Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

BackGround: Columbus Temple, Columbus, Ohio.

Created 27 July 2006

H A R P E R 'S

NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

NO. CCCIX.-FEBRUARY, 1876.-VOL. LII.

LYME

A CHAPTER OF AMERICAN GENEALOGY

YME is a word of four letters; and it brings the cars on the Shore-line Railroad from New York to Boston to a full stop for the space of perhaps a minute at the eastern end of the Connecticut River bridge. That is as far, probably, as your next neighbor, who is descanting learnedly upon the charms of foreign travel, will be able to enlighten you. The car window discloses little save a broad stretch of picturesque scenery, including the natural variations between a fine old sea-beach and rough and ragged undulations piled one upon another half a league inland. Should you suddenly be attacked by the spirit of inquiry, as well as by the notion that, as a native of average intelligence, you are deplorably unfamiliar with the individual features of your own country, you may find yourself, as the writer on a certain occasion, standing conspicuously alone in apparent possession of the main outpost of this ancient and interesting town.

From Noyes Hill, a few rods north of the station, you obtain your first glimpse of the village, or rather of its roofs and chimneys and spires among the tree-tops; also of Meeting House Hill beyond, of the salt meadows and Long Island Sound to the right, and of a beautiful river, formerly the harbor for merchant vessels when Lyme was a shipping port, winding lazily to the sea in the foreground. The ferry road crosses a snug New England Bridge, and guides you to the Pierrepont House, a new summer hotel, which occupies a commanding position just outside the wealth of shade which shields the town. The name of this hotel hinges upon the romantic. It was given in honor of one of the early ministers of Lyme--Rev. Samuel Pierrepont, a brother of the wife of Rev. Jonathan Edwards--who in 1722 was drowned in crossing the Connecticut on his return from a visit to his lady-love in New Haven.

Lyme itself is the namesake of Lyme-Regis, on the south coast of England, which, with its geographical peculiarities, its history, traditions, and romances, has been so graphically described by Mr. Conway in his "South Coast Saunterings." It covers seven or eight square miles of territory, bounded on the west by the Connecticut River, and on the south by the Sound. It was settled over two centuries ago (in 1666) by an active, sensible, resolute, and, blue-blooded people, who gave it a moral and intellectual character which it has never outgrown. Its climate is one of perfect health, and its people live to a great age. The salty, bracing atmosphere tends toward the increase of mental vigor as well as length of years: hence the results which we are about to chronicle. It is a town which has kept pace with, the times. It has, been near enough the metropolis to partake of its literary culture and many-sided opportunities, and sufficiently remote to escape its dissipating wastes, and it has always maintained a self-respecting inner life. It is exceptionally rich in family reminiscence, occupies in a certain sense historic ground, and possesses elements of national interest. Lyme-Regis is said to have been famous for its physicians. Lyme is, or ought to be, famous for its lawyers, as it has produced more than any other town of its size on this continent, or any other continent, and not only lawyers, "whose trade it is to question every thing, yield nothing, and talk by the hour," but eminent judges, Senators, and Governors, its latest and grandest achievement being a Chief Justice of the United States.

As you proceed from the hotel, "The Street" springs upon you like a new character in a novel. There is no warning of its nearness until you are among its soft shadows. It has a fascinating air of easy old-fashioned elegance, is a mile and a half long, is wide enough to swallow a whole family of New York city streets, is lined with handsome grandfatherly-looking trees, and mansions, some modest, some pretentious, some antique, are planted on either side of it at neighborly distances. Your eye will fall also upon two churches, an academy, a post-office, two or three stores, where groceries, hardware, and dry-goods dwell in harmony together, a milliner's shop with peaches and melons to sell, and a wagon shed where they mend breaks and shoe horses. Signs of business then are none. The scene is one of tranquillity on a broad scale.

One of the first houses which attract attention, through its associations, is a cottage - built, vine - clad, flower - surrounded dwelling, with a body-guard of aged apple-trees. It was the home of Hon. Henry Matson Waite, Chief Justice of the State of Connecticut, the father of the present Chief Justice of the United States, and where the latter was reared into manhood.

It is only a few months since we witnessed a phenomenon, which is fresh in the public memory. An American citizen was elevated to one of the most dignified and important judicial offices in the world without a dissenting voice. When the nomination was announced, a flood of surprise seemed to drown captious politicians and impatient office-seekers. The choice had, singularly enough, fallen outside of their ranks. Ere they came to the surface, Congress had bowed its lofty head to merit, the newspaper press had despairingly confessed its inability to find any fault with the nominee, and the question had rung through the length and breadth of the land, and been satisfactorily answered, "What manner of man is he who is to be henceforth the custodian of the liberties of forty millions of people ?"

The office had been entirely unsought. Morrison R. Waite was a lawyer with an immense and valuable practice. He was the acknowledged leader of the Ohio bar, and had been for a long series of years. He was one whose clearness and dexterity of intellect had never failed to bring order out of confusion in the most complicated law cases which had been placed in his hands. He was, moreover, a thorough gentleman, with an acute sense of justice, strong opinions, sound judgment, and a spotless private record. He had meddled little in public affairs, although repeatedly urged to accept a nomination to Congress. He had declined a seat upon the bench of the Supreme Court of Ohio. The few instances in which he had served the government were where the mutual attraction of need and fitness were strikingly apparent. In 1849 he was in the Ohio Legislature; in 1871 he was one of the counsel of the United States at the tribunal of arbitration at Geneva, winning special praise for his labor in the commission; in 1873 be was elected to the Constitutional Convention of Ohio by the unanimous vote of both political parties, and was presiding over that body when he was notified of the action of the administration. He stands out in American history, bright and clear as sunlight, a living refutation of the popular idea that a man must have narrowed and belittled himself with district politics--in short, have gone, through the worst possible training for it--before he can receive any national appointment.

View of Lyme

Chief Justice Waite is so rounded in character and culture that there are few salient points to seize for purposes of description. He, is of medium height, broad physique, square shoulders, large and well-poised head, hair and whiskers slightly flecked with gray, complexion heavy, eyes dark and piercing, and mouth indicative of decision. His general bearing is firm and self-possessed. He was born in Lyme, November 29,1816. He studied law with his father, after graduating from Yale, but completed his forensic education in the office of the Hon. Samuel M. Young, of Maumee City, Ohio, with whom he subsequently formed a partnership that continued with marked success for nearly a quarter of a century.

He removed his family to Toledo in 1850. The name of Waite is both ancient and honorable. It dates back many centuries. The coat of arms used by the family in both Europe and America was granted in 1512. In the time of Cromwell, Thomas Wayte^* was a member of Parliament and one of the judges who signed the death-warrant of Charles I. Shortly after the Restoration the family removed to this country. Thomas Waite, born in Sudbury, Massachusetts, in 1677, settled in Lyme when a young man, and married Mary Bronson, whose mother was the daughter of Matthew and Annah Wolcott Griswold.^† He thus became connected with one of the most influential families in the province, and in an age when the distinctions of rank and caste were held in severe respect, even in democratic New England, "where mental and moral cultivation was the first essential for access to good society, and honest labor esteemed no shame." He was the father of eleven children. His fourth son, Richard, was twice married; his first wife was Elizabeth Marvin.

^* From the Waite records it appears that the name anciently was written Wayte, in modern times Waite, and in some instances Wait. It also appears that the names of Thomas, Richard, John, and Joseph, especially the former two, were favorite names in the family.

-- History of the Waite Family. P. 11.

^† The Griswolds and Wolcotts were of the old English gentry. Matthew Griswold, the first magistrate of the Saybrook colony, married Annah, the daughter of Henry Wolcott. Matthew Griswold was a descendant of Sir Humphrey Griswold, whose seat was at Malvern Hall. Henry Wolcott was the son and heir of John Wolcott, of Golden Manor. The manor-house is still standing, an immense castle of great antiquity, designed for the purposes of defense against the excesses of a lawless age, as well as for a permanent family residence. It is richly ornamented with carved work, and upon the walls may be seen the motto of the family arms, "Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri" --inclined to swear in the words of no master. It was in keeping with the independent spirit of an English gentleman of the Middle Ages, and with that of a Puritan of a later date, who spurned the dictation of ecclesiastical wisdom. Wolcott sold a portion of his estate before he left England. He was a magistrate in the Connecticut colony, and his descendants in the direct line were magistrates, judges, and Governors for a period of over one hundred and eighty successive years.

I beg pardon for the digression, but I am reminded of a little story. One of the early settlers of Lyme was Reynold Marvin. He was a rich land-holder, a, militia captain, and a deacon of the church. He professed to be governed by Divine communications. On one occasion be announced that the Lord had directed him to distribute his cows among the poor. A shiftless fellow who was omitted in the distribution finally went to the deacon and said be too had received a communication from the Lord, who had sent him there for a cow.

"Of course, then, you must have a cow," was the reply. "But what sort of a cow did the Lord say I must give you---a new milch or a farrow ?"

"A new milch cow, Sir."

"Indeed! Your communication could not have been from the Lord, for I have no new milch cow."

The baffled beggar departed.

Another time the deacon opposed some church measure, which was carried in spite of him. He promptly refused to pay his church taxes, and was sued, and his saddle taken for the debt. He esteemed himself deeply wronged, and rode upon a sheepskin (wheeled vehicles had as yet hardly appeared in the colonies) forever afterward. And riding upon his sheep-skin one day, he reined his horse up to the cottage door of pretty Betty Lee. It was an old Dutch door, cut in two in the middle. She came and leaned upon the lower half, her blue eyes opened wide, and her dainty hands holding fast to a plate which she was wiping.

"Betty," said he, solemnly, "the Lord sent me here to marry you."

Betty's eyes fell upon the door-step, and so did the plate. The demure maiden, however, rallied instantly.

"The Lord's will be done," she replied.

The deacon nudged his horse and trotted slowly away, and the maiden finished washing her dishes. Betty's father was not friendly to the deacon, and tried to break the engagement. He did not succeed, as appears from the publishment which, according to the custom of the times, was posted upon the church door. It was the production of the prospective bridegroom, and ran thus:

               "Reynold Marvin and Betty Lee
               Do intend to marry,
               And though her dad op-po-sed be,
               They can no longer tarry."

They were married, and lived in peace, and in a small stone house on the west side of "The Street" brought up a large family of children, and in due course of events were gathered to their fathers. On a time-worn head-stone in the Lyme cemetery may be seen the following inscription:

                             "This Deacon, aged sixty-eight, 
                             Is freed on Earth from sarving, 
                             May for a crown no longer wait 
                             Lyme's captain Reynold Marvin." 

The Marvins were a numerous race, and jurists were thick among them in every generation. They seem to have been native bards also. One Reynold Marvin (not the deacon) closes a letter in 1737 to Judge John Griswold in the following manner:

                            "Sir, this is yours, at any rate, 
                            To read if you have leisure, 
                            To burn, conceal, communicate, 

According to your pleasure." To return to Richard Waite. He lived on a farm in that part of Lyme known as "Four-mile River." He was a leading man and a justice of the peace, which was more of an honor in those days than we of this generation can comprehend. He had ten children by his Marvin wife, one of whom came the celebrated Judge Marvin Waite, of New London, whose son is the Hon. John Turner Waite, of Norwich. He married secondly Rebecca Higgins, the daughter of Captain Higgins, a large, handsome, imperious woman, who, as the years rolled on, devoted herself with great zeal to the education of her two sons, Remick and Ezra. When the latter graduated from Yale, and then declined to carry out her wishes by studying divinity, she was grievously disappointed; and when he crowned his irreverence by declaring in favor of law, she would have nothing more to do with him. She was severely religious, never allowed cooking or sweeping in her house on the Sabbath, and always entered church at the precise and proper moment. At one time (just prior to the Revolution) both she and her husband withdrew from the communion because of certain charges against their pastor, but finding them untrue, offered to return. Captain Higgins violently opposed such a proceeding. "What!" said he to his daughter, "has our Lyme church become a tavern, where people may go out and come in when they please, without even knocking?" Her son Remick Waite turned his attention to agriculture; but the law in his blood found vent. He was made justice of the peace when quite young, and sustained the office with dignity to the end of a long and useful life. He married Susanna Matson, who was a lady of superior talents and great worth and strength of character. It was her sister who was the mother of Hon. William A. Buckingham, late United States Senator, and the great war Governor of Connecticut, and of Rev. Dr. Samuel G. Buckingham, long a beloved and honored pastor in Springfield, Massachusetts; and she herself was the mother of Chief Justice Henry Matson Waite.

The last-named gentleman deserves honorable mention, not only because be gave direction to and helped to mould the mind which now defines for us the limits of even authority itself, but on account of his own personal excellence and valuable public services in his native State. His career was specially interesting. He graduated from Yale in 1809. The following summer be taught a small select school in New Rochelle, and one of his pupils was William Heathcote De Lancey, afterward Bishop of Western New York. He studied law with Judge Matthew Griswold, of Lyme, assisted by his brother, the accomplished Governor Roger Griswold. One of his classmates was Chief Justice Ebenezer Lane, of Ohio. As soon as he was admitted to the bar he grew steadily in importance. Prior to 1854 he had served several terms in the State Legislature, and had been for twenty years judge of the Supreme and Superior courts. He was then elected by the unanimous vote of both branches of the Legislature to the highest seat on the State bench. A well-known jurist says of him, "He contributed his full share to the character of a court whose decisions are quoted and opinions respected in all the courts of the United States, and in the highest courts of England." He was of stately presence, tall, and yet not tall, with a fair, serious face, keen blue eyes, and light hair. He was highly cultivated by study, chose to use his means for educational and religious purposes, and to help others, rather than in a pretentious mode of living, was social in his tastes, and enjoyed the perfect confidence of the entire community. His wife was of the first order of intellect, and, sympathizing in his pursuits, contributed largely to his professional successes. A fit mother was she, indeed, for her distinguished son.^* She was Maria Selden, the daughter of Colonel Richard Ely Selden, and granddaughter of Colonel Samuel Selden, a notable officer in the Revolution, who was himself the grandson of Governor Dudley, of Massachusetts, which carries us again into lordly halls across the water, only that we are too intensely republican to need any such background and perspective. We all began on this side.

Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite married his second cousin, Amelia Warner, of Lyme, the great-granddaughter of the distinguished Colonel Selden, of Revolutionary memory. She was a beauty and a belle, a leader in fashion and society, and now, with the added grace of years, no lady in the land is better fitted by education, culture, and travel for the position in Washington circles which destiny has thrust upon her. She carries good sense, refined taste, and a quiet independence of character to the front, which will prove an invaluable balance wheel to the great social structure.

^* Chief Justice Waite is not the only lawyer son of Hon. Henry M. Waite. Richard Waite has been in active and prosperous law practice in Toledo, Ohio, for some nineteen years. Another son, George C. Waite, who died in his twenty-ninth year, was a promising lawyer in Troy, New York, and an efficient member of the Troy Board of Education. To him that city is mainly indebted for its present free-school system. Hon. Horace F. Waite, of Chicago, a prominent lawyer, member of the Illinois Legislature, etc., is a nephew of the late Hon. Henry M. Waite, and a native of Lyme. Mr. Daniel Chadwick, a leading lawyer, State's attorney, etc., residing in Lyme, is another nephew; and a niece married the accomplished scholar, Rev. Davis Clark Brainard (recently deceased), who for more than a third of a century had been the pastor of the Lyme church.

Turning north from the Waite mansion, you are confronted by a quaint homestead which seems to be taking life comfortably right in the middle of "The Street." Venerable trees rise above it, and their branches droop over its small-paned windows. Its door-step is foot-worn, its hall of entrance of a pre-Revolutionary pattern, and its whole architecture one-sided; but it has an unmistakable air of gentility. If you enter, you are plunged headlong into an antiquarian mine; paneled walls, curious cornices, enormous fire-places, high mantels, and round tables bring all your forefathers and foremothers round you in their powdered wigs and high-heeled shoes. The chairs and pictures are many of them two hundred years old. You may presume before you get to it that "The Street" ends plump against the little door-yard fence. No; "The Street" is guilty of no such impertinence. It dodges politely around the edifice, and pursues its otherwise unbending course as if accustomed to trifling obstructions.

To the south another mansion has spread itself squarely across the way. It does not, like its vis-a-vis, offer the apology of antiquity, but is evidently a freak of modern independence. It is high and broad, the front-door swings in the centre, and it has wings on the side and rear. It is imbedded in shrubbery, and gay-colored flowers brighten its pretty grounds. The effect of the two houses facing each other half a mile apart is novel in the extreme. They impress you as being active participants in human affairs. They both belong to representatives of the Lord family, who were among the first settlers of Lyme, and who have in all the generations since been lavish in their distribution of doctors, judges, and divines throughout the country.

The Congregational church towers above you, like an anciently bound and well-preserved chapter of ecclesiastical history, on the corner where the ferry road enters "The Street" at right angles. It is an imposing edifice of the Ionic order of architecture, and strikingly ornate. At its right, and under its very droppings, as it were, is a large, square, old-fashioned house half hidden among stately trees, which is the home of a lady of elegant scholarship and rare accomplishments, who has for almost half a century been the educator of the ladies of Lyme, and to whom is due in large measure the credit of having developed the artistic and musical talent for which they are celebrated. Nearly opposite the church is the Mather homestead. It is gambrel-roofed, and was clapboarded before the time of sawing clapboards--when they were rived as staves are split. It has been the home of the Mathers--the ancient and learned family to which Increase and John Cotton Mather belonged--for more than a century. In the palmy days before the Revolution, when Governors drove six horses, and all the consequential families in Lyme owned negro slaves, this house was almost without a rival in the elegance of its appointments.

Side by side with it stands the oldest house in Lyme--a landmark which has been protected with generous care. Like Sydney Smith's ancient green chariot with its new wheels and new springs, it seems to grow younger each year. It is the residence of Hon. Charles Johnson M'Curdy, LL.D., an eminent jurist, who was for many years in the Connecticut Legislature, was Speaker of the House, Lieutenant-Governor of the State, United States minister to Austria, and for a long period judge of the Supreme Court. It was he who, when Lieutenant-Governor of Connecticut, in 1848, originated and carried into effect through the Legislature that great change in the common law by which parties may become witnesses in their own cases--a change which has since been adopted throughout this country and in England.

This antique dwelling has the low ceilings and the bare polished beams of the early part of the last century. Its doors and walls are elaborately carved and paneled. In the south parlor is a curious buffet, built with the house, containing a rare collection of china from ancestral families.^* Between the front windows stands an elegant round table, which descended from Governor Matthew and Ursula Wolcott Griswold, and around which have sat from time to time the six Governors of the family--of whom more presently. The whole house is a museum of souvenirs of preceding generations. In the north chamber is a rich and unique chest of drawers, which belonged to the Diodati wife of Rev. Stephen Johnson; also mirrors, tables, pictures, and other relics of great antiquity. This apartment was occupied by Lafayette at two distinct eras in our national history--for several days during the Revolution, when he was entertained by John M'Curdy, while resting his troops in the vicinity; and in 1825, as the guest of Richard M'Curdy, and his daughter Sarah, while on his memorable journey to Boston.

The house has historical significance through certain Revolutionary events. It was purchased by John M'Curdy in 1750, a Scotch-Irish gentleman of education and wealth, who was a large shipping merchant. He bad no sympathy with the arbitrary measures of the English government, and gloried in the spirit of resistance as it developed in the colonies. (He was the "Irish gentleman" mentioned by Gordon and Hollister as "friendly to the cause of liberty.") He was an intimate personal friend of Rev. Stephen Johnson, who was then the pastor of the Lyme church. The two had many conferences upon the subject of a possible independence of the colonies. They grew indignant with the serene composure of Governor Fitch and his associates. The first published article pointing toward unqualified rebellion in case an attempt was made to enforce the Stamp Act was from the pen of Rev. Stephen Johnson, and it was written under this roof. M'Curdy privately secured its insertion in the Connecticut Gazette. It was a fiery article, designed to rouse the community to a sense of the public danger. Others of a similar character soon followed; while pamphlets, from no one knew whence, fell, no one knew how, into conspicuous places. Could these walls speak, what tales they might reveal!--two sagacious and audacious men trying to kindle a fire: one feeding it with the chips of genius and strong nervous magnetism, the other fanning it with the contents of his broad purse. The alarm was sounded; organizations of the "Sons of Liberty" were formed in the various colonies; treasonable resolves were handed about with great privacy in New York, but no one bad the courage to print them. John M'Curdy, being in the city, asked for them, and with much precaution was permitted to take a copy. He carried them to New England, where they were published and spread far and wide without reserve. This was in September, 1765, and before the end of the same month the famous crusade (which embraced nearly every man in the town of Lyme) moved from New London...

^* The ancestral families connected with the M'Curdy household are the Wolcotts, Griswolds, Lords, Lyndes, Digbys, Willoughbys, Pitkins, Ogdens, Mitchells (the Scotch family of Mitchells, the same as that of "Ike Marvel"), and the Diodatis. The descent is direct through the wife of Rev. Stephen Johnson, from Rev. John Diodati (the famous divine and learned writer of Geneva in the time of John of Barneveld), who was from the Italian nobility.

1st Generation

Thomas WAITE and Mary BROWNSON Family Page

2nd Generation

Richard WAITE and 1st Elizabeth MARVIN and 2nd Rebecca HIGGINS

3rd Generation

Remick WAITE and Susanna MATSON Family Page

4th Generation

Henry Matson WAITE and Maria SELDON

Charles William WAITE and Mary SMITH

Sarah Ann WAITE and Guy BIGELOW Family Page

5th Generation

Morrison Remick WAITE amd Amelia Champlin WARNER Family Page

Maria Seldon WAITE and Willian Frederick BERDAN Family Page

Richard WAITE and Alice Jane VORIS Family Page

Oliver C WAITE and Caroline Rosetta MILES Family Page

Norman WAITE and Ann Estes SWIFT Family Page

Asa Remick BIGELOW and Anne Putman BROWN Family Page

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