USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Derby > The history of the old town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642-1880. With biographies and genealogies > Part 66
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The historian of that day (Gordon), in relating this transac- tion, says of him : " The General behaved with great valor, and
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lost his life gloriously in defending the liberties of America, at the advanced age of seventy."
Duly sensible of the loss the country had sustained in the death of Gen. Wooster, and justly appreciating his merits and services, the lower House of Congress passed a resolution in 1822, to erect a monument to Gen. Wooster, and that five hundred dollars should be appropriated for that end, but the Senate did not concur, because of so many bills of that kind being presented at that time.28
Although neglect is certainly involved in the long delay in suitably marking the resting-place of the remains of Gen. Wooster, it is yet a subject of congratulation that it has re- sulted in the planting of a more beautiful and appropriate shaft than would have been done by the comparatively small sum proposed by Congress. This satisfaction is increased by the reflection that the citizens of his native state, and especially of the town he lost his life in defending, united in the final con- summation of the act of justice.
Of generous impulses,
" Large was his bounty and his soul sincere,"
calm and unruffled under great or minor public difficulties, of tall, fine, commanding personal appearance, those who knew him best have likened him to our beloved Washington. Tra- duced, libeled, and even insulted by jealous, designing officers, especially the traitorous Arnold, his name and virtues now stand out in beautiful and shining contrast with the deeds of those who maligned him while living. We must not forget that General Wooster was a high toned Christian, and one of the few who occasionally officiated as chaplain as well as chief of his army, praying to the God of battles for success in a cause which has shed its blessings upon untold millions.
The following sketch of the family of General David Wooster was left in the hand-writing of Mrs. Maria Clapp Turner, grand- daughter of General Wooster.
" MRS MARY CLAPP WOOSTER was the widow of Gen. David Woos- ter, who fell in defense of his country between Danbury and Ridgefield. She was the daughter and only surviving child of David Clap, Presi-
28 Benson J. Lossing's " Field Book of the Revolution."
-
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HISTORY OF DERBY.
dent of Yale College. She married at the age of sixteen, and was the mother of three children, two daughters and one son, the eldest, a daugh- ter, died when not quite a year old.
" The properties of this lady's understanding and of her heart were such. as are rarely found in the same person. The powers of her mind were strong, active and firm. These were awakened. enlightened and enlarged by an early, uniform and well regulated education. Her un- derstanding was enriched by a great variety of useful information. Her knowledge of New England, particularly Connecticut was exten- sive and minute. She was conversant with all the historical and natu- ral curiosities of this country. Her society was much sought. and her conversation much enjoyed by persons of literature. The pleasure in noting these characteristics would be much less than it is were we obliged to stop here. What most distinguished, most adorned and most ennobled her was the gospel of the Son of God. This she pro fessed in early life, and from that period to the day of her decease, lived steadily under its influence. Though fervent and animated on all topics, whenever she opened her lips on the subject of religion, her fer- vor seemed to glow, and her animation kindled in proportion to the magnitude of the subject. She was charitable to the poor, sympathetic to the afflicted, and benevolent to all. She passed through many scenes. Her early days were strewed with flowers, but the later part of her life was full of disappointments and afflictions. But all these troubles she bore with rare equanimity and fortitude. As she ap- proached the close of her life, her relish for religion increased, and her relish for everything else abated. Her conversation was principally about heaven and heavenly things. It was the result of choice, not of necessity. While her body was a prey to disease, her soul seemed more and more above this world. Her exhibition of the realities of religion during the last days of her life, made those who conversed with her forget all her former greatness, and proficiency in other things. In the character of the Christian we are willing to forget every other conspicuous trait which justly and singularly belonged to her. Her light seemed to be truly that of the just, which shineth more and more until the perfect day. She was born in 1726, and died in New Haven at the age of seventy-eight.
" Her son, Thomas Wooster, was sent to Europe. On his return he married Lydia Sheldon, by whom he had five sons and one daughter. He served as a colonel in the Revolutionary war. After the war he went with his family to New Orleans. Business rendered it necessary for him to go to New Haven, and on his return to New Orleans the ship was lost and he was never heard of. His widow with her family
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BIOGRAPHIES.
returned to New York. Four of her sons went to sea, and two were lost. The fifth son, Charles Whitney Wooster, married Fanny Steb- bins, daughter of Simon, who was the son of Theophilus, who was the son of Boni (Benoni), who built the house now standing in Ridgefield, between 1708 and 1761 (who was the son of Thomas of Deerfield, Mass., who was the son of Roland, who came to this country in 1628, who was the son of Sir Thomas of Suffolk county, in the west of Eng- land). The house in Ridgefield has holes over the door made by bul- lets which were fired when the battle was fought in which Gen. Wooster was wounded.
"Charles W. Wooster had command of the forts around the harbor of New York, during the three years' war of 1812, under the title of Major of the Sea Fencibles. After the war he went to Chili, and was made admiral of their navy. He died at San Francisco in 1848.
He had two sons ; one died in infancy, the second, Charles F. Wooster, was educated at West Point, served in the Florida war, and the war with Mexico. At the battle of Chihuahua, though Col Doni- phan had command, yet it was through his advice and counsel the vic- tory was gained ; he gave the directions of all the movements. To use the words of Major Porter, 'he didn't know what fear was.' His tal- ents were fine and he had all the qualities of an officer. He was cap- tain of the Fourth Artillery. He died at Fort Brown, Texas, on the 14th of February, 1856, aged thirty-nine years. His remains were brought to Brooklyn, and are interred in the family lot in Green- wood Cemetery. His name and his mother's (whose remains are there also) are on one side of the monument and Stebbins on the other. By the foregoing it will be apparent that four generations in succession were in the service of their country."
An incident without romance occurred under Gen. Woos- ter's command, which illustrates forcibly some of the characters that upheld the Revolution, for had there not been much of this decided and thorough character among the Americans, not- withstanding all that was exhibited to the contrary, the inde- pendence of the colonies would never have been gained.
Caleb Tomlinson of Huntington, father of Charles Tomlin- son, not long since living in Huntington, aged nearly four score years, was sent by Gen. Wooster with a dispatch to Gen. Washington. Being from the same neighborhood as Gen. Woos- ter, young Tomlinson was selected because the General knew him to be a plucky Yankee, although a little uncultivated
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HISTORY OF DERBY.
in his manners, and one to be trusted for the discharge of duty.
Arriving at head-quarters he asked to see Gen. Washington, to which the guard replied : "You cannot see him." "But I must, I have a dispatch for him from Gen. Wooster." The guard reported to Gen. Washington, and returned answer that he could be admitted. Washington was seated at a rude table writing when Tomlinson handed him the dispatch, and Washington on reading it nodded assent and asked, " Anything more ?" "Nothing but an answer direct from you," said Tom- linson. "Do you presume to tell me what I must do," inquired the General. " No, General, but I'll be damned if I leave these quarters without something to show that I have discharged my duty as a soldier." Rising from his seat Washington remarked, " You are from Connecticut, I perceive." "I am, sir," was the reply. Tapping him on the shoulder the General said, "Young man, I wish to the God of battles I had more such soldiers as you. You shall be granted your request."
COL. WILLIAM B. WOOSTER
Was born in Oxford, Conn., August 22, 1821, being the son of Russell Wooster, a thrifty farmer, who cultivated large fields of rocky land. In early life the son William worked on the farm summers, and taught the village school winters. Becoming tired of swinging the scythe and following the plow, he resolved to strike out for himself ; and, choosing for his calling the pro- fession of the law, he entered the Law School at New Haven and studied under Samuel Hitchcock, Isaac Townsend and the late Chief Justice Storrs, and was admitted to the bar in 1846. He located in Derby October 1, 1846, and ever since has been a most successful and popular legal advocate.
Although not an office-seeker, yet he has consented to serve the town in many places of trust ; twice representing Derby in the Legislature,-once in 1858-and was senator from the fifth district in 1859. His labors in the House were very valuable in 1861, in connection with Judge Elisha Carpenter and other members of the military committee, when the act for the bene- fit of widows and children of the soldiers of the state was
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HISTORY OF DERBY
tu lis www is, and one to be trusted for the discharge of
Mixing at head quarters he asked to see Gen. Washington, to which the guard replied: "You cannot see him" B. T wod, [ have a dispatch for im from Gen. Wooster." Him emund reported to Gen, Washington, aud returned answer that he would be admittedl Washington was seated at a ridi Table writing when Tomlinson handed him the dispatch, and Washington on reading it nodded assent and asked, "Anything wore ?" " Nothing but an answer direct from you," said Tom Fusion " Do you presume to tell me what I must do," inquired the General. "No, General, but I'll be damned if I leave those quarter without something to show that I have discharged my duty as a soldier«" Rising from his sent Washington remirkel " You are from Connectest, Iperceive." "I am, sir,' was the reply. Tapping bim on the the der the General said, " Young nian, I wish to the Gidef Untes | bad more such soldiers as you. You see the granted your request."
Por WILIAM Y WOOSTER
Was born in Oxford, Conn, August 22, 821, being the son of Russell Wooster, a thrilly farmer, who cultivated bare nolds of rocky land. In early lite the son William worked on the farm summers, and taught the village school winters. Tiecoming tired of swinging the scythe and following the plow, he resolved to strike out for himself; and, choosing for his calling the pro ession of the law, he entered the Law School at New Haven ond studied under Samuel Hitchcock, Isaac Town. od and th late Chief Justice Storrs, and was adniitted to the her i: 1846. He located in Derby October 1, 1846, and ever sived has been . a most successful and popular legal advocat
Although not an office-seeker, yet he has consendel to seine the town in many places of trust ; twice representing Derby in the Legislature, -- once in 1858- and was senator trom the ilio district in 1859. His labors in the House were very valuable in (861, in connection with Judge Elish Carpenter and otoet members of the military committee, when the act for the bent fit of widows and children of the soldiers of the state way
michelle
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BIOGRAPHIES.
passed, for which measure Wooster, who drafted the bill, re- ceived deservedly great commendation.
Active in the campaign of 1856, he was more so in the one that elected the lamented Lincoln. On the outbreak of the Rebellion he was very earnest in taking steps to suppress it. One day a neighbor said to him in his office, "What is Derby to do in this war?" He replied with earnestness, "I don't know what will be done, but I have resolved to close my office and enlist, for I think it is my duty." He at once issued a poster for a public meeting, which convened at Nathan's Hall, and about $3,000 were raised by subscription towards encouraging volunteers. He enlisted in 1862, and Governor Buckingham
gave him the appointment of lieutenant colonel of the 20th Regiment and he served until the close of the war. He was in command of his regiment at the battle of Chancellorsville. He was captured with Capt. A. E. Beardsley of Derby, Capt W. W. Smith of Seymour and a few others, and sent to the dungeon of Libby prison. After being exchanged, Col. Wooster was again at the head of his broken regiment and participated in the famous battle of Gettysburg. In both of these engagements he showed himself a brave officer, and by his military skill endeared himself to his soldiers. In 1864 he was appointed to be colonel of the 29th Regiment, colored, which position he accepted. Leaving New Haven March, 1864, he was ordered south, and after some months' service there resigned his position a little before his regiment returned home. Under Gen. Joseph R. Hawley, Col. Wooster was paymaster general on his staff.
Col. Wooster made a brilliant war record, and his services were an honor to Derby and the state.
In reality a self-made man, possessing native talent, stern in- tegrity and resolute mind, yet kind and tender-hearted, he has elevated himself to his present position by his own exertions, yet so modest that it was difficult to secure his consent to placing his portrait in this book.
As a lawyer he ranks among the first in the state, and main- tains an enviable reputation.
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HISTORY OF DERBY.
WILLIAM T. BACON29
Was born in Woodbury August 24, 1812 ; graduated at Yale College in 1837, at the Yale Theological Seminary in 1840, and was ordained pastor in Trumbull, Conn., in 1841. He was specially engaged in literary tastes, in addition to his pastoral work, for several years, and in broken health retired to the old Bacon homestead in Woodbury, from which he came to Derby, settling first on a farm called " Hillside." Afterwards, in view of occupation for his sons he established the Derby Transcript, but his son James did not long continue to enjoy the opportuni- ties planned by a fond parent, and his early decease has left a shadow on the household that has beclouded specially all the joys of the father.
The Transcript is a stirring, enterprising paper, which takes an honorable position among the soaring, bird-like flock, which, with stretching wings and eagle eyes, hover over the Naugatuck valley. Mr. Bacon also established, in connection with Thomas Woodward, the New Haven Courier.
LEONIDAS BRADLEY BALDWIN
Was born in New Haven, and fitted for college at the Hopkins Grammar School in that city. He graduated at Trinity College, Hartford, in 1860, and pursued his theological studies at the Berkeley Divinity School, Middletown, Conn., and was ordained to the priesthood by the late Bishop Chase of New Hampshire, and afterwards was called to the rectorship of St. Mark's Church, New Britain, where he remained until his removal to Birming- ham in 1870, to the rectorship of St. James's Church, which re- lation was terminated in November, 1879, to accept a call to St. Mark's Church, Boston, Mass.
Standing, as he did, fifteenth in the honored roll of rectors of this ancient parish from Dr. Mansfield, his rectorship was of longer continuance than any of the others.
REV. AMOS BASSETT, D. D.,
Was born in Derby (the son of Dea. Amos Bassett of Great Hill Society) ; graduated at Yale College in 1784; licensed to
29This and the following Biographies were completed too late to be placed in alphabetical order with the others.
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BIOGRAPHIES.
preach by the New Haven West Association in 1792 ; was pas- tor at Hebron, Conn., from 1794 to 1824; preached at Monroe, Conn., afterwards, and died in 1828. He succeeded Mr. Dag- gett in 1824 as principal in the Cornwall Mission School. He was a member of the corporation of Yale College from 1810 to his decease. " He was an excellent scholar, a sensible and sol- emn preacher, and especially distinguished for the gravity of his deportment and for godly simplicity and sincerity."
BENJAMIN BASSETT, M. D.,
Son of John and Nancy A. (Lee) Bassett, was born in Derby, January 23, 1827 ; graduated at Yale College in 1847 ; received the degree of M. D. at Yale College in 1851. He practiced medicine a time in Brooklyn, when failing in health he removed to New Haven in 1874, where he died in 1879.
EBENEZER D. BASSETT
Was born in Litchfield, Conn., October 16, 1833, and came to Derby when an infant, so that he is essentially a Derby citizen. His early education was very meagre, and while an office boy for Doct. A. Beardsley he developed talents that courted encour- agement. He attended the High School in Birmingham, then went to the academy at Wilbraham, Mass .; graduated at the State Normal School in 1853 ; studied at Yale in 1854 and 1855, obtaining a good knowledge of the classics. He then devoted himself to teaching, continuing for sixteen years. If his skin was not white he was a good scholar and excelled in mathemat- ics. During the war he wrote many appeals, which appeared in the newspapers, to encourage the enlistment of colored soldiers. He has been minister to Hayti eight years, and is now stationed in New York city as consulate of the United States to Hayti, for which position he is largely indebted to Col. William B. Wooster and others of Birmingham, who encouraged and fur- nished him means to press forward in his ambition. In a note he makes the following acknowledgment : "My success in life I owe greatly to that American sense of fairness which was tendered me in old Derby, and which exacts that every man, whether white or black, shall have a fair chance to run his race in life and make the most of himself."
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HISTORY OF DERBY.
DOCT. MARTIN BULL BASSETT
Was born in Hebron May 14, 1802, being the son of Rev. Amos Bassett, D. D .; was fitted for college by his father ; graduated at Yale College in 1823; studied medicine with Doct. Isaac Jennings of Derby, attending also Yale Medical College. He married Caroline Tomlinson of Huntington, Conn., and went to Ohio, practicing medicine only a short time owing to delicate health. Returning East, and inheriting a large farm near Bir- mingham, with other property, he spent his life in agricultural pursuits. He died May 15, 1879, aged 77.
REV. WILLIAM ELLIOTT BASSETT,
Son of John and Nancy A. (Lee) Bassett, was born in Derby, May 24, 1829 ; graduated at Yale College in 1850; studied the- ology in Union Theological Seminary, in New York, and in the Divinity School, New Haven, and was ordained pastor of the Congregational church of Central Village, Conn., February 14, 1856. He became acting pastor in North Manchester, Conn., January, 1860, and was installed pastor at Warren, Conn , Octo- ber 12, 1864. His residence was in New Haven from 1876 to 1879, and on May 1, 1880, he became acting pastor in Bethle- hem, Conn.
THADDEUS G. BIRDSEYE
Was born in Huntington, September, 9, 1812, and came to Bir- mingham in the spring of of 1836, where he engaged in mercan- tile business with his brother Ephraim, several years on Main street. He was postmaster six years after Henry Atwater resigned ; was town clerk four years, and has been secretary and treasurer of the Derby Savings Bank for the last twenty years. He has filled all these offices with great credit and satisfaction to the public, especially the last mentioned.
SAMUEL ORCUTT,
Son of James and Celine (Crosby) Orcutt was born in Berne, Albany county, N. Y. His grandfather, Samuel Orcutt, a native of Connecticut, was a musician in Washington's army in the Revolution most of the time the war continued, and was killed by the falling of a tree when his twin sons, James and
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Ezra, were only five years of age. Samuel, the author of this book, and whose portrait is the second in the book, attended the district school winters until nineteen years of age, when he turned teacher instead of pupil. When he was about fourteen, that great institution, the district library, was established in the school district, and his father being the librarian, he made dili- gent improvement of the nearly 200 volumes secured, making many of them a regular study instead of simply reading books.
While teaching he mastered the " Elements of Algebra" and Chemistry without a teacher. He then took a two years' course of classical studies at Cazenovia (N. Y.) Seminary, and Owego Academy. Being licensed to preach, he supplied the pulpits of four churches in central New York while taking a course of four years' theological and historical studies under private but regu- lar and thorough recitation. He then took one year's course of study in Hebrew and Greek under Prof. James Strong of Flush- ing, L I. After this he preached at Greenport and Patchogue, L. I., (in the Congregational churches) four years ; then four years at William's Bridge, Westchester county, N. Y. Following this he preached with much success at Riverhead, L. I., fifteen months, and in the spring of 1872 removed to Wolcott, Conn., where he supplied the pulpit nearly two years and wrote the history of that town, which was published in 1874. While preaching at Torrington, Conn., in 1874 and 5, he collected largely the material for a history of that town, which was published early in 1878.
While preaching several months at New Preston, Conn., in 1876, he collected considerable material for another work (not local history) not yet published. He began as a licensed preacher in 1848, when twenty-four years of age; was ordained in 1851, and was regularly employed in his profession, with the excep- tion of a year and a half, until in 1875, a series of twenty-seven years ; and is now a member of the New Haven West Associa- tion.
IN MEMORIAM.
THE STORY OF THE YEARS.1
As one that athirst in the desert, in the maze of some feverish dream May hear, as it were, in the distance the babble of brooklet and stream, So dimly the voice of the ages, comes rippling along to mine ears, As I gaze on the mystical curtain, that hideth the vale of the years; And I see-or in fact or in fancy-grim shadows but half-way defined, That crowd on the face of the canvas, from a world that is fading behind.
Lo, I stand 'mid the tombs of my fathers ! before me a vision of green, With a glory of hill and of mountain, of meadow and river between ; And the rocks, that are storied, I question for the joys and the hopes and the fears, With the scheming and crowning ambitions, that lie in the vale of the years :-
For the swaddling clothes of the infant,-the staff, and the finishing shroud, And again is the question repeated, "for what shall a mortal be proud ?" True we talk of our valleys and hillsides, our fields with their cities besown ; But where are the deeds for defending the realms that we claim as our own?
But yester their owners were ploughing the soil where their ashes now sleep ; And to-morrow shall others be sowing for others to come and to reap. From the past we but borrow the present; for the future we hold it in trust; And for us at the last there remaineth, at best, but a handful of dust !
And so, as I muse in the darkness, a hand on the dial appears, And slowly uprises the curtain that hideth the vale of the years. And from out of the world of the present, with eyes that are dewy and blind, I turn to the shadows in waiting from a world that is fading behind.
II
And quick, with a yell of defiance-a flourish of hatchet and knife, And a horde of wild demons are writhing in the wage of a terrible strife ; From the hedges of willow and alder, like panthers they spring on the foe; From the shelter of rock and of thicket their flint-headed arrows they throw,-
Till the sun goeth down on the battle, and the war-field is reddened with gore, And the squaw and pappoose are bewailing the hunter that cometh no more : The vanquished steal off in the shadows, to the depths of the forest away, With a scowl of defiance and warning for the deeds of a luckier day.
1This poem was prepared by Mr. John W. Storrs of Birmingham by special request of the authors of this work.
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And the victors, with scalp-lock and trophy of hatchet and arrow and bow, Prepare for a savage thanksgiving for the valor that conquered the foe. The faggots are brought and are lighted, the sacrifice bound to the stake, And the shrieks of the victim and victor the depths of the forest awake.
On the banks of the Paugasuck buried, in the sands of the Pootatuck shore, Is the skull and the arm and the arrow, but they startle with terror no more : For the arrow is broken and wasted; the bowstring is severed in twain ; And the smoke of the war-dance upcurleth no more from the forest or plain.
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