History of Stratford, (Fairfield County) Connecticut United States of America

Our database does not include an historic photo for Stratford, (Fairfield County) Connecticut, do you have one you would like to contribute? Contact Us!

Biographies:

Oliver Ingraham Lay, portrait painter, was born in New York city, Jan. 31, 1845; son of George Cowles and Julia (Hartness) Lay; grandson of David Lay, of Lymetown, and a descendant of John Lay, who came from England in the seventeenth century and settled in Lymetown. He devoted himself to the study of art early in life; was a student in the Cooper institute and the National Academy of Design, and was also a pupil of Thomas Hicks for three years. He was made an associate member of the National Academy of Design in 1876, and a member of the Artists' Fund society in the same year. He was a regular exhibitor at the Academy, and his works exhibited there include: portraits of James Parton, Edwin Booth as "Hamlet" (owned by the Players club), Cyrus W. Field, Winslow Homer, C. C. Colman, C. C. Griswold, and Miss Fidelia Bridges. The four last named are owned by the National Academy of Design. Among his genre paintings are: The Letter, The Window, Watching the Snow, The Two Friends, and The Last Days of Aaron Burr (owned by the Century association, New York). He died at Stratford, Conn., June 28, 1890.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Nathan Bangs, educator, was born at Stratford, Conn., May 2, 1778. He received a limited education; taught school in Canada and became an itinerant preacher in the Methodist church. He joined the New York conference of that church in 1820. He was married to Mary Bolton; became agent of the Methodist book concern in 1820, and editor of the Methodist Magazine, and editor of the Christian Advocate and of the various publications of the concern in 1828. He became editor of the Methodist Quarterly Renew in 1832; a founder and secretary of the Methodist missionary society in 1836, and president of Connecticut Wesleyan university in 1841, serving one year. His son, Francis Nehemiah (1828-85), A.B. University of the City of New York, 1845, attended Yale law school; practised in New York with John Sedwick, and became president of the New York bar association. He published "History of the Methodist Episcopal Church from its Origin in 1776 to the General Conference of 1840" (4 vols.), "Christianism," "Errors of Hopkinsianism," "Predestination Examined," "Reformer Reformed," "Methodist Episcopacy," "Life of Rev. Freeborn Garrettson," "Authentic History of the Missions under the Care of the Methodist Episcopal Church," "The Original Church of Christ," "Essay on Emancipation," "State and Responsibilities of the Methodist Episcopal Church," "The Necessity, Nature, and Fruits of Sanctification: in a Series of Letters to a Friend" (1851); "Life of Arminius," "Scriptural Vindication of the Orders and Powers of the Ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church." His life has been fully written by Abel Stevens. He died in New York city, May 3, 1862.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

William Samuel Johnson, educator, was born in Stratford, Conn., Oct. 7, 1727; son of the Rev. Samuel and Charity (Floyd) Nicoll Johnson. He was prepared for college by his father, and was graduated at Yale, A.B., 1744, A.M., 1747, and became an eminent lawyer. He was chosen a delegate on the part of Connecticut to a congress of the colonies that met in New York city in 1775, and with Robert R. Livingston and William Murdock, of Maryland, drafted an address to the king relative to the course pursued by parliament. He was a member of the council of Connecticut, 1776-75, and was chosen agent extraordinary of the colony to determine the title of Connecticut to Indian lands, which necessitated his attendance at court in England, 1766-71. In October, 1772, he was appointed judge of the superior court of the colony, and in 1774 a delegate to the Continental congress to assemble at Philadelphia, but he was excused from service in congress, having been chosen an arbitrator of the Van Rensselaer estate dispute. He was a member of the state council, 1780-82, and was counsel for the state in the controversy with Pennsylvania relative to the Ohio lands; a delegate to the Continental congress, 1784-87; a delegate to the constitutional convention of 1787; chairman of the committee of five that revised the wording and paragraphing of the instrument, and a U.S. senator from Connecticut, 1789-91; resigning his seat in March, 1791, and being succeeded by Roger Sherman. He was president of King's (Columbia) college, New York city, 1787-1800. He resigned his office in 1800, and removed to Stratford, Conn., where he lived in retirement. He was a trustee of Columbia college, 1788-1800, and received the honorary degrees of A.M. from Columbia and Harvard in 1747, J.C.D. from Oxford in 1766, and LL.D. from Yale in 1788. With Oliver Ellsworth, he framed the judiciary system of the United States, as adopted by congress, and his letters from England were published by the Massachusetts Historical society, in the Trumbull Papers. John T. Irving, in 1830, and the Rev. E. Edwards Beardsley, in 1876, published sketches of his life. He died in Stratford, Conn., Nov. 14, 1819.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Elbert Herrin, jurist, was born in Stratford, Conn., July 8, 1777; son of Abraham and Elizabeth (Ivers) Herring;grandson of Elbert and Elizabeth (Bogart) Haring; great grandson of Peter and Margaret (Bogart) Haring, and great2 grandson of John Haring, who was born in Holland in 1633, came to America and was married in 1662 to Margaret Cozine, a widow, in the new Dutch church on Stuyvesant's Bouwerie, New York, they being the first couple married in that church. He was graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1795, and studied law in New York city, where be afterward practised. He was judge of the marine court of New York, 1805-08. He was married August 29, 1812, to Agnes, daughter of Lilian Van Rensselaer. He was register of the state, 1812-17, by appointment of Governor Clinton, being the first to hold the office. In 1833 he was appointeted, by President Jackson the first commissioner of Indian affairs. He resigned the office in July, 1836, and retired from public life. He died in New York city, nearly ninety-nine years of age, Feb. 20, 1876.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor