USA > Connecticut > New London County > A modern history of New London County, Connecticut, Volume II > Part 45
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"Among those who contributed testimony, based on personal knowledge, was Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Farnsworth. His letters were of great in- terest; his evidence on points of fact emphatic, ex- posing clearly the suffering and horrors incident to life in Libby prison and at Belle Isle."
In another place the report says: "Lieutenant- Colonel Farnsworth of the Ist Connecticut Cavalry was also an inmate of Libby, and while there did what he could to see that those of his command cap- tured with him, as well as others whom he knew, shared with him the good things sent to him from his home. His thoughtfulness and zeal in this par- ticular were remembered with devout gratitude by those who returned to speak of it, and who felt their own preservation from death by starvation was due to him. When he was exchanged and returned home he not only had words of testimony concern- ing the inhuman treatment which prevailed at Rich- mond, but he forwarded as early as possible to those he left behind him in confinement a box containing such things as he knew from experience would comfort and cheer them."
By the time Colonel Farnsworth had recovered from the effects of his wounds and imprisonment, the bitter struggle had come to an end. He mar- ried, November 1, 1865, at Norwich, Connecticut, Harriet Peck Lester, and removed to Savannah,
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Georgia, and was engaged in rice culture. His death, by drowning, caused by the sinking of his boat during a storm on the Ogeechee river while en route from his residence to his rice plantation, occurred April 15, 1867. He left a posthumous son, Charles, born June 11, 1867.
CHARLES M. COIT-John Coit, the emigrant ancestor of the New London and Norwich Coits, came probably from Glamorganshire, Wales, be- tween 1630 and 1638. He was in Salem, Massachu- setts, where he had a grant of land in 1638. In 1644 he removed to Gloucester, and in 1648 was select- man there. He had considerable land on Wheeler's Point and Planter's Neck. He was a freeman in 1647. In 1650 he received a grant of land in New London, Connecticut, and came to it in 1651. He married Mary Ganners, or Jenners, in England, where all of his children were born previous to emi- gration. He died August 29, 1659, and his widow passed away January 2, 1676. Their children were: John, Joseph, Mary and Martha.
From this ancestor the lineage of the late Colonel Charles M. Coit and the present George D. Coit, of Norwich, is through Deacon Joseph, Rev. Joseph, Colonel Samuel, John, Nathaniel and Colonel Charles Coit.
(II) Deacon Joseph Coit probably came with his father from Gloucester to New London about 1651, and he passed the greater part of his lifetime in the latter place, carrying on the trade of shipbuild- ing with his brother-in-law, Hugh Mould. On July 15, 1667, Deacon Coit married Martha, daughter of William and Edith Harris, of Wethersfield; both joined the church in 1681, he later becoming a dea- con. He died March 27, 1704, and Mrs. Coit passed away July 14, 1710. Nearly, if not all the Coits of America, says the genealogist of the Coit family, are descended from him. His children were: John, Joseph, William, Daniel, Solomon and Samuel, all born between 1670 and 1692, inclusive.
(III) Rev. Joseph Coit, born April 4, 1673, in New London, married September 18, 1705, Experi- ence Wheeler, daughter of Isaac Wheeler, of Ston- ington, Connecticut, and the union was blessed with ten children, namely: Elizabeth, born February 19, 1706-07; Samuel, in 1708; Joseph, baptized in 1711; Martha, born in 1713; Isaac, December 26, 1714; Abigail, abont 1716; Mary, about 1718; William, No- vember 20, 1720; Experience, about 1722, and Daniel, in 1731. Mr. Coit was graduated from Harvard Col- lege in 1697, and was admitted the Master's de- gree at the first commencement at Yale College in 1702. In the latter part of 1698 he preached at Nor- wich, and was invited to settle there, but he soon went to Plainfield, where he preached the greater part of the time for five years. In 1704 he received and accepted a call to settle as pastor of the church at that point, and for forty-three years, until 1748, he sustained such relations with the church, at the close of which period, owing to age, he asked for
dismissal. Rev. Mr. Coit continued to reside in Plainfield until his death, July 1, 1750. Mrs. Coit passed away January 8, 1759.
(IV) Colonel Samuel Coit, born in 1708, in Plain- field, married (first) March 30, 1730, Sarah, daugh- ter of Benjamin Spalding, of Plainfield. Colonel Coit settled in the North Society, Preston (now Griswold), and there spent a long and honored life, dying October 4, 1792, when eighty-four years of age. In military life he rose to the rank of colonel, and in 1758 had command of a regiment raised in the neighborhood of Norwich which wintered at Fort Edward. Colonel Coit represented Preston in the General Assembly in 1761, 1765, 1769, 1771, 1772 and 1773. In the time of the Revolution he sat as judge on the bench of the county court and of a maritime court. He also served in other public capacities. He was received into the church at Preston in 1742, and his wife in 1733. His wife, Sarah (Spaling), died July 11, 1776, aged sixty-five years. Their children were: Benjamin, born March 28, 1731; Samuel, July 23, 1733; William, February 13, 1735; Oliver, February 23, 1736-37; Wheeler, Feb- rnary 24, 1738-39; John, June 4, 1741; Sarah, May 12, 1743; Joseph, baptized May 2, 1746; Isaac, baptized October 3, 1748; and Olive, baptized April 5, 1752.
(V) John Coit, born June 4, 1741, married Febru- ary 6, 1766, Mehitabel Tyler, daughter of John Tyler, of Preston, and passed his life there. Mr. Coit was the owner of a large farm in Preston, and occupied himself in its oversight. His death occurred March 3, 1808, and the death of his wife January 3, 1806. Their children were: Lydia, born December 13, 1766; Nathaniel, May 5, 1768; Sarah, May 1, 1770; Olive, February 22, 1772; John, December 20, 1773; Sophia, October 14, 1775; James Tyler, October 1, 1778; Rebecca, February 2, 1783; and Roger, January 25, 1786.
(VI) Nathaniel Coit, born May 5, 1768, in Pres- ton, married (first) March 14, 1792, Betsey Morgan, of that town, daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth (Lord) Morgan. Captain Coit (by which title he was known and which he acquired in military serv- ice) settled in Preston as a farmer, in which pursuit he was quite successful. A number of honors were bestowed upon him by his fellow-townsmen, who had great confidence in his judgment, integrity and faith- fulness. His moral character was beyond reproach, but not until late in life did he make a profession of religion, then uniting with the church in Jewett City. Captain Coit died at that place, which was formerly included in Preston, March 11, 1848. His wife died March 13, 1831. Their children were: Charles, born February 19, 1793; Martha, December 12, 1795; Charlotte, August II, 1797; Olive, October 12, 1799; Betsey, January 10, 1802; a son, March 2, 1804 (died in infancy); Charlotte (2), September 20, 1805; Hannah M., May 28, 1808; George, April 29, 1811; and William.
(VII) Colonel Charles Coit, born February 19, 1793, married (first) May 21, 1821, Lucretia Tyler,
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daughter of Colonel Moses and Olive (Coit) Tyler. She died in 1822, and he married (second) Lydia Tyler, a sister of his first wife. She died in October, 1834, and he married (third) Sarah Perkins Gros- venor, daughter of General Lemuel Grosvenor, of Pomfret. Colonel Coit took part in the war of 1812, and afterward continued in the militia service, ris- ing to the rank of colonel of artillery. In about 1817 he removed to Norwich and engaged in mer- cantile business, which, in various forms, particularly in the grocery line, he carried on until his death, October 26, 1855, when aged sixty-two years. Colonel Coit united with the Second Congregational Church in Norwich in 1822 and for many years officiated as deacon and as superintendent of the Sabbath school. In all the relations of life he exhibited a character seldom equalled for blamelessness and faithfulness. His fellow-citizens generally acknowledged him to be a pillar in society, contributing essentially to the strength and beauty thereof by his intelligence, dig- nity, uprightness, sincerity, discretion and benevo- lence. Two children were born of the second mar- riage of Colonel Coit, Lucretia, and one unnamed, both of whom died in infancy. Four children were born of the last marriage, namely: Ellen Gros- venor, November 15, 1835; Charles Morgan, March 28, 1838 (died July 3, 1878); Sarah Perkins, October 16, 1840 (died May 17, 1843); and George Douglas, January 2, 1845.
(VIII) Miss Ellen Grosvenor Coit resided at Norwich until a few years ago, but she now spends her winters in Brooklyn, New York, and her sum- mers at her cottage at Eastern Point, town of Gro- ton, Connecticut.
(VIII) Colonel Charles Morgan Coit, son of Col. Charles Coit, was born in Norwich, March 28, 1838. During his seventeenth year the death of his father changed all his plans for life, and led him with deep regret to exchange a college course for a business situation. He first entered the Uncas Bank, but at the age of twenty-one was made treas- urer of the Chelsea Savings Bank, which responsible position he occupied at the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion. Although ardently desirous of enlisting under the first call for troops, the claims of his family, of which he was the oldest male mem- ber, seemed to render imperative for him the duty of remaining at home. But as reverses occurred to our armies and President Lincoln's second call for troops was made, young Coit, after mature and prayerful deliberation, decided that the claim of his country was paramount to all others, and entered the service as adjutant of the 8th Connecticut Volun- teer Infantry, then being organized under Colonel Edward Harland. His military record in brief is as follows: Enlisted September 18, 1861, mustered October 5, 1861; promoted from adjutant of the 8th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry to captain of Com- pany B, of that regiment, March 27, 1862; wounded October 28, 1864, at Fair Oaks, Virginia; promoted licutenant-colonel by brevet March 13, 1865; dis-
charged May 27, 1865. But to give more in detail the maneuvers of the 8th Regiment and Colonel Coit's identity with it the following is appended, taken from a sketch of Colonel Coit in the chapter on the military history of Connecticut, published in the "History of New London County," by Hurd:
"This regiment left the State October 17, 1861, joining the Burnside expedition to North Carolina, and on the 8th of January following had its first experience of actual battle at the capture of Roanoke- Island, when by their coolness and good descipline- the men won the hearty approval of Generals Burn- side and Foster. From this time onward until the close of the war the career of this gallant regiment was one of unusual hardship and honor. Almost uninterruptedly in the front and in active service, its engagements were many, its losses, both from the casualties of the field and from the exposures inci- dent to the service, terribly severe, and the record always of work well and bravely done. After its North Carolina campaign, in which the regiment liad borne a prominent part at the seige of Fort Macon and the capture of Newbern, and during which Adjutant Coit had been promoted to a cap- taincy, the 9th Army Corps, to which the regiment was attached, was ordered north to join General Mc- Clellan, and participated in the fircely contested bat- tles of South Mountain and Antietam. Especially in the latter action was the gallantry of the 8th Regiment conspicuous and of the highest service to its whole corps. Nine color-bearers were struck down, yet another always stood ready to fill the vacant place and uphold the flag. The entire list of casualties included more than one-half of those who entered the battle. The regiment was in front of Burnside's advance with the Army of the Poto- mac, helping to lay the pontoon bridge at Freder- icksburg, and after the battle serving on the picket line beyond the city, and being among the last to recross the river. In the spring of 1863 the 8th saw active service at the siege of Suffolk and the bril- liant storming of Fort Huger. During the following fall and winter, while the regiment was enjoying its longest experience of the comparative comfort of quiet camp life, Captain Coit was ordered to duty at the conscript camp at New Haven, a service which, though in some respects an exceedingly agreeable change from field service, was in other re- spects most unpleasant and difficult. Returning to the regiment before the commencement of active operations in the spring of 1864, he was constantly on duty with his command through the terrible cam- paign on the James, commencing with the severe engagement at Walthall Junction, in which the regi- ment lost seventy-four men, and immediately fol- lowed by the four days' battle at Drury's Bluff, with further heavy loss. During the 'battle summer' that followed, in the absence of the field-officers, the regiment was commanded by Captain Coit. Its history and his is a record of marches and battles almost daily, until the latter part of June, when it
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was ordered to the front of the line investing Peters- burg. From June 21 to August 27, under the scorch- ing summer sun, the men lay in their rifle-pits, rarely by day or night, beyond the range of the enemy's cannon. In one of the regiment's charges on the enemy's works, so gallantly did the men do their work that their commander, General 'Baldy' Smith, said he 'felt like giving a commission to the whole regiment that had done that gallant deed.' The last severe fighting of the regiment at Fort Harrison, September 29, was another of its most gallant achievements. Charging across nearly a mile of open field, still commanded by Captain Coit, the men stormed the fort, driving the gunners from their places and planting their flag on its ramparts. The regiment lay in the trenches about the fort nearly a month, repulsing in the meantime all the attempts of the enemy to regain their lost ground. When at the end of the month the men were re- lieved and assigned to lighter duty, the regiment had become so reduced by the casualties of the field, 'fatigue duty, watching, picketing, storms, and lack of even shelter tents, which were not then allowed at the front,' that but ninety muskets could be mus- tered.
"Soon after the capture of Fort Harrison, Captain Coit was assigned to duty as assistant adjutant-gen- eral on the brigade staff, and while here received a commission as major of his regiment, which he de- clined. He had been with his regiment in every action in which it had taken part without receiving a wound; but October 28, while on staff duty at Fair Oaks, in one of the latest engagements of the army before Richmond, he was wounded, it was sup- posed, mortally. He was removed to Chesapeake Hospital, Fortress Monroe, where he remained four months, lying for many weeks with the scales trembling between life and death, suffering not only from his wound, but from the almost fatal effects of the severe service of the past summer. But skillful treatment and the tender care of loving friends, aided by his naturally strong constitution and good habits, were finally blessed to his recovery. As soon as health would permit he returned to his regiment, but the war being over, army life had no charms for him, and he resigned May 30, 1865. He was brevetted lieutenant-colonel from March 13, 1865.
"Soon after his return to Norwich from the war Colonel Coit was chosen to his former position as treasurer of the Chelsea Savings Bank, and filled the position with marked ability and to the entire satisfaction of all interested. He served one term as postmaster of Norwich. He was an aide on the staff of General Joseph R. Hawley, when that gen- tleman was governor of Connecticut. Colonel Coit was prominent among the founders and early sup- porters of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was a member of the Boston Com- mandery of the Loyal Legion of the United States. "Colonel Coit was a consistent and active member
of the Second Congregational Church, holding the offices of deacon and treasurer of the church, and librarian of the Sunday school. Colonel Coit lost his life on Juy 3, 1878, by drowning in New London harbor; his little son had fallen overboard from a yacht and in an effort of the father to rescue him, in which he was successful, he lost his own life."
On June 18, 1872, Colonel Coit was married to Miss Mary B. Hillard, and to them came two chil- dren, both of whom are living: Charles, born March 28, 1873, and Augustus, born April 29, 1876.
At a meeting of the directors of the Chelsea Sav- ings Bank, held July 5, 1878, the following resolu- tions were unanimously passed:
"Resolved, That in the recent sudden death of Colonel Charles M. Coit, our secretary and treasurer, this bank has suffered the greatest loss which it has ever been called upon to bear. We have lost one who has been identified with the bank for nearly twenty years, in whose sound judgment and busi- ness capacity we have always had the greatest con- fidence, one whose integrity, both in thought and deed, was such that it seems impossible to replace him.
"Resolved, That in Colonel Coit's death this com- munity suffers a loss of one who, having passed his entire life among them, except that portion given to his country, had gained their confidence, respect, and love to a very unusual degree. As a citizen, a patriot soldier, and a public officer, he has always shown those qualities of mind and heart which en- deared him to all who were brought in contact with him. Though cut off in his prime, the example of such a life is of incalculable value to the community.
"Early professing his love for Christ, Colonel Coit exhibited through the pleasures of youth, the trials and temptations of army life, and the cares of business, such a sincere, unostentatious, but decided Christian spirit as left no room for question or cavil. His unswerving allegiance to his God controlled all his life and has, we believe, won for him at the judgment on high the same verdict so heartily given by all who knew him here .- 'Well done, good and faithful servant.' "
HON. DAVID AMES WELLS, M. D., LL. D., D. C. L., economist, was born June 17, 1827, at Springfield, Massachusetts. He was graduated from Williams College in 1847. He was associate editor of the Springfield "Republican" in 1848-49, and was appointed assistant professor at the Lawrence Scientific School, Harvard University, in 1850. In 1852 he received the degree of B. S. from Harvard, and in 1863 the honorary degree of M. D., from the Berkshire Medical College. In 1857-58 he was en- gaged in the general book and publishing business in New York, as a member of the firm of G. P. Putnam & Co. He removed to Troy, New York, in 1858, and thence to Norwich, Connecticut, in 1870. In April, 1865, he was made chairman of the United States Revenue Commission, and was appointed spe-
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cial commissioner of revenue of the United States in 1867. The same year he was sent on a mission to Europe by the United States Government. He retired from the office of special commissioner of United States revenue by limitation of term of office in July, 1870, and received on retirement a letter of thanks for his official services from a ma- jority of both branches of Congress. In July, 1870, he was appointed by the Governor of New York a commissioner to revise the laws for the assessment and collection of taxes in the State of New York, and in this new position he prepared and submitted to the Legislature, in 1872 and 1873, two reports and a code of laws. All of these reports have been since reprinted in the United States, and in Europe: and one of the first acts of the French National Assembly, after the conclusion of the German war, was to order the translation and official publica- tion of Mr. Well's reports as special commissioner for 1868-69. This compliment was further supple- mented, in the spring of 1874, by the unanimous election of Mr. Wells by the Institute of France to fill the chair of Foreign Associate, made vacant by the death of the late John Stuart Mill; and later by the voting to him of the degree of D. C. L., by the University of Oxford, England. The honorary degree of LL.D. had been given him by the college of his graduation-Williams, and on his retirement from Washington, a testimonial of the value of several thousand dollars was also presented him by the merchants of New York, without distinction of party, as a "token of their esteem for his unsul- lied integrity, high personal character, and as a slight recognition of his inestimable services to his countrymen."
In 1872 the corporation of Yale College elected Mr. Wells university lecturer on political science. In 1873, on invitation of the Cobden Club, he visited England and delivered the address at the annual meeting and dinner of the club. The name of Mr. Wells was brought prominently forward in the spring of 1874 as a candidate for United States Senator for Connecticut. In the spring of 1875 he was elected president of the Democratic State Con- vention of Connecticut; and as such firmly com- mitted the party in the State to the doctrine of hard money and taxation for revenue only. In March, 1876, he was chosen president of the Ameri- can Association for the Promotion of Social Science. Originally he was a believer in the economic system of protection, but his experience abroad, in investi- gating the industries in competition with those of the United States, resulted in his acceptance of free trade doctrines. He was a delegate to the Demo- cratic National Conventions of 1872 and 1880, and in 1876 he was a candidate for Congress from Con- necticut. He was appointed by the United States court in 1876 one of the trustees and receivers of the Alabama & Chattanooga Railway Company, and in fourteen months rescued the corporation from bankruptcy and expended a considerable sum for im-
provements and repairs, without incurring an addi- tional dollar of indebtedness. In 1877 he was ap- pointed by the State Board of Canal Commissioners chairman of a commission to consider the subject of tolls on the New York canals, and in 1878 made an exhaustive report. He was one of the trustees of the bondholders that bought under foreclosure and sale, and reorganized, the Erie Railway Com- pany. In 1879 he was elected by the associated rail- ways of the United States a member of the board of arbitration, to which they agreed to refer all disputes and arrangements for "pooling" or appor- tioning their respective carnings. Mr. Wells was elceted a foreign associate of the Academy dei Lincei of Italy, receiving its medal of honor in 1863. He was president of the American Social Science Association in 1875-79; president of the New London County (Connecticut) Historical Society in 1880, and of the American Free Trade League in 1881.
Mr. Wells was a prolific writer in pamphlets on economic subjects, some of the best known of which are: "The Creed of the the Free Trade" (1875) "Pro- duction and Distribution of Wealth" '(1875); "Why We Trade and How We Trade" (1878); "The Silver Question or the Dollar of the Fathers vs. the Dol- Jar of the Sons" (1878); and "Principles of Taxa- tion" (1886). In book form he published "Year Book of Agriculture" (Philadelphia, 1856); "Wells' Science of Common Things" (New York, 1856); "Report of United States Revenue Commission" (Washington, 1866); "Reports of United States Spe- cial Commissioners of Revenue" (4 Vols., 1866- 60); "Robinson Crusoe's Money" (New York, 1876) ; "Our Merchant Marine: How it Rose, Increased, became great, Declined and Decayed" (1882); "A Primer of Tariff Reform" (1884); "Practical Econ- omics, a Collection of Essays" (1885); "A Study of Mexico" (1887); "A Short and Simple Catechism" (1888); and "Relation of the Tariff to Wages" ( 1888).
With others, Mr. Wells published "History and Sketches of Williams College" (Springfield, 1847). In Cambridge he began with George Bliss, in 1849, the publication of the "Annual of Scientific Discov- ery," which he continued until 1866. He compiled "Science of Common Things" (New York, 1857); "Elements of Natural Philosophy" (1857); "Prin- ciples and Applications of Chemistry" (1858); and "First Principles of Geology" (1861), of which works two were translated into Chinese, and that on chem- istry was adopted as a textbook at the United States Military Academy.
On May 9, 1860, Mr. Wells was married to Mary Sanford Dwight, born October 13, 1826, daughter of James Sanford and Elizabeth Dwight, he a mer- chant of Springfield, Massachusetts. After her death, Mr. Wells married (second), June 10, 1879, Ellen A. Dwight. One son, David Dwight Wells (now deceased), was born to the first marriage, April 22, 1868. David Ames Wells passed away at Norwich, November 5, 1898.
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