A BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF LITCHFIELD, CONNECTICUT: COMPRISING BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF DISTIXGUISIIED NATIVES AND RESIDENTS OF THE COUNTY; 'J'OGETBER. WITS COMPLETE LISTS OF THE JUDGES OF TllE COUNTY COURT, JUSTIC!!:S OF THE QUORUM, COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, JUDGES OF PROBATE, SHERIFFS, SENATORS, &o. FBOll( THE ORGANIZATION OF THJil COUNTY TO THE PRESJ!JNT TIME, BY PAYNE KENYON KILBOURNE. NEW YORK: CLARK, AUSTIN & CO., 205 BROADWAY, IIIDCCCLI, TO TR.& EMIGRANT SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF' ~Calli,~h'llil',i~ ~ u ~ ~ ~ C'-JL-, !I J THIS VOLUME i S RESP E CT FULLY IN 8 c·R I BED BY THE AUTHOR. CONTENTS. PAGE. PREFACE, 7 Ethan Allen, • 9 Oliver Wolcott, LL, D •• 24 John Trumbull, LL. D. 39 Seth Warner, 53 Nathaniel Chipman, LL, D, 70 Samuel J. Mills, Sen'r. 75 Daniel _Chipman, LL. D. 81 Stanley Griswold, 84 Martin Chitte11den, 89 Smnuel J. Mills, Jr., 92 Ephraim Kirby, 103 John Cotton Smith, LL. D. 1-07 Ira Allen, 117 Jonathan Brace, • 121 Bezaleel Beebe, 126 Frederick Wolcott, 132 Augustus Pettibone, 135 Nathaniel Smith, 137 Horace Holley, LL, 11. 140 Abraham and Phineas Bradley, 154 Richard Skinner, LL, D. 161 Joseph Vaill, 161 David Bostwick, 175 Ebenezer Foote, 181 Daniel S. Di.clduson, 187 vi PAGE. Jedediah Strong, 193 Edmund Kirby, 196 Ambrose Spenc:-.er, 203 William Ray, 210 'l'1mothy Merritt, 221 Henry W. Wessells, 225 Amasa J. Parker, LL, n. 233 Elijah Boardman, 237 Elisha Whittlesey, 242 Junius Smith, LL.». 246 Peter B. Porter, • 258 Nathaniel \V. Taylor, ». JJ. 261 Joseph I. Foote, ». ». $3 William Thompson Bae.on, 269 Frederick Whittlesey, 273 Samuel S. Phelps, 277 John Pierpont, 283 Jeremiah Day,»•»., LL,». 289 Ebenezer Porter,». ». 291 Horatio Seymour, LL. ». 303 Thomas Day, LL,». 307 Nathan Smith, 310 Frederick A. Tallmadge, 313 Arpbaxad Loomis, 315 William W. Boardman, 319 John Milton Holley, . 321 Mrs. Laura M. Thurston, 324 Francis Bacon, 336 Charles G. Finuey, 34l George B. Holt, 344 Ebenezer Porter Mason, 349 Brief Sketches, &c., 353 Appendix, Coot1ty Officers, &c., 361 PREFACE. " THE history of nations," says Plutarch, " is little else than the history of its warriors, sages, poets and philosophers." In a similar sense, this volume may be properly entitled a history of Litchfield County. The author has endeavored to collect and pre­ serve in a durable form, the prominent incidents in the history of some of the more conspieuo~ personsages, who have spent their I lives among us, or who have gone out from our borders and distin­ guished themselves in other fields of UBefulness and fame. The body of the work is devoted exclusively to sketches of native8 of the County, who are either numbered among the dead or who a.re residents abroad. The rule thus adopted, must of course exclude not a few men, now high in office and honor at kome. These, and many other natives and former residents of the County, are bnefl71 noticed at the close of the volume. Litchfield County is the youngest in the State in point of organi­ zation - having been incorporated at the October Session, 1751. Much of the land, moreover, having been very rough ai;i.d unin­ viting, some of our towns were the very last in the State to be set­ tled. Persons are now ,living who can remember when wolves and other wild animals inhabited the " Green Woods" and other regions in the northern part of the County. When, therefore, we vm a.ke into consideration the newness of the country around us, and ihe privations and hardships incident to pioneering in the midst of nountains, and rocks, and swamps, and int,ermin:i.blc forests, such ts our fathers here encountered~ we have no fear in comparing the 1umber and position of our great men, with those of any other ~egion of no greater limits and population. Most of the materials for this volume have been collected from )ri.ginal sources ; at the same time the author has availed himself )f such otherfacts and sketches as have fallen in his way, witl1out, in all cases, giving credit. He has aimed to make his; work as wrreet a.a possible, though even in that particular, it is lJy no means improbable, that errors of date or otherwise, may now and then be discovered. He hopes it will prove an interesting and valued memorial to those for whom it is especially intended. LtTCll11lELD, August 4, iS5l. BIOGRAPI-IY ETHAN ALLEN. AMONG the most conspicuous in laying the foundation upon w•hichJh~·independent State of Vermont bas been reared, and indeed the leader and champion of that I esolu.te band <0f hus­ bandmen, who first planted themselves in the wilderness of the Green Mountains, was ETHAN ALLEN. Ht? was horn itt Litchfield,• January IO, 1737. His parents soon after­ wards removed to Cornwall where other children.· .Wtlt;e·born;. making in all six sons and two daughters-Ethan, Reman, Heber, Levi, Zimiri, Ir~ Lydia, and Lucy. The family.s_ut,..: sequently became residents of Salisbury, whete, in lffll, Ethan was one of the pr@prletors of the Iron Furnace. · AU the brothers grew up t9 manhood, and ·at least four ef them emigrated early to the territory west of the Green Mo~ntains., where they 11U were active and conspicuous cbo.racters in their border feuds and in the Revolutionliry struggle-and the name *Biographers ban difl'ered in regard to the place of his birth. Hinman says he Wa!I a native of Roxbury: Allen's Biorraphieal Dictionary calls him a native of Cornwall; Salisbury bas also been named as his birth "pl1tce. Sf-arks lutd Barber have correctly dcilignated Lilchficlrl as tbe place of his birth•-hi1 birtll being recorded upen the records of !hat town His father \Va~ Jo1eph Alle11 of Co.,·enlry; hi• m•,lh<'r wa, i.\rhrJ· Bak""r of Wno,!IJ1.,ry. 10 of Ethan Allen gaineJ a renown, which spread widely while he lived, and bas been perpetuated in history. The territory on which the .Allens and their associates set­ tled, was then called the " New Hampshire Grants." and was claimed by the Governmenl of New York-a claim, however, which the settlers openly and vigoro1.1sly reFisted. In l 764~ tht. Crown having declared the ~onnccticut Ri\'er to be the bo111{dary line between New York and New Hampshire, the New York Governor decided that jurisdiction meant the same thing as right of property, and forthwith proceeded to vacate all the titles by which the settlers held their lands, and even issued writs of ejectment. This roused to its full extent the spirit of the Green Mountain Boys. Ethan Allen was ap­ pointed an agent to manage the affairs of the defendant before the Court at Albany; and, having secured lbe aid of Mr. In­ gersoll, an eminent counsellor io Connecticut, it is scarcely neces11ary to add, that the ea.use of the settlers wns defended with great boldness and ability. The verdict was of course given to the plaintilfs--it being the theoretical and practical doctrine of the Ne\\- York government that all of Governor Wentworth's grants were illegal. It is recorded, that after Allen retired from lbe Couit at Al• bany, twoorthree gentlemen interested in the New Yorkgrants called upon him, one of whom was the King's attorney general for the colony, and advised him to go home and persuade his friends of Lhe Green Mou111ains to make tl1c best terms they could ~ith the new Jandlord'l, intimating that their cause was now desperate, and reminding him of the old proverb, that " might often prevails against right." Neither admiring the delicacy of the sentiment, nor intimidated by the threat it held out, A.lien replied, " The gods of the valleys are not the gods of the hills." This laconic figure of speech he left to be inter­ rireted by bis visitors, adrling only, when an explanation was 11 nsked by the King's attorney, that if his .troops ever come to Bennington his meaning should be made clear. The purpose of his mission being thus brought to a close, Allen returned and reported the particulars to his constituents. The news epread from habitatiou to ha!>itation, and created a sudden and loud murmer of discontent among the people. Seeing, as they thought, the door of justice shut against them, a11d having tried in vain all the peacefal means of securing their rightl', they resolved to appeal to the last arbiter of dis­ putes. The inhabitants of Bennington immediately assembled, and co.me to n formal determination to defend their rroperty by by fore€, and t<• unite in resisting all encroachments upon the lands occupied by persons holding titles under the wurranta granted by the governor of New Hampshire, This was a bold step ; but it was p1omptly taken, and with seeming detertnin­ ation LO adhere to it at any hazard. and without regard to con­ sequences. Nor was this decisioi;i changed or weakened by a. proposition on the part of the Ne,v York patentees, ~ade about this time, which allowed to each bccupant a fee simple of bis farm, at the same price for which the unoccupied lands in his neighuorood were sold. The first purchasers still insisted~ that this was requiring them to pay twice for their land11t and that in any view the proposal was not just, inasmuch as the value of unoc;:cupied lands depended mainly on the settlements which had been made in their vicinity by the toil and at the expense of the original occupants. In short, the time for talking about charters, and boundaries, and courts of judicature, was pasta and the mountaineers were now fully bent on conducting the controversy by a more summary prncess.