USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > A biographical history of the county of Litchfield, Connecticut: comprising biographical sketches of distinguished natives and residents of the county; together with complete lists of the judges of the county court, justices of the quorum, county commissioners, judges of probate, sheriffs, senators, &c. from the organization of the county to the present time > Part 17
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I need not say how gratifying it would be to us to meet Major Wes- sells on an occasion so interesting -- to grasp the hand so often raised in defense of his country -- and to embrace the form so fearlessly ex- posed in vindication of that country's honor. But, sir, the soldier is not his own; and duty detains the gallant Major at his post far towards the setting sun, in that golden land acquired in no small measure by his own bravery.
And permit me to say, sir, that no more fitting representative than, yourself, could have been selected by him, to act in his behalf on this occasion. You have been the companion of his youth, and in the hard- ships of the Camp ; you have participated with him in the dangers of the bloody battle-field ; you, if not an eye-witness to his efforts, are well informed of the lion hearted courage with which he led his command against the bravest troops of Mexico; together you have borne no undistinguished part in those triumphs, unequalled on Mexican soil since the days of Cortez, and in that crowning victory which gave to us possession of the Imperial City of the Montezumas.
You may have known him, too, when, the stern soldier being laid aside, he retired to the sweet scenes of social and domestic lif .. His affability, his benevolence, his generosity, need no eulogy ; his moral, virtues no recapitulation. To know him, is to love and admire him.
Of such a Soldier, and such a Man, this State has reason to be proud -- is proud, and delights to show him honor. And every citizen of this his native town and county glories in saying, he is one of us.
And we may well sympathise with his venerable parents, who early surrendered a beloved son to their country's service. We may imagine the torturing fear which has harrowed their souls, lest he should fall a victim to the pestilence, or the sword of the enemy ; and the tumultu. ous joy, with which tidings of his safety, and the honorable report of his conduct, have swelled their breasts ; consummated by this testimo- nial of the respect of his fellow-citizens for a favorite son,-sweet in- cense to a parent's heart.
To the Major, in his exile from his native hills, we trust, the ceremo- nies of this day will prove an assurance that his past services are not unappreciated, and that the remembrance thereof will alleviate his la- bors, and encourage him in his honorable career.
We then present to you for him, this beautiful emblem of his profes- sion. May its purity never be sullied in an unrighteous cause. Re- çeive it from a State, not lavish nor indiscriminate in its honors. Re: seive it as a token of the gratitude of this Republic.
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COL. SEYMOUR'S REPLY.
Colonel Woodruff-Sir :
I come forward with a degree of pleasure. which forbids anything. like reluctance on my part. I appear in the presence of your towns- men. and my fellow-citizens of the State, to discharge one of the most gratifying duties which can be laid upon any man-a duty enlivened by the warmest recollection of early friendship, and supported by the honor of the position it has devolved on me to occupy on this occasion.
The pleasure of which I have spoken, derived from a desire to fulfil, the request of an absent friend, is not unmixed with those painful re- grets, which the mention of another to whom you have referred, has brought forcibly to mind -- regrets which come like shadows between. the living and the dead. Nor am I insensible to the force of those. memories which show us, that there is a vacancy in the ranks of the youthful soldiers who have taken a part in this ceremony, which is both seen and felt by them and all of this assembly.
Far from the scenes of this day, the officer whom I have the honor to represent under circumstances of such peculiar interest, will deeply lament with us the execution of the stern decree which has consigned to an early grave, the object of his grateful consideration and regard -that grave which we so lately saw bedewed with the tears of weep-, ing relatives, companions and friends.
" The hand of the reaper Takes the ear that is hoary, But the voice of the weeper Wails manhwod in glory."
I have listened, sir, with feelings of personal gratification to the just tribute which you have been pleased to pay to the social and domestic virtues of our absent friend, as well as to those sterner qualities which the service of his country required ; in which service, he will feel grate - ful for the assurance which has been given, that his efforts have not been unappreciated. Strongly attached as I know him to be to the place of his birth, where his affections are firmly planted-bound by many personal ties to his native State, the honor conferred upon him, however he may choose to consider it beyond his deserts, will greatly influence his course I am convinced, and shed a light along the path of his chosen profession, whether that path shall hereafter be strewn with the blessings of peace or torn by the storms of war.
In confirmation of what I have said, and in support of the weight which I attach to his feelings on this subject, I might mention, that at successive interviews which I had with him prior to the late battles in which he distinguished himself, and often afterwards, I had cause to be impressed with the strength of his filial regard for the home of his youth, and the State to which he belonged. From what I believe I know of his local attachments, which kindle the pride of the soldier,
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and of his high regard for the honor of his native State, -- from what is generally known of his ardent desire to serve his country to the best of his abilities, I may safely assume in reply to your remarks, that this. gift from the State will be affectionately preserved by him, and never dishonored in his hands.
Though often his companion abroad, I cannot say that I was a wit- ness to the gallant part which he took in the struggles to which you have alluded. But I had the pleasure to hear him spoken of in terms. of the highest praise by those under whose immediate orders he acted. Our State had many like him in the old line of the army, who, with him, served through the entire war, with honor to themselves and to. the State. They are too well known through the official reports, the. truc history of the war, to require any notice from me. They belong, together with my friend Wessells, to that accomplished class of officers in our army whose military science, and admirable prowess, exhibited in so many battle-fields of the war, have justly contributed to the honor of the institution at which they were educated.
Pardon me for saying in this connection, that on a recent occasion. similar in its object to this, I could not divest myself of the reflection, that amongst those to whom I have already referred, many might have been found better entitled to the honors of the State than myself-to. whom I would gladly have yieldel the precedence. The gallant offi- cer -- neighbor to my honorable friend of the committee from another county-who won his brightest laurels in the opening blaze of the war, from what I believe I know of his generous nature, will not hesitate to credit the sincerity of the avowal which I have felt called upon thus. publicly to make.
Whilst I have felt called upon by a sense of respect for that portion of the American Army in which we find the candidate for the honors. of this day -- allow me to turn for a moment from the living to the dead. I am forcibly reminded that this is the birth-place of the lamented Kirby, so highly eulogized in the report of General Worth, and of that chivalrous spirit, E. Kirby Smith, who fell at Molino del Rey, whose heroic death it is impossible to recall without at the same time bringing to mind the fate of anothergallant youth of the highest promise, born in an opposite section of Se state, descendant of a race of heroes, the youthful Rogers, who fell under the walls of the last proud fortress. which held the Key to the City of Mexico.
" And the soldier of the legion in a foreign land lay dead."
I have already expressed the pleasure with which I have come for- ward to receive this sword in behalf of its rightful owner, whose ser- vices you have met to commemorate and reward. I have but a few words to add in full discharge of the duties I have undertaken.
In the presence of these fair ladies of his native town, before these citizens and citizen soldiers, witnesses of this ceremony, I have now the bonor to accept of this gift from the State of Connecticut to Major
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HENRY W. WESSELLS of the 2d Infantry, United States Army. In its rare workmanship and significant devices he will see the friendly hand which bade the arts contribute to polish and adorn it, and I feel assured that he will preserve it in sacred remembrance of his honored State, and of the youthful Senator, now alas no more, whose voice filled the halls of legislation with the praise of the absent whose deeds he contributed to reward.
Cheered and encouraged by the proud distinction which has been conferred upon him, a deep sense of gratitude, mingled with the du- ties of his military career, will make those duties light, and the flinty couch of the soldier as a bed of down. Having been a party in the war which has given us vast possessions on the Pacific border, he has been called with others to protect the flag which floats over those rich acquisitions-that flag which, wherever it waves, over plain, or moun- tain land, or sea-girt shore, prefigures the power of the Anglo- Saxon race, or heralds the march of our language and our liberties.
In no vain boast I may say of him that he will seek to be among the foremost to guard that proud banner in whose shining folds the Star of his native State gleams brightly in the clustering "old thirteen" -and brighter still in the reflected beams from the new-born States which have been added to the glorious constellation of the American Union. And should he be called again to those sanguinary fields, where the sword must point the way to victory or death, however his heart may relent in view of the calamities of war, his hand we have no doubt will be firm to execute whatever his country shall demand in the name of JUSTICE, ORDER, and LIBERTY.
At the conclusion of this address, three hearty cheers were given by the crowd for Major Wessells, and three more for Colonel Seymour -- which were responded to by a salute from the artillery.
During the ceremony, we noticed among those standing on the balcony, the Hon. H. D. Smith, Treasurer of the State, the Hon. Abijah Catlin, Comptroller of the State, and Major Webb, late of the Army in Mexico.
A grand Military Ball came off in the evening, in which between four and five hundred persons participated.
The sword is straight, and of the usual length. The blade is of the finest temper. beautifully wrought and ornamented to within about ten inch- es of its point. The hilt is of gold inlaid with pearl ; in the strips of pearl gold studs are inserted, and in the centre of the pearl upon one side of the hilt is an oriental garnet. In the upper end of the hilt is a topaz, and near the base an emerald, both set in gold. A massive gold cord is at- .ached to the top of the hilt, passes to its base, and thence depends, ter- minating in a tassel. Just below the hilt is a gold plate on which are engraved the arms of the State of Connecticut and its motto " qui trans- "lit sustinet." Upon the scabbard which is heavily gilt throughout, any quisitely polished except where embossed, is a gold plate containing the »wing inscription, viz ;
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" The State of Connecticut to MAJOR HENRY W. WESSELLS, 2d Infantry, U. S. Army, for distinguished services at Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Contreras and Churubusco."
Below is a representation of arts in relief bound together ; upon the band are inscribed the names of the battles above mentioned. Still lower is another representation of weapons of war, also in relief. The point of the scabbard is protected by an acorn-shaped fence upon its edges.
Major Wessells was married in September. 1834, to Mary T., daughter of Chester Griswold, Esq. ; she died at Fort King, Florida, in the autumn of 1841, leaving one daughter who still survives. In 1844, he was married to Miss Hannah Cooper, o. Cooperstown, N. Y., a niece of J. Fennimore Cooper ; by this marriage he has had three children, two sons who are liv- ing, and a daughter, Julia, who died in California in June 1849.
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AMASA J. PARKER.
This gentleman, who holds so conspicuous a place among the distinguished men of the empire State, was born in Shar- on, Ellsworth parish, on the 2d of June, 1807. A notice of him in the " American Biographical Sketch Book," prefaces a sketch of his public services with the following complimentary remarks concerning this county : " It has been remarked, that there is no neighborhood in the United States, of the same limits and population, which has been the birth-place or the nome of so many eminent men, as the county of Litchfield. It is a region of hard hills and rocky farms, contiguous to no commercial cities, and crossed by no important lines of travel -- but its homesteads, so quiet and retired, have been the fa- vorite haunts of the genii. Here the bracing. air of the high- lands, and the habits of industry and self-dependence, formed from childhood, have given strong langs and vigorous frames, expanded souls, and spirits full of energy, to a hundred men, where the influences of city life will scarcely endow with the same gifts a single one,"
: The Rev. Daniel Parker, ( father of the subject of this notice,) was a graduate of Yale College. He married Miss Anna Fenn, daughter of Thomas Fenn, Esq., and was for almost 20 years the settled minister at Ellsworth. During this period he established and had charge of an academy at that place, which acquired a high reputation, and in which many young men, since distinguished in various parts of the Union, were ed- ucated. He was a son of Amaza Parker, of Watertown, Conn., in which, place Thomas Fenn, above named, also re- sided.
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In 1816, Mr. Parker removed with his family to Greenville; Greene county, N. Y., and took charge of an academy at that place. Here Amaza J. Parker, then only nine years of age, commenced the study of the Latin language. At the end of two years, he was placed at an academy in Hudson, and from thence was transferred to the city of New York. At the age of sixteen, he had completed the usual course of collegiate study, although not within the walls of a college.
In May, 1823, as its principal, he tock charge of Hudson Academy, an incorporated institution, subject to the visitation of the regents. During the four years which he remained at its head, the academy stood high in public estimation: His age was not then mature, and his pupils, scattered over the State, were afterwards surprized to learn that their preceptor was younger than many of themselves. During this time, the argument was used by the academy at Kinderhook, a rival in- stitution, that the principal of the Hudson academy was not a graduate of a college. To obviate any such objection, Mr. Parker availed himself of the opportunity afforded by a short vacation, to present himself at Union college, in order to take an examination for the entire course, and to graduate with the class. This he did, and took his degree of bachelor of arts, in July, 1825.
During the latter part of his term at the Hudson academy he entered as a student at law, in the office of that sound jurist, John W. Edmonds, then residing at Hudson, and since judge of the supreme court. At the age of twenty, in the spring of 1828, having resigned his charge, Mr. Parker retired to Del- hi, Delaware county, for the purpose of pursuing his legal studies in the office of his uncle, Col. Amasa Parker, a prac- ticing lawyer of eminence at that place. He continued there until his admission to the bar, at the October term, in 1828. He then formed a co-partnership with his uncle, which lasted fifteen years, during which period they were engaged in a most extensive practice.
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Delaware county having for forty years been strongly dem- ccratic in its politics, Mr. Parker was early engaged in the great political struggles of the day. In the fall of 1833, at the age of twenty-six, he was elected a Representative in the State Legislature, where he served on the Committee of Ways and Means, and in other important positions. In 1835, he was elected by the Legislature, a Regent of the State Universi- ty-a rare honor for so young a man-the post never having been before conferred upon one of his age.
At the age of twenty-nine, he was elected a member of the twenty-fifth Congress, to represent the district composed of the counties of Delaware and Broome. It is here worthy of remark, that at both elections, he ran without opposition, the opposite party deeming it useless to bring a candidate into the field against him. While in Congress he served upon several important committees, and his speeches were upon the public lands, the Mississippi election question, the Cilley duel, and other great subjects of the day, all of which may be found in the Congressional Globe.
In the fall of 1839, he was a candidate for the office of State Senator, in the third senatorial district. The canvass was a very exciting one, owing to the fact that a United States Sena- tor was to be elected by the next legislature, in the place of Mr. Tallmadge, Very great exertions were made, and about fifty thousand votes were polled. The result was, the election of the whig candidate, the late Gen. Root, by a small majority.
On the 6th of March, 1844, he was appointed Circuit Judge, on accepting which he immediately took up his residence in the city of Albany, and continued there during his term of of- fice. The duties of this appointment were very laborious, and required the most constant application. As Judge in the com- mon law courts, and as Vice Chancellor in the Court of Equi- ty, the whole of his time was occupied and heavy responsibili- ties devolved upon him. In addition to the ordinary business
of his district, the anti-rent difficulties added much to his labors. He commenced his civil calenders with questions of title, and at the oyer and terminer, the most painful duties were impose d upon him, in punishing violations of the public peace. His labors at the Delaware Circuit, in 1845, will not soon be for- gotten. He found in jail upwards of one hundred persons, un- der indictment. At the end of three weeks, the jail was clear- ed, every case having been disposed of, by conviction or other- wise. Two were sentenced to death for the murder of Sheriff Steele, and about fifteen to confinement for various periods in the state prison ; and for the lighter offences, fines were in sev- eral cases imposed. The course pursued by Judge Parker met with general approbation. After the adjournment of the court, the military were dismissed, peace was restored, and no instance of a like resistance to the law has since occurred in that county.
During the following summer, the degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon Judge Parker by Geneva College.
His term of office as circuit judge terminated with the then existing Constitution of the State, and at the first election held under the new Constitution, he was chosen a Judge of the Supreme Court.
On the 27th of August 1834, Judge Parker was united in marriage with Miss Harriet L. Roberts, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and they have now six children.
ELIJAH BOARDMAN.
ELIJAH BOARDMAN was the third son of Sherman and Sarah Boardman, and was born in New Milford, March 7, 1760. His excellent mother used most feelingly to relate to her young'- er children, that, while busily employed in her household con- cerns, she thought she heard a noise like that occasioned by something falling into the water ; and stepping to the door to look for her little boy, she saw the water in a large trough in motion, and found her child lying at the bottom of the trough. Had the almost inaudible sound not reached the mother's ear his name would scarcely have been heard beyond that little family circle, and his services and influence would have been lost to his country and the world.
His early education was conducted chiefly by his mother, at home, until the winter of 1779-80, when a very excellent in- structor was employed. From his too rapid growth and con- sequent debility, he became unable, before this period, to en- dure constant labor on the farm ; and he occasionally attended school in the village, walking to and from it, a distance of two and a half miles each day. At the age of fifteen years, he com- menced the study of Latin with the Minister of the parish, the Rev. Nathaniel Taylor, who had a private class. In March, 1776, himself desirous of the service and with his father's con- sent, he enlisted as a common soldier into the revolutionary army, he now being sixteen years of age. The regiment in which he enlisted was commanded by Col. Charles Webb, and was one of the sixteen regiments first raised by authority of the Continental Congress. The officers of the company to which
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young Boardman belonged, were Captain Isaac Bostwick, Lieutenant Kimball, Lieutenant Elisha Bostwick, and Ensign Amos Bostwick-all except the first lieutenant being from the town of New Milford. The first destination of the regiment was for Boston, but before getting out of the limits of Connec- ticut, they were ordered to New London, where they embarked for New York, in and about which city the regiment remained until it was evacuated by the American army, in the month of October.
Shortly before this event, Mr, Boardman was seized with a dangerous illness, from which he had but partially recovered, when the retreat of the army seemed to render his situation hopeless. In this extremity, observing a wagon to stop near the house in which he was, he improved the opportunity afford- ed by the driver being a moment absent, and exerting to the utmost his wasted strength, he threw himself into the wagon. When the driver was about to eject him, an officer passing by ordered him to desist, and to permit the sick man to ride as far as the wagon was going. This was to the neighborhood of Kingsbridge, There Mr. Boardman was left, lying on the ground, and incapable of further exertion. In that situation he was discovered by a neighbor of his father, who had gone to New York to convey home a sick relative. The neighbor took him to a place of safety, and gave immediate notice to his father, who hastened to his relief. His state of health render- ing it quite manifest that he could render no further service during the remainder of the period for which he had enlisted, a discharge was obtained, and he was brought home in a de- plorable state. He slowly recovered; but his constitution, as he always thought, then received a shock, the effects of which were abiding.
In the autumn of 1777, he performed a short tour of duty on the Hudson, and then returned home and entered upon a course of study under the direction of a private tutor. He was
soon after employed as a clerk in the store of Elijah and Arch- ibald Austin, then prominent merchants in New Haven. In the fall of 1781, he commenced business as a retail merchant in New Milford. For eleven years, his brother Daniel was his partner in business ; and subsequently he was associated for a few years with Elijah Bennett. In 1819, the establishment was sold out to Stanley Lockwood, and Mr. Boardman relin- quisbed the mercantile business.
In September, 1795, the subject of this sketch became a member of the Connecticut Land Company, and, as such, one of the purchasers of the Connecticut Western Reserve, so called, now forming the northern part of the State of Ohio. T hat part of this purchase lying east of the Cuyahogo River the Company caused to be surveyed and divided into town- ships and tracts ; and a partition among the purchasers was made by lot, in May, 1799. By this partition, Mr. Boardman and his immediate associates became entitled to two entire townships and the "equalizing lots" of land (as they were call- ed,) annexed thereto. His interestextended to somewhat more than half of each township. No. 1 of the second range, was named, after him, " BOARDMAN"-a name which the town still retains. Some years after, the Land Company, having com. pleted the survey of that part of their purchase lying west of the Cuyahoga, made, in the same manner as before, a partition among the purchasers. By this, Mr. Boardman and his as- sociates became the proprietors of the town of Medina.
Mr. Boardman's assiduous attention to his private concerns, long prevented his taking an active part in the political dis- cussions which became rife throughout the country, soon after the establishment of the new Constitution of the United States. Yet, from the habitual activity of his mind, he was by no means an inattentive observer of passing events. About the year 1800, howeyer, he became quite prominent as a politician in Connecticut, But having embraced the principles of the par-
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