Genealogy Story – A Triple Marriage

Recently I posted a story about William Grimes, a runaway slave who lived in Litchfield and New Haven, Connecticut (*1). One of my many Pierpont cousins responded to me with the following story (edited for clarity).

Alan, again you find a topic that connects me back to my ancestry. I have visited Litchfield as a follow-up to learning the story of my ancestor, David[,] and his two older brothers visiting Rev Collins and his family in Litchfield on a trip from their New Haven home. That visit became lore in the family as well as in Connecticut when, as you are aware I am sure, a monster snow storm came and prevailed for more than a week keeping the three brother[s] in the Collins home for the storm’s duration. The result of the weather was not just several feet of snow[,] but also three marriages as the good Reverend had three eligible daughters and it was not long before the three brothers Pierpont had married the Collins daughters! David’s son, Warren, was born in Litchfield and it was his son Samuel who was the first Pierpont to head west to Michigan where my father, his father, and his father were all born. Next to my fireplace here is my proud possession, Warren’s walking stick with the record of his birth (date and Litchfield location), the date he joined the church and his marriage to Polly Blakeslee. Also added later was the date of death. Ergo, my association to Litchfield/Morris is real[,] albeit a few generations away!!

Despite my cousin’s expectation that I knew about this snowstorm (I did not), this series of events was not one that I was familiar with. More research was needed so I could properly tell this story.

The Pierpont Brothers

The Pierpont brothers mentioned were the sons of James Pierpont (1699-1776) and the grandsons of the Rev. James Pierpont (1659-1714). James had gotten his education from Yale, but chose to not enter the ministry and instead became a business man in Boston. He had married there, but his first wife had died childless. He then returned to New Haven and in 1754 had married Anna/Anne Sherman (1728-1803) [Note that I will refer to her here as Anne, although there is some disagreement as to her exact name]. They had five children together, all boys. Note that because Anne was nearly 30 years younger than her husband, their children were young enough to be James’ grandchildren. The boys were:

·       Evelyn, 16 Mar 1755

·       Robert, 13 Jun 1757

·       James, 4 Jan 1761

·       David, 26 Jul 1764

·       William, 11 Jul 1772

It was the winter of 1779-1780 when the visit to Litchfield took place. The boys’ father, James, had died a few years prior and all five boys would have been unmarried and living with their mother, Anne. It is quite likely that Anne was being courted at this time as she married a second time to John Davenport on 11 October 1780. John Davenport was the great-nephew of Abigail [Davenport] Pierpont, Abigail being the first wife of James’ father, the Rev. James Pierpont.

The Collins Sisters

The Collins sisters were the children of Charles Collins (1727-1796) and the grandchildren of Timothy Collins (1699-1777). Timothy had been a classmate of James (the father) at Yale and had been the first pastor of the church in Litchfield from 1721 to 1752 when he asked to be discharged and became a justice of the peace for the town.

Timothy and his wife had eight children, two of whom had died with the remaining six still living in the Litchfield area. Although Timothy had passed away a few years earlier, his wife was still living and she was a midwife in town. Their children were:

·       Oliver, lived in Litchfield – had 3 sons

·       Charles, lived in Litchfield – had 4 sons and 6 daughters

·       Cyprian, lived in Goshen – had 5 sons and 6 daughters

·       John, lived in Litchfield – had 3 sons and 4 daughters (all the girls were much younger than the Pierpont boys)

·       Anne, lived in Litchfield – had 4 sons and 3 daughters (one already married)

·       Rhoda, lived in Litchfield - had 7 children (through 4 different marriages), 5 boys, one girl who was engaged at the time, one 5-year-old daughter

Focusing on Charles, he had a large family and lived on some of the considerable tract of land that his father had acquired in Litchfield. His children were:

·       Lewis, 29 Oct 1753

·       Charles, 14 Aug 1761

·       Darius, 8 Nov 1769

·       David, 1 May 1772

·       Elizabeth, 25 Sep 1755

·       Lois, 11 Oct 1757

·       Eunice, 11 Oct 1757

·       Anna, 10 Oct 1759

·       Rhoda, 5 Oct 1764

·       Lorain, 1 May 1767

The Visit and the Snowstorm

There is a certain amount of speculation why the Pierpont boys travelled to Litchfield during the winter of 1779-1780. Certainly, James Pierpont and Timothy Collins would have been long-time friends from their time together at Yale. It is quite likely that the Pierpont family had made the trip in the past to escape the confines of New Haven and visit the Collins family in the Connecticut countryside. While Anne would have then been paired with Timothy’s wife, she was more the age of his children and would have gotten along better with them and their wives. The Pierpont boys were the ages of some of the Collins grandchildren – of whom there were many – and would have been able to spend their time playing together on the many acres of fields and woodland that were owned by the various Collins children.

During the winter of 1779-1780, Anne would have been being courted by John Davenport. So perhaps having the boys out of the house for a short time was her way of being free. The older boys would be mature enough to be responsible to making the trip and chaperoning their younger brothers. The boys were then aged 24, 22, 18, 15, and 6. At age 6, William might not have taken the trip, but the four older boys certainly did. My cousin noted in his response to me (above) that David, then 15, made the trip, but there is a certain amount of speculation there as well.

When they left for Litchfield is also uncertain, but it is quite likely to have been late December during the time that William would have had a break from school. At any rate, we know that they were there in early January when the snowstorm arrived.

It had already been a cold and snowy winter. But at the beginning of January, things were about to get much worse. The heavy snows began on Sunday, January 2^nd, and continued for several days. One account of the time reads as follows: (*2)

“The following winter his father went to bring him home for the vacation [he was attending Yale and lived in Sharon, CT]. A great snow storm came on, and they were compelled to leave their sleigh in Woodbury, and travel to Bethlem[sic] on horseback. By that time the roads had become impassable to horses, and, fearing that they might be wholly blocked up, they set out, with Dr. Bellamy’s sanction, on Sunday afternoon, on snow-shoes, reached Washington that night, Warren the next day, and home on the third.”

Another account says, “The Winter of 1779-’80 was the severest ever known (up to that time). … In the woods and other sheltered places it lay for many weeks at least four feet upon the level.” (*3)

Because of the depth of the snow, travel by sleigh or horseback was all but impossible for any distance. Thus, the Pierpont boys were stranded in Litchfield for several weeks before they were able to return to New Haven where their mother anxiously awaited them.

During this extended time in Litchfield, it would have been natural for the boys to make better acquaintance with the Collins’ girls who were about their age. And that this happened can be seen in the marriages that took place beginning later that year and continuing for the next several years.

The Marriages

It was not a matter of the oldest Pierpont boy being smitten by the oldest Collins girl. One can only speculate what made the couples pair off. But over the next few years there were three marriage between the two families:

·       Robert, the second oldest, married Lois on 11 Oct 1780. They were both 23 at the time and that was her birthday. It was also the same day as Robert’s mother, Anne, was being married back in New Haven.

·       James, the third oldest, married Elizabeth on 24/28 Sep 1782. He was then 21 and she was six years his senior at 27.

·       Evelyn, the oldest, married Rhoda on 15 May 1783. He was then 28 and Rhoda was not yet 19 (she would have been 15 during that winter snowstorm)

David was only 15 during that winter and the same age as Rhoda. But she was apparently smitten by David’s older brother. However, there were other young girls in Litchfield at the time, including in the Phelps family who lived nearby. On 20 Jun 1787 David married Sarah Phelps. He was then 22 and she was 26.

All four of the older Pierpont boys initially remained in Litchfield with their families. While William did not find his wife in Litchfield that winter, when he married in 1793, he married Huldah Ensign who was from the town of Plymouth (also in Litchfield County). Evelyn moved back to New Haven around 1793, Robert later moved to Vermont. James and David remained in Litchfield and William remained in Plymouth.

Notes:

*1 - https://ramblinrussells.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-search-for-william-grimes.html

*2 – A biographical history of the county of Litchfield, Connecticut, p. 108

*3 – A History of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, p. 1225

[First Congregation Church, Litchfield]