Charlotte Ann Niles

“She was killed while sitting between her sisters in the old school house by a stroke of lightning”

HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF STONINGTON, county of New London, Connecticut, from its first settlement in 1649 to 1900, by Richard Anson Wheeler, New London, CT, 1900, p. 585

“On Thursday last, between two and three o’clock, P. M. the clouds collected over our vicinity, and a terrible storm succeeded, comprising thunder, sharp and vivid lightning and violent wind, which, tho not of long duration, immensely injured the citizens of the town. The loss of numerous fruit trees, and large groves of timber, which were instantly torn up by their roots, or twisted asunder, and the destruction of many fields of grain by force of the wind, was the immediate consequence. The academy in this town was struck and a daughter of Capt. Lodwick Niles, aged 7 years, (then in school) instantly killed. Altho there were from between 50 and 60 scholars under the roof, there were providentially none excepting her, materially injured, altho several were sitting very near her.” —The Connecticut Courant (Hartford, Connecticut), Wednesday, July 13, 1808, p. 3, cols. 2–3.