Col. Abraham Davenport

"Appletons' cyclopaedia of American biography, Vol. II, New York, D. Appleton and Company, 1887"

"Davenport, Abraham, lawyer, b. in Stamford, Conn., in 1715; d. there 20 Nov., 1789, was graduated at Yale in 1732, and practised law in his native town. During the Revolution he was a staunch patriot, and served on the state committee of safety. He was a man of stern integrity and generous beneficence, and in times of scarcity and high prices sold the product of his farm to the poor at less than the current value. For some time he was a member of the executive council of Connecticut, for twenty five years he was a member of the state legislature, and state senator from 1766 till 1784. He also held the office of judge of the court of common pleas. When he was a member of the council in Hartford, on the dark day in 1780, it was proposed to adjourn, as some thought the day of judgment was at hand; but he objected, saying: "That day is either at hand or it is not: if it is not, there is no cause of adjournment; if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish, therefore, that candles may be brought." From Graves (#47171280)* Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Dec 21 2019, 17:12:38 UTC

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Dec 21 2019, 18:24:50 UTC

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• 'A history and genealogy of the Davenport family, in England and America, from A. D. 1086 to 1850 .. (1851)
• http://www.archive.org/details/historygenealogy51dave
• http://www.archive.org/stream/historygenealogy51dave#page/186/mode/1up
• EIGHTEENTH GENERATION.
• Issue of Rev. John. Davenport, (No. 68.)
• (70.) I. John Davenport of New Haven, was born during the residence of his father in London, and was an only child. He accompanied his parents to America, in the year 1637. During his father's abode in New Haven, he does not appear to have been much engaged in public affairs, although Dr. Stiles, in his History of the Regicides, in speaking of the Courts of New Haven, about the year 1661, mentions him as one of the judges. He was not admitted a freeman at New Haven, till 15th of May, 1657. He was married, November 27, 1663, to Abigail, daughter of the Rev. Abraham Pierson of Branford, Conn., who was a sister of Rev. Abraham Pierson, the first Rector of Yale College.
  • http://www.archive.org/stream/historygenealogy51dave#page/188/mode/1up
  • NINETEENTH GENERATION.
• Issue of John Davenport, (No. 70.)
  • (73.) III. Rev. John Davenport of Stamford, who was born in Boston, and baptized by his grandfather, on the 28th of February, 1669. He graduated at Harvard College, in 1687, and commenced preaching in 1690. In 1691, he was invited to become an assistant to the Rev. Mr. James of East Hampton, Long Island*
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  • In 1694, Mr. Davenport was ordained as pastor of the church in Stamford, and on the 18th of April, 1695, he was married to Martha,
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  • widow of John Selleck, formerly a Miss Gould, by whom he had seven children.
  • The following is the minute of her death, copied from the records of the town:
  • "That Eminently pious and very virtuous Matron, Mrs. Martha Davenport, late wife to the Rev. John Davenport, Pastor of ye Church of Christ in Stamford, Laid down or Exchanged Her Mortall or Temporall Life, to putt on Immortality, and Doubtless was Crowned with immortal glory, on the first day of December, 1712." She was buried at New Haven.
  • The following extracts are given from " A Sermon preached at the Funeral of the Rev. John Davenport, late Pastor of the Church in Stamford, who died Friday, Feb. 5, 1731, in the 62d year of his age, and 36th of his ministry: And was decently interred on Monday following: By the Rev. Samuel Cooke, pastor of the Church in Stratfield [now Bridgeport].
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  • Mr. Davenport for some time previous to commencing his labors in Stamford, taught the Hopkins' Grammar School in New Haven. He was a member of the Corporation of Yale College from 1707 till his death in 1731.
  • His second "wife was Mrs. Elizabeth Maltby, daughter of John Morris, by whom he had two children. The following is the record of her death. " The ancient Madam, Mrs. Elizabeth Davenport, widow and relict of ye late Rev. Mr. John Davenport, died January 11, 1758."
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    • TWENTIETH GENERATION.
  • Issue of Rev. John Davenport, (No. 73.)
    • (77.) I. Abigail Davenport, born July 14, 1696, and married to the Rev. Stephen Williams, D.D.,
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    • of Springfield, Mass., July 3, 1718, by whom she had eight children, three of whom were ministers, the aggregate period of whose ministry was over a hundred and fifty years. Of these children, some further account will be given, under their appropriate head, in the next generation. She died August 26, 1766. The following account of Mr. "Williams is principally drawn from Allen's Biographical Dictionary, and "The Williams Family History."
    • http://www.archive.org/stream/historygenealogy51dave#page/205/mode/1up
    • (78.) II. John Davenport, born in Stamford, January 21, 1698, and was married by his father to Sarah Bishop,* September 6, 1722.
    • * Supposed to be a granddaughter of Rev. John Bishop, who was Mr. Davenport's predecessor.
    • http://www.archive.org/stream/historygenealogy51dave#page/206/mode/1up
    • He removed to what is now the North Society of Stamford, and was one of the original twenty-four members who were organized into a Congregational Church in New Canaan, on the 20th of June, 1733.* He deceased November 17, 1742, leaving fourteen children, the oldest of whom had not reached the age of nineteen when their father died, aged 44 years.
    • (79.) III. Martha Davenport, born February 10, 1700, was married to the Rev. Thomas Goodsell of Branford, October 6, 1731, by whom she had one child, Sarah, who married
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    • about 1760, Jeremiah Wolcott of Windsor, whose eldest daughter, Martha Davenport Wolcott, married Hezekiah Reynolds in 1778, who was the father of John Davenport Reynolds of Wallingford, and also of William Augustus Reynolds, who now owns, and resides upon the old Davenport place in Elm Street, New Haven.* Mrs. Goodsell died in 1796.
    • (80.) IV. Sarah Davenport, born July, 1702, and was married, first, to Captain William Maltby of New Haven, by whom she had three children — a son and two daughters.
    • http://www.archive.org/stream/historygenealogy51dave#page/209/mode/1up
    • (81.) V. Theodora Davenport, born Nov. 2, 1703, and died Feb. 15, 1712.
    • http://www.archive.org/stream/historygenealogy51dave#page/210/mode/1up
    • (82.) VI. Dea. Deodate Davenport, of East Haven, born in Stamford, Oct. 23, 1706. He was married in 1730 to Lydia Woodward, daughter of the Rev. John Woodward* He died Dec. 3, 1761.
    • (83.) VII. Elizabeth Davenport, born in Stamford, August 28, 1708, and was married to the Rev. William Gaylord, of Wilton, by whom she had two children, one of whom Martha, was married to Seth Taylor, of Norwalk, (now Westport.) Mrs. Gaylord died July 6, 1747, aged 38 years and 10 months.f
    • ' (84.) VIII Hon. Abraham Davenport, of Stamford, born in 1715, and graduated at Yale College in 1732. He was married in Windham, Connecticut, by the Rev. Stephen White, on the 16th of November 1750, to Miss Elizabeth
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    • 'Huntington, whose mother was a daughter of Rev. Timothy Edwards, of East "Windsor, and the sister of Pres. Jonathan Edwards.
    • ' His first wife died December 17, 1773. He was re-married in Stamford, by the Rev. Dr. Wells, August 8, 1776, to Mrs. Martha Fitch.
    • ' " Mr. Davenport sustained many important offices in civil life, all of which he filled with honor to himself and fidelity to his country. He was for many years one of the Council of the State, and at the time of his death, was Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the County of Fairfield, and Judge of the Court of Probate of Stamford. While he lived he was greatly respected, and his death was universally lamented. 'The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance.' " *
    • ' Of Colonel Davenport, Dr. Dwight in his Travels, (Vol. 3d, p. 497,) gives the following account : —
    • ' "In this town [Stamford], lived the Hon. Abraham Davenport, for a long time one of the Councillors of the State, and before that, of the Colony of Connecticut. This gentleman was the son of the Rev. John Davenport, and
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    • 'the great-grandson of the Rev. John Davenport, the father of the New Haven Colony. Colonel Davenport was possessed of a vigorous understanding and invincible firmness of mind, of integrity and justice, unquestioned even by his enemies ; of veracity exact in a degree, nearly singular ; and of a weight of character which for many years decided in this County almost every question to which it was lent. He was early a professor of the Christian religion ; and adorned its doctrines by an exemplary, conformity to its precepts. He was often styled a rough diamond ; and the appellation was, perhaps, never given with more propriety. His virtues were all of the masculine kind ; less soft, graceful and alluring, than his friends wished ; but more extensively productive of real good to mankind, than those of almost any man who has been distinguished for gentleness of character. It would be happy for this or any other country, if the magistracy should execute its laws with the exactness, for which he was distinguished. Colonel Davenport acquired property with diligence, and preserved it with frugality ; and hence was by many persons supposed to regard it with an improper attachment. This, however, was a
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    • 'very erroneous opinion. Of what was merely ornamental, he was, I think, too regardless ; but the poor found nowhere a more liberal benefactor, nor the stranger a more hospitable host. I say this from personal knowledge, acquired by a long continued and intimate acquaintance with him and his family. While the war had its principal seat in the State of New York, he took the entire superintendence of the sick soldiers, who were returning home ; filled his own houses with them ; and devoted to their relief his own time, and that of his family ; while he provided elsewhere the best accommodations for such as he could not receive. In a season when an expectation of approaching scarcity had raised the price of bread-corn to an enormous height, he not only sold the produce of his own farms to the poor at the former customary price, but bought corn extensively, and sold this also, as he had sold his own. His alms were at the same time rarely rivalled in their extent.
    • ' "Two instances of Colonel Davenport's firmness deserve to be mentioned. The 19th of May, 1780, was a remarkably dark day. Candles were lighted in many houses ; the birds were silent and disappeared ; the fowls retired
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    • 'to roost. The Legislature of Connecticut was then in session at Hartford. A very general opinion prevailed that the day of Judgment was at hand. The House of Representatives "being unable to transact their business, adjourned. A proposal to adjourn the Council was under consideration. When the opinion of Colonel Davenport was asked, he answered 'I am against an adjournment. The day of Judgment is either approaching, or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for an adjournment :. if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish therefore that candles may be brought.'
    • ' "The other instance took place at Danbury, at the Court of Common Pleas ; of which he was Chief Justice. This venerable man after he was struck with death, heard a considerable part of a trial ; gave the charge to the jury ; and took notice of an article in the testimony which had escaped the attention of the counsel on both sides. He then retired from the bench ; and was soon after found dead in his bed.
    • ' "To his friends Col. Davenport extended his acts of kindness, as if they had been his children. I say this from experience. Of his country and of all its great interests, he was a
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    • 'pillar of granite. Nothing impaired, nothing moved his resolution and firmness, while destined to support in his own station this valuable edifice.
    • ' "He was educated at Yale College, in which he took the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1732. He died as he had long wished to die, in the immediate performance of his duty, November 20th, 1789, in the 74th year of his age."
    • (85.) IX. Rev. James Davenport, born in Stamford, 1716. He was educated at Yale College, where he graduated in 1732. He settled at Southold, Long Island, in 1738.
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    • Mr. Davenport was formally dismissed from Southold, L. I. in 1746, and afterwards settled at Hopewell, N. J., where he usefully labored for some years, and died in 1755.
    • http://www.archive.org/stream/historygenealogy51dave#page/234/mode/1up
      • TWENTY-FIRST GENERATION.— Continued.
    • ' Issue of Hon. Abraham Davenport, (No. 84.)
      • (117.) I. Hon. John Davenport of Stamford, born Jan. 16, 1752, and graduated at Yale College in 1770. He was married to Mary Silvester Wells, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Noah Wells, by Abraham Davenport, May 7, 1780. He was Major of the militia in this section of the State, in the war of the Revolution. In 1799, he was chosen a Representative Member of the American Congress, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of his younger brother, (Hon. James Davenport,) of which he continued for 18 years a member, during the Presidency of the elder Adams, and also of Presidents Jefferson and Monroe. He was punctually at his post from the opening to the adjournment of each session of Congress, and answered to his name when called to vote on all subjects. Having declined a re-election in 1817, he spent the remainder of his days in the bosom of his family. He died in Christian peace, Nov. 28, 1830. His wife survived him, and died in Brooklyn, N. Y., June 28, 1847, at the advanced age of 93 years.
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      • (118.) II. Abraham Davenport, born Oct. 21, 1753, died October 25, 1754.
      • (119.) III. Elizabeth Davenport, born Sept. 16, 1756, and was married by the Rev. Dr. Wells, to James Cogswell, M.D., of Preston, August 8, 1776. They had one daughter, Alice, who became the wife of the Rev. Samuel Fisher, D.D., of Greenbush, N. Y., who is the father of the Rev. Samuel Ware Fisher, who recently succeeded the Rev. Dr. Beecher, as pastor of the 2d Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, Ohio.
      • "Elizabeth, wife of James Cogswell, M. D., departed this life, Nov. 15, 1779.*
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      • (120.) IV. Hon. James Davenport, born October 12, 1758, and graduated at Yale College in 1779. He was married to Abigail Fitch, by Abraham Davenport, Esquire, May 7, 1780. Mrs. D. died Nov. 1782, aged 22 years. Married second, to Mehitabel Coggshall, by the Rev. William Lockwood, of Milford, Ct., Nov. 6, 1790. He was a member of the State Legislature, and Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. In 1796, he was chosen a Representative Member of the American Congress, during the Presidency of General Washington. He died suddenly, August 3, 1797. He was a member of the Corporation of Yale College from 1793 to the time of his death.
      • http://www.archive.org/stream/historygenealogy51dave#page/238/mode/1up
      • (121.) V. Huntington Davenport, born April 18, 1761, and "departed this life on the evening following the 22d of October, 1769."
• __________________________
• 'Abraham Davenport (1715 – November 20, 1789) was an American politician who served in the Connecticut Governor's Council during the American Revolution, and as a colonel in the Connecticut state militia. He is famous for his response to New England's Dark Day, which many feared was a sign that the Last Judgment was approaching.
• John Greenleaf Whittier wrote a poem about the famous incident, "Abraham Davenport" first published in The Atlantic Monthly (May 1866).
• External links
• "Abraham Davenport 1715–1789" at The Stamford Historical Society
• "Abraham Davenport & The Dark Day" at The Stamford Historical Society
• "The Dark Day" at Curbstone Press
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Davenport
• _______________________
• 'The Stamford Historical Society Presents
• 'Portrait of a Family: Stamford through the Legacy of the Davenports
• http://www.stamfordhistory.org/dav_abraham1.htm
• 'Abraham Davenport 1715–1789
• 'Born 1715 in Stamford, Connecticut Abraham Davenport was the son of John Davenport, who replaced John Bishop as minister of the Stamford church and Elizabeth (Morris) Maltby, John’s second wife. John Davenport died in 1731 and the next year his sons, Abraham and James were graduated from Yale.
• 'Death indeed found Davenport one day in 1789 while he was doing his duty, presiding at the Court of Common Pleas in Danbury. He was interred in the Northfield burying ground which he bequeathed to the church along with 200 pounds for the support of its minister. His name for firmness in the work of his hometown, state and country was not his only legacy. Timothy Dwight wrote of his kindness, hospitality to strangers, generosity to those in need, and care for sick soldiers during the war of the Revolution. Farmer, attorney, judge, politician but first of all a patriot, Abraham Davenport served as an exemplary figure in 18th century Connecticut.
  • Some of the positions Abraham Davenport held during his lifetime:
• Stamford Representative to the Connecticut General Assembly, 1759-1766
• Connecticut Colonial & State Senator, 1766-1784
• Colonel, Connecticut State Militia
• Judge of the Maritime Court of Fairfield County
• Judge of the Court of Common Pleas
• Judge of the Probate Court of Stamford, 1768-1790
• Stamford Selectman, 1746-1777
• Stamford Town Treasurer, 1777-1779
• Deacon, First Congregational Church, 1759-1789
• 'Abraham Davenport sat for this portrait just a year before his death in 1789. Portraitist of prominent New Englanders, Ralph Earl became acquainted with Davenport after his release from debtors’ prison through his court-appointed guardian, Doctor Mason Fitch Cogswell.
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