History of Litchfield county, Connecticut, Part 29

Author: J.W. Lewis & Company (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1532

USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > History of Litchfield county, Connecticut > Part 29

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" While Allen was on parole in New York, a Brit- ish officer of honorable rank sent for him to call at his lodgings. On his arrival the officer told him that his fidelity, though in a wrong cause, had won the good opinion of Lord Howe, who was disposed to show him favor. He at the same time held out to him brilliant prospects of promotion and money, and large tracts of land either in Connecticut or Vermont at the close of the war. Allen replied, that if by faith- fulness he had recommended himself to Gen. Howe, he should be loth by unfaithfulness to forfeit the general's good opinion ; and as to the lands, he re- garded the offer not unlike that made by Satan to Christ, who promised him ' all the kingdoms of the world,' when in fact 'the old devil didn't own an acre' ! The officer thereupon sent him away as incor- rigible.

"Jared Sparks, LL.D. (late president of Harvard College), in his biography of the subject of this sketch, says,-

" There is much to admire iu the character of Ethan Allen. Ils was brave, generous, and frank ; true to his country, consistent and unyield- iag io his purposes, seeking at all times to promote the best good of man- kind, a lover of social harmony, and a determined fos to the artifices of injustice and the encroachments of power. Few have suffered more in the cause of freedom, few have borne their sufferings with a firmer coa- stancy or a loftier spirit. ITis courage, even when approaching to rash- ness, was calar and deliberate. No man probably ever possessed this at- tribute in a more remarkable degrec. He was eccentric and ambitious, but these weaknesses, if such They were, never betrayed him inte acts dishonorable, unworthy, or selfish. So rigid was he in his patriotism, that, when it was discovered that one of his brothers had avowed tory principles and had beou guilty of a correspondence with the enemy, he entered a public complaint against him in his own aame, and petitioned the court to confiscate his property in obedience to the law. ITis ene- mies never had cause to question his magaanimity, or his friends to regret confidence misplaced or expectations disappointed. Ile was kind, benevolent, humane, aad placable. Ia short, whatever may have been his peculiarities, and however these may have diminished the weight of his influence and the value of his public services, it must be allowed that he was a man of very considerable importance in the sphere of his ac- tivity, and that to no individual among her patriot founders is the State of Vermont more indebted for the basis of her free institutions aud the achievement of hier independence thau to ETHAN ALLEN."

This is certainly a high compliment, coming from the source it does. The theological writings of Allen, however, were not calculated to render him popular with the good people of New England. Preachers, poets, and critics joined in a furions crusade against him, to all of which he affected the utmost contempt. Soon after the publication of his "Oracles," alluding to the anticipated attacks of the clergy (in a letter to a friend), he says, "I defy the whole artillery of hell- fire." The following piece of satire from the pen of Dr. Lemuel Hopkins (himself for some years a resi- dent of Litchfield), is preserved in Dr. Elihu Hub- bard Smith's "Collection of American Poetry," which was printed at Litchfield, by Collier & Adam, in 1792:

" Lo, Allen, 'scaped from British jails, His tushes broke by biting nails, Appears in hyperborean skies, To tell the world the Bible lies.

See him on Green Hills north afar, Glow like a self-enkiadled star,

Prepared (with mob-collecting club,

Black from the forge of Beelzebub, Aud grim with wetaphysic scowl, With quill just plucked from wing of owl), As rage or reason rise or siak, To shed his blood, or shed his ink. Behold, inspired from Vermont deos,

The seer froal anti-Christ descends,

To feed new mobs with hell-born maana

la Gentile lands of Susquehanna; And teach the Pennsylvania Quaker

High blasphemies against his Maker. Behold hiai move, ye staunch divines !

His tall head bustling through the pines ;

All front he seems, like wall of brass,

Aod brays tremendous as an ass. One hand is clenched to batter noses, While t'other scrawls 'gainst Paul and Moses !"

On the 23d of June, 1762, Allen married Mary Bronson, of Woodbury, who died in 1784. Their children were Joseph, Loraina, Lucy, Mary Ann, and Pamela. Loraina died young, and was the subject of the anecdote inst given.

Gen. Allen died of apoplexy, on his estate at Col- chester, Vt., Feb. 12, 1789, aged fifty-one years.

ELISHA SHELDON, a native of Lyme, and a gradu- ate of Yale College in the class of 1730, became a resident of this village in 1753, and here spent the remainder of his life. He was an associate judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Litchfield County from 1754 to 1761; at which latter date he was elected a member of the Council, or Upper House, in which distinguished body he sat until his decease, a period of eighteen years. He was also chosen a represent- ative by the freemen of this town at ten semi-annual elections. Mr. Sheldon was equally conspicuous in the civil and ecclesiastical affairs of the town, and was often called upon to preside at our town-meet- ings .. He also, for a period of eighteen years, held the office of county treasurer. An active patriot in the Revolution, he was not unfrequently appointed by the Legislature and by his fellow-citizens on im- portant committees, having for their object the ad- vancement of the common cause. He died in the midst of the great contest. His remains rest in the West burying-ground, beneath a marble tablet, on which is inscribed the following epitaplı :

" This Monument is erected to the Memory of the Hon. ELISHA SHIEL- DON, Esq., who departed this life September the first, Anno Domini 1779, io the 79th year of his age. A Gentleman of extensive genius and Lib- eral Education, called in early life to various public employments, both Civil and Military, all of which he executed with puactuality and fidel- ity ; much respected for his Generosity and Benevolence, and greatly lamented by bis extensive Acquaintance. Io early life he made a pro- fession of the Christian Religion, and till his Death adorned it by a very Exemplary Conversation. 'Blessed are the Dead who die io the Lord.'"

The wife of Mr. Sheldon was Elizabeth Ely, by whom he had five children,-viz., Lois (married Lynde Lord, Esq., sheriff), Mary, Thomas, Samuel, and Col. Elisha (commander of the Second Regi- ment of Light Dragoons in the Continental army).

OLIVER WOLCOTT, LL.D. (son of his His Excel-

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lency the Hon. Roger Wolcott, Governor and chief justice of Connecticut), was born in Windsor, Dec. 20, 1726, and was graduated at Yale College in 1745. In early manhood he commanded a company of volun- teers in the Northern army in the war against the French. Having pursued the usual course of medi- cal studies, he established himself as a physician in Goshen, and was residing there at the date of the or- ganization of the county of Litchfield, October, 1751. The Legislature appointed him the first high sheriff of the new county, and he immediately took up his abode in this village and continued to reside here until his decease, a period of forty-six years. He was thus but twenty-five years of age when he be- came a resident of Litchfield, and hence his fame, subsequently achieved, as really belongs to us as if he had been born in the town. In 1752 he erected the "Wolcott House" in South Street, which is still one of the most desirable residences in the place. With a commanding personal appearance, digni- fied manners, a clear and cultivated intellect, and a character for integrity far above the reach of suspicion, it is not to be wondered at that he be- came a favorite of the people with whom his lot was cast. Besides holding the office of sheriff for over twenty years, he was chosen a representative to the Legislature five times between the years 1764 and 1770, inclusive; a member of the Council or Upper ITouse frem 1771 to 1786; judge of the Court of Probate for the district of Litchfield from 1772 to 1779 ; judge of the Court of Commen Pleas from 1773 to 1786; and member of the Continental Congress from 1775 to 1784 (except two years). He was one of that memerable band of patriots and sages who, on the 4th of July, 1776, aflixed their names to the Declaration of Inde- pendence.

In the early part of the war of the Revolution, Judge Wolcott was commissioned as a' brigadier- general, and Congress appointed him a Commissioner on Indian Affairs for the Northern Department, with Gen. Schuyler and others. In May, 1779, he was elected by the Legislature and commissioned by Gov- ernor Trumbull as major-general of the militia of Connecticut to succeed Gen. James Wadsworth, re-

signed. In these important and responsible stations he rendered the country essential service. On the field, in the camp, at the rendezvous, in the depart- ments of the commissary of supplies, in fact, where- ever he could render himself useful-he was found, ever prompt in planning and efficient in executing. At the same time he was an active member of the committee of safety, and when at home was equally zealous and conspicuous in the local affairs of the town, officiating as moderator, selectman, committee- man, etc. Indeed, no man in the State at this period discharged se many and varied public duties. A considerable share of the reputation which Connecti- cut acquired for promptness in furnishing men and means for the army is due to Gen. Wolcott. Cer-

tainly, to no other individual in the western counties could Governor Trumbull or Gen. Washington appeal for aid, with the certainity of success, as to him.

In 1786 he was elected to the office of Lieutenant- Governor of the State, and was annually re-elected for a period of ten years. In May, 1796, he was chosen Governor, the highest executive office in the gift of the people of his native State. Te this dis- tinguished position he was again elevated at the annual election in 1797. He was now seventy years of age. His naturally robust constitution began to feel the weight of care and responsibility which had been so long pressing upon it. He departed this life at his residence at Litchfield, Dec. 1, 1797, aged seventy- one years. A sermon was preached at his funeral by the Rev. Azel Backus, D.D., which was published. Governor Wolcott had long been a professed disciple of Christ, and his faith in the efficacy of the great atonement sustained him in the decisive hour. "With all the splendor of his station and his well- earned fame," says Dr. Backus, "he was not ashamed to pray in the expressive language of the publican, 'God be merciful te me a sinner,' and to make the most feeling declarations of his own personal un- worthiness. For several days before his death the shattered remains of a once neble mind and vigorons body were devoted continually to God. His very breath appeared to be prayer, until, after many pain- ful struggles, he fell asleep. O, death ! in what a mortifying light doth thy power put the little glory of this diminutive world! To what insignificance de earthly honors dwindle before the grandeur of eternity ! Nevertheless, the death of such a charac- ter is a grievous loss, especially under the present threatening aspects of Divine Providence and the perilous situation of the country. Such tried charac- ters are the 'salt of the earth' and the pillars of our national existence. The presence, firmness, counsels, prayers, and example of such fathers should be esteemed the 'chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof.' But God governs the world, and his will is done. Let it be the solemn care of each one of us to make a profitable improvement of the frown of Ileaven in this removal."

Joel Barlow, in his great national poem, The Co- lumbiad, thus refers to his zeal and efforts in the cause of Independence:

"Bold WOLCOTT urged the all-important cause, With steady hand the solemn scene he draws ;

Undaunted firmness with hils wisdom joined, Nor kings nor worlds could warp hla steadfast mind."

"No resident of the town ever achieved u more honorable and wide-spread fame than Oliver Wolcott, and no name in the historic annals of the town and State in which his life was passed is more earnestly and affectionately cherished than his. His family have been and are distinguished-some for high po- litical stations, others for enterprise and wealth, some as professional or literary men, and all for their lib-

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erality, sterling moral qualities, and exalted social position. His mortal remains rest in the East bury- ing-ground, surrounded by those of many of his de- scendants and kindred.

"Governor Wolcott married Lorana Collins, of Guilford, in 1755; she died April 19, 1794. Their children were Oliver (who died in infancy), Oliver (2d), Lorana (married Hon. William Moseley, M. C., of Hartford), Mary Ann (married Lieutenant-Gov- ernor Goodrich, of Hartford), Frederick (see bio- graphical notes). Ursula Wolcott (a sister of Gover- nor Wolcott, next older than himself) married Gov- ernor Matthew Griswold, and was the mother of Governor Roger Griswold. Thus, her father, brother, husband, son, and nephew were all Governors of Connecticut, a fact which cannot, probably, be said of any other lady who ever lived in the State or United States.

" ANDREW ADAMS, LL.D. (a native of Stratford, and a graduate of Yale College in the class of 1760), commenced the practice of law in Litchfield in 1774, and continued to reside here until his death, which took place in November, 1797. He rose rapidly in public esteem, and was chosen a representative in October, 1776, a post to which he was nine times re- elected. A friend of the Revolution, he took a promi- nent part in its favor in our town-meetings, and by his influence and efforts did much to promote the canse of the patriots in this vicinity. He rose to the rank of colonel, and was for a short time in actual service in the war. In 1779, and again in 1780, he was speaker of the House of Representatives, the other member from Litchfield (the Hon. Jedediah Strong) being at the same time clerk of the House. Col. Adams was a member of the Council of Safety two years, a member of the State Council nine years, a member of the Continental Congress three years, a Commissioner of the Northern Congresses at Hartford and Providence in 1780; an associate judge of the Superior Court four years, and chief justice from 1793 until his decease. He was also for a few years a dea- con of the First Church in this town.

"The body of the subject of this sketch rests be- neath a marble tablet in the West burying-ground. His epitaph is as follows :

"In Memory of the Hon. ANDREW ADAMS, Esq, Chief Judge of the Superior Court, who died November 27, 1797, in the 63d year of lis age. Having filled many distinguished offices with great Ability and Dignity, he was promoted to the highest Judicial Office in the State, which he held for several years, in which his eminent Talents shone with uncon- mon Lustre, and were exerted to the great Advantage of the Public and the honor of the High Court in which he presided. He made an early Profession of Religion, and zealously sought to promote its true Inter- ests. He lived the Life and died the Death of a Christian. His filial Piety and paternal tenderness are held in sweet Remembrance."

"Mrs. Eunice Adams, his wife, died June 4, 1797, aged fifty-three years.

"The Litchfield Monitor mentions it as a sad and singular coincidence that Governor Wolcott and Chief Justice Adams (the two highest official dignitaries of

the State), both residing in the same village and on the same street, should be lying apparently at the point of death at the same time. Governor Wolcott sur- vived his distinguished neighbor about three days only .*

"COL. BEZALEEL BEEBE was born in Litchfield, April 28, 1741, and spent his life in his native town, except when absent in the service of his country. At the age of seventeen he enlisted as a soldier in the French war, and marched with Capt. Evarts' com- pany to Fort George, where he was for some time stationed. He was afterwards a member of Maj. Rogers' celebrated corps of Rangers, an account of whose exploits was published in London by their he- roic commander ; and, with Rogers, he participated in the engagement which resulted in the capture of Maj. Israel Putnam. During much of the succeeding year he was stationed at Fort Miller under Capt. Whiting. In 1760 he enlisted iu a company com- manded by Capt. MeNeile, of Litchfield, and con- tinued in the service for three years, having in the mean time been chosen one of the sergeants of the company. On the 11th of July, 1764, he was mar- ried to Elizabeth, daughter of Capt. John Marsh, of this town, and settled on the paternal homestead, north of Bantam Lake, which is still owned and oc- cupied by his descendants. On the breaking out of the Revolutionary contest he was once more sum- moned to the field, having been commissioned as a lieutenant in the first recruits raised for that service, April, 1775. He forthwith marched with his com- pany to Boston, and thence, after a short detention, to Crown Point, where he was transferred to the quartermaster's department. From this time onward he was in actual service (except while detained as a prisoner of war) until the spring of 1781, at which time he applied for and received au honorable dis- charge, and once more returned home. As his dis- tinguished public services have been frequently re- ferred to in the preceding pages, it will not be ex- pected that I should repeat them here. Suffice it to say, that he rose to the rank of colonel in the Conti- nental army, and enjoyed in an eminent degree the confidence and respect of his superiors in office as well as of the soldiers under him. While chief commander of the coast-guard of this State he performed the duties and received the pay of a brigadier-general. A commanding figure, and a peculiar dignity of char- acter and manner, united to an innate kindness of heart and a courage equal to any emergency, con- tributed to render him an efficient and popular officer.

"He was chosen a member of the House of Repre- sentatives for the first time in the autumn of 1781, as a colleague of the Hon. Jedediah Strong, and was re-

* I have said that Judge Adams commenced the practice of law in Litchfield in 1774. The indications are that he became a resident here some eight or ten years earlier than that date. An Andrew Adams of this town was a commissioner on two estates as early as 1766, and was chosen a lister in 1772 and 1773 .- Kilbourne.

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elected during the two succeeding years. In 1788 the Constitution of the United States was ratified, and the general government reorganized. In 1792, '93, and '95, Col. Beebe was returned to the Legislature. He also served his fellow-citizens as a seleetman both before and after the war; and through life was much employed by the Court of Probate in settling estates of persons deceased. He departed this life May 24, 1824, aged eighty-three, his widow surviving him about a year. Several of his Revolutionary letters to Governor Trumbull, Gen. Silliman, ete., are preserved among the 'Trumbull Papers' in the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston.

" JEDEDIAH STRONG was born in Litchfield, Nov. 7, 1738, and here spent his entire life. He graduated at Yale College in 1761, and, with a single exception, he was the first native of the town who ever received a collegiate degree. He first studied divinity, but, being early elected to office, he abandoned the saered profession for the more congenial pursuits of petti- fogger and politician. He acquired and long main- tained a political ascendeney second only to that of Wolcott and Adams. He was a representative at about thirty regular sessions of the Legislature, at fourteen of which he was clerk of the House. In May, 1773, he was appointed (with Roger Sherman, Eliphalet Dyer, Matthew Griswold, and William Sam- ucl Johnson) a commissioner to wait on Governor Penn at Philadelphia, to negotiate relative to the lands west of the Delaware. In May, 1779, he was appointed a delegate to the Continental Congress in place of the Hon. Stephen Titus Hosmer, resigned ; and was reappointed in the October following. He was also an associate judge of the County Court for eleven years, a member of the Council of Safety, a member of the State Council, and a delegate to and secretary of the convention which ratified the Con- stitution of the United States. He was a lister six years, a selectman thirteen years, and town clerk six- teen years. The first wife of Judge Strong was Ruth Patterson, who died leaving an only daughter, Ida Strong. In 1788 he married Susannah, daughter of the Hon. George Wyllys, Secretary of State, Hartford. "COL. BENJAMIN TALLMADGE was born at Brook- haven, L. I., Feb. 25, 1754. His father, who bore the same name, was the pastor of the church in that place, and his mother was a daughter of the Rev. John Smith, pastor of the church at White Plains. The subject of this sketch graduated at Yale College in 1773. While superintendent of the high school at Wethersfield, in this State, he received a lieutenant's commission, with the appointment of adjutant of the regiment, both commission and warrant bearing date June 20, 1776. In these capacities he joined the army, and continued in actual service until the close of the war. On the 15th of December of the year last named hereceived a captain's commission in Sheldon's Second Regiment of Light Dragoons. As this commission came from Gen. Washington himself, the honor wns 9

conspicuous and highly appreciated. He was pro- moted to the rank of major, April 7, 1777, and took his station as a field-officer of the regiment. A sepa- rate detachment for special services was committed to him several times in the course of the war, on which occasions he received his orders directly from the commander-in-chief. On the opening of the spring campaign, 1777, Gen. Washington, foreseeing that Gen. Howe meditated some decisive blow, directed that all recruits should be sent forward to headquarters as fast as they were collected. He also sent a particular order to Col. Sheldon (who was at his winter quarters in Wethersfield) to send on all the effective men of his regiment. Having about men and horses enough for four companies, they were placed in the best possi- ble order, and the command giveu to Maj. Tallmadge. His own company were all mounted on dapple-gray horses, which, with black straps and black bear-skin holster-covers, looked superbly. On his route to Washington's encampment, at Middlebrook, N. J., he passed with his troops through Farmington, Litch- field, Kent, Peekskill (where he crossed the Hudson), Haverstraw, Pompton, and Morristown, reaching the headquarters of the commander-in-chief on the 23d of June. Maj. Tallmadge participated in the battles of Short Hills and the Brandywine, though before the latter engagement the remainder of the regiment, commanded by Col. Sheldon in person, had arrived. In the battle of Germantown the position of Maj. Tallmadge's squadron was at the head of Gen. Sulli- van's division on the left of the centre. In the early part of this sanguinary engagement the Americans seemed almost certain of success, but the heavy fog which soon enveloped both armies prevented them in some cases from distinguishing their friends from their enemies. They were thus thrown into confu- sion, a panie ensued, and our men fled in every direc- tion. By order of Gen. Washington, Maj. Talhnadge repeatedly threw his dragoons across the principal thoroughfare to check the retreat of the infantry, but the effort was ineffectual.

" While our army were encamped at Valley Forge, in the gloomy winter of 1777-78, the major was stationed with a detachment of dragoons, as an advanced corps of observation between our army and that of the enemy. In the performance of his duty he seoured the country between the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers, a distance of five or six miles, for the double purpose of watching the movements of the enemy, and preventing the disaffected from carrying provis- ions to the enemy at Philadelphia. While on this service he was attacked, about two o'clock one morn- ing, by a large body of British light horse com- manded by Lord Rawdon, and, after defending him- self resolutely for a while, effected his escape with the loss of but three or four men killed und as many more wounded. While temporarily halting soon after at the ' Rising Sun' inn, within sight of the British out- posts at Philadelphia, a country girl arrived from

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the city, whither she had been sent with eggs, with instructions to obtain some information respecting the enemy. While she was communicating with the major on the subject the British light horse were seen advancing. In an instant he mounted his horse, when he found the poor girl at his side, begging him to pro- teet her. Without a moment for reflection, he told her to mount behind him, which she did, and in this way they rode at full speed to Germantown, about three miles.

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History of Litchfield county, Connecticut, Part 29

Author: J.W. Lewis & Company (Philadelphia, Pa.) Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1532

Author: J.W. Lewis & Company (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1532