ChapterSketches,ConnecticutDaughtersoftheAmericanRevolution ConnecticutDaughtersoftheAmericanRevolution,MaryPhilothetaRoot,CharlesFrederickJohnson MRS. S ARA T. KINNEY STATE REGENT CONNECTICUT DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION CHAPTER S KETCHES Connecticut DAUGHTERS O F THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION Ipatron S aints EDITEDY B MARY F HILOTHETA ROOT, A. B. Katherine Gaylord Chapter, Bristol Withn a Introduction by CHARLES FREDERICK JOHNSON, A. A. « « « « i -i PUBLISHED B Y CONNECTICUT C HAPTERS, DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION SOLDY B THE E DWARD P. JUDD CO NEW HAVEN . j 2 34021 \9i ' The d atiingist thing in history — simple truth.— Donald G. MITCHELL. IV c o we it to the generations that go before us, and to those which come after us, to perpetuate the memorv and example oj those who in a signal maimer made themselves serviceable to humanitv.— FREDERICK DOUGLASS. Entered a ccording to Act of Congress in the year 1901 by Marv PhilothEta Root. THE T uTTLE, MOREHOUSE A TAYLOR CO., NEW HAVEN, CONN. 1 I by a u nanimous vote of The Regents and Delegates of The Connecticut Chapters to MRS. S ARA T. KINNEY State Regent whose l ong and harmonious regencv has been conspicuous for its manv achievements, and whose wise leadership has won distinction and honor for connecticut daughters of the american revolution BADGEF O OFFICE FOR THE REGENT OF CONNECTICUT. (Votedy b the Chapter Regents and Delegates February, 1903. Designed and made by Tiffany & Co, of New York.) INTRODUCTION N a l etter from America M. Gaston Deschamps says in Lc Temps of the 31st of March, 19o1 : "On trouve encore dans la capitale du Connecticut ces 1 vestiges du passe auxquels les Americains ne sauraient renoncer sans detruire leurs titres de noblesse. A vrai dire, ce passe n'est pas encore tres lointain. ... Mais ces reliques peu ag6es rappellent des souvenirs tres grand et tres beaux." The monographs which make up this book are intended to preserve some "vestiges" of this "not very distant past." They have been prepared by members of the Connecticut Chapters of the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Each of the writers has had some special preparation for her special task by reason of descent or personal interest in the sub ject. In addition to the ordinary sources of historical informa tion, family letters have been drawn upon and family tradition — carefully sifted — has been utilized to fill out the outlines fur nished by documentary evidence. Absolute historical accuracy has been the controlling aim, although interest in the subject of the sketch has in many cases made the labor a labor of love, and the pride of a great-grandchild in an honored ancestress has in several cases been the impelling motive. It will be found, too, that personal familiarity with the old home — in some cases still the home of the family — the old pictures, the old furniture, and whatever else of the original surroundings has survived, has given the peculiar color to the narrative which is the mark of intimate knowledge and friendly appreciation. The writers are describing something that they honor and love and something that has been long in their hearts. The p rime object of these memoirs is of course to conserve the memory of the women of Connecticut in the Revolutionary Introduction. period. I t is a worthy object. The men who set their hands to the Declaration or to the Constitution, who spoke and wrote for the cause or commanded the " embattled farmers " to " fire the shot " which, according to Mr. Emerson, was heard at such great dis tances, were naturally much in the public eye. Their names have become "familiar in our mouths as household words." The women who sustained the cause at no less sacrifice — perhaps more — than their husbands and sons had made, rendered as valuable service with comparatively little prospect of promotion. No great social struggle can be brought to a successful issue without the active support of women, not necessarily organized into soci eties or clubs but at least sustaining and encouraging as individ uals. Men fight for what women believe in. Our Revolution was a community interest; the great body of the unknown soldiers were in it not because they were paid nor for the love of adventure but because they believed in the necessity and propriety of it. Except in the strongest characters, like Washington, such faith needs to be strengthened by sympathy from others. As a state, Connecticut had less reason to complain of the mother- country than had Massachusetts. Its charter made it substantially a self-governing, free state and its rights were not threatened, and, after the repeal of the stamp act, there was no overt act at which it could take alarm for itself. Its people joined the cause largely from principle and sympathy, yet it furnished as large a quota in proportion to its population as did any other state. The charac teristic of the Revolutionary spirit in Connecticut, that it was more than elsewhere a matter of principle — even of sentiment — makes the part that women bore in it more significant in our own state than it was elsewhere. For u s, their descendants, however, these memoires of the digni fied and executive dames of old Connecticut have much more than a merely historical value. To know what noble and devoted women our great-grandmothers were can hardly fail to increase our self-respect and our rational patriotism and to strengthen our ambition to be worthy of our heritage. As Burke says, "Our liberty becomes a noble freedom. It has its bearings and its ensigns armorial." The simplicity of life and the stately but gra cious formality of manner that marked the 18th century has not / n troduction. vii only a s ingular attraction for us but it is "good unto edification." This book is for Connecticut what the roll of Battle Abbey is for England and it is far more a reason for sober pride to find an ancestress in it than it can be for an Englishman to read his sur name in the list of William the Norman's predatory captains. Not that it establishes an aristocracy of blood — we recognize noth ing of the sort, and the great body of unheralded women who in humbler spheres cheered and sustained their husbands and sons in the Revolutionary army are no less to be honored than those who are commemorated in this book — but it establishes a standard of womanly character ; it shows us that whatever is creditable and of good report in our citizenship has a past in which it was rooted. We are degenerate if such a past, though "not very remote," is not an inspiration. Though m emoirs of the kind which make up this book are not history in the ordinary sense, they throw a great deal of light on history. They disclose manners and general tone of thought far more than state papers or narratives of military campaigns can. They recall the thousand little events that make up life, which are set in the great movements that make up history like the coloring inside the lines of a picture. History proper can be read with especial interest after a study of the private lives of the people and the households of the period. It then becomes far more intelligible and far more real. We come almost to know the characters personally. Possibly some of the figures seem less austere and ideal but they are much more human. We begin to understand that men and women in the past were actuated by fundamentally the same motives that actuate them to-day. Then we come to understand the " spirit of the age," or that set of mo tives which has more power in one century than in another. For this reason this book may be said to have a permanent value as history since it serves to interpret history. But it is primarily a collection of material and a tribute to the Connecticut women of the Revolution from their descendants in the 2oth century. As such, it has its propriety and its chief interest. Charles F rederick Johnson. Trinitv C ollege, Hartford. Werifsmfl C ommittee. MISS M ary P. ROOT, Katherine Gaylord Chapter, Bristol Mrs. C harles J. Parker, Esther Stanley Chapter, New Britain Miss A lice Norton, Emma Hart Willard Chapter, Berlin Miss J ulia E. Smith, westerly, r. l, Anna W arner Bailey Chapter, Groton and Stonington Committee t ot Collecting Material from tbe Cbapters. Miss M ary P. Root {Chairman), Katherine Gaylord Chapter, Bristol Mrs. William T. Elmer, Wadsworth Chapter, Middletown MISS A NNE A. MCAL.STER, | Mafy c,ap Wooster Mrs. G eorge F. Newcomb, ) New Haven Mrs. L orenzo Litchfield, Anne Wood Elderkin Chapter, Willimantic Miss Julia E. Smith, westerly, r. i., Anna W arner Bailey Chapter, Groton and Stonington Miss Alice Norton, Emma Hart Willard Chapter, Berlin Mrs. C harles J. Parker, Esther Stanley Chapter, New Britain Committee f or Securing Subscriptions from tbe Cbapters. Mrs. R UFUS W. Bunnell {Chairman), Mary Silliman Chapter, Bridgeport Mrs. James K. Crofut, Abigail Phelps Chapter, Simsbury .Mrs. O V. Coffin, Wadsworth Chapter, Middletown Miss M ary E. Benjamin, Anna W arner Bailey Chapter, Groton and Stonington Mrs. B. C. Kennard, Ruth Hart Chapter, Meriden Mrs. A ndrew J. Coe, Susan Carrington Clarke Chapter, Meriden finance C ommittee. MRS.. T B. Warren {Chairman), Mary Silliman Chapter, Bridgeport Mrs. Mary Hepburn-Smith, Freelove Baldwin Stow Chapter, Milford Mrs. L. D. A. Alexander, Hannah B enedict Carter Chapter, New Canaan FOREWORD |HIS b ook contains the contributions of about sixty writers and is the result of more than three years' work.