USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. I > Part 22
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 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88
1 The Outcast, and other Poems. Boston, 1836.
163
HARTFORD IN LITERATURE.
the publication at Hartford of a volume of poems ; but the edition was suppressed in consequence of unauthorized alterations in the manu- script, and the poems were reissued at New York in 1831. The best known of her poems is the " Ocean Hymn," -" Rocked in the cradle of the deep." " Bride-Stealing," re- printed in Everest's "Poets of Con- nect cut," is an idyl of old New England life read at an " old folks' party " in Farmington in 1840, in cele- bration of the second centennial of the town's settlement. Her "Journal and Letters from France and Great Britain" was published at Troy in 1833.
In Mrs. Sigourney, née Lydia Hunt- ley (born at Norwich, Sept. 1, 1791; died at Hartford, June 10, 1865), Hart- ford had a poetess of higher preten- sions, who enjoyed in her day a vogue which the present generation finds it hard to account for. Educated in part at Hartford schools, she came there for life in 1814, and opened a select semi- nary for young ladies. In 1815 she MRS. EMMA WILLARD. published at Hartford her first book, " Moral Pieces in Prose and Verse," which was followed by nearly sixty volumes in as many years, ending with "Letters of Life," printed posthumously in 1866. Mrs. Sigourney was sometimes called " the Hemans of America." She belonged to the era of the annuals, - that period of our literary history when a poet was styled a " bard " and his poem an "effusion." Her "Moral Pieces" were addressed to her pupils, and the atmosphere of the young ladies' seminary al- ways continued to hang about her writing, which has a kind of prim elegance in style and sentiment. An extraordinarily large proportion of her pieces were of the occasional order. "Death of an Infant," " Consecration of a Church," " Exhibition of a School of Young La- dies," " Baptism of an Infant at its Mother's Funeral," and similar titles occur with almost ludicrous frequency. Indian subjects attracted her strongly, and her most ambitious poems were "Pocahontas," 1841, and "Traits of the Aborigines," a poem in 4000 lines of very blank verse, published at Cambridge, 1822. " Past Meridian," a prose volume inspired by a reading of Cicero's " De Senectute," is Mrs. Sigourney's strongest work, and will form perhaps her best title to remembrance. She had the honor of republication in England, where a volume of selections from her poetry was printed in 1848 under the name of "The Coronal." 1
James Gates Percival (born at Berlin, Sept. 15, 1795; died at Hazelgreen, Illinois, May 2, 1856) may be reckoned among the poets of
1 Thackeray seems to have been acquainted with Mrs. Sigourney's poetry, to judge from this bit of parody : "As Mrs. Sigourney sweetly sings : -
' Oh the soul is a soft and a delicate thing :
The soul is a lute with a thrilling string,
A spirit that floats on a gossamer's wing.'"
-
.
164
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
Hartford County, though, as between the two capitals of the State, he gravitated decidedly toward New Haven. After 1810, when he entered college, he returned only at intervals to his birthplace, and never to make a long stay. From 1829 until his departure for Wisconsin in 1854, he resided continuously at New Haven. Percival's biographer, Mr. Ward, describes a visit which he made to Hartford in 1815,1 and his entrée into the literary society of the town. He had prepared himself, it seems, to "talk elaborately on particular topics," and "at social gatherings he talked at great length on single subjects " in an inaudible tone, and with results disastrous to his popularity. " He came away in disgust," and shortly after launched at the ungrateful city that " Impre- cation " which so greatly amused Mr. Lowell : -
"Ismir ! fare thee well forever ! From thy walls with joy I go. Every tie I freely sever, Flying from thy den of woe."
The first edition of Percival's poems was printed at New Haven in 1821, and contained some pieces written at Berlin, - notably the Byronic verses entitled "The Suicide," - which Hartford County may therefore lay claim to, if so disposed. The genius of this shy, eccentric scholar is matter of tradition. His learning was large but unfruitful. His poetry, except a few favorite pieces, such as " The Coral Grove " and " To Seneca Lake," was singularly unsubstantial, - abstract in theme, wearisomely diffuse in diction, and without solidity or edge. Perhaps his most valuable work is his "Report of the Geology of the State of Connecticut," of which Professor James D. Dana, our highest authority, speaks with respect.
From 1822 to 1827 Hartford had a genuine poet in the person of John Gardner Calkins Brainard (born Oct. 21, 1796, at New London ; died Sept. 26, 1828, at New London). Brainard was a classmate of Percival at Yale. He came to Hartford to take charge of the " Mirror," which he edited until about a year and a half before his early death by consumption. His poems were mostly thrown off in a hurry, under the pressure of demands for copy, and printed without revision in the col- umns of his newspaper. The first edition of his collected poems was published at New York in 1825. A second edition, with some fifty pieces added, appeared at Hartford in 1832. The biographical sketch of the poet in this edition, written by his friend Whittier, was warmly appreciative ; but the typographical appearance of the book was shabby, and it contained a number of poems not written by Brainard.2 A final edition was published in 1842.3 Brainard's work is uneven, but it is the work of a born poet. The fragment on " The Fall of Niagara " con- tains blank verse not unworthy of Bryant; and there is a natural lyrical
1 The Life and Letters of James Gates Percival, by Julins H. Ward. Boston, 1866.
2 The Literary Remains of John G. C. Brainard, with a Sketch of his Life, by J. G. Whittier. Hartford. Published by P. B. Goodsell, 1832.
3 The Poems of John G. C. Brainard. A. New and Authentic Collection. Hartford. S. Andrus & Son, 1842. The editor was Edward Hopkins. The memoir was contributed by the Rev. Royal Robbins, of Berlin. The edition contained a portrait of the poet, engraved by E. Gallaudet from an unfinished pencil-sketch by Wentworth; together with a vignette title from a delicate design by S. W. Cheney, the Hartford artist. The little volume was throughout the work of " home talent," and was a credit to the city in contents and mechanical execution.
165
HARTFORD IN LITERATURE.
impulse in some of the songs, such as the " Sea-Bird's Song," and the " Stanzas " beginning, " The dead leaves strew the forest walk." What is equally to the purpose, is to notice that Brainard is the Hartford poet, or, rather, the poet of the Connecticut Valley. The pieces entitled " Matchit Moodus," "The Shad Spirit," "Connecticut River," "The Black Fox of Salmon River," and others, deal with local legends and associations. The lines on " Connecticut River," in which Brainard alludes to Trumbull, are quite as applicable to himself : -
"Thou hadst a poet once, and he could tell Most tunefully whate'er to thee befell : Could fill each pastoral reed upon thy shore." 1
Theodore Dwight the younger (born at Hartford, March 3, 1796 ; died at Brooklyn, Oct. 16, 1866), was a son of the "Echo " poet. He went to Brooklyn in 1833 to help his father in conducting the New York " Daily Advertiser," and his writings belong more to the litera- ture of that city than of Hartford. They include a " History of Con- necticut," 1841 ; " A Summer Tour in the Northern and Middle States," 1847; a "Life of Garibaldi," 1859; and other works in prose, besides many uncollected poems, a few of which are given in Everest.
George Denison Prentice (born at Preston, Dec. 18, 1802; died at Louisville, Kentucky, Jan. 22, 1870), the brilliant editor of the " Louis- ville Journal," and one of the wittiest of American newspaper para- graphists, began his long career as a journalist in Hartford, where he conducted the " New England Review " from the fall of 1828 until the summer of 1830. In this weekly paper many of his poems made their first appearance ; 2 and the " Review," under his management, gained a wide reputation. In 1830 he went to Kentucky to write a life of Henry Clay, for campaign use in New England. This was hastily written, and published at Hartford in 1831.3 The preface was dated at Lexington, Kentucky, Nov. 14, 1830. On the 24th of the same month the first number of the " Louisville Journal " was issued, with Mr. Prentice as editor.
By Mr. Prentice's own recommendation he was succeeded on the " New England Review " by John Greenleaf Whittier, then a young . man of twenty-two, who had attracted the former's attention by the verses which he had sent to the " Review " from Boston. Mr. Whittier resigned his position in 1831. His contributions to the literature of Hartford consist, besides his work on the " Review," of the memoir of Brainard, already mentioned, and a small volume of one hundred and forty-two pages in prose and verse entitled "Legends of New England." 4 These first-fruits of the Quaker poct hardly foretoken the future Whit- tier, except in a fondness for Indian and colonial legends and a certain energy in the verse. The influence of Brainard is quite marked, par-
1 These lines were appropriately chosen by the Rev. Charles W. Everest as the motto for the titlepage of his valuable "Poets of Connecticut," published at Hartford in 1843.
2 A collection of Prentice's poems was published at Cincinnati in 1876, edited, with a memoir, by John James Piatt.
3 Biography of Henry Clay. By George D. Prentice, Esq. Hartford. Hanmer & Phelps publishers, 1831.
4 Legends of New England. By John G. Whittier. Hartford. Published by Hanmer & Phelps, 1831. The titlepage has a quotation from Brainard's "Connecticut River."
166
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
ticularly in the prose sketch entitled "The Human Sacrifice," and in the poem " The Black Fox," which is identical in subject with Brain- ard's " Black Fox of Salmon River," with the odds in point of treatment decidedly in Brainard's favor.
Here may be conveniently mentioned, out of their chronological order, a number of other poets who have adorned the annals of Hart- ford County.
William Henry Bradley (born at Hartford, July 24, 1802; died in Cuba in 1825) was a young physician whose "Giuseppino, an Occidental Story," published in 1822, as also his fugitive poems con- tributed to the newspapers of Providence, Rhode Island, - of which city he was for a time a resident, -is thought to have shown much promise. "Giuseppino" is one of the countless imitations of " Don Juan ; " and the author's other verses give equally strong evidence of Byron's influence.
William Henry Burleigh (born at Woodstock, Feb. 2, 1812; died at Brooklyn, New York, March 18, 1871) was a self-educated genius, who led a checkered career as farmer, printer, journalist, lawyer, and publie lecturer on slavery and other topics. He resided much at Plain- field, and was at one time editor of the " Charter Oak," published at Hartford. He printed a volume of poems at Philadelphia in 1841. They are fair specimens of the better class of newspaper poetry of their period, and in their facility and sentiment somewhat resemble the poems of Prentice.
Mrs. Shutts, nee Mary Ann Hanmer Dodd (born at Hartford, March 5, 1813 ; married Henry Shutts, of New York State, at Springfield, Mass., in 1855; died at Greenburg, New York, 1878) was a contribu- tor to the " Ladies' Repository," a monthly, and the " Rose of Sharon," an annual, and printed a volume of poems at Hartford, in 1843, marked by a gentle melancholy and a deep religious feeling. She was a Universalist, and published many of her pieces in denomina- tional prints.
James Dixon (born at Enfield, Aug. 5, 1814; died at Hartford, March 27, 1873) removed about 1838 from his native place to Hartford, where he resided until his death. He was eminent in professional and political life, and was Member of Congress from 1845 to 1849, and United States Senator from 1857 to 1869. Mr. Dixon was a gentleman of elegant and scholarly tastes, and in early life contributed poetry to the "New England Magazine," the " Connecticut Courant," and other periodicals. His poems, especially the sonnets which are given in Everest's collec- tion, are musical and graceful, though rather amateurish. They remind the reader occasionally of Bryant; as in the piece entitled "Indian Summer."
Arthur Cleveland Coxe (born at Mendham, New Jersey, May 10, 1818) now Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Diocese of western New York, was rector of St. John's Church, Hartford, when he published his religious mystery-play, " Saul," in 1845. His poem " Athanasion " was delivered at Trinity College in 1840, and his sermons on " Doe- trine and Duty " were preached at St. John's.
In Henry Howard Brownell (born at Providence, Rhode Island, Feb. 6, 1820; graduated at Trinity College in 1841 ; died at East Hart-
167
HARTFORD IN LITERATURE.
ford, Oct. 31, 1872), Hartford had a poet worthy of the name. Unfitted by delicate health for the active work of a profession, Mr. Brownell resided most of his life at East Hartford, devoting himself to reading and study. In 1847 he published a slender volume of poems which gave token of fine possibilities, though as yet the poet seemed waiting for his theme. It came with the bombard- ment of Sumter. Mr. Brownell obtained a position on Farragut's staff, on whose flag- ship, "The Hartford," he was present dur- ing several great na- val engagements, such as the " Bay Fight" at Mobile, which he described in most dra- matic verse in his " Lyrics of a Day," 1864, and his " War Lyrics," 1866. The fiery and rugged po- etry of such pieces as " The Bay Fight," " Annus Memorabi- lis," and many others, entitle Brownell to rank equally, perhaps, with Whittier as the Körner of our Civil War. He was also HENRY HOWARD BROWNELL. the author of "The Old World," "The New World," a " History of the War of 1812," and other writings in prose.
George H. Clark (born in Northampton, Mass., 1809; died in Hartford, August, 1881), for many years a merchant of Hartford, was a contributor of verses to "Putnam's Magazine " and the " Knicker- bocker," and published a volume, " Undertow," in 1860. He also wrote numerous poems for special occasions.
Perhaps the man of highest genius in the catalogue of Hartford authors was Horace Bushnell (born at Litchfield, April 14, 1802; died at Hartford, Feb. 17, 1876). His connection with Hartford began with his call to the pastorate of the North Church in 1833, and he remained until his death one of its most public spirited citizens. The beautiful city park which his exertions did so much to obtain, fittingly bears his name. His writings, though mainly theological, or, rather, religious, in subject, are often lifted by their imaginative quality and beauty of style into the region of pure literature. His thought has some- times a resemblance to Emerson's, though his conclusions were widely different. His orthodoxy was supported by admissions so bold and
168
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
reasonings so original as to lay him open to charges of heresy. His earlier writings in particular, such as " Christian Nurture," 1847, "God in Christ," 1849, and " Christian Theology," 1851, made him the object of what may without exaggeration be called persecution by a party among the Congregational churches of the State. In consequence of his peculiar way of holding the doctrines of the Atonement and the Divinity of Christ, he was accused of a modified form of Unitarianism. In his works, like " Work and Play," a series of essays, published as a volume in 1864, but delivered much earlier, "The Moral Uses of Dark Things," 1869, and his masterpiece, "Nature and the Super- natural," 1859, he addressed a public wider than the limits of his denomination. In these, and particularly in the last mentioned, Dr. Bushnell's other-worldliness is shown in an inclination to admit a belief in modern miracles, the development of spiritual life, and " de- moniacal irruptions." His life and letters have been edited by his daughter, Mrs. Mary Bushnell Cheney.1
In this connection may be mentioned another distinguished divine, Robert Turnbull (born at Whiteburn, Scotland, Sept. 10, 1809 ; died in 1877), who was pastor of the South Baptist Church from 1837 to 1839, and subsequently of the First Baptist. Dr. Turnbull was known by his translation of Vinet's "Vital Christianity," 1846, and of the same author's " Miscellanies," 1852, as well as by many original works, in- cluding " The Genius of Scotland," 1847 ; " The Genius of Italy," 1849; " Christ in History," 1856; "Pulpit Orators of France and Switzer- land," 1853; "Life Pictures," 1857, etc. He edited at one time the " Christian Review."
In Isaac William Stuart (born at New Haven in 1809; died at Hartford, Oct. 2, 1861), Hartford had a graceful orator and accom- plished scholar, as well as an enthusiastic student of the history and antiquities of the city. Mr. Stuart came to Hartford in 1838, and, ex- cepting a few years' absence at the South, when he held the Greek professorship in the University of North Carolina, made it his life residence. He was the owner of the Wyllys estate, where the Charter Oak stood. In 1853 he collected and issued, under the title " Hartford in the Olden Time," a pleasant series of papers first contributed to the " Courant."2 In 1856 he published his charmingly written "Life of Nathan Hale," 3 and in 1859, at Boston, a " Life of Jonathan Trumbull." He was also the translator of an " Essay on the Hieroglyphie System of Champollion," 1830, and in 1837 edited " Œdipus Tyrannus," with notes, etc.
Henry Champion Deming (born at Colchester, May 23, 1815 ; died at Hartford, Oct. 9, 1872), a forcible and finished orator and a gentle- man of brilliant social and intellectual gifts, was best known by his numerous public addresses, lectures, and Congressional speeches. He settled at Hartford in 1847; in 1861 was appointed colonel of the Twelfth Regiment of Connecticut volunteers; in 1862-1863 was mayor of the captured city of New Orleans ; and from 1864 to 1868 represented
1 Life and Letters of Horace Bushnell. New York: Harper & Bros., 1880.
2 Hartford in the Olden Time: Its First Thirty Years. By Scava. Edited by W. M.
B. Hartley. With illustrations. Hartford. Published by F. A. Brown, 1853.
3 Life of Captain Nathan Hale, the Martyr-Spy of the American Revolution. By I. W.
Stuart. With illustrations. Hartford. Published by F. A. Brown, 1856.
169
HARTFORD IN LITERATURE.
the First District of Connecticut in Congress. When a young man, and resident in New York, Mr. Deming published translations of some of Eugene Sue's novels in Park Benjamin's paper, " The New World." Specially noteworthy among his orations were his speech on " Recon- struction," in the National House of Representatives; his " Eulogy of Abraham Lincoln," delivered before the General Assembly of Connec- ticut in 1865; and his lyceum lecture on " The Passage of the Forts." In 1868 he published at Hartford a "Life of Grant."
Azel Stevens Roe (born at New York in 1798, died at East Windsor Jan. 1, 1886), retired to East Windsor about 1848, where he wrote his very popular series of stories for boys, - " James Montjoy," 1850 ; "Time and Tide," 1852; " A Long Look Ahead," 1855 ; and others, to the number of a dozen.
Among living authors now resident in Hartford County may be mentioned the following : -
The famous anthor of " Uncle Tom's Cabin," Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, née Harriet Elizabeth Beecher (born at Litchfield, June 14, 1812), from her fifteenth to her twenty-first year was associated with her sister Catherine in the charge of a female seminary at Hart- ford. Some of her sketches of New England life after- ward published in her first book, "The May-Flower," 1844, were written at this time. In 1864 Mrs. Stowe returned to Hartford, where she has since made her home. Many of her later works have been written there, including "Men of Our Times," Hartford, 1868; " The Chimney - Corner," 1868 ; " The Minister's Wooing," 1868; "Oldtown Folks," 1869; "Pink and White Tyranny," 1871; " My Wife and I," 1871; MRS. HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. " Palmetto Leaves," 1873; " We and Our Neighbors," 1875 ; " Poganne People," 1878, etc.
James Hammond Trumbull, LL.D. (born at Stonington, Dec. 20, 1821), librarian of the Watkinson Library and president of the Con- necticut Historical Society since 1863, was a member of the class of 1842 in Yale College, and received the degree of Doctor of Laws from that institution in 1871. He was assistant Secretary of the State of Connecticut from 1847 to 1852, and again from 1858 to 1861, and Secretary of the State from 1861 to 1865. Between 1850 and 1859 he edited and published the first three volumes of the "Connecticut Colony Records." He was one of the active founders of the American Philo-
170
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
logical Association in 1869, and its president, 1874-1875. Among his published writings are : "The Origin of McFingal," "The Composition of Indian Geographical Names," " The Best Method of Studying the Indian Languages," " Mistaken Notions of Algonkin Grammar," " His- torical Notes on the Constitution of Connecticut," "Notes on Forty Algonkin Versions of the Lord's Prayer," "Notes on the Algonkin Verb," "The Defence of Stonington against a Brit- ish Squadron in 1814," etc.
Erastus Wolcott Ells- worth (born at East Wind- sor in 1823), by profession an inventor and machinist, published a volume of po- ems in 1855,1 the longest of which had for its subject the story of Theseus and Ariadne. One of the po- ems, and a remarkably good one, entitled " What is the" Use ?" has been reprinted in Whittier's "Songs of Three Centuries." Mr. Ells- worth furnished many of the drawings for the su- perb " Wolcott Memorial," recently published.
Charles Dudley Warner (born at Plainfield, Mass., Sept. 12, 1829) came to Hartford in 1860 as one of CHAS. DUDLEY WARNER. the editors of the " Press," and subsequently became (Portrait used by permission of Messrs, Houghton, Mifflin, & Co ) one of the owners and edi- tors of the " Courant," with which paper he is still associated. Mr. Warner is widely known as a delicate humorist, and the author of charming sketches, essays, and travels. "My Summer in a Garden," 1871; "Saunterings," 1872; "Backlog Studies," 1872; " Baddeck," 1874; " My Winter on the Nile among Mummies and Moslems," 1876; "In the Levant," 1877; " Being a Boy," 1878 ; "In the Wilderness," 1878; " Washington Irving," 1880; " Life of Captain John Smith ;" "A Roundabout Journey," etc., are among his published writings, and were all written at Hartford.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (born at Florida, Monroe County, Mo., Nov. 30, 1835), universally known, by his pen-name of " Mark Twain," as one of the raciest and most original of American humorists, has lived at Hartford since 1871. His later books have been "The In- nocents Abroad," 1869 ; " Roughing It," 1872 ; " Mark Twain's Sketches," 1875; " Adventures of Tom Sawyer," 1876; "A Tramp Abroad," 1880; "The Prince and the Pauper ;" "Life on the Missis-
1 Poems. By Erastus W. Ellsworth. Published by F. A. Brown. Hartford, 1855. .
171
HARTFORD IN LITERATURE.
sippi ;" "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ;" "Punch, Brothers, Punch," etc.
Among living writers formerly identified with Hartford, but now resident elsewhere, may be named the following : -
Frederick Law Olmsted (born at Hartford, Nov. 10, 1822) has been since 1848 a citizen of New York, and his numerous valuable contribu- tions to the literature of travel, hor- ticulture, and landscape-gardening date from that city ; the first of his published works, " Walks and Talks of an Amer- ican Farmer in England," having ap- peared in 1852.
Mrs. Rose Terry Cooke (born at Hartford, Feb. 17, 1827), who removed to Winsted after her marriage in 1873, has been a frequent contributor of po- etry and graphic stories of rural New England life to the columns of the " At- lantic Monthly," " Harper's," and other periodicals. In 1861 she published at Boston a volume of poems, some of which, such as "Trailing Arbutus," 'Then," and "The Two Villages," have been justly popular.
SAMUEL LANGHORNE CLEMENS. (" MARK TWAIN.")
Frederic Beecher Perkins (born at Hartford, Sept. 27, 1829) was for many years a resident of the city, and at different times librarian of the Connecticut Historical Society, and associate editor of Barnard's " American Journal of Education " and of the " Connecticut Common School Journal." He published at New York, in 1872, his useful " The Best Reading," which has gone through many editions. He has con- tributed to various periodicals some fifty stories and sketches, the best known of which is, perhaps, " The Steam Man." A volume of these he collected and published at New York in 1877, called " Devil Puzzles, and Other Stories," of which the one entitled " Children " -in which he feigns a dislike of Wethersfield onions and Hartford " Election cake" - is of some local interest.
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.