History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 116

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1317

USA > Connecticut > New London County > History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 116

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He became an extensive land-owner after he gave up going on the water. Capt. Burrows was a volun- teer in the last war with England, and received a land- warrant. He cast his first vote for President Madi- son in 1812, voting at every succeeding Presidential election to the last, viz. : for Monroe, Adams, and with the anti-Jackson, Whig, and Republican parties. But though punctual and reliable at the polls, he would never take office nor suffer his name to be used. When elected a justice of the peace, and well qualified for such a position, he would not accept. He was a man of sterling virtues, his firmness resembling the old Roman, but he had a kind heart, and his depart- ure will be sincerely mourned, not only among his children and their descendants, but by all who knew him. He was interred in the family burying-place upon Fort Hill.

Capt. Benjamin Burrows, Jr., son of Benjamin and Rebecca Burrows, was born Feb. 6, 1815. He received a common school education, and when but ten years old accompanied his father on a cruise to Ha- vana. When seventeen he went to sea as a sailor before the mast. After one year became mate of schooner " Bolivar" for one season ; sailed as mate of several vessels. In 1838 became captain of the schooner "Talma," in Southern and coasting trade, and continued in this avocation until 1872, when he retired from the sea and entered into the coal trade at Mystic River, in which he is yet engaged. He is a solid man of Groton, well respected and esteemed.

He has been a member of the Baptist Church since 1835. In politics he has been a Whig and Republi- can, and represented Groton in the Legislature of 1864.

He married, July 25, 1838, Sarah A., daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Avery) Hammond. She lived

CAPT. BENJAMIN BURROWS, JR.

only two years. He married, Oct. 23, 1854, Ann M., daughter of Urbane and Amanda Avery. Their chil- dren were Elizabeth A. and Benjamin F. Mrs. Bur- rows died April 12, 1860. For his third wife he mar- ried, March 26, 1867, Frances L., daughter of Isaac and Levina (Fislı) Denison, of Mystic Bridge. Capt. Benjamin is prudent and careful, of good business faculties and judgments, and has been prospered in his undertakings through the most of his life.

Calvin Burrows, son of Benjamin and Rebecca (Thompson) Burrows, was born in Groton, Conn., March 22, 1817. He was brought up in Groton, re- ceiving his education at the common schools, and re- mained with his father's family till he was twenty- two years old, when he went as a sailor in fishing-ves- sels for several years. About 1851, Mr. Burrows, in company with Capt. Darwin Rogers and others, fitted out the schooner "Edward L. Frost" for a voyage to California. They had a pleasant trip of one hundred and seventeen days to San Francisco. On account of ill health Capt. Burrows only remained in California eiglit months, when he returned to Connecticut. After he regained his health he again went fishing, and continued at that avocation until the fall of 1855, when he went West, and purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, and became a farmer. He returned to Connecticut on a visit in the spring of

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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

1864. His father, being then advanced in years, de- sired him to purchase the old homestead and remain near him. Calvin at last did so, and since that time has followed farming on Pequonnock Plains.

He has been twice married, first to Mary A., daugh- ter of Nathan Niles. She died May 27, 1840. He married, April 11, 1842, Catherine, daughter of 'Zebe- diah and Eunice (Packer) Gates, of an old Groton family. His children are Calvin (captain of steamer "Anna Gallup"), Alice (deceased), Jane (deceased), Esther (Mrs. Elisha Williams), Julia (Mrs. Franklin Manier), and Charles (deceased). Both Mr. and Mrs. Burrows are Baptists. He has been a Republican since 1856. Has never held oflice. By economy, in- dustry, and prudence has attained a handsome com- petency, and is held in high esteem by his fellow- townsmen for his good judgment and practical common sense. He is to-day one of Groton's suc- cessful farmers.

Franklin Gallup .- Capt. John Gallop and Chris- tobel, his wife, came to America with John Win- throp's company in 1630, and settled in Dorchester. They subsequently lived for a time on an island in Boston Harbor, which yet bears the name of " Gal- lop's Island." He had a house and lot in Boston, which he occupied alternately with his island home. He joined the first church of Boston, Jan. 5, 1634, and was made a freeman in April following. In naval history he is credited with having fought the first naval battle on the Atlantic coast. He died February, 1649. His wife survived him, dying Oct. 27, 1655. They had four children,-Joan, John (2), Samuel, and Nathaniel. The dates of their birth are unknown. His estate, inventoried before the County Court, April, 1649, amounted to three hundred and eleven pounds ten shillings and eightpence. The will of Widow Gallop, made Aug. 24, 1655, disposed of property, money, and household goods inventoried at thirty-six pounds and fourteen shillings.

John (2) married Hannah, daughter of Widow Margaret Lake, who resided with Governor John Winthrop's family. They had nine children,-Han- nah, John (3), Benadam, William, Samuel, Christobel, Elizabeth, Mary, Margaret. John (2) was old enough to serve in the Pequot war with the Massachusetts forces, who arrived at New London, Conn., in June, 1637. These forces united with Mason and his second levy of troops, and drove the Pequots to New Haven and beyond. He was probably born in 1616 or 1617, and was nearly sixty years of age when he was killed in the great swamp-fight at Kingston, R. I., in 1675. He was known as "Capt. John Gallup, famed in In- dian warfare." (John Gallup, son of Capt. John Gallup, resided with his father in and around Boston until 1640, when he left and subsequently lived at Taunton, Mass., then Plymouth Colony. In 1651 he removed to New London, Conn., thence to Stonington in 1654, and represented that town in General As- sembly in 1665 and 1667.) Benadam Gallup, son of

Capt. John Gallup, was born in 1656. He married Esther, daughter of John and Hester Prentice, of New London. They had seven children,-Hannah, Esther, Marcey, Benadam, Joseph (1), Margaret, and Lucy.

Joseph (1), son of Benadam, born Sept. 27, 1695, and married Eunice, daughter of John and Martha (Wheeler) Williams, Feb. 24, 1720. They had nine children,-Martha, Joseph (2), Elisha, Oliver, Eunice, William, Eunice, Benadam, and Lucy.

Joseph (2), called "Captain," was born Feb. 26, 1725, and married Mary, daughter of Joseph and Sarah Gardiner, May 18, 1749. Their ten children were Joseph (died aged three years), Sarah, Joseph (3), John, Lucretia, Phebe, Gardiner, Jonathan, Esther, and Gurdon. Capt. Joseph Gallup died Feb. 21, 1778, aged fifty-five years. His wife survived him, dying July 11, 1802, aged seventy-two. Both were buried in the Ashby burial-ground at Pequonnock Bridge.

Gurdon Gallup, of Groton, youngest child of Capt. Joseph Gallup, was born Dec. 18, 1771. He became a farmer at Pequonnock, and in connection therewith a carpenter and ship-builder as well. He built three vessels-the " Atlas," the " Blossom," and another- right opposite his residence. In the great September gale of 1815 one vessel was driven by the wind nearly one-fourth. of a mile up the river, and was left near the old Morgan cemetery. He married Sibell, daugh- ter of Giles and Lucy Capron, Feb. 15, 1795, in Preston, Conn., where she was born Feb. 25, 1771. They had nine children,-Lucy, Gurdon, Grace, Frederic, Joseph, Giles, Mary A., Sabra, and Frank- lin. He died at Noank, Conn., Dec. 17, 1847, aged seventy-five. His wife died April 9, 1852, at Water- ford, Conn., aged eighty-one. Both are buried in the Ashby burying-ground.

Franklin Gallup, youngest child of Gurdon and Sibell Gallup, was born in Pequonnock, Aug. 18, 1812, within a few rods of where he now resides. He had only the advantages of the common schools of Pequon- nock, and remained with his parents until his twenty- second birthday, when he married Hannah, daughter of Capt. Benjamin and Rebecca (Thompson) Burrows, of Mystic River. His father then removed to Noank, and Franklin continued as farmer on the old home. The children of Mr. Gallup by this marriage were Hannah B. (who married Rev. A. C. Bronson, Baptist clergyman at Lebanon, Conn.), Benjamin Franklin, Loren A., Frederic, and Sarah A. Mrs. Gallup died Jan. 2, 1843, on her father's farm at Pequonnock, which place they lived on and worked in connection with Mr. Gallup's own farm, a short distance away. He married, April 9, 1843, Sarah E. Burrows, sister of his first wife. She was born Feb. 19, 1823. Their children are Simeon S. (deceased), Edwin S. (deceased), Frances D. (Mrs. O. P. Howell, of Port Jervis, N. Y.), Adelaide (Mrs. G. W. Atkins, of Indianapolis, Ind.), Walter L. (also of Indianapolis), Roswell B. (de- ceased), Lucy M. (Mrs. William R. Avery, of Cin-

Franklin Patlak

Allere Latham.

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GROTON.

cinnati, Ohio, deceased), Elmer E. (of Indianapolis), Alice E., and Florence E.

April 1, 1848, a most distressing calamity fell upon Mr. Gallup and family. His dwelling, with entire contents,-furniture, money, etc.,-was burned, with no insurance. The fire was so extremely rapid in its work of destruction that all who were saved were scorched and blistered, and Sarah A., a girl of five years, was burned to death. None of the family, in- cluding his aged mother, then living with him, had scarcely anything to wear, and they were scattered through the community, one at one place and one at another. His numerous friends gave Mr. Gallup liberal aid, and by their kind assistance he had, in a few months' time, his present residence completed on the site of the burned one. After three years' residence here he sold it, bought a farm in Waterford, lived there four years, sold it, repurchased his old home at Pequonnock, and entered into partnership with Col. H. D. Morgan, with the firm-name of Mor- gan & Gallup, for the manufacture of menhaden or "bony-fish" oil. The first season they manufactured over twelve hundred barrels. This partnership con- tinued till 1856, when Mr. Gallup sold out his interest therein, and, with his son Frederic and others, formed a new company in the same business on the coast of Maine. This business is still continued as Gallup, Morgan & Co. The manufacture of this oil has in the past been extremely profitable, not so much so of recent years from the vast number of competing firms. Both Mr. and Mrs. Gallup have for about thirty-five years been members of the Baptist Church, and are liberal in support of all good works. Mr. Gallup in early life was a Democrat, but has acted with the Re- publican party since 1856. He has been selectman several terms, held various other town offices, and en- joys in a high degree the confidence and esteem of his townsmen. His large family of children has been well educated; they are intelligent and worthy, and are filling their places in life so as to cast credit on the parental care and guidance around the old home hearth. The worthy father and mother are passing on through life's declining day, and, with patience and a well-grounded hope of a reunion hereafter, await the twilight.

Albert Latham .- From the first settlement of the New London plantation has the name of Latham been associated with the active growth and develop- ment of this part of Connecticut.

Cary Latham in 1654 was awarded a lease and monopoly of the ferry over Pequot River at the town of Pequot (now New London, on the Thames) for fifty years from March 25, 1655, and, as lessee of the ferry, he was the first to reside at Groton Bank. He was a man of sterling worth, of value and strength in the community ; served in various town offices ; was " townsman" or selectman for sixteen years, and was six times deputy to the General Court, from May, 1664, to 1670. He left several children, and his large

grants of land enriched his descendants. His death occurred in 1685.

Albert Latham, Esq., son of Capt. William and Eunice Latham, was born May 5, 1787. Capt. Latham was a farmer, and lived where William F. Mitchell now resides, on the homestead of the Lathams. He was a man of great force of character; was in 1778 captain of artillery at Groton, in the regular Conti- nental army. He removed from Roxbury, where he was on duty for a time, to Fort Griswold a short time previous to the descent of the British under Benedict Arnold, and was in command of that fort when Col. Ledyard made it his headquarters. He was in the massacre at the fort and was wounded there. He died of smallpox. Albert was youngest of nine chil- dren. He stayed with his mother on the farm, his father's death occurring when he was small. He had a common-school education ; was indentured to Sam- uel Edgecomb to learn the cabinet trade. After serving five years, his energies could not be satisfied by serving longer, and buying of Mr. Edgecomb the two remaining years of his time, he commenced the business for himself, establishing his shop at Gro- ton Bank, and continued there many years. He pur- chased land near Fort Griswold about 1820 and en- gaged in farming. In agriculture, as in everything else, he was successful, and was considered one of the model farmers of Groton. He afterwards purchased quite largely of land in various localities in Groton. He was a man of action, but not of many words. When aroused he had tremendous energy, and rarely failed to accomplish whatever he set out to do. He stood well in the estimation of his townspeople, and was often honored by their preference of him to dis- charge important public trusts, and for many years . represented Groton in the State Legislature, and was also chosen State senator by his district. He was a prominent man in the counsels of his political party, and ever a standard-bearer in its conflicts. Brought up in the school of Thomas Jefferson, there was no middle ground to his Democracy. He deemed the Constitution the bulwark of our liberties, and would sanction no intrusion upon its sanctity. Honesty, integrity, and economy in the management of public affairs were cardinal principles in his platform, and always were observed to the letter. Reared among a people who suffered the most fearful ravages of war for devotion to principle and love of liberty, he would give time, money, anything he possessed, to preserve the liberty so dearly bought, and for the principles he deemed necessary to preserve it. He was a liberal supporter and advocate of all things tending to ele- vate and improve mankind.

He married, April 25, 1812, Nancy, daughter of Francis and Mary (Leeds) Mitchel. She was born Sept. 26, 1787, almost directly across the street from the house where she now lives, and which for nearly sixty years has been her home. She is of French ex- traction. Her father came from France when a child,

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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

with his parents, to Stonington, Conn., where they located. Mr. Latham's children, six in number, were all sons, viz. : Albert Gallatin, of Providence, R. I .; James Madison, deceased ; Francis William, of Brownsville, Texas ; David, died in infancy ; Charles P., deceased ; and Andrew Jackson, of Chicago, Ill.

Mr. Latham died June 20, 1869, much regretted by all. Mrs. Latham, at the advanced age of nearly ninety-four years, survives him, and is a remarkably good type of the woman of the " time that tried men's souls." Her memory is good, and she is as active as a woman in the prime of life. Her reminiscences of the "old times" are vivid and faithful in their portraiture, and, with many pleasant memories of the years of her wedded life, she is waiting till the sum- mons comes to meet her much-loved husband on the " other shore."

Capt. Gurdon Gates .- Gurdon Gates, son of Zeb- ediah and Eunice (Packer) Gates, was born in Groton, April 15, 1814. His father was a farmer, and Gur- don remained with him, receiving a common-school education, until he was eighteen years old, when he went to sea before the mast, and five years after, in 1837, he became master of the schooner " Emeline," of the Southern coasting trade. He commanded her three years, then commanded brig "Republic" three years, brig " Metamora" two years, bark "Montauk" three years. In 1850 took command of ship "Wm. H. Wharton," in European, California, and China trade. He was in her three years, then in ship " Elec- tric" three years, and ship "Twilight" four years. In 1862, Capt. Gates took charge of the steamship transport " United States" for six months in United States service. He then ran her between New York and New Orleans as a packet until 1872, when she was cast away on East Florida coast. Capt. Gates then terminated his maritime career, and has since resided in Groton as a farmer. In politics was for- merly a Whig, and a Republican from 1856. He en- joys to a high degree the confidence and esteem of the people of his native town, and has by them been called to various important stations. He has been for eight successive years committeeman in charge of his school district, is a member of Board of Relief, a director of First National Bank of Mystic Bridge, and for the last two years has represented Groton in the State Legislature.

Capt. Gates married, June 11, 1839, Esther D., daughter of Isaac and Esther (Dennison) Miner, of Stonington. They had one child, William Henry. He was lost off Cape Horn in a storm when only nineteen years old.

Capt. Gates married Martha, daughter of Jonathan and Anna (Brown) Phelps, of Stonington, Oct. 25, 1853. Their children are Mary S. (deceased), Gur- don, Henry, Joseph P. (deceased), Kariska S., N. Stanton, and Louise P. Capt. Gates has owned an interest in every vessel he has ever commanded, and is still largely interested in vessels. He is a straight-

forward, honest man, never idle, and a good repre- sentative of the seafaring element of Groton. He is considered by all a man of much ability and a care- ful, far-seeing, conservative person. His advice is often sought and liceded as valuable by the best citi- zens of his and adjacent towns.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

LEBANON.

Geographical - Topographical - Indian Ilistory - Po-que-chan-neeg- The First White Proprietor-Maj. John Mason-The Claim of Oweneco -The First Settlement-First Meeting of Inhabitants-Organization of the Town-Organization of Church-Formation of "Train-Band" -Town Votes-Military Enterprise-The Revolution-Town - Meet- ing of April, 1770-Subsequent Military Events-Governor Trumbull, etc.

THE town of Lebanon lies in the northwestern part of the county, and is bounded as follows : on the north by Tolland and Windham Counties, Conn., on the east by Windham County and the towns of Franklin and Bozrah, on the south by Franklin, Bozrah, and Colchester, and on the west by Colchester and Tol- land County. The surface is moderately hilly, the soil fertile and well adapted to agricultural pursuits. It is one of the leading agricultural towns in the county.

In presenting the history of Lebanon it is deemed advisable to reproduce as introductory an historical address delivered in Lebanon, July 4, 1876, by Rev. Orlo D. Hine, pastor of the First Church. Herein is embodied a mass of valuable information bearing upon the history of the town. Mr. Hine is an enthu- siast in matters of historic lore, and in this address he builded better than he knew, and delivered an ad- dress that will live as long as Lebanon itself has an existence. The article is reproduced by permission of Mr. Hine, to whom we are under special obliga- tions.

ADDRESS.

The territory which now constitutes the town of Lebanon, called by the Indians, as to its main part, Po-que-chan-neeg, was originally claimed by the In- dian chief Uncas. He belonged to the Pequot tribe, which had its seat in the present town of Stonington, near the village of Mystic. He was of the royal family, and married a princess of the royal family of the same tribe. Aspiring to the leadership of the tribe by means decidedly crooked and summary, and failing in his rash purpose, he was obliged to secede, and with a few adherents withdrew across the Pequot, now the Thames River, where he established himself on lands which have since been held by the remnant of Indians, in the present town of Montville. Here he set up a claim to a territory twenty-two miles

Turedon Lates

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LEBANON.

wide, bounded on the east by the Thames River, and on the west by the Connecticut, and extending from the sea-shore north indefinitely, embracing large por- tions of the present territory of Tolland and Wind- ham Counties. This included the tract which formed this town.

After the destruction of the Pequot fort at Mystic by Maj. Mason, in 1637, Uncas seems to have been so impressed by the bravery and power of the Eng- lish, and to have felt so strongly that if he had their friendship they could defend him against any enemy, he ceded from time to time to his many friends among the white settlers, and to the colony of Connecticut, all his lands and possessions, reserving to himself certain rights and privileges.

The first proprietor of land within the limits of this town was Maj. John Mason. In 1663 the General Assembly of the colony gave him for meritorious ser- vices five hundred acres of land, which he might take, as he should choose, in any unoccupied territory in the colony. Norwich had then purchased to the line which now divides Franklin and Lebanon. Mason came just across that line, and selected his five hun- dred acres in the southwestern part of the town, in what is now the society of Goshen, that section being called by the Indians Pomakuk. This land was sur- veyed and formally conveyed to him in 1665.

In 1666 the General Assembly gave Rev. James Fitch, who came from Saybrook to Norwich, and was the first pastor of the church there, and son-in-law of Mason, one hundred and twenty acres of land adjoin- ing Mason's tract. Subsequently Oweneco, son and successor of Uncas, gave to Rev. Mr. Fitch, for favors received, a tract five miles long and one wide, which is described as extending from the southwestern cor- ner of the town, next to the tracts already mentioned, along the Franklin line, to near the Willimantic River. According to this description, it was nearer seven than five miles long ; but surveys had not then been made, and boundaries were very loosely drawn. This is familiarly known as " Fitche's, or Mason and Fitche's mile."

In 1692, Oweneco, who still claimed a sort of own- ership in unoccupied lands here, sold and conveyed to four proprietors-Capt. Samuel Mason and Capt. John Stanton, of Stonington, and Capt. Benjamin Brewster and Mr. John Birchard, of Norwich-a tract called the " Five-mile purchase," adjoining and north- west of "Mason and Fitche's mile," so called. The General Assembly of the colony in 1705 confirmed this deed of Oweneco, and at the same time, and by the same instrument, confirmed a deed from these four proprietors, conveying all their rights and inter- ests in this tract and all that pertained to it to fifty- one persons named who had taken lots, most of whom were inhabitants here.

Adjoining this on the north and northwest was the Clark & Dewey purchase, made by William Clark, of Saybrook, and Josiah Dewey, of Northampton,

Mass., in 1700, of Oweneco and Abimelech, Indian chiefs, claiming the rights which Uncas had had; and the deed was also signed by English persons who had gained titles of some sort to portions of the tract. This purchase embraced the northern portion of this town, as it now is, and a part and perhaps the whole of Columbia.

These several tracts, with two smaller sections, one called the gore, and another the mile and a quarter propriety, constituted the original territory of this goodly town of Lebanon, which one hundred and eighty years ago was a wilderness.

The four proprietors-Mason, Stanton, Brewster, and Birchard-evidently designed that the "Five- mile purchase" and "Mason & Fitche's mile" should form the main part of a plantation, and that this street, since called Town Street, should be the centre, and under their direction the street was laid out, and the land adjoining it allotted.

Having in view the earliest establishment and most efficient maintenance of the worship of God and the means of education, the land along the street was divided into home-lots of forty-two acres each, and there were second and third lots lying back of these, and in other parts of the town. Every one taking a home-lot was entitled to a lot of the other divisions. In this they seem to have had in view access to water in the streams running each side of this ridge, and the possession of meadow-land in the valleys. The second and third divisions, taken from unoccupied land in other parts of the town, were as- signed by lot, and hence were literally lots.

This broad street and open common, which became so marked a feature of the place, seems to have been formed in this way: Originally it was a dense alder- swamp. When the settlers came to build their houses they would of course set them on the dryer ground of the edge of the slopes, extending back on each side. Thus between the lines of dwellings there was left this swampy space, varying in width, but in general some thirty rods wide. Of course it was owned by the original fifty-one proprietors of the " Five-mile purchase."

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History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 116

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1317

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1317