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 34
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
The Rector's house was used continuously until 1799, when it was in such decay that that great and good man, the first President Dwight, declined to live in it, whereupon a new
372
NEW HAVEN :
president's house was built on a site now occupied by a portion of Farnam Hall. The Rector's house of 1722 was not torn down until 1834.
Caner is said, by Mr. Edwin Oviatt, Yale 1896, in his fascinating "Beginnings of Yale" (1916), to have been the architect of New Haven's first State House, built in 1719, but I can find no record either in New Haven or in the State Archives in Hartford, connecting him with that building.
Caner appears to have been much engaged as a "realtor," his name appearing on New Haven records no less than thirty- eight times. He died in 1731 and left a substantial estate of about 1300 pounds. His inventory shows that he died possessed of a musket, a sword, a cane, two "wiggs," one Bible, "four other books," leather as well as cloth breeches, a "bever hat" and an ample supply of table and bed linen. His inventory also itemizes a few carpenters' tools, a quantity of sash glass, and "shop goods" to the value of 273-II-II pounds, the last item showing that he was a shop-keeper as well as a housewright and dealer in real estate.
Caner was buried on New Haven Green, and his dust reposes to-day probably within a stone's throw of the site of the first Yale College building, of which he was the master- builder. The burying ground was located back of Center Church and later enclosed by a board fence painted red. See Blake's "Chronicles of New Haven Green" (1898), Wads- worth's map of 1748 and Stiles' map of 1775. Caner's rudely sculptured headstone was removed in 1821 to the Grove Street Cemetery, where it may still be seen in the Hillhouse lot. On it his name is spelled "Canner." His first wife probably died in England. He married, secondly, in Boston, December 14, 1714, Mrs. Abigail (Flagg) Cutler, who long survived him, dying here February 2, 1768, aged 88. His son Henry, born in England about 1699, was graduated from Yale in 1724 and went to England for orders in 1727. After preaching in Fair- field and Norwalk with great acceptance, he was called to King's Chapel in Boston in 1746. A man of great energy and ability, he became the "prime mover" in building the present
373
HENRY CANER, YALE'S FIRST BUILDER
King's Chapel, which replaced the old wooden structure which his father had enlarged in 1710-15. It is a curious fact that Peter Harrison, the architect of the fabric, who lived for sometime in New Haven as the Collector of the Port and died here in 1775, is also buried under New Haven Green. Boston has yet failed adequately to recognize that she owes her most famous fane to a Yale man, Henry Caner, Yale 1724.
The Rev'd Dr. Henry Caner was a Loyalist, and fled to England, where on Oct. 30, 1792, he died at the great age of 93 years, at Long Ashton, the English home of the family.
The senior Caner's daughter Mary, born in Boston in 1715, married Augustus Lucas of New Haven, a grandson of Augus- tus Lucas, a French emigre, who came to New Haven in 1698, a brother-in-law of Laurens, the founder of the well-known South Carolina family of the name. Their only child Mary was the first wife of James Abraham Hillhouse, Yale 1749, a native of New London, first of the New Haven Hillhouses, and uncle of Hon. James Hillhouse, the Patriot, Yale 1773, also a native of New London. Madam Hillhouse, staunch churchwoman and loyalist, is said to have induced General Garth to withhold the torch from New Haven at the time of the British Invasion, July 5th, 1779.
Caner has no other memorial than the modest headstone in the Hillhouse lot in the Grove Street Cemetery, but his name survives in Canner Street and forsooth as a sign on the Canner Street trolley-cars. I hope that some new Yale building may contain a memorial to him-Yale's first architect.
These gleanings from the faded pages of history-town and college-have yielded little. We see Caner but faintly. Gov- ernor Saltonstall, his noble patron, said in his letter of October 21, 1721, to the Trustees-"I am glad you have in your view such an able Undertaker as Mr. Caner"-the only words com- mending him that we have. The mere facts that he was called upon to enlarge King's Chapel in Boston and to built Yale's "Collegiate School" and Rector's house suffice, however, to place him high among our early New England builders. He was never spoken of as an architect, so far as the writer can
374
NEW HAVEN :
discover, a name of grander connotation than "house-wright," if you will, but the Anglo-Saxon homeliness of "house-wright" carries its own appeal and paints a picture at a stroke. The word "architect" did not come into use with us until a century and more had elapsed after Caner was borne to his grave on the Green. Now, indeed, it is losing its real meaning and acquiring the narrower connotation of schoolman.
For all the faintness of Caner's portrait, he seems to have been able, respected and prosperous, and the position which his family took in the new world to which he came, indicates that he was a man of character, breeding and force. I have not dragged in his family to "exalt his horn" but as showing his social position, also prefigured by his "bever hatt," his "two wiggs," his greatcoat, his sword, his cane. The average man was not so outfitted, nor was he styled "Mr." as was Caner.
Just now, when Yale plans and New Haven plans are being so much discussed, it is interesting to find that Governor Sal- tonstall in 1721 was recommending two plans, one for the "Colledge" and one for the Town. In his letter of July 13, 1720, seemingly directed to the Rev'd. Samuel Russel of Branford, he said :
"As for the plan you mention in your last, it will be time eno' to perfect it at the Commencement, where I shall gladly be if my occasions suffer it. I have already in my letter excused the sending of it with the Catalogue and Orders which I received from Mr. Rector and have forwarded; that being a matter which will require more time.
"My Thoughts upon it are, That there may be 2 'Planns.' A smaller comprehending the Town, Harbour, Colledge, in which the Village belonging to the Town may be well eno' and handsomly expressed without the charge of a nice surveigh of the whole Town.
"The other by a larger Scale, A Plan of the Colledge, and Green before it, Church and Court house, in which the Building may be beautified with Colours, to make a better appearance, than it will in small." (Dexter's Doc. Hist. pp. 205-206.)
The omniscient Governor was ahead of his time. Neither Yale nor New Haven has yet perfected comprehensive inter- related plans, so necessary for the convenience and general welfare of both the municipality and the University as they move forward together.
XLI.
A UNIQUE DOCUMENT-GOVERNOR SALTON- STALL'S "DRIVE" OF 1721 TO RAISE FUNDS FOR A RECTOR'S HOUSE.
So far as known, there is only one copy in existence of Governor Saltonstall's "Brief" of 1721, sent out by him to the churches throughout the State to solicit funds for a house for the Rector of the College. Since this rare document, acquired by the College comparatively recently, has never been reprinted, it seems to be of sufficient interest to warrant me in appending it to my article on Caner, if for no better reason than showing that Yale began her money-drives two hundred years ago.
BY THE HONORABLE GURDON SALTONSTALL, EsQ ; GOVERNOUR OF HIS MAJESTY'S COLONY OF CONNECTICUT, A BRIEF .*
WHEREAS Upon a Representation made to the General Assembly Holden at Hartford, the Eleventh Day of May last : It appeared, That the want of a House for the Rector of YALE COLLEGE at New Haven, was a great Disadvantage to the good Order and Education of the Students there,
* In the Revision of 1702 Connecticut Statutes, appears the following provision :
"Briefs : Be it enacted by the Governor, Council and Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, that no briefs craving the contribution of the people in any of the towns or plantations of this Colony, shall be read or attended, in any of the said towns or plantations, without it have the allowance of the Governor and Council, and be by them directed into what towns or congregations, it shall pass (except it be for some special occasion, for any distressed or afflicted person of their own inhabitants) upon penalty of the for- feiture of Five Pounds, for every person that shall read and publish any such brief, not allowed and directed as aforesaid; to be recovered by bill, plaint, or information, in any Court of Record; one-third of the penalty to the informer that shall prosecute the same to effect, and the residue to the County Treasurer."
376
NEW HAVEN :
AND, Among the Several Ways which were proposed to Supply that Defect, and raise a Sum of Money for that End,
IT was thought most suitable to Endeavour it, in Such a Method as might give, to all among us, who wish well to the Promoting of LEARNING and PIETY, design'd in the Founding of that SOCIETY, the most agreeable Opportunity of expressing their Regard thereto, on this Occasion.
AND Whereas Thereupon
THE ASSEMBLY Taking Encourgement, from the Gen- erous Donations already made to the great Comfort and Support of that Society, by Persons of Distinction in both Englands.
AND Moreover Considering, That a suitable Portion, out of what Divine Providence has blessed us with, being Voluntarily Dedicated to Pious Uses, is the most [illegible] and acceptable Way of expressing our hearty Gratitude, to Almighty GOD, the Fountain of all the Blessings we Enjoy; To whose Good- ness it is that we owe, both our Ability to Contribute for the Encouragement of that Society; and all the growing Hopes we have, to see it prove a great Blessing.
RESOLVED & ENACTED, That there be a Brief for a Publick Contribution, to be made throughout this Colony, for the aforesaid End.
I Have therefore, in Pursuance of the said Resolution and Order, (by and with the Advice and Consent of the Council) Appointed the Twenty-third Day of July next, being the LORD'S DAY, after the concluding of Divine Worship in the Afternoon, to be the Time for attending to the said Con- tribution : And the Deacons of the Respective Congregations, or in their Absence, such other Person as the Minister of the said Congregation shall Appoint, are hereby directed to receive what shall be Contributed ; and to give Notice as soon as may be, of the Sums which shall be so Collected, to Me in Council, that further Orders may be given, for the Application of them, in the most Effectual manner to the aforesaid Use.
AND, To the Intent that all Persons who may be inclined to Contribute to the said Use, may be acquainted with the
377
GOVERNOR SALTONSTALL'S BRIEF
aforesaid Resolve of this Assembly, and the Time hereby appointed for attending to it.
IT is hereby Recommended to the Ministers of the several Towns and Parishes, to Publish this Order in their respec- tive Congregations, on the Sabbath Day, before that herein appointed for the proposed Contribution :
AND the Constables of the several Towns, are hereby Required, to fix this Order, in some Publick Place within their respective Precincts, at least Fourteen Days before the afore- said Twenty third Day of July next.
Given in New-London the 13th. Day of June, Anno Dom. I721. In the Seventh Year of His Majesty's Reign.
G. Saltonstall.
NEW-LONDON: Printed by T. Green,* Printer to the GOVERNOUR and COMPANY. 1721.
* Timothy Green became "Printer to His Honour the Governour and Council" in 1714 and, with his descendants, continued to be printers to the State for one hundred and twenty-five years. From this press issued that long and notable series of Fast and Thanksgiving Proclamations which in type and composition, and in what the cognoscenti call "the sense of the printed page," surpass any broadsides since printed in the State, as anyone interested may see for himself by examining the collections in the State and Connecticut Historical Society Libraries at Hartford, in the Yale University Library at New Haven and in the Pequot Library at New London. The writer once made a valiant effort to have the current procla- mations issued by the Governor copied after the old style. Governor Holcomb favored the project, but the Comptroller vetoed it as involving extra expense, which was so little that the writer would gladly have paid it, had he known. To-day, those old Proclamations, with the imprint of the Greens, are eagerly collected. For an account of Short and Green, Connecticut's first printers, see Thomas Short by W. DeLoss Love; Barber's Connecticut Historical Collections, pp. 287-288; Caulkins' History of New London; Thomas Green by Albert C. Bates, in New Haven Colony Historical Society Papers, vol. 8, pp. 289-309; The Early Massachusetts Press by George E. Littlefield, vol. 2, pp. 69-74.
XLII.
A NEW ENGLAND GENTLEWOMAN CALLS ON THE WRITER-HOW THE DOORS OF THE REV. MR. RUSSEL'S HOUSE IN BRAN- FORD IN WHICH THE FOUNDERS OF YALE ASSEMBLED, 1701-2, CAME INTO THE POSSESSION OF THE UNIVERSITY.
(Now for the first time printed)
"We are in no danger of falling into too great a reverence for the things of antiquity."-Anonymous.
One red-letter day, early in 1897, I received in my office a lady who came, she said, to consult me, not as a lawyer but as an antiquary. What happy fortune directed her to my office I do not recall, if I ever knew, but she was doubly welcome because so charming to look at and to listen to. I wish I had the skill to draw her portrait; a small, delicate woman, with clear-cut features and gentle but formal manners, dressed in careful handsome black and wearing a becoming black bonnet framing her sweet face in ribbons and falls of fine lace. She had the "mark of race"-a New England Holbein. Her errand was soon stated. She had come to offer me the very doors that gave passage to the ministers who gathered in the study of her ancestor, the Rev. Mr. Samuel Russel, of Bran- ford, on the occasion of the historic meeting when, according to tradition, each dominie laid an offering of books on their host's study table, saying, "I give these books for the founding of a college in this Colony." It is needless to say how quick I was to see the value of these relics to Yale, as souvenirs of the first building directly associated with the founding of the College. The precious old doors were offered to me without restrictions, to be disposed of in my discretion, but, as I remem- ber the circumstances, I outlined a scheme before the donor left
379
THE HISTORIC YALE DOORS
the office, of giving the doors to the College, to be featured in the great Yale Bicentennial Celebration for which plans were already being formulated. I explained my own ideas to Mrs. Mann and they met with her heartiest approval. Considerable correspondence followed our first meeting. Among her letters, I find one dated September 27, 1897, saying in part, "As our team was coming to New Haven to-day, I have sent the doors, without waiting to hear from you." The doors accordingly arrived, and I placed them in an upper room of the Cutler Building, on the corner of Church and Chapel Streets, in which my firm had its offices, to await their final disposition. I had in mind mounting upon their panels engraved brass or silver plates, bearing suitable inscriptions and also showing the old house and its ground plan, and hanging them in a staunch light oak frame with handles, adapting them to be carried in the Bicentennial Procession in the manner of European pageants. But other counsels prevailed and after some preliminary con- sultation with the authorities, they were presented as I received them to the University, accompanied by the following letter :
New Haven, Conn., June 18, 1901.
The President and Fellows of Yale University,
New Haven, Connecticut.
DEAR SIRS :
I have the honor to offer you, on behalf of Mrs. Mary Ellen (Russell) Mann, of Branford, the original doors of the historic parsonage of her ancestor, the Rev. Mr. Samuel Russel, one of the Founders of Yale College. These doors hung in the main or front entrance of the house, and gave passage to the ministers who met in Mr. Russel's study, in the year 1700 or 1701, to discuss plans for the foundation of a college. According to the account of President Clap, they placed donations of books upon the study table, with the words, "I give these books for the founding of a College in this Colony," or words to that effect.
The original house was torn down in 1835, but the doors were preserved in the garret of the new house built on the site of the old house, and they have been carefully treasured since that time by descendants of Mr. Russel, and for the last ten years or so by Mrs. Mann, who now owns and lives upon the homestead. With the doors are the original post-hooks on which they were hung, a photograph from a painting of the original house, and a ground plan of the house showing the location of Mr. Russel's study, this plan hav- ing been made by Mrs. Mann's uncle at or about the time the original struc- ture was demolished.
380
NEW HAVEN :
I have myself made no examination of the records, either ecclesiastical or civil, of the town of Branford, but my understanding of the matter is that the old house was built at least as early as 1667, by Mr. Richard Harri- son, and that Mr. Russel first occupied the house about 1687. It was finally deeded to him by the town or church society January 2, 1692. These facts can, perhaps, be ascertained more definitely by recourse to the Branford records.
The doors themselves afford intrinsic evidence of great age, and the tradi- tion connected with them is so positive in its assertion that they hung in the house at the time the historic meeting of ministers took place, that I cannot doubt the fact.
Very respectfully, signed : GEORGE DUDLEY SEYMOUR. .
The following letters were subsequently received from Mr. Stokes, whose interest in anything pertaining to the early his- tory of the College amounts to an obsession :
New Haven, Conn., June 20, 1901.
GEORGE DUDLEY SEYMOUR, EsQ., Secretary of the Society of Colonial Wars of the State of Connecticut, New Haven. MY DEAR SIR :
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your communication of June 18th, in which you offer, on behalf of Mrs. Mary Ellen (Russell) Mann of Branford, the original doors of the old house in Branford where certain ministers met to consider the founding of Yale College. I shall see to it that your communi- cation is brought to the attention of the Corporation at its next meeting.
Thanking you for your very generous offer,
I am, Sir with high regard,
Very truly yours, signed : ANSON PHELPS STOKES, JR. Secretary.
New Haven, Conn., July 1, 1901.
(Same heading as above)
MY DEAR SIR :
I have the honor to inform you that at a meeting of the Yale Corporation, held in New Haven on Monday, June 24, 1901, the following recommenda- tion of the Prudential Committee was ratified :
"The acceptance with hearty thanks of the generous offer of George Dudley Seymour, Esq., acting on behalf of Mrs. Mary Ellen (Russell) Mann, of the original doors of the historic parsonage in Branford belonging to her ancestor, the Rev. Samuel Russell."
(Same superscription as above)
381
THE HISTORIC YALE DOORS
(Same heading as above)
New Haven, Conn., July 27, 1901.
MY DEAR SIR :
I wish to thank you cordially, in behalf of the officers of Yale University, for the additional gifts which you have made in connection with the doors of the old house in Branford. I acknowledge receipt of the iron post-hooks of the front doors of Rev. Samuel Russel's house, a plan on parchment of the ground floor of the house, and photograph of a picture made in the early part of this century.
(Same superscription as above)
(Same heading as above)
New Haven, Conn., July 29, 1901. MY DEAR SIR :
I beg to acknowledge your note of July 24th in regard to the plan of the Russel house and other gifts, acknowledged by me in my letter of July 27th. I shall see to it that the doors are so placed at the time of the Bicentennial that they may be a center of interest.
(Same superscription as above)
The historic doors are at present utilized as cupboard doors in the private office of the University Librarian, Mr. Keogh, who, very properly, regards them as documents of prime inter- est in the beginning of Yale's history. He proposes that they shall be installed in one of the public rooms of the new Sterling Memorial Library, so as to open into a sort of reliquary con- taining association books connected with the early history of Yale, such as books presented by Elihu Yale, Joseph Addison, Sir Isaac Newton, Sir William Blackstone, Bishop Berkeley, and others whose names figure in the earliest chapters of the history of the College. Running back over two eventful centuries, these doors are believed to be the oldest surviving memorials of any building directly connected with the long tradition of Yale College. It is fitting that they should be preserved in the University Library, since their great interest lies in their connection with the handful of books to which they gave passage in 1701 and which formed the nucleus of Yale's library to-day,-in certain fields of literature, one of the largest as well as one of the richest in the world.
382
NEW HAVEN :
The doors in their present condition are 6'01/4" high, the right-hand leaf being 211/2" wide and the left-hand leaf 221/4" wide. It must be added, for the sake of accuracy, that it is definitely known that within very recent years, the doors have been reduced in height by cutting them off top and bottom, but just how much cannot be definitely ascertained. It may be safely assumed that originally they were not less than 6'4" in height. Evidence is not wanting to indicate that the respec- tive leaves were wider than at present. The common practice of the period to which the doors belong was to make the leaves about 2' wide.
The doors are of white pine, the stiles and rails mortised and tenoned and pegged. Their surfaces, particularly their exterior surfaces, are deeply seamed and weathered, as would be expected from their great age, reaching back, as they do, almost to the middle of the 17th century. In color they are of a brownish-gray, but faint traces of red paint still remain upon their inner surfaces and bluish-white upon their outer surfaces. The latch-plate appears to be original. The strap hinges appear to have been removed, bent and reset at the time of the present installation of the doors.
Mr. J. Frederick Kelly, who made the measured drawing of the doors to be found at the back of this book, assures me that a critical examination of the doors discovers nothing which, in his opinion, runs counter to the belief that they were made at the time it was built, for the house from which they were salvaged in 1835. Mr. Kelly's opinion on this subject is all but conclusive, since no one has ever so deeply studied the carpentry of the 17th century houses remaining in Connecticut.
At a town meeting held October 9, 1667, a committee was appointed to buy Richard Harrison's house and lands for a minister. But having difficulty in settling a minister, the Town concluded, in 1682, to let the house and lands "at an outcry by a piece of candle." A short piece of candle was lighted at the time of the sale and the auctioneer cried up the property until the candle burned out. He that bid highest
383
THE HISTORIC YALE DOORS
during that time obtained what was offered. In 1686 the Rev. Samuel Russel (Harvard 1681) was settled over the people, "To be a blessing unsurpassed, Till life itself be ended."
With his college classmate, the Rev. James Pierpont, he was one of the prime-movers in the founding of Yale College in 1701, and took part in the erection of the first college building in 1717-1718, as appears on page 366 of this book. He died 25 June, 1731 ; his "virtuous consort," Abigail, a daughter of the Rev. John Whiting of Hartford, died 7 May, 1733.
"In slumber bound fast by his side, "The tender part, his pious bride,
"Reclines her head.
"So round the oak the ivy twines, "With faithful bands in spiral lines,
"Though both are dead." (Inscription.)
How many times this godly pair of lost years must have passed and repassed the venerable doors which have now found sanctuary within the walls of the College which he helped to found! And with what wonderment must the pious founders of our "Collegiate School," to whom these same doors gave passage in 1701, now look down upon the games in the Yale Bowl, peering over Heaven's high battlements! O tempora! O mores !!
New Haven, December, 1924.
XLIII.
NEARLY A HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS LATER HE ENTERED THE YALE DINING HALL WITH HIS MITRE OVER HIS HEAD
September 25, 1907.
To the President and Fellows of
Yale College in New Haven,
GENTLEMEN :-
I beg to offer you, to be hung in the University Dining Hall, a portrait of Samuel Seabury, first Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut and first American Bishop. Born November 30, 1729, at North Groton (now Ledyard), Con- necticut, he was graduated with honor from Yale College with the class of 1748. Oxford University conferred the degree of Doctor of Divinity upon him in 1777. In March, 1783, he was chosen by the clergy of Connecticut, convened for the purpose in the "Glebe House," still standing in Woodbury, to become their "apostolic head," and he set sail for England the following June in the flagship of Admiral Digby. Rebuffed at every turn in England, he was finally consecrated a Bishop at Aberdeen, Scotland, on Sunday, November 14, 1784. He returned to Connecticut the following summer, and discharged the duties of his office until his death on February 25, 1796.
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.