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Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive 
 in 2010 witii funding from 
 Tine Library of Congress 
 
 Iittp://www.arcliive.org/details/centennialcommem01fair 
 
1 779-1 879. 
 
 CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION 
 
 BURNING OF FAIRFIELD, 
 
 CONNECTICUT, 
 
 BRITISH TROOPS UNDER GOVERNOR TRYON, 
 
 JULY 8th, 1779. 
 
 NEW TOPvK : 
 
 A. S. BARNES & CO., PUBLISHERS AND BOOKSELLERS, 
 
 III AND 113 William Street. 
 
 18 79. 
 
 V> .\'. 
 
<c- 
 
 y / y 
 
OFFICERS 
 
 Rev, SAMUEL OSGOOD, D.D., LL.D., 
 SAMUEL MOREHOUSE, 
 WM. A. BEERS, 
 
 President. 
 
 Treasurer. 
 Secretary. 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENTS: 
 
 FREDERICK BRONSON, 
 MORRIS W. LYON. 
 HENRY J. BEERS. 
 SAMUEL GLOV^ER. 
 HENRY W. CURTISS. 
 A. W. SANFORD. 
 EDMUND HOBART 
 ISAAC JENNINGS. 
 BURR BARTRAM. 
 JAMES A. COLE. 
 GEORGE A. PHELPS. 
 Hon. p. T. BARNUM. 
 Hon. S. p. BEARDSLEY. 
 PASCHAL SHEFFIELD. 
 FRANCIS D. PERRY. 
 JULIUS PIKE. 
 STEPHEN MOREHOUSE. 
 EPHRAIM H. BURR. 
 MOSES G. BETTS. 
 CHAS. B. WAKELEY. 
 J. M. MOREHOUSE. 
 LEWIS BURR. 
 ALANSON ALLEN. 
 ZALMON B. BRADLEY. 
 HENRY BRADLEY. 
 ANSON BIBBINS. ■ 
 
 FREDERICK STURGES. 
 O. W. JONES. 
 HENRY ROWLAND. 
 THEODORE SALTUS. 
 Rev. p. S. McCABE. 
 H. W. POPE. 
 CHARLES CARTER. 
 DAVID TRUBEE. 
 D. M. REDFIELD, 
 HENRY L. MILLS. 
 JAMES R SMITH. 
 FREDERICK MARQUAND. 
 EDWIN SHERWOOD. 
 JONATHAN GODFREY. 
 GEORGE BULKLEY. 
 ANDREW P. WAKEMAN. 
 BURR OSBORN. 
 DAVID BEERS. 
 ALBERT TURNEY. 
 WILLIAM BURR. 
 J. G. MOREHOUSE. 
 BENJ. PENFIELD. 
 C. H. FRENCH. 
 OLIVER BURR. 
 T. M. BANKS. 
 CHAS. ROCKWELL. 
 
 JULIAN W. CURTISS. 
 HARRY MILLS. 
 HERBERT KNAPP. 
 H. N. KNAPP. 
 
 MARSHALS: 
 
 WM. B. GLOVER. 
 WALTER JENNINGS. 
 EDWARD TAFT. 
 HENRY J. BEERS, Jr. 
 
COMMITTEES, 
 
 EXECUTIVE : 
 
 O. B. JENNINGS. FREDERICK BRONSON. FRANCIS BULKLEY. 
 
 SAMUEL MOREHOUSE. AUGUSTUS JENNINGS. JOHN H. GLOVER. 
 
 HENRY C. STURGES. CHAS. H. PHELPS. DAVID TRUBEE. 
 
 SAMUEL ROWLAND, BARLOW HILL. MORRIS W. LYON. 
 
 FINANCE: 
 
 SAMUEL MOREHOUSE. BARLOW HILL. SAMUEL OSGOOD. 
 
 AUGUSTUS JENNINGS. 
 
 MUSIC-dNSTRUMENTAL :) 
 
 WM. A. BEERS. 
 
 DAVID TRUBEE. 
 
 MUSIC-(VOCAL:) 
 
 JOHN H. WOOD. ANDREW WAKEMAN 
 
 DECORATION : 
 
 HENRY C. STURGES. FREDERICK BRONSON. CHARLES H. PHELPS. 
 
 O. B.JENNINGS. 
 
 ISAAC JENNINGS. 
 
 ENTERTAINMENT: 
 
 FRANCIS BULKLEY. 
 DAVID TRUBEE. 
 
 M. W. LYON. 
 C. H. PHELPS. 
 
COMMITTEES 
 
 PLATFORM, SEATS AND TABLES. 
 
 O. B. JENNINGS. 
 ISAAC JENNINGS. 
 
 SAMUEL MOREHOUSE. 
 AUGUSTUS JENNINGS. 
 
 SAMUEL ROWLAND 
 
 JAMES S. COLE. 
 
 CARRIAGES. 
 
 SAMUEL ROWLAND. 
 
 PRINTING, ADVERTISING AND INVITATIONS. 
 
 WM. A. BEERS, (Ex-officio.) 
 
 SAMUEL OSGOOD. 
 JAMES K. LOMBARD. 
 
 PUBLICATION 
 
 SAMUEL MOREHOUSE. 
 WILLIAM A. BEERS. 
 
 LADIES COMMITTEE 
 
 Mrs. HUNTINGTON, 
 
 Mrs. H. T. CURTISS. 
 Mrs. CHAS. PHELPS. 
 Mrs. FRED'K BRONSON. 
 Mrs. S. MOREHOUSE. 
 Mrs. SAM'L GLOVER. 
 Miss SUSAN HOBART. 
 Miss DORA BULKLEY. 
 
 Mrs. a. V. S. SCHENCK. 
 Mrs. GEORGE BULKLEY. 
 Mrs. THEO. TURNEY. 
 Mrs. T. BROOKE. 
 Mrs. burr PERRY. 
 Miss ABBY NICHOLLS. 
 Miss HANNAH HOBART. 
 Miss R. ROWLAND. 
 
 President. 
 
 Mrs.SAM'L OSGOOD 
 Mrs. W. a. BEERS. 
 Mrs. J. K. LOMBARD 
 Mrs. a. B. JENNINGS. 
 Mrs. R. a. CURTISS. 
 Mrs. henry L. MILLS. 
 Mrs. BENJ. BETTS. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 The mind of our time is becoming decidedly his- 
 torical, and the idea is gaining ground that in the 
 study of man, as of nature, the knowledge of facts 
 is the best way to ascertain principles and to order 
 conduct. We Americans are entering generously 
 into this movement. With us, in our literary career, 
 history has come in advance of poetry, and, of late, 
 the whole nation has formed itself into a history 
 class, and for three years our people have been read- 
 ing together their Centennial records, and are to keep 
 it up for four years to come, until the festival of 
 peace in 1883. As a nation we celebrated the great 
 Centennial of 1876, and each town has been earnest 
 to add its own testimony to whatever has been im- 
 portant in its own annals. The people of the old 
 Town of Fairfield joined with the 'whole country in 
 that jubilee, and in due time, Fairfield makes this 
 unpretending offering of its own local record to the 
 common treasury of patriotism. 
 
 We know very well that our most conspicuous date 
 is not of a jubilant character, and that it notes not a 
 victory, but a disaster. We therefore called the occa- 
 sion not a celebration but a commemoration, and we 
 determined to have a quiet, thoughtful, neighborly, 
 and patriotic reunion, without noise and revelry, with 
 due remembrance, in prose and poetry, of the great 
 
calamity of a hundred years ago, with wholesome 
 lessons from able speakers upon the duties and hopes 
 of good citizens, with sufficient hospitality to refresh 
 and cheer our guests in the mid-day interval, and with 
 patriotic and devout music to stir and uplift the assem- 
 bly. We mean to be wholly honest with ourselves 
 and our friends, and to let the occasion speak for 
 itself without any sham, clap-trap or pretension. 
 The task of preparation was divided between effi- 
 cient committees, and its own duty was assigned to 
 each proper quarter. The result more than gratified 
 our anticipations. The commemoration appears to 
 have been pleasing, impressive, instructive and whole- 
 some, without a single incident to mar its harmony, 
 without the least sign of disorder, with the hearty 
 concurrence of all classes of our residents, and a 
 large attendance of visitors, and with a certain ear- 
 nest attention and genial fellowship, that did honor 
 alike to hosts and guests, and will be gratefully asso- 
 ciated with the future of the town and neighborhood. 
 It is due to the principal speakers, especially to the 
 author of the historical address, to have it understood 
 that Fairfield has other records than those of disaster 
 and that since the destruction of its chief buildings, 
 its residents have not only been able to restore its 
 beauty, but in conspicuous cases, as the published 
 addresses testify, they have written their names upon 
 the culture and history of the nation. It is perhaps 
 well enoueh known what eminence the Fairfield 
 clergy have won, but the records of the bench and 
 
9 
 
 bar have been far less known. It is interesting to read 
 in the Rev. Dr. Beardsley's Life and Times of Wil- 
 liam Samuel Johnson, that on the 9th of January, 
 1812, while the Supreme Court was sitting in Fair- 
 field, Dr. Johnson walked in and took a seat at the 
 bar. '' The presence " says a cotemporary, '' of this 
 venerable and celebrated counsellor., who has often 
 been styled the father of the bar in Connecticut, 
 and who has probably not appeared in a court of 
 justice for twenty-seven years, attracted the attention 
 of all who were present." Shortly after the adjourn- 
 ment, the legal men who were there appointed a 
 committee to express their respect for him in his 
 private and his public character, and Dr. Johnson 
 made a handsome reply. The names of Samuel B. 
 Sherwood, Roger M. Sherman, Matthew B. Whittle- 
 sey and James Gould appear on this Committee, and 
 show how strong a hold Fairfield had upon the legal 
 mind of that day. 
 
 The Decoration Committee carried out their pur- 
 pose of cheering and enlarging the fellowship of the 
 occasion by displaying the flags of the great nations 
 of the world, especially remembering France, our 
 ally of old, and England, once our enemy, but now 
 our friend, and as such invited to our assembly, alike 
 by our note to her Minister and by placing her flag 
 near our own, an act which mingled courtesy to the 
 mother country, with a quiet and dignified intimation 
 that America, once so feeble, is now great enough to 
 honor the great of the earth by her hospitable regard. 
 
lO 
 
 The Committee of Publication send this record of 
 the commemoration forth to the people of Fairfield, 
 in the hope that it is but the beginning of the good 
 work of town enterprise and public spirit. Perhaps 
 in 1889, when this town will have completed its 
 quarter of a thousand years, and the nation will hold 
 the Centennial of its established Constitution and 
 the inauguration of Washington, its first President, 
 the commemoration may be remembered in a more 
 grand and festive celebration. Perhaps after a cen- 
 tury, in 1979, copies of this pamphlet will be read by 
 Fairfield people, who can recall what their grand- 
 fathers said to them about the day, July 8th, 1879, 
 that we now commemorate. 
 
 Samuel Osgood, 
 James K. Lombard, 
 Samuel Morehouse, 
 William A. Beers, 
 
 Committee of Publication. 
 
ORDER OF EXERCISES. 
 
 I. MORNING. 
 
 Reception of the Governor and Staff at the Depot. 
 
 _;;^SSEMBLT ON THE jjrREEN, 11 O'CLOCK p-- J^- 
 
 Prayer. 
 
 During which the Old Flag of thirteen stars will be at half-mast, in token of 
 sympathy with our ancestors. 
 
 Singing of Commemoration Hymn. 
 
 Raising of the Old Flag, and display of the colors of England and America, 
 ill token of reconciliation and good will. 
 
 National Airs of both Countries, 
 
 By the Band. 
 
 Historical Address, . . By Rev. E. E. Rankin, D. D. 
 
 Singing, ...... By United Choirs. 
 
 Original Poem, .... Rev. James K. Lombard, 
 
 II. NOON. 
 
 Intermission. 
 
 During which there will be a Concert by Band and Luncheon on the Green. 
 
 Ill, AFTERNOON. 
 
 Singing, .... Whittier's Centennial Hymn. 
 Address, . . By Rev. Samuel Osgood, D. D., L.L. D. 
 
 Singing, By The United Choirs. 
 
 Music, By the Band. 
 
 Addresses, ....... By Guests. 
 
 Music, . By the Band. 
 
 Escorting the Governor to the Depot. 
 
I-MORNING. 
 
 The President, immediately upon the arrival of the 
 procession with the Governor and the escort at the 
 Green, called the assembly to order in these words : 
 
 " We meet, fellow citizens and friends, here to-day 
 under a cloudy and not wholly promising sky, and 
 our pleasant town is threatened by water, as she was 
 threatened a century ago by fire. But now, as always, 
 our New England pluck is equal to the hour. 
 Whether wet or dry, we are here in the spirit of our 
 stout old fathers and mothers, and the Yankee heart 
 knows not only how to rise, like the Phenix, from its 
 ashes, but like the dove from the deluge. It looks 
 as if we might be compelled to hold our exercises in 
 the church, the old Church of the Prime Ancient 
 Parish, of which the orator is pastor. In that case, 
 and in any event, it is well for us, here, in presence 
 of our Chief Magistrate and under God's heaven, to 
 make our position sure by saluting the good old flag 
 of the Union, with loyal hearts and to the music of 
 the Star Spangled Banner." 
 
 After the band had played that National air, the 
 President announced that the sky promised better 
 weather, and that the assembly would continue to 
 keep their places in the open air. " First of all, we 
 give glory to our God and the God of our fathers, 
 
14 
 
 and ask His blessing upon ourselves and our children.' 
 The Rev. B. G. Relyea, of Green's Farm, formerly the 
 West Parish of Fairfield, offered the prayer of com 
 memoration, and the order of the day was carried out. 
 
 COMMEMORATION HYMN. 
 fairfield, conn., 
 
 1779- July, 8th, 1879. 
 
 " Thou shalt bless the Lord, thy God, for the good land, which He hath 
 given thee." — Deut. 8-io. 
 
 Father, whose tender care, 
 All we, Thy children, share, 
 
 Bless Thou our town. 
 Teach us to walk aright. 
 Fill our souls with Thy light, 
 And aid us by Thy might, 
 
 Wrong to tread down. 
 
 Ever Thy mercies reign, 
 Ever through joy and pain 
 
 Feel we Thy hand. 
 That led through flame and strife, 
 Through years with anguish rife. 
 Up from death into life 
 
 Our noble land. 
 
 Breathe forth Thy blessing, Lord ! 
 Fix in each heart Thy word. 
 
 Truth undefiled. 
 O'er the joined flags above 
 May Thine own Spirit move 
 Binding with lasting love 
 
 Mother and child. 
 
 Tune— Italian Hymn. 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS, 
 
 by Rev. Edward E. Rankin, D. D. 
 
 In the summer of 1637, the coming of EngHsh 
 soldiers into this region became the occasion for 
 founding this town in the wilderness. A hundred 
 and forty-two years later, and just a century ago, 
 another army under the same flag made it to pass 
 through the ordeal of fire. 
 
 In commemorating the latter event we are remind- 
 ed of the former and it is fitting to give some attention 
 to the years in which Fairfield was forming its charac- 
 ter and history before its conflagration. 
 
 The savage Pequot tribe had filled the hearts of 
 many in the colonies with dismay and dread. In the 
 hostile measures pursued for its destruction some of 
 the chief mamstrates of Connecticut were commission- 
 ed to accompany the troops sent out to conquer the 
 subtle foe. Their counsel it was thought would assist 
 in directinor the valor of the soldiers and brine the 
 protracted conflict to a close. 
 
 Thus it came to pass that when Capt. Mason push- 
 ed his way to this hitherto unexplored portion of the 
 colony, Roger Ludlow, its deputy Governor, who had 
 held the same office in Massachusetts and was now 
 living in Windsor accompanied the troops. 
 
 The battle, fought two miles from the place we now 
 occupy, brought an end to the merciless war. 
 
i6 
 
 After silence had settled over Sasco Swamp, amid 
 whose tangled thickets most of the Indian warriors had 
 been slain, the opportunity was used to explore the 
 country near to the scene of battle. This result- 
 ed in the return of Mr. Ludlow with eisfht or ten 
 families from Windsor, to make here their permanent 
 abode. 
 
 They were soon joined by others from Watertown 
 and Concord in Massachusetts, and thus within a few 
 years the Indian settlement of Un-quo-wa became the 
 English town of Fairfield. 
 
 A purchase of the territory lying north of the sound 
 and reaching seven miles along the coast was fairly 
 made by Ludlow. Some remaining claim of the 
 friendly tribe of natives, who were in no way connect- 
 ed with the hostile Pequots, was in 1670 extinguished 
 in a bargain made by the town through the agency of 
 one of its people, Mr. Jehu Burr. 
 
 The town records, although by no means complete, 
 run through many years, during which the civil autho- 
 rity controlled ecclesiastical affairs, and all the town 
 meetings were held in the house where Divine service 
 was performed. From the measures taken at these 
 meetings we can form some idea of the difficulties by 
 which these early inhabitants were surrounded. They 
 offered a bounty of twenty shillings for every wolf 
 killed in the town and one shilling for every fox. 
 They passed stringent laws to punish vagrancy, they 
 voted upon the acceptability of every applicant for 
 residence within their precincts. Some they refused 
 
17 
 
 to receive, some who were already here and guilty of 
 misconduct they ordered to depart. The magistrate, 
 minister and teacher were compensated for their 
 services by the grant or sale of common lands and a 
 new distribution of these public lands was made from 
 time to time in proportion to the possession already 
 obtained and the number of children in the house- 
 hold. The calls for untiring diligence were constant 
 and pressing. Those long and narrow lots reaching 
 back for miles must needs be brouorht under cultivation 
 by clearing, stubbing, ditching and fencing before they 
 could be used for meadow, pasture or arable land. 
 There were roads to lay out, bridges to build, water 
 courses to be turned into the mill dam, barns, dwell- 
 ings, school houses and churches to be erected and 
 much needful furniture to be made. Shingles had to 
 be planed and nails wrought by handiwork. All this 
 and much more of similar labor called for the exertion 
 both of brain and muscle in those primitive days of 
 Fairfield's industry and thrift. Nor were the women 
 idle. The flocks, largely depended on for family sup- 
 plies came under their care. From the clipping of 
 the wool to its transfer as a finished garment upon 
 the persons of their husbands, their children or them- 
 selves, womens' fingers were kept busy, while in the 
 washing, carding, spinning, weaving, dyeing, cutting 
 and the sewing, dames and damsels of those days be- 
 came adepts. The lard and candles, the soap and sul- 
 phur matches, the butter, cheese and bread all were 
 home made. Have I not said enough to show you that 
 
both on the farm and within the dwelHng there were 
 all the elements needful for self reliance and strength ? 
 In the absence of a piano, the music of the loom and 
 spinning wheel doubtless lulled many a Fairfield baby 
 to sleep. From these beginnings of agriculture and 
 in the foundation arts of the mason, carpenter, smith 
 and miller, the town made onward progress until it 
 became a port of entry for foreign goods, while the 
 destruction of no less than forty-eight shops and 
 stores in 1779 makes clear the increase of its com- 
 merce and manufacturers. 
 
 During all these early years there was peace within 
 its borders, only once interrupted by an early speck 
 of threatened war. In 1653 our neighbors of the 
 Manhadoes were suspected of efforts to incite the 
 Indians to massacre the white inhabitants of these 
 New England settlements. The authorities of the 
 colonies at first appeared to favor the suggestion of 
 a war against the Dutch, but soon wisely abandoned 
 the project. This change of policy did not suit the 
 views of our chief townsman, Mr. Ludlow. He urg- 
 ed the people of Fairfield and some dwelling in Stam- 
 ford, to prepare for such a war, on their own account, 
 and he was made General of a small army organized 
 here. The project was brought to naught by colonial 
 authority, and on account of this discomfiture Mr. 
 Ludlow took his departure from us and made a new 
 home in Virofinia. Thus Connecticut and Fairfield 
 alike were losers of an honest and capable man, who 
 had held high offices and performed much useful 
 
19 
 
 work. His chief faults appear to have been an impe- 
 rious temper and undue confidence in his own opinion. 
 His home here cannot be definitely ascertained, but 
 is supposed to have been not far from the present 
 residence of Mrs. Benson. 
 
 In connection with this mention of a small army, 
 home-made as were the most of our productions, I 
 will speak of another military spectacle in our town 
 that appeared about ninety years later. In 1768, a 
 portion of his majesty's 48th Highlanders were quar- 
 tered here. The town meeting took pity upon our 
 Gaelic guests whose short breeks left their knees un- 
 coverd to the biting cold, and with other supplies raised 
 by tax, they voted ^23 to furnish wood for the High- 
 land troops. 
 
 This passing notice of military topics would not be 
 complete unless allusion were made to that institution 
 of every Connecticut town the Trayne band with its 
 drillings six days every year, begun at eight o'clock 
 in the morning, often with the solemnity of prayer. 
 
 Into a minute description of other institutions of 
 those early years I cannot enter. 
 
 We learn from the provisions made in town meet- 
 ings for the support of the teacher that schools were 
 soon established. 
 
 The Prime Ecclesiastical Society was co-existant 
 with the town and the only other religious organiza- 
 tion near the centre was that of the Church of Ene- 
 land, which had its distinct beginning here in 1724. 
 In explanation of the statements already made of the 
 
20 
 
 amount of business carried on, we must remember 
 that Fairfield village was the centre of a large and 
 growing farming community. A few farms nearly 
 connected with it, were all that then existed of 
 Mill River, now known as the flourishing borough of 
 Southport. As for our enterprising neighbor on the 
 Pequonnock, her few scattered houses as yet had given 
 no presage of the business capacities latent within 
 her, of the vast factories that have since supplied the 
 world with their destructive and useful productions, 
 nor of the gorgeous spectacles that go forth thence 
 to astonish and delight the nations. To show how 
 early the fruitfulness of Bridgeport soil was under- 
 stood-, I quote from the Fairfield town records of 
 May, 7, 1719 the following item : "The town grants 
 unto the Rev. Mr. Cooke of Stratford the whole 
 right in the herbage of Golden Hill, both meadow 
 and upland, which grant to continue during the town's 
 pleasure." 
 
 In the grand list of 1775, where one-hundred and 
 sixty-nine towns are enumerated, Fairfield stands 
 seventh in taxable wealth. Her political and social 
 powers were also great. Her representatives carried 
 the point in the General court, of having twelve 
 jurors instead of six in judicial trials. Mr. Ludlow 
 had been the first man to codify the laws of the col- 
 ony, and the general intelligence and integrity prevail- 
 ing in the town made it a place of attraction to 
 virtuous and cultivated people. 
 
 As wealth increased, society became more polished. 
 
21 
 
 The mild system of New England slavery lightened 
 some of the burdens of the household. The children 
 of these servants were baptized and religiously educa- 
 ted, and among the few who died by the bayonets of 
 British soldiers in '79, one was a negro servant. 
 
 I beg to present to you a few names then familiar 
 in the households of Fairfield, the greater part of 
 which I have found upon the marriage records of 
 Rev. Mr. Eliot. 
 
 They are Toney, Tego, Callico, York, Priamus, 
 Primus, Titus and Prince, married respectively to 
 Dorcas, Sue, Dinah, Kate, Luce Jute, Nance and 
 Phillis. In addition to these may be mentioned 
 Marrimo, Parrot, Pompy, Sambo, Boston, Lyd, 
 Floro, Tama, Dolphin and Dran. 
 
 After these servants of earthly masters I will next 
 name the ministers who officiated in the Fairfield 
 churches in 1779. The prime ancient society had 
 for its pastor Andrew Eliot, son of Andrew Eliot, D. 
 D., of Boston, who was invited here from a steward- 
 ship at Harvard, Captain Abel having gone on horse- 
 back to Boston to convey to him a call. He was 
 ordained June 22d, 1774, and after a useful ministry 
 of more than thirty-one years, fell asleep among his 
 people, September 26th, 1705. 
 
 During the war he was a zealous advocate of In- 
 dependence and his account of the scenes of the 7th 
 and 8th of July is probably the most graphic narrative 
 that has come down to us of the events we commemo- 
 rate to-day. Mr. Eliot was a scholar of distinguished 
 
22 
 
 ability, and under his instruction the late Prof. Benj. 
 Silliman was prepared to enter Yale College at a very 
 early age. 
 
 The Rev. John Sayre was minister of the Episcopal 
 church, having previously served a Parish in Newburg. 
 He was a decided loyalist and in the great excitement 
 of those times he had been for a season banished 
 from his home and parish. But many of the most 
 respectable of the towns-people, both within and out- 
 side of his church, although they had no sympathy 
 with his political opinions, esteeming him as a Godly 
 and useful minister, procured his recall. On the 7th 
 of July, after the firing had begun and the flames had 
 been kindled, Mr. Sayre appeared among the people 
 with the British General's address, and by this action 
 aroused great indignation against himself. 
 
 He entreated from Gen. Tryon the exemption of 
 the town from the flames. Failing in this, he begged 
 that a few houses including his own and that of Mr. 
 Eliot, might be spared. For these he obtained a 
 written protection, but the paper proved useless, and 
 both of these ministers were involved with the most 
 of their townsmen in the total loss of their property. 
 Mr. Sayre, with his wife and eight young children, 
 stripped of every earthly possession, excepting the 
 clothes they were wearing, found refuge on board the 
 British fleet, and after serving a church in Nova Sco- 
 tia, he closed his earthly ministry. A similar calam- 
 ity of fire was suffered by Rev. Hezekiah Ripley, the 
 able and excellent pastor of the Green's Farm's 
 
23 
 
 church. Dr. Ripley served for a time as chaplain in 
 the Continental army, and had a long and honored 
 pastorate at Green's Farms. 
 
 The most prominent physician here in those years 
 was Dr. Francis Forgue. He had married the charm- 
 ing widow of Mr. Dennie, and lived in the home left 
 to her by her first husband, near the site of Mrs. John 
 Sanford's house. As a county seat, Fairfield offered 
 an attractive home for the legal profession. Promi- 
 nent among our lawyers, was Judge Jonathan Sturges, 
 whose home was near the present junction of the 
 Railway and Mill Plain road. He was active in all 
 town affairs, and became one of the members of the 
 Congress of 1789, the first that greeted Washington 
 as president of the United States. Another eminent 
 lawyer was Gold Selleck Silliman, whose dwelling yet 
 stands on Holland Hill. He is better known to us 
 in a military capacity, having served in the battles of 
 Long Island, White Plains and Ridgefield. To him had 
 been assigned the command of the militia in this county, 
 and his skill as a General was so highly appreciated 
 that Sir Henry Clinton employed a small company of 
 tory soldiers to make him prisoner. They came, eight 
 in number, from a whale boat, with which they had 
 crossed from Long Island, leaving it in charge of the 
 ninth of their band, hid in the sedges of Black Rock. 
 Stealthily feeling their way up the steep hill at mid- 
 night they forced a passage into the dwelling and 
 secured the prize. Gen. Silliman was deacon in the 
 old Fairfield church and had in charge the vessels to 
 
24 
 
 be used on that Sabbath which had already begun at 
 the hour of sunset. With great presence of mind, 
 he cast one of his wife's garments over these utensils, 
 thus screening them from observation, and then, with 
 his son William, took his unwilling march to enter 
 upon a year's captivity. This was on the first night 
 of May, '79, and his enforced absence during the 
 coming July, caused the command to be devolved at 
 that season upon Col. Samuel Whiting, of Stratford, 
 who bravely fulfilled the duties thus imposed. 
 
 With Gen. Silliman's name is associated that of 
 Lieut. Col. Abraham Gold, the home of whose ances- 
 tors and descendants has belonged to the family more 
 than two hundred years. These two had fought in 
 the same fields of battle. The latest occasion of their 
 warlike companionship was at Ridgefield, in April, 
 1777, where Gen. Worster was mortally wounded and 
 Col. Gold was slain. His home was where the main 
 street turns northward toward Stratfield, Stratford 
 and New Haven, a part of the old King's highway 
 between New York and Boston, the lower road now 
 leading to Bridgeport not having been opened at that 
 time. 
 
 In the conflagration of the town, his widow, with 
 their chidren, lost their dwelling house which bounded 
 the limit of the fire in that direction. 
 
 On the corner below us, now occupied by the 
 beautiful lawn on which Mr. Henry Beer's house 
 stands, lived Capt. Samuel Smedley. When very 
 young he married Esther Rowland, his near neighbor, 
 
25 
 
 and early in the war, became an officer on the Con- 
 necticut armed vessel the Defense, of which he was 
 soon promoted to the chief command. Among the 
 valuable prizes he took were the Snowswift, the Grog, 
 the Anna and the Lydia. In consort with Capt, 
 Parker of the Cromwell, another Connecticut ship, 
 two armed British vessels were attacked, the Admiral 
 Keppel of 1 8 guns and the Cyrus of i6. It was a 
 time of partial disablement on the Defense, one of 
 Capt. Smedley's officers had died of small pox and 
 fifty of the crew having been exposed to the disease, 
 had been inocculated. Yet though suffering from 
 the fever attending this process, the men did noble 
 service. Both the English ships were captured and 
 the prizes including their cargoes sold, the one for 
 about ^20,000, and the other, to give exact figures, 
 for ^22,320 1 8s. and 8d. After the war was closed 
 Capt. Smedley received the appointment of Collector 
 of this port. 
 
 The Sheriff of the county in those days was Gen. 
 Elijah Abel whose house was the second one set o^ 
 fire. This he afterward rebuilt and it is occupied by 
 Mrs. Benson. Gen. Able was an active man in the 
 affairs of the county, the town, the militia and the 
 church. 
 
 Mr. Andrew Rowland filled during many years the 
 important office of Town Clerk, and his dwelling 
 which survived the fire, is now the house of Mr, 
 Benjamin Betts. 
 
 In the group of families bearing the familiar name 
 
26 
 
 of Burr, that of Mr. Thaddeus Burr and Eunice, his 
 wife, stands prominent. His dwelHng was on the 
 site of the house of Mr. O. W. Jones, and many 
 traditions have come down to us of the plenty, 
 elegance and hospitality which characterized that 
 home. Within it were welcomed friends driven out 
 of Boston at the time of its blockade. There, one 
 of the most noted beauties of that city, Dorothy, 
 daughter of Edmund Quincy, was, on the 28th of 
 August, 1779, married to John Hancock, President of 
 the Continental Congress. 
 
 Andrew Eliot, who records this marriage, places it 
 in its order next to that of Jack, negro servant of 
 David Barlow, and Mary, negro servant of Deacon 
 Hill. The nuptial tie, like the grip of death, clutches 
 mortals of every station. To Mr. Burr's dwelling 
 Gen. Tyron had given a protection, but this' did not 
 avail to save it and its valuable contents from des- 
 truction. 
 
 The affidavit of Mrs. Burr, an intelligent and re- 
 fined women, describing the scene of which she was 
 a witness, presents a forcible demonstration of the 
 wanton outrages committed by the invadors of our 
 soil. The same may be said also of the sworn state- 
 ments made by others who witnessed similar scenes in 
 their own dwellings. Of these I may mention the 
 names of Jane and Abigail Bulkley, Mary Beers, 
 Isabella Trubee, Ruana Roberson and Ann Nichols, 
 all of them wives of Fairfield men. All offered vain 
 entreaties to prevetit the destruction of the homes 
 over which they were watching. 
 
27 
 
 In considering the calamity that came upon this 
 people, we must not forget that down to the year 
 1765, they, with all their New England compatriots 
 had been thoroughly loyal to the English Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 The news of Clive's wonderful victory at Plassy in 
 1757, which laid the foundation of a British 
 Empire in India, had been hailed by them with glad 
 acclamation. They did not foresee that policy which 
 to help the fortunes of the East India company 
 would seek to force its stores of tea upon unwilling 
 America. 
 
 These colonists also bore much of the burden laid 
 upon them in the French and Indian wars, and when 
 Quebec was taken and the treaty with France in 1 763 
 secured the possession of Canada as British territory, 
 our own town, with all others in New England, 
 welcomed the splendid results of Chatham's states- 
 manship and Wolfe's heroic valor. 
 
 But the stamp act of a two years' later date turn- 
 ed back the current of this loyalty. The sanctions 
 of constitutional law wrung by our fathers from the 
 hands of an unwilling king at Runnymede, and the 
 principles that occasioned and sustained the Pilgrim 
 exodus were alike arrayed against the new stand 
 taken by the British ministry. Throughout our 
 whole land the controversy waxed stronger, until ten 
 years after its beginning it found vent in the bullets 
 of Lexington. 
 
 During these years men were brought face to face 
 
28 
 
 with the question which each must answer for him- 
 self. Fairfield answered it with almost entire unan- 
 imity, and in response to those Massachusetts 
 muskets of the 19th of April, i 775, fifty of her militia, 
 under Capt. David Dimon, were speedily on their 
 march toward Boston. 
 
 Connecticut has been fortunate in the choice of her 
 governors, and the chief magistrate of our common- 
 wealth who is with us to-day belongs to a company 
 of noble men, and is, we believe, worthy to be en- 
 rolled in such a companionship. We feel all the 
 more confident in trusting the administration of 
 Governor Andrews because he had Jonathan Trum- 
 bull as one of his predecessors. Brother Jonathan, 
 Washington's prudent adviser, to whose wisdom and 
 patriotism the chief of the nation gave clearest tes- 
 timony. Under the counsels of this man, holding 
 the highest of^ce in the State, Connecticut, from the 
 first, took an active and important part in the conduct 
 of the war. Gov. Trumbull, as contrasted with 
 Tryon, the Royal Governor of our neighboring 
 State of New York, reminds us of objects presented 
 by Jotham's ancient allegory. One was a cedar of 
 Lebanon, under whose shadow men came for shelter 
 and strength ; the other, the bramble, out of whose 
 thorny spines shot forth the flames that blasted and 
 consumed. 
 
 Some of the sons of Fairfield were early enlisted 
 among the Continental troops sent to the defense of 
 New York. They shared in the disaster of Long 
 
29 
 
 Island and White Plains. They had their represen- 
 tatives among the captives of the sugar house and 
 prison ship. On an exchange of prisoners some re- 
 turned suffering from small-pox, that scourge of the 
 army, and near the old powder house a commodious 
 barn was fitted up as a hospital for them. In our 
 town meeting, during the want occasioned by the 
 blockade of Boston, an effort to obtain food for the 
 suffering people resulted in the despatch of 750 
 bushels of grain for their relief. The thankful ac- 
 knowledgment of this timely gift may be read upon 
 our records, and it is one of the writings of which 
 none of our townsmen need to be ashamed. The im- 
 portant articles of association passed by Congress, 
 October 14th, 1774, met with hearty response among 
 us, and a large committee, consisting of some of our 
 most prominent citizens, was formed to make the 
 pledge effectual. It was designed to free our people 
 from dependence upon goods imported from Eng- 
 land, to encourage the practice of economy, alike in 
 sports, luxuries and mourning apparel, and to frus- 
 trate the efforts of any who might seek to weaken 
 the patriotic sentiment now rapidly advancing toward 
 the final conflict. 
 
 During these years, active measures were taken to 
 prevent surprise by sudden incursion upon our coasts. 
 Alarm signals were concerted and o-uards stationed 
 
 o o 
 
 at Stratfield, Compo, Frost Point, and McKenzie's 
 Point, to keep watch from sunset to sunrise. The 
 fort on Grover's Hill was strengthened and supplied 
 
30 
 
 with I2lb. cannon and ammunition for the use of its 
 garrison of 25 men. These were enough to act as 
 sentinels throughout during the day. They proved 
 afterward, though a Httle decreased in number, vic- 
 torious against all the force that could be sent against 
 them. 
 
 In May, 1779, an unavailing request was made to 
 the Governor and Council for an armed vessel to 
 guard our coasts during that approaching summer, 
 for even then there were portents of dread events to 
 come troubling the minds of our people. The last 
 action taken in town meeting, before the house of its 
 assembly was consumed, was the adoption of a reso- 
 lution designed to arrest the depreciation of paper 
 money. 
 
 I have spoken of Gov. Tryon. The story of our 
 disasters could not be told without the frequent men- 
 tion of his name. Among the distinguished visitors 
 whom Fairfield has entertained, this British Gover- 
 nor and Major-General stands pre-eminent. So fas- 
 cinated were our people with him during his brief 
 stay of less than thirty hours, that twelve days after 
 his departure a committee was appointed in town 
 meeting to raise a sum of money to be offered as a 
 reward to any person who should " captivate " and 
 take him. 
 
 Sir Wm. Tryon, Bart., makes his earliest appear- 
 ance in American History as Governor of the 
 Province of North Carolina. Assuming a vice royal 
 state, he built a palace in Newbern, and to sup- 
 
31 
 
 port the expenses attending his dignity oppressed 
 the people with heavy taxation. An insurrection 
 was caused by his petty tyrany, which he suppressed 
 with the bullets of his gruards. 
 
 On the 8th of July, 1771, he was transferred to 
 New York, and appointed to the same station in 
 that province, having his residence in its chief city. 
 Surrounded there by active and intelligent loyalists 
 he yielded credence to their expressed statements 
 that throuo-h the weakness of resources and the 
 jealousies and corruption too manifest among them- 
 selves, the American people who had engaged in 
 the conflict must ultimately yield to the greater 
 power of the mother country. Tryon had much 
 vanity in his character ; this he had shown in New- 
 bern, this also appears in his ordering a new county 
 to be made from Albany, to which his name was 
 attached, now substituted by that of Montgomery. 
 He had the disposition to be active in the contest 
 that when the rebellion had been crushed, King 
 George might be constrained to give to him a 
 better title than that of Baronet. Yet, although 
 he had physical courage, it is unfortunate for his 
 reputation that he never availed himself of his 
 high standing in the British army to encounter an 
 organized force in the open field. 
 
 He tried the art of rhetoric, addressing letters 
 to Gov. Trumbull, Gen. Parsons, and others, in 
 which he sought to convince them of the hope- 
 lessness of their cause. A specimen of his power 
 
32 
 
 in this direction is before us in the famous address 
 issued to the people of Connecticut and widely 
 scattered at New Haven and Fairfield. This told 
 them that their towns, their property and them- 
 selves were within the grasp of a power whose 
 forbearance they had ungenerously construed into 
 fear, and urged them to humble themselves because 
 of their delusion and conscious guilt. 
 
 Tryon's pen in all these efforts proved powerless. 
 
 Another course he pursued was one of treachery. 
 He corrupted some near the person of Washington 
 in expectation that the American General might be 
 made his prisoner, but in this he was foiled. 
 
 He made similar efforts to secure the capture of 
 Putnam, but his secret agent was discovered and 
 taken. When Tryon sent a threatening message 
 demanding his release, the reply came back from 
 Peekskill in this curt and comprehensive note : 
 
 To Gov. Tryon, Sir : Nathan Palmer a lieutenant 
 
 in your service was taken in my camp as a spy ; 
 
 he was tried as a spy ; he was condemned as a spy ; 
 
 and you may rest assured. Sir, he shall be hanged 
 
 as a spy. 
 
 I have the honor to be &c., 
 
 Israel Putnam. 
 P. S. — Afternoon : He is hanged. 
 
 Gen. Tryon's warlike achievements were each con- 
 nected with the people of Fairfield County. The 
 
first was in the spring of '']'], when he landed at 
 Compo with two thousand troops and burned a por- 
 tion of Danbury — with this the battle of Ridgefield 
 was closely associated. Gen, Silliman and the Fair- 
 field militia and artillery then first encountered the 
 man who was two years later to set their town on fire. 
 
 The second of these expeditions was made by land, 
 in February, 1779, and is connected with the story of 
 Putnam's famous leap at Horse Neck Hill The 
 third, and most interesting to us, was the descent 
 upon this portion of the coast occupying about ten 
 days in July, 1779. 
 
 We may properly pause here and inquire what 
 were the motives that led to this predatory warfare. 
 Gen. Tryon held no special grudge against these 
 three towns. He was not like John Butler, who 
 cherished intense hatred toward the Connecticut 
 colony of Wyoming, and whose people, with the aid 
 of his savage allies, he massacred in cold blood. 
 He had no such occasion of offence as later in the 
 war brought Benedict Arnold to wreak vengeance 
 on his native town of Norwich. 
 
 Tryon acted under instructions from the English 
 ministry and from Sir Henry Clinton, the comman- 
 der-in-chief of all the British forces in America. 
 The former were incensed at the recent alliance 
 formed between France and America. To them it 
 appeared like the mortgaging of English property to 
 England's ancient foe, and whatever could be done 
 to damage that property was in accord with justice 
 
34 
 
 and propriety. The success of American privateers 
 had also been a source of great annoyance, and 
 the depredations on peaceful towns might, it was 
 thought, discourage such undertakings. 
 
 Gen. Clinton favored the expedition for military 
 reasons. With the exception of an army at New- 
 port and a small post on the Penobscot, New Eng- 
 land at this time was free from British troops. The 
 active measures of the war had been transferred to 
 the south, but Clinton held a large and well organ- 
 ized army at or near New York. Meanwhile, the 
 American General was guarding the passage of the 
 Hudson, with his headquarters at New Windsor, and 
 his troops stationed among the highlands. To draw 
 Washington from this secure position, and to force 
 him to a battle on the open field, with all the advan- 
 tage of numbers and discipline on the British side, 
 was the purpose and wish of Clinton. Many at the 
 time blamed the American commander-in-chief be- 
 cause he did not march to the succor of distressed 
 Connecticut, but time, and the events of history have 
 vindicated both his judgment and humanity in the 
 course he pursued. 
 
 The ends aimed at by the British ministry and 
 military commander were not realized, and this sack 
 of the dwellings of inoffensive people added neither 
 credit nor strength to the British cause. Sir Henry 
 Clinton recalled the fleet without allowing the intend- 
 ed descent upon New London which was to follow 
 the burning of Norwalk. It may be his acute mind 
 
35 
 
 perceived a mistake had been made. Sympathy was 
 aroused even among some who were enemies, and the 
 patriotic spirit of our own people was more than ever 
 intensified. Dr. FrankHn, in a letter, quotes Paul 
 Jones, the valiant privateer, as saying that the burn- 
 ing of Fairfield and other towns had demolished all 
 his moderation. 
 
 As we endeavor to picture the appearance of our 
 own town when this descent was made, we must not 
 think of it as an old and dilapidated settlement. 
 Although well nigh a hundred and forty years had 
 passed since the colonists laid their first foundations, 
 scarcely a vestige of their earliest buildings remxained. 
 They had given place to larger and better structures. 
 The Prime Ancient Society still retaining their original 
 site, had erected upon it in 1747 their third house of 
 worship. Its dimensions were 60 by 44 feet, and its 
 steeple was 120 feet high. 
 
 The Episcopal church, which, in 1 738, took the 
 place of the first building on Mill Plain, stood on 
 Main street, facing the street that leads to our pres- 
 ent post-office, on what is now Mr. Henry Rowland's 
 place ; it was also a commodious building with a 
 steeple 100 feet in height. The court-house on this 
 central green had only recently been erected in place 
 of one standing before where Mr. Hobart's store now 
 stands. A noted thief named Fraser, confined in the 
 jail then connected with it, had set that building on 
 fire on the 4th of April, 1768. Hence had come the 
 rebuilding, and the erection of a separate prison which 
 
36 
 
 was located where St. Paul's church now stands. All 
 these comparatively recent structures were consumed^ 
 together with Penfield's Sun Tavern which also faced 
 the green. The public and private buildings were 
 creditable to the taste and prosperity of the people. 
 
 The village was surrounded with meadows, whose 
 stores of hay had recently been gathered into barns, 
 and the wheat harvest, which promised great abund- 
 ance, had just begun. 
 
 On Saturday evening, the 3d day of July, the Bri- 
 tish fleet weighed anchor off the port of Whitestone, 
 eleven miles east of New York. During the spring, 
 it had made a destructive raid upon Virginia, and re- 
 turned in time to aid General Clinton in his success- 
 ful assault upon Verplanck's and Stony Point on the 
 first of June. 
 
 The New York Sons of Liberty had been informed 
 of preparations for a fresh departure, and sent cour- 
 iers to New London to warn that city of the coming 
 invader. 
 
 Sunday, the fourth of July, was a warm, calm day. 
 Our people were in their churches, and the vessels 
 could scarcely have appeared in view before the night 
 came on. The light breeze had no power to move 
 them swiftly on their course. There were two large 
 men-of-war, the Camilla and 'Scorpion, and forty- 
 eight row galleys, tenders and transports. Sir 
 George Collier commanded the fleet and General 
 Tryon the land forces, about twenty-six hundred in 
 number. Brigadier-General Garth had special charge 
 
2>1 
 
 of the Hessian regiments, the Landgraves and 
 Yaeo-ers. The Enorlish forces consisted of two- 
 bodies of Fusileers, the Guards, the Fifty-fourth 
 regiment of foot and the King's American regiment, 
 refugees enHsted in the British army. Early on Mon- 
 day morning, the squadron came to anchor near New 
 Haven, where on that day and Tuesday the troops 
 pursued their desolating work. On the evening of 
 Tuesday the fleet left New Haven, and during that 
 night was moving toward Fairfield. About four 
 o'clock of Wednesday a gun from the fort on Gro- 
 ver's Hill announced its approach, but it seemed to 
 be passing by, and about seven o'clock the people 
 who were anxiously watching it were rejoiced to see 
 that it was steering westward, proceeding, as they 
 thought, to New York. Soon after a very thick fog 
 came on, during which the vessels were obscured 
 from view, but when this dispersed, between 9 and 
 10 o'clock it was seen with consternation that the 
 whole fleet was under our western shore, where they 
 came to anchor at the Pines, which have since dis- 
 appeared, a little to the east of McKenzies Point. 
 From Gen. Tryon's report, it appears that he with 
 the main portion of the troops landed there, and 
 that the Hessians, under Gen. Garth, made their dis- 
 embarkation at the water front of Sasco Hill, over 
 which they marched to take possession of the 
 western section of the town. 
 
 Tryon, with the troops immediately under his 
 command, marched along the beach and turned up 
 
38 
 
 the Beach Lane, somewhat galled by the guns of 
 Grover's Hill. They pursued their way to this point 
 where we are now assembled, and where, on the site 
 of our Town Hall, the Court House was then stand- 
 ing. 
 
 The British General was guided by George Hoyt, 
 who was brother-in-lav/ of Mr. Benjamin Bulkley. 
 
 His house, since demolished, stood on the ground 
 where Mr. John Glover has his home, and Gen 
 Tryon made his headquarters while here. With 
 this, the dwellings of Capt. Maltbie, Justin Hobart, 
 and Nathan and Peter Bulkley, were saved from the 
 fire. These are now in the possession of Edmund 
 Hobart, Miss Hannah Hobart, and the Denison 
 estate. 
 
 The line of the conflagration extended from Mrs. 
 Gould's house to Mill River, in the vicinity of Per- 
 ry's Mill, including both the streets and their imme- 
 diate neighborhood, and extended westward through 
 the lower road at Green's Farms. 
 
 To silence the guns at the fort where Lieut. Isaac 
 Jarvis had a garrison of twenty-three men, a galley 
 had been dispatched, but although there was constant 
 firing throughout the night of Wednesday, and 
 several detachments of troops tried to take the fort 
 by assault, it was gallantly defended and held out to 
 the end. 
 
 As the troops marched up toward the centre of 
 the town, young Sam. Rowland, then ten years of 
 age, saw them from the steeple at the Episcopal 
 
39 
 
 church, but he was soon sent home from his dan- 
 gerous position, and his grand -children to-day re- 
 peat the story they heard in their childhood from his 
 lips. Mrs. Gen. Silliman from the home of her tem- 
 porary widowhood on Holland Hill, heard the first 
 guns of the conflict and set out for a safe asylum 
 in Trumbull, where a few weeks later her second son, 
 the distinguished Yale Professor was born. 
 
 Before the landing was effected, Mrs. Esther Jen- 
 nings, the young w^ife of Peter Burr, went early to 
 the pasture fields near McKenzie's Point and drove 
 the cattle there feeding to a safe refuge on Green- 
 field Hill. Thither and to Fairfield Woods many of 
 the little children with much furniture were removed 
 in carts and chaises, while some of the wornen re- 
 mained to guard the dwellings. The company who 
 had charge of a field piece, wheeled it to a good po- 
 sition on Burr's highway. The men in the village 
 and farm-houses grasped their muskets and ammuni- 
 tion, and rallied under command of Col. Whiting at 
 the rendevous on Round Hill. 
 
 Tryon's march to the green was the signal of their 
 resistance, and a small company under Capt. Thomas 
 Nash, made a brilliant attack upon the English 
 troops, firing from behind the fences, and killing a 
 few who were laid in shallow graves by their com- 
 rades on the meeting-house grounds. These after- 
 wards were removed to permanent rest in our ancient 
 cemetery. 
 
 About this time it would appear that the first 
 
40 
 
 house was fired, the one belonging to Isaac Jennings 
 on whose site Mrs. Esther Huntington now lives. 
 Then came the flag from Gen. Tryon and the read- 
 ing of that address of which I have spoken. Col. 
 Whiting sent back this spirited reply ; 
 
 " Connecticut having nobly dared to take up arms 
 against the cruel despotism of Britain, and as the 
 flames have now preceded the answer to your flag, 
 they will persist to oppose to the utmost that power 
 exerted against injured innocence." 
 
 In resistance of an organized army who held pos- 
 session of the town it was impossible for the militia 
 to concentrate an effectual force. The night was 
 coming on — that Wednesday night of the 7th, which 
 witnessed scenes of debauchery and cruelty such as 
 Fairfield has never known at any other period of 
 her history. The Hessian general held the Western 
 portion of the town, and his regiment of Yaegers 
 are described as skulking and yelling like the wild 
 savages of the forest. The detachments broke up 
 into small squads and some of the governor's guards 
 engaged in a dance in the Sun Tavern on the green. 
 Most of the soldiers were passing in little companies 
 from house to house, pillaging and wasting provis- 
 ions, breaking up glass, earthenware and furniture, 
 stealing the watches, jewelry and shoe-buckles from 
 the persons of women, taking from them even their 
 aprons and handkerchiefs, and with oaths and ri- 
 baldry, grossly insulting them. Many soldiers were 
 drunk with liquor or strong cider they had stolen. 
 
41 
 
 Tryon reports that they lay on their arms during the 
 night, and Dr. Dwight, who was not an eye-witness 
 to those scenes, describes in eloquent language a ter- 
 rific thunder-storm. Enough it is for us to hear the 
 guns thundering through all its dark hours in the de- 
 fense and attack of the little fort, and to see one 
 after another of the pillaged houses fall before the 
 flames which the British general's troops had kindled. 
 The burning cinders that fell that night, wet with the 
 tears of women then made homeless, must ever in 
 the record of history blacken Tryon's name. 
 
 The militia did all they were able to accomplish, 
 keeping up a running fire, and more were on their 
 way to join them. So the signal of retreat was 
 sounded early on Thursday, and in the course of 
 that morning of the 8th of July, the squadron was 
 off for Huntington, only to cross the Sound again, 
 and on the subsequent Sunday repeat their terrible 
 work at Norwalk. It was on the morning of the 
 8th that the remaining private edifices and all the 
 public buildings were consumed. More destruction 
 would doubtless have been effected but for the 
 wholesome fear of the ambush of the watchful militia. 
 
 The enemy dreaded the stone walls, fences and 
 shrubbery. On this account the old mill of Peter 
 Perry, which had ground the corn of the people for 
 a hundred years, was still left to do its work. 
 Through the exertions of the women Vv^ho kept watch 
 some fires that had been kindled were put out. This 
 was done four times by Mrs. Lucretia Redfield dur- 
 
42 
 
 ing that Wednesday night, and the house she then 
 saved stands to-day a pleasant abode occupied by 
 some of the same name. The Nichols family, al- 
 ways proverbial for notable housewifery, employed 
 large hanks of yarn then soaking in preparation for 
 the dye and with it extinguished the flames that had 
 begun to consume their home. 
 
 There were burned a court house and jail, three 
 churches, two school houses, ninety-seven dwellings, 
 sixty-seven barns, forty-eight stores and shops, in all 
 two hundred and eighteen buildings. The gathered 
 labors of the field, the books, papers, pictures, the 
 well-preserved products of the spinning wheel and 
 needle, the precious heirlooms, tokens of love and 
 memorials of friendship, how were these brought 
 into destruction as in a moment ! 
 
 The sparks, cinders and half burned feathers 
 floating in the summer air — what sickness must they 
 have brought to many hearts ! 
 
 Some things had been removed to safe places be- 
 yond the reach of the fire. Isaac Burr, the jeweler, 
 hid the watches left for repair at his shop within the 
 stone fissures of his well and placed his Bible and 
 some of his own precious goods with them. 
 
 Prudent Phillis, servant of Judge Sturges, took the 
 wet linen from the wash tub and hid it among the 
 currant bushes. Pewter dishes, kept bright by con- 
 stant scouring, were thrown into the bottom of wells, 
 to be recovered when the danger was past. One 
 looking glass is still as reflecting as ever. It was 
 
43 
 
 hidden In an uncradled rye field, and when, a few 
 days later a black man cut the swath that revealed it 
 standing there upright, he saw his own figure in the 
 sunshine, and mistaking it for Satan, whom he feared, 
 he threw down his sickle in terror and ran away. 
 
 The sadness had by that time been mollified, the 
 people had begun again to provide means for living. 
 They made new homes, some in warehouses or out- 
 buildings that had been spared, some rearing them 
 again upon the old foundations. The large grant of 
 State lands (on this account called the burnt lands), 
 in Ohio, tempted a few to find new homes in the 
 West. Some of our own people thus changed their 
 place of residence, and their descendants are there 
 abiding to this day, adorning their ancestral teach- 
 ings by lives of honor and usefulness; and of the stock 
 transplanted in this manner from our neighboring 
 town of Norwalk, sprung the two brothers Sherman, 
 one presiding to-day over our nation's treasury, and 
 the other commanding its army. 
 
 The life of Fairfield was not extinguished in its 
 burning, nor did the energy of the town expire. Its 
 source of strength was too deep to be reached by 
 the kindled brands, too high to be fatally affected by 
 the ascending flames. The town rose from its ashes, 
 and has had an honorable history down to the present 
 day. From the fire that consumed Mr. Eliot's 
 dwelling one book was rescued, the Church record, 
 running back to 1694. In his clear handwriting, he 
 inscribed within it a brief account of the events 
 
44 
 
 which, after the lapse of a century, we now recall. 
 As in concluding this address I repeat his words, 
 they may convey to us the spirit of submission unto 
 God and trust in Him which strengthened this peo- 
 ple to pass through the furnace of calamity. In 
 subsequent times of prosperity and safety, these sen- 
 timents have not been wholly lost. May they always 
 prevail, and may the intelligence, soberness and in- 
 dustry of our people render them fit dwellers in 
 those pleasant places chosen more than two hundred 
 and forty years ago by the founders of our beautiful 
 town. By maintaining these principles in peace and 
 purity, and through a wise and constant exercise of 
 that public spirit which characterized our fathers, we 
 will show how greatly we prize this rich inheritance, 
 made more precious by the refining fire. 
 
 Copy of historical note of Rev. Andrew Eliot, 
 V.D.M. : 
 
 —1779.— 
 
 July 7th. — A part of the British army, consisting 
 of Britons, Germans, and American refugees, under 
 the command of Major-General Tryon, and Briga- 
 dier-General Garth, landed in this town from a fleet 
 commanded by Sir George Collier. 
 
 In the evening and night of the same day, a great 
 part of the buildings in the town plot were consumed 
 by said troops. 
 
45 
 
 July 8th. — In the morning, the meeting-house, to- 
 gether with the Church of England building, the 
 court house, prison, and almost all the principal 
 buildings in the society, were laid in ashes. 
 
 Our holy and our beautiful house, where our 
 fathers praised Thee, is burnt up with fire, and all 
 our pleasant things are laid waste. 
 
 The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. 
 
 Blessed be the name of the Lord. 
 
 All things work together for good to them that 
 love God, to them who are the called according to 
 His purpose. 
 
 Alleluia ! 
 
 The Lord, God, Omnipotent, reigneth. Amen. 
 
UNQUOWA. 
 
 ^'Farewell to the Old !" was the mariner's song 
 
 As he gave his adventurous sail to the breeze ; 
 " Behind lies the bondage of falsehood and wrong, 
 
 Before floats the vision that beckons and frees. 
 Are there tears for the old ? they are profitless tears, 
 
 It hath shown neither pity nor care for to-day ; 
 Lay the corpse, dumb and cold, in the grave of the years, 
 
 Mutter "ashes to ashes," then up and away ! 
 All hail to the New ! to the land of our quest, 
 
 Though its welcome be bleak and its hillsides be bare, 
 'Tis the home of the true, the broad realm of the West, 
 Humanity's promise and future are there." 
 
 'Twas the watchword that lured them, faint echoed from far 
 
 And they bowed to its spell of resistless command, 
 " Unqiwwa ! Go further ! your beckoning star 
 
 At last o'er the cradle of freedom shall stand. 
 Press onward, fresh conquests and glories to find. 
 
 New homes and long vistas are opening to view, 
 Fairer fields are before you than aught left behind, 
 
 "Behold ! " said the voice, " I make all things anew." 
 
 With hearts that were tender and brows that were stern 
 
 Our sires to the edge of the wilderness came, 
 And read, as discouragement whispered " Return !" 
 
 " U^iqiwwa r writ over in letters of flame. 
 They followed to where 'twixt the hills and the sea 
 
 These plains in their vesture of emerald lie ; 
 '■'■ No further r' they cried, ''this our haven shall be, 
 
 No lovelier field is o'erarched by the sky." 
 Note. — Unqnowa is the Indian name of Fairfield, meaning "go further. 
 
48 
 
 Yet but for a moment, — the wave of unrest 
 
 With scarce a surcease rolled impatient along, 
 And still as it swept from the east to the west, 
 
 " Go further ! " the endless refrain to its song. 
 " Out-do all the deeds by humanity done, 
 
 Confound the old world with dismay and surprise 
 As it witnesses something new under the sun, 
 
 New morals, discoveries, isms and — lies. 
 Where others have climbed write your name above theirs, 
 
 Crowd all sail to the breeze, though for ballast you lack,. 
 The favors of Fortune he merits who dares, 
 
 And the motto of progress is " Never look back !" 
 
 Some good he has wrought, to no region confined, 
 
 Freedom's heir, of a century, here in the west, 
 Some blessing has brought to himself and mankind. 
 
 Some glories achieved, be it freely confessed. 
 Some wisdom moreover, has won, dearly earned ' 
 
 At the price of disaster and costly delays, 
 And this not the least from experience learned, 
 
 True progress is Janus-faced, looking fwo ways. 
 One front shining fair with the beauty of youth, 
 
 Peering forward to pierce through futurity's vail, 
 Decks the day-dreams of Hope with the mantle of Truth 
 
 And listens entranced to the flatterer's tale ; 
 The other looks backward with calm level gaze, 
 
 Adown the long track by the centuries trod. 
 Traces out the great plan mid the devious maze. 
 
 And hears through the ages the voices of God. 
 
 Strange tissue of gold and of sable we weave 
 
 As we rest 'neath the broad leafy spaces to-day ! 
 
 Old legends with tales of the hour interleave 
 And dreaui a long century quickly away. 
 
49 
 
 Is it well from the glare of the noontide to turn 
 
 And awhile in some black, frowning shadow to dwells 
 The lesson sublime of endurance to learn, 
 
 The cost of our heritage, — say, is it well ? 
 If patience no less than achievement is grand, 
 
 If the soil bearing heroes is watered by tears. 
 Time itself but a speck by eternity spanned, 
 
 Is not this a proud day in the cycle of years? 
 
 What wait ye, dear friends, as in silence ye sit 
 
 With the light and the shade interwoven around, 
 O'er your vision what phantoms of memory flit. 
 
 What voice from the fire, speaks of blood-hallowed ground ? 
 There's a guest whom ye see not, among you to-day, 
 
 His hand is in yours as he stands at your door, 
 With the dead generations he wandered away, 
 
 And now he returns to your hearth-stones once more. 
 For him ye have gathered with welcome and cheer. 
 
 For him thus your bountiful table have spread, 
 His soul-stirring words ye are waiting to hear, 
 
 To-day ye converse and commune with the dead. 
 With the dead ! nay, the living, they walk here again 
 
 As they wandered of yore through the ghost-haunted 
 streets, 
 Awakened the dust which in slumber had lain. 
 
 Sire to son still the sorrowful story repeats. 
 Men may die to the thought of their kindred and age, 
 
 Their names be forgot by their wonted abode, 
 But they who the fight for humanity wage 
 
 Ever live to a generous fame and to God. 
 
 For him ye are waiting, the soul of the past. 
 
 The spirit who dwelt in the woods and the waves. 
 
 Gently sighed in the breeze, wildly sobbed in the blast, 
 And knelt by our forefathers' cradles and graves ; 
 
50 
 
 Who led them to where in his desperate flight 
 
 A merciless foe in the swamp stood at bay, 
 Nerved their hearts for the onset, their arms for the fight, 
 
 And swept the last hope of the Pequod away. 
 Who first on that day to their wondering eyes 
 
 This glorious vision of beauty revealed, 
 Where the plain and the sea meet and blend with the skies, 
 
 And our sires hailed in rapture their new-found Fairfield. 
 
 Theirs the spirit that tyranny fearlessly braves. 
 
 In the might of Omnipotence battles with wrong, 
 Spurns the peace that is won by the trappings of slaves, 
 
 By disaster grows great, and by suffering, strong. 
 That spirit they drank in the breath of the bay 
 
 As with fragrance and healing it passed on the breeze, 
 Its coolness they caught from the dash of the spray, 
 
 Its statue erect from the hills and the trees ; 
 Its rhythmical tones in the wavelets they heard • 
 
 That crept up enamored to fondle the shore, 
 With its dauntless defiance their spirits were stirred, 
 
 In the growl of the surf and the breakers' dull roar. 
 
 That dim Presence is here ; Time returns on its track. 
 
 Our hearts feel the spell of a mystical power, 
 On the dial of years the grim shadow, turned back, 
 
 Points again to the pitiful day and the hour ; 
 Day whose cloud-curtained mom broke with ominous light 
 
 As the sun faintly streamed through the fog-laden air, 
 When the pillar of name lit the blackness of night, 
 
 And the dawning of doubt brought the eve of despair 
 
 On the errand of demons with torch and with brand, 
 
 Do ye spread your white wing*. ye birds of the sea ? 
 
 Pair as angels of light in the ofiing ye stand. 
 
 Speed away with the breezes that blow for the free ! 
 
51 
 
 Thsj liaTe passed ! idd from sigtt "by the trend of the shore, — 
 
 Breathe a sigh of relief, lips with fear that -vrere dumb; 
 Lift the Toice of thanksgiTing, the peril is o 'er ! — 
 
 Hush ! a soTind in the distance ! 'tis the "beat of the drum ! 
 Taint and fitful, then londex it falls on the ear. 
 
 To the hiUs ! fox your liTes. if yonr liTes ye would save ! 
 The fiend of destrnction and carnage is near, 
 
 Of a pitiless foe Tsiniy mercy ye crave. 
 Tjeai^ your hearth-stones and roofs to the conqueror's ire, 
 
 The sacrifice yield to fair Freedom 's demand. 
 Tc-day ye pass through the baptism of fire 
 
 And leave to your children a heritage grand- . 
 
 Up ihe lane from the beach comes the irampling of feet, 
 
 ITith the ratiie of drum.s and with bayonets' sheen, 
 2.ed-caaxed marauders are thronging the street 
 
 And crowding, with insolent menace, the green. 
 " Halt I" the order is heard and the uproar is still ; 
 
 '■ Break your xanks .'" then in groups the im^ders disperse 
 Of lust and of plunder to gather their fill, 
 
 Wiile the heavens grow black with a low-muttered curse. 
 
 X)raw the curtain of night, thou kind angel of doom 
 
 O'er the deeds that men dare but that lips may not tell, 
 Yet with flashes of light half disclose through the gloom 
 
 To the awe-stricken gazer, the image of keH. 
 The flames streaming wildly fromi roof and from spire, 
 
 The cinders whirled upward, the storm-spirit's -w'ail, 
 The jubilant dance of the demou of fire 
 
 Mid the thunder's long roll and the roar of the gale. 
 
 Tet not unresisting the patriots fly, — 
 
 Ere the foe's haught}- challenge submission to 3deld, 
 ±rom the fort on the hill comes an iron reply, 
 
52 
 
 And the shot of the skirmisher rattles afield. 
 Pursuer uplifting the murderous hand 
 
 Follows close on the fugitive's hurried retreat, 
 Then his riderless steed at the captor's command 
 
 Comes to halt, as the trooper falls dead at his feet. 
 They are scores against thousands, — the contest is vain, 
 
 Yet hereafter the visitor, gazing around. 
 Shall say, '' On this sod ran the blood of the slain, 
 
 Here the battle of freedom with triumph was crowned."' 
 
 The black deed is done ; view your work with delight, 
 
 Who have written in ashes your passport to fame, 
 In the red, lurid glare of that horrible night 
 
 Emblazoning Tryon's illustrious name. 
 These desolate homes, these dull embers that lie 
 
 Where the temples of God once were fair to the sight. 
 Like the blood of the martyr for justice shall cry, 
 
 And the Power ye have slighted shall hear and requite^ 
 
 But lo ! the dark vision dissolves from the view ! 
 
 The current of years rolling swiftly away 
 In the room of the old brings the beautiful new 
 
 That greets us with smiling contentment to-day. 
 A benison thine, hallowed shrine of the past. 
 
 On the cloud of thy morn rest the rainbow of peace ! 
 To far generations thy memories last, 
 
 And age bring of honors an endless increase. 
 Gaze not on the present with idle content. 
 
 Thine the watchword of Progress, '^ Go further ! soar 
 higher !" 
 Dwell not in the pride of a noble descent, 
 
 True nobleness blazons its legend, '' Aspire !" 
 
 Old mansions that stand as ye stood in that day 
 
 When scathless ye passed through the midst of the flame. 
 
This hour ye hold court in your stately array 
 
 While we wreathe your gray fronts with the laurel of 
 fame. 
 
 E-Uthless hand of the spoiler preserve their renown, 
 From restless improvement these monuments spare, 
 
 Let them pass the old tales to posterity down 
 And Time make the trust his perpetual care. 
 
 Sacred dust of our forefathers, slumber in peace ! 
 
 Your graves be the shrine to which patriots wend 
 And swear tireless vigilance never to cease 
 
 Till freedom's long struggle with tyranny end. 
 The triumph they won be it ours to maintain, 
 
 Lest from dreams of security mockingly torn, 
 The captive, too late, strive to rend off his chain. 
 
 The giant awake, of his manliness shorn. 
 
 The old feud is ended ! embracing once more. 
 
 The sons of one mother, in amity true, 
 "With a cable of steel binding shore unto shore. 
 
 Hail as one, and forever, Old England and New ! 
 Run up the twin flags with the cross and the stars, 
 
 One in race, one in speech, one in faith, one in heart, 
 "Wed the crimson and azure, the stripes and the bars, 
 
 Whom God hath thus joined let not man rend apart. 
 In glorious rivalry lead the oppressed. 
 
 Flags of union and liberty proudly unfurled, 
 Together float on o'er the East and the West 
 
 And march with the drum-beat that circles the world ! 
 
II— NOON— Intermission. 
 
 At the close of the morning proceedings, the 
 President announced that luncheon had been pro- 
 vided for the guests, and it was probable that 
 although the people were so many, all would find 
 themselves provided for. The intention had been 
 to have all the tables set in the grove in rear of 
 the Congregationalist Church, but the rain had led 
 the Committee to begin the task of removing them 
 under cover, a task in which they had only in part suc- 
 ceeded. Accordingly the Governor, the Officers, the 
 Clergy, the Press, the Mayor and Common Council 
 of Bridgeport, were asked to go to the upper hall of 
 the Town House ; other invited guests would find 
 accommodation in the lower hall ; mothers with 
 children would be welcome by Miss Hobart in her 
 old historical mansion, and ample room would be 
 found for all beside in the fine grove behind the 
 church, where the whole company were to have 
 been entertained. 
 
 The arrangements were carried out successfully. 
 The Governor was introduced by Dr. Osgood to 
 the ladies in charge of the tables at the Town 
 House. Rev. Edward H. Wells said grace, and 
 the scene was as pleasing to the eyes as whole- 
 some to the inner man. 
 
56 
 
 III-AFTERNOON, 
 
 ADDRESS BY DR. SAMUEL OSGOOD, 
 PRESIDENT OF THE DAY. 
 
 THE TOWN— ITS SCENERY— ITS HISTORY AND HOPES. 
 
 Fellow-citizens, Nughbors and Friends: 
 
 The exercises of this morning have set before you 
 the grave historical and hterary aspects of this day, 
 and it is not for me to dispute with your orator and 
 poet the honors which they have so well won and 
 now so modestly wear. This is a social meeting, 
 and we come together now to talk over in a sympa- 
 thetic way the topics of this place and this day. It 
 is delightful to be assured that we are all as one here 
 now — all Americans, with one heart for the nation 
 and the flag, and ready to welcome all of our coun- 
 trymen to our hospitality, and to wish all men God 
 speed in their striving for justice, liberty and human- 
 ity. 
 
 Let us begin at the" beginning and allow the fair 
 face of this charming old town, so old, yet ever young 
 and lovely, to win us all to itself and to each other. 
 There is no influence that does away differences and 
 
57 
 
 assimilates various minds and tempers more than 
 beauty. We dispute about truth, but we feel the 
 charm of beauty and here this speaks to us in a 
 master-piece of God's own handiwork as it spoke 
 to our fathers who came here a quarter of a thousand 
 years ago. Look for yourselves and the look will 
 move you all with love and gratitude. Around us 
 see this pleasant plain with its fair and thrifty homes, 
 its bright gardens and broad meadows, its refreshing 
 groves and its soaring spires. In front there is the 
 great Sound with the variety and flow of a river and 
 the stately majesty of the sea, bearing sprightly boats 
 and stout vessels upon its bosom, sweeping afar to 
 Long Island, itself a little empire, and swelling here 
 towards us against our lovely crescent shore as full 
 of attraction as of health, and at the ends of the 
 crescent beach beyond goodly hills, filling welcome 
 harbors. with its tide. Turn from all this rich land- 
 scape and the back ground is no less pleasing and 
 remarkably suited to the foreground. There are no 
 grand mountains, but sightly hills, rising in memora- 
 ble gradations, invite the eye and the footsteps, and 
 offer from their various points of view as delightful 
 prospects as those that have made the name and the 
 fortune of many of the famous places on earth. This 
 is our town, our Fairfield, and as we look, we feel 
 one pulse beating along the two and a half centuries, 
 and unitine us with the stout men and devoted women 
 w^ho first called this land by its present name, and 
 declared it fair to all time as we do now. 
 
58 
 
 May we not call this a bridal day for our lovely 
 village, not a first wedding, nor a silver, nor a golden, 
 nor a diamond wedding. What shall we call it, this 
 commemoration, not after twenty-five, or fifty, or 
 seventy-five years ; but after a hundred years ? Why 
 not call it the celestial wedding, now that this town 
 renewed in beauty and with forgiveness of her ene- 
 mies, stands forth again in her family and asks heav- 
 en's blessing. A hundred years ago she was wedded 
 to Freedom in sorrow and tears with a veil of dark- 
 ness. These clouds in the morning seemed to put 
 that veil again upon her brow, but here the darkness 
 is vanishing under the touch of God's own sunshine. 
 See her face now in the full light of day, never fairer 
 than now. This is the celestial wedding of the dear 
 old town. 
 
 Turn now from the face of nature to the field 
 of history, and there, too, there is much to command 
 our respect, and to win our sympathy. This town 
 has been memorable for its learned and patriotic 
 men from the beginning, and we may judge well of 
 what the people at large were from the character 
 of the persons whom they produced or sought out 
 and honored. Bancroft speaks of Fairfield when 
 it was burned, as a model New England village, and 
 certainly before and since that time her citizens 
 have made their mark, not only upon this neigh- 
 borhood, but upon the country and the world. It 
 is worth remembering that five scholars who have 
 been connected with Fairfield parishes have been 
 
59 
 
 called to be presidents of distinguished American 
 colleges, and others have been appointed to im- 
 portant professorships, where they have won high 
 honors and done good and even great work. We 
 have had our share of soldiers, statesmen and jurists, 
 and in the late war for the nation, our people 
 have proved their patriotism by sending their pro- 
 portion of money and men to stand by the flag 
 against its assailants. We have had merchants, too, 
 who have done us honor, by making wealth the 
 means of beneficence instead of the measure of 
 pride, and who have raised at Yale, Princeton and 
 New York institutions of learning, taste, piety and 
 charity that not only bless those communities, but 
 consecrate the soil, home and blood that bore them. 
 Good teachers we have had who have won worthy 
 scholars to their instruction, and here and elsewhere 
 given good proof that the schoolmaster is still abroad. 
 Honor to those of them who filially remember this 
 mother town, and whose faces and good works we 
 see to day. The churches have not been backward 
 in their work, and here to-day the pastor of the Prime 
 Ancient Parish unites with the Rector of St. Paul's 
 Church, in presence of brethren of various Christian 
 names, and on this occasion repeats the old benedic- 
 tion, " Grace be to all of them who love the Lord 
 Jesus Christ in sincerity." 
 
 So history answers with her voice to the face of na- 
 ture, and both call us together in common fellowship 
 to-day. What more shall I say, or is this enough with- 
 
6o 
 
 out touching upon the painful associations of this com- 
 memoration ? No ! Let us speak out and have the 
 whole heart of the time with us, not doubting that 
 in this as in all other historical events, the shading is 
 needed to bring out the light, and we must bear the 
 cross, if we would wear the crown. Beauty is said to 
 be a fatal gift, and however this may be as a general 
 truth, it is quite sure that this fair town has had its 
 share in the interpretation. The loveliness of this 
 place had probably something to do with attracting 
 its destroyers. Like old Jerusalem this sweet little 
 Zion was assailed and destroyed, and in all the bright- 
 ness of her restored beauty we see the traces of that 
 sadness, and a certain pathos shades the bloom of 
 her cheek and moistens the light of her eyes. We 
 may as well own it, that a certain disappointment has 
 gone with this town. Since that act, not of war, but 
 of barbarism, that destroyed the houses and stores 
 and churches of this unarmed place, the best hopes 
 of its prosperity have never been fulfilled. It was 
 once as thrifty and ambitious as New Haven, and as 
 likely from its wealth and culture and situation to be 
 a great university town, but New Haven carried the 
 day, and our chief marshal and his associates prove 
 their mind and their muscle there under the elms of 
 College Green instead of finding academic halls here 
 under the brow of Greenfield hill. It is hard to be- 
 lieve it, but it is true that the men of Fairfield, under 
 stout Roger Ludlow, thought of punishing the Dutch 
 settlement of New. Amsterdam, and rated Fairfield 
 
6i 
 
 as the equal of the future New York in prosperity. 
 , But New York has beat us, and here to-day her news- 
 paper press may be learning for the first time what 
 great expectations were once cherished in this quiet 
 place. We must confess it. We have been cut out 
 by neighbors far and near Bridgeport was the last 
 to get the better of us, and after taking our fine 
 harbor of Black Rock she is waiting for our timid 
 people to ask her to take all the rest of the town 
 under her wing, and perhaps has sent her police to- 
 day to spy out the riches of our domain. 
 
 Yes, we have been disappointed, but we are not cast 
 down nor in despair. Our town probably never felt 
 her dignity more than to-day; never was so happy in her 
 people and her guests. Never has the scenery looked 
 fairer than now, and we mean to add careful science 
 to choice tastes in bringing health with beauty to 
 crown our prosperous hours. The marshes shall be 
 drained, all unwholesome elements shall be checked 
 or removed, our roads shall be extended and improv- 
 ed. The groves shall again adorn and refresh our hills, 
 our shores shall be opened to travel, and a charming 
 water side avenue shall join Sea Side Park to Sasco hill, 
 and win admiration and company from hosts of resi- 
 dents and visitors as to one of the choice attractions 
 of the land. 
 
 Our libraries shall increase, our schools and churches 
 shall prosper. The new population will do their part 
 and are doing it by industry, thrift, sobriety and rev- 
 erence, and the laboring class are setting a good ex- 
 
62 
 
 ample by earning homes and lands for themselves, 
 sending their children to school, and attending church 
 with a constancy and zeal that may well be a lesson 
 to some persons who are tempted to look down upon 
 them. We have no destructive socialism here, and 
 the laborer who owns his cottage and acre is as far 
 from the tramp or the anarchist as the merchant in 
 his mansion with his servants and horses and broad 
 fields and fine lawns. 
 
 We mean to remember the old days and worthies, 
 and restore whatever has been lost, by careful record 
 and faithful service. We do not expect great increase 
 or startling prosperity, yet we have good expectations. 
 These lovely hills must some day win residents and 
 homes, and on either side, population must flow from 
 the commercial and manufacturing cities to add to 
 our numbers and to help us in our taste and aspiration. 
 Especially do we insist upon keeping up the great 
 heart that founded and has enobled this place and upon 
 measuring life by itself and not by material things, 
 caring more for the soul than the body, and finding 
 the eternal spirit in all that is good, true and fair. 
 
 In this faith let us interpret the history and cheer 
 the prospect of our town, remembering sacredly that 
 the influence of the outrage upon our people here, 
 and their great suffering, did much to nerve the whole 
 country in the final struggle for liberty, and not for- 
 getting that the service to culture and religion which 
 has been rendered here by scholars, jurists and theo- 
 logians, has given this quiet village a place in history 
 
63 
 
 beyond that which is held by many a field of battle 
 with its memorial of cruelty. The town was burned 
 but not destroyed. It lived and lives now, and its 
 record is part of the history of the nation. In a 
 true sense, the success of our thrifty neighbors is our 
 success, and already the work done and the wealth 
 won and the thought spoken in the communities 
 that live within the old limits, are beyond the fondest 
 dreams of the ancient founders or of the new pat- 
 riots of a hundred years ago. As a summer resident 
 here for thirty summers of health and privilege, I 
 give thanks with you in the favored experience and 
 good hope. 
 
 Let us this day lift up our banner and declare our 
 platform. This is Fairfield, this Is Connecticut, this 
 is New England and we are Americans. So too we 
 are men and we give and take the great blessing of 
 our human kind. No hate now to England, and our 
 united flags speak the blessings of the child to the 
 mother. Would that some great English men of the 
 stamp of Arthur P. Stanley and William E. Glad- 
 stone, who have been such noble friends to us, could 
 answer to this sentiment here and make the Enorllsh 
 speaking race feel Its brotherhood of liberty and 
 love to-day. 
 
 Even broader than that Is our fellowship. Fair- 
 field says here her own name in benediction. Fair- 
 field let there be everywhere on earth, and Fair Play 
 for all men, by justice, liberty, kindness and good 
 
64 
 
 works between all nations in the brotherhood of the 
 race and under the Providence and Grace of God. 
 
 After an elaborate piece of music by the band, 
 Dr. Osgood introduced His Excellency, Governor 
 Andrews, with expressing his great pleasure in wel- 
 coming the chief magistrate of Connecticut alike 
 from respect to him personally and from reverence 
 for the noble line of Governors that had presented 
 such famous names as John Winthrop, the Puritan 
 statesman, and Jonathan Trumbull, the friend of 
 Washington, who was Governor a hundred years 
 ago. 
 
 GOVERNOR ANDREWS' ADDRESS. 
 
 In the name of the State of Connecticut, whose 
 servant I am, I greet this day. Such days as these 
 should be commemorated and should be more gen- 
 erally observed. Any day in which our patriotism 
 and the patriotism of the younger generations may 
 be strengthened should receive attention. By this, I 
 do not mean to infer that your patriotism is deficient ; 
 the heartiness of this commemorative service proves 
 the contrary. I come, as the representative of the 
 State, to give character to this duty of observing 
 these days with patriotic devotion. When I awoke 
 this morning and heard the rain pattering upon the 
 roof, I thought if General Tryon could not find a 
 better day than this to burn a town, he had better 
 not burn it at all. It has been a mystery why Sir 
 
65 
 
 Henry Clinton sent that expedition up Long Island 
 sound to ravage these towns. His object, it seems 
 to me, was to suppress the onslaught made upon the 
 supplies which he sent out for his army. The orator 
 of this morning struck the right key to its solution 
 when he said Fairfield's privateers and others of the 
 coast towns cut off these supplies. But the object 
 of the expedition failed, for a voice of horror went 
 up from the whole civilized world at the atrocities 
 perpetrated, so that he failed to receive the benefits 
 which he had hoped from the campaign, and the re- 
 capture of Stony Point by Mad Anthony Wayne 
 soon after, was in some sense a retribution for the 
 burning of Fairfield. But I did not intend to make 
 a speech. I desire only to call your attention to 
 these historic facts. I come to represent those of 
 the state who are not here, and in their names I g-reet 
 you, and bend in homage toward the memory of 
 those patriots whose names we honor to-day. 
 
 Dr. OsQfood then announced that a telegram had 
 been received from the President of the United 
 States, whom all Americans honor in his office, and 
 who regretted his inability to be present. He also 
 read a telegram from George William Curtis, ex- 
 pressing his regret at his necessary absence. Many 
 letters from distinguished men, such as Robert C. 
 Winthrop, Bishop Williams and President Porter 
 had been received, and would be published in the 
 pamphlet which is to contain the proceedings of the 
 day. 
 
66 
 
 THE CENTENNIAL HYMN, 
 
 BY JOHN G. WHITTIER. 
 
 Our fathers' God ! from out whose hand 
 The centuries fall like grains of sand, 
 We meet to-day, united, free. 
 And loyal to our land and Thee, 
 To thank Thee for the era done. 
 And trust Thee for the opening one. 
 
 Here where of old, by Thy design, 
 The fathers spake that word of Thine, 
 Whose echo is the glad refrain 
 Of rended bolt and falling chain, 
 To grace our festal time, from all 
 The zones of earth our guests we call. 
 
 Be with us while the New World greets 
 The Old World, thronging all its streets, 
 Unveiling all the triumphs won 
 By art or toil beneath the sun; 
 And unto common good ordain 
 This rivalship of hand and brain. 
 
 Thou who hast here in concord furled 
 The war flags of a gathered world. 
 Beneath our western skies fulfill. 
 The Orient's mission of good will, 
 And, freighted with Love's golden fleece. 
 Send back the Argonauts of peace. 
 
 For art and labor met in truce. 
 For beauty made the bride of use, 
 We thank Thee, while withal we crave 
 The austere virtues strong to save, 
 The honor proof to place or gold. 
 The manhood never bought nor sold ! 
 
 Oh ! make Thou us, through centuries long, 
 In peace secure, and justice strong; 
 Around our gift of freedom draw 
 The safeguards of Thy righteous law. 
 And, cast in some diviner mould. 
 Let the new cycle shame the old ! 
 
67 
 
 Dr. Osgood then spoke of Rev. Augustus F. 
 Hewit, D.D., as a distinguished scholar and preacher 
 whom Amherst College, his alma mater, had con- 
 spicuously honored, and who was a native of Fairfield, 
 and son of an eminent pastor here. He regretted 
 that Dr. Hewit could not fulfill the hope which his 
 pleasant letter in reply to the invitation to speak had 
 given. The Rev. Dr. E. P. Rogers, of New York, 
 a former resident and always welcome guest, was 
 next called upon, and he responded in some very 
 pleasant remarks and reminiscences. 
 
 He began his address by relating the story of an 
 old minister who always had one formula to open all 
 his sermons. This was, after announcing the text, to 
 say, '' My subject jiaturally divides itself into three 
 parts." Taking as his text one time, "Adam, where 
 art thou," he divided it as follows : " Man is generally 
 somewhere ; he is usually where he had no business 
 to be ; and thirdly, if he did not look out he would 
 find himself where he would not want to be." He 
 had found himself where he did not want to be, 
 called upon to make a speech. He spoke touchingly 
 of his early residence in the town, of the impressions 
 which he had received in his youth, of the old church, 
 the old academy, the noble history, and the hallowed 
 associations which clustered about the old town. He 
 recalled the great advance that had been made during 
 the past one hundred years, in everything that exalts 
 and educates a people, and said he was thankful 
 to be present as one of the old Fairfield boys, and 
 
68 
 
 tender his congratulations to the ten thousand 
 friends around him upon the history of the town. 
 He closed with a strong appeal for protection and 
 devotion to the cause of liberty and human rights, 
 adding, " May God bless this town forever, and may 
 the principles of its fathers, be the principles of their 
 children." 
 
 Stirring music was then given by the band, after 
 which Dr. Osgood introduced the Rev. Horatio N. 
 Powers, D. D., of Bridgeport, as the next speaker, and 
 upon a topic congenial with him as the friend of Bry- 
 ant, and the author of successful books of thought and 
 sentiment in prose and poetry. It is to be hoped he 
 said, that good would come from urging the im- 
 provement of country towns, and that a new and 
 charming avenue may be opened along our shore 
 from Sea Side Park to Sasco Hill. 
 
 O^ DR. POWERS ON PUBLIC SPIRIT IN OLD RURAL TOWNS. 
 
 A genuine public spirit is as desirable and becom- 
 ing in old country towns as in more populous com- 
 munities, and one expression of it is a cultivated 
 taste that concerns itself in the appropriate orna- 
 mentation of a place. Philip Gilbert Hamerton, 
 that accomplished Englishman to whom the art of 
 the present in both hemispheres is so much indebted, 
 reports a curious but actual conversation that he had 
 once while engaged in sketching in a wild region in 
 Scotland with a British nobleman, who was there fish- 
 ing for trout. His lordship who was a pious person, 
 expressed his utter contempt for all art as sinful folly. 
 
69 
 
 and his belief that those who engaged in such vani- 
 ties were in danger of Hell fire. " Hell is real, sir," 
 he exclaimed, "there it is gaping before us." This 
 anxious nobleman finished his edifying exhortation 
 to the artist by singing an air from the opera of the 
 Traviata and taking a good drink of whiskey. The 
 same kind of consistency has sometimes been observed 
 among our own people in days gone by. New 
 England has produced persons, — I suppose the 
 race is dying out — who could manage to tolerate for 
 a few clays flowers on apple trees — (I don't know 
 whether they could detect the odor of cider in the 
 blossoms) — and flowers on the clover and the potato 
 vines, and possibly a few sunflowers with a view to 
 the seed, but who would have no such trifles as flow- 
 ers about the house for ornament ; indeed, they 
 gravely doubted the piety of any who took a real 
 delight in such things as roses and carnations. 
 
 These characters would give abundant attention to 
 the cattle pen, but precious little to the door-yard ; 
 they admired the friskiness of young lambs, but kept 
 the little children awfully quiet Their parlors were 
 not particularly inspiring to cheerfulness, but then 
 they were seldom open except for funerals ! I do not 
 suppose that we ought to infer that a decadence of 
 religion is going on just because this spirit is not 
 peculiar to the present generation. The fact is we 
 have witnessed a great improvement in the ornamen- 
 tation of our county towns in the last two or three 
 decades which is as creditable to the character of 
 
70 
 
 their inhabitants, as it is to their advantage in many 
 ways. I am not advocating the use of ornament to 
 the neglect of the practical economies. To pet a 
 curious plant and neglect a household duty is no 
 compliment to the aesthetic spirit. To decorate the 
 piazza and leave the back-yard a maze of ugly litter 
 and unwholesome fixtures is as repugnant to a right 
 moral sense as to good taste. Judicious ornament 
 can and should go along with industrial improvement 
 and sanitary precautions. It is plain that the more 
 conspicuous the beauty of a village, other things 
 being equal, the higher it will stand in the general 
 esteem, and the more eagerly it will be sought by 
 those who long for rural repose. Wide streets with 
 abundant shade, suitable sidewalks, an open gener- 
 ous green or park, tasty dwellings with well-kept 
 lawns and a variety of shrubbery and flowers, at- 
 tractive school houses and churches, the cemeteries 
 properly located and embellished, good drives and 
 good drainage — all these are important features of a 
 pleasant and prosperous country town, and should 
 enlist the general attention. The example of a few 
 energetic citizens like the distinguished president of 
 this occasion, in this direction will have a wholesome 
 effect upon the public mind. I am acquainted with 
 no place that illustrates more fully what good taste 
 can do than the village of Fairfield, which is con- 
 spicuous among New England towns for its rare and 
 engaging beauty. There are special reasons, it is 
 true, why it should be superior in this regard. But 
 
71 
 
 our inland towns, however remote, will find it to 
 their advantage to cultivate their rural charms. Some 
 of them are already reaping the rewards of such com- 
 mendable endeavor. Beauty has a powerful and 
 gracious ministry, and no utilities of industry need 
 be dwarfed or paralyzed by its presence. 
 
 One of the most encouraging evidences of an en- 
 lightened public spirit in a country town, is a due 
 regard to its sanitary interests ; but I must leave this 
 point with the simple assertion of their vast impor- 
 tance — an importance which is assuming something 
 like its proper proportions in the minds of educated 
 citizens. 
 
 Another expression of this desirable public spirit 
 is an active social element. The days of husking 
 and apple-paring bees, quiltings and old-fashioned 
 singing schools are about over. Sitting around the 
 bar-room stove and lounging on dry goods boxes and 
 grocery counters, is hardly to be accepted as proof of 
 eminent enterprise or sociability. Where good books 
 are read, where schools are influential, where relieion 
 is more than a mechanical routine, there will be a 
 tendency among the people towards Intercommunion. 
 Conversation will be something more than twaddle 
 and gossip. There will be neighborly kindness, an 
 interest In the higher questions of life, sympathies 
 that bring citizens into pleasant and helpful inter- 
 course. There Is danger in our country towns, that 
 this cordial social spirit be allowed to languish, or 
 rather, that It fail to have adequate expression. 
 
72 
 
 There is often a great deal of kind feeling, hearty 
 good will among people that is not sufficiently 
 demonstrative. Visiting should be kept up among 
 neighbors. Practical benevolence should be culti- 
 vated. Social gatherings should be encouraged, and 
 intellectual and spiritual interests should be suppor- 
 ted by the contact of mind with mind and heart with 
 heart. People don't know how rich their stores of 
 enjoyment and improvement are until they get into 
 intimate relations. 
 
 Finally, every town almost has a history which the 
 pride of its inhabitants ought to keep in lively remem- 
 brance. There are enough who will preserve the tra- 
 ditions of horrors and follies, comic extravagances, ill- 
 odored scandal. But the men who have o-one forth to 
 act noble parts in life should not be forgotten. The 
 significance of important local events should be per- 
 petuated. That is a sad state of the popular mind 
 where there is no spirit that appreciates and honors 
 what is creditable and venerable in the annals of 
 the town. Suitable commemorations tend to keep 
 alive in the common heart a sense of obligation to 
 the past ; they stimulate the best mind of the present 
 with examples of noble citizenship and foster the 
 reverence that should be paid to the illustrious dead, 
 This phrase of public spirit cannot be too much com- 
 mended. For one I heartily rejoice in such a becom- 
 ing and inspiring illustration of it as that which 
 signalizes this occasion. May Fairfield forever be an 
 example of what a rural town ought to be. 
 
12> 
 
 After Hail Columbia by the band, the President 
 referred to the welcome presence of our own towns- 
 people from Greenfield and Southport, and called 
 upon Rev. Edward H. Wells of Southport, whose 
 delicate health did not allow him to speak at length. 
 
 Remarks of Rev. Edward H. Wells : 
 
 He spoke for Southport and for good neighbor- 
 hood, also for the whole Union. He rejoiced" he 
 said, with Gov. Hampton, whom he had heard say he 
 ''was glad that the war of 1861 turned out as it did ; 
 that the Union ought never to have been touched." 
 This occasion he said was a national one, and he, a 
 southerner, rejoiced with the people of Fairfield. He 
 was proud of Connecticut, and there was not a state 
 in the Union but what had felt its power and influ- 
 ence. He quoted the late John C. Calhoun, as say- 
 ing he owed to New England all the might and power 
 he possessed. He hoped that the people of the 
 north and of the south would present such a solid 
 front for the perpetuity of the Union that no hand 
 would dare to again assail its flag or tamper with its 
 constitution. " God bless you all here to-day, God 
 bless Connecticut, God bless my Country." 
 
 After this "■ Columbia the Gem of the Ocean " 
 was sung by the united Choirs. 
 
 Then Dr. Osgood said that the next speaker had 
 been brought by express, a fifteen hours journey to 
 meet this occasion, and alike as an old Fairfield resi- 
 dent and representative, and as a typical American, 
 he belonged here now. It had been his task to give 
 
74 
 
 our people innocent recreation — to make Americans 
 laugh without being foolish. His motto had been 
 "laugh and be wise" by amusement without impro- 
 priety or excess. He had reason to thank Mr. Bar- 
 num for the finest music he had ever had, and for 
 allowing the American people to hear Jenny Lind 
 sing " I know that my Redeemer liveth," Mr. Bar- 
 num will now speak upon " Self control essential in 
 a Republic." 
 
 MR. BARNUM ON SELF CONTROL IN REPUBLICS. 
 
 Mr. Barnum said he supposed he should have to 
 make a spread-eagle speech, but he thought it would 
 be hard to squeeze the eagle into five minutes ; it 
 generally took orators an hour and a half. In 1844 
 I was present in Glasgow, Scotland, when the free- 
 dom of the city was presented to Lord John Russell. 
 His lordship in the course of his reply to the "Ad- 
 dress " said, " Great Britain clothes America and I 
 am willing that America should continue in part to 
 feed Great Britain." 
 
 In those days we imported most of our cloth and 
 other manufactures from England. But if Gen. 
 Tryon could see the progress which we have made as 
 a nation in one hundred years, his government would 
 hesitate before they again let him " try on " the firing 
 of our towns and cities. The World's Fairs of Lon- 
 don, Paris, Vienna and Philadelphia have opened the 
 eyes of the old world. We supply them with our 
 agricultural implements, sewing machines and watch- 
 es, our muslins and calicos are selling in Manchester, 
 
75 
 
 and our cutlery is competing in Sheffield with the 
 manufacturers of that city. Our inventions and 
 "Yankee Notions," are spread all over the civilized 
 world, the ocean is covered with ships carrying to 
 Europe our grain, beef, horses, cattle, cheese, and 
 even fresh oysters, lobsters, peaches and melons. 
 
 England, which for scores of years has boasted 
 of her high bred race horses sees the prizes carried 
 off by Mr. Lorillard's Parole — and although she still 
 sings " Britannia rules the waves," and glories in her 
 annual Oxford and Cambridge boat races, Hanlan 
 goes across the water and with his scull and oars 
 whips them all out of their boots. England sends 
 her " walkist " to America and takes the "belt" but 
 scarcely has he touched the British shores before our 
 American Weston triumphantly captures it again. 
 
 No nation on earth has progressed in material and 
 other respects as has this nation since the beautiful 
 town of Fairfield was burned by the British one 
 hundred years ago to-day. 
 
 No nation on the face of the earth to-day is so 
 happy and prosperous as ours, and no nation pos- 
 sesses the same elements of future greatness^of 
 peace and plenty. 
 
 But "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," es- 
 pecially under a Republican government. A govern- 
 ment of the people by the people, must be charac- 
 terized by honesty, wisdom and justice. The wise 
 man truly said : " Righteousness exalteth a nation." 
 Rome was a great and proud Republic, but her 
 wickedness and folly brought her to the dust. 
 
76 
 
 No republic can live, nor had ought to live, whose 
 laws are made under the influence of hatred, selfish- 
 ness or bad whiskey. The rum traffic and rum- 
 drinking habits exercise an almost omnipotent power 
 and influence over our political elections. This giant 
 evil of our land concentrates and combines the crim- 
 inal and vicious classes, and delivers the government 
 of our cities into their hands. Consequently many 
 members of city " Common Councils," and even of 
 Legislatures and of Congress, elected by the vile 
 votes of the rum power, would be a disgrace to a 
 government of African savages. The votes of 
 American citizens are counted and not weighed ; 
 the ballot of the poor drunkard in the ditch, bought 
 with a pint of whiskey, counts as much as the vote 
 of His Excellency, our worthy Governor, hence if 
 we would live as a Republic we must reform, re- 
 fine and elevate the poor victims of the rum delu- 
 sion. The whole essence of the Gospel and the 
 Christian religion consists of love to God and to 
 man ; and on these two commandments our Sa- 
 viour said hung " «// the law and the prophets." As 
 American citizens then, if we would guard and pre- 
 serve our liberties, our happiness and our true great- 
 ness, we must work for public good. Not only our 
 churches and schools must correctly teach total ab- 
 stinence from all that intoxicates, but our personal 
 efforts must be devoted to educating the people, en- 
 couraging them to honor and practice labor, to deal 
 with each other as brethren of one great family, and 
 
11 
 
 to instill into the minds of the rising generation the 
 great truth that the human brain (which gives us 
 reason and distinguishes us from the brute creation 
 whose instinct only guides them) must be kept clear, 
 and umnuddled, if we aspire to be a great noble free 
 people governing ourselves. Business success comes 
 from three things, industry, perseverance, and a clear 
 intellect to lay plans and to execute them. To pre- 
 serve this great nation we must continually work and 
 act and do. It is a glorious practice to celebrate such 
 days as this and our national birth-day, for it keeps 
 up our enthusiasm for self government, but talk 
 without labor will set the nation asleep and betray 
 her into the hands of the enemy. It is very nice to 
 run up our flags and bunting, to play Hail Columbia 
 and Yankee Doodle, but to make our liberties and 
 national happiness permanent, Yankee Doodle is 
 not enough, it must be Yankee Doodle-<^(9. 
 
 The band then played the old Yankee tune w^ith 
 remarkable spirit, and the President introduced Pro- 
 fessor Dwight, of Yale College, grandson of the 
 celebrated President Dwight, who for years taught 
 and preached-in Greenfield Hill, and who wrote the 
 poem of that name. 
 
 Professor Dwight sDoke in substance as follows : 
 The People, said he, believed in self-government 
 but had been unable to exercise it or he should not 
 be there to make a speech. He said that the only 
 two poems President Dwight had written were 
 " Greenfield Hill " and the " Road to Canaan." What- 
 
78 
 
 ever attribute had been transmitted to the speaker it 
 had not been the poetic. The speaker said he had 
 endeavored in his humble way to teach men that they 
 might lead men to Canaan. An able New Haven 
 clergyman once, preaching upon the character of 
 Peter, remarked that he received his remarkable 
 energy from his mother. When the members of the 
 congregation returned home they referred to their 
 Bibles and found that Peter's remarkable energy came 
 from his wife's mother, and so he had come and had 
 received energy to make a speech from his wife's 
 mother, a very pleasant relation, however. 
 
 The President then referred to the close relation 
 existing between Fairfield and Green's Farms, once 
 called the West Parish of Fairfield, and suffering with 
 this town in the raid of Tryon. Rev. B. J. Relyea 
 of Green's Farms responded : 
 
 He said that he thought it was the glory of those 
 who repelled the British that they had such worthy 
 descendants. It would not be to their credit if there 
 were none who esteemed their valor and patriotism 
 enough to commemorate their brave deeds. People 
 go to Rome and Athens, not to see what has been 
 accomplished in modern times, but to see what the 
 fathers did. He was glad General Tryon had not 
 left any old ruins to be gazed at in Fairfield. He 
 spoke a word for the brave women of 1779, who, 
 when the men were away fighting, dared to face the 
 enemy at home. 
 
79 
 
 The President showed a cannon ball that had been 
 iired from the American guns upon the British from the 
 hills and said that was a sugar plum for Tryon's men 
 that was well deserved. Sweeter missiles were now 
 interchanged, and our programme indicates our spirit 
 now towards England as Sir Edward Thornton's kind 
 letter indicates Englands' sentiment towards America 
 There is to be held, August i ith, at Guild Hall, Lon- 
 don, an International Code Congress to which some 
 persons present, like himself, had been invited, under 
 the presidency of the Chief Justice of England, 
 This day's proceedings might tell a little upon the 
 future law and policy of Nations. 
 
 Rev. John A. Buckingham, of Massachusetts, was 
 next introduced as from the noble old Bay State, and 
 as the son of the once famous Boston editor, Joseph 
 T. Buckingham : Mr. Buckingham made the last 
 speech and spoke of the connections of his ancestors 
 with the State and its achievements. 
 
 The President then announced that the time had 
 arrived for closing this stirring meeting, and that 
 after the hymn " America" had been sung by the cho- 
 rus and the people, the procession would form to 
 escort the Governor to the station. The hymn was 
 sung with enthusiasm, and with three cheers from the 
 great assembly of guests and hosts for the success 
 of the occasion, and for the future good feeling of 
 neighbors and countrymen, and especially for the 
 ladies who had spread the tables with plenty, the 
 
8o 
 
 procession was formed. The band, with the police, 
 led the way. Then came the Governor and other 
 officers of the day in a barouch drawn by four horses, 
 with a long line of carriages and people on foot. 
 The procession passed down Beach Lane into Main 
 Street by the old historical sites, and reached the 
 station in time for the train to Bridgeport at half 
 past four. 
 
 Thus closed a day unprecedented in the annals of 
 this quiet old town, and full of enjoyment and in- 
 struction. A large number of our people by their 
 contributions of money and provisions helped on the 
 hospitality of the occasion, and the great assembly 
 of guests received the hospitality shown them in a 
 courtesy both honorable to them and acceptable to 
 us. 
 
 How many persons were present, we cannot say 
 with certainty, but the number rose into the thous- 
 ands, and, whilst cautious observers were content to 
 say that three thousand persons were in sight at one 
 time on the Green, more enthusiastic spectators 
 claim that in the course of the day Fairfield showed 
 ten thousand people and one thousand vehicles in the 
 streets. 
 
 The old times and the new met together, especial- 
 ly when the President of the day drank the health 
 of the Governor and the ladies, in the silver tankard 
 that belonged to the Rev. Andrew Eliot, in 1779. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 We publish such portion of our correspondence 
 as is hkely most to interest readers and to add to 
 the historical value of this record. 
 
 [Besides sending a telegram, President Hayes 
 honored the occasion by the following official letter :] 
 
 From President Hayes : 
 
 Executive Mansion, 
 
 Washington, July 7, 1879. 
 Dear Sir : — I am directed by the President, to acknowledge 
 with thanks, the receipt of your favor of the 27th ultimo, and to 
 express his regret that he will be unable to attend the Centennial 
 Commemoration of the Burning of Fairfield 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 W. K. ROGERS, 
 
 Private Secretary^ 
 Mr. Wm. a. Beers, 
 
 Secretary^ 6^r., 
 
 Fairfield., Conn. 
 
 From Governor Andrews: _ 
 
 Executive Department, 
 Hartford, Conn. 
 
 Litchfield, yuly i, 1879. 
 Wm. a. Beers: 
 
 My Dear Sir : — I propose to come down by the first train from 
 here in the morning, which will bring me to Bridgeport at about 10 
 o'clock, A. M. I do not know how long it will take to come over 
 to Fairfield — I shall come by the first train. 
 
 Perhaps you can write me what train I had best take ; I desire 
 to suit your convenience. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 CHARLES B. ANDREWS. 
 
82 
 
 From Sir Edward Thornton : 
 
 British Legation, 
 Newburyport, Mass., /u/y 3, 1879. 
 Sir : — I am much obliged to you for the kind invitation which 
 you have forwarded me, to be present at the ceremony which is 
 to take place at Fairfield on the 8th inst. I regret, however, that 
 previous engagements will prevent my availing myself of it, I, 
 at the same time, beg to assure you of the high appreciation 
 which I entertain of the good-will shown towards the country 
 which I have the honor to represent, and to express my hope that 
 the friendship which now exists between the two countries may 
 never be interrupted. 
 
 I remain, Sir, truly yours, 
 
 EDWD. THORNTON. 
 Wm. a. Beers, 
 
 Secretary, &'c., 
 
 Fairfield, Conn. 
 
 From the Right Rev. John Williams : 
 
 MiDDLETOWN, J^uly 2, 1879. 
 
 My Dear Dr. Osgood : — I very much regret that an impera- 
 tive engagement will deprive me of the pleasure of being at Fair- 
 field on the 8th. With every good wish for the success — of which 
 there can be no doubt — of t^e celebration, 
 
 I am, faithfully yours, 
 
 J. WILLIAMS. 
 
 From the Right Rev. Bishop Potter : 
 
 Rye Beach, N. H., yiily 8, 1879. 
 Dear Dr. Osgood : — I thank you very much for your kindness 
 in sending me a card of invitation to the Fairfield Centennial. 
 It was a pleasant conception and your proceedings are nicely 
 
 arranged. 
 
 Your card came to me only this morning ; therefore, as to an 
 appearance at Fairfield, you must accept the will for the deed. 
 
 I am, affectionately yours, 
 
 H. POTTER. 
 The Rev. Dr. Osgood. 
 
83 
 
 From President Noah Porter : 
 
 Yale College, 
 New Haven, Conn., July 3, 1879. 
 Rev. Samuel Osgood, D. D., Preside?it, &c. : 
 
 My Dear Sir : — It would give me especial pleasure to be 
 present at the Centennial Commemoration of the Burning ot 
 Fairfield, which event, for special reasons, took strong hold of 
 my youthful imagination, but a previous engagement makes this 
 impossible. With sincere regard and thanks 
 
 I am, very truly yours, 
 
 N. PORTER. 
 
 From the Hon. Robert C Winthrop : 
 
 Brookline, Mass., July 4, 1879. 
 
 My Dear Dr. Osgood : — Your programme for the Centennial 
 at Fairfield is most tempting, and your invitation is most kind. 
 My ancestral ties to Connecticut are hardly less strong than those 
 to Massachusetts, and I would gladly unite in such a commemo- 
 ration. It would be a peculiar pleasure to me to listen to your 
 own address, as well as to the historic discourse of Dr. Rankin. 
 And then to spend a day or two at Greenfield Hill, and enjoy its 
 inspiring charms, would fill up the measure of a delightful occa- 
 sion, which I am deeply sorry to miss. But I must deny myself. 
 Neither engagements nor health will allow me to adventure on 
 such an excursion. 
 
 Pray present my most grateful acknowledgments to your com- 
 mittee, and accept my best thanks for yourself. 
 
 Ever faithfully, your friend and serv't, 
 
 ROB'T C. WINTHROP. 
 Rev. Samuel Osgood, D. D. 
 
 From the Rev. Dr. Lyman Atwater : 
 
 College of New Jersey, 
 
 Princeton, Jti^/y i, 1879. 
 My Dear Dr. Osgood : — I deeply regret that prior engage- 
 ments will prevent my acceptance of the kind invitation to be 
 present at the Centennial Commemoration of the Burning of 
 Fairfield by the British a century ago. It would give me 
 great pleasure to attend the exercises on that occasion, so inter- 
 
84 
 
 esting in itself, while it is made doubly so to me, both by manifold 
 associations and memories, and by the prominent part which 
 friends so valued by me, and so competent for the task, are to 
 take in its exercises. 
 
 These have a sad aspect if we look only at the savage burning 
 of the beautiful village in violation of all the rules of civilized 
 warfare, which, in a day, made houseless and homeless a body of 
 people as elevated as ever dwelt in like habitations. But it has a 
 joyous and exultant side. The patriotism, valor, and self-sacrifice 
 of our ancestors were only more fully proved and invigorated by 
 these prodigious sufferings which were the price of the liberty 
 and independence of themselves and their children. In these we 
 joy and glory. These and the victories achieved by them, should 
 be celebrated and perpetuated in honorable remembrance by be- 
 coming festivities. 
 
 It was my privilege during my early ministry in Fairfield to 
 know and commune with some of those noble men, and " honor- 
 able women, not a few," who shared in these privations, conflicts, 
 and triumphs. 
 
 Although in person necessarily absent, in heart I shall be with 
 you in the approaching celebration. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 LYMAN H. ATWATER. 
 
 p. s. — It may or may not fall in your way to note — what you 
 doubtless are aware of — the close and honorable connection of 
 the town of Fairfield with the higher institutions of learning in 
 the country. Not only were sons of the earlier ministers of 
 Fairfield leading members of the Corporation of Yale College, 
 but, near the beginning of this century. Dr. Timothy Dwight was 
 called from Greenfield Church to the Presidency, and Prof. Ben- 
 jamin Silliman, son of General Silliman of Holland Hill, promi- 
 nent in the revolutionary war, was called to a Professorship in 
 Yale College, positions which they so adorned, as to contribute 
 more to the advancement of that college than any other two men 
 in its whole history. Rev. Aaron Burr, father of Aaron Burr, 
 Vice-President of the United States, and son-in-law of President 
 Edwards, was the first President of Princeton College after it was 
 organized as a College, and successful and honored administrator 
 of its affairs. Dr. Heman Humphries, pastor of the old First 
 Church of Fairfield, became President of Amherst College about 
 
85 
 
 a half century ago, and it had a rapid growth under his adminis- 
 tration. The town has furnished students, not only for Yale, but 
 for Harvard, Princeton, Williams, Amherst, and other Colleges, 
 some of whom have done honor to their alma mater^ and their 
 native town. 
 
 From the Rev. Dr. E. P. Humphrey : 
 
 Louisville, Ky., y"///y 3, 1879. 
 
 Rev. Samuel Osgood, D. D., President^ dr'c. 
 « 
 
 William A. Beers, Secretary, qt'c. 
 
 My Dear Sirs : — I am honored by your invitation to be pres- 
 ent at the approaching Centennial Commemoration to be held in 
 Fairfield. I regret that I cannot go thither at that time. 
 
 It is my happiness to be recognized in this invitation, as a 
 native-born Fairfield man. I have been unable to visit the town, 
 except at long intervals, since my boyhood ; but I am of opinion 
 that no true man will allow absence, or the lapse of time to defeat 
 his birth-rights in our dear old " Half-shire." 
 
 I indulge myself in the pleasant thought that I sustain a certain 
 near relation to the people whose property was destroyed. My 
 honored father, the Rev. Dr. Heman Humphrey, became the 
 minister of Fairfield in 1806, only twenty-seven years after the 
 burning. We may assume that not a few of his parishioners 
 were among the sufferers. The names of the principal families 
 of the town were always household words in our house ; and our 
 parents taught their children to hold these people in honor and 
 love. You say well, that among them were some of the best 
 ^'men and women of the land." 
 
 You will be interested in a graphic description of Fairfield in 
 1806, which I find in my father's auto-biography. Here it is: 
 
 "Fairfield was then a considerable village, and the half-shire, 
 town of the county; but very plain in its external appearance 
 Not more than four or five of the houses, I believe had ever been 
 painted, and these were now so weather-beaten that the signs of 
 paint had well nigh disappeared. Fairfield had been burnt during 
 the revolution. By this calamity the inhabitants were very much 
 impoverished, and were obliged to rebuild in as plain a style as 
 was consistent with the comfort of their families." 
 
 "Some had more property and intelligence than others; but 
 while none were rich, few were very poor. And there was a free- 
 
86 
 
 dom and cordiality in social intercourse which was delightful 
 Whole neighborhoods lived together like one great family of many 
 branches. This was ascribed to the fellowship of suffering pro- 
 duced by the calamities of war." Thus far the old-time minister 
 of our native town. 
 
 And now, may that Great Being, the God of our Fathers, who 
 bore the generation of 1639 across the seas, and who sustained 
 the generation of 1779 amidst the flames — may He be the 
 dwelling place of their children in all generations ! 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 EDWARD P. HUMPHREY. 
 
 From the Rev. Augustine F. Hewit, D.D. : 
 Paulist Covnent, 
 
 59th Street and 9th Avenue, 
 
 New York, June 28, 1879. 
 
 Rev, and Dear Sir : — I have the pleasure of acknowledging^ 
 the receipt of your kind note, and also of the Secretary's official 
 invitation to the Commemoration at Fairfield on the 8th of July, 
 which arrived only this morning. 
 
 If I find it convenient to come up on that day, I will very 
 gladly comply with your request, by making a short speech if 
 time permits, and the addresses are not too numerous and long 
 for the good humor of the audience. 
 
 The occasion is an interesting one, and all the circumstances 
 of place and time are favorable for such a celebration, if only the 
 elements are propitious. I trust you may have a bright, cool day, 
 with a friendly cloud to veil the mid-day sun, and no rain to in- 
 terrupt the enjoyment of the occasion. I have no doubt all pres- 
 ent will be disposed to offer up, sincerely, the prayer of the 
 soldier's little boy, " Oh ! Lord, let there be no more wars." 
 
 I remain, yours truly, 
 
 AUGUSTINE F. HEWIT. 
 Rev. Dr. Osgood, 
 
 Fairfield, Conn. 
 
87 
 
 From the Hon. Solomon Lincoln : 
 
 HiNGHAM, July 2, 1879. 
 
 Rev. Samuel Osgood, President. 
 
 Dear Sir : — I have received your circular inviting me to be 
 
 present at the Centennial Commemoration of the Burning of 
 
 Fairfield, in 1779. -^ regret that the state of my health is such 
 
 that it will preclude my acceptonce of your courteous invitation. 
 
 With great respect, 
 
 I am, your ob't serv't, 
 
 SOLOMON LINCOLN. 
 
 From George F)imon, Fsq. : 
 
 Milan, O., June 30, 1879. 
 
 Gentlemen : — Your circular-letter inviting me to be present 
 at a Centennial Commemoration of the anniversary of the burn- 
 ing of the houses, stores and churches in old Fairfield, by the 
 British troops, was received by due course of mail. 
 
 I feel flattered to know that I was remembered — but, yet, I 
 may have some claims to notice on such an occasion, as I am the 
 oldest male descendent of my Grandfather, William Dimon, whose 
 house and buildings were burned — and, also, of my Grandfather, 
 John Andrews, who served his country as a soldier seven years 
 in the war of the revolution, and who lived his last days in Green's. 
 Farms. I well remember the many stories he told of hardship 
 and suffering during that time, and, although I have now connec- 
 tions in England, I feel a little guilty when I think of the red- 
 coats of that day — and now, after thirty-four years residence in 
 the land we once called New Connecticut, my feelings of attach- 
 ment to my native land are as strong as ever. Mill River, South- 
 port, and Fairfield will always seem pleasant and homelike. 
 
 As a boy, and young man, I knew personally all the leading 
 men of Fairfield and vicinity, and we looked up to them with 
 veneration and respect, feeling that they were very great men. 
 
 There was Gen. Burr, Col. Burr, Sam'l Rowland, Sheriff Dimon, 
 Doctor Hull, Deacon Judson, our Pastor, Rev. Humphrey, Roger 
 M. Sherman, Judge Sturges, Capt. Gould Jennings, Capt. A. Ben- 
 son, Lothrop Lewis, Gould Allen, James Knapp, Jeremiah Jen- 
 nings, and old uncle Anse Trubee, and his flock of sheep. All 
 of these men and many others I remember, and now, in passing 
 through the town, it seems as if I ought to see some of them 
 but we pass away and everything changes. I find now but few 
 
of the landmarks of other days, notably two that don't change ; 
 one, Hyde's Pond, another, the old academy, where, in my go- 
 to-school days, Murray's English, Virgil's Latin and Homer's 
 Greek, were themes of much hard study by very many young men 
 fitting themselves for a college course. 
 
 I regret exceedingly that circumstances prevent my being with 
 you on this occasion. It would be a treat, indeed, to see and 
 meet so many of your people, and help commemorate the day. 
 
 Hoping you may have a pleasant day, and have very many with 
 you, and that your historic speaker will tell to them a good 
 story, while 
 
 I remain, yours very respectfully, 
 
 George Dimon. 
 Rev. Sam'l Osgood, D. D., President^ 
 Wm. a. Beers, Secretary^ 
 
 Fairfield Commemoration, 
 
 Fairfield, Ct. 
 
 From the Rev- Edivard E. Beardsley, D. D., L. L. D. 
 
 New Haven, Conn., July 5th, 1879. 
 Rev. Samuel Osgood, D. D., L. L. D., President. 
 
 My Dear Doctor : — I have been favored with an invitation 
 to be present the 8th inst. at the Centennial Commemoration o^ 
 the Burning of Fairfield. It would afford me much pleasure to 
 witness the exercises, but my engagements at home will not 
 permit me to leave on that day. 
 
 These Centennials bring out the history, so far as it has been 
 preserved, of some of the more important local events of the 
 Revolution, but they have no power to reproduce the scenes of 
 suffering and of terror through which our forefathers were com- 
 pelled to pass. We cannot, by stepping back a century, measure 
 the degree of excitement and feeling which prevailed among both 
 the adherents of the crown and the supporters of independence. 
 They shared alike in the devastations of the invading army, and 
 my historical researches have led me to believe that in the heats 
 and passions of the revolution, scant justice was sometimes done 
 to those who could not in their consciences favor the war, yet 
 stoutly opposed taxation without representation, and preferred to 
 vindicate their rights as British subjects within the colonies. 
 This was eminently the case with Dr. Wm. Sam'l Johnson, of 
 
89 
 
 Stratford, a statesman whom Connecticut honored by appointing 
 him one of the delegates to the convention which framed the 
 Federal constitution, and by subsequently choosing him her first 
 Senator in Congress. 
 
 The clergy and members of the Church of England in the 
 colonies, were for the most part loyal to the King, but the Tories, 
 as they were stigmatized, were not all of that religious faith. 
 Here, in New Haven, the same expedition which invaded and 
 burnt Fairfield, met with sympathizers who belonged to the Stand- 
 ing Order, and one of the most conspicuous and wealthy among 
 them — a distinguished lawyer who had been for nearly a score of 
 years a communicant member of the First Congregational Church 
 — accepted for himself and his family the protection of Governor 
 Tryon, and left with the troops when they re-embarked and sailed 
 away to apply the torch to your defenceless town. With the 
 destruction of the stores and houses in Fairfield went the Episco- 
 pal Church, and, at a later date, two others were burnt in the 
 Colony by the very invaders whose cause they were supposed to 
 maintain. 
 
 We must allow what has passed into history to stand, but it is 
 well in these days to recognize the fact that, in the descendants 
 of the participants of the Revolutionary War, on both sides, has 
 flowed some of the best blood of Connecticut. From Patriot and 
 Tory families have come those who have contributed to the honor 
 and prosperity of the State and the nation, and made names for 
 themselves which will live in literature, science, and religion, when 
 generation after generation has passed away. 
 
 Thanking you for the invitation, 
 
 I remain, very truly yours, 
 
 E. E. BEARDSLEY. 
 
 From the Rev. Dr. T. IV. Coit : 
 
 MiDDLETOWN, CONN. 
 
 Wm. a. Beers, Esq. 
 
 Dear Sir : — Many thanks for an invitation to the Centennial 
 Commemoration at Fairfield. I should like to witness it ; but 
 since the death of my oldest son, I have avoided publicity as 
 
 much as possible. 
 
 Yours very respectfully, 
 
 T. W. Coit. 
 W. A. Beers, Esq., 
 
 Secretary, &=€. 
 
90 
 
 From the Rev- George P. Fisher^ D. £>., L. L. D. : 
 
 New Haven, July 7, 1879, 
 Rev. Samuel Osgood, D. D. 
 
 My Dear Sir : — I regret that I am prevented from accepting 
 the invitation with which I have been honored, to attend the 
 Commemoration of the sufferings and self-sacrifice of the inhabi- 
 tants of Fairfield which is to be held to-morrow. 
 
 With sincere thanks to the Committee for the favor of an invi- 
 tation, 
 
 Believe me, Dear Sir, 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 GEORGE P. FISHER. 
 Rev. Dr. Osgood. 
 
 From the Rev. J. T. Headley : 
 
 Newburgh, /i/Iy 5, 1879. 
 
 My Dear Sir : — I regret that my engagements will prevent 
 me from accepting your polite invitation to be present at the 
 Centennial Commemoration of the Burning of Fairfield, on the 
 8th inst. I take a great interest in all these centennial celebra- 
 tions of the important events of our revolution. They are oc- 
 curring at the right time, and tend to rekindle the interest in that 
 unparalelled struggle for freedom that the stirring events of our 
 late civil war had well nigh extinguished. 
 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 
 J. T. HEADLEY. 
 Rev. Samuel Osgood, D. D. 
 
 From the Hon. Divight Morris : 
 
 Bridgeport, /u?ie 30, 1879. 
 
 My Dear Sir : — Your kind invitation to attend the Centennial 
 Celebration of the Burning of Fairfield, is received. 
 
 It will afford me great pleasure to attend, and join with you all, 
 but do not call on me to speak. The names on the programme 
 who make addresses are too far ahead of me to permit it. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 dwight morris. 
 
 Rev. Samuel Osgood, D. D. 
 
91 
 
 From Colonel Robert C. Wet?nore : 
 
 Orange Valley, 
 
 New Jersey, yttly 3, 1879. 
 
 Rev. and Dear Sir : — Your very kind and flattering re- 
 membrance of myself in your Secretary's transmitted invita- 
 tion, for my presence at your Centennial Commemoration of the 
 Burning of Fairfield by the British troops, July the 8th, 1779, is- 
 duly received. 
 
 If a descendant of one of Fairfield's most fearless defenders 
 (Quartermaster Richard Hubbell), during that perilous period of 
 its history, which your proposed celebration is to recall, then I 
 am indeed worthy of the distinction your invitation confers. 
 
 You will readily believe I am deeply grieved that my connec- 
 tion with the celebration of the 4th instant, deprives me of the 
 pleasure of again meeting cherished friends upon that venerated 
 old " Green," and from adding some, perhaps, interesting his- 
 torical reminiscences of past generations, who were wont to- 
 assemble there in council. 
 
 With very high respect, &c., 
 
 Robert C. Wetmore, 
 To Samuel Osgood, D. D., To the manor born. 
 
 President, ar^c. 
 
 From the Mayor of New Haven : 
 
 City Clerk's Office, No. 7 City Hall,. 
 New Haven, July 7, 1879. 
 
 Dear Sirs : — Your kind invitation to participate in your Cen- 
 tennial was duly received, but owing to the excitement and rush 
 attendant on our own celebration, I have not been able to give 
 an earlier answer. Personally, if possible, I shall be present. 
 As to the Aldermen and Councilmen, they have held no meeting, 
 since the arrival of your invitation. The Aldermen meet this 
 evening, when I shall lay the matter before them. 
 
 Hoping that your celebration may be as successful as ours has. 
 
 been, I remain. 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 H. B. BiGELOW, Mayor, 
 Com. on Centennial Celebration, 
 Fairfield, Co?in. 
 
92 
 
 Fi'om A. Foote, Clerk of Selectmen of New Haven : 
 
 Office of Selectmen and Town Agent, 
 No. 2 City Hali, 
 
 New Haven, Ct., July 7, 1879. 
 Wm. a. Beers, Esq. 
 
 Sec'y on the Committee on Centennial Commemoration. 
 Dear Sir : — Your invitation to the New Haven Board of select- 
 men to be present and participate in the exercises on the occasion 
 ■of the Centennial Commemoration of the invasion of the town of 
 Fairfield by the British troops, has been duly received and ordered 
 placed on file. 
 
 In reply I am instructed by the Board to say to you, that this 
 occasion, occuring so soon after a like occasion in our own town 
 and city, and the usual press of business in consequence of semi- 
 annual adjustments necessitates, with regret, a declination of your 
 very kind and cordial invitation. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 A. FOOTE, 
 
 Clerk Board of Selectmen. 
 
 George N. French^ Esq., Chairman of Cojnmon Council of Bridgeport. 
 
 Bridgeport, July, 4th, 1879. 
 W. A. Beers, Secretary, 
 
 Dear Sir :— The Common Council having voted to accept your 
 very kind invitation to participate with you in the commemoration 
 services, and having appointed the undersigned chairman of a 
 Committee to make the necessary arrangements to this end, I would 
 be pleased to hear from you in reference to your plans, and as to 
 the time you wish the Council to arrive at your place and as to 
 whether you are to have a parade. Any information in regard to 
 the matter will aid the Committee very much in the discharge of 
 their duty. Would you prefer to have us come by cars or in 
 
 carriages ? 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 GEORGE N. FRENCH, 
 
 Chairman of Committee. 
 
 From P. T. Barnum Esq.: 
 
 MoNTPELiER, Vt., July, 5th, 1879. 
 
 My Dear Dr. Osgood : — Yours of yesterday arrived on this, my 
 69th birthday. You say I have made the nation laugh and be 
 
93 
 
 wise. Yet I have tried to have them laugh without doing it 
 through bad whiskey. I have not taught them to laugh at vulgar- 
 ity, obscenity nor profanity. 
 
 As the French poet did not care who made the laws, if he 
 might write the ballads of a nation, so I have felt in a degree in 
 relation to the anmsements of a nation. The people will have 
 recreation — their natures need and demand it — he who will 
 provide it, freed from all poisons, is in some regard a public bene- 
 factor. My chief object in continuing a public menagerie is to 
 elevate and refine such popular amusements as are found under 
 traveling tents. 
 
 I shall be tired after my fifteen hours railroad journey, reaching 
 Bridgeport at 10.05 Tuesday, A. M. I shall then see, I hope, by 
 the Bridgeport newspapers at what hour the Fairfield proceedings 
 take place, and try to be on hand. I have no idea what I can say^ 
 but will try and think, and keep within the ten minutes. 
 
 Truly yours, 
 
 P. T. BARNUM. 
 
 From T. P. Handy, Esq.: 
 
 Cleveland, O., July, 3d, 1879. 
 Wm. a. Beers, Secretary 
 
 My Dear Sir : — Please accept my thanks for the honor of your 
 kind invitation for the 8th inst. at the Centennial Commemoration 
 in the old town of Fairfield, with my regrets that I shall be unable 
 to be present or to participate in the services of the day. 
 
 I esteem it a pleasure that I was once a resident of that beautiful 
 town and enjoyed the society of some of its esteemed and valued 
 citizens. 
 
 I shall always cherish those pleasant memories, and rejoice in 
 its continued attractions and prosperity. 
 
 Thanking you again for the extended invitation, and trusting that 
 the occasion will be a pleasant one to all, 
 
 I remain, with much esteem, 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 T. P. HANDY. 
 
 From Mrs. E. H. Schenck : 
 
 Southport Conn., June, 26th, 1879. 
 My Dear Dr. Osgood : — Since I saw you this afternoon I have 
 thought of a few things in our family history which you may 
 
94 
 
 perhaps like to know about, and which are interesting in the 
 liistory of our town, and they are these : 
 
 My father's grandfather, Nathan Godfrey, was one of the 
 earhest settlers of Greens Farm's, and was also one of fourteen 
 to build the First Congregational "" meeting house" at that place, 
 of which the Rev. Mr. Relyea speaks in his centennial history of 
 the settlement of Green's Farms. 
 
 My father represents the third generation of his family, and 
 was named after his father, Jonathan Godfrey, the son of Nathan 
 Godfrey. 
 
 My brother being dead, I, as the oldest of the family represent 
 the fourth generation, and Charles Godfrey, (my nephew and the 
 •son of my eldest brother) represents the fifth generation of our 
 family who have lived in this town, in this county, for over two 
 hundred years. 
 
 Then, again, my mother's family were the old Hubbell family at 
 Greenfield, who also date back to the settlement of Greenfield, 
 My mother's mother was a Jennings of the old Jennings family 
 that first settled Fairfield. And as my father's grandfather mar- 
 ried a Jennings, no less than three of the early settlers head our 
 family tree. In fact four families head our family tree, for my 
 father's mother, who was a Whitehead, dates back to the first set- 
 tlement of Green's Farms. 
 
 It cannot be often said that a family have lived so continuously 
 in one place. 
 
 The old Bulkley family, of which mention is made in the history 
 of the burning of Fairfield, are not the Bulkley family of Southport, 
 but the one at Green's Farms of which Abraham Bulkley and 
 Joel B. Bulkley are the descendants, I notice this because the 
 Bulkleys of this place are confused with this family at Green's 
 Farms. It was Abraham Bulkley, who opened his house to our 
 church of England families after the little church near Mrs. 
 Rowland's, was burned by the British, which house still stands on 
 the East side of the Green, at Fairfield. Do you not think that 
 this Joel B. Bulkley, who is now over eighty, should be invited to 
 represent so loyal a family in church and state in the history of our 
 town. They are highly respectable farmers. My mother has often 
 told me that Abraham Bulkley, of revolutionary remembrance, was 
 a man of education, and a gentleman in every way. A son of this 
 Joel Bulkley often sings in our church at Fairfield with Mrs. Lom- 
 bard. 
 
95 
 
 Please pardon my long note, allowing me to say one thing more 
 about my own family, which is that they were of French and 
 English origin, our family motto being ''^ Deus et libertas'' or God 
 and liberty — God and freedom, GODFREE — GODFREY. 
 
 Believe me. 
 
 Truly yours, 
 
 Mrs. E. H. Schenck. 
 
 Joel B. Bulkey's address would be at Southport, as he lives on 
 the border line at Sasco. 
 
 J^'rom Captain Isaac Jennings : 
 
 Captain Jennings sent us the following account of a Fairfield 
 lady, who made the first American flag of the present pattern. 
 Death of Mrs. Captain Reid. 
 
 We regret to announce the demise, at Wheeling, Virginia, on 
 Sunday morning, the 19th inst., of Mrs. Reid, wife of Captain 
 Samuel C. Reid, so distinguished in our naval records for his de- 
 fence of the brig General Armstrong against the English squadron, 
 at the port of Fayal, in 18 14. Mrs. Reid was the daughter of 
 Captain Nathan Jennings, of Fairfield, Connecticut, who shared 
 the fatigues and glory of Trenton in the Continental Army, under 
 George Washington. 
 
 Mrs. Reid was early distinguished for beauty and talent ; and 
 when her husband's glory made her house the centre of much 
 literary and patriotic attraction, her clear intellect and domestic 
 virtues shed a charm and a grace worthy alike of her enviable 
 position and that of her visitors, among whom were some of the 
 most distinguished persons of the day, including Gov. Clinton, 
 Gov. Tompkins, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Dr. Sam Mitchell, 
 Judge Johnson, of the Supreme Court, with the Tones, Emmetts 
 and McNevins, Dr. Francis, and others among the oldest of our 
 •citizens. In her devotion to a large family of children Mrs. Reid 
 was unrivaled, and in her patriotic ardor she was alike worthy of 
 her husband and her father. In 181 8, with the assistance of some 
 young ladies, she made the first flag of the Union, as adopted by 
 the Congress of the United States in that year, and which was the 
 ■design of Captain Reid. On the admission of Indiana into the 
 Union, in 1816, the Hon. P. H. Wendover, of New York, sug- 
 gested to Congress the expediency of altering the then flag. 
 
96 
 
 Captain Reid undertook it, and on the 4th of April, 181 8, a bill 
 was passed "to establish the flag of the United States." The fol- 
 lowing letter chronicles the date of its hoisting, and makes hon- 
 orable mention of the deceased lady. 
 
 Washington, April 13, 1818. 
 
 Dear Sir : I have just arrived in time to inform you that the new flag of 
 Congress Hall arrived here per mail this day, and was hoisted to replace the 
 old one, at 2 o'clock, and has given much satisfaction to all that have seen it, as 
 far as I have heard. I am pleased with its form, and have no doubt it will sat- 
 isfy the public mind. 
 
 Mr. Clay (who was then speaker of the House), says it is wrong that there 
 should be no charge in your bill for making the flag. If pay for that will be 
 acceptable, on being informed, I will procure it. Do not understand me as in- 
 tending to wound the feelings of Mrs. Reid, nor others who may have given aid 
 in the business, and please accept my thanks to her and them and accept the 
 same for yourself. 
 
 Yours in haste, with esteem, P. H. WENDOVER. 
 
 Mrs. Reid's name and those of the young ladies who assisted her 
 were worked on this flag. The deceased was in the sixty-second 
 year of her age, and had been on a visit to one of her sons in the 
 West, whence she lately had gone to Wheeling, to superintend the 
 erection of a monument over the grave of her eldest son there. 
 The deceased leaves a .devoted family and a large circle of person- 
 al freinds in this city, by whom she was deeply beloved. 
 
 We close this correspondence with communica- 
 tions from Rev. Drs. Rankin and Osgood, one 
 relating to the remuneration of the families who 
 suffered loss by the burning of the town — the other 
 giving important notes of its church history. 
 
97 
 
 A list of the persons who suffered by the enemy in 
 burning the town of Fairfield, on the 7th and 8th 
 days of July, 1779, and had their taxes abated by 
 the Committee appointed by the General Assembly 
 for that purpose : 
 
 Anthony Annibil, 
 David Annibil, 
 Elijah Abel, 
 George Allen, - 
 David Allen, 
 Eben Bartram, 
 John Allen, 
 Nehemiah Buddington, 
 Andrew Bulkley, 
 James Bulkley, 
 Walter Buddington, 
 Peter Burr, 
 Samuel Beers, 
 Joseph Beers, - 
 Abigail Burr, 
 David Burr, 
 William Buddington, - 
 David Burr, 
 Wakeman Burr, - 
 Samuel Burr, 
 Job Bartram, 
 Priscilla Burr, 
 Thaddeus Burr, - 
 David Beers, 
 Ann Dimon, 
 William Dimon, 
 Elizabeth Gold, - 
 Peter Wendzich, 
 David Jennings, - 
 Isaac Jarvis, - 
 Moses Jennings, 
 
 List, 1781. List, 1782. 
 
 £^'^- £^°- 7- 6 
 
 18. 34-12. o 
 
 30.12. 28.11. 6 
 
 - 32,' 7- 6 28.11. 6 
 56. 8. 3 77. 2. 6 
 
 - 44.11 42.15 
 18. 6. 6.18 
 
 - 23. 21. 
 20. 29. 
 
 20. 21. 
 23- 5- 24.15 
 76. I. 6 81. 7 
 55. 2. 6 60. 8. 6 
 
 - 3I-I9- 37-I9- o 
 
 3.12. 3. 8. 
 
 22.10. 28. 6 
 
 21. 21. 
 4. 4. 
 
 25. 21. 
 
 42.17. 6 44-I7- 6 
 
 II. 12. 7 6. II. 19 
 
 24. o. 6 32. 6. 6 
 
 145. I. 4 167.16. 6 
 
 55. 2. 6 62. 2. 6 
 
 26.19. 25. 
 
 51. 6. 60. 2. 
 
 48. 8. 9 39. I. 6 
 
 - 22. 8. 27. 8. 
 39. 6. 51.18. 
 
 - 43. 9. 22.66. 
 70. 5. 62.18. 6 
 
98 
 
 Abigail Jennings, 
 Stephen Jennings, 
 Jeremiah Jennings, - 
 Lathrop Lewis, - 
 Sturges Lewis, 
 Jonathan Lewis, - 
 Hezekiah Nicholls, - 
 Thos. T. Nicholls, 
 Eleazer Osborn, Jr., 
 Marble Osborn, - 
 Daniel Osborn, 
 John Parsons, 
 Nathaniel Parsons, 
 John Parritt, 
 Samuel Penfield, - 
 John Robertson, 
 Samuel Rowland, - 
 Andrew Rowland, 
 Samuel Squier, 
 John Smedley, 
 Seth Sturges, - - - 
 Joseph Squier, - 
 Thomas Staples, 
 Ebenezer Sturges, 
 John Squier, Jr., 
 Judson Sturges, - 
 Joseph Sturges (children), 
 Jonathan Sturges, 
 Samuel Squier, 
 Hezekiah Sturges, 
 Samuel Sturges, 
 Samuel Smedley, 
 Joseph Smith, 
 Eliphalet Thorp, 
 Ansel Truby, - 
 Isaac Tucker, 
 Stephen Thorp, 
 John Turney, 
 Eben Wakeman, 
 
 List, 1781. List, 1782. 
 
 - £a- ^2.14. 9 
 
 76. 2. 96.06. 
 
 - 40- 5- 56-10. 
 40.10. 48.10. 
 
 - 72.19 -6 73. 7. 6 
 130.19. 6 132.12. 6 
 
 54.19. 6 60.11. 
 
 20.15. 19. 3- 6 
 
 - 12. 5 
 
 30. 6. 6. 20. 2. 2 
 96. 5. 9. 74. o. 6 
 
 18. 21. 
 
 19. 5 r- 5 
 24. 23. 
 
 52. 8. 3. 54. 8. 3 
 
 26. 39. 
 
 - 35- 13* 5916. 3 
 48. 3. 91.16. 7 
 
 • 18. 21. 
 87.12 87.12. 
 
 ■ 44. 7. 6 51-IO- 6 
 
 25I4- 35- I- 
 
 74.16. d^. 4. 
 24.16. 
 
 • 37- 5- 6 38.17 
 63. I. 71. 2 
 
 31. 16.6 35.13. 6 
 99. 2. 137. 18. II 
 85. 4.6 85.18.6 
 
 157- 4- 142. 5- 
 
 - 13. 4. 12. 6. 
 
 I3I9- I3I9- 
 
 40.14.6 40. 5. 6 
 
 30. 4. 31.14. 
 
 19.10. 28. o. I 
 18. 
 
 - 30- 4- 3I-T4- 
 61. 1.6 58. 2. 6 
 
 - 99.18. 67. 8. 6 
 
99 
 
 
 List, 1781. 
 
 List, 178 
 
 2. 
 
 Andrew Wakeman, 
 
 ^124 17- 
 
 ^116. 4. 
 
 6 
 
 Jabez Thorp, 
 
 - 52-I3-6 
 
 60. 8. 
 
 6 
 
 Isaac Turney, 
 
 34. 8. 
 
 37- 8. 
 
 
 Reuben Burr, 
 
 - 27. 2. 
 
 31- 3- 
 
 9 
 
 Wakeman Burrittt 
 
 
 85.11. 
 
 
 
 John Williams, Jr., 
 
 I. 4. 
 
 27- 5- 
 
 
 Wright White, - 
 
 4- 
 
 31- 
 
 
 John Mason, 
 
 25.10. 
 
 28. 8. 
 
 
 Thos. H. Wakeman, - 
 
 - 
 
 6.17. 
 
 6 
 
 GREEN'S 
 
 FARMS. 
 
 
 
 Sarah Andrews, - 
 
 £ 8-IO. 
 
 £ 7-14 
 
 
 Abraham Andrews, 
 
 72. 0. 6 
 
 69. 0. 
 
 3 
 
 George Patterson 
 
 21. 
 
 21. 
 
 
 Walter Carson, 
 
 9- 
 
 13.18. 
 
 I 
 
 Nathan Godfrey, 
 
 62. 8.6 
 
 93-I5- 
 
 3 
 
 Ebenezer Jessup, - 
 
 - 141- 3- 
 
 101.19. 
 
 9 
 
 Moss Kent, 
 
 161. 
 
 105. 8. 
 
 
 Eunice Morehouse, 
 
 - 95- 6. 6 
 
 84. 
 
 
 Eben Morehouse, 
 
 III 6. 6 
 
 91.17. 
 
 3 
 
 Gruman Morehouse, 
 
 21.14. 
 
 43- 
 
 
 Samuel Smith, - 
 
 21. 
 
 27. 2. 
 
 6 
 
 Gideon Morehouse, 
 
 - 45-66. 
 
 35-i6. 
 
 6 
 
 Jesup Wakeman, 
 
 32. 5- 9 
 
 
 
 John Morehouse, - 
 
 - 57-14. 
 
 tliia ciim nf 
 
 64.18. 
 
 6 
 
 year 1781. The sum of ^4,088.12 to be apportioned to the 
 sufferers of said town. 
 
F7^oni Rev. Dr. Osgood : 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL NOTES. 
 
 There are good materials for a history of the 
 Church and Clergy of Fairfield, but these materials are 
 very fragmentary, and they have never been brought 
 together. Chief among the historical discourses are 
 those by the Rev, Dr. Atwater, on Thanksgiving 
 Day, November 28, 1839, ^'^'^ by the Rev. Dr. Ran- 
 kin, on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1870, and 
 by the Rev. N. E. Cornwall, on August 10, 185 1. The 
 Rev. B. J. Relyea, on the 26th of October, 1865, 
 gave a valuable discourse upon the history of the 
 Green's Farm Congregational Church, which seceeded 
 from the old Fairfield Parish in 1715, and the Rev. 
 Henry B. Smith delivered an elaborate historical 
 sermon in 1876, on the 150th anniversary of the 
 Greenfield Hill Congregational Church, which was 
 founded in 1726. 
 
 Dr. Atwater gives a careful account of the pastors 
 of the old Church until his own ministry, who had 
 then been eight in number, beginning with the Rev. 
 John Jones, the minister who brought an Oxford 
 education to this frontier settlement, and who had 
 tried to find a home in Concord, Mass., but left that 
 place for Fairfield with a considerable part of his 
 congregation, on account of "the poverty and mean- 
 ness of Concord, together with the badness and 
 wetness of the meadows." His successors were as 
 follows, after his death in 1664 : 
 
I02 
 
 Rev. Samuel Wakeivian, . 1 665-1 692. 
 
 Rev. Joseph Webb, . . 1692-1732. 
 
 Rev, Noah Hobart, . . 1 732-1 773. 
 
 Rev. Andrew Eliot, . . " 1 774-1805. 
 
 Rev. Heman Humphrey, . 1807-18 17. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Hevyit, . . . 1818-1827. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Hunter, . . . 1828-1833. 
 
 Since Dr. Atwater's removal to Princeton, the old 
 parish has had the services of Dr. Willis Lord, Rev. 
 Alexander McLean and Rev. Dr. Rankin, whose 
 coming retirement from his post is to take place in 
 October. 
 
 The Episcopal Church in Fairfield has an honor- 
 able history since the consecration of its first edifice, 
 Nov. 10, 1725, with a discourse by the famous Dr. 
 Samuel Johnson, afterwards President of Kino-'s 
 College, New York City. In 1827, the Rev. Henry 
 Caner was appointed missionary to Fairfield, and 
 remained here till 1747, when he went to King's 
 Chapel, Boston, where he was rector in 1776, when, 
 with the British army, he left his post for Halifax, at 
 the time of the evacuation of Boston. The second 
 Episcopal Church edifice was burned in 1779, ^s 
 stated by Dr. Rankin, and the third edifice that was 
 built on Mill Plain in i 790, stood until the transfer 
 of the services to the new Trinity Church edifice at 
 Southport, where regular worship was begun by Rev. 
 William Shelton in 1828. St. Paul's Church, now in 
 Fairfield, began as a distinct parish in 1854, and it 
 
103 
 
 is not the successor, except In Its Episcopal order, 
 of the old Trinity parish of 1725. 
 
 The ministers of St. Paul's Church have been the 
 Rev. Messrs. Leffingwell, Stimson, Hyde, Mackie, 
 and Rev. James K. Lombard, the present rector. 
 
 It is Interesting to remember, that the Rev. Phllo 
 Shelton began his services as lay reader In Trinity 
 Church, Fairfield, in 1779, and had been rector for 
 forty years at the time of his death, February 27, 
 1825, aged seventy-one. He was ordained by Bishop 
 Seabury, at Middletown, August 3, 1785, at the first 
 ordination ever held by an American bishop. He 
 was succeeded by his son, the Rev. William Shelton, 
 who went to St. Paul's Church, Buffalo, 1829, where 
 he is still rector. Thus it appears, as an Intelligent 
 lady remarked, that the Episcopal Church In America 
 has been served one hundred years by father and son 
 from the honored Shelton family. 
 
 It is worthy of note that there was close connection 
 in early times between our Fairfield Churches and 
 Boston and Cambrldg-e culture. Several Fairfield 
 ministers were graduates of Cambridge before and 
 after Yale Callege came Into being, and the brilliant 
 Dr. Horace Holley, who made such a figure as 
 the minister of Hollls Street Church, Boston, was 
 for three years the eloquent and successful pastor of 
 the Greenfield Hill Parish, from which he went to 
 Boston in 1809, ^^^ ^^^^ afterwards, for nine years, 
 till 1827, President of Transylvania University, 
 Kentucky. 
 
io4 
 
 It is a fact worth recording, that the first meeting 
 of the old Congregational Parish, the Prime Ancient 
 Society of Fairfield, distinct from town meeting, was 
 held, according to the record, on December 19, 1727. 
 
 The Roman Catholic Church of St. Thomas, was 
 consecrated about 25 years ag6, under charge of 
 Rev. Thomas J. Synnot, of Bridgeport, and it has 
 been a distinct parish about three years. 
 
 THE LAST WORD. 
 
 There is good hope of the awakening of public 
 spirit in Fairfield as the consequence of the late 
 Memorial occasions. The celebration of 1876 was 
 followed by the establishment of the Fairfield Mem- 
 orial Library, and this Commemoration has led to 
 the formation of the Fairfield Village Improvement 
 Society, for the health, ornament and general wel- 
 fare of the charming old town. 
 
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