USA > Connecticut > The history of Connecticut, from the first settlement of the colony to the adoption of the present constitution, vol. II > Part 50
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
577
THE WESTERN RESERVE.
[1812.]
examine the daring schemes of the merchant, and the manu- facturer, and you will answer unhesitatingly that these are emigrants, or the sons of emigrants, from Connecticut. The villages, rising "like an exhalation," as if in a single night, the marts of business, sparkling with life, the readiness with which old things are cast aside in the struggle for a more perfect state of society ; more than all. other objects, the church-spire, the frequent school-house, and the towered college where science keeps her select abode ; as you pause to listen to the merry laugh of children on their way to the place where learning can be had without price, or the tones of the bell that calls the worshiper to prayer, or the undergraduate to the recitation room-all seem to echo the word "Connecticut,"
Long before the expiration of the seventeenth century, the inhabitants began to agitate the question of establishing a college within their borders. The Rev. John Davenport, seems first to have suggested the necessity of such an institu- tion. As Harvard was already in existence, and needed all the patronage of the New England colonies, the project was allowed to slumber until after that learned divine removed to Boston.
In 1698, the attempt was again made to institute a college by a general synod of the churches of the colony. It was proposed to call it " The School of the Church," and that it should be kept in operation by money annually contributed by the several churches. But this frail and uncertain tenure of existence did not promise a long life, and the plan was abandoned. The very next year, however, ten of the prin- cipal ministers of the colony were named as trustees, and were authorized to found a college, and to govern it .* These
* The following were the trustees named, viz., Rev. James Noyes, of Stoning- ton ; Rev. Israel Chauncey, of Stratford ; Rev. Thomas Buckingham, of Say- brook ; Rev. Abraham Pierson, of Killingworth ; Rev. Samuel Mather, of Wind- sor ; Rev. Samuel Andrew, of Milford ; Rev. Timothy Woodbridge, of Hartford ; Rev. James Pierpont, of New Haven ; Rev. Noadiah Russell, of Middletown ; and Rev. Joseph Webb, of Fairfield. For sources of information in relation to common schools, see Appendix.
69
e
578
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
gentlemen were, with one exception, graduates of Harvard, and were well qualified for the trust confided to them. At what precise time they held their first meeting is not known, but it was certainly in the course of the year 1700. They convened at New Haven, and proceeded to form an associa- tion composed of eleven ministers and a rector, and resolved to found a college in Connecticut, but did not at that time decide at what place. They met again soon after at Bran- ford. Each one of the trustees brought with him a few folios, and presented them to the association, making use of this simple formulary as he laid them on the table, "I give these books for founding a college in Connecticut." These volumes were committed to the charge of the Rev. Mr. Russell, the minister at Branford, who kept them for a while at his house. In order to give the new college the undisputed right to hold lands, it was incorporated on the 19th of October, 1701. Among the most efficient agents in this delicate, and at that time difficult work, were Mr. Pierpont, of New Haven, Mr. Andrew, of Milford, and Mr. Russell, the first librarian.
On receiving their charter, the trustees met at Saybrook, November 11, 1701, and made choice of the Rev. Israel Chauncey, of Stratford, as rector ; he, however, declined the place, and the Rev. Abraham Pierson, of Killingworth, was elected in his stead. The first student in the college was Jacob Hemingway, who entered in March, 1702, and grad- uated at Saybrook, in 1704. For the first six months after entering, he continued alone under the instruction of Mr. Pierson ; but before the close of the year, the number of students had increased to eight. One of these, John Hart, who had been three years at Cambridge, graduated alone in 1703. He was afterwards minister at East Guilford.
Though from the first the college was nominally established at Saybrook, yet, as no building had been erected for the ac- commodation of the rector, Mr. Pierson never removed from Killingworth, but the students were kept with him until his death in 1707. From that date, Mr. Andrew, of Milford, another of the trustees, discharged the duties of rector,
579
YALE COLLEGE.
[1716.]
without changing his residence. The senior class conse- quently was stationed at Milford, while the other classes resided at Saybrook under the instruction of tutors. It was not until 1714, that measures were taken to remove the col- lege from Saybrook. About that time, two of the trustees preferred a petition to the legislature, desiring that the institu- tion might be fixed at Hartford. They urged that Hartford was more in the center of the colony ; that the people of that town, in connection with others, had subscribed such a sum of money as would place the school in a flourishing con- dition; that Hartford was surrounded with many consider- able towns, which, it might be presumed, would furnish more students for the college if it were removed as they proposed. Several other towns now put in their claim. In October, 1716, a meeting of the trustees was held at New Haven during the session of the legislature. At this meeting, it was resolved by a vote of six to two, that the college should be removed from Saybrook. A vote to establish it at New Haven was then passed-five out of the eight trustees present concurring in the proposition .*
It was now determined to erect a college building in New Haven, and the trustees applied to Governor Saltonstall for a plan of it. Two new tutors were appointed, only one of whom repaired to New Haven. The senior class was placed under the care of Mr. Noyes, the minister of the town, but nearly half of the students persisted in remaining under the tuition of Mr. Elisha Williams, at Wethersfield. Great dis- satisfaction was manifested in different parts of the colony, at the action of the trustees. A plurality of the members of the lower house of the legislature voted in favor of establish- ing the college at Middletown ; while the upper house deci- ded that the trustees had full power to determine the question, and, as they had given their decision, all objections to the validity of their proceedings were frivolous. The trustees were summoned to appear before the Assembly ; and, after a renewal of the debate, during which the contending parties
* Pres. Woolsey's Discourse,
580
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
were fully heard, both houses of the legislature approved of the action of the trustees in establishing the college in New Haven.
The people of Saybrook manifested their disapprobation, by attempting to prevent the removal of the college library to New Haven. To such an extent was their opposition car- ried, that the wagons in which the books were being trans- ported were assailed at night, several of the volumes carried off, and some of the bridges along the route destroyed. On placing the books in the new college building, it was ascer- tained that about two hundred and sixty volumes were missing
At the commencement, September 12, 1718, the institu- tion was formally named "Yale College," in honor of Elihu Yale, Esq., of London, who had a short time before sent over a donation to the college consisting of books and goods to the amount of eight hundred pounds. At this commence- ment, ten young gentlemen were graduated. The Rev. Mr. Pierpont, of New Haven, delivered a salutatory oration on the occasion ; the Rev. Mr. Davenport, of Stamford, one of the trustees, pronounced a Latin oration; and Governor Saltonstall, in a Latin address, congratulated the trustees on their success, and the prospects of the school.
In 1719, the Rev. Timothy Cutler, minister at Stratford, was chosen rector. In a little more than three years, he, together with Mr. Daniel Brown, the only tutor, as has been stated elsewhere, became episcopalians. For some time after this event, the college remained without a head. At length, in 1726, the Rev. Elisha Williams, minister at Newington, was appointed to the office of rector, and continued to occupy the place until 1739. During his administration, the cele- brated Bishop Berkeley gave to the college about one thou- sand books, and a farm in Newport.
The Rev. Thomas Clap, minister at Windham, was chosen to succeed Mr. Williams in the rectorship. He held the office until 1766, a period of twenty-seven years. During this time, in 1745, in the amended charter, the words " President
581
PRESIDENT STILES.
[1772.]
and Fellows," were substituted for "Rector and Trustees," in designating the officers of the college. The number of students at the close of Mr. Clap's administration, was one hundred and seventy. Some of the college buildings which still stand, had been erected, and the professorship of didactic theology had been established.
The corporation now invited the Rev. James Lockwood to the presidency ; but he having declined, the Rev. Dr. Daggett, the professor of divinity, was invested with the authority of president. He discharged the duties of the office until 1777, when he resigned, but continued his pro- fessorship until his death in 1780.
In 1777, the Rev. Ezra Stiles, D.D., a native of North Haven, and formerly a tutor in the college, was chosen pre- sident of the institution, and remained in office until his death, May 12, 1795. He was one of the most learned and patriotic men of the age. He appears to have been one of the first persons in the country who anticipated and predic- ted the independence of the American colonies. In 1772, he wrote to a friend-" When Heaven shall have doubled our millions a few times more, it will not be in the power of our enemies to chastise us with scorpions." In 1774, he addressed one of his English correspondents as follows-" If oppression proceeds, despotism may force an annual congress ; and a public spirit of enterprise may originate an American Magna Charta, and Bill of Rights, supported with such intrepid and persevering importunity, as even sovereignty may hereafter judge it not wise to withstand. There will be a Runnymede in America." The Rev. Dr. Richmond Price, in allusion to a letter received by him from Dr. Stiles, just at the beginning of the revolution, assures us that he " predicted in it the very event in which the war has issued ; particularly the conver- sion of the colonies into so many distinct and independent states, united under Congress." He published several ordina- tion, funeral, and other occasional sermons, and the "History of the three Judges of King Charles I., Whalley, Goffe, and Dixwell." He left an unfinished ecclesiastical history of New
582
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
England, and more than forty volumes of manuscripts. During much of the early part of his official term, the inte- rests of the college were sadly deranged by the revolutionary struggle. In 1792, a change in the charter was effected, by which the governor, lieutenant-governor, and the six senior members of the council for the time being were constituted members of the corporation. This provision has remained substantially the same until the present time.
In September, 1795, the Rev. Timothy Dwight, D.D., was inaugurated as the successor of Dr. Stiles. He died, January 11, 1817, aged sixty-four, after a presidency of twenty-one years. Of him, and of those who succeeded him in office, mention will be made in another place.
These were the humble beginnings and such has been the progess of Yale College. In this severe school, where men were taught to think and forbidden to rant, have been educa- ted the best thinkers of the continent. Here were developed the minds of such men as Hopkins, Smalley, Humphreys, Dwight, Barlow, Trumbull, Kent, Calhoun, and Walworth. The subjoined note will give the reader some statistics which will show what has been the influence of this institution upon the country and the world .*
* Yale College has educated 105 Professors of Colleges ; 2 Professors of the United States Military Academy at West Point ; 40 Presidents of Colleges, viz, 5 of Yale, and 1 of Trinity, Connecticut ; 2 of Middlebury, and 2 of Vermont University, Vermont ; 2 of Dartmouth, New Hampshire ; 1 of Amherst, and 2 of Williams, Massachusetts ; 2 of Columbia, and 4 of Hamilton, New York ; 1 of Rutgers, and 3 of Princeton, New Jersey ; 1 of Pennsylvania University, and 1 of Dickin- son, Pennsylvania ; 2 of Illinois College; 1 of Missouri University ; 1 of Wiscon- sin University ; 1 of Western Reserve ; 1 of Kenyon, Ohio; 2 of Transylvania University, Kentucky ; 1 of East Tennessee ; 1 of St. Johns, Maryland ; 1 of Hampden Sydney, Virginia ; and 2 of University of Georgia, Georgia ; also, 8 Secretaries of States ; 18 Lieutenant-Governors, and 21 Governors of States ; 80 Judges of Superior Courts of States ; 2 Chancellors of New York ; 4 Signers of the Declaration of Independence ; 3 Members of the Convention for framing the Constitution of the United States; 12 members of the Continental Congress ; also, 120 members of United States House of Representatives, viz., 45 for Con- necticut ; 19 for Massachusetts ; 35 for New York ; 3 for Georgia ; 4 for South Carolina ; 2 for Ohio ; 2 for Pennsylvania ; and 2 for Maryland ; 1 for Delaware ; 1 for Kentucky ; 1 for Missouri ; 1 for Wisconsin ; 1 for Virginia ; and 3 for
583
GOVERNOR SALTONSTALL.
[1691.]
The patronage bestowed upon this institution by Governor Saltonstall, has associated his name inseparably with its his- tory. In a former chapter it has been stated that in 1722,
Vermont ; also, 40 United States Senators, viz., 15 for Connecticut , 4 for Massa- chusetts ; 5 for Vermont ; 3 for Rhode Island ; 2 for New York ; 2 for Dela- ware; 2 for Georgia ; 2 for Ohio ; 2 for New Hampshire ; 1 for North Carolina ; 1 for South Carolina ; and 1 for Illinois ; also, 10 Members of the Cabinet ; 3 District Judges ; and 1 Judge of Supreme Court of the United States ; 5 Foreign Ministers ; and 1 Vice President of United States
PRESIDENTS OF COLLEGES EDUCATED AT YALE.
TRINITY .- Nathaniel S. Wheaton, D.D.
YALE .- Naphtali Daggett, D.D., Ezra Stiles, D.D. LL.D., Timothy Dwight, D.D. LL.D., Jeremiah Day, D.D. LL.D., Theodore D. Woolsey, D.D. LL.D. MIDDLEBURY .-- Jeremiah Atwater, D.D., Henry Davis, D.D., Vermont.
VERMONT UNIVERSITY .- Samuel Austin, D.D., Daniel Haskell.
DARTMOUTH .- Eleazer Wheelock, D.D., Bennet Tyler, D.D., New Hamp- shire.
AMHERST .- Heman Humphrey, D.D.
WILLIAMS,-Ebenezer Fitch, D.D., Edward D. Griffin, D.D., Massachusetts. COLUMBIA .- Samuel Johnson, D.D., Wm. S. Johnson, LL.D.
HAMILTON, NEW YORK .- Azel Backus, D.D., Henry Davis, DD., Sereno E. Dwight, D.D., and Simeon North, D.D.
RUTGERS .- Abraham B. Hasbrouck, LL.D.
NEW JERSEY .- Aaron Burr, D.D., Jonathan Edwards, D.D., and Jonathan Dickinson, D.D.
GEORGIA UNIVERSITY .- Josiah Meigs, Abraham Baldwin.
DICKINSON, PENNSYLVANIA .- Jeremiah Atwater, D.D.
PENNSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY .- William H. DeLancey.
EAST TENNESSEE .- David A. Sherman.
WESTERN RESERVE .- George E. Pierce, D.D.
KENYON, OHIO .- David B. Douglass, LL.D.,
TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY, KENTUCKY .- Horace Holley, LL.D., Thomas W. Coit, D.D.,
MISSOURI UNIVERSITY .- A. B. Longstreet, D.D.
WISCONSIN UNIVERSITY .- John H. Lathrop, LL.D.
MISSOURI UNIVERSITY .- John H. Lathrop, LL.D.
ST. JOHNS, MARYLAND .- Hector Humphreys, D.D.
ILLINOIS,-Edward Beecher, D.D., J. M. Sturtevant, D.D.
HAMPDEN SIDNEY, VA .-- William Maxwell.
SENATORS EDUCATED AT YALE.
CONNECTICUT .- T. Betts, Wm. S. Johnson, Stephen M. Mitchell, James Hill- house, Samuel W. Dana, Chauncey Goodrich, Samuel A. Foote, J. W. Hunting- ton, Uriah Tracy, David Daggett, James Lanman, Gideon Tomlinson, R. S. Baldwin, Truman Smith, Francis Gillette.
584
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
Dr. Cutler, the rector of the college, followed by several other gentlemen, declared for episcopacy at a time when there was not an episcopal church in the colony. This excited much alarm. It was thought best that the questions of difference should be debated between the trustees and the ministers who had so suddenly departed from their allegiance to the religion of the colony. In October of that year, a special meeting of the trustees to discuss the merits of episcopacy, was held in the college library. Governor Saltonstall presided over the meeting. Rector Cutler espoused the affirmative of the issue, and the governor advocated the negative. Both parties claimed to be triumphant.
The action of Governor Saltonstall, in causing the library to be removed from Saybrook to New Haven, was much blamed at the time, by those who desired to prevent its re- moval. It is mainly owing to his firmness, that it was estab- lished at New Haven, where it has since attained to such a healthful stature. He contributed liberally from time to time, to endow the institution. His wife also, made hand- some donations to it.
This appears to be the proper place to give some account of a man who wielded for many years, an influence in the colony equalled only by that of our first Winthrop. Gurdon Saltonstall was born at Haverhill, Massachusetts, in 1666, and graduated at Harvard, in 1684. He was ordained at New London, on the 25th of November, 1691 .* His reputa- tion soon spread through the colony, and his influence over the clergy finally become almost absolute. They appeared toregard him with sentiments akin to idolatry. The structure of his
* This ordination ceremonial was a great event in its day. In full town meet- ing it was voted " that the Honorable Major-General John Winthrop, is to appear as the mouth of the town at Mr. Saltonstall's ordination, to declare the town's acceptance of him to the ministry." " A large brass bell" which cost " twenty-five pounds in current money," was also procured on the occasion. An appropriation was also made by the town to aid him in purchasing a building-lot, and erecting a house suitable to his dignity. This house was placed on the Town Hill, and com- manded a view of the town and adjacent country. An old highway which had been shut up was also re-opened for his private accommodation, and led from the
585
GOVERNOR SALTONSTALL.
[1724.]
mind and character was such as led him inevitably to cling to strict ecclesiastical discipline, and, feeling few of the in- firmities of our nature, he had little patience with the faults of others. His personal appearance, as has been before remarked, was so striking and imposing that the Earl of Bellamont, regarded him as better representing the English nobleman than any other gentleman whom he had seen in America. He was more inclined to synods and formularies, than any other minister of that day in the New England colonies. The Saybrook platform was stamped with his seal, and was for the most part an embodiment of his views. In an episcopal country he would have made a bishop in whose presence the lesser lights would scarcely have been seen to twinkle.
On the death of Governor Fitz John Winthrop, in 1707, he was chosen governor of the colony, and continued in office until his death, which took place on the 20th of Septem- ber, 1724. His elevation to office was charged by his ene- mies to the secret influence and combined action of the clergy, but seems to have grown rather out of his acknowl- edged fitness for the place, than from any other cause. His administration was peculiarly happy and prosperous. His death was deeply deplored, and his funeral obsequies were celebrated with military honors. "The horse and foot marched in four files, the drums, colors, trumpets, halberts, and hilts of swords, covered with black, and twenty cannon firing at half minute's distance." When the mournful train had reached the family vault, the people gathered around the spot, and in respectful silence waited for the body to be
rear of his house to the meeting-house. This highway was twenty-five feet wide. His way to the meeting-house led through the orchard gate. At a later period, when Mr. Saltonstall had become governor of the colony, it is retained by tradition that he might be seen on a Sunday morning, issuing from this orchard gate, and moving with a slow majestic step to the meeting-house, accompanied by his wife, and followed by his children, four sons and four daughters, marshaled in order, and the servants of the family in the rear. The same usage was maintained by his son General Gurdon Saltonstall, whose family furnished a procession of fourteen sons and daughters." Caulkins' New London.
586
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
lowered into the chamber where it still rests. Then two volleys were fired from the fort, and after their echoes had died upon the ear of the multitude, the military companies, first the horse, and then the foot, in single file advanced and discharged their "farewell shot" over his ashes .*
The character and personal appearance of Governor Salton- stall, may be gathered from the following passages in the ser- mon of the Rev. Mr. Adams, which was preached at the funeral. " Who that was acquainted with him did not ad- mire his consummate wisdom, profound learning, his dexterity in business, and indefatigable application, his intimate acquaintance with men and things and his superior genius. * His aspect was noble and amiable, commanding respect and reverence, and attaching esteem and love at the first appearance ; and there was such an air of greatness and goodness in his whole mien and deportment, as showed him to be peculiarly formed for government and dominion." He was eminently fitted for his station, and throughout his long administration of nineteen years, exemplified his own favorite maxim : "Justice is to be GIVEN, not sold-and that . with an equal and steady hand."t
Jonathan Edwards was a graduate of Yale College. A brief sketch of this most gifted of all the men of the eighteenth century, perhaps the most profound thinkenof the
* For a more full description of this eminent man, see Caulkins' New London ; also, Trumbull. The life of Saltonstall would itself afford material for a volume larger than this. His tomb is still in a perfect state of preservation. A tablet rests on it with the Saltonstall arms, and this simple inscription. " Here lyeth the body of the Honorable Gurdon Saltonstall, Esquire, Governor of Connecticut, who died the 20th of Sept., in the 59th year of his age, 1724."
t Sir Richard Saltonstall, knight, who was descended from an ancient family in Yorkshire, came to America with Governor Winthrop, in 1630. He soon became weary of the hardships of colonial life, and returned to England. But he always felt a deep interest in the welfare of the colony. His two oldest sons resolved to try their fortunes in America. Of these, Richard settled in Ipswich, where he was chosen an assistant in 1637. After the revolution, he went back to England, but returned to Massachusetts, in 1680. He soon after visited England, and died at Hulme, in 1694. His son Nathaniel was a graduate of Harvard. He lived and died at Haverhill. Gurdon Saltonstall, Governor of Connecticut, was his oldest son.
587
JONATHAN EDWARDS.
world, may not be out of place in the history of a state which had the honor of giving birth to him. He was born in 1703, in the old town of Windsor, on the margin of the Connec- ticut, and in the midst of scenery beautiful as the forms of his thought. He was the son of the Rev. Timothy Edwards, for sixty years minister of the church in that town. His mother was a daughter of the Rev. Solomon Stoddard, of Northampton. This lady, remarkable for her intellectual powers and humble piety, was the mother of ten daughters and one son, who was her fifth child. Having four sisters who were older, and six who were younger than himself, and being from his infancy a delicate child, he enjoyed the rare advantage, never understood and felt except by those who have been fortunate enough to experience it, of all the soften- ing and hallowed influences which refined female society sheds like an atmosphere of light around the mind and the soul of boyhood. Had that fond mother and those loving sisters been fully aware of the glorious gifts that were even then beginning to glow in the eyes of their darling-had they been able to see in its full blaze the immortal beauty borrowed from the regions of spiritualized thought and hallowed affections, that was one day to encircle that forehead as with a wreath from the bowers of Paradise; they could hardly have unfolded his moral and intellectual nature with more discreet care. His home exhibited in their most attrac- tive forms all the graces that adorn the life of the christian.
MASSACHUSETTS .- Theodore Sedgwick, John Davis, I. C. Bates, Julius Rock- well.
VERMONT .- Israel Smith, Horatio Seymour, Stephen R. Bradley, Samuel S. Phelps, Nathaniel Chipman.
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.