USA > Connecticut > New London County > Groton > Groton, Conn. 1705-1905 > Part 31
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One of the distinguished sons of Groton was Samuel
* History of New London County, Conn., 1882, p. 447.
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Seabury, the first Episcopal Bishop in the United States. Of him the Rev. R. A. Hallam, D. D., writes :*
"John Seabury came from Duxbury and settled in Groton, Conn., about the year 1700. His wife was Elizabeth Alden, granddaughter of John Alden of the 'Mayflower,' who is reported to be the first man who set his foot on Plymouth Rock. When a Congregational church was formed in Groton he was appointed one of its deacons, and is com- monly known as Deacon John Seabury. His fourth son was Samuel, who was born at Groton July 8, 1706. This son was designed for the ministry and with that view en- tered Yale College.
"During his connection with that institution the excite- ment on the subject of Episcopacy arose, which led to the defection of Rector Cutler and Doctor Johnson from the established Congregational order. The College was shaken to its foundation, the course of instruction was deranged and many of the students withdrew. Among them was young Seabury, who, if he was carried no farther at the time, was at least made aware of the question at issue and of the existence and force of arguments which had led some of the ablest and most scholarly of the Congregational divines to abandon their stations and encounter in conse- quence obloquy and reproach. He proceeded to Cambridge and finished his collegiate course at Harvard, where he graduated in 1724 at the age of 18.
"After a brief course of preparation for the Congrega- tional ministry he was licensed to preach and for several months in 1726, as a licentiate, preached to the Congrega- tionalists of North Groton, his native place. About this time he married his first wife, Abigail, daughter of Thomas Mumford, who was one of the most active founders of the church at New London.
"His distinguished son, the Bishop, the second son of this marriage, was born at North Groton November 30, 1729. He passed the days of his youth in New London, where his father was ministering. At an early Annals 1725-1875, St. James' Church, New London, pp. 31, 75 et seq.
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age he entered Yale College and graduated with credit in 1748. He went to Scotland and studied medicine in the University of Edinburgh, whether with a view of devoting his life to the medical profession or merely as an amateur is not known. But it is known that in his ministry he made large use of his medical knowledge as a means of doing good. He soon, at any rate, put aside medicine for the study of theology, and after acquiring the requisite proficiency was ordained deacon by Doctor John Thomas, Bishop of Lincoln, acting for the Bishop of London, December 21, 1753, and priest by Doctor Richard Osbaldeston, Bishop of Carlisle, acting for the same prelate, December 23, 1753, Doctor Thomas Sherlock, Bishop of London, being then dis- abled by infirmity and near the close of life.
"On his return to America he served several parishes in New Jersey and New York and finally settled in West- chester, where he continued to officiate till the breaking out of the Revolution. His loyalty, founded on the deepest con- victions of duty, drove him from his parish ; and during the remainder of the war he resided in New York, serving as chaplain to the King's forces and eking out his living by the practice of medicine. Soon after the establishment of independence the clergy of Connecticut moved to obtain the episcopate and made choice of Doctor Seabury for their bishop. To obtain consecration he sailed for England in 1783. He had been honored with the degree of Doctor of Divinity by the University of Oxford in 1777.
"Political differences prevented his success in England; the English bishops were unable to dispense with the oath of allegiance to the sovereign, which their ordinal contained, and the British Parliament was backward to pass an en- abling act for fear of exciting the displeasure of the young republic, jealous of any encroachment on its newly- acquired nationality. Under these circumstances Doctor Seabury bethought himself of the Scotch bishops, identical in polity and authority with the English bishops, but dis- connected with the State, in consequence of the disestab- lishment of their church for its fidelity to the House of
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Stuart, and lying under the ban of political proscription. By them he was cordially welcomed and by them November 14, 1784, consecrated at Aberdeen in Bishop Skinner's ora- tory, the consecrators being Robert Kilgore, Bishop of Aber- deen, and Primus Arthur Petrie, Bishop of Moray and Ross, and John Skinner, Coadjutor Bishop of Aberdeen.
"With these prelates, representatives of the Episcopal remainder in Scotland, he entered into a Concordat to main- tain in America as far as in him lay the peculiarities of the Scottish Church, and in particular the prayer of conse- cration in the Communion Office. With his divine commis- sion he returned to his country and landed at Newport June 20, 1785, preaching on the following Sunday the first sermon of a bishop in this country, in old Trinity Church from Hebrews XII, 1, 2. He was soon established at New London as the rector of St. James' Church, which was then in process of erection, where he continued to dwell in the faithful discharge of his duties as bishop and priest till his very sudden death, February 25, 1796."
Master Nathan Daboll was one of the distinguished men of Groton and one whose name was most widely known throughout the country by reason of his almanac and arith- metic. Born April 24, 1750, of sturdy New England an- cestry, life with him was a struggle from the beginning. With no opportunity for a liberal education, he was a stu- dent from his earliest days. After exhausting the facilities of the town schools, he was a pupil of Rev. Jonathan Barber, the Congregational minister of the parish. His mathe- matical mind was evident even then, and Mr. Barber, a graduate of Yale and no doubt a classical scholar, called him a very dull pupil. He did not long remain under the tuition of Mr. Barber, but thereafter pursued his studies without the aid of a teacher. He worked at the trade of a cooper and studied as he worked.
From the mastery of "Potter's Mathematics" he pro- ceeded to the fifteen books of Euclid with Archimedes' Theorems of the Sphere and Cylinder and other works of advanced mathematics. [ 1770, before he was twenty.
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one, he began his labors as an astronomical calculator by revising the figures for an almanac published by Timothy Green of the Connecticut Gazette and in 1773 appeared "The Connecticut Almanac" by Nathan Daboll-Philomath, a publication which for generations has been continued by the Daboll family under the name adopted in 1775, "The New England Almanac."
In 1783 he accepted the position of teacher of mathe- matics and astronomy in the Plainfield Academy, where he remained for five years and assisted in raising that institu- tion to the high place that it occupied among the educa- tional institutions of New England. In its prospectus for 1784 the academy announces that all branches of mathe- matics will be taught. In 1788 he returned to his old home and resumed his schools of navigation at Groton and New London, which had been interrupted by his removal to Plainfield. He had been engaged in this work during the Revolutionary War, but the burning of New London and the derangement of commence attendant thereupon no doubt affected the patronage of the schools and perhaps had to do with his accepting the position at Plainfield.
His experience there had further impressed upon his mind the need of better text books in the growing public- school system of the country, and the next ten years was spent in the preparation of "Daboll's Schoolmaster's As- sistant," which was first published in 1799 and which for more than half a century held first place as a text book on arithmetic and placed his name alongside of Noah Webster and Lindley Murray as a leading educator of the country. While preparing the book, he was carrying on the schools and not only our merchant marine but the old navy as well profited by his instruction. In 1811 he was instructing a class of midshipmen on board the frigate "President" in New London harbor, among them being Fowle and Brails- ford, the tragic story of the death of the former being re. lated elsewhere in this volume. He lived to see the close or the war of 1812, though for the last two years of his life
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blindness prevented him from pursuing his loved work. He died March 9, 1818, universally loved and respected.
Among the men who have attained political preferment we have already mentioned Silas Deane, who was a mem- ber of the Continental Congress and also in the diplomatic service of his country. Others may be briefly referred to as follows:
Noyes Barber served as a member of Congress from 1821 to 1835. He was son of Rev. Jonathan Barber, pastor of the Congregational church, born April 28, 1781. At the early age of eleven he commenced business as a clerk for William Eldredge and at twenty-one he bought out the busi- ness, which he subsequently conducted alone. He became* "one of the largest buyers of farmers' products and dealers in farmers' supplies on the Thames River, and carried on besides a considerable trade with the West Indies and was interested more or less in the various ventures by sea com- mon in a maritime town."
He was a captain in the Eighth Regiment during the War of 1812 and was called out at the time of the bom- bardment of Stonington. Being a Jeffersonian Republican he favored the war and while Commodore Decatur was blockaded in the harbor he sometimes entertained him and his officers at his home, which was at all times a place of open hospitality. After serving twice in the Legislature of Connecticut, he was elected to Congress in 1821 and con- tinued in that office until 1835. He was not noted for speech making but as a member of the committee on claims he performed his duties faithfully and well. It was said that at no period of our history has there been greater economy of administration or a greater righteousness in the adjustment of claims. Elected under the administra- tion of James Monroe, he served in Congress with Webster, Clay, Calhoun, Benton, John Q. Adams and Andrew Jack- son in a record-making period of our history.
In 1824, there being no election of President by the
* History of New London County, p. 173.
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people, the choice devolved upon the House of Representa- tives and Mr. Barber parted company with his former party associates, voting for John Quincy Adams. For this action he was proscribed by his former party friends, but he was continued in office by his constituents. In Jackson's fight against the United States Bank he stood for the bank. He died at his home in Groton January 3, 1844.
Rev. Daniel Burrows, a native of the town, was a son of Rev. Silas and Mary (Smith) Burrows, born October 28, 1766. He was a Methodist minister and lived at Middle- town when he was elected a Representative at large to represent Connecticut in the Seventeenth Congress, 1821- 1823. He died at Groton January 23, 1858.
Elisha Haley, born in Groton January 21, 1776, repre- sented his district in Congress from 1835 to 1839. His edu- cation was confined to the common schools, where he en- joyed the advantages of the ordinary farmer boy, but he was a great student and acquired much more valuable prac- tical knowledge than many collegians. He was a farmer, cultivating six hundred acres in Groton. He was a Demo- crat in politics, a leader of the party in the town, his house at Centre Groton being the meeting-place for the party caucuses so long as he lived. He held offices in the town, representing it many times in the Legislature and serving in both branches. Always ready to help every scheme for publie improvement, he was largely interested in promoting the building of turnpikes in 1816-1818. He died January 22, 1859.
Of natives of the town who have served in Congress from other States we may mention Daniel Avery, who was born September 18, 1766. He "emigrated to Aurora, New York, in, 1795, and represented the Eighth District in the Twelith Congress and the Twentieth District in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Congresses. He was the only man in the New York delegation to vote for war with Great Britain."*
Lorenzo Burrows, son of Rev. Roswell Burrows, was born in Groton March 5, 1805. A resident of Albion, New
* The Groton Avery Clan, Vol. I, p. 302.
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York, he served two terms in Congress, and was Comp- troller of the State.
William Ledyard Stark was born in Mystic, July 29, 1853. He was the youngest son of Hon. Albert G. Stark, who died a few weeks after his birth. He removed to the West when about twenty years of age, studied law, was admitted to the bar in Chicago, and located in Aurora, Nebraska, in 1878. He represented his district in the Fifty-fifth, Fifty-sixth and Fifty-seventh Congresses.
The following are some of the natives of Groton who have entered the ministry :
Allyn, Robert, D. D., LL. D.
Hedden, Benjamin F.
Avery, Charles Eldredge
Hurlburt, Ralph
Avery, Christopher
Jennings, Russell
Avery, David
Lamb, James Curtis
Avery, Frederick D.
Lamb, John
Avery, Isaac
Lamb, Nehemiah
Avery, Jared R.
Miner, Noyes W., D. D.
Avery, John
Morgan, Rev. Joseph
Avery, John Thomas
Pendleton, George W.
Avery, Nathan
Avery, Parke
Randall, William H .
Buddington, Osmer G.
Wheeler, Edwin S.
Burrows, Daniel
Wightman, John G.
Burrows, Roswell
Wightman, Joseph Colver
Burrows, Silas
Wightman, Palmer G.
Chipman, William P., D. D.
Wightman, Timothy
Gallup, James A.
The following Groton men have adopted the profession of medicine though not all of them practiced in the town :
Giles Goddard
Amos Prentice
He was the resident physician who attended upon the wounded at Fort Griswold.
John Owen Miner
A grandson of Rev. John Owen, resident at Centre Groton. He was for a time the only physician in the town, after the death of Dr. Prentice.
Benjamin F. Stoddard
Married a daughter of Dr. Miner and settled in Mystic, where he enjoyed a large practice.
Joseph Durfey
Resided in Groton and held many town offices, among them that of Judge of Probate for tvo terms.
Robert A. Manwaring Phineas Hyde
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Randall, Silas B.
Avery, William Pitt
Seabury, Samuel, D. D., (Bishop)
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Among the noted characters of the town should be men- tioned "Mother Bailey." Her maiden name was Anna Warner. She was born in October 1758 and having lost both her parents in her childhood, was brought up in the family of an uncle, Edward Mills, who was one of the vic- tims at Fort Griswold. Mr. Mills, being mortally wounded in that engagement, expressed a desire to see a child that had been born during his service in the fort, and which he had never seen. His niece saddled the horse and, taking the mother and child, reached the fort in time for the father to see the new-born babe before he died.
The scenes of this awful carnage made a deep and last- ing impression upon the mind of the young woman, instill- ing in her intense hatred of everything British. The epi- sode which made her famous occurred during the War of 1812. In June 1813, Commodore Decatur with the frigates "United States" and "Macedonian" and the sloop of war "Hornet" came through Long Island Sound, hoping to es- cape the blockading fleet, but was chased into New London by a superior force, where his vessels were held with the exception of the "Hornet" for the remainder of the war. The neighborhood was thrown into a state of great excite- ment, as it was expected that the British fleet would enter the harbor, and a company of volunteers under Major Simeon Smith repaired to Fort Griswold to place it in con- dition for defence.
"The inhabitants of Groton village* were all in confusion, removing their effects, when a messenger from the fort was sent among them to collect flannel to be used as wadding for the guns. Most of the portable goods having been sent off, he was unsuccessful in his search until he encountered Mrs. Anna Bailey, a warm-hearted, prompt and impulsive woman, who instantly divested herself of her flannel petti- coat, and heartily devoted it to the cause. It was carried to the fortress, displayed at the end of a pole and the story told to the garrison, who cheered the banner with great
* History of New London, Caulkins, 1860, pp. 622-3.
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enthusiasm. 'The Martial Petticoat' and its partisan donor have ever since been renowned in our local annals."
It must not be supposed from this that Mother Bailey was an immodest woman; on the contrary her whole life showed her to be a model of domestic virtue. Married to Captain Elijah Bailey not long after the Revolutionary War, their life together for more than sixty years was one of love and devotion. Blessed with no children of her own she was fond of those of others, and was careful in her intercourse with them to teach them the catechism and to hate pro- fanity. It is said that she read her Bible through once every year and to the date of her death was able to read without glasses.
Her exploit gave her a national reputation and she was visited by three Presidents of the United States-Monroe, Jackson and Van Buren. She always retained the most un- bounded admiration for Andrew Jackson, at one time send- ing him a pair of woolen mittens of her own handiwork, in return for which he sent her a lock of his hair, which she always kept in a box made of wood from "Old Ironsides." She had an interview with General Lafayette at the time of his visit to New London and at different times was visited by many distinguished public men. The death of her hus- band in 1848 was a blow from which she never recovered, though she survived him for two and a half years. Her death was the result of an accident. Being left alone in the room, it is supposed that her clothing took fire from an open grate, as she was found dead and shockingly burned. Her memory is perpetuated by the Anna Warner Bailey Chapter, D. A. R.
In North Groton, under the shadow of Lantern Hill, in 1797 was born Asa Whitney, the first projector of a Pacific railroad. "He recognized the necessity of a railroad to the Pacific, was the first to suggest its feasibility, and from 1846 to 1850 urged it upon Congress, the Legislatures of several States and the public, by personal influence and his writings. He was finally instrumental in securing appro priations in 1853 for the best surveys of the northern
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southern and middle routes, and lived to see communication opened from sea to sea in 1869."*
Centenarians
The country between Connecticut River and Cape Cod is said to be conducive to longevity. Groton has certainly con- tributed her share to the list of long lives. We have found records of the following persons who have passed the cen- tury mark :
George Geer, 1621-1726, 105 years.
Edward Ashbey, d. Jan. 13, 1767, in his 109th year.
Mrs. Elizabeth Starr, 100 years, 5 months, 8 days.
Mrs. Lucy, relict of Captain Hawkins Turner, d. March 16, 1809, æ. 100 years, 7 months, 16 days.
Zipporah Wells, d. Dec. 31, 1859, æ. 104 years.
Mrs. Mary Goodale, d. March 3, 1879, æ. 103 years, 9 months, 8 days. John Maniere reached the age of 103 years.
Besides these centenarians we find several remarkable instances of large families :** Mrs. Anna Chapman died at Groton, April 23, 1830, ae. 94 years. Left four children, eldest now 76, forty-one grandchildren, one-hundred three great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren."
"Josiah Hewlett died at Groton in Feby. 1821, ae. 95 yrs. Father of twenty-seven children by one wife."t
* Cyclopedia of American Biography, Vol. VI, p. 488.
** Rhode Island Records, Vol. XXI, p. 259.
+ Ibid, p. 45.
CHAPTER XIX
INDUSTRIES
L IFE IN THE first quarter of the nineteenth century was simple but strenuous. Sanford Stark contracted to build a house for Christopher Cranston, furnishing labor and materials for seven hundred and fifty dollars. The old couplet was literally true in those days :
"Man works from sun to sun, But woman's work is never done."
His wife kept the house, looked after the wants of her husband and two sons, as well as several apprentices, and morning and night walked a quarter of a mile to milk the cow, bringing the pail of milk home on her head in true milkmaid fashion. Isaac Denison, a master mason, worked for fifty cents per day, making the usual long hours. The account of Jesse Moss, at the Road, in Stonington, contains the names of a number of Groton women who took yarn from him to weave into cloth. This was before the day of the factory system. Amasa Sprague from Rhode Island used to travel through this section, putting out yarn amongst the women who possessed looms, and in that way became acquainted with Fanny Morgan, who became Mrs. Sprague.
Rev. Frederick Denison has left us the following picture of manufactures in 1800:
"Cotton bought by the pound and picked out th seeds and dirt and carded it and spun it on a wooden wheel. Carded wool into rolls and spun it. Made linen sheets, pillow cases, shirting and summer pantaloons and various articles of female dress. Men often in summer wore brown
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unbleached linen shirts, but bleached shirts to meeting.
"Made broadcloths and flannels. All every-day dresses were of homespun. Imported calicoes were rare and worn only to meeting and on special occasions. Calicoes were called chintz. Some ladies wore nice woolen habits (a kind of cloak). They colored with butternut bark, oak bark, chestnut bark and set the colors with copperas. Men never used gloves but wore mittens in winter. Women wore nice sleeve mitts with ribs or figures on the back. The ladies' side-saddles that succeeded the old panel were some- times quite handsome.
"In winter they had foot stoves for the aged ladies. The men wore great coats with capes. 'Surtouts' or overcoats of snugger form came later. The women wore cloaks with hoods. Shawls were unknown. Shoes were of cow hide and calf skin tanned in home vats. Some women wore cloth shoes.
"The best of wool was combed by experts such as Kate McKine and Hannah Williams (wife of Quash Williams) into worsted to be spun into the warp of nice cloth and colored for female wear. Most of the men wore home ma le broadcloth. Boughten broadcloth was for public and offi- cial characters. Some of the home made cloths had a long nap, some were sheared close. Fulling mills and shearing operations had been established. The first cloth was sheared by home shears. The coloring was done in home dye tubs found in every farm house."
Life in a Connecticut farmer's home is pictured by Mr. Denison thus:
"We raised our own breadstuffs and fodder for stock and cut salt hay on the marsh. Raised an acre or two of flax. In fall and winter there was wood to be cut and hauled. In June we went to Quinnepaug outlet to wash sheep and a day or two afterwards we sheared them. Then the fleece was salted, carded and spun, all in the house: flax in the winter, wool in the summer. They made all sorts of linen work, table cloths, shirting and sheeting and cloths.
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"The mother and daughter got up very early in the morn- ing and made breakfast, for which there was rye bread, butter, buckwheat cakes and pie. After the dishes were washed the older children helped the mother milk. We dined on salt pork, vegetables and pies, corned beef also and always on Sundays a boiled Indian pudding. We made a stock of pies at Thanksgiving, froze them for winter use and they lasted until March.
"Of the durability of these Connecticut pies a good story is told. It is said that, on taking down the pantry of an old house, under it was found one of these pies in perfect preservation, though the earthen dish which had contained it was entirely decayed. The main winter work was haul- ing, cutting and splitting wood to keep up the mighty fires in the great open fireplaces. The amusements were hunt- ing squirrels, quail, muskrats and other small game, fishing for perch, trout and the like, eating apples, drinking cider, telling stories, playing checkers, and going to singing school in the winter."
One of the earliest industries in the town was a saw mill operated by William Stark. He sawed plank used in ship building. December 6, 1711, Valentine Wightman granted to William Stark* "the right to build dam and flow land for purposes of milling &c." ** Salt making was carried on to some extent at the time of the Revolutionary War. Owing to the war, importations agreements and the close blockade of the coast, people were obliged to resort to various devices to provide the necessaries of life.
There were three sets of salt works in Groton, one at Groton Long Point, one at Appelman's Point on land be- longing to the Burrows family and one a little further north on land of the Fish family. Remains of the old salt works were in evidence until the middle of the last century. It is said that salt was so scarce in Revolutionary days that a bushel would command the price of one hundred dollars.
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