USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 1 > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57
93
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
(1791); "System of the Laws of Connec- ticut" (1795-96) ; "Digest of the Laws of Evidence in Civil and Criminal Cases, and a Treatise on Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes" (1810) ; and a "Digest of the Laws of Connecticut" (1822-23), modeled after Blackstone. The Rev. Dr. John L. Blake said: "His rise to emi- nence was the result of his own moral and intellectual worth."
Judge Swift was married to Lucretia Webb, by whom he had seven children ; their daughter, Mary A., was the author of "First Lessons on Natural Philosophy," which was translated in Karan (1846) and Burmese (1848), and continued in popular use for many years as a text- book.
BOARDMAN, Elijah,
Promoter of Ohio Settlement.
Elijah Boardman was born at New Milford, Litchfield county, Connecticut, March 7, 1760, son of Daniel Boardman, a graduate of Yale. He received a good education, and at the age of seventeen enlisted in the Revolutionary army. After the close of the war he engaged in business in his native town, and became a successful merchant. He was elected to the Legislature for six terms, and was for some time a member of the Executive Council. He was a United States Sena- tor in Congress from Connecticut from March 4, 1821, to his death. In Septem- ber, 1795. he became a member of the Connecticut Land Company, and through it purchased much land in the northern part of Ohio, and founded the town of Boardman, Mahoning county, Ohio, and with several associates opened two entire townships.
He was married, in September, 1792, to Mary Anna, daughter of Dr. William and Anna (Mason) Whiting, of Great Bar-
rington, Massachusetts, and a descend- ant through her mother, of Captain John Mason, who captured the Pequot fort in 1637. They were the parents of six chil- dren. Mr. Boardman died at Boardman, Ohio, October 8, 1823, while on a visit there to look after his large landed inter- ests.
MORSE, Jedidiah,
Clergyman, Geographer.
The Rev. Jedidiah Morse was born in Woodstock, Connecticut, August 23, 1761, son of Deacon Jedidiah and Sarah (Child) Morse, and a descendant in the fifth gen- eration from Anthony Morse, the immi- grant, 1635. His father served in the Connecticut Legislature for over fifteen years.
Jedidiah, Jr., son of the Rev. Jedidiah Morse, attended the Woodstock Acade- my. and entered Yale College in 1779, but before the college term commenced he was drafted as a soldier in the Con- necticut Line. He was, however, ex- empted from military duty, and was graduated from Yale College, A. B., in 1783, and received the master's degree in 1786. He taught a class in singing in Guilford, Connecticut, in 1783. He studied theology under Jonathan Ed- wards and Dr. Samuel Wales, and estab- lished a school for young girls in New Haven. He was licensed to preach, Sep- tember 27, 1785, and was pastor at Nor- wich, Connecticut, 1785-86. He was tutor at Yale College 1786-87, and was pastor of the Congregational church in Midway, Georgia, in 1787. He preached as a can- didate for the Collegiate Presbyterian churches of New York, March-August, 1788: and succeeded the Rev. Joshua Paine as pastor of the First Congrega- tional Church of Charlestown, Massachu- setts, in 1789. In 1820 he resigned that
94
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
charge and returned to New Haven, where he resided until his death, and was a trustee of Andover Theological Semi- nary, 1795-1826.
He turned his attention to the civiliza- tion and christianization of various In- dian tribes of North America, and under commission of the Secretary of War he spent two summers in visiting several tribes with a view to improving their con- dition. He was elected a member of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 1792, and was its secretary in 1802; a member of the Massachusetts Emigrant Society, and founded the Charlestown As- sociation for the Reformation of Morals in 1813. He aided in the establishment of the navy yard at Charlestown ; was appointed chaplain and visitor of the State prison in Charlestown in 1805; was elected a member of the American Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions in 1811 ; and formed a society for the benefit of the Indian tribes within the United States at Washington, D. C., in 1822, but failing health prevented his personal attendance at the meetings of the society, and after two or three years it ceased to exist. The honorary degree of D. D. was conferred upon him by the University of Edinburgh in 1794.
He devoted much of his time to literary work, especially in the publication of geographies. He established the "Pan- opolist" in 1805, and was its sole editor for five years; and was the author of : "Geography Made Easy" (1784) : "Amer- ican Geography" (1789) : "Elements of Geography" (1797) : "American Univer- sal Geography" (2 vols., 1814; 2nd ed., 1819) ; "Report on Indian Affairs" (1822) ; "Annals of the American Revolution" (1824) ; and, in connection with the Rev. Elijah Harris, wrote "History of New England" (1808), and with Richard Cary Morse a "Universal Gazetteer" (1823).
He married, May 14, 1789, Elizabeth, Ann, daughter of Samuel and Rebecca (Finley) Breese, of Shrewsbury. New Jer- sey. He died in New Haven, Connecti- cut, June 9, 1826.
MOSELEY, Jonathan Ogden, Lawyer, Congressman.
Jonathan Ogden Moseley was born at East Haddam, Connecticut, in 1762, son of Dr. Thomas Moseley, a justice of the peace, and member of the Connecticut Medical Association, an active and suc- cessful physician for many years, hon- ored and esteemed in the community.
Jonathan O. Moseley acquired his pre- liminary education in the common schools of the neighborhood, after which he be- came a student at Yale College, from which institution he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, 1780, and three years later received the degree of Master of Arts from the same institution. He was admitted to the bar of his native State, and located in East Haddam, his birthplace, for the active practice of his chosen profession. He served as State's Attorney for Middlesex county, 1797- 1805, and was a Federalist representative in the Ninth to the Sixteenth Congresses. inclusive (1805-1821), a period of sixteen years, performing the duties of all these various offices in a highly commendable manner. He also held the rank of colonel in the State militia, and was justice of the peace of East Haddam for several years. He was a noted orator, and de- livered the memorial address at East Had- dam on the occasion of the death of Washington. Subsequently he removed to the Northwest Territory and settled in Saginaw, Michigan, where his death oc- curred September 9, 1839, aged seventy- seven years.
95
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
BRACE, Jonathan,
Prominent Jurist.
Jonathan Brace was born at Harwin- ton, Litchfield county, Connecticut, No- vember 12, 1754, and died in Hartford, Connecticut, August 26, 1837. He was graduated at Yale College in 1779, and began his legal studies with Oliver Ells- worth, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, under whose competent instruction he was prepared for admis- sion to the bar.
He began the active practice of his pro- fession in Bennington county, Vermont, and for the following five years enjoyed a lucrative practice, the result of his energy and thorough preparation for his work. During a portion of that time he also served in the capacity of State's Attorney for the county. He then re- moved to Glastonbury, Connecticut, and during his residence there, in addition to his private law practice, was a member of the State Legislature for five years. In 1794 he removed to Hartford, Connecti- cut, and there passed the remainder of his days, honored and esteemed by all with whom he was brought in contact. He served as judge of probate for fifteen years; as chief judge of the Hartford County Court for twelve years ; as repre- sentative in Congress from 1798 to 1800; as a member of the State Legislature, to which he was frequently elected; assist- ant in the Council of the State, to which office he was chosen in 1801, and by suc- cessive elections continued to hold the office for eighteen years ; served as State's Attorney for Hartford county ; member of the city common council for a long period of years ; subsequently was a mem- ber of the board of aldermen, and for nine years conscientiously performed the duties of mayor of Hartford.
EDMOND, William,
Soldier, National Legislator, Jurist.
William Edmond was born September 28, 1755, in Woodbury (now South Britain), Connecticut, and died at New- town, same State, August 1, 1838, son of Robert and Mary (Marks) Edmond, both natives of Londonderry, Ireland, where they were married, coming to this coun- try the year before the birth of their son.
William Edmond attended the schools of his native town, then entering Yale College, from which he was graduated in the class of 1777. In the year of his graduation, in April, he took part in an engagement with the British forces under Tryon and fell, severely wounded in the leg. He escaped capture by concealing himself in the vicinity of the scene of action, but remained alone and helpless all that night. Taking up the study of law, in May, 1782, he settled in New- town, and opened an office in the house of General John Chandler, and soon drew to himself an influential clientele, his practice steadily increasing in volume and importance. He belonged to the old Fed- eralist party, and was elected to the House of Representatives of Connecticut. In 1797 he was elected to the Fifth United States Congress, to fill vacancy occa- sioned by the death of James Davenport, and was reëlected to the Sixth Congress, his period of service being nearly four years. Subsequently he was repeatedly a member of the Governor's Council, which then had the powers of a court of errors. his last term ending in 1805, when he was elevated to the Supreme Court bench of the State, in which office he remained until 1819. His biographer says of him that he was a remarkable man, plain and unassuming in his manners, mild and amiable in his deportment, just and hon-
96
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
est in his dealings, and honorable and magnanimous in his feelings.
He married (first) Elizabeth, daughter of General John and Mary Chandler ; and (second) Elizabeth, daughter of Benja- min Payne, of Hartford.
HOSMER, Stephen T., Eminent Jurist.
Stephen Titus Hosmer was born at Middletown, Connecticut, January 10, 1763, son of Titus and Lydia (Lord) Hos- mer. After preliminary studies in the common schools he entered Yale College, but his studies there were interrupted by the suspension of the college during the Revolution, after which he completed his course under Dr. Dwight, and was gradu- ated in 1782. He read law under Hon. Samuel William Johnson, and under Hon. Oliver Ellsworth, who on the early death of his father became his guardian. He settled in practice in his profession at Middletown. He had inherited no patri- mony, and was dependent entirely upon his own exertions, which proved adequate to afford him the success he desired, and he secured an extensive practice which he enjoyed up to the time of his elevation to the bench of the Superior Court in 1815. He studied law continuously in the midst of his successful practice, the contents of his books becoming so fixed in his mind from repeated reading and the exercise of such a wonderful gift of memory that he could cite at will the au- thorities necessary to support his cases. He was repeatedly elected one of the State Councilors. In 1815 he was appointed a judge of the Superior Court, and, after the adoption of the State constitution in 1818, the Supreme Court was organized, and he was appointed Chief Justice, serv- ing from 1819 to 1833, when his term ceased by virtue of a law of Connecticut. He was distinguished for his extraordi-
nary legal learning, and was classed with Chief Justice Parsons, of Massachusetts, and Chancellor Kent, of New York. His attainments in theology, history and gen- eral literature were also very extensive. Judge Hosmer received the degree of Doctor of Laws from Yale College in 1823.
He was married, January 4, 1785, to Lucia, daughter of General Samuel Holden Parsons, a distinguished general in the American Revolution. He died at Middletown, Connecticut, August 6, 1834.
SHIPMAN, Nathaniel,
Leader of Men.
The surname Shipman is derived from a trade name, shipman being equivalent to sailor. Shipton, as the name of the American immigrant was spelled on the early records, is a place name, and the coat-of-arms of the English family of Shipton is described : Argent three pairs of bellows sable two and one. The Ship- ton crest : An eel naiant proper. But Shipton is probably not the correct spell- ing. Shipman was an ancient English surname and several branches of the fam- ily bear coats-of-arms. The Shipman (or Shiphan ) family of Welby, County Here- ford, had these arms granted in 1581 : Or a cinquefoil between three crosses cross- let gules, and their crest is: A demi- ostrich, wings expanded argent, ducally gorged and beaked or, holding in the beak a key azure and vulned on the breast gules. The Shipman family of Sarington, County Notts, bears : Gules on a bend ar- gent between three estoilles or three pel- lets. Crest: A leopard. sejeant argent spotted sable, reposing the dexter paw on a ship's rudder azure. The Shipman family of County Kent bears: Argent a bend between six suns gules.
Edward Shipman, the immigrant an- cestor, is said to have come from Eng-
CONN-Vol I-7
97
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
land, sailing from Hull in 1639, with George Fenwick, but if this is correct he must have been a young child. A Wil- liam Shipman, aged twenty-two, sailed May 28, 1635, for Virginia. His relation to Edward is not known. Edward Ship- man's name was spelled Shipton in the carly records of Saybrook, Connecticut, where he first settled, but later the name is spelled Shipman and all the family fol- low that spelling. Edward married (first ) January 16, 1651, Elizabeth Comstock, who died about the middle of July, 1659. He married (second) July 1, 1663, Mary Andrews. He was admitted a freeman in October, 1667. He died September 15, 1697. In the will of the sachem Uncas, February 29, 1676, Shipman was one of the three legatees to whom he gave three thousand acres of land within sight of Hartford. His son, John Shipman, was born in Saybrook, April 5, 1664; married, May 5, 1686, Martha Humphries. His son, John (2) Shipman, was born at Say- brook, January 6, 1687, and died there July 7, 1742 He married, January II, 1715, Elizabeth Kirtland. A manuscript letter in the Hinman's manuscripts of Boston states that John came from Eng- land with Fenwick, evidently an error, for the grandfather of John was the immi- grant. This manuscript states that John married - - Willis. His son, Nathan- iel Shipman, was born about 1720-25, in Saybrook. He removed from Saybrook to Norwich, Connecticut, about 1750. He was chosen elder of the Sixth or Chelsea (now Second) Church at Norwich, De- cember 30, 1763. He was a founder of this church and one of the leading citi- zens of Norwich. He married (first) at Norwich, in 1747, Ruth Reynolds, born 1727-28, died 1755 ; married (second) July 18, 1756, Elizabeth Leffingwell, born at Norwich, January 4, 1729-30, died there June 8, 1801, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Lord) Leffingwell, and they
were the parents of Nathaniel Shipman, of this review.
Nathaniel Shipman, son of Nathaniel Shipman, was born in Norwich, May 17, 1764, and died there July 14, 1853. Early in life he learned the trade of goldsmith, and he became a man of large influence and importance in the community. A natural leader of men, he was oftener than any of his contemporaries called to preside over public gatherings and town meetings. He represented Norwich for many years in the general assembly ; was judge of probate and county judge. He settled many estates and transacted much legal business for his neighbors. Miss F. M. Caulkins, the historian of Nor- wich and New London, thus wrote of Judge Shipman :
Judge Shipman was a man of great simplicity of habits, of vigorous common sense, upright, honorable and independent, both in his inward promptings and in his whole course of action. He was almost always in office, serving the town and State in a variety of ways-municipal, legis- lative and judicial-displaying more than com- mon ability, and giving general satisfaction in all three departments. Affability and a taste for social enjoyment made him a delightful com- panion. His readiness to communicate his vivid appreciation of character, his richly stored mem- ory, and his abundant flow of traditionary and historic anecdote held the listening ear bound to his voice as by an invisible charm. A sentiment of gratitude leads me to speak of another trait- his kindness and winning attentions to the young. He was indulgent of their presence, of their vivacity and their sports; was ready to gratify them with some tale of the olden time; to make them happy with little gifts of flowers or fruit; to compliment their self-respect by asking them to read to him or leading them to converse on subjects rather above than below their standing. This is a rare characteristic in this hurrying, impetuous age. Pleasant are all the memories connected with this honored and exemplary son of Norwich.
He married Abigail, daughter of Judge Benjamin and Mary (Boardman) Coit, October 11, 1794; she died July 31, 1800.
98
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
WHITNEY, Eli, Inventor of the Cotton Gin.
The great invention of Eli Whitney, giving a vastly increased value to the labors of the negroes in the southern cot- ton fields, in all probability worked the defeat of the slow movement looking to the abolition of slavery largely through the effort of slaveholders, and established "the institution" so firmly that it was ineradicable except through revolution and war.
Eli Whitney was descended from an English family which established itself in Massachusetts in colonial days, and he was born in that State, at Westboro, De- cember 8, 1765, son of Eli Whitney, a soldier in the Revolutionary War. The record of Eli (2nd), the inventor, forms an important part of Connecticut history, for it was there that his principal achieve- ments had their inception and fruition.
When very young he showed his genius for practical and scientific invention. He was prepared for college by an eminent scholar, the Rev. Dr. Goodrich, of Dur- ham, Connecticut, and entered Yale Col- lege in 1789, graduating creditably in the class of 1792. In the same year he went to Georgia under an engagement as a private tutor, but on arriving there found that the place had been filled. He then accepted the invitation of the widow of General Nathaniel Greene to make his home at her place at Mulberry Grove, on the Savannah river, while he studied law. Several articles that he devised for Mrs. Greene's convenience gave her great faith in his inventive power, and when some of her visitors regretted that there could be no profit in the cultivation of the green seed-cotton, which was considered the best variety, owing to the great difficulty of separating it from the seed, she advised them to apply to Whitney, "who," she
said, "could make anything." A pound of green seed-cotton was all that a negro woman could then clean in a day. Mr. Whitney up to that time had seen neither the raw cotton nor the cotton seed, but he at once procured some cotton from which the seeds had been removed, although with trouble, as it was not the season of the year for the cultivation of the plant, and began to work out his idea of the cotton-gin. He was occupied for some months in constructing his machine, during which he met with great difficulty, being compelled to draw the necessary iron wire himself, as he could obtain none in Savannah, and also to manufacture his own iron tools. Near the end of 1792 he succeeded in making a gin, of which the principle and mechanism were exceedingly simple. Its main features were a cylinder four feet long and five inches in diameter, upon which is set a series of circular saws half an inch apart and projecting two inches above the surface of the revolving cylinder. A mass of cotton in the seed, separated from the cylinder by a steel grating, is brought in contact with the numerous teeth in the cylinder. These teeth catch the cotton while playing be- tween the bars, which allow the lint, but not the seed, to pass. Beneath the saws is a set of stiff brushes on another cylin- der, revolving in an opposite direction. which brush off from the saw teeth the lint that these have just pulled from the seed. There is also a revolving fan for producing a current of air to throw the light and downy lint that is thus liberated to a convenient distance from the revolv- ing saws and brushes. Such are the essential principles of the cotton-gin as invented by Whitney, and as still used, but in various details and workmanship it has been the subject of many improve- ments, the object of which has been to pick the cotton more perfectly from the
99
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
seed, to prevent the teeth from cutting the staple, and to give greater regularity to the operation of the machine. By its use the planter was able to clean for market, by the labor of one man, one thousand pounds of cotton in place of five or six by hand. Mrs. Greene and Phineas Miller were the only ones permitted to see the machine, but rumors of it had gone through the State, and, before it was quite finished, the building in which it was placed was broken into at night and the machine was carried off. Before he could complete his model and obtain a patent, a number of machines based on his invention had been surreptitiously made and were in operation. In May, 1793, he formed a partnership with Mr. Miller, who had some property, and went to Connecticut to manufacture the ma- chines, but he became involved in con- tinual trouble by infringement of his patent. In Georgia it was boldly asserted that he was not the inventor, but that something like it had been produced in Switzerland, and it was claimed that the substitution of teeth cut in an iron plate for wire prevented an infringement on his invention. He had sixty lawsuits pend- ing before he secured a verdict in his favor. In South Carolina the legislature granted him $50,000, which was finally paid after vexatious delays and lawsuits. North Carolina allowed him a percentage on the use of each saw for five years, and collected and paid it over to the pat- · entees in good faith, and Tennessee prom- ised to do the same thing, but after- ward rescinded her contract. For years amid accumulated misfortunes, law suits wrongfully decided against him, the de- struction of his manufactory by fire, the industrious circulation of the report that his machine injured the fiber of the cot- ton, the refusal of congress, on account of the southern opposition, to allow the
patent to be renewed, and the death of his partner, Mr. Whitney struggled on until he was convinced that he should never receive a just compensation for his invention. At the time of his invention. cotton was exported to the amount of only 189,500 pounds, while in 1803, owing to the use of his gin, it had risen to more than 41,000,000 pounds.
Despairing of ever gaining a compe- tence, Mr. Whitney turned his attention in 1798 to the manufacture of firearms near New Haven, from which he even- tually gained a fortune. He was the first manufacturer of firearms to effect the division of labor to the extent of making it the duty of each workman to make interchangeable the parts of the thou- sands of arms in process of manufacture at the same time. This interchangeable system has now extended to the manu- facture of watches, sewing machines, etc. His first contract was with the United States government for ten thousand stand of muskets, to be furnished in or about two years. For the execution of his order he took two years for prepara- tion and eight more for completion. He gave bonds for $30,000, and was to re- ceive $13.40 for each musket, or $134,000 in all. Immediately he began to build an armory at the foot of East Rock, two miles from New Haven, in the village of Whitneyville, where through the succes- sive administrations from that of John Adams, repeated contracts for the supply of arms were made and fulfilled to the entire approbation of the government. The construction of his armory, and even of the commonest tools which were de- vised by him for the prosecution of the business in a manner peculiar to himself, evinced the fertility of his genius and the precision of his mind. The buildings be- came the model by which the national armories were afterward arranged, and
100
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
many of his improvements were taken to other establishments and have become common property. Owing to his un- pleasant experience with patent laws, he never applied for patents on any of these inventions. His improvements in the manufacture of arms laid this country under permanent obligations by aug- menting the means of national defense. Several of his inventions have been ap- plied to other manufactures of iron and steel, and added to his reputation. He established a fund of $500 at Yale, the interest of which is expended in the pur- chase of books on mechanical and physi- cal science. Robert Fulton said that "Arkwright, Watt and Whitney were the three men that did the most for mankind of any of their contemporaries ;" and Macaulay said, "What Peter the Great did to make Russia dominant, Eli Whit- ney's inventon of the cotton gin has more than equalled in its relation to the power and progress of the United States."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.