History of Killingworth, (Middlesex County) Connecticut United States of America

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Biographies:

Abel Buell, pioneer type-founder, was born at Killingworth, Conn., about 1750. He was a man of many resources, and though little is known of his life, record is found of him as engraver, jeweller, goldsmith, undertaker, military bugler, teacher of singing and choir leader, before he adopted the business of type-founding and printing. His expert knowledge of engraving led him into the penal offence of altering a colonial note, for which he served a term of imprisonment. A special act of the legislature, in return for many honorable services rendered the state, restored to him his civil rights. In 1769, without any other aid than his own ingenuity and some little knowledge derived from books, he began the manufacture of type, and in the course of a few years completed several fonts of long primer. One John Baine, who came to the United States after the revolution, has claimed the honor of being the first type-founder in America, but the Massachusetts Gazette established Buell's right to that honor beyond a peradventure. Under date of Sept. 4, 1769 (some years prior to Baine's advent), that journal says: "We learn that Abel Buell of Killingworth, in Connecticut, has made himself master of the art of founding types for printing." He was extremely eccentric and very restless, and was continually getting into trouble. He published a weekly newspaper, entitled, The Devil's Club or Iron Cane, in which he advocated "the doctrine of eternal progression and endless development." The publication of these views gave great offence to the Puritans, and Buell was condemned to six months' confinement in Symsbury mines, being released at the end of his term only on condition that he publicly renounce his heresy, and that he agree to carry an iron cane on Sabbath days in token of the sincerity of his repentance. So subdued did he become to all outward appearances that he was known as "the meek man with the iron cane." Disguised as a Kickapoo Indian he was one of the "Boston Tea Party," and at the battle of Lexington he heated to a white heat the point of his iron cane and with it touched off the first cannon fired in the revolution, and he was wounded in the knee at the battle of Bunker Hill. He became a government coiner after the revolution, and devised new instruments for conducting the work. Subsequently he visited England, for the purpose of studying the machines used in the manufacture of cotton cloth, and upon his return to America he established at New Haven a cotton factory, which was one of the first erected in the United States. He died at New Haven, Conn., about 1825.

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

William Chauncey Fowler, educator, was born in Killingworth, Conn., Sept. 1, 1793; son of Reuben Rose and Catharine (Chauncey), grandson of Caleb and Anna (Rose), great-grand-son of Josiah and Hannah (Baldwin), and seventh in descent from William Fowler, who arrived in Boston, Mass., from England, June 26, 1637, and was chosen one of the magistrates of the colony of New Haven, Oct. 26, 1643. He was graduated from Yale in 1816 and studied divinity there for two years, in the meantime acting as rector of the Hopkins grammar school. He was a tutor at Yale, 1819-23; pastor of a Congregational church in Greenfield, Mass., 1825-27; professor of chemistry and natural history at Middlebury, Vt., college, 1828-38, and treasurer of that institution, 1830-37; and professor of rhetoric, oratory and English literature at Amherst, 1838-43. In 1851 he was a member of the Massachusetts legislature; and in 1864 was in the Connecticut senate, having removed to Durham, Conn., in 1858. On July 26, 1825, he was married to Harriet, daughter of Noah Webster. The honorary degree of A.M. was conferred upon him by Middlebury college in 1837, and that of LL.D. by Lafayette college in 1861. He edited the university edition of Webster's "Dictionary" (1845), and published, among other works: The English Language in its Elements and Forms (1850); Memorials of the Chaunceys (1856); The Sectional Controversy, or Passages in the Political History of the United States (1862); History of Durham (1866); Local Law in Massachusetts and Connecticut (1872); and genealogies of William Fowler; Wives of the Fowlers, and Wives of the Chaunceys. He died in Durham, Conn., Jan. 15, 1881.

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

Titus Coan, missionary, was born in Killingworth, Conn., Feb. 1, 1801; son of Gaylord and Tamza (Nettleton) Coan, grandson of Mulford Coan, and a descendant of George Coan, the first ancestor in America. His earlier years were spent in teaching, with experiments in business and in the militia's service as 1st lieutenant, but resolving finally upon the ministry he went to Auburn theological seminary in 1831. Thence in 1833 he went to southern Patagonia with one companion, Mr. Arms, to make explorations with a view to the establishment of a mission. After a residence of some months among the ferocious savages of the west coast he narrowly escaped with his life, being rescued by a passing vessel, and landed in New London, Conn., May 7, 1834. On Nov. 3, 1834, he was married to Fidelia Church of Churchville, N.Y., and embarked with his bride on December 5, as missionary to the Hawaiian islands. They reached Hilo, July 21, 1835, and within three months after his arrival Mr. Coan began preaching in the native language, sometimes four times a day in as many different places. His ardor and kindliness won the deep affection of the natives; he was pastor, physician, teacher, and counselor in one; and his labors met with wonderful, perhaps unparalleled success. From 1835 to 1882 he received more than 13,000 persons into his church, each one of this multitude only after personal examination of a sufficiently long continued "probation" to give him confidence in the reality of "conversion." He preached regularly in the large native church at Hilo, and to a congregation of foreigners as well; he visited at frequent intervals, and on foot, all the villages and hamlets throughout the districts of Hilo and Puna, a coast line of 100 miles; he knew all of his people personally, kept registers of them and examined, instructed and disciplined the church members. In his tireless labors he was ably seconded by his wife. Fidelia Church Coan was a woman of extraordinary devotion and charm, and to her sacrifices no small part of Titus Coan's success was due. Her strength gave way under the strain of domestic and missionary labors combined, and she died at Hilo, Sept. 29, 1872. In 1860 and again in 1867 Mr. Coan visited the missions in the Marquesas islands; and in 1870, with his wife, the devoted missionary made a visit to the United States after a continuous absence of thirty-six years, returning to Hilo to end his days. In Hawaii "he saw a great population turned from darkness to light, a great part of it following his own blameless and loving life for an example, and very many living to old age steadfast and zealous Christians." Titus Coan was not only one of the greatest missionaries that the world has known, but an ardent scientific observer. The main part of the existing data on the Hawaiian volcanoes came from his pen and was published in the American Journal of Science and elsewhere during many years. He wrote Adventures in Patagonia (1880); Life in Hawaii (1881); and made numerous contributions to scientific and religious periodicals. His death occurred at Hilo, Hawaii, Dec. 1, 1882.

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

Charles Morgan, shipping merchant, was born in Killingworth, Conn., April 21, 1795; son of Col. George and Elizabeth (Redfield) Morgan; grandson of Theophilus and Phebe (Merrills) Morgan, and of Capt. Samuel Redfield, and a descendant of James Morgan, who came from Wales to Boston, Mass., with his brothers John and Miles, in April, 1636; settled previous to 1640 in Roxburgh, where he married Margery Hill, and in 1650 removed to New London, Conn. Charles Morgan became a clerk in a grocery store in New York city, and about 1816 opened a small store in Peck Slip, for the sale of ship supplies. Later he enlarged his business by importing southern fruit; became part owner of a brig, and a few years later sole owner of a line of sailing vessels in the West India trade. He started the first steamer between New York and Charleston, S.C., which became the Morgan line; he built the steamships William Gibbons, Columbia, and New York, and in 1836 sent the first steamer from New Orleans to Mexico, and established in New Orleans the Morgan lines to various Texan and other ports along the Gulf of Mexico. He established in 1836 the Morgan Iron works, on the East River, New York, for building marine engines, and during the civil war the greater part of his fleet was chartered by the U.S. government. He owned and directed the Louisiana and Texas railroad, building the road from Indianola, La., to Cuero, Tex.; dredged a steamboat channel through Atchafalaya bay; built a wharf 2,500 feet long at Indianola, and thus perfected this line of travel. He also built steamers for the California trade, used on the Panama and Nicaragua routes, and continued to manage his many large enterprises until his death. He gave $50,000 for the endowment of the Morgan school at Clinton, Conn., which was dedicated Dec. 7, 1871, and Morgan City, La., was named in his honor. He married, first, Dec. 20, 1817, Emily Reeves, and secondly, June 24, 1852, Mary J. Sexton. He died in New York city, May 8, 1878.

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