Produced by David Edwards and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive)
Transcriber’s Note: Period documents are given with their original—and
imperfect—spelling, punctuation and grammar.
[Illustration: Grist mill at Fredericksburgh, now Kent, built by Colonel
Henry Ludington about the time of the Revolution]
COLONEL HENRY LUDINGTON
A Memoir
BY
WILLIS FLETCHER JOHNSON
A.M., L.H.D.
WITH PORTRAITS, VIEWS,
FACSIMILES, ETC.
[Illustration]
PRINTED BY HIS GRANDCHILDREN
LAVINIA ELIZABETH LUDINGTON AND
CHARLES HENRY LUDINGTON
NEW YORK
1907
Copyright, 1907, by
LAVINIA ELIZABETH LUDINGTON AND
CHARLES HENRY LUDINGTON
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
PREFACE vii
I GENEALOGICAL 3
II BEFORE THE REVOLUTION 24
III THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION 47
IV THE REVOLUTION 77
V SECRET SERVICE 114
VI BETWEEN THE LINES 133
VII AFTER THE WAR 191
VIII SOME LATER GENERATIONS 215
INDEX 230
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Grist mill at Fredericksburgh, now Kent (Ludingtonville
post-office), built by Col. Henry Ludington about the
time of the Revolution _Frontispiece_
Old gun used by Henry Ludington in the French and Indian War 29
FACING PAGE
Henry Ludington’s commission, from Governor Tryon, as captain
in Col. Beverly Robinson’s regiment 30
Old Phillipse Manor House at Carmel, N. Y., in 1846 36
View of Carmel, N. Y. 38
Map of Quaker Hill and vicinity, 1778-80, showing location of
Colonel Ludington’s place at Fredericksburgh 50
Letter from Committee on Conspiracies to Colonel Ludington 56
Order of arrest from Committee on Conspiracies to Colonel Ludington 58
Maps of Phillipse patent, showing original divisions and territory
covered by Colonel Ludington’s regiment 60
Henry Ludington’s commission as colonel from Provincial Congress,
1776 70
Henry Ludington’s commission as colonel from State of New York, 1778 72
Letter from Abraham B. Bancker to Colonel Ludington about militia 74
View of highroad and plains from site of Colonel Ludington’s house 90
Fac-simile of Colonel Ludington’s signature 102
Letter from Col. Nathaniel Sackett to Colonel Ludington on secret
service 114
Home of the late George Ludington on site of Colonel Ludington’s
house 132
Home of the late Frederick Ludington, son of Colonel Ludington,
at Kent 134
Mahogany table used by Colonel Ludington, at which, according to
family tradition, Washington and Rochambeau dined 165
Letter from Governor Clinton to Colonel Ludington about militia 170
Pay certificate of a member of Colonel Ludington’s regiment 188
Colonel Ludington’s tombstone at Patterson, formerly part of
Fredericksburgh, N. Y. 208
Portrait of Frederick Ludington, son of Colonel Ludington 216
Portrait of Gov. Harrison Ludington, grandson of Col. Ludington 218
Old store at Kent, built by Frederick and Lewis Ludington about
1808 220
Home of the late Lewis Ludington, son of Colonel Ludington, at
Carmel 222
Portrait of Lewis Ludington, son of Colonel Ludington 224
Portrait of Charles Henry Ludington, grandson of Colonel Ludington 226
PREFACE
The part performed by the militia and militia officers in the War of
the Revolution does not seem always to have received the historical
recognition which it deserves. It was really of great importance,
especially in southern New England and the Middle States, at times
actually rivaling and often indispensably supplementing that of the
regular Continental Army. It will not be invidious to say that of all the
militia none was of more importance or rendered more valuable services
than those regiments which occupied the disputed border country between
the American and British lines, and which guarded the bases of supplies
and the routes of communication. There was probably no region in which
borderland friction was more severe and intrigues more sinister than
that which lay between the British in New York City and the Americans
at the Highlands of the Hudson, nor was there a highway of travel and
communication more important than that which led from Hartford in
Connecticut to Fishkill and West Point in New York.
It is the purpose of the present volume to present the salient features
of the public career of a militia colonel who was perhaps most of all
concerned in holding that troublous territory for the American cause, in
guarding that route of travel and supply, and in serving the government
of the State of New York, to whose seat his territorial command was so
immediately adjacent. It is intended to be merely a memoir of Henry
Ludington, together with such a historical setting as may seem desirable
for a just understanding of the circumstances of his life and its varied
activities. It makes no pretense of giving a complete genealogy of
the Ludington family in America, either before or after his time, but
confines itself to his own direct descent and a few of his immediate
descendants. The facts of his life, never before compiled, have been
gleaned from many sources, including Colonial, Revolutionary and State
records, newspaper files, histories and diaries, correspondence, various
miscellaneous manuscript collections, and some oral traditions of
whose authenticity there is substantial evidence. The most copious and
important data have been secured from the manuscript collections of two
of Henry Ludington’s descendants, Mr. Lewis S. Patrick, of Marinette,
Wisconsin, who has devoted much time and painstaking labor to the work
of searching for and securing authentic information of his distinguished
ancestor, and Mr. Charles Henry Ludington, of New York, who has received
many valuable papers and original documents and records from a descendant
of Sibyl Ludington Ogden, Henry Ludington’s first-born child. It is much
regretted that among all these data, no portrait of Henry Ludington
is in existence, and that therefore none can be given in this book. In
addition, the old records of Charlestown and Malden, Massachusetts, and
of Branford, East Haven and New Haven, Connecticut, the collections
of the Connecticut Historical Society, the early annals of New York,
especially in the French and Indian and the Revolutionary wars, and the
publications of the New England Genealogical Society, have also been
utilized, together with the Papers of Governor George Clinton, Lossing’s
“Field Book of the Revolution,” Blake’s and Pelletreau’s histories of
Putnam County, Smith’s “History of Dutchess County,” Bolton’s “History
of Westchester County,” and other works, credit to which is given in the
text of this volume. It is hoped that this brief and simple setting forth
of the public services of Henry Ludington during the formative period of
our country’s history will prove of sufficient interest to the members of
his family and to others to justify the printing of this memoir.
HENRY LUDINGTON
A Memoir
CHAPTER I
GENEALOGICAL
“This family of the Ludingtons,” says Gray in his genealogical work on
the nobility and gentry of England, “were of a great estate, of whom
there was one took a large travail to the seeing of many countries where
Our Saviour wrought His miracles, as is declared by his monument in the
College of Worcester, where he is interred.” The immediate reference
of the quaint old chronicler was to the Ludingtons of Shrawley and
Worcester, and the one member of that family whom he singled out for
special mention was Robert Ludington, gentleman, a merchant in the
Levantine trade. In the pursuit of business, and also probably for
curiosity and pleasure, he traveled extensively in Italy, Greece, Turkey,
Egypt and Syria, at a time when such journeyings were more arduous and
even perilous than those of to-day in equatorial or polar wildernesses.
In accord with the pious custom of the age he also made a pilgrimage to
Palestine, and visited the chief places made memorable in Holy Writ. He
died at Worcester at the age of 76 years, in 1625, a few years before the
first colonists of his name appeared in North America. The exact degree
of relationship between him and them is not now ascertainable, but it
is supposable that it was close, while there is no reason whatever for
doubting that the American Ludingtons were members of that same family
“of a great estate,” whether or not they came from the particular branch
of it which was identified with Shrawley and Worcester.
For the Ludington family in England antedated Robert Ludington of
Worcester by many generations, and was established elsewhere in the
Midlands than in Worcestershire. Its chief seat seems to have been in
the Eastern Midlands, though its name has long been implanted on all
the shires from Lincoln to Worcester, including Rutland, Leicester,
Huntingdon, Northampton, and Warwick. There is a credible tradition that
in the Third Crusade a Ludington was among the followers of Richard Cœur
de Lion, and that afterward, when that adventurous monarch was a prisoner
in Austria, he sought to visit him in the guise of a holy palmer, in
order to devise with him some plan for his escape. Because of these loyal
exploits, we are told, he was invested with a patent of nobility, and
with the coat of arms thereafter borne by the Ludington family, to wit
(according to Burke’s Heraldry): Pale of six argent and azure on a chief,
gules a lion passant and gardant. Crest, a palmer’s staff, erect. Motto,
_Probum non penitet_.
Authentic mention of other Ludingtons, honorable and often distinguished,
may be found from time to time in English history, especially in the
annals of Tudor and Stuart reigns. In the reign of Henry VIII a Sir John
Ludington was a man of mark in the north of England, and his daughter,
Elizabeth Ludington, married first an alderman of the City of London,
and second, after his death, Sir John Chamberlain. In the sixteenth
century, the Rev. Thomas Ludington, M.A., was a Fellow of Christ Church
College, Oxford, where his will, dated May 28, 1593, is still preserved.
In the next century another clergyman, the Rev. Stephen Ludington, D.D.,
was married about 1610 to Anne, daughter of Richard Streetfield, at
Chiddington, Kent. Afterward he was made prebendary of Langford, Lincoln,
on November 15, 1641, and in June, 1674, resigned that place to his son,
the Rev. Stephen Ludington, M.A. He was also rector of Carlton Scrope,
and archdeacon of Stow, filling the last-named place at the time of his
death in 1677. His grave is to be seen in Lincoln Cathedral. His son,
mentioned above, was married to Ann Dillingham in Westminster Abbey in
1675.
It will be hereafter observed in this narrative that the family name
of Ludington has been variously spelled in this country, as Ludington,
Luddington, Ludinton, Ludenton, etc. Some of these variations have
appeared also in England, together with the form Lydington, which has
not been used here. These same forms have also been applied to the
several towns and parishes which bear or have borne the family name, and
especially that one parish which is so ancient and which was formerly so
closely identified with the Ludingtons that question has risen whether
the parish was named for the family or the family derived its name from
the parish. This place, at one time called Lydington, was first mentioned
in the Domesday Book of William the Conqueror, where it was called
Ludington—whence we may properly regard that as the original and correct
form of the name. It was then a part of the Bishopric of Lincoln and of
the county of Northampton; Rutlandshire, in which the place now is, not
having been set off from Northampton until the time of King John. The
Bishop of Lincoln had a residential palace there, which was afterward
transformed into a charity hospital, and as such is still in existence.
In the chapel of the hospital is an ancient folio Bible bearing the
inscription “Ludington Hospital Bible,” and containing in manuscript a
special prayer for the hospital, which is regularly read as a part of the
service. The name of Loddington is borne by parishes in Leicestershire
and Northamptonshire, that of Luddington by parishes in Lincolnshire and
Warwickshire (the latter near Stratford-on-Avon and intimately associated
with Shakespeare), and that of Luddington-in-the-Brook by one which is
partly in Northamptonshire and partly in Huntingdonshire; all testifying
to the early extent of the Ludington family throughout the Midland
counties of England.
The earliest record of a Ludington in America occurs in 1635. On April 6
of that year the ship _Hopewell_, which had already made several voyages
to these shores, sailed from London for Massachusetts Bay, under the
command of William Bundock. Her Company of eleven passengers was notable
for the youthfulness of all its members, the youngest being twelve and
the oldest only twenty-two years of age. Seven of them were young men,
or boys, and four were girls. One of the latter, whose age was given
as eighteen years, was registered on the ship’s list as “Christiom”
Ludington, but other records, in London, show that the name, although
very distinctly written in that form, should have been “Christian.”
Concerning her origin and her subsequent fate, all records are silent. In
John Farmer’s “List of Ancient Names in Boston and Vicinity, 1630-1644,”
however, appears the name of “Ch. Luddington”; presumably that of this
same young woman. Again, in the Old Granary burying ground in Boston, on
Tomb No. 108, there appear the names of Joseph Tilden and C. Ludington;
and a plausible conjecture is that Christian Ludington became the wife
of Joseph Tilden and that thus they were both buried in the same grave.
But this is conjecture and nothing more. So far as ascertained facts are
concerned, Christian Ludington makes both her first and her last recorded
appearance in that passenger list of the _Hopewell_.
The next appearance of the name in American annals, however,—passing by
the mere undated mention of one Christopher Ludington in connection
with the Virginia colony,—places us upon assured ground and marks the
foundation of the family in America. William Ludington was born in
England—place not known—in 1608, and his wife Ellen—her family name not
known—was also born there in 1617. They were married in 1636, and a few
years later came to America and settled in the Massachusetts Bay colony,
in that part of Charlestown which was afterward set off into the separate
town of Malden. The date of their migration hither is not precisely
known. Savage’s “Genealogical Register” mentions William Ludington as
living in Charlestown in 1642; which is quite correct, though, as Mr.
Patrick aptly points out, the date is by no means conclusive as to the
time of his first settlement in that place. Indeed, it is certain that he
had settled in Charlestown some time before, for in the early records of
the colony, under date of May 13, 1640, appears the repeal of a former
order forbidding the erection of houses at a distance of more than half a
mile from the meeting house, and with the repeal is an order remitting to
William Ludington the penalty for having disobeyed the original decree.
That restriction of building was, of course, a prudent and probably a
necessary one, in the early days of the colony, for keeping the town
compact and thus affording to all its inhabitants greater security
against Indian attacks. It seems to have been disregarded, however, by
the actual building of some houses outside of the prescribed line, and
in such violation a heavy penalty was incurred. By 1640 the law became
obsolete. Boston had then been founded ten years. The colonies of New
Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut had been settled and organized.
And three years before the Pequods had been vanquished. It was therefore
fitting to rescind the order, and to let the borders of Charlestown be
enlarged. We may assume that it was with a realization that this would
speedily be done that William Ludington, either at the very beginning
of 1640 or previous to that year, built his house on the forbidden
ground, and thus incurred the penalty, which, however, was not imposed
upon him; and we may further assume that it was this act of his which
finally called official attention to the obsolete character of the law
and thus brought about its repeal. In the light thus thrown upon him,
William Ludington appears as probably a man of considerable standing in
the community, and of high general esteem, else his disregard of the law
would scarcely have been thus condoned.
Reckoning, then, that William Ludington was settled in his house in the
outskirts of Charlestown—on the north side of the Mystic River, in what
was later called Malden—before May 13, 1640, the date of his arrival in
America must probably be placed as early as 1639, if not even earlier.
He remained at Charlestown for a little more than twenty years, and was
a considerable landowner and an important member of the community.
Many references to him appear in the old colonial records, with some
apparent conflicts of date, which are doubtless due to the transition
stage through which the calendar was then passing. Most of the civilized
world adopted the present Gregorian calendar in the sixteenth century,
but it was not until 1751 that Great Britain and the British colonies
did so. Consequently during most of our colonial history, including the
times of William Ludington, the year began on March 25 instead of January
1, and all dates in the three months of January, February and March
(down to the 24th) were credited to a different year from that to which
we should now credit them. In many cases historians have endeavored to
indicate such dates with accuracy by giving the numbers of both years,
thus: March 1, 1660-61. But in many cases this has not been done and
only a single year number is given, thus causing much uncertainty and
doubt as to which year is meant. There were also other disturbances of
chronology, and other differences in the statement of dates, involving
other months of the year; especially that of two months’ difference at
what is now the end of the year. Thus the birth of William Ludington’s
daughter Mary is variously stated to have occurred on December 6, 1642,
December 6, 1642-43, February 6, 1643, and February 6, 1642-43. Also the
birth and death of his son Matthew are credited, respectively, to October
16, 1657, and November 12, 1657, and to December 16, 1657, and January
12, 1658. There is record of the purchase, on October 10, 1649, of a
tract of twenty acres of land at Malden, by William Ludington, described
in the deed as a weaver, from Ralph Hall, a pipe-stave maker, and also of
the sale of five acres by William Ludington to Joseph Carter, a currier.
The deed given by Ralph Hall is entitled “A Sale of Land by Ralph Hall
unto William Luddington, both of Charlestowne, the 10th day of the 10th
moneth, 1649,” and runs as follows:
Know all men by these presents, That I, Ralph Hall, of
Charletowne in New England, Pipe stave maker, for a certaine
valluable consideration by mee in hand Received, by which I
doe acknowledge myselfe to be fully satisfied, and payed, and
contented; Have bargained, sould, given, and granted, and doe
by these presents Bargaine, sell, give, and grant unto william
Luddington of Charletowne aforesayd, Weaver, Twenty Achors of
Land, more or less, scituate, Lying, and Beeing in Maulden,
That is to say, fifteen Acres of Land, more or less which I,
the sayd Ralph formerly purchased at the hand of Thomas Peirce,
of Charltowne, senior, Bounded on the Northwest by the land of
Mr. Palgrave, Phisition, on the Northeast by the Lands of John
Sybly, on the South Easte by the Lands of James Hubbert, and
on the South west by the Land of widdow Coale, And the other
five Acres herein mencioned sould to the sayd William, Are five
Acres, more, or less, bounded on the southeast by the Land of
Widdow Coale aforesaid, on the southwest by Thomas Grover and
Thomas Osborne, Northeast by the Ground of Thomas Molton, and
Northwest by the forsayde fifeteen Acres: which five acres I
formerly purchased of Mr. John Hodges, of Charltowne. To Have
and to hould the sayd fifeteen acres, and five Acres of Lands,
with all the Appurtenances and priviledges thereoff To Him, the
sayd William Luddington his heigres and Assignees for ever: And
by mee, the sayd Ralph Hall, and Mary my wife, to bee bargained
sould, given, and confirmed unto him, the sayd william, and his
heigres and assignes for him, and them peasable and quietly to
possess, inioy, and improve to his and their owne proper use
and usses for ever, and the same by us by vertue hereoff to bee
warrantedtised (sic) mayntained, and defended from any other
person or persons hereafter Laying clayme to the same by any
former contract or agreement concerning the same: In witness
whereof, I, the sayd Ralph Hall with Mary my wife, for our
selves, our heires, executors and Administrators, have hereunto
sett our hands and seales.
Dated this Tenth day of December 1649.
This is testified before the worshipfull Mr. Richard Bellingham.
On November 30, 1651, William Ludington was mentioned in the will of
Henry Sandyes, of Charlestown, as one of the creditors of his estate,
and in 1660 he was enrolled as a juror in Malden. Early in the latter
year, however, he removed from Malden or Charlestown to the New Haven,
Connecticut, colony, and there settled at East Haven, adjoining
Branford, on the east side of the Quinnipiac River. Five years before
there had been established at that place the first iron works in
Connecticut. The raw material used was the rich bog ore which was then
found in large quantities in the swamps of North Haven and elsewhere,
precisely like that which at a still later date was abundantly found and
worked in the swamps of southern New Jersey, where the name of “Furnace”
is still borne by more than one village on the site of a long-abandoned
foundry. This industry flourished at East Haven until about 1680, when
the supply of bog ore was exhausted and the works were closed. Although
William Ludington had been a weaver at Malden, he appears to have been
interested in these iron works, and indeed probably removed to East
Haven for the sake of connecting and identifying himself with them. But
his career there was short. On March 27, 1660, evidently soon after his
arrival there, he was complainant in a slander suit, and in either the
same year or the next year he died, at the East Haven iron works. The
manner of his death, whether from sickness or from accident, is unknown.
But it evidently produced some impression in the community, since it is
the only death specially recorded in the early annals of the place.
The precise date of his death, even the year in which it occurred, is a
matter of uncertainty. Mr. Patrick quotes a passage from the East Haven
records which says: “In 1662 John Porter obtained a piece of land to
set his blacksmith shop upon … and about the same time William Ludington
died.” Therefore he concludes that William Ludington died in 1662. But
was it 1662 according to the chronology of those times or according
to that of our time? Wyman’s records of Charlestown and Malden, which
mention William Ludington’s departure thence for East Haven, relate
that on October 1, 1661, John White made petition for the appointment
of an administrator of William Ludington’s estate in Middlesex County,
Massachusetts, and Pope’s “Pioneers of Massachusetts” confirms that
record, giving the name of the petitioner as Wayte or Waite, and adding
that the inventory of the estate was filed by James Barrat, or Barret, on
April 1, 1662. Mr. Patrick has the name Bariat and the date February 1,
1662. Here we have, then, the same discrepancy of exactly two months in
statement of date which was noticed in the case of Matthew Ludington’s
birth and death. Of course, if the petition for administration of William
Ludington’s estate was made on October 1, 1661, his death must have
occurred before that date, instead of in 1662 as the East Haven records
suggest. The explanation of the apparent conflict of dates is doubtless
to be found in the changes of calendar to which reference has been made,
one historian giving the date according to the chronology then prevailing
and another according to that of the present day. Concerning the date of
the probating of his estate at East Haven, however, there is apparently
no doubt, since in the records of it the dual year-dates are given.
That estate was inventoried and appraised by John Cooper and Matthew
Moulthrop, and their inventory, according to Hoadly’s “New Haven Colonial
Records,” was filed in court at New Haven on March 3, 1662, according to
the chronology of that time, or 1663 according to ours. This interesting
document was entitled “An Inventory of ye Estate of William Ludington,
late of New Haven, deceased, amounting to £183 and 10s., upon Oath
attested yt ye Aprizents was just to the best of their light, by John
Cooper, Sen., and Matthew Moulthrop in Court at New Haven, 1662-63.” It
ran in detail as follows:
| lbs | sh | d.
------------------------------------------+-----+----+---
Inv’ty ⅌ bd’s, boulsters pillows, | | |
coverlits, rugs, curtains—value | 20 | 07 | 02
| | |
” ⅌ sheets, pillow covers, table | | |
clothes and a blanket | 05 | 16 | 00
| | |
” ⅌ five yards ¾ of krosin | 02 | 00 | 00
| | |
” ⅌ four yards of red kersey | 01 | 00 | 00
| | |
” ⅌ six yards of kersey | 02 | 14 | 00
| | |
” ⅌ five yards of serze at 7s | 01 | 15 | 00
| | |
” ⅌ eight yards blew kersey at 7s | 02 | 16 | 00
| | |
” ⅌ twelve yards of serge at 6s | 00 | 18 | 00
| | |
” ⅌ 1¾th of wosted yarns | 00 | 12 | 00
| | |
” ⅌ 1¼th of woolen yarns | 00 | 05 | 00
| | |
” ⅌ 4 guns, 2 swords and a piece of | | |
a sword | 05 | 16 | 00
| | |
” ⅌ 3 chests and three boxes | 02 | 00 | 00
| | |
” ⅌ pewter, chamber pots, spoons and | | |
2 sauce pans | 02 | 13 | 02
| | |
” ⅌ 2 dripping pans, 1 cup, 4 cream | | |
pots, some eartyn ware | 00 | 08 | 02
| | |
” ⅌ 3 bottles and a tu mill | 00 | 02 | 06
| | |
” ⅌ warming pan, 2 iron pots, kettle,| | |
brass pot 2 skillets, frying pan | 03 | 15 | 00
| | |
” ⅌ iron dogs, tramell, share and | | |
coulter and an iron square | 01 | 01 | 06
| | |
” ⅌ tooles, wedges, sithes & a payre | | |
of still yards & a 7lb waight | 05 | 04 | 00
| | |
” ⅌ a smoothing iron, a parcell of | | |
wayles, a hogshead & 2 chests | 01 | 08 | 06
| | |
” ⅌ sheeps wooll and cotton wooll | 02 | 10 | 09
| | |
” ⅌ Indyan corne, 7lb 10s; 10 bush | | |
turnips, 18s | 08 | 08 | 00
| | |
” ⅌ 2 loomes and furniture, 3 chayres| 05 | 09 | 00
| | |
” ⅌ wooden ware, a table & forme, a | | |
sieve, some trenches & bagges | 01 | 09 | 04
| | |
” ⅌ house and land 60lbs | 60 | 00 | 00
| | |
” ⅌ 3 cowes & two calves, 2 sowes & | | |
3 shoates | 16 | 06 | 08
| | |
” ⅌ 6 loads of hay, 50s, and some | | |
other thinges in all | 30 | 07 | 00
+-----+----+---
| 185 | 02 | 09
The Estate Cr. | 00 | 15 | 00
The Estate Dr. | 02 | 07 | 09
Which being deducted there remains | 183 | 10 | 00
The marke, i. e. of
John Cooper, }
Mathew Moulthrop, } Apprisers.
Again, in the “Records of the Proprietors of New Haven” we find that “At
a Court held at New Haven March 3, 1662-3 … an inventory of the Estate of
Willm. Luddington deceased whas presented.… The widdow upon oath attested
to the fulness of it to the best of her knowledge.… The widdow being
asked if her husband made noe will answered that she knew of none for
she was not at home when he died.… The matter respecting the childrens
portions was deferred till next court & the … widdow with him that shee
was to marry & all her children above fourteen years of age was ordered
then to appear.…” At this date, therefore, William Ludington’s widow was
engaged to be married again, and that engagement was publicly announced.
Moreover, she was actually married to her second husband, John Rose, a
few weeks later, for on May 5 following, in 1662-63, according to the
“Proprietors’ Records,” the court was again in session, and “John Rose
who married widdow Ludington was called to know what security he would
give for the childrens portions that was not yet of age to receive them.”
It is true that in those days the period of mourning before remarriage
was sometimes abbreviated, but it is scarcely conceivable that this
widow’s marriage took place within a few months of her husband’s death,
or sooner than a year thereafter. It may therefore be assumed that
William Ludington’s death, at the East Haven iron works, occurred at
least as early as March or April, 1661-62.
There is reason to believe that William Ludington was not only a man
of note in the East Haven community but that also he was a man of
considerable property—more than would be suggested by the item of “house
and land 60 lbs.” in the inventory. For the New Haven Land Records show
that in 1723 his son, William Ludington, 2nd, sold to Thomas Robinson
“part of that tract of land set out to my father, William Luddington,
which tract contains 100 acres.” This property was in East Haven, just
across the river from Branford.
The children of William and Ellen Ludington were seven in number. The
first was Thomas, who was born (probably in England) in 1637. He removed
to Newark, New Jersey, in 1666, and became a farmer—since when in
1689 he sold some land with a house and barn at New Haven he described
himself in the deed as a husbandman. He was an assessor and a surveyor
of highways at Newark, and left children whose descendants are now to
be found in the northern part of New Jersey. His oldest child, John,
remained at New Haven, married, and had issue, his first-born, James,
being a soldier in the French and Indian war and being killed in battle
on September 8, 1756. The second child of William and Ellen Ludington was
John Ludington, who was born (probably at Charlestown, Massachusetts)
in 1640. He was living at East Haven in 1664, and afterward, Mr.
Patrick thinks, removed to Vermont. The third child was Mary, of whose
birth various dates are given, as already noted. The fourth was Henry
Ludington, the date of whose birth is not known, but who was killed in
the war with King Philip, at the end of 1675 or beginning of 1676, as
appears in the “New Haven Probate Records,” where is found an inventory
of the estate of “Henry Luddington late of N. haven slayne in the warre
taken & apprised by Mathew Moulthrop & John Potter Janry. 3, 1676.” The
fifth child was Hannah, the dates of whose birth and death are unknown.
The sixth child was William Ludington, 2nd, who was born about 1655 and
died in February, 1737. His first wife was Martha Rose, daughter of his
stepfather, John Rose, and his second was Mercy Whitehead. According to
Dodd’s “East Haven Register” he was a man of means, of intelligence, of
ability, and of important standing in the community. He had two sons and
one daughter by his first wife, and two sons and six daughters by his
second. His first-born, the son of Martha Rose, was Henry Ludington, who
was born in 1679, was a carpenter, married Sarah, daughter of William
Collins, on August 20, 1700, had eight sons and four daughters, and died
in the summer of 1727—of whom, or of his descendants, we shall presently
hear much more. Finally, the seventh child of William and Ellen Ludington
was Matthew, who as already related was born at Malden and died in
infancy. Despite the removal of Thomas Ludington to Newark, and that of
John Ludington (probably) to Vermont, they appear to have retained much
interest in the New Haven colony, since in the “Colony Record of Deeds”
of Connecticut we find Thomas, John, and William Ludington enumerated
among the proprietors of New Haven in 1685, who were, presumably, the
above mentioned first, second, and sixth children of William and Ellen
Ludington.
Recurring for a moment to the family of William Ludington, 2nd, and
passing by for the time his first-born, Henry Ludington, it is to be
observed that his second child, Eleanor, married Nathaniel Bailey, of
Guilford, Connecticut, and had issue; his third, William Ludington, 3rd,
married Anna Hodge, lived at Waterbury and Plymouth, Connecticut, and
had issue, his sixth son, Samuel, serving in the French and Indian war,
and his grandson, Timothy, son of William 3rd’s first-born, Matthew,
also serving in that war and being killed in battle at East Haven in the
War of the Revolution; the fourth, Mercy, married Ebenezer Deanes or
Dains, of Norwich, Connecticut, and had issue; the fifth, Mary, married
John Dawson, of East Haven, and had issue; the sixth, Hannah, married
Isaac Penfield, of New Haven, and had issue; the seventh, John, married
Elizabeth Potter, and had issue, his son Jude serving in the French and
Indian war; the eighth, Eliphalet, married Abigail Collins, and had
issue, his third son, Amos, serving in the French and Indian war; the
ninth, Elizabeth, died in childhood; the tenth, Dorothy, married Benjamin
Mallory and had issue; and the eleventh, Dorcas, married James Way and
had issue.
Returning now to Henry Ludington, eldest son of William Ludington, 2nd,
who was the sixth child of the original William Ludington, it is to be
observed that his first child, Daniel, married first Hannah Payne, and
second Susannah Clark, and had issue, his second child, Ezra, serving
in the French and Indian war, and his ninth, Collins, in the War of the
Revolution; his second, William Ludington, married first Mary Knowles, of
Branford, and second Mary Wilkinson, of Branford, and had issue—of whom
we shall hereafter hear much more; his third, Sarah, died in childhood;
his fourth, Dinah, married Isaac Thorpe; his fifth, Lydia, married Moses
Thorpe; his sixth, Nathaniel, married first Mary Chidsey, and second
Eunice (Russell) Smith, and had issue; his seventh, Moses, married Eunice
Chidsey; his eighth, Aaron, died at sea; his ninth, Elisha, died in
infancy; his tenth, also named Elisha, settled in Phillipse Precinct,
Dutchess County, New York, married, and had a daughter, Abigail, of whom
more hereafter; his eleventh, Sarah, probably died unmarried, though
Dodd’s “East Haven Register” says she married Daniel Mead; and his
twelfth, Thomas, was drowned, unmarried.
Turning back, once more, to the William Ludington last mentioned, who was
the second son of Henry Ludington, we find that he was born at Branford,
Connecticut, on September 6, 1702. He married Mary Knowles, of Branford,
on November 5, 1730. She died on April 16, 1759, and on April 17,
1760,—just a day after the year of mourning had elapsed!—he married for
his second wife Mary Wilkinson, also of Branford. His eight children, all
of his first wife, were as follows: First, Submit, who married Stephen
Johnson, of Branford; second, Mary; third, Henry, of whom we shall hear
more, since he forms the chief subject of this book; fourth, Lydia, who
married William (or, according to Dodd, Aaron) Buckley, of Branford;
fifth, Samuel; sixth, Rebecca; seventh, Anne; and eighth, Stephen. On
the night of Monday, May 20, 1754, part of William Ludington’s house
at Branford was destroyed by fire, and his sixth and seventh children,
Rebecca and Anne, aged seven and four years, respectively, perished in
the flames.
Attention is thus finally centered upon the second Henry Ludington, who
was the third child of William Ludington, who was the second child of
the first Henry Ludington, who was the first child of the second William
Ludington, who was the sixth child of the first William Ludington, who
was the founder of the Ludington family in America. The sources of
information concerning him and his career, which have been mentioned in
the preface to this volume, are varied and numerous rather than copious
or comprehensive; but they are sufficient to indicate that he was a
man of more than ordinary force of character and of more than average
importance and influence in his time and place, and that he is entitled
to remembrance and to enrolment among those who contributed materially,
and with no little sacrifice of self, to the making of the State of New
York and of the United States of America.