Dr. James William Smith, Physician Missionary in Hawaii: A Connecticut Ancestry

Dr. James William Smith, Physician Missionary in Hawaii:

A Connecticut Ancestry

by Jeffrey Bingham Mead, CSG #13607

Submitted September 27, 1997 

to the Connecticut Nutmegger, 

Connecticut Society of Genealogists, Inc.

Published: March 1998.

Map of the Hawaiian Islands dated 1837. Source: Library of Congress. 

American Congregational missionary physicians journeyed to many parts of the nineteenth century world. Among those who answered the call to serve God and distant peoples was Dr. James William Smith of Stamford, CT. His calling brought him to Hawaii in 1842.

One of the earliest known ancestors of James William Smith was Nathaniel Smith, Jr. He was born 11 November 1729, son of Caleb and Susana (Scofield) Smith, who were married 11 February 1719/20.

Nathaniel married on 5 June 1752 Abigail Scofield, born 27 December 1730, daughter of Samuel and Hannah (Weed) Scofield at Rye, New York. Abigail died on 12 February 1766. Nathaniel's second wife, Sarah, died sometime after 1812. Nathaniel Smith served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War as a private in the 1st Company, Fifth Continental Regiment. He served from 11 May to 2 November 1775.(1)

His children with Abigail Scofield were Nathaniel, born 25 September 1752, had died by 1803; Abigail, born 28 July 1752, married James Scofield 3rd, born 14 March 1746/7, son of John and Sarah (Holly) Scofield; Isaac, born 16 January 1757; Caleb, born 24 April 1758, was dead by 1838; Susanna, born 12 August 1759, married William White; Daniel, born 11 March 1763.(2)

Isaac Smith is next in line. He was born at Stamford 16 January 1757. He married 21 January 1778 to Abigail Waring, born 25 February 1761, daughter of Jonathan and Mary (Richards) Waring. Isaac died 15 February 1805. His widow married a second time on 1 May 1807 to Rev. Nathaniel Finch, who died 10 August 1829. She died 5 August 1842.(3)

As a Revolutionary War soldier, Isaac Smith enlisted on 1 April 1775 in Col. Thomas’s regiment. He served for eight months at Fort Independence in Westchester County, New York. Isaac used his medical talents as a surgeon’s mate in the Connecticut Troops under Cols. Waterbury, Thomas, and Mead.(4)

Dr. Isaac and Abigail (Waring) Smith had nine children. They were: Caleb, born 2 April 1779; Isaac, born 19 July 1781; Pamela, born 14 November 1782, married Nathaniel Ferris; Mary, born 25 March 1785, married Sylvanus Marshall, Jr.; Ruth, born 14 April 1787, married Solomon Palmer in 1804. 

He was born in 1776 in Greenwich son of Denham and Ann Palmer; Philander, born 4 December 1788, died 13 September 1841, and married Clarissa Holly, born 27 October 1790, died 25 November, 1858, daughter of Stephen and Deborah (Ferris) Holly; Alva, born 1 November 1796, of Westchester County; Edwin, born 1 November 1796, of Westchester County; Jesse, born 24 June 1799; Elizabeth, who married James Place Anderson. (5)

Philander Smith was the father of James William Smith. He was born 4 December 1788, died 13 September 1841. Philander married Clarissa Holly, born 27 October 1790, daughter of Stephen and Deborah (Ferris) Holly. She died 25 November, 1858. (6)

Philander Smith sold his son James 3 parcels of land in Stamford, totaling 12 acres, for $720 and 13 November, 1830.(7) Seven years later, and 17 April, 1837, Philander and Clarissa Holly Smith sold James 16 acres with buildings in Stamford for $1837.(8)

Source: FindAGrave. 

James William Smith was born July 8, 1810 in Stamford.(9)

Of his early life Smith wrote, “Until I was 17 years old I usually attended school in the winter & worked on the farm in the summer,” he wrote. “At this time at this age I begin school teaching. When I was about 19 it pleased the Great Head of the church to arrest me in my sins & as I humbly trust to bring me to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. Soon after I connected myself with the Congregational Church in Stanwich where I came onto the pastoral care of the Rev. Platt Buffett. After a year, I think was after this, I commenced studying in preparation for the ministry. I entered the Academy of O.H. Olmstead, Esq., of Wilton where I studied in all about 3 years. Occasionally I was obliged to engage in teaching for a few months in order to supply myself with the necessary funds. In the spring of 1834 my health failed me & to my great grief I was compelled to relinquish my studies.” (10)

He studied medicine in Stamford and at the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons, now Columbia University. "I commenced the study of medicine as my health would permit it, thinking that in this profession next after the ministry I should have the greatest field of usefulness.” (11)

Dr. Smith decided to go on a mission for several reasons. "I would say 1st: The Saviour’s command ‘go teach all nations.’  2nd: The wants of the heathen; a Physician if I understand the case is greatly needed at the Sandwich Islands at the present time & no one seems ready to go.  3rd: The fact that I commenced preparation for the ministry under the circumstances I did, was aided by benevolent friends & was the subject of many prayers and ardent expectations, this fact gives additional weight to other considerations & I feel as if the Lord had a claim on me.” (12)

He married Melicent Knapp, the daughter of Jared and Mary Owen of Round Hill, Greenwich. (13) She was born 15 October 1816. They were married by Rev. Chauncey Wilcox at the Knapp homestead on 18 April 1842.

Within three weeks of their wedding they were on the brig Sarah Abigail out of Boston for a 143 day journey to Hawaii. They were members of the Tenth Company, and arrived in Honolulu on September 12, 1842. (14)

In November they were stationed at Koloa on the island of Kauai. From 1842 to 1882 Dr. Smith was the only physician on Kauai. He was prone to hasty and regular calls on horseback and on foot. Sometimes his visits took him to Hanalei, 40 miles away on Kauai's North Shore, or to Waimea, 12 miles in the other direction. (15)  In February 1866 he made a 40 mile ride to attend to a young boy at Princeville Plantation and 4.5 hours. Dr. Smith was 55 years old at the time.

In a letter he penned to Obadiah Mead of North Greenwich, dated October 20, 1843, Dr. Smith said “…we find our field of labor in many respects very pleasant. I might speak of the mild and affectionate disposition of the natives & of their readiness to receive instruction -traits which soon endear them to the heart of the missionary.” (16)

From 1854 to 1869 he also served as the first ordained minister on Kauai and pastor of the Koloa Mission (Hawaiian Church of Koloa). Dr. Smith was entirely supported by Hawaiian parishioners, growing and harvesting sugarcane to support the church.

In 1862, James and his wife Melicent establish the Koloa Boarding School for Girls. Melicent labored as its superintendent and a teacher for ten years. (17)

On April 20 Dr. Smith penned a letter to relatives in Connecticut. "It is 21 years today since we left home. I remember the morning well. It was cloudy with some showers, we took breakfast, had prayers, bade you “goodbye,” got in the old 2-horse wagon, cast a last look at the old family cottage and proceeded to Rocky Neck. To the steamboat to New York, and there bid goodbye to one of my brothers and other friends, and then and barked for Boston. Towards evening we passed Greenwich. So Horseneck meeting house and took our last look but those familiar shores, by the light of the setting sun. Twenty-one years have passed since that day, how strange it seems, and how soon, too, they have passed…I am now 52 years old and begin to feel myself almost an old man.” (18)

"In many respects our situation here at the Islands has always been pleasant," he continued. "Koloa is one of the most desirable places of residences on the whole group. My field of labor is not arduous, but it is large enough to keep me fully employed. For 12 years now we have got along comfortably without drawing anything from the funds of the American Board for our support.” (19) 

Dr. and Mrs. Smith had nine children with seven surviving through adulthood. Their children were: Emma Clarissa, 1843-1920; Charlotte Elizabeth, 1845-1896, married A. S. Hartwell; Mary Arabella, 1846 -1848; William Owen, 1848-1929; Jared Knapp, 1849-1897; Mary Eliza 1851-1852; Alfred Holly, 1853-1928; Melicent Philena, 1854-1943, married William Waterhouse; Anna Juliet, 1857-1900, married J.K. Farley. (20)

In 1880 Dr. Smith made a brief visit to his old New England home. He died in Koloa on 30 November, 1887, and is buried in the Smith-Waterhouse Cemetery in Koloa.

Citations 

1 Wicks, Edith, & Olsen, Virginia. Stamford Soldiers: Genealogical Biographies of Revolutionary War Patriots from Stamford, Connecticut. p. 265.
2 Ibid., p. 265.
3 Ibid., p. 258.
4 Ibid., p. 258.
5 Ibid., p. 258.
6 Ibid., p. 258. 
7 Stamford Land Records, Volume W, page 230. Philander Smith to James W. Smith, 13 November, 1830.  
8 Stamford Land Records, Volume V, page 656-657. Philander & Clarissa Smith to James W. Smith of New York City, 13 April, 1837.
9 Missionary Album: Portraits and Biographical Sketches of the American Protestant Missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands: Sesquicentennial Edition. The Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society, Honolulu, 1969, p. 176. 
10 Smith, Dr. James William. Letter of Candidacy, New York, Sept. 28, 1840. Microfiche: Collections of the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society, Honolulu, HI. Transcript: Collections of the Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich, Ct. 
11 Ibid., Sept. 28, 1840, p. 258.
12 Ibid., Sept. 28, 1840, p. 258.
13 Missionary Album: Portraits and Biographical Sketches of the American Protestant Missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands: Sesquicentennial Edition. The Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society, Honolulu, 1969, p. 176.
14 Ibid., p. 176.
15 Ibid., p. 176.
16 Smith, Dr. James William, Koloa, Kauai. Letter to Deacon Obadiah Mead, North Greenwich, CT, Oct. 20, 1843. Typed manuscript: Smith Family Papers, Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society, Honolulu, HI. Transcript: Collections of the Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich. 
17 Missionary Album: Portraits and Biographical Sketches of the American Protestant Missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands: Sesquicentennial Edition. The Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society, Honolulu, 1969, p. 176.
18 Smith, Dr. James William. Koloa, Kauai. Letter to Mary (Owen) Knapp, , Round Hill, CT, Apr. 20, 1863. Typed manuscript: Smith Family Papers, Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society, Honolulu, HI. Transcript: Collections of the Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich.
19 Ibid., Apr. 20, 1863.
20 Missionary Album: Portraits and Biographical Sketches of the American Protestant Missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands: Sesquicentennial Edition. The Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society, Honolulu, 1969, p. 176.

Grist Mills: Survivors of Our Yankee Past (1988)

by Jeffrey Bingham Mead

Greenwich Time: August 24, 1988
Greenwich, Connecticut USA

One of the most familiar fixtures of old New England towns are the early grist mills, which over the course of history have graced our hills and valleys. 

These sturdy structures were built long ago, when most of the activities of our forebears centered around satisfying the immediate needs of life and survival. Henry David Thoreau wrote during his sojourn on the banks of Walden Pond that those immediate needs were essentially food, shelter, clothing and fuel. To satisfy some of the needs of living of our early settlers, a number of water-powered grist mills were constructed along streams and rivers. 

Even up to the present century it was quite commonplace for everyday people to seek out the valuable services of the village miller. Their needs could have included stone-ground flour, or perhaps lumber for building houses and barns. These old mills, most of them now gone forever, had a unique contribution to the everyday life of our community. Given their importance in daily commerce, these buildings, so functional yet vital, deserve special attention and sustained efforts at preservation. 

As mills were built along streams, brooks and rivers, towns and villages sprang up around them. Across New England, one can find many place names that allude to their mill-oriented beginnings. Those places in the town of Greenwich which come to mind immediately include the Cos Cob Mill Pond at the Strickland Road Historic District, and to the north, in the heart of Round Hill, lies Old Mill Road. Mills were at one time quite plentiful, perhaps even outnumbering churches. 

Gristmills had a vitality all their own -very similar, in fact, to the traditional post office or country store. Like those places, there was a hustle and bustle of activity, with wagons pulled by horses and oxen going to and from the grist mill laden with cargo. Business transactions took place on a daily basis, and political gossip was exchanged while the mill wheel went round and round. 

Grist mill buildings as a whole were strictly utilitarian by design, intention and purpose. We of the 20th century must keep in mind that these sturdy structures were meant primarily to house sacks of grain and the machinery used to accomplish its varied functions. 

Architecturally most gristmills resemble barns. Sitting on solidly built foundations, they are a bit stronger in construction than barns, in order to guard against ever-present vibrations of the water wheel and the millstones. The structures, built with hand-hewn beams and stone foundations, were in many cases constructed without the juice of bolts or nails, with wooden pegs used instead. The exterior of grist mills were for the most part covered with shingles or clapboard siding. 

One of the most essential components of the grist mill was the millstone. Many of our town parks have some examples of display. One lies at the town green off Greenwich Avenue, next to the Havemeyer Building. 

Another lies near the site of the old Davis Grist Mill, whose foundations still endure above the water line, although it was demolished a century ago. It is now part of Bruce Park. Yet another can be found across from the Bush Holley House, at the site of the Justus Bush Mill,  and I have seen one used as part of a stone path at a private estate off Cliffdale Road that probably belonged to the old Pickhardt miil on the Byram River. 

The stones themselves measure from four to six feet in diameter. One of the most popular substances that millstones were made from is called buhrstone, imported from France, although granite was often used as well. Some millstones were actually several pieces bound together and surrounded by iron hoops. 

In the process of grinding, one of the millstones was stationary, while the other rotated above it. The grain was poured through a hopper, which featured a valve that regulated the flow to a hole in the middle of the upper stone. The grain flowed into a series of shallow grooves, known as channels. These channels spread from the center of the stationary millstone and led the crushed grain onto a flat section called the land. Out on the edge, the grain emerged as flour. The grist would fall into a spout from which it passed by conveyor to machines, which separated the flour from the bran. 

I ran across a little poem about millers and their grist mills: 

I live by the mill, she is to me

Like parent, child and wife 

I would not change my station

For any other life. 

Many early millers seemed quite satisfied and content with the work and life style, so much so that mills were often handed down from generation to generation. 

A miller by the name of David Craik wrote a book I came across at the Manhattanville College Library titled The Practical American Millwright, published in 1870. In that, Craik writes with pride and conviction that, among other things, "the occupation of a millwright differs from that of almost all other tradesmen and mechanics, in that he is compelled to accommodate his work to a greater variety of circumstances, conditions and contingencies,” and that "a millwright has need of an extra share of tact and ingenuity.” 

A truly master millwright, Craik writes, “must, like a poet, be born such, and cannot be made.” Hence it is that we find so many celebrated millers who never served an apprenticeship, "but were originally sawyer, a carpenter and joiner, an engineer or machinist, until some accidental circumstance occurred to show that they were millwrights.” 

Thus the man who ran the grist mill was a special man whose intuition and experience were the best teachers of his trade.

According to historian Spencer P. Mead, in his book Ye Historie of the Town of Greenwich, published in 1911, the first record of a grist mill in Greenwich was dated January 13, 1688. He states, according to town meeting minutes that, “the town took into consideration the building of a grist mill on the Mianus River.” The location of the site today is sometimes referred to as Dumpling Pond, now the intersection of Valley Road and Palmers Hill Road. The grist mill was built in 1688 by Joshua Haight, who died several years later. After the town “recovered its rights in ye stream of the Mianus River heretofor granted to Joshua Haight, deceased,” granted such rights to Jonathan Whelpley in March, 1697, and then to John Burley in 1725. 

A story about this site survives from the Revolutionary War days. When the British began one of their longest raids on the town in the year 1779, British soldiers under General Tryon came to this mill, demanding to be fed. The miller's wife, informing the soldiers that their dinner was not yet done, secretly removed the dumplings she had prepared and threw them into the pond out of loyalty and her own way to the cause of the rebellion.

Farther down the Mianus River at the Lower Landing, Justus Bush built a grist mill across from what is now the Historical Society headquarters, Bush Holley House. This area was the main hub of commerce and business for many years. When his descendent David Bush died, he was the most affluent man in town whose holdings included his homestead, a country store, two gristmills and the nearby landing and ships. The grist mill at the landing was destroyed by fire in the late 19th century and is now marked by its millstone in a park under the shadow of the Mianus River Bridge.

Another grist mill prominent in our local history is the old Davis Family mill at what is now Bruce Park at Brothers Brook. This tidal mill was originally owned and operated by Rev. Joseph Morgan 1705. He used the stream for grinding while continuing to preach the Lord’s word to his parishioners on the west side of the Mianus River in the Second Congregational Society. The reverend apparently became so devoted to his milling that his parishioners complained their spiritual needs to be neglected. This was enough to eventually force Rev. Morgan to leave the ministry and devote his full-time energies to his mill. Surely, Craik would have understood.

Around the years 1765, Thomas Davis of Long Island bought the mill. During the Revolution his two sons, Steven and Elisha, operated the mill. What many did not know was that Elisha secretly sold some of the crushed grain to the British, whose menacing fleet plied the waters of Long Island Sound. With the war over and the discovery of Elisha’s treason, his half share of the mill was confiscated, with Steven eventually buying out his brother’s lost share. The mill stayed in the Davis family until 1889. 

Judge Hubbard, whose reminiscences early Greenwich grace the pages of Other Days in Greenwich, recalls the last member of the Davis family, Edward, to own the mill and who died in 1891. Hubbard writes, “He loved the old mill but he realize that its end had to come, and the day before the demolition began, he went all through it in is half blindness. He passed his hands over the girders and the floor timbers and stroked the long shingles as though they were creatures of life and knew him and realized the parting hour.”

There is only one water-powered grist mill left in the town of Greenwich, though its demise may come about unless conscientious citizens band together to restore it. This mill, known for years is the Knapp Mill on Old Mill Road in Round Hill, was recently discovered by researchers working under the Historical Society’s successful Signs of the Times historic house program. 

It was built by Sylvannus Selleck in 1796, and he and some of his family are interred in a small overgrown burying ground near the mill. The mill itself straddles the stream that now runs through the stone dam close by. Situated on the Mayer property, the building seems to have retained its original size and shape.

In light of the dilapidated condition of this legacy of our heritage, I must call upon civic-minded citizens of our town to save this historic site from an timely demise. It would be dreadful if the Selleck grist mill were allowed to crumble. Surely the history and dignity of such a place deserves better treatment than ignorance and neglect. A restoration of the site would be a valuable reminder to the present and future generations of our New England culture and Yankee heritage.

Grist mills, such as the Selleck grist mill, served our town and its people well over the years of our history. Old Mill Road, an enchanting country thoroughfare that has retained its rural flavor, would be tremendously diminished if this symbol and its namesake rollout to die. The 350th anniversary of the founding of Greenwich will arrive in 1990, and I noticed that in our Historical Society Archives just how many of our historic structures have disappeared forever.

Preserving such places is indeed a worthy cause. It is as American as apple pie to be concerned about the welfare of places like the Selleck mill and other historic sites. Grist mills are worthy of preservation and let it be said that this one was worth the effort.

Jeffrey B. Mead, who lives in Greenwich, is a direct descendant of one of the founding families of the town. He is a free-lance writer and member of the Greenwich Historical Society. 

African Americans in Greenwich Over 200 Years (1995)

This is the gravestone of Eliza Felmente in Union Cemetery, Greenwich. 

by Jeffrey Bingham Mead
Greenwich Time, Greenwich, Connecticut USA
July 30, 1995

It is not well known that residents of African ancestry have been living and working in Greenwich for more than 200 years. True, there were those who lived as slaves, but there weren't many.

Segregation never took root in town. Citizens mixed freely, conducting business, going to school and churches, as well.

In 1788, state law required all residents who held slaves to register the names and dates of all black children in their households. For example, Israel Knapp registered Jenny, daughter of Nelly, born June 25, 1789, and James, son of Nelly, born March 14, 1791. Dr. William Bush recorded Platt, born in July, 1789; Candis, born in July, 1791; Diana, born on April 9, 1793; and Rose, born Jan. 21, 1795.

As the 19th century began, there was an upsurge in the population of blacks in Greenwich. Black families with names such as Felmente, Green, Merritt, Bush, Peterson, Husted, Lockwood, Moore and others proliferated. Like the majority of the town's general population, these families worked as farmers and farm laborers. Even former slaves, called freedmen, owned land and transacted business throughout Greenwich.

Records of African-American marriages abound. Henry Felmote (or Felmente), a farm laborer and his wife, Sarah, were married by the Rev. Bissell of the Stanwich Congregational Church on Dec. 18, 1850. Ichabod Alan, 66, was married to Ann Webb, 42, on June 27, 1858 by the Rev. Seneca Howland of the Diamond Hill Methodist Church in Cos Cob. Washington P. Felmette married Esther Ann Todd of New York City on March 20, 1863. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. Yarrington of Christ Episcopal Church. The Rev. Platt Buffett of the Stanwich Congregational Church officiated the marriage of Hannah peck and George Andman on Dec. 18, 1839. He did the same for William Wool and Elizabeth Monroe on March 23, 1863.

One interracial marriage is recorded -that of Charles Mills, who was black, to Mary Peck, who was white. They were married on Jan. 24, 1849 by the Rev. Platt Buffett of Stanwich.

James Lockwood recorded the birth of three children: Mary, born Feb. 12, 1813; William, born Feb. 25, 1815; and Luta, born July 23, 1817. George Peck baptized his five children in the Stanwich Church on Sept. 15, 1831 by the Rev. Platt Buffett. Numerous other births are recorded in church and town registers.

Inevitably, the deaths of African-Americans in Greenwich were recorded, as well. A man named Charles Moore died Sept. 24, 1821. George Felmetty drowned June 26, 1864. A seamstress, Jane Ann Husted, died July 16, 1851, aged 23 years. Her gravestone still stands in Union Cemetery.

The Close Family Cemetery (1993)

by Jeffrey Bingham Mead
Greenwich Time, Greenwich, Connecticut USA
December 5, 1993, Page B3

When I grew up in backcountry Greenwich, I often rode the bus to school. We passed by many reminders of Greenwich’s heritage and, as you might expect, one was a small cemetery. 

Little did I know then that I'd be back to this place as an adult delving into the stories behind the gravestones.

The Close family cemetery is off Lake Avenue, just north of the intersection with Clapboard Ridge Road. It is situated at the foot of a tract once known as Close Hill. 

The cemetery has been used since September 1780, when Shadrach Close, age 2, was buried there. The most recent burial was in 1933. 

One of the old Close homesteads, the Gideon Close homestead on Clapboard Ridge Road, is just up the road from the cemetery. He died in 1819 and is buried in the cemetery with Bethia, his wife, who died in 1829.

Odle Close died April 26, 1812 at age 70. He served as a lieutenant in Captain Abraham Mead’s Company and reached the rank of captain in the American Revolution. At the annual town meeting held December 3, 1775, Odle Close was appointed to the Committee of Safety and Inspection. It seems to be a fitting post for Odle; it was that he was a very large man, so large in fact that he had an oak chair of unusual sheight specifically made for his use.

Odle Close eloped with Bethia, daughter of Gideon Reynolds, when Miss Reynolds was only 14 years old. She went on to live just shy of her 90th birthday in 1832. Husband and wife are buried adjacent to each other.

Other family members include Horace and Nelson H. Close who died at sea on March 25, 1839. Horace was 44, and his son was just over 16. What ship were they on? Where were they? Thus far we do not know the circumstances of their demise.

Jonathan A Close and his wife, Mary Hobby, are also buried in this cemetery. He was one of the organizers of the local Methodist church. Allan H. Close, who died in 1904, was a founder of the Greenwich Water Co.  He was one of the first subscribers to telephone service in Greenwich in 1884. He agreed to keep the telephone one year at a quarterly rental of $10. 

Jonathan also reportedly crossed the Hudson River one cold winter in a horse-drawn sleigh.

Jacob Voorhis Close, born in the old Close homestead, sold his vast lands to the Greenwich Water Company in 1880. He died in 1933 of a heart attack while he was hunting with his sons near Auburn, NY.

Today the Close Family Cemetery remains a picturesque scene. Every spring the crabapple trees proudly display colorful blossoms above the gravestones. In 1990 daffodils were planted honoring the town’s 350 years of history.

Will interested family members and friends come forward to preserve this place?

A venerable Yankee heritage is recorded on stones for all the pass by this historic ground, just as I did years ago during those morning bus rides on my way to school.

Burial Ground Rich In Greenwich History (1993)

This is the view of the cemetery as seen from the steeple of the Second Congregational Church. 

by Jeffrey Bingham Mead
Greenwich Time, Greenwich, Connecticut USA
July 18, 1993

A group of Greenwich residents met 160 years ago this month to organize what would eventually become one of the town’s most historic places: The New Burial Grounds Cemetery.

Mistakenly thought by many to be bound to the Second Congregational Church next door, the 1.5 acre parcel was purchased by the original proprietors from Solomon Mead. Plots were publicly sold without regard to religious affiliation. The sum of $440 was dispersed for improvements. 

Gravestones here very from humble to elaborately carved, featuring a fine assortment of engraved art and intriguing epitaphs.

Some of Greenwich is prime examples of gravestone folk art can be viewed here. Carved weeping willow's symbolizing nature’s lament are found in the memorials of Whitman Sackett, Captain Daniel Merritt, Prudence Mead and others. Some feature twin willow's evocative of the old custom of planting marriage trees upon the exchange of vows. 

The monument for Sophia, daughter of Isaac and Julia Peck, features a dove and a rear sample of a flying hourglass -an emblem of the flight of time. Caleb Husted, a child who died in 1857, has a stone carved with flowers.

Some markers are adorned with Masonic symbolism -the crossed compass and square on a Bible. The gravestone of Civil War soldier Elnathan Husted, who died in battle, features some superior illustrations of military motifs. 

This cemetery contains a “Who’s Who” of names from Greenwich history. There's Judge Frederick Hubbard, who penned many memories of New England papers, authored “Other Days in Greenwich” and is considered one of Greenwich’s more prominent judges. There's also Judge George Brush, who for 25 years served as justice of the peace; during his tenure none of his decisions were ever overturned or appealed.

Dr. Darius Mead, founder of Greenwich Academy, is buried here. His wife, Lydia, was the daughter of another physician, Dr. Elisha Belcher. Philander Button was a prominent principal at Greenwich Academy for 22 years, closing the school only once -in 1848 so that students could witness the arrival of the railroad in town.

A number of soldiers are buried here. Sgt. Caleb Holmes was killed in battle and part of his epitaph quotes a letter from his mother. Jared Finch, who died in 1939, was the first Greenwich man to sign up for the Civil War and the last local veteran of the conflict to die. 

Maj. Daniel Merritt Mead wrote the first history of Greenwich and died of typhoid while on sick leave after the Battle of New Bern in North Carolina. 


Dr. Amos Mead, a soldier in the Revolutionary War, represented Greenwich in Hartford in ratifying the Constitution. 

If you famed ministers also rest here. They include the Rev. Rufus Putney,  who was pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church for 37 years. The Rev. Oliver Huckel of the Second Congregational Church was a faint author of more than 30 books and lecturer on variety of subjects. During his tenure the church celebrated its 225th year. 

Another pastor of this church, Dr. Joe Lindsley, was a past president of Marietta College.

The New Burial Ground Cemetery is still maintained and managed my plot holders and descendants of the original proprietors. It is a hallowed place steeped in history and worth a visit.

Hester Bush Mead: An Uncommon Artist? (2001)

by Jeffrey Bingham Mead
Hallow Grounds: Spring/Summer 2001

The southeastern section of Greenwich's Union Cemetery was set aside for the burial of free blacks or African-Americans. Robert W. Mead deeded the land for the use forever as a burying ground, " The Southern part of Said Lot twenty three is to be Set apart by said Committee for the interment of people of color, and such portion as Said Committee may deem advisable to Sell in burial lots to people of color at a rate not exceeding one cent the Square foot. Lots numbers twelve and thirteen are to be reserved for free ground if required." One of the weather-worn gravestones marks the final resting place of Hester Bush Mead, the daughter of Candice Bush.

Hester's name does not appear in the roster of famous persons in Greenwich history, nor is she listed in Spencer P. Mead's family genealogy book.

Hester is the direct descendant of slaves who were emancipated and made free when Connecticut, with her sister New England states, established for all time the abolition of slavery in the late eighteenth century.

Candice Bush, her mother, was a servant in the David Bush household. Mr. Bush, no relation to President Bush or his family, owned what we preserve today as Bush-Holley House, headquarters of the Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich. Candice's name appears in David Bush's estate in 1797, and Hester was born there the following year. We believe Hester married a freed black man who was emancipated from the Mead's in Greenwich.

Our primary interest in Hester centers on a mysterious but beautiful watercolor of one of the family ancestral houses. A relative in Massachusetts, who owns the painting, said that this fine example of early American folk art on woven paper was created by a black woman who was employed by the Jabez Mead family and dates from 1840-1860.

The Jabez Mead House, circa 1840, stood at the corner of East Putnam Avenue and Indian Field Road. The farm encompassed all of Milbrook and the lands up to the base of Put's Hill. The house was demolished when East Putnam Avenue was widened in the 1950's.

Could Hester Mead be the mystery artist? It's very possible. We may never know since the work is unsigned, and no written documentation to confirm this has been uncovered.

Hester died on March 2, 1864. Her will in the Greenwich Probate Court leaves her few belongings to her granddaughters Martha and Julia and "ordered good Tomb stones to be put up for herself and her mother."




The austere appearance of her marker may be deceiving if it is true that Hester was the mystery artist of the old homestead built long ago.

The will of Hester Mead, daughter of Candice Bush Book A, Pages 410-411, Probate Court, Greenwich, CT March 7, 1864:

I, Hester Mead of the Town of Greenwich, County of Fairfield and State of Connecticut do now make this my last Will & Testament.

I direct my Executor hereafter named to Collect all my Just dues and pay all my just debts- to cause to be erected a good tomb stone over the grave of my Mother and also one for myself.

I give and bequeath to my granddaughter Martha Mead all my wearing apparrel and bedding and I direct my Executor to deliver them to her at such time or times as he may think best.

I give and bequeath the residue of my Estate after paying my funeral expenses and the cost of the Tomb Stones above named to my two granddaughters Martha Mead & Julia Mead, to them their heirs & assigns forever to be divided between them in the ratio of 2/3 for Martha and 1/3 for Julia and to be paid to them when they shall respectively become of Lawful age. If either of them Shall die before receiving her share then the whole amount Shall be given to the other.

I now constitute and appoint Philander Button Executor of this my Last Will & Testament.
In witnefs whereof I have hereunto Set my hand and seal this 1st day of March AD 1864.

Signed sealed and delivered by the Testatrix to be her last Will and testament in the presence of us who at her request hereunto Subscribe our names as witnefses in her presence and in the presence of each other.

March 7, 1864

Clarissa Mead                                                    Hester X Mead her mark

Julia Button 
Lydia M. Button

I hereby Certify that the N.S. Internal Revenue Stamp to the amount of 50 ct was affixed to
the foregoing instrument & was duly cancelled. James H. Brush, Judge.

Dr. James William Smith, Stamford Missionary to Hawaii (1995)

by Jeffrey Bingham Mead

Greenwich Time, Greenwich, Connecticut USA

July 23, 1995, Page B3

James William Smith, a young doctor from Stamford, heard a story in church in the late 1830s that changed his life forever. Henry Obookiah (Opukahaia) of Hawaii, who had been converted to Christianity, made a plea to New Englanders for assistance for his homeland in the Pacific. 

At age 32, Dr. Smith found his bride, Melicent, daughter of Jared and Mary Knapp of Round Hill, and they were married in the North Greenwich Congregational Church by the Rev. Wilcox on April 18, 1842. Within three weeks there were both on the brig Sarah Abigail out of Boston for a 143-day journey as missionaries with you more American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to Hawaii.

The Smiths arrived in Honolulu on September 21, 1842. By November, they were stationed at Koloa on the island of Kauai, most famous today as Hawaii's Garden Isle, where Hurricane Iniki wrecked havoc several years ago, and where the movie Jurassic Park was filmed. 

From 1842 to 1882, Smith was the only physician on Kauai. As doctors today can attest, he was prone to hasty and regular calls and horseback and on foot. His most famous ride is well known among his descendants in Hawaii. 

It was in February, 1866 when Smith made a 40-mile ride to attend to a young boy at the Princeville Plantation. Smith, who was 56 at the time, made the ride in 4 1/2 hours.

In a letter dated October 20, 1843, that Smith penned to Obadiah Mead of North Greenwich, he wrote, “…we find our field of labor in many respects very pleasant. I might speak of the mild and affectionate disposition of the natives and the readiness to receive instruction -traits which soon endear them to the heart of the missionary.”

From 1854 to 1869, Smith served as the first ordained minister on Kauai and pastor of the Koloa Mission (Hawaiian Church of Koloa). Support by his Hawaiian parishioners, church members and Smith worked together growing sugar cane to support the church.

In 1862, the Smiths established the Koloa Boarding School for Girls, where Melicent was superintendent and a teacher for 10 years. Her sister, Deborah, who came from North Greenwich, served as her assistant teacher.

The Smiths had nine children, seven surviving until adulthood. All spoke Hawaiian fluently. Most famous was William O. Smith, an attorney who is one of the key organizers of deposing of Queen Liliuokalani in 1894. After years of schism between the two, Liliuokalani forgave William and ask him to draft her will.

James William Smith died in 1887. Millicent, 75, died in 1891. Both are buried in the Smith Waterhouse Cemetery in Koloa. They leave behind a memorable legacy of service and dedication in a paradise more than 5000 miles from their ancestral home in New England.

*Also, see this link. 

Cemeteries Offer Wealth of Puritan Folk-art Examples (1993)

A winged soul effigy on the gravestone of Nathaniel Lockwood's in Tomac Cemetery. 

by Jeffrey Bingham Mead
Greenwich Time, Greenwich, Connecticut USA
October 31, 1993

One of the most engaging Puritan-era folk-art expressions that we have in the Town of Greenwich is found in figures carved on local gravestones.

Utilizing images and an ingenuity for design and expression, these ancient depictions remain a mystery to the contemporary visitor of the burial grounds.

Among the most interesting figures are the wind-soul effigies. Though few in number here in Greenwich, this primitive form of portraiture is widely found throughout the rest of New England. The face is carved with some detail and hemmed on either side by a pair of wings. Some stone carvers sought to give meticulous detail to hair and facial features.

The winged-soul effigies are thought to symbolize the soul departing the mortal body and ascending to Heaven. Most examples are unique in style and personality.

An early specimen is found on the partially broken stone of an ancestor of mine, Benjamin Mead, who died in 1746 and is buried in the old cemetery off Strickland Road. Another one of my favorites is at Tomac Cemetery in Old Greenwich. Nathaniel Lockwood, who died on December 22, 1757 at the age of 31, has a well-preserved stone featuring this design.

On Sarah Palmer's gravestone. Tomac Cemetery, Old Greenwich. 

In the heart of Clapboard Ridge is an old cemetery dominated by the brownstone marker for Garrett Schotler, who died in 1781. We know nothing about him as yet; he did not own land in Greenwich yet his stone is the most impressive here. 

Back at Tomac Cemetery in Old Greenwich, there are a series of identical brown stone monuments probably created by the same stone carver  Unlike the others these include a crown above the face. 

Why is this? The crown is a symbol found in biblical passages such as 2 Timothy 4:4-8 which says, "I have fought the good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge, shall give me that day.”

These gravestones mark the burial places of Samuel Peck, Esq., died 1746, and his wife, Ruth, who died at the youthful age of 24 years in 1748.

The winged-soul effigies are vivid reminders of a truly distinctive folk art employed by skilled stone carvers, whose names we at present do not know. Their appearance is a stark but mute reminder of the strong convictions of Greenwich's Puritan antecedents.

A Look at One of Greenwich's First Black Families (1995)

by Jeffrey Bingham Mead
Greenwich Time, Greenwich, Connecticut USA
August 20, 1995, Page B3

Have you heard of the Felmette family of Greenwich? This is one of the earliest black families in the Town of Greenwich, dating back to the late 1700s. Their names are found in a number of the town, census and church registers. Variations of the spelling include Felmette, Felmote, Felmetty and Felmetta.

On October 30, 1786 Halsey Mead sold to Jeffrey Felmettee for "50 pound New York money one certain tract or parcel lying and being in said Greenwich thereof in the West Society thereof containing about one half an acre of land with the house and two shops thereon standing or adjoining…by the road that leads from Horseneck to King Street, it being the place I now dwell." The road probably is Glenville Road today. 

James Mead, executor of the Isaac Holmes Jr. estate sold, sold Felmettee 5 acres for 22 pounds and 15 shillings “above the Post Road and below the mile & half line… bounded by highway that goes up by Zaccheus Mead’s.”  This “highway” is today's Lake Avenue. 

In 1821 George Felmette purchased four acres with buildings from Isaac Peck III for $350. Jabez M. Hobby, Jr., sold to a woman named Tamer Felmette a half acre of land with a buildings on June 10, 1882. It was bound on three sides by road and the land of Jeffrey Felmette and land of the heirs of Drake Seymour. 

York Felmettee joined the Second Congregational Church on November 24, 1790. He was baptized as an adult by Rev. Isaac Lewis on the same date two years later.

Kate Felmentee, wife with Edward Felmentee, joined the church and was baptized on May 20, 1810. James Felmente was “baptized by profession” on July 7, 1850, by the Rev. Joel Linsley. 

Town records show George H. Felmetty drowned in Greenwich on June 26, 1864. In 1863, Washington P. Felmette, 22-year-old farm laborer, married Esther Ann Todd, 17, of New York City on March 20, 1863 by the Rev. Yarrington at Christ Episcopal Church. A mason named Robert Felmettee and his wife, Margaret, became the parents of a daughter, Malvina, on May 30, 1862.

The Stanwich Congregational Church records the admission of Nancy Felmetta, wife of George Peck, on September 4, 1831. An infant named Ann Genrette Felmetty was admitted, too, on May 2, 1858.

A family burial plot in Union Cemetery was purchased on Christmas Day, 1851, by the heirs of James Felmette for $9.18. Eliza, wife of James Felmette, died July 8, 1855. Her epitaph reads: 

“Deaest Mother thou has left us, 

Here thy loss we deeply feel, 

But tis God that has bereft us, 

He can all our sorrows heal. 

Yet again we hope to meet thee, 

when the day of life is fled. 

Thou in heaven with joy to greet thee, 

where no farewell tear is shed.” 

Descendants of this historic family still reside in the Greenwich area.  

Erudite Appointment (1995)

Greenwich Time, Greenwich, Connecticut USA
October 19, 1995, Page A2

Jeffrey B. Mead, Greenwich Time history columnist and local historian, has been appointed an adjunct professor of Communications with the University of Phoenix's campus in Honolulu, Hawaii. He will be teaching courses in creative and business writing as well as oral communications. 

Mead,  a descendant of Greenwich founders, serves as a historian with the Historical Society of Greenwich. His Greenwich Time column, Looking Back, appears in the Greenwich Neighbors section, and he is the author of Chains Unbound: Slave Emancipations in the Town of Greenwich. 

Mead relocated to Hawaii in March 1995 to conduct on-site research into the history of Congregationalist missionaries. He is currently researching and writing a book on the Female Foreign Mission Society of Greenwich 1815-1860, and another one on the life of missionary teacher Horton Owen Knapp.

He graduated in 1990 with a Masters of Arts in Teaching from Manhattanville College. in addition to teaching courses through the University Phoenix Mead also teaches history and English at Honolulu's Iolani School.

Volunteers Tackle Cemetery Clean-up (Burying Hill, 1988)

by Ellen McGrath, Staff Writer
Greenwich Time, Greenwich, Connecticut USA
Sunday, July 10, 1988, Page A4

Yesterday was the first time that Jeffrey Mead attended a picnic in a cemetery. 

The revelation was surprising, since Mead, a the 13th-generation Greenwich resident and the chairman of the Greenwich Historical Society’s Burial Grounds Committee, has spent much of the past two years in the town's oldest graveyards, cataloging headstones and foot stones, drawing maps and clearing brush.

But picnicking, no. 

The mood at the Burying Hill Cemetery at the corner of Burying Hill and Topping Roads in Round Hill, was anything but solemn early yesterday afternoon as Mead and seven volunteers affiliated with Boy Scout Troop 25 munched on hamburgers and hotdogs and swigged iced tea while they cleared out weeds and vines and picked up trash. 

The cemetery, one of the towns oldest, contains about 100 or so grades from about 1766 to 1827, Mead said. Members of the Knapp, Brown and Rundle families are buried there, he said. 

The cleanup project was suggested by Alvaro Garavito II of Riverside, who is working toward his Eagle Scout project. Garavito, 17, brought his mother, Maria Roman, his 10-year-old cousin, Alex Roman, and a couple of friends to help him earn his rank. 

Mead has done similar graveyard restoration projects in many of the town’s estimated 62 cemeteries, but he said yesterday's group should get an award for speed. Garavito had estimated it would take six hours to do the half-acre lot, but the crew was packing up after slightly less than four hours work. "I've never seen anyone work so fast,” Mead said. 

Garavito said he was required to submit a plan for cleaning the cemetery, including what tools he would need, the number of workers he would use, and how long it would take, to his scoutmaster, and have Mead act as his on-site supervisor. He also will make a map of the cemetery, cataloging the gravestones as part of his Eagle Scout project. His deadline for completing the work is July 19, he said.

"It was a lot of work,” said Garavito, and his friend Trey Kiernan, 16, carried a charcoal grill to his car. He said a friend who works for a local landscaping service lent weed trimmers and other garden tools. 

Garavito said he was tired, not only from the labor of clearing the cemetery but also from staying up until 3 a.m. yesterday to finish a wooden sign that the claims the lot as the Burying Hill Cemetery. 

Garavito used  an engraving drillbit for the lettering, then painted the grooves with his mother's red nail polish to make them stand out. His mother also bought silk flowers -she said they’ll last much longer than real ones- and planted them at the base of some of the larger field stone and marble markers. 

"It's because I'm from South America,” explained Maria Roman, a native of Columbia. “For us a cemetery without flowers is nothing.” 

Garavito said there wasn't much man-made trash, such as soda cans, in the graveyard, but someone had dumped and enormous pile of leaves in a corner. 

Mead said he hoped the Burying Hill cemetery cleanup would inspire a "Friends of Burying Hill" association to preserve the graveyard, and that the tradition would spread to the other cemeteries. 

“They’re an artifact of our history,” he said.