MI DD LETOWN
UPPER HOUSES
This edition, puhlished under the
auspices of the Society of Middletown
Upper Houses, Incorporated, is limited
to Si.r Hundred Copies, of which this
is Number o o
b cS
MI DDLETOWN
UPPER HOUSES
A HISTORY OF THE NORTH SOCIETY OF MIDDLE-
TOWN, CONNECTICUT, FROM 16.50 TO 1800, WITH
GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL CHAPTERS
ON EARLY FAMILIES AND A FULL GENEALOGY
OF THE RANNEY FAMILY
By
CHARLES COLLARD ADAMS, M. A.
Secretary-Treasurer of the Society of Middletown
Upper Houses, Incorporated
THE GRAFTON PRESS
GENEALOGICAL PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK MCMVIII
Copyright, 1908, by
THE GRAFTON PRESS
(0^
To8
This Volume is respectfully dedicated to
MRS. HARRIET SAGE WHITE
HARRISON.
who hears the names of two and is de-
scended from others of the Founders of
Middletoion Upper Houses, in grateful
recognition of her early and constant in-
terest in the work for which the Society of
Middletown Upper Houses e.xists.
PREFACE
In jSTovember, 1855, a young man left his college halls for the
neighboring village of Cromwell where he taught a winter school.
In 1860 by marriage he renewed his interest in that community.
Returning in 1888 to pass the remaining years of his life in com-
parative quiet he gathered up here and there threads connecting
those of the day with those of the formative period of this settle-
ment. Little by little the interest deepened and broadened until
the desire was born to bring together those of other places to where
their honored ancestors had lived and died. And with this came
the thought to put into permanent form the story of the records
kept here and elsewhere. With the reunion in 1903 the plan was
broached to publish a volume and the later reunions strengthened
and gave effect to this purpose. The sympathy and encourage-
ment from many directions have made of the toil a pleasant task.
At the age of seventy-two the compiler of these pages has the satis-
faction of expressing appreciation of all the assistance which has
been rendered by many in many ways.
The Society of Middletown Upper Houses, Incorporated, has
not only erected its memorials to Founders, Fathers, Pastors and
Patriots, but has given its financial and moral support to the efforts
of the compiler and without this aid the preliminary work could
not have been brought to the point where the material was ready to
go into the hands of the printer and publisher.
It could hardly be possible to make a list of the individuals who
have given special assistance in the gathering of material and in
the spreading of the spirit of enthusiasm and not overlook some one
fully worthy of mention. He has cast his net on all sides and the
result is given herewith.
To have had the honor of suggesting the name, unanimously
adopted by the town on January the sixth. 1902, for our one fine
school edifice, the day it was .first used for school purposes. The
Nathaniel White Public School, is more highly prized than would
have been the gift of a lucrative office. On the bronze tablet and
on the printed page the school children of to-day and of to-morrow
will read the names and recall the deeds of those who first settled
here and who long ago rested from their labors.
In 1884 a centennial celebration commemorating the first Eng-
lish settlement lievond the Germans in the Mohawk vallev was
viii PREFACE
held at Whitestown, Xew York, when clue honor was paid to
Captain Hugh White who, with his sons, went from here in May,
1784, and constituted the first English family to settle in Central
ISTew York. The Hon. William Mansfield White, a descendant
of Capt. Hugh White who was a descendant of Capt. Nathaniel
White, presided, and he uttered this sentiment:
" Eoyal blood is an inheritance. Noble blood, if it begets noble
deeds, is a blessing. But above all and beyond all, is the inheri-
tance of a pious. God-fearing, God-serving ancestry."
To have been privileged to set forth the records of such an
ancestry is its own reward.
Cromwell, Connecticut.
New Tear's Day, 1908.
CONTENTS
Articles of IncorpoRxVTIon, Society of Middletown Up-
per Houses .....•••
Life Members of the Society .....
Charter Members of the Society
History of Middletown Upper Houses
The Society of Middletown Upper Houses
Eeunion of the Society, 1905, including Addresses
Eeunion of the Society, 1907, including Addresses
Descendants of Thomas Ranney
First Generation
Second Generation
Third Generation
Fourth Generation
Fifth Generation
Sixth Generation
Seventh Generation
Eighth Generation
Ninth Generation
William Ranney Line
Timothy Berry Ranney Line
Family Genealogies .
The Bulkeley Family .
The Butler Family .
The Clark Family
The Doolittle Family
The Edwards Family
The Eells Family
The Gaylord Family .
The Gridley Family .
The Hall Family
The Hubbard Family
xvii
xviii
XX
1
63
70
97
141
141
152
162
173
193
232
302
404
482
502
504
507
509
510
524
529
534
540
559
569
572
581
X CONTENTS
PAGE
The Hurlbut Family
. 582
The Keith Family
. 583
The Kelsey Family
. 589
The Kirby Family .....
. 594
The L'Hommedieu Family
. 607
The Prout Family
■ . 609
The Eiley Family
. 614
The Sage Family .....
. 621
The Savage Family .....
. 638
The Sheparcl Family
. 668
The Eev._ Joseph Smith Family . . . .
. 670
The Abner Smith Family ....
. 675
The Stocking Family ....
. 677
The Stow Family
. 695
The Treat Family
. 703
The Warner Family ....
. 711
The White Family
. 713
The Wilcox Family
. 740
The Williams Family ....
. 766
Appendix
William Francis Joseph Boardman
. 775
Eanney Addenda .....
. 777
Pardee Addenda .....
. 782
Index .......
. 785
ILLUSTRATIONS
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF PORTRAITS
FACING PAGE
Adams, Arthur Ranney 300
Charles Collard 300
Charles Samuel Grldley 300
Mrs. Elizabeth Gridley 300
Miss Elizabeth Vix-ginia 300
James Mortimer 300
Baisden. Mrs. Martha (Ranney ) 393
Boardman, Arthur '''60
AVm. Francis Joseph 9<3
Bingham, Norton W 186
Brooks, Mrs. Jeannette (Ranney) 260
Lester Ranney 260
Brown, Henry Bascom 79
Butler, Capt. Daniel 517
Cameron, Mrs. Mabel Ward i09
Ward Griswold 108
Chamberlain, Mrs. Mary (Ranney) 261
Chase. Miss Ellen 665
Henry Savage 665
William Leverett 665
Clark, Samuel Wilson and Wife 472
Cummings, Mx-s. Sarah (Chase) 665
Donahoe, Daniel J 96
Doolittle, Charles Ranney ; 532
Rev. Edgar Jared 533
Edgar Jared 533
Eckels, Ransom , 186
Eells. Daniel 727
Dau Parmelee 554
Group at 1738 well 5.55
Rev. Edwards 516
Major Edwax'd 550
Rev. Edwards and Sons 548
Rev. Edwards and Daughters 549
Ralph Smith 551
SamueJ ." 550
Samuel Robert ' 551
Walter Gibbs 5.54
Faxon, Walter Collyer 96
Fisk-Forester, Mrs. Stella 355
Galpin. Henx'y Norris 754
Gaylord, Group 565
Gridley. Dr. Timothy Jones 516
Hall, David Augustus 576
xi
xii ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
Hart, Ives William 229
John Jay 186
Samuel Ives and Wife 473
Hawes, Mrs. Polly ( Ranuey ) 355
Hough, Mrs. Mary ( Ranney ) 388
Johnson, Rev. James Riley, D. D 617
Jones, Mrs. Zenana Amelia (Ranuey) 228
Kingman, Mrs. Eliza Ann (Rauuey) 354
Mrs. Sarah Amelia (Rauney) 354
Knox, Mrs. Hannah (Ranney) 218
Latimer, Mrs. Anna ( Stocking) 690
Miss Mary Anu 690
L'Hommedieu, Mrs. Elizabeth (Gridley) 301
Lowe, Mrs. Abbie De Ette (Ranuey) 214
Macdonald, James H 761
Meigs, Col. Return Jonathan 56
Merrill, Mrs. Cornelia (Ranney) 300
Morgan, J. Pierpont 547
Parker, Mrs. Clarissa (Rauuey) 355
Porkess, Rev. William 96
Putnam, Gen. Israel 57
Ranney, 11 children of Elijah" 247
13 children of Dr. Waitstill Randolph 251
Abuer* 187
Abuers 215
Alfred Gardner 297
Ambrose Arnold 250
Amos Moore 490
Andrew Jackson and Family 306
Austin Sherman 229
Cassius Wells 215
Cecil J 358
Charles Thomas 450
Clifford Ira 296
Daniel Holland 358
Rev. Darwin Harlow 214
David Gardner 297
David Stocking • 389
Earl Eugene and children 187
Ebeuezer Goodhue 246
Rev. Edwin Hiram 389
Eli 218
Eliiah Crawford 246
Mrs. Elizabeth Gilchrist 388
Mrs. Elizabeth Gridley (L'Hommedieu) ,... 300
Franklin Eli 450
Dr. George Emery 358
George Henry 297
Miss Harriet Augusta 219
Harris Guernsev 186
Henrv Clav 271
Golden Wedding Group 3fiS
Henry Eugene 246
ILLUSTRATIONS xiii
FACING PAGE
Ranney, Henry Joseph 388
Mrs. Ida Louise ( luiiiau ) 219
James <^00
James K. P. aud grandson 494
James Mortimer 300
James Sumner 350
Jesse 350
John 2G1
John Goodhue 187
John Hathorne 194
Rev. Joseph Addison 296
Joseph Addison 296
Miss Julia Isabel 219
Lafayette 358
Lulve 351
Luke Frank 229
Luther Boardman 270
Lvman '■ ■ 218
Dr. Lyman Wells 215
Madison 359
IMoses 388
Nathan Cornelius 292
Oliver 187
Oliver 194
Oliver Franklin 187
Robert Burton 215
Robert Gibonev and Family 307
Royal Gilbert 292
Rufus Percival 271
Salvator Otis 491
Samuel Allen 354
Stei)hen 194
Sullivan 270
Thomas Stow 195
Dr. Waitstill Randolph 250
Walter Roy 296
Willett Phineas and Wife 451
William, artist 293
William Caton 194
William Keith 389
William Ostrander 494
William W 293
William and Wife 347
Willis 297
Willis Madison 359
Zenas Edwards 393
Rattle, Mrs. Elizabeth and Granddaughtoi- .")r.4
Reunion. Group in 1903 64
Group in 1904 65
G. A. R. in 1904 67
Children in 1904 66
Group in 1907 97
Richardson. Dr. John Henry and Wife 214
xiv ILLUSTRATIONS
Eichardson, Mrs. Sabra Ranney 354
Riley, Capt. James and Wife 616
James Watson 617
William Willshire 617
Roome. Mrs. Virginia ( Stocking) 691
Rossman, Mrs. Nettie ( Ranney ) 219
Sage. Col. Comfort and Wife 628
Capt. Nathan and Wife 630
Orrin 631
Savage, Henry Russell 51G
Capt. Timothy and Wife 664
Timothy, Jr.. and Wife 6(54
Stanton, Charles Henry 546
Stocking, Rev. C. H. W.. D. D 229
George Byrd 691
George Washburn and Wife 691
Capt. Horace 690
Justus 690
Philo Waslil)urn and Wife 691
Swenson, Mrs. Eliza Susan (Ranney) 346
Treat. Mrs. Julia (Ranney) 218
Miss Mila Hakes 711
Milo Clinton 710
Ward. Austin Merrels 108
Mrs. Delia Bidwell 108
Walden, Mrs. Josephine Idella (Ranney) 3-55
Walkley, Weebster Rogers 78
Wheeler. Frederick Benjamin and Family 495
Mrs. Mabel (Ranney) 495
White. Canvass 725
Charles Merrow 726
Chauncev Howard 732
Edward ' Luther 7.32
Henrv 733
Hugh 725
Mrs. Rebecca (Rannev) 389
William Mansfield 724
William Roland 7.33
Wightman. Mrs. Clarissa (Butler) 517
Rev. Frederick 517
Stillman King 517
Wilcox, Frank Langdon 763
Frederick William 516
Col. .Tonathan Samuel 755
Samuel Curtis 763
William Walter. Sr 762
William Walter. Jr. 762
Williams. Rev. .Joshua Lewis 769
Woodard, James Madison 3.59
Twins 3.59
ILLUSTBATIONS xv
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF MISCELLANEOUS PICTURES
FACING PAGE
Atherton. Susan Clark, House of :Mrs 396
Bloomfield— Hall. Deed of 1642 577
Boardman, Jonathan, House of 29
Bronze Tablet 71
Crocker. Zebulon. Monument of Rev 768
Cromwell, 1900, Map of 99
Edwards, David, House of 537
Nathan, Hoiise of 537
Eells, Daniel, House of 588
Edward. Account with Capt. John Warner 548
Edward, Headstone of Major 543
Edward, House of Major 542
Edward, Tablestone of Rev 543
Evangeline, Unveiling of Bronze Tablet, July 19, 1905 70
Nathaniel, Headstone of 542
Gay lord. Samuel. Autograph of 28
Gridley, Samuel, Family Reeoord of 569
Timothy Jones, House of 568
Kelsey, Israel, House of 588
Kirby, Amos, Tavern of 61
Charles, House of 601
Elisha, Hotel of 600
Samuel, House of 601
Prospect Hill, 1835, View from 582
Prout. William, 1720, Drawing by 610
Ranney, Daniel s. Account with Capt. John Warner 149
Ebenezer -. Account with Capt. John Warner 149
Ephraim, Old Tavern of 397
Fletcher. House of 611
George, House of 350
George*, Tombstone of 536
Hannah -, Autographs of heirs of 155
John -. Autograpli of 154
Joseph -. Autograph of 154
Joseph -, Tombstone of 168
Joseph 3, Tombstone of 168
Joseph 3, Trees of 1725 169
Nathaniel, W^ooden Bottle of 589
Dr. Stephen. Commission of 369
Thomas i. Account with Capt. John Warner 148
Thomas -, Account with Capt. John Warner 674
Thomas -, Autograph of ". 154
Thomas i. House of 144
Thomas i. Tombstone of 145
Willett, House of .589
William, Family Monument 392
Sage, Comfort, Family Vault 629
David 1, Tombstone of 749
Ebenezer, Account with Capt. John Warner 148
Elisha, House of 628
William, House of 631
Savage, Abijah, House of 658
xvi ILLUSTRATION'S
FACING PAGE
Savage, Amos, Powder Horn of 658
Josiah, House of 659
Timothy, House of 659
Shepard, Jared, Great Oak 583
Smith, Abner, House of 675
Isabella, House of Mrs 396
Joseph. Autograph of Rev 28
Society Middletown Upper Houses, Life Certificate 98
Spencer, Samuel, House of 675
Family, Tombstones of 536
Stoughton Coat of Arms 582
House of 1635 582
St. Machar's Cathedral and Cemetery 583
Upper Houses, Group of old 670
Group of old 671
Old views 718
Warner. John, Family record of Capt 169
White, Aaron, House, Hotel Sign and Tombstone of 719
Nathaniel. Facsimile of Will 26
Nathaniel. Tombstone of 749
Nathaniel. Public School 27
Wilcox. Thomas. House of 748
Thomas, Tombstone of 749
ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION
SOCIETY OF MTDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES, IN-
COEPOEATED.
BE IT KNOWN, That we, the subscribers, do hereby associate
ourselves as a body politic and corporate, pursuant to the statute
laws of the State of Connecticut regulating the formation and
organization of corporations without capital stock, and the follow-
ing are our articles of association:
Article 1. The name of said corporation shall be The Society of
Middletown Upper Houses, Incorporated.
Article 2. The purposes for which said corporation is formed
are the following, to wit:
To obtain title to and to hold the plot of land on which our
memorials do and are to stand; to foster the spirit of reverence'
for our ancestors; to hold reunions of our members and of other
descendants of families of Middletown Upper Houses; and to
gather and to disseminate information historical, genealogical, and
biographical concerning Middletown Upper Houses and its families.
Article 3. The said corporation is located in the Town of Crom-
well, County of Middlesex, and State of Connecticut.
Dated at Cromwell this 19th day of July, 1905.
S. 0. Eanney,
* Charles H. Stanton,
Frank L. Wilcox,
Charles Collard Adams,
Wm. Eoland White,
M. C. Treat.
Names of Subscribers.
xviii LIFE MEMBEES
State of Connecticut, \ ,^
County of Middlesex, i'^'
Then and there personally appeared S. 0. Eanney, Charles H.
Stanton, Frank L. AVilcox, Charles Collard Adams, William Eoland
White, and M. C. Treat, signers of the foregoing instrument and
acknowledged the same to be their free act and deed, before me,
Arthur Boardman,
Approved, July 27, 1905. Notary Public.
Theodore Bodenwein,, Secretary,
per A. E. Parsons.
State of Connecticut, \
Office of the Secretary. ^
I hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy of record in
this office, and of the endorsement of approval thereon.
IN TESTIMONY WHEEEOF, I have hereunto set my hand,
and affixed the Seal of said State, at Hartford, this 27th dav of
July, A. D., 1905.
Theodore Bodenwein, Secretary.
[seal] ■
LIFE MEMBERS*
SOCIETY OF MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES, INCOE^
POEATED.
Mrs. Elizabeth Eells Abbott, Clinton, New York.
Mrs. Elizabeth Gridley Adams, Cromwell, Conn.
Mrs. Eli Melville Ashley, Denver, Col.
William Francis Joseph Boardman. Hartford. Conn.
Miss Abby Anna Bradley, Hingham. Mass.
Anson Strong Brooks, Minneapolis, Minn.
Philip Ranney Brooks. Minneapolis, Minn.
Mrs. Mabel Ward Cameron, Allston, Mass.
Miss Ellen Chase, Brookline, Mass.
Mrs. Julia Jones Crary. Hooperston, 111.
Ferris Edward Davis. Delhi. N. Y.
Mrs. Mary Eliza Horton Davis, Albany, N. Y.
Edgar Jared Doolittle, Meriden, Conn.
t Melatiah Everett Dwight, D. D.
Ransom Eckels, Arlington, Wash.
Howard Parmelee Eells. Cleveland. O.
Walter Gibbs Eells. Philadelphia. Pa.
Mrs. Walter Collyer Faxon, Hartford, Conn.
Mrs. Stella Fisk-Forester. Taplin, Ida.
* Being those who have contributed ten dollars or more for the
work of the Society.
t Dead.
LIFE MEMBERS xix
Mrs. Lawrence Bertram Flint. Needham, Mass.
Miss Clara Cornelia Fuller, Ossining, N. Y.
Miss Ruth Galpin, Berlin, Conn.
Francis Goodwin, D. D., Hartford, Conn.
James Junius Goodwin, Hartford. Conn.
Mrs. Albert Stevens Hall, Winchester, Mass.
David Augustus Hall, Portland, Conn.
Mrs. Harriet Sage Harrison, Leete's Island, Conn.
Newman Hungerford. Hartford, Conn.
William Latimer. Wilmington, N. C.
Russell W. Lowe. M. D., Ridgefield, Conn.
*Mrs. William McPherson, Jr.
John Pierpont Morgan, New York City.
Jesse Homan Pardee, Meadville, Pa.
Andrew Jackson Ranney, Osawotamie. Kan.
Cornelius John Ranney. Cleveland, O.
Charles Percival Ranney, Cleveland, O.
Charles Thomas Ranney, Greenville, Mich.
Ebenezer Goodhue Ranney, Homer, N. Y.
Fletcher Ranney, Boston. Mass.
Frederick Eli Ranney, Greenville, Mich.
George Emery Ranney, M. D., Lansing, Mich.
George Henry Ranney, St. Paul, Minn.
Henry Clay Ranney, Cleveland, O.
Henry Eugene Ranney. Cortland. N. Y.
James Knox Polk Ranney, Osawotamie. Kan.
John Goodhue Ranney, Syracuse, N. Y.
Joseph Pope Ranney, New York City.
Lemuel Sears Ranney, Hillsdale, Mich.
Luther Kelsey Ranney, Peninsula, O.
Maria Serena Ranney, Austin, Minn.
♦Nathan Cornelius Ranney.
Robert Burton Ranney, New Castle, Pa.
Robert Giboney Ranney, Cape Girardeau. Mo.
Royal Gilbert Ranney. Little York, 111.
Salvador Otis Ranney, Windsor Locks, Conn.
Miss Sarah Maria Ranney, Peninsula. O.
Walter Roy Ranney, Arkansas City, Kan.
Willett George Ranney. Cleveland O.
William Ostrander Ranney, Osawotamie, Kan.
Zenas Edwards Ranney, Middletown, Conn.
William James Rattle, Cleveland, O.
John INIack Richardson. Medfield, Mass.
Frederick H. Sage, M. D., Middletown, Conn.
William H. Sage, Albany, N. Y.
Albert Russell Savage, Portland, Me.
Charles Henry Stanton, Clinton. N. Y.
Edgar Blood Stocking, Washington. D. C.
George Washburn, Stocking, Sisterville. W. Va.
Mrs. Ole S. Swenson. Soux Falls. So. Dak.
Milo Clinton Treat, Washington, Pa.
Mrs. Flora Alice Wilcox Turney, Chicago, 111.
Mrs. Hattie Baldwin Wellman. Friendship. N. Y.
Mrs. Mabel Ranney Wheeler. Pittsburg, Kan.
*Dead.
XX CHAETER MEMBERS
George Luther White, Waterbury, Conn.
Mrs. Mary Elizabeth White, Springfield, Mass.
Frank Langdon Wilcox, Berlin, Conn.
Frederick Peck Wilcox, New York City.
George Horace Wilcox, Meriden, Conn.
John Keyes Williams, Hartford, Cann.
James Madison Woodard. Greenfield. Mass.
CHARTER MEMBERS*
SOCIETY OF MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES, INCOR-
PORATED.
William Pratt Abbott Lake Charles, La.
Arthur Ranney Adams, Hartford, Conn.
Artina Marguerite Adams. Hartford, Conn.
Charles Collard Adams, Cromwell, Conn.
Elizabeth Virginia Adams, Cromwell. Conn.
Gridley Adams, New Rochelle, N. Y.
Harriet Boyington Adams, Hartford, Conn.
James Mortimer Adams, Hartford, Conn.
Josephine Janice Adams. New Rochelle, N. Y.
Mrs. Leola Sarah Adams, Howard, R. I.
Mrs. Henry Clay Aldrich, Minneapolis, Minn.
George Allen, Adams, N. Y.
Theodore Anderson, Cromwell, Conn.
Reese Gates Applegate, Sikeston, Mo.
Eli Melville Ashley, Denvei', Col.
Frank Riley Ashley, Denver, Col.
Ralph E. Ashley, Denver, Col.
Andrew Jackson Atherton. Livermore. Ky.
Romeo Atherton, Livermore, Ky.
Mrs. Harriet E. Bailey, Dunkirk, N. Y.
Mrs. Martha Gaylord Bailey, Cleveland, O.
• Theodore Orson Bailey, Cleveland, O.
*Rev. William Ranney Baldwin.
Mrs. Louise Bestor Barbour, Hartford, Conn.
Charles M. Beardslee. Blodgett. Mo.
John M. Beardslee, Blodgett. Mo.
*Mi's. Marie Louise Bestor.
Mrs. Jennie S. Bewick, Madison, Wis.
George Herbert Blanden, Springfield, Mass.
Arthur Boardman, Cromwell, Conn.
Charles E. Booth. New York City.
Emily Stocking Brandegee. Berlin, Conn.
Florence Stocking Brandegee, Berlin, Conn.
Katherine Brandegee, Berlin, Conn.
t John E. Brandegee.
Mrs. William H. Bridge, Spokane, Wash.
Mrs. Heni-y Bascom Brown, East Hampton, Conn.
Mrs. Margaret Drake Buckingham, Minneiska, Minn.
Mrs. Frederick Burckhardt, Cincinnati, O.
* Being those who have contributed one dollar or more, but less
than ten dollars, for the work of the Society.
t Dead.
CHARTER MEMBERS xxi
Lucy P. Bush, New Haven, Conn.
Charles A. Butler, Utica, N. Y.
Mrs. E. L. Campbell, Comstock, N. Y.
James Willett Chamberlain, Akron, Ohio.
Marian Gertrude Chamberlain, Akron, Ohio.
Robert Savage Chase, Brookline, Mass.
Mrs. G. G. Chauncey, Fulton, N. Y.
Henry Chauncey, New York City.
Mrs. Alexander B. Clark, Ox Bow, N. Y.
Mrs. George Clark, Ames, Kan.
Samuel Wilson Clark, New Britain, Conn.
Mrs. J. A. Cochran, Cincinnati, O.
Mrs. A. L. Conger, Akron. O.
Mrs Martha Ranney Cooper, Great Kills, S. I.
Mrs. Horace Bassett Corner. Cleveland, O.
E. E. Cornwall, M. D., Brooklyn, N. Y.
Mrs. A. S. Cotton, Clifton Springs. N. Y.
William Ranney Crary, Willoughby, O.
Henry Savage Chase Cummings, Brookline, Mass.
Lincoln Clifford Cummings, Brookline, Mass.
Rosamond Cummings, Brookline, Mass.
William Leverett Cummings, Brookline, Mass.
Mary Ranney Cutting, Westminster West, Vt.
Mrs. Grace Ranney Diamond, Gaithersburg, Md.
Mrs. Julia B. Dillaby, Somersville, Mass.
Mrs. P. H. Dudley, New York City,
Mrs. Georgia L. Durley, New Haven, Conn.
*Benjamin M. Dyer.
Erastus Ranney Ellis, M. D., Detroit, Mich.
Rev. Edward Eells, Fall River, Mass.
Mrs. H. B. Eells, Unadilla, N. Y.
Herbert Eells, Philadelphia, Pa.
John H. Eells, Pittsfield, Mass.
Mrs. Carrie M. Evans, Akron. O.
William H. Evans, Sr., Akron, O.
William H. Evans, Jr., Akron, O.
Anna L. Francis, Glenbrook, Conn.
Mrs. Amasa A. Fuller, Warren, Vt.
*Fred E. Garrett.
Ethel G. Gaylord. Cleveland, O.
John A. Gaylord, Cuyahoga Falls, O.
Mrs. James A. Grantier. Forestville, N. Y.
Mrs. H. L. Gregory, Vincennes, Ind.
Mrs. Mary Ranney Hadcock, Watertown, N. Y.
Mrs. Maria Carr Hale, Winterset, la.
Harriet Wells Hale, Winterset," la.
*0. W. Hale.
Lizzie M. Harrison. West Winfield, N. Y.
C. R. Hart, M. D., New Hartford, N. Y
*Edmund Benjamin Hart.
Ellen Delia Hart, Meriden, Conn.
James Riley Hodder. Brookline, Mass.
Mrs. Mahala Riley Hodder, Brookline, Mass.
Sylvester AV. Hoffman, Zanesville, O.
*Dead.
xxii CHARTER MEMBERS
Jonathan J. Holland, New Hartford, la.
Mrs. A. L. Holman, Chicago, 111.
Winslow Holmes, Shellrock, la.
John Hough, Spartansburg, Ind.
Herbert Housel, Noblesville, Ind.
E. Kent Hubbard, Jr., Middletown, Conn.
Mrs. Amanda A. Hull, Warren, Vt.
Mrs. Zldana Humphrey, Nuchols, Ky.
Mrs. H. M. Hurd, Baltimore, Md.
Mrs. H. B. Hurlbut, Cleveland, O.
Mrs. John Ives, jNIeriden, Conn.
L. Howard Ives, Meriden, Conn.
Charles Eben Jackson, Middletown, Conn.
Robert Nesmith Jackson. Middletown, Conn.
Alice Cary Johnson, Nyack, N. Y.
James Riley Johnson. D. D., Nyack, N. Y.
Mrs. Ora Storm King. Livermore. Ky.
Augusta F. Kingmau, Northampton, Mass.
Edward Paysou Kirby, Jacksonville, 111.
Samuel Hubbard Kirby, New Haven, Conn.
John Klingelhofer, Turlock, Cal.
Mrs. Harriet Jane Knight, Kingston, Wis.
Abbie Knox, Cuyahoga Falls, O.
Mrs. Theodore R. Lake, Central City, Col.
INIrs. Maria Olivia Le Brun, Montelair, N. J.
Mrs. Aucetta Lewis. Middletown, Conn.
H. Wales Lines, Meriden. Conn.
Mrs. William H. Lockie. Rossie, N. Y.
Mrs. Almira Ranney Lunnie, North Troy, Vt.
Mrs. Frances Raiuiey Lybrand, Washington. D. C.
Caroline Hamilton Macniel, Buffalo, N. Y.
Mrs. Harriet Cornelia Macniel. Buffalo, N. Y.
E. A. Markham, M. D., Durham, Conn.
Mrs. Viva Martin, Greenville, Ky.
Mrs. H. McBurney, Phelps. N. Y.
Sarah Stowe Merwiu. Hartford, Conn.
A. E. Merritt, "Washington, D. C.
Mrs. Helen M. Munroe, Cortland, N. Y.
Mrs. A. J. Muzzy. Bristol, Conn.
p:]lizabeth Todd Nash. Madison, Conn.
Mrs. Lydia B. Newcomb. New Haven, Conn.
Catherine ^I. North. Berlin. Conn.
New York Historical Society, 170 2d Ave., New York City.
Mrs. Elizabeth Hamlin Olmstead, Pasadena. Cal.
Mrs. Vesta C. Owen. Utica. Kentucky.
Seth Paddock. Cromwell. Conn.
Mrs. D. E. Penfield, Warren, Mass.
Mrs. A. N. Pierson, Cromwell, Conn.
Frederick Solomon Pinney. West Haven. Conn.
Mrs. James P. Piatt. Meriden, Conn.
Margery Piatt. Meriden. Conn.
Mrs. Cornelia Pomeroy, Graham. N. C.
Mrs. Mary Butler Price. Utica. N. Y.
D. B. Prout. Ashland, N. Y.
*Mrs. Emma Snow Puffer.
CHAETER MEMBERS
Alvor M. Ranney, Hudsouville, Mich.
Alice M. Ranney, Groton, N. Y.
Alfred Patterson Ranney, Westminster West, Vt.
Anne Ranney, Pittsburg, Kan.
Arthur Edwin Ranney, Springfield, Mass.
Barzillai Frank Ranney, Taberg, N. Y.
Charles A. Ranney, Hartfoi'd, Conn.
Charles F. Ranney, Newport, Vt.
Charles Garfield Ranney, Mohawk, N. Y.
Charles Henry Ranney, Boston, Mass.
Comfort Ranney, De Witt, Mich.
Crawford Ranney, St. Johnsbury, Vt.
David S. Ranney, Moodus, Conn.
Earl Eugene Ranney, Cleveland, O.
Rev. Edwin H. Ranney, Philadelphia, Pa.
Elizabeth Ranney. Jackson, Mo.
Eli W. Ranney, Greenville, Mich.
*Eli.iah Crawford Ranney.
Fayette Silas Ranney, Storm Lake, la.
Franc M. Ranney. New Yoi'k City.
Francis Leroy Ranney, Algona. la.
Frank George Ranney, Rochester, N. Y.
Frederick Dean Ranney, No. Bennington. Vt.
George A. Ranney, Cannonsburg, Mich.
George F. Ranney, Anaconda, Mont.
George G. Ranney, Chicago, 111.
Harriet A. Ranney, Chicago. 111.
Harris Guernsey Ranney, Pittsfield, Vt.
Herbert Hawthorne Ranney, Cape Girardeau. Mo.
Hiram H. Ranney, Mohawk, N. Y.
*Harrison Jackson Ranney.
Henry Charles Ranney. Willliamsburg. Mass.
Henry Porteus Ranney. Putney, Vt.
Mrs. Hiram Mason Ranney, Northfield, Minn.
Howard A. Ranney. South Hadley, Mass.
James Parham Ranney. McMullen. Mo.
Jennie P. Ranney, Concord, Vt.
Joel Cyrus Ranney, Ames, Kan.
Joseph Addison Ranney, Arkansas City. Kan.
Julia I. Ranney, Chicago, 111.
Keith I. Ranney. Cleveland, O.
Laura Ranney, Jackson, Mo.
*Luke Frank Ranney.
Lynn A. Ranney, Cleveland, O.
Mabel Ranney, Los Angeles. Cal.
Mary Eliza Ranney, Penfield. N. Y.
Mary Gayle Ranney, Jackson. Mo.
Matthias Guy Ranney, San Antonio, Texas.
Nathan Huse Ranney, Marlboro, Mass.
Nellie M. Ranney, Concord, Vt.
Orlando B. Ranney. M. D., Kalamazoo, Mich.
Perry C. Ranney, Elkhorn, Wis.
*Philip M. Ranney.
R. L. Ranney. Chicago. 111.
Raymond Ralph Ranney, Springfield, Mass.
CHAKTEE MEMBERS
*Keuben W. Raiiney.
Robert B. Ranney, Cleveland, O.
Sarah Kinney Ranney, Cleveland. O.
Willis Edward Ranney, Springfield, Mass.
William Stillwell Ranney, Cleveland, O.
Susan E. Ranney, Cleveland, O.
William Henry Ranney, Derry, N. H.
W. L. Ranney, Orange, Mass.
*W. S. Ranney.
William W. Ranney, Austin, Minn.
Willis Leland Ranney, Springfield, Mass.
Mrs. Frances Elizabeth Risley, Hartford, Conn.
William M. Risley, Hartford, Conn.
Cyrus Root, Laurel, Md.
Mrs. Nettie Ranney Rossman, Paola, Kan.
A. B. Sage, Shefiield, Mass.
George H. Sage, Hartford, Conn.
Ira Yale Sage, Sr., Atlanta. Ga.
John Hall Sage, Portland, Conn.
Mrs. F. E. Sanford, La Grange, 111.
E. A. Savage, Southampton, Pa.
Charles C. Savage, Philadelphia, Pa.
Mrs. Emma D. Schenk, ^Nlaywood. 111.
Chloe Savage Seymour, Kenwood, N. Y.
F. A. Short, Grove City, Pa.
Mrs. Frederick Simmons, Sanquoit, N. Y.
Mrs. Isabelle Sage Sloan. Hartford, Conn.
H. N. Snow, Durham, N. C.
A. C. Smith, Livermore, Ky.
George Richmond Smith, Cromwell. Conn.
Mrs. Howard Smith, Watertown, Conn.
Jackson Wolcot Sparrow, Cincinnati, O.
Mrs. Maud Ranney Starkweather, Ash Fork. Arizona.
Mrs. Spencer Solomon Steele, Beloit, Wis.
W. H. Stephens, Lowville, N. Y.
C. A. Stephens, Cincinnati, O.
Mrs. Charles H. Stevens, St. Johnsbury, Vt.
Rev. Charles Elliott St. John, Brookline, Mass.
Rev. Amer M. Stocking, Onarga, 111.
Charles H. Stocking, New York City.
Mrs. R. S. Taft, Burlington, Vt.
Mary Kingsbury Talcott, Hartford, Conn.
Mrs. Laura Butler Taylor, Louisville. Ky.
Mrs. I. N. Terry, Utica, N. Y.
*Mrs. Priscilla E. Throne.
*John D. Tibbits.
Mrs. John Henry Trent, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Mrs. Joseph R. Walden, Spruce Corner, Mass.
Mrs. William A. Waterbury,, New Haven, Conn.
Mrs. Caroline A. Wheeler, Northport, L. I.
Aaron Johnson White. Hammond. La.
A. L. White. Peirce City, Mo.
Anna M. White, Utica. N. Y.
Anna S. White, Waterbury, Conn.
Charles Carroll White, Utica, N. Y.
CHARTEE MEMBEES xxv
Cornelia B. White, Utica, N. Y.
Delancey P. White, Utica, N. Y.
Florilla M. White, Utica, N. Y.
Henry Hobart White. St. Paul, Minn.
Hugh White, Utica. N. Y.
H. Lawrence White, Utica, N. Y.
Isabel White, Utica, N. Y.
John Dolbear White, Utica. N. Y.
Mary P. White, Utica. N. Y.
Richard Allyn White. Greenwich, Conn.
William Pierrepout White. Utica. N. Y.
William Roland White, Westfield, Mass.
Mrs. H. K. Wight. Indian Orchard. Mass.
F. B. Wightman. New Rochelle, N. Y.
Henry White Wilcox. Winsted. Conn.
jNIarius W. Wilcox. Middletown, Conn.
F. H. Williams, M. D., Bristol. Conn.
Frances Hart Williams, Bristol. Conn.
Mrs. Idella M. Williams, Winsted, Conn.
J. G. Williams. Holland Patent. N. Y.
Anna F. Willis. Canon City, Col.
Mrs. Frances M. Willis, Colorado Springs, Col.
Stanley J. Willis, Cripple Creek. Col.
James P. Wilson. Youngstown. O.
Mrs. James S. Wilson. Concord. Mass.
Mrs. Martha E. Wood. Shelburne Falls, Mass.
Mrs. L. Jerome Woolsey, Rochester. N. Y.
Rodney P. Wright, Cambridge, Mass.
HISTORY OF
MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
HISTORY OF
MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
The Settlement
Hardly had the Puritans been settled in and around Boston
than there was a disposition to swarm, after the manner of bees.
The Connecticut River had been discovered both by the Dutch
and the English. The former established themselves at Saybrook
on the west bank of the river at its mouth, and at Hartford on
the west bank at a place still called "Dutch Point." In 1633
William Holmes, with a party of colonists, sailed up the river,
bringing with them the frame and other materials which they had
prepared for erecting a house. When they reached Dutch Point
he found that the Dutch had built a light fort and planted two
pieces of artillery. Notwithstanding their threats to fire upon him,
he passed this fort, proceeded up the river six miles, landed on
the west side near the mouth of what is the Farmington River, and
erected and fortified his house there. This, it is said, was the first
house erected in Connecticut.
During the summer of 1635 others came and planted settlements
at Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield. In 1636 the population
was increased by the arrival at Hartford of the Rev. Thomas
Hooker and his congregation from Cambridge, 100 in all. A con-
gregation came from Dorchester to Windsor and another from
Watertown to Wethersfield. Courts were early established, the
first being held at Hartford, April 26, 1636 ; the second at Wind-
sor, June 7, and the third, September 1. These courts consisted
of two principal men from each town, and were invested with all
the legislative and judicial powers and functions of the colony.
The population of the three towns on the river and the garrison
at Saybrook had reached about 800 persons.
In 1635 John Winthrop, " Governor of the River Connecticut,"
had reached Saybrook and built a fort. The Pequot Indians in
1636 laid siege to the fort and killed some of the inhabitants.
Thereupon a court was held at Hartford and steps were taken for
self-defense which meant the extermination of the Pequot tribe.
An expedition of ninety men from the three towns, joined by
friendly Mohegans under Uncas, descended the river to Saybrook
in 1637, attacked the Pequots at Groton and captured their fort.
Those who escaped fled to the westward but were pursued to what
is the southwest corner of 'the State and were captured.
4 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
In 1638 a settlement was made at New Haven. On the 14th
of January, 1639, the free planters of Hartford, Windsor and
Wethersfield convened at Hartford and adopted a written con-
stitution, the preamble of which stated it was to preserve " the
libberty and purity of the Gospell and the regulation of civil af-
fairs." On the 4th of June, 1639, the free planters of Quinnipiack,
or New Haven, met and formed a civil and religious organization.
The former was a democracy under the guiding mind of the Eev.
Thomas Hooker; the latter was a theocracy under the Eev. John
Davenport. In 1639 Milford and Guilford were founded in the
colony of New Haven, the one on the east and the other on the
west of, and both adjacent to, New Haven. In the same year
Fairfield and Stratford were founded under the jurisdiction of
Connecticut. In 1639 the commonwealth of Saybrook was founded
by Colonel George Fenwick. In 1644 the colony of Connecticut
purchased from Colonel Fenwick for £1600 the jurisdictional right
in the colony of Saybrook. In 1643 the colonies of Massachusetts,
Plymouth, Connecticut and New Haven formed a confederacy for
mutual safety under the name of the " United Colonies of New
England." IBetween 1640 and 1650 other settlements were made
on Long Island Sound.
As a consequence of travel by land and by water between Hart-
ford, Windsor and Wethersfield on the north and the settlements
on the Sound to the southward a knowledge was obtained of the
conditions of the land along the west bank of the Connecticut
Eiver. Mattabesett stood on high ground, at the parting of the
ways, fourteen miles south of the center of Hartford. To the
southeast the Connecticut Eiver made a sharp bend, reaching
thirty miles to Saybrook, and along its bank was the primitive
road to Saybrook. To the southwest, and through a valley, stretched
the primitive roadway to New Haven. In 1639 the General Court
of Connecticut made record as follows:
" The menifold insolencyes that have beene offered of late
by the Indians, putt the Court in mind of that w'ch hath beene
too long neglected, viz. : the execution of justice upon the former
murtherers of the English and it was uppon serious consideracon
and debate thought necessary and accordingly determine^, that
some speedy course be taken herein, and for effecting hereof
it was concluded that 100 men be levyed and sent down to Mat-
tabesecke, where severall guilty persons reside and have beene
harbored by Soheage, notwithstanding all means by way of
persuation have beene formerly used to him for surrendering
them upp into or hands; and it is thought fit that these coun-
HISTORY OF THE UPPER HOUSES 5
sells be imparted to or friends at Quiunipi [ocke] that prvition
may be made for the safety of the new plantaeons, and upon
their joynt consent to precede or desist."
Sowheag had resided at Wethersfield, and after selling that tract
to the settlers there had removed to " Mattabesecke." Pequots had
gone up to Wethersfield, killed six men and three women, had
carried away two girls, and had taken refuge with Sowheag at
Mattabesett. This tended to increase the trouble, but the New
Haven colony did not accept the invitation. In consequence of
these disturbances no effort had been made to effect a settlement
at Mattabeseck.
October 30, 1646, " Mr. Phelps is appoynted w"^ the Com°^ittee
for the planting Matabezeke," a name written in various ways.
''Mar. 20, 1649-50 And Sammuell Smith senior, of Wethers-
field, to the Comittee about the lands at Mattabeseck, in the roome
of Jeames Boosy." This committee reported that these lands
might support fifteen families. From the lower part of Wethers-
field, first known as Stepney and now as Rocky Hill, to Middletown
proper there was but one place where the land on the bank of the
river was suitable for a settlement. This one favorable location
had high land from north to south of about one hundred rods,
ending in a swamp at the north end, while on the south the land
was too low for habitation for a distance of a stretch of two
miles to the Sebethe, or Little River, Westward there was .a
swamp, making a ridge of one hundred rods in length and eighty
rods in width. South of the Sebethe the land is elevated and was
most favorably situated for a settlement. Half a mile back from
the river rose " Indian Hill " where Sowheag had his wigwams.
In 1650 settlements were begun " north of the riverett," some-
times written " riverlet," and also " south of the riverett." The
former in the records is termed "the north side." In 1707
SamueP Wilcox bought of George^ Stocking the homestead of the
deceased SamueP Stocking, situated in " uper houses."
The general court of 1651 stated:
" It is ordered sentenced and decreed that Mattabeseck shall
bee a Towne, and that they shall make choyce of one of theire
inhabitants according to order in that case, that so hee may take
the oath of a Constable, the next convenient season,
" It is ordered that Mattabeseck and Norwaulk shall be rated
this present year in their proporcon, according to the rule of
rating in the Country, for theire cattle, and other visible estate,
and that ISTorwaakk shall present to Mr. Ludlow, and Mattabe-
6 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
seek to Mr. Wells, in each Towne one inhabitant, to bee sworne
by them Constables in theire severall Townes."
In 1652 the General Court authorized Thomas Lord of Hart-
ford to act in all the towns " both for setting of bones and other-
wise, as at all times, occasions and necessityes may or shal require."
His fees were fixed. " To any house in Mattabeseck, eight shil-
lings."
oP.-^^
PLAH OF
MIDDLETOWN
"/^ORTH Of THE RIVERET^
^0T£ ne names o/ Permct77cd6-
;JOHn-Savage| |4 %
From September, 1652, to September, 1653, and in May and
October, 1655, William Smith represented the town in the Gen-
eral Court; John Hall, Jr., in May, 1653; William Cornwell in
May and October, 1654; Thomas Wetmore in September, 1654;
Robert Webster from September, 1653, to May, 1655, in May,
and October, 1656, in October, 1657, in October, 1658, and in May,
1695; George Grave from October. 1657, to October, 1658; Samuel
Stocking, ten sessions from May, 1658, to October, 1681. Xathan-
HISTORY OF THE UPPEE HOUSES 7
iel White was almost continually a member from October, 1659, to
October, 1710, his death at 82 occurring in August, 1711. William
Smith was the first land recorder and the first page of volume one
is a fair sample of his style of penmanship. His home lot was the
property now occupied by the Catholic church in Middletown.
Eobert Webster was appointed recorder in 165i.
Nov. 23, 1653, " This Court approueves that the name of the
Plantatyon commonly caled Mattabesick shall for time to come
bee Middelltowne."
In 1652 a log church was erected, by the side of the home lot
of Thomas Allyn, where now stands the huge boulder with its
bronze tablet erected at the time of the celebration in 1900. of the
250th anniversary of the settlement of the town. But this " set-
tlement " included the " north side " as well as the " south side,"
and these twins were not disjoined till 1851, when the " north
of the riverett " became the town of Cromwell.
The settlement " north of the riverett " bordered on the river
as far as high land extended. The street running north and south,
now known as Pleasant Street, was 38 rods back from, and parallel
to, the river and 78 rods in length. There being a swamp north
of Nathaniel White's, a low meadow south of Savage's, Bloom-
field's, and Martin's, and a swamp west of Pleasant Street, an
engineer must have located Pleasant Street; for during the times
of high fioods this settlement became an island. Five three-acre
lots were set off on the east side of Pleasant Street, and the same
quantity to White, Savage, Martin and Bloomfield. Later ' a
two-acre lot on the west side of Pleasant Street was granted to
each of the five residing on the east side of that street and the
same kindness was shown to the others by enlarging their " home
lots." Such was the extent of the provision for the settlers.
Lands in various directions were recorded as " grants " to the
settlers and almost from the first " Pistol Point, Little Meadow,
Dead Swamp, Pound Meadow, Goose's Delight, Timber Hill,
Wolf Pit Hill, Boggy Meadow, Fur Neck, Hither Neck " were and
jtill are familiar names.
sxiii are laminar names. ^
yctoe
By 1659 Webster and Grave had returned to Hartford, and
Smith and Treat to Wethersfield, the two latter on March 10, 1657,
having transferred their combined homesteads to John Wilcox,
who soon transferred it to Samuel Hall and removed to Dor-
chester, Mass., but returned a few years later. In 1653 the General
8 ^MIDDLETOWX UPPEK HOUSES
Court had ordered John- Wilcox to occupy his grant or find a
suitable substitute. John Kirby had purchased George Grave's
2-acre lot on the west side of the highway. In 1G55 a pound,
50 X 66 feet, had been located south of this lot in which stray
cattle were to be impounded. For several years no one came to
occupy the west side 3-acre lots of Webster, Smith, and Treat,
while Thomas Eany and John Warner had been granted the home-
steads of Grave and Webster, respectively, on the east side of the
highway. The next arrival was David Sage. On May 10, 1663,
the town meeting voted to him a " house lott on the other side
the riveret on the other side the Highway beyond the corner of
Goodman White his fence on the west side of the Highway to
Hartford, siding by Goodman Stockins lott soe much as may not
prejudice the Highway or outlett of the cattel which the Inhabi-
tants on that side shall determine and Bound According to their
discretion." Instead of building on this grant David, who had
looked with longing eyes on Mary Kirby, preferred to locate next
to his prospective father-in-law. On May 9, 1665, there was
recorded to him twelve square rods " whereon his house standeth,'^
a very limited area for a " house lott " in that day. Just before
that the town had " ordered that Eobert Warner shall forthwith
see what the town hath suffered by David Sage's pulling down
the and so to get the town rited for soon as may be in that
case." The trouble seems to have been settled, for soon David is
given five acres from his " father," John Kirby, adjoining
his small " home lot " in exchange for that first granted to Mr.
Sage " for a home lot." John Kirby in time established his son
Joseph thereon. In 1695 Joseph sold it to Kathaniel W^iite for
his son Jacob and it remained in the White family till a few years
ago. David Sage had. pre-empted the town pound of " twelve square
rods " and had to settle for so doing.
On Dec. 23, 1663, the town granted to Thomas Hubbard "five
acres for a home lot and five acres additional where will be most
convenient for him and not inconvenient for the town, he ingaging
to build upon it and not to make sale of it till he hath inhabited
upon it 4 years." The committee. White, Warner and Stocking,
located it on the three 2-acre lots which had ])een granted to Web-
ster, Smith and Treat. He built his house on the southeast cor-
ner. Wilcox, in 1657, had sold his Smith-Treat purchase to
Samuel- Hall (John), and, it is said, had removed to Dorchester,
Mass., but had returned, for on Nov. 1, 1665 Hubbard deeded to
him three acres and one house " where J. Wilcox occupieth."
While Hubbard did not observe the four-year limit, it may be
that as he had built his own house near the southeast corner of
HISTOEY OF THE UPPER HOUSES 9
his lot, it was considered that he had not violated the spirit of the
grant. His 1663-4 well-curb now adorns " Stocking Triangle."
On Nov. 6, 1666, the settlement seems to have reached its
limit, for it extended Samnel Stocking's 2-acre west side lot to be
9 acres, John Kirby's to 8 acres, and Thomas Hubbard's to 2-4
acres, " first given to Joseph Smith, Eobert Webster and Matthias
Treat."
In March, 1666, there was granted to " Thomas Wetmore a
house lot for himself or son on the north side the riverlet next
' to John Savage's swamp, abutting on the highway which comes
straight up to John Savage's between him and Thomas Hubbard,
abutting on John Warner's south and the highway west, to be
10 or 12 acres." Similar grants were given to Obadiah Allen and
Samuel Egelstone. But all sold out these rights without building
and it was scores of years before any houses were erected on these
grants.
The next addition of an inhabitant was Thomas Stow, Jr., to
whom on March 17, 1678-79 there was granted " a piece of land
at the rear of David Sage's and Deacon Stocking's and Joseph
Kirbie's on the north of ,that which was granted to John Wil-
cock's as the land will alow not prejudicing highways." The com-
mittee to lay it out was " Lieut. White, Deacon Stocking and
Samuel Hall." But as Mr. Stow's father-in-law. Deacon Stock-
ing, chose to build for his daughter, Mrs. Stow, on a tract on the
road to Hartford next north of jSTathaniel White's, Mr. Stow never
" improved " this grant. He sold it to John Caton, who failed to
improve it. The south part was sold by them to Samuel Gipson
and the north part became the cemetery of 1713. In 1687 Edward
Shepherd came for a bride in the person of Abigail - Savage and
he received a grant on the west side of the road to Hartford and
on the site of the present Congregational church. John Clark of
Haddam found a bride in the person of Elizabeth White, daughter
of Capt. Nathaniel White, and purchased the south half of the
original Thomas Hubbard place. He was son of William Clarke
of Haddam, who is recorded as having been servant to John Crow
of Hartford. He occupied till 1731 the house built in 1663-4
by Thomas Hubbard, and gave the property to his son John, who
became, 1737, the first settler in East Hampton on what is known
as Clark's Hill, where he lived to an advanced age, giving each
son a farm.
On April 29, 1669, it was "voted and agreed that on the north
side the river these lands shall lye comon forever. This land
l)uteth on Thomas Hubbards home lot which the town voted him
for a home lot and David Sages and Samuel Stockings and John
10 MIDDLETOW?^ UPPER HOUSES
Kirbys and Thomas Hubbards east and on Thomas Wetmores and
Obadiah Allins and Samuel Egelstones land south and the Stony
brook [now Chestnut Brook] west, John Savage's wood lot north."
There had been great trouble in deciding as to how much land
each " inhabitant " was entitled and for some years the discussion
had waxed warm. Finally on —
" March the on and twentieth 1670 or 71. The towne voted
and agreed to present there request and seek the help of Cap-
tayne John Talcot and Leif tenant John Alin in these pertieque-
lers, following
" first, conserning the true proprietours of the plantation
whether the present accepted inhabitants are not for to be ac-
counted who are or shal be esteemed inhabitants to whom the
propriaty_ of undivided lands belong unto.
" secondly, conserning the rule of the devision of undevided
lands, whither by poll or persons and estats, or by the contry
[country tax] list only, or some other way/' and much more
to the same effect. " The Comity is Ensign White William
Cheney William Ward, John Wilcocke."
Captain Talleott and Lieut. Allyn made an extended report to
which the inhabitants had in advance promised obedience, and
they repo-rted " The nams of the proprioters of Middletown with
their estats, taken March 22'i^ 1670." Those residing " north of
the riverett " were :
Anthony Martine
£ 60-10
David Sage
068-10
Ensig-n AVhite
159-10
Samuell Stockin
113-10
Thomas Eany
105-00
John Warner
096-10
John Wilcocke
140-00
Samuell Halle
130-00
John Savedg
129-00
Thomas Hubard
061-00
John Cerbys
088-10
The families of the children soon called for homesteads, so on
" Jan. 28, 169^ the inhabitants on north side shall have liberty
to lay out eight house lots not exceeding four acres apiece in the
comon, on that side, as they among themselves shall see best."
On the 12th of the same month the town '' confirmed their
grant to [Eev.] .Mr. Eussell to a piece of swamp land of ten
HISTORY OF THE UPPER HOUSES 11
acres against hornet bay at the east end of that swamp and south
of the river, and that the remainder of that swamp land to lye for
a parsnage for the town til our neighbors on the north side doe
stand in need of it on that side for the use of their ministry."
This fine meadow lot of 27 acres is to-day the property of the
Cromwell Congregational Society, and in the days of the early
pastors it was a source of much annoyance, as may be seen later.
It adjoins " Goose's Delight." In 1673 and as late as 1750 very
extensive distributions were recorded. The " northwest quarter,"
now a part of Berlin, was to be divided among the " north side "
proprietors and their descendants, who also received extensive al-
lotments on the east side the great river. In 1721 there was a
great distribution of the Wonguuk meadows on the east side of the
great river and lot number 200 was set off to " old Cap White,"
who had died in 1711. By his will of August, 1711, one-fourth of
his undivided lands was to be for the " schools already established,"
and in 1745 this one-quarter of lot 200 was sold to his grandson
Hugh and the proceeds constitute to-day a part of the " local
school funds" of Middletown, Cromwell and Portland. To show
the slow progress of this distribution of outlying lands it is
here stated that while Thomas ^ Ranney had located a mile north
of the center of Cromwell on what is now known as the S. V.
Hubbard place and had raised a large family thereon, it was
not till 1742 that to Thomas * Ranney there was allotted the land
since known as Prospect Hill and which is nearer to the center
than the place on which Thomas * was born.
The Ferry Question
Traveling between Hartford and the settlements on Long Island
Sound made the ferry over Sebethe River at Middletown a matter
"of great importance. The Sebethe (Little) River, the "riverett"
of the early records, empties into the " Great River " nearly two
miles south of the Upper Houses settlement and is of the width of
an ordinary road. The crossing of it in those early days required a
ferry boat, and as early as 1658 it was voted "to make a new ferry
canoe 30 feet long 5 broad, inside to be made of the nut trees and
for which the town agrees to give John Hall 4 pds in coyne " ; and
a committee was authorized " to agree about keeping the ferry with
Thomas Allyn or any other man." Thomas was the nearest settler
to the ferry on the south side. When Thomas Hubbard came to
the Upper Houses a few years later, though he lived nearly two
miles from the ferry and the low meadow intervening rendered it
inconvenient to erect any house thereon, he seems to have coveted
12 MIDDLETOWN UPPEK HOUSES
the job. As every person from Hartford or the Upper Houses had
to pass his residence in going southward to Middletown it was
easy to give him notice of needing his services; but if he expected
to remain all day at the ferry to accommodate those from the
south bound northward he must have expected a lonely time. The
record reads: "Dec. ye-26-1667, Ensign White & Samuell Stock-
ing to present ye agreement with Thomas Hubbard concerning ye
keeping of ye ferry according to ye terms he gave in to ye town
meeting in writing."
S"'
As the sons of the founders had crossed the " great river " in
1709 and made a settlement, starting a " Society," which meant
the opening of a school and the erection of a church, it was im-
portant that there should be convenient ferry privileges, but the
first record is May, 1759. " On memorial of Daniel Brewer and
sundry other inhabitants of Middletown showing that there is a
need of a ferry across the Connecticut river from the building yard
in the north society called Upper Houses as appears by memorial
on file," etc., liberty is granted to Mr. Brewer and rates are estab-
lished. This ferry was established from a point some distance
above the building yard (ship yard) to what is now known as
" Indian Avenue " on the east side of the river, this " avenue "
being a road laid out where the first settlement was made on the
east side, and on it to-day are some very ancient houses.
On Feb. 5, 1682-3, it was voted to build a " cart bridge over the
fery river," and in 1693 a contract was made with Francis Whit-
more " to erect and build a substantial stone bridge over the fery
river for carting over and ganging under itt." A dispute arose
as to the meaning of this vote and " Jan. 3 1699 or 1700 " the
town interpreted the meaning to be that he must depend on volun-
tary contributions and that it should be a free bridge. He did
build, but litigation arose over it with his widow and on June 5,
1721, the town appointed a committee " to protect the town's in-
terest as to the towns bridge over the ferry river or Riverett with
the Whitmores or any other person or persons . . . and to
proceed from court to court " and much more like it.
In 1710 John Clark's boat at the ferry was allowed " 2^ a week
in country pay " ; voted, Jan. 15, 1711-12 " to build a new boat
to be carryed on by the present townsmen." "Jan. 13-1712-13
voted a pence and half pence on the £ for town charges and to
purchase the fery hous and to procure a fery rope."
On Dec. 17, 1798, a committee was appointed to " view and
HISTORY OF THE UPPER HOUSES 13
examine the bridge built over Little River by Mr. Elisha Stow
and agree with him." This was an open bridge which stood till
about 1840, when a covered bridge was erected and which stood
till 1783, when the present iron bridge took its place.
The Early Highways
On January 6, 1656, it was voted to lay out a highway " through
the West field," and White, Webster, Grave and Stocking were the
committee to do it within fourteen days. This was an extension,
westward from the river, of the highway between what were the
Savage-Martin-Bloomfield lots on the south side and what became
the Hubbard lot on the north side. It was to enable the settlers
to reach their outlying lands at Hither Neck, Fur Neck, Round
Meadow, Boggy Meadow, Goose's Delight and Timber Hill. It
was on the south side of this extended roadway that the allotments
heretofore named were made to Allyn, Eggelstone and Wetmore,
who never built on them, preferring to remain on the south side.
On April 29, 1669, this road was a subject' of contention between
John Savage, who had bought the Bloomfield place,- and Thomas
Hubbard who lived opposite, for on this day the town appointed
a committee " to settle the highway on the rivulett between John
Savage's land and Thomas Hubbards and to measure the street
at those houses to see if there be no incroachments and make re-
port."
The traveled track to Hartford could not have been much better
than a blazed pathway till Wethersfield was reached. On March
8, 1670, voted " the land lying on the north side the river between
the lots going to Hartford near the plains [upper Cromwell and
still known as " The Plains "] being laid for a highway shall lye
comon forever." Jan. 15, 1700 a committee, Hamlin, White
and Clark, are appointed to lay out a highway of 20 rods wide for
a country road across the plains to Wethersfield bounds as they
shall find most convenient.
On June 19, 1719, a committee was appointed to lay out and
state (stake?) the highway or country road across the plains to
Wethersfield bounds. The layout of the highway could hardly
have been satisfactory, as the granting of extensive tracts were
being made on unoccupied territory. In 1695 a tract of five hun-
dred acres in this section was granted to Nathaniel White, and a
stone marked " N. W. 1698 " still stands at its northwest corner,
while on the opposite side "J B " means that Joseph Butler was
given the land adjoining on the north.
April 23, 1725, a committee including Capt. William Savage
14 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
and Serg. John Sage was appointed " to see that all highways were
laid out as the record requires." On Oct. 1, 1725 this committee
reported they had laid out " a necessary highway on the north
side the fery river in Middletown where the present fery place
is now used, and hath been for many years, the S. W. corner
being a large elm marked to which tree the fery rope hath been
usually fastened too, in flood times and from sd tree northward
two rods wide where was pitched a stake and so to continue two
rods wide so far eastward towards the great river eight rods and
then one rod by the highway by the great river, 30^ to be pd the
owners of land taken." This was the original traveled path along
the river bank to the John Savage corner.
In 1725 there was laid out a road ten rods wide from the " n. w.
quarter," now East Berlin, to connect at the plains with the road
leading to Hartford. All that is now left of that 20 rod highway
to Hartford is the lane from north to south, just east of the August
David homestead. In 1770 and again in 1794 the town bought
strips four rods wide to extend the roadway of 1725 to connect
with the new road to Hartford. In 1802 a turnpike was laid out
by the Great and General Court from Hartford to Saybrook, to
be four rods wide except as otherwise named. It went generally
over the established highways, but from the north end of the North
Society, at a point near the house of Gershom Butler, it left the old
road and went through the fields for a distance of a mile, when
it met and followed the old road till it reached
" on the old road or street to a point 40 links in front of the
front door of the meeting house in Middletown Upper Houses;
thence S. 11° 10' W. 73 chains (292 rods) 33 links crossing
the fields in the meadows to a point in the old road at 59
links from the river bank being 36 links of the center of the
path of travel."
On Dec. 4, 1727 there was laid out " a country road from new-
field fery river on to the plains into the old road that leads to
Hartford eight rods wide." Capt. Jared Shepherd was the first
to build on this road near " fery " river. This property is now
owned by Mr. Seth Paddock. The Shepherd house and oak tree
are given herewith. This road became the dividing line between the
west and the northwest school districts of the present town. What
had been known as the " n. w. quarter" had been taken, 1772,
from" the Middletown North Society to become a part of the Worth-
ington Society, now in the town of Berlin, but the land had been
alloted to North Society people who had settled thereon.
HISTORY OF THE UPPER HOUSES 15
April 26, 1737, a committee including Isaac White, John Kirby
and Daniel Sage, was appointed to remove encroachments on high-
ways, and many times to 1800 similar committees were ordered.
In 1795 on the petition of forty-two persons a road two and
a half rods wide was laid out along the river bank from the corner
of the John Savage home lot to the corner of jSTathaniel White's
home lot. The record gives the frontage of each piece of prop-
erty and the amount paid each owner for land taken. The river
bank thereafter was used for wharves and shipbuilding. In 1803
a narrow street was thrown out from Pleasant Street to River
Street through the original Joseph Smith home lot, and in 1807
a schoolhouse known as the " Bell " schoolhouse, two stories high,
was erected and used till the Nathaniel White schoolhouse was
opened on Jan. 6, 1902. The reproduction of the U. S. Coast
Survey map shows these later village streets.
The First Mills
Beyond the original settlement and to the northwest is a small
stream which flows in a southwesterly direction to Little River and
was early known as Chestnut Brook. Near its mouth it passes
over a brownstone ledge and then through a deep ravine, making
a natural dam site and a favorable location for a mill. To
Thomas Miller, son of the Thomas Miller to whom in lower Mid-
dletown a mill site was granted in 1655, there was granted " Jan.
25, 1714 — 15 the right to set a grist mill on Chestnut Brook by
the falls on the north side the fery and also 3 A of land above
the falls for the mill plot with the privilege of digging and dam-
ming so far as the brook rims in the towns comons, not to pond
the highway — and must do this in 3 yrs. or pay 20^ a year to the
town till he does." On Jan. 17, 1715-16, this land was recorded
and bounded " N. stream; S. Highway; W. Common fence; E. town
commons." This mill privilege at the base and on the west side
of Timber Hill has been used as a mill privilege to very recent
years. The ancient wheel and the old mill are to be seen in the
illustration. On Jan. 13, 1718 Thomas Miller, Jr., paid a fine of
20^ for not building on time. ^On Dec. 21, 1721 the town voted
half an acre northerly of his grist mill and on Dec. 26, 1721
Capt. John Savage and Capt. William Savage were appointed a
committee to lay out a small parcel of land " n. w. side the Brook
for Thomas Miller, Jr. to build on."
Northward of the settlement and easterly of the highway to
Hartford is a valley with numerous springs, in early days known
as Cold Spring, which was the property of Thomas Ranney whose
16 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
distribution of it to his heirs is recorded in' his will of 1711.
Eastward of this highway was a high ridge, " Sideling Hill," ex-
tending a mile to the river, covered now, as then, with forest trees.
South of and under this ridge and along to the river is a road called
the " Nuiks " road, and John Sage resided on this road near
the Cold Spring reservoir outlet. On Dec. 25th, 1732 the town
gave authority to John- Sage " to erect a grist mill on the stream
that runs across the highway near to sd Sages dwelling house &
the liberty to erect a dam so as to flow the highway provided he
make and forever maintain a good sufficient bridge or causeway
across sd water for hors cart foot and team at all times, provided
sd Sage grind the corn of the town inhabitants before any
stranger."
On Dec. 20, 1712 the town released John Sage from the obli-
Jj ^ gation to maintain the bridge near the
\0^'vri r<7^^ .^^jy "^^^^ ^^ ^^^ erected, and granted him a
\J Af ^^y privilege to erect a warehouse " near the
C-/ landing place by Mr. Samuel Frary's
[John Savage on map], not exceeding 30 ft. sq. and a place for a
wharf to answer the same." The committee to locate this was
Capt. Thomas Johnson and Hugh White, and Mr. Sage was to have
"the produce [toll rates], of sd warehouse and wharf place as a
recompense for building sd bridge." In 1780 Giles Sage was per-
mitted to add a sawmill in the public highway near his dwelling
house in connection with the grist mill.
The commercial spirit of trade with the West Indies and the
southern ports had reached Middletown proper and the Upper
Houses, for, on Dec. 24, 1744. Joseph Stocking and John Stock-
ing (the latter died at " Statia" in 1750) petitioned for " 4 Roods
of land Southard of Samuel Frary's warehouse, for a warehouse
plot and to build a wharf in the river there." A committee was
appoiuted to " view the sd place and lay it out provided they pay
what it is worth."
On Dec. 31, 1781 Capt. John Smith was given a quitclaim right
to erect a store " at the foot of his wharf near Capt. Stocking's
store." He died in 1784 and his widow Mary sold his interest in
the wharf. A map of 1796 shows the two wharves then existing.
In 1776 Middletown had a larger population than New Haven
of Hartford and the shipbuilding, West India and coast trade made
many rich. The Upper Houses people were thoroughly followers
of the sea, having several shipyards, wharves and storage or freight
houses. The trade consisted in carrying out mules, horses and hay,
and bringing back rum, sugar, molasses and fine woods. " Pipe
Stave" swamp indicated the thrifty business of making and ear-
HISTORY OF THE UPPER HOUSES 17
rying out staves in bundles to be put into shape and brought
back filled with rum, molasses or sugar. Nearly everyone was
or became a Captain, and the records sadly tell the story of those
who " never came back." The remains of the wharves are still visi-
ble, and the last storehouse, the old " Brick Store," has just
fallen. Its representation here reminds us of those who " go down
to the sea in ships."
Churches and Schools
Near where the Middletown memorial of granite and bronze
stands was a large elm, beneath which, it is said, the first religious
services were held. On "February the 10th, 1G52. It was agreed
at a meeting at John Halls hous to build a meeting hous and to
make it twenty fot square and ten fot between sill and plat, the
heygt of it." It was erected of logs in the middle of the street
and in front of " Riverside " cemetery, and was surrounded by
a palisade to protect against the Indians in case of need. This
is the first high ground after crossing Little River from the Upper
Houses, and the location was as convenient as possible to those
who must travel from the Upper Houses two miles and then cross
a river to reach the church and the cemetery. The Rev. Samuel
Stow, a graduate of " Cambridge College," was the preacher for
some years, but dissatisfaction arose, and by the Great and General
Court it was decided, Oct. 4, 1660, that he should cease to officiate
as soon as there could be found an " able, orthodox and pious
minister to be approved by Mr. Warham, Mr. Stone, Mr. Whiting
takeing in ye help of ye Wor'll Gournr and Mr. Willis w'ch being
done Mr. Stow is to lay down his preaching there, the said Towne
glueing Mr. Stow Testimonial Lrs such as the Gent forenamed
judge fit. In ye meantime the Towne to allow Mr. Stow his
vsual stipend he continuing the exercise of his ministery as for-
merly." In those days " Mr." was the title of the pastor without
the prefix " Rev." Attention was already directed towards the Rev.
Nathaniel Collins, son of Deacon Collins of Cambridge, and grad-
uate of Harvard College, and the Great and General Court, Mav
25, 1661, "doe advise both Mr. Stowe & all the inhabitants of
Midletown to a loving X carriage to Mr. Collins & friendly com-
pliance with each other," etc. On the 4th of Nov., 1662, "the
town did agre that the hous for mr Collins should be 36 foot long
18 foot wid, ten foot hy betwean joints and stone chimneys in
the middle, with silleradg by leantowing or otherwise as may be
most convenient." The work of building a meeting house pro-
ceeded, and though there were but 31 heads of families in the
18 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
settlement they voted, Feb. 14, 1665, to have " a galery for the
meeting house from the east end to the middle beam," A form of
letter was drawn up and approved Dec. 11, 1665 and forwarded.
" Mr. Nathanill Collins, Sir. you may be pleased to Ee-
member wee wrote to you, a few linnes bearing date the 11th of
December, '63, wharein we gave you an invitation unanimusly
under our hands to the worke of the minestry amongst us, in
order to farther and more sollem ingagements, when god in his
providenc shall make way theirto, the Acceptance whereof you
have hitherto manifested by your long continuatyon among us,
in that wgrke, our present state you now know, namly that God by
his providenc hath brought us hopefully nerere gathering into
an ekclyasticall body, then formerly though some of our neigh-
boures and brethren are wee would hope conscienciusly differing
from us, respecting the maner of it, namely as you loiow some
judging we are a church allredy, others that wee are not, how-
ever wee that thinke wee are allredy a church and wee allso that
thinke we are not but in some short time may be one both sen-
cibile of the essentiall need of an officer to despence the sealles
as well as the word amongst us. to such as shall be regularly
fitt. doe therefore by these presenc give you to know that our
eyes are upon and our desires towards yourself for that worke
as soon as we shall be in such a capasety and request your answer
to this our motion as god shall direct and incline so desiering
god to guide you in this great motion we rest waiting your an-
swer your loving frinds and neighbours, the inhabitants of
MiDDLETOWN."
On Feb. 19, 1667, it was voted to organize a church and call
Mr. Collins, and Ensign White and Samuel Stocking were chosen
on the committee.
Here are some extracts from the church records :
—The Eev. Mr. Collins was ordained the " 4^'^— 9^^—1668 "
«15th_9th_igg8" William Savage was baptized.
" 30^^— 1^'— 1668 Ensign White, Goodman Kirby, Saml Hall,
the wife of our Brother Stocking, the wife of Goodman Kirby,
the wife of Goodman Eany," were admitted as members in full com-
munion. They made public profession of faith " and also what
had been the matter of public offense in any of them publicly
owned."
" 10*'^ — 11*^ — 68 children of Brother Kirby, namely John,
Joseph, Easter, Sarah, the child of our sister Eany, Elizabeth, re-
ceived ye iniatory scale."
HISTOEY OF THE UPPER HOUSES 19
"igth — iith g3 Dethia, Susanna, Abigail, children of our
Brother and Sister Kirby rec'd in ye initiatory seale.
" March 18 — 1669 [evidently a new clerk] ye wife of our Brother
Ensign White, the wife of our Brother Savage rec'd into full com-
munion."
" May 2 — 1669 Joseph, son of our Brother and Sister Stocking
in^ seale."
"May 23 — 1669 Goodman John Warner & his yoake fellow
Anna Warner & the wife of David Sage in full communion."
"May 30, 1669 child'^ of Brother John Warner; viz: Hannah,
John, Jonathan, Mary, Elizabeth, our Sister Sage herself like-
wise and her 3 children, namely, David, John, Elizabeth in^ seale."
On March 16, 1670, Thomas Allen, Samuel Stocking and John
Hall, Jr., were elected deacons "desiring Ensign White to join
n j^ with the pastor in prayer
^(oKn ' ^Ji/)QX7^^'^' ^^^ imposition of hands on
Yj ^>'-''<>' ^j^g j^gx^ Lord's Day to con-
*^ summate " ; which was done
on Sunday, March 20, 1670; the signal honor bestowed on "En-
sign " White of the Upper Houses showing his pre-eminence in the
church which was the community, and vice versa. A separate record
shows that Samuel Stocking and John Savage were among the nine
original members of Nov. 1688. David Sage was received June,
1670, and Thomas Stow, Jr., on April 29, 1676. Deacon Samuel
Stocking in his will " give unto our Pastor Mr. Nathaniell Collins
(as an expression of my affectionate Respect to him) three pounds
to be payd within a year after my decease." Captain Nathaniel
White gave £4 money to Rev. Noadiah Russell in his will.
The Rev. Nathaniel Collins died in 1684, after a very happy
experience of many years. His li-
brary was valued at £72-12-09. The Jj ^)^^^ Ml^T^ -
inventory of his household goods Vsj7 ' ' ** " ^
included
" One tancord & dramcup & spoons 9 ounces & \
valued at £2-16-00.
The parler firnituer^ As follows
One fetherbed boulster & pillows
6 : wrought cusshons, one carpet
& one yallo cussions
one grate table and one small table
all the earthon ware in the glas case
one payor of bras coboyarns & a
fiershoffol & tongs
one tin scollupt candlestick & 3 wicker baskets."
20 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
On Feb. 24, 1686-7 " Lieut." Nath. White was on the committee
to finish the " parsonage house."
On Oct. 24, 1688, the Rev. Noadiah Russell was ordained. He
was a native of New Haven, and a graduate of Harvard College.
During his pastorate of tM^enty-five 3^ears, 180 persons were ad-
raited to the church, a fair proportion of whom were from the
Upper Houses. He outlived the last survivor of the early settlers,
Thomas Ranney, but died later in the same year. The relation of
the " Upper Houses " families to the church ceased with the estab-
lishment of the church in the North Society.
While the matter of schooling the children is not mentioned
in the town records till " 14 of ye 4, 1675 " it does not follow that
nothing had been done on the subject, for by that time children
born in Middletown had been reared, married, and were parents
of young children. The privilege of voting had been accorded in
1666 to "all which are above 20 years old which are children of
inhabitants and cary orderly in there conversation have liberty of
voating for al town oficers and town afairs."
" 14 of ye 4, 1675. At ye same meeting ye town granted ten
pounds for ye year ensuing towards ye incourigm't of a schoole-
master to teach o'r children to read & write and made choice
of goodman Wilcock, William Harriss and Seargt Ward to en-
quire after and agree with a meet person for that work, and to
levy ye remainder of his higher upon ye children schooled to ye
summ of ten pounds more."
The number of householders at this time was between 50 and
60, and probably the schoolmaster's salary, small as it was, was
not easily raised, for on November 29th, 1676, is found the follow-
ing vote:
"November 29, 1676. The town voated to entertayn Mr.
Thomas Webe as a scoUmaster to teach childeren to wright and
read at least for tryall for the winter season, abought halfe a
yeare, finding him meat & drinke or sum other small incoredge-
ment; at the same time was voated that the watchhous shall be
forthwith fitted up for a schollhous.
It seems that Mr. Webb's " tryall " was satisfactory, because
in the following March the town passed this vote :
"At a town meeting ye 12th of March 1676-7 the town
granted Mr. Thomas Web as schoolemaster to ye town twenty-
HISTORY OF THE UPPER HOUSES 21
five pounds for his sallery for one year beginning ye twentyeighth
day of December past; this sum above said to be levyed as fol-
loweth, ten pound to be paid by the town according to former
grant for ye incouragement of a schoolemaster, fifteen pound
to be levyed on the children that have gone, shall goe, or ought
to goe to school in equall proportion."
In 1679 a rate of £1 for a schoolmaster " within or without the
town " was voted.
" September 7, 1680. The towne voated to a shool hous of
twenty six foot long & seaventeen or eightene foot wide & six
foot & a hallfe betweene joints in bight & secondly that the
townsmen shall use the best means they can to get it done if
it may be before winter. & thirdly that tjiis hous shall be
sett up in some place neare the watch hous.
In 1681 John Richards of Hartford was schoolmaster, and a
schoolhouse had been erected. Feb. 5, 1682-83 " The inhabitants
on the south side Middletown fery granted to their neighbors
on the north side the rivulet their proportions of the school rate
granted by the town toward the maintaining of the scool on the
north side for this year/' though there were but few families
with young children to call for a school. In 1690 Ensign Samuel
Collins the schoolmaster, brother of Rev. Nathaniel Collins, agreed
to let those on the north side the liberty to school their children on
their own charge, not paying to the school on the south side " if
they keep a scholl on that side not els," a not very generous offer.
On May 5, 1690, the town " granted the north part of the town by
reason of distance that if they provide a sufficient master there then
they to have their part of the rate which shall be raised for that
purpose and if they do not provide in that caus, then to pay their
whole proportion to the scoall of the town that is for the six
months."
Jan. 6, 1695, on motion of the Rev. Mr. Russell it was voted
" that if at any time there should be made any lands by way of
Island upon or in the great river within the bounds of this town-
ship that all such lands shall be improved for the benefit & en-
couragement of the public schools of this town." An island of
small dimensions then may have been existing in the Connecticut
River between the two settlements, as such an island in 1801 was
taken by three persons and improved for a fishing bank and a
claim for ownership filed by them. It has been greatly enlarged
since 1801, and now consists of 33 acres and belongs to the Brain-
22 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
erd, Shailer & Hall Quarry Co. As early as 1658 Deer Island,
later known as Indian Island and now as Gildersleeve Island, was
granted to Robert Webster.
Jan. 14, 1696-7 it was voted that " a yearly scoal be kept and
maintained in this town, the neighbors on the north side the fery
shall have the benefit of their part of half the year's scoal rate
for the future provided it be improved for the benefit of scoaling
their children." Jan. 15, 1700, the town agreed " to pay £5 in
pay to^wards a yearly scoalls maintenance which is to be paid out
of the next town rate."
It may well be thought that an energetic but so far fruitless
effort had been made to secure the proper share of the rate or
general taxes for the maintenance of a school on the north side.
Yet this did not divert the people from planning to have a Society
with a church and a pastor of their own. And it may be imagined
that it was thought that this independence, being organized into
a Society with authority to manage their own church and school
matters, would be mutually helpful. Accordingly on Jan. 18,
1702-3 " at the same meeting it was proposed by the Inhabitants
on the north side the riverlet for a liberty to provide a minister
and a meeting hous separate from this side, and maintain it upon
their own charge, which proposition was granted on these condi-
tions, that they doe in half a year or one whole year at farthest,
procure and settle, an autherdox and aproved minister orderly
amongst, them, that being accomplished, then to be free from the
charge, of the ministry on this side the riuerlet. they paying equally
with us here untill. that be accomplished, but if this be not accom-
plished within sd time all. the above is to be null and void." At
the May session of the Great and General Court of the Colony this
action was confirmed as follows :
" Be it therefore enacted by this Court and the authoritie
thereof, and it is enacted :
" That all those persons that now are and hereafter at any time
shall be dwellers and inhabitants on the north side of the said
riverett in the said towne of Middletown, are and hereafter shall
be one intire societie and parish by and of themselves, and shall
have and enjoy all such powers, liberties and priviledges, as other
societies and congregations in this Colonie generally have, or by
lawe may have, enjoy and use, for the choosing collectors and
levying of rates and money for the charge, settlement and main-
tenance of their minister, and upholding the publick worship of
God among them, from time to time as need shall require."
Thus encouraged, arrangements were made, March 9, 1704-5,
HISTORY OF THE UPPER HOUSES 23
with the Rev. David Deming of Wethersfield, Conn., who came
and occupied the property which was the original Robert Webster
home lot and which became, 1664, the property of his successor,
John Warner. Mr. Warner died in 1700, and on Feb. 4, 1704-5
the heirs sold it to the to\vn of Middletown. The account book
of Capt. John Warner shows that he paid for himself and for
others in 1707-1708-1709 a "rate for Mr. Deming." In 1708
Samuel Hall, preparing to cross the river, sold the east half of
his homestead to Samuel Frary. The bound on the north reads
" supposed to be Mr. Deming's." In 1709 Mr. Hall sold " David
Deming, Jr.," a strip " by estimate 25 rods or something better "
bounded on the north by the " sd Deming's lott." This strip was
but one rod and six links wide and gave ]\Ir. Deming a greater
frontage of lot on the south side of his house.
^^ Jan. 30, 1709-10 Mr. Hall
(^"*V f^Gy) ' ) sold the west half of his home-
^ OAJJ O ^.e^'^rx^UPX^at^ stead and it was bounded on the
// north by " Mr. Deming." The
Rev. David Deming who was
born in Wethersfield, Conn., July 20, 1681, being the son of David
Deming who was the son of John Deming and a daughter of Richard
Treat. Another daughter had married Robert Webster. He was
graduated at Harvard college in 1700. He occupied the John
Warner homestead and remained here from the time the Society
was incorporated, probably holding services in the schoolhouse. His
purchase of a narrow strip to increase the frontage of his lot indi-
cated that he expected to remain till a church was organized when
he would be installed as pastor. But he remained only till 1710
when the Rev. Joseph Smith came. Mr. Deming while here married
Miss Marcy Bridgeman of Boston on Nov. 18, 1708. Their child,
David, was born here on Aug. 24, 1709.
The town of Medway, Mass., was incorporated October 25. 1713,
and on September 22, 1714, there was appointed "A comitty to
provide a minister for the Town until the aniwall metting in
March next following and it is voted that ye town are to meet at
the house of peter Adamses to attend the public worship of God
on the sabbathdays and he haws ^iven his consent to the same."
The first public service was held in this house October 7, 1714,
by the Rev. David Deming, who continued to hold services there
for several months and till the church was completed. He re-
ceipted for 26 pounds sterling for " preaching to the town " from
October 7, 1714, to April 9, 1715. On September 12, 1715, they
called him as pastor on a salary of 60 pounds and he accepted the
same day. The church was used for the annual meeting on March
24 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
7, 1715. They gave him 30 acres of land. In 1722, after repeated
requests they yielded and gave him a dismission. A son, Jon-
athan, was born to him in 1719. Nothing more is known of the
Rev. David Deming except that he died, 1746, in Lyme, Conn.
The Rev. Joseph Smith was preaching to the " Hors Neck "
inchoate church (Greenwich, Conn.) while the Rev. Mr. Deming
was similarly engaged here. The time of his arrival is not decided
by the record found in Captain John Warner's account book, as he
had kept another record book.
18 00
Mr Smith Debttor lb s d
for 1 bushel of wheat
and 4 bushels of Indian corn
for weaving 5 yds of chek 5
for w.eaving 48 yds of cloth 01 4
for weaving 44 4-2 yds of cloth 01 12 06
for weaving 13 4-2 yds ticking 01
1715 for weaving 40 4-2 yds of crap 01 16
1715 for weaving 38 yds of cloth 19
1716 for weaving 43 yds of cloth 01 06
Mr Smith credit
for 3 pound of sugar
for 1 quart of rum
for my rates in 1713
by part of Isaac Cornish rate
for 1 yd of Rollon
for my rates 1714
by Isaac Cornell
by my rates 1715
The account was continued on another page to the death of Rev.
Mr. Smith in 1736. including a charge for digging his grave.
Mr. Smith had had experience as a teacher, and one result of
this l^^as that Samuel Johnson, son of Deacon William Johnson
of Guilford and Mary Sage, daughter of David Sage, came here,
probably to be in the family of his uncle, Timothy Sage, while he
studied across the street under the Rev. Mr. Smith. Samuel John-
son went from here to Yale College in Saybrook, wliere he gradu-
ated in 1714. After being a tutor he became the first pastor of
£ 9
6
lb
s
2
1
d
01
10
09
te
05
06
05
01
06
08
03
01
01
03
£4
19
9
HISTORY OF THE UPPER HOUSES 25
the Congregational church in West Haven. Having with others
access to the boolvs given to Yale by Dean Berkeley, afterwards
Bishop of Cloyne, he with them became imbued witli the convic-
tion that Congregational ordination was invalid. Governor Sal-
tonstall convened the General Assembly and for a whole day the
effort continued to convince Rector Cutler, Tutor Brown, Mr. Wet-
more, a native of Middletown and then pastor at North Haven,
and several others that they were properly ordained clergymen.'
It was of no effect and four of the seven went to England and were
Episcopally ordained. Mr. Johnson had used in his West Haven
pulpit the prayers of the Episcopal service without his congregation
suspecting it. Later they recalled their admiration of iiis style
of praying. He was a missionary while settled in Stratford and
led over tliirty Congregational ministers to go to England for
Episcopal ordination. He was the first president of King's College,
now Columbia University. His son, William Samuel Johnson, was
a distinguished son of Connecticut, its representative to England,
in the Constitutional Convention, and was United States Senator.
Dr. Samuel Johnson was known as " The father of Episcopacy in
New England."
Dr. Johnson's intimacy with Dean Berkeley led to Yale College
receiving a valuable library from him. A book presented by Dean
Berkeley to Dr. Johnson, now in the library of the Berkeley Divinity
School, Middletown, contains the following in Dr. Johnson's hand-
writing :
&K4
It would seem as though the " South side," having the more nu-
merous body of voters, was unwilling to part with the north side,
for at the October session, 1709, of the General Assembly, it was
voted :
"Upon the consideration of the petition of the inhabitants of
26 MIDDLETOWN" UPPER HOUSES
the north side the riverlet in Middletown, now presented to this
Assembly, praying that so much of the school money arising by
law as shall be levyed on their part of the list of that town, may
be ordered to be improved for a school amongst them on the north
side the said river: This Assembly grants and allows the same,
providing they shall maintain a school for reading and writing,
for one half of the year, annually; and do order that on default
thereof, the said money shall be paid toward the maintenance of
the town school as formerly."
At a town meeting held Jan. 18, 1710-11 " the order of court
respecting the school on the north side the rivulet was then pub-
lished in the meeting." A number of the children of the founders
of the north side had lately made a settlement on the east side of
the Connecticut river and were already clamoring for their share
of the school money. A very important town meeting was held
Feb. 15, 1710-11, at which a committee which had been appointed
previously " to managing the town schole in Middletown do unan-
imously agre to make the following proposells to the town for their
concurence and confermation."
These proposals were, 1st, to build a new schoolhouse " at the
charge only of those that inhabbit on the south of the ferry, and
the west of the great river: 2nd for the encouragement of learn-
ing and the supporting of the said town* schole the sum of £25
was to be raised by local taxation until with the rate of 40 shillings
upon the thousand pounds, with the incomes of other donations,
the sum should amount to £40 : 3d to give " to the north side what
part of this is levyed on their estates to enter them in learning,
provided they keep a half year schole amongst themselves: and
upon their default it shall be paid to the town schole, on the south
side the ferry." The same proposition was made for the benefit
of those on the east side with this special favor, " and if any of
their children being well entered in their spelling want to be par-
fected in reading wrighting an sifering and their parents or masters
will allow them, they may come over and be further instructed at
the town schole upon free cost." This committee was to be au-
thorized to employ a teacher;
" also to demand, receive and improve all such gifts and dona-
tions as are or shall be made to the said schole for the best use
and bennifit thereof.
" that no a. b. c. darians be allowed to come to be taught at
the said town schole, unless it be when there is not a compitancy
* The first " High " School.
M*'';/^ , ■^'I'i'rj'fJ^^L
'mWM^
7 „j/-~,i/*«rj*'»"''^'*-f'=-'^' ""= ^'-
^4,'t^^^ /,.Va^/i,- f«'«->-.^'
?./ w, fcj j^/-y7)» t/i-^.f »»«■»»
.«■ ^ d^.^Utt^,
.-. h"- ■-•' "'■'^ ^ • • ' •(■''^'"O"
«>w/«.^ ..•<■/-
?.»,«^5"5. -^ i<'-
k,- a.^.-j /■'..'^ A - V> I- .y- -
?r--ii»tii».«^i;)ii^^i^^a?A??',f?'. "C:";^ -^ "
W ij.i. OF Nai iiA.Mii, White
(See page 714)
rf-'
HISTOEY OF THE UPPEE HOUSES 27
of others to keepe the scholemaster imployed, and it be with the
said master's concent."
There is no record of what action, if any, was taken on these rec-
ommendations which involved the institution of a " town schole "
or high schooL
Still the " north side " was not satisfied, according to the record
of a town meeting held " March 13th, 1710-11. There being a
controversy between the neighborhood of the North Society in
Middletown and the South Society of the said town about the part
of the fourty shillings upon the thousand pounds that the countrey
doth alow for the upholding a town scool. the North Society hav-
ing obtained a liberty in October 1709 for their part of it to be
to themselves so long as they improve it for that use it is enacted
and declared that the mater of controversy is left with the wor-
shipfull M"" John John hains and M"" Nath' hooker both of hartford
to say how much of the scoal money that did arise upon the fourty
shillings on the thousand pounds for the subsistance of the town
scoal paid by the treasurer in the year 1709 to the selectmen of
Middletown did of right belong to our neighbors of the North
society by vertue of the liberty granted them from the court as is
above exprest and if it be found that the selectmen belonging to
the South Society have unjustly detained from them their due of
the said money then they in behalf of the said society to bear the
charge arising thereupon but if it be found they have not with-
holden from the North Society their due then the selectmen of
tfiat society to pay the charge as above said or in behalf of the
said societie noted and excepted by the town March 13, 1710-11
and at the same meeting Capt. John Hall and Thomas Stow, sen"",
were chosen by voat and apointed to lay this matter before the
gentlemen above specified."
The Eev. Samuel Stow and Mr. Jasper Clement had by their
wills left lands to be sold for the benefit of the school of Middle-
town and Capt. Nathaniel White may have indicated his intention
to do likewise, for in the August following, and in his will made
two weeks before his death, he made this bequest ; " and four pound
money to the Eeverend M"" Noadiah Eussell and what of my right
of undivided lands may be dmed ftiy wright; my will is that; one
fourth part thereof be and remains for the use of the publique
scholes Already Agreed upon In the town of Midletown for ever : "
In a great division of Wongunk meadow lands made in 1721 lot
number 200 was set off to "old cap White" and in 1745 this one
fourth was sold for the benefit of the school fund of the town ; and
as there was a division of the school fund when Cromwell in 1851
28
MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
became a separate town, his money to-day is helping to maintain
the Nathaniel White Public School, named in his honor on
Feb. 6, 1902 in accordance with the suggestion of the compiler of
this history, made in the Penny Press of 'Middletown when it was
decided to erect a town schoolhouse to take the place of the dis-
trict schoolhouses.
On the last leaves of the North Society's record book an account
was kept of the school moneys, as indicated below. And as Capt.
Nathaniel White had died in August, 1711, and a school in the
North Society was then " already established," it is concluded that
the first entry refers to a school kept while Capt Nathaniel White
was alive. The treasurer was Capt. John Warner who " filled many
public offices," says his tombstone. His acount is here given.
From the Eecord Book of the North Society of Middletown
An account of ye charge of the school in the north Society
in mideltown in the year under writen 1712 — o capt.
White and ed shepard and : harris and for harrises bord, f 10-01-2
In the year 1715 paid to charls goodrigdg for 3 months
Iveeping school, 3-15-0
In the year 171G paid to Mrs. Smith for 3 months keeping
school 5-0-0
In the year 1717 paid to Mrs. Smith and william prout 10-10-0
To Joseph white for hording charls goodridg and prout .... 05-12-6
to John Warner juner for liis trouble about the school.... 00-06-1
for jonthan bordman for keeping school six months 09-10-0
to Joseph white for hording jonthan bordman six months.. 05-17-0
to John warner for his trouble about the school according ft
to the society's voat, 02-02-4
to mr bordman for keeping school in 1720 08-0-0
♦ to ensign white for hording mr bordman, 5-0-0
to mrs Stow for keeping school, 03-00-0
An account of what contrey money was received to defray
the charge of the school in the respective years men-
tioned on the other side in the year 1712 received, 03-03-0
in the yeare 1715 05-0-4
in the year 1716 05-0-7
in the year 1717 05-5-0
An account of town money ordered to defray the charg of
the school in the respective years mentioned on the other
side, in the year 1712 there was : ordered 04-0-0
in the year 1715 03-17-0
in the year 1716 03-10-0
in the year 1717, 05-08-0
Contry money 1718 was 05-16-10
town money 1718 was . 03-14-1
for money received of Joseph raney 02-00-1
* Ensign Daniel White.
Six
The Mouse of Jonathan Boardman, Schoolmaster
(See page 29)
HISTORY OF THE UPPER HOUSES 29
mon received of Jacob white 5s-9d and of Serg Sage
4s-6d on tlie account of Thomas stow colector, . . 00-10-3
mon Joseph White's rate, 00-05-5
contrey money received 1719 was 06-02-6
town money ordered 1719 was 03-17-8
contrey money received 1720 06-12-0
town money ordered 1720 3-19-6
68-14-00
The treasurer, Capt. John ^^ yO p a ^
Warner, commissioned cap- ^/^o/iyX yyCfOCTX.tr/^
tain in 1725, was a nephew /^/
of the John Warner who ^-^
took the Robert Webster place and died there in 1700. " John
Warner juner," the treasurer's first cousin, had been settled on
what is now known as the " Edward Savage place " and which re-
mained a Warner homestead till sold in 1771 to Jacob Gibson, who
in 1806 removed to Gt. Barrington, Mass. Edward Shepard was
son of Edward Shepard and Abigail Savage. Ed. Harris came
from lower Middletown. Charles Goodrich * was from Wethers-
field. Jonathan Bordman was born and died in the same house
in Stepney part of Rocky Hill. (See Boardman Genealogy.)
William Prout is spoken of in the genealogical part of this volume.
Mrs. Smith was the wife of Rev. Joseph Smith. Mrs. Stow was
the wife of Thomas Stow and daughter of Deacon Samuel Stocking.
" Jan 13 : 1712-13 Whereas at a town meeting March 22*^ :
1708-9 the town by voat Granted to Mr David Deming about
twenty acres of land provided he settled there, w*** our neighbors
on the north side riuerlet In the work of the ministry but Mr
Deming failing, by the request of the neighbours on the north
side the riverlet, at this town meeting Janey 13**" : 1712 : 13 the town
by voat grant the same privilidge or quantity of land to Mr
Joseph Smith upon the same terrns provided he settle there in the
work of the ministry, and doe Impower the same com"® formerly
* Charles Goodrich must have been a brother to William* who mar-
ried Rachels Savage (John2, Johni) and David* wlio married Sarah
Edwards, and Sarah* who married Richard Butler. His autograph is
copied from a 1736 deed from Richard Butler to David Edwards which
was witnessed by David and Charles Goodrich, though the name of
the latter is not given in the Goodrich Genealogy.
30
MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
es 111 Liie
3h to such /y I /
chosen to lay it out on the same terms as before specified." They
laid out sixteen acres in the
region of Timber Hill,
butting all round,'
sold in 1725 to Willi?
age, and his autograph
deed of sale is given herewith.
They laid out four acres between John Sage's and John Ran-
ney's which made much trouble between him and Mr. Sage as
to the correct dividing line. Perhaps in consequence he ex-
changed it for a large tract in the N'ooks, which in time became
the homesteads of his grandsons, Joseph, John and ISTathaniel.
The house built thereon by Capt. Joseph Smith is owned and
occupied by Charles Bowers.
The record book of the North Society contain^ in the handwriting
of Capt. John "Warner this
" grand levie for the north society in Middletowu 1714 As followeth :
£ s
James Brown 22-00
Widow Butler 6-00
Joseph Butler 13-10
Nathi Clark 46-14
Daniel Clark 65-10
Serg John Clark 71-17
John Clark 46-00
Isaac Cornell 24-00
Joseph Crofoot 18-00
Samuel Frary 69-00
Roger Gibson 45-00
Samuel Gibson 72-00
David Ilurlbut 37-00
John Kirby 30-00
Samuel Lucas 85-00
William Mark 25-00
Margaret Ranney 3-10
Ebenezer Ranney 48-10
Joseph Ranney 61-05
John Ranney 30-05
Thomas Ranney 120-15
Widow Ranney 6-10
Widow Sage 24-10
Timothy Sage 79-05
John Sage 150-00
Total
Capt. John Savage
Thomas Savage
William Savage
Hannah Scovil
Mary Scovil
John Shepherd......... i
Edward Shepherd /
Samuel Shepherd
Daniel Stocking
Samuel Stow
Thomas Stow, Sr
Thomas Stow, Jr ." . .
John Warner, Sr
John Warner, Jr
Joseph White
Ensign White
John White
Hugh White
Daniel White -
Jacob White
Israel Wilcox
John Wilcox
Francis Wilcox
Samuel Wilcox
Joseph Whitmore
£2
f s
89-02
41-10
73-00
27-10
15-00
79-00
21-00
59-05
39-05
42-00
43-00
77-19
75-11
85-10
85-10
18-10
42-00
49-17
88-00
148-05
57-05
59-05
77-00
44-10
,586.03
" Serg. Clark " was the John Clark who came from Haddam
and married Elizabeth White. Thomas Stow, Sr., came from
HISTOEY OF THE UPPER HOUSES 31
lower Middletown and married Bethia Stocking. These two then
were " old residents " ; Brown, Butler, Cornell, Crof oot, Frary,
Gibson, Hurlbut, Lucas, Mark, Scovil and Joseph Whitmore were
" recent " comers. A number born here had recently removed to
the east side of the Connecticut River.
The first meeting recorded in the book of the North Society,
now duly empowered to manage church and school affairs, was
held " Feb. 18 : 1713-14. The return of the committy was that
provided the society give mr smith a comfortable maintenance he
will settle with us." It would seem that the committee retired
and interviewed Mr. Smith, for " the committee returned and re-
ported and it was then voted to settle Mr Smith at £60 per year
for the present and more as his necessity calls for it and our
ability enables." '^ Voted a rate of 2 pence upon the pound towards
finishing the meeting house half of sd rate to be gathered by
May 1 next the other half by Nov. 1." Joseph Whitmore was to
be collector. Samuel Wilcox, Sr., Samuel Gibson and John War-
ner, Jr., were a committee to hire workmen to finish the meeting
house. Samuel Frary was ordered to gather the rate that he
was chosen to collect " forthwith without any further delay."
On March 14, 1714, it was voted to finish the meeting house
'^ after the same manner the meeting house in South Society that
is the two ends of itt." Serg. Clark was to make the body of seats
for 8s. each seat.
March 24, 1714, Ensign (Daniel) Wliite, Samuel Gibson and
John Warner to " carry on sd finishing of ye meeting house as it
was formerly voted. Joseph Eanney was a committee " to carry
on ye school house with Serg. [William] Savage and John Sage."
The "clerk of this society shall transcribe all ye voats that have
been pased by this society since he was chosen clerk into a book
with a parchment cover." And this parchment-covered book waa
used until 1772 and is the authority of the compiler of this his-
tory. A committee of five was appointed to " carry on ye needful
in preparing for settlement of mr Smith." The meeting then
repeated the vote passed Jan. 17, 1710-11, " relating to ye 40^
annually to be paid by ye society to schools, excepting the first
year."
The church was duly organized on Jan. 5, 1714-15, and Mr.
Smith was installed pastor on the same day. The original mem-
bers were:
Capt. John Savage Widow Nathaniel White
Mrs. John Savage Joseph White
Serg. Wm. Savage Mrs. Joseph White
32 MIDDLETOWN" UPPEE HOUSES
Mrs. Wm. Savage Mrs. Daniel White, Sr.
Thomas Ranney Mrs. Jonathan Warner
Mrs. Thomas Eanney Widow Shepard
John Eanney Samuel Gibson
Mrs. John Eanney Mrs. Thomas Stow, Sr.
Joseph Eanney Mrs. Daniel Clark
Mrs. Joseph Eanney Mrs. Nathaniel Savage
Samuel Stow Samuel Hall
Mrs. Samuel Stow
On Feb. 10, 1715-16, Sergeant William Savage and Sergeant
Samuel Hall were elected deacons, though Samuel Hall had re-
moved to the east side of the river, where he was elected the first
deacon on the organization of the church there in 1721.
Feb. 1, 1714-15, Daniel Stocking was a committee " to collect
ye glass rate," Samuel Stow to " collect ye rate " for " ye trans-
porting mr Smith and his goods and family from hors neck."
Horse Neck, in Greenwich, Conn, is famous as the place where Gen-
eral Putnam galloped his horse down stone steps to escape the Brit-
ish. John Sage and John Warner were a committee " for ye schoole
and to hire a schoolmaster." "What the 40^ on the £1000 and ye
town money doth not reach to maintain the half year school what is
wanting shall be levied on the poles of the children from five
yere old to ten farmers only excepted."
Feb: 14, 1714-15, Samuel Stow was " to beat the drum and
sweep the meeting house for the yeare ensuing and to look after
the doors for £l-5^^" Allowed Jacob White " 5 shillings for
cider." Made the collector^ responsible for collecting the rates,
and the clerk to give them a " clearing " when they have done so.
Feb. 14, 1715-16, "granted ebyneser Eaney ten shilings for
sweeping the meeting house for ye year ensuing." Saml Gibson
and Samuel Stow were a " commity with John Warner to look
after the schoole and to hire a school master or school dame as
they shal think fit and most for ye Society's advantage." It will
be seen that Mrs. Smith with a husband and three children to
care for kept school three months in this year for £5. In what
house the school was kept is not known, but they voted a rate of
two pence upon the pound to carry on the building of the school-
house, " said rate to be paid in wheat at 4^ per bushel, rye at 3*
per bushel, and Indian corn at 2^ 6*^. Carpenters for work to
receive 3^ per day, other laborers 2^ 6** and for man and team of 4
cattell 5^ per day." The former committee of the school was or-
dered to pay over what is in his hands to the present committee " to
be laid out for ye benefit of the society in schooling."
HISTORY OF THE UPPEE HOUSES 33
Jan. 14, 1716-17, a committee of seven was appointed "to treat
with the south society in Middletown respecting the old meeting
house in ye above s*^ society and to secure what part belongs to ye
north society." The former collector was so slow in passing over
the money due the society, according to the auditors' report filed
Feb. 29, 1715-16, that Samuel Gibson, Samuel Stow and John
Warner were specially charged " y* ye com" now to take care of
the school shall have full power to demand the above said money
in the hands of ye former com" and to use all lawful means for
ye recovery of ye same for the benefit of the society in schooling."
Dec. 17, 1717, it was agreed that the society should have a
" wood bee," and a time was to be set for the same and the
" inhabitants warned " of the same.
Daniel Stocking and John Warner were appointed a committee
to give Mr. Joseph Smith " a deed of the house and lot upon his
paying for the glas and the nails." This deed is dated Jan.
3, 1717 (1718) and is recorded on page 369, vol. 3, Middle-
town Land Eecords. He was to furnish the " glass and the nails "
for the house now occupied by Mr. William E. Greaves.
On May 5, 1718, the society appointed Lieut. William Savage
to act in behalf of the society at the General Assembly " to be held
in Hartford the 8th instant " with respect to the petition of the
" great swamp men or northwest quarter respecting the minis-
terial charg and parrish charge mentioned in s^ petition." The
families who had settled in the extreme northwest part of the
town desired to attend the Great Swamp Church (Kensington now)
and to help support that church and so be relieved of contributing
to the Worth Society Church. The General Court granted the
request of those living within one and a half miles of the north-
west corner of the town.
Dec. 4, 1718, " The society then by a unanimous voat agrees
to burn the proposals that m"" Joseph Smith sent to ye meeting
March the 26: 1714 with respect to his settlement" and increased
his salary to £70 and firewood.
Dec. 28, 1719, it was voted to elect officers by " raising hands "
and John Warner, Jr., was elected clerk. May 13, 1720, " agreed
to hire a school dame two months to make up their half years
schoole for this present year," lest^ they would forfeit their town
rate,
Kov. 15, 1720. It was voted to have a " 1. pence rate to defray
the charge of getting Mr. Smiths fire wood which rate is to be
paid in wood at 3^ pr load and to be carryed to m'" Smiths at or
before the 15th of Jan. next, or to pay in cash to the committee."
Dec. 27, 1720. The minister is to be paid in " contry rate "
34 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
as stated by the General Court in money or grain, and to receive £70
a year since he settled.
Dec. 11, 1721. The annual meeting is to begin at 8 in the
morning. The minister's salary goes to £75 for the year past,
and those who failed last year to bring in their wood are to be
warned. Salary is to be paid before the last day of March in money
or grain as it generally passes at the time or as they can agree
with Mr. Smith. Nathaniel Clark and Daniel White, Jr., are " to
look after the children and youth on the Sabath in the time of
publick worship." Thomas Kanney is to have 26s for beating the
drum and sweeping the meeting house, and " the society agreed
to seat their meeting hous."
March 14, 1723. Thomas Stow (Jr.), must have been a supe-
rior workman, for he is to have 3s. 6d. per day for work, and the
others 2s. 9d. And a division of labor is made, for Nathaniel
Eanney is to beat the drum for 15s. and Thomas Eanney is to
have 15s. for sweeping the house and shutting the windows and
doors after the public worship is ended.
Dec. 14, 1724, the minister's salary goes up to £80 and Widow
Scovil has her rate abated. The land where her house stood on
the bank of the great river at the end of the Nuiks road has long
since been washed away.
Dec. 13, 1725. Joseph Eanney gets 14s for sweeping the
meeting house the year coming, and Nathaniel Eanney is to have
16s for beating the drum " if he can be obtained," otherwise the
committee is to hire one as cheap as they can. The demand for
better schooling facilities seems to have arisen, for it was voted
" to any person or persons in this society to improve the school
house for schooling their children at any time when the Society
hath not need to make use of it for to keep their half years
schoolin."
Dec. 12, 1726, the salary goes up to £85. The term " deacon " is
first used in the records in referring to Deacon Samuel Gipson.
Mr. Smith is to have £15 more and get his own wood.
The next matter of interest for the north side was in a town
meeting held only a week later, Dec. 19, 1726, when John Shep-
herd and Thomas Savage were appointed tything men " for the
north side." Their authority and duty was " When they discover
any of the youth disorderly on the Sabath especially in the time
of divine worship they shall bring every such youth on the space
at or near the foot of the galery stayers in view and cans s^ youth
there to stand untill divine worship be over in publick."
The meeting of Dec. 12, 1726, had another very important
matter for consideration.
HISTORY OF THE UPPER HOUSES 35
" Voted that the present committee of the Society shall make
demand of what money deacon Samuel Stow hath in his hands
and what is yet to gather of the half penny rate that he was to
collect for the finishing of the meeting hous and to use all lawful
means for the recovery of the same and to lay it out for the re-
pairing the meeting house and the school house."
At a town meeting held Dec. 1, 1739, there was quite a dispute
about the tax rate and it was decided by an aye and nay : " 43
for itt. 33 against it."
Feb. 2, 1729-30. The school is to be kept 3°^ by a school-
mater and 3"^ by a " school mistris " and the money allowed by the
town and country shall be divided among them " according to their
ways and when necessary to raise money on poles to defray the
charge of s*^ half years school it shall be raised upon the pools
of all that go to any part of the half years school equally and
that this shall be a standing rule."
It was voted on .Feb. 2, 1729-30, that the annual meeting
should be held the first Monday in November and the hour was
" to begin at noon." But on Nov. 2, 1730, the annual meeting
was " very thin, thought fit to aiourn and it was aiourned until
Monday the ninth of this instant at one of the clock in the
afternoon." At this adjourned meeting John Warner, he of the
account book, the gravedigger, the public officer, was continued as
" dark." The salary goes up to £95 and " to allow 5^ pr load for
wood."
Still the wood question is a burning one, even before the wood
is delivered, for on Nov. 16, 1731, Joseph Frary is to be collector
of firewood, " and if any person shall neglect or refuse to get
and carry to Mr. Smith his or their part of wood " the collector
shall have " full power to make destraint on such person for his
part of said wood."
On Nov. 24, 1731, the schoolmaster is to get two-thirds and the
school mistris one-third and Mr. Smith's salary goes up to :fill2,
" of which sum 1^ on £ is to be paid in wood at 5^ per load."
Dec. 1, 1732, a half pence rate is voted to repair the school
house. (There does not seem to be any complaint that the school
is not supplied with wood.) Deacon Wilcock and two others are
to call the former collectors to account for what they are behind
to use in repairing the schoolhouse. Nov. 21, 1734, " Deacon John
Wilcock was chose Moderator : f of the inhabitants of the North
Society declared that it was of necessity to build a new meeting
house in said society." Adjourned to " Wednesday, Nov. 28 at
sun down," at which adjourned meeting
36 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
"Voted to build their meeting house fifty foot long and thirty
foot in width " and " to begin to get timber last of January or
1^' of February next.
" to cover their meeting house with 18 inch shingles that is the
roff of it.
" whoever should disburse any towards the build of said meet-
ing house shall bring in his account to the clerk once in 14 days
on the Monday evening att his dwelling house." On June 6, 1735,
Deacon John Wilcock, Deacon Samuel Gipson and Thomas John-
son were the committee to build, but Deacon Wilcock declined to
serve and Samuel Shepard was appointed in his stead.
At the May session, 1735, of the Great and General Court, " on
memorial of the north society two-thirds had voted to build a new
meeting house and asked for a committee to view said society and
pitch upon a proper place to set up said house. The Assembly
appointed Messrs. Jabez Hamlin, Joseph Southmayd and John
Gaynes. Said committee reported that they had staked out the
place for sd house to be set on, which is about 10 feet northward
of the present meeting house. Wherefore this Assembly do enact
and order, that the said inhabitants shall set up their meeting
house at said place staked out as aforesaid."
The church as then erected stood out in the main highway.
Later it was moved back some distance, so that it did not inter-
fere with the present west side sidewalk.
Nov. 3, 1735, it was decided to build 55x30 feet and " 23 be-
tween ioynts " and Thomas Savage, Francis Wilcock and John
Sage, Jr., were added to the building committee.
March 22, 1735 (1736), a committee was fully empowered to
use all lawful means to recover what money is in Deacon Stow's
hands and Thomas Tillotson's hands.
" Voted that what drink is expended in raising their meeting
house shall be born by the Society excepting what shall be drunk
with their victuals."
The Society is " divided into three parts to provide a dinner
for the raisers of the meeting hous, each part to provid the day
they are ordered to provid."
While the work of building this church occupies their attention
their pastor is called to his rest. Nov. 1, 1736, Deacon Samuel
Gipson was chosen moderator, but declined, and Joseph Ranney,
Sr., was " chosen in his roome." Mr. Ranney was then 73 years
of age and had resided on what is now the Frisbie place since his
marriage 50 years before. No notice is taken by the meeting in the
way of passing resolutions of regret, but " the society granted to
the Reverend Mr. Joseph Smith, deceased, £100, it being his due
HISTORY OF THE UPPER HOUSES 37
at the time of his decease." And a committee was appointed " to
take the advice of the ministers in order to looking out for a
minister for this society." " Candidating," even then, was in
vogue, as arrangements were made for " any of them to come and
preach to us in this Society."
The Rev. Mr. Brainerd preached for five Sabbaths and received
£10 19s. " for his preach to us." Mrs. Smith was in need of wood
and a committee was appointed " to agree with Mrs. Smith about
the wood in contest between Mrs. Smith and Hhe society."
The Rev. Edward Eells, brother to the Rev. Nathaniel Eells of
Stonington, and son of the Rev. Nathaniel Eells of Scituate, Mass.,
came as a candidate, and on July 7, 1737, the meeting agreed " to
voat by holding up hands " to " improve M"" ealls in the work of
the ministry further upon triall " ; and a committee was " Em-
powered to treat with M'" ealls to know what he must have for
preaching amongst us already and what further trial and to treat
with M"" eals upon terms of settlement." A rate of 2d. for " ex-
penses of triall already " was voted.
When Oct. 5, 1737, arrived the effort to bring Deacon Samuel
Stow to terms was successful, for " the Society quited deacon
Stow of 7^ 9^ of ye half penny rate he was chosen to colect Dec.
11:1721," and the other collectors had the same courteous let-
off. A rate of 12d. on pound was ordered, the levy being £1737,
so that £87 was to be raised. It was decided to finish the meeting
house before winter as far as possible. The Society agreed to pay
Mrs. Smith for five or six Sabbaths she claimed her husband was
never paid, but as to the claim for wood, the clerk was chosen with
the committee to
" 1 — treat with Mrs. Smith about the wood
2 — and agree with her
3 — or leave it to arbitration
4 — or to defend it in law if they cannot agree any other way."
It was decided to pull down the old meeting house and see what
timber that they think profitable for further finishing their new
meeting house.
At the same meeting they " made choice of the reverend M""
edward eales " to be their minister, and voted £400 for his encour-
agement to settle, and a salary of £100. Note the style of the
clerk, who was Capt. John Warner, gravedigger, weaver, and who
" filled many public offices."
In 1695 a meadow had been set off near Goose's Delight for a
" parsonage " — or land for the use of the parson. It now con-
sists of 27 acres of fine meadow, on the north bank of Sebethe River.
On Dec. 29, 1737, a committee was appointed " to take care of the
38 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
parsnage belonging to the north society in Middletown and to
settle the fence between the parsonage and the neighbors aioyning
to it. and it was agreed upon by the society that all male per-
sons of 12 years old and upward shall work one day att clearing
the parsonag when it is a convenient season."
A salary of £120 per year for three years and his firewood yearly
— after three years to rise £10 yearly, till it comes to £140 yearly,
and his firewood annually and more if his circumstances call for it,
" provided that the money holds its present currency but if the
valyation of the money rises or falls then to rise or fall accord-
ingly " — a wise precaution in the light of later fluctuations.
On July 20, 1738, three deacons were appointed "to discours
with m"" eales as to his settlement with us and to apoint the time
for his ordination and all other things that are proper and cus-
tomary anticedien to ordination." He was ordained on Sept. 6,
1738 ; the sermon preached by his father was printed and a copy is in
the Conn. Historical Society's Library in Hartford.
" Nov. ye 6"^ 1738 " John Shepard was chosen clerk. And on
Dec. 18, 1738, " Then John Shepard was sworn," and " sam Peck's
rate was abated for the first year to ye Eev. Mr. Edward Ealls."
A yearly school is now to be kept and the year is to be divided
into four quarters. The third quarter is to be kept by a school
" mistris." In addition to town and country money what is needed
to be raised each quarter on the " pooles." If a child go only one
day in a month he shall pay for that month. Each month to
begin the 1st day of the month, and the " old school house " is
to be repaired.
On Dec. 18, 1738, the petition of Joseph Ranney, Jr., Thomas
Johnson and others of the North Society was laid before a
town meeting, " praying the town to release all the title it may
have to a piece of common land, lying between Malachi Lewis
dwelling house and Thomas Stows, Jr., bounded South on com-
mon field or highway containing 6 or 7 acres, in order to pur-
chase the same for the Rev. Mr. Edward Eells." The request was
granted and the deed, Vol. 6, p. 81, Middletown Land Records,
says it contains eleven acres. This was on the west side of the
street from the cemetery. The well exists to-day. On the south
part of this homestead the Rev. Mr. Eells built a mansion for his
son, Major Edward Eells, and then deeded it to him. It was
for many years known as the Deacon William Ranney house,
whose tan vats on the premises have left their impression to this
day.
About this time the town was much interested in promoting
the increase of cattle for themselves, being farmers, as well as in
HISTORY OF THE UPPER HOUSES 39
looking out for the instruction of their children. At times the
same special tax for schools and for bulls was levied. But on Dec.
22, 1740, £30 was voted for schools and £40 for bulls.
On July 4, 1740, the pew at the right hand of the front door
was assigned for the family use of Mr. " Eells," who had prob-
ably instructed the clerk how to write his name. Mrs. Smith
was released from paying her rate " for ye time past."
A number of townships had been laid out in the western part
of the colony and the proceeds were to be devoted to the support
of schools. On Dec. 11, 1741, a committee was appointed to re-
ceive the bonds belonging to this Society and to lease out the same
again for the use of this" Society.
At a town meeting held Dec. 23, 1740, John Kirby and Samuel
Shepard were permitted " to sett a house 30x40 on the west side of
the north society school house in the highway for their conveni-
ence on Sabbath days." John Kirby lived four miles west, and
as there was no fire in the church they were thus privileged to
erect " Sabbath Day houses " where the comforts of a fireplace
gave them coals for use in getting dinner and in their foot-pans for
the afternoon service in the meeting house.
On Nov. 1, 1742, Thomas Johnson is chosen "dark" for said
Society, and Francis Wilcock, Hugh White and Ensign John
Sage were elected to " order the prodentials in said Society." This
Mr. Johnson was a son of the man who in 1737 had cut the stone
for the Boston house of Thomas Handcock, he being the uncle
of John Hancock who lived in this house when he put his famous
signature to the Declaration of Independence. Young Thomas
Johnson may have helped to carve " Thomas and Lydia Hand-
cock" into the corner stone of the mansion which stood a short
distance west of the Capitol, where Ginn & Co. have their book
headquarters. When this house was torn down in 1863 the corner
stone became the property of Henry Savage Chase and is now a
part of the gateway . at the entrance to the Chase grounds in
Brookline, Mass. Mr. Chase was grandson of Capt. Timothy
Savage. (See Savage Family.)
" Voted to record in the society's book at all times coming all
the Receipts Procured or Given by the Committee of s^ society."
The committee was empowered to settle with Mr. Joseph Smith if
anything is due his father. A committee was appointed to " clear-
ing the Personage." Wood has gone up to lis. per load. A com-
mittee was duly appointed to apprize the loads " and if said com-
mittee shall judge any pretended to be under an Honest Load it
shall pass at the price that the committee shall prize it at. A rate of
3** for clearing the personage."
40 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
On Nov. 7, 1743, it was decided to keep school a whole year,
half the time by a schoolmaster, half the time by a school-
mistress, she to receive only half the compensation he was to re-
ceive. A committee was named and empowered " to hire a house
or houses, to keep the schoole in," and another committee " to
inspect our covenant with ye Eev. Mr Edward Eells and make
report," and the meeting adjourned " until the next Monday come
seven night at 12 of the clock."
The need of a new schoolhouse was fully recognized on Nov.
21, 1743.
It was voted to build a school house.
A committee was appointed to build it.
The schoolhouse is to be 24 ft. x 18 ft.
Also to go on and finish the meeting house.
A rate of 12d for building the schoolhouse and finishing the
meeting house.
To add £10 10s to the Eev. Mr. Edward Eells' " sallery " the year
ensuing to make up for the fall of money.
The £10 10s in committee's hands to be used in purchasing a
" grave cloath."
To take up three seats in each of the two square bodies in the
meeting house and make pews in their room.
On Nov. 5, 1744, £23 old tenor was added to the " sallery " this
year upon the consideration of the fall of money. And Jonathan
Ranney was allowed something more than the £100 already agreed
on for finishing the meeting house as the committee may decide.
He soon removed to Guilford, where he had found a wife years
before.
The town had become disposed to " improve sundry donations "
made to the school or schools in Middletown by Messrs. Jasper
Clemence, Samuel Stow and Nathaniel White, "whether the s^
donations may (agreeable to the wills of the donors) be now divided
unto the several schools now agreed upon to be kept in the town
or whether they are (according to said wills) belong to one school
or schools." So on Dec. 21, 1741, the matter was referred to a
committee. The properties were sold and the proceeds put into
two funds, and in 1851 Cromwell received its share.
Nov. 19, 1745, the salary goes up to £202 "old tenor." "If
any are hindered from coming to school by unavoydable providence
it shall be left in the Brest of the Schoole committee to consider
them." The farmers in the northwest part of the Society, now
East Berlin, were privileged to have a school and share the school
money, if they lived over 1^ miles from the schoolhouse.
On Nov. 3, 1746, the salary is £360, "to make good our cove-
HISTOEY OF THE UPPER HOUSES
41
nant with him." How many clergymen of to-day would be de-
lighted if their salaries were based on the purchasing power of
the dollar !
Nov. 7, 1748, the salary is £440, and a school is to be kept the
whole year, ten months in the society's schoolhouse and two months
in the northwest quarter at the dwelling house of John Savage,
now East Berlin. In 1750 stone steps are to be procured for the
meeting house at discretion of the committee.
Like tlie wood for Parson Smith, the "parsnage" meadow, out
of sight from a house in 1907, became the occasion of much trouble
for some years. So on April 2, 1753, the Society offered Mr.
Eells £100 annually, old tenor, reckoning it according to silver at
Second Church and Sabbath Day. Houses
£3 per ounce, if he would "give this society an aquitance of his
right in the personage during the time of his continuing to be
our minister.^' ^
Nov. 4, 1751, Nathaniel Chauncey, graduate of Yale, and son
of the Eev. Nathaniel Chauncey, the first graduate of Yale as also
the first pastor at Durham, descendant of President Chauncy of
Harvard College, had Just come to town, having married Mary
(Hall) Stocking, widow of Johil Stocking, who had died at
" Statia." He was an important addition to the community and
was added to the committee " to let out the donation money to the
best advantage."
" The First Monday after the Thanksgiving " is set as the day
"to bring in wood." In 1754 the salary goes up to £470 and a
committee is appointed " to search records " to see if any injus-
tice had been done Mr. Eells as to " sallery." Wood is £4 per
42 MIDDLETOWN" UPPER HOUSES
cord. The committee's report led the Society to add £50 to the
salary " in order to make good the damage he has sustained by
bad pay in time past." When the reader turns to the Eells fam-
ily record it will be seen that his efforts to educate a family de-
served the fullest liberal recognition.
By this time the grandchildren of the settlers had so well pop-
ulated the " road to Hartford " that a school was needed only
half a mile north of the church green, and it was thought best to
" have it as near the dwelling house of Capt. Joseph Eanney as
the school committee can procure a suitable place." Five months
a school was to be kept in the schoolhouse and four months in
the " north part."
In 1755 the Society had. tired of paying Mr. Eells £100 in lieu
of the " personage," and after much controversy he " agreed to take
it back." A committee had made a report and the Society had
" voated it out." " Now we acknowledge that we are to blame and
have not treated Mr. Eells well in not sending a committee again."
They then appointed a committee " to repare and to make Ditches "
and to " set a quick according to Mr. Eells Proposals in order to
taking the parsonage into his hands again and also to lay out
money in subduing the parsonage." Mr. Eells' " proposals " are
then recorded, showing he owned land adjoining the " parsonage "
meadow. The " quick " referred to a creek. The salary goes up
to £640 " old tenor " on Nov. 10, 1755 ; but on Nov. 10, 1756, it
goes down to £6Q " lawful money." On the same day it was voted
to " build a new school house fourteen feet one way and seventeen
feet the other way to be set up a little northward from Captain
Joseph Eanney's house." This schoolhouse was built, but of dif-
ferent dimensions. About fifty years ago it traveled one mile to
become the ell of a house located near Chestnut Brook. It was
covered with oak plank 2| inches thick, which are still there, put
on perpendicular-wise, and its appearance is given herewith.
Still the salary question remains a burning one. Nov. 8, 1760.
it is made £70, with £15 for last year's deficiency. But on Nov.
1, 1761, Mr. Eells handed in a proposal which he himself entered
on the Society's book, in which he proposed a salary of £80 "to
avoid yearly disputes." He was willing " after the extraordinary
charges of the war are over " to begin at £70 and work up to
£80, referring to the French-Indian War, in which many from
here were engaged and he was a chaplain. That this was '* accepted
bv a clear vote." is the clerk's record.
" Nov. 2, 1761, Daniel Stocking, known as " The Schoolmaster,"
and a graduate of Yale, was chosen clerk and " sworn according
to law." It was voted to put a " window on the back side of the
HISTOEY OF THE UPPER HOUSES 43
meeting house against the pulpit for the benefit of the Eev. Mr.
Eells." Luke Stebbins and several others are to " tune the Psalms
in the meeting house in this Society for the year insuing," " The
West part of this Society was permitted to build them a school
house and to raise 1^ on the £ to help them."
"Voted that the limits of the Western School in this Society
should be bounded Eastwardly by the highway running north from
the house of Mr, Jared Shepherd to the Short Hills, so called."
This constituted the " northwest district " of the present town.
What was formerly " n. w. quarter " had become a part of the
Worthington Society, and later the East Berlin part of the town
of Berlin. It was settled by Upper Houses families. Its cemetery
was givn by Daniel Wilcox and is well kept.
" Voted that the Instructions for the Seaters of the meeting
house should proceed in the seating according to age, honor and
Interest."
Capt. Samuel Ga3'-lord had been absent for six seasons engaged in
the French-Indian War, and when he returned he for some reason
asked to have his rate abated. This request was refused Nov. 8,
1762. John Clark was chosen to be gravedigger. Th*e meeting
adjourned to the day after Thanksgiving, but when they met
Nov. 19 their dinner must have left them unfit to do business for
they " adjourned without date." In 1764 they decided " to agree
with a mason to build a stone chimney in the south schoolhouse."
In 1765 they met " by special warning to consider and vote relat-
ing to school money that is in the hands of Mr. Lawrence of
Canaan and other matters that may occur," and instructed the
" committee on donations to this Society " to act in the affairs
of the monies that were left in the hands of Mr. Lawrence of
Canaan for this school. In 1766 they decided to alter both the
pews under the stairs, and in 1767 the " seaters are to seat the
galleries so far as they think proper."
Winter in those days without a fire in the church was winter
at the best, but the society's committee was instructed to repair
the meeting house " to make it comfortable in winter."
The growth of the population had been such, notwithstanding
that many had gone to Vermont, Western Massachusetts, and the
western part of the colony^ that provision must be made for more
school accommodations ; so there is issued a " Special Warning,"
and on Christmas Day, 1770, the record as prepared by the clerk
reads :
Voted, That the schools in this society for the future shall be
divided into four destricts.
44 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
L Voted. The North School is to include southward Mr. Com-
fort Butler and Mr. Nathaniel Riley. The Butler house is now
known as the " Wightman " house and Nathaniel Riley's house
stood where the Connecticut Home for aged veterans and their
wives stands.
2 Voted. The South School is from Mr. Rileys southward to
the ferry bridge and westward to the brook called Wilcox Brook.
This is the brook which runs into the old quarry pond.
3 Voted. The West School is from Wilcox Brook excluding
Jerod Shepherd north to Wethersfield.
4 Taking in Jerod Shepherd running west to the (Little)
River and north to Wethersfield line.
Voted. " That a school house should be built in the 3rd destrict
Dimensions 16 feet one way and 18 the other." Solomon Sage
to be the committee to build it. Capt. Plumb and Mr. Ozias
Wilcox were to locate it.
On the third Monday in November, 1771, Mr. Daniel Stocking
serves for the last time as " dark."
School committees and collectors were elected as follows:
SolomcJn Savage (an M. D., too) for the North District.
Edward Eells, Jr., for the 3rd District.
Aaron White for the 4th District.
And none named for the South or original district.
The committee was empowered to hire a room for the 3rd dis-
trict and the children of that district were permitted to attend
the South School district. The sum of £20 was to be raised for
building the schoolhouse in the 3rd district. Edward Eells, Jr.,
was elected clerk. He enlisted in 1774 in the special emergency
troops, started for the seat of war the day after word came of
the battle of Lexington, served all through the war, being at
Bunker Hill and Yorktown; was one of the Founders of the So-
ciety of the Cincinnati, and sleeps beside his honored father. His
grave is marked with the bronze marker of the Society of the
Sons of the American Revolution, as are thirty graves of other
patriots, whose bones rest within the limits of the North Society,
while the memorial, of boulder, shells and cannon is in memory of
more than fifty others born here, who served in the Revolution and
found graves elsewhere. Here is the style of Edward Eells, Jr.,
as clerk:
HISTORY OF THE UPPER HOUSES 45
" Meeting of April 3 : 1772
1 Vote
That the South and neighboring West school Districts should
come into one District and that there should be built one new
school house to accommodate the Districts and that the new school
house should be placed over the brook called Wilcox brook near
Mr. Fletcher Ranneys (his house is given herewith) and that
other votes that are passed respecting the school which interferes
with this vote are repealed.
2 Vote
The Dementhons of the above voted house should be 26 feet
one way and 20 feet the other.
3 Vote
Solomon Sage and John Sage are appointed a committee to
build it.
4 Vote
That the above house should be Built with brick.
5 Vote
That the twenty pounds that was voted in the 1771 to build
the West school house should be put to the use of the above voted
house with the two pound rearges."
On Sept. 21, 1772. The Society reconsidered "ye 1 vote con-
cerning joyning ye South District with ye dist.
" Granted to ye South Destrict in order to help them to a
school house in ye Room of ye old school house Destroyed by fire
£20 to be raysed by ye levy of this Society."
On Monday, Nov. 9, 1772:
"3 Vote
Mr. Joseph Frary and Mr. Abijah Savage are chosen for a
committee to see into the afair of the South Destrict consarning
there school house to build it.
4 Vote
That the South Destrict school house should stand where it
now stands."
James Smith for the South, William Sage for the Third and
Jarod Shepherd for the fourth, were elected district committees,
and Doctor "Hollaburds" (Hurlbiit) rate was abated. These
three men soon were actively engaged in the War of the Revolution.
On Nov. 1, 1773:
Joseph Frary for the South, Hezekiah Ranney for the North
and Wm. Savage for the West District are district committees.
Joseph Frary was epiinent as a surveyor, Hezekiah Ranney as a
schoolmaster will be written of elsewhere, as also Wm. Savage,
46 MIDDLETOWN" UPPER HOUSES
who married Abiah Eells, daughter of John Eells and the widow
of Mordecai Lincoln, whose name on his tombstone is Linkton.
They came here from Taunton, she being a niece of the Rev.
Edward Eells.
And here ends the volume with a parchment cover. The next
volume of the Society's records is missing. The arrangement by
which a " Society " governed schools and the financial part of a
church continued till 1795, when the General Assembly relegated
to each school district the management of its own affairs and the
" Society " was restricted to managing the church's finances. In
1786 Hezekiah Ranney made a report showing he had taught the
combined South and West districts, giving the number of days'
attendance on the part of the children of each head of a family,
and the quantity of wood furnished by each head. This report has
lately disappeared.
The brick schoolhouse in the third or West District stood on
the open ground in front of the present Catholic parsonage, and
was also in front of the home of Elisha Sage, the Revolutionary
patriot, who in 1795 built the exterior walls of the old State House
in Hartford and which was designed by Bulfinch, who designed the
original Capitol at Washington and the old State House in Bos-
ton. There is no record known of any contract or workers on
the old Connecticut State House, except that in 1802 his widow,
Martha Sage, demurred to the General Assembly against being
called on to pay damages because of her husband's failure to com-
plete his contract in time, on the ground that the materials were
not promptly furnished. In this brick schoolhouse Elisha Sage,
Jr., attended school, he being the father of the late Russell Sage.
The compiler of this volume taught in this brick schoolhouse in
the winter of 1855-56.
About 1795 the General Assembly took the matter of schools
out of the hands of the societies. Abijah Savage appeared before
the General Assembly and had the Society divided into five dis-
tricts by dividing the North District into two so that the south line
of the Center District was brought down to a line running between
the present Congregational and Baptist churches. The town map
in the County Atlas published in 1884 gives these lines in colors.
But the desire of a separate school of a higher grade had earlier
taken root in this community, and the town received the follow-
ing petition:
" Sept. 9, 1782, To the inhabitants of Middletown, to be
assembled in town meeting this day. Gentlemen. The educa-
tion of children we look upon as a matter of great importance
HISTORY OF THE UPPER HOUSES 4?
& which in many places too very much neglected, & in order
that our children may no longer share in the common calamity,
we the subscribers have entered into a written agreement to
set up, support, & maintain at our own private expense, a
school to be steadily kept, both winter & summer, & having
no place on our land convenient as that spot on which one was
formerly built a few rods west of the meeting house, we there-
fore earnestly request the favor of this town, to grant us liberty
to build a house, on that spot of ground and as it cant possibly,
in any degree discommode the public nor any private person,
and as our design in its own nature is laudable & cant but meet
the approbation of every generous mind, so we flatter ourselves,
you will so far countenance our design, as cheerfully to comply
with our request.
" N'athi Eells ^ Com'ee
" Wm Sage I in behalf
" Timo Gibson i of the
J whole.
"Voted, That the memorialists have liberty to erect a School
house as mentioned above, during the town's pleasure."
The Rev. Gershom Bulkeley, graduate of Yale, was then minis-
ter of the North Society.
Isaac Gridley, a graduate of
Yale in the class of 1773,
where he was roommate of
Nathan Hale, the martyr
spy, had been teaching here
for some time. Other col-
lege graduates resided here.
The author of the petition was a master of good English. The
schoolhouse was erected and maintained as a private school within
the memory of the most aged persons residing here.
The village south of the church green and near the river was
very thickly settled, owing to the multiplication of ship yards,
and wharves and warehouses, the "West India and other sea trade
having become the principal source of revenue. In 1808 a lot
was purchased for $105 and a two-story schoolhouse was erected
thereon which was in use till 1902. The name of "Bell School
House '* had been given to it because of its having a bell. This
bell bears the inscription, " Jean Bazin, 1776." On one side is a
scene of the Crucifixion and on the other is a representation of
the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was probably brought by some one
of the dozens of sea captains from a French West India port. It
48 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
is about twelve inches in height and is kept at the Nathaniel White
School. At the 1903 celebration it rested on the boulder then
dedicated to the more than fifty Eevolutionary patriots born here
and buried elsewhere. When the census of 1814 was tak6n the
following showed the number of children in each school district:
South, 120 ; North, 51 ; Nooks or Center, 16 ; Brick, 45 ; North
West, 45.
The spirit that had prompted the erection in 1782 of a private
school found further exercise in the formation of a debating society.
This society in 1810 became The Friendly Association. Its first
president was the Rev. Joshua Lewis Williams, who was elected
Feb. 20, 1810, He was frequently elected, as each president was
elected for only a short term. His last election was on March 2,
1830. Among its early presidents were William Walter Woodworth,
afterwards a clergyman; Dr. William Tully, later of Yale Medical
Faculty; Wm. C. Redfield, the father of the American Society of
Science and author of many works. The first volume of records
shows that 422 meetings had been held previous to March 29, 1831.
Then the second volume was opened showing that the 940th meet-
ing was held Jan. 10, 1860. The Rev, Zebulon Crocker, who suc-
ceeded Mr. Williams as pastor, was an active member till death
removed him. The most influential residents were active mem-
bers. They had a valuable library, and their frequent meetings
were not merely for debate, but for the presentation of original
essays and stories, for recitations and dialogues, and Mrs. Silas Sage
frequently regaled the audiences with her original poetry. The
annual exercises were as elaborate as those of a high school of the
present day, and were held in the meeting house. The result was
the following agreement :
"Whereas on the 15 day of August A. D. 1834 the under-
signed subscribed to a paper the object of which was to erect
in Middletown North Society a suitable two Story Building foi
literary and religious purposes, the upper story or room to be
exclusively for the use of the Second Congregational Church &
Societv in Middletown unless wanted as well as the lower room
for literary purposes — and whereas in accomplishing said object
land situated easterly of sd Society Meeting House has been
purchased of Israel Russell (the conveyance not yet having been
made) and a Building thereon erected — Now in order to au-
thorize the manner & form of the conveyance from said Russell
& thereafter the manner in which the Building & premises shall
be held we direct as follows — That the said Russell convey the
HISTORY OF THE UPPER HOUSES 49
premises to Eben Wilcox Isaac Sage & Joseph Williams & the
persons who shall succeed them in the manner hereinafter speci-
fied forever in trust for the uses & purposes above expressed,
the places of the said Wilcox Sage & Williams in the execution
of said trust, in case of decease, or inability to act, to be sup-
plied by such person or persons as Richard Warner Stephen Mil-
drum & John Parmalee the com^^ of said Society or their suc-
cessors as such Committee forever, from time to time may ap-
point any & all stipulations in the original writing not herein
express'^ or implied are recalled, dated at Middletown May 26,
1836."
This was signd by 44 persons, of whom the Rev. Zebulon
Crocker was one, and Dr. Richard Warner, Nath^ Bushnell, Wm.
C. Redfield as com*« & in behalf of 2*^ Ecc Society, and Wm. R.
Stocking in behalf of the Friendly Association.
" In pursuance of the object expressed in the foregoing paper
dated May 26, 1836, by Joseph Williams & others executed &
especially for one hundred & forty dollars received to my full
satisfaction of the signers thereof I Israel Russell — grant, etc —
for the uses & purposes in said paper Specified forever in trust "
This was signed by Israel Russell on Dec. 1, 1836.
The friendly Association took two shares of the stock. The prop-
erty cost $1700. The Academy prospered for many years. The
teachers were:
Rev. Sylvester Judd, Yale 1835, 6 months.
Rev. John Lord Taylor, Yale 1836, 6 months
Rev. Richard F. Searle, Wesleyan 1835, 1 year.
Rev. Edgar J. Doolittle, Yale 1836, 1^ years, married dau. of
Deacon Israel Sage.
Rev. Isaac P. Warren, D. D., Yale 1838, 1^ years, married dau.
of Capt. Thomas Stow.
James Hanmer Francis, Yale 1826, 1 year.
Rev. George Thatcher, Yale 1840, 1 year. *
Rev. Jared 0. Knapp, Yale 1840, 3 years.
Rev. R. D. H. Allen, Middlebury, 1841, 1 year.
Rev. Wm. S. Wright, Yale 1839, 5 years.
Joseph Bardwell Lyman, Yale 1850, 6 months.
Julius Y. Leonard, Yale 1851.
The Rev. Edward Eells died Oct. 12, 1776, and the Rev. Ger-
shom Bulkeley was installed June 17, 1778. He built, or his father
built for him, the house standing opposite the corner of the old
50
MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
cemetery, now known as the Joseph Edwards place. He resigned
July 7, 1808, at which time he purchased the house built by Dea-
con Samuel Stocking for his daughter Bethia, who had married
Thomas Stow. The Stow 'heirs in 1808 sold it to Mr. Bulkeley.
It stood about opposite the Methodist church.
The Eev. Joshua Lewis Williams was installed June 14, 1809,
and his pastorate ended with his death Dec. 29, 1832. He was
known as " Priest Williams." His great work was as President
of the Friendly Association. The Rev. Zebulon Crocker was in-
stalled May 2, 1833, and his pastorate ended with his death Nov.
14, 1847. In this short time he secured the building of the Acad-
emy, the present (brick) church, and the present (brick) par-
sonage. He maintained his interest in the Friendly Association
to the last. He left no children. The Academy, the Brick Church
and the Brick parsonage and the granite obelisk speak his worth.
In 1880 the Rev. Myron S. Dudley published the History of
Cromwell, which had its origin in his centennial, 1876, sermon to
which he made additions and issued it as a " Sketch," showing much
research. He died in 1906, having been an active member of the
New England Genealogical Society. From this " Sketch " the fol-
lowing tables are taken :
The following is the roll of deacons who have served this church
since its organization:
Names. Appointed. Ceased to Act. Remarks.
Sam'l Hall, Feb. 10, 1716
W. Savage, " " " Jan. 25, 1727
S. Stow, Sept. 28, 1741
J. Wilcox May 13, 1751 Died, M 68
S. Gipson, March 18, 1748 " " 76
S. Shepherd, Dec. 3, 1745 April 9, 1750 Drowned
I. White, Jan. 15, 1749 June 27, 1769 Died, M 71
W. Savage, 1774 " " 74
T. Johnson, Jan. 9, 1766 Dec. 26, 1774 " " 56
J. Kirby, Nov. 29, 1770 Sept. 12, 1783 " " 64
S. Sage, Jan.. 26, 1775 June 7, 1795 " " 74
T. Gipson, Jan. 14, 1784 March 23, 1810 Resigned
A. Sage, Feb. 22, 1790 March 23, 1810
J. Hubbard, Dec. 14, 1807 Aug. 23, 1808 Died, M 63
B. Parmelee, Mar. 23, 1810 April 6, 1822 Resigned.
R. Sage, July, 1817 Mar. 13, 1826 Died, M 49
J. R. Wilcox, Nov. 11, 1822 Jan. 4, 1839 Resigned
I. Sage, Oct. 29, 1826, Sept. 30, 1861 Died, M 75
R. Warner, Jan. 4, 1839 Sept. 1, 1843 Resigned.
HISTOEY OF THE UPPER HOUSES 51
MEMBERS ADDED UNDER JOSEPH SMITH's PASTORATE.
1715-1736. 21 years.
By Profession, 53
" Letter, 21
Total, 74
Average 3. 5.
EDWARD EELLS'S PASTORATE.
1738-1776. 38 years.
By Profession, 116
" Eenewal, 227
" Letter, 17
Total, 360
Average, 9.5 nearly.
GERSHOM BULKELEY's PASTORATE.
1778-1808. 28 years.
By Profession 69
" Eenewal, 176
" Letter, H
Total, 256
Average, 9.
J. L. Williams's pastorate!
1809-1832. 23 years.
By Profession, 210
" Letter, 21
Total, 231
Average, 10.
z. Crocker's pastorate.
1833-1847. 14 years.
By Profession, 95
" Letter, 49
Total, 144
Average, 10.
52 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
The Baptist Church
Luther Savage, a soldier in the War of the Revolution, having
removed to Hartford, became a Baptist. Josiah Savage, his brother,
also a patriot, had married Mary Roberts, b. Dec. 9, 1763, daughter
of Dr. Aaron Roberts and Hepzibah (Johnson) Shepard, widow of
Edward Shepard who was son of Lieut, and Deacon Samuel Shep-
ard and Mary Ranney. Dr. Roberts had bought the Mathias Treat
house, which had been the home of Edward and Mrs. Shepard.
Josiah Savage had bought the easterly part of the Treat homestead
including the Jonathan Frary "mantion" of 1760. Mrs. Mary
(Roberts) Savage, visiting Luther Savage in Hartford, became im-
bued with Baptist principles and was immersed there in Park
River. She began an active campaign among her friends and
neighbors, holding meetings in her own home and elsewhere. It
was at a time when there was a revolt against the rigid rules of the
" established order," the Congregational Church. As a result a
number became members of the Hartford Baptist Church. On
January 19, 1802, a meeting was held at the house of Comfort
Ranney and his wife, Ruth Treat, at which steps were taken to-
wards the organization of a church. Elder Eber Moffatt of
Stephentown, New York, had evidently been laboring here. He
and Capt. Timothy Savage, a younger brother of Luther and
Josiah, were chosen to write a letter to the Hartford church. It
was dated January 29, 1802. As a result the Hartford church
gave letters dismissory to Comfort Ranney and wife Ruth Treat;
Timothy Savage and wife Sarah Collins; Eleazar Savage, Stephen
and John Treat; Sarah Savage, later wife of Col. Josiah Sage and
sister of Timothy; Percy Savage, another sister; Mary Roberts
Savage; Mary Savage, later wife of Simeon Ranney; Ruth (White)
Ranney, wife of Joseph Ranney; and Willard Ranney, brother of
Comfort.
Deacon John Bolles, Samuel Beckwith and Luther Savage were
delegated to sit in council with the members from Upper Houses
on Saturday, Feb. 6, 1902. Elder Moffatt, Elder Nehemiah Dodge
of New London, and brother Enoch Green of the Middletown Bap-
tist church were members of the council.
March 30, 1803, at the home of Capt. Timothy Savage, they
adopted the " New Hampshire Confession of Faith." A committee
applied to the town for a location on which to build a church. The
town's committee reported in favor of a location on the West
Green, nine rods northwest of the " Brick " schoolhouse. The
town meeting gave permission to build two rods further north.
HISTOKY OF THE UPPEE HOUSES 53
The size of the church is to be seen from the marks indicating
the foundation. The corner stone, a rough boulder, is still to be
seen there. Elder Moffatt died in 1804, and his grave in the old
cemetery is marked with a headstone.
Soon after the organization of the church, William Ranney,
brother to the Joseph named above, and wife Olive Hamlin, a
descendant of the Rev. Joseph Smith, the first pastor of the Con-
gregational Church, became members. He was a tanner occupying
the house built by Rev. Edward Eells for his son, IMajor Edward
Eells. His zeal in the church led to his house being termed " The
Minister's Tavern." He was a deacon for many years. His grand-
son, Rev, Edwin H. Ranney, licensed by this church March 29 1852,
delivered an address on his " Early Reminiscences " on July 19,
1905, before the Society of Middlettown Upper Houses, and which
is to be found in this volume.
Late in his life, 1826, Josiah Savage was received into the
church. His son, Jesse, removed to Hartford, became a prominent
member of the First Baptist Church, and was very successful in
business. His daughter, Mrs. Cornelia Savage Chase, in her
lifetime gave $100,000 to various Baptist enterprises and by her
will left $500 to the Cromwell Baptist Church and $500 to care for
the Savage and Gridley lots in the old cemetery.
In 1833 the old church was brought to the village and located
just north of the present bank building. In 1853 the present
edifice was erected. The pastors and people of this church have
been very courteous to the Society of Middletown Upper Houses
in assisting at the various reunions and in voting to give the
use of the church for its reunions.
The Cemeteries
Previous to the laying out of a cemetery in Upper Houses, Janu-
ary, 1713, new style, all burials were in Riverside Cemetery, " South
side," The railroad has encroached from time to time upon this
old cemetery until the greater half of it lying next to the river
has disappeared. In the remaining part are the headstones and
footstones of Capt. Nathaniel White and his first wife, and of
David Sage,
As Thomas Ranney died in June, 1713, it is presumed that he
may have been the first buried in the Upper Houses. The town
record says he died June 25. His tombstone says he died June
21, the " 1 " being reversed. Later the cemetery was enlarged on
the north end where marble headstones show the later fashion.
54 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
There is a cemetery fund of twelve hundred dollars conveyed to
the town in 1885, of which a thousand dollars came from the estate
of Miss Mary Ann Latimer. Under the leadership of the Rev.
Myron L. Dudley, ]\Ir. Ralph B. Savage, Mr. Elisha T. Sage, and
Mr. Bulkeley Edwards, the citizens were aroused to put the ceme-
tery in proper condition, which was done in 1880. Miss Fanny
Gridley of Northampton, Mass., contributed $20 to cover the
cost of renewing the inscription on the table stone of her ances-
tor, the Rev. Joseph Smith, the Church having previously voted
to renew the inscription, the leaden insert having been appropriated
at some time, probably for the making of bullets, as was done
with the leaden one to John- Sage and his wife Hannah Starr. The
annual town meeting, on Oct. 3, 1881, had solemnly pledged itself
to accept any gifts for the cemetery and to use the interest thereof
to. "protect, clean and beautify" the burying yard. In 1903 an
iron fence was erected in place of the picket one erected in 1880. By
the will of Mrs. Cornelia Savage Chase the town received $500, less
the State tax, netting $476, the interest of which is to be used to
care for the Savage and Gridley lots. The growth of the northwest
section of the town calling for a cemetery, Israel Kelsey sold to
the town on January 20, 1802, " for a burying ground " ten rods
front and rear and seven rods deep, etc., " reserving to myself and
my heirs the grazing of sd piece of land yearly for small stock
only such as sheep and calves." The first burial in this lot was
of Aaron White, who had served in the French-Indian War and
in the War of the Revolution.
In Time of War
He who " came to bring a sword " knew that human rights
must be maintained " by the sword." Hardly had Windsor, Hart-
ford and Wethersfield been settled than the Pequots determined to
exterminate the settlers. Under Capt. Mason, in 1637, a force
was successfully sent against them. Among those who went from
Hartford was William Bloomfield who soon after helped to settle
the Upper Houses.
In 1746 a regiment of Connecticut troops was organized to co-
operate with other forces to attack Canada. This regiment was
to have proceeded against Louisburg but got only as far as New
London. The muster roll found in England a few years ago
shows that several enlisted in this regiment from the Upper Houses,
and from East Middletown settled in 1710 from the Upper Houses.
The French-Indian War, 1755-64, had its scene of action in
Northern New York, and the Upper Houses with its limited
HISTOEY OF THE UPPER* HOUSES
55
population seems to have generously contributed of its men and
means. The Connecticut Historical Society has issued two vol-
umes giving a record of those who served in this war. Among
these was Amos Savage who lost his powder horn there. A century
later an Indian presented that powder horn to a member of the
Savage family and it is now the property of Mr. James Francis
Savage of Lowell, Mass. The illustration of this horn was done
by the daughter of Mr. Savage in her fifteenth year. Amos Sav-
age served also in the War of the Eevolution and is buried here.
Some others who were in the French-Indian War served also in
the Eevolutionary War, as will be seen by a comparison of the
lists given. East Middletown, across the river from the Upper
Houses, was so intimately allied that the names here given include
those from that settlement.
Capt. Joseph Savage, Quartermaster Comfort Sage, Capt. Sam-
uel Gaylord and Lieut. Samuel Stow were the chief officers. Capt.
Gajdord served six years. The following additional names will
be found in the volumes referred to:
William Banks
John Gibson
John Gibson, Jr.
Churchill Edwards
John Collins, died Nov. 3,
1762
Josiah Savage, corporal.
Jonathan, Stow, trumpeter
Simeon Stow
Giles Stow
Solomon Sage
Samuel Lewis Sage
Jonathan Sage
Giles Sage
Gideon Sage
Jedediah Sage
Amos Savage
Samuel Stow Savage
Nathaniel Savage
Solomon Savage
Daniel Savage
Thomas Savage
Stephen Savage
Ebenezer Savage
Lamberton Stocking
Stephen Eanney, East Mid-
dletown
Stephen Eanney, Upper
Houses
John Eanney, died Sept. 18,
1760, in his Majestie's
Hospital, Oswegatchie
John Eanney, Jr.
Nathaniel Eanney
Hezekiah Eanney
Jeremiah Eanney, died Oct.
23, 1762
Eichard Eanney
Thomas Eanney
Timothy Eanney
Willett Eanney
John Eobinson
Aaron Eoberts
Jared Shepard
Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith, Jr.
John Treat
Nathaniel Wilcox, died Nov.
17, 1762
56 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
Amos Stocking John Wilcox
Jonathan Stocking Joseph White
Zebulon Stocking Thomas White
Marshall Stocking Ebenezer White
George Stocking , Moses White
Elijah Stocking Stephen White
Jabez Ranney Wm. White
Edward Ranney Wm. White, Jr.
Samuel Ranney, died in army Samuel White
Aug, 31, 1758 Waitstill Wilcox
Ozias Ranney
THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION
The many who had served in the French-Indian War and had
survived served as a rallying center when there was prospect of
a conflict with the Mother Country. The Great and General
Assembly strengthened the militia and many enlisted in it in 1774.
In Middletown sixty aged gentlemen organized to " practice the
military art."
At " near ten o'clock " a. m. of April 19, 1775, the Massachusetts
Committee of Safety started Israel Bessel to Connecticut with the
news that a battle had been commenced. The news reached Hart-
ford and Middletown on the 20th, and on the 21st a company of
militia under Capt. Return Jonathan Meigs and a troop of horse
under Capt. Comfort Sage started, being ferried over the river
at Hartford, and were gone eight days on what is known as the
expedition " for the relief of Boston." No rolls were preserved,
but of Capt. Comfort Sage's company the names of Lieut. Charles
Bulkeley who later married a Ranney, Quartermaster Eli Butler,
and Corporal Edward Eells are given.
On April 20, Governor Trumbull summoned the General Assem-
bly to convene on April 26. This session, lasting ten days, autho-
rized the enlistment of six regiments, with officers' commissions to
date from May 1. The Second Regiment was raised in Middle-
town and vicinity. Part of them were in the Battle of Bunker
Hill. In September part were detailed in the attempt to capture
Quebec. This battle on Dec. 31 was a disastrous failure. Many
were captured, including Lieut. Abijah Savage who was held a
prisoner for 14 months. On his release he raised a company and
served three years.
Late in 1775 the army was reorganized as the " Continental
Army " and this constituted the " regulars " of the war. Early
in 1776 many militia regiments were raised for 7 months' service,
Colonel Return Jonathan ^Ieigs
(See page 56)
General Israel Putnam
HISTORY OF THE UPPER HOUSES 57
and just after the disastrous battle of Long Island on Aug. 27,
1776, many more troops were rushed to the front. And so the long
war went on.
The census of the colony by school districts was taken on the
first Monday in September, 1776. Middletown, after losing in
1767 all its territory east of the river to form the town of Chat-
ham, remained larger in population than either Hartford or New
Haven. The census of Middletown as a whole, and that part of it
constituting the Upper Houses, showed the following:
U. HO. MIDDLETOWN
Males under ten 129 736
Females under ten 113 736
Males between ten and twenty, married 0 0
Males between ten and twenty, single 87 576
Females between ten and twenty,married 0 11
Females between ten and twenty, single 75 600
Males between twenty and seventy, married 106 679
Males between twenty and seventy, single 32 268
Females between twenty and seventy, married.. 106 706
Females between twenty and seventy, single. . 58 390
Males above seventy, married 6 38
Males above seventy, single 3 7
Females above seventy, married 6 23
Females above seventy, single 12 39
Negro males under twenty 2 47
Negro females under twenty 7 49
Negro males above twenty 5 62
Negro females above twenty 7 43
Total 754 5037
Officers and soldiers in Militia rolls 69 588
Able bodied men between 16 and 45, not in
Militia rolls , 30 104
Men in Continental Army 28 202
Men raised for defense of the Colony and now
in the Colony 1 5
It is not the province here to give even a local history of the
contest, save to say that many volunteered to care for the fami-
lies of oflBcers. "William White, who had served in the French-
Indian war, cared for four families of oflBcers. The smallpox in
the days of the war was a dreadful and a dreaded disease. The
town voted that any who wished could be inoculated. The fol-
lowing was addressed " To the Civil Authority and Selectmen of
Middletown," and the autograph of the petitioner is copied from
the original document which is endorsed, " N. Chauncey's motion
negatived."
58 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
" Middletown upper houses, Feb^ 4^*^ 1778
Gent".
I am desired to inform you that M"" William Sage and all
those who have lately been Inoculated at his House are extremely
desirous that they may be allow'd to go through with the whole
opperation without removing from that place not only on ace
of y® Difficulty, Danger and Expens such a movement; but also
and principally on acct of y^ peculiar Situation of that place
for such a Purpose; it being so Distant from Neighbours, and
public Eoads and there being a large Joyner's shop well fin-
ished and Warm with a good fire place in it about (1) Eods
from y® Dwelling House, excellently calculated for y^ Purpose
of cleaning up in. I must beg leave Gent" to give it as my
Opinion that the place is indeed very convenient and y® forego-
ing plan much prefferable to any that has yet been thought of
to avoid y® Danger of spreading the Infection I am Gent'^ y""
most obed'
In 1889 the State published a " Eecord of Connecticut Men
in the Military and Naval Service during the War of the Revolu-
tion, 1775 — 1783." So many rolls have been discovered since then
that the Connecticut Historical Society has published one volume
and has material for another volume. The church records say,
" Heard of the death of " on such a date. Town records
give such as this : " Daniel Wilcox died in ye camp at Roxbury,
April 10, 1776." In 1876 a committee of the town, consisting
of David Edwards, who was 25 years of age when his patriot
father died; Ralph B. Savage, grandson of patriot Nathaniel Sav-
age, and Elisha T. Sage, grandson of patriot Elisha Sage, all aged
men, reported a list of those known to have served in the war. This
book contains the portrait of Daniel Eells, who was a prisoner in
Bermuda, yet no known roll contains his name. The Colonial
records give the names of those commissioned. The printed rec-
ords end with 1780. The manuscript records of 1781-82 show that
Josiah Savage was commissioned captain in the 23d Regiment,
which was composed of Middletown and Chatham men and give
a number of others commissioned. From these various sources, with
the records of Massachusetts and Vermont, the compiler has made
out the list, given here, of those who served in the war, having
been born here or, having removed away after the war, are buried
HISTORY OF THE UPPER HOUSES
59
here. There has been an effort to omit the names of any not
coming imder one of these heads.
OFFICERS
Colonel Comfort Sage.
Brev. Major Edward Eells.*
Captain Solomon Sage.*
Captain Josiah Savage.*
Captain Jared Shepard.
flaptain Jairus Wilcox.
Captain Ephraim Ranney.
Captain Abner Smith.*
Lieutenant Jeremiah Hubbard.*
Lieutenant Jedediah Sage.
Lieutenant Ephraim Ranney.
John S. Chauncey, killed Dec. 14,
1777, after surrendering.
Francis Clark.
Benj. Butler.
Oliver Clark.
John Hamlin.*
David Edwards.*
Churchill Edwards.*
Nathan Edwards, died in pris-
on, July 22, 1782.
John Gibson.
Jacob Gibson.
Hosea Miller.*
Daniel Pardee.*
Justus Riley.
Joseph Riley.
Nathaniel Riley.
Aaron Roberts.
John Robinson, killed at Nor-
walk, July 11, 1779.
Evan Thomas.*
Amos Treat.
Stephen Treat.
John Treat.
John Smith, prisoner, died Feb.
20, 1780.
Surgeon Stephen Ranney.
Captain Eli Butler.
Captain Nathaniel Gilbert.
Captain Abijah Savage.*
Captain Hugh White.
Captain Samuel Eells.
Captain Nathan Sage.
Lieutenant Jacob White.*
Lieutenant Elisha Savage.
Lieutenant Samuel Smith, died
in prison July 2, 1782.
Daniel Eells.
John Eells.
John Hands.*
Seth Kirby.
John Kirby.
Elijah Kirby, prisoner, died
July 7, 1782.
Samuel Gaylord.
Jonathan Gaylord.
Comfort Ranney.
Nathaniel Ranney.*
William Ranney.
Thomas Ranney, Corporal.
Daniel Ranney.
Amos Ranney.
Ebenezer Ranney.*
Willett Ranney.
Joseph Ranney, prisoner, died,
July 22, 1780.
Simeon Ranney.*
SolQmon Sage, Jr.*
Simeon Sage.
Giles Sage, Corporal.*
Abraham Sage.
Willett Ranny Sage, died of
smallpox in army.
* Buried here.
60
MIDDLETOWN" UPPER HOUSES
James Smith.*
Joseph Smith.*
Stephen Savage.
Josiah Savage, Jr.*
Luther Savage.
Levi Savage.
Jacob Savage, Sergeant.
Seth Savage.
Gideon Savage.
Simeon Savage.
Nathan Savage.
Elisha Savage.
Nathaniel Savage.*
Samuel Savage.*
Amos Savage, Ensign.*
Joseph Savage, Ensign.
Solomon Savage.
Selah Savage.
Thomas Savage.
Hiel Savage.
Francis W. Savage.
Samuel Stow Savage.
Joel Savage.
Daniel Savage.*
Hugh White, Jr.. Ensign.
Justus Wilcox.
Amos Wilcox.*
Daniel Wilcox, died in ye camp
at Eoxbury, Apr. 10,^1776.
Reuben Wilcox.
John Smith.*
Epaphras Sage,*
Elisha Sage.*
Stephen Sage.
William Sage, Ensign.*
Daniel Sage.
Benj. Sage.
Abner Sage.
Gideon Sage.
Miles Sage.
Elisha Stocking.*
John Stocking.
William Stocking.*
Joseph Shepard.
Samuel Stow, killed on ship,
Apr. 12, 1780.
William Stow, died Oct. 2, 1782.
Jonathan Stow.*
Samuel White.
Daniel White.
Daniel Clark White.
Aaron White, Corporal.
Reuben White, died Jan. 2,
1780.
Asa Wilcox, heard of his death
at West Point, Sept. 30, 1781.
Lemuel Wilcox.
Eliphalet Wilcox.*
Elisha Wilcox, Ensign.
After the war the great majority of these patriots went to
Massachusetts, Vermont, New York or Ohio to found new settle-
ments and are there buried.
WASHINGTON PASSES THROUGH THE UPPER HOUSES
From the diary of General George Washington, in the posses-
sion of the James F. Joy Estate of Detroit, the following extracts
were made for use in this volume. As he passed through the
streets of 1650 and on to Hartford, he passed the house in which
Gideon Savage was born and then lived, and in so doing may have
* Buried here.
^ o
*J o
^ 2
'A ^
HISTOEY OF THE UPPER HOUSES 61
shaken hands with the " artificer," whose diary, printed herein,
confirms the family tradition that he built the log cabin in which
" Lady Washington " took her meals at Valley Forge.
" Monday, October 19th, 1789.— About 10 o'clock, we left this
place, and at the distance of eight miles passed through Durham.
At 1, we arrived at Middletown on Connecticut river, being met
two or three miles from it by the respectable citizens of the place,
and escorted in by them. While dinner was getting ready, I took
a walk around the town, from the heights of which the prospect
is beautiful. Belonging to this place, I was informed (by a
General Sage) that there were about 20 sea vessels, and to Weth-
ersfield, higher up, 22, and to Hartford the like number; other
places on the river have their proportion, the whole amounting to
about 10,000 tons. The country hereabouts is beautiful, and the
lands good. An average crop of wheat from an acre of fallowed
land is estimated at 15 bushels; sometimes they get as high as
25 and 30 bushels to the acre from the best lands. Indian corn
from 20 to 40 bushels per acre. Their exports are the same as
from other places, together with potash. Having dined we set
out with the same escort (who conducted us into town) about 3
o'clock for Hartford, and passing through a parish of Middletown
and Weathersfield, we arrived at Hartford about sundown. . . .
" Hartford is more compactly built than Middletown, and con-
tains more souls ; the computed number of which amount to about
double. The number of houses in Middletown is said to be 250
or 260, these reckoning eight persons to a house would raise two
thousand at least. The depth of water which vessels can bring
to the last place is about ten feet; and is as much as there is
over Saybrook bar. From Middletown to Hartford there is not
more than 6 feet of water. At Middeltown there is one Episcopal
and two Congregational churches."
On his return he passed through Berlin, formerly the northwest
quarter of the Upper' Houses. Fuller's Tavern in after years was
kept by Amos Kirby, and is seen in this, volume.
" Left Hartford about seven o'clock and took the middle road
(instead of the one through Middletown which I went) breakfasted
at Worthington, in the township of Berlin, at the house of one
Fuller, bated at Smith's on the plain of Wallingford, thirteen from
Fuller's, which is the distance Fuller's is from Hartford, and
got into New Haven, which is thirteen miles more, about half an
hour before sundown. At this place I met Mr. Geary in the stage
63 MIDDLETOWN UPPEK HOUSES
from Kew York, and he gave me the first certain account of the
health of Mrs. Washington/'
WAR OP 1812.
Captain Isaac Webber, a shipbuilder here, raised a company and
proceeded to Saybrook at the mouth of the river. In his company
were Harvey and Martin Eanney, both of whom died young and
are buried here.
THE SOCIETY OF
MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
THE SOCIETY OF
MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
For some years the compiler of this volume had been gathering
material concerning the early families of this place, and with
special reference to the Ranney family. When it had been decided
by the town to erect a fine town school edifice to supplant the
district system he suggested that the school should be named after
Captain Nathaniel White, who, by his will of 1711, had given
one-fourth of his share of the as yet undivided common lands for
schools. This was done by a unanimous vote passed at a special
town meeting held on Jan. 6, 1902, the day on which the school
edifice was first used. A plan to have a reunion of descendants
of the old families in the month of June was broached, but the
compiler decided to defer it for a year. In 1903, a reunion was
held on Bunker Hill Day, June 17, and a boulder was dedicated
to the memory of the patriots of the War of the Eevolution who
were born here, but found a grave elsewhere, some on the battle
field, some from the hospitals, others from the prison ships, and
the greater number in the newer settlements they had made in
other states. Bronze markers had been donated by the Connec-
ticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. A number
of members of Mansfield Post, No. 53, G. A. R., of Middletown,.
honored us with their presence and sympathy. A Ranney Asso-
ciation was formed with R. B. Ranney of New Castle, Pa., as
President, S. 0. Ranney of Windsor Locks, and Charles K. Ranney
of Hartford as Vice Presidents, and C. Collard Adams as Secre-
tary-Treasurer. Among those present was the Rev. Edward Eells,
descended from Major Edward Eells, who had served from the
21st of April, 1775, to the close of the war, and who, with his
father. Rev. Edward Eells, the second pastor of the church, are
buried here.
On Bunker Hill Day, 1904. a much larger gathering was held,
with an exhibit of relics brought from far and near, a pilgrimage
through the original streets, and ' a sumptuous repast provided
by sympathetic villagers. A procession was formed, headed by
the drum corps of Mansfield Post, G. A. R., with nearly one
hundred members of the Post and of the W. R. C, together with a
hundred children, each carrying a flag, followed by the descend-
ants. The march was to the cemetery, where recitations were
65
66 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
delivered by Miss Anna Pease and Master John ISTeal. Thirty
girls and boys placed silk flags at the graves of that many pa-
triots, some of whom had fought at Bunker Hill. The mortar and
shells were unveiled by the Misses Florence Taylor and Julia
Mosher, descendants of patriots. The graves of the first five
pastors of the Congregational Church and of the first pastor of
the Baptist Church had been previously marked with flags. Ex-
ercises were then held in the Baptist Church.
The Hon. Walter C. Faxon, Governor of the Connecticut So-
ciety of Founders and Patriots, read a letter of congratulation
from Admiral Dewey, Governor General of the Order of Founders
and Patriots of America, which was as follows :
NAVY DEPARTMENT
OFFICE OF
THE ADMIRAL OF THE NAVY
MILLS BUILDING
Washington, June 4, 1904.
Dear Sir:
It gives me great pleasure, as Governor General of the Order
of Founders and Patriots of America, to extend hearty greet-
ings to the Eanney Memorial and Historical Association, which
is to have a celebration in honor of the Founders, Fathers and
Patriots of Middletown Upper Houses. I believe that historical
and patriotic societies such as these are doing a great work,
and one that future generations cannot fail to appreciate.
Very truly yours.
He then delivered an address on the functions of the Society, of
which he was the Connecticut presiding officer.
The Eev. D. B. Hubbard, pastor of the Westfield Congrega-
tional Church, the Rev. Edward Eells, the Rev. James Eells, both
descendants of the second pastor, the Hon. James H. Macdonald,
m
HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY 67
State Highway Commissioner, the Eev. C. H. Hands, pastor of
the Baptist Church, and Miss Clara C. Fuller, descendant of
Aaron White, patriot, delivered addresses. Miss Fuller spoke as
follows on
The Daughters of the American Eevolution
Mr. President, Members of the Association of Founders and
Patriots, Citizens of Middletown Upper Houses. We are not in
Cromwell to-day. Involuntarily I go back many, many years,
when as a little child I sat by my grandfather's side and listened
to the stories of the good old times. I think it must have been
then that the love of ancestry, the seeds of patriotism, were im-
planted in my heart. All those early associations clustered around
Lanesboro, Pittsfield, Bolton, but above all and beyond all — Mid-
dletown Upper Houses.
I am here to-day — so I am scheduled to speak for the Daugh-
ters of the American Revolution — but now that I am on the spot
of my childhood's dreams I cannot easily get away from those
early days when the Whites and the Savages lived in the most
harmonious relation, from those sturdy men and women — New
England born and bred — who moved once and then staid where
they stopped. They were not a migratory race. They made —
what to-day is the stronghold of America — they made homes.
My uncle, Charles Merrow White, now in his 87th year, lives in
the same house where his father and mother began their young
lives together ninety years ago. My mother, in her 81st year,
lives on the spot where Samuel White and his family settled
when they first came to Central New York. Near by lived and
died only a few years since, in her 104th year, Nancy White
Guiteau. There is not money enough in America to buy these
homes. I wish we possessed one more — Aaron White's old hotel,
and then we should cling to that, too.
Is it foolish, is it sentimental, is it un-American to climb our
family tree, to feel a very pardonable pride as we perch ourselves
up in the branches, picking the fruit of past generations, enjoy-
ing the fragrance of the " old-fashioned roses," never minding
if occasionally we do run up against a thorn? Love of ancestry
is akin to love of country, and love of country is next to love of
God. And have we not God's sanction when in the Great Book
is traced with reverent simplicity the earthly genealogy of the
Master? Is it too much to claim that an honored ancestry shall
result in a clean posterity? Who wants to be the first one to sully
a proud name ? Let us go on founding our patriotic societies, our
Founder's Associations. Let us cherish our Old Home Weeks,
68 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
our Commemorative Days, and we shall grow the nobler and the
sweeter for it. Money will count for less and character for
more.
This, Mr. President, is what our great society of 40,000 women —
the Daughters of the American Revolution — stands for.
There are just three points I want to make.
1. We are democratic. We stand for the masses — the rank and
file — the bone and sinew of the country — the working forces. I^o
idea can be more erroneous than the notion that the Daughters
of the American Revolution is an exclusive and aristocratic body.
If we have an aristocracy, it is that of courage, of high ideals
founded on the Battle of Bunker Hill and the sufferings of Valley
Forge. We are working, indeed, to establish caste, but a caste
in which the brotherhood of man takes rank. There is a great
danger confronting America. Enormous fortunes are being
amassed by the few; great corporations are wielding a tremendous
power; a social caste — not of brains nor of breeding — but of
money is being formed. As a balance-wheel, as a leveler, comes
this great society of 40,000 women from every State in the Union,
and representing all grades of society, the only requisite being a
reputable life and two or three generations of American blood.
A chapter is formed in a town, and women begin to discover
each other; talents are revealed that were never suspected, barren
lives are enriched, and the whole community is leavened. The town
may be divided by its politics, by its churches, but this one thing
is open to all.
2. We stand for civic education and for local improvement.
Our chapters are presenting flags to the public schools, are offer-
ing prizes for the best prepared work on American History, and
are studying and practicing parliamentary law. As we feel the
necessity for being what we are trying to encourage, we are taking
up courses of historical study, making historical pilgrimages, and
reclaiming from oblivion places of almost sacred interest. Believ-
ing that the best American is the intelligent American, we are
encouraging historical research, recording family traditions, mark-
ing the graves of Revolutionary heroes, supplying our soldiers and
sailors with literature, reaching out to our new possessions, and
assisting in making into Americans the great horde that pours
into our harbors from every land under the sun. What a cause
for regret that all this awakening and organizing had not come
half a century — even quarter of a century earlier ! What a wealth
of unwritten history lies buried forever in our cemeteries ! How
we now long to know the things that could have been had for the
asking a few years ago !
HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY 69
You happy people of New England have reached one vantage
ground at least from which you can look down upon the rest
of us with a great deal of satisfaction, an uncommon amount of
civic pride. Your villages are the most beautifully kept in Amer-
ica. Horatio Seymour once said, " I consider it as great an honor
to be path master in Deerfield, as to be Governor of the State of
New York." Emulating the spirit of this great man, the Daugh-
ters of the American Eevolution are taking up the work of village
improvement and we hope in time to approach your point of
perfection.
3. We stand for a pure and enlightened patriotism. It would
be impossible among so many women to eliminate all selfish
ambition, but the great mass are moved by the highest impulses
and the one great desire to make America the better for their ex-
istence. Ours is the first and the largest body of women ever
organized for patriotic purposes. It would never have been called
into existence except that it had a mission to perform. I believe
that God wants us, and so we are here. We are here not only
to reclaim and honor the past, but also to form and ennoble the
future. Our greatest opportunity, and therefore our greatest
responsibility, lies with the children of the public schools. The
boys of to-day are the men of to-morrow. From all nations they
are coming to us for life and for light. They are coming faster
than we are ready for them. If we do not form their public senti-
ment, they will form ours.
And so — Mr. President and members of the Society of Founders
and Patriots of Middletown Upper Houses — we are all working
together for the betterment of the race.
Let us gather reverently around the hearthstones and graves
of those heroic men and women who gave birth to our nation, that
our souls may be aroused to greater effort. Let us be reminiscent,
but let us also be dynamic. Let us prove our inheritance, not
only in name, but also in the possession of a sturdy, uncompromis-
ing courage that shall fight the battles of peace and win the vic-
tories as valiantly as did the heroes of '76, that shall solve the
problems of living as wisely as did those pioneers who went out
from Middletown Upper Houses a century ago.
Clara Cornelia Fuller,
Great-great-granddaughter of Aaron White, patriot.
During the exercises at the church several hundred children
were feasted, and at 5 p. m. the members of Mansfield Post, G. A.
E., and the W. R. Corps were entertained at luncheon.
REUNION OF THE SOCIETY
June 19, 1905
The enthusiasm of all present was such that there was a general
call for another reunion, and this was held on July 19, 1905,
the thermometer being at 94°. A procession of several four-horse
omnibuses, with hacks, automobiles, and other conveyances, made
a pilgrimage, not only through the original streets, but up Main
Street where the sons of the founders had built their habitations,
out " New Lane," opened in 1788, past the houses built by William
Sage and Elisha Sage, patriots, in sight of the Nathaniel White
Public School, and to the house of Thomas Stow and his wife,
Martha White, built 1713-1720, where a halt was made and the
house inspected. There was then a procession to the old cemetery,
where an hour was spent in inspecting the headstones. A business
meeting was then held in Temple of Honor Hall, where the Society
of Middletown Upper Houses was duly incorporated and all previ-
ous contributors were admitted to membership. A dinner was
then served in Briggs Hall. After dinner the granite and bronze
memorial to Founders, Fathers, and Patriots was dedicated, prayer
being offered by the Eev. Edward Eells, the address of dedication
being delivered by the newly elected President, and the memorial
unveiled by little Miss Evangeline Eells. The flag was then raised
to the top of the flagstaff.
Addkess of Dedication
The Hon. Frank Langdon Wilcox
This earth is a wonderful footstool — beautiful by nature, and
peculiarly adapted to the uses of man. And man has used this
round world as a free gift for the performance of his part in life's
history. Day by day, and night by night, and year by year deeds
are enacted of love, sacrifice, heroism, patriotism, and from religious
convictions, so that the surface of all lands has been dotted with
memorials to commemorate the events. Beautiful buildings, tower-
ing monuments, enduring granite, bronze tablets, and simple
markers are the usual tokens that record these worthy deeds—
they perpetuate memories, and incite all beholders to emulation.
We are met here to-day to accept and dedicate this granite
boulder with its bronze tablet, erected to commemorate the lives
• 70
R HOUSES
*E L HAL I SAMUEL- ilGGKINC I GER
I KiRBY -rwOMAS STOW MAT.
i0^i> MAF^TiN JOHN WARNEF? I DAY:
»J,'v RANNEY NATHANIEL WM'TE : Ni"^
D SAGE .JOHN WILCO)'
. r- rn;p^^ OF • Hf
= 'h rtUTuER WILLIAM KEI^
SRAEL KELSL
"HOMAS mill:.
-; ^ATH'L. RiLEV
-- EDWARD SHEF;.^
mBNer smith
-amuel spenc^-
:=-LlSHA TREi-r
STEPHEN TH: ■:
./LEY . JOHK' WARNER
jOHNSOM JEHIEL WiLLIA?,:
ZCTED BY THT
^ -T' MIDDLETn ;
-■'1 MOUSES
Bronze Taiu-et on Memorial Boilder
HISTOEY OF THE SOCIETY 71
of the Fathers, Patriots, and Pastors of Middletown Upper Houses.
With reverence and love we here commit our testimonial to the
sight of all passers-by in this most public spot at the meeting of
the ways. Northward is the original highway blazed through the
wilderness and traversed by our forefathers. Eastward is " Pleas-
ant Street," laid out by that first generation as the principal
street of Cromwell, and the main line of travel between Hartford
and Middletown, while hard by pass the trains of the Valley
Division of The New York, New Haven & Hartford E. E. There
could be no more fitting place to connect the silent past with the
busy present.
The sun may shine, the rains may fall, and the storms beat upon
this rock, and generations of men may come and go, but this
monument will always remain here, symlsolic of the sturdy, endur-
ing character of these early settlers, whom we claim as a distin-
guished honor for our ancestors.
Exercises were then held in the Baptist Church, prayer being
offered by the Eev. D. B. Hubbard. The Eev. William S. Middle-
mass, pastor of the Baptist Church, extended a welcome to the
Society, when the President, the Hon, Frank Langdon Wilcox,
delivered the following address.
The President's Address
Kinsmen and Friends: Words of welcome have been extended
to us by this town, which has changed its name from that given
by our forbears of " Middletown Upper Houses." Greetings have
been exchanged with those we have known and loved so long.
Eelationships have been discovered with near neighbors, or with
those living in far distant environments who have returned here
to-day to link the present with the past in honoring memories.
The experience is a pleasant one, for, though " all the world is
akin," blood relationship awakens a heart-throb of responsiveness
that is as precious as it is delightful.
Our purpose here is sacred, patriotic, and altogether worthy.
We came to honor the founders of our several family houses; to
gather inspiration from their simple lives that may guide us in
the more complex existence of the present day; to pay our tribute
of respect to the town they established in the savage, inhospitable,
but beautiful New England wilderness; to renew and make the
acquaintance of those whose friendship tried and adopted we can
confidently " grapple to our hearts with hooks of steel " ; for, chil-
dren of a common ancestry, we have that sturdy parentage whose
72 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
lives were lived for God and Country, and we are told that their
rirtues do last to the third or fourth generation.
To-day our eyes have looked out upon the shining river whose
waters flowing from the Canadian border and the White Moun-
tains pass through the heart of this New England country with
its wealth of history and busy industry, to lose itself in the restless
and endless sea. It reminds us of the quiet, beneficent influence
of the goodly lives of our virtuous fathers and mothers flowing
through generations of posterity. We have viewed the homes in
which they lived, loved, labored and bore their children, and whence
they were carried to their last resting place in God's Acre. To
this " Old Burying Ground " we have also made a pilgrimage.
Our Forefathers, we salute you! We thank you for the lives you
lived, the towns you founded, the country you made, and for the
precious heritage you left us in fee simple that cannot be destroyed
or taken away.
Once the trees of the forest primeval decked these hills and val-
leys with a beautiful mantle of green and yielded a gentle shel-
tering shade, the birds of the air builded their nests therein, and
the beasts of the forest roamed beneath. Under the ax of the
pioneer and following the plow of the husbandman, the forests
gave way to the home and the welcome cry of little children. The
wilderness was made to blossom like the rose, and the song of
increase went up throughout the land. The darksome, impene-
trable forests with their fearsome denizens have disappeared, but
our forefathers planted a better growth. Family trees were
planted, and took root in the rich soil of religious and civic liberty.
They flourished, stretching out lusty branches, bearing fruit of
boys and girls, men and women that were world-builders. Shoots,
scions, and graftings were transplanted in many a varying soil.
The parent stock was so sturdy that they flourished and grew
mighty in the land. I know of none of stunted or malignant
growth, and dare not single out those of such magniflcent propor-
tions that they stand up like sentinels among the family trees of
this great nation. Our efficient Secretary should be given an op-
portunity to tell the story, for his mind is stored with an exhaustless
supply of facts and fancy, fables and figures which he holds in
reserve, but ready for discharge like the shot of a rapid-fire gun.
In fact, in this campaign of love and loyalty, he is the "man
behind the gun " in that he has furnished all the push and enter-
prise, happily seasoned with a love of labor.
I take this opportunity to express this well-deserved apprecia-
tion. I bespeak for him from this time forth, from all my hearers,
their hearty support and sympathy in his efforts to produce a full
HISTORY OP THE SOCIETY 73
and accurate history of the families that are entitled to belong
to "The Society of "Middletown Upper Houses." We are not the
only ones who would enjoy and appreciate a complete work of
this nature, for our children and our children's children will read,
study, and take pride in the lines of ancestry which started from
the ground we have traversed to-day.
Wonderful is the power of man when electrically charged with
character founded on religion, industry, and love of family and
country. In 1620 there was given to the world a marvelous prop-
osition. Given a continent peopled by bloodthirsty savages, and a
few shiploads of religious refugees, what would be the result? A
little less tRan three hundred years has shown the savage confined
in a few reservations in the far West; the forests replaced by
prosperous farms and homes, the vantage spots occupied by count-
less cities constantly increasing in population, wealth, intelli-
gence and happiness. Throughout the land goes up the deep un-
derlying murmur of myriad manufacturing corporations; across
the surface of the land and in the bowels of the earth flash electric
cars and steam trains, like shuttles in the woof and warp of the
vast fabric of life, carrying more people and freight than were
dreamed of by the Pilgrim Fathers. The rivers and seas of the
world have been dotted by the sails and flag of a new country that
has bcome a first power in the council of nations. Everywhere
are churches, schools, and colleges, and vast humane institutions
founded out of love for fellow-men. The most productive country
of the world in men and women, products of the soil, of the brain
of the shop, and of the mind. A free country loved by its citizens,
sought by emigrants from all lands, discovered for the freedom of
the nations. A veritable land of the free and home of the brave.
A country that three hundred years ago could be bought for some
strings of wampum now has in the United States alone an esti-
mated national wealth of $100,000,000,000. In 1620 peopled only
by the American Indians, it now has a population of white men
of about 88,000,000. Then giving nothing to the world, now the
world's chief benefactor in too many ways to mention upon an
occasion like this. Who started and laid the foundations of such
a record and such a country ? God gave the country, wild and free,
but man developed it and wrought these mighty achievements.
What men? Why, our forefathers' right here in Middletown Upper
Houses were the founders and patriots who bore their willing and
mighty part. The builders of the Pyramids, the Colossus of
Rhodes, the Chinese Wall, and the other wonders of the world were
but pigmy laborers compared with these architects of a Nation.
Are we not justified in lauding their lives and honoring their
74 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
memories in public gatherings like this? Nay, would we not be
ingrates and degenerates if we did not proclaim their deeds, and
call upon our fathers to keep us steadfast in the path they have
blazed so broad and deep.
The world has just seen the little Brown Man in the Flowery
Kingdom beyond the Yellow Sea, through the worship of his
ancestors, humble the mighty Bear that frightened all Europe
with his roar. We do not sound any call to worship, but I do
believe that we can respect, love, and honor our fathers and mothers
that our days may be long in the land which the Lord our God
gave us.
" Born into life ! . . . man grows
Forth from his parents' stem,
Blends their bloods, as these
Of theirs are blent in them ;
So each new man strikes root into a far foretime."
— Empedocles on Etna.
The Hon. Henry B. Brown delivered an oration on " The Sig-
nificance of This Memorial Service," when, after referring to his
college days of 1855-59 with Mr. Adams, he spoke as follows:
Oration of the Hon. Henry Bascom Brown
This occasion, as I apprehend it, is for the dedication of a noble
and fitting memorial to the Founders, Fathers, Pastors, and Pa-
triots of Middletown Upper Houses, as this portion of the town
of Middletown was called from the year 1680 to a late date in
the last century. And so our topic naturally takes form as " The
Significance of This Memorial Service." A glacial boulder, duly
and appropriately marked by an inscription upon a bronze tablet,
is placed as an enduring and fitting memorial to the honored
ancestors of the members of this Society, to remain as long as time
shall last, in sunshine or in storm, through summer's heat and
winter's cold, the mute but eloquent and impressive testimonial
of the appreciation of this later generation of the sacrifices, the
virtues, the patriotism, and the piety, by which those venerated
men built themselves, as lasting and effective factors, into the very
life of the community, the church, the State, the nation.
The erection of monumental memorials for the perpetuation of
the memories and achievements of nations is a fact as old as the
oldest records of human history. We pause to make only the briefest
mention of the first recorded illustration of this fact in human his-
tory— the story told in Holy Writ, of that wonderful tide of human
HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY 75
life, that " journeyed from the East," till they " found a plain
in the land of Shinar," where they proposed " to build a city and
a tower, whose top should reach unto heaven," by which, they said,
" let us make us a name " ; wherefore, says the sacred writer,
"the name of it is called Babel" (Gen. xi. 1-10).
Next, we may consider the erection of the vast pile of the
Egyptian Pyramids, and the rough sculpture of the inexplicable
Sphinx, " a figure sixty-fi-ve feet high, cut from the solid rock,"
and probably older than the great pyramid itself, which stand sur-
rounded by the other innumerable stone monuments of that most
ancient of ancient kingdoms. The stupendous pyramid of Ghizeh
is incomparably the most remarkable monument built by man. It
has witnessed the rise, the culmination, the decay of empires whose
sway was almost world-wide; it was a patriarch when the human
race was yet young, and before literature was born; its builder is
still the riddle of history; it was gray with the wear and tear
of centuries when Moses wrote the Pentateuch; it was as ancient
to Moses, as the Norman conquest is to us to-day; it was built
to defy the wrath of storms, the wear of ages, and the hunger of
fire. It cost an untold outlay of life, and blood, and treasure to
build it; it would be the financial ruin of the richest nation to
destroy it. And yet, the man whose name and honor it was erected
to commemorate is as unknown to-day as the humblest slave who
contributed his labor and life to build it !
It stands the incomparable monument of a dead civilization, and
it looks complacently down on a land whose dynasties, history,
and traditions are lost in the abyss of the vanished centuries !
As the Old World had its great national memorials in the pyra-
mids and lesser monuments we have mentioned, so the New World
had its great memorials in the vast mounds left by the strange,
nameless, and unknown mound-builders, and the wonderful build-
ings and stone monuments of Central and South America, whose
builders have plunged into the gulf of oblivion and left not a
line of historical record behind them to tell that they ever existed,
or for what purposes their magnificent structures were designed
and used.
Time forbids that we should speak further on this occasion of
these two great examples of national memorials, the names of
whose builders are lost to the record of history.
We turn again to sacred history for illustration of the tendency
of mankind to commemorate names and occasions by the setting
up of stones for enduring memorials. In the twenty-eighth chap-
ter of Genesis is recorded the strange vision of Jacob at Bethel;
and the record is, that "Jacob rose up early in the morning and
76 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
took the stone that he had put for his pillow and set it up for a
pillar" (Gen. xxviii. 18).
So, all along down the centuries, men have set up stones as
memorials of great historical events, or in honor of those who
have contributed to the good of their fellow-men, the development
of moral and religious character, the promotion of those great
movements that have worked for the grandeur of the State, the
progress of civilization and the arts, and the advancement of the
race in every department of human activity. Who of us, having
once looked upon the majestic statue to the memory of The Fore-
fathers, at Plymouth, Mass., can ever forget it? What an incen-
tive the very sight of it is, to awaken in the heart of the spectator
those sentiments that make for the encouragement of virtue, honor,
and great endeavor.
To-day, as an outcome of the contribution of life and treasure
in the Civil War, the living patriots all over our land have com-
memorated the heroic deeds of their dead comrades by erecting
handsome statues, or other appropriate monumental memorials of
indestructible stone or bronze, to tell to future generations the
story of the great sacrifices made for the country's life, honor, and
perpetuity. If I may adapt the poetic sentiment of another (which,
however, I quote from memory), we may truly say:
" Such stoues as these are pilgrim shrines,
Shrines to no race or place confined ;
The Pantheons, the Palestines,
The Meccas of the mind ! "
We dedicate to-day this boulder and this bronze tablet as a last-
ing monument and memorial to the Founders, the Fathers, the
Pastors, and the Patriots of this community. What niche each
one of them filled in the domestic, social, civil, intellectual, or
religious life of this neighborhood, or what contribution each made
to the common weal, it is not fitting for me to attempt to say, nor
could I measure, compute, or estimate it, were I to undertake
the task. But we know that as no man's life in any community is
void of influence, so we are sure that from the lives of these men
whom we commemorate to-day there went out into the sphere of
their lives, their activities, their endeavors, mighty formative in-
fluences which are not yet lost to view in their descendants, and
which will continue to widen and develop in their scope and power
in the advancing years, as the rippled waters move with ever
enlarging circles, till their movement and momentum are swallowed
up in the measureless ocean.
HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY 77
Some of these were men in comparatively humble walks of life;
some others of them, in the providence of God and by the
favor of their fellow-citizens, were called to broader fields of en-
deavor, influence, and usefulness; still others offered their lives
and sacred honor in defense of home and native land, while some
stood as spiritual monitors and religious advisers in the sacred
desk, to declare according to the light given to them, and in the
measure of their knowledge and convictions, the relations of them-
selves and their fellow-men to God and the great eternity that lies
beyond the limits of time and sense.
We honor them to-day as men who, in either low or high sta-
tion, acted well their part, performed faithfully the duties that
came to their hands, and finally, having served their generation
grandly and nobly, died, leaving to their children the rich legacy
of a good name, which Holy AVrit declares is rather to be chosen
than great riches.
The world is better because of their lives, their descendants take
pride in and rejoice in the memory of all that they contributed to
the betterment of humanity, and their children rise up and call
them blessed.
And now, as the day declines towards the eventide, and the
shadows lengthen over their grass-grown graves, we leave them to
their quiet rest:
" Under the flowers and the dew,
Waiting the judgment day."
dedicating to their sacred memories this boulder and its bronze
tablet, to be and remain forevermore the eloquent witness to their
labors as founders, their virtues as fathers, their devotion as pas-
tors, and their sacrifices as patriots! And with the poet we say:
" Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade,
Where heaves the turf in many a moldering heap.
Each in his narrow cell forever laid
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.
" No further seek their merits to disclose.
Or draw their frailties from their dread abode, —
(There they alike in trembling hope repose,) —
The Bosom of their Father and their God ! "
Another college friend of Mr. Adams was the Hon. Webster R.
Walkley, D. C. L.
78 MIDDLETOWN UPPEK HOUSES
Founders, Fathers, and Pastors Day
"Webster Rogers Walkley, D. C. L.
To Thee ! 0 God ! our Father's God
We lift our hearts in prayer and praise
For this the land the Pilgrims trod
Preserved to us from earliest days.
Their faith and hope, their skill and toil
Laid broad and deep foundations sure.
Our Freedom grew on such rich soil —
And Liberty which will endure.
We live to see what they have wrought;
To gather Tiarvests from their sowing,
They builded better than they thought
Our barns are filled to overflowing.
They tilled the soil, they sowed the seed;
Yet harvests rich they never reaped;
For every want they found its need;
The wealth of years— their children heaped.
We come to lay upon their graves
The grateful offerings of our love
With trust in God, no fear enslaves
Their faith was sure, they rest above.
We come to honor these brave men
Who lived and wrought in years gone by.
How short the span 'twixt now and then
Their mem'ry lives, it shall not die.
Here now we place this boulder old
By ice-floes borne from Arctic shore;
Of names inscribed it will be told
Their virtues live forever more.
We come to grave upon this stone
The records of their well-spent lives;
The shields they wore their children own,
The truth they taught still lives and thrives.
Webster Rogers Walkley. D. C. L.
(See page 78)
^^if^^*^
/J. yjrz:^ujz\
(See page 74)
HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY 79
We honor men who fought and won
And waged fierce conflicts for the right;
The throbbing heart of every son
Proclaims them heroes in the fight.
We honor men for what they've done,
The laurel wreath's for victories gained,
The crowns they wear, if worthily won,
Are never by dishonor stained.
From Plymouth Rock to farthest shore
" The songs of Liberty arise.
Our country's free; enslaved no more
Are those who dwell beneath its skies.
The Sower has gone; He has passed on.
The seed ho scattered bore rich grain.
The Reaper has come; from work well done
He gathers much, much is his gain.
I love these templed groves, these rocks and hills.
These meadows fair and green, these laughing rills
That flow from bubbling springs on mountainside.
And dash in foam to greet the ocean's tide.
I love these wooded vales, where shadows creep
And wrap dream robes about us while we sleep.
And lift tall ladders from the earth to heaven,
On which we seem to climb, 'till clouds are riven,
And flecks of sunshine come through, leafy bowers
To wake and chide for these neglected hours.
I love these fields which lie on sunny slopes,
And oft conceal the seeds of harvest hopes.
I love to watch the growing crops of corn,
Whose leaves are gemmed with pearls of dewy morn;
I love to see the blades of springing grass —
Wild flowers which nod as we in silence pass.
I love to hear the songs of these wild birds.
In sweeter notes than I can tell in words.
We lie awake and watch the coming day
Their songs of praise should teach us how to pray.
T love to hear the church bells as they ring
In biting winter days — or in the spring.
When God's breath brings life to sleeping flower.
And makes men feel His omniscient power.
80 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
Except the seed shall die, no blade of corn
Shall hold the crystal pearls of dewey morn.
If we obeyed the lessons we've been taught.
All through our life has been this happy thought —
God gave us life. Through Him we move and live,
As much we have received, much shall we give.
Five half-centuries have fled;
■«» We cannot count the dead;
They sleep in yonder graves.
Sunlight falls in waves
Of glory and of light,
And keeps forever bright
The names of honored sons,
Not graven on these stones.
They live in every heart,
Their spirits may take part
With us to-day in praise,
In speech, in Joyful lays,
As we our tribute bring
To thank our God and King
For all his wondrous grace.
Love beams on every face,
Joy laughs in every eye.
Above, the arching sky
With its eternal blue
In glory bends to view
The day we celebrate.
Who were these men who here first built their homes.
The spring or source from which our history comes?
The land was a grant from the State or crown.
To men of repute who had gathered renown.
From words they had spoken or deeds they had done.
Such find reward. Oft it comes late, but none
More deserving than those who dare to do right,
And cut away forests to let in the light.
Who were these men? We cannot name them all;
Children of their children may answer to our call;
But now all are gone, their names fade away,
As blushes of twilight at close of the day.
Home of our fathers, where their dust now reposes,
HISTOEY OF THE SOCIETY 81
O'er whose graves is the breath of sweet summer roses; —
Though stones, which marked where their bodies decay,
Have crumbled and fallen, and are nothing but clay,
Their memory lives, and is as green as the leaves,
And as rich as the grain of ingathered sheaves.
«
What makes men great? Who weighs? What turns the scale?
Is't fortune's breath, or some more favoring gale?
Who mans life's bark ? Who watches for the star
That never moves, yet tells just where we are?
Whose hand is on the helm? Who marks the course?
What pilot guides the way? What force
Impels, compels, 'gainst wind, and wave, and tide,
Tlio ship to sail, or in the harbor to abide?
Though clouds obscure the sun by day; at night
Who finds in northern skythe glimmering light
To which all men turn, who go down in ships
To bear the commerce of the world. Our lips
Are sealed, yet there comes an answering voice —
'Tis God in man. The soul within. Eejoice;
What makes men great? The soul within that burns.
A conscience clear that lights and warns and turns
And gives us strength to know, to do, to dare.
To hope, to trust, to live the good to share?
Wliat makes men brave ? Their thoughts, their lives, their aims.
To love or truth, what are a coward's claims ?
What makes men great? The truth that lives within.
That grows and spreads, and crushes out the sin.
Our work is here, the future ne'er is ours ;
We plant and toil to-day. He sends the flowers.
We bide His time. We wait for golden sheaves.
Though oft we find that nothing grew but leaves.
Memory, Sentinel of the Past, stands on guard to-day
With form erect and piercing glance she points to us the way
To chambers vast and old, where hidden treasures lie;
The records of immortal deeds, of men not born to die.
We walk amid the graves where many of our kindred sleep,
We hold in sweet remembrance, and most lovingly do keep
The history of their lives, some were not unknown to fame,
Others wrought most worthily and left an honored name.
82 MIDDLETOWN" UPPER HOUSES
As we view the landscape o'er, the distant hills that kiss the sky,
The river winding at our feet, whose waters pass so swiftly by
The wooded glen, the shady grove, the meadows, fair and green,
We ask ourselves where Nature paints as beautiful a scene ?
We, their children, gather here, the offspring of the long ago.
When men were brave and women fair, and dared their courage
show.
Who wrought by day and toiled by night, scattering precious seed
Which blossomed into fruitage rich for direst hour of need.
Looking backward o'er fleeting months of still more fleeting years,
What pictures memory paints ! Here hours of joy. there hours of
tears,
Though cups were filled with ruby wine, oft they left a bitter taste,
And goblets filled with nectar were broken in our haste.
Youth full of ardent hope builds many castles in the air.
Bathed in morning light or tinged by sunset's gold how fair!
With shaded walks about, and fountain's mist of spray, and songs
of birds —
The scene is too enchanting for us to paint in words.
Youth plucks the daisies in the meadows, and the buttercups of
June,
Like the flowers it gathers, it wilts and fades as soon.
The scarlet rose of manhood seems a flower of sturdier growth,
The blush of womanhood reveals our nature's subtlest truth.
Fathers and Founders and Pastors still live,
Our sight may be dimmed, we cannot behold.
Though in spirit they meet us, the lessons they give
Are of God, and His truth same as of old.
Fathers, how deep the meaning of that word !
What sainted forms doth memory recall!
How are our inmost feelings thrilled and stirred.
As we lisp their names or hearken to their call !
Founders are they who laid the foundation.
And builded above the State, church, and school;
United are these in all their relations.
Sustaining, supporting with wisdom to rule.
HISTOEY OF THE SOCIETY 83
Those Pastors who preached the word of the Lord,
Who cared for the flocks given into their care,
Though servants of peace kept burnished the sword,
Their trust was in God, in powder, and prayer.
The real man is invisible, unseen;
A soul within reveals his worth and power.
It lightens up his face with smiles of truth,
And looks beyond to an immortal life.
He is taller than his height. His right arm
Doth not measure strength. His real nobler self
Beaches, expands toward the Infinite.
He is broader than his shoulders, or his breast;
Weightier than avoirdupois of scales.
I'ruth in the soul seeks light. As seeds do burst.
And spring from Mother Earth to bud and flower.
So the spirit of a man doth make great.
Such are the pivots on which epochs turn;
Such men make the history of the world;
Sometimes at stake in martyrs' fire they burn.
Yet new eras dawn.
And now on busy street shall stand
For life and work so nobly grand,
This boulder old, that all may learn
That one is great who can discern
The power of will which gives one might,
And strengthens men to do the right.
The poem was followed by an address by C. Collard Adams on
"Two Pioneers, Captain Nathaniel White and Captain Hugh
White."
Miss Hattie Hubbard, an elocutionist of high ability, gave a
recitation. This was followed by an address by the Hon. Charles
H. Stanton, M. A., Bursar of Hamilton College:
The New Cromwell
If I am to speak, it must be for the Cromwell in Oneida County,
New York. You may not find the name there, but you will not
search in vain for the spirit.
The eastern part of the Mohawk Valley was settled by the
Dutch. If you could stop just west of Utica, in your rapid flight
84 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
on the New York Central Railroad, for a more careful inspection
of the eighty-foot column that stands on the hill beside that
great thoroughfare, an enduring monument to mark the Oriskany
battlefield, you would be delighted with the bronzes depicting the
scenes of that conflict, which ranks as one of the decisive battles
of the Revolution : you would be charmed with the classic in-
scription written by Professor Edward North, who went to his
lifelong and memorable work in Hamilton College from your
neighboring Berlin, but, as you attempted to read the tablets
which record the names of the heroes who fought for us that day,
you would find them deeply, unmistakably Dutch.
But, wait! Middletown Upper Houses is to be heard from. A
few years after that battle in the wilderness another is to begin
near by. In the springtime of 1784 Hugh White, a stalwart
man from this village, is slowly pushing his way westward, past
the Dutch settlements of the eastern Mohawk, past the burned
houses and devastated fields of the middle valley, wasted by ruth-
less Indians and Tories, stopping finally just east of the battle-
(Icld, where the Sauquoit from the south joins the winding waters
of the Mohawk. Here, in the wilderness, surrounded by Indians,
forty inil(>s from other settlers and the greatly needed gristmill,
he builds his habitation in what is to become the beautiful village
of Wiiitesboro, now a western suburb of Utica. Here he was to
win a victory greater than that of the battle; here, a hundred years
later, his labors and virtues were to be celebrated in a great me-
morial gathering, and witnessed by a worthy granite shaft erected
on the village grcnm.
With his sturdy sons he clears away the forest, and the fertile
soil yields Tuore abundant crops than the land he had left. From
time to time, shrewd Yankee that he was, he sends back to Crotn-
w(>ll great onions, the tallest stalks and largest ears of corn.
But the evidences he sent were convincing. One by one the families
lu^re supplied new settlers for the new country. So went the
Risleys, Butlers, Stockings, Eells, Shepards, Hamlins, and others.
Among these, in 1794, went my great-grandfather, Gideon Savage,
great-grandson of John Savage, one of the founders of Middle-
town lT])por Houses. He had returned to Upper Houses after
graduation from the campaigns with Washington in New Jersey
and the hardshi])s of Valley Forge; here he married the daughter
of Aaron White; here his son, in due time, married Elizabeth
Hamlin, descended from Thomas Ranney and from the first pastor,
Rev. -loseph Smith, and thereby, I may humbly add, here am I,
one of the fruits of these alliances.
In the ways I have indicated, Cromwell, transplanted in Oneida
HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY . 85
County, took root and flourished, and ¥gw England began again
in New York. Since then waves of population from Wales, Ire-
land, and now from Italy, have swept over the region as new de-
velopments have occurred, but some of the old stock still remain.
They have a just pride in their ancestry, for they were honest,
industrious, intelligent. God-fearing men and women. To-day
we render grateful tribute to the century and a quarter of heredity
and training here that equipped them for their work.
Such men your town and State sent forth to till our soil, to
build our churches and schools, and to found our colleges. Among
these came Samuel Kirkland, the devoted missionary to the Oneida
Indians, and founded our Hamilton College in 1812. Yale fur-
nished her first president, but the College has paid you back the
whole debt in sending to your State and neighborhood Charles
Dudley Warner and Senator Hawley, and in giving to the nation
Elihu Eoot.
With slight variations, the story I have told you would doubtless
be the story of all these pilgrims, who, from different regions,
have gathered here to-day.
Veneration for a noble ancestry is an interesting theme. A
few weeks ago, when we read Togo's report of his marvelous vic-
tory and his declaration that it was gained not by the strength
of men but by the virtue of their ancestors, we shrugged our
shoulders and passed it by with a halfway feeling of superiority
and compassion for such a lingering, superstitious fetich from
a barbarian past. But were we right? Is not this great, con-
suming, national regard for their forefathers worthy of our
deeper respect? Must we not concede to this noble afPection
similar praise to that compelled from us by their skill in war and
sanitation ?
Then came Eev. Edwin H. Eanney, the patriarch of ei'ghty-two
years, who gave his reminiscences of Cromwell and Middletown
tipper Houses.
Eeminiscences of Middletown Upper Houses and Cromwell
" How dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood,
When fond recollection presents them to view,"
The childhood home is, indeed, to children the dearest spot on
earth; and even when they outgrow their childhood, and as men
and women scatter in different directions over this wide world,
they never lose sight of the dear old homestead wherein they
86 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
were born; nor do they forget the associates and associations of
their early life. New homes, new associations, and new associates
will never entirely obliterate from their memories the scenes and
experiences of their childho.od days.
These thoughts thus briefly expressed will serve as a preface to
what follows as to my own experience. Some twenty-five years ago
I sold out my interest in Cromwell and, bidding adieu to the old
homestead, took my departure for the Sunny South. This move-
ment was made at the suggestion of my wife's sister who was
teaching school in that part of the country, and invited my wife
to join her in her pedagogical work; and I concluded that, while
she was teaching, I might be preaching. I soon found, however,
that I had made the greatest mistake of my life; and the dear
old homestead, with its dearer associations, loomed up before me;
homesickness set in, and I could have kissed the very ground
on which I used to tread. Many a time since I left it I have en-
tered the old home through dreamland, and found myself in full
possession as in days of yorey but the morning dawned, the dream
passed away, and with it went the bright and beautiful vision.
But " There's a divinity that shapes our ends, rough hew them as
we will." And my subsequent experience has led me to indorse
and adopt the sentiment so well expressed by Dr. Bushnell : " Dif-
ferent things are to be done, and God will inspire us for just what
we have to do; and it may be that our inspiration, being for a
riper age, will so far, be of a higher quality," and certainly my riper
age, and riper inspiration, and providential environment have
led to the accomplishment of that of which I never had ante-
cedently earned.
In former days I had some experience in teaching, or trying
to teach, the young idea how to shoot. It was in that age of the
world when teachers boarded around among the patrons of the
school, and I never have forgotten the bill of fare presented before
me by one of these patrons. He must have thought I didn't know
beans, for they were set before me three times a day in one shape
or another. He might, possibly, have considered them to be good
brain food, and thought I needed them. The four or five schools
of Cromwell at that time were sufficient to intellectualize all the
children of that generation.
Knowledge and wisdom prevailed in every school district, and
if the children remained in ignorance it was not the fault of the
teachers. But the three R's graduates were numerous, and some
of them took a postgraduate course in the Academy.
In those days of culture and refinement there was but one fool
in Middletown Upper Houses ! I mean, natural fool, and I am
HISTOEY OF THE SOCIETY 87
quite sure if the fool-killer were to come this way now he would
find his occupation gone. But what a change has come over
Cromwell in educational matters: That large, commodious, mod-
ern edifice, ornamental, as well as useful, and located in the center
of population, has absorbed the lesser lights, and is shining forth
in all its splendor to illuminate and educate the present and future
generations. If, therefore, the future citizens of Cromwell do
not surpass former generations in wisdom and intelligence, they
will not have improved the greater facilities afforded them.
My earlier life was spent in Middletown Upper Houses, to which
place our father returned when I was six years of age. Until then I
had never seen the Connecticut Eiver, and one of the first sights
that greeted my eyes was a brig lying at the wharf adjacent to
the "Ijrick store." To my rural mind it was a picturesque scene,
and the greatest wonder of the age ; at least, of my age. But such
scenes soon became familiar. It was the commercial age of Mid-
dletown Upper Houses, when cargoes of salt, sugar, and molasses
were received direct from the West Indies. But the " Brick Store,"
the wharves, the vessels, and river have long since become obsoles-
cent so far as any foreign trade is concerned. The steamboats going
up and down the river at that time were also a great curiosity.
One of these, the Oliver Cro?nweU, I think, was commanded by
Captain Thomas Stowe, who then lived in what was considered
at that time a beautiful residence on the corner now occupied by
the Baptist Church. These steamers were of the side-wheel
variety and made a much more imposing appearance than the
propellers of the present day. They had what seemed to be a
dangerous way of receiving and landing passengers — instead of
stopping the big boat, they would lower from the davits a small
boat attached to a long rope, and, while the steamer was in motion,
the small boat was run out to the wharf by the propulsive power
which the rope received from the steamer; by this method the
steamer was kept in the channel, and continued on her way. The
house we first occupied when we moved in from Berlin was near
the river in the neighborhood of the aristocracy of Middletown
Upper Houses at that time. The post office was within half a
square of our residence, and did a big business on a small scale,
receiving, I suppose, at least a dozen letters a day. The long-
distance postage on letters then^ was twenty-five cents, and pre-
payment of postage was not required. The stage coach was then
the only conveyance for mails as well as for passengers. Our
postmaster was also a magistrate; he was of large dimensions,
and a large-hearted man. I was in a nearby orchard one day and
under one of the apple trees I found a small tin box, which turned
88 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
out to be the money box of the postmaster. I never knew how
much money it contained, but on returning it to him I received
a four-pence-half-penny, equivalent in those days to six and a
quarter cents, which to my poor little pocket was, as it were,
a bonanza. I considered myself amply rewarded. I mention this
simply to show that honesty in those days did not go unrewarded.
The next move of our family, two years later, was to a house on
the bank of the river, not far from our first and former residence.
On the opposite side of the street was a large house which had been
used as a tavern in the days of our commercial prosperity. Next
to the tavern was a smaller building used as a hat factory. Our
next neighbor on the bank of the river was a sea-faring man, whose
wife, known to us children as Aunt Hannah, used to give us
tamarinds, which her husband was in the habit of bringing home
with him on his return from sea voyages, and we children acquired
a love for Aunt Hannah through our love for her tamarinds.
On the opposite side of the street from Aunt Hannah was an-
other sea-faring man who had an interesting history as being one
of a crew captured and held in captivity by the Arabs. After
much suffering he was finally released and returned home. The
neighborhood was noted for sea-faring men. Besides those already
alluded to, were Captain Bailey, Captain Parker, Captain McKee,
Captain White, Captain Tim. Savage, and Captain Mildrum, all
of whom are pleasantly remembered as good neighbors.
Occasionally there would be shooting-matches on a small scale
near the hat factory. Robins and swallows were the sufferers.
The point aimed at was to hit the birds on the wing, i. e., while
they were flying, and I think one of the Eells boys proved to be the
best marksman.
And there was shipbuilding in those days. The shipyard of
Captain Webber was a busy place, and many a vessel was intro-
duced to the Connecticut River from its ways. A few vessels of
less tonnage were also built a few rods to the south of our residence.
The aristocratic part of our neighborhood was somewhat noted
for summer visitors from New York. One of these visitors was
in the habit of bringing with him his horses and carriage; the
driver, a colored man, would take the horses to the river to give
them a bath; on one occasion he ventured out too far, and the
horse he was riding, becoming frightened, threw him off, and
he was drowned. A little further on up the river there lived a
distinguished citizen whose personality attracted considerable at-
tention, as he was regarded a curiosity, especially by the children;
he was distinguished by his Lilliputian proportions. The lower
Middletowners were in the habit of enlisting him in their fan-
HISTOEY OF THE SOCIETY 89
tastic, Invincible parades. But notwithstanding his diminutive
stature he was a peaceable and useful citizen. The schoolhouse
in our neighborhood, with its cupola and bell, was worthy of our
aristocratic and well-to-do citizens; it was well located, and its
architecture was all that could be expected in the days when the
schoolroom was furnished with desks which ornamented the three
walls to which they were attached; and the backless seats were
adjusted accordingly; so that the white walls were the silent
witnesses of the hieroglyphics which the scholars would make with
their knives and pencils. Eeligious meetings were often held
in the schoolhouse at early candle-light, and the neighbors were,,
of course, depended on to furnish the lights, and the way the
brass candlesticks were polished up for the occasion showed
the interest the ladies took in the meeting, while the dim religious
light seemed an inspiration to the minister, and threw over the
little assembly a hallowed influence. Precious days, precious
memories ! " Gone, but not forgotten." Within a few rods of the
schoolhouse was the beautiful residence of the beloved physician
of the village, Dr. Sylvester Bulkeley. Of all the families of
Middletown Upper Houses the Sages and Savages were the most
numerous. The fishing industry was then carried on to a con-
siderable extent, and seines and fishhouses were in evidence on
both sides of the river. Shad were then abundant in the Con-
necticut Eiver, and it was said that sixteen hundred were caught
in one haul of the net at the Jefferson fish place on the opposite
side of the river. This may or may not be a fish story, I cannot
vouch for it. Sturgeon were also plentiful. The fishermen had
a unique way of dividing the catch when it was small : The shad
were of different sizes, and in order to equalize each one's share
as accurately as possible they would lay the shad into as many
piles as there were fishermen, and then one of their number
would turn his back to the piles, and another would call out,
"Who shall have that?" and so on to the end of the piles. In
this way the shad were satisfactorily distributed. A shilling then
would buy a large-sized shad.
We now leave the river and go west about three-eighths of a
mile. About midway between our new residence and the old
was the Zenas Edwards tavern. In those days this tavern was
well patronized by the traveling public, and by our own citizens
as well. Both solid and liquid refreshments were served. Among
the attractions to the tavern was a nine-pin alley, afterwards
changed to a ten-pin alley, in order to nullify a new law against
the nine-pin ally; this alley was well patronized by the clubmen
of Middletown, whose patronage of the bar would pay for the use
90 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
of the alley. But as bowling alleys were multiplied this particular
one gradually fell into " innocuous desuetude." About thirty
rods west of the tavern was a slaughter-house, which supplied meat
for the villagers and Middletowners. There was no beef trust then
to monopolize the business and control the market, and the great
Chicago was then in its infancy.
With our change of residence my school days were transferred
from the Bell schoolhouse to the brick schoolhouse, which stood
on the roadside, about five and twenty rods west of the Nathaniel
White school building. I had pretty well mastered ISToah Web-
.ster's spelling book, and was now prepared for the higher branches,
and soon found myself wrestling with the three R's, in two of which
I became quite proficient. It was customary in those days for the
teacher to give, what was then considered, beautifully engraved
certificates as rewards of merit to those who excelled in their
studies and deportment, and at the close of the school term
the older scholars would receive books. In those days the
singing-school was an interesting institution, especially to the
beaux and belles of the village. The old brown schoolhouse, which
stood just a few rods west of the Congregational Church, was
the trysting place, and the chorister of the church was the teacher;
and the boys and girls were pretty thoroughly drilled in the rudi-
ments of music. The only " department " store in the village was
owned and conducted by Elisha Stocking. He was a model mer-
chant and did business on strictly honest principles. In those
days delivery wagons were unlcnown and purchasers delivered
their own goods. The apple orchards of Middletown Upper Houses
furnished an abundant supply of fruit, both for the cellars and the
cider mills. The first cider mill I remember stood at the point
of intersection of the two roads just west of Dowd's brook, near
where stood the old Fletcher Ranney house. A half mile or so
further west was the Ezra Sage cider mill. The apples were
laid in a large circular trough and were crushed to a pulp by a
ponderous roller moving round the circle by horse-power. Cheeses
were then made of the pomace, and large tubs below the plat-
form received the juice that was pressed out, and we boys showed
our interest in the operation by means of straws with which we
sampled the contents of the tubs and barrels. There were two tan-
neries in the village, one of which was the Dowd tannery, the
other, located some forty rods west of our place of residence, was
owned and operated by my grandfather. Deacon William Ranney.
There lived in the wild woods west of the new cemetery, an old
man by the name of Simon Hubbard. He made salve and peddled
it, and Simon Hubbard's salve was the best and the only salve in
HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY 91
the market. Of the quarries of Middletown Upper Houses I need
not speak, except to say that the Towner quarry, the first one
opened, produced an excellent quality of stone, which would com-
pare favorably with that of any of the Cromwell quarries. Its long
distance from the river, however, was a hindrance to its success.
A loco-foco match factory was for a while one of the industries
of Middletown Upper Houses. It was situated on the turnpike
about midway between the tavern and the Williams corner. It
was a small affair, but revolutionized the method of starting fires,
and was a wonderful thing in that day and generation. It con-
signed the tinder-box, with its flint and steel, to the curiosity shop.
Very few of the present population of Cromwell remember the
firm of Sage & Russell, carpenters and builders, who carried on
an extensive business in what is now the Hale and Boardman
neighborhood. The piles of lumber that were in evidence there
in those days, and the workshop, with its dozen or more of men ply-
ing their planes, saws, and hammers, gave to that section of the
town an industrial aspect, indicative of thrift, both to the em-
ployed and employers. Many a good mechanic in that line of
business served his apprenticeship in that establishment. But em-
ployers and employees have long since laid aside their implements
of industry and passed on to the life beyond, where houses are
not made with hands.
Northwest Cromwell also had an industrial plant which furnished
to the country a superior quality of hammers. This plant was
owned and operated by the brothers, Marvin and Isaac Warner,
well known by the present generation, and kindly remembered as
being among our most useful and respected citizens.
The founders of the plant in North Cromwell have long since
passed away, but their works remain to testify of their ingenuity
and enterprise in the building up of an establishment which has
contributed so much to the welfare of Cromwell. The products
of their industry have been distributed in every part of the country
the Christmas sun shines on, to the delight and amusement of
young America; and may this delight and amusement long cqn-
tinue from the same source.
A brick kiln was once one of the industries of Middletown Upper
Houses. It was located on the Joseph Edwards property near
to what was the entrance to " Fuj-Neck." In the woods of that
vicinity were numerous shellbark walnut trees, which furnished
the boys of the neighborhood their winter's supply of the finest
quality of walnuts, and the Round Meadow nearby was our skat-
ing park. In my last round there on skates I was tripped up
by coming in contact with shell ice, and went home with a bloody
92 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
face. That ended my skating days. I will make mention here
of a remarkable event which occurred when I was thirteen years
old, and I suppose I was the only one in Middletown Upper
Houses who witnessed it. It was about three o'clock in the morn-
ing of ISTovember 13, 1833. As I was lying in bed I happened to
look out of the window and one of the grandest spectacles the
world ever saw met my eyes. Meteors were falling thick as snow-
flakes; it was a magnificent sight, and I afterwards regretted that
I did not rouse the neighborhood to see it.
A comb manufactory, on a small scale, was one of the indus-
tries of Middletown Upper Houses; it did not flourish to any
great extent, however, and had but a brief existence. The proprie-
tor was postmaster for a short time, and was probably the first to
introduce the letter-carrier system into the Post Office Department.
On a Sunday he would kindly take with him to church the letters of
those who lived at a distance, and deliver them to the addressee.
He did not long remain a resident of the place. A vault in the
old cemetery which he built for the last resting-place of a daugh-
ter bears silent testimony to his useful and honorable career as a
citizen of the town.
At the Nooks lived Alexander Sage, whose extensive and widely-
known watermelon patch invited trespassers from all directions.
A boatload of young men and women from Middletown visited the
place on a Sunday, and on the return trip the boat capsized and
two of the women were drowned. The event caused quite a sen-
sation at the time, and was regarded a retributory act of Provi-
dence for the violation of the Lord's day.
There were two -churches in Middletown Upper Houses; the
Congregational, which stood on the village green, and the Baptist,
which stood some fifteen or twenty rods below. I well remember
Eev. Joshua L. Williams, pastor of the Congregational Church,
who lived in the house now occupied by the family of the late
Joseph Edwards. With pastor Zebulon Crocker I was better ac-
quainted, and it was during his pastorate that a more friendly
feeling existed between the two denominations; a union Sun-
day School picnic was one of the results of this friendly feeling.
At this picnic I was highly honored in being called upon by Pastor
Crocker for a speech. Now speechifying was not in my line of
business; but I ventured to launch out. I am happy to say there
were no reporters for the press around in those days, and fortu-
nately there is no one now living, except myself, tliat remembers
anything about it; but the woods where the picnic was held are
still standing, so they were not blasted by it, though it was a
scorcher. The Congregational Church edifice was a two-story
HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY 93
square-frame building, and, as it had galleries its seating capacity
must have been about four hundred; its pulpit was elevated some
eight or ten feet above the first floor, and had a large, ponderous-
looking sounding-board overhead. Besides the regular narrow
slips, there were numerous large, square, family pews. But the
Congregationalists outgrew their place of worship and built the
finer, larger and more commodious structure on the hill and
matched it with a fine, brick parsonage.
The Baptist meeting house originally stood on the green near
where the Catholic Church now stands; it was a frame building
sixty by forty-five feet, with the narrow slips and family pews
arrangement. The first pastor I remember was Elder Frederick
Wightman, who was the father of the eminent lawyer, Stillman K.
Wightman, one of whose sons is following in the footsteps of his
grandfather as Baptist preacher. In those days the church was
heated by wood fires in long, box stoves, and little foot-stoves
filled with live coals were used by the ladies, who found them
indispensable to their comfort.
The ladies living at a long distance from the church would
bring their lunch with them, and in the summer season during the
intermission between the morning and afternoon services they
would resort to the residence of a neighbor nearby to enjoy the
fragrance of the flowers, and the flavor of the fennel which the
garden supplied in great abundance. After the resignation of
Elder Wightman the meeting house was moved to the more central
location just below the village green; here alterations were made
and the interior modernized; the pulpit was placed in front be-
tween the two outside doors, and the seats arranged accordingly, so
that timid people coming in late would have to go through the ter-
rible ordeal of facing the congregation. But it had one advantage ;
it saved the necessity of turning the head to see the newcomer.
But, like their neighbors, the Congregationalists, the Baptists
outgrew their old house of worship and built the more modern and
commodious edifice on the hillside where the residence of Capt.
Thomas Stow once stood. Here they have worshipped for many
years, and will continue to hold the fort in defense of the faith
once delivered to the saints.
The military parades of that daycare worthy of mention. Armed
and equipped as the law required, the valiant soldiers would march
up and down the streets of the village, preceded by martial strains
of music from fife and drums, and followed by a crowd of young-
sters to whom such displays of military maneuvers were more
attractive and interesting than to those who were affording them so
much of amusement and recreation. These annual parades ex-
94 MIDDLETOWN UPPEK HOUSES
»
empted those who participated in them 'from certain taxes and thus
compensated them for their observance of the law.
Cromwell can boast of two institutions that were never dreamed
of by the inhabitants of Middletown Upper Houses : First, the
Savings Bank. The people at that time were not, as a rule, over-
burdened with money; there were but few exceptions, and these
few were under the necessity of taking their surplus to Middletown.
In those days there was much less danger of losing money and
other valuables by midnight marauders ; indeed, such a thing as
burglary was unknown, and people could retire for the night with
the latch-string out, and sleep soundly and safely, with none to
molest or make them afraid. But in these times of Frenzied
Finance, when speculation and peculation are the order of the day,
Savings Banks are indispensable to the protection and benefit of
the community.
The other institution of which our ancestors never dreamed is
the Chinese Laundry. China was a walled-in Empire away the
other side of the planet, and it never occurred to them that these
walls would one day be broken down, and the Chinese go swarming
all over the world. And then alien laundries in rural districts
were unnecessary. Simplicity and economy in dress made family
washes light compared with those of the present day. But the
great change that has taken place in the wardrobes of modern
times makes the laundry business boom. And the Celestial who
is plying his earthly profession in your midst is one of the best
of his nationality.
Citizens of the Cromwell of to-day : I most heartily greet you,
and congratulate you on having in your midst our enterprising
friend, Charles Collard Adams. On him you have depended for
planning and executing this beautiful tribute to former distin-
guished citizens of your town. This tablet shows how well he has
accomplished the work you committed to his hands. I can readily
understand that in the performance of this duty he has expe-
rienced as much pleasure as his fellow-citizens are now experi-
encing in the reception and contemplation of the finished work.
It marks a new epoch in the history of Cromwell. The ante-
cedent period leading up to it is full of interesting events which
will be indelibly impressed on the minds of the present and
future generations. This tablet is a viewpoint from which we
may not only look into the past, but watch with greater in-
terest the unfolding of the future. It has been said that " it
is as natural for a man to wish for imperishable fame as for
an eternal existence." The author of these words, Bushnell,
achieved for himself the imperishable fame, and long since entered
HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY 95
upon his eternal existence ; but Buslmell Park will ever be resound-
ing with his praise by the citizens of Hartford. Ordinarily monu-
ments are objects of interest only to the family to which the de-
ceased belonged. In this busy world of ours the dead are soon for-
gotten. Yet there are those whose lives are so interwoven with the
lives of others, and specially prominent in public life, as to merit
and receive such honors as are now accorded to the group whose
names are immortalized on these tablets.
" Lives of great men all remind us.
We can make our lives sublime ;
And, departing leave beliind us.
Foot-prints on the sands of time."
The closing address of the celebration was given by the Rev.
Edward Eells, descendant of the second pastor, on
The Colonial Pastor
Someone will ask " What has this to do with Bunker Hill
Day ? " This much can be truthfully said of the pastors of our
colonies, particularly in New England, " They made the men who
made the fight." Among those heroes upon whose graves you
have placed your silken flags this afternoon, together with those
born here in Upper Houses but buried in other spots or left unbur-
ied, hastily placed in a shallow and unmarked grave amid the stress
of marches and of battles for our Country's freedom, soldiers of
the War of the Revolution were three sons of my ancestor, the
Rev. Edward Eells. They had sat under his preaching from
babyhood. He had taught them their catechism. He had instilled
into their forming minds the sturdy sense of duty, of devotion, of
self-sacrifice, of high ideals, from which they did not swerve
through eight years of constant battling. They had few books,
no papers, no magazines. Such honest thoughts as they had they
got from hearing their father in his home and in the pulpit of the
meeting house which stood on the green only a few rods south
of this church. And as a man thinketh so is he.
My parson ancestor also sent his own boys to the battlefield.
Edward was already in the '' troop of horse " commanded by Capt.
Comfort Sage, when the news of- Lexington came, and he started
the next day. My pastor ancestor was not spared to go himself,
as did three of his sons, for in the autumn of 1776, the birth year
of our Independence, he was laid in yonder cemetery, having said,
" Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace ; for mine
eyes have seen Thy salvation."
96 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
We know that his last sermons must have rung with the hattle
cry of freedom while his younger brother, Nathaniel, life-long
pastor at Stonington, was one of the recruiting parsons who gave
his people from the pulpit the news of Lexington and called on
them to arm and fight for God and liberty. Then seizing the
musket which he had with him in the pulpit he sprang down
among his congregation crying, " Who will go to the war with
me?"
" A hundred hands flung up reply.
A hundred voices answered, ' I '."
And now in parting we wish to thank you again for your
welcome to those who have come to you as partial strangers on a
sacred pilgrimage to the resting place of our ancestors, worthy of
their honor and love. We are strangers no longer. You have re-
ceived us with open hearts; we bid you good-by with hearts full
of grateful regret. For your kindness to the living, for your faith-
ful care of the graves of the departed, for your generosity in beau-
tifying their resting place, we thank you and love you more than
we can tell. Wlienever you send us word we will gladly assemble
here again, from the different quarters of our land; and in the
meantime we leave to your faithful guardianship the graves which
hold our heroes' sacred dust.
WM. F. J. BOARDMAN
(See page 772)
Walter Colly er Faxon^
(See page 66)
Rev. William Forkess
(See page 97)
Daniel J. Donahoe
(See page 127)
EEUNION OF THE SOCIETY
June 19, 1907
On May 1 the invitation to, and program of, the Fourth Ee-
union of the society was mailed. The day of the reunion was fair,
and the program was thoroughly carried out.
At 9.30 A. M., on arrival of the early trains, there was a gath-
ering on Stocking Triangle, and the group was photographed by
Mrs. Iva Grover, who has been official photographer to the So-
ciety. Then followed the
Address of Welcome
Eev. William Porkess
Mr. Vice President: I count it a great pleasure to have the
opportunity of giving the address of welcome to those who are
visiting Cromwell to-day in connection with the Eeunion of the
Society of Middletown Upper Houses. There are certain words
in our language which seem to strike the cords of oiir nature
whenever they are uttered. One of those words, I think, is " Ee-
union." Many of you to-day are taking each other by the hand
and looking into each other's faces for the first time in two years.
It may even be longer than this. To you, therefore, the word " Ee-
union " arouses within your nature feelings of joy. The word,
however, not only brings joy, but also sadness. Some of you,
perhaps, no longer see the faces that you saw at the last gathering.
Their work in this world is over and they have been called to a
superior world to do a superior work. Therefore, I think, to the
intelligent a reunion such as this has its mixture of joy and sad-
ness. It also has the effect of spurring us on to do all that is
within our power for the world in which we live, remembering that
the longest life is but short. Now the primary object of this gather-
ing to-day, if I rightly understand it, is to do honor to the men
who founded this town now called Cromwell, and also to those who
were connected with it in its eafly stages. Many to whom I am
speaking may have the blood of these men in their veins, and to
you it must be an especial joy to be present on this auspicious
occasion. There are those of us who cannot claim any relationship,
yet we are pleased to unite with the descendants because we know
through the records of history we are doing honor to men of char-
97
98 MIDDLETOWN" UPPEE HOUSES
acter and men who believed in progress. I can never think of the
men of progress and of character who have lived before ns without
feeling that we are indebted to them — we have borrowed from
them. We often l)oast of being independent, but, really, when we
come to go deeply into life there is no such thing as being inde-
pendent. We have borrowed from preceding generations, and were
it not for their spirit of progress and their exemplification of char-
acter, which have been handed down and infused into present-day
life we should not see the marks of progress and of character
that we do. This truth of human nature, I believe, ignores any
particular country; it is too universal to be confined to any geo-
graphical limitations. The past has handed on to the present, and
the present is continually drawing from the past. May I illustrate
this? My eye catches the date of 1650, which you see upon this
stone. That was the time when Oliver Cromwell was fighting for
the rights and freedom of the people across the Atlantic. He did
not care anything about being head of England. Exalted political
position was a small thing to him. He was, however, all on fire
for the righteous claims of the people. The spirit of such a man,
I say, was the spirit of a nobleman. Now, let us jump 257 years,
and what do you find in this America of to-day? You have in
your Chief Executive a man who has the same cause at heart
and the same spirit that Oliver Cromwell had. May we not des-
ignate President Eoosevelt as the Oliver Cromwell of 1907? He
is not working for his own ends, but rather for the rights and
freedom of the many countries that are represented by the teeming
millions who have flocked to this land. Let this reunion to-day,
then, make us think of our indebtedness to all noblemen of the
past, men who have stood f'ov the highest type of character, men
who have dared to do the thing that was right, never stopping for
one moment to consider the consequences, men who have always
sought the welfare of the masses, men who have striven to honor
God and to let the spirit of Jesus Christ light up their lives. Such
men have left to the world a lasting legacy. Though dead they yet
speak. So as we emulate their example can we hope to have a
share in leaving that mark of influence upon the world which
can never be erased. Again, Mr. Vice President, let me express
the great pleasure it gives me to make the address of welcome to
you on this Eeunion Day.
The response was given by the Vice President, Mr. John
Goodhue Eanney, as follows :
After listening to the warm words of welcome expressed for
NORTH CROMWELL
United States Survey Map of Ckoaiweli, in 1900
AB, AD. BC Original Streets of 1650
HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY 99
us, the representatives of the different "clans," descendants of
" The Middletown Upper Houses," I rise to thank you citizens
of Cromwell, and the speaker who has so ably voiced your greet-
ings to us : And I see gathered about this tablet to " Founders,
Fathers, and Patriots" men of labor and men of thought, who
with reverent hearts draw near and stand beside the names of men
who fought to build and bless this pleasant land.
They, too, were men of toil and thought,
, The noblest that their age could give.
Their names are with our historj' wrought ;
They cannot die, and memory live.
And now again, in behalf of the members here assembled, and
also in the behalf of those absent ones of our " clans " whoso hearts
are with us, I thank you.
A pilgrimage was then made to the streets of 1650, where the
first comers settled, thence to the " Church Green," where the
first schoolhouse before 1713, 'the first church of 1715, and the
second church of 1738 had been erected; thence to the cemetery
of 1713, where the visitors found over thirty graves of Revolu- "
tionary soldiers, each marked with a Betsy Eoss flag and a bronze
marker donated by the Connecticut Society of the Sons of the
American Eevolution, the pastors' graves marked with a flag,
while many of the early graves were designated by large flags.
The Secretary-Treasurer assisted in pointing out the graves of
prominent ancestors of the various clans present.
At noon the business meeting was held in the Baptist Church,
President Frank Langdon Wilcox presiding. The Secretary-Treas-
urer read his report for the two years, which was approved and
accepted with a vote of thanks. The election of officers resulted
as follows :
President, Hon. Frank Langdon Wilcox, Berlin, Conn.
Vice Presidents: Eev. James Eiley Johnson, D. D., Nyack.
N. Y. ; Rev. Francis Goodwin, D. D., Hartford, Conn.; Wm.
Pierrepont White. Utica, N". Y. ; Edgar Jared Doolittle, Meriden,
Conn.; Zenas Edwards Eanney, Middletown, Conn.; John Keyes
Williams, Hartford, Conn.; John Hall Sage, Portland, Conn.;
Charles Eben Jackson. Middletown, Conn.; Frederick Butler
Wightman, New Eochelle, N. Y. ; Geo. H. Blanden, Springfield,
Mass.; Geo. Washburn Stocking, Sisterville, W. Va.
Secretary-Treasurer, Charles Collard Adams, M. A., Cromwell,
Conn.
Executive Committee: The President; Charles Henry Stanton,
Clinton, N". Y. ; Ebenezer Goodhue Ranney, Homer, N. Y. ;
100 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
Arthur Boardman, Cromwell, Conn.; John Goodhue "Ranney,
Syracuse, IST. Y.
The Executive Committee was empowered to transact the busi-
ness of the Society.
Dinner followed, having been prepared in the church parlors
by the Baptist choir who were assisted by their friends, ninety-
five families in all being represented by the gifts on the table.
Grace was said by the Eev. D. B. Hubbard, pastor of the Third
Congregational Church of Middletown.
Public Exercises
These were held in the church at 2 p. m., and were as follows :
Doxology, The Congregation.
Prayer, The Rev. Charles Wightman.
President's Address, The Hon. P. L. Wilcox, M. A.
" Asher Riley and His Tribe," The Rev. James Riley Johnson, D. D.
Solo, Mrs. William Porkess.
" Armorials of Our Ancestors." Mrs. Charles Ernest Cameron.
"Example of Capt. Nathaniel White," The Hon. W. J. Barber.
Solo, Mrs. William Porkess.
" The Rev. Samuel Johnson, D. D., First President of King's
College," Charles Collard Adams, M. A.
" The Builders " — A Poem, The Hon. Daniel J. Donahoe.
" Some Early Cromwell Preachers," The Rev. Percy Butler
Wightman.
Hymn, Blest be the Tie That Binds.
Benediction, Rev. Dr. Johnson.
The addresses follow in the order of delivery :
President's Address
The Hon. Frank Langdon Wilcox, M. A.
In the years of long ago, from the thunderings and clouds
of Mt. Sinai, was given to man the noblest code of laws that was
ever submitted for the government of the human race. Centuries
have rolled along, nations have risen and fallen, the divine in-
tellect of man has molded and advanced our views, progress and
development have encircled the world, until we are all one family
in daily communication one with another. We now understand
things that once were unfathomable mysteries, and not conceiv-
HISTOEY OF THE SOCIETY 101
able in the highest flights of fancy. Yes, since the days of the
wandering Israelites in the wilderness of Arabia, changes, great
changes, have come to the sons of men. Yet no man has suc-
cessfully undertaken to better, by omission or addition, a single
one of those ten stone-graven principles. One of those tried and*
proven bases for human conduct is that we shall " Honor our
fathers and mothers, that our days may be long in the land
which the Lord our God has given us." Eeligiously, sentimen-
tally, and practically, this appeals to us as right. We are creatures
of environment, but more, we are aifected by the laws of heredity.
Personally our natures, dispositions, and possessions come from
our forebears, but our larger testamentary bequests are the be-
neficent joys of a safe and sane life in a country made great and
filled with possibilities by generations of men who have lived,
loved, sacrificed, and died, that our heritage might be priceless
and beyond the power of words to describe. Thou shalt " Honor
thy father and thy mother." It is in the desire to " Honor "
them that the Society of Middletown Upper Houses has its be-
ing, and the only claim that can rightly call you here to-day from
I know not how many States of this Union. We Honor them
when we seek to know the principles upon which they governed
their lives, and strive to find the impelling force which enabled
them to perform deeds of nation building. We Honor them if
their lives inspire us to better and less selfish purposes — for they
do affect our characters. Soul upon soul, and life upon life in-
fluences us in a mysterious way. The influence of our daily com-
panions upon us is a recognized force, and the impress of the
lives of those who lived years ago is but little potent. We all
were affected by the words and scenes at the death bed of our late
martyred President McKinley, but who has not been equally
touched by the picture of General Washington, during the dark
days of the Eevolution, praying in the snow beneath the trees
at Valley Forge! ! A real acquaintance with some people is like
April showers upon the brown, dead sod of winter, or like the
sun upon the blossoming earth about us. It brings out all the
sweetness and beauty of life. If we discover that our fathers
and mothers were made brave, virtuous, patriotic, law abiding,
and home builders by the " Little Eed Schoolhouse on the hill
and the meeting house hard by it." and by the faithful attendance
upon town meetings; if we find that these three influences were
the first established in the comjuunity, and were the most re-
spected forces recognized for the guidance of their lives, then
we would do well to direct our steps in those same paths, that
patterning after the past, we may have for our posterity a similar
103 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
record of accomplishments, and they a like respect for their
ancestors.
I think the object of the Society of Middletown Upper Houses
may be summarized as in the words of an address at a meeting
of the Connecticut Society of the Order of the Pounders and
Patriots of America on August 6, 1898 :
" To have reverent regard for the names, characters, his-
tory, and heroism of the founders of this country and their
Patriotic Descendants.
" To commemorate and celebrate events in the history of
the .colonies and of the Republic.
" To inculcate patriotism in the associates and their de-
scendants.
" To secure these ends by bringing together men and
women whose ancestors struggled together for life and liberty,
home and happiness in this land."
Yes, it is a delightful faculty of our nature that permits our
thoughts, our sympathies, and our happiness to build upon the
past, and to reach out into the future. Daniel Webster said:
" We live in the past by a knowledge of its history, and in the
future by hope and anticipation."
Other associations meet here and there by invitation, by fa-
voring circumstances, or rotation, but this society has always held
their reunions at this early home of their ancestors. We, too,
would cultivate the feeling of home here, and feel that we are
on the spot where the first scene of our history was laid; where
the hearth and altars of New England were first placed. We
look around us, and behold the flowing river, the hills, and fertile
lands that gladdened the eyes of our Fathers. How beautiful
it looked in those early days of the country can be gained from
John Adams, who wrote in 1771, while traveling by horseback
through this valley, " The Connecticut Valley was the finest ride
in America. Nothing can exceed the beauty and fertility of the
country. [Note this] Middletown, I think, is the most beautiful
of all." Dr. Timothy Dwight, President of Yale College, in
September, 1796, thus described the scenery as he looked upon
it from the southward : " Immediately north of the city, lies an
extensive interval through which runs a large mill stream. Be-
yond it, a distance of three miles, appears in full view on the
southern declivity of a fine eminence, the handsome village called
' The Upper Houses.' " A few days later Dr. Dwight passed
HISTOEY OF THE SOCIETY 103
through it, and thus- described his impression: "The parish,
called Upper Houses, is a beautiful tract of fertile land. The
village which bears this name, and contains a considerable part
of the inhabitants, is a thrifty settlement on the southern de-
clivity of a beautiful hill. The houses, about eighty in number,
are generally well built, and the whole place wears an air of
sprightness and prosperity. An advantageous trade is carried on
by the inhabitants, particularly with the West Indies."
A delightful story of the early days of Cromwell could be writ-
ten, and, in fact, was written in 1880 by the Rev. M. S. Dudley,
but I will only ask your attention for a few moments to a brief
description of the land map of the original proprietors of Mid-
dletown Upper Houses, that has often appeared in our publications,
and which appears on page 6 of this volume.
Traveling by land from Hartford to New Haven, Guilford, and
other settlements on the Sound, or by water to Saybrook, Matta-
beseeke, Middletown Upper Houses early attracted attention. The
town meeting records extant begin in 1652; the land grants
were first recorded in 1654 to — "Whereon his house standeth,"
showing thev were already established in their houses. The first
to come to Upper Houses, 1650 or 1651, were Nathaniel White,
Samuel Stocking, George Graves, Eobert Webster, Joseph Smith,
Matthias Treat, John Savage, and William Blomfield.
Blomfield had served in 1637 against the Indians, and about
1655 left the Upper Houses. Webster, son of Governor John, and
ancestor of Noah Webster, became " recorder " in 1654, but re-
turned about 1659 to Hartford, as did George Grave. Both were
eminent in founding the " South Church " of Hartford. Smith
and Treat returned to Stepney, now Eocky Hill. John- Wilcox
bought the Smith and Treat homesteads, but soon sold them to
Samuel Hall who was his cousin. He, Wilcox, settled in Mas-
sachusetts for a few years, but returned to Upper Houses and
brought a part of the* Thomas Hubbard place. Thomas Eannev
took the Grave homestead, and John- Warner (Andrew^) took
the Webster place.
White was on the north side of the street running from Stock-
ing Triangle to the river. Stocking owned on both sides of the
street known as Pleasant, his land extending from the river
westward beyond Stocking Triangle, which was his property. A
few years later came John Kirby on the west side of Pleasant
Street, next south of Stocking; then came David Sage, John
Wilcox, and Thomas Hubbard, while on the south side of " South
Street" was John Savage and Anthony Martin. Hubbard died
in 1671, and John Clark, marrying Elizabeth- White (Nathaniel),
104 MIDDLETOWN UPPEK HOUSES
became the owner of the south half, while John Wilcox owned the
north half of the Hubbard grant.
The original layout must have been done with a knowledge
of freshet conditions; for the land north of White's strip and
the land south of Savage and Martin and Blomfield are covered
by spring freshets. West of the homesteads is a small stream,
known in early days as " Wilcox Brook " bordered by swamp land,
so that the entire settlement was of the nature of an island, which
it really was on May 4, 1854, when the Holyoke, Mass., dam
gave way.
Samuel Stocking had land nearly opposite this (Baptist) church,
and gave it to his daughter, Bethiah, who married Thomas Stow.
The land on which this (Baptist) church stands was allotted to
John Wilcox, and on it he established his son Samuel. In 1695
this grant was confirmed by town vote to Samuel, and a few rods
back of this spot was born Daniel Wilcox who, in the great dis-
tribution of the " Northwest quarter " now known as Bast Ber-
lin, acquired nearly a square mile, and in due time divided it
among his fourteen children, giving them each a house, barn, and
farm. My father was born and lived on one of them.
We have now, in 1780. White, Stocking, Eanney, Warner, Hall,
Savage, Martin, Kirby, Sage, Wilcox, and Clark living on the
" Original Layout," while some of the children had married and
had settled on land up this street towards Hartford, and on either
side of it. In 1687 Edward Shepard was given land next north
of this "Samuel Wilcox homestead,"' having married Abigail
Savage.
In 1703 a " North Church Society " was incorporated by the
General Assembly, the Warner " homestead " was bought for the
" Society," and Eev. David Deming for a few years, and then
Rev. Joseph Smith occupied it, holding services and being paid
by a tax " rate " on each family. On January 6, 1715 (new style),
Mr. Smith was instituted, and the church originated. At this time
hardly a name other than those I have recited above had come
into the " Upper Houses." All the original settlers had died,
while Clark and Stow survived. The cemetery was laid out in
January, 1713, and Thomas Eanney died January 31, 1713, and
his stone would indicate that his was the first burial. f
Let me now sketch as briefly as I may, an account of the
beginnings of our Society, and some of the things we have ac-
complished.
In 1711, and two weeks before his death at eighty-two, Na-
thaniel White, who had represented the town of Middletown in
the Great and General Court for forty-two and one-half years, and
HISTOEY OF THE SOCIETY 105
who had led in the contest to have the Upper Houses receive their
share of the town's school tax money, and had succeeded by the
action of this court in 1709, made his will giving one-fourth of
his interest in the common and undivided land of the town to the
" Schools already established." These were the " Town SchooJ,"
whose schoolhouse stood in the middle of the Main Street of Mid-
dletown, and the school in the Upper Houses. This schoolhouse
undoubtedly stood on the green south of the Baptist Church in
which we are now assembled.
The district system prevailed here until 1901, when the Legis-
lature gave permission to issue bonds for the erection of a fine
edifice. The name, " The Nathaniel White Public School." chosen
by unanimous vote of the town on January 6, 1903, had been
suggested by Mr. Adams, who had devoted much time to a study
of local historv including that of the Patriots of 1776. In 1902
he obtained from the Connecticut Society of the Sons of the
American Eevolution bronze markers, about thirty in number, for
those patriots whose graves here are marked with a stone, and
at the same time he planned to have a reunion on Bunker Hill
Day of descendants of the early families, but deferred his plan
till 1903. On Bunker Hill Day, 1903. a reunion, mostly of the
Ranney clan was held, and a boulder was dedicated to the Pa-
triots "of '76, born here, but buried elsewhere, some on the battle-
fields, some from the prison ships, some from hospitals, while
others had survived and removed to other settlements. So that
every patriot credited with a birth in the Upper Houses was
honored bv this boulder, which, in the distant past, an iceberg
or glacier 'had dropped on the land which became the homestead
of John Kirby. This boulder had been placed outside the old
cemetery grounds. Children carrying flags stood about it and
were photographed, and some recited. From the platform, erected
near bv, addresses were made by various ones, and a photograph
was taken of some fifty persons" grouped about the headstone and
granite block at the grave of Thomas Eanney, the only Founder
who lived to see a cemetery laid out in the tipper Houses. The
granite rock which rests on his grave had been a part of a huge
glacier of which he had been the first white owner, and which
had been brought from "Timber Hill" of which he had been
the first " proprietor." Here the Eanney Memorial and His-
torical Association was founded, with Mr. E. B. Eanney of New
Castle, Penn., as president, he having suggested the formation
•of such an association in a letter which had a substantial cash
gift in it, as an earnest of his interest, and with Mr. S. 0. Ean-
ney and Mr. C. K. Eanney as vice presidents.
106 MIDDLETOWN UPPEK HOUSES
In 1904, on Bunker Hill Day, a much larger celebration was
held, and the mortar and shells were added to the memorial to
the Patriots of '76. Mansfield Post, No. 53, G. A. E., and its
Women's Eelief Corps, with the Post's Drimi Corps, made up from
its veteran members, about one hundred in all, and about two
hundred children, led the descendants in the procession to the
cemetery where the mortar and shells were unveiled by two misses,
one of whom was descended from four patriot^ buried here.
Honors were paid to the dead heroes. Eeturning to the Baptist
Church, exercises were held, and addresses were made by a num-
ber. It was decided to change the name to " The Society of
Middletown Upper Houses," as the Eanney name gave the im-
pression that the association was only for descendants of Thomas
Eanney.
In 1905 we met on July 19, with the thermometer at 94°.
You know just what we did that day, including the incorporating
of the Society, and making as charter members everyone who had
at any time contributed at least one dollar.
At each of these reunions tables were spread in Briggs Hall, and
the ladies of Cromwell provided a dinner, receiving only our
thanks for what labor they had experienced to make our home com-
ing a hearty " Welcome."
But so hearty had been the courtesy of the pastors and people
of this church in opening its doors to us, that it occurred to a
few that electric lights would properly express our appreciation
of this courtesy, and so electricity has been the Baptist " Standard "
since then. This year the ladies of the Baptist Choir and their
friends undertook to prepare the feast of fat things for our wel-
come, and we recognized this hospitality by decreeing that they
should be the beneficiaries of our price of admission to their board
and generosity.
Those who were here in 1905 saw the memorial to the Patriots
located near the cemetery, while the granite and bronze memorial
to the Founders, Fathers, and Pastors was on " Stocking Tri-
angle." To-day they have been seen side by side on " Stocking
Triangle," and their silence speaks to every passer-by. These
Fathers, Founders, Pastors, and Patriots " Being dead yet speak."
To honor the " Church Green " for the uses to which it was
put to in early days our Society has set out twenty-one maple
trees, and may the days to come witness our children and grand-
children gathering beneath their shade.
Our Society is supported by voluntary contributors, etc., but
we have a system of creating Life Membership and our Certificate
seeks to honor all our ancestors through its various features, etc.
HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY 107
Our sixteen page pamphlet, issued May 1, tells our condition
at the time of its issue.
There has also been completed, and is now in course of publica-
tion by the well-known genealogical Grafton Press of New York,
a book of the several clans that settled Middletown Upper Houses,
This is mainly the work of our efficient secretary, Mr, Charles
Collard Adams. He has labored with some considerable co-opera-
tion from many, yet in the face of great indifference and lukewarm-
ness from others who should have felt honored to assist in such
a meritorious object. The edition is limited. Every family of
the descendants of our worthy ancestors should have a copy of the
book for their own use, and as a family record for their children.
In conclusion, I apologize for the length to which I have run
in addressing you. Probably my interest in my subject has over-
topped a better judgment. The Society has an honorable record
up to date. May it go on to greater honors, and may our days
indeed " Be long in the land which has been given to us."
ASHER ElLEY AND HiS TrIBE
The Rev. James Riley Johnson, D. D.
The family Bibles of early settlers, in New England, were
alike counted sacred as records of religion and family names.
In the old Asher Riley Bible, now in my possession, it is written
that, " Asher Riley and Rebecca Sage were married in a. d. 1773,"
and the birthday and name of each of their thirteen children are
supplemented. That Rebecca Sage was my maternal grandmother,
and a sister of Russell Sage's paternal grandfather, therefore, Rus-
sell Sage and I were second cousins, he being, my senior, by birth,
one and a half years, and sixty million dollars in advance of me
financially at death ! The fourth child of Asher Riley and Rebecca
Sage was James, who grew to stalwart manhood in the section
of his birthplace. Here he married, and four children were added
to his home. He worked his way into the seafaring business, and
sailed, commander of his own vessel, between New York and
foreign ports. Outward bound he was storm-wrecked on tihe
barren coast of Africa, losing his ship and cargo. He and his
crew were seized as slaves by wild Arabs and horribly treated for
two years. Ransomed by a noble ^English officer, William Will-
shire, he returned to New York, broken in health and fortune.
He wrote his " Narrative " of slavery in Africa in 1817, which
was published here and in England, and widely read here and
abroad. Captain Riley then abandoned marine business, went out
to northwestern Ohio, entered a section of wild land, laid out the
108 MIDDLETOWN" UPPER HOUSES
village of Willshire, built a mill, surveyed lands, was elected to
the Staate Legislature, and was a stirring man until his health was
impaired by the damp climate. He moved back to New York
City, regained health, and returned to sea life between New York
and the West Indies. In an out-bound trip as commander of his
commercial freighted vessel he died, and was buried at sea, near
the Isle of St. Thomas, in 1840.
The family of Captain Riley inherited much of his mental
power and natural aptitudes. His son, James Watson, has sons,
now active bankers in Ohio, and his daughters, Mrs. Ashley in
Denver, Colo., and Mrs. Hodder in Boston, Mass., are cultured
and refined women. His other son, William Willshire, left no
offspring.
The descendants of the other sons and daughters of the Rileys,
so far as I have known, have been worthy without exception.
Some families are widely scattered through the States, some may
try still to honor New York City; and if the average citizens of
Worcester, Mass., equal those toned with the blood, nobility, social
instincts, and graces of the " Riley colony on and about Bigelow
Hill," that city must be a second Paradise!
The only pre-eminent Riley of our family stock was the late
Right Rev. Doctor Henry Chauncey Riley, D. D., LL. D., Bishop
of Mexico for thirty years, who died there in 1904, He was born
in Chile, 1834, educated in Spanish until seventeen, then en-
tered Columbia University, N. Y., and was graduated, studied more
in England, saw the Holy Land, and soon after commenced his
Episcopal ministry in Mexico City. Mexico, by revolution, became
a republic. Church and state were then separated, and some church
properties were confiscated and sold at auction. Dr. Riley bought
the " Church of Jesus." When he took possession of it, one wing
was occupied as a stable, the other by a circus, and the main body
by rubbish. He put the property in order, and soon had a hearing
by the multitude. He organized forty missions, with native
leaders. Sixteen years ago he visited me in Nyack, and lectured
on Mexico. He was a splendid specimen as a man, refined and
gifted as an orator, and spent his fortune of $300,000, and died
poor. We embraced lovingly when he left me to return, and died
in Mexico.
The early families of Sages, Montagues, Savages, Ranneys, and
Johnsons did much to give form and history to old Connecticut,
Some branches moved west to gain the advantages of new lands.
My parents were of this adventurous class, moving from here to
Mount Vernon, Ohio, where I was born. January 30, 1818. I
am bound by blood and historic environment to Rev, Dr. Samuel
A. M. Ward and Wife. Delia Bidwell
(See page 605)
Ward Griswold Cameron
(See page 606)
HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY 109
Johnson and his son, William Samuel Johnson of Connecticut,
successive presidents of the then " Kings College," in New York,
now Columbia University; to Eev. Joseph H. Johnson, Episcopal
Bishop of Los Angeles, California, relative; and Dr. Eiley, late
Bishop of Mexico, and the late financial Russell Sage, whose body
sleeps in a steel encasement, and dear ones living. Yet, in hope
and sympathy, my country is the world, and my kindred are all
mankind.
As for my own personality, you can know but little. I have
been in the ministry sixty-five years, have been on school boards
twenty years, have been a legislator in Massachusetts, a lecturer
for the Maryland Institute in Baltimore, have built churches,
begged for colleges and charities, have been active in reforms,
in lodges of the humanities, have voted at every presidential elec-
tion from 1840, have heard the church bells toll for all of our
departed presidents but General George Washington, have two
daughters, one son, four grandchildren, have noted our national
growth from ten to eighty millions, and yet keenly love and live.
Armoeials of Our Ancestors
Mabel Ward Cameron (Mrs. Charles Ernest Cameron)
In every age, from prehistoric to the present time, symbolism
has entered largely into the life of the world's inhabitants. Nearly
all objects found in nature have been incorporated at some period
in the distinguishing marks of individuals or communities. Ac-
cording to the Biblical story Jacob gave to each of his children
marks of distinction, as to Judah, a lion; the eagle was the
symbol of the Romans, an owl of the Athenians; clan badges
have been taken from native shrubs and flowers, while the bear, the
turtle, and other animals distinguished tribes of North American
Indians.
But although the desire for distinction has always been an
attribute of the human mind, it is difficult to assign the exact
period at which this desire, expressed in an individual cognizance,
took the form of armorial ornament. Although the symbols used
from remote periods of history were the precursors of the system
of heraldry, the science as known to us was not organized as a
reward of merit and with hereditary features until about the
middle of the thirteenth century.
The crusades undoubtedly aided this development as a means
of distinction between individuals and nations, yet their actual
effect in regard to organization has undoubtedly been overesti-
mated. The importance of the system in connection with the
110 MIDDLETOWN" UPPER HOUSES
tournament, as well as with actual warfare, was early apparent,
and, during the age of chivalry, strict rules were formulated.
Officers, or heralds, were appointed whose business it was not only
to emblazon coats-of-arms and arrange the details of the joust,
but to attend to everything connected with real warfare.
Arms were assumed at will, but, if a man presumed to use those
pre-empted by another, the one with prior claim sought means of
redress exactly as if other valuable property had been stolen.
However, the use of armorials was not really properly regulated
until 1483, when the heralds, forming into a society, were in-
corporated by charter. In them was vested the power to grant
arms to persons of newly acquired consequence, for arms were
now looked upon as marks of gentility, rather than as warlike
emblems. With the development of military science and the
formation of a standing army, the decline of heraldry was rapid.
By the beginning of the sixteenth century it was already passing
into the so-called " paper stage/'
Although the application of armorials to-day can only be con-
sidered from the standpoint of this " paper stage," and for mod-
ern individuals their use is restricted to mere marks of gentility,
yet, in order that no blunders be made by either men or women
in using them, it is advisable to study their evolution, and consider
the practical application of the various parts of an armorial
achievement during the period of actuality. The pictorial rep-
resentation is called an " achievement-at-arms," because by knightly
deeds the honor of arms was achieved.
In the analysis of an achievement the shield is the most im-
portant object. When pictured, in heraldic nomenclature this
is called an escutcheon. Embellishment in the heraldic manner
came into use at the time of Richard I. Undoubtedly many of
the strange designs adopted at this period were of Eastern origin,
the inheritance from remote antiquity, brought to the notice of
warriors while taking part in the crusades. The adjustment of a
scarf worn upon the person, or the placing of a bar of wood or
boss to reinforce and strengthen the shield were also alike sug-
gestive of ornamental lines. Other designs referred to some act
of the bearer, the memory of which was deemed by his superiors
worthy of perpetuation.
It is any design depicted upon the shield to which reference
is made in describing a coat-of-arms. The device borne upon the
shield, therefore, is the insignia of the family (see plate 1), and,
at the period of actual use, this same design was often woven
or embroidered on the surcoat and worn over the armor by the man
to whom the arms or device belonged. By the laws of heraldry
HISTORY OP THE SOCIETY 111
no other person was allowed to use this device, except members
of his immediate family. The wife, the sons, and the daughters
shared the right, and were allowed to wear the arms, but, in the
case of descendants, duly differenced to show what relationship
the wearer held to the head of the house.
In the fourteenth century, when heraldry was at its fullest
splendor, a man's every possession, useful or ornamental, was
linked to him in an heraldic manner. The members of his
FIGURE 1. Arrangement for a commoner, a plain shield displaying
insignia of one family. It is surmounted by a crest upon its torse,
twist, or wreath. Underneath is the motto upon its ribbon.
family displayed his arms embroidered upon robes of baudequin,
samite, siclaton. and cendal,* and woven into the rich hangings
which adorned his walls the emblem was repeated again and
again, and each of his sons, as he reached the proper age, proudly
* Baudequin, a variation of cloth-of-gold, a substantial material
for dresses, vestments, palls, and canopies of thrones. Samite, a thick,
silky substance, woven of six threads with a streak of gold running
through. All kings in the Middle Ages used quantities. Edward I.'s
nobles bought from the royal wardrobe. Siclaton, a thinner, lighter
silk used for surcoats on festal occasions. Cendal and taffeta were
silky substances less costly.
112
MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
bore upon his own shield the same device, a device which he in
turn would transmit as a most precious heritage to his own legal
heirs. Arbitrary laws were early evolved, and are still in force,
in regard to the marshalling or arrangement of the insignia, and
the use of the accessories of the shield.
For Americans interest is confined to the rules governing com-
moners. For this reason supporters — the two figures sometimes
placed at either side of the shield — and other accessories which
O) g
m 4^
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belong exclusively to the nobility must never appear in the achieve-
ment of an American gentleman (see plate 2, Duke of Leinster).
He may, however, with his shield, use a helmet supporting the
crest upon its torse or wreath, the ornamental mantling, and the
motto upon the ribbon (see plate 3).
HISTOEY OF THE SOCIETY
113
After marriage the arms of his wife's family are impaled with
his own for the use of himself and wife, and would appropriately
appear, together with the crest and other accessories, upon the
architectural decoration of the home, upon the door panels of the
carriage, or upon any article of common property. If, however,
the wife wishes to ornament any of her individual possessions with
coat-armor, she must forego the use of all the accessories, and
use the shield alone upon which the insignia would be marshalled
exactly as for the use of her husband. If she desires extra orna-
mentation, an especially appropriate design would be to suspend
the masculine shield from a feminine bowknot (see plate 4). It
FIGURE 4. Tlie arms of a husband and wife. The coats of two
families impaled, i. e., placed side by side upon a shield which has been
divided in half by a vertical line. The wife correctly uses the shield
alone without any of the accessories.
cannot too strongly be emphasized that wifehood is the only con-
dition in which it is allowable for a woman to use a shield. The
lozenge or diamond-shaped surface, first used in England in
1284, is the form upon which all widows and spinsters should
display the family insignia (see plates 5 and 6).
Eegarding the law of inheritance — no person can legally use
coat-armor belonging to an ancestor in the maternal line. If
114
MIDDLETOWN" UPPEE HOUSES
my mother belonged to an armigerous family, I may, if I wish,
hang a copy of the arms of that family upon the wall with other
relics, but I have no right to use the device as a distinguishing
mark upon my notepaper or silver. Armorials are not transmitted
through a daughter; the one exception to this rule refers to
women who are heiresses in the heraldic sense (see plate 3). The
matter of family use, too, in which the daughters have an equal
share for life with their brothers was, in the period of actuality,
necessarily restricted to the device or insignia alone. For this
reason the absurdity will be apparent of the assumption to-day
by women of other parts of an achievement-at-arms.
From the nature of their origin all the accessories of the shield
appertain to men. Chief to be considered is the crest. This part
of an achievement came into general use only about the beginning
HISTOEY OF THE SOCIETY 115
of the sixteenth century. Earlier than this its use was restricted
to knights and men of high rank. As an ornament, it must have
been a cumbrous thing to carry. It was sometimes carved from
a block of light wood, oftener modeled from boiled leather with
parts made from canvas, and its size was incongruous in com-
parison with the helmet upon which it rested. It is not probable,
however, that discomfiture in wearing so heavy a headpiece was
entailed upon the owner for any great length of time. In actual
battle the crest was undoubtedly laid aside, and only in the
tournament did warriors face each other with their helmets sur-
mounted by an enormous scaly dragon, or proud-stepping leopard.
But no lady of high degree made demand of her true knight that
she might wear his helmet, and forsooth, had she done so, in being
denied, she would have been questioned: "Wherefore? Would
you leave your honorable place of vantage and become a chal-
lenger ? " So it needs only a small amount of reflection for a
woman of the present day to understand why the dictum goes forth
that she may use neither the helmet nor its special ornament, the
crest, for why should one assume the pictorial use of objects to
which in their actual working use one may not aspire?
An erroneous idea also prevails among many people that a
crest may be assumed by a man when no right to a full coat exists.
This is an absurdity, for whereas many coats have no crests, no
crest exists independent of the insignia, and no man has a right
to use a crest unless he has a legal inheritance in the whole
armorial achievement of which the crest is a component part.
During the reign of Henry VIII. the importance of heraldry
in regard to giving genealogical information was recognized, and
the work of collecting data was begun. The heralds were ordered
to make visitations to different localities in England for the
purpose of collecting all available information. During these
circuits, which were held every twenty-five years, the kings-of-arms
were attended by various assistants, including a draughtsman, and
the registers kept during their progress contain the lineage and
arms of titled and untitled persons signed by the heads of fam-
ilies. The unlawful user of armorials received hurailating pun-
ishment by order of the heralds, and the illegal arms were de-
stroyed. All the valuable information thus acquired has been
preserved. Many of the original -manuscript volumes, dating from
1530 to 1687. are in the library of the College of Arms, but copies
with some originals are in the British Museum. Few of the
gentle families were left unregistered, and it would be almost
impossible to-day to prove an ancestral right to a coat-of-arms
not appearing in these records.
116 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
But the study of heraldry implies much more than mere in-
vestigation to prove the right to ornament one's possessions veith
hereditary symbols. The personal note is of but minor importance
considered in relation to the wide field of research. Although a
survival from medieval times heraldry is still alive and progres-
sive, and should not to-day be classed with alchemy and astrology,
as no longer worthy of serious study. Students of history and
literature and art should acquire more than a superficial knowl-
edge of a science which so greatly stimulates the imagination.
The terms of its nomenclature are in common use by many
authors. Allusions, too apt and poetic to be lost, are to be found
in the words of Shakespeare, Walter Scott, Chaucer, Spenser,
Tennyson, Dante, Ariosto, Tasso, and many other writers. He-
raldic emblems, also, appear upon seals used by schools, universities,
corporations, and the departments of the government. The flags,
as well as the seals, of countries, provinces, and states are of
like nature, and no educated person can well be without the
rudiments of the science to which these devices belong.
As the handmaid of art, heraldry affords many beautiful forms,
illustrated in the illumination of antique manuscripts and
books, the decoration of stained glass, paintings, effigies, brasses,
banners, and old silver, and in the embroideries upon vest-
ments, furniture, draperies, book-bindings, and other objects
of artistic value. The traveler in Europe will be more appre-
ciative of Gothic architecture if able to interpret those heraldic
features which have survived to the present day.
During the Commonwealth armorials were the marks for vin-
dictive mutilation. Often ornaments which accompanied them
were spared, but the arms themselves were attacked with ran-
cor. However these scenes of destruction were not witnessed
by our ancestors.
The great exodus from England had placed the ocean-wide dis-
tance between the colonists of New England and the iconoclasts
among Cromwell's adherents in the home land, and family tra-
dition, as well as more tangible evidence, demonstrates the esteem
and veneration felt for shield and crest by the men who first
colonized America. In establishing a new home beyond the sea
there was in the minds of the Puritans no thought of removing
class distinction. In seeking liberty for themselves and their
descendants, their idea was not to establish universal equality,
and armorials, more than anything else, were associated in their
minds with the idea of caste and aristocracy.
It is only necessary to consider who these men were and what
they represented to feel certain that the majority among them
1
HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY 117
using coats-of-arms, during the first period of the colonies in
Kew England had every right to them, and conformed in their
use to the laws then in 'force in the homeland. It is well known
that among the pioneers were men of high social standing, the
near kin of the greatest men of the day, who in England had
lived in honor and affluence. They were entirely unlike ordinary
colonists, having nothing in common with the immigrants of later
years, but came to the new world in large communities with their
plans of government fully matured. Among their number were
men of culture, possessing the superior innate qualities which
would have tended to distinguish individuals, had they remained
in England. There were clergymen, physicians, magistrates, and
military officers, and they possessed horses, cattle, and other
property.
It is true that spirituality was the dominant note in the char-
acter of the settlers, and that they considered the invisible to be
of more importance than the visible. The desire to establish a
church and state, according to their ideals, outweighed the love
for ancestral homes, but coexistant with their deep religious feel-
ing was also the fundamental pride of family and race.
The seals used by the colonists and much of their plate were
engraved with coats-of-arms. These, with paintings and mor-
tuary inscriptions, give us to-day the clues for research in this
'line.
The historian of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Com-
pany says : " Military distinction and heraldry were the only
appendages of monarchical government tolerated in the province
of Massachusetts Bay. The armorial bearings emblazoned in water
colors and neatly framed, which were the only ornaments in nearly
every house, were justified by the declaration in the Book of Num-
bers that ' Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his
own standard with the ensign of his father's house ' " (" History of
the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company," by Oliver Ayer
Eoberts, vol. i. p. 6.)
Upon the ancient gravestones appear coats-of-arms, often with
the added word, " Armiger." Among others in Connecticut, that
in memory of Gershom Bulkeley. dated 1713, is in the old
Wethersfieid yard. He was the' father of the Rev. Gershom
Bulkeley. pastor of the North Society here in Cromwell from 1778
to 1808, and an ancestor of the wife of Rev. Mr. Adams, our
Society's secretary. Impressions ' from seals are found upon let-
ters, bonds, wills, and documents settling estates. Among such
are the personal seals of the Governors of Connecticut.
On the will, dated August 1, 1705, of Samuel Eells, of Hing-
118 MIDDLETOWN" UPPEE HOUSES
ham, Mass., father of Nathaniel Eells, one of the early settlers in
the Middletown Upper Houses, appears the impression of the
coat-of-arms used by him. This is one of the coats called armes
parlantes, punning, or canting, which reveal the owner's name.
In this case the device consists of three eels. Also of antiquarian
interest to Cromwell families, whether the right of individuals
to use them is, or is not, established, are the arms of the families
of Eanney, Sage, Gilbert, Kirby, Stow, and Stoughton.
Of special interest is the document called the Gore roll of arms.
This is a list of names with the description of the arms used by the
different families therein mentioned, and was probably compiled
by John Gore, a carriage painter in Boston. The earliest coat
recorded is dated 1701, the latest, 1724. The list is thought to
be the notebook referring to hatchments, as this use of armorials
was in vogue at that period, and the dates appended to the shields
coincide with the date of the death of the bearers.
Among men using armorials during the late colonial period
were George Washington, who used an inherited coat-of-arms, and
Benjamin Franklin, who was the subject for a new grant.
Following a custom established among the first colonists of the
United States, an American of the present day certainly has a
precedent established for the use of his family emblem. It is
not alone the descendant of Puritans who is justified in the use
of the " ensign of his father's house " ; the aristocracy of America
derives its origin from the founders of the different colonies.
The Puritans of New England, the Cavaliers of Virginia, the
Lords of the Manor of New York, the Huguenot exiles, and the
quietly clad Quakers — among all of these pioneers in different
parts of eastern America were undoubtedly many armigers. In
the years which have followed the first colonization, the number
having legitimate right to coat-armor has been augmented by
"other arrivals, and all Americans to-day who can prove descent
in the direct male line from armigerous ancestors in European
countries have, with their cousins outre mer, an equal right to the
use of the family insignia. ■
In the use of arms Americans should be guided by the customs
of England. America is governed by English common law, and the
official language is English. The United States was settled under
English rule, and armorials were then first introduced in con-
formity to English heraldic law. It follows that in America
to-day, in the lack of any local authority, the use of armorials
should be governed by the laws of the English Heralds' College,
The first law to be considered concerns the legitimate right to a
certain insignia and crest. Whoever uses a coat-of-arms an-
HISTOEY OF THE SOCIETY 119
nounces his direct descent from the first grantee, and should be
able to prove this descent exactly as if it were a title to land.
If it is proved that the colonial ancestor used coat-armor, it
is altogether probable that his right will be found recorded in
Heralds' College. Such use, however, is not positive proof of
legality, for there is evidence that some among the colonists were
mistaken in their assumption. It is advisable to-day for Ameri-
cans desiring to use coat-armor to have research made, and their
right verified by application to Heralds' College, England,
where by payment of a reasonable fee, the matter will be settled
officially. This is especially necessary because individuals in the
generations succeeding the first settlers have, by their ignorance
in assuming arms, attracted to this country the reproach of an
English authority, who declares that more assumptive arms are
borne in the United States than anywhere else.
In excuse, ignorant tradesmen are much to blame, who, as self-
styled heralds, often supply spurious arms, copying from some
publication armorials of a family of the same name. It cannot
be too clearly emphasized that identity of name does not argue
identity of origin. There is no such thing as a coat-of-arms
belonging to a particular surname. Arms as a distinguishing mark
are hereditary only in the family of the grantee, or one who
first assumed them. Eelatives or namesakes have no claim to
share with him. One of the first native engravers to place a
stigma upon American heraldry was Nathaniel Hurd, who flour-
ished about 1750. But, whereas many of the arms he supplied
were bogus, in some cases his work had a legitimate foun-
dation.
This much cannot be said of some later craftsmen. A father and
son named Coles, who worked from 1776 to 1813, were ready to
supply arms to all who would employ them. The work of these
men has many distinguishing marks, among others the use for
decoration of palm branches beneath the shield ; the phrase " By
the name of Smith." or " Jones," as the case may be, placed upon
the motto ribbon; the badly painted helmet often done in colors,
whereas the inflexible rule is that it should be of steel; and the
ignorant formation of the wreath. Often the latter will be topped
by an American flag in place of the legitimate crest, a most
apparent absurdity.
An almost total disuse of arms during the following years led
to greater ignorance, and when, about 1860, there occurred a
revival of the fashion, arms were used profusely with absolute
disregard of authority. To assume arms which have not at some
period been sanctioned by a college of arms is illegal, and the arms
120 MIDDLETOWN UPPEK HOUSES
are bogus. The man who uses such insignia is a fit subject for
ridicule.
But if he makes of himself a laughing-stock, a still greater of-
fender is one who assumes the legal arms of another. By the
adoption of the heraldic bearings of European families, or by
the assumption by one American of the arms of a fellow-country-
man of the same name, the usurper makes himself liable to the
gravest charge. In England common law still recognizes the
rightful ownership of armorials. Because in America offenders
are not in reach of such a law, yet more scrupulous heed should
be taken not to offend, and society should punish with the greatest
contempt those who persistently violate that which is law in other
lands.
It is not, however, entirely on moral grounds that great stress
should be laid on the necessity of honorable dealing in this matter.
Along with the carefully preserved records of town and church
the armorials of our ancestors should give valuable assistance to
the genealogist. It is, therefore, of the highest importance that
no interchange or assumption of illegal arms take place. A greater
insult cannot be offered to an honored ancestor than to announce
in the wrong use of arms descent from an altogether different,
though perhaps contemporaneous, person. But the false assump-
tion of arms is not merely an insult to our ancestors, it is an
even more grievous wrong done to posterity. As this_ becomes
better understood, more scrupulous attention will be paid to the
laws of heraldry.
The history of a country is made from the history of individuals.
The ancestry of individuals taken collectively becomes the ancestry
of a people. So genealogy in its broadest scope is of the utmost im-
portance to the historian. In the interest of authentic history alone,
even so minor a detail as the use of armorials in the United States
cannot be ignored. The revival in heraldry is not the least im-
portant feature of the increasing interest taken in family history.
A course in heraldry should be introduced in advanced schools,
to be given in conjunction with the study of art and history. But
above all some official action should be taken to regulate the
personal use of armorials, and to safeguard in some manner from
the undignified attack of ignorant pretenders the history of the
families so closely linked to the history of the country itself.
Surely the emblem reverenced by our forefathers as a memorial
of the home in some fair English shire, and preserved ofttimes
as the only link connecting the offspring of an honored line with
those of his own kin left beyond the sea — surely the device which
gives the personal touch of warm color to the gray-toned early
HISTOEY OF THE SOCIETY 121
history of our country is as worthy of preservation as is the roof-
tree which sheltered our pioneer ancestor living, or the gravestone
which marks the last resting place of the honored dead !
Example of Nathaniel White
The Hon. William J. Barber
To you who have attended for years these gatherings I have
no doubt Nathaniel White and Samuel Stocking, Thomas Ran-
ney and John Warner, John Wilcox and Thomas Hubbard are rela-
tives, friends and acquaintances; better known in their daily
life of two hundred and fifty years ago than your own neighbors
are to you to-day. But to some of us, who have not had the
opportunity of association with these stalwart sons of those early
days, it is fitting that we take up the life of one of them to-day
somewhat in detail.
Nathaniel White, born in England about 1629, son of Elder
John White, arrived in Boston with his father September 16,
1632. In 1635 they removed to Hartford. So says the record.
But imagine, for a moment, what this means to the coming man.
His father had seen those stirring times in the mother country
that led, during Nathaniel's young manhood, to the days of Oliver
Cromwell and Charles the Second. The narrow life of those early
days must have brought out the ability, in those who had seen the
life in England, to picture in words the everyday scenes of that
far-away world. To the one of whom we write, who had left
the old world at too early an age to have any recollection of it,
what a fairyland the great cities must have appeared. The far-
thest stretch of our imagination gives lis but a faint idea of
the situation: he was a child when the city of Hartford was
born, and he grew up in the very heart of a nature so vast and
solemn that it must have had its effect on his life. Surrounded
on all sides by foes, in danger of privation and famine, menaced
by the Indian who was already looking with jealous eye on the
pushing white man, these but served to bring out the sturdy man-
hood that developed as time went on. Among the first to move
from Hartford to settle at Middletown, halfway from Hartford
to Saybrook, casting his lot with those who settled " north of the
' riverett,' " we find this son of Elder John White, a leader from the
very first. His education was, no doubt, thorough for the time
and place, but would be considered anything but complete at the
present day. What would he not have given to have had the
advantages that the youth of the present day enjoy? Restricted
122 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
to a few books, no doubt he knew these well, and I do not doubt
that his knowledge of the one great book, the Bible, was far
gi-eater than that of the average youth of to-day. October 15,
1659, sees Nathaniel White, thirty-three years of age, elected as
delegate to the General Assembly which met spring and fall in
Hartford. We can see the young man as he Journeys toward the
town to the north— for at that day its title of capital was unknown-
coming to that Assembly with "an honest pride, because he was
one of the representatives of the young town of Middletown. The
fact that he was not an unknown man at that early day is shown
by his being chosen a member of the grand jury. He must have
done his work as a member of the Assembly well, for, while the
record with characteristic Puritanical severity shows no praise
of work accomplished, continued reappointment shows the confi-
dence of the people of the Middletown Upper Houses._ In 1669
he was appointed commissioner for Middletown, and in 1674 is
first referred to as " Mr." Nathaniel White. He also had the
title of ensign, and that it was not an empty title is shown by the
fact that in the spring of 1675 he was in command of nine men
from Middletown to guard a ship, sailing to Hartford, from at-
tacks by the Indians. In 1677 he was lieutenant, and in 1690
captain, of the Middletown train band, the only Cromwell in-
habitant of that time to receive the title. A church was organized
in 1668, and Nathaniel White was chosen to assist the minister
in the ordination of the deacons by the ceremony of the laying
on of hands. Unquestionably he was the most distinguished of all
the settlers of Middletown, eighty-five times a member of the Gen-
eral Assembly, the last time in May, 1710, when he was eighty-one
years old. Much of his success in life was due to the careful
training given him by his father who was known as a learned man.
That Captain Nathaniel White appreciated the value of educa-
tion is shown by a clause in his will, dated about two weeks before
his death, as follows: "What of my right of undivided lands,
may be deemed my right : my will is that one fourth part thereof
be and remain for the use of the public schools already agreed
upon in the town of Middletown forever," which included the
" town " school in lower Middletown, and the district school in
the " North Society."
When Cromwell in 1902 erected a central school building that
is a great credit to the town the town meeting very properly
named it after this illustrious man, who spent his home life
almost within sound of my voice.
The effect of such a life is never ending. Long after he is
forgotten his influence still goes on, and, no doubt, the boy or
HISTOEY OF THE SOCIETY 123
girl of Cromwell to-day is given a better preparation for the work
of life through the public spirit and foresight of Captain Nathaniel
White.
The Eev. Samuel Johnson, D. D.
Charles Collard Adams, M. A.
A few years after the settlement of the Upper Houses, there
came John Kirby and his wife and John Wilcox and his wife, and
these made their homes on the west side of what is known as
Pleasant Street. Then David Sage came from Hartford, and
was given five acres, " for a home lot," where the bank and other
buildings stand. But he must have had in view the taking of a
wife unto himself, and to be near her home he planted himself
on the town pound, measuring 66 feet by 49| feet, which stood
between the Kirby and Wilcox homesteads. On this pound, laid
out in 1655 for the impounding of stray cattle, he built him a
house. The town meeting appointed a committee to wait on him.
and demand a settlement. In due time there was recorded to him
these " twelve square rods on which his house standeth." He
then traded his five acres for a part of the Kirby home lot, and had
his holdings extended in the rear, so that when he died, in 1703,
his homestead consisted of 8f acres, valued at £52, the " Mansion "
house being valued at £60, and the barn at £12. His entire pos-
sessions included over 800 acres. His tombstone is in Eiverside
Cemetery, Middletown, He married in February, 1664, Elizabeth
Kirby, born September 8, 1646, in Hartford. To them were born
David, Elizabeth, and John. She died " about the 23d year of
her life." He then turned to the other side of his home, and
married Mary Wilcox, to whom were born five children. The
oldest child by the second marriage was Mary Sage, born Novem-
ber 15, 1672, who died May 8, 1727, in Guilford, having married
November 7, 1694, Deacon Samuel Johnson of Guilford, born
June 5, 1670, died 1727, the son of Deacon William Johnson of
Guilford. Of the eleven children of Mary Sage and Deacon
Samuel Johnson, the second son was Samuel Johnson, born Oc-
tober 14, 1696, an dwho died Jan. 6, 1772, and of whom I am to
speak.
It is stated by Dr. Beardsley in his history that Samuel Johnson
studied for six months with the Eev. Joseph Smith, who was the
first settled pastor in the Upper Houses, but who had officiated
here some years before a church was organized on January 6. 1715.
Mr. Smith had graduated at Harvard, had had considerable ex-
perience in teaching, had been pastor in New Jersey, and had
124 MIDDLETOWN" UPPER HOUSES
officiated in the society at Horse Neck, Greenwich. He succeeded
here the Eev. David Deming. Timothy- Sage, who had inherited
the Sage homestead across the street from Rev. Joseph Smith
must have had his nephew, Samuel Johnson, in his family, while
the lad recited across the street to Eev. Joseph Smith.
Dr. Beardsley states that Rev. Joseph Smith was not a very
competent teacher. Perhaps the lad was very precocious, for he
entered Yale in 1710, and was graduated in 1714. Dr. Cutler, for
some years pastor at Stratford, had become rector of Yale College.
Johnson, first a tutor, had become the first pastor of the Congre-
gational Church at West Haven, a suburb of New Haven. While
a lad at Guilford, a Mr. Smithson had given him a prayer book
and Johnson must have been a deep student of its pages. On his
death bed he said, " There are no prayers like those of my mother,
the Church of England." Dr. Beardsley states that he committed
these prayers to memory, and used them, as occasion required, in
public worship, alike to the comfort of himself and to the comfort
and edification of his flock. It is related that it was common
for persons belonging to the neighboring parishes to come to
West Haven on purpose to hear him pray, not dreaming that he
was using prayers out of a book. He conferred with his friends,
the neighboring pastors, in the library of Yale College, which
had been removed from Saybrook to New Haven, and where they
had access to some works by Church of England authors. As a
result seven, of whom Rector Cutler, a graduate of Harvard, was
one, were not satisfied with the validity of their non-Episcopal
orders. On September. 13, 1722, they addressed a letter to others
whom they had met in the library, and who had asked them to
state their difficulties in writing. As a result the General As-
sembly of the Colony, church and state being one, was called to-
gether, Governor Saltonstall, himself a Congregational clergyman,
presiding, and a day was spent in trying to convince these seven
that their doubts were groundless. Rector Cutler, Johnson. Brown,
the tutor and a native of West Haven, and James Wetmore, pas-
tor at North Haven, but a native of Middletown, went to England
to receive Episcopal ordination. President Woolsey, in his His-
torical Discourse at the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the
institution, said : " I suppose that greater alarm would scarcely
be awakened now, if the Theological Faculty of the College were
to declare for the Church of Rome, avow their belief in Transub-
stantiation, and pray to the Virgin IMary."
Mr. Brown died of smallpox Just after his ordination. Rector
Cutler went to Christ Church, Boston, as its rector, and served
them forty years. Mr. Wetmore went to Rye, New York, and was
HISTOEY OF THE SOCIETY 125
there thirty-six years. An Episcopal Mission had been established
in Stratford in 1707, and was supported by the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Services, however,
were intermittent for some years. Mr. Johnson arrived there
j^ovember 5, 1723. The church edifice had not been completed.
He was there to see the second completed in 1758. During the
years that he served in Stratford, he traveled extensively, baptiz-
ing, administering Holy Communion, preaching, .teaching, found-
ing parishes and missions. He led over thirty Congregational
pastors to go to England to be ordained in the Church of England.
He made frequent visits to West Haven, where from his leaving
it there were some families who adhered to the Church of Eng-
land. But it was not until 1740 that a church edifice, the seventh
in Connecticut, was erected there. It stands to-day, the last of
the seven, to witness to the labors of Samuel Johnson. I may
be permitted to say that while I was rector there from 1871 to
1873 I learned so much of Samuel Johnson that I organized a
Guild to raise funds with which to erect a church to be a memorial
to him, and, in the church edifice in which he often officiated, I
plead for this object. My successor for some years was transferred
to St. Paul's, New Haven, and now is the Episcopal Bishop of
Newark, N. J. He is descended from our Deacon Samuel Stock-
ing and our first Thomas Stow. On Tuesday of next week a
costly church will be consecrated in West Haven, and the Bishop
of Connecticut, who sent me an invitation to be present there,
has to-day expressed his approval of my suggestion that the
fund I raised should now be used to place in this costly edifice
a suitable memorial to Samuel Johnson, long known as the " Fa-
ther of Episcopacy in Connecticut." I little dreamed in those
days that Samuel Johnson's mother was born in the Upper
Houses.
In 1729 the Eev. George Berkeley, Dean of Derry in Ireland,
to whom the satirist Pope ascribed "... every virtue under
heaven," arrived in Newport, E. I., with a charter from the crown
to found a college in Bermuda, the " declared object of which
was -to be the instruction of scholars in theology and literature,
with a view to propagate the Christian faith and civilization, not
only in parts of America subject to the British authority, but
among the heathen." He purchased a farm, and erected a farm-
house, and proceeded to work out his collegiate plans, at the same
time devoting himself to writing " Alciphon, or The Minute Phi-
losopher." Alas ! the money voted by Parliament was squan-
dered. Eighty thousand pounds of money, rightly belonging to
the church, was squandered. Samuel Johnson, who had read his
1.36 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
" Principles of Human Knowledge." paid him a visit at Newport,
and the acquaintance ripened into a warm friendship and corre-
spondence, and their sons maintained a correspendence after their
fathers had gone to their graves. When he was returning to Eng-
land in 1732 Samuel Johnson plead for books for Yale library, and
the result was that Dean Berkeley not only gave his own library to
Yale but induced others to join with him in sending nearly a
thousand volumes across the Atlantic, " the finest collection of
books," according to President Clap, " which had then ever been
brought at one time to America." He also gave to Yale his
farm of ninety-six acres, the conditions of the deed being that the
net income shall be appropriated to the maintenance of the three
best scholars in Greek and Latin. Dr. Berkeley wrote that Samuel
Johnson was widely known as the friend and patron of classical
learning, that he watched its progress at Yale College, under the
impetus of Berkeley's donations, that " when Franklin was about
to establish a college at Philadelphia, there was no man whose
counsel he sought more eagerly, or whose authority, as its
future Provost, he was more anxious to secure, than that of
Johnson." He refused this offer, but when prominent New York
gentlemen, mostly of the Church of England, concerted for the
purpose of founding a college in New York City, Samuel John-
son, " who had been all along consulted, and who in turn applied
for advice and direction to his friend, Bishop Berkeley, was chosen
President in January, 1754." He became, also, an assistant min-
ister of Trinity Church. After a residence of thirty-one years
of rural life, he removed to New York City as president of King's
College, now Columbia University.
When death had removed his wife and children by smallpox which
had a great terror for all, he, in February, 1763, sixteen days after
the death of his wife, was back in Stratford occupying a part
of the great mansion of his son, William Samuel, so distinguished
in the history of Connecticut, expecting, being sixty-seven years
of age, to lead a life of retirement, but he assumed charge of the
parish, and served it till his death on the Feast of the Epiphany,
1772.
It may be a source of pride to those who trace maternal influ-
ences to think that in Samuel Johnson there were forces which
may be credited, in part at least, to Mary Sage, and to the heredity
of Sage and Wilcox, his ancestors of Upper Houses. Columbia
University has among its Columbiana several bricks taken from the
house of Rev. Joseph Smith, which had been built about 1650
by Robert Webster, son of Governor John Webster.
I
HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY 127
The Builders of the Nation
Judge Daniel J. Donahoe
The bloom of summer shines upon the world
In changing glory; over field and grove
Floats a soft breathing, and a voice'' of joy
Eises from hill and valley. Every stream
Mirrors the beauty both of earth and sky,
And, murmurous of music, runneth on
Above the shallows; while against the sun,
Silent and broad, the curving river gleams
Like a great saber, from some giant hand
Cast, 'mid the cloven hills, and flashing lies,
A symbol of eternal power and peace.
3ut not alone the granite hills that stand
Against the ocean, and the river's flood
Moving in majesty make manifest
The power that guards the nation. On each hand
Our eyes are blessed with marvels that bespeak
Man's greatness, and the sovereignty he bears
O'er nature's forces. Like a willing slave.
The fettered lightning bows unto his needs,
And trained to harmless toil, obeys his will.
The streams that leap in laughter down the hills
Are caught and harnessed to the restless wheels,
That sing in ceaseless industry; while clouds,
Rising above the myriad-windowed mills.
In folds of light, show where the strength of steam
]\Iakes great the cities with the might of toil.
Thus is the power of labor multiplied.
And thus unto the toiler's hand brings home.
As guerdon of his skill, unbounded wealth,
And opportunity wide as the stars;
While peace, with shining footsteps, through the land
Walks, where a thousand farmsteads, rich with meads,
Pastures and fields of tilth, drink in the rays
Of the new morn, that rises with the light
Of prophecy, and promises to all
A golden harvest.
128 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
Eound each village spire,
That, pointing starward, speaks eternal truths.
Cluster a group of cottages, with lawns
Wide to the street. These are the glad abodes
Of labor, culture, love, and liberty.
Here nought of evil on the surface show^s,
Nor cloud of sorrow darkens ; but where'er
The gazer turns, such happiness as blessed
The primal Eden seems to fill the land.
Long on these grateful scenes we turn our eyes,
Drinking unto our souls dreams of delight;
And backward glancing, lift our heads aloft
With a proud meaning; for we see how broad
Have been the strides of progress, since the bell
From Independence Hall startled the world,
And thrilled the people with new life and hope.
Nor shall the present and the past suffice;
But down the shining slope of future years.
We peer with souls high-swelling, and descry
The vision of the wonders yet to be.
But let nor pride nor hope our souls deceive,
And soothe us with a false security;
Nay, let us pause amid our sunny dreams,
And pierce with searching eye the golden veil
That covers o'er with splendor all the land.
Yet hides, perchance, some foul or evil blight.
That worketh waste or woe. Sharp scrutiny
Must needs be made of license and of law
By men who love their country and would keep
Her strength and honor safe. This wisdom wills;
Lest all too confident, in strength assured,
Our souls become elate, and filled with pride
Of past achievements, both in peace and war,
Of foolish dreams of greatness, that may well
Betray us, while corruption threatens death.
Neither by day nor night may rest be ours ;
But care and watching shall our duty be;
For we are toilers still. Our work remains
All unaccomplished, while a flaw abides.
Or chance of danger. Perfect government
In town and state and nation, this must be
Our dear ambition.
HISTOEY OF THE SOCIETY 129
And though hero souls
Are ours, and ours tlie age of heroes, God
Demands our best of labor. Serious thought.
Not overweening boasts, will satisfy
The everlasting Justice. Bowed in soul.
True servants, we must look for Heaven's behest;
And with the light that shineth from the Throne,
Bend to achieve the glory of His will.
ISTor may we our stern duty minimize;
As men of might, within our hand is placed
A sacred charge requiring holiest care,
A trust that brooks no faltering in faith.
We are the nation's builders. If we strive
With heart and hand and brain to raise the walls
And glorify the temple, we but yield
To conscience, that with unrelenting voice ,
Guides us to justice; and the house we build
Must be the house of justice. Light and law
Shall shine within its portals. Let it be
A palace worthy of the Lord, whose love
Smiles on no worthless effort. And unless
He build with us our labor is but vain;
And our achievements, howsoever brave.
Are like the splendors of a sunset cloud ;
And howsoever high the house we build,
And bright with grandeur, 'tis a Babel Tower,
A monument of folly and of shame.
But where shall we find justice? Who shall guide
Our footsteps lest we stumble in the dark?
Masked in the garb of wisdom, danger walks,
Lighting false beacons, that may lead to death,
While boasting of supremacy and power.
Let us beware. This increase manifold
Of labor's gain from nature's mastered powers, —
Where shall it go? Shall men, who worship wealth.
Make for themselves a privilege, and hold
The ninety parts and nine, while dabor's host,
The mighty army that has made the wealth,
Takes but the single unit as its wage?
Shall the rich revel in wild luxury,
While, as in France of old, the poor attempt
To quell their hunger with the grass, like beasts?
130 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
If men are thus oppressed, what power can save
The nation from disgrace? No wrong can live,
But ruin, soon or late, avenging comes
To blaze a road for justice. Then, beware!
Not for the money-changer is the house
Of honor builded, but for men whose souls
Look heavenward and seek the things of God.
Yet in our temple we behold, even now,
The holy place proclaimed as Mammon's throne;
The worshipers of wealth its walls profane.
And on its altars raise a golden calf.
Scorning the broader Brotherhood of Christ,
And swollen with privilege, in robes of gold,
The priest of Mammon lifts his impious face,
And sends his proud voice echoing through the skies.
* THE HYMN OF TRIVILEGE
God of the golden horn.
Bright in thy golden rays;
God from whose hand is born
All that our lives adorn, —
God of the golden horn,
Thee we adore and praise.
Thou that art proud and great,
Honor the great and proud ;
Lift up our souls elate;
Keep us to rule the state !
Thou that art proud and great,
Hear us; our heads are bowed.
Ruler of wealth and ease.
Keep us in ease and wealth;
Poverty, toil, disease; —
Save us from ills like these;
Ruler of wealth and ease.
Bless us with peace and health.
God of the golden horn.
Thee we adore and praise;
Safe on thy strength up-borne.
Lead us from need and scorn;
God of the golden horn,
Guide us through golden days.
HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY 131
Nor comes less danger from the wretch, whose fare
Is with the beast. The innocent toiler, stung
By hunger's fangs, may grow more ravenous
Than tiger in the jungle. In his soul
The wrong may rankle, and break forth in fire
Whose flame shall scorch the heavens. When the cry
Rose from the rabid masses in the streets
Of Paris, reason slept; and nought could save
The crown of privilege from the guillotine.
How shall injustice thrive more safely here.
And walk with steps impune upon the neck
Of prostrate industry? Beware! the hour
Of reckoning comes and danger's signal flies!
Have ye not heard the shout of wild despair
That rises from the slums? Your hand can save
Only by lifting up with tenderness.
And weighing in the balances of Right
The portion due to labor.
All too long
Justice has been delayed. The dens of crime,
Where day is turned to night, and sin becomes
The stay of hunger, threaten to destroy
The glory of your building. If unmoved
By reason and pure justice, let your fear
Arouse your souls to honor. Moloch's sons,
A hideous host, are in your temple now.
And loud in adoration. Hear their hymn!
THE HYMN OF THE DESTROYERS
Hear us, 0 God of Shame,
Molocla ! we call thy name,
And seek thy evil service, power divine !
To thee we bend the knee;
We look for help to thee;
Crushed in the mire of sin, our souls are thine.
Thou baneful deity^
We sacrifice to thee
Our children; soul and body they are thine!
Through long and weary years,
Through misery and tears.
They bow beneath thy influence unbenign.
132 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
What boots it, loathsome God,
To feel the cruel rod,
Unless we gain the pleasures that we seek ?
'Mid drudgery and grime
"We find our good in crime,
With flinty hearts and bloody hands that reek.
ISTot out of gilded palaces shall come
Abiding righteousness; nor shall we seek
An uplift from the rotting tenements.
These are alike sure tokens of disease.
That warn the nation of impending death.
Not out of these our dreams of grandeur come;
But from the farmsteads and the toilers' homes,
Scattered like new-blown roses o'er the hills.
And through the sounding valleys, where the streams
Roar through their channels, loud with cheerful toil.
Out of such homes may wisdom hear the voice
Of freedom chanting hymns of sacred peace;
Out of such homes alone the call shall lead
To honor's court, where even-handed right
Demands that crime, in hovel or in hall,
Shall suffer equal shame. The hour requires
Strong men, brave men of wisdom and of will
To break the sleep of justice. Let her rise.
And render unto every man his due.
Both interest and wages, while the land,
With all the unbought gifts of bounteous heaven.
Shall bear the nation's burden.
This must come;
For only by its coming may we hope
To build aright our temple's holy walls
And rear its hallowed altars; only thus
The law of love shall fill its ample .space
With such effulgence as can never pale.
Then labor shall uplift a thousand homes,
True shrines of godliness and liberty.
Where now the castle of the millionaire
Usurps with gorgeous insolence the land,
And holds wide acres in dead idleness.
Out of the slums pale children shall be brought
HISTOEY OF THE SOCIETY 133
To rise and run in new-found life and joy,
To play like the yonng lambs among the fields,
And sing like birds under the blue of heaven.
The haunts of pestilence and poverty,
Where beggared merit oft in hunger weeps.
With dens of degradation, sin and death,
Like the rich robber's hold, shall be brought low.
And the pure winds of heaven shall breathe thereon.
The city streets and the wide country side
Shall sweeten like flower-gardens in God's air;
And men shall lift their faces to the stars.
Unscathed by wrong, guiltless of infamy.
Then shall our hearts be lifted up to heaven
When we behold the bloom upon the hills ;
And to the voice of gladness from the vales
Our souls shall swell in answer. Evermore,
The river in its silent course shall gleam,
Like a great saber, flashing to the skies,
A symbol of eternal power and peace.
Then from the earth shall rise, in thunder-tones.
The blessings of the ransomed multitudes.
Forever swell along the echoing skies.
The song of neither arrogance nor shame.
But a true hymn of glory unto God,
From souls strong with the brotherhood of love.
HYMN OF THE PEOPLE .
0 God of life and love and light.
We send our voice in song to thee;
Thy hand hath led us through the night,
Thy power hath raised and made us free.
Be still our guide, our strength, our stay;
Blest be thy name from shore to shore,
To thee we turn both night and day,
From humbled hearts thy grace implore.
Let justice, truth and love abound;
Keep us as brothers, hand in hand ;
Be neither fear nor falsehood found,
Nor greed nor hunger mar the land.
134 MIDDLETOWN" UPPER HOUSES
A ransomed nation, strong and free, ,
Let grateful love our aims upraise;
God of our fathers, unto thee
We send our songs in holy praise.
Some Early Cromwell Preachers
The Eev. Percy Butler Wightman
Mr. Chairman, Fathers and Brothers : I feel to-day somewhat
like a young man who had been recently married. It seems
that after the ceremony a wedding breakfast or luncheon was
served. Then followed a series of addresses congratulatory in
character, until finally the groom was called upon to make some
fitting response. Not given to public address the task was ardu-
ous, and he shrank from the ordeal, but they called the more
loudly for him. Finally he rose to his feet, and, placing his
hand upon the shoulder of his bride to steady himself, he said :
" Ladies and gentlemen, this thing has been forced upon me."
And my address has been forced upon me. I do not mean
to convey the idea that Mr. C. Collard Adams, whose enthusiasm
and ceaseless interest in the old families of Cromwell have made
this gathering here possible, has persistently clamored for an
address, for he has not; but when the invitation came, having
had experience " to get men to speak in meeting," and knowing
what a task it was, I had compassion, and decided to help in
any way he should command. And yet I can think of another.
There is a reason why I should speak to you to-day. From the
early days men whose names I and my brothers bear, have been
identified with this village, and with the two churches longest
established. You have a right to claim my presence, and I am
honored by your courteous invitation which gives me this op-
portunity of speech.
No apology is necessary for the subject, " Some Early Cromwell
Preachers," and right pleased will I be if I simply stir up your
interest enough to wish to learn more about them in the history
now in the hands of the Grafton Press.
Some little while ago, I was reading again the warrant for
the death of Edward Wightman — the last of the English martyrs
burned at the stake for his religious belief. I suspect that
the real reason why he was called " a pestilential fellow " lay
in the fact that he did not believe in infant baptism, but to justify
his death King James and " the reverend father in God, Richard,
Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield," accused him of " the wicked
heresis of the Ebionites, Cerinthians, Yalintinians, Arrians.
HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY 135
Macedonians, of Simon Magus, of Manes, Manechees, of Prolinus.
and Ana-Baptists, and of other heritical, execrable, and unheard
of opinions, by the instinct of Satan, by him excogitated." And
it seems strange to me that it was necessary to touch a torch to
his stake, for surely anyone who had all these dry theories in him
would ignite by spontaneous combustion. But the early preachers
in the pulpits of this village were not dry men. In them burned
the fire of a holy zeal for their work, and it is right that the
pastors should be honored with the Founders, Fathers, and Pa-
triots. For whether they stayed in the village for a long or short
time the spirit was the same. They had a message. It had
gripped them, and they tried to so present it that it would take
hold of the lives and mold the characters of the men and women
to whom they ministered, and their labor was not in vain.
Our nation owes much of its strength to the men who built
the religious and intellectual foundation of the country. It was
a time when the Indian trail was cut wider to allow the two-
wheeled ox cart and chaise room to run, and it was a time, too,
when men in breathing the freedom of the colonies began to
exert individual liberty. Were I looking for a text, which is
the way of a preacher' you know, how many would be sugge&ted
by their lives ! " Go "forward and possess the land," " Carry
neither purse nor script," " Their works do follow them," " I
determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and
him crucified."
But one regret I must express early in my address, namely, the
inability to give place to the majority of ministers who have
broken the bread of life to this generation and ones preceding;
If I fail to mention them, it is not because of unworthiness, nor
that their lives were a cipher, neither is it that they did not go in and
out of the homes with a prayer and purpose in their hearts; but
simply for the reason that time is short, and, as another has writ-
ten of him for whom he gave his life, " I suppose that even the
world itself could not contain the books that should be written."
We will give our attention chiefly to four men, the first and
second pastors to serve the Congregational Church, the Eev. Joseph
Smith and the Rev. Edward Eells; and noticing two pastors
in the Baptist Church— the Rev. Frederick Wightman and Rev.
Charles W. Potter. I have chosen not to speak of the Methodist
Episcopal Church for various reasons: first, because of its youth,
having come into being in the wake of the revival of '57 ; second,
while consecrated men have served it. yet they have not been in
residence long enough to leave an impression upon the village;
and third, material is lacking upon which to base the treatment.
136 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
We will first think about Eev. Joseph Smith. You all know
that the settlers here attended the First Congregational Church
of Middletown for over fifty yeers, leaving home early to return late
on the Sabbath days. They walked or rode to service, taking
their lunch with them, and eating it in the " Sabba' Houses,"
built near the church for the purpose of warming up the outer
and inner man, after the cold ride or the chill of the church.
After attending church in Middletown for half a century, by
and by the community grew strong and ambitious enough to wish
a church of its own, and a new parish, known as the Second
Ecclesiastical Society of Middletown was incorporated, in May,
1704, on condition that the people settle a minister within six
to twelve months, and build a meeting house. The population
was about 250 including East Berlin. Eleven years afterward
the church was organized with 23 members, and Eev. Mr. Smith
who had officiated for a few years was called to the pastorate. He
was a Massachusetts man, and came when about forty years old.
He was called from a new church enterprise at Horse Neck,
where he had gone after years spent in teaching. The people
moved him at their expense and later built his house " provided
he would pay for the glass and nails used in its construction."
They gave him seventy pounds, annually, and his firewood as a
salary. When you read what our historian has to say about
firewood, you will come to the same conclusion I have reached :
that it was the " bete noire " of his life. Sometimes it was de-
livered, sometimes he had to get it. and sometimes there was
none cut for him to get. Then a sum was allowed to buy it, and
occasionally this was not paid. The kind of cord which ran
through his days was not silken but wooden, and he had more
trouble, and the deacons passed more motions on the parson's
firewood, than on the treatment of the " disorderly youth who were
brought into the church, and had to stand at the foot of the gal-
lery stairs until the service was over."
But, as a preacher, he did his work well as far as our knowl-
edge goes. I give , not people credit for greater patience then
than now, and surely no man would be allowed peacefully to
hold his charge for twenty-one years, unless his pulpit ministra-
tions were satisfactory. He organized, developed, and welded
into a church people who had been listening for years to candi-
dates— which usually means black disaster. One who can do
that thing shows ability, and that the church stands with him.
It seems strange that no regrets were expressed at his death, but
on the other hand we are to remember that the Puritans sup-
pressed outward signs of emotion. " There is no doubt that they
HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY 137
loved their wives and their children," wrote an observant historian,
"but they did not seem to dare to tell their wives and children
that they loved them. They suppressed the utterances of love
which beat so warmly in their breasts. Silence was golden, and
speech silver or a baser metal, Longfellow understood their ret-
icence, and brings it out in his " Courtship of Miles Standish,"
when impatient Priscilla says, " Speak for yourself, John."
The second incumbent was the Rev. Edward Eells. He sprang
from Samuel, one of the first settlers at Milford, who later moved
into Massachusetts. Edward was his great-grandson. They were
godly men, of sterling stock, and placed a high value on college
training, for one generation after another went up to Harvard.
Since Nathaniel, the son of Samuel, I believe that there has not
been a time when someone by the name of Eells has not been
active in the Christian ministry, and several have attained marked
distinction as preachers.
As the Scotch say, Edward " was a man of many parts," a gifted
preacher, a loyal patriot, a theologian, and a foremost citizen.
The early record of this village could not be written without
mentioning him. He was a chaplain in the French and Indian
War, and so fired his children with patriotism that his son,
Major Eells, " started for the war the day after word came from
Lexington, and remained in the service until June, 1783, and be-
came one of the founders of the Society of Cincinnati." And
his son Samuel, pastor at Branford, one Sunday morning raised
a company in his own congregation, was chosen captain, and en-
tered the war. It was the same love of country, but shown a little
differently, when Parson Wetmore of Stratford, hearing of the-
surrender of Lord Cornwallis as he was delivering his discourse,
straightening himself to his full height, and making known
his intelligence, said. " It is no place for boisterous demonstra-
tion in the house of God, but we will, in giving three cheers,
only go through the motions."
And, as a theologian, he took a leading part in the controversy
at Wallingford, between what was properly known as the " New
Lights and the Old Lights," which stirred the church world of
New England to its center. In this controversy he was clerk of
council.
This was an age through New Jj]ngland of formal church life.
If a person outwardly conformed he was judged a worthy church
member, but I am of the impression that Mr. Eells himself, hav-
ing the heart of religion in him, was not satisfied until those for
whose spiritual welfare he was responsible had the essence of
the Gospel, too. He honored Upper Houses in coming here, and
138 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
Upper Houses has blessed the country by giving it a family
whose lives have been righteous, whose deeds were noble, the force
of whose character has helped to establish religion, patriotism,
and intelligence through our wide land.
But I must hurry on. And turn with some diffidence to Fred-
erick Wightman, the first of the pastors of the Cromwell Baptist
Church, whose ministry extended over a decade.
Sixteen persons organized the church fifteen years before his
coming, and until 1817 pastors were secured on part time. In
that year Mr. Wightman became minister.
He was born in Warwick, E. I., and, like most New Englanders,
religious persecution drove his father to these shores. The family
was strongly Baptist, as far back as 1611 at least. Like the Eells
family the descendants of Edward Wightman have filled more
than a score of pulpits in this land. He was a carpenter, and
followed his trade until his twenty-third year, when he had a
definite religious experience, and his conversion took place. Then
a strong impression was laid on him that the gift of " Christ
was not only for my safety and happiness, but His service and
glory." This heavenly vision led his steps toward the ministry,
but "for eighteen months thereafter he " wrought and preached,"
and when the invitation came from the Baptist Church of Ash-
ford, he accepted, beginning his pastorate in 1806.
After eleven years of successful labor, he moved to this village,
staying his first night in Major Eells's old home, known even then
as " the Minister's Tavern." After fifteen years' service as pas-
tor of the Second Baptist Church of Middletown, he moved to
East Lyme, but returned in two years, on the earnest invitation
of the Cromwell church, for two years more of service. Later
he was in the Baptist churches of Hadrlam, three years; Wethers-
field, one year; East Lyme (now Niantic), three years, and
then returned to pass the last days of his life among his friends
here, after forty years of preaching.
He was a God-called man, believed with all his heart in conver-
sion as essential to salvation, and this he preached with all the
fervor of his strong nature. No one was more acceptable as_ a
speaker in the Hartford, New Haven, and New London Associa-
tions, with which he was by turns connected. At the birth of
missionary activity in 1821-3, he was among the foremost in edu-
cating the churches, and soliciting their prayers and contributions
for Dr. Judson and his co-laborers in Burmah, and few had an
acquaintance equal to his of domestic missions. He was a char-
ter member, and one of the most active in the organization of
"the State Convention of Baptist churches" in 1823; and, with
Deacon William Eanney, introduced this church into the Hart-
HISTOEY OF THE SOCIETY 139
ford Association. Wrote the editor of the Christian Secretary,
" In every ecclesiastical relation, Mr. Wightman bore a conspic-
uous and"^ leading part." His records show that he preached
over seven thousand sermons, immersed upward of four hundred
willing converts, administered the Lord's Supper over five hun-
dred times, officiated at about three hundred funerals and as many
marriages, and by special requests because of his gifts as a preacher,
attended over twenty-one ordinations, and preached the sermon
at the majority of them.
His last days were spent here. Though he suffered greatly
near the end, his faith never faltered. Writing near the end, he
said in a letter to his son : " After seventy-seven years in life,
and fifty-five in connection with the Baptist Church. I have noth-
ing to boast of, saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by
which I hope that I am crucified to the world and the world to
me." Then, October 5, 1856, he was gathered to his fathers
as a ripe sheaf of corn.
The fourth subject of my sketch is the Rev. Charles W. Pot-
ter. He is a recent man, and because he is known to some, I will
not give him the space which he undoubtedly deserves.
His pastorate extended for three and one-half years, but those
years were full, coming here in the spring of 1852. He was
a strong preacher, and man of affairs — a blending, if some peo-
ple's word can be taken, which is too frequently noticeable by its
absence among clergymen as a class. He succeeded Rev. Mr.
Hervey as pastor, filling the pulpit, I believe, the Sunday after
his predecessor left, and, as soon as he could study the field, he
recognized the great need of a new meeting house. In eight
months $1900 was subscribed, and a building committee ap-
pointed, " who were to take the entire responsibility upon
themselves."
They sought a site for some time, and talked of the lot between
the stores of Elisha Stocking and Ralph Savage, and also of an-
other on which " John Haskel's old house now stands."
A little later the project gained deeper hold, and about $2100
was subscribed, when " Elder Potter purchased the Thomas
Stow house and lot from Mr. Colton for $1600, and the church
was erected upon it." It was largely through his efforts that this
church stands here to-day. He resigned his charge in 1855, and
many regretted his going. This church was full Sabbath after
Sabbath. So pronounced were his preaching ability and knowledge
of affairs, that he stands out in the memory of some of the older
members, though a dozen licentiates and ministers have come and
gone since his day. I think that it was through sorrow at losing
him that Rev. Mr. Wightman, in a letter announcing the resigna-
140 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
tion of Mr. Potter, wrote, " May God give this church a man
after his own heart, who shall be full of the Gospel of Christ."
Mr. Potter served other churches in Connecticut for nearly fifty
years, and was long a director of Conn. Baptist State Convention,
Dr. Francis Wayland once said of him, " Since the death of Dr.
Palmer of Stonington, Mr. Potter is the man upon whose wisdom
and direction we rely in our management of the affairs of the feeble
Churches of the State." Mr. Potter died in Litchfield, Aug. 1903,
and is buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery at Hartford, where a very
fine Scotch monument erected by friends marks his burial place.
As one takes a broad view over two centuries of church life, two
things are marked here as in all New England : first is the divine
authority of the Holy Bible, and second is the right of personal
liberty in the sight of God.
To our fathers the Bible was a message of Almighty God. They
accepted it without compromise. It was the one book found in
their dwellings. They read it at their firesides, they talked about
it to their children and neighbors, and they were permeated with
its historic facts. They even gave their children the names of its
heroes and characters, and the truth it contained found expression
in education and politics. It was the reading book of the child
learning his letters, " the lamp to the feet " of the adult, and the
hope of the aged, physically tottering, but stalwart in faith, in
the even time of their lives.
And personal liberty matched their love for the Word of God.
God most high was the only Lord of the conscience. Home and
friendships were given up at the call of freedom, and life itself
was not too valuable a possession with which to purchase liberty.
They lacked sometimes in charity. They were not always
catholic in spirit, but neither are we. Said another, "We do
not burn and stone one another, it is true, and yet our words are
sometimes as hot as a flame, and as rough as brick bats."
On Plymouth Rock, in the commonwealth of Massachusetts, a
splendid monument was dedicated about twenty years ago. Upon
a granite pedestal there rises a sculptured figure, representing
faith. In her left hand is an open Bible. The right points up-
ward to the divine source of all true inspiration. At her feet
are statues representing Education, Law, Morality, and Freedom.
It is an elegant tribute to the Pilgrims, and a suggestive lesson
to their children. And the men whose lives were given to the
churches of this place have used the endowments that this com-
munity be educated, that it respect law, that it practice morality
and enjoy liberty.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS RANNEY
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS RANNEY
FIEST GENEKATION
The second volume of Scottish Arms names the Eany and
Kenny families. Herbert Eainie sat in Parliament for Dumfries
in 1572. Eobert Eayning was provost in 1578. Symon Eenny
was bailie of Inverkeithing in 1362. In 1450 Eanys and Eennys
were owners of land in Forfarshire. Sir John Eany of England
is named in 1660. The name is given in various forms in France
and Flanders at a very early date.
1. The first known of our Thomas Eany is in the land records
of Middletown, a house lot having been granted to him in 1658.
His marriage is recorded as in May, 1659, to Mary Hubbard. At
this date George Grave returned to Hartford and his grants
were transferred to Thomas Eany, the record being dated in 1663.
In 1698 Alexander Eollo, a Scotchman, and an attorney who had
married a daughter of John Kirby, wrote and witnessed a will
wherein " Thomas Eheny " gave to his son Ebenezer a parcel of
land. This spelling does not occur in a deed dated a day later where-
in the father gave adjoining land to a brother of Ebenezer. The con-
clusion is that Alexander Eollo is responsible for the form in which
he wrote the name. In Scottish records Eheny is a familiar name.
The conclusion is that Thomas Eany came from Scotland. On his
tombstone the name is Eanny, and about this date, 1713, his sons
wrote their name as Eany and soon after as Eanny. The repro-
duction of their autographs is given herewith. The deed of 1698
is in the possession of Mrs. Charles Collard Adams. While the
public records give the birth of only five children, and the church
records give the baptism of Marcy, the will gives the names of
the ten children who survived him. While the public record says
he died June 25, 1713, the gravestone says he died June 21, 1713.
He is supposed to have been the first one buried here, as it was only
in January preceding it was voted to set apart land for a cemetery.
His signature to deeds in his later years was attested by a 4"
and it may be that he was as unfortunate in one respect as were
others of his day and generation. He was not a member of the
church. He served equally with others on various town commit-
tees and was an active member of the community. In the census
of 1670 when the inhabitants were rated he was rated at £105, the
ninth in a list of 52 proprietors.
143
144 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
Mary Hubbard, his wife, was born in Hartford, Jan. 16, 1641-2,
the eldest child of George Hubbard and Elizabeth Watts, She
d. Dec. 18, 1721, and is without a gravestone. In his will dated
May 2, 1681, George Hubbard, aged 80, said, " I give to my daugh-
ter Mary Eany fourty shillings out of my Estate, but on further
consideration instead of that fourty shillings I give my sayd daugh-
ter the on halfe of my halfe Mille Lott on the East side the Great
Eiver by the List of 1673." His homestead in Middletown was
on Main Street extending south from what is Eapello Avenue and
_ HEROES
SEA/R'U\J
XEAPS'DtB
reaching back to the Connecticut Eiver. Thomas Allen's home-
stead lay between Hubbard's and Eiverside Cemetery.
Will of Thomas^ Eanney
In the Name of God, Amen, the Sixth day of March in the
year of our Lord 1711. I, Thomas Eanny of Middletown in the
County of Hartford in New England, Husbandman, being very
sick and weak in body, but of competent understanding and mem-
ory, thanks be given to God, therefore calling to mind the mor-
tality of my body, and knowing that it is appointed for men once
to dye, Do make, and ordain this my last will and testament, that
is to say, principally and first of all I give and recommend my
soul into the hands of God y gave it, hopeing through the Merits,
death and passion of my Saviour Jesus Christ to have full and
free pardon and forgiveness of all my sins, and to inherit everlast-
ing life. And my body I commit to ye earth, to be decently buried
at the discretion of my executors hereafter named, nothing doubt-
ing but at ye Generall resurrection I shall receive the same again
by the mighty power of God, And, as touching such worldly estate
wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me in this life, I give,
demise and dispose of the same in the following manner, and form,
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS RANNEY 145
that is to say. First I will that all those debts and dutyes as I do
owe in right or Conscience to any manner of person or persons
whatsoever shall be well and truely contented and paid, or or-
dained to be paid in convenient time after my decease, by my
Executors hereafter named.
Item. I give and bequeath to my dear wife, Mary, during her
naturall life the free use and improvement of that half of my
dwelling house wherein we now live, with the seller belonging to
it, and ye one half of my homelott, and half of my old barn with
the new end thereof, to-gether with my whole upper lott in the
long meadow both plowing land and grass land, with two acres
on ye near neck, the use of a teem with a yoke of oxen and a
horse, and necessary instruments belonging to it, and so much
bedding and household stuff as she shall need for her own per-
conall comfort and benefit, and likewise she shall have the whole
despose of that land which her Father Hubbard gave her, and I
do ordain and appoint my son Thomas to take care of his Mother
after my decease and to see that what I have wild to her for
her comfortable maintenance be improved to that end.
Item. I give to my son Thomas, the lott on which his house
stands as it is now divided, and one acre and half of my lott in Won-
gung Meadow, and a quarter part of Butt Swamp lott, also the whole
of ye upper long meadow lott after his mothers decease also I
give to him one acre of my boggy meadow swamp lott the half of
my timber hill lott ye south side, & a quarter part within fifteen
acres of the plain lott or Cold Spring, haveing his part divided to
him by quantity and quality, also a quarter part of my long lott
on the east side of ye great River, also I give to my son Thomas
a quarter part of the undivided land y is yet in the town, also I
give to Thomas a quarter part of the round meadow and further
neck after my daughter Savages three acres of upland lying next
ye meadow be taken out, also a quarter part of the half of that lott
near Wongung bars, or Indian Hill, the west part of the lott with
the swamp adjoining to it, this lott begins from the Highway east-
ward against Jonathan Warners. It is my will that this lott be
splitt into, and the east part of it butting upon the highway against
Jonathan Warners I do reserve for myself, to dispose of as I please,
the other half of the lott, viz, the west part of it with the swamp
adjoyning to it it is my will that it shall be equally divided betwixt
my four sons, Thomas, John, Joseph and Ebenezer.
Item. I give to my son John, that lott whereon his house stands,
with one acre of my boggy meadow lot, also the just half of what
is left of my Wongung meadow after Thomas has his own acre and
half taken out and the fourth part of my lott in the plain to be
146 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
divided to him by quantity and quality, also a quarter part of my
long lott on the east side of the great river, also a quarter part
of butt swamp lott, this I gave to him formerly by a deed of gift,
also eight acres of my timber hill lott, and something better, this
also he had formerly by a deed of gift, also a third part of my
lower long meadow lott both plowing and grass land and swamp
after my son Ebenezers three acres be taken out which he has
now under improvement, this I will to him to take in possession
after my decease, also a quarter part of the further neck, and
round meadow, after the three acres of upland which I give to my
daughter Mary Savage be taken out, also a quarter part of the
undivided land in the town equall with his brethren, also a quarter
part of the half of that lott near Wongung bars, or Indian Hill
butting upon the highway east over against my son Jonathan War-
ners, the west part of the said lott, which lott I have split into,
reserving the east part of it for myself, with the swamp adjoyn-
ing to the west part equall with Thomas.
Item. I give to my son Joseph that lott whereon his house stands,
and one acre of my boggy meadow, with the just half of my Won-
gung meadow after Thomas has his one acre and half taken out,
also the fourth part and fifteen acres of my plain lott, the fifteen
acres to be taken out of Thomas part in consideration of Thomas
being made better y he, at timber hill, also to be divided to him
by quantity and quality as ye rest of his brethren have, also a
quarter part of my Long lott on the east side of the great river
also a quarter part of the west part of my lott near Wongung bars
equall with Thomas and John as before mentioned, with the
swamp adjoyning to it, also a third part of my lower long meadow
lott both plowing and grass land and swamp, after Ebenezer has
his three acres taken out this I also will that he shall have in
possession after my decease, also a quarter part of further neck
and round meadow after the three acres of upland which I give
to my daughter Mary Savage be taken out, also a quarter part
of butt swamp lott, also a quarter part of the undivided land in
the town.
Item. I give to my son Ebenezer the half of my dwelling house,
homestead and old barn, and it is my will that my said son Eben-
ezer shall have the other half of my dwelling house, barn & home-
stead after his mothers decease provided he do pay to Mary Savage,
Elizabeth Warner, and Easter Savage five pounds apease in pay,
also that he shall give to Hannah, Margaret and Abigail so much
of his part of Cold Spring lott as shall amount to or produce
fifteen pound in pay, and if he shall refuse and neglect to pay his
three sisters first, mentioned, viz, Mary Savage, Elizabeth Warner
and Easter Savage their Legacy fifteen pound he shall then resign
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS RANNEY 147
up two acres in the near neck, but if lie pays them their due ac-
cording to my will he shall enjoy the same after my and my wifes
decease when he shall take possession of the whole of the home-
stead with all the buildings upon it, also I give to him one acre of
the boggy meadow, and the fourth part of the plain lott to be
divided to him according to quantity and quality, also a quarter
part of the west part of my lott near Wongung bars or Indian
Hill as before mentioned, equal with Thomas, John and Joseph,
with the swamp adjoyning to the west part, the east part of ye
said lott butting upon the highway against my son Jonathan
Warner I have reserved for myself, also a quarter part of my long
lott on the east side of the great river, also a quarter part of
further neck and round meadow after the three acres I have given
to my daughter Mary Savage be taken out, also a quarter part of
butt swamp lott, also a quarter part of the undivided land, also I
give to my son Ebenezer three acres or thereabouts which he
now improves of my lower long meadow lott, both plowing land
and grass land and swamp.
Item. I give to my Son and daughter John and Mary Savage
besides wt they have had formerly given to them in land by a deed
of gift, and household stuff, I do now give them and tr heirs forever
three acres of my land on the farther neck against ye lott in the
round meadow so as may be convenient for them to come to tr
meadow land running up to the highway also five pound in pay, to
be paid to ym by my son Ebenezer.
Item. I give to my son and daughter Jonathan and Elizabeth
Warner besides what they have had given to them formerly in land
by a deed of gift and household stuff, it is my will that they'
have given to the other viz : Mary & Easter, five pounds in pay, to
be paid to them by my son Ebenezer.
Item. I give to my son and daughter Nathaniell and Easter
Savage besides what they have already received formerly in land
by a deed of gift and household stuff, it is my will that they
shall have their five pound as ye rest have which Ebenezer is to
pay, and also I do give to ym and to yr heirs forever the half
of my half mile lott.
Item. I give to Hannah, Margarett and Abygail, five pound
apeice in current pay which my son Ebenezer is to pay unto them
out of his part in the plain lott in Consideration of his having
the whole of the homestead also I do give to them what remaines
of my boggy meadow that I have not given to yr brothers, what
remaines be it more or less to be equally divided amongst them
after my decease also two acres in the east side of the near neck
next to a highway to be equally divided amongst them after my
decease, Also it is my will that what remaines of the household
148 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
stuff besides what yr mother needs for her own personall use
and benefit, shall be equally divided amongst them, also two
eowes, three mares and all the sheep to be equally divided betwixt
them, divideing of them as they see cause, also the team with two
oxen, one horse together with all the husbandry tools and what
bedding and household stuff shall be left after yr mothers decease
shall be equally divided amongst my three daughters Hannah,
Margarett and Abygail, also I give unto Hannah, Margarett and
Abygail the just half of my half mile lott, the upper part of it
next to ye short lotts.
Item. I give to my grandson Willett Ranney the remaining part
of timber hill lott which consists of eight acres or thereabouts,
four acres of ye plowing land he may now take possession of, the
other four acres of pasture he shall have ye possession and im-
provement of after myne and my wifes decease.
Item. I give to my grandson Thomas Savage my lott in the dead
swamp.
Lastly I do nominate and appoint my son Thomas, John, and
Joseph to be executors of this my will and testament, to take
that it be duly executed according to the true intent and meaning
of ye same, also I do nominate and appoint Mr. David Deming,
and my son John Savage as overseers of this my last will and testa-
ment to see yt the Executors do fully execute this my will and
testament and yt according to ye true intent and meaning of it.
And I do hereby utterly disallow, revoke and disanull all and
every other former testaments, wills and legacyes, bequests and
Executors by me in any wayes before this time named, willed and
bequeathed, ratifying and confirming this and no other to be my
last will and testament.
In Testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed
my seal this eighth day of March in the year of our Lord one
thousand seven hundred and eleven, being the tenth year of the
reign of our Soveraign Lady Ann by the Grace of God, Queen of
Great Britain, France and Ireland, defender of ye faith &c.
his
THOMAS X RANNY (seal)
mark
Signed, sealed published pronounced
and declared by me Thomas Ranny as my last
Will and testament in the presence of us
ye subscribers, viz :
Nath: White Seni^
Samll frary
Timothy Sage
•y o)_
Hf^tt^W^tM X /
1 1/ .■■
■3^1!-^'-'' X
■Vf^ff;
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m
It Cost hut Two Siullinos to Dig the Gravk ov Tiiomasi Ranney
(See page 144)
^V>'WW'"-^-'''
A Leaf from Capt. John Warner's Account with Ebenezeb2 Eannev
(See page 160)
rj^
/. >• t->i4 V^^ /<•/'». »/w'^:i/. ^ G (?^
(7 ai^^<iL./c^^ yc^ ff~if <^o
Capt. Daniel Kanney Paid Eight Shillings for
THE Grave of York, a Slave (See page 170)
,„....y'
;.v:^..y.n' ...... . .
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ri) flci) nit,) Aoai a.>i,; A
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.^^^ e ^ o-f
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r" 'Tx.-^ nit,) Aoai a.>i(/' /jnX airKSUKj umyityO / «> 7 -<*■«
A Leaj" FKoar Captain John Warner's Account
WITH Emenexer Sage
(See page 627)
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY
149
An inventory of the estate of Thomas Eany late of Mideltown
deceased, taken July 27: 1713 by us prisers John Sage Samuell
frary and John Warner.
To his waring aparel,
Cash
11 s d
to a cloak ISs to a gray carsy coat £1-10 02-05-00
to 3 vests and an old coat ITs to a pair of briches 5s 01-02-00
to 2 pair of old briches 2s to 1 pair of gloves Is 00-03-00
to 1 pair of stockins 2s-Gd to 2 pair of shoes 10s 00-12-06
to a hat 2b to 2 shirts lis to 2 neck-cloths and other linen. . . 00-15-00
to cash att fifteen peny weight 18-04-00
to a gun and sword £1 to amunition and powder horns 5s-6(i 01-05-06
to a bulit mould Is to 3 pound of lead Is to an old blanket 5s . 00-07-00
to a feather bed, bolster and pillow £3 to 2 underbeds 38 03-03-00
to 25 yds of bed ticking £l-17s-6d to 2 underbeds more 9s 02-06-06
to 5 feather pillows £1 to 2 old coverlids more Ss 01-08-00
to 7 coverlids £3-10s to 6 pair of old sheets £3 06-10-00
to 3 pair of new sheets £3 to 16 fine napkins £l-4s 04-04-00
to 5 table cloths 15s to 8 towels 8s to 6 pillow cots 128 01-15-00
to a chees cloth Is to an ink horn 8^, to an old red mantle 5s. 00-06-08
to 3 yds of lincy-woolcy 9s to 3 lb of flax £1 to 2 meall bags 8s 01-17-00
to 11 lb of sheeps wool lis to 2 chests 15s to a box and and old
trunk 58 01-11-00
to a new bedstead lOs to 2 old bedsteds Gs to 3 bed cords 7s-6d 01-03-06
to a brass ketell £4 to 2 brass skilits lis to an old brass
cittell 5s 04-16-00
to an iron pot £1 to an iron kettel 10s to a warming pan 13s . . 02-03-00
to 2 peuter platters 14s to a peuter bason 5s to 6 poringers 6s. . 01-05-00
to old peuter 4s-8<i to a chamber pot ls-8<i to an eartheru
plater Is 00-07-04
to other earthern ware 4s-4<i to 4 glass bottels 2s to wooden
and platers and chese moats 58 and chees press 48 0-15-04
to a wooden bottell and 1 paill 23-61 to a hetchell 10s 00-12-06
to 1 ponder tub 7s to other tubs in the seller 5s to a half
bushell ls-6d 00-08-06
to a half peck 6s and 2 barils 4s to 4 vines 3s com basket Is. 00-08-06
to 3 old riddels Is to 3 old bags Is to a half pike Is 2 sieues 3s. 00-06-00
to 3 splinter brooms Is to 2 powdering more 3s to 3 old
cask ls-6d 00-05-06
to a meall troaff Is to 3 bushels of mault 9s to half bus salt 2s 00-12-00
to 5 spoons and 2 pair of sisors 28 to an old frying and a
smothing iron 4s 00-06-00
to 7 small baskets 2s to an old bible and other old books 8s . . 00-10-00
to 4 chair 6s and 4 cushins 28 to a table 10s to a lamp 23 01-00-00
to a pair of cards Is-O^ to a slise 2s-6^ to a pair of tongs 38 . . 00-07-00
to a tramill and hooks 6s and 1 pair of pot hooks Is 00-07-0O
to 14 lb. of coars wool 9s-4'3 to a youk and stake and rings
3s-6d 00-12-10
to hors traces and whipeltree chain 12s and coller 4s 00-16-00
to a plow chain and double hooks lOs and plow cleui 2s-6<i . . 00-12-06
to a sheare and coller 8s to a cart and iron to it £l-4s 01-04-00
150 MIDDLETOWN UPPEK HOUSES
Cash
11 s d
to a fork 2s-6<i to a cart roap 5s to a sith and tacklin 5b-Q^ . . 00-12-06
to a broad hoak 3s to a timber chain fl-lSd a bridle 3s 01-15-06
to 2 pair of fork tines 3s beatle and 3 wedges 6b an ax 48 00-13-00
an old ax ls-6<i and cuting knife for hay 4s-6d and sheep
shears 2s 00-08-00
to a hand saw 3s to drawing knife 4s-6<i to a lathing hamer
2B-6a to another hamer Is-Ga to a troah Is 00-12-06
to chisels and a goudg and a punch 5s 2 trouels 4s 00-09-00
to old broken chains and old iron £1-Ss sith tacklin 2s-6d 01-10-06
to gimblits and awls 2s to 2 spindels Is to a spade 33 00-06-00
to a stubing hoak 2s-6d to a parcell of tand leather 14s 00-16-06
to a percell of nails 4s 00-04-00
to one yoak of oxen £9 to a three yeare old stear f 2-lOs 11-10-00
to a heifer fl-15s to one Cow £2-15s to 2 mares £5 09-10-00
to 6 sheep £l-10s to 3 hindges 3s to a cow hide 2s-8<i 01-15-08
to the house and homstead and barn 110-00-00
to the uper lott in the long meadow 42-00-00
to the lower lott in the long meadow 50-00-00
to the boggy meadow lott and the swamp 24-00-00
to the round meadow lott 08-00-00
to 4 acers on the near neck 15-00-00
to land on the further neck 09-00-00
to the dead swamp lott 02-10-00
to five acers of land on which Thomases hous now stands . . 15-00-00
to five acers of land on which Johns hous now stands 15-00-00
to three acers of land on which Josephs hous now stands.. 15-00-00
to 24 acers of land att hubards hill 60-00-00
to 315 acers att the plains or Cold Springs 150-00-00
to Waugog meadow lott 18-00-00
to 15 acres of upland neare wangog bars 15-00-00
to 5 acers and half of swamp land att the uper end of pason
chog 05-10-00
To the long lott on the east side the great riuer 80-10-00
To the half mile lott on the east side of the great riuer 10-00-00
To the half of a half mile lott 07-10-00
To His right of the undivided land in the Towne 10-00-00
Sum totall 757-19-10
The aboue luentory taken by us the day aboue sett downe,
JOHN Wabneb{ iTul^"^"^^^ } Prisers
Children :
2 Thomas, b. Mar. 1, 1660-1.
3 John, b. Nov. 14, 1662.
4 Joseph, b. Sept., 1663.
5 Mary, b. Oct., 1665; m. John- Savage.
6 Elizabeth, b. Apl. 12, 1668 ; m. Jonathan^ Warner.
7 Esther, bapt. Apr. 22, 1673; m. ISTathanieP Savage.
Hannah, bapt. Mar. 23, 1675; d. Nov., 1713.
DESCENDANTS OP THOMAS RANNEY 151
Margaret, bapt. Jan. 10, 1678-9; m. abt. 1734, Stephen Clark;
living, 1734, in New Haven.
Ebenezer, b. abt. 1681.
Mercy, bapt. Nov. 12, 1682; d. .
Abigail, b. ; m. Jan. 21, 1713-14, Walter Harris.
She " departed this life by death," Dec. 15, 1714. Child:
Abigail, b. 29, 1714; d. Nov. 20, 1714. He m. (2)
Jan. 23, 1717-18, Elizabeth Wheeler, who d. Sept. 13,
1718. He m. (3) Nov. 1, 1720, Deborah Prindle of
Stratford.
SECOJ^D GENEEATION
3 Thomas^ Eanney (Thomas^), b. Mar. 1, 1660-1; m. Mar.
29, 1691, Hartford, Eebecca Willett, b. , Hartford, Conn.,
dan. of Nathaniel Willett and Hannah- Adams, who was the dan.
of Jeremy^ Adams and Eebecca2 Fletcher (John^ Fletcher).
Original members of the church organized in the " North Society,"
on Jan. 5, 1714-15. Their homestead was on the right-hand side
of the road leading to "Berlin quarter," beginning at "Wilcox
brook," being part of the land bought in 1686 from the estate
of John Crow by Thomas Eanney, and given to him by his father's
will, according to the custom of that day, though he undoubtedly
had built on it at the time of his marriage. He d. Feb. 6, 1726,
and has a gravestone. His widow married Jacob^ White.
, Adams Lineage — Jeremy Adams, in Braintree, 1632 ; freeman in
Cambridge, May 6, 1635 ; in Hartford, 1636 ; m. Eebecca, widow of
Samuel Greenhill, as a second wife, it is supposed; given, May, 1660,
exclusive right to retail liquors; Mar., 1661-2, to keep ordinary.
This tavern was on the site of the new (1906) Traveller's Building.
In it the Great and General Court was in session with the Charter,
when the demand of Gov. Andros was ignored, the lights put out,
and the Charter concealed in the Charter Oak tree. He held many
local offices. His wife, Eebecca, d. 1678, and he m. (2) Eebecca,
widow of Andrew Warner, Jr., who was dau. of John Fletcher. He
d, Aug. 11, 1683. His widow removed to Middletown, where she
lived with a son, and d. Jan. 25, 1715, aged 77.
Hannah Adams m. Nathaniel Willett. He came to Hartford in
1642 ; d. Jan. 4, 1698.
Will of Thomas- Eanney
I, Thomas Eanny of Middletown, in the County of Hartford,
husbandman, doe make this my last will and testament : Imprimis :
I give to Eebeckah, my wife, ^ of my now dwelling house, ^ of
my land at home, | of my orchard and ^ of my land in the long
meadow. This I give her during her natural life, excepting only
my wearing apparell, which I give to my three sons, Thomas,
Willet and Nathaniel. And what money that is lent out I give
to my wife to be at her own disposal. I give to my son Thomas
152
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 153
yt lottment of land whereon his house stands; also I give him my
land lying on the plain, north of lands belonging to my brother
Joseph Ranny and south of land belonging to Lt. Frary, and butts
on ye road from Middletown to Wethersfield west; also I Give
him -J of my other land lying on the plain easterly of land that
belongeth to my brother Joseph Eanny; also I give him half
of my long meadow land after my wife's decease; also I give him
the I of my land in Wangunk meadow; also I give him the ^
of my Burch Swamp Pasture; also I give him my meadow at
Goose Delight and all my Neck land that lyeth near sd. Goose
Delight Meadow.
I give to my son Willet all my land at Timber Hill; also my
lower lott in Boggy Meadow; also I give him the remainder of
my land at Passonchoague after my grandson George hath had
2 acres more than what I have given him and his sister by deed
of gift, and two acres to lye next to that which I 'have given him
and his sister as above, and then all the remainder of my land
there or thereabouts to be to my son Willet; also I give him ^
part of my lottment of land on the plain that lyeth easterly of
land that belongeth to my brother Joseph Eanny and westerly
of land belonging to my brother Ebenezer Eanny. I give to the
heirs of my son George in this my will what I have given them by
deed of gift. Also I give to my grandson George Ranny, the
son of my son George Eanny deed, two acres of land adjoining
to that which I have given to him and his sister by deed of gift,
which is the two acres above specified. I give to my son Nathaniel
the -J of my now dwelling house and half of my barn, -J of my
land at home, ^ of my orchard at my decease and the other half
at my wife's decease. I give to my three daughters Eebeca, Mar-
garet and Anne, | of my moveable estate at my decease. Also I
give to my three daughters all my lands that are already laid out
in the last division on the east side of the Great Eiver. Also I
give them all my land in the Eound Meadow. Also I give them
all my land lyeing on the Heither Neck, so called. Also I give
to my three sons all my propriety right in lands that are yet to be
divided in Middletown. And whereas it is sayd in that part of
my will that my son Willet shall have all my land at Timber
Hill, it is to be understood that Willet is to accomodate his mother
with pasturing for a cow or two if she needs it. I appoint my
three sons, Thomas, Willet and Nathaniel, Executors.
Thomas X. Eanny,
Witness : Joseph Eanny
Roger Gipson, John Warner
154 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
Be it known to all men by these presents: That whereas I,
Thomas Eanny of the Town of Middletown° have made my last
will and testament in writeing bearing date 31st January 1726-7,
I the sd. Thomas Eanny, by this present codicil, do ratify and
confirm my sd. last will and testament, and do will and bequeath
to my three daughters, Rebeckah, Anne and Margaret, the sum of
£20 in money or bills of credit of this Colony or the neighboring
provinces, to "be paid unto them by my son Willet on consideration
of his having all my land at Timber Hill, the sd. £20 to be paid
after my wife's decease.
Thomas X Eanny.
Witness : Joseph Eanny
Eoger Gipson, John Warner.
Children :
9 Thomas, b. Aug. 14, 1692.
10 Willett, b. Mar. 30, 1693-4.
II George, b. Oct. 28, 1695.
Eebecca, b. Dec. 10, 1700; m. Jonathan^ Doolittle. (See the
Doolittle Family.)
12 Nathaniel, b. June 17, 1702.
Ann, b. July 23, 1706.
Margaret, b. Aug. 21, 1708 ; m. Ebenezer^ Ranney.
3 John2 Eanney, (Thomas^), b. Nov. 14, 1662; m. Dec. 28,
1693, Hannah Turner, b. Mar. 4, 1678-9, Middletown, dau. of Ed-
ward Turner and Mary Sanford.
Edward Turner was in Milford, 1651 ; rem. to Middletown m
1665. In his will he names his daughter Hannah "now the wife
of John Eanney." His tombstone in Eiverside Cemetery says he
died Apr. 4, 1717, aged 84. Eichard Sanford was in Boston in
1640, in which year his wife Margery died.
John^ Eanney and his wife were adm. to full communion in the
Middletown ch. June 2, 1695; were original members of the North
Society ch. organized Jan. 5, 1714-15. His homestead was next
north of that of his brother Thomas. In 1717 he sold out and rem.
to East Middletown where he and his wife were original members
of the Third Society ch. organized 1721. The dates of their
deaths are unknown.
Children:
Marcel b. Dec. 28, 1695, Upper Houses; m. July 19, 1722,
East Middletown, John Hall, b. Aug. 19, 1699, Upper
Houses, son of Deacon Samuel Hall and Sarah Hinsdale.
She d. Oct. 1, 1762, he Feb. 3, 1767. Children:
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DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 155
Jolm, Hannah, Marce, Gideon and Mary*, who m. Comfort
Eaton ; Sylvaniis^ Eaton m. Sarah Goodrich ; David^ Eaton
m. Selinda Sweetland ; Jacob Sweetland^ Eaton m. Adaline
Reynolds; Jane Adaline^ Eaton m. Henry Kirke Wight.
They res. Indian Orchard, Mass.
Hannah, b. June 1, 1699; d. Nov. 26, 1699.
John, b. Sept. 13, 1700; d. Sept. 20, 1700.
13 John, b. Oct. 1, 1703.
14 Richard, b. Feb. 18, 1705.
Deborah, b. Aug. 24, 1708.
Jeremiah, b. Jan. 25, 1713; d. Feb. 16, 1713.
Samuel, b. Aug. 12, 1715; m. Ann Miller, b. Dec. 7, 1701,
dau. of John Miller and Marcy Bevins. He served in 7th
Co., Capt. Herlihy, 1st Reg., 1758, French-Indian War,
reported as having d. Aug. 21, 1758. Owned several pieces
of property. No probate record.
4 Joseph^ Ranney (Thomas^), b. Sept. 1663, Upper Houses;
m. Jan. 1693, Mary* Starr, b. 1672, New London, Ct., d. Oct. I8,
1747, Upper Houses, dau. of Comfort^ Starr and Marah Weld.
He was given as a homestead a part of the land bought in 1686
by his father of John Crow's estate. His house stood where Deacon
John Stevens built. It was transferred to him in his father's will.
He and his wife were adm. to full communion in the original
church on Sept. 15, 1695. They were original members of the
North Society ch., organized Jan. 5, 1714-15. In 1740 he deeded his
various properties to his children. He d. Mar. 21, 1745. Their
tombstones are seen herewith.
Will of Joseph^ Ranney
This first Day of July, In the fourteenth year of the Reign of
his Majesty King George the second Anno Domini 1740. I Joseph
Ranny of Middletown, in the County of Hartford and Colony of
Connecticut, in New England, being advanced in years, and very
infirm in body, but of sound disposeing mind and memory, thanks
be given to God therefor, and calling to mind the mortality of my
body, knowing it is appointed for man once to Dye, do make and
ordain this my last will and testament, that is to say, principally
and first of all I give and recommend my soul into the hands of
God that gave it, when he shall put a Period to my temporal life
and my body to the earth to a Decent burial, Hopeing to have free
pardon of all my sins, through the merits of Jesus Christ my
blessed Redeemer, and to inherit everlasting life, and as touching
such worldly estate wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me in
156 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
this Life, I give, demise, and dispose of the same in the following
manner and form.
Imp*. I give and bequeath unto Mary my well beloved wife
one third part of all my household goods whatsoever, and one good
cow, six sheep, and one swine, all which to be at her own dispose.
I also give her the improvement of one third part of all my build-
ings and improved lands and fire wood (which I have reserved for
her in the deeds that I have given to my sons) During the time
that she shall remain my widow.
And whereas I have by deeds of gift disposed of all my real
estate to and among my three sons Joseph Daniel and Jonathan I
also hereby give them all and every part of my personal estate what-
soever, that I have not herein given to my wife, Hereby also oblig-
ing my sd. three sons to pay all my just debts, funeral charges and
legacies after mentioned, viz : to Edward Shepard & Mary Shep-
ard the only children of my daughter Mary Shepard, Dec'd. the
sum of fourty pounds money, to my daughter Abigail Stocking the
sum of fourty pounds money, to my daughter Sibel Porter, the sura
of fourty pounds money, and to Lucia Stocking and Grace Stocking
the only children of my daughter Eachel Stocking dec'd the sum
of fourty pounds money, which my sd sons shall pay in the parts
following, Joseph fourty five pounds thereof, Daniel fourty five
pounds thereof and Jonathan the remaining seventy pounds, which
legacies my sd sons shall pay to such of my sd daughters and
grandchildren as shall be of lawful age at my decease, one half
thereof within three months after my decease and the other half
within nine months after my decease and those of my sd grand
children that shall not be of lawful age at my decease, shall receive
their legacies as they come to lawful age.
And my will is that if one of the sd. children of either or both
of my sd deceased daughters should decease before they attain to
lawful age the surviver shall receive the whole of said forty pounds.
But if both the sd children of either of my sd daughters should
decease before they attain to lawful age, my will is that the said
forty pounds shall remain to my said three sons.
And I do hereby nominate, constitute and appoint my said three
sons Joseph Eanny, Daniel Eanny & Jonathan Ranny executors to
this my last will and testament. Hereby ratify allowing and con-
firming this and no other to be my last will and testament.
In witness whereof I have hereto set my hand and seal the day
and year before written Joseph Ranny (Seal)
Signed, sealed, published and
declared by the said Joseph
Ranny to be his last will
and Testament. In presence of, etc.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 157
Children :
15 Mary, b. Dec. 14, 1694; m. Samuel Shepard.
Elizabeth, b. Jan. 1, 1697; d. Jan. 9, 1723.
16 Joseph, b. Apr. 11, 1699.
Abigail, b. Nov. 16, 1702; m. Dec. 20, 1726, Capt. Joseph
Stocking. (See the Stocking Family.)
Sybil, b. Mar. 10, 1704; m. Aug. 21, 1724 Amos Porter. Chil-
dren: Eachel, Gideon, Amos, Lucretia, Asahel, Sybil,
Medad.
17 Daniel, b. July 13, 1707.
18 Jonathan, b. Aug. 26, 1709.
Eachel, b. Dec. 25, 1711, m. Jan. 26, 1737, Elisha Stocking.
(See the Stocking Family.)
[Starr Lineage — Dr. Comfort^ Starr, b. England, lived in Ash-
ford Co., Kent, in the practice of his profession, was a man of
Avealth, position, and importance, being in 1631 Warden of St.
Mary's church and in 1634 on a committee to repair the church.
He having taken the oath of conformity to the orders and discipline
of the Church of England, came from Sandwich, Co. Kent, Mar.
21, 1634-5, in the ship Hercules and made his residence in New-
towne, now Cambridge, Mass., where he practiced his profession.
He rem. to Duxbury and in 1649 to Boston, where he d. Jan. 2,
1659-60. (See Starr Genealogy.)
Dr. Thomas Starr^, b. England; d. Oct. 26, 1658 ; m. Eachel Har-
ris. He was appointed. May 17, 1637, chirurgeon to the forces
sent against the Pequots. He lived in Duxbury, Scituate, Yar-
mouth and Charlestown, where in 1654 he was " clerk of the
writs."
Comfort^ Starr, b. 1644, Scituate, Mass.; d. Oct. 18, 1693, Mid-
dletown, Conn. ; m. in Boston, Marah Weld, bapt. Aug. 2, 1646, at
Eoxbury, dau. of Joseph Weld and Barbara Clapp. He went to
New London in 1671, but soon rem. to Middletown, where he was
granted lands in Mar., 1674-5. He left no will. The inventory
names his children. Comfort 24, Joseph 17, Benjamin 15, Thomas
7, Daniel 1, IMary 22, Hannah 20, Eachel 10.]
[Shepard Lineage — Edward^ Shepa^rd, a cooper, was an early resi-
dent of Cambridge, Mass. He had six children.
Sergeant John^ Shepard, b. abt. 1627, was made a freeman at
Cambridge, Mass., in 1650; m. Oct. 1, 1649, Eebecca Greenhill,
b. 1634, dau. of Samuel Greenhill. He had six cliildren. Edward,
the sixth, rem. to Hartford, residing on what is Lafayette street.
158 MIDDLETOWN" UPPEE HOUSES
Edward^ Shepard, b. July 31, 1662, Hartford, Conn.; d. Sept.
9, 1711, Upper Houses. He was granted land where the Cong,
church now stands; m. Apr. 14, 1687, AbigaiP Savage (John^),
b. July 10, 1666; d. Oct. 16, 1719.
Children :
John, b. Feb. 19, 1688; m. Feb. 17, 1720, Sarah Clark, dau.
of John Clark and Elizabeth White, dau. of Capt. Na-
thaniel. They rem. to East Middletown.
Edward, b. Dec. 18, 1689 ; d. Apr. 29, 1721.
Samuel, b. Apr. 18, 1692.]
5 Mary^ Eauney (Thomas^), b. Oct. 1665, Upper Houses; m.
May 20, 1682, John^ Savage, b. Dec. 1, 1652, d. Oct. 31, 1726,
son of John^ Savage and Elizabeth Dublin. (See the Savage Fam-
ily.) He was com*^. Captain of the traine band in 1711. She d.
Aug. 19, 1734. They were original members of the church in the
North Society organized Jan. 5, 1714-15.
Children :
John, b. Feb. 20, 1683, d. Mar. 13, 1683.
Thomas^ b. Aug. 21, 1684; m. Mary Goodwin of Hartford.
(John*, Huldah^, Hepzibah® Wilcox, Norris Galpin^, Henry
Norris^ Galpin, Euth^ Galpin, a Life Member of Soc. M. U.
H., res, Berlin, Conn.)
John, b. Jan. 30. 1685; d. Aug. 20, 1686.
John, b. Aug. 7, 1688; d.— .
Mary, b. Feb. 11, 1690-1; m. Sept. 22, 1709, David Hurlbut,
son of John Hurlbut and Mary Deming.
William, b. July, 1693; m. Nov. 6, 1729, Hannah^ Savage,
(William^, John^).
Elizabeth, b. July, 1696; m. Sept., 1725, Andrew* Cornwall,
(William^ William-, William^).
Abigail, b. Dec. 1698; d. Mar. 1699.
Sarah, b. Sept., 1700; m. June 2, 1726, William^ Savage,
(William^, John^).
EacheP, b. Jan. 15, 1703-4; m. Apr. 4, 1728, William Good-
rich, (Mary*, Euth' Watson, Euth'' Buck, James Gurdon^
Taylor, b. Nov. 6, 1842 ; m. Apr. 13, 1865, Adelia M. Miner.
Ees. So. Glastonbury, Ct.)
Mercy, b. Apr. 10, 1706; m. Mar. 1, 1726-7, George* Stocking,
(George^ SamueP, George^).
6 Elizabeth- Eanney (Thomas^), b. Apr. 12, 1668, Upper
Houses, m. Aug. 4, 1698, Jonathan^ Warner, b. , son
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS RANNEY 159
of John- Warner, who came to Upper Houses about 1660, occupying
the Eobert Webster place, and grandson of Andrew^ Warner. She
was received into full com. of Middletown ch. July 28, 1695 and
was an origiilal member of the church organized in the North
Society, Jan, 5, 1714-15. They rem. to East Middletown about
1710, where she was an original member of the Third Church or-
ganized in 1721. He d. Nov. 4, 1733. She d. Feb. 11, 1757. Both
have gravestones.
Children :
Jonathan, b. July 2, 169—; d. July 6, 170—.
John, b. Aug. 16, 171— ; d. Sept. 5, 171—.
7 Esther" Eanney (Thomas^), bapt. Apr. 22, 1673; m. Dec.
3, 1696, Nathaniel- Savage (John^), b. May 7, 1671, Upper
Houses. He was 14 years of age when his father died and willed
him the homestead. In 1709 he sold it to Lieut. Samuel Prary
of Wethersfield and rem. to East Middletown where she was an
original member of the third church, organized in 1721. He was
Lieut, of the east side train band, and d Jan. 4, 1734-5; she d.
Apr. 1, 1750. Both have gravestones.
Children:
Esther^, b. Sept. 2, 1697; d. Apr. 16, 1769; m. Apr. 2, 1724,
William* Cornwall (William^ ^ ^ )• He had a grist mill
in E. Middletown and d. Dec. 13, 1775. (RacheP Cornwall,
Prudence^ Goodrich, Prudence*^ Dixon, DanieP Penfield,
Daniel Edward^ Penfield, who m. Jan. 1, 1871, Alice®
Buck, Silas^ Buck, Erastus*' Buck, Ruth^ Watson, Mary*
Goodrich, RacheP Savage, Mary- Ranhey, Thomas^ D. E.
Penfield and wife have Katie Louise, b. Feb. 24, 1874:
d. Apr. 13, 1874. Res. Warren, Mass.) (John* Corn-
wall, Ozias^ Ellesworth^ Sally Melissa^ Sarah Jane®, b.
Aug. 9, 1838; m. June 27. 1876, Russell Smith Taft, b.
Jan. 28, 1835, Williston, Vt., d. Mar. 22, 1902, State Senator,
Judge Probate, Chief Judge of Supreme Court of Vt.
Child: Russell Wales, b. May 4, 1878, grad. 1898, m. Dec.
16, 1901. Winona Lee Brigham, dau. of Rev. Sidney Sum-
ner Brigham; son Robert Brigham, b. Oct. 4, 1902. Res.
of Mrs. Judge Taft and son, Burlington, Vt.)
Nathaniel, b. Oct. 3, 1698; d. Apr. 27, 1699.
Abigail, b. Apr. 9, 1700; m. Mar. 21, 1726-7, Stephen Board-
man.
Susanna, b. June 29, 1702; m. Dec. 24, 1735, John Stephen-
son.
160 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
Mary, b. July 10, 1704; d. July 27, 1743.
Elizabeth, b. Jan. 27, 1707-8; m. Feb. 12, 1746, Gershom
Goodrich.
John, b. Sept. 1, 1710.
Nathaniel, b. Oct. 29, 1713; d. Dec. 6, 1716.
Jabez, b. July 12, 1718; d. July 20, 1743.
8 Ebenezer- Eanney (Thomas^), b. abt. 1681, Upper Houses;
m. Aug. 4, 1698, Sarah Warner, b. , dau of
John Warner and . They resided on adjoining home-
steads. She died Oct. 4, 1741. He died May 8, 1754. No tomb-
stones. He had inherited the homestead. His will. May 24, 1748,
gives " to my well beloved son, Ebenezer Ranny, all and singular
my lands, messuages, tenements with two thirds of my horses, cat-
tle and sheep, husbandry Emprovements of what kind soever and
also my gun and war like stores of every sort, together with all
my money, notes, bonds and other securities for money and all my
wearing apparel with one third part of my household stuff and
my will is that my son Ebenezer Ranny should keep winter and
summer one cow and six sheep for my daughter Hannah Ranny
so long as she lives unmarried. t
To Hannah the south part of the house and what she needs
of the cattel and two thirds parts of my household stuff during
her life and if she have no lawful heir of her body to be distributed
to my son Ebenezer and my daughter Ruth Moss.
To Ruth Moss £10 old tenner to be paid by my executor within
12 months after my decease.
Extracts from the inventory. " In old. tenor money Rhode Island
& Hampshire old tenour £77. 17-6. Conn, old tenour £17-6-6."
Total was £901-2-6.
Children :
Sarah, b. Jan. 15, 1699; d. Sept. 4, 1742.
Hannah, b. Mar. 25, 1702; unm. in 1748.
19 Ebenezer, b. Nov. 22, 1704.
Ruth, b. Apr. 6, 1707; mm. Apr. 13, 1738, Theophilus Moss
of Wallingford. Children:
Ebenezer, b. Nov. 25, 1740 ; m. Apr. 27, 1764, Esther Pres-
ton.
Esther, b. June 10, 1744; d. Aug. 25, 1744.
Ruth, b. Apr. 17, 1746.
Esther, b. Mar. 7, 1710; d. Oct. 7, 1741.
[Moss Lineage — John^ Moss was in New Haven as early as 1645.
He was a prominent man there, frequently representing the people
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 161
in the General Court. In 1667 he was in Wallingford. In 1670
at the age of sixty-seven he was active in procuring an act of incor-
poration, giving the name of Wallingford to the town, after which
he often represented this town in the Great and General Court. He
d. in 1707, at the advanced age of one hundred and three. (See
the Moss Genealogy. )
John- Moss, b. ; m. 1677, Martha Lathrop, who d.
Sept. 21, 1719. He d. Mar. 31, 1717. Ten children.
Deacon SamueP Moss, b. Nov. 18, 1680; m. Dec. 15, 1703,
Susannah Hall. He d. July 29, 1765; she d. Mar. 4, 1766, aged
eighty-three years.
Theophilus* Moss, b. Oct. 24, 1704; m. Apr. 13, 1738, Euth
Ranney.]
THIED GENEEATIOK
9 Thomas^ Eanney (Thomas-, Thomas^), b. Aug. 14, 1692,
Upper Houses; m. Feb. 26, 1720, Esther Wilcox, b. Oct. 31, 1699,
Upper Houses, dau. of Ephraim^ Wilcox (son of John- Wilcox
and Esther Cornwall) and Silence Hand, dau. of Joseph Hand
and Jane Wright of Guilford. By the will of his father he re-
ceived the farm on which he was then residing and on which he
lived till his death. Mar. 22, 1764. She died Oct. 3, 1779. This
farm is now the S. V. Hubbard place, a mile north of the Church
Green, and is on the main road to Hartford.
The estate was divided by agreement among the " aiers." The
home lot comprised " seven aykers " and over. There had been
advanced by deeds to Jeremiah £33-7-6; to Thomas £40; and to
Ephraim £80. These three sons were to give their mother £7 per
year for life. To " Abijay " was given half the house and home
lot and £5 "rit" (right) in the "hous" and barn. Dorothy,
("Doole") and the other daughters each received money and
other parts of the " parsnel a steat " (personal estate). The " dis-
trebueshion " is signed by Widow Easter Eanney, and all the
children except Abijah and Ephraim. The latter signed on re-
turning on a visit from Westminster, Vt. Abijah bought the in-
terests of the other heirs in the homestead and occupied it till 1795
when he disposed of it and removed to Sheffield, Mass.
Children :
20 Jeremiah, b. Julv 13, 1721.
21 Thomas, b. Feb. i3, 1723.
22 Ephraim, b. Apr. 10, 1725.
Desire, b. Sept. 3, 1727; m. Mar. 22, 1753, Moses Wilcox.
Children: John, Eeuben, Joseph, Samuel, Mary, Eeuben,
Desire.
Esther, b. Feb. 11, 1730; d. unm. Jan. 18, 1817.
Dorothy, b. Nov. 29, 1732; d. unm. Mar. 15, 1799.
Azubah, b. Mar. 30, 1735; m. Oct. 24, — Lieut Charles'* Butler,
a Eev. soldier, (Charles*, Eichard^, Joseph,- Dea. Eichard^).
Child: Simeon, b. Aug. 13, 1755, deacon, in Eocky Hill
Cong. ch. (See the Butler Family.)
Hope, b. Nov. 9, 1737; d. unm. Jan. 28, 1817.
162
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 163
Submit Hand, b. Feb. 17, 1740; m. Jan. 30, 1766, Dea. John
Gaines of East Middletown.
23 Abijah, b. Aug. 28, 1743.
10 Willett^ Eanney (Thomas-, Thomas^), b. Mar. 30, 1693-4,
Upper Houses; m. (1) Apr. 20, 1720, New Haven, Ct., Anne John-
son, b. Feb., 1691, dau. of John^ Johnson and Mabel Grannis.
She d. Mar. 29, 1731, and he m. (2) Dec. 23, 1731, Deborah* White,
b. Feb. 26, 1694, dau. of Jacob^ White and Deborah Shep-
ard. He was a favorite grandson, judging from the will of
Thomas^. He received from his father the Timber Hill property,
so that he had a farm of 90 acres. He built the mansion now
owned and occupied by Mr. William Bergin, and which is at the
base of Timber Hill. He was a slave holder and caused the negro
children to be baptized. His tombstone indicates his standing in
the community. He gave the homestead to his son Willett and
purchased of Eoger Gibson his homestead of four acres, north of
the Thomas Stow house. He d. Sept. 5, 1751. And the name had
become Eanney.
Will of Willett^ Eanney
In the Name of God Amen. . The Second Day of September
1751.
I, Willit Eanney of Middletown in the County of Hartford &
Coloney of Connecticut in New England Yeoman, Being sick and
week in Body, But of a Sound & perfect mind & memory thanks
be given unto God: therefore Calling to mind the Mortality of
the Body & knowing that it is appointed for all men once to Dye
Do make & ordain this my Last & only Will & Testiment that is
to say Principally & first of all I give & Eecommend my Soul into
the Hand of God that gave it. And my Body I Eecommend to the
Earth to be buried in Decent Christian Buriel at the Discretion of
my Executors : nothing doubting but at the General Eesurrection
I shall Eeceive the same again by the mighty power of God. And
as Touching such worldly estate wherewith it hath pleased God to
Bless me in this life I Give & Demise & Dispose of the same in the
following Manner & Form
Imprimis. I give & Bequeath unto my well Beloved Wife Deb-
orah Eanney all that she brought with her when we were Merried
to be at her own disposal: & I give her the improvement of one
of my Dwelling houses which she shall choose & the improvement
of one Third part of my Home Lott I live on & the land Adjacent
to it, & one Third of my Whitmore Lott, Gipson Lott wheEe my
house stands & my Swamp Meadow Lott. This I give her so long
164 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
as she remains my Widow. I also give her two Good Feather
Beds with proper furniture includeing what she brought with her :
I give her two Cows which she shall Choose & a Heifer Coming
two years old, & my Rideing Mare & ten sheep, as long as she
is my widow. & my will is that my two Daughters Thankful! &
Elizabeth should live in the house with their mother as long as
they or Either of them shall remain unmerried, & in ease my wife
should Dye before either or both my above named Daughters shall
merry Then they or either of them shall have the Privilege of
living with my son Willet Ranney. My will is that my wife shall
have wood brought to the Door by my son Willet Ranney sufficient
to maintain one fire & well prepared for that purpose. My will is
that the Creatures I have given to my wife shall be kept
thro the Winter upon the hay I have provided, & also a sufficient
quantity of Grain & Meal shall be given my wife out of my move-
ables to supply her & my two Daughters who are to live with her
for the year Coming.
Item. I give & bequeath to my well beloved son Willit Ranney
all my Lands & Buildings Except what shall be hereafter Disposed
off to my Daughters I give my son Willit my Negro Man Peter,
My team of four oxen & all my husbandry Tools my year old Coalt,
my Gun & Sword & war like stores & also all my wearing Apperril
& my will is that after my wife has received out of my moveables
sufficient provision for the year for herself & two daughters Thank-
ful & Elizabeth Then what remains of my Moveable IMoney Bonds
Book Debts shall be improved to pay my lawful Debts & funeral
Charges & to make my two Daughters Thankful & Elizabeth equal
to what either of their sisters have received who are already Mer-
ried, & what Remains my will is shall be equally Diveded between
all my children.
Item. I give & Bequeath to my well Beloved Daughters Thank-
ful Ranney Ann Sage Rebecca Savage, Deborah Sage & Elizabeth
Ranney my House & Lott that was Roger Gipsons which lays ad-
joyning unto William Savage & David Edwards: My Great Short
Hill Lott that I bought of Ephriam Willcox : My Hether Short
Hill Lott Bought of the widow Doolittle, my lott north side of
mountain Swamp Joyning to Mr. Hugh White & John Kirbey con-
taining about fifteen or sixteen acres & my Lott the back side
of Long Hill which I bought of the Widow Wolcot I mean that
part I Dont improve, I suppose it to contain about half the Lott.
These Lands I give to be equally Divided between all my Daughters.
I do Hereby Constitute & appoint my well Beloved son Willit
Ranney & Ebenezer Savage to be my Executors to see this my Last
Will & Testiment Ratified & fulfilled according to the true intent
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 165
& Meaning hereof, & I do utterly Disannul & make void all former
Wills & Testiments & Eatify & Confirm this my Last & only Will
& Testiment. In Witness whereof I have hereunto Set my Hand
& Seal the Day & year above written.
Willet Eanney (SEal)
Signed, Sealed, Published, Pronounced & DEclared by yhe said
Willit Eanney as his Last Will & Testiment in the Presence of us
the Subscribers
Edward Eells
Churchel Edwards
Joseph Barns
Children hy 1st marriage:
Thankful, b. Aug. 22, 1722; d. Apr. 6, 1768.
Anne, b. Oct. 9, 1723; m. Aug. 7, 1746, John* Sage 3d.
Children: Eeuben, Simeon, John, Simeon, James, Ann,
Lucy, Sybil, Olive. They built the Eanney-Adams house
in 1761.
Eebecca, b. Oct. 3, 1726; m. Ebenezer Savage. (See the Sav-
age Family.)
24 Willett, b. Mar. 29, 1731.
Children hy 2d marriage:
Deborah, b. May 28, 1733; m. May 24, 1748, Lewis Samuel
Sage. Children: Lemuel, Francis, Willett M. died in Eev,
army, Lewis S., Deborah, Thankful, Millie, Jerusha, Han-
nah, Betsy.
Elizabeth, b. Mar. 17, 1734; m. Apr. 17, 1755, Jonathan Sav-.
age. He d. Apr. 4, 1805. She d. July 18, 1779. Children,
settled in New York : Jonathan, James, Jacob, Elizabeth,
Lucy, David, Moses, Eleazar, Jonathan, James.
[Johnson Lineage — Eobert^ Johnson, of New Haven, is said to
have come from Yorkshire, England, with his four sons, John, Eob-
ert, Thomas, and William. He d. 1661.
William^ Johnson (Eobert^), b. abt. 1630, settled at Guilford,
Conn., as early as 1653. He was deacon, town clerk, and many
times deputy, from 1665 to 1694. He married (1) Elizabeth,
daughter of Francis Bushnell, wh. died Oct. 27, 1702. He married
(2) Mary Sage, daughter of David Sage of Upper Houses. Their
son Samuel was the first president of King's College. There were
eleven children.
John^ Johnson (Eobert^), b. in England. Married Hannah,
dau. of John and Hannah Parmelee of Guilford. His estate was
probated in 1687. She was living as late as 1693. They had nine
children.
166 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
John^ Johnson (John% Eobert^), b. Aug. 27, 1661; m. Mar. 3,
1684-5, Mabel Grannis, dau. of Edward Grannis and (his 2d
wife) Hannah^ Wakefield (John^ of New Haven). His will was
made Dec. 10, 1712, recorded, vol. 4, page 117, New Haven Pro-
bate Eecords.
Children :
Thomas, b. Jan. 12, 1689-90. Eem. to Upper Houses.
' Anne, b. Feb., 1691; m. Willett Eanney.
Hannah, b. May 23, 1710; m. Benjamin Hand of Middle-
town, son of Benj. and Sarah (Ward) Hand.]
11 George^ Eanney (Thomas^, Thomas^), b. Oct. 28, 1695, Up-
per Houses ; m. Mary Hale, b. Glastonbury,
Conn., dau. of Thomas Hale, cordwinder, and Mercy Hurlbut.
Mr. Hale in 1711 purchased 125 acres in East Middletown. His
will, filed in Hartford, gives property to the two grandchildren
named herein. Mr. Eanney was one of those who removed to East
Middletown. Just after his untimely death his father executed a
deed to his son's " heirs," not naming them . These children were
brought up in the family of Grandmother Hale, according to a tra-
dition. He died March 28. 1725. She died Nov. 26, 1749. Both
have tombstones in East Middletown. Their children in 1752 exe-
cuted deeds by which George became the sole owner of the Hale
homestead. It descended to Jonathan^ Eanney who died on it.
Children :
25 George, bapt. Apr. 14, 1723.
Mary, bapt. Apr. 11, 1725. She married (1) Joseph Bush who
d. June 12, 1749, at Surinam, " as per account; (2) 1749-54,
Thomas Davis who united with her, 1754, in releasing to
George their interest in the Hale homestead.
[Hurlbut Lineage — Thomas^ Hurlbut came in 1635 to Saybrook
with Lion Gardiner and was wounded in the fight with the Indians.
He rem. to Wethersfield. (See Hurlbut Genealogy.)
John^ Hurlbut, blacksmith, settled in Middletown.
Mercy^ Hurlbut, b. Feb. 19, 1680-1; m. Thomas Hale.]
[Hale Lineage— SamueP Haile or Hale, b. 1610, was in 1637
in Wethersfield; served in the Pequot War; leased, 1660, the
estate of Governor Thomas Welles on the Glastonbury (east) side
of the Connecticut Eiver; d. Nov. 9, 1693, Glastonbury.
John^ Hale, b. Feb. 21, 1647, Wethersfield side of the river; m.
May 8, 1668, Hannah Nott. He d. July 19, 1709.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS RANNEY 167
Thomas^ Hale, b. Sept., 1675; m. Mercy Hurlbut, b. Feb. 17,
1680-1, Middletown. In his will, 1743, he gave to his grandson,
George Eanney, the care of his negro man, and made him sole
executor. The will contains bequests to his daughter, Mary Eanney,
and granddaughter, Mary Eanney.]
12 NathanieP Eanney (Thomas-, Thomas^), b. June 17, 1702,
Upper Houses; m. (1) May 13, 1731, Dorothy Hale, b. ;
d. Sept. 26, 1732; m. (2) Jan. 16, 1733-4, EacheP Sagey b. Jan. 1,
1707-8; d. Feb. 24, 1755, dau. of Jonathan- Sage and Ann Bodwell;
m. (3) Nov. 25, 1756, widow Thankful Willard, b. ; d.
Apr. 3, 1766. He inherited his father's homestead and d. Sept.
25, 1766. No gravestones.
Children hy 2d marriage:
26 Nathaniel, b. July 16, 1735.
Ozias, b. Aug. 22, 1736; d. Sept. 13, 1736.
Eachel, | ^ ^^^^ ^^ 1737 . ^^ ^q^, 4^ 1737.
Naomi. \
Eachel, b. July 3, 1742; m. Apr. 11, 1768, Elisha Spencer.
Child: Ozias.
Ozias, b. Mar. 15, 1744; d. "by estimate Nov. 15, 1762-"' in
French-Indian War.
27 Abraham, bapt. June 7, 1746.
Amos, bapt. May 22, 1748, served in Eev. War, d. unm. 1786.
13 John^ Eanney (John^ Thomas^), b. Oct. 1, 1703, Upper
Houses; bapt. same day ; m. (1) Mar. 17, 1723-4, Eunice Wright, b.
; d. Sept. 20,1730, dau. of Jonas Wright; m. (2) Feb. 25,
1730-31, Martha Miller, b. Mar. 28, 1705; d. Jan. 4, 1799, the
church record says " 94 yrs. 2 m. 1 d. Lived for years with her
son-in-law Turpin.^' John Eanney was a drummer, 1745, in the
Regt. sent to capture Louisburg. In 1755 John Eanney and John
Eanney, Jr., served together in 4th Co., 1st Eegt., French-Indian
War. A John Eanney served in 1757, 1758, 1759 and 1760.
John, Sr., died Sept. 18, 1760, in the hospital at Oswegatchie.
Martha Miller was sister to Margery who m. Eichard Eanney.
Children hy 1st marriage:
Elizabeth, b. Apr. 12, 1726.
Eunice, b. Nov. 7, 1727 ; m. Mar. 29, 1750, Isaac Gill who d.
July 4, 1759 at sea. Children: Hannah, Elizabeth, Sarah,
Joshua, Mary.
Hannah, b. Aug. 24, 1730.
168 MIDDLETOWN" UPPEK HOUSES
Children hy 2d marriage:
28 John, b. Sept. 23, 1731.
Martha, bapt. Jan. 30, 1733-4.
Timothy, bapt. Jan. 27, 1735-6. In 1755-6 served in French-
Indian War.
Seth, bapt. Feb. 19, 1737-8.
Huldah, bapt. Feb. 4, 1740; m. Aug. 21, 1764, Wm. Lucas of
New Haven.
Lucia, bapt. Apr. 11, 1742; m. Nov. 2, 1762, Henry Turpan
(Turpin).
29 Amos, bapt. Apr. 22, 1744.
14 Eichard^ Eanney (John^ Thomas^), b. Feb. 18, 1705,
Upper Houses; m. Nov. 9, 1729, East Middletown, Margery Mil-
ler, b. Feb. 23, 1706-7; dau. of John Miller and Marcy Bevins.
Probate records say he died Sept. 16, 1759. A Eichard Eanney
served Apr. 19-Sept. 30, 1758, in 7th Co., 1st Eegt. Eichard,
Sr., owned a drum as per his inventory. But as four sons, one of
them Eichard, were in the service, it is left without an opinion.
According to the land records he could sing:
" No foot of land do I possess."
There was in East Middletown a very intelligent Indian called
Eichard Eanney, a member of the Cong. ch. He applied for and
obtained through the Legislature his share (10 acres) of the In-
dian Eeservation. He res. in Newtown, Ct., when he sold it. The
Mass. Muster Eolls show that Eichard Eanney of Stockbridge was
a private in Capt. Wm. Goodrich's Co. of Indians and enlisted
Aug. 9, 1775.
Children :
30 Jeremiah, b. Dec. 17, 1730.
Eichard, b. Sept. 8, 1732.
31 Elijah, b. Oct. 6, 1735.
32 Stephen, b. Jan. 15, 1737-8.
Marcy, bapt. Dec. 30, 1739.
Mary, b. Nov. 7, 1740.
Jabez, b. Feb. 12, 1742-3; m. Jan. 15, 1767, Penelope Bowers.
He served 1759 and 1762, in French-Indian War, also in
Eev. War. Died May 16, 1811.
Edward, b. Apr. 29, 1746, served in French-Indian War,
1759, 1760, 1761, and died in the service "by estimate
Nov. 15, 1762."
33 Abner, b. Mar. 15, 1747-8.
Hannah, b. Apr. 5, 1750; m. Joel Hall. (See the Hall
Family.)
Mary, b. Feb. 13, 1754.
Tombstones of Joseph2 Kanney and Wife
(See page 155)
Tombstones uf Jusei'H" Kanney and VVjfe
(See page 169)
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1
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 169
15 Mary^ Eanney (Joseph^ Thomas^), b. Dec. 14, 1694,
Upper Houses; m. Apr. 15, 1715, Samuel Shepard, b. Apr. 18,
1692. He was deacon from Dec. 3, 1745, to his death by drown-
ing in the Connecticut River, Apr. 9, 1750. She d. Mar. 13,
1731-2, and he m. (2) Christian^ Savage (Wm.% John ^). (See
the Shepard Family.)
Children hy 1st marriage:
Edward, b. July 24, 1721; m. Hepzibah Johnson. She m.
(2) Dr. Aaron Eoberts.
Mary, b. Sept. 14, 1731 ; d. Sept. 14, 1742.
16 Capt. Joseph^ Eanney (Joseph-, Thomas^), b. Apr. 11,
1699, Upper Houses; m. July 21, 1725, Abigail* Warner, b. Nov.
18, 1704, dau. Capt. John^ Warner (Andrew-, Andrew^) and
Anne^ Ward, dau. of Ensign Wm.^ Ward. He was given an eight-
acre lot which had been given to his father by his grandfather.
It is located on the east side of the upper green. The sycamores,
seen herewith and still in their prime, were set out by him in all
probability at the time he built or his father built for him. His
will, dated Jan. 8,' 1780, gave to Stephen and Hezekiah, and to
the male heirs of his deceased son, Fletcher, all his land not already
deeded to them, in equal portions, excepting the land in Far Neck
and Eound Meadow, which he gave to his grandson Joseph, the
eldest son of Fletcher. To his granddaughter, Grace Stephenson,
he gave his case of drawers and one table. To his daughters,
Ehoda, Abigail and Huldah, all his " indoor movables." To Heze-
kiah all his husbandry tools. The two sons were to give £10 to
Ehoda "to make good their promise." And Joseph and the two
sons were to give £5 more to Ehoda. He had built a house for
Fletcher, which stood till 1903 and which is seen herewith. Heze-
kiah retained the homestead and Stephen was a shipbuilder in
Lower Middletown. He died Oct. 18, 1783; she died Feb. 14,
1777. Both have fine tombstones seen herewith.
Children:
34 Fletcher, b. Apr. 29, 1726.
Joseph, b. June 3, 1728; d. .
35 Stephen, b. Sept. 19, 1730.
Lois, b. Aug. 2, 1733; m. May 11, 1756, Eobert Stevenson.
Child: Grace.
Hezekiah, b. Apr. 1, 1736; d. Nov. 8, 1741.
36 Hezekiah, b. Sept. 1, 1742.
Ehoda, b. June 27, 1738; m. Feb. 23, 1775, Edward Little.
Abigail, b. Apr. 18, 1745 ; m. Dec. 1, 1766, Elisha Wilcox.
170 MIDDLETOWN tJPPEE HOUSES
Huldah, bapt. July 24, 1748; m. Dec. 24, 1772, Capt. Nathan
Sage, the noted shipbuilder and captain of various mer-
chant ships. He commanded in the Eev. War the vessels
Hunter and Middletown and captured a British powder
ship. At his marriage he purchased the original Savage
homestead, but in 1776 he purchased the Eev. Joseph
Smith house. He lost it abt. 1795 through debt. He then
went to N". York State ; was a judge, and then for 30 years
Collector of Customs in Oswego, N. Y., where they are
buried. His daughter Huldah m. (1) Normand Knox,
(2) Eussell Bunce, both of Hartford. Two sons died early
and are buried here.
17 DanieP Eanney (Joseph^, Thomas^), b. July 13, 1707,
Upper Houses ; m. Jan. 20, 1730, Esthe!- Stow, b. Feb. 20, 1705-6,
d. July 24, 1750, dau. of Dea. Samuel* Stow (Thomas^ Thomas^,
John^) and Esther Mould, dau. of Hugh Mould and Martha Colt
of New London, Ct. He died Sept. 27, 1758, and his gravestone
indicates his high standing. He was a captain in the merchant
service. His first residence was the one-story house which stood
till recently on the homestead. He purchased of Charles Wilcox
the present D. B. Marsh house and grounds. In the last years of
his life he erected the mansion now known as the Wightman
house and owned by his descendants. The inventory included silk
hose, knee buckles, shoe buckles, stock buckles, 2 johannas, quad-
rant, 3 old mariner's books, 2 old Bibles, 1 Testament, 7 beaker
glasses, 1 glass punch bowl and cover. His slaves were London,
£40; Phil, £40; George, £35; Jenny, £25; Peter, £18. His total
property was valued at £1609-15-0. In the distribution to each
of the three daughters it reads, " Her part of Peter." Comfort
Butler and his wife, Sybil Eanney, sold their house and lot, the
original Thomas Hubbard house, and rem. to the Daniel Eanney
mansion. From them the Daniel Eanney mansion went to Capt.
James Butler, then to S. K. Wightman, son-in-law, and is now held
by his heirs.
Children:
Hezekiah, b. Feb. 1, 1731 ; d. Feb. 15, 1731.
Daniel, b. Jan. 13, 1732-3; d. , 1733.
Mary, b. July 20, 1736; d. Nov. 18, 1741.
37 Lucretia, b. Mar. 12, 1737-8; m. May 16, 1755, Nathaniel*
Hamlin. (Eichard^ William^, Giles^)
Marah, b. Feb. 24, 1743; m. Mar. 20, 1760, Stephen Jenkins,
a shipbuilder. They rem, to Providence, E. I., and in
1796 she was residing in Savannah, Ga,
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 171
Sybil, b. Aug. 29, 1744; m. May 2, 1762, Comfort Butler
(See tbe Butler Family.)
18 Jonathan^ Eanney (Joseph", Thomas^), b. Aug. 26, 1709,
Upper Houses; m. Aug. 27, 1738, Guilford, Ct., Anna Parmelee,
b. Mar. 27, 1720, dau. of Ebenezer Parmelee and Hannah Crut-
tenden. Hannah Cruttenden, b. May 10, 1701, was the sixth
child of Abraham Cruttenden of Guilford, who had m. May 6,
1686, Susanna- Kirby (John^). Jonathan Eanney remained with
his father and after his death sold the homestead which had fallen
to him and rem. to Guilford, where he d. July 30, 1773. The
widow d. Oct. 22, 1785.
Children :
Anna, b. July 12, 1739; m. John Stone.
Eachel, b. Jan. 29, 1741; m. Dec. 22, 1764, Samuel Caldwell,
son of John, who came 1718 from Scotland.
38 Jonathan, bapt. May 20, 1744.
Euth, bapt. Apr. 8, 1750; m. Thomas Powers.
Phineas, bapt. Nov. 4, 1753; d. unm. Oct. 3, 1769, Middle-
town, Ct.
Eeuben, bapt. , — — •; m. July 17, 1768, Lucinda
Ward of Saybrook. She died Aug. 21, 1821. Children:
Euth, b. , ; m. Joel Shelly.
Betsy, b. , ; m. Peletiah Leete.
George, b. , ; m. Nov. 24, 1786, Guilford,
Lucy Sanford. He enlisted in Eev. Army from Guilford.
Eem. to Lisle, N. Y., where he was pensioned.
19 Ebenezer^' Eanney (Ebenezer^, Thomas\), b. Nov. 22, 1704,
Upper Houses; rec'd to full com. Jan. 13, 1741; m. Nov. 25, 1742,
Margaret^ Eanney (Thomas-), b. Aug. 21, 1708, rec'd to full com.
July 22, 1739. She d. July 28, 1783; he d. Dec. 22, 1783. No
gravestones. He had inherited the original Eanney homestead.
By his will, dated Dec. 24, 1778, he gave to his well-beloved wife,
Margaret, " ^ part of my buildings and lands during her natural
life and all my indore movables to her disposal. To Ebenezer, my
beloved son, whom I constitute and ordain the sole executor, all
my lands, buildings and tenements, except the south end of my
cold spring plain lot, and all my stock and husbandry tools. To
my son-in-law, Nathaniel Smith, 10 acres of land at the S. E.
cor. of my cold spring plain lot and this I give him for what he
did for Lucy at her marriage. The remainder of the sd lot I
give to my two beloved daughters Sarah Smith, now the wife of
Nathaniel Smith and Lucy Sage now the wife of Eeuben Sage."
172 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
Children :
Sarah, bapt. Sept. 17, 1743; d. Sept. 23, 1786; m. Apr. 2,
1766, NathanieP Smith (Joseph*, Eev. Joseph^). Miss
Anna Francis of Glenbrook, Ct., is descended from them.
George, bapt. Sept. 29, 1745; d. July 18, 1847.
39 Ebenezer, bapt. Apr. 24, 1748.
Lucy, bapt. Feb. 25, 1749; m. Aug. 16, 1772, Reuben Sage.
Children: James, Luther, Reuben, Luther, Russell, George,
Ezekiel, George, Sophia, Ruth, Lucy.
O/Mr Jli^JTMUy
FOUETH GENEEATION
20 Jeremiah* Eanney (Thomas^, Thomas^, Thomas^), b. June
13, 1720, Upper Houses; m. Dee. 30, 1742, Upper Houses, Mar-
tha Stow, b. May 6, 1721, dau. of Thomas Stow and Martha
White. (See Stow and White chapters.) The house in which she
was born is given herewith. In 1743 Nathaniel Eells sold to
Daniel Eanney, and he sold to Jeremiah Eanney, a small lot from
the southeast corner of the Eells homestead. Here Jeremiah Ean-
ney built a house and a blacksmith shop, and probably set out the
elm tree still standing. The house was torn down in 1857 and the
Methodist Church was erected on its site. The view of Main
street looking north shows this church and the great elm tree.
Jeremiah sold out to Francis Whitmore when he removed to
Bethlehem, taking a church letter with him. He d. in Bethlehem,
Ct., June 14, 1801.
Children :
40 Thomas Stow, b. May 20, 1744, Upper Houses.
Martha, b. Jan. 29, 1746, Upper Houses.
Jeremiah, b. Feb. 28, 1748-9, Upper Houses.
41 Nathan, b June 20, 1751, Upper Houses.
Eebecca, b. Oct. 8, 1753, Upper Houses.
42 Solomon, b. , 1756 ; Bethlehem.
George, b. — , ; killed in Stony Point battle,
Eev. War.
43 Stephen, b. May 24, 1761.
44 Julius, b. , 1765.
21 Dea. Thomas* Eanney (Thomas^, Thomas-, Thomas^), b.
Feb. 17, 1723, Upper Houses; m. Feb. 25, 1747, Mary Little, who
brought a letter from a church in the town of Farmington. (A Dr.
Sylvester Little practised medicine in the Upper Houses 1742-
47.) Thomas Eanney was "granted" the land known as "Pros-
pect Hill " and built thereon what is now known as the " West
Cottage " of the " Cromwell Hall " Sanitarium. The view of
Middletown described in his diary of 1771 by John Adams was
from this vantage ground. The " View of Middletovm " given
herewith is copied from " Barber's Collections " of 1835, when
the stage coach passed close to the Eanney house abutting on the
turnpike laid out in 1802. Thomas Eanney was corporal in the
173
174 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
Rev. War. In 1780 he sold to Matthew Wells of Long Island and
removed to Westminster West, Vt., where his son William had
gone in 1777. He d. Nov. 8, 1909. His wife had d. Feb. 33, 1799,
aged 80 years.
Children :
45 William, b. Sept. 18, 1753.
Rebecca, b. , — , 1755. ,
23 Ephraim* Ranney (Thomas^, Thomas', Thomas^), b. Apr.
10, 1735-6, Upper Houses; m. ^
Nov. 36, 1747, Bast Middle- jT//^,^^^,: (TJ n, ,,/y,
town. Silence^ Wilcox, b. Apr. ^?/^^^f?2f«^ %£i^^
19, 1736, East Middletown, C/
dau. of Janna* Wilcox (Ephraim^ John^, John^) and Rachel Board-
man. They res. in Upper Houses till 1755, when he bought a 60-
acre farm in Haddam, Ct. In 1761 he rem. to Westminster, Vt.,
where he purchased lot No. 7, Mar., 1761, on the bank of the Conn.
River. He kept a tavern, was one of the seven founders of the church
there and its first deacon, as he was the lirst Ranney to hold that
office. He was a justice of the peace and 3d Lieut, in the Southern
Regt. of Militia. He and four sons, Ephraim, Jr., Elijah, Daniel
and Waitstill, served in the Rev. War. (See Hall's Eastern Ver-
mont and Vermont Muster Rolls of Rev. War.) He lived to see
his eleven children married, and but one of them died before him.
He was a man of sterling character, and Silence travelled on horse-
back with her stock of herbs, being a doctress of considerable repu-
tation. In the Westminster Cemetery are their graves, with head-
stones bearing these inscriptions :
Erected in memory of Dea
Ephraim Ranney who died
June 9, ISll after a long and
painful sickness in the SI
year of his age.
Spectator dost thou desire this silent stone to speak the virtues of
the man whose mortal part is here interred. Let it only say lie was
an affectionate Husband, a tender Parent and an Ornament in Society.
When receiving the bitter cup of affliction he could say, " Not my will
but thine, O Lord, he done."
Erected in memory 6f Mrs
Silence, the a^niahle consort of
Deac. Ephraim Ranney who
died April 10, 1811 in the 85
year of her age.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 175
To you my children and my friends
Which I have left behind,
Come view this solemn monument,
And here instruction find.
Children :
46 Ephraim, b. Oct. 27, 1748.
47 Elijah, b. Mar. 14, 1750.
48 Daniel, b. Feb. 5, 1753.
Eachel, b. May 27,
enson. Children:
Job, Ephraim, Ira, Rachel, Mary, Esther, Huldah, Rebecca.
Silence, b. Mar. 18, 1757; m. Goold of Chester, Vt.
Lydia, b. Apr. 18, 1759; m. William^ Ranney (Thomas'').
49 Waitstill, b. Jan. 3, 1762.
50 Esther, b. July 28, 1764; m. Seth Arnold.
51 Janna, b. June 11, 1766.
52 Joel, b. Mar. 2, 1768.
53 Benjamin, b. Sept. 18, 1770.
23 Abijah* Ranney (Thomas^ Thomas-, Thomas^), b. Aug.
28, 1743, Upper Houses; m. , Lucy . He inher-
ited part of the homestead, and purchased the parts which had been
given to the other children. In 1795 he rem. to Sheffield, Mass.
He m. (2) after May 7, 1803, widow Hannah Talcott of Glas-
tonbury, who in his will is named " Annar." He d. Feb. 12, 1821.
The dog story as given by the Hon. T. H. L. Talcott of Glaston-
bury, her grandson, is as follows :
Captain Abijah Ranney of Sheffield, Mass., was a son of one
of the first settlers. The Captain lived in Cromwell until he had
grown to manhood. He married for his second wife Mrs. Annah
Stillman Tallcott of Glastonbury, grandmother of Judge Thomas
H. L. Tallcott of that town. Captain Ranney was the owner of
a dog remarkable in many ways, and who once saved the Captain
from being robbed, and, perhaps, murdered. Judge Tallcott often
heard the story in his youth, and related the tale to a reporter
recently. The story runs as follows:
Early one morning a man called at the Captain's house and
said the Captain's dog was killing his sheep. Captain Ranney
said it couldn't be his dog, as the canine was shut up in the wood-
shed and had not been let out that morning. They visited the
woodshed and found the dog in his bed. The man said : " It
isn't your dog that is killing the sheep, but one that looks just
176 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
like him." Other complaints were made, but on going to the
woodshed the dog was always there. Finally one morning a man
drove up at top speed and said to the Captain : " Your dog is in
my sheep; I left him there and raced my horse to get here before
he did."
" Well," said Captain Ranney, " we will look in the woodshed."
They went to the shed. The dog was there, but covered with
blood and licking himself. The only way out of the shed,
except by the door, was a small opening just a little larger than
the dog's body and about four feet from the floor and the same
distance from the ground outside. Through this small opening
the dog had leaped in and out in his trips to the sheep field. The
idea that the dog could use the opening to enter and leave the
shed had not occurred to the Captain, and he was greatly surprised.
Turning to the visitor he said : " It is my dog that is killing
sheep ! I won't keep a dog that kills sheep." He told his sons to
tie the dog up back of the barn, and that after breakfast he would
shoot him. The boys put a rope on the dog, and evidently tied
it very loosely, as they felt bad at the idea of losing the dog, who
was much liked by the family. When the Captain and the boys
went out after breakfast the dog was gone. He was not seen again
in Sheffield that summer, and no more sheep were killed.
Captain Ranney sold his cheese and other farm products to a
merchant over the New York State line. It was the custom to
collect in the fall for the product taken. The fall of the same
year in which the dog left his home. Captain Ranney went on
horseback to the New York town, made a settlement with the
merchant and was then ready to start for home, intending to go
to the next village, where he would remain over night. It was
nearly dark, and the merchant and others tried to persuade him
not to start until morning. There was a long and dark piece
of woods between the two villages, and several persons, who had
started to go from one village to the other, had never been seen
after entering the woods. It was supposed that they had been
murdered.
Captain Ranney said he had a good horse and thought he would
get through all right. He had proceeded well into the woods
when a man sprang into the road from behind a large rock, and
grasped the horse by the bridle. A large dog followed the man.
The man said to the dog, " Seize him ! " The dog looked up at
the Captain and whined. The man repeated, " Seize him, I tell
you, seize him ! " Still the dog would not obey the man. Captain
Ranney looked at the canine and saw it was his old dog. He
turned to the man, who still held the bridle, and said: "You
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 177
have tried your luck with the dog, now I'll try mine." He called
the dog hy his old name and said, " Seize him ! " The dog in-
stantly jumped at the robber and had him by the throat, tearing
open his jugular vein. The dog looked up at Captain Eanney and
whined. The Captain said to him. " You can go home with me.
I'll keep you now if you kill all the sheep in SheflBeld." The
dog leaped about in an ecstasy of joy at meeting his old master
again and the permission to return home with him. Captain
Eanney continued on to the next village and reported to the
ofiBcers. A posse started at once and found the dead body of the
man near the rock. The next day there was a general turning
out of the men of the village, who made a thorough search of
the woods to find the quarters of the robber. They found the
place about a mile from the road. There were evidences of graves
of several persons, the skeleton of a horse, and a peddler's wagon,
accounting for the mysterious disappearance of a peddler some
months before and also of other persons.
Evidently the man had trained the dog to aid him in killing his
victims.
Captain Eanney continued home the day after his adventure,
taking his dog with him. Great was the joy of the family at
seeing the animal again, and it is not stated that he was ever
again guilty of killing sheep.
Children :
Lucy, bapt. Aug. 30, 1772; d. Nov. 24, .1803; m. Oct. 10,
1791, Capt. John« Smith (Capt. John^ Joseph*, Eev.
Joseph^). Daughter, Lucy, bapt. July 7, 1793; m. Hon.
Elisha Phelps of Simsbury, Congressman many terms; son,
John Smith Phelps, was Gov. of Missouri. His dau. is
Mrs. J. B. Montgomery of Portland, Oregon. Her son is
Col. Phelps Montgomery of New Haven, Ct. (See the
Phelps Genealogy.)
Oliver, bapt. Apr. 4, 1779 ; d. Nov. 30, 1784.
Luther, bapt. June 3, 1781 ; m. , , Prudence
. He d. 1835. She m. (3) Noteware.
Oliver, bapt. Sept. 19, 1790; m. , , Chloe ;
d. Sept. 3, 1852, Sheffield, Mass. Had son, Garrett, d.
before 1855. CJiildren:
Lucy Ann, b. ; m. Geo. W. Gorham.
Mary, b. , .
Achsah, b. , ; d. before 1821 ; m. Sylvester Eoot
of Sheffield, Mass. Children: Lucy, Birdsey, Clarissa, m.
Trowbridge.
178 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
34 Willett* Eanney (Willett^ Thomas% Thomas^), b. Mar.
28, 1731, Upper Houses; m. Nov. 19, 1752, Upper Houses, Mary-
Butler, dau. of Benjamin Butler and Thankful Sage. (See the
Butler and Sage Families.) His father deeded to him the home-
stead of 90- acres and removed to the Roger Gibson place of 4
acres. In 1761 Willett, Jr., sold his homestead to Deacon Solo-
mon Sage and purchased the homestead of his father-in-law, who
had been lost at sea, 1749. In January, 1776, he sold the Butler
homestead to his brother-in-law, Capt. Eli Butler, and rem. to
Sandisfield, Berkshire Co., Western Mass., then Just opened to
settlement. His Revolutionary service there was as follows: Pri-
vate in Capt. Samuel Wolcott's Co., Col. Hopkins' Regt., July 16,
1776 — Aug. 5, 1776; marched to Highlands, N". Y. ; private C*apt.
Elijah Deming's Co., Col. John Ashley's Regt., July 8, 1777-
July 28, 1777, called out by order Maj. Gen. Schuyler to march
to relief of Fort Edward; private, same Co., Col. John Ashley's
Regt., Sept. 19, 1777-Oct. 4, 1777. under Brig. Gen. Fellows, or-
dered out by Gen. Gates to reinforce the iSorthern Army. Rem.
1778 to New Lebanon, N. Y., and was next known with his large
family at Fort Stanwix, now Rome, N. Y.
In the year 1786-7, the settlements of the English beyond
German Flatts, the outpost of the Germans on the Mohawk, con-
sisted of three log houses at Utica, seven at Whitesboro, three at
Oriskany and four at Fort Stanwix, now Rome (Jones's Annals of
Oneida Co.). Daniel E. Wager, in his History of Oneida County,
says : " The next settlers in what is now Oneida Co. came from
Connecticut in 1785 or 1786, and located in the shadow of Fort
Stanwix. They were all related to each other by blood, or con-
nected by marriage. Their names were as follows : Willett Ran-
ney, Sr., with a family of eleven children, all grown to maturity,
and the most if not all married; Seth Ranney, one of the sons,
with wife and children, located northeast of the present Rome
court house; Nathaniel Gilbert and David I. Andrus, both of
whom had married in the Ranney family."
Elkanah Watson, famous as the first importer of Merino sheep,
made a trip through this section in 1788, and at Fort Stanwix
wrote in his diary:
" Settlers are continually pouring in from the Connecticut hive,
which throws off its annual swarms of intelligent, industrious and
enterprising emigrants, the best qualified to overcome and civilize
the wilderness. They already estimate 300 brother Yankees on
the muster list, and in a few years hence they will undoubtedly be
able to raise a formidable barrier to oppose the incursion of the
savages, in case of another war."
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS RANNEY 179
On Oct. 22, 1784, General Lafayette and others representing
the United States had met the Six Nations at Fort Stanwix and
had made a treaty concerning giving up captives and regulating
boundaries, and while they were willing to treat with the thir-
teen fires they were not willing to treat with the State of New
York.
In 1788, however, a treaty with the State was made at Fort
Stanwix. The " land grabbers " of that day, known as " Lessees,"
were opposed to this lest they should lose the title to their lands
obtained by contracts not authorized by the State, which in 1777
had enacted a statute forbidding the purchase of the fee in the
lands of the Indians, reserving the right to the State alone. It was
a formidable organization, embracing men of wealth and political
importance. Governor Clinton met the^ whole matter with energy
and promptness and urged upon the Legislature the adoption of
decisive measures to counteract the plans of the " Lessees." In
March, 1788, an act was passed authorizing the Governor to dis-
regard all contracts made with the Indians not sanctioned by the
State, and to cause all persons to be arrested who had entered upon
the Indian lands under such contracts, and to be driven off by
force and the buildings destroyed. A military force was called
out and the orders were strictly obeyed. The time set for the
treaty was September 1, 1788. The " Lessees " planned to meet
the Indians at this time and dissuade them from making a treaty.
The Governor took the field in person, backed by all the official
influence at his command. A sloop came up from New York
with Indian goods, stores for the expedition, marquees, tents and
specie for the purchase money. Among those who came were
Count Monsbiers, the then French Minister, and the Marchioness
de Biron, his sister, out of curiosity. The commissioners and
the retinue, goods and baggage, going up the Mohawk, started
August 23, in batteaux built expressly for the occasion, and ar-
rived August 28 at Fort Stanwix. A wild and romantic scene
presented itself. The veteran soldier, Governor Clinton, pitched
his marquee and was as much the general as if he had headed a
military expedition. Among the commissioners were William
Floyd, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and his relative,
Ezra L'Hommedieu, late of "Upper Houses"; of the Indians,
were Skenandoah, who spoke and signed the treaty, and was. at
his death, 110 years of age; Peter Otsequet, whom Lafayette sent
to France to be educated, and Paulus, an Oneida chief. " They
were surrounded by the camp fires of the numerous representa-
tives of the Six Nations, who had been attracted to the spot, some
from interest, some from curiosity; but by far the larger propor-
180 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
tion of them had been attracted from their scattered wilderness
homes by the hopes and promises of presents, feasts and carousals."
The head men of several of the tribes were holding a counter
meeting at Geneva with the " Lessees," where " firewater " was
flowing freely. It was the 8th of September before the different na-
tions got together, as the result of efforts by Governor Clinton, after
having recovered from their " beastly state of intoxication."
Under these circumstances it is not to be wondered at that Willett
Ranney, Sr., was alarmed. The story was told by Mrs. Cushman
of Theresa in a letter to Mr. Wager, in which she wrote:
" I have often heard my grandmother, Mrs. Samuel Jarvis,
daughter of Willett Ranney, Sr., tell of her early life at Fort
Stanwix. She was a little girl when her father moved there; she
was born in Middletown, Conn., April 2, 1773. I have often heard
her tell of assisting her mother baking bread at the time of the
treaty with the Indians, at Fort Stanwix, in September, 1788; the
bread was baked at her brother's, Seth Ranney's house, where
many barrels of flour were stored to be baked into bread for the
use of those expected to attend the treaty. The oven was on the
outside of the house; it was a large one and was kept running
night and day in baking bread some days before the treaty. There
was also stored in the barn near by a quantity of liquor, and as
it was feared the Indians might get it and thereby become furi-
ous and massacre the people, Willett Ranney, senior, with a few
others went to the barn and poured the liquor on the ground."
Willett Ranney, Sr., with eleven children, several of whom were
there with their own cshildren, had a busy time of it, and " lost,"
what they must have brought with them, the liquor.
Children :
Chloe, b. Mar. 2, 1753 ; m. Apr. 29, 1770, Nathaniel Gilbert,
captain in Rev. Army. Rem. to Rome, N. Y.
Mary, b. Mar. 2, 1755 ; m. Bill Smith of Conn.
54 James, b. Feb. 27, 1757.
Lucretia, b. Jan. 20, 1759; m. Benj. Murray. Children:
Willett, John, Benjamin, Martha, Eunice, Lucretia.
55 Seth, b. Jan. 21, 1761.
56 Sarah, b. Jan. 2, 1763 ; m. David I. Andrus.
57 Sybil, b. Jan. 7, 1765; m. (1) Richard Willis, (2) Joseph
White.
Lucy, bapt. Jan. 6, 1767; m. Bradner.
58 Willett, ) I. J. A a -K^cn
■D • ■ - bapt. Aug. 6, 1769.
Benjamin, ) ^ °
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 181
59 Persis, bapt. Apr. 4, 1773 ; m. Samuel Jarvis.
60 Butler, b. after Jan., 1776.
25 George* Eanney (George^ Thomas-, Thomas^), bapt. Apr.
14, 1733, East Middletown; m. Jan. 23, 1745-6, Hannah* Sage, b.
Mar. 15, 1724-5, Upper Houses, dau, of John^ Sage, Jr. (John%
David^) and Mary Hall. Both were adm. to full communion in
East Middletown Ch. Dec. 7, 1746. Their tombstones are given
herewith. He d. Feb. 25, 1804; she d. June 9, 1797. The three
first born, sons, settled in Ashfield, Mass. Jonathan inherited
the homestead.
Children :
61 George, b. June 9, 1746-7.
62 Thomas, b. July 6, 1749.
63 Francis, b. Apr. 19, 1753.
Hannah, b. May 9, 1755 ; m. Joel Hall. (See the Hall Family.)
64 Mary, b. June — , 1757; m. July 1, 1779, Nathaniel Bos-
worth.
Esther, b. Jan. 8, 1761 ; d. May 24, 1818, Camden, N. Y.; m.
Apr. 13, 1779, DanieP Parke, a Eev. seldier, b. Apr. 6,
1758, East Middletown, Ct.; d. Oct. 6, 1836, Camden,
N. Y. (Joseph^ Joseph*, NathanieP, Thomas-, Eobert^).
Children: Molly, Clarissa, Sage, Sally, Johnson, Eanney,
Elisha, Fanny, Hannah, Marshall, George, Esther, George
Scribee. Mrs. W. J. Frisbie, Camden, N. Y., is of this line.
Lucy, b. Sept. 6, 1763; m. Jan. 22, 1784, Seth Knowles.
64a Jonathan, b. Sept. 3, 1765.
Abigail, bapt. Sept. 24, 1769; m. Dec. 5, 1790, AsaheP Pel-
ton, b. June 17, 1768, d. July 26, 1^43 (Joseph*, John^
SamueP, John^), She d. Mar. 12, 1839, Chatham, Ct.
Children:
Anne, b. Jan. 1, 1796 ; m. Eobert Aiken, lived at Euclid, 0.
Eliza, b. July 1, 1798; m. Wm. Turner.
Eliza Turner m. James Blair ; Charles B. Blair, b. Jan. 3,
1858, m. Emma Covode. Lawyer. Ees. Grand Eapids,
Mich. Children:
Charles C, b. Apr. 12, 1890.
Margaret C, b. Mar. 3, 1892.
John C, b. Apr. 17, 1895.
James, b. Jan. 22, 1897.
Chester, b. July 3, 1802.
Francis, b. Nov. 5, 1804.
Abigail, b. Nov. 28, 1806; m. Augustus Brown.
Lucy Bosworth, b. Mar. 18, 1809; m. John Wilcox. (See
Pelton Genealogy.)
382 MIDDLETOWN" UPPER HOUSES
26 Nathaniel* Eanney (NathanieP, Thomas-, Thomas^), b.
July 16, 1735, Upper Houses; m. Mar. 10, 1757, Prudence Wil-
lard, b. , , dau. of Thomas Willard, who d. Sept.
24, 1803. He inherited his father's homestead. Served in the
French-Indian War and in the Rev. War. In both wars he car-
ried a " wooden bottle " as a canteen for water. It is seen in this
volume and bears his initials and the years he carried it in the
two wars. It was taken to Ohio by his grandson Comfort and is
now owned by his descendant, Luther Kelsey Ranney of Peninsula,
0. It was exhibited at the 1904 reunion of the Society of Mid-
dletown Upper Houses. Nathaniel Ranney d. May 13, 1800. No
gravestones.
Children :
Thomas Willard, b. Apr. 29, 1758; d. May 3, 1759.
65 Comfort, b. Dec. 19, 1759.
Nathaniel, b. Oct. 26, 1761; d. May 12, 1817.
Prudence, bapt. Aug. 18, 1763 ; m. Bishop.
Rachel, b. Apr. 9, 1765.
Daniel, b. Sept. 14, 1769.
David, b. May 22, 1769; in 1812 was in Mifflinburg, Penn.
Alle, b. May 13, 1771.
Hannah, b. Mar. 17, 1773 ; d. Mar. 30, 1798.
Anne, b. Apr. 27, 1775.
Huldah, b. Aug. 6, 1777; d. Oct. 13, 1804.
Willard, b. July 3, 1779 ; alive in 1802.
27 Abraham* Eanney (NathanieP, Thomas-, Thomas^), bapt.
June 7, 1746, Upper Houses; m. Oct. 16, 1769, Miriam Treat,
dau. of Stephen. He built the house given herewith on the north
part of his father's homestead, given him in the will. He d. Oct.
17, 1775. The widow m. (2) Mar. 20, 1776, Elijah Fellows of
New York. She was descended from Governor Robert Treat. ( See
the Treat Genealogy.)
Children :
Lydia, b. June 7, 1770; m. Medad Keeney of New Haven.
Huldah, b. Mar. 9, 1772; d. Aug. 6, 1775.
Luther, b. Mar. 27, 1774; d. , .
28 John* Ranney (John^, John^, Thomas^), b. Sept. 23, 1731,
East Middletown; m. Nov. 7, 1754, North Killingly, Ct., Sybil
Wilson. He served in 1755 with his father in 4th Co., 1st Regt.,
French-Indian War. A John served in 1757, 1758, 1759 and
1760. As his father died in the army in 1760, he must have
been the one who died in the army in 1758, when his widow was
appointed adm.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS RANNEY 183
Child:
66 William, bapt. Sept. 14, 1756, East Middletown.
29 Amos* Eanney (John^ John-, Thomas^), bapt. Apr. 32,
1744, East Middletown; m. (1) Eachel Hill, m. (2) Lucy .
He applied June 21, 1820, for a pension, stating that he was then
78 years of age.
" He the said Amos Eanney enlisted for the term of seven
months in the latter part of April. 1775, in the State of Connec-
ticut, in the company commanded by Captain E. Scott, in the
regiment commanded by Col. Samuel Wyllys, in the line of the
State of Connecticut, on the Continental establishment; that he
continued to serve in the said Corps until the expiration of said
seven months when he was discharged at West Point in the State
of New York: that he enlisted for the term of eight months on
the day of January in the year 1776 in the State of Con-
necticut in the company commanded by Capt. Elijah Blackman in
the Eegiment commanded by Colonel Mead in the line
of the State of Connecticut on the Continental establishment : that
he continued to serve in the said Corps until the day of Sep-
tember, 1776, when he was discharged from the said service in
Horse Neck in the State of Connecticut; that he enlisted for a
cruise on the day of January in the year 1778 in the State
of Connecticut on board of the ship Oliver Cromivell commanded
by Captain Timothy Parker : that he continued to serve in the
said ship for the space of twelve months when he was discharged
therefrom at Charleston in the State of South Carolina: that he
enlisted for the term of nine months on the day of March in
the year 1779 in the State of Connecticut in the company com-
manded by Captain Edward Bulkeley in the Eegiment commanded
by Colonel Samuel Webb in the line of the State of Connecticut
on the Continental establishment: that he continued to serve in
the said Corps until the day of December, 1779, when he was
discharged from the said service in West Point in the State of
New York: that he was in the battles of Bunker Hill, White
Plains & Monmouth; and while oh board the said ship Oliver
Cromwell assisted at the capture of the ship Cyrus and the ship
Admiral Keppel in one engagement; and that he has no other
evidence now in his power of his said services, except the annexed
affidavit of Major Eobert Warner."
He further testified that for more than eighteen years last past
he had been a " wood cutter " and that by reason of age' and in-
184 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
firmity he was unable to labor more than one-fourth of the year:
that his family consisted of one person who steadily resided with
him: who was his wife Lucy, aged 78, and that without a pension
he cannot support himself except by the aid of public or private
charity/^
" Schedule of the real and personal estate of Amos Eanney
above named, comprising every article of the same, his necessary
clothing and bedding excepted: to wit:
Value
dels, cts
One ax 1.
Shovel and tongs 25
Four chairs 80
One old table 25
One hammer 06
One small looking glass 50
Six pewter spoons 06
Six knives and forks 10
Four plates and two platters 50
No provisions, except those which
I obtain from day to day.
One water pail 25
$3.77
From Oliver Boaedman's Diary on Ship " Oliver Cromwell "
On 2d cruise. Apr. 15th. " 15th at Day Break we saw two sail
bearing S. E. by S. distance 2 leagues. We gave chase under a
moderate sail at 9 o'clock, P. M. Came up with them. They at
first shew French colors to decoy us when we came in about half
a mile of us she Ups with English colors. We had Continental
colors flying — We engaged the ship Admiral Keppel as follows.
When we came in about 20 rods of her we gave her a Bow gun.
She soon returned us a stern chase and then a broad side of
grape and rounnd shot. Cap't orders not to fire till we can see the
white of their eyes. We got close under their larboard quarter.
They began another broad side & then we began and held tuff
and tuff for about 2 glasses and then she struck to us. At the
same time the Defense engaged the Cyrus who as the Kepple
struck wore round under our stern. We wore ship and gave her
a stern chase at which she immediately struck. The loss on our
side was one killed and six wounded, one mortally who soon died.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 185
Our ship was hulled 9 times with six pound shott three of which
went through .our Birth, one of which wounded the boatswain's
yeoman. The loss on their side was 2 killed and 6 wounded.
Their larboard quarter was well filled with shot. One nine
pounder went through her main mast.
" May 21st. sent the prizes northward.
" May 30th Eeached Charleston with the Defense, Capt. Smed-
ley. Charleston May ye 30th 1778."
captain's conversation on third cruise with OLIVER
BOARDMAN
" Charleston July 6, 1778. You have had a hard task of it and
I will consider you. You shall have as much again as you expect.
Ranney & those that leave me without a discharge will never get
anything. You better go aboard, Boardman. I will consider you
and you'll lose nothing by it. Answer, ' I am obliged to you.
Sir,' and so went aboard."
" 3d cruise. Lost masts in storm, reached New London Sept.
6, 1778."
There is no record of the death of himself or wife. And this
patriot without a mark to tell where he is buried deserves the
fullest record for the honor of his name and services. He may be
buried in Hog Hill Cemetery, East Hampton, near his home.
Children hy 1st marriage:.
Esther, b. Apr. 21, 1770.
Martha, b. Sept. 25, 1772.
John, b. Mar. 23, 1775; m. Beulah Hubbard, b. Chatham.
He d. in Florida. She is buried in Hog Hill Cemetery,
Middle Haddam. Child:
David Seth, b. Aug. 2, 1828; m. (1) June 2, 1850, Phebe
A. Arnold, who d. Oct. 23, 1888. He m. (2) Aug. 1,
1889, Hattie L. Eogers ; is in bakery business, Moodus,
Ct. CUld:
Mary, b. Apr. 3, 1895. ^
Amos, b.' Mar. 15, 1777.
Timothy, b. July 1, 1781; m. 1802, widow Damaris Gay and
became guardian of her two children. Ees. then, Haddam,
Connecticut.
30 Jeremiah* Eanney (Eichard^, John-, Thomas^), b. Dec. 17,
1730, East Middletown; m. Jan. 31, 1754, Chloe Leete, dau. of
186 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
John Leete. Both adm. to full com. Nov. 6, 1754. He served in
Canadian campaign of 1762. Was taken prisoner. Died in serv-
ice Nov. 3, 1762. Widow m. Thomas Lloyd.
Children:
67 David, b. Dec. 1, 1754.
Eebecca, b. May 22, 1757.
Ehoda, b. Aug. 28, 1758.
31 Elijah* Eanney (Eichard% John^, Thomas^), b. Oct. 6,
1735, East Middletown; m. Mar. 2, 1763, Granville, Mass., Mary
Cook, In 1756 he had purchased land in Granville. In 1773 he
rem. to Blandford, Mass. On Oct. 7, 1789, the estate was dis-
tributed by the probate court. In 1809 the widow had married
Noah Warren. She resided with her son, Deacon Jeremiah, and
her tombstone at Waterville, New York, says : " Mary, wife of
Elijah Eanney died April 1, 1832, aged 88 years."
Children :
Mary, b. Aug. 1, 1763 ; m. Jonathan Norton.
Sybi'l, b. July 29, 1765; m. Crane.
68 Jeremiah, b. May 5, 1769.
Elijah, b. , ; rem. to Watervliet, N. Y., where
he was a merchant many years; described, 1794, in Bland-
ford as a goldsmith.
68a Ebenezer, b. May 25, 1776.
69 Eufus, b. , 1780.
Eoxana, b. ■ — , ; m. 1791, John Lloyd; d. at age
of 99 years 9 mo. Children were Thomas, Leicester and
Eoxana.
Eunice, b. , ; m. Darius Stephens.
32 Stephen* Eanney (Eichard^, John-, Thomas^), b. Jan. 15,
1737-8, East Middletown; m. Elizabeth Dixon, b. Feb. 25, 1741,
dau. of Eobert Dixon. He served in 1st Eegt., Capt. Timothy
Herlihy. 1758, 1759, 1761 and 1762, French-Indian War. Also
in the Eev. War, 1777, 1780, 1781. He d. 1807. The widow d.
Sept. 12, 1836, and the heirs applied June 29, 1837, for a pen-
sion, which was allowed.
Children:
70 Stephen, bapt. Dec. 4, 1763.
Abigail, bapt. Aug. 18, 1765.
Eeuben, bapt. Oct. 18, 1767; in 1837 it was stated in the ap-
John Jay Hart
(See page 337)
Ransom Eckels
(See pag-o 284)
Harris Guernsey Ranney
(See page 430)
Norton W. Bingham
(See page 367)
"^; Abneb Hax-NKV (See page 187) Oi.ivkk PvAXXFA" (See page 'Z
Oliver Franklin Ranney
(See page 278)
John Goodhue Kanney
(See page 376)
Eahl Eugene Ranney and Children (See page 377)
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 187
■ plication for a pension that he had gone to N. Y. State some
years previously and had not been heard from for 13 or 15
years. (See Appendix.)
71 Joel, bapt. Oct. 29, 1775.
Elizabeth, b. , ; m. Agift Pease and received
from her mother by will the homestead. (See the Pease
Genealogy.)
33 Abner* Eanney (Eichard% John^, Thomas^), b. Mar. 15,
1747-8, East Middletown; m. (1) Oct. 6, 1778, Blandford, Mass.,
Lovisa Shepard, b. Mar. 24, 1759, dau. of Jonathan Shepard and
Rachel Lankton. He had rem. in 1773 to Blandford and received,
1773, 1776, 1783, deeds of land from Jonathan Shepard, who had
gone from East Middletown. He enlisted Sept. 22, 1776, as 3d
Corp., Capt. Wm. Cooley's Co., Col. John Moseley's Eegt., and
served to Nov. 16. He was also sergeant in Capt. Samuel Sloper's
Co., Col. David Moseley's Eegt., June, 1782. He rem. to Au-
gusta, New York, where he died Sept. 1, 1847. "Patriot of a
hundred years, " says his tombstone. His portrait as given here-
with was taken a few months previous to his decease. His wife
d. Dec. 25, 1817. He m. (3) Oct. 31, 1818, Augusta, N. Y.,
Miriam (Shepard) Cook, b. July 4, 1755, d. June 6, 1834, sister
to his first wife.
CJiildren hy 1st marriage:
73 Hannah, b. Apr. 9, 1779; m. (1) Henry Knox, (2) Joel
Baker.
73 Lovisa, b. Nov. 18, 1870; m. Samuel Allen.
74 Abner, b. Jan. 14, 1782.
75 Joel, b. Oct. 28, 1783.
76 Oliver, b. Dec. 6, 1785.
Sally, b. Aug. 19, 1789; m. Samuel Newell.
Timothy, b. Feb. 23, 1790; Sunday, Apr. 15, 1810, was read-
ing the Bible alternately with his cousin, Eiley Shepard,
when he was accidentally shot.
77 Wells, b. Sept. 17, 1791.
78 Lyman, b. Dec. 13, 1793.
79 Eli, b. June 37, 1796.
Harvey, b. , ; killed by a fall from a tree.
Anson, b.
34 Fletcher* Eanney (Joseph^ Joseph% Thomas^), b. Apr.
39, 1736, Upper Houses; m. , Elizabeth Powell of Hartford,
through her mother a descendant of Thomas Welles, Governor,
1655-58. His father built for him the house known as the Fletcher
188 MIDDLETOWN" UPPEE HOUSES
Eanney house, seen herewith, which stood till 1902. He was
a carpenter. He d. Dec. 14, 1772. She d. Jan. 14, 1785. Both
have gravestones.
Children :
80 Joseph, b. Aug. 6, 1751.
Caroline, b. May 27, 1753 ; m. Nov. 14, 1784, John Hamlin,
son of Capt. Nathaniel Hamlin and Lucretia* Eanney. He
was a Eev. soldier. Built the present Wm. F. Ewald house.
He d. Nov. 29, 1834, she d. Aug. 10, 1839.
Eebecca, b. May 3, 1755; d. June 11, 1775.
Elizabeth Welles, b. Jan. 20, 1757; m. Sept. 30, 1779, Epa-
phras Sage, a Eev. soldier. She was pensioned. (See the
Sage Family.)
81 Simeon, b. Nov. 25, 1759.
Lois, b. Nov. 16, 1761 ; m. Nov. 26, 1789, Daniel Arnold, lost
at sea, 1819, aged 54. She was alive in 1839. Children:
Sarah, Daniel and George, bapt. Aug. 21, 1803.
82 William, b. Nov. 14, 1763.
Sarah, b. Jan. 15, 1766; d. May 13, 1786.
35 Stephen* Eanney (Joseph^, Joseph^, Thomas^), b. Sept. 18,
1730, Upper Houses; m. Nov. 27, 1752, Middletown or Guilford,
Patience Ward, b. Mar. 25, 1733, Middletown, dau. of Samuel
Ward, b. 1704, and Lucy Eogers. b. 1708. He was a shipbuilder
and rem. to Middletown where he purchased a wharf of Col. Com-
fort Sage. His marriage is recorded in Guilford records. Andrew
Ward, Jr., of Guilford, was Capt. and Lt. Col. of the 4th Eeg.
in 1755, French-Indian War, and Stephen Eanney was clerk, Sept.
4-Dec. 8. He built a house on the site of the Green St. school-
house, Middletown. He furnished material for the brig, Minerva,
built by the Colony of Connecticut for the defense of the cause
in Eev. War. He was raised in St. Lodge No. 2, F. A. M., Middle-
town, May 4, 1768. In 1784 was warden of Christ Epis. Ch. On
Sept. 17, 1786, he and his wife were confirmed by Bishop Seabury.
Some of his children were baptized on the day of birth, some on
the day after birth. The inventory included his Masonic leather
apron and gloves, silver knee buckles, 11 silver buttons, gold sleeve-
buttons, a sword, 2 canes, a whip, and a silver medal. At vendue
seven " old tea spoons " were sold for $2.25. The Masonic, 1782,
cane is owned by T. W. Beaumont. He d. Dec. 12, 1803. His
tombstone in Mortimer Cemetery bears the Masonic emblems. The
widow d. Dec. 4, 1821. In signing the inventory the two sons
differed. Stephen Eainey and Samuel Ward Eanney is the way they
wrote their names.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 189
Children :
83 Stephen, b. Oct. 14, 1753.
Samuel Ward, b. Oct. 23, 1755; d. Nov. 22, 1756.
83a Samuel Ward, b. May 13, 1758.
Lucy, b. Apr. 24, 1762; m. Kichard Butler. (See the Butler
Family.)
Daniel, b. Nov. 19, 1764; d. Jan. 13, 1792; m. Sept. 1791,
Martha Southmayd. She m. (2), 1796, Benj. Conklin of
Hartford.
Diana, b. Apr. 15, 1769; d. Sept. 20, 1770.
Patience, b. June 9, 1771; m. Jan. 8, 1791, William Eussell,
d. Sept. 22, 1796. He m. (2) July 19, 1798, Sarah
Plumb, dau. of Reuben Plumb and Mary Shepard.
Children :
Harriet Wadsworth, b. Oct. 29, 1791 ; m. Geo. W. Bull.
Ruth Whitmore, b. Sept. 28, 1793 ; d. Oct. 19, 1817.
Patience Ward, b. Aug. 27, 1795 ; d. June 19, 1799.
[Russell Lineage — William^ Russell came to New Haven with
the Whitfield company; m. 1644, Sarah Davis; d. Jan. 2, 1664-5, ge.
Jlftv-two years and three months.
" Devotes his son Noadiah- to God in the way of learning," b.
July 22, 1659, grad. 1681, Harvard, tutor to 1683, kept daily diary.
Supt. of Grammar School at Ipswich, Mass., compiled the " Cam-
bridge Almanack," 1684, first one printed in America. Settled at
Middletown, Oct 24, 1688, one of the founders, 1700, of Yale;
one of the framers of the Saybrook Platform; m. Feb. 20, 1690,
Mary Hamlin, dau. of Capt. Giles. Died Dec. 3, 1713. Wid. d.
at home of son Rev. Wm., Oct. 14, 1743, se. eighty-one.
Rev. William^, b. 1690, grad. 1709, Yale, tutor at Yale two years,
succeeded father as pastor, June 1, 1715, served forty-six years; d.
June, 1761. Son Daniel* was pastor at Rocky Hill; son William*
pastor at Windsor.
Capt. Samuel*, b. Middletown, 1730, held many local important
offices ; m. Ruth Wetmore. He d. Mar. 14, 1794 ; she d. 1773.
Capt. William^ b. Oct. 1, 1767-, Middletown, cabinet maker
(Russell & Barnes), then in carriage business with Nathan Wilcox,
later with his son Jacob in mfr. of hardware. In 1803 rem. to
Danville, 111.]
36 Hezekiah* Ranney (Joseph^, Joseph-, Thomas^), b. Sept.
1, 1742, Upper Houses; m. (1) Feb. 28, 1765, Lucretia Hartshorn,
b. Mar., 1746, Bristol, R. I.; d. Sept. 5, 1784, dau. of Jacob and
Martha Hartshorn; m. (2) Martha (Edwards) Stocking, b. 1744;
190 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
d. Nov. 14, 1790; widow of Capt. Zebulon Stocking and dau. of
David Edwards and Mary Churchill; m. (3) Mrs. Ann (Wright)
Sage, widow of Giles Sage. His first wife's children were baptized
in the Epis. ch. of lower Middletown, indicating that their mother
belonged to an Episcopal family in E. I., at which time there were
but four Epis. parishes in that State. He was noted as a school-
master. His school report for 1786 gave the name of each head
of a family, the number of days each set of children attended, and
how much wood each family contributed. His grandson, the Rev.
Roderick H. Ranney, in 1873 wrote to the compiler the following:
"He sometimes taught school, as I chanced to learn by an inci-
dent he related to me of having flogged (for using disrespectful
language to an old man as they were taking a sleigh ride past the
house at night) six young men, his pupils, larger than himself; for
in those days the teacher was held responsible for the pupils' con-
duct at all times and all places. The parents heard their sons were
to be flogged the third day and came to see him, saying ' you are
not able to do it and will get flogged yourself.' ' Well, I will try
it.' 'No,' said they, 'we have contrived it for yon. We will keep
four of them home all day to-morrow and send two whom you can
flog, and so also on the two succeeding days.' A few days after
having been flogged, two by two, these same young men, feeling the
necessity of progressing faster in their studies, came to him with
the request that he would give them evening lessons ' for a con-
sideration.' " His father had deeded him, who had remained at
home to care for the old folks, the homestead. In 1795 he sold it
and rem. to New Providence, Saratoga Co., N. Y. The grandson,
above named, visited him in 1825 at his home, Edinburg, near
Lansingburg, where he died in 1826. The widow went to live with
her son, Orrin Sage, and is buried in Rochester, N. Y.
Child hy 2d marriage:
Joseph, b. Mar. 8, 1766, in Bristol, R. I.; captured by the
British and d. in prison, 1782.
Lucretia, b. Jan. 11, 1769; m. Johnson. Child:
Julia ; m. Leake.
84 Charles, b. Oct. 4. 1771.
85 Hezekiah, b. Jan. 17, 1774.
Charlotte, b. Feb. 22, 1776; m. Eli Judson. Child: David.
Abigail, b. Mar. 30, 1778; m. Leonard Baker, dau. Harriet, d.
1880; m. Rogers.
86 Roderick, b. Mar. 24, 1780.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 191
Child by 2d marriage:
87 David Stocking, b. Apr. 22, 1787.
Children by 3d marriage:
88 Horatio Gates, b. Dec. 25, 1799.
88a Sylvester, b. Aug. 2, 1802.
Martha, b. ; m. Bennett. Children: Solon S.,
Charles E.
Mary, b. ; m. Orizam Corbin. He d. abt. 1835. She
d. in Cleveland.
37 Lucretia* Eanney (DanieP, Joseph-, Thomas^), b. Mar. 12,
1737-8, Upper Houses; m. May 16, 1753, Capt. Nathaniel* Ham-
lin, b. May 29, 1732, son of Capt. Eichard Hamlin^ and Martha
Smith, dau. of the Eev. Joseph^ Smith, first pastor at Upper
Houses. Capt. Eichard Hamlin^ b. May 17, 1693, was the son
of William^ Hamlin and Susannah Collins, b. Nov. 26, 1669, dau.
of the Eev. Nathaniel Collins and Mary Whiting of Middletown.
William- Hamlin was the son of Giles^ Hamlin and Hester^
Crow, dau. of John^ Crow of Hartford. Giles Hamlin was a dis-
tinguished mariner. His epitaph says he was "near fifty years
crossing the ocean wide."
Capt. Nathaniel Hamlin was app. Oct., 1770, Captain 10th Co.,
6th Eegt. Militia; resided in Newfield Street and d. 1778.
Children:
89 Daniel Eanney, b. July 23, 1755. *
John, b. Jan. 7, 1757; m. Nov. 14, 1784, Caroline^ Eanney
(Fletcher*), A Eev. soldier, buried in Cromwell.
90 Esther, b. July 10, 1759; m. Abner Hubbard.
91 Mary, b. 1760; m. Benj. Gilbert.
Martha, b. Mar. 29, 1761 ; m. Oct. 3, 1782, Daniel Eells. (See
The Eells Family.)
Lucretia, b. May 3, 1763; m. Samuel Cotton.
38 Jonathan* Eanney (Jonathan^ Joseph-, Thomas^), bapt.
May 20, 1744, Upper Houses; m. Nov. 25, 1773, New Haven, Ct.,
Hannah Tiley or Tilley of Saybrook, Ct., b. 1753. He was a boy
when his father rem. to Guilford; was a hatter, and had an estab-
lishment in New Haven and later in Middletown, Ct., where he d.
July 16, 1828. She brought a letter, 1791, from the 2d Church
of Saybrook, now Essex, to the 1st Church of Middletown, where
she d. May 24, 1838. Her father after a few years owned the Eev.
Joseph Smith house, sold it, 1746, and rem. to Saybrook, now
Essex, Conn.
193 MIDDLETOWN" UPPEE HOUSES
Children :
Thomas Tiley, b. June 22, 1777, d. Jan. 15, 1796.
92 William, b. Nov. 30, 1783.
Sally, b. ; m. Jan. 10, 1802, Joshua Cone. Child:
Chloe, b. 1808, d. 1880, East Haddam.
Hannah, b. 1787; d. Jan. 9, 1844.
Phineas, b. ; d. unm. abt. 1860, Middletown.
39 Ebenezer* Eanney (Ebenezer^, Ebenezer-, Thomas^), bapt.
Apr. 24, 1748, Upper Houses;
m. Nov. 30, 1769, Newington
' / / L^(r7y / Church, Lois* Blinn, b. May
'9Z-f ^€^ ^ ^^U/ 13, 1745, Newington Society
^ / / °^ Wethersfield, Conn. He in-
^ (y herited the original Eanney
homestead and built on the north part a house for his son James.
He served in the Eev. War. A bronze marker of the S. A. E. is at
his grave. He d. Oct. 7, 1822. She d. Oct. 24, 1831.
Children:
Euth, bapt. Mar. 3, 1771 ; m. Mar. 31, 1790, Capt. John White.
(See The White Family.)
Lois, bapt. Mar. 7. 1773; d. unm. Dec. 28, 1861, was the
tailoress of the village, cared for her mother and brother
Eben. After 1847 she resided with her nephew James Ean-
ney. Eead always, but never used glasses.
93 Margaret, b. Dec. 23, 1775.
Elisha, bapt. Jan. 3, 1779 ; d. Oct. 23, 1780.
Ebenezer, bapt. Dec. 24, 1780; d. unm. Aug. 16, 1845.
94 James, bapt. Nov. 10, 1782.
Vester, bapt. Aug. 28, 1785.
[Blinn Lineage — Peter^ Blinn of Wethersfield was a carpenter;
m. Johanna . His will is dated Mar. 2, 1725, " age eighty-
four vears being in health of body."
William^ Blinn, b. 1675; m. Nov. 13, 1701, Anna^ Coultman, b.
Mar. 11, 1679; d. Oct. 17, 1724, dau. of John^ Coultman, a settler
of Wethersfield, who was the son of Thomas Coultman, of Newton,
Harcoate, Weston, Leicestershire, England.
Peter^ Blinn, b. Feb. 4, 1713 ; d. Mar. 7, 1793 ; m. Mar. 10, 1734,
Martha Collins, b. July 9, 1709, dau. of Samuel and Martha
Collins.
Lois* Blinn of Kensington Society, Wethersfield, was born May
13, 1745.]
FIFTH GENEEATION
40 Dr. Thomas Stow^ Kanney (Jeremiah*, Thomas^ Thomas^
Thomas^), b. May 10,
CpZ Ci^ y nj 1744, Upper Houses; m.
yhc^^ c7 y/a...^ rf^rt-^c, (1) Feb. 23, 1780, Brent-
wood, N". H., Hannah
Hook, b. 1757, d. July 9,
1796, Brentwood; m. (2)
Jan. 3, 1798, Brentwood, Hannah Hook, probably of the
same family as that of his first wife. He rem. with his parents
to Bethlehem, Litchfield Co., Ct. A Thomas Eanney served from
Litchfield Co., Mar. 23-Dec. 3, 1762, in the French-Indian War.
He rem. to Brentwood, N". H., and about 1810 he rem. to New-
port, Maine, where he died. He was a physician. Was town clerk
many years in Brentwood.
Children :
95 Moses, b. May 14, 1799.
96 Hannah, b. Sept. 4, 1801 ; m. Samuel Stetson.
97 Thomas Stow, b. Dec. 7, 1810.
41 Nathan^ R^nney (Jeremiah*, Thomas^, Thomas^, Thomas^ )^
b. June 20, 1751, Upper Houses; m. (1) Ruth Cole; b. ; d.
, 1816, Whitehall, N. Y.; m. (2) 1819, widow of Charles
McArthur of Scotch Hill; d. 1819. He rem with his parents to
Bethlehem, Conn.; in 1804 to Whitehall, N". Y.; in 1817 to .Fair
Haven, Vt., residing on Scotch Hill, where he d. Jan. 12, 1831.
Children:
Phebe, b. ; m. (1) Abel Foster; m. (2) Aaron Smith
of Whitehall, N. Y.
Thomas Stow, b. ; m. Mary Martin of Enosburg;
kept tavern in Whitehall ; rem. 1823 to Enosburg, where he
died, 1834; widow m. Burleigh Davis; her family rem. to
Fair Haven, Vt. Children: Mary, Oliver Perry. Helen,
Edwin, Althea, Nathaniel, Betsey. (See Appendix.)
Ruth, b. 1790; d. June, 1866, Whitehall, N. Y.
Martha, b. Aug. 23, 1793; m. Jan. 16, 1818, Levi Reed, rem. to
193
194 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
Fair Haven, Vt, where she d, Apr., 1869, Children: Fay-
ette, Nathan Eanney, Helen, Edgar. (See Appendix.)
Elizabeth, b. ; d. 1868, Whitehall, N. Y.
98 Nathan, b. Apr. 27, 1797.
Philena, b. ; m. Salmon Norton, Jr., rem. to Mar-
cellus, N, Y., where he d. She rem. to Angelica, N. Y.,
then to Morenci, Mich. Children: Mary and Ellen.
99 Nathaniel Cole, b.
100 Caleb Barnes, b. 1807.
42 Solomon^ Eanney (Jeremiah*, Thomas^, Thomas-, Thomas^),
b. 1756, Bethlehem, Ct., m. Rebecca Churchill, b. July 20, 1764,
Bethlehem, Ct. (Jonathan^, Joseph^, Josiah^, of Wethersfield, Ct.
See Churchill Genealogy.) Served in the Rev. War as per
app. for pension dated May 4, 1818, from May 1, 1775, nine
months; from Aug., 1776, three months; from May, 1778, nine
months. He also served in 1782 as per Vol. 8, Conn. Hist. Soc.
Rolls. He rem. before 1818 to Kortright, N. Y., where he died.
Children :
101 Martha Patty, b. Apr. 15, 1786.
A daughter, b. ; m. Mark Morris, rem. to Nelson, 0.,
where they died. Had one daughter.
43 Stephen"* Ranney (Jeremiah*, Thomas^, Thomas^, Thomas^),
b. May 24, 1761, Bethlehem, Conn.; m. (1) Apr. 15, 1785, Litch-
field, Conn., Margery Camp, b. Aug. 17, 1763, Bethlehem, Conn. ;
d. May, 1792, Litchfield, Conn.; m. (2) May, 1795, Rhoda Lang-
don, b ; d. 1802; m. (3) 1804, Hannah Cooper,
b. ; d. Jan. 11, 1811; m. (4) Oct. 11, 1812, Salem, Mass.,
Elizabeth Hathorne, b. ; d. Aug. 11, 1822. He died 1827,
Jackson, Mo.
It is a family tradition that when a boy he was bound out to
a deacon, and one of his duties was to feed the swine. The deacon
threatened to thrash him, and the boy, preferring to avoid a con-
test, trudged a number of miles to where General Greene was re-
cruiting, and enlisted. The official record of his service as given
by the War Department follows:
" Enlisted June 12, 1776 and discharged Jan. 1, 1777, being a
member of Capt. Jonathan Johnson's Company, Col. Phillip B.
Bradley's Regiment, Connecticut Forces.
" He enlisted May 2, 1777, for the war, in Capt. Samuel Mat-
tock's Company, 8th Connecticut Regiment, which had various
commanders; transferred January, 1781, to Captain Benton's Com-
Stephen Ranney
(See page 194)
William Caton Ranney
(See page 238)
John Hathorne Ranney
(See page 239)
Oliver RanneY
(See page 241)
Thomas Stow^ Raxney at 82
(See page 242)
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 195
pany, also designated the 7th Company, 5th Connecticut Kegiment,
commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Sherman; appointed cor-
poral June 1. 1781, transferred August 1, 1872, to Light Infantry
Company, same regiment, and transferred November 1, 1782, to the
5th Company, 1st Connecticut regiment, commanded by Colonel
Zebulon Butler. His name is last found on the muster roll of the
company for the month of April, 1783, dated May 27, 1783, which
shows him on furlough,"
He was in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, Mud Island,
Red Bank and others. At Monmouth he received wounds in the
leg and hand during the conflict which took place between the
British and that part of General Lee's corps which, in pursuance
of their order, checked the enemy's advance, and gave time for
the American reserve under General Washington to form. For his
gallantry in that memorable affair he was presented with a sword
by Lafayette.
When a war between France and the United States was expected
he applied for a commission, reciting his services in the Revolu-
tionary War, and stating that he had conducted a military school
in Litchfield, Conn. He was appointed a captain of the 13th
United States Infantry, February 13, 1799, and was honorably dis-
charged June 15, 1800.
In the political excitement which soon occupied the public at-
tention, Selleck Osborn, editor of The Witness, a Democratic organ,
was thrown into prison for the offense of having unduly criticised
his Federal opponents. This attack on the liberty of the press
aroused the Democrats of Litchfield County. There was a monster
meeting held on July 4, 1806, when it was decided to have a demon-
stration on Aug. 6. For this gathering Democrats came from all
over the county. Cannon were fired at sunrise, and bands rendered
martial music. Major Ranney was chief marshal of the parade.
When they reached the jail, all bowed in saluting Mr. Osborn. A
meeting was then held in the Congregational Church.
The following letter explains itself :
Litchfield May 23 - 1808
Sir
I have served in the Army through the Revolutionary War,
two years of which time I did the duty of a drill-sergeant. After
the war was concluded I commanded a company of militia in
this town and was promoted to the rank of major in the militia,
which office I resigned and accepted a captaincy in the late Army
raised under President Adams' administration I have since
196 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
taught a military school in this town. I am now desirous of
obtaining the appointment of major, in the Army to be raised,
Should there be no field officer allotted to the State of Connec-
ticut, I will accept that of a captain, on the presumption that
my pretention to rank will give me the first captaincy.
I have the honnor to be, sir, with due submission.
Your humble servant
Stephen Eanney.
Hon* Henry Dearbon Esqr
Secretary of War.
He was appointed a captain in the 4th United States Infantry,
June 18, 1808; promoted major of the same regiment January 20,
1813; lieutenant colonel, same regiment, May 15, 1814; honorably
discharged on the reduction of the Army, June 15, 1815.
It is a family tradition that when Hull surrendered Detroit
Col. Eanney was away on a foraging expedition with orders to drive
the Indians back. On his return, finding that Hull had surren-
dered, he and his command cut their way through and escaped to
the east. He was a principal witness against Hull in his trial later.
George Eanney, a brother of StepKen, was killed at Stony Point.
Another brother, Solomon, served through the war. A son, John-
son, probably named after Captain Johnson, under whom he first
served, was commissioned Lieutenant in 1812 and continued in the
4th Eeg. under his father till the army disbanded in 1815.
Colonel Ranney's son, William Caton, having been born at White-
hall, N. Y., it is probable that his family was domiciled there with
his brother Nathan who had removed from Bethlehem. By 1818
he had become a resident of Indiana where his next son was born.
He was appointed Adjutant General of Indiana by Governor Hen-
dricks, and served from Dec. 5, 1822 to Sept. 3, 1823. He then
removed to Jackson, Mo., where his son, Johnson, had been settled
as a lawyer for some years. His death occurred in 1827 and he was
buried with Masonic and military honors.
Children hy 1st marriage:
102 Jeremiah, b. Jan. 20, 1786, Bethlehem, Conn.
Mary, b.. Dec. 21, 1787, Bethlehem, Conn.
103 Johnson, b. Dec. 19, 1789, Litchfield, Conn.
Stephen, b. Feb., 1792; d. 1794.
Children by 2d marriage:'
Margery, b. Apr., 1797.
Reuel, b. Oct., 1798.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 197
Norman, b.
Stephen, Jr., b. June, 1805.
Ehoda, b. Sept. 25, 1807.
Eliza, b. Sept. 30, 1809.
104 Hannah Cooper, b. Jan. 11, 1811.
Children by 3d marriage:
Julius Augustus, b. Aug. 23, 1813; d. Nov. 16, 1813.
105 William Caton, b. Feb. 20, 1815, Whitehall, N. Y.
106 John Hathorne, b. Feb. 5, 1818, Charleston, Ind.
Benj. Herbert, b. Mar. 27, 1821; d. Nov. 19, 1821.
44 Julius^ Eanney (Jeremiah*, Thomas^, Thomas- Thomas^),
b. 1765, Bethlehem, Ct.; m. , Jerusha Butler, b. 1768, dau.
of Silas^ Butler (Malachi*, John^, John-, Nicholas^) and Jerusha^
Spencer, (Eldad*, Desb^ough^ Obadiah^, Thomas^ of Hartford).
She built a Cong. Ch. in Danby, N. Y., where she died Mar. 26,
1844. He was a blacksmith and d. July 12, 1802, Bethlehem, Ct.
Children :
Lucy, b. Sept. 15, 1788; d. May 18, 1794.
107 Polly, b. Sept. 14, 1790; m. Hiram Hawes.
Julius, h. Aug. 24, 1792; m. (1) Hannah Dakin, (2) Almira
Potter. He was captured in War of 1812, and suffered much.
Wanted to go to France and enlist under Napoleon to get even
with England; d. Jan. 29, 1852, Dexter, Mich. No children.
108 Lucy, b. July 18, 1794 ; m. Eev. Urban Palmer.
109 Oliver, b. Sept. 19, 1796.
Susan, b. Feb. 28, 1799; m. James Sturges.
Thomas Stow, b. Aug. 22, 1802.
William^ Eanney (Thomas*, Thomas^ Thomas^, Thomas^),
b. Sept. 18, 1753, Upper
Houses; m. May 13, 1779,
ipiyt^ >l ^ Westminster, Vt., Lydia Ean-
ney, his first cousin, b, Apr. 18,
1759, Haddam, Conn., d. June
11, 1825, Westminster West,
Vt., dau. of Ephraim Eanney and Silence Wilcox. He served in
the Eev. War frpm Upper Houses, and went to Hartford, Vt., 1777,
where he served for a few months. His pension for services from
Connecticut was granted Mar. 4, 1731, when he was nearly 80 years
of age. He was a deacon of the church in Westminster West, of
which his cousin Elijah was the first deacon. He died Feb. 17,
1737. Stone in W. W. churchyard.
A
(T
198 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
Thomas, b. Oct. 2, 1781; d. July 10, 1817; unm.
111 William, b. June 5, 1784.
Elizabeth Wilcox, b. June 19, 1788 ; d. Nov. 10, 1821 ; unm.
Silence Wilcox, b. Apr. 9, 1791; m. Nov. 15, 1815, John
Norton.
112 Stephen, b. Apr. 28, 1793.
Achsah, b. Feb. 27, 1796; d. Jan. 21, 1816; unm.
46 Ephraim^ Ranney (Ephraim*, Thomas% Thomas^,
Thomas^), b. Oct. 27, 1748, Upper Houses; m. (1) Dec, 1770,
Westminster, Vt., Lydia Johnson, b. 1751, d. Feb. 13, 1787; m.
(2) Oct. 10, 1790, Ehoda Harlow, b. 1770, d. Sept. 20, 1850, dau.
of Eleazar Harlow. He d. May 30, 1835. Ephraim Ranney and
other children in 1812 signed an agreement as to the distribution
of property and their autographs are copied from that agreement.
He was a stalwart man and helped to clear up much land on
the bank of the Conn. River, and then was one of the first to
cross the ridge and make a settlement in Westminster West. Rev.
A. Stevens in his history says:
" Ephraim Ranney, Jr., David Heaton and Jotham Holt, about
^ ^ the year 1768, made an
/'^<j»t^^'^''^''^--'^^^^:::^^\ opening in the forest on the
^ /\/ ) farm near the present site
/of the church. They were
young men, and for some time messed together in a log-house built
by Ranney, a few feet south of the house now occupied by Hon. Wil-
liam B. Cutting (1885). They made their own porridge and ate out
of a common dish. Mr. Heaton was a passionate man, and when in-
sulted would leave the house. When the porridge was a little
short of their wants Ranney and Holt had only to insult their
messmate, and they had the dish all to themselves. This state of
things did not long continue. Mr. Ranney brought to the log-
house, in 1770, a wife, and never had any wish, afterwards, to be
left alone at the table." He served in the Revolutionary War.
He was a captain of militia, a justice of the peace and an inn-
keeper. In 1805 there was built an inn which is now occupied by
Deacon Arthur Patterson Ranney, who is seen sitting on the ver-
anda. About the year 1813 it "became the property of Ephraim
Ranney, Jr., who kept a store as well as an inn there.
" A remnant of his account book for 1815 shows that the good
people of the parish were none too temperate. The following is
a specimen account, ' Dr. to 1 glass toddy, to 2 toddy, to 3 toddys.'
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 199
The debtor got dnmk, and mistook his door, and fell down in the
pantry, and pulled down after him two pans of milk, and a pan
of lard yet warm from the kettle. He was now ready to make his
mark in the world. It was training day and he was too noisy and
a little too drunk to be respectable. The captain, Ephraim Kan-
ney, Jr., his neighbor by the way, undertook to get him out of the
way. Having exhausted his patience in flattery, and ignorant of
the condition of affairs in his pantry, he came to a close hug with
the tipsy man, and by a hard struggle shut him up in the barn,
when, lo and behold, the captain found his buff pants and vest
unfit for a captain to wear during the parade and drill 'of the
day."
The original Ephraim Eanney farm is now the home of his de-
scendant, Miss Mary Eanney Cutting, having descended by in-
heritance.
Children hy 1st marriage:
113 Ephraim, b. June 25, 1771.
114 Lydia, b. Sept. 28, 1772, d. 1858; m. Dea. Ebenezer Good-
hue.
115 Eebecca, b. Dec. 27, 1777, d. 1841; m. Gideon Warner.
116 Calvin, b. Nov. 5, 1784.
Children by 2d marriage:
117 Hiram, b. June 4, 1792.
Peyton, b. Dec. 1, 1799 ; d. May 28, 1813.
118 Grant Willis, b. Mar. 23, 1804.
Elijah' Eanney (Ephraim*, Thomas% Thomas-, Thomas^),
b. Mar. 14, 1750-1; m. (1) Nov.
' * jf /^AA^*^^ 10, 1771, Elizabeth Eoot, d. Apr.
Y fi^^ ^^ //^ 12, 1822, aged 82; m. (2) July
/ 2, 1822, Tryphena Hitchcock,
widow of Heli Hitchcock, d. Mar. 27, 1838. He rem. with
his parents, 1761, to Westminster, Vt. In 1771 he made a settle-
ment in the south part of Westrninster West on the farm now
owned and occupied by his grandson, Henry Porteus Eanney.
Like his elder brother, he was tall and stalwart. He served in
the Eev. War and in 1783 was a member of the Legislature.
Prayer meetings were held and sermons read for years before a
church was organized. The first meeting called to consult for the
support of the Gospel among themselves was held Jan. 10, 1789,
and was "called by Elijah Eanney on petition of the inhabitants
of the parish." It was voted " that allowance be made to Ephraim
200 MIDDLETOWK UPPER HOUSES
Wilcox for money he had paid to Mr. Bullen for preaching,
to be credited to him on the collection bill, to the amount of
$11.00." Ephraim Wilcox, his mother's brother, had gone from
East Middletown. Elijah Eanney was the first deacon in West-
minster West, as his father had been first deacon in Westminster
parish. The church was erected in 1792. " It was a high, two-
story building fronting on the east; a front door, and one on each
side. It was painted white; without a steeple or cupola even;
square pews, with high backs ; gallery on three sides, filled with
young folks every Sabbath, closely watched by a man appointed
for that purpose; a moderately high pulpit, a deacons' seat in
front of it, occupied, rain or shine, every Sabbath, by the deacons."
— (Stevens' History.)
The first saw-mill was built by Deacon Elijah. He d. Apr. 29,
1833, aged 83.
Children :
119 Elijah, b. Sept. 15, 1773.
120 Joseph, b. Dec. 25, 1779.
121 Elizabeth, b. , ; m. Levi Harlow.
Silence, b. , ; m. Wainwright Witt and rem.
to Elyria, 0.
48 DanieP Eanney (Ephraim*, Thomas^ Thomas^, Thomas^),
b. Feb. 5, 1753, Upper Houses, removed 1761 with his father to
Westminster, Vt.; m. Oct. 27, 1779, Chester, Vt., Eunice Gile,
b. Oct. 27, 1762, Chester, Vt; d. Mar. 21, 1852, Stockbridge,
Vt. He d. Jan. 5, 1833, and is buried in "Eanney Cemetery,"
Stockbridge, Vt. Moses, the son of Daniel, wrote the following,
in substance :
(^Q/0^nm£p
" Moses lived with his grandfather, Ephraim, till thirteen years
of age and then returned to his
father who had removed from >^
Chester to Stockbridge, Vt. J^ C^n^vZ^
Daniel was a recruiting oflficer
for eighteen months. He en-
listed to go and defend Ticonderoga but this place was captured
before his arrival. His superior officer was Capt. Whitney of the
militia rangers, which company disbanded in about a year and a
half after its organization. Daniel removed to Chester, where
Daniel, Jr., and Esther were born, and then to South Hill, Stock-
bridge, Vt. Here were born Lucinda, Eoswell and Joel. The chief
officer of the regiment to which Daniel belonged was Col. Townsend
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS KANNEY 201
— Capt. Whitney was from Westminster and drew a pension on
the testimony of Daniel.
" Daniel was an orderly sergeant and spent three days in the
week at Westminster drilling the soldiers. He was at the battle
of Bennington and was saved from being taken prisoner by Col.
Ben. Fellows. At Ticonderoga Capt. George Earl of Chester was
his Captain. Daniel was afterwards a Lieut, in the militia when
called out, but drew no pension because he had some property."
Daniel died in Stockbridge, Yt.
dhildren :
122 Daniel, b. Apr. 14, 1781.
123 Moses, b. Mar. 28, 1783.
Eunice, b. Dec. 12, 1784.
124 Mary, b. July 26, 1791; m. Jonathan Holland.
Esther, b. Dec. 30, 1793 ; m. Jan. 24, 1816, Lester Lincoln.
Lucinda, b. May 8, 1799.
Eoswell, b. June 10, 1801 ; d. Aug. 4, 1803.
125 Joel,*b. June 9, 1805.
49 WaitstilP Eanney (Ephraim*, Thomas^ Thomas^
Thomas^), b. Jan. 3, 1762, West-
/ ^ , , dau. of Eleazar
Harlow of Taunton, Mass., and Ehoda Alexander of Northfield,
Mass. He rem. to Chester, Vt., held many local offices, purchased
a tract of 1,000 acres 3 miles from the center, mortgaged it and
became embarrassed. When the elder son became of age he as-
sumed the farm and the mortgage, agreeing to support through
life his parents, and to pay his brother, Waitstill Randolph, then
16 years of age, one thousand dollars, as he might need, if he
would seek a learned profession. The enterprise failing, the elder
son removed with his parents to Westport, N. Y., where Waitstill
died July 3, 1839. He served in the Rev. War,
In a letter written in 1879 by a grandson is this description of
Waitstill Ranney : " I remember but little of him. I knew him
when I was quite small and remember only one incident about him.
That has been fixed in my mind. He visited my father in Towns-
hend when it was customary at family worship to stand up behind
the old kitchen chair and pray, and he, being addicted to tobacco
chewing, never took out his cud. So during his long prayer he
had to stop several times before he got to the " Jews " to step to
the old fireplace and spit. His career in life was fraught with
202 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
hardship, with many ups and downs, and yet he finally died at a
good old age. The features of his good wife I cannot recall. But
I remember her as a very clever old lady that once amused us
boys by saying once when she came to visit us that she ' came in
the mail,' meaning stage."
Children:
Eleazar Harlow, b. Apr. 27, 1786; d. Apr. 5, 1862, Westport.
N". Y. Children: Sarah, Caroline, Esther.
126 Waitstill Randolph, b. May 23, 1791.
Abigail, b. Aug. 21, 1796; d. May 26, 1873; m.
Rogers,
Amarylla, b. ; d. Feb. 22, 1841; m. David
Chandler.
Sophia, b. Oct. 1, 1797; m. Kellogg.
50 Esther^ Ranney (Ephraim*, Thomas^ Thomas% Thomas^),
^^_^ b. July 28, 1764, Westminster, Vt.;
yt^^ytJy?^ ra. Oct. 8, 1786, Westminster, Vt.,
<:t^rf<yL<z^ Seth Arnold, b. Sept. 3, 1747, Had-
dam, Ct. She d. July 11, 1841;
he d. July 6, 1849. Seth Arnold was a descendant of Joseph
Arnold, one of the Hartford men who in 1662 settled Haddam,
Ct. His homestead in Haddam. Ct., was opposite the cemetery,
and he owned the land between the cemetery and the Connecticut
River, and it is now the property of Judge E. P. Arnold. Seth
Arnold had a hard experience in the Revolutionary Army : served
three years, was twice taken prisoner, on prison ship nine months.
In 1780 he removed to Westminster. His pension was granted
Mar. 4, 1831. It will be seen that he lived to be 102 years of age.
He made a public profession of religion at 89, and dressed himself
the day he died. Her autograph of 1812 is given herewith.
Children :
127 Seth Shailor, b. Eeb. 22, 1788.
128 Ambrose Tyler, b. Nov. 19, 1790.
Esther, b. Sept. 3, 1792; m. (1) John F. Hills; m. (2)
Benjamin Smith.
129 Joel Ranney, b. Apr. 25, 1794.
Phebe, b. Jan. 29, 1798; m. Isaac Holton.
Olivia, b. Oct. 31, 1800; d. July 1, 1812.
Abigail, b. Nov. 17, 1804; d. unm., 1869.
51 Janna'^ Ranney (Ephraim*, Thomas^ Thomas% Thomas^),
b. June 11, 1766, Westminster, Yt.; m. June, 1789, Westminster,
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS RANNEY 203
Vt., Phebe Phelps, b. July 25, 1768; d. Jan. 1, 1842. His whole
life was passed on the homestead his father took up in 1761. As
he d. Aug. 18, 1794, his son's signature is given to a deed of set-
tlement of his father's estate in 1812, when all the children except
two signed the paper from which the autographs are taken.
Children :
130 James, b. Apr. 20, 1790.
Orange, b. Feb. 4, 1793; d. Sept. 9, 1823, New Orleans; m.
Elizabeth E. Jacobs.
Janna, b. Aug. 18, 1794; m. Hannah Latham. He left
Dec., 1818, for New Orleans, where he died. Child:
John Latham, b. Aug. 5, 1817; m. 1840, Almeda Dyer
Phelps in Canada.
52 JoeP Eanney (Ephraim*, Thomas^ Thomas-, Thomas^),
^ y ^/fy b. Mar. 2, 1768, Westminster,
o^>-«<r ^;^<''^^,,-j,.v-v'T_j»^ Vt. ; m. Eebecca Arnold, b.
/ ' y/^ 1771;d. Jan. 27, 1844. He d.
^ ^ Mar. 25, 1840, Westminster.
They adopted Priscilla Farnham, who m. Joseph^ Eanney.
53 Benjamin^ Eanney (Ephraim*, Thomas^, Thomas^,
Thomas^), b. Sept. 18, 1770,
„, ^r y Westminster, Vt. ; m. June 26,
V V^-^t/.?*^*-**;.. /fYi...*^-^-^ 1^^6, Westminster, Martha
Gill, b. Mar. 1, 1768; d. Aug.
15, 1844. He d. May 8, 1824.
/>^^='-^^^/7^--^
Children :
Silence, b. May 26, 1797; m. Allen Wells. This line has the
family Bible of Ephraim*.
Ira Allen, b. Mar. 28, 1799; d. July 17, 1843, Plattsburg,
N. Y.
Angeline, b. Feb. 13, 1801 ; m. Aaron E. Chase.
Elmerina, b. Apr. 3, 1802 ; d. Jan. 29, 1804.
Elmerina, b. Aug. 17, 1805; m. Nathaniel Nutting.
Agnes Stella, b. Apr. 26, 1808; d. Feb. 26, 1896.
54 James^ Eanney (Willett*, Willett^ Thomas-, Thomas^), b.
Feb. 27, 1757, Upper Houses, followed his father to Mass., Le-
banon, N. Y., and to Fort Stanwix; m. ; rem., 1806,
to Adams, N. Y. He died about 1822, at the residence of his
204 MIDDLETOWN 'UPPER HOUSES
brother Willett, leaving Benjamin, Marinus, Gibbs, Orrin, Mary
and Martha, most of whom, it is said, rem. to Canada.
55 Seth= Eanney (Willett*, Willett^ Thomas", Thomas^),
b. Jan. 21, 1761, Upper Houses, rem. with his father, 1776, to
Sandisfield, Mass., thence to New Lebanon, N. Y., and by 1786-7
was at Fort Stanwix, now Rome, N. Y. He must have married
before then Eleanor Matthews who d. Mar. 12, 1813, aged 50
years. He erected the first two-story frame house in Rome, and
in 1792 it was used as a tavern by John Barnard, and in 1793
the first store was opened in it. In this year he was one of the
15 charter members of a Masonic lodge organized and located in
the township of Paris — the first lodge in central JSTew York. He
was known as " Capt." Seth Eanney, having served in the War of
1812. He resided a few years in Canada, returned to Ogdensburg,
and had a farm on the St. Lawrence and kept a hotel.
Children :
George, b. 1780; m. 3 times; no children; d. May 27, 1860.
Lois, b. ; m. Sylvester Gilbert of Ogdensburg. Child:
Wm. W. Gilbert.
Betsy, b. ; m. James Chambers; rem. to North Caro-
lina.
Belinda, b. Dec. 6, 1791; m. Henry Lum; 9 children.
Clarissa, b. ; m. (1) David Lum, (2) Josiah Perry.
56 Sarah^ Ranney (Willett*, Willett^ Thomas^, Thomas^),
b. Jan. 2, 1763, Upper Houses; m. David I. Andrus. The Rev.
Samuel Eells, referred to in the appended sketch taken from the
Jefferson County Journal of Sept. 6, 1898, was born in Upper
Houses. (See the Eells family chapter.)
David Ira Andrus was born in 1766 in the state of Conn., the
family of English descent. He enlisted as a soldier in the Revo-
lutionary War, January 1, 1781, to serve as a fifer in the 6th
Company, 4th Conn, Regiment, commanded by Col. Zebulon But-
ler; was transferred to Captain Robertson's company, 2d Conn.
Regiment, commanded by Col. Heman Swift, November 1, 1782;
served as private March 1, 1783, and his name appears on the
rolls to May 26, 1783. Mr. Andrus about the year 1789 went to
what now comprises Oneida county, N. Y., to make his home, his
outfit for commencing life in the new country being an ax he
carried with him. About this time he was married to Sally
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 205
Ranney, also of a Connecticut family. Eight children were born
to them: George, Lydia, Fanny, Almira, Chauncey, Ira, Sally
and Samuel. Samuel died at the age of 14 years. A baptismal
certificate given by Rev. Samuel Eells, pastor of the Second
Church of Christ in Branford, Conn., dated at Steuben, N. Y.,
Sept. 9th, 1793, reads : " These certify that David Andrews [ An-
drus] and Sally, his wife, entered into covenant with God and
took their baptismal obligations upon themselves, and had their
children baptized by the names of George, Lydia and Fanny."
In 1790 Mr. Andrus leased and lived on a farm of 138 acres in
Wright Settlement, near Rome, and in 1804 carried on a meat
shop in what was then Rome village. He visited this section at
an early day in company with Daniel Fox who settled in the town
of Adams about 1800, and died in 1873 at the age of 103 years.
Mr. Andrus in 1799 was a charter member of Roman Lodge, F.
A. M., Rome, N. Y. He removed about 1805 to the town of
Ellisburg and acted as agent for Col. Samuel Wardwell, of Rhode
Island, who had a large landed estate here. He made improve-
ments at Wardwell Settlement, where he settled, and soon after
commenced improvements at Andrus Settlement, to which James
Constable in his journal of August 8, 1806, refers. Improve-
ments at Little Sandy (Mannsville) were commenced by him
as early as 1811, the first saw mill and first dwelling having
been built by him. His business interests at Andrus Settlement
w€re extensive. He built the large Andrus hotel about 1812, a
two and one-half story wood structure, which was destroyed by
fire in 1890. Mr. Andrus was the proprietor many years and the
hotel was a favorite stopping place with the public, the stage line
making a change of horses there, and in the thriving hamlet the
hotel was the center of much activity. He also built a saw mill
and grist mill, distillery, ashery and blacksmith shop, carrying
on the several branches of business ' and employing many men.
His farm of 400 acres furnished clay of a superior quality for a
brick yard which was in use before the hotel was finished. In
company with his oldest son. George, he was in the mercantile
business as early as 1810 ; built the brick store on corner in 1825,
which was taken down about 1855. About the year 1812 he built
the army barracks at Sackett's Harbor, and in 1817 the Jefferson
County bank building at Adams, he being one of the directors of
the bank. He was elected Member of Assembly in 1809 and
,1812, and sheriff of the county in 1812-1813, and again 1815-
' 1818. His first wife died July 22, 1818, at the age of 55 years.
His youngest child, Mary Jane, was born after his marriage to
Mrs. Esther Hinman. Mr. Andrus died August 21, 1831, after
206 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
a few days' illness, at the age of 65 years. She died July 22,
1818, EUisburg, Jefferson County.
Had eight children.
Clvldreii :
130a George, the oldest, b. Oct. 11, 1789, N. Y.
57 SybiP Eanney (Willett*, Willett% Thomas% Thomas^),
b. Jan. 7, 1765, Upper Houses; m. (1) Eichard Willis of Welsh
descent, b. 1760, Pennsylvania, d. 1807, Eome, N. Y.; m. (2)
Joseph White, b. Jan. 16, 1761, Upper Houses, who with his
father, Capt. Hugh White, had settled Whitestown, N. Y. (See
the White family chapter.) He d. June 17, 1827. She d. 1833,
Adams, N. Y., at the home of her son Willett Eanney Willis.
Children :
Catherine, b. .
130b Delia Ann, b. 1793 ; m. Wm. Hart of Adams.
131 Willett Eanney, b. Feb. 22, 1799.
Sybil Jane, b. .
Henry, b. ; m. . Daughter is Mrs. (Dr.)
Annie Watson, Lexington, Mississippi.
58 Willett^ Eanney (Willett*, Willett^ Thomas^, Thomas^),
bapt. Aug. 6, 1769, with Benjamin, a twin, Upper Houses,
was 7 years of age when his father rem. to Sandisfield, Mass.
He m. Oct., 1799, Eome, N". Y., Betsey Bobbins, dau. of John
Bobbins, who came from Bennington, Vt., in 1790. In June,
1790, he leased of Gov. Clinton the 100 acres in "Wright's
Settlement," adjoining the 100 acres his brother Seth had leased
the previous year, and which was long known as the "Eanney
Place." He was to pay one peppercorn each year, if lawfully
demanded, for four years, and after that 18 bushels of good
winter wheat, on May 'l of each year, in the city of Albany. This
lease in 1878 was in the possession of his son Lester. He sub-
let the lease in 1795 to Cornelius Van Warner, and in 1796 leased
a 50-acre tract of Moses Wright, while Butler Eanney leased the
adjoining tract. In 1801 both Eanneys sold out. He then rem.
to Saratoga County, as the Bible record is that Anson was born in
the town of Milton in that county. About 1810 he went to Taberg,
and after a year settled in Smithville, near Adams. His aged
parents went with him.
When news came that the British had attacked Sackett's Har-
bor the militia were ordered out and Willett Eanney, Jr., mounted
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 207
a horse to go to the defense of his country. The old man, in-
spired by a love of country yet burning in his bosom, and 'recall-
ing his own experience in the Eevolutionary army, said to his
son : " Get off that horse and let me go." The son obeyed and
Willett Eanney, Sr., over 80 years of age, mounted the horse and
went as a volunteer. In a few years, 1818, the patriot was laid
in the grave and tTie widow about 1821 followed.
In 1826 Willett Eanney, no longer known as Jr., bought a
farm in Eedfield, and resided on it till 1831, when he went back
to the homestead at Smithville, and on which he resided till his
death in 1865 at the age of 96 years, at the home of his son
Lester.
Children :
132 Anson b. Aug. 5, 1802.
133 John, b. Jan. 16, 1803.
Lucy, b. 1804; d. young.
134 Sophronia, b. , 1807; m. Eeuben Drake.
135 Mary, b. , 1809; m. Volney Chamberlain.
136 Jeanette, b. , 1812; m. Dr. Sheldon Brooks.
137 Orville Willett, b. 1814.
137a Lester, b. Sept. 29, 1815.
59 Persis' Eanney (Willett*, Willett^ Thomas-, Thomas^),
bapt. April 2, 1773, Upper Houses; m. abt. 1800, Eome, N. Y.,
Samuel Jarvis, b. Sept. 16, 1768, ISTorwalk, Ct., son of Nathan
Jarvis and Ann Kellogg. Nathan Jarvis, b. Feb, 2, 1737, d.
Apr. 15, 1820, was the next older to Abraham Jarvis, b. May 3,
1739, d. May 13, 1813, Episcopal Bishop of Connecticut. Sam-
uel Jarvis, member of Masonic lodge, resided in Camden, N. Y.,
until after the birth of Angeline, when he rem. to Norwalk, Ct.
Later he ret. to N. Y. State and d. Jan. 10, 1853, Theresa, N. Y.
The widow d. there Dec. 3, 1866.
♦
Children :
Julia Ann, b. , 1800 ; d. young.
Hannah, b. , 1802; d. Mar. 27, 1855; m. Dr. Ira
Wright.
Willett Eanney, b. , 1803 ; rem. to Pittsville, Wis.
Ann Eliza, b. , 1804; d. May 27, 1902; m. Dudley
Chapman.
Mary, b. Sept. 13, 1806; d. Sept. 17, 1841; m. Geo. M.
Foster. Child: Sarah Conant, b. Dec. 14, 1832; m. 1871,
Dr. L. Hannahs as his 2d wife. Widow res. Theresa, N. Y.
208 MIDDLETOWN" UPPER HOUSES
Angeline, b. , — , 1808; d. Mar. 13, 1866; in. Reuben
Knapp.
Augusta, b. , — , 1811; d. Apr. — , 1887; m. Harrison
Miller.
Harriet Amelia, b. , — , 1818; d. Aug. 27, 1870; m.
1843, Dr. L. Hannahs. He m. (2) Oct. 4, 1871, Sarah
Conant Foster. Supra.
60 Butler^ Ranney (Willett*, Willett^ Thomas^ Thomas^),
b. , — , 1780, probably New Lebanon, N. Y., rem. as a child
with his father to Fort Stanwix, now Rome. In 1803 he m. Orva
Heth or Heath, and moved, 1808, to Redfield, Oswego County.
Later he moved into Jefferson County, where other brothers re-
sided. In the war of 1812 he kept a public house in Adams and
later moved to Watertown, where he resided in 1818, in Sept. of
which year the first Jefferson County Fair and Cattle Show was
held in Watertown. The officers and guests of the Society took
dinner at his' house, where extensive preparations had been made
for their entertainment. Among the distinguished guests pres-
ent were Gov. DeWitt Clinton, Gen. Stephen Van Rensselaer,
and James LeRoy Di Chaumont, president of the Society. Among
the features of this fair Noadiah Hubbard, a native of Middle-
town, Ct., with Col. Harris, exhibited a cart drawn by 15 yoke of
very fine fat cattle, the product of their farms. Butler Ranney
was a universal favorite. He d. Feb. — , 1854, Watertown.
Children:
Zanana, b. , ; m. David L. Seymour.
Minerva, b. , ; m. James V. Hickey.
138 Norman, b. , • _ ^
Cornelia C, b. , 1812; d. Oct. 14, 1892; m. Sept.
1841, John Clarke, an eminent lawyer of Watertown.
C^ll tl (iTBTi '
Cornelia S.', b. ; m. 1871, Fred^ Seymour;
Helen Minerva; d. infant.
Delia Ann, b. ; m. David L. Seymour supra. Chil-
dren' Allan McCutcheon, Frederick, Thomas N., John
C, Harriet Allan, b. , ; m. Eugene Robin-
son.
61 George"* Ranney (George*, George^ Thomas^, Thomas^),
b June 9, 1746-7, East Middletown, Conn.; m. (1) Jan. 21, 1771,
East Middletown, Conn., Esther Hall, bapt. Jan. 9, 1J51; d Mar.
3, 1807, dau. of Capt. Samuel Hall; (2) Aug. 8, 1809, Ashfield,
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 209
Mass., Alithea, widow of Oliver Patch. She died Aug. 6, 1827,
aged 76. He died Jan. 14, 1822, Ashfield, Mass. (See the Hall
Family.)
In early life he was in the West India trade. Eem., 1780, to
Ashfield, Mass., and purchased from Lamberton Allen a lOO-acre
farm, most of which was a forest, and built a log house. He was
a man of industry and perseverence. With the help of his strong
boys he accomplished the task and brought up a large family.
In 1798 he erected a two-story house on the new road to the
Plain village, seen herein. For 40 years he was identified with
the growth and prosperity of the town. He was a member of the
Cong. ch.
Children :
139 Samuel Hall, b. Mar. 6, 1772.
Sarah, b. Dec. 20, 1773; d. Feb. 11, 1774.
140 Jesse, b. Oct. 13, 1775.
141 Joseph, b. July, 1777.
Hannah, b. Oct. 3, 1781; m. Dec. 4, 1800, Abiathar Philips;
12 children; d. July 28, 1857.
142 Esther, b. Mar. 5, 1784; m. (1) May 3, 1804, Benj. Jones,
who d. Sept. 20, 1804; m. (2) Forest Jepson. He d. Sept.
20, 1844. She d. Aug. 23, 1862.
Anna, b. June 20, 1786; m. Nov. 27, 1806, James McFar-
land; 4 children.
143 George, b. May 12, 1780.
62 Thomas^ Eanney (George*, George^ Thomas^, Thomas^),
b. July 6, 1749, East Middletown; m. May 28, 1778, Chatham,
Conn., Mary (Johnson) Mighelles, widow of John Mighelles,
who died of smallpox, Feb. 7, 1776. Eem. abt. 1792 to Ashfield,
Mass., where he died Apr. 20, 1823. She died Oct. 5, 1819,
72 years old. She was the daughter of Thomas Johnson of Upper
Houses. (See Johnson Lineage.)
Children :
Persis, b. , ; m. Feb. 1, 1801, Moses Bartlett.
Catherine, b. , ; m. Jan. 1, 1799, Wm. Belding.
144 Eoswell, b. Nov. 22, 1782.
145 William, b. June 30, 1785.
63 Francis'^ Eanney (George*, George', Thomas^, Thomas^),
b. Apr. 19, 1753, East Middletown, Conn.; m. Feb. 16, 1773,
Eachel Hall, b. July 29, 1753, Chatham, Ct., dau. of Capt. Sam-
uel Hall. Eem. 1786, to Ashfield, Mass., where he died Apr. 7,
210 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
1804, It is tradition that he was a Rev. soldier. (See the Hall
Family.) She d. , 1827.
Children:
Sally, b. , ; m. Samuel Phillips, Esq.
146 Giles, b. Aug. 17, 1773.
147 Daniel, b. , 1776.
Betsey, b. , ; m. Feb. 17, 1802.
Ruth, b. , ; m. Josiah Wells.
147a Luther, b. Sept. 6, 1785.
Rachel, b. , ; m. Eastman.
Lucy, b. , ; m. Enos Bush.
64 Mary= Ranney (George*, George^, Thomas-, Thomas^), b.
June 22, 1757; d. Aug. 17, 1841; m. July 1, 1779, E. Middle-
town, NathanieP Bosworth, b. Apr. 12, 1753, Warren, R. I.; d.
Mar. 12, 1844, Berlin, Vt., son of Jonathan' Bosworth and Mary
Humphrey, who were m. Mar. 19, 1748. Nathaniel was the sec-
ond of nine children.
Child:
148 Jonathan, b. Jan. 21, 1787.
[Bosworth Lineage — Edward^ and Mary Bosworth came in the
ship Elizaheth in 1634. Five children.
NathanieP Bosworth, b. 1617, England; m. Bridget Lobdell,
widow of Nicholas. Had nine children.
John^ Bosworth, b. 1656; m. , Sarah .
Had eight children.
Edward* Bosworth, b. 1689 ; m. , Mehitable .
Had ten children.
Jonathan' Bosworth, b. Sept. 1, 1727.
Nathaniel" Bosworth served in the Revolutionary army. Was
taken prisoner on Delaware River. Believing they were being
poisoned several slipped down the cables and swam three miles be-
fore landing. They were given a breakfast by the widow of a
soldier who had been killed in battle. After some days they reached
camp. After his marriage he rem. to Lebanon, N. H., and again
enlisted and experienced the smallpox. In 1795 he settled in
Berlin, Vt., as a blacksmith.]
64a Jonathan' Ranney (George*, George^ ThomasS
Thomas^), b. Sept. 3, 1765, East Middletown; m. Feb. 26,
1786, Sarah Parsons, b. , ; d. Feb. 3, 1853, aged
87 years. He was one of the original members of the Episco-
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 211
pal Parish organized Sept. 24, 1788, in what was then Chatham,
now Portland, Ct. He inherited the (Hale) homestead, the
other brothers having gone to Ashfield, Mass. He d. of consump-
tion, Dec. 27, 1832.
Children:
149 Orrin, bapt. June 24, 1789.
Nancy, bapt. June 24, 1789; d. Nov. 29, 1814.
150 Eeuben, b. Feb. 19, 1789.
Lucretia, bapt. Sept. 8, 1793; m. Mar. 24, 1825, Lyman
Rose of Granville, Mass.
George, bapt. July 15, 1798.
Hannah, bapt. Oct. 6, 1801.
Harriet, bapt. Oct. 6, 1801; d. June 9, 1870; m. Russell
Bell; 3 daus., 2 sons.
Jonathan, b. , .
Co^^ar'/^^-^-
65 Comfort^ Ranney (Nathaniel*, NathanieP, Thomas^
Thomas^), b. Dec. 19,
1759, Upper Houses; m.
*=*^-^#-x-c^ — J , Kuth
^ / ^^ Treat. (See Treat fam-
/ ^ ily chapter.) There is no
record of his marriage, nor of the birth of his two sons. He served
in the Rev, army. His home was beyond that of his father's, and he
built a house on his father's land. A plot of this property made
at the time of his father's death shows the location of the house.
The Baptist church was organized in his house, Feb. 6, 1802,
and he was an original member. He purchased of the other
heirs their shares in their father's homestead, then sold out and
in 1808 or 1809 started for the Western Reserve of Ohio, where
he had made purchase of a homestead. He d. in Buffalo, enroute
for Ohio. The widow m. (2) in Stow, 0., Feb. 22, 1810, Phineas
Perkins and d. before 1812.
Children :
151 Comfort, b. Mar. 20, 1788.
Jacob, b. , ; d.^ , 1810, Cleveland, 0.,
of consumption, and was buried in Erie Street Cemetery.
66 William'^ Ranney (John*, John^ John^, Thomas^), bapt.
Sept. 14, 1756, East Middletown; m. Sept. 26, 1779, Woodstock,
Ct., Abigail Bacon. He served in 1775 from Woodstock in the
"Lexington Alarm," and later from Chatham, his home. There
is no further record of him.
212 MIDDLETOWN UPPEK HOUSES
Child:
152 George, b. Aug. 5, 1784.
67 David** Eanney (Jeremiah*, Eichard^, John-, Thomas^),
b. Dee. 1, 1754, East Middletown; m. , 1783, Priscilla
Kathbun, who d. Nov. 27, 1829, aged 73.
From Chatham Land Eecords, Vol. 2, page 252, recorded June
4, 1782:
" The Bearer, David Eanney, soldier of the 1st Connecticut
Eegt., having faithfully and honorably served in the Eegt. three
years the Term of his inlistment & for the last year has been
in Virginia with the Marquis de la Fayette & at the Taking of
Lord Cornwallis & his time having expired two weeks before his
return is hearby Honorably discharged.
" Given under my Hand this 4th day of December, 1781.
Thos. Grosvenor, Lieut. Coll.
of the 1st Eegt.
In 1801 he was pensioned at $60 a year. Died Apr. 1, 1813.
Inventory included:
One Bible 60
Shoemaker's tools 5.00
Pewter cups & plates 1.76
1-4 of 7 A of land 18.00
1-2 of D. H 75.00
Children :
Huldah, d. infant.
David, bapt. July 1, 1798; m. Oct. 28, 1819, Susan Handy.
Children: David Handy, Daniel, Huldah, Susan. Sup-
posed to have rem. to Ohio.
68 Jeremiah^ Eanney (Elijah*, Eichard^, John-, Thomas^),
b. May 5, 1769, Granville, Mass. ; m. Alice . Eem. to
Waterville, N. Y. First to sign covenant at organization of Bap-
tist ch. Apr. 14, 1798, and the first deacon. He d. Sept. 23, 1835;
she d. Nov. 18, 1833. His mother resided with him and died
there. She has tombstone there.
Children:
Jeremiah, b. , 1802 ; d. Mar. 22, 1818.
Asenath, b. , 1807 ; d. Sept. 4, 1825.
I
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 213
Nancy, b. , 1809 ; d. , 1811.
Silas, b. , . Kern, to California.
68a Ebenezer^ Eanney (Elijah*, Richard^ John-, Thomas^), b.
May 25, 1776, Blandford, Mass.; m. Feb. 23, 1800, Almeda Bar-
tholomew, b. July 26, 1781, Goshen, Conn., dau. of Oliver
Bartholomew and Anna Lacy. At age of 21 he rem. to Water-
ville, N. Y., the home of his brother Jeremiah, thence to Augusta,
N. Y., where he cleared an extensive tract of land, making potash
of the ashes. In 1832 rem. to Valley Mills where he purchased a
saw mill and erected a woolen mill, and d. there Apr. 12, 1860.
In early life he became a Baptist and organized a society in Au-
gusta; at his own expense rebuilt the mission church at Valley
Mills and preached in it many years. Said to have served at
Sackett's Harbor in war of 1812; wife resided at Watertown,
N. Y., at time of marriage, and d. June 19, 1868.
Children :
153 Ores, b. May 26, 1801.
Dorcas, b. Nov. 28, 1803; m. Zacharias Lewis. Children:
John, Franklin, Eugene, d. Feb. 20, 1875.
154 Hiram, b. Nov. 23, 1805.
Ebenezer, b. Apr. 3, 1809; m. Betsy Calkins and died July
5, 1868.
155 Anson L., b. June 21, 1811.
156 Oliver Eussell, b. Jan. 6, 1816.
157 Almeda Pamelia, b. Mar. 27, 1820; m. Wm. W. Bingham.
69 Eufus'^ Eanney (Elijah\ Eichard^, John^, Thomas^), b.
1779, Blandford, Mass.; m. Dolly D. Blair, b. 1780, Blandford,
Mass. Ees. on old farm till 1824. when he rem. to Freedom, Ohio.,
where he cleared four acres, built a cabin, and for a year they
lived on the game killed. He d. Oct. 29, 1849, at Freedom, Port-
age Co., 0. She d. Dec. 7, 1848.
Children :
158 Elijah Warren, b. 1802.
William Milton, b. Sept. 16, 1807; d. May 16. 1828, unm.
159 Eufus Percival, b Oct. 30. 1813.
160 John Lewis, b. Nov. 14, 1815.
Harriet E., b. , ; m. Wm. E. Sherwood.
Nancy C, b. June 20, 1820; m. Marshall Mills; d. July 31,
1849. Four children.
214 MIDDLETOWN" UPPEK HOUSES
Mary L., b. May 24, 1825; d. July 17, 1900; m. Milton
Marcy.
Dolly S., b. 1827; d. Sept. 8, 1857; m. Scott.
70 Stephen^ Ranney (Stephen*. Eichard% John^, Thomas^),
bapt. Dec. 4, 1763, East Middletown; m. Jan. 15, 1789, Persis
Crossley who d. Jan. 25, 1854, aged 85. He was a blacksmith.
House in Portland is in good condition. Died June 7, 1840.
Children :
Julia, b. Apr. 11, 1790; d. Jan. 20, 1828.
John, b. Apr. 13, 1792; d. Feb. 23, 1814.
Persis, b. June 4, 1795 ; m. Mar. 21, 1813, Joseph Cole. She
d. Nov. 23, 1862. He d. Dec. 18, 1867.
Prudence, b. Nov. 27, 1797; m. Jan. 23, 1821, Gustave Field
of Southold N. J. She d. Mar. 27, 1877, in Portland,
Conn.
Stephen, b. Sept. 2, 1800 ; d. Sept. 5, 1814.
William Crossley, b. June 27, 1803; m. Vienna Ames. He
d. Apr. 14, 1879. She d. Apr. 27, 1891. Son William
b. 1846 ; d. Dec. 2, 1871, unm.
Mary, b. Jan. 19, 1806; m. Mar. 3, 1828, Wm. C. Lewis.
She d. Jan. 23, 1876. He d. Sept. 25, 1875.
Emily Stocking, b. Feb. 14, 1809 ; m. Nov. 26, 1830, Alan-
son Strickland. She d. Feb. 10, 1894. He d. July 31,
1888.
Elizabeth Ann, b. Jan. 15, 1812; m. Oct. 23, 1832, Geo.
Strickland. She d. Jan. 24, 1871. He d. Aug. 11, 1878.
71 JoeP Eanney (Stephen*, Richard^, John-, Thomas^), bapt.
Oct. 29, 1775, Chatham, Ct.; m. Polly Buck, bapt. Mar. 17, 1778,
Glastonbury, Ct., dau. of Samuel Buck and Hannah Wright. The
land records name his purchases and sales of real estate. In 1818
he and his son Joel were recorded as members of the Episcopal
Society of Chatham, now Portland, Ct. In 1817 he went to Plain
Township, Franklin Co., 0. (See Appendix.)
Child:
161 Joel, b. Sept. 10, 1802.
72 Hannah'^ Ranney (Abner*, Richard^, John^, Thomas*), b.
Apr. 9, 1779, Blandford, Mass.; d. Oct. 11, 1860, Vernon, N. Y.;
m. (1) July 1, 1800, Henry Knox, b. Feb. 19, 1775; d. July 4,
1820, Augusta, N. Y.; m. (2) Joel Baker.
Rev. Dakwix Harlow Raxxey
■ (See page 330)
Mks. Abb IE De Ette (Uaxxey^
Lowe
(See page SeT)
John Henry Richardson and Wife
(See page 432)
Abnee Ranney
(See page 215)
Lyman Wells Ranney
(See page 275)
Cassius Wells Ranney
(See page 373)
Robert Benton Ranney
(See page 374)
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS KANNEY 215
Children :
Betsey, b. Mar. 18, 1801; d. 1891; m. E. B. Carrington.
Henry, b. June 21, 1802; d. Oct. 22, 1883; m. Jane Davis.
162 Alanson Eanney, b. Aug. 7, 1804.
Marshall, b. Apr. 9, 1806; d. June 9, 1888; m. EHza Per-
cival.
Lovisa, b. Oct. 27, 1808.
Eachel Melissa, b. June 21, 1811; d. Apr. 3, 1872; m. (1)
Jacob Becker; (2) John Lyman Jacobs.
Sarah A., b. May 14, 1816.
Nancy Emeline, b. Apr. 10, 1819 ; d. Mar. 8, 1849 ; m. Dec,
1838, Samuel Coe EUingwood.
73 Lovisa^ Eanney (Abner*, Eichard% John-, Thomas^), b.
Nov. 18, 1780, Blandford, Mass.; m. abt. 1802, Samuel Allen, b.
May 20, 1776; d. Aug. 2, 1847, Augusta, N. Y. She d. June 7,
1870, Augusta, N. Y.
Child:
162a Samuel, b. Aug. 3, 1807; m. Almira Hurd. Children:
Curtis T.
Ira L.
Lorenzo H.
Emeline A.
Mary Eliza.
371a Fayette Almeron.
Samuel E.
Alida F.
Cordelia A.
74 Abner° Eanney (Abner^ Eichard^ John^, Thomas^), b.
Jan. 14, 1782, Blandford, Mass; m. Armyra Powell, b. Aug. 27,
1792, who d. Jan. 5, 1860, For estville, N. Y. Bapt.; Eep. He
it June 1, 1863, Sheridan, N. Y.
Children :
Julia, b. , ; m. Salmon Treat. (See the Treat
family chapter.)
Ephraim, b. , ; d. Feb. 20, 1868, unm.
Loran, b. , ; d. , , unm.
Harriet, b. , ; m. Orrin Moore.
163 Mary Ann, b. Aug. 10, 1815; m. James Sheldon Cook.
Hiram, b. , .
Clark, b. ,
164 Lyman Wells, b. Oct. 30, 1820.
216 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
Jane, b. , ; m. John Pratt.
165 Harmon, b. Oct. 12, 1823.
Abner, b. , ; d. 1878, unm.
75 JoeP Eanney (Abner*, Eichard^ John^ Thomas^), b. Oct.
28, 1783, Blandford, Mass.; d. 1870, Griffin's Mills, N. Y.; m.
Julia Letson.
Cliildren :
166 Timothy Alonzo, b. June 1, 1811.
Leonard, b. , ; d. young.
167 Caroline Amelia, b. Feb. 16, 1824 ; m. C. M. Whitney.
Adaline, b. , ; m. Gray.
Mary, b. , ; m. Starring.
William, b. , ; m. . No children.
168 Lydia Jane, b. Apr. 17, 1835; m. T. W. Parker.
Charlotte A., b. , ; m. Jas. W. Crabbe.
169 John Sheldon, b. Oct. 22, 1838.
170 Rowland Robinson, b. May — , 1840.
171 Lafayette, b. , .
76 Oliver^ Eanney (Abner*, Richard^ John^, Thomas^), b.
Dec. 6, 1785, Blandford, Mass.; m. Feb. 26, 1811, Sally Reynolds,
b. Jan. 18, 1787; d. Apr. 11, 1842, Knoxboro, N. Y., dau. of
Jeremiah Reynolds (Benj. of Windham, Conn.), and Roby Pye.
Private 20th Reg. N. Y. Militia, 1814, in Capt. Isaac Benedict's
Co. of Riflemen ; marched to Sackett's Harbor under Lieut. Orange
Foot. Had paid a substitute from 1812 to 1814. Farmer; Rep.
Died July 29, 1875, Augusta, N. Y.
Children :
Matthew, b. Feb. 1, 1812 ; d. Feb. 1, 1812
Martha, b. Feb. 1, 1812 ; d. Feb. 2, 1812.
172 Oliver Franklin, b. Apr. 1, 1813.
Sarah Ette, b. July 1, 1815; m. Ezra W. Symonds.
Chauncey, b. Oct. 6, 1817; d. July 2, 1847; m. Fidelia
Shepard. Children: EmilY and Edwin.
173 Daniel Wells, b. Oct. 4, 1819.
174 Hiram Mason, b. Jan. 6, 1822.
Adolphus, b. May 15, 1824; d. Apr. 16, 1874; m. Susan Rey-
nolds of IST. Y. City. Had a son Wm. Adolphus.
Ellen, b. Apr. 8, 1827; d. Dec. 14, 1869; m. Feb. 1, 1853,
N. W. Hurlbut of Binghamton, K. Y.
77 Wells'* Ranney (Abner*, Richard^ John% Thomas^), b.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 217
Sept. 7, 1794, Blandford, Mass.; m. (1) Priscilla Loveland; in.
(2) Julia Sperry; m. (3) Almira Bartholomew, b. July 30, 1800,
Augusta, N. Y., dau. of Josiah Bartholomew and Myra Wadhams
Hyde. Eep.; Meth.; Farmer, d. Oct. 14, 1872, Eoyalton, N. Y.
Children by 1st marriage:
174a Milo, b. 1819.
175 Harvey Henderson, b. 1815.
Marvin, b. ; killed by falling from a tree.
Children by 2d marriage:
175a Daniel, b. 1822.
175b Franklin, b. .
Maryette, b.
Children by 3d marriage:
176 Collins Bartholomew, b. Jan. 20, 1840.
Alminia, b. 1843 ; d. Oct. 14, 1872.
George Wells, b. 1846 ; m. Edna Dysinger. Ees. Buffalo, N.
Y. : c/n:W. Howard, b. . Ees. Buffalo, N. Y.
78 Lyman"* Eanney (Abner*, Eichard^ John^, Thomas^), b.
Dec. 13, 1793, Blandford, Mass.; d. Feb. 11, 1879, Perrysburg, N.
Y. ; m. (1) , Sophronia Soper; m. (2) Louisa Toles; m. (3)
Maria Clark, b. Oct. 23, 1810, Shelburne, Mass., d. Mar. 16, 1895,
Perrysburg, dau. of Amasa Clark and Eunice Warren, who was
b. Feb. 8, 1780, d. Aug. 23, 1880, being a centenarian. He was
a farmer, a private in Capt. Orrin Gridley's . Co. in war of 1812
and was a pensioner ; Dem, ; Meth.
Children by 1st marriage:
111 Philo, b. Oct. 13, 1818.
178 Eliza, b. Apr. 12, 1821; m. Moses Wood.
179 Sophronia, b. Oct. 16, 1822 ; d. Jan. 7, 1905 ; m. L. Vaughan.
Sheldon, ; d. St. Charles, 111., young.
180 Edward Allen, b. Sept. 7, 1825.
Children by 2d marriage:
181 Diana, b. , 1831; d. 1854; m. John Eckels.
Franklin, b. .
182 Warren Ezrum, b. Mar. 14, 1838.
183 DeWitt Clinton, b. , 1840.
Children by 3d marriage:
184 Caroline Celinda, b. Nov. 9, 1841 ; m, J. A. Grantier.
218 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
Ransom, b. Dec. 10, 1843; d. Jan. 11, 1845.
Morrell, b. May 31, 1845; d. June 6, 1850.
Emily Maria, b. July 12, 1849; m. Dec. 7, 1886, Perrys-
burg, Wallace Cadwell, b. Apr. 16, 1847, farmer. No
children; res. Perrysburg, N. Y.
Oliver Lyman, b. May 25, 1854, unm. Res. Perrysburg, N. Y.
79 Eli'^ Ranney, (Abner*, Richard^ John^, Thomas^), b. June
27, 1796, Blandford, Mass.; m. (1) Dec. 27, 1818, Evaline Parma-
lee, b. Oct. 9, 1797, who d. Apr. 25, 1834, Knoxboro, N. Y.; m.
(2) Lois Wetmore, b. Mar. 10, 1811, d. Sept. 26, 1879; farmer in
Augusta, N. Y. ; rem., 1844, to Perrysburg, N. Y. ; and from thence
to Spring Hill, la., farmer; Meth. Died Dec. 2, 1873, Spring
Hill, la.
Children hy 1st marriage:
185 Justin Worthy, b. Jan. 3, 1821.
186 Harmon, b. June 27, 1823.
187 Nancy Jane, b. Nov. 12, 1826; m. N. H. Miner.
188 Julius Caesar, b. Feb. 20, 1829.
189 Lovisa, b. Aug. 21, 1831 ; m. D. C. Brand.
Children by 2d marriage:
190 Frank Eli, b. Sept. 25, 1837.
191 Elizabeth Evelyn, b. July 9, 1840; m. Alfred Francis.
Orzelia, b. Dec. 23, 1845; d. Dec. 9, 1873.
192 Helen Amelia, b. 1847; m. Lewis S. Kennedy.
Mary, b. Mar. 24, 1850; m. Harvey Handy, b. 1844. Chil-
dren :
Sadie, b. June, 1870.
Frank, b. June, 1876 ; res. Nesho, Missouri.
Minnie, b. ; res. Nesho, Missouri.
80 Joseph' Ranney (Fletcher*, Joseph^ Joseph^, Thomas^),
b. Aug. 6, 1751, Upper Houses; m. (1) June 29, 1778, Upper
Houses, Ruth® White, b. 1754, Upper Houses, (Moses", Isaac*,
DanieP, NathanieP, John^) ; d. Jan. 20, 1824; m. (2) Dec. 25,
1824, Lucy Edwards, dau. of Churchill Edwards, who d. Mar. 29,
1861, aged 89 years. He died Jan. 30, 1835. By his will he re-
membered his widow of course; Polinda, Eliza and Jane Wilcox,
children of his deceased son Norman ; Ruth, Augusta, and Emeline,
children of his only living child, Rebecca; Henry Joseph, Moses
and Mary, children of his deceased son, Moses; Asa Sage Ranney,
child of his deceased son, Calvin; Mary Ann Warburton, child of
.Mrs. Ida Louise (Ixman) Eanney
(See page 446)
Mrs. Xettie (Raxxey) Rossmax
(See page 495)
Miss Julia Isabel Ranney Miss Harriet Augusta Raxney
(See page 297)
Mrs. Julia (Ranney) Treat
(See page 215)
]\Irs. Hannah (Ranney) Knox
(See page 214 )
Ly.MA.V ItANNEY
(See page 217)
Eli Ranney
(See page 218)
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 219
his deceased daughter, Mary. His home from birth to death was
the Fletcher Eanney house.
Children:
Henry, b. Sept. 10, 1778 ; d. June 16, 1801.
193 Eebecca, b. Sept. 24, 1780; m. (1) Nov. 1801, John Ed-
wards; (2) May 15, 1810, Thomas White. (See the White
Family.)
Mary, b. Apr. 3, 1783; m. Luther^ Smith (John^ Joseph*,
Eev. Joseph^). Child: Mary, b. ; m. John War-
burton, the millionaire of Hartford. She built Warburton
chapel and was a philanthropist.
194 Moses, b. Dec. 22, 1785.
Joseph, b. Not. 27, 1788 ; d. Feb. 14, 1806.
195 Calvin, b. Apr. 15, 1791.
196 Norman, b. Apr. 22, 1793.
Harvev, b. Apr. 14, 1795; d. Aug. 23, 1819. Charleston, S. C.
Served in War of 1812, Aug. 18, 1814— Oct. 25, 1814,
under Capt. Isaac Webber.
81 Simeon'' Eanney (Fletcher*, Joseph', Joseph^, Thomas^),
b. Nov. 25, 1759, Upper Houses; m. Aug. 21, 1785, Mary^ Savage,
b. 1764, dau. of Dr. Solomon* Savage (Dea. William^ Serg. Wil-
liam^, John^), and Sarah Selden, b. Aug. 30, 1743, dau. of Capt.
Thomas Selden of Haddam Neck. He served in the Eev. Army.
Both owned the church covenant, June 19, 1788. He d. the next
day. She d. .
Children :
Simon, bapt. June 19, 1788; d. Jan. 23, 1810, aged 24; m.
Anna. She m. (2) Zachariah Somers.
Child: Mary Ann, b. 1807; d. Feb. 26, 1821.
Selden, bapt. June 19, 1788; d. Oct. 19, 1822.
197 Martin, bapt. June 19, 1788.
82 William^ Eanney (Fletcher*, Joseph^ Joseph^, Thomas^),
b. Nov. 14, 1763, Upper Houses; m. (1) June 20, 1790, Olive'
Hamlin, bapt. Sept. 4, 1768, Middletown, (William*, NathanieP,
William% Giles^), d. Nov.- 23, 1822; m. (2) Oct. 25, 1826, Sarah
Clark of Westfield Society, Middletown. He purchased the Major
Edward Eells place and kept a tannery. He was an original mem-
ber, 1802, of the Baptist Church and deacon for many years, and
his home was known as "The Ministers' Tavern." He d. Sept.
29, 1829. She was widow Clark and d. Sept. 11, 1843, aged 66.
220 MIDDLETOWN" UPPEE HOUSES
Children:
198 Horace, bapt. Oct. 28, 1791.
199 William, bapt. June 9, 1793.
200 George, bapt. July 26, 1795.
201 Sarah, bapt. Apr. 10, 1797.
Timothy, bapt. June 23, 1799; d. Sept. 5, 1821.
Olive, 1801; d. Oct. 3, 1826.
202 Henry, b. May 5, 1804.
Mary, b. Aug. 20, 1805 ; d. Mar. 20, 1832.
203 Joseph, b. Aug. 20, 1807; m. Jan. 1, 1834, Cleveland, 0.,
Lucenia Fox, b. Sept. 24, 1807, Leroy N". Y.; d. 1885.
Shoe merchant; d. Aug. 4, 1873. Child: Sarah Kinney, b.
Dec. 14, 1847, unm. Ees. Cleveland, 0.
83 Stephen^ Eanney (Stephen*, Joseph^ Joseph-, Thomas^),
b. Oct. 14, 1753, Upper Houses; m. Aug. 28, 1783, Esther Sage,
b. Oct. 11, 1753, dau. of Gen. Comfort Sage and Sarah Hamlin;
raised, Feb. 6, 1782 in St. John's Lodge F. A. M. ; prominent
official in Episcopal Church. Owned one of the fine old mansions
on Elm Street, Middletown,
His second application for a pension dated June 22, 1820, reads :
" A volunteer at Eoxbury in Feb. and March, 1776. He then
enlisted in Col. Samuel Wylly's Eegt. ; from New York was
detached with Col. Tupper on board sloop Hester; on the
arrival of the British army the detachment was forced to
return to New York the 26th of June, 1776, received a warrant
as Surgeon's Mate in the 3d Eegt., raised out of the militia of the
Colony of Connecticut, was on Governor's Island when it
was evacuated, and in the retreat from New York to Harlem
Heights passed over from this place with the sick of the Eegt. to
Hackensack and Paramuss joined the Eegt. soon after at North
Castle where the Eegt. was disbanded the last of Dec"". 1776,
Feb., 1777, entered as mate in the General Hosp^ at Morris-
town in June was appointed second Surgeon in the Hospital,
(the Commission was forwarded to the Department of War,
on his application for a Pension, April, 1818) was in the Hos-
pitals in the vicinity of Morristown till late in the fall was then
ordered to Princeton; sometime in the winter was sent to East
Town with the Hessian Pris"^ wounded at Eed Bank Fort
was then ordered to Yellow Spring Hospital, in which I did duty
till taken sick, on my recovery was ordered to join Col. Nevils
Eegt. Gen' Scotts' Brig^ at Valley Forge when the army took the
field, removed the sick of the Brig° back into the County, the Hos-
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 221
pitals being broke up, went to Philadelphia, was then ordered to
Fish Kill Hospital under the direction of Doc. McKnight, Surg"
Gen', of the Middle Department, remained at Fish Kill and the
neighborhood, according to the best of my remembrance till Ocf^
1780, a new arrangement was made in the Hospital, resigned
and spent the remainder of the war in armed vessels that he
has received a pension the certificate of which bears the number
1719."
He had taken a fancy to writing his name Eainey, and it made
him much trouble in trying to get a pension. In a letter he
states : " I regret that it did not occur at the time I made out my
declaration to spell my name as I did when in the service. It oc-
curred when I received your letter, that that was the difficulty in
my identity. Mr. Dane proposed the remedy that difficulty, if
any, as you find in the enclosed papers. If Dr. Townsend was
at West Point, he can testify to my declaration. I remember no
one at that station but Eustace, Warren and Gordon nearly
half a century has elapsed, which makes havoc on the frame and
memory. I have found the warrant alluded to in my declaration
which I enclose for the novelty of the composition, the Governor
of an English Colony authorizing me to act against the King."
From a letter dated May 31, 1828, it appears that he was seek-
ing to avail himself of the benefit of the Act providing for the
surviving officers of the Revolutionary Army and he wrote a long
letter to a friend in which he detailed his army experience. " In
Feb., 1776, the British Army were besieged in Boston. I walked
to Eoxbury and entered a volunteer in Col. G. Wyllys's Regiment.
. . . 1780. At this period a new arrangement was made in
the General Hospital, the second surgeon was struck out; I having
served my country almost five years with my best abilities, having
never been absent by furlough six weeks in the time, and if con-
tinued must accept a less station and pay; as there were enough
older surgeons to fill the office of Surgeon, I left the Hospital and
returned home still desirous to assist in gaining that Independence
which my youthful ardor had led me to suffer so many hardships.
And I have never received land or commutation and received a
pension till the law voted it to damn paupers.
" I had three severe fits of sickness, and very much impaired my
constitution, expended my property, as the pay although ample,
which was $60 per month and four rations, yet the depreciation
was so great that it would not furnish decent clothing. I am
often led to reflect on the subject and wonder what kept us together,
I must say I enjoyed myself very much, and when our troubles were
222 MIDDLETOWN" UPPEE HOUSES
the greatest, our pleasures seemed to produce the greatest hilar-
ity; I believe that we were never at a greater ebb than at Valley
Forge/'
The following letters show how he wrote his name to his parents :
Amboy on Board Sloop Hester, June 3, 1776.
Dear Father: —
I suppose you heard by Lieutenant Warner's letters that I have
undertaken on board the privateer. I think I have much greater
advantages here than in the Army, as I have the advantage of em-
ploying my time in physick. I act as Commodore's Clerk and
Physician's mate. The Commodore is a gentleman of honour and
courage, as you may see by last Summer's papers.
I will first let you know what fleet this is, as I suppose you know
nothing about it there. It is composed of the Commadere of 10
guns, 10 swivels and every other instrument of War; the Sloop
Schuyler of 6 Guns, 8 or 10 swivels; the Schooner Mifflin, mount-
ing swivels. Blunderbusses, wall pieces, etc. etc. She's much like
a hornet's nest, full of men; Their hatches are made quite to the
Cabin door, and they stand below Decks to fight; that the sides
make a considerable breastwork; she swims not more than three
feet clear of the water; that it must be a good shot to hit her.
Captain Clap with seven Whail Boats and 29 men, with fire-
arms, plum-pudding hand grenade wall pieces, etc, etc.
Captain Stanwood with the same number and strength.
Lieutenant Toogood with 6 do. a"nd 23 men equipped in the
same manner; they are cruising off and are stationed out, the
Sloop and the Schooner, the whail boats send up intelligence every
other day; we are stationed at present at Amboy, tho' I hope we
shall soon be relieved by some land force, which it is expected will
be sent down to fortify ; a small fort is begun but no guns mounted,
nor is there at present any Troops here, only a Company of the
train, besides us; we have just received mteligence that two more
Ships have come in ; their fieet is now augmented to 10 sail includ-
ing Men of War, beside a Topsail Schooner, Sloop and two or
three smaller fly boats; we have an Express gone down to fiddle-
ton to fetch up three Men that have deserted from the Men of
War, we are informed that they bring News that they are in great
want of provisions on board the Fleet, but further particulars I
hope to be able to write before Night. I am much indebted to
Captain Sumner for his great kindness in assisting me, he has
always showed me the greatest marks of freedom and friendship,
also Lieutenant Warner who I esteem with the most tender regard
of Friendship; the Officers that I am now embarked with are very
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY TZ'i
free and Sociable that I live with the content and ease Immagin-
able. I go on Shore when I please, and come off when I please,
and a more mild crew I judge never manned a Vessel of War, no
man drops an oath without a Cobing, which is executed by the man
that was punished before, that it makes a diversion for all and has
entirely brook them that it is rare to hear an oath. Jere Norton
is on board, no others belonging to Middletown. I have not yet been
to see my aunt, but shall go I believe tomorrow,
I have got Yerry portly since I came on board and free from
my cold. My kind iove to Mama, Grandmama and Brothers and
Sisters and all enquiring Friends and Eelations.
N. B. I wish you would send down my Coat and Jacket and
Summer Jackets and Shirts, for my Shirts are most gone.
Dear Father I am your dutiful Son till Death,
Stephen Eanney.
Direct your letters and Cloathes to Lieutenant Warner in Colonel
Wyllys's''Eegiment. Eemember me to Mrs. Warner. [This was
later Capt. and Major Eobert Warner, C. C. A.]
Mendhem, September 17, 1777.
Dear Parents : —
I enjoy this opportunity of writing by Captain Warner and am
very sorry to inform you that I have not received a letter from you
since April. I wrote you in my last very fully of my situation
which is as before, only in hourly expectation of Orders to move.
We have at present only Ninety in Hospital and most of them in
a recovering state. Our Army in Pennsylvania have had a very
smart engagement, which by the best account, is very much in our
favour, for tho' they caused us to retreat, yet their loss was more
than three to one, and upon them conditions we can afford to
retreat every Day. The Enemy crossed last week about 1000
strong at Elizabethtown point, and marched to New Ark and up
Pasaick Eiver, in Consiquence of which mineuver, I was sent to
attend the wounded, which amounted to only Six and four or five
Killed, they made a point of driving off all the Cattle they could
get in their way — tho' they were very remarkably favorable on
account of Plundering the Inhabitants which is a loss but
too small to cover the Hook, for the Militia turn out very fully;
we had the next upwards of 1200 Men in the field in high spirits,
. and we have a report that General McDougal is on his march with
2500 Men on their back, that I hope in a few days we shall be able
to tell their Numbers with more Certainty. I am highly pleased
to hear that General Stark with the New England Troops has be-
haved so well at Bennington, for they have become a proverb in
224 MIDDLETOWN" UPPEE HOUSES
the Land. I am often put to the blush to hear the execrations
that are constantly threw out against Connecticut in particular,
that I am almost determined sometime to deny my native place.
I am in a hurry as the man is waiting, you must excuse my not
writing oftener, as it is very difficult sending being out of the
post Eoad. If you have an opportunity of Sending to Morristown,
desire them to leave it at the Doctor's Quarters, and they will
send it to me Immediately. My Compliments to all enquiring —
my love to all — Brothers and Sisters, etc. I remain with the
sincerity
Your Dutiful Son,
N.B. I send this letter enclosed to Captain Warner, who I hope
will forward it.
In accordance with the rules of the pension office he filed an
inventory which included six silver tablespoons bearing the date
" 1726 " valued at $3.00. He had evidently bought them at the
sale of his father's effects, and the date indicates that they belonged
to his grandfather, Joseph Ranney, who was married July 21, 1725.
For 30 years, 1790 — 1820, he had been employed in the Middle-
town Customs office. His death occurred May 18, 1837; buried
May 30, (Epis. Ch. Eecord). He is probably buried in the Gen.
Comfort Sage tomb, Mortimer Cemetery, where his infant children
are buried. His parents, brother and one sister have headstones
in Mortimer Cemetery. The widow rem. to New London, Ct., to
reside, and died there May 3, 1857. The daughters married into
prominent families. The Family Bible is in the Jackson family of
Middletown.
Children :
Jabez Hamlin, b. Apr. 17, 1784; d. Oct. 16, 1802.
Esther, b. Mar. 31, 1786; d. 1892; m. John Vibbard of
Water ford, N. Y. (Vibbert.)
Comfort Sage, b. Jan. 19, 1788, raised in St. John's Lodge,
June 21, 1809 ; d. Aug. 1813, lost at sea returning from
Bermuda.
Mary, b. Dec. 13, 1789; m. Dec. 21, 1832, Edward Hallam
of New London, Ct.
Daniel Stephen, b. Feb. 18, 1792; d. Sept. 10, 1793.
Sarah Sage, b. Jan. 29, 1795; d. Dec. 13, 1795.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMxVS KANNEY 225
Sarah Sage, b. Nov. 13, 1796; d. Jan. 21, 1887; m. Nov.
1, 1841, Eev. Daniel Huntington of New London.
Stephen Augustus, b. Aug. 25, 1798; d. unm. Aug. 4, 1840 in
Cuba.
Catherine Elizabeth, b. June 20, 1803 ; d. unm. Dec. 9, 1891,
New London, Ct. Left a large property and many valu-
able papers of her father's, including his commission.
83a Samuel Ward'^ Eanney (Stephen*, Joseph^ Joseph-,
Thomas^), b. May 13, 1758, Upper Houses, m. Jan. 15, 1784,
Middletown, Ann Newell, b. Mar. 16, 1759, widow of Nathaniel
Newell and dau. of Eobert Gilchrist and Elizabeth Jackson; con-
firmed, 1786, by Bishop Seabury. Drowned June 17, 1832.
Widow d. Apr. 6, 1833. Gravestones in Mortimer Cemetery.
Robert Gilchrist and widow have gravestones in Riverside Cemetery.
Children :
Samuel Ward, bapt. Oct. 17, 1784.
Elizabeth Gilchrist, bapt. Sept. 24, 1786 ; m. Moses Ranney,
which see.
James Dick, bapt. Sept. 7, 1788; d. South.
Martha, bapt. Apr. 3, 1791.
84 Capt. Charles'' Ranney (Hezekiah*, Joseph^ Joseph^,
Thomas^) ; b. Oct. 4, 1771, Upper Houses; m. May 5, 1791, Mid-
dletown Cong. Ch. MabeF Stow, b. , dau. of Peter^ Stow
(Serg. NathanieP, Nathaniel*, John^ Thomas?, John^). He pur-
chased the house in Middletown which stood till a few years ago
where the Catholic school stands; was a hatter; became sea cap-
tain, lost his vessel in an uprising in Hayti, but saved his life by
giving the Masonic sign of distress, the leader of the negroes be-
ing a Mason. He ret. to his home, and soon rem. to region of
Lansingburg, N. Y. where his father and brothers had gone. His
Masonic lambskin apron, hand painted, owned by his grand-
daughter. Miss M. S. Ranney. of Austin, Minn., was on exhibition
in 1904 at the reunion of the Society of Middletown Upper Houses.
The widow went to Kentucky with her children and died in Liver-
more, Ky., Dec. 6, 1867. She was known as " Mehitable " Ranney,
and in deeds had signed her name as Mehitable Ranney.
Children :
Charles, b. ; d. Dec. 19, 1791.
Lucretia, bapt. Nov. 19, 1801; m. Pearly Sharp. Children:
William, Mary, Emma, m. Schenck; res. Maywood, 111.
226 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
Charles, bapt. Nov. 19, 1801; d. Dec. 19, 1801.
Joseph, bapt. Nov. 19, 1801 ; d. Dec. 5, 1801.
William, bapt. Nov. 19, 1801; d. same day.
Charles, b. ; d. unm. 1836, Newburyport, Mass.
204 William W. b. Sept. 5, 1805.
Clarissa, b. ; m. Joseph Peters. Children: Wil-
liam, Joseph, John, Jane, Mary.
205 Abigail, b. June 15, 1810; m. Lysander Button.
Mary, b. ; m. Edwin Lawrence of Newburyport,
Mass. Children: Charles, Mary, Albert.
206 James Stow, b. July 15, 1813.
85 Hezekiah' Eanney (Hezekiah*, Joseph^ Joseph^, Thomas^),
b. Jan. 17, 1774, Upper Houses; m. Mary Richardson, b. May 30,
1797, Middletown, dau. of Roland Richardson and Elizabeth Pier-
pont. They were members of the Methodist Church. He was a
tanner and shoemaker, a natural combination for those times. He
rem. to Edinburgh, N. Y., later to Rochester, and then to Geneseo,
becoming a merchant. Died there Aug. 4, 1857.
Children :
207 Jabez, b. 1799.
Roland, b. — ; d. at sea, 1856.
George, b. ; d. Apr. 8, 1828.
Joseph, b. ; d. July 18, 1823.
Eliza, b. ; d. Dec. 30, 1809.
208 Maria, b. ; m. Joseph Dewey.
Harriet, b. ; m. Isaac Newton.
86 Roderick' Ranney (Hezekiah*, Joseph^ Joseph^ Thomas^),
b. Mar. 24, 1780, Upper Houses; m. (1) July 1, 1802, Sally^ Dan-
forth, b. July 1, 1785, Middletown, d. July 17, 1815, Kingsbury,
N. Y., dau. of Joseph^ Danforth (Thomas^ Thomas*, SamueP,
Samuel-, Nicholas^) and Sarah King; m. (2) Mar. 11, 1816,
Elizabeth Bylan. He rem. to Lansingburg, N. Y. and to Stafford
near Batavia, settling on the Holland Purchase when the country
was new and d. there Jan. 9, 1857. The four children were bap-
tized Sept. 10, 1809, by the Epis. rector of Middletown, "while
on a visit from New York."
Children :
209 Roderick Hartshorn, b. .
210 Jacob Lansing, b. Apr. 26, 1807.
Sally, b. ; d. at 16 years.
Martha Danforth, b. ; m. David B. Smalley.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS BANNEY 227
87 David Stocking^ Eanney (Hezekiah*, Joseph^, Joseph-,
Thomas^), b. Apr. 22, 1787, Upper Houses; m. Sept. 12, 1812,
Ann K. Gardner, b. May 15, 1789, Boston, Mass.; d. Aug. 26, 1877,
Boston. He rem. with his father to Edinburg, N. Y. ; Eem. to
Boston where he m. Took part in the defence of Boston in War of
1812. Unitarian. Was a furniture merchant many years; d.
Oct. 23, 1864, Chelsea, Mass., buried in Mt. Auburn Cem., Cam-
bridge, Mass.
Children :
David Gardner, b. Dec. 18, 1813; d. Mar. 23, 1815.
214 David Gardner, b. Feb. 2, 1816.
Ann, b. May 28, 1818; d. Mar. 7, 1819.
Franklin Gardner, b. Dec. 4, 1820; d. unm. June 4, 1870,
Boston.
William Henry, b. Apr. 5, 1823.
88 Horatio Gates^ Eanney (Hezekiah'*, Joseph^, Joseph-,
Thomas^), b. Dec. 25, 1799; m. Minerva S. Coon, dau. of Al-
basinda Coon. Merchant in Cleveland, 0.
Children :
Charles Horatio, b. Jan. 19, 1836; m. Apr. 19, 1868.
Elizabeth T. Bowen, b. Oct. 4, 1844, dau. of David and
Mary Williams Bowen. Served in Co. A, 7th Ohio,
and Co. F, 124th Ohio Vol. Inf. Ees. Cleveland, Ohio,
CjlltLQ/V&Tl '
Mary A., b. July 29, 1870; d. Aug. 11, 1870.
George W., b. Jan. 2, 1872 ; d. Apr. 30, 1872.
George C, b. Jan. 29, 1874; d. Mar. 10, 1877.
John G., b. Sept. 23, 1875 ; d. Sept. 28, 1875.
Infant, b. Apr. 8, 1880; still born.
Olive, b. 1838; m. John L. Gossen; dau. m. Chas. H. Wil-
liams. Ees. Cleveland, 0.
Julia, b. 1840 ; m. A. J. Stevens. Ees. .
John C, b. 1844; d. 1863.
88a Sylvester^ Eanney (Hezekiah^, Joseph^ Joseph-, Thomas^-
b. Aug. 2, 1802, Saratoga Co., N. Y. ; m. 1834, Eochester,
N. Y., Ann Stillwell, b. June 4, 1811, New Jersey; d. 1902, Cleve-
land, 0., dau. of William Stillwell and Elizabeth Bachelder. He
engaged with his brother, Horatio, and stepbrother, Orrin Sage,
in the shoe business at Ballston, and then at Eochester, N. Y.
Eem. with Horatio to Cleveland where they conducted a shoe busi-
ness. Eep. Baptist; d. Apr. 15, 1879, Cleveland.
228 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
Children :
212 William Stillwell, b. Feb. 10, 1835.
Helen, b. Jan. 29, 1839 ; m. Fitch Adams.
89 Ensign Daniel Ranney^ Hamlin (Lucretia* Ranney, Capt.
DanieP, Joseph% Thomas^), b. July 23, 1755, Middletown; m.
Aug. 1, 1779, Ruth Ward (from Ensign William^ Ward). Served
in 8th Co., Col. Comfort Sage's 3d Battalion, Brig. Gen. Wads-
worth's Brigade, 1776; in Col. Samuel Webb's Regt. serg. May 24,
1777; ensign May 16, 1778—1779; rem. to New Hartford, N. Y.,
where he died 1809.
His youngest child was Daniel Ranney^ Hamlin, b. Aug. 30,
1800, New Hartford, N. Y. He rem. to BufEalo where he assisted
in the ceremonies incident to the reception of Gen. Lafayette;
d. July 23, 1881. His fourth child, Harriet Cornelia^ Hamlin, b.
Aug. 24, 1842, Buffalo, N. Y.; m. there, June 13, 1876, Dr. Du^^ald
Macniel, b. 1845, Argyleshire, Scotland. Rep., Freemason, A. 0.
U. W., Buffalo Med. Club ; she grad. of Buffalo Seminary ; Presby. ;
D. A. R. He died Mar. 1884. Widow resides in Buffalo,
N. Y. Children:
Caroline Huntington, b. Apr. 3, 1877, an artist. Res.
Buffalo, N. Y.
Elizabeth Hamlin, b. June 18, 1881; m. Aug. 26, 1903,
Charles Morgan Olmstead. Ph.D., b. Jan. 19, 1881, LeRoy,
N. Y., son of John Bryant Olmstead. Grad. 1903, Har-
vard. Scientific astronomer at the Carnegie Observatory,
Mt. Wilson, Cal. She grad. Smith Coll. Children: Du-
gald Macniel, b. Mar. 21, 1904. Germany. John Bar-
ton, b. July 5, 1905, Germany.
90 Esther^ Hamlin (Lucretia* Ranney, DanieP, Joseph^.
Thomas^), b. July 10, 1759, Middletown; m. Oct. 7, 1784, Abner
Hubbard, b. Mar. 10, 1750, son of George and Mary Hubbard.
Serg. MaJ. in Capt. Warner's Co., Col. John Durkee's 1st Regt.,
Conn Line, Oct. 1, 1780— Dec. 31, 1781. Pension, June 21,
1821, signed by John C. Calhoun, Sec'y of War. Rem. to Nor-
wich, Vt., where he d. Mar. 13, 1834 ; she d. July 23, 1836. Of
their children :
213 Gen. Abner« Hubbard, b. July 19, 1792.
91 Mary'^ Hamlin (Lucretia* Ranney, DanieP, Joseph^
I
Mrs. Zenana Amelia (Raxney) Jones
(See page Ml)
Ives William Hart
(See page 229)
Austin Sherman Raxney
(See page 449)
Luke Frank Ranney
(See page 361)
Rev. C. H. W. Stocking, D. D.
(See page 692)
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 229
Thomas^), b. 1760, Middletown; m. Dec. 16, 1784, Benj. Gilbert,
b. July 29, 1760, private 8th Co., 3d Batt. Wadsworth's Brigade,
pensioned. She d. June 23, 1826; he d. May 11, 1846, of their
Children:
Mary Gilbert, b. Oct. 11, 1785; m. Sept. 14, 1807, Samuel
Miller. Children :
Dr. Phineas T. Miller, b. May 3, 1810; m. Aug. 31. 1833,
Elvira Whitmore. He d. at sea, Feb. 21, 1850. CJiild:
Ellen Elvira, b. Sept. 14, 1837 ; m. Oct. 8, 1855, Avery
Case. Child :
Idella Maria Case, b. June 17, 1857 ; m. W. W. Wil-
liams, who d. Mar. 7, 1900. She res. Winsted, Ct.
Harriet Gilbert Miller, b. Mar. 3, 1812; d. Jan. 14, 1897;
m. May 14, 1840, Daniel Hall* Hart. Children:
Ives Williams, b. Oct. 4, 1841, Meriden, Conn. ; m. Nov.
24, 1870, Mrs. Ellen Lane, dau. of Russell and Mabel
(Munger) Tooley, b. Mar. 7, 1840. Ees. Meriden, Ct.
Child: Arthur Miller, b. May 20, 1872; m. Nov. 18,
1896, Catherine Jane Owen, b. July 8, 1872. Ees.
Meriden, Ct. Child: Owen Stephen, b. Sept. 23, 1898.
Ellen Delia, b. Nov. 23, 1842, unm. Ees. Meriden, Ct.
Edmund Benjamin, b. Dec. 31, 1845; d. Jan. 26, 1905; m.
Sept. 23, 1878, Harriet Beecher Denison, b. Dec. 24,
1853, d. Jan. 26, 1889. Children:
Edmund Denison, b. Oct. 26, 1879 ; d. July 28, 1882.
Harriet Edith, b. July 16, 1883; m. Oct. 19, 1904,
Arthur 0. Lamb. Ees. Greenfield, Mass.
Anna Eliza, b. Jan. 20, 1889 ; d. Apr. 9, 1889.
Albert Denison, b. Jan. 20, 1889.
Orrin Gilbert, b. Apr. 9, 1793 ; m. June 7, 1832, Mary Bacon,
b. May 8, 1806.
* Daniel Hall Hart, b. June 19, 1815. d. Oct. 2, 1891, was the son of
Samuel Ives Hart and Abigail Hall.
Samuel Ives Hart, b. Nov. 22, 1792. d. Sept. 10, 1870. the son of
Benjamin Hart, a Rev. soldier, and Jerusha Rich, was an industrious
farmer, a deacon of the First Baptist church of Meriden, of which his
wife was a member. •
Abigail Hall, b. Aug. 25, 1793, d. Dec. 12, 1875, was the daughter of
Daniel and Elizabeth Hall and the great-granddaughter of Dr. Isaac
Hall, one of Meriden's earliest physicians. Isaac Hall, her grandfather,
served in the Rev. Army, was one of the 13 original members, and the
first clerk of the First Baptist church of Meriden.
These Halls descended from Johni Hall of Hartford, New Haven, and
Wallingford, and is not to be confounded with Johni Hall, Senior, of
Hartford and Middletown.
230 MIDDLETOWN" UPPER HOUSES
Henry Gilbert, b. Mar. 27, 1842; m. (2) Nov. 26, 1874,
Miranda Wilcox. Child:
Lucy Mary Gilbert, b. Dec. 18, 1880; m. Jan. 1, 1901,
Chas. A. Congdon. Pes. Middletown, Ct. Child:
Frederick Gilbert Congdon,
92 William" Ranney (Jonathan*, Jonathan^, Joseph^,
Thomas^),, b. Nov. 30, 1783, Middletown, Ct.; m. Nov. 16, 1808,
Clarissa Gaylord, b. Jan. 22, 1789, Upper Houses, dau, of Samuel
Gaylord, a Rev. patriot, and Azubah Atkins. He was a sea captain
and was lost at sea Feb., 1829. She was adm. Dec. 7, 1827, to the
South Cong. Ch. of Middletown and d. Dec. 16, 1863.
Children:
213a Clarissa Gaylord, b. Aug. 26, 1809 ; m. Aug. 3, 1838, Zebu-
Ion Hale Baldwin, died in Friendship, N. Y., Aug. 14,
1886. Child:
William Ranney, b. Oct. 24, 1840; grad. 1862, Wesleyan
Uni. ; m. Sept. 15, 1863, Laura Malinda Prior. He
was ord. Apr. 17, 1877 ; pastor 5 yrs. of Baptist
Ch., Oxford, N. Y. Held various parishes ■ until
Dec. 21, 1896, when health failed. Died June 26,
1906, Friendship, N. Y. Widow res. Friendship, N. Y.
One child.
214 William, b. May 9, 1813.
Richard Atkins, b. Aug. 29, 1815; d. unm. Jan. 13, 1859.
Elizabeth Nott, b. July 27, 1822; d. June 29, 1874; m. Mar.
21, 1868, John Drake of Middletown.
93 Margaret" Ranney (Ebenezer*, Ebenezer^, Ebenezer-,
Thomas^), b. Dec. 23, 1774, Upper Houses, bapt. Jan. 1, 1775;
m. Aug. 24, 1801, Capt. John Keith, b. Dec. 4, 1775, d. at sea
1803, eldest son of William Keith and Polly Lions Callahan, b.
in Cork, Ireland. In 1799 Capt. Keith purchased the 1761 house
built by John^ Sage. It became his home at marriage in 1801.
Since then it has been the Ranney-Adams homestead, having de-
scended in the female line to the present occupants. Nov. 6, 1805.
the widow m. Capt. John Collins who was lost at sea in 1813. In
that year her young nephew, James Ranney, became her child as if
by adoption and they were not separated till her death on Thanks-
giving Day, 1869, falling that year on Nov. 19, almost 95 years
of age. She was in her early widowhood noted for her care of
the neighboring sick. For over 30 years she sat in winter by the
fire without a care and without a frown, beloved by the grand-
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 231
children of her protege. After the age of 80 she had no need to
call a physician. On the day of her death she ate breakfast with
the family and spoke of the home coming of the Adams children
to the feast. Then she laid herself down to rest and gently
breathed her last. As they approached the house the crape on the
door startled the children, not knowing what it betokened. As
she lay in her coffin there was not a wrinkle on her placid face.
Her only child, Margaret Collins, b. Dec. 6, 1810, d. Nov. 20. 1895,
unm., having lived from birth to death under the one roof.
94 James" Eanney (Ebenezer*, Ebenezer', Ebenezer^,
Thomas^), bapt. Nov. 10, 1782, Upper Houses; m. May 13, 1802,
Epis. Ch. Middletown, Elizabeth Collins Keith, b. May 22, 1782,
Middletown, dau. of William Keith and Polly Lions Callahan.
His father built for him the " Bugbee " house on the north quarter
of the original Eanney homestead. He was a sea captain and died
on his ship, Jan. 23, 1805 " in Carolina." The widow d. of con-
sumption Sept. 11, 1813. She gave her son James to his aunt
Margaret Eanney Collins, and her son William to his grandfather.
Children :
William Keith, bapt. Apr. 14, 1805 ; unm. ; drowned from
a vessel, Aug. 12, 1839.
215 James, b. Feb. 17, 1805.
SIXTH GENERATION.
95 Moses^ Ranney (Thomas Stow^ Jeremiah*, Thomas',
Thomas^, Thomas^), b. May 14, 1799, Brentwood, N. H.; m. Jan.
26, 1826, North Newport, Me., Hannah Reed Steward, b. July
22, 1805, Norridgewock, Me.; d. June 30, 1892, Stetson, Me.,
dau. of Thomas Steward and Nancy Bicknell. Farmer; Rep.;
Univ. He d. June 15, 1877, Stetson, Me.
GlztlUfTBTl *
Thomas Stow, b. July 19, 1827; d. Apr. 23, 1877, unm.
216 Moses Hook, b. June 27, 1830.
217 Stephen Steward, b. Jan. 30, 1833.
Nancv Steward, b. Jan. 30, 1833, unm. Res. Bangor, Me.
Hannah Jane, b. July 26, 1839; m. Henry Johnson; d.
Dec. 22, 1870. No children.
218 Laura Albina, b. Mar. 12, 1846; m. Chas. W. Crockett.
96 Hannah^ Ranney (Thomas Stow^ Jeremiah*, Thomas%
Thomas^ Thomas^), b. Sept. 4, 1801, Brentwood, N. H.; m. Sept.
6, 1821, Stetson, Me., Samuel Stetson, b. Jan. 12, 1793, Randolph,
Mass.; Whig; farmer. He d. 1853, Stetson, Me. She, Baptist,
d. 1876, Stetson, Me.
Cliildren :
Irene, b. Aug. 8, 1822; m. Ralph C. Eveleth.
219 Rebecca, b. Sept. 13, 1824; m. Henry V. French.
Nancy, b. May 23, 1827; m. (1) Dr. J. H. Turner; (2) F.
0. Howard.
Samuel Ranney, b. Apr. 5, 1834; d. ■ — , Augusta, Me.
97 Thomas Stow« Ranney (Thomas Stow^ Jeremiah*,
Thomas^ Thomas^, Thomas^), b. Dec. 7, 1810, Brentwood, N.
H.; m., 1836, Stetson, Me.. Sarah Allen, b. Nov. 3, 1812, Stetson,
Me. ; dau. of Thorndike Allen and Sarah Cole. Rep. ; Univ. He d.
Mar. 19, 1868, Winn, Me. She d. Sept. 18, 1890, Winn, Me.
Children:
219a George Stetson, b. Feb. 28, 1840.
Hannah Hook, b. 1842.
220 Irene Stetson, b. Mar. 13, 1856; m. Wm. E. Young. Res.
Portland, Me.
232
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 233
220a Thorndike Allen, b. Oct. 28, 1857.
98 Nathan^ Eanney (Nathan", Jeremiah*, Thomas^ Thomas^,
Thomas^), b. Apr. 27, 1797, Bethl£hem, Conn.; m. Oct. 31, 1827,
St. Louis, Mo., Amelia Jane Shai:ford, b. July 26, 1809, Ports-
mouth. N. H.; d. Feb. 18, 1882. St. Louis, Mo., dau. of John
Shackford and Jane Smallcorn. He d. Aug. 21, 1876, Montreal,
Canada, while on a visit there.
At sixteen years of age he enlisted in the war against England
against the remonstrance of his friends and refused a discharge
which his uncle, Lieut. Col. Stephen Eanney of the 4th U. S. In-
fantry, offered to obtain for him.
This desire of serving his country in battle was soon gratified
for he "was one of three hundred Americans who cut their way
through a greatly superior British force near Plattsburgh, and was
one of the forlorn hope who crossed the Saranac river under the
range of a British battery to a thick underbrush of dry pine. He
was severely wounded in this gallant exploit; but in a little while
after, wishing to distinguish himself by an act still more daring,
he took twenty choice men, and in the dead hour of the night
successfully surprised a town in possession of a large British force,
and carried off three prisoners of rank, without the loss of a
single man.
" The gallant bearing of young Eanney soon won for him the
respect of his commanding officers, and he was quickly promoted,
first as sergeant, and afterwards as provost marshal ; and his con-
duct throughout the whole war showed that patriotism alone in-
fluenced his services, and not a love for military promotion. A
few years after leaving the army, desirous of making for himself
a name and fortune, he came to St. Louis in 1819 and commenced
commercial pursuits.
" In the year 1827, two important events occurred in his life,
and which have greatly administered to his happiness — he married
in that year Miss Amelia J. Shackford — and became likewise
wedded to the Presbyterian Church. His marriage has been
blessed with a large family of children, and in the church of which
he is such an efficient member, he has long been an elder.
" Though born in an Eastern State, and under a cold clime.
General Eanney is neither a Northern nor a Southern maniac, but
a conservative man, and his heart is as warm as a summer's sun.
In 1836, General Eanney was appointed by Governor Dunklin,
Brigadier-General in the Missouri Militia. In 1842, he was presi-
dent pro tempore of the Board of Aldermen [of St. Louis] and
for years president of the board of Public Schools, In 1851 he
234 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
delivered an eloquent address at Burlington, Iowa, declaring him-
self a Union man. In 1855, he addressed the convention of the
soldiers of 1812 at Philadelphia. In 1856, he spoke at a large
American meeting in St. Louis; and there are very few his equal
in a stump speech. In 1857, when the financial panic caused the
money of other states to be refused, he called a meeting of mer-
chants, and restored confidence in foreign currency, and thereby
saved many frightened individuals from falling a prey to the
money sharks, who, on such occasions, are always ready to make a
glorious feast.
"In his military career General Ranney showed himself ready
and fearless in action, patriotic in his aims, and kind and sympa-
thizing as a soldier and as an oificer. In political life he is never
violent, but while he is firm and frank in the expression of his
principles, he is at all times courteous to all holding opinions differ-
ing from his own. In the civil positions which he has filled he
has been marked for his attention, his industry, and his clear and
discriminating judgment; and any office he holds, he never makes
it a sinecure, but holds it as a responsible trust, and attends, with
the most scrupulous exactness, to its minutest details. As a friend
he is confiding an^ generous; and as a merchant, his present
affluence, gathered amid uncertain fiuctuations of commercial life,
is an evidence of the possession of the requisites adapted to that
respectable but precarious pursuit.
" With the exception of Mr. Henry Von Phul, senior. General
Ranney is the oldest merchant in St. Louis now living, and the
store and warehouse of Shackford and Ranney were, for a long
time, the only buildings of the kind on the levee, consequently, he
has been a resident of St. Louis from its infancy, and his exertions
and example have helped its growth and assisted its advance.
Though upward of threescore years of age, from his regular life
he is still hale and vigorous, and is now the cashier and general
agent of the St. Louis, Cairo and New Orleans Railroad line of
steamers, and is always to be found, during business hours giving
his attention to the important position he knows so well how to
fill. He is president of the Missouri Bible Society, and in all of
the relations of his diversified life there is not a stain resting upon
his character." — Froin Edwards' " Great West."
He was one of the founders of the Missouri Historical Society,
1866, and its second president from 1869 to 1872.
Children :
John Shackford, b. July 31, 1828; d. Sept. 22, 1837.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS RANNEY 235
Ann Augusta, b. Aug. 24, 1830; d. June 28, 1831.
Louisa Jane Hawthorne, b. Feb. 17, 1832; m. James H.
Goodman.
Julia Kingsbury, b. Sept. 2, 1834; m. James R. Garniss.
221 Maria Kerr, b. Nov. 14, 1836; m. Chas. W. Hale.
John Shackford, b. Nov. 13, 1838; d. Apr. 5, 1839.
Nathan William, b. Feb. 27, 1840; d. June 17, 1845.
John Shackford, b. July 22, 1842; d. July 22, 1842.
Ann Amelia Shackford, b. Dec. 12, 1843; m. James H.
Wallace.
222 Charlotte Ella, b. Nov. 24, 1845; m. George J. Cochran.
Howard, b. Sept. 12, 1848.
Gertrude, b. Dec. 13, 1850; m. James F. Armstrong. Res.
Crawbrook, British Columbia.
John Mudgett, b. Oct. 16, 1653 ; d. Sept. 20, 1866.
Cornelia Shackford, b. Feb. 17, 1856; d. July 25, 1856.
99 Nathaniel Cole^ Ranney (Nathan^, Jeremiah*, Thomas',
Thomas-, Thomas^), b. ; m. Minerva Merritt, dau. of
Peter Merritt of Fair Haven, Vt. He rem. 1831, to Angelica, N. Y.
Thence about 1861 to Marshall, Mich. Children:
Harriet, b. ; m. East. Res. Marshalltown, la.
Harrison Dayton, b. . Res. Weston, Ohio. Chil-
dren :
Charles Caton. Res. Sacramento, Cal.
Albert Dayton. Res. Blue Hills, Nev.
Harrison W. Res. Kansas City, Kan.
Mary A., m. Hobart. Res. Riverton, Neb.
Edwin C. Business, 27 Pearl St., N. Y. City.
Harriet Elizabeth, m. — Langley. Res. Bayonne, N. J.
Florence Minerva, unm. Res, Bayonne, N. J.
Julia, b. Jan. 26, 1842.
223 Julius Merritt, b. Jan. 26, 1842.
100 Caleb Barnes^ Ranney (Nathan^ Jeremiah*, Thomas^
Thomas^, Thomas^), b. 1807, Whitehall, N. Y.; m. Charlotte Kit-
tredge, b. Salem, Mass., dau. of Oliver Xittredge and Mary Hamil-
ton. Farmer.
Children :
Mary, b. May 5, 1832, Fair Haven, Vt; d. Jan. 10, 1895;
m. Feb. 12, 1856, Reuben Trowbridge Ellis, b. Dec. 27,
1827, Fair Haven, Vt.; d. June 16, 1898. Hampton,
N. Y. ; farmer. Children:
236 MIDDLETOWN" UPPER HOUSES
Charles Eanney, b. Oct. 13, 1856; m. May 7, 1877,
Round Lake, N. Y., Mabel Francis Wilson, b. May 7,
1877, dau. of Albert Wilson and Mary Jane Miller.
Res. Fair Haven, Vt. Children:
Marv Pearl, b. Kov. 27, 1898.
Albert Reuben, b. May 31, 1900.
Oliver Kittredge, b. Mar. 8, 1834, Fair Haven Vt. ; m.
(1) Jennie Moore, (2) Bessie Moore, sisters, daus.
of John and Eliza Moore. Children:
Hattie, b. ; m. John H. Williams. Res. Rutland,
Vt.
Herbert K, b. ; m. Emily Knight. Res. Way-
land, Mass.
Charles M, b. ; unm., lawyer. Res. Boston, Mass.
Fred Oliver, b. Nov. 22, 1872; m. Sept. 1, 1901, Annie
Lacey, b. 1874. Rep.; Meth.; I. 0. 0. F. ; farmer.
Res. Windsor, A''t.
Arthur Edward, b. ; unm. Res. West Windsor,
Vt.
101 Martha Patty" Ranney (Solomon^ Jeremiah*, Thomas^
Thomas^ Thomas^), "b. Apr. is, 1786, Bethlehem, Ct.; m. Aug.
13, 1804, Harvey Davis, b. Apr. 28, 1780; d. Feb. 6, 1861. She d.
Mar. 6, 1876, Kortright, J^. Y.
Children:
Polly, b. Jan. 27, 1806.
John, b. Feb. 4, 1808; d. Sept. 20, 1880.
Eliza, b. July 4, 1812; d. Apr. 18, 1838.
Jacob, b. Nov. 10, 1814; d. Apr. 28, 1838.
224 William, b. Jan. 1, 1817.
Solomon, b. Sept. 4, 1819.
Catherine, b. Aug. 13, 1821.
Harvey, b. May 2, 1824; d. Sept. 23, 1897.
Ferris, b. Aug." 24, 1826 ; d. , 1892.
225 Andrew Jackson, b. Nov. 24, 1828.
Stephen, b. Aug. 4, 1832; d. Dec. 18, 1891; m. Oct. 9, 1856,
Ellen Aitkin.
102 Jeremiah Ranney" (Stephen^ Jeremiah*, Thomas^,
Thomas-, Thomas^), b. Jan. 15, 1786, Bethlehem, Conn.; m.
Jan. 1, 1810, Susan Beach, b. Feb. 7, 1787; d. Oct. 27, 1821,
near Jackson, Mo. He was a farmer residing at Bethlehem,
Conn. ; Hartwick, N. Y. ; and d. Mar. 18, 1855, Jackson, Mo.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 237
Children :
226 Koyal, b. Dec. 10, 1810.
Susan Beach, b. Feb. 20. 1812; d. , 1855.
227 Johnson, b. Jan. 15, 1814.
Jeremiah, b. Feb. 27, 1816.
Asahel Beach, b. Sept. 20, 1818; d. , 1855.
103 Johnson" Eanney (Stephen^, Jeremiah*, Thomas',
Thomas-, Thomas^), b. Dec. 19, 1789, Litchfiekl, Conn.; m. (1)
June 21, 1832, Mary Carter Gayle, b. Aug. 7, 1808; d. Apr. 6,
1833; m. (2) June 11, 1835, Emily Neale, b. May 15, 1810.
He was appointed an ensign in the 4th U. S. Infantry May 19,
1812, and accepted from Salisbury, Conn., June 7, 1812; was
promoted to the grade of second lieutenant, same regiment, May
30, 1813; first lieutenant of the same regiment, June 28, 1814,
and was honorably discharged the service June 15, 1815. In
the same year he went to Jackson, Mo., and began the prac-
tice of the law, but there was prejudice even then, against him as
a " Yankee." By economy, diligence, hard study and natural
ability he accumulated what was considered a fortune in those
days. While not an orator he had a thorough knowledge of law,
an analytical turn of mind, a faculty for questioning a witness.
He stood with Greer Davis, Gen. English, Gen. Nathaniel Watkins
(half brother to Henry Clay), Gen. Buckner, of Indiana and
Thomas H. Benton, of Mo. Gen. Buckner on returning to In-
diana said to Gen. Stephen Ranney of his son Johnson. " He is
the best lawyer in Missouri except myself." His courage was
shown in defending a penniless negro charged with murder — and
liable to be mobbed for so doing.
In his personal appearance he was unprepossessing, amounting
to ugliness. It is related of him that while going on horseback
from Jackson, Mo., to New Madrid, Mo., to attend court, he was
hailed by a lady who without ceremony began to relate her troubles.
As soon as he discerned the tendency of her remarks he informed
her that she should speak to Judge Cook of the Circuit Court.
" Why," she said, " you are Judge Cook." " No, madam, I am
Johnson Ranney." " Well," she replied, " I was told to watch the
road this morning for the ugliest man I ever saw and you are
that man."
He was somewhat negligent of his attire and while arguing an
important case before the Supreme Court one of the judges rep-
rimanded him for disrespect to the court in appearing before it
in such slovenly attire. The next morning Mr. Eanney appeared
in court dressed like a dandy. " May it please the court " he said
238 MIDDLETOWN UPPEK HOUSES
as he resumed the argnment, " before proceeding I should like to
know if the fastidious taste of the court interposes any obstacle
to my recognition." Eccentric and peculiar in many of his ways
he was an affectionate husband and father and after his own
father's death in 1837 he cared for his younger brothers as though
they were his own children. In politics he was a Whig. He
died Nov. 11, 1849, Jackson, Mo.
Children :
228 Johnson Camp, b. June 15, 1836.
Thomas Neale, b. Sept. 19. 1837; law student at Harvard,
1860, killed, 1865, by Federal troops after he had sur-
rendered.
229 Mary Gayle, b. Jan. 7, 1840 ; m. John Beardslee.
Warren Davis, b. Dec. 31, 1841; d. Apr. 24, 1842.
Ellen Davis, b. Sept. 12, 1844; d. Jan. 29, 1845.
104 Hannah Cooper^ Eanney (Stephen', Jeremiah*, Thomas^,
Thomas-, Thomas^), b. Jan. 11, 1811, Litchfield, Ct.; m. Willis
McGuire. She d. in Jackson, Mo. ; he in Chico, Texas.
Child:
William Eanney, b. ; m. . Children:
William Sanford, John Eanney, Eobert Lee. Ees.
Chico, Texas.
105 William Caton'^ Eanney (Stephen^, Jeremiah*, Thomas^,
Thomas-, Thomas^), b. Feb. 20, 1815, Whitehall, N. Y.; m. Dec.
10, 1846. Maplewood, Mo., Elizabeth Giboney, b. July 11, 1818,
Maplewood, Mo., dau. of Eobert Giboney and Ann Dunn. Eobert
Giboney had been granted a large tract of land near Cape Girar-
deau by the Spanish government because of the fact that he was
a blacksmith.
William Caton Eanney came from Jeffersonville, Ind., in 1825
to Jackson, Mo., locating on a farm one and a half miles north
of that place. He secured a good common school education, which
was supplemented with a course at St. Mary's College in Perry
County, Mo. When twelve years of age he secured a position in
the office of the Circuit Clerk and when fifteen years of age was
appointed Deputy Circuit Clerk of Cape Girardeau County which
he held for a number of years, after which he read law with his
brother Johnson Eanney. Was admitted to the bar about 1840.
First located at New Madrid, Mo., remaining there about a year.
He then located at Benton, Mo., remaining there about two years.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 239
when his brother Johnson offered him a partnership which he ac-
cepted, holding it until his brother's death in 1848. Continued
his practice of his profession, attending all Courts in Southeast
Missouri, going from one County to another, on horseback, then
almost the only means of travel here, until the establishment of
the Cape Girardeau Court of Common Pleas of Cape Girardeau
County by act of the Legislature of 1852 when he was named as
the first Judge and which office he continued to holtd by succes-
sive election until the outbreak of the Civil War.
His first vote was cast with the Whig party and his last before
hostilities began between the States was cast for Bell and Everett.
He was strenuously opposed to secession, but after being robbed of
his property and imprisoned in the dark cellar of the Court House
in which he had presided, by the party with which he affiliated, he
joined the Democratic party, and as such was elected in 1871 to the
State Senate to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Senator
George H. Green, making the race against two Democrats and one
Eepublican, and wanning out by a good majority.
After the expiration of his term in the Senate his friends in-
sisted on his becoming a candidate for Representative and to this
he was elected and served one term. He was made a member of
St. Mark's Lodge, F. A. M. in 1848. He died Feb. 28, 1898,
Cape Girardeau, Mo. She d. Jan. 9, 1900.
Children:
Stephen, b. Oct. 4, 1847, after attending the local school
was for four years a student of the Kentucky Military In-
stitute. In 1871 became a civil engineer in the employ
of the Illinois Central R. E. Co., whereby he contracted
the ague resulting in a cold which caused his death Feb.
27, 1875.
230 Eobert Giboney, b. Dec. 15, 1849.
231 William Alexander, b. Dec. 23, 1852.
232 Herbert Hathorne, b. Nov. 14, 1855.
106 John Hathorne^ Eanney (Stephen'', Jeremiah*, Thomas^,
ThomasS Thomas^), b. Feb. 5, 1818; Charleston, Ind.; m. Mar.
25, 1847, Benton, Mo., Clarissa Waters, b. Nov. 12, 1831, Tywap-
pity Bottoms, Mo., dau. of John Waters and Laura Ann Spear.
She d. Mar. 8, 1848, Benton, Mo.; m. (2) Aug. 8, 1850, Caroline
Wall, b. Apr. 15, 1821, Cape Girardeau, Mo.; d. May 20, 1902,
Commerce, Mo. At the age of seven his father removed to Jack-
son, Mo. From the age of nine on his father's death he lived with
his brother, Col. Johnson Eanney, and learned the trade of a tan-
240 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
ner at the "Old Tan Yard" near Jackson. When he reached his
majority he started a tan yard. In a few years he removed to a
farm near Kelso, but at the outbreaking of the Civil War he re-
moved his family for safety to Jackson, returning to the farm in
1865, where he remained till death. He was a man of firmness
and character, with many virtues. Returning with a friend one
night from a cider mill, they saw some ghosts in the cemetery.
His companion fled. He walked up to the ghost and as he raised
a bottle of cider to strike the ghost cried out, " Don't strike, John,
Don't Strike."
At the outbreak of the Civil War a gang of outlaws went to
his house to murder him. One ball grazed his scalp. He grabbed
an axe and charged the gang and put them to flight. On one oc-
casion a candidate for office seeking his support said to him, " Mr.
Ranney, you have known me all my life," And the answer was,
" Yes, and that is the reason I won't vote for you." He d. Jan.
14, 1884, Kelso, Mo.
Child hy 1st marriage:
John Hathorne, b. ^ , 1848'; d. 1869.
Children hy 2d marriage:
233 Clarissa Waters, b. , 1850; m. Joseph T. Anderson.
234 Amelia, b. Sept. 10, 1853, m. Reese G. Applegate.
235 Caroline Wall, b. Oct. 13, 1854; m. Wm. McKnight.
236 James Parham, b. Feb. 17, 1857.
Elizabeth, b. ; d. infancy.
Charles, b. ; d. infancy.
David, b. ; d. young.
107 Polly'' Ranney (Julius^ Jeremiah*, Thomas^, Thomas-,
Thomas^), b. Sept. 14, 1790, Bethlehem, Conn.; m. Jan., 1809,
Bethlehem, Conn., Iram Hawes, b. Sept. 20, 1786; d. Oct. 20,
1869, Cleveland, 0.; Rep.; Presby. ; farmer in Danby, IST. Y. till
1836, when he rem. to Chester, 0.; rem. 1860 to Cleveland. She
d. Feb. 14, 1859, Chester, 0.
Children :
Marietta, b. Jan. 14. 1810; m. Daniel Ennis.
Isaac, b. Sept. 24, 1811; d. Dec. 21, 1811.
Hannah, b. Oct. 5, 1812; m. Edward Kingman.
Jerusha, b. July 28, 1814; m. John Packard.
Cornelia, b. Nov. 6, 1816; d. July 30, 1838.
Oliver, b. Jan. 20, 1819; m. Sarah Bassett.
t
•
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS RANNEY 241
Susan, b. Feb. 20, 1822; d. 1901; m. Geo. W. Lyncle.
Pollv, b. Feb. 23, 1827; d. Feb. 14, 1859; m. Win. Backus.
237 Harriet Palmer, b. June 27, 1832; m. James T. Wilson.
108 Lucy® Ranney (Julius^ Jeremiah*, Thomas^ ThomasS
Thomas^), b. July 19, 1794, Warren, Conn.; m. Dec. 22, 1811,
Warren, Conn., Rev. Urban^ Palmer (EzekieP, SamueP, Samuel*,
SamueP, Jonas% Walter^), b. July 7. 1787, Kent, Conn. He
entered the ministry and settled in Danby, New York, in 1812.
Went to Western Reserve, 0., for the Society of Evangelization,
finally settled in Chester, 0., where he d. Nov. 3, 1847. She d.
Nov. 16, 1838. (See Palmer Groups).
Children :
Chester, b. Dec. 13, 1812; m. Apr. 15, 1835, Achsah Smith
Melvin; 5th child was Lowell Mason, b. Mar. 11, 1845,
P. 0. address, 184 Front St., N. Y. City, compiler of
" Palmer Groups."
Harriet, b. May 10. 1815; d. June 23, 1831.
Jerusha, b. Feb. 2, 1818; d. Oct. 10, 1819.
Chalmers, b. Oct. 12, 1821; d. July 16, 1826.
Julius Ranney, b. Feb. 11, 1827; d. Feb. 25, 1830.
Julius Chalmers, b. July 9, 1829; d. Feb. 25, 1830.
Emeline, b. Apr. 10, 1831; d. May 12, 1832.
Edward Payson, b. Sept. 16, 1833; m. Delia Green.
109 Oliver® Ranney (Julius^ Jeremiah*, Thomas^ Thomas^
Thomas^), b. September 16, 1796, Bethlehem, Conn.; m. Sept. 7,
1820, Chester, 0., Lynda Adams, b. May 23, 1800, Genoa. N. Y. ;
d. Oct. 7, 1887, Chester, 0., dau. of Samuel Adams and Amy Bos-
worth. Rep.; Presby. ; farmer. He rem. 1819 to Chester, 0.,
where he died Sept. 19, 1876. The following was printed at the
time of his death :
"Died at Mulberry Corners, Geauga County, Ohio, Sept, 14,
1876, Mr. Oliver Ranney, in the 80th year of his life, leaving a
widowed companion, with whom he had walked in loving and
helpful companionship for fifty-six years; leaving also one son and
two daughters, having gathered them about his bed to receive
his dying and Christian benediction; leaving also grandchildren,
who now will have to say, ' We had a grandfather who feared God
for many years, and who, dying, asked us all to meet him in
heaven'; leaving also a community in which, for a period of 58
years, he has been an upright, worthy and leading citizen, now
242 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
bereft of another of its pioneers; leaving a church to mourn him,
with whose interests he has, for forty-four years, been identified."
Children :
Emily Adams, b. Jan. 29, 1824; m. Feb. 2, 1842, Elihu
Oliver Lyman, b. June 12, 1817; d. Apr. 7, 1882. She d.
Apr. 19, 1901. Children: Flora Emily, Thomas Stow
Eanney, Frances Melissa, Frances Eliza, Tertius Cor-
nelius, Ernest Chalmers, Elmer Morris, Clara Theresa,
Elsie Ada, Alice Louisa, Elgin Osmer, Celia Allen.
238 Julius Butler, b. June 5, 1831.
Jerusha Alice, b. Mar. 18, 1840; unm. Res. Chesterland 0.
110 Thomas Stow® Ranney (Julius^ Jeremiah*, Thomas^
Thomas2, Thomas^), b. Aug. 22, 1802, Bethlehem, Conn.; m. (1)
Aug. 23, 1827, Maria Gager, b. Oct. 5, 1808; d. Rangoon, India,
1857; m. (2) Dec. 14, 1858, 'Mrs. Mary E. Whittaker, b. Nov.
1, 1829, Calcutta, India; widow of Rev. Daniel Whittaker and
daughter of Rev. Cephas Bennett and Stella Kneeland. He d.
May 13, 1886, Homer, N. Y. Widow d. 1906. His portrait at
eighty-two years of age is given herewith. His obituary as printed
by his pastor follows:
" Thomas Stow Ranney was born in Bethlehem, Conn., August
22, 1801. His mother was a widow at the time of his birth, his
father having died about six months previous. His mother was
left with small means, and the support of her babe and other de-
pendent children fell heavily upon her lone hands. Being a
woman of health and energy, she sought a western home, and
purchased a piece of land in the then wilderness woods .of Danby,
Tompkins County, N. Y. Of early childhood Mr. Ranney always
spoke tenderly. By the industry and economy of his mother,
poverty was kept from the home, and early childhood with him
was a happy period. While the early Christian instructions of
his mother made a deep impression upon his life and character,
and had much to do in making him the man he was, it was not till
many years after, as a man in married life, about forty years of
age, that he gave personal attention to religion and accepted Christ
as a personal Saviour. At fifteen years of age he was apprenticed
to learn the printer's trade, his term of apprenticeship closing on
his twenty-first birthday. Not very long after he became fore-
man of the Albany Argus, which position he occupied about ten
years, and this brought him into associations with the leading
statesmen and politicians of the day— DeWitt Clinton, Martin
DESCENDANTS OP THOMAS EANNEY 243
VanBuren, Ex-Governor Marcy and others of those times. On
leaving the Argus, Mr. Eanney assisted in establishing the Dutchess
Republican in Poughkeepsie, N. Y. In these positions he became
very familiar with political thought, as well as the political tricks
of the times. The Diitcliess RepuMican was afterwards united
with the Poughkeepsie Eagle, of which Mr. Isaac Piatt was edi-
tor, with whom Mr. Eanney sustained a partnership most happily
for ten years, and an intimate and cordial acquaintance up to the
time of Mr. Piatt's death, which occurred in 1872.
" It was in Poughkeepsie, in the year 1840, that Mr. Eanney
was converted, and both himself and wife were buried with Christ
in baptism by Mr. Dickinson, and united with the Baptist Church.
This most literally opened a new life to him and surrounded him
with new influences. He himself says : ' My past political life be-
came more and more distasteful.' Two years later, an offer com-
ing from the American Baptist Missionary Union to go as a
printer to Burmah in charge of the society's press, he accepted the
offer, sailing, in November, 1843. Arrived in Burmah, the first
two weeks were spent in the home of Dr. Judson, the great pioneer
missionary of the Baptist denomination; and a few years later,
in the providence of God, it was appointed Mr. Eanney to attend
Dr. Judson during his last sickness, and bury him in the ocean.
" Mrs. Eanne/s failing health required a visit to this country,
during which time the Board thought it best to recall Mr. Eanney,
intending when his wife should return to send him to Assam; but
he, not understanding the object of the recall, decided to resign
his connection with the Missionary Union, and upon doing so went
to Eangoon, where he engaged in a private enterprise doing gov-
ernment and job printing. Here he met with financial success,
and after a few years disposed of his office and business to the
Missionary Union and returned to America to spend his remaining
years.
" For twenty-four years he has been a resident of Homer and
a member of the Homer Baptist Church. He has been twice
married. The first Mrs. Eanney having died soon after her return
to Burmah. in due time he married Mrs. Mary E. Whitaker, daugh-
ter of the lately deceased Eev. Cephas Bennett, missionary printer,
who succeeded him in the mission press at Eangoon.
"• As a citizen Mr. Eanney identified himself with whatever
advanced and improved the interests .,;0f our village. His counsel
was sought and his presence welcomed in all councils. He was a
faithful Christian, ready to bear his share of the burdens of the
church, of which he was a member. Besides his neighbors and
brethren in the church, who all sincerely mourn his loss, he leaves
•^44 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
a wife and two daughters. Pipe in years and rich in experience,
Thomas Stow Eanney has passed over the river, and ' his works
do follow.'"
111 William® Eanney (William^ Thomas*, Thoraas^ Thomas^
Thomas^), b. June 5, 1784, Westminster West, Vt. ; m. June 28,
1810, Elizabeth Wells, b. ; d. Mar. 28, 1874. Brookline,
Vt.; farmer, Cong.; d. Dec. 16, 1863, Br6okline, Vt.
Children :
239 Joel, b. Mar. 15, 1811.
240 Eebecca, b. May 19, 1813; m. Jeremiah L. Perham.
Orange, b. May 15, 1817; d. Dec. 15. 1832.
241 Achsah, b. Dec. 30, 1820; d. Mar. 10, 1861; m. Daniel
Whitney.
Fanny, b. Mar. 7, 1824; d. Nov. 18, 1841.
Elizabeth, b. Mar. 15, 1826; d. Oct. 2, 1831.
242 Hannah, b. July 18, 1830; m. John Lamphear.
112 Stephen'' Eanney (William^ Thomas*, Thomas^ Thomas^,
Thomas^), b. Apr. 28, 1793, Westminster West, Vt.; m. Apr. 7,
1814, Salley S. Chandler, b. Oct. 23, 1793, Westminster; d. Feb.
19, 1864, dau. of Thomas Dow Chandler and Sarah Goold.
Farmer; Cong.; Eep. ; d. Sept. 5, 1871, Westminster West.
Children :
243 Stephen Chandler, b. Jan. 29, 1815.
244 Amaziah Thomas, b. Apr. 10, 1817.
245 Wm. Erastus, b. Mar. 18, 1819.
246 Otis Lorenzo, b. July 16, 1821.
247 Lorin Little, b. Sept. 26. 1823.
Lydia Eosetta, b. Jan. 27, 1826; d. unm. Aug. 19, 1851.
Sarah Maria, b. July 27, 1828 ; d. unm. Sept. 19, 1844.
Eliza Serena, b. Mar. 29, 1831; d. unm. Dec. 28, 1902.
113 Ephraim*' Eanney (Ephraim^ Ephraim*, Thomas%
Thomas^, Thomas^), b. Westminster West, Vt. ; d. June 3, 1826,
Westminster West; m. Mercy Clark; widow rem. to Coventry,
Vt., where she d. Jan. 29, 1848.
Children :
Clark, b. Nov. 15, 1801; m. Apr. 15, 1825, Orpha Miller
and rem. 1827 to West Victory, Vt., said to have rem.
later to California.
Elmerina, b. Aug. 6, 1804; d. Jan. 29, 1805.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS RANNEY 245
248 Freeman, b. May 11, 1806.
249 Sullivan, b. Nov. 23, 1808.
249a Ephraini Fessenden, b. June 8, 1820.
114 Lydia^ Eanney (Ephraim^, Ephraim*, Thomas^, Thomas^,
Thomas^), b. Sept. 28, 1772, Westminster West, Vt.; d. July 20,
1859 ; m. Dea. Ebenezer Goodhue, son of a clergyman. Of their
Children:
Rhoda, b. ; m. (1) Alfred Ranney; (2) Samuel
Ranney.
Elizabeth, b. ; m. Elijah Bradford Ranney.
115 Rebecca® Ranney (Ephraim^, Ephraim*, Thomas^, Thomas-.
Thomas^), b. Dec. 27," 1777; d. Aug., 1841; m. Jan. 20. 1799^
Gideon Warner.
Children:
Eugene, b. .
Narcissa. b. ; m. Russell Ranney.
Octavia, b. ; m. Newman Perry.
116 Calvin*^ Ranney (Ephraim^, Ephraim*, Thomas^, Thomas-,
Thomas^), b. Nov. 25, 1784, Westminster West, Vt. ; m. Anna
Root. Rem. late in life to Algona, Iowa, to live with a daughter
where he d. Oct. 7, 1873. She d. Aug. 2, 1870, Westminster
West.
Children :
250 Helvann, b. Jan. 28, 1805; m. (1) Geo. W. Holland; m.
(2) W. Crowell.
Fanny Root, b. Feb. 5, 1807; d. 1812. .
251 Rhoda Harlow, b. Mar. 29, 1809; m. Benjamin Clark.
Charles, b. May 18, 1824; m. Maria Stearns of Danville,
Vt. and d. June 9, 1862.
117 Hiram*' Ranney (Ephraim^, Ephraim*, Thomas^, Thomas-,
Thomas^), b. June 4," 1792, Westminster West, Vt. ; m. Jan. 27.
1819, Lydia Chase, who lived to be a centenarian and was of the
Chase family of the Mayflower. The young couple began the
dairy farm life and sent the butter and cheese of 25 cows to the
Boston market. Having signed notes to accommodate a friend
he lost most of his property. Setting out in a covered wagon
they went in Oct. 1834, to Oxford County, Lower Canada, and
settled at Hagel's Corners. She was employed to teach, having
gone on horseback through the woods to St. Thomas, where she
246 MIDDLETOWiNT UPPER HOUSES
was examined and authorized to teach. A log house was erected
and she began with 60 pupils, some of whom were young men over
21. She was the first teacher in that county. It was not long
before Mr, Eanney had 700 acres in one tract She survived her
husband. A Salford Globe paper, not dated, contained her por-
trait at 100 years and gave the following:
" Mrs. Eanney has been a widow for the past thirty years and
has outlived all her children. Her grandchildren still living are:
Sullivan P. Eanney of Salford, Judson Harris of Ingersoll, Eev.
E. J. Harris, B.A., of Toronto, Mrs. Wm. Craig of Toronto, Mrs.
(Prof.) S. J. McKee of Brandon College and Mrs. (Eev.) G.
B. Davis of Hagersville.
" Mrs. Eanney has been a reader of The Globe since the days
of the Hon. George Brown, whom she had the privilege of enter-
taining in her own home."
118 Grant Willis*' Eanney (Ephraim^ Ephraim", Thomas^
Thomas^, Thomas^), b. Mar. 25, 1804, Westminster West, Vt. ;
d. June 14, 1871, Westminster West; m. May 23, 1805, Anna Ma-
tilda Campbell, b. May 23, 1805; d. Mar. 1891; dau. of Edward E.-
Campbell and Anna Norton.
Children:
252 Peyton, b. Nov. 29, 1826.
253 Mary Ann, b. July 20, 1828; m. Wm. B. Cutting.
Homer, b. Apr. 17, 1834; d. May, 1835.
Ehoda, b. Dec. 4, 1836; d. Aug. 21, 1862; m. Judge Henry
S. Severance, succeeding Judge Wm. H. Taft.
Alfred Homer, b. Aug. 22, 1843, res. Kalamazoo, Mich.
119 Elijah® Eannev (Elijah^ Ephraim*, Thomas^ Thomas-,
Thomas^), b. Sept. 15, 1773, Westminster West, Vt; m. Nov.
10, 1791, Lydia Crawford, dau. of James Crawford and Grace
Carpenter, " a woman of great mental and physical energy."
James Crawford was a soldier of the Eevolution. At sundown he
heard of the battle of Lexington. Before sunrise he had started
to join the gathering forces, leaving a son of 9 years with the
wife to clear the burnt field and sow the grain. In the autumn
he obtained a few weeks on furlough to gather in the crops. When
that son was 90 years of age he would say, " I chopped the wood
and drove the steers, mother helped to load and we kept warm all
winter."
1^
5 ^
<i -
< G
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS RANNEY 247
Like his father and grandfather, Elijah Eanney, Jr. was a
deacon. It was written by the Eev. A. Stevens of him and of
Ebenezer Goodhue, a grandson of Deacon Ephraim*, " the former
was slow in his plans and execution, the latter was hasty; both
were good, determined men and did not easily give up a measure
they had attempted to carry. The Scotchman's prayer was ap-
propriate for them both : ' 0 Lord, keep me right, for thou knowest
I cannot change.' " Dr. Stevens on his 40th anniversary as pastor
at Westminster West, Feb. 22, 1883, said : " In the body pews at
the right sat Deacon Ebenezer Goodhue, then Joseph Ranney,
Esq., Deacon Elijah Eanney, Calvin Eanney, Elisha Berry, Sr.,
and Jr., and Edward Campbell." Dr. Stevens married Mary Ann
Arnold, dau. of Seth Shailer Arnold and granddaughter of Esther^
Eanney. Their twetve children were alive when, the youngest
being over 50, all sat for their portraits which through Dr. Mark
Eanney were placed together in one group as they are seen in this
book.
Children:
254 Samuel, b. Nov. 8, 1792.
255 Alfred, b. Dec. 29, 1794.
Elizabeth, b. Mar. 11, 1797; m. Dea. Asahel Goodell.
256 Fanny, b. Sept. 12, 1799; m. Dea. Edward Hallett.
257 Eussell, b. Feb. 20, 1802.
258 Mark, b. Apr. 17, 1804.
259 Lydia, b. May 10, 1806; m. Frederick Goodell.
260 Elijah Bradford, b. Aug. 4, 1808.
261 Lyman Crawford, b. Sept. 22, 1810.
262 George, b. Feb. 7, 1813.
Charles, b. Aug. 20, 1816; m. Jane Gorham, b. Oct. 26,
1818; d. Aug. 23, 1{^72, dau. of Isaac Gorham and Ee-
becca Hall. Farmer; Eep. ; Cong. Eem. to St. Johns-
bury, Vt. where he d. Feb. 26, 1899. No children.
120 Joseph^ Eanney (Elijah^ Ephraim*, Thomas^ Thomas^,
Thomas^), b. Dec. 25, 1779, Westminster West, Vt.; m. (1) May
8, 1800, Mercy" Hamblen, b. Oct. 27, 1781. Yarmouth, Mass.;
d. Feb. 13, 1812, Westminster West, dau. of Joseph'^ Hamblen,
( *, Isaac^, Eleazar-, James^) and Susan Hedge; m. (2)
Mar. 11, 1813, Tryphena Hitchcock, b. May 28, 1779, Westminster;
d. Sept. 19, 1823, aged 34 years, dau. of Heli Hitchcock of Brim-
field, Mass., and Tryphena Goodell. (The father of Joseph®,
Deacon Elijah^, married (2) the widow of Heli Hitchcock and so
became stepfather to his own son. A son of Joseph remembered
harnessing the horse of his grandfather, Elijah", to go courting his
248 MIDDLETOWN" UPPEE HOUSES
maternal grandmother) ; m. (3) Mar. 11, 1824, Westminster West,
Mrs. Priscilla Farnham Arnold, b. Oct. 26, 1789, widow of Am-
brose Arnold and adopted daughter of JoeP Eanney and Rebecca
Hall.
Joseph® Eanney d. Mar. 1, 1845. He was of almost giant
stature and strength, holding his three-year-old daughter on his
open hand with his arm straightened before him. He was an
original member of the militia company commanded by Capt.
Ephraim Eanney, Jr. His son, Henry Porteus, resides on the
farm cleared by Elijah^.
Cliildren hy 1st marriage:
Matilda, b. Sept. 28, 1801 ; d. Nov. 22, 1804.
263 Aretas, b. Nov. 14, 1803.
264 Philetus, b. Jan. 8, 1806.
Matilda, b. May 20, 1808; d. unm. July 18, 1824.
265 Ira Patterson, 'b. Oct. 3, 1810.
Cliildren hy 2d marriage:
Joseph Eoot, b. Dec. 17, 1813; d. Aug. 1816.
266 Timothy Emerson, b. Jan. 17, 1815.
267 Joseph Addison, b. Feb. 17, 1817.
Infant, b. Sept. 5, 1818; d. Nov. 5. 1818.
Heli Hitchcock, b. Sept. 5, 1819; d. Dec. 6, 1819.
Samuel Eoot, b. Oct. 12, 1820; d. Feb. 24, 1821.
Harvey, b. Nov. 26, 1821; d. Jan. 4, 1826.
Cliildren hy 3d marriage:
268 Joel Arnold, b. Dec. 9, 1824.
269 Eollin Wallace, b. Nov. 29, 1826.
27G Henry Porteus, b. Jan. 30, 1829.
Eebecca Priscilla, b. Jan. 21, 1833 ; d. Apr. 18, 1844.
121 Elizabeth® Eanney (Elijah% Ephraim*, Thomas^
Thomas-, Thomas^), b. , Westminster West; d. ;
m. Levi Harlow, son of Eleazar Harlow of Taunton, Mass., who,
at age of 20, in 1758, rem. to help settle Westminster and m. Ehoda
Alexander of Northfield, Mass.
Children;.
Eleazar, b. June 18, 1797; m. Euth Owen
Achsahlana, b. June 13, 1799; m. (1) Barnabas Clark; (2)
Elijah Clark.
Eoxalana, b. June 13, 1799; m. Jesse Button.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 249
122 DanieP Eanney (DanieP, Ephraim*, Thomas^, Thomas',
Thomas^), b. Apr. 14, 1781, Chester, A^t.; m. Aug. 2, 1802,
Stockbridge, Vt., Martha Holland, b. June 11. 1783. He was a
mem. of the Legislature.
Children :
271 Eoswell, b. Sept. 17, 1804.
Sarah, b. Dee. 9, 1806; m. Dec. 15, 1830, David Avery,
b. Oct. 22, 1801. Children:
Silas, b. May 17, 1832.
Sarah Eanney, b. Oct. 4, 1842.
272 Daniel Holland, b. Sept. 26, 1808.
273 Silas, b. Feb. 21, 1810.
274 Eeuben, b. Oct. 31, 1811.
Moses, b. Nov. 1, 1813; d. July 19, 1843; m. June 27, 1843,
New York, Sarah Eogers.
275 Martha Gile, b. Aug. 25, 1816; m. Africa Davis.
276 Lucinda Holland, b. Feb. 19, 1819; m. Chas. A. Thomas.
277 Jonathan Holland, b. June 2, 1822.
278 Joel, b. June 4. 1825.
123 Moses® Eanney (DanieP, Ephraim*, Thomas^, Thomas-,
Thomas^), b. Mar. 28, 1783, Chester, Vt.; m. Nov. 11, 1813,
Bridgewater, Vt., Prudentia Wood Osborn, b. Mar. 27, 1793, Ware,
Mass. ; d. Jan. 10, 1864, the sixth child of John Osborn of Woburn,
Mass., and Elizabeth Clark. He d. x\pr. 12, 1858. She d. .
Child:
279 Moses Harris, b. Aug. 16, 1814.
124 Mary® Eannev (DanieP, Ephraim*, Thomas^, Thomas',
Thomas^), b. July 26, 1791, Stockbridge, Vt.; m. 1810, Stock-
bridge, Vt., Jonathan Holland, b. 1785; d. Aug. 29, 1841, Stock-
bridge, son of Eeuben Holland and Joan Cobb. He served in
War of 1812, farmer; Univ. Ch. She d. mem. Cong. Ch. and d.
Sept. 1, 1878, Stockbridge, Vt.
Children:
Mary, b. 1811; m. Enos Chandler.
Eunice, b. 1813; m. Thomas Hunt.
Pattv, b. 1817; m. Joseph Howe.
280 Sarah, b. 1821; m. Nathan Davis.
281 Lucv, b. Julv 3, 1825; m. Chas. Luther.
282 Jonathan J.,"b. 1829.
250 MIDDLETO^N UPPER HOUSES
125 JoeP Eanney (DanieP^ Ephraim*, Thomas^ Thomas^
Thomas^), b. May 9, 1805, Stockbridge, Vt; m. Nov. 8, 1826,
Rochester, Vt., Elizabeth T. Morse, b. 1800; d. July 18, 1858,
Metamora, 111., dau. of Capt. Parker Morse who rem. 1835, to
111. JoeP rem. 1838, to Metamora, 111., Dea. of Cong. Ch. ;_ ac-
tive in temperance matters, strongly anti-slavery, a man of ability
and aggressiveness, d. Jan. 13, 1848, Metamora, 111.
Children:
283 Esther Jane, b. July 27, 1829; m. Alvin Packard.
284 Joel Alden, b. Oct. 18, 1831.
Elizabeth Ellen, b. Oct. 18, 1831; d. May 31, 1832.
126 Waitstill Randolph® Ranney (WaitstilP, Ephraim*,
ThomasS Thomas^, Thomas^), b. May 23, 1791, Chester, Vt.;
d. Aug. 23, 1853, West Townsend, Vt; m. (1) , 1811,
Chester, Vt., Phebe Atwood, b. Nov. 28, 1789, Chester, Vt; d.
July 7, 1844, dau. of Jeremiah Atwood and Zilpha Willard; m.
(2) Apr. 29, 1846, Mrs. Mary A. Cook.
Waitstill Randolph Ranney, second child of Waitstill Ranney.
was born in the village of Chester, Vt. His father removed to
a 1000 acre farm, 3 miles from the village, and the two boys
walked this distance to school for 12 weeks of the winter; yet at
16 years of age they were teachers. As a scholar he always ex-
celled his classmates and showed at a very early age a strong desire
for learning. He often told of passing Harvard College when
a boy, driving to market some swine, and of seeing students in
those enchanted grounds. A man of learning and of influence
seemed to his young heart to be as much above the common herd
as he above his drove, little thinking he was ever to stand on that
high ground. But in after life he felt that his early training, its
hardships, its self-denials, and .even its temptations, helped form
whatever was worthy in his character. At sixteen years of age his
father took him to Charleston, N. H., to the Rev. M. Foster's High
School, knowing but little of the time or money fully needed to
educate him through a term of years. A literary course began,
and with it a studiousness from twelve to fourteen hours a day.
Instead of needing three years in preparation he had in one year
mastered six books of Aeneid, four Orations of Cicero, and the
four Evangelists in Greek. By an accident he was prevented from
entering in the fall, but taught through the winter, and in the
spring entered Middlebury College with the class of the former
year. Leaving college at nineteen he taught for some months in
the academy at Malone, N. Y., and returned to his Chester horfie
Waitstill IvANDOLPH Ranney
(See page 250)
Ambrose Arnold Eanney
(See page 333)
Group of Thirteen Children of Dr. Waitsth.l Randolph Kanney
(See page 254)
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 251
where at the age of twenty he married Phebe Atwood. He studied
medicine at Dartmouth College and then settled in West Town-
shend where at the age of twenty-two in 1814 he commenced the
practice of his profession, and often remarked : " If I could live
a hundred lives I would be a physician every time." In an ad-
dress before Woodstock Medical College he said : " But there are
men in the practice of medicine who stand unmoved by trials or
temptations of gain — men of sensitive minds and conscientious
hearts, who, as Philosophers and Philanthropists are an honor to
their profession and the world, who are willing to sacrifice ease
and comfort for the drudgery of professional life; who live to
alleviate the sufferings of the distressed; to heal where it is pos-
sible; to support the dying head; to wipe from the brow the
gathering damps of death, pointing the departing spirit to the
painless realms above." Again : " Though Heaven and earth at-
test to his faithfulness and skill, yet upon him rests the responsi-
bility to the patient — to the friends, and to God." In poverty and
strong competition for eight years he struggled on with a family
of children now numbering seven, relying alone on the income of
his profession for support. The riding over those high hills
and long roads, through rain and hail, and drifting snows, with
no conveyance for the journey but a horse's back, and all with
the miserable pittance then meted out for such services, might
have made the stoutest heart quail. Yet, with an endurance
seldom equalled, and a frugality, at this day hardly known, he
supported his rapidly increasing family, and even laid by some-
thing for future investments.
In 1822 he purchased a farm half a mile from the village and
connected agricultural pursuits with professional duties. The
indebtedness on the farm was paid; the nine sons were all well
educated in the public schools; seven of them were prepared to
enter the learned professions ; four of them were sent to be col-
legiately instructed. In 1837 the farm was relinquished to a
son and he removed to the center of the village of the town near
the academy. His wife after a long illness from cancer died.
July 6, 1844, and in 1846 he married Mrs. Mary A. Cook. In
1849 his health began to fail. In his sixty-third year he was
gathered in, fully ripe for the harvest, clearly sensible of his
condition, and all things made ready. Conspicuous in his death
as in life; strong in faith; calm in his trust; childlike in his
simplicity.
He was interested in every philanthropic enterprise, active in
the town, the church and the State. He was a member of a
Constitutional convention, of the house of the General Assembly,
252 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
three years in the State Senate, for two years Lieut.-Governor of
the State, and came within one vote of being elected U. S.
Senator. He presided on the summit of the Green Mountains
when Daniel Webster gathered his many thousands to that wil-
derness, to urge them to save their country from corruption and dis-
union. He often lectured before literary institutions, agricultural
and medical societies. As a statesman, he was far above all wire-
pulling or office seeking., No enemy ever dared to assert that any
corruption or bribery was ever practiced on him. Far removed
from any similar purpose, he was selected and voted for by those
who knew his abilities, and needed his services. The Legislative
body that passed an act to appropriate the national surplus reve-
nue to the use of Common Schools well remember his remarks on
that occasion, it being an extra session. Many a scheme had been
devised to turn these funds to internal improvement, banking pur-
poses, etc., and the speakers were ready to urge through their
plans, but they were all thwarted, and their schemes so effectually
exposed, that no answer was made, and an adjournment as a com-
pliment to the speaker was immediately carried.
He was a man of wonderful physical vigor and endurance; he
had a mind of a capacity far above the ordinary standard; his ap-
plication and achievement in the varied departments of life, under
all his embarrassments were almost incredible. As a Christian
statesman he was a model politician; as a citizen he was upright,
and a man of great usefulness; as a husband and father, devoted
in his attachments, impartial in all his acts, and worthy of the
highest love. As a Christian, consistent, active, faithful, prayer-
ful, living his religion and dying in its full enjoyment. (The
above is principally from "Lives of Eminent Americans.")
The compiler of this work has in his possession a private letter
written Sept. 1, 1879, by a son of Dr. Ranney to a distant cousin
of whom he had till then not heard, the Rev. Timothy Emerson
Ranney, from which the following is taken : " My father, consider-
ing his humble birth and limited opportunities in an obscure place,
was a man of marked ability. He combined all the traits of char-
acter which make one a master of the situation. Of commanding
affection, good address he was one to whom the world looked up as
a leader in the affairs of town, church and State. As a physician
he was an authority, as a successful financier in a small way he
never had a peer. The rearing of thirteen children to manhood
with no bad habits and with good education for those days at an
expense of from eight to ten thousand dollars from a limited in-
come and no capital to start with is a marvel the world now knows
nothing of. As a politician he never resorted to chicanery, or irregu-
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS RANNEY 253
lar methods of vote buying. As an executor of trusts he never
swerved an iora from the strict rules of right and justice. He was
honored in town as a man of large ability, in every position in the
family or church or as physician, and in the offices he filled as
representative, Senator and Lieut.-Governor. His memory has
left to his children a sweet savor. The thirteen children, all
married, survived him for many years, had many reunions at
the old homestead in West Townshend, and in Chester, the
town of his birth. His children and grandchildren there re-
hearsed the scenes of childhood and cemented more closely the
family tie.
There were nine sons, six of them physicians, one clergyman, ow^
lawyer and one farmer. Most of them have been very successful
in their business and esteemed as men. Five successful physicians
in New York City, one a lawyer of large wealth, the brother clergy-
man graduating at Middlebury College, whom you knew, the other,
one of the New York physicians whom you knew, had by success-
ful practice accumulated quite a fortune. The sisters have all
passed away. One married a lawyer after a successful career as
teacher in Brooklyn, the other three married farmers, worthy men
of means, respected and loved by all who knew them."
The first reunion of the children at the old homestead was on
June 1, 1846, to celebrate the father's fifty-sixth birthday. Three
were held in his lifetime. The eighth was held in Chester in
1866, for four days, and its record is in a pamphlet of forty-eight
pages. In 1855 a volume of "Reminiscences" was published, con-
taining many letters addressed by him to his children at various
times and under varying circumstances. They reveal his inner
manhood. It contains his addresses to his children and grand-
children at the reunions. The following is from the address of
his oldest son on May 28, 1851, when 23 children and 18 grand-
children were present:
" We are all here !
Father, mother.
Sister, brother.
All who hold each other deai\
Each chair is filled, we're all at home.
It is not often that around
Our old familiar hearth we're found.
Bless thus the meeting and the spot.
For once be every care forgot ;
Let gentle peace assert her power.
And kind affection rule the hour.
We're all. all here ! "
254 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
Children :
285 Evander Willard, b. Nov. 1, 1811.
286 Darwin Harlow, b. Dec. 13, 1812.
287 Stella Laiirenza, b. July 4, 1814.
288 Alfred Atwood, b. June 24, 1816.
289 Henry Davis, b. Oct. 31, 1817.
290 Lafayette, b. Aug. 16, 1819.
291 Ambrose Arnold, b. Apr. 16, 1821.
292 Stepben Eleazer, b. Sept. 17, 1822.
293 James Waitstill, b. Sept. 23, 1824.
294 Helen Louisa, b. Feb. 10, 1826.
295 Frances Sophia, b. Jan. 25, 1828.
296 Martin Luther, b. Jan. 20, 1830.
297 Mary Angeline, b. Aug. 20, 1832.
127 Eev. Seth ShailerV Arnold (Esther^ Ranney, Ephraim*,
Thomas^ Thomas-, Thomas^), b. Feb. 22, 1788, Westminster, Vt.;
m. (1) Ann House of Hebron, Ct, ; m. (2) Mrs. Mary Grout
of Ackworth. N. H. ; Grad. 1812, Middlebury Coll.; studied the-
ology with Rev. Dr. Breckenridge in Washington, D. C, and Rev.
Sylvester Sage in Westminster. Pastor in various places, d. Apr. 3,
1871, Ascutneyville, Vt.
Children :
Olivia, b. ; m. 1852, Newton Gage. She res. As-
cutneyville, Vt.
Mary Ann, b. Nov. 16, 1817; m. 1846, Rev. Alfred Stevens,
pastor at Westminster, Vt., for 40 years. Local historian.
She d. 1857, he d. 1893.
Sophia, b. ; d. while student at Mt. Holyoke Sem.
Caroline, b. 1827; m. 1850, Albert L. Waite.
128 Ambrose Tyler^ Arnold (Esther^ Ranney, Ephraim*,
Thomas^ Thomas^, Thomas^), b. Nov. 19, 1790, Westminster, Vt. ;
d. Dec. 2, 1818, Westminster; m. Oct. 26, 1814, Priscilla Farn-
ham, b. Oct. 26, 1789, Walpole, N. H. ; d. Apr. 28, 1871, West-
minster. She was the adopted daughter of JoeP Ranney and m.
(2) Mar. 11, 1824, Joseph" Ranney as his 3d wife.
Children :
298 Ambrose, b. June 19, 1815.
299 Fenelon, b. Jan. 25, 1817.
129 Rev. Joel Ranney*^ Arnold (Esther^ Ranney, Ephraim*,
Thomas^ Thomas2, Thomas^), b. Apr. 25, 1794, Westminster, Vt. ;
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 255
m. Julia Arnold. Grad. Middlebiiry Coll., studied luedicine then
theology with Eev. Sylvester Sage and his brother, Kev. Seth
Shailer Arnold. Settled 14 years at Chester, N. H. and many
years in Colchester, Conn. Eleven children.
130 James'' Eanney (Janna^. Ephraim"*, Thomas^, Thomas-,
Thomas^), b. Apr. 30, 1790, Westminster, Vt.; m. May 22, 1811,
Rebecca Parker, b. June 30, 1790, Springfield, Vt.; d. June 17,
1833, Delaware, Ohio, dau. of Isaac Parker and Elizabeth Walker.
Prof, of Languages; res. in Ohio; then in Ala; d. June, 1835,
Claiborne, Ala.
Children :
300 Ralph Parker, b. Mar. 12, 1812.
Lewis Phelps, b. July 10, 1814; d. Feb., 1817.
301 Lewis H., b. Oct. 18, 1817.
302 Isaac, b. Feb. 21, 1820.
130a George" Andrus (Sarah^ Ranney, Willett% Willett^'
Thomas-, Thomas^), b. Oct. 11, 1789; m. Aug. 16, 1810, Angelina
Betts, dau. of Capt. Jesse Belts and Mary Jarvis of Norwalk,
Ct. He was prominent in business life and had 12 children.
Almira^ b. Apr. 24, 1815; d. Sept. 6. 1897; m. Elihu Allen,
b. Aug. 3, 1806, son of Joseph Allen and Prudence Earl,
descendant of George Allen, who came, 1635, from Wey-
mouth, Eng., to Massachusetts, and of Ralph Earl who in
1638 arrived at Newport, R. I. Following the trade of
his father, he was for over 50 years " the village black-
smith." He d. July 16, 1886, Pierrepont Manor, N. Y.
George^ Allen, b. Mar. 1, 1840, attended the Zion Ch.
School. R. R. clerk 1864-1891. Since then with Citizen's
Nat. Bank, Adams, N. Y.
130b Delia Ann" Willis (SybiP Rannev, Willett*, Willett^,
Thomas2, Thomas^), b.l793; d. 1860; m. Sept. 15, 1816, Adams,
N. Y., William Hart, b. 1786, Clinton, N. Y., d. Nov. 6, 1834, son
256 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
of Amasa Hart and Phebe Roberts, who rem. from Bristol, Conn., to
Clinton, N. Y.
Children :
James Munroe, b. July 29, 1817; d. unm. Aug. 14, 1896,
Oswego, N. Y.
William Dwight, b. 1818; d. unm. 1898, Adams, N. Y.
George, b. ; d. .
Henry, b. ; d. , age 28,
Delia, b. 1828; d. Nov. 1859, Oswego, N. Y. ; m. Naaman
Hunger ford.
302a John Jay, b. Mar. 13, 1831.
131 Willett Ranney*^ Willis (bro. to Delia Ann), b. Feb. 22,
1799, Cayuga, N. Y.; d. Jan. 27, 1877, Adams, N. Y. ; m. May 19,
1829, West Schuyler, N. Y., Mary Burch b. Oct. 27, 1800 ; d. Sept.
2, 1882, dau. of Robert Burch and Polly Spaulding. He was a
woolen manufacturer for over 50 years. Was a noted abolitionist
co-operating with Gerritt Smith in conducting a station of the
underground railroad to Canada, a Republican and Presbyterian.
Children :
Mary Sybil, b. Dec. 3. 1830; m. D. W. Hawley, res. Roches-
ter, N. Y.
Elizabeth, b. July 20, 1832; d. May, 1903; m. Thomas
Coughlan; dau. is Mrs. James W. Taylor, N". Y. City.
Robert Burch, b. Sept. 6, 1834; d. July 9, 1800.
Isaac Burch, b. Aug. 27, 1836; d. Jan. 8, 1889; m. Feb.
15, 1865, Brooklyn, N", Y., Agnes Rebecca Smith, b.
Mar. 27, 1841, Stamford, Ct. ; dau. of Joseph Smith
and Caroline Elizabeth Lockwood. He was a mer-
chant, F. & A. M., Rep., Epis. Child:
Ida Agnes, b. Oct. 2, 1869, New Rochelle, N. Y. ; m. Oct.
30, 1895, Stamford, Ct., Frederick Werner, b. Aug. 2,
1854, Albanv, N. Y. ; lawyer. Rep.. Presb. ; res. Stam-
ford, Ct.
303 Willett Ranney, b. Sept. 15, 1839.
Katherine, b. Jan. 20, 1842; m. G. W. Mackie, she res.
Adams, N. Y.
132 Anson" Ranney (Willett^ Willett*, Willett^, Thomas^,
Thomas^), b. Aug. 5, 1802: m. Sept. 13, 1832, Watertown, N. Y.,
Mary Ann Eliza Gasner, the adopted daughter of Olney Pearce,
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS RANNEY 257
the officiating clergyman being the Eev. George S. Boardman.
His death occiirred Mar. 31, 1859. She d. Mar. 31, 1852, aged 39
years. As Anson Eanney had injured himself in the woods when
a boy his father determined to make a business man of him.
From a sketch of him by Mr. Joseph Fayel in the Watertown
Daily Standard of May 19, 1906, it is gathered that Anson was nat-
urally a very quick and studious boy and was also fond of reading
all books that he could buy or borrow. While he was suffering under
his infirmities kind friends would bring him text books, and by
studious application he became a good English scholar. He
mastered the intricacies of higher mathematics without a teacher,
and was a fine and rapid penman. He became a clerk in the store
of Olney Pearce in Watertown, a very prominent merchant and
public spirited citizen, marrying his adopted daughter and be-
coming his partner in the business, which was established at
Tlieresa. There were then but a few scattering houses there and
the ashes gathered from burning the timber in clearing lands was
about the only commodity the people had to sell in exchange for
store goods. The ashes were manufactured into potash, then a'
valuable article of commerce. Mr. Eanney had a literary turn of
mind and spent his evenings in congenial pursuits. He was a
worker in the Presbyterian Church and was of the Henry Clay
stamp in politics, very liberal in church schools and public affairs.
He was the pioneer in improving the power at the falls on Indian
Eiver. In 1834 he constructed a dam and in 1838 erected a large
flouring mill.
Children:
Ann Eliza, b. Aug. 18, 1834; d. Aug. 29, 1854, Lockport, N.
Y. ; m. May 19, 1853, Dr. Josiah Hammond Helmer.
b. Jan. 23, 1821; d. Aug. 19, 1904, Theresa, N. Y.
While a physician, he also engaged in railroad and
m'fg enterprises. He rem. to Lockport in 1852, and
was quite prominent in the church. Child:
Anna Florence, b. Apr. 27, 1854; m. Charles Lowery
Snow. Ees. Buffalo, N. Y. Child:
Helmer, b. Mar. 17, 1881. Ees. Newark, N. J.
Willett, b. Mar. 1, 1836; d. May 2, 1840.
Edward Ferguson, b. Jan. 22, 1838; d. Apr. 18, 1839.
Edward Willett, b. July 31, 1840; d. Sept. 17, 1841.
Olney Pearce, b. Sept. 1, 1842; d. May 30, 1869; m. Nov. 10.
1864, Annie E. Fernald who res. Washington, D. C.
Philip, b. Oct. 23, 1845; d. June, 1905, N. Y. City. First
Lieut. Co. K, 26th N. Y. Cav. Vols., mustered out at close
of war; in lumber business in Lockport, N. Y. ; Capt.
258 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
7th Separate Co. N. Y. S N. G. ; 1877 to Chicago ; 1880-
84 lumber business in St. Paul, later in gold mining.
Anson, b. Oct. 1, 1847; d. Jan. 25, 1849.
133 John^ Eanney (Willett^ Willett*, Willett^ ThomaV,
Thomas^), b. Jan. 16," 1803, Rome, N". Y. ; d. Aug., 1891. at the
residence of his son, George, in Cannonsburg, Mich. ; m. Mar. 29,
1827, Lovina Bristol, b. Aug. 18, 1805; d. Mar. 29, 1866. He
was a farmer at Smithville, JST. Y., then a pioneer in Greeley, Col.
Children :
George, b. Aug. 26, 1828 ; m. Jan», 1858, Cornelia Smith.
No chil. ; Res. Cannonsburg, Mich.
304 Willett Phineas, b. Sept. 1, 1830.
305 Daniel Bristol, b. Jan. 2, 1834.
De Elbert, b. June 28, 1839; d. Feb. 7, 1887; m. 1869, Eva
Chappell of Green Bay.
Mary Butler, b. Sept. 1,1841; m. June 16, 1872, James M.
Hungerford. Res. Toronto, Canada.
306 Martha Cornelia, b. May 2, 1845.
Emma Jeannette, b. Mar. 13, 1851; d. May, 1898; m. Julius
Marx; dau. Edith, b. Oct. 1874. Res. Denver, Col.
134 Sophronia" Ranney (Willett% Willett*, Willett^ Thomas-,
Thomas^), b. Mar. 31, 1807, Rome, N. Y.; m. Feb. 9, 1832, Red-
field, N. Y., Reuben Drake, b. Jan. 15, 1801, Redfield, N. Y. ; d.
Feb. 5, 1895, Wabasha, Minn. He was app. by President Jackson
postmaster at Redfield and held it for 30 years, then P. M. for some
years at Beaver, Minn.; 1846, N". Y. Legislature; J. P. of Redfield
for years. She was a mem. of Disciples Ch. and d. Feb. 15, 1887,
Beaver, Minn.
Children :
307 Ellen, b. Dec. 1, 1832 ; m. G. T. Knowles.
308 Jeannette, b. Aug. 8, 1836; m. J. R. Martin.
309 Brayton, b. Nov. 18, 1838.
310 Margaret, b. Apr. 25, 1842; m. Wm. Buckingham.
135 Mary« Ranney (Willett^ Willett^ Willett^ Thomas^,
Thomas^), b. Feb. 1, 1809, Rome, N". Y.; d. May 20, 1899, Akron,
0.; m. Jan. 25, 1832, Volney Chamberlain, b. Dec. 5, 1804, Rod-
field, N". Y.; d. Apr. 23, 1885, Stow, 0., son of Ebenezer Chamber-
lain and Susanna Jones of Middletown, Ct.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 259
Children :
Orville Le Grand, b. Oct. 29, 1832, Redfield, N. Y.; d.
Mar. 22, 1885, Shreveport, La.; m. June 19, 1860.
Alexandria, La., Maria E. Grogan, b. ; d,
June 23, 1887, Alexandria, La. He was rhechanical
engineer, Captain in Confederate Army. Children:
James W., b. May 8, 1861.
Charles V., b. Jan. 19, 1863; d. June 6, 1869.
Marian Gertrude, b. Nov. 6, 1837; unm., res. Akron, 0,
Leora Esther, b. Oct., 1840; m. Oct. 2, 1866, Stow, 0., John
Deuble, b. Mar. 15, 1842, Canton, 0.; d. Oct. 4, 1894;
druggist; Q. M. S. and 2d Lieut. Co. H, 115th Reg.,
0. V. I., Aug. 12, 1862— June 22, 1865. Widow res.
Akron, 0. Children:
Grace Kent, b. Mar. 22, 1868; m. Dec. 10, 1898, Geo.
Probert, b. Feb. 22, 1870; bookkeeper. Rep., F. &
A. M., K. of P.; res. Akron, 0. Children:
Marion Lucille, b. Nov. 4, 1900.
Willett Kennette, b. Nov. 10, 1903.
James Willett, b. Oct. 6, 1843; m. Nov. 16, 1871, Emma
Virginia Fay. b. Apr. 5, 1845, Akron, 0., dau. of
Nahum Fay and Lucia Cummings; Meth., D. A. R.
He is mech. engineer. Rep., Serg. Co. C, 115th 0. V. I.,
Aug. 10, 1862— June 22, 1865; G. A. R. ; res. Akron,
Ohio.
Charles Lester, b. June 28, 1846, Redfield, N. Y. ; d. Aug.
20, 1899, Wabasha, Minn.; m. Nov. 20, 1870, Loretta
Woodard, b. Sept. 27, 1846, of English ancestry; Rep.,
Cong., F. & A. M., lumber, active in public improve-
ments. Widow res. Wabasha, Minn. Children:
Edith, b. July 11, 1875.
Mary Gertrude, b. Aug.- 5, 1877.
Willett Ranney, b. Dec. 1, 1879; m. May 6, 1903, Etta
Monroe, b. Dec. 25, 1878, of Scotch ancestry. Res.
Wabasha, Minn. Child:
Charles Kenneth, b. Mar. 26, 1906.
Bessie Leora, b. Dec. 22, 1883.
p]dgar Volney, b. Oct. 4, 1851; d. May 14, 1891; m. Feb. 3,
1875, Mary C. Bradley, b. July 12, 1850, Streetboro, 0.,
dau. of Geo. Bradley and Nancy Paulina. Res. Kent, 0.
136 Jeanette'^ Rannev (Willett^ Willett*, Willett^ Thomas2,
Thomas^), b. Nov. 22, 1811, Smithville, N. Y. ; d. Mar. 15, 1894,
St. Paul, Minn. ; m. , 1844, Dr. Sheldon Brooks, b.— son of —
260 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
In 1856 ill health sent Dr. Brooks to the territory of Minne-
sota, where he built a home in the White Water Valley, laid
out a town and named it Beaver. Minnesota was admitted as a
State in 1868. He was a member of the second session of its
legislature, making the journey to St. Paul, 30 hours distant by
stage-relays up the frozen Mississippi. All that goes to make
pioneer life Jeanette Eanney Brooks and Dr. Brooks experienced.
They resided later at Minneiska and Winona, he dying in the
latter place . The widow then resided with her chil-
dren in St. Paul until her death.
Children :
George, b. Jan., 1845; d. Sept. 3, 1861.
311 Lester Eanney, b. May 19, 1847.
312 Dwight Frederic, b. June 10, 1849.
313 Anson Strong, b. Sept. 6, 1852.
137 Orville Willett^ Eannv (same as supra), b. 1814,
Adams, N. Y. ; m. 1851, Amelia E. Goodale, who d. Nov., 1903.
Buffalo, N. Y., the daughter of Dr. Goodale of Watertown, N. Y.
At 15 he was a clerk in his brother Anson's store. In 1835 he was
with Carrington & Pratt of Oswego. In 1839 in Salina with
McCarthy & Son. In 1844 he rem. to Buffalo and engaged in the
salt trade with great success until the law of 1859 changed the
current. Then he became a mfr. He d. 1883.
Child:
Jeannette, b. 1855, Watertown, N. Y. ; m. 1872, Frank Pease.
Child:
Marguerite, b. 1873, is a teacher where her mother re-
sides, Colorado Springs, Col.
137a Lester" Eanney (Bro. to Anson), b. Sept. 29, 1815: d.
Apr. 10, 1887; m. Olive'Mahala Wood, b. Aug. 21, 1821, d. Dec. 26,
1895. He bought all the other interests in the home farm and died
on the old homestead. He dealt largely in neat cattle for years.
The old homestead was for years the rallying place of the Willett
Eanney clan.
Children :
Charles Anson, b. Mar. 14, 1846; d. Apr. 15, 1847.
Orville Wood, b. Mar. 5, 1849, unm. Ees. on the old home-
stead, dealer in neat cattle.
Lester Brodner, b. Aug. 27, 1859 ; d. Apr. 22, 1874.
K *
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS KANNEY 261
138 Norman*' Eanney (Butler^ Willett% Willett^ Thomas%
Thomas^), b. Watertown, N. Y. ; m. 1830, Amelia Bagley, dan. of
Henry Bagley and Mary Boynton. He rem. to Canton, 111.
Children :
314 Minerva Caroline, b. 1831; m. 1851, Jesse Logan Jones, d.
July 3. 1884, Henry, 111. She res. Omaha, Neb. Chil-
dren: Joseph A. and Wylie L, Ees. Omaha, Neb.
314a Julia, b. 1833; d. 1863; m. A. W. Poole, d. 1888. Children:
Amelia, m. William McDougal.
Jennie, m. F. T. McCoy.
Minera, m. Walter Eeynolds. Ees. Chicago, 111. *
315 Zenana Amelia, b. Mar. 25, 1836; d. Oct. 4, 1880; m. Nov.
9, 1853, Joseph Henderson Jones, b. Apr. 30, 1832,
Washington Co., Ind. Merchant, Presb. Ees. Henry,
111 ClzttdTBTl '
Elizabeth Eva, b. Aug. 15, 1856 ; d. Jan. 6, 1860.
Ida Amelia, b. July 18, 1858; m. Harry Lea Gregory.
Ees. Vincennes, Ind.
Cannah, b. Dec. 16, 1861; m. Hattie Eiley. Ees. Vin-
cennes, Ind.
John Logan, b. Jan. 14, 1864 ; m. Cora Lane. Ees. Peoria,
Illinois.
Julia, b. June 1, 1867 ; m. Nov. 9, 1893, Charles Sumner
Crary, b. Nov. 14, 1863, Fort Eecovery, 0. Manu-
facturer, Eep., F. & A. M. Ees. Hoopeston, 111.
Children :
Zenana, b. Dec. 12, 1894.
Marcella, b. Jan. 10, 1899.
Ida, b. Jan. 6, 1901.
Sumner, b. Apr. 21, 1903 ; d. Mar. 11, 1905.
Virginia, b. Apr. 21, 1903.
Norman Eanney, b. Nov. 13, 1873; d. May 11, 1888.
139 Samuel HalF' Eanney (Oeorge^ Georsfe*. George^
Thomas^ Thomas^), b. Mar. 6, 1772. Chatham, Ct,; m. Polly
Stewart of Branford, Ct. Eem. to Ashfield, Mass., and settled on
the farm adj. his father's. In 1821 he built the two-story house
still standing. In 1836, he rem. to Phelps, N. Y. where he d.
June 27, 1837. She d. abt. 1850, Michigan.
Children :
317a Lucretia, b. June 17, 1796; m. (1) Lemuel Sears; m. (2)
1820, Col. Nehemiah Hathaway.
Z62 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
Braddock, b. May 20, 1800; d. Sept. 6, 1803.
Harriet, b. Mar. "12, 1802; d. Aug. 22, 1803.
318 William, b. Sept. 6, 1805.
Dexter, b. June 5, 1808; drowned Aug. 22, 1850, Grand
Rapids, Mich. ; m. Laura Robinson.
Lucius, b. June 12, 1812; d. Feb. 1, 1815.
Julia, b. Nov. 7, 1815; d. unm. Sept., 1838.
Emily, b. Jan. 9, 1818; d. Apr. 22, 1837; m. Dr. James
Davis.
319 Frederick Thompson, b. Mar. 12, 1820.
140 Jesse^ , Ranney (George^, George*, George^ Thomas^,
Thomas^), b. Oct. 13. 1775, Chatham, Ct.; m. Dec. 5, 1798, Ruth
Flower, dau. of Bildad Flower. He settled on the farm in Ash-
field next north of his father's. This he sold in 1818 to his
brother Joseph and purchased another farm on which he died July
18, 1861. For many years he had been an active member of the
Baptist Church, " was a man of sterling good sense ; of retiring
disposition; of exemplary life, and most esteemed by those who
knew him best." She d.'Sept. 4, 1868.
Children :
320 James, b. Sept. 15, 1799.
Bildad, b. Feb. 27, 1802; d. Aug. 4, 1815.
321 Charles, b. Dec. 4, 1803.
322 Hannah, b. Dec. 16, 1805; m. Richard Ellis.
323 Erastus, b. Oct. 8, 1807.
324 Amanda, b. Aug. 17, 1809; d. Oct. 19, 1884; m. (1) Elijah
Richmond; (2) Wilson Elmer.
325 Edwin E., b. July 25, 1811.
Polly, b. Feb. 16, 1815 ; d. 1870 ; m. A. F. Daniels.
Lucretia, b. Feb. 9, 1819; m. Darius Cross.
326 Ruth Ann, b. June 23, 1821; m. Sylvester W. Hall.
141 Joseph® Ranney (George^, George*, George^, Thomas-,
Thomas^), b. July, 1777, Chatham, Ct.; m. June 18, 1801, Sarah
Waterman of Chatham, b.- — ; d. Sept. 9, 1825, Ashfield.
Mass., dau. of Capt. Joseph Waterman; m. (2) Feb. 26, 1826,
Tempey Eldridge; m. (3) May 17, 1831, Lucy Selden, widow
of Lemuel Eldridge. In 1810 he and his wife sold their interest
in her father's estate, and he bought a home in Chatham, where
he worked in the quarries. He remained tjiere till 1818, when he
ret. to Ashfield. He was killed in his wood lot bv a blow from a
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS RANNEY 263
falling tree. He was a member of the Episcopal Church. He d.
Jan. 15, 1838. She d. July 19, 1862.
Children :
Clarissa, b. 1803 ; d. before 1830.
Harriet, b. Sept., 1805 ; m. Lyman Williams.
Samuel, b. 1807 ; lived 7 days.
Emily, b. Dec, 1808; d. Apr. 3, 1811.
327 Samuel Allen, b. Sept., 1811.
Edward, b. Nov. 9, 1814; d. Dec. 15, 1839; m. Nov.. 1837,
Marvilla Selden. No children.
328 Sarah Amelia, b. Nov., 1817; m. Levi C. Kingman.
329 Eliza Ann, b. Sept. 9, 1820; m. Samuel Kingman.
330 Sabra, b. Dec. 25, 1828 ; m. Oscar Richardson.
331 Clarissa, b. Dec. 7, 1832 ; d. Sept. 5, 1892 ; m. C. T. Parker.
142 Esther'' Ranney (George^, George*, George^, Thomas^,
Thomas^), b. Mar. 5, 1784; m. (1) Mav 3, 1803, Benjamin Jones,
b. Mar. 17, 1783, Williamsburg, Mass.,"^and d. Sept. 20, 1804; m.
(2) July 27, 1809, Forest Jepson. b. Mar. 4, 1783, Goshen, Mass.,
and d. Sept. 20, 1844, Ashfield. She d. Aug. 23, 1862, Northamp-
ton, Mass.
Child hy 1st marriage:
Benjamin, b. Oct. 15, 1804.
Children hy 2d marriage:
Marcia, b. July 7, 1810; m. Jefferson Leach.
Esther, b. Jan. 13, 1812; m. J. C. Pearl.
Forest, b. Aug. 22, 1813.
Orrin, b. Feb. 25, 1815.
Julia, b. May 25, 1817; m. Jesse Morse.
George Ranney, b. Feb. 19, 1819.
332 Calista, b. Aug. 16, 1821; m. L. H. Blanden.
Betsey M., b. Apr. 9. 1823 ; m. John T. Thurston.
Mary F., b. Dec. 16, 1824; m. W. E. Landon.
Dwight S., b. Nov. 16, 1826.
Lucretia, b. Jan. 25, 1829 ; m. John T. Thurston.
143 George® Ranney (George^, George*, George^, Thomas^,
Thomas^), b. May 12, 1789, Ashfield, Mass.; m. Nov. 11, 1811,
Achsah Sears, b. 1789 ; d. Aug. 7, 1869, dau. of Paul Sears. He
succeeded to his father's homestead. Rem. 1833 to Phelps, N. Y.,
where he d. Sept. 9, 1842. He much resembled his father in
personal appearance — was short in stature, thick ?et, with a com-
pact, vigorous frame.
264 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
Children :
333 Alonzo Franklin, b. Sept. 13, 1813.
George Lewis, b. Mar. 10, 1815; d. Apr., 1881; m. Sarah
McConnell. No children.
334 Henry Sears, b. Mar. 5, 1817.
335 Lucius, b. Apr. 12, 1819.
Priscilla M., b. Jan. 19, 1822; m. Randolph Densmore. One
dau. d. young.
336 Harrison Jackson, b. Mar. 4, 1824.
Lyman A., b. Aug. 1, 1828; d. unm. Mar. 7, 1854, Van
Buren, Ark.
337 Lemuel Sears, b. Jan. 7, 1831.
338 Anson Bement, b. May 31, 1833.
144 Capt. RoswelP Ranney (Thomas^, George*, George^,
Thomas', Thomas^), b. Nov. 22, 1782, Chatham, (formerly E.
Middletown), Ct.; m. Feb. 7, 1802, Irinda Bement, b. Sept. 11,
1779, dau. of John Bement. Became prominent in public affairs in
Ashfield, Mass., where his father had rem. in 1792. Capt. of
Militia; twice Rep. in Legislature; held various town offices; ex-
tensive farmer and speculator. Succeeded to his father's farm.
In 1839 rem. to Phelps, N. Y., where he built a cobble stone house
and barn. She d. Apr. 18, 1844; he d. Sept. 7, 1848.
Children :
339 Horace, b. May 22, 1803.
Daughter, b. Aug. 15, 1804; d. same day.
340 Willis, b. Sept. 22, 1805.
341 Clarissa, b. Oct. 3, 1807; m. Wait Bement.
342 Madison, b. Oct. 9, 1809.
Hiram, b. May 20, 1812; d. June 10, 1814.
343 Mary, b. Oct. 'o, 1814; m. Dr. Milo Wilson.
Amanda, b. Mar. 23, 1817 ; d. June 14, 1847 ; m. Jacob Jen-
kins. Infant buried with her.
344 Hiram, b. Oct. 30, 1819.
Thomas, b. Aug. 7, 1825; m. Sept. 6, 1848, Cordelia Butler
of Phelps. He died Oct., 1878, at Boise City, Idaho Ter-
ritory, where he was for many years chief clerk in the
office of the United States Revenue Collector; Lillian,
their only child m. George N. Burbridge, and lived in
Geneva, N. Y. ; died Nov. 24, 1902, childless, about two
years after her husband.
145 William*' Ranney (Thomas^, George*, George'', Thomas-,
Thomas^), b. June 30, 1785, Chatham, formerly East Middletown,
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 265
Ct; m. Dec, 1807, Ashfield, Mass., Betsey Alden, b. 1789, Ashfield,
(1. May 9, 1870, of the Alden stock of Plymouth Rock. In 1835
he rem. to Aiirelius, N, Y., and then to Eldridge, N. Y., where he
d. Sept. 9, 1857.
Children :
Betsey, b. 1805; d. 1881; m. Fernando C. Annable.
John, b. 1811; d. 1864, Almena, Mich.
345 Luke, b. Nov. 8, 1815.
Martha, b.
Mary. b. ; m. Edwin Whitney.
146 Giles*' Eanney (Francis^, George'*, George'*, Thomas^,
Thomas^), b. Aug. 15, 1773, Chatham, Ct.; m. Nov. 29, 1798,
Lydia Bryant, b. May 10, 1775, Ashfield, Mass. ; d. June 18, 1852,
Ashfield. He was a farmer, rem. with his father 1786, to Ashfield
where he d. Sept. 16, 1854.
Children :
346 Francis, b. Apr. 8, 1800.
Nehemiah, b. Oct. 27, 1803; d. unm. Jan. 10, 1881.
Euth, b. May 30, 1806 ; m. Bela Dyer.
Lucy Bryant, b. Mar. 6, 1808; d. unm. June 17, 1890.
347 Mary, b. Oct. 3, 1810 ; m. May 25, 1832, Alvan Dyer.
348 James Allen, b. Jan. 28, 18i3.
Lydia, b. Dec. 27, 1815; d. Mar. 13, 1816.
349 Charles, b. Dec. 16, 1816.
George C, b. Nov. 27, 1820. Left home and never heard from.
147 DanieP Eanney (Francis^ George*, George^, Thomas^,
Thomas^), b. 1776, Chatham, Ct.; m. May 10, 1800, Anna Bid-
well of Chatham. He had rem. to Ashfield, Mass. in 1786, with his
parents, but returned to marry the girl he knew in childhood. In
1821 he rem. to Leroy, N. Y., and in 1856 to the home of his
daughter, Mrs. Charlotte Havens, Cass, Dupage Co., 111., where he
d. Mar. 14, 1857. The following from the pen of his grandson.
Dr. Geo. E. Eanney, appeared in the Batavia, N. Y., Advocate of
April 15, 1857.
" As a shock of wheat fully ripe," a patriarch has been called to
his final resting place. Eespected by all who knew him, esteemed
by his intimate friends and beloved by his widely extended family
circle — trusting in the atonement made by his Savior, he calmly
closed his eyes in death, with no dread of the future; but on the
contrary relying upon " the promises " ; certain of the blessed im-
mortality. Less than a year since he removed to Illinois, anticipat-
266 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
ing mil'ch pleasure in his former occupation of reading, under the
roof of his son-in-law, residing there, but so soon has been called
away.
Mr. Eanney at an early day left New England and took up his
residence in what was then the almost unbroken forest of Western
New York. As a pioneer of the " Genesee Country " he lent all of
his energies to the development of its resources. Fond of books,
from his well stored mind ho could draw good from the public, as
well as bestow the results of " brawn and muscle." Always active,
industrious, energetic and intelligent, he remained in the vicinity
of Le Roy, till he saw his faniily grow up about him to be men
and women, and " the wilderness to blossom as the rose."
It will be a source of consolation to his many friends and rela-
tives residing in Le Roy, Pavilion and Stafford, to know that he
breathed his last among warm friends and received every atten-
tion that affection could suggest to smooth the pathway to the
grave.
Children :
;}50 Joel, b. Feb. G, 1807.
Hezekiah Bartlett, b. 1808; d. 1832.
Julia, b. r-; m. Aziel Crittenden.
Charlotte, b. ; m. Lorin Havens.
351 Ozias, b. Oct. 13, 1817.
147a Luther" Ranney (bro. to Giles), b. Sept. 6, 1785, East
Middletown, Ct. ; was a year old when his father rem. to Ashfield,
Mass. ; m. Eunice Gray Alden. Had eight children:
Luther Bartlett".
David.
351a John Alden, b. Feb. 6, 1838.
Nancy ; m. Field.
Sophronia, m. Goodwin.
Rachel, m. Charles Guilford.
Harriet.
148 Jonathan® Bosworth (Mary"^ Rariney, George*, George',
Thomas^ Thomas^), b. Jan. 21, 1787; d. Apr. 7, 1878; m. June
2, 1811, Lovisa Vilona Darling. He was a mfr. of cast steel
and steel plate hoes, a deacon in Cong. Ch. of Berlin, Vt.; where he
lived over 80 years. He had 12 children : The 12th was
Joseph Stillman^ Bosworth, b. Aug. 7, 1830, Berlin, Vt. ;
m. (1) June 29, 1856, Mary Ann Gardner of Lowell.
Mass., who d. Sept. 19, 1857; m. (2) Mar. 7, 1860^
DESCENDANTS OF THO:\[AS RANNEY 267
Harriet E. Dustin, b. June 24, 1841, dau. of Philander
Newton Dustin and Cynthia Knapp. He learned in
Lowell the cabinet trade, but entered his father's fac-
tory. In 1863 he lost his health and died of consump-
tion, Oct. 28, 1872. Widow res. in Berlin, Vt. Children:
Gardner Stillman, b. Sept. 11, 1857.
Henry Newton, b. June 4, 1863; d. July 26, 1897.
Marv Ann, b. Feb. 9, 1865 ; d. Sept. 10, 1867.
Geo."^ Eanney, b. Aug. 29, 1868; m. Oct. 24, 1894, Mabel
Hannah Brown, b. Oct. 29, 1874, dau. of Wm. Brown
and Mary Dewey; jeweler, Meth.; res. Berlin, Vt.
Children :
Eavniond Henry, b. Aug. 6, 1897.
Edward Brown, b. June 29, 1905.
Orville Dustin, b. May 9, 1871.
149 Orrin" Eanney (Jonathan^, George*, Geor^e^, Thomas^,
Thomas^), bapt. June" 24, 1789, Chatham, Ct. ; m. Nov. 20, 1810,
East Granville, Mass., Betsey Gibbons, b. Aug. 13, 1787, Granville,
Mass. He d. abt. 1815. She m. (2) his brother Eeuben.
Child:
Orrin D., b. Aug. 12, 1812; rem. to Chicago. Was m. ; one
dau.
150 Eeuben^ Eanney (Jonathan^, George*, George^, Thomas^,
Thomas^), b. July 22, 1790, Chatham, Ct. ; m. Oct. 6, 1817, East
Granville, Mass., Betsey Gibbons Eanney, his brother's widow. He
res. some years in Ashfield, Mass., then Granville, Mass. ; d. Feb. 1,
1879, Elizabeth, N. J. She d. Mar. 6, 1882, Elizabeth, N. J.
Children:
Nancy Deborah, b. Sept. 4, 1818; d. Dec. 31, 1885. Princi-
pal 1858—1860 of Hartford Female Seminary.
Elizabeth, b. ; d. 1881.
These two sisters conducted an important school in Eliza-
beth, N. J., in their later years.
316 Sarah Shepherd, b. July 28,-1825; m. J. A. Scott.
317 Timothy Pickering, b. Aug. 2, 1828.
151 Comfort® Eanney (Comfort^, Nathaniel*, Nathaniel^,
Thomas-, Thomas^), b. Mar. 20, 1788, Upper Houses; d. July 14,
1823, Hudson, 0. ; m. Dec. 25, 1808, Haddam, Ct., Betty Hubbard,
b. Apr. 2, 1790, Haddam; d. Jan. 4, 1868, dau. of Thomas Hub-
bard, Jr., and Sarah Boardman. Widow m. Mar. 24, 1826, M.
268 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
J. Collier. (See Boardman Genealogy, pp. 318-319.) He was a
member of the Baptist Church of Upper Houses.
In the Spring of 1809 his parents, himself and wife, with his
brother Jacob, started for Ohio, the father dying in Buffalo en
route. He was a ship carpenter by trade and worked at it in Cleve-
land in the Summer of 1809, upon one of the first, if not the first,
vessel' built there. He purchased a large farm 3^ miles from the
present village of Hudson. Then he went to Cleveland and built
a saw mill but gave it up on account of ill health and returned to
the farm where he died.
Children :
352 Luther Boardman, b. Nov. 28, 1809.
Laura Maria, b. Jan. 23, 1811; d. June 13. 1818.
Julia A., b. Dec. 10, 1812; m. John Shields; 10 children.
Eliza Samantha, b. July 15, 1814; m. Archibald Shields;
10 children.
353 Euth Leonora, b. Dec. 12, 1815; m. Hiram Volnev Bronson.
354 Elizabeth Jerusha, b. Dec. 29, 1817; m. John K Hurlbut.
355 Moses, b. Aug. 12, 1819.
Sarah Florilla, b. Feb. 21, 1822; d. 1860; m. George Bishop,
son Daniel is a lawyer in Berkeley, California.
152 George'' Eanney (William^, John*, John^, John-, Thomas^),
b. Aug. 5, 1784. Woodstock, Ct.; m. Nov.°10, 1810, Pike Township,
Bradford Co., Pa., Eosanna Beecher, b. Feb. 12, 1875, New Haven,
Ct. ; d. Nov. 18, 1843, Kirtland, 0. He was a deacon in the Cong.
Ch. of Kirtland, 0., and a Justice of the Peace for many years, a
Democrat, and a very prominent resident of Kirtland, 0., where he
d. Mar. 6, 1864.
Children :
Alice Philena, b. Nov. 24, 1811; d. Mav 9, 1900; m. June 8.
1848, Silas Axtell, who d. Apr. 15, 1849.
356 Charlotte Sophia, b. June 1, 1813; m. C. G. Crary.
Pauline Henriette Louisa, b. Nov. 5, 1823; d. unm. Nov. 18.
1843.
153 Ores^ Eanney (Ebenezer^, Elijah*, Eichard^, John-,
Thomas^), b. May 26, 1801, Augusta, N. Y.; m. (1) Mar. 17, 1825,
Augusta, N. Y., Elizabeth Murray, b. Feb. 14, 1804, Augusta, N.
Y., dau. of Archibald and Agnes Murray, who d. Dec. 14, 1852,
Stockbridge, N. Y.; m. (2) Dec. 7, 1856, Melvina Louisa Ehodes,
b. Nov. 4, 1820; d. Dec. 11, 1873, widow of Jonathan P. Ehodes
and dau. of Luther C. and Chloe C. Niles; m. (3) Jan. 1, 1877.
Eleanor M. Coan. Parmer; surveyor; sch. com""; Justice of
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 269
Peace; Bapt. deacon many years; Eep. ; d Jan. 12, 1882, Oneida,
N". Y. Widow res. Oneida, N. Y.
Children by 1st marriage:
357 Charles Ebenezer, b. June 20, 1827.
A son, b. 1833 ; d. young.
Jane Nancy, b. July 3, 1830; m. Joseph Quackenbush. Ees.
Lincoln, Neb.
Charlotte M., b. Aug. 25, 1836; m. Thomas Baylis. Res.
^ Waterville, N. Y.
Children hy 2d marriage:
Ores Niles, b. July 14. 1858; m. Mar. 16, 1882, Annie Eavel
Lawton. b. Mar. 21, 1860, Norridgewock, Me., dau. of
Llewellyn Foss Lawton and Eebecca Foss Maxwell. Eep.
All masonic degrees. Photographer. No children. Ees.
Lockport, N. Y,
154 Hiram'' Eanney (Ebenezer^ Elijah^, Eichard^ John".
Thomas^), b. Nov. 23, "l805, Augusta, N. Y.; m. Jan. 26, 1834^
Mary M. Warren, b. Buckfield. Me., tracing her ancestry to the
Warren and Alden families of note; d. Dec. 28, 1875. He was
Supt. of Brotherton Indians. Eem. td Stockbridge, N. Y., and
eng. in farming. Eem. 1839, to Mohawk, where he became mer-
chant and then mfr. of guns. Held many places of trust. Home-
steady of 1839 is still in the family. Died Apr. 8, 1878, Mohawk.
Children:
Charlotte, b. Dec. 8, 1834; d. Oct. 2, 1836.
Maryett. b. Mar. 25, 1840; d. May 21. 1844.
Marcus, b. Oct. 2, 1838; d. Mav 9, 1839.
358 Hiram H., b. Apr. 17, 1842.
359 Warren, b. Sept. 3, 1846.
155 Anson L.^ Eannev (Ebenezer^ Elijah*, Eichard\ Jolm-.
Thomas^), b. June 21, 1811, Augusta, N. Y.; m. Sept. 27, 1838.
Oneida, N. Y., Eleanor T. Murray, b. Aug. 15. 1818, Augusta; d.
Apr. 14, 1896, Kalamazoo, Mich.; dau. of Archibald Murray and
Agnes Eodgers. He was a merchant; in 1863 rem. to Kalamazoo,
Mich., to a farm, where he died July 11, 1892.
Children :
Adelle Caroline, b. 1842; m. 1875. Eberle B. UnderAvood ;
res. Galesburg, Mich. Children:
270 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
Esther, b. 1876.
Florence, b. 1878; m. 0. 0. Bishop. Pes. Vicksburg, Mich.
Jay, b. 1844; d. 1856.
359a Orlo Bartholomew, b. 1847.
Maurice Morton, b. 1849; d. 1899, lanm.
Ida May, b. 1851 ; imm. Res. Kalamazoo, Mich.
Bernard David, b. 1853 ; drowned 1898, on voyage to Alaska ;
unm.
Margaret Estella, b. 1857; unm. Res. Kalamazoo, Mich.
156 Oliver RusselP Ranney (Ebenezer^, Elijah*, Richard^
John2, Thomas^), b. Jan., 1816, Augusta, N. Y. ; m. Nov. 22, 1835,
Stockbridge, N. Y., Elizabeth Franklin Carpenter, b. May 5, 1814,
Rhode Island, dau. of Ezekiel Carpenter and Dorcas Gardner; d.
Dec. 13, 1877, Stockbridge, N. Y. After his marriage he worked
in his father's mill, then took the farm on shares for two years,
then entered the jewelry business. After his wife's death he made
his home with his daughter, Mrs. Lowe, where he d. June 24, 1897.
Oneida, IST. Y. He cast his first vote for William Henry Harrison
and was an active member of the Baptist Church.
Children :
Agnes Elizabeth, b. Sept. 21, 1839; d. Nov. 28, 1854.
Elvira Ann, b. Oct. 22, 1842; d. June 24, 1849.
360 Abbie Deette, b. Feb. 5, 1847 ; m. Walter Robert Lowe.
Mary Josephine, b. Aug. 16, 1850; d. Feb. 15, 1862.
Celia Elenora, b. June 16, 1853 ; d. Apr. 29, 1857.
157 Almeda Pamelia® Ranney (Ebenezer^ Elijah*, Richard\
John^, Thomas^), b. Mar. 27, 1820, Augusta, N. Y.; m. (1) Sept.
12, 1838, Valley Mills, N. Y., William Walter Bingham, b. Mar.
15, 1818, , Conn.; undertaker and cabinet maker; d.
Nov. 23, 1844, Valley Mills, N. Y. She m. (2) , 1850,
Rev. David Sargent Jackson, b. 1802; d. 1858, Unadilla, N. Y.
She d. Sept. 2, 1877, Oneida, N. Y.
Children hy 1st marriage:
361 Norton William, b. May 4, 1841.
Elbert R., b. Feb. 9, 1844; d. Aug. 23, 1844.
158 Elijah Warren« Ranney (Rufus% Elijah*, Richard^ John^
Thomas^), b. 1802, :Blandford, Mass.; m. Sept. 14, 1824, Bknd-
03 ^
o
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 271
ford, Mass., M. Levana Larkcom, b. Mar. 14, 1802, Otis, Mass.,
daii. of Paul Larkcom, b. Feb. 16, 1764, and Comfort Norton, b.
Apr. 17, 1764. He rem., 1824, to Freedom, 0., where he was the
first postmaster, 1826. and then a merchant. He d. Mar. 2,. 1835 ;
she d. Feb. 3, 1854, Freedom, 0.
Children:
Ann Eliza, b. July 26, 1826; d. 1906; m. July 13, 1847, An-
son Bancroft. Children: Levanna, Eose, Elva, Helen and
Percival. Res. Crookeston, Minn.
362 Henry Clay, b. June 1, 1829.
Warren, b. May, 1834; d. Sept. 6, 1836.
159 Eufus PercivaP Eanney (Rufus^ Elijah*, Richard^ John-,
Thomas'), b. Oct. 13, 1813, Blandford, Mass.; m. May 1, 1839,
Jefferson, 0., Adaline Warner, b. Jan. 20, 1818, dau. of Jonathan
Warner and Nancy Frithey. He rem. 1824, to Freedom, 0.; 1836
to Jefferson, 0.; 1845, to Warren, 0.; 1856, to Cleveland, where
he d. Dec. 6, 1891. She was mem. of Trinity Episcopal Church,
and d. June 3, 1900, Cleveland.
The compiler of these records, meeting Judge Eanney, 1880, in
Escanaba, Mich., learned the story of the journey of his father's
family from Blandford, Mass., by" ox team to Albany, by canal to
Buffalo, by boat to Cleveland, and by team to Freedom, where for a
year they lived on game till a few acres were cleared of timber so
they could have a garden.
judge Eanney's remarkable career as printed in the 49th Ohio
State Eeport is as follows :
" Eufus P. Eanney died at home in Cleveland the 6th day of
December, 1891, at the ripe age of seventy-eight.
" As a man, as a lawyer, as a judge, and as a statesman, he left
a record without a blemish, a character above reproach, and a repu-
tation as a jurist and statesman which but few members of the bar
have attained.
" Judge Eanney came from New England, a land of robust men,
of wonderful physical and mental ^fibre and endurance. He was
born at Blandford, Hampton County, Mass.. the 13th day of Oct..
1813. His father was a farmer of Scotch descent.
" In 1824 the family moved to Ohio and settled at Freedom,
Portage Co.
'• The means of public instruction was quite limited, but the
stock of intelligence in the famil\', with a few standard books
brought from Massachusetts, coupled with an active, penetrating
272 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
and broad intellect, aroused in the son a desire to get an education.
Not until he had nearly arrived at man's estate was he able to
manage, as he did by his manual labor and by teaching in back-
woods schools, to enter an academy where he, in a short time, pre-
pared himself to enter college. By chopping cord wood at twenty-
five cents per cord he earned the money to enter Western Eeserve
College at Hudson, Ohio, but for want to means could not com-
plete the college course.
" He made up his mind to study law, and at the age of twenty-
two entered the office of Benjamin F. Wade and Joshua E. Gid-
dings at Jefferson, Ohio, and began his preparation for admission
to the bar, and in 1836 was admitted.
" Later he and Mr. Wade entered into partnership, Mr. Gid-
dings having been elected to Congress.
" About 1845 Judge Eanney removed to Warren, Ohio, which
was the chief center of business and wealth in that part of the
State. He at once commanded a large practice.
" In 1846 and again in 1848 he was nominated for Congress,
but was not elected, his party being hopelessly in the minority.
"•' In 1850 he was elected from Trambull and Geauga Counties
a delegate to the convention which had been called to revise the
Constitution of the State of Ohio. He served with distinction on
the committees on judiciary, on revision, on amendments and
others, and although he was a young man, he was soon recognized
as one of the leading members of the Convention.
" In March, 1851, he was elected by the General Assembly
Judge of the Supreme Court, succeeding Judge Avery, and at
the first election held under the amended constitution in 1851
he was chosen to be one of the judges of the new Supreme Court.
He served until 1856, when he resigned and moved from Warren
to Cleveland and resumed the practice of his profession as a mem-
ber of the firm of ' Eanney, Backus & Noble.'
" In 1859 he was the "unsuccessful candidate of his party for
Governor of Ohio, and in 1862 was nominated against his express
desire as a candidate for Supreme Judge, and to his own surprise
was elected. He resigned two years later.
" When the Ohio State Bar Association was organized, he was
unanimously chosen its President.
" Towards the close of his life, Judge Eanney gradually with-
drew from the practice of his profession, but the well-earned
leisure of his later years was far from being indolence.
" He devoted much of his time for several years to placing the
Case School of Applied Science at Cleveland upon a firm founda-
tion, and providing for it adequate buildings and equipment.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS RANNEY 273
" He was also a student of French, and made a profound study
of her literature, politics, history and law.
" While Judge Ranney was on the bench, he was one of the
strongest administrative forces of the State government. He held
a place of his own. He was a personal force whose power was
profoundly felt in the administration of justice throughout the
State. He made a deep and permanent impression on the juris-
prudence of Ohio.
"■ Judge Ranney had those qualities of simplicity, directness,
candor, solidity, strength and sovereign good sense, which inde-
pendent and reflective life of the early settlers of the Western
country fostered.
'*' At the bar or in his own library, he was one of the most in-
teresting of men.
" He was himself a firm believer in representative government,
insisting, however, in order to perpetuate it, its abuses and evils
must be plainly exposed and resolutely resisted.
" Signed bv :
"Allen G. Thurman,
" Russell A. Harrison.
" Jacob D. Cox,
"F. E. Hutchins,
" Samuel E. Williamson."
Children :
Richard W., b. Mar. 5, 1840; d. Julv 26, 1840.
Howard, b. Sept. 7, 1841 ; d. Oct. 14, 1846.
Cornelia, b. Nov. 30, 1842; d. May 1, 1873; m. T. Kelly
Bolton; two sons; res. New York Citv.
:^64 Charles Percival, b. Oct. 7, 1847.
;165 John Rufus, b. Oct. 5, 1851.
Harriet L., b. Aug. 20, 1859 ; d. May 18, 1868.
160 John Lewis^ Rannev (Rufus^ Elijah\ Richard^ John^,
Thomas^), b. Nov. 14. 1815" Blandford, Mass.; m. Feb. 26, 1834,
Eliza E. Remington, who d. Oct. 22, 1897. Rem. 1824, to Free-
dom, 0., and to Ravenna, 0., where he d. Feb. 22, 1866. Lawyer.
The widow married Daniel Day.
Children:
Mary Ann, b. July 8, 1837, d. Sept. 7, 1854; m. Apr. 3, 1854,
Geo. L. Hotchkiss.
Joseph Norton, b. Jan. 11, 1839; d. Feb. 17, 1882, Ra-
venna, 0.
274 MIDDLETOWF UPPEE HOUSES
Lewis Ri;fus. b. July 28, 1842; d. May 16, 1872, umn.
Sarah Cornelia, b. Nov. 20, 1844; m. Nov. 3, 1862, David
McDonald; res. Cleveland, 0. Children:
Mae Ethel, b. Feb. 16, 1874; m. Sept. 22, 1892. Edward
Jenner.
Lena Irene, b. Aug. 9, 1877; m. June 5, 1895, Roy Ben-
nett.
John Ranney, b. Jan. 4, 1880.
Flora Adaline, b. Jan. 4, 1852; m. Sept. 17, 1903, Samuel
N. Parshall; res. Ravenna, 0.
Rufus Henry, b. May 4, 1857; d. Feb. 10, 1864.
161 JoeP Ranney (JoeP, Stephen*, Richard^, John-, Thomas^),
b. Sept. 10, 1802, Chatham, Conn.; m. Nov. 24, 1824, by. Epis. rec-
tor of Chatham, Elizabeth Mary Graham, b. May 1, 1805, Chatham.
Ct.; d. Apr. 16, 1869, New 'Albany, Ohio. He and his father
were members, 1818, of the Episcopal Parish. The father rem.
to New Jersey, and about 1817 to Plain Township, Franklin Co..
0., where he bought land on time. He returned to New Jersey
to earn money with which to pay for the land and ret. to Ohio
in fall of 1828, when his son Joel went there. JoeP died Dec. 21.
1877, New Albany, 0. She d. Apr. 16, 1869.
Children:
Mary A., b. May 22, 1826; d. 1903; m. Hoffman.
365a Sylvester W., b. Mar. 7, 1830. (See Appendix.)
Harriet, b. Oct. 5, 1832; m. Headley.
366 Emily S., b. Jan. 15, 1835; m. Geo. Clark.
Edwin, b. Dec. 19, 1837; m. ; d. Apr. 11, 1842. .
Abiah E., b. Feb. 12, 1839 ; unm. ; d. Jan. 8, 1879.
Sarah, b. Aug. 6, 1841; unm.; d. July 12, 1852.
Eliza, b. June 13, 1843; unm.; d. June 3, 1852.
367 John H., b. Jan. 8, 1846.
368 Joel Cyrus, b. Feb. 8, 1848.
162 Alanson Rannev*' Knox (Hannah^ Ranney, Abner*, Rich-
ard^, John-, Thomasi),"b. Aug. 7, 1804, Blandford, Mass.; d. Jan.
4, 1884, Cuyahoga Falls, 0. ; m. July 4, 1826, Utica, N. Y., Catha-
rine 0. Habermehl, b. Jan. 28, 1803, N. Y. City; d. Apr. 13, 1840,
Dansville, N. Y. ; bookbinder; Rep.; Meth.
Children :
369 Catherine Eliza, b. May 27, 1827; m. Joseph C. Dana.
Gabriel Lauring, b. June 27, 1829; m. Annie R. Burdick,
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 275
who d. 1907. She was the first teacher of Frances E. and
Mary Willard. (See " Glimpses of Sixty Years," by Miss
Willard.)
Harriet A., b. Oct. 27, 1830; d. Oct. 16, 1834.
370 Henrietta Matilda, b. Jan. 2, 1833 ; m. Eev. Thos. E. St. John.
Henry Habermehl, b. May 15, 1835; 2nd Lieut. 13th Eegt.
Wis. Vols. ; res. Janesville, Wis.
Lemuel Gilbert, b. Dec. 30, 1837; d. Nov. 7, 1877.
371 Harriet Jane, b. Feb. 26, 1840; m. F. G. Knight.
163 Mary Ann*' Eanney (Abner^, Abner*, Eichard^, John-,
Thomas^), b. Aug. 10, 1815, Augusta, N. Y.; m. Feb. 25, 1840,
Sheridan, N. Y., James Sheldon Cook, b. Jan. 10, 1805, Whites-
town, N. Y. ; farmer; Eep. ; Bapt., who d. Sept. 5, 1877, Sheridan,
N. Y. She was Bapt. and d. May 10, 1884, Sheridan, N. Y.
Children :
Almon Lvman, b. Mar. 18, 1843.
372 Harriet Edna, b. Sept. 19, 1851; m. Harvey M. Bailey.
164 Lyman Wells® Eannev (Abner^, Abner*, Eichard', John-.
Thomas^)" b. Oct. 30, 1820, Augusta, N. Y.; m. May 15, 1860,
Mary Elizabeth Van Naten, b. Feb. 3, 1843, Cooperstown, Pa.,
dau. of James Van Naten and Minerva N. Thayer. He was a
physician and d. Jan. 12, 1905, New Castle, Pa. Widow res. in
New Castle, Pa.
Children :
373 Cassius W., b. Feb. 18, 1861.
374 Eobert B., b. Jan. 10, 1865.
374a Lura May, b. July 7, 1870; m. Henry M. Good.
165 Harmon® Eanney (Abner°, Abner*, Eichard'', John-,
Thomas^), b. Oct. 12, 1823, Augusta, N. Y.; m. Jan. 8, 1850, Fre-
donia, N. Y., Julia Ann Cook, b. Jan. 1, 1831, Fredonia, N. Y..
dau. of Sheldon Cook and Mary Ann Newell, who d. Apr. 15,
1891, New Lisbon, Wis. He was a farmer; Itep. ; and Bapt. Eem.
to Wis. in 1856; private Nov. 1, 1861, in 10th Wis. Battery;
trans, to 8th Battery, Mar. 31, 1862, and disc. July 19, 1862. He
d. June 6, 1901, Hustler, Wis.
Children :
375 Bernice, b. Mar. 9, 1851.
376 Sarah Etta, b. June 15, 1853.
377 Sheldon, b. Feb. 19, 1859.
378 Bertha, b. Apr. 11, 1867.
276 MIDDLETOWN UPPEK HOUSES
166 Timothy Alonzo^ Eanney (JoeP, Abner*), b. June 1, 1811,
Augusta, N. Y.; d. July 26, 1886, West Falls, N. Y.; m. Mar. 1,
1837, Springville, N. Y., Mary Alma Packard, b. June 11, 1818,
Aurora, N. Y., d. Aug. 25, 1891, Dunkirk, N. Y. ; dau. of James
Packard and Content Wheeler. He was a farmer at Griffin's Mills
in early life. Being the oldest of a large family of children, much
responsibility rested upon him. He was much devoted to music,
played on an instrument in the Baptist choir, being a member of
that church, a Good Templar, and Democrat. A daughter writes:
" He belonged to the State militia and wa§ a member of the band.
I have heard him tell of being in Buffalo when it was a small city
and in danger of an attack from the British. He was impressed
with the silence of the stern, set faces of the men who watched
the British boats that passed the city, not knowing what moment
the boom of the cannon might be heard. His pride in always
Having his word as good as gold, his always ' doing to others as
lie would have them do to him ' made him a man much respected
and beloved by all. He carried the mark of the Eanneys with
him, hair as fine as silk and skin that rem'ained soft and fair al-
though subjected to hard labor."
Children :
379 Lamira Corinthia, b. Sept. 1, 1840; m. A. G. Southwick.
380 Louise Content, b. Aug. 26, 1842 ; m. A. B. Harte.
James Packard, b. , 1851; lived 9 days.
381 Mary Adaline, b. Feb. 14, 1853; m. C. H. Decker.
381a Mattie Florence, b. June 15, 1860; m. J. D. Thurber.
167 Caroline Amelia'' Eanney (JoeP, Abner*, Eichard^, John-,
Thomas^), b. Feb. 16, 1824; d. Aug. 26, 1889; m. Oct. 25, 1847,
Griffin's Mills, N. Y., Charles Miller Whitney, b. July 30, 1819.
Dunniston,- Vt., d. Apr. 14, 1896, East Aurora, N. Y. Adv. agt. in
Buffalo at time of death. Eep. ; Presb.
Children :
Catherine, b. , ; m. Hunt.
Ida May, b. June 10, 1857, Spring Brook, N. Y. ; m. Nov.
21, 1883, Spring Brook, K. Y., Seward Griffin, b. Dec.
29, 1860, East Hamburg, N. Y. Ees. Buffalo, N. Y.
168 Lydia Jane^ Eanney (JoeP, Abner*, Eichard^, John^,
Thomas^), b. Apr. 17, 1835, Griffin's Mills, N". Y.; d. Jan. 22,
1893 ; m. July 11, 1861, Perry, N. Y., Thomas William Parker, b.
July 12, 1838, Mt. Morris, N. Y.; private Co. D, 157th Eegt. N.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 277
Y. Vols., July 30, 1863-Apr. 14, 1866; Dem.; Epis.; G. A. E. ;
res. Mt. Morris, N. Y.
Children :
George Ebenezer, b. Apr. 23, 1862; d. Nov. 21, 18S1.
Frank William, b. Sept. 27, 1863, Mt. Morris, N. Y. ; ra.
Apr. 23, 1890, Angelica, N. Y., Clementine W. Hinkley,
b. Feb. 28, 1866, Iowa; dan, of Milton Jerome Hinkley
and Amelia Delphina Upson. He d. Mar. 1, 1896. Hard-
ware clerk; Dem.; Epis.; Maccabees. Widow Presb. ;
Maccabees; W. E. C. ; Nat. Protective Legion; res. Canis-
teo, N. Y. Child:
Milton Thomas, b. June 14, 1891.
Lillie Harriet, b. Jan. 3, 1869.
Jennie Bell, b. Mar. 26, 1870.
t
169 John Sheldon*' Eanney (JoeP, Abner*, Eichard^ John-.
Thomas^), b. Oct. 22, 1838, Griffin's Mills, N. Y. ; d. Apr. 15.
1902, Hamburg, N. Y.; m. Aug. 29, 1857, Griffin's Mills, Olive
Lucretia Waters, b. Feb. 10, 1839, Colden, N. Y.; dau. of Asa
Waters and Anna Dudley. He was a cravon artist of reputation ;
Dem.; Bapt; Chief of Good Templars. Widow d. Jan. 17, 1903.
Child:
Frances May, b. May 8, 1879; m. Oct. 7, 1898, Eobert Dun-
ham. Child:
Eobert Lee.
170 Eowland Eobinson*' Eannev (JoeP, Abner*, Eichard^
John^ Thomas^), b. May 10, 1824, Griffin's Mills, N. Y.; d. Mav
24, 1893, Wales, Erie Co., N. Y.; m. Nov. 25, 1856, East Aurora,
N. Y., Ellen Crane, b. Oct. 10, 1839, East Aurora d. Oct. 20,
1 S94, East Aurora ; dau. of Thomas Crane and Nancy Morgan.
He was a blacksmith and I. 0. 0. F.
Children:
Albert Crane, b. Jan. 16, 1863; d. Jan. 1, 1892.
Ellen Laura, b. Aug. 26, 1870; m. Apr. 10, 1889, Franklin
Peter Stillinger, b. Aug. 31, 1858, Bennington, N. Y.
Farmer; Dem.; Ger. Lutheran; res. Springbrook, N. Y.
Child:
Eowland Henry, b. Sept. 30, 1895.
171 Lafayette" Eanney (JoeP, Abner*, Eichard'^, John'-,
Thomas^), b.' , ; d. , Dodge City, Kan-
278 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
sas ; m. , Harriett Elizabeth Bumistead. E. R. eng. ;
Eep.; F. A. M.
Children :
Lafayette, b. , ; d. infant.
Cora' Belle, b. Mar. 29, 1861, Buffalo, N. Y. ; m. Jan. 17,
1884, Grand Island, Neb., Austin Taylor b. Dec. 11 1861,
Olean, Mo. Supt. Union Pacific E. E.; B. P. 0. E.; Mod-
ern Woodmen; res. Grand Island, Neb.
Nellie Edith, b. ; d. infant.
172 Oliver Franklin'' Eanney (Oliver^, Abner*, Eichard^,
John^, Thomas^), b. Apr. 1, 1813, Knoxboro, N. Y.; m. (1) Nov.
9, 1836, Augusta, N. Y., Philena Strong, b. Sept 14, 1815,
Augusta, N. Y., d. Sept. 17, 1838, dau. of Salmon Strong and
x'ibigail Eice; m. (2) Feb. 4, 1841, Augusta Hannah Goodhue, b.
June 28, 1808; d. Feb. 7, 1898, Taberg, N. Y.; dau. of John
Goodhue, b. June 18, 1773; d. Dec. 26, 1856, Augusta, N. Y., and
Lovica Baker, b. Aug. 5, 1775, dau. of Daniel Baker and Han-
nah Ballard. Mr. Eanney contributed the Eanney data for the
Strong Genealogy; farmer; Eep.; Cong.; d. Aug. 28, 1887, Ta-
berg, N. Y.
Children hy 2d marriage:
382 John Goodhue, b. Apr. 29, 1845.
383 Barzillai Frank, b. Dec. 24, 1847.
Emma Lovica, b. Oct. 7, 1851; d. Sept. 2, 1866.
173 Daniel Wells^ Eanney (Oliver^, Abner*, Eichard^ John-,
Thomas^), b. Oct. 4, 1819, Knoxboro, N. Y.; m. July 16, 1845,
Sandy Creek, N. Y., Eachel Lavina Warner, b. 1825, Vernon, N.
Y., dau. of Andrew Warner Jr., and Elizabeth Clark Young, who
d. 1879 in Mo.; Eep.; Meth.; studied med. ; in 1850 est. water cure
in Knoxboro; d. Apr. 10, 1866, in Florida.
Children :
384 Eudolph, b. July 30, 1847.
385 Frank Warner, b. Feb. 8, 1850.
174 Hiram Mason'' Eannev (Oliver-^, Abner*, Eichar(F, John-.
Thomas^), b. Jan. 6, 1822; in. Dec. 3, 1857, Forest Lake, Pa.,
Elizabeth Clark, b. Sept. 29, 1833, LeEaysville, Pa., dau. of
Charles Clark, a banker, of Eeading, Pa., who was b. in England.
In 8 days Mr. Eanney raised in Binghamton, N. Y., a company
of 110 men (Dickinson Guards) and camped in Elmira, but was
rejected by the surgeon. He became a sutler. He and his wife
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 279
were Spiritualists. . He d. Dec. 18, 1888. Widow is inmate of
Odd Fellows' Home, ISTortlifield, Minn.
Children :
Adalina Patti, b. Nov. 8, 1859.
Maurice Mason, b. Mar. 28, 1861.
Alexander Vance, b. Sept. 2, 1866.
174a Milo*' Eanney (Wells^ Abner*, Eicha^d^ John-, Thomas^),
b. , 1818; m. , Anna Van Tassel. He d. Jan.
25, 1895.
Children:
385a John Jay, b. Mar. 15, 1843.
Adaline Priscilla, b. Mar. 22, 1847.
Ophelia Ann, b. Mar. 11, 1852.
Phebe Anna, b. Sept. 22, 1853, m. Albert Eichards. Chil-
AllDert Daniel, b. Mar. 16, 1875.
George Eduard. b. Feb. 26, 1877.
Maryette, b. Apr. 10.
385b Milo Wells, b. Apr. 14, 1862.
175 Harvey Henderson*' Eannev (Wells^ Abner*, Eichard%
John^ Thomas^), b. Aug. 8, 1823, Eoyalton, N. Y.; m. Nov. 15,
1849, Sarah Catherine Jones, b. June 12, 1833 ; d. Jan. 22, 1901 ;
dau. of David N. and Elmira Jones. He res. with dau. at W^ood-
burn, Oregon.
Children:
386 Julia Almira, b. Jan. 8, 1852 ; m. E. A. Stanton.
Maryetta, b. Jan. 6, 1854; d. Feb. 17, 1855.
Franklin W., b. Nov. 16, 1856; d. May 19, 1861.
Ida May, b. Feb. 1864; d. Mar. 1864.
387 Charlotte Eliza, b. Apr. 29, 1866; m. A. Lee Whitelock.
388 Eva Belinda, b. July 16, 1869 ; m. Clarence W. Gillette.
Grade Cora, b. Mar. 14, 1871 ; d. June 5, 1871.
Freddie Birdie, b. Jan. 20, 1872 ; d. Mar. 20, 1876.
Charles Edward, b. May 13, 1875; d. Aug. 10, 1896.
175a DanieP Eanney (Wells^ AbnerS Eichard% John2,
Thomas^) b. 1822; m. Sophronia Christopher. Ees. Middleport,
N. Y.
Children :
Julia Sarah, b.
Eben Francis, b. ; res. Buffalo, N. Y.
280 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
Ella Mary, b. ; m. Orrin Enos. ,
Charles E., b. ; res. Eoyalton, IST. Y.
lYob Franklin'' Eanney (Wells^ Abner*, Eichard^, John^,
Thomas^), m. Matilda Eoberts.
Children :
John W.
Lyman.
George Franklin.
Eose. b. ; m. Sims.
176 Collins Bartholomew*' Eanney (Wells% Abner*, Eichard^,
John^, Thomas^), b. Jan. 20, 1840, Eoyalton, N. Y.; m. (1)
Jan. 2, 1873, Eoyalton, Elizabeth Singer, b. June 12, 1843, d.
May 23, 1884, dau. of Henry Singer and Elizabeth Hoover; m.
(2) Nov. 10, 1892, Emeline Fry, b. Jan. 27, 1855, dau. of Henry
Fry, farmer; Eep.; Meth.; res. Clarence. Erie Co., N. Y.
Children hy 1st rnarriagc:
Geo. H., b. June 15, 1876; unm.; res. Lockport, N. Y.
Nina E., b. Jan. 1, 1879; unm.; res. Hillsdale, N. Y.
Lottie S., b. July 9, 1882.
Children hy 2d marriage:
Carrie Eva, b. June 15, 1894.
Bertie D., b. Aug. 15, 1896.
177 Philo^ Eanney (Lyman^ Abner*, Eichard^ John",
Thomas^), b. Oct. 13, 1818, Perrysburg, N. Y.; d. Oct. 3, 1892.
York, Wis.; m. Oct. 26, 1845, York, Wis. (the first marriage in
the township), Sally Ann Thompson, b. June 11, 1829. Perrys-
burg, ISr. Y., dau. of 'William Thompson and Mary Eaton ; farmer ;
Eep.; Town Treas.; Supervisor; for 19 years Meth. Class Leader,
absent but three times. The widow res. Marshfield, Wis.
Children:
389 Francis Lerov. b. Dec. 16, 1847.
390 Julius Sheldon, b. Oct. 2, 1849.
391 Orcelia Sophronia, b. Jan. 30, 1851; m. M. W. Sawyer.
392 Marv Eliza, b. Apr. 26, 1853 ; m. Silas Wilcox.
Ellen Jane, b. Jan. 17, 1857; m. H. M. Lackey, dau. Lyle
Mae, b. June 22, 1889.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 381
Sarah Etta, b. July 4. 1859 ; d. imm., Mar. 3, 1885.
393 Oscar Jay, b. June 26, 1863.
394 Seymour Philo, b. July 19, 1866.
Clara Adell, b. Feb. 22, 1869; m. M. E. Muzzy; res. Marsli-
field. Wis.
Adalena, b. June 7, 1872; d. unm., Oct. 12, 1894.
178 Eliza^ Eanney (Lyman^. Abner*, Eichard^, John-.
Thomas^), b. Apr. 12, 1821; d. July 12, 1869; m. Moses Wood,
d. Sept. 2, 1904, Madison, Wis.; rem. 1847 to Wis.; farmer;
Eep. ; Bapt.
Children :
Juliette, b. Apr. 6, 1841; d. Oct. 15, 1900; m. .
Orselia, b. ; d. young.
Oren Christopher, b. Jan. 23, 1846; m. Dec. 19, 1869.
Theodocia Alwilda Bridges, b. Nov. 14, 1844, Canada
East, dau. of Eev. John Bridges and Sarah Hazelwood;
farmer, Eep., Advent Christian; res. Sac City, Iowa.
(JlixldrBTi '
Edith Adella, b. July 27, 1871; m. Feb. 16, 1901, Sac
City, la., Frank Plum King, b. Nov. 5, 1872, Mc-
Lean Co., 111. ; farmer, Eep. Ees. Storm Lake, la.
Children:
Lavern Mae, b. Dec. 2, 1901.
Orrin Franklin, b. Aug. 22, 1903.
Emma Jane, b. Aug. 31, 1875; unm.
Arabella May, b. Nov. 6, 1877; m. Sept. 16, 1900, Max
Frank Dorwood, b. Apr. 17, 1878, desc. of Scotch line ;
farmer, Christian Ch., anti-saloon ; res. Cottage
Grove, Oregon. Child:
Donald Larne, b. Oct. 1, 1901.
Evaleua, b. Apr. 24, 1880; unm.
Viola Alwilda, b. Jan. 27, 1883; unm.
Franklin William, b. June 5, 1887; unm.
Elmira Melinda, b. Jan. 3, 1849 ; m. Mar. 7, 1871, William
Franklin Bridges, b. Aug. 14, 1847, Ontario, Canada ;
d. Oct. 26, 1904, Tonkay^'a, Okla.; farmer, then mer-
chant, Legion of Honor, Eep. ; widow res. Tonkawa.
Okla. Children:
William Henry, b. Dec. 25, 1872 ; unm.
John Clinton, b. May 18, 1876; unm.
Clifford Alanson, b. Oct. 8, 1880; d. Mar. 10, 1885.
Nellie May, b. Oct. 20, 1884; d. May 25, 1889.
Satira Jane, b. Jan. 22, 1851; m. Dec. 25, 1872. York. Wis..
382 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
William Willingham Bewick, b. June 13, 1844, Madi-
son, Wis. ; merchant, Bapt., Prohi. ; res. Madison, Wis.
Clara Alice", b. Jan. 29, 1874; d. Sept. 23, 1905.
Margaret Edith, b. July 11, 1875; m. Geo. W. Britton :
farmer, Dep. Sheriff, Eep., Mod. Woodman; res.
Sun Prairie, Wis. Children:
Ralph B., b. Mar. 9, 1897.
Harold W., b. Jan. 13, 1901; d. Aug.. 1904.
Malcolm M., b. Oct. 11, 1905.
Thomas Lyman, b'. Apr. 30, 1877.
Grace Beatrice, b. Mar. 8, 1879.
Jessie Rosewood, b. June 17, 1882; d. Feb. 32, 1885.
Wm. Medhurst, b. Dec. 24, 1884.
Clinton Laverne, b. Jan. 23, 1855, York, Wis.; m. Jan.
23, 1878, Melissa Lovica Clark, b. Apr. 12, 1857, dau.
of Kendall Peabody Clark and Melissa Lovica Larrabee ;
farmer. Rep., Presb.; she W. R. C; res. Fonda, la.
C^Ji'iluVSTt '
Inda Melissa, b. Dec. 7, 1878.
Mabel Eliza, b. June 1, 1880; m. Ernest Horst.
Willie Clinton, b. Jan. 34, 1883.
Verne Cyrus, b. Mar. 30, 1886.
Clavton Cl^rk, b. Sept. 9, 1895.
Dewey Arthur, b. May 1, 1898.
179 Sophronia^ Ranney (Lyman^ Abner*, Richard^ John-,
Thomas^), b. Oct. 16, 1823, Perrysburg, N". Y. ; d. Jan. 7. 1905;
m. Oct. 29, 1844, Augusta, N. Y., Leander Vaughn, b. Jan. 10,
1823, Smithville. N. Y.; farmer. Rep., Meth.; res. Enid, Okla.
CJiildren:
Adella, b. July 39, 1846; d. Feb., 1863.
Clifford Eugene, b. Feb. 36, 1850; res. Sault Ste. Mane,
Ontario.
Carrie Augusta, b. Mar. 6, 1858 ; m. Dec. 35, 1875. Sterling,
111., Robert Emmet Church, b. Dec. 35, 1853, Portage-
ville, K Y.; F. & A. M., A. 0. U. W., Rep., miller;
res. Enid, Okla. Children:
Lyman U., b. Aug. 30, 1877; unm.; res. Breckinridge,
Minn.
Carrie Adelle, b. Feb. 32, 1879; m. Crawford;
res. Lawton, Okla.
Elsie Louise, b. June 19, 1881; unm.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 283
Eobert Lee, b. Aug. 9, 1883; unm.; Troop L, 7th U. S.
Cav., Fort Oglethorpe, Dodge, Ga.
L. Gertrude, b. Dec. 28, 1889; unm.
180 Edward Allen" Eannev (Lyman^, Abner*. Eiehard^, John-,
Thomas^), b. Sept. 7, 1825, Perr3'sburg, N. Y.; d. May 8, 1867,
Tainter, Wis.; m. Mar. 9, 1847, Hartford, Conn., Orpha Bush-
nell, b. Nov. 3, 1825, Hartland, Conn., dau. of Isaac Bushnell
and Orpha Deming; farmer; widow res. Cedar Falls, la.
CJiildren :
Mary, b. ; d. infant.
Harmon Eugene, b. Feb. 23, 1849; m. Jan. 4, 1873,
Menomonie, Wis., Mary Jane Furbur, b. Nov. 1, 1859,
Adams Co., Wis., dau. of Eoger Furbur and Mary Ann
Adams ; farmer, Eep., Meth. ; res. Colfax, Wis. Chil-
dren :
Guy Eugene, b. Mar. 9, 1874.
Orpha Bell, b. Jan. 13, 1886.
Carlton Wallace, b. Dec. 2, 1851, Hartford, Conn.; m. Mar.
10, 1887, Sherman, Wis., Eosa Belle Furbur, b. Jan.
10, 1867, Sherman, dau. of Eoger Furbur and Mary
Ann Adams; farmer, Prohi., Meth., M. W. of A.;
res. Cedar Falls, Wis. Children:
Lloyd Allen, b. Aug. 13, 1888.
Myrtle May, b. Jan. 31, 1891.
Eoger LeEoy, b. July 7, 1893.
Lois Evangeline, b. Jan. IS, 1895.
Mary Angel ine, b. Sept. 16, 1899.
Laura Sophronia, b. Aug. 7, 1854, Wis.: m. Nov. 27,
1877, Menomonie, Wis., Bvron Pitman Dammon. b.
Feb. 23, 1852, Eutland, Wis,; farmer, J^own Clerk of
Sheridan, Wis., 1880-1881; Chairman Town Super-
visors, 1890 ; Maccabees ; res. Woodburn, Ore. Children :
Erma Estelle. b. Jan. 22, 1879; unm.
Clifford Byron, b. Nov. 10, 1888; unm.
Edna Abigail, b. Mav 4, 1-892.
Mabel Orpha, b. Sept. 20, .
Ada Louisa, b. 1855; d. Nov. 10, 1887; m. Charles C.
Bennett. Child :
Mabel Euth, b. July 7, 1873 ; unm ; res. Eepublic,
Washington.
Frank Edward, b. Jime 19, 1857, Tainter, Wis.; m. 1881,
Eiver Falls, Wis., Minnie Jane Bouck. b. 1865, Win-
284 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
nebago Co., 111., dau. of Lorenzo Dow Bouck and Alta
Jane Trask; farmer, Eep., Seventh Day Advent: res.
Colfax, Wis. Children:
Alta May, b. Apr. 8, 1883.
Larue Pranklin. b. Aug. 19, 1883.
Geo. Clinton, b. Sept. 25, 1888.
Mildred Mae^ b. June 23, 1893.
Gladys Irene, b. Feb. 2, 1901.
George Burtis, b. May 2, 18G4, Tainter, Wis.; m. May 2,
1897, Tainter, Carrie Almedia Danter, b. Dec. 12, 1880,
dau. of Thomas Danter and Sophia Amelia Visger ;
farmer. Rep.; res. Colfax, Wis. Children:
Eva Viola, b. May 21, 1898.
Ada Sophia, b. Feb. 19, 1900.
Julia Hannah, b. Mar. 13, 1902.
Grace Fern, b. June 29, 1904.
Edgar Allen, b. Aug. 16, 1867, Tainter, Wis.; m. Apr.
28, 1897, Tainter, Ellen Hannah Danter, b. Jan. 31,
1874, dau. of Thomas Danter and Sophia Amelia Vis-
ger ; farmer, Meth., Eep. ; res. Wheeler, Wis. Children :
Agnes Laura, b. Aug. 12, 1898.
Elsie Fay, b. Nov. 17, 1899.
Ruth Hazel, b. Jan. 24, 1902.
Nellie May, b. Apr. 29, 1903.
181 Diana® Ranney (Lyman^, Abner*, Richard^, John-,
Thomas^), b. 1831; d. 1854; m. , John Eckels, b. July
20, 1814, Harrisburg, Pa. ; cooper. Rep.
Children :
Ransom, b. May 20, 1849, Allegan Co., Mich.; m. May 14,
1886, Grand Haven, Mich., Viola Schoonover, b. Mar.
' 24, 1860, Addison, IST. Y., dau. of B. Schoonover and
Louisa Gee ; shingle manufacturer. Rep., F. & A. M.,
0. E. S., I. 0. 0. F., B. P. 0. E.; res. Arlington,
Wash. Child:
Hilda May, b. Oct. 11, 1900.
Louisa, b. ; m. Abraham Givins.
182 Warren Ezrum® Rannev (Lyman^, Abner*, Richard'.
John^, Thomas^), b. Mar. 14,' 1838,' Perrvsburgh, N. Y.; m.
July 21, 1864, West Portland, Wis., Eveline Elizabeth Linder-
man, b. Jan. 21, 1844, West Portland, Wis.; d. May 4, 1897,
Burlington. Kan.; dau. of Stephen Lindcrman and Charlotte
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 285
Rue; farmer and engineer, Corp. Co. C, 11th Eeg. "Wis. Vols.,
Sept., 1861— Aug. 18, 1863; Eep., Meth., G. A. R.; res. Wray,
Colorado.
Children :
Hiram Elder, b. Sept. 6. 1866, W. Portland, Wis.; m.
Feb. 10, 1889, Burlington, Kan., Viola Catherine
Lanning, b. Dec. 25, 1869. Lowry, Mo., dau. of Joseph
Mayberry Lanning and Matilda Helen Dean, expert
accountant, lumberman, printer and editor, Dem., en-
rollment clerk of La. Senate, K. of H. ; res. Spring-
field, La. Children:
Harry Lee, b. Dec. 20, 1889.
Carl Albert, b. July 11, 1893.
Marion Elmer, b. Feb. 5, 1898; d. Dec. 17, 1899.
Walter Eugene, b. Dec. 30, 1903.
Charles Dexter, b. June 21, 1868, York, Wis.; m. Aug.
8, 1892, Galena, 111., Anna Sophia Young, b. Nov. 8,
1870, Galena, dau. of Christian Young and Sophia
Dublin; tinsmith. Rep., Cong.; res. Chicago, 111.
Children :
Ethel Fav, b. Feb. 4, 1896 ; d. Sept. 5, 1898.
Charles David, b. June 18, 1899; d. June 18, 1899.
Vera Evelyn, b. Dec. 16, 1900.
Oscar Minor, b. Nov. 7, 1870, Fenton, la. ; m. Nov. 8, 1899.
Burlington, Kan., Docia Dodd, b. July 14, 1870, dau.
of Ennis K. Dodd and Mary L. Brocan; harness maker,'
Rep., Meth., 32° Masonry; d. . July 1, 1906; no
children.
Fred Warren, b. Sept. 25, 1877; res. Parsons, Kans.
183 Dewitt Clinton® Ranney (Lvman^, Abner*, Richard^, John-,
Thomas^), b. Mav 22, 1840, Perrvsburg, N. Y. ; m. June 6. 1864.
New Albion, N. Y., Mary Ann (Wood) Clark, b. Mar. 21, 1844,
Hanover, N. Y., dau. of Jason Wood and Hannah Featherby, and
widow of James Madison Clark, of Co. C, 64th N. Y. Vols. At
the age of five weeks Mr. Ranney was taken from his mother's
grave, and adopted by Andrew Keyes. For over forty years he
knew nothing of his relatives. He enlisted in 1863, but did not
pass the medical examination; farmer at Hastings, Mich, where
he d. Nov. 17, 1906; widow res. there.
Children :
George D., b. Apr. 5, 1868 ; res. Cincinnati, 0.
Maud Josephine, b. Jan. 28, 1874; m. Clarence F. Brown;
res. Ithaca, N. Y.
286 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
Ada Blanche, b. May 28. 1881; m. May 30, 1899. Claude
Eugene Booth; res. Kalamazoo, Mich. Child:
George D., b. June 27, 1900.
184 Caroline Celinda" Eanney (Lyman", Ahner*, Richard',
John^, Thomas^), b. Nov. 9, 1841, Perrysburg, N. Y. ; m. Nov. 4,
1860, Silver Creek, Chautauqua Co., N. Y., James Albert Gran-
tier, b. Sept. 19, 1832, Argusville, N. Y. ; farmer, Dem. ; res.
Forestville, N. Y. Children:
Children :
Morrell Edgar, b. Sept. 22, 1863 ; m. Sept. 11, 1888, James-
town, N". Y., Helen Isabel Gage, b. Nov. 2, 1867. Smitii
Mills, N. Y., dau. of Judson Gage and Amelia Pope ;
farmer; res. Dunkirk, N. Y. Child:
Alice, b. July 25, 1891 ; d. Apr. 29, 1892.
Alvin Allen, b. Dec. 16. 1871; unm. ; res. Forestville,
N. Y.
Irwin Norton, b. Aug. 31, 1875, Villenova, N. Y.; m. Oct.
26, 1898, Alice May Perkins, b. June 27, 1881, Vil-
lanova, dau. of Dennis Perkins and Mary Elizabeth
Danker; farmer, Pep., I. 0. 0. P.; res. Forestville,
N. Y. Children:
Martin Lewis, b. May 28, 1899.
Blanch Isabel, b. Oct. 12, 1900.
185 Justin Worthy'' Eanney (Eli", Abner*, Eichard^ John-,
Thomas^), b. Jan. 3" 1821, Augusta, N. Y.; m. Dec. 30, 1849.
Elizabeth Quackenbush, b. Mar. 25, 1825, Stockbridge, N. Y..
dau. of John Quackenbush, who d. Nov. 19, 1881, West Salem,
Wis.; farmer. Rep., Cong. Ch.; d. Sept. 13, 1898, West Salem.
Wisconsin.
Children :
Clara M., b. Mar. 4, 1851; d. June 12, 1877.
Cassius M., b. Mar. 9, 1855 ; unm.
Edwin H., b. Nov. 15, 1858; d. Feb. 25. 1876.
Mary E., b. Feb. 18, 1864; d. June 15. 1885.
Minnie L., b. Feb. 18, 1864; d. Sept. 3, 1864.
Jay Worthy, b. July 22, 1870, West Salem, Wis.; m. Dec.
31, 1898, Stella B. Smith, b. May 3, 1873, West Salem,
dau. of Franklin B. Smith and C. Best : farmer, Rep. ;
res. West Salem, Wis. Children:
Edna Elizabeth, b. Mar. 25, 1900.
Franklin Justin, b. Apr. 25, 1903.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 287
18G Harmon® Eanney (Eli^ Abner*, Eicliard^ Jolm^ Thomas^),
b. June 27, 1823, Brooklyn, Wis.; m. Lucy Ann Smith, b. 1837,
d. Apr., 1890, Mitchel Gulch, Montana. He farmer. Catliolic at
death, Aug. 24, 1900, Shelby, Mont.
Children:
395 Lovisa Jane, b. 1854.
396 Sarah Janette, b. Feb. 17, 1856.
397 Flora Ann. b. Feb. 17, 1860.
Mary Evaline, b. May 24, 1862; d. May 12, 1879; m.
Nov. 25, 1877, Duane Francis Doggett.
Charles Francis, b. .
398 George Frederick, b. May 12, 1871.
399 Rosetta Ida, b. May 6, 1874.
187 Nancy Jane" Ranney (Eli^ Abner*, Eichard^ John%
Thomas^), b. Nov. 12, 1826.' Augusta, N. Y.; m. Sept. 6, 1848'.
Gowanda, N. Y., Nathaniel Hurd Miner, b. Aug. 14, 1825, Perrys-
burg, N. Y., d. Jan. 7, 1905, Emerson, la.; farmer. Rep., Meth.;
widow, res. Emerson, la.
Children :
Homer George, b. July 29, 1849; d. Sept. 19. 1882; m.
Aug., 1881. Octavia Adaline Collings, b. Jan. 21, 1861.
Oklahoma; d. Feb. 22, 1886; res. Apache, Okla. Child:
Minnie Adaline. b. Aug. .5, 1882.
Mary Isabel, b. July 25, 1852; d. Nov. 30, 1892; m. Silas
Parks Tavlor, who res. Auburn, la. Children:
Eva M.
Harry D.
Flovd H.
John W.
Martha Jane. b. Apr. 12, 1856; unm; res. Emerson, la.
Lydia Ann, b. Aug. 7, 1869; m. William Louis Lloyd; res.
Emerson, la. Children:
John Eaymond, b. Apr. 6. 1893.
Mary Elvira, b. Apr. 11, 1898.
188 Julius Caesar** Eanney (Eli^ Abner*, Richard^ John'-.
Thomas^), b. Feb. 20, 1829, Augusta, N. Y.; m. Aug. 29, 1849.
Dayton, N. Y.. Nancy Maria Milk. dau. of Luke Milk and Saloma
Adams, shoemaker; d. May 8, 1906, Maynard, Iowa.
Children :
400 Luke. b. Julv 30, 1850.
401 Nathan Arms, b. Aug. 27, 1853.
288 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
Benj. Franklin, b. Apr. 7. 1856 ; d. •nm., Mar. 7, 1884.
402 Alfred Herrick, b. Oct. 3, 1858.
Henry, b. Apr. 21, 1861; d. Dec. 14, 1865.
403 Hernion, b. July 8, 1863.
404 Saloma Evaline, b. Nov. 22, 1867.
405 Justine Warren, b. Dec. 8, 1870.
189 Lovisa® Ranney (Eli', Abner*, Richard^ John-, Thomas^),
b. Aug. 21, 1831, Augusta, N. Y. ; m. Dec. 17, 1851, Gowanda.
N. Y., De Witt Clinton Brand, b. June 27, 1824, Erie Co., N". Y. ;
farmer, Rep., United Brethren Ch. ; rem. 1854 to Indianola, la. ;
res. there.
Children:
406 Alice Serizah, b. Nov. 20, 1852 ; m. H. D. Brown.
407 Sarah Evaline, b. Jan. 28, 1857; m. J. M. Lehman.
Frances Delinda, b. Mar. 17, 1859; d. Jan. 11, 1860.
408 George Clinton, b. Feb. 24, 1861.
409 Minnie Louisa, b. May 28, 1865 ; m. Wm. Peverly.
Warren David, b. May 1, 1867; unm.
410 Marv Jane, b. Apr. 6, 1869 ; m. Wm. Comer.
411 Carrie Elizabeth, b. Mar. 19, 1871; m. Feb. 23, 1890.
Clifton Hall ; 3 children. ; res. Indianola.
Nellie Eliza, b. July 23, 1873; m. Mar. 8, 1905, John R.
Lundy, Pres. of Bank of Spring Hill, la.; Dem., F.
& A. M., I. 0. 0. F., M. W. A.; res. Spring Hill, la.
190 Frank Eli^ Ranney (Eli^ Abner*, Richard^ John%
Thomas^), b. Sept. 25, 1837, Augusta, N. Y.; m. Mar. 1, 1859,
Perrysburg, N. Y., Adelaide Lovina Wells, b. Feb. 26, 1841, Day-
ton, N. Y., dau. of William Wells (b. Mar. 7, 1810. Sangerfield,
N. Y.), and Mary Jane Ellis, b. June 22, 1822, Tioga Co., N. Y. ;
Corporal Co. G, lOth Iowa Inf., Sept. 2, 1862— May 28, 1865, in
many battles; Rep., Meth., A. 0. U. W., farmer,; rem. 1844, to
Perrysburg, N. Y., 1853, to Iowa; 1865, to West Perrysburg,
N. Y., where they reside.
Children :
412 Charles Clinton, b. May 3, 1860.
413 Frank Millard, b. Sept. 12, 1861.
William Wells, b. Mar. 7, 1869; unm.
George Ellis, b. Mar. 19, 1870; m. July 16, 1892, Emma
Dawley ; farmer. Rep., Meth. ; res. Perrysburg, N. Y.
Grace Eva, b. Jan. 3, 1874; m. Dec. 24, 1891, Orten Wa-
trous; farmer. Rep.; res. Perrysburg, N. Y. Child:
Ray Orton, b. Mar. 7. 1900.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 289
191 Elizabeth Evelyn^ Eanney (Eli% Abner*, EicharcF, John-.
Thomas^), b. July 9, 1840, Augusta, N. Y.; d. Jan. 12, 1892,
Colfax, la.; m. Sept. 10, 1857, Warren Co., la., Alfred Francis,
b. May 19, 1827, Erie Co., N. Y. ; Corporal Co. G, 3d Iowa Inf..
May 8, 1861 — June 24, 1864, in many battles; retired farmer.,
Rep., Meth., G. A. E.; res. Spring Hill, Iowa.
Cliildren:
Cadwin Eli, b. Mar. 29, 1865; m. Aug. 25, 1897, Lydia
Emma Amburg; res. Valeria, Iowa. Children:
Irene Viola, b. Feb. 22, 1899.
Mabel Elizabeth, b. Sept. 11, 1901.
Justin Simon, b. Nov. 25, 1870; d. Apr. 6, 1884.
192 Helen Amelia'' Eanney (Eli^ Abner*, Eichard'\ John-,
Thomas^), b. Oct. 31, 1847, Perrysburg, N. Y. ; m. Mar. 10. 1867,
West Plain, la., Lewis Smith Kennedy, b. June 19, 1837, Wash-
ington Co., Pa.; d. Feb. 16, 1906; farmer, Eep., Friends Ch.;
Second Sergeant Co. M, 2d Nebraska Cav., May 24, 1863 — Dec.
23, 1863 ; wounded in right arm Sept. 3, 1863 ; widow res. Nor-
walk, la.
Children :
Charles Francis, b. Nov. 25, 1869; m. Jan. 11, 1899, Nettie
Turner; res. Norwalk, la. Children:
Earl, b. Nov. 8, 1899.
Bessie, b. Aug. 11, 1901.
Elsie, b. Mar. 14, 1903.
Edith, b. June 12, 1905.
John Frederick, b. Mar. 13, 1875; m. Dec. 22, 1898, Stella
Brubacker; res. Orillia, la. Children:
Helen Sophia, b. Aug. 11, 1899.
Stella Rose, b. Apr. 2, 1901 ; d. Apr. 29, 1901.
Mabel Teresa, b. Feb. 3, 1903.
John Thomas, b. Nov. 13, 1905.
193 Eebecca® Eanney (Joseph% Fletcher*, Joseph^ Joseph-,
Thomas^), b. Sept. 24, 1780, Upper Houses; m. (1) Nov., 1801,
John Edwards, bapt. Aug. 10, 1775, son of ChurchilP Edwards
(ChurchilP, David-*), and Lucy Eells, dau. of Eev. Edward Eells.
He d. 1803, in the West Indies. She m. (2) May 15, 1810, Cap-
tain Thomas White, b. June 10, 1773, Upper Houses; shipmaster,
d. Sept. 13, 1819. She d. May 4, 1871.
290 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
Children hy 1st marriage:
Emeline, b. ; m. Aug. 3, 1823, Eoderick Stock-
ing.
Children hy 2d marriage:
Catherine L., b. July 9, 1811 ; d. unm., Oct. 15, 1833.
Euth, b. June 6, 1813; d. Sept. 10, 1856; m. Sept. 19,
1839, Edmund Beaumont. He d. July 13, 1872. Chil-
dren :
William, b. Jan. 19, 1855; d. Jan. 21, 1855.
Thomas White, b. Sept. 3, 1856 ; m. Sept. 30, 1880, Jane
Hanmer, postmaster, Cromwell, Conn.
Clarissa, b. July, 1815; d. Aug. 8, 1815.
Augusta, b. Jan. 1, 1821 ; d. unm., Aug. 28, 1897.
194 Moses® Eanney (Joseph^, Fletcher*, Joseph^ Joseph-,
Thomas^), b. Dec. 22, 1785, Upper Houses; m. Mar. 7. 1807.
Elizabeth Gilchrist Eanney, b. Aug. 16, 1786, dau. of Samuel
Ward*^ Eanney. He was a hatter in Middletown, baptized by
immersion by the Episcopal rector, Jan. 27, 1812, and d. Feb.
9, 1812. Eaised in St. Johns Lodge, Apr. 11, 1810. Widow
rem. 1830. to Cincinnati, 0., and d.'Sept. 7, 1859, at Spartans-
burg, Indiana.
Children:
414 Mary, b. Aug. 2, 1807; m. John Hough.
415 Henrv Joseph, b. 1809.
416 Moses, b. June, 1811.
195 Calvin'' Eanney (Joseph^ Fletcher*, Joseph^ Joseph-,
Thomas^), b. Apr. 15, 1791, Upper Houses; m. (1) .
Mary^ Sage, b. , 1784; d. ; dau. of Timothy*
Sage (Timothy^ Timothy^, David^) ; she d. -; m. (2)
Apr. 7, 1815, Clarissa S.'^Williams, who d. Aug. 11, 1825. He d.
Aug. 16, 1818, Upper Houses.
Child hy 2d marriage:
417 Asa Sage. bapt. Oct. 3,' 1817.
196 Norman* Eannev (Joseph^, Fletcher*, Joseph^ Joseph-,
Thomas^), b. Apr. 22, 1793, Upper Houses; m. Nov. 15, 1820,
Southington, Conn., Mary B. Wilcox. He d. Oct. 9, 1825. She m.
(2) Nov. 12, 1837, Benjamin Barnes of Southington. They re-
sided Upper Houses. She d. Feb. 4, 1875, aged 77 years. He d.
Sept. 26, 1843, aged 38 years.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS RANNEY 291
Children hy 1st marriage:
418 Polinda Eliza, b. Aug. 21, 1821; m. Samuel Wilson Lee
Clark.
Jane Wilcox, b. ; d. unm., Oct. 12, 1847.
197 Martin® Ranney (Simeon^, Fletcher*, Joseph^, Joseph-.
Thomas^), bapt. June 'l9, 1788, Upper Houses; m. Aug. 7, 1812,
Harriet Hall Bound, b. July 25, 1795, Greenfield, Mass., dau. of
Ephraim Bound (b. Jan. 14, 1773), and Sarah Francis (b. Sept. 9,
1769). Mr. Bound had come to Middletown to reside. He had two
daughters. " The two daughters of Ephraim Bound were acknowl-
edged beauties in their day, being queenly and stately, and having
llassical features and figures, invariably attracting admiring atten-
tion wherever they appeared." Martin Ranney died Sept. 10, 1812,
only a month after marriage. On Sept. 25, 1815, the widow mar-
ried James K. Frothingham of Charlestown, Mass. The probate
record shows: coffin, $5.25; tolling bell, 50 cents; digging grave,
$2.00; attendance on hearse, 38 cents; , gravestone. $10.10; paid
his sub. to Baptist meeting house, $8.00. It did not cost much
to die in those days. Served in War of 1812, Aug. 18, 1814 to Oct.
25, 1814, under Capt. Isaac Webber.
Child:
Harriet M., b. Feb., 1813. Posthumous.
198 Horace'' Ranney (William^ Fletcher*, Joseph'', Joseph'-',
Thomas^), bapt. Oct. 28, 1791, Upper Houses; m. Ruth Tuell,
b. Middletown; farmer and shoe mfr., Winsted, Berlin, and
Upper Houses; raised in St. John's Lodge, Feb. 27, 1827; d.
Aug. 7. 1834; she d. Mar. 4, 1875.
Children:
Martin L.. b. July 26, 1814; d. 1848, Vicksburg, Miss.
Horace, b. July 21, 1816 ; d. unm., 1870, St. Louis, Mo. Left
much property to charitable and church purposes.
Julia Ann, b. Aug. 11, 1818; .d. June 17, 1856; m. Horace
Higby.
419 Edwin Hiram, b. Sept. 11, 1820.
420 Henry W., b. Oct. 15, 1822.
Alexander, b. ; d. Oct. 2, 1826.
199 William® Ranney (William^ Fletcher*, Joseph^ Joseph^,
Thomas^), bapt. June 9, 1793, Upper Houses; m. Elizabeth
292 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
Bailey, b. 1790, Middle Haddam, Conn.; farmer, Dem. ; d. Feb.
23, 1844; she d. May 18, 1878. Their son, Zenas Edwards, erected
the costly monument seen herewith.
Cliildreri:
421 Martha, b. June 1, 1817 ; m. S. J. Baisden.
Charles, b. Dec. 10, 1818 ; d. unm., Aug. 7, 1857, California.
422 Timothy, b. Jan. 21, 1821.
Titus, b. Sept. 5, 1823 ; d. Sept. 16, 1828.
423 Benjamin, b. June 3, 1825.
Geo. C, b. Apr. 11, 1827; rem. to California.
424 Zenas Edwards, b. Jan. 28, 1829.
William H., b. June 3, 1831 ; drowned Dec. 25, 1841. t
Andrew J., b. Oct. 26, 1833; d. unm., Oct. 29, 1871.
Titus, b. May 15, 1836 ; rem. to California.
Joseph, b. Mar. 14, 1840; d. Aug. 15, 1840.
200 Greorge® Eanney (William^, Fletcher*, Joseph'', Joseph-,
Thomas^), bapt. July 26, 1795, Upper Houses; m. Dec. 6, 1821,
Upper Houses, Alma White, b. July 18, 1797, Upper Houses, dau.
of John White and Euth Eanney (see the White family) ; mfr,
boots and shoes; he d. May 16, 1842; she d. May 20, 1877.
Children :
425 William Keith, b. Nov. 1, 1822.
426 Almira Maria, b. Nov. 1, 1824.
427 Samuel B., b. Nov. 6, 1827.
201 Sarah® Eanney (William^, Fletcher*, Joseph^, Joseph-,
Thomas^), bapt. Apr." 10, 1797, Upper Houses; m. Oct. 28, 1821.
Archibald Kinney, b. Oct. 24, 1794, Union, Conn., son of Joel
Kinney and Chloe Coye; teacher, farmer, Dem., Epis. ; d. Mar.
11, 1867, Suffield, Conn.; she d. Jan. 29, 1890.
Children :
Timothy William, b. July 22, 1822.
Sarah Olive, b. Aug. 13, 1826.
Elizabeth Coye, b. June 16, 1828; d. May 20, 1838.
202 Henry® Eanney (William^ Fletcher*, Joseph^ Joseph^.
Thomas^), b. May 5, 1804, Upper Houses; m.
Middlefield, Conn., Mary Bivens, b. May 17, 1806; farmer, Dem..
Bapt. Deacon; he d. Aug. 10, 1862; she d. Apr. 10, 1891.
o 0)
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 293
Children:
Benjamin, b. Mar. 29, 1827; d. young.
Caroline, b. Apr. 26. 1830; d. young.
128 Mary Melissa, b. Oct. 6, 1832; m. E. E. Blinn.
429 Caroline Hamlin, b. Feb. 19, 1836; m. E. B. Hale.
130 Benjamin Henry, b. Feb. 3, 1840.
203 Joseph® Eanney (William^, Fletcher*, Joseph^, Joseph-.
ThomasM, b. Aug. 20, 1807, Upper Houses; m. Jan. 1, 1834,
Cleveland, 0., Lucenia Fox. b. Sept. 24, 1807, Leroy, N. Y.; shoe
dealer, Eochester, jST. Y., Cleveland, 0.; Bapt. ; he d. Aug. 4,
1873; she d. 1885, Cleveland, 0.
Children:
Mary, b. Feb. 22, 1837; d. Dec. 21, 1873.
Sarah Kinney, b. Dec. 14, 1847; unm. ; res. Cleveland, 0.
William, b. May 23, 1849 ; d. July 15, 1851.
204 William W.® Eanney (Charles% Hezekiah*, Joseph^ Jo-
seph^. Thomas^), b. Sept. 5, 1805; m. Julv 4, 1827, Boston, Mass.,
Susan C. Clark, b. Dec. 16, 1806, Boston; d. June 28, 1870; dau.
of Daniel Clark and Susanna Clow; he d. Mar. 5, 1852, Liver-
more, Ky. His portrait is given herewith. He was induced by
his brother, James Stow, to give up a good business in Newbury-
port, Mass., and " make a sylvan home for himself and family "
in Kentuck5^ The story is related by his son, William W.
" This my father was inclined to do, and so, about May, 1839,
we all left our Massachusetts home for what was then called
the Great West. After many vicissitudes, and about thirty days'
travel, we arrived at Owensboro, a place of about five hundred in-
habitants. There we found teams and ' vehicles ' to convey us
twenty miles to our new Woodland home. From Boston
to Providence, E. I., we traveled on a railroad, the cars being
something like our present day country omnibuses. At Provi-
dence we took passage for New York on the good steamer Lex-
ington, which, later, was burned, causing the deatli of several
hundred passengers. From New York we went up the Hudson
to Albany, and there took the cars for Schenectady, the terminus
of the railroad. Thence we went by canal to Buffalo. From Buf-
falo to Cleveland we sailed on the steamer Swiftsure, having a
cargo consisting largely of turpentine and rosin. The boat caught
fire, and, while we were badly frightened, the fire was put out
with little damage. We then went south by canal, through the
dense Ohio woods, to Portsmouth, on the Ohio Eiver, and boarded
the Monsoon, a new boat making her first trip to New Orleans.
294 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
Stuck on a sandbar at Flint Isla'hd, and all the passengers went
ashore, the merchandise was put on barges, and. by throwing
a lot of bacon in the fires, extra steam was gotten up, and, after
two days, we made a start. Now as to ' vehicles.' A large black
gum tree had been cut down, measuring three feet in diameter.
This was sawed off for wheels, about eight inches in thickness,
dressed down to three inches on the outside, leaving what might
be called a hub in the center, four inches in diameter, to receive
the axle of wood. On this was built the body which held our goods,
called by the people ' plunder.' An old fashioned road wagon,
with a body as crooked as a rainbow, carried the family, and on
we went creakety creak, creakety creak, to our place of desti-
nation."
Children:
William W., b. May 31, 1828; d. Sept. 27. 1828.
Susan Clark, b. Sept. 16. 1829; d. Feb. 10, 1830.
.431 William W., b. Nov. 29, 1830.
George, b. Aug. 13, 1832; d. Jan. 31, 1838.
432 Susan Clark, b. Aug. 13, 1834; m. A. J. Atherton.
433 Isabella, b. Mar. 10, 1837.
434 George, b. July 24, 1839.
Charles James, b. June 6, 1842 ; d. Sept. 30, 1851.
Maria Serena, b. Dec. 27, 1814; d. Jan. 8, 1845.
Maria Serena, b. Apr. 10, 1846. Is a nurse. Has taken
a deep interest in the work of the Society of Middle-
town Upper Houses. ' Ees. Austin, Minn.
205 AbigaiP Eannev (Charles^, Hezekiah^ Joseph''. Joseph",
Thomas^), b. June 15,^1810, Lansingburg, N. Y. ; d. Apr. 1, 1874,
Waterford, N. Y.; m. Aug. 24, 1835, Waterford. N. Y., Lvsanda
Button, b. Sept. 2, 1810, North Haven, Conn. ; d. July 29, 1898.
Cohoes, N. Y. ; Presb. Elder for over fifty years ; mfr. of hand
and fire engines and apparatus.
Children:
Mary Josephine, b. June 18, 1836; d. June 22, 18.^8.
Eliza, b. Jan. 14, 1841 ; m. George H. Page. Re-;. Cohoes,
N. Y.
Theodore Edwin, b. Dec. 16, 1844; d. Feb. 22. 1905.
Julia Mead, b. June 22, 1846; d. Aug. 20, 1877.
Charles Ranney, b. Apr. 21, 1852. Presbv. elder. Res.
Waterford, N. Y.
206 James Stow" Ranney (Charles'\ Hezekiah*, Joseph^, Jo-
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 295
seph% Thomas^), b. July 15, 1813, Albany, N. Y.; m. Feb. f).
1842, Liverraore, Ky., Hettie Jane Atherton, b. Aug. 15, 1827,
Livermore, Ky.; d. Nov. 28, 1863, Select, Ky.; dau. of William
Atherton. He was a carpenter, farmer, Dem.; d. Nov. 25, 1890,
Select, Ky.
Children :
Lelia, b. Oct. 23, 1843; d. Mar. 25, 1844.
Seth P., b. Apr. 24, 1845 ; m. . Ees. Cromwell, Kv.
John, b. July 15, 1847; d. Feb. 10, 1849.
Lelia Susan, b. Sept. 10, 1849; m. .
Mary Ann, b. Aug. 23, 1851 ; m. .
Sarah Mehitable, b. Aug. 24, 1851; m. .
Lydia Sophia, b. June 27, 1857 ; m. .
439 Charles William, b. Feb. 28, 1860.
John J., b. May 7, 1863; d. Jan. 5, 1864.
207 Jabez*' Eanney (Hezekiah^, Hezekiah*, Joseph'^, Joseph'-,
Thomas^), b. Aug. 15, 1799, Upper Houses; m. Mar. 3, 1824.
Troy, N. Y., Eheny Packard, b. , d. , dau. of
Timothy and Aholibamah Packard. He resided in Eochester and
Geneseo, N. Y., as a merchant many years. He rem. 1883 to
Howell, Mich., passing most of his time with his daughter. Mrs.
Dr. Wells; Methodist, F. & A. M.; d. Feb. 8, 1888.
Children :
440 Julia Maria, b. Feb. 9, 1825; m. Dr. Wm. L. Wells.
441 Harriet Cornelia, b. Nov. 25, 1827; m. Milo Lee Gay.
Infant, b. 1830; d. unmarried.
442 Julius Augustus, b. Aug. 23, 1831.
Emily Jane, b. Aug. 20, 1834.
442 Jennie Mary, b. Nov. 30, 1836; m. Wm. McPherson, Jr.
444 Frank George, b. Apr. 9. 1838.
Frederic Lima, b. Mar. 22, 1840; d. Feb. 23, 1841.
445 Frederick Packard, b. Oct. 24, 1844.
Infant, b. June, 1851 ; d. unnamed.
209 Eev. Eoderick Hartshorn*' Eanney (Eoderick^, Hezekiah*,
Joseph^ Joseph-, Thomas^), b. 1806, Salem, N. Y. ; m. Dec.
29, 1842, Clinton, La., Malvina Mills, b. Apr. 22, 1822, Frelighs-
burgh, Canada, dau. of Captain John Mills, of British Army in
War of 1812. The widow resides in Yoakum. Texas. He d. Oct.
1, 1877, Galveston, Texas. He was ordained Oct. 11, 1835, bv
the Et. Eev. B. T. Onderdonk, of the Diocese of New York. The
compiler of this volume, finding his name in the Episcopal Al-
296 ^ MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
manaCj addressed him, and obtained replies in 1873 and 1875.
from which I quote : " My grandfather Hezekiah, sometime
taught school, as I chanced to learn by an incident he related of
having flogged (for using disrespectful language to an old man, as
they were taking a sleighride past the house at night) six young
men, his pupils larger than himself ; for in those days the teacher
was held responsible for the pupils' conduct at all times and all
places. The parents heard their sons were to be flogged the third
day, and came to see him, saying, " You are not able to do it, and
will get flogged yourself.' ' Well, I'll try it,' was his answer.
' No,' they said, ' we have contrived for you. We will keep four
of them home to-morrow, and send two whom you can flog, and so
also on the two succeeding days.' A few days after having been
flogged, these same young men, feeling the necessity of progress-
ing faster in their studies, came to him with the request that
he would give them evening lessons ' for a consideration.' "
Speaking of himself, he writes, 1873 : " My life has been
checkered, sometimes in charge of a church, sometimes engaged
in teaching and working gratis for the church, as I have generally
done. For five years president of the college in Baton Rouge.
La. Have been in Texas since 1857, out of duty; cast off, as it
were, by the church, and at the age of 67 building with my own
hands a house to live in. Perhaps I should mention that I re-
sided in Guadaloupe County, Texas, during the Rebellion, would
not use the Rebel prayers ordered by the bishop; prayed, not
for ' the President of tlie United States,' but for ' the Chief Mag-
istrate of our Country.' Some said I ought to be hanged, but
I was on too intimate terms with some of the most influential
Rebels to be in much danger."
Children :
Sarah Eliza, b. Dec. 26, 1843, Illinois; m. Woodall.
Res. Yoakum, Texas.
Frederick Danforth, b. Oct. 23, 1846, Mississippi; unm. ;
in business San Antonio, Texas.
Emilv Sprague, b. Nov. 27, 1849, Louisiana; d. Jan. 16.
1892, San Marco, Texas.
Matthias Guy, b. Aug. 9, 1857, Texas; m. ; in business San
Antonio, Texas.
210 Jacob Lansing^ Ranney (Roderick^, Hezekiah*, Joseph^
Joseph^ Thomas^), b. Apr. 26, 1807, Salem, N. Y.; m. Mar. 3.
1835, Christian Chisholm, b. Apr. 19, 1811, Canada; d. Jan. 31,
1888, Chicago, 111. ; dau. of William Chisholm, of the Chisholms of
Eev. Joseph Addison Eaxney
(See page 320)
Joseph Addison Ranney
(See page 423)
Clieford Ira Ranney
(See page 421)
Walter Roy Ranney
(See page 423)
David Gardner Ranney
(See pag-e 297)
George Henry Ranney
(See page 400)
Willis Ranney Alfred Gardner Ranney
(See page 400)
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 297
Inverness, Scotland, and Eejoice Eemington of Conn. He engaged
in business in Canada, went in 1837 to Geneseo N. Y., to Michigan
in 1843, to Northfield, 111., in 1847, where he was town clerk; d.
A.pr. 1, 1860, Northfield, 111.
Children :
Eoderiek Lansing, b. Nov. 28, 1835, Canada; nnni.; held
various offices in Northfield; res. Chicago.
Mary Ann^ b. May 31, 1837, Canada; unm. ; d. Dec. 18,
1896.
William Chisholm, b. July 11, 1839, New York; d. Nov.
24, 1843, Michigan.
Julia Isabel, b. Feb. 22, 1849. Northfield, 111.; unm.; res
Chicago.
Harriet Augusta, b. Feb. 17, 1853;, unm; grad. 1872
Chicago Normal School ; has taught in the same school
since then, being head assistant since 1885; res. Chi-
cago.
211 David Gardner" Eannev (David Stocking^, Hezekiah*, Jo-
seph^ Joseph^, Thomas^), b. Feb. 2, 1816, Boston, Mass.; m. (1)
Jan. 20, 1846, Boston, Sarah Eliza Curtis, b. Sept. 7, 1823, Bos-
ton; d. Nov. 14, 1855, Boston; dau. of Thomas D. and Eliza
Curtis; m. (2) Sarah Eebecca Peck, b. Jan. 10, 1825. Boston;
d. Dec. 26, 1904; dau. of Thomas Peck. He d. Jan. 29, 1882
He was one of the " Franklin Medal Scholars," from a fund
given by Benjamin Franklin to be used for " Medals to scholars
worthy of the Gift." Entered the employ of Little Alden & Co.
afterwards James L. Little & Co. ; became a member of the firm
who were in wholesale dry goods business, and agents for the
Pacific Mills of Lawrence. He never held any office, though
offered many positions of public trust. After a long business
career he retired to enjoy the comforts of his home and family.
Unitarian.
Children hy 1st marriage:
446 David Francis, b. Apr. 13, 1847.
447 George Henry, b. Aug. 3, 1850.
Anna Eliza, b. May 6, 1854; d. unm.. Mar. 30, 1882.
Children hy 2d marriage:
Frances Harris, b. Mar. 7, 1858 ; d. Feb. 15, 1861.
Alfred, b. Nov. 18, 1861; d. Sept. 12, 1879.
212 William StillwelP Eanney (Sylvester^ Hezekiah*. Joseph*,
298 MIDDLETOWN" UPPEE HOUSES
Joseph% Thomas^), b. Feb. 10, 1835, Cleveland, 0.; m. 1863.
Cleveland, Annette Winchester, b. Feb. 2, 1843, Madison, 0., dan.
of Philander Winchester and Elizabeth Gilman Calkins; Rep., shoe
merchant ; res. Cleveland, 0.
C¥ld:
Fitch Winchester, b. Feb. 17, 1864; unm.; res. Cleveland.
Ohio.
213 General Abner" Hubbard (Estlier^ Hamlin, Lucretia* Ran-
ney, DanieP, Joseph-, Thomas^), b. Jnly 19, 1792, Middletown,
Conn.; m. Mar. 30, 1814. Farlee, Vt., Elizabeth Beckwith Wood-
vi^ard, b. Sept. 11, 1792, Conway, Mass., dan. of Isaac Woodward
and Naomi Hayden ; woolen mfr. ; res. Norwich, Vt. ; Roches-
ter, N. Y., 1816-1848; Cincinnati, 0., 1842; Hartford, Conn.,
1862 ; afterwards, Marion, Ala. ; Whig, Mem. N. Y. Gen. Assem-
bly, 1833-4 and 1847-8; Major General, 1830, in N. Y. Militia;
both Epis.; both d. Marion, Ala.; he July 23, 1862; she Sept. 1,
1864.
Children:
Edwin Smith, b. Jan. 30, 1815.
448 Martha Ann, b. Sept. 15, 1816.
Fidelia, b. July 13, 1823; d. Julv 31, 1825.
Charles H.. b. Feb. 15, 1827; d! June 4, 1827.
Julia Elizabeth, b. Aug. 28, 1830.
213a Clarissa Gaylord*' Ranney (William^, Jonathan*, Jona-
than^ Joseph2, Thomas^), b. Aug. 26, 1809, Middletown, Ct. ; m.
Aug. 31, 1838, Zebulon Hale Baldwin, b. July 19, 1812, Middle-
town, carpenter and builder, who d. Mar. 5, 1873. She d.- — ■
Children:
448a William Rannev, b. Oct. 24, 1840.
Albert Hale, b. June 13, 1847 ; m. May 27, 1868, Anna Maria
Galloway, b. Mar. 10, 1850. Res. Ansonia, Ct. Chil-
dren :
Wm. Albert.
Frank Gaylord.
214 William® Ranney (brother to Clarissa Gaylord), b. May
9, 1813, Middletown; m. 1848, N. Y. City, Margaret Agnes O'Sul-
livan, b. Jan. 7, 1819, Cork, Ireland, where her father, who d.
1845, was a large ironmaster. She d. Aug. 19, 1903, at the old
homestead, West Hoboken, N. J. He d. Nov. 18, 1857, West
Hoboken, N. J.
DESCENDANTS OP THOMAS EANNEY 299
" The name given him at baptism was William T3'lee, but he
never used the latter. At the age of thirteen, he was taken to
Fayetteville, N. C, by his uncle, where he was apprenticed to
a tinsmith, but seven years later he was studying drawing in
Brooklyn. When the Texan struggle began, Eanney enlisted, and
during the campaign became acquainted with many trappers and
guides of the West. Also fought through the Mexican War. After
his return home he devoted himself mainly to portraying their
life and habits. Among his works are ' Boone's First View of
Kentucky,' ' On the Wing,' ' Washington on his Mission to the
Indians,' (1847), ' Duck Shooting,' which is in the Corcoran
Gallery, Washington, 'The Sleigh Ride,' and 'The Trapper's
Last Shot.' Many of these have been engraved. He was a fre-
quent exhibitor at the National Academy, of which he was elected
an associate in 1850. (Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biog-
raphy, 1988, vol. v., p. 181.)
He has another painting in the Corcoran Gallery, and others
in prominent private galleries. " Catalogue of Mrs. Marshall 0.
Eoberts' Collection," New York City: ". . .' RANNEY, W.,
' The Lasso/ ' The Pioneer,' ' The Sportsmen's Halt at the Mill,'
. . ." (The Art Treasures of America, being the choicest works
of art in the public and private collections of North America.
Edited by Edward Strahan, Philadelphia, George Gebbie, pub-
lisher. Copyright 1879 and 1880. Three volumes, highly illus-
trated.)
" About this time our frontier life was coming more promi-
nently into view, and that picturesque border line between civil-
ization and barbarism was becoming a subject for the pen of our
leading writers. Irving, Cooper, Kennedy, and Street, Whittier,
and Longfellow, were tuning the first efforts of their Muse to
celebrate Indian life and border warfare in prose and verse, while
the majestic measures of Bryant's ' Prairies ' seemed a prophetic
prelude to the march of mankind toward the lands of the setting-
sun. ' Evangeline,' the most splendid result of our poetic litera-
ture, attracted not less for its magnificent generalizations of the
scenes of the West* than for the constancy of the heroine, and
the artistic mind responded in turn to the unknown mystery and
romance of that vast region, and gave us graphic pictures of the
rude humanity which lent interest and sentiment to its unexplored
solitudes. It is greatly to be regretted that the work of these
pioneers in Western genre was not of more artistic value; from
a historical point of view, too much importance cannot be at-
tached to the enterprise and courage of men like Catlin, Deas,
and Eanney, who, imbued with the spirit of adventure, identified
300 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
themselves with Indian and border life, and rescued it from
oblivion by their art enthusiasm, which, had it been guided by
previous training, would have been of even greater value. As
it is, they have with the pencil done a service for the subjects they
portrayed similar to what Bret Harte has accomplished in giving
immortality with the pen to the wild, picturesque, but evanescent,
mining scenes of the Pacific slope." (From Art in America, a
critical and .historical sketch, S. Gr. W. Benjamin. Harper & Bros..
1880, p. 87.)
The portrait of him given herewith was painted by himself.
I
Children :
449 William, b. Mar. 27, 1850.
450 James J., b. Nov. 1, 1853.
215 James® Eannev (James^ Ebenezer*, Ebenezer^ Ebenezer-,
Thomas^), b. Feb. 17, 1805, Upper Houses; m. Aug. 22, 1829,
Upper Houses, Elizabeth Gridley L'Hommedieu, b. Feb. 16, 1805,
Upper Houses, dau. of Joseph L'Hommedieu and Elizabeth'^ Grid-
ley (Elizabeth® Smith, Captain John% Joseph*, Eev. Joseph^
Philips, SamueP). His aunt, then Mrs. Margaret Eanney Keith,
attended before midnight at her birth, and after midnight at his
l>irth. These l)alies were rocked together in the one cradle when
their mothers visited each other. They grew up together, and their
married life was passed under the roof to which he had been taken
at the age of eight years on his mother's death. Their golden wed-
ding was celebrated with much ceremony on Aug. 22, 1879, under
the trees he had helped his grandfather set out in 1815. The Eev.
Edwin Hiram Eanney offered prayer, an historical address was de-
livered by his son-in-law, the Eev. Henry Stevens, pastor of the
Baptist Church, volunteered sound advice. Deacon and Mrs. John
Stevens read a poetical address. The golden offerings, representing
the years of their married life, included a twenty-five-cent gold
piece from the Eev. E. H. Eanney. The wedding breakfast to a hun-
dred guests was in keeping with the manner to which the host
and hostess had been accustomed. The only person present at
both marriages was her cousin, Isaac Gridley, of Brooklyn. N. Y.
Miss Mary Ann Latimer was the only Cromwell resident who had
witnessed their marriage.
Mr. Eanney was a merchant tailor. At the age of seventy he
gave up all business cares to enjoy the quiet life of the family to
which he was much devoted. He was a gentleman of the old
school. A lifelong Democrat, he attended one evening a private
gathering of the Know Nothings, and he never went again. It
James Ranney
Arthur R. Adams
C. S. G. Adams
C. Collard Adams
James M. Ranney
Ranney-Adams House
Mrs. James Ranney
(See page 300)
Cornelia L. H. Merrell
Elizabeth V. Adams
James M. Adams
Mrs. Elizabeth G. Adams
Mrs. Elizabeth (Gridley) L'Hommedieu
(See page 570)
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 301
satisfied him. He was in perfect health till the age of eight-three,
when his health failed. Mrs. Eanney was a lady of much dignity.
His death occurred Apr. 14, 1890. The widow survived him till
May 27, 1891.
Children :
James Mortimer, b. July 10, 1831 ; while a clerk in Cuyahoga
Falls, 0., and returning on a vacation he was stricken
with a fever and died unm., Aug. 28, 1853, much beloved
for his manly traits of character.
451 Elizabeth Gridley, b. Feb. 18, 1833; m. Charles Collard
Adams.
Arthur Keith, b. May 14, 1837; d. July 17, 1838.
452 Cornelia L'Hommedieu, b. Dec. 10, 1840; m. Arthur H.
Merrill.
SEVENTH GENERATION
216 Moses Hook^ Eanney (Moses Hook^ Thomas Stow^ Jere-
miah*, Thomas^ Thomas-, Thomas^), b. June 27, 1833, Newport.
Me.; m. Sept. 28, 1870, Bethel Hill, Me., Emma E. Church, b.
1849, Leeds, Quebec, dau. of William Church and Louisa Symes.
He was a noted horseman in charge of Mt. Washington stages.
Served in Civil War, Bapt., Eep. ; d. Dec. 13, 1886 ; widow res.
Lynn, Mass.
Children :
Katherine Glen, b. Dec. 6, 1871, in the Glen House, Mt.
Washington; m. (1) 0. B. Jones; m. (2) F. J. May-
nard; res. Lynn, Mass. Child:
Eaymond, b. .
Stephen Church Adams, b. July 19, 1876, at foot of Mt.
Adams, White Mountains; m. June 27. 1898, Avis
Jones; res. Stetson, Me. Child:
Marguerite, b. .
217 Stephen Steward^ Eanney (brother to Moses Hook), b.
Oct. 4, 1837, Newport, Me.; m.^ Sept. 27, 1863, Anna Jane Nye,
b. Hallowell, Me., dau. of James Nye and Sarah Andrews ; farmer,
Dem. ; res. Stetson, Me.
Child:
Myrtie M., b. July 28, 1867 ; m. .
218 Laura Albina^ Eannev (sister to Moses Hook), b. Mar. 12,
1846, Stetson, Me.; m. Oct."' 27, 1870, Charles Wentworth Crock-
ett, b. Apr. 27, 1843, Stetson, Me. ; merchant, Eep.. A. 0. U. W. ;
she is Univ., King's Dau.; res. Bangor, Me.
Child:
Effie H., b. June 13, 1876; unm.
219 Eebecca^ Stetson (Hannah*' Eanney, Thomas'^ Stow, Jere-
miah*, Thomas^ Thomas-. Thomas^), b. Sept. 13, 1824, Stetson,
Me.; m. Sept. 9, 1859, Henrv Volnev French, b. Jan. 10, 1821,
Easton, Mass.; shoe mfr., Whig; d. Sept. 9, 1859, No. Bridge-
water, Mass.; she d. Sept. 18, 1899. Brockton, Mass.
302
I
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS RANNEY 303
Children :
Henry Stetson, b. Nov. 3, 1849.
Geo. Eawson, b. Feb. 13, 1853 ; d. Sept. 31, 1853.
453 Fred Eawson, b. Nov. 15, 1857.
219a George Stetson'^ Eanney (Thomas Stow", Thomas Stow^',
Jeremiah*, Thomas^ Thomas-. Thomas^), b. Feb. 29, 1840, Stet-
son, Me.; m. 1870, Lee, Me., Caroline Augusta Thompson, b.
May, 1851, Springfield, Me., dau. of John Thompson and Grace
Costello; farmer; res. Winn, Me,
Children :
Thomas Stow, b. 1871; m. Mae Coombs.
John Thompson, b. 1872; m. Kate Scott; res. Fort Kent,
Maine.
George, b. 1874; m. Margaret Lynch; res. Lincoln, Me.
Nathan Allen, b. 1876 ; m. Grace Scott.
Mae Ellen, b. 1878; m. Harold Merithew; res. Portland.
Maine.
Stephen, b. 1886.
Harold Cleveland, b. 1888.
Emir, b. 1892.
220 Irene Stetson^ Eanney (sister to George Stetson), b. Mar-
13. 1856, Winn, Me.; m. Aug. 7, 1882, Lincoln, Me., William E.
Young, b. Mar. 4, 1852. Belmont, Me.; F. & A. M., Eep., moulder;
res. Portland, Me.
Children :
Abbie Sampson, b. May 24, 1883.
Sarah Louisa, b. June 14, 1885.
Beulah Edwina, b. May 22, 1891.
220a Thorndike Allen'^ Eanney (brother to George Stetson),
b. Oct. 28, 1857, Winn, Me.; m. Dec. 28, 1881, Chester, Me.,
Etta May Dill, b. Aug. 9, 1857, Chester, dau. of Warren N. Dill
and Clarissa D. Ireland ; F. & A. M., A. 0. U. W., Eep., farmer ;
res. Winn, Me.
Children :
Clara Dill, b. Feb. 18, 1884 ; m. John P. Scott.
Susan Etta, b. Sept. 4, 1886.
Addie Ella, b. Oct. 4. 1890.
Thaddeus Thorndike, b. Nov. 1, 1895.
221 Maria Carr^ Eanney (Nathan®, Nathan'^, Jeremiah*,
304 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
Thomas-\ Thomas^ Thomas^), b. Nov. 14, 1838, St. Louis. Mo.;
m. Mar. 24, 1859, St. Louis, Mo., Charles Wells Hale, b. Oct. 2,
1838, St. Louis, Mo.; d. Sept. 8, 1902, Winterset, Iowa; Eep..
bookkeeper, Epis., I. 0. 0. F., A. 0. U. W.; widow resides Win-
terset, Iowa.
Children :
Harriet Wells, b. Mar. 24, 1860.
Amelia Ranney. b. July 1, 1861 ; m. Chas. Duncan.
Abbie Graves,"b. Aug. "19, 1863; d. Nov. 30, 1866.
Nathan Eanney, b. Mar. 23, 1865.
Chas. Kearney^ b. Sept. 29, 1867.
Jennie Mudgett, b. Jan. 26, 1868; m. Hugh S. Thomson.
222 Charlotte Ella^ Ranney (sister to Maria Carr), b. Nov. 24,
1845, St. Louis, Mo.; m. Apr. 19, 1866, St. Louis, Mo., George
Johnson Cochran, b. j^pr. 21, 1839, Lacon, 111.; bookkeeper Dem.,
Rep., Presby. ; res. St. Louis, Mo.
Children :
George Frederic, b. Feb. 25, 1868.
Samuel Ranney, b. June 11, 1871; d. Aug. 20, 1883.
Augustus Pomeroy, b. Apr. 24, 1874.
Ella Shackford, b. July 11, 1881.
Julia Garniss, b. Mar. 9, 1884,
223 Julius Merritt^ Ranney (Nathaniel Cole*', Nathan^, Jere-
miah*, Thomas^ Thomas-, Thomas^), b. Jan. 26, 1842, Angelica,
N. Y.; m. Nov. 2, 1868, Marshalltown, la., Emma Kellv, b.
; d. Dec. 7, 1884, Chicago, 111. First Sergeant, Co.
G. 44th Iowa Inf., May — Nov., 1864; Rep., Presb., merchant:
res. Chicago, 111.
Child:
Robert D., b. Nov. 7, 1874; m. 1889, Maria Storms; mer-
chant; res. Chicago, 111. Child:
Merritt Ranney, b. Dec. 23, 1900^
224 William^ Davis (Martha** Ranney, Solomon^ Jeremiah*,
Thomas^ Thomas% Thomas^), b. Jan. 1, 1817; m. Nancy Lyon,
b. Feb. 9, 1821.
Children :
William, b. Mar. 3, 1847 ; d. June 3, 1863.
Jacob, b. 1856; d. Apr. 30, 1902.
Andrew, b. ; m. Minerva Vrooman.
454 Nancy Emily, b. Oct. 6, 1849 ; m. S. C. Mitchell.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 305
Frances, b. May 7, 1850 ; d. May 28, 1863.
455 Martha, b. Aug. 15, 1853; m. Daniel E. Ceas.
225 Andrew Jackson^ Davis (brother to William), b. Nov. 24,
1828; m. Frances Abigail Bacon, b. Feb. 12, 1832; she d. Mar.
16, 1905, Delphi, N. Y.; he d.
Children :
456 Ferris Edward, b. Apr. 2, 1856.
Andrew Jackson, b. Aug. 28, 1858 ; d. July 24, 1863.
226 EoyaF Eanney (Jeremiah®. Stephen^, Jeremiah*, Thomas^
Thomas-, Thomas^)," b. Dec. 10, 1810, Hartwick. N. Y.; 'm. Oct.
10, 1839, Troy, 111., Betsy M. Gates, b. ; d. Oct. 16,
1901, Little York, 111. He rem. 1831, with his parents to Cape
Girardeau, Mo.; 1848, to Mercer Co., 111.; 1851, to Little York,
111. where he d. Nov. 20, 1889.
Children :
457 Susan A., b. Oct. 4, 1840; m. Wm. E. Smith.
458 Nathan Cornelius, b. July 9, 1842.
Stephen Franklin, b. July 2, 1844; d. July 4, 1844.
459 Marv Elizabeth, b. May 4, 1846 ; m. Joseph H. Gates.
460 Jeremiah, b. Aug. 28, 1848.
Eoyal Francis, b. Dec. 19, 1850; d. Dec. 29, 1850.
Joseph Asahel, b. Nov. 24, 1851.
461 Eoyal Gilbert, b. Sept. 1, 1854.
Infant, b. Feb. 28. 1857; d. Feb. 28, 1857.
227 Johnson" Eannev (brother to Eoyal), b. Jan. 15, 1814;
m. Feb. 22, 1840, Sarah Ann Knott, b. Feb. 12, 1822; d. Dec.
11, 1866, Jackson, Mo.; dau. of John Eobert Knott and Louisa
Burtles; Whig, farmer; d. Mar. 14, 1855, Jackson. Mo.
Children :
Sarah Ann Virginia, b. Feb. 15, 1842 : d. Nov. 22, 1842.
Olive Branch, b. Aug. 17, 1843; d. Dec. 7, 1904; m. Wil-
liam E. McGlasson.
Julius Henry, b..Feb. 25, 1845; d. unm., June 4, 1895.
Ellen Catherine, b. Sept. 22, 1846 : res. Jackson, Mo.
Jeremiah, b. May 15, 1848 ; d. May 27, 1848.
Laura Amelia, b. Apr. 24, 1850 ; res. Jackson, Mo.
Johnson, b. Julv 9, 1852; d. Sept. 24, 1855.
George Asahel, b. Jan. 15, 1854; d. Apr. 15, 1855.
306 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
228 Johnson Camp' Eanncy (Johnson*', Stephen^ Jeremiah*,
Thomas^ Thomas-, Thomas^), b. June 15, 1836, Jackson, Mo.;
m. 1854, Jackson. Mo., Eebecca Horrel, b. Jan. 11, 1838, Jackson,
Mo.; d. Dec. 7, 1875, Jackson, Mo.; dau. of Henry Horrel and
Mary Byrd; he d. Mar. 12, 1894, Anaparko, Okla.
Cli iJdren :
Mary Amelia, b. 1860.
462 Wm. Thomas, b. 1862; m. Amanda Claire, and d. June
14, 1898, in Monte Vista, Cal.
463 Johnson Camp, b. Jan. 23, 1864.
Elizabeth, b. May 1, 1866; res. Jackson, Mo.
Mary Gayle. b. Dec. 29, 1868; res. Jackson, Mo.
464 John Gayle, b. Feb. 27, 1872.
Rebecca Bucklen, b. Dec. 7, 1875; res. Tampa, Fla.
229 Mary Gayle^ Ranney (sister to Johnson Camp), b. Jan.
17, 1840, Jackson, Mo.; ni. 1861, John Beardslee, who d. 1891;
she d. 1880.
Children :
Emma Frances, b. Jan. 12, 1862; d. Feb. 3, 1882.
465 William Ranney, b. Sept. 19, 1864.
466 Thomas Johnson, b. Oct. 17, 1866.
467 Mary Elizabeth, b. Dec. 22, 1868 ; m. Albert Ellis.
Eva Fisher, b. Dec. 4, 1870.
468 Esther Gauss, b. Aug. 27. 1873 ; m. Gradv Darby.
469 John, b. Oct. 24, 1875.
470 Paul, b. Jan. 13, 1877.
Charles, b. Mar. 7, 1879.
230 Robert Giboney'^ Ranney (William Caton*', Stephen^, Jere-
miah*, Thomas''. Thomas-, Thomas^), b. Dec. 15. 1849, Jackson,
Mo.; m. (1) May 25, 1876, Elizabeth Susannah Giboney, b. Oct.
9, 1849; d. July 14, 1892; dau. of William Giboney 'and Su-
sannah M. Clark; m. (2) Jan. 17, 1894, Emma Agnes Wathen,
b. Nov. 1, 1861, dau. of Ignatius A. Wathen and Maria R. Ellis.
Robert Giboney Ranney for four years attended Kentucky Mili-
tary Institute, taught school one winter, read law with Hon. Louis
Houck, 1872, attended State Law School, Columbia, Mo. ; be-
came law partner with Mr. Houck till 1880; never active in poli-
tics, but has been candidate for Circuit Judge, and twice for
Judge of Court of Common Pleas, coming, as a Democrat, within
thirty votes of being elected when the Republican majority in
the county was four hundred; res. Cape Girardeau, Mo.
2 "»•
O (D
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS RANNEY 307
Children hy 1st marriage:
Susannah Elizabeth, b. Nov. 22, 1878; d. July 10, 1879.
Louisa, b. June 10, 1880 ; m. Aug. 8, 1906, Clyde Harbison,
b. Feb. 14, 1882, son of Dr. Milton Clark Harbison anil
Amanda Graham. Ees. Los Angeles, Cal.
Lizzie Ann, b. Aug. 21, 1886; d. Feb. 28, 1888.
Robert Clifton, b. Nov. 4, 1891.
Children by 2d marriage:
Wathen, b. Dec. 19, 1894.
Roberta, b. Mar. 6, 1896.
William Ellis, b. July 16, 1897; d. Jan. 23, 1899.
Ralph Guerrant, b. June 16, 1899.
Mary, b. Dec. 17. 1902.
. Maud, b. Jan. 24, 1905.
231 William Alexander'^ Ranney (brother to Robert Giboney),
b. Dec. 23, 1852, Cape Girardeau, Mo.; m. Nov. 5, 1891, Cora
E. Harris, Crystal Springs, Miss. He was educated at the Normal
School, Cape Girardeau, Mo., and State University, Columbia,
Mo. ; lawyer and farmer ; res. Bairdsville, Miss.
Child:.
Cora Belle, b. Mar. 3, 1893.
232 Herbert Hathorne^ Ranney (brother to Robert Giboney),
b. Nov. 14, 1855, Cape Girardeau, Mo.; m. Aug. 22, 1883, Com-
merce, Mo., Hettie Gaither, b. Aug. 22, 1859, Commerce, Mo.,
dau. of John Taylor Gaither and Columbia Daugherty; Dem..
Meth., railway postal clerk since July 20, 1885; res. Cape Girar-
deau, Mo.
Children :
John Caton b,. May 17, 1884.
Elizabeth Gibonev, b. July 7, 1886.
Emma Bell, b. Feb. 28, 1888.
Herbert Hathorne. b. Jan. 29, 1890.
Hettie Mabel, b. Aug. 9, 1892.
Gaither, b. Apr. 28, 1895.
James Parham, b. Feb. 4, 1899.
233 Clarissa Waters'^ Ranney (John Hathorne®, Stephen*,
Jeremiah*, Thomas^ Thomas-, Thomas^), b. 1850; m. Joseph
Temple Anderson, b. Apr. 27, 1840 ; merchant, Meth., Dem. ; res.
Commerce, Mo.
308 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
Children :
Joseph Reese.
John Ranney.
Elizabeth Temple.
Virginia Amelia.
Jessie Gayle.
Ralph Frazer.
Paul Ross.
234 Amelia^ Ranney (sister to Clarissa Waters), b. Sept. 10,
1852, Kelso, Mo.; d. Mar. 12, 1899; m. Dec. 23. 1874, Reese
Gates Applegate, b. Mar. 15, 1854, Commerce, Mo., son of Stephen
Applegate and Sarah Baker; F. & A. M., Dem., Meth., retired
merchant; res. Sikeston, Mo.
Children :
Carrie May, b. Jan. 20, 1876; d. Jan. 31, 1884.
Joseph Reese, b. May 25, 1878.
Lillian A., b. Jan. 18. 1881 ; m. Oct. 25, 1905, Handy L.
Smith, D. D. S. ; res. Sikeston, Mo. Child:
Handy Linn, L Sept. 18, 1906.
Sarah Estelle, b. May 5, 1885 ; d. Sept. 2, 1887.
Ranney G., b. Sept. 6, 1887.
Emma Lucille, b. Feb. 16, 1890; d. May 26, 1892.
Stephen Wallace, b. July 8, 1892.
Evelyn, b. Mar. 26, 1897; d. Oct. 27, 1897.
235 Caroline WalF Ranney (sister to Clarissa Waters), b. Oct.
13, 1852, Kelso, Mo.; d. May 10, 1902; m. William Henderson
McKnight, b. Feb. 3, 1849, Cape Girardeau, Mo., son of William
Henderson McKnight and Virginia Block; grain dealer. F. & A.
M., Dem., Meth.; res. Sikeston, Mo.
Children :
Aimee, b. Oct. 15, 1877; d. June 23, 1879.
James, b. Apr. 7, 1879; m. Louise Pearce; res. Oran, Mo.
Alma, b. Mar. 31, 1881.
John Coffman, b. Apr. 11, 1883.
Clara, b. Aug. 27, 1885.
Ruth, b. Aug. 7, 1892.
236 James Parham'^ Rannev (brother to Clarissa Waters), b.
Feb. 17, 1857, Kelso, Mo. ; m. Aug. 22, 1883, Commerce, Mo.,
Emma Gaither. b. Sept. 27, 1864, Commerce. Mo., dau. of John
I
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 309
Taylor Gaither and Columbia DouchGrtv; farmer, Meth., Dem.,
F. & A. M., A. 0. U. W. ; res. McMullen, Mo.
237 Harriet Palmer'^ Hawes (Polly° Hannev, Julius^, Jere-
miah*, Thomas^ Thomas^ Thomas^), b. June 27, 1832; m. Oct.
11, 1855, Chester, 0., James Taylor Wilson, b. May 12, 1827,
Eiver Styx, 0.; d. Dec. 25, 1885, Cleveland, 0.; mfr.. Mayor
of Lyons, Iowa, mem. Bd. of Education, Cleveland, 0., Dem..
Knights Templar; widow res. Youngstown, 0.
Children :
471 James Preston, b. Feb. 6, 1857.
472 David Hawes. b. Dec. 6, 1859 ; d. N. Y. Citv.
473 William Eanney, b. Feb. 11, 1863.
238 Julius Butler'^ Eannev (Oliver", Julius', Jeremiah*,
Thomas^ Thomas^ Thomasi),'b. June 5, 1831, Chesterland, 0.;
m. Oct. 31, 1872, Springfield. 111., Helen Josephine Sanders, b.
Mar. 13, 1843, Williamstown, Mass., dau. of Anthony Sanders
and Celinda Brown, who was of the 7th generation from Chad
Brown and Eev. Eoger Williams of E. I. (See Chad Brown
Memorial, 1638-1888.) She was mem. Cong. Ch., and d. June
13. 1900, Chesterland, 0. Farmer and fruit grower, Eep.. F. &
A. M. Died Dec. 2, 1907.
Children :
474 Antoinette Augusta, b. Aug. 12, 1874 ;.m. Dr. Eoy C. Eddy.
Oliver Anthonv, b. Nov. 14, 1883 ; m. Dec. 20, 1906, Cath-
erine S. Allen, b. Oct. 29. 1887, Kirtland, 0., dau. of
Floyd C. Allen (descendant of Colonel Ethan Allen
of Eev. War fame) and A. A. Campbell. Ees. Chester-
land, 0.
239 JoeP Eanney (William", William^ Thomas*, Thomas^
Thomas^, Thomas^), b. Westminster West, Vt. ; m. ;
d. 1893, Lyndon Station, Wis.
Children :
Joel, b. ; d. unm.
Henry, b. ; d. unm.
Fanny, b. ; m. B. A. Wright; res. ^It. Eden,
Cal.
Emma Jane, b. ; m. (1) Charles E. Chamber-
lain; m. (2) D. C. Bull; she res. Mt. Eden. Cal.
310 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
Child:
F. H. Chamberlain; res. Sparta, Wis.
840 Rebecca^ Eanney (sister to Joel), b. ; d. Apr.
30, 1894; m. Oct. 5, 1840, Jeremiah L. Perham, b. Mar. 39,
1797, Pepperill, Mass.; d. Dec. 19, 1872, Athens, Vt.
Child:
Charles J. Perham, b. ; res. Cambridgeport, Yi.
242 Hannah^ Eanney (sister to Joel), b. July 18, 1830, Brook-
line, Vt.; d. Aug. 30, 1863, Brookline; m. John Landfear, d.
May 3, 1873, Brookline; private Co. I, 16th Eeg. Ver. Inf., 1868-
1863.
Children :
Sarah, b. ; m. Svlvanus Hiscock.
Mary, b. ; d. Feb. 25, 1889; m. E. Wright
Bush.
Fannie, b. ; m. Edward Harlow; res. Marl-
boro, N. H.
Henry J., b. May 6. 1859; m. Minnie M. Wyman; res.
Brookline, Vt.
Martin VanBuren, b. Aug. 10, 1862; d. Feb. 17, 1876.
243 Stephen Chandler^ Eanney (Stephen^, William^, Thomas*,
Thomas^ Thomas-, Thomas^), b. Jan. 29, 1815, Westminster
West, Vt; m. (1) June 26, 1849, Westminster. Vt., Fanny
Eaton Paine, b. Apr. 11, 1813, Westminster, Vt., who d. Nov.
20, 1861; m. (2) Feb. 24, 1863, Mrs. Mary I. Goodell, b.
; d. Oct. 20, 1888; rem. to Athens," Vt., 1864, Town
Treas., Mem. Leg. 1876-7, postmaster for some years, Meth.,
Eep. ; in 1885 rem. to Grafton, Vt., where he died Sept. 5, 1871.
Child:
Tirzah Eaton, b. Nov. 14, 1850 ; m. Mar. 19, 1873, William
Chamberlain Eobbins, b. Mar. 18, 1851, Milford, Mass.,
son of Willard E. Eobbins and Maria Johnson; clerk
in Pension Office, Washington, D. C.
844 Amaziah Thomas'' Eanney (brother to Stephen Chandler),
b. Apr. 10, 1817, Westminster West, Vt; m. Jan. 5, 1858, Marl-
boro, Vt, Jane Knight, farmer, d. Oct. 5, 1900; widow and son
res. on the farm, Westminster West, Vt.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 311
Child:
Oscar James, b. Aug. 25, 1861; unm. ; res. Westminster
West. Vt.
245 William Erastus^ (brother to Stephen Chandler), b. Mar.
18, 1819, Westminster West, Vt.; m. (1) ; m. (2)
Eoxv Sophronia Stockwell, b. Mar. 12, 1822, Dummerston Hill,
Vt. ; d. Aug. 5, 1868, Bakersfield, Cal. He res. in St. Paul, Minn.,
then in Bakersfield, Cal., where he d. Nov. 12, 1874.
Children, b. in St. Paul:
Eoyal John, b. Oct. 30, 1853.
Eoxy Grace Ann, b. May 30, 1856; m. 1879, Jerome Troy,
b. 1846 Oskaloosa, la.; stock raiser, Eep., I. 0. 0. F. ;
res. Eaton, New Mexico.
Lydia Eosetta, b. May 27, 1858; m. Chas. Nelson Williams.
246 Otis Lorenzo^ Eanney (brother to Stephen Chandler), b.
July 16, 1821, Westminster, Vt. ; m. Mercy Ann Gorton, b. Nov.
2, 1828, Chesterfield. Vt.; d. May 3, 1885, Grafton, Vt., dau.
of Thomas Gorton and Laura Harvey. He d. Mar. 12, 1894,
Grafton, Vt.
Ch ildren :
475 Mercy Ann, b. Sept. 13, 1851; m. W^orks. Ees.
W. Northfield, Vt.
476 Ellen Francese, b. Dec. 13, 1853 ; m. Omer Sumner Stuart.
Otis Lorenzo, b. Jan. 22, 1855; m. Jan. 1, 1879, Ellen
Maria Edwards, b. Feb. 18, 1857, Athens. Vt., dau. of
Othniel Eoss Edwards and Anna Maria Powers; farmer,
Eep., Bapt. ; res. Grafton, Vt. Child:
Anna Maria, b. June 26, 1882.
247 Lorin Little^ Eanney (brother to Stephen Chandler), b.
Sept. 26, 1823, Westminster West, Vt; m. Oct. 16, 1851, Wil-
mington, Vt., Abbie Ann Wilcox, b. Sept. 16, 1827, Coventry,
Vt.; d. Dec. 1, 1903, Brookline, Vt. ; dau. of Alanson Wilcox
and Persia Hitchcock. He was mem. of Cong. Ch. from early
manhood; rem. 1865, to Brookline, Vt., where he d. Sept. 4,
1904. The aged parents were faithfully cared for by their son.
Children:
Virgil Waitstill, b. Mar. 15, 1854; m. Oct. 16, 1903, N.
Pomfret, Vt., Elizabeth L. White, b. Nov. 5, 1868;
Town Treas, 1884; Town Clerk, 1897; J. of P., 1899;
Notary Public, Eep., Meth. ; res. Brookline,. Vt.
312 MIDDLETOWN" UPPER HOUSES
Leola Sarah, b. Feb. 19, 1858; m. Oct. 24, 1883, Clarence
Warren Adams, b. Nov. 3, 1856, Newfane, Vt, son
of Marcus Warren Adams and Sarah Bellows ; machin-
ist; res. Howard, R. I. Child:
Clarence Raymond, b. Apr. 10, 1898.
248 Freeman' Ranney (Ephraim®, Ephraim^, Ephraim*,
Thomas^ Thomas-, Thomas^), b. May 11, 1806, Westminster West.
Vt; m. (1) Emily Flanders of Coventry, Vt., d. Apr. 27. 1866:
m. (2) June, 1871, Mrs. Elizabeth Huse. ' He d. Aug. 31. 1881.
Children:
Oliver, b. .
Alonzo Philip, b.
Wm. Bradford, b. Jan. 24, 1835; d. Feb. 12, 1892.
Eugene Oliver, b. July 16, 1840; grad. Wesleyan Uni.,
physician; res. Barton's Landing, Vt.
Henry Clay, b. ; d. Dec. 16, 1906, Brooklyn, X. Y.
Ephraim Clark, b. ; enl. 30th Mass. Vols.;
d. Baton Rouge, La.
Leavitt, b. .
477 Charles Freeman, b. Dec. 8, 1851.
249 Sullivan^ Ranney (brother to Freeman), b. Nov. 23, 1808.
Westminster West, Vt.; m. (1) Sept. 7, 1834, Coventry, Vt.,
Phebe Higgins, b. May 30, 1811, Coventry, Vt.; d. June 11,
1852, Kirby, Vt.; m. (2) Mar. 7, 1853, Kirby, Vt., Mary Huse.
b. Mar. 2, 1825, Kirby, Vt. ; d, July 12, 1899, Concord, Vt. ; dau.
of Nathan Huse and Isabel Charlton; he d. Mar. 13, 1895. West
Concord, Vt.
Sullivan Ranney was eighteen years of age when his father died,
and he was obliged to leave home to provide for himself. His
mother packed his belongings in a small bundle, which he carried
on a stick over his shoulder. For four years he was in the employ
of Mr. John Hayden of Brookline, Mass., and in after years, when
he took his cattle to a Boston market, he found a welcome in this
family. He then went to Coventry, Vt., to provide a home for
his mother, but removed soon after marriage to Kirby, Vt., where
he purchased a farm, and resided on it for thirty-five years, adding
largely to his first purchase. Left a widower with four boys, he
married the next year a " woman of strong, beautiful character,
of good health, and great courage. Her ideals were high, and she
impressed her traits on these adopted sons." The times following
the war were prosperous, and Sullivan Ranney, with his large
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 313
farm and extensive pastures, shared in the prosperity, and took
his fatted cattle to market. He continued to be an extensive stock
raiser. In 1869 he removed to a farm in Concord, Vt,, which is
now owned and conducted by his daughters, Nellie and Jennie.
They have 125 acres of tillage land and 400 acres of pasture.
Though not prominent in public, he was active in town, affairs.
He was a member of the Cong. Ch. at East St. Johnsbury, Vt.,
from 1852 till his death. Mar. 13, 1895. His children have
placed in this church a memorial window in memory of him and
Mary Huse, his wife. At eighty-six years of age he planned his
work and managed his own business, and until within a few weeks
of his death. " His was a grand life, the kind that makes the
world better for his having lived in it. His untiring energy, ster-
ling integrity, and genuine honesty makes his life still live on.
inspiring and ennobling the lives of those he loved, and who loved,
respected, and honored him so well." The eleven children are
alive.
Children by 1st marriage:
478 Scotto Clark, b. Feb. 19, 1837.
479 Edson Higgins, b. July 6, 1841.
480 Henry, b. July 4, 1843.
481 George, b. Dec. 21. 1845.
Child hy 2d marriage:
482 Charles Sullivan, b. Jan. 10, 1855.
Nellie Mary, b. Jan. 2, 1857 ; unm. ; res. Concord, Vt.
Jennie Phebe, b. Apr. 1, 1860; unm!; res. Concord. Vt.
These two sisters conduct the great farm.
483 Nathan Huse, b. Aug. 18, 1861.
483a William Eugene, b. Feb. 24, 1863.
484 Almira Isabel, b. July 8, 1864; m. D. J. Lunnie.
485 Ella Luthera, b. July 14; 1866; m. Elmer Eeed.
250 Helvann^ Eannev (Calvin". Ephraim^, Ephraim*, Thomas^,
Thomas-, Thomas^), b. Jan. 28, 1805, Westminster West, Vt. ;
m. (1) Oct. 19, 1824, Geo. W. Holland of Townshend. Vt; m.
(2) Sept. 11, 1831, Willard Crowell, b. Jan. 4, 1798; d. Nov.
17, 1874, Westminster West; farmer; she d. Sept. 11, 1893.
Children hy 1st marriage:
Jane Holland, b. Jan. 13. 1827; d. Dec. 5, 1875; m. James
Hazeltine; res. Waterbury, Mass. Children:
James Henry, Jane, George.
314 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
Children hy 2d marriage:
Henry Holland Crowell, b. Dec. 18, 1834; res. Westmin-
ster West, Vt.
251 Ehoda Harlow'^ Eanney (sister to Helyann), b. Mar. 29,
1809, Westminster West, Vt.; m. Aug. 25, 1834, BenJ. Clark;
b. Mar. 31, 1813, Westminster, Vt., d. Mar. 24, 1884, Kossuth Co.,
la., son of Timothy Clark; blacksmith, served in Civil War, Dem.,
Co. Supervisor; she d. Aug. 15, 1880.
Child:
486 Mary Seymour, b. Jan. 30, 1839; m. (1) George Perry
"Steele; m. (2) Oscar F. Hale.
252 Peyton'^ Eanney (Grant Willis^, Ephraim^, Ephraim*,
Thomas^ Thomas^ Thomas^), b. Nov. 29, 1826, Westminster
West, Vt. ; m. Nov. 24, 1851. Hannah Moore Hitchcock, b. Oct.
16, 1828, Westminster West, dau. of David Hitchcock and Han-
nah Owen. He d. Oct. 13, 1889, Kalamazoo, Mich., where the
widow resides.
In 1857 Mr. Eanney rem. to Kalamazoo, and taught in a writ-
ing school. In 1858 he went into the grocery business with his
brother-in-law, Wm. B. Cutting. In 1864 he went into the grain
business. He became mayor of Kalamazoo, and represented the
city in the legislature. At his funeral all business houses closed.
He was a member of K. of P., B. P. 0. E., and hon. mem. of the
Light Guard.
Children:
Homer D., b. May 16, 1853; d. Oct. 23, 1880; m. Jan. 9,
1878, Adaline Elvira Wilson; she m. (2) .
Edward H., b. Jan. 26, 1855; m. Oct. 20, 1881, Maude
Mason. Children: Von T. and Germaine 0.
Marv H., b. Feb. 2, 1860 ; d. Oct. 10, 1870.
David H., b. Mar., 1862; d. 1863.
Flora H., b. May 2, 1865; d. Nov. 10, 1871.
Harry G., b. 1868; d. 1873.
253 Mary Ann^ Eanney (sister to Peyton), b. July 28, 1828,
Westminster West, Vt. ; m. Aug. 14, 1851, Westminster West,
William Brackett Cutting, b. Nov. 27, 1827, Guilford, Vt.; d.
Dec. 17, 1903, Dorchester, Mass., while spending the winter with
his son William. The following is part of the obituary in the
Brattleboro paper:
" Mr. Cutting had been for many 3^ears one of the most re-
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 315
spectecl and honored citizens of the town. He was born in Green
"River, a village of Guilford, in 1827, was employed for a time
in connection with his father's business, bnt in 1853 entered the
service of the Old Colony Eailroad, and in 1854 went to Law-
renceville, Ind.. where he was employed for several years by the
Indianapolis and Cincinnati Eailroad. While there his health
failed seriously, and he resigned his position and removed to Kala-
mazoo, where he engaged in trade and other biisiness in partner-
ship with his brother-in-law, Hon. Peyton Eanney. After a few
years, failing health obliged him to retire and return to the East,
first making a short stay in Brattleboro, but soon removing to this
place, in 1871, where he had since continued to live, but never
with very firm health.
" He quickly became a leading citizen of the town, filling many
offices of trust, and enjoying the unlimited confidence of his towns-
men. He was chosen to represent the county for a term as one
of its senators in the General Assembly of the State. Upon the
formation of Maple Grove Grange he was a charter member and
its first Master. He held some of its offices for a considerable
time, and was always deeply interested in its welfare, as in the
social and general well-being of the community in all its interests.
Though the church was not denominationally that of his choice,
he supported it constantly, being always present, when able, at its
services with his entire family. He was for many years the leader
of the choir, and with some of his children gave to it a high charac-
ter for the choir of a country church.
" The body was brought here for burial on Monday, being met
at the church by almost the entire membership of the Grange
and by the citizens of the place, and followed in procession to
the cemetery lot, where the burial service of the Grange was used
in part, and prayer was offered bv the recent pastor, Eev. Henrv
A. Goodhue."
Widow resides on the farm cleared by Ephraim'' Eanney.
Children :
William Lewis, b. Jime 27, 1852.
Mary Eanney, b. Apr. 14, 1857; res. on the home farm.
Charles Curtis, b. Dec. 1, 1859.
Frank Henrv, b. Sept. 12, 1862.
Stella Matilda, b. Feb. 6, 1868.
Nelly Grant, b. Oct. 28, 1869.
254 SamueF Eannev (Elijah", Elijah^ Ephraim*, Thomas-\
Thomas^ Thomas^), b. Nov.' 8, 1792, Westminster West, Vt.;
316 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
m. Dec. 8, 1813, Lydia Goodhue, b. Dec. 20, 1793, Westminster
West, Vt., dau. of Deacon Ebenezer Goodhue and Lydia Panney.
Deacon Goodhue descended from William Goodhue, b. in England,
1612, came to America in 1635, and d. at Essex, Mass., 1G99. Mr.
Eanney removed, 1818, to Locke. Cayuga Co., X. Y., later to
Summer Hill, N. Y. ; held offices of Supervisor, Justice of the
Peace, and other local offices, and was a prosperous farmer. Late
in life the couple made their home with their son, Elijah Craw-
ford, where he d. in 1881.
Ch ildren :
Samuel Henry, b. July 26, 181-1; d. Sept. 22, 1818.
Fanny Goodhue, b. May 9, 1818 ; d. Dec. 12, 1830.
487 Henry Eugene, b. Aug. 21, 1821.
488 Elijah Crawford, b. June 3, 1825; d. Aug. 2. 1906.
489 Ebenezer Goodhue, b. June 7, 1830.
255 Alfred^ Eanney (brother to Samuel), b. Dec. 29, 1794,
Westminster West, Vt. ; ra. Dec. 28, 1820, Rhoda Goodhue, b.
Mar. 12, 1796, dau. of Deacon Ebenezer Goodhue and Lydia"
Eanney; rem. to Summer Hill. New York; he d. May 22, 1873:
she d. Mar. 9, 1876; no children.
256 Fanny^ Eanney (sister to Samuel), b. Sept. 12, 1799, West-
minster West, Vt.; m. Mar. 7, 1822, Deacon Edmund Hallett,
Westminster West, b. Aug. 29, 1798, Westminster West; d. May
25, 1876, St. Johnsbury, Vt.; son of Gideon Hallett and Lydia
Hall; farmer. Deacon Cong. Ch. ; she d. Aug. 27, 1871, St.
Johnsbury Centre, Vt. ; mem. Cong. Ch.
Children :
Ezra Ide, b. Aug. 14, 1823; res. St. Johnsbury, Vt.
Henry Freeman, b. Apr. 11, 1829; d. Feb. 18, 1865.
Eliza Jane, b. May 2, 1835; m. V. P. Townsend. Ees.
Worcester, Mass.
Alfred Eanney, b. Aug. 22, 1837 ; d. July 10, 1896.
Phila Ann, b. July 10, 1839; unm.; res. Worcester, Mass.
257 EusselP Eanney (brother to Samuel), b. Feb. 20, 1802.
Westminster West, Vt. ; m. Dec. 22, 1825, Westminster West, Vt..
Narcissa Sparta Warner, b. Aug. 26, 1804, Westminster West;
d. June 15, 1876, Westminster West, Vt. ; dau. of Gideon War-
ner and Eebecca'' Eannev. Eussell Eanney rem. to Comstock.
N. Y., 1877 ; farmer, First Selectman 1839-47, Eep., Cong. Ch. ;
d. Mar. 12, 1891, Comstock, N. Y.
DESCENDANTS OP THOMAS EANNEY 317
Children :
Mark, b. July 7, 1827; m. Oct., 1865, Somerville, Mass..
Martha W. Sawyer; was Siipt. of Iowa State Asylum,
Mt. Pleasant, la., where he d. Jan. 31, 1882. She d.
1907, leaving $100,000 to Iowa State University.
Eugene Alfred, b. Dec. 10, 1830; d. Oct. 7, 1899."
Preston Charles, b. Apr. 15, 1835; d. Dec. 16, 1859.
490 Lvdia Eebecca. b. Dec. 27, 1842; m. Edward Luman Camp-
bell.
258 Mark' Eanney (brother to Samuel), b. Apr. 17, 1804,
Westminster West, Vt. ; m. Dec. 29, 1830, Columbia Smith, b.
Nov. 11, 1812, West Salisbury, Vt; d. Mar. 8, 1865, West
Salisbury, Vt. ; dau. of Joseph Smith and Polly Graves; farmer,
mem. Cong. Ch. ; he d. Mar. 31, 1889. Salisbury, Vt.
Child:
Albro A., b. Nov. 23, 1831; m. Ellen A. Crook, dau. of
Crawford S. Cook and Augusta C. Enos; no children;
res. West Salisbury, Vt.
259 Lydia^ Eanney (sister to Samuel), b. May 10, 1806, West-
minster West, Vt. ; m. Apr. 5, 1837, Frederic Goodell; she d.
Apr. 12. 1873.
Children :
Frederick Homer.
George Eanney.
Lydia Elizabeth.
260 Elijah Bradford" Eanney (brother to Samuel), b. Aug.
4, 1808, Westminster West, Vt.; m. June 25, 1835, Westminster
West, Elizabeth' Goodhue, b. Apr. 1, 1814; d. Sept. 24, 1873,
Neenah, Wis. ; dau. of Deacon Ebenezer Goodhue and Lydia® Ean-
ney; farmer, Eep., Cong., Colonel of Vt. Militia 1843-1848; rem.
1848, to Palmyra, Wis., later to Neenah, Wis., where he was for
thirty years mem. of Co. Supervisors; he d. Apr. 25, 1891.
Children :
491 Caroline, b. June 25, 1838; m. F. W. Wheeler.
Homer Cosmore, b. May 17. 1842; teacher for several
years; enlisted, 1862, in Co. I, 21st Eeg. Wis. Vols.;
wounded at Perrysville; rem. to hospital at Lebanon,
Ky., where he d. Nov. 12, 1862.
Jane Elizabeth, b. Nov. 7, 1844; unm.; res. Neenah. Wis.
318 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
261 Lyman Crawford^ Eanney (brother to Samuel), b. Sept. 32,
1810, Westminster West, Vt. ; m. (1) Nov. 27, 1834. Lucy Abi-
gail Miller, b. Oct. 31, 1812; d. Nov. 17, 1853; m. (2) Aug.
18, 1859, Putney, Vt., Hannah Grout, b. May 9, 1819, Newfane.
Vt.; d. Oct. 31, 1880. Newfane; farmer; he d. Nov. 12, 1892,
St. Johnsbury, Vt.
Children by 1st marriage:
Ellen, b. July 15, 1836; 'd. unm.. Dec. 11, 1879.
492 Alfred Patterson, b. June 16. 1838.
John Franklin, b. Sept. 17, 1840; d. July 3, 1843.
Walter Warren, b. Dec. 18, 1843; d. July 31, 1863. Balti-
more Hospital; Serg. Co. B, 16th Vt. Vol. Sermon
preached at burial, Aug. 6, 1863, in Westminster West,
by the Eev. Alfred Stevens.
493 Mary Elizabeth, b. Feb. 16, 1846; m. Otis P. Buxton.
494 Isabella Crawford, b. Dec. 6, 1851; m. Chas. H. Stevens.
262 George" Eanney (brother to Samuel^), b. Feb. T, 1813,
Westminster, West, Vt. ; m. Feb. 14, 1839, Westminster West,
Eliza Jane Hall, b. Mar. 21, 1818, Westminster West, dau. of
Atherton Hall and Olive Hallett, who had ten children, eight of
whom reached maturity. This family rem. 1790, from Cape Cod.
Olive Hallett was dau. of Gideon Hallett who had thirteen chil-
dren. Mr. Eanney rem. 1841, to St. Johnsbury, Vt., where he d.
Apr. 9, 1899, having served as a deacon for many years. He was
a typical successful Vermont farmer, whose integrity was recog-
nized by all and made him a marked man in the community. The
widow res. on the farm with her daughter, Mrs. Geo. H. Morrill.
Children:
George Wallace, b. Mar. 18, 1842, d. Jan. 9, 1843.
495 Charles Hall, b. July 22, 1844.
496 Crawford, b. Feb. 2, 1848.
497 Olive Eliza, b. Sept. 20, 1852 ; m. F. A. Pierce.
498 Fremont, b. May 15, 1856.
499 Sarah Jane, b. July 6, 1858 ; m. G. H. Morrill.
263. Aretus' Eanney (Joseph^, Elijah^, Ephraim*, Thomas%
Thomas', Thomas^), b. Nov. 14, 1803, Westminster West, Vt. ;
m. (1) May 7, 1827, Westminster West, Hannah D. Tyler, b. Apr.
17, 1804, d. Apr. 5, 1837, Chittenden, Vt. ; m. (2) Jan. 2, 1838,
Cleopatra Clark, b. Nov. 10, 1810, Westminster West, d. Aug. 14,
1881, Malta, III, dau. of Capt. Perez Clark, b. 1771, d. 1850, who
was son of Capt. Scotto Clark of Cape Cod and Patience Snow.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 319
Father and son, sea captains, brought their gold in the center of
a tierce of salt. They were descended from Thomas Clark of the
May-fiower.
Mr. Eanney rem, 1834, to Chittenden, Vt., and in 1875 to Malta,
111., where he d. Dec. 23, 1891. From early life he was a mem.
of Cong. ch.
Children:
Mary Jane, b. Oct. 1, 1828; d. unm. Mar. 3, 1869.
Shailer Arnold, b. Sept. 12, 1830; d. July 14, 1831.
Caroline A., b. Oct. 10, 1832.
Ellen A., b. Sept. 15, 1834; d. Oct. 4, 1836.
500 Emma Snow, b. Mar. 10, 1840; d. ; m. Alanson
E. Puffer. Ees. Malta, 111.
501 Matilda, b. Oct. 18, 1841 ; m. Winslow Holmes.
Albert Brainard, b. Oct. 14, 1850; d. Mar. 13, 1873.
264 Philetus'^ Eanney (brother to Aretus), b. Jan. 8, 1806,
Westminster West, Vt. ; m. Sept. 25, 1834, Athens, Vt., Esther
Johnson Powers, b. Aug. 21, 1812, Athens, Vt., dau. of Nathaniel
Powers and Esther Johnson. He rem. 1842, to Palmyra, Wis., be-
fore a church or school house had been erected and built a log
house for himself and many for others. As many as 40 Indians
would come to the door at a time and ask for food. Prom, in ch.
and community. Engaged in hardware business and was tax col-
lector. Died of Asiatic cholera Sept. 5, 1854. The widow m. Apr.
25, 1856, Thomas Channel and d. July 25, 1864, of smallpox
brought by returning soldiers. #
Children :
502 Priscilla Esther, b. Sept. 28, 1837 ; m. M. A. Throne.
503 Selina Eoxana, b. May 4, 1840 ; ; m. E. J. Forester.
504 Elsie Josephine, b. Apr. 7, 1842.
265 Ira Patterson'^ Eanney (brother to Aretus), b. Oct. 3, 1810,
Westminster West, Vt. ; m. (1) Mar. 2, 1835, Mary Lucinda Farn-
ham, b. Sept. 15, 1811; d. Mar. 21, 1866; m. (2) Betsy Wood,
b. May 13, 1828, Cincinnatus, N. Y. He rem. to Summerhill, N.
Y., farmer and Free Meth., d. Feb. i4, 1848.
Children :
505 William Addison, b. Jan. 25, 1836.
506 Clifford Ira, b. May 25, 1838.
266 Eev. Timothy Emerson'^ Eanney (brother to Aretus), b. Jan.
17, 1815, Westminster West, Vt. ; m. Apr. 28, 1844, Ashby, Mass.,
320 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
Charlotte Taylor, b. 1817, Ashby, Mass.; d. Feb. 18, 1874, North
Troy, Vt. Eev. Timothy Emerson Eanney was educated at Phil-
lips Exeter Academy, Middlebury College, and Andover Theo-
logical School. After leaving school he preached for a time at
Barnett, Vt. In 1844 he went as missionary to the Pawnee Indians
under the direction of the " A. B. C. E. M." For three years he
was in what is now Minnesota, but at that time was " Unexplored
Territory." On being recalled he returned to New England, bring-
ing with him two Indian children which had been found scalped
and left to die by the wayside.
Soon after his return the "A. B. C. F. M." sent him to the
Cherokee Indians where he remained for fourteen years. With
others in the field he established a mission known as Lee's Creek,
which was in Indian Territory, about fourteen miles from Fort
Smith, and about the same distance from Van Buren, Arkansas.
While at Lee's Creek two sons were born to him. Joseph Emerson
in 1849, and Timothy Taylor in 1852.
The outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 made it necessary for
him to leave the south, as he was known to be a northern sympa-
thizer. After his return to New England he preached for a time
at Oxford, Maine. In 1864 he bought a small farm at St. Johns-
bury, Vt., but not desiring to give up the ministry he preached at
West Charlestown, Vt., at Holland, Vt., and then at North Troy,
Vt., where his wife died in 1874. Then on account of failing
health retired to his St. Johnsbury farm, where he died July 30,
1884.
Children:
Jane Marian, b. Sept. 15, 1845 ; d. same day,
507 Joseph Emerson, b. May 9, 1849.
508 Timothy Taylor, b. Nov. 9, 1852.
267 Eev. Joseph Addison^ Eanney (brother to Aretus), b. Feb.
15, 1817, Westminster West, Vt.; m. (1) Sept. 23, 1841, Adaline
Hitchcock, b. 1818, Westminster West; d. Aug. 25, 1852, Belle-
ville, 111:; m. (2) Oct. 1, 1853, Wealthy Ann Hitchcock, b.
; d. Feb. 2, 1875; m. (3) May 17, 1876, Delphi, Ind.,
Sophronia Freeman Matthews; m. (4) Apr. 23, 1891, Mrs. Jane
Blackburn Stewart. He d. Dec. 6, 1891, Kalamazoo, Mich. The
following is gleaned from a pamphlet, " In Memoriam."
Eeceived into the church, March 6, 1831, with 30 others; entered
Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., in next month; entered Mid-
dlebury College 1835 ; grad. 1839. Owing to ill health taught in
family of Captain Calhoun, nephew of the renowned John C. Cal-
houn, Preston, Miss. In May, 1841, licensed to preach; officiated
DESCEIn!DANTS of THOMAS EANNEY 321
at two small stations ; ordained ^lay, 1842 ; became pastor at
Grenada, Miss. ; Jnne, 1843, took charge at Spring Grove and Car-
linville, 111., at less than $400 salary; 1846 chaplain of Monticello
Female Seminary and pastor of the ch. Pastor, 1847, at Belle-
ville, 111. Pastor, 1854, Allegan, Mich. Pastor, 1859-1872, at
Three Elvers, ]\Iich. On one day he received 68 into the church
and a $30,000 church was built under his administration. Eighty
members of his congregation enlisted in the army. In 1864 he
and his wife served six weeks for the Christian Commission. In
1873 financial agent of the new Michigan Female Seminary, Kala-
mazoo, Mich., modeled after Mt. Holyoke Seminary. Trustee 1868
to his death. Pastor, 1873-78, at Delphi, Indiana. Eetired 1878
from active pastorate and settled in Kalamazoo. In 36 years of
pastoral labor had preached 3304 sermons in 16 States, a^id had
received 469 persons into the church on profession and 309 by
letter; had baptized 154 adults and 127 infants. After 25 years
of ministerial labors he wrote : " Whatever ambition I had in early
years for high position, as pastor and preacher, it is plain that I
can expect now to reach no very great eminence. I hope to con-
tinue on and make progress, but I know there is nothing in me
that is destined to attract the wonder and admiration of the world.
From my first enlistment I cannot remember that I ever wavered
in my purpose; my heart was fixed on the great calling."
Sometimes Mr. Eanney was Commissioner of his Presbytery to
the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church; permanent clerk
of the Synod of Michigan, 1862-66; moderator 1863; Stated clerk
of the Presbytery of Kalamazoo 13 years; Eepublican and lifelong
enemy of slavery. He and his wife were on a train overtaken by
the flood at Conemaugh, Pa., and his wife's body was recovered
after three months. He received the degree of D. D. from Middle-
bury College. The author of his " In Memoriam " in closing
wrote : " The supreme heroic moment was when, amid the dash of
floods, and crash of debris at Conemaugh, desolated of his heart's
treasure, in the imminent presence of an awful death, he stood
unappalled, resigned, triumphant, comforting his affrighted com-
panions in peril Avith the testimony of a sublime faith ; ' God is
our Eefuge and Strength, a very present help in trouble. There-
fore will we not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the
mountains be carried into the midst of the seas; though the waters
thereof roar and be troubled; though the mountains shake with
the swelling thereof.' "
CkUdren hij 1st marruiqe:
Timothy Addison, b. Dec, 1842 ; d. Mar. 7, 1843.
322 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
509 Albert Barnes, b. Oct. 31, 1844.
510 Joseph Addison, b. Oct. 13, 18-47.
Julia Sturtevant, b. Dec. 13, 1850; d. Xov. 14, 1851.
2G8 Joel Arnold^ Eanney (brother to Aretus), b. Dec. 9, 1824,
Westminster West, Vt. ; m. May 9, 1850, Putney, Vt., Nancy Hub-
bard Taft, b. Oct. 21, 1830, Putney, Vt., dau. of Preston Willard
Taft and Nancy Hubbard. Farmer; Eep. ; Cong. d. Dec. 30, 1869.
Widow res. at 82 Alexander St., Springfield, Mass.
Children :
Charles Herbert, b. Aug. 30, 1853; m. Feb. 3, 1891, Hattie
M. Bailey. Ees. Saxton's River, Vt.
511 Joseph Preston, b. July 8, 1855.
512 Mary Alice, b. Mar. 28, 1858; m. Wm. H. Dickinson.
513 George Arthur, b. July 7, 1861.
Clarice Priscilla, b. Nov. 24, 1864 ; d. unm. Oct 10, 1883.
269 Rollin Wallace' Ranney (brother to Aretus), b. Nov. 29,
1826, Westminster West, Vt. ; m. Nov. 22, 1866, Fitchburg, Mass.,
Asenath Melvina Caswell, b. Feb. 2, 1839, Fitchburg, Mass., dau.
of Stephen Caswell and Laura Patch Farwell. Farmer; Cong. d.
Apr. 18, 1889. Widow res. Westminster, Vt.
Children : •
Wallace Farwell, b. Apr. 16, 1874, unm.
Laura Dell, b. Sept. 7, 1876, unm.
Rollin Hayes, b. Feb. 9, 1878, unm.
270 Henry Porteus" Ranney (brother to Aretus), b. Jan. 30,
1829, Westminster West, Vt., on the farm cleared by Elijah^, and
now residing on the same; m. Dec. 7, 1853, Westminster West, Fran-
ces Augusta Hamblen, b. Aug. 20, 1833, Westminster, d. Nov. 19.
1903, dau. of Benjamin Watson Hamblen and Matilda Wyman.
Educated at Chester Academy ; farmer, Rep., Cong. ; P. 0. Putnev,
Vt.
Child:
Delia Rebecca, b. Dec. 21, 1854; m. Apr. 10, 1895, A. Stevens
Hall, b. Apr, 14, 1850, Westminster West, Vt., son of
Edward Hall and Frances A. Tuttle. Grad. Dartmouth
College, 1873 ; Boston Law Uni. 1875 ; mem. Leg. of
Mass., 1904; lawyer. Rep., Cong.; res. Winchester, Mass.
271 RoswelF Ranney ( Daniel", Daniel^, Ephraim*, Thomas',
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EAXNEY 323
Thomas-, Thomas^), b. Sept. 17, 1804; m. Nov. 7, 1830, Stock-
bridge, Vt., Eebecca Whitcomb, b. June 15, 1808, d. Feb. 18, 1886.
He d. Mar. 1, 1894.
Children:
Daniel W., b. Apr. 27, 1832; d. Feb. 3, 1904; m. May 16,
1854, Eleanor Rogers, b. Feb. 18, 1836. She is widow
and res. Pittsfield, Vt. Child:
Maud, b. 1873; d. 1903; m. Frank Maynard. Child:
Ealph Maynard. Ees. Pittsfield, Vt.
514 Sallie Avery, b. Oct. 20, 1834; m. Feb. 28, 1856, Jasper
Pinney.
514a Darius Eoswell, b. Apr. 16, 1838, Pittsfield, Vt.; d. Mar.
21, 1868; m. Sept. 6, 1862, Agnes Laura Holt, b. Dec.
27, 1844. Child:
May Inez, b. Nov. 14, 1864; m. June 30, 1886, William
Miller Stiles, b. Sept. 26, 1859, Montgomery Center,
Vt. Ees. Flushing, N. Y. Child:
Howard Eufus, b. Sept. 13, 1887.
514b Moses F., b. Apr. 10, 1843; d. June 16, 1864; m. Asenath
Chandler; she d. . Child:
Clarence M., b. ; d. .
272 Daniel Holland" Eanney (brother to Eoswell), b. Sept. 26,
1808,- Stockbridge, Vt.; m. Nov. 21, 1833, Stockbridge, Fidelia
Hunt Sawyer, b. Feb. 6, 1814; d. Mar. 26, 1894, Koshkonong,
Wis., dau. of Isaac Sawver and Charlotte Hunt. Eem., 1838, to
Norfolk, N. Y. ; 1852 to Elkhorn, Wis. ; 1867 to Koshkonong, Wis.,
where he d. Mar. 15, 1895. Eep. ; Meth. ; Farmer. A man of
strong mind and of superior ability. A child writes : " It was
characteristic of my father to espouse a cause he thought to be
right, whatever the opposition." ]\Irs. Eanney was the grand-
daughter of a Eev. patriot.
Children :
Norman, b. July 8, 1835 ; d. Jan. 3, 1836.
515 Emeline Amelia, b. May 13, 1837; m. S. S. Steele.
516 Justina Belcher, b. Apr. 17, 1840 ; m. Eev. Geo. Eichardson.
Moses, b. Apr. 9, 1843; killed June 15, 1863. Port Hudson,
Miss., Serg. Co. A, 4th Wis. Vols.
Permelia, b. Apr. 30, 1848; d. Aug. 16, 1850.
517 Nellie, b. June 25, 1851; m. W. H. Bridges.
518 Levi Marble, b. Feb. 20, 1855.
273 Silas'' Eanney (brother to Eoswell), b. Feb. 21, 1810, Stock-
bridge, Vt.; m. Sept. 26, 1833, Stockbridge, Vt., Martha Sawyer,
324 MIDDLETOWX UPPER HOUSES
b. Apr. 23, 1810, Alstead, N. H. ; d. Feb. 15, 1899, Elkhorn, Wis.,
dau. of John Sawyer. Farmer ; Rep. ; Meth. ; Rem. 1856, to Wis. ;
1869 to Iowa, d. Nov. 20, 1893, New Hartford, la.
Children :
Martha Cornelia, b. Feb. 23, 1855 ; m. N. H. ]\IcCollum.
519 Amelia Lucinda, b. Mar. 19, 1837 ; m. Jonathan Allen.
Sabra Elizabeth, b. Dec. 7, 1840; m. Stewart D. Ellsworth.
520 Fayette Silas, b. Feb. 28, 1844.
521 Martha Vandora, b. Feb. 26, 1846 ; m. Thos. J. Pollock.
522 Daniel Leroy, b. Ang. 15, 1849.
523 Wallace Austin, b. Aug. 4, 1853.
274 Reuben^ Ranney (brother to Roswell), b. Oct. 31, 1811,
Stockbridge, Yt. ; m. Jan. 13, 1830, Pittsfield, Vt., Lucia Rockwell,
b. July 31, 1811, Salisbury, Vt., dau. of Dea. Eleazor Bingham
Rockwell and Abigail Stoughton. Farmer, Meth., rem. 1858, to
Elkhorn, Wis., where he d. Jan. 16, 1882. She d. Feb. 22, 1889.
Children :
524 Geraldine Calista, b. Nov. 25, 1836: m. J. Z. Short.
524a Lucia Ann, b. Sept. 26, 1840 ; m. I. A. Travis.
525 Milo Bingham, b. Sept. 8, 1850.
526 Reuben Waldo, b. May 14, 1855.
275 Martha Gile' Ranney (sister to Roswell), b. Aug. 25, 1816,
Stockbridge, Vt.; m. Oct. 9, 1837, Pittsfield, Vt., Africa Davis, b.
Nov. 19, 1805 ; She d. May 19, 1849.
Children :
Mintha S., b. July 24, 1839.
Martha Holland, b. Dec. 31, 1841 ; d. Feb. 25, 1858.
Matilda A., b. Apr. 4, 1843.
Jonathan A., b. Aug. 10, 1845 ; d. Aug. 18, 1847.
Ranney, b. Nov. 3, 1847.
276 Lucinda Holland' Ranney (sister to Roswell), b. Feb. 19,
1819, Stockbridge, Vt. ; m. Mar. 17, 1839, Pittsfield, Vt., Charles
A. Thomas, b. May 14, 1815. She d. Aug. 9, 1858.
Children :
Marthaett, b. July 22, 1841.
Zilpah A., b. Oct. 15, 1843.
Carlie F., b. Aug. 2, 1846.
Charles A., b. Jan. 4, 1856 ; d. Aug. 7, 1856.
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 325
277 Jonathan Hollancr Eanney (brother to Eoswell), b. June
2, 1822, Stockbridge, Yt. ; m. Nov. 8, 1845, Pittsfield, Vt., Lucy
Jane Guernsey, b. Dec. 20, 1822, Westminster, Vt. ; d. July 28,
1903, Newton, N. H., dau. of Eeuben Guernsey and Achsah Smith.
The farm cleared by DanieP Eanney was given to him by the will
of the widow of Dr. Moses Harris Eanney. He was farmer, Mem.
Leg. in 1872 ; F. A. M. Died June 22, 1897, Pittsfield, Vt.
Children:
Aldula Achsah, b. Dec. 27, 1847; d. Sept. 24, 1861.
527 Harris Guernsey, b. Nov. 30, 1850.
528 Harley Austin, b. Sept. 22, 1857.
Zilpah Elizabeth, b. June 15, 1863; m. Dr. Axtell. Ees.
Newton, N. H.
530 Fred Lincoln, b. May 8, 1865.
278 JoeP Eanney (brother to Eoswell), b. June 4, 1825; m.
Sarah (Eo^ers) Eanney, b. Oct. 23, 1823, Norfolk, N. Y.. d. Apr.
29, 1897, Pittsfield, Vt., dau. of William Eogers and
MacCraight, and widow of Moses Eanney, bro. of her 2d husband,
who d. Jan 25, 1875. Was a farmer and mill owner.
Children :
Julius M., b. 1848 ; m. . Ees. Woonsocket, E. I.
Lurella, b. 1854; d. 1866.
Archibald Joel, b. 1868 ; grad. 1894, Dartmouth Med. Coll.,
Supt. of Lakeside Hospital, Cleveland, 0.
279 Moses Harris^ Eanney (Moses^, DanieP, Ephraim*,
Thomas^ Thomas-, Thomas^), b. Aug. 14, 1814; m. Jan. 2, 1837,
Harriet Bucklin Barrows, b. Feb. 21, 1818 ; d. Sept. 3, 1901, Bris-
tol, Vt. She long survived her husband and made many benefac-
tions to the Episcopal Church of St. Edward the Martyr in New
York city. Their three children, all unmarried, preceded her to the
grave. The following is from the History of Salisbury, Vt., bv
John M. Weeks, 1860 :
" Moses Harris Eanney, M. D., was born Aug. 16, 1814, at South
Hill in tthe Town of Stockbridge, Vt. His early life was passed
entirely at school until the age of fifteen years when he commenced
the study of medicine with Dr. Daniel Huntington of Eochester,
Vt. Having completed the usual term of study and attended four
courses of medical lectures, he graduated at the age of nineteen
at the Berkshire Medical College, Pittsfield, Mass. (1838). He
326 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
remained in his native town one year and then commenced the
practice of his profession in Salisbury, Vt., where he resided eleven
years. In 1837 he was married to the daughter of Aaron Barrows,
Esq., one of our oldest and most respected citizens. During his
residence here he was favored with an extensive and lucrative prac-
tice for a country practitioner and was fast arriving at eminence
both in the skill and learning of his profession. But wishing to
perfect his knowledge by a personal observation of the nature and
treatment of a greater variety of diseases than were here brought
to his notice, he went to New York City and commenced a course
of critical observations in Bellevue, one of the hospitals of that
city, which resulted in a short time in his appointment to the office
of assistant physician in Bellevue Hospital. He had been in this
office but a short time when he was made physician in chief of the
New York City Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island, which posi-
tion he held to the time of his death, being a period of over
eighteen years. Dr. Eanney took a high rank in his profession and
received many honors both of a scientific and literary character.
He was a member of the Pathological Society and a Fellow of the
New York Academy of Medicine. His important and honorable
position and the influence he exerted among others of the same
vocation are sufficient evidence of his professional merit."
He was connected with Calvary Epis. ch. and was buried from it.
Cjfij'tldv&Yh *
Julius Harris, b. Dec. 7, 1837; d. Mar. 24, 1869.
Harriet, b. Feb. 10, 1840 ; d. Oct. 1, 1841.
Moses Willard, b. Mar. 8, 1845; d. July 12, 1882.
280 Sarah' Holland (Mary Eanney% DanieP, Ephraim*,
Thomas^ Thomas-, Thomas^), b. July 27, 1822, Stockbridge, Vt.,
m. Dec. 1, 1841, Stockbridge, Vt. ; Nathan Davis, b. May 5, 1818.
Stockbridge, A' t. ; d. May 16, 1902, Stockbridge, Vt. He was a
farmer, Eep., and Meth. She died Dec. 25, 1899, Stockbridge, Vt.
His pastor wrote as follows : " For nearly four years the aged
father had made his home with the elder son, where the most loving
care had been bestowed upon him by the son and the son's wife
through the long years of helplessness. There are five grandchil-
dren and three great-grandchildren, no deaths having yet occurred
among his descendants.
" Mr. Davis was interested in all that pertained to the progress
of the community, including its religious life, in which he was a
prominent figure, having been largely instrumental in rebuilding
tlie Stony Brook church, and having done his full share in the
DESCENDANTS OF THOi\rAS EANNEY 327
biiilrling of the Methodist church in Gavsville. For a very long
period he filled the responsible office of recording steward.
'' ' He was one of our best men/ said one who had known him
50 years, and this seems to be the general verdict."
Children :
Francis N., b. June 7, 1844. Res. Stockbridge, Vt.
Melvin H., b. Apr. 25, 1858.
281 Lucy^ Holland (sister to Sarah), b. July 3, 1825, Stock-
bridge, Vt.'; m. Oct. 22, 1844, Stockbridge, Vt. Charles Luther,
b. June 30, 1819, Pittsford, Vt. ; d. Dec. 31, 1890, Wilmington,
ni. Eem. 1849 to 111. The widow resides in Wilmington, 111.
\j1i%IujT&ti *
.lames Julius, b. July 7, 1846 ; d. May 22, 1886.
Charles Wesley, b. Dec. 9, 1848 ; d. Sept. 2, 1855.
531 Frederick Augustus, b. Mar. 28, 1855.
282 Jonathan 3? Holland (brother to Sarah), 1). Nov. 27, 1829.
Woodstock, Vt.; m. Oct. 20, 1853, Stockbridge, AbigaiP Wilcox
(Israel Bronson^, Amos Bronson^ Israel®, IsraeP, Israel*, Israel^
John-, Johni), b. Sept. 17, 1833, Stockbridge, Vt. ; d. Sept. 15,
1897, Chicago, 111. He rem. 1855 to Chicago, where he was on the
Police force for 14 years, guarding the Prince of Wales, now King
Edward VII., when there. Foreman of Brink's Chicago Express
Co., for 20 years. On his wife's death he rem. to New Hartford,
la., where he resides with his only daughter. Mayor in 1901.
Children:
Mary Adelaide, b. 1856; d. 1857.
Alice, b. I860; m. Sept. 29, 1881, Alfred E. Bou(iuin. Res.
New Hartford, la. Child:
Lulu Holland, b. May 13, 1883 ; instructor in music at
State Normal School, Cedar Falls, la.
«
282a Fedelia" Holland (sister to Sarah), 1). June 15. 1834,
Stockbridge, A^t. ; d. Jan. 1, 1875; Chicago; m. Jan. 20, 1853,
Washington Perry Brink, b. Oct. 22, 1830, West Rochester, Vt. ;
d. July 23, 1874," Chicago. Founder of Brink's Express Co.
Children:
Arthur P., b. Nov. 11, 1855; m. Jan. 6, 1876, Chicago, Nina
M. Meader, b. June 11, 1857, Plattsburg, N. Y. Res.
Chicago, 111. Children:
328 MIDDLETOWN UPPER HOUSES
Cora Fedelia, b. Oct. 24, 1876 ; m. June 1, 1904, Wm. S.
Tyson.
Percival Arthur, b. May 5, 1878; m. June 14, 1899, Mary
A. Koehler. Children:
Marjorie,»b. Nov. 7, 1901.
Lawrence K., b. Sept. 18, 1903.
Dorothy Adelaide, b. Mar. 24, 1907.
Lucy Fedelia, b. Sept. 15, 1857; m. Jan. 6, 1876, Martin
'Cyrus Meader, b. June 29, 1854; d. Nov. 5, 1899.
Ch ildrcn :
Frank Eobert, b. Nov. 10, 1878, Chicago; m. June 5.
1901. Chicago, Bknch Mandel, b. Mar. 21, 1881.
Child:
Virginia, b. Mar. 5, 1904.
Edna Mav, b. Feb. 24, 1882.
Roy Cyrus, b. Oct. 20, 1884.
283 Esther Jane^ Ranney (JoeP, DanieP, Ephraim\ Thomas^
Thomas-. Thomas^), b. July 28, 1829, Stockbridge, Vt. ; d. Mar.
7, 1890; m. Mar. 27, 1855, Metamora, 111., Alvan Packard, b. Sept.
19, 1821, Millbury, Mass. Civil Eng. ; farmer; orange grov/er;
res. Riverside, Cal.
CyhtLQ/TBTl *
Honora Rebecca, b. Mar. 17, 1856 ; d. Mar. 7, 1873.
Charles Alvan, b. Oct. 2, 1857 ; d. Oct. 21, 1857.
Almira Elizabeth, b. Nov. 21, 1859 ; d. Aug. 17, 1885.
Luella Martha, b. Sept. 20, 1861; d. Sept. 15, 1885; m. W.
E. Neighberger.
Joel Ranney, b. Sept. 22, 1863 ; d. Sept. 23, 1863.
Joel Alden, b. June 6. 1865 ; m. Dec. 25, 1895, Riverside, Cal.,
Carrie Nicholson, b. Nov. 9, 1873, Detroit, Mich., dau.
of Richardson Nicholson and Louise Dumont. Orange
grower. Res. Riverside, Cal. Child:
Jane Louise, b. Sept. 29, 1906.
Edith Jane, b. July 27, 1867 ; d. Apr. 5, 1880.
Edwin May Stanton, b. Nov. 22, 1869 ; M. Sept. 29, 1898;
m. July 7, 1892, Mamie Furman. Widow resides at
Highgrove, Calif. Children:
Alvan Furman, b. Sept. 3, 1893.
Edwin Stanton, b. Nov. 7, 1894.
Theodore, b. Nov. 25, 1895.
284 Joel Alden" Ranney (sister to Esther Jane), b. Oct. 18,
1831, Stockbridge, Vt.; m. Sept. 4, 1856, Metamora, 111., Frances
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 339
L. Everett, dau. of Dea. Willard Everett of Francestown, N. H.,
who rem. 1843, to Metamora. Mr. Eanney was a boy of seven when
he landed in the new West, and only seventeen and the only son
when his father died. Making a living sixty years ago in a new
country meant hard work and exposure. Church, temperance and
educational interests with political work gave him plenty to do.
He has been Pres. of Co. Fair Assn., mem. of Co, Supervisors, pro-
moter of railroads, and now at the age of seventy-six is township
chairman of the Eep. Co. Com. Was mem. of Leg. 1876 and 1878.
A " pen portrait " of that time said :
"■ About midway down the aisle on the Eepublican side of the
House of Eepresentatives of the 30th General Assembly sits the
subject of this ' Pen Portrait ' the Hon. J. A. Eanney. He is a
mild mannered, pleasant, affable gentleman of medium height,
slender build, dark hair rapidly turning grey, and full dark whis-
kers. He is a good, logical, earnest, sincere speaker and com-
mands the attention of both sides of the house when he takes the
floor. He is very industrious and attentive to his legislative duties.
He is also an able, dignified, comprehensive and conscientious legis-
lator. He is the father of one of the most important bills intro-
duced this session, viz. : concerning frauds in Public Improve-
ments." Eesidence, Cazenovia, 111.
Children:
532 Frances Lilla, b. Oct. 23, 1859; m. Dr. W. A. Mansfield.
533 Mark Joel, b. Feb. 23, 1867.
534 Justin Morse, b. June 29, 1876.
Milo Miles, b. May 12, 1882; grad. 1903, Brown's Business
Coll., Peoria, 1902 ; Knox Coll., Galesburg, 111. ; mem-
ber Cong, church ; member M. W. of A. Ees. Cazenovia,
111.
285 Evander Willard' Eanney (Waitstill Eandolph% WaitstilP,
Ephraim*, Thomas^ Thomas-, Thomas^), b. Nov. 1, 1811, West
Townshend, Vt.; m. (1) Sept. 13, 1836, Grafton, Vt., Chastina
Burwell, b. Sept. 8, 1811 ; d. Dec. 12, 1840, Westport, N. Y. ; m.
(2) June 21, 1842, Keesville, N. Y., Lorraine Hitchcock Fisk, b.
1817; d. Feb. 5, 1856, dau. of Hon. Josiah Fisk; m. (3) Dec. 9,
1857, Brooklyn, N. Y., Ann Curtis Qua, b. Aug. 15, 1824; m. (4)
Apr. 24, 1834, N. Y. city, Olivia Scott, b. June 5, 1835. He was
a physician in N. Y. City, and died there.
Children:
Evander Burwell, b. Oct. 7, 1838 ; d. June 4, 1839.
330 MIDDLETOWN TJPPEE HOUSES
Mary Louisa Qua, b. Jan. 13, 1849.
Jane Clark Qiia, b. Jan. 6, 1853.
Annie Lorraine, b. Sept. 18, 1859 ; d. June 18, 1860.
Addie Marie, b. Nov. 16, 1860.
286 Eev. Darwin Harlow^ Eanney (brother to Evander Wil-
lard), b. Dec. 13, 1812, Chester, Vt.; m. Jan. 22, 1837, Westport,
N. Y., Sybil Hale McKinney, b. Apr. 14, 1811, Westport; d. July,
1891, Swampscott, Mass. The Eev. Mr. Eanney prepared for pulD-
lication the " Eeunion of 1866 " and " Beminiscences " of his
father. He prepared in Chester Academy for Middlebury College,
where he grad. in 1835. Teacher, 1835-1837, in Westport, N". Y.,
and Ludlow, Vt. Pastor, 1837-1839, baptist ch. Claremont, N.
H. ; 1844-49, Dover, N. H.; later in Wilmington, Vt., Greenfield
and Bernardston, Mass. Eepresented Brattleboro, Vt. in the Legis-
lature two years. Died Sept. 27, 1870, Brattleboro, Vt.
Children :
535 Elizabeth Sybil, b. Dec. 3, 1837 ; m. Dr. J. H. Bichardson.
Henry Foster, b. Jan. 30, 1840; m. 1872, Louisa Fairman.
Grad. Yale. Lawyer, d. 1873, N. Y. city.
Edward Norris, b. July 3, 1841 ; m. 1871, Emma Nave. Dry
goods merchant, d. Apr. 30, 1895, Boston. Children:
Abram Nave, b. June, 1872.
Mary.
Lucy.
536 Darwin Evander, b. Sept. 27, 1844.
287 Stella Laurenza' Eanney (sister to Evander Willard), b.
July 4, 1814, West Townshend, Vt.; m. Dec. 9, 1834, Sharon
Gray, b. Aug. 30, 1801, farmer, who d. May 10, 1882, Townshend,
Vt. She was a Baptist and d. Apr. 3, 1878.
Children :
Frances Aurilla, b. Apr. 6, 1836.
Charles Sharon, b. May 28, 1839.
537 Eliza Jane, b. Aug. 20, 1842 ; m. John Glover Broughton.
James, b. June 8, 1852 ; unm. Ees. Morris Plains, N. Jersey.
288 Alfred Atwood^ Eanney (brother to Evander Willard), b.
June 24, 1816, Wardsboro, Vt. ; m. Nov. 7, 1837, Chittenden, Vt.,
Nancy Columbia Manley, b. Apr. 22, 1816, Chittenden, Vt. ; d.
June, 1882, Keene, N. H., dau. of Capt. William Manley. He
occupied the paternal homestead for many years, relieving his
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 331
father whose attention was given to a circuit practice of medicine,
while his ambition was to follow his brother to college. Eem. 1865,
from home to So. Dover, N. Y., and in 1875 to N. Y. city where he
held an important position in the city government. He d. Nov.,
1881, while visiting a daughter in Colorado.
CJiildren :
538 Victoria Jeannette, b. Nov. 26, 1839 ; m. Lyman Bunnell.
539 Stella Eliza, b. May 8, 18-11 ; m. Eev. J. A. Leach.
540 Martha Columbia, b. Sept. 13, 1842 ; m. Kussell Fisk.
541 Phebe Atwood, b. June 14, 1845 ; m. Theo. Buckingham.
289 Henry Davis'' Eanney (brother to Evander Willard) b.
Oct. 31, 1817, West Townshend, Vt.; m. May 26, 1841, Claremont,
N. H., Olive Lucinda Billings. He was a physician in N. Y. city.
Children :
George Henry, b. Sept. 8, 1842 ; d. Sept. 20, 1842.
John \yaitstill, b. Nov. 26, 1850 ; d. May 5, 1854. He had
an imperfect physical development but an acute brain.
He had a great passion for books. The alphabet was
learned before he was weaned and at three years of age
he could repeat twenty pages of prose and poetry after
hearing them read to him. His last words were:
" Mama, don't cry."
290 Lafayette' Eanney (brother to Evander Willard), b. Aug.
16, 1819, West Townshend, Vt.; m. (1) Feb. 26, 1846, Shafts-
bury, Vt., Adaline Eliza Loomis, b. Nov. 28, 1823 ; d. Jan. 4, 186^
N. Y. city.; m. (2) May 4, 1867, N. Y. city, Kate Bradstreet.
Dr. Eanney was educated at Townshend Academy and grad. at
Dartmouth Coll. He taught in the Chester Academy, began his
medical practice in Hardwick, Mass. Eem. 1849, to N. Y. city,
where for sixteen years he was Surgeon-in-Chief of Police Force,
and a prominent member of the Bd. of Edu. ; F. & A. M. ; Eepubli-
can ; Dea. of " Tabernacle " Cong. ch. Very eminent in his pro-
fession. He d. Feb. 15, 1883.
Children by 1st marriage:
Julia Eliza, b. Aug. 20, 1847; d. Jan. 15, 1850.
542 Ambrose Loomis, b. Jan. 10, 1849.
Frederick Alfred, b. Mar. 23, 1853 ; d. July 1, 1855.
Charles Henry, b. Jan. 15, 1856; d. Jan. 6, 1896. Merchant
in Philadelphia.
Walter Lafayette, b. Sept. 9, 1859; d. unm. Aug. 17, 1888.
332 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
Child hy 2d marriage:
Francis Perego, b. May 2, 1868; m. (1) Natalie Henning;
m. (2) Mary Clark. Ees. N. Y. City.
291 Ambrose Arnold' Ranney (brother to Evander Willard),
b. Apr. 16, 1821, West Townshend, Vt; m. Dec. 4, 1850, Ca-
vendish, Vt., Maria Dorothy Fletcher, b. Apr. 12, 1823, Cavendish.
Vt.; d. Sept. 26, 1892; dau. of Addison Fletcher and Maria
Ingalls. He was a Unitarian. His death occurred in Boston,
Mar. 5, 1899. His Arnold name was from Seth Arnold, the Rev.
patriot of Haddam, Ct., who m. Esther^ Ranney, sister to his
grandfather, WaitstilP Ranney.
Ambrose Arnold Ranney remained on the farm till he had
prepared at the Townshend Academy when he entered, 1840, Dart-
mouth Coll., from which he grad., 1844, with high honors. Be-
came principal of the Chester Academy. In 1846 entered the
law office of Hon. Andrew Tracy of Woodstock, Vt. ; adm. 1847,
to the bar.; rem. 1848, to Boston; taught a while in the Brim-
mer School and then opened a law office. In 18^ he became
associated with Nathan Morse. In 1855-56 was city solicitor;
elected, 1857, by the Whigs to the legislature, and 1863 and 1864
by the Republicans. In 1880 he was elected to Congress, and
served in the 47th, 48th, and 49th Congresses. For two terms
he was a member of the Committee on Elections, which investi-
gated frauds in elections, and here he rendered valuable service
in the interest of fair elections and the integrity of the ballot
box, dealing, as was his wont at the bar, heavy blows in condemna-
"ion of dishonorable practices. In the 49th Congress he served
on the Judiciary Committee, which investigated the Pan-Electric
scheme, involving the reputation of high public officials. His
absorbing aim, however, was in the profession of the law, in which
he had achieved eminence before going to Congress. He had the
respect of both parties, and impressed the public generally by
his manly bearing, his fidelity to duty, and his ability as a lawyer
and legislator.
Children :
Maria Fletcher, b. Sept. 8, 1853 ; unm. ; res. 72 Bay State
Road, Boston.
Helen Mary, b. June 28, 1855; unm.; res. 72 Bay State
Road, Boston. Mass.
543 Fletcher, b. Sept. 2, 1860.
Alice, b. Sept. 30, 1862; m. Thomas Allen, artist; res.
12 Commonwealth Ave., Boston.
Ada, b. Apr. 10, 1866; d. May 14, 1866.
i
DESCENDANTS OP THOMAS EANNEY 333
292 Stephen Eleazar^ Eanney (brother to Evander Willard),
b. Sept. 17, 1822, West Townshend, Vt; m. (1) Aug. 26, 1846.
Grafton, Vt., Mary Dean, b. June 12, 1824, Grafton; d. Nov. 1,
1856, No. Bennington, Vt; dau. of Peter Worden Dean and
Philenda Willey; m. (2) Apr. 16, 1858, No. Bennington. A^t.,
Susan Watson, b. July 25, 1829; d. Sept. 29, 1903; dau. of Wil-
liam J. Watson and Selina Slye. He was a physician, practicing
in Grafton and Hartford, Vt., and after 1852 at No. Bennington,
where he d. Mar. 1, 1899. He was a Eep., Unitarian, and for
years Town Supt. of Schools.
Children hy 1st jnarriage:
Mary Prances, b. Sept. 1, 1849 ; unm., res. N. Y. City.
544 Frederick Dean^ b. May 1, 1856.
Children hy 2d marriage:
William Watson, b. June 30, 1864; grad. Williams Coll.:
m. Oct. 7, 1903, Helen Lenox Street. Is pastor of
Park Congregational Ch., Hartford, Conn.
293 James WaitstilF Eanney (brother to Evander Willard).
b. Sept. 23, 1824, West Townshend, Vt. ; m. (1) May 21. 1849.
Keene, N. H., Deborah Deane Gerauld, b. Apr. 5,' 1824; d.
N. Y. City; dau. of Samuel Allen Gerauld (b. July 27, 1793; d.
Sept. 21, 1887; son of Theodore Gerauld) and Deborah Deane
(b. Dedham, Mass.; d. Jan. 15, 1865); m. (2) Aug. 31, 1857.
N. Y. City, Helen Elizabeth Hunter, b. June 6, 1836, White Eiver
Junction, Vt., dau. of Dr. Galen Hunter (b. Jan. 1, 1800, West-
more, Vt.; d. Aug. 6, 1872, N. Y. City) and Elizabeth Eosalind
Willard (b. Apr. 28, 1807, Charlestown," N. H.; d. May 27, 1852.
N. Y. Citv). Dr. Galen Hunter was the son of Jabesh Hunter
(b. June 24, 1769; d. Oct. 7, 1848) and Mary* Savage (b. July
27, 1774, Hartford, Vt. ; d. Mar. 2, 1862, Vt; dau. of Thomas'*
Savage (b. Dec. 15, 1714, Upper Houses; rem. 1749, to Bethle-
hem, Conn., and 1768 to Hartford, Vt., where he served in the
Eev. War and was pensioned) and Martha Whitmore, b. June 11,
1719, dau. of Joseph and Mary [Warner] Whitmore of Middle-
town, Conn. Thomas^ Savage was the son of John- Savage and
Mary^ Eanney.
Dr. James Waitstill Eanney taught school in Townshend, when
fifteenth years of age, and " hired out " in the summer to work
on a farm. At twenty-two he entered Middlebury College, and
by hard work and his own efforts he remained to graduate. He
took a course in medicine at the New York Uni. of Medicine, com-
334 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
menced to practice in ISTo. Bennington, Vt., but soon rem. to
jSTew York City. Within a year he was elected to the Common
Council. In three years his practice was so great he was com-
pelled to withdraw from political life. He soon called in the
aid of a brother from Vermont and later set him up in a separate
practice. Two other brothers followed in succession and in turn
were set up in separate practice. In 1860 he was elected coroner,
and held the position for three years. For over twenty years he
was connected with twelve leading railroads as surgeon and at-
tending physician, and for some years family physician to the
late Commodore Vanderbilt and Kussell Sage. He made lunacy
a specialty, and often acted as commissioner in lunacy. He was
a regular attendant of the Congregational Church. He d. Feb.
28, 1889. The widow res. in N. Y. City.
Child &?/ 1st marriage:
Emma Gerauld, b. May 3, 1850; m. June 15, 1870, Elisha
Flagg Clark, who d. Oct. 26, 1881; she res. Tenafly,
N. J. Children:
Watson Gerould, b. Sept. 1, 1871; m. June 18, 1902,
Mabel Marion Palmer. Children:
Watson Gerould, b. Jan. 12, 1904.
Henry Bogert Palmer, b. Dec. 8, 1905.
Margaret Elizabeth, b. Mar. 17, 1873.
Elsie Blanche, b. Aug. 19. 1874.
Mary Emma, b. Aug. 26, 1876; d. Apr. 2, 1903.
Ada Eannev, b. Oct. 29, 1879.
Elizah Flagg, b. Apr. 5, 1882.
Children by 2d marriage:
Henrietta Hunter, b. Feb. 4, 1860; unm.
545 Nellie Kate, b. July 6, 1866; m. Dec. 29, 1892, Eichard
Henry Eeed; res. N". Y. City.
Mary Augusta, b. Sept. 22. 1870; d. Aug. 20, 1871.
294 Helen Louisa'^ Eanney (sister to Evander Willard), b.
Feb. 10, 1824, West Townshend, Vt.; m. Feb. 23, 1848, West
Townshend, Vt., Norman Bottum, b. Oct. 5, 1822, Shaftsbury,
Vt., son of Nathan Huntington Bottum and Peace Huntington.
His residence was on his father's farm. Deacon Bapt. Ch., Church
Clerk, Bank Director, Eep. In twenty-two years he was absent
but eight Sundays from the S. S. of which he was Supt., and from
the choir. He made it a rule in all correspondence to refer to the
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 335
welfare of the soul of his correspondent. She mem. Cong. Ch., d.
April 1, 1879; he d. July 8, 1870.
Children:
546 Henry Merle, b. Jan. 18, 1849.
Stella Eliza, b. July 4, 1853; d. Sept. 15. 1854.
547 Fannie Lorraine, b. Sept. 22, 1855.
Nellie Agnes, b. June 6, 1859 ; d. June 6, 1860.
Anna Bertha, b. Mar. 23, 1866; unm.; teacher, Chicago.
295 Frances Sophia^ Eanney (sister to Evander Willard), b.
Jan. 25, 1828, West Townshend, Vt.; m. Dec. 19, 1855, New
York City, Nathan Bottum, b. Mar. 6, 1827, Shaftsbury, Vt.;
d. Feb. 26, 1889, Shaftsbury, Vt.; son of Nathan Huntington
Buttum and Peace Huntington; farmer. Town Treasurer, and
held other offices of trust. She d. 1871.
Children:
Alfred Henry, b. Jan. 11. 1857; d. Jan. 3, 1864.
548 George Henry, b. Jan. 15, 1861.
296 Martin Luther" Eanney (brother to Evander Willard), b.
Jan. 20, 1830, West Townshend, Vt.; m. Apr. 29, 1857, ^N. Y.
City, Margaret E. Luckey, b. Sept. 26, 1836; physician 'in N.
Y. City; d. there.
Children :
Frederick Merrill, b. May 2, 1859; physician in N. Y. City.
549 Maud Hepwortli. b. Feb". 24, 1876;. m. Carl L. Becker.
297 Mary Angeline' Eanney (sister to Evander Willard), b.
Aug. 20, 1832, West Townshend, Vt.; m. July 7, 1869, J. K.
Herbert.
Children :
May, b. May 4, 1870; d. .
Stewart Eandolph, b. Nov. 27, 1874; d. .
298 Ambrose^ Arnold (Ambrose Tyler®, Esther^ Eanney,
Ephraim*, Thomas^ Thomas-, Thomas'^), b. June 19. 1815, West-
minster, Vt. ; m. July 1, 1850, Westminster, Catherine A. Cone,
b. May 24, 1830, Westminster: d. May 26, 1901, Westminster,
Vt. ; dau. of James Cone and Catherine Cuyler; employed in
railroading, Eep., Epis., F. & A. M., I. 0. 0. F. ; d. Apr. 4. 1885.
Westminster, Vt.
336 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
Children :
Elizabeth P., b. Mar. 23, 1852; unm.
Gertrude, b. May 11, 1857 ; d. Jan. 7, 1879.
Harry A., b. Dec. 11, ; res. Audubon, Iowa.
Arthur F., b. Apr. 21, 1863; res. Westminster, Vt.
Herbert E., b. Aug. 21, 1865; res. Somerville, Mass.
299 Fenelon^ Arnold (brother to Ambrose),, b. Jan. 25.
1817, Westminster, Vt. ; m. (1) Nov. 4, 1840, Amanda Eich-
ards, b. Aug. 7, 1822, Westminster; d. Dec. 24, 1867; dau. of
Luther A. Eichards and Polly Page; m. (2) Mar. 1. 1872, Wal-
pole, N". H., Emily Augusta Marsh, b. Feb. 25, 1837, Walpole.
dau. of Edmund Adams Marsh and Isabella Hosmer. He d.
Dee. 4, 1901. Widow res. Walpole, N. H.
Children hy 1st marriage:
Charles Ferris, b. July 28, 1853.
George Eichards, b. Sept. 26, 1857; d. Aug. 6, 1878.
Child hy 2d marriage:
Seth Fenelon, b. Dec. 21, 1878; student at Tufts College.
Medford, Mass.
300 Ealph Parker^ Eanney (James% Janna^ Ephraim*,
Thomas^ Thomas% Thomas^), b. Mar. 7, 1812, Westminster,
Vt.; m. Mar. 4, 1834, Delaware, 0., Harriet Storm, b. June 26,
1814, Delaware, who d. 1902, Episcopal. He with his two brothers
crossed the plains to California, and d. May 9, 1872, Washington,
D. C.
Child:
George Lewis, b. Sept. 6, 1840; d. Jan. 12, 1843.
301 Lewis H.'' Eanney (brother to Ealph Parker), b. Oct. 18,
1817, Springfield, Vt. ; m. Sept. 9, 1848, Elizabeth Burden, b.
May 25, 1827, Devonshire, Eng., dau. of John Burden and Jane
Sessford; ret. from Cal., became Clerk in U. S. Bureau of Sta-
tistics; d. Sept. 1, 1899, Washington, D. C.
Children:
Mary, b. Dec. 11, 1851; d. July 26, 1858.
Emma, b. Jan. 8, 1855 ; unm. ; res. Washington, D. C.
Caroline, b. July 4, 1857; unm.; res. Washington, D. C.
302 Isaac^ Eanney (brother to Ealph Parker), b. Feb. 21,
1820, Manchester, Vt.; m. Nov. 12, 1845, Delaware, 0., Sarah
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS RANNEY 337
Eleanor Smith, b. Oct. 13, 1824. Delaware, 0.; d. June 25, 1903,
Gaithersburg, Md.; dau. of Solomon Smith and Sarah Eleanor
Root of Pittsfield, Mass. Solomon Smith, a noted civil engineer,
laid out the town of Delaware, 0. Sarah Eleanor Root was the
dau. of Colonel Azariah Root, an officer in the Rev. War, and a
descendant of John Root, a settler of Farmington, Conn.
Isaac Ranney, Republican, lawyer, Circuit Judge 1858-1862,
removed, in 1873, to Gaithersburg, Md., where he died Oct. 8,
1876; buried in Delaware, Ohio. The widow resided with her
daughter, Mrs. Munro, and d. June 25, 1903. She was a mem.
Epis. Ch. ; burial, Delaware, 0. Judge Ranney was a cultured
gentleman, honorable and upright, respected by all, of a sweet
nature, and courtly manners.
Children :
550 Sarah Frances, b. Sept. 28, 1846; m. Charles L. Lybrand.
Eleanor Mary, b. Oct. 1, 1848; d. Oct. 11, 1863.
551 Grace, b. Sept. 21, 1854; m. John B. Diamond.
552 Elizabeth Burden, b. June 19, 1856; m. David M. :\Iunro.
Myra Chase, b. Jan. 2, 1859 ; d. 1860.
Harry Willard, b. Jan. 28, 1862; d. June 23, 1864.
553 Katherine Rebecca, b. Dec. 14, 1865; m. James B. Adams.
302a John Jay^ Hart (Delia*' Willis, SybiP Ranney, Willett^
Willett^ Thomas-, Thomas^), b. Mar. 13, 1831, Adams, N. Y. ; d..
Nov. 24, 1896; m. Jan. 20, 1859, Oswego, N. Y., Mary Elizabeth
Gridley, b. Jan. 1, 1814, Albany, N. Y., dau. of Timothy Henry
Gridley of Dutchess Co. N. Y. and Elizabeth Utley, of Swan,
^Vliner and Denison families of Conn. Rep., Cong., for many years
he conducted the leading dry goods business in Oswego, to which
place he had removed in 1850. Widow res. in Oswego, N. Y.
Children :
George Dwight, b. Dec. 24, 1859; m. Dec. 3, 1885, Julia
Penfield, b. Aug., 1862, Oswego, N. Y., dau. of Edwin
P. Penfield and Elizabeth Hovey. Insurance, I. 0. 0. F.
Res. Detroit, Mich. Children:
Ethel Penfield, b. Aug. 8, 1886.
Josephine Howe, b. Oct. 18, 1888.
James Munroe, b. Sept. 18, 1862 ; m. Oct. 20„ 1886, Sophia
Shepard Ould, b. Jan., 1863, d. June 29, 1905, dau. of
John Ould of Oswego and Susan Shepard of Oneida,
N. Y. (See the Shepard Family.) Rep., ice business.
Re«. Oswecro, N. Y. Children:
338 MIDDLETOWN" UPPEE HOUSES
John Jay, b. July 25, 1887.
James Shepard, b. June 15, 1888.
Susan Clarene, b. Feb. 10, 1891.
Frederick Massey, b. May 4, 1866; m. June 7, 1893, Anna
Lyman, b. June, 1867, Pulaski, N. Y., dau. of Henry
H. Lyman and Emily Vorce Bennett. Eep., F. A. M.
Ees. Oswego, N. Y. Child:
Henry Hart, b. July 1, 1897.
Mary, b. Sept. 12, 1869; m. June 11, 1890, Smith Matt
Bostick, b. Nov. 21, 1863, Eobertville, Hampton Co.,
S. C, dau. of Eichard Fuller Bostick, now of Hamilton,
N". Y., and Maria Ballinger Mott. Ees. Oswego, N. Y.
Children :
Miner Hart, b. July 29, 1891.
Eichard Jay, b. Feb. 9, 1895.
303 Willett Eannev^ Willis (Willett Eanney" Willis, Sybil"^
Eanney, Willett*, Wiliett^ Thomas% Thomas^), b. Sept. 15, 1839.
Adams, N. Y.; d. Mar. 3, 1902, Pueblo, Colo; m. Apr. 7. 1863,
Adams, N. Y., Frances Maria Grimes, b. June 12, 1839, Buffalo,
N. Y., dau. of James Stanley Grimes and Frances Warner of
Springfield, Mass. He was a woolen mfr., Brownsville, IS". Y.,
until 1872, then in cattle business in Colorado; Com'r of Huer-
ford Co., Colo., 1898-1900; Eep. The widow is mem. of D. A. E..
as a descendant of Amaziah Sanderson; Episcopal; res. Pueblo,
Colorado.
Children :
554 Edward Jarvis, b. Oct. 28, 1866.
555 Frank Grimes, b. Nov. 13, 1867.
Stanley John, b. Sept. 11, 1869; unm. ; Surveyor; res.
Wonder, Nevada.
556 Kate Elizabeth, b. Dec. 5, 1870; m. H. E. Hills.
Eosa Belle, b. Oct. 16, 1872; unm.
Anna Flora, b. Jan. 9, 1874; unm.
Mary Frances, b. Nov. 27, 1864; d. Aug. 15, 1866.
Willett Eanney, b. Nov. 9, 1881; grad. 1906, Colorado
College; unm,; res. Colorado Springs, Colo.
304 Willett Phineas^ Eanney (John®, Willett^ Willett*. Wil-
lett^ Thomas^ Thomas^), b. Sept. 1, 1830, Pierropont Manor,
N. Y. ; m. Jan. 25, 1860, Cleveland, 0., Margaret Tiebout, b. Mar.
21, 1838, dau. of George Tiebout and Martha Wilson. He d.
Feb. 11, 1890, she Dec. 3, 1904, interments in Eiverside Cemetery,
Cleveland.
DESCEN^DANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 339
Leaving home at eighteen years of age, he was employed for
a while by his Uncle Orville in Buffalo. He then went to the
lumbering camps in Green Bay. Wis., region, and established a
trading store on Washington Island, furnishing fishermen with
supplies, and taking in exchange their catches of fish, which he
shipped to various points. On his marriage he settled in Cleve-
land, 0., and established himself in the wholesale salt-fish business.
His sons now conduct it under the firm name of The Kannev
Fish Co.
Mrs. Eanney was a descendant through the Tiebout, Calyer,
Meserole and Praa families, of Captain Peter Praa, who came to
this country with his parents in 1655, and was one of the early
Dutch settlers of Greenpoint, Long Island. Her father was George
Tiebout, b. Feb. 11, 1799, Greenpoint. N. Y.; d. Nov. 14, 1864,
Cleveland, 0.; son of Margaretta Colyer, who was the grand-
daughter of Jacobus Colyer.
The following appeared in the Brooklyn Daily Times of Oct.
•30, 1879:
" The land at Greenpoint, N. Y., was originally granted to
Dirk (or Dierk) Volkertsen. It was a Aground brief, dated Apr.
3, 1645,' under which he appears to have taken possession of nearly
the whole peninsula lying on the East Eiver, between Mespat
Kill (Newtown Creek) and Norman Kill (Bushwick Creek). In
1653 he conveyed the northerly portion of Green Point to Jacob
Hay (or Hays), who died soon after, leaving his widow, Christina
Cappoens, and one child, Maria Hay. Maria Hay's first husband
was Jost Adrience Molenair (or Miller), after whose death she
married Captain Peter Praa, a native of Leyden, who had come
in 1655 to this country in his childhood with his parents.
" Although born in Holland, his father was a Huguenot from
France, who had taken refuge in Leyden. Peter Praa was a man
of great enterprise and public spirit, commander of the Bushwick
Militia, and otherwise prominent in the councils of the town.
He and his wife, Maria Hay. by will of her mother, Christina
Cappoens, and by purchase of the sons of Dirk Volkertsen, appear
to have acquired title to nearly all the land at Green Point, and
their lineal descendants continued to be the principal, if not the
sole, occupants of the territory for nearly pne hundred years
thereafter.
" Peter Praa and wife had no sons, so that the name of Praa
became extinct, but of their four daughters Elizabeth married
Jan Meserole, and to them were born two sons, Abraham and
Jacob, and a daughter Janita, who married Jacobus Colyer. At
the time of the Eevolutionary War they lived in a house near the
340 MIDDLETOWN UPPEE HOUSES
mouth of Bushwiek Creek, built by Dirk Volkertsen, the Norman.
This Jacobus Colyer was the great-grandfather of John and Peter
Colyer, lately deceased, who for so many years resided in Colyer
Street, also the great-great-grandfather of Cornelius H. Tiebout,
the oldest lineal descendant of Jacobus Colyer, now living at
Greenpoint."
Mrs. Eanney's mother, b. Nov. 18, 1809; d. Mar. 21, 1882,
Cleveland, 0., was eldest daughter of John Wilson, who had
removed to Cleveland about 1830 from Sacketts Harbor, N. Y.,
and Ann Aram, b. 1786, England; d. Jan. 30, 1831, Oswego,
N. Y. She was the daughter of Joseph Aram, late of Green
Hammerton, England (b. 1740; d. Jan. 21, 1803; interred in
Parish Churchyard, Whixley, York, Yorkshire, England) and
Margaret Aram (b. 1738, England; d. June 6, 1821, aged
83; interred in the Log Meeting House Yard, English Settle-
ment, No. 9, Ontario County, New York; she left Hull, Eng-
land, June 6, 1806, on the Indian Chief, and, after a passage of
sixty-two days, reached New York on Aug. 7, 1806).
Children:
Lynn Anderson, b. Mar. 12, 1861; m. Jan. 4, 1888, Cleve-
land, Caroline May Brewer, b. Jan.. 1868, Cleveland,
0., dau. of Nelson Charles Brewer and Caroline Cor-
nelia Benedict. Children:
Willett Brewer, b. Nov. 12, 1891.
Lynn Anderson, b. Jan. 9, 1893.
Percival Kent, b. Apr. 11, 1894.
Margaret Jeanette, b. Dec. 24, 1897.
Philip Tiebout, b. Mar. 27, 1863 ; d. Feb. 26, 1883.
Willett George, b. Sept. 14, 1867; unm. ; grad. 1890, Rens-
selaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, N. Y.; engaged in
stock raising in Custer Co., Neb. Res. Cleveland, 0.
Cornelius John, b. Aug. 15, 1869 ; unm. Res. Cleveland, 0.
Robert Bristol, b. Sept. 13, 1871; m. Jan. 4, 1899, Cleve-
land, 0., Florence Eva Jenkins, b. June 27, 1874,
Cleveland, 0., dau. of Nathan Sturgis Jenkins and
Eva Davis. Res. Cleveland, 0. Children:
Judith, b^.Apr. 18, 1900.
Philip Tiebout, b. Nov. 8, 1901.
Keith Irwin, b. Apr. 21, 1880 ; unm. Res. Cleveland, 0.
305 Daniel Bristol' Ranney (brother to Willett Phineas), b.
Jan. 28, 1834, Smithville, N. Y.; m. Nov. 2, 1865, Cley^land,
0., Jane Ranney, b. Aug. 25, 1842, Exeter, England, dau. of
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 341
Henry Sargent Eannev and Jane Collinsfs. He was a farmer,
1st Lieut. Co. L, 10th Keg., N. Y. H. A., Aug. 7, 1862— June 23,
1865; Rep.,, New Church; he d. June, 1896, Lowell, Mich.
Children:
557 Theodora, b. Sept. 12, 1866; m. Henry H. Lake.
Daisy Gertrude, b. Oct. 18, 1868; teacher, Trinidad, Colo.
558 Helen Mabel, b. Oct. 16, 1870; m. Bert E. Quick.
Mary Mildred, b. Sept. 15, 1873; m. Dec. 3, 1902, Toronto,
Ontario, Wayne Hudson Hadcock, b. Dec. 13, 1868, Co-
penhagen, N. Y. ; bookkeeper. Ees. Watertown, N. Y.
Stella, b. Sept. 30, 1875 ; teacher, Denver, Col.
Henry De Albert, b. May 25, 1878; m. Sept. 30, 1903,
Mabel Westfall; res. Nome, Alaska.
306 Martha Cornelia'' Eannev (sister to Willett Phineas), b.
May 2, 1845, Smithville, N. Y.; m. Dec. 8, 1873. N. Y. City,
James Garrison Cooper, b. Oct. 1, 1823; d. Jan. 19, 1903, Bay-
onne, N. J., on editorial staff of New York Tribune for many
years. Widow res. Great Kills, Staten Island, N. Y.
Child:
Grace Eanney, b. Oct. 19, 1874; m. Oct. 12, 1895. Louis
Kossuth Euttkay, b. Mar. 16, 1875, New Orleans, La.,
son of Albert Euttkay and Laura Wiley, and grandson
of Madame Euttkay, late of Buda Pesth, Hungary,
sister to Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian Patriot; res.
Great Kills, Staten Island. Children:
Louis Kossuth, b. May 18. 1897.
Dorothy Constance, b. Oct. 13, 1898.
Laura Wiley, b. July 9, 1900.
307 Ellen^ Drake (Sophronia« Eannev, Willett', Willett*, Wil-
lett^ Thomas^, Thomas^), b. Dec. 1, 1832, Eedfield, N. Y.; m.
Nov, 19, 1857, Beaver, Mich., George Traut Knowles, b. Nov.
19, 1834, Chittenango, N. Y.; merchant, Eep.. F. & A M.; res.
Beaver, Minn.
Child:
Jennie, b. Oct. 31, 1859, Beaver, Minn.; m. May 6, 1880,
William Henry Green, b. Sept. 29, 1857, Marston, Wis. ;
farmer, Eep., M. W. of A.; res. Beaver, Minn. Chil-
dren :
Ellen May, b. Mar. 28, 1881; d. May 24, 1889.
Herbert Knowles, b. June 16, 1883.
342 MIDDLETOWN UPPEK HOUSES
Chester William, b. Nov. 6, 1887 ; d. May 22, 1889.
Jeannette Eanney, b. Oct. 22, 1891.
George Hurther, b. Apr. 11, 1893.
Fred Jay, b. Aug. 21, 1896.
308 Jeannette' Drake (sister to Ellen), b. Aug. 8, 1836, Red-
field, N. Y. ; m. Sept. 26, 1858, Beaver, Minn., Jay Reed Martin,
b. Apr. 13, 1835, Kingsburg, N. Y. ; d. Nov. 21, 1864, Minneiska,
Minn. ; grain merchant. Rep. ; widow res. Beaver, Minn.
Children :
Mary, b. Aug. 22, 1860; d. Mar. 26, 1875.
Anna Elizabeth, b. Oct. 6, 1861; d. Dec. 3, 1863.
Jav Reed, b. Dec. 9, 1864; m. Nov. 9, 1889. Annandale,
Minn., Bertha May Graff t, b. Feb. 8, 1868, Mexico,
Ind., dau. of John Grafft and Nancy McCalla; grain
merchant, Rep., F. & A. M., R. A.; she is mem. Zurah
Ladies; res. Minneapolis. Minn. Children:
Gerald Reed, b. May 26, 1891.
Charles Jay, b. Aug. 28, 1892.
309 Brayton Lester' Drake (brother to Ellen), b. Nov. 18, 1838,
Redfield, N. Y. ; m. Sept. 28, 1862, Beaver, Minn., Emily Caroline
Jeffords, b. Feb. 24, 1844, Westfield, N. Y., dau. of Lanson Jeffords
and Louisa Maria Corey. Contractor and builder ; Prohib. ; F. &
A. M. Res. Wabasha, Minn.
Children :
Clara E., b. Sept. 1, 1863 ; m. .
Nellie, b. Apr. 20, 1865 ; d. Sept. 5, 1867.
Freddie, b. Oct. 16, 1867; d. July 5, 1868.
Lester Ranney, b. June 26, 1869 ; m. .
Harvey, b. Nov. 20, 1871 ; unm.
Reuben I., b. Oct. 16, 1874; m. .
Charles L., b. July 19, 1878 ; m. .
Elsie L., b. Nov. 23, 1882.
310 Margaret' Drake (sister to Ellen), b. Apr. 25, 1842, Red-
field, N. Y. ; m. Dec. 23, 1861, Elgin, Minn., William Buckingham,
b. Jan. 8, 1828, Hartland, Ct. ; in Cal. 5 years; since 1860 in Minn.
Merchant ; Rep. ; Cong. She is mem. R. N. A. Res. Beaver, Minn. |
Children :
Willis, b. Jan. 22, 1863; m. July 16, 1895, Milton, N. Dakota,
Ida Belle Holloway, b. Apr. 8, 1869, Lacom, 111., dau. of
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 343
Elijah Martin Holloway and Mary Ann Elinor McNolte.
Grain buyer; Eep. ; F. & A. M. Ees. Park Ki,ver, N.
Dakota. Children :
Tracy, b. July 2, 1897.
Margaret, b. Aug. 23, 1902.
Arthur Andrews, b. May 23, 1866; m. Apr. 9, 1888, Albert
Lea, Minn., Lilla Martin, b. June 30, 1862, Whitewater,
Wis., d. Jan. 7, 1900, Crookston, Minn., dau. of Walter
James Martin and Alice Alvira Rood; m. (2) 1903,
Agnes Cyr. Presby. ; D. 0. L. M. He is Supt. of grain
elevators; Eep.; Bapt.; K. of M.; A. 0. U. W.; K. of
Mac. of the World. Ees. Crookston, Minn. Children:
Charles, b. Dec. 17, 1888.
Alice, b. Jan. 27, 1891.
James, b. Dec. 19, 1892.
Jay, b. Mar. 15, 1896.
Lynn, b. Oct. 26, 1897.
Philip, b. Jan. 5, 1900.
Lilla, b. 1904.
Brayton, b. Aug. 9, 1868, Beaver, Minn. ; m. Oct. 27, 1897,
Isabella Maud Tucker, b. Jan. 14, 1871, Princeton, Wis. ;
d. Jan. 29, 1907, dau. of Eichmond Tucker and Cornelia
Bronson. Eep.; Postmaster; F. & A. M. Ees. Argyle,
Minn. Child:
Lois Isabella, b. Jan. 19, 1907.
Eoy, b. Oct, 8, 1873, unm. First Nat. Bank, Seattle, Wash-
ington.
311 Lester Eanney'^ Brooks (Jeanette^ Eanney, Willett^, Wil-
lett*, Willett% Thomas-, Thomas^), b. May 19, 1847, Eedfield, N.
Y.; m. Apr. 9, 1873, Elba, Minn.; d. Nov. 11, 1902, Minneapolis,
Minn. ; m. Josephine Bullen, b. May 12, 1850, Kenosha, Wis., dau.
of John Bullen and Henrietta Mygatt* Eep., F. A. M., 32°. A
man possessed of large wealth.
In the business world j\Ir. Brooks was a man of force and influ-
ence. Though most unpretentious in his daily life, he was a deep
student, and having travelled a great deal, he was a man with whom
it was a pleasure to come in contact.
In 1897-8 he served as president of the Chamber of Commerce,
and was one of the most efficient and conscientious executive officers
that that great trading organization ever had. In the past two
years he had been chairman of the construction committee of the
Chamber of Commerce, and in that capacity had much to do with
344 MIDDLETOWN UPPEK HOUSES
the erection of the fine new building which that body lias just taken
possession of.
From early associations Mr. Brooks has shown a decided taste
for the banking business, and was a strong man in financial circles,
being a director of the Northwestern National Bank of Minneapo-
lis, and of the Second National of Winona. He had given the
money question a good deal of study, and was well informed upon
all matters pertaining to it. Mr. Brooks was an enthusiastic
yachtsman, and had served as commodore of the Minnetonka Yacht
Club. Widow res. Minneapolis. Child:
Philip Eanney, b. Oct. 39, 1875, Winona, Minn. ; m. Feb. IS,
1907, Chicago, 111., Caroline Lehman Sewall, b. Jan. 12,
1884, Stillwater, Minn., dau. of Edmund Devereaux
Sewall and Anna Lehman, who were married in Beth-
lehem, Pa. ; descendant of Henry Sewall, b. 1544, and
Mayor of Coventry, England, the 4th in descent having
been Chief Justice Samuel Sewall, of witchcraft trial,
Salem, IMass. Mr. Brooks is Sec. of Brooks-Scanlon
Lumber Co. Yale, 1898; Rep., 32° F. & A. M. Pes. Min-
neapolis, Minn.
[iMygatt-Webster Lineage — Deacon Joseph Mygatt came with
his wife Ann from England in 1633 in the ship Griffin in company
with his pastor, Eev. Thomas Hooker, Eev. Joseph Cotton, and
Rev. Mr. Stone. He rem. with the Hooker company from New-
towne, now Cambridge, Mass., to Hartford, in 1636. He d. 1680,
and his wife in 1686, their residence being on what is Buslinell
Park.
Joseph^ Mygatt m. in 1655, Sarah Whiting, dau. of William
Whiting from London, first treas. of the Connecticut Colony.
Joseph^ Mygatt m. Nov. 15, 1677, Sarah^ Webster, b. 1655, Upper
Houses, dau. of Robert- Webster (Gov. John^ Webster) and
Susanna- Treat (Richard^).
Zebulon* ]\Iygatt, b. Nov. 3, 1693 ; m. Dorothy Waters, b. Aug.
28, 1704.
Austin^ Mygatt m. Lament Blinn, b. 1735. He d. Feb. 23, 1776,
in the camp of the Continental Armv on Bunker Hill.
Sylvester*' Mygatt, b. Sept. 9, 1774; m. Aug. 29, 1800, Abi Booth,
dau.' of Elisha Booth of Berlin, Conn. They d. in Kenosha, Wis.
Henrietta^ Mvgatt, b. Sept. 7, 1806, Clinton, N. Y. ; m. Sept. 28,
1826, John Bullen, Jr., of Oswego, N. Y. who foimded KenoAa.
Wis. In 1834 he was deputed by a company of Oswegans to seek
out a new home for them in the new country, then coming into
notice, west of Lake Michigan. Hiring an Indian guide in Chicago.
in June, 1834, the two patched their tent on the spot overlooking
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 345
their harbor. He established his pre-emption claim and Kenosha
is known for its beauty of situation.
Josephine' Bullen/b. May 13, 1850, Kenosha, m. Apr. 9, 1873,
Elba Minn, Lester Eanney Brooks.]
312 Dwight Frederick^ Brooks, M. D. (brother to Lester Ean-
ney), b. June 10, 1849, Eedfield, N. Y,; m. Sept. 22, 1875, Winona,
Minn., Anna Genevieve Keyes, b. Manchester, Mich., dau. of John
Keyes and Angelina Pease. Grad. M. D., Univ. of Michigan.
Pres. Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Co. ; Eep. ; F. & A. M. Ees. " Mer-
riam Park," St. Paul, Minn.
Children :
Harry Keyes, b. Sept. 4, 1876, Minneiska, Minn. ; rem. with
parents, 1887, to " Merriam Park," St. Paul, Minn.
Grad. 1896, St. Paul High School; 1896-7 student Univ.
of Minnesota and interested in athletics; Phi Kappa
Psi; assisted his father two years in lumber business;
rem., 1901, to Scanlon, Minn., as Asst.-Sec. of Brooks-
Scanlon Lumber Co. ; unm. ; Cong. Ees. Scanlon, Minn.
Sheldon Dwight, b. Mar. 31, 1878, Minneiska, Minn., grad.
1897, St. Paul High School; student, 1897-8, Univ. of
Minnesota; Phi Kappa Psi; assisted father four years
in lumber business; rem. 1902, to Scanlon, Minn., hav-
ing charge of the railroad and logging operations of
Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Co.; F. & A. M. ; unm. Ees.
Scanlon, Minn.
Edward, b. Aug. 8, 1888, " Merriam Park," St. Paul, Minn.,
attended high school but left on acct. of health and
travelled extensively 1905-6. Cong. Assisting father.
313 Anson Strong^ Brooks (brother to Lester Eanney), 1). Sept.
6, 1852, Eedfield, N. Y. ; m. July 24, 1876, McGregor, la., Georgie
Andros, b. Sept. 28, 1858, Garneville, la., dau. of Eichard Salter
Storrs Andros and Maria Worthing. Came to Minnesota in 1856.
Worked as telegraph operator '68 to '74. Member of firm of Brooks
Brothers from 1873 to present time. Have lived in Minneapolis
since 1897. Ees. Minneapolis, Miiin.
Children :
Paul Andros, b. Sept. 16, 1881 ; grad. 1906, Yale Law School,
unm. Ees. Minneapolis, Minn.
Stanley, b. May 11, 1886; student Yale Shef. Sci. School;
d. Oct. 12, 1907.
346 MIDDLETOAVN UPPER HOUSES
316 Sarah Shepherd^ Ranney (Reuben^, Jonathan'^, George*,
George^ Thomas-, Thomas^), b. July 28, 1825, Granville, Mass.;
m. July 7, 1847, Granville, Mass., J ere Austin Scott, b. Apr. 13,
1806, Ridgefield, Conn. Horticulturist; Rep.; Cong. ch. Res.
Ridgefield, Conn., to 1883; Maumee, Ohio, to 1859; Toledo, 0.,
to 1867 ; Elizabeth, K. J., 1868 ; Ann Arbor, Mich., to death, July
25, 1892. She was mem. Cong. ch. and died Apr. 2, 1883, Ann
Arbor, Mich.
Children :
559 Austin, b. Aug. 10, 1848.
Evart Henry, b. Aug. 2, 1850.
Annie Elizabeth, b. Feb. 13, 1855 ; d. Nov. 29, 1866.
560 Mary Eliza Horton, b. May 3, 1863; m. Dr. C. E. Davis.
Ranney Converse, b. Nov. 30, 1867.
317 Timothy Pickering" Ranney (brother to Sarah Shepherd),
b. Aug. 2, 1818, East Granville, Mass. ; m. Apr. 4, 1860, Newark,
N. J., Anna Pope, dau. of Samuel Hayes Pennington, M. D., LL.
D. and Anna June McClellan Pope. Counsellor-at-law, 1851-1870,
Newark; 1870-1874, Elizabeth, N. J.; d. Apr. 24, 1874. Widow
Presby. ; mem. Col. Dames of N. J. ; N. J. Hist. Soc. Res. N. York
City.
Children :
Sarah Pennington, b. Feb. 23, 1861, unm.
Pennington, b. May 7, 1862, grad. 1882, Princeton Uni.; In-
structor in Physics, Rutgers Col.; d. July 18, 1897,
Colorado Springs, Col.
Joseph Pope, b. Feb. 20, 1865, unm.; grad. 1886, Princeton
Uni., 1889, M. A.; with R. R. Eng. firm to 1891; Sec-
Treas. 1891-1899 of Caledonia Mining and Mfg. Co.;
adm. 1896 to Pennsylvania Bar; since 1899 Sec-Treas.
of Tidewater Bldg. Co., No. 25 W. 26th St., N. Y. City.
Anna Elizabeth, b. June 10, 1868, unm.
317a Lucretia^ Rannev (Samuel HalP, George^, George*.
George^ Thomas', Thomas^), b. June 17, 1796, Ashfield, Mass.;
m (1) 1816, Lemuel Sears, b. , d. May 28, 1819; m. (2)
1820, Col. Nehemiah Hathaway, b. , d. 1844, Grand Rapids,
Mich. She d. May 17, 1879, Schoolcraft, Mich.
Children by 1st marriage:
Lemuel Sears, b. Aug., 1817; d. June, 1830.
Children hy 2d marriage:
Caroline, b. Nov. 11, 1821; d. Aug. 21, 1850; m. June 1,
1840, Clark B. Alber of Grand Haven, Mich.
'SIRS. Eliza Susan (Ranney) Swensox
(See page 477)
William Ranney and Wife
(See page 347)
DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS EANNEY 347
Mary Stewart, b. July 30, 1823 ; d. May 21, 1804 ; m. Feb.
12, 1845, Dr. M. Freeman.
Charles William, b. Apr. 12, 1825; d. Feb. 20, 1891; m. Nov.
28, 1846, Mary Tracy, b. 1825, Lima, 0. Son is Sec.
of Grand Eapids Board of Trade.
Emily Agnes, b. June 16, 1827, Ashfield, Mass. ; m. Mar. 25,
1848, James D. Lyon, b. Jan. 15, 1825. "Widow res.
Grand Eapids.
318 William'^ Eanney (Samuel Hall^, George^ George*, George^,
ThomasS Thomas^), b. Oct. 23, 1805, Ashfield, Mass.; m. (1)
1828, Ashfield, Eliza Ann Smith, b. ; d. April, 1833;
m. (2) Oct., 1836, Canandaigua, N. Y., Ann Ostrander McCarty,
b. Mar. 17, 1807, Phelps, N. Y., dau. of William Ann Eoxy Os-
trander and widow of McCarty, who d. Aug. 24, 1892,
Osawatomie, Ivan. He d. Apr. 8, 1888, Osawatomie. A son has
contributed the following:
" William Eanney learned to be an edge-tool maker, then built
and managed a saw mill. During winters he drove to Boston, 110
miles, with produce, using the six-horse wagon of that day, and
consuming two weeks in making a round trip.
" In those days, it was the custom for men to go throughout the
country and buy from the farmers their surplus live-stock. They
would gather up cattle, sheep and hogs in large droves, drive them
to some of the large coast markets, and sell them for slaughter, or
to the farmers throughout the country for fattening purposes. In
this business, he was engaged for some time. Brighton Market,
which was situated four miles out of Boston, was the market used
by all the New England country. These Brighton drovers bought
their stock from all the New England states, and sometimes went
as far west as the state of Ohio; when they had bought up and
gathered together the required number they drove them across
the country to Brighton Market. One of these trips took him into
the Genesee Valley country of the state of New York, where he
bought from the settlers of that then comparatively new country
1400 head of hogs, which he drove on down, crossing the Hudson
Eiver at Albany, and from there on to Brighton Market, to be
disp«)sed of as before stated. This took place in about the year
of 1835. On this trip, he had ample opportunity to take a careful
view of the Genesee Valley, and he was so very favorably imp 
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