USA > Connecticut > Biographical encyclopaedia of Connecticut and Rhode Island of the nineteenth century > Part 15
USA > Rhode Island > Biographical encyclopaedia of Connecticut and Rhode Island of the nineteenth century > Part 15
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In February, 1729, on the death of Mr. Stoddard, the entire charge of the congregation devolved on Mr. Edwards. Religious awakenings occurred in his parish in the years 1734, 1735, and 1740. At the latter period hc became the bosom friend of George Whitefield. While all his cnergies were taxed by multifarious labors, he studied the phenomena of the revivals with all the critical acumen of the philosopher, and then procecded to write some of his ablest disquisitions. Space will not permit the mention of all. A Divine and Supernatural Light Imparted to the Soul by the Spirit of God, (1734: a sermon highly valucd for its spiritual philosopy) ; A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God in the Conversion of Many Hundred Souls in Northampton, ctc., Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (1741 : a terrific discourse) ; A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections (1745-onc of his most excellent and able works)-are among the most
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valuable. In 1749 he wrote The Life and Diary of the Rev. David Brainerd, a volume which exercised great influence on Henry Martyn, and which has profoundly affected the missionary spirit of the Anglo-Saxon family in both hemispheres. Christ the Example of Gospel Ministers, followed next; then a treatise of histori- cal as well as theological importance, entitled, Qualifications for full Communion in the Visible Church. In 1750 was published his Farewell Sermon to the People of Northampton; considered by many "the best farewell scrmon ever written."
His Farewell Sermon was occasioned by dismissal from his Northampton pas- torate on the 22d of June, 1750. Jonathan Edwards had been faithful in all things, and had offended some influential families in his congregation, as early as 1744, by his stringent measures in regard to alleged prevalent immoralities. He was a resolute and uncompromising reprover of sin, and inevitably provoked opposition to himself. His position on the vexed question of qualification for communion afforded a pretext to his opponents for dismissing him. They, in common with his distinguished grandfather, Mr. Stoddard, " favored the principle that unconverted persons who are not immoral have a right to partake of the Lord's Supper." He denied it, and after long and earnest controversy was ejected from the office he had adorned for more than twenty-three years. The discussion did not end there, but continued after his death until it closed by the acceptance of his principles by all the evangelical churches of the land.
Edwards possessed the genuine martyr spirit, and the martyr faith, and both were called into requisition. He was in his forty-seventh year, had a large and expensive family, but no property, and was obliged to receive aid from friends in America and Great Britain. In August, 1751, he was installed pastor of the Con- gregational Church at Stockbridge, Mass., and missionary to the Housatonic tribe of Indians at that place. Fever and ague attacked him, and added to the many trials under which he composed a characteristic sermon in 1752, entitled True Grace Dis- tinguished from the Experience of Devils. In 1754 appeared the most famous and controverted of all his works-the immortal Essay on the Freedom of the Will. Expositors and critics differ as to his meaning, but all concede his wonderful ability and logical skill.
While in the solitudes of Stockbridge he finished another of his great theological works, which was not published until after his death. It is The great Christian Doctrine of Original Sin Defended, etc., the distinctive peculiarity of which is the doc- trine that there was a constituted oneness or identity of Adam and his posterity, according to which Adam and his posterity are " looked upon as one, and dealt with accordingly." His Dissertation Concerning the End for which God Created the World, and also his Dissertation Concerning the Nature of True Virtue, were also written
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during his retirement at Stockbridge, but were not published until 1788-thirty years after his death. Portions of his works were given to the public in 1764, 1777, 1788, 1789, 1793, and 1796. His published works were collected and printed in eight volumes, edited by Dr. Samuel Austin, at Worcester, Mass., in 1809. A larger edi- tion, including new material-cspecially his Notes on the Bible-was published at New York in 1829, under the editorship of Dr. S. Edwards Dwight. Two additional volumes, of which one has not been reprinted in America, have since been given to the world.
Of all the scholars and divines born on American soil, not one has exerted so powerful, wide, and durable an influence on metaphysical speculation and theological study as Jonathan Edwards. Whitefield and Brainerd were modified by his plastic hand ; Bellamy and Hopkins were two of his thcological pupils. British leaders of thought have uniformly rated his powers and acquirements higher than his own countrymen have done. Philosophers like Dugald Stewart, Sir James Mackintosh, and Isaac Taylor have delighted to do him honor; and preachers like Robert Hall and Thomas Chalmers have prized the privilege of sitting at his feet. Powers like his could not remain in permanent obscurity. His learning, culture, and manifold excel- lency werc known to gentlemen entrusted with the interests of the College at -Prince- ton, New Jersey, and by them he was elected to the presidency on the 26th of Sep- tember, 1757. At first, for reasons satisfactory to himself, and which he detailed with great simplicity and fulness in his response to the trustecs, he declined the office. His objections werc overruled, and on January 4th, 1758, he was dismissed from his Stockbridge pastorate, after a laborious incumbency of six years and a half. On the 16th of the following month, February, he was inaugurated; was inoculated for the small-pox on the 23d, and died of the secondary fever that supcrvened, on the 22d of March, 1758, aged 54 years, 5 months, and 17 days. He had resided at Prince- ton about ninc wecks, and had been in official harness just five weeks, when called to leave the post he was so splendidly fitted to adorn, and in which his marvellous endowments of mind and heart were so likely to affect the State and country for their highest good. But his influence, like his fame, is none the less potent and im- perishable on the Church and on the nation because of his premature and mysterious removal. Life's great end had been answered in him, and by precept and example he had taught all who should come after him how to make life solidly and satisfac- torily successful, in the best sense of the word.
The wife of President Jonathan Edwards, and the mother of Judge Pierrepont Edwards, Sarah Picrrepont, was a lady of uncommon beauty and accomplishments. Hcr paternal grandfather was the grandson of William Pierrepont, the younger brother of the first Earl of Kingston, John Pierrepont, who came from England in 1640 and
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settled in Roxbury, Mass. Her father, the Rev. James Pierrepont, the eldest and only son of John who left issue, was an eminent, pious, and useful minister at New Haven. Mr. Pierrepont was one of the principal founders, and one of the trustees of Yale College, and aided the infant seminary for some time by reading lectures to the students as Professor of Moral Philosophy. Sarah Pierrepont was born on the 9th of January, 1710, and at the date of her marriage, July 28th, 1727, was in the eighteenth year of her age. Her portrait, "while it presents a form and features not often rivaled, exhibits also that peculiar loveliness of expression which is the com- bined result of intelligence, cheerfulness, and benevolence." The description that President Edwards wrote of her in her girlhood was pronounced by Dr. Chalmers to be one of the most beautiful compositions in the language. It was inscribed on a blank leaf in 1723, and reads as follows : "They say there is a young lady in [New Haven] who is beloved of that Great Being who made and rules the world, and that there are certain seasons in which this Great Being, in some way or other invisible, comes to her and fills her mind with exceeding sweet delight, and that she hardly cares for anything, except to meditate on Him-that she expects after a while to be received up where He is, to be raised up out of the world and caught up into heaven ; being assured that He loves her too well to let her remain at a dis- tance from Him always. There she is to dwell with Him, and to be ravished with His love and delight forever. Therefore, if you present all the world before her, with the richest of its treasures, she disregards it, and cares not for it, and is unmind- ful of any pain or affliction. She has a strange sweetness in her mind, and singular purity in her affections ; is most just and conscientious in her conduct ; and you could not persuade her to do anything wrong or sinful, if you would give her all the world, lest she should offend this Great Being. She is of a wonderful sweetness, calmness and universal benevolence of mind, especially after this Great God has mani- fested Ilimself to her mind. She will sometimes go about from place to place, sing- ing sweetly; and secms to be always full of joy and pleasure; and no one knows for what. She loves to be alone, walking in the fields and groves, and seems to have some onc invisible always conversing with her."
The matrimonial union between herself and husband grew out of high personal esteem and mutual affection, which continually ripencd and mellowed for the time of harvest. The station she was called to fill was one of great delicacy and responsi- bility ; but from first to last she discharged the duties pertaining to it in such manner as to secure the high and increasing approbation of all who knew her. Her sons rosc to cminence in legal and ecclesiastical pursuits. Timothy, the eldest, was born at Northampton, Mass., July 17th, 1738. Graduated at Nassau Hall, Princeton, N. J., Marricd Rhoda Ogden, of Elizabethtown, N. J., September, 1760, and lived 9
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there until 1771, when he removed to Stockbridge, Mass. He was learned in the law, and ascended the judicial bench. He was a prominent patriot, and devoted himself almost exclusively, from 1775 to 1873, to the service of his country as a member of the Massachusetts State Legislature, as a commissioner -- associated with General Schuyler and Silas Deane-to the Indians on our Western border, to, if possible, keep them at peace; also as commissary for supplying the army with provisions.
In 1777 he was elected by the Legislature of Massachusetts a member of the Continental Congress. His colleagues werc John Adams and John Hancock. The danger from General Burgoyne's army overrunning the country, and his duties as commissary, prevented his taking his seat.
His pecuniary sacrifices for the cause of liberty absorbed most of his property. When the army was about to march to meet Burgoyne's army, General Schuyler wrote to him that he could not move without he had some money. He sent General Schuyler one thousand pounds, and received Continental money for it, which was never redeemed. He also made large purchases of provisions for the army, and was paid in paper money, which his descendants now hold.
After the closc of the war General Washington wrote an autograph letter of three pages, recalling his services and his devotion without pay, thanking him for his cfficient aid. This letter is now in the possession of his family.
Jonathan, the second son, acquired a fame which almost rivalled that of his father. He was President of Union College at the time of his death.
Pierrepont Edwards, the youngest son, born in 1750, from the fact that his father was a missionary to the Housatonics at Stockbridge, necessarily spent much of his early boyhood among that people, and acquired their language so perfectly that he was wont to say that he "thought in Indian." His later boyhood was spent in New Jersey and North Carolina. After the usual preparation he matriculated at Princeton College, and graduated therefrom in 1768. In 1769 hc married Frances Ogden, the cousin of Governor Aaron Ogden, of New Jersey. Selecting the profession of law, he next studicd its theory and practice, was admitted to the bar, and began profesional lifc at New Haven in 1771. Thoroughly sympathizing with the principles and aspirations of the patriots, he took an early and efficient part in the councils of Connecticut in favor of national independence. On the field hc also fought valiantly as a member of the Revolutionary army, and was a combatant in two hard-fought battles, including that of Danbury. In the latter he was reported as killed, because he remained on the battle-field for the rescue of a friend.
In political affairs, Mr. Edwards was active, carnest, and influential. One of the most successful lawyers of his timc, he was frequently elected to the Legislature of
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Connecticut, and held the post of Speaker of the House of Representatives. Of Benedict Arnold's estate he was appointed administrator at the time of the traitor's defection from the Revolutionary cause. In 1795, he, with a large number of gentle- men, purchased the lands of the Connecticut Reserve in Ohio for the sum of $ 1, 200,000. His subscription to the purchase-price was the sum of $60,000. The " Reserve" included a tract of about three and a half million acres, lying within the ancient charter limits of Connecticut, which the State retained in 1786, after ceding all other right and title in the public lands to the United States. In May, 1795, the General Assembly appointed a committee of eight persons, of whom John Treadwell was chairman, to make sale of this reservation, and to "appropriate the avails to a permanent fund, the interest of which should be annually distributed among the several school societies of the State, according to the list of polls and ratable estate in each."" By this investment Mr. Edwards became a contributor to the wealthy and admirably managed public school fund of Connecticut, and indirectly an assistant in the creation of a system of public schools which, in the opinion of many competent judges, is inferior to that of no other State or country.
In 1787-88 he was elected delegate from Connecticut to the Continental Congress. For the adoption of the Constitution of the United States he was an able and ardent advocate in the convention held to ratify it, at Hartford, in January, 1788. In the political contests between the Federalists and Republicans-afterward called Democrats-he espoused the views of the latter, and stood at their head, in Connecticut, in 1804. In 1806 he was appointed Judge of the United States District Court of Connecticut-a position he held for over twenty-two years, until the day of his death. Between himself and Aaron Burr, whose maternal uncle he was, a a striking resemblance in accomplishments, address, and other characteristics is said to have existed. As judge of the District Court he attempted "to revive the old Federal doctrine of a common-law jurisdiction in the United States courts." Under his instructions a grand jury found bills of indictment against sundry obnoxious persons, and among them against "the publisher of the Connecticut Courant, for having charged Jefferson with sending the two millions to Paris as a bribe to Francc. Five years after (1811), this latter case was finally adjudicated in the Supreme Court of the United States, upon which occasion the important decision was first formally made (though the Democratic party had always held to the doctrinc), that the courts of the United States have no criminal jurisdiction not expressly conferred upon them by statute." Hildreth's History of the United States, Second Series, vol. ii. p. 592.
Hollister's History of Connecticut," vol. ii. p. 571 et seq.
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Judge Edwards has earned just praise by his leadership of the Toleration party, which came into power in Connecticut in the year 1817. Up to that time the commonwealth had lived and prospered, for a hundred and fifty years, under the provisions of the old royal charter ; which, while it had done " hard and honest service," was no longer suited to the changed social and political conditions of the State. Edwards had the sagacity to perceive this distinctly, and led, if he did not found, the party which formed the new Constitution. At the May session of the General Assembly in 1818, it was resolved "that it be. and is hereby recommended to the people of this State" to elect, on the ensuing 4th of July, "as many delegates as said towns now choose representatives to the General Assembly, who shall meet in convention at the State House in Hartford, on the the fourth Wednesday of August next; and when so convened, shall, if it bc by them decmed expedient, proceed to the formation of a constitution of civil government for the people of this State." A copy of the constitution, thus formcd, was ordered to " be transmitted to each town-clerk in the State, who was directed to lay it before the people of the town to which he belonged, in legal town meeting, for thcir approbation and ratification. The constitution, when thus ratified by a majority of the qualified voters of the State, it was ordered, should " be and remain the supreme law of this State." Hollister's History of Connecticut, vol. ii. p. 516. A fierce conflict of opinions at once arose. Judge Edwards, by his conspicuous ability and perseverance, drew down upon himself the animosity and denunciations of the Calvinists. Bitter strifes, abusive pamphlets, scornful speeches, appeals from the pulpits of all persuasions, prosecutions for libel, interruptions of social intercourse in families and neighborhoods, disturbed the peace and darkened the moral atmosphere of the "land of steady habits.', Gradually the clouds clearcd away, and the social relations of the people regained their old friendliness; and while all could speak in terms of profound respect of the charter which had been so serviccable in the past, they also learned to speak, "some loudly, and others in a more subdued tone, in praise of the constitution which gave cqual rights, ccclesiastical as well as civil, to all the inhabitants of the State."
While the name of Pierrepont Edwards is as impcrishably indentified with the civil policy of Connecticut as the name of Jonathan Edwards is with its ecclesiastical creeds and customs, the former will also be remembered for the further reason that he was the first Grand Master among the Free and Accepted Masons of Connecticut ; and that he drew up the constitution of the original Lodge in that Statc.
Judge Edwards died April 5th, 1822, at the age of seventy-two years. Of his children there survived him his sons-
John Stark Edwards, born August 2d, 1771. Hc graduated at Princeton. Was admitted to the bar in 1799. Emigrated to Ohio the same year, to takc charge
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of his father's large interests in that State. Married Ann Louisa Morris, daughter of General Lewis Morris, of Vermont, the nephew of the signer, Lewis Morris Was elected to Congress to represent the Sixth Congressional District of Ohio, in 1812. Died January 29th, 1813, before taking his seat in the House of Representa- tives.
Henry Waggaman Edwards. Born 1779. Graduated at Princeton 1797. Elected member of Congress for the State of Connecticut from 1819 to 1823. United States Senator, 1823-27. State Senator, 1828-29-30. Governor, 1833-35-38. Died July 22d, 1847.
Ogden Edwards. Born 1781. Educated at Princeton College and Litchfield Law School. Admitted to the bar of New York. Surrogate and Counsel for the Corporation of the city of New York. Member of the New York Legislature and Constitutional Convention of 1821. Circuit Judge of the First Circuit of the State of New York, from 1822 to 1861. Candidate of the American or Know-Nothing party, in 1862, for Governor of the State of New York. Died April Ist, 1852. He married Harriet, the daughter of Daniel Penfield-whose wife was the daughter of General Fellowes, of Massachusetts-and who purchased and settled the town of Penfield, Monroe County, State of New York, where he died.
Alfred Pierrepont Edwards. Born 1774. Died 1863. He was a merchant in the city of New York, engaged in the trade with China.
Daughters .- Susan. Born December 24th, 1777. Married Samuel William John- son, of Stratford, Conn. Son and grandson of the Doctors Samuel Johnson. Died February 19th, 1856.
Henrietta Frances. Born September 25th, 1784. Married Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin, 1817. Died 1870.
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PERRY, N. D., of New Haven, was born in the town of Woodbridge, New Haven County, Conn., July roth, 1827, and descended from Richard Sperry of the New Haven Colony, whose grant of land was a little west of the city of New Haven, near the Judges' Cave on West Rock, and who was made famous in colonial history for supplying food and caring for the regicides, Goffe, Whalley, and Dixwell, the judges who condemned Charles I., and after the Resto- ration escaped to this country and were cared for by their friends in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
The subject of this sketch was the third son of Enoch and Atlanta Sperry, the son of a New England manufacturer and farmer. Living where the products of the soil are won only by untiring and persevering labor, where the inhabitants were few and widely separated, and surrounded by some of the wildest and most impressive scenery of this section of the State, he developed in youth that sturdy self-reliance, unwearying industry, reverence for sacred things, and knowledge of human nature which have been in so many New England bred men the foundation of honorable and successful lives. Like many other young men of his State, while approaching manhood he varied the dutics of the year by teaching in the district schools in the winter, with marked success. Ilis education was that which these schools give, supplemented by the broader education which vigorous and aspiring minds will always wrest from the world at large and every phase of life with which they come in contact-the admirable English foundation which is the birthright of every New England child, with the effective superstructure which his training so well fits him to secure. In carly manhood Mr. Sperry came to New Haven and settled there for life, beginning a very successful carcer as a builder, in partnership with Willis M. Smith, under the firm name of Smith & Sperry. Many of the city's finest build- ings, public and private, are the work of this firm. Mr. Sperry at once identified himself with the best interests of his new home, and began to gain that prominence in political life by which he is best known to the nation at largc. He served as a selectman of the town, and also as a member of each branch of the city's Court of Common Council. He was peculiarly alive to the advantages of city improve- ments. He organized the first strect railroad company in Connecticut (the Fair Haven and Westville H. R. R. Co.), and was its president for eight. years. While in this position most of the present laws of the State concerning such railroads were secured by his labor. He has been interested in steam railroads as well, and has been a director in the Highland Suspension Bridge Co., and in the New Eng- land and Erie R. R. Co. He is now (1881) one of the directors of the New Haven and Derby R. R. Co., and his connection with each of these corporations arose from his desire to advance the interests of New Haven by establishing direct connection
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with the West. No enterprisc and no movement affecting his city's interests at home or abroad has failed to secure his hearty support.
A desire -- implanted in his youth among the rugged Woodbridge hills-to aid, with whatever power he possessed, right political principles and purposes, and to fight manfully the wrong, combined with unusual natural aptitude for those political struggles in which every true American should take a part, led Mr. Sperry into politics very early in life. His rare ability for organization, accurate judgments of men, large executive capacity, unswerving honesty in business relations, and fidelity to the obligations of personal friendship, have steadily advanced him in this regard, and for a quarter of a century he has been a conspicuous figure not only in the politics of the State, but also in those of the nation. Having served his appren- ticeship in the town and city governments of New Haven, the years 1854-55 found him the head of the American organization in Connecticut. In 1855 his party would have been glad to nominate him for Governor of the State -- and would have elected him-but he was only 27 years old, and thereforc disqualified for this high office. But he was nominated to be Secretary of State, and elected. Having served very acceptably, he was elected to a second term. During that most critical period, some years before the civil war, and while it was in progress, he was chairman of the State Republican Committee. At every point he proved a successful general, and he won every campaign he conducted. His greatest victory was achieved in . the campaign of 1860, which resulted in the clection of Connceticut's honored "war Governor," William A. Buckingham, and virtually paved the way for the subsequent election of Abraham Lincoln to be President of the United States. In 1868 he was president of the State Convention which nominated the clcctors who voted for Gencral Grant.
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