USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Stratford > A history of the old town of Stratford and the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut > Part 38
USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Bridgeport > A history of the old town of Stratford and the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut > Part 38
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Hon. William Samuel Johnson, son of the Rev. Samuel Johnson, D.D., was born in Stratford, October 7, 1727, and died November 14th, 1819, aged 92 years and two months. His mother was Charity, widow of Benjamin Nicoll, of Islip, L. I., and daughter of Richard Floyd, of Brookhaven, L. I. He was fitted for college by his father and was grad- uated at Yale in 1744.
After this he pursued his studies in several classical lines while fitting himself for the profession of the law, upon which he soon entered, and gave, at once, much promise of a re- markably successful and honorable life work.
He married, at the age of twenty-two years, Ann, daughter of William Beach, of Stratford, in 1749, and made his residence in his native town.
In 1754, he was commissioned as lieutenant in the Strat- ford militia company.
In 1761, he was chosen Representative for Stratford, and again in 1765 ; and the next year he was elected an Assistant at the General Court.
When the first Continental Congress assembled in New York City in 1765, the representatives in that body, from Connecticut, were William Samuel Johnson, Eliphalet Dyer and David Rowland.
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Biographical Sketches.
The next January 23, 1766, the University of Oxford, England, conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws.
His next service to the Colony of Connecticut was in reference to its title to land obtained of the Mohegan Indians, concerning which the Rev. E. E. Beardsley, D.D., makes the following brief statement :"
" In February, 1766, Connecticut was cited to appear before the King and Lords in Council, to answer in a matter which had been kept in agitation for nearly seventy years, and concerned the title to a large tract of land that Lieut. Governor Mason was appointed to obtain for the Colony, from the Mohegan Indians. He took the deed to himself, and the fact remained unnoticed until after his death, when the property was claimed by his heirs for services rendered to the Indians, as their agent. It was a part of their suit, too, to oppose the claim of Connecticut under pretense of protecting the rights of the Indians; and they appealed from the legal decisions against them in this country to the highest tribunal in England : while the title of the land was valuable, the most important question was one which affected the char- tered rights of the Colony; for had they succeeded, 'the conduct of Mason would have been adjudged fraudulent, and the British Government would have made it a ground for taking away the charter.'
" Dr. Johnson was appointed by the General Assembly at its October session in 1766, to proceed to England and defend in that case. In obedience to this direction he arrived in London on the 8th of February," expecting to remain there a few months at longest; but it was nearly five years before he returned to his home.
His long stay in England, in which he was largely suc- cessful in retaining for the Colony the right of soil to the Mohegan lands, enabled him to become thoroughly ac- quainted with the public sentiment in that country towards the Colonies, which knowledge was of great service to this country after his return, when the Revolutionary conflict began.
6 Life and Times of William Samuel Johnson, 35.
25
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History of Stratford.
At the May session of the General Assembly, in 1772, Dr. Johnson was appointed one of the Judges of the Superior Court, which position allowed him favorable opportunities to continue his literary pursuits and correspondences which he had industriously improved up to this time, and which course he followed to the close of life.
In 1774, he was elected one of three to represent Connec- ticut in the Congress of the Colonies to meet in Philadelphia on the 5th of September, but having accepted previously an appointment as arbitrator on the estate of Van Renselaer of Albany, he was excused from serving and his place was filled by Silas Dean.
After the Declaration of Independence he remained at home most of the time except as related on page 421 of this book, maintaining, in regard to public acts, neutral ground to a considerable extent in relation to the great con- flict for the liberty of the United States, until peace was declared.
In 1782, he came prominently before the public in his profession as an advocate in behalf of the State of Connecti- cut, in the great trial of the claims of this State to the Sus- quehanna lands in Pennsylvania.
From November, 1784, until May, 1787, he was a repre- sentative in Congress, from his native State.
The delegates sent by the Connecticut Legislature to form the Constitution of the United States, in 1787, consisted of William Samuel Johnson, Roger Sherman, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Oliver Ellsworth ; and in this great work each of these men rendered distinguished service.
While thus serving his country he was elected, on the 2Ist of May, 1787, president of Columbia College in New York City, which he accepted and removed his residence to that place where he remained, serving with much honor, until his resignation in the year 1800, when he retired to his old home in Stratford.
Dr. Johnson was reared in the Episcopal Church and to it he maintained his loyalty and devotion to the last, and as such exerted a large influence in behalf of that Church in the Colony and State of Connecticut and in the United States.
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Biographical Sketches.
His literary attainments and culture were among the most complete and attractive of any among Americans, and his elegance of diction and charin of delivery were in few cases, if any, surpassed in his day.
Adopting the Constitution.
The question of adopting the Constitution of the United States excited great interest in Stratford, and at the town meeting held to elect delegates to a State convention to rat- ify or reject that instrument, there was much excitement, debate and anxiety, there being considerable strong opposi- tion to it. The town meeting meet in the town house but adjourned to the meeting house, probably because of the great number present.
By the favor of Professor Charles F. Johnson, of Trinity College, Hartford, the following letter of Robert Charles Johnson, son of Dr. Wm. Samuel Johnson, to his father, is, upon solicitation, submitted to be published. This letter, although from a young man of only twenty-one years, gives some insight into the excitement and contest of that occasion, and of what a sincere, earnest young person can do if wisely trained, for it must be remembered that he had been greatly favored in his advantages of education and in public society. The letter was written to his father with no idea that it would ever be seen by any other person.
" Stratford November 1787.
Honored Sir : This afternoon I spoke in the town meet- ing. I observed the outlines of the declamation you read, and chained down the attention of a numerous audience for upwards of three-quarters of an hour. Silas Hubbell at the begining of the debate made a motion, that as I had been much with you, I should be requested to deliver my senti- ments of the Constitution. The proposition was laughed at and rejected. I was then determined I would speak. Major [Joseph] Walker held me by the arm and said I should ruin everything. I waited till the moderator called for the votes, and then broke from him, jumped over the seats, mounted the pulpit stairs and succeeded beyond my expectations,
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equal to my wishes, and closed, with launching an empire on the sea of glory,' amidst a general clap of hands. Every one I met shook me by the hand and told me I was an honor to Stratford. [Indeed he was.] Then I went to hand in my vote, and the moderator-Major Judson-rose from his seat, shook me by the hand, and said, he 'publickly thanked me for the information and pleasure I had given, and that I was an honor to Stratford.' The Selectmen unitedly requested that I would preserve the train of my arguments, that they might print it, for that 'it was a pitty that they should be lost after making such an impression.' Can I not now by working the outlines of the declamation, and by close logical reasons intermingled submit it to men of sense and confirm my reputation ? Sir, please write me as soon as convenient, as the Selectmen have already called on me for a copy of my speech. You, sir,' and Esquire Mills are chosen. I should certainly have been elected had not every one been per- suaded from my information that you would attend. Esquire Bennett and myself were equally balanced, and had I had intriguing on my side should have carried it against Esquire Mills. Forgive me this effusion of vanity."
In another letter to his brother who was in the Bermudas, a few days later, Dec. 3d, he further reveals the spirit of the occasion : " The new Constitution is almost the only subject of conversation. A town meeting was called at Stratford for the choice of delegates to the Constitutional Convention. All our Stratford orators spoke and were heard with impa- tience by a powerful opposition. Deacon Bennet was to be the man known to be a violent opposer of the Constitution. After I sat down the temper of the house seemed to be changed, and they almost unanimously voted in my father and Esquire Mills. The Constitution, we flatter ourselves, will be adopted. The Pennsylvania convention is in favor of it. In Connecticut a decided superiority. General Parsons says he can engage to raise 15,000 volunteers who will stake their lives and fortunes on the event. Delaware, it is thought,
7 Dr. Johnson was then President of Columbia College, and hence was in New York City.
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Biographical Sketches.
will follow Pennsylvania, Massachusetts doubtful. but expect- ed in favour. Virginia and Georgia in all probability, will adopt. New York against. Rhode Island out of the ques- tion ; as much the scorn and derision of America as America is of the rest of the world.
" If not accepted, America will in all probability be a scene of anarchy and confusion. If adopted it will be some time before peace and serenity prevail. I will sacrifice my life in defence of it. I will wade up to my knees in blood that it may be established."
Such were the perils over which sailed the ship of state, and such the spirit of the young men who manned her ; a spirit which has been manifested more grandly, if possible, in recent days, in preserving the Union, for which the Fore- fathers suffered so much.
Capt. William Birdsey, previous to 1762, owned and lived in a house that had been his father's, which stood at the foot of Main street, facing up the street. It was an old house.
In this year Mr. Birdsey then built a fine house on the northeast corner of the streets where now resides Dea. Sam- uel E. Curtis.
Capt. William Birdsey married in 1745, Eunice Benjamin, and was a wealthy, prosperous farmer, and not far from the time the new house was built, the Rev. Samuel Peters married his daughter.
Mr. Birdsey lived in this house until 1779 or 'So, when the discouragements as to the success of the Revolution were very many and great; he, fearing if the British won the day he should lose all his property, went over and joined the British army on Long Island, where he remained until the war was over. Then he returned to Stratford to find that the government had confiscated his property, and that it was to be sold at auction.
The people of Stratford, knowing him to have been a very fine citizen, and true several years to the cause of Amer- ican freedom, pitied him, and agreed among themselves not to bid on certain portions of the property, at the sale, so as to allow him to bid it in at a low price. This was done and he secured and retained the old house, and much of his land
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which had been in the family from the first. It is said that at the sale, one of his neighbors, Samuel Ufford, bid on one piece of land that seemed quite desirable, but this created such excitement that he came near being mobbed. Mr. Bird- sey lived in the old house until his death.
In 1802, his son Everit Birdsey started to build a house on the site of the old house fronting up Main street. But as soon as he had removed the old building, the town authori- ties appeared and laid the highway directly over the site through the field southward, as it is at present, and in 1808, Everit Birdsey built his house on the corner directly east of the old site.
Abel Beach, in 1767, built the first house and barn on Stratford Point. It stood about twenty rods west of the lighthouse. His own residence was in the village across the street from the site of the first meeting-house at Sandy Hollow. He was a prominent man in business and enter- prise.
Legrand Cannon, a merchant from New York City, bought the house and estate of Abel Beach at Stratford Point, about 1768, and Mr. Beach's homestead in the village east of Sandy Hollow opposite the site of the first meeting-house. This house was built by Nathan Beach, father of Abel, in 1722, who left it to his son Abel. Mr. Cannon bought also a brig of Abel Beach, which he run to the West Indies.
Edward DeForest married a daughter of Legrand Can- non, and to this daughter the father gave the house and land at the Point, and Mr. DeForest lived there several years until he killed his wife's slave-woman by stabbing her with a pitchfork, which created much talk, but nothing was done about it.8
Old Time Hospitality runs some risks not to be cov- eted. The late Nathan B. McEwen left the following record connected with his grandmother :
"The house known on Lindsley's Map as the Hon. Robert Fairchild's was built, in 1770, by my great-grand- father, Josiah Beers, for a good size homestead.
8 Manuscript of Nathan B. McEwen.
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Biographical Sketches.
" Tramps and travellers in those days had to find lodging and food in private families when too poor to pay for them at the Inn, which was easy to do, as it was considered an act of charity to care for such.
" A poor man called on Mr. Beers, late in the day, for food and lodging, saying he was sick and unable to go any further, and Mr. Beers took him into his home. The next morning he was much worse and could not go. He had a fever and at the end of about two weeks he died. Both Beers and his wife took the fever, and died leaving four young children, one son and three daughters.
" They had three uncles in good circumstances ; cach took a girl to bring up, and the boy was put out to work, being old enough to earn his living. The house and land were sold to maintain and bring up the girls.
" My grandmother was taken by Stephen Porter, who lived on the corner of Elm street and Michell's Lane in the lower part of the village. The other girls were taken by their uncles to Stepney in Monroe. Eunice married Stephen French, and the other married John Summers Hawley, and both raised a family.
" My grandmother, Sally, married Nathan Gorham. The son William Beers, married and had children, Lewis and Mary. He was a sailor and acquired some property."
Hon. Robert Walker was one of the most noted men that Stratford ever produced. He was born in 1704 and died in 1772, aged 68 years. The brief summary of his life as given on his tombstone appears to have been very true and appro- priate. " He sustained many important offices in civil life, for many years before and at the time of his death. He was one of his Majesty's Council for the Colony of Connecticut, one of the Judges of the Superior Court, and a Colonel of the Militia; all which offices he discharged with fidelity and honor. He firmly believed and conscientiously practiced the Christian religion ; was a kind husband, a tender parent, and faithful friend."
This inscription was doubtless written by his pastor and son-in-law, the Rev. Izrahiah Wetmore, who had known him intimately nineteen years, and it would be difficult to improve the epitaph.
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History of Stratford.
Hon. Robert Walker was the son of Robert and Ruth (Wilcoxson) Walker, who was the son of Joseph and Abigail (Prudden) Walker, the son of Robert Walker, one of the founders of the Old South Church of Boston, Mass., and could therefore boast of as staunch puritan blood as any. His father was deacon in the Congregational Church, a man of influence and high standing in the town as well as in the Church, who died in 1743.
Robert, the son, after graduation at Yale College in 1730, became a lawyer, and as such was quite celebrated, having but few equals in. his day, not excepting his rival the Hon. William Samuel Johnson, between whom and himself there was great friendship. He was first sent to the legislature in 1745, and served in that body fourteen sessions, and where he is styled first Mr., then Captain, and then Colonel, and in 1766, he was chosen an Assistant or member of the upper house in which position he served two years.
He was appointed Judge of the Superior Court first in 1762, and held that position five years. He was also Justice of the peace in his own township several years.
Robert Walker, Jr., son of the above, was also a prominent citizen, a lawyer, judge and influential man. He was graduated at Yale College in 1765, and was appointed by the General Court, October, 1766, " Surveyor of lands for the county of Fairfield, in the room of Mr. Judah Kellogg, re- signed." This was a fine beginning for a young man not twenty-one years of age. What position he took in the Rev- olution is not known, but soon after he became prominent as a lawyer, became Judge of Probate, serving a number of . years ; Justice of the peace, and a well known and well tried public citizen. He died in 1810, and his epitaph, found on page 233 of this work, and probably written by his pastor the Rev. Timothy Cutler, gives high praise to his life and character. He was town clerk from 1789 to 1804.
Gen. Joseph Walker, brother of Robert, Jr., above, was born in 1756; graduated at Yale College in 1774, served
9 Coll. Rec., xii, 502.
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Biographical Sketches.
through the Revolution, beginning in 1777 as captain and closed a Major General. He was a number of times a repre- sentative to the legislature ; was a prominent business man after the war. He built the first mill at Benjamin's Bridge, known for many years lately as the Yellow Mill at Pembroke Pond or Lake. His dwelling house, which he may have built, stands a few doors north of the railroad, on Main street in Stratford village. It is the old style of a long-roofed house with the end to the road and two immense elin trees in front of the lot in the street. There was a stone in the front, near the top of the chimney with the date, no doubt, on it, but this stone long since disappeared, very much to the regret of the historian if no one else.
Robert Fairchild, Esqr., was born in 1703 and died in 1793, "In the goth year of his age," says his tombstone. He was one of the remarkable men of Stratford.
He probably practiced law, but held the office of Probate Judge many years. His house, which was built by Josiah Beers, in 1770, is still standing by a well of most delicious water, on Main street, first one south of the railroad, with the little office still attached where he spent much of his time for many years. He was town clerk from 1759 until 1789, and during the Revolution he was a firm patriot, and some of the resolutions recorded and printed in this book were probably the work of his pen, and if so, they show the energy, decision and earnestness with which he labored and used his pen during that great conflict. His fame as town clerk and probate judge is still spoken of as remarkable, and very honorable to the town, as well as to himself.
Rev. Nathan Birdsey died in Stratford, Jan. 28, 1818, aged 103 yrs. 5 months and 9 days. He was born Aug. 19, 1714; took his degree in Yale College in 1736, was settled as a minister in West Haven, 1742; preached there 16 years, then removed to his patrimonial estate at Oronoque in this town where he resided until his death. He married but once and lived with his wife 69 yrs. She died at the age of 88 yrs. He had 12 children, 76 grandchildren, 103 great-grand- children, and 7 of the 5th generation at his decease. Of his
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12 children 6 were sons and 6 daughters, a daughter being born next after a son in every instance. His funeral was attended by a large concourse of people. among whom were about 100 of his posterity. A sermon was delivered on the occasion by the Rev. Stephen W. Stebbins from the text, "All the days of Methuselah were," etc.
Mr. Birdsey, after he left West Haven, continued to preach occasionally for many years. When he was over 100 years he officiated in the pulpit in Stratford. (See Sprague's Annals.) He retained his mental faculties in a remarkable degree until his death, although nearly blind and quite deaf at the last. (From Sprague's Annals.)
Mr. Birdsey married Dolly Hawley of Ridgefield, who was brought up by her aunt Cheney in Boston, of whom she learned to make wax figures or statuary. Some of her pro- ductions in this line are still preserved among her descendants, by the family of Aaron Benjamin.
Mr. Birdsey attended personally the ordination in Strat- ford of Rev. Hez. Gold in 1722 ; the Rev. Izrahiah Wetmore in 1753; the Rev. S. W. Stebbins in 1784; the Rev. Matthew R. Dutton in 1814, at the last, he being then 100 years old, offered the ordaining prayer, and afterwards dined with the council.
It is stated as tradition, that Mr. Birdsey, when a young and single man, dreamed that he should pass the night some- where in his travels where the supper table would be set by a young lady wearing on her neck a blue bandanna handker- chief with white spots, and that he should marry her. This all came to pass at Mr. Hawley's in the person of Dorothy, whom he married.
There is preserved an account of the finding of a very good spring of water by the Rev. Nathan Birdsey in answer to prayer. While the question of his piety and true Christian life is not doubted, it is nevertheless true that if he had looked for a spring of water with the same earnestness any other time he would have found it just the same. One effect of prayer is to move persons to do their own duty and work, and then the Great Ruler of the Universe does his, or has it already done, long before the prayer is made.
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Biographical Sketches.
The War of IS12.
No town acts are recorded in reference to this war. A few items have been gathered, while hurriedly collecting the the material for this work.
During this war against England, the United States employed vessels owned by individuals as privateers, or in other words, granted Letters of Marque to capture Eng- lish vessels wherever found. Capt. Samuel C. Nicoll being a qualified person was thus engaged and some account of his services are here given. In such cases the engaging in this kind of employment is regarded the same as going to the field of battle in the army. The work of a privateer is very different from that of pirates. The following brief account of Capt. Nicoll is taken from Cogshall's History of the Amer- ican Privateers, chapter vii .; published in 1856.
" The privateers Scourge and Rattlesnake appear to merit something more than a passing remark, as they were often in company in a distant sea, on the same cruising ground, and as they were very fortunate in capturing and annoying the enemy's trade and commerce, I shall devote a separate notice to them as their just due.
Though the worthy captains of both these vessels have passed away from earthly scenes, I hope their acts and decds in their country's service will ever be appreciated, while bravery and patriotism are held in high regard by civilized nations.
" The Scourge was owned in New York, and commanded by Capt. Samuel Nicoll, a native of Stratford, Conn. He was a worthy, intelligent, enterprising man, and a good patriot.
" The Scourge was a large schooner privateer, mounting 15 guns, with musketry, etc., and suitably officered and manned for a long cruise. She sailed from New York in April, 1813, for the north coast of England and Norway.
" Captain Nicoll was a man of sound judgment, and a good financier. After he had made one or two successful cruises, he found it more to his advantage to remain on shore in the different parts of Norway, where he sent in most of his prizes, and attend to the sale of them than to go to sea, and
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History of Stratford.
leave the management of his rich prizes in the hands of dis- honest or incompetent persons.
" On the 19th of July, while Captain Nicoll was off the North Cape in the Scourge, he fell in with and cruised for several days in company with Commodore Rodgers, in the United States frigate President, who was then cruising in those high northern latitudes.
" After Commodore Rodgers left that region for a more southerly one, the Scourge proceeded off the coast of Nor- way, and alternately off the North Cape, to intercept British ships sailing to and from Archangel.
" The following list comprises a portion, but by no means all the prizes captured by the Scourge. A great number were sent into the different ports in the United States and Norway, particularly into the harbor of Drontheim, and many others were disposed of in various ways.
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