Biographical Notices of Graduates of Yale College
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BIOGRAPHICAL N OTICES OF GRADUATES OF Y ALE COLLEGE INCLUDING T HOSE GRADUATED IN CLASSES LATER THAN 1815, WHO ARE NOT COMMEMORATED IN THE ANNUAL OBITUARY RECORDS BY FRANKLIN B OWDITCH DEXTER, LITT.D. SAISSUED A SUPPLEMENT TO THE OBITUARY RECORD NEW HAVEN— 1913 PREFACE Biographical S ketches of the graduates of Yale College to 1815 have already been published, in six octavo volumes ; and when it became necessary to bring this series of Sketches to a close, the author was requested by the Cor poration of the University to compile a supplementary volume, of those deceased graduates of the College, of Classes later than 1815, who have not been included in the Obituary Records, published annually since 1860. fMany o the notices in the volume thus compiled have a certain sameness, as commemorating those who died too soon to have achieved much; while another considerable group consists of those who were early lost sight of, or whose distant residence has obscured their later history. The time which could be given to the task of compilation has limited the amount of research, but it is hoped that the results justify the design. BIOGRAPHICAL N OTICES GRADUATES OF YALE COLLEGE CLASSF O l8l6 REUBEN B OOTH, son of Reuben H. and Sarah Booth, was born in Newtown, Connecticut, on November 26, 1794. The family removed to Kent in his boyhood, and he entered Yale at the opening of Sophomore year. In 1814 his father, who was a wool-carder, was drowned in the Housatonic River, leaving him dependent on his own exertions. On g raduation he began the study of law in New Milford with Judge David S. Boardman (Yale 1793), and after one year continued his studies with Moses Hatch (Yale 1800), while teaching in the Danbury Academy. In 1818 he was admitted to the bar, and opened an office in Danbury, where he remained through life. His practice was large and remunerative, and he also became one of the leading poli ticians of the State. In 1 822 he represented the town in the General Assembly, and from that date to 1835 he was the Judge of Probate for the Danbury District. In 1830 he was a member of the State Senate, and in 1844 and 1845 Lieutenant Governor. He d ied in Danbury on August 14, 1848, in his 54th year, after an illness of two or three days. He m arried Jane, daughter of the Rev. David Belden (Yale 1785), of Wilton, who died on February 18, 1844, at the age of 45. Their c hildren were three daughters and two sons. JOHN S TEINMETZ BRINTON, the eldest son of John Hill Brinton (Univ. Pa. 1790) and Sarah (Steinmetz) Brinton, of Philadelphia, was born in Philadelphia on July 20, 1798. A sister married his classmate McClellan. 2 B IOGRAPHICAL NOTICES His h ealth began to fail during his College course, and this, together with his strong love of classical literature, delayed his professional studies. He spent about a year at Oxford University, and traveled on the Continent ; but finally began his preparation for the bar in the office of Jonathan W. Coudy, of Philadelphia, and was admitted to practice. He m arried on February 26, 1825, Adelaide, daughter of Isaac and Alida Gouverneur, of New York City. On the 8th of the following August she died in Philadelphia, of fever, and his death from the same fever followed on August 18, at the age of 27. EPAPHRAS C HAPMAN, son of Isaac and Abigail (Brooks) Chapman, of East Haddam, Connecticut, was born on April 25, 1792. On g raduation he entered the Princeton Theological Sem inary, where he remained between one and two years. He t hen undertook, in the service of the United Foreign Missionary Society of New York, an exploration of the southwestern Indian country, with a view to the establish ment of missions. On the strength of his report in 1819, a mission to the Osages, in what is now Oklahoma, then Arkansas Territory, was resolved upon, and the Rev. William F. Vaill (Yale 1806) and Mr. Chapman were appointed missionaries. He w as married, on April 2, 1820, to Hannah Eliza Mansfield, third daughter of Deacon Solomon Fowler, of Northford, in (North) Branford, and four days later he was ordained as an evangelist by the Presbytery of New Brunswick. He s tarted immediately for his mission, and labored zeal ously until his death, after a few days' illness, at the missionary station named Union, on Grand River, January 7, 1825, in his 33d year. His w ife died at her father's house in June, 1843. He w as a man of great simplicity of character and purity of purpose. YALE C OLLEGE, CLASS OF l8l6 3 WILLIAM P ITT CLEAVELAND, the eldest child of William Pitt Cleaveland (Yale 1793), of New London, Connecticut, was born on May 14, 1797. After t eaching school for a year in Virginia, he studied law with his father, and settled in practice in his native city, where he attained eminence before his early death. He m arried on February 19, 1824, Mary Sanford, third daughter of the late James Scott Dwight, of Springfield, Massachusetts, and Mary (Sanford) Dwight, by whom he had one daughter and one son. He d ied in New London on February 5, 1841, in his 44th year. His widow died on November 2, 1854, in her 57th year. JOSEPH L ORD COIT, the only son of Wheeler and Hannah (Lord, Abel) Coit, of that part of Preston, Connecticut, which is now Griswold, was born on June 14, 1796. His mother was a granddaughter of the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Lord (Yale 1714) ; and a half-sister married Thomas Day (Yale 1797). He s tudied law with Judge Zephaniah Swift (Yale 1778), of Windham, but never practiced. He became a manufacturer in Preston, and died, unmarried, in Jewett City, on October 15, 1836, in his 41st year. JOHN A LEXANDER CUTHBERT, the fifth child and second son of General John Alexander and Mary Dupre (Hey- ward) Cuthbert, of Charleston and Beaufort, South Caro lina, was probably born in 1797. A brother was graduated in 1813. He s ettled on a plantation in Florida, and married there. No d etails of his death are known. GEORGE Y OUNGLOVE CUTLER, the youngest child of Younglove and Dothee (Stone) Cutler, of Watertown, Connecticut, was born on April 6, 1797. A sister married 4 B IOGRAPHICAL NOTICES Holbrook C urtis (Yale 1807), and a half-brother was graduated here in 1829. He s tudied law, and entered on practice in his native place. He m arried, on May 29, 1821, Mary Ann Pomeroy, only daughter of Dr. JEneas Monson (Yale 1780), of New Haven, and subsequently removed hither. Latere h was induced to engage in the book business in New York City, with disastrous results; so that, about 1829, he went West, and settled in Western Illinois, on the Mississippi River, at the point later named Nauvoo. Here he established a land-agency, and was meeting with deserved success, when he died of bilious fever, on Sep tember 3, 1834, in his 38th year. Besides t wo children who died in infancy, one daughter survived him. His w idow married, on August 15, 1838, Daniel Green Whitney, of Quincy, Illinois, where she died on July 7, 1844, in her 42d year. ASHBEL D ART, the eldest of fourteen children of Joseph and Sarah (Hurd) Dart, of Middle Haddam, in Chatham, Connecticut, was born on July 15, 1793. He s tudied medicine, with Dr. Thomas Miner (Yale 1796) in Middletown, and in the Yale Medical School, where he received the degree of M.D. in the spring of 1818. Later, he spent some time in the New York City Hospital, and then began practice, in Carthage, a village just outside of Rochester, New York. After a f ew months, about 1819 or 1820, he removed to Conneaut, in the northeastern corner of Ohio, where he applied himself laboriously and with success to professional business. He was also active in public matters, and for one year (1833) served as an Associate Judge of the Ashtabula County Court. He was also for some years Postmaster. YALE C OLLEGE, CLASS OF l8l6 5 About 1 837, his health having become somewhat im paired, he gave up his practice, and was soon after appointed superintendent of the public works being constructed by the Government at the mouth of Conneaut Creek. He also went into mercantile business. On O ctober 28, 1844, he was stricken with paralysis, from the effects of which he died, on December 8, in his 52d year. He w as never married. ABIEL B OOTH GLOVER was born in Newtown, Connecticut, on January 16, 1797. He b ecame a merchant in his native place, and on May 2, 1822, married Maria Nichols, of Newtown. He d ied in Newtown, on October 13, 1825, of typhus fever, in his 29th year. He l eft one son ; a daughter died in infancy. His w idow married Isaac Bears, of Newtown. URIEL H OLMES, Junior, the younger son of Judge Uriel Holmes (Yale 1784), of Litchfield, Connecticut, was born on September 15, 1796, and entered Yale in 1813. After g raduation he spent a year at home, and then decided to enter the ministry. He began his studies in the Andover Theological Seminary, but was obliged to return home by the rapid progress of consumption. He .arrived in Litchfield on May 18, 1818, and died there on July 4, in his 22d year.