USA > Connecticut > New London County > Stonington > Old homes in Stonington : with additional chapters and graveyard inscriptions > Part 16
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"In witness hereof, I hereunto set my hand and seal. Dated accord- ing to a former deed of the same to my wife, May the third, one thous- and, six hundred and sixty-two.
George Denison (Seal)
"Read, sealed and delivered in the presence of Thomas Michell
Elizabeth Denison"
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Captain George Denison brought his new wife home to Roxbury in 1645, the same year that his mother died, and probably they took the two little girls into their family, two and four years old, and Lady Ann was a mother to them. Lady Ann had a sister who married Rev. Thomas Shepard of Cambridge, Mass., for his third wife, and after his death she married his successor, Rev. Jonathan Mitchell. These two people by the name of Borodelle are the only ones of the name known here at that early date.
At this period, Capt. George Denison was called by the elder Win- throp, "A young soldier lately come out of the wars of England." The young men of Roxbury wanted to make him their captain, but the an- cient and chief men gathered together and outvoted them and prevent- ed them from carrying their point. While Capt. and Mrs. Denison, lived in Roxbury, two children were born to them, John and Ann, so. when they came to New London in 1651, he brought with him his wife and four children, Sarah, Hannah, John and Ann, the oldest but ten years. In New London he took up a house lot, and built a house on Hempstead street opposite the present jail, later known as the Old Chapman homestead, for it is recorded that in 1654 he sold this place to John Chynnery of Watertown, Mass., having previously gone to Mystic and the New London story by Miss Caulkins says that "William Chap- man bought of Mr. Blinman, who was agent for Mr. Chynnery, Mr. Denison's house and lot, which he styles as his 'new dwelling house."
While living there he had charge of a squadron, and in case of an aların from the Indians, he was to repair to the meeting house to collect forces.
Early history presents no more daring and adventurous spirit than George Denison. He reminds us of the border men of Scotland and though he failed of getting the title of Captain in Roxbury, he was: greeted with the title at coming here, for in the Second Vol. Colonial re- cords of Conn., page 279, one may read "May 11th, 1676 Captain George Denison is chosen Captain for New London County and second to the Major."
History says, he removed from New London to a farm on the east side of the Mystic river, then within the bounds of the same plantation, but afterwards included in Stonington. The town of New London granted him 200 acres of land in the Pequotsepos valley near Mystic in 1652, and his house was raised May 1, 1661, but where he lived be- tween the time he came here and the raising of this house is not record- ed, perhaps in a log house strongly protected from the Indians, till the larger house was raised which was surrounded with a stockade.
Many items in the old records show that Capt. Denison held nearly every office in town and had many interests in town affairs, but was not always in good standing as he was a man who spoke his mind on all occasions, and feared no one. He was one of the committee to build. the new church here, which took three years to finish and was later. fined for not attending the service. He was also brought before the court for marrying a couple, because he acted under his commission
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from Mass., and as the charter of Conn. had been obtained, it was very displeasing to the Conn. authorities.
In 1664 the General Court had passed an act of oblivion for all past offences to various people, but not to Capt. Denison, which shows that he was not in the good graces of the people at Hartford, but we learn from Mass. and Conn. records that Capt. Denison was not only dis- tinguished as a civilian but his military services are recognized and por- trayed in our Colonial records bearing testimony that he was the most distinguished soldier, with the exception of Capt. John Mason, in the early settlement of Conn.
At last after many brave and courageous acts the General Court did pass an act of indemnity to him. Through all these trials he con- tinued on his way as the records show, was empowered by public vote in town meeting to make a directory or signpost and set it up on a tree or post this side of the wading place at Pawcatuck river where the country highway is laid out so that strangers and travellers may know how to find the county highway through the town to London highway at Mystic river. Also March 1669 it was voted in town meet- ing that Capt. Denison be one of the committee to lay out the county highway 4 pole or rods wide from the head of Mystic river (now Old Mystic) to Kitchemaug, as near as may be to the old footpath pro- vided it meet with the London highway at Mystic river. This has always been called The Old Post Road, passing the Road church from Westerly to Mystic.
Our ancestor George Denison was Captain of New London county forces in King Phillip's War and was with Captain John Mason Jr., in the great Swamp fight December 19th, 1675. He served as Provo Marshal, acted as Magistrate and was Assistant and Deputy from Stonington at the General Court for fifteen sessions, at Hartford, Conn., where he died October 24th, 1694.
Lady Ann was a few years her husband's senior, and was left a widow at 79 years in her home at Pequotsepos, with her son William and family. She lived a widow 19 years till her death which occurred Sept. 26, 1712. Ann Borodell Denison was buried on their own land in the old Denison burying ground, on the little knoll just east of the village of Mystic, overlooking the water on the south where the word Denison has been cut on the stone entrance. Later she was moved, and the little small stone with the angel's head carved at the top, was placed in the Denison lot in Elm Grove cemetery, north of Mystic. The inscription on the little blue headstone reads thus-Here lies ye body of Ann Denison who died Sept ye 26th, aged 97 years. There is also a footstone with the letters A. D.
One writer has said, "The plain woman that your fathers and mothers buried in 1712 has been found to be a lady inheriting Bishop's lands.
A modern granite monument was erected to Capt. George Denison in 1855 by his descendents, near his wife's stone bearing this inscrip- tion-George Denison, a first settler in Stonington and founder of the Denison family, died Oct. 23rd, 1694, aged 74 years. But his body was
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laid to rest in Hartford, Conn., where he was on business at the General Assembly when he died. There being no adequate means of transporta- tion then known, he was buried there where now can be seen his gravestone in the Center church yard which has been renovated by the Daughters of the American Revolution society. It is found at the right hand as you enter the side entrance and has this inscription- Here lies the body of Captain George Denison departed October 23rd, in the 74th year of his age, 1694. The stone is rather low and is back of some of the taller ones and is rather difficult to find. He left six of his seven children at his death and about forty grand-children.
In his will he gives to his oldest son John his great sword and the gauntlet which he wore in the wars of England; to his son William, his rapier and broad buff belt and his cartridge box, which he used in the Indian wars, also his long carbine, which belt and sword was used in the same service, and this son William was to care for his mother in his home which was dear to him and pay her 40 shillings in silver money, yearly. He also counsels his beloved wife to give his daugh- ter Borodell Stanton, the silver cup which was received from England with brother Borodell's name, J. B. on it. He also remembers a certain Nathaniel Beebe who had boarded at his home and with his family for nearly fifty years, and had been very kind to him and his children. This Mr. Beebe is also buried in the old Denison yard.
Some mementoes of Lady Ann still exist; an ancient bit of embroid- ery made by her in 1624 while in a nunnery in Ireland, where she was at school. It was made to cover a Box Iron, some sort of a smoothing iron kept highly polished and ornamental as well as useful. This relic came directly, in succession, until it was in the possession of Dea. Joseph Denison, who lived on the William C. Moss farm, near the Road church. His daughter Bridget married Nathaniel Mason and their daughter Mary Mason, married Amos Miner, and she gave it to her grand-daughter, Esther Miner, who was a Denison, daughter of Isaac Denison and so it came back into the Denison family. Grand- mother Miner gave it to her daughter Eunice, who gave it when she died, to her sister Hannah, and she immediately gave it to the wife of her brother, Isaac Denison Miner. It is to be seen at Groton in the Monument house, in a glass case, and a photograph of it is in the James Denison Gen. Another piece which exactly matched this, was owned by a person in the west who came to the Stonintgon celebration in 1914 and saw the collection in the house for antiques, then on ex- hibition.
There is still to be seen at the old homestead, her brass candlestick and the little brass knob near the fireplace in the keeping room. More recently there has been found a ring belonging to her, in the hands of another descendant in Brattleboro, Vt., and a very beautiful silver Tankard is in another house in New York, which was also Lady Ann's. There has always been a tradition in the family that her picture was somewhere among her descendants and recently it was discovered hanging in the home of one of them in Providence, Miss Alice Kimball, having come down in her family in a direct line, and shows Lady Alice
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endowed with more than the usual good looks of the true Irish maid, with her sweet brown eyes and abundance of brown hair, caught up with combs, as was the fashion of the day. It has always been said that she brought over the seed of the Denison redding apple, a most delicious fruit, small and deep red in color, which is yet raised in this locality. The Barberry bush is another of her gifts to the people here. We seem to see her in her household tasks in her home through the years, surrounded by her children, while her soldier husband was often away on dangerous business.
It is now 275 years since these people lived here and walked our streets, but their personality has pervaded the centuries since they came to live in the then wilds of Pequotsepos valley.
But yearly there comes to the old homestead, hundreds of their descendants to pay homage to their illustrious ancestors, and hospital- ity is shown them by the present owner, Mrs. Ann Borodell Denison Gates, who has collected many of the family heirlooms as well as many other old time pieces of furniture which fills the large, sunshiny rooms with old and modern improvements, and makes the Capt. George Den- ison homestead a very delightful place to visit.
CHAPTER TWELFTH
STONINGTON IN DAYS OF YORE
(Written by Rev. Amos Chesebro, a 'nonogenarian, of Stonington, for the author in 1904)
The tract of land on which the village of Stonington is built was a portion of the original grant of 2262 acres made to William Chese- brough, the first white settler of the town of Stonington, by the town of Pequot. In his last will and testament dated May 23d, 1667, in the disposition of his estate, Mr. Chesebrough says, "I give unto my sons Nathaniel and Elisha, ye neck of land called Wadawonnet." This was the Indian name by which this portion of his estate was called. It was for the greater part of it, a level tract of land with a gradual rise of the surface towards the northeast portion of the neck. As originally laid out, the north end of Front street (Now Main) was much higher than the land immediately west. In my boyhood, on the east side of Front street where the land was highest, there were two buildings, viz. Samuel Trumbull's house and the brick arsenal, where the two 18-pound cannon and a small 8 or 10 pound cannon, with a pile of cannon balls and some ammunition were kept.
From the point where the arsenal stood, the road descended quite steeply towards the north end and at the bottom of the hill passed over a ditch or culvert which drained a marsh lying off east. This hill was called Point Hill. In recent years the hill has been cut down some 6 or 8 feet and the soil removed to the foot of the hill to raise the road bed over the culvert, so that the old rise or elevation of the north end of Front street has in large measure disappeared and the arsenal be- ing left on too high a terrace to get the cannon into it, or out of it, was later removed. There also was an elongated swell of the ground or hillock in the southern portion, beginning some 8 or 10 rods south-east of the Amos Sheffield house on Water street and extending in a north- easterly direction nearly to Harmony street. This Sheffield house was built on the upper surface of this hillock or mound and what now is the lower story or basement of this house was originally the cellar, for when Water street was graded down to its present level, space and op- portunity were made for turning this cellar into stores for mercantile purposes and created the necessity for the long flight of steps by which the front door of the house is reached from the ground. What is true of this house is true also of the Amos Palmer house on Front street. By the grading down of this street this house is left several feet above the street level and a convenient room has thus been made for a basement store and office.
Wall street is a cut through this hillock and the depth of the excav- ation is shown by the height of the wall on the north side, supporting the terrace in the rear of the Amos Palmer house and it is my belief that the great amount of earth and gravel removed was used for the construction of the wharves and the raising of the water front on the west side of the village.
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Since I have been reading "The Old Homes of Stonington" it has brought home to my memory, vividly, scenes and events which I had forgotten and I seem to live them over again as a present reality. I was never very well acquainted with the families at the Road, but I recall distinctly Mr. John D. Noyes, Thomas Palmer, good old Cato and Flora, Mr. Norman and Robert Milley, whom I used to meet on the street and often heard him spoken of as being a very peculiar person. He was a mulatto and had two sisters, with one or both of whom he walked to the village of Stonington in pleasant weather, once or twice a week. He used to wear a broad brimmed straw hat, with a wide ribbon, and an outer dress that looked like a gown; his lower limbs were small and his walk elastic and he tripped along like a young girl. It is said that he could run like a deer. Young men out of mischief tried to waylay him but I never heard of him being caught. He and his sisters did a reg- ular business in gathering and selling berries, medicinal herbs, barks and roots as wanted by the village families, that regularly engaged them.
The Woodbridge house I visited once on the Sabbath, near the close of Rev. Ira Hart's ministry. When his strength began to fail he sent for me one cold Sunday to drive him to the Road meeting house, where he was then the minister. On arriving there we stopped at the Wood- bridge house, where he was warmed by a good fire and a rum sling, hot. The boy also had a sip of the sling, as an antidote to the severe cold. Although I attended church regularly during my boyhood, I cannot now recall any sentiment that Mr. Hart ever uttered in his discourses. I remember his looks distinctly; rather stocky in build, with large, round full face and double chin and a dignified gait, always carrying a gold- headed cane. He had the reputation of being a good preacher and an excellent pastor of his flock, but we boys were afraid of him and did not like to meet him face to face. For one thing he was noted-his high Calvinistic theology. I remember once, as the congregation was coming out of the audience room of the church in the Boro, hearing Samuel Denison say something like this: "I don't believe that doctrine." Election, perhaps it was. It seems strange that although they were strict in their views of the right training of children, they did not be- lieve in child piety; children were to be brought up to be converted at or after they arrived at maturity.
After the death of Mr. Hart the Church called to the pastorate Mr. Whittlesey, who had been educated at the new school Seminary at New London.
Mrs. Hart belonged to one of the most distinguished families in Con- necticut. Her grandfather was Roger Sherman, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and one of the most active and effici- ent members of the body which drew up the Constitution of the United States. Mrs. Hart herself was a woman of superior intelligence, but was even more rigid in her theology than her husband. She was re- garded as a saintly woman though somewhat of an esthetic. In the west parlor of her house she had a number of the old Sherman family por- traits, and after the death of Dr. David Hart, the last of her family, the
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house fell into the hands of Mr. Ira Hart Palmer, who invited me to view them upon one of my visits to Stonington.
When I was about six years old our family moved from the Eells house in the village to the old mansion where my uncle, Grandison Chesebrough, his mother and sisters lived. As my father owned the east half of the house, and about tewnty acres of the old farm, which he had bought on the settlement of my grandfather's estate, we lived there about a year and a half or two years. One season I attended school at the Quiambaug school-house when Dea. Noyes Palmer was the teacher. What a grand, good man he was! always ready and compe- tent for any good work. His sister, Aunt Dolly, was much like him. Another good man in that neighborhood was old Deacon Thomas Miner. In advanced life, he did not attend church steadily, but was usually present on Communion Sundays and sat during the services under the pulpit. He always reminded me of one of the old prophets-his bland expression of face, his flowing, white, silken hair, his short trousers with silver knee-buckles and with silver buckles to his shoes-to my youthful imagination he looked almost glorified.
On the other road easterly I had some pleasant acquaintances. There was Abel Pendleton, a little off the highway, who we used to think made the best and sweetest butter of any of the farmers. Then there were Jesse York and his wife, nice, excellant folks. In pleasant weath- er, few days passed which did not bring him down to the village on his old, white mare, who was so accustomed to him that, when he once got fairly mounted, had he fallen asleep, she would have carried him safely home on a steady walk, for if he had swung a little out of the perpendicular, she was prompt to swing as much the other way to pre- vent a fall.
I have a very vivid remembrance of many of the old buildings which used to stand in the village, chief among them being the old White Meeting house situated in the southeast corner of the place. When I knew it first it had square pews and the one which our family occupied was in the northeast corner of the audience room. I used to carry my mother's foot stove to church. This was a square tin vessel, perfora- ted at the top to let the heat up, set in a hard wood frame about 9 or10 inches square and some 6 or 8 inches high. In this was placed a sheet iron receptacle or dish to hold the hot cinders or coals and it was car- ried by an iron wire bail. The old Meeting house was altered in form and renewed in my boyhood, also the square pews were taken out and slips put in, a commodious porch or entry was divided off from the aud- ience room at the west end of the building, and in the porch two pairs of stairs led to the galleries, one on the north side leading to the wom- en's, one on the south side leading to the gallery of the male worship- pers.
On one occasion, the anniversary of the battle of Stonington (August 10) was observed with great pomp. Rev. David Sherman delivered the oration in the Meeting-house. The large boys and young men organized a military company with Charles W. Denison for captain. They were armed with wooden guns, had large white feathers in their hats, and
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their clothes were artistically beribboned. This company was given the front seats nearest the pulpit ,on this occasion. The procession was large, the music enlivening and the attendant crowd was immense. Af- ter the people had been seated in the church the crowd rushed in and hurried up the stairs to find seats in the gallery. All at once the south flight of stairs broke down with a terrible crash, amid screams and a cloud of dust. It was an astonishing fact that no one was killed. The only damage was some bad scratches, bruises and a terrible fright, but the services were only briefly delayed.
There was also a Voluntary Artillery company formed in the Boro in my younger days, of which Warren Stanton was the first captain, and he was one of the finest looking military officers I ever saw on par- ade. The dress of the company was of blue black cloth trimmed with bullet shaped buttons of silver hue. They wore swords by their sides and caps surmounted by a long white feather. They had a small mounted cannon on which they practiced and which was used for sal- utes on public occasions. This company had not been long formed when one of its members died. He was the son of Col. Nathan Wheeler of North Stonington. When the body was brought to Stonington from the South, where he died, the company voted to escort the hearse to the place of burial on foot, some seven or eight miles, and I remember that some of the soldiers were completely exhausted by the walk and were made sick.
I also remember the First Company, 8th Conn. Militia, whose officers were Francis Amy, captain; Charles H. Smith, lieutenant; Peleg Han- cox, ensign; Giles C. Smith, sergeant. The other officers were chosen captain subsequently as their respective predeccessors resigned. On one of their training days, as the company was marching down Main street, about half way between Harmony and Wall street, there stood a story and a half unpainted house on a site a little higher than the street level, which was occupied by Capt. William Potter (who was the first lighthouse keeper). Capt. Potter's daughter was engaged to the drummer of this 1st Militia company, and as they came marching past he espied his fiancee at the window, and wishing to do his best and make all the music at his command, as a salute, he beat the drum with so much spirit that he pounded the drum head in and spoiled the music for the day, which was not very well pleasing to the Captain. In front of the house of Capt. Fanning, towards the water, was situated the Fort from which the shots were fired that drove the British from Fishers Island Sound when they bombarded Stonington. It was built in the shape of a semi circle, open toward the east.
Just across, on the northeast corner of Main and Grand street, was a building which Dr. David Hart fitted up for an office and drug store af- ter finishing his studies at the medical school. Here he taught mathe- matics and classics to many young men and boys.
At the west ,to the rear of this building, was Dea. Fellows' work shop. Here he built boats. I used occasionally to go in here and see him at work and frequently as one passed by on the street you would hear the old man singing the songs of Zion. Like Dea. Miner, he was a patri-
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archal character to class with Abraham and Simeon of scripture record. His daughter was as good as her father, and a story is told of one of the neighboring ·deacons who, having lost his wife after a long and dis- tressing illness, came to see Miss Fellows the very evening after her funeral and proposed marriage. She was of course shocked and said to him, "Why, Deacon, is not this too sudden ?" "Oh, no," he replied, "I picked you out some time ago," and she made him a good wife and nurse in his declining years.
Opposite the Eells house lived Col. Joseph Smith in a fine mansion. His family were excellent people, and the wedding of his daughter Nancy was a grand affair. A short time after I was present at her funeral, and it was a sad occasion. I remember how deeply impressed old Dr. William Lord seemed to be by the address of Rev. Mr. Whittle- sey as he sat in the corner of the south parlor. Though it is nearly 75 years ago I recall distinctly the face of the Doctor as it then appeared. Col. Smith was chaplain of the local lodge of Free Masons, which was a large one, and as they walked in their regalia at the funeral of their members of the lodge the chaplain always carried on his two arms a large quarto open Bible covered with crepe, and attracted much at- tention.
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