USA > Connecticut > New London County > Ledyard > History of the town of Ledyard, 1650-1900 > Part 16
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REV. RALPH HURLBUTT was born May 19, 1767. On Jan. 10, 1790, he married Mary Jones, daughter of John and Sarah Jones. She was born Dec. 2, 1765, and died Dec. 20, 1851, aged 86 years. Rev. Mr. Hurlbutt was descended in a direct line from Lieut. Thomas Hurlbutt, who was appointed to the command of the fort at Saybrook, Conn., 1636, and afterwards settled in Wethersfield. Stephen Hurlbutt, great-grandfather of Ralph, settled in New London, Conn., between 1680 and 1690. His grandfather, John Hurlbutt, grew up and settled in North Groton (Ledyard). His father, Rufus Hurlbutt, was killed in Fort Griswold, Sept. 6, 1781, aged 40 years. The subject of this
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sketch early embraced the Methodist faith and became a minister. It was largely through his instrumentality that the Methodist Church at Gale's Ferry was established. He supplied the pulpit of this church without compensation during a large part of his active life. He preached almost to the last days of his life, his last sermon while sitting in a chair, being unable to stand. He was thoroughly devoted to the interests of his church, and al- ways ready to make any personal sacrifice for the good of the cause. He was a justice of the peace for many years, holding the office till disqualified by age. He was for a long period judge of probate. For the varied services performed by him, whether in behalf of the town or the probate district, he was re- markably well qualified; and in each and all of them he proved himself a faithful and efficient officer. As a minister of the Gospel he was not liberally educated, and not learned in the ordinary sense of the word, yet he was a reader and a thinker, and a very instructive preacher, accustomed to present the truths of the Bible in such ways that they would be remembered. In the pulpit he spoke without notes, yet with great freedom and correctness, and often with a fervid earnestness that was very im- pressive. He died May 8, 1850, mourned by a large circle of friends, and is still widely and affectionately remembered.
RALPH HURLBUTT, 2ND, nephew of Rev. Ralph Hurlbutt, was born in Colchester (now Salem), in 1807. From 1810 on- ward his home was in North Groton (now Ledyard). He repre- sented the town of Ledyard in the State Legislature in 1854. He was a trustee of the Bill Library Association from the time of its organization to the time of his death which occurred June 25, 1886. He was married in 1833 to Margaret Bolles. Of their five children, Ralph Wilbur died Jan. 10, 1863, aged 23, and Mary Annie died Dec. 1, 1859, aged 17.
CAPT. ADAM LARRABEE, son of Frederic and Abigail (Allyn) Larrabee, was born in that part of Groton which is now Ledyard, March 14, 1787. At the age of twenty-one he entered the Mili- tary Academy at West Point, and remained there till he had com-
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pleted the prescribed course of study. He was then appointed second lieutenant of light artillery, and a few months later was promoted and made first lieutenant. "His service at that time was in garrisons on the At- lantic coast, though he also participated in the campaign along the north- ern frontier in 1812. His next service was under General Wilkinson on the St. Lawrence, where he was engaged in the attack on La Colle Mills, March 30, 1814. In this engagement he was shot through the lungs, the bullet lodging against the shoulder-blade. whence it was removed by the surgeon. After being thus wounded he was car- CAPT. ADAM LARRABEE. ried some twenty miles in an open sleigh to the house of Chancellor Reuben Hyde Walworth, where he was tenderly cared for by the family. It was no doubt due largely to this ex- cellent nursing that his life was saved. He was soon after pro- moted to a captaincy, but resigned his commission in 1815." After retiring from the military service his principal occupation was that of a farmer, first in Groton, where he resided till 1853. when he removed to Windham, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was a member of the Connecticut House of Repre- sentatives in 1822; one of the board of visitors to the Military Academy in 1828, and one of the presidential electors in 1840. He was for more than forty years a director of the Thames Na- tional Bank, Norwich. In 1817 he was married to Hannalı Gallup Lester, who bore him nine children, all of whom survived him, except his son, John, who died in 1852. Capt. Larrabee died at Windham, Oct. 25, 1869, aged 82. His upright char-
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acter and exemplary conduct commanded the respect and esteem of all who knew him. His memory is cherished with affection by a large circle of friends.
Ex-Gov. WILLIAM LARRABEE, of Clermont, Fayette County. Iowa, son of Adam and Hannah G. (Lester) Larrabee, was born Jan. 20, 1832, in North Groton, Conn. (now Ledyard), and was the seventh child and the fifth son of a family of nine children, and was raised on the farm where he was born, which formerly be- longed to his Lester ances- tors. In early childhood and youth he was slender in stature, yet his general health was good ; but when seventeen years of age he suffered a great misfortune by losing the sight of his right eye, which has been more or less painful, and a great and a very serious in- convenience for these inany years.
Gov. WILLIAM LARRABEE.
He was educated in the district school of the town, but he always had access to his father's library which was well supplied with valuable books.
The last winter that he lived in Ledyard he taught school in the district where he was raised.
In the fall of 1853 he left Connecticut for Iowa; and soon after his arrival there he engaged in corn harvesting, which was about the only labor the country afforded at that season of the year ; and a little later he engaged a school for the winter which was held in a log school-house where, a portion of the time, he was compelled to wear his overcoat during the day to protect himself from the extreme cold.
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The next three succeeding years he was engaged as foreman on the two-thousand-acre farm belonging to his brother-in-law, the late Judge Elias H. Williams. This farm was largely brought under improvement from the raw prairie by breaking and fencing while under his supervision. While engaged in this enterprise he used to drive one of the teams of six pairs of oxen on a breaking plow. At this time the farm was quite remote from neighbors, but one of the few that he was favored with has since become speaker of the House of Representatives-Hon. David B. Henderson.
After leaving Judge Williams' employ he engaged with partners in flour manufacturing, and labored vigorously, early and late, with indifferent success.
A little later his partners retired from the business leaving him sole proprietor of a mill of two hundred barrels capacity per day. But the results were far more gratifying than formerly. This enterprise involved quite a large capital, also much care and labor-at times confining him nineteen hours per day.
In the fall of 1861 he married Anna Appelman, the oldest daughter of the late Capt. Gustavus and Prudence Ann (Will- iams) Appelman, formerly from Mystic and Ledyard, Conn. They have had seven children, three sons and four daughters, and six are living.
Probably the loss of his eye prevented his entering the army in the War of the Rebellion, but he contributed freely for the government in those trying times. He has always been intense- ly loyal to the government, also to the State of his adoption.
After living in Iowa some twenty years, Mr. Larrabee en- tered the political arena. The special occasion of his doing it was this: The people of his county felt that they had been, without good reason, passed by in the laying out of railroads through the State. It was to advocate their interests in this matter that he was elected a member of the State Senate in 1868. He entered earnestly upon the work entrusted to him, but failed in his first endeavors. He was re-elected the next term and re- newed the contest, and persisted till success crowned his efforts. After serving in the Senate for eighteen consecutive years he
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was solicited to run for Governor, and finally consented. In the nominating convention that year-1881,-a rival candidate re- ceived a few more votes than he. Four years later he was the regular nominee of his party, and was chosen Governor by a majority of 7,000. Two years later still his re-election to the same office was by a majority of 16,000.
His first term as Governor was largely given to the contest over prohibition. Though he had at an earlier period opposed prohibition, yet when prohibition became the policy of the State he felt that it ought to be enforced, and did all that he could to have it enforced, and with most satisfactory results.
During his second term as Governor, the question of the State supervision of railroads came up. He contended earnestly for such supervision, sometimes single-handed and alone, and this against all the legal talent and all the money influence which the railroads could array against him. But, in due time, he achieved complete and triumphant success. A law, embracing the principles which he advocated, was passed by the Legisla- ture without a dissenting vote; and that law is preserved as if it were something sacred.
He has published a Treatise on railroads which is esteemed by those specially interested in such matters.
In February, 1900, Gov. Larrabee resigned his office as a member of the State Board of Control, an office which he had held about two years.
Pretty soon after, with four members of his family, he started on a journey to Europe, being possessed of ample means for such luxurious recreation.
The Des Moines Leader, of Feb. 11, 1900, speaking of his late retirement from office, uses the following language: "It is not saying more than is warranted to declare that no man in Iowa to-day possesses so large a share of the public confidence in his integrity, earnestness of purpose and devotion to public good as Gov. Larrabee."
CAPT. NATHAN F. LARRABEE, oldest son of Capt. Adam Lar- rabee, was born in North Groton, Oct. 11, 1818, "On the day
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he arrived at the age of twenty-one his father, to gratify the boy's fond ambition, went with him to New York and shipped him 'to go before the mast,' in the line of London packets of Grinnell, Minturn & Co. His first trip was a severe one, and his master was surprised, upon their arrival in New York, to have the boy ask for a second voyage, which was readily granted. He rapidly rose, on account of his merit and faithfulness, to be master of one of the largest vessels owned by the firm. He remained in the employ of this firm through his entire active life of forty years; and during all those years lost but one trip." Most of his CAPT. NATHAN F. LARRABEE. voyages were between New York and London. Several of them, however, were between New York and China. Capt. Larrabee was a great favorite with the numerous passen . gers who crossed the ocean in his ships, and, indeed, with all who came to know him well. His strictly temperate habits and his thorough devotion to duty won for him a high place in their estimation. He was never married. When overtaken with what proved to be his last sickness, he retired to the home of his brother, Hon. Henry Larrabee, of Windham, where he was ten- derly cared for by loving friends till his painful sickness, of sev- eral weeks' continuance, terminated in his death on Sept. 13, 1879, at the age of 61.
HON. HENRY LARRABEE, fourth son and sixth child of Capt. Adam and Hannah G. (Lester) Larrabee, was born in North Groton, now Ledyard, April 15, 1830. He was educated in the
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public schools of his native town, became a farmer, and has con- tinued in that occupation through life. He held the office of selectman many years. He was a member of the enrolling com- mittee during the closing portion of the Civil War, in 1865. He has been a member of the Bill Library Association from the date of its organization. He was a member of the House of Representatives in the State Legislature in 1868, and of the Senate in 1875. Mr. Larrabee moved to Windham in 1878, and from that time to the pres- ent has been a resident of that town, and held office in it much after the same fashion that he did in Led- HON. HENRY LARRABEE. yard. He worships with the Congregational Church, and has often served on the committee of the Ecclesiasti- cal Society. For many years he has been accustomed to settle estates. Large amounts of property have passed through his hands, and in the management of these important trusts he has commanded the confidence of all who have known him. He has been a trustee of the Norwich Savings Society for thirty years, a director for twenty-five years, and a vice-president for ten years ; also a director of the Windham National Bank some eight or ten years. Mr. Larrabee has made valuable contributions to this history. He has given much time to the preparation of the lists of soldiers, and furnished many facts and statistics that have been wrought into the work.
Mr. Larrabee was married March 17, 1853, to Miss Maria S. Allyn, daughter of Christopher and Maria Allyn. They have had ten children-seven sons and three daughters. Only two
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sons and one daughter, Mrs. Lucius Brown, of Norwich, are now living. Mrs. Larrabee died Dec. 20, 1898.
SAMUEL S. LAMB, son of Daniel W. and Hannah (Culver) Lamb, was born in Groton, April 21, 1816. He began teaching at the age of seventeen, and continued at the work over fifty years. The following sketch of his career, as a teacher, is taken from the published account of the "Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary" of his teaching :
"The fiftieth anniversary of public school teaching by Samuel S. Lamb, of Groton, was observed on Thursday, Aug. 16, 1883, by a basket picnic on his farm. At noon the anniversary exer- cises commenced according to programme. The large crowd filled the tent. Capt. J. K. Bucklyn, of the Mystic Valley In- stitute, presided with tact and efficiency. The music was con- ducted by Mr. Simeon Gallup, who had a large, well-trained choir at his command ; they enlivened the day with several choice se- lections. At the organ was Prof. Griest, of Baltimore, who opened with a voluntary, followed by a song. Rev. C. H. Rowe, of Mystic River, read the Scriptures, and Rev. J. A. Gallup, of Madison, offered prayer. Mr. S. S. Lamb, the veteran, but hale hero of the day, then came forward to greet his friends, giving an interesting sketch of his school life :
"At the age of thirteen, in the old red school-house of Led- yard, he became master of the 'three R's.' Daboll's Arithmetic. Woodbridge's Geography, Murray's Grammar, the Testament, the English Reader and Webster's Spelling Book were the text books. From thirteen to fifteen, he studied much at home -- some of his teachers during that time not being very efficient. At seventeen he began to teach in the Ninth Groton or Fishtown district. One of the examiners who signed his first certificate, Henry Haley, was present at the gathering. The spring of 1835 found him at Colchester, under the faithful instruction of Charles P. Otis, A. M., principal of Bacon Academy, and from this source he derived valuable information in regard to his chosen calling. Day's Algebra, Playfair's Euclid, and Mr. Otis' Order of Exer- cises in Grammar, were leading studies. He attended Joseph
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H. Gallup's school at Poquetanuck, and then for two years he was a student in the Suffield Literary Institution. There he sub- stantially prepared himself for college, but did not enter for the lack of means. He rarely taught summers, but worked hard farming, except in the Mystic River graded school, where he taught the year round for two years. Mr. Lamb did not men- tion his teaching in a graded school in New Jersey, nor his teaching select schools from time to time. Over one thousand pupils, first and last, have been under his instruction, for which he received about $7,000, or, on an average, $140 per year ; and he might have added, a sum quite too small for the service ren- dered. He had never been obliged to ask for a situation, but his services had always been sought. His experience had been long, but he said it had not made him sage. He thought teaching was an honorable calling. It was not always a healthy one, but if the teacher was conscientious and faithful, was surely laborious. He spoke of one school where he had eighty-nine enrolled, and eighty-five in attendance in a day; where the recess at noon had to be shortened, and later hours kept in order to accomplish the object; and that was supplemented by an evening school for volunteers to receive additional instruction, and every moment not used in eating and sleeping must be improved for the benefit of the school. Those days were full of labor, but they were happy days. He had been on the board of education six years in Ledyard, and over thirty in Groton. He took pleasure in acknowledging his indebtedness to Mr. Palmer Gallup, deceased, long a teacher of youth in Groton, in Suffield Institute and else- where. His advice to young teachers, or aspirants present, who wanted the best situations was to deserve them.
"The president of the day then made a short, pithy address.
"He then introduced the orator of the day, Rev. John W. Richardson, of New London. His subject was : 'Free Schools.' To say that it was an elegant tribute would be insufficient, for he was forcible, instructive and full of enthusiasm ; seeming to be- lieve with his whole soul his own grand, often startling and radical propositions. In our judgment it is unsurpassed in its
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discussion of the progress of the United States as a nation, and the causes which underlie that progress and its greatness."
Mr. Lamb was thrice married. First to Miss Eliza Gallup, March 20, 1842. She bore him three children and died May 22, 1859.
His second marriage was to Miss Parthenia Morgan. The fruit of this marriage was one child, a daughter.
His third wife was Miss Harriet E. Gallup, to whom he was married July 23, 1865. She died Jan. 6, 1892.
Mr. Lamb died Jan. 2, 1892.
COL. WILLIAM MORGAN, son of Christopher and Margaret (Gates) Morgan, was born March 28, 1809. His education was limited to what the public schools of his native town were able to give him. At the age of sixteen, he left school, and served several years as an apprentice to the carpenter's trade. The years of his mature manhood were mainly given to carpentry and farming. 'A fondness for general reading, made him a well-in- formed man. He was frequently heard on public occasions ; and was regarded as an earnest and forceful speaker. In politics he was originally a Whig; but upon the formation of the Republican party he entered its ranks at the beginning, and became one of its ardent supporters. He was a great admirer of Seward, Sumner, and Greeley. With the last-named he had a personal acquaint- ance, which was promoted by frequent correspondence. He was a prominent actor in all matters pertaining to the general welfare of the community ; was colonel of militia, selectman, town agent, justice of the peace, county commissioner, representative in the State Legislature, and for many years a faithful and efficient overseer of the Pequot Indians, whose reservation is located in the north part of the town of Ledyard. Though not a church member he was an active member and supporter of the ecclesiasti- cal society connected with the Congregational Church. Col. Morgan was married Feb. 22, 1836, to Cynthia Billings, dauglı- ter of Stephen and Martha Billings. They settled in Ledyard, on the place now (1900) occupied by Dea. Beckwith. Their children were
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Augusta, born July 18, 1837, married Oct. 1, 1860, Wm. A. Gallup, died Sept. 28, 1890.
Julia, born Aug. 18, 1839, married June 25, 1861, Chas. Stan- ton, died Jan. 11, 1896.
William, born Sept. 26, 1844, married Frances E. Niles. Christopher, born Oct. 11, 1852, married Edith Noyes.
Col. Morgan, died Nov. 3, 1859, aged 50.
His wife died Aug. 10, 1860, aged 50.
STEPHEN HENRY NORMAN, youngest of the seven children of Thomas and Hannah (Stoddard) Norman, was born in Groton (now Ledyard), Aug. 30, 1825. With the exception of one term in Bacon Academy, Col- chester, his education was acquired in the public schools of his native place.
He began to teach in his sixteenth year; and quite early in life had established a good reputation as a teacher. He taught the school in the Allyn district one year. He spent one year as book-keeper in the dry goods store of A. T. Stewart, New York. About 1860 he spent a year in the service of the Harper Brothers, New York.
STEPHEN H. NORMAN, ESQ. In 1865 he was teaching a public school in New- port, R. I., when he was unexpectedly requested to abandon his work as a teacher and assume that of a banker. The cashier of the Aquidneck National Bank of that city had become a de- faulter. The directors were looking for some one to take his place, when one of their number, who had become well ac- quainted with Mr. Norman, and formed meantime a high esti-
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mate of his ability and character, spoke of him as just such a man as they needed in the office now vacant. When the thing was mentioned to Mr. Norman he at once replied, "I know nothing about banking." "But," said one of the gentleman con- ferring with him, "You can learn." The upshot of the matter was that he gave up his school, went into the bank on a salary of $900 a year, and began at once to learn the business to which he was thus introduced. In due time he learned it thoroughly, and became a very successful cashier.
"From 1873 to his death he was cashier of the National Ex- change Bank on Washington square. He was the originator of the Island Savings Bank and one of its incorporators, and was its treasurer from its start. Careful and methodical in all his affairs and giving his full and undivided attention to busi- ness, he made the banks yield profitable dividends to the stock- holders and accumulated a generous competency, estimated at $150,000, for himself." [From Newport Mercury for Aug. I, 1891.]
He died in Newport, R. I., July 27, 1891. His remains were interred in the Ledyard cemetery, Conn.
Mr. Norman was never married. One brother and three sisters, living in Ledyard, survived him.
Hibbard R. Norman, the elder brother, remained with his sisters on the homestead, where he still resides.
REV. SAMUEL SEABURY, D. D., was born in the first Episcopal rectory in America, which formerly stood just westerly of the present Bill parsonage in Ledyard, Nov. 30, 1729. He was a son of Rev. Samuel Seabury, who began preaching as a licentiate in the Congregational denomination, but soon went over to Episco- pacy, and became at length the first minister of St. James' Church, New London. The son was graduated at Yale College in 1748. He was admitted to Orders by the Bishop of London in 1754. For some eighteen or twenty years he preached in different places 1ff the vicinity of New York City. Upon the breaking out of the Revolutionary War he left his parish and moved into the city, and for a time served as chaplain in the
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British army, being a Royalist, like most of the Episcopal clergy in the Northern States. After the restoration of peace he was chosen by the Episcopal clergy of Connecticut, their first Bishop ; and immediately went to England, to secure, if possible, conse- cration to the office. But the relations between the two coun- tries just at that time were such that the English clergy were very reluctant to grant his request. They felt that they could not consistently consecrate a bishop for a foreign land, which the United States had now become, and require him to take oaths which no true American could honestly take. The govern- ment, too, was very cautious about doing anything which might incense America. After a good deal of vexatious delay, Mr. Sea- bury went to Scotland, where he soon secured the end he was seeking. He was consecrated at Aberdeen, by the bishop of that place, Nov. 14, 1784. Returning to America he entered at once upon the duties of his office, and held his first ordination-the first Episcopal ordination in America-at Middletown, Aug. 3, 1785. Having already been chosen rector of St. James' Church, New London, he took up his residence in that city, and con- tinued to live there in the discharge of ministerial duties till the time of his death, which occurred Feb. 25, 1796. Upon the com- pletion of the new church edifice, in 1849, his remains were re- moved from the public cemetery, where they had lain for over half a century, and placed beneath the chancel. He was married early in life to a Miss Hicks, of New York. They had three sons and two daughters. His biographer, Dr. Hallam, says of Bishop Seabury, that "in person he was large, robust and vigor- ous. His appearance was dignified and commanding, and, in the performance of his official functions, inspired universal reverence. His mind was forcible and clear. His reading was extensive, and his memory a store-house of knowledge." He published a large number of addresses, sermons and essays.
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