History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 170

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 170

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From the time he came to Mystic, Mr. Mallory has been prominently identified with all departments of its development and growth, and in this necessarily brief sketch it is impossible to do more than to trace the outlines of a busy life. In all his varied interests Mr. Mallory has been an advocate of peace. He has never in any of his dealings on his own account been sued or sued any one. He was an " Old-Line Whig," latterly a Republican, and gave his heartiest co-oper- ation and assistance to the government in putting down the monster Rebellion.

Since 1817 both Mr. Mallory and wife have been members of the First Congregational Church of Mystic Bridge, and their aid has never been withheld

1 For full history of Rogers family, see History of Litchfield County, town of Cornwall.

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from all deserving causes. He has never held office, but, as a private citizen, has always taken an interest in everything tending to the betterment of his town and village, and throughout the world-wide range of his acquaintances there will be nowhere found a tongue to whisper aught against his integrity or his broad Christian charity. It is the universal expres- sion of all who knew him that "Charles Mallory is an honest man."

Quiet, unostentatious, and modest, with all his caution and far-seeing sagacity in business, Mr. Mal- lory can, at the close of an unusually long life of unintermitting toil, look back through memory's book, without a wish to blot out one entry made therein, and forward with a clear conscience to the lifting of the veil shutting out the view "over the river."

An event of his life, the purchase of the place in Waterford where his father resided in his old age, illustrates too well his character and that of his wife to be left out of this record. When ten or eleven years old, while playing with the Sistare boys, whose father owned the little place of six acres, he told them that if he lived and that lot of land was for sale he would buy it for his father as a home. After their father's death (Mr. Mallory, then a young man of twenty-eight, struggling by hard work to keep " the wolf from the door") the Sistare boys reminded him of the remark (doubtless often repeated), and told him he could have it for thirty dollars per acre, one-half down, and note for balance for one year, se- cured by mortgage. He accepted their offer, and set a day to transact the business in New London. As the day drew nigh the amount seemed so immensely large that he became despondent, and thought he could never pay it. It seemed a gigantic load. It weighed him down heavily, so that he could hardly work .. On going to his dinner he told his wife his trouble, and said that he "could never pay for the place in the world." She told him to dismiss his fears, and by all means buy it; also saying, “You are smart, and I can do a great deal of work myself to help you.", She encouraged him, and he concluded to try, ate his dinner, and went to work. In an hour's time the same deep despondency again came on him. He felt so badly and so appalling seemed the effort that he pulled off his overalls, and without a word to his wife started for New London on foot, to tell them that he could not take the land, for he never should be able to pay for it. He had gone about half his journey, when something stopped him suddenly, and an apparent voice told him, "You can pay it." Al- though walking very fast, he was stopped instantly. He returned to Mystic and to work, and the next day went to New London and bought the place. It took about every dollar he could raise to pay the first half, and where the money to pay the note for the bal- ance and lift the mortgage was coming from was en- tirely unknown. Shortly after a very profitable and

unexpected job came in, enabling him to take up his note and give his father the very home so many years thought of. In a few years' time an acre of this land was sold off for building-lots for $200. This Charles told his father to use for himself. An- other sale of two or three hundred dollars was made afterwards from the same lot, and yet it kept a cow, furnished a garden, and enough money for the old gentleman,-as he said, " all he needed." This was his home until his death, and there his widow re- sided for several years. After her ceasing to occupy it, Charles sold the remainder for more than enough to pay compound interest on the purchase-money, and he calls it "the best investment I ever made."

C. H. Mallory .- Among the representative and successful business men of the United States who claim New London County as the place of their na- tivity none are more worthy a passing notice than Charles Henry Mallory. He was born at Mystic Bridge, Stonington, Conn., Sept. 30, 1818. His child- hood was passed in Mystic, where he received an ex- cellent common-school education, which was improved by one year's attendance at the private school of John Kirby, one of the best teachers of his day, at Ston- ington. Charles Mallory, his father, early taught his children the value of labor, and trained them in those habits of patient industry and thoroughness of exe- cution which were so marked characteristics of his own successful life. Thus Henry was early taught the sail-maker's trade by his father, and worked with him until September, 1833, when, at fifteen years of age, he went to sea. He rapidly passed through the various grades of promotion, and in 1839, before he was of age, became master of the brig " Appalachi- cola." From this time to 1846 his life was passed on the water, undergoing the various changes and vicis- situdes incident to a maritime life. At this time Charles Mallory was in full tide of his business career, and the magnitude of his business and its many and varied interests demanded a competent and confiden- tial manager in New York City. Henry was selected for this position, and leaving the water, he was for the greater part of the time until 1865 in New York, conducting his father's affairs, to the full satisfaction and monetary advantage of his principal.

In 1865 the firm of C. H. Mallory & Co., a ship- ping and commission house, was established. The original members were C. H. Mallory and Elihu Spicer, Jr., and the firm continued thus until about 1870, when Charles Mallory (2) and Henry R. Mal- lory, sons of C. H. Mallory, were admitted members. This firm has been very prosperous, and stands among the leading houses of the metropolis. In connection with other interests, C. H. Mallory & Co. own and run three steamship lines,-one to Texas, one to Flor- ida, one to Nassau and Matanzas, Cuba,-and they also for three years ran one to Brazil, but that is now temporarily discontinued.

Mr. Mallory married, July 25, 1841, Eunice Deni-

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son, daughter of Nathaniel and Eunice (Denison) Clift. She is descended from two old and honored families of Stonington. Their children are Charles, Fanny (Mrs. C. P. Williams), Henry R., Kate, and Robert.

Whig and Republican in his political affiliations, Mr. Mallory was elected as such to represent Stoning- ton one term in the Connecticut Legislature, and also to represent his district one term as senator in the same body. He was pronounced in opposition to the great Rebellion, and did much to sustain the government in the long civil war that ensued. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, uniting with it in 1842.

Although his life has been one of incessant business activity, he has not remained a silent observer of events, or of the growth of his town or prosperity of his city, but has borne a conspicuous part in all works intended to promote the causes of morality, religion, and education, to further the interests of society, and to advance the sway of law and the prevalence of order.

Mr. Mallory possesses a strong and vigorous mind, with integrity of purpose and great firmness of char- acter. He has discharged the duties of important public trusts with conceded ability. As a citizen, he enjoys universal confidence and esteem. He has always acted upon the principle that whatever is worth doing at all should be done thoroughly and well. Without pretension as a speaker or writer, few men are able, either orally or in writing, to present reasons and arguments more forcibly or tersely. In every work committed to his hands, in public or pri- vate life, Mr. Mallory has labored with diligence, perseverance, and efficiency, and wholesome practical results testify to the value of his services.

Williams Family.1-It will not be inappropriate in this work to give a short account of the ancestors of those Williamses whose portraits and biographies are here presented, and of some of their kindred, pioneers and settlers elsewhere, brothers of the first settlers in Stonington of that name, and their descend- ants, who for several generations, when there were few facilities to travel, were far distant from each other by land, but were not far distant from each other either by blood or good deeds.

Robert Williams, from whom are descended all of that surname in this part of New London County, came from Norwich, England, and settled in Roxbury, Mass., in 1637; was made a freeman there in 1638; reached the great age of one hundred years, having been born in 1593, and died at Roxbury, Sept. 1, 1693.

Farmer, in his genealogy, says, " Robert Williams, of Roxbury, was the common ancestor of the divines, civilians, and ancestors of the name who have hon-

ored the country of their birth." It is also related that his wife, Elizabeth Stratton, who died July 28, 1674, aged eighty, was very reluctant at first to come to this country, but being impressed by a strange dream that if she did so she would become the mother of a long line of ministers, was encouraged to leave her old home, to find a new, amid the perils and discomforts of the Pilgrims. And it is certain that for several generations after her arrival here there were more in New England eminent in that profession of her line- age than of any other, and the record of her off- spring for a long period embraced a considerable por- tion of the history of New England if not of the United States. There was scarcely a battle of im- portance fought, particularly in the northern section of the country, either with the Indians or with a for- eign enemy, in which one or more of the name does not appear. On Groton Heights, among the martyrs for their country's independence (whose self-sacrifice and patriotism the State and nation ceremoniously and grandly commemorated on the centennial anni- versary of their massacre at Fort Griswold), in the sublime language written on the monument there, John, Henry, Thomas, Daniel, "were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field." Roger Williams probably rendered more efficient services to Capt. Mason than any other man, by aiding the Massachusetts troops with provis- ions, advice, and even attendance on a part of the route of these troops in that signal engagement near Mystic, in this county, when nearly seven hundred Pequot Indians were destroyed and their power com- pletely broken.

Robert had three sons,-Samuel, Isaac, and Stephen. The sons of Samuel and Isaac came to this town about 1685, consequently this sketch will trace partially their line of descent only, and to make it more easily fol- lowed Samuel and Isaac will be numbered as of the second generation, and so in order.

Samuel (second generation), eldest son of Robert, was born in England in 1632; became a freeman in Roxbury, Mass., in March, 1658. He was a man of considerable repute, and held the office of deacon in the church in that place for many years, which was then considered a distinguished honor. He married Theoda Park, sister to Martha, who married his brother Isaac, daughters of Deacon William Park, of Roxbury, who was a man of note and represented the town in General Court for many years. Ebenezer (third gen- eration), his son, born Dec. 6, 1666, died Feb. 13, 1746-47, came to Stonington about 1685, and lived upon land purchased of Owaneco, an Indian sachem, near Mystic, and I am told that a portion of that tract is now owned by some of his descendants. He mar- ried, Jan. 24, 1687, Mary Wheeler, daughter of Isaac, whose wife was Martha Park, cousin to the Martha Park who married Isaac Williams the same day that his cousin, John Williams, married Martha, sister to Mary.

1 This sketch was complled and written by Hon Ephraim Williams, of Stoblngton. The facts of record were mostly taken from the history of the Williams family, published over thirty years ago by Dr. Stephen West Willlains.

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Rev. John (third generation), son of Samuel, born at Roxbury, Dec. 10, 1664, died June 12, 1729, was the first minister at Deerfield, Mass., in 1686. The vote of the town upon his settlement was "That they would give him sixteen cow-commons of meadow- land, with a home-lot that lyeth on the Meeting-house Hill ; that they will build him a house forty-two feet long, twenty feet wide, and a linto on the back side of the house ; to fence his house-lot; and within two years after this agreement to build him a barn and break up his ploughing-land. For yearly salary to give him sixty pounds a year for the present, and four or five years after this agreement to add to the salary and make it eighty pounds."

He was taken captive by the French and Indians Feb. 29, 1703-4; his two youngest sons were mur- dered at the time. The town was attacked by two hundred French and one hundred and forty-two In- dians from Canada, under command of Maj. Hertel De Rouville. There were then no settlements be- tween Deerfield and St. John's, in Canada. The pris- oners with Mr. Williams numbered one hundred, four- teen of whom, with his wife, were murdered on the journey, and two starved to death among the savages at Coo's, in Vermont. After a journey of twenty-five days the captives reached Shamblee. He was a pris- oner in Canada for a year and nine months, when he was redeemed, and left Quebec Oct. 25, 1706, arriving at Boston November 21st, with fifty-seven others, among whom were two of his sons. His daughter. Eunice and others were left behind. An account of this attack and their captivity may be found in the "Redeemed Captive," published by him. He is rep- resented by his cotemporaries, who have witnessed his efforts before the most enlightened and powerful auditories in the province, as a powerful and affecting preacher. His daughter Eunice died in captivity at the age of ninety. Though a mere child, no efforts could procure her redemption. She forgot the Eng- lish language, became an Indian in her habits, and married an Indian. Her daughter Sarah married an English physician by the name of Williams in 1758, who was a son of the Bishop of Chester in England ; they had a son Thomas, who married a Frenchwoman, and were the parents of the Rev. Eleazer, born about 1790, the reputed "Lost Prince," a missionary among the Green Bay Indians. He married May Hobart Jourdan, a relative of Louis Philippe, king of France, and their son John was staying with him about the time he abdicated the throne.

Park (third generation), son of Samuel, born Jan. 11, 1676, died 1757, settled in Lebanon, Conn. ; had a son, Col. John, who moved to Sharon, Conn., in 1744; died there March 14, 1774, aged sixty years. He was chief judge of the County Court of Litchfield County, and a representative of the town of Sharon twenty-seven times, and commanded a regiment of colonial militia.

Deborah (third generation), a daughter of Samuel,

born Nov. 20, 1668, married Joseph Warren, and was grandmother of Gen. Joseph Warren, who fell at Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775.

Rev. Eleazer (fourth generation), a son of Rev. John, of Deerfield, born July 1, 1688, graduated at Harvard in 1708, was absent from Deerfield when his father and family were captured. He was or- dained minister at Mansfield, Conn., Oct. 10, 1710. The following quaint inscription is on his monument there :

" Here lies the body of ye Rev. Mr. Eleazer Williams, pastor of ye Chh. in Mansfield, descended from venerable ancestors, but more nobly born from above, and with faithfulness, prudence, zeal, and courage im- proved the gifts and graces his Divine Lord had entrusted him with, in ye work of the ministry here, being found with his loynes girt and looking for the mercy of the Lord Jesus to eternal life, at his Master's call he quietly fell asleep in Jesus Sept. 21, 1742, in the 55th year of his age and ye 32ª year of his pastoral work. Them that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him."

Rev. Stephen (fourth generation), son of Rev. John, of Deerfield, born May 14, 1693, was taken captive with his father and carried to Canada ; was redeemed, and returned to Boston Nov. 21, 1705. He wrote, when a boy, a long narrative of his captivity soon after his return, which is curious and interesting. He graduated at Harvard in 1713, was a chaplain for the armies in the campaigns at Cape Breton in 1745, at Lake George in 1755 and '56, in the regiment of Col. Ephraim Williams, and the day before he was killed, being Sunday, preached to the troops from the text, "Which remain among the groves and lodge in the mountain." In 1756 he was chaplain in the regi- ment commanded by Dr. Thomas, brother of Col. Ephraim. He settled at Longmeadow, and had sons -Rev. Stephen, Rev. Warham, and Rev. Nathan- all graduated at Yale College. The first settled at Woodstock, Conn., the second at Northfield, Conn., and the Rev. Nathan at Tolland, Conn.

Rev. Warham (fourth generation), another son of Rev. John, of Deerfield, was taken captive to Canada with his father. Born Sept. 16, 1699; graduated at Harvard in 1719; died June 22, 1751; settled and re- mained for twenty-nine years, until his death, a min- ister at Waltham, Mass. On his gravestone is en- graved :

" Here lie the remains of the excellent, pious, and learned divine, the late Rev. Warham Williams, the first and beloved Pastor in the church at Waltham. He was indeed a burning and shining light of superior natural power and acquired abilities, diligent in study, apt to teach, fer- vent In prayer, accurate and instructive in preaching, prudent and faith- ful in discipline, tender and skillful in comforting, grave in his deport- ment, agreeable and edifying in conversation, meek towards all men, constant and candid in friendship, endearing in every relation, resigned in adversity, a bright example in behavior and doctrine, universally es- teemed, and died greatly lamented."

He had a son, the Rev. Samuel, born at Waltham, April 23, 1743; graduated at Harvard in 1761; died June 1, 1817, a very talented and learned man. While at Harvard as a professor received the honorary de- gree of Doctor of Laws from Yale College, and also from the University of Edinburgh ; was an active member of the American Academy of Arts and

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Sciences, a member of the Meteorologieal Society of Mannheim, Germany, and of the Philosophical So- eiety in Philadelphia, and was the author of many valuable works ; and his son, Gen. Charles Kilbourne Williams, born Jan. 24, 1782, graduated at Williams College in 1800, was at one time chief justice of the State of Vermont.

Maj. Elijah (fourth generation), son of Rev. John, of Deerfield, by his second wife, born Nov. 13, 1712, graduated at Harvard in 1732, died July 10, 1771, was an able magistrate and one of the judges of the County Court; he inherited his father's mansion and home-lot at Deerfield, where he lived, and he had a son John, born Jan. 6, 1751, graduated at Harvard, 1769, died at Deerfield in 1816, who was a member of the Senate and House of Representatives of Massa- chusetts, one of the trustees of Williams College, one of the founders of the Deerfield Academy, and at his death left several thousand dollars to that institution.

Rev. Ebenezer (fourth generation), a grandson of Samuel (second generation), of Roxbury, born Aug. 12, 1690, graduated at Harvard, 1709, was ordained minister at Pomfret, Conn., Oct. 26, 1715, and died March 28, 1753, was also a very distinguished divine. His daughter Hannah married Gen. Huntington, and was the mother of Gen. Ebenezer and Zachariah Huntington, and grandmother of Hon. Jabez W. Huntington, of Norwich, who was a United States senator from Connecticut. The Rev. Ebenezer had sons,-the Rev. Chester and Col. Ebenezer. The Rev. Chester, born 1719, died Oct. 13, 1755, graduated at Yale, was a minister at Hadley, Mass. Upon his gravestone is inscribed :

" Ilere rests the body of the Rev. Mr. Chester Williams, in whom bright parts, solid learning, unfeigned piety, happy elocution, universal benevolence, hospitality, and Christian love combined to form the exem- plary Pastor, the kind husband, the tender parent, the delightful com- panion, and the faithful friend, who departed this life 13th October, 1755, aged 36."

His son, the Rev. Nehemiah, was for nearly twenty- two years a minister at Brimfield, Mass .; graduated at Harvard, 1769; distinguished for the energy and pathos with which his sermons were delivered, and was an able advocate of the doetrines held by the strict Calvinists, and one of the first members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Col. Ebenezer (fifth generation), son of Rev. Eben- czer, born Nov. 22, 1723, died in Pomfret, 1783, often represented the town in General Court ; was an officer in the Revolutionary war, and had a command at Fort Edward in 1757. His son, the Hon. Elisha (sixth generation), of Hudson, N. Y., born Aug. 29, 1773, died in New York, June 29, 1833, was one of the ablest lawyers in his State of his time. Chancellor Kent says of him, "When I was judge, until 1814, he frequently tried cases before me at the circuit, and he was eloquent, ingenious, and impressive, and showed especially his sagacity and judgment in the examination of witnesses; and his addresses to the

juries were always foreible, witty, argumentative, and singularly attractive, and heightened by a volubility of his language and melody of his voice, and his commanding eye and dignified and attractive per- son." At a sitting of the Supreme Court this reso- lution was adopted, among others, by members of the bar:

" Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed by the chairman to consider and report to a meeting of the bar at the next October term of the Supreme Court of the expediency of some permanent memorial of our regard for the public and private character of our deceased brother, the Hon. Elisha Williams."

The committee were Messrs. Benj. F. Butler, Mar- eus T. Reynolds, Ambrose I. Jordan, Aaron Vander- poel, and John C. Spenecr.

Another descendant of Samuel (second generation) was John Chandler Williams, born at Roxbury, Aug. 6, 1755 ; graduated at Harvard, 1777 ; settled at Pitts- field; a distinguished lawyer and an accomplished scholar. He joined the American forces, and was at the battle of Lexington, and employed, as appears by the journals of the Provincial Congress of Massachu- setts, 1774-75, by the Committee of Safety on some secret service. "The service was to discover the letter-book and other publie records of Governor Hutchinson," and was successful.

Having thus given some of the prominent descend- ants of Samuel, we will now revert to his brother Isaae, whose sons, John and Eleazer, came to Ston- .ington about 1685, and about the time that Samuel's son Ebenezer did, as referred to.

Isaac Williams, second son of Robert, was born at Roxbury, Sept. 1, 1638; died there Feb. 11, 1707 ; married Martha, a daughter of Deacon William Park; settled at Newton ; represented the town in General Court five or six years, and commanded a troop of horse. Of his children we will follow William, John, Eleazer; and by his second wife, Judith Cooper, Ephraim, and a few of their descendants.

William (third generation) was born Feb. 2, 1665; graduated at Harvard, 1683; died Ang. 29, 1741 ; set- tled a minister at Hatfield, Mass., in 1685, and pos- sessed remarkable talents. Dr. Chauncey, in · his sketch of eminent men in New England, in a letter to the Rev. Dr. Stiles, of New Haven, May 6, 1768, says of him, "I have read all Rev. Solomon Stoddard's writings, who, says Elliot, has always been considered one of the greatest divines of New England, but I believe Mr. Williams, of Hatfield, his son-in-law, to have been the greater man."

President Edwards, in a sermon at his funeral, said, " He was a person of unnatural common abilities and distinguished learning ; a great divine, of very com- prehensive knowledge, and of a solid, accurate judg- ment. Judiciousness and wisdom were eminently his character. He was one of eminent gifts, and there followed a savor of holiness in the exercise of these gifts in his public and private life." He had sons,- Rev. William, of Weston; Rev. Solomon, of Leb-

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anon; Rev. Elisha, president of Yale College; and Col. Israel, of Hatfield.

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History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 170

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