USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 1 > Part 15
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In person Mr. Whitney was consider- ably above the ordinary size, of a digni- fied carriage, and of an open, manly, and agreeable countenance. In New Haven he was universally esteemed. Many of the prominent citizens of the place sup- ported him in his undertakings, and he inspired all whom he met with a similar confidence. Throughout the community and in foreign lands, he was known and honored as a benefactor of the race. With all the Presidents of the United States, from the beginning of the government, he enjoyed a personal acquaintance, and his relations with the leading men of the country were unimpaired by political rev- olutions. His most remarkable trait of character was his great power of mechan- ical invention. He was reasonably patient. His mind wrought with precision rather than with rapidity. His aim was steady He never abandoned a half-accomplished
effort in order to make trial of a new and foreign idea. He died January 8, 1825.
In January, 1817, Mr. Whitney was married to Henrietta Frances Edwards, born in June, 1790, who lived until April, 1870. She was the daughter of Hon. Pierrepont Edwards, who graduated at Princeton College in 1768, was a lawyer in New Haven, Connecticut, soldier in the Revolution, member of the Continen- tal Congress, and judge of the United States Court for Connecticut at the time of his death. Mr. Edwards was fre- quently a member of the Connecticut Legislature, was the first grand master of the Masonic fraternity in Connecticut. His father, Rev. Jonathan Edwards, was the noted metaphysician and president of Princeton College, New Jersey.
Eli (3rd), son of Eli (2) Whitney, the inventor, inherited much of his father's inventive genius and mechanical skill. He was born November 24, 1820, in New Haven, where he attended a private school, and was prepared for college. He attended Yale College one year, and then entered Princeton College, from which he graduated in 1841. The following year he took up his father's business, that of the manufacture of firearms for the United States government. In 1856 he ceased this branch of his manufacturing business, but resumed it again at the breaking out of the Civil War in 1861, and continued it until 1866. The Whit- ney Arms Company, of which he was president, manufactured thousands of muskets, rifles and revolvers of the most improved models, including many thou- sands of military arms for foreign govern- ments, including muzzle-loading, breech- loading, magazine and repeating rifles. He was one of the commissioners of the English Exposition of 1862. From 1859 to 1861 he constructed the New Haven water works, and much of the work was
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done on his own credit, though built on contract for the New Haven Water Com- pany, which organization he created. Mr. Whitney made many improvements in firearms of all sorts and patented them, and made improvements in machinery for making arms. He was on the Republican electoral ticket in Connecticut as presi- dential elector-at-large in the November election of 1892. In 1869 he received the honorary degree of M. A. from Yale. He was one of New Haven's most prominent and representative citizens. He embodied the best traditions of New England, and through a life of dignity and honor bore worthily the name of his father, the in- ventor of the cotton-gin. His part in the life and growth of New Haven was im- portant. He was an ardent patriot in whatever concerned the rational and wise development of his city, his State and his country. His public spirit, open-handed generosity, quick and wide sympathies, dignity of bearing and courtesy person- ally endeared him to people of all ages and conditions.
On June 17, 1845, Mr. Whitney was married at Utica, New York, to Sarah Perkins Dalliba, who died January 12, 1909. Her mother was Susannah Hunt- ington, granddaughter of Judge Benja- min Huntington, of Norwich, Connecti- cut.
PITKIN, Timothy,
Lawyer, National Legislator.
Timothy Pitkin was born in Farming- ton, Hartford county, Connecticut, Janu- ary 21, 1766, and died in New Haven, Connecticut, December 18, 1847. He was a son of the Rev. Timothy and Temper- ance (Clap) Pitkin, the former named having been pastor of the Congregational church in Farmington ; grandson of Wil- liam and Mary (Woodbridge) Pitkin, the
former named having been Governor of Connecticut from 1766 to 1769, and of the Rev. Thomas and Mary (Whiting) Clap, and a descendant of William and Hannah (Goodwin) Pitkin.
Timothy Pitkin was liberally educated. graduating from Yale College, A. B., in 1785, and receiving the A. M. degree in 1788. During his collegiate course he made a specialty of mathematics and natural philosophy, and was particularly versed in astronomy, calculating and pro- jecting all the solar eclipses from 1785 to 1800. He pursued a course of law study under the preceptorship of Oliver Wolcott, was admitted to the bar in 1788, after a successful competitive examination, and at once located for active practice in his native town, his clientele increasing year by year.
In early manhood he engaged in poli- tical affairs and represented Farmington in the Connecticut Assembly almost con- tinuously from 1790 to 1805, and was speaker of the house for five successive sessions. He was a Federalist represen- tative from Connecticut in the Ninth and six succeeding Congresses, 1805-19, and during his term was regarded as a first authority on the political history of the United States. On retiring from Con- gress he was again elected to the State Legislature. He received the degree LL. D. from Yale College in 1829. He was the author of "Statistical View of Com- merce of the United States of America" (1816, third edition, 1835) ; and of "A Political and Civil History of the United States of America from the Year 1763 to the Close of Washington's Administra- tion" (two vols., 1828), of which he left a continuation in manuscript bringing it down to the close of his public career.
He was married to Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. Bela Hubbard. D. D., of New Haven, Connecticut.
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GODDARD, Calvin,
Member of Congress.
Calvin Goddard was born in Shrews- bury, Massachusetts, July 17, 1768, son of Daniel Goddard, grandson of Edward Goddard, and great-grandson of William Goddard, who came to America from Norfolk, England, in 1666.
He pursued classical studies, and was graduated from Dartmouth College in 1786, then entered the office of Oliver Ellsworth, with whom he studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1790, and set- tled in Plainfield, Connecticut, where he practiced law for a number of years. He was a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1791 to 1801, serving in the capacity of speaker during the years 1799-1800. He was a repre- sentative in the Seventh and Eighth United States Congresses from 1801 until March 3, 1805, his service being noted for efficiency and capability. In 1807 he re- moved to Norwich, Connecticut, and for the following eight years was a member of the State Executive Council. He was a presidential elector, on the DeWitt- Clinton ticket, in 1812; a delegate to the Hartford Convention in 1814; judge of the Superior Court of Connecticut from 1815 to 1818; district attorney for the County of New London from 1818 to 1823; and mayor of Norwich from 1823 to 1840, a period of seventeen years, his long term of service in that capacity demonstrating his fitness for office.
He married Alice Hart, daughter of the Rev. Levi Hart, and granddaughter of Dr. Bellamy. They were the parents of six children. Three of their sons fol- lowed in the footsteps of their father and became members the legal fraternity. practicing their profession in the State of Ohio and New York City. Judge God- dard died in Norwich, Connecticut, May 2, 1842, aged seventy-five years, honored and respected for his many excellent char- acteristics.
LANMAN, James, Lawyer, United States Senator.
James Lanman was born at Norwich, Connecticut, June 14, 1769. He pursued classical studies and was graduated from Yale College in 1788, after which he studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1791, and began practice in Norwich, Connecticut. He was a delegate to the convention which framed the first State constitution in 1818; was a member of the State House of Representatives in 1817 and 1823, and of the State Senate in 1819. From 1814 to 1819 he served as State's attorney for New London county, where his abilities won him distinction. A notable incident of his career was the trial of Rev. Ammi Rogers whose convic- tion he secured for an infamous crime perpetrated against a parishioner ; the clergyman subsequently published a large volume of retaliative abuse. In 1819 Mr. Lanman was elected to the United States Senate for a term of six years, taking his seat on December 6th, and serving in that body as chairman of the committees on postoffices and postroads and contingent expenses of the Senate. He voted with the Southern members on the Missouri Compromise. During the Seventeenth Congress acted simultaneously on the committees of commerce and manufac- tures, the militia, the District of Colum- bia, and the contingent expenses of the Senate. At a recess of the Legislature he was appointed by the Governor for a second term before the first term expired. but by a small majority the Senate de- cided the appointment to be without au- thority of law, and he was not permitted to qualify, and retired March 3. 1825. From 1826-29 he was judge of the Su- preme and Superior Courts of Connecti- cut, and from 1831 to 1834 served as mayor of Norwich, Connecticut, where his death occurred. August 7. 1841.
He was twice married. and became the father of Charles James and James Henry
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Lanman, both talented lawyers, the latter being also an author. His second wife was Mary Judith (Gall) Benjamin, mother of Park Benjamin, the poet and editor. Charles Lanman, the noted biographer, was his grandson.
DAY, Jeremiah, Distinguished Educator.
Jeremiah Day was born August 3. 1773, at New Preston, Litchfield county, Con- necticut, where his father, of the same name was pastor. He was descended from Robert Day, an emigrant of 1634, who was one of the first settlers of Hartford.
Graduating from Yale College in 1795, Jeremiah Day served for a time in charge of Dr. Dwight's school at Greenfield ; was a tutor at Williams College, 1796-98; and then returned to his alma mater, where he was made Professor of Mathematics in 1801. While occupying this position he produced an "Introduction to Alge- bra" (1814). which was widely used, and revised by the author and Professor A. D. Stanley in 1852, besides text books on mensuration (1814), plane trigonometry (1815), and navigation and surveying (1817). His theological bent was shown in later years in a defence of President Edward's doctrine of the will, and a re- futation of Cousin on the same subject. These, with some contributions to the periodical press, were his only publica- tions. President Dwight had marked him out as his successor in the headship of. Yale College, but he would not accept the place until it had been declined by H. Davis, D. D., of Middlebury College, Vermont. A clerical character being then considered essential in a college presi- dent and he having previously made prep- aration for the ministry, was ordained and inducted into his new office at the same time. His degree of LL. D. came from Williams College and Middlebury Col-
lege in 1817, and that of D. D. from Union College in 1818 and from Harvard College in 1831.
However he might lack the prestige and impressiveness of Dr. Dwight, the rule of Dr. Day was efficient, and was also the longest in the history of the col- lege. A quiet man, not strong in health, grave, calm and reticent, he won respect by his unobtrusive virtues. He carried out the plans of his predecessor with cat- tious wisdom. With him came an im- mediate increase of the faculty, and a gradual admission of the all-important principle that this body constituted the best counsellors and, in effect, the gov- ernors, in all college matters. His former chair of mathematics was filled by A. M. Fisher, that of divinity by E. T. Fitch ; while rhetoric, previously taught by Dr. Dwight, was made a new chair under E. C. Goodrich. The former was succeeded by M. R. Dutton in 1822, and he in 1825 by D. Olmstead, who, on the division of the chair in 1836, retained natural philosophy and astronomy, while A. D. Stanley took mathematics. Greek was made a separate department in 1831, and taken by T. D. Woolsey; Latin being still taught by Professor Kingsley, who in 1842, received as assistant T. A. Thatcher. In 1839 W. A. Larned succeeded Professor Goodrich, who was transferred to the Divinity School. These additions to the teaching force brought with them large improve- ments in the curriculum. Subjects belong- ing properly to the preparatory schools were excluded-grammar and geography in 1826, and arithmetic in 1830; French, German, political economy and other ad- vanced studies were brought in; and the standard of requirements for entrance was raised, to keep pace with the better and more varied work after admission. A most obvious and needed reform was made in 1830, at the urgency of Horace Bushnell. then one of the tutors, in re-
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leasing him and his colleagues from the drudgery of teaching all subjects, and as- signing each to a special department of his own. In 1828 it was vainly proposed to abandon Latin and Greek. The medi- cal faculty was enlarged on the death of Dr. N. Smith in 1829. by the appointment of three new professors-Drs. T. Hub- bard, W. Tully and T. B. Beers; the two former were succeeded by Dr. C. Hooker in 1838, and Dr. H. Bronson in 1841. The Law School, which had lapsed since 1810, was revived in 1826, by the induction of David Daggett, who, with S. J. Hitchcock, had for two pre- ceding years conducted a private law school founded by S. P. Staples, and which had a nominal connection with Yale College. The connection was now avowed; a third instructor was secured in 1842, and the degree of Bachelor of Laws first given in 1843. The Divinity School, to prepare graduates for the min- istry, was begun in 1822 with the famous N. W. Taylor as Professor of Didactic Theology, whose influence and attractive power were great. He was aided for two years by Professor Kingsley, and for a much longer period by Professors Fitch and Goodrich. the latter endowing and taking the chair of pastoral theology in 1839. The chair of Sacred Literature was founded in 1826 for J. W. Gibbs, who for two years had been lecturer on this branch. The formation of this school perhaps stimulated that of Washington (now Trinity) College, at Hartford, in 1823, and of Wesleyan University, at Middletown, in 1832. During this period several new buildings were erected -a dining hall in 1818-19, given over to other uses in 1842; North College in 1820-21 ; a chapel in 1823-24, the upper stories be- ing used for dormitories and the library : the Trumbull gallery, later the Treasury,
1831-32, to hold the paintings of Colonel John Trumbull, first loaned and after- wards sold to the college. The first Di- vinity Hall was built in 1835-36, and the Library, which cost $34,000, in 1842-46. For these and other expense the alumni gave $100,000 in 1831-36, chiefly through the efforts of W. Warner, treasurer from 1832. The library was much increased from Dr. A. E. Perkins's legacy of $10,- 000 in 1836, and several smaller gifts. The State gave $7,000 in 1831. Post- graduate and extra-professional instruc- tion began in 1841 with Professor E. E. Salisbury in the unsalaried chair of Arabic and Sanscrit. During these twenty-nine years, twenty-five lawyers were sent forth, 519 physicians, and from the academic department 2,308, a yearly average of nearly eighty. President Day resigned in 1846, having completed his seventy-third year. He was made one of the corporation, and as such remained, though always in feeble health, until his death in New Haven, at the great age of ninety-four years, having lived through the War of Independence and that for the preservation of the Union. The num- ber of distinguished graduates during President Day's administration was so great that it is impracticable to mention more than a few. In the class of 1820 alone we find the names of Dr. Leonard Bacon, Governor Mason Brown, and President Theodore D. Woolsey ; in 1828, the names of President F. A. P. Barnard, Professor H. N. Day, Governor W. W. Hoppin, and Judge William Strong, of the Supreme Court : in 1837. the names of William M. Evarts, Chief Justice Mor- rison R. Waite, Judge Edwards Pierre- pont. Professor Benjamin Silliman, Jr., Professors C. S. Lyman and B. N. Mar- tin, and President A. L. Chapin. Presi- dent Day died in New Haven. August 22, 1867.
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BEECHER, Lyman,
Distinguished Clergyman.
The Rev. Lyman Beecher was born in New Haven, Connecticut, October 12, 1775, son of David Beecher. Joseph Beecher came to Connecticut in 1638, and settled at Quinnipiac, naming it New Haven. His son, Nathaniel, was a black- smith, whose anvil stood on the stump of an old oak from which John Davenport delivered the first sermon in Connecticut. David, son of Nathaniel Beecher, was also a blacksmith and farmer, and served in the patriot army near the close of the Revolutionary War. His third wife, who was the mother of Lyman Beecher, died soon after his birth, and the boy was adopted by his uncle, Lot Benton, of Guilford, Connecticut, with whom he lived for sixteen years.
Lyman entered Yale College in 1793. at the age of eighteen. At first he was undecided whether to study law or the- ology. In his second college year he became interested in religion, but was greatly depressed in mind, and was long undecided as to whether he would enter the ministry. Under the influence of Rev. Dr. Timothy Dwight. president of the college, he finally decided, as he grate- fully acknowledged twenty-five years later. He did not distinguish himself as a student, and had little taste for mathe- matics, but he was a fluent speaker, and was chosen by his class to deliver the valedictory address on presentation day, six weeks before commencement, in 1797. when he was graduated. During his col- lege course he met Roxana Foote, who became his wife shortly after his ordina- tion. Beecher, after being examined and licensed, was called to the Presbyterian church at East Hampton. Long Island. New York, at a salary of three hundred dollars, with parsonage privileges, and after five years his salary was increased to
four hundred dollars. His first sermon to attract public attention was on "Duell- ing," delivered after the death of Alex- ander Hamilton at the hands of Aaron Burr, and was reprinted as a campaign document during the candidacy of Henry Clay for the presidency. Beecher re- mained in East Hampton over eleven years, and, in addition to ministerial duties, conducted a boarding school for girls, with his wife as assistant. He re- moved to Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1810, and became pastor of the Congregational church, with a salary of eight hundred dollars. Soon after he was established. he became enlisted in the temperance cause, being especially moved by what he deemed the disgraceful scenes he wit- nessed at the meetings of ministerial as- sociations. where ministers freely in- dulged in the use of intoxicating liquors. and from his efforts come the Massachu- setts Temperance Society, formed in 1813. About the same time he published his volume, "Six Sermons on Intemperance," which was popular and effective. Soon after coming to Litchfield, his wife died. In the latter part of 1817 he married Har- riet Porter, of Portland, Maine, and their union lasted nearly twenty years. After her death. in Cincinnati, in 1835. he mar- ried Mrs. Lydia Jackson, of Boston, Mas- sachusetts, who survived him. At the end of sixteen years' labor in Litchfield, Mr. Beecher found himself embarrassed by pecuniary difficulties, and resigned.
He now received a call from the Han- over Street Church, Boston, Massachusetts. where he labored six years, preaching. lecturing, and advising in the care of the churches. At this time the contest be- tween the Puritan theology and Unitari- anism being at its height. he entered into it with characteristic zeal, his own church sustaining him, and his clerical brethren approving and assisting. He claimed that Unitarianism had seized Harvard Col-
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lege ; that funds provided for the promul- gation of a Puritan faith were devoted to a system of faith that antagonized Puri- tanism: that a fund for maintaining an annual sermon on the Trinity, was paid for lectures controverting the doctrine of the Trinity; that the Hollis professor- ship of divinity at Cambridge was em- ployed for bringing up a class of min- isters whose sole distinctive idea was de- clared warfare with the ideas and inten- tions of the donor. That this controversy was most bitter, is evident from an in- cident connected with the Hanover Street Church. four years after his settlement over it, when it is said, the firemen would make no effort to extinguish the flames, refusing to work the engines, and, paro- dying Watts's hymns, sang :
"While Beecher's church holds out to burn, The vilest sinner may return."
However, from his church sprang four Others; members from it founded Salem Street Church at the North End. and Pine Street Church at the South End, the latter afterward becoming the Berkeley Street Church ; and other members helped to organize a church at Cambridgeport, and after the burning of the stone edifice on Hanover street, another of stone was built on Bowdoin street, and which was purchased later by the Protestant Epis- copal church and became the Church of the Advent, and now known as the Church of St. John the Evangelist. Mr. Beecher's labors here were brief. After six years successful work in Boston Mr. Beecher went to Cincinnati, Ohio, to be- come pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in that city, and president of the Lane Theological Seminary at Walnut Hill, near the city, having previously de- clined a call from the Fifth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. Public interest in the establishment of Lane Seminary and confidence in Dr. Beecher's ability to
make it a success, brought large con- tributions, and Arthur Tappan, of New York, promised the interest of twenty thousand dollars if Dr. Beecher would undertake the work. He was active presi- dent for twenty years, and nominally president to the close of his life.
At the time Dr. Beecher left Boston, his appearance and habits were peculiar. He was careless in dress, shortsighted, toothless, and noticeably absentminded. If his watch was wound up, it was rarely right; if he had spectacles on his nose. another pair would be on his head, and he would be "fumbling in his pockets for a third." If he borrowed a pencil he would use it and pocket it, then another and another, until someone would inquire how many he had. He was also eccentric in his home life. He practiced gymnas- tic exercises with pole or ladder, sawed wood, shovelled sand from one side of the cellar to the other, and swung dumb- bells. An hour or so before evening serv- ice he would return to his study to make notes; and was never ready until the church bell tolled and the messenger came for him, when he would hurry off with cravat awry and coat collar turned up. At the same time he was a master in the pulpit-a preacher stirring the minds of men, and moving their hearts until the whole audience responded as one man. On his return home, he would be full of fire, sparkling with humor, and perhaps take his violin and play "Auld Lang Syne." "Bonny Doon," or a "College Hornpipe," with sometimes a double shuffle as an accompaniment, and finally go to bed. "I must." he said, "let off steam gradually, and then I can sleep like a child."
While he was in Ohio there came about the great conflict between the "Old School" and "New School" parties in the Presbyterian church. Dr. Beecher was a
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representative "New School" man, and his views were so pronounced that in 1835 he was brought before the presby- tery for trial. Rev. Dr. J. L. Wilson for- mulated charges against him for heresy, slander and hypocrisy. Dr. Beecher en- tered a general denial, and defended him- self on each point, declaring he had taught according to the Word of God and the Confession of Faith, and that if his teachings should differ in any particular from the Confession of Faith, they in- cluded nothing at variance with its under- lying principles. While he was thus de- fending himself with the astuteness of a skilled lawyer, his wife was dying; in the seminary many cares burdened him; and in the church he was antagonized by those whose prejudices had been ex- cited against him. After a session of many days he finally won his case, and an opinion was given by the presbytery that the charges were not sustained. In 1850 Dr. Beecher returned to Boston, hoping to revise at his leisure his writings; but under the weight of seventy-five years he had lost his intellectual vigor, though his physical strength endured. Only now and again did the old fire flash up and then die away. Professor Calvin E. Stowe, his son-in-law, writes: "The day he was eighty-one he was with me in An- dover and wished to attend my lecture in the seminary. He was not quite ready when the bell rang, and I walked on in the usual path without him. Presently he came skipping across lots, laid his hand on the five-barred fence, which he cleared at a bound, and was in the lecture room before me." Dr. Beecher finally took up his residence in Brooklyn, near his son, Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, and there spent the remnant of his days, los- ing slowly the use of his faculties, but his face never lost its expression of strength and sweetness. His published writings
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