USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Woodbury > History of ancient Woodbury, Connecticut : from the first Indian dead in 1659 to 1854 > Part 38
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77
1 This fact is taken from a letter written at the time, dated December 20th, 1760.
368
HISTORY OF ANCIENT WOODBURY.
DOCTOR DANIEL HUNTINGTON,
Studied medicine with Doctor Joseph Perry, and commenced the practice of his profession in Woodbury about the year 1767. He was the first postmaster of the town, from 1797 to 1814, when he re- signed his office. For several years before the close of his life, he relinquished the active duties of his profession, and confined his at- tention to his drug store. He was a very celebrated chemical com- pounder. He died February 19th, 1819, aged seventy-four.
ASAHEL M. HUXLEY, M. D.,
Came to Woodbury about the year 1834, and settled in the prac- tice of his profession. He was married to Mary L. Minor, daughter of the late Matthew Minor, Jr., Esq., July 14tli, 1837. After some years spent in practice in this town, there being a vacancy in Go- shen, Conn., he removed there, where he has since remained in an extensive practice.
DOCTOR BENJAMIN HAWLEY,
Commenced the practice of the medical profession in the parish of Bethlehem, some time preceding the date of the Revolution. He was distinguished as a physician in his time. He died September 11th, 1813, during the time of the "New Milford fever," at the age of seventy years.
WILLIAM HAWLEY, ESQ.,
Was born at Redding, Conn., and was a graduate of Yale College, class of 1789. He acquired his professional education under Thad- deus Benedict, Esq .; was admitted to the bar in 1791; and soon after commeneed the practice of law at Greenwich, Conn., and sub- sequently at Redding, where he continued until 1798, when he re- moved to Woodbury, and there continued in practice until 1803, which he then relinquished for other pursuits, chiefly of a mercantile character. He was a member of the House of Representatives, in 1802 and 1805.
369
HISTORY OF ANCIENT WOODBURY.
GIDEON HIRAM HOLLISTER, ESQ.,
Was born in Washington, December 14th, 1817, and graduated at Yale College in 1840. He immediately commenced the study of law under the direction of Hon. David Daggett, afterward pursued the same in the office of Hon. Origen S. Seymour, and was admitted to the bar of Litchfield county in April, 1842. IIe then opened an office in Woodbury, and continued the practice of his profession with good success for about two years, when he was induced to remove to Litchfield, where he immediately entered into a highly successful and lucrative practice, in which he is at present engaged. Few men in the legal profession have been favored with a more steady and unvarying success. Within the last two years he has prepared two works for the press, one of which has already been given to the world, and elicited the warm commendation of critics as well as of friends. This is a historical novel entitled " Mount Hope," and the other about to be published is of a similar character. He is also engaged in writing a history of Connecticut, a work very much needed, and one which will be awaited with eager interest and curiosity by all. IIe is a writer of marked ability, and in the opinion of his friends, he would do well for the world, and for his own fame, to de- vote himself entirely to this field of labor, notwithstanding his suc- cessful efforts at the bar.
EDWARD HINMAN, ESQ.,
Was the son of Dea. Noalı Hinman, and was born in Woodbury, about 1740. IIe was one of the first two lawyers in the town, and resided in White Oak. It is believed that he studied his profession with Col. Walker of Stratford, though it is not now certainly known. Soon after his establishment in practice he became familiarly known to his fellow-townsmen by the appellation of " Lawyer Ned," an appellation which he retained during life, though he lived to a good old age. Hle was a man of clear and strong intellect. Nathan Pres- ton, Esq., once said of him, that " he was a greater man than Wash- ington." This was, of course, an exceedingly extravagant statement, but tends to show the estimation in which he was held by members of his own profession. In one particular, he was a much greater man than Washington, and that is in corpuleney. IIe was one of the most corpulent men of his day. When he was seated his abdo-
370
HISTORY OF ANCIENT WOODBURY.
men projected entirely over his knees. He was accustomed to use great brevity of speech, but always spoke to the point. ITis voice was not good-he spoke with a strong, nasal twang. He was much addicted to the use of hyperbolical expressions. It is said, that when in court his brevity of speech was as great as elsewhere, but a few words from him had more weight with the court and jury, than a multitude from his competitors.1
HON. EDWARD HINMAN,
Is the son of Timothy Hinman, and the grandson of "Lawyer Ned" on the side of his mother, who was his daughter. He pre- pared himself for the practice of law, and took up his abode in his native town, where he has continued to practice his profession. He has borne various public offices in the town, and has been for two years judge of the county court for New Haven county. IIe is wealthy, and has passed on thus far to a respectable age in a " state of single blessedness." He was a member of the State Senate in 1843.
HON. ROYAL R. HINMAN,
Was born in Southbury, and graduated at Yale College in 1804, in the class with IIon. John C. Calhoun and other distinguished men. He studied law with Hon. D. S. Boardman, Hon. Noah B. Benedict and Judge Reeve, practiced his profession in Roxbury about twenty years, and about two years at Southington in Hartford county. He represented the town of Roxbury, four years in the General Assem- bly, between 1814 and 1831, was elected Secretary of State, as successor of Hon. Thomas Day, in 1835, and was annually re-elected for seven years after that date. While he was secretary in 1836, he published a volume of the correspondence of the kings and queens of England, which had remained on the shelves of the office for two hundred years, entitled " Antiquities of Connecticut." In 1842, he published a volume of six hundred and forty-three pages, large octavo, entitled " A Historical Collection, from Official Records, Files, &c.,
1 For the facts in this and several other sketches, the author is indebted to George Hlinman, Esq., of Sullivan, Maine, a native of the ancient territory.
371
HISTORY OF ANCIENT WOODBURY.
of the part sustained by Connecticut during the War of the Revo- lution," with an appendix containing very important matters, verified from the records. This is a very valuable book, and does both the state and the author great credit. In 1846, he published a cata- logue of the names of the first Puritan settlers of the colony of Connecticut, extending to five numbers, and containing three hundred and thirty-six pages. He is at the present moment publishing under a similar title, a large and extended work of a similar character. In 1835, he was appointed chairman of a committee consisting of him- self, Leman Church, Esq., and Hon. Elisha Phelps, to revise the public statutes of Connecticut, which they accomplished in a book of about six hundred pages. In 1835 and '6, the same committee was appointed to compile and publish the private or special acts of the state, particularly those of a date later than 1789, up to the time of publication. This duty was performed, and a book of sixteen hun- dred and forty pages was published for the use of the people of the state. In 1838. Mr. Ilinman and Thomas C. Perkins of Hartford were appointed to make a revision of the statutes of the state, which duty was accomplished, and the " Revision of 1838," containing seven hundred and seventeen pages, was the result. It is said, that no man in the state has prepared and published so large a number of pages for the state as Mr. Hinman. He was one of the original in- corporators of the revised charter of the "Connecticut Historical Society" in 1839, and is also an honorary member of the New Jer- sey Historical Society, and of the Massachusetts Historical Society. In his various antiquarian works, he has done a great work for pos- terity by rescuing a multitude of interesting facts from oblivion. On the 18th day of September, 1844, he was appointed collector of customs for the district of New Haven, which office he held until March 4th, 1845, and was also supervisor of the light-houses in the district of New Haven during the same period. Ile was admitted as a coun- selor in the supreme court of the state of New York, in Albany, at its February term, in 1827. Hle now resides in Harlem, N. Y.
COL. BENJAMIN HINMAN,
Was born in the town of Woodbury, in this state, in the year 1720. His ancestors came from England, in the early settlement of this colony. Ile served against the French in Canada, as early as 1751, under a commission as quarter-master of the troop of horse in
372
HISTORY OF ANCIENT WOODBURY.
the thirteenth regiment, in this colony, under the hand of Roger Wolcott, then governor of the colony. On the 19th day of April, 1755, he was commissioned by Gov. Fitch, at Norwalk, a captain of the sixth company of foot, in Col. Elizur Goodrich's regiment, being a part of the forces raised in the colony for the defense and protection of His Majesty's territories from any further eneroaeh- ments by the French, at Crown-Point, and upon Lake Iroquois, (call- ed at that time by the French, Lake Champlain, ) and to remove en- croachments then made there ; of which forces William Johnson was commander-in-chief. During the French war in Canada, on the 1st of October, 1755, Col. Hinman being stationed near a lake, walked out alone about three-fourths of a mile from his men, and stopped near the lake in the woods. He heard a noise behind him, and turning briskly around, with his gun at rest, he found a French soldier with- in six yards of liim. The soldier was as much surprised at his com- pany as was Col. Hinman. The soldier at once cried for quarter, and held out to the colonel the helve of his hatehet in token of his submission, which Col. Hlinman took from him, and marched him into camp, as a prisoner.
On the 30th day of May, 1751, he was commissioned major of said thirteenth regiment of foot and horse, by John Fitch, Esq., then governor of the colony. In the year 1758, he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the third regiment of foot, in the forces raised in the colony for invading Canada, to proceed under the supreme command of His Majesty's commander-in-chief in North America ; and also a captain in the second company in said regiment; which commission was signed by Thomas Fitch, governor of this colony. On the 31st day of October, 1767, he was commissioned by William Pitkin, governor of the colony, a lieutenant-colonel of the thirteenth regiment of horse and foot, " under and in the eighth year of the reign of Lord George the Third, King of Great Britain, &c."
On the 1st of November, 1771, he was commissioned colonel of the thirteenth regiment of foot and horse, by J. Trumbull, governor. Early in the war of the Revolution, on the Ist day of May, 1775, he was appointed colonel of the fourth regiment of enlisted and assem- bled troops for the defense of the colony ; and was ordered, by Gov. Trumbull, on the 20th day of May, 1775, forthwith to march with five companies, to rendezvous at or near Greenwich, in this state, and to send three companies, to take post at Salisbury, under Major Elmore, to be in readiness to march with them under such orders as Maj. Elmore should receive from the General Assembly, or the
373
.
HISTORY OF ANCIENT WOODBURY.
governor. During the same year he was ordered to Ticonderoga, where he remained in command of a regiment for some time. In the year 1776, he was ordered, with his regiment, to New York ; and was at New York at its capture by the British ; after which he was stationed at Horse Neck, and other places on the Sound, but re- turned home in ill health, in January, 1777, and did not again join the army. He died at Southbury, on the 22d day of March, 1810, at the ripe old age of ninety years.1
SIMEON HINMAN, ESQ.
This gentleman was intimately and favorably known in " ancient Woodbury," as a shrewd and talented man. He was the son of Edward Hinman-" Lawyer Ned," as he was familiarly called.
Simeon commenced his legal practice about 1793, and continued it until about 1809, when he abandoned all business, and rusted out. Had he been goaded by necessity to exertion he would probably have attained a high character. Native talent of a high order he certainly possessed. He was never married, and died in 1825. He was a graduate of Yale, and lived and died at Southbury, in the mansion house occupied by his father.
IION. ROBINSON S. HINMAN.
Robinson S. Hinman was born in South Britain, a parish of South- bury, in 1801.
IIis father, Jonathan ITinman, was of the Southbury family of that name. His mother was a Jennings, who derived her descent remotely from an Englishman of the same name who migrated to Stratford, about the middle of the sixteenth century. Men of this name have within the last twenty years, entertained exalted hopes of the aequi- sition of wealth by inheritance of an estate in the English chancery standing in that name, but as has been uniformly the case were chill- ed by disappointment.
Simeon Hinman, the elder brother of Robinson, about 1847, was sent to England as the family agent. He returned, having acquired neither money, knowledge or hope by the voyage.
No particular opportunities were afforded Robinson for attaining
1 R. R. Hinman's War of the Revolution.
374
HISTORY OF ANCIENT WOODBURY.
an education beyond those found in a district school of that period, save a village library, and an earnest and inquiring spirit that rose with the opposing circumstances.
Gen. Ephraim Hinman, of Roxbury, discovered mind and capacity in his kinsman of no ordinary grade. In 1821, at his request, he be- came a member of the family at Roxbury. "Gen. Ephraim" was in many respects, eminently beneficial to young men advancing to manhood ; his familiar intercourse with the affairs of the Revolution- ary War, his gentlemanly deportment, elevation above low objeets, and his varied experience with men and things, gave him a salutary influence over the young. In this year Robinson entered the office of IIon. Royal R. Hinman, then a practicing lawyer at Roxbury, and studied, not read, law. In 1824, he changed his domicil, and en- tered the office of Charles B. Phelps, Esq., of Woodbury, and was clerk in the probate office, then a large district. In February, 1825. he entered the office of Judge Chapman, who had established a law school in New Haven.
In June of this year he offered himself for an examination, but was refused by the force of an obsolete rule of that court requiring a resi- denee in that county of six months next previous to the examination. This rule was brought to notiee by Judge Bronson, then on the county court bench in that county. He returned to Woodbury and re-en- tered the office of Mr. Phelps. Mr. P. being thrown from a buggy in August of that year and greatly injured, Mr. Hinman conducted his business until September, 1825, when he was admitted at Litch- field. A partnership with Mr. P. immediately followed, which contin- ued nearly two years. During the year 1827, he removed to Utica, New York, and entered the office of John Jay Hinman, then high sheriff of Oneida. Among the Hinmans, there has always existed a clannish spirit. Robinson was the protege of Col. Hinman. Ile subsequently was admitted to practice in New York, removed to the city of New York, formed a partnership with a professional gentleman there, and held a tolerable practice in the marine court. Robinson felt he was made for higher objects than a practice in that jurisdiction then afforded, and in 1828 removed to Naugatuck in New Haven county. Here his habits of order, industry and punetnal- ity soon secured to him an extensive practice, and he had the consola- tion of witnessing the advancement of his reputation, and the rapid growth of confidence in his integrity and intellectual pursuits. In 1830, he was appointed postmaster at that village, in 1831 he re- moved to New Haven, was appointed clerk of the county and
375
HISTORY OF ANCIENT WOODBURY.
superior court, and continued his professional habits. In 1838, a change of political power occurred, and he retired to private life with a practice diminished by the interference of his official duties. In 1842, he was appointed judge of probate for New Haven district, the most lucrative office in the gift of the state authorities, and was reappointed in 1848. During the summer of that year, that insidious enemy of human life, the consumption, asserted its dominion over his constitution. Struggling against its progress, hope gave strength while life was sapped at its foundation. IIe died November, 1843, at New Haven. A monument to his memory may be found in the beautiful cemetery in that city erected by the society of Odd Fellows, of which association he was a prominent member. He was never married. In 1836, he entered military life a brigade major, and by gradation rose to the place of brigadier general.
The prominent traits of his character were constitutional honesty, veracity, benevolence, order, industry and an untiring desire to do good. He possessed strong attachments to his friends and no hostil- ity to those who chose to make themselves his enemies. He seru- pulonsly avoided evil speaking and never imputed a bad motive, un- less compelled to do so by irrefragable evidence. He was prompt and accurate in all his dealings.
With quick and rapid perceptions and a retentive memory. he inves- tigated effectively, and followed the sequence in all its ramifications. When at Naugatuck and New Haven, he evinced strong tendencies for public improvement. At the former place, he projected the estab- lishment of the public square, the erection of the houses of pub- lic worship thereon, and the survey of the public avenue passing by them. The Episcopal church of that parish was at Gun Town, some two miles west of its present location, but was taken down and re- erected in its present location.
At New Haven he essentially aided in the erection of the Lan- casterian school there, and also in the grading of the streets.
His love of order was evineed in many improvements in the clerk's office, which have remained to this day, and are gratefully remem- bered by the court and bar. He enjoyed the reputation of an experi- enced druaghtsman of legal papers. He was attached to the democrat- ic party in polities, and his efforts were sometimes important. IIe worshiped in the Episcopal church, and was sincerely devoted to its advancement. Few men have deceased more lamented by all classes with whom he had intercourse.
There is something inexpressibly melancholy in witnessing the
376
HISTORY OF ANCIENT WOODBURY.
death of one gifted by nature, and trained to the capacity of accom- plishing ends beneficial to himself and his fellow-men.
GEN. EPHRAIM HINMAN.
Among the distinguished characters of Ancient Woodbury, the name of Gen. Ephraim Hinman claims a prominent place.
The individual who undertakes to write the history of one so un- like all other men, must enter upon the work under the conviction that it is not an easy task. The peculiarities of his eccentric charac- ter can not be well delineated. Some of the outlines will be attempt- ed ; but to know him, one must have seen and heard him.
Ile was born April 5th, 1753, in that part of the town now called Southbury. His ancestors were among the early emigrants from Stratford. Edward Hinman, the first of the name in New England, and the only one, settled in that town about 1650, and died there in 1681. Benjamin, his second son, was born in 1662, and married Elizabeth Lumm, of Woodbury, in 1684. He lived in the district now called Bullet IIill, in Southbury, where numbers of his descend- ants still remain. He had six sons and six daughters, one of whom, Benjamin, born 1692, married Sarah Sherman in 1718. They resi- ded in Southbury until 1727, where they both died in the same month, leaving three children.
The oldest son, Col. Benjamin, was of some eminence in the French war, and in the war of the Revolution.
David, their second son, born 1722, married Sarah Hinman, a lin- eal descendant of the first Edward. These being the parents of the subject of this memoir, he was truly a Hinman of the Hinmans. He married Sylvania, daughter of William French, of Southbury, Feb. 3d, 1779, by whom he had two sons and two daughters. His eldest son died in infancy. His second son, R. R. Hinman, graduated at Yale College, and afterward pursued the practice of law in Roxbury, Ct., until he became secretary of state, which office he retained for several years.
Gen. Hinman removed to Roxbury about the year 1784, and built a house in the center of the village, which for a country residence at that period, was regarded as belonging to the first class. For about thirty years he was engaged in mercantile pursuits. During this time he became an extensive landholder, having in his possession at one time, about one thousand acres. He was not a practical farmer,
377
HISTORY OF ANCIENT WOODBURY.
but his love of real estate induced him to retain it, until the interest he paid, connected with losses he sustained, greatly embarrassed him in his declining years, and thus operated disastrously on the peeun- iary interests of lis son, who became involved in attempting to re- lieve his father.
All who know the history of that period, "when Ephraim was a child," are aware that the means for the attainment of even a common education were very limited. In addition to this, the subject of this memoir, by the death of his father, at the early age of four years, was deprived of those restraints and instructions which a mind of his temperament peculiarly needed. Some of the circumstances in which he was unfortunately placed in his youth, were most skillfully adapted to darken his mind, depress his energies, and corrupt his morals. To a mind of a different cast, they might have proved more disastrous. If he was not through life a sufferer in consequence of these things. it was apparent to those who knew him best, that he did not attain that distinction to which he might otherwise have arisen. Not hav- ing the advantages of an early education, he of course possessed but a limited knowledge of books ; but he was endowed with a vigorous. active mind, a quick, discriminating perception of men and things. Few men could read the character of a stranger so readily and cor- reetly as he. A young lady, an intimate friend, called on him on her bridal tour, to show her husband. The general walked with him into his garden and fruit-yard, which were among the best in the vi- cinity. On his return to the house, the bride inquired privately, what he thought of her husband. He replied, " H., he will always cut off his pigs' tails, because it will require one ear of corn extra to fat the tail." The young bride ultimately learned that his judgment was correct.
Ile was also blessed with a retentive memory. Hence by obser- vation, conversation, and constant intercourse with the world, (if not by intuition,) he acquired a fund of knowledge. Had he in addition to these endowments, been favored with a classical education, he would doubtless have been in many respects, one of the most distin- guished characters of his age. As it was, he was a man of rare qualities.
In appearance, he was peculiarly dignified and imposing; above the medium height, of portly dimensions, a symmetrical form, fine countenance, and stately movements. Until a few of his last years. his dress was that of gentlemen of an earlier period, termed small clothes ; and he uniformly followed his carly custom of wearing his
25
378
HISTORY OF ANCIENT WOODBURY.
hair braided, turned up, fastened upon the top of his head and pow- dered.
One had only to see him, to be impressed with the conviction that he was one of nature's noblemen, born to command. In his deport- ment he was a gentleman. Hle appeared familiar with, and a careful observer of all the rules of etiquette common in his day ; nor did he regard advancing years as any apology for their neglect. He could readily accommodate himself to all classes, and render himself inter- esting to all, by an unusual amount of wit and humor, and by the originality of his anecdotes and illustrations.
He was ardent in his attachment to his friends, and could long re- member an act of kindness; but was somewhat vindictive toward his enemies, and could not readily forget an injury. Concerning some by whom he felt himself sorely abused, he was heard to say, " If the Lord should see fit to take them away, he should be very much resigned to his will."
He had a peculiar fondness for society, and was apparently restive when alone. The night to him was sometimes long. Few of his neighbors ever rose so early, but they might see him walking in the open air with uncovered head.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.