets.  Later,  he  built  at  No.  7  State  Street, 
what  was  known  as  the  grand  old  house  with  pillars.  He  spent  his  remaining 
years  in  this  house,  which  was  occupied  as  late  as  1826  by  his  son. 

Mr.  Rogers  was  connected  with  many  benevolent  enterprises  in  his  day.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Marine  Society  in  1780.  In  1793  he  was  a  member  of  the 
Society  to  Relieve  Distressed  Prisoners,  a  society  that  numbered  among  its 
members  the  leading  merchants  of  New  York.  In  1793  he  was  one  of  the  most 
active  members  of  the  Society  for  the  Manumission  of  Slaves.  He  was  also  a 
director  in  the  United  States  Bank;  Governor  of  the  New  York  Hospital,  1792 
to  1799;  and  in  1797  was  one  of  the  principal  managers  of  the  City  Dispensary. 
The  same  year  he  was  elected  a  director  of  the  Mutual  Insurance  Co.,  continuing 
until  1807.  He  was  a  vestryman  of  Trinity  Church  from  1787  to  181 1.  He  was 
one  of  the  founders  of  Grace  Church,  and  continued  as  vestryman  and  active 
member  of  that  church  up  to  the  time  of  his  death.  His  memory  has  been  hon- 
ored by  a  tabl.et  with  a  suitable  inscription,  which  is  still  to  be  seen  within  the 
inclosure  of  Grace  Church.  He  died  Nov.  30,  1825,  aged  78  years.  He  married 
Sarah  Woolsey,  daughter  of  Benjamin  Woolsey,  of  Dosoris,  L.  I.,  son  of  Benja- 
min, son  of  Rev.  Benjamin,  son  of  George  (2),  son  of  George  (1),  the  ancestor. 

George  Woolsey,  the  ancestor,  was  the  son  of  Benjamin,  and  grandson  of 
Thomas,  a  near  relative  of  Thomas,  better  known  in  history  as  Cardinal  Wool- 
sey, who,  by  the  liberality  of  his  royal  master,  Henry  VIII.,  was  indebted  for 
his  extraordinary  elevation. 

George  Woolsey  was  born  Oct.  27,  1610,  and  had  probably  resided  some  time 
with  his  father  in  Holland,  having  come  over  with  the  Dutch  emigrants  in  1623, 
while  yet  a  mere  boy.  It  is  generally  believed  that  his  father  joined  him  in  this 
country  a  few  years  after.  He  resided  several  succeeding  years  in  New  Amster- 
dam, where  he  is  supposed  to  have  been  a  trader  or  a  merchant. 

In  1647  he  purchased  a  plantation  at  Flushing,  where  he  established  himself, 
but  afterwards  took  up  his  residence  with  his  father  at  Jamaica,  which  place  was 
then  lately  settled,  where  he  died  Aug.  17,  1698,  aged  80.  In  his  will,  dated  Nov. 
2,  1691,  he  named  wife  Rebecca,  sons  George,  Thomas,  John,  and  daughters  Sarah 
Hallett,  Mary  and  Rebecca  Wiggin. 

George  Woolsey  (2),  son  of  Geo.  (1),  and  Rebecca  Wool  sey,  was  born  Oct. 
19,  1650.  He  removed  with  his  father  to  Jamaica,  and  is  mentioned  in  Dongan's 
patent  of  1686.  His  name  also  frequently  occurs  upon  the  town  books  of  Jamaica. 
Toward  the  close  of  his  life  and  when  far  advanced  in  age,  he  changed  his 
residence  to  the  house  of  his  son  Bejamin  at  Dosoris,  in  the  town  of  Oyster  Bay, 
where  the  gravestone  of  the  family  burying-ground  marks  his  resting-place.  He 
had  a  son  Benjamin. 

Benjamin  Woolsey,  son  of  George  Woolsey  (2),  was  born  in  Jamaica,  Nov. 
19,  1687;  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1737;  entered  the  ministry  and  preached  in 


l66  SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

several  places  before  1720  and  succeeded  that  year  the  Rev.  Joshua  Hobart  as 
pastor  of  the  first  church  in  Southold.  He  married  Abigail,  daughter  of  John 
Taylor,  of  Oyster  Bay,  in  1714,  who  inherited  from  his  father  the  valuable  estate 
of  Dosoris,  upon  which,  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Taylor  in  1735,  they  went  to 
reside. 

The  name  Dosoris,  compounded  of  two  Latin  words,  Dos  and  woris,  were 
conferred  by  Mr.  Woolsey  to  indicate  that  the  premises  were  a  gift  or  portion  to 
his  wife.  Mr.  Woolsey  died  Aug.  15,  1756.  He  had  two  sons,  Benjamin  and 
Melancthon  Taylor,  and  four  daughters. 

Benjamin  Woolsey,  eldest  son  of  Rev.  Benjamin  and  Abigail  (Taylor) 
Woolsey,  was  born  June  8,  1717;  graduated  at  Yale  1744,  and  resided  at  Dosoris 
till  his  death  in  1771.  His  first  wife  was  Esther  Isaacs,  of  New  Rochelle  (born 
1720;  died  March  29,  1756,),  by  whom  he  had  daughters  Mary  and  Sarah. 

Sarah  Woolsey,  daughter  of  Benjamin  and  Esther  (Isaacs)  Woolsey,  was 
born  about  1750;  was  married  to  Moses  Rogers. 

Moses  Rogers,  by  his  wife  Sarah  (Woolsey)  Rogers,  daughter  of  Benjamin 
Woolsey,  Jr.,  had  issue : 

1.  Sarah  Elizabeth,  born  Feb.  1,  1774;  married  Hon.  Samuel  Miles  Hopkins. 

2.  Benjamin  Woolsey,  born  May  13,  1775;  died  Dec.  11,  1859. 

3.  Archibald,  born  1782. 

3.     Julia  Ann,  born  1788;  married  Francis  Bayard  Winthrop. 

Sarah  Elizabeth,  born  Feb.  4,  1774. 

Mary. 

Archibald  Rogers,  third  child  and  second  son  of  Moses  and  Sarah  (Wool- 
sey) Rogers,  was  born  at  Shippan  Point,  Stamford,  Conn.,  1782,  where  his  father 
had  a  summer  residence.  He  was  educated  at  Yale  College,  and,  after  complet- 
ing his  studies,  went  abroad  and  spent  some  years  in  foreign  travel,  visiting  many 
places  of  interest,  notably  the  field  of  Waterloo,  from  which  place  he  gathered 
many  interesting  relics. 

With  plenty  of  means  at  his  command,  he  spent  his  time  as  a  quiet  country 
gentleman  in  hunting,  travel  and  other  means  of  recreation. 

He  married  in  1821  Anna  Pierce  Pendleton,  only  daughter  of  Judge  Na- 
thaniel Pendleton,  son  of  Nathaniel  (1),  son  of  Henry,  son  of  Philip,  son  of 
Henry,  the  progenitor  of  the  American  family  of  this  name. 


PENDLETON     FAMILY. 

The  Pendleton  family  of  Virginia  derive  descent  from  Henry  Pendleton,  of 
Norwich,  England,  whose  two  sons — Nathaniel,  a  minister  of  the  Established 
Church  of  England,  and  Philip — emigrated  to  Virginia  in  1674.  This  Norwich 
family  bore  Arms — Gules  an  inescutcheon  argent  between  four  escallops  in 
saltire  or.  Crest — On  a  chapeau  gules,  turned  up  ermine,  a  demi-dragon,  with 
wings  endorsed  or,  holding  an  escallop  argent. 

Philip  Pendleton,  the  second  son  of  Henry  Pendleton,  was  born  in  England 


SONS       OF      THE       REVOLUTION. 


i(,7 


in  1650;  came  with  his  brother  to  America  in  1674.  He  married  in  1682,  Eliza- 
beth Hurt;  he  died  in  1721.     They  had  Henry,  Isabella,  John. 

Henry  Pendleton,  eldest  child  of  Philip  and  Elizabeth  (Hurt)  Pendleton, 
was  born  in  1683.  He  married  in  1701,  Mary  Taylor  (born  in  1688),  daughter  of 
James  Taylor,  who  came  from  Carlisle,  England,  and  settled  on  the  Chesapeake 
Bay;  he  died  in  1698.  The  issue  of  this  marriage  was:  James,  born  1702; 
Philip,  Nathaniel,  John,  Edmund    Mary,  Isabella. 

Edmund  Pendleton,  whose  portrait  is  shown  in  the  accompanying  engraving, 
was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  during  the  Colonial  period,  and  was 
one  of  the  leading  men  in  the  colony.  He  was  the  uncle  of  Col.  Nathaniel  Pen- 
dleton, the  patriot  of  the  Revolution. 


EDMUND     PENDLETON. 


Nathaniel  Pendleton  (1),  son  of  Henry  and  Mary  (Taylor)  Pendleton,  was 
born  in  1715,  died  1794,  in  Culpepper  County,  Va.  He  married  his  second  cousin 
Elizabeth  Clayton,  daughter  of  Major  Philip  Clayton. 

The  first  ancestor  of  this  family  was  Robert  de  Clayton,  who  came  to 
England  with  the  Conqueror,  and  had  the  manor  of  Clayton  conferred  upon  him 
for  his  military  services,  which  estate  gave  the  name  to  the  family  and  remained 
in  their  possession  until  conveyed  by  the  sole  heiress,  Dorothy,  sister  of  Richard 
Clayton,  Esq. 

Major  Philip  Clayton  came  to  Culpepper  from  New  Kent  through  Essex. 
His  name  first  appears  on  the  church  records  of  Virginia  in  1741,  where  he  was 
chosen  vestryman  of  St.  Mark's,  and  a  patent  for  land  from  Lord  Fairfax 
to  John  Brown  as  having  been  surveyed  by  Philip  Clayton  in  1749.  He  married 
Ann,  sister  of  Robert  Coleman,  on  whose  land  the  court  house  was  built. 


l68  SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

Nathaniel  Pendleton,  above  mentioned,  by  his  wife,  Miss  Clayton,  had  issue : 
Nathaniel,  born  1746;  William,  born  1748;  Henry,  1750;  died  in  South  Carolina, 
1789;  eminent  as  a  jurist  and  patriot;  Pendleton  District,  S.  C,  is  named  in  his 
honor;  the  other  children  were:     Philip,  Mary,  Elizabeth,  Susanna. 

COLONEL  NATHANIEL  PENDLETON,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution, 
son  of  Nathaniel  (1)  and  Elizabeth  (Clayton)  Pendleton,  was  born  in  1746. 
His  first  military  service  was  under  Captain  Daniel  Morgan,  "a  man  of  sturdy 
frame  and  unflinching  courage,"  who  had  seen  service  in  the  French  and  Indian 
War.  Morgan,  who  was  in  command  of  the  Virginia  riflemen,  accompanied 
the  Quebec  expedition  under  Arnold  in  1775.  The  account  of  the  storming  of 
Quebec,  states  that  "Arnold  was  directed  to  lead  three  hundred  and  fifty  men, 
with  Lamb's  artillery  and  Morgan's  riflemen,  to  assail  and  fire  the  works  in  St. 
Roque,  while  Montgomery  should  lead  the  remainder  below  Cape  Diamond 
along  the  narrow  space  between  the  decliviety  and  the  St.  Lawrence,  carry  the 
defences  at  the  foot  of'the  rocks  and  endeavor  to  press  forward  and  join  Ar- 
nold. *  *  *  *  At  a  narrow  pass  Arnold  was  wounded  in  the  leg,  and  was 
carried  to  the  General  Hospital,  when  the  command  devolved  on  Morgan.  The 
troops  pressed  forward  under  their  new  leader,  captured  a  battery,  and  fought 
fiercely  for  three  hours  to  capture  another,  and  succeeded.  Then  Lamb  was 
severely  wounded.  Morgan  was  about  to  push  on  to  attack  Prescott  Gate,  when 
the  sad  news  came  that  troops  under  Dearborn,  stationed  near  Palace  Gate,  had 
been  captured  by  a  party  who  had  sallied  out  of  the  city  and  had  then  cut  off 
the  retreat  of  Arnold's  division  in  front.  At  ten  o'clock,  after  he  had  lost  full 
one  hundred  men,  Morgan  was  compelled  to  surrender  with  more  than  four 
hundred  followers."  In  this  notable  event  there  is  no  doubt  that  young  Pen- 
dleton behaved  with  the  same  gallantry  that  characterized  his  subsequent  mili- 
tary career.  He  was  commissioned  Ensign  10th  Continental  Infantry,  Jan.  1, 
1776;  First  Lieutenant  nth  Virginia,  July  23,  1776.  In  his  account  of  the  Battle 
of  Long  Island,  Aug.  27,  1776,  Johnson  says:  "Men  from  Virginia,  too,  were  to 
take  an  active  part  in  this  campaign.  The  State  had  nine  regiments  organized 
for  service.  The  record  of  service  contained  in  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati 
states  that  Pendleton  was  "Lieutenant  in  Col.  Moses  Rawling's  regiment,  which, 
after  the  Battle  of  Long  Island,  retreated  to  Fort  Washington,  where  it  engaged 
Sir  William  Howe's  forces  on  the  16th  of  November,  1776,  and  with  a  three-gun 
battery  kept  in  check  the  column  of  Gen  Knyphausen's  Hessians  until  compelled 
to  fall  back,  where  he  was  taken  prisoner."  Johnson  says :  "As  they  approached 
Rawlings,  his  men  received  them  with  a  destructive  and  determined  fire,  which 
lasted  a  long  time."  During  this  engagement  Lieutenant  Pendleton  received  a 
wound  in  the  arm.  He  was  commissioned  Captain,  March  13,  1777,  and  was  ex- 
changed Oct.  18,  1780. 

Upon  his  release  he  was  appointed  Aide-de-Camp  on  the  staff  of  General 
Greene,  and  accompanied  him  in  the  Southern  campaign.  He  received  the 
thanks  of  Congress  for  gallantry  at  Eutaw  Springs  on  the  8th  of  September, 
1781,  in  the  following  terms:  "Resolved,  That  Major  General  Greene  be  di- 
rected to  present  the  thanks  of  Congress  to  Capt.  Pendleton,  his  Aide-deCamp, 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION.  IOQ 

in  testimony  of  his  particular  activity  and  good  conduct  during  the  whole  action 
at  Eutaw  Springs,  South  Carolina." 

His  subsequent  career,  as  well  as  a  portion  of  his  war  record,  is  given  in  a 
letter  dated  "New  York,  January  8.  1818,"  addressed  to  Hon.  John  Quincy 
Adams,  Secretary  of  State,  in  which  he  says : 

"I  take  the  liberty  of  addressing  a  letter  to  the  President,  soliciting  the  office 
of  Judge  of  the  Southern  District  Court  of  New  York,  in  case  a  vacancy  which 
was  expected  had  taken  place.  Having  now  received  information  that  Judge 
Van  Ness,  owing  to  the  inadequate  compensation  he  receives  will  positively  resign 
that  office  as  soon  as  the  inquiry  pending  in  Congress,  concerning  some  proceed- 
ings in  that  Court  is  terminated.  I  hope  it  will  not  be  deemed  premature  to 
apply  to  you  on  the  subject,  and  to  state  the  ground  upon  which  I  rest  my 
claims  on  the  public  liberality,  etc. 

"It  is  not  probably  known  to  you  that  my  family  in  Virginia  took  an  early 
and  efficient  part  in  the  Revolution  that  terminated  in  the  Independence  of  the 
United  States.  In  1775,  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  I  entered  into  the  Army,  and 
went  to  Roxbury,  where  I  served  in  the  evacuation  of  Boston  and  was  with  the 
detachment  that  took  possession  of  the  heights  of  Dorchester,  which  produced 
that  event.  I  was  made  a  prisoner  of  war  at  the  surrender  of  Fort  Washington, 
having  received  in  the  defense  a  severe  contusion  on  the  arm.  After  the  exchange 
of  prisoners  in  1780,  I  was  appointed  as  Aide-de-Camp  to  General  Greene  when 
he  took  command  of  the  Southern  Department,  and  I  continued  in  that  situation, 
and  was  in  all  the  battles  and  sieges  in  which  he  was  himself  present  during  the 
memorable  campaign  until  the  final  disbanding  of  the  Army  in  1783.  On  account 
of  these  services  I  was  honored  with  one  of  the  medals  struck  in  honor  of  Gen. 
Greene  by  a  Resolution  of  Congress  in  1787." 

The  following  letter  accompanied  the  presentation  to  which  he  refers: 

"Office  for  Foreign  Affairs,  12th  February,  1788. 

"Sir :  It  gives  me  pleasure  to  have  an  opportunity  of  transmitting  to  you  by 
order  of  Congress  a  Copy  of  the  Medal  struck  by  their  Direction  in  Honor  of 
the  late  General  Greene.  A  variety  of  circumstances  conspire  to  render  this  Mark 
of  public  attention  acceptable  to  you,  though  I  am  persuaded  that  none  among 
them  all  will  more  immediately  affect  your  feelings  than  the  Relation  it  bears  to 
that  great  Man  whose  Loss,  you  in  particular,  and  the  people  of  America  in  gen- 
eral, have  just  reason  to  regret  and  lament. 

I  have  the  Honor  to  be, 
Sir 
Your  most  obedient  and  humble  servant, 

JOHN  JAY.  P.  S." 

Continuing  the  letter  addressed  to  Hon.  John  Quincy  Adams,  Col.  Pendleton 
says: 

"After  the  close  of  the  war  I  resumed  the  study  of  the  law  and  went  into 
practice  in  Georgia,  where  I  was  successively  appointed  to  the  office  of  Attorney 
General  and  Chief  Justice  of  that  State.  The  Federal  constitution  having  been 
adopted,  I  was  appointed  District  Judge  of  Georgia  in  1789,  and  received  my 


IjO  SONS     OF    THE     RF.VOLUTION. 

commission  in  a  letter  from  General  Washington  containing  sentiments  not  less 
flattering  to  me  personally  than  are  just  as  regards  the  importance  of  the  judiciary 
department,  which  he  considered,  to  use  his  own  words,  'as  the  pillar  upon  which 
our  political  fabric  must  rest.' 

"  In  this  office  I  continued  until  1796  when,  my  health  having  suffered  from 
that  climate,  and  the  salary  not  being  adequate  to  the  maintenance  of  our  in- 
creasing family,  I  resigned  and  removed  to  the  city  of  New  York,  where  I 
practiced  in  the  Superior  Courts  until  1811.  Ill  health  then  obliged  me  to  return 
into  the  country,  and  to  relinquish  in  a  great  degree  my  practice,  where  the  situ- 
ation of  my  family  and  affairs  made  it  extremely  inconvenient  to  do  so.  I  have 
the  happiness  to  find  that  abstraction  from  professional  business  and  the  exer- 
cise of  several  occupations  have  completely  restored  my  health.  If  the  President 
shall  find  my  professional  character  such  as  to  justify  my  appointment,  I  hope 
my  public  services,  and  the  dangers  and  privations  to  which  they  exposed  me, 
will  be  deemed  a  reasonable  ground  for  preference,  and  its  emoluments  would 
greatly  contribute  to  smooth  the  remaining  years  of  life  alotted  to  me." 

Judge  Pendleton  was  a  warm  friend  of  General  Alexander  Hamilton,  and 
when  the  controversy  arose  between  Burr  and  Hamilton  which  resulted  in  the 
fatal  duel  at  Weehawken.  on  the  morning  of  July  11,  1804,  Judge  Pendleton  ac- 
cepted the  invitation  to  act  as  Hamilton's  second,  and  as  such  conducted  the  cor- 
respondence for  his  principal ;  and  in  doing  this  used  every  means  in  his  power 
to  effect  an  honorable  reconciliation.  Winfield.  in  his  account  of  the  affair,  says: 
"After  the  delivery  of  Hamilton's  second  letter,  Judge  Pendleton  submitted  an- 
other paper  dictated  by  the  same  kindly  spirit."  The  kind  offices  of  Judge  Pen- 
dleton, however,  availed  nothing ;  the  formal  challenge  was  given  by  Burr  and 
accepted  by  Hamilton,  and  the  parties  arrived  on  the  grounds  at  half-past  six 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  When  the  final  preparations  were  completed  Judge 
Pendleton  gave  Hamilton  his  pistol  and  asked  : 

"Will  you  have  the  hair-spring  set?  " 

"Not  this  time  "  was  the  quiet  reply. 

Judge  Pendleton  then  explained  to  the  parties  the  rules  which  were  to  gov- 
ern them  in  firing.  Each  took  his  place,  and  at  the  word  Col.  Burr  fired  and 
General  Hamilton  almost  immediately  fell,  without  having  discharged  his  pistol. 
Judge  Pendleton  immediately  sprang  forward  and  lifted  his  friend  to  a  sitting 
position.  Dr.  Hosack  says :  "  His  countenance  of  death  I  shall  never  forget.  He 
had  at  that  instant  just  strength  to  say:  'This  is  a  mortal  wound,  doctor;' 
when  he  sank  away  and  became  to  all  apearance  lifeless."  Judge  Pendleton  re- 
mained with  his  friend  up  to  the  last  moment,  and  did  everything  in  his  power, 
under  the  direction  of  the  surgeon,  to  soothe  and  comfort  him  as  his  life  ebbed 
away. 

Judge  Pendleton  was  an  original  member  of  the  Virginia  State  Society  of 
the  Cincinnati.  He  removed  to  New  York  in  1796,  and  in  1798  united  with  the 
New  York  Society,  becoming  an  active  member  of  the  Standing  Committee  the 
following  year. 

Judge  Pendleton  married  Susanna,  daughter  of  Dr  John  Bard  of  Burlington. 


SONS       OF      THE      REVOLUTION.  \J\ 

N.  J.,  a  distinguished  physician  who  attended  General  Washington.  Dr.  Bard 
married  Susanna  Valleau,  daughter  of  Pierre  Valleau  and  Magdalena  Faucon- 
nier,  daughter  of  Peter  Fauconnier  and  Magdalena  Pasquereau.  Peter  Faucon- 
nier  was  Treasurer  and  Receiver  General  of  the  Provinces  of  New  Jersey  and 
New  York  under  Lord  Cornbury.  Dr.  John  Bard,  above  referred  to,  was  the 
son  of  Col.  Peter  Bard,  colonel  of  foot  regiment,  May  4,  1722;  born  in  France, 
1679,  lived  for  a  number  of  years  at  Burlington,  N.  J.,  and  subsequently  bought 
a  farm  at  Hyde  Park,  near  Poughkeepsie  on  the  Hudson,  where  he  died  July  13, 
1734.  He  was  one  of  Govenor  Barnet's  Council,  May  25,  1722.  He  died  Oct. 
23,  1734- 

Judge  Pendleton,  by  his  wife  Susanna  (Bard)  Pendleton,  had  issue: 

Edmund  Pendleton,  died  without  issue. 

Anna,  married  Archibald  Rogers. 

Nathaniel  Green,  born  Aug.  27,  1794. 

Nathaniel  Green  Pendleton,  sou  of  Nathaniel  and  Susanna  (Bard)  Pen- 
dleton, was  born  in  Savannah,  Ga.,  August.  27,  1794;  died  in  Cincinnati,  O.,  June 
15,  1861.  He  removed  to  New  York  city  with  his  father  in  1796;  was  graduated 
at  Columbia  College  in  1813,  and  the  same  year  joined  the  army  as  aide  to  his 
kinsman,  General  Edward  Pendleton  Gaines,  serving  till  the  close  of  the  war. 
He  renfoved  to  Ohio  in  1818,  settled  in  the  practice  of  the  law,  was  a  member  of 
the  State  Senate,  1825-6,  and  in  1840  was  elected  to  Congress  as  a  Whig,  serving 
from  1841  till  his  voluntary  retirement  in  1843.  He  then  resumed  his  profession, 
which  he  continued  until  his  death. 

He  married  Jane  Frances  Hunt,  and  had  issue: 

Susan  P.,  married  Oct.  20,   1842,   Robert  B.   Bowler. 

Martha  E.,  married  A.  S.  Dandridge. 

George  Hunt,  born  July  21,  1846. 

Elliot  H.,  married  Emma  Gaylord. 

Anna  P.,  married  Dec.  14,  1850,  N.  H.  Schenck. 

George  Hunt  Pendleton,  eldest  son  of  Nathaniel  Green  and  Frances 
(Hunt) Pendleton,  was  born  in  Cincinnati,  O.,  July  21,  1825,  died  in  1889.  He 
received  an  academic  education,  studied  law  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
Cincinnati.  He  was  a  member  of  the  State  Senate  in  1854-5,  and  was  elected 
to  Congress  as  a  Democrat  in  1856,  serving  till  1865.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Committee  on  Military  affairs  during  each  term  and  in  the  38th  Congress  served 
on  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  and  as  chairman  of  the  Special  Commit- 
tee on  admitting  members  of  the  Cabinet  to  the  Floor  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives. He  was  nominated  for  the  Vice-Presidency  on  the  ticket  with  Gen. 
George  B.  McClellan  for  President  in  1864.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Philadel- 
phia Loyalist  Convention  in  1866,  an  unsuccessful  candidate  for  Governor  of 
Ohio  in  1869,  and  the  same  year  became  President  of  the  Kentucky  Central  Rail- 
road Company.  In  1868  he  came  within  a  few  votes  of  being  nominated  for  the 
Presidency  at  the  Democratic  Convention  held  in  New  York,  at  which  conven- 
tion Mr.  Horatio  Seymour  of  New  York  was  ultimately  nominated.  He  was 
elected  United  States  Senator  in  1878,  and  during  the  senatorial  service  he  was 


172 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 


a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Foreign  Affairs  and  the  Committee  on  Civil 
Service  Reform,  and  as  such  on  June  26,  1882,  introduced  a  resolution  that  in- 
structed the  committee  "to  inquire  whether  any  attempt  is  being  made  to  levy 
and  collect  assessments  for  political  or  partisan  purposes  from  any  employee  of 
the  Government."     He  introduced  and  was  the  author  of  the  reform  law  which 


<.;eoi«;e  hlwt  i'endleton. 


is  the  present  civil  service  law.  He  continued  in  the  U.  S.  Senate  till  1885,  and 
that  year  was  appointed  U.  S.  Minister  to  Berlin  by  President  Cleveland,  con- 
tinuing until  1889.  He  married  June  23,  1846,  Alice  Key,  daughter  of  Francis 
Scott  Key,  author  of  "The  Star  Spangled  Banner."  He  had  issue,  Francis 
Key.     Mary  Hunt  and  Jane    Frances  Hunt. 

Francis  Key  Pendleton,  son  of  Hon.  George  H.  and  Alice  (Key)  Pendle- 
ton, was  born  Jan.  3,  1850,  graduated  at  Harvard  College  and  Law  School ;  went 
abroad  and  continued  his  studies  in  France  and  Germany.  Was  admitted  to  the 
bar  of  Boston,  later  that  of  Ohio,  and  on  making  New  York  his  permanent  resi- 
dence was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  this  city,  where  he  began  practice  in  1879,  with 
an  annually  increasing  clientel  and  a  successful  practice. 

Mr.  Pendleton  is  the  lineal  decendant  in  the  male  line  of  Nathaniel  Pendle- 
ton of  Revolutionary  fame.  He  is  a  member  of  the  New  York  Society  of  the 
Cincinnati. 

He  married  Elizabeth  La  Montagne  and  had  issue,  George  H.,  born  Aug.  9, 
1896. 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 


1/3 


Archibald  Rogers,  by  his  first  wife,  Anna  (Pendleton)  Rogers,  daughter  of 
Colonel  Nathaniel  Pendleton,  had  issue: 

Nathaniel,  born  April  29,  1822,  was  for  several  years  a  prominent  lawyer  in 
New  York,  and  was  associated  in  practice  with  Alexander  Hamilton,  a  grandson 
of  the  patriot. 

Julian,  born  Feb.  12,  1824,  died  in  infancy. 

Archibald,  born  Aug.  10,  1825,  died  March  21,  1831. 

Edmund  Pendleton,  born  July  31,  1827,  died  Feb.  10,  1895. 

Philip  C,  born  Aug.  13,  1829.     Resided  at  Poughkeepsie  1899. 

Archibald,  again,  born  Nov.  12,  1832,  died  Dec.  20,  1820. 

Susan  Bard,  born  Nov.  4,  1834,  married  H.  T.  Livingston. 

Edmund  Pendleton  Rogers,  fourth  child  of  Archibald  and  Anna  (Pendleton) 
Rogers,  was  born  July  31,  1827.  He  was  educated  at  Columbia  College,  but  hav- 
ing a  natural  taste  for  mechanics,  he  entered  the  employ  of  the  Morgan  Iron 
Works,  of  which  he  subsequently  became  manager  and  had  charge  of  the  con- 
struction of  the  gunboats  built  by  this  firm  during  the  war.  Later  Mr.  Rogers 
established  the  Quintard  Iron  Works,  of  which  he  was  the  principal  owner. 
This  became  one  of  the  largest  and  best  known  concerns  of  the  kind  in  the  coun- 


EDMUND  PENDLETON  ROGERS 

Father  of  Archibald  Rogers,  Hyde  Park,  N.  Y, 


1/4  SONS      Of      XHE      REVOLUTION. 

try,  their  products  being  shipped  to  every  pare  of  this  country,  besides  having 
large  European  contracts. 

Whiie  actively  engaged  in  business,  Air.  Rogers,  who  had  been  for  some 
time  a  member  ol  the  Seventh  Regiment,  N.  G.  b.  N.  Y,  responded  promptly  to 
tiie  can  ior  volunteers  at  tne  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War,  and  went  to  the 
iront  on  every  occasion  in  which  his  regiment  was  engaged.  His  name  appears 
on  the  Muster  Roll  for  1863  as  Captain  of  Tenth  Company  (K).  The  same 
>ear  he  went  to  the  front  again  during  the  Gettysburg  campaign  and  returned 
with  his  regiment  to  participate  in  the  important  service  of  aiding  in  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  draft  riots,  in  which  the  Seventh  was  particularly  conspicuous  on 
several  occasions,  always  occupying  the  post  of  danger.  The  Baltimore  JJauy 
Clipper  of  July  17,  1863,  referring  to  the  service  rendered  by  the  regiment  at  this 
time,  said:  "The  gallant  New  York  Seventh,  to  whom  our  city  and  State  is  so 
much  indebted  for  its  promptness  on  three  several  occasions,  flying  to  our  aid 
when  we  were  endangered  by  Rebel  force  coming  over  the  Potomac,  or  by  a 
worse  foe  in  our  midst,  in  the  sympathizers  with  Rebellion  on  the  10th  of  April, 
1861,  were  promptly  recalled  home  to  attend  to  the  Copperheads  of  New  York  and 
their  agents,  the  mob  of  the  Five  Points;  and  as  they  are  announced  to  have  ar- 
rived there  on  the  evening  of  Wednesday,  we  have  strong  reason  for  believing 
that  ere  this  the  pestilent  mob  had  been  suppressed.  With  that  regiment  at  home 
and  a  man  in  command  of  the  military  district  who  understood  fully  his  duty, 
this  disgraceful  riot  would  have  been  nipped  in  the  bud." 

Mr.  Rogers  served  some  ten  or  twelve  years  in  the  regiment,  first  under  Col. 
Marshal  Lefferts,  and  late  under  Col.  Emmons  Clark.  He  resided  during  his 
latter  years  at  Hyde  Park  on  the  Hudson,  where  he  died  Feb.  10,  1895.  He 
married  Virginia  Holt  Dummer,  born  Aug.  13,  1831,  daughter  of  Phineas  Cook 
Dummer,  son  of  Stephen,  son  of  Nathan,  son  of  Edward. 

Edward  Dummer,  the  great  grandfather  of  Phineas  Cook  Dummer,  married 
Jerusha  Andrews,  daughter  of  Nathan,  son  of  Lieut.  William  Andrews. 

Lieutenant  William  Andrews,  above  referred  to,  was  one  of  the  fifty-three 
persons,  besides  women  and  children,  who  sailed  from  London,  April  6,  1635,  on 
the  James.  They  landed  at  Boston,  where  William  Andrews  was  made  freeman 
in  1635.  He  was  early  at  New  Haven,  with  Eaton  and  Rev.  John  Rogers.  He 
built  the  first  meeting  house  in  1644.  He  was  sergeant  of  train  band  and 
Lieut,  of  Artillery,  1648.     He  had  sons  Nathan  and  Samuel. 

Nathan  Andrews,  son  of  Lieut.  Williams,  was  one  of  the  original  proprietors 
of  Wallingford,  Conn.,  and  was  one  of  those  selected  to  lay  the  foundation  for 
the  formation  of  the  church  at  Wallingford.  He  married  Phebe  Gibbons  (or 
Gibbands),  daughter  of  Wiliam  Gibbons,  representative,  1652;  Secretary  of  the 
Colony,  1657;  Assistant,  1661. 

Edward  Dummer,  by  his  first  wife,  Jerusha  Andrews,  daughter  of  Nathan 
Andrews,  had  son  Nathan. 

NATHAN  DUMMER,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Edward  and 
Jerusha  (Andrews)  Dummer,  was  born  in  1730.  Both  he  and  his  son  Nathan, 
Jr.,  served  in  Captain  Bradley's  Company  of  Matrosses  Artillery  during  Tryon's 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION.  1/5 

invasion  of  Connecticut  in  July  1779.  He  married  Tryphena  Austin  and  had  a 
son  Stephen. 

Stephen  Dummer,  son  of  Nathan,  was  born  Aug.  10,  1755.  He  married 
Eunice  Cook  and  had  a  son  Phineas  Cook  Dummer. 

Phineas  Cook  Dummer  was  born  Oct.  28,  1797.  He  married  Elizabeth 
Dobbs  Holt,  daughter  of  diaries  Holt,  son  of  William  (2),  son  of  William  (1), 
son  of  Nathaniel  (2),  son  of  Nathaniel  (1),  son  of  William,  the  New  Haven 
ancestor. 

Wihiam  Holt,  born  1610,  was  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  New  Haven.  He 
signed  the  New  Haven  colony  constitution,  July  1644.  He  removed  10  Walling- 
ford  about  1675,  and  conveyed  his  home  lot  in  New  Haven  to  his  sons  Nathaniel 
and  John.  He  lived  ten  years  after  his  removal  to  Wallingford  and  died  there 
Sept.  1,  1683. 

Nathaniel  Holt,  son  of  Wiliam,  was  born  in  New  Haven,  1647.  He  removed 
to  New  London,  and  in  1689  to  Newport,  R.  I.  He  held  the  militia  title  of 
Sergeant  and  was  sent  into  the  Narragansett  country  during  King  Philip's  War. 
and  was  wounded  in  the  shoulder  in  the  Great  Swamp  Fight,  Dec.  19,  1675.  In 
1678  the  General  Court  awarded  him  the  sum  of  £5  in  consequence  of  the  severe 
wound  received  at  the  Swamp  Fight.  He  married  1st  of  April,  1680,  Rebecca, 
daughter  of  Thomas  and  Millicent  (Ash)  Beebe,  who  died  1689.  She  was  the 
daughter  of  Sergeant  Thomas. 

Miss  Caulkins,  in  her  history  of  New  London,  says:  "The  phrase,  John 
Beeby  and  his  brothers,  in  the  early  grants  of  the  family,  leads  to  the  supposi- 
tion that  John  was  the  oldest  of  the  four,  John,  Thomas,  Samuel. 

John  Beeby  was  for  several  years  Sergeant  of  the  train  band,  and  on  being 
advanced  to  the  Lieutenancy  his  brother  Thomas  was  chosen  Sergeant. 

Nathaniel  Holt  (1)  by  his  wife,  Rebecca  (Beebe)  Holt,  had  issue,  Nathaniel. 

Nathaniel  Holt  (2),  son  of  Nathaniel  (1)  and  Rebecca  (Beebe)  Holt,  was 
born  in  New  London,  July  18,  1683.  He  married  Dec.  20,  1706,  Phebe  Tomlin. 
He  died  March  19,  1751,  aged  J7.  They  had  Elizabeth,  William,  Phebe. 
Nathaniel. 

William  Holt,  son  of  Nathaniel  and  Phebe  (Tomlin)  Holt,  was  born  in  New 
London,  Conn.,  Sept.  12,  1709,  married  May  12,  1736,  Sarah,  daughter  of  Darral 
May  (she  was  born  Aug.  5,  1716,  died  July  7,  1775).  He  died  Jan  5,  1769.  They 
had  fourteen  children,  of  whom  William  (2)  was  the  eldest. 

WILLIAM  HOLT  (2)  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  William  (1)  and 
Sarah  (May)  Holt,  was  born  in  New  London,  Jan.  29,  1736.  He  served  as 
private  in  CaptainWales'  company  in  the  defence  of  New  London,  1776.  He  mar- 
ried June  21,  1768,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Stephen  Hempstead  (born  Sept.  12, 
1746,  died  at  Groton,  Dec.  19,  1831).  He  died  March  15,  1810.  They  had  issue 
seven  children,  of  whom  Charles  was  the  fourth. 

Charles  Holt,  son  of  William  and  Elizabeth  (Hempstead)  Holt,  was  born  in 
New  London,  Conn.,  Aug.  11.  1772.  In  early  manhood  he  was  an  earnest  poli- 
tician of  democratic  principles.  In  June  1797,  he  established  the  Bee  newspaper 
at  New  London,  which  was  continued  until   1802,   when  he  removed  with  it  to 


1/6  SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

Hudson,  N.  Y.,  and  it  was  continued  at  that  place.  This  paper  was  a  powerful 
organ  in  the  Democratic  party,  and  under  the  administration  of  the  elder  Adams, 
the  editor  was  arrested  for  libel,  tried  by  the  United  States  Court,  then  sitting  at 
New  Haven,  and  under  the  provisions  of  the  sedition  law,  condemned  to  six 
months'  imprisonment  and  to  pay  a  fine  of  $200.  He  was  afterwards  editor  and 
publisher  of  the  Columbian.  In  1844  Congress  passed  an  act  reimbursing  him 
for  the  fine  imposed  under  the  sedition  law,  with  interest. 

He  married  at  New  York,  Aug.  10,  1810,  Mary,  daughter  of  William  and 
Dorcas  Dobbs  (she  was  born  at  Curacoa,  W.  I.,  Aug.  26,  1771,  died  Nov.  21, 
1838).    He  died  in  New  York,  July  30,  1852. 

They  had  a  daughter,  Elisabeth  Dobbs,  who  was  married  to  Phineas  Cook 
Dummer,  who  was  the  father  of  Virginia  Holt  Dummer,  wife  of  Edward  Pen- 
dleton Rogers. 

Edmund  Pendleton  Rogers,  by  his  wife,  Virginia  Holt  (Dummer)  Rogers, 
had  issue  Archibald,  born  Feb.  22,  1852,  Jane  Bulloch,  born  Oct.  20,  1853,  died 
Dec.  9,  1856. 

ARCHIBALD  ROGERS,  New  York  Society  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  son 
of  Edward  Pendleton  and  Virginia  Holt  (Dummer)  Rogers,  was  born  in  Jer- 
sey City,  N.  J.,  Feb.  22,  1852.  With  a  natural  taste  for  mechanics,  he  entered 
in  early  boyhood  Rogers'  Locomotive  Works  at  Paterson,  N.  J.,  as  an  apprentice, 
and  after  serving  his  time  he  entered  Yale  College,  where  he  took  a  special 
course  at  the  Sheffield  Scientific  School  in  engineering  studies  pertaining  to  his 
profession,  finishing  his  course  with  the  class  of  '73.  He  was  afterwards  em- 
ployed in  a  responsible  position  at  the  Rogers'  Locomotive  Works.  Later  he 
was  engineer  on  the  steamer  Old  Dominion,  running  from  New  York  to  Rich- 
mond, Va.,  He  was  also  engineer  on  the  steamship  City  of  Tokio,  and  went  on 
her  from  New  York  to  Tokio,  Japan  and  China  and  back  to  San  Francisco  in 
that  capacity.  He  was  also  one  of  the  corps  of  engineers  employed  in  building 
the  D.  L.  &  W.  Railway  tunnel  through  Bergen  Hill.  He  afterwards  went  to 
Wisconsin  as  Treasurer  and  assistant  to  the  President  of  the  Milwaukee,  Lake 
Shore  &  Western  Railroad  and  General  Manager  of  the  Lands  and  Mills  of  the 
Traffic  Company.  He  has  been  President  for  several  years  of  the  Jacksonville, 
Tampa  &  Key  West  Railway  Co.,  of  Florida,  President  of  the  Cornwall  & 
Lebanon  Railway  Company  of  Pennsylvania ;  Trustee  and  one  of  the  Executive 
Committee  American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  New  York  City,  and  one  of  the 
trustees  of  St.  Stephen's  College.  He  is  a.  partner  in  the  firm  of  Pancoast  & 
Rogers,  New  York  City,  who  are  agents  of  the  Reading  Iron  Works,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  of  the  Cornwall  Ore  Banks,  Pennsylvania,  etc. 

Mr.  Rogers  has  served  in  the  National  Guard,  State  of  New  York,  first  as 
Captain  and  Aide-de-Camp  in  the  2d  Brigade  in  1886,  and  in  1895  was  appointed 
Aide-de-Camp  on  the  staff  of  Gov.  Morton,  with  the  rank  of  Colonel.  In  1891 
he  ran  for  Assembly  on  the  Republican  ticket,  but  was  defeated  by  a  small  ma- 
jority, having  been  traded  off  and  sold  in  the  city  of  Poughkeepsie.  He  is  es- 
pecially fond  of  yachting  and  all  outdoor  sports.  He  built  and  raced  Bedouin, 
Tom  Boy,  Wasp,  and  was  the  managing  member  of  the  syndicate  which  built 


Sons    o^    the    revolution.  17; 

the  America  cup  defender,  "Colonia,"  in  1893.  He  also  designed  and  built  the 
ice  yacht,  Jack  Frost,  winning  with  her  three  times  the  Challenge  Pennant  of 
America.  He  has  been  for  many  years  a  hunter  of  big  game  in  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  where  he  has  a  cattle  ranch  in  the  northhwest  corner  of  Wyoming, 
bordering  on  the  Yellowstone  National  Park. 

Mr.  Rogers  married  in  1880  Anne  Caroline  Coleman,  daughter  of  William 
Coleman  of  Cornwall,  Pa.,  and  Helen  Habersham,  son  of  Thomas  Bird  Coleman 
and  Hannah  Casset,  son  of  Robert  Coleman  and  Anna  Old.  Ellen  Habersham, 
above  mentioned,  was  the  daughter  of  Robert  Habersham,  son  of  Colonel  Joseph, 
son  of  James  Habersham. 

In  an  old  family  Bible  of  the  Habersham  family  appears  the  following  entry : 
"James  Habersham,  the  most  respected  and  lamented  Parent  of  the  persons 
whose  births  and  deaths  are  recorded  in  this  Sacred  Book,  was  born  at  Beverley, 
Yorkshire,  England,  in  the  year  1712,  and  died  at  Brunswick,  New  Jersey, 
Aug.  28,  1775,  aged  63  years.  His  corpse,  attended  by  two  of  his  sons,  who  were 
with  him  at  the  time  of  his  decease,  was  carried  to  New  York  and  interred  in  a 
vault  of  Trinity  Church,  preparatory  to  removal  to  Savannah — the  funeral  ser- 
vice being  performed  by  the  rector  of  that  church." 

The  three  sons  of  the  Hon.  James  Habersham  were  men  of  patriotic  fervor, 
of  courage,  of  acknowledged  ability  and  commanding  influence. 

James  Habersham  was  prominent  in  arranging  and  sustaining,  as  far  as  prac- 
ticable, the  finances  of  the  young  comonwealth.  Upon  the  conclusion  of  the  war, 
as  a  member  of  a  committee  appointed  by  the  Executive  Council  to  take  charge 
of  all  the  slaves  who  had  deserted  from  the  service  of  their  masters,  and  also  to 
assume  the  management  and  effect  a  just  distribution  of  "suspected  property," 
he  performed  important  labors. 

Col.  Joseph  Habersham,  the  father  of  Robert  and  grandfather  of  Ellen  Hab- 
ersham (wife  of  William  Coleman)  was  an  early  and  conspicuous  "Son  of  Lib- 
erty." In  connection  with  a  few  others,  at  a  late  hour  on  the  night  of  the  nth 
of  May,  1775,  he  broke  open  the  King's  magazine  in  Savannah,,  and  removed 
therefrom  some  six  hundred  pounds  of  gunpowder,  a  portion  of  which,  it  is  said, 
was  forwarded  to  Cambridge,  Mass.,  and  issued  to  the  regular  army. 

As  a  member  of  the  Council  of  Safety,  he  corresponded  with  the  Continental 
Congress,  and  with  other  patriotic  bodies,  and  was  instant  in  devising  measures 
for  the  defense  of  Georgia  and  the  enkindling  of  a  warlike  flame  within  her 
borders. 

In  July,  1775,  under  the  joint  leadership  of  Joseph  Habersham  and  Capt. 
Bowen,  a  detachment  of  Picked  men,  conveyed  in  a  Georgia  armed  schooner,  com- 
missioned by  Congress,  effected  at  the  mouth  of  the  Savannah  River,  the  Capture 
of  Captain  Maitland's  ship  direct  from  London  and  freighted  with  gunpowder 
and  other  military  stores.  At  the  earnest  solicitation  of  the  Continental  Congress 
five  thousand  pounds  of  this  powder  were  forwarded  to  Philadelphia,  where  they 
were  issued  to  the  armies  of  the  United  Colonies.  From  the  same  source  were 
the  magazines  of  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  supplied. 

Of  the  Provinical  Congress,  which  convened  in  Savannah  on  the  4th  of  July, 


I78  SONS      OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

1775,  and  placed  the  Province  of  Georgia  "on  the  same  footing  with  her  sister 
colonies,"  he  was  a  leading  member;  and  on  the  7th  of  January  in  the  following 
year  he  was  appointed  Major  of  the  battalion  raised  for  the  protection  of  Georgia, 
of  which  Lachlan  Mcintosh  was  made  Colonel,  and  Samuel  Elbert  Lieut.  Colonel 
in  the  Continental  Army. 

When  the  Council  of  Safety  resolved  upon  the  arrest  and  confinement  of 
Sir  James  Wright,  the  royal  governor,  so  that  there  might  no  longer  be  an> 
show  of  English  dominion  within  the  limits  of  the  Province,  Major  Habersham 
volunteered  for  and  successfully  performed  the  service.  "The  physical  courage 
displayed  was  transcended  by  the  moral  heroism  involved  in  thus  openly  defying 
the  power  of  the  Realm,  and  in  humbling  the  duly  constituted  representative  of 
the  Crown  in  the  presence  of  the  Colony  he  was  commissioned  to  rule.  The 
effect  was  startling — dramatic." 

In  frustrating  the  attempt  of  Captain  Barclay  and  Major  Grant  to  capture  the 
shipping  lying  in  the  port  of  Savannah,  during  the  memorable  siege  of  Savannah, 
in  September  and  October,  1779,  and  on  various  occasions  during  the  progress  of 
the  War  of  the  Revolution,  Colonel  Habersham  rendered  gallant  and  important 
service. 

The  struggle  ended  he  was  twice  honored  by  an  election  to  the  Speaker's 
chair  in  the  General  Assembly  of  his  native  State.  From  1785  to  1786  he  was  a 
delegate  to  the  Continental  Congress,  and  in  1788  was  a  member  of  the  Convention 
which  ratified  the  Federal  Constitution.  In  1795,  he  was  appointed  by  President 
Washington,  Postmaster-General  of  the  United  States^f  This  position  he  filled 
with  entire  acceptability  also  during  the  presidential  term  of  the  elder  Adams. 
Upon  the  accession  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  he  was  the  recipient  of  a  polite  note  con- 
veying a  tender  of  the  office  of  Treasurer  of  the  United  States.  Interpreting  this 
as  an  intimation  that  his  resignation  of  the  position  of  Postmaster- 
General  would  be  agreeable  to  the  newly-elected  President,  he  promptly  surren- 
dered his  portfolio,  and  returned  to  Savannah,  where  entering  upon  a  mercan- 
tile life,  he  essayed  to  repair  a  fortune  which  had  been  seriously  impaired 
the  calamities  of  war.  In  1802  he  became  the  President  of  the  Branch  Bank  of 
the  United  States  at  Savnnah.  This  office  he  retained  until  his  death,  which  oc- 
curred on  the  17th  of  November,  1815.  He  was  then  in  the  sixty-sixth  year  of 
his  age. 

Major  John  Habersham,  a  brother  of  Col.  Joseph,  was  also  one  of  the  noted 
patriots  of  his  day.  He  was  born  in  Savannah,  Ga.,  in  1754.  He  early  espoused 
the  cause  of  the  revolutionists  and  was  among  the  most  active  members  of  the 
"Sons  of  Liberty."  On  Jan.  7,  1776,  he  was  mustered  into  the  Continental  Ser- 
vice as  First  Lieutenant  of  the  first  company  of  the  battalion  raised  at  the  charge 
of  the  United  Colonies  for  the  protection  of  Georgia.  Of  this  battalion  his 
brother  Joseph  was  Major.  He  was  present  and  participated  in  the  affair  at 
expeditions  fitted  out  in  Georgia  during  that  year.  Whenever  brought  face  to 
face  with  the  enemy  he  behaved  with  great  gallantry,  which  won  for  him  the 
respect  of  his  superior  officers.  In  the  affair  near  Musgrove  Creek,  Dec.  28,  1778, 
after  a  hard  fight,  he  with  others  was  captured,  there  being  no  means  of  escape. 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 


179 


At  the  battle  of  Brier  Creek,  Major  Habersham  with  sixty  Continental  troops^ 
one  hundred  and  fifty  Georgia  militia,  and  a  field  piece  held  the  left  of  the 
line  of  battle.    Although  the  right  and  centre  quickly  broke  and  fled  in  wild  con- 


MAJOR  JOHN    HABERSHAM. 


fusion,  he  prolonged  the  conflict  until  nearly  every  member  of  his  force  was 
either  killed,  wounded  or  captured,  he  being  among  the  latter.  He  was  exchanged 
in  season  to  participate  in  the  siege  of  Savannah  in  September  and  October,  1779, 
which  culminated  in  the  ill-advised,  bloody  and  futile  assault  by  the  allied  army 
under  Count  D'Estaing  and  General  Lincoln  upon  the  British  lines. 

Savannah  remained  in  possession  of  the  British  until  May  23,  1782,  when 
Sir  Guy  Carleton  issued,  at  New  York,  an  order  for  the  evacuation  of  that  town 
and  province.  Negotiations  were  accordingly  opened,  and  to  Major  John  Haber- 
sham— an  officer  in  the  Georgia  line,  a  native  of  Savannah,  a  gentleman  whose 
personal  character  inspired  confidence,  and  whose  high-toned  sentiment,  correct 
conduct,  and  polished  address  commanded  the  thorough  confidence  and  respect 
even  of  those  who  were  inimical  to  the  cause  which  he  espoused — were  they 
confided  on  the  patriots.  That  they  were  conducted  by  him  in  all  fairness  and 
with  becoming  dignity,  intelligence  and  fidelity,  it  seems  scarcely  necessary  to 
add." 


[&> 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 


Major  Habersham  represented  his  State  in  the  Continental  Congress  in 
1785-6.  He  was  chairman  of  the  Commissioners  appointed  in  1786  to  confer  with 
the  Indians,  which  resulted  in  the  conclusion  of  a  treaty,  stipulating  for  the  peace- 
ful conduct  of  the  Indians,  and  confirming  the  boundary  lines. 

From  the  period  of  the  Revolution  down  to  the  present  time,  the  Habershams 
and  Colemans  have  been  held  in  high  estimation  by  the  people  of  Georgia  and 
Pennsylvania,  where  the  latter  resided. 

Mr.  Archibald  Rogers,  by  his  marriage  to  Anna  Caroline  Coleman,  great- 
great-granddaughter  of  Col.  Joseph  Habersham,  had  issue :  Archibald,  born  Feb. 
23,  1881;  died  Dec.  26,  1889;  Edmund  Pendleton,  born  July  28,  1882;  Robert 
Coleman,  born  Jan.  26,  1883;  died  June  9,  1884;  William  Coleman,  born  Feb.  24, 
1885;  Rae  Habersham,  born  Feb.  15,  1887;  Ellen  Habersham,  born  Dec.  9,  1889; 
Herman  Livingston,  born  Dec.  27,  1891 ;  Ann  Pendleton,  born  March  12,  1894. 

GRIFFIN.— BUTLER. 

From  the  earliest  settlement  of  the  country  the  ancestors  of  Francis  Butler 
Griffin  have  borne  an  important  part  as  founders,  defenders  and  builders  in  their 
several  localities. 

Jasper  Griffin,  the  first  of  this  branch  mentioned,  was  born  probably  in 
Fennrhyn,  Wales,  1648;  died  in  Southold,  L.  I.,  April  17,  1718.  He  came  to 
Massachusetts  before  1670,  and  removed  thence  to  Southold  in  1675.  He  was  a 
farmer,  Major  of  provincial  troops,  and  quite  a  prominent  man.     He  married 

Hannah  in  Manchester,  Mass.,  and  had  fourteen  children,  among  whom 

was  Jasper. 

Jasper  Griffin  (2),  son  of  Jasper  and  Hannah   ( )   Griffin,  was  born 

in  Southold,  L.  I.,  in  1675.  He  sold  his  share  of  his  father's  estate  and  pur- 
chased a  tract  of  land  at  Lynn,  where  he  removed,  and  lived  to  the  advanced  age 
of  90  years.  He  married,  1696,  Ruth,  daughter  of  Joseph  Peck,  son  of  Deacon 
William  Peck,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  New  Haven  Colony.  They  had  issue : 
Lemuel  and  others. 

Lemuel  Griffin,  son  of  Jasper  (2)  and  Ruth  (Peck)  Griffin,  was  born  at 
Southhold,  L.  I.,  1704.  He  was  a  farmer  and  settled  in  East  Haddam,  Conn., 
where  he  married  Phebe  Comstock.    He  had  issue :     George. 

GEORGE  GRIFFIN,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Lemuel  and  Phebe 
(Peck)  Griffin,  was  born  in  East  Haddam,  Conn.,  July  10,  1734.  He  served  for 
a  time  as  private  in  the  Eighth  Regiment,  Connecticut  Line,  commanded  by  Col. 
John  Chandler.  He  married  March  9,  1762,  Eve  Dorr,  daughter  of  Edmund  and 
Mary  (Griswold)  Dorr,  granddaughter  of  Matthew  and  Phebe  Griswold  of 
Lynn,  a  direct  descendant  of  Sir  John  Wolcott.    They  had  isssue:    George  (2). 

George  Griffin  (2),  son  of  George  (1)  and  Eve  (Dorr)  Griffin,  was  born 
in  East  Haddam,  Conn.,  Jan.  14,  1778;  died  in  New  York  City,  May  6,  i860.  He 
graduated  at  Yale  College,  1797,  and  later  at  Litchfield  Law  School;  began 
practice  in  Wilkes-Barre,  Pa.,  in  1800,  where  he  continued  for  six  years;  removed 
to  New  York  City  in  1806,  where  he  was  a  leading  counsellor  at  law  for  more 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION.  l8l 

than  half  a  century.  He  received  the  degree  of  L.L.  D.  from  Columbia  College 
in  1837.  He  was  the  author  of  several  religious  works,  among  which  were  "Suf- 
ferings of  Our  Savior,"  "Evidences  of  Christianity,"  "The  Gospel  its  Own  Ad- 
vocate," etc. 

He  married  July  3,  1801,  Lydia,  daughter  of  Colonel  Zebulon  and  Phebe 
(Haight)  Butler. 

COL.  ZEBULON  BULER,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution  was  born  in  Lyme. 
New  London  County,  Conn.,  in  1731,  son  of  John  and  Hannah  (Perkins)  Butler 
of  Lyme,  son  of  John  (1)  and  Catharine  Houghton,  daughter  of  Richard  Hough- 
ton. Mr.  Butler  entered  early  into  the  provincial  service,  and  served  the  mother 
country  through  the  French  war.  He  began  his  military  career  as  Ensign,  and 
soon  rose  to  the  rank  of  Captain.  He  participated  in  the  memorable  hardships 
of  the  campaign  of  1758,  on  the  frontier  of  Canada,  at  Fort  Edward,  Lake  George, 
Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point.  In  1762  he  was  at  the  protracted  siege  of  Havana, 
Cuba.  On  his  way  he  was  on  board  one  of  the  vessels  that  were  shipwrecked. 
On  Aug.  9  the  last  of  the  fleet  arrived  before  Havana,  and  Capt.  Butler  shared 
largely  in  the  dangers  of  the  attack,,  and  the  glories  of  the  victory. 

In  1768  five  townships  were  laid  out  in  Wyoming  County,  Pa.,  and  each 
granted  to  forty  persons,  who  engaged  to  "man  their  rights,"  Capt.  Butler, 
as  the  leader  of  the  Connecticut  settlers,  did  this  most  effectively,  in  what  was 
known  as  the  "Pennyite  and  Yankee  War."  He  was  a  brave  and  vigilant  officer, 
his  superior  manner  and  address  at  once  commanded  general  respect  and  con- 
centrated the  attachment  of  his  soldiers.  "The  great  victory  achieved  over  a 
superior  force,  with  a  sacrifice  comparatively  so  inconsiderable,  established  entire 
confidence  in  the  ultimate  success  of  the  Yankee  cause,  and  Capt.  Butler  was 
lauded  as  the  savior  of  Wyoming."  He  was  humane  as  he  was  brave  and  politic 
as  he  was  undaunted. 

At  the  breaking  out  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  Capt.  Butler  promptly 
offered  his  services  and  was  appointed  Colonel  in  the  Continental  Line.  He  was 
actively  engaged  in  the  campaigns  of  1777-8-9:  was  with  Washington  in  New 
Jersey  and  was  greatly  esteemed  by  him.  In  the  spring  of  1778,  Col.  John  Butler 
of  the  British  Army  induced  the  Seneca  warriors  in  Western  New  York  to  con- 
sent to  follow  him  into  Pennsylvania.  He  had  been  joined  by  some  Tories  from 
the  Wyoming  Valley,  and  on  the  last  day  of  June  appeared  at  the  head  of  the 
plains  with  more  than  a  thousand  men,  Tories  and  Indians.  When  the  alarm 
was  given,  the  whole  population  flew  to  arms.  Colonel  Zebulon  Butler,  who  hap- 
pened to  be  home  for  a  brief  season,  was  by  common  consent  made  commander- 
in-chief.  The  Indians  were  led  by  Gi-en-gwa-tah.  a  Seneca  chief,  and  this  force 
was  first  struck  by  the  patriots,  when  a  general  battle  ensued.  It  raged  vehe- 
mently for  half  an  hour,  when,  just  as  the  left  of  the  invaders  was  about  to  give 
way,  a  mistaken  order  caused  the  little  band  of  patriots  to  retreat  in  disorder. 
The  infuriated  Indians  sprang  forward  like  wounded  tigers  and  gave  no  quarter; 
only  a  few  escaped,  among  them  Colonel  Butler,  who  reached  Wilkes-Barre  in 
safety.  Then  followed  the  horrible  "massacre  of  Wyoming,"  instigated  by  the 
infamous  Colonel  Butler  of  the  British  Army,  and  the  beautiful  valley  of  the 


l82  SONS      OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

Wyoming  was  deluged  with  the  blood  of  men,  women  and  children.  The  follow- 
ing year  Col.  Zebulon  Butler  was  ordered  to  return  with  what  force  he  could 
collect,  and  retake  possession  of  the  country,  which  he  did  in  August,  1779.  He 
erected  a  new  fort  at  Wilkes-Barre,  and  established  a  well-regulated  garrison, 
which  he  commanded  until  the  winter  of  1780.  Keeping  the  Tories  and  Indians 
at  bay,  not  risking  a  general  action,  but  killing  them  off  in  detail  by  scouting 
parties  and  sharpshooters.  In  Dec,  1780,  Col.  Butler  was  directed  by  Washington 
to  deliver  the  posts  at  Wyoming  to  Capt.  Alexander  Mitchell,  and  with  the  men 
under  his  command  to  join  the  Continental  Army,  the  order  being  due  to  a  jeal- 
ousy between  the  states  of  Pennsylvania  and  Connecticut,  of  long  continuance, 
which  was  finally  settled  by  what  was  known  as  the  "decree  of  Trenton,"  which 
established  the  claim  of  Pennsylvania  to  the  disputed  territory.  Col.  Butler 
served  with  distinction  to  the  close  of  the  war.  After  Arnold's  defection,  he  was 
placed  in  command  at  West  Point,  being  one  of  the  officers  whom  Washington 
felt  that  he  could  "trust."  After  the  war  he  retired  to  the  vale  of  the  Wyoming 
to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  perilous  toils,  and  the  gratitude  of  the  inhabitants  whom 
he  had  nobly  aided  and  protected.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Connecticut  General 
Assembly  from  Westmoreland  in  1774-5-6.  On  Aug.  30,  1787,  he  received  from 
the  Supreme  Executive  Court  of  Pennsylvania  the  honorable  appointment  of 
Lieutenant  of  Luzerne  County,  then  newly  formed. 

Col.  Butler  was  three  times  married,  1st,  to  Anna  Lord,  Dec.  23,  1760,  by 
whom  he  had  issue:  Zebulon,  Lord  and  Hannah  (who  married  Rosewell  Willis)  ; 
he  married,  2d,  Lydia,  daughter  of  Rev.  Jacob  Johnson,  the  first  minister  of 
Wyoming;  married,  3d,  Phebe  Haight,  and  had  issue:  Steuben,  and  Lydia, 
wro  was  married  to  George  Griffin.  z 

By  his  marriage  with  Lydia  Butler,  George  Griffin  (2)  had  eight  children, 
of  whom  George  was  the  seventh. 

George  Griffin  (3),  son  of  George  (2)  and  Lydia  (Butler)  Griffin,  was  born 
in  New  York  City  in  181 1.  He  was  a  student  at  Williams  College,  of  which  his 
uncle  was  President.  He  lived  a  quiet,  uneventful  life.  In  1835  he  removed  with 
his  family  to  Catskill,  and  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  tilling  the  soil.  He 
married  Elizabeth  Benson,  and  had  issue,  Francis  Butler. 

FRANCIS  BUTLER  GRIFFIN,  Member  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution. 
son  of  George  and  Elizabeth  (Benson)  Griffin,  was  born  in  Catskill,  Nov.  8,  1852. 
He  was  sent  to  a  first  class  boarding  school  at  Elizabeth,  where  he  received  a 
thorough  education.  In  1870  he  accepted  a  subordinate  position  with  the  well- 
known  hardware  firm  of  Clark  Wilson  &  Co.,  where  he  acquired  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  business  in  all  its  branches.  In  1876  he  assisted  in  organ- 
izing the  present  firm  of  C.  E.  Jennings  &  Co.,  which  for  more  than  twenty  year* 
has  done  a  prosperous  business  in  the  hardware  line.  He  has  been  for  some 
years  a  director  in  the  Shoe  and  Leather  Bank,  and  has  other  business  connec- 
tions. His  social  connections  are  limited  to  the  City  Club,  Hardware  Club  and 
Tuxedo  Club. 

He  was  formerly  identified  with  the  Madison  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church  of 
New  York,  of  which  he  was  long  an  elder,  and  was  assistant  superintendent  of 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 


183 


the  Sabbath-school.  He  is  now  connected  with  the  Central  Presbyterian  Church. 
He  is  largely  interested  in  works  of  benevolence  and  charitable  institutions.  He 
is  one  of  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Presbyterian  Hospital,  a  member  of  the 
Executive  Board  and  of  the  House  Committee.  He  is  especially  interested  in  the 
New  York  Infant  Asylum,  is  a  member  of  its  Board  of  Managers ;  also  Treasurer 
and  a  member  of  the  Executive  Committee. 


F.    B.    GRIKFIN. 

Mr.  Griffin  has  just  reason  to  be  proud  of  his  revolutionary  and  colonial 
ancestors,  and,  in  addition  to  his  membership  in  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  is  a 
member  of  the  Society  of  Colonial  Wars,  his  ancestor,  Col.  Zebulon  Butler,  as 
appears  by  the  record,  having  fought  in  the  colonial  as  well  as  the  Revolutionary 
War,  while  his  paternal  great-grandfather  also  served  in  the  Revolution. 

Mr.  Griffin  married  Anna  M.,  daughter  of  John  H.  Earle  and  Sarah  Benson. 
He  was  a  prominent  merchant  of  New  York,  President  of  St.  Luke's  Hospital, 
and  well  known  in  connection  in  various  charitable  enterprises. 

HEILNER.— BUTLER. 


On  the  paternal   side,    the   ancestor  of   George   Corson   Heilner   were  the 
pioneers  in  the  development  of  one  of  the  richest  portions  of  the  country,  of  which 


184  SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

this  maternal  ancestor  was  not  only  one  of  the  earliest  settlers,  but  one  of  its 
bravest  defenders,  both  before  and  after  the  Revolution. 

Samuel  Heilner,  the  grandfather  of  George  Corson  Heilner,  came  from 
Germany  the  early  part  of  the  present  century,  and  settled  in  Berks  County,  Pa., 
where  he  taught  school  for  a  time,  being  a  man  of  superior  education  and  a  noted 
linguist.  He  was  among  the  first  to  discover  the  possibilities  of  the  great  mining 
district  which  has  added  so  largely  to  the  wealth  of  the  country.  He  married 
Mary  Bast,  and  had  a  son  Marcus  G. 

Marcus  G.  Heilner,  son  of  Samuel  and  Mary  (Bast)  Heilner,  was  born  in 
Berks  County,  Pa.,  July  2,  1814.  At  an  early  age  he  removed  with  his  parents 
to  Schuylkill  County,  and  at  the  age  of  23  entered  upon  an  active  business  career 
with  his  father,  which  led  to  extensive  operations  on  Wolf  Creek,  near  Miners- 
ville,  on  the  Black  Heath  vein,  and  at  Donaldson.  On  his  father's  death,  he 
formed  a  copartnership  with  his  brother,  and  opened  up  on  the  Miller  tract  the  red 
ash  veins  known  as  the  Gate  vein,  Salem  vein  and  Black  Mine.  In  1853  they 
dissolved,  and  Marcus  G.  transferred  his  operations  to  Ashland  and  Silver  Creek, 


fiw     ^P^ 


MARCUS   G.    HEILNER. 


where  he  remained  until  1867,  when  he  discontinued  mining  and  removed  to  New 
York  to  engage  in  the  wholesale  coal  trade  under  the  name  of  Heilner  &  Son, 
up  to  the  time  of  his  death.    The  Engineering  and  Mining  Journal  said  of  him  : 
Mr.  Heilner's  personal  characteristics  all  tended  to  make  him  a  conspicuous 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION.  185 

figure  during  his  mining  career.  Possessed  of  a  strong  and  active  body,  a  clear 
and  comprehensive  mind  and  an  undaunted  spirit,,  he  passed  through  all  the 
vicissitudes  of  an  operator's  career,  both  in  the  problematical  outcome  of  new 
mining  ventures  and  the  physical  clangers  to  which  men  of  his  energy  and  promi- 
nence were  exposed  during  the  turbulent  and  lawless  period  of  the  Molly  Maguire 
reign.  On  several  occasions  he  was  in  imminent  peril  from  the  ruffianism  then 
rampant  in  the  region,  and  was  only  saved  from  actual  harm  by  his  well  known 
coolness  and  courage.  From  his  long  experience  in  every  department  of  this 
great  industry,  Mr.  Heilner  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  best  informed  authorities 
on  all  that  pertains  to  the  coal  trade.  He  was  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school- 
frank,  kindly  and  with  a  high  sense  of  honor.  He  was  the  last  of  that  hardy  and 
adventurous  set  of  pioneer  operators  who  penetrated  into  the  new  regions,  pros- 
pecting and  opening  up  new  operations — frequently  most  hazardous  undertakings, 
as  is  indicated  by  the  numerous  physical  and  financial  wrecks  that  marked  the  path 
of  development.  The  difficulties  under  which  these  early  operators  labored  were 
very  great,  the  vicissitudes  of  startling  frequency — few,  if  any,  fortunes  being 
realized  in  the  indutsry  until  the  great  stimulus  of  war  times  overtook  the  trade. 
These  were  the  men,  however,  who  "spied  out  the  land,"  made  the  developments, 
and  nursed  into  busy  life  and  activity  the  numerous  smaller  enterprises  which  to- 
day form  the  immense  aggregate  holdings  of  the  great  combinations.  With  his 
death  disappeared  the  last  of  his  class  of  men  who  paved  the  way  for  the  present 
order  of  things.  While  Mr.  Heilner's  business  career  (particularly  the  early 
part  of  it)  was  one  of  ceaseless  activity  and  vexation,  he  was  peculiarly  fortunate 
in  his  domestic  life.  In  early  youth  he  married  Miss  Sylvia  Butler,  of  Wilkes- 
barre,  a  woman  of  singular  sweetness  of  character  and  charm  of  manner.  She 
was  the  daughter  of  Zebulon  Butler  and  his  wife  Jemima  Fish,  daughter  of  Jabez 
Fish.  Zebulon  Butler  was  the  son  of  Colonel  Zebulon  Butler  of  Revolutionary 
fame  and  his  wife  Lydia  Johnson,  daughter  of  Rev.  Jacob  Johnson,  the  first  min- 
ister of  the  Gospel  in  the  Wyoming  Valley.  Rev.  Mr.  Johnson  also  drew  up  the 
articles  of  capitulation  after  the  battle  and  massacre  of  Wyoming. 
(See  Griffin.— Butler,  for  sketch  of  Col.  Zebulon  Butler.) 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Heilner  had  the  felicity  of  living  together  surrounded  by  a 
devoted  family  of  children  for  over  half  a  century,  their  golden  wedding  being 
celebrated  in  1889.  Mrs.  Heilner,  an  unmarried  daughter,  and  four  sons  survived 
him:  George  Corson  and  Marcus  Butler,  who  succeeded  to  the  business  of  Heil- 
ner &  Son;  Percy  B.,  the  general  sales  agent  at  New  York  for  the  Lehigh  and 
Wilkes-Barre  Coal  Co. ;  and  Walter,  a  lawyer,  residing  in  Philadelphia. 

GFORGE  CORSON  HEILNER,  Member  of  New  York  State  Society, 
Sons  of  the  Revolution,  youngest  son  of  Marcus  G.  and  Sylvina  (Butler)  Heil- 
ner, was  born  at  Pottsville.  Pa.,  Aug.  16,  1856.  He  received  a  thorough  education 
in  one  of  the  best  private  schools  in  the  country,  located  at  Elizabeth,  N.  J.  He 
entered  his  father's  employ,  and.  after  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  the  various  de- 
tails of  the  business,  he  became  in  1890  a  member  of  the  firm.  He  has  fully  main- 
tained the  reputation  of  the  firm  for  probity  and  honor  which  his  father  gave  to  it, 
and  the  family  escutcheon  remains  spotless.     Mr.   Heilner  inherits  the  military 


l86  SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

ardor  and  patriotism  which  distinguished  his  maternal  great-grandfather,  and, 
should  occasion  require  to  call  forth  those  same  qualities,  he  would  no  doubt  prove 
equal  to  the  emergency.  With  only  a  theoretical  knowledge  of  military  tactics, 
he  joined  the  Eighth  Regiment,  N.  G.  S.  N.  Y.  as  2d  Lieutenant  of  Company  D 
in  1887.  He  not  only  fulfilled  all  the  requirements  of  the  position,  but  was  pro- 
moted 1st  Lieutenant  of  the  company,  continuing  five  years  in  the  service.  He 
was  one  of  the  early  members  of  the  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  having 
joined  in  1889,  being  No.  156  in  a  list  of  over  two  thousand  members.  Through 
his  maternal  great-grandfather,  Col.  Zebulon  Butler,  who  fought  in  the  colonial  as 
as  well  as  the  Revolutionary  War,  he  was  eligible  to  membership  and  joined  the 
Society  of  Colonial  Wars.  Mr.  Heilner  had  many  ancestors  amongst  the  early 
settlers  in  New  England,  not  the  least  distinguished  of  which  was  Elder  William 
Brewster,  the  Pilgrim  of  the  Mayflower. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  Spanish-American  War,  Mr.  Heilner  volunteered  as 
a  recruiting  officer  to  assist  in  organizing  the  108th  Provisional  Regiment, 
formed  to  take  the  place  of  the  8th  Regiment,  N.  G.  S.  N.  Y.  when  the  latter 
entered  the  United  States  service. 

When  the  108th  Regiment  was  mustered  into  the  State  service,  he  became 
Captain  of  Company  C,  and  later  on  became  Lieutenant  Colonel,  which  rank  he 
hold  when  the  Regiment  was  mustered  out  of  the  service  in  January,  1899. 

BIGELOW.— STOWELL.— DYE. 

The  name  of  Bigelow  is  variously  spelled  Biglo  and  Biglow.  The  family 
was  somewhat  conspicuous  in  the  early  settlement  of  New  England. 

John  Bigelow,  or  Biglo,  the  ancestor  of  the  Bigelows  of  America,  was  born 
at  Wrentham,  Suffolk  Co.,  Eng.,  Feb.  16,  1616;  died  in  Watertown,  Mass,  July  14, 
1703.  His  was  the  first  marriage  recorded  in  Watertown,  viz:  "1633-4,  John 
Bigulah  and  Mary  Warin  joyned  in  mariag  before  Mr.  Nowell."  He  was  Sur- 
veyor, 1660-62;  Constable,  1663;  Selectman,  1665-71.  His  wife  was  a  daughter  of 
John  and  Margaret  Warren.  They  had  thirteen  children,  among  whom  was 
Samuel. 

Samuel  Bigelow,  son  of  John  and  Mary  (Warren)  Bigelow,  was  born  at 
Watertown,  Mass.,  Oct.  28,  1653.  He  married  Mary  Flagg,  daughter  of  Thomas 
and  Mary  Flagg.  Samuel  Bigelow  represented  the  town  in  the  General  Court, 
1708-9-10.    He  had  a  son  John. 

John  Bigelow,  son  of  Samuel  and  Mary  (Flagg)  Bigelow,  was  born  May  9, 
1675.     He  married  Jerusha  Garfield,  and  had  issue,  Jotham. 

Jotham  Bigelow  of  Holden,  Mass.,  and  Guilford,  Vt.,  son  of  John  and  Jeru- 
sha (Garfield)  Bigelow,  was  born  in  Marlborough,  Mass.,  Sept.  1,  1717.  He  early 
moved  to  that  part  of  Worcester,  afterwards  Holden,  and  was  one  of  the  peti- 
tioners for  the  new  town,  and,  with  his  brother  John,  was  admitted  to  the  church 
from  Worcester  on  the  formation  of  the  new  society  in  Holden,  Dec.  22,  1742. 
Soon  after  1761  he  moved  with  his  family  to  Guilford,  Vt.,,  and  was  one  of  the 
first  settlers  of  that  town.    He  married  Perses  Temple,  daughter  of  Isaac  and 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION.  187 

Martha  (Joslin)  Temple.    They  had  ten  children,  of  whom  Joel  was  the  seventh. 

JOEL  BIGELOW,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Jotham  and  Perses 
(Temple)  Bigelow,  was  born  in  Holden,  Mass.,  June  30,  1752.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  Revolution  he  was  living  on  the  border  of  the  disputed  territory  lying  be- 
tween New  York  and  Vermont,  and  then  known  as  Cumberland  County,  N.  Y. 
He  earnestly  espoused  the  cause  of  the  patriots,  and  was  commissioned  Adjutant, 
with  rank  of  Lieutenant,  in  the  1st  Regiment  of  Cumberland  County,  N.  Y. 
Militia,  commanded  by  Lieut.  Colonel  Timothy  Church.  This  regiment  was  or- 
ganized for  special  service  on  the  border  during  1782,  and  was  effective  in  afford- 
ing protection  to  the  sparsely  settled  district.  Lieut.  Bigelow  had  the  confidence 
of  the  people,  as  shown  by  subsequent  events.  After  the  war  he  lived  for  many 
years  in  Guilford,  Vt.,  where  he  owned  a  large  farm  near  the  centre  of  the  town. 
He  was  honored  with  the  title  of  Colonel,  and  was  one  of  the  substantial  men 
of  the  town.  During  the  controversy  between  Vermont  and  New  York  concern- 
ing the  jurisdiction  of  the  southern  part  of  Vermont,  he  was  quite  prominent, 
taking  sides  with  New  York,  and  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Assembly  in  1784 
from  Cumberland  County,  which  was  the  name  given  to  the  new  territory  in  dis- 
pute, and  included  Guilford,  Vt.  Soon  after  the  death  of  his  wife  he  removed 
to  Ellisburg,  Jefferson  Co.,  N.  Y.,  to  live  with  his  son  Jotham.  He  married  about 
1773,  Sarah  Stowell  of  Petersham,  Mass.,  a  descendant  probably  in  the  fourth 
generation  of  Samuel  Stowell,  the  ancestor,  who  settled  in  Hingham,  Mass., 
where  he  married,  1649,  Mary,  daughter  of  John  Farrow,  of  Hingham.  Joel  Bige- 
low, by  his  wife,  Mary  Stowell,  had  several  children,  among  whom  was  William. 

William  Bigelow,  son  of  Col.  Joel  and  Sarah  (Stowell)  Bigelow,  was  born 
in  Guilford,  Vt.,  Nov.  16,  1781.  He  married  Feb.  3,  1805,  Arathusa.  daughter 
Jotham  and  Mary  (Powers)  Bigelow.  She  was  his  cousin  and  a  native  of  Phil- 
lipston,  Mass.  They  lived  in  Guilford  and  Halifax,  and  later  moved  to  Phil- 
lipston,  Mass.,  where  he  died  Oct.  6,  1849.  They  had  thirteen  children,  of  whom 
William  Marlin  was  the  third. 

William  Marlin  Bigelow,  son  of  William  and  Arathusa  Bigelow,  was  born 
in  Guilford,  Vt.,  March  31,  1809.  He  engaged  early  in  life  in  the  manufacture  of 
soap,  and  as  a  young  man  he  carried  it  on  from  1835  to  1837  in  Havana.  Cuba.  , 
He  returned  to  the  States  in  the  latter  year,  and  was  located  at  Ellisburg,  N.  Y., 
until  1842,  removing  thence  to  Springfield,  Mass.,  where  he  carried  on  the  business 
successfully  for  three  years,  and  finally  located  in  Rhode  Island,  in  the  village  of 
Phcenix,  town  of  Warwick,  where  he  died  March  25.  185 1.  He  married  July  3. 
1836,  Margaret  Catharine  Dye,  daughter  of  Richard  Dye  of  Princess  Anne  Co., 
Va.,  and  Catharine  Baskerdore,  and  had  issue :  Virginia  Arathusa.  Elizabeth 
Pierce,  William  Milton,  Austin  Ingraham,  Herbert  Dodge  and  Clarence  Otis. 

CLARENCE  OTIS  BIGELOW,  Member  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  son  of 
William  Marlin  and  Margaret  Catharine  (Dye)  Bigelow.  was  born  in  Phenix, 
town  of  Warwick,  R.  I.,  Nov.  29,  1851.  His  father  died  the  same  year,  and  he 
in  Guilford,  Vt.,  Nov.  16,  1781.  He  married  Feb.  3,  1805.  Aruthusia.  daughter  of 
was  left  wholly  to  the  care  of  his  mother.  She  removed  to  Phillipston,  Mass.,  and 
later  to  Springfield,  Mass.,  he  attending  the  public  schools  in  both  places.     His 


l8S  SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

first  knowledge  of  the  drug  business  was  obtained  in  a  retail  drug  store  at 
Springfield,  Mass.  In  1867  Mr.  Bigelow  came  to  New  York,  and  entered  the 
employ  of  George  L.  Hooper,  located  at  102  Sitxh  Avenue.  He  bought  out  his 
employer  in  1880,  and  has  since  continued  to  carry  on  the  business  in  his  own 
name.  The  business  was  established  at  this  location  more  than  sixty  years  ago, 
when  this  part  of  the  city  was  inhabited  by  wealthy  residents.  Notwithstanding 
the  changes  and  removals,  some  to  the  upper  part  of  the  city,  others  to  New 
Jersey,  the  same  parties  or  their  children  still  continue  their  patronage  of  the  old 
house,  and  Mr.  Bigelow's  trade  far  exceeds  that  of  many  of  the  more  pretentious 
uptown  stores. 


CLARENCE   OTIS   BICELOW. 


Mr.  Bigelow  has  been  for  many  years  an  enthusiastic  member  of  the  Masonic 
Fraternity.  He  is  Past  Master  of  Ancient  Lodge  No.  724,  F.  and  A.  M.,  having 
been  initiated  on  the  night  of  its  organization,  and  passed  through  the  several 
chairs,  except  that  of  J.  W.  In  Capitular  Masonry  he  was  advanced  and  exalted 
in  Ancient  Chapter  No.  1,  R.  A.  M.,  and  served  in  that  as  Captain  of  the  Host; 
he  demitted  from  this  to  Adelphi  Chapter  No.  348,  of  which  he  is  still  a 
member.  In  the  Chivalric  Order  he  was  created  and  dubbed  a  Knight  Templar 
in  Columbian  Commandery  No.  1.    He  dimitted  to  Adelphi  Commandery  No.  59— 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION.  l8g 

the  only  mounted  Commandery  in  New  York — of  which  he  was  Captain  General, 
the  Eminent  Commander  being  Dr.  Alexander  B.  Mott.  The  membership  in- 
cluded many  of  the  leading  and  most  prominent  men  in  the  city. 

Mr.  Bigelow  was  formerly  identified  with  the  various  clubs,  but  pressure  of 
business  necessitated  his  withdrawal  from  all  but  the  Aldine  Association.  He  is 
President  of  the  Board  of  Pharmacy  of  Greater  New  York,  Treasurer  of  the 
New  York  College  of  Pharmacy,  and  a  Trustee  of  the  West  Side  Savings  Bank. 
Kis  ancestors,  as  shown  by  their  record,  have  been  patriots  and  men  of  mark  in 
their  day  and  generation. 


190 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 


ABEEL  AND  ALLIED   FAMILIES. 


INCLUDING  THE  FAMOUS  CORN  PLANT,  THE  FRIEND  OF  THE  WHITES. 


Recent  discoveries  relating  to  the  Abeel  family,  of  which  little  has  hitherto 
been  known,  have  brought  to  light  certain  facts  which  have  an  important  bearing 
on  the  Revolutionary  period  of  our  country's  history.  The  Genealogy  of  the 
Williamson  and  Abeel  families,  compiled  by  James  A.  Williamson,  proves  conclu- 
sively that  the  famous  "Cornplanter"  of  the  Seneca  Tribe  of  the  Six  Nations  was 
a  direct  descendant  of  Christopher  Janse  Abeel,  the  founder  of  this  old  Holland 
family  in  America.  The  faithful  mother,  who  so  carefully  provided  for  her  son's 
welfare,  little  dreamed  of  the  influence  that  would  be  exerted  by  him  and  his  de- 
scendants in  the  New  World. 

Christopher  Janse  Abeel,  the  progenitor  of  this  family  in  America,  was  born 
in  Amsterdam,  Holland,  in  1621.  Both  his  father  and  mother  fell  victims  to  the 
great  plague  which  scourged  all  Europe  in  1633,  when  he  was  twelve  years  of 
age.  Soon  after  his  mother  was  taken  ill,  she  sent  for  a  trustworthy  neighbor 
and  friend,  and  placed  in  her  keeping  all  the  ready  money  she  had  with  instruc- 
tions to  keep  it  until  the  lad  should  become  of  age.  He  was  placed  in  charge  of 
the  master  of  an  orphanage,  and  grew  to  manhood  well  equipped  for  the  duties 
of  life,  having  been  taught  in  the  meantime  the  trade  of  a  carpenter.  On  reach- 
ing his  majority,  the  faithful  friend,  true  to  her  trust,  delivered  to  him  the  princi- 
pal with  the  accumulated  interest,  and  with  this  little  fortune  he  purchased  a  stock 
of  hardware  and  started  for  America,  settling  in  Beaverwick,  now  Albany,  about 

1647.  His  name  first  appears  on 
the  records  of  the  town  in  the 
conveyance  of  a  piece  of  proper- 
ty, April  23,  1652.  In  1665,  as  a 
master  builder,  he  erected  the 
First  Reformed  Dutch  Church, 
which  took  the  place  of  the  crude 
log  house  in  which  the  first  set- 
tlers worshipped.  Two  years 
after  this  Abeel  was  elected 
deacon  of  the  church,  and  a  vote 
of  thanks  was  tendered  him 
for  faithful  service  as  treasurer 
of  the  poor  fund.  In  1665  he 
made  a  voyage  to  Holland  to  re- 
ceive a  legacy  from  a  deceased 
great  uncle.  Passport  was  made 
in  the  name  of  the  Honorable 
Stoffel  Jans  Abeel.  He  was  a  magistrate  of  Albany  and  filled  other  important 
positions,  and  in  ordinary  documents,  as  was  the  custom,  he  omitted  the  surname, 
but  to  all  important  legal  documents  he  attached  the  full  name.    He  died  in  1684. 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION.  igi 

He  married  Nov.  22,  1660,  Neiltje  Jans  Croom  (or  Kroom),  a  native  of  Holland. 
They  had  issue:  Magdelena,  married  Gerardus  Beekman;  Marie,  born  1666; 
married  Garret  Duyckinck ;  Johannes  born  1667;  Elizabeth,  born  probably 
1670;  married  Evert  Bancker. 

Johannes  Abeel,  eldest  son  of  Christopher  Janse  (Croom)  Abeel,  was  born  in 
Albany,  March  23,  1667,  died  Jan.  28,  171  x.  He  was  a  prosperous  merchant,  and 
was  elected  mayor  of  Albany,  1694-5.  He  removed  to  New  Amsterdam  and  lived 
there  for  a  time  and  on  his  return  to  Albany  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Assem- 
bly in  1701 ;  and  in  1709  was  again  elected  mayor  of  Albany.  He  married  April 
10,  1694,  Catharine,  daughter  of  David  Schuyler,  who,  with  his  brother  Pieterse, 
came  from  Amsterdam  in  1650,  and  settled  at  Fort  Orange.  David  Schuyler,  the 
younger  of  the  two,  married  Oct.  13,  1657,  Callyntje,  daughter  of  Abraham  Isaac- 
sen  Ver  Planck,  the  owner  of  Paulus  Hook,  now  Jersey  City.  Johannes  Abeel, 
by  his  wife  Catharine  (Schuyler)  Abeel,  had  issue:  Cataline,  bap.  New  York, 
Oct.  23,  1691;  Neiltje,  bap.  Albany,  April  14,  1698;  Christoffel,  bap.  Dec.  16,  1696; 
David,  bap.  April  29,  1705;  Jannette,  bap.  at  Albany,  June  6,  1705. 

A  copy  of  the  inventory  of  his  goods  and  personal  estate  includes  a  painted 
picture  of  himself;  also  one  of  his  wife  and  daughter. 

Christoffel  Abeel,  son  of  Johannes  and  Catalina  (Schuyler)  Abeel  (elder 
brother  of  David),  was  bap.  at  Albany,  Dec.  16,  1696.  He  married  Sept.  23,  1720, 
Margueritta  Breese,  and  had  issue:  Johannes  {John),  bap.  April  18,  1722;  An- 
thony, bap.  Jan.  27,  1724;  Anthony  Breese,  bap.  April  11,  1725;  David,  bap.  Aug. 
13.  I727  (settled  at  Bak-Oven,  near  Catskill,  in  Greene  County,  N.  Y.,  where  he 
died  in  Feb.,  1813,  in  the  eighty-seventh  year  of  his  age)  ;  Catharina,  bap.  June 
9.  1734;  Jacobus,  bap.  Jan.  26,  1736;  Maria,  bap.  April  27,  1740. 

Johannes,  or  John  Abeel,  eldest  son  of  Christoffel  and  Margueritta  Breese 
Abeel,  was  born  in  Albany,  April  8,  1722,  and  is  recorded  as  an  "alleged  lunatic" 
for  the  following  reasons : 

He  early  developed  a  taste  for  hunting  and  finally  became  a  fur  trader  among 
the  Indians  of  the  Six  Nations,  with  whom  he  was  on  terms  of  intimate  friend- 
ship, so  much  so  that  he  became  enamoured  with  an  Indian  princess,  named 
Aliquipiso,  of  the  Turtle  Clan  of  Seneca  Tribe,  and  married  her.  Their  son,  born 
about  1742,  became  the  famous  Corn  Plant. 

The  History  of  Montgomery  County,  N.  Y.,  pages  218  and  233,  contains  the 
following  additional  facts  relating  to  John  Abeel : 

"John  Abeel,  an  Indian  trader,  settled  in  the  town  (Minden),  a  short  dis- 
tance from  Fort  Plain,  in  1748.  He  secured  several  hundred  acres  of  land  of  one 
of  the  grantees  of  the  Blucker  patent.  In  his  previous  intercourse  with  the  In- 
dians, he  had  married  the  daughter  of  a  Seneca  chief,  the  ceremony  being  per- 
formed after  the  Indian  fashion.  A  child  of  this  mariage  was  the  famous  chief, 
Cornplanter  (Corn  Plant). 

"Abeel  erected  a  stone  dwelling  upon  a  knoll  directly  above  the  flats.  He 
married  on  Sept.  22,  1759,  Mary  Knouts,  a  member  of  one  of  the  prominent  Ger- 
man families,  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution  was  living  on  his  farm. 
During  the  invasion  of  Oct..  1780,  he  was  taken  prisoner  by  a  band  of  Indians, 


i02  SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

and  while  immediately  expecting  death,  Cornplanter  addresed  him  as  father,  thus 
securing  his  safety.  He  was  given  the  liberty  either  to  accompany  the  Indians 
under  the  protection  of  his  son,  or  to  return  to  his  white  family.  Much  credit  is 
due  him  for  choosing  the  latter,  and  after  hostilities  had  ceased,  Cornplanter 
visited  him  and  was  received  with  much  hospitality." 

John  Abeel,  by  his  second  wife,  had  several  children,  descendants  of  whom 
are  still  living  in  Montgomery  County,  N.  Y. 

CORN  PLANT   (KI  ON-TWOG-KY) 

CHIEF  OF  THE  SENECAS. 

SON    OF  JOHN   ABEEL  AND  THE   INDIAN    PRINCESS,    ALIQUIPISO. 

Corn  Plant  (usually,  but  improperly  spelled  Cornplanter)  was  one  of  the  most 
unique  characters  in  American  history,  and  it  appears  somewhat  strange  that  after 
a  lapse  of  a  century  or  more  the  true  history  of  his  parentage  should  now  for  the 
first  time  be  brought  to  light,  proving  beyond  a  doubt  that  he  was  a  grandson  of 
one  of  Albany's  most  distinguished  mayors.  There  may  have  been  an  effort  on 
the  part  of  those  interested  to  cover  up  the  facts  at  the  time  by  permitting  a 
misspelling  the  name  which  has  passed  into  history  as  O'Bail  (easily  mistaken 
for  Abeel),  but  Corn  Plant's  own  statement  to  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania  in 
1836,  in  which  he  gives  an  account  of  his  early  life  (omitting  the  name  of  his 
father),  confirms  the  newly  discovered  evidence  of  his  parentage.    He  says: 

"I  feel  it  my  duty  to  send  a  speech  to  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania  at  this 
time  and  inform  him  of  the  place  where  I  was  born,  which  was  at  Connewaugus, 
on  the  Genesee  River. 

"When  I  was  a  child,  I  played  with  the  butterfly,  the  grasshopper  and  the 
frogs,  and  as  I  grew  up  I  began  to  pay  some  attention  and  play  with  the  Indian 
boys  in  the  neighborhood,  and  they  took  notice  of  my  skin  being  a  different 
color  from  theirs  and  spoke  about  it.  I  inquired  of  my  mother  the  cause,  and 
she  told  me  that  my  father  was  a  resident  of  Albany.  I  still  eat  my  victuals  out 
of  a  bark  dish.  I  grew  up  to  be  a  young  man  and  married  me  a  wife,  and  I  had 
no  kettle  or  gun.  I  then  knew  where  my  father  lived,  and  went  to  see  him,  and 
found  he  was  a  white  man  and  spoke  the  English  language.  He  gave  me  victuals 
while  at  his  house,  but  when  I  started  home  he  gave  me  no  provision  to  eat 
on  the  way.  He  gave  me  neither  kettle  nor  gun,  neither  did  he  tell  me  that  the 
United  States  were  about  to  rebel  against  the  Government  of  England. 

"I  will  now  tell  you,  brothers  who  are  in  session  of  the  Legislature  of  Penn- 
sylvania, that  the  Great  Spirit  has  made  known  to  me  that  I  have  been  wicked 
and  the  cause  thereof  has  been  the  Revolutionary  war  in  America.  The  cause  of 
Indians  being  led  into  sin  at  that  time,  was  that  many  of  them  were  in  the 
practice  of  drinking  and  getting  intoxicated.  Great  Britain  requested  us  to  join 
with  them  in  the  conflict  against  the  Americans,  and  promised  the  Indians  land 
and  liquor.  I  myself  was  opposed  to  joining  in  the  conflict,  as  I  had  nothing  to 
do  with  the  difficulty  that  existed  between  the  two  parties.  I  have  now  informed 
you  how  it  happened  that  the  Indians  took  part  in  the  revolution,  and  will  relate 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 


193 


to  you  some  circumstances  that  occurred  after  the  war.  General  Putnam,  who 
was  then  at  Philadelphia,  told  me  there  was  to  be  a  council  at  Fort  Stanwix,  and 
the  Indians  requested  me  to  attend  on  behalf  of  the  Six  Nations,  which  I  did, 


CORN   PLANT,     KI-ON-TVVOG-KV 


and  there  met  with  these  commissioners  who  had  been  appointed  to  hold  the 
council.  They  told  me  that  they  would  inform  me  of  the  cause  of  the  revolution, 
which  I  requested  them  to  do  minutely.  They  then  said  that  it  originated  on 
account  of  the  heavy  taxes  that  had  been  imposed  upon  them  by  the  British  Gov- 
ernment, which  had  been  for  fifty  years  increasing  upon  them;  that  the  Ameri- 
cans had  grown  weary  thereof  and  refused  to  pay,  which  affronted  the  King. 
There  had  likewise  a  difficulty  taken  place  about  some  tea  which  they  wished  me 
not  to  use,  as  it  had  been  one  of  the  causes  that  many  people  had  lost  their  lives, 
and  the  British  Government  now  being  affronted,  the  war  commenced  and  the 
cannons  began  to  roar  in  our  country. 

"General  Putnam  then  told  me  at  the  Council  at  Fort  Stanwix  that  by  the 
late  war  the  Americans  had  gained  two  objects:  they  had  established  themselves 
an  independent  nation  and  had  obtained  some  land  to  live  upon,  the  division  line 
of  which  from  Great  Britain  runs  through  the  Lakes.  I  then  spoke  and  said  I 
wanted  some  land  for  the  Indians  to  live  on,  and  General  Putnam  said  it  should 
be  granted,  and  I  should  have  land  in  the  State  of  New  York  for  the  Indians.  He 
then  encouraged  me  to  use  my  endeavors  to  pacify  the  Indians  generally,  and  as 
he  considered  it  an  arduous  task,  wished  to  know  what  pay  I  would  require.  I 
replied  that  I  would  use  my  endeavors  to  do  as  he  requested  with  the  Indians, 


194  SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

and  for  pay  therefor  I  would  take  land  upon  which  I  now  live,  which  was  pre- 
sented to  me  by  Gov.  Mifflin.  I  told  General  Putnam  that  I  wished  the  Indians  to 
have  the  privilege  of  hunting  in  the  woods  and  making  fires,  which  he  likewise 
assented  to. 

"The  treaty  that  was  made  at  the  aforementioned  council  has  been  broken 
by  some  of  the  white  people,  which  I  now  intend  acquainting  the  Governor  with. 
Some  white  people  are  not  willing  that  the  Indians  should  hunt  any  more,  whilst 
others  are  satisfied  therewith;  and  those  white  people  who  reside  near  our  res- 
ervation, tell  us  that  the  woods  are  theirs,  and  that  they  have  obtained  them  from 
the  Government.  The  treaty  has  also  been  broken  by  the  white  people  using  their 
endeavors  to  destroy  all  the  wolves,  which  was  not  spoken  about  in  the  council  at 
Fort  Stanwix  by  General  Putnam,  but  has  originated  lately." 

Corn  Plant  further  complains  that  "white  people  could  get  credit  from  the 
Indians  and  do  not  pay  them  honestly  according  to  agreement ;"  also  that  "there  is 
a  great  quantity  of  whiskey  brought  near  our  reservation,  and  the  Indians  obtain  it 
and  become  drunken."  He  complains  further  that  he  has  been  called  upon  to 
pay  taxes,  and  says:  "It  is  my  desire  that  the  Governor  will  exempt  me  from 
paying  taxes  for  my  land  to  white  people,  and  also  to  cause  the  money  I  am  now 
obliged  to  pay  be  refunded  to  me,  as  I  am  very  poor." 

"The  Government  has  told  us  that  when  difficulties  arose  between  the  In- 
dians and  the  white  people  they  would  attend  to  having  them  removed.  We  are 
now  in  a  trying  situation,  and  I  wish  the  Governor  to  send  a  person  authorized 
to  attend  thereto  the  fore  part  of  next  summer,  about  the  time  that  the  grass  has 
grown  big  enough  for  pasture. 

"The  Government  requested  me  to  pay  attention  to  the  Indians  and  take  care 
of  them.  We  are  now  arrived  at  a  situation  in  which  I  believe  the  Indians  can- 
not exist  unless  the  Governor  shall  comply  with  my  request,  and  send  a  person 
authorized  to  treat  between  us  and  the  white  people  the  approaching  summer. 
I  have  now  no  more  to  speak." 

This  singular  production  of  Corn  Plant  was  of  course  dictated  to  an  inter- 
preter, who  acted  as  amenuensis,  but  the  sentiments  are  undoubtedly  his  own. 
It  was  dated  in  1822,  when  the  lands  reserved  for  the  Indians  in  the  northwestern 
part  of  Pennsylvania  became  surrounded  by  the  farms  of  the  whites  and  some 
attempt  was  made  to  tax  the  property  of  the  Seneca  Chief,  in  consequence  of 
which  he  wrote  this  epistle  to  the  Governor. 

The  letter  is  distinguished  by  its  simplicity  and  good  sense,  and  was  no 
doubt  dictated  in  the  concise,  nervous  and  elevated  style  of  the  Indian  orator, 
which  has  lost  much  of  its  beauty  and  poetical  character  in  the  interpretation. 
His  account  of  his  parentage  is  simple  and  touching — his  unprotected,  yet  happy 
home,  where  he  played  with  the  butterfly,  the  grasshopper  and  the  frog  is 
sketched  with  a  scriptural  felicity  of  style.  There  is  something  very  pathetic  in 
his  description  of  his  poverty  when  he  grew  up  to  be  a  young  man,  and  married 
a  wife,  and  had  no  kettle  nor  gun,  while  the  brief  account  of  his  visit  to  his 
father  is  marked  by  a  pathos  of  genuine  feeling.  It  is  to  be  hoped  indeed  that 
as  the  account  states  the  father  was  non  compos  mentes. 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION.  I95 

Corn  Plant  was  one  of  the  parties  to  the  treaty  at  Fort  Stanwix  in  1784, 
when  a  large  cession  of  territory  was  made  by  the  Indians.  At  the  treaty  of 
Fort  Harmer,  five  years  afterwards  he  took  the  leading  part  in  conveying  an 
immense  tract  of  country  to  the  American  Government,  and  became  so  unpopu- 
lar that  his  life  was  threatened  by  his  incensed  tribe.  But  this  chief,  and  those 
who  acted  with  him,  were  induced  to  make  liberal  concessions  by  motives  of 
sound  policy;  for  the  Six  Nations,  having  fought  on  the  royal  side  during  the 
War  of  the  Revolution,  and  the  British  Government  having  recognized  our 
independence,  and  signed  a  peace  without  stipulating  for  the  protection  of  her 
misguided  allies,  they  were  wholly  at  our  mercy.  In  an  address  sent  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States  in  1790  by  Corn  Plant,  Half  Town  and  Big  Tree, 
occurs  the  following : 

"Father:  We  will  not  conceal  from  you  that  the  Great  Spirit  and  not  men 
has  preserved  Corn  Plant  from  the  hands  of  his  own  nation,  for  they  ask  contin- 
ually, 'Where  is  the  land  upon  which  our  children  and  their  children  after  them 
are  to  lie  down?  You  told  us  that  the  line  drawn  from  Pennsylvania  to  Lake 
Ontario  would  mark  it  forever  on  the  East,  and  the  line  running  from  Beaver 
Creek  to  Pennsylvania  would  mark  it  on  the  West,  and  we  see  it  is  not  so;  for 
first  comes  one  and  then  another  and  takes  it  away  by  order  of  that  people  which 
you  tell  us  promised  to  secure  it  to  us.'  He  is  silent,  for  he  has  nothing  to  answer. 
When  the  sun  goes  down  he  opens  his  heart  before  the  Great  Spirit,  and  earlier 
than  the  sun  appears  again  upon  the  hills  he  gives  thanks  for  his  protection  dur- 
ing the  night,  for  he  feels  that  among  men  become  desperate  by  the  injuries  they 
have  received,  it  is  God  only  that  can  protect  him." 

In  reply  to  this  address,  President  Washington  remarked :  "The  merits  of 
Corn  Plant  and  his  friendship  for  the  United  States  are  well  known  to  me,  and 
shall  not  be  forgotten ;  and  as  a  mark  of  the  esteem  of  the  United  States,  I  have 
directed  the  Secretary  of  War  to  make  him  a  present  of  $250,  either  in  money  or 
goods,  as  Corn  Plant  shall  like  best." 

In  his  efforts  to  preserve  peace  with  his  powerful  neighbors,  Corn  Plant  in- 
curred alternately  the  suspicion  of  both  parties,  the  whites  imputing  him  a  secret 
agency  in  the  depredations  of  lawless  individuals  of  his  nation,  while  the  Senecas 
were  sometimes  jealous  of  his  apparent  fame  with  the  whites,  and  regarded  him 
as  a  pensionary  of  their  oppressors.  His  course,  however,  was  prudenl  and 
consistent,  and  his  influence  very  great. 

He  resided  on  the  banks  of  the  Alleghany  river,  a  few  miles  below  the  junc- 
tion, upon  a  tract  of  fine  land  within  the  limits  of  Pennsylvania,  and  not  far  from 
the  line  between  that  State  and  New  York.  He  owned  thirteen  hundred  acres  of 
land,  of  which  six  hundred  were  comprehended  within  the  village  occupied  by 
his  people.  The  Chief  favored  the  Christian  religion  and  welcomed  those  who 
came  to  teach  it. 

Referring  to  his  personality,  an  eminent  writer  says:  "He  was  the  rival  of 
Red  Jacket.  Without  the  commanding  genius  of  Red  Jacket,  he  possessed  a 
large  share  of  the  common  sense,  which  is  more  efficient  in  all  the  ordinary  affars 
of  life.    They  were  both  able  men;  both  acquired  the  confidence  of  their  people, 


iyb  SONS      OF      TH£      REVOLUTION. 

but  the  patriotism  of  Red  Jacket  was  exhibited  in  an  unyielding  hatred  01  the 
whites,  while  Corn  Plant  adopted  the  opposite  policy  oi  conciliation  towards  his 
more  powerful  neighbors.  The  one  was  an  orator  of  unblemislieu  replication,  the 
other  an  orator  ot  unrivalled  eloquence.  Hoili  were  snrevvu,  artful  and  expert 
negotiators,  and  they  prevailed  alternately  over  each  other,  as  opportunities  were 
offered  to  either  for  the  exertion  of  his  peculiar  abilities.  The  one  rose  into 
power  when  the  Senecas  were  embittered  against  the  whites,  and  the  other 
acquired  consequence  when  it  became  desirable  to  cultivate  friendly  relations  upon 
the  frontier." 

On  one  occasion  Red  Jacket  was  boasting  of  what  he  had  said  at  certain 
treaties,  when  Corn  Plant  quickly  added,  "Yes,  but  we  told  you  what  to  say." 
Horatio  Jones  said  of  Corn  Plant :  "He  was  one  of  the  best  men  to  have  on  your 
side,  and  there  you  would  be  sure  to  find  him  if  he  thought  yours  the  right  side, 
but  it  was  decidedly  unlucky  if  he  thought  you  were  wrong." 

Corn  Plant  was  the  first  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  eloquent  temperance  lec- 
turers in  the  United  States,  and  labored  hard  to  save  his  people  from  this  growing 
evil,  for  which  his  white  neighbors  were  largely  responsible. 

In  his  latter  days  he  became  superstitious,  and  his  conscience  reproached  him 
for  his  friendshhip  towards  the  whites,  and  in  a  moment  of  alarm,  fancying  that 
the  Great  Spirit  had  commanded  him  to  destroy  all  evidence  of  his  connection 
with  the  enemies  of  his  race,  he  destroyed  an  elegant  sword  and  other  articles 
which  he  had  received  as  presents. 

There  can  no  longer  be  any  doubt  of  his  relationship  to  the  Abeel  family. 
His  mother  told  him  that  his  father's  name  was  Abeel,  or  O'Bial.  The  latter  name 
does  not  appear  in  the  Albany  records,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  such  a  person  ever 
lived  in  that  city.  The  name  of  Abeel  is  still  preserved  with  the  tribe  on  the 
reservation. 

The  History  of  Montgomery  County,  page  233,  says: 

"Cornplanter  visited  Fort  Plain  in  his  native  dress  about  the  year  1810,  bring- 
ing with  him  several  Indians  of  dignified  rank.  They  were  cordially  welcomed 
by  the  chief's  relatives,  going  first  to  the  house  of  Joseph  Wagner,  father  of 
Peter  J.  Wagner,  who  was  grandson  on  the  mother's  side  of  John  Abeel.  The 
party  also  visited  the  house  of  Nicholas  Dygert,  whose  wife  was  a  sister  of  Mrs. 
Wagner,  and  was  richly  entertained,  and  then  at  the  home  of  Jacob  Abeel,  living 
with  his  widowed  mother  on  their  old  homestead.  The  Indians  were  treated 
with  hospitality.  The  visit  lasted  several  days,  and  the  guests  were  the  central  at- 
traction of  village  society,  for  Cornplanter  was  a  man  of  noble  bearing,  and  was 
decorated  with  all  the  native  display  of  costume  appropriate  to  his  rank.  His 
father  at  that  time  had  been  dead  more  than  a  dozen  years." 

Capt.  David  Abeel,  son  of  Johannes  and  Catharine  (Schuyler)  Abeel  (brother 
to  Christoffel,  the  father  of  John,  father  of  Corn  Plant),  was  born  at  Albany,  N. 
Y.,  April  27,  1705,  died  Oct.  20,  1777.  At  an  early  age,  after  his  father's  death, 
he  was  sent  to  New  York  and  apprenticed  to  Mr.  Schuyler  in  the  dry  goods  bus- 
iness, and  soon  after  reaching  his  majority  he  engaged  in  the  flour  and  provision 
business,  which  he  carried  on  successfully  for  many  years.   He  held  the  position  of 


SONS      OF     THE      REVOLUTION.  197 

Captain  of  the  company  of  militia  of  foot  of  the  city  and  county  of  New  York,  for 
many  years  until  1772.  His  commission  was  signed  by  Leonard  Lispenard, 
Colonel.  He  married,  Feb.  24,  1726,  Mary  Duyckink,  born  Oct.  4,  1702,  daughter 
of  Garret  Duyckink,  and  Mary  Abeel.  They  had  David,  Jr.,  born  1727  (married 
July  2,  1752,  Neiltje  Van  Bergan  Van  Katckel),  James,  born  May  12,  1733,  Garret, 
born  May  2,  1734,  Annetti,  bap.  March  1,  1753. 

COL.  JAMES  ABEEL,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  second  son  of  David 
and  Mary  (Duyckink)  Abeel,  was  born  in  Albany,  N.  Y.,  May  12,  1733,  died  in 
New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  April  20,  1825.  He  enlisted  early  in  the  War  of  the  Rev- 
olution and  was  Captain  1st  Battalion,  New  York  City  Militia,  Col.  John  Lasher, 
Sept.  14,  1775,  Major  of  same  August-November,  1776.  This  was  known  as  the 
First  Independent  Battalion.  It  was  a  favorite  corps,  composed  of  young  men  of 
respectability  and  wealth,  and  when  on  parade  attracted  great  attention.  Its  com- 
panies bore  separate  names,  and  the  uniforms  of  each  had  some  distinguishing 
feature.  Major  Abeel's  old  company,  which  he  commanded  as  Captain,  was 
known  as  the  "Rangers."  As  reorganized  in  the  summer  of  1776,  the  regiment 
had  for  its  field  officers,  Col.  John  Lasher,  Lieut.  Col.  Andrew  Stockholm  and 
Major  James  Abeel. 

When  it  was  decided  by  Washington  to  fortify  New  York  city,  the  First  In- 
dependent Battalion  constructed  Bayard's  Hill  Redoubt  on  the  west  side  of  the 
Bowery,  where  Grand  and  Mulberry  streets  intersect.  This  regiment  bore  an 
important  part  in  the  battle  of  Long  Island,  which  was  fought  August  27,  1776. 
It  was  attached  to  Gen.  John  Morin  Scott's  Brigade.  Johnson's  description  of  the 
battle  states  that:  "As  the  report  came  in  that  the  enemy  intended  to  march  at 
once  upon  Sullivan.  Washington  promptly  sent  him  a  reinforcement  of  six  reg- 
iments, which  included  Miles'  and  Atlee's,  from  Sterling's  brigade,  Chester's  and 
Silliman's  from  Wadsworth's,  and  probably  Lasher's  and  Drake's  from  Scott's." 
The  suffering  of  this  regiment  after  the  battlle  are  described  in  a  letter  from  Gen. 
Scott,  dated  the  29th:  "You  may  judge  of  our  situation,  subject  to  almost  in- 
cessant rains,  without  baggage  or  tents,  and  almost  without  victuals  or  drink, 
and  in  some  parts  of  the  lines  the  men  were  standing  up  to  their  middles  in 
water."  This  regiment  took  part  in  the  subsequent  events  immediately  following 
the  retreat  of  the  American  Army  from  Long  Island. 

Col.  Abeel  was  subsequently  attached  to  the  staff  of  General  Washington  as 
Deputy  Quartermaster  General.  New  Jersey  Continental  Line,  during  the  winter 
the  army  was  encamped  at  Morristown,  and  had  charge  of  the  transportation 
between  Philadelphia  and  West  Point,  residing  at  the  time  in  his  own  house  at 
Morristown. 

He  married,  March  23,  1762,  Gertrude  Neilson,  daughter  of  Dr.  John  Neil- 
son,  who  came  from  Belfast,  Ireland,  about  1740,  with  his  brother  James,  who 
settled  at  New  Brunswick  as  a  shipping  merchant  and  ship  owner.  Dr.  Neil- 
son  married  Johannes,  daughter  of  Andrew  Coeyman,  who  came  from  Holland 
with  his  mother,  the  widow  of  Andreas  Coeyman,  and  settled  on  the  Hudson,  on 
Coeyman's  patent,  afterwards  removing  to  Raritan,  or  Raritan  Landing.  Dr. 
Neilson  died  in  1745,  as  the  result  of  an  accident.    He  had  one  son,  John,  a  dis- 


I9o  SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

tinguished  officer  of  the  Revolution,  and  a  daughter  Gertrude,  who  was  married 
to  Col.  James  Abeel. 

Col.  James  Abeel,  by  his  wife  Gertrude  (Neilson)  Abeel,  had  issue:  David, 
born  Jan.  13,  1763,  Johanna,  Sept.  13,  1764  (married  Leonard  Blucker,  and  had 
three  children,  Gertrude,  Feb.  23,  1786,  James,  Dec.  28,  1786,  Maria,  Sept.  26' 
1788)  ;  Maria,  born  Nov.  30,  1766,  died  June  16,  1767;  John  Neilson,  born  Dec.  1, 
1786. 

CAPT.  DAVID  ABEEL,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  eldest  son  of  Col. 
James  and  Gertrude  (Neilson)  Abeel,  was  born  Jan.  13,  1763,  died  Oct.  31, 
1840.  He  early  evinced  a  taste  for  a  seafaring  life,  and  volunteered  to  serve  with 
Captain  Barry  (afterwards  Commodore  Barry,  U.  S.  N.)  on  the  ship  "Governor 
General,"  which  sailed  under  letters  of  marque  during  the  Revolution.  He  made 
a  voyage  to  St.  Eustatia  in  1780,  which  lasted  several  months.  He  next  sailed  as 
midshhipman  on  the  frigate  Alliance,  which  took  Col.  Lawrence,  our  American 
minister,  to  France,  in  the  early  part  of  1781.  After  leaving  France  and  cruising 
near  the  West  Indies,  the  Alliance  was  attacked  on  the  28th  of  May,  1781,  by 
the  British  sloops-of-war  Atalanta  and  Tripassa.  All  three  vessels  were  becalmed 
at  the  beginning  of  the  action,  the  Alliance  in  consequence  of  her  position  being 
at  a  great  disadvantage.  Captain  Barry  was  wounded  early  in  the  action  and 
carried  below,  and  the  British  made  demand  for  the  surrender  of  his  ship,  but  a 
sudden  breeze  coming  up  at  the  moment  the  Alliance  ran  between  the  two  British 
vessels,  pouring  a  broadside  from  her  starboard  and  larboard  guns  at  the  same 
time,  disabling  her  antagonists  and  compelling  their  surrender.  Midshipman 
Abeel  was  wounded  in  the  thigh  during  the  action  by  a  musket  ball.  On  reach- 
ing New  York  he  received  the  public  thanks  of  the  Navy  Board  for  his  gallantry. 
His  third  cruise  was  on  a  letter-of-marque  vessel  bound  for  Holland.  She  was 
captured  by  the  British  and  Abeel  was  sent  a  prisoner  to  the  Jersey  Prison  Ship 
at  Brooklyn.  Through  friends  who  had  influence  with  the  British  Commander  he 
was  soon  after  released  and  sent  to  New  York,  where  he  was  introduced  to  the 
British  Admiral,  who  offerred  him  a  midshipman's  warrant  on  his  own  ship  if 
he  would  join  the  British  navy.  Mr.  Abeel  replied  that  he  was  an  American, 
and  would  hold  in  utter  contempt  any  person  who  would  thus  turn  recreant  to 
the  high  claims  of  his  country.  The  reply  so  provoked  the  Admiral  that  he  would 
not  allow  him  to  be  exchanged  for  one  of  equal  rank,  saying  he  was  too  great  a 
rebel  to  let  go,  and  Abeel  was  released  on  parole,  which  continued  for  about 
eighteen  months,  until  the  close  of  the  war,  for  which  time  he  received  no  com- 
pensation.   He  afterwards  commanded  a  vessel  in  the  merchant  service. 

He  married  May  10.  1789,  Jane  Hassert  (born  March  1,  1766,  died  March  2. 
1842).  They  had  issue.  Mary  Ann,  who  married  Douw  Ditmars  Williamson: 
Gertrude,  born  Dec.  24,  1792,  David,  born  June  12,  1804,  died  Sept.  6,  1846; 
Johanna,  born  Aug.  18,  1807,  died  Oct.,  1826;  James,  John,  Jacob,  and  James  (2), 
died  in  infancy. 

Mary  Ann  Abeel,  daughter  of  Capt.  David  and  Jane  (Hassert)  Abeel,  was 
married  Nov.  1,  1810,  to  Douw  Ditmars  Williamson,  son- of  Nicholas,  son  of 
Garret,  son  of  Nicholas,  son  of  Willem  Willemsen,  the  ancestor. 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION.  199 

Willem  Willemsen,  the  Long  Island  ancestor,  was  born  in  Holland  in  1637, 
came  to  New  Amsterdam  in  the  ship  Concorde  in  1657,  and  settled  at  Gravesend, 
L.  I.,  where  his  name  appears  on  the  tax  list  of  1683,  and  on  the  census  of  Graves- 
end  in  1698.  He  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  England  in  1687.  In  the  allotment 
of  lands,  1670,  he  drew  lot  32,  and  received  another  portion  in  1700.  In  his  will 
dated  Dec.  1,  1721,  recorded  in  the  surrogate's  office,  New  York  (p.  288,  liber  9), 
and  other  contemporaneous  documents  he  signs  his  name  Willem  Willemsen. 
In  1715  he  and  his  son  Nicholas  were  subscribers  to  a  fund  for  the  support  of 
Dominies  Freeman  and  Antonides,  who  presided  over  the  churches  of  Breuck- 
elen,  Flatlands,  Jamaica,  Gravesend  and  New  Utrecht.  He  married  probably  in 
1678,  Marye  Peterse  Wyckoff,  of  Gravesend,  born  Oct.  17,  1653,  daughter  of 
Pieter  Classy  Wyckoff,  who  emigrated  to  this  country  in  1636,  and  married 
Greitze,  daughter  of  Hendrick  Van  Ness.  They  had  issue,  Nicholas,  born  1680, 
Pieter,  bap.  April  16,  1682;  Jacobus,  Cornelis,  Marretje,  bap.  April  12,  1685  (mar- 
ried Abm.  Emans  of  Gravesend)  ;  Ann,  bap.  May  29,  1695  (married  John 
Griggs,  Jr.,  of  Gravesend. 

Nicholas  Williamson,  eldest  child  of  Willem  and  Mary  Peterse  (Wyckoff) 
Willemsen,  was  born  at  Gravesend,  L.  I.,  in  1680.  He  was  an  industrious  and 
successful  farmer.  He  married  1st  in  1715,  Lucrecy  Voorheese,  daughter  of 
Steven  Corte  Voorheese  of  Gravesend,  and  his  wife,  Agatha  Egge  Janse,  who 
(Voorheese)  was  of  Flatlands,  1699,  and  of  Gravesend,  1725,  son  of  Steven 
Corte  Voorheese,  who  emigrated  in  1660  from  Ruinen  in  Dreuthe,  and  from  in 
front  of  the  hamlet  of  Hees,  which  indicates  the  name.  They  had  issue :  Stephen, 
born  July  1,  1716;  Eva,  bap.  July  13,  1718;  Garret  born  March  15,  1728.  He 
married  2d  Ida  Remsen,  daughter  of  Jeremias  Remsen,  and  had  Nicholas, 
bap.  May  13,  1733;  Johannes,  bap.  May  13,  1733;  Rem,  born  April  17,  1738;  Cor- 
nelis, bap.  July  18,  1739;  Antje,  married  Jacob  Stillwill.  The  Williamsons  of 
Flatbush,,  Flatlands,  Gravesend  and  New  Utrecht  are  descendants  of  Nicholas 
by  .his  second  wife. 

Garret  Williamson  youngest  child  of  Nicholas  and  Lucrecy  (Voorhees) 
Williamson,  was  born  at  Gravesend,  L.  I.,  March  15,  1728,  died  at  Neshanic,  N. 
J.,  Jan.  17,  1790.  He  was  an  Elder  in  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  at  Neshanic. 
He  married  Aug.  18,  1761,  Charity  Bennett  (born  April  30,  1731,  died  Oct.  27, 
1783).  They  had  issue:  Nicholas,  born  Oct.  8,  1762,  Cornelis,  born  March  28, 
1764,  Jacobus,  July  10,  1768,  Anne,  April  3,  1767,  Lucrecy,  Dec.  25,  1768.  He 
married  2d  Jan.  14,  1787,  Alche  Patterson;  no  issue. 

NICHOLAS  WILLIAMSON,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Gerret 
and  Charity  (Bennett)  Williamson,  was  born  Oct.  8,  1762,  died  Aug.  18,  1856. 
He  served  in  the  Revolution  as  a  Minute  Man,  and  was  stationed  for  a  time  at 
Perth  Amboy,  and  was  under  fire  from  the  British  ships  in  Raritan  Bay.  He 
was  a  farmer  and  storekeper  at  Neshanic,  N.  J.  He  was  an  Elder  in  the  Re- 
formed Dutch  church  of  that  place,  and  a  man  of  some  influence.  He  married 
June  10,  1788,  Alche  Ditmars  (born  Sept.  6,  1754,  died  April  15,  1846),  daughter 
of  Douwe  Ditmars  and  Seytie  Suydam,  son  of  Douwe  Jansen  Ditmars  and  Cath- 
arine Lott,  son  of  Jan  Jansen  Ditmars,  the  ancestor,  who  married  Altje  Douwe 


200  SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

of  Douwsen.  Nicholas  Williamson,  by  his  wife,  Alche  Ditmars,  had  Douw 
Ditmars,  born  Jan.  4,  1789,  and  Garret,  born  March  7,  1798. 

Douw  Ditmars  Williamson  son  of  Nicholas  and  Alche  (Ditmars)  Wil- 
liamson, was  born  at  Neshanick,  N.  J.,  Jan.  4,  1789.  He  served  in  the  War  of 
1812-15,  and  was  stationed  at  Paulus  Hook,  now  Jersey  City.  He  was  Comp- 
troller of  New  York,  and  served  under  several  administrations.  He  was  con- 
nected with  the  Western  railroads,  and  some  little  time  before  his  death  (Aug. 
4.  1869),  was  President  of  the  Farmers'  Loan  and  Trust  Co.  In  religion  he 
followed  in  the  footsteps  of  his  ancestors.  He  was  long  a  member  and  Elder  of 
the  Collegiate  Reformed  Dutch  church  of  New  York.  He  married  Nov.  I,  1810, 
Mary  Ann  Abeel,  daughter  of  Capt.  David  Abeel  and  his  wife,  Jane  Hassert, 
son  of  Col.  James  Abeel,  son  of  David,  son  of  Johannes,  son  of  Christopher  Janse 
Abeel,  the  ancestor. 

By  this  marriage  he  had  issue:  Nicholas,  born  Sept.  17,  1811;  John  Neilson 
Abeel,  Feb.  13,  1814;  James  Abeel,  April  12,  1816;  Jane  Hassert,  June  23,  1818; 
David  Abeel,  Feb.  8,  1821 ;  George  Rogers,  May  17,  1823;  Leonard  Bleeker,  Feb. 
4,  1826;  Douw  Ditmars,  born  Nov.  15,  1830;  Edwin,  March  9,  1829. 

Nicholas  Williamson,  son  of  Douw  Ditmars  and  Mary  Ann  (Abeel)  Wil- 
liamson, was  born  in  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  Sept.  17,  181 1.  He  was  educated  at 
the  schools  of  his  native  town  and  came  to  New  York  about  as  clerk  in 

a  commercial  house,  and  later  was  appointed  teller  in  the  Butchers'  and  Drovers' 
Bank,  and  when  the  Bank  of  the  State  of  New  York  was  organized  he  left  his 
old  place  and  accepted  the  position  of  assistant  teller  in  the  new  bank  and  after- 
wards became  teller.  The  business  training  acquired  in  these  financial  institutions 
laid  the  foundation  for  his  subsequent  success.  In  1850  he  organized  the  Nov- 
elty Rubber  Company,  originally  of  Connecticut  and  later  of  New  Brunswick,  one 
of  the  earliest  companies  to  introduce  certain  hard  rubber  goods  of  the  Good- 
year patents.  The  Rubber  business  was  then  in  its  infancy,  and  through  the 
skillful  management  of  Mr.  Williamson  and  his  associates,  it  became  one  of  the 
largest  concerns  in  this  line  in  the  United  States,  its  annual  output  reaching  sev- 
eral hundred  thousand  dollars'.  It  was  chiefly  through  Mr.  Williamson's  instru- 
mentality that  the  works  were  established  at  New  Brunswick,  and  he  thus  con- 
tributed materially  to  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  his  native  town.  He  was 
President  of  the  company  for  many  years,  until  his  death. 

While  a  resident  of  New  York,  he  became  interested  in  the  movement  for 
the  improvement  of  young  men  by  providing  additional  means  for  reading  and 
study,  and  assisted  in  the  organization  of  the  Mercantile  Library  of  New  York, 
of  which  he  was  for  several  years  Secretary.  He  was  an  officer  of  the  Reformed 
Church  of  New  Brunswick.  He  died  Nov.  15,  1862.  He  married  1st  Mary 
Rebecca  Burlock,  daughter  of  David  Burlock,  and  Agnes  Maria  Codwise,  born 
Nov.  3,  1819,  on  the  Island  of  St.  Croix,  W.  I.  They  had  issue:  Agnes  M.,  born 
New  York,  June  14,  1839  ,died  in  infancy;  David  Abeel,  born  New  York,  Sept. 
18,  1840,  died  Sept.  22,  1862;  Marianna,  born  in  New  York,  March  3,  1843,  died 
June  11,  1871;  Nicholas,  born  New  York  March  9,  1845;  Agnes  Burlock,  born  in 
Jersey  City,  Jan.  16,  1848,  deceased;  Douw  Ditmars,  born  in  Bound  Brook,  N.  J., 


SONS      OF     THE      REVOLUTION.  201 

Jan.  21,  1851;  George  Norman,  born  in  Bound  Brook,  N.  J.,  March  12,  1853; 
Martha  Codwise,  born  in  Bound  Brook,  May  3,  1855.  Mr.  Williamson's  first 
wife  died  Jan.  22,  1857.  He  married  2d  July  24,  1858,  Augusta  M.  Storer  (born 
March  10,  1833),  daughter  of  William  Storer  and  Delia  Ann  Moulthrop  of  West 
Hartford,  Conn.     No  issue. 

GEORGE  NORMAN  WILLIAMSON,  New  York  State  Society  Sons  of 
the  Revolution,  son  of  Nicholas  and  Mary  Rebecca  (Burlock)  Williamson,  was 
born  at  Bound  Brook,  N.  J.,  March  12,  1853.  After  the  death  of  his  mother  he 
was  adopted  by  his  uncle,  Douw  Ditmars  Williamson.  He  went  abroad  with  him 
and  resided  for  some  years  at  Edinborough,  Scotland,  where  he  was  partly  ed- 
ucated. On  his  return  to  this  country  he  took  a  preparatory  course  and  entered 
Columbia  College,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1873,  and  later  at  Columbia 
College  Law  School.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1876  and  practiced  for  a 
short  time  and  then  became  associated  with  his  uncle  in  the  chemical  business, 
succeeding  him  in  1897,  after  the  latter's  death. 

His  inherited  taste  for  military  affairs  led  him  in  1875  to  join  Company  K, 
Seventh  Regiment,  N.  G.  S.  N.  Y.,  and  after  completing  his  term  of  service  be- 
came a  member  of  the  Seventh  Regiment  Veteran  Association.  Of  a  quiet  and 
reserved  nature,  characteristic  of  his  Holland  ancestors,  Mr.  Williamson  has 
taken  no  part  in  public  affairs,  giving  his  whole  attention  to  business. 

He  married  Katrina  Margaritha  Heink,  born  April  3,  1851,  daughter  of 
Frederick  Augustus  Heink  Regierungsrath,  of  Dresden,  Saxony,  and  his  wife, 
Augusta  Rebecca  Dursthof.  They  have  issue:  Elsa  Rebecca,  Hildegard,  Mar- 
garitha Fanny,  born  in  Dresden,  Germany;  George  Norman,  born  Sept.  28,  1881, 
in  Colorado;  Katrina. 

Nicholas  Williamson  (2),  M.  D.,  eldest  son  of  Nicholas  (1)  and  Mary 
Rebecaa  (Burlock)  Williamson,  was  born  in  New  York  City,  March  9,  184?  He 
was  educated  in  New  Brunswick  and  New  York,  and  prepared  for  Rutgers'  Col- 
lege. After  the  death  of  his  father  he  became  connected  with  the  Novelty  Rubber 
Company  as  Secretary.  On  the  graduation  of  the  class  at  Rutgers,  of  which  he 
would  have  been  a  member  had  he  remained,  he  was  given  an  honorary  degree  by 
the  faculty. 

Having  a  great  desire  to  become  a  physician  while  still  in  active  business, 
he  studied  medicine  and  received  the  degree  of  M.  D.  from  Bellevue  and  the 
College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  New  York. 

He  entered  into  active  practice  at  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  where  he  is  one  of 
the  leading  physicians.  He  has  also  been  active  in  political  life,  and  has  been 
county  physician,  Alderman,  and  is  now  (1890)  in  his  third  term  as  Mayor  of 
New  Brunswick.  On  April  9.  1874,  he  married  Sarah,  daughter  of  Prof.  Geo.  H. 
Cook  of  Rutgers  College.    She  died,  leaving  no  children.    He  married  2  1  on  June 

2,  1881,  Clara  A.,  daughter  of  William  and  Maria  Gurley  of  Troy.  N.  Y. 

Issue:  Clara  Christian?  Ruth  Alice,  Charles  Gurley.  Mary  Agnes.  Burloch. 


202  SONS      OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

LINE  OF  JAMES  ABEEL,   SON  OF  CAPT.   DAVID,   SON  OF  JOHANNES    (i),       M  OF  CHRIS- 
TOPHER. 

GARRET  ABEEL,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  David  and  Mary 
(Duyckinck)  Abeel,  was  born  in  New  York  City,  May  2,  1734.  He  was  educated 
both  in  Dutch  and  English,  and  on  May  1,  1751,  was  apprenticed  to  Gulean  Ver- 
planck,  a  wholesale  merchant.  After  serving  his  time  he  entered  the  employ  of 
James  Napier,  Esq.,  Director  of  the  British  General  Hospital  at  Albany.  He  left 
his  position  in  1757,  and  returned  to  New  York,  where  he  was  induced  to  accept 
a  better  position  in  the  same  service  in  charge  of  the  New  York  stores  for  the 
supply  of  other  hospitals.  He  refused  in  Dec,  1770,  to  go  to  the  Army,  then  at 
Boston,  and  was  dismissed  from  the  British  hospital  service,  receiving  from  Gen. 
Gage  a  certificate  for  past  faithful  service.  In  1765  he  joined  his  brother-in-law, 
Evart  Byranck,  Jr.,  in  the  iron  business,  continuing  until  Aug.  24,  1774,  when 
his  partner  withdrew  and  he  continued  the  business  alone  till  1776,  when,  owing 
to  the  occupation  of  New  York  by  the  British,  he  was  obliged  to  leave  with  his 
family,  and  located  at  Little  Falls,  N.  J. 


GARRIT       ABEEL. 

On  Feb.  14,  1755,  he  was  appointed  by  James  De  Lancey,  Esq.,  His  Majes- 
ty's Lieutenant  Governor  and  Commander-in-Chief  in  and  over  the  Province 
of  New  York,  and  the  territories  depending  thereon  in  America — iinsigi*  of  the 
company  of  militia  foot  of  the  city  and  county  of  New  York,  whereof  David 
Abeel  was  Captain,  and  on  April  15,  1760,  he  was  appointed  Lieutenant  of  the 
same  company.     In  1772  he  was  appointed  Captain  in  place  of  his  father,  who 


SONS      OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  203 

resigned  on  account  of  advanced  age.  When  troubles  began  wih  the  mother 
country,  he  immediately  resigned  his  commission  and  offered  his  services  to 
his  native  State,  and  Nov.  3,  1775,  he  was  appointed  Major  of  First  Regiment, 
New  York  City  Militia,  Col.  John  Jay  commanding.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
New  York  General  Committee,  Aug.  28,  1775;  Chairman,  1776;  Member  of  New- 
York  Committee  of  Safety,  1776;  Member  of  New  York  Provincial  Congress, 
1776-7.  In  a  letter  to  his  wife  under  date  of  June  19,  1776,  he  says :  "The  pub- 
lic have  this  day  forced  me  into  Congress,  where  I  am  to  sit  the  second  Tuesday 
of  next  month." 

Under  date  of  July  3,  1776,  he  writes:  "The  night  before  last,  just  after  dark, 
there  was  an  alarm  that  the  fleet  was  under  way  and  coming  up ;  the  drums  beat 
to  Arms.  I  sat  up  till  I  found  that  the  Tide  was  spent,  and  wind  would  not  per- 
mit them  to  come  up:  then  I  went  to  bed.  About  n  o'clock  I  was  awakened  by 
Col.  Remsen,  who  came  with  an  order  to  have  our  Regiment  out  by  4  o'clock  in 
the  morning.  When  I  got  up  was  hurried  to  go  round  to  the  Captain's  to  warn 
them ;  before  long  the  alarm  guns  were  fired,  and  the  fleet  appeared  in  the  Nar- 
rows; the  drums  beat  to  arms,  and  every  one  was  ordered  to  his  post.  Mine 
was  at  the  New  Brick  Meeting  House,  where  our  regiment  parades.  There  I 
stayed  till  it  was  found  that  they  were  come  to  anchor  under  Staten  Island. 
Capt.  Randall  has  just  informed  me  that  they  had  only  landed  on  Staten  Island 
and  drove  the  few  Riflemen  we  had  there  to  Elizabethtown  point ;  shall  be  a 
little  easier,  as  two  thousand  men  are  going  over  to  prevent  their  marching  into 
the  country.  If  they  had  landed  here  they  must  have  met  with  a  warm  reception, 
as  I  judge  we  had  Monday  by  12  o'clock,  15,000  Men  in  the  City  and  its  neigh- 
borhood.   To-morrow  7,000  Troops  are  expected  from  New  England." 

Col.  Jay's  regiment  was  soon  after  disbanded  and  the  men  joined  other  reg- 
iments, and  Major  Abeel  was  called  to  attend  to  his  civil  duties.  On  July  16  he 
writes  from  White  Plains : 

"I  shall  try  next  week  to  get  permission  to  come  and  see  you.  as  the  con- 
sideration of  forming  a  new  government  is  postponed  to  the  first  of  next  month 
on  account  of  the  multiplicity  of  other  necessary  business  which  has  come  before 
the  house  since  they  have  been  here.  We  have  only  five  New  York  members 
here  at  present,  which  is  the  exact  number  required  to  represent  tho  city  and 
county  in  Congress ;  hope  some  more  will  arrive  in  a  few  days." 

The  Convention  of  the  Representatives  of  the  State  of  New  York  assembled 
at  Fishkill,  Sept.  7,  1776,  enacted  the  following: 

Resolved,  That  a  Committee  of  Safety  and  Correspondence  for  that  part  of 
the  State  which  lies  below  the  high  Lands  be  immediately  formed.  That  Col. 
Remsen,  Major  Abeel  and  Major  Peter  P.  Van  Zant  be  that  Committee. 

Resolved  unanimously,  That  the  Committee  of  Safety  and  Correspondence 
at  New  York  be  appointed  and  authorized  to  cause  to  be  taken  from  the  Doors 
of  the  Houses  in  the  City  of  New  York,  all  the  Brass  Knockers,  an  1  they  cause- 
the  same  to  be  sent  to  some  careful  Person  at  New  Ark  in  New  Jersey  with  all 
possible  Dispatch— that  the  said  Committee  keep  as  accurate  an  Account 
as  possible  of  the  Weight  and  Value  of  them  and  of  the  Houses  whence  taken. 


2C4  SONS      OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

in  order  that  satisfaction  may  be  hereafter  made  to  the  respective  Owners  " 

Major  Abeel  served  his  country  in  various  positions  throughout  the  war.  He 
was  an  active  member  of  the  Middle  Dutch  Church,  in  which  he  served  as 
Deacon,  1764  and  1770,  and  an  Elder  in  1784.  At  the  request  of  the  corporation 
he  wrote  an  account  of  the  estate,  revenue  and  income  of  the  Dutch  Reformed 
Protestant  Church  in  the  City  of  New  York  for  different  years,  viz. :  1770,  1776, 
1784  and  1786,  showing  the  asse  s  and  liabilities,  from  which  it  appears  that  the 
Manor  of  Fordham  was  sold  in  1761,  for  £11,533,  I7S-,  9d.  When  the  North 
Church  was  being  built  be  placed  under  a  pillar  near  the  pulpit  a  plate  of  pewter 
on  which  was  inscribed  the  names  of  the  Elders  and  Deacons,  who  comprised  the 
Building  Committee,  the  names  of  the  carpenters,  masons,  etc.,  and  also  the  fact 
that  "The  first  stone  was  laid,  July  ye  2d,  1767,  by  Mr.  Jacobus  Rosevelt,  Senr. 
Elder,  &c."  This  plate  was  found  when  the  church  was  torn  down  in  1875,  and 
is  still  in  possession  of  one  of  the  members  of  the  Consistory. 

Major  Abeel  married  Nov.  19,  1760,  Mary  Byvanck,  daughter  of  Evert  By- 
vanck  and  Mary  Cannon. 

Evert  Byvanck  was  born  June  15,  1705:  resided  at  his  country  seat  on  the 
East  River  near  the  foot  of  Delancy  Street,  which  he  was  obliged  to  leave  as  soon 
as  i(  was  ascertained  that  the  city  would  fall  into  the  possession  of  British.  He 
gives  an  interesting  narrative  of  his  efforts  to  get  to  horseneck,  to  which  place 
he  started  on  Aug.  31st,  four  days  after  the  battle  of  Long  Island.  After  relating 
some  unimportant  matters  he  says:  "On  Thursday,  the  12th  of  September,  I 
took  my  Chais,  Horse  and  Negro  Sam  to  drive,  and  went  down  to  Corlears' 
Hook  to  my  country  seat.  *  *  *  *  There  being  heavy  firing  of  cannon  from 
the  two  Batteries  on  Long  Island  [then  in  possession  of  the  British]  and  two  of 
ours  on  Corlears'  Hook,  on  both  sides  of  the  house,  was  advised  not  to  proceed 
farther,  but  being  so  near  my  house,  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  off,  I  went 
out  of  my  Chais  and  ventured  to  walk  through  a  Lane  which  led  me  to  the  back 
part  of  my  place,  ordering  my  man  to  follow  me  with  Horse  and  Chais.  A 
heavy  cannonade  still  kept  on ;  as  we  were  going  there  several  cannon  balls  ilew 
past  us,  and  two  balls  struck  a  post  and  a  rail  of  the  Lane  fence  we  passed 
through  breast-high  just  before  us;  however,  we  got  safe  to  the  back  part  of 
my  Land.  *  *  *  *  That  afternoon  the  Gentleman  I  took  down  with  me  in 
my  Chais,  came  to  me  and  importuned  me  to  make  all  the  haste  I  possibly  could 
to  get  away  out  of  imminent  danger,  as  it  was  not  in  the  least  doubted  but  the 
King's  Troops  were  preparing  for  landing,  and  by  all  likelihood  would  land  next 
day  or  Sunday,  at  farthest,  and  I  would  or  could  not  then  escape  being  killed, 
wounded  or  taken  prisoner,  on  which  I  took  his  advice,  and  after  the  firing  of 
the  Enemies'  Cannon  ceased,  which  was  about  six  o'clock  on  Friday  evening,  13 
Sept..  I  ordered  my  man  Sam  to  put  the  horse  in  the  Chais,  and  I  proceeded  that 
evening  as  far  as  the  hill  above  Harlem  to  the  place  where  Mr.  Lawe  Kortright 
had  retired  to,  being  a  house  belonging  to  Mr.  Eagans  of  St.  Croix,  where  I 
was  kindly  received,  who  told  me  he  had  removed  his  family  to  Hackensack 
that  day,  and  intended  in  one  or  two  days  to  follow  them;  his  house  and  out- 
houses were  filled  with  officers,  attendants  and  their  horses.     About  ten  o'clock 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION.  205 

we  were  all  preparing  to  go  to  bed,  when  a  General  who  was  there  received 
orders  to  be  with  his  several  companies  of  Soldiers  at  one  o'clock  that  night  op- 
posite Turtle  Bay  and  Kip's  Bay,  and  to  lay  on  their  arms  to  obstruct  the  landing 
of  the  King's  troops  then  hourly  expected." 

Under  date  of  Jan.  28,  1777,,  he  writes:  "It  is  reported  that  our  Army  of 
12,000  New  England  Forces  will  endeavor  to  retake  New  York,  and  plunder  it 
very  much,  as  they  judge  no  man  that  is  true  to  this  country  has  any  business 
there  more  than  those  that  are  Tories,  against  whom  they  are  much  exasperated. 
Just  this  moment  we  received  news  that  Gen.  Washington  was  beating  all  the 
King's  Troops  back  to  New  York,  and  hope  in  a  short  time  to  hear  of  their  pack- 
ing off  and  leaving  us  in  quiet  possession  of  our  Estates." 

On  Jan.  20,  1778,  in  a  letter  to  his  son,  John,  and  his  son-in-law,  Garret 
Abeel,  after  describing  the  privations  he  had  endured  and  the  loss  of  his  horse, 
stolen  from  the  stable,  he  says:  "I  shall  with  all  humility  wait  till  the  spring 
to  see  you  and  look  out  for  deliverance  from  our  cruel  enemies ;  I  hope  and 
Trust  the  Lord  will  work  a  deliverance  in  good  time;  I  look  nor  wish  for  a 
patched  up  peace  as  my  son  John  makes  mention  of  in  his  letters  to  me;  if  the 
weather  be  good  in  April,  if  the  troubles  be  not  over  sooner,  I  intend  to  come 
a  foot  to  pay  you  a  visit ;  horse  I  have  none  nor  know  where  to  buy  one." 

He  arrived  at  the  house  of  his  son-in-law,  Garret  Abeel,  at  Little  Falls,  N. 
J.,  where  he  died  Monday,  May  1,  1781,  and  was  buried  near  there.  His  remains 
were  subsequently  removed  to  the  family  vault  in  the  Middle  Dutch  Church, 
corner  of  Nassau  and  Liberty  Streets. 

Major  Garret  Abeel,  by  his  wife  Mary  (Byvanck)  Abeel,  had  eleven  children, 
only  two  of  whom  are  married,  viz :  Jane,  who  was  married  to  Gasherie 
Brasher,  son  of  Col.  Abraham  Brasher,  who  had  served  with  distinction  during 
the  Revolutionary  war,  and  was  also  a  member  of  the  Provincial  Congress;  and 
Garret  Byvanck. 

Garret  Byvance  Abeel,  son  of  Major  Garret  Abeel,  was  born  March  5,  1768. 
He  continued  the  iron  and  hardware  business  of  his  father  at  the  corner  of 
James  Slip  and  Cherry  Street,  until  1802,  when  he  erected  the  building  on 
Water  Street,  adjoining  the  one  on  South  Street,  since  occupied  by  the  Abeels 
and  their  successors.  He  died  Dec.  21,  1829.  He  married  Catharine  Marschalk, 
daughter  of  Joseph  Marschalk  and  Mary  Schermerhorn.  His  wife  died  July 
22,  1832.  They  had  twelve  children:  Mary,  married  Edward  Dunscomb;  Cath- 
arine Schermerhorn,  married  Adrian  H.  Muller;  Elizabeth,  married  Albert  W. 
Wright ;  Joanna,  who  remained  single,  died  June  25,  1882,  in  the  sixty-sixth  year 
of  her  age;  Theodore,  born  Aug.  11,  1810,  graduated  at  Rutger's  College,  July 
15,  1829,  died  Dec.  27,   1829;  John  Hozvard. 

John  Howard  Abeel,  son  of  Garret  Byvanck  and  Catharine  (Marschalk) 
Abeel,  was  born  June  27,  1815,  at  No.  19  Park  Place,  New  York  City.  He  was 
prepared  for  college  at  Borland  and  Forrest  Academy,  but  after  the  death  of  his 
father  in  1829  he  decided  on  a  mercantile  career.  He  entered  the  silk  house  of 
Downer  &  Co.,  in  Hanover  Square,  but  after  a  little  over  a  year's  experience 
he  was  induced  to  enter  the  employ  of  the  old  iron  firm  then  conducted  by 


206 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 


Alfred  and  Edward  Abeel.     Edward  died  Jan.  18,  1832.     Alfred  took  his  brother 
George  into  partnership,  who  relinquished  his  law  pratice,  having  graduated  at 


GARRET  BYVANCE  ABEEL. 


Columbia  College  in  1822.  In  1826  he  was  authorized  to  practice  as  attorney-at-law, 
by  Hon.  John  T.  Irving,  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  the  City  of 
New  York.  The  same  year  he  was  appointed  attorney  in  the  Supreme  Court, 
and  in  1827  made  solicitor  by  the  Court  of  Chancery.  Alfred  died  Dec.  14,  1835, 
and  on  Jan.  1,  1836,  George  took  his  brother  John  into  partnership,  and  retired 
May  1,  1840,  after  which  he  spent  most  of  his  time  in  travel,  both  at  home  and 
abroad.  He  died  Oct.  26,  1884,  in  the  eighty-fourth  year  of  his  age.  John 
Howard  conducted  the  business  alone  for  a  few  years,  and  as  his  sons  became 
of  age  gave  them  an  interest.  He  retired  Jan.  1,  1870,  leaving  the  business  to  his 
four  sons.     He  died  April  19,  1896. 

He  married  Jan.  18,  1838,  Catharine  Emeline,  daughter  of  Dr.  John  C. 
Strobel,  an  eminent  physician  of  New  York,  who  died  of  yellow  fever,  Oct.  15, 
1822,  during  the  great  epidemic  of  that  year.  Dr.  Strobel's  wife  was  the  daugh- 
ter of  Francis  Marschalk  and  Sarah  Butler;  she  died  Aug.  14,  1818.  They  had 
eight  children :  George,  born  Oct.  16,  1839 ;  John  Howard,  Jr. ;  Catharine,  mar- 
ried Charles  J.  Canda,  Assistant  U.  S.  Treasurer,  New  York ;  Louisa,  married  Dr. 
Samuel  Kuypers  Lyon,  a  prominent  physician ;  Alfred,  born  Oct.  14,  1844 
(married  Nov.  21,  1867,  Rachel  C,  daughter  of  Ascher  C.  Havens;  died  May  8, 
1871,  leaving  one  son,  Alfred,)  ;  Frederick  H.,  born  July  31,  1848,  married  Nov. 
30,  1880,  Helen  Douglass;  died  Oct..  7,  1887,  leaving  no  issue. 

GEORGE  ABEEL,   eldest   child   of  John   Howard   and   Catharine   Emeline 


SONS      OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 


207 


(Strobel)  Abeel,  was  born  at  No.  90  Prince  Street,  Oct.  16,  1839.     Receiving  his 
education  at  the  well-known  school  of  Clark  &  Fanning,  he  acquired  the  requisite 


JOHN     HOWARD     ABEEL. 


knowledge  and  training  to  fit  him  for  the  responsible  position  to  which  he  was 
soon  to  be  called  as  the  head  of  the  oldest  mercantile  firm  in  New  York  City. 
After  leaving  school,  he  entered  at  once  his  father's  employ,  and  after  mastering 
all  the  details  and  technicalities  of  the  business,  became  a  partner  with  his 
father,  and  later  his  successor.  Like  his  predecessors,  he  proved  himself  equal  to 
every  emergency,  and  the  firm  he  represents  has  never  yet  failed  to  meet  all 
its  obligations  and  maintain  the  high  credit  for  which  it  has  always  been  noted. 
The  old-fashioned  ideas  of  honesty  and  business  probity  on  which  the  house  was 
founded  are  still  kept  up,  and  the  ancestral  pride  is  shown  in  the  careful  preserva- 
tion of  books  and  papers  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  as  well  as  the  mil- 
itary commissions  that  tell  the  story  of  the  honorable  service  rendered  by  their 
worthy  sires  during  the  days  that  tried  men's  souls. 

Public  honors  have  had  no  attraction  for  Mr.  Abeel,  and,  except  to  fulfill  his 
obligations  as  a  citizen,  he  has  taken  no  part  in  public  affairs  of  any  kind,  know- 
ing that  a  man  cannot  give  attention  to  one  without  neglecting  the  other.  He 
is  a  trustee  of  the  East  River  Savings  Bank,  a  member  of  the  St.  Nicholas  So- 


208 


SONS      OF      THE     REVOLUTION. 


ciety,  the  Suburban  Riding  and  Driving  Club,  Harlem  Club,  Historical  Society, 
Museum  Natural  History,  Zoological  Society,  Harlem  Board  of  Commerce. 

Mr.  Abeel  married  Julia  E.  Guenther,  daughter  of  Rev.  Francis  H.  Guenther, 


GEOUCE     AREEL. 


a  well-known  divine  of  Buffalo,  a  descendant  of  an  old  and  prominent  Saxon 
family.  Their  children  are  George  H.,  born  Oct.  21,  1862;  Francis  H.,  born 
Jan.  5,  1864;  Henry  Frascr. 

HENRY  FRASER  ABEEL,  youngest  son  of  George  and  Julia  E.  (Guen- 
ther) Abeel,  was  born  in  New  York  City,  Sept.  28,  1870.  He  was  educated  at  the 
public  school,  and  entered  the  employ  of  his  father's  firm,  beginning  at  the  lowest 
round  of  the  ladder,  and  subject  to  the  course  of  business  training  that  would 
be  required  of  any  stranger.  He  reached  his  present  position  as  a  member  of  the 
firm,  to  which  he  was  admitted  Jan.  1,  1893,  by  his  own  efforts,  and  was  well 
fitted  to  assume  the  responsibilities  and  obligations  which  such  a  position  entails. 
Recognizing  his  duty  as  a  citizen  to  maintain  at  all  times  the  honor  of  his 
country,  he  joined  the  famous  Seventh  Regiment  in  1890,  and  served  the  usual 
term  as  a  member  of  Company  B.  His  willingness  to  aid  his  fellow  men  is 
shown  in  his  connection  with  the  Masonic  Fraternity  as  a  member  of  Alma 


SONS       OF      THE      REVOLUTION.  200. 

Lodge  No.  728  of  New  York.     He  married  Jesslyn  Irene  Forsythe,  daughter  of 
James  Forsythe  and  Anna  Moore.    They  have  one  child,  Hazel  Forsythe. 

LINE  OF  DAVID  ABEEL,   ELDEST  SON  OF  CAPT.   DAVID,   SON   OF  JOHANNES   ABEEL. 

DAVID  ABEEL,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  eldest  son  of  Capt.  David 
and  Mary  (Duyckinck)  Abeel,  was  born  in  Albany,  1727.  He  married  July  2, 
1752,  Neiltje,  daughter  of  Garret  Van  Bergen  and  Annetje  Meyer.  He  settled  in 
Catskill  as  early  as  1754.  In  1771  he  obtained  a  patent  for  one  thousand  acres  of 
land  "on  the  west  side  of.  and  adjoining  the  brook  called  the  Caterskill,  at  a 
place  called  the  Bak-Oven."  This  estate  was  within  the  bounds  of  the  Catskill 
Patent,  and  was  formerly  owned  by  Abeel's  father-in-law. 

They  had  issue : 

Annatie,  born  in  Albany,  March,  1753;  died  in  infancy. 

Anthony,  born  in  Catskill,  Oct.  9,  1754;  died  Feb.  25,  1822;  married  Oct.  6, 
1797,  Catharine  Moon. 

Garret,  born  in  Catskill.  March  27,  1757;  died  Oct.  23,  1829;  married  Eliza- 
beth Cantine. 

Annatje,  born  April  8,  1760;  married  Jacobus  B.  Hasbrouck. 

Catharine,  born  in  Catskill,  Sept.  28,  1765;  died  Aug.  24,  1829. 

During  the  War  of  the  Revolution  there  were  living  at  the  Bak-Oven,  David 
Abeel,  Neiltje,  his  wife,  and  their  four  children — Anthony,  Gerrit,  Catharine 
and  Anna.  The  men  of  the  household  were  zealous  patriots,  and  between  them 
and  the  few  Tories  in  the  neighborhood  a  bitter  feud  existed.  One  of  these 
Tories,  Jacobus  Rowe,  was  especially  malignant.  He  harbored  the  Indians  when 
they  came  into  the  valley  of  the  Catskill,  and  guided  the  Indians  in  their  depre- 
dations throughout  that  neighborhood. 

On  a  Sunday  evening  in  1780,  a  party  of  Indians  with  Jacobus  Rowe  and 
another  Tory,  entered  the  house  of  David  Abeel.  The  inmates,  who  had  been 
attending  prayer  meeting,  were  then  at  supper  and  were  taken  entirely  by  sur- 
prise. They  had  no  time  to  take  down  their  guns,  which  lay  upon  wooden 
baskets  fastened  to  the  walls  and  to  the  great  beams  of  the  ceiling.  These 
weapons,  however,  would  have  been  of  no  service,  as  the  slaves  of  Abeel  had 
been  notified  of  the  coming  attack,  and  during  the  absence  of  the  family  in  the 
afternoon,  had  removed  the  priming  of  the  guns  and  had  stuffed  ashes  into  their 
pans.  David  and  his  son  Anthony  were  made  prisoners;  Lon,  a  large  and  pow- 
erful slave  of  Abeel,  assisting  in  binding  his  master.  Owing  to  his  extreme  age 
he  would  doubtless  have  been  released  had  he  not  inadvertently  recognized  his 
neighbor,  Rowe,  who  was  disguised  as  an  Indian. 

Gerrit  Abeel,  Anthony's  youngest  brother,  had  been  spending  the  day  at  the 
Old  Catskill  parsonage,  and  as  he  approached  his  home  he  heard  voices  which  at 
once  aroused  his  suspicions,  and,  calling  to  his  assistance  a  neighbor,  the  two 
hid  themselves  in  a  thicket  near  the  path  which  led  to  the  house,  and  waited. 
As  the  party  passed,  lantern  in  hand,  Gerrit  was  about  to  fire,  but  his  neighbor, 
who  was  paralyzed  with  fear,  warned  him  that  he  might  shoot  his  own  father, 


210  SON'S       OF      THE      REVOLUTION. 

and  the  party  was  allowed  to  escape  unmolested.  Their  journey  was  through  a 
vast  and  unbroken  wilderness,  and  both  captors  and  prisoners  nearly  died  from 
hunger.  They  lived  on  dogs,  roots  and  herbs  and  such  other  food  as  they  could 
pick  up.  After  reaching  Fort  Niagara,  Anthony  Abeel  was  made  to  run  the 
gauntlet,  his  father  being  excused  on  account  of  his  age.  Anthony  was  notified 
that  the  Indians  would  attempt  to  stop  him,  and  he  would  have  to  fight  his  way. 
Soon  after  he  started,  a  young  Indian  stepped  into  the  path  and  faced  him. 
Anthony  dealt  him  a  powerful  blow  under  the  ear,  much  to  the  amusement  of 
the  crowd,  and  before  they  could  recover  he  reached  the  goal  without  receiving  a 
blow. 

In  May,  1781,  the  Abeels  were  confined  in  the  Prevot  at  Montreal  with 
thieves,  murderers,  deserters  and  captive  Americans.  They  suffered  great  hard- 
ship, and,  in  May  of  the  following  year,  they  determined  to  break  their  parple 
and  endeavor  to  escape.  On  the  evening  of  the  10th  of  September,  1782,  every- 
thing being  in  readiness,  they  went  to  their  room  to  go  to  bed,  but  jumping  out  of 
the  window  with  their  packs  they  groped  their  way  to  the  lower  end  of  the 
island,  seized  a  boat  and  began  the  descent  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  After  many 
mishaps  and  much  suffering,  the  party  reached  the  headquarters  of  Gen.  Bailey, 
upon  the  lower  Coos  on  the  29th  of  September.  They  were  treated  with  great 
kindness,  provided  with  clothes  and  shoes  and  an  abundance  of  food,  and,  after 
resting,  continued  their  journey  home.  David  Abeel  died  Feb.  1813,  in  the  87th 
year  of  his  age,  and  was  buried  upon  a  ridge  between  his  house  and  the 
highway. 

Gerrit  Abeel  son  of  David  and  Neiltje  (Van  Bergen)  Abeel,  was  born  in 
Catskill,  March  2~,  1757.  About  1785  he  moved  to  Catskill  Landing,  and  built  for 
himself  a  stone  house.  He  was  for  many  years  a  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  for  Greene  County.  Though  not  a  lawyer  by  profession,  he  was  endowed 
with  strong  common  sense  and  an  innate  love  of  justice  which  was  administered 
impartially,  and  his  rulings  seldom  appealed  from.  He  died  Oct.  23,  1829.  He 
married  Elizabeth  Cantine.     Their  Children  were: 

David  Gerrit,  born  April  1,  1783;  Anthony,  Eleanor,  Charles  Cantine,  Betsy, 
Ann,  Catharine,  Mary,  John,  Moses. 

David  Gerrit  Abeel,  eldest  child  of  Gerrit  and  Elizabeth  (Cantine)  Abeel, 
was  born  April  1,  1783;  died  April  29,  1868.  He  married  April  28,  1804,  Nellie 
Goetschius,  daughter  of  Jacob  and  Catharine  Schuneman.     Their  children  were: 

Eliza  Catharine,  born  Oct.   18.   1805:  unmarried. 

Amelia  Emeline,  born  Feb.  23,  1807 ;  married  May  8,  1839,  Jeremiah  Romeyn. 

Gerrit  Nelson,  born  Oct.  18,  1809;  married  Dec.  6,  1836,  Alida  Wynkoop ; 
died  1874. 

Eleanor,  born  Feb.  1,  1812;  married,  1st.  George  Phillips;  2d,  Frank  Parsons. 

Jane,  born  Dec.  23,  1815:  died  March  27,  1862;  unmarried. 

Charles  Cantine,  born  Aug.  5,  1817. 

John,  born  June  30,  1821. 

Christine  C,  born  Sept.  1,  1825;  married  Henry  Seelye. 

Frances   Mary,   born   Jan.   8.    1828;   married  June  25,    1850,   Abram   Winne. 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  211 

They  had  issue :     Emily  Winne  Webster.  Frank  N.  and  Lida  Winne  Dakin. 

Charles  Cantine  Abeel,  son  of  David  Gerrit  and  Nellie  Goetschius 
(Schuneman)  Abeel,  was  born  Aug.  5,  1817;  died  Aug.  18,  1890.  He  married 
Jennie  Foland,  daughter  of  Jacob  Foland  and  Annie  Gardner.  They  had  issue : 
F.  Romeyn,  Charles  C,  Annie  S.,  Emily  E.,  Nellie  B.  and  David  G. 


SUPPLEMENT 


SECTION     I 

—  OF— 

THE     HEROES     OF    THE     AMERICAN     REVOLUTION 
AND    THEIR    DESCENDANTS. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SOCIETY 

Sons  of  the  American  Revolution, 


INCLUDING  THE 


ANCESTRAL    LINE 


FOUNDERS    AND    BUILDERS. 


1898. 


SONS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION. 
NATIONAL  SOCIETY. 


At  no  period  in  the  history  of  our  country  (unless  we  except  that  of  the  Civil 
War)  has  the  patriotism  of  the  American  people  been  so  thoroughly  aroused  as 
during  the  past  decade,  and  this  has  led  to  the  organization  of  numerous  patriotic 
societies  in  almost  every  State  in  the  Union.  The  history  of  the  movement  which 
began  some  twenty  years  ago,  culminating  in  the  organization  of  the  society 
known  as  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution,  was  published  in  the 
"Year  Book"  of  this  Society,  in  1890,  prepared  by  Henry  Hall,  Historian- 
General  of  the  National  Society.     From  this  we  extract  the  following : 

"  These  associations  are  the  product  of  the  recent  period  of  celebrations  of 
centennial  anniversaries  of  the  Revolutionary  War.  Beginning  in  1875  with  the 
great  celebration  in  Massachusetts  of  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  battle 
of  Lexington,  and  including,  among  others,  the  centenaries  of  Independence,  the 
surrender  of  Yorktown,  completion  of  the  Constitution,  and  evacuation  of  New 
York,  these  celebrations  formed  a  brilliant  and  patriotic  series  of  public  rejoicings, 
culminating  in  the  memorable  demonstration  of  April  30th  and  May  1st,  1889,  in 
New  York  in  honor  of  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  inauguration  of  George 
Washington  as  first  President  of  the  United  States.  They  revived  the  glorious 
memories  of  Revolutionary  days  ;  they  inspired  a  pride  in  Revolutionary  ancestry,  a 
shame  that  the  country  had  come  to  neglect  the  annual  observance  of  the  Fourth 
of  July  and  Washington's  birthday,  and  a  new  respect  for  the  principles  of  popular 
government ;  and  they  led,  by  a  very  natural  and  direct  process,  to  the  formation 
of  societies  of  men  of  Revolutionary  descent,  who  charged  themselves  with 
perpetuating  the  memory  of  the  men  of  the  Revolution,  and  of  commending  to 
the  mass  of  the  American  people  (the  foreign  born  element  particularly)  the 
principles  upon  which  the  fathers  had  established  the  government. 

"There  seemed  to  exist  a  public  necessity  for  the  formation  of  societies  of 
this  character,  growing  out  of  the  gradual  disappearance  from  view,  the  principal- 
ism  and  the  narrow  field  of  activity  of  the  once  famous  Society  of  the  Cincinnati. 
Limited  in  membership  to  the  commissioned  officers  of  the  Revolution  and  their 
eldest  male  descendants,  in  strict  order  of  primogeniture,  and  confined  in  locality 
to  the  thirteen  original  States  and  to  France,  the  Cincinnati  could  never  have  been 
in  any  event  a  really  national  order.     *     *     * 

"  In  1876  a  detachment  of  descendants  of  officers,  soldiers  and  seamen  of  the 
Revolutionary  War  was  collected  in  the  city  of  San  Francisco,  Cal.,for  participation 
in  the  local  celebration  of  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  Fourth  of  July.  It 
was,  after  ihe  ceremonies  of  the  day,  organized  as  a  permanent  society,  under  the 
title  of  'California  Society  of  Sons  of  Revolutionary  Sires.'  A  similar  movement 
was  inaugurated  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  the  example  thus  set  was  inaugurated 
in  other  States.  In  1888  a  society  of  the  'Sons  of  the  Revolution'  was  organized 
in  Pennsylvania.     Early  in  1889,  with  a  view  to  participate  in  the  centennial  cele- 


4  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

bration  in  New  York  city,  on  the  30th  of  April,  of  that  year,  societies  of  the  '  Sons 
of  the  Revolution  '  were  formed  in  New  Jersey,  Massachusetts,  Vermont,  Con- 
necticut, New  Hampshire,  Missouri,  Maryland  and  the  District  of  Columbia. 

"  Simultaneously  with  the  formation  of  the  new  State  societies  and,  indeed, 
as  a  natural  and  necessary  part  of  the  movement,  steps  were  taken  for  the  insti- 
tution of  a  National  Society  to  bind  together  the  various  local  branches  of  the 
order.  Unable  to  develop  and  bring  together  the  new  local  societies  in  time  to 
muster  them  as  a  part  of  the  grand  parade  in  New  York  city,  on  April  30,  1889, 
the  organizers  of  the  movement  determined,  nevertheless,  not  to  let  that  day  pass 
without  founding  their  National  Society.  Every  effort  was  put  forth  to  bring 
about  a  meeting  of  delegates  for  that  purpose,  and  the  work  was  triumphantly 
accomplished,  thus  giving  to  the  country  on  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of 
Washington's  inauguration  as  first  President  of  the  United  States,  a  national 
society  entitled,  '  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution' — young,  vigorous,  American 
in  its  plan  of  organization,  and  with  unlimited  capacity  for  growth,  which  should 
carry  forward  in  this  country  the  patriotic  work  originally  undertaken  by  the 
Society  of  the  Cincinnati. 

"  One  motive  in  the  formation  of  the  National  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  grew  out  of 
the  position  taken  by  the  local  society  in  New  York  city  toward  the  whole  move- 
ment. The  New  York  society  was  organized  as  a  purely  local  association.  But 
as  years  passed  by,  the  managers  of  the  society  adopted  a  theory  that  societies  in 
other  States  ought  to  be  auxiliary  branches  of  the  one  in  New  York,  and  the  only 
general  or  national  officers  of  the  order  throughout  the  United  States,  ought  to  be 
those  elected  at  the  annual  meeting  in  New  York  city,  or,  in  other  words,  the 
officers  of  the  New  York  society.     *     *     * 

"  Still  another  motive  governed  the  founders  of  the  National  Society,  S.  A.  R. 
Early  in  the  movement  for  the  creation  of  associations  of  descendants  of  the  men 
of  the  Revolution,  it  was  seen  that  if  the  Societies  of  this  class  could  be  made  to 
exist  in  every  part  of  the  United  States,  founded  upon  the  glorious  memories  and 
warm  friendships  of  the  period  of  the  Revolution,  they  might  prove  of  immense 
importance  in  the  future  history  of  the  country.  What  an  influence  for  peace 
they  might  have  been  in  i860  and  1861  !  The  glories  and  triumphs  of  the 
Revolution  are  the  common  heritage  of  North  and  South,  of  East  and  West !  It 
was  one  of  the  distinct  purposes  of  the  organizers  of  the  Sons  of  the  American 
Revolution  to  create  a  National  Society,  in  which  the  men  of  all  sections  of  the 
United  States  might  unite,  with  no  thought  of  sectionalism  and  with  no  feeling 
except  that  of  the  purest  fraternity  and  patriotic  affection  for  a  common  country. 

"March  7,  1889,  there  were  in  existence  only  the  California  Society  of  Sons 
of  Revolutionary  Sires,  and  the  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey  Societies 
of  Sons  of  the  Revolution.  Upon  that  day  the  newly  formed  New  Jersey  society 
adopted  the  following  preamble  and  resolution  : 

"  Whereas,  There  are  now  organized  Societies  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution 
in  the  States  of  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey  ;  and 

"  Whereas,  It  is  desirable,  in  view  of  the  approaching  one  hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  inauguration  of  George  Washington  as  first  President  of  the 
United  States,  that  there  shall  be  sister  societies  organized  in  every  State  and 
Territory  in  the  Union,  particularly  in  the  thirteen  original  States,  that  their 
members  may  participate  in  this  centennial  celebration. 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  5 

"  RESOLVED,  That  the  president  of  this  society,  when  elected,  and  the  two 
delegates  to  the  National  Society,  are  hereby  appointed  a  committee  to  invite  the 
appointment  of  a  like  committee  from  the  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  societies, 
to  cooperate  with  them  and  to  meet  with  the  descendants  of  revolutionary  ancestors 
in  the  different  States  and  Territories,  and  assist  in  organizing  societies  whose 
membership  shall  be  composed  exclusively  of  descendants  of  revolutionary  states- 
men, soldiers  and  sailors. 

"William  O.  McDowell,  of  Newark,  Gen.  William  S.  Stryker,  of  Trenton,  and 
Josiah  C.  Pumpelly,  of  Morristown,  were  appointed  a  committee  to  carry  out  the 
purposes  of  the  resolution.  Printed  slips  were  sent  to  all  the  leading  newspapers 
in  the  United  States,  setting  forth  the  desire  for  the  formation  of  State  societies 
and  requesting  correspondence  with  the  New  Jersey  committee  on  the  part  of 
those  interested,  and  letters  were  addressed  to  the  Governors  of  the  several  States, 
asking  the  use  of  rooms  at  the  capitols  for  preliminary  meetings.  Favorable 
replies  were  received  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  definite  action  was  taken 
in  a  number  of  States.  By  the  30th  of  April,  1889,  thirteen  societies  were  in 
existence,  as  follows:  California,  organized  July  4,  1876;  New  York,  organized 
Dec.  4,  1883;  Pennsylvania,  organized  April  3,  1888;  New  Jersey,  organized 
March  7,  1889;  Connecticut,  organized  April  2,  1889;  Vermont,  organized  April  2, 
1889;  South  Carolina,  organized  April  18,  1889;  Massachusetts,  organized  April  19, 
1889;  Maryland,  organized  April  20,  1889;  Ohio,  organized  April  22,  1889; 
Missouri,  organized  Apiil  23,  1889;  Kentucky,  organized  April  23,  1889;  New 
Hampshire,  organized  April  24,  1889. 

"  On  April  10,  1889,  Mr.  Pumpelly,  as  secretary  of  the  committee,  sent  notice 
to  the  several  societies,  requesting  them  to  send  delegates  to  a  meeting  to  take 
place  at  9  A.  M.,  April  30,  1889,  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  inauguration 
of  George  Washington  as  first  President  of  the  United  States,  in  Fraunces's 
Tavern,  New  York,  corner  of  Pearl  and  Broad  Streets,  in  the  room  where 
General  Washington  made  his  farewell  address  to  the  officers  of  the  revolution- 
ary army.  The  New  Jersey  committee  having  found  it  impracticable  to  visit 
every  State  for  the  organization  of  local  societies  before  April  30,  addressed  a 
circular  to  the  Governors  of  the  remaining  States  and  of  the  Territories,  requesting 
them  to  appoint  three  delegates,  descendants  of  a  revolutionary  ancestry,  by 
either  the  male  or  female  line,  to  represent  those  in  their  States  entitled  to  mem- 
bership, at  the  organization  of  the  National  Society,  and  after  the  adjournment,  to 
take  charge  of  organizing  their  State  societies. 

"  Pursuant  to  call,  the  National  Convention  assembled  at  Fraunces's  Tavern, 
in  the  City  of  New  York,  at  9  A.  M.,  April  30,  1889.  The  following  States  were 
represented  :  California— -The  Hon.  Hamilton  Fish,  Col.  A.  S.  Hubbard,  Col.  David 
Wilder  and  Major  George  B.  Halstead*.  delegates ;  the  Hon.  Rutherford  B.  Hayes, 
the  Hon.  Charles  K.  Dennison  and  Mr.  Charles  James  King,  alternates.  Pennsyl- 
vania— Dr.  Herman  Burgin  and  Josiah  G.  Leach*.  New  Jersey— William  O. 
McDowell*,  Gen.  William  S.  Stryker  and  Josiah  C.  Pumpelly*,  delegates;  John  J. 
Hubbell*  and  Paul  Revere*,  alternates.  Vermont— The  Hon.  L.  E.  Chittenden. 
Connecticut— The  Hon.  Lucius  P.  Deming*,  the  Hon.  Samuel  E.  Merwin,  David 
Clark,  Frank  I.  Starr*,  Franklin  H.  Hart*  and  the  Rev.  Timothy  Dwight,  D.D., 
LL.D.*  South  Carolina— Governor  J.  P.  Richardson,  the  Hon.  Wade  Hampton. 
Dr.   N.  N.  Tulley,  Col.  Wm.  McMaster,   N.  G.  Gonzales  and  G.    L.  Calloway*, 


6  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN     REVOLUTION. 

Massachusetts— The.  Hon.  Charles  T.  Saunders,  Luther  L.  Tarbel'*,  Clarence 
Stuart  Ward*  and  N.  C.  Upham.  Maryland— The  Rev.  John  G.  Morris,  D.D., 
Lieut.  James  C.  Cresap,  U.  S.  N.*  and  the  Hon.  E.  W.  Lecompte.  Ohio— The 
Rev.  W.  R.  Paisons,  Wilson  L.  Gill*  and  George  W.  Gill.  Missouri — The 
Hon.  Gaius  Paddock*  and  Jared  Flagg.  Kentucky — The  Hon.  Simon  B.  Buckner, 
Judge  William  Lindsay  and  Gen.  Samuel  E.  Hill.  New  Hampshire — The  Hon. 
Charles  R.  Morrison*,  the  Hon.  H.  K.  Slayton*  and  Frederick  Leighton.* 
Indiana— The  Hon.  John  C.  New,  H.  S.  New,  Merrill  Moores  and  Dr.  G.  W.  Mc- 
Connell.  Delaware — The  Hon.  Andrew  J.  Woodman*.  West  Virginia — The 
Hon.  J.  B.  Jackson,  H.  S.  Walker,  the  Hon.  Bushrod  C.  Washington  and  E.  W, 
Wilson.  Arkansas— Col.  Samuel  W.  Williams,  the  Hon.  Josiah  H.  Shinn  and  Jas, 
Mitchell.     Alabama— Charles  C.  Page,  M.D.*     Illinois— Dr.  George  B.  Abbott*. 

'•The  following  committee  on  constitution  and  by-laws  and  on  nomination  of 
permanent  officers,  to  consist  of  one  delegate  from  each  State,  was  appointed  : 
William  O.  McDowell,  chairman  ;  the  Hon.  C.  R.  Morrison,  of  New  Hampshire; 
Luther  L.  Tarbell,  of  Massachusetts;  Wilson  L.  Gill,  of  Ohio;  Dr.  George  B. 
Abbott,  of  Illinois ;  the  Hon.  Lucius  P.  Deming,  of  Connecticut ;  Charles  C.  Page, 
M.D.,  of  Alabama;  Andrew  J.  Woodman,  of  Delaware;  Major  G.  B.  Halstead, 
of  California ;  Lieut.  James  C.  Cresap,  of  Maryland  ;  the  Hon.  Gaius  Paddock,  of 
Missouri ;  G.  L.  Calloway,  of  South  Carolina  and  Josiah  Pumpelly,  of  New  Jersey." 

The  draft  of  the  Constitution  was  made  or  dictated  by  Hon.  Lucius 
P.  Deming. 

Name.  Article  I.  of  the  Constitution  declares  the  name  to  be  "  The 
Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution." 

Purposes.  The  purposes  of  the  society,  as  defined  by  Article  II.,  are  to 
keep  active  among  ourselves  and  our  descendants,  and  in  the  community,  the 
patriotic  spirit  of  the  men  who  achieved  American  Independence ;  to  collect  and 
secure  for  preservation,  the  manuscript  rolls,  records  and  other  documents  relat- 
ing to  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  and  to  promote  social  intercourse  and  fellow- 
ship among  its  members  now  and  hereafter. 

Eligibility  for  Membership.  Article  III.  states  that,  "Any  person 
may  be  eligible  for  membership  in  a  State  society  who  is  above  the  age  of  twenty- 
one  years  and  who  is  descended  from  an  ancestor  that  assisted,  while  acting  in  any 
of  the  following  capacities,  in  establishing  American  Independence  during  the 
War  of  the  Revolution  :  a  military  or  naval  officer,  a  soldier  or  sailor,  an  official  in 
the  service  of  any  of  the  thirteen  original  States  or  Colonies,  a  recognized  patriot 
who  rendered  material  service  to  the  cause  of  independence.  But  nothing  herein 
contained  shall  preclude  any  State  society  from  prescribing  such  requisites  of 
eligibility  for  membership  therein,  within  the  foregoing  limits  as  it  shall  deem 
proper  and  expedient." 

Section  VII.  provides  for  and  defines  the  duties  of  a  Board  of  Management 
of  the  National  Society. 

The  following  named  gentlemen  were  elected  officers  of  the  National  Society : 

President— The  Hon.  Lucius  P.  Deming,  New  Haven,  Conn. 

Vice-Preside7it-at-Large — William  O.  McDowell,  Newark,  N.  J. 

Vice-Presidents  by  States — Col.  A.  S.  Hubbard,  San  Francisco,  Cal.;  Gov. 


'Those  actually  present. 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  7 

Simon  B.  Buckner,  Frankfort,  Ky.;  the  Hon.  Hamilton  Fish,  New  York  City;  the 
Hon.  J.  C.  Kinney,  Hartford,  Conn.;  the  Hon.  C.  H.  Dennison,  Portland,  Me.;  the 
Hon.  H.  C.  Washington,  Charlestown,  W.  Va.;  Gov.  D.  R.  Francis,  St.  Louis,  Mo.; 
Col.  Samuel  C.  Williams,  Little  Rock,  Ark.;  the  Hon.  Benjamin  Harrison,  President 
of  the  United  States,  Indiana  ;  the  Hon.  G.  B.  West,  Birmingham,  Ala.;  Gov.  Wade 
Hampton,  Columbia,  S.  C;  Gov.  Robert  S.  Green,  New  Jersey  ;  the  Rev.  John  G. 
Morris,  D.D.,  Baltimore,  Md.;  the  Hon.  L.  L.  Tarbell,  Marlboro,  Mass.;  the  Hon. 
Rutherford  B.  Hayes,  Freemont,  Ohio ;  the  Hon.  H.  K.  Slayton,  Manchester, 
N.  H.;  Mons.  de  Lafayette,  Senateur,  Paris,  France;  Gov.  W.  P.  Dillingham, 
Montpelier,  Vt.;  Admiral  D.  D.  Porter,  U.  S.  N.  for  Dist.  of  Columbia. 

Chaplain— -The  Rev.  Timothy  Dwight,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Yale  College. 

Secretary— Lieut.  James  C.  Cresap,  U.  S.  N.,  Annapolis,  Md. 

Assistant  Secretaries— Charles  James  King,  San  Francisco,  Cal.;  G.  L. 
Calloway,  Greenville,  S.  C;  Wilson  L.  Gill,  Columbus,  Ohio. 

Treasurer — Gaius  Paddock,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Registrar— Gen.  William  S.  Stryker,  Trenton,  N.  J. 

During  the  first  year  of  the  National  Society,  meetings  were  held  by  the 
Board  of  Managers  upon  July  12  and  Oct.  23,  1889,  Feb.  12  and  March  22,  1890, 
in  New  York  City,  and  April  29,  1890,  in  Louisville,  Ky.;  and  by  the  Executive 
Committee,  Dec.  7-21,  1889,  and  Jan.  25,  Feb.  12  and  March  1,  1890,  in  New 
York  City.  At  a  meeting  held  July  12,  1889,  Hon.  W.  H.  English,  of  Indiana, 
was  elected  in  place  of  Hon.  Benjamin  Harrison,  resigned.  October  23,  1889. — An 
Executive  Committee  was  appointed,  consisting  of  the  Hon.  Lucius  P.  Deming, 
Wm.  O.  McDowell,  Charles  H.  Saunders,  Dr.  Wm,  Seward  Webb  and  G.  L. 
Calloway.  The  election  of  Luther  L.  Tarbell  as  Registrar,  vice  Gen.  W.  H. 
Stryker,  resigned.  Resignation  of  President-Gen.  Deming  and  election  of  Dr. 
Wm.  Seward  Webb  in  his  stead.*  December  21,  1889. — Certificate  of  membership, 
also  badge  and  rosette  adopted,  the  badge  having  been  designed  by  Major  Gold- 
smith B.  West  ;  the  rosette,  red  and  white.  Jan.  25,  1890. — Election  of  Vice- 
Presidents,  as  follows:  The  Rt.  Rev.  Chas.  E.  Cheney,  for  Illinois;  William  H. 
Brearly,  for  Michigan ;  Gov.  W.  D.  Hoard,  for  Wisconsin,  and  Gen.  J.  B.  Sanborn, 
for  Minnesota.  Election  of  James  Otis  as  Treasurer-General,  vice  the  Hon  Gaius 
Paddock,  resigned.  Gen.  Alexander  S.  Webb  invited  to  preside  at  the  National 
Congress,  at  Louisville.  Adoption  of  titles  for  general  officers.  Feb.  12,  1890. — 
Executive  Committee  reconstructed  as  follows  :  Dr.  William  Seward  Webb,  the 
Hon.  Lucius  P.  Deming,  the  Hon.  E.  S.  Barrett,  Major  Goldsmith  B.  West,  Wm. 
O.  McDowell,  the  Hon.  Robert  S.  Green  and  Luther  L.  Tarbell,  with  Lieut.  James 
C.  Cresap,  as  Secretary.  Election  of  Hon.  Wm.  H.  Arnoux,  Vice-President  for 
New  York.  Change  of  ribbon  to  blue  and  white.  March  22,  1890.— Hon.  Wm. 
H.  Arnoux,  Gen.  Alexander  S.  Webb  and  Wilson  L.  Gill  appointed  a  Committee 
on  Revision  of  the  Constitution.  April  29,  1890. — Committee  on  Credentials  for 
the  Congress  appointed,  thus  :  The  Hon.  E.  S.  Barrett,  the  Hon.  E.  J.  Hill,  John 
W.  Buchanan  and  William  F.  Cregar.  Lieut.  J.  C.  Cresap  placed  on  Committee  on 
Constitution,  vice  Wilson  L.  Gill. 

During  such  intervals  as  could  be  snatched  from  their  business  occupations, 


*At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Managers  which  elected  Dr.  Webb  President-General,  at 
his  urgent  request  Hon.  Lucius  P.  Deming  was  elected  first  and  acting  Vice-President-General. 


8  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

the  officers  of  the  National  Society,  during  the  summer  of  1889,  strove  to  carry 
on  the  work  which  had  been  entrusted  to  them.  Overtures  were  made  by  the 
Sons  of  the  Revolution  to  unite  the  two  societies  and  lengthy  correspondence 
followed.  Mr.  Fred  S.  Tallmadge,  the  President  of  the  Society  of  the 
Sons  of  the  Revolution,  in  concluding  this  correspondence,  says :  "  I  fully 
appreciate  the  benefit  of  harmonious  action,  so  that  we  may  be  a  unit ;  but  the 
society  may  well  object,  after  six  years'  hard  work,  to  being  merged  into  a  National 
Society,  so  called,  where  their  individuality  shall  be  surrendered  and  lost,  and 
where  their  insignia,  their  '  muniments  of  title '  be  lost,  or  at  least  shall  be  at  the 
mercy  of  men  who  may  not  appreciate  what  they  have  done.  They  would  prefer, 
I  think,  to  adopt,  as  their  motto,  the  request  of  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Rebellion,  '  Let  us  alone.'  " 

On  January  17,  1890,  the  National  Society  was  incorporated  in  the  State  of 
Connecticut,  through  the  efforts  of  its  first  President,  Judge  Deming.  The 
national  character  of  the  order  having  made  its  incorporation  desirable,  identical 
bills  were  introduced  into  Congress  on  April  9,  1890,  by  Senator  Hoar,  of 
Massachusetts,  and  on  the  10th  by  Congressman  McAdoo,  of  New  Jersey,  for 
that  purpose.  They  were  referred  to  the  Committee  on  the  Library,  which 
promptly  reported  back  to  both  houses  in  favor  of  its  passage.  The  bill  is  as 
follows  : 

A  Bill  to  Incorporate  the  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  American 
Revolution. 
"Be  IT  ENACTED,  etc.,  That  David  D.  Porter,  of  the  District  of  Columbia; 
William  H.  Arnoux  and  James  Otis,  of  New  York  ;  William  Seward  Webb  and 
Theodore  S.  Peck,  of  Vermont  ;  Timothy  Dwight,  Lucius  P.  Deming  and  J. 
Coddington  Kinney,  of  Connecticut ;  Rutherford  B.  Hayes  and  Wilson  L.  Gill,  of 
Ohio ;  Wade  Hampton,  of  South  Carolina ;  Simon  B.  Buckner,  of  Kentucky ; 
John  B.  Gordon,  of  Georgia ;  Robert  L.  Taylor,  of  Tennessee  ;  Robert  S.  Green  and 
William  O.  McDowell,  of  New  Jersey ;  Edwin  S.  Barrett  and  Luther  L.  Tarbell, 
of  Massachusetts;  John  G.  Morris,  James  C.  Cresap  and  W.  Francis  Cregar,  of 
Maryland  ;  A.  S.  Hubbard  and  Charles  J.  King,  of  California  ;  Charles  E.  Cheney, 
of  Illinois;  William  H.  English,  of  Indiana;  Charles  H.  Dennison,  of  Maine; 
William  II.  Brearley,  of  Michigan  ;  John  B.  Sanborn,  of  Minnesota;  D.  B.  Francis, 
of  Missouri ;  Hiram  E.  Hall,  of  Washington ;  Atwood  Violett,  of  Louisiana ; 
Edmund  de  Lafayette,  of  France;  Zebulon  B.  Vance,  of  North  Carolina;  William 
D.  Hoard,  of  Wisconsin  ;  P'itzhugh  Lee,  of  Virginia  ;  James  A.  Beaver,  of  Penn- 
sylvania; John  J.  Jacobs,  of  West  Virginia;  Elisha  B.  Andrews,  of  Rhode  Island; 
H.  K.  Slayton,  of  New  Hampshire;  Joseph  E.Johnston  and  Goldsmith  Bernard 
West,  of  Alabama;  Samuel  W.  Wilson,  of  Arkansas;  Lyman  E.  Knapp,  of 
Alaska;  H.  R.  Wolcott,  of  Colorado  ;  A.  J.  Woodman,  of  Delaware  ;  William  B. 
Allison,  of  Iowa;  L.  Bradford  Prince,  of  New  Mexico;  George  L.  Miller,  of 
Nebraska ;  W.  F.  Wheeler,  of  Montana ;  Charles  E.  Hooker,  of  Mississippi ; 
William  Kapus,  of  Oregon  ;  George  Pettigrew,  of  South  Dakota  ;  their  associates 
and  successors,  are  hereby  created,  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  a  body  corporate 
and  politic,  by  the  name  of  the  '  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution,'  to  perpetu- 
ate the  memory  and  spirit  of  the  men  who  achieved  American  independence,  by 
the  encouragement   of  historical  research  in  relation  to  the  Revolution,  and  the 


INSIGNIA  OF  THE  SOCIETY  OF  THE 
SONS    OF    THE    AMERICAN    REVOLUTION 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN     REVOLUTION.  g 

publication  of  its  results  ;  the  preservation  of  documents  and  relics  and  of  the 
records  of  the  individual  services  of  Revolutionary  soldiers  and  patriots,  and  the 
promotion  of  celebrations  of  all  patriotic  anniversaries  ;  to  carry  out  the  injunc- 
tion of  Washington  in  his  farewell  address  to  the  American  people,  '  to  promote, 
as  an  object  of  primary  importance,  institutions  for  the  general  diffusion  of  know- 
ledge,' thus  developing  an  enlightened  public  opinion  and  affording  to  young  and 
old  such  advantages  as  shall  develop  in  them  the  largest  capacity  for  performing  the 
duties  of  American  citizens ;  to  cherish,  maintain  and  extend  the  institutions 
of  American  freedom  ;  to  foster  true  patriotism  and  love  of  country,  and  to  aid  in 
securing  for  mankind  all  the  blessings  of  liberty.  Said  association  is  authorized 
to  hold  real  and  personal  estate  in  the  District  of  Columbia  so  far  only  as  may  be 
necessary  to  its  lawful  ends,  to  an  amount  not  exceeding  $500,000  ;  to  adopt  a 
constitution  and  to  make  by-laws  not  inconsistent  with  this  law.  Said  association 
shall  have  its  principal  office  at  Washington,  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  may 
hold  its  annual  meetings  in  such  places  as  the  said  incorporators  shall  determine. 
Said  association  shall  report  annually  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Smithsonian  Institu- 
tion concerning  its  proceedings.  Said  Secretary  shall  communicate  to  Congress 
the  whole  of  such  reports  or  of  such  portion  thereof  as  he  shall  see  fit.  The 
regents  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  are  authorized  to  permit  said  association  to 
deposit  its  collections,  manuscripts,  books,  pamphlets  and  other  material  for 
history  in  the  Smithsonian  Institution  or  in  the  National  Museum,  at  their  discre- 
tion, upon  such  conditions  and  under  such  rules  as  they  shall  prescribe." 

Seal.  The  seal  adopted  by  the  society  is  two  and  three-eighths  of  an  inch  in 
diameter,  charged  with  the  figure  of  a  minute  man  grasping  a  musket  in  his  right 
hand  and  surrounded  by  a  constellation  of  thirteen  stars,  who  is  depicted  in  the 
habit  of  a  husbandman  of  the  period  of  the  American  Revolution,  as  in  the  act  of 
deserting  the  plough  for  the  service  of  his  country,  the  whole  encircled  by  a  band 
three-eighths  of  an  inch  wide,  within  which  appears  the  legend,  "  National 
Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution,  organized  April  30,  1889." 

This  seal  was  designed  by  Edwin  S.Barrett,  the  present  (1897)  President- 
General. 

Insignia.  The  insignia  of  the  society  consists  of  (1)  a  cross  surmounted  by 
an  eagle  in  gold  or  silver ;  (2)  a  duplicate  for  the  same  in  miniature  ;  (3)  a  rosette. 
The  cross  to  be  of  silver,  with  four  arms,  in  miniature,  and  eight  white  enameled 
points,  same  size  as  Chevalier's  Cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  of  France,  with  a  gold 
medallion  in  the  centre,  bearing  on  the  obverse  a  bust  of  Washington  in  profile, 
and  on  the  reverse  the  figure  of  a  minute  man  surrounded  by  a  ribbon  enameled 
blue,  with  the  motto  Libertas  et  Patria  on  the  obverse,  and  the  legend  "  Sons  of 
the  American  Revolution  "  on  the  reverse,  both  in  letters  of  gold.  The  cross  is 
surmounted  by  an  eagle  in  gold  or  silver,  and  the  whole  decoration  suspended 
from  a  ring  of  gold  by  a  ribbon  of  deep  blue  with  white  edges,  and  may  be  worn 
by  any  member  of  the  society  on  ceremonial  occasions  only,  and  shall  be  carried 
on  the  left  breast,  or,  if  an  officer,  at  the  collar. 

The  duplicate  to  have  all  the  essential  features  of  the  cross,  but  to  be 
miniature  size. 

The  rosette  to  be  seven-sixteenths  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  of  usual  pattern, 
displaying  the  colors  of  the  society,  and  may  be  worn  by  all  members  at  discretion, 
in  the  upper  left  hand  button-hole  of  the  coat. 


IO  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN     REVOLUTION. 

CERTIFICATE  of  Membership.  Soon  after  Dr.  Webb  was  elected  Presi- 
dent-General, he  appointed  Luther  L.  Tarbell  and  Hon.  Lucius  P.  Denning  a 
committee  to  design  and  have  executed  a  Certificate  of  Membership.  These 
gentlemen  met  in  the  city  of  Boston  with  an  officer  of  the  American  Bank  Note 
Company,  and  together  they  arranged  and  designed  the  Certificate  of  Membership, 
which  was  submitted  to  President-General  Webb  and  the  Board  of  Managers 
and  adopted  by  them.  The  bill  for  same,  which  amounted  to  $600,  was  paid  by 
Dr.  Webb. 

FIRST    CONGRESS  OF   THE  NATIONAL  SOCIETY. 

The  second  year  in  the  history  of  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution  began 
with  societies  in  actual  operation  in  twenty-eight  States,  a  membership  of  2,500 
men,  and  with  organizing  committees  in  existence  in  every  other  State  and  every 
Territory  of  the  Union.  In  accordance  with  requirements  of  the  constitution,  the 
year  was  introduced  by  the  assembling  of  the  first  annual  congress  of  the  order 
on  April  30,1890,311(1  this  body  met  in  the  city  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  at  the  Gait 
House.  The  congress  was  called  to  order  and  the  address  of  welcome  given  by 
Hon.  Simon  B.  Buckner,  then  governor  of  Kentucky,  and  was  responded  to  by 
Gen.  Alexander  S.  Webb,  in  fitting  terms.  Gen.  Webb  was  the  presiding  officer  on 
this  occasion.  It  was  the  first  meeting  between  many  of  the  old  army  veterans 
of  the  North  and  South  since  the  war,  and  Gen.  Webb,  a  gallant  soldier,  who 
fought  in  the  Northern  army  from  the  beginning  to  the  close  of  the  war,  extended 
a  hearty  greeting  to  the  men  of  the  South,  reminding  them  of  the  great  sacrifice 
made  by  our  Revolutionary  ancestors  to  establish  the  independence  of  the  colonies, 
the  men  of  the  North  and  South  standing  shoulder  to  shoulder,  battling  for  their 
rights  against  a  common  foe,  the  last  act  in  the  great  drama  being  enacted  on 
Southern  soil,  the  soldiers  of  the  North  and  South  sharing  equally  the  glory,  and 
establishing  a  perpetual  union  in  which  sectional  animosities  should  have  no  place. 
In  the  words  of  Abraham  to  Lot,  '  Let  there  be  no  strife  between  me  and  thee, 
between  thy  herdsmen  and  my  herdsmen,  for  we  be  brethren." 

[Judge  Deming,  acting  in  his  capacity  of  Vice-President-General,  surrendered 
his  right  to  preside  over  that  congress  to  Gen.  Alexander  S.  Webb,  brother  of  Dr. 
Webb,  out  of  compliment  to  Dr.  Webb  and  his  genial  and  talented  brother.  At 
that  meeting  Dr.  Webb  was  again  elected  President-General  and  Hon.  Lucius  P. 
Deming,  Vice-President-General.] 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  delegates  who  met  on  this  occasion  at  Louis- 
ville, Ky.,  April  30,  1890,  represented  by  the  following  general  officers,  about  one- 
third  of  whom  were  present :  President-General — Dr.  William  Seward  Webb, 
New  York;  Vice-President-General — Hon.  Lucius  P.  Deming,  New  Haven;  Vice- 
Presidents— F "or  the  State  of  Alabama,  Major  Goldsmith  Bernard  West*,  Birming- 
ham ;  for  Arkansas,  Col.  Samuel  W.  Williams,  Little  Rock ;  for  California,  Col. 
A.  S.  Hubbard,  San  Francisco  ;  for  Connecticut,  Major  J.  C.  Kinney,  Hartford  ; 
for  Delaware,  the  Hon.  Andrew  J.  Woodman,  Wilmington;  for  Illinois,  the  Rt. 
Rev.  C.  E.  Cheney,  LL.D.,  Chicago  ;  for  Indiana,  the  Hon.  W.  H.  English,  Indianapo- 
lis ;  for  Kentucky,  the  Hon.  S.  B.  Buckner*,  Frankfort  ;  for  Maine,  the  Hon.  C.  H. 
Dennison.  Wiscassett ;  for  Maryland,  the  Rev.  John  G.  Morris,  D.D.,  Baltimore  ; 
for  Massachusetts,  the  Hon.  Edwin  S.  Barrett*,  Boston  ;  for  Michigan,  the  Hon. 
W.  H.  Brearley*,  Detroit ;  for  Minnesota,  the  Hon.  J.  B.  Sanborn,  St.  Paul ;  for 
Missouri,  the    Hon.  D.  R.  Francis,  Jefferson    City ;    for    New    Hampshire,  the 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN     REVOLUTION.  II 

Hon.  H.  K.  Slayton,  Manchester;  for  New  Jersey,  the  Hon.  Robert  S. 
Green,  Elizabeth  ;  for  New  York,  the  Hon.  Wm.  H.  Arnoux*,  New  York 
City;  for  South  Carolina,  the  Hon.  Wade  Hampton,  Columbia;  for  Ten- 
nessee, the  Rev.  D.  C.  Kelley,  LL.D.*,  Nashville  ;  for  Vermont,  the  Hon.  W. 
P.  Dillingham,  Montpelier  ;  for  Virginia,  the  Hon.  Fitzhugh  Lee,  Richmond  ;  for 
West  Virginia,  the  Hon.  John  J.  Jacobs,  Wheeling  ;  for  Wisconsin,  the  Hon.  Wm. 
D.  Hoard,  Madison  ;  for  District  of  Columbia,  Admiral  D.  D.  Porter,  U.  S.  N., 
Washington  ;  for  France,  Edmon  de  Lafayette,  Paris.  Secretary-General — Lieut. 
J.  C.  Cresap*,  U.  S.  N.,  Annapolis  ;  Assistant  Secretaries — General  Charles  J. 
King,  of  San  Francisco  ;  Wilson  L.  Gill,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  William  Francis 
Cregar*,  of  Annapolis,  Md.;  Treasurer-General — James  Otis,  New  York  City; 
Registrar-General— Luther  L.  Tarbell*,  Boston  ;  Chaplain — Rev.  Timothy 
Dwight,  LL.D.,  New  Haven,  Conn. 

Section  2,  Article  III.,  of  the  Constitution  adopted  by  this  Congress  states 
that  "  For  the  purpose  of  making  more  nearly  perfect  the  records  of  our  Revo- 
lutionary ancestors  and  their  descendants,  any  woman  of  Revolutionary  ancestry 
may  file  a  record  of  her  ancestors'  services  and  of  her  line  of  descent,  with  the 
Registrar,  who  shall  send  a  duplicate  to  the  Registrar-General." 

Section  1,  Article  IV.,  states  that  "  The  officers  of  the  National  Society  shall 
be  a  President-General,  three  Honorary  Vice-Presidents-General,  a  Secretary- 
General,  Treasurer-General,  Registrar-General,  Historian-General,  Surgeon-Gen- 
eral and  Chaplain,  who  shall  be  elected  by  ballot  by  a  vote  of  the  majority  of  the 
members  present  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Congress  of  the  society,  and  who 
shall  hold  office  for  one  year  and  until  their  successors  shall  be  elected,"  etc. 

The  following  general  officers  were  successively  elected  by  unanimous 
vote  of  the  Congress:  President-General— Dr.  William  Seward  Webb,  of  New 
York.  Vice-Presidents-General — The  Hon.  Lucius  P.  Deming,  of  Connecticut ;  the 
Hon.  Simon  B.  Buckner,  of  Kentucky  ;  the  Hon.  William  H.  Arnoux,  of  New  York  ; 
Josiah  C.  Pumpelly,  of  New  Jersey,  and  Admiral  David  D.  Porter,  U.  S.  N.,  of 
the  District  of  Columbia.  Secretary-General — Lieut.  James  C.  Cresap,  U.  S.  N., 
of  the  District  of  Columbia.  Registrar-General  -Luther  L.  Tarbell,  of  Massa- 
chusetts. Historian-General — William  Francis  Cregar,  of  Maryland.  Surgeon- 
General — William  Thorndyke  Parker,  M.D.,  of  Rhode  Island.  Chaplain-General 
— The  Rt.  Rev.  Charles  E.  Cheney,  Bishop  of  Illinois. 

Officers,  1891:  President-General  -Dr.  William  Seward  Webb,  of  New 
York.  Past-President-General — Judge  Lucius  P.  Deming,  of  Connecticut. 
Honorary  Vice-Presidents-General—  Admiral  David  D.  Porter,  U.  S.  N.,  and  Gen. 
Joseph  E.  Johnston,  of  the  District  of  Columbia ;  Hon.  Edwin  Shepard  Barrett, 
of  Massachusetts.  Vice-Presidents-General—  Judge  Lucius  P.  Deming,  of  Con- 
necticut ;  Gov.  Simon  B.  Buckner,  of  Kentucky ;  ex-Judge  William  H.  Arnoux,  of  New 
York  ;  Joseph  C.  Pumpelly,  of  New  Jersey  ;  George  Brown  Goode,  Ph.D.,  of  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia.  Secretary-General — Lieut.  James  C.  Cresap,  U.  S.  N.,  of  Mary- 
land. Treasurer-General  -James  Otis,  of  New  York.  Acting  Treasurer-General 
—Frank  Smith,  of  New  York.  Registrar-General—  Luther  L.  Tarbell,  of  Massa- 
chusetts ;  Historian-General—  Andrew  D.  Melleck,  Jr.,  of  New  Jersey.  Surgeon- 
General— William  T.  Parker,  M.D.,  of  Massachusetts.  Chaplain-General— Rt. 
Rev.  Charles  Edward  Cheney,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  of  Illinois. 


"Those  actually  present. 


12  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

Officers,  1892:  President-General— Gen.  Horace  Porter,  New  York.  Vice- 
Presidents-General— ]or\a\\\a.n  Trumbull,  of  Connecticut ;  Gen.  J.  C.  Breckenridge, 
U.  S.  A.;  Hon.  Henry  M.  Shepard,  of  Illinois  ;  Gen.  Theodore  S.  Peck,  of  Ver- 
mont ;  Paul  Revere,  of  New  Jersey.  Honorary  Vice-Presidents-General — Hon. 
Chauncey  M.  Depew,  LL.D.,  of  New  York;  Hon.  Thomas  F.  Bayard,  of  Delaware; 
Gen.  Bradley  T.  Johnson,  of  Maryland.  Secretary-General — A.  Howard  Clark, 
District  of  Columbia.  Registrar-General — Prof.  George  Brown  Goode,  District 
of  Columbia.  Historian-General — Henry  Hall,  of  New  York  City.  Surgeon- 
General — Dr.  Aurelius  Bovven,  of  Nebraska.  Chaplain-General — Rt.  Rev.  Chas. 
E.  Cheney,  D.D.,  of  Illinois. 

Officers,  1893:  President-General — Gen.  Horace  Porter,  New  York.  Vice- 
Presidents-General — Hon.  Chauncey  M.  Depew,  New  York ;  Gen.  Bradley  T. 
Johnson,  Maryland  ;  Hon.  John  Whitehead,  New  Jersey;  Rev.  Willard  Parsons, 
Ohio ;  Hon.  William  English,  Indiana.  Secretary-General — Franklin  Murphy, 
Newark,  N.  J.  Historian-General — Henry  Hall,  New  York.  Registrar-General 
— A.  Howard  Clark,  Washington,  D.  C.  Treasurer-General — C.  W.  Haskins, 
New  York.     Chaplain-General — Bishop  Charles  E.  Cheney,  Chicago,  111. 

Officers,  1894:  /'resident  General — Gen.  Horace  Porter,  LL.D.,  New  York. 
Vice-Presidents-General — Gen.  J.  C.  Breckenridge,  U.  S.  A.;  Col.  Thomas  M. 
Anderson,  U.  S.  A.;  William  Ridgely  Griffiths,  Baltimore,  Md.;  Edwin  S.  Barrett, 
Concord,  Mass.;  John  Whitehead,  Morristown,  N.  J.  Secretary-General — Frank- 
lin Murphy,  Newark,  N.  J.  Treasurer-General — C.  W.  Haskins,  New  York. 
Registrar-General — A.  Howard  Clark,  Washington,  D.  C.  Historian-General — 
Henry  Hall,  New  York.  Chaplain-General — Rt.  Rev.  Charles  Edward  Cheney, 
D.D.,  Chicago,  111. 

Officers,  1895:  President-General — Gen.  Horace  Porter,  LL.D.  J'ice- 
Presidents-General—  Gen.  J.  C.  Breckenridge,  U.S.  A.;  Col.  Thomas  M.Ander- 
son, U.  S.  A.;  Edwin  S.  Barrett;  John  Whitehead  ;  Cushman  K.  Davis,  St.  Paul, 
Minn.  Secretary-General — Franklin  Murphy.  Treasurer-General — C.  W.  Has- 
kins. Registrar-General — A.  Howard  Clark.  Historian-General — Henry  Hall. 
Chaplain-General — Rt.  Rev.  Charles  Edward  Cheney,  D.D. 

Officers,  1896:  President-General—  Gen.  Horace  Porter,  LL.D.  Vice- 
Presidents-General — Col.  Thomas  M.  Anderson,  U.  S.  A.;  Edwin  S.  Barrett ; 
John  Whitehead  ;  William  Ridgeley  Griffiths,  Baltimore,  Md.;  William  Wirt  Henry, 
Richmond,    Va.       Secretary-General — Franklin    Murphy.       Treasurer-General — 

C.  W.  Haskins.  Registrar-General — A.  Howard  Clark.  Historian-General — 
Henry  Hall.     Chaplain-General '— Rt.  Rev.  Charles  Edward  Cheney,  D.D. 

Officers,  1897:  President-General — Edwin  S.  Barrett,  Concord,  Mass.  Vice- 
Presidents-General — Col.  Thomas  M.  Anderson,  U.  S.  A.,  Vancouver  Barracks, 
Wash.;  John  Whitehead,  Morristown,  N.  J.;  James  M.  Richardson,  Cleveland,  O.; 
Capt.  Samuel  Eberly  Cross,  Chicago,   111.;  Gen.  J.  C.  Breckenridge,  Washington, 

D.  C.  Acting  Secretary-General — Henry  Hall.  Treasurer-General — C.  W. 
Haskins.  Registrar-General—  A.  Howard  Clark.  Historian-General— -Henry 
Hall.     Chaplain-General — Rev.  Charles  E.  Cheney,  D.D. 

Gen.  Horace  Porter  served  as  President-General  for  a  portion  of  1897,  until 
his  departure  for  France,  and  Edwin  S.  Barrett,  of  Concord,  Mass.,  was  elected 
to  fill  the  unexpired  term. 


DEMING— SLAUTER—  RUSSELL. 


Hon.  Lucius  P.  Deming,  First  President-General  of  the  National 
Society,  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution,  was  the  "peacemaker"  who 
sought  to  reconcile  the  differences  between  and  unite  the  two  societies.  He 
left  no  stone  unturned  to  accomplish  this  much-to-be-desired  event.  The  report 
states  that,  "Judge  Deming  began  a  correspondence  with  both  the  Pennsylvania 
and  New  York  Societies,  and  solicited  the  offices  of  both  to  aid  him  in  removing 
the  obstacles,  whatever  they  might  be,  which  stood  in  the  way  of  union.  In  the 
most  generous  and  admirable  spirit,  he  offered  to  resign  and  permit  the  election  of 
a  new  President  of  the  National  Society,  and  he  assured  the  New  York  Society, 
especially,  that  their  Society  would,  in  the  united  brotherhood,  by  reason  of  its 
prestige  and  large  membership,  occupy  a  virtually  controlling  position."  In  his 
letter  to  President  Tallmadge,  of  the  S.  of  R.,  he  says  :  "  In  all  that  has  been 
done,  care  has  been  taken  not  to  offend  the  New  York  Society.  Being  the  largest 
society,  the  oldest  society  in  the  Eastern  States,  and  counting  among  its  members 
gentlemen  of  national  reputation,  it  was,  and  is  admitted,  that  New  York  should 
take  the  lead  in  this  movement,  not  that  New  York  should  be  recognized  as  the 
National  Society  and  grant  charters,  but  that  her  influence  should  be  recognized 
as  leading  and  directing  the  movement.  If  you  could  simply  drop  out  of  your 
Constitution  Articles  6  and  7,  your  society  will  then  stand  upon  a  level  and 
equality  with  all  other  societies.  *  *  *  *  If  that  could  be  done,  I  should 
resign  as  President  and  a  new  President,  possibly  yourself,  from  your  own  State, 
could  be  elected  at  once."  In  connection  with  this  it  is  noteworthy  that  the 
ancestor  of  President  Tallmadge,  was  one  of  the  founders  of  New  Haven,  the 
present  residence  of  Judge  Deming. 

John  Deming,  the  Connecticut  ancestor  of  the  family,  who  settled  in 
Wethersfield,  Conn.,  in  1635,  died  there  1705,  was  one  of  the  nineteen  (including 
his  father-in-law,  Richard  Treat)  to  whom  was  granted  the  charter  of  Connecticut, 
April  23,  1662.  He  was  a  representative  to  the  General  Court  several  times  from 
1649  to  1 661.  He  married  Honor  Treat,  daughter  of  Richard  Treat,  also  one  of 
the  original  settlers  of  Wethersfield.  She  was  a  sister  of  Robert  Treat  one  of  the 
founders  of  Newark,  N.  J.,  and  afterwards  Governor  of  Connecticut.  Elizabeth, 
the  sister  of  John  Deming,  was  married  to  Gov.  Thomas  Welles,  of  Connecticut. 

John  Carlton  Deming,  fifth  in  descent  from  the  ancestor  John  Deming, 
probably  grandson  of  John  Deming,  who  settled  in  West  Stockbridge,  Mass  ,  about 
1763,  was  born  in  West  Stockbridge,  Mass.,  Monday,  August  22,  1790.  He 
married,  in  iSu.Lucenia  Woodruff,  and  had  issue,  Joint  Carlton;  she  died  in 
1S12,  and  in  1 8 14  he  married  Miranda  Newell. 

John  Carlton  Deming  (2),  son  of  John  Carlton  (1)  and  Lucenia  (Woodruff) 
Deming,  was  born  Nov.,  1812.  He  married  Polly,  daughter  of  Sylvanius  Slauter, 
son  of  Ephraim,  son  of  Gilbert  Slauter. 


14  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN     REVOLUTION. 

GILBERT  SLAUTER,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was  born  at 
Oblong,  Dutchess  County,  N.  Y.,  about  1730.  He  was  a  private  in  Second 
Regiment,  Westchester  County,  N.  Y.,  commanded  by  Colonel  Thomas.  He  was 
killed  in  battle,  Nov.  12,  1778.     He  had  a  son  Ephraim. 

EPHRAIM  SLAUTER,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Gilbert,  was 
born  at  Oblong,  Dutchess  County,  N.  Y.,  May  27,  1755.  He  enlisted  at  Sharon, 
Conn.,  Feb.,  1776,  for  three  years  as  Sergeant,  under  Capt.  Theodore  Woodbridge, 
in  the  Seventh  Regiment,  commanded  by  Col.  Herman  Swift.  His  name  also 
appears  as  "  Ephriam  Sleter,"  in  Capt.  Dutcher's  Company,  Major  Sheldon's  Conn. 
Regiment  Dragoons. 

John  Carlton  Deming,  by  his  wife  Polly  Slauter,  daughter  of  Sylvanius,  son  of 
Ephraim  Slauter,  had  three  sons,  Hervey  Jencks,  Lucius  Parmenius  and 
George  Ai. 

LUCIUS  PARMENIUS  DEHINQ,  National  Society  Sons  of  the  American 
Revolution,  son  of  John  Carlton  and  Polly  (Slauter)  Deming,  was  born  in  West 
Stockbridge,  Mass.,  March  10,  1836.  His  early  education  was  limited  to  the 
public  schools  of  his  native  town,  but  he  continued  his  studies  up  to  the  time  he 
entered  a  professional  life.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  was  clerk  in  a  country 
store,  and  three  years  later  was  in  the  employ  of  a  firm  of  fresco  and  ornamental 
painters.  His  failing  health  necessitated  a  voyage  to  sea,  which  he  continued  for 
several  years,  and  was  for  seven  years  master  of  a  vessel.  Having  recovered  his 
health  he  began  the  study  of  law  at  Yale  Law  School,  in  1875,  and  on  graduation 
in  1877,  he  received  the  Townsend  Prize  for  the  best  oration.  He  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  of  New  Haven  the  same  year,  and  formed  a  law  partnership  with  Hon. 
Wm.  C.  Case,  which  continued  for  fifteen  years.  He  took  a  foremost  position 
in  his  profession,  ranking  with  the  best  lawyers  in  the  State.  Soon  after  he 
began  practice,  he  was  appointed  Assistant  Prosecuting  Attorney  in  New  Haven, 
later  Assistant  Judge  of  the  City  Court,  Judge  of  the  same  court,  and  later  Judge 
of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  New  Haven  County,  holding  that  position  for 
six  years,  until  the  opposing  political  party  came  into  power.  He  has  been  in 
public  life  almost  from  the  time  he  began  practice.  In  1877  he  was  appointed  by 
Governor  Andrews,  chairman  of  a  commission  to  investigate  complaints  which 
had  been  made  in  regard  to  convict  labor  and  its  interference  with  free  labor. 
As  chairman  of  the  committee,  he  acted  in  concert  with  a  like  committee  from 
Massachusetts  and  other  States.  During  the  investigation  he  visited  the  State's 
prisons,  penitentiaries  and  reformatories  of  nearly  all  the  States,  and  in  his  report, 
recommended  a  law  limiting  contract  labor  in  prisons,  which  was  adopted  and 
still  continues  in  force  in  Connecticut  and  other  States. 

Judge  Deming  led  the  movement  in  1889,  in  .the  State  of  Connecticut,  which 
culminated  on  April  2  in  the  formation  of  the  Connecticut  Society,  Sons  of  the 
American  Revolution.  The  rapid  progress  and  increase  in  numbers,  leading  for 
a  time  all  the  other  States,  was  due  largely  to  his  efforts.  He  declined  a  reelection 
the  following  year  owing  to  other  pressing  public  duties.  He  wrote  the  first  Consti- 
tution and  By-Laws,  and  largely  the  amendments  to  it.  He  was  active  in  the  forma- 
tion of  the  National  Society,  and  spent  much  of  his  time  in  the  work  of  the  organiza- 
tion, which  increased  to  such  an  extent  that  he  was  obliged  to  resign  the  office  of 
President  a  few  months  after  his  election.  The  National  Society  was  incorporated 
in  the  State  of  Connecticut  through  his  efforts,  and  the  bills  for  incorporation,  both 


HON.  LUCIUS  P.  DEMING 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  1 5 

of  this  and  the  State  Society  were  drafted  by  him.  He  dictated  to  Lieut.  Cresap, 
the  first  Secretary-General,  the  first  Constitution  and  Laws  of  the  National 
Society  and  assisted  in  preparing  the  amendments  to  the  first  Constitution.  He 
also  prepared  the  design  for  the  National  Certificate  of  Membership,  assisted  by 
Mr.  Tarbell.  After  Judge  Deming  resigned  as  President-General,  he  accepted  the 
position  of  Vice-President-General,  and  continued  in  the  same  work  he  began  in 
the  first  position. 

Judge  Deming  has  been  equally  conspicuous  in  the  fraternal  societies  of  his 
adopted  State,  and  also  in  the  national  councils  of  the  same.  He  passed  through 
the  several  chairs  in  the  Lodge  of  Odd  Fellows  and  was  elected  Grand  Master  of 
the  Order,  and  served  a  term  as  representative  to  the  Sovereign  Grand  Lodge  of 
Odd  Fellows.  He  has  been  for  six  years  Grand  Warden  of  Connecticut,  of  the 
New  England  Order  of  Protection,  an  institution  devoted  to  "  benevolence,  equity 
and  charity,"  and  is  now  Supreme  Warden  of  the  Order.  He  is  also  a  member  of 
the  Masonic  Fraternity,  having  taken  all  of  the  degrees,  including  Knight  Templars. 

Judge  Deming  married  Laura  Eliza  Russell,  daughter  of  Calvin  Russell,  a 
descendant  of  Col.  Edward  Russell,  who  was  Colonel  of  the  Second  Regiment 
Militia  and  received  his  appointment  in  May,  1875,  and  was  afterwards  Captain  of 
the  2d  Company,  Fifth  Battalion,  Wadsworth  Brigade,  1876.  For  his  second  wife 
he  married  Eleanor  M.  Parmelee,  descendant  in  a  direct  line  from  Baron  Maurice 
Parmelee,  of  Belgium,  who  settled  in  Holland  in  about  1570,  whose  third  son  was 
Johannes  von  Parmelee,  Baron  of  Batavia,  whose  son  was  John  Parmelee,  who 
settled  in  Guilford,  Conn.,  in  1639,  and  who  died  in  New  Haven,  Conn.,  in  1659. 
By  his  first  wife  Judge  Deming  had  three  children  :  Lucius  P.,  a  physician  in 
Syracuse,  N.  Y.;  Hattie  L.,  deceased,  and  Laura  M.,  a  physician  in  Philadelphia, 
Pa.     By  his  second  wife  he  has  one  daughter,  Almira  P. 


DR.  WILLIAM  SEWARD  WEBB. 

Second.  President=General  National  Society,  Sons  of 

the    American    Revolution. 


Richard  Webb,  the  ancestor,  was  admitted  a  freeman  of  the  town  of 
Boston,  in  April,  1632.  In  the  summer  of  1635,  he  removed  with  Rev.  Thomas 
Hooker,  and  others,  to  Hartford,  Conn.  He  subsequently  removed  to  Stratford 
thence  to  Stamford,  where  he  died  in  1676.  He  had  five  sons,  one  of  whom  was 
Joseph  (1),  and  one  daughter. 

Joseph  Webb  (i),  son  of  Richard  Webb,  was  born,  probably,  in  Stamford. 
He  married  Hannah  Scofield  and  had  a  son,  Joseph  (2). 

Joseph  Webb  (2),  son  of  Joseph  (1)  and  Hannah  (Scofield)  Webb,  was 
born  in  Stamford,  Conn.  He  married  Feb.  23,  1698,  Mary,  daughter  of  Benjamin 
Hoyt,  and  had  a  son,  Joseph  (3). 

Joseph  Webb  (3^,  son  of  Joseph  (2)  and  Mary  (Hoyt)  Webb,  was  born  in 
Stamford,  about  1700.  He  married,  first,  Sarah  Blachley,  in  1726.  He  married, 
second,  Elizabeth  Starr.     By  his  first  wife  he  had  Joseph  (4). 


i6 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 


Joseph  Webb  (4),  son  of  Joseph  (3)  and  Sarah  (Blachley)  Webb,  was  born 
at  Stamford,  Conn.,  Dec.  8,  1727.  He  removed  to  Wethersfield,  Conn.,  with  his 
half  brothers,  Ezra  and  Ebenezer,  where  he  married,  in  1749,  Mehitable  Nott,  and 
had  four  sons  :  Joseph,  Samuel  Blachley,  John  (1),  John  (2). 

COL.  SAHUEL  BLACHLEY  WEBB,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution, 
son  of  Joseph  (4)  and  Mehitable  (Nott)  Webb,  was  born  in  Wethersfield,  Conn  ' 
Dec.  15,  1753.     At  the    age   of  twenty-one,  in  command    of  a  company    of  light 


infantry,  he  left  Wethersfield  for  Boston,  on  the  "  Lexington  Alarm,"  participated 
in  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  where  he  was  wounded,  and  was  commended  in 
general  orders  for  gallantry.  He  was  appointed  aid-de-camp  to  General  Putnam, 
and  on  June  21,  1776,  was  made  private  secretary  and  aid-de-camp  to  General 
Washington,  with  rank  of  Lieut.-Colonel.  He  wrote  the  order  promulgating  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  in  New  York  City,  July  9,  1776,  and  was  associated 
with  Col.  Joseph   Reed,  a  few  days  later,  in  refusing  to  receive  a  letter  from  Lord 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN     REVOLUTION.  1 7 

Howe,  addressed  to  George  Washington,  Esq.  He  was  at  the  battle  of  Long 
Island,  was  wounded  at  White  Plains  and  Trenton,  and  was  also  engaged  at 
Frinceton.  He  raised  and  equipped  almost  entirely  at  his  own  expense,  the 
Third  Conn.  Regiment,  of  which  he  took  command  in  1777.  He  took  part  in  Gen. 
Samuel  Holden  Parsons'  unfortunate  expedition  to  Long  Island,  was  captured 
with  his  command  by  the  British  fleet  Dec.  10,  1777,  and  remained  a  prisoner 
until  1780,  when  he  was  exchanged  and  took  command  of  the  light  infantry,  with 
the  brevet  rank  of  Brigadier-General.  He  arranged  the  meeting  between  Wash- 
ington and  Rochambeau  at  Wethersfield,  Conn.,  May  9,  1781,  and  was  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Cincinnati,  in  1783.  When  Washington  took  the  oath  of  office  as 
first  President  of  the  United  States,  Gen.  Webb  was  selected  to  hold  the  Bible 
on  which  he  was  sworn.  Washington  said  of  him  that  "  he  was  the  most  accom- 
plished gentleman  in  the  army." 

His  regiment,  the  Third  Connecticut,  was  clothed  with  British  uniforms, 
captured  from  the  enemy,  and  was  known  as  the  "  Decoy  Regiment."  It  was  to 
this  regiment  that  Burgoyne's  spy  surrendered  himself  at  Fishkill,  and  declared  his 
mission,  having  swallowed  the  silver  ball  containing  the  dispatch  from  Burgoyne 
to  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  announcing  his  intended  march  southward  from  Ticonderoga. 
Col.  Webb  married,  first,  Eliza  Bunker,  daughter  of  Richard  Bunker,  of  New 
York,  in  1780.  She  died  without  issue.  He  married,  second,  1790,  at  Claverach, 
Columbia  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Catharine,  daughter  of  Judge  Stephen  Hogeboom,  of  the 
Manor  of  Claverach,  fourth  in  descent  from  Peter  Hogeboom,  who  came  from 
Holland  with  Van  Rensselaer,  "  the  great  Patroon."  They  had  issue,  Catharine 
Louisa,  Maria,  Henry  Livingston,  Stephen  Hogeboom,  Walter  Wemple  and 
Catharine  Louise,  twins,  Chatharine  Louise  again,  James  Watson  and  Jane 
Hogeboom. 

James  Watson  Webb,  eighth  child  of  Col.  Samuel  Blachley  and  Catharine 
(Hogeboom)  Webb,  was  born  in  Claverach,  N.  Y.,Feb.  8,  1802  ;  died  in  New  York 
City,  June  7,  1884.  He  was  educated  at  Cooperstown,  N.  Y.;  entered  the  U.  S. 
Army  as  Second  Lieut,  in  1819,  and  became  First  Lieut,  in  1823,  Assistant 
Commissary  of  Subsistance  in  1824,  and  Adjutant  of  the  Third  Regiment  in  1S26. 
In  1827  he  resigned  and  became  editor  of  the  New  York  Courier,  and  in  1829 
purchased  the  Enquirer,  and  united  the  two  under  the  name  of  the  Morning 
Courier  and  New  York  Enquirer.  In  1861  this  was  merged  into  the  World.  In 
June,  1842,  he  fought  a  duel  with  Thomas  F.  Marshall,  a  member  of  Congress  from 
Kentucky,  concerning  whom  he  had  published  an  article,  and  was  wounded.  He 
was  indicted  by  the  New  York  grand  jury  in  November,  "  for  leaving  the  State 
with  the  intention  of  giving  or  receiving  a  challenge."  He  pleaded  guilty  and  was 
subjected  to  the  full  penalty  under  the  law,  but  was  pardoned  after  two  weeks 
detention.  In  1843  he  became  engineer-in-chief  of  the  State  of  New  York,  with 
the  rank  of  Major-General,  and  in  1849  ne  was  appointed  Minister  to  Austria,  but 
was  rejected  by  the  Senate.  At  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War,  he  applied  for 
an  appointment  as  Major-General  of  volunteers,  which  was  refused,  but  he  was 
offered  a  Brigadier-Generalship,  which  he  declined.  He  refused  the  mission  to 
Turkey  in  1861,  but  was  immediately  appointed  Minister  to  Brazil,  in  which  office 
he  secured  the  settlement  of  long  standing  claims  against  that  country,  and 
through  his  intimacy  with  Napoleon  III.,  aided  in  procuring  the  withdrawal  of  the 
French  from  Mexico.  He  resigned  the  Brazillian  mission  in  1869,  and  returned  to 
3 


1 8  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

New  York  in  1870.  He  published  "  Altowan,  or  Incidents  of  Life  and  Adventure 
in  the  Rocky  Mountains,"  "Slavery  and  its  Tendencies,"  and  a  pamphlet  on  the 
"  National  Currency." 

Gen.  Webb  married,  first,  Helen  Lispenard  Stewart,  daughter  of  Alexander 
L.  Stewart,  and  grand-daughter  of  Anthony  Lispenard.  The  issue  of  this 
marriage  was  Robert  Stewart,  Lispenard  Stewart,  Helen  Matilda,  Amelia  Barclay, 
Catharine  Louisa,  James  Watson,  Watson,  Alexander  Stewart.  His  first  wife 
died  in  1848,  and  on  Nov.  9,  1849,  he  married  Laura  Virginia,  youngest  daughter 
of  Jacob  Cram,  Esq.  They  had  issue,  William  Seward,  Henry  Walter,  George 
Creigton,  Jacob  Louis  and  Francis  Edgerton. 

WILLIAn  SEWARD  WEBB,  Second  President-General  National 
Society,  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution,  eldest  son  of  James  Watson 
and  Laura  Virginia  (Cram)  Webb,  was  born  in  New  York  City,  Jan.  31,  1851. 
He  was  educated  at  Col.  Churchill's  Military  Institute,  Sing  Sing,  on  the  Hudson. 
After  a  two  years  course  at  Columbia  College,  he  entered  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons,  graduating  in  1S75,  after  which  he  spent  two  years  abroad.  He 
married,  Dec.  20,  i88t,  Lelia  Osgood  Vanderbilt,  daughter  of  William  H. 
Yanderbilt,  and  soon  after  became  connected  with  the  Vanderbilt  railroad 
interests.  He  has  had  charge,  for  some  years,  of  the  Wagner  Palace  Car  Com- 
pany, of  which  he  became  president  in  1883.  The  construction  of  the  Adirondack 
and  St.  Lawrence  Railway,  from  Herkimer,  N.  Y.,  through  the  Adirondacks  to  the 
St.  Lawrence  River,  is  due  to  the  efforts  of  Dr.  Webb,  and  he  has  been  president 
of  the  Company  since  1891.  He  is  interested  as  director  and  owner  in  other  large 
enterprises.  Dr.  Webb's  selection  as  President-General  of  the  National  Society 
of  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution,  proved  a  fortunate  one.  He  helped  the 
society  through  the  most  trying  period  of  its  existence  and  contributed  materially 
to  its  success.  He  has  spent  the  larger  portion  of  his  time,  for  some  years  past,  at 
his  beautiful  home  in  Vermont,  and  in  1891  was  appointed  Inspector  of  Rifle 
Practice  on  the  Governor's  staff. 


GENERAL  HORACE  PORTER. 

Third.  President-General  of  the  Sons   of  the  Ameri- 
can  Revolution,  XJ.  S. 


Robert  Porter,  the  American  ancestor  of  this  branch  of  the  Porter  family, 
emigrated  to  this  country  from  Londonderry,  Ireland,  and  settled  in  Londonderry, 
N.  H.,  in  1720.  He  afterwards  bought  land  in  Montgomery  County,  Pa.  His 
ancestors  were  originally  from  Lancashire,  England,  and  removed  to  Ireland, 
under  the  reign  of  James  I.  Robert,  by  his  first  wife,  had  issue,  Andrew  and 
other  children. 

GENERAL  ANDREW  PORTER,  Officer  of  the  Revolution,  son  of 
Robert  Porter,  was  born  in  Worcester,  Montgomery  Co.,  Pa.,  Sept.  24,  1743;  cued 
in  Harrisburg,  Nov.  16,  181 3.  On  June  19,  1776,  he  was  appointed  by  Congress, 
Captain  of  marines,  and  was  ordered  to  the  frigate  "Effingham."     He  was  trans- 


Uv^vL 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN     REVOLUTION. 


19 


ferred  thence  to  the  artillery,  in  which  he  served  with  distinction.  He  was  pro- 
moted Major  in  1782,  and  became  Lieut.-Colonel  and  Colonel  of  Fourth  Pennsyl- 
vania Artillery,  continuing  in  this  capacity  until  the  close  of  the  war.  He  was 
engaged  in  the  battles  of  Newtown,  Princeton,  Brandywine  and  Germantown. 
During  the  latter  engagement  nearly  all  his  company  were  killed  or  taken 
prisoners.  For  his  gallant  conduct  on  that  occasion  he  was  specially  commended 
by  Washington,  and  at  the  latter's  request,  was  sent  to  Philadelphia  to  prepare 
material  for  the  siege  of  Yorktown.  At  the  battle  of  Princeton  he  was  thanked 
on  the  battle-field  personally  by  Washington.  In  April,  1779,  he  was  detached 
with  his  company  to  join  General  Sullivan's  expedition  against  the  Indians,  and 
suggested  to  General  James  Clinton  the  idea  of  damming  the  outlet  of   Otsego 


GENERAL  ANDREW  PORTER. 


Lake,  by  which  means  the  water  was  raised  sufficiently  to  convey  the  troops  by 
boats  to  Tioga  Point.  In  1783  he  retired  from  the  army  and  again  settled  down 
to  the  simple  life  of  a  farmer. 

He  was  made  Brigadier-General  of  Pennsylvania  Militia  in  1801,  promoted 
Major-General,  and  in  1809,  was  appointed  Surveyor-General,  which  position  he 
held  until  his  death.  He  declined  the  offer  of  Brigadier-General  in  the  U.  S. 
Army,  which  was  tendered  him  during  the  latter  years  of  his  life,  and  also  that  of 
Secretary  of  War  under  President  Monroe's  administration,  1812-13.  He  married, 
first,  Elizabeth  McDowell  ;  afterwards  Elizabeth  Parker,  and  had  issue  David 
Rittenhouse,  George  Bryan,  (who  became  Governor  of  Michigan),  James 
Madison,  (Secretary  of  War  under  Taylor,  an  eminent  jurist  and  the  founder  of 
Lafayette  College,  Easton,  Fa.),  William  Augustus,  also  a  well-known  jurist,  son 
of  David  Rittenhouse. 


20  SONS    OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

David  Rittenhouse  Porter,  son  of  Major-General  Andrew  and  Elizabeth 
(Parker)  Porter,  was  born  at  Norristown,  Pa.,  Oct.  31,  1788  ;  died  in  Harrisburg, 
Pa.,  Aug.  6,  1867.  He  was  educated  at  Norristown  Academy  and  when  his 
father  was  appointed  Surveyor-General,  became  his  secretary.  He  began  the 
study  of  law,  which  he  was  compelled  to  abandon  owing  to  failing  health.  He 
removed  to  Huntington  County  where  he  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  iron  and 
was  also  interested  in  agriculture  and  the  raising  of  a  fine  stock  of  cattle  and 
horses,  which  he  introduced  into  the  country.  He  was  elected  to  the  State 
Legislature  in  1819,  was  made  Prothonotary  in  1821,  elected  State  Senator  in  1836 
and  Governor  of  Pennsylvania  in  1838,  continuing  in  office  until  1845.  He 
received  a  resolution  of  thanks  from  the  city  for  his  activity  in  suppressing  the 
riots  in  1844.  He  afterwards  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  iron,  and  erected  in 
Harrisburg  the  first  anthracite  furnace  in  that  part  of  the  State.  He  married 
Josephine  McDermett,  daughter  of  William  McDermett,  and  had  issue,  William 
Augustus,  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania ;  Andrew  and  George  W., 
both  physicians  ;  Elizabeth,  who  married  James  M.  Wheeler,  and  Horace. 

GENERAL  HORACE  PORTER,  President-General  Sons  of  the 
American  Revolution,  1892  to  April,  1897,  son  of  Governor  David  Ritten- 
house and  Josephine  (McDermett)  Porter,  was  born  in  Huntington,  Pa.,  April  15, 
1837.  After  a  preparatory  course  in  his  native  State  he  entered  Lawrence 
Scientific  School,  of  Harvard,  and  was  appointed  thence  a  cadet  at  the  U.  S. 
Military  Academy  at  West  Point,  graduating  July  1,  i860;  served  as  Assistant 
Ordnance  officer  at  Watervleet  Arsenal,  New  York ;  Second  Lieutenant  of 
Ordnance,  April  22,  1861  ;  was  ordered  to  duty  in  the  South  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Civil  War;  promoted  First  Lieutenant  of  Ordnance,  June  7,  1861  ;  Assistant 
Ordnance  officer  of  the  Port  Royal  Expeditionary  Corps,  Oct.  5,  1861  to  July  2, 
1862,  being  engaged  at  the  Hilton  Head  Depot,  Nov.  7  to  Dec.  1  5,  1 861  ;  in  erecting 
batteries  of  heavy  artillery  on  Savannah  River  and  Tybee  Island,  Georgia,  for  the 
reduction  of  Fort  Pulaski,  Dec.  15,  1861  to  April  12,  1862;  as  Chief  of  Ordnance 
and  Artillery  at  the  reduction  and  capture  of  Fort  Pulaski,  Georgia,  April  io-ii, 
1862.  He  was  brevetted  Captain  April  10,  1862,  for  gallant  and  meritorious 
service  at  the  siege  of  Pulaski ;  in  preparing  heavy  artillery  and  ordnance  stores 
for  James  Island  expedition,  April  10  to  June  1,  1862,  and  in  the  attack  on  Seces- 
sionville,  S.  C,  June  16,  1 862  ;  as  Chief  of  Ordnance  in  the  transfer  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  from  Harrison's  Landing.  Va.,  to  Maryland,  July  25,  to  Sep.  19,  1862; 
as  Chief  of  Ordnance  Department  of  Ohio,  Sep.  20,  1862,  to  Jan.  25,  1863,  and  of 
the  Department  and  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  Jan.  28  to  Nov.  1,  1863 ;  Captain  of 
Ordnance  March  5,  1863.  Lieut.-Colonel,  Staff  Aid-de-Camp  to  the  General-in- 
Chief ;  as  Aid-de-Camp  to  Lieut. -General  Grant,  April  4,  1864  to  July  25,  1864. 

Brevetted  Major  May  6,  1864,  for  gallant  and  meritorious  service  at  the  battle 
of  the  Wilderness.  Brevetted  Colonel  U.  S.  Volunteers,  Feb.  24,  1865,  for  faithful 
and  meritorious  service.  He  was  twice  wounded  during  the  war.  Brevetted 
Colonel  U.S.  Army,  March  13,  1865,  for  gallant  and  meritorious  service  during 
the  war;  brevetted  Brigadier-General  U.  S.  A.,  March  13,  1865,  for  gallant  and  meri- 
torious service  in  the  field  during  the  war.  At  the  headquarters  of  General  Grant, 
commanding  the  armies  of  the  United  States,  April  14,  1865  ;  Colonel  Staff,  Aid- 
de-Camp  to  the  General-in-Chief,  July  25,  1866  ;  Major  Ordnance,  March  7,  1867  ; 
served  as  Aid-de-Camp  to  the  General  of  the  armies  in  Washington,  and  in  making 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  21 

tours  of  inspection  through  the  Southern  States,  Territories  and  along  the  Pacific 
coast  till  March,  1869  ;  served  as  Secretary  to  President  Grant,  from  March,  1869 
to  Dec,  1872  ;  resigned  from  the  army  Dec.  6,  1872,  and  has  since  been  engaged  in 
railroad  affairs  as  manager  and  vice-president  of  the  Pullman  Palace  Car  Com- 
pany, and  as  president  and  director  of  several  corporations.  He  was  largely 
interested  in  the  construction  of  the  West  Shore  Railroad,  and  was  its  first 
president. 

To  General  Porter  is  due  the  credit  of  the  erection  of  the  Grant  Monument  at 
Riverside  Park,  New  York.  When  he  took  the  matter  in  hand,  the  Grant  Monu- 
ment Association  had  been  in  existence  some  years  and  had  only  raised  $150,000, 
and  but  little  was  being  done  to  carry  forward  the  enterprise.  Grand  Army  men 
in  various  parts  of  the  country  were  clamorous  for  the  removal  of  the  remains  of 
General  Grant  to  Washington,  and  efforts  were  made  to  induce  Congress  to  take 
some  action  in  the  matter.  At  this  juncture  several  of  the  old  board  of  directors 
resigned  and  the  Association  was  practically  reorganized,  and  General  Porter 
elected  President.  He  at  once  appealed  to  the  patriotism  of  the  citizens  of  New 
York,  and  soon  revived  interest  in  the  matter,  and  in  less  than  two  years  the 
sum  had  reached  half  a  million  dollars.  The  work  was  pushed  forward  and  on 
April  27,  1897,  the  anniversary  of  General  Grant's  birthday,  the  Grant  Monument 
was  unveiled  to  the  public,  with  appropriate  ceremonies,  amidst  the  largest 
gathering  of  people  ever  met  in  New  York  City. 

General  Porter  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the 
American  Revolution,  in  1890,  and  was  elected  President-General  of  the  National 
Society  in  1892,  serving  continuously  until  his  departure  for  France,  as  U.  S.  Ambas- 
sador, in  1897.  He  has  been  present  at  all  its  public  gatherings,  and  under  his 
management  the  society  has  increased  in  influence  and  numbers  throughout  the 
United  States.  He  delivered  the  oration  at  the  unveiling  of  the  monument  in 
honor  of  Maryland's  "Four  Hundred,"  in  Prospect  Park,  Aug.  27,  1895. 

President  McKinley,  soon  after  his  inauguration  in  March,  1897,  appointed 
General  Porter  U.  S.  Ambassador  to  France,  and  he  took  his  departure  from  this 
country  May  5,  following.  General  Porter  was  Commander  of  the  Military  Order, 
Loyal  Legion  U.  S.,  from  1894  to  1S97,  and  was  Commander  of  George  Washington 
Post,  G.  A.  R.,  for  the  same  period.  He  is  Past  Commander  of  the  Society  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  ;  was  President  of  Grant  Monument  Association  from  1891 
to  1897,  and  was  President  of  the  Union  League  from  1892  to  1897.  He  received 
from  Union  College,  in  1894,  the  degree  of  LL.D.  General  Porter  married  in  Dec, 
1863,  Miss  Sophia  K.  McHarg,  daughter  of  John  McHarg,  Esq.,  of  Albany.  They 
have  two  children,  Clarence,  a  graduate  at  Princeton,  and  Elsee. 


HON.  EDWIN  SHEPARD  BARRETT. 

Rotarth.    President=General  S.  A.  R.,  1897. 


The  Hon.  Edwin  Shepard  Barrett,  elected  in  the  Spring  of  1897,  to  succeed 
General  Horace  Porter,  was  born  in  Concord,  Mass.,  where  his  family  have  been 
prominent  since  1638.  His  emigrant  ancestor,  Humphrey  Barrett,  an  Englishman 
from  the  County  of  Kent,  was  first  of  the  name  in  Massachusetts.     The  surround- 


22  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

ings  of  Mr.  Barrett  tend  to  keep  alive  the  spirit  of  patriotism  which  the  scenes  of 
76  enkindled.  His  home  is  on  the  very  battlefield  where  "the  shot  was  fired 
heard  'round  the  world,"  under  the  command  of  his  great-great-grandfather,  Col. 
James  Barrett,  who  led  the  Americans  in  the  historic  "  Concord  Fight."  From  his 
door  he  can  look  upon  the  homes  where  dwelt  his  ancestors  for  more  than  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years,  a  privilege  granted  to  few  Americans.  The  paternal 
grandmother  of  Mr.  Barrett,  who  watched  over  him  through  his  early  boyhood, 
was  one  of  the  actual  witnesses  of  the  battle  at  the  North  Bridge,  and  it  was  her 
delight  to  rehearse  the  events  of  that  day  to  her  grandchildren.  Her  portrait  is  in 
Mr.  Barrett's  possession. 

In  the  old  cemeteries  of  the  town  are  buried  nine  soldiers  of  the  American 
Revolution  of  the  name  of  Barrett.  Mr.  Barrett  is  well  known  in  his  town  and 
State  as  a  patriotic  and  public-spirited  citizen,  and  as  a  busy  man  of  affairs.  In 
private  life,  as  trustee  and  manager  of  estates,  he  is  very  successful.  While 
a  temporary  resident  of  New  Hampshire  during  the  late  Civil  War,  he  held  for  two 
years  the  executive  position  of  State  Auditor  of  Accounts,  involving  large  respon- 
sibilities. He  has  been  President  of  the  Massachusetts  Society  of  The  Sons  of  the 
American  Revolution  since  1891.  This  is  the  largest  and  most  progressive  of  all  the 
societies  of  the  S.  A.  R.  Mr.  Barrett  is  a  member  of  many  societies  and  clubs, 
notably,  the  Social  Circle,  made  up  from  the  original  "  Committee  of  Safety,"  in 
Concord  in  1774-75,  and  with  full  records  from  the  original  date;  The  Society  of 
Colonial  Wars,  The  Massachusetts  Historic  Genealogical  Society,  Bunker  Hill 
Monument  Association  and  the  Loyal  Legion.  He  served  his  country  in  the 
Civil  War  as  a  volunteer  staff  officer  in  carrying  orders  on  the  battlefield  at  Bull 
Run  in  1861.  As  Secretary  of  the  Massachusetts  State  Board  of  Trade,  he  is  in 
close  touch  with  the  business  interests  of  the  State,  and  is  a  careful  and  accurate 
observer  of  all  live  matters  of  public  interest. 


MURPHY— CRANE— PIER50N— LYON,  Etc. 

Line    of    r-^ra.nk:lin    N/Etarptiy,   Secretary=General   N. 
tional  Society,  S.  A.  R. 


The  ancestors  of  Franklin  Murphy  were  not  only  identified  with  the  early 
settlement  of  East  New  Jersey,  but  were  among  the  principal  founders  of  the 
State  of  Connecticut;  they  were  also  well  represented  among  the  patriots  of 
the  Revolution.  These  names  include  the  Cranes,  Piersons,  Wheelwrights,  Swains, 
Lyons  and  other  notable  families. 

Robert  Murphy,  the  American  ancestor  of  this  branch  of  the  family,  was 
born  in  Ireland,  March  17,  1735;  died  at  Middle  Patent,  Conn.,  July  16,  1774. 
He  came  to  this  country  in  1766  and  settled  at  Horseneck,  Fairfield  County, 
Conn.  He  was  a  man  of  education,  culture  and  refinement.  He  established  a 
successful  school  at  a  place  known  as  Middle  Patent.  He  was  an  honor  to  his 
country  and  highly  respected  in  the  community  where  he  resided.  He  married 
Ann  Knapp,  great-granddaughter  of  Caleb  Knapp,  born  in  Watertown,  Mass., 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  23 

1637  ;  moved  to  Stamford,  Conn.,  1648  ;  son  of  Nicholas  Knapp,  born  in  Buoy, 
St.  Marys,  England  ;  emigrated  to  America  in  Winthrop's  and  Saltonstall's  fleet, 
1630;   settled  in  Watertown,   moved  to   Stamford,   1648;  married,  first,  Eleanor 

,  died   1658;   married,  second,  June  9,  1659,   Unity  (Buxton)  Brown,  widow 

of  Peter  Brown.  By  his  marriage  with  Ann  Knapp,  Robert  Murphy  (1)  had  a 
son,  Robert  (2). 

ROBERT  MURPHY  (2),  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Robert  (1) 
and  Ann  (Knapp)  Murphy,  was  born  at  Middle  Patent,  Fairfield  County,  Conn., 
December  6,  1759.  He  moved  to  Jersey  City,  N.  J.,  previous  to  the  Revolution, 
and  was  among  the  first  to  enlist  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  on  the  call  for 
three  months'  troops.  He  was  a  private  in  Colonel  Theunis  Day's  regiment, 
Bergen  County  Militia ;  also  served  as  private  in  Captain  David  Marinus'  company, 
Colonel  Philip  Van  Cortlandt's  battalion,  General  Nathaniel  Heard's  brigade,  New 
Jersey  State  Troops,  from  June  14,  1776,  to  December  1,  1776,  and  took  part  in 
the  battle  of  Long  Island,  August  27,  1776.  He  married,  March  9,  1789,  Hannah 
Doane,  and  had  issue,  a  son,   William. 

William  Murphy,  son  of  Robert  and  Hannah  (Doane)  Murphy,  was  born  at 
Middle  Patent,  Fairfield  County,  Conn.,  December  6,  1795;  died  at  Jersey  City, 
N.  J.,  August  18,  1845.  He  removed  with  his  parents  to  Jersey  City,  early  in  life. 
He  was  a  musician  in  the  War  of  181 2,  and  was  stationed  in  New  York  harbor. 
He  married,  February,  181S,  Sarah  Lyon,  daughter  of  Benjamin  Lyon  and  Phebe 
Crane.  Benjamin  Lyon  (3),  born  July  31,  1758,  was  the  son  of  Benjamin  (2), 
born  at  Lyons  Farms,  N.  J.,  1694,  son  of  Benjamin  (1),  born  1673,  brother  of 
Joseph,  who  married  Mary  Pierson,  and  son  of  Henry  Lyon,  one  of  the  Elizabeth- 
town  Associates.  Phebe  Crane,  the  wife  of  Benjamin  Lyon,  was  the  daughter  of 
Elias  Crane,  who  was  the  son  of  Capt.  Josiah  Crane.  He  was  the  son  of  Joseph 
Crane  and  Abigail  Lyon.  Joseph  Crane,  born  1676,  died  August  4,  1726,  was  the 
son  of  Jasper  Crane  (2)  and  Joanna  Swaine,  daughter  of  Captain  Samuel  Swaine, 
son  of  William  Swain,  Esq.,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Connecticut  Colony, 
member  of  the  Governor's  Council,  and  one  of  the  founders  of  Branford,  Conn. 
Jasper  Crane  (2)  was  the  son  of  Jasper  Crane  (1),  one  of  the  original  settlers  of 
the  New  Haven  Colony;  signed  the  first  agreement  June  4,  1649.  at  a  general 
meeting  of  the  free  planters ;  was  a  member,  with  Robert  Treat,  of  the  General 
Court,  and  many  years  a  magistrate.  He  was  an  original  settler  of  Branford,  and 
came  with  the  Branford  colonists  to  Newark.  He  held  many  important  positions, 
and  was  a  member  of  the  New  Jersey  Assembly.  His  son,  Deacon  Nathaniel, 
married  a  daughter  of  Governor  Treat,  of  Connecticut.  Abigail  Lyon,  the  wife 
of  Joseph  Crane  before  mentioned,  was  the  daughter  of  Joseph  Lyon  and  Mary 
Pierson ;  the  latter  was  the  daughter  of  Rev.  Abraham  Pierson,  first  President  of 
Yale  College,  son  of  Rev.  Abraham,  a  leading  divine  of  New  England;  graduate 
of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  England  ;  came  to  Boston,  1640;  minister  of  the 
church  at  Lynn,  Mass.;  moved  thence  to  Southampton,  L.  I.,  1640,  and  finally 
settled  at  Branford.  In  consequence  of  the  troubles  between  the  Connecticut  and 
New  Haven  colonies,  he  took  his  church  almost  bodily  to  Newark,  of  which  he 
was  the  founder.  His  wife,  Abigail  Wheelwright,  was  the  daughter  of  Rev.  John 
Wheelwright,  and  granddaughter  of  Rev.  Thomas  Storer,  Vicar  of  Belesbury, 
Lincolnshire,  etc.  William  Murphy,  by  his  marriage  with  Sarah  Lyon  (fifth  in 
descent  from  Mary  Pierson),  had  a  son,  William  H. 


24  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

William  H.  Murphy,  son  of  William  and  Sarah  (Lyon)  Murphy,  was  born 
in  Newark,  N.  J.,  April  15,  1821.  He  married  Abby  Elizabeth  Hagar,  daughter 
of  John  Hagar  and  Rachel  Harrison.     They  had  issue,  Franklin. 

FRANKLIN  MURPHY,  Sfxretaky-General  National  Society,  Sons 
of  the  American  Revolution,  son  of  William  H.  and  Abby  Elizabeth 
(Hagar)  Murphy,  was  born  in  Jersey  City,  N.  J.,  January  3,  1846.  He  came  with 
his  parents  to  Newark  at  an  early  age,  and  has  since  been  identified  with  and 
materially  contributed  to  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  his  adopted  city.  He 
attended  the  Newark  Academy  until  he  was  sixteen  years  of  age,  and  immediately 
after  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War  he  left  school  and  enlisted  as  private  in 
Company  A,  13th  N.  J.  Vols.  He  served  in  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  participa- 
ting in  the  battles  of  Antietam,  Chancellorsville  and  Gettysburg,  and  afterwards  in 
the  Western  army  under  Sherman  on  the  Atlanta  campaign  and  "the  march  to 
the  sea."  He  was  mustered  out  at  the  close  of  the  war  as  First  Lieutenant, 
having  received  his  several  promotions  for  gallant  and  meritorious  service  in  the 
war.  Hs  enlisted  as  a  boy  and  came  out  of  the  war  a  man  and  a  patriot. 
He  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  varnish  not  long  after,  and  through  his 
energy  and  business  sagacity  he  has  built  a  large  and  successful  trade,  with 
branches  and  manufactories  at  several  important  trade  centres  of  the  country,  all 
under  his  personal  supervision  as  President  of  the  Murphy  Varnish  Company. 
He  has  thus  added  not  only  to  the  wealth  of  his  adopted  city,  but  to  that  of  others, 
besides  giving  employment  to  a  large  number  of  operatives. 

Mr.  Murphy's  labors  and  splendid  work  done  in  the  building  up  of  the 
National  Society  and  New  Jersey  State  Society  is  too  well  known  to  require  an 
extended  notice.  Few  men  in  his  position,  with  the  immense  business  interests 
and  responsibilities,  could  have  been  induced  to  undertake  the  arduous  labors  and 
give  the  requisite  time  demanded  by  his  position  as  Secretary-General  of  the 
S.  A.  R.,  and  as  Vice-President  of  the  State  organization.  He  is  one  of  the 
most  popular  officers  in  the  National  and  State  organizations.  Mr.  Murphy  is  a 
leader  in  the  Republican  party  of  his  State  and  is  at  present  chairman  of  the 
Republican  State  Committee.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Military  Order  of  the  Loyal 
Legion  U.  S.,  of  the  Union  League  Club  of  New  York,  the  Down  Town  Club,  the 
Union  League  Club  of  Chicago,  of  the  Essex  Club  and  Essex  County  Country 
Club,  located  at  Orange.  He  married  Janet  Caldwell,  daughter  of  Israel  Caldwell 
and  Catharine  Gale  Hoagland,  and  has  three  children. 


HASKINS— EMERSON. 

Line  of  Charles  Waldo  Haskins,  Treasurer-General 
National  Society,   3.  A.  R 


New  York  State  is  honored  in  having  three  representatives  in  the  Board  of 
Officers  of  the  National  Society,  all  members  of  the  Empire  State  Society.  Of  this 
number,  Charles  Waldo  Haskins,  the  Treasurer-General,  is  worthy  of  a  place 
among  the  distinguished   men  who  compose  the  Board,  not  only  because  of  his 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 


25 


personal  qualifications,  but  because  of  his  long  line  of  eminent  ancestors.  These 
include  the  well-known  families  of  Haskins,  Emerson,  Waite,  Upham,  and  others. 

Robert  Haskins,  the  first  of  this  name  who  settled  in  New  England,  came 
to  Boston  in  the  early  part  of  the  last  century.  There  is  a  tradition  that  he  came 
from  Virginia,  and  another,  that  he  came  from  England  with  a  brother,  who  went 
to  Virginia,  while  he,  Robert,  remained  in  Boston.  Robert  married,  in  1728, 
Sarah,  daughter  of  Philip  Cook,  of  Cambridge.     They  had  a  son  John. 

JOHN  HASKINS,  Soldier  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Robert  and 
Sarah  (Cook)  Haskins,  was  born  in  Boston,  Mass.,  March  12,  1729.  At  the  age 
of   eighteen    he  embarked  in  a  letter-of-marque   vessel  that  was  bound  for  the 


JOHN  HASKINS. 

West  Indies,  and  commissioned  to  act  against  French  and  Spanish.  He  was 
taken  prisoner  by  the  Spaniards  and  afterward  by  the  French.  Before  the  Revolu- 
tion he  was  much  interested  in  military  affairs.  He  was  commissioned  Captain  of 
the  old  Boston  Regiment,  Feb.  20,  1722,  the  "Alarm  List"  (Lexington  Alarm) 
being  still  preserved.  He  was  one  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  and  a  list  of  them, 
dining  at  the  "Liberty  Tree,"  Dorchester,  shows  him  the  companion  of  John 
Adams,  Samuel  Adams,  Josiah  Quincey,  Edward  Case  and  Joseph  Warren.  He 
was  prominent  as  a  business  man,  and  distinguished  by  unusual  strength  and 
uprightness  of  character.  He  was  known  as  "  Honest  John  Haskins,"  whose 
word  was  as  good  as  his  bond.  He  married  Hannah,  daughter  of  Phineas  Upham 
and  Hannah  Waite,  who  was  the  daughter  of  Joseph  Waite  and  Lydia  Sargent, 


26  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN   REVOLUTION. 

daughter  of  John  Sargent  and  Lydia  Chipman.  The  latter  was  the  daughter  of 
John  Chipman  and  Hope  Howland,  daughter  of  John  How  land  and  Elizabeth 
Tilley,  who  came  in  the  Mayflower.  John  Howland  was  thirteenth  on  the  list  of 
those  who  signed  the  compact.  He  was  the  Governor's  Assistant  of  Plymouth 
Colony,  1634;  was  an  assistant  of  the  Governor  to  raise  soldiers  in  1637; 
he  was  a  member  of  a  military  company  of  Plymouth,  1643,  and  was  in  service 
against  the  Indians  by  order  of  the  General  Court.  He  represented  the  town  of 
Plymouth  at  the  General  Court  of  Plymouth  Colony,  1646-58,  1663,  1666-7  and  l67o. 

Phineas  Upham,  the  father  of  Hannah  (Upham)  Haskins,  was  the  grandson 
of  Lieutenant  Phineas  Upham,  of  the  4th  Company,  Massachusetts  Regiment,  as 
organized  for  the  Narragansett  Company,  and  as  mustered  at  Pellesquamscott 
(Tower  Hill),  R.  I.  At  the  "Swamp  Fight,"  Dec.  19,  1675,  Capt.  Isaac  Johnson, 
commanding  the  company,  was  killed  and  Lieut.  Upham  died  from  wounds 
received  in  the  fight. 

Through  her  mother,  Hannah  Waite,  Hannah  (Upham)  Haskins  was  de- 
scended from  Capt.  John  Waite,  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Maiden,  Mass  ,  when 
the  Colony  allowed /4.18s,  "for  his  writing  one  booke  and  for  finding  paper  for 
both  bookes."  This  was  the  MS.  of  the  celebrated  Massachusetts  Laws,  per- 
fected by  Joseph  Hills,  his  father-in-law.  He  was  Captain  of  the  Train  Band ; 
Selectman,  and  represented  his  town  in  the  House  of  Deputies  for  eighteen  years, 
and  in  1684  was  chosen  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Deputies.  Hannah  Upham  was 
also  descended  from  Rose  Dunster,  sister  of  Rev.  Henry  Dunster,  the  first 
President  of  Harvard  College.  The  issue  of  the  marriage  of  John  Haskins  and 
Hannah  Upham,  was  a  son,  Robert. 

Robert  Haskins,  son  of  John  and  Hannah  (Upham)  Haskins,  was  born  in 
Boston,  July  2,  1773.  He  was  a  prominent  and  successful  merchant.  He 
married  Rebecca,  daughter  of  Rev.  William  Emerson,  of  Concord. 

REV.  WILLIAM  EMERSON,  the  Patriot  Minister  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, was  the  builder  of  the  Old  Manse,  celebrated  by  Hawthorne.  He  was 
living  there  when  the  British  troops  came  up  on  the  19th  of  April,  1775,  and 
wrote  an  account  of  the  skirmish  at  the  bridge.  He  and  his  brother,  Rev.  Joseph 
Emerson,  of  Peppered,  had  been  active  patriots  before  the  war.  He  preached  to 
the  minute  men,  exhorting  them  to  ready  obedience,  to  discipline,  and  assuring 
them  that  their  resistance  to  invasion  of  their  constitutional  rights  was  true 
loyalty  to  "  the  principles  which  had  advanced  the  House  of  Hanover  to  its 
unrivalled  lustre."  In  August,  1776,  he  left  Concord  to  join  the  army  at 
Ticonderoga,  as  Chaplain,  and  died  a  few  months  later  of  camp  fever.  He  was 
born  in  Maiden,  Mass.,  in  1743  ;  graduated  at  Harvard.  His  wife  was  Phebe  Bliss, 
daughter  of  Rev.  Daniel  Bliss,  his  predecessor  in  the  Concord  pulpit.  In  addition 
to  his  daughter  Rebecca,  who  married  Robert  Haskins,  he  had  a  son,  Rev. 
William  Emerson,  who  married  Ruth  Haskins  (sister  of  Robert),  who  was  the 
father  of  the  eminent  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson.  Rev.  William,  the  patriot,  was 
the  son  of  Rev.  Joseph  Emerson.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  1 717,  "the  greatest 
student  in  the  country."  He  prayed  that  none  of  his  descendants  might  be  rich. 
He  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Rev.  Samuel  Moody.  Joseph  was  the  son  of 
Edward  Emerson,  who  married  Rebecca,  daughter  of  Cornelius  Waldo.  Edward 
was  the  son  of  Rev.  Joseph  Emerson,  of  Ipswich,  1638,  who  preached  there  two  or 
three  years,  and  also  at  Wells,  and  became  the  first  minister  at  Mendon,  continu- 


C.  W.    HASKINS 


SONS    OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  2"J 

ing  until  the  destruction  of  the  town  in  Philip's  War.  He  then  removed  to 
Concord.  He  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Rev.  Edward  Bulkley,  son  of 
Thomas,  son  of  Peter  Bulkley,  born  1583,  an  eminent,  non-conformist  divine, 
rector  of  Odell,  Bedfordshire,  England,  who  came  to  America  in  1635,  and  was 
one  of  the  founders  of  Concord,  Mass.  Robert  Haskins,  by  his  marriage  with 
Rebecca  Emerson,  daughter  of  Rev.  William  Emerson  (aunt  of  Ralph  Waldo), 
had  a  son,   Thomas. 

Thomas  Waldo  Haskins,  son  of  Robert  and  Rebecca  (Emerson)  Haskins, 
was  born  in  Boston,  in  1801.  He  was  a  leading  merchant  and  had  the  largest  hard- 
ware establishment  in  Boston.  He  married  Mary  Soren,  daughter  of  John  Soren 
and  Sarah  Johnston.  She  was  the  daughter  of  John  Johnston,  son  of  Thomas  Johns- 
ton born  probably  about  1700;  died  1765  ;  buried  in  King's  Chapel  burying-ground, 
Tremont  Street,  Boston.  It  is  said  that  he  constructed  the  first  organ  of  American 
manufacture  used  in  Boston.  This  organ  was  broken  up  many  years  since  by 
Messrs.  Hook,  and  two  of  the  pipes  are  now  in  possession  of  his  descendants. 
He  also  built  the  old  North  Church  organ,  since  removed,  excepting  the  case, 
which  still  remains  intact.  His  son,  John  Johnston,  referred  to  above,  was  born 
about  1750.  He  was  a  sign  and  escutcheon  painter,  and  did  good  artistic  work. 
A  portrait  of  Governor  Sumner,  which  hangs  in  the  State  House,  was  done  by  him. 
He  died  in  Dedham,  in  18 16.  His  son  John  served  his  time  as  a  printer,  but  did  not 
follow  the  trade.  He  became  one  of  the  firm  of  Holyoke  &  Soren,  West  India 
merchants.  By  his  marriage  with  Mary  Soren,  Thomas  Waldo  Haskins  had  a  son, 
Waldo  Emerson. 

Waldo  Emerson  Haskins,  son  of  Thomas  and  Mary  (Soren)  Haskins,  was 
born  in  Roxbury,  Mass.,  March  3,  1827.  He  received  a  thorough  academic 
education,  and  came  to  New  York  in  1851,  where  he  engaged  in  the  banking 
business  with  his  uncle,  George  Soren.  He  married  Amelia  Rowan  Cammeyer, 
daughter  of  Alfred  Cammeyer.  They  had  issue,  Charles  Waldo  and  Emma 
Parsons. 

CHARLES  WALDO  HASKINS,  Treasurer-General  of  the  Na- 
tional Society,  1892-7,  Secretary  of  the  Empire  State  Society,  1893-4,  son  of 
Waldo  Emerson  and  Amelia  Rowan  (Cammeyer)  Haskins,  was  born  in  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.,  January  11,  1852.  He  was  graduated  at  the  Polytechnic  Institute  of  his 
native  city  and  entered  upon  his  business  career  in  the  accounting  department  of 
the  old  and  well-known  importing  house  of  F.  Butterfield  &  Co.  After  an 
experience  of  five  years  in  this  firm,  he  spent  two  years  in  foreign  travel  and  on 
his  return  became  connected  with  the  brokerage  firm  of  W.  E.  Haskins.  Subse- 
quently he  was  employed  for  three  years,  in  the  important  work  of  keeping  the 
accounts  for  the  construction  of  the  New  York,  West  Shore  and  Buffalo  Railway 
Company,  by  the  North  River  Construction  Company,  and  was  also  at  the  same 
time  auditor  of  disbursements  of  the  Railway  Company. 

Mr.  Haskins  then  commenced  the  regular  practice  of  public  accountant  in  the 
capacity  of  an  expert.  He  was  for  several  years  the  Secretary  of  the  Manhattan 
Trust  Co.,  of  New  York,  and  organized  the  system  of  accounts  for  that  concern. 
After  severing  his  connection  with  this  company,  he  resumed  his  former  occupa- 
tion as  expert  accountant,  in  which  he  had  acquired  a  great  reputation  and  had 
engaged  in  many  intricate  and  important  cases.  His  employment  by  the  Govern- 
ment on  important  work  at  Washington   gave   him  a  national  reputation   as  an 


28  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

expert,  his  associate  being  his  present  partner,  Mr.  E.  W.  Sells.  They  were 
selected  by  the  Congressional  Commission  to  effect  a  complete  revision  of  the 
accounting  system  of  the  U.  S.  Government,  with  a  view  of  expediting  and  simpli- 
fying the  public  business,  and  accomplished  this  enormous  and  important  task  in 
such  a  successful,  thorough-going  and  enlightened  manner,  that  their  report  was 
adopted.  The  new  methods  they  suggested  were  put  into  immediate  operation, 
and  their  work  officially  praised  and  attested  by  all  of  the  accounting  offices  of  the 
Government  departments,  after  the  radical  innovations  in  pre-existing  methods, 
adopted  upon  their  suggestion,  had  been  in  practical  operation  for  a  sufficiently  long 
period  to  render  a  judicial  judgment  upon  them  possible.  This  work  was  the  most 
important  of  its  kind  done  since  the  foundation  of  the  Government,  and  has 
resulted  in  saving  the  Government  more  than  $600,000,  annually,  as  well  as  in  greatly 
expediting  and  facilitating  public  business.  The  success  and  importance  of  their 
work  is  attested  by  the  following  certificate  issued  by  the  Congressional 
Commission  : 

"  Office  of  the  Joint  Commission  of  Congress  to 
Inquire  into  the  Status  of  Laws  Organiz- 
ing the  Executive  Departments. 

Washington,  D.  C,  March  2,  1895. 

"Messrs.  C.  W.  Haskins  and  E.  W.  Sells, 
"Experts  under  the  Joint  Commission,  etc.: 

"  Gentlemen  : — In  concluding  the  work  of  this  Commission,  it  affords  me 
special  pleasure  to  express  to  you,  appreciation  of  the  valuable  services  you  have 
rendered.  To  your  rare  business  capacity  and  peculiar  adaptation  to  analyzing 
old  and  formulating  plans  for  new  methods,  in  great  measure,  is  due  the  credit  for 
the  reorganization  of  the  accounting  system  of  the  United  States  Government.  It 
was,  in  many  respects,  the  most  extensive  and  important  undertaking  of  the  kind 
in  the  history  of  the  country,  and  its  success,  in  expediting  and  simplifying  the 
public  business  without  removing  any  of  the  necessary  safeguards,  has  been  fully 
demonstrated  and  attested  by  all  of  the  officials  affected  thereby. 

"  Very  respectfully, 
(Signed)  "ALEX.  M.  DOCKERY, 

"  Chairman  Joint  Commission." 

When  the  law  was  passed  by  the  New  York  Legislature,  establishing  the  pro- 
fession of  Certified  Public  Accountants  and  empowering  the  Regents  of  the 
University  of  the  State  of  New  York,  to  issue  to  accountants,  properly  qualified,  a 
certificate  authorizing  them  to  practice  as  Certified  Public  Accountants,  Mr. 
Haskins  was  appointed  by  the  Regents  as  one  of  the  Board  of  the  three  Examiners 
to  pass  upon  the  qualifications  of  applicants,  and  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  Board, 
was  chosen  its  President.  He  is  also  President  of  the  New  York  State  Society 
of  Certified  Public  Accountants.  Mr.  Haskins  is  Comptroller  of  the  Central  of 
Georgia  Railway  Company  and  of  the  Ocean  Steamship  Company.  He  is  also 
Comptroller  of  the  Chesapeake  &  Western  Railroad  Company,  Secretary  of  the 
Old  Dominion  Construction  Company,  Receiver  of  the  Augusta  Mining  & 
Investment  Company  (a  large  iron  property  in  Georgia,  Alabama  and  Virginia), 
and  Trustee  of  one  or  two  estates. 


SONS   OF    THE  AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  29 

He  inherits  the  strong  characteristics  of  his  distinguished  Revolutionary 
ancestor,  "Honest  John  Haskins."  That  he  is  worthy  and  well  qualified  for  the 
high  position  he  has  filled  in  the  annals  of  the  National  Society,  Sons  of  the 
American  Revolution,  goes  without  saying.  Intensely  patriotic  and  earnest  in  the 
work,  he  has  done  much  to  advance  the  interests  of  the  Society,  and  to  bring  it  to 
its  present  high  standing  throughout  the  country.  Mr.  Haskins  is  a  man  of  high 
social  standing  and  well  known  throughout  the  business  community.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Society  of  Mayflower  Descendants,  Society  of  Colonial  Wars,  Manhattan 
Club,  Riding  Club,  Westchester  Country  Club,  Metropolitan  Club,  of  Washington, 
D.  C,  and  Piedmont  Club,  of  Atlanta,  Ga.  Mr.  Haskins  married,  September  12, 
1884,  Henrietta,  daughter  of  Albert  Havemeyer,  brother  of  New  York's  most 
popular  Mayor,  William  F.  Havemeyer.  The  issue  of  this  marriage  is  two 
children,  Ruth  and  Noeline. 


HENRY    HALL. 

Historian-General  National  Society,  S.  A.  R. 

No  one  individual  connected  with  the  National  or  State  Society  of  the  S.  A.  R., 
has  done  more  to  build  up  and  extend  its  influence  than  Mr.  Henry  Hall.  If  the 
time  and  energy  expended  in  this  work  were  to  be  measured  by  the  standard  of 
dollars  and  cents,  the  Society  would  be  indebted  to  him  for  a  large  amount,  but  it 
has  been  with  him  a  labor  of  love.  He  believed  in  its  final  success  from  the 
beginning,  and  has  left  no  stone  unturned  to  accomplish  the  wonderful  results 
that  have  been  reached.  Unselfish  and  untiring  in  his  efforts,  he  has  received  the 
only  reward  he  ever  sought,  viz.:  the  successful  establishment  of  the  S.  A.  R.  on  a 
firm  foundation  and  the  union  of  the  two  societies.  The  gathering  of  the  material 
for,  and  the  publication  of  the  history  of  the  National  and  State  organizations  are 
due  to  his  efforts  alone,  and  for  this  work  his  compatriots  owe  him  a  lasting  debt 
of  gratitude.  His  paper,  "How  to  Obtain  Proof  of  the  Service  of  an  Ancestor," 
read  first  at  the  National  Congress,  S.  A.  R.,  and  subsequently  published  in 
pamphlet  form,  has  been  of  marked  service  to  the  Societies. 

Mr.  Hall  was  born  in  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  December  6,  1845,  his  father  being 
a  lawyer  and  public-spirited  man,  for  four  years  Chief  Justice  of  Colorado, 
and  an  intimate  friend  of  William  H.  Seward.  Son  of  Benjamin  Franklin  Hall 
and  Abigail  Farnam  Hagaman,  grandson  of  Asbury  Hall  and  Nancy  Foster, 
great-grandson  of  Zalmon  Hall  and  Elizabeth  Botsford,  great-grandson  of 
William  Hall  and  Sarah  Peck,  great-grandson  of  Joshua  Hall  and  Sarah  Burgess, 
great-grandson  of  Isaac  Hall  (2)  and  Jane  Burgess,  great-grandson  of  Isaac 
Hall  (1)  and  Lydia  Knapp,  and  great-grandson  of  Francis  Hall,  who  came  from 
England  in  1639  and  settled  in  New  Haven,  Conn. 

LIEUT.  WILLIAM  HALL,  Soldier  of  the  Revolution,  of  Stratford 
and  New  Fairfield,  Conn.,  was  born  November  4,  1741  ;  fought  in  the  battle  of 
Danbury,  1777,  and  commanded  a  company  of  twenty-four  men  of  the  Sea  Coast 
Guard,  stationed  for  four  years  at  New  Fields,  now  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  patroling 
the  coast  from  New  Field  to  Fairfield.     Gen.  Seilick  Silliman  was  in  charge  of  the 


30  SONS   OF    THE  AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

troops  on  the  sea  coast  and  superintended  their  movements.  There  is  reason  to 
believe  that  his  father,  Joshua  Hall,  was  also  in  the  battle  of  Danbury. 

Mr.  Hall  is  also  a  grandson  of  John  I.  Hagaman  and  Sarah  Frye,  great- 
grandson  of  Abiel  Frye  and  Abigail  Farnam,  great-grandson  of  Eliab  Farnam 
and  Abigail  Killum,  great-grandson  of  Ralf  Farnum,  third  great-grandson  of 
Ralph  (2),  and  great-grandson  of  Ralph  (1). 

ELIAB  FARNAM,  Soldier  of  the  Revolution,  was  born  in  Windham, 
Conn.,  July  24,  1731.  In  October,  1775,  he  was  commissioned  Captain  in  the 
Twenty-fourth  (Westmoreland)  Regiment  of  Connecticut  militia.  His  daughter, 
Abigail,  who  married  Abiel  Frye,  was  previously  the  wife  of  Eliazer  Owen  (1), 
who  was  killed  in  the  massacre  of  Minisink,  July  22,  1779. 

Also  great-grandson  of  Dan  Foster  and  Miriam  Wilson,  great-grandson  of 

William  Foster  and  Hannah  Durkee,  great-grandson  of  Jacob  Foster  and 

Sheffield,  great-grandson  of  Reginald  Foster,  who  came  to  America  from  England 
in  1638. 

WILLIAM  FOSTER,  Soldier  of  the  Revolution,  was  born  in  1734; 
lived  in  Canterbury,  Conn.,  and  died  May  16,  1825.  He  was  an  office  holder  under 
the  crown,  but  on  the  Lexington  alarm  he  joined  the  first  company  of  volunteers 
from  Canterbury,  being  sergeant  in  Capt.  Aaron  Cleveland's  company;  fought  at 
the  battle  of  Bennington,  where  he  and  a  son  were  wounded  ;  was  subsequently 
appointed  recruiting  officer  for  the  State  during  the  war.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
war  he  was  a  man  of  wealth  and  pledged  his  resources  to  provide  for  the  families 
of  recruits,  and  was  thus  impoverished.  He  received,  in  return  for  his  advances, 
Continental  currency  worth  only  two  and  one-half  cents  on  the  dollar. 

HENRY  HALL,  a  worthy  descendant  of  these  Revolutionary  patriots, 
received  a  good  academic  education  and  was  employed  in  various  business 
capacities  for  the  first  few  years  of  his  lift'.  His  journalistic  career  began  in 
Auburn,  as  city  reporter  for  the  Morning  News,  and  was  continued  as  city  editor 
and  editorial  writer  on  the  Auburn  Advertiser.  After  a  few  years'  service  he 
became,  in  1873,  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Norwich  Bulletin,  of  Norwich,  Conn. 
His  contributions  to  the  New  York  papers,  at  this  time,  brought  him  into  favor- 
able notice,  and  in  1875  he  accepted  an  offer  from  Whitelaw  Reid  to  join  the 
editorial  staff  of  the  New  York  Tribune.  He  became  its  business  manager  in 
1882,  and  has   since   continued  his  connection  in  the  same  position. 

Mr.  Hall  is  a  devoted  Republican  and  protectionist,  a  warm  admirer  of  the 
ability,  purity  and  high  standards  of  his  chief,  Mr.  Reid,  and  always  the  happiest 
when  he  has  promoted,  in  some  manner,  the  interests  of  the  Tribune.  He  is  a 
clear  and  intelligent  writer,  and  during  the  editorial  part  of  his  career,  not  only 
wrote  copiously  on  industrial  topics  for  the  Tribune,  but  contributed  many  articles 
to  daily  papers  in  Boston  and  Chicago,  and  was  for  many  years  the  New  York  cor- 
respondent of  the  London  Times.  In  one  letter  to  that  paper  he  made  light  of  the 
fears  of  the  English  people  as  to  the  fund,  which  it  was  alleged,  was  being  raised 
in  America  to  pay  for  dynamite  explosions  in  London.  The  Times  printed  a 
furious  editorial  in  reply  to,  and  comment  upon,  this  letter,  and  followed  it  with  an 
investigation  for  proof  as  to  what  was  being  done  in  Paris  to  sustain  the 
dynamiters,  followed  later  by  the  attacks  upon  Mr.  Parnell,  which  led  to  certain 
famous  suits  in  court  against  the  Times. 

Mr.   Hall    is   a   member  of   the  Union    League,  Republican  and    New  York 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  31 

Athletic  Clubs,  and  of  the  patriotic  societies  known  as  Sons  of  the  American 
Revolution,  Sons  of  the  Revolution  and  Patriots  and  Founders.  He  is  an  intense 
believer  in  his  native  land  and  its  institutions.  He  married,  in  1887,  in  Bath,  Me., 
S.  Virginia  Houghton,  the  daughter  of  Levi  W.  Houghton  of  that  city,  one  of  the 
firm  of  Houghton  Bros.,  famous  the  world  over  as  one  of  the  old  shipping  families 
of  Maine. 


CLARK— HALL— CARNE5. 


The  ancestry  of  Alonzo  Howard  Clark,  Registrar-General  National  Society, 
S.  A.  R.,  embraces  some  of  the  leading  families  of  the  Colonial  period,  notably, 
Thomas  Clarke,  of  the  Plymouth  Colony,  who  served  in  the  Pequot  War  in  1637  ; 
Governor  Thomas  Prene,  of  Plymouth  Colony,  Governor  John  Haynes,  of  Con- 
necticut Colony,  Capt.  John  Gorham,  who  lost  his  life  in  King  Philip's  War, 
Elder  William  Brewster,  of  the  Mayflower,  John  Howland,  John  Tillie,  Stephen 
Hopkins,  etc.  The  following  is  a  list  of  his  Revolutionary  ancestors  :  Son  of 
Thatcher  Clark,  Jr.  and  Abby  (Carnes)  Clark  ;  Grandson  of  Thatcher  Clark,  Sr. 
and  Lydia  (flail)  Clark ;  Great-grandson  of  Enoch  Clark  and  Lydia  (Mayo)  Clark; 
Great-grandson  of  Enoch  Hall  and  Keziah  (Sears)  Hall;  Grandson  of  John 
Carnes  and  Abigail  (Lillie)  Carnes ;  Great-grandson  of  Thomas  Jenner  Carnes 
and  Jemima  (Johnson)  Carnes  ;  Great-great-grandson  of  Edward  Carnes  and 
Joanna  (Jenner)  Carnes. 

Enoch  Clark,  (1754-1816),  of  Brewster,  Massachusetts,  Seaman;  taken 
prisoner  on  privateer  "  Viper,"  exchanged  at  Newport,  February  1 1,  1777. 

Enoch  Hall,  (1759-1S33,  of  Barnstable  County,  Massachusetts;  Private, 
Captain  Micah  Hamlin's  Company,  1776;  Captain  Abijah  Bangs'  Company,  1777; 
Captain  Elisha  Hedge's  Company,  1777  ;  Captain  Joseph  Griffith's  Company,  1778; 
Captain  Elijah  Hedge's  Company,  1779;  Massachusetts  Militia;  Pensioned. 

Thomas  Jenner  Carnes,  (1753-1S02),  of  Boston,  Cadet,  Thomas  Wait 
Foster's  Company,  Colonel  Richard  Gridley's  Regiment,  Massachusetts  Artillery, 
May-December,  1775  ;  at  Bunker  Hill  and  Siege  of  Boston;  Second  Lieutenant, 
Knox's  Regiment,  Continental  Artillery,  December,  1775,  to  December,  1776; 
taken  prisoner  at  Fort  Washington,  November  16,  1776,  exchanged,  February  27, 
1777;  Captain-Lieutenant,  January  1,1777,  to  March  8,  1779,  Captain  Thomas 
Clark's  Independent  Company,  Knox's  Artillery;  at  Valley  Forge;  Captain  of 
Marines,  1779  to  17S1  ;  served  on  ship  "  General  Putnam  "  on  Penobscot  Expedi- 
tion, 1779. 

Edward  Carnes,  ( 1 730-1782),  of  Boston,  member  of  "Sons  of  Liberty"; 
Major  of  Boston  Regiment  of  Militia  in  Siege  of  Boston,  1776;  Head  of  Ward 
Six  under  appointment  of  Committee  of  Safety  of  Massachusetts. 

Alonzo  Howard  Clark,  Registrar-General  National  Society,  Sons 
of  the  American  Revolution,  son  of  Thatcher  Clark.  Jr.,  and  Abby  (Carnes) 
Clark,  was  born  in  Boston,  Mass.,  April  13,  1S50.  He  was  educated  at  the 
schools  of  his  native  city  and  at  Wesleyan  University,  Middletown,  Conn. ;  was 
for  some  years  engaged  in  business,  but  since  1879,  has  been  connected  with  the 
U.  S.  National  Museum,  at  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  Washington,  D.  C,  and  is 


32  SONS   OF   THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

at  present  custodian  of  the  historical  collections  of  the  Museum  and  editor  of  the 
publications  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  ;  also  Assistant  Secretary  of  the 
American  Historical  Association,  having  charge  of  its  publications.  In  1883  he 
was  on  the  executive  staff  of  the  U.  S.  Commission  at  the  International  Fisheries 
Exhibition  at  London,  and  in  1889  was  appointed  by  the  President  one  of  the 
Expert  Commissioners  of  the  United  States,  at  the  Paris  Exposition.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Mayflower  Descendants,  also  of  the  Society  of  the  War  of  181 2,  by 
virtue  of  service  of  his  grandfather  Capt.  John  Carnes,  of  Boston,  who  was  chief 
officer  of  the  privateer  York,  and  was  captured  in  1 814,  suffered  hardships  of 
prison  life  in  England.  Mr.  Clark  married  in  1881,  Alice  Morrow,  daughter  of 
Capt.  Charles  and  Mary  (Perry)  Morrow,  of  Gloucester,  Mass.  Mrs.  Clark  was 
one  of  the  earliest  members  and  first  Registrar-General,  and  late  Secretary- 
General  of  the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution,  and  is  now  Honorary 
Vice-President.  Her  ancestors  rendered  military  service  during  the  Colonial  and 
Revolutionary  period,  and  she  is  related,  in  her  line  of  descent,  to  John  and 
Priscilla  Alden,  of  the  Mayflower,  Commodore  Oliver  Hazard  Perry,  and  others 
equally  well  known  in  American  history.  Their  son,  Chester  Morrow  Clark,  is  a 
member  of  the  Children  of  the  American  Revolution,  and  after  fifteen  months 
residence  abroad,  he  came  home  fully  impressed  with  the  belief  that  America  is 
the  best  country  in  the  world. 


EMPIRE   STATE    SOCIETY 

SONS  OF  THE  AMERICAN   REVOLUTION. 


For  a  long  period  New  York  State  was  not  represented  in  the  National 
Society,  S.  A.  R.  Correspondence  was  in  progress  between  the  S.  A.  R.  and 
S.  R.  with  reference  to  a  general  union  of  all  the  different  State  societies  into 
one  national  brotherhood  ;  and  in  a  spirit  of  fraternal  courtesy,  while  the  negotia- 
tions were  pending,  the  National  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  made  no  effort  to  establish 
itself,  by  means  of  a  local  society,  S.  A.  R.,  in  New  York  State.  But  the  negotia- 
tions having  failed  completely,  there  arose  the  anomalous  situation  of  the  National 
society,  S.  A.  R.,  organized  at  a  convention  in  New  York  City,  having  its  official 
headquarters  in  New  York  City,  and  yet  not  represented  by  any  local  society  of  its 
own  in  either  New  York  City  or  State.  Certain  inconveniences  followed  from 
these  facts. 

In  February,  1890,  the  proposition  was  made  to  organize  in  New  York  State. 
G.  Creighton  Webb  was  invited  by  the  National  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  to  take  all 
proper  steps  in  the  matter.  Within  three  days  Mr.  Webb  secured  the  following 
signatures  to  an  application  for  permission  to  organize  a  New  York  Society  of  the 
Sons  of  the  American  Revolution:  The  Hon.  William  H.  Arnoux.  the  Hon. 
Chauncey  M.  Depew,  Gen.  Alexander  S.  Webb,  John  C.  Calhoun,  James  Otis, 
Le  Grand  B.  Cannon,  G.  S.  Bowdoin,  J.  McDowell  Leavitt,  Charles  A.  Dana,  Hart 
Lyman,  Egerton  L.  Winthrop,  Jr.,  Lewis  H.  Livingston,  G.  Creighton  Webb, 
William  L.  Bull,  William  Henry  Lee,  Col.  Ethan  Allen,  John  Wallace  Riddle,  the 
Hon.  Grover  Cleveland,  Lewis  Cass  Ledyard,  Edmund  L.  Baylies,  Edmund  C. 
Stanton,  James  W.  McLane,  Edward  Hagaman  Hall,  Girard  Beekman,  George  H. 
Bend,  Allan  McLane  Hamilton,  Julian  H.  Kean,  the  Hon.  William  C  Whitney, 
J.  Coleman  Drayton,  Stuyvesant  Fish,  J.  William  Beekman  and  Nicholas  Fish. 

February  10,  1890,  a  meeting  of  the  signers  was  held  at  the  office  of  President- 
General  Webb,  in  New  York  City,  and  by  resolution  the  society  was  organized 
and  the  following  officers  elected  :  President — The  Hon.  Chauncey  M.  Depew  ; 
Vice-President — the  Hon.  William  H.  Arnoux;  Secretary  and  Temporary  Regis- 
trar— Edmund  C.  Stanton;  Treasurer—  William  H.  Lee;  Board  of  Managers — 
Stuyvesant  Fish,  John  C.  Calhoun,  William  H.  Lee,  Charles  A.  Dana,  James  Otis. 
A.  McLane  Hamilton,  Gen.  Alexander  S.  Webb,  William  L.  Bull,  Hart  Lyman, 
George  S.  Bowdoin,  E.  C.  Stanton,  Col.  Ethan  Allen  and  J.  Coleman  Drayton. 
The  following  were  appointed  upon  admissions :  J.  Coleman  Drayton,  Gen. 
Alexander  S.  Webb  and  Col.  Ethan  Allen. 

On  taking  the  preliminary  steps  fur  the  organization  of  the  New  York  State 
Society,  it  was  discovered  that  a  few  individuals  had  filed  an  application  at  Albany 


34  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

some  time  previous  for  an  organization,  under  the  name  of  the  "  New  York  State 
Society  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution,"  thus  preventing  the  use  of  the  nann 
by  this  society.  It  therefore  became  necessary  to  incorporate  under  the  present 
name,  "The  Empire  State  Society." 

"  About  seventy-five  applications  for  membership  were  received  during  the 
summer  of  1890.  These  applications  were  filed,  but  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the 
S.  A.  R.  had  again  invited  the  S.  R.  to  a  conference  on  the  subject  of  union,  the 
Committee  on  Admissions  took  no  action  on  the  applications,  postponing  the 
whole  matter  until  it  could  be  ascertained  whether  a  conference  would  be  held  or 
not.  As  has  been  already  stated,  the  efforts  to  unite  the  two  societies  were 
not  successful. 

"The  following  named  persons  were  soon  after  added  to  the  membership  of 
the  society:  Elliott  F.  Shepard,  Capt.  Luther  S.  Ames,  U.S.A.,  E.  R.  Leavitt, 
F.  McD.  Leavitt,  Thomas  W.  Moore,  Benjamin  L.  Bree,  Lieut.  Maury  Nichols, 
U.  S.  A.,  Thomas  H.  Howard,  William  Hamilton  Henry,  Francis  E.  Webb, 
Judge  Roger  A.  Pryor,  Charles  Waldo  Haskins,  George  W.  Vanderbilt,  Gen. 
Horace  Porter,  Hon.  Robert  B.  Roosevelt,  Clarence  Lyman  Collins  and  other 
well  known  men. 

"  Under  the  leadership  of  such  men,  and  of  those  who  have  constituted  the 
successive  boards  of  management,  the  society  has  advanced  with  giant  strides. 
The  annual  banquet  at  Delmonico's  is  one  of  the  greatest  patriotic  events  of  the 
year.  Its  memorable  dedication  of  the  Dobbs  Ferry  monument,  its  almost 
monthly  celebration  of  Revolutionary  events,  its  presentation  of  portraits  of 
Washington  to  the  public  schools,  its  cultivation  of  a  greater  public  respect  for 
the  flag,  its  influence  on  legislation  for  the  preservation  of  historic  sites  and 
objects,  its  great  unheralded  work  of  collecting  and  preserving  the  records  of  the 
founders  of  the  Republic  and,  above  all,  its  incalculable  value  as  a  conservator 
of  American  principles,  are  too  well  known  to  need  rehearsing  in  details." 

Article  II.  of  the  Constitution  states  that  'This  society  shall  be  a  part  of  the 
National  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution.  It  recognizes  all  State 
Societies  of  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution  as  co-equal,  and  their  members 
as  their  compatriots,  entitled  to  receive  from  this  society  such  information,  assist- 
ance and  fraternal  consideration  as  may  best  promote  the  objects  of  the  society  " 

The  objects  of  the  society,  conditions  of  membership,  etc.,  are  in  conformity 
with  those  already  given  under  the  National  Society. 

The  officers  and  managers  of  the  society  for  1890-91  were:  President — 
Chauncey  Mitchell  Depew ;  Secretary  and  Registrar — Edmund  C.  Stanton; 
Treasurer — William  Henry  Lee ;  Managers — Chauncey  M.  Depew,  John  Cald- 
well Calhoun,  William  Henry  Lee,  Charles  Anderson  Dana,  James  Otis,  Ethan 
Allen,  Alexander  Stewart  Webb,  William  Lanman  Bull,  Hart  Lyman,  George 
Sullivan  Bowdoin,  Edmund  C.  Stanton,  James  Coleman  Drayton. 

The  officers  for  1891-2  were:  President — Chauncey  Mitchell  Depew;  Secre- 
tary— George  Creighton  Webb ;  Treasurer — Edmund  C.  Stanton  ;  Managers — 
Chauncey  Mitchell  Depew,  Charles  Anderson  Dana,  Ethan  Allen,  Roger  Atkinson 
Pryor,  James  Coleman  Drayton,  John  Caldwell  Calhoun,  Edmund  C.  Stanton, 
Alexander  Stewart  Webb,  George  Sullivan  Bowdoin,  George  Creighton  Webb, 
William  Henry  Lee,  James  Otis,  Charles  Beatty  Alexander. 

For  1892-3:     President— Chauncey  Mitchell  Depew;    Vice-President — John 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  35 

Caldwell  Calhoun;  Secretary  —  George  Creighton  Webb  ;  Treasurer  and  Regis- 
trar— Edward  Hagaman  Hall ;  Managers — Chauncey  Mitchell  Depew,  Charles 
Anderson  Dana,  John  Caldwell  Calhoun,  James  Otis,  George  Sullivan  Bowdoin, 
Hart  Lyman,  George  Creighton  Webb,  John  Sergeant  Wise,  Charles  Waldo  Has- 
kins,  Walter  S.  Logan,  George  W.  Vanderbilt,  Edward  Hagaman  Hall,  William 
Lanman  Bull. 

For  1893-4:  President — Chauncey  Mitchell  Depew;  Vice-President — Robert 
Barnwell  Roosevelt ;  Secretary— Charles  Waldo  Haskins  ;  Treasurer — Ira  Bliss 
Stewart;  Registrar  and  Historian — Edward  Hagaman  Hall;  Chaplain — The 
Rev.  Samuel  H.  Virgin,  D.D.;  Managers— Chauncey  Mitchell  Depew,  Robert 
Barnwell  Roosevelt,  Charles  Waldo  Haskins,  Ira  Bliss  Stewart,  Edward  Hagaman 
Hall,  Rev.  Samuel  H.  Virgin,  D.D.,  John  C.  Calhoun,  James  Otis,  George  Creigh- 
ton Webb,  Walter  S.  Logan,  Henry  Hall,  Andrew  J.  C.  Foy6,  John  Winfield  Scott, 
William  P.  Wadsworth,  Edward  James  Chaffee,  Walter  Jesse  Sears,  U.  S.  N. 

For  1894-5:  President — Chauncey  M.  Depew;  Vice-President—  Robert  B. 
Roosevelt;  Secretary— John  Winfield  Scott;  Treasurer— Ira  Bliss  Stewart; 
Registrar— Edward  Hagaman  Hall;  Historian — Henry  Hall;  Managers— John 
C.  Calhoun,  Walter  S.  Logan,  Andrew  J.  C.  Foye,  William  P.  Wadsworth,  Lieut. 
Walter  J.  Sears,  U.  S.  N.,  Edward  J.  Chaffee,  Ferdinand  P.  Earle,  Hart  Lyman, 
Hugh  R.  Garden,  Gen.  Thomas  Wilson,  U.S.  A.,  Hon.  E.  G.  Spaulding,  President 
of  Buffalo  Chapter,  ex-officio. 

For  1895-6:  All  the  officers  of  previous  year  reelected.  Managers—John 
C.  Calhoun,  Walter  S.  Logan,  Andrew  J.  C.  Foye,  Edward  J.  Chaffee,  Ferdinand  1". 
Earle,  Hart  Lyman,  Hugh  R.  Garden,  Gen.  Thomas  Wilson,  U.S.  A.,  Col.  Freder- 
ick D.  Grant,  William  W.  J.  Warner,  Ebenezer  K.  Wright,  Stephen  M.  Wright, 
Hon.  E.  G.  Spaulding,  and  Joseph  W.  Cutler,  ex-officio. 

For  1896-7:  President — Chauncey  M.  Depew;  Vice-President — Robert  B. 
Roosevelt;  Secretary — Stephen  M.  Wright;  Treasurer  —  Ira  Bliss  Stewart,  re- 
signed; Richard  T.  Davies  elected  in  place  ;  Registrar — Edward  Hagaman  Hall, 
resigned  ;  Teunis  D.  Huntting  elected  in  place  ;  Historian — Henry  Hall  ;  Chap- 
/ain—Rev.  Abbott  E.  Kittredge,  D.D.;  Managers— John  C.  Calhoun,  Walter  S. 
Logan,  Ferdinand  P.  Earle,  Andrew  J.  C.  Foye,  Gen.  Thomas  Wilson,  U.  S.  A., 
William  W.  J.  Warner,  Gen.  Horatio  C.  King,  J.  Lawrence  McKeever,  Richard 
H.  Clark,  Hon.  E.  G.  Spaulding,  Pres't  Buffalo  Chapter,  James  W.  Cutler,  Pres't 
Rochester  Chapter,  David  McN.  K.  Stauffer,  Pres't  Yonkers  Chapter,  Hon.  Edward 
Comstock,  Rome  Chapter,  Hon.  M.  H.  Northrup,  Syracuse  Chapter. 

In  the  autumn  of  1896  an  effort  was  made  to  extend  the  influence  of  the 
society,  by  awakening  an  interest  among  the  descendants  of  the  distinguished 
Frenchmen  and  other  foreigners  whose  generous  aid  contributed  so  largely 
toward  securing  our  independence.  It  was  therefore  resolved  to  offer  a  tribute  to 
France  by  a  suitable  observance  of  the  119th  anniversary  of  the  Treaty  of 
Alliance  between  France  and  the  United  States.  Col.  John  C.  Calhoun,  a  promin- 
ent officer  of  the  Empire  State  Society,  who  was  then  traveling  abroad,  was 
requested  to  act  as  Special  Commissioner  to  France  on  behalf  of  the  Society  and 
to  communicate  with  the  President  and  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  of  the  French 
Republic,  with  respect  to  the  celebration  of  the  anniversary  to  be  held  on  the  sixth 
of  February,  1897,  and  also  to  extend  an  invitation  to  the  descendants  of  Lafayette, 
Rochambeau,  de  Grasse  and  others  to  attend  the  public  banquet  to  be  held  on  that 


36  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN   REVOLUTION. 

occasion.  Col.  Calhoun  not  only  communicated  with  these  and  other  distinguished 
foreigners,  but  held  a  reception  at  his  hotel  in  Paris  where  he  met  a  number  of 
those  who  had  responded  to  his  invitation,  all  of  whom  signified  their  hearty 
appreciation  of  the  honor  and  gladly  consented  to  cooperate  with  the  society  in 
this  most  laudable  enterprise.  The  fifth  annual  banquet  of  the  society  was  held  at 
Delmonico's,  in  New  York  City,  February  6,  1897,  and  there  were  present  on  this 
occasion  a  large  number  of  members  of  the  S.  A.  R.  and  prominent  men  from  all 
parts  of  the  country.  Mr.  Henry  Hall,  the  Historian-General  of  the  National 
Society  read  the  several  communications  from  the  distinguished  foreigners  who 
had  been  invited  to  participate  in  the  affair.  Speeches  were  made  by  well-known 
men,  and  the  affair  proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  successful  ever  attempted  by  the 
society.  On  the  return  of  Col.  Calhoun  to  this  country  he  was  presented  by  the 
society  with  a  beautiful  set  of  engrossed  resolutions,  in  recognition  of  his  services 
in  the  matter 


DEPEW-SHERHAN     OGDEN. 

CHAUNCEY  niTCHELL  DEPEW,  President  Empire  State  Soci- 
ety, S.  A.  R.,  son  of  Isaac  Depew  and  Martha  Mitchell,  grandson  of 
Chauncey  Root  Mitchell  and  Ann  Johnston,  great  grandson  of  Rev.  Justus 
Mitchell  and  Martha  Sherman,  great-great-grandson  of  Rev.  Josiah  Sherman. 

Rev.  Josiah  Sherman,  of  the  Revolution,  was  a  brother  of  Hon. 
Roger  Sherman,  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  the  son  of 
William,  son  of  Joseph,  son  of  John  (2),  son  of  John  (1),  who  came  to  New 
England  in  1634.  Rev.  Josiah  Sherman  was  born  in  Woodbury,  Conn.,  in  1734, 
and  died  Nov.  24,  1789.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Princeton  College,  in  1754,  and 
received  the  honorary  degree  of  A.M.  at  Harvard  in  1758,  and  at  Yale  in  1765. 
He  was  an  able  writer  and  powerful  orator,  and  labored  with  his  brother,  Roger 
Sherman,  with  voice  and  pen  for  the  establishment  of  American  Independence. 
His  efforts,  however,  were  not  confined  within  the  secure  limits  of  his  pulpit,  but 
he  served  in  the  field  as  Chaplain  of  the  Seventh  Regiment,  Connecticut  Line, 
Continental  Army. 

Mr.  Depew  is  a  grandson  of  Robert  Johnston  and  May  Ogden,  and  great 
grandson  of  Gabriel  Ogden,  of  New  Jersey. 

GABRIEL  OGDEN,  Soldier  of  the  Revolution,  served  as  private  in 
Captain  James  Bennet's  Company,  1st  Regiment  of  Sussex  County  Militia, 
throughout  the  war.  He  was  a  descendant  of  John  Ogden,  who  was  at  Stamford, 
1 64 1,  and  agreed  with  Gov.  Kieft,  of  New  Amsterdam,  to  build  a  stone  church  ; 
in  1644  was  at  Hempstead;  in  1656  at  Southampton;  named  in  Connecticut 
Charter  1662  ;  one  of  the  Elizabethtown  (N.  J.)  purchasers,  1644;  represented  in 
the  Assembly  1668. 

Mr.  Depew  was  one  of  the  twenty-five  founders  of  the  Society  of  the  Sons  of 
the  American  Revolution  in  1S90.  His  election  as  President  of  the  Empire  State 
Society,  was  spontaneous  and  unanimous,  ard  he  has  been  a  tower  of  strength  to 
the  society  since  its  organization.  In  none  of  the  numerous  relations  which  Mr. 
Depew  sustains  with  the  world  at  large,  does  he  more  thoroughly  reveal  his 
genuine  whole-souled,  generous,  sagacious  and  patriotic  nature  than  in  the  Sons  of 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERTCAN    REVOLUTION.  37 

the  American  Revolution.  Some  of  the  finest  orations  ever  delivered  by  Mr. 
Depew  have  been  at  the  public  gatherings  of  the  society,  and  its  constant  and 
rapid  growth  is  due  largely  to  the  public  interest  he  has  awakened  in  its  objects. 
His  enthusiastic  and  ardent  nature  indicate  the  French  Huguenot  blood  which 
flows  in  his  veins,  while  his  sturdy  patriotism  and  broad  democratic  ideas  are  the 
inheritance  from  his  New  England  ancestors,  the  Shermans. 

Mr.  Depew  was  born  at  Peekskill,  N.  Y.,  April  23,  1834,  in  the  old  homestead 
which  has  been  in  the  possession  of  the  Depew  family  for  over  two  hundred  years. 

Mr.  Depew  was  graduated  from  Yale  in  1856.  He  read  law  with  Hon. 
William  Nelson,  of  Peekskill,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1858.  He  entered 
actively  into  politics  and  the  same  year  was  elected  a  delegate  to  the  Republican 
State  Convention.  He  continued  the  practice  of  law,  but  entered  with  great  zeal 
and  enthusiasm  into  the  presidential  campaign  of  i860,  which  resulted  in  the 
election  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  Mr.  Depew,  in  1861,  was  elected  to  the  assembly 
from  the  third  district  of  Westchester  County,  and  reelected  the  following  year, 
and  served  as  chairman  of  the  committee  on  ways  and  means.  In  1863,  he  ran  on 
the  republican  ticket  for  Secretary  of  State  and  was  elected  by  a  majority  of 
30,000.  He  declined  a  renomination  in  1865,  and  removed  to  New  York  City, 
where  he  received  the  appointment  of  tax  commissioner.  He  was  appointed 
Minister  to  Japan  by  Secretary  of  State  William  H.  Seward,  but  resigned  the 
position  soon  after  and  accepted  from  Commodore  Vanderbilt  the  appointment  of 
attorney  for  the  New  York  and  Harlem  Railroad  Company.  In  1869  occurred 
the  important  consolidation  of  the  New  York  Central  and  the  New  York  and 
Harlem  Railroad  Companies,  when  Mr.  Depew  was  appointed  attorney  of  the  new- 
organization,  which  was  called  the  New  York  Central  and  Hudson  River  Railroad 
Co.  In  1875  he  was  appointed  general  counsel  of  the  entire  Vanderbilt  system 
and  elected  a  director  of  each  company  composing  it,  which  included  the  Lake 
Shore  and  Michigan  Southern,  Michigan  Central,  Chicago  and  Northwestern,  St. 
Paul  &  Omaha,  West  Shore  and  Nickel   Plate. 

In  1872  Mr.  Depew  received  the  nomination  for  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the 
State  by  the  Liberal  Republicans,  who  had  nominated  Horace  Greeley  for  Presi- 
dent. In  1874  Mr.  Depew  was  made  Regent  of  the  State  LJniversity  and  a 
member  of  the  commission  appointed  to  superintend  the  erection  of  the  Capitol, 
at  Albany.  During  the  factional  struggle  in  the  republican  party  in  1881,  which 
led  to  the  resignation  of  Senators  Conkling  and  Piatt  as  U.  S.  Senators,  represent- 
ing the  State  of  New  York,  Mr.  Depew  was  nominated  to  succeed  Mr.  Piatt.  On 
the  third  ballot  he  led  by  two,  and  on  the  twenty-fourth  he  lacked  only  ten  votes 
of  election.  The  struggle  lasted  for  eighty-two  days,  when  Mr.  Depew  retired 
from  the  contest.  In  1884,  with  a  two-thirds  republican  majority  in  the  Legis- 
lature, he  was  offered  the  United  States  Senatorship,  but  declined.  In  1888  he 
received  the  solid  vote  of  the  delegation  of  New  York  State  for  the  presidency  in 
the  National  Republican  Convention.  Diverting  his  strength  to  Benjamin  Harri- 
son, the  latter  was  nominated.  In  the  National  Convention  of  1892  he  was  one 
of  the  leaders  who  secured  Harrison's  renomination,  as  opposed  to  Mr.  Blaine. 
Mr.  Depew  declined  the  appointment  as  Secretary  of  State  to  succeed  Mr.  Blaine, 
tendered  him  by  President  Harrison. 

From  the  time  Mr.  Depew  first  entered  public  life  he  has  continued  to  grow 
in  favor  and  popularity  with  the  American  people.     A  man  of  ready  wit,  unlimited 


38  SONS   OF    THE  AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

resources  and  having  few  rivals  as  a  public  orator,  his  services  have  been  in 
constant  demand,  and  no  public  banquet  or  other  festival  is  complete  without 
his  presence. 

Honors  have  literally  been  "thrust  upon  him."  He  has  been  a  trustee  of 
Yale  College  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  in  1887  received  the 
degree  of  LL.D.  from  that  institution.  He  is  President  of  the  St.  Nicholas 
Society  ;  was  for  seven  years  President  of  the  Union  League  Club ;  for  ten  years 
President  of  the  Yale  Alumni  of  New  York  City,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Holland 
Society  of  New  York  and  the  Huguenot  Society  of  America. 


ROBERT  BARNWELL  ROOSEVELT,  First  Vice-President,  Empire 
State  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  was  born  in  New  York  City,  August  7,  1829,  son  of 
Cornelius  W.  Roosevelt  and  Margaret  Barnhill.  He  is  a  prominent  banker  and 
well  known  in  business  circles.  He  is  one  of  the  oldest  members  of  the  Empire 
State  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  and  has  been  active  in  the  management  of  its  affairs  for 
many  years.  He  is  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  oldest  and  best  known  families  of 
New  York  City. 

Martensen  Van  Roosevelt,  the  immigrant  ancestor  of  the  family,  was  born  in 
Holland  and  came  with  his  wife,  Jannetje  Samuels-Thomas,  to  America  in  August, 
1649,  and  settled  in  New  Amsterdam,  now  New  York.  The  "  Van  "  was  dropped 
from  the  name  the  next  generation.     They  had  issue,  Nicholas. 

Nicholas  Roosevelt,  of  Esopus,  son  of  Martensen,  was  born  in  New  York, 
September,  1658.  He  married,  December  9,  1682,  Hyllotje  Jans,  and  had  issue, 
Johannes. 

Johannes  Roosevelt,  son  of  Nicholas  and  Hyllotje  (Jans)  Roosevelt,  was 
born  at  Esopus,  N.Y.,  February  27,  1689.  He  married.  1708,  Hilotje  Syverts,  and 
had  issue,  Jacobus. 

Jacobus  Roosevelt,  son  of  Johannes  and  Hilotje  (Syverts)  Roosevelt,  was 
born  in  New  York,  Aug.  13,  1724;  married,  1746,  Annetje  Bogart,  and  had 
Jacobus  (2),  known  as  James  I. 

JAMES  I.  ROOSEVELT,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was  born  in 
New  York  City,  October  25,  1759;  died  August  13,  1840.  He  served  throughout 
the  War  of  the  Revolution  as  commissary  without  reward.  "  Getting  supplies"  for 
the  Continental  army  had  been  about  as  hard  a  task  as  leading  it  to  victory,  and 
so  impressed  was  the  phrase  on  his  mind  that  to  the  day  of  his  death,  when  going 
to  market— and  it  was  the  practice  in  those  days  for  every  burgher  to  do  his 
marketing  personally,  accompanied  by  a  colored  boy,  usually  a  slave,  with  a 
basket  on  his  arm  to  carry  home  the  purchases— Mr.  Roosevelt  always  said  he 
was  "  going  for  supplies."  He  married  Mary  Van  Schaick,  and  had  a  son, 
Corneliics  V.  S. 

Cornelius  V.  S.  Roosevelt,  son  of  James  I.  and  Mary  (Van  Schaick)  Roose- 
velt, was  born  in  New  York  City,  January  30,  1794;  died  July  17,  1871.  He 
married  Margaret  Barnhill,  of  Philadelphia,  and  had  issue,  Robert  Barnwell. 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  39 

LOGAN-HOLLISTER. 

WALTER  S.  LOGAN,  Second  Vice-President,  Empire  State  Soci- 
ety, S.  A.  R.,  was  born  in  Washington,  Conn.,  April  15,  1847  ;  son  of  Seth  S. 
Logan  and  Abigail  Hollister,  daughter  of  Sherman  Hollister,  son  of  Sherman 
Preston  Hollister,  son  of  Gideon,  son  of  Stephen,  son  of  John  (2),  son  of  John  (i). 

The  Hollisters  are  descended  from  Clan  McAlister,  of  the  Highlands.     The 
Logan  and  Hollister  families  came  from  England  to  Massachusetts  about 
and  were  among  the  original  settlers  of  Wethersfield. 

On  February  17,  1685,  "  a  patent  for  all  the  territory  then  in  Wethersfield 
was  granted  by  the  Governor  (Robert  Treat,  of  Conn.)  and  company  to  Capt. 
Samuel  Wolcott,  Capt.  John  Chester,  Lieut.  James  Treat,  Mr.  Samuel  Wolcott, 
Mr.  John  Deming,  Sr.,  Mr.  Robert  Welles,  Mr.  John  Robins,  Mr.  John  Hollister, 
and  Richard  Smith  and  the  rest  of  the  present  proprietors  of  the  township  of 
Wethersfield,"  and  their  heirs. 

Lieut.  John  Hollister  (2),  son  of  John  (1),  was  an  "efficient  man  in  Con- 
necticut." He  was  representative  at  the  General  Court  in  1645  and  often  until 
1656.  He  was  Lieutenant  of  the  Train  Band.  He  died  April,  1665.  He  married 
Joanna,  daughter  of  Hon.  Richard  Treat,  one  of  the  patentees  of  the  colony  of 
Connecticut,  his  name  appearing  in  the  charter.  He  was  the  father  of  Gov. 
Robert  Treat,  of  Connecticut.  Lieut.  John  Hollister,  by  his  wife,  Joanna  Treat, 
had  a  son,  Stephen. 

Lieut.  Stephen  Hollister,  son  of  Lieut.  John  and  Joanna  (Treat)  Hollister, 
was  born  in  Wethersfield.  He  was  Lieutenant  of  dragoons  and  "  in  all  probability 
was  present  at  the  great  Fort  Fight,  December  19,  1675,  with  the  Narragansetts, 
at  South  Kingston,  R.  I."     In  June,  1697,  he  was  sent  with  fifty  men  under  Capt. 

Whiting,  to  Massachusetts,  where  he  remained  until  October.     He  married 

and  had  a  son,  Gideon. 

Gideon  Hollister,  son  of  Lieut.  Stephen  Hollister,  was  born  in  Wethersfield, 
about  1698.  He  was  drowned  in  the  Pequannock  River,  May  10,  1725.  He 
married  Rebecca  (born  January  18,  1700),  daughter  of  Benjamin  Sherman.  He 
was  the  son  of  Mr.  Samuel  Sherman,  who  came  to  America  with  his  father  when 
about  fourteen  years  of  age,  and  remained  at  Watertown,  Mass.,  several  years. 
He  removed  to  Wethersfield,  Conn.,  about  1636.  In  the  following  May  he  was 
one  of  the  committee  who,  before  the  general  court  was  organized,  declared 
war  against  the  Pequot  Indians,  he  being  then  but  nineteen  years  of  age.  He 
removed  to  Stratford  before  1656,  where  he  died  in  1700,  as  shown  by  his  tomb- 
stone:  "A  P  L-V-1700,  Mr-S-Sherman,  80  ys."  He  was  an  assistant  of  the 
General  Court,  1662-3-4-5.  and  was  appointed  one  of  the  committee  of  six  to 
watch  and  guard  the  coast,  as  a  war  committee,  if  the  Dutch  fleet  should  make 
its  appearance  as  expected,  from  Stratford  to  Rye.  It  is  probable,  for  his  services 
in  the  General  Court,  that  he  received  from  that  body,  October  1664,  250  acres  of 
land  located  in  Stratford.  He  was  the  son  of  John  and  Judith  (Augier)  Sherman. 
Gideon  Hollister,  by  his  wife,  Rebecca  Sherman,  had  issue,  Sarah,  born  1723,  and 
Gideon  (2),  born  September  22,  1725. 

GIDEON  HOLLISTER,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Gideon  (1) 
and  Rebecca  (Sherman)  Hollister,  was  born  Sept.  22,  1725.  He  served  in  the 
War  of    the  Revolution  as   private  in    Capt.   Daniel  Sloper's    company,  of  Col. 


40  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

Elisha  Sheldon's  regiment  of  Light  Dragoons,  and  accompanied  Washington 
in    his    retreat  through  New   Jersey  after   the   evacuation   of    Fort    Lee,    on  the 

Hudson.     He  married and  had  issue,  Sherman  Preston  Hollister,  whose 

son,  Sherman  Hollister,  married  Polly  Nettleton.  They  were  the  parents  of 
Abigail  Hollister,  who  married  Seth  S.  Logan,  the  father  of  Walter  S.  Logan. 

Seth  S.  Logan,  the  father  of  Walter  S.,  was  a  native  of  Washington,  which 
forms  a  part  of  the  old  town  of  Woodbury,  Conn.  He  was  conspicuous  in  local 
politics  and  almost  continuously  for  forty  years  he  was  a  member  of  one  or  the 
other  branches  of  the  Connecticut  Legislature  or  a  State  officer.  By  his  marriage 
to  Abigail  Hollister,  daughter  of  Sherman  Hollister  and  Polly  Nettleton,  he  had 
Walter  S. 

Walter  S.  Logan  was  graduated  from  Yale  College  in  1870  and  from  Harvard 
Law  School  in  1871.  While  attending  the  latter  he  accepted  a  position  in  the 
office  of  James  C.  Carter,  who  at  the  time  was  engaged  with  Charles  O'Connor  in 
the  famous  Jumel  case.  The  practical  knowledge  acquired  by  Mr.  Logan  in 
preparing  the  details  of  this  case  was  of  great  benefit  to  him  in  his  early  profes- 
sional career.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  New  York  in  1872,  and  has  since 
been  engaged  in  many  important  cases  which,  under  his  skillful  management, 
have  had  a  successful  issue. 

Although  one  of  the  busiest  men  in  his  profession,  Mr.  Logan  has  found  time 
to  devote  to  literary  work.  He  is  the  author  of  "The  Siege  of  Cuantla,"  'An 
Argument  for  an  Eight-hour  Law,"  "  Nationalism,"  "  Peonage  in  Mexico,"  "  A 
Mexican  Law  Suit,"  and  "Needed  Modifications  of  the  Patent  Laws."  He  has 
been  active  in  the  great  reform  movements  of  New  York  for  many  years  past. 
He  was  chairman  of  the  executive  committee  of  the  Ballot  Reform  Association  of 
New  York  State  in  1887-8-9.  A  part  of  the  work  of  this  committee  was  the 
procuring  of  50,000  signatures  to  the  monster  petition  filed  in  the  State  Library. 
He  is  Vice-President  of  the  New  York  State  Bar  Association.  His  efforts  to  build 
up  and  extend  the  influence  of  the  S.  A.  R.  from  the  date  of  its  organization,  are 
familiar  to  all  his  compatriots,  and  no  man  in  the  society  is  held  in  higher  esteem. 


RALPH  EARL  PRIHE,  Third  Vice-President,  Empire  State  Soci- 
ety, S.  A.  R.,  was  born  in  Mattewan,  N.  Y.,  March  29,  1840;  son  of  Alanson 
Jermain  Prime  and  Ruth  Havens  Higbie,  grandson  of  Nathaniel  Scudder  Prime 
and  Julia  Ann  Jermain,  great-grandson  of  Benjamin  Youngs  Prime  and  Mary 
Wheelwright  Greaton,  and  great-great-grandson  of  Ebenezer  Prime  and  Experi- 
ence Youngs. 

Ebenezer  Prime  was  born  at  Milford,  Conn.,  July  21,  1700,  and  lived  in 
Huntington,  L.  I.,  where  he  died  Sept.  25,  1779,  after  having  preached  the  gospel 
for  sixty  years.  In  his  seventy-seventh  year,  British  troops,  out  of  hatred  for  his 
public  advocacy  of  American  independence,  drove  him  from  his  home  and  des- 
troyed his  library ;  and  after  he  was  dead  Col.  Thompson  (Lord  Rumford)  pitched 
his  tent  in  the  Huntington  graveyard,  so  that,  as  he  said,  he  might  "tread  upon 
the  dead  rebels  "  whenever  he  went  in  and  out  of  his  tent. 

Benjamin  Youngs  Prime  was  born  at  Huntington,  L.  I.,  December  20,  1733; 
lived  in  New  York   City  from   1764  to    1773,    until  driven   therefrom,  and  then 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 


4< 


returned  to  Huntington,  where  he  died  October  31,  1791.  He  was  a  writer  in 
The  American  Whig,  and  a  public  speaker  against  British  tyranny,  and  the 
author  of  many  patriotic  poems  and  songs. 

Also  grandson  of  Benjamin  Higbie  and  Mary  Ann  Earl,  great-grandson  of 
Ralph  Earl  and  Sarah  Gates,  great-great-grandson  of  Ralph  Earl  and  Phebe 
Whittemore. 

Ralph  Earl,  Sr.,  was  born  in  Leicester,  Mass.,  Nov.  13,  1726,  and  died  there 
about  1800.  He  declined  a  captain's  commission  in  the  British  army  in  1776,  and 
accepted  a  like  commission  in  the  First  Regiment,  Worcester  County  Militia,  April 
5,  1776.  He  was  also  captain  in  Lieut.-Col.  Nathaniel  Wade's  Worcester  regi- 
ment stationed  at  North  Kingston,  December  17,  1777,  and  in  Col.  Danforth 
Keye's  regiment  at  Providence,  December  29,  1777. 


WRIGHT— MOTT. 

Stephen  Mott  Wright,  Secretary  Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R., 

and  one  of  the  mosi  earnest  and  enthusiastic  members  of  the  Society,  is  a  des- 
cendant of  two  well-known  families  whose  names  are  prominently  mentioned  in 
connection  with  the  early  colonial  history  of  New  York  and  Long  Island. 

Nicholas  Wright,  the  American  ancestor  of  this  branch  of  the  Wright  family, 
from  which  Stephen  M.  Wright  is  descended,  is  believed  to  be  a  direct  descendant 
of  the  first  Nicholas,  who  married  Anne,  daughter  and  co-heir  of  Edmund 
Beaupre,  of  Beaupre  Hall.  The  father  of  this  Nicholas  was  John  Wright,  who 
died  seised  of  the  manors  of  Tendalls  and  Rowses,  in  East  Laxham,  Norfolk, 
England,  32  Henry  VIII,  leaving  two  sons — Edmund,  his  heir,  and  the  above- 
named  Nicholas.  The  last  named  Nicholas,  the  emigrant,  came  with  his  wife  to 
this  country  and  settled  in  Saugus  (now  Lynn,  Mass.),  Plymouth  Colony,  in  the 
latter  part  of  1636.  They  shortly  afterward  removed  to  the  newly  formed  town- 
ship of  Sandwich,  Cape  Cod,  Massachusetts  Colony,  in  the  settlement  of  which 
Nicholas  became  an  active  leader,  acquiring  lands  and  holding  offices  of  military 
and  civil  trust  while  following  his  avocation  as  surveyor.  In  1653  he  and  his  two 
brothers,  Peter  and  Anthony,  joined  the  company  led  by  Rev.  William  Leverich, 
came  to  Long  Island  and  united  with  others  in  the  purchase  of  land  from  the 
Indians  of  the  territory,  including  the  site  of  the  present  village  of  Oyster  Bay. 
Nicholas  continued  to  reside  there  until  his  death,  in  1682. 

The  three  brothers  were  all  at  an  early  period  active  and  zealous  members  of 
the  Society  of  Friends,  and  for  many  years  Anthony's  house  at  Oyster  Bay  was 
the  place  for  both  worship  and  business.  On  the  "  fifteenth  of  the  eighth  month, 
1672,"  Anthony  conveyed  a  portion  of  his  land  for  a  "  burial  place  and  a  meeting 
house."  The  ,:  meeting  house  "  was  erected  on  the  ground  and  paid  for  in  "  wheat, 
pease,  Indian  corn  and  porke."  Nicholas  acquired  prominence  and  influence  in 
the  town,  holding  many  public  offices,  and  was   a  large  landholder.     He  was 

elected  Town  Schepen  (magistrate)  in  1673.     He  married,  in  1630,  Ann ,  and 

had  issue  a  son,  Edmund. 

Edmund  Wright,  son  of  Nicholas,  was  born  in  1640.  He  married  Sarah 
Wright,  his  cousin.     He  died  in  1703.     He  had  a  son,  Edmund  (2). 


42 


SONS   OF   THE    AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 


Edmund  Wright  (2),  son  of  Edmund  (1)  and  Sarah  Wright,  was  born  in 
1670,  probably  at  Oyster  Bay,  L.  I.,  and  died  in  1735.  He  married,  in  1695,  Sarah 
Townsend,  and  had  a  son,  Thomas. 

DR.  THOMAS  WRIGHT,  son  of  Edmund  (2)  and  Sarah  (Townsend)  Wright, 
was  born  at  Oyster  Bay,  in  17 19,  and  about  1755  he  moved  to  the  town  of  East 
Chester,  in  Westchester  County,  N.  Y.  He  became  the  most  prominent  physician 
and  surgeon  in  Westchester  County.  He  was  an  active  participant  in  public 
affairs  and  an  extensive  property  owner.  He  was  the  owner,  in  1759,  of  the  Tide 
Mill  (run  by  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  tide),  the  remains  of  which  are  still  standing. 
He  was  Trustee  of  the  Public  Buildings  of  the  town  in  1760,  and  in  1765  he  was 
made  Senior  Warden  of  St.  Paul's  Episcopal  Church  and  was  instrumental  in  the 
erection  of  the  church  building,  which  is  still  standing.  He  was  evidently  of  an 
adventurous  spirit  in  his  younger  clays,  for  during  King  George's  War,  which 
lasted  from  1744  to  1748,  he  was  surgeon  on  board  the  privateer  "Grey- 
hound," fitted  out  from  New  York  by  Richard  Jeffrey.  An  old  engraving,  still  in 
possession  of  the  family,  a  copy  of  which  is  also  in  the  possession  of  the  New 
York  Historical  Societv  contains  the  following  inscription : 


NAVAL    SCENE. 


"  A  Draught  of  an  Engagement  between  Guardaloupe  and  Grandterre,  on 
the  12th  Nov,  1746,  between  ye  Brig  Greyhound,  of  New  York,  Richard  Jeffery, 
Comr  of  14  Guns  and  92  Men,  and  ye  La  Fleury,  a  French  ship  of  22  Guns  and 
84  Men,  and  a  French  Privateer  Sloop  of  14  Guns  and  130  Men,  Wherein 
Cap"  Jeffery  &  Company  Behaved  very  Gallantly  and  after  an  Engagement  of  5 
hours  oblidg'd  the  Privateer  to  Sheer  off  and  took  ye  Shin." 

Dr.  Wright,  although  advanced  in  years  at  the  beginning  of  the  struggle  for 
independence,  was  an  ardent  patriot  and  an  active  participant  in  the  events  con- 
nected with  the  Revolution.  While  there  is  no  evidence  that  he  was  regularly 
commissioned,  yet  he  acted  as  surgeon  and  physician  to  the  Continental  Army  in 
and  about  Westchester  County,  until  his  capture  by  the  British  and  incarceration 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  43 

in  the  Provost  jail,  where  he  died  from  inhuman  treatment  and  his  body  was 
thrown  into  the  trenches  in  the  rear  of  the  present  City  Hall,  which  became 
known  as  the  "Grave  of  the  Martyrs."  Dr.  Wright's  first  wife  was  Elizabeth 
Cooper,   died   January    12,    1755.     He    married,    second,    Elizabeth,    daughter   of 

Johannes   and   Anna   (Bajeux)   Groesbeck,  and   relict   of  Rochelle.     By  the 

latter  he  had  a  son,  Stephen. 

[One  of  Dr.  Wright's  sons,  Dr.  John  G.  Wright,  served  as  Surgeon's  Mate, 
in  the  General  Hospital  service,  from  1777  to  the  close  of  the  war.] 

Stephen  Wright,  son  of  Dr.  Thomas  and  Elizabeth  (Groesbeck)  Wright, 
was  born  in  1770.  He  carried  on  an  extensive  business  in  New  York  City  as  a 
shipwright,  being  a  partner  of  Charles  Browne.  Among  other  vessels  constructed 
by  this  firm  was  Fulton's  steamboat  "Clermont,"  in  1807,  the  first  to  ascend  the 
Hudson.  In  the  War  of  1812-15,  Mr.  Wright  assisted  in  the  construction  of  the 
earthworks  at  Fort  Greene,  Brooklyn.  He  died  November  24,  1S34.  He  was 
twice  married  ;  his  second  wife  was  Martha  Dodge,  to  whom  he  was  married 
January  i,  1804.     By  her  he  had  a  son,  Daniel  D. 

Daniel  Dodge  Wright,  son  of  Stephen  and  Martha  (Dodge)  Wright,  was  born 
in  New  York  City,  January  12.  1809,  on  the  corner  of  Suffolk  and  Hester  streets. 
He  was  for  a  time  in  the  employ  of  his  father,  but  having  no  taste  for  mechanical 
occupations  he  subsequently  engaged  in  the  hardware  trade  and  became  one  of 
the  most  successful  hardware  merchants  in  the  city.  He  was  a  man  of  strong 
character,  of  unimpeachable  integrity,  just  and  honest  in  all  his  dealings,  courteous 
and  affable  in  his  intercourse  with  his  fellowmen,  yet  firm  and  decided  in  his  con- 
victions. From  1844  to  i860  he  was  connected  with  the  Veteran  Corps  of  Artil- 
lery, and  his  commission  and  sword  are  treasured  heirlooms  by  his  son,  Stephen. 
The  latter  part  of  his  life  was  devoted  to  charitable  and  benevolent  works. 
His  death,  caused  by  an  accident,  occurred  April  29,  1892,  in  New  York 
City.  He  married,  April  14,  1840,  Mary  Mott,  daughter  of  Stephen  Mott,  of 
Jericho,  L.  I.  They  had  issue,  Stephen  Mott  and  Joseph  Henry ;  the  latter  died 
in  early  childhood. 

STEPHEN  MOTT  WRIGHT,  eldest  son  of  Daniel  D.  and  Mary  (Mott) 
Wright,  was  born  in  Jericho,  L.  I.,  August  16,  1841.  He  was  educated  at  the 
public  schools  of  New  York  City.  He  began  his  business  career  in  his  father's 
employ  in  1856,  from  whom  he  received  a  thorough  training,  ami  by  the  time  he 
reached  his  majority  he  was  fully  equipped  for  the  line  he  had  chosen.  In  1865 
he  succeeded  his  father  in  the  business,  which  he  carried  on  until  1887  when  he 
retired  from  active  business  life.  Since  then,  being  favored  with  a  sufficient 
competence,  he  has  devoted  his  time  and  his  energies  to  the  promotion  of  various 
public  and  benevolent  enterprises.  He  has  been  especially  identified  with  the 
material  progress  of  the  building  industry  of  New  York  City.  He  has  been  for 
twelve  years  Secretary  of  the  General  Society  of  Mechanics  and  Tradesmen,  which 
has  been  noted  for  over  a  century  for  educational  and  beneficent  work.  He  has 
served  the  Building  Trades  Club  as  Secretary  and  Treasurer  almost  from  its 
organization,  in  recognition  of  which  he  was  presented,  in  1894,  with  a  bronze 
group,  executed  by  Gaudez,  of  Paris,  and  upon  his  retirement,  in  February,  1S97, 
was  presented  with  the  following  address,  elegantly  engrossed  : 

"  To  Stephen  M.  Wright.  Your  fellow  members  in  the  Building  Trades 
Club,  of  New  York  City,  desire  to  testify  in  this  enduring  form  to  the  great  regret 


44  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

they  feel  in  your  withdrawal,  at  your  own  request,  from  the  office  of  Secretary 
and  Treasurer,  which  you  have  so  adequately  filled  almost  from  its  very  inception 

"  Despite  all  the  pressing  claims  upon  your  time  in  connection  with  the  varied 
duties  you  are  called  upon  to  perform  for  so  many  other  bodies,  it  would  seem  that 
no  more  perfect  record  could  be  made  than  that  achieved  by  you  in  the  fulfillment 
of  the  requirements  as  an  official  of  this  Club. 

"  We  deeply  appreciate  the  services  rendered  ;  have  the  highest  regard  for 
your  personal  worth,  and  trust  this  record  will  ever  remind  you  of  the  respect  and 
esteem  in  which  you  are  held  by  your  fellow  members." 

He  is  an  active  and  influential  member  of  the  Mechanics'  and  Traders' 
Exchange,  of  which  he  was  Secretary  for  a  number  of  years.  He  was  for 
several  years  the  New  York  representative  in  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the 
National  Association  of  Builders.  He  is  Secretary  and  Treasurer  of  Webb's 
Academy  and  Home  for  Shipbuilders,  an  institution  in  which  he  takes  the  deepest 
interest,  influenced,  no  doubt,  by  the  fact  that  his  grandfather  was  a  leading  ship- 
wright in  New  York  and  a  friend  of  the  elder  Webb. 

During  the  Washington  Centennial  celebration  in  New  York,  in  1889,  Mr. 
Wright  was  Secretary  of  the  civic  and  industrial  division,  and  in  recognition  of 
his  distinguished  services  in  connection  with  that  affair,  he  was  presented  with  a 
bronze  medal.  In  making  the  presentation,  Gen.  Butterfield,  the  Grand  Marshall 
of  the  parade  said  : 

"  Throughout  all  the  detail  work  connected  with  these  duties,  Mr.  Stephen  M. 
Wright  has,  without  any  recompense,  been  indefatigable,  and  by  authorization  of 
the  conference  of  the  civic,  commercial  and  industrial  bodies  of  this  city,  I  am  to 
present  him  with  this  token  of  the  high  appreciation,  not  only  held  by  myself 
personally,  but  also  by  all  who  have  been  connected  with  the  affair,  for  his  most 
valuable,  skillful  and  efficient  aid.  *  *  *  Right  well  you  have  earned  and 
deserved  it.  May  it  ever  serve,  not  only  as  a  memorial  to  you  and  others  of  your 
faithful  services  in  behalf  of  this  grand  celebration,  but  serve  also  as  a  reminder 
of  my  undying  friendship  and  respect." 

When,  in  1891,  the  builders  of  New  York  entertained  the  convention  of  the 
National  Association  of  Builders,  Mr.  Wright  was  made  Secretary  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  One  Hundred  on  Arrangements,  and  had  entire  charge  of  all  the  details 
incident  to  the  entertainment  of  nearly  one  thousand  persons  for  a  whole  week. 
To  prepare  for  the  various  details  of  this  affair  required  nearly  a  year  of  his  time. 

Mr.  Wright  has  been  for  many  years  one  of  the  "  bright  and  shining  lights  " 
in  Freemasonry,  guiding  weary  travelers  in  their  pilgrimage  and  imparting  to  them 
a  more  perfect  knowledge  of  the  beautiful  symbols  of  the  Order.  He  is  senior 
Past  Master  of  Prince  of  Orange  Lodge,  No.  16,  F.  &  A.  M.,  of  New  York.  He 
has  made  a  study  of  Capitular  Masonry  and  was  advanced  and  exalted  in  Phenix 
Chapter,  No.  2,  R.  A.  M.;  greeted  as  a  Royal  and  select  Master  in  Pentalpha 
Council,  No.  36.  In  the  Chivalric  Order  he  was  created  and  dubbed  a  Knight 
Templar  in  Palestine  Commandery,  No.  18.  In  the  Cerneau  Body  of  the 
Scottish  rite  he  has  advanced  to  the  33d  degree.  He  was  Senior  Grand»Deacon  of 
the  Grand  Lodge  of  New  York,  1881-2,  and  was  the  representative  of  the  Grand 
Lodge  of  Kansas  near  the  Grand  Lodge  of  New  York,  from  1878  to  1885.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  Veterans  of  New  York  City. 

The  patriotism   and   military  ardor  of  his  ancestors  has  been  manifested  in 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN   REVOLUTION.  45 

Mr.  Wright  to  a  marked  degree  from  early  life  to  the  present  time.  He  spent 
nearly  ten  years  of  active  service  in  the  National  Guard.  He  enlisted  in 
Battery  G,  First  Regiment,  N.  G.  S.  N.  Y.,  October  25,  1864;  promoted  Orderly- 
Sergeant,  February  15,  1865;  commissioned  Second  Lieutenant,  August  28,  1866; 
commissioned  Regimental  Adjutant,  May  27,  1868,  by  Gov.  Fenton,  and  on  this 
occasion  he  was  presented  by  his  associates  in  Battery  G,  with  a  beautiful  gold 
mounted  sword  which  hangs  in  his  private  office  on  Fourth  Avenue,  among  other 
interesting  relics.  Upon  the  disbandment  of  the  regimental  organization,  in 
December,  1869,  Lieut.  Wright  was  rendered  supernumerary,  and  on  February  5, 
1870,  was  assigned  by  Governor  Hoffman  to  the  position  of  First  Lieutenant  of 
Separate  Battery  G,  Light  Artillery,  and  continued  until  honorably  discharged 
January  4,  1872,  the  commander  expressing  "sincere  thanks  for  the  faithful 
manner  in  which  he  performed  his  duty  in  the  Battery,"  Lieut.  Wright  was  in 
command  of  the  battery  during  the  "Orange  Riot,"  July  12,  1871,  and  was 
complimented  in  general  orders  by  Gen.  Shaler  on  the  efficient  manner  of  his 
handling  this  important  arm  of  the  service  on  that  day. 

The  Empire  State  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution  was 
especially  fortunate  in  securing  the  services  of  Mr.  Wright  as  Secretary  of  that 
organization,  to  which  position  he  was  elected  in  1896  and  reelected  in  1897.  He 
is  one  of  the  most  enthusiastic  and  energetic  members  of  the  Society  and  his  time, 
as  well  as  the  use  of  his  private  office  on  Fourth  Avenue,  is  almost  wholly  devoted 
to  the  furtherance  of  its  objects  without  any  compensation  whatever.  Few  men 
among  those  who  are  able,  possess  the  self-sacrificing  spirit  to  devote  time  and 
money  to  a  work  of  this  character.  To  Mr.  Wright,  however,  it  is  a  work  of  love, 
and  in  rendering  service  to  his  compatriots  he  experiences  the  happiness  implied 
in  the  proverb,  "  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive."  Mr.  Wright  is  pos- 
sessed of  rare  executive  ability  and  this  added  to  his  extensive  business  experience, 
renders  him  preeminently  the  man  for  the  place.  It  may  be  truly  said  of  him 
that  he  is  sans  fteur  et  sans  reproche. 

He  became  a  member  of  the  Order  of  the  Founders  and  Patriots  of  America,  in 
the  very  early  days  of  its  existence,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Council  of  the  New 
York  State  Society,  while  his  patriotic  instincts  made  him  an  active  and  efficient 
member  of  the  Patria  Club,  as  well  as  the  Patriotic  League,  of  this  city. 

On  his  maternal  side,  as  his  name  indicates,  he  comes  of  a  line  of  Long  Island 
Quaker  ancestry — the  Motts — from  whom  he  inherits  the  liberality  of  views  and 
practice  so  marked  a  trait  in  his  character,  and  the  sterling  integrity  so  frequently 
observed,  as  well  as  that  love  of  peaceful  and  quiet  home  life  which  Mr.  Wright 
so  much  enjoys  when  not  engaged  in  some  labor  for  the  benefit  of  his  fellow-men. 
James  Mott,  his  great-grandfather,  besides  being  an  extensive  farmer  at  West- 
bury,  L.  I.,  was  also  a  weaver  and  early  invented  a  loom  for  the  weaving  of  carpets 
with  set  figures  pattern.  Mr.  Wright  married,  May  10,  1S66,  Kate  A.  Metzgar, 
daughter  of  Christian  Metzgar,  of  renown  as  a  practical  shipbuilder,  having  been 
the  superintendent  for  William  H.  Webb  throughout  his  business  career. 


46  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

EDWARD  HAGAHAN  HALL,  Late  Registrar,  Empire  State  Soci- 
ety, S.  A.  R.,  was  born  in  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  November  3,  1858.  His  father, 
Benjamin  Franklin  Hall,  was  a  distinguished  lawyer  and  public-spirited  citizen, 
and  held  many  offices  of  public  trust,  local  and  national,  including  those  of  Mayor 
of  the  city  of  Auburn,  and  Chief  Justice  of  the  Territory  of  Colorado  under 
President  Lincoln. 

Mr.  Hall  inherits  several  strains  of  early  colonial  and  patriotic  blood.  His 
lineal  ancestor,  Asbury  Hall,  of  the  second  antecedent  generation,  served  in  the 
War  of  1812;  Lieut.  William  Hall,  of  the  fourth  generation,  in  the  Revolutionary 
War;  Capt.  Joshua  Hall,  of  the  fifth,  in  the  French  and  Indian  War,  and  Francis 
Hall,  of  the  eighth,  settled  in  Connecticut  in  1639.  Through  his  father's  mother, 
Nancy  Foster,  he  traces  back  through  Dan  Foster,  of  the  third  antecedent  genera- 
tion, who  served  in  the  War  of  181 2  ;  Serg.  William  Foster,  of  the  fourth  genera- 
tion, who  served  in  the  Revolution,  back  to  Reginald  Foster,  who  came  to 
America  in  1638.  Through  his  mother,  Abigail  Farnam  Hagaman,  he  descends 
from  John  Hagaman,  of  the  fourth  antecedent  generation,  who  served  in  the 
Revolution  ;  through  his  mother's  mother,  Sarah  Frye,  from  Ensign  Abiel  Frye 
(third  generation)  and  Capt.  Abiel  Frye  (fourth),  of  the  French  and  Indian 
War,  Lieut.  John  Frye  (fifth),  Ensign  Samuel  Frye  (sixth)  to  John  Frye  (seventh), 
one  of  the  founders  of  Andover,  Mass.;  and  through  his  great-grandmother, 
Abigail  Farnam,  wife  of  Eleazar  Owen,  who  was  massacred  at  Minisink,  to  Capt. 
Eliab  Farnam  (fourth),  of  the  Revolution,  and  so  on  back  to  Ralf  Farnam 
another  pioneer  settler  of  Andover. 

Mr.  Hall  received  an  academic  education  with  the  expectation  of  entering 
Yale  College,  and  graduated  with  the  classical  honor— salutatory  oration — from 
the  Auburn  Academy,  in  the  class  of  '77.  Immediately  thereafter,  however,  he 
entered  professional  life  as  a  regular  member  of  the  editorial  staff  of  the 
Norwich,  Conn.,  Morning  Bulletin,  on  which  he  served  in  various  capacities  until 
the  close  of  the  campaign  of  1888,  during  three  years  occupying  the  chair  of 
editor-in-chief.  After  a  few  months'  residence  in  Waterbury,  Conn.,  he  was 
tendered  the  position  of  managing  editor  of  one  of  the  oldest  and  largest  Repub- 
lican dailies  of  New  England,  but  was  persuaded  to  enter  the  printing  and 
publishing  business  in  New  York  City,  in  1889.  He  is  now  Secretary  of  the  New 
York  Printing  Co.  (the  Republic  Press),  publishers,  with  offices  in  the  Tribune 
Building.  He  has  always  possessed  marked  literary  and  historical  tastes,  and  has 
been  a  frequent  correspondent  and  contributor  to  the  daily  and  periodical  press. 
He  is  also  the  author  or  editor  of  many  brochures  and  books,  chiefly  of  a  historical 
character.  In  politics  he  inherits  the  old  time  Whig  and  Republican  principles  of 
his  father,  and  in  religion  is  a  member  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  having 
for  eight  years  been  vestryman  of  old  Christ  Church  Parish,  of  Norwich,  in  which 
he  was  an  active  worker. 

Mr.  Hall  has  been  a  prominent  worker  in  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution 
and  The  Order  of  Founders  and  Patriots  of  America,  and  was  one  of  the  prime 
movers  in  the  erection  of  the  Dobbs  Ferry  Monument,  the  great  international 
banquet  of  the  S.  A.  R.,  in  1896,  commemorating  the  Franco- American  Alliance 
of  1778,  and  similar  undertakings.  He  has  been  one  of  the  most  indefatigable 
members  of  the  Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  since  its  organization,  and  in  the 
various    offices  of    Secretary,  Treasurer,    Registrar,   Historian  and  Manager,  has 


SONS   OF    THE  AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  47 

enjoyed  the  confidence  and  respect  of  his  fellow-officers  and  members.  He  is 
also  a  member  of  the  American  Institute  of  Civics,  the  Noctes  Ambrosiana;,  of 
New  York,  the  League  of  American  Wheelmen  and  various  other  organizations. 

In  1893  Mr.  Hall  married  Irene  Gilbert  Gazzam,  daughter  of  Gen.  Audley 
William  Gazzam,  and  great-great-great-granddaughter  of  Baron  Antoine  de  Beelen 
de  Bertholf,  first  Austrian  Ambassador  to  the  United  States.  On  the  birth  of 
their  daughter,  Edwina  Gazzam  Hall,  September  27,  1894,  the  Board  of  Managers 
of  the  Empire  State  Society  of  the  S.  A.  R.  presented  her  with  a  handsome  sterling 
silver  loving  cup,  beautifully  engraved  in  high  relief,  "  as  a  token  of  esteem  for  her 
father,  Edward  Hagaman  Hall." 

[For  further  data  of  Hall  and  allied  families,  see  Henry  Hall,  National  Soci- 
ety, S.  A.  R.,  preceding. J 


IRA  BLISS  STEWART,  LATE  TREASURER,  EMPIRE  STATE  SOCIETY, 
S.  A.  R.,  is  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  old  Massachusetts  families  of  this  name. 
His  Revolutionary  ancestor  was  Paul  Stewart. 

Paul  Stewart,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was  born  in  Braintree  (or  New 
Braintree),  Mass.,  in  1765,  and  lived  there  and  in  South  Brimfield,  Mass.,  where 
he  died  in  1852.  In  March,  1781,  when  but  sixteen  years  of  age,  he  enlisted  as  a 
private  in  Capt.  Sewall's  company,  so  called,  under  the  command  successively  of 
Lieut.  Whitney  and  Capt.  Smith,  in  the  Second  Massachusetts  Regiment  (Col. 
Sprout's)  in  Gen.  Patterson's  brigade.  His  command  participated  in  the  invest- 
ment of  New  York,  in  1781,  in  the  center  of  the  left  wing  of  the  army;  after 
which  he  went  south  with  the  army  under  Washington,  and  was  present  at  the 
surrender  ot  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown.  His  command  retired  to  West  Point,  where 
he  was  discharged  in  December,  1783. 

Ira  Bliss  Stewart,  late  Treasurer  Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  was  born  in 
Batavia,  N.  Y.,  October  28,  1855,  son  of  Reuben  Nelson  Stewart  and  Harriet 
Dewey,  grandson  of  Ira  Stewart  and  Sally  Rogers,  and  great-grandson  of  Paul 
Stewart  and  Oliver  Munger.  Ira  Bliss  Stewart  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Managers,  1893-4,  and  Treasurer  in  1894,  serving  continuously  until  and 
during  a  portion  of  1897. 


TEUNIS  DiriON  HUNTTINQ,  Registrar,  Em  imreStatkS.kietv.S.A.R., 
1897-8,  is  of  strictly  English  descent,  although  the  name  is  similar  in  construction 
to  those  of  the  Hollanders  who  settled  Long  Island. 

John  Huntting,  the  immigrant  ancestor,  was  born  in  Hoxne,  County  Suffolk, 
England,  1597,  son  of  William  and  Margaret  Huntting;  came  to  this  country  and 
settled  in  Dedham,  Mass.,  in  1638;  died  there,  1689.  He  was  the  first  ruling 
elder  of  the  church  in  that  town  and  prominent  in  civil  affairs.  He  married 
Hester  Seaborn,  of  England,  supposed  to  have  been  a  second  cousin  of  John 
Rogers,  the  martyr.     They  had  a  son  John  (2). 

John  Huntting  (2),  son  of  John  (1)  and  Hester  (Seaborn)  Huntting,  was  born 
in  England  1628  ;  came  with  his  parents  to  Dedham,  Mass.,  where  he  died  in  17 18. 
He  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Rebecca  Paine,  who  came  to  this 
country  in  1637  on  the  "Mary  Ann."     They  had  a  son,  Nathanitl (1). 


48  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

Rev.  Nathaniel  Huntting,  son  of  John  (2)  and  Elizabeth  (Paine)  Huntting. 
was  born  in  Dedham,  Mass.,  1675  ;  graduated  at  Harvard,  1693;  removed  to  East 
Hampton,  L.  I.,  where  he  died,  1753.  He  married  Mary,  daughter  of  John  and 
Ruth  Green,  of  Boston,  Mass.  Nathaniel  Huntting  (1)  was  the  second  minister 
of  the  church  at  East  Hampton,  where  he  preached  from  1696  to  1746.  John 
Green,  born  in  Cambridge,  Mass.,  1636,  was  the  son  of  Percival  and  Ellen  Green, 
of  England,  who  came  to  New  England  on  the  ship  "  Susan  and  Ellen,"  in  1635. 
John  Green  was  Marshal-General  or  High  Sheriff  of  Massachusetts  colony  in  1681, 
succeeding  his  father-in-law,  Edward  Mitchelson,  who  had  held  the  office  since 
1657.  Ruth,  a  sister  of  Mary  Green,  married  another  ancestor  of  Teunis  D.  Hunt- 
ting, thus  forming  a  direct  relationship  on  the  maternal  as  well  as  the  paternal  side. 
By  his  marriage  with  Mary  Green,  daughter  of  John  Green,  Nathaniel  Huntting  (1) 
had  a  son,  Nathaniel  (2). 

Nathaniel  Huntting  (2),  son  of  Nathaniel  (1)  and  Mary  Green  Huntting,  was 
born  in  1702  ;  died  1770,  at  East  Hampton,  L.  I.  He  married  Mary  Hedges,  and 
had  issue,  Nathaniel  (3). 

Nathaniel  Huntting  (3),  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Nathaniel 
(2)  and  Mary  (Hedges)  Huntting,  was  born  in  East  Hampton,  L.  I.,  1730;  died 
there  in  1801.  He  was  an  Associator  in  the  town  of  East  Hampton,  in  the 
Revolution.  He  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Major  John  Murdock,  born  1706,  in 
East  Hampton;  moved  to  East  Saybrook  (now  Lyme),  in  New  London  County, 
Conn.,  where  he  died  in  1778.  He  was  a  representative  in  the  Connecticut  Legis- 
lature, Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  New  London,  and  a  major  in  the 
militia.     The  issue  of  this  marriage  was  Abraham,  and  other  children. 

Abraham  Huntting,  son  of  Nathaniel  (3)  and  Mary  (Murdock)  Huntting, 
was  born  at  East  Hampton,  L.  I.,  1773;  died  in  1851.  He  married  Mary,  daugh- 
ter of  Abraham  Mulford,  Jr.,  of  Southhold,   L.  I.     They  had  issue,/.  Mad/son. 

J.  fladison  Huntting,  son  of  Abraham  and  Mary  (Mulford)  Huntting,  was 
born  at  East  Hampton,  L.  I.,  March  15,  181 2.  He  was  a  well-known  merchant 
and  a  man  of  considerable  influence  in  the  community.  He  was  President  of 
Sag  Harbor  Savings  Bank  from  the  date  of  its  organization  until  his  death,  March 
14,  1868.  He  married  Mary  E.  Dimon,  daughter  of  John  Dimon,  Jr.,  and  Hannah 
Hicks,  who  was  the  daughter  of  Zechariah  Hicks.  John  Dimon,  Sr.  was  the  son 
of  Abraham  Dimon  and  Hannah  Foster. 

Abraham  Dimon,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was  an  Associator  in 
the  town  of  East  Hampton,  L.  I.,  May  5,  1775. 

Zechariah  Hicks,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was  born  in  East  Hamp- 
ton, L.  I.,  Nov.  1,  1749;  died  there  October  6,  1833.  He  was  a  member  of  Capt. 
Ezekiel  Mulford's  company  of  Minute  Men,  July  26,  1776,  and  marched  from  East 
Hampton,  intending  to  join  Col.  Josiah  Smith's  regiment  of  the  American  army 
in  defense  of  Long  Island,  but  arrived  at  Jamaica  the  day  after  the  battle  of  Long 
Island.     He  married  Rebecca  Sherrill. 

John  Dimon,  Sr.,  before  referred  to,  married  Esther  Filer,  daughter  of 
Thomas  Filer. 

Thomas  Filer,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  enlisted  in  Capt.  John 
Davis'  company,  Fourth  Regiment,  New  York  Line,  Nov.  21,  1776,  and  was  killed 
near  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  Oct.  31,  1777. 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN     REVOLUTION. 


49 


By  his  marriage  to  Mary  E.  Dimon,  daughter  of  John  Dimon,  Jr.,  Mr.  J. 
Madison  Huntting  had  issue  a  son,   Tennis  Dimon. 

TEUNIS  DIMON  HUNTTING,  Registrar,  Empire  State  Society, 
S.  A.  R.,  son  of  J.  Madison  and  Mary  (Dimon)  Huntting,  was  born  at  East 
Hampton,  L.  I.,  September  22,  1848.  He  was  educated  at  the  old  Clinton  Acad- 
emy, the  oldest  academic  institution  in  the  State  of  New  York.  He  has  been 
engaged  in  business  in  New  York  City  for  a  number  of  years.  He  is  a  well-known 
and  an  expert  genealogist,  and  probably  one  of  the  best  equipped  for  the  position 
of  Registrar,  to  which  he  was  elected  in  June,  1897,  of  any  one  that  could  be 
found.     He  is  conscientious,  painstaking  and  thoroughly  reliable.     He  is  a  mem- 


TEUNIS   D.    HUNTTING. 


ber  of  the  New  York  Genealogical  and  Biographical  Society,  Long  Island  Histori- 
cal Society,  and  of  the  Founders  and  Patriots  of  America.  He  is  well  known  in 
Masonic  circles,  being  a  member  of  Crystal  Wave  Lodge,  F.  &  A.  M.;  Gate  of 
the  Temple  Chapter,  R.  A.  M.;  Brooklyn  Council,  No.  4 ;  Clinton  Commandery, 
Knights  Templar,  of  Brooklyn  ;  a  thirty-second  degree  member  of  the  Scottish 
Rite,  New  York  Consistory,  Northern  Jurisdiction,  and  is  also  a  member  of  Kismet 
Temple,  Ancient  Arabic  Order  Nobles  of  the  Mystic  Shrine,  Oasis  of  Brooklyn. 
He  married,  first,  Georgiana  W.  Hammond,  daughter  of  Le  Baron  Hammond,  a 
descendant  of  Richard  Warren,  of  the  '-Mayflower,"  one  of  the  signers  of  the 
compact.  Of  the  three  children  by  this  marriage,  George  H.  is  the  only  surviving 
one.     Mr.  Huntting  married,  second,  Jessie  I.  Hobkirk. 


50  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

EARLE— PINNEY. 

There  are  probably  few  men  in  the  country  better  known  in  connection  with 
the  various  patriotic  and  colonial  societies  than  Gen.  Ferdinand  P.  Earle,  of  the 
Board  of  Managers,  Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R.  His  ancestry  includes  some 
of  the  leading  families  of  this  country  whose  lines  extend  back  to  the  feudal  ages. 

Edward  Earle,  the  American  ancestor,  went  from  England  to  the  Barbadoes 
and  thence  to  Baltimore,  Md.,  where  he  married  Hannah  Baylis.  In  1676  he 
removed  to  New  Jersey  and  purchased  the  Island  of  Secaucus,  in  Bergen  County, 
N.  J.,  and  was  the  progenitor  of  the  Earle  family  of  that  State.  He  was  a  descend- 
ant of  Edward  Earle,  the  youngest  of  the  English  family  of  that  name  who  took 
such  a  prominent  part  in  the  Parliamentary  struggles  in  England,  his  brother,  Sir 
Walter  Earle,  being  the  originator  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act. 

The  English  ancestors  of  the  family  extend  back  in  an  unbroken  line  to  John 
de  Erlegh,  of  Bukington,  County  Somerset.  Of  the  allied  families  of  the  Earls 
of  this  country  are  included  the  Phelps,  Porters  and  Hulls,  of  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut,  and  Thomas  Spencer,  who  served  under  Capt.  Mason  in  his  attack  on 
the  stronghold  of  the  Pequots ;  also  Capt.  John  Bissell,  Capt.  Benjamin  Pinney, 
Joseph  King  and  Serg.  Thomas  Huxley,  all  of  whom  served  in  King  Philip's  War ; 
also  Judge  Earle  and  Judge  Vreeland,  of  Bergen,  N.  J.,  Abraham  Finte,  of  the 
Revolution,  Dr.  Johanne  de  La  Montagne,  member  of  the  councils  of  Garvin, 
Kuft  and  Sturtevant,  etc. 

Edward  Earle,  the  American  ancestor,  to  whom  reference  has  already  been 
made,  had  a  son,  Marmaduke,  born  i668;died  17 14 ;  married  Elsie  Vreelandt. 
They  had   issue,  Morris,  born  October  6,    1696;  died    1765.     He,  by  his  wife, 

Rebecca ,  had  a  son,  William,  born  1734;  married  Hannah  Montagne.     They 

had  a  son,  William  Pitt,  born  April  22,  1775;  died  May  29,  1849;  married 
Martha  Pint6.  The  issue  of  this  marriage  was  William  Pitt  Earle,  born  June 
14,  1S12. 

William  Pitt  Earle,  the  father  of  Gen.  Ferdinand  P.,  was  for  many  years  a 
leading  hotel  proprietor  in  New  York,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  was  one  of  the 
oldest  men  in  that  line  of  business.  He  was  for  many  years  proprietor  of  the 
famous  Clinton  House,  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  and  later  of  the  Lorillard  House, 
New  York,  which  was  subsequently  known  and  achieved  a  national  reputation  as 
Earle's  Hotel.  He  married  Elizabeth  Pinney,  daughter  of  Judge  Benjamin  Pinney, 
of  Ellington,  Conn.,  son  of  Eleazer,  son  of  Capt.  Benjamin,  son  of  Samuel  (2), 
son  of  Samuel  (1),  son  of  Humphrey,  the  ancestor. 

Humphrey  Pinney,  the  ancestor  of  the  Pinney  family  in  America,  was  born 
in  Somerset  County,  England  ;  came  to  New  England  with  Rev.  John  Warham  in 
the  ship  "  Mary  and  John,"  which  sailed  from  Plymouth,  England,  March  30,  1630. 
He  settled  at  Dorchester,  Mass.,  where  he  married  Mary  Hull,  who  came  in  the 
same  vessel  with  him.  He  was  a  person  of  considerable  respectability,  having  the 
prefix  of  "  Mr."  to  his  name.  In  1635  he  removed  to  Windsor,  Conn.,  of  which 
he  was  one  of  the  founders.  He  died  August  20,  1683.  His  wife  died  August 
13,  1684.     They  had,  among  other  children,  a  son,  Samuel  (1). 

Samuel  Pinney  (1),  son  of  Humphrey  and  Mary  (Hull)  Pinney,  was  born 
in  Dorchester,  Mass.  He  bought  land  of  the  Indians  and  settled  in  Elling- 
ton, Conn.     He  married  Mary  Bissell,  daughter  of  John  Bissell,  who  came  from 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  51 

England  to  Plymouth  Colony  in  1628;  moved  to  Windsor,  1640;  deputy  to 
General  Court,  1642;  Captain  of  Windsor  Dragoons  during  King  Philip's  War, 
1675  ,  Quartermaster  Hartford  County  Troop  of  Horse,  1677.  Samuel  Pinney,  by 
/lis  wife,  Mary  Bissell,  had  Samuel  (2). 

Samuel  Pinney  (2),  son  of  Samuel  (1)  and  Mary  (Bissell)  Pinney,  was  born 
in  Dorchester,  Mass.,  and  removed  thence  to  Windsor,  Conn.  He  married, 
October  24,  1698,  Sarah  Phelps,  daughter  of  Timothy,  son  of  William  Phelps,  who 
settled  in  Dorchester,  in  1634;  removed  to  Windsor,  Conn.,  1638.  He  was  one 
of  the  most  prominent  and  highly  respected  men  in  the  colony ;  a  member 
of  the  first  court  held  in  Connecticut,  1636,  also  of  the  court,  1637,  which 
declared  war  against  the  Pequots ;  magistrate  in  1638,  foreman  of  the  first  grand 
jury;  deputy  to  the  General  Court,  1645-6-7-8-9,  in  1658,  he  was  again  made 
magistrate,  continuing  four  years.  He  was  a  "  pillar  in  church  and  State."  By  his 
wife,  Sarah  Phelps,  Samuel  Pinney  had  a  son,  Benjamin. 

Capt.  Benjamin  Pinney,  son  of  Samuel  (2)  and  Sarah  (Phelps)  Pinney,  was 

born  in  Ellington,  Conn.,  17 15.     He  married,  first, Ladd  ;  second,  Susannah 

Lathrop,  by  whom  he  had  issue,  Eleaser. 

Eleazer  Pinney,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Capt.  Benjamin 
and  Susannah  (Lathrop)  Pinney,  was  born  February,  1753.  He  was  with  the 
Connecticut  troops  in  the  battle  of  Bemus  Heights,  Stillwater  and  Saratoga,  Sep- 
tember and  October,  1777.  which  resulted  in  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne.  He  was 
a  prominent  citizen  in  his  native  town,  which  he  represented  in  the  Legislature, 
and  was  selectman  of  the  town  for  fourteen  years,  and  was  such  an  authority  in 
the  settlement  of  estates  and  other  responsible  trusts  that  he  was  jocularly  called 
the  "  Administrator-General  "  of  Ellington.  He  married  Eunice  King,  and  had  a 
son,  Benjamin. 

Hon.  Benjamin  Pinney,  son  of  Eleazar  and  Eunice  (King)  Pinney,  was 
born  at  Ellington,  Conn.,  July  4,  1780.  He  married,  February  23,  1803,  Susan 
McKinney.  born  July  6,  1780.  They  had  eight  children,  of  whom  Elizabeth  was 
the  sixth.     She  married  William  P.  Earle. 

William  P.  Earle,  by  his  wife,  Elizabeth  (Pinney)  Earle,  had  a  son,  Fer- 
dinand P. 

GEN.  FERDINAND  P.  EARLE,  of  the  Board  of  Managers,  Empire 
State  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  son  of  William  P.  and  Elizabeth  (Pinney)  Earle,  was 
born  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  1839.  After  completing  his  education  he  became  associ- 
ated with  his  father  in  the  hotel  and  succeeded  him  as  proprietor  of  Earle's  Hotel, 
on  Canal  street.  As  he  progressed  his  ideas  enlarged,  and  for  many  years  past 
he  has  been  proprietor  of  two  of  the  leading  hotels  in  the  country — the  Normandie 
Hotel,  of  New  York,  and  Normandie-by-the-Sea,  a  favorite  summer  resort. 

Gen.  Earle  has  long  been  a  prominent  figure  in  the  National  and  in  the 
G.  A.  R.  His  reputation  as  a  National  Guardsman  was  gained  by  honest,  hard 
work.  He  began  his  military  career  as  private  in  Company  B,  Seventh  Regiment, 
in  October,  1862  ;  went  with  it  to  the  front  in  the  Gettysburg  campaign  and  served 
continuously  until  1869.  In  April,  1861,  he  was  commissioned  Captain  of  Second 
Battery,  subsequently  known  as  Earle's  Battery,  and  under  his  command  it  was 
known  as  one  of  the  most  effectual  organizations  connected  with  the  State  National 
Guard.  On  January  1,  1889,  he  was  appointed  by  Gov.  David  B.  Hill  on  his  staff  to 
represent  the  artillery  branch  of  the  State  service,  with  the  rank  of  Brigadier- 


52 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN     REVOLUTION. 


General,  and  was  reappointed  by  Gov.  Flower.  For  services  rendered  in  connec- 
tion with  the  National  Guard  to  the  Venezuelan  Government,  he  was  decorated 
with  the  order  of  the  Bust  of  the  Liberator.  He  was  for  many  years  chairman 
and  treasurer  of  the  Citizens'  Auxiliary  Committee  of  the  G.  A.  R.  His  charitable 
and  benevolent  operations  are  well  known,  and  the  "  Earle  Guild,"  founded  by 
him  for  the  relief  of  the  needy,  has  accomplished  much  good  in  this  direction. 

Gen.  Earle  is  connected  with  many  of  the  leading  societies  and  organizations 
of  the  city.  He  is  a  member  of  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce,  the  New 
York  Historical  Society  New  York  Genealogical  and  Biographical  Society,  Hugue- 
not Society  of  America,  New  England  Society,  National  Rifle  Association,  Seventh 
Regiment  Club,  American  Yacht  Club,  Order  of  the  Founders  and  Patriots  of 


GEN.    FERDINAND    P.    EARLE. 


America,  Society  of  Colonial  Wars,  Society  of  the  War  of  1812,  etc.  His  interest 
in  and  his  labors  for  the  promotion  of  the  Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  is  well 
known  and  appreciated  by  his  compatriots. 

Gen.  Earle  was  married  November  6,  187 1,  to  Miss  Lillie  Jones  Tuttle  (Smith), 
whose  ancestors,  the  Casiers,  Masons,  Downings,  Guyons,  Jones,  Berrys,  and  Pur- 
cells,  were  among  the  earliest  settlers  of  this  country,  Philip  Casier,  the  Huguenot, 
being  the  first  magistrate  of  Harlem,  1662,  and  the  patent  to  Jacques  Guyon  grant 
of  two  hundred  acres  of  land  on  Staten  Island  being  dated  1664.  The  Guyon 
mansion  at  New  Dorp,  S.  I.,  built  in  1663,  is  still  in  a  good  state  of  preservation. 
Mrs.  Earle  is  also  a  descendant  of  the  Winthrop  family,  of  Massachusetts,  through 
Lucy,  sister  of  the  first  Governor  Winthrop.  She  is  among  the  very  few  women 
in  this  country  who  can  trace  her  descent  in  an  unbroken  line  to  Richard  I.,  II.  and 
III.,  Dukes  of  Normandy,  and  to  Emperor  Charlemagne. 

Gen.  Earle  purchased,  some  years  ago,  the  Col.  Roger  Morris  mansion,  later 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  53 

known  as  the  Junnel  mansion,  which  was  used  by  Gen.  Washington  as  his  head- 
quarters during  the  battle  of  Harlem  Heights,  in  September,  1776,  at  160th  street, 
near  Tenth  avenue,  New  York.  This,  Gen.  Earle  has  fitted  up  and  restored  as  far 
as  possible  to  its  original  condition  and  given  it  the  name  of  '■  Earle  Cliff."  In 
this  old  place  Mrs.  Earle,  who  is  Regent  of  the  Washington  Heights  Chapter, 
Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution,  has  given  many  brilliant  entertainments 
to  the  Daughters  and  other  patriotic  societies.  She  is  the  founder  and  president 
of  the  Washington  Heights  Society,  Children  of  the  American  Revolution. 

The  children  of  Gen.  and  Mrs.  Earl  are  :  Ferdinand  Pinney  Earle,  Jr.,  Victor 
de  la  Montagne  Earle,  William  Pitt  Striker  Earle  and  Guyon  Locke  Crochron 
Earle. 


CLARKE- BOONE. 

Richard  Henry  Clarke,  Board  of  Managers,  S.  A.  R.,  comes  of  an  old  Mary- 
land family,  identified  with  the  history  of  that  State  from  its  earliest  settlement. 

Robert  Clarke,  the  ancestor,  settled  in  Maryland  about  1638,  and  was  sur- 
veyor-general and  privy  councillor  under  Lord  Baltimore,  and  sat  in  the  legislature 
which  unanimously  elected  the  Maryland  Religious  Liberty  law,  in  1649. 

William  Clarke,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  a  direct  descendant  of 
Robert  Clarke,  was  born  in  Prince  George's  County,  Md..  March  16,  1750,  served 
as  Second  Lieutenant  in  the  Seventh  Battalion  of  the  Maryland  Line  under  Capt. 
Frederick  Diaus,  Col.  John  H.  Stone  and  Brig. -Gen.  William  Smallwood  ;  partici- 
pated in  the  defence  of  Stater.  Island,  N.  Y.,  in  1777,  and  the  battles  of  Brandy- 
wine  and  Germantown  ;  camped  at  Valley  Forge  with  Washington's  army  in  the 
terrible  winter  of  1778-79,  and  fought  at  Monmouth.  He  was  in  the  service 
three  years. 

RICHARD  HENRY  CLARKE,  LL.D.,  of  the  Board  of  Managers, 
1896-7,  was  born  in  Washington,  D.  C,  July  3,  1827;  son  of  Walter  Clarke  and 
Rachel  Boone,  grandson  of  William  Clarke  and  Mary  Simms,  great-grandson  of 
Robert  Clarke  and  Ann  Jenkins,  great-great-grandson  of  Walter  Clarke,  great- 
great-great-grandson  of  John  Clarke,  and  great-great-great-great-grandson  of 
Robert  Clarke. 

Dr.  Clarke  was  educated  at  Georgetown  University,  from  which  he  re- 
ceived the  degrees  of  A.B.,  A.M.,  and  LL.D.  He  studied  law  in  Washington, 
where  he  tried  several  important  cases.  He  was  a  member  of  the  City  Council, 
was  the  founder  and  president  of  several  benevolent  societies,  and  one  of  the 
founders  of  St.  Joseph's  Orphan  Asylum.  He  removed  to  New  York  in  1864, 
where  he  has  since  continued  the  practice  of  his  profession.  He  was  associated 
with  Charles  O'Connor  in  several  important  cases  and  assisted  him  in  preparing 
the  defense  of  Jefferson  Davis  in  the  proceedings  in  Virginia,  which  the  govern- 
ment discontinued.  He  was  Vice-President  of  the  Society  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul, 
of  the  Catholic  Union,  an  officer  of  the  Catholic  Club,  and  President  of  the  New 
York  Catholic  Protectory,  He  is  the  author  of  "  The  Lives  of  the  Catholic 
Bishops  of  the  United  States,"  "  The  Illustrated  History  of  the  Catholic  Church 
in  the  United  States,"  "  Hints  for  Prolonging  Life,"  "  Old  and  New  Lights  on 
Columbus,"   etc.     He  also  wrote  the  biographies  of   several  colonial  governors 


54  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

including  those  of  Leonard  Calvert,  of  Maryland,  and  of  Thomas  Dongan.  of 
New  York;  also  of  great  pioneer  missionaries,  of  Commander  Barry,  the  founder 
of  the  American  Navy,  of  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton,  the  signer  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence.  Dr.  Clarke  married  Ada  Semmes,  a  near  relative  of 
Admiral  Semmes,  of  the  Confederate  Navy. 


HOYT— DEMING— FAY— SHERMAN. 

The  above-named  families  were  not  only  conspicuous  as  founders  of  some  of 
the  oldest  New  England  towns,  but  were  represented  in  the  War  of  the  Revolu- 
tion by  self-sacrificing  patriots  whose  devotion  to  the  cause  of  American  independ- 
ence won  for  them  the  plaudits  of  their  countrymen  ;  and  the  simple  inscriptions 
on  their  tombstones  tell  the  story  of  their  achievements. 

John  Hoyt,  the  founder  of  the  Massachusetts  branch  of  the  family,  was  born 
in  England,  about  1610,  and  came  to  this  country  earlier  than  1639,  as  ms  name 
appears  on  the  Salisbury  records  that  year,  and  his  name  appears  among  the  list 
of  original  proprietors  of  Amesbury,  Mass.,  the  same  year,  his  "home  lot"  being 
indicated  on  the  old  map  of  that  town.  The  history  of  Amesbury  refers  to  him 
as  follows:  "The  most  prominent  event  of  this  year  (Feb.  28,  1688)  was  the 
death  of  Sergeant  John  Hoyt,  Sen."  Among  those  entrusted  with  office  in  the 
new  town  (Amesbury)  he  was  prominent.  He  was  selectman  eight  years,  was  on 
the  committee  to  lay  out  the  "  Great  Swamp,"  also  to  purchase  a  house  for  the 
minister,  to  treat  with  Capt.  Pike,  to  build  the  meeting-house,  etc.;  he  was  con- 
stable, grand  juryman,  etc.     He  served  as  moderator  of  the  town  meeting  as  late 

as  1687,  and  was  a  military  officer  in  Norfolk  County.     He  married  Frances 

and  had  John  (2). 

John  Hoyt  (2),  son  of  John  (1)  and  Frances  ( )  Hoyt,  was  born  about 

1638;  was  admitted  townsman  December  10,  1660.  He  "kept  ye  Ordinary  for 
Amesbury  for  ye  year  ensuing.''  and  "  hath  liberty  to  sell  ul  wine  and  strong 
waters."  He  held  public  office  and  was  a  man  of  good  standing  in  the  community. 
He  was  killed  by  the  Indians  at  Andover,  August  13,  1696.  His  will  mentions 
"snapsack,  sword  and  powder  horn."  He  married  June  22,  1659,  Mary,  daughter 
of  William  and  Rachel  Barnes.     They  had  issue,  Joseph  and  other  children. 

Joseph  Hoyt,  son  of  John  (2)  and  Mary  (Barnes)  Hoyt,  was  born  July  14, 
1666.  He  was  tithingman,  March,  1709;  selectman,  1711-12;  member  of  the 
grand  jury,  1712-13.  He  lived  on  the  homestead  of  his  grandfather.  He  married 
Dorothy  Worthen,  and  had  a  son,  Ezekiel. 

Ezekiel  Hoyt,  son  of  Joseph  and  Dorothy  (Worthen)  Hoyt,  was  born  January 
7,  1709 j  died  December  25,  1755.  He  resided  in  that  part  of  Salisbury  which 
was  incorporated  as  South  Hampton,  in  1742.  He  was  a  man  of  considerable 
means,  a  member  of  the  first  church  in  Amesbury  and  of  the  second  church  of 
Salisbury.     He  married  Rebecca  Brown,  of  Newbury,  and  had  a  son,  Joseph. 

Joseph  Hoyt,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Ezekiel  and  Rebecca 
(Brown)  Hoyt,  was  born  November  3,  1751.  He  settled  in  Sandwich,  N.  H.  He 
was  one  of  the  signers  of  the  famous  "  Association  Test,"  viz.:  "We,  the  sub- 
scribers, do  hereby  solemnly  engage  and  promise  that  we  will,  to  the  utmost  of  our 


SONS    OF    THE   AMERICAN1    REVOLUTION. 


55 


Power,  at  the  Risque  of  our  Lives  and  Fortunes,  with  Arms,  oppose  the  Hostile 
Proceedings  of  the  British  Fleets  and  Armies  against  the  United  American 
Colonies."  He  married,  August  25,  1774,  Betsey  Folsom,  and  had  five  children, 
among  whom  was  Daniel. 

HON.  DANIEL  HOYT,  son  of  Joseph  and  Betsey  (Folsom)  Hoyt,  was  born 
October  26,  1778.  He  was  largely  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits,  was  President 
of  the  Carroll  County  Bank  and  a  prominent  public  man  in  New  Hampshire.  He 
resided  at  Sandwich,  N.  H.  He  filled  town  offices  of  all  kinds  and  was  chosen  a 
representative  to  the  legislature  in  [807  and  was  fifteen  times  elected  to  represent 
his  native  town,  but  resigned  ence,  however,  on  account  of  his  being  chosen  Senator. 
He  was   Senator  four  years  and  councillor   two  years.     He  was  General   of  the 


GEM.    DANIEL    HOYT. 


State  Militia  and  always  went  by  the  name  of  "General."  He  early  identified 
himself  with  the  old  Liberty  or  Free  Soil  Party,  and  was  for  several  years  theit 
candidate  for  governor.  Two  years  of  his  life  were  spent  in  Ohio.  He  married, 
first,  Sarah  Flanders,  daughter  of  Moses  Flanders,  an  officer  in  the  Revolution 
and  afterwards  Major  of  the  New  Hampshire  State  Militia.  They  had  five  child- 
ren, among  whom  was    William  Henry. 

Rev.  William  Henry  Hoyt,  son  of  Hon.  Daniel  and  Sarah  (Flanders)  Hoyt, 
was  born  at  Sandwich,  N.  H.,  January  8,  181 3.  He  was  graduated  at  Dartmouth 
College  in  1831,  and  was  afterwards  for  several  years  rector  of  St.  Luke's  Epis- 
copal Church,  at  St.  Albans,  Vt.     He  resided  in  Burlington,  Vt.,  for  some  time, 


56  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

where  he  published  the  Burlington  Sentinel,  which  was  at  one  time  carried  on  by 
John  G.  Saxe,  the  poet.  He  became  a  convert  to  the  Roman  Catholic  faith,  after 
which  he  studied  law  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  removed  to  New  York 
city  about  1868,  and  after  the  death  of  his  wife,  in  January,  1875,  he  entered  the 
Catholic  priesthood  and  was  ordained  by  Archbishop  Corrigan  in  May,  1877.  He 
devoted  the  remaining  years  of  his  life  to  the  arduous  duties  of  the  priesthood 
until  his  death,  which  occurred  December  11,  1883.  He  was  a  man  of  scholarly 
attainments,  a  fine  linguist  and  possessed  qualities  of  heart  that  endeared  him  to 
all  who  knew  him.  He  married  Anne  Deming,  daughter  of  Eleazer  Hubbell  and 
Fanny  (Follett)  Deming.  Eleazer  Hubbell  Deming  was  the  son  of  Capt.  Pownall 
Deming,  son  of  David,  son  of  Rev.  David,  son  of  John  Deming,  the  ancestor. 

John  Deming,  the  ancestor,  settled  in  Wethersfield,  Conn.,  in  1635.  He 
was  one  of  the  nineteen  (including  his  father-in-law,  Richard  Treat)  to  whom  was 
granted  the  charter  of  Connecticut,  in  1662.  He  was  representative  nineteen 
times — from  1646  to  1665.  His  wife's  brother  Robert  was  one  of  the  founders  of 
Newark,  N.  J.,  and  afterward  Governor  of  Connecticut.  Elizabeth,  the  sister  of 
John  Deming,  married  Gov.  Thomas  Welles,  of  Connecticut.  John  Deming 
married,  in  1637,  Honor  Treat,  daughter  of  Richard  Treat,  above  mentioned. 
They  had  issue,  David. 

Rev.  David  Deming,  grandson  of  John  and  Honor  (Treat)  Deming,  was 
graduated  at  Harvard  in  1700,  and  was  the  first  pastor  of  the  church  at  Med  way, 
Mass.  He  removed  to  Middletown,  Conn.,  and  thence  to  Lyme.  He  married  in 
1708,  Mercy  Brigham,  and  had  issue,  David  and  other  children. 

David  Deming  (2),  son  of  Rev.  David  and  Mercy  (Brigham)  Deming,  was 
born  in  Lyme,  August  24,  1709.  He  married  Mehitable  Champion,  of  East 
Haddam,  Conn.,  daughter  of  Lieut.  Henry  Champion  and  Mehitable  Rowley, 
daughter  of  Moses  and  Mary  Rowley.  Henry  Champion  was  the  son  of  Thomas, 
son  of  Henry,  of  Saybrook,  who  came  from  England  prior  to  1647.  David  Dem- 
ing and  his  wife,  Mehitable  Champion,  had  a  son,  Pownall. 

Lieut.  Pownall  Deming,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  of  Colchester, 
Conn.  He  was  sergeant  in  Capt.  Worthy  Waters'  Company,  of  Hebron,  Conn., 
who  marched  from  Connecticut  "for  the  Relief  of  Boston  in  the  Lexington 
Alarm,"  April,  1775  ;  sergeant  in  Eighth  Company,  Second  Regiment,  Connecticut 
Line,  commanded  by  Capt.  Levi  Wells,  of  Colchester,  May  6  to  December  10,  1775. 
These  troops  took  part  at  Roxbury,  Mass.,  and  served  during  the  siege  until 
expiration  of  term  of  service,  around  Boston.  He  was  detached  with  others  and 
served  under  Gen.  Spencer  at  Bunker  Hill.  He  reenlisted  in  Col.  Wyllys'  Regi- 
ment, Twenty-second  Connecticut  Line,  1776;  promoted  ensign  during  the  year; 
reported  in  October  in  the  "  commissary  business."  After  the  evacuation  of 
Boston  by  the  British  this  regiment  marched,  under  Washington,  to  New  York  by 
way  of  New  London  and  the  Sound ;  assisted  in  fortifying  New  York  ;  ordered  to 
the  Brooklyn  front,  August  24 ;  engaged  in  the  battle  of  Long  Island,  August  27. 
Referring  to  Wyllys'  and  other  regiments  in  this  battle,  Johnson  says  :  "  Some  in 
groups,  some  keeping  together  in  companies,  some  in  battalions,  all  aiming  for 
one  objective — the  camp.  Here  they  fought  the  light  infantry,  there  they  were 
charged  upon  by  the  dragoons  ;  those  who  were  intercepted  fell  into  the  hands  or 
upon  the  bayonets  of  the  Hessians.  It  was  a  trying  and  desperate  situation  from 
which  there  was  no  relief."     Ensign  Deming  took  part  in  the  subsequent  events 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 


57 


at  Kip's  Bay,  Harlem  and  White  Plains  until  the  expiration  of  term  of  service, 
December  31,  1776.  Previous  to  this,  Ensign  Deming  had  engaged  in  an  import- 
ant undertaking  in  connection  with  Capt.  Coit.  On  October  24,  by  order  of  Gen. 
Washington,  Capt.  William  Coit,  of  Norwich,  then  in  Parsons'  regiment  before 
Boston,  marched  with  his  company  to  Plymouth  and  took  charge  of  the  privateer 
"  Harrison,"  carrying  four  carriage  guns  and  ten  swivels.  He  captured  several 
prizes  in  which  Serg.  Deming  shared.  Ensign  Deming  was  commissioned  second 
lieutenant  January  1,  1777,  first  lieutenant  November  15,  1778.  He  was  second  in 
command  of  Capt.  Clift's  Company,  First  Regiment,  Connecticut  Line,  commanded 
by  Col.  John  Durkee,  of  Norwich,  Conn.  He  remained  in  service  with  this  regi- 
ment until  it  was  finally  disbanded  at  West  Point  in  June,  1783,  by  Washington's 


EI.KA7.KK    HUBBELI,    DEMING. 


orders.  His  name  appears  among  the  original  members  of  the  Society  of  the 
Cincinnati.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  engaged  in  business  in  Hartford,  Conn., 
where  he  died  suddenly,  April  9,  1795.  On  his  tombstone  in  Hartford  his  name 
appears  as  "  Captain."  He  married  Abigail  Hubbell,  of  New  Fairfield,  Conn.,  a 
woman  noted  for  her  beauty.     They  had  an  only  son,  Eleazer  Hubbell. 

ELEAZER  HUBBELL  DEMING,  only  son  of  Capt.  Pownall  and  Abigail 
(Hubbell)  Deming,  was  born  at  Wethersfield,  Conn.,  February  1 3,  1 785.  His  mother 
died  when  he  was  but  ten  days  old  and  he  was  brought  up  by  his  grandmother,  Mrs. 
Ann  Noble  Hubbell.     He  went  to  New  York  early  in  life  and  obtained  a  position 


58  SONS   OF    THE  AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

as  clerk  in  a  mercantile  house.  He  moved  to  Burlington,  Vt.,  in  1805,  where  he 
established  a  large  business  and  was  regarded  by  those,  who  knew  him  as  the  best 
business  man  in  Northern  Vermont.  He  accumulated  what  was  then  considered 
a  large  fortune.  His  views  of  men  and  affairs  were  broad  and  he  was  a  man  of 
strong  character  and  decided  convictions.  He  died  May  5,  1828.  He  married 
Fanny  Fay  Follett,  of  Bennington,  Vt.,  daughter  of  Susanna  (Fay)  Follett,  and 
granddaughter  of  John  Fay. 

John  Fay,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was  born  in  Hardwick,  Mass., 
Dec.  23,  1734.  and  lived  in  Bennington,  Vt.  He  was  sergeant'  in  Capt.  Elijah 
Dewey's  Company,  Col.  Moses  Robinson's  regiment  of  militia,  at  Ticonderoga,  in 
1776.  He  was  one  of  five  brothers  who  were  all  engaged  in  the  battle  of  Ben- 
nington, under  Gen.  Stark.  His  tombstone  in  the  little  graveyard  at  Bennington 
contains  the  following  inscription  : 

"  In  memory  of  John  Fay,  Esq'r,  who  fell  fighting  for  the  freedom  of  his 
country  in  the  Battle  fought  between  Gen.  Stark  and  Col.  Baum,  called  Benning- 
ton Battle,  on  the  16th  of  August,  1777,  in  the  43d  Year  of  his  Age. 

"  The  sweet  remembrance  of  the  Just 
Shall  flourish  while  they  sleep  in  dust." 

John  Fay  was  shot  from  behind  a  tree  while  taking  aim  with  his  musket  at 
the  enemy.  A  local  historian,  in  his  account  of  the  affair,  says  :  "  Quick  as  light- 
ning ran  the  cry  over  the  ranks  of  his  townsmen,  '  John  Fay  is  shot !'  Maddened 
with  fury  they  sprang  from  behind  the  trees  and  fired  their  guns  in  the  very  faces 
of  the  foe.  They  leaped  over  the  breastworks  of  the  enemy  with  an  impulse  of 
onset  nothing  mortal  could  resist."  The  enemy  were  driven  back  and  soon  after 
victory  perched  on  the  banner  of  the  Americans.  The  desperate  charge  of  the 
townsmen  of  John  Fay  no  doubt  contributed  materially  to  the  final  result.  Capt. 
Stephen  Fay,  the  father  of  John,  was  also  an  ardent  patriot,  and  when  the  body 
of  his  son  was  brought  home,  he,  with  his  own  hands,  washed  away  the  blood 
stains  and  thanked  God  that  he  had  a  son  who  was  willing  to  give  his  life  for  his 
country.  The  four  surviving  sons  all  became  prominent  in  public  affairs.  Joseph 
became  Secretary  of  State  of  Vermont,  and  Dr.  Jonas  Fay  was  the  author  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  of  the  State  of  Vermont. 

Rev.  William  Henry  Hoyt,  by  his  wife,  Anne  Deming  (granddaughter  of 
John  Fay),  had  issue,  Charles  Albert. 

CHARLES  ALBERT  HOYT,  Member  of  the  Empire  State  Society, 
S.  A.  R.,  eldest  son  of  Rev.  William  Henry  and  Anne  (Deming)  Hoyt,  was  born 
in  the  old  Deming  homestead,  at  Burlington,  Vt.,  July  27,  1839.  After  a  clue 
course  of  preparation  he  entered  the  University  of  Vermont  and  subsequently 
Georgetown  College,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1857.  He  received  his 
degrees  of  A.B.  and  A.M.  from  both  institutions.  He  began  the  study  of  law  in 
the  office,  intending  to  follow  that  profession,  but  finally  decided  on  a  business 
career,  and  started  on  the  lowest  round  of  the  ladder  with  the  mercantile  house 
of  Dennison  &  Binsse,  in  New  York,  and  later  with  Howard,  Sanger  &  Co. 
During  the  first  year  of  his  business  life  he  continued  his  legal  studies,  and  the 
knowledge  acquired  he  was  able  to  use  to  good  advantage  later  in  life.  In  i860 
he  was  associated  for  a  time  with  his  father  on  the  Burlington  Sentinel,  and  during 


SONS   OF    THE  AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  59 

this  time  contributed  occasionally  to  the  columns  of  the  New  York  press.  He 
returned  to  New  York  city  in  1861  and  obtained  a  position  with  Poppenhusen  & 
Konig.  This  firm  at  the  time  had  the  entire  control  of  what  was  known  as  the 
Goodyear  hard  rubber  patents.  The  previous  experience  and  knowledge  acquired 
by  Mr.  Hoyt  was  a  special  advantage  to  him  in  the  duties  of  his  new  position. 
He  became  a  member  of  the  firm  in  1872,  and  for  the  past  thirty  years  has  been 
treasurer  of  the  India  Rubber  Comb  Co.  and  the  Goodyear  Hard  Rubber  Co., 
both  being  the  outgrowth  of  the  old  firm.  He  is  identified  with  other  business 
interests  and  various  organizations.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce and  one  of  its  Executive  Committee  ;  he  was  one  of  the  founders  and  is 
still  a  director  of  the  German-American  Insurance  Co.;  trustee  of  the  Brooklyn 
Savings  Bank  ;  a  member  of  the  Union  League  Club,  the  Hamilton  Club,  the  New 
York  Press  Club,  the  New  England  Society,  the  Long  Island  Historical  Society  ; 
Vice-President  of  St.  Vincent's  Home  for  Boys  ;  member  and  trustee  of  the 
Church  of  St.  Charles  Borromeo,  of  Brooklyn ;  he  is  an  hereditary  member  of 
the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati  and  treasurer  of  the  New  York  State  Society. 

Mr.  Hoyt  married,  in  1862,  Julia  H.  Sherman,  daughter  of  Enoch  P.  and 
Julia  M.  Sherman  ;  son  of  Anthony,  of  Brookfield,  Mass.,  who  married  Sally  Piper; 
son  of  Thomas,  who  married  Betsy  Keith,  of  Bridgewater;  son  of  Anthony,  who 
married  Silence  Ford,  of  Bridgewater;  son  of  William,  of  Marshfield,  Mass.,  who 
married  Mary,  daughter  of  Peregrine  White,  born  on  the  ship  "  Mayflower,"  in 
Cape  Cod  Harbor,  November  n,  1620,  the  first  child  born  in  Plymouth  Colony  ;  son 
of  William  Sherman,  of  Marshfield,  who  married  Desire  Doty,  daughter  of  Edward 
Doty,  who  came  on  the  "Mayflower";  son  of  William  Sherman,  the  emigrant, 
who  came  from  Northampton,  England,  in  1629,  married  Prudence  Hill,  of 
Duxbury.  He  served  under  Miles  Standish  against  the  Indians.  His  son, 
William,  above  mentioned,  served  in  King  Philip's  War  and  died  from  exposure. 

The  issue  of  the  marriage  of  Charles  Albert  Hoyt  to  Julia  H.  Sherman  is 
one  son,  Albert  Sherman.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Sons  of  the  American 
Revolution  and  Mrs.  Hoyt  is  a  member  of  the  Daughters  of  the  American 
Revolution. 


WILLIAM   WATKINS    KENLY, 

Of    the    Board,    of    Managers?,  Empire   State  Society, 
Sons  of  trie  American  Revolution. 

There  are  probably  few  men  in  this  country  whose  line  of  ancestry  extends 
through  so  many  distinguished  families  of  America  and  in  an  unbroken  line  to 
the  highest  nobility  of  Europe,  dating  back  to  the  seventh  century,  as  that  of 
William  Watkins  Kenly,  one  of  the  most  active  and  enthusiastic  members  of  the 
Society,  which  he  represents  as  one  of  its  Board  of  Managers.  Mr.  Kenly's 
ancestors  were  not  only  distinguished  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  but  also  in 
the  colonial  wars,  the  War  of  1812-15  and  the  more  recent  Mexican  War,  and 
bore  an  important  part  in  shaping  the  destinies  of  our  nation.  During  the  Civil 
War  also,  his  immediate  relatives  were  conspicuous  for  their  gallantry  in  both  the 
Union  and  Confederate  armies.  The  ancestry  given  through  the  several  lines  will 
doubtless  prove  of  great  value  to  others  seeking  information  in  this  direction. 


60  SONS  OF    THE  AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

Of  those  who  served  in  the  English  army  during  the  colonial  period  were  the 
following  ancestors :  Col.  Edward  Claggett,  Col.  Edward  Dorsey,  Col.  Nicholas 
Greenberry,  Col.  Nicholas  Gassaway,  Col.  Henry  Ridgely,  Col.  George  Wells, 
Major  Samuel  Goldsmith,  Capt.  John  Worthington,  Capt.  Thomas  Claggett. 

In  the  War  of  the  Revolution  there  were:  Capt.  Gassaway  Watkins,  grand- 
father; Major  Nicholas  Worthington,  great-uncle;  Ensign  Nicholas  Worthington, 
Jr.,  relative ;  Private  Zacheriah  Lyles,  relative ;   Private  James  Lyles,  relative. 

In  the  War  of  1812:  Col.  Gassaway  Watkins,  grandfather;  Private  Edward 
Kenly,  grandfather ;  Lieut.  Gassaway  Watkins,  Jr.,  uncle. 

In  the  Mexican  War :  Major  John  R.  Kenly,  uncle  ;  Capt.  Richard  Watkins, 
first  cousin. 

In  the  Civil  War  :  Maj.-Gen.  John  R.  Kenly,  uncle  ;  Major  William  L.  Kenly, 
uncle;  Private  John  R.  Kenly,  of  George,  brother;  Private  Albeit  G.  Warfield, 
first  cousin  ;  Private  Gassaway  Warfield,  first  cousin  ;  Private  Beale  Warfield, 
first  cousin  ;  Private  Lewis  Watkins,  first  cousin.  These  five  privates  enlisted  in 
the  army  when  between  the  ages  of  fifteen  and  eighteen. 

Now  in  the  regular  army  :     Lieut.  William  Lacy  Kenly,  Jr.,  first  cousin. 

The  first  historical  mention  of  the  Kenly  family  is  contained  in  a  description 
of  the  "  Kenly  Manor,"  Shropshire,  England,  in  the  tenth  century,  during  the 
reign  of  Edward  the  Confessor.  The  name  also  appears  in  the  Domesday 
Book,  A.  D.  1085-6. 

Richard  Kenly,  the  American  ancestor,  is  supposed  to  be  a  descendant  of 
the  proprietors  of  Kenly  Manor.  He  had  issue,  Darnel  and  William.  The  latter 
was  one  of  the  gentlemen  authorized  by  acts  of  assembly,  April  6,  1776,  and 
March  20,  1777,  to  sign  notes  or  currency  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania. 
The  Coat  of  Arms  of  the  Kenly  family — Attns,  Per  bend  embattled  sa.  and  ar. — 
is  given  in  Burke's  Encyclopedia  of  Heraldry. 

Daniel  Kenly,  eldest  son  of  Richard,  was  a  resident  of  Deer  Creek,  Harford 
County,  Md.,  a  man  of  some  prominence,  being  an  elder  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  He  married,  November  6,  1739,  Frances,  daughter  of  Col.  George  Wells, 
son  of  Richard  Wells,  who  was  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Maryland 
in  1654;  one  of  the  judges  of  the  Provincial  Council,  1655-8;  appointed  July  22, 
1654,  one  of  commissioners  "for  the  well  ordering,  directing  and  governing  the 
affairs  of  Maryland,  under  His  Highness,  the  Lord  Protector  of  England,  Scot- 
land, Ireland,  etc."  George  Wells,  above  mentioned,  was  a  member  of  the 
General  Assembly,  1674-8,  was  Colonel  of  the  Provincial  troops  of  Maryland,  and 
was  recommended  by  Lord  Baltimore  and  sundry  merchants  as  "  one  of  the  sub- 
stantial Protestant  Inhabitants  of  Maryland  and  a  member  of  the  Provincial 
Council."  He  married  Blanche,  daughter  of  Major  Samuel  Goldsmith,  Major  of 
the  Provincial  troops,  who  in  1659  was  one  of  the  deputies  sent  from  Maryland  to 
the  town  of  New  Armstell.  Daniel  Kenly,  by  his  wife,  Frances  (Wells)  Kenly, 
had  a  son,  Richard 

Richard  Kenly,  son  of  Daniel  and  Frances  (Wells)  Kenly,  was  born  in 
Harford  County,  Md.,  November  3,  1761.  He  married,  in  1783,  Avis,  daughter  of 
Richard  and  Rebecca  Ward.  He  was  a  magistrate  and  a  man  of  some  note. 
They  had  issue,  a  son,  Edward. 

Edward  Kenly,  son  of  Richard  and  Avis  (Ward)  Kenly,  was  born  November 
22,  1788.     He  was  a  private  in  Company  C,  Twenty-seventh  Regiment,  in  the  War 


SONS   OF    THE  AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  6l 

of  1812-15,  and  took  part  in  the  battles  of  Fort  McHenry  and  North  Point.  The 
regiment  was  commanded  by  Col.  Kennedy  Long,  and  was  known  as  "  the  brave 
Twenty-seventh."  Mr.  Kenly  was  Judge  of  the  Appeal  Tax  Court  and  Assessors 
of  Tax  for  the  city  of  Baltimore,  1855.  He  married,  February  9,  1814,  Maria 
Keener  Reese  (born  May  21,  1791),  daughter  of  John  Evans  Reese  and  Anne  Lacy, 
of  Virginia.  John  Evans  Reese  was  the  son  of  John  Reese,  who  married  Sarah 
Evans,  November  11,  1746,  in  Wales.  John  Reese  was  the  son  of  Meredith  ap 
Reese,  who  married,  in  Wales,  Catherine,  the  daughter  of  Cadwallader.  Edward 
Kenly  and  Maria  Keener  Reese,  his  wife,  had  issue,  George  Tyson,  John  Reese 
and  William  Lacy. 

George  Tyson  Kenly,  eldest  son  of  Edward  and  Maria  (Reese)  Kenly,  was 
born  November  8,  181 4.  He  was  a  prominent  merchant  of  Baltimore  and  was 
one  of  the  charter  members  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  now  called  the  Balti- 
more Corn  and  Flour  Exchange,  and  for  many  years  was  one  of  its  Directors. 
For  the  last  thirteen  years  he  has  been  the  treasurer,  and  although  in  his  eighty- 
fourth  year  still  personally  attends  to  the  responsible  duties  of  this  office.  He  is 
one  of  the  best  known  and  highly  respected  citizens  of  Baltimore. 

John  Reese  Kenly,  the  second  son  of  Edward  and  Maria  (Reese)  Kenly,  was 
a  major  in  the  Mexican  War  and  commanded  the  escort  that  conducted  Gen. 
Santa  Anna  through  the  American  lines.  He  received  the  thanks  of  the  State  of 
Maryland  by  resolution  of  the  General  Assembly,  "  for  distinguished  gallantry 
displayed  in  the  field  during  the  war  with  Mexico."  At  the  breaking  out  of  the 
Civil  War  he  held  the  position  of  Brigadier-General,  State  Militia,  and  was 
appointed  by  Gen.  N.  P.  Banks,  Provost  Marshal  of  Baltimore.  He  served  with 
distinction  until  the  close  of  the  war  and  rose  to  the  rank  of  Major-General.  As 
in  the  Revolutionary  War,  at  the  battle  of  Long  Island,  four  hundred  Maryland 
troops  were  left  to  cover  the  retreat  of  the  American  army,  so  again  in  the  Civil 
War  the  Maryland  troops  were  called  upon  to  cover  the  retreat  of  Gen.  Banks' 
army  before  Stonewall  Jackson.  Gen.  Kenly,  then  Colonel  of  the  First  Maryland 
Infantry  of  nine  hundred  men,  was  left  at  Front  Royal,  Va.,  to  check  the  advance 
of  Stonewall  Jackson's  army  of  eight  thousand  men.  His  entire  command  was 
surrounded  and  captured  or  killed,  and  Col.  Kenly,  refusing  to  surrender,  was 
forcibly  cut  out  of  his  saddle  by  two  cavalrymen.  But  the  Union  army  was  saved 
and  Gen.  Banks  crossed  the  Potomac.  "  On  receiving  news  from  Secretary 
Stanton  that  Banks'  army  had  crossed  the  Potomac  without  loss  and  in  safety, 
owing  to  the  gallant  fight  of  Gen.  Kenly  at  Front  Royal,  delaying  the  advance 
of  Stonewall  Jackson's  army,  President  Lincoln,  at  midnight,  in  the  executive 
chamber,  with  the  members  of  the  cabinet,  rose  from  their  seats  and  gave  three 
rousing  cheers— the  first  and  only  time  that  such  a  demonstration  had  been  made 
by  the  President  and  his  cabinet." — (Authority,  Maj.-Gen.  N.  P.  Banks).  Presi- 
dent Lincoln  appointed  Colonel  Kenly  Brigadier-General  for  "  gallant  conduct  at 
Front  Royal,  Va."  He  twice  received  a  vote  of  thanks  from  his  native  State, 
through  the  General  Assembly,  for  "  early,  prompt  and  distinguished  services  in 
the  Civil  War."  He  was  presented  with  an  elegant  sword  and  mountings  by  the 
State  of  Maryland  and  another  by  the  city  of  Baltimore.  He  was  the  author  of 
"  Memoirs  of  a  Maryland  Volunteer  in  the  War  with  Mexico." 

William  Lacy  Kenly,  the  youngest  son  of  Edward  and  Maria  (Reese)  Kenly, 
was  a   Major  of  Infantry,  Maryland  Volunteers,  during  the  Civil  War  and  made 


62  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

for  himself  an  honorable  record.  He  is  a  civil  engineer  by  profession  and  Chief 
Engineer  of  the  Baltimore  City  Water  Supply.  His  son,  William  Lacy,  Jr.,  is 
Lieutenant  First  Artillery,  U.  S.  A. 

George  Tyson  Kenly,  the  first  mentioned  son  of  Edward  Kenly,  married, 
April  16,  1844,  Priscilla  Agnes  Watkins,  daughter  of  Colonel  Gassaway  Watkins. 
Col.  Gassaway  Watkins,  A  Soldier  of  the  Revolution,  was  an  offi- 
cer in  Smallwood's  Regiment  at  the  battle  of  Long  Island  and  one  of  the  immortal 
"  Maryland  Four  Hundred,"  who  saved  the  retreating  American  army  from  total 
destruction.  He  served  seven  years  as  an  officer  in  the  Maryland  Regulars.  He 
was  made  Sergeant,  January,  1776;  Ensign,  April  20,  1777;  Lieutenant,  May  1, 
l777'<  Captain,  January  1,  1781,  and  mustered  out  of  service  January,  1783,  as 
Captain  Third  Regiment,  Maryland  Line,  commanded  by  Col.  John  Eager  Howard. 
He  was  the  last  surviving  officer  of  the  old  Maryland  Line.  In  an  autograph 
letter  now  in  possession  of  William  Watkins  Kenly,  a  descendant  in  the  second 
generation,  he  says:  "I  was  on  Long  Island  and  the  White  Plains  with  Col. 
Smallwood's  Regulars,  in  '77;  at  Germantown,  '78;  at  Monmouth,  'So;  at  Cam- 
den, '81  ;  at  the  Cowpens,  Guilford  Court  House,  Second  Camden,  Ninety-six,  and 
Eutaw  Springs.  At  the  assault  on  Ninety-six,  Capt.  P.  Benson  fell  wounded  in 
my  arms.  I  was  several  times  in  the  vanguard  ;  was  at  Staten  Island  in  March, 
1780,  and  was  at  Elizabethtown  a  few  hours  after  Major  Egleston  and  his  guard 
was  taken.  I  was  toasted  by  Gen.  Nathaniel  Greene  at  a  public  dinner  on  the  High 
Hills  of  the  Santee."  In  explanation  of  this  incident  he  states  that  he  was  a 
bearer  of  special  dispatches  from  Gen.  Greene  to  Gen.  Smallwood;  also  from  Gen. 
Smallwood  to  Gen.  Marion.  He  says:  "  In  February(i78i),  the  day  Gen.  David- 
son was  killed,  I  left  camp  with  orders  from  Gen.  Greene ;  and  upon  reaching  the 
Yadkin  River,  found  it  had  overflown  its  banks,  and  was  told  by  my  guide 
that  it  was  impossible  to  cross  through  the  rushing  current,  on  which  was  borne 
floating  logs  and  other  debris.  I  was  satisfied  there  was  nothing  to  stop  the 
enemy,  and  knowing  the  wish  of  my  General  to  bring  his  troops  to  a  point  near 
action,  I  immediately  pulled  off  my  coat  and  boots,  put  the  dispatches  in  the 
crown  of  my  hat,  tied  it  on  my  head,  took  leave  of  my  old  friend  who,  with  tears 
in  his  eyes,  wished  me  well,  and  with  difficulty  crossed  the  river.  My  guide  and 
friend  expressed  his  joy  by  throwing  up  his  hat.  I  got  to  headquarters  and  was 
received  by  Generals  Greene  and  Morgan." 

Col.  Watkins  was  a  man  of  magnificent  physique,  six  feet  two  inches  in  height, 
well  proportioned  and  developed.  His  height  and  size  made  him  conspicuous  in 
battle.  He  was  a  warm  personal  friend  of  Col.  John  Eager  Howard.  He  was 
President  of  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati  of  Maryland,  was  Colonel  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Drafted  Militia  of  the  State  of  Maryland  in  the  War  of  181 2-1 5,  and 
was  placed  in  command  of  the  defences  of  Annapolis.  One  of  his  sons,  Gassaway 
Watkins,  Jr.,  was  Lieutenant  in  the  Maryland  Militia  in  the  War  of  1812-15. 
Another  son,  Dr.  William  Washington  Watkins,  was  a  member  of  the  State  Senate 
and  John  Sebastian,  another  son,  was  also  a  member  of  the  State  Senate,  and  was 
one  of  the  signers  of  the  address  which,  in  1861,  declared  that  the  legislature 
had  no  power  to  commit  the  State  to  secession.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the 
Society  of  the  Cincinnati  of  Maryland. 

Col  Gassaway  Watkins  was  the  son  of  Nicholas  Watkins  and  Ariana  Worth- 
ington,  fifth  in  descent  from  John  Watkins,  the  immigrant  ancestor,  who  married  in 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  63 

1688,  Ann  Gassaway,  daughter  of  Nicholas  Gassaway,  Colonel  of  the  Provincial 
troops,  one  of  the  "Commissioners  of  Peace  and  Tryall  of  Causes,"  and  one  of 
the  justices  of  the  Provincial  court.  Ariana  Worthington,  the  mother  of  Col. 
Gassaway  Watkins,  was  the  daughter  of  Thomas  Worthington  (and  Elizabeth 
Ridgely),  who  was  a  magistrate  under  the  crown  and  a  member  of  the  General 
Assembly,  the  proceedings  of  which  show  him  to  have  been  one  of  the  most 
influential  and  useful  members  of  that  body.  Brice  Thomas  Beale  Worthington, 
a  brother  of  Ariana  Worthington,  was  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Safety  and 
a  delegate,  with  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton,  and  Samuel  Chase,  from  Ann 
Arundel  County,  Md.,  to  the  Maryland  State  Convention,  August  14,  1776. 
Another  brother,  Nicholas  Worthington,  was  a  major  in  the  Seventh  Battalion, 
Maryland  Continentals,  and  also  a  member  of  the  State  legislature  during  the  War 
of  the  Revolution.     His  son,  Nicholas,  was  an  ensign  in  the  Seventh  Battalion. 

Capt.  John  Worthington,  the  grandfather  of  Ariana  Worthington,  was  the 
immigrant  ancestor  of  the  family.  He  was  a  man  of  some  importance  and  was 
captain  of  the  provincial  troops.  The  inscription  on  his  tombstone  states  that 
"  He  was  the  progenitor  of  many  sturdy  sons  of  Maryland — men  who  moulded 
and  controlled  affairs  and  helped  to  build  up  the  State,  His  family  bore  :  Arms 
— Argent,  three  rustic  forks,  sable.  Crest—  A  goat  statant  (or  passant)  argent, 
holding  in  mouth  an  oak  branch,  vert,  fructed,  or.  Motto — Virtute  dignus  val- 
orem (In  valor  worthy  of  our  ancestors.)  He  married  Sarah  Howard,  daughter 
of  Matthew  Howard,  the  immigrant  ancestor,  and  Sarah  Dorsey.  Elizabeth,  the 
sister  of  Matthew  Howard,  married  Col.  Henry  Ridgely,  of  whom  hereafter. 
Sarah  Dorsey,  the  wife  of  Matthew  Howard,  was  the  daughter  of  Col.  Edward 
Dorsey  and  Margaret  Larkin,  who  was  the  immigrant  ancestor  of  this  family. 
He  was  a  colonel  in  the  Colonial  militia  in  the  Province  of  Maryland,  and  partici- 
pated in  most  of  the  early  contests  with  the  Indians.  He  was  an  earnest  promoter 
of  the  cause  of  education  in  the  province,  and  one  of  the  original  trustees  and 
incorporators  of  King  William's  College.  He  was  a  member  of  the  General 
Assembly,  was  a  "Justice  of  Pease  and  Tryall  of  Causes."  He  was  the  son  of 
Edward  Dorsey,  of  Hockley-in-the-Hole,  Lancaster  County,  England. 

The  mother  of  Ariana  Worthington  was  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Henry 
Ridgely  and  Catherine  Greenberry.  He  was  the  son  of  Henry  Ridgely,  Colonel 
of  the  Provincial  troops,  member  of  the  General  Assembly,  etc.  He  was  one  of 
the  most  distinguished  men  in  the  province,  and  progenitor  of  the  numerous 
Ridgely  family  of  Maryland,  many  descendants  of  whom  have  adorned  the  highest 
positions  in  the  province  and  state,  in  civil,  military  and  naval  life.  The  Ridgely 
family  bore  :  Arms — Or,  on  a  cheveron  gules,  three  mullets,  argent.  Crest — A 
stag's  head  erased  ppr.  attired  or.  Motto — Dum  spiro  spero  (While  I  breathe  I 
hope).  He  married  Elizabeth  Howard,  in  England.  The  Maryland  Howards  are 
descended  from  the  Howard  family  of  England,  whose  head  is  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk,  Earl  Marshal,  of  England,  the  oldest  and  proudest  of  the  peerage.  The 
Howard  family  bore  :  Anns — Gules,  on  a  bend  argent,  between  six  cross  crosslets 
fitchees  argent,  an  escutcheon  or,  charged  with  a  demi-lion  rampant,  pierced 
through  the  mouth  with  an  arrow  flory,  counter  flory  of  the  first.  Crest — On  a 
chapeau,  gules,  turned  up  ermine,  a  lion  statant,  guardant,  tail  extended  or,  ducally 
crowned,  and  gorged  with  a  ducal  coronet,  argent.  Motto — Sola  virtus  Moicta 
(Virtue  alone  is  invincible). 


64  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

Catharine  Greenberry,  the  grandmother  of  Ariana  Worthington  and  great- 
grandmother  of  Col.  Gassaway  Watkins,  was  the  daughter  of  Col.  Nicholas 
Greenberry,  the  immigrant  ancestor ;  Colonel  of  the  Colonial  forces  of  the  Pro- 
vince of  Maryland,  President  of  the  Provincial  Council,  acting  Governor  of  the 
Province,  one  of  the  judges  of  the  Provincial  Court,  "  one  of  the  seventeen  citizens 
who  signed  articles  of  impeachment  against  my  Lord  Baltimore  " 

Col.  Gassaway  Watkins  (whose  mother  was  Ariana  Worthington),  referred  to 
in  the  foregoing,  married  Eleanora  Bowie  Claggett,  daughter  of  Wiseman  Clag- 
gett  (and  Priscilla  Bowie  Lyles,  whose  two  brothers,  Zachariah  and  James,  were 
privates  in  the  Second  Regulars,  Maryland  Line,  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution). 
Claggett  Coat  of  Arms  :  Arms — Erm.  on  a  fesse  sa.  3  pheons,  or.  Crest — An 
eagle's  head  erased,  erm.  ducally  crowned.  Wiseman  Claggett  was  the  son  of 
Edward  Claggett  and  Ellen,  daughter  of  John  Bowie.  Edward  was  the  son  of 
Richard  Claggett  and  Deborah  Dorsey ;  she  was  the  daughter  of  John  Dorsey 
and  Pleasance  Ely ;  he  was  the  brother  of  Col.  Edward  Dorsey,  referred  to  in 
connection  with  the  family  of  Capt.  John  Worthington  and  Matthew  Howard. 
John  Dorsey  was  a  commissioner  of  the  Provincial  government  appointed  to  sur- 
vey and  lay  out  Annapolis,  the  new  capital. 

Richard  (2),  Edward  and  Rev.  Samuel  Claggett  were  all  sons  of  Richard 
Claggett  (1).  Richard  Claggett  (2)  was  one  of  the  committee  appointed  November 
18,  1774,  for  Charles  City,  Md.,  "  to  represent  and  act  for  said  county,  to  carry  into 
existence  the  Association  agreed  upon  by  the  American  Continental  Congress." 

Rev.  Samuel  Claggett,  third  son  of  Richard  (1),  brother  of  Richard  (2)  and 
Edward  Claggett  married,  first,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Col.  Edward  Gaunt,  of 
Calvert  County,   Md.;  second,   the  daughter  of  Dr.  Gustavus  Brown. 

Rt.  Rev  Thomas  John  Claggett,  son  of  Rev.  Samuel  Claggett,  was  consecrated 
Bishop  of  Maryland,  in  Trinity  Church,  New  York,  September  17,  1792,  by  Revs. 
Samuel  Provost,  D.D.,  Samuel  Seabury,  D.D.,  James  Madison,  D.D.,  and  William 
White,  D.D.  Bishop  Claggett  was  the  first  Bishop  consecrated  on  American  soil, 
and  the  "  first  instance  of  the  assertion  of  the  National  independence  of  the 
American  Episcopal  Church."  In  him,  too,  was  united  the  Scottish  and  English 
lines  of  succession,  and  from  him  every  American  Bishop  since  consecrated  has 
received  the  mingling  of  those  two  streams.  In  1800,  when  the  first  congress  sat 
in  the  newly  established  capital,  at  Washington,  Bishop  Claggett  was  Chaplain. 
An  altar  tomb  is  erected  over  his  grave,  on  which  is  an  eloquent  Latin  inscription 
written  by  Francis  Scott  Key,  author  of  "The  Star  Spangled  Banner." 

Richard  Claggett  (1),  the  father  of  Rev.  Samuel,  Richard  (2)  and  Edward, 
and  the  grandfather  of  Rt.  Rev.  Thomas  John  Claggett,  was  the  son  of  Capt. 
Thomas  Claggett. 

Capt.  Thomas  Claggett,  the  immigrant  ancestor,  came  to  the  Province  of 
Maryland  in  1670.  He  was  one  of  the  Committee  of  Inspection  appointed  to  collect 
money  for  the  purchase  of  arms.     He  was  the  son  of 

Col.  Edward  Claggett,  born  in  England,  1600.  He  married  in  1625,  Margaret 
Adams,  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Adams,  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  and  a  cavalier 
in  the  reign  of  Charles  I.  As  a  royalist  he  was  imprisoned  in  the  Tower  by 
Oliver  Cromwell,  and  was  afterward  knighted  by  Charles  II.  He  was  the  eldest 
brother  of  Henry  Adams,  of  Braintree,  Mass.,  the  progenitor  of  Presidents  John 
Adams  and  John  Quincy  Adams,  and   was   one  of  the  grantees   named    in   the 


SONS    OF    THE    AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  65 

charter  of  Charles  I.,  in  1629,  of  land  of  which  Braintree  formed  a  part.  Adams 
Coat  of  Arms  :  Ar»is — Argent  on  a  cross  gules,  five  mullets,  or.  Crest — Out  of 
a  ducal  coronet,  a  demi-lion.  Motto— Loyal  au  mort.  From  Sir  Thomas  Adams 
the  family  is  traced  in  an  unbroken  line  to  the  seventh  century,  through  William, 
Richard,  John,  Thomas,  Roger,  Sir  John  Ap  Adam  (2),  Sir  John  (1),  Thomas  Ap 
Adam.  Sir  John,  William,  Sir  John  Ap  Adam,  who  "  came  out  of  the  marches  of 
Wales."  The  last  mentioned  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  John  de  Gournai, 
Lord  of  Bervestan  ;  son  of  Anselm  de  Gournai,  Lord  of  Bervestan  ;  Hugh  de 
Gournai,  Lord  of  Bervestan  ;  Hugh  Baron  de  Gournai.  Lady  Editha,  daughter  of 
William  de  Warren  and  Gundred  his  wife,  married  Gerard,  Baron  de  Gournai. 
Gundred,  daughter  of  William  I.  the  Conqueror  and  Matilda  his  wife,  married 
William  de  Warren,  who  was  created  first  Earl  of  Surrey.  William  de  Warren 
was  a  lineal  descendant  of  Charles  III.,  King  of  France,  who  married  Queen 
Edgina,  daughter  of  Edward  the  elder,  King  of  England,  son  of  Alfred  the  Great. 
William  the  Conqueror,  father  of  Gundred  and  the  seventh  Duke  of  Normandy, 
married  Lady  Matilda.  Lady  Matilda,  wife  of  William  the  Conqueror,  was  the 
daughter  of  Baldwin  V.,  seventh  Count  of  Flanders,  who  married  Adela,  sister  of 
Henry  I.,  King  of  France,  and  daughter  of  Robert  II.,  the  Pious  King  of  Fiance, 
who  was  the  son  of  Hugh  Capet,  King  of  France.  Baldwin,  sixth  Count  of  Flan- 
ders ;  Arnolph  II.,  fifth  Count  of  Flanders;  Baldwin,  third  Count  of  Flanders; 
Arnolph  the  Great,  Count  of  Flanders  ;  Baldwin  II.,  Count  of  Flanders,  Boulogne 
and  St.  Pole,  founder  of  the  House  of  Blois,  King  of  Jerusalem,  died  918,  married 
Lady  Ethelwida,  daughter  of  Alfred  the  Great,  King  of  England.  Baldwin  L, 
Count  of  Flanders,  surnamed  Bras  le  Fer,  King  of  Jerusalem,  who  married  Lady 
Judith,  daughter  of  Charles  I.,  King  of  France.  Baldwin  I.  was  the  great-great- 
great-grandson  of  Charlemagne  and  the  son  of  Count  Croise  Godfrey  de  Bouillon, 
Duke  of  Lorraine,  leader  of  a  crusade,  Baron  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  defender  of  the 
Christians.  Lady  Judith,  wife  of  Baldwin  I.,  was  the  daughter  of  Charles  I.,  the 
Bold  King  of  France,  son  of  Louis  I.,  the  Pious  King  of  France,  son  of  Charle- 
magne, Emperor  of  the  West,  born  768,  died  S14,  son  of  Pepin  le  Bref,  King  of 
France,  son  of  Charles  Martel,  born  690,  died  741. 

Col.  Edward  Claggett,  mentioned  in  the  foregoing  as  having  married  Margaret 
Adams,  was  the  son  of  George  Claggett,  Mayor  of  Canterbury,  England,  in  1609, 
and  again  from  1622  to  1632.  He  was  the  son  of  Robert  Claggett  (2),  born  1530 
who  married  a  daughter  of  Sir  Robert  Gordon.  Robert  Claggett  (2)  was  the  son 
of  Robert  (1),  of  Maling,  in  the  County  of  Kent,  England,  born  about  1490. 

The  maternal  line  of  William  Watkins  Kenly  begins  with  the  marriage  of 
George  Tyson  Kenly  to  Priscilla  Agnes  Watkins,  daughter  of  Col.  Gassaway 
Watkins,  and  ending  with  the  Claggett  family.  The  issue  of  this  marriage  was 
Edward  Gassaway,  John  Reese,  Davies  Law,  George  Tyson,  Jr.  (deceased), 
Douglass  Claggett,  William  Watkins,  Albert   Clarke. 

WlLLIAtt  WATKINS  KENLY.  Mr.  Kenley  is  the  sixth  son  of  George 
Tyson  Kenly  and  Priscilla  Agnes  Watkins,  member  Baltimore  Chapter,  D.  A.  R., 
and  the  grandson  of  Gassaway  Watkins,  Captain  Maryland  Line,  Revolutionary 
War;  one  of  the  '  immortal  Maryland  400,  "  Colonel  of  the  Maryland  Troops  in 
the  War  of  181 2,  and  President  of  ihe  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  of  Maryland. 
He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  on  the  tenth  day 
of  May,  1S95,  State  number  623.  National  number  7,123.  In  August,  1895,  he 
5 


66 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 


was  appointed  by  the  society  as  one  of  the  committee  to  receive  the  delegation 
from  the  Maryland  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  at  the  unveiling  of  the  monument  in  honor 
of  the  "immortal  Maryland  400,"  erected  in  Brooklyn.  He  was  secretary  of  the 
committee  that  drafted  the  present  Constitution  and  By-Laws  of  the  Society.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Managers  and  also  chairman  of  the  Finance  Com- 
mittee. He  designed  the  proposed  standard  for  the  society,  consisting  of  thirteen 
stripes,  alternate  blue  and  white  ;  the  insignia  of  the  society  is  embroidered  in  a 
white  field,  the  American  eagle  surmounting  the  staff,  the  cords  and  tassels  being 
white  and  blue,  intertwined — the  colors  of  the  Society. 


WILLIAM    WATKINS    KENLY 


Mr.  Kenly  is  a  civil  engineer  by  profession  and  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers  on  November  7,  1889.  He  attended  the 
public  schools  of  Baltimore  city  until  lie  was  about  fifteen  years  of  age,  when  he 
was  appointed  third  assistant  in  the  Engineer  Corps  in  charge  of  the  construction 
of  the  Union  Railroad,  at  Baltimore,  now  part  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  of 
which  his  brother,  John  R.  Kenly,  was  the  engineer  in  charge.  Mr.  Kenly  followed 
his  profession  of  civil  engineering,  and  in  December,  1875,  was  appointed  by 
Joshua  Vansant,  Mayor  of  Baltimore  city,  First  Assistant  Engineer  in  charge  of 
the  construction  of  the  Lock  Raven  dam,  gate  house,  reservoir  and  First  Tunnel 
section,  Baltimore  City  Water  Works,  this  being  one  of  the  most  important 
engineering  works  i;oing  on  in  the  country  at  that  time.     He  resigned  this  position 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  6j 

in  February,  1881,  and  was  appointed  by  Robert  Garrett,  President  of  the  B.  &  O. 
Railroad,  as  Engineer  of  Maintenance  of  Way  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  divisions 
of  the  main  line  of  the  B.  &  0.  R.  R.  He  resigned  this  position  and  was  appointed 
engineer  in  charge  of  the  construction  of  the  East  River  division  of  the  Norfolk 
&  Western  Railroad.  On  completion  of  this  work  he  was  appointed  engineer  in 
charge  of  the  construction  of  the  masonry  and  iron  superstructure  of  the  bridge 
across  the  Brandywine  river,  at  Wilmington,  Del.,  for  the  B.  &  O.  R.  R.  He  was 
then  appointed  engineer  in  charge  of  the  erection  of  the  great  steel  bridge  across 
the  Susquehanna  River  at  Havre  de  Grace,  Md.  for  the  B.  &  O.  R.  R.  At  that 
time  this  was  the  most  important  bridge  ever  built  in  the  world.  He  was  then 
appointed  assistant  to  the  General  Manager  on  Construction  of  the  Atlantic  Coast 
Line  R.  R.,  resigning  to  accept  the  position  of  engineer  of  construction  of  the 
Edge  Moor  Bridge  Works,  this  company  being  one  of  the  largest  and  best  known 
bridge  companies  in  the  world.  Amongst  their  work  is  the  riveted  steel  work  for 
the  main  span  of  the  Brooklyn  Bridge. 

During  his  engineering  experience  Mr.  Kenly  spent  eight  years  in  the  rolling 
mills  and  bridge  shops,  testing  and  inspecting  the  iron  and  steel  and  the  construc- 
tion of  bridges,  erecting  the  same  in  the  field  and  having  charge  of  the  mainten- 
ance of  the  same  in  the  service  of  the  railroad  companies.  In  the  fall  of  1S92 
Mr.  Kenly  came  to  New  York,  an  entire  strager,  and  organized  the  United  States 
Mortar  Supply  Company,  of  which  he  is  the  General  Manager.  Mr.  Kenly  designed 
and  built  the  factory  for  this  company  and  also  designed  most  of  the  machinery. 
He  is  prominent  in  building  operations  in  New  York  City  and  in  matters  affecting 
the  building  trades'  interests.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Building  Trades  Club,  and 
also  a  member  of  the  Builders'  League  of  New  York,  and  one  of  its  Board  of 
Managers. 

Mr.  John  R.  Kenly,  brother  of  Mr.  William  W.  Kenly,  is  a  prominent  civil 
engineer  and  railroad  man  and  the  General  Manager  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line 
Railroad.  He  was  sent  by  the  American  Railway  Association  as  a  delegate  to 
the  International  Railway  Congress,  held  in  London,  July,  1S95,  which  was 
presided  over  by  the  Prince  of  Wales.  John  R.  Kenly  attended  the  public  schools 
of  Baltimore  city :  left  at  the  age  of  fifteen  and  joined  the  Confederate  army. 
He  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  and  served  to  the  end  of  the  war  as  a 
private,  First  Maryland  Cavalry.  He  was  the  youngest  soldier  in  the  regiment. 
He  was  in  most  of  the  principal  battles  in  the  war  and  was  in  the  charge  made 
by  his  regiment  when  it  cut  through  the  Union  army  at  Appomattox. 

Another  brother  of  W.  W.  Kenly  is  Mr.  Edward  G.  Kenly,  President  of  the 
Morton  Safety  Heating  Company.  Another  brother  is  Albert  C.  Kenly,  General 
Agent  of  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad,  Baltimore  city.  He  was  one  of  the 
charter  members  of  the  Maryland  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  and  for  a  number  of  years 
a  member  of  the  Board  of  Managers.  Another  brother,  Davies  Law  Kenly,  is  a 
member  of  the  Maryland  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  and  a  prominent  merchant,  living  at 
Hagerstown,  Md.  Another  brother,  Douglass  Claggett  Kenly,  is  General  Agent 
for  the  State  of  New  Jersey  for  the  National  Cash  Register  Co. 


68  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

THE  CONE  FAMILY. 

Daniel  Cone,  the  American  ancestor  of  this  family,  was  born  in  Edinburgh, 
Scotland,  1626,  died  October  24,  1706.  The  family  is  mentioned  in  Burke's 
General  Armory  with  the  following  description  of  the  Arms  -  Gules  a  fesse 
engrailed  between  a  cinquefoil  in  chief,  and  a  crescent  in  base  argent.  Daniel 
Cone  came  to  America  in  the  ship  "John  and  Sarah"  in  1651,  landing  in  Boston, 
afterward  going  to  Lynn,  where  he  married,  and  then  settled  in  Hartford,  Conn. 
The  facsimile  letter  shown  herewith  was  written  by  John  Winthrop,  Jr.,  Governor  of 
Connecticut,  to  Peter  Stuyvesant,  Governor  of  New  Netherlands.  It  is  printed  in 
Vol.  VIII.,  fifth  series,  page  44  (Winthrop  Papers,  Part  4),  of  Massachusetts  His- 
torical Collections,  published  by  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society.  He  was 
one  of  the  twenty-eight  proprietors  to  whom  permission  was  given  by  the  General 
Court  in  1660  to  occupy  the  plantation  known  as  Thirty  Mile  Island,  on  the  Con- 
necticut river.  The  tract  of  land  was  purchased  from  four  Indian  kings  in  1662, 
for  thirty  coats,  of  a  value  not  exceeding  $100.  About  six  years  later  this  tract 
was  given  the  name  of  Haddam.  In  1670  Daniel  Cone,  with  a  few  others, 
removed  to  the  east  side  of  the  river  and  settled  in  what  was  known  as  Creek  Row. 
He  built  a  log  hut  and  settled  on  the  farm,  which  remained  until  quite  recently  in 
the  Cone  family.  He  married  Mehitable,  daughter  of  Jared  Spencer  (born  as 
early  as  1610;  emigrated  from  England  in  1634  and  settled  at  Cambridge,  Mass.; 
removed  thence  to  Hartford,  and  was  one  of  the  twenty-eight  proprietors  who 
settled  Haddam  in  1662;  descendant  of  Robert  de  Spencer,  who  came  into  Eng- 
land with  the  Conqueror  in  1066  and,  as  his  name  implies,  was  steward  to  that 
monarch).  Their  children  were  Ruth,  Hannah,  Daniel,  Jared,  Rebecca,  Nathaniel, 
Jared  again,  Ebenezer,  Stephen  and  Caleb. 

Caleb  Cone,  youngest  son  of  Daniel  and  Mehitable  (Spencer)  Cone,  was  born 
in  Haddam  in  1680;  died  September  1,  1741.  He  married  for  his  second  wife, 
Elizabeth  Cunningham,  and  had  five  children,  of  whom  Daniel  was  the  eldest. 

Daniel  Cone,  eldest  son  of  Caleb  and  Elizabeth  (Cunningham)  Cone,  was 
born  December  22,  1725  ;  died  July  12,  1762.  He  was  a  soldier  at  Louisburg  and 
Ticonderoga.  He  married  Susannah  Hurlbut,  May  12,  1750,  and  had  issue,  six 
children,  of  whom  Daniel  H.  was  the  second  and  the  eldest  son. 

Daniel  H.  Cone,  Soldier  of  the  Revolution,  second  child  and  eldest 
son  of  Daniel  and  Susannah  (Hurlbut)  Cone,  was  born  April  6,  1753;  died  May 
16,  1842.  He  was  a  private  in  the  Fourth  Company,  Second  Regiment,  Connecti- 
cut Line,  at  Bunker  Hill.  He  was  on  guard  duty  in  New  York  during  the  retreat 
of  the  American  Army  after  the  battle  of  Long  Island.  In  1777  he  enlisted  for 
three  years  and  took  part  in  the  battles  of  Brandywine,  Monmouth,  Germantown 
and  other  engagements  and,  though  always  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  he  was 
never  wounded  and  seemed  to  carry  a  charmed  life.  At  the  battle  of  Monmouth 
he  was  assigned  to  the  artillery,  and  Capt.  Scott,  commanding  his  company,  had 
his  head  blown  off  at  the  second  fire.  Referring  to  his  gallant  conduct  at  the 
battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  Hon.  J.  Wetmore,  in  a  communication  to  the  Winsted 
Herald,  June  27,  1878,  says  : 

"  As  I  have  given  some  new  anecdotes  of  the  Revolution,  I  have  thought  that 
one  more  might  not  be  out  of  place,  as  the  hero  was  well  known  in  the  old  town. 
His  name  was  Daniel  Cone,  and  he  lies  buried  in  the  graveyard  east  of  the  old 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  69 

Winchester  Green.  He  was  the  father-in-law  of  the  late  Gen.  Leonard  Hurlbut, 
and  some  few  of  his  descendants  are  still  living  who  may  enjoy  the  recital  of  their 
old  ancestor's  bravery.  At  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolution,  Cone  was  one  of 
the  first  soldiers  in  the  '  rebel '  ranks.  His  heart  was  in  it,  and  the  roll  of  the 
drum  and  the  ear-piercing  fife  were  music  in  his  ears.  At  the  Battle  of  Bunker 
Hill  he  was  one  of  the  bravest  and  most  daring.  He  was  where  the  bullets  flew 
thickest ;  and  where  the  battle  raged  the  fiercest,  there  was  Cone  in  all  his  glory. 

'  During  that  terrible  struggle  every  man  fought  desperately,  and  the  charging 
Britons  were  several  times  driven  back  with  great  slaughter.  One  gun  had  done 
most  effective  service,  but  from  the  duration  of  the  fight  and  the  determination 
of  the  enemy,  with  their  grape  and  canister,  to  carry  the  hill,  that  gun  was 
silenced.  As  it  was  too  important  a  point  to  be  lost  and  left  unguarded,  the 
commanding  officer  rode  up  in  front  of  the  broken  regiment  to  which  Cone 
belonged,  urging  upon  them  the  necessity  of  holding  that  locality  and  using  that 
particular  gun  against  the  enemy.  Between  this  regiment  and  the  gun  there  was 
not  a  blade  of  grass  standing.  The  earth  was  completely  plowed  up  by  the 
enemy's  shot,  and  to  reach  the  desired  spot  seemed  a  piece  of  madness  ;  but  after 
showing  the  importance  and  the  danger  of  reaching  and  holding  it,  he  declared  he 
would  order  no  one  from  the  ranks,  but  asked  if  there  were  twelve  men  who 
would  volunteer. 

"  Cone  was  the  first  to  step  out  of  the  line,  when  eleven  others  quickly  followed. 
Throwing  off  their  chapeaux,  they  bound  their  temples  with  the  inevitable 
'bandana'  handkerchief  and  bounded  for  the  gun.  PI  very  man  reached  it,  when 
it  sent  again  into  the  charging  Britons  a  storm  of  iron  and  hail  that  swept  them 
from  the  field  like  the  harvest  before  the  mower.  The  Americans,  now  fatigued 
and  out  of  ammunition,  at  last  retired  from  the  hill,  a  broken  but  not  a  conquered 
host ;  but  among  all  that  left  that  bloodstained  eminence,  none  carried  a  braver 
or  more  determined  and  loyal  heart  than  the  old  soldier,  Daniel  Hurlbut  Cone." 

He  lived  long  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  peace  and  independence.  He  was  a  much 
respected  citizen  and  an  exemplary  Christian,  the  remainder  of  his  long  and  useful 
life  being  spent  in  spreading  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation  and  seeking  to  promote 
the  happiness  of  his  fellow-men.  He  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  James  and 
Rebecca  (Storrs)  Atkins,  of  Middletown,  Conn.,  August  18,  1776,  and  had  issue, 
Susannah,  Daniel,  Elizabeth,  Samuel,  Hurlbut,  Warren,  Sullivan  and  Silas. 

Silas  Cone,  youngest  child  of  Daniel  H.  and  Elizabeth  (Atkins)  Cone,  was 
born  in  Winchester,  Conn.,  June  27,  1795.  He  was  a  manufacturer  of  scythes,  as 
were  his  brothers  Warren  and  Samuel,  first  at  Norfolk  and  then  at  West  Granby. 
He  died  at  West  Granby,  Conn.,  September  6,  1866.  He  married  Sarah,  daughter 
of  Ezekiel  Hayes,  whose  wife  was  Polly  Cossitt,  daughter  of  Timothy,  son  of 
Rene  Cossitt,  a  Frenchman,  who  settled  in  Granby,  Conn.,  in  1717,  born  in  France 
about  1690,  in  the  Place  Vendome,  and  educated  at  the  University  of  Paris.  He 
married,  in  New  Haven,  Conn.,  Ruth  Porter.  The  children  of  Silas  and  Sarah 
(Hayes)  Cone  were,  Sarah,  born  1820;  Caroline,  born  September  16,  1821  ;  Silas 
M.,  born  February  29,  1824;  Hamilton  Hurlbut,  born  November  16,  1825; 
Hamilton  Hurlbut,  born  December  10,  1826;  Hurlbut,  born  February  20,  1830; 
Ellen  M.,  born  May  3,  1831  ;  Jane  Elizabeth,  born  February  7,  1833;  Edward 
Payson,  born  March  4,  1835;  Jane  Elizabeth,  born  February  17,  1837,  married 
Rev.  M.  E.  Wright. 


70 


SONS    OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 


EDWARD  PAYSON  CONE,  youngest  son  of  Silas  and  Sarah  (Hayes)  Cone, 
was  born  in  West  Granby,  Conn.,  March  4,  1835.  He  was  educated  at  the  Har- 
winton  Academy,  Litchfield  County,  Conn.,  and  afterwards  entered  the  employ  of 
George  E.  and  William  H.  Goodspeed,  at  Goodspeed's  Landing,  on  the  Connecti- 
cut River,  in  the  town  of  East  Haddam.  This,  at  the  time,  was  one  of  the  largest 
and  most  enterprising  business  firms  on  the  River.  Mr.  Cone  came  to  New  York 
in  1856,  and  the  following  year  he  went  into  business  with  his  brother  in  Tennes- 
see, where  he  laid  the  foundation  of  the  business  training  which  subsequently  won 
for  him  his  prominent  connection  with  metropolitan  interests.  At  the  outbreak  of 
the  Civil  War,  although  a  resident  of  Tennessee,  he  was  open  and  fearless  in 


EUWAKD    PAYSON   CONE. 


expressing  his  Union  sentiments,  and  cast  the  only  vote  in  the  precinct  in  which 
he  lived  against  the  Ordinance  of  Secession,  in  June,  1861.  He  was  watched 
closely  by  the  local  vigilance  committee,  but  made  his  escape,  reaching  Louisville, 
Ky.,  where  he  remained  until  the  fall  of  Fort  Donelson. 

Returning  with  Andrew  Johnson,  who  had  been  appointed  Military  Governor, 
Mr.  Cone  became  assistant  postmaster  at  Nashville.  He  was  secretary  of  the  two 
reconstruction  conventions  called  to  reorganize  the  State,  and  rendered  effective 
service  in  many  other  civil  offices  and  in  raising  a  military  company  at  the  time  of 
Bragg's   invasion  of  Kentucky,  when    Forrest's  cavalry   was   almost  in    sight  of 


SONS    OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  J I 

Nashville  and  communication  was  entirely  cut  off  from  Louisville.  Governor 
Johnson  lived  with  Mr.  Cone  for  nearly  two  years,  and  after  the  reorganization  of 
the  State  the  latter  was  made  secretary  of  the  Senate.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Direct  Tax  Commission  for  the  State  of  Tennessee,  continuing  until  the  expira- 
tion of  the  Tax  Law.  He  returned  East  in  1867  and  settled  in  New  York,  and 
was  appointed  to  a  responsible  position  in  the  Custom  House.  At  the  request  of 
Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  in  1869,  he  became  connected  with  the  Christian 
Union,  and  later  was  one  of  the  owners  of  the  Christian  at  Work.  Since  1890 
he  has  occupied  the  responsible  position  of  advertising  manager  of  the  New  York 
Ledger,  to  the  success  of  which  his  good  judgment  has  largely  contributed.  Mr. 
Cone  is  Vice-Commander  of  the  John  A.  Dix  Post,  G.  A.  R.,  member  of  the  New 
England  Society,  Councilor-General  of  the  Order  of  Founders  and  Patriots  of 
America,  a  member  of  the  Union  League  Club,  of  the  Lotos,  Press,  Patria,  West 
Side  Republican  and  Twilight  Clubs,  and  of  the  New  York  Genealogical  and  Bio- 
graphical Society. 

Mr.  Cone  is  one  of  the  most  zealous  and  indefatigable  workers  in  the  Empire 
State  Society,  S.  A.  R.  The  September,  1896,  number  of  T/ie  Spirit  of  'j6, 
referring  to  Mr.  Cone's  work  in  behalf  of  this  society,  says  :  "  One  of  the  most 
important  enterprises  of  the  society  and  one  of  the  most  valuable,  lasting  and  far- 
reaching  in  its  results,  has  given  an  enviable  prominence  to  its  author,  Mr.  Edward 
Payson  Cone."  The  work  referred  to  was  the  presentation  to  each  of  the  240 
departments  of  the  public  schools  of  New  York  City,  of  a  large  photogravure  of 
Stuarts'  Athenaeum  portrait  of  Washington,  massively  framed,  and  bearing  the 
seal  and  presentation  plate  of  the  society.  The  undertaking  ramified  widely  and 
stimulated  individuals  and  committees  in  other  cities  and  States  to  take  up  the 
idea,  with  the  result  that  the  face  of  the  Father  of  His  Country  now  looks  benignly 
down  from  the  walls  of  hundreds  of  public  institutions  to  which  he  was  a  stranger 
before.  Mr.  Cone  has  also  rendered  the  society  valuable  services  on  other  com- 
mittees, and  is  conspicuously  identified  with  the  patriotic,  religious  and  educational 
work  of  the  metropolis  outside  of  this  organization.  He  was  one  of  the  earliest 
members  of  the  society,  his  number  being  53.  His  latest  distinction  was  that  of 
chairman  of  the  citizens'  committee,  selected  by  the  American  Institute  of  Civics 
for  the  commemoration  of  the  centenary  of  Washington's  farewell  address  to  the 
American  people.  Mr.  Cone's  patriotism  is  equalled  only  by  his  zeal  in  religious 
work.  His  uniform  urbanity,  proceeding  from  a  naturally  kind  heart,  and  his 
sincerity,  energy  and  efficiency  in  everything  that  he  undertakes,  have  won  for  him 
hosts  of  friends. 

Mr.  Cone  married  Anna  Maud  Roche,  of  Massachusetts,  a  descendant  of  the 
family  of  de  la  Rochejaquelin,  of  La  Vendee,  France.  She  heartily  shares  with 
her  husband  and  sons  their  patriotic  interests.  Their  four  sons,  Andrew,  William 
Cossitt,  Edward  Silas  and  Frederick  Hayes,  are  all  "  worthy  sons  of  an  honored 
sire,"  and  are  equally  enthusiastic  in  patriotic  works,  and  members  of  the  Empire 
State  Society,  S.  A.  R.  Two  sons,  Lewis  Tappan  and  Van  Ceulin  White, 
deceased  in  early  childhood. 


72  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

JAMES   LAWRENCE   McKEEVER. 

James  Lawrence  McKeever,  of  the  Board  of  Managers,  1897,  son  of 
Commodore  Isaac  McKeever,  and  great-grandson  of  Capt.  Thomas  Thomson. 
The  name  McKeever,  or  Mclver  as  it  was  originally  spelled,  is  one  of  the  oldest 
Scotch  surnames  on  record,  "the  name  having  now  changed,"  says  Burke,  "  to 
Mclver  Campbell."  Burke  gives  the  following  ("  Ashnish  Cave,  ancient ")  Arms 
— Quarterly,  first,  gyronny  of  eight  or  and  sable;  second,  argent  a  dexter  hand 
couped,  fesseways,  grasping  a  dagger,  in  pale,  gules  ;  third,  argent  a  galley,  her 
sails  furled  and  oars  in  action,  sable  ;  fourth,  per  cross  or  and  gules  a  bend  sable. 
Motto— Nunquam  oblivscar. 

Capt.  James  McKeever,  the  first  of   the   name   in    America,  came  to  this 


COMMODORE    ISAAC   MCKEEVER. 

country  before  the  Revolution  and  settled  in  Philadelphia.  The  records  of  that  city 
contain  very  little  regarding  his  early  life.  It  is  known  that  he  was  very  much 
interested  in  the  development  of  steam  navigation,  and  conceived  the  idea  of 
employing  steam  tugs  in  towing  vessels  up  the  Mississippi  to  New  Orleans,  and 
being  a  man  of  means,  transported  across  the  Allegheny  and  down  the  Ohio  on  a 
raft,  the  machinery  for  that  purpose,  taking  his  son,  afterwards  Commodore 
McKeever,  with  him.  The  venture  proved  unsuccessful  owing  to  the  condition  of 
the  river  and  the  limited  power  obtainable  at  that  early  stage  of  discovery,  but  on 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  73 

being  ridiculed  for  the  attempt,  he  remarked,  to  the  amusement  of  his  hearers, 
"  that  it  was  only  a  question  of  a  short  time  when  the  ocean  would  be  navigated, 
by  steam."  He  died  of  yellow  fever  at  New  Orleans,  La.,  about  1805,  when  on 
the  point  of  completing  other  schemes  in  the  furtherance  of  his  favorite  project. 

COMMODORE  ISAAC  McKEEVER,  son  of  Capt.  James  and  Mary  (Ed- 
wards) McKeever,  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  April,  1793;  died  in  Norfolk,  Va., 
April  1,  1856.  He  entered  the  U.  S.  navy  as  midshipman,  in  1809;  was  made 
lieutenant  in  18 14,  and  commanded  one  of  a  flotilla  of  gunboats  under  Lieut. 
Thomas  ap  Catesby  Jones,  that  was  captured  by  a  British  expedition  on  Lake 
Borgne,  La.,  in  December,  1814.  The  gunboats  mounted  collectively  23  guns 
and  were  manned  by  1S2  men.  The  British  expedition  consisted  of  forty-two 
large  barges  and  other  boats  manned  by  more  than  1,000  seamen  and  marines. 
The  engagement,  which  was  very  severe,  lasted  three  hours,  and  200  of  the 
British  were  killed  and  wounded.  Lieut.  McKeever's  vessel  was  the  last  one  to 
be  attacked  and  he  was  severely  wounded,  together  with  most  of  his  officers, 
before  he  surrendered.  He  was  commissioned  Commander  in  1830,  and  Captain 
in  183S.  In  1S46  he  took  command  of  the  navy  yard  at  New  York,  with  the  rank 
of  Commodore,  and  in  1851  assumed  command  of  the  Brazil  Squadron,  with  the 
U.  S.  frigate  "Congress"  as  his  flagship.  In  1855  he  had  charge  of  the  navy 
yard  at  Norfolk,  Va.,  when  a  pestilence  broke  out  in  that  city  and  the  adjoining 
towns,  which  terrified  the  people  of  the  whole  southern  country.  Commodore 
McKeever  was  authorized  by  the  navy  department  to  suspend  operations  in  the 
yard  for  a  time  should  he  see  fit,  but  he  decided  to  remain  in  order  that  work 
might  be  given  to  those  who  depended  upon  it  for  support  of  their  families.  His 
reply  to  the  department  was,  "  The  post  of  clanger  is  the  post  of  honor."  His 
death  was  attributed  directly  to  his  overtasked  energies  during  this  terrible  period. 
He  married  Mary  Flower  Gamble,  daughter  of  Lieut.  Joseph  Gamble  and  Mary 
Thomson,  daughter  of  Capt.  Thomas  Thomson. 

Capt.  Thomas  Thomson,  Soldier  of  the  Revolution,  was  born  in 
Scotland  and  came  to  this  country  before  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  and  settled 
in  Philadelphia.  He  was  an  ardent  patriot  and  was  among  the  first  to  enlist  in 
defense  of  his  adopted  country.  His  name  is  first  mentioned  as  a  private  in  Col. 
Nicol's  City  Guards,  in  which  he  was  commissioned  second  lieutenant,  Eighth 
Company,  Second  Battalion,  commanded  by  Col.  Robert  Knox  ;  later  he  was 
made  lieutenant  in  Capt.  Christian  Grove's  company,  same  battalion,  and  was 
subsequently  commissioned  captain.  He  was  a  brave  and  accomplished  officer 
and  won  high  honors  for  his  gallantry  on  the  battlefield.  He  served  with  the 
Pennsylvania  troops  at  the  battle  of  Yorktown  and  was  present  at  the  surrender 
of  Cornwallis.  On  his  return  to  Philadelphia  he  was  presented  by  his  admirers 
with  an  elegant  sword  and  mountings,  which  remained  in  the  possession  of  his 
family  for  many  years,  until  the  destruction  of  the  family  residence  by  fire,  which 
also  destroyed  many  valuable  papers  and  interesting  relics.  A  simple  marble 
stone  marks  the  spot  where  lie  the  remains  of  Capt.  Thomson,  in  Christ  Church 
burying  ground,  in  Philadelphia.  He  married  Mary  Jane  Hale,  of  Philadelphia. 
Issue,  one  daughter,  Mary,  who  married  Lieut.  Joseph  Gamble. 

The  children  of  Commodore  Isaac  McKeever  and  Mary  Flower  Gamble  were  : 
Isaac  Chauncey,  James  Lawrence  and  Marion  (married  William  Spaden),  and 
Caroline  (married  L.  Rosenplaenter,  of  Riga,  Russia). 


74 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 


Isaac  Chauncey  McKeever,  eldest  child  of  Commodore  Isaac  and  Mary 
Flower  (Gamble)  McKeever,  was  born  in  Baltimore,  Md.,  August  31,  1829.  He 
was  graduated  at  the  U.  S.  Military  Academy,  West  Point,  in  1849,  and  assigned 
to  the  artillery.  He  was  promoted  to  first  lieutenant  December  24,  1853,  and 
captain  of  staff  and  Assistant  Adjutant-General,  August  3,  1861.  During  the 
Civil  War  he  took  part  in  the  battles  of  Bull  Run  and  other  engagements.  After 
being  promoted  staff-major  and  lieutenant-colonel,  he  was  brevetted  colonel  and 
Brigadier-General  March  13,  1865,  for  "faithful  and  meritorious  services  during 
the  war."  On  the  ninth  of  March,  1875,  he  was  commissioned  lieutenant-colonel 
and  Assistant  Adjutant-General.  He  was  subsequently  commissioned  colonel 
and  Assistant  Adjutant-General,  and  retired  August  31,  1893,  by  operation  of  law. 


JAMES    LAWRENCE    MCKEEVER. 


JANES  LAWRENCE  McKEEVER,  of  the  Board  of  Managers,  Em- 
pire State  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  youngest  son  of  Commodore  Isaac  and  Mary 
Flower  (Gamble)  McKeever,  was  born  in  Baltimore,  Md.,  October  4,  1831.  He 
received  a  thorough  education  in  his  native  city.  His  brother  and  most  of  his 
ancestors  for  generations  back  were  fighting  men,  but  his  inclinations  led  him  to 
adopt  a  business  career.  His  first  experience  was  as  a  clerk  in  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
Brazil,  where  he  spent  four  years,  and  came  to  New  York  about  1855  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  his  Rio  de  Janeiro  friends.  For  some  years  past  he  has  been  the  New 
York  agent  for  the  London  &  Brazilian  Bank,  one  of  the  leading  banking  institu- 
tions of  Brazil.  He  is  a  man  of  high  standing  and  irreproachable  integrity.  Mr. 
McKeever  appreciates  the  importance  of  preserving  the  family  records  containing 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  75 

the  account  of  the  personal  achievements  of  his  ancestors,  but  unfortunately, 
through  no  fault  of  his,  much  family  data  of  interest  and  importance  has  been 
lost;  but  his  connection  with  the  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution 
has  enabled  him  to  preserve  what  little  there  is  remaining,  so  that  his  posterity 
may  receive  the  benefit  of  it.  Mr.  McKeever  is  an  active  and  enthusiastic  member 
of  the  society,  and  the  great  interest  he  has  manifested  in  furthering  its  objects 
led  to  his  appointment  as  one  of  the  Board  of  Managers.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Union  Club,  the  Down  Town  Association,  of  which  he  has  been  treasurer  for 
twenty  years. 

Mr.  McKeever  married,  in  1863,  Mary  Augusta,  daughter  of  Robert  C. 
Towsend  and  Mary  Augusta  Whittemore,  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Jane  (Tilleston) 
Whittemore,  son  of  Thomas  and  Ann  (Cutler)  Whittemore.  Samuel  was  the 
brother  and  partner  of  Amos,  the  great  inventor  of  the  carding  machine  for  card- 
ing cotton  and  wool,  pronounced  by  Judge  Story  a  "  wonderful  invention."  A 
member  of  Congress  was  willing  to  vote  for  a  perpetual  patent,  saying  "  it  was 
the  only  machine  ever  invented  that  had  a  soul."  It  revolutionized  the  manufac- 
ture of  cotton  and  wool  in  this  country.  Thomas,  the  father  of  Amos,  and 
Samuel  were  the  sons  of  Samuel  (3). 

Samuel  Whittemore  (3),  Soldier  of  the  Revolution,  was  the  son  of 
Samuel  (1),  son  of  Thomas,  the  ancestor,  and  was  born  July  27,  1696.  He  was 
an  ardent  patriot  and  served  on  various  important  committees  at  Cambridge 
during  the  Revolution,  and  rendered  valuable  service.  At  the  age  of  80  he  fired 
upon  the  British  on  their  retreat  from  Lexington,  killing  two  soldiers.  He  was 
struck  in  the  face  by  a  bullet,  which  shot  away  a  part  of  his  cheek  bone.  He  was 
mangled  by  the  bayonets  of  the  British  soldiers  and  left  for  dead.  He  recovered 
in  about  four  hours  and  survived  sixteen  years,  long  enough  to  witness  the  freedom 
of  his  country  from  British  rule.  He  married,  first,  Elizabeth  Spring,  and  second, 
Esther  Prentice,  and  had  ten  children.  He  was  the  grandson  of  Thomas  Whitte- 
more, the  ancestor,  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Charlestown,  Mass.,  and  a 
descendant  of  the  Whittemores  of  England,  of  whom  it  is  said  :  "  Earlier  than 
the  year  1300  we  find  the  first  recorded  name,  z.  <?.,  John,  Lord  of  Whytemere, 
having  his  domicile  at  Whytemere,  on  the  northeast  side  of  the  parish  of  Bobbing- 
ton,  in  the  manor  of  Claverly,  county  of  Salop,  England." 

The  issue  of  Mr.  McKeever's  marriage  with  Mary  A.  Townsend,  was  Robert 
Townsend. 

Robert  Townsend  McKeever,  member  of  the  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the 
American  Revolution,  son  of  James  Lawrence  and  Mary  Augusta  (Townsend) 
McKeever,  was  born  in  New  York  City,  July  20,  1866.  He  resides  in  Gloversville, 
N.  Y.     He  married  Frances,  daughter  of  Robert  Webb,  and  has  two  children. 


MARBLE-  PUTNAM-  ALM  Y. 

William  Allen  Marble,  of  the  Board  of  Managers,  Empire  State  Society, 
S.  A.  R.,  is  a  descendant  from  revolutionary  ancestors  through  two  well  known 
families  —the  Marbles  and  Putnams. 

Samuel  Harble,  whose  name  appears  on  the  records  of  Rhode  Island  as 
early  as  1648,  is  the  first  of  this  name  found  in  the  annals  of  New  England.     In 


y6  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

167S  his  name  appears  in  a  list  of  115  persons,  being  all  the  male  inhabitants  of 
Andover,  Mass.,  of  sixteen  and  older,  who  had  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance.  He 
married  Rebecca  Andrews  and  had  issue,  Freegracc,  born  June  15,  1682. 

Freegrace  Jlarble,  eldest  child  of  Samuel  and  Rebecca  (Andrews)  Marble, 
was  born  in  Andover,  Mass.,  June  15,  1682;  died  April  21,  1779.  His  was  said 
to  be  the  first  marriage  in  the  town  of  Sutton.  His  wife  was  Mary  Sibley.  They 
had  issue,  Enoch  and  other  children. 

Enoch  Marble,  son  of  Freegrace  and  Mary  (Sibley)  Marble,  was  born  in 
Sutton,  Mass.,  Nov.  25,  1726;  died  there  January  12,  181  5.  He  married,  January 
9,  1750,  Abigail  Holland,  and  had  issue,  Aaron. 

Aaron  Marble,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  fifth  child  of  Enoch  and 
Abigail  (Holland)  Marble,  was  born  in  Sutton,  Mass.,  September  13,  1763;  died 
in  Charlton,  Mass.,  July  9,  1843.  Although  but  a  lad  of  thirteen  at  the  breaking 
out  of  the  war,  he  was  an  ardent  patriot,  too  young  to  command  yet  old  enough 
to  fight  and  endure  hardship  without  complaint.  He  enlisted  three  times  during 
the  war  and  was  in  a  number  of  engagements.  When  his  term  of  service  had 
expired  he  was  stationed  at  West  Point,  on  the  Hudson.  He  walked  from  ihere 
barefooted  to  his  home  in  Massachusetts.  His  first  enlistment  was  a  noble  act, 
he  having  taken  the  place  of  an  elder  brother  in  limited  circumstances,  with  a 
large  family  dependent  on  him  for  support.  On  the  official  records,  Secretary  of 
State's  office,  Massachusetts,  he  *'  Appears  with  rank  of  Private  on  Muster  and 
Pay  Roll  of  Capt.  Benjamin  Allerton's  Co.,  Col.  John  Rand's  Regt.  Enlisted  July 
9,  1780.  Discharged  Oct.  10,  1780.  Time  of  service,  3  mos.,  12  days.  Raised 
for  3  mos.  at  West  Point  by  Resolve  of  June  22,  1780." 

"  Appears  with  rank  of  Private  on  Muster  and  Pay  Roll  of  Capt.  Reuben 
Davis'  Co.,  Col.  Luke  Drury's  Regt.  Enlisted  July  17,  1781.  Discharged  Nov.  1, 
1781.  Service,  3  mos.,  21  days.  Residence,  Sutton.  Reported.  Arrived  at 
West  Point  Aug.  1.     3  mos.  Levies  raised  by  Resolve  of  June  30,  17S1." 

He  married  Rebecca  Putnam,  daughter  of  Capt.  John  Putnam,  son  of  Jeptha, 
of  Eleazer,  of  Capt.  John,  son  of  John,  the  ancestor. 

John  Putnam,  the  New  England  ancestor  of  the  Putnam  family,  was  born 
at  Aston  Abbotts,  County  Bucks,  England,  about  1580;  emigrated  from  there 
with  his  three  sons  and  settled  in  Salem  Village,  now  Danvers,  Mass.,  about  1634. 
He  received  a  grant  of  100  acres  of  land  from  Salem  authorities  and  afterwards 
purchased  a  large  tract  himself.     He  was  the  great-grandfather  of  Generals  Israel 

and   Rufus   Putnam,   of  the   Revolution.     He   married   Priscilla  (perhaps 

Priscilla  Gould),  and  had  issue,  Elizabeth,  Thomas,  John,  Nathaniel,  Sara,  Phoebe, 
John. 

Capt.  John  Putnam,  son  of  John   (1)   and   Priscilla  ( )  Putnam,  was 

born  at  Aston  Abbotts,  England,  May  27,  1627;  died  at  Salem  Village,  April  7, 
1710.  He  was  made  a  freeman  in  1665.  He  was  constantly  to  the  fore  in  all 
matters  relating  to  town  and  church  government.  He  signed  a  petition  to  be 
allowed  a  minister  at  the  "  Farms."  He  was  specially  prominent  in  military  affairs. 
He  was  corporal  in  1672;  commissioned  lieutenant  of  the  troop  of  horse  at  the 
Village,  October  7,  1678.  After  1687  he  is  styled  captain.  In  1706,  "  Capt.  John 
Putnam,  in  company  with  Capt.  Jonathan  (his  son),  was  empowered  to  settle  town 
bounds."  He  served  in  the  Narragansett  fight  and  retained  his  military  manners 
through  life.     He  was  a   deputy  to  the  General  Court,  in  May,    1679,  and  the 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 


77 


regular  times,  1680,  1686,  1691-2.  In  the  diary  of  Capt.  Joseph  Green  appears 
the  following :  "  April  7,  (1710),  Captain  Putnam  buried  by  ye  soldiers."  He 
married  Rebecca  Prince,  stepdaughter  of  John  Gedney  and  supposed  sister  of 
Richard  Prince.  They  had  issue,  Rebecca,  Sarah,  Priscilla,  Jonathan,  James, 
Hannah,  Eleazer,  born   1665,  John,  Susanna,  Ruth. 

Eleazer  Putnam,  son  of  Capt.  John  and  Rebecca  (Prince)  Putnam,  was  born 
in  Salem  Valley,  in  1665.  He  settled  on  a  farm  near  what  was  afterward  the 
Gen.  Israel  Putnam  place.  In  1690  he  was  one  of  Capt.  William  Raymond's 
company,  enlisted  for  the  Canada  expedition.  He  married,  first,  Hannah,  daughter 
of  Daniel  and  Hannah  (Hutchinson)  Boardman,  and  had  son,  Jeptha.  His  seven 
sons  fought  in  the  Revolution. 

Jeptha  Putnam,  son  of  Eleazer  and  Hannah  (Boardman)  Putnam,  was  born 
in  Salem  Village,  August  24,  1699.  He  removed  to  Sutton  as  early  as  1725.  He 
died  in  Sutton,  April  23,  1772.  He  married  Ruth  Ray,  and  had  issue,  John,  born 
July  27,  1738. 

Capt.  John  Putnam,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Jeptha  and 
Ruth  (Ray)  Putnam,  was  born  in  Sutton,  Mass.,  July  27,  1738.  He  commanded  a 
company  in  Col.  Ebenezer  Larned's  regiment,  and  marched  with  it  on  the  "  Lex- 
ington Alarm,"  April  19,  1775.  His  name  appears  among  a  "List  of  Officers  of 
the  Mass.  Militia,  chosen  by  field  officers,  Sutton,  Mass.,  March  20,  1776,  as  cap- 
tain in  First  Sutton  Company,  Fifth  Worcester  County  Regiment,  commissioned 
April  4,  1776.  Appears  with  rank  of  captain  on  muster  and  pay  roll  of  Capt. 
John  Putnam's  company,  Col.  Wade's  Regiment;  enlisted  June  20,  1778;  time  of 
service,  26  days;  company  marched  from  Worcester  County,  June  20,  to  join  Gen. 
Sullivan  at  Providence,  by  order  of  General  Court,  for  21  days;  roll  dated  Sutton. 
Appears  among  a  list  of  officers  of  the  Mass.  Militia,  appointed  to  command  men 
drafted  from  Col.  Jonathan  Holman's  regiment,  as  captain  in  Capt.  John  Putnam's 
company;  residence,  Sutton;  company  to  join  Col.  Josiah  Whitney's  or  Col 
Nathan  Sparhawk's  regiment.  List  of  men  enlisted  or  drafted  from  Worcester 
County  Brigade,  as  returned  to  Maj.-Gen.  Warren  (year  not  given)." — [Official 
Records,  Secretary  of  State's  office,  Massachusetts.] 

Capt.  Putnam  married,  April  9,  1761,  Mary,  daughter  of  Jacob  and  Mary 
(Marble)  Cummings,  and  had  issue,  Rebecca,  born  September  13,  1763,  married 
Aaron  Marble  (see  Record). 

Russel  Marble,  son  of  Aaron  and  Rebecca  (Putnam)  Marble,  was  born  in 
Charlton,  Worcester  County,  Mass.,  September  21,  1806;  died  at  Woonsocket, 
R.  I.,  1875.  He  was  largely  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  scythes  at  Charlton 
and  other  places  in  New  England.  He  was  a  man  of  uprightness  and  honesty, 
and  while  liberal  toward  those  who  differed  with  him,  he  was  strong  in  his  religious 
convictions.  He  married,  October  21,  181 5,  Phebe  Almy,  daughter  of  Christopher 
Almy,  of  Portsmouth,  R.  I.,  son  of  Holden,  of  Job  (3),  of  Job  (2),  of  Job  (1),  son 
of  William  Almy,  the  ancestor,  born  in  England,  161 1,  came  to  America,  1631, 
and  settled  first  in  Massachusetts  and  later  in  Rhode  Island. 

WILLIAM  ALLEN  JIARBLE,  of  the  Board  of  Managers,  Empire 
State  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  son  of  Russel  and  Phebe  (Almy)  Marble,  was  born  in 
Woonsocket,  R.  I.,  in  1849.  He  is  vice-president  and  general  manager  of  the 
R.  &  G.  Corset  Company.  Mr.  Marble  was  made  a  member  of  the  Empire  State 
Society,  S.  A.  R.,  in   1S95,  and  the  following  year  was  elected  a  member  of  the 


78  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

Board  of  Managers.  He  has  proved  a  valuable  acquisition  to  the  Board,  being  a 
man  of  fine  executive  ability  and  good  judgment,  and  in  the  management  of  the 
society's  affairs  his  own  ideas  are  in  perfect  harmony  with  those  of  his  associates 
and  compatriots.  He  is  equally  zealous  in  promoting  the  work  of  the  society  of 
The  Founders  and  Patriots  of  America,  the  membership  qualifications  of  which 
require  not  only  an  unblemished  record  for  loyalty  and  patriotism  in  our  ancestors, 
but  that  they  or  their  ancestors  should  have  assisted  in  laying  the  foundations  of 
our  government.  Both  on  the  paternal  and  maternal  sides  Mr.  Marble's  record  is 
exceptionally  good.  Mr.  Marble  is  connected  with  other  societies  and  organiza- 
tions that  claim  a  portion  of  his  time  and  interest,  notably  Zion  Lodge,  F.  &  A.  M., 
of  Troy,  the  New  England  Society,  of  New  York,  the  Harlem  Club,  etc.  In 
politics  he  is  a  Republican  and  is  a  member  of  the  New  York  County  Republican 
Committee.  He  married  Catharine  Alice  Cain,  and  had  issue,  Russel,  born  Feb. 
4,  1876,  deceased  ;  William  Edward,  born  August  20,  1877,  and  James  McNab, 
born  August  16,  1882. 


GARDENGIBBESDeSAUSSURERICHARDSON. 

The  ancestry  of  Hugh  Richardson  Garden,  of  the  Board  of  Managers,  S.  A. 
R.,  1895,  includes  some  of  the  most  distinguished  men  in  the  old  State  of  South 
Carolina.  His  direct  line  on  the  paternal  side  is  through  the  Gibbes  and 
De  Saussure  families,  the  change  of  name  having  occurred  in  the  following 
manner:  Major  Alexander  Garden,  of  South  Carolina,  an  officer  in  Lee's  Legion, 
who  was  also  aide-de-camp  to  Gen.  Greene  in  the  Revolution,  married  Mary  Ann 
Gibbes,  a  sister  of  Wilmot  S.  Gibbes,  whose  son,  Alester  Garden  Gibbes,  was  the 
father  of  Hugh  R.  Garden.  At  the  request  of  Major  Alexander  Garden,  who  had 
no  surviving  children,  he  had  his  name  changed  by  act  of  the  legislature  to 
Garden,  his  full  name  then  being  Alester  Gibbes  Garden.  On  the  maternal  side 
his  direct  line-is  through  the  Richardson  and  Buford  families.  The  allied  Garden 
families  include  the  Elliotts,  Barnwells,  Frasers,  Allstons  and  others.  The  Gibbes 
family,  a  very  ancient  one  which  came  from  Normandy  to  England  with  the 
Conqueror,  settled  in  Kent  during  the  eleventh  century.  Several  distinguished 
men  of  the  name  are  mentioned  in  English  history.  William  Gibbes  was  physi- 
cian to  Queen  Henrietta  Maria;  James  Albion  Gibbes  was  a  lecturer  at  Rome  to 
Pope  Alexander  VII.;  Mary  Gibbes,  daughter  of  Sir  Henry  Gibbes,  of  Devon, 
married  Sir  Walter  Raleigh.  The  Gibbes  family  of  South  Carolina  are  direct 
descendants  of  Jenking  Gibbes,  of  Canbe,  in  the  parish  of  Falkestone,  county  of 
Kent,  who  married  Anne,  daughter  of  Eden,  and  left  sons  Thomas  and  John. 

Thomas  Gibbes  married  Alice  Trenwell  and  had  issue,  John,  who  married 
Margaret,  daughter  of  Richard  Champneys,  King  at  Arms,  who  died  in  1526; 
left  issue,   William  and  Thomas. 

William  Qibbes,  owner  of  Elmstone    Manor,  married  Jane,  heiress  of  

Gason,  died  1  599,  and  left  issue,  three  children,  of  whom  Stephen  was  the  youngest. 

Stephen  Gibbes,  of  Edmonston  Court,  in  Kent,  third  son  of  William  and 
Jane  Gibbes,  married  Jane,  daughter  of  Thomas  Forney,  and  had  Robert  and 
other  children. 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  79 

Robert  Gibbes,  second  son  of  Stephen  and  Jane,  was  born  in  Elmslone, 
Kent,  England,  November  27,  1594.  He  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Thomas 
Coventry.  He  was  sent  as  member  of  the  Council  Board  to  the  Barbadoes,  by 
the  government  of  Great  Britain,  about  1640.  This  family  have  Arms—  Argent, 
three  battle  axes  sable.  Crest — An  arm  embowed,  steel,  in  armor  garnished,  or, 
the  hand  in  a  steel  gauntlet,  grasping  a  battle  ax,  as  in  the  Arms.  Motto — Tenax 
proposite  (Hold  fast  to  your  purpose)  ;  or,  as  some  branches  have  it,  Vincit  amor 
patria  (Love  of  country  conquers).  Robert  and  Mary  (Coventry)  Gibbes  had 
issue,  Robert. 

Robert  Gibbes,  son  of  Robert  and  Mary  (Coventry)  Gibbes,  was  born  at 
Sandarich,  in  St.  Peter's  Parish,  Barbadoes,  January  9,  1644;  died  in  South 
Carolina,  June  24,  171  5.  He  was  the  Colonial  Governor  or  Landgrave  and  subse- 
quently Chief  Justice  of  South  Carolina.  John  Gibbes,  son  of  the  Landgrave, 
married  Mary  Woodward,  and  resided  in  St.  James'  Parish.  His  son,  Robert 
Gibbes,  married  Sarah  Reeves,  a  lady  of  great  beauty  and  accomplishments. 
They  had  issue  eight  children,  of  whom  Wilmot  S.  was  the  youngest.  Robert, 
of  James  Island,  near  Charleston,  was  a  member  of  the  Provincial  Congress  of 
South  Carolina,  but  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  was  too  infirm  to  enter  the 
army.     His  plantation  was  seized  and  house  burned  by  the  British  in  1781. 

Wilmot  S.  Gibbes,  youngest  son  of  Robert  and  Sarah  (Reeves)  Gibbes, 
was  born  in  1781.  He  was  educated  in  England  ;  married  Anna  Frances  de  Saus- 
sure,  daughter  of  Chancellor  Henry  William  de  Saussure,  in  1804,  and  had  issue, 
three  daughters  and  four  sons.  He  was  a  wealthy  planter  of  the  Edisto  and  died 
at  his  summer  home,  "  Oakley,"  in  the  county  of  Chester,  South  Carolina,  in  1852. 
His  son,  Alester  Garden  Gibbes,  whose  name  was  changed  to  Alester  Gibbes 
Garden,  as  before  stated,  was  the  father  of  Hugh  Richardson  Garden. 

Henri  de  Saussure,  of  Lausanne,  the  progenitor  of  the  South  Carolina  family 
of  this  name,  was  descended  from  an  ancient  Huguenot  family  of  Lorraine, 
France.  He  emigrated  to  South  Carolina  about  the  year  1700.  The  Popli- 
ment  le  France  Heraldique  refers  as  follows  to  the  Saussure  Arms  and  to  the  family  : 

Saussue.    Lorraine.     Suisse — Bande  contre-bande  d  'or  et  de  sable. 

Les  representants  de  cette  famile  sont  nombreux  a.  Geneve  a  Lausanne,  dans 
la  Caroline  du  Sud.  Le  nom  etait  primitivement  Mongin  de  Saulxure,  du  bourg 
de  Saulxure,  en  Lorraine. 

Daniel  de  Saussure,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Henri  de 
Saussure,  was  born  at  Pocotali^o,  S.  C,  in  1736.  He  became  a  very  successful 
merchant  and  planter,  resident  near  Beaufort,  S.  C,  and  gave  his  fortune  and 
services  to  his  country.  He  served  as  a  volunteer  in  the  defence  of  Charleston,  in 
1780-81,  and  was  taken  prisoner  when  that  city  fell  into  the  hands  of  Gen.  Sir 
Henry  Clinton  and,  with  other  distinguished  Carolinians,  was  confined  at  St. 
Augustine,  Fla.  From  1783  to  1791  he  was  a  member  of  the  South  Carolina 
legislature,  and  the  last  two  years  was  President  of  the  Senate.  He  had  a  son, 
Henry   William. 

CHANCELLOR  HENRY  WILLIAH  De  SAUSSURE,  Patriot  of  the 
Revolution,  son  of  Daniel  de  Saussure,  was  born  at  Pocotaligo,  S.  C.  August 
16,  1763;  died  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  March  29,  1839.  He  was  but  seventeen  years 
of  age  when  he  served  as  a  volunteer  in  defense  of  Charleston  when  that  city  was 
besieged   by   Sir   Henry  Clinton,  in    1780.     After  the  city  fell   he  refused   to  take 


8o 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN     REVOLUTION. 


protection  and  was  sent  to  New  York,  where  he  was  confined  in  the  prison  ship 
"Wasp"  for  two  months,  enduring  great  hardship.  He  was  exchanged  and  sent 
in  a  cartel  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  had  the  happiness  to  meet  his  father,  who  had 
also  been  exchanged.  The  son  remained  in  Philadelphia  and  studied  law  with 
James  Ingersoll.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Philadelphia  in  1784,  and  in  1785 
to  that  of  Charleston.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  South  Carolina  Convention  of 
October,  1789.  and  in  1791  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature.  In  1794  he  was 
appointed  by  President  Washington,  director  of  the  U.  S.  Mint.  When  dining 
with   him  on  a  certain   occasion,  Gen.  Washin^to"    remarked  that  he  had  long 


CHANCELLOR    HENRY    WILLIAM     DE    SAUSSURE. 


desired  to  see  gold  coined  at  the  Mint,  but  that  his  predecessor,  in  his  efforts  to  do 
so,  found  insuperable  difficulties.  Gen.  Washington  remarked  further  that  he 
should  be  much  gratified  if  it  could  be  accomplished.  In  the  course  of  a  few 
weeks  Mr.  de  Saussure  carried  to  the  President  a  handful  of  gold  eagles,  being 
the  first  gold  coined  at  the  Mint  of  the  United  States.  On  his  resignation  from 
the  office  in  1795,  he  received  from  Washington  an  autograph  letter,  regretting  his 
determination  to  retire  and  expressing  "  entire  satisfaction  "  with  his  administra- 
tion. He  then  returned  to  the  practice  of  law  in  South  Carolina  and  was  elected 
Chancellor  of  the  State  in  1808.  From  1809  till  1829  the  number  of  decrees  in 
the  Circuit  Court  of  Equity  and  the  Court  of  Appeals  was  2,888,  and  of  these 
Chancellor  de  Saussure  delivered  1,314.     In  1837,  his  health  became  impaired  and 


SONS    OF    THE    AMERICAN     REVOLUTION. 


81 


he  resigned.  Gov.  Butler,  in  communicating  the  resignation  of  the  Chancellor, 
said  :  "  He  has  occupied  and  now  occupies  a  striking  position  to  the  people  of 
the  present  generation.  He  is  the  last  of  the  Revolutionary  patriots  who  has  held 
office  under  the  authority  of  the  States.  ...  He  has  worn  the  sword  of  a 
soldier  amidst  the  perils  of  the  Revolution,  and  the  ermine  of  a  virtuous  magis- 
trate in  peace.  The  one  was  never  used  but  against  the  enemies  of  his  country, 
and  the  other  will  descend  from  him  without  spot  or  blemish."  His  biographer,  in 
speaking  of  his  personal  qualities,  says  :     "  He  was  indeed 

'  The  kindest  man. 
The  best  conditioned  and  unwearied  spirit 
In  doing  courtesies,' 

that  it  has  been  my  lot  to  know."  The  wife  of  Mr.  de  Saussure  was  Miss  Eliza 
Ford,  of  Morristown,  N.  J.,  to  whom  he  was  married  in  1785. 


CAPT.    WILLIAM   RICHARDSON, 
OF   SOUTH    CAROLINA    PROVISIONAL   GOVERNMENT   AND    OF    HUGER's   RIFLES. 


Anna  Frances,  the  eldest  child  of  Henry  William  and  Eliza  de  Saussure,  was 
married  to  Wilmot  S.  Gibbes,  whose  third  son,  Alester  Garden  Gibbes,  as  before 
stated,  had  his  name  changed  by  act  of  legislature  to  Alester  Gibbes  Garden. 

Alester  Gibbes  Garden,  son  of  Wilmot  S.  and  Anna  Frances  (de  Saussure) 
Gibbes,  was  born  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  in  1810;  died  in  Sumter,  1843.  He  was  a 
graduate  of  the  South  Carolina  College,  and  became  a  law  partner  of  his  uncle, 
Mr.  Willaim  F.  de  Saussure.  He  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  William  G. 
Richardson,  son  of  Capt.  William  Richardson  of  the  Revolution. 

CAPT.  WILLIAM  RICHARDSON,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was 
born  in  1740;  died  in  1793.  He  was  a  grandson  of  William  Richardson  (16S0), 
of  Jamestown,  Va.,  son  of  Edward  Richardson  and  Anna  Poinsette.  He  was 
the  owner  of  "  Bloomhill "  and  "Ben  Spring,"  on  the  "High  Hills  of  Santee," 
South  Carolina ;  member  of  the  first  Provincial  Congress  of  South  Carolina ; 
6 


82  SONS    OF    THE    AMERICAN     REVOLUTION. 

commissioned  a  captain  in  Huger's  Rifle  Regiment,  Continental  Army,  February 
25,  1776.  He  was  a  friend  of  Marion,  who  often  obtained  supplies  and  personal 
encouragement  from  the  master  of  "Bloomhill"  plantation  and  the  "  Ben  Spring." 
A  portrait  of  Capt.  William  Richardson  which  hung  in  the  great  hall  at 
"  Bloomhill,"  still  bears  the  marks  of  a  sword-thrust  from  one  of  Tarleton's 
officers,  enraged  that  Marion  and  the  master  had  evaded  a  well  planned  attack. 

Gen.  Marion,  in  his  official  account  of  the  attack  on  Fort  Watson,  April  15, 
1781  (Johnson's  Life  of  Gen.  Greene),  says:  "I  shall,  without  loss  of  time, 
demolish  the  fort,  after  which  I  shall  proceed  to  the  High  Hills  of  the  Santee,  and 
halt  at  Capt.  Richardson's."  On  page  102  it  states  that  he  "halted  at  Capt. 
Richardson's  until  the  27th,  waiting  orders  from  Gen.  Greene."  Capt.  William 
Richardson  married  Magdalen  Guignard.  Their  eldest  son,  William  Guignard 
Richardson,  married,  second,  Emma  C.  Buford,  daughter  of  Col.  William  Buford, 
of  the  Continental  army.  Their  eldest  child,  Elizabeth,  became  the  wife  of  Alester 
Gibbes  Garden. 

"The  family  of  Gardyne,  or  Garden,"  says  Burke,  "has  for  many  centuries 
possessed  lands  in  the  shires  of  Banff  and  Perth,  and  is  mentioned  at  a  very  early 
period  as  Gardyne  of  that  ilk,  and  of  Banchory."  In  1589,  Gardyne  of  Banchory 
was  one  of  the  gentlemen  sent  by  James  I.  to  Denmark  on  the  occasion  of  the 
treaty  of  marriage  betwixt  him  and  the  Princess  Anne,  afterwards  his  cjueen,  and 
received  a  gold  medallion  set  with  diamonds,  containing  a  portrait  of  the  Princess, 
with  the  Arms  of  Denmark  on  the  obverse  side.  In  the  succeeding  generation  the 
lands  of  Banchory,  etc.,  were  sold  and  Major  Alexander  Garden,  son  of  Alex- 
ander, the  last  Laird  of  Banchory,  went  with  the  troops  sent  by  Charles  I.  to 
Gustavus,  of  Sweden,  and  was  present  at  the  battle  of  Lutzen,  where  that  great 
prince  lost  his  life,  in  1632.  Major  Garden  remained  several  years  at  the  Swedish 
court,  high  in  favor  with  Queen  Christina,  and  on  her  abdication  in  1654, 
returned  to  Scotland  and  purchased  the  lands  of  Troup.  He  married  Betty, 
daughter  of  Alexander  Strachan,  Esq.,  of  Glenkindy.  In  165 1  the  Laird  of 
Banchory  received  from  Queen  Mary  a  harp,  as  the  prize  for  a  piece  of  music 
performed  by  him  at  a  musical  competition  held  ^oon  after  the  Queen's  arrival 
in  Scotland,  and  at  which  the  laird  attended  in  the  disguise  of  a  minstrel.  This 
harp  was  carried  by  a  daughter  of  the  laird,  on  her  marriage  with  the  Laird  of 
Luss,  in  Dumbartonshire,  into  that  family,  and  is  still  preserved.  The  Garden  of 
Banchory  Arms  are  :     A  wild  boar,  with  the  motto,  "  Vires  animat  virtus." 

Rev.  Alexander  Garden,  great-grandson  of  George  Garden,  the  Laird  of 
Banchory  (1555),  was  the  first  representative  of  the  family  in  this  country.  He 
was  born  in  Aberdeen,  Scotland,  1685;  died  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  September  27, 
1750.  He  was  educated  in  his  native  town  and  became  a  clergyman  of  the 
Church  of  England.  He  came  to  America  in  1719  and  shortly  afterward  was 
elected  rector  of  St.  Philip's  parish,  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  and  subsequently  he  was 
commissary  under  the  Bishop  of  London.  In  1735  ne  was  compelled  to  take  a 
respite  from  his  labors  and  visited  the  northern  provinces.  He  was  much  inter- 
ested in  the  religious  instruction  of  the  colored  people.  In  1743  he  solicited  aid 
from  the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel,  in  behalf  of  the  negro  school  in 
Charleston,  which  then  consisted  of  thirty  children.  A  large  contribution  of 
prayer  books  and  text  books  was  the  result.  In  1750  he  resigned  the  rectorship 
of  St.  Philip's  and  was  presented  by  the  vestrymen  with  a  valuable  set  of  plate. 


SONS    OF    THE    AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 


83 


He  published  "  Six  Letters  to  the  Rev.  Geo.  Whitfield,"  the  second  and  third  of 
which  were  on  the  subject  of  Justification.  Before  coming  to  America  he  was 
distinguished  by  his  exertions  in  favor  of  the  family  of  Hanover,  and  still  more  so 
by  his  humane  interposition  in  behalf  of  the  followers  of  the  house  of  Stuart 
after  their  defeat  at  Culloden. 

Alexander  Garden,  M.D.,  son  of  Rev.  Alexander  Garden,  was  born  in 
Aberdeen,  Scotland,  about  1728.  He  was  educated  at  the  Mareschall  College 
University,  of  Aberdeen,  1748,  and  received  his  medical  education  under  the 
celebrated  Dr.  John  Gregory.  He  settled  in  South  Carolina  about  1749  and  began 
practice  in  Christ  Church  parish,  and  two  years  later  in  Charleston  ;  he  subse- 
quently rose  to  eminence  as  a  physician  and  botanist.  In  1754  he  went  to  New 
York  and  was  offered  a  professorship  in   King's  College   (now  Columbia).     He 


MAJOR    ALEXANDER    GARDEN, 
OF    LEE'S    LEGION,     AND    STAFF    OF    GEN.    GREENP 


returned  to  Charleston,  where  he  continued  the  practice  of  his  profession  for  many 
years.  He  adhered  to  the  royal  cause  in  the  Revolution  and  by  his  influence  with 
the  British  government  alleviated  the  sufferings  of  the  citizens  of  Charleston  under 
Lord  Rawdon.  His  property  was  confiscated  but  was  afterward  given  to  his  son 
by  the  State  of  South  Carolina.  He  had  been  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal 
Society  of  London,  and  on  his  arrival  there  in  1783  was  appointed  one  of  its 
council  and  subsequently  was  one  of  its  vice-presidents.  He  was  eminent  as  a 
botanist  and  zoologist.  He  introduced  into  medical  use  the  pink  root  as  a  vermifuge, 
and  published  an  account  of  its  properties.  He  also  published  accounts  of  the 
Helesia,  of  the  male  and  female  cochineal  insects.  To  extend  his  knowledge  of 
natural  history,  he  accompanied  Gen.  Glen  into  the  Indian  country  and  discovered 
an  earth  which  was  deemed  in  England  equal  to  the  finest  porcelain.  The  know- 
ledge of  the  spot  has  been  lost.  Linneus  named  the  beautiful  Cape  Jessamine  the 
"  Gardenia,"  in  his  honor. 

MAJOR  ALEXANDER  GARDEN,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of 


84  SONS   OF   THE    AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

Dr.  Alexander  Garden,  was  born  in  Charleston,  December  4,  1757  ;  died  February 
29,  1829.  He  was  educated  at  the  University  of  Glasgow  and  traveled  on  the  conti- 
nent of  Europe.  He  returned  to  South  Carolina  in  1780  and  joined  the  Revolu- 
tionary army.  He  was  at  one  time  aide-de-camp  to  Gen.  Greene,  and  a  lieutenant 
in  Lee's  Legion  in  February,  1782.  He  published  *'  Anecdotes  of  the  Revolutionary 
War,  with  Sketches  of  Character  of  Persons  most  Distinguished  in  the  Southern 
States  for  Civil  and  Military  Services."  He  was  Vice-President  South  Carolina 
Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  and  an  honorary  member  of  the  New  York  Historical  Soci- 
ety. He  married  Mary  Anna  Gibbes,  daughter  of  Robert  Gibbes,  who  was  the 
father  of  Wilmot  S.  Gibbes.  They  had  two  children,  Alester  and  Gardenia.  Alester 
died  while  completing  his  education  in  Europe.  Gardenia  married  her  cousin, 
George  Gibbes,  of  New  York,  and  died  without  issue.  Thereafter  Major  Alex- 
ander Garden  persuaded  his  nephew,  Alester  Garden  Gibbes,  to  have  his  name 
changed  to  Alester  Gibbes  Garden. 

CAPT.  HUGH  RICHARDSON  GARDEN,  of  the  Board  of  Managers, 
Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  son  of  Alester  Gibbes  and  Elizabeth  (Richard- 
son) Garden,  was  born  at  Sumter,  S.  C,  July  9,  1840.  He  was  graduated  from 
South  Carolina  College  in  i860,  and  immediately  after  the  breaking  out  of  the 
Civil  War  in  1861,  he  enlisted  as  private  in  Company  D,  Second  Regiment,  South 
Carolina  Infantry,  one  of  the  first  regiments  raised  in  that  State  for  the  Confeder- 
ate army,  under  the  command  of  Col.  J.  13.  Kershaw.  He  was  made  color  bearer 
and  participated  in  the  battle  of  Manassas  and  other  engagements,  until  the  close 
of  his  first  term  of  enlistment  in  1S62,  when  he  enlisted  for  the  war.  He  was 
appointed  captain  of  Artillery  and  raised  and  equipped  a  battery  of  field  guns 
known  as  the  Palmetto  Light  Battery.  The  guns  were  cast  under  his  personal 
direction  from  bells  and  other  materials  contributed  by  the  citizens.  He  served 
in  the  campaigns  of  Northern  Virginia  with  Longstreet's  and  A.  P.  Hill's  corps. 
His  battery  was  fiercely  engaged  at  the  battles  of  Antietam,  Gettysburg,  Second 
Cold  Harbor,  Forts  Harrison  and  the  Crater,  and  during  these  engagements  he  lost 
three  lieutenants  killed  -Pringle,  Coit  and  McQueen.  He  three  times  changed  his 
guns  for  others  captured  from  the  enemy — once  at  Harper's  Ferry,  at  Fort  Harrison 
and  again  at  Gettysburg.  During  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  he  carried  from  the  field 
four  guns  captured  in  front  of  the  Little  Round  Top.  These,  it  is  said,  were  the 
only  guns  brought  from  the  field  by  the  Confederates.  In  recognition  of  this  ser- 
vice the  captured  guns  were  presented  to  him  by  Gen.  Law,  who  commanded  Hood's 
division  after  the  latter  was  wounded.  When  the  surrender  of  the  Confeder- 
ate army  to  Grant  at  Appomatox  took  place,  in  April,  1865,  Capt.  Garden  com- 
manded the  artillery  of  the  rear  guard  of  Lee's  army. 

After  the  war  he  entered  the  University  of  Virginia,  studied  law,  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1866,  immediately  began  practice  with  his  great-uncle, 
William  F.  de  Saussure,  at  Columbia,  S.  C.  Later  he  removed  to  Warrenton,  Va., 
where,  for  fifteen  years  he  enjoyed  a  successful  practice.  Capt.  Garden  came  to 
New  York  in  the  winter  of  1882-3,  where  he  soon  took  a  foremost  position  at  the 
bar,  and  entered  upon  a  lucrative  practice.  In  1890-91-92^5  a  member  of  the 
Virginia  bondholders'  committee,  composed  of  diplomatists  and  financiers  of  two 
continents,  he  was  largely  influential  in  effecting  a  settlement  of  the  debt  of 
Virginia,  which  for  more  than  twenty-five  years  had  been  the  cause  of  political 
dissensions  and  legal  controversy.     The  successful  adjustment  of  this  affair  to  the 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  85 

entire  satisfaction  of  all  parties  concerned,  added  greatly  to  his  reputation  and  to 
his  practice  as  a  lawyer.  Capt.  Garden  has  been  identified  with  the  New  York 
Southern  Society  almost  from  the  date  of  its  organization  and  was  its  President  in 
1890  and  1 891.  He  declined  a  reelection  in  1892.  He  presented  the  Society  with 
a  library  composed  principally  of  works  relating  to  Southern  history  and  literature, 
as  the  foundation  for  a  Southern  historical  library  in  New  York.  This  was 
properly  named  the  "  Garden  Library." 

In  1868  Capt.  Garden  married  Miss  Lucy  Gordon  Robertson,  daughter  of  the 
Hon.  William  J.  Robertson,  formerly  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Appeals  of 
Virginia,  granddaughter  of  Gen  William  F.  Gordon,  the  friend  of  Madison  and 
Monroe,  and  great-granddaughter  of  William  Lindsay,  a  Virginia  planter  of  the 
olden  time,  the  products  of  whose  estates  were  shipped  direct  from  Dumfries  to 
the  English  and  Scottish  ports.  Capt.  Garden  is  an  exacting  New  York  lawyer 
in  his  office,  and  country  sports  and  the  social  life  which  Mrs.  Garden  adorns, 
occupy  his  leisure  hours. 


TRACY— SHERMAN— EVART5. 

The  ancestry  of  the  Tracy  family  can  be  traced  in  an  unbroken  line  from  a 
very  remote  period.  The  Tracy  descent  is  from  the  Sire  de  Traci,  a  Norman 
baron  and  an  officer  of  the  army  of  William  the  Conqueror,  who  fought  at  the 
battle  of  Hastings  and  whose  name  is  on  "  the  Roll  of  Battel  Abbey."  His  son 
Henri's  daughter  Grace  married  John  De  Sudely,  and  their  son  William  De  Tracy 
inherited  her  estates  and  assumed  her  family  name.  He  was  one  of  the  four 
knights  who,  in  11 70,  at  the  instigation  of  King  Henry  II.,  assassinated  Thomas 
;\  Becket,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  Fuller,  in  his  "  Worthies  of  England,"  des- 
cribes him  as  Sir  William  Tracy,  of  Toddington,  and  as  "  a  man  of  high  birth, 
state  and  stomach,  a  favorite  of  the  King's  and  his  daily  attendant."  His  son  Sir 
Henry  changed  the  spelling  of  his  name  to  de  Tracy,  and  Sir  Henry's  grandson, 
Sir  William,  dropped  the  "  de."  Thence  the  descent  is  through  numerous  genera- 
tions of  Tracys  to  Richard  Tracy,  the  third  son  of  William  Tracy  (8),  who  was 
among  the  earliest  of  those  who  embraced  the  reformed  religion  in  the  reign  of 
King  Henry  VI 1 1.,  and  thence  through  his  son  Samuel  and  his  grandson  Samuel* 
to  his  great-grandson,  Stephen  Tracy,  who  came  from  Leyden  to  Plymouth,  Mass., 
in  the  ship  "  Ann,"  in  1623. 

From  Stephen  Tracy  the  descent  is,  John,  Stephen  (2),  Thomas,  Joseph, 
Ebenezer  Carter,  Jeremiah  Evarts.  John  De  Sudely,  the  husband  of  Grace  De 
Traci,  was  descended  from  Cerdic,  the  first  King  of  the  West   Saxons,  who  died 


*It  is  stated  in  an  old  manuscript  in  possession  of  A.  H.  Tracy,  of  Chicago,  that  Stephen 
Tracy  was  a  son  of  Samuel  Tracy,  son  of  Richard.  In  the  record  in  England,  Samuel,  son  of 
Richard,  is  said  to  have  had  several  children,  including  a  son  Samuel,  but  no  son  Stephen  is  men- 
tioned, and  it  may  be  that  Stephen  was  a  son  of  Richard's  son  Samuel,  and  therefore  a  grand- 
son instead  of  a  son  of  Richard.  Among  the  children  of  Samuel,  son  of  Richard,  is  named  a 
daughter,  Catharine,  whose  name  was  not  originally  on  the  chart,  but  was  added  subsequently. 
Her  name  having  been  omitted  originally  and  afterwards  added,  the  name  of  Stephen  may  have 
been  omitted  likewise,  he  having  left  England  and  gone  to  Leyden,  from  which  place  he  sailed 
for  America. 


86  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

in  534,  through  several  generations  of  Saxon  kings  to  Egbert,  who  was  the  first 
King  of  England  ;  thence  down  through  King  Alfred  the  Great  and  King  Aethel- 
red  II.  (the  Unready),  whose  daughter,  the  Princess  Goda,  by  his  second  wife 
Emma,  the  youngest  daughter  of  Richard  the  Fearless,  third  Duke  of  Normandy, 
married  Dreux,  Count  of  Mantes,  and  thence  through  her  son,  Rudolph  De 
Mantes,  whose  son,  Harold  De  Mantes,  was  the  father  of  said  John  De 
Sudely.  Richard  Tracy,  the  great-grandfather  of  Stephen  Tracy  before  men- 
tioned, married  Barbara  Lucy,  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Lucy  and  aunt  of 
Shakespeare's  Justice  Shallow,  who  was  descended  from  Pepin  (the  Short), 
through  his  son  Charlemagne,  Emperor  of  the  West,  and  Louis  I.  (the  Pious), 
Charles  II.  (the  Bald),  Emperors  and  Kings  of  France,  Hugh  Capet,  King  of 
France,  and  Robert  II.,  King  of  France,  and  thence  through  his  daughter  Adalais 
(Alice),  who  married  Count  Baldwin  V.,  of  Flanders,  and  their  daughter  Matilda 
(Maud),  who  married  William  the  Conqueror,  and  their  daughter,  the  Princess 
Gundred,  who  married  William  De  Warrenne,  Earl  of  Warrenne,  whose  son 
William  De  Warrenne  married  Isabel  De  Vermandois,  widow  of  Robert,  Earl  of 
Millent,  and  daughter  of  Hugh  Magnus,  Count  of  Vermandois  and  son  of  King 
Henry  I.  of  France,  who  was  descended  from  Romanus  II.,  Emperor  of  the  East, 
son  of  Constantine  VII.,  through  his  daughter  Anne,  who  married  Waldomar, 
Grand  Duke  of  Russia,  and  through  their  son  Jaroslaus,  Grand  Duke  of  Russia, 
who  was  the  father  of  Anne,  who  married  Henry  I.,  King  of  France.  From  the 
last  named  William  De  Warrenne  to  Sir  Thomas  Lucy,  the  line  descends  to  and 
through  Henry  De  Hastings,  who  married  Ada,  a  descendant  of  Kenneth  II.. 
founder  of  the  Scottish  monarchy,  and  thence  through  Constantine  II.,  Donald 
IV.,  Malcom  I.,  Kenneth  III.,  Malcom  II.,  the  Princess  Beatrix,  Duncan  I.  (who 
was  murdered  by  his  cousin,  Macbeth),  Malcom  III.,  husband  of  Margaret,  the 
first  crowned  Queen  of  Scotland,  who  was  a  granddaughter  of  Henry  II.,  of 
Germany  (King  of  Bavaria,  crowned  Emperor  at  Rome  in  1014),  and  of  Edmund 
(Ironsides),  of  England. 

Stephen  Tracy  came  o  Plymouth,  Mass.,  in  the  "  Ann,"  in  1623,  with  his 
wife  Tryphosa,  whom  he  married  at  Ley  den,  January  2,  1621.  He  was  a  leading 
man  in  the  founding  of  the  Plymouth  Colony.  At  a  meeting  held  March  21,  1635, 
for  the  uniting  of  Plymouth  and  Duxborough,  "  The  pties  representing  the  Dux- 
burrow  side  were  Mr.  William  Collier,  Stephen  Tracy,  Job  Howland,  Edward 
Chandler  and  Joshua  Pratt  ;  representing  the  other  side  were  Capt.  Miles  Standish, 
Manasseh  Kempton,  George  Kenrick,  John  Jenny  and  Edward  Bangs."  Stephen 
Tracy  was  one  of  "the  Freemen  of  the  Incorporation  of  Plymouth,  1633."  For 
"the  exercising  of  the  colony  in  arms,"  Stephen  Tracy  and  four  others  were 
"  added  to  the  Govr  and  Assistants  for  the  ceasing  of  men  for  the  public  charge 
for  the  prnt  yeare."  He  was  a  member  of  the  first  General  Court  of  the  colony 
in  1635-6.  His  original  homestead  was  near  that  of  Gov.  Bradford.  In  1638 
"Stephen  Tracy  was  elected  Constable  for  Druxburrow."  He  returned  to  Eng- 
land in  1650,  and  calls  himself  of  Great  Yarmouth.  He  made  disposition  of  his 
property,  empowering  John  Winslow  to  perform  it.  He  says  he  has  five  children 
living  in  New  England.  They  were  Sarah,  Rebecca,  John,  of  Duxbury,  Ruth 
and  Mary. 

Lieut.  Jonn  Tracy,  son  of  Stephen  and  Tryphosa  ( )  Tracy,  was  born  in 

1633;  died  in  Windham,  Conn.,  May  30,  1718.     He  lived  for  some  years  in  Dux- 


SONS   OF    THE  AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  87 

bury.  He  was  deputy  to  the  General  Court  in  1683,  and  again  in  1692.  In  1686 
he  was  elected  lieutenant  of  the  Duxbury  Company,  of  which  Jonathan  Alden, 
youngest  son  of  the  pilgrim,  was  captain.  He  afterwards  removed  to  Windham, 
Conn  ,  where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  married  Mary,  daughter  of 
Gov.  Thomas  Prince.     He  had  issue,  John  and  Stephen  (2). 

Stephen  Tracy  (2),  son  of  Lieut.  John  and  Mary  (Prince)  Tracy,  was  born 
in  Duxbury,  Mass.,  in  1673;  died  there  December  19,  1769.  He  married  Deborah 
Bingham,  June  26,  1707.     He  had  seven  children,  including  a  son,  Thomas. 

Thomas  Tracy,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  youngest  son  of  Stephen 
(2)  and  Deborah  (Bingham)  Tracy,  was  born  in  Windham,  Conn.,  August  19, 
1725.  He  removed  to  Hartford,  Vt.,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  charter  pro- 
prietors. He  acquired  some  1400  acres  of  land.  He  took  a  prominent  part  in 
the  municipal  affairs  of  the  town,  and  was  lieutenant  in  the  militia,  doing  frontier 
service.  He  married  Elizabeth  Warner,  of  Windham,  and  had  eight  children,  of 
■whom  Joseph  was  the  seventh. 

Joseph  Tracy,  son  of  Lieut.  Thomas  and  Elizabeth  (Warner,  Tracy,  was 
born  July  18,  1763;  died  at  Hartford,  Vt.,  April  10,  1829.  He  was  "a  pious, 
intelligent,  companionable  man."  He  was  fond  of  study  and  was  a  civilian  of  the 
highest  type,  but  had  no  taste  for  public  office.  He  married  Ruth  Carter,  Decem- 
ber 26,  1792,  and  had  eight  children,  of  whom  Ebenezer  Carter  was  the  second. 

Ebenezer  Carter  Tracy,  son  of  Joseph  and  Ruth  (Carter)  Tracy,  was  born 
June  10,  1796;  died  in  Windsor,  Vt.,  May  15,  1862.  He  was  graduated  at  Dart- 
mouth College  and  studied  divinity  at  Andover  Theological  Seminary;  was 
licensed  but  never  ordained.  He  was  a  tutor  in  Dartmouth  College,  1823  to  1824. 
He  founded  the  Vermont  Chronicle  in  1826,  at  Bellows  Falls,  and  moved  thence 
to  Windsor,  Vt.  He  was  afterward  connected  with  the  New  York  Journal  of 
Commerce,  then  with  the  Observer,  later  with  a  temperance  paper  and  later  still 
with  the  Boston  Recorder.  He  resumed  the  editorship  of  the  Chronicle  in  1834. 
He  married  Martha  Sherman  Evarts,  daughter  of  Jeremiah  Evarts,  of  Boston, 
Mass.,  granddaughter  of  Roger  Sherman,  who  was  the  great-grandson  of  Capt. 
John  Sherman.  Roger  Sherman  was  descended  from  Henry  Sherman,  of  Col- 
chester, England,  through  his  son  Henry  Sherman  (2),  of  Dedham,  England,  and 
the  latter's  son  John,  who  was  the  father  of  Capt.  John  Sherman,  of  Watertown. 

Capt.  John  Sherman,  born  161 5.  came  to  New  England  about  1634  and 
settled  in  Watertown,  Mass.  He  was  a  captain,  surveyor,  representative  at  the 
General  Court  and  town  clerk.  He  was  with  Gov.  Winthrop  when  the  northern 
boundary  of  Massachusetts  was  surveyed.  He  died  January  25,  1691.  He  married 
Martha,  a  daughter  of  Roger  Palmer,  and  had  a  son,  Joseph. 

Joseph  Sherman,  son  of  Capt.  John  and  Martha  (Palmer)  Sherman,  war, 
born  in  Watertown,  May  14,  1650.  He  married  Elizabeth  Winship,  daughter  of 
Lieut.  Edward  Winship,  of  Cambridge.  He  was  a  representative  at  the  General 
Court,  1702-3-4-5.  He  had  eleven  children,  of  whom  William  was  the  ninth 
child  and  the  seventh  son. 

William  Sherman,  son  of  Joseph  and  Elizabeth  (Winship)  Sherman,  was 
born  June  23,  1692.  He  married,  first,  Rebecca  Cutler;  second,  September  3, 
171  5,  Mehitable  Wellington,  of  Watertown,  daughter  of  Benjamin,  son  of  Roger 

'lington,  the  ancestor.     They  had  seven  children,  of  whom  Roger  was  the  third. 

Roger  Sherman,  Patriot   of   the   Revolution,   son    of    William    and 


88  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

Mehitable  (Wellington)  Sherman,  was  born  at  Newtown,  Mass.,  April  19,  1721  ; 
died  at  New  Haver,  ^onn.,  July  23,  1793.  After  his  father's  death  in  1741,  he 
supported  his  mother  and  several  younger  children,  devoting  all  his  leisure  to 
study,  especially  of  mathematics.  He  moved  to  New  Milford,  Conn.,  in  1743, 
and  was  there  associated  with  hi?  b  --other  in  a  small  mercantile  business.  In 
1745  he  was  appointed  surveyor  ot  lands  for  the  county  of  New  Haven,  and  for 
several  years  furnished  the  astronomical  calculations  for  an  almanac  published 
in  New  York.  He  studied  law  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1754.  For 
many  successive  years  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Connecticut  Legis- 
lature. In  1759  he  was  appointed  a  justice  of  the  quorum,  by  virtue  of 
which  office  he  became  one  of  the  judges  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas, 
in  Litchfield  County,  Conn.  In  1761  he  removed  to  New  Haven.  In  1766  was 
appointed  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Connecticut,  and  was  annually  re- 
appointed for  twenty-three  years.  He  was  elected  the  first  Mayor  of  New  Haven. 
When  the  Revolutionary  struggle  began  he  devoted  himself  unreservedly  to  the 
patriot  cause  and  became  a  leader.  In  August,  1774,  he  was  elected  a  delegate  to 
the  Continental  Congress,  and  in  1776  he  was  one  of  the  committee  appointed  to 
draft  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  signers,  and 
as  a  member  of  Congress  during  the  war  he  served  on  many  important  committees 
and  was  successively  a  member  of  the  Boards  of  War  and  Ordnance  and  of  the 
Board  of  Treasury.  In  1783  he  was  associated  with  another  judge  in  codifying 
the  laws  of  Connecticut.  He  had  been  one  of  the  committee  which  framed  the 
Articles  of  Confederation  of  1787,  and  was  one  of  the  most  efficient  members  of 
the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1787.  He  first  proposed  the  compromise  which 
has  been  described  as  "the  most  ingenious  novelty  in  the  American  Constitution, 
and  which,  it  was  generally  conceded,  saved  the  Union — that  all  States  should  be 
equally  represented  in  the  upper  house  and  according  to  their  population  in  the 
lower  house."  Among  the  patriots  of  the  Revolutionary  period  he  was  the  only 
person  who  signed  all  four  of  the  great  national  compacts— the  Association  of 
1774,  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  Articles  of  Confederation  and  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.  He  was  chiefly  instrumental  in  securing  the 
ratification  of  the  Constitution  by  the  State  Convention  of  Connecticut.  His 
services  to  his  country  were  invaluable. 

By  the  marriage  of  Ebenezer  Carter  Tracy  to  Martha  Sherman  Evarts,  his 
children  became  connected  with  another  distinguished  family  of  New  England. 
She  was  a  daughter  of  Jeremiah  Evarts,  a  man  of  eminent  character  and  ability 
and  widely  known,  who  was  a  descendant  of  John  Evarts,  one  of  the  early  settlers 
in  New  England,  who  came  to  Concord,  Mass.,  in  1630;  and  a  sister  of  Hon. 
William  M.  Evarts,  the  eminent  lawyer  and  statesman.  The  issue  of  this  marri- 
age was  eight  children,  one  of  whom,  William  Carter,  was  an  officer  in  the  Union 
army  during  the  Civil  War,  and  died  in  the  service  of  his  country  ;  another  was 
Jeremiah  Evarts  Tracy,  a  member  of  the  present  law  firm  of  Evarts,  Choate  & 
Beaman,  of  New  York. 

JEREMIAH  EVARTS  TRACY,  Member  of  the  Empire  State  Soci- 
ety, S.  A.  R.,  eldest  son  of  Ebjnezer  Carter  and  Martha  Sherman  (Evarts)  Tracy, 
was  born  at  Windsor,  Vt.,  January  31,  1835.  Through  heredity,  environment  and 
educational  advantages  he  attained  the  high  position  in  his  profession  which  he 
has  occupied  for  so  many  years.     He  began  the  study  of  law  at  an  early  age  in 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  89 

the  office  of  his  uncle,  Hon.  William  M.  Evarts,  an  '  completed  his  course  at 
Yale  College  Law  School,  receiving  his  degree  of  LL.  B.  i  .i  Yale  in  1857.  He 
had  been  previously  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  has  continued  his  connection  with 
his  uncle's  firm  and  their  successors  as  law  student  and  partner  for  more  than 
forty  years.  His  reputation  as  a  lawyer,  a:  11  as  that  of  the  firm  he  represents, 
is  known  far  and  near,  and  no  amount  of  praise  or  personal  comments  could  add 
to  either.  To  the  citizens  of  Plainfield,  N.  J.,  where  Mr.  Tracy  has  resided  for 
more  than  twenty  years,  he  is  known  as  an  enterprising  and  public-spirited  citizen, 
and  he  has  done  much  to  endear  himself  to  that  community.  He  was  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Bar  Association  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  is  a  member  of  that 
association  and  of  the  New  York  State  Bar  Association,  and  of  the  New  York 
Law  Institute.  He  is  also  one  of  the  Committee  of  Counsel  of  the  Lawyers' 
Title  Insurance  Co  ,  of  New  York.  His  connection  with  the  Empire  State  Society 
of  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution  began  in  1895,  and  while  not  active  as  a 
working  member,  he  is  in  hearty  sympathy  with  its  objects. 

Mr.  Tracy  married  Martha  Sherman  Greene,  daughter  of  Rev.  David  Greene, 
September  30,  1863,  and  has  nine  children  :  Emily  Baldwin,  born  November  30, 
1864;  Howard  Crosby,  born  August  1,  1866;  Evarts,  born  May  23,  1868;  Mary 
Evarts,  born  December  22,  1869;  Robert  Storer,  born  October  6,  1871  ;  Margaret 
Louisa,  born  May  ri,  1873;  Edith  Hastings,  born  December  13.  1874;  Martha, 
born  April   10,  1876,  and  William  Evarts,  born  September  24,  1878. 


CLAIBORNE -HERBERT— WELDON— ALSTON. 

The  history  of  the  Claiborne  family  is,  in  many  respects,  unique,  and  forms 
one  of  the  most  interesting  chapters  in  American  history.  The  individual  char- 
acteristics, transmitted  through  several  generations,  stand  out  in  bold  relief, 
exercising  a  marked  effect  on  the  surroundings  of  the  men.  Always  loyal,  always 
true  and  fearless  to  an  inordinate  degree,  it  may  be  honestly  said  of  them,  strns 
peur  et  .wins  reproche.  "  This  ancient  family,"  says  the  English  historian,  "  may 
be  traced  in  the  male  line  to  the  early  part  of  the  eleventh  century,  and  on  the 
•  spindle'  side  (through  the  Curwens)  to  the  Scots-Pictish  and  West  Saxon  kings. 
It  derived  its  sirname  from  the  Lordship  of  Cleburne."  The  family  bore  Arms  - 
Quarterly,  first  and  fourth,  argent  three  chevrons  interlaced  in  base  sable  a  chief  of 
the  last  ;  second  and  third,  argent  a  cross  engrailed  vert.  Crest — A  demi-wolf 
ppr.  rampant  reguardant.     Motto— (Saxon)  Lofe  clibbor  na  sceame. 

Budolph,  Lord  of  Ravensworth  and  other  manors  in  Richmondshire,  was  the 
founder  of  this  family.  In  his  old  age,  when  weary  of  the  world  and  its  troubles, 
he  became  a  monk  and  retired  to  the  abbey  of  which  he  had  been  a  benefactor. 
He  had  a  son,  Akaris  or  Acarius  Fitz  Bardolph,  who  founded  the  Abbey  of  Fors. 
Hervey  Fitz  Akaris,  his  son,  was  a  "  noble  and  good  knight  "  who  died  A.  D.  1 182, 
and  was  succeeded  by  Alan  dictus  Cleburne,  whose  son  Hervey  (meaning  strong 
in  war)  had  Geoffrey  Fitz  Hervey  de  Cleburne,  who  had  Sir  Robert,  of  the  manor 
of  Cleburne  Hervey;  he  was  the  father  of  John  de  Cleburne,  who  had  a  son,  John 
de  Clyborne,  succeeded  by  Rowland,  lord  of  the  manors  of  Cliburn  Hervey  and 
Tailbois.     Rowland,  son  and  heir  of  John  de  Clyborn,  was  lord  of  the  manors  of 


90  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN     REVOLUTION. 

Cliburn,  Hervey  and  Tailbois,  and  held  Bampton,  Cundale  and  Knipe  by  homage, 
fealty  and  courage.  Rowland  had  John,  who  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Sir  Thomas  Curwen,  of  Workington  Hall.  This  Elizabeth  sprang  from  Cos- 
patrick,  who,  says  Freeman,  was  of  "  the  noblest  blood  of  Northumberland  and 
the  Kingly  blood  of  Wessex."  John  and  Elizabeth  had  a  son  Thomas,  of  Cle- 
burne Hall.  Thomas  had  Robert  of  Cliborne,  Westmoreland  and  Killerby,  in 
York,  who  married  Emma  Kirkbride,  of  Kirkbride,  whose  arms  were  quartered 
with  her  husband's.  Their  son  and  heir  was  Edmond,  or  Edward,  who  had 
Richard.  This  Richard  built  Cleburn  Hall,  at  present  standing  in  Cleburn,  West- 
moreland County,  England.  Richard  had  Edmond,  who  married  Grace,  second 
daughter  of  Sir  Allan  Bellingham,  of  Helsington  and  Levins.  Edmund  and  Grace 
had  Col.  William  Claiborne,  Secretary  of  Virginia,  who  was  their  second  son, 
and  the  ancestor  of  the  American  branch  of  the  Claiborne  family. 


WILLIAH  CLAIBORNE,  son  of  Edmund,  was  born  at  Cleburn  Hall,  West- 
moreland, England,  in  1587,  died  in  Virginia,  1676.  In  1621  he  was  appointed 
surveyor  of  the  plantations  of  Virginia  under  the  London  company.  He  arrived 
at  Jamestown  in  the  ship  "George"  with  Sir  Francis  Wyatt  and  other  members 
of  the  new  council,  October,  1621.  He  acquired  landed  estates  amounting  to 
45,000  acres.  On  March  24,  1625,  he  was  commissioned  by  Charles  I.  as  a 
member  of  the  council,  and  "to  be  our  Secretary  of  State  for  the  said  Collony 
and  Plantation  of  Virginia."  Owing  to  subsequent  events  he  became  known  as 
"  the  evil  genius  of  Maryland."  Under  a  patent  of  King  Charles  I.,  dated  May  16, 
1631,  authorizing  him  "to  make  discoveries,"  etc.,  he  "discovered"  and  partially 
planted  and  settled  the  isle  of  Kent  before  the  first  patent  of  Maryland  was  heard 
of;  and  when  Lord  Baltimore's  first  colony  arrived  at  St.  Marie's,  in  March,  1634, 
Claiborne  had  been  settled  on  the  isle  of  Kent  for  more  than  three  years,  and  his 
settlement  had  been  recognized  by  the  admission  of  the  burgess  into  the  Virginia 


SONS    OF    THE    AMERICAN     REVOLUTION. 


91 


Assembly.  It  caused  serious  trouble  between  the  two  claimants  and  their  adher- 
ents which  was  kept  up  for  many  years,  resulting  in  frequent  collisions  and  bloodshed. 
Lord  Baltimore's  influence  with  the  home  government  was  paramount  to  that  of 
Claiborne  and  resulted  in  a  decision  in  the  former's  favor  in  1658,  and  in  1660 
Claiborne  was  turned  out  of  the  secretaryship  of  Virginia  and  also  from  the 
council.  He  has  been  unjustly  called  "  Claiborne  the  rebel."  He  married  Jane 
Buller,  of  London,  and  had  a  son,  Thomas. 

Lient.=Col.  Thomas  Claiborne,  son  of  Hon.  William  Claiborne,  was  born 
in  Virginia,  1647  ;  died  16S3.  He  married  Miss  Dandridge,  of  Virginia,  and  had 
Thomas  (2). 

Capt.  Thomas  Claiborne  (2),  son  of  Lieut. -Col.  Thomas  (1)  and  Miss 
(Dandridge)  Claiborne,  was  born  in  1681  ;  died  in  1732.  He  married  Ann  Fox,  a 
descendant  of  Lord  Delaware.     She  died  1733.     They  had  issue,  Augustine. 


JOHN    HERBERT  CLAIBORNE. 

Col.  Augustine  Claiborne,  son  of  Capt.  Thomas  and  Ann  (Fox)  Claiborne, 
was  born  at  Sweethall,  Va.,  in  1720;  died  May  3,  1787.  He  married  Mary,  daugh- 
ter of  Buller  Herbert,  of  Paddledock,  Prince  George's  County,  Va.  She  was  a 
woman  of  marked  character  and  fine  intellectual  attainments,  withal  a  fearless 
and  uncompromising  Tory.  John  and  Buller  Herbert,  of  London,  England,  settled 
at  Paddledock,  near  Petersburg,  where  John's  tomb  is  still  to  be  seen.  On  it  is 
inscribed  the  family  Arms — Per  pale  azure  and  gules,  three  lions  rampant,  argent 
and  langued  or.  Crest — A  bundle  of  arrows  or,  headed  and  feathered  argent,  six 
in  saltire,  one  in  pale,  girt  round  the  middle  with  a  belt  gule,  buckle  and  point 
extended,  of  the  first.  Col.  Augustine  Claiborne,  by  his  wife,  Mary  (Herbert) 
Claiborne,  had  a  son,  John  Herbert. 

JOHN  HERBERT  CLAIBORNE,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Col. 
Augustine  and  Mary  (Herbert)  Claiborne,  was  born  at  Windsor,  Surrey  County. 


92  SONS    OF    THE    AMERICAN     REVOLUTION. 

Va.,  May  30,  1763.  He  arrived  at  "fighting  age"  before  the  close  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  joined  the  Surrey  Troop,  a  company  of  horse  raised  during  the  latter 
part  of  the  war  and  attached  to  Lee's  Legion.  The  company  was  composed 
mostly  of  young  men  of  Surrey,  gentlemen's  sons,  who  were  armed  and  equipped 
at  their  own  expense.  The  company  was  commanded  by  Capt.  Cocke,  his 
brother-in-law,  who  was  subsequently  captured  and  died  in  prison  of  small-pox. 
After  being  in  service  a  short  time  the  company  was  led  into  a  trap  by  the  enemy 
and  would  doubtless  have  been  captured  but  for  the  timely  arrival  of  Major  Buller 
Claiborne,  who  took  command  and  extricated  them.  He  was  a  brother  of  John 
Herbert  and  an  old  experienced  soldier  then  serving  on  the  staff  of  Gen.  Lincoln. 
John  Herbert  Claiborne  saw  considerable  service  and  was  present  with  his 
troop  at  the  siege  of  Yorktown,  and  surrender  of  Cornwallis.  He  married 
Mary,  daughter  of  Roger  Gregory,  of  Chesterfield  County.     They  had  a  son,  John. 

Rev.  John  Gregory  Claiborne,  son  of  John  Herbert  and  Mary  (Gregory) 
Claiborne,  was  born  at  Claiborne,  Dinwidclee  County,  Va,  1798.  He  was 
educated  at  William  and  Mary  College,  Va.,  and  subsequently  entered  the 
ministry  of  the  Protestant  M.  E.  Church.  He  was  a  most  devoted  and  earnest 
preacher,  and  was  known  far  and  wide  as  the  "  Patriarch  of  Methodism  "  in 
Virginia.  He  was  a  man  of  learning  and  great  breadth  of  mind,  but  simple  and 
unaffected  in  his  manner.  He  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Daniel  VVeldon,  of 
Weldon,  N.  C,  a  descendant  of  an  old  and  distinguished  family  of  North  Carolina. 
They  had  issue,  John  Herbert. 

John  Herbert  Claiborne,  11. D.,  Sr.,  son  of  Rev.  John  Gregory  and  Eliza- 
beth (Weldon)  Claiborne,  was  born  at  Roslyn  Castle,  Brunswick,  Va.,  in  1827; 
graduated  at  the  University  of  Virginia,  and  soon  after  began  the  study  of 
medicine.  Although  thoroughly  and  well  fitted  for  the  profession  he  had  chosen, 
the  excitement  of  public  affairs  had  for  the  time  a  greater  attraction  for  him.  He 
entered  with  enthusiasm  into  the  political  canvass,  and  in  1858  was  elected  to  the 
State  Senate  of  Virginia.  He  was  always  a  firm  advocate  of  State  rights  and 
when  the  political  issue  was  brought  to  a  final  test  he  earnestly  espoused  the 
cause  of  the  South,  believing  that  a  separation  between  the  North  and  the  South 
was  the  only  remedy  for  the  existing  troubles.  When  his  native  State  seceeded 
from  the  Union,  he  drew  his  sword  and  never  sheathed  it  until  the  final  surrender 
at  Appomattox.  Although  a  born  fighter  and  leader  of  men,  the  great  necessity 
for  medical  and  surgical  aid  in  the  army  led  him  to  enter  the  Confederate  army  in 
his  professional  capacity.  He  was  appointed  surgeon  of  the  Twelfth  Virginia 
Regiment,  with  the  rank  of  Major.  His  regiment  was  attached  to  Mahone's 
Brigade.  When  the  war  closed  he  was  stationed  at  Petersburg  and  had  charge  of 
all  the  hospitals  in  that  locality.  After  leaving  the  army  he  began  the  practice  of 
medicine  in  Petersburg,  Va  ,  where  he  still  continues  and  is  well  and  favorably 
known,  and  has  achieved  a  reputation  as  a  surgeon  and  physician.  He  married 
Sara  Joseph,  daughter  of  Joseph  Alston,  of  Halifax,  N.  C,  a  descendant  of  an  old 
and  well-known  family  of  that  State.      He  had  issue,  John  Herbert,  Jr. 

JOHN  HERBERT  CLAIBORNE,  fl.D.,  Jr.,  Empire  State  Society.  S. 
A.  R.,  son  of  Dr.  John  Herbert  and  Sara  Joseph  (Alston)  Claiborne,  twenty-fourth 
in  descent  from  Budolph,  Lord  of  Ravensworth,  was  born  at  Lewisburg,  N.  C, 
June  29,  1861.  He  was  educated  at  the  University  School,  Petersburg,  Va.,  and 
he  University  of  Virginia,  receiving  his  degree  of   M.D.  from  the  latter  institution. 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  93 

After  completing  his  course  of  study  here  he  went  abroad  and  studied  at  the 
Universities  of  Halle  and  Berlin  ;  also  attended  clinics  in  Paris  and  London.  On 
his  return  in  1S86  he  settled  in  New  York  city.  He  had  made  a  special  study  of 
diseases  of  the  eye  and  ear,  and  soon  entered  upon  an  active  and  lucrative  practice, 
although  almost  an  entire  stranger  at  the  beginning.  Among  his  warmest  friends 
who  aided  and  encouraged  him  at  the  start,  was  the  eminent  specialist,  Dr.  C.  R. 
Agnew.  Dr.  Claiborne  is  now  recognized  as  among  the  leading  specialists  in  his 
line.  He  is  a  man  of  advanced  ideas  in  his  profession  and  is  the  author  of  '  Theory 
and  Practice  of  the  Ophthalmoscope,"  the  "  Functional  Examination  of  the  Eye," 
and  is  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  medical  journals  on  this  special  line.  He  was 
formerly  clinical  assistant  at  the  Manhattan  Eye  and  Ear  Hospital,  visiting  sur- 
geon of  eye  and  ear  diseases  at  the  North  Western  Dispensary ;  is  at  present 
assistant  surgeon  to  the  New  Amsterdam  Eye  and  Ear  Hospital,  instructor  in 
Ophthamology  at  Columbia  University,  and  was  first  adjunct  professor  of  eye 
diseases  in  the  New  York  Polyclinic  College. 

Fond  of  outdoor  exercises,  an  expert  horseman,  he  joined  Troop  A.,  N.  G.  S. 
N.  Y.,  retiring  after  five  years'  service,  as  Third  Sergeant  of  Troop  1,  Squadron 
A.  He  was  on  constant  duty  during  the  Buffalo  riots,  and  the  Troop  rendered 
most  important  service  during  the  Brooklyn  riots. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine,  American  Medical 
Association,  New  York  Medical  Society,  the  Military  Club,  University  Club, 
Fencer's  Club,  Calumet,  and  Knickerbocker  Riding  Club. 


JACKSON-HALSEY—  BEACH. 

Robert  Jackson,  the  ancestor  of  this  family,  was  one  of  the  original  settlers 
of  the  town  of  Hempstead,  L.  I.,  in  1643;  was  magistrate  under  the  Dutch 
government  in  1659;  one  of  the  delegates  to  the  convention  held  in  1665,  after 
the  English  occupation,  which  adopted  the  code  of  laws  for  the  colony  known  as 
the  "Duke's  Laws."  He  died  in  Hempstead,  1684.  He  married  Agnes,  daughter 
of  William  Washburn,  and  had  sons  John  and  Samuel,  and  daughters  Saiah 
(married  Nathaniel  Moore)  and  Martha  (married  Nathaniel  Coles). 

John  Jackson,  son  of  Robert,  lived  at  Jerusalem,  town  of  Hempstead,  where 
he  died  in  17:5.  He  was  Sheriff  of  Queen's  County,  Judge  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas,  Colonel  of  Militia  and  a  member  of  the  Provincial  Assembly;  one 
of  the  most  prominent  men  in  the  county.  He  married,  first,  Elizabeth,  daughter 
of  Capt.  John  Seaman,  one  of  the  original  settlers  of  the  town  of  Hempstead  ;  he 
married,  second,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Samuel  Hallett,  son  of  William  Hallett, 
the  ancestor,  who  acquired  a  large  estate  at  Hell  Gate.  His  house  and  plantation 
at  Hallett's  Cove  was  destroyed  by  the  Indians  in  1655.  William  Hallett  was 
appointed  Sheriff  in  1656,  but  was  deposed  by  Gov.  Stuyvesant  for  allowing  Rev. 
William  Wickenden  to  preach  at  his  house.  On  the  revolt  of  Long  Island  from 
the  Dutch,  he  warmly  advocated  the  claims  of  Connecticut  and  was  sent  as  a 
delegate  to  the  General  Court  of  that  colony.     At  his  death  his  property  at  Hell 


94  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

Gate  Neck  was  equally  divided  between  his  sons,  William  and  Samuel.  Col.  John 
Jackson,  by  his  wife,  Elizabeth  Seaman,  had  sons  fames,  John  and  Samuel,  and 
five  daughters,  who  are  mentioned  in  his  will. 

James  Jackson,  born  about  1673,  son  of  John  and  Elizabeth  (Seaman)  Jack- 
son, was  born  at  Hempstead,  L.  I.,  and  died  at  Flushing,  L.  I.,  1735.  He  was 
voted  a  silver  tankard  valued  at  ^50  by  the  colony  of  Rhode  Island,  for  services 
in  settling  a  boundary  dispute  with  Massachusetts  in  1733.  He  married  in  1694, 
Rebecca  Hallett,  born  August  31,  1675,  daughter  of  William  (2),  eldest  son  of 
William  (1).  They  had  issue  twenty  children,  of  whom  eighteen  were  living  at 
his  death.  They  were:  Thomas,  born  December  4,  1694,  married  Mary  Town- 
send  ;  Mary,  born  November  20,  1696,  married  first,  Jacob  Willets,  second, 
Nathaniel  Townsend  ;  Sarah,  born  December  11,  1697,  married  Samuel  Clement; 
Rebecca,  born  February  20,  1699,  married  Sylvanus  Seaman  ;  John,  born  March  9, 
1701,  married  Sarah  Doty;  Charity,  born  February  26,  1702,  married  John  Dingee ; 
Elizabeth,  born  March   20,    1703,  married   Nathaniel   Field;  James,  born  June  4, 

1704,  married   first,  Sarah   Thorne,  second   Mary  Thorne ;  William,   born  July  6, 

1705,  died  in  infancy  ;  Hannah,  born  August  5,  1706,  married  John  Hicks  ;  William, 
born  October  4,  1707,  married  Prudence  Smith;  Martha,  born  January  26,  1709, 
married  William  Green  ;  Joseph,  born  February  9,  17 10,  married  Mary  Rogers; 
Richard,  born  March  20,  171 1,  married  Mary  Wright,  daughter  of  Nathaniel 
Townsend;  Phebe,  born  May  3,  1712,  married  Edward  Fitz  Randolph,  1734; 
Robert,  born  May  15,  1713,  married  Sarah  Hewlett;  Jemima,  born  November  25, 
1 7 14,  married  Henry  Hicks;  Samuel,  born  July  21,  1716,  married  Sarah  Carpenter; 
Stephen,  born  August  17,  1 7 1 7,  married  Mary  Lewis;  Benjamin,  born  July  6,  1719, 
married  Amy  Paul,  widow. 

Joseph  Jackson,  son  of  James  and  Rebecca  (Hallett)  Jackson,  was  born  at 
Flushing,  L.  I.,  February  9,  1710.  He  removed  before  the  Revolution,  about  1731 
or  1732,  to  Rockaway,  Morris  County,  N.  J.,  where  he  and  his  son  Stephen 
acquired  a  large  tract  of  land,  and  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  iron.  As  early 
as  1722  John  Jackson,  probably  an  elder  brother,  purchased  527  acres  in  the 
vicinity  of  Dover,  and  erected  there  the  first  forge  on  what  is  still  called  Jackson's 
Brook.  It  was  near  this  site  that  Joseph  and  his  son  Stephen  established  their 
forge.  Stephen,  in  1812,  devised  his  forge  to  his  sons  William  and  John,  but  both 
interests  were  subsequently  purchased  by  their  brother  Col.  Joseph  Jackson,  and 
the  property  is  still  in  the  hands  of  his  family.  Joseph  Jackson  married  aboui 
1 73 1,  Mary  Rogers,  probably  a  descendant  of  Thomas  Rogers  (who  came  over  in 
the  "Mayflower")  and  had  issue,  James,  William,  Elizabeth,  Mary,  Stephen, 
Anna,  Edward,  Phebe,  Benjamin  and  Daniel. 

STEPHEN  JACKSON,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Joseph  and 
Mary  (Rogers)  Jackson,  was  born  at  Rockaway,  in  1744.  He  was  captain  of  a 
troop  of  horse  engaged  in  reconnoitering  the  enemy's  lines  below  Short  Hills  during 
the  severe  winter  of  1 779-80,  while  the  army,  under  Gen.  Washington,  was  encamped 
at  Morristown.  In  this  service  he  contracted  a  pulmonary  disease  which  he 
supposed  would,  terminate  fatally.  Previous  to  this  time  he  had  been  engaged  in 
the  manufacture  of  iron,  but  during  his  illness  sold  his  forge.  After  his  recovery 
he  tried  to  repurchase  it,  but  the  party  declined  to  sell.  He  erected,  the  following 
year,  another  forge  at  the  lower  dam,  at  Rockaway,  which  he  sold  to  his  son 
Joseph  in  1809.     He  was  one  of  the  original  founders  and  stockholders  of  Morris 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  9$ 

Academy,  at  Morristown,  where  his  sons  received  their  education.  He  married,  at 
Rockaway,  December  19,  1768,  Mary,  daughter  of  Adam  Burwell,  and  had  issue 
fourteen  children,  as  follows:  Elizabeth,  born  October  17,  1769,  married  Aaron 
Lyon;  Agnes,  born  January  6,  1772,  married  David  Herriman ;  Joseph,  born 
March  8,  1774,  married  first.  Elizabeth  Piatt  Ogden,  daughter  of  Robert  Ogden, 
Esq.,  of  Sparta,  second,  Electa  Beach,  daughter  of  Capt.  Enoch  Beach  and  widow 
of  Silas  Dickerson  ;  James,  born  January  14,  1776,  married  Clarissa  Hoff ;  Mar- 
garet, born  July  17,  1778,  married  Samuel  Arnold;  Stephen,  born  December  15, 
1780,  died  December  27,  1781;  twin  daughters,  born  17S2,  died  in  infancy; 
Stephen,  born  October  11,  1783,  died  September  19,  1801  ;  Jacob,  born  January  22, 
1786,  died  March  21.  1 79 1  ;  William,  born  March  16,  1788,  married  Susan  D. 
Halsey  ;  Maria,  born  February  9,  1790,  died  July  29,  1808;  Harriet,  born  June  8, 
1792,  married  Dr.  Ira  Crittenden  ;  John  I).,  born  September  9,  1794,  married 
Agnes  Doughty. 

William  Jackson,  son  of  Stephen  and  Mary  (Burwell)  Jackson,  was  born  at 
Rockaway,  Morris  County,  N.  J.,  March  16,  178S.  He  was  one  of  the  first  to 
introduce  the  improved  methods  of  iron  manufacture  in  this  country.  On  January 
26,  1822,  he  and  his  brother.  Col.  Joseph  Jackson,  entered  into  an  agreement  to 
build  a  rolling  mill  on  the  Colonel's  land  in  Rockaway,  to  be  driven  by  water. 
This  was  to  continue  for  twenty-one  years,  the  property  then  to  revert  to  his 
brother  at  its  appraised  value.  William  Jackson  made  the  following  statement, 
which  appears  in  the  History  of  Morris  County,  N.  J.:  "The  first  bar  of  round 
iron  ever  rolled  in  this  country  was  done  by  Col.  Joseph  Jackson  and  myself 
in  the  old  rolling  mill  at  Paterson,  at  that  time  owned  by  Samuel  and  Roswell 
Colt,  in  the  year  1820,  under  a  contract  to  furnish  the  United  States  government 
with  a  certain  quantity  of  rolled  and  hammered  iron  at  the  Navy  Yard,  Brooklyn, 
in  which  we  succeeded  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  government.  Our  experi- 
ments at  rolling  round  and  square  iron  induced  us  to  build  the  rolling  mill  at  Rock- 
away which  was  completed  in  November,  1822."  He  subsequently  sold  out  his 
entire  interest  to  his  brother.  In  1823  he  purchased  1,200  acres  of  timber  in  a 
perfectly  wild  region  of  country  in  what  was  then  a  part  of  Bergen,  now  Passaic 
County.  On  this  he  established  the  celebrated  Clinton  Iron  Works — so  named  in 
honor  of  DeWitt  Clinton.  He  erected  a  saw  mill,  forge  and  blast  furnace; 
sawed  timber  and  made  iron,  which  he  carted  to  Dover  and  Rockaway  for  a 
market.  He  employed  a  large  number  of  men  and  teams  in  the  transportation  of 
his  lumber  and  iron,  and  the  returning  trips  were  made  with  loads  of  ore.  He 
constructed  roads  and  built  houses  for  his  men,  and  made  vast  improvements  in 
that  region  of  country.  He  also  built  an  anchor  shop  and  made  anchors.  While 
the  works  were  being  constructed,  iron  fell  one-half  or  more  in  price,  owing  to  the 
tariff  legislation,  and  Mr.  Jackson  was  obliged  to  stop  operations.  In  1833  he  sold 
his  property  and  subsequenrly  removed  to  Hamburg,  Sussex  County,  N.  J.,  where 
he  built  for  a  company  a  blast  furnace  which  he  operated  for  several  years.  In 
1837  he  removed  to  East  Avon,  N.  Y.,  and  subsequently  removed  to  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.,  where  he  died  October  18,  1872.  He  married  Susan  Day  Halsey,  daughter 
of  Dr.  Abraham  and  Nancy  (Beach)  Halsey.  He  was  the  son  of  Elihu  and  Eliza- 
beth (Ely)  Halsey. 

DR.  ABRAHAM  HALSEY,  Soldier  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Elihu 
and  Elizabeth  (Ely)  Halsey,  was  born  at  Hanover,  N.  J.,  February  19,  1764.     He 


96  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

received  as  good  an  education  as  the  country  afforded,  and  in  the  later  years  of 
the  Revolutionary  War,  though  but  sixteen  years  of  age,  he  served  in  the  militia 
and  probably  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Springfield,  in  June,  1780.  After  the  close 
of  the  war  he  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  John  Darcy,  who  had  served  in  the  war 
as  surgeon's  mate.  He  removed  to  Oswego,  in  Dutchess  County,  N.  Y.,  where  he 
practiced  his  profession  with  great  success  during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He 
married,  October  20,  179!,  Nancy,  daughter  of  Capt.  Enoch  and  Susan  (Day) 
Beach.  He  was  a  descendant  in  the  sixth  generation  of  Thomas  Halsey,  who 
settled  in  Southampton,  L.  I.,  in  1640. 

CAPT.  ENOCH  BEACH,  Soldi kr  of  the  Revolution,  was  a  captain  of 
militia  in  Morris  County,  and  served  with  distinction  under  Gen.  Heard  when  the 
latter  was  left  with  three  brigades  to  guard  New  Jersey,  while  Washington  had 
gone  with  the  main  army  to  West  Point.  A  son  of  Enoch  Beach's  pastor  who 
served  with  him,  says  :  "  He  stood  before  his  company  with  the  greatest  calmness 
and  composure  and  scarcely  spoke  at  all,  unless  it  was  to  drop  now  and  then  a 
word  of  encouragement  to  his  men  while  they  were  waiting  orders  to  advance." 
Enoch  Beach  had  a  son  Samuel,  a  student  at  Princeton  College,  who  left  college  for 
a  time  and  served  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution.  Capt.  Enoch  Beach  was  a  grand- 
son of  Zopher  Beach,  who  settled  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  in  1685,  where  he  was  known 
as  the  "  well  beloved  brother." 

The  issue  of  the  marriage  of  William  Jackson  and  Susan  Day  Halsey  was 
Mary  Burwell,  married  Freeman  Wood,  Nancy  Beach,  married  John  F.  Winslow, 
Abraham  Halsey,  William  Augustus,  Joseph  Henry,  Samuel  Beach,  Susan  Louisa, 
married  Augustus  Sydenham  Winslow,  Silas  Halsey,  Sarah  Electa,  Theodore 
FrelingJiHysoi,  Freeman  Winslow,  Robert  Alexander,  Edmund  Drake  and 
Frances  Arabella. 

THEODORE  FRELINGHUYSEN  JACKSON,  Empire  State  Society, 
S.  A.  R.,  tenth  child  of  William  and  Susan  Day  (Halsey)  Jackson,  was  born  at 
Rockaway,  N.  J.,  November  16,  1830.  He  was  educated  in  Livingston  County, 
N.  Y.,  and  studied  law  with  Judge  Onderdonk,  at  Manhasset,  L.  I.  He  was  subse- 
quently acting  deputy  clerk  of  Queens  County,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1852.  Soon  after  he  began  practice  he  formed  a  law  partnership  with  Paul  J. 
Fish,  at  that  time  the  oldest  resident  lawyer  in  Williamsburg.  His  association 
with  a  man  of  such  prominence  and  large  experience  was  a  great,  advantage  to 
him  in  the  early  part  of  his  professional  career.  This  continued  for  seven  years 
and  from  that  time  until  1874  he  practiced  on  his  own  account.  Both  from  choice 
and  favorable  circumstances  he  became  connected  with  large  real  estate  interests, 
and  he  became  an  expert  and  authority  in  this  line.  His  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  value  of  real  estate  in  Brooklyn  and  other  parts  of  Long  Island  led  to  his 
appointment  by  Mayor  Seth  Low  as  Register  of  Arrears  of  Taxes,  a  most  difficult 
and  responsible  position,  owing  to  the  large  accumulation  of  unpaid  taxes, 
the  result  of  dissatisfied  and  protesting  property  holders.  With  great  wisdom, 
tact  and  good  judgment  he  adjusted  the  differences  between  the  property  holders 
and  the  city  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  all  parties,  and  was  highly  complimented 
for  his  efforts,  and  the  task  of  preparing  a  bill  for  the  relief  of  the  taxpayers, 
which  was  finally  adopted  by  the  State  Legislature,  was  assigned  to  him,  and 
although  the  bill  in  its  completed  form  was  the  work  of  Hon.  William  M.  Evarts, 
the  credit  of  the  original  draft   is  due  to  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Jackson.     He  was 


Sons  of  the  American   revolution.  97 

thorough,  painstaking,  accurate  and  reliable,  and  his  clients  always  had  the  utmost 
confidence  in  his  judgment  and  acted  unhesitatingly  on  his  advice  and  counsel. 
He  was  elected  Comptroller  of  the  city  of  Brooklyn  in  1SS9  to  fill  a  vacancy  and 
was  afterwards  regularly  elected  to  the  position  for  two  years.  He  formed  a  new 
law  copartnership  with  Joseph  A.  Burr  in  1874,  which  continued  until  1893,  when 
he  retired  from  practice  after  nearly  half  a  century  of  arduous  and  incessant 
labors.  His  interest  in  the  achievements  of  his  Revolutionary  ancestors  led  to  his 
becoming  a  member  of  the  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution, 
and  thus  helping  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  men  to  whom  we  owe  a 
debt  of  gratitude  that  should  never  be  forgotten. 

Mr.  Jackson  possesses  the  serene  and  quiet  disposition,  as  well  as  the  force 
and  determination  of  character  for  which  his  ancestors  were  noted  in  their  day 
and  generation.  Calm  and  self-possessed  under  the  most  trying  circumstances, 
he  has  met  and  overcome  all  difficulties  and  success  has  crowned  his  efforts. 

Mr.  Jackson  married,  September  11,  1861 — the  anniversary  and  celebration  of 
his  father's  golden  wedding — Cornelia  W.,  daughter  of  Jonathan  S.  Burr,  of 
Brooklyn,  son  of  Gen.  Gershom  Burr,  son  of  Gershom  and  nephew  of  Thaddeus 
(2),  whose  father  was  Thaddeus,  son  of  Judge  Peter  Burr,  of  Fairfield,  brother 
of  David  Burr,  who  was  the  grandfather  of  Aaron  Burr.  Thaddeus  Burr  (2), 
above  referred  to,  was  a  noted  patriot,  whose  house  was  destroyed  at  the  burning 
of  Fairfield  by  the  British,  in  1779.  He  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Gen.  John 
Hancock,  who  was  married  at  his  house.  When  he  rebuilt  the  house  he  modeled 
it  after  that  of  Gov.  Hancock,  in  Boston.  They  were  descendants  of  Jehu,  who 
came  with  Winthrop's  fleet  to  America  in  1630,  and  settled  in  Connecticut.  Gen. 
Gershom  Burr  was  raised  by  his  uncle  Thaddeus  Burr,  his  father  having  died 
at  an  early  age.  Mr  Jackson  and  his  wife  have  had  two  children,  one  of  whom 
died  in  infancy;  the  other,  Frederick  Burr,  born  September,  1863,  died  Febru- 
ary 27,  1873. 


ROBERTS -HUBBARD-PRATT. 

The  family  of  Roberts  is  a  very  ancient  one.  Burke,  in  his  General  Armory, 
says:  This  family  "derived  through  Howel-ap-Iolin,  of  Llangedwin,  from  Einion 
Effell,  Lord  of  Cynllnaeth.  Catharine,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Maurice  Roberts, 
of  Llangedwin,  England,  married  Owen  Vaughn,  of  Llwydiarth,  County  Mont- 
gomery." 

William  Roberts,  the  projenitor  of  the  Middletown  family  of  this  name, 
probably  came  from  England.  He  may  have  been  the  son  of  John,  one  of  the 
original  settlers  of  Hartford.  His  name  appears  on  the  Middletown  records 
in   1680. 

Simeon  Roberts,  of  Middletown,  was  probably  a  grandson  of  William.  He 
married  Anna  Johnson,  supposed  to  be  a  granddaughter  or  great-granddaughter 
of  Isaac  Johnson,  who  settled  in  Middletown,  in  1670.     They  had  a  son,  Elijah. 

Elijah  Roberts,  Patriot  OF  the  Revolution,  son  of  Simeon  and  Anna 
(Johnson)  Roberts,  was  born  in  Middletown,  Conn.,  August  19,  1761  ;  died  Sep- 
tember 26,  1843.  His  name  first  appears  among  the  soldiers  of  the  Revolution 
who  responded  to  the  "  Lexington  Alarm,"  and  later  as  a  private  in  Capt.  Elihu 


98  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

Hubbard's  company,  of  Middletown,  which  formed  a  part  of  Col.  Huntington's 
regiment,  organized  in  1775,  and  reorganized  for  service  in  Continental  army  for 
the  year  1776.  After  the  siege  of  Boston  it  marched  under  Washington  to  New 
York  and  assisted  in  fortifying  the  city,  and  was  ordered,  August  24,  to  the  Brook- 
lyn front ;  engaged  in  the  battle  of  Long  Island,  August  27,  in  and  near  Green- 
wood Cemetery ;  was  surrounded  by  the  enemy  and  lost  heavily  in  prisoners. 
Private  Roberts'  name  appears  among  the  "  missing."  The  regiment  afterward 
joined  the  main  army  and  took  part  in  the  battle  of  White  Plains,  and  was 
engaged  in  the  battle  of  Bemis  Heights  and  surrender  of  Burgoyne  at  Saratoga, 
October,  1777.  He  brought  with  him  a  musket  and  cartridge  box  captured  from 
the  enemy.  These  are  now  in  possession  of  his  descendants.  His  name  next 
appears  among  the  list  of  pensioners  residing  in  Middletown  in  1832.  He  married, 
October  24,  1786,  Phebe  Hubbard,  daughter  of  Nehemiah  Hubbard.  The  Hub- 
bard family  was  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  prominent  in  the  town  of  Middletown. 

Qeorge  Hubbard,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  town,  was  born,  as  is  supposed, 
in  the  southeastern  part  of  England,  in  1601.  His  name  appears  on  the  list  of 
the  original  settlers  of  Hartford,  in  1639.  He  was  assigned  six  acres  of  land  by- 
courtesy  of  the  town  and  resided  there  for  some  years.  About  1650  he  left  Hart- 
ford, carrying  with  him  a  commission  from  the  Colonial  government  as  Indian 
Agent  and  Trader  for  the  Mattabesett  District,  afterwards  named  Middletown,  of 
which  he  became  an  original  settler.  He  was  made  freeman  March  18,  1684.  He 
was  a  man  of  "  marked  integrity  and  fairness"  He  was  a  large  property  owner 
and  owned  226  acres  at  Long  Hill.  He  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Richard 
Watts,  an  original  proprietor  of  Hartford,  and  had  eight  children,  of  whom 
Nathaniel  was  the  sixth. 

Nathaniel  Hubbard  (1)  son  of  George  and  Elizabeth  (Watts)  Hubbard,  was 
born  in  Middletown,  December  10,  1652;  died  May  29,  1682.  He  lived  at  Long 
Hill,  on  the  cross  roads,  some  two  miles  west  of  the  Connecticut  river,  on  the 
property  purchased  by  his  father.  He  married  Mary  Earle,  and  had  ten  children, 
of  whom  Natha7iiel  (2)  was  the  fourth  child  and  eldest  son. 

Nathaniel  Hubbard  (2),  son  of  Nathaniel  (1)  and  Mary  (Earle)  Hubbard, 
was  born  in  Middletown,  September  14,  1690;  died  October  4,  1765.  He  married 
Sarah  Johnson  and  had  six  children,  of  whom  Nehemiah  was  the  third  child  and 
second  son 

Nehemiah  Hubbard,  third  child  and  second  son  of  Nathaniel  (2)  and  Sarah 
(Johnson)  Hubbard,  was  born  at  the  homestead.  Long  Hill,  Middletown,  July  22, 
1721.  He  served  in  the  ranks  throughout  the  French  War.  He  resided  on  the 
farm  where  he  was  born.  He  married,  October  12,  1748,  Sarah,  daughter  of 
Joseph  and  Phebe  (Lord)  Sill,  of  Lyme,  Conn.;  he  was  probably  son  of  Joseph 
Sill,  born  in  England,  1636,  died  at  Lyme,  1696;  a  captain  in  the  Indian  War,  1676; 
son  of  John,  the  ancestor,  who  settled  in  Cambridge,  Mass.,  1637  ;  freeman  1638. 
By  this  marriage  Mr.  Hubbard  had  thirteen  children,  of  whom  Phebe  was  the 
eighth.  She  was  born  January  3,  1761  ;  married  Elijah  Roberts,  and  had  among 
other  children,  a  son,  Elijah  Hubbard  Roberts. 

Elijah  Hubbard  Roberts,  fifth  child  and  second  son  of  Elijah  and  Phebe 
(Hubbard)  Roberts,  was  born  in  that  part  of  Middletown  known  as  Long  Hill, 
April  4,  1795.  He  received  a  good  education  in  his  native  town,  and  his  early 
business  training  was  under  the  direction   of  his  uncle,  Nehemiah   Hubbard,  in 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN     REVOLUTION.  99 

whose  employ  he  remained  for  some  time.  It  is  said  he  closely  resembled  his 
uncle  in  character  and  appearance  as  he  advanced  in  years.  He  went  to  New 
York  city  early  in  the  twenties,  where  he  established  a  large  and  successful  busi- 
ness. Later  he  went  to  Mobile,  Ala.,  and  engaged  in  the  cotton  commission 
business.  In  1839  he  made  a  trip  to  St.  Petersburg,  Russia,  to  arrange  for  the 
importation  of  Russian  hemp  into  this  country.  Such  a  trip  was  considered  a 
great  undertaking  in  those  days,  but  he  accomplished  his  object.  He  was  con- 
nected with  Tucker,  Cooper  &  Co.,  the  earliest  house  engaged  in  this  branch  of 
business,  which  was  organized  in  1855  as  the  New  York  Hemp  &  Flax  Manufac- 
turing Co.,  Mr.  Roberts  being  one  of  the  ten  incorporators  and  a  director  in  the 
company  from  1868  to  1874.  He  was  recognized  as  one  of  the  leading  merchants 
of  his  day  in  New  York  city.  With  his  progressive  ideas  he  became  interested  in 
Chicago  in  its  early  days,  and  was  a  partner  in  what  appears  on  the  city  map  as 
Johnson's,  Roberts'  and  Stoors'  addition  to  Chicago. 

After  acquiring  a  competence  Mr.  Roberts  returned  to  Middletown,  Conn, 
and  in  1856  he  purchased  the  old  Commodore  McDonnough  home  and  spent  the 
remainder  of  his  days  amid  the  quiet  scenes  of  his  country  home.  He  was  a  man 
of  studious  habits  and  employed  his  leisure  time  in  the  cultivation  of  his  mind. 
He  was  greatly  beloved  by  the  people  of  his  native  town.  He  was  the  invaluable 
referee  in  business  matters  and  the  ever  welcome  addition  to  the  social  circle. 
He  made  great  sacrifices  to  accommodate  his  neighbors,  and  in  his  frequent  trips 
to  New  York  during  his  early  business  career  his  trunk  or  valise  was  filled  with 
letters  and  packages  of  his  neighbors  for  which  he  willingly  made  himself  the 
bearer,  express  companies  not  being  in  existence  then  and  letter  postage  was  high. 
As  one  of  the  directors  of  the  Middlesex  County  Bank  he  also  became  the  volun- 
tary messenger  and  frequently  carried  for  that  institution  large  sums  of  money, 
which,  owing  to  his  plain,  unassuming  manners,  was  never  suspected  by  his  fellow- 
travelers.  While  a  resident  in  New  York  he  united  with  the  Bowery  Presbyterian 
Church  in  1831,  of  which  Dr.  John  Woodbrige  was  pastor,  and  was  active  in 
religious  work  and  liberal  in  his  gifts  to  advance  the  cause  of  Christianity.  On 
his  return  to  Middletown,  after  the  close  of  his  active  business  career,  he  continued 
his  efforts  in  the  cause  of  Christianity  and  humanity.  His  giving  was  without 
ostentation  and  he  always  followed  the  command,  "  Let  not  thy  right  hand  know 
what  thy  left  hand  doeth."  He  married  Emily  Matilda  Pratt,  daughter  of  Capt. 
John  Pratt,  of  the  Revolution,  a  descendant  in  the  sixth  generation  of  John  Pratt, 
the  ancestor  of  the  Hartford  family  of  this  name.  He  died  at  Middletown,  Conn., 
September  16,  1871. 

PRATT.— The  earliest  records  of  the  Pratt  family  show  that  they  were  con- 
picuous  for  their  courage  and  loyalty.  In  1 191  William  dePratellis  (William  Pratt) 
accompanied  King  Richard  to  the  Holy  Land,  and  on  a  certain  occasion,  when  the 
King  with  his  small  escort  became  separated  from  the  main  army  and  was  sur- 
rounded by  a  body  of  Turks,  William  de  Pratellis  rushed  forward  and  surrendered 
himself,  stating  in  the  Saracencic  language  that  he  was  the  King.  This  diversion 
enabled  the  King  to  escape  and  Pratellis  was  afterwards  exchanged  and  knighted  for 
his  valor.  The  immediate  ancestor  of  the  Hartford  and  Saybrook  branches  of  the 
Pratt  family  was  Rev.  William  Pratt,  "  Bachelor  of  Sacred  Theology,"  who  was 
for  thirty  years  rector  of  the  parish  church  of  the  parish  of  Stevenage,  County 
Hertford,  England,  who   died  in    1629,   aged  67.     Three   of  the  children  of  Rev. 


IOO  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

William  Pratt — Elizabeth,  John  and  William— are  not  recognized  in  their  father's 
will  for  the  probable  reason  that  they  left  England  or  signified  their  intention  of 
leaving,  and  received  their  portion.  John  and  William  Pratt  came  to  New  England 
as  early  as  1632  and  their  names  appear  in  the  first  division  of  Cambridge  lands 
as  the  owners  of  home  lots.  The  relationship  as  brothers  is  further  established 
by  the  fact  that  they  were  members  of  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker's  church,  and  in  all 
probability  formed  a  part  of  the  company  who  accompanied  their  pastor  through 
the  wilderness  and  laid  the  foundation  of  Hartford,  Conn.  William  received  his 
assignment  of  a  home  lot  in  Hartford,  which  he  afterward  sold  and  removed  to 
Saybrook. 

John  Pratt,  of  Hartford,  born  in  the  parish  of  Stevenage,  England,  received 
his  assignment  of  a  home  lot  in  February,  1639.  He  drew  lot  No.  31  and  soon 
after  purchased  No.  30,  which  was  drawn  by  Gov.  Haynes.  These  lots  lay  on  the 
west  side  of  Main  street  and  extended  north  from  the  present  Asylum  street  to 
the  Melodion.  From  him  Pratt  street  derives  its  name.  He  was  deputy  to  the 
first  General  Court  of  Connecticut,  April  and  August,  1638,  and  for  several  years 
afterward;  town  man,  1641  ;  juror,  1642;  member  of  the  first  grand  jury  in  the 
colony,  1643;  constable,  etc.,  and  held  other  positions  of  honor  in  the  town.  He 
died  July  15,  1655.     By  his  wife  Elizabeth,  he  had  John  (2)  and  Daniel. 

John  Pratt  (2).  son  of  John  (1)  and  Elizabeth  ( )  Pratt,  was  born  prob- 
ably in  Hartford,  Conn.     He   had  thirty-nine  acres   in  the  land  division  in  West 

Hartford,  in  1674.     He  died  in  1690      He  married  Hepsibah  ( ),  and  had  eight 

children,  of  whom  /<)/;;;  (3)  was  the  second. 

John  Pratt   (3),   son   of  John    (2)    and    Hepsibah    ( )    Pratt,  was   born   in 

Hartford.  He  married  Hannah  Sanford.  They  had  four  children,  of  whom 
William  was  the  second. 

William  Pratt,  son  of  John  and  Hannah  (Sanford)  Pratt,  was  born  in  Hart- 
ford in  1691  ;  died  January  19,  1753.  He  was  the  ancestor  of  Gen.  James  T. 
Pratt,  of  Rocky  Hill,  and  of  Henry  Pratt,  of  Rochester.  He  married  for  his 
second  wife  Mary,  daughter  of  Eliazer  Pinney.  Zechariah  was  the  youngest  of 
three  children  of  William  Pratt  by  his  first  wife— name  uncertain  -  but  she  died 
at  the  birth  of  Zechariah.  By  his  second  wife,  Mary  Pinney,  Mr.  Pratt  had  four 
children. 

Zechariah  Pratt,  youngest  child  of  William  Pratt  by  his  first  wife,  was  born 
in  Hartford  in  1727  ;  died  October  5,  1805.  He  resided  on  the  original  home  lot 
purchased  by  his  ancestor  from  Gov.  Haynes.  He  was  a  man  of  great  influence 
and  wealth  for  that  period,  his  estate  being  inventoried  at  $24,016.41.  He  married 
about  1746,  Abigail,  daughter  of  Capt.  Aaron  Cook.  Her  mother  was  Elizabeth 
Marsh,  a  woman  of  superior  mind  and  devotedly  pious.  Zechanah's  mother  died 
at  his  birth  and  he  chose  his  uncle,  Joseph  Talcott,  for  his  guardian.  By  his 
marriage  with  Abigail  Cook  he  had  issue  five  children,  of  whom  John  and  his 
twin  brother  James  were  born  October  12,  1753. 

CAPT.  JOHN  PRATT,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Zechariah 
and  Abigail  (Cook)  Pratt,  was  born  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  October  12,  1753;  died 
December  27,  1824.  He  entered  the  army  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution,  con- 
tinuing until  its  close  and  remaining  as  an  officer  of  the  army  for  some  years  after. 
He  was  Assistant  Commissary-General  under  Gen.  James  Clinton,  in  1779,  and 
engaged  in  the  campaigns  on  the  Hudson  during  that  year,  and  continued  in  this 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  IOI 

branch  of  the  service  until  1780  when  his  name  appears  as  lieutenant  in  the 
Fourth  Pennsylvania  Line.  His  correspondence  and  his  diary  which  he  kept  show 
that  he  continued  in  this  capacity  until  the  close  of  the  war.  He  remained  as  an 
officer  in  the  regular  army  for  some  years  afterward,  and  in  1791  was  appointed 
recruiting  officer  by  Gen.  Knox,  then  Secretary  of  War,  to  raise  troops  for 
Wayne's  expedition  to  Ohio  to  quell  the  Indian  disturbances.  His  instructions 
from  Gen.  Knox  were  to  "  enlist  no  negro,  mulatto  or  Indian."  He  accompanied 
Wayne's  expedition  to  Ohio,  sharing  in  all  the  hardships  and  dangers  of  that 
campaign.     He  resigned  his  commission  near  the  close  of   1793. 

He  was  one  of  the  early  members  of  the  Connecticut  Society  of  the  Cincin- 
nati. Soon  after  he  left  the  army  he  settled  in  Middletown,  Conn.  He  became  a 
magistrate  and  frequently  represented  Middletown  in  the  State  Legislature.  He 
served  in  the  May  and  October  sessions  of  1806,  October,  1807,  May,  1808,  May 
and  October,    1809.     During   Lafayette's  second   visit   to  this  country,  in   1823-4, 


he  passed  through  several  Connecticut  towns.  Capt.  Pratt  was  chief  of  the 
escort  which  went  to  Rocky  Hill  to  escort  him  to  Middletown.  They  rode 
together  in  the  same  carriage,  and  the  mutual  recognition  of  these  two  old 
comrades-in-arms  was  deeply  affecting.  On  reaching  Middletown  they  stopped  at 
the  Washington  Hotel,  now  (1898)  the  residence  of  Bishop  Williams,  and  Capt, 
Pratt  introduced  him  to  the  citizens  who  called  to  pay  their  respects  to  the  dis- 
tinguished guest.  In  the  evening  he  was  escorted  by  Capt.  Pratt  to  the  steamer 
Oliver  Ellsworth— the  first  regular  steamboat  to  ply  between  Hartford  and  New 
York — and  departed  for  New  York.  Mr.  Pratt  was  a  man  of  warm  sympathies, 
genial  in  his  hospitality,  sincere  in  his  friendship  and  ever  ready  to  lend  a  helping 
hand  to  those  in  trouble  or  distress.  He  died  as  he  had  lived,  a  devoted  Christian 
and  a  true  gentleman.  A  fine  life-size  portrait  of  him  hangs  in  the  Hartford 
Atheneum.  He  married,  February  28,  1795,  Elizabeth  Cooper,  daughter  of  Lani- 
berton  and  Elizabeth  (Brown)  Cooper,  of  Middletown.  They  had  eight  children, 
of  whom  Emily  Matilda  was  the  second.  She  was  born  August  17,  1797;  died 
November  8,  1870;  married  Elijah  Hubbard  Roberts  (see  Roberts). 


102  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

Elijah  Hubbard  Roberts,  by  his  marriage  to  Emily  Matilda  Pratt,  had  issue, 
Elizabeth  Cooper,  Frances  Emily,  John  Pratt,  Edward  Hubbard,  Mary  Pratt, 
Ellen  Cornelia  and  Richard  Hubbard. 

RICHARD  HUBBARD  ROBERTS,  Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R., 
youngest  child  of  Elijah  Hubbard  and  Emily  Matilda  (Pratt)  Roberts,  was  born 
in  Middletown,  Conn.,  October  16,  1839.  At  the  age  of  five  years  he  removed 
with  his  parents  to  Williamsburg,  now  Brooklyn,  E.  D.  He  was  sent  to  boarding 
school  at  Stamford,  Conn.,  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  started  on  his  business  career 
as  clerk  in  a  large  jewelry  establishment  in  Albany.  That  there  was  mutual  confi- 
dence between  employer  and  employee  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  he  remained 


RICHARD    UUBHAKH    KoI'.KKTS. 


with  the  firm  seven  years,  becoming  thoroughly  proficient  in  every  branch  of  the 
business.  He  then  formed  a  connection  with  the  old  well-known  firm  of  Ball, 
Black  &  Co.,  of  New  York,  where,  after  remaining  a  short  time  he  returned  to 
Albany,  where  he  formed  a  copartnership  in  the  jewelry  business  with  William 
Wendell,  under  the  firm  name  of  Wendell  &  Roberts.  They  did  a  large  and 
successful  business  without  interruption  for  thirteen  years — 1863  to  1876,  when 
Mr.  Roberts  retired  with  a  competence,  leaving  a  large  circle  of  friends  in  the  old 
town  where  he  spent  the  earlier  years  of  his  life. 

It   was  but  natural  that  Mr.  Roberts  should  become  interested  in  military 
affairs,  since  both  his  paternal  and   maternal  ancestors  had  served  with   honor 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  103 

in  the  War  of  the  Revolution.  He  was  commissioned  Quartermaster  of  the 
Tenth  Regiment,  N.  G.  S.  N.  Y.,  commanded  by  Col.  Brooks,  June  7,  1880,  his 
commission  being  signed  by  Gov.  Cornell.  Mr.  Roberts  filled  this  position  with 
great  credit  to  himself  and  satisfaction  to  his  superiors  in  rank  until  the  regiment 
was  disbanded.  During  his  residence  in  Albany,  Mr.  Roberts  was  recognized  as  a 
public-spirited,  progressive  man,  and  lent  his  aid  and  encouragement  to  all  honest 
improvements  in  that  city.  He  was  an  incorporator  and  active  member  of  the 
Fort  Orange  Club.  He  was  an  enthusiastic  yachtsman  and  organized  the  Albany 
Yacht  Club. 

On  retiring  from  business  Mr.  Roberts  spent  several  years  in  exclusive  travel. 
He  afterward  engaged  in  the  wholesale  diamond  business  in  New  York  under  the 
firm  name  of  Roberts  &  Yerrington,  continuing  for  eight  years.  During  this 
period  his  attention  was  called  to  the  mining  for  gems  in  North  Carolina,  and  he 
organized  the  Emerald  and  Hiddenite  Mining  Company.  The  mine  worked  by 
this  company  yielded  the  largest  emerald  crystal  ever  taken  from  a  mine,  and  the 
distinctly  American  gem,  the  Hiddenite.  Mr.  Roberts  is  president  of  the  Wiles 
Laundering  Co.,  of  Troy,  the  pioneer  of  this  industry  in  America.  He  is  also  a 
director  in  the  Troy  Laundry  Machine  Co.,  which  is  the  outgrowth  of  the  above 
mentioned  company.  He  is  secretary  of  the  closing  up  of  the  affairs  of  the  New 
York  Hemp  &  Flax  Manufacturing  Co.,  of  which  his  father  was  one  of  the 
founders.  Fond  of  sports  he  joined  the  Manhattan  Athletic  Club  of  New  York, 
and  in  order  to  keep  up  his  Albany  acquaintance  became  a  member  of  the  Albany 
Society  Club  of  New  York.  With  an  ancestry  having  the  patent  of  nobility,  as 
viewed  from  an  American  standpoint,  he  identified  himself  with  the  Sons  of  the 
American  Revolution  and  later  with  the  Founders  and  Patriots  of  America. 


LOVELL-BORDEN     DURFEE-HOWLAND. 

The  above  named  represent  some  of  the  most  distinguished  families  in  New 
England,  all  of  whom  have  filled  an  important  position  in  American  history.  The 
first  representative  of  the  Lovell  family  mentioned  in  English  history  was  Robert, 
Lord  of  Brehewal,  who  accompanied  William  the  Conqueror  in  1066,  and  was 
rewarded  with  the  lordships  of  Cary  and  Harpetre,  County  Somerset,  but  return- 
ing into  Normandy  and  being  there  attacked  by  severe  illness,  he  became  a  monk 
in  the  abbey  of  Bee.  He  was  succeeded  by  Ascelin  Gouel  de  Percival,  whose  son 
Robert  was  Earl  of  Yvery.  This  nobleman  was  nicknamed  "  Lufellus,"  or  the 
"  Little  Wolf,"  which  designation  was  softened  into  Lupel  and  thence  to  Luvel, 
and  became  the  surname  of  most  of  his  descendants.  He  defended  his  castle  of 
Kary  in  11 53  against  King  Stephen.  He  married  Aubric,  sister  of  Waleran  de 
Bellemont,  Earl  of  Mellent,  in  Normandy,  and  died  about  1155.  His  son  Ralph 
was  the  first  to  adopt  the  surname  of  Lovel,  and  inherited  the  estate  of  Castle 
Kary,  County  Somerset,  and  became  Lord  of  Castle  Kary,  or  Cary. 

Fitz  Osborn,  commander-in-chief  under  the  Conqueror  at  the  battle  of 
Hastings,  was  an  ancestor  of  the  Lovell's,  as  was  also  Hugh  Capet,  King  of 
France,  Henry  the  Fowler,  Emperor  of  Germany,  etc.     "  Ye  Shields  of  ye  Pren- 


104  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

cipal  Knights  in  Arms  at  the  Battle  of  Hastings"  gives  the  Lovell's  as  blue,  with 
fleur-de-lis  and  three  lions  rampant.  The  Earl  of  Egmont  still  has  the  arms  of 
the  Lovells  quartered  on  his  shield.  During  the  War  of  the  Roses,  the  Lovells 
adhered  to  the  fortunes  of  York,  and  at  the  battle  of  Stoke,  1487,  Viscount  Lovell, 
Baron  Holland,  Baron  Deincourt,  the  last  of  one  of  the  two  lines  of  Lovells,  was 
slain.  He  had  been  Lord  Chamberlain  under  Richard  III.  Tennyson,  when 
ennobled,  took  Deincourt  as  one  of  his  titles,  claiming  to  be  related  to  the  old 
Baron  of  Deincourt. 

Robert  Lovell,  the  American  ancestor,  of  Weymouth,  Mass.,  1635,  came 
with  a  party  from  Weymouth,  in  Dorsetshire,  on  the  southern  coast  of  England. 
The  party  was  collected  from  Dorset,  Devon  and  Somerset,  the  ancient  home 
of  the  Lovells.  Robert  Lovell,  who  settled  in  Weymouth,  Mass.,  was  made  a 
freeman  September  2,  1635.     He  had  among  other  children  a  son,  John. 

John  Lovell,  son  of  Robert,  was  born  probably  in  England.  He  married 
Jane,  daughter  of  William  Hatch,  and  had  James. 

James  Lovell,  son  of  John  and  Jane  (Hatch)  Lovell,  was  born  October  26, 
1662.  He  married  in  Barnstable,  Mass.,  May,  1686,  Mehitable  Lumbart  (or  Lum- 
bard).     They  had  issue,  James  (2). 

James  Lovell  (2),  son  of  James  (1)  and  Mehitable  (Lumbart)  Lovell,  was 
born  August,  1692.  He  married  Abigail  Gorham  (born  March  31,  1699)  daughter 
of  Shubael  Gorham,  youngest  son  of  Capt.  John  Gorham.  the  ancestor,  born  at 
Benefield,  Northamptonshire,  England,  1620-21.  He  was  appointed  by  the  Court 
captain  of  the  Second  Company  of  the  Plymouth  forces  in  King  Philip's  War,  and 
was  in  the  sanguinary  battle  of  the  Swamp  Fort  in  the  Narragansett  country, 
fought  December  19,  1675.  He  never  recovered  from  the  cold  and  fatigue  to 
which  he  was  exposed  on  this  expedition.  He  married  in  1643,  Desire,  daughter 
of  John  Howland,  of  Plymouth,  who  came  with  the  "Blessed  Company"  on  the 
"  Mayflower,"  1620. 

John  Howland,  thirteenth  signer  of  the  Mayflower  compact,  is  thus  men- 
tioned in  Bradford's  journal  of  the  voyage:  "  In  a  mighty  storm  John  Howland, 
a  Passenger,  a  stout  young  man,  by  a  keel  of  ye  ship,  was  thrown  into  the  sea. 
But  it  pleased  God,  he  caught  hold  of  ye  Topsail  Halliards  we  hung  overboard  and 
run  out  ye  length,  yet  he  kept  his  hold  the  several  Fathoms  under  water  till  he 
was  drawn  up  by  ye  Rope  to  ye  surface,  and  by  a  Boat  Hook  and  other  means  got 
into  ye  ship,  and  tho'  somew't  ill  upon  it,  lived  many  years  and  became  a  useful 
member  both  in  church  and  Commonwealth."  He  was  one  of  the  "  leading  men 
in  the  colony,  and  a  partaker  of  their  hazardous  undertakings,  and  eminent  for  his 
devotion  to  its  interests  both  in  civil  and  religious  matters."  He  was  "  Deputy 
and  assistant  the  greater  part  of  his  long  and  useful  life."  He  "took  to  wife," 
Elizabeth,  the  young  daughter  of  John  Tilley.  His  children  all  married  well 
and  their  husbands  were  prominent  in  the  colony.  Desire,  named  for  Desire 
Minter,  who  was  the  kind  friend  of  her  mother's  orphaned  girlhood,  married  Capt. 
John  Gorham    in  1663. 

James  Lovell  (2),  by  his  wife.  Abigail  (Gorham)  Lovell,  had  a  son,  Daniel. 

Daniel  Lovell,  son  of  James  (2)  and  Abigail  (Gorham)  Lovell,  was  born 
June  20,  1722;  died  August  9,  1785.  He  married,  October  3,  1745,  Sarah  Beetle, 
of  Martha's  Vineyard,  and  had  a  son,  Schubael.  As  a  member  of  the  Society  of 
Friends,  he  took  no  active  part  in  the  Revolution. 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  105 

Rev.  Schubael  Lovell,  son  of  Daniel  and  Sarah  (Beetle)  Lovell,  was  born 
March  6,  1770.  He  studied  medicine  and  entered  into  practice,  but  abandoned 
the  profession  to  enter  the  ministry  as  a  Baptist  preacher,  serving  for  a  time  as 
an  evangelist;  he  was  subsequently  called  to  take  the  pastoral  charge  of  a  church 
in    Rowley    (now    Georgetown),    Mass.       He    married.    March    24,    1797,    Bethia 

Perkins,  daughter  of  Perkins,  a  deacon  in  the  Baptist  church  at  Bridgewater, 

Mass  ,  who  married  Hooper.     They  had  issue,  Leander  Perkins. 

Leander  Perkins  Lovell,  son  of  Rev.  Schubael  and  Bethia  (Perkins)  Lovell, 
was  born  October  28,  1798;  died  June  10,  1842.  He  attended  school  at  Rowley, 
the  academy  at  Bridgewater,  and  then  at  Middletown,  Mass.  He  was  employed 
in  the  nail  manufactory  at  Bridgewater  for  a  time  and  later  was  for  three  years  in 
Norwich,  Conn.  Returning  to  Bridgewater,  he  remained  there  till  1824.  when  he 
settled  in  Fall  River,  Mass.,  where  he  had  charge  of  the  nail  mill  of  the  Fall  River 
Iron  Works  Co.  He  married,  November  27,  1828,  Ariadne  Borden,  of  Fall  River, 
Mass.,  daughter  of  Isaac  Hathaway  Borden,  son  of  Thomas,  son  of  Richard 
Borden.  The  name  of  Borden  is  derived  from  Bourdonnay,  an  ancient  village  of 
Normandy,  France,  from  which  the  family  emigrated.  They  came  over  with  the 
Conqueror. 

Richard  Borden,  the  American  ancestor,  was  the  son  of  John.  He  was 
born  in  1601  ;  died  May  25,  1671.  He  emigrated  to  New  England  and  was 
admitted  an  inhabitant  of  the  island  of  Aquidneck,  R.  I.,  in  1638.  He  was  one 
of  the  original  purchasers  of  land  in  New  Jersey  from  the  Indians.  He  was 
assistant,  1663-4;  General  Treasurer,  1654-5;  Commissioner,  1654-56-57.  His 
wife,  Joan  ,  was  born  in  1604;  died  July  15,  1688.     They  had  a  son,  John. 

John  Borden,  son  of  Richard  and  Joan  ( )  Borden,  was  born  September, 

1640.     He  married  Mary   daughter  of  William   Earl,  and  had  a  son,  Richard. 

Richard  Borden,  son  of  John  and  Mary  (Earle)  Borden,  was  born  October 
24,  1671  ;  died  July  12,  1732.  He  was  a  large  landholder  at  Tiverton,  R.  I.  He 
married  Innocent  Wodell,  and  had  a  son,   Thomas. 

Thomas  Borden,  son  of  Richard  and  Innocent  (Wodell)  Borden,  was  born 
December  3,  1697.  He  was  a  considerable  landowner  at  Tiverton  and  largely 
interested  in  the  Fall  River  stream.  He  married  Mary  Gifford,  daughter  of 
Christopher  Gifford,  of  Dartmouth,  and  had  a  son,  Richard. 

Richard  Borden,  son  of  Thomas  and  Mary  (Gifford)  Borden,  was  born  in 
1722  ;  died  July  4,  1795.  He  was  a  farmer  and  mill  owner.  During  the  War  of 
the  Revolution,  May  25,  1778.  the  British  under  command  of  Major  Ayres  landed 
a  force  at  Fall  River,  beyond  the  saw  mill  and  grist  mill,  together  with  a  large 
quantity  of  lumber  belonging  to  Thomas  and  Richard  Borden,  and  after  doing 
other  damage  and  harassing  the  people,  seized  upon  Mr.  Borden,  then  quite 
advanced  in  life,  and  Capt.  Benjamin  Borden,  and  carried  them  to  Newport  as 
prisoners.  The  American  forces  were  under  command  of  Major  Joseph  Durfee. 
On  approaching  Bristol  Ferry,  the  boat  on  which  Richard  Borden  was  being 
carried  was  assailed  by  a  storm  of  chain  shot  and  balls  from  the  fort  on  the 
Bristol  side  of  the  Ferry.  Mr.  Borden,  not  liking  the  exposure,  lay  down  in  the 
bottom  of  the  boat  and  resisted  every  attempt  to  raise  him  up.  At  length  the 
fire  from  the  battery  becoming  more  annoying,  killing  and  wounding  some  of  the 
British,  two  of  their  number  seized  him  and  declared  with  oaths  that  he  should 
take  his  chances  with  the  rest  and   be  killed.     While  thus  engaged   a  chain  shot 


IOO  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

swept  across  the  boat,  killing  both  of  the  British  soldiers  but  leaving  Mr.  Borden 
unharmed.  The  boats  were  then  beached  near  the  town  and  the  men  proceeded 
to  Newport  by  land.  Mr.  Borden  was  detained  at  Newport  but  a  short  time  when 
he  was  released  on  parole.  Some  important  disclosures  were  expected  to  be 
obtained  from  him,  but  the  commanding  officer  failing  at  every  point  soon  dis- 
missed him  with  disgust.  It  is  a  fact  worthy  of  remembrance  that  this  officer 
afterwards  declared  of  all  men  who  had  been  brought  before  him  from  Tiverton 
and  Little  Compton,  he  had  never  found  one  who  would  communicate  informa- 
tion advantageous  to  his  own  enterprises  or  injurious  to  the  cause  of  his  country. 
Richard  Borden  married,  March  12,  1747,  Hope  Cook,  and  had  a  son,  Thomas. 

Thomas  Borden,  son  of  Richard  and  Hope  (Cook)  Borden,  was  born  in 
1750;  died  in  1831.  He  married  Mary  Hathaway  (born  at  Freetown,  Mass.,  1757, 
died  February  18,  1824),  daughter  of  Isaac  Hathaway,  who  married  Phebe  Bailey, 
of  Little  Compton,  daughter  of  Thomas  Bailey  (2),  born  March  1,  171 5  ;  son  of 
Thomas  Bailey  (1),  of  Tiverton,  who  married  Mary  Wood,  daughter  of  John 
Wood  ;  his  wife  was  Mary  Church,  daughter  of  Joseph  Church,  born  at  Plymouth, 
1638;  son  of  Richard  Church,  born  in  England,  1613,  died  at  Plymouth,  Mass., 
1638,  who  married  Elizabeth  Warren,  daughter  of  Richard  Warren,  of  the  "  May- 
flower," 1620.  Thomas  Borden,  by  his  wife,  Mary  (Hathaway)  Borden,  had  a  son, 
Isaac  Hathaway. 

Isaac  Hathaway  Borden,  son  of  Thomas  and  Mary  (Hathaway)  Borden, 
was  born  March  7,  1784;  died  April  28,  1828.  He  married  Lucy  Durfee,  daugh- 
ter of  Richard  Durfee,  (2),  son  of  Richard  (1),  son  of  Benjamin,  son  of  Thomas 
Durfee,  the  ancestor. 

Thomas  Durfee,  the  first  of  this  name  in  America,  emigrated  from  England 
about  1660,  and  settled  in  Rhode  Island.  He  was  born  1643;  died  1702.  He  had 
issue,  Robert,  Thomas,  William  and  Benjamin. 

Benjamin  Durfee,  son  of  Thomas,  was  born  about  1671.  He  inherited  from 
his  father  large  tracts  of  land  within  the  present  limits  of  Fall  River,  and  subse- 
quently became  one  of  the  largest  land  owners  in  this  section  of  the  country.  He 
married,  in  1699,  Prudence  Earle,  probably  daughter  of  Ralph  Earle,  of  Ports- 
mouth.    They  had  ten  children,  of  whom  Richard  was  the  youngest. 

Richard  Durfee,  son  of  Benjamin  and  Prudence  (Earle)  Durfee,  was  born 
November  9,  17-3;  married,  in  1750.  Rebecca  Cole,  and  had  a  son,  Richard. 

Capt.  Richard  Durfee,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Richard 
and  Rebecca  (Cole)  Durfee,  was  bom  in  Tiverton,  R.  I.,  September  8,  1758;  died 
there,  January  2,  1845.  He  held  a  captain's  commission  in  the  Continental  army 
during  the  War  of  the  Revolution  and  received  great  credit  for  the  part  he  took 
in  the  engagement  with  the  British  at  Fall  River  on  May  25,  1778,  an  account  of 
which  is  given  in  the  sketch  of  Richard  Borden,  who  was  captured  by  the  British 
on  this  occasion.  Capt.  Durfee  showed  great  gallantry,  and  the  little  force  of 
Americans  under  Major  Joseph  Durfee,  of  which  Capt.  Richard  Durfee  formed  a 
part,  drove  the  British,  compelling  them  to  take  to  their  boats.  Capt.  Durfee  took 
part  in  other  engagements,  the  record  of  which  has  been  lost.  He  married 
Patience  Borden,  daughter  of  Stephen  Borden,  son  of  Stephen,  son  of  Joseph,  son 
of  John,  son  of  Richard. 

Isaac  Hathaway  Borden,  by  his  wife,  Lucy  (Durfee)  Borden,  had  a  daughter, 
Ariadne,  who  married  Leander  Perkins  Lovell.  Leander  Perkins  Lovell,  by  his 
wife,  Ariadne  (Borden)  Lovell,  had  among  other  children,  Leander  Newton. 


SONS    OF    THE    AMERICAN     REVOLUTION. 


I07 


LEANDER  NEWTON  LOVELL,  Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  son 
of  Leander  Perkins  and  Ariadne  (Borden)  Lovell,  was  born  at  Fall  River,  Mass., 
November  16,  1835.  He  had  hardly  reached  his  seventh  year  when  his  father 
died,  leaving  him  the  only  son  surviving.  He  attended  the  public  school  in  his 
native  town  and  also  the  High  School  until  1852,  when  he  came  to  New  York  city 
and  entered  the  office  of  Tisdale  &  Borden,  who  were  then  agents  for  the  Fall 
River   Line  of  steamers,  the  Fall   River  Iron  Works   Co.,   and   the   Borden    Coal 


^te^t^^r  /frJ^ue£& 


Mining  Co.,  Having  passed  through  the  various  grades  of  clerkship,  he  was 
taken  into  copartnership  with  Col.  William  Borden  in  July,  1863,  under  the  firm 
name  of  Borden  &  Lovell.  Col.  Borden  died  in  1882,  but  the  firm  name  has  been 
continued  without  interruption.  During  the  Civil  War  Mr.  Lovell's  employees 
had  much  to  do  with  it,  and  he  was  brought  into  connection  with  the  different 
branches  of  the  service,  being  frequently  with  the  army  and  navy,  but  held  no 
commission. 


I08  SONS    OF    THE    AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

In  addition  to  his  connection  with  the  Fall  River  Steamboat  Company,  Mr. 
Lovell  has  various  other  interests  to  which  he  gives  much  time  and  attention.  He 
is  a  director  in  the  Old  Colony  Steamboat  Co.,  the  Eastern  Insurance  Co.,  the 
Ohio  &  Kentucky  Railway  Co.;  President  of  the  Borden  Mining  Co.,  the  Lcvell 
Coal  Mining  Co.,  and  the  Northern  Insurance  Co.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  the  Maritime  Exchange,  and  associate  member  of  the 
Society  of  Naval  Architects  and  Marine  Engineers,  a  trustee  of  the  Atlantic 
Mutual  Insurance  Co.,  and  of  the  Atlantic  Trust  Co.  Through  his  ancestral  lines 
he  is  connected  with  the  various  patriotic  and  other  societies.  He  is  a  life  member 
of  the  New  England  Society,  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Mayflower  Descendants, 
Colonial  Wars  and  of  the  New  York  Y.  M.  C.  A. 

Mr.  Lovell  was  for  a  number  of  years  a  resident  of  New  York  city,  and  was 
an  elder  in  the  Church  of  the  Covenant.  He  moved  to  Plainfield  in  1879  and  has 
since  identified  himself  with  the  various  interests  connected  with  that  city.  He  is 
an  elder  in  the  Crescent  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  and  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Education  and  a  contributor  and  supporter  of  the  several  city  improvements. 
Mr.  Lovell  married  Phebe  Borden  Durfee,  daughter  of  Matthew  C.  Ourfee  and 
Fidelia  Borden,  daughter  of  Capt.  George  Borden,  who  married  Phebe,  daughter 
of  Thomas  Borden,  whose  wife  was  Mary  Hathaway,  daughter  of  Isaac  Hatha- 
way and  Phebe  Bailey.  The  latter  was  the  daughter  of  Thomas  Bailey  (2),  son 
of  Thomas  Bailey  (1)  and  Mary  Wood,  daughter  of  John  Wood,  who  married 
Mary  Church,  daughter  of  Joseph  Church,  son  of  Richard  Church,  born  in  Eng- 
land, 1633,  died  at  Plymouth,  October  2,  1673,  married  Elizabeth  Warren,  daugh- 
ter of  Richard  Warren,  of  the  "  Mayflower." 

Richard  Warren,  twelfth  signer  of  the  Mayflower  compact,  with  the  honorable 
prefix  of  "  Mr.,"  to  which  he  always  seemed  fully  entitled,  is  mentioned  by  Bradford 
"as  a  most  useful  man  during  the  short  time  he  lived,  bearing  a  deep  share  in  the 
difficulties  and  troubles  of  the  plantation."  His  daughters,  who  came  with  their 
mother  in  the  "  Ann,"  married  active  men  in  the  colonies,  Mary  becoming  the  wife 
of  Robert  Bartlett ;  Ann,  of  Thomas  Little  ;  Sarah,  of  Joseph  Cook  ;  Elizabeth, 
of  Richard  Church,  a  sergeant  in  the  Pequod  War,  parents  of  Col.  Benjamin 
Church,  the  distinguished  hero  of  the  Indian  wars.  The  family  is  descended  from 
the  Earl  of  Warren  and  Surrey,  who  came  to  England  with  the  Conqueror. 

The  children  of  Leander  Newton  Lovell  and  his  wife,  Phebe  Borden  Durfee, 
are :  Leander  Durfee,  Arthur,  Harry  Borden,  Phebe  Durfee,  Laura,  Gilbert, 
Helen,  and  Richard  Leonard. 


SLAUSON— TEN  EYCK- GRIFFIN-  KEATOR — 
BAKER  SANDS. 

The  name  of  Slawson  is  spelled  Slosson,  Sloson  and  Slauson.  The  earliest 
of  this  name  recorded  in  the  annals  of  New  England  is  that  of  George  Slawson, 
who  was  in  Sandwich,  Mass  ,  in  1640.  He  came  with  Thomas  Armitage  to 
Stamford,  Conn.,  in  1642.  He  was  a  leading  member  of  the  first  church  of  that 
town,  also  a  man  of  note  in  civil  life.  In  1667  he  was  deputy  from  Stamford  to 
the  last  session    of    the  New    Haven   Colony    Assembly,    May,    1663.     He   died 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  I09 

February  17,  1695,  leaving  sons  Eleazer  and  John.  The  line  of  descent  of  Austin 
M.  Slauson,  of  the  Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  was  doubtless  through  one  of 
these  sons.  Settlement  of  the  town  of  Lewisboro  (now  known  as  Salem)  was 
commenced  under  the  authority  of  Connecticut  at  an  early  period,  and  this  region 
was  the  scene  of  several  revolutionary  incidents.  Two  or  more  of  the  Slawsons 
resided  at  this  point. 

David  Slauson,  born  about  1697,  was  probably  a  grandson  of  George,  and 
was  the  father  of  Moses. 

Hoses  Slauson,  son  of  David,  it  is  supposed  was  the  father  of  Major  Eben- 
ezer Slauson. 

Major  Ebenezer  Slauson,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was  born  prob- 
ably in  Stamford,  Conn.,  in  1730;  died  in  Westerlo,  Albany  County,  N.  Y.,  1821. 
His  military  operations  during  the  Revolution  were  conducted  both  in  Connecticut 
and  Westchester  County,  N.  Y.  He  was  Captain  of  the  First  Company  of  Minute 
Men,  Westchester  County,  attached  to  the  command  of  Col.  Joseph  Drake.  He 
was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Major  in  the  same  regiment,  February  22,  1776. 
He  lived  in  Westchester  County,  N.  Y.,  and  probably  after  the  war  removed 
to  Westerlo,  Albany  County,  N.  Y.  He  married  Katy  Selleck,  a  descendant 
of  Jonathan  Selleck,  of  Stamford,  Conn.,  son  of  David  Selleck,  of  Boston  and 
Dorchester.  Mass.,  1635.     They  had  a  son,  Nathaniel. 

Nathaniel  Slauson,  son  of  Major  Ebenezer  and  Katy  (Selleck)  Slauson,  was 
born  October  22,  1786,  at  Westerlo,  N.  Y.  He  moved  to  Greenville,  Greene 
County,  N.  Y.,  where  he  died  November  2,  1844.  He  married  Hannah  Griffin 
(born  June  22.  1788,  died  December  27,  1870)  daughter  of  Joseph  Griffin,  the 
patriot  of  the   Revolution. 

Joseph  Griffin,  PATRIOT  OF  the  Revolution,  was  born  in  Connecticut, 
probably  in  Stamford,  in  1  761  ;  died  at  Middlefield,  Otsego  County,  N.  Y.,  June, 
1853.  He  was  a  private  in  the  Thirteenth  Regiment,  N.  Y.  Militia,  commanded 
by  Col.  Cornelius  Van  Veghten,  and  also  in  the  First  Company,  commanded  by 
Capt.  Peter  Van  Woert  ;  he  was  also  in  the  First  Regiment,  New  York  Levies, 
Col.  William  Malcolm,  and  in  the  company  commanded  by  Capt.  Livingston.  He 
was  probably  a  descendant  of  Edward  Griffin,  of  Long  Island,  born  in  Wales 
about  1670,  who  was  an  officer  in  the  British  navy.  It  is  said  that  his  two 
brothers,  James  and  Obadiah,  accompanied  him  to  this  country;  that  Obadiah 
settled  in  Boston,  and  that  James  remained  in  the  navy.  Edward  had  sons 
James,  Joseph  and  Jonathan.  Joseph  of  the  Revolution  might  have  been  a  son  of 
Joseph,  son  of  Edward. 

Nathaniel  Slauson  and  his  wife,  Hannah  Griffin,  had  issue  a  son,  Albert. 

ALBERT  SLAUSON,  son  of  Nathaniel  and  Hannah  (Griffin)  Slauson,  was 
born  in  Greenville,  Greene  County,  N.  Y.,  May  15,  1812,  and  received  a  private 
school  education.  He  began  life  as  clerk  in  a  store  at  Coxsackie.  He  went  from 
there  to  Napanoch,  Ulster  County,  and  after  remaining  some  time  as  clerk  in  a 
general  store,  bought  out  his  employer.  He  was  among  those  who  with  rare 
foresight  saw  the  possibilities  of  the  great  West,  and  in  1837,  backed  by  a  small 
syndicate  of  neighbors  and  friends,  he  went  alone  on  horseback  through  the 
States  of  Ohio,  Michigan,  Indiana  and  Illinois,  exploring  this  vast  territory  with  a 
view  to  permanent  investment.  It  was  at  that  time  a  wilderness,  inhabited  by 
Indians  and  wild  beasts  and  attended   with   no   little   hardship  and   danger,  but 


I  IO  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

he  came  of  a  hardy  race  of  people  who  in  the  early  history  of  our  country  had 
braved  dangers  and  endured  hardships.  As  the  successor  of  A.  R.  &  G.  South- 
wick,  he  continued  to  carry  on  the  business  at  Napanoch  until  1845,  when  he 
came  to  New  York  and  established  himself  in  the  wholesale  dry  goods  business. 
Two  years  later  he  became  associated  with  Suydam,  Reed  &  Co  ,  wholesale 
grocers,  and  in  1852  started  in  the  same  line  for  himself  under  the  firm  name  of 
Southworth,  Slauson  &  Co.,  continuing  until  1867,  when  he  established  the 
present  firm  of  A.  Slauson  &  Co.,  wholesale  confectioners. 

He  did   a   successful   business  for   many  years  by  the  old  fashioned   methods 
which  were  governed  by  the  standard  of  the  golden  rule.      He  achieved  a  reputation 


SLAUSON. 


for  high  class  goods  and  purity  of  manufacture  that  enabled  him  to  hold  his  custom- 
ers through  the  sharpest  competition  in  trade.  He  led  a  quiet,  peaceful  life,  firm 
in  his  convictions  of  religious  truth  and  upright  in  his  daily  walk,  an  honored 
example  to  those  around  him.  He  was  for  many  years  an  elder  and  treasurer  in 
the  old  Dutch  Reformed  Church  which  stood  on  the  corner  of  Greene  and  Broome 
streets.  He  died  January  15,  1892,  after  attaining  his  full  four  score  years, 
assured  that  his  life  work  had  not  been  in  vain.  He  married  Cornelia  C.  Ten 
Eyck,  daughter  of  Matthew  P.,  son  of  Dr.  Richard,  son  of  Matthew,  son  of 
Abram,  son  of  Matthias,  son  of  Conraedt  Ten  Eyck,  the  ancestor. 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  ill 

Conraedt  Ten  Eyck  came  from  Amsterdam,  Holland,  and  settled  in  New 
Amsterdam  about  1650,  and  married,  first,  Maria  Boelen,  the  mother  of  his  child- 
ren, and  second,  Anitje  Daniels.  He  purchased  lands  on  the  west  side  of 
what  is  now  Broad  street.  In  1672  he  was  estimated  to  be  worth  $5,000.  After 
his  death  his  sons  Dirck,  Tobias  and  Conraedt  succeeded  him  in  the  tanning  busi- 
ness at  New  York,  and  his  eldest  son  Jacob  migrated  to  Albany.  Matthias, 
another  son,  settled  in  Ulster  County,  N.  Y.  Matthias  married  Jennecke  Roosa, 
and  had  a  son.  Capt.  Abram,  who  had  a  son,  Matthew. 

Matthew  Ten  Eyck,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Abram 
Ten  Eyck,  was  born  February  23,  1728;  died  June  11,  1809.  He  was  chosen, 
A  [Mil  7,  1775,  as  one  of  the  Committee  from  Hurley,  N.  Y.,  to  meet  at  New  Paltz 
to  elect  delegates  from  Ulster  County  to  the  Provincial  Congress  to  be  held  in 
New  York.  He  served  at  New  Paltz  as  a  member  of  the  committee  from  Hurley, 
May  11,  1775,  to  elect  deputies  to  the  Provincial  Congress  from  Ulster  County. 
He  signed  the  "Articles  of  Association"  in  Hurley,  July  6,  1 775.  He  was  President 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  village  of  Hurley,  and  was  selected  to  deliver  the 
address  of  welcome  to  Gen.  Washington  when  he  passed  through  the  village  in 
the  autumn  of  1782.  Matthew  Ten  Eyck  married  Cornelia  Wynkoop  and  had  a 
son,  Dr.  RicJiard. 

Dr.  Richard  Ten  Eyck,  son  of  Matthew  and  Cornelia  (Wynkoop)  Ten  Eyck, 
married  Janet  Baker,  daughter  of  Matthias  Baker. 

Matthias  Baker,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was  born  in  New  Jersey, 
November  15,  1742;  died  at  Bound  Brook.  N.  J.,  April  9,  1789.  He  was  elected 
one  of  the  Committee  of  Observation  for  Woodbridge,  N.  J.,  and  met  with  the 
members  of  the  other  committees  at  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  January  16,  1775. 
He  was  there  chosen  one  of  the  Committee  of  Correspondence  for  Middlesex 
County,  N.J.  On  February  20,  1775,  he  was  appointed  by  the  Committee  of 
Observation  of  Woodbridge,  Inspector  of  Public  Landings. 

Dr.  Richard  Ten  Eyck,  by  his  wife,  Janet  Baker,  daughter  of  Matthias  Baker, 
had  a  son,  Matthew  Person. 

Matthew  Person  Ten  Eyck,  son  of  Dr.  Richard  and  Janet  (Baker)  Ten 
Eyck,  was  born  January  31,  1798;  married  Ann  P.  Keator,  daughter  of  James 
Keator  and  Sybil  Sands ;  she  was  the  daughter  of  George  Sands. 

George  Sands,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was  born  at  Sands  Point, 
N.  Y.,  April  17,  1733;  died  at  Middletown,  Delaware  County,  N.  Y.,  August  5, 
1816.  When  the  Provincial  Congiess  of  New  York  met  in  that  city  in  the 
summer  of  1775  and  proposed  "  Articles  of  Association,"  to  be  signed  by  citizens 
of  the  different  counties,  George  Sands,  then  a  miller  and  freeholder  of  Pough- 
keepsie,  N.  Y.,  signed  the  "  Articles"  as  a  representative  of  Dutchess  County. 

James  Keator,  the  husband  of  Sybil  Sands,  daughter  of  George  Sands,  was 
the  son  of  Matthew  Keator  and  Ann  Peck. 

Matthew  Keator,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was  born  in  1736;  died 
1781.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Provincial  Congress  in  New  York  City,  in  July,  1775, 
to  take  action  on  the  "  Articles  of  Association,"  Matthew  Keator,  freeholder  of 
Marbletown,  N.  Y.,  as  the  representative  of  Ulster  County,  signed  these  "  Articles," 
by  which  the  signers  declared  their  solemn  resolution  "  never  to  become  slaves," 
and  bound  themselves  under  all  the  ties  of  "  Religion,  Honor  and  Love  to  our 
Country,"  etc.  This  list  is  frequently  referred  to  as  "The  Ulster  County  Roll  of 
Honor." 


112  SONS   OF   THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

Albert  Slauson,  who  married  Cornelia  C.  Ten  Eyck,  daughter  of  Matthew  P. 
Ten  Eyck  and  Ann  P.  Keator,  daughter  of  Matthew  Keator,  had  issue,  Austin 
Melvin. 

AUSTIN  MELVIN  SLAUSON,  Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R..  son  of 
Albert  and  Cornelia  Catharine  (Ten  Eyck)  Slauson,  was  born  at  Napanoch,  Ulster 
County,  N.  Y.,  May  4,  1840.  He  removed  with  his  parents  to  New  York  at  the 
age  of  five  years.  He  attended  private  school  and  had  excellent  advantages  for 
acquiring  an  education.  He  was  with  his  father  in  most  of  the  business  enter- 
prises in  which  the  former  engaged  in  New  York.  When  his  father  started  in  the 
confectionery  business,  Austin  M.  entered  his  employ  and  subsequently  became  a 
partner,  succeeding  to  the  business  after  his  father's  death.  Even  with  his  own 
advanced  ideas — the  result  of  long  experience — and  the  strong  competition  in  the 
trade,  he  adhered  to  his  father's  old  methods  of  manufacture,  maintaining  the  high 
standard  for  purity  and  excellence  of  goods.  He  has  kept  well  abreast  of  the 
times  in  the  character  of  his  goods  which  are  adapted  to  the  various  climatic 
changes  incidental  to  this  country.  In  politics  Mr.  Slauson  has  followed  in  the 
footsteps  of  his  father  and  has  been  a  life-long  Republican,  and  for  the  past  ten 
years  has  been  a  member  of  the  local  Republican  club.  Other  than  this  he  has 
taken  no  part  in  public  affairs,  having  neither  the  time  nor  the  inclination.  He 
married,  first,  Miss  Elizabeth  Carpenter,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Jane  ( Underbill) 
Carpenter,  and  second,  Emilie  Carpenter,  sister  of  first  wife.  Had  two  daughters, 
Alice  M.  Slauson,  deceased,  and  Cornelia  C.  Slauson,  married  James  VY.  Stafford. 


YALE-  PAINE— WHITE. 

The  name  and  fame  of  Yale  is  world-wide,  associated  as  it  is  with  one  of 
America's  earliest  benefactors  and  with  one  of  the  best  known  educational  institu- 
tions in  the  woild.  In  the  Old  World  the  name  is  insciibed  among,  and  the 
family  is  allied  to  some  of  the  oldest  and  noblest  families  of  England  and  Wales. 
Its  antiquity  is  vouched  for  by  the  best  authorities.  Burke,  referring  to  the  families 
of  Yales  of  Plas-yn-Yale  and  the  Rogers  of  Bryntanger,  says  :  "  These  distin- 
guished houses  have  formed  uninterruptedly  alliances  with  the  most  eminent 
Cambrian  families,  and  through  the  marriage  of  an  ancestor,  Griffith  ap  Einion,  of 
Cors-y-Gredol,  with  Lowrie,  daughter  and  heir  of  Tudor,  Lord  of  Gvvyddelwern, 
brother  of  the  renowned  Owen  Glendower,  they  are  co-representatives  of  the 
Sovereign  Dynasties  of  Powys,  North  Wales  and  South  Wales,  and  derive  in 
direct  descent  from  the  Plantagenet  Kings  of  England." 

David  Yale,  a  descendant  of  an  ancient  and  wealthy  family  of  that  name  in 
Wales,  married  in  1613,  Ann  Marten,  daughter  of  Bishop  Marten.  She  was  there- 
fore the  maternal  ancestor  of  the  Yale  family  in  America.  David  Yale  died  about 
1617,  leaving  issue,  David,  Ann  and  Thomas. 

Thomas  Yale,  the  youngest  son  of  David  and  Ann  (Marten)  Yale,  was  born 
in  England  or  Wales  about  1616.  He  came  in  1637  to  New  England  with  his 
step-father,  Gov.  Theophilus  Eaton,  who  had  married  for  his  second  wife  the 
widowed  mother  of  Thomas.  They  landed  in  Boston  in  1638  and  removed  thence 
to  the  New  Haven  colony.  Thomas  Yale  was  a  merchant  with  an  estate  of  ,£300. 
After  the  death  of  Gov.  Eaton,  he  accompanied  his  mother  and   Hannah  Eaton, 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  I  1 3 

his  half-sister,  with  his  son  Elihu  and  brother  David,  to  England  in  1658.  He 
returned  the  year  following,  to  New  Haven,  and  purchased  lands  in  that  part  of 
the  town  which  is  now  North  Haven,  and  settled  there  as  early  as  1660.  He  was 
one  of  the  principal  men  in  the  colony,  a  signer  of  the  plantation  covenant  of  New 
Haven,  and  filled  with  honor  many  offices  of  trust.  He  married  Mary,  daughter 
of  Capt.  Nathaniel  Turner,  of  New  Haven.  He  died  May  27,  1683,  leaving  an 
estate  of  £479.     He  had  nine  chidren,  of  whom  Thomas  was  the  second. 

Capt.  Thomas  Yale  (2),  second  child  of  Thomas  (1)  and  Mary  (Turner) 
Yale,  was  born  in  New  Haven  about  1647,  and  removed  afterward  to  Wallingford, 
Conn.  He  was  captain  of  the  train  band  and  a  man  of  considerable  influence  in 
the  town.  He  was  deputy  to  the  General  Court,  1684-7-8-9,  1690-2-3,  1694-5-6-7 
and  1702.  He  married,  first,  Rebecca,  daughter  of  William  Gibbards,  of  New 
Haven,  1667  ;  second,  Sarah  Nash,  daughter  of  John  Nash,  Esq.;  she  died  May  27, 
17 16.  He  married,  third,  Mary  Beach,  of  Wallingford.  He  had  no  issue  by  his 
second  and  third  wives.  About  two  years  after  his  marriage  he,  with  others,  began 
to  agitate  the  settlement  of  Wallingford,  to  which  place  he  removed  in  1670,  under 
the  direction  of  the  New  Haven  Committee.  He  was  one  of  the  most  active  and 
energetic  among  them.  He  assisted  in  the  formation  of  the  church  and  in  the  call 
of  the  minister.  He  held  many  important  offices  in  the  town.  In  addition  to  that 
of  captain  of  the  train  band,  he  was  Justice  of  the  Peace,  surveyor,  and  moderator 
at  public  meetings,  and  kept  the  record  of  their  proceedings  for  nearly  twenty 
years.  He  died  January  26,  1736.  He  had,  by  his  first  wife,  eight  children,  of 
whom   Theophilus  was  the  fourth  child  and  eldest  son. 

Capt.  Theophilus  Yale,  fourth  child  and  eldest  son  of  Capt.  Thomas  and 
Rebecca  (Gibbards)  Yale,  was  born  in  Wallingford,  November  13,  1675.  He  was 
a  magistrate  from  about  1724  to  the  date  of  his  death.  He  also  filled  many  other 
offices,  both  civil  and  military.  He  was  emphatically  a  man  of  the  people.  He 
married  Sarah,  daughter  of  Rev.  Samuel  and  Anna  Street.  Rev.  Samuel  Street 
was  one  of  the  purchasers  and  first  settlers  of  Wallingford  ;  was  the  first  settled 
cleryman  and  pastor  fony-five  years.  He  was  the  son  of  Rev.  Nicholas  Street  who, 
as  colleague  of  Rev.  John  Davenport,  had  charge  of  the  first  church  at  New  Haven 
until  his  death.  Seven  children  were  the  issue  of  this  marriage,  of  whom  Samuel 
was  the  third  child  and  eldest  son. 

Samuel  Yale,  third  child  and  eldest  son  of  Theophilus  and  Sarah  (Street) 
Yale,  was  born  in  Wallingford,  January  28,  171 1.  He  was  a  prosperous  farmer 
and  left  a  large  estate  in  the  north  part  of  the  town,  now  known  as  Yalesville. 
He  married  Susannah  Abernathy,  born  March  11,  1736.  He  died  October  6,  1754. 
They  had  six  children,  of  whom  Street  was  the  second. 

Street  Yale,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  second  son  of  Samuel  and 
Susannah  (Abernathy)  Yale,  was  born  in  Wallingford,  about  1739.  He  enlisted 
July  12,  1775.  in  Second  Company  (Capt.  Street  Hall),  Seventh  Regiment,  com- 
manded by  Col.  Charles  Webb.  This  regiment  was  ordered  to  the  Boston  Camps 
and  assigned  to  Gen  Sullivan's  brigade  on  Winter  Hill,  at  the  left  of  the  besieging 
line,  and  remained  until  expiration  of  term  of  service.  December,  1775.  Street 
Yale  enlisted  again  June  24,  1776,  in  Capt.  Couch's  Company,  Bradley's  Battalion, 
Wadsworth's  Brigade.  This  Battalion  was  stationed  during  the  summer  at  Paulus 
Hook,  now  Jersey  City.  It  was  removed  thence  to  Fort  Lee,  under  Greene's 
command,  and  in  November  was  sent  across  to  assist  in  defending  Fort  Washing- 


ii4 


Sons  of  the  American   revolution. 


ton  which,  on   the  fall  of  the  fort,   November    16,  was  captured  with  the  entire 

garrison.     Street   Yale  married  Mary  and  had  six  'children,  of  whom  Samuel 

was  the  eldest. 

Samuel  Yale,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  eldest  child  of  Street  and 
Mary  ( )  Yale,  was  born  in  Wallingford,  August  18,  1763.  He  was  but  thir- 
teen years  of  age  when  his  father  left  home  to  join  the  patriot  army ;  six  years 
later  found  him  in  the  ranks,  a  worthy  son  of  his  patriotic  sire.  He  enlisted  in 
Col.  Canfield's  Militia  Regiment,  which  was  at  West  Point  in  September,  178 1, 
serving  until  the  close  of  the  war.  fourteen  of  the  name  of  Yale  served  in  the 
Revolution,  most  of  whom  were  from  the  town  of  Wallingford.  Samuel  Yale 
was  an  early  settler  in  that  part  of  the  old  town  of  Wallingford,  now  known  as 
Meriden.  He  was  the  first  manufacturer  in  the  town.  In  1791  he  began  the 
manufacture  of  cut  nails,  he  and  his  eldest  son  working  their  machine  by  hand, 
heading  each  nail  separately.  In  1794  he  commenced  the  manufacture  of  pewter 
buttons,  employing  several  hands  in  the  business,  and  accumulated  a  handsome 
estate.     He  married,   first,  Eunice  Paine,  whose  family  trace  their  descent   from 


HON.    WILLIAM    YALE. 


Sir  Thomas  Payne,  Knight  of  Market  Bosworth,  whose  arms  were  the  same  as 
those  of  Hugh  de  Payen,  the  crusader.  Samuel  Yale  married,  second,  Mehitable 
Rice,  of  Wallingford.  By  his  first  wife  he  had  seven  children,  of  whom  William 
was  the  eldest. 

HON.  WILLIAH  YALE,  eldest  child  of  Samuel  and  Eunice  (Pain)  Yale, 
was  born  in  Meriden,  Conn.,  March  13,  1784.  After  leaving  school  he  was 
apprenticed  to  a  tin  manufacturer,  and  soon  after  he  reached  his  majority  began 
the  manufacture  on  his  own  account.  He  usually  went  to  Boston  to  purchase  his 
stock  of  tin,  riding  horseback  all  the  way.  His  stock  was  enclosed  in  two  canvas 
bags  slung  across  the  saddle.  He  made  frequent  business  trips  as  far  south  as 
Richmond,  Va.  He  purchased  a  piece  of  property  of  a  party  in  1818  for  $2,500, 
giving  his  note  for  one  year  for  $1,800.     Learning  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the 


SONS    OF    THE    AMERICAN    REVOLUTION1. 


itS 


seller  io  demand  specie  payment,  with  the  hope,  perhaps,  of  foreclosing  the 
property,  he  began  to  accumulate  the  amount  in  sixpence  and  shilling  pieces. 
When  the  sheriff  called  to  demand  the  specie,  Mr.  Yale  opened  his  bags  and 
poured  out  the  amount  on  the  table.  "There,"  said  he,  "is  the  $i,8oo  which  I 
tender  you  in  payment."  "  It  will  take  me  a  week  to  count  it,"  said  the  astonished 
sheriff.  "  I  don't  doubt  it,"  said  Mr.  Yale,  "  for  it  has  taken  me  six  months  to  get 
it."  Mr.  Yale  was  a  very  enterprising  and  upright  man,  much  respected  by  his 
townsmen.  He  represented  his  town  ia  the  State  Legislature  for  seven  successive 
years.  He  was  highly  esteemed  for  his  integrity  of  character,  his  great  liberality 
and  Christian  life.     None  knew  him  but  to  love  and  honor  him.     He  died  June  23, 


111    SUV    CLAY    YALE. 


1833,  greatly  lamented  by  his  friends  and  relatives  far  and  wide.  He  married 
Mary  Johnson,  of  Wallingford,  and  had  thirteen  children,  of  whom  Henry  Clay 
was  the  twelfth. 

HENRY  CLAY  YALE,  twelfth  child  of  William  and  Mary  (Johnson)  Yale, 
was  born  in  Meriden,  Conn.,  August  5,  1829.  He  spent  his  boyhood  in  Meriden 
and  his  last  school  days  at  Hamden,  Conn.,  under  the  tutorage  of  Rev.  C.  D.  W. 
Everest,  the  rector  of  the  school.  Early  in  1846  he  went  to  Boston  and  entered 
the  employ  of  the  well-known  house  of  Blake,  Patterson  &  Co.,  importers  and 
jobbers  of  woolen  goods.  He  came  to  New  York  the  following  year,  where  he 
was  connected  with  the  house  of  Burnham  &  Plumb,  the  latter  being  his  brother- 
in-law.  In  1850  he  formed  a  connection  with  Lombard  &  Butterick,  and  in  1854 
he  associated  himself  with  E.  M.  Townsend,  then  of  54  Cedar  street,  and  in  1855 
the  firm  of  Townsend  &  Yale,  commission  merchants,  was  formed,  which  contin- 
ued without  interruption  or  change  for  more  than  forty  years'  with  a  steady  growth, 


Il6  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

yielding  a  net  profit  every  year  during  the  entire  period  in  excess  of  expenses. 
They  have  represented  one  manufacturing  firm  since  1855  and  another  since  1867. 
Mr.  Yale  was  in  the  truest  sense  a  merchant  of  the  old  school.  His  methods  of 
business  were  open  and  above  board  and  he  would  never  tolerate  any  of  the 
"  tricks  of  the  trade  "  which  some  men  deem  essential  to  success.  He  was  the 
soul  of  honor  and  integrity  and  endeavored  to  live  up  to  the  golden  rule.  He 
enjoyed  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  the  whole  business  community  and  few 
merchants  of  the  present  period  had  a  wider  or  more  extended  acquaintance. 

He  lived  an  exemplary  Christian  life  and  was  identified  with  the  Baptist 
denomination  for  nearly  half  a  century,  having  united  with  the  Hope  Baptist 
Church  (which  afterward  became  the  Calvary  Baptist  Church),  in  New  York  City, 
and  later  with  the  Strong  Place  Baptist  Church,  of  Brooklyn.  He  united  with  the 
Madison  Avenue  Baptist  Church,  of  New  York,  in  1878,  continuing  until  his  death. 
The  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  his  associates  was  shown  in  the  action  taken 
by  the  Board  of  Trustees  after  his  death.  At  a  meeting  held  May  5,  1897,  the 
following  resolution  was  unanimously  adopted: 

"  Resolved,  That  we,  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Madison  Avenue  Baptist 
Church,  desire  to  record  an  expression  of  our  loss  in  the  death  of  Mr.  Henry  C. 
Yale,  and  of  our  appreciation  of  his  character  and  service.  .  .  .  He  was 
elected  a  trustee  of  our  church  November  17,  1879,  and  served  as  secretary  of  the 
Board  from  January  14,  1880,  until  the  time  of  his  death,  over  seventeen  years. 
He  was  one  of  our  most  faithful  and  efficient  officers,  and  by  his  devotion  to  the 
interests  of  the  church  and  by  reason  of  his  genial  character  and  earnest  and 
enthusiastic  Christian  spirit,  he  endeared  himself  to  all." 

Mr.  Yale  was  a  member  of  the  Union  League  and  the  Merchants'  Clubs.  He 
was  not,  however,  in  any  sense  a  "  society  "  man.  He  was  a  man  of  domestic 
tastes  and  preferred  home  life  to  that  of  any  other.  His  friends  always  found  a 
hearty  welcome,  and  the  stranger  in  need  he  ever  recognized  as  a  brother.  His 
creed  was  the  "Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  Brotherhood  of  Man."  Mr.  Yale 
married  Amelia  White,  daughter  of  Thomas  Broughton  White  and  Hannah 
Burchard.  The  former  was  the  grandson  of  Lieut.  Thomas  White,  Jr.,  of  the 
Revolution. 

John  White,  Sr.,  the  ancestor,  came  from  the  West  of  England  to  Salem, 
1638,  with  his  wife  Jane  and  several  children.  He  settled  in  Winham,  1658,  and 
afterward  in  Lancaster,  Mass.  He  had  the  most  taxable  property  and  the  largest 
allotment  of  land  of  any  of  the  planters.     He  had  a  son,  Josiah. 

Josiah  White,  son  of  John,  was  baptized  June  4,  1643.  He  removed  when 
ten  years  of  age,  with  his  father,  to  Lancaster.  He  was  prominent  in  the  town, 
holding  many  offices.  During  the  Indian  massacre  of  1676  one  of  his  sisters  was 
killed  and  two  were  taken  prisoners.  After  that  he  kept  a  garrison  house  for 
many  years.     By  his  wife  Mary  he  had  a  son,  Joint. 

Capt.  John  White,  son  of  Josiah,  was  born  in  Lancaster,  September  29, 
1684.  He  was  a  noted  Indian  fighter  in  his  day.  He  married  Eunice,  daughter 
of  Lieut.  Nathaniel  Wilder.  After  his  death  she  was  allowed  by  the  State 
Assembly  of  Massachusetts,  one  hundred  pounds  for  the  services  of  her  husband 
in  the  Indian  War.     They  had  a  son,  Thomas. 

Thomas  White,  son  of  Capt.  John  and  Eunice  (Wilder)  White,  was  born  in 
Lancaster,  Mass.,  17 19.  He  married,  October  31,  1739,  Sarah,  daughter  of  Edward 
and  Martha  Boughton,  and  had  issue,  Thomas  (2). 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  11/ 

Lieut.  Thomas  White  (2),  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was  born  in 
Lancaster,  Mass.,  September  4,  1740,  and  was  the  son  of  Thomas  White,  Sr.  and 
Sarah  Boughton,  his  wife.  He  responded  heartily  to  the  first  call  of  his  countiy 
and  his  name  appears  as  Sergeant  in  the  "Lexington  Alarm  "  roll,  in  Capt.  Mon- 
tague's Company,  Col.  Ruggle's  Regiment.  He  served  from  January  1,  1777.  to 
March  27,  1780,  and  during  this  period  saw  much  active  service,  enduring  with 
patience  and  fidelity  the  hardships  and  exposure  of  the  several  campaigns.  In 
addition  to  his  personal  service  he  spent  all  his  money  in  the  cause  of  American 
Independence  and  impoverished  himself.  He  enjoyed  the  personal  friendship  of 
his  compatriots,  foremost  among  whom  was  Baron  Steuben  who,  on  learning  of 
the  great  sacrifice  he  had  made  for  his  country,  took  his  son  Boughton  whom  he 
educated  at  his  own  expense  and  afterward  made  him  his  private  secretary. 

By  his  marriage  with  Amelia  White,  daughter  of  Thomas  Boughton  White 
and  great-granddaughter  of  Lieut.  Thomas  White,  Mr.  Yale  had  four  children, 
viz.:     Henrietta,  died  young,   William  Henry,  Nelly  White  and  Fanny  Burchard. 

WILLIAH  HENRY  YALE,  Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  second 
child  and  eldest  son  of  Henry  Clay  and  Amelia  (White)  Yale,  was  born  in  Brook- 
lyn, N.  Y.,  March  1,  1859.  He  was  duly  prepared  for  and  entered  Yale  (of  which 
his  ancestor  was  the  founder),  in  the  class  of  '80.  Failing  health  compelled  him 
to  leave  college  while  passing  his  examinations  for  junior  year.  He  finally 
decided  not  to  return,  and  chose  a  business  instead  of  a  professional  career. 
He  began  his  business  career  as  an  employee  of  his  father's  firm  on  the 
same  footing  of  those  who  had  preceded  him,  beginning  at  the  lowest  round 
of  the  ladder  and  working  his  way  up  entirely  on  his  own  merits  until  he 
became,  after  his  father's  death  in  1897,  the  latter's  successor,  this  being 
the  first  change  in  the  membership  of  the  firm  since  its  formation  in  1854,  the 
name,  Townsend  &  Yale,  still  continuing.  His  knowledge  of  the  business, 
acquired  by  long  experience,  fitted  him  to  become  his  father's  successor,  and  he 
fully  maintains  the  reputation  as  well  as  the  methods  for  which  the  firm  has 
always  been  noted.  Mr.  Yale  possesses  not  only  the  business  qualifications,  but 
inherits  the  sunny,  cheerful  disposition  which  inspires  confidence  and  good  feeling. 
He  occupies  the  same  position  in  the  business  community  that  his  father  did  and 
is  justly  proud  of  the  achievements  of  his  worthy  sire.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  the  Merchants'  Club,  the  Union  League  Club,  and  the 
Yale  Club  of  New  York,  which  delights  in  perpetuating  the  memory  of  "  Old  Eli." 
Mr.  Yale  married,  in  Boston,  Margaret  Humphrey,  daughter  of  Theodore  F. 
Humphrey,  of  Albany,  son  of  Friend  Humphrey.  They  have  issue,  Theodore 
Humphrey,  Henry  Clay,  William,  Arthur  McPherson,  Burchard  White,  Margaret 
and  Amelia. 


FAY-  FORBES. 


The  history  of  the  Fay  and  Forbes  families  of  New  England  presents  a 
remarkable  case  of  hereditary  patriotism  and  loyalty  to  principle.  Both  families 
not  only  furnished  their  full  quota  on  the  call  of  the  "  Lexington  Alarm,"  and 
continued  in  service  throughout  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  but  for  centuries  back 
as  far  as  their  record  can  be  traced,  there  is  not  a  taint  of  disloyalty.     They  were 


1  I S  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

sans  peur  et  sans  reproche.  The  emblazoned  shield  indicates  the  character  and 
achievements  of  the  Fay  family.  It  bore  Arms — Argent  six  roses  gules. 
Crest — A  dexter  arm  holding  in  the  gauntlet  a  dagger  ppr. 

John  Fay,  the  progenitor  of  the  New  England  family  of  this  name,  was  a 
native  of  London  and  was  left  an  orphan  at  eight  years  of  age,  at  which  time, 
May  30,  1656,  he  sailed  for  the  New  World  in  the  good  ship  "Speedwell,"  with  a 
company  of  colonists  for  Boston.  On  the  breaking  out  of  King  Philip's  War,  in 
1675,  he  was  in  Marlborough  and  was  designated  among  others  to  defend  the 
garrison  house  of  William  Kesley  in  case  of  attack.  Like  most  of  the  settlers,  he 
left  the  town  soon  after  and  repaired  to  Watertown  to  a  greater  place  of  safety. 
He  returned  to  Marlborough  after  peace  was  restored.  It  was  there  that  he  met 
and  married  his  second  wife,  Susannah,  widow  of  Joseph  Morse  and  daughter  of 
William  Shattuck,  of  Watertown,  one  of  the  founders  of  that  town.  Among 
other  children  he  had  a  son,  David. 

David  Fay,  son  of  John  (1)  and  Susannah  Morse  (nee  Shattuck)  Fay,  was 
born  in  Marlborough,  Mass.,  April  23,  1679.  He  ,ivecl  m  tnat  Part  °f  Marlborough 
which  was  set  off  as  Southboro,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  original  petitioners, 
June  12,  1727.  The  history  of  Southboro  states  that  "  Capt.  Aaron  Fay  com- 
manded a  company  sent  for  the  reduction  of  Canada  and  was  out  from  March  to 
November,  1758."     He  was  probably  a  son  of  David  Fay. 

Capt.  Josiah  Fay,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was  born  in  Westboro, 
Mass.,  in  1732.  He  was  probably  a  son  of  Aaron  and  a  grandson  of  David  Fay. 
He  commanded  a  company  of  fifty  men  who  marched  from  the  town  of  South- 
boro to  Lexington  and  Concord,  April  19,  1775.  From  May  23  to  December  1,  1775, 
he  was  Captain  in  Ward's  Regiment.  The  record  states  that  "  every  able-bodied 
male  citizen  of  the  town  from  sixteen  years  old  and  upwards  was  armed  according 
to  law."  During  the  ensuing  year  Capt.  Fay  commanded  a  company  in  the  First 
Continental  Regiment  of  Infantry  until  his  death  in  New  York  city,  August  12,  1776. 
From  the  fact  that  he  died  just  previous  to  the  Battle  of  Long  Island,  it  would 
appear  that  he  was  guarding,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  the  defences  of  New  York. 
He  married  Martha  Fay  and  had  a  son.  Aaron. 

Aaron  Fay,  son  of  Capt.  Josiah  and  Martha  Fay,  was  born  in  Southboro, 
Mass,     He  married  and  had  a  son,  Nahum. 

Nahum  Fay,  son  of  Aaron  Fay,  was  born  in  Southboro,  Mass.,  about  1800. 
After  receiving  a  common  school  education  he  went  to  Boston  where  he  was 
employed  for  some  years  in  a  grocery  house.  He  subsequently  started  in  business 
for  himself  and  removed  to  Alton,  111.,  where  he  carried  on  an  exclusive  trade  for 
some  years.  He  was  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  great  West  and  assisted  materi- 
ally in  the  development  of  the  towns  where  he  resided.  He  possessed  the  courage 
and  energy,  with  the  boldness  and  determination  of  his  ancestors.  He  died  in 
1845.  He  married  Mary  Peters  Forbes,  daughter  ef  Eli  Forbes,  son  of  Ensign 
Elisha  Forbes,  who  was  a  compatriot  of  and  served  in  the  same  company  with 
Capt.  Josiah  Fay.  Elisha  Forbes  was  the  son  of  Hon.  Daniel,  son  of  Jonathan, 
son  of  Daniel,  the  ancestor. 

William  Forbes,  of  Tulliskerne,  Scotland,  who  published  an  extended  account 
of  the  Forbes  family  early  in  the  sixteenth  century,  says :  "  As  to  their 
loyaltie  it  was  never  yet  stained,  but  attempted  by  calumnators.  One,  in  the 
days  of  King  James  V.,  the  master  of  Forbes,  was  accused  of  treason,  for  which 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  I  19 

he  lost  his  head  ;  and  after  his  death  the  King,  finding  that  he  was  falsely 
accused  out  of  malice  by  his  enemies,  restored  his  successor  to  all  his  lands  and 
honours  to  the  full,  and  gave  him  some  more  lands  in  gift,  which  ye  Lord  Forbes 
inherits  till  this  day. 

"Alexander  III.,  King  of  Scotland,  in  23d  year  of  his  reign,  which  is  in  the 
year  of  God  1272,  gave  and  disposed  to  Lord  Duncan  Forbes,  terras  et  tenementum 
de  Forbes,  and  ye  writer  did  see  a  charter  given  without  date  to  Alexander.  Earl 
of  Buchanan,  to  Fergus  Lord  Forbes,  and  long  after  King  David  consigned  a 
charter  granted  by  John  Lord  Forbes,  of  the  lands  of  Edinbouchorie  and 
Cromlogie." 

The  Barony  of  Forbes  is  the  first  in  the  Union  roll  and,  as  such,  takes  rank 
before  all  the  lords  of  parliament.  Lord  Forbes  is  so  designated,  1442,  Bart  of 
Nova  Scotia.  The  family  bore  A?  ins—  Azure,  three  bears' heads  couped  argent, 
muzzle,  gules.  Crest — A  stag's  head  ppr.  Supporias — Two  greyhounds  argent 
collared  gules.     Motto — "  Spe  expecto." 

The  name  appears  on  the  early  records  of  Massachusetts  as  Forbush,  the 
original  spelling  of  the  name  being  resumed  by  the  second  and  third  generations. 

Daniel  Forbush,  the  emigrant  ancestor,  was  born  in  Kincellar,  Scotland, 
about  1620.  ''The  supposition  is  drawn  from  documentary  evidence  that  Daniel 
was  a  Scotch  soldier  in  the  battle  of  Dunbar,  September  3,  1650,  was  captured 
with  others  and  deported  by  Cromwell's  orders  to  the  New  England  colony."  He 
settled  in  Cambridge  where  he  married  Rebecca  Perriman.  He  wrote  his  name 
"  Daniel  Forbush."  His  wife  died  May  3,  1674,  and  he  married,  second,  May  23, 
1679,  Deborah  Redeat,  daughter  of  John  Redeat,  one  of  the  original  proprietors 
of  Marlboro,  who  shared  in  the  first  division  of  land.  He  had,  by  his  first  wife, 
Jonathan,  who  was  the  youngest  child. 

Jonathan  Forbush,  youngest  child  of  Daniel  and  Rebecca  (Perriman)  Forbes, 
was  born  in  Cambridge,  March  20,  1664.  He  married  Dorothy  Pray,  daughter  of 
John  Pray,  of  Braintree.  His  wife  was  captured  by  the  Indians,  but  returned. 
He  removed  to  Kittery,  Maine,  and  his  house  being  on  the  frontier,  was  made  a 
garrison.  In  1774  he  embraced  the  Quaker  faith.  By  his  wife,  Dorothy  Pray,  he 
had  six  children,  of  whom  Daniel  was  the  eldest. 

Hon.  Daniel  Forbes,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Jonathan  and 
Dorothy  (Pray)  Forbush,  was  born  October  23,  17 10.  He  was  one  of  the  first  to 
change  his  name  to  Forbes.  November  27,  1735,  he  was  admitted  to  full  com- 
munion with  the  Westboro  church.  The  church  records  of  his  death  in  1780 
state  that  "  beside  his  great  regard  for  religion  and  forwardness  to  promote  the 
interest  of  true  piety  and  godliness  among  us,  was  remarkably  strenuous  in  the 
cause  of  liberty  and  for  maintaining  our  just  rights  and  privileges,  civil  and 
sacred."  In  1772  the  Committee  of  Correspondence  published  an  address  to  the 
towns  of  Massachusetts,  stating  the  rights  of  the  colonists  and  recording  the 
long  list  of  infringements  of  their  liberties.  Westboro  made  reply,  from  which 
the  following  is  an  extract  :  "  For  no  doubt  when  tyranny  is  exercised  oppression 
becomes  a  duty.  As  our  fathers  could,  so  can  we  plead  our  loyalty;  we  have 
been  and  are  now  ready  to  spill  our  dearest  blood  in  defense  of  our  king,  religion 
and  constitutional  laws,  and  we  cannot  but  look  upon  it  as  a  hard  trial,  yea, 
greater  than  we  can  bear,  if  we  cannot  send  to  \ou  full  proof  to  loyalty,  otherwise 
than  by  sacrificing  those  rights  and  liberties  which  we  prize  beyond  life  itself." 


120  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN     REVOLUTION. 

Daniel  Forbes  was  one  of  the  seven  signers  to  this  reply.  In  1774  he  was  one  of 
the  Committee  of  Correspondence  at  Westboro.  He  was  selectman  in  1757-8, 
and  representative  in  1777.  He  married  Abigail  Severs,  of  Newton,  by  whom  he 
had  a  son,  ElisJia. 

Ensign  Elisha  Forbes,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Hon. 
Daniel  and  Abigail  (Severs)  Forbes,  was  born  in  Westboro,  Mass.,  March  20, 
1745.  He  was  ensign  in  the  company  commanded  by  Capt.  Josiah  Fay,  and  with 
him  was  transferred  to  Col.  Ward's  regiment,  serving  at  Lexington,  Concord, 
Bunker  Hill,  and  later  in  the  defences  of  New  York  as  a  member  of  First  Conti- 
nental Infantry.  He  continued  in  service  through  the  war.  He  married  Hannah 
Flagg  and  had  a  son  Eli,  whose  daughter  Mary  was  married  to  Nahum  Fay,  as 
previously  stated. 

Nahum  Fay,  by  his  wife  Mary  P.  (Forbes)  Fay,  had  issue,  Sigourney  Webster, 
Capt.  Alfred  F.,  Ellen,  married  C.  N.  Mackerbin,  Josephine,  married  Edward  E. 
White,  Clara,  married  Marshall   Lefferts,  Jr. 

Sigourney  Webster  Fay,  Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  son  of  Nahum 
and  Mary  (Forbes)  Fay,  was  born  in  Boston,  Mass.,  February  6,  1836,  and  was 
graduated  at  the  Boston  High  School.  He  entered  the  old  and  well-known  mer- 
cantile house  of  Lawrence,  Stone  &  Co.,  of  Boston,  and  had  a  further  experience 
in  the  Middlesex  Mills,  of  Lowell,  Mass.,  leading  New  England  manufacturers  in 
the  line  of  woolen  goods.  In  i860,  at  the  age  of  twenty-four,  he  embarked  in 
business  on  his  own  account  and  helped  to  organize  the  commission  house  of 
Stone,  Bliss,  Fay  &  Allen,  of  New  York  city.  During  the  war  and  for  some  time 
following,  this  was  one  of  the  largest  commission  houses  in  the  woolen  goods 
trade  in  the  city.  At  one  time  it  was  the  selling  agent  of  fifteen  of  the  largest 
and  most  important  factories  in  New  England.  In  1864  the  firm  was  reorganized 
into  Perry,  Wendell,  Fay  &  Co.,  and  in  1878  it  became  Wendell,  Fay  &  Co.,  the 
present  firm  name,  the  oldest  in  this  line  of  trade  in  the  city. 

Mr.  Fay  is  the  veteran  in  the  woolen  trade,  having  outlived  nearly  all  his 
competitors,  and  while  he  has  passed  his  three  score  years,  he  looks  ten  years 
younger.  He  is  also  a  veteran  of  the  Union  League  Club,  having  joined  it  soon 
after  its  organization  in  1863,  being  proposed  by  his  friends,  Dr.  H.  W.  Bellows 
and  Dr.  C.  R.  Agnew,  two  of  the  founders  of  the  club.  All  his  old  associates  in 
the  Union  League  have  passed  away,  his  friend  Dr.  Agnew  having  been  a  victim 
of  the  great  blizzard  of  '87,  while  attending  Hon.  Roscoe  Conklin.  Mr.  Fay  is 
identified  with  various  business  and  benevoient  interests  of  the  city.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  has  been  a  director  of  the  Hanover 
National  Bank  since  1876,  and  was  one  of  the  governors  of  the  House  of  Refuge. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Metropolitan,  Union  League,  Players',  City  and  Merchants' 
Clubs,  and  of  the  New  England  Society  of  New  York,  and  the  Boston  Society  of 
1  >ston,  Mass.  Mr.  Fay  is  a  man  of  fine  literary  tastes  and  has  been  for  many  years 
a  close  student  of  the  drama,  past  and  present.  He  excels  as  a  dramatic  critic, 
being  just  and  impartial  in  his  criticisms,  making  due  allowance  for  the  idiosyn- 
cracies  of  the  player  where  true  genius  exists.  Among  his  literary  productions 
on  other  subjects  is  a  very  able  essay  on  Charles  Lamb.  Mr.  Fay  married  his 
cousin,  Delia  A.,  daughter  of  Emory  B.  Fay,  of  Boston. 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  12  1 

CAPT.  ALFORD  FORBES  FAY  (Brevet  Lieut-Colonel),  a  younger  brother 

of  Sigourney  W.,  was  born  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  in  1843;  died  at  Philadelphia, 
August  19,  18S1.  He  was  distinguished  for  his  bravery  in  the  late  Civil  War  as 
Commissary  Sergeant  of  the  Thirtieth  Massachusetts  Volunteers,  and  was  pro- 
moted Lieutenant.  He  served  under  Gen.  McClellan  in  the  army  of  the  Potomac. 
He  was  engaged  in  the  first  battle  of  Bull  Run,  also  Cedar  Creek  and  Winchester 
in  Virginia,  the  several  battles  of  the  Wilderness,  and  was  afterward  transferred 
to  the  southwest,  serving  under  Butler  at  the  capture  of  New  <  >i  leans,  battles  of 


LKOKl)    FORBES    FAY. 


Fisher's  Hill,  Donaldsonville,  Vicksburg,  Port  Hudson,  Red  River,  Plains  Store, 
also  at  Baton  Rouge,  where  he  was  promoted  Captain  for  savin;;  the  colors  over 
President  Taylor's  grave,  which  was  located  on  a  part  of  the  battlefield.  He 
served  under  Gen.  Grant  at  Vicksburg,  where  he  was  made  a  captain  in  the 
regular  army.  He  was  ordered  from  there  to  Fort  Rice  and  detailed  to  build 
Fort  Berthold,  where  he  acted  as  Major.  He  was  afterward  brevetted  Lieutenant- 
Colonel.  He  married  Miss  Susan  Hutchinson,  of  Philadelphia,  and  had  issue, 
Sigourney  W.  Fay,  Jr.,  and  Mary  Forbes  Fay.  The  former  is  now  a  senior  at  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania.  He  is  a  young  man  of  fine  literary  gifts,  with  a 
bright  promise  for  the  future. 
9 


122  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

SHITH— PARTRIDGE -TREAT -WOODRUFF— 
LOWRY. 

The  Smith  family  of  Wethersfield,  Conn.,  and  Hadley,  Mass.,  together  with 
the  allied  families,  bore  an  important  part  as  founders  and  builders  of  their  various 
places  of  settlement,  also  in  the  colonial  wars  and  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution. 

Samuel  Smith,  the  first  representative  of  this  branch  of  the  Smith  family, 
came  from  England  in  1640  and  settled  in  Wethersfield,  Conn.,  and  was  one  of 
the  founders  of  that  town.  He  represented  the  town  at  the  General  Court  oftener 
than  any  other  man,  having  served  almost  continuously  during  the  two  semi-annual 
sessions  from  1641  to  1653.  In  1659  he  removed  to  Hadley,  Mass.,  where  he  was 
held  in  high  repute,  and  represented  that  town  at  the  General  Court  of  Massa- 
chusetts from  1661  to  1673.  He  was  lieutenant  in  command  of  the  militia  from 
1663  to  1667,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Philip,  who  was  commissioned  captain, 
being  the  first  to  receive  that  rank.  Samuel  was  also  a  magistrate.  He  died  in 
1680.  His  wife,  Elizabeth,  died  March  16,  16S5,  aged  90,  They  had  among  other 
children,  a  son,  John. 

John  Smith,  fourth  son  of  Samuel  and  Elizabeth  ( )  Smith,  was  born  in 

England,  about  1636,  and  was  brought  by  his  parents  to  this  country,  settling  first 
in  Wethersfield  and  removing  thence  to  Hadley.  The  account  of  his  death  in  the 
"  Falls  Fight  "  with  the  Indians,  May  30,  1676,  contained  in  the  History  of  Hadley, 
says  :  "  And  though  encompassed  by  numerous  swarms  of  Indians  who  lay  in 
ambush  behind  almost  every  tree  and  place  of  advantage,  yet  the  English  lost  not 
one  man  till  within  about  one  hundred  rods  of  the  town,  when  five  of  ours  were 
slain,  among  whom  was  a  precious  young  man  whose  name  was  Smith,  that  place 
having  lost  many  in  losing  one  man."  He  married,  November  12,  1663,  Mary 
Partridge,  probably  daughter  of  William  Partridge,  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  an  original 
settler  who  came  from  Berwick,  Scotland  ;  died  in  Hadley,  Mass.,  June  27,  1668; 
married  Mary  Smith,  of  Hartford.  Her  son  Samuel  was  Judge  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas,  colonel  of  a  regiment,  one  of  His  Majesty's  Council  and  one  of 
"  three  Connecticut  river  gods  ";  was  second  in  the  trio  which  ruled  or  led  Massa- 
chusetts through  an  entire  century  of  its  history.  John  Smith,  by  his  wife,  Mary 
(Partridge)  Smith,  had  a  son,  Benjamin. 

Benjamin  Smith,  youngest  son  of  John  and  Mary  (Partridge)  Smith,  was 
born  in  Hadley,  Mass.,  January  10,  1673.  He  removed  to  Wethersfield  about 
1700,  where  he  had  land  set  off  to  him  by  the  courts  of  Northampton  as  his  share 
of  his  father's  estate.  He  married,  March  14,  1700,  Ruth  Buck,  of  Wethersfield, 
and  had  a  son,  Josiah. 

Capt.  Josiah  Smith,  son  of  Benjamin  and  Ruth  (Buck)  Smith,  was  born  in 
Wethersfield,  Conn.,  January  31,  1709.  He  married,  September  4,  1740,  Mary 
Treat,  daughter  of  Joseph,  son  of  Lieut.  James  Treat,  brother  of  Gov.  Robert 
Treat,  and  son  of  Richard  Treat,  the  ancestor. 

Lieut.  Joseph  Treat  was  born  at  Wethersfield  about  1680;  died  Sept.  15, 
1756.  In  May,  1 714,  he  was  appointed  Ensign  of  the  South  Company,  in 
Wethersfield  Train  Band,  and  in  May  was  commissioned  Lieutenant.  He  married 
Mary,  daughter  of  Capt.  Joshua  Bobbins.  The  father  of  Joseph  Treat  was  Lieut. 
James  Treat. 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 


123 


Lieut.  James  Treat  was  born  in  Pitminster,  England,  in  1624;  died  Febru- 
ary 12,  1708.  He  was  listed  as  a  trooper,  1658,  elected  Lieut,  of  the  Train  Band, 
1679,  and  took  part  in  the  Indian  War.  He  was  constable,  1682;  deputy  to  the 
General  Court,  1672-1707  ;  Justice  of  the  Peace  from  Hartford  County,  1698-1708; 
member  of  the  Governor's  Council,  1696-7-8.  In  1685  he  and  others  received  a 
patent  confirming  title  to  the  township  of  Wethersfield.  He  was  the  son  of 
Richard,  the  ancestor. 

Richard  Treat,  the  American  ancestor  of  this  family,  son  of  Robert,  son  of 
Richard,  son  of  William,  son  of  John,  1458,  was  born  in  Pitminster,  Somerset, 
England,  1584.     It  is  supposed  that   he  belonged  to  the  Saltonstall  colony  that 


REV.    JOHN    SMITH. 


came  over  in  1630.  He  was  an  original  settler  of  Wethersfield,  and  was  in  1663-4 
a  member  of  Gov.  Winthrop's  Council  ;  was  patentee  of  the  colony,  his  name 
appearing  in  the  charter.  He  was  a  chosen  deputy  to  the  General  Court  in  1644, 
and  was  annually  elected  for  fourteen  years  ;  elected  assistant  magistrate  eight 
times,  from  March  11,  1647-8  to  1655.  October  25,  1644,  he  and  Mr.  Wells  were 
the  committee  for  Wethersfield  to  raise  money  for  maintaining  schools  at  Cam- 
bridge.    He  married,  April  27,  161  5,  Alice,  daughter  of  Hugh  Gaylord. 

Josiah   Smith,  by  his   wife,  Mary   Treat   (daughter  of  Joseph,   son   of  Lieut. 
James,  son  of  Richard),  had  a  son,  James. 


124  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

James  Smith,  son  of  Josiah  and  Mary  (Treat)  Smith,  was  born  in  Wethers- 
field.  January  20,  1756  ;  died  February  20,  1832.  He  married,  first,  Sarah  Hanmer, 
March  14,  1780;  she  died  April  21,  1800.  He  married,  second,  Mrs.  Jerusha  (Dix) 
Wright.     By  his  first  wife  he  had  a  son,  Joint. 

REV.  JOHN  SMITH,  son  of  James  and  Sarah  (Hanmer)  Smith,  was  born  in 
Wethersfield,  September  2,  1796.  He  graduated  at  Yale  in  1821,  and  at  the 
Andover  Theological  Seminary,  and  was  a  licentiate  of  the  Congregational  Associ- 
ation of  East  Fairfield,  Conn.  He  was  called  to  the  pastorate  of  the  Trenton, 
N.  J.,  Presbyterian  Church,  where  he  remained  for  three  years  doing  excellent 
work.  He  resigned  in  1828  and  in  February  of  the  next  year  he  was  detached 
from  that  body  and  took  charge  of  the  Congregational  Church  at  Exeter,  N.  H. 
He  was  also  at  Wilton,  Conn.,  Kingston,  N.  H.,  and  at  York,  Me.  His  entire 
pastorate  covered  a  period  of  forty  years,  and  his  efforts  were  greatly  blessed  and 
the  churches  over  which  he  presided  increased  in  numbers  and  influence.  He  was 
an  able  preacher  and  a  successful  pastor.  His  settlement  in  Wilton,  Conn.,  was 
among  he  marked  pastorates  of  that  State  for  the  signal  work  of  revival  which 
attended  his  labors  there.  The  closing  years  of  his  life  were  spent  at  the  home 
of  his  son,  James  D.,  in  Stamford,  Conn.,  where  he  died  February  20,  1874.  He 
married  Esther  Woodruff,  daughter  of  Hon.  Aaron  Dickinson  Woodruff,  son  of 
Elias,  son  of  David,  son  of  John  (2),  son  of  John  (1). 

The  family  of  Woodroff  or  Woodruff  was  originally  settled  in  Suffolk  and 
Yorkshire,  England.  The  latter  bore  Arms — Argent  a  chevron  between  three 
crosses  formee  fitchee  gules.     Crest — A  woodcock,  ppr. 

John  Woodruff,  the  American  ancestor,  came  from  Wooley,  near  Wakefield, 
in  West  Rideing,  of  Yorkshire,  before  1637  to  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony,  and 
settled  first  in  Lynn,  Mass.,  removing  thence  to  Southampton,  L.  I.,  where  his 
name  is  first  mentioned  on  the  list  of  1637.  He  married  Anne,  daughter  of  John 
Gosmer.  In  his  will  dated  May  4,  1670,  he  says:  "I  give  my  eldest  son,  John 
Woodruff,  of  Elizabeth  Town,  one  half  Crown  piece  of  Money  in  full  of  all 
portions  and  Patrimony  whatsoever  to  be  expected  from  mee  or  out  of  any  part  of 
my  Estate."  At  the  close  of  his  will  he  savs  :  "  I  make  this  my  wife.  Anne 
Woodruff  and  my  youngest  son,  John  Woodruff,  joint  Executors  of  my  Last  Will 
and  Testament."     He  evidently  married  twice. 

The  oldest  son  John,  was  adopted  by  his  grandfather,  John  Gosmer,  and 
inherited  large  tracts  of  land  from  him.  He  removed  with  his  wife  Mary  to 
Elizabethtown,  N.  J.,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  early  Associates,  and  acquired 
there  a  plantation  of  one  thousand  acres,  still  known  as  the  "  Woodruff  farm." 
He  was  a  leading  man  in  the  town.  He  was  appointed  Constable  December 
1  1,  1674,  Ensign  July  15,  1675,  and  High  Sheriff  of  the  County  November  28,  1684. 
John  Woodruff,  Sen.,  of  Elizabethtown,  by  his  wife  Mary,  had  issue,  Joint.  Joseph, 
Anne  and  Elizabeth. 

John  Woodruff  (3),  son   of    John   (2)   and    Mary  ( )  Woodruff,  was   born 

about  1655;  was  an  early  Associate  of  Elizabethtown.  He  was  one  of  the  bur- 
gesses of  the  Colonial  Legislature  and  was  appointed  High  Sheriff  of  Essex 
County  in  1697.  His  wife  Sarah  was  born  in  1666  and  died  July  2,  1727.  They 
had  a  son,  David. 

David  Woodruff,  son   of  John  (3)   and   Sarah    ( )    Woodruff,   was   born 

about  1678  ;  was  admitted  an  Associate  of  Elizabeth  in  1699.  By  his  wife  Eunice, 
he  had  eleven  sons,  of  whom  Elias  was  the  sixth. 


SONS    OF    THE    AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 


125 


Elias  Woodruff,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  David  and 
Eunice  ( )  Woodruff,  was  born  at  Elizabeth,  N.  J.,  March,  1739.  He  re- 
moved with  his  family  to  Princeton,  in  1772.  He  was  an  ardent  patriot  during  the 
Revolution  and  was  appointed  Commissary  of  Supplies  for  the  New  Jersey  troops, 
and  probably  continued  in  this  capacity  until  the  close  of  the  war.  He  married 
Mary  Joline,  daughter  of  John  and  Phebe  Joline,  and  had  nine  children,  of  whom 
Aaron  Dickinson  was  the  eldest. 

Hon.  Aaron  Dickinson  Woodruff,  son  of  Elias  and  Mary  (Joline)  Wood- 
ruff, was  born  at  Elizabeth,  N.  J.,  September  12,  1762.  He  was  graduated  with 
honor  at  the  College  of  New  Jersey  ( Princeton),  in  1799,  having  been  appointed 
valedictorian  of  the  class.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1784,  having  won  by  his 
uncompromising  integrity  the  confidence  of  all.  He  was  a  man  highly  esteemed 
for  his  abilities  and  probity.  He  served  for  a  time  in  the  Legislature  and  was  a 
trustee  in  the  First  Church  at  Trenton.  He  was  influential  in  having  Trenton 
selected  for  the  State  Capital.     The  native  benevolence  of  his  heart  made  him  the 


COL.    THOMAS    LOVVKEY. 


patron  of  the  poor,  a  defender  of  the  fatherless;  he  exulted  in  the  joys  or  partici- 
pated in  the  sorrows  of  his  friends,  He  married  Grace,  daughter  of  Col.  Thomas 
Lowrey,  of  Alexandria,  Hunterdon  County,  N.  J. 

COL.  THOHAS  LOWREY,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was  born  in 
Ireland,  September  3,  1737.  He,  with  his  mother,  a  widow,  and  her  brother, 
Thomas  Patterson,  who  was  the  father  of  Gov.  William  Patterson,  came  to 
America  when  he  was  ten  years  old.  He  was  brought  up  under  the  supervision  of 
his  uncle,  Thomas  Patterson,  and  educated  by  him.  He  became  a  prosperous 
merchant  and  a  large  landowner.  He  was  a  shrewd,  sagacious  man  who 
generally  succeeded  in  his  undertakings.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  Baptist  Church  in  Anwell  Township,  in  1765,  which  was  the  first  in  the  town- 
ship. In  1775  he  was  a  member  from  Hunterdon  County,  of  the  Provincial  Con- 
gress, and  in  1 791-2  was  a  member  of  the  Legislative  Assembly  from  that  county. 
On  June  18,  1776,  he   was  commissioned  Lieut. -Colonel   in   Col.  David  Chambers' 


126 


SONS    OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 


Third  Regiment,  N.  J.  State  Militia,  attached  to  the  brigade  of  Maj.-Gen.  Dickin- 
son, and  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Colonel.  He  enjoyed  the  confidence  and 
friendship  of  President  Washington,  who  had  some  time  been  a  guest  at  his  house 
in  Flemington,  during  the  Revolution.  In  1775  he  erected  a  grain  and  produce 
store.  He  was  appointed  Deputy  Commissary  and  his  army  supplies  were  stored 
in  this  building  ;  also  a  large  number  of  muskets.  When  the  British  occupied 
Trenton,  a  detachment  of  cavalry  was  sent  on  a  foraging  expedition  to  Flemington 
to  take  Lowrey  prisoner  and  capture  the  supplies  in  his  custody.  Lowrey  learned 
of  their  approach  in  time  to  make  his  escape,  and  soon  after  the  British  arrived  he 
appeared  on  the  neighboring  slope  of  Mullin  Hill  on  horseback  as  if  in  a  reconnoiter 
in  advance  of  a  military  force.  He  was  seen  by  a  British  officer,  who  enquired  of 
an  Irishman  in  Lowrey's  employ  what  that  meant,  and  was  told  that  there  was  a 
large  body  of  American  troops  on  the  other  side  of  the  hill.  "  In  that  case,"  said 
the  officer,  "we  had  better  get  out  of  the  way."     They    placed  the  King's   seal  on 


MRS.    ESTHER    (FLEMING)    LOWREY. 


the  store  and  hastily  rode  off,  but  were  subsequently  ambushed  by  a  force  under 
Capt.  Schenck,  and  their  commander  killed.  After  the  war,  in  1791,  he  was  made 
United  States  Marshall  for  the  District  of  New  Jersey,  and  held  that  position 
until  1803. 

Col.  Lowrey  married  Esther  Fleming,  second  daughter  of  Samuel  Fleming 
and  Esther  Mounier.  His  wife,  Esther  (Fleming)  Lowrey,  was  a  person  of  ami- 
ability and  refinement.  Like  her  husband,  she  was  an  ardent  patriot,  and  in  full 
sympathy  with  the  Revolutionary  struggle  for  freedom.  She  well  understood  the 
wrongs,  oppression  and  persecution  his  ancestors  had  suffered,  and  fervently  desired 
that  every  vestige  of  British  tyranny  and  oppression  should  be  removed.  In  1780, 
when  the  American  army  was  suffering  from  a  great  scarcity  of  supplies,  Mrs. 
Lowrey  was  chosen  one  of  a  committee  of  ten  ladies  to  cooperate  with  the  commit- 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN     REVOLUTION.  \2J 

lees  of  other  counties  to  solicit  voluntary  contributions  for  the  relief  of  the  soldiers. 
In  twelve  days  the  sum  of  $15,408  was  collected.  In  April,  1789,  Mrs.  Lowrey 
was  one  of  the  matrons  in  charge  of  the  ceremonies  at  Trenton  on  the  memor- 
able occasion  of  General  Washington's  reception  and  passage  under  the  triumphal 
arch  at  that  place. 

By  his  marriage  to  Esther  Mary  Woodruff,  daughter  of  Hon.  Aaron  Dickinson 
Woodruff,  Rev.  John  Smith  had  issue,  Susan  Woodruff,  James  Dickinson,  Charles 
Stewart,  Esther  Mary,   Walter  Mitchel and  Maria  Lowrey,  all  living. 

HON.  JAMES  DICKINSON  SMITH,  Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R., 
son  of  Rev.  John,  and  Esther  Mary  (Woodruff)  Smith,  was  born  at  Exeter,  N.  H., 


HON.    JAMES    DICKINSON    SMITH. 

November  24,  1829,  during  the  pastorate  of  his  father  at  that  place.  It  is  note- 
worthy that  after  all  the  wanderings  of  this  family  through  the  Eastern  and 
Middle  States,  that  the  representatives  of  the  past  and  present  generation — father 
and  son — should  return  to  the  State  hallowed  by  the  blood  of  their  ancestors,  and 
make  for  themselves  a  record  which  should  add  new  lustre  to  the  name. 

For  nearly  half  a  century,  James  D.  Smith  has  been  a  resident  of  the  old 
town  of  Stamford,  where  he  has  been  honored  by  his  townsmen  and  has  achieved 
a  reputation  that  extends  beyond  his  adopted  State.  The  energy,  perseverance 
and  business  capacity  which  characterized  his  ancestors,  have  been  developed  in  a 
marked  degree  in  his  life.     His  boyhood  was  much  like  that  of  his  playmates,  and 


128  SONS    OF    THE    AMERICAN     REVOLUTION. 

yet  there  are  few,  if  any,  whom  he  has  not  distanced  in  the,  long  race.  He  had  a 
good  elementary  education  and  a  brief  experience  in  a  country  store.  Thus 
equipped,  he  began  his  business  career  with  one  of  the  oldest  dry  goods  firms  in 
New  York  city.  That  he  soon  reached  the  topmost  round  of  the  ladder  goes 
without  saying,  and  he  became  a  successful  dry  goods  merchant.  A  born  finan- 
cier, he  soon  drifted  into  the  world  of  finance  and  established  the  well-known 
banking  house  of  Jameson,  Smith  &  Cotting,  later  James  D.  Smith  &  Co.,  which 
firms,  for  over  thirty-live  years,  have  held  a  leading  position  among  the  banking 
houses  of  the  country.  His  ability  as  a  financier  received  due  recognition  by  the 
New  York  Stock  Exchange,  which  twice  elected  him  its  president.  Careful,  con- 
servative and  endowed  with  almost  prophetic  knowledge,  he  has  been  able  to 
forecast  the  future  and  thus  weather  the  financial  gales  that  have  swept  so  many 
of  his  competitors  out  of  existence  during  his  business  career.  His  interests  are 
not  confined  alone  to  banking.  As  a  director  and  promoter  he  was  largely  inter- 
ested in  and  a  director  at  the  same  time  of  the  Union  Pacific,  Kansas  Pacific, 
Pacific  Mail  and  Panama  railroads,  which  extend  over  seven  thousand  miles  of  the 
great  West  and  the  Pacific  Ocean.  He  exercised  a  potent  influence  in  the  councils 
of  these  great  railroad  enterprises,  and  his  quick  perception  and  sound  common 
sense  were  important  factors  in  their  early  management. 

Probably  the  greatest  compliment  ever  paid  to  his  financial  ability  and  per- 
sonal integrity  was  his  appointment  as  treasurer  of  the  State  of  Connecticut  by 
Governor  Bigelow,  to  succeed  I).  P.  Nichols,  deceased  while  in  office.  In  urging 
the  acceptance  of  Mr.  Smith's  appointment  it  was  shown  that  an  unusual  oppor- 
tunity was  afforded  him  to  do  the  State  important  service  in  the  refunding  of  its 
debt  to  the  amount  of  half  a  million  of  dollars,  a  policy  which  had  been  resolved 
upon  by  the  legislature  and  entrusted  to  the  treasurer's  hands.  Mr.  Smith's 
appointment  was  made  in  January,  1882.  In  July  following,  his  arrangements  for 
the  refunding  of  the  debt  culminated  in  a  success  which  won  for  the  State  the 
enviable  distinction  of  placing  its  bonds  at  a  lower  rate  of  interest  than  any  State 
in  the  Union  had  up  to  this  time  obtained,  and  of  receiving  good  propositions  for 
five  times  the  amount  of  money  called  for.  As  a  natural  result  of  this  unprece- 
dented success,  Mr.  Smith  was  urged  to  become  the  candidate  for  Governor  in  the 
following  autumn.  Few  men  would  have  declined  so  great  an  honor — far  greater 
than  that  of  any  of  his  ancestors  — and  in  view  of  what  he  had  accomplished  for 
his  State,  his  election  whould  have  been  ahnost  certain.  While  always  willing  to 
make  personal  sacrifices  for  the  benefit  of  his  fellowmen,  Mr.  Smith  did  not  feel 
justified  in  making  the  great  sacrifice  of  his  business  interests  which  the  duties  of 
that  office  would  necessitate. 

It  is  not  alone  as  a  business  man  and  financier  that  Mr.  Smith  has  achieved 
distinction.  As  a  promoter  of  the  noble  sport  of  yachting  he  is  known  from  one 
end  of  the  country  to  the  other.  Referring  to  this,  a  writer  in  a  recent  publication 
says  :  "  Apart  from  his  honorable  political  service  and  his  eminence  as  a  business 
man  and  financier  in  the  great  city,  apart,  in  fact,  from  the  more  serious  affairs  of 
life,  Mr.  Smith  has  won  an  international  reputation  as  a  yachtsman,  devoting  his 
leisure  hours  to  that  royal  sport  with  an  enthusiasm  and  energy  which  have  con- 
tributed largely  to  that  predominance  of  yachting  in  America  which  has  done  so 
much  to  preserve  and  popularize  the  traditions  of  her  old  achievements  on  the 
sea,  and,  so   far  at   least   as   national   pride   is   involved,  to   compensate  in  some 


SONS    OF    THE    AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  1 29 

measure  for  the  decadence  of  American  marine  commerce  since  the  war.  Inci- 
dentally, Commodore  Smith's  example  and  influence  have  done  more  in  the  last 
twenty  years  than  those  of  any  other  individual  to  promote  the  interests  and  keep 
alive  the  spirit  of  this  noble  outdoor  pastime  in  his  home  port  of  Stamford,  where 
he  has  seen  during  the  past  five  years  (1892)  a  revival  of  a  new  interest  in  yachting 
affairs,  culminating,  in  the  summer  of  1892,  in  the  organization  of  the  Stamford 
Yacht  Club  and  the  erection  of  one  of  the  finest  yacht  club  houses  on  the  Con- 
necticut shore,  in  whose  brilliant  success  during  the  first  season  there  is  the 
promise  of  a  prominent  and  desirable  addition  to  the  attractions  of  the  place." 

Mr.  Smith  was  for  two  years  Commodore  of  the  New  York  Yacht  Club.  His 
popularity  in  these  social  and  other  organizations  is  the  natural  result  of  his 
kindly,  genial  nature.  His  own  yachts  have  been  run  rather  for  his  own  pleasure 
than  for  the  purpose  of  rivaling  others  in  speed.  His  attention  to  these  matters 
in  no  way  conflicts  with  his  business  affairs,  but  affords  him  ample  means  for 
recreation.  While  in  no  sense  of  the  word  a  politician,  he  has  filled  various 
positions  in  the  city  of  Stamford  and  represented  his  district  in  the  State  Legisla- 
ture of  Connecticut,  and  was  four  years  President  of  the  City  Council.  He  has 
done  much  to  promote  public  improvements  in  Stamford.  He  takes  a  laudable 
pride  in  the  achievements  of  his  ancestors,  and  while  unable  to  devote  any  time  to 
the  work  of  the  S.  A.  R.,  is  deeply  interested  in  all  its  movements  to  perpetuate 
the  memory  of  our  Revolutionary  sires.  He  is  a  ready  debater  and  a  fine  speaker, 
logical,  practical  and  convincing,  a  man  of  great   force  and  energy  of  character. 

He  married,  in  1857,  Elizabeth  Henderson,  daughter  of  Archibald  Henderson, 
of  New  York  city,  now  deceased.  Four  children  are  the  issue  of  this  marriage, 
viz.:  Mary  Louise,  deceased,  Archibald  Henderson,  Helen  Woodruff  and  Dickin- 
son Woodruff,  deceased. 

Archibald  Henderson  Smith,  only  surviving  son  of  Hon.  James  Dickinson 
and  Elizabeth  (Henderson)  Smith,  was  born  in  New  York  city,  November 
6,  i860.  He  has  been  for  a  number  of  years  associated  with  his  father  in  the 
banking  business.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Colonial  Wars  and  other 
organizations.  He  married  Lily  Louise  Bruggerhof,  daughter  of  F.  W.  Bruggerhof, 
of  New  York,  and  has  issue,  Madeleine  B.,  Everett  H.,  and   Elizabeth  Henderson. 

CHARLES  STEWART  SMITH,  Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R.  It  is 
noteworthy  that  the  brightest  and  most  successful  business  men  and  merchants  in 
New  York  are  those  of  New  England  birth  and  parentage  ;  ambitious  youths  from 
the  country,  trained  to  habits  of  industry  and  economy,  with  no  other  means  of 
education  than  that  afforded  by  the  little  country  school,  or,  at  most  the  country 
academy.  Of  this  class  was  Charles  Stewart  Smith,  third  child  of  Rev.  John  and 
Esther  May  (Woodruff)  Smith,  born  in  Exeter,  N.  H.,  March  2,  1832.  Trained 
from  earliest  childhood  to  habits  of  self-reliance,  inheriting  from  his  Puritan 
ancestors  that  rugged  honesty  and  strong  integrity  which  for  generations  has  kept 
the  family  escutcheon  unspotted,  he  left  his  country  home  at  the  age  of  fifteen  to 
make  his  way  in  the  great  metropolis.  He  began  at  the  lowest  round  of  the  ladder, 
without  friends  or  influence,  as  a  boy  in  a  large  wholesale  dry  goods  store.  Six 
years  from  that  time,  on  reaching  his  majority,  he  entered  the  well-known  dry  goods 
firm  of  S.  B.  Chittenden  &  Co.,  as  a  partner,  and  for  several  years  thereafter  was 
their  European  buyer.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  and  senior  partner  of  the  dry 
goods  commission  house  of  George  C.  Richardson  &  Co.,  later  George  C,  Rich- 


130  SONS   OF   THE    AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

ardson,  Smith  &  Co.,  and  Smith,  Hogg  &  Garden,  which  for  many  years  has  occu- 
pied a  leading  position  in  the  dry  goods  trade.  Such  was  his  influence  and  his 
strong  personality  that  he  became  known  throughout  the  business  community  as 
one  of  the  leading  and  most  successful  merchants  of  his  time. 

During  his  business  career  Mr.  Smith  watched  the  growth  and  made  a  study 
of  the  wants  of  the  city  which  was  destined  to  become  the  first  in  importance  of 
any  city  in  the  world,  and  many  of  the  improvements  that  have  been  made  in 
traveling  and  transportation  facilities  are  due  to  his  suggestions  and  personal 
efforts.  His  advanced  ideas  were  embodied  in  well  written  articles  for  the  press 
and  in  forcible  and  eloquent  public  addresses,  which  attracted  the  attention  of 
leading  business  men  and  capitalists.  After  an  active  business  career  of  forty 
years,  in  which  he  has  added  materially  to  the  wealth  of  the  city  as  well  as  con- 
tributed to  its  growth,  he  retired  in  1887  and  has  since  devoted  his  time  to  literary, 
philanthropic  and  other  pursuits  to  which  a  portion  of  his  time  had  been  given  for 
many  years.  In  his  retirement  from  active  business  he  has  widened  his  sphere  of 
influence  and  at  the  same  time  kept  himself  in  touch  with  the  business  world,  and 
has  devoted  his  time  and  energies  to  matters  of  public  benefit. 

For  seven  years  as  President  of  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce,  his 
influence  was  felt  from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the  other.  He  modestly  declined 
the  highest  honor  that  could  be  awarded  any  man  in  his  position,  viz.,  that  of  the 
nomination  for  the  mayoralty  of  the  city  of  New  York,  which  he  was  urged  by 
the  Committee  of  Seventy  to  accept  in  1894.  His  acceptance  of  the  nomination 
would  undoubtedly  have  meant  his  election,  as  he  was  equally  popular  with  both 
political  parties.  Mr.  Smith  was  chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the 
Committee  of  Seventy  which  overthrew  Tammany  Hall  in  1894,  and  was  chairman 
of  the  Committee  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  that  instigated  the  police  investi- 
gation which  led  up  to  the  reform  victory  in  the  election  of  Mayor  Strong.  He  was 
also  chairman  of  the  Citizens'  Union  Executive  Committee  that  conducted  the 
Seth    Low   campaign  in    1897. 

A  natural  lover  of  art,  he  has  made  of  it  a  close  study  for  many  years,  having 
had  ample  opportunity  during  his  long  residence  abroad  to  gratify  his  tastes  in 
this  direction  and  acquire  a  more  perfect  knowledge.  His  fine  collection  of  paint- 
ings and  other  works  of  art  evince  the  true  connoisseur.  Mr.  Smith  was  one  of 
the  founders  of  the  Fifth  Avenue  National  Bank,  of  the  German-American  Insur- 
ance Co.,  and  is  also  a  director  in  various  corporations,  among  which  are  the 
United  States  Trust  Co.,  the  Fourth  National  Bank,  the  Merchants'  Bank,  the 
Presbyterian  Hospital,  the  Equitable  Life  Insurance  Co.,  the  Greenwich  Savings 
Bank,  etc.  He  was  a  trustee  of  the  Brooklyn  Tabernacle  Church,  a  veteran 
member  of  the  Union  League  Club;  also  a  member  of  the  Century  Club,  the 
Merchants',  the  Metropolitan,  the  Lawyers'  and  Players'  Clubs.  He  married,  first, 
Eliza  Bradish,  eldest  daughter  of  Wheaton  Bradish  ;  she  died  in  1863.  By  her  he 
had  issue,  Stewart  Woodruff  and  Kate  Warne,  deceased. 

Charles  Stewart  Smith  married,  second,  Henrietta  H.  Caswell,  daughter  of 
John  Caswell,  of  New  York,  and  Mary  Haight,  daughter  of  Halsted  E.  Haight, 
son  of  Nicholas,  born  1761,  son  of  John,  born  1738.  John  Haight  married  Abigail 
Haviland,  daughter  of  Benjamin  Haviland  and  Charlotte  Park.  She  was  the 
daughter  of  Roger  Park,  who  married  Charlotte  L'Estrange,  daughter  of  Daniel 
L'Estrange 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN     REVOLUTION.  1 3 1 

"  Daniel  L'Estrange  and  Charlotte,  his  wife,  a  daughter  of  Francis  Hubert, 
being  Protestants,  were  compelled  to  make  their  escape  from  the  city  of  Paris  in 
1685,  during  the  persecution  under  Louis  XIV.  by  the  Roman  Catholics  and 
Jesuits,  and  came  to  the  city  of  London,  in  Great  Britain,  where  L'Estrange, 
through  the  interest  of  some  merchants,  obtained  the  position  of  Lieutenant  in  the 
Guards  of  James,  then  King  of  Great  Britain,  and  continued  there  until  1688, 
when  he  went  with  his  wife,  embarked  for  America  in  company  with  a  number  of 
French  Protestant  families  and  arrived  at  the  city  of  New  York,  fiom  whence  they 
moved  to  New  Rochelle,  in  Westchester  County,  N.  Y.,  where  they  remained  for 
some  years  and  finally  settled  in  Rye."  An  English  work,  entitled  "  The  Norman 
People,"  states  that  "This  family  descends  from  Ruald  Lestrange,  who  witnessed 
a  charter  of  Allen  Fitz  Flaald,  in  Norfolk,  in  11 12.  Ruald  was  probably  son  of 
Payne  or  Judicael  de  Peregrens  (or  extraneous  le  Strange),  granted  part  of  the 
island  of  Noirmoutier  to  the  Abbey  of  St.  Savior  Bretagne,  1060." 

John  Caswell,  who  married  Mary  Haight,  was  the  son  of  William  Caswell,  of 
Newport,  R.  I.,  and  Mercy,  his  wife,  son  of  John  Caswell,  of  Newport,  who 
married,  December  31,  1761,  Hannah  West. 

Charles  Stewart  Smith,  by  his  wife,  Henrietta  H.  Caswell,  daughter  of  John 
Caswell  (3),  had  a  son,  Howard  Caswell.  He  married,  third,  Anna  Walton 
Brown,  daughter  of  Warren  G.  Brown,  of  New  York  City.     No  issue. 

STEWART  WOODRUFF  SMITH,  Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  son 
of  Charles  Stewart  and  Eliza  (Bradish)  Smith,  was  born  in  New  York  city,  April 
12,  1 86 1.  His  early  education  was  received  at  private  school  and  he  was  gradu- 
ated at  Charlier  Institute,  New  York,  in  1878.  He  chose  a  business  rather  than  a 
professional  career,  and  in  order  to  familiarize  himself  with  every  branch  of  the 
special  line  which  he  elected  to  follow,  he  went  to  Lawrence  and  Lowell,  Mass., 
where  he  spent  two  years  working  and  studying  in  the  mills  in  order  to  obtain  a 
knowledge  of  the  details  and  process  of  manufacture.  He  returned  to  New  York 
and  entered  his  father's  firm,  then  George  C.  Richardson  &  Co.,  later  Smith,  Hogg 
&  Garden,  spent  the  first  few  years  as  salesman  and  in  July,  1887,  was  received 
into  partnership,  the  firm  name  continuing  the  same.  His  opportunities  for 
acquiring  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  several  branches  of  the  dry  goods  trade 
have  been  greater  than  that  of  most  young  men,  having  made  several  trips  abroad, 
spending  some  time  on  the  continent  familiarizing  himself  with  the  methods  in 
vogue  there  and  becoming  acquainted  with  the  large  exporting  houses. 

Mr.  Smith  is  a  member  of  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce,  the  Mer- 
chants' Club,  Union  League  Club,  New  England  Society,  the  Society  of  Colonial 
Wars,  etc.  He  married  Adele  Richter,  of  Berlin,  daughter  of  Hei'nrich  Richter,  a 
native  of  Hamburg,  a  merchant  engaged  in  the  South  American  trade.  He  has 
one  son,  Charles  Stewart  Smith  (2d). 

HOWARD  CASWELL  SHITH,  Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R.  and 
Society  of  Colonial  Wars,  son  of  Charles  Stewart  Smith  and  Henrietta  H.  (Cas- 
well) Smith,  was  born  in  New  York,  February  19,  1871.  He  was  prepared  for 
college  at  a  private  school  and  was  graduated  from  Harvard  College  in  1893.  He 
entered  the  New  York  banking  house  of  Charles  Hathaway  &  Co.  in  January, 
1894,  and  after  spending  three  years  in  studying  the  business  was  admitted  to  the 
firm  January  1,  1897.  He  is  also  treasurer  of  the  Mossberg  &  Granville  Manu- 
facturing Co.,   manufacturers  of  machinery    at  Providence,   R.  I.     He  is   also  a 


132 


SONS    OF    THE    AMERICAN     REVOLUTION. 


member  of  the  Chamber   of  Commerce   of  the   State   of  New   York,  and  also  a 
trustee  of  the  Franklin  Savings  Bank,  New  York. 

Mr.  Smith  appreciates  the  importance  of  outdoor  exercise  as  a  diversion  from 
the  cares  of  business  as  well  as  for  the  development  of  the  body.  A  horseman 
from  childhood,  his  hereditary  fondness  for  military  affairs  led  him,  in  1894,  to  join 
Troop  A,  now  known  as  Squadron  A,  of  New  York  city,  one  of  the  best  drilled 
and  most  efficient  cavalry  organizations  in  the  country.  Under  the  leadership  of 
its  commander,  now  Major-Gen.  Charles  F.  Roe,  it  performed  admirable  work 
during  the  Brooklyn  street   car  riots,  in    1895.     The  troop  dispersed  the  mob  at 


HOWARD    CAS\ 


various  points  without  casualty  to  either  side,  and  the  rioters  were  awed  into  sub- 
mission by  the  cool  determination  of  the  troopers.  The  troop  showed  that  it 
could  be  depended  upon  to  meet  any  emergency. 

Mr.  Smith,  like  his  father  and  grandfather,  is  active  in  works  of  benevolence 
and  charity.  He  is  a  trustee  of  the  Good  Samaritan  Dispensary,  the  largest  insti- 
tution of  its  kind  in  the  country;  also  the  New  York  Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary.  He 
combines  the  energy  and  force  of  character  as  well  as  the  genial  natuie  and  kind- 
ness of  disposition  which  characterized  his  ancestors,  especially  in  the  Smith  line. 
He  is  a  lover  of  music  and  an  associate  member  of  the  Mendelssohn  Glee  Club  and 
also  an  enthusiastic  yachtsman  ;  Commodore  of    the  Stamford  Yacht  Club  and  a 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 


133 


member  of  the  New  York  and   Sewhanaka-Corinthian  Yacht  Clubs  of  this  city  ; 
also  the  Union  League,  Univeisity  and  Harvard  Clubs  of  New  York,  etc. 

WALTER  J1ITCHELL  SniTH,  Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  young- 
est son  of  Rev.  John  and  Esther  Mary  (Woodruff)  Smith,  was  born  in  Exeter, 
N.  H.,  February  13,  1837.  His  education  was  limited  to  the  public  schools.  He 
was  the  last  one  to  leave  the  paternal  roof  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  metropolis, 
his  older  brothers  having  preceded  him  some  years,  both  being  at  this  time  on  the 
road  to  success.  On  January  1,  1853  being  then  but  sixteen  years  of  age,  he 
entered  the  employ  of  Hopkins,  Allen  &  Co.,  a  leading  New  York  dry  goods  firm, 
and  continued  with  them  and  their  successors,  Allen,  McLeod  &  Ikilkley,  until  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War.  The  business  of  the  firm  was  exclusively  with 
the   South,  and   Mr.   Smith,   as   traveling  salesman   and  collector,  was   in   Florida 


WALTER    Mill  HELL    SMITH. 


attending  to  the  firm's  business  when  Fort  Sumpter  was  fired  on.  He  immedi- 
ately returned  North  and  in  July  following  he  formed  a  connection  with  Jamison, 
Cotting  &  Co.,  of  St.  Louis.  He  entered  this  firm  as  a  partner  in  January,  1862. 
This  was  succeeded  in  1S67  by  Smith,  Vogel  &  Co.,  Mr.  Smith  being  the  senior 
partner.  It  was  conducted  under  this  name  for  a  time  and  then  became  simply 
Walter  M.  Smith,  who  carried  on  the  business  alone  until  1873.  when  he  closed  his 
affairs  in  the  southwest  and  came  to  New  York  in  1876  and  formed  a  connection 
with  George  C.  Richardson  &  Co.,  of  which  firm  his  brother  was  then  a  member, 


134  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN     REVOLUTION. 

and  in  1878  he  became  a  member  of  the  firm  and  its  successors,  including  the 
present  firm  of  Smith,  Hogg  &  Gardner.  Like  his  brothers,  Mr.  Smith's  business 
career  has  been  successful. 

Mr.  Smith  has  been  a  resident  of  Stamford  since  1876.  Naturally  of  a  retiring 
disposition,  he  has  kept  aloof  from  politics.  He  has  been  active,  however,  in 
various  works  of  benevolence  and  Christian  charity,  both  in  his  own  town  and 
elsewhere.  A  work  in  which  he  is  deeply  interested  is  that  of  the  Good  Will 
Homes,  at  East  Fairfield,  Maine,  for  boys  and  girls  "  in  need  of  a  helping  hand," 
of  which  homes  he  is  a  trustee.  Mr.  Smith  is  also  a  trustee  of  the  Life  Line 
Mission  of  South  Brooklyn  and  of  the  Water  Street  Mission,  New  York,  together 
with  other  enterprises  for  the  improvement  and  upliftifting  of  the  poor.  He  is  an 
elder  in  the  Presbyterian  church  of  Stamford  and  active  in  Sunday  School  and 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  work. 

Mr.  Smith  married,  September  25,  i860,  Elizabeth  Leonard  Wilcox,  daughter 
of  Charles  Cutts  Wilcox.  Mr.  Wilcox  was  born  in  Kittery,  Me.,  in  1808,  and 
moved  to  Illinois  quite  early  in  life,  where  he  achieved  distinction  as  a  lawyer 
and  judge.  He  was  three  times  married,  his  second  wife  being  Mrs.  Augusta 
(Ernst)  Peebles,  whose  second  child  was  Elizabeth  L  ,  wife  of  Walter  M.  Smith. 
Charles  Cutts  Wilcox  was  the  son  of  Capt.  David  Wilcox,  of  York,  Me.,  who 
married,  October  26,  1806,  Elizabeth  Donnell  Cutts,  born  1781,  daughter  of  Thomas 
Donnell  Cutts. 

Thomas  Donnell  Cutts  was  born  June  8,  1760.  He  married  Joanna  Staples. 
He  was  the  son  of  Thomas  Cutts,  Jr. 

Thomas  Cutts,  Jr.,  was  born  November  23,  1732;  married,  in  1758,  Eliza- 
beth Donnell.     He  was  the  son  of  Thomas  Cutts,  Sr. 

Thomas  Cutts,  Sr.,  born  April  15,  1700.  He  married  Dorcas  Hammond, 
great-granddaughter  probably  of  William  Hammond,  who  came  from  London  to 
America  in  the  ship  "Griffin"  to  Boston  in  1634.  He  married,  about  1620, 
Elizabeth  Penn.,  sister  of  Admiral  Sir  William  Penn,  and  aunt  to  William  Penn, 
the  Quaker.     Thomas  Cutts,  Sr.,  was  the  son  of  Richard. 

Richard  Cutts  was  born  at  Piscataqua,  Me  ,  about  1654  ;  died  at  Kittery,  Me., 
about  1720.  He  married  Joanna,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Lucy  (Treworgye) 
Wills.     He  was  the  son  of  Robert. 

Robert  Cutts  was  born  in  England  and  came  to  this  country  in  1640;  died 
at  Kittery,  Me.,  1674.  He  was  Justice  of  the  Peace  there  in  1665.  He  married  in 
Barbadoes,  before  1640,  Mary  Hoel  or  Howell,  daughter  of  an  English  clergyman. 

Mr.  Smith  was  married  at  the  old  Wilcox  home  in  York,  Me.,  erected  more 
than  one  hundred  and  forty  years  ago,  which  is  now  owned  by  Mrs.  Smith.  By 
his  wife,  Elizabeth  Leonard  (Wilcox)  Smith,  he  had  issue,  Louise  Putnam,  deceased; 
Esther  Woodruff,  widow  of  Dr.  Harry  Hungerford,  of  Stamford,  Conn.;  Elizabeth 
Wilcox,  deceased  ;  Isabel  Ernst,  deceased,  and  Mary  Louise,  unmarried. 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  1 35 

CRANE— TREAT— COLES. 

There  are  few  families  who  have  exercised  a  more  potent  influence  on  the 
settlement  of  New  England  and  later  that  of  New  Jersey  than  the  Cranes,  and 
yet,  of  the  several  settlers — two  in  Massachusetts,  two  in  Connecticut  and  one  in 
New  Jersey,  besides  Jasper — no  relationship  between  them  has  yet  been  estab- 
lished. That  they  had  a  common  origin  there  is  no  doubt.  Burke  makes  mention 
of  two  in  County  Suffolk,  England,  one  in  County  Cornwall  and  one  in  London. 
Two  of  these  bore  similar  coats  of  arms.  That  of  Suffolk  is:  Arms  —  Gules  on 
a  fesse  between  three  crosses  pattee  fitchee  or,  a  crane  azure  endorsed  by  two 
amulets  of  the  last.  Crest  —  A  demi-hind  or,  ducally  gorged  azure.  Motto — 
"  Vincit  omnia  Veritas  "  (Truth  overcomes  all  things). 

Rev.  John  Crane,  in  a  paper  prepared  on  the  history  of  the  Crane  family, 
says:  "The  name  of  Crane  appears  often  among  the  records  of  meeting  in 
England  before  1630  as  one  of  the  Governors  of  the  New  England  Colony  to  be 
planted  in  Massachusetts  Bay.  Sir  Robert  Crane,  of  Coxshall,  Essex  County, 
England,  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Samuel  Sparhawk,  of  Dedham,  in  Essex, 
before  1630.  Their  children  were  Thomas,  Samuel,  Mary,  Margaret.  Margaret 
married  Rev.  Nathaniel  Rogers,  of  Ipswich,  England,  rector  of  Assington,  after- 
wards emigrated  to  Ipswich,  Mass."  A  Ralph  Crane  is  mentioned  as  having 
accompanied  Sir  Francis  Drake  in  the  "Golden  Huld,"  1577,  when  he  visited 
North  America.  Jose  Josiah  Crane,  a  son  of  John  Crane,  in  the  service  of  King 
James  I.,  became  one  of  the  firmest  adherents  of  the  Puritans,  and  after  many 
persecutions  he  went  to  Holland,  where  many  of  his  co-religionists  accepted  the 
invitation  of  the  States. 

Jasper  Crane  was  the  first  of  the  name  who  emigrated  from  the  Old  to  the 
New  World.  He  came  with  his  wife  Alice  from  London,  England,  in  1637-8  ; 
was  one  of  the  original  settlers  of  the  New  Haven  colony,  and  signed  the  "Funda- 
mental Agreement,"  June  4,  1639,  and  was  one  of  those  at  New  Haven  who 
attempted  the  settlement  of  the  lands  on  the  Delaware  and  was  repulsed  by  the 
Dutch.  He  was  a  surveyor  and  trader  and  laid  out  much  of  the  town  plot  at 
New  Haven.  He  was  selectman  and  one  of  the  civil  managers.  In  1652  he 
purchased  lands  in  Totoket,  or  Branford,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  original 
settlers.  He  was  Justice  of  the  County  Court  at  New  Haven,  1664-5,0116  of  the 
magistrates  convened  at  Hartford  by  the  Governor  in  1665,  and  one  of  the  assist- 
ants and  magistrates  of  Connecticut  in  1665-6-7,  and  magistrate  in  the  New 
Haven  colony  in  1658.  He  did  not  remove  with  the  first  company  that  went  to 
settle  Newark,  though  he  was  one  of  the  twenty-three  persons  who  signed  the 
first  contract  in  1665.  He  joined  his  associates  in  Newark.  He  and  Robert  Treat 
were  the  first  magistrates  in  Newark.  They  represented  Newark  in  the  General 
Court  in  1668-9-70.  He  ranked  with  the  strong-minded  men  of  Connecticut  and 
New  Jersey.  He  died  in  1681.  His  children  were  John,  Hannah,  Delivered, 
Azariah. 

Deacon  Azariah  Crane,  son  of  Jasper  (1)  and  Alice  ( )  Crane,  was  born 

in  New  Haven,  1647  ;  died  November  5,  1730.  He  was  one  of  the  signers  of  the 
"Fundamental  Agreement,"  a  deacon  in  the  First  Church  of  Newark,  and  held 
many  offices  of  trust  in  the  "  towne."  He  left  his  "  silver  bole  "  to  be  used  by  "  the 
church  in  Newark  forever."     "  In  the  everturn  of  the  government  by  the  Dutch," 


136  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN     REVOLUTION. 

in  1673,  ne  was  "  betrusted  with  the  concerns  of  his  honorable  father-in-law,"  Mr. 
Robert  Treat.  In  1715  he  is  spoken  of  as  having  been  settled  for  many  years  at 
the  mountain.  He  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Governor  Robert  Treat  son  of 
Richard. 

Richard  Treat,  was  one  of  the  original  settlers  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  1637, 
and  was  one  of  the  most  important  men  in  the  colony,  and  held  many  offices. 
He  was  one  of  the  nineteen  to  whom  the  charter  of  Connecticut  was  granted, 
Apiil  23.  1662.     By  his  wife  Alice,  he  had  a  son,  Robert. 

Capt.  Robert  Treat  (afterward  Governor),  son  of  Richard  and  Alice  ( ) 

Treat,  was  born  in  England  about  1622;  died  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  July  12,  1710. 
He  was  with  his  father  in  Wethersfield,  was  one  of  the  founders  of  Milford,  was 
Assistant  of  the  New  Haven  colony,  1659.  He  represented  the  Milford  settlers  in 
the  founding  of  Newark,  signed  the  "  Fundamental  Agreement,"  first  on  the  list. 
In  1672  he  returned  to  New  England.  He  was  commander-in-chief  in  Philip's  war  ; 
in  1676  Deputy  Governor,  and  in  1683  Governor  of  Connecticut,  in  which  position 
he  served  fifteen  years.  He  married  Jane  Tapp  and  had  issue,  Samuel.  John, 
Mary,  married  Azariah  Crane,  Robert,  Hannah,  Joseph,  Abigail. 

Deacon  Azariah  Crane,  by  his  wife,  Mary  I  Treat)  Crane,  had  issue,  Nathaniel, 
Azariah  Jr.,  John,  Robert.  Mary  Baldwin  and  Jane  Bull. 

John  Crane,  son   of   Deacon  Azariah  and    Mary   (Treat)  Crane,  was  born   in 

Newark,   N.  J.,    1695;  died   Sept.  5,  1776.      He   married    Abigail   ,  born    1700, 

died  January  25,  1744,  and  had  Jonas  and  other  children. 

Jonas  Crane,  son   of  John   and  Abigail   ( )   Crane,  was  born  in   Newark, 

N.J,  1718;  died  January  24,  1745.  He  married  Hannah,  daughter  of  Benjamin 
Lyon  and  Anna  Canfield.  He  was  the  son  of  Henry  Lyon,  who  was  of  Milford, 
1646,  and  of  Newark,  1667.  The  only  son  of  Jonas  and  Hannah  (Lyon)  Crane 
was  Rufus. 

Rufus  Crane,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Jonas  and  Hannah 
(Lyon)  Crane,  was  born  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  1744;  died  1804.  He  was  precentor  of 
the  music  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  of  Newark,  at  the  age  of  nineteen. 
This  position  had  formerly  been  held  "with  great  admiration"  by  his  cousin, 
John  Treat  Crane.  During  the  Revolutionary  War  he  served  as  private  in  Capt. 
Henry  Squier's  company,  Second  Essex  Regiment,  N.  J.  Militia,  commanded  by 
Col.  Philip  Van  Cortlandt.  He  married,  in  1779,  Charity  Campbell,  born  1700, 
fourth  child  of  John  Campbell  and  Rebecca  Baldwin;  she  was  the  daughter  of 
Joseph  Baldwin,  son  of  Jonathan,  son  of  Benjamin  Baldwin,  one  of  the  founders 
of  Newark.      Rufus,  by  his  wife,  Charity  Campbell,  had  Richard  Montgomery. 

Richard  /Tontgomery  Crane,  son  of  Rufus  and  Charity  (Campbell)  Crane, 
was  born  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  1797.  He  began  his  business  career  when  the  manu- 
facture of  shoes  was  the  leading  industry  in  Newark  and  surrounding  towns.  He 
probably  acquired  his  knowledge  of  the  business  from  one  of  his  predecessors, 
and  from  an  employee  he  became  one  of  the  leading  shoe  manufacturers  in 
Newark,  with  a  trade  extending  all  over  the  country,  with  a  very  large  southern 
trade.  For  many  years  he  ranked  as  one  of  the  leading  business  men  of  Newark, 
and  also  as  one  of  the  most  successful.  He  employed  a  number  of  hands  and 
added  materially  to  the  wealth  of  Newark.  While  not  particularly  active  in  public 
affairs  he  was  nevertheless  greatly  interested  in  the  public  improvements  which 
were  introduced  during  the  thirties  and  forties,  when   Newark  was  just   emerging 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN     REVOLUTION.  1 3? 

from  a  country  town  to  take  its  place  among  the  great  manufacturing  cities  of  the 
East.  He,  like  most  of  his  competitors,  lost  heavily  in  the  South  during  the  panic 
of  1847  and  was  ohliged  to  give  up  business.  This  he  did  with  an  unsullied 
reputation  and  a  stainless  record.  A  man  of  unimpeachable  integrity,  he  was 
respected  by  all  classes  of  the  community.  His  religious  interest  centered  in  the 
little  Baptist  Society  whose  place  of  worship  was  on  the  corner  of  Academy  and 
Halsey  Street.  Although  the  record  has  not  been  preserved  and  his  contempo- 
raries have  long  since  passed  away,  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  contributed  liberally 
to  this  struggling  church  which  for  half  a  century,  from  1806,  was  the  only 
Baptist  church  in  Newark.  While  strictly  orthodox  in  his  denominational  views 
he  was  a  Christian  in  the  highest  sense  of  the  word,  and  the  Fatherhood  of  God 
and  Brotherhood  of  Man  was  his  creed.  Conscientious  in  all  his  business  dealings, 
recognizing  his  personal  accountability,  he  endeavored  by  his  example  as  well  as 
his  works  to  advance  the  cause  of  his  Master. 

After  his  retirement  from  business  in  1849,  he  removed  to  Roselle,  N.  J.,  and 
purchased  the  historic  homestead  erected  by  Abraham  Clarke,  one  of  the  signers 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Amid  these  pleasant  surroundings  he  passed 
the  closing  years  of  his  life.  He  was  never  idle,  however,  for  he  followed  the 
scripture  injunction,  "  Redeem  the  time,"  and  every  hour  during  his  long  and 
useful  life  was  profitally  employed.  After  his  removal  to  Roselle  he  was  identified 
with  the  Baptist  church  at  Rahway,  was  made  deacon,  and  was  one  of  its  warmest 
supporters  and  most  earnest  workers.  Mr.  Crane  was  twice  married.  His  second 
wife  was  Maria  Coles,  daughter  of  Dennis  Coles,  of  Scotch  Plains,  a  descendant 
of  an  old  English  family  which  settled  in  West  New  Jersey  and  acquired  large 
possessions  in  Eversham,  township  of  Burlington.  This  ancient  family  was  seated 
at  Twickenham,  England,  and  bore  Arms —  Argent,  a  bull  passant,  gules,  armed 
or,  within  a  bordure  sable,  berzantoe  sable.  Motto — "  Deum  cole,  regem  serva  " 
(Worship  God,  honor  the  king).  The  issue  of  this  marriage  was  two  sons 
and  two  daughters,  the  youngest  of  which  was   William  Montgomery. 

WILLIAH  MONTGOMERY  CRANE,  Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R., 
son  of  Richard  Montgomery  and  Maria  (Coles)  Crane,  was  born  in  Roselle,  N.  J., 
June  14,  1852.  He  is  one  of  the  very  few  comparatively  young  men  whose  grand- 
father served  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  he  being  the  issue  of  a  second 
marriage,  his  father  having  married  late  in  life.  Mr.  Crane  was  educated  at  the 
public  schools  of  Roselle  and  Elizabeth.  He  inherited  a  robust  constitution  and 
splendid  physique— characteristics  of  the  Crane  family.  Industry,  energy  and  in- 
ventive genius— also  hereditary  traits— formed  the  basis  of  his  successful  business 
career.  As  a  lad  of  sixteen  he  began  with  the  New  York  hosiery  firm  of  John  J. 
Hinchman  &  Co.,  and  continued  with  them  and  their  successors  for  nineteen  years, 
traveling  extensively  over  the  country  as  salesman  for  ten  years  of  this  time. 
In  1885  he  turned  his  attention  to  the  manufacture  of  gas  stoves  and  gas  appli- 
ances. He  was  the  pioneer  in  this  branch  of  trade.  Beginning  alone  in  a  small 
building  in  the  vicinity  of  Fourteenth  street,  he  subsequently  organized  the  firm  of 
William  M.  Crane  &  Co.,  and  has  now  the  largest  establishment  of  the  kind,  and 
does  the  most  extensive  business  in  the  line  of  specialties  in  gas  appliances,  of 
any  firm  in  the  country.  With  a  large  salesroom  on  Broadway,  Mr.  Crane  devotes 
his  entire  attention  to  the  manufacture  of  goods  at  their  place  on  West  Fourteenth 
street.  While  embodying  many  improvements,  the  invention  of  other  parties, 
1  0 


133 


SONS    OF    THE    AMERICAN     REVOLUTION. 


some  of  the  most  useful  articles  manufactured  by  the  firm  were  designed  by  Mr. 
Crane   himself. 

Like  his  father,  Mr.  Crane  has  been  for  years  a  most  earnest  and  indefatigable 
worker  in  religious  and  benevolent  organizations.  He  was  long  a  leader  in  the 
choir  at  Roselle,  and  since  his  residence  in  New  York  he  has  been  identified  with 
the  Fifth  Avenue  Baptist  Church  and  the  Annitage  Mission  on  Forty-seventh 
street  and  Ninth  Avenue.  He  is  gifted  as  a  musician  and  his  associates  are 
among  the  musical  celebrities  of  the  country.  He  is  vice-president  of  the  Baton 
Club  and   is  an   active  member  of   the    Manuscript  Society,   composed  of   such 


,1AM    MONTGOMERY    CRANE. 


musical  celebrities  as  Damrosch,  Theo.  Thomas,  Dudley  Buck,  W.  C.  Carl,  Seidel 
and  others.  The  members  of  this  society  perform  only  their  own  compositions 
from  original  manuscripts. 

During  his  residence  in  Roselle,  Mr.  Crane  was  an  enthusiast  in  military 
affairs.  He  was  a  member  of  Phil  Kearney  Guards,  known  as  Company  C,  Third 
Regiment,  N.  G.  S.  N.  J.  This  company  was  noted  for  its  remarkable  military 
evolutions  and  frequently  gave  public  exhibitions,  eliciting  great  applause  from 
enthusiastic  and  appreciative  audiences.  Also  a  member  of  the  New  York  Ath- 
letic Club.  He  is  of  a  genial,  social  nature,  poetic  temperament,  and  a  pleasant 
conversationalist. 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  1 39 

RICHARDS,   PECK,  WISWALL,  BARRETT,  HON= 
FORT,    CARHAN. 

Both  the  Richards  and  the  Pecks,  together  with  the  allied  families,  were 
conspicuous  as  founders  of  the  several  towns  where  they  located.  They  also  ren- 
dered important  service  in  the  colonial  wars,  as  well  as  in  the  War  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. They  were  men  of  intelligence,  great  force  and  stability  of  character,  with 
never  a  taint  of  disloyalty— true  to  themselves  and  true  to  their  neighbors. 

Edward  Richards,  the  ancestor,  was  born  in  Plymouth,  England,  came  to 
New  England  in  the  ship  "  Lyon  "  in  1631  and  resided  in  Cambridge  till  1636  with 
his  brother  Nathaniel.  He  was  received  as  one  of  the  proprietors  of  Dedham, 
1636-7  ;  joined  the  church  in  1640,  took  freeman's  oath,  1641.  He  was  known  as 
"  Gent"  Richards,  denoting  a  high  social  position  in  the  town  and  was  a  signer  of  the 
social  compact  of  Dedham.  He  married,  September  10,  1638,  Susan  Hunting, 
daughter  of  Elder  John  Hunting  of  Watertown  and  Dedham.  John  Hunting  was 
the  first  ruling  elder  of  the  church  in  that  town  and  prominent  in  civil  affairs. 
His  wife,  Hester  Seaborn,  is  said  to  have  been  a  second  cousin  of  John  Rogers, 
the  martyr.     By  his  wife  Susan  Hunting,  Edward   Richards  had  a  son,  Nathaniel. 

Nathaniel  Richards,  son  of  Edward  and  Susan  (Hunting)  Richards,  was 
born  in  Dedham,  Mass.,  November  25,  1648;  died  there  February  15,  1726.  He 
rendered  important  military  service  in  King  Philip's  War  in  1675-6.  The  ledger 
of  John  Hull,  Treasurer  at  War  of  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts— still  well  pre- 
served—shows a  number  of  entries  to  the  debit  and  credit  of  Nathaniel  Richards. 
He  apparently  had  charge  of  the  furnishing  and  guarding  of  the  teams  sent  up  to 
the  various  garrisons  with  supplies,  and  also  those  sent  to  bring  down  the  inhabit- 
ants and  their  goods  "  from  the  towns  assaulted  and  destroyed."  He  was  made  a 
freeman  in  1670.  He  married,  December  28,  1678,  Mary  Aldis,  born  September 
29,  1657,  daughter  of  Deacon  John  Aldis  and  his  wife,  Sarah  Eliot. 

The  ancestry  of  Philip  Eliot  and  Rev.  John  Eliot,  his  brother,  is  traced 
through  several  generations  to  Sir  William  De  Aliot,  an  officer  in  the  army  of 
William  the  Conqueror.  Hume  says  :  "  When  William  the  Conqueror  first  set 
foot  on  English  land  he  stumbled  and  fell,  but  he  had  the  presence  of  mind,  it  is 
said,  to  have  this  omen  to  take  advantage,  by  calling  aloud  that  he  had  taken 
possession  of  the  country,  and  a  soldier  (Sir  William  D.  Aliot),  running  to  a 
neighboring  cottage,  plucked  some  thatch,  which,  as  if  giving  him,  seized  of  the 
kingdom,  presented  to  his  General."  Another  writer,  quoting  the  words  of  Hume, 
says  :  "  Sir  William  De  Aliot,  then  holding  a  distinguished  rank  in  the  invading 
army,  drew  his  sword  and  swore  by  the  honor  of  a  soldier  that  he  would  maintain, 
at  the  hazard  of  his  blood,  the  right  of  his  lord  to  the  sovereignty  of  his  country. 
For  this  the  Conqueror  gave  him  an  honorable  addition  to  his  coat  of  arms." 
From  this  valiant  knight  are  descended  Lord  Keathfield,  the  Earls  of  Minte  and 
St.  Germans,  and  Sir  William  Francis  Eliot. 

Sir  John  Eliot,  Earl  of  St.  Germans,  Cornwall,  represented  the  borough  of 
St.  Germans  in  parliament  in  the  second  and  third  year  of  Charles  I.,  and  made 
himself  conspicuous  as  a  strenuous  opponent  of  the  court  and  a  zealous  asserter 
of  the  ancient  liberties  of  the  subject.  He  died  a  martyr  to  the  liberties  of 
England.     That  Eliot  the  apostle  and  his  brother  Philip  were  connected  with  this 


I40  SONS   OF   THE    AMERICAN     REVOLUTION. 

family  is  proved  from  the  identity  of  the  coat  of  arms.  Rev.  John  Eliot  the 
apostle  and  his  brothers,  Jacob  and  Philip,  came  in  the  ship  "Lion"  to  Plymouth, 
November  3,  1631.  Philip  was  a  member  of  the  artillery  company,  1638;  member 
of  the  General  Court  four  years,  1654  to  1657,  and  a  deacon  in  his  brother's  church 
at  Roxbury.  In  his  will  he  mentions  three  children,  the  youngest  of  whom,  Sarah, 
was  married  to  Deacon  John  Aldis,  of  the  church  at  Roxbury. 

Nathaniel  Richards,  by  his  marriage  to  Mary  Aldis,  daughter  of  Deacon  John 
Aldis  and  his  wife  Sarah  Eliot,  had  a  son,  James. 

James  Richards,  son  of  Nathaniel  and  Mary  (Aldis)  Richards,  was  born  in 
Dedham,  Mass,  February  24,  1683;  married,  May  22,  1706,  Hannah,  daughter  of 
Deacon  Jonathan  Metcalf  and  his  wife  Hannah  Kendric,  granddaughter  of 
John  Kendric.  Deacon  Jonathan  Metcalf,  born  in  Dedham,  Mass.,  September  21, 
1650,  was  a  man  of  large  estate  and  gave  considerable  to  the  church.  He  was 
the  son  of  Michael  Metcalf,  born  in  Norwich,  England,  August  20,  1620,  son  of 
Michael  born  in  Tatterford,  England,  June  17,  1  586.  came  to  America  to  escape 
religious  persecution  after  losing  his  property  by  a  Star  Chamber  fine.  He  came 
on  the  "  John  and  Dorothy,"  April  6,  1637.  James  Richards,  by  his  wife  Hannah 
Metcalf,  had  Ebenezer. 

Ebenezer  Richards,  son  of  James  and  Hannah  (Metcalf)  Richards,  was  born 
January  12,  1718;  died  February  27,  1799.  He  married  Thankful  Stratton,  born 
December  17,  1721  ;  died  June  1,  1796.     They  had  a  son,  Ebenezer  (2). 

Ebenezer  Richards  (2),  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Ebenezer 
(i)  and  Thankful  (Stratton)  Richards,  was  born  July  16,  1744;  died  August  u, 
1784.  He  was  among  the  first  in  the  town  of  Dedham  to  respond  to  the  "  Lexing- 
ton Alarm,"  April  19,  1775,  and  was  corporal  in  Capt.  Ebenezer  Battle's  company, 
Col.  Mcintosh's  regiment.  His  name  appears  on  the  pay  roll  of  those  who 
rendered  service  in  taking  possession  of  Dorchester  Hill  and  fortifying  it,  March, 
1776.  His  name  again  appears  on  "  A  Pay  Roll  for  the  Continental  Pay  for  Capt. 
Ebenezer  Battle's  Company  that  marched  to  Roxbury,  March  23,  1778,  agreeable 
to  an  order  of  counsel  under  the  com'd  of  Col.  William  Mcintosh."  At  this  time 
he  held  the  rank  of  sergeant.  He  married,  in  1769,  Hannah  Wiswall,  daughter 
of  Noah  Wiswall,  son  of  Lieut.  Thomas,  son  of  Capt.  Noah,  son  of  Elder 
Thomas  Wiswall,  the  ancestor. 

Elder  Thomas  Wiswall,  the  ancestor,  was  a  brother  of  Elder  John  Wiswall, 
both  of  whom  were  prominent  among  the  early  settlers  of  Dorchester.  They 
came  from  England  in  1635.  Thomas  subscribed  to  the  school  fund  in  Dorchester, 
1 64 1 .  He  was  selectman,  1644  and  in  1652,  and  was  prominent  in  town  and 
church  affairs.  He  subsequently  removed  to  Cambridge  Village.  He  married 
Elizabeth  and  had  a  son,  Noah. 

Capt.  Noah  Wisivall,  son  of  Elder  Thomas  and  Elizabeth  ( )  Wiswall, 

was  baptized  in  Dorchester,  1638.  He  signed  the  secession  petition  in  1678.  He 
was  selectman,  1685,  and  was  one  of  the  parties,  in  1687,  to  lay  out  a  highway 
from  the  main  street  through  the  land  of  Cambridge  to  the  Falls.  In  the  spring 
of  1690  a  party  of  500  French  and  Indians  made  an  attack  on  Casco  (Portland, 
Me.),  and  carried  away  captive  a  number  of  persons.  Capt.  Noah  Wiswall,  with 
a  company  of  infantry,  marched  to  the  relief  of  Casco,  where  he  arrived  July  6, 
He  sent  out  his  scouts,  discovered  the  trail  of  the  enemy,  overtook  them  at  Wheel- 
wright's pond,  where  a   bloody  engagement  took  place,  and  Capt.  Wiswall,  two 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  141 

officers  and  fifteen  men  were  slain.  His  son  John  was  also  killed  in  the  engage- 
ment. Capt.  Noah  Wiswall  married,  December  10,  1664,  Theodosia,  daughter  of 
John  Jackson,  and  had  a  son,  Thomas. 

Lieut,  Thomas  Wiswall,  son  of  Capt.  Noah  and  Theodosia  (Jackson)  Wis- 
wall, was  born  1668;  lived  at  Newton,  Mass.  He  was  surveyor  in  1694,  con- 
stable 1699,  selectman  1706-7.  He  died  in  1709.  He  married  at  Newbury,  July, 
1696,  Hannah  Cheney,  and  had  a  son,  Noah. 

Capt.  Noah  Wiswall,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Lieut.  Thomas 
and  Hannah  (Cheney)  Wiswall,  was  born  in  1699.  In  1740  he  was  with  the 
Massachusetts  troops  which  went  to  the  West  Indies  in  the  War  between  Great 
Britain  and  Spain.  At  the  battle  of  Lexington  his  son  Jeremiah  commanded  a 
company  in  which  were  two  more  of  his  sons,  besides  his  sons-in-law.  As  he 
saw  them  leaving  for  the  front  ne  started  to  follow  them,  saying,  "I  wish  to  see 
what  the  boys  are  doing."  He  was  then  seventy-six  years  of  age.  Standing  with 
some  Americans  not  far  from  the  field,  three  British  soldiers  came  in  sight.  He 
immediately  pointed  them  out  to  his  companions,  saying,  "  If  you  aim  at  the 
middle  one  you  will  hit  one  of  the  three."  They  did  so  and  the  other  two  fled. 
As  he  held  out  his  hand,  pointing  toward  the  Britons,  a  musket  ball  passed  through 
it.  He  coolly  bound  up  the  hand  with  his  handkerchief,  picked  up  the  gun  of  the 
fallen  regular  and  brought  it  home  as  a  trophy.  He  married,  in  1720,  Thankful, 
daughter  of  Jeremiah  Fuller.  Their  daughter  Hannah,  born  March  31,  1745,  was 
married  to  Ebenezer  Richards. 

John  Richards,  son  of  Ebenezer  and  Hannah  (Wiswall)  Richards  was  born 
October  22,  1781  ;  died  November  3,  1829.  He  resided  in  Newton.  He  was  a 
soldier  in  the  War  of  181 2.  He  married  Mary  Barrett,  daughter  of  Stephen,  son 
of  John,  son  of  Jonathan,  son  of  John,  son  of  Thomas  Barrett,  the  ancestor.  The 
ancestor  of  this  family,  who  came  over  with  the  Conqueror,  is  recorded  in  the 
Battle  Abbey  and  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Hastings,  1066. 

Thomas  Barrett,  was  one  of  the  thirty-two  residents  of  Braintree,  Mass.,  to 
whom  the  General  Court,  in  1645,  granted  10,000  acres  of  land  in  Warwick,  which 
had  been  confiscated  by  Gorton's  heresy.  Among  the  other  grantees  of  this  land 
was  Henry  Adams,  the  projenitor  of  the  two  Presidents  Adams.  Thomas  Barrett 
remained  for  some  years  in  Braintree  and  then  removed  to  Chelmsford,  where  he 
made  his  will  in  1662.     He  had  a  son,  Ji >h/i. 

John  Barrett,  son  of  Thomas,  had  a  grant  of  land  in  Chelmsford  in  1659, 
where  he  resided,  and  had  several  grants  later.  He  was  a  tithingman,  lieutenant, 
mill  owner  and  comparatively  a  large  proprietor  of  lands.  He  served  in  King 
Philip's  War.     He  married  Sarah  ,  and  had  a  son,  Jonathan. 

Jonathan  Barrett,   son   of  John   and  Sarah  ( )   Barrett,  married  Abigail 

(Wilson)  Hildreth,  daughter  of  John  Wilson,  Sr.,  of  Woburn,  and  had  a  son,  John. 

John  Barrett,  son  of  Jonathan  and  Abigail  Barrett,  was  born  Dec- 
ember 3,  1709.  He  married  Martha  Heald,  daughter  of  Deacon  John  and  Mary 
Heald.  He  was  the  son  of  John  Heald  and  Mary  Chandler.  Mary  White 
above  named,  was  the  daughter  of  Hon.  Mark  and  Anna  (Chamberlain) 
White,  of  Acton.  John  Barrett,  by  his  wife,  Martha  (Heald)  Barrett,  had  a  son, 
Stephen. 

Stephen  Barrett,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  John  and  Martha 
(Heald)  Barrett,  was  born  October  4,  1756;  resided  in  Billerica,  Mass.     He  was  a 


142  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

private  in  Capt.  Edward  Farmer's  company,  Col.  Greene's  regiment,  which 
marched  on  the  "  Lexington  Alarm,"  April  19,  1 77 5  ;  also  sergeant  in  Col.  Nixon's 
regiment,  from  May  2,  1777,  to  December  31,  1779,  reported  as  the  Seventh 
Company.  Return  dated  camp  at  Peekskill,  August  15,  1777;  muster  roll  dated 
Highlands,  June  12,  1779;  enlisted  for  three  years;  reported  as  Lieutenant, 
Colonel's  company,  pay  abstracts  for  November  and  December,  1779,  dated 
Soldier's  Fortune;  also  lieutenant,  Col.  Daniel  Whiting's  company,  pay  abstract 
for  January  to  June,  1780;  discharged  May  2.  He  married  Lucy  Kidder,  of 
Billerica,  daughter  of  Ephraim  (5),  son  of  Ephraim  (4),  son  of  Ephraim  (3),  son 
of  Ephraim  (2),  son  of  James  Kidder,  the  ancestor. 

James  Kidder,  the  ancestor,  was  born  in  East  Grimsted,  Sussex,  England,  in 
1626.  His  ancestry  has  been  traced  in  England  through  six  generations,  viz., 
James,  Sr.,  John,  John,  Richard,  Richard,  Richard.  He  located  in  Billerica  in 
1658.  He  was  ensign  in  Capt.  Danforth's  military  company,  and  his  house  was  a 
garrison  in  1675.  He  himself  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  Indians  at  Wamesit,  a 
position  which  indicates,  in  that  critical  period,  the  confidence  reposed  in  his  skill 
and  courage.  The  conjecture  is  probable  that  the  hardships  and  exposure  inci- 
dent to  the  war  occasioned  his  death,  which  took  place  April  16,  1676.  He 
married  Anna  Moore,  daughter  of  Elder  Francis  Moore,  of  Cambridge,  and  had 
Ephraim. 

Ephraim  Kidder  (1),  son  of  James  and  Anna  (Moore)  Kidder,  was  born 
August  31,  1660;  died  September  25,  1724.  He  married,  August  4,  1685,  Rachel 
Crosby,  daughter  of  Simon  Crosby,  Jr.,  born  in  Cambridge,  1637,  died  at  Billerica, 
Mass.,  1725.     They  had  son,  Ephraim  (2). 

Ephraim  Kidder  (2),  son  of  Ephraim  (1)  and  Rachel  (Crosby)  Kidder,  was 
born  April  26,  1687;  died  September  4,  1776.  He  lived  in  Tewksbury.  He 
married  Abigail  Frost,  and  had  Ephraim  (3). 

Ephraim  Kidder  (3),  son  of  Ephraim  (2)  and  Abigail  (Frosti  Kidder,  was 
born  February  15,  1710;  died  at  Lake  George,  1756.  He  was  a  lieutenant  in  the 
Massachusetts  troops  which  were  enlisted  to  reduce  Crown  Point,  and  he  died 
from  the  effects  of  hardship  and  exposure  while  in  camp  at  Fort  William  Henry 
on  the  30th  of  August,  1756.  He  married  Elizabeth  French,  daughter  of  William 
French,  son  of  John  French,  born  at  Billerica,  1635,  whose  house  was  one  of  the 
garrisons,  1675.  He  was  the  son  of  William  French,  who  first  settled  in  Cam- 
bridge, and  was  one  of  the  original  proprietors  of  Billerica,  1652.  Ephraim 
Kidder,  by  his  wife,  Elizabeth  French,  had  son,  Ephraim  Kidder  (4). 

Ephraim  Kidder  (4),  son  of  Ephraim  (3)  and  Elizabeth  (French)  Kidder, 
was  born  July  9,  1736.  He  married  Lucy  Pollard,  daughter  of  John  Pollard,  and 
had  a  daughter,  Lucy,  born  September  6,  1760,  married  April  8,  1781,  Stephen 
Barrett. 

Stephen  Barrett,  son  of  John  and  Martha  Heald  Barrett  had  issue,  by  his  wife, 
Lucy  Kidder  (daughter  of  Ephraim  Kidder),  Stephen,  John,  Lucy,  Sally  and  Mary, 
who  married  John  Richards,  of  Boston. 

John  Richards,  of  Boston,  by  his  wife,  Mary  Barrett,  had  a  son,  Jere- 
miah (1). 

Jeremiah  Richards  (t),  son  of  John  and  Mary  (Barrett)  Richards,  was  born 
October  10,  1818;  died  April  ^o,  1844.  He  was  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary 
ability,  intelligence,  and  business  sagacity.     At  the  time  of  his  death,  at  the  age  of 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN     REVOLUTION.  143 

26,  he  was  a  leading  lumber  merchant  in  Boston,  with  a  large  and  extensive 
business.  His  remarkable  success  at  this  early  age  indicates  what  he  might  have 
been  had  he  reached  an  age  ripened  by  experience  and  wisdom  gained  by  contact 
with  his  fellow-men.  Young  as  he  was  he  had  established  a  reputation  for  honor- 
able dealing,  and  he  was  the  soul  of  honesty  and  uprightness  of  character. 
In  this  he  bequeathed  a  legacy  to  his  posterity  of  far  greater  value  than  the 
material  accumulation  of  the  few  brief  years  of  his  business  career.  His  death 
was  sudden,  but  did  not  find  him  unprepared.  His  life  was  pure  and  in  all  his 
dealings  he  faithfullv  observed  the  Golden  Rule,  and  the  sudden  call  from  labor 
to  rest,  in  the  midst  of  business,  found  him  ready  to  meet  the  messenger  of  death. 
His  brief  married  life  was  a  happy  one,  he  having  made  a  wise  selection.  He 
married,  December  4,  1843,  Lydia  Adelaide  Peck,  daughter  of  Oren,  son  of  James, 
son  of  Jathniel,  son  of  Ebenezer,  son  of  Jathniel,  son  of  Joseph  (2),  son  of  Joseph 
Peck  (1),  the  ancestor. 

The  pedigree  of  Joseph  Peck,  the  emigrant  ancestor  of  this  branch  of  the 
Peck  family,  may  be  found  in  the  British  Museum,  and  is  traced  back  for  twenty 
generations  to  John  Peck,  of  Bolton,  Yorkshire,  England.  Joseph,  with  his 
brother  Rev.  Robeit  Peck,  came  to  this  country  in  1638  and  settled  in  Hingham. 
Mass.;  both  were  graduates  of  Magdalen  College,  Cambridge,  England.  Joseph 
resided  at  Hingham  for  seven  years.  Joseph  was  a  representative  at  the  General 
Court  in  1639-40-41-42;  he  was  Selectman,  Justice  of  the  Peace,  Assessor,  etc. 
In  1641  he  was  one  of  the  principal  purchasers  from  the  Indians,  of  the  tract  of 
land  comprised  in  the  towns  of  Rehoboth,  Seckonk  and  Pawtucket.  Later  he 
purchased  lands  in  what  was  afterwards  known  as  Harrington  He  made  a  third 
purchase  of  Wamsetter,  brother  of  King  Philip,  which  included  what  was  after- 
wards Attleboro,  Mass.,  and  Cumberland  and  Woonsocket,  R.  I.  In  1645  ne 
removed  to  Seckonk  and  was  conspicuous  in  the  affairs  of  that  town,  and  held 
many  public  positions  during  his  life;  he  was  one  of  the  wealthiest  men  in  the 
town.  He  married  Rebecca  Clark,  born  1585,  died  October  24,  1637.  He  was 
born  April  30,  1587,  died  December  23,  1663.     They  had  a  son,  Joseph. 

Joseph  Peck,    (2),  son   of  Joseph   (1)  and  Rebecca   (Clark)  Peck,  was  born  in 

Hingham,  England,   August  23,  1623,  died    1701.      He   married  and   had  a 

son,  Jathniel, 

Jathniel  Peck,  son  of  Joseph,  was  born  July  24,  1660,:  died  April  5,  1742. 
He  was  representative  to  the  General  Court  172  1-2-3-6-7-8-9-30-31 .  He  married 
Sarah  Smith,  born  1670,  died  June  4,  \7^7-     They  had  a  sun,  Ebenezer. 

Ebenezer  Peck,  son  of  Jathniel  and  Sarah  (Smith)  Peck,  was  born  Septem- 
ber 20,  1697;  died  August,  1760;  married  Margaret  Whitaker,  born  1698,  died 
1762,  and  had  a  son,  Jathniel. 

Jathniel  Peck,  son  of  Ebenezer  and  Margaret  (Whitaker)  Peck,  was  born 
November  22,  1725;  died  March  23,  1812;  married  Sybil  Butterworth  and  had 
issue,  James.     She  was  born  1729,  died  March  15,  1769. 

James  Peck,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Jathniel  and  Sybil 
(Butterworth)  Peck,  was  bom  August  10,  1754;  died  April  3,  1834.  The  follow- 
ing is  the  official  record  of  his  service  in  the  Revolution:  "Men  mustered  for 
the  Continental  service  for  nine  months  from  the  time  they  shall  appear  at  Fishkill, 
on  Hudson  River.  For  Col.  Thomas  Carpenter's  Regiment,  the  first  Reg't  in  the 
county   of  Bristol   (Mass).     Taunton,   June  ye   1st,    1778."     James    Peck   married 


144  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

Lydia   Pratt,   born    1765,  died   October   20,   1838,  who   is   a  lineal   descendant   of 
Degory  Priest,  who  came  over  on  the  "  Mayflower."     They  had  a  son,  Oren. 

Oren  Peck,  son  of  James  and  Lydia  (Pratt)  Peck,  was  born  September  16, 
1795,  died  May  7,  1865.  He  was  highly  esteemed  by  all  who  knew  him,  as  a  man 
of  honesty  and  integrity.  He  married  Eliza  Williams,  born  October  27,  1793, 
died  April  26,  1858.  They  had  a  daughter,  Lydia  Adelaide,  who  married  Jeremiah 
Richards  (l),  father  of  Jeremiah  Richards. 

Jeremiah  Richards  (2),  Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  son  of  Jeremiah 
(1)  and  Lydia  Adelaide  ( Peck)  Richards,  was  born  in  Boston,  October  1,1844; 
graduated  at  the  English  High  School  of  that  city,  the  highest  attainable,  next  to 
a  collegeiate  education.  After  a  brief  experience  in  a  Boston  dry  goods  house,  he 
came  to  New  York  and  entered  the  employ  of  the  Cumberland  Coal  &  Iron 
Company,  at  that  time  one  of  the  largest  concerns  of  the  kind  in  the  country. 
He  was  soon  after  made  secretary  and  treasurer,  and  continued  in  this  position 
for  ten  years.  That  he  inherited  the  qualities  that  would  have  made  his  father  an 
eminently  successful  business  man,  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  his  success  in 
whatever  undertaking  he  chose  was  assured  from  the  beginning.  Perseverence, 
industry  and  patience  were  the  strong  qualities  early  developed  in  him.  His  first 
experience  was  the  stepping  stone  to  his  subsequent  success.  He  entered  the 
house  of  Spielmann  &  Co.,  where  his  great  executive  ability  soon  manifested 
itself,  and  he  was  made  a  partner  in  1882,  This  is  now  one  of  the  largest  com- 
mission houses  in  New  York,  with  branches  in  Paris,  Lyons,  Zurich  and  Berlin, 
and  with  a  trade  that  extends  throughout  the  entire  country.  That  Mr.  Richards 
has  been  an  important  factor  in  the  great  results  attained  during  the  past  fifteen 
or  twenty  years,  goes  without  saying. 

It  is  not  alone  his  business  qualifications  that  have  conduced  to  his  success  in 
life.  There  is  a  strong  personality  which  impresses  itself  upon  others  and  wins 
the  confidence  of  all  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact,  without  auy  apparent  effort 
on  his  part.  In  the  cultivation  of  his  mind  and  in  the  development  of  his  business 
qualities,  Mr.  Richards  has  not  neglected  the  development  of  the  body.  He  is 
especially  fond  of  hunting  and  fishing,  and  during  the  summer  season  spends 
much  of  his  time  at  his  fine  camp  in  the  Dead  River  Region,  Maine,  where  fish 
and  game  are  abundant.  He  is  Vice-President  of  the  Megantic  Fish  and  Game 
Club,  of  Maine,  a  member  of  the  Union  League  Club,  the  New  York  Athletic 
Club  and  the  Merchants'  Club  ;  also  of  the  Society  of  Colonial  Wars,  the  Society 
of  the  War  of  1812,  the  Mayflower  Society,  the  Long  Island  Historical  Society 
and  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art.  His  religious  connections  are  with  the 
Central  Presbyterian  Church",  of  which  he  is  a  member. 

During  the  Civil  War  Mr.  Richards  was  one  of  the  original  members  of  the 
First  Battalion,  National  Guard,  of  the  city  of  Boston,  Mayor  Charles  W.  Stevens 
commanding.  This  battalion  was  organized  in  1862  and  among  its  members 
were  some  of  the  most  prominent  gentlemen  of  Boston.  At  the  time  of  the  riots 
in  1863  they  were  sworn  into  the  service  of  the  general  government  and  rendered 
valuable  assistance  in  quelling  the  draft  riots  and  protecting  property.  They 
received  the  thanks  of  the  city  government  for  their  services  and  were  compli- 
mented by  the  Hon.  F.  W.  Lincoln,  mayor,  in  a  letter  dated  August  3,  1863,  and 
later  received  the  thanks  of  the  commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  in  General 
Order  No.  20.     The  battalion   maintained   its  organization  through  the  war  and 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  145 

were  only  disbanded  at  its  close.  Mr.  Richards  married  Susan  A.  Monfort, 
daughter  of  Jacob  Monfort,  son  of  John  P.,  son  of  Peter  J.,  fourth  in  descent 
from  Peter  Monfoort,  the  ancestor. 

Peter  and  Jan  Monfoort,  emigrated  from  Holland  to  New  Netherlands  at  a 
very  early  period,  the  first  reference  to  them  being  made  in  1639,  when  Peter 
entered  into  a  contract  with  Peter  Cesar  Albertis  to  make  a  plantation  and  build  a 
house  at  Wallabout  (Brooklyn).  On  May  21,  Peter  Monfoort  obtained  a  patent 
for  land  at  Wallabout,  between  the  plantations  of  Peter  Cesar  Albertis  and  Jan 
Monfoort,  "  in  breadth  300  paces  straight  into  the  woods."  This  was  located  on 
the  corner  of  what  is  now  Washington  and  Clinton  avenues.  On  the  17th  of 
August,  1643,  he  obtained  another  patent  for  the  same  premises,  described  as  "a 
piece  of  land  for  a  Tobacco  plantation,  lying  on  Long  Island,  in  the  bend  of 
Myerechkawick."  In  1647  he  obtained  a  patent  for  land  on  Manhattan  Island,  in 
northeast  side  of  the  Graft.  He  married,  June  12  or  17,  1630,  at  Amsterdam, 
Holland,  Sarah  de  Plancken.  He  died  January  4,  1 66 1,  leaving  children,  Janica, 
Jan  Pieterse,  Sarah  Pieterse  and  Peter  I'ieterse. 

Peter  John  Monfort,  third  in  descent  from  Peter  Pieterse  Monfort,  was  born 
in  1731,  died  March  1,  1791.  He  settled  at  Fishkill  Plains.  Dutchess  County, 
N.  Y.  He  married  Margreta  Schenck,  of  Flatlands,  born  1736,  died  18 14.  They 
had  issue,  Jolin  P. 

John  P.  Monfort,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Peter  J.  and 
Margreta  (Schenck)  Monfort,  was  born  at  Fishkill  Plains,  July  24,  1760;  died 
there  1803.  He  served  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution  as  private  in  Capt.  Brower's 
company,  Col.  Abraham  Brinkerhoff's  regiment.  He  married  Jane  Bennett,  of 
Greenpoint,  born  1776,  dted  1809,  and  had  issue  Jacob. 

Jacob  Monfort,  son  of  John  P.  and  Jane  (Bennett)  Monfort,  was  born  in 
1799;  died  in  1869.  He  married  Harriet  E.  Carman,  born  May  25,  1808,  daughter 
of  Thomas  Carman,  son  of  Joshua,  son  of  John  (2  ,  son  of  John  (1). 

John  and  Florence  Carman  came  from  England  in  163 1,  and  settled  first  in 
Roxbury,  Mass.,  and  later  moved  to  Hempstead,  L.  I.  Their  giandsons  John  and 
Joshua  moved  to  Beekman,  Dutchess  County,  N.  Y.,  between  1730  and  1740,  and 
settled  in  separate  homesteads  on  a  section  of  land  there. 

/ohn  Car/nan  (2),  was  born  at  Hempstead,  L.  L,  died  at  Beekman,  Dutchess 
County,  N.  Y.,  October  6,  1766.  He  married  February  8,  1739,  at  Hempstead, 
Mary  Smith.  He  married,  second,  Mary  Doughty,  a  widow  from  Long  Island. 
By  his  first  wife  he  had  Thomas,  Joshua.  Martha.  Mary. 

Joshua  Carman,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  John  and  Mary 
(Smith)  Carman,  was  born  at  Beekman,  Dutchess  County,  N.  Y.  He  was  attached 
to  the  New  York  Line,  Continental  Army,  as  a  member  of  Third  Company,  First 
Regiment,  and  continued  to  the  close  of  the  war.  He  married  Jacoba  Van 
Kleeck.  He  was  a  merchant  at  Beekman,  and  about  1800  he  moved  to  the 
village  of  Poughkeepsie.  His  place  of  residence  was  south  of  the  village,  a 
portion  of  the  lands  of  which  is  now  used  by  the  Protestant  Episcopal  denomina- 
tion as  a  cemetery,  being  situated  on  Academy  and  Montgomery  streets.  By  his 
wife  Jacoba,  he  had  a  son,   Thomas. 

Thomas  Carman,  son  of  Joshua  and  Jacoba  (Van  Kleeck)  Carman,  was  born 
in  Dutchess  County,  N.  Y.,  April  22,  1780;  died  November  3,  1834.  He  married, 
May  7,  1803,  Catharine  Cypher,  and  had  four  children,  of  whom  Harriet  E., 
born  May  25,  1808,  married  Jacob  Monfort. 


146 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 


Jeremiah  Richards,  by  his  wife,  Susan  A.  Monfort,  daughter  of  Jacob  Mon- 
fort,  had  five  children.  The  eldest,  Anna,  married  Forrest  H.  Parker,  Jr.,  and 
after  a  brief  but  happy  married  life  they  were  both  drowned  on  the  4th  of 
September,  1897,  by  the  capsizing  of  a  boat  on  Chain  Pond,  in  the  Adirondacks, 


CHARLES    SPIELMANN    RICHARDS. 

where  Mr.  Parker  had  a  camp.     The  other  children  were  Harriet  Monfort,  C/iar/es 
Spielmann,  William  Stiger  and  Ethel  Adelaide. 

CHARLES  SPIELHANN  RICHARDS,  Life  Member,  Society  Sons 
of  the  Revolution,  was  born  at  Roselle,  N.  J.,  June  11,  1876.  He  began  his 
classical  studies  at   Leal  Institute,  Plainfleld,  N.  J.,  intending  to  enter  Princeton, 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  147 

but  after  completing  his  preparatory  course,  failing  health  compelled  him  to  give 
up  his  studies  and  for  two  succeeding  years  he  devoted  himself  wholly  to  rest 
and  recreation.  After  this  he  attended  Grammar  School  No.  87,  of  New  York 
city,  where  he  first  acquired  a  taste  for  military  exercises.  An  organization 
known  as  the  American  Guard  was  started  in  the  school,  of  which  he  was  elected 
adjutant,  and  when,  on  March  30,  1896,  he  was  accepted  as  a  member  of  the 
Fourth  Company,  Seventh  Regiment,  N.  G.  S.  N.  Y.,  he  was  able  to  enter  the 
ranks  at  once,  without  the  long  preparatory  drill  in  the  "awkward  squad."  After 
the  war  with  Spain  broke  out  he  was  appointed  to  the  staff  of  Col.  Denny,  of  the 
1  1  2th  Regiment,  with  the  rank  of  First  Lieutenant.  He  is  an  enthusiastic  National 
Guardsman,  and  the  accompanying  portrait  shows  him  in  the  uniform  of  the 
Seventh   Regiment. 

During  the  two  or  three  years'  rest,  Mr.  Richards'  health  was  greatly 
improved,  and  instead  of  entering  upon  a  collegiate  course  he  decided  on  a 
business  career.  A  favorable  opportunity  having  presented  itself  to  become 
associated  with  his  brother-in-law,  F.  H.  Parker,  Jr.,  in  the  exporting  trade,  he 
entered  at  once  upon  his  new  duties  and  soon  mastered  all  the  details  of  the 
business.  After  Mr.  Parker's  death  he  founded  the  firm  of  Richards  &  Gunn, 
and  they  are  now  doing  a  very  successful  business  as  exporters  and  importers. 
Mr.  Richards  has  already  developed  executive  talent  of  the  highest  order  and  a 
capacity  for  details  which,  with  his  methodical  habits,  makes  him  master  of  the 
situation.  He  is  a  member  of  the  New  York  Produce  Exchange,  a  life  member  of 
the  New  York  Athletic  Club,  a  member  of  the  Society  of  the  Order  of  Founders 
and  Patriots,  and  of  the  Megantic  Fish  and  Game  Club,  of  Maine,  where  he 
spends  his  summers. 

William  Stiger  Richards,  the  youngest  son  of  Jeremiah  and  Susan  A.  (Mon- 
fort)  Richards,  was  born  September  12,  18S1.  He  is  associated  with  his  brother 
in  the  exporting  business.  He  is  a  bright,  intelligent  young  man,  with  a  natural 
capacity  for  business  which  augurs  well  for  his  future.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
New  York  Athletic  Club,  and  of  the  Megantic  Fish  and  Game  Club,  of  Maine, 
and  gives  equal  attention  to  the  development  of  mind  and  body. 


CLARK-TOWNER     WHITE- BROOKS. 

There  were  several  families  of  the  name  of  Clark  among  the  early  settlers  of 
Connecticut  and  Massachusetts,  and  it  frequently  happened  that  there  were  two 
or  more  families  of  this  name  in   the  same  town. 

Benjamin  Clark,  the  immediate  ancestor  of  Byron  G.  Clark,  M.D.,  was  born 
in  Hubbardston,  Mass.,  and  is  supposed  to  be  a  descendant  of  Sergeant  John 
Clark,  of  Middletown,  Conn.,  son  of  William  Clark,  the  Hartford  ancestor. 
Another  family  of  this  name  was  long  settled  at  Hubbardston,  Mass.,  but  their 
name  does  not  appear  in  the  list.  It  is  not  known  who  Benjamin  married,  but  he 
was  the  father  of  Aaron  Clark  (1). 

Aaron  Clark  (1).  son  of  Benjamin  Clark,  was  born  in  Hubbardston,  Mass., 
October  29.  1788;  died   in  Sharon,  Vt,  in    1846.     He  was  a  prosperous  farmer  of 


I48  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

that  town.  Long  before  the  "  iron  horse"  penetrated  the  wilds  of  New  England 
he  ran  a  line  of  teams  from  Newport,  N.  H.,  to  Boston.  He  married  Elizabeth 
Brooks,  of  Princeton,  Mass.,  daughter  of  David  Brooks,  of  Lancaster  and  Prince- 
ton, Mass.,  son  of  Nathaniel,  son  of  Jabez,  son  of  John,  son  of  Henry,  the 
ancestor. 

Henry  Brooks  was  made  a  freeman  at  Concord,  March  14,  1639,  and  was 
one  of  the  proprietors  of  Woburn,  Mass.,  January  10,  1652.  He  was  selectman, 
1669.  His  first  wife,  Susanna,  died  September  15,  1681.  He  married,  second, 
Annis  Jaquith,  July  12,  1682.  The  town  records  of  Woburn  refer  to  Goodwife 
Brooks  as  "an  ancient  and  skillful  woman,  famous  for  attainments  in  medical 
science."     By  his  second  wife,  Henry  Brooks  had  a  son,  John. 

John  Brooks,  son  of  Henry  and  Annis  (Jaquith)  Brooks,  was  born  probably 
about  1624.  He  married,  November  1,  1649,  Eunice  Mousal,  daughter  of  Deacon 
John  Mousal.  a  founder  and  much-honored  citizen  of  Woburn.  They  had  eight 
children,  of  whom  Jabez  was  the  youngest. 

Jabez  Brooks,  son  of  John  and  Eunice  (Mousal)  Brooks,  was  born  July  17, 
1643.  He  was  one  of  the  forty-five  citizens  of  Woburn  who  volunteered  for  the 
defence  in  King  Philip's  War,  1675-6.  He  took  part  in  the  great  "  Swamp  Fight." 
He  married  Hephzibah  Cutter,  daughter  of  Richard,  the  emigrant  ancestor.  They 
had  issue,  NatJianiel. 

Nathaniel  Brooks,  son  of  Jabez  and  Hephzibah  (Cutter)  Brooks,  was  born 
about  1706,  probably  in  Woburn.  He  married  Submit  Pouher,  born  1708,  grand- 
daughter of  John  Poulter,  of  Billerica,  Mass  ,  who  married  Rachel  Eliot,  of  Brain- 
tree,  Mass.,  daughter  of  Francis  Eliot.     They  had  David. 

David  Brooks,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Nathaniel  and  Sub- 
mit (Poulter)  Brooks,  was  born  March  29,  1749.  He  was  of  Lancaster,  Mass., 
and  afterwards  of  Princeton.  David  Brooks  was  a  contractor  and  builder  and 
erected  several  "meeting-houses"  in  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire.  He 
married  Patience  White,  daughter  of  Capt.  Joseph  White,  of  Lancaster,  son  of 
Josiah  ^3),  son  of  Josiah  (2),  son  of  John  White,  the  ancestor. 

Jo/in  White  was  of  Salem,  1638;  had  a  grant  of  land  the  next  year;  joined 
the  church,  1643.  He  and  his  son  were  among  the  first  settlers  of  Lancaster, 
Mass.  He  had  the  largest  estate  of  any  man  in  the  town  ;  it  amounted  to  over 
^380.  The  strong  character  of  the  man  is  shown  in  the  following,  which  appears 
on  the  early  records  of  the  town  :  "  All  the  orders  of  the  selectmen  passed  except 
that  of  goodman  White,  which  was  rejected  because  he  feared  not  to  speak  in  his 
own  cause."  In  1662,  John  White  was  relieved  from  "ordinary  traynings  "  on 
account  of  advanced  years.     He  had  a  son,  Josiah. 

[osiah  White  (2),  son  of  John  White,  was  baptized  in  Salem,  June  4,  1643. 
In  1688  he  was  allowed  by  the  county,  twenty  shillings  for  "  killing  one  growne 
wolf"  in  Lancaster.  He  was  one  of  the  first  selectmen  of  Lancaster.  He 
married,  in  1678,  Mary,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Mary  (Keing)  Rice,  of  Marl- 
borough.    He  died  in  1714.     They  had  a  son,  Josiah  (j). 

Hon.  Josiah  White  (3),  son  of  Josiah  (2)  and  Mary  (Rice)  White,  was  born 
in  Lancaster,  September  16,  1682;  died  May  5,  1772.  He  was  a  deacon  of  the 
church  and  represented  the  town  at  the  General  Court  several  terms.  He  mairied 
June  26,  1706,  Abigail,  daughter  of  Josiah  and  Rebecca  (Waters)  Whitcomb. 
They  had  Joseph. 


SONS    OF    THE    AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  I49 

Capt.  Joseph  White,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Josiah  and 
Rebecca  (Whitcomb)  White,  was  born  in  Lancaster,  Mass.,  November  1,1719; 
died  November  15,  1780.  The  history  of  Woburn  states  that  "a  fourth  company 
had  Joseph  White  for  Captain."  This  belonged  to  the  regiment  of  Col.  Asa 
Whitcomb,  was  engaged  at  Cambridge  four  or  five  days,  returned  home  and 
prepared  for  more  extended  service.  He  married  Patience,  daughter  of  James 
Ball,  and  had  among  other  children,  a  daughter,  Patience,  who  was  married  to 
David  Brooks. 

David  Brooks,  by  his  wife,  Patience  (White)  Brooks,  had  a  daughter,  ElizabetJi. 

Elizabeth  Brooks,  daughter  of  David  and  Patience  (White)  Brooks,  was 
born  in  Princeton,  Mass.,  February  2,  1791.;  died  April  19,  1887.  She  was  married 
to  Aaron  Clark. 

Aaron  Clark  (  1 ),  by  his  wife,  Patience  (Brooks)  Clark,  had  issue,  Aaron. 

Aaron  Clark  (2),  son  of  Aaron  (  1)  and  Patience  (Brooks)  Clark,  was  born  at 
Newport,  N.  LL,  July  4;  1820.  He  attended  the  district  school  during  the  winter 
months,  working  on  the  farm  during  the  summer  as  soon  as  he  was  old  enough  to 
be  of  assistance  At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  drove  one  of  his  father's  four-horse 
teams  to  Boston,  Mass.,  and  back  with  freight,  and  from  that  time  forward  he  was 
often  on  the  road  with  an  extra  team.  He  moved  to  Charleston,  N.  H.,  in  1841, 
and  soon  purchased  a  small  farm,  to  which  he  added  by  purchase  a  few  acres  of 
land  as  fast  as  he  was  able  to  pay  for  it.  He  has  been  a  thrifty  and  prosperous 
fa.imer,  a  public-spirited  citizen,  interested  in  public  improvements  and  whatever 
tended  to  the  moral  and  physical  development  of  the  town.  He  has  been  a 
staunch  Republican  in  politics,  but  could  never  be  induced  to  accept  public  office. 
He  has  been  a  great  reader  and  close  observer,  and  few  men  in  the  town  have 
more  friends,  or  one  whose  advice  is  oftener  sought  than  his.  He  married. 
November  19,  1843,  Mary  Ann  Towner,  daughter  of  Daniel  and  Lucretia  (Atkins) 
Towner,  son  of  Comfort  Towner,  a  native  of  Middletown,  later  of  Claremont, 
N.  H.,  and  moved  with  them  into  the  home  which  they  still  occupy  (  1898). 

Comfort  Towner,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was  a  native  of  Middle- 
town,  Conn.,  at  which  place  the  ancestor  of  the  family  originally  settled.  Although 
the  name  is  almost  extinct  in  that  locality,  it  is  noteworthy  that  the  Revolutionary 
records  of  Connecticut  show  the  names  of  twelve  Towners  who  fought  in  the 
Revolution.  Comfort  Towner  removed  to  Claremont,  N.  H.,  and  was  a  private 
in  Capt.  Abel  Walker's  company,  Col.  Benjamin  Bellows'  regiment,  May  7  to 
June  18,  1777,  to  reinforce  Northern  Continental  Army  at  Ticonderoga ;  also 
private  in  Capt.  Samuel  Ashley's  company,  Col.  Bellows'  regiment,  from  Septem- 
ber 21,  to  October  21,  1777,  to  reinforce  Gen.  Gates'  Northern  Continental  Army, 
at  Saratoga;  also  in  Jeremiah  Spencer's  scouting  party,  1780.  Comfort  Towner 
married and  had  a  son,  Daniel 

Daniel  Towner,  son  of  Comfort  Towner,  married  Lucretia  Atkins,  daughter 
of  John  Atkins,  of  Middletown,  Conn.,  who  married  Lucretia  Fosdick,  born  1765. 
He  was  probably  a  grandson  of  Ephraim,  who  married  Elizabeth  Wetmore,  son 
of  Josiah,  son  of  Thomas,  the  ancestor. 

Aaron  Clark,  by  his  wife,  Mary  Ann  (Towner)  Clark,  had  Emma,  born 
October  7,  1844,  married  C.  M.  Bixby,  of  Windsor,  Vt.;  and  Byron  George. 

DR.  BYRON  GEORGE  CLARK,  Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  son 
of  Aaron  and  Mary  Ann   (Towner)  Clark,  was  born  at  Charleston,  N.  H.,  Febru- 


150  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

ary  15,  1829.  He  naturally  inclined  to  the  study  of  medicine,  but  after  pursuing 
a  private  course  of  instruction  he  adopted  for  a  time  a  business  career,  and 
obtained  a  position  in  a  banking  house.  He  employed  his  leisure  time  in  the 
pursuit  of  his  favorite  study,  and  with  characteristic  energy  and  determination 
prepared  himself  for  the  preliminary  steps  necessary  for  his  chosen  profession. 
He  took  a  special  course  at  the  Long  Island  College  Hospital  and  entered  Dart- 
mouth Medical  College,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1877.  After  an  exhaust- 
ive investigation  of  the  systems  of  the  old  and  new  school  of  practice,  he  decided 
on  the  latter,  and  returned  to  New  York  and  took  a  post-graduate  course  in 
materia  medica  at  the  New  York  Homeopathic  Medical  College,  after  which  he 
located  at  Windsor,  Vt.  He  was  the  pioneer  of  the  new  school  at  that  place,  and 
at  first  met  with  strong  opposition  from  the  practitioners  of  the  old  school,  but 
his  successful  treatment  of  difficult  and  complicated  cases  largely  increased  his 
clientel,  and  to  his  great  surprise  he  was  finally  sent  for  and  was  engaged  by  a 
physician  of  the  old  school  who  had  been  his  bitter  opponent,  and  who,  though 
he  never  lived  to  practice,  became  a  convert  to  the  theories  of  Hahneman. 

The  practice  of  Dr.  Clark  in  the  village  and  surrounding  country  where  he 
was  located  increased  to  such  an  extent  that  he  was  compelled,  through  physical 
exhaustion,  to  abandon  it.  and  in  1882  decided  to  locate  in  New  York  City.  This 
was  quite  an  undertaking  for  one  whose  practice  had  been  limited  to  a  country 
district,  but  he  had  kept  himself  well  abreast  of  the  times  by  constant  study 
and  reading,  and  he  entered  upon  his  new  line  of  practice  fully  equipped  for  any 
and  every  emergency.  He  had  made  a  special  study  of  gynaecology  and  ophthal- 
mology, and  his  practice  has  gradually  extended  in  this  direction.  He  located  at 
first  what  would  now  be  called  down  town,  but  he  anticipated  the  "  upward 
movement"  and  was  among  the  first  to  locate  in  the  vicinity  of  I22d  street,  which 
is  now  populated  by  the  well-to-do  residents. 

Dr.  Clark  was  visiting  physician  to  Hahneman  Hospital  in  1892-3,  and  was 
visiting  physician  to  Laura  Franklin  Free  Hospital  for  Children,  in  1887-8-9.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Americnn  Institute  of  Homeopathy,  the  Homeopathic  State 
and  County  Societies,  the  Carroll  Durham  Medical  Club,  the  Materia  Medica 
Society,  the  Radiological  Society  (homeopathic),  the  American  Society  of  Orificial 
Surgeons,  the  Homeopathic  Union,  and  honorary  member  of  the  Vermont  State 
Homeopathic  Medical  Society  and  member  of  Harlem  Club.  Dr.  Clark  assisted 
is  founding  the  Homeopathic  Hospital  of  Harlem,  which  he  opened,  and  held  the 
first  clinic  March  23,  1896.  Articles  of  incorporation  were  applied  for,  but  were 
not  granted  until  March  30,  1S98.     He  became  one  of  its  first  directors. 

Dr.  Clark  is  in  hearty  sympathy  with  the  various  movements  to  increase  the 
influence  of  American  patriotic  societies  and  preserve  for  future  generations  the 
noble  achievements  of  our  ancestors.  He  has  been  twice  married.  His  first 
wife  was  Annis  G.  Ensworth,  who  deceased  May,  1875.  He  married,  second,  in 
October,  1878,  Elida  Peck,  daughter  of  Samuel  leek  (4),  an  old  New  York 
merchant,  and  a  native  of  Greenwich,  Conn.  He  was  the  son  of  Luther,  son  of 
Samuel  (3),  son  of  Samuel  (2),  son  of  Samuel  (1),  son  of  Jeremiah,  son  of  William 
Peck,  the  New  Haven  ancestor. 

William  Peck,  the  ancestor  of  the  Connecticut  line  of  the  Peck  family,  was 
born  near  the  city  of  London,  England,  in  1601  ;  died  in  New  Haven,  Conn., 
October   4,    1694.     He   emigrated     from    England    to    this    country    probably    in 


SONS    OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  1 5 1 

company  with  Gov.  Eaton,  Rev.  John  Davenport  and  others,  in  the  ship  "  Hector," 
June  26,  1637.  He  signed  the  Fundamental  Agreement  or  Constitution  of  the 
New  Haven  Colony,  June  4,  1639,  for  the  government  of  the  colony.  He  was 
admitted  a  freeman,  October  28,  1740.  He  was  a  merchant  by  occupation,  a 
trustee,  treasurer  and   the  general  business  agent  of  the  Colony  Collegiate  School. 

He  married,  in  1620,  Elizabeth  ,  and  had  Jeremiah,  John,  Joseph,  Elizabeth. 

Jeremiah   Peck,  son   of  William   and   Elizabeth   ( )   Peck,  was   born  in 

the  vicinity  of  London,  in  1623  and  came  with  his  father  to  New  England.  He 
is  said  to  have  been  at  Harvard  College.  He  was  for  some  time  engaged  in 
preaching  or  teaching  school  at  Guilford  and  continued  until  1666,  when  he  was 
invited  to  take  charge  of  the  Collegiate  School  at  New  Haven,  a  colony  school 
instituted  by  the  General  Court  in  1659.  In  1661  he  accepted  an  invitation  to 
preach  at  Saybrook,  Conn.,  where  he  succeeded  Rev.  James  Fitch.  He  returned  to 
Guilford  in  1666.  He  was  opposed  to  the  Hal-way  Covenant  and  the  union  of 
the  New  Haven  and  Connecticut  colonies.  He  left  Guilford  in  1666  and  became  one 
of  the  first  settlers  of  Newark,  N.  J.  In  167S  he  accepted  a  call  to  Greenwich,  Conn., 
and  became  the  first  settled  minister  of  that  town.  He  married,  November  12, 
1656,  Johanna  Kitchell,  of  Guilford,  Conn.,  and  had  Samuel  (  1 )  and  other  children. 

Samuel  Peck  (i),son  of  Jeremiah  and  Joanna  (Kitchell)  Peck,  was  born  at 
Guilford,  Conn.,  January  18,  1659;  came  with  his  father  to  Greenwich.  He  was  a 
man  of  large  wealth  and  influence.  He  was  for  about  fifty  years  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  and  held  other  important  positions  in  Greenwich,  where  he  died  April  2, 
1746  He  married,  November  27,  1686,  Ruth  Ferris,  daughter  of  Peter,  son  of 
Jeffrey  Ferris,  of  Stamford,  Conn.  The  Ferris  family  were  originally  from 
Leicestershire,  England,  and  descended  from  Henry  de  Feriers,  son  of  Gualchilme 
de  Feriers,  master  of  the  horse  of  the  Duke  of  Normandy.  Samuel  Peck  (1),  by 
his  wife  Ruth  Ferris,  had  Samuel  (2). 

Samuel  Peck  (2),  son  of  Samuel  (1)  and  Ruth  (Ferris)  Peck,  was  born 
March,  1688.  He  owned  a  farm  in  Old  Greenwich,  Conn.,  where  he  died  in  1733. 
He  married  Elizabeth  ,  and  had  Samuel  (3). 

Samuel  Peck  (3)  son   of  Samuel   (2)   and  Elizabeth  ( )  Peck,  was  born 

April,  1720.  He  was  a  man  of  great  energy  and  decision  of  character,  a  valuable 
citizen  and  for  many  years  a  deacon  of  the  P'irst  Congregational  Church  in  Green- 
wich. He  died  there  June  29,  1793.  He  married,  November  7,  1745.  May, 
daughter  of  James  Ferris,  and  had  eight  children,  of  whom  Luther  was  the 
youngest. 

Luther  Peck,  youngest  child  of  Samuel  (3)  and  Mary  (Ferris)  Peck,  was 
born  in  Greenwich,  Conn.,  December  22,  1766;  died  there  October  29,  1S60,  aged 
94  years.  He  married  Rachel  Peck,  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Hannah  (Sherwood) 
Peck,  son  of  Theophilus,  son  of  Samuel  (2),  son  of  Samuel  (1),  son  of  Jeremiah, 
son  of  William.     They  had  issue  Samuel  (4),  Huldah,  William,  Edwin. 

Samuel  Peck  (4),  son  of  Luther  and  Rachel  Peck,  was  bom  in  Greenwich, 
Conn.,  March  25  .  1799.  He  removed  to  New  York  city,  where  he  became  a  well- 
known  merchant  and  carried  on  business  for  some  years.  He  married  Eliza 
Robbins,  daughter  of  Harris  Robbins,  of  Cos  Cob.,  near  Greenwich,  Conn.,  and 
had  issue,  George,  Alonzo,  William  H.,  Adelaide,  Catharine,  Albert,  Susan, 
El  Ida. 

Elida   Peck,  youngest  child   of  Samuel   (4)   and   Eliza   (Robbins)    Peck,  was 


152  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

married  to  Byron  G.  Clark,  M.D.,  of  New  York  city.  Issue  :  Grace,  born  in 
Windsor,  Vt..  April  9,  1881  ;  Byron  G.,  Jr.,  horn  January  4,  1888;  Miriam  Lydia, 
born  in  New  York,  June  29,  1890;  died  October  17,  1894. 


ELLIS-STURGIS-CARLYLE     RANDALL. 

Few  families  in  America  can  boast  of  greater  antiquity  than  that  of  the  Ellis 
family.  From  the  fact  that  all  the  emigrants  of  this  name  came  originally  from 
Wales,  it  would  appear  that  they  had  a  common  origin.  The  line  is  traced  to  the 
eighth  century  and  includes  the  highest  nobility  of  Wales.  The  original  motto 
borne  on  the  family  arms  was,  "  Wrth  ein  ffrwythan  yn  hadna  byddir"  (Let  us  be 
seen  by  our  actions),  and  will  fitly  apply  to  the  ancestors  in  this  country  and  their 
descendants. 

The  first  of  the  name  to  settle  in  Pennsylvania  was  Rowland  Ellis,  born  at 
Bryn-Mawr,  in  Mereetshire,  in  1650.  He  came  first  to  Pennsylvania  in  1686 
and  returned  shortly  after.  He  came  again  in  1697  and  purchased  a  plantation  of 
some  six  hundred  acres  about  ten  miles  from  Philadelphia  and  a  little  north  of  ihe 
present  Bryn-Mawr  station.  The  farm  is  now  known  as  the  Morris  property. 
According  to  the  manuscript  prepared  by  himself,  he  was  the  son  of  Ellis  ap  Rees, 
ap  Lewis,  ap  Lion,  ap  Gruffydd,  ap  Howell.  His  mother  was  Ann  verch  Humphrey. 
Through  this  line  he  was  a  descendant  of  Humphrey,  Duke  of  Gloucester,  son  of 
John  of  Gaunt,  through  the  Kynston  family  in  the  same  line  as  Thomas  Lloyd, 
Deputy  Governor  of  Pennsylvania. 

Allin  Ellis,  the  immediate  ancestor  of  the  present  family,  was  born  in  Wales; 
came  to  this  country  in  the  early  part  of  the  past  century  and  settled  in  Chester 
County.  Pa.  Whether  he  was  related  to  the  preceding,  is  not  known.  Being  a 
British  subject,  he  remained  loyal  to  the  mother  country  and  soon  after  the  break- 
ing out  of  the  Revolution  removed  to  Canada.  He  married  Hannah  Sturgis, 
daughter  of  Capt.  Amos  Sturgis,  a  staunch  patriot. 

Capt.  Amos  Sturgis,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  appears  to  have 
served  in  some  capacity  almost  constantly  from  the  beginning  to  the  close  of  the 
Revolution.  The  nature  of  his  service  does  not  appear  in  the  Pennsylvania 
archives  or  in  any  of  the  local  histories.  In  1776-7  he  was  ensign  of  Fifth 
Company,  Seventh  Battalion,  Philadelphia  County  Associators,  commanded  by 
Col.  Isaac  Warren.  From  1778  to  1780,  he  was  captain  of  First  Company,  First 
Battalion,  Philadelphia  County  Militia.  In  1780  he  was  captain  of  Second  Com- 
pany, Third  Battalion,  Philadelphia  County  Militia,  commanded  by  Lieut.-Col. 
James  Barry.  Capt.  Amost  Sturgis  married  Rachel  Randall.  They  had  a  daugh- 
ter, Hannah,  who  was  married  to  Allin  Ellis. 

Allin  Ellis,  by  his  wife  Hannah  (Sturgis)  Ellis,  had  a  son,  John  Randall. 

John  Randall  Ellis,  son  of  Allin  and  Hannah  (Sturgis)  Ellis,  was  born  at 
Mount  Pleasant  Brant  County,  Ontario,  in  181 1.  He  is  still  living  and  is  at  the 
present  time  (1898)  the  oldest  man  in  the  county.  He  is  a  man  well  informed,  self- 
taught,  respected  by  his  neighbors,  and  much  beloved  by  those  who  are  admitted 
to  the  "  inner  circle."  He  has  led  an  honest,  upright  but  uneventful  life.  For  thirty- 
five  years  as  Justice  of  the  Peace  he  dealt  out  even  justice  to  all,  arbitrated  the  little 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 


153 


-£ 


differences  of  his  neighbors,  and  no  doubt  saved  them  endless  litigation.  To  "do 
good  unto  all  men  as  ye  have  opportunity,"  has  been  the  rule  of  his  faith  and 
practice,  and  none  could  ever  accuse  him  of  taking  an  unfair  advantage  in  any 
business  transaction.  Gentle  as  a  woman  in  his  sympathy  for  the  poor  and 
unfortunate,  but  firm  as  a  rock  in  his  convictions  of  truth,  he  has  left  his  impress 
for  good  on  the  community.  The  snows  of  four  score  and  nearly  ten  years  have 
whitened  his  locks  and  furrowed  his  cheeks,  yet  his  step  is  firm  and  his  steady, 
clear,  bold  handwriting  gives  no  indication  of  advancing  years.  He  married  Janet 
Carlyle,  daughter  of  John  Carlyle,  eldest  brother  of  the  distinguished  litterateur, 
philosopher  and  savant,  Thomas  Carlyle.  Both  were  born  in  Eichelfachen,  Scot- 
land.    By  this  marriage  he  has  issue,   William  Randall. 

WILLIAM  RANDALL  ELLIS,  Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  young- 
est son  of  John  Randall  and  Janet  (Carlyle)  Ellis,  was  born  in  Mount  Pleasant, 
Brant  County,  Ontario,  C.  W.,  September  6,  1852.  He  graduated  at  the  gram- 
mar school  of  his  native  town,  which  included  in  its  curriculum  the  higher 
branches  of  study.  At  the  age  of  seventeen,  after  completing  his  course,  he  went 
to  Toronto  and  there  engaged  with  a  large  firm  in  the  straw  goods  business,  con- 
tinuing until  1873,  and  since  then,  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  has  been 
a  resident  of  the  States.  The  next  ten  years  he  spent  in  Detroit,  Mich.,  still 
engaged  in  the  same  line  of  business.  He  came  to  New  York  in  1883  and  formed 
a  connection  with  a  large  straw  goods  firm,  with  which  he  continued  until  1893, 
when  he  formed  the  present  firm  of  Paterson  &  Ellis,  importers  of  Japanese  straw 
goods.  Their  dealings  are  confined  strictly  to  manufacturers,  with  whom  they 
have  established  an  extensive  trade,  and  are  now  among  the  largest  in  that  line 
of  business. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  find  one  even  "to  the  manner  born  "  more  thoroughly 
imbued  with  the  patriotic  sentiments  that  animate  the  members  of  the  S.  A.  R. 
and  kindred  societies,  than  Mr.  Ellis.  Had  he  lived  in  "  the  days  that  tried  men's 
souls,"  he  would  have  followed  the  fortunes  of  his  gallant  paternal  ancestor  who, 
whatever  his  birth  or  lineage,  was  ready  to  sacrifice  everything  for  the  cause  of 
American  independence.  Mr.  Ellis  was  peculiarly  fortunate  in  his  selection  of  his 
"  better  half  " — better,  at  least,  in  the  fact  that  every  drop  of  blood  that  flows  in 
her  veins  is  purely  American,  and  that  the  of  best  New  England  stock,  which 
includes  the  Gilletts,  the  Woodwards,  the  Griswolds  and  the  Stanleys,  each  of 
whom  were  largely  represented  among  the  patriots  of  the  Revolution,  and  their 
ancestors  are  all  found  among  the  defenders  and  patriots  of  the  colonial  period. 
Mr.  Ellis  married  Harriet  Winchell  Gillett,  daughter  of  Rufus  Woodward  Gillett 
and  Charlotte  Martha  Smith,  son  of  John  Gillette  and  Mary  Woodward,  daughter 
of  Israel  Woodward. 

leviathan  Gillett,  the  ancestor,  came  to  Dorchester  with  Rev.  Mr.  Wareham 
in  1630,  and  removed  to  Windsor  with  the  first  immigration.  He  had  ten  children, 
of  whom  Cornelius  was  one. 

Cornelius  Gillett,  son  of  Jonathan,  married  Priscilla  Kelsey,  and  had  a  son, 
Daniel. 

Daniel  Gillett,  youngest  child  of  Cornelius  and  Priscilla  (Kelsey)  Gillett,  was 
born  July  1,  1679;  married  Mary  Eno  and  had  eight  children,  of  whom/^»  was 
the  third. 

John  Gillett  (1),  third  child  of  Daniel  and  Mary  (Eno)  Gillett,  was  born  Sep- 
1 1 


154  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN     REVOLUTION. 

tember  u,  1707;  married  Eliza  Ruth  Drake  and  had  seven  children,  of  whom 
JoJni  (2)  was  the  third. 

John  Gillett  (2),  son  of  John  (1)  and  Eliza  Ruth  (Drake)  Gillett,  was  born  July 
30,  1738;  moved  to  Torrington,  1761.  He  married  Abigail,  daughter  of  Benjamin 
Catlin,  of  Harwinton,  and  had  John  (3). 

fohn  Gillett  (3),  son  of  John  (2)  and  Abigail  (Catlin)  Gillett,  was  born  in 
Torrington,  Conn,  March  30,  1776;  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Dr.  Samuel 
Woodward. 

Dr.  Samuel  Woodward,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was  educated  at 
Yale  in  1776,  and  left  college  to  join  the  army.  He  enlisted  May  26,  1777,  in 
Capt.  Brigham's  Company.  Eighth  Regiment,  Connecticut  Line.  He  was  at 
Peekskill  in  the  spring  of  'jy,  and  ordered  into  Pennsylvania  in  September,  under 
Gen.  McDougall,  fought  at  Germantown,  Mud  River  Island,  November  12-16, 
1777.  He  completed  his  medical  studies  in  the  office  of  Dr.  Hastings,  of  Washing- 
ton, Conn.,  and  of  Dr.  Daniel  Sheldon,  of  Litchfield,  Conn.  He  began  the  prac- 
tice of  medicine  in  Torringford,  in  1779;  continued  twelve  years,  when  he 
removed  to  his  native  place,  and  subsequently  returned  again  to  Torringford.  He 
had  over  forty  students  under  him  at  various  times.  He  was  a  great  philanthropist 
and  was  beloved  as  a  physician.  He  excelled  as  a  writer  and  frequently  wrote  for 
the  press.  His  style  was  vigorous  and  concise.  He  married  Mary,  daughter  of 
Shubael  Griswold. 

Shubael  Griswold,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  was  born  in  Windsor, 
Conn.,  December  18,  1725;  died  in  Torringford.  Conn.,  February  23,  1807.  The 
record  of  his  service  in  the  Colonial  Wars  is  certified  to  by  the  Adjutant-General 
of  Connecticut  under  date  of  November  4.  1895,  as  follows  : 

"At  a  General  Assembly  of  the  Governor  and  Company  of  His  Majesty's 
English  Colony  of  Connecticut,  in  New  England,  in  America,  holden  at  New  Haven 
on  the  8th  day  of  March,  A.  D.  1758,  Shubael  Griswold  was  appointed  Ensign  of 
the  10th  Company  of  the  1st  Reg.,  for  the  invasion  of  Canada. 

"  At  a  General  Assembly  holden  at  Hartford,  on  the  8th  day  of  March,  A.  D. 
1769,  Shubael  Griswold  was  appointed  Second  Lieutenant  of  the  10th  Company,  in 
the  1st  Reg.  of  Connecticut. 

"  At  a  General  Assembly  of  the  Governors  and  Company  of  His  Majesty's 
English  Colony  of  Connecticut,  in  New  England,  in  America,  holden  at  Hartford, 
on  the  15th  day  of  March,  A.  D.  1760. 

"This  Assembly  do  appoint  Shubael  Griswold  1st  Lieutenant  of  the  4th 
Company  of  the  1st  Reg.  raised  in  this  colony." 

At  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolution,  Shubael  Griswold  was  among  the  first 
to  offer  his  services.  He  was  then  living  in  Torrington.  He  was  captain  of  the 
Fifth  Company,  Fourth  Regiment  of  Connecticut,  commanded  by  Col.  Benjamin 
Hinman,  raised  on  the  first  call  for  troops,  April  and  May,  1775,  recruited  mainly 
in  Litchfield  County.  Upon  the  surprise  of  Fort  Ticonderoga,  May  10,  Governor 
Trumbull  ordered  this  regiment  to  march  as  soon  as  possible  to  secure  that  post 
and  Crown  Point  against  recapture,  and  request  to  this  effect  was  also  made  by 
the  Continental  Congress.  The  regiment  reached  Ticonderoga  in  June,  and  Col. 
Hinman  assumed  command  until  the  arrival  of  Gen.  Schuyler.  It  took  part  in  the 
operations  of  the  Northern  Department  until  expiration  of  term  of  service,  Decem- 
ber, 1775.     Regiment  suffered  much  from  sickness,  and  many  men  were  mustered 


SONS    OF    THE   AMERICAN     REVOLUTION. 


155 


out  in  October  and  November,  1775.  During  Tryon's  invasion  of  Connecticut, 
July,  1779.  known  as  the  "  New  Haven  Alarm,"  Capt.  Griswold  was  in  command 
of  a  company  in  Col.  Sheldon's  regiment.  He  was  the  son  of  Joseph  (2),  son  of 
Joseph  (1),  son  of  Edward  Griswold,  the  ancestor. 

Edward  Griswold,  the  ancestor,  came  to  America  in  1639,  bringing  his  wife 
and  four  children  with  him.  He  settled  first  in  Windsor,  where  he  was  one  of  the 
commissioners  to  lay  out  lands  in  Simsbury,  1663  ;  he  moved  to  Killingworth  (now 
Clinton,  1664,  and  purchased  large  tracts  of  land  there.  He  married,  first,  Mar- 
garet  .died   August   23,   1670,   and   had   ten   children;  he  married,  second, 

in  1771,  Sarah  Bemis,  widow  of  James  Bemis  of  New  London.  He  had  twelve 
children,  of  whom  Joseph  was  the  tenth. 

Joseph  Griswold,  son  of  Edward  ard   Margaret  ( )  Griswold,  was  born 

November  16,  .'649;  died  July  6,  1672  ;  married  Mary  Gay  lord,  and  had  Joseph  (2). 

Joseph   Griswold  (2).  son   of  Joseph  (1)  and   Mary  (Gaylord)   Griswold,  was 

born  January  22,  1677;  married   Deborah  ,  and  had  ten  children,  of  whom 

Shubael  was  the  second.     (See  Shubael). 

John  Gillett,  by  his  wife  Mary  Woodward,  daughter  of  Shubael  Griswold,  had 
a  son,  Rujus. 

Rijus  Gillett,  son  of  John  and  Mary  (Woodward)  Gillett,  was  born  in  Tor- 
rington,  February  2,  1824;  removed  to  Detroit  in  May,  1862,  and  engaged  exten- 
sively in  the  flour  and  grain  business.  He  subsequently  removed  to  Chicago, 
where  for  many  years  he  has  been  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  public-spirited 
men,  and  is  known  all  through  the  western  country.  He  married  Charlotte, 
daughter  of  Nathaniel  Smith,  and  had  issue,  Harriet  W.,  who  became  the  wife  of 
William  Randall  Ellis. 

William  Randall  Ellis,  by  his  wife  Harriet  Woodward  (Gillett)  Ellis,  had 
issue  a  son,  John  Gillett. 

BANGS— PRENCE-HOPKINS-BREWSTER. 

A  peculiar  interest  attaches  to  the  history  of  the  Bangs  family,  not  only 
because  of  their  achievements  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  but  from  the  fact  of 
their  line  of  descent  from  two  of  the  most  distinguished  of  the  New  England 
Pilgrims. 

The  Bangs  family  of  this  country  are  supposed  to  have  descended  from  the 
Bankes  of  England,  from  the  fact  that  they  used  the  same  crest  as  that  used  by  Sir 
John  Bankes,  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  in  the  reign  of 
Charles  I.,  viz.  :  A  Moor's  head,  full-faced,  couped  at  the  shoulders  ppr.,  on  the 
head  a  cap  of  maintenance  gules  turned  up  ermine,  adorned  with  a  crescent  issuant 
therefrom  a  fleur-de-lis  or.  The  similarity  in  the  pronunciation  of  the  name 
indicates  that  the  change  might  have  taken  place  after  the  arrival  of  the  family  in 
this  country. 

Edward  Bangs,  the  American  ancestor,  was  born  in  England  about  1592; 
died  at  Eastham,  Mass  ,  1678.  He  came  to  Plymouth  in  the  "Anne,"  which 
arrived  there  1623.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Grand  Jury  1636-7.  He  was  made 
a  freeman  of  Nawsett,  or  Eastham,  in  1645.  About  1652  he  was  deputy  to  the 
Old  Colony  Court.  He  was  town  treasurer  of  Eastham,  1646  to  1665  ;  selectman 
for  two  years.     In  1657  he  was  licensed  as  a  merchant  and  was  for  many  years 


156  SONS    OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

engaged  quite  extensively  in  trade.  In  1659  the  town  being  required  to  equip  for 
military  service,  Gov.  Thomas  Prence  and  Edward  Bangs  each,  agreed  to  furnish 
a  man  and  a  horse  for  two  years.      He  had  a  son,  Jonathan. 

Capt.  Jonathan  Bangs,  son  of  Edward  Bangs,  was  born  at  Plymouth,  July  1, 
1664.  He  was  selectman  three  years  and  deputy  to  the  Old  Colony  Court ;  also 
treasurer  of  the  town  of  Eastham.  He  was  a  sea  captain  and  also  captain  of  the 
train  band.  He  married  Mary  Mayo,  daughter  of  Capt.  Samuel  and  Thomasin 
(Lumpkins)  Mayo,  a  mariner,  son  of  Rev.  John  Mayo,  of  Boston,  Barnstable  and 
Yarmouth.     Their  eldest  child  was  Edward. 

Capt.  Edward  Bangs,  eldest  child  of  Jonathan  and  Mary  (Mayo)  Bangs, 
was  born  September  30,  1665  ;  died  May  22,  1746.  He  was  a  successful  merchant. 
He  married,  first,  Ruth  Allen,  died  June  22,  1738;  married,  second,  Mrs.  Ruth 
Mayo,  died  August  17,  1747.     By  his  first  wife  he  had  a  son,  Jonathan. 

Jonathan  Bangs,  son  of  Capt.  Edward  and  Ruth  (Allen)  Bangs,  was 
baptized  May  20.  1707,  at  Satucket,  now  Brewster,  Mass.  He  married  Phebe, 
daughter  of  Stephen  Hopkins  (4),  son  of  Stephen  (3),  son  of  Giles,  son  of  Stephen 
(i),  of  the  Mayjlower. 

Stephen  Hopkins,  the  fourteenth  signer  of  the  Mayflower  Compact,  came  with 
his  wife  Elizabeth  and  two  children  Giles  and  Constanta,  daughters  Damaris  and 
Oceanus,  (the  last  was  born  at  sea)  also  servants  Edward  Uoly  and  Edward 
Lister,  the  "  duelists."  He  was  a  leading  man  in  the  Plymouth  Colony.  He  and 
Winslow  were  sent  by  Gov.  Bradford  to  confer  with  Massasoit,  from  whom  they 
secured  a  pledge  of  friendship.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Governor's  Council 
from  Plvmouth,  1623-4-5-6,  and  one  of  the  volunteers  to  aid  Massachusetts  Bay 
and  Connecticut  in  the  Pequot  War. 

Giles   Hopkins,  son  of  Stephen  and  Elizabeth  ( )  Hopkins,  was  born  in 

England  and  came  with  his  father  on  the  Mayflower  to  Plymouth.  He  removed 
thence  to  Yarmouth.  He  married,  October,  1639,  Catharine  Wheldon,  and  had 
Stephen  and  other  children. 

Stephen  Hopkins  (1),  son  of  Giles  and  Catharine  (Wheldon)  Hopkins,  was 
born  September,  1642;  died  October  10,  1718.  He  resided  in  Eastham.  He 
married  May  23,  1667,  Mary,  daughter  of  William  Merrick,  and  had  nine  children, 
of   whom   Stephen  was  the  sixth. 

Stephen  Hopkins  (2),  son   of  Stephen   (1)   and   Mary  (Merrick)    Hopkins,  was 

horn  in   Eastham,  July    15,  1670.     He   married  and   had  a   daughter  Phebe, 

who  married  Jonathan  Bangs. 

Jonathan  Bangs,  by  his  wife  Phebe  (Hopkins)  Bangs,  had  a  son  Allin.  who, 
after  his  father's  death,  December  7,  1745,  was  placed  in  charge  of  Samuel  Howes, 
of  Yarmouth. 

ALLIN  BANGS,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  only  son  of  Jonathan 
and  Phebe  (Hopkins)  Bangs,  was  born  March  23,  1733-4,  at  Satucket,  now 
Brewster,  Mass.  He  was  a  private  in  Capt.  Jonathan  Crowell's  company  at 
"Lexington  Alarm,"  April,  1775,  also  in  Capt.  John  Nickerson's  company,  Col. 
Nathaniel  Freeman's  regiment,  September,  1778,  and  was  also  in  other  service. 
He  was  a  farmer  and  was  drowned  while  boating  hay  from  the  marshes,  September 
14,  1793.  He  married  Rebecca  Howes,  of  Yarmouth,  (born  April  16,  1732) 
daughter  of  Joseph  Howes  and  Elizabeth  Paddock.  Joseph  Howes  was  the  son 
of  Jeremiah  Howes,  who  married  Sarah  Prence,  daughter  of  Gov.  Thomas  Prence, 
of  Yarmouth. 


SONS    OF    THE    AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  1 57 

Governor  Thomas  Prence  was  the  son  of  Lechlade  Prence,  county  Gloucester, 
near  Cuckdale,  in  Wiltz.  He  came  in  the  Fortune  to  America,  in  1621,  which 
arrived  at  Plymouth  soon  after  the  Mayflower.  He  died  March  29,  1673.  He  was 
one  of  the  first  settlers  of  Nansett,  or  Eastham,  and  removed  to  Duxbury  in  1635. 
He  was  chosen  Governor  of  Plymouth  Colony  in  1634,  and  served  until  1638  ;  again 
in  165;,  till  1673.  He  was  assistant,  1635-7  and  1639  to  1657.  He  was  an  impar- 
tial magistrate,  was  distinguished  for  his  religious  zeal,  and  opposed  those  he 
believed  to  be  heretics,  particularly  the  Quakers.  In  opposition  to  the  clamors  of 
the  ignorant  he  procured  revenue  for  the  support  of  the  grammer  schools  in  the 
colony.  He  gave  to  Wamsutta  and  Pometacum,  the  sons  of  Massasoit,  the  names 
of  Alexander  and  Philip,  as  a  compliment  to  their  warlike  character.  He  married 
Patience,  daughter  of  Elder  William  Brewster,  of  the  May/lower. 

Jeremiah  Howes,  of  Yarmouth,  who  married  the  daughter  of  Governor 
Prence,  was  a  representative  of  the  first  General  Court  after  the  charter  of  1691. 
He  was  the  son  of  Thomas  Howes,  of  Yarmouth  ;  1638,  one  of  the  grantees,  con- 
stable 1644,  representative  1652-3-8-9. 

Allin  Bangs,  by  his  wife  Rebecea  (Howes)  Bangs,  had  seven  children,  of 
whom  Joscp/i  was  the  second. 

JOSEPH  BANGS  (2),  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  second  child  of 
Allin  and  Rebecca  (Howes)  Bangs,  was  born  in  Yarmouth,  Mass.,  July  5,  1757; 
removed  to  Hawley,  Mass.,  about  1780;  died  there  June  30,  1809.  He  was  a 
private  in  Capt.  Jonathan  Crowell's  company  from  Yarmouth,  Mass.,  April  19, 
i77r,  "Lexington  Alarm."  He  was  also  on  the  roll  of  Capt.  John  Gray's  com- 
pany, July  8,  1775,  three  months;  private,  Capt.  John  Gray's  company,  enlisted 
1775,  discharged  December  31,  1775;  corporal,  Capt.  Elisha  Hedges'  company, 
detached  service  militia;  marched  on  an  alarm  at  Falmouth,  Sept.  13,  1779;  dis- 
charged Sept.  17,  1779;  also  served  on  coast  defence,  details  of  which  do  not 
appear  on  the  records.  He  married  Desire,  daughter  of  Capt.  Nathaniel  Sears, 
son  of  Samuel,  son  of  Josiah,  son  of  Silas,  son  of  Richard  Sears,  the  ancestor,  an 
early  settler  of  Plymouth  Colony;  was  in  Marblehead,  1638,  and  earlv  in  1639  he, 
with  others,  crossed  to  Cape  Cod  and  settled  Mattakeese,  to  which  they  gave  the 
name  Yarmouth.   Joseph  Bangs,  by  his  wife,  Desire  (Sears)  Bangs,  had  Joseph  (3). 

Joseph  Bangs  (3),  son  of  Joseph  (2)  and  Desire  (Sears)  Bangs,  was  born  at 
Hawley,  Mass.,  Oct.  10,  1783;  died  at  Springfield,  Mass.,  Sept.  27,  1839.  He  went 
to  Springfield  as  a  lad  of  sixteen,  full  of  push  and  energy,  with  a  determination  to 
help  his  parents  in  the  heavy  burden  they  were  trying  to  carry,  and  on  the  day  he 
reached  his  majority  he  cleared  his  father's  farm  from  incumbrance,  carried  the 
deed  to  his  father,  and  prepared  the  way  for  his  three  brothers  to  go  to  Springfield 
and  engage  in  a  good  business.  He  engaged  in  various  business  enterprises,  in 
which  he  was  successful  and  accumulated  quite  an  estate.  He  was  liberal  in  his 
charities,  and  delighted  to  help  those  who  were  in  need.  He  married  first,  May 
23,  1809,  Mary  Warner,  of  Springfield,  born  Jan.  11,  1786,  died  May  24,  1819; 
second,  Julia  Tuttle,  daughter  of  Caleb  Tuttle.  By  his  first  wife  he  had  a  son, 
JosiaJi  Dennis. 

Josiah  Dennis  Bangs,  eldest  child  of  Joseph  and  Mary  (Warner)  Bangs, 
was  born  in  Springfield,  Mass.,  July  12,  1S10.  He  received  a  good  education, 
came  to  New  York  city,  where  he  was  for  some  time  engaged  as  a  reporter  for  the 
daily  press,  and  in  1852  became  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the  Sunday  Cotcrier, 


158  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

under  the  firm  name  of  Smith  &  Bangs.  The  paper  was  a  successful  weekly, 
published  at  15  Spruce  street.  Mr.  Bangs  continued  his  connection  with  it  until 
his  death  in  1853.  He  married,  in  1829,  Pauline  Augusta  Brooks,  of  Augusta, 
Me.,  and  had  issue,  George  Henry. 

George  Henry  Bangs,  son  of  Josiah  Dennis  and  Pauline  Augusta  (Brooks) 
Bangs,  was  born  at  Augusta,  Me.,  June  6,  1831  ;  died  at  Roselle,  N.  J.,  Sept.  12, 
1883.  With  the  courage,  decision  and  determination  of  character  for  which  his 
ancestors  were  famous,  with  a  keen  insight  of  human  nature  which  few  possess, 
and  with  a  self-consciousness  of  his  own  power,  it  was  some  years  before  he 
found  his  proper  sphere  in  life.  Reared  on  a  farm  with  limited  advantages,  he 
nevertheless  acquired  a  thorough  education  and  began  life  as  a  school  teacher, 
and  later  he  learned  the  moulder's  trade  at  Portland.  In  1853,  probably  through 
his  father's  influence,  he  received  the  appointment  of  policeman  at  the  Crystal 
Palace,  New  York  City,  where  he  continued  until  the  building  was  destroyed  by 
fire.  In  the  meantime  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Chief  of  Police  Matsell,  who 
was  quick  to  perceive  in  him  the  qualities  of  an  efficient  officer  and  skillful  detect- 
ive. He  introduced  him  to  Allan  Pinkerton,  of  Chicago,  who  was  at  that  time 
looking  for  capable  men  for  his  newly-formed  detective  agency.  He  soon  made 
young  Bangs  his  chief  lieutenant  and  found  him  thoroughly  capable  and  trust- 
worthy, ready  for  any  and  every  emergency. 

Mr.  Bangs  was  associated  and  frequently  in  consultation  with  Mr.  Pinkerton 
at  the  time  of  the  latter's  discovery  of  the  plot  to  assassinate  President  Lincoln, 
at  Baltimore,  en  route  from  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  to  Washington,  for  his  first  inaugura- 
tion, and  though  temporarily  engaged  elsewhere  at  the  time,  his  counsel  and  co- 
operation were  no  doubt  important  factors  in  the  case.  Soon  after  the  beginning  of 
hostilities,  Allan  Pinkerton  was  summoned  by  President  Lincoln  to  Washington,  to 
organize  the  Secret  Service  of  the  United  States,  which,  under  the  name  of  E.  J. 
Allen,  proved  the  most  efficient  arm  of  the  military  service  of  any  connected  with 
the  Northern  army.  "  A  man's  foes  are  those  of  his  own  household,"  and  the 
worst  enemies  of  the  government  were  often  those  nearest  the  President.  With 
the  assistance  of  his  able  lieutenant,  Mr.  Bangs,  Pinkerton  succeeded  in  frustrat- 
ing the  plans  of  traitors  and  professed  friends  of  the  government,  and  was  no 
doubt  often  the  means  of  saving  the  army  from  disaster  by  the  capture  of  spies 
with  valuable  information  for  the  enemy,  and  vice  versa  capturing  important 
communications  of  the  greatest  advantage  to  our  government.  Mr.  Bangs,  as 
general  superintendent  of  Pinkerton's  National  Detective  Agency,  was  an 
an  important  factor  in  building  up  and  establishing  the  world-wide  reputation 
which  this  detective  agency  has  for  ferreting  out  crime  and  bringing  criminals 
to  justice. 

One  who  knew  him  intimately  said  of  him  at  the  time  of  his  death,  in  1883: 
"  Thirty  years  ago,  after  a  preliminary  experience  in  a  local  police  department 
of  the  country,  he  joined  his  efforts  with  the  oiganization  of  Mr.  Pinkerton.  For 
this  distinguished  citizen  he  was  a  helper  and  a  strong  arm.  In  the  long-continued 
crusade,  lasting  for  more  than  a  generation  of  years,  which  his  chief  has  conduc- 
ted against  criminals,  Mr.  Bangs  was  an  ever  alert  and  active  and  brave  toiler. 
His  body  never  tired,  his  brain  did  not  rest,  his  spirit  never  flagged.  He  was 
skillful  and  ingenious.  His  thoughts  were  deep,  and  the  profoundest  schemes  of 
the  bad  were  but  surface  things  as  compared  with  his  deeper  wisdom.     No  rob- 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 


159 


ber,  nor  forger,  nor  murderer  could  conceal  the  track  of  his  guilt  from  this  man's 
determined  pursuit. 

"  Concurrent  with  the  thought  of  his  chief,  he  was  a  patriot  towards  his 
country  in  those  '  days  which  tried  men's  souls,'  and  when  the  government  called 
for  aid  his  thought  and  strength  was  dedicated  to  its  cause.  *  *  *  But  out- 
side his  public  work  Mr.  Bangs  appears  to  our  admiring  and  affectionate  memory 
as  a  man  whom  we  knew  and  loved.  He  was  broad-brained  and  great-hearted. 
A  lion  in  the  line  of  his  work,  he  was  still  most  gentle  and  tender  and  loving. 
Among  the  five  hundred  men  connected  with  the  Pinkerton  agency  and  the 
thousands  who  knew  him,  not  one  will  raise  his  hand  and  say  that  he  was  aught 
else  than  always  and   everywhere  a  perfect   type  of  a  gentleman.     The  man    with 


GEORGE  DENNIS  BANGS. 

whom  he  toiled,  his  chief  and  his  associates,  here  bear  witness  to  the  beauty  of 
his  life." 

Mr.  Bangs  married,  January  1,  1853,  Magaret  Kirk,  of  New  York,  a  native  of 
Scotland,  born  1832,  died  December  31,  1891.  Their  children  were  George  Dennis, 
Ada  Pauline,  Maggie  Pauline  and  Louise  Augusta. 

GEORGE  DENNIS  BANGS,  Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  only  son 
of  George  Henry  and  Margaret  (Kirk)  Bangs,  was  born  in  Chicago,  111..  Sep- 
tember 13,  1856.  He  came  with  his  parents  to  New  York  at  the  age  of 
twelve  years  and  was  educated  at  public  schools  and  at  the  College  of  the  City  of 


l6o  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

New  York.  The  training  for  his  life  work  was  under  the  immediate  instruction  of 
his  father  in  the  service  of  the  Pinkerton  National  Detective  Agency,  which  he 
entered  immediately  on  leaving  school.  His  environment  led  to  the  rapid  develop- 
ment of  those  inherited  qualities  which  made  his  father  famous  in  the  peculiar 
profession  he  chose.  It  is  said  that  "poets  are  born  and  not  made."  It 
is  equally  so  of  a  successful  detective.  Not  one  in  ten  thousand  possess 
the  peculiar  qualifications  for  this  position,  viz.,  invincible  courage,  coolness, 
self-possession,  quick  decision,  ingenuity,  with  a  power  of  penetration  border- 
ing on  the  supernatural.  To  what  extent  these  qualities  have  been  devel- 
oped in  Mr.  Bangs  can  be  judged  only  by  the  position  he  holds  at  the  present 
time,  viz.,  that  of  general  superintendent  of  the  Pinkerton  National  Detective 
Agency.  His  experience  in  outside  work  has  not  been  equal  to  that  of  his  father's, 
but  as  one  of  the  executive  heads  of  this  great  institution — in  guiding,  controlling 
and  directing  the  vast  army  of  men  engaged  in  ferreting  out  crime  and  aiding  in 
the  execution  of  the  laws,  he  has  shown  administrative  ability  of  the  highest 
order.  To  the  valuable  aid,  counsel  and  warm  friendship  of  William  A.  and 
Robert  A.  Pinkerton  he  is  greatly  indebted  for  the  success  he  has  achieved  and 
consequent  promotion. 

Contact  with  the  criminal  class  and  the  use  of  the  means  for  their  conviction 
and  punishment  has  not  hardened  the  heart  of  Mr.  Hangs,  nor  in  any  way  im- 
paired the  fine  susceptibilities  of  his  nature.  To  those  who  enjoy  his  friendship 
and  to  all  law-abiding  citizens  he  is  the  genial,  kind,  courteous  gentleman,  sans 
penr  el  sans  reproche.  With  a  natural  pride  for  the  achievements  of  his  ancestors 
and  a  desire  to  perpetuate  the  exemplary  qualities,  he  joined  the  Empire  State 
Society,  S.  A.  R.  This,  however,  is  the  extent  of  his  society  connections,  his 
whole  time  being  devoted  to  his  family  outside  of  his  professional  duties.  It  is  a 
little  remarkable  that  while  there  is  no  immediate  connection  between  his  own  and 
that  of  his  wife's  family,  that  both  lines  meet  at  the  beginning  of  the  Pilgrim 
settlement  of  New  England,  viz.,  that  of  Elder  William  Brewster,  the  spiritual 
guide  of  the  Pilgrims 

Mr.  Bangs  married  Emma  Wilder  Holmes,  daughter  of  Christopher  Columbus 
Holmes,  son  of  Henry,  son  of  Jedediah,  son  of  Jonathan,  son  of  Joseph,  son  of 
Rev.  John,  son  of  William  Holmes,  the  ancestor. 

In  "  English  Surnames,"  Vol.  I.,  p.  74,  the  name  of  Holmes  is  defined  as  flat- 
land,  a  small  island,  a  deposit  of  soil  at  the  confluence  of  two  waters.  Flat 
grounds  near  waters  are  called  holms. 

William  Holmes,  the  ancestor,  was  of  Scituate,  Mass.,  1646;  made  a  freeman 
1658.  He  removed  to  Marshfield  and  died  there  Nov.  9,  1678.  He  married 
Elizabeth  ,  and  had  nine  children,  of  \\\\om  John  was  the  youngest. 

Rev.  John  Holmes,  son  of  William  and  Elizabeth  ( )   Holmes,  was  born 

in  England  and  died  in  "Duxburrow'"  Mass.,  December  24,  1675.  He  was  a 
student  under  President  Chauncey,  1658,  and  succeeded  Rev.  Ralph  Partridge  as 
pastor  of  the  church  at  Duxbury.  As  a  preacher  he  was  sincere  but  mild  and 
gentle.  His  ministry,  though  not  remarkably  long,  was  productive  of  much  good. 
He  married  Mary,  daughter  of  John  Woods,  alias  Atwood,  of  Plymouth.  She 
survived  him  and  became  the  third  wife  of  Governor  William  Bradford.  Rev. 
John  Holmes  had  a  son,  Joseph. 

Joseph  Holmes,  son  of  Rev.  John  and  Mary  (Wood)  Holmes,  was  born  in 


SONS    OF    THE    AMERICAN     REVOLUTION.  l6l 

Duxbury,  July  9,  1665;  died  at  Kingston,  June  26,  1753.  He  married  for  his 
second  wife,  Mary,  daughter  of  Wrestling  Brewster ;  he  was  the  son  of  Love,  son 
of  Elder  William  Brewster,  of  the  Mayflower. 

Love  Brewster,  son  of  Elder  William  Brewster,  of  the  Mayflower,  was 
admitted  as  freeman  of  Plymouth,  1636.  He  married  Sarah,  daughter  of  William 
Collier,  whose  sister  Mary  became  the  second  wife  of  Governor  Prence.  Love  and 
Sarah  (Collier)  Brewster  had  a  son,  Wrestling. 

Wrestling  Brewster,  son  of  Love  and  Sarah  (Collier)  Brewster,  married 
Mary ,  and  had  a  daughter  Mary,  who  became  the  wife  of  Joseph  Holmes. 

Joseph  Holmes,  by  his  wife,  Mary  (Brewster)  Holmes,  had  a  son,  Jonathan. 

Jonathan  Holmes,  son  of  Joseph  and  Mary  (Brewster)  Holmes,  was  born  at 
Kingston,  Mass.,  July  5,  1709;  died  there  August  5,  1787.  He  married  Mary 
Waterman  and  had  Jedediah. 

Jedediah  Holmes,  son  of  Jonathan  and  Mary  (Waterman)  Holmes,  was  born 
in  Kingston,  February  21,  1749;  died  Oct.  12,  1829.  Married  Sarah  Adams,  daugh- 
ter of  John  and  Thankful  (Washburn)  Adams,  and  had  a  son,  Henry. 

Henry  Holmes,  son  of  Jedediah  and  Sarah  (Adams)  Holmes,  was  born  in 
Kingston,  December  28,  1784;  died  at  Alfred,  Me.,  April  2,  1852.  He  married 
Mary  Wilder,  daughter  of  Nathaniel  Wilder,  of  Middlebury,  Mass.,  and  had  a 
son,  Christopher  Columbus. 

Christopher  Columbus  Holmes,  son  of  Henry  and  Mary  (Wilder)  Holmes, 
was  born  at  Alfred,  Me.,  October  16,  1817,  He  went  to  New  York  and  engaged 
in  the  dry  goods  business.  He  married  Emma  Windust,  of  New  York  City,  and 
had  issue,  Emma   Wilder,  who  became  the  wife  of  George  Dennis  Bangs. 

George  Dennis  Bangs,  by  his  wife,  Emma  Wilder,  had  issue,  Ethel  Pauline, 
George  Harold,  Ruth  Ludlam,  Lucy  Allen,  Priscilla  Wilder. 


CROMBIE-  CHOATE— MURRAY. 

The  Crombie  family  for  more  than  three  hundred  years  has  been  noted  for  its 
firm  maintenance  of  the  principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  and  its  stubborn 
resistance  to  every  form  of  tyranny  and  oppression.  The  family  was  originally 
seated  in  the  county  of  Mialothian,  Scotland.  They  bore  on  their  shield,  Arms — 
Vert,  a  cross  bottonoe  argent  on  a  chief  of  the  last  a  lion  passant  gules.  Crest— 
A  demi-lion  rampant  guardant  or,  holding  a  fleur-de-lis  gules.  The  two  principal 
emblems  signify  that  the  family  participated  in  the  second  crusade  under  Richard 
Cceur-de-lion  and  later  gained  a  victory  over  the  French.  A  branch  of  the  family 
crossed  over  to  Londonderry,  Ireland,  and  there  maintained  a  stubborn  defense 
against  the  religious  persecution  of  James  I. 

John  Crombie,  the  first  of  the  name  in  America,  emigrated  from  the  north 
of  Ireland  and  settled  in  Londonderry,  N.  H.,  in  1720,  where  a  number  of  Scotch- 
Irish  families  from  Londonderry,  Ireland,  had  settled  a  short  time  previous.  John 
Crombie  married,  Nov.  17,  1721,  Joan  Rankin,  youngest  child  of  Hugh  Rankin, 
who  came  from  the  County  of  Antrim,  Ireland,  and  settled  in  Londonderry  in  1723. 
They  had  issue,  Hugh,  William,  James,  John,  Elizabeth,  Mary  Jane,  Nancy,  Ann. 

JAMES  CROMBIE,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  John  and  Joan 
(Rankin)  Crombie,  was  born  in  Londonderry,   N.  H.     He  carried  on  the  business 


162  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

of  currier  and  tanner.  He  married  Jane  Clark,  daughter  of  Robert  Clark,  of 
Londonderry.  He  joined  the  Minute  Men  on  the  "  Lexington  Alarm,"  April,  1775; 
was  commissioned  first  lieutenant  in  Baldwin's  regiment,  N.  H.  Militia,  and  served 
September  to  November,  1 776 ;  was  first  lieutenant  Sec  ond  N.  H.  Militia,  and  served 
November,  1776,  to  September,  1778.  He  moved  to  New  Boston,  N.  H.,  in 
1773,  where  he  remained  until  his  death.  He  was  one  of  the  most  useful  mechan- 
ics of  his  day.  "  His  ready  wit  created  mirth  for  the  gloomy  and  his  Christian 
fervor  prompted  to  acts  of  piety."  By  his  wife,  Jane  (Clark)  Crombie,  he  had 
issue,  William,  Robert,  John,  James,  Samuel,  Letitia  and  Clark. 

John  Crombie,  third  son  of  James  and  Jane  (Clark)  Crombie,  was  born  July 
30,  1770.  He  resided  most  of  his  life  in  New  Boston,  N.  H.  He  was  an  exten- 
sive builder  and  a  man  much  respected  by  his  townsmen.  He  was  a  man  of  sound 
judgment,  with  a  generous  and  benevolent  disposition.  He  was  often  called  to 
assist  in  compromising  difficulties  between  conflicting  parties  who  placed  great 
confidence  in  his  wisdom  and  impartiality.  He  was  a  man  of  great  hospitality 
and  kindness.  He  married  Lydia  Clark,  daughter  of  Ninian  Clark,  whose  mother 
was  Rebecca  Potter.  They  had  issue,  eight  children,  of  whom  Samuel  Cooledge 
was  the  youngest. 

Samuel  Cooledge  Crombie,  youngest  child  of  John  and  Lydia  (Clark) 
Crombie,  was  born  at  New  Boston,  N.  H.,  April  20,  18 14.  In  1850  he  removed  to 
Nashua,  N.  H.,  to  engage  in  the  business  of  manufacturing  doors,  sash  and  blinds, 
and  other  house  finishing,  being  associated  with  his  brother,  John  Crombie,  under 
the  firm  name  of  J.  &  S.  C.  Crombie.  During  his  residence  in  Nashua,  Samuel 
Crombie  was  prominent  in  business  circles  and  occupied  a  high  social  position. 
He  also  filled  important  positions  under  the  city  government  and  was  interested  in 
public  improvements.  In  1857  he  removed  to  Burlington,  Vt.,  where  he  carried  on 
an  extensive  wholesale  business  in  the  manufacture  of  doors,  etc.  He  was  a  man 
of  great  enterprise  and  was  successful  in  all  his  business  undertakings  and  enjoyed 
the  confidence  of  the  community  where  he  resided.  He  married  Susan  Choate, 
daughter  of  Capt.  William  Choate,  who  was  nearly  related  to  Judge  Rufus  Choate 
and  other  distinguished  men  of  this  family.  The  line  of  Capt.  William  Choate 
was  through  Capt.  William  (3),  son  of  William  (2),  son  of  Capt.  William  (1),  son 
of  Francis,  son  of  Thomas,  son  of  John  Choate,  the  ancestor. 

The  progenitors  of  the  Choate  family  were  originally  from  Holland  and  were 
known  as  Van  Choate.  They  are  supposed  to  have  been  among  the  refugees  who 
fled  the  inquisition  of  the  bloody  court  of  Alva,  in  1567.  Their  first  settlement  in 
England  was  probably  near  the  boundary  between  Essex  and  Sussex  Counties. 

Jo/in  Choate,  son  of  Robert  and  Sarah  Choate  was  baptized  June  6,  1624,  in 
Groton,  Baxford,  Colchester,  England.  He  came  to  New  England  in  1643  and 
settled  in  Chebacco,  Ipswich,  Mass.,  where  he  became  a  large  land  owner  and 
proprietor.  The  earliest  mention  of  the  name  in  the  records  of  Ipswich  is  in 
1648,  where  the  name  of  John  Choate,  at  the  age  of  24  years,  appears  in  a  list  of 
i6i    persons  who   subscribed   to  a   fund  to  pay    Major   Daniel  Denison   forgiving 

military  instruction.     He  died   December  4,   1695.     He  married  Ann  ,  and 

had  eight  children,  of  whom   Thomas  was  the  fifth. 

Thomas  Choate,  son  of  John  and  Ann  ( )  Choate,  was  born  in  Che- 
bacco, Ipswich,  about  1668.  He  was  a  man  of  strong  mind  and  quick  perceptions. 
He  was  a  great  farmer  and  a  large  land  holder  and  was  known  as  "  Governor" 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  163 

Choate.  He  represented  his  town  at  the  General  Court  for  four  years.  He  was  a 
man  of  remarkable  intelligence.  His  views  on  the  currency  question  at  that  early 
date  are  worthy  of  repetition  at  the  present  time,  viz.:  "The  increase  of  cur- 
rency in  bills  of  credit  as  a  remedy  for  depression  in  trade  and  depreciated  bills 
already  in  circulation,  is  like  seeking  to  restore  a  corrupt  state  of  the  blood  by 
high  living."  He  and  his  wife  were  the  first  white  settlers  on  Hog  Island,  where 
he  resided  for  thirty-five  years.  He  married,  in  1690,  Mary  Varney,  daughter  of 
Thomas  and  Abigail  (Proctor)  Varney;  she  died  Nov.  19,  1733.  He  married, 
second,  Mrs.  Mary  Calif,  widow  of  Dr.  Joseph  Calif.  He  married,  third,  Mrs. 
Hannah  Burnham.  He  died  March  31,  1745.  Be  had  nine  children,  of  whom 
Francis  was  the  sixth. 

Francis  Choate,  son  of  Thomas  and  Mary  (Varney)  Choate,  was  born  Sept. 
13,  1 701,  in  Chebacco,  Ipswich.  He  was  known  as  Esquire  Francis.  He  became 
prominent  in  the  church  as  well  as  the  town.  He  was  long  a  ruling  elder  in  the 
church.  It  is  said  of  him  that  he  was  a  tower  of  strength  in  the  "  Whitfield 
movement,"  and  to  the  close  of  his  life  the  right  hand  man  of  his  pastor,  Rev. 
John  Cleveland.  He  was  an  ardent  patriot,  and  as  he  lay  dying  his  old  pastor 
hurried  to  his  bedside,  saying,  "  Burgoyne  has  surrendered  !"  The  dying  man 
waved  his  hand,  with  patriotic  joy  lighting  up  his  face,  but  was  too  far  gone  to 
speak.  He  married,  April  13,  1727,  Hannah  Perkins.  They  had  eight  children, 
of  whom  William  (1)  was  the  second. 

Capt.  William  Choate,  Patriot  OF  THE  Revolution,  son  of  Francis  and 
Hannah  (Perkins)  Choate,  was  born  in  Chebacco,  Ipswich,  Mass.,  Sept.  5,  1730. 
He  was  particularly  fond  of  and  a  close  student  of  navigation,  and  at  the  age  of 
twenty-five  was  captain  of  a  ship.  He  followed  the  sea  to  southern  ports 
in  the  winter  and  carried  on  the  farm  during  the  summer.  It  is  said  of  him  that 
lie  was  "  the  handsomest  man  on  the  island."  He  was  quick  to  respond  to  the 
call  of  his  country  in  the  Revolution.  He  enlisted  early  in  1777,  took  part  in  the 
battle  of  Bennington,  Aug.  16,  1777;  battle  of  Bemis  Heights  (near  Saratoga), 
Sept.  19,  1777;  battle  of  Saratoga  and  surrender  of  Burgoyne,  Oct.  17,  1777.  At 
the  surrender  of  Burgoyne  he  threw  away  his  own  musket  and  captured  a  better 
one  from  the  enemy.  He  resumed  his  seafaring  life  in  1779  and  was  soon  after 
captured  by  a  British  cruiser  and  imprisoned  at  Halifax  in  an  old  ship.  He  was 
soon  after  exchanged  and  accepted  a  commission  on  the  privateer  Count  de  Grasse, 
and  during  his  four  months'  service  captured  a  number  of  prizes,  two  of  which  he 
took  to  Newburyport,  Mass.  His  share  of  the  prize  money  amounted  to  $1,100, 
which  he  refused  to  accept,  saying  "  it  looked  too  much  like  robbery."  He  was 
subsequently  captured  and  imprisoned  in  a  French  man-of-war  at  Martinique,  and 
took  part  in  a  naval  battle  between  the  French  and  English  near  the  West  Indies. 
The  French  were  defeated  and  he  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  English,  but  was 
soon  after  released. 

The  Massachusetts  Revolutionary  Rolls  give  the  following  details  of  his 
service  in  the  Revolution  :  "  William  Choate  appears  as  steward  on  a  pay  roll  for 
the  brigantine  Tyrannicide,  commanded  by  Allen  Hallet,  Esq.,  on  her  last  cruise, 
Time  of  entry,  Feb.  22,  1779;  when  discharged,  April  30,  1779:  time  of  service, 
2  months,  9  days."     [Vol.  39,  p.  112.] 

"  William  Choate,  Master-at-Arms,  also  on  muster  roll  fur  the  company  of  the 
brig  Tyrannicide.  Time  of  entry,  July  23,  1776;  time  discharged,  Dec.  18,  1778." 
[Vol.  39,  p.  115.J 


164  SONS    OF    THE   AMERICAN     REVOLUTION. 

"  William  Choate  served  as  seaman,  on  pay  roll  for  the  officers,  seamen,  etc., 
belonging  to  Mars  in  the  services  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  from  the 
date  of  their  several  engagements  to  March  12,  1 781,  being  the  time  they  were 
discharged.  Commanded  by  Simon  Sampson.  Time  of  entry,  June  26,  1780; 
discharged  March  12,  1781  ;  time  of  service,  8  months,  22  days."  [Vol.  39,  pp. 
208,  218.] 

"  William  Choate  appears  as  steward  on  a  pay  roll  of  the  officers,  seamen  and 
marines  belonging  to  the  ship  Mars,  in  the  service  of  the  Commonwealth  of 
Massachusetts,  James  Nevins,  Esq.,  Commander.  Time  of  entry,  March  18,  1781, 
time  discharged,  June  12,  1781;  time  of  service,  2  months,  2  days."  [Vol.  39; 
pp.  217,  231. J 

"  His  name  also  appears  on  a  'list  of  officers,  seamen,  etc.,  belonging  to  the 
ship  Mars,  who  are  entitled  to  share  in  the  brig  Tyral,  provided  she  is  made  a 
prize.'"     [Vol.  39,  p.  213.I 

"  William  Choate,  steward  on  pay  roll  for  the  brig  Active,  commanded  by 
Allen  Hallet,  Esq.,  June  3,  1779;  2  months,  39  days.  Served  as  private  in  Capt. 
Burram's  company,  Col.  Michael  Jackson's  regiment,  from  Feb.  20,  1777,  to  Dec. 
31,  1779.  Eighth  Regiment  in  the  Continental  Army;  service,  34  months,  11 
days.  As  corporal  of  Gloucester,  served  in  the  same  regiment  from  Jan.  1  to 
Dec.  31,  1780.''  His  name  appears  as  private  on  "A  State  pay  roll  of  Capt. 
David  Low's  company  of  volunteers,  fiom  32d  Regiment  of  Militia,  in  the  County 
of  Essex,  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  persuant  of  a  Resolve  of  Sept. 
22,  1777.  Did  duty  in  the  Northward  Department  and  in  guarding  Gen.  Bur- 
goyne's  troops  to  Prospect  Hill  in  the  regiment  commanded  by  C.  Smith,  Major, 
allowing  them  eight  days  to  return." 

Capt.  Choate  married  Mary  Geddings,  daughter  of  Job  and  Margaret  (Low) 
Geddings.     They  had  ten  children,  of  whom   William  (2)  was  the  third. 

William  Choate  (2),  son  of  Capt.  William  and  Mary  (Geddings)  Choate,  was 
born  Aug.  10,  1759;  died  January  4,  1835.  He  sold  half  his  farm  on  Hog  Island 
to  George  Choate  and  removed,  August  30,  1785,  to  Londonderry,  N.  H.  He  was 
selectman  six  years  and  representative  to  the  legislature,  1796-7.  He  married 
Susannah,  daughter  of  Humphrey  Choate.     They  had  a  son,   William  (3). 

Capt.  William  Choate  (3).  son  of  William  (2)  and  Susannah  Choate,  was 
born  in  Chebacco,  Ipswich,  April  18.  1785.  At  the  age  of  twenty  he  made  a 
voyage  of  three  years  on  the  ship  Reserve,  and  afterwards  commanded  the  same 
vessel.  The  War  of  181 2  so  endangered  his  business  that  he  sold  his  ship  in  a 
foreign  port  and  returned  home  on  a  French  vessel.  The  ship  was  shortly  after- 
ward captured  by  a  British  privateer  and  burned.  He  represented  the  town  of 
Londonderry  two  years  in  the  legislature.  He  was  moderator  of  the  town  meet- 
ing in  Londonderry  four  years,  and  fifteen  in  Deny.  He  was  five  years  director  of 
the  Derry  Bank  and  forty-three  years  trustee  of  the  Pinkerton  Academy.  He  was 
a  man  of  kind  and  generous  impulses  and  Christian  character.  He  married  Mary 
Burnett  Pinkerton,  daughter  of  James  and  Elizabeth  (Nesmith)  Pinkerton.  They 
had  six  children.  Susan,  the  second  child,  born  August  5,  1818,  was  married  to 
Samuel  C.  Crombie. 

Samuel  C.  Crombie,  by  his  wife  Susan  Choate,  had  issue,  Mary  Pinkerton, 
married  George  R.  Holt,  U.  S.  N  ,  and  William  Augustus ;  Lydia  Clark  and 
Rufus  Choate,  deceased. 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 


I65 


WILLIAM  AUGUSTUS  CROMBIE,  Vermont  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  son  of 

Samuel  C.  and  Susan  (Choate)  Crombie,  was  born  in  New  Boston,  N.  H.,  April 
20,  1844.  He  was  taken  by  his  parents  to  Nashua,  N.  H.,  at  the  age  of  six  years. 
He  was  educated  at  the  Pinkerton  Academy,  of  Deny,  N.  H.,  and  at  the  High 
School  of  Nashua.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  entered  the  freight  department  of  the 
Boston,  Lowell  &  Nashua  R.  R.  Co.,  and  worked  his  way  up  through  the  several 
grades  to  the  position  of  cashier.  After  an  experience  of  three  or  four  years  he 
accepted  an  offer  from  Mr.  Lawrence  Barnes  to  go  to  Burlington,  Vt.,  and  engage 
in  the  lumber  business.  His  natural  aptitude  and  quick  perception  soon  enabled 
him  to   master  the   details  of  the   business,  while  his  uniform   courtesy  and   strict 


WILLIAM  AUGUSTUS  CROMBIE. 


integrity  won  for  him  the  confidence  of  his  associates,  as  well  as  the  numerous 
business  firms  in  this  line  in  the  Eastern  States  and  Canada.  In  1869  Mr.  Barnes 
disposed  of  his  interest  to  a  new  organization  known  as  Shepard,  Morse  &  Co., 
and  in  1876  succeeded  by  the  Shepard  &  Morse  Lumber  Company,  in  which  Mr. 
Crombie  was  a  large  owner  and  manager.  Other  business  interests  of  con- 
siderable importance  occupied  a  portion  of  his  time,  notably  the  Vermont  Life 
Insurance  Co.,  the  Porter  Manufacturing  Co.,  the  American  Milk  Sugar  Co.,  the 
Baldwin  Manufacturing  Co.,  the  Brush  Electric  Light  and  Power  Co.,  etc.  In 
addition  to  this  he  was  President  of  the  Burlington  Shade  Roller  Co.  and  a  stock- 
holders in  several  other  companies. 


l66  SONS   OF   THE    AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

Few  men  have  ever  obtained  a  stronger  hold  on  a  community.  Every  legiti- 
mate public  enterprise  that  tended  to  the  improvement  of  the  city,  he  gave  it  his 
personal  and  often  his  financial  support.  Much  of  the  prosperity  of  Burlington 
during  his  residence  there  is  due  to  his  efforts.  Naturally  of  a  modest  and  retiring 
disposition,  he  held  himself  aloof  from  public  office,  but  honors  were  literally 
thrust  upon  him.  At  the  earnest  solicitation  of  his  friends  he  permitted  the  use 
of  his  name  for  the  mayoralty,  and  was  twice  elected  to  that  position.  He  left  it 
as  he  entered  it,  with  clean  hands  and  a  clear  conscience,  and  i.ever  a  breath  of 
scandal  tainted  his  wise  administration  of  the  duties  of  office.  He  made  himself 
familiar  with  and  gave  his  personal  attention  to  the  details  of  every  department. 
In  1890  he  was  appointed  Colonel  on  the  staff  of  Governor  Ormsbee.  His  exten- 
sive lumber  interests  brought  him  in  connection  with  leading  men  throughout  the 
country.  As  a  lumber  expert  he  has  few  equals  and  probably  no  superiors.  In 
1894  circumstances  led  to  his  removal  from  Burlington,  and  he  has  since  been 
located  in  New  York  City,  where  he  has  made  hosts  of  friends  and  has  largely 
increased  his  lumber  trade.  Mr.  Crombie  was  an  original  member  of  the  Vermont 
Society,  S.  A.  R.,  organized  in  1889,  and  has  since  been  an  enthusiastic  supporter 
of  that  society.  He  married,  June  2,  1868,  Sarah  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Hon. 
Orlando  D.  Murray,  a  descendant  of  Isaac  Murray,  one  of  the  original  settlers  of 
Londonderry,  N.  H.  Their  children  were,  William  Murray,  Arthur  Choate,  and 
Maud  Elizabeth. 

WILLIAn  HURRAY  CROMBIE,  Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  eld- 
est child  of  William  Augustus  and  Sarah  Elizabeth  Crombie,  was  born  in  Burling- 
ton, Yt.,  Nov.  6,  1 87 1.  His  knowledge  of  the  elementary  branches  was  obtained 
at  the  public  schools  of  his  native  town.  He  was  graduated  at  the  University  of 
Vermont,  in  1893.  He  spent  some  time  in  travel  abroad,  adding  largely  to  his 
fund  of  practical  knowledge,  and  subsequently  resided  for  a  year  in  the  South. 
He  chose  a  business  rather  than  a  professional  career,  and  in  1895  became  associ- 
ated with  his  father  in  the  lumber  business.  Bright,  active,  alert,  industrious,  he 
lost  no  time  in  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  the  business,  which  he  has  since  been 
able  to  put  to  good  account,  as  shown  by  the  increase  in  the  volume  of  trade. 
He  inherits  the  best  qualities  of  his  ancestors,  notably  the  genial  nature,  as  well 
as  the  determined  perseverance  to  overcome  difficulties  and  face  adversities.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Sigma  Phi  Society,  Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  and  of 
Squadron  A.,  N.  G.  N.  Y.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  with  Spain,  he  was  one  of 
the  number  chosen  to  make  up  Troop  A.,  N.  Y.  V.  C,  and  served  throughout  the 
war  in  this  country  and  in  Porto  Rico.  Troop  A.,  with  Troop  B.  of  Second 
Regular  Cavalry,  formed  the  body  guard  of  Gen.  Miles  in  Porto  Rico.  He  is  a 
thorough  American  and  has  a  laudable  pride  in  his  ancestors,  whose  loyalty  to  the 
established  forms  of  government  under  which  they  have  lived  has  never  been 
questioned. 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  167 

WILLIAM  JONES   SALOMON. 

From    "  Contemporary  Biography,"    by  permisson  of  Atlantic  Publishing  and 
Engraving  Company. 

WILLIAM  JONES  SALOriON  is  a  worthy  descendant  of  a  Revolutionary 
worthy,  Haym  Salomon,  who,  moved  by  patriotism,  advanced  to  the  federal 
government  and  its  leading  men  first  and  last,  three-fourths  of  a  million  of  dollars, 
no  part  of  which  was  repaid  to  him  or  has  ever  been  made  good  to  his  heirs. 
To  quote  the  Senate  Committee  which  reported  upon  the  claim  in  July,  1862  : 
"The  facts  show  that  Haym  Salomon,  a  native  of  Poland,  settled  in  this  country 
as  a  merchant  and  banker  before  the  Revolution  and  was  a  zealous  supporter  of 
the  War  for  Independence;  that  he  was  a  man  of  unquestioned  integrity,  great 
financial  resources  and  ability,  and  enjoyed  the  highest  confidence  of  our  public 
men  of  the  time,  as  is  shown  by  the  most  abundant  proof  as  stated  in  the  reports 
of  the  various  committees  ;  that  his  large  private  fortune  and  the  proceeds  of  his 
extensive  commercial  earnings  were  freely  applied  to  the  use  of  the  Revolutionary 
government  and  its  various  public  men  and  the  agents  of  foreign  governments 
friendly  to  our  cause  whose  supplies  were  for  the  time  cut  off;  that  during  the  war 
he  was  imprisoned  as  early  as  the  year  1775,  at  New  York,  in  the  loathsome 
prison  where  he  contracted  the  disease  which  ended  in  his  death  just  after  the 
close  of  the  war." 

It  was  soon  after  the  arrival  of  the  British  at  New  York  that  he  was  arrested 
as  a  spy,  and  he  was  released  from  prison  at  the  instance  of  the  Hessian  com- 
mander who  wished  to  secure  the  enforced  use  of  his  knowledge  as  a  linguist. 
He  quietly  used  his  position  for  the  succeeding  three  years  to  further  the  escape  of 
American  and  French  prisoners,  and  this,  with  acts  of  like  character  showing  his 
sympathies,  led  to  another  order  for  his  arrest  which  he  evaded  only  by  flight. 
During  his  subsequent  residence  at  Philadelphia,  he  acted  as  agent  in  negotiating 
loans  for  the  government  from  France  and  Holland,  was  paymaster-general  to  the 
French  forces,  supplied  the  leading  men  in  Congress  with  funds  out  of  his  own 
purse,  advanced  large  sums  to  the  government  on  no  security  but  simply  his 
confidence  in  its  good  faith,  and  loaned  nearly  equal  amounts  to  Robert  Morris, 
whose  associate  he  was  in  meeting  the  financial  difficulties  which,  needless  to  say, 
were  not  the  least  perplexing  and  discouraging  accompaniments  of  the  struggle. 

At  his  death  he  left  certificates  of  loans  to  the  government  and  continental 
liquidated  dollars  in  the  amount  of  $353,000,  evidences  of  advances  to  Robert 
Morris  in  the  sum  of  $211,000,  a  claim  of  $92,000  on  the  United  States  for  addi- 
tional loans,  and  unpaid  advance  of  $10,000  to  the  Spanish  ambassador  and  small 
loans  innumerable  to  Madison,  St  Clair,  Steuben,  Wilson,  Randolph  and  many 
others,  the  first  of  these  declaring  at  the  time  that  while  always  certain  of 
aid  from  Haym  Salomon,  resort  to  the  latter  was  attended  with  "great  mortifica- 
tion as  he  obstinately  rejects  all  recompense."  In  1827  the  Father  of  the  Consti- 
tution wrote  to  the  son  of  Haym  Salomon  relative  to  the  personal  advances  here 
mentioned:  "The  transactions  shown  by  the  papers  you  enclose  were  for  the 
support  of  the  delegates  to  Congress,  and  the  agency  of  your  father  therein  was 
solicited  on  account  of  the  respect  and  confidence  he  enjoyed  among  those  best 
acquainted  with  him." 

Haym    Salomon    left  behind    him   a   young  wife— sister  of  a   Revolutionary 


1 68 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 


officer  of  distinction,  Col.  Isaac  Franks — and  four  children,  including  two  sons, 
the  elder  of  whom  died  in  1822,  at  New  Orleans,  where,  after  retiring  from  the 
office  of  purser  in  the  U.  S.  Navy,  he  held  a  responsible  post  as  cashier  of  a 
branch  of  the  famous  United  States  Bank;  and  the  younger  Haym  M.,  then  but 
three  weeks  old,  who  after  a  business  career  in  New  York  City,  where  he  married 


WILLIAM   JONES    SALOMON. 


a  daughter  of  Jacob  Hart  (a  Baltimore  merchant  who  headed  a  subscription  for 
the  relief  of  Lafayette's'detachment  of  the  American  Army),  reared  a  large  family 
and  devoted  the  latter  part  of  his  life  to  an  effort  to  secure  for  his  children  from 
Congress  a  return  of  at.least  a  portion  of  the  funds  loaned  the  government  by  his 
patriotic  father. 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  169 

In  addition  to  what  has  already  been  said  of  these  advances,  it  is  right  and 
proper  to  mention  that  at  least  six  reports  of  congressional  committees  o&n  these 
claims  are  included  in  the  published  government  documents,  and  they  are  all 
frankly  to  the  effect  that  the  loans  were  made  and  never  repaid.  A  summary  of 
previous  findings  on  the  subject  is  included  in  the  report  of  the  Library  Committee 
of  the  Fifty-second  Congress,  second  session,  under  the  date  of  February,  1S93. 
All  of  these  findings  resulted  in  nothing,  from  the  fact  that  in  every  instance  the 
examination  of  the  claims  and  vouchers— a  tedious  process,  from  the  nature  of 
the  case— delayed  action  and  relegated  the  reports  to  the  fag  end  of  the  calendar, 
where,  as  a  matter  of  course,  they  were  never  reached  early  enough  to  pass  both 
houses  and  receive  executive  signature.  Indeed,  the  descendants  of  Haym  Salo- 
mon in  the  end  forgave  the  United  States  Government  the  debt  it  owed,  and  asked, 
in  the  appeal  to  the  Fifty-second  Congress,  only  that  in  lieu  thereof  a  medal  be 
struck  "  as  an  heirloom  for  the  family  and  in  consideration  of  what  their  ancestor 
did  at  a  time  when  it  was  all-important  to  have  such  services  for  the  benefit  of  the 
United  States."  Needless  to  say,  in  view  of  what  has  been  stated  on  the  justness 
of  the  original  claim,  the  committee  reported  in  favor  of  "a  gold  medal  to  cost 
$250  to  be  struck  and  presented  to  the  lineal  descendant  and  heir"  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary financier  and  patriot ;  but,  with  admirable  conformity  to  the  long  history 
of  the  indemnity  claim,  this  latest  report  came  "too  late  for  consideration." 
Nevertheless,  the  record  is  there,  and  the  story  of  the  nation's  obligations  to 
Haym  Salomon  cannot  be  told  so  coldly,  even  in  outline,  as  not  to  awaken  that 
internal  sentiment  of  gratitude  and  respect  which  is  better  than  the  outward  show 
of  honor,  and  which  sentiment  becomes  all  the  stronger  when  the  visible  and 
official  mark  of  recognition  is  seen  to  be  unrighteously  withheld. 

Of  the  children  born  to  Haym  M.  Solomon,  one  became  specially  representa- 
tive of  the  family  in  business  talent  and  success,  namely,  Col.  David  Salomon, 
who,  after  a  careful  private  education  in  New  York  City,  began  his  practical 
career  at  Mobile,  Ala.,  in  the  office  of  a  firm  of  cotton  factors  of  high  standing 
and  large  connections.  His  success  there  is  attested  by  his  appointment  as 
director  of  the  bank  of  Mobile,  which  was  then  one  of  the  most  important  finan- 
cial institutions  in  the  country,  just  as  the  city  named  was  at  that  period  the 
second  export  point  in  the  United  States.  In  1855  Col.  Salomon,  after  contracting 
marriage  with  a  lady  who  was  a  granddaughter  of  Capt.  De  Leon,  of  Revolu- 
tionary fame,  and  great-granddaughter  of  the  famous  old  merchant  of  New  York, 
Hayman  Levy  (he  numbered  John  Jacob  Astor  among  his  clerks),  removed  with 
his  wife  and  young  son,  William  J.,  to  Philadelphia,  where  as  a  prominent  mer- 
chant he  took  the  lead  in  calling  together  the  conference  of  business  men  of  the 
country  shortly  before  the  Civil  War  in  the  hope  of  avoiding  the  impending  conflict 
by  a  compromise  -  the  means  whereby  three  times  before  an  open  rupture  between 
the  Northern  and  Southern  sections  of  the  country  had  been  prevented. 

In  1864  he  took  a  trip  abroad  and  a  year  later  became  a  resident  of  New 
York  where,  his  first  wife  having  died  in  1861,  he  married  a  daughter  of  Uriah 
Hendricks,  a  wealthy  importer  of  the  Metropolis.  For  several  years  he  was  vice- 
president  of  the  German-American  Bank  and  trustee  of  the  Imperial  Fire  Insur- 
ance Company,  of  London,  and  a  director  in  the  Guarantee  and  Indemnity 
Company.  Later,  he  became  the  financial  agent  in  New  York  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  system,  a  most  responsible  position  of  which  he  was  the  first  incumbent 


170  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

and  which  he  held  to  his  death  in  1875.  It  is  remarkable  that  a  man  devoted  to 
business  so  closely  from  his  youth  up  should  have  developed  a  thorough  liking  for 
literature  and  gained  reputation  as  a  writer  by  a  number  of  able  contributions  to 
periodicals  on  general  as  well  as  financial  subjects.  Besides,  he  was  a  man  of 
attractive  address,  a  charming  conversationalist  and  a  genial  host. 

As  these  representatives  of  the  family  for  three  generatious  were  interested  in 
public  concerns  and  were  influential  not  only  in  local  but  in  federal  affairs,  so  the 
present  occupant  of  that  honorable  post,  William  J.,  son  of  the  colonel,  grandson 
of  Haym  M.  and  great-grandson  of  Haym  Salomon,  has  shown  unmistakable 
interest  in  measures  affecting  the  great  interests  of  the  country.  William  had 
hardly  begun  his  education  at  the  Ferris  Latin  School,  in  Philadelphia,  when  a 
severe  illness  interrupted  his  studies,  and  he  was  finally  sent  to  New  York  where 
his  health  improved  and  where  his  instruction  was  resumed  in  1864,  under  private 
tutors,  as  a  member  of  the  household  of  the  Rev.  Jaques  J.  Lyons,  then  and  after 
the  honored  rabbi  of  the  oldest  Hebrew  congregation  in  New  York.  The  youth 
finished  his  elimentary  studies  at  the  Columbia  Grammar  School  where,  among 
his  fellow-pupils,  were  Felix  Adler,  Cleveland  Coxe,  Frank  Lathrop,  the  author 
Kobbe,  and  other  students  since  well  known. 

In  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  his  father,  who  felt  the  full  force  of  the 
practical  argument  in  favor  of  an  early  and  long  apprenticeship  to  a  business 
career,  William  in  his  fifteenth  year  began  his  mercantile  education  in  the  inter- 
national banking-house  then  known  under  the  name  of  Philip  Speyer  &  Co.,  whose 
members,  with  one  exception,  resided  abroad.  The  young  man  very  quickly  saw 
the  need  of  a  mastery  of  German  and  French  and  soon  thereafter  perceived  also 
the  value  of  thoroughness  in  his  calling  with  the  importance  attached  to  it  by  the 
foreign  heads  of  the  house.  For  these  reasons  he  broached  the  idea  of  a  sojourn 
at  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  the  seat  of  the  home  establishment  of  the  firm.  All 
objections  on  the  score  of  his  youth — he  was  still  in  his  eighteenth  year — and  the 
somewhat  delicate  state  of  his  health  were  overcome,  and  he  embarked  for  London 
where  he  was  received  under  the  care  of  Robert  Speyer,  the  English  resident 
partner,  and  of  Mr.  John  S.  Gilliat,  then  a  director  and  afterwards  governor  of  the 
Bank  of  England.  After  an  enforced  stay  of  some  months  in  London,  a  stay  (due 
to  the  Franco-German  war)  which  was  by  no  means  misapplied,  he  reached 
Frankfort,  where  he  passed  a  busy,  studious,  counting-house  novitiate  of  two 
years,  evidence  of  whose  value  is  found  in  the  fact  that  subsequently  during  the 
three  years  beginning  with  1875  the  business  of  the  house  in  New  York  was  left 
in  the  joint  hands  of  himself  and  another  youth. 

In  1882  he  was  admitted  by  the  brothers  Speyer  as  a  partner  in  the  house,  an 
honor  the  greater  in  view  of  the  conservation  of  the  family  partnership,  and  took 
full  charge  of  the  American  establishment.  Up  to  that  time  the  latter,  however 
successful,  had  been  regarded  largely  in  the  light  of  a  branch  of  the  foreign 
concern,  whose  chief  centers  of  business  were  at  London  and  Frankfort.  The 
house  of  Speyer  &  Company  had  made  wonderful  advances  in  the  meantime,  first 
by  its  farsightedness  in  recommending  to  German  investors  American  government 
securities  when  these  were  being  offered  in  Germany  at  forty  cents  in  gold  and 
while  many  banks  discouraged  such  takings  from  lack  of  faith  in  the  survival  of 
the  federal  government ;  second,  in  placing  the  great  issue  of  the  Central  Pacific 
bonds;  third,  and  later,  in  shunning  the  negotiation  of  doubtful  American  securi- 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  171 

ties  at  a  time  when  such  investments  were  excessively  large,  owing  (1)  to  the 
plethora  of  money  in  Germany  after  its  successful  Franco-Prussian  war,  and  (2) 
to  the  profits  realized  on  bonds  of  the  two  classes  as  above  named.  It  was  thus 
seen  that  only  sound  securities  were  handled  by  Speyer  &  Company,  and  therefore 
while  many  of  the  houses  suffered  in  credit  they  remained  in  command  of  the 
full  confidence  of  investors,  a  fact  which  was  soon  evidenced  by  their  success  in 
placing  the  large  bond  issue  of  the  Southern  Pacific  Railway  of  California. 

With  the  prestige  of  the  European  house  at  this  high  state,  Mr.  William 
Salomon  came  to  the  management  of  the  American  branch,  and  his  skill,  judg- 
ment, courage,  clear  and  quick  insight  and  equally  prompt  decision  have  since 
then  enlarged  the  scope  of  the  New  York  house  and  brought  it  to  a  position  along- 
side of  the  European  establishment.  In  addition  to  the  railroads  already  men- 
tioned. Speyer  &  Company  became  the  issue  firm  of  the  Pennsylvania,  the  Chicago, 
Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul,  the  Illinois  Central,  the  Lake  Shore  &  Michigan  Southern, 
the  Chicago  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  railways,  and  now  as  a  railroad  issuing  house 
challenges  the  leadership  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  In  acquiring  practical 
knowledge  of  the  resources  of  the  country,  a  knowledge  essential  to  success  in 
the  field  under  notice,  Mr.  Salomon  has  repeatedly  crossed  the  continent  and 
visited  every  large  city  in  the  Union.  Safety  of  investment  has  been  the  first 
consideration  in  his  mind  alike  in  conformity  with  the  traditions  of  the  house  of 
Speyer  &  Company  and  in  keeping  with  his  own  high  principles  of  justice  and 
business  fairness.  But  close  as  Mr.  Salomon  has  been  to  business  interests  since 
the  fifteenth  year  of  his  age,  these  have  not  engrossed  his  attention  to  the  neglect 
of  his  duties  as  a  citizen  of  the  republic,  of  whose  capacities  for  the  future  no  one 
makes  a  broader  estimate.  In  1891  he  was  chairman  of  the  finance  committee  of 
the  State  Democracy,  whose  object  was  to  advance  the  interests  of  sound  money 
by  securing  the  nomination  of  Grover  Cleveland  for  the  Presidency  and  the  repeal 
by  Congress  of  the  silver  purchasing  clause  of  the  Sherman  Act.  In  The  Forum 
of  July,  1895,  there  appeared  a  review  from  his  pen,  of  that  campaign  and  a 
statement  on  the  currency  problem  which,  it  was  forseen,  would  become  the  issue 
in  the  canvass  then  casting  its  shadows  before.  Perhaps  there  has  nowhere 
appeared  a  clearer  as  well  as  a  more  succinct  statement  of  the  "silver  question" 
than  the  following  from  the  article  under  notice : 

"  Now,  the  silver  people  probably  want  two  things,  or  one  of  two  things — 
either  they  want  silver  producers  in  the  United  States  to  receive  a  bounty,  or  they 
want  what  they  call  cheap  money.  It  is  sure  that  a  tyro  in  finance  could  logically 
show  that  their  aim  would  prove  itself  entirely  illusory.  Take  the  wish  for  the 
bounty  to  the  silver  producers  in  the  United  States;  only  as  long  as  the  credit  of 
the  United  States  would  suffice  to  keep  the  two  metals  on  the  parity  at  present 
existing  would  the  bounty  exist.  The  moment  the  two  metals  should  be  torn 
apart,  values  of  all  commodities  and  the  price  of  labor  would  be  adjusted  accord- 
ingly ;  that  is,  they  would  still  find  their  measure  as  before,  in  gold,  with  the 
premium  which  would  then  exist  added.  So  that  the  owner  of  bullion  receiving 
the  coined  silver  dollar  would  find  its  purchasing  power  no  greater  than  it  was 
when  he  performed  the  simple  operation  of  selling  bullion  at  the  price  fixed  by  the 
markets  of  the  world.  If  the  silver  man's  dream  has  been  cheap  money,  he  will 
find  that  that  desideratum  is  not  attained  by  dishonesty  or  the  destruction  of 
confidence.     The  inflation  of  the  circulating  medium  will  not  be  stimulated  if  gold 


172  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

and  silver  part  company,  because  the  mine  owner  then  will  not  find  the  bounty  he 
had  grasped  at.  And  even  were  an  inflation  of  the  currency  to  follow  the  free 
coinage  of  silver,  it  needs  very  little  experience  in  financial  affairs  to  assert  it  as  an 
axiom  that  not  inflation — not  a  large  amount  of  circulation  per  capita — makes 
what  is  called  cheap  money,  but  it  is  a  perfection  of  clearance  and  exchange,  and 
confidence  in  trade  and  in  the  industrial  situation,  and  naturally  faith  in  the 
integrity  and  solvency  of  borrowers." 

In  May,  1896,  The  Forum  published  a  second  article  by  Mr.  Salomon,  bear- 
ing on  the  presidential  canvass  then  impending.  In  this  article  he  presented  in 
cogent  form  the  argument  in  favor  of  legislation  for  the  gradual  retirement  of  the 
United  States  legal  tender  notes.  Such  arguments  from  such  a  source  would  be 
final  were  the  public,  or  a  large  part  of  it,  not  in  a  frame  of  mind  to  accept  con- 
clusions in  finance  from  those  who,  to  say  the  least,  have  no  practical  knowledge 
of  the  subject,  rather  than  from  authorities  like  Mr.  Salomon,  who  speak  from  an 
arduous  business  training,  long  trade  experience  and  much  thought  on  all  its 
interests,  in  addition  to  wide  connections  with  the  best  financial  minds  in  both 
hemispheres.  Moreover,  the  opinion  of  financiers  like  Mr,  Salomon  should  carry 
with  them  a  weight  not  attached  to  those  of  politicians,  because  these  opinions 
are  based  on  a  breadth  of  view  which  sees  no  prospect  of  continuing  and  lasting 
business  success,  save  by  the  adoption  of  financial  systems  which  shall  contribute 
their  due  part  to  the  welfare  of  the  whole  country  and  all  its  classes,  not  alone  the 
bondholders  but  the  ordinary  traders,  the  manufacturers,  the  farmers  and  the 
mechanics. 

Mr.  Salomon  married,  in  1892,  Helen  Forbes  Lewis,  a  daughter  of  William 
McKensie  Forbes,  of  Taine,  Rosshire,  Scotland. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that  the  facts  given  in  this  short  biographical 
sketch  prove  beyond  cavil  that  the  lineal  descendants  of  the  Revolutionary  patriot, 
Haym  Salomon,  from  his  son  to  his  great-grandson,  William  Salomon,  came 
honestly  by  their  capacity  for  the  management  of  large  financial  interests  ;  that 
they  inherited  from  him  and  kept  bright  that  patriotism  for  which  he  gave  his 
means  and  his  life;  and  that  they  have  preserved  intact  the  high  sense  of  honor 
and  love  of  justice  and  fairness  as  between  man  and  man,  which  were  the  char- 
acteristics of  one  who  in  his  younger  days  was  the  friend  of  the  Polish  patriots, 
Kosciusko  and  Pulaski,  and  in  his  later  life  the  coadjutor  of  the  financial  head  of 
the  Revolution,  Robert  Morris,  as  well  as  the  financial  prop  of  a  long  list  of  the 
remarkable  leaders  of  that  remarkable  period,  including  James  Madison,  worthy 
to  be  joined  with  Washington  and  Jefferson  in  the  list  of  our  first  three  great 
Presidents.  All  honor,  not  only  to  Haym  Salomon,  the  Revolutionary  financier 
and  patriot,  but  to  his  high-minded  great-grandson  and  living  family  representa- 
tive, William  Jones  Salomon,  the  upright  banker,  accomplished  writer  and  zealous 
advocate  and  promoter  of  honest  and  wise  government  for  these  United  States. 

Mr.  Salomon  retired  from  the  firm  of  Speyer  &  Co.,  on  the  first  of  January, 
1899,  and  it  is  stated  that  he  will  become  chairman  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio 
Railroad  Company. 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  173 

WILLIAH  ALEXANDER  SfllTH. 

The  clean  of  the  New  York  Stock  Exchange  is  not  a  man  of  words,  and 
perhaps  few  of  his  business  associates  are  aware  that  he  comes  of  a  peculiarly 
interesting  Pilgrim  and  Revolutionary  ancestry.  It  is  a  sufficient  honor  in  the 
eyes  of  Wall  street  that  he  is  numbered  in  the  list  of  presidents  of  the  exchange, 
an  office  which,  it  has  been  well  said,  men  of  the  highest  position  in  the  New 
York  business  and  social  world  have  been  eager  to  obtain.  As  the  oldest  active 
living  member  of  the  exchange  and  as  still  chairman  of  the  trustees  in  charge  of 
its  most  important  fund,  he  takes  precedence,  moreover,  over  all  others  when  the 
history  and  membership  of  that  body  are  the  theme.  Neither  is  "  the  street "  in 
its  devotion  to  business  concerned  with  the  fact,  we  imagine,  that  while  with 
advancing  years  he  has  shifted  some  of  the  burdens  of  the  counting-house  upon 
other  shoulders,  he  has  at  the  same  time  rather  increased  than  lessened  his  interest 
in  religious  and  philanthropic  work.  Yet,  to  obtain  a  true  idea  of  the  man,  the 
latter  phase  of  his  activity  must  be  measured  as  well  as  that  other  which  connects 
him  intimately  with  the  commercial  leaders  of  the  republic  in  whose  number  he  is 
indeed  enrolled. 

It  was  early  in  the  last  century  that  the  family  ancestor,  William  Smith, 
emigrated  from  Scotland  to  New  York  and  was  honored  in  a  son,  who  commanded 
in  the  Continental  army  a  company  which  he  had  himself  raised  for  Col.  Malcolm's 
regiment,  noteworthy  as  one  of  the  first  organized  in  this  State.  The  credit  due 
to  patriots  like  Capt.  Smith,  who  was  wounded  at  the  battle  of  White  Plains  and 
again  at  Monmouth,  will  be  heightened  in  our  eyes  if  we  keep  in  mind  that  at  the 
time  men's  souls  were  tried  the  Tories  were  in  the  majority  in  this  commonwealth, 
and  the  prospect  was  full  of  discouragement  to  those  who  took  the  other  side. 
The  brave  officer  proved,  after  the  war,  a  successful  merchant  of  Philadelphia, 
where  he  became  not  only  a  trustee  of  the  Girard  Bank,  but  a  director  of  the 
United  States  Bank,  around  which  the  politics  of  the  whole  country  circled  in 
more  than  one  Presidential  canvass.  The  Revolutionary  veteran  was,  furthermore, 
a  religious  man,  being  an  elder  in  the  Presbyterian  church,  which  in  that  day  still 
retained  intact  the  strong  impress  of  its  Genevan  founder,  and  of  the  latter's 
rugged  Scotch  disciple,  John  Knox.  Fortunate  in  escaping  death  in  the  field  and 
fortunate  also  in  business,  Capt.  Smith  was  equally  happy  in  his  marriage  with 
Rebecca  Hobart,  a  sister  of  Bishop  Hobart,  of  New  York,  and  a  descendant  of 
Edmund  Hobart,  who  closely  followed  the  first  pilgrims  over  from  England  and 
settled  at  Hingham,  Mass.  Those  who  have  read  the  annals  of  New  England 
know  that  the  Hobart  family  furnished  many  of  the  strongest  representatives  of 
that  section,  including  in  lineal  descent  one  who,  besides  serving  as  an  officer  in 
King  Philip's  War,  was  speaker  of  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Deputies,  while 
another  in  1674  was  treasurer  of  the  General  Assembly. 

Capt.  Smith  died  in  1838,  leaving  a  son,  Robert  Hobart  Smith,  who,  born  in 
1792,  in  Philadelphia,  studied  law  with  Jared  Ingersoll,  of  that  city,  but  after- 
wards entered  the  ministry  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  In  1813  he  took  to  wife, 
Mary  Potts,  a  member  of  a  family  second  to  none  in  standing  and  influence  among 
the  settlers  of  the  Keystone  State.  Its  first  representative,  Thomas  Potts,  who 
was  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  came  from  Wales  about  1680  and  was  a 
sheriff  of  Germantown  in  r7o2.     Among  the  earliest  who  established  iron  works 


174 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 


in  that  State  was  this  settler's  son  John,  who  became  the  founder  of  Pottstown, 
where  the  latter's  son  Jonathan,  in  turn,  was  prominent  as  a  medical  director  in 
the  Continental  army,  and  as  such  in  charge  of  the  hospitals  of  the  northern,  and 
subsequently  of  the  middle  department.  It  is  said  that  he  personally  dressed 
Arnold's  wounds  after  the  battle  of  Saratoga— a  service  which  he  must  have  per- 
formed with  zeal  at  the  time  when  the  American  general  stood  high  in  the  confi- 
dence of  Congress  and  the  people,  yet  how  naturally  the  reflection  rises  that  it 
would  have  been  well  for  Arnold  if  he  had  lost  his  life  in  the  battle  which  was 
won  largely  by  his  dashing  courage.     These  distinguished    descendants    of  the 


WILLIAM     ALEXANDER     SMITH. 


Welsh  Quaker  ancestor  were  matched  by  a  number  of  others,  including  that 
offshoot  of  the  stock  named  Thomas  who  was  a  member  of  the  Provincial  Assem- 
bly and  lost  his  life  from  exposure  on  the  way  to  attend  a  session. 

From  this  union  of  a  daughter  of  the  eminent  Pennsylvania  family  with  the 
descendant  of  Scotch  and  English  settlers,  sprang  William  Alexander  Smith,  their 
fourth  son.  He  was  born  September  9,  1820,  and  entering  a  counting-house  at 
the  youthful  age  of  thirteen,  came  to  New  York  in  1843  as  clerk  to  the  stock  broker- 
age house  of  Coit  &  Smith,  the  latter  member  of  the  firm  being  his  uncle.  But  a 
year  afterwards  he  joined  the  stock  exchange,  having  thus  at  the  present  time  (1899) 
been  a  member  of  that  body  for  over  half  a  century,  or  for  more  than  half  the  period 
it  has  been  in  existence.     In  1845  he  became  a  member  of  the  firm  named,  and, 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN   REVOLUTION.  1 75 

within  a  few  years  thereafter,  by  the  death  of  both  senior  partners,  its  head,  a 
position  which  he  retains  to  this  day.  Mr.  Smith's  prominence  as  a  banker  and 
broker  is  attested  by  the  fact  that  he  was  treasurer  of  the  stock  exchange  in  1865-6, 
its  president  in  1866-7,  and  is  now  chairman  of  the  trustees  of  its  gratuity  fund. 
As  there  is  no  active  member  of  the  exchange  who  can  claim  with  it  a  connec- 
tion of  equal  length,  so  there  is  probably  no  one  among  its  membership  who 
began  his  business  career  so  early  in  life,  and  both  facts  are  suggestive  of  his 
inherited  vigor  and  endurance  in  connection  with  the  record  of  his  ancestry  on 
either  side  as  taken  from  the  annals  of  the  three  States  in  which  they  rose  to 
prominence. 

Aside  from  his  still  active  connection  with  the  affairs  of  the  stock  exchange, 
Mr.  Smith  is  at  the  present  time  vice-president  of  the  Continental  Trust  Company, 
yet  he  speaks  of  himself  as  having  retired  from  active  affairs.  This  retirement,  as 
we  have  hinted,  cannot  apply  in  any  sense,  however,  to  his  connection  with  church 
and  benevolent  organizations.  At  the  present  time,  to  give  instances  in  point,  he 
is  president  of  the  Sheltering  Arms,  trustee  of  the  Trinity  School  and  of  the 
Society  for  Promoting  Religion  and  Learning,  vice-president  of  the  New  York 
City  Mission,  vice-president  of  the  executive  committee  and  manager  of  St.  Luke's 
Hospital  and  the  Home  for  Incurables,  treasurer  and  trustee  of  the  General 
Clergy  Relief  Fund,  and  trustee  of  the  Parochial  Fund  of  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church.  Incidentally  it  may  be  mentioned  that  for  several  ye.irs  he  occupied 
the  highly  responsible  post  of  treasurer  of  the  New  York  Bible  Society.  If  all 
the  sons  of  the  church  were  equally  active  in  her  best  work  the  question  would 
never  arise  whether  she  is  justified  of  her  children. 

Mr.  Smith  married  a  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Levi  Bull.  D.D.,  and  six  years  after 
her  death,  which  occurred  in  1857,  he  was  united  in  marriage  to  Margaret,  daugh- 
ter of  George  and  Serena  Mason  Jones.  His  children  are  Robert  Hobart  Smith, 
who  was  for  many  years  associated  in  the  banking-house  with  his  father;  Clara 
H.,  wife  of  the  Rev.  L.  C.  Stewardson,  and  William  Alexander  Smith,  Jr.  The 
city  residence  of  the  family  is  on  Madison  avenue,  and  their  country  home  is  West 
Hill,  Nyack-on-the-Hudson.  Mr.  Smith  is  of  middle  stature,  well  preserved,  of 
cheerful  temperament  and  with  an  eye  whose  look  of  kindly  shrewdness  mirrors 
the  genuine  affability  and  the  sound  nature  of  the  man  within.  He  can  look 
back  upon  a  business  career  remarkable  not  only  in  its  success  but,  as  has  been 
shown,  beginning  earlier  than  is  the  case  with  most  others  and  continuing  beyond 
the  usual  limit  of  active  life.  It  is  to  his  eternal  honor  that  in  seeking  at  length 
to  withdraw  from  the  pressure  of  business  cares  and  responsibilities  he  has  at  the 
same  time  continued  in  their  full  force  the  accumulated  connections  with  relig- 
ious and  philanthropic  interests  which,  besides  taxing  his  time,  involve  trusts 
higher  than  those  of  any  other  character  and  yield  no  return  save  the  con- 
sciousness of  duty  faithfully  performed. 

How  extraordinary  the  contrast  between  the  daily  scenes  witnessed  in  the 
stock  exchange,  the  very  business  heart  of  a  metropolis  which  is  itself  the  finan- 
cial centre  of  the  Western  Hemisphere,  and  the  spectacle  presented  by  New  York 
during  the  Revolutionary  War,  when  the  Continental  forces  in  which  Capt.  Smith 
bore  a  commission  and  performed  a  patriot's  duty  were  driven  from  their  environs  ! 
Yet  let  us  not  forget  that  it  was  the  heroic  sacrifices  and  the  final  triumph  of  these 
patriots  which  made  possible  a  development  that  is  still  far  from  its  climax.     And 


176  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

not  less  should  it  be  remembered  that  it  is  to  the  qualities  inherited  from  such 
ancestors,  as  well  as  to  their  good  use  of  these  transmitted  advantages  and  their 
own  opportunities,  that  men  like  William  Alexander  Smith  owe  their  splendid 
success. 


GOULD-  CHAHBERLAIN  -PRATT  -MOULTON. 

The  Gould  and  allied  families  of  America  have,  from  the  beginning  of  their 
settlement  in  New  England,  been  among  the  most  earnest  and  faithful  promoters 
of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  "  Let  all  the  ends  thou  aim'st  at  be  thy  God's,  thy 
country's  and  truth's,"  has  been  the  great  underlying  principle  which  has  actuated 
them  through  each  succeeding  generation,  and  their  influence  has  been  everywhere 
felt  for  good.  Their  personal  achievements  form  an  interesting  chapter  in 
American  history. 

The  Gould  family  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  derives  its  origin 
from  one  of  those  ancient  Normandy  stocks  which  were  transplanted  to  English 
soil  with  the  advent  of  William  the  Conqueror.  It  is  probable  that  Robert  de 
Percheval.  Lord  of  Tvery,  in  Normandy.  "  who  was  one  of  those  that  embarked  in 
the  Conqueror's  expedition,"  was  allied  to  the  Goulds,  since  that  name  was  per- 
petuated through  his  sons.  One  of  these,  Alceline,  bore  the  surname  Gouel,  and 
was  commonly  known  as  Alceline  Gouel  de  Percheval,  while  Alceline  in  turn  had 
a  son  known  as  William  Gouel  de  Percheval.*  Henry  Gould,  lord  of  the  manor 
of  Brudenells,  had  an  estate  in  Chesham  and  Iver  in  161 5. 

About  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century  John  Gole,  or  Gold,  appears  as 
a  crusader.  Collinson  gives  the  following  curious  account  of  him  :  "  In  the  time 
of  Henry  III.,  Ralph  de  Vallibus,  being  obliged  to  send  men  in  the  service  of  that 
king  when  he  undertook  a  crusade  to  the  Holy  Land,  amongst  others  dispatched 
one  John  Gole  out  of  his  manor  of  Scarborough,  who  went  accordingly  to  Jeru- 
salem, and  was  present  at  the  siege  of  Damieta  (1217),  where  he  fought  valiantly; 
and  after  his  return,  as  a  reward  for  his  merits,  this  Ralph  de  Vallibus  gave  him 
an  estate  in  Scarborough  (by  deed  still  extant)  about  A.  D.  1229."! 

From  this  time  various  branches  of  the  family  figure  extensively  in  the  annals 
of  Somersetshire,  Hertford,  London,  Devonshire  and  Buckinghamshire,  several  of 
the  name  holding  important  commissions  in  the  army  and  navy,  and  others  attain- 
ing prominence  as  bankers,  merchants  and  members  of  the  learned  professions. 
In  1374  Adam  Gould,  of  the  city  of  Exeter,  held  the  position  of  Receiver-General. 
In  1375  Rev.  Thomas  Goulde  was  instituted  rector  of  the  church  of  Moulsoe,  in 
Buckinghamshire.  In  the  time  of  Charles  I.,  James  Gould  was  a  wealthy  mer- 
chant of  Exon,  and  successively  held  the  officer  of  Head  Steward  of  Exon  (1630), 
Receiver  (1645),  High  Sheriff  of  Exeter  County  (1646),  and  Mayor  of  Exon  (1648). 
Holding  the  latter  office  at  the  time  of  the  execution  of  Charles  I.,  he  refused  to 
receive  the  proclamation  of  the  Cromwellian  usurpers,  turning  the  messengers  out 


*See  Collinson's  "  History  of  Somersetshire,"  Vol.  II.,  p.  52. 

t  Collins'  "History  of  Somersetshire,"  Vol.  II.,  p.  172.  See  also  "Visitations  of  the  County 
of  Devon,"  p.  18.  The  Goulds  are  descended  from  John  Gould,  of  Scarborough  who,  for  his 
valor  at  the  seige  of  Damieta,  A.  D.  1217,  was  granted  in  1220,  an  estate  at  Scarborough, 
County  of  Somerset,  by  Ralph  de  Vallibus. 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  177 

of  doors.  He  was  fined  ,£200  for  this  act  of  contempt,  hut  fought  the  judgment 
in  the  courts  and  secured  its  reversal.  The  only  other  mayor  of  England  whose 
loyalty  to  the  king  led  him  to  follow  a  similar  couse,  was  hanged  at  his  own 
door  for  his  temerity.* 

In  more  recent  times,  also,  members  of  various  branches  of  the  Gould  family 
in  England,  collateral  to  the  New  England  line,  have  attained  to  distinguished 
honors.  Sir  Nathaniel  Gould  (knighted  April  14,  1721)  was  a  member  of  Parlia- 
ment and  director  of  the  Bank  of  England.  His  wife,  Frances  Hartopp,  was  the 
daughter  of  Sir  John  Hartopp,  Bart.,  and  great-granddaughter  of  Oliver  Crom- 
well. She  is  often  mentioned  in  Pepy's  diary.  Sir  Henry  Gould  (died  1783)  was 
a  justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas.  Sir  Nicholas  Gould  was  a  promi- 
nent citizen  of  London  about  1650.  Sir  Charles  Gould  assumed  the  name  of 
Morgan  as  a  result  of  his  marriage  into  that  distinguished  family. t  Sir  David 
Gould,  Esq.,  of  Shapham  Park,  County  Somerset,  rose  to  distinction  in  the  British 
navy.  He  was  Admiral  of  the  Red  and  Vice-Admiral  of  England.  He  served 
against  the  American  colonies  during  the  Revolution,  "  was  present  at  Rodney's 
victory  over  Count  de  Grasse,  commanded  ships  at  the  siege  of  Bastia  and  Calci  in 
Lord  Hotham's  action,  and  the  Audacious  at  the  memorable  battle  of  the  Nile."} 

The  ancestors  of  that  branch  of  the  Gould  family  which  appeared  in  Massa- 
chusetts in  early  colonial  days  were  seated  from  a  remote  period  at  Bovington, § 
a  village  about  twenty-four  miles  from  London,  in  Hemel  Hempstead  parish, 
Hertfordshire.  About  1235,  "  Thoman  Goulde  de  Bovington  "  appears  as  one  of 
the  trustees  for  the  neighboring  church  of  Flanden.||  From  the  middle  of  the 
fifteenth  century  the  line  can  be  traced  without  interruption,  as  follows : 

Thomas  Goold,  of  Bovington,  was  born  about  1455,  and  died  in  1520.  His 
will  shows  him  to  have  been  the  owner  of  large  estates.  He  had  brothers  John 
and  William,  and  by  his  wife  Johan  had  children,  Thomas,  Richard,  John,  Alice, 
William,  Henry  and  Joan. 

His  will,  proved  September  28,  1520,  at  the  Archdeacon's  court  of  Hun- 
tingdon, but  now  at  Peterborough,  is  as  follows : 

"  In  dei  noie  ame.  In  the  yere  of  or  lord  MCCCCCXX  the  xxix  day  of 
August  I  Thomas  Goold  of  Bovington  the  elder  in  good  mynde  and  hole  memory 
make  my  testament  and  last  will  as  in  man  followeth : 

"  First  I  bequeth  my  sowle  to  almyghty  god  and  to  o'  blissed  lady  saint 
Mary  and  to  all  the  holy  copany  of  Hevyn  my  body  to  be  buryyd  in  the  church 
yard  of  saint  Laurence  at  Bovyngton 

"  Itm     I  bequeth  to  the  high  aulter  ijs 

"  Itm     to  the  moder  church  of  Lincoln  vjd 

"  Itm     to  the  rood  light  xijd 


*See  John  Prince's  ■•  Worthies  of  Devon,"  (London,  1810)  pp.  436-7.  for  an  extended  ac- 
count of  Hon.  James  Gould. 

fThe  Morgans,  lords  of  St.  Clare  and  Tiedsgar,  are  descended  from  Rhys,  King  of  South 
Wales  (■'  History  of  Hertford,"  Clutterbeck,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  89,  190,  191). 

ICrusader's  "  History  of  Hertfordshire,"'  Vol.  III.,  p.  294. 

§Sir  Nathaniel  Gould,  mentioned  above,  was  of  this  branch  of  the  Goulds  and  in  his  will 
directed  that  he  should  be  buried  at  Bovington. 

||  Sir  Henry  Chauncey's  "Historical  Antiquities  of  Hertfordshire"  (London,  1826),  Vol. 

II.,  p.  476. 


178  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

"  Itm     to  or  ladys  light  xijd 

"  Itm     to  saint  Laurence  light  xijd 

"To  saint  Lenards  light  viijd 

"  Itm     to  saint  Nicholas  light  viijd 

"  Itm     to  the  mayntaynyng  of  the  torches  vjs  viijd 

"  Itm     to  the  gildyng  of  saint  Laurence  tabernacle  v  mks 

"  I  will  have  a  prest  syngyng  for  my  sowle  helth  ii  yers 

"Itm  I  bequeth  to  Richard  Goold  my  Sonn  a  gray  horse  a  long  cait 
a  muk  cart  a  ql  whet  a  cow  vj  shepe  ii  acre  wood  in  langley  bury  wood  vc  tymber 
[at  the]  howse  wherein  I  dwelt  sntyme  myself  vc  spoks  a  plough  and  the  gerys 
that  longith  thereto 

"  Itm  I  bequeth  to  John  Goold  my  Sonn  x  mks  of  lawfull  money  to  be  payd 
by  the  age  of  xxj  yeris.     A  bullok  and  vj  shepe 

'•  Itm  I  bequeth  to  Alys  my  Daughter  x  mks  of  lawfull  money  to  be  payd  at 
the  age  of  xix  yerys  if  she  erst  mary  erst  to  have  it.     A  bullok  and  vj  shepe 

"  Itm  I  bequeth  to  Willia  Goold  my  Sonne  x  mks  of  lawfull  money  to  be 
payd  at  the  age  of  xxj  yerys.     A  bullok  and  vj  shepe 

"  Itm  I  bequeth  to  Harry  Goold  my  Sonne  x  mks  to  be  payd  at  the  age  of 
xxj  yerys.     A  bullok  and  vj  shepe 

"Itm  I  bequeth  to  Johan  Gould  my  Doughter  \ls  of  lawfull  money  to  be 
paid  at  the  age  of  xxix  yens  if  she  erst  mary  erst  to  have  it.     A  bullok  and  vj  shepe 

Also  if  it  so  happen  that  any  of  theis  my  childrene  depart  wl  in  age  I  wolle 
that  oon  half  of  the  sayd  money  shall  retne  to  Johan  my  wiff  and  the  other  half 
to  the  sonnys  of  my  bodie  lawfully  begotten 

"  Itm  I  bequeth  to  the  mendyng  of  the  high  way  betwixt  Bovington  and 
Chepfeld  xx5 

"  Itm     to  John  Swetyng  my  Servaunt  iijs  iiijd 

"  Itm     to  Isabell  Swetyng  my  svnt  iijs  iiijd 

"  Itm     to  Richard  Mechet  my  svnt  vjs  viijd  &  C  tymber  at  Langley  bery  wood 

"  Itm     to  Nicholas  Alewen  my  svnt  iijs  iiijd 

"  Itm     to  evy  oon  of  my  godchilderne  iiijd 

"  Itm     to  the  howse  of  Ashrige  vjs  viijd 

"  Itm  I  will  that  Johan  my  wiff  shall  have  all  my  woods  Russhis  croft  oonly 
to  her  self  she  payyng  the  prestys  wags  for  ii  yere  and  v  mks  to  the  giltyng  of 
saint  Laurence  tabernacle.  Also  she  shall  have  Ml  tymber  Ml  spokis  owt  of  the 
hows  wherin  I  dwelled  sytyme  my  self 

"  Itm  I  will  that  Thomas  Goold  my  eldest  Sonne  shall  have  all  my  woods  at 
Langley  bury  oonly  to  him  self  payyng  the  money  to  the  v  childerene  above  sayd 
and  all  my  horses  and  all  my  tymber  unbequethed 

"  Itm     I  bequeth  to  John  Goold  my  brother  vjs  viijd 

"  Itm  I  bequeth  to  Willia  Goold  my  brother  vjs  viiijd  C  tymber  at  Langley 
bury  wood 

"  The  Residue  of  all  my  goods  nother  given  nor  bequethed  I  give  and  bequeth 
to  Johan  my  wiff  and  to  Thomas  Goold  my  eldest  Sonne  whome  I  do  mak  and 
ordayn  myn  executors  and  John  Goold  and  Willia  Goold  supvisors 

"  Witness  Ser  Richard  Aleyn  depute  under  the  vicar  Richard  Gould, 
Thomas  Smyth,  Richard  Mochet  w4  divs  other  " 

Richard  Gold,  second  son  of  Thomas  and  Johan  ( )  Goold,  is  described 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  179 

as  "  of  Bovington  and  Stoke  Mandeville,"  the  latter  place  being  about  twelve 
miles  from  Bovington.  He  was  born  about  1479,  and  died,  according  to  the  old 
brass  tablet  in  the  Bovington  church,*  on  the  29th  day  of  August,  1531.  His  wife 
Joan  died  in  January,  1537.  The  wills  of  both  are  preserved.  They  left  two 
sons,  of  whom  the  eldest, 

Thomas  Goolde,  of  Bovington,  left  issue.  He  was  born  about  1500  and  died 
in  1547.  By  his  wife,  Alice,  he  had  eight  children— Thomas,  John,  Richard,  Joan, 
Agnes,  Elizabeth,  Bridget  and  John  the  younger.  His  will  indicates  that  he  was 
the  possessor  of  considerable  estates  which  were  divided  between  his  children. 
His  third  child, 

Richard  Gold,  of  Bovington  and  Stoke  Mandeville  (a  place  about  twelve 
miles  north-northwest  from  Bovington,  between  Windover  and  Ayelsbury),  Bucks, 

son  of  Thomas  and   Alice,    was  born  about   1530.     Wife  Jane,  widow  of 

Weeden.  In  his  will,  date  Stoke  Mandeville,  1558,  Dec.  4,  and  proved  October  10, 
he  desires  to  be  buried  at  Bovington  ;  mentions  wife  Jane,  sons  Henry  and  Richard, 
daughters  of  Alice  and  Jane  Weeden.  Witnessed  by  Thomas  Gold  and  others. 
The  will  is  somewhat  decayed  and  a  portion  of  it  destroyed.  Children  :  Henry, 
of  Chalfont  St.  Peter,  died  1605;  wife  Alice;  Richard,  born  about  1553.  The 
will  of  his  widow,  Jane,  dated  Stoke  Mandeville,  1559,  June  26,  and  proved  1560, 
March  29,  makes  bequests  to  her  son,  William,  and  three  daughters  not  named. 
She  was  probably  a  second  wife  of  Richard  and  not  the  mother  of  his  children. 

Henry  Gould  (5),  of  Barkhampstead,  St.  Mary,  alias  Nortchurch  (about  five 
miles  north-northwest  from  Bovington),  born  about  1555,  son  of  Richard,  of  Stoke 
Mandeville.  His  will,  dated  1603.  January  3,  and  proved  April  10  (book  19,  folio 
162),  mentions  wife  Alice,  son  Henry  and  his  eldest  son  William  ;  son's  daughter 
Elizabeth,  son's  son  Henry  Gould,  brother's  son  Richard  Gould,  and  appoints  his 
son  Henry,  executor.  Children:  Henry,  of  Brudenells,  born  about  1573,  died 
161 5,  July  29,  married  Mary  Russell;  John,  of  Bovington. 

Henry  Gould  (6),  of  Chalfont,  St.  Giles  (a  place  near  Amersham  and  about 
five  miles  from  Bovington  ;  William  Penn  is  there  buried  ;  Chalfont,  St.  Peters,  is 
less  than  two  miles  further  south),  born  about  1573,  son  of  Henry  and  Alice ;  died 
161 5,  July  29;  wife  Mary  Russell.  Had  lands  in  Chesham  and  Iver  and  was  lord 
of  the  manor  of  Brudenells.  Children  :  William,  eldest  mentioned  in  grandfather's 
will;  John  born   1594,  died    1623,  married   Sarah  Tredway  ;  Henry,  of  Iver,  died 

1644,  no  children  ;  Anne,  married Winfield ;  Katherine,  married Honner; 

Elizabeth,  mentioned  in  grandfather's  will. 

His  eldest  son,  Henry,  also  of  Oak  End,  Iver,  born  1683,  married  Mary 
Layght,  1702,  May  12,  and  died  1739,  June  21;  she  died  1768,  July  30,  aged  84. 
A  marble  slab  in  the  floor  of  the  church  of  Chalfont,  St.  Giles,  shows  the  place 
of  their  burial  and  bears  the  family  arms.     Their  son,  Thomas,  left  no  son  and  the 

estate  passed  to  his  daughter,  Sarah,  who  married  first, Sewall;  second,  Sir 

Richard  Ellis,  died  1769,  January  19;  third,  Sir  Francis  Dashwood,  Bart.,  born 
December,  1708  (see  Lippincott's  "  History  of  Buckinghamshire,"  Vol.  II.,  p.  22, 
Vol.  III.,  p.  246). 


*This  tablet  contains  the  following  inscription:  "Of  your  charitie  pray  for  the  soul  of 
Rychard  Gold  and  Joan,  his  wife,  which  Ric.  decessed  ye  xxix  day  of  August,  an  1531,  whose 
soul  Jehu  perdon."     (Clutterbuck's  "  History  of  Hertfordshire.") 


l8o  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN     REVOLUTION. 

Iver  is  a  village  near  the  southern  extremity  of  Buckinghamshire,  about  nine 
miles  south  of  Bovington  and  less  than  five  miles  north  of  Windsor.  The  prop- 
erty of  Henry  Gould  was  close  to  the  church  of  Chalfont,  St.  Peter.  Lyson  says, 
in  his  "  Magna  Britannia,"  Vol.  I.,  pp.  585-6,  "  Bishop  Kenneth  supposes  Roger 
de  Iver  to  have  succeeded  to  the  manor  of  Iver  after  Robert  Doiley,  who  pos- 
sessed it  at  the  time  of  the  Norman  survey.  Roger  de  Ivery  and  Robert  Doiley 
were  contemporaries  and  sworn  friends ;  both  came  over  with  William  the  Con- 
queror and  had  large  grants  of  land.  Roger  de  Iveri  had  large  estates  in  the 
County  of  Buckingham,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  he  ever  possessed  this  manor, 
which  in  the  survey  of  Domsday  is  called  Ivre  and  Ivrehan,  being  described  as  the 
property  of  Robert  Doiley,  from  whom  it  passed  with  his  daughter  in  marriage  to 
Milo  Crispin,  and  after  his  death  to  Brien  Fitz-Count,  the  brave  defender  of 
Wallingford  Castle,  who,  we  are  told,  kept  his  Christmas  at  Ivre  in  the  year  1143. 
Having  afterward  entered  into  a  religious  order,  the  king  (Henry  II.)  seized  on  all 
of  his  estates.  *  *  *  The  manor  of  Oak  End,  at  the  northern  extremity  of  this 
parish,  is  now  the  property  and  seat  of  Francis  Sackville  Lloyd,  Esq.,  who  inherits 
it  by  female  descent  from  the  family  of  Gould." 

And  later,  p.  606,  he  says  of  Great  Missenden  :  "  At  this  place  was  an  abbey 
of  block  cannon,  etc.  An  old  register  of  the  convent  dates  its  foundation  in  1  r 33 
{temp.  Henry  I.).  An  ancient  court  book  of  the  manor  says  that  it  was  founded 
by  the  Doyleys  and  augmented  by  the  Missendens  pursuant  to  a  vow.  Sir  William 
de  Missenden  gave  the  manor  of  this  place  to  the  abbey.  *  *  *  The  patronage 
was  afterward  in  the  Brudenells." 

The  author  of  this  book  is  lineally  descended  in  the  maternal  line  from  Nigell 
D'Oyley,  brother  and  successor  of  Robert.  He  left  no  son  and  his  first  American 
paternal  ancestor  came  from  Great  Missenden. 

In  a  letter  from  John  Lane  to  Job  Lane,  dated  1678,  March  3,  and  printed  in 
the  "Genealogical  Register,"  Vol.  XL.,  p.  232,  the  writer  says:  "Mrs.  Mary 
Gould  is  yet  living  and  remains  single  still.  Henry  Gould  is  dead  almost  a  year 
since." 

Charles  A.  Gould,  of  New  York,  visited  the  parish  church,  Chalfont,  St.  Peter, 
in  May,  1897,  and  took  an  exact  copy  of  the  gravestone  over  the  grave  of  Henry 
Gould,  by  placing  a  large  sheet  of  paper  over  the  same  and  taking  a  rubbing  im- 
pression, which  he  has  now  (1899)  in  his  possession.  The  stone  was  in  an  excel- 
lent state  of  preservation,  being  inside  of  the  church  next  to  the  chancel,  the  organ 
covering  a  small  portion  of  it. 

Richard  Gould,  son  of  Richard  and  Jane  (Weeden)  Gould,  was  born  about 
1553.  He  removed  to  the  parish  of  Chesham,  County  Bucks,  where  he  died  in 
1604,  leaving  four  sons — Richard,  Jeremy,  John  and  Zacheus.  Of  these,  Jeremy 
and  Zacheus  removed  to  New  England. 

Zacheus  Gould,  the  American  progenitor  of  the  Topsfield,  Mass  ,  branch  of  the 
family,  of  Hemil  Hempsted,  Great  Missenden,  son  of  Richard  Gould  (3),  was  born 
in  Bovington,  in  1589,  died  at  Topsfield,  Mass.,  1668.  The  exact  date  of  the  arrival 
of  himself  and  family  in  New  England  is  not  definitely  known,  but  the  records 
show  him  to  have  been  at  Weymouth,  Mass.,  as  early  as  1639.  A  little  later  he 
removed  to  Lynn,  where  he  was  proprietor  of  a  mill,  while  as  early  as  1644  he 
appears  at  Topsfield,  Mass.,  where  he  permanently  resided,  acquiring  a  large 
estate  of  some  3,000  acres.     By  his  petition,  dated  May  29,  1644,  Topsfield  was 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  181 

set  off  from  Ipswich  as  a  separate  town.  The  first  building  erected  on  his  estate 
was    a  block-house    for  the   protection   of    the   inhabitants   against    the    Indians. 

Zacheus  Gould  was  a  man  of  strong  personality,  of  decided  convictions, 
zealous  in  maintaining  his  rights,  with  a  strong  sense  of  justice  and  liberal  in  his 
religious  views,  a  trait  of  character  which  the  Puritans  could  never  tolerate.  He 
had  an  altercation  with  Governor  Winthrop  in  regard  to  the  naming  of  Topsfield, 
and  a  suit-at-law  with  Governor  Endicott  respecting  the  boundaries  of  their  adjoin- 
ing estates.  He  maintained  friendly  relations  with  Quakers  and  Baptists,  although 
both  were  proscribed,  and  more  than  once  was  severely  fined  for  entertaining 
Quakers.  Incensed  by  such  persecution  he  thereafter  refused  to  attend  church 
services  and  was  subjected  to  additional  fines  for  this  misdemeanor. 

Almost  the  first,  if  not  the  first,  iron  works  in  America  were  established  in 
1668  or  1669  on  the  lands  of  Zacheus  Gould,  at  Topsfield,  where  the  first  iron 
castings  were  made,  he  and  his  son  John  being  heavy  shareholders  in  the  enter- 
prise.* An  ancient  deed  of  the  transfer  of  the  works  is  in  the  possession  of  Mr. 
Charles  A   Gould,  of  New  York,  of  which  the  following  is  an  abstract: 

December  25,  1670,  Mr.  Gould  quitclaimed  to  "  Simond  Bradstreet  of  And- 
over,  gent.,  John  Ruck  of  Salem,  merchant,  Thomas  Baker  of  Topsfield,  yeoman, 
and  the  rest  of  the  part  owners  of  the  Iron  works  in  Rowley  Village,  of  whom 
the  grantor  is  one,  *  *  *  all  that  my  p'cel  of  upland  and  arable  ground  *  *  *  in 
Rowley  Village  containing  *  *  *  eighty  acres  *  *  *  on  p'  whereof  the  said  iron 
works  now  standeth,  bounded  by  a  walnutt  tree  growing  by  the  brook,  commonly 
called  the  fishing  brook,  so  up  to  a  bastion  tree  bounded  with  ye  land  of  Samuel 
Simonds  on  the  southeast,  and  from  ye  bastion  tree  upon  a  straite  line  to  a  poplar 
tree  standing  west,  or  to  the  northward  of  the  west,  bounded  with  the  land  of 
ye  sd  John  Gould,  and  from  the  poplar  tree  upon  a  straite  line  to  a  poplar  stake 
&  heape  of  stones  by  it,  east  or  to  the  northward  of  the  east  bounded  with  ye  land 
of  ye  sd  John  Gould  &  John  Newmarsh  and  soe  downe  as  the  pond  goeth  to  the 
walnut  tree  againe."  The  consideration  for  this  land  was  £22  10s.  Masses  of 
slag  may  still  be  found  here.  The  bog-ore  used  was  dug  from  meadows  in 
Danvers,  Ipswich,  Boxford,  Middletown,  Topsfield  and  Saugus.  Four  shillings 
and  sixpence  was  the  price  paid  per  ox-cart  load. 

"  Upon  consideration  that  Henry  Leonard  the  lessee,  is  behind  of  paying  a 
great  p'  of  the  last  year's  rent  and  little  or  no  stock  provided,  and  that  the  sayd 
Leonard  hath  left  the  sd  works  and  is  fled  for  debt,  and  hath  left  them  in  great 
danger  to  be  burnt  and  lost,  there  being  no  care  taken  to  prevent  danger  of  fire  by 
reason  of  the  defects  of  the  chimneys,  &c  ,  and  of  the  dam  by  breaches,  &c.  It 
is  therefore  agreed  and  concluded  That  forthwith  there  be  a  reentry  made  of 
the  house  and  works,  with  all  the  appurtenances  thereunto  belonging,  and  to  take 
into  possession  of  the  said  owners.  And  mr.  Bradstreet,  maior  Gn  Denison,  mr. 
Rucke,  Ens.  John  Gould  and  corp'l  Putnam,  or  any  two  of  them  are  desired,  and 
hereby  empowered  to  make  a  reentry  thereof  in  the  name,  and  for  the  use  of  the 
rest  of  the  owners  and  to  proceed  according  to  law  with  any  that  may  oppose 
the  same  which  wee  will  approve  and  justifie  as  wittnes  our  hands  this  31:1:  '74- 

"  Also  it  is  referd  to  the  above  sd  part  owners  or  any  2  or  3  of  them  to 


*See 
-Essex  Institute 


Mining   and  Quarrying  and  Smelting  of    Ores  in   Boxford,"  by  Sidney  Peeley. 


182  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

let  out  the  said  works,  or  to  take  care  for  the  improveing  of  them  by  procureing 
coale  &  myne  &  hireing  workmen  to  make  iron  by  the  tun  and  to  do  what  elce 
they  judg  nessesary  for  the  good  &  advantage  of  the  owners,  and  what  is  necessary 
to  be  disbursed  about  the  same,  every  owner  is  to  pay  and  beare  his  proportionable 
pt  of  charges  and  disbursements. 

"Simon  Bradstreete,  Daniel  Denison, 

"John  Rucke,  John  Gould, 

"Nathaniell  Putnam,  John  Putnam, 

"John  Safford,  John  Wilde, 

"Thomas  Andrews. 
"  Memorandum  that  this  6th  day  of  April,  1674,  the  owners  of  the  above  sd 
Iron  works  had  lawfull  and  quiett  possession  resigned  and  delivered  to  them  of 
the  house,  works  and  all  appurtenances  thereunto  belonging,  and  did  accordingly 
make  there  reentry,  and  tooke  what  then  was  in  being  or  to  be  found  into  there 
possession,  as  in  former  times  &  had  the  lease  formerly  made  to  Henry  Leonard 
delivered  up  by  his  wife  to  the  said  owners  in  the  presence  of 

"  Edmond  Bridges,         John  Bridges, 
"  Daniell  Block,  and  (a  marke.") 

Rev.  William  Hubbard,  the  historian,  of  New  England,  writing  in  or  about 
1680,  mentions  the  business  here.  He  says :  "  As  the  country  had  hitherto  begun 
to  nourish  in  most  English  manufactories,  so  liberty  was  this  year  (1645)  granted 
to  make  iron,  for  which  purpose  a  work  was  set  up  at  Lynn,  upon  a  very  commo- 
dious stream,  which  was  very  much  promoted,  and  strenuously  carried  on  for 
some  considerable  time;  but  at  length,  instead  of  drawing  out  bars  of  iron  for  the 
country's  use,  there  was  nothing  but  contentions  and  law  suits,  which  was  but  a 
bad  return  for  the  undertaking.  However,  it  gave  occasion  to  others  to  acquaint 
themselves  with  that  skill,  to  the  great  advantage  of  the  colonies,  who  have  since 
that  time  found  out  many  convenient  places  where  very  good  iron,  not  much 
inferior  to  that  of  Bilboa,  may  be  produced,  as  at  this  day  is  seen  in  a  village  near 
Topsfield." 

These  iron  works  afterward  came  into  possession  of  Capt.  John  Gould.  A 
deed  from  Capt.  John  Gould,  dated  May  21,  1686,  transferring  about  2,000  acres 
of  land,  including  the  iron  works,  to  his  sons,  is  now  in  possession  of  Mr.  Charles 
A.  Gould,  of  New  York. 

Zaccheus  Gould,   by   his  wife,  Phebe  ( ),  had  issue:     Phebe,   Mary  and 

Martha,  born  at  Hemel  Hempstead,  England,  and  Priscilla  and  John  at  Great 
Messenden. 

Capt.  John  Gould,  only  son  of  Zaccheus  and  Phebe  ( )  Gould,  was  born 

at  Great  Messenden,  England,  June  21,  1635;  died  at  Topsfield,  Mass.,  in  1710. 
He  was  made  a  freeman  in  1665,  yet  was  chosen  selectman  of  Topsfield  in  1663, 
continuing  in  office  for  fifteen  years.  In  1675-6  he  was  a  member  of  the  "  Three- 
County  Troop,"  which  served  during  King  Philip's  War.  In  1688  he  commanded 
the  Topsfield  militia  and  was  perhaps  the  most  outspoken  of  all  the  patriots  in 
opposing  the  arbitrary  government  which  James  II.  sought  to  impose  upon  the 
New  England  colonies  under  Dudley  and  Sir  Edmund  Andros. 

Upon  a  warrant  of  August  5,  1686,  issued  on  "information  *  *  *  of  several 
treasonable  and  seditious  words  spoken  by  John  Gould,  of  Topsfield,  against  our 


SONS   OF    THE  AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  183 

Sovereign  Lord  the  King,"*  Mr.  Gould  was  arrested  and  lodged  in  Boston  jail.  In 
a  presentment  found  against  him  by  the  Court  of  Special  Sessions,  August  19,  1686, 
he  is  described  as  "John  Gould,  Sen.,  otherwise  called  Lieut.  Gould,  of  Topsfield." 
and  it  is  asserted  that  "  at  a  Riotous  Muster  of  armed  men  gathered  together  by 
him,  the  aforesaid  John  Gould  as  their  pretended  officer  at  Topsfield  *  *  *  he, 
the  said  John  Gould,  *  *  *  did  against  the  duty  of  his  Allegiance,  and  in  terror 
of  his  Majesty's  liege  people,  maliciously,  wickedly,  treasonably  and  advisedly 
speak  and  utter  these  malicious,  treasonable  and  seditious  speeches  following,  viz.: 
'  If  the  County  was  of  his  mind  they  would  keep  Salem  Court  with  the  former 
Magistrates,  and  if  the  County  would  go  the  rounds  he  would  make  the  first,  and 
would  go  on  and  keep  Salem  Court,  and  would  have  his  company  down  to  do  it.' 
And  further,  he,  the  said  John  Gould  *  *  *  maliciously,  advisedly  and  treasonably 
did  say  and  utter  these  malicious  treasonable  and  seditious  words  following,  viz.: 
That  he  'was  under  another  Government  and  had  sworn  to  another  Government, 
and  did  not  know  this  government,  and  this  in  manifest  contempt  of  his  Majesty's 
laws  and  Government  here  in  New  England,  to  the  evil  and  pernicious  example  of 
all  others  in  the  like  case  offending,  and  against  the  peace  of  our  said  Sovereign 
Lord   the   King,  his  Crown  and  dignity.'  " 

Capt.  Gould  was  released  August  25,  1686,  with  the  imposition  of  a  heavy 
fine.  Three  years  later,  in  1689,  with  the  advent  of  William,  Prince  of  Orange, 
Gov.  Andros  was  apprehended  and  banished  from  the  colony;  while  in  1690, 
under  the  ensuing  liberal  government,  Capt.  Gould  was  elected  deputy  from  Tops- 
field  to  the  General  Court,  and  subsequently  twice  reelected.  It  is  said  of  him 
that  "  his  literary  qualifications  were  good  ;  he  wrote  a  very  good  hand  in  the 
fashion  of  the  day  in  which  he  lived."  He  died  in  the  seventy-fifth  year  of  his 
age,  leaving  the  reputation  of  an  honorable,  public-spirited  and  religious  man, 
morally  as  well  as  physically  brave,  and  of  sterling  integrity.  He  married  Sarah 
(born  March  9,  165 1;  died  January  20,  1708),  daughter  of  John  Baker,  and  had 
issue,  John,  Sarah,  Thomas,  Samuel,  Zaccheus,  Priscilla,  Joseph,  Mary. 

Zaccheus  Gould  (2),  fourth  son  and  fifth  child  of  John  and  Sarah  (Baker) 
Gould,  was  born  March  26,  1672;  died  April  29,  1739.  He  was  selectman  for 
many  years.  He  married,  January  21,  1701,  Elizabeth  (born  December  15,  1679; 
died  June  21,  1740),  daughter  of  John  Curtice,  and  had  issue,  Elizabeth,  Mary, 
Priscilla,  John,  Sarah,  Abigail,  Zaccheus,  Elieser,  Susannah. 

Ellezer  Gould,  eighth  child  and  second  son  of  Zaccheus  and  Elizabeth 
(Curtice)  Gould,  was  born  in  Topsfield,  Mass.,  May  29,  1720.  He  served  in  the 
French  and  Indian  war  and  accompanied  the  expedition  against  Ticonderoga  and 
Crown  Point,  1758.  He  moved,  in  1761,  to  Douglass,  Mass.  He  married,  first, 
Elizabeth  Smith  (born  July  8,  1718,  died  March  27,  1753),  daughter  of  Samuel 
and  Rebecca  Smith;  married,  second,  February  25,  1755,  Phebe  Gould  (born 
September  22,  1716),  daughter  of  John  Gould,  of  Boxford.  By  his  second  wife 
he  had  Bezaliel,  Jedediah,  Aholiab  and  Ebenezer. 

BEZALIEL  GOULD,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Eliezer  and 
Phebe  Gould,  was  born  in  Topsfield,  Mass.,  July  4,  1756;  died  March  iS,  181S. 
It  is  noteworthy  as  a  patriot  that  his  birthday  preceded  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence by  just  twenty  years.     His  first  service  in  the  Revolution  was  as  private 


fMass.  Hist.  Col.,  Series  3,  vii.,  150. 


1 84  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

in  Capt.  Bartholomew  Woodbury's  company,  of  Douglass,  Mass.,  Col.  Learned's 
regiment,  December  9,  1775;  also  served  in  Capt.  Job  Knapp's  company,  Doug- 
lass, Mass.,  Col.  Nathaniel  Tyler's  regiment,  July  27,  1780-95;  he  was  also  lieuten- 
ant of  militia  at  Woodstock,  Conn.  He  lived  in  Douglass  until  1790  and  then 
moved  to  Woodstock,  Conn.  He  married,  first,  Bathsheba  Robinson  (born 
March  3,  1761,  died  November  2,  1803)  daughter  of  Silas  and  Susannah  (Moore) 
Robinson;  married,  second,  January  13,  1805,  Dinah  (born  December  5,  1758, 
died  August  16,  1851),  widow  of  Moses  Hill,  and  sister  of  his  first  wife.  He  had 
issue  by  his  first  wife,  Reuben,  Ophir,  Otis,  Claressa,  William,  Phebe,  Bathsheba, 
Susannah,  Sophia,  Silas,  Calvin. 

Ophir  Gould,  son  of  Bezaliel  and  Bathsheba  (Robinson)  Gould,  was  born  in 
Douglass,  Mass..  March  27,  1781,  He  moved  with  his  parents  to  Woodstock. 
He  moved  to  Sand  Lake,  Rensselaer  County,  N.  Y.,  and  later  to  East  Pembroke, 
Genessee  County,  N.  Y.  He  married,  first,  Rhoda  Marcy,  daughter  of  Jedediah 
Marcy,  son  of  Jedediah  (2),  son  of  Jedediah  (1),  son  of  Moses,  son  of  John  Marcy, 
the  ancestor. 

The  name  appears  to  have  come  into  Normandy  with  Rollo,  A.  D.  912  (it 
was  then  Von  Marcy),  thence  went  to  England  with  William  the  Conqueror,  A.  D. 
1068,  and  became  very  common  in  Cheshire,  where  the  orthography  is  now  univer- 
sally Massey  or  Marsie.  In  the  patents  of  King  John,  A.  D.  1208,  mention  is 
made  of  one  Radius  de  Marcy. 

John  Marcy,  of  Woodstock,  Conn.,  was  born  in  1662.  Tradition  says  that 
he  was  the  son  of  the  High  Sheriff  of  Limerick,  Ireland.  He  joined  Elliott's 
church  in  Roxbury,  and  later  moved  to  Woodstock,  Conn.,  of  which  he  was  one 
of  the  original  thirteen  founders.  He  married  Sarah,  daughter  of  James  and 
Sarah  (Draper)  Hadlock,  of  Roxbury,  Mass.  Sarah  Draper,  the  wife  of  James 
Hadlock,  was  probably  the  daughter  of  James  Draper,  born  in  Roxbury,  Mass., 
1654,  died  there  April  30,  1698,  who  was  a  soldier  in  King  Philip's  war  (married, 
February  18,  1681,  Abigail  Whiting,  granddaughter  of  John  Dwight,  from  whom 
President  Dwight,  of  Yale  College,  descended),  son  of  James  Draper,  born  in 
Heptonstall,  England,  1618;  died  in  Roxbury,  Mass.,  1694;  came  to  America 
about  1650  and  became  a  manufacturer  of  cloth,  owning  a  number  of  looms;  son 
of  Thomas  Draper,  of  Heptonstall,  England,  a  cloth  manufacturer.  John  Marcy 
had  eleven  children,  of  whom  Moses  was  the  sixth  son  and  seventh  child. 

Moses  Marcy,  sixth  son  and  seventh  child  of  John  and  Sarah  (Hadlock) 
Marcy,  was  born  in  Woodstock,  Conn.,  April  18,  1702.  In  1732  he  moved  with 
his  family  of  five  children  to  what  is  now  Southbridge,  Mass.,  but  at  that  time 
almost  a  wilderness.  He  erected  a  saw  mill  in  1732,  and  a  grist  mill  in  1736.  At 
the  time  of  the  incorporation  of  the  region  into  the  town  of  Southbridge,  Mass.,  he 
was  proprietor  of  925  acres  of  land.  He  was  commissioned  by  the  General  Court 
to  call  the  first  town  meeting  and  was  moderator  of  seventy-two  consecutive 
meetings.  He  was  the  first  representative  of  the  town  at  the  General  Court.  He 
was  eight  years  town  treasurer,  eighteen  years  town  clerk,  and  selectman  thirty- 
one  years,  holding  at  different  periods  some  of  them  at  the  same  time.  During 
the  French  and  Indian  war  he  fitted  out  soldiers  several  times  at  his  own  expense, 
the  amount  being  afterwards  reimbursed  by  the  town.  As  Justice  of  the  Peace 
he  united  in  marriage,  from  1755  to  1776,  fifty-five  couples.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
church  held  March  18,  1752,  he  was  moderator,  and  the  historian  of  the  town 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  185 

refers  to  him  as  "the  excellent  spirit  displayed  by  the  excellent  and  venerable 
moderator."  He  died  October  9,  1779.  He  married  Prudence  Morris,  daughter  of 
Samuel  Morris,  son  of  Lieut.  Edward  Morris  (2),  born  at  Roxbury,  1658-9,  died  at 
Woodstock,  Conn.,  August  29,  1726,  son,  of  Edward  Morris  (1),  born  at  Waltham, 
near  Nazing,  England,  about  1630,  died  at  Woodstock,  1689;  selectman,  deputy 
to  General  Court  and  prominent  in  settling  Woodstock.  He  was  the  progenitor 
of  Commodore  Charles  Morris,  executive  officer  of  the  frigate  Constitution  in  the 
fight  with  the  Guerriere,  and  of  George  Upham  Morris,  son  of  Charles,  who  com- 
manded the  Cumberland,  sunk  by  the  Merrimac  in  Hampden  Roads,  March  9, 
1862.  By  his  marriage  to  Prudence  Morris.  Moses  Marcy  had  issue.  Dorothy, 
Jedediah,  Moses,  Elijah,  Prudence,  Mary,  Daniel,  Martha,  Merriam,  Mehitable. 

Jedediah  Marcy,  son  of  Moses  and  Prudence  (Morris)  Marcy,  was  born  Sep- 
tember 1,  1725.  An  inventory  of  his  estate  was  filed  for  probate  at  Worcester, 
Mass.,  September  17,  1799,  by  Nathaniel  Healy.  John  Harding,  Joshua  Harding 
and  Salem  Town  were  appointed  commissioners,  and  they  filed  their  report  March 
26,  1S01.  After  paying  preferred  debts  they  had  $224.27  to  pay  $1,047.55,  due 
William  Simpson,  of  Charleston,  S.  C,  merchant,  executor  of  the  will  of  Jonathan 
Simpson,  late  of  Bristol,  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain.  Jedediah  Marcy  married, 
December  1,  1748,  Mary  Healy,  of  Dudley,  Mass.,  and  had  issue,  Joseph,  Jedediah, 
died  soon,  Jedediah  again,  Mary,  Rhoda,  Daniel. 

Jedediah  Marcy  (2),  son  of  Jedediah  (1)  and  Mary  (Healy)  Marcy,  was  born 
July  26,  1757.  He  purchased  of  his  father  at  Dudley,  Mass.,  400  acres,  being  a 
part  of  the  original  estate  of  his  grandfather,  Moses,  the  purchase  price  being 
_£r,ooo  or  about  $3,333.  This  is  now  occupied  by  the  central  part  of  South- 
bridge.  He  married,  March  1,  1782,  Ruth  Larned.  and  had  issue,  Rhoda,  who 
married,  August  21,  1782,  Ophir  Gould,  of  Woodstock. 

Ophir  Gould,  by  his  wife,  Rhoda  Marcy,  had  issue,  Caroline,  Jedediah,  Otis, 
Ilura,  Ruth,  William,  Mary,  Zene,  Anne. 

Jedediah  Gould,  eldest  son  of  Ophir  and  Rhoda  (Marcy)  Gould,  was  born 
November  7,  1804;  died  at  East  Pembroke,  Genessee  County,  N.  Y.,  May  22, 
1869.  He  married  Nancy  Chamberlain,  of  Alton,  N.  H.,  (born  April  3.  1806,  died 
February  14,  1889),  daughter  of  Deacon  Joseph  and  Hannah  (Davies)  Chamber- 
lain, son  of  Jacob  (2),  of  Lieut.  William  (2),  of  Jacob  (1),  son  of  William  (1). 

William  Chamberlain,  the  American  ancestor  of  this  family,  was  born  in 
England,  perhaps  in  Essex  County,  in  1620.  He  was  probably  a  descendant  of 
the  family  of  Chamberlayne,  which  derived  from  the  Norman  Counts  of  Tanker- 
ville  and  maintained  for  a  long  series  of  years  a  leading  position  in  the  various 
countries  in  which  it  was  established.  The  chief  line  were  the  Chamberlaynes  of 
Sherborne,  in  Oxfordshire,  from  which  derived,  through  a  younger  son,  the  cele- 
brated Sir  Thomas  Chamberlayne,  of  Prince  Thorpe  and  Presbury,  a  distinguished 
diplomatist  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  Edward  VI„  Queen  Mary  and  Queen 
Elizabeth.  This  family  bore  on  their  shield  the  motto  :  "  Prudesse  quam  conspici" 
—"To   do  good    rather  than   to    be  conspicuous"   [Burke's   "  Landed  Gentry "]. 

William  Chamberlain  first  appears  in  New  England  in  1648,  at  Woburn, 
Mass.,  where  the  town  voted  to  admit  him  an  inhabitant  thereof.  He  soon 
removed  to  Billerica,  where  he  became  one  of  the  fourteen  petitioners  for  the 
incorporation  of  that  town  in  1654.  He  purchased  of  the  three  proprietors  of 
the  Dudley  farm  of  1,500  acres  in  Billerica  (one  of  the  proprietors  being  Thomas 


1 86 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN     REVOLUTION. 


Chamberlain,  of  Chelmsford),   125  acres  about    1656,  but  his  deed  was  given  in 
1655.     He  was  a  husbandman,  had  thirteen  children;  died  at  Billerica,  May  31, 

1706,  aged  86  years.     He  married  Rebecca and  had,  among  other  children,  a 

son,  Jacob. 

Jacob  Chamberlain,  son  of  William  and  Rebecca  Chamberlain,  was  born  at 
Billerica,  Mass.,  November  18,  1657  (Jan.  18,  1657-'$%).  He  removed  to  Medford, 
Mass.,  where  he  was  taxed  for  the  years  i686-'87  and  '91.  He  was  living  in  the 
second   precinct  of  Cambridge   (now   Arlington),   1695.     He  married  Experience 

,  about    1690.     In   1699  he  bought    120  acres   with   buildings  near  Oak  Hill 

(now  Ward  V.),  Newton,  Mass.,  where  he  lived   until   his   death,  April    11,  1712. 
By  his  wife  Experience,  he  had  a  son,   William. 


J 


JEDEDIAH     GOULD. 


William  Chamberlain,  son  of  Jacob  and  Experience  ( )  Chamberlain,  was 

born  in  the  second  precinct  of  Cambridge,  Mass.,  between  1693  and  1699.  He 
first  settled  at  Dover,  about  17 18,  in  a  place  called  "  Littleworth,"  about  five 
miles  from  the  compact  part  of  the  city  of  Dover,  where  he  was  living  in  1720. 
He  was  on  the  extreme  outskirts  of  the  town,  and  when  fears  of  an  Indian  attack 
recurred  he  sold  his  farm  in  1724,  returned  to  Newton,  Mass.,  where  he  bought  a 
farm  in  1725  and  lived  until  1729.  He  then  sold  at  Newton  and  returned  to 
Dover,  where  he  purchased  several  lots  at  Dover  Neck  and  lived  there  until  1732. 
He  exchanged  this  property  with  his  wife's  uncle  for  two  whole  shares  of  land  in 
the  new  township  of  Rochester,  at  which  place  he  was  living  in  1733.  He  was  a 
large  land  owner  in  Rochester,  which  then  included  the  present  town  together 
with  Farmington  and  Milton.  He  was  a  man  of  some  education,  wrote  a  fine 
hand,  as  shown  by  his  records  as  town  clerk  for  the  years  i744-'45.  He  was 
selectman  and  an  influential  member  of  the  first   parish  of  Rochester.     He  fre- 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  187 

quently  wrote  petitions  to  the  General  Assembly  of  New  Hampshire.  He  was 
lieutenant  of  a  company  to  defend  the  town  from  Indian  attacks  in  1746.  He  was 
a  man  of  considerable  wealth  which  he  divided  among  his  children.  He  married 
Mary,  daughter  of  Capt.  Samuel  and  Dorothy  (Tuttle)  Tibbets.  He  was  the  son 
of  Jeremy  Tibbets,  born  in  England,  1631  ;  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Thomas 
Cunning.  Jeremy  was  the  son  of  Henry  Tibbets,  who  came  from  London  in 
1635,  aged  39,  with  Eliza,  aged  39,  and  Remembrance,  aged  28.  "One  of  them," 
says  Savage,  "  may  have  been  his  wife  and  the  other  a  sister."  He  settled  in 
Dover,  1643.     William  Chamberlain,  by  his  wife,  Mary  Tibbets,  had  a  son,  Jacob. 

Jacob  Chamberlain,  son  of  William  and  Mary  (Tibbets)  Chamberlain,  was 
born  at  Rochester,  N.  H.,  May  18,  1738,  baptized  June  ?$  following.  He  removed 
to  New  Durham  Cove  in  1770,  where  he  became  one  of  the  first  settlers  in  that 
township,  now  known  as  Alton,  N.  H.  He  was  a  man  of  good  judgment  and 
business  capacity,  serving  his  town  many  years  as  selectman  and  town  clerk.  He 
was  a  man  of  good  education,  as  indicated  by  the  records.  In  the  deeds,  of  which 
there  are  many,  he  is  styled  "  gentleman."  He  lived  on  a  beautiful  ridge  in  the 
extreme  northern  part  of  Alton,  where  he  died  October  25,  181 5.  He  married 
probably  at  Rochester,  N.  H.,  Alice  Rollins,  daughter  of  Edward  and  Elizabeth 
(Nutter)  Rollins,  and  had  issue,  Joseph. 

Deacon  Joseph  Chamberlain,  son  of  Jacob  and  Alice  (Rollins)  Chamberlain, 
was  born  at  Rochester,  N.  H..  November  n,  1766;  baptized  in  First  Parish, 
Rochester,  May  3,  1767;  died  November  27,  1837,  aged  71  years  and  one  month. 
He  was  a  farmer  and  was  deacon  of  the  Congregational  church  at  Barnstead, 
N.  H.  He  married,  at  Rochester,  October  14,  1790,  Hannah,  daughter  of  Eleazer 
and  Sallie  (Cook)  Davies,  of  New  Durham  Cove,  now  Alton.  He  had  a  daughter, 
Nancy,  who  became  the  wife  of  Jedediah  Gould. 

Jedediah  Gould,  by  his  wife,  Nancy  (Chamberlain)  Gould,  had  issue,  William 
Wallace,  Hara,  Amanda,  Helen,  Thomas,  Orland  and  Albert  J. 

William  Wallace  Gould,  eldest  child  of  Jedediah  and  Nancy  (Chamberlain) 
Gould,  was  born  at  East  Pembroke,  Genessee  County,  N.  Y.,  March  7,  1826.  He 
married,  October  27,  1847,  Electa  M.  Pratt,  daughter  of  Alfred  Pratt,  son  of 
Ebenezer,  son  of  Jonathan,  son  of  Joseph  (3),  son  of  Joseph  (2),  son  of  Joseph  (1), 
son  of  Matthew. 

Of  the  ten  or  more  persons  of  the  name  of  Pratt  who  settled  in  New  England 
between  1 621  and  1650,  little  is  known  except  those  of  Matthew,  of  Weymouth, 
and  Lieut.  William,  of  Cambridge,  Mass.,  Hartford  and  Saybrook,  Conn.  The 
similarity  of  names  which  appear  among  the  descendants  of  both  the  above  named, 
especially  those  of  Aaron,  Phineas,  Joseph,  William,  etc.,  would  justify  the  belief 
that  they  may  have  been  related.  The  name  is  variously  spelled  in  ancient  writings 
thus-Pratt,  Prat,  Pradt,  De  Pradt,  Du  Pre,  etc.,  it  being  derived  from  the  Latin 
Pratum,  a  meadow,  hence  the  motto—"  Rident  Jlorentia  prata  "  ("  The  flowering 
meadows  smile").  The  family  is  one  of  great  antiquity,  the  name  appearing  in 
the  roll  of  Battle  Abbey  as  accompanying  William  the  Conqueror  at  the  battle  of 
Hastings.  In  1096  Le  Sire  de  Preaux  and  his  kinsman  William  de  Preaux  accom- 
panied Duke  Robert  Courte  Hare,  of  Normandy,  to  the  first  crusade.  The  latter 
bore  on  his  shield-gules  an  eagle  or,  a  baton,  barry,  argent  and  azure.  John 
de  Pratellis  was  a  favorite  minister  of  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion.  Peter  de  Pratellis 
and  his  brother  William  distinguished  themselves  at  the  siege  of  Acre,  A.  D.  1192. 


188  SONS   OF   THE    AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

In  a  manuscript,  No.  5,520,  of  the  British  Museum,  is  a  "Pedigree  of  Pratt,  for- 
merly of  the  County  of  Devon  but  now  of  Siale  and  Chiselhurst,  in  the  County  of 
Kent,  beginning  with  Sir  John  Pratt,  Knight,  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  the  King,"  etc. 

Matthew  Pratt,  the  ancestor  of  the  Pratts  of  Weymouth,  Bridgewater,  etc., 
settled  in  Weymouth  before  1620,  as  the  records  show  that  he  married  there  and 
had  a  son  born  before  that  date.  He  died  there  August  29,  1672.  He  married 
Elizabeth  Bate  and  had  seven  children,  of  whom  Joseph  was  the  fifth. 

Joseph  Pratt  (1),  son  of  Matthew  and  Elizabeth  (Bates)  Pratt,  was  born  June 
10,  1637  ;  died  December  24,  1720.  He  was  prominent  in  town  and  church  affairs. 
He  married,  May  7,  1662,  Sarah  Judkins  (born  1638,  died  Jan.  14,  1726),  and  had 
eight  children,  of  whom  Joseph  (2)  was  the  eldest. 

Joseph  Pratt  (2),  son  of  Joseph  (1)  and  Sarah  (Judkins)  Pratt,  was  born  Feb- 
ruary 2,  1665;  died  January  14,  1765.  The  Boston  News  Letter  of  January  31, 
1765,  states  that  "  on  the  fourteenth  of  this  month  died  at  Bridgewater,  Joseph 
Pratt,  aged  100  years.  A  man  of  good  character  and  religious  profession.  He 
had  twenty  children  by  his  first  wife  but  none  by  his  second,  who  still  survives 
him,  about  90  years  of  age."  He  lived  in  Weymouth  for  about  forty  years  and 
held  some  town  offices.  In  1704-5  he  removed  to  Bridgewater,  where  he  also 
held  positions  of  trust — on  the  Grand  Jury,  February  17,  1720,  selectman  1739. 
He  married,  first,  Sarah  Benson,  of  Hull,  by  whom  he  had  twenty  children,  the 
eldest  of  whom,  mentioned  in  his  will,  was  Joseph  (3). 

Joseph  Pratt  (3),  son  of  Joseph  (2)  ;  "-rah  (Benson)  Pratt,  was  born  in 
Weymouth  probably  before  1690.  He  lived  in  Bridgewater,  was  surveyor  of 
highways,  tithingman,  etc.  He  married,  first,  December  9,  1712,  Lydia  Leonard, 
daughter  probably  of  Jacob  Leonard,  of  Bridgewater  (born  1647,  died  1 7 1 7 )  son 
of  Solomon,  born  at  Monmouthshire,  England,  about  16 10,  died  at  Bridgewater, 
1675;  came  to  America  from  Leyden,  Holland,  about  1630;  was  in  Plymouth, 
Mass.;  settled  at  Duxbury  before  1637;  an  original  proprietor  of  Bridgewater, 
1645  ;  married  Mary .  The  title  of  Lord  Dacre  belongs  to  the  English  Leon- 
ards. It  is  noteworthy  that  Thomas  Barrett-Leonard,  seventeenth  Baron  Dacre, 
married  Anne  Maria,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Pratt,  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  the  King's 
Bench.  Joseph  Pratt  married,  second,  Alice  Hayward,  daughter  of  Deacon 
Thomas  Hayward.  He  had  seven  children  by  his  first  wife,  of  whom  Jonathan 
was  the  second. 

Jonathan  Pratt,  second  child  of  Joseph  (3)  and  Lydia  (Leonard)  Pratt,  was 
born  in  1720;  died  March  13,  1775.  He  married,  November  11,  1740,  Effie  French, 
daughter  of  Eben  French,  of  Bridgewater.  They  had  eight  children,  of  whom 
Ebenezer  was  the  youngest. 

Ebenezer  Pratt,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Jonathan  and  Effie 
(French)  Pratt,  was  born  in  Bridgewater,  Mass.,  1757.  He  became  early  a  soldier 
of  the  Revolution  and  marched  with  the  troops  from  Bridgewater,  April  19,  1775, 
in  Capt.  Nathan  Mitchell's  company;  time  of  service,  eight  months.  In  1784  he 
moved  to  Wales,  Mass.,  where  he  died  February  2,  1805.  He  married  Charity 
Besse  and  had  issue,  Otis,  Sophia,  Charity,  Eben,  Sally,  Aljred,  Lodesa  and  Diana. 
Aljred  Pratt,  second  child  of  Ebenezer  and  Charity  (Besse)  Pratt,  was  born 
June  22,  1785  ;  died  January  3,  1875.  He  was  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  western 
New  York  and  lived  at  Alexander,  Genessee  County,  N.  Y.  He  married  Lucinda 
Moulton,  and  their  daughter,  Electa   M.  Pratt,  was   married  to  William  Wallace 


SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  189 

Gould.  Lucinda  Moulton,  the  wife  of  Alfred  Pratt,  was  the  daughter  of  Daniel 
Moulton,  son  of  Freeborn,  son  of  Robert  (4),  son  of  Robert  (3),  son  of  Robert  (2), 
son  of  Robert  (1),  the  ancestor. 

Robert  Moulton,  was  the  leading  master  shipwright  in  Salem,  Mass.,  in  1629. 
He  was  representative  at  the  first  court  in  Charlestown,  1634,  and  held  command 
under  Parliament.  He  was  in  the  Royal  Navy  in  1636.  He  died  in  Salem,  1655. 
The  name  of  his  wife  is  not  given,  but  he  left  two  children,  Robert  (2)  and  Dorothy. 

Robert  Moulton  (2),  son  of  Robert  Moulton  (1),  married  in  1640,  Abigail 
Goade,  of  Salem,  a  niece  of  Emanuel  Downing,  who  married  Governor  Winthrop's 
sister,  Lucy.  The  issue  of  this  marriage  was  nine  children,  of  whom  Robert  (3) 
was  the  second. 

Robert  Moulton  (3),  son  of  Robert  (2)  and  Abigail  (Goade)  Moulton,  was 
born  in  1644.  He  married  Mary  Cooke,  daughter  of  Henry  and  Judith  (Birdsall) 
Cooke,  July  17,  1672.  Robert  Moulton  died  at  the  home  of  his  son  Robert  (2)  in 
Brimfield,  in  1725,  aged  Si  years.  They  had  four  children,  of  whom  the  second 
was  Robert  (4). 

Robert  Moulton  (4),  son  of  Robert  (3)  and  Mary  (Cook)  Moulton,  was  born 
March  7,  1675.  He  lived  in  Salem  until  1705;  moved  to  Windham,  Conn.,  and 
lived  there  until  1725,  removing  thence  to  Brimfield,  Mass.,  where  he  was  a  very 
active  and  influential  citizen,  holding  many  offices  of  trust.  He  was  the  first 
representative  of  that  town  in  the  Colonial  Legislature  after  the  town  was  incor- 
porated in  1730;  also  first  selectm-  1  town  clerk  for  several  years.  He  died  in 
Brimfield  at  an  advanced  age.  He  was  married,  April  11,  1698,  by  Rev.  John 
Hale,  to  Hannah  Groves,  of  Beverley,  Mass.  It  is  probable  that  he  had  a  second 
wife,  Freeborn  Wolfe,  supposed  to  have  been  born  on  the  ocean  on  the  passage 
to  America,  hence  the  name,  Freeborn.  They  had  issue,  twelve  children,  of 
whom  Freeborn  was  the  eleventh. 

Freeborn  Houlton,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Robert  (4)  and 
Hannah  (Groves)  or  Freeborn  (Wolfe)  Moulton — this  is  tradition  — was  born  in 
Windham,  Conn.,  April  3,  1 7 1 7  ;  removed  to  Brimfield,  Mass.,  with  his  father  in 
1725.  He  married  Rebecca  Walker,  of  Union,  Conn.,  and  settled  in  Munson, 
Mass.,  where  he  purchased  a  tract  of  land  four  miles  square.  Near  the  centre  of 
this  property  he  built,  in  1763,  the  famous  old  Moulton  house  on  Moulton  Hill, 
which  remained  until  1895,  when  it  was  torn  down,  having  been  sold  out  of  the 
family.  He  divided  the  property  with  his  sons  who,  with  one  exception,  settled 
around  him.  Although  advanced  in  years  he  served  in  the  Revolutionary  War ; 
responded  to  the  "  Lexington  Alarm,"  April  19,  1775,  as  captain  in  Col.  Daniel- 
son's  (Danulson's)  regiment,  forming  in  Boston  or  Cambridge.  He  died  at  an 
advanced  age,  leaving  the  homestead  to  his  son,  Daniel.  He  had  eleven  children, 
of  whom  Daniel  was  the  tenth. 

Daniel  Moulton,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  tenth  child  of  Freeborn 
and  Rebecca  (Walker)  Moulton,  was  born  at  Munson,  Mass.,  March  12,  1762; 
died  there  in  March,  1849.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  enlisted,  July  12,  1779,  in 
Capt.  Joshua  Shaw's  company,  Col.  Elisha  Shaw's  Sixth  Hamden  County  regi- 
ment, and  served  at  New  London,  Conn.,  for  a  few  weeks.  He  taught  school  for 
forty  years  and  held  office  many  times  in  his  native  town.  He  married  Abigail 
Blodgett  (born  in  Stafford,  Conn.,  March  12,  1762),  daughter  of  Joshua  Blodgett, 
who  married  Hannah  Alden,  daughter  of  Daniel,  son  of  Deacon  Joseph,  son  of 
Joseph,  son  of  John  Alden,  of  the  Mayflower. 


190  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

John  Alden,  seventh  signer  of  the  Mayflower  Compact,  was  born  in  England, 
1599;  died  at  Duxbury,  Mass.,  1687.  He  was  distinguished  for  practical  wisdom, 
integrity  and  decision,  and  early  acquired  and  retained  during  his  long  life  a 
commanding  influence  over  his  associates.  He  was  much  employed  in  public 
business.  He  was  assistant  to  the  Governor  many  years.  In  every  position  he 
occupied  he  fulfilled  his  duties  promptly.  He  married  Priscilla,  daughter  of 
William  Mullins  or  Molines,  tenth  signer  of  the  Mayflower  Compact.  He  was  of 
Dorking,  in  the  County  of  Surrey,  England.  In  his  will  he  speaks  of  his  wife 
Alice  and  two  children,  who  were  left  in  England.  Tradition  represents  Priscilla 
to  have  been  very  beautiful  in  her  youth  and  John  Alden  was  also  a  comely  person, 
and  considering  his  other  accomplishments  it  is  not  surprising  that  when  he  was 
sent  by  his  friend,  Capt.  Miles  Standish,  after  the  death  of  the  latter's  wife,  to 
solicit  her  hand  in  marriage,  that  she  preferred  the  messenger  to  the  message. 

"  As  he  warmed  and  glowed  in  his  simple  and  eloquent  language, 
Quite  forgetful  of  self  and  full  of  the  praises  of  his  rival ; 
Archly  the  maiden  smiled,  and  with  eyes  overrunning  with  laughter, 
Said,  in  a  tremulous  voice,  '  Why  don't  you  speak  for  yourself ,  John  ?'  " 

By  his  wife,  Priscilla  (Mullins)  Alden,  John  Alden  had  John,  Joseph,  Eliza- 
beth, Jonathan,  Sarah,  Ruth,  Mary,  Daniel. 

Joseph  Alden,  son  of  John  and  Priscilla  (Mullins)  Alden,  was  born  in  1624, 
died  February  8,  1697.  He  was  admitted  a  freeman  in  1699,  had  his  father's 
proprietary  share  in  Bndgewater,  where  he  settled  in  that  part  of  the  town  now 
West  Bridgewater.  He  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Moses  Simmons,  Jr.,  and  had 
five  children,  of  whom  Joseph  (2)  was  the  second. 

Deacon  Joseph  Alden  (2),  son  of  Joseph  (1)  and  Mary  (Simmons)  Alden,  was 
born  in  1667.  He  lived  in  what  is  now  South  Bridgewater,  Mass.,  was  a  deacon 
in  the  church  and  much  esteemed.  He  died  December  22,  1747,  aged  80.  He 
married  Hannah,  daughter  of  Daniel  Dunham,  of  Plymouth,  and  had  ten  children, 
of  whom  Daniel  was  the  eldest. 

Daniel  Alden,  Esq,,  son  of  Deacon  Joseph  and  Hannah  (Dunham)  Alden, 
was  born  in  Bridgewater.  Mass.,  in  1691  ;  died  in  Stafford,  Conn.,  May  3,  1767. 
He  was  a  prominent  man  and  a  magistrate.  He  married,  in  1 7 1 7,  Abigail,  daugh- 
ter of  Joseph  Shaw.  She  was  the  sister  of  Rev.  Joseph  Shaw,  first  pastor  of  the 
Congregational  church  in  South  Bridgewater.  They  had  eleven  children,  of  whom 
Hannah  was  the  fifth.  She  was  born  in  1727  ;  married  Joshua  Blodgett,  of  Staf- 
ford, Conn.     Their  daughter,  Abigail  Blodgett,  was  married  to  Daniel  Moulton. 

Daniel  Moulton,  by  his  wife,  Abigail  (Blodgett)  Moulton,  had  issue,  Harrison, 
Daniel,  Ouiolata,  Luanda,  born  December  12,  1787,  married  Alfred  Pratt. 

Alfred  Pratt,  by  his  wife,  Lucinda,  (Moulton)  Pratt,  had  issue,  Levi,  Oril,  Asa, 
Orilla.  Tamen,  Electa  Maria. 

Electa  Maria  Pratt,  daughter  of  Alfred  Pratt,  became  the  wife  of  William 
Wallace  Gould,  as  before  stated. 

William  Wallace  Gould,  by  his  wife,  Electa  Maria  (Pratt)  Gould,  had  issue, 
Charles  Albert,  Cassius  W.,  Clinton,  Jed.  O.,  Alice,  Grace,  Marion. 

CHARLES  A.  GOULD,  Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R.,  also  Society  of 
Colonial  Wars,  eldest  child  of  William  Wallace  and  Electa  (Pratt)  Gould,  was 
born  in  Batavia,  N.  Y.,  where  he  passed  his  boyhood.     He  was  educated  in  the 


SONS   OF  THE  AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  191 

public  schools  of  his  native  town  and  prepared  himself  for  college.  He  was 
unable,  however,  to  carry  out  his  plans  in  this  regard,  as  his  father  met  with  busi- 
ness reverses.  Thrown  thus  upon  his  own  resources,  Mr.  Gould  naturally  turned 
his  thoughts  toward  Buffalo,  the  largest  city  in  his  vicinity,  and  thither  he  went  in 
1869,  a  young  man  of  twenty,  to  earn  his  own  livelihood. 

He  was  first  engaged  with  a  large  mercantile  firm  and  there  gained  the 
experience  that  was  to  be  so  beneficial  to  him  in  after  years.  Gradually  he  began 
to  take  an  active  part  in  politics.  There  was  a  stirring  local  campaign  in  Buffalo 
in  1870,  and  Mr.  Gould's  interest  in  political  matters  dates  from  that  time.  He 
showed  taste  and  decided  ability  for  public  affairs,  and  it  was  not  long  before  he 
had  become  prominent  in  local  Republican  councils.  In  1878  he  was  appointed 
deputy  postmaster  of  Buffalo  and  served  in  that  position  for  two  years.  Then  he 
was  appointed  collector  of  customs  for  the  district  of  Buffalo  Creek,  by  President 
Garfield,  and  served  from  1880  to  1884,  when  the  Democrats  came  into  power 
with  the  first  election  of  President  Cleveland.  During  all  these  years  Mr.  Gould 
was  one  of  the  leaders  of  his  party  in  Erie  County,  taking  a  prominent  part  in 
many  Republican  campaign  organizations  and  acting  for  many  years  as  a  member 
of  the  Republican  County  Committee.  With  Mr.  Gould's  retirement  from  office 
there  began  a  third  period  in  his  life.  He  had  been  an  accountant  and  a  public 
official.  He  now  became  a  manufacturer,  and  in  this  field  he  has  since  continued 
with  steadily  growing  success  and  prosperity.  He  bought  an  interest  in  the  Henry 
Childs  Steam  Forge,  in  South  Buffalo,  which  he  ran  for  a  number  of  years  with 
marked  success.  He  1887  he  purchased  ground  in  Black  Rock  and  built  a  large 
steam  forge  of  his  own,  which  he  equipped  with  the  very  best  modern  appliances 
for  the  manufacture  of  iron  and  steel  forgings,  making  a  specialty  of  railway 
appliances.     Success  attended  the  new  undertaking. 

Soon  after  the  erection  of  this  new  plant  he  took  up  the  manufacture  of  what 
is  now  known  as  the  Gould  automatic  coupler,  as  well  as  platforms  and  vestibules 
for  passenger  cars.  He  was  not  satisfied  with  placing  the  Gould  equipment  on 
American  railways,  but  in  1895  succeeded  in  introducing  it  abroad,  and  it  is  now 
in  use  on  several  of  the  largest  railways  of  England.  In  fact  the  Gould  system 
seems  likely  to  become  the  standard  for  English  railways,  and  to  change  entirely 
their  old  method  of  vestibuling  cars.  The  Gould  Coupler  Company  was  organ- 
ized for  the  manufacture  of  malleable  iron,  with  Mr.  Gould  as  its  president ;  with 
Charles  M.  Gould,  vice-president;  William  S.  Gould,  treasurer;  Frederick  P. 
Huntley,  secretary.  Later,  the  Gould  Steel  Company,  of  Anderson,  Ind.,  was 
formed  with  Mr.  Gould  as  president  of  this  latter  concern  also.  Since  1889  Mr. 
Gould's  home  has  been  in  New  York  City,  where  the  main  offices  of  this  company 
are  situated. 

A  picturesque  episode  of  Mr.  Gould's  life  is  the  establishment  of  the  town  of 
Depew.  Need  of  better  railroad  facilities  led  him  to  look  about  for  a  new  site, 
which  he  found  near  the  village  of  Lancaster,  N.  Y.  Within  three  years  a  tract 
of  farming  land  ten  miles  from  Buffalo  was  transformed  into  a  thriving  industrial 
community  of  several  thousand  people.  In  this  transformation  Mr.  Gould  has 
been  one  of  the  chief  factors,  and  he  was  the  originator  of  the  general  plan.  The 
Buffalo  Investment  Co.  was  formed  with  Mr.  Gould  as  president,  and  about  thir- 
teen hundred  acres  of  land  were  bought.  The  New  York  Central  road  took  .00 
acres  for  new  shops,  and  the  Gould  Coupler  Co.  took  fifty  acres,  on  which  they 


192  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

erected  one  of  the  largest  malleable  iron  works  in  the  country.  The  forge  at 
Black  Rock  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  the  summer  of  1895.  It  was  a  disheartening 
loss  but  Mr.  Gould,  with  indomitable  push,  immediately  decided  to  rebuild  at 
Depew  with  increased  facilities  and  modern  appliances. 

Personally  Mr.  Gould  is  of  a  very  social  nature.  He  is  a  lover  of  yachting 
and  is  commodore  of  the  American  Yacht  Club,  as  well  as  a  member  of  the  New 
York,  Larchmont  and  Atlantic  Yacht  Clubs.  Other  organizations  of  a  social 
nature  with  which  he  is  connected  are  the  Union  League,  New  York  Athletic, 
Republican,  Engineers',  Lawyers' and  Lotos  Clubs,  of  New  York  City;  the  Buf- 
falo and  Ellicott  Clubs,  of  Buffalo ;  the  Chicago  Club,  and  the  Manufacturers' 
Club,  of  Philadelphia.  He  is  a  generous  giver  to  church  and  benevolent  objects. 
Mr.  Gould  spends  the  winter  months  mostly  at  his  residence,  No.  714  Fifth  avenue. 
His  hours  of  pleasure  and  recreation  during  the  summer  months  are  spent  at  his 
beautiful  home  at  Rye,  in  Westchester  County,  N.  Y.,  where  his  numerous  friends 
find  always  a  hearty  welcome.  Mr.  Gould  married  Julia  Adelaide  Stocking,  of 
Batavia,  N.  Y.,  daughter  of  Abraham  Stocking,  son  of  George,  son  of  Abraham, 
son  of  Steven,  son  of  George,  son  of  Deacon  Samuel,  son  of  George  Stocking, 
the  ancestor. 

George  Stocking,  the  ancestor,  came  from  the  west  of  England  and  settled  in 
Massachusetts  about  1633.  He  was  made  a  freeman  at  Cambridge  in  1635.  He 
removed  with  the  first  settlers  to  Hartford,  Conn.,  in  1635,  and  had  a  lot  of  twenty 
acres  there  in  the  first  distribution  of  land.  He  was  selectman  of  Hartford,  1647  ; 
surveyor  of  highways,  1654  and  1662;  chimney  viewer,  1659;  excused  from  mili- 
tary duty,  1660,  probably  on  account  of  age.  He  died  May  25,  1685.  His  name 
appears  on  a  monumental  shaft  in  the  old  centre  burying-ground  erected  to  the 
first  settlers  of  Hartford,  by  the  city,  to  its  founders.  He  had  Samuel,  Hannah, 
Sarah,  Lydia. 

Deacon  Samuel  Stocking,  son   of  George  and   Anna  ( )  Stocking,  was 

born  in  England,  and  came  with  his  parents  to  Massachusetts,  removing  thence  to 
Hartford,  Conn.  He  was  one  of  the  three  signers  of  the  Indian  deed  of  Matta- 
besett,  in  1651,  the  General  Court  that  year  having  "ordered,  sentenced  and 
decreed  that  Mattabeseck  shall  bee  a  Towne.''  This  was  known  two  years  later 
as  Middletown.  Mr.  Stocking  was  the  first  deacon  of  the  Congregational  church 
in  the  town,  organized  November  4,  1668.  He  represented  Middletown  at  the 
General  Court  i658-'59-'65-'69-'74-'77-'8i.  He  served,  in  1677,  in  King  Philip's 
War  as  sergeant.  His  house  was  in  upper  Middletown,  now  Cromwell.  He 
owned  land  on  the  east  side  of  Connecticut  River,  now  known  as  Portland.  He 
married  Bertha,  daughter  of  John  and  Jane  Hopkins,  who  came  from  Coventry, 
England,  to  Cambridge,  Mass.,  in  1630,  and  removed  to  Hartford  with  the  original 
settlers  in  1635;  freeman,  1654;  representative,  i665-'69-'74;  served  in  King 
Philip's  War,  1667,  and  was  made  sergeant.  John  Hopkins  was  the  ancestor  of 
Mark  Hopkins,  so  many  years  president  of  Williams  College,  Mass.  Deacon 
Samuel  Stocking  died  December  3,  1683.  By  his  wife,  Bertha  Hopkins,  he  had  a 
son,  George. 

George  Stocking,  son  of  Deacon  Samuel  and  Bertha  (Hopkins)  Stocking,  was 
born  February  20,  1665;  died  February  17,  1714.  His  name  appears  on  the  tax 
list  of  South  Hampton,  L.  L,  in  1694,  but  it  is  known  that  he  moved  to  East 
Middletown,  now  Portland,  before  17 10.     He  married  Elizabeth  ,  and  had  a 


SONS   OF    THE  AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  103 

son,  Steven.  His  estate,  which  amounted  to  .£359.09.01,  was  divided  among  his 
six  children.     His  widow  married  Deacon   Samuel  Hall,  of    East   Middletovvn 

Steven  Stocking,  eldest  son  of  George  and  Elizabeth  ( )  Stocking   was 

born  August  20,  1694;  died  1789.  He  married,  first,  July  5,  1722,  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  Deacon  Samuel  and  Sarah  (Hinsdale)  Hall.  He  married  second 
February  24,  1757,  widow  Sarah  Andrews.  He  resided  in  Chatham.  He  was' 
commissioned  ensign  of  militia,  1732.  He  died  1789.  His  widow  died  July  29, 
1790.     They  had  a  son,  Joseph. 

Joseph  Stocking,  Patriot  of  the  Revolution,  son  of  Steven  and  Sarah 
(Hall)  Stocking,  was  born  June  28,  1723.  He  was  sergeant  of  Sixth  Company. 
Second  Connecticut  Regiment,  commanded  by  Col.  (afterward  General)  Joseph 
Spencer,  recruited  mainly  in  Middlesex  County  under  the  first  call  for  troops,  April 
and  May,  1775  ;  marched  bv  companies  to  the  camps  around  Boston,  took  post  at 
Roxbury,  and  served  during  the  siege  until  expiration  of  term  of  service,  Decem- 
ber, 1775.  Detachments  of  officers  and  men  engaged  at  the  battle  of  Runker 
Hill,  June  17,  and  engaged  in  Arnold's  Quebec  Expedition,  September  and  Decem- 
ber, 1775.  Joseph  Stocking  married  widow  Sarah  (Shepperd)  Cornwall,  Novem- 
ber 1,  1753.  and  had  issue,  Abraham. 

Abraham  Stocking,  eldest  son  of  Joseph  and  Sarah  (Cornwall  n6e  Sheppard) 
Stocking,  was  born  September  26,  1754;  married  Nabby  Smith  and  had  issue, 
George. 

George  Stocking,  son  of  Abraham  and  Nabby  (Smith)  Stocking,  was  born  at 
Ashfield,  Mass.,  in  1784.     He  married  Anna  Toby,  and  had  issue,  Abram. 

Abram  Stocking,  son  of  George  and  Anna  (Toby)  Stocking,  was  born  June 
19,  1810.  He  moved  from  Ashfield,  Mass.,  to  York,  Livingston  County,  N.  V., 
and  thence  to  near  Grass  Lake,  Mich.  He  married  Henrietta  Maria  Colton  (born 
in  Caledonia,  N.  Y.,  February  14,  1 8 1 6,  died  in  Manchester,  Mich.,  September  14, 
1853),  daughter  of  Andrew  Colton  (2),  son  of  Capt.  Andrew  (1),  son  of  Capt. 
Isaac,  son  of  Capt.  Thomas,  son  of  George  Colton,  the  ancestor. 

George  Colton,  the  ancestor  of  this  branch  of  the  Colton  family,  is  said  to 
have  come  from  Sutton  Coldfields,  County  of  Warwick,  England,  probably 
between  1635  anc'  '640.  He  name  appears  on  the  records  as  quartermaster.  He 
was  quartermaster  of  a  New  Hampshire  regiment,  Major  John  Pynchon,  King 
Philip's  War.  He  married  Deborah  Gardner,  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  1644;  she  died 
September,  1689.  Married,  second,  March  1,  1692,  Lydia  Lamb  ;  she  died  Febru- 
ary 13,  1699.  He  died  December  17,  1699.  He  lived  at  Long  Meadow,  Mass., 
where  his  children,  eight  in  number,  were  born,  all  by  his  first  wife.  The  third 
child  of  these  was  Capt.  Thomas. 

Capt.  Thomas  Colton,  third  son  of  George  and  Deborah  (Gardner)  Colton, 
was  born  in  Long  Meadow,  Mass.,  May  1,  1651.  He  married,  first,  Sarah  Gris- 
wold,  of  Lyme,  Conn.,  September  11,  1677,  daughter  of  Matthew  Griswold,  an 
original  settler  of  Saybrook,  Conn.,  progenitor  of  the  two  governors  of  that  name, 
She  died  September  12,  1690,  and  Thomas  Colton  married,  second.  December  17. 
1 69 1,  Hannah  Bliss,  born  December  20.  1666.  daughter  of  Samuel,  son  of  Thomas 
Bliss,  who  was  first  to  introduce  potatoes.  His  first  crop  was  six  bushels  and 
he  did  not  know  what  to  do  with  them.  Previous  to  this  the  English  turnip  occu- 
pied the  place  at  the  table  now  accorded  to  the  potatoes.  The  Bliss  family  came 
from  Long  Meadow  to  Brimfield.     They  are  reported  to  have  been  great  friends 


194  SONS   OF    THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

of  Oliver  Cromwell.  The  family  motto  was  "  Semper  Sursum  " — Always  Up- 
ward— indicates  the  determination  of  the  family  always  to  be  found  in  the  best 
company  ("History  of  Brimfield,"  p.  371).  Capt.  Thomas  Colton,  by  his  first 
wife,  Hannah  Bliss,  had  Hepzibah,  William,  Ebenezer,  Joseph,  Capt.  Isaac, 
Hannah,  Dinah,  Abner. 

Capt.  Isaac  Colton,  fifth  child  and  fourth  son  of  Capt.  Thomas  and  Hannah 
(Bliss)  Colton,  was  born  October  10,  1700,  at  Long  Meadow,  Mass.  He  served  in 
the  French  and  Indian  War  and  had  charge  of  a  company  in  Louisburg  in  1745. 
He  died  January  1$,  1757.  He  married  Esther  Marshfield,  pub.  July  6,  1722.  She 
was  born  May  16,  1699;  died  April  27,  1781.  They  had  nine  children,  of  whom 
Capt.  Andrew  was  the  eighth. 

Capt.  Andrew  Co/ton,  eighth  child  of  Capt.  Isaac  and  Esther  (Marshfield) 
Colton,  was  born  at  Long  Meadow,  Mass.,  November  1,  1745;  major  in  Timothy 
Danielson's  regiment;  marched  from  Springfield  to  Roxbury,  April  28,  1775.  He 
married,  January  1,  1767,  Hannah  Bliss,  daughter  of  Capt.  Timothy  and  Elizabeth 
Bliss;  she  died   August   5,    1787.     He  married,  second,   Mrs.  Lydia  White,  pub. 

August  25,  1790;  she  died  August  8,  1800.     He  married,  third, .     He  died  at 

Dalton,  Mass.,  October  8,  1808.  The  third  child  and  eldest  son  of  Capt.  Andrew 
and  Hannah  (Bliss)  Colton,  was  Andrew  (2). 

Andrew  Colton  (2),  eldest  son  of  Capt.  Andrew  and  Hannah  (Bliss)  Colton, 
was  born  May  24,  1772;  died  November  28,  1844,  in  York,  Livingston  County, 
N.  Y.  He  married,  December  25,  1797,  in  Stockbridge,  Mass.,  Cynthia  Seymour, 
and  had  eleven  children,  of  whom  Henrietta  Maria  was  the  tenth.  She  was 
born  in  Caledonia,  N.  Y.,  February  14,  1816;  married,  September  30,  1840,  Abram 
Stocking,  whose  daughter,  Julia  Adelaide  Stocking,  was  married  to  Charles  A. 
Gould. 

The  children  of  Charles  A.  and  Julia  Adelaide  (Stocking)  Gould  are:  Henry 
Colton  Gould,  born  November  22,  1869;  married,  August  27,  1890,  to  Lillian 
Augusta  Rockwell,  daughter  of  Augustus  Rockwell  and  Jane  Merntt ;  died  De- 
cember 16,  1892.  Charles  Moulton  Gould,  born  September  7.  1873;  married,  Sep- 
tember 30,  1896,  to  Lillie  Bell,  daughter  of  Richard  M.  Bell  and  Julia  Black, 
of  Bayside,  L.  I.  William  Stocking  Gould,  born  September  4,  1875;  married, 
April  20,  1898,  to  Ethel  Blanche  Sanders,  daughter  of  Charles  Walton  Sanders 
and  Ella  Wickwire.  Celia  Adelaide  Gould,  born  October  21,  1877;  married,  Feb- 
ruary 8,  1899,  to  George  G.  Milne,  son  of  William  Milne  and  Frances  Poole. 


INDEX 


To   the    History    of    the    Sons   of  the    Revolution. 


Abeel  and  Allied  Families,   iyo. 

Abeel,  Col.  James,  197. 

Abeel,  Capt.  David,  198. 

Abeel,  Garrit,  201. 

Abeel,  John  Howard,  207. 

Abeel,  George,  208. 

Abeel,  David,  209. 

Adams,  36,  82,  118,   157,    169,   176. 

Ames,    149,    151. 

Abercrombie,  103. 

Andre,  124. 

Andrews,  174. 

Archer,   125. 

Applegate,  109. 

Apleton,  150. 

Atlee,  197. 

Ainsley,   106. 

Arnold,  100. 

Abbott,    101. 

Armstrong,   112,    13,    14,    134. 

Asbury,  97. 

Ay  res,   no. 

Allyn,  71. 

Baldwin,  24,  5. 

Barber,  19. 

Bard,   170-1. 

Baker,   119,   128-9. 

Bass,  157. 

Baskidore,   187. 

Barton,  137. 

Barry,  177. 

Baum,  44. 

Bradford,  57,  60,  61,  66,  82. 

Bradley,    174. 

Bragg,  68. 

Brace,  72. 

Bracio,  72. 

Bracey,  72. 

Ballentine,  157. 

Brainerd,  81. 

Blanchard,  22. 

Brandreth,  130. 

Brausden,   31. 

Beach,  25. 


Belding,   145. 

Beecher,   101. 

Bell,    102. 

Beeby,  175. 

Bliss,  33,   162. 

Bingham,  65. 

Bishop,  92. 

Brinkerhoff,   108. 

Bigelow,  154. 

Bigelow,   Family  of,   186. 

Bigelow,  Joel,  187. 

Bigelow,  Clarence  O.,   187 

Brown,  S7,   106,   162. 

Bowne,   60. 

Boosey,    70. 

Boardman,    122. 

Booth,  155. 

Broadhead,  136. 

Bottom,    158. 

Bronson,  "]2>- 

Bloom,    in. 

Boroughs,   131. 

Bowler,  171. 

Burdsall,  56. 

Burr,  71,  170. 

Buckley,   160. 

Butler,   151. 

Butler,  Col.  Zebulon,  181. 

Butler,    182. 

Burlock,   199,  200. 

Byvanck,  201-2. 

Camp,  24. 
Cantine,  210. 
Caufield,  36. 
Carnes,  30. 
Canmore,  83. 
Clarke,  32,  131. 
Clark,  119.  174.  182. 
Classon,  93,  147. 
Clayton.   167. 
Chauncey,   9T- 
Chapin,  129. 
Clayton,    106. 
Carlton,  158. 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 


Lrew,  102. 

Cleveland,  39,  71-2,  172. 

Chester,  149,  197- 

Chippenham,  86. 

Chipman,  Family  of,  80-8. 

Chipman,  87,  9°- 

Clinton  Family,  25. 

Clinton,  Gen.  James,  26. 

Clinton,  Alexander  James.  30. 

Clinton,  26,  27,  28,  31,  9^  93-   104,   129. 

Child,  35- 

Cock,  22. 

Codman,  40,  41. 

Cod  wise,  200. 

Cook,  174,  200. 

Cooke,  56.  7i- 

Comstock,  74. 

Conrow  Family,  109. 

Conrovv,  Theodore,  iio. 

Conover.  Lewis,  108. 

Conovek. — Denise.— Dean,   122. 

Conover,  Frank  E.,   125. 

Conover,  106,  108,  109,  122,  123.   124. 

Colden,  92. 

Collins,  82,  150. 

Cornbnry,  171. 

Cool,   108,   123. 

Cogget,  99- 

Coleman,   177,   180. 

Clock,  140-7. 

Coudert,  129. 

Corn  Plant,  191. 

Cowen,  97,  98,  99. 

Cowenhoven,    107,   108.    123. 

Cowles,  76. 

Cnrtiss,  91. 

dimming,  129,  130. 

Churchhill,   55. 

Cnrlies,  106. 

Dandridge,  171. 

Davis,  27. 

Dayton,  Family  of,  38. 

Dayton,  Charles  Willoughby,  36. 

Davenport,  140. 

Day,  84. 

Damen.  147. 

Drake,  49. 

Dearborn,  168. 

Dennison,  149. 

Delevan,  22. 

Deckerman,  23. 

DeLancey,  201. 

Denniston,  26,  28. 

Deming.  60. 


Dean,  John,  124. 

Denslow,   159,  60. 

D'Estaing,   179- 

Dewey  and  Todd  Families,  131. 

Dewey,  Jeremiah,  132. 

Dewey,   Hiram  Todd,   132. 

Dinker,  117. 

Ditmars,   199,  200. 

Dwight,  83,   128. 

Dobbs,  176. 

Dominick,   Family  of,   22. 

Dominick,  Marin  us  W.,  23. 

Doolittle,  17- 

Dorr,   180. 

Dota,  17. 

Dorian,  142. 

Dunham,  160. 

DuPuy,    135- 

Dudley,  149. 

Dummer,  174,  176- 

Dunscomb,  205. 

Dykeman,  106. 

Dye,  187. 

Dygert,  196. 

Evarts,  101. 

Edwards,  77,  119,  20. 

Emans,  199. 

Elmendorf,   Family  of,    136. 

Elmendorf,  John  Augustus,   138. 

Eldridge,  160. 

Fairbanks,    161. 

Frankland,  32. 

Franklin,  72. 

Fenwick.  70. 

Fitch,  58,  59.  61,   129,   162. 

Fisher,    47. 

Fraser,  208. 

Fauconnier,    171. 

Farrow,   187. 

Foote,  60.  75- 

Foster,  87-8. 

Forse,  94. 

Floyd,   104. 

Fur  man.    106. 

Gardner.  Col.  Asa  Bird,  16. 
Goodwin,  82. 
Gay,  33-  76. 
Gray.  88. 

Graham,  Family  of.  90. 
Graham,  Malcom,  93. 
Ganzevoort,  95- 
Greenwood,  Family  of.  31. 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 


Ill 


Greenwood,  Isaac  John,  34. 

Gerard,  98. 

Greely,   101. 

Greene,  169,  171. 

Greer,  135. 

Gillis,  Family  of,  40. 

Gillis,  Charles  Josiah,  46. 

Gibbons,  174. 

Gridley,  124. 

Griffin,  Butler,  180. 

Griffin,  George,  180. 

Griffin.  Francis  Butler,  182-3. 

Griffin,  182. 

Griswold,   180. 

Gookin,  72. 

Godwin,  82. 

Goldsmith,   112. 

Goodspeed,  154. 

Gorham,    143. 


Habersham,  177,  178  ,179, 
Harrison.   24.   88. 
Haight,   182. 
Halsey,   146. 
Halsted.  86. 
Hathorne,   104,   112. 
Hathaway,   160. 
Hall.  82. 
Hanford,  no. 
Hall  ford.   157. 
Harmensen,  18,  19. 
Harlakenden,  82-3. 
Hasbrouck,  209. 
Hale.   77,   78,   81. 
Harvey,   146. 
Hassert,  198. 
Haynes,  82,  83. 
Hamilton,   29.    170,    173. 
Hawley,   127. 
Haskell,  20. 
Havens,  206. 
Hegeman,  97,   100,   101. 
Heilner,  Butler,  183. 
Heilner,  Marcus  C..  184. 
Heilner,  George  C.,  185. 
Henry,  17. 
Heermans,  133. 
PTempstead,   175. 
Heywood,  152. 
Heink,  201. 
Htll,  Family  of,  94. 
Htll.  Rev.  Nicholas,  94. 
Hill.  Nicholas,  97. 
Hill,  John  Lindsay,  101. 
Hill.  97,  98,   101,   144. 


[80. 


Hinman,  73,  91,  92. 
Hicks,  95. 
Holman,  17. 
Hobart,  66. 
Hodges,  92. 
Holly,   145. 
Hopestill,   127. 
Holmes,   124,   157. 
Holt,  175,  176. 
Hoar,  S2. 
Hope,  87. 

Hopkins,  70,  73,  75,   165. 
Hooker.  70,   120. 
Horton,  124. 
Hooper,  18S. 
Howe,  22.  168. 
Howley,   138,   139. 
Howland,  87,  143. 
Hosack,   170. 
Houghton,  181. 
Hurlbut,  151,  152.  155. 
Hutchinson,   87. 
Huntington,   160. 
Hunt,   171. 
Hyde,  72. 

Irving,  206. 

Jackson. — Conover. — Conrow.    105. 

Jackson,  William  H.,  109. 

Jackson,    19,   78,  92,    106,    107. 

Jay,  02,   151,   167. 

Jefferson,  92. 

Jennings,  182. 

Johnson.  76,  80,   101,   182. 

Jones,  143. 

Jordan,  162. 

Kennedy,  Family  of,  55. 

Kennedy,  Leonard,  63,  64. 

Kennedy,  Robinson.  55. 

Kennedy,  Elijah  Robinson.  68. 

Kennedy,  25,  61-2-3-8-9,  70-1-.I-4.   M3- 

Kellogg.  154. 

Redder,  41. 

Kent,  92. 

Key.   172. 

Kilconath,  56. 

Kilbourne,  77. 

Kimberly.  73. 

Kingsmill,   T28. 

Kingsbury,  114. 

Knight.   143. 

Knyphausen.  168. 

Komvenhoven,  123. 


IV 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 


Lawrence,  18,  104,  159. 

Lambertson,  76. 

Lafetra,  106. 

Lasher,  197. 

Lathrop,  138. 

La  Montagne,  172. 

Leonard,  57. 

Leffingwell,   60. 

Le  Gros,  129. 

Lincoln,  80. 

Livingston,  104,  173. 

Lobdell,  82. 

Lorimer,  72,  73. 

Lott,  199. 

Love,  142. 

Lord,  182. 

Lydecker,  138. 

Mansfield,  87. 

Manning,  87-8. 

Marshall,  92. 

Mason,  59,  60,  70,.  119. 

Manly,  33. 

Marquand,    86. 

May,   117. 

MacLean,  56. 

Mather,  73,  141. 

McQueston,  41. 

Malcom,   17. 

Murschalk,  205. 

May,  174. 

Mcintosh,  178. 

Miller,  Warner,  47,  48,  50-1. 

Miles,  197. 

Mitchell,  72. 

Minor,  92. 

Muller,  205. 

Montgomery,  James  Mortimer, 

Moore,  19,  20,  54. 

Morris,  18,  106. 

Montgomery,  27. 

Morgan,  84,  168. 

Montford,   108,   123. 

Mosier,  97. 

Mosley,  56. 

McDougall,  Alexander,  134. 


Nash,  99. 
Neilson,  197. 
Nelson,  98. 
Newkirk,  97. 
Newbury,  150. 
Newman,  39. 
Newell,   143. 
Nicoll,   112. 


Oakley,  74. 
O'Bial,  196. 
Oweneco,  59. 
Olney,  74. 
Ogden,  119. 
Osborn,  24. 
O'Connor,  97. 

Patterson,  32,  33. 

Parker,  41. 

Page,  46. 

Pancoast,  176. 

Partridge  82. 

Paulding,   124. 

Parsons,   151. 

Pratt,  70-1-2-3-4. 

Palmer,   100,   157. 

Pearce,  114. 

Peck,   119. 

Pelerin,  130. 

Pendleton,  166,  171-3- 

Perkins,  66. 

Peters,  92. 

Pew,  164. 

Piatt,  164. 

Pike,  128. 

Pinney,  71. 

Pritchard.  41. 

Peitkin,  76,  83. 

Porter,  33.  72,  101,  155. 

Putnam,  76,  87,  104,   193. 

Pendleton  Family,  166. 

Pendleton,  Col.   Nathaniel,   168. 

Rawlings,  168. 
Red  Jacket,    195. 

Riker,  Family  of,   18. 

Riker,  John  Lawrence,  20. 

Riker,  John  Jackson,  20. 

Riker,  Samuel,  Jr.,  21 

Rice,  76. 

Riley,  150. 

Ripley,  66. 

Richardson,  87. 

Robbins,  Family  of.  149. 

Robbins,  Rowland  A.,   153. 

Robbins,  Major  Rowland  Ames,  155. 

Robinson,  67,  81. 

Roe,  86. 

Rowe,  97,  209. 

Romer,  124. 

Rogers. — Fitch. — Pendleton,  Etc.,  162. 

Rogers,  161,  171-3-6,  180. 

Rowland,  162. 

Rudd,  34,  65. 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 


Ruggles,  127. 
Russell,  75. 
Rutherford,   130. 

Sanford,  39. 

Sandford,  71. 

Safford,  156-8-9. 

Stanton,  149. 

Standish,  57. 

Stark,  Gen.  John,  42. 

Stark,  41-2,  158. 

Slason,   145. 

Stratton,   138. 

Sellick,  164. 

Schermerhorn,  205. 

Sewall,  72. 

Seward,  80. 

Seymour,   171. 

Stevens,  Family  of,  10. 

Stevens,  John  Austin,  ii. 

Stebbing,  84. 

Schenck,    108,    123,    171. 

Stebbins,    138. 

Seymour,  117,   118. 

Spencer.  17,  92,  119. 

Steele  70. 

Stenton,   65. 

Sterling,  197. 

Scriptieri,  67. 

Smith,  25,  84,  104-6,  138,  157. 

Scott,  49,  50,  76,   104,   156,   161,   197. 

Schofield,  141-7. 

Southworth,  66. 

Strong,  20. 

Schroeder,  122. 

Stowell,  187. 

Stroebel,  206. 

Sullivan,  28.  96. 

Sturtevant,  131. 

Snyder,  137. 

Tallmadge,  Family  of,  12. 

Tallmadge,  Col.  Benjamin,  12. 

Tallmadge.  Frederick  Augustus,  15. 

Tallmadge.  Frederick  Daniel,   16. 

Talcott,   77-8,    120. 

Taylor,  82-3,  108,   167. 

Thaxter,  66. 

Thatcher,  117. 

Tracy.  60,  101. 

Thrall,  71. 

Thayer,  33. 

Taler.  17. 

Treat.  73-5-7.   1*9.   ISO. 

Tweedy,   142-3. 


Terry,  Family  of,  82. 

Terry,  John  Taylor,  82-4. 

Tilden,  80,  98. 

Tilford,  Frank,   134-5. 

Thomand,  56. 

Tomlinson,    35-6. 

Topham,  130. 

Todd,  Thomas,   132. 

Tomlin,  175. 

Tuttle,  120. 

Trumbull,  72,. 

Tyler,  Family  of,  116. 

Tyler,  Capt.  John,  117. 

Tyler,  Col.  Mason  Whiting,   120. 

Tyler,  Dea.  John,  117. 

Tryon,  174. 

Vallau.  171. 
Van  Bergen,  209. 
Van  Rosenbergh,  17. 
Van  Buylenhysen,  18. 
Van  Brunt,   108. 
Van   Courtlandt,    100. 
Van  den  Berg,   136. 
Varian,   155. 
Van  Vorst.  93. 
Van   Wyck,   92. 
Van  Katckel,  197. 
Van  Zandt.  201. 
Veeder,  100. 
Verplanck,  201. 
Voorhees,  199. 

Wagner,  196. 

Washington,  34,  50-1,  91,  170-1,  197- 
Walker,  32.   144. 
Wadswortli,  50,  76. 
Warner,  52,  158. 
Waterman,  60,  61. 
Waldron,  101. 
Walworth,  98. 
Warner,  Family  of,  47. 
Waterbury,  145-6. 
Webb,  Family  of.  156. 
Webb,  Charles  Hathaway,  160- i. 
Webb,  141.  156-7-8-9-60. 
Webster,  71,  73>  I34>  142. 
Welling.  116. 

Weed,  Clock,  and  Allied  Families,  139. 
Weed.  Samuel  Richards,  143. 
Weed,    Waterbury.    and   Clock   Fami- 
lies, vdv. 
Weed.  Henry  F.,  148. 
Weed,  68. 
Weld,  Family  of,  126. 


VI 


SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 


Weld,  Gilbert  Cumming,  129. 
Weld,  De  Witt  Clinton    Sr.,  130. 
Weld,  De  Witt  Clinton    Jr.,  130. 
Welles,  Family  of,  74. 
Welles,  Hon.  Gideon,  78. 
Welles,  Edgar  T.,  79. 
Welles,  74-5-6-7.  81,  89. 
Winthrop,  65-6,  150. 
Wisner,  Family  of,  hi. 
Wisner,  Col.  Henry,  112. 
Wisner,  Jeffrey  Amherst,   113. 
Wisner,  Clinton  W.,  114. 
Willard,  17. 

Williams.  124,  134,  149,  157. 
Willoughby,  35. 
Winn,  71. 
Winfield,   170. 
Witthaus,  129. 


Wilckens,    130. 

Whiting,   1 18-19,  126,   145. 

White,  68,  73-8.  82. 

Willis,   151,   182. 

Wilson,  182. 

Willemsen,   199. 

Williamson,  Family  of,  199. 

Williamson,  Nicholas,  199. 

Williamson,  George  Norman,  200. 

Woodhull,  Family  of,  100,  101. 

Woodhull,  Gen.  Nathaniel,   103. 

Woodhull,  Col.  Jesse,  104. 

Woodhull,  Jesse  Calvin,  105. 

Woodward,   130. 

Wolcott,  149-50. 

Woolsey,  164-5. 

Wyllys,  82-3. 

Wyckoff,    199. 


TO    SONS   OF    THE  AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 


PAGE. 

Alden,  Family  of,        --------  190 

Barrett,  Hon.  E.  S.,            ------            -  21 

Bangs,  Prence,  Hopkins,  Brewster,    -            -            -            -            -  155 

Bangs,  George  Henry.       -                                                       -             -             -  158 

Bangs,  George  Dennis,            -             -             -             -             -             -  1 59 

Clark,  Hall,  Carnes,            _______  31 

Clark,  Alonzo  Howard,              ______  31 

Clark,  Towner,  White,  Brooks,     -             -             -             -             -             -  147 

Clark,  Byron  George.  M.D.,        -           -           -           -           -  149 

Clarke,  Boone.       --------  53 

Clarke,  Richard  Henry,             ------  53 

Cone  Family,         --------  68 

Cone,  Edward  Payson,            -------  70 

Claiborne,  Herbert,  Weldon,  Alston,          -----  89 

Claiborne,  John  Herbert,  M.D.,  Jr.,    ------  92 

Crane,  Treat,  Coles,           -             -             -            -             -            -            -  !35 

Crane,  William  Montgomery,              -            -            -            -            -  *37 

Crombie,  Choate,  Murray.               -             -             -             -             -             -  '6i 

Crombie,  William  Augustus,                -             -             -             -             -             -  165 

Crombie,  William   Murray,             -             -             -             -             -             -  '66 

Chamberlain,  Family  of,          -             -            -            -            -            -            -  106 

Coulton,  Family  of,                                                                              -            "  !93 

Deming,  Slauter,  Russell,       ------  '3 

Deming,  Hon.  Lucius  P.,          -----  '4 

Deming,  Eleazer  Hubbell,       -  -  -  - 

Depew.  Sheridan,  Ogden,               -  3 

Depew,  Chauncey  M.,        -----                        -  37 


Earle,  Pinney. 

Earle,  Ferdinand  P.,    - 

Ellis,  Sturgis,  Carlyle,  Randal 

Ellis,  William  R., 


50 
5i 

152 

i53 


I96  INDEX. 

PAGE. 

Fay,  Sherman,        --------  54 

Fay,  Forbes,  -            -            -            -            -            -            -'         -  -117 

Fay,  Segourney  Webster,      -           -           -           -           -           -  120 

Fay,  Capt.  Alfred  Forbes,          -           -           -           -           -  -121 

Garden,  Gibbes,  DeSaussures,  Richardson,           -  78 

Garden,  Capt.  Hugh  Richardson,                                                      -  84 

Gist,  Major  Mordecai,           ------  42 

Gould,  Chamberlain,  Pratt,  Moulton,          -           -           -           -  176 

Gould,  Bezaliel,      -             -             -             -             -             -             -            -  183 

Gould,  Charles  A.,           -------  190 

Haskins,  Emerson,  _______  24 

Haskins,  Charles  Waldo,  ......        27 

Hall,  Family  of,  ------  -  29 

Hall,  Henry,  --------30 

Hall,  Edward  Hegeman,        ------  45 

Hoyt,  Deming,  Fay,  Sherman,  ------         54 

Hoyt,  Hon.  Daniel,     -------  55 

Hoyt,  Charles  Albert,    -------58 

Huntting,  Family  of,  ------  -  47 

Huntting,  Teunis  B.,        -  -  -  -  -  -  49 

Jackson,  Halsey,  Beach,     -------  93 

Jackson,  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,     -  -  -  -  -        96 

Kenly,  and  Allied  Families,            ------  59 

Kenly,  William  Watkins,          ------  65 

Logan,  Hollister,                 .____--  39 

Logan,  Walter  S.,             _______  40 

Lovell,  Borden,  Durfee,  Howland,              -  103 

Lovell,  Leander  Newton,           ------  107 

Lowery,  Col.  Thomas,       -            -            -            -            -            -            -  125 

Marble,  Putnam,  Almy,  -  -  -  -  -  -  -75 

Marble,  William  Allen,        ------  77 

McKeever  Family,       --------72 

McKeever,  James  Lawrence,  -  74 

Murphy,  Crane,  Pierson,  Lyon,  ------         22 

Murphy,  Franklin,      -------  24 

Marcy,  Family  of,        -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -       184 

Moulton,  Freeborn,  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  189 

Moulton,  Daniel,         -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -189 

Pratt,  Ebenezer,    --------  188 

Porter,  Family  of,        -             -             -             -             -             -             -  -18 

Porter,  General  Horace,   ------  20 

Prime,  Ralph  E.,  -     -     -     -     -     -     -  -   40 


INDEX.  I97 

PAGE. 

Richards,  Peck,  Wiswall,  Barrett,  Monfort,  Carman,        -            -            -  139 

Richards,  Jeremiah,         -_.____  ,44 

Richards,  Charles  Spelman,  146 

Roberts,  Hubbard,  Pratt,        ---____  97 

Roberts,  Richard  Hubbard,             _____  I02 

Roosevelt,  James  I.,    -            -            -            -             -            -            -  38 

Smith,  Partridge,  Treat,  Woodruff,            -             -             -             -             -  122 

Smith,  Rev.  John,  -  -  -  -  -  _  _  -123 

Smith,  Hon.  James  Dickinson,           _____  i27 

Smith,  Charles  Stewart,            -           -           -           -           -           -  129 

Smith,  Stewart  Woodruff,   ------ 


131 
Smith,  Howard  Caswell,  -  -  -  -  -      132 

Smith,  Walter  Mitchell,      -  -  -  -  -  -  133 

Slauson,  Ten  Eyck,  Griffin,  Keator,  ------       108 

Slauson,  Albert,         -------  109 

Slauson,  Austin,  Melvin,         -  -  -  -  -  -  -112 

Stewart,  Ira  Bliss,  _______  47 

Salomon,  William  Jones,  ______      167 

Salomon,  Haym,    --------  167 

Salomon,  Col.  David,  -  -  -  -  -  -  -169 

Smith,  William  Alexander,  -----  '73 

Stocking,  Family  of,    -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -       193 

Tracy,  Sherman,  Evarts,  -------  85 

Tracy,  Jeremiah  Evarts,  ______        88 

Wright,  and  Allied  Families,         ______  41 

Wright,  Stephen  M.,        -------       43 

Webb,  Family  of,  -------  15 

Webb,  William  Seward,  ______        18 

Watkins,  Col.  Gassaway,  -------  62 

Woodward,  Dr.  Samuel,         -  -  -  -  -  -  _I54 

Yale,  Paine,  White,  -  -  112 

Yale,  Hon.  William,         -  -  -  -  -  -  -114 

Yale,  Henry  Clav,       -------  115 

Yale,  William  Henry,     -------      117 


L.   J.   HARDHAM, 

PRINTER, 
NEWARK,    N     J. 


;  RRM,'?f,