Connecticut History Connections

A few weeks ago, I splurged and bought four books about Connecticut History. As I began reading them, I realized that a great number of the individuals mentioned in these books, including some of whom I had never heard of before, had surnames that were familiar to me from the building out of my family tree. So, I decided that as I was going through the books, that I would build a list of all these individuals and see just how many of them were related to me. Since I have very deep roots in CT and New England, I thought that I might find several connections.

I am building this blog post over a period of several weeks as I continue to work through both reading these books and investigating the individuals listed in them. Some of these investigations may require a total separate posting and, if so, I’ll link to it from here.

Disclaimer

Note: Cousin relationships are designated nCmX for nth cousin, m times removed. Grandparent relationships are designed nGG for Great*n Grandparent. If relationship is to my wife rather than myself, then the designation “(DR)” will be added.

 

Creating Connecticut – Critical Moments That Shaped a Great State

Author: Walter W. Woodward

 

This book contains 24 chapters, 12 longer ones and 12 short ones. Some are about historical events, but others have a key individual or individuals as their focus. For those chapters about individuals, I will list the names of the individuals, their relationship to me, and where appropriate the portion of that individual’s family tree back to where we have a common ancestor.

What’s a Puritan, and Why didn’t they stay in Massachusetts?

·        Thomas Hooker (1586-1647) (9GG)

Controversial Statues Standing … at least for now

·        John Mason (1600-1672) (no known relation)

·        Henry Daniel Cogswell (1820-1900) (no known relation)

Connecticut: New England’s Fiercest Witch Hunter

·        John Winthrop, Jr (1606-1676) (2C12X)

Benjamin Collins, Rock Star

·        Benjamin Collins (1681-1759) (no known relation)

Eleazer Wheelock, The Great Awakening, Samson Occom, and Moor’s Indian Charity School

·        See separate posting It's All In The Family

The Hanging of Moses Paul

·        See separate posting Killed by an Indian

Rough Justice for Nathan Hale

·        Nathan Hale (1755-1776) (3C8X)

·        Robert Rogers (1731-1795) (no known relation) Turned Nathan in

·        William Hull (1753-1825) (4C7X) Nathan’s friend

·        Consider Tiffany (1732-1796) (2C8X) (DR) Wrote about story

·        Thomas Knowlton (1740-1776) (4C7X) (DR) Nathan’s commanding officer

Rooted in Place: The Story of Lyman Orchards

·        John Lyman (1717-1763) (2C8X)

Mark Twain and the Historic House Problem

·        Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) (1835-1910) (7C4X)

·        John Marshall Clemens (1798-1847)

·        Samuel B Clemens (1773-1805)

·        Jeremiah Clemens (1732-1811)

·        Ezekiel Clements (1695-1778)

·        Hannah Gove (1664-?)

·        Hannah Partridge (1641-1712)

·        William Partridge (1615-1654)

·        John Partridge (1578-1647) (10GG)

Henry Greene and the Final Underground

·        Samuel Welles (1802-1878) (4C6X)

A Historian Comes Home

·        Walter W. Woodward (author) (9C2X)

 

Hidden History of Connecticut

Author: Wilson H. Faude

 

This short book (about 120 pages) is composed of 30 chapters, each just a few pages long. Each chapter is about an individual, an object, or a historical moment in the history of the state that people may be unaware of. Some of these chapters may not list any individuals, others may have a couple of related ones. In the below I will give the name of the chapter, the individual(s) in that chapter that I have investigated and my relationship to them (if there is one).

Colt Park – Elizabeth Hart Jarvis [Colt] (1826-1905 (6C4X))

·        Elizabeth Hart (1798-1881)

·        Richard Hart (1768-1837)

·        William Hart (1746-1817)

·        William Hart (1713-1784)

·        John Hart (1682-1731)

·        Thomas Hart (1640-1726)

·        Stephen Hart (1602-1683) (9GG)

A Love Story – Nathaniel Horton Batchelder (1917-2005) (9C1X)

·        Nathaniel Batchelder (1880-1956)

·        Martha Osgood Horton (1855-1944)

·        Harriet Maria Symonds (1832-)

·        Harriot Fillebrown (1811-1896)

·        Nancy Anna Rand (1779-1857)

·        Abraham Rand (1757-1805)

·        Thomas Rand (1720-1787)

·        Ebenezer Rand (1688-1743)

·        Nathaniel Rand (1636-1696)

·        Robert Rand (1590-1639) (9GG)

He Saved the Constitution – Oliver Ellsworth (1745-1807) (2C9X)

·        David Ellsworth (1709-1782)

·        Sarah Grant (1675-1755)

·        Hannah Palmer (1640-?)

·        Nicholas Palmer (1614-1689) (10GG)

A One-Time Promotion – Morton Hansen (1898-1977) (no relation, from Denmark)

A Farmington Christmas – Theodate Pope [Riddle] (1867-1946) (8C2X)

·        Ada Brooks (1844-1920)

·        Judith Thwing (1816-1860)

·        Joshua Thwing (1784-1865)

·        Hannah Carpenter (1757-1795)

·        William Carpenter (1721-1809)

·        Benjamin Carpenter (1680-1727)

·        Benjamin Carpenter (1658-1727)

·        Joseph Carpenter (1634-1675)

·        William Carpenter (1605-1659) (9GG)

The Ultimate Gift for Mom – Henry Keney/Keeney (1806-1894) (4C5X)

·        Rebecca Turner (1766-1848)

·        Ebazer Turner (1746-1768)

·        Stephen Turner (1719-1801)

·        Mercy Abbott (1692-1772)

·        John Abbott (1662-1720) (8GG)

Frederic Church – Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900) (5C4X)

·        Joseph Church (1793-1876)

·        Samuel Church (1758-1844)

·        Caleb Church (1703-1760)

·        John Church (1670-1735)

·        John Church (1636-1691)

·        Richard Church (1608-1667) (9GG)

A Museum for Nature, History and Art in Greenwich – Robert Moffat Bruce (1822-1909) (no CT heritage)

Christmas on Main Street – Daniel Butler (1751-1812) (3C8X)

·        Moses Butler (1716-1801)

·        Jonathan Caldwell Butler (1668-1755)

·        Samuel Butler (1639-1692)

·        Richard Butler (1610-1684) (10GG)

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Christmas – Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) (5C4X)

·        See separate posting Henry Ward Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe

Douglas Orr, Architect – Douglas Orr (1892-1966) (from Scotland)

Shakespeare in Stratford – Lawrence Langner (1890-1962) (from Wales)

The Arts of Old Lyme – Florence Griswold (1850 -1937)

·        Helen Powers (1820-1899)

·        Julia Collins (1787-1852)

·        Darius Collins (1740-1822)

·        Oliver Collins (1710-1788)

·        John Collins (1663-1752)

·        Mary Trowbridge (1642-1668)

·        William Trowbridge (1633-1688)

Meriden in the Metropolitan Museum of Art – Charles Parker (1809-1902) (2C6X)

·        Stephen Parker (1759-1846)

·        Susanna Hotchkiss (1717-1789)

·        Daniel Hotchkiss (1687-1733) (7GG)

Bridgeport’s Barnum – Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810-1891) (4C6X)

·        Philo Barnum (1778-1826)

·        Rachel Starr (1740-1798)

·        Jonathan Starr (1702-1751)

·        John Starr (1684-1739)

·        Josiah Starr (1657-1715) (9GG)

Eric Sloane’s Museum – Everard Jean Hinrichs (1905-1985) (no relation)

Where it Began: Woodbury – Samuel Seabury (1729-1796) (6C7X)

·        Abigail Mumford (1710-1731)

·        Thomas Mumford (1687-1760)

·        Thomas Mumford (1656-1726)

·        Sarah Sherman (1636-1690)

·        Philip Sherman (1610-1687)

·        Samuel Sherman (1573-1615)

·        Henry Sherman (1546-1610) (12GG)

John Rogers, The People’s Sculptor – John Rogers (1829-1904) (6C5X)

·        John Rogers (1800-1884)

·        Daniel Rogers (1751-1825)

·        Anna Foxcroft (1719-1785)

·        Anna Coney (1696-1749)

·        Mary Atwater (1659-1726)

·        Joshua Atwater (1711-1676)

·        John Atwater (1567-1636) (10GG)

 

Connecticut – A History

Author: David M. Roth

 

Unlike the prior two books which were a series of vignettes, this is a chronological telling of the entire history of the state. There are 220 dense pages of text broken up into only 9 chapters for the various time periods covered, all the way to the present day. Since individuals are not featured, the names of these individuals appear in the middle of a dense paragraph, perhaps just a single time as the individual is involved in one of the historical events covered. Some of the names are not even of individuals with a connection to the state, for example when discussing the involvement of a regiment of soldiers from the state in the Civil War encountering Robert E Lee’s Army.

Thus, I chose to extract all the names listed in the index (there are 47 of them), but for some they are simply annotated below as “(not from CT)” or other such markings. There are no dates of birth or death associated with any individual in the book, but most of them are fairly well-known individuals so I have used other sources to find the relevant dates.

·        Allen, Ethan (1738-1789) (3C8X via Henry Burt)

·        Andros, Sir Edmund (1637-1714) (not from CT)

·        Arnold, Benedict (1741-1801) (3C7X via Samuel Lothrop)

·        Bailey, John Moran (1904-1975) (no relation – Ireland)

·        Baldwin, Roger Sherman (gov) (1793-1863) (3C6X via Joseph Sherman)

·        Baldwin, Simeon (gov) (1840-1927) (4C5X via Joseph Sherman)

·        Browning, John M (not from CT)

·        Buckingham, William A (gov) (1804-1875) (5C4X via John Bronson)

·        Bushnell, Rev. Horace (1802-1883) (6C6X via Francis Bushnell)

·        Champion, Henry (col) (1610-1709) (11GG) (DR)

·        Colt, Samuel (1814-1862) (5C5X via Mary Loomis)

·        Crary, Isaac (1804-1854) (4C2X of 2^nd wife of 7GG)

·        Cross, Wilbur L (gov) (1862-1948) (6C5X via Peter Worden)

·        Davenport, Rev. John (1597-1668) (GF of 1^st wife of 7GG)

·        Deane, Silas (1737-1789) (4C9X via Walter Deane)

·        Debs, Eugene V (not from CT)

·        Dempsey, John (gov) (1915-1989) (no relation – Irish)

·        Dyer, Eliphalet (1721-1807) (3C7X via William Reade)

·        Eaton, Theophilus (1591-1657) (10GG)

·        Ellsworth, Oliver (judge) (1745-1807) (2C9X)

·        Ellsworth, William W (gov) (1791-1868) (5C6X via Robert Pond)

·        Fitch, Thomas (gov) (1699-1774) (1C8X)

·        Grant, Ulysses S (not from CT)

·        Grosso, Ella (gov) (1919-1981) (no relation – Italian)

·        Hale, Nathan (1755-1776) (3C8X)

·        Hawley, Joseph R (1826-1905) (10C1X via Francis Russell)

·        Holcomb, Marcus (gov) (1844-1932) (7C5X via Francis Bushnell)

·        Hooker, Rev. Thomas (1586-1647) (9GG)

·        Ingersoll, Jared (1749-1822) (3C8X via Thomas Trowbridge)

·        Lake, Everett J (gov) (1871-1948) (no relationship found)

·        Lee, Robert E (not from CT)

·        Lincoln, Abraham (not from CT)

·        Mallory, Charles (1796-1882) (3C6X via Peter Mallory)

·        Meskill, Thomas J (gov) (1928-2007) (no relation – Irish, etc.)

·        Newberry, Walter L (1804-1868) (5C6X via Joseph Loomis)

·        Peters, Rev Samuel (1757-1821) (4C7X via Edward Griswold)

·        Pitkin, William (gov) (1694-1769) (2C7X via Timothy Stanley)

·        Platt, Orville H (1827-1905) (6C5X via Rev. John Charles)

·        Porter, Abel (1757-1850) (3C5X) see posting The Mill on Mad River

·        Putnam, Israel (col) (1718-1790) (no relation found)

·        Ribicoff, Abraham (senator) (1910-1998) (no relation – Russian)

·        Roraback, J Henry (1870-1937) (no relation found - German from NY)

·        Seabury, Samuel (1729-1796) (6C7X)

·        Templeton, Charles (gov) (1871-1955) (9C2X via John Bartram)

·        Thomas, Seth (1785-1859) (3C5X) see posting Seth Thomas

·        Washington, George (not from CT)

·        Yale, Elihu (1649-1721) (step-2C9X, his GGM married Theophilus Eaton above)

 

Stories in Stone – How Geology Influenced Connecticut History and Culture

Author: Jelle Zeilinga de Boer

 

This is a book about geology, not genealogy. While there are a few names mentioned for things like the person who first encountered a geological formation, the focus is on the geology, not the individuals. I list the book here just for completeness as it is interesting reading and gives a context to my study of the history of Connecticut. But I will have nothing further to say here about any connections to names that are only mentioned in passing.

 

The Snow Pile

Here is a puzzle for you. The below picture is of a massive pile of snow that is obviously machine-made. But can we answer the five W’s about it – Who, What, Where, When, Why? The “What” is pretty obvious, but how about the others. Here is the true story behind this huge white mound.

[Snow Pile]

 

Setting the Stage

It was a snowy evening sometime in the winter of 1957-58. I was nine years old. We were having a fairly heavy snowfall. And that meant bundling up the next day and having a good time outside. But what made this snowfall even more interesting was the wind from the north that was blowing the falling snow. The combination of the snow and the wind ended up creating some unique memories.

Our family home was at the corner of Witham and Seery Roads in Wolcott, CT. No one actually lived on Witham Road as it only served to connect Seery Road to Wolcott Road (now called Route 69). Witham Road was about 300’ long and ran between two deep house lots which fronted on Wolcott Road. Seery Road was perhaps 5’ lower in elevation than Wolcott Road so Witham Road ran slightly downhill its entire length. As it approached Seery Road, there were banks on both sides of the road – gradual ones at first, and about 4’ high just before turning the corner onto Seery Road. (In the below picture you can see these banks and our family’s garage just beyond the corner.)

[Witham Road Banks]

 

There were no bushes along the bank those days so there was nothing to stop the north wind from blowing across the road. By the next morning there was perhaps 18” of snow. But the wind had caused the snow to totally fill in the depression where the road passed between banks on either side. Thus, the snow depth on the road was more like 5.5”. The stage was now set! (In the below picture from the winter of 1960-61 you can get a feel from what it was like except that in this picture from another storm a few years later the drifts are not all the way across the road.)

[Winter of 1960-61]

 

The Arrival of the Plow

I don’t recall whether it was a weekday or a weekend. But it didn’t matter as school would have been closed until the roads could be cleared. It was sometime in the mid-morning when one of the town plows got to our part of the town. Route 69 was a state road and the larger state plows had sanded/salted that road to keep it open. But the smaller town trucks had to clear all the other roads in town.

We, my sister and I, had been outside and jumping from the bank area into the very deep snow. It was hard to get out as it was so deep and we had gotten tired quite quickly and so were back near the house when the plow came through. It was coming from the far end of Seery Road so its route would take it past our house and around the corner and up Witham Road. The below picture gives a little feel for its route.

[Witham Road overhead]

 

Plowing 18” of snow is hard enough, but upon turning the corner the snow depth was suddenly over three times that. In addition, even though the blade was angled so that as the plow passed our house it was sending it all off the road to the right, when the plow turned the corner the banks on either side would have prevented any snow from being pushed aside. The plow only made it perhaps a few truck lengths before he came to a complete stop (in the above picture he would have had his plow blade about even with the tree on the south side of the road). Rather than clearing the road by pushing the snow to the side, he had only succeeded in compacting it in front of him and making the snow pile even higher. Fortunately, he was able to back up, to use our driveway to turn around and then to plow back in the other direction on Seery Road.

Not too long later, he finished plowing all the side streets in our neighborhood. That meant that everyone could shovel their driveway and get out of our development at the far end of Seery Road. The truck was then back out on Route 69 heading north and at the intersection of Route 69 and Witham Road. Needing to clear at least as far as the two driveways that exited onto Witham Road, he entered the far end of the street and started plowing in from that end. The first half of the street was ok and he was able to have the plow push the snow off to the side. Then he reached the area between the two banks!

He was going a little faster than before since he had not been slowed down making a turn right before arriving at the deep area like when doing the previous end of Witham. So, he managed to push a little farther into the deep area (in the above picture the plow blade would be about where the three bushes are on the south side of the road) before it once again proved to be too deep to handle. But now, not only was he farther into the deep stuff, but with the road angled slightly downhill, he would need to reverse up that grade. He put the truck in reverse, pushed on the gas pedal, and didn’t move! The rear wheels only spun on the still snow-covered road. And now his blade was embedded in the compressed snow. He tried rocking forward and backward, he tried lifting the blade as much as he could – but nothing worked. He was well and truly stuck!

Now what!

 

The Tow Trucks

Fortunately, in the north end of town there was one gas station/garage, Martin’s. And Ed Martin owned two tow trucks. One was smaller and was generally used for towing cars, but the other was larger and had the power to tow trucks. This was in the days before things like cell phones, so I expect that the snow plow driver just walked down the road to Martin’s and asked Ed to come pull him out. At any rate, it was not too long before the larger tow truck appeared at the end of Witham Road.

Taking advantage of the clear pavement on Routh 69 that would give him traction, Ed released his tow cable and began pulling it off the spool and down the road to the rear of the stuck plow. Hooking it up, he then went back to his tow truck and began respooling the cable to winch the snow plow out. Unfortunately, the plow blade was too much embedded in the compressed snow bank. So, rather than the snow plow coming loose, the tow truck started lifting off its front wheels as the cable passing over the hook assembly on the back put downward pressure on the back of the truck. So much for plan A!

But Ed was pretty resourceful. Leaving his larger truck there, he walked back down Route 69 to his garage and brought up the smaller tow truck. He parked by the front bumper of the large tow truck and fastened the smaller truck to it. With an entire truck of additional weight on the front of the larger tow truck, when he once again began winching up the cable. After a few anxious minutes, the blade of the snow plow came free of the pile and could be pulled back up the road. Great thinking, Ed Martin!

Ed then took his two tow trucks back to his garage, one at a time, the town snow plow reversed out onto Route 69 and the driver continued his route to finished clearing the other roads in town. All the neighbors were now able to finish shoveling their driveways and get out onto a plowed road. But in the middle of Witham Road there was now a huge obstacle – a pile of compressed snow, perhaps 20’ thick and pushed up to over 8’ high through the combined actions of the plow pushing it in from both ends. For the rest of the day, it was a great snow mountain that we could climb on. But what was the town to do with it? Leave it until spring to melt?

 

A Snow Explosion

The next morning, we had our answer. Appearing up on Route 69 was the town’s front-end loader. After all, that was the biggest piece of equipment in the town and it was ideally suited for removing this obstacle. The only problem was that, for some reason, the loader operator thought that, “hey, this is only snow! It’s soft and I can move it easily!” So, he put the loader in gear and accelerated down Witham Road with his loader bucket angled so that it would hit the pile with the point first.

Watching this all from the safety of our driveway, we saw the loader coming down the road in our direction. Then as it hit the far side of the pile, there was a massive explosion of snow. Once the snow in the air cleared, we could see what had happened. The loader had managed to make a huge dent in the pile, but he had underestimated the amount of snow and how much it had been compressed by the two plows from the previous day. As a result, when the front-end loader hit the pile, it came to an abrupt complete stop as it dissipated its energy into the pile. Thinking back, it’s a wonder that the driver was not injured in his foolish attempt to obliterate the pile.

 

Creating the Pile

Being a little more methodical now, he slowly began taking scoops out of the pile. But where to put them? Off to the north side of our garage there is an undeveloped area – at the time it contained a small sand pit and beyond it was all unused. The driver asked my father if he could put the snow there and my father agreed. So, for the next 1-2 hours this large front-end loader took scoop after scoop of that compressed snow and created a huge pile right next to our driveway. The picture that began this article is the result.

While this area, being on the outside of the corner between Seery Road and Witham Road is often where the snow ends up being pushed by the plows going around the corner, this may be the only time that we had to have a front-end loader to clear the road. This pile was obviously the last of the snow to melt the following spring. And it provided hours of fun for all the neighborhood children until it melted away.

With our vantage point of being right there at the time and being able to observe both the attempts by the plow, being able to gasp as the tow truck began to have its front wheels lift off the ground, and then being shocked by the front-end loader as he exploded the pile before removing it one scoop at a time, it was an exciting few days for me.

 

Answering the Five W’s

Now we have our answers: Who – the town’s front-end loader driver; What – a large pile of snow; Where – corner of Witham Road and Seery Road; When – Winter of 1957-58; Why – too much drifting across the cut between the banks on the side of Witham Road.

Could it happen again? Likely not – for two reasons. First, there are now bushes and trees on top of the bank on the north side of Witham Road that prevent the kind of winds that could cause the snow to drift in flush with the banks. And second, now the town has much bigger trucks and plows and handling situations like this can be easy. But back then this was a unique opportunity where mother nature got the better of the available vehicles – at least for a while.

 

It’s All In The Family

Recently I was reading a book, Creating Connecticut, by Walter W. Woodward, state historian for the state of Connecticut. The longest chapter in the book is titled, “Eleazer Wheelock, The Great Awakening, Samson Occom, and Moor’s Indian Charity School.” Early in the chapter, as it begins the discussion on the Great Awakening, the names of several other pastors who were involved are mentioned. These include Jonathan Edwards (who was then preaching in Northampton, MA), and “Wheelock’s brothers-in-law, the Reverend Benjamin Pomeroy of Hebron, and James Davenport of Long Island.” Since I knew both that Jonathan Edwards was related to me (he married Sarah Pierpont, the daughter of my ancestor James Pierpont), and that James Pierpont also had connections to the Davenport family, this intrigued me.

A few years ago, I had written a posting about Rev. James Pierpont entitled Putting the Connect in Connecticut which detailed how one of his skills was making connections with other important families in the state. This could be seen in three ways: (1) his wives (he married three times, each time to the granddaughter of a prestigious man in the state history; (2) his leading the founding of Yale University and the other ministers he got involved; and (3) his children (his three daughters all married prominent ministers from other cities).

But this statement about Eleazer Wheelock and his brother-in-law connections to other ministers seemed to be further cases of women in the family of one minister marrying ministers from other families. I decided to see what connections I could find between these five families (Pierpont, Edwards, Wheelock, Davenport, and Pomeroy).

 

The In-law Connections

·        Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) married Sarah Pierpont (1710-1758) in 1727. She was the daughter of James Pierpont (1659-1714), making Jonathan Edwards the son-in-law of James Pierpont.

·        James Davenport (1716-1757) was the son of Rev. John Davenport (1668-1730) and the grandson of Rev. John Davenport (1635-1776). James’ aunt (his father’s sister), Abigail Davenport (1672-1691), was the first wife of Rev. James Pierpont. This made James Pierpont the uncle-in-law of James Davenport.

·        Eleazer Wheelock (1711-1779) married Sarah Davenport (1702-1746) in 1735. She was the sister of James Davenport, making Eleazer Wheelock the brother-in-law of James Davenport.

·        Benjamin Pomeroy (1704-1784) married Abigail Wheelock (1717-1803) in 1734. She was the sister of Eleazer Wheelock, making Benjamin Pomeroy the brother-in-law of Eleazer Wheelock

That’s an extraordinary chain of marriage/in-law connections between these five prominent religious figures in Connecticut history and in the whole Great Awakening movement which impacted so many people in the state in the 1740s! All but Rev. James Pierpont were contemporaries who knew each other and cooperated in this venture.

 

The Yale Connections

For over 100 years, Yale College (first called the “Collegiate School” or the “Collegiate College of Connecticut”, later called “Yale University”) was the only institution of higher education in Connecticut. As the Early History of Yale University states, it was founded in 1701 by a group of ten Congregational ministers and “[t]he group, led by James Pierpont, is now known as ‘The Founders’.” But it was also another connection point for the five men being discussed here.

·        James Pierpont, as noted, was the principal founder of Yale in 1701. He had received his own education at Harvard and then as the pastor of the church in New Haven had led this effort to create a college in Connecticut. The “Collegiate College of Connecticut” was not originally located in New Haven, but moved there in 1716, two years after James’ death. It was renamed as Yale in 1718.

·        Jonathan Edwards entered the Collegiate College of Connecticut in 1716 at the age of just 13. He would not have known James Pierpont, who had passed away two years earlier, but he would have known of him. He graduated from Yale in 1720 and continued, receiving his M.Div. degree in 1722.

·        James Davenport graduated from Yale in 1732.

·        Eleazer Wheelock graduated from Yale in 1733.

·        Benjamin Pomeroy also graduated from Yale in 1733.

Thus, James Davenport, Eleazer Wheelock, and Benjamin Pomeroy were classmates at Yale as well as later being connected through marriage to each other’s sisters.

For further information on Yale, you can read other postings I have written about it:

·        Harvard and Yale

·        Yale - part 2

·        James Pierpont and Yale

 

Genealogical Connections

The latter four men were all contemporaries of each other. However, James Pierpont, while the father-in-law of Jonathan Edwards and the uncle-in-law of James Davenport, was essentially two generations older. He had married later in life (he was 32 when he married Abigail Davenport and she was just 19, he was 39 when he married Mary Hooker and 51 when his daughter Sarah (who later married Jonathan Edwards) was born.

The latter four men were all born 70-80 years after the Great Migration of 1630-1640 when 20,000 individuals came to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. This made them the great-grandsons of these early immigrants. But James was essentially two generations older and his father was one of the later immigrants, coming in 1640.

The 310+/- years between the Great Migration and my birth in 1948 were sufficient for about 11 generations to elapse. Thus, most of my Great Migration ancestors are my great*9 grandparents (making me eight generations removed from these ministers of the Great Awakening). In James Pierpont’s case it is one generation less. With that in mind, if I share a Great Migration ancestor with these men, it will likely be at the 2^nd cousin, 8 times removed, level (abbreviated here as 2C8X). Not surprisingly, with my deep roots in New England, this is exactly the genealogical connection I have found with all four of these men!

·        James Pierpont is my great*7 grandfather

·        Jonathan Edwards, 2C8X via William Tuttle (1607-1673)

·        James Davenport, 2C8X via Thomas Morris (1620-1673)

·        Eleazer Wheelock, 2C8X via Marie Marvin (1628-1713)

·        Benjamin Pomeroy, 2C8X via Richard Seymour (1604-1655)