USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > History and antiquities of New Haven, Conn. : from its earliest settlement to the present time, with biographical sketches and statistical information of the public institutions, &c., &c., 3rd ed. > Part 16
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"Jesus, lover of my soul, Let me to thy bosom fly."
Jeremiah Day
Rev. JEREMIAH DAY, D. D., LL. D., Presi- dent of Yale College, Signature of President Day. was born in New Preston Society, Washington, Litchfield Co., Aug. 3, 1773. He commenced his classical studies under the ftion of his father, Rev. Jeremiah Day. He entered Yale College in 1789, but, owing to his delicate health, was not able to go on with his class. After an absence of about two years, he again joined College, and graduated with high honor in 1795.
In 1801, on the resignation of Professor Meigs, tutor Day was appointed his successor in the chair of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. On the death of President Dwight, in 1817, he was elected to the Presidency of Yale College. He filled this office with signal ability, for twenty-nine years, resigning at the close of the collegiate year of 1846, on account of his feeble health and advancing years. It is stated that he took a part in the collegiate education of more than five thousand young men. He was dis- tinguished for his Christian graces, his unostentatious simplicity and gentleness, his benignity, and his serene tranquility through the varied scenes of life. He died Aug. 22, 1867, apparently of old age, retaining, in a remarkable degree, his mental faculties. Even his sight and hearing were but slightly impaired.
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Monuments to Rev. H. Croswell and his son.
The larger monument seen in the annexed engraving, is that of Rev. Dr. Croswell, the late Rector of Trinity Church ; the smaller one by its side, surmounted by a cross, is that of his son, Rev. William Croswell, D. D.
[INSCRIPTIONS. ]
Harry Croswell, D. D., Rector of Trinity Church, died March 13, 1858, aged 79 years. Susan, the wife of Harry Croswell, D. D., died July 19, 1855, aged 76 years. [North side.]-Frederick Croswell, died July 11, 1863.
[South side.]-Sherman Croswell, died March 4, 1859, aged 57 years.
The following is on a tablet in Trinity Church. The Inscription following this, is on the monument of his son, represented in the engraving.
Harry Croswell, Doctor in Divinity. For more than forty-three years Rector of the Parish of Trinity Church. Born June 16, A. D. 1778, died March 13, 1868. In ven- eration and love for his memory, the Parish, to whose welfare so much of his long life was devoted, here records his fidelity to the cause of God, to the ministry of conso- lation, and to the faith once delivered to the Saints.
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Rev. William Croswell, D. D., Rector of the Church of the Advent, Boston, die .. Nov. IV, MDCCCLI, aged XLVII. "Faithful unto death."
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[Inscription.] BENJAMIN SILLIMAN, youngest son of Gold Selleck and Mary Silliman, of Fairfield, born Aug. 8, 1779, died Nov 24, 1864. During fifty years a teacher of science in Yale College. Through life an earnest, trustful, cheerful christian ; the friend of man, and of all truth.
[East side.] Thou art my hope O Lord God, Thou has taught me from my youth, and hitherto have I declared thy won- drous works.
[ South side.] HARRIET, daughter of Jonathan Trumbull, wife of Benjamin Silliman, born Sept. 2, 1783, died Jan. 18, Professor Silliman's monument. 1850. In simplicity and godly sincerity, she had her conversation in the world. Her children rise up and call her blessed, her husband also, and he praiseth her.
truly yours Bfillimen
BENJAMIN SILLI- MAN, one of the most eminent of Ameri- can teachers of Nat- ural Science, was born in North Strat-
Professor Silliman's signature. ford, Conn., (now Trumbull,) in 1779. His father, Gen. Silliman, being a prominent man in his country's cause, a small party, consisting principally of tories, were sent by Sir Henry Clinton, from New York, who landed at Black Rock, May 1st, in a whale-boat, in the night, broke into Gen. Silliman's house, took him prisoner, and carried him over to Long Island, where he remained a prisoner for a year. His son Benjamin was born about three months after his capture. Mr. Silliman entered Yale College in 1792, during the presidency of Dr. Stiles. At the beginning of his senior year, Dr. Dwight suc- ceeded to the presidency, which was an important event in his college career. In 1790, he was, at the age of 20, a tutor in Yale College, and remained in the instruction and goverment of the institution till 1853.
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By the influence of Dr. Dwight, a vote from the cor- poration was passed to establish a Professorship of Chemistry and Natural History, as soon as the funds would permit. In 1798, Mr. Silliman was elected to the office. In the winter of 1802-3, in order to qualify him- self for his station, he went to Philadelphia, where he remained during the season. Mr. S. gave his first lec- ture on Chemistry in Mr. Tuttle's building, nearly oppo- site the south college, April 4, 1804. In 1805, he sailed for Europe, and, landing at Liverpool, visited various, places and localities in England and Scotland, and returned to New York in May, 1806. This visit was a most important year in his scientific life; he became acquainted with many distinguished scientific men, and gained much new and valuable information relative to his adopted profession. On the 4th of July, 1805, he saw the first illumination of gas in London.
In 1810, Professor Silliman's "Journal of Travels in England, Holland and Scotland" was published, and proved to be the most popular book of European travel, by an American, which had ever yet appeared. It received much commendation, both at home and abroad. The first number of the " American Journal of Science (and Arts," conducted by Mr. Silliman, made its first appearance in July, 1818. This work has been contin- ued to the present time, a period of more than half a century, and still its reputation, (as is stated by Edward Everett, of Massachusetts, the editor of the "North American Review," in 1821,) as a "work which does honor to American science," and as "a vehicle of impart- ing to the world the scientific speculations and discov- eries of our countrymen, which is held in honorable esteem by the philosoph's of Europe." In 1851 Mr. Silliman made his second visit to Europe, being at this time accompanied by his son, and some other relatives. He was received with marks of public respect in London, Paris, in Italy and Germany, in which places his reputa- tion as a man of science was well known. Mr. S. was also well known throughout the United States, by his public Lectures on Geology, &c., in various cities in the Union from 1834 to the resignation of his college affairs
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in 1853. Having passed through a long, virtuous, usc- ful and religious lite, remarkably tree from the infirmi- ties of old age, he died, Nov. 24, 1864, respected and beloved by all who knew him. Early Thursday morn- ing, being the day of Public Thanksgiving, awaking from a sound sleep, he was disposed for conversation, and expressed to his wife his sense of the great blessings he had received. He prayed audibly for his country and for his family. He then repeated the Lord's Prayer, and then the hymns beginning,
" Lord in the morning thou shalt hear."
" Trembling before thine awful throne."
His last words were to his wife, expressing the grati- tude and affection he felt for her; and just as the words fell from his lips he drew a long breath-it was his last. Without a struggle, in a moment, his noble, gentle spirit returned to him who gave it.
[Inscription.] ANDREW HULL FOOTE, Rear Admiral U. S. Navy, born Sept. 12, 1806, died June 26, 1863.
Admiral Foote was born in New Haven, and was the son of Samuel A. Foote, Gov. of Connecticut, and his earliest years were spent here, and at Cheshire, where his father resided, about 13 miles from New Haven. In 1822, he entered the U. S. Navy as a mid-shipman, and his earliest cruise was in the expedition sent against the pirates who in- fested the West India seas at that Adm'i Foote's monument. period. It appears that he was much disappointed at being sent with this expedition, as he hoped to have been sent to the Mediterranean, and it is said on this occasion he solemnly declared, " Hence- forth, in all time, I will work for God." In the judgment of all who knew him, he faithfully performed his promise, during more than forty years in the public service.
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As he rose in the public estimation he was entrusted with important enterprises. He commanded the "Perry," a vessel of war, to aid in the suppression of the slave trade on the coast of Africa. He afterwards distin- guished himself when in command of the Portsmouth, assisted by the Levant, in destroying four granite forts in China having a garrison of 5,000 men. On his return he was placed in charge of the Navy Yard at Brooklyn. When the Secession War broke out, he was sent to Cairo, on the Mississippi, to superintend the construction of an inland fleet, of which he took the command. By a succession of brilliant and masterly movements, the enemy's obstructions to our navigation of our western waters were destroyed, and the tide was turned against them. He received a severe wound in one of his attacks on the enemy, which somewhat disabled him, but before he was fully recovered he was made Chief of the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting in the Navy. On his way to take the command of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, he was suddenly prostrated by disease in New York, and died at the Astor House, June 26, 1863. His remains were taken, by the steamboat Continental, to New Haven, and placed in the hall of the State House, where they were viewed by a vast concourse of the peo- ple, then taken to the Center Church, where a funeral address was delivered by the Rev. Dr. Bacon. A proces- sion was formed, consisting of U. S. officers and soldiers, Gov. Buckingham, the city and other authorities, with sev- eral military companies, who proceeded to the grave where the remains were interred with military honors.
The elegant sword presented him by the citizens of Brooklyn, N. Y., has on its scabbard this inscription :
" Presented by the citizens of Brooklyn, to Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote, as a testimonial of their high personal regard, of their appreciation of his eminent professional character, distinguished personal services, and moral influence in a long carcer of active duty, and especially of his efficiency in the suppression of the slave trade on the coast of Africa, his gailant conduct at the bar- ricade forts in China. his masterly skill and energy in the erection of a flotilla, and his brilliant and intrepid bombardment therewith of the rebel fortifications on the Tennessee, the Cumberland and Mississippi."
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Chat Goodyear
Fac-simile of Chas. Goodyear's signat re.
CHARLES GOODYEAR was born in New Haven, December 29, 1800. His father, Amasa Goodyear, was a descendant of Stephen Goodyear, the associate of Governor Eaton, and the Deputy Governor of New Haven Colony for fifteen years. It appears that when a school boy his attention was turned towards the great business of his future life, on examining a thin scale of India rubber peeled from a bottle. It was then suggested to his mind, that it might become a very useful fabric, if it could be made thin, and of a uniform thickness, and so prepared that it would not melt and stick together. In 1816, he became apprentice in the hardware business in Philadelphia, and afterwards, in con- nection with his father, for a time did a prosperous business in this place. But, by giving liberal credit to their customers, in 1830, they found it impossible to continue their business.
At a very early age, Mr. Goodyear was impressed with religious convictions, and, in order to benefit his fellow-men, had an earnest desire to become a minister of the Gospel. The circumstances in which he was placed, seemed to forbid this. And now being cut off from ordinary business pursuits, his mind was turned to the impressions he received in his boyhood. About this period con- siderable attention was paid to the India Rubber business in the manufacture of shoes, &c .; companies were formed for the purpose, but they all eventually proved failures, as the goods made became worthless, by extremity of either cold, or warm weather. Mr. G. now turned his full attention to this subject, fully believing that he was the appointed instrument in the hands of God of opening a great discovery for the benefit of mankind. It was the faith that he was doing the work of God, that sustained him dur- ing his unexampled privations and sufferings he passed through, in order to accomplish his mission. He began loaded with debt, and several times was in the debtor's prison; he sold his effects, pawned his trinkets, reduced himself, and young family, to the severest straits, and even had to sell his children's school books. Even after he made his great discovery, he used to say that two years passed, before he could make one man believe it. During that period, he was often without food, or fire, in the coldest day in winter, enduring everything a man can endure and live.
In the fifth year of his investigations and experiments, his efforts were crowned with success. He found by taking a common sticky piece of India rubber, sprinkle it over with powdered sul- phur, and then bake it in an oven, heated to 275 degrees, it comes out a new material, which would neither harden in cold weather,
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nor dissolve in warm. He could, of this substance, make the softest cloth, or the hardest ivory. Although Mr. G. had attained the great object of his wishes, his troubles were not ended. He was involved in harrassing law-suits with those who were making their fortunes by trespassing upon his rights as inventor. In 1852, accompanied by his family, he made a voyage to England, where; he received, at the Crystal Palace exhibition, the " Grand Council Medal." From London, in 1854, he went to Paris. At the " Ex- position Universelle," in. 1855, he had conferred upon him the " Grand Medal of Honor," and the " Cross of the Legion of Honor," the highest expression of appreciation of genius in the gift of the French Court. Notwithstanding all the commendation Mr. G. received, and all the flattering prospects held out to him, of a pecuniary kind, his voyage to Europe from various causes proved a miserable failure. He returned to America in 1858. In the winter of 1859, he purchased a house in Washington. He died in New York, July 1, 1860, while on his way to see his sick daughter in New Haven. "He lived," says Parton, " to see his material applied to nearly five hundred uses, to give employment in England, France, and Germany, and the United States, to sixty thousand persons ; annually producing in this country alone, merchandise of the value of eight millions of dollars." He suf- fered much from disease during the most of his life. In his last hours, when reference was made to his useful works, he responded, " What am I? To God be all the glory." His last audible ex- pression to his wife, as he was dying, was a charge to forgive a person from whom he had suffered much. His remains were buried in the old cemetery in New Haven, where a monument is to be erected to his memory.
Miles M Goodyear
Miles M. Goodyear's signature.
MILES M. GOODYEAR, another descendant of Gov. Goodyear was born in New Haven County, and is believed to have been the first white man who located himself in the Salt Lake region, in Utah. He left his native place when a boy, and was not heard of for nine years, when he wrote to his friends that he had located himself at Salt Lake, in the Rocky Mountain country, and was lead- ing the life of a hunter and trader among the Indians. He had built him a trading fort, and surrounded his grounds with a strong enclosure, where he raised produce, bought and sold furs, &c. He had traversed the immense territory at the West, long before it was penetrated by Fremont. In 1847, he sold his fort to the Mormons, but still continued to trade with the settlers of San
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Francisco and other places. He died suddenly of a fever, at Goodyear's Bar, on the North Yuba, November 12, 1849; his- younger brother being with him, buried him in the forest. His remains were afterwards taken up, and re-intered at Benecia, where the district court and jury of the County, then in session, adjourned to attend his funeral. Mr. G. was known to nearly or- quite all the Indian tribes at the West, and was always safe among them, whether they were at war, or at peace, because he never wronged them, nor broke his promises. Were a full account given of this bold pioneer, his hazardous enterprises and adventures, it would be among the most interesting ever written. The follow- ing is the inscription on his monument, which was made by Mr. J. Ritter, and taken to Benecia by his brother, Mr. Wm B. Goodyear, of this city, in 1850:
" The mountaineer's grave, Here he sleeps near the Western ocean's wave."
"MILES M. GOODYEAR, born in New Haven, Conn., February 24, 1818; died November 12, 1849. Left an orphan at the age of three years, ren uncing home and friends at the age of 15, becoming a voluntary exile from friends and civilization, adopting the life of a bold mountaineer, planting the first trading fort am ny the natives of the valleys of the Great Salt Lake, which the Mormons purchased in 1847, selecting Benecia as his future home where he wished to live and be buried at hisdeath. His brothers and sisters, whom, in his long absence, he never ceased to love, bave, with united affection, erected this MONUMENT TO HIS MEMORY. He lived and died acc. untable to God alone, to whose mercy his friends commend him, while they leave his body with you."
YALE SCHOOL OF THE FINE ARTS.
This institution was founded in 1864, by the late Augustus R. Street, who that year proposed to the Cor poration of Yale College, to erect at his sole expense as a gift to the College, an appropriate building for a School of the Fine Arts. The offer was accepted, and the building commenced in autumn of the same year. It was completed in its present form in 1866. The exte- rior walls are built of Bellville, (N. J.,) and Portland sand stone. The arches are of alternate Bellville and Cleveland stone. The front, exclusive of the projec- tions, is 80 by 30, and the rear division of the building 75 by 36 feet. The original estimate of the cost was $80,000, it, however, cost more than double that sum. The building is arranged for the collection and exhibition of works of art, such as paintings, sculptures, engrav- ings, &c. ; for instruction in the principles and theory of
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Yale School of the Fine Arts.
This structure stands in the College yard, back of the South College, front- ing on Chapel street. The view is looking northward from the opposite side of the street. The first building seen in the distance, with two towers, is the Library, and the other, with a flag staff, is the Graduates Hall. ]
art ; and for the domestication, in studios under its roof, of distinguished artists who may be invited to establish themselves there, for the sake of their inspiring influ- ence. The paintings in the Trumbull Gallery, noticed on page 160, were transferred to this building in 1867. On the first, or entrance floor, are several large studios, a large lecture room, library, offices, &c. The height of this story is 16 feet; above this is the principal, or gallery floor, with lofty galleries nearly 80 feet in length, lighted from above, with a smaller corridor or connecting exhibition room. The important part of Col. Trumbull's paintings occupy one-half of the south gallery, the other half with paintings of other artists of eminence. The north gallery is temporarily filled with a large col- lection of paintings, a large portion of which are said to have been painted by the early artists of the Italian school. These, of course, are inferior in design, and exe cution to modern artistic productions. Of sculpture in
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marble, there is in the collection, Mr. Augur's Jeptha and his Daughter, and the fine figure of Ruth, presented by Mr. William L. Thompson, of Paris, a native of New Haven.
The casts from the Elgin marbles, i. e. the bas-reliefs from the Parthenon, and others; together with the groupe of the Laocoon, Michael Angelo's Sleeping Prisoner, the Milo Venus, Venus Victrix, and some oth- ers occupy the large hall or gallery in the basement, and form a collection of examples in sculpture of the highest order, and hardly surpassed by any collection in this country. During the winter and spring of 1866-7, Prof. Morse, inventor of the Electric Telegraph, presented the School with Washington Allston's painting of "Jere- miah," at a cost to the donor of $7,000; also another was given by Dr. R. W. Forbes, of New York, a paint- ing by Wust, of Mt. Washington.
SHEFFIELD SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL.
This structure stands at the head of College street, two blocks north of the other College buildings. It was formerly the Medical College, but it is greatly enlarged and improved by the liberality of Joseph E. Sheffield, Esq., of New Haven. It now includes recita- tion and lecture rooms for all the departments, a hall for public assemblies and lectures, laboratories for chemical and metallurgical investigations, two astronomical tow- ers, a museum, &c. The department is divided into two sections, the first of which, known as the Sheffield Scientific School, provides instruction in the various departments of Natural Science, and the second pro- vides advanced courses in Mathematics, Philology, Lis- tory, and Metaphysics.
The Governing Board of the Scientific School consists of the President of Yale College, a Professor of Civil Engineering and Mathematics, a Professor of Geology and Mineralogy, a Professor of General Chemistry, a Professor of Industrial Mechanics and Physics, a l'ro- fessor of Modern Languages, a Professor of Mineralogy
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Sheffield Scientific School, New Haven.
and Metallurgy, a Professor of Analytical and Agricul- tural Chemistry, of Mining, Botany, &c. The Ana- lytical Laboratory, noticed on page 18, is removed to this school.
Up to the year 1865, the endowment had reached but a little over $60,000 .- Mr. Oliver Winchester, $5,000, Messrs. Eli Whitney, Pelatiah Perit, Jeremiah Day, Joseph Battell and Augustus R. Street, each 1,000, and Professor Dana, $500. In that year the endowment was increased by the avails of the Congressional land-grant to the State, ($135,000,) and the school became, by the Act of the Legislature, the State College for the pro- motion of " Agriculture and the Mechaniccal Arts," with a number of free scholarships for Connecticut young men. Until 1860, chemistry was taught in the old I resident's House ; engineering over the Chapel. In that year, the school, under its present name, took possession of its new edifice, then consisting of the central building and two wings, but since enlarged (in 1865-6) by a three story addition in the rear, and two large towers, with extensive changes in the interior. The whole building is the noble gift of Mr. Sheffield. at a cost of not less than $100,000.
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Among the recent gifts to the school, is one of $5,000 by M. M. Dwight Collier, of St. Louis, in memory of his deceased brother, Thomas Fassitt Collier, who was a student in the Sheffield School in 1868, who died in July of this year, while on a journey across the conti- nent for the recovery of his health. The amount given by Mr. Collier is to be expended immediately in the pur- chase of apparatus, books, and diagrams, illustrative of mechanical engineering. Mr. C. also gave an additional $5,000 to defray the expenses of an agent in a voyage to Europe to make purchases.
CITY HALL.
The first build- ings erected for pub- lic civil uses, stood on the Green, near College street, and about opposite the North Middle Col- lege. The general meetings of the Col. ony jurisdiction, in accordance with a custom not unknown to the early settlers, in the parish church- es of their father- land, were probably held in the " meet- ing house." The old State House was next used for public purposes, the present State House was next used, and furnished par- tial accommodations for civil purposes. The new City Hall was completed in October, 1862, and was immedi- ately occupied by the officers of the city and town.
The lot on which the above structure is erected, is part of a larger lot of about three acres, which, in the original division of the town plot, made in 1639, was
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allotted to Owen Rowe. Mr. Rowe was a citizen and tradesman of London, and was one of the largest sub- scribers to the undertaking for the settlement of New Haven ; but he never became an inhabitant. He was a Colonel in the l'arliament's army during the civil war in England, and also one of the judges who condemnned King Charles I. to death. At the restoration of Charles II. he was thrown into prison, aud died soon after in the Tower of London.
In consequence of the failure of Mr. Rowe to join the Colony as a settler, his lot, in 1643, was divided by the town among the adjoining owners, and the north part, on which the Hall is built, was granted to Mr. Daven- port, the pastor. The town, and trustees of the Gram- mar School, came into possession of this lot, by making an exchange with the heirs of Mr. Davenport for another on the north side of the Green. The Hopkins Commit- tee for many years derived an income from the lot, by leasing it for short terms, the last of which expired in 1771. The Hopkins Committee in 1801, made to the County of New Haven a long lease of 999 years, of that part of the lot on which the Hall now stands. The conveyance was for a gross sum, in view of all future annual rents. The County soon after erected their County house and jail on the lot, and continued to occupy it till 1856, when it was purchased of them by the town for its present uses, for $25,000.
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