USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > New Haven, a book recording the varied activities of the author in his efforts over many years to promote the welfare of the city of his adoption since 1883, together with some researches into its storied past and many illustrations > Part 15
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VIII.
LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT AND BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE HENRY WHITFIELD STATE HISTORICAL MUSEUM AT GUILFORD.66
"Henry Whitfield was born at Greenwich, Kent, in the summer of 1592. . He was elected a scholar of Winchester College (or school) in 1602, aged 10 years, and was admitted to New College, Oxford, June 8, 1610. at the age of 17-18 years." Letter from the Rev. H. B. George of New College, Oxford, to the Rev. Dr. Andrews of Guilford.
Gentlemen :- Having recently been appointed a trustee on your board by His Excellency, Governor Woodruff, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Mr. Charles H. Scholey, I venture to offer for your consideration some suggestions with regard to the Whitfield house and home-lot along the line of a definite plan for the development of the property. In this connection I may state that, having some time ago been placed on the Advisory Committee chosen to pass upon articles to be placed on permanent exhibition in the house, I visited Guilford during the past summer and at that time went over the house for the first time since its purchase by the State. Since then I have given the subject considerable thought, and as it may be some months before the entire Board of Trustees meet again, I have decided to present in writing the conclusions I have reached regarding the use of the property. In buying the property the design of the State was to create an historical museum. That is clear. But what kind of a museum. Is it to be a resort for popular entertainment-a place where the curious may feed on a miscellaneous collection of relics covering a wide period of time ; or is it to place before the public a picture of colonial life in Whitfield's time and quicken in all visitors the historical sense by showing the way by which we have come? These questions raise the entire museum problem. One plan or the other must be chosen.
66 Now printed for the first time.
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The latter plan seems to me to be obviously the one to follow here. The Whitfield house and home-lot offer a unique opportunity of adopting the pictorial plan, if I may so desig- nate it. We have in New Haven, in Hartford, and in other places throughout the State, collections of relics as such. These are interesting and serve a useful purpose. But the Whitfield house is not well adapted to the display of a miscellaneous assortment of relics; while on the other hand, it is perfectly adapted to the other and far more stimu- lating purpose,-the reproduction of the conditions of the domestic life of a gentleman of Whitfield's time-of Whitfield himself.
My present object, then, is to point out some of the ways at least in which the property, in my opinion, should be handled as from time to time money becomes available for the purpose of developing it. I cannot think the restoration of the interior of the house fortunate, although those having the matter in charge were certainly well advised in entrusting the work to Mr. Norman M. Isham,67 than whom no one is better versed in the earliest Connecticut carpentry.
In my opinion the best way will be to limit as far as possible the articles displayed in the house to those antedating 1700, or at least having the character of Seventeenth century work. It will be a mistake to crowd the house with small objects and eighteenth century furni- ture. Old books, papers and letters displayed in show cases suffer from dust and exposure to light. This is the experience of all museums. Such articles would better be filed away and a card catalogue made so that they may readily be consulted. If the idea is that a museum should reproduce the picture of old life rather than display a miscel- 67 Joint author with Albert F Brown, of "Early Connecticut Houses- An Historical and Architectural Study." Providence, R. I., 1900.
For a detailed account of the restoration of the house by Mr. Isham see "The Henry Whitfield House and the State Historical Museum"-a paper prepared by the Rev. Wm. Given Andrews, D.D., and to be found in the Transactions of the New Haven Colony Historical Society, Vol. VII, 1907.
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laneous assortment of old things, then the "great hall" of the house should be cleared of its numerous show cases and the small objects hung here and there, and these things replaced by such pieces of furniture and such pictures and such other accessories as might have been found in the house in Whit- field's time. 68
If a "great table" cannot be secured, and I think that doubtful, it would be easy to have a copy made of the large Seventeenth century table brought, I believe from Windsor and now in the collection of the Connecticut Histori- cal Society at Hartford. For this table "forms" or benches could be easily made. The Colonial inventories constantly mention them. I do not recall an old example, but if one could not be found, it is known how they were made from their representation in pictures. There is in the room already a fine old wainscot chair and another chair of the same period. It would be easy, and not expensive, to have copies made of the Abraham Pierson chair in the Yale College Library, and the Governor Treat chair in the possession of a lady living in New Haven. These are "wainscot" chairs and would suit the character of the "great hall" admirably. They would, moreover, be in perfect accord with the house as to period. The "great hall" should also have in addition to a "great table," "forms." and "wainscot chairs," a "court cup- board." It is not too late to secure a "court cupboard," though most of the existing specimens are now in museums or private collections.69
68 Anyone who wishes to visualize the effect the writer had in mind in writing this may easily do so by visiting the Whitfield House and then examining the unrivaled collection of Seventeenth century New England oak acquired last year (1909) by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, through the generosity of Mrs. Russell Sage. This collection, made by Mr. H. E. Bolles of Boston, will serve to show by what appointments our New England forebears were surrounded. No similar collection known to the writer is accessible to the public. Many pieces in the Bolles col- lection are illustrated in the sumptuous catalogue compiled by Henry Watson Kent and Florence N. Levy of the exhibition held in The Metro- politan Museum of Art, as a feature of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration in New York in 1909.
69 For additional illustrations of Seventeenth century oak furniture of the character I have in mind, see "The Colonial Furniture of New Eng-
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I offer these suggestions as to what might be done in the way of providing the room with furniture in case original furniture of the period cannot be secured by purchase or gift. It would not be difficult to pick up here and there old engravings contemporaneous in date with the house. But small pictures will not scale in so large a room as the "great hall." Ultimately I think it should be hung with copies of paintings of men prominent in colonial life in Whitfield's time, or even later. It would be easy to have a copy made of the portrait of the Rev. John Davenport, now hanging in the Dining Hall of Yale University, as well as copies of the por- traits of the Rev. James Pierpont and his lady70 in the posses- sion of Dr. John P. C. Foster of New Haven. Portraits of Governor Winthrop, the Younger, and Governor Saltonstall would add to the interest of the place. By proceeding in this way the "great hall" might be given a dignified character, which it never can have if crowded with show cases and filled land," by Irving Whithall Lyon, The Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1891; "Colonial Furniture in America," by Luke Vincent Lockwood, Charles. Scribner's Sons, New York, 1901; "The Furniture of Our Forefathers," by Esther Singleton, Doubleday, Page & Company, New York, 1900.
70 These portraits, done in 17II, (?) are of remarkable interest and among the most precious of all early American portraits not only on account of the sitters, but as among the first paintings executed in this country in the field of portraiture. Mary Hooker, daughter of the Reverend Samuel Hooker of Hartford, and granddaughter of the Reverend Thomas Hooker of Hartford, was the third "consort" of Mr. Pierpont, who married, first, Abigail Davenport, granddaughter of John Davenport, a founder of the New Haven Colony, and, second, Sarah Haynes, daughter of Governor John Haynes of the Hartford Colony. Sarah Haynes had for her mother Mabel Harlakenden (daughter to Richard Harlakenden of Earl's Colne Prior in the County of Essex), most coveted of all American ancestresses. Mabel's ancestral chart, bespangled with coronets, sheds lustre on many republican homes. And who shall say that they are not happier who place pride of birth above pride of purse? With such a list of marriages to "Colonial Dames" can it be wondered that Mr. Pierpont's descendants aspired, a generation later, to the Dukedom of Kingston, as recorded by Mr. James Kingsley Blake in "The Lost Dukedom, or the Story of the Pierrepont Claim"-a story delightfully told. See Transactions of the New Haven Colony Historical Society, Vol. VII, 1907. "Of course 'tis noble to be good. But what are hearts to coronets, And simple faith to Norman blood !"
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with such miscellaneous objects as may be from time to time presented for exhibition in the house. Such objects should, in my opinion, be placed in other rooms of the house reserved for such collections, and never be allowed to intrude in the "great hall." Indeed, the collection of old things because they are old and curious rather than for any particular sig- nificance they may have, is one species of ancestor worship, though not generally recognized as such. It is all very well for an individual collector to engage in ancestor worship, but a col- lection made under the auspices of the State should have a dif- ferent significance-a true educational import. In the "great hall" might be placed a case or shelf of such books as the Rev. Mr. Whitfield had in his library, mostly theological, of course. As he returned to England in 1650, we cannot look to his inven- tory for a list of his books, but other inventories will serve to show what books other clergymen of the same period had.70a Such books can be picked up from time to time, and modern reprints need not be ignored. The main thing is to bring together a collection representative of the library of a clergy- man of Whitfield's time. This collection would have great interest in itself. We read the titles of these old books, but a typical library of them would be much more informing. In this connection I may say that it seems to me that there is in Con- necticut no collection of books more interesting in its way than the library of the Rev. Dr. Samuel. Johnson in the old Johnson house at Stratford. Dr. Johnson, who has been called the "Father of Episcopacy in Connecticut," was not only a clergyman, but a cultivated gentleman, and the library that he brought together in Stratford remains, I believe, prac- tically intact, and is of the greatest value as a typical library of a gentleman of that period, showing the character of his theological as well as his special interests outside. Mr. Whit- field, as I have said, returned to England in 1650 and spent the remainder of his days in the old cathedral town of Winchester. It may be that some record might be found there of the char-
TOa See the list of books in the inventory of Edward Tench of New Haven, 1639, as given in Bacon's "Historical Discourses," pp. 328-9.
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acter of his library. At least I think that a search in that quar- ter would be worth while.
The Seventeenth century was the golden age of furniture, not only in England, but also in the Colonies. It was the period of carved and panelled chests and massive under-braced tables and chairs, all of which gave way at the opening of the Eighteenth century to lighter and ultimately more elegant forms. It is not too late to make a collection of Seventeenth century Colonial oak for the "great hall." There are many fine specimens in private collections in Connecticut, and from these a collection in the old house might from time to time be enriched by purchase or gift.
It may be said that the house, if set out with furniture, books and pictures, as above suggested, would be too fine, and not give a true picture of Colonial life in Connecticut. From such a thought I. must dissent. I am well aware that the popular impression is that the Colonists at the very first were very poor, had meagerly appointed houses, were narrow- minded and unfamiliar with the graces of life. The anti- quarian who has studied the Colonial inventories knows better. He knows that many of the Colonists were men of wealth; that they were surrounded in their homes with furniture, hangings, books and plate of beautiful and costly character. Let anyone who doubts this examine the inventories of the Rev. Thomas Hooker of Hartford, or of Mr. Theophilus Eaton of New Haven. The beauty and dignity of the furni- ture itemized in these inventories may well be understood by examining the illustrations in Dr. Lyon's "Colonial Furniture in New England," and in Lockwood's "Colonial Furniture in America."
It was a great surprise to many not familiar with Colonial wills and inventories to find such a splendid display of Ameri- can made silver, much of it going back to the Seventeenth century, at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston last summer. I do not refer now so much to the silver produced about the Revolutionary period, as to the silver produced in the last
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quarter of the Seventeenth and the first quarter of the Eighteenth centuries. It is less pretentious, perhaps, than English silver of the period, but equal to it in form and in many instances in workmanship. This collection has been illustrated in a catalogue entitled "American Silver," pub- lished by the museum and to be found in our public libraries.71 Old silver could hardly be secured for the house in Guilford, but I mention the subject in support of the proposition that the Whitfield house might be furnished with extremely hand- some appointments and not exceed historical accuracy in that respect.
We do not understand well enough the character as to wealth, position, and general culture, of the first generation of Colonists. Nor is there any place in the State where this par- ticular lesson could be so well enforced as in the Whitfield house. Visitors to the house from outside of the State would have their ideas corrected. Throughout the South, for instance, the popular impression is that in New England the Colonists were poor, uncultivated, and strangers to the gentler side of life. I am speaking of the original Colonists-not of their descendants. Bred and educated in old England, they were better mannered, had more "book-learning," and knew more about the refinements of life than their less fortunate immediate descendants. Some of them had considerable means derived from the sales of their English estates. The furniture, hangings, books and plate brought with them from old Eng- land had not then been scattered and destroyed. The second and third generations in particular were less cultivated and in many families were surrounded by fewer tokens of wealth and refinement than the original Colonists, and as for money, that had largely been spent in clearing its land and building homes.72 But here are no reasons why the life of an original
11 "American Silver, The Work of Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Silversmiths, Exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, June to November, 1906."
72 'Trumbull's "History of Connecticut," 1818. Vol. I, pp. 117 and 227. "Wolcott Memorial," 1881. I, pp. 29-30. Memorial History of Hartford County. Vol. I. p. 243-see extract on p. 163 of this book.
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Colonist of the first period should not be portrayed in Guil- ford. Indeed, I think that no better use of the Whitfield house as a state museum could be devised than to have it reproduce as accurately as possible Seventeenth century Colonial life at its best. Whitfield was one of the wealthiest and most cultivated men who came to the Colony of Connect- icut, and it is a matter of good fortune that his house remains to be used as above suggested. The enrichment of his house by authentic belongings of the period becomes eminently proper when we turn to the admirable portrait of him by Cotton Mather in the pages of Mather's immortal, not to say marvelous, work, "Christi Magnalia Americana."
Whitfield's withdrawal from Guilford in 1650 was a great blow to the infant town. Apparently he was too great a "candle" for so small a "candlestick" as the Church of Christ in Guilford. He might, perhaps, have accepted a call to New Haven, or tried the "golden candlestick" of the church in Boston. Be that as it may, to the grief of his people, he returned to England with his family and spent the remainder of his days in Winchester.
Mather in the "Magnalia" says of Whitfield: "He was a gentleman of good extraction by his birth; but of a better by his new-birth; nor did his new-birth come very long after his birth. He did betimes begin his journey heavenwards; but he did not soon tire in that journey ; nor did the 'serpent by the way,' the 'adder in the path,' prevail to make him. come short home at last. He was one who abounded in liberality and hospitality; and his house was always much resorted unto. . He sojourned eleven years at Guilford, living with his large family of ten children mostly on his own estate, which was thereby exceedingly exhausted. But the inconveniences of New England, and invitations to Old, at length overcame him to return into his native country; and at the time of parting, the whole town accompanied him unto the water-side, with a spring-tide of tears, because 'they should see his face no more.' . . How highly his ancient friends then welcomed him; how highly the greatest persons in the
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nation then respected him; how faithfully he then discharged his ministry in the city of Winchester; how many services he occasionally did for New-England; and how triumphantly at last he flew away to Heaven; must be no part of this history."
One writer says: "The first settlers of Guilford were nearly all gentlemen of means. Their first magistrate, Sam- uel Desborough, returned to England in 1650, and six years later was appointed by Cromwell, Lord Chancellor of Scotland. He held this position until the restoration of King Charles II, who treated him with great kindness, and permitted him to retire to the enjoyment of his elegant estate at Els- worth, where he resided until his death." I quote this merely to show what manner of men Whitfield entertained in the "old stone house." Some day, perhaps, one of the wall- spaces above one of the two fireplaces in the "great hall" might be filled with a canvas representing the departure of Mr. Whitfield. The pinnace in the offing, the venerable cler- gyman surrounded by his flock at the waterside in tears; the women in their red broadcloth coats, and the men in their cone-shaped hats, would afford an artist an exceptional opportunity.
As to the grounds, in which I am quite as much inter- · ested as in the house itself, I am told that a semicircular drive in front of the house has been proposed. Such a drive would virtually destroy the character which it must be the aim of the trustees to give the place. The house was not built for an inn, but for a gentleman's residence, and I think the present simple, straight path from the street. to the front door answers the purpose of entrance very well. The carriage and automobile entrance should be entirely at one side. To secure an atmos- phere of the old time for the house it must, as far as possible, be isolated from its surroundings. If the whole place were enclosed by a stone wall I think that a sense of detachment would be attained to a degree not possible with any fence or hedge or arrangement of trees and shrubs.
I now come to a suggestion, which, if carried out, would greatly add to the interest of the place; namely, to reproduce
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upon the knoll near the house an old-time orchard, instead of attempting any planting of ornamental trees after the manner of modern landscape architecture or gardening. One has only to study the wills of the earliest Colonists to understand their appreciation of orchards. They brought with them from old England the feeling that the English then had and now have, for the cultivation of small fruits.73 Our old wills con- stantly refer to orchards in such a way as to show that the orchard was one of the most prized possessions of the Colonist. I think it would be feasible, and not expensive, to secure from Ockley in old England a variety of small fruits-apples, pears, plums, etc .. as well as a variety of flowers, and plant them on the place. In this way, probably, very much the same selection of fruits that the Rev. Mr. Whitfield set out could be secured. Offshoots from the historic pear tree planted at Danvers, Mass., by Governor Endicott about 1630, would be easy to obtain. Such an orchard would greatly heighten the interest of the place; and, in my opinion, this is the only logical and proper treatment of the grounds. Indeed, such an orchard would soon become an interest in itself and attract visitors for its own sake. The caretaker of the place has ample time for the care of such an orchard, which might be made a source of income rather than expense.
Lady Fenwick, the first of our Colonial Dames, and in every way worthy to fill that position in history, had a pen- chant for gardening, and it is said delighted in setting out apple and cherry trees. She appreciated the value of an orchard, which we may suppose she had time for, since on her arrival in New Haven harbor in July, 1639, on the same
78 "Endicott in addition to being a devout Puritan and an intrepid and successful leader, was also a lover of trees and shrubs, with an especial leaning toward the fruit-bearing varieties. Mr. Higginson, who came to the colony in June, 1629, records the fact that 'Our Governor hath already planted a vineyard, with great hopes of increase. Also mulberries, plums, raspberries, currants, chestnuts, filberts, walnuts, small nuts, hurtle berries and haws of white thorn, near as good as our cherries in England-they grow in plenty here.'"-The Historic Trees of Massachusetts, by J. R. Simmons-Boston, 1919-pp. 64-65.
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ship with Whitfield, she gave him, with characteristic gener- osity, all of her cows, which he took to Guilford; and there are those who claim that descendants of Lady Fenwick's cows still graze the sweet pastures of Guilford, Madison, Clinton, Saybrook and Lyme.73ª At any rate, Lady Fenwick cultivated fruits and flowers in her garden at Saybrook during those lonely years of her exile, and since we must not deny a place for the ladies in our gallery of worthies, we can, perhaps, look to the Colonial Dames to place in the "great hall" a canvas showing Lady Fenwick walking in her orchard-garden at Saybrook. ·
If I may offer a further suggestion, I think it would be well to consider the appointment as trustees of one or two persons who have paid particular attention to the cultivation of fruit trees and flowers, and who would be specially quali- fied to look after the treatment of the grounds about the place.
Of course I have no idea, as I may say in conclusion, that these suggestions, or any of them, if adopted, would be put into execution at once, but only from time to time as money became available and gifts were made. What I wish to emphasize is the importance of adopting some definite plan for the development of the place as an historical museum worthy of its associations and of the State, and as a shrine where the best traditions of the first days of Colonial life may be kept bright.
New Haven, Conn., October, 1907.
73a "Formal Opening of the State Historical Museum, Guilford, Connecti- cut,"-Pamphlet pub. 1904.
NOTES ON HENRY WHITFIELD'S FAMILY AND FRIENDS.
"His father was Thomas Whitfield, an eminent London lawyer, whose home was at Mortlake on the Thames, and whose wealth and influence enabled him to carry out his ambitions for his sons. He intended that his second son, Henry, should receive the education for which he seemed to show capacity, and should take his own place at the bar. His mother was Mildred Manning, a lady of a good Kentish family, in whose family lines is found the name of England's greatest poet, Geoffrey Chaucer, although descent from him is not claimed. Thus on both sides Henry Whitfield came from families not noble, but gentle, and containing some illustrious
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names." From "The Character of Henry Whitfield," a paper read by Mrs. Frank W. Cheney, representing the Connecticut Society of Colonial Dames, at the formal opening of the Museum, September 21, 1904.
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