USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 1 > Part 3
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friendship he ever enjoyed, and he was present at the surrender of Cornwallis. He was again elected as a deputy to the General Assembly in 1788, and became speaker of the House of Representatives. In 1789 he represented Connecticut in the first Congress of the United States under the constitution; in 1791 was made speaker of the House of Representatives of that body; and in 1794 was elected a Senator in the Congress of the United States. He resigned his seat in the Sen- ate when he was elected Lieutenant-Gov- ernor of his native State, in 1796; and was elected Governor in 1798, upon the death of Governor Oliver Wolcott, an office he filled by successive reëlections until his death. Few men of his day studied more closely the public questions of the hour, and his perfect mastery of the subjects under his consideration en- abled him to give a clear and decisive expression to his views. In manner he was simple and unaffected, and even dur- ing the most heated political campaign his private character was never subjected to attack, but the criticism was always directed against the measures he cham- pioned. Governor Trumbull married, March 26, 1767, Eunice Backus. Chil- dren : Jonathan, born December 24, 1767, died young; Faith, February 1, 1769, married Daniel Wadsworth, of Hartford; Mary, December 27, 1777, died young ; Harriet, became the wife of Professor Silliman, of Yale College; Maria, Febru- ary 14, 1785, married Henry Hudson, of Hartford. The mother of these children long survived her husband, dying in New Haven, in 1826.
WOLCOTT, Oliver, Father and Son, Governors.
Governors Oliver Wolcott, father and son, were descendants of Henry Wolcott, originally of Golden Manor, Tolland,
Somersetshire, England, who was a Puri- tan of good family and estate. Henry Wolcott came to this country and settled in Massachusetts in 1630, removing three years later to Windsor, Connecticut, where he ranked as one of the most distinguished men of the colony, for years representing his town in the upper house of the General Assembly. He mar- ried Elizabeth Saunders. Their son, Simon Wolcott, followed his father to America about 1640, was made a free- man of Windsor in 1654, and in 1680 re- moved to East Windsor, where he mar- ried as his second wife Martha Pitkin.
Roger Wolcott, son of Simon and Mar- tha (Pitkin) Wolcott, was born January 4, 1679, at Windsor, Connecticut. He rose to distinction, serving as selectman, assemblyman, and on the bench, and also acting as commissary of the Connecticut forces in the expedition against Canada. He was afterward a member of various courts and Deputy Governor ; and in his sixty-seventh year, with the rank of major-general and second in command to Sir William Pepperell, headed the Con- necticut troops in the Louisburg ex- pedition. He succeeded Law as Gov- ernor in 1750 and served until 1754, being defeated for reelection through charges of malfeasance, and which, al- though they were disproved, ended his public career. In his retirement he wrote a volume of "Poetical Meditations," and some semi-political pamphlets. He mar- ried a distant relative, Sarah, daughter of Job and Mary (Wolcott) Drake. He died at what is now South Windsor, May 17, 1767. No portrait of him is extant.
Governor Oliver Wolcott (Ist), son of Governor Roger Wolcott, was born No- vember 20, 1726, at Windsor, Connecticut. He graduated from Yale College in 1747, and the same year was commissioned cap- tain by Governor Clinton, of New York, and recruited a company which he com-
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manded in the war against the French in Canada in 1748. Returning, he studied medicine under his brother Alexander, but does not seem to have engaged in practice. In 1751 he removed to Litchfield, and be- came sheriff, holding the office for a period of fourteen years. In August, 1774, at a town meeting held to take action upon the resolutions of the Legislature with refer- ence to the Boston port bill, he drew up a preamble and resolutions remarkable for their independent tone. In the same year he was commissioned colonel of militia, and was made a member of the Gov- ernor's Council, a place in which he was continued by annual reappointment until 1786, during a considerable portion of this time also serving as judge of probate and common pleas. In July, 1775, under au- thority of Congress, he was one of the commissioners charged with securing the neutrality of the Iroquois Indians. He was also one of the boundary commis- sioners, and it was largely through his efforts that the longstanding Vermont- New York boundary controversy was set- tled, and that the dispute between Con- necticut and Pennsylvania over the Wyo- ming tract was satisfactorily compro- mised. He took his seat in the Conti- nental Congress in January, 1776, and was from the outset one of its most de- termined members, and was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independ- ence. When the statue of King George, in Bowling Green, New York City, was thrown down, Wolcott got possession of the headless trunk, and conveyed it to his home in Litchfield, where it was converted into bullets (forty-two thou- sand in number) by his daughters and neighbors.
His military record begins with his ap- pointment as brigadier-general on August 15, 1776, his command embracing fourteen regiments of militia, about five thousand men. With nine of these regiments he
was in New York at the time of the battle of Long Island, and he then resumed his seat in Congress. In the summer of 1777 he was busied with organizing Connecti- cut troops and despatching them to the field-to Putnam, on the Hudson river ; to the northern army of General Gates ; and elsewhere. In 1778 he was again in Congress. In the summer of 1779 he was active against the British who were mov- ing to the invasion of Connecticut; and when Tryon's forces ravaged Fairfield and Danbury, he, now being a major- general, took the field against them. Later, as a commissioner to the Indians, he was mainly instrumental in effecting peace negotiations with the Six Nations, and in procuring from the Wyandottes and other tribes a clear title to lands in Ohio claimed by Connecticut. In 1786 he was elected Lieutenant-Governor, and was reëlected two times successively, his last term being followed by his election as Governor. In 1796 he was a presi- dential elector and voted for Adams and Pinckney. A biographer says of Wolcott that he was remarkable for intrepidity, integrity, strong and bold conceptions, and a peculiar decision of character. His sensibility was acute, and no one could have a finer sense of honor. Though firm in his own opinion, he manifested defer- ence for the opinions of others. He was distinguished for his love of order and re- ligion.
Governor Wolcott married, in 1755, Laura (or Lorana) Collins, daughter of Captain Daniel and Lois (Cornwall) Col- lins, of Guilford, Connecticut. She was a woman of great strength of mind and de- termination, and a master manager. In the frequent and protracted absences of Governor Wolcott she conducted the farm and superintended the education of the younger children at home ; as patriotic as her illustrious husband, during the Revolutionary War she exercised the ut-
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years, and died there August 9, 1678. He married Abigail, daughter of Rev. John Wheelwright, of Lincolnshire, England, who came to New Hampshire.
The Rev. Abraham Pierson, son of Rev. Abraham Pierson named above, was born at Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1641. He was graduated from Harvard College in 1668, and was ordained as colleague in the min- istry of his father at Newark, New Jer- sey, March 4, 1672. He was minister of Killingworth, Connecticut, from 1694. After James Pierpont he was the most active of the founders of the collegiate school at Saybrook. The founders of New Haven had cherished the idea of the establishment of a college of their own from the beginning of their settlement in 1638, but the project languished, and fourteen years later (1652) it was not un- reasonably judged to be "too great a charge for us of this jurisdiction." The plan seems to have been revived in 1698, and was certainly taken up with great zeal by the two ministers, James Pier- pont, of New Haven, and Abraham Pier- son, both graduates of Harvard College, but was apparently without result until in September, 1701, when a meeting was held at Branford, at the house of the Rev. Samuel Russell, and some books were donated for a library. Pierpont had sent suggestions to Governor Isaac Addington and Hon. S. Sewall, of Boston, who pre- pared a draft for a charter. The Legisla- ture met October 9th, and some days later, probably on the 16th, passed "An Act for Liberty to erect a Collegiate School." In the next month seven trus- tees met at Saybrook, and voted to estab- lish the school there, with Mr. Pierson . as rector. This office he discharged from his parish, nine miles distant, and its · duties can hardly have been arduous. ¿ Jacob Heminway, the first student, en- ptered in March, 1702, and in September meven more were added. A tutor was
now chosen, and a commencement held at Saybrook Point, when N. Lynde gave the use of a house for the newly fledged "Collegiate School." On this occasion the degree of Master of Arts was con- ferred upon Nathaniel Chauncey, of Stratford, who had been privately taught, and on four graduates of Harvard. At this time the entire revenue of the school, apart from the fees for tuition, was a grant from the Legislature of f120 yearly in "country pay," equal to about £80 in cash. While Pierson was rector, the col- lege was at the beginning of its existence, and there were few graduates. One of them was Jonathan Dickinson (1706), who became president of the College of New Jersey. His statue stands on the college campus. Abraham Pierson was much respected as a scholar and adminis- trator. He wrote a text book on "Na- tural Philosophy," which was used for twenty-five years. Rector Pierson died in New Haven, Connecticut, March 5, 1707.
DOUGLAS, William,
Soldier of the Revolution.
Deacon William Douglas, immigrant ancestor, was born in 1610, without doubt in Scotland, though in what part there is no means of knowing. His wife lived in Ringstead, England. His father, whose name was very likely Robert Douglas, was born about 1588. How and where William Douglas became acquainted with his wife, Ann Mattle, or Motley, is un- known, but their marriage must have taken place at his parish church, probably in 1636, when they were both twenty-six years old, as their daughter Ann was born in 1637. Ann Mattle or Motley was the only daughter of Thomas Mattle or Mot- ley, of Ringstead, where she was born in 1610. She had two brothers, one of whom probably died young, and the other was
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unmarried and died without descendant, so Ann was the sole heir. William Doug- las came to New England with his wife and two children, Ann and Robert, in 1640, though the exact time of their ar- rival is unknown. The very common tradition is that they landed at Cape Ann. He settled in Gloucester, nearby, but re- moved to Boston the same year. The first mention of him in the Boston records is June 31, 1640, when he was made a free- man or voter. He did not remain in Bos- ton, but removed the next year to Ips- wich, where he was entitled to a share of the public land, February 28, 1641. He remained at Ipswich for about four years, returning to Boston in 1645. He was a cooper in Boston, and May 1, 1646, he pur- chased of Walter Merry and Thomas An- chor, a dwelling house, shop, and land.
He removed to New London, Connec- ticut, and obtained considerable property through purchase and grants from the town. One of his farms was inherited by his son William, and has remained in the hands of the family for over two centuries. In 1662-63 he was appointed one of the appraisers of property for the town of New London. The appraisal was deliv- ered to the general court at Hartford, but the court was not satisfied, for it fined him and the others. The town was very indignant and objected, so that the court withdrew the fine. He was one of a com- mittee to consider about a new minister. The land for a new church was purchased from Mr. Douglas, and the graveyard still remains on that place. He was chosen one of the two deacons of the church in 1670. He and Mr. Willerby were ap- pointed to deliver provisions to Commis- sary Tracy at Norwich, during King Philip's War. He was one of the most prominent citizens of New London. His education, for the times, was liberal. He held many important offices in the town at different times. He was deputy to the
General Court in 1672, and once or twice later. He took an active part in town and church affairs until the time of his death, which occurred in 1682. In May, 1670, his wife, then sixty years old, made a journey to Boston to establish her claim as heir to her father's property. She died in New London about 1685. Children : Ann, born in Scotland, 1637; Robert, in Scotland, 1639; Elizabeth, in Ipswich, Massachusetts, August 26, 1641 ; Sarah, in Ipswich, April 8, 1643; William, men- tioned below.
Deacon William (2) Douglas, son of Deacon William (1) Douglas, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, April 1, 1645. He came to New London with his par- ents in 1660. He received lands in Voluntown, March 29, 1706, which he afterward sold to his son William. He inherited land from his father, which he gave to his grandson William, son of Richard, on condition that his grandson live with him and take care of him till death. He and his wife Abiah were re- ceived into the Congregational church in 1670. His three sons were also admitted into the church at different times. After the death of his father in 1682, he was chosen deacon, an office which he held for upward of fifty years, until his death. In the ancient burial ground at New Lon- don may be seen a moss-covered tablet, with the inscription: "Here Lyeth ye body of Deacon William Douglas who died Mar ye 9th 1724-5, Aged 80 years." He married (first) Abiah, daughter of William Hough, of New London, and granddaughter of Edward Hough, of Westchester, Cheshire, England. She was born September 15, 1648, died February 21, 1715. He married (second ) July, 1715, the Widow Mary Bushnell, who survived him. Children, all born in New London by first wife: Elizabeth, February 25, 1668-69; Sarah, April 2, 1671; William, February 19, 1672-73, mentioned below ;
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Abiah, August 18, 1675 ; Rebecca, June 14, 1678; Ann, May 24, 1680; Richard, July 19, 1682 ; Samuel, about 1684.
Deacon William (3) Douglas, son of Deacon William (2) Douglas, was born in New London, Connecticut, February 19, 1672-73. He was admitted to the church, July 24, 1698. The next year he removed with his wife and two children to "the new plantation on the Quinnebaug, which was afterward named Plainfield." Here lands were set off for him "on the east side of the river." He also owned lands in Voluntown, which he purchased of his father, August 18, 1715, for thirteen pounds. He was of the little company that covenanted together and formed a church in Plainfield, in 1705. He was chosen first deacon. He was buried in the old burial ground in Plainfield. He died in the prime of life and was greatly mourned. All the church and town rec- ords, and all but a few of the probate records, were burned at the time Arnold burned the town of New London in 1781. His will was among the records saved. It was dated July 6, 1717, and proved September 25, 1717. In it he provides for his wife Sarah, and eleven children, all the latter under twenty-one years of age. His wife was Sarah Procter, but no date of marriage can be found in the New Lon- don records. His two eldest children were born in New London, all the others in Plainfield. His widow Sarah was liv- ing in 1729, but no record of her death has been found. Children: Hannah, born September 7, 1696; William, February 19, 1697-98; Samuel, April 13, 1699; Abiah, February 26, 1701-02 ; John, July 28, 1703, mentioned below; Sarah, December 7, 1704; Jerusha, April 26, 1706; Samuel, De- cember 3, 1707; Benajah, September 17, 1710; James, May 20, 1711 ; Thomas, No- vember 26, 1712 ; Asa, December II, 1715.
John, son of Deacon William. (3) Doug- las, was born in Plainfield, Connecticut,
July 28, 1703. He married, January 13, 1724-25, Olive, born January 17, 1709, daughter of Benjamin and Olive (Hall) Spaulding, of Plainfield. He was a man of no little importance in his town. Two of his sons, General John and Colonel William, acted with bravery in the Revo- lutionary War ; a third, Benjamin, a grad- uate of Yale College, would have un- doubtedly gained distinction in the legal profession, but for his untimely death at the age of thirty-six years. Olive, John's wife, died February 21, 1752. He died April 20, 1766. Children, all born in Plain- field : William, born April 26, 1729, died young ; Olive, November 4, 1731 ; John, April 12, 1734; Benjamin, August 29, 1739; William, January 27, 1742-43, men- tioned below ; Sarah, April 18, 1744 ; Olive, October 14. 1749.
Colonel William (4) Douglas, son of John Douglas, was born in Plainfield, January 27, 1742-43. At the age of six- teen years he was engaged in the old French and Indian War. He was chosen orderly sergeant in a company under Israel Putnam, and was in the expedition which resulted in the surrender of Quebec in 1759, and the speedy termination of the war. He soon afterward removed from Plainfield to New Haven, where he en- gaged in the seafaring business, and soon became commander of a merchant ship sailing between New Haven and the West Indies. In this he was very successful and accumulated a fortune considered in those days very large. At the beginning of the Revolutionary War he took part in Ethan Allen's expedition to Ticon- deroga, and raised a military company in New Haven, receiving a captain's com- mission, May 16, 1775, and immediately proceeded to the north with provisions and supplies for the troops under Mont- gomery. When he reported, Montgom- ery, finding he was a good seaman, re- quested him to take command of the
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flotilla on Lake Champlain. He was made commodore of this fleet, and in the fall of 1775 rendered important service in the siege and capture of St. Johns, at the head of the lake, taking large quantities of pro- visions, arms and other military stores, together with cannon which were carried across the country and used in the de- fense of Boston. Early in 1776 he raised and equipped out of his private purse a regiment of soldiers in the vicinity of New Haven, of which he was commissioned colonel by Governor Jonathan Trumbull, June 20, 1776. As soon as the regiment was equipped he marched to New York and joined the continental army under General Washington. He was in the dis- astrous campaign of Long Island. He took part at Harlem Heights, White Plains, Philips Manor, Croton River and New York. In the battle of September 16, 1776, his clothes were perforated with bullets and his horse shot from under him. He became so exhausted that, in connection with subsequent exposure, he lost his voice, and was never able after- ward to speak a loud word. From the day of this battle until toward the middle of December, he was so constantly on duty that he rarely slept beneath a roof. To save his young wife and children from the British soldiers, he purchased a farm of one hundred and fifty acres about eight miles from New Haven, in Northford, and moved his family there. After the battles about New York, being disabled, he re- turned to his family at Northford, where he died May 28, 1777, at the age of thirty- five years. His regiment was retained as the Sixth Connecticut Continental Line, and it rendered good service through the remainder of the war under Colonel Re- turn Jonathan Meigs. On his dying bed, he sold his New Haven property to specu- lators, and was paid in continental money, which became almost worthless, so that
his family lost all their large wealth. Colo- nel Douglas literally sacrificed his life and fortune for his country. A modest brown stone monument in the old burial ground at Northford marks the resting place of this patriot of the Revolution.
He married, July 5, 1767, Hannah, daughter of Stephen Mansfield, of New Haven, where she was born November 17, 1747. She was sister of Colonel Jared Mansfield, who was at the head of West Point Military Academy, and surveyor- general of the United States. She sur- vived her husband forty-eight years, and died in Northford, May 22, 1825. Chil- dren, all born in New Haven: Olive, March 25, 1768; William, February 23, 1770; Hannah, April 12, 1772 ; John, March 24, 1775.
WOOSTER, General David,
Revolutionary Soldier.
Edward Wooster, immigrant ancestor, was born in England in 1622 and was among the first settlers of Milford, Con- necticut, in 1642. He was also the first settler of Derby, Connecticut, in 1654, and went there for the special purpose of rais- ing hops on the bottom land now a little way below Ansonia. He married (sec- ond) Tabitha, daughter of Henry Tomlin- son, in 1669. He died July 8, 1680.
His son Abraham married, November 22, 1699, Mary, daughter of Jacob Walker and Elizabeth, widow of Samuel Blake- man. Jacob Walker was the son of Rob- ert Walker, of Boston, and brother of the Rev. Zechariah Walker, and came to Stratford about 1667. He is said to have been a weaver by trade and accumulated considerable property. Abraham Wooster was also a weaver and settled at Farmill river in Stratford soon after his marriage. His name appears in a list of the pro- prietors of Stratford, October 3, 1738,
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DAVID WUUSTERA
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with the title of captain. About 1719 he removed to Quaker's Farm, in Derby, now Oxford, Connecticut.
General David Wooster, son of Abra- ham Wooster, was born at Oronoque, in Stratford, March 2, 1710-II. He gradu- ated from Yale College in 1738. Much more would doubtless have been known of his early life but for the burning of all his family papers by the British when they pillaged New Haven in 1779. When the Spanish war broke out in 1739, he was employed as first lieutenant, and in 1745 as captain of a coast guard. In the same year he was captain in Colonel Burr's regiment, which formed a part of the troops sent by the State of Connecticut in the expedition against Louisburg. For a time he was retained among the colonial troops to keep possession of Louisburg, but was soon after elected among the American officers to take charge of a car- tel ship for France and England. He was not permitted to land in France, but was received in England with distinguished honor. There he was presented to the king and became a favorite of the court and people. The king admitted him to the regular service, and presented him with a captaincy in Sir William Pep- perell's regiment, with half-pay for life. His likeness at full length was taken, and transferred to the periodicals of the day. After the peace of Aix-la-chapelle, 1748, he returned to America. In the French war of 1756 he was appointed colonel of a regiment raised in Connecticut, and afterwards to the command of a brigade, in which station he remained until the peace of 1763. He then engaged in mer- cantile business in New Haven, and held . the office of his majesty's collector of cus- toms of that port.
When the Revolution broke out, he im- mediately resigned his position and took sides with his native country. After the battle of Lexington, he and a few others,
in the General Assembly of May, 1775, planned the expedition from Connecticut to seize and retain the fort at Ticonderoga, and to enable them to carry their plans into execution they privately obtained a loan of eighteen hundred dollars from the State treasury, for which they became personally responsible. The result was that on May 10. the fort was surprised and delivered up to Allen and Arnold. June 22, 1775, he was among the eight brigadier-generals appointed by Congress, and was third in rank. Notwithstanding his age (sixty-five years) he had a com- mand under Montgomery in the expedi- tion against Quebec, and succeeded to the command of the army on the death of Montgomery. He was acquitted by a court of inquiry of blame for the disas- trous termination of that campaign and resigned his commission in the Conti- nental army. On his return to Connecti- cut he was appointed major-general of militia. During the winter of 1776-77 he was employed in protecting Connecticut against the enemy, especially in the neigh- borhood of Danbury, where large stores of provisions and other articles had been collected. He had just returned to New Haven from one of his tours, when he heard, April 15. 1777, that a body of two thousand men from New York had affect- ed a landing at Norwalk and Fairfield for the purpose of destroying the magazines at Danbury, which object they accom- plished the following day. He imme- diately set out with General Arnold and joined the militia hastily collected by General Silliman, which numbered about six hundred and with this small force de- termined to attack the enemy in their re- treat. Part of the men were put under General Arnold, and part under General Wooster. General Wooster's division pursued the enemy the next morning, but being inexperienced militia, were after a time put to flight. General Wooster was
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