2015 inductee
Susan Woodruff Abbott and Morris Abbott
Susan and Morris Abbott were the foremost Milford genealogists and historians of their time. Because of her research of founding families for descendants at the 1976 Bicentennial Celebration, Susan was urged to write, and did so, “Families of Early Milford” which was published in 1979. Because of his interest in Milford Cemetery, Morris published “Milford Tombstone Inscriptions” based on epitaphs gleaned from his survey in the cemetery’s old section in the 1940’s. Some of these stones are no longer there or the inscriptions unreadable.
Susan was born in Milford March 21, 1901, daughter of William H. and Clara Louise Smith Woodruff. She married Morris Woods Abbott, a native of Nebraska, August 30, 1922. They had two children: Alice Ann (Jones) who died in 1993 and William Woodruff Abbott.
Susan was a member of the Freelove Baldwin Stow Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Milford Historical Society and the Connecticut Society of Genealogists. She sang for more than 40 years in the choir of First United Church of Christ Congregational and was frequently a soprano soloist.
She was so absorbed in her work helping attendees in confirming their descent from founding Milford families during Founding Families Day in 1976 during the nation’s Bicentennial that she never had a chance to pose for any pictures on the Memorial Bridge. Whenever called with a genealogy question, she was known to promptly get back to the caller with an answer after consulting her records. She moved to Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, in 1989 where she died Dec. 13, 1994 at the age of 93.
Morris was born Feb. 19, 1898 in Schuyler, Nebraska, son of Chauncey and Caroline Antoinette Woods Abbott. He graduated from Yale University in 1922. He worked for the F.H. Woodruff Seed Company in Milford and eventually became its treasurer. He was a member of the Connecticut Society of Genealogists, New Haven Colony Historical Society and historian for the Milford Historical Society. He was also a director of the Milford Cemetery Association, treasurer of Milford Hospital, on the American Red Cross, and as an Army veteran of World War I, a member of American Legion Post 34.
He devised a map of the old section of Milford Cemetery in 1943, showing location of the stones, making it easier for people to find them and identify stones that are currently unreadable. All this information on the cemetery’s old section was in his book, “Milford Tombstone Inscriptions,” published in 1967. A version of the map is currently available in a shelter in the cemetery near the Revolutionary War Monument, assembled and constructed by a Boy Scout for his Eagle Scout project.
Morris also wrote a book about the Memorial Bridge in Milford called “The Bridge on the Wepawaug,” published in 1972. Later, around the time of the Bicentennial in 1976, he became concerned about neglect in maintenance of the bridge. Weeds were sprouting up around it. Small saplings were even growing out of niches between the stones. He brought this to the attention of the Public Works Department hoping they would spruce up the area, but got no results. Morris then took it upon himself to take a series of pictures, which he mounted and showed at a Board of Aldermen meeting. The aldermen saw to it that the bridge was spruced up.
Andrew Law
Andrew Law was an American composer, preacher and singing teacher. He was born in Milford, Connecticut. Law, a devout Calvinist and an ordained Minister, never took a position as a clergyman. He was educated at Rhode Island College (now Brown Univ.). Music was his chosen profession.
Law wrote mostly simple hymn tunes and arranged tunes of other composers. His works include Select Harmony (1778) a compilation of sacred "Psalm" songs of America and Britain. He advanced American Music as he elevated relatively unknown, and unaccomplished, young American composers stature so as to stand beside William Billings and the well established and prolific Britons with his rules of singing.
In 1778 at 29, while the revolutionary war raged about him, he and his brother William set up a tune book printing business in Cheshire, often printing books he himself created by compiling the works of others (copyright issues anybody?). Ironically he petitioned the legislature to protect his compilation of mostly other's works, the ponderously titled "A Collection of Hymn Tunes from the Most Modern and Approved Authors," and won in 1781, by special act of the Legislature, the very first copyright ever granted in the state (the first Connecticut copyright law for "the encouragement of genius" was not passed until 1783 (Repealed 1812)).
Select Harmony was a revolutionary advance over the tune books of the time. It contained tunes and lyrics together in the same book. Typically tune books, as the name suggests, contained tunes only. A collection of Hymns only had text. Law's other books, including his copyrighted work, sometimes followed the more traditional approach.
Several updated editions of Select Harmony were produced in 1779, 1782 and 1812 and more books were produced as well including: Collection of Best Tunes and Anthems (1779); then, perhaps his most impressive work, the instructional Art of Singing (1780) a graded trio of books for beginners (Primer) moderate (Christian Harmony) and advanced choirs and musical societies (The Musical Magazine) then Rudiments of Music (1785) and later in life Essays on Music (1814).
Select Harmony was introduced at a time when America's first music educators were seeking viable approaches to the teaching of sight-singing, Andrew Law was a pioneer of the FASOLA system of musical notation which simplified lessons in reading music. FASOLA singing is also known as "Shape Note Singing," where Squares, ovals triangles and other symbols are used to denote easy to read musical notes do, re, mi, fa, sol, etc..
Andrew Law was less a musical innovator or composer than an editor, organizer and propagator of music to the gerneral public. He was influenced a great deal by works of other Yankees. James Lyons' Urania, appearing in 1761, was found among the possessions of Andrew Law.
Most of his life's work focussed on teaching music in schools (almost exclusively at home or church based sites). He took his traveling "Law choir," made up of his students, to many churches around New England. He stunned congregations and revolutionized their thinking with the beauty of their singing when he put the melody in the soprano "treble" instead of the tenor part. He was among the first American composers to do so.
As a singing School master Law affected the lives of many. He Instructed African-American slave Newport Gardner in Rhode Island. Gardner became the first African American composer of Western music, heavily influenced by Law's sacred music. Gardner's works drew on powerful West African poetic melodies chronicling every major aspect of life which, when combined with his rich "remarkably strong and clear voice," opened a new chapter in American Music. The Soulful bible music training by Law to Mrs. Gardner's talented slave contributed to the spirituals, gospel music, blues, jazz and modern music that followed. (Newton Gardner and family was freed in 1791 with funds won on a lottery ticket bought and proceeds split with Gardner's friends).
Law's work on "FASOLA," copyrighted in 1802 (though he claimed later to have developed it in the 1780s) was quickly adopted by others. His great regret was that he little profited from his works financially, even though he aggressively marketed his books to protestant congregations. Rivals in a very similar approach to his "Shaped notes," William Little and William Smith of Philadelphia, had been granted copyright protection in 1798 of their nearly identical shape note system and their tune book beat his by two years. Their approach retained the musical staff on notes so received even more acceptance and retained its popularity into the 20th Century while Law's approach faded.
Classical notation is the norm now, the simplified versions of Law and Little & Smith, lost influence as the need to cater to relatively uneducated, simple country folk waned. Andrew Law is still credited as being one of the musical giants of 18th Century America.
Reverend Roger Newton
Roger Newton was born possibly as early as 1607 but most likely about 1620 in a town in eastern England likely Bourne, Lincolnshire, England. A number of Newtons arrived in America and Canada in the 1600s but some say he was the first of his family to do so landing at Boston about the year 1638, Coincidentally the same year Davenport and Prudden arrived with the future Milford Settlers.
He was the son of Samuel Newton, of the same family as Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1726).
Samuel's parents (Roger's grandparents) are believed to have been John Newton born on April 1, 1565 in Bourne, Lincolnshire and Alice Hales.
Young Roger Newton enrolled in 1636 in Cambridge University [England]. In the Alumni Cantabrigienses which provides a record of students enrolled between 1261-1900 his entry reads:
"NEWTON, ROGER. Matriculated as a "sizar" [a student receiving financial help from the college while having menial duties in return] from King's, Easter, 1636…
He migrated to Boston in New England where he studied theology at Harvard. There is no record of his graduation possibly as the early Harvard records were accidentally burned. Rev. Cotton Mather speaks of him as one of the young students who came from England to finish their education in America.
A puritan superstar of the time, Rev. Thomas Hooker moved to Hartford from Boston in 1636, he returned to Boston several times, and it is said that "crowds rushed to hear him." In 1639, Thomas Hooker and Governor Haynes remained in Boston nearly a month, and one of Hooker's sermons delivered in Cambridge at that time, was two hours in length. It is presumed that Hooker and Newton made their acquaintance at Harvard at this time
In 1640, Roger traveled on foot from Cambridge, MA to Hartford, CT to study for the ministry under Rev. Thomas Hooker at his home. It is possible that Rev. Hooker may have known grandfather, Rev. John Newton of Bourn, while studying at Cambridge University. Cambridge University assigned John as minister to the church in Bourne. If so, then Roger Newton and Thomas Hooker may have had ties predating Harvard.
Roger married Hooker's eldest daughter, Mary Hooker at Hartford in 1644 (winter of 1645 in the old Julian calendar as new year then was March 25). Mary Hooker, as a child, had walked the long miles through the Massachusetts wilderness beside the litter which carried her invalid mother, Susannah Hooker; her journey was commemorated in marble on the front of the Capitol in Hartford. "Susannah Hooker was a lady of culture, and worthy to be the companion of such a man as Thomas Hooker." They had once lived in Holland where many strong Calvinists, like the Pilgrims, had fled to avoid the Church of England's dictates.
The Hartford home of Thomas Hooker was a large two story house close by that of Governor Haynes, corner lot on the streets now named Arch and Prospect then called, "Meeting House Alley," connecting the parsonage and the meeting house. When choosing a place for a home, water supply and boat access to other settlements especially for escape from Indians, so it was prudently set few dozen feet north of the Little River, (now Park River).
The Farmington area was settled in 1640 in an area called Tunxis after the friendly Indians there. The Tunxis tribe had welcomed the white men as a protection against the Mohawks. Farmington was incorporated in 1645. Newton became their first minister serving from the "church Covenant" in 1652 to 1657. It is listed that Newton was an original settler and a "Founder" of Farmington. This may be because, in the early days, a town really didn't exist until the church was created, since he was clearly still in Hartford when the area was first settled. The Congregational custom was to choose seven men called the Seven Pillars who covenanted with each other, then others joined the fellowship. At Farmington He was one of the Seven in 1652. Fourteen men and their families constituted the church at the close of the year 1652. Roger Newton did missionary work among the Indians, "civilizing" and Christianizing them, receiving a large class for instruction, of whom a few gathered into the church and became voters in affairs of the new town.
In 1657 some Indians (likely not the Tunxis) became very "troublesome." They cruelly murdered Mr. Scott, one of the seven Pillars and burned the house of John Hart, who with his family perished in the flames. Roger Newton soon after left Farmington with his family for Boston. In October, 1658 he engaged passage for England. Bad weather with strong winds hindered the departure for several days. This apparently was a bad "omen" to the superstitious sailors. While Newton was conducting services in Boston, the captain of the ship, decided in his own mind that young minister Newton, like the biblical Jonah, was jinxed by not following God's will to stay in country, so he sailed away without him.
The timing, and the captain's fears, proved good for Newton and Milford. Milford, after the death of Rev. Peter Prudden, was without a minister so the church sent Elder Thomas Buckingham to Boston to find one but he died soon after his arrival, June 16, 1657. The choosing of a minister was an important matter in those early days, as it was often a relationship for the duration of the clergyman's life. With the failure of the Buckingham mission, the position remained open until 1660 when Roger Newton's talents came to the attention of the Milford folk for consideration as new Pastor.
He removed to Milford, Conn., with Mary Hooker, his wife, and their family of six children, and was received into the church as a member July 29, 1660, elected pastor on August 22 and ordained with prayer and fasting September 9th. His second ordination (after Farmington) was not by a council of neighboring ministers as was the custom, but by the laying on of hands of members of the Milford church: Elder Zachariah Whitman, Deacon John Fletcher and Mr. (eventually Governor and MHOF inductee) Robert Treat, Magistrate.
With his young family it was necessary that he should immediately have a dwelling, so the town conveyed to him "the house and home lot beyond Dreadful Bridge, fourteen acres of meadow and as much upland as he should want." Later he had other grants of land. Property so given to a minister, became his alone, and the church or town had no further claim upon it. The parsonage of Peter Prudden, his predecessor, on the other side of the Wepowage River, was inherited by his children, so was no longer town/church property for Newton's use.
There is some confusion that his "home-lot" was "beyond Dreadful Bridge." The ford at today's West Main Street was crossed by the "Meetinghouse Bridge" constructed in 1641. Perhaps the bridge had become "dreadful" by 1660? Not likely; the inhabited land within the stockade was well laid out and distributed. In the North Street area, where his home was, no substantial acreage was available in 1660 within the timber walled town. More likely said bridge linked the "piece of upland beyond Dreadful Bridge" given to him outside the palisades. This was at "Dreadful Swamp" (An vast area from today's Ford Street area and I-95 almost to Beaverbrook), therefore beyond "dreadful Bridge."
The Regicide judges, Whalley and Goffe, hid out for two years from August 19, 1661, in a cellar very near Newton's parsonage. A historical paper said "The presence of the Regicides was known to Governor Treat and to Rev. Roger Newton; they often walked in a grove back of the house where they were living." Newton was for God, but as to the King? seemingly, not so much.
Under Newton, his church received 164 persons. At the time of his death, it numbered about 200. That did not mean just anyone could join. He was deemed a "judicious pastor." Some cared nothing for church but desired admission for its worldly advantages. Others, not full church members, just sought baptism for their children. Newton was against any half way measures. Among the last of the puritans, a Christian to him was all in or all out. It was a losing fight as the public became increasing less religiously strict. Though "Old School" in this, his was not an ill-informed position. Newton was one of the most educated of ministers in all of New England. The library of Roger Newton was a marvel for his time. In an age when a Bible and catechism was an ordinary library and a score of books a clergyman's, he had more than two hundred volumes in all.
As Thomas Hooker, had done for him, Newton received young men in his household to educate them, including Abraham Pierson, first President of Yale College. Newton's successor Rev. Andrew (MHOF Inductee: 2009) would serve and host the nascent Yale College itself at the church in Milford.
At the beginning of his last illness in 1683, Roger Newton made his will. Newton had a huge estate for those times, valued at £683. In addition to 150 acres in Farmington, it included much Milford "land in Dreadful Swamp," "land at the West Noockes;" "land near a place commonly called 'Deere's Delight'" "land by the 'two mile brook;' " "the land between the two crooks in the Elder's Meadow;" "the new meadow playne;" "land by the path that goeth over the round meadow brook;" "the new fields by the river;" and "land at a place commonly called 'Bohemia.'" Experts in Milford historical topography take note!
Rev Newton Died June 7, 1683 having served the Church of Christ for 22 years and about six months. Mary predeceased him on February 4, 1676, his greatest loss in life.
Of their eight children, locally, Samuel married Martha Fenn, ca. 1666, John married Lydia Ford, April l1, 1680, Sarah was married a month after her father's death, July 4, 1883, to her relative, John Wilson. Others moved out of town. Newton's Milford Descendant families include Allen, Anderson, Andrew, Baird, Beard, Baldwin, Bishop, Bradley, Butler, Carrington, Clark, Church, Fenn, Gillette, Gunn, Kilbourn, Lovejoy, Merwin, Morris, Newton, Platt, Shove, Stanley, Stow, Wait, Ward and others.
A Brass Tablet, set in a polished Belgian black marble background was dedicated to Newton as part of Milford's 250th anniversary in 1889 hangs on the Church Wall:
ROGER NEWTON
Born in England
Pupil and Son-in-law
of Thomas Hooker of Hartford.
One of the Founders and
the first Pastors of the Church in
Farmington 1645-1657.
Installed Pastor of this Church
August 22, 1660 and so continued
until his Decease June 7, 1683.
A good Minister of Christ Jesus
nourished in the Words of the Faith
and of the good Doctrine.
Clark W. Wilcox
Milford native became wealthy creating Wilcox's Millinery House in Brooklyn NY. Returned to Milford, created and donated "Wilcox Park.”
A son of Capt. John W. Wilcox (b. 1832) and Anna M. Davidson Wilcox (b. 1836) of Milford, Clark Wilcox had roots here at least back to the revolutionary war. He removed to Brooklyn, NY in 1876. There he got involved in the hat industry. He developed a huge business in clothing Wilcox's Millinery, 109 - 111 Myrtle Ave and bridge street in Brooklyn, NY (roughly today's site of the NYU Polytechnic School of engineering) with a 20,000 square foot building for manufacturing, warehouse with 163 linear feet of retail space.
Clark ran Wilcox's Millinery House as president with two of his three surviving siblings (of 5), Lorren (VP) (b. 1859), and George (Sec./Treas.) (b. 1865). Boasting "the Best Hats in New York" his advertised prices ranged (in 1903) from School hats at 15 cents to fancy straw and chiffon hats priced at $2.98 to $4.98, marked down from the kingly sum of $7.98 to $9.98. Their ad in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle priced his goods two to five times higher than rival Milkman's Millinery of Fulton Street whose ad was often posted right next to his. Clearly Wilcox had cornered the "luxury hat" market in Brooklyn.
Wilcox's success was good news for Milford as Clark Wilcox, who summered at Walnut Beach, became a great benefactor of the Village of Milford. After 33 years building his fortune in New York, he decided to return to Milford. Actually, with some considerable thought toward finality, he had decided some time back to return here permanently as way back in 1894 he bought his burial plot in Milford Cemetery!
Wealthy Clark Wilcox owned many properties by purchase or inheritance around town: 17 acres on the Housatonic; 38 lots in "Westfield"; land on the today's Harborside Drive facing Wilcox Park which he, and then his estate, sold off as residential lots; a large area of land between Old Field Lane and the Indian River "gulf" which he sold to George Wilcox in 1913 (some of it was a golf course until purchased for residential development in today's Wilcox Road area); and Land on High Street, corner of Broad, that eventually became Cody-White Funeral Home and northward across the railway tracks, the seed company headquarters of Everett Clark (MHOF Inductee: 2014) later 'Asgrow.'
Returning permanently to Milford, in July 1909 he purchased 10 acres to build a $30,000 "cottage" on Welch's Point Road. Today the "cottage," "Eveningside Mansion," (later owned by the Stuart family, saved by Joseph H. Blichfeldt and now occupied by sports radio personality Dan Patrick) is worth over $2.5 Millions and pays one of Milford's top ten highest property tax rates. In December '09 Wilcox added the waterside land west of the "new road on the bluff" (Gulf Street extension from Old Field La. to the terminus of previously dead ending Welch's Point Road) from the Merwin and Gunn families to be kept forever without construction of house or barn under penalty of forfeiture. Use of this land would be a development controversy in the 1990s. Apparently a "bath house" was not a violation, so through the teens, twenties and thirties, parties were held there and on the lawns overlooking Charles island. Eventually the sound claimed the "lawns" leaving the party "Summer house" perched on the very edge of the cliff today.
Most significantly, in 1908 Wilcox also purchased property from Franklin H. Fowler, then of Manhattan, NY. This land was part of area granted to William Fowler (MHOF inductee: 2012) in early colonial days if he would build and run the nearby 'Fowler's Mill.' Fowler did, and he and his descendants continued to do so for about 270 years. Wilcox spent considerable effort cleaning up the neglected area then known "Harbor Woods." He added many trails including some for automobiles (his big Pierce Arrow being one of the early cars in the village). For the 270th anniversary of Milford in 1909, Clark Wilcox announced his intention to donate this parcel to the community.
Clark Wilcox gave "Wilcox Park" (as the grateful Board of Selectman named it), a 12 acre parcel of land along the harbor, as a bird sanctuary in perpetuity to the city on August 28, 1909. The dedication ceremony was a who's who of 1900's Milford. Present was submarine inventor Simon Lake, dry goods dealer Eldridge Cornwall, Inventor and industrialist William B. McCarthy (Rostand Co.) who was then president of the Milford Improvement Association, Rev. Peter McClen, Pastor of St. Mary RC church, State Rep. G.F. Smith, First Selectman Frank T. Munson, the Milford Military Band, combined choirs of Milford Churches, a singing quartet, Clark's family and a large assemblage of citizens.
The map entitled: "Wilcox Park, as presented by Clark Wilcox to the Town of Milford, dated August 29, 1909" was duly filed in the Milford Land Records as Map E-299 along with the deed. Maintenance and use of the park is controlled by ordinance of the City of Milford (most recently Article VII Sec. 16-192, Ordinance of 4-5-1993).
The park has had a long history of alternating neglect and frenzied improvement. In the mid 1960's Milford boy scouts gathered to rake the woods clean of years of fallen leaves re-opening trails to hikers, bikers and drivers. In 1993 non-pedestrian access was severely restricted by ordinance so today "No person shall ride, walk or possess a bicycle, tricycle, motorbike, motorcycle or non-motorized wheeled vehicle within the park except upon the paved road or in areas specifically designated for such use by the Park, Beach and Recreation Commission" exempting only wheelchairs operated by handicapped persons, baby carriages and strollers containing infants and [of course] City … vehicles.
The low-land north of the park's high ground was once part of the harbor. A severe storm washed silt down the flooded Wepawaug River in the 1880's ending the village's reign as a port and significant boat building center. Fly ash from Bridgeport's and neighboring power plants was dumped there as fill for decades until the mucky area was dressed up in the late 1950's to become Milford's important activity area, Fowler Field, as it is today.
Simon Lake's "Explorer" Submarine sat neglected in this area from 1950 to 1964 until it was moved to the Bridgeport Museum of Art and industry then loaned to the submarine museum at Groton in 1974 where it was beautifully restored. It was returned to Milford in the 1990's and now proudly rests near the landing on Factory Lane.
Also in the 1990's, with the creation of the public marina now known as Lisman Landing, the shoreline area of the park got an enlarged boat launch ramp, dockage and parking, a trail and gazebo along the marsh side the harbor with public and handicapped access.
By 2002 much of the park had again fallen into disrepair. The Environmental Concerns Coalition (ECC) with support of scouts, students and others worked to restore native species and weed out invasive flora following the guidelines of the National Wildlife Federation. In October 2003 the public and government officials gathered to celebrate the restoration.
Charles Pond
Charles Pond (1744-1832) was the younger brother of Peter Pond (1740-1807) and part of a Milford family of nine children. While Peter was a rolling stone and ultimately distinguished himself in the Canadian fur trade, Charles stayed closer to home where he distinguished himself in the American Revolution, serving several times under George Washington.
Charles refused to learn a trade as his father desired, and at an early age went away to sea. At the age of 24 or 25 he fell in love with Martha, daughter of John and Martha Miles, who was three years older than he. Being a proud family, Martha’s parents objected to her union with a sailor without means, but finding them determined to marry gave their reluctant consent. After several voyages, he returned from the sea with a bag full of money. Carrying it to his wife he said, “Now, Patty, buy a house for yourself,” which she did.
In 1775, when the news of the Battle of Bunker Hill reached Milford, he was encouraged by his wife to enlist and march to Boston in aid of the colonists. He was commissioned an ensign in Capt. Peter Perit’s Company of Col. Charles Webb’s regiment, the "seventh line." On Sept. 14, 1775, the regiment was ordered by Washington to the Boston camp where it formed a portion of General Sullivan’s Brigade at Winter Hill. Pond remained there during the Siege of Boston.
In January 1776, Pond was promoted to First Lieutenant in the same company and regiment where Nathan Hale was a captain. In May 1776, Pond, known to be a skilled sailor, was detached for temporary service at sea. He took command of the sloop “Schuyler” at Norwalk. During that summer the “Schuyler” and sloop “Montgomery” cruised from Sandy Hook to Montauk Point. On June 19, Pond reported to Washington the capture off Fire Island of an English merchantman with a valuable cargo which Washington reported to Congress. A week later the “Shuyler” reported at Norwalk where it picked up Hale and landed him at Huntington, Long Island on the secret mission that resulted in his execution as a spy.
Pond was with Washington when he crossed the Delaware River on Dec. 25, 1776. He was at the Battle of White Plains and Battle of Princeton on Jan. 3, 1777. He received a captain’s commission later that January. Pond resigned his army command April 20, 1779 so he could take command of the war vessel, “New Defense,” that Connecticut was building for the defense of its coast. It later engaged a large English brig of war off the coast of Sandy Hook, New Jersey. The captain, officers and crew of the “New Defense” fought hard for more than an hour. But the sails and rigging were so cut by English rounds and grape shot that the little brig became unmanageable and was forced to surrender. A few days later, she arrived in New York where the captain and first lieutenant were soon exchanged. Until the end of the Revolution, Captain Charles Pond was part of the whale boat service in which whale boats, each armed with a small cannon, were used to harass Loyalist and English whale boats crossing Long Island Sound.
Capt. Pond’s wife, Martha, died of smallpox May 29, 1797, contracted after she had unpacked the trunk of one of her children who had the disease while on a visit. She had once planted a rose bush in their garden, and ever after when roses were in bloom, Pond carried a rose “picked from the bush that Patty planted.” Seeing the need of a caretaker for his eight children, he married Catherine DeWitt on Dec. 10, 1797. She has been described as small, unattractive, and of quarrelsome disposition. She proved a harsh stepmother and a thorn to Capt. Pond.
Pond represented Milford in the Legislature in 1780, ’88, ’89, ’90 to ’94 and 1800. When Orange separated from Milford in 1805, he was appointed by the Legislature as chairman of the town meeting held for that purpose. He is buried in Milford Cemetery where his headstone inscription encompasses his life well:
“In memory of Charles Pond who died May 18, 1832 aged 88.
He was a good Husband, a kind Parent, a pattern of Industry,
an actor in the Revolution and through life Liberty’s friend.”
When a Children of the American Revolution Society was being formed in Milford, organizers did not deliberate long in the choice of a patriot to honor. Thus on Oct. 23, 1922, the Captain Charles Pond Society was named in his honor.
