History of Stonington, (New London County) Connecticut United States of America

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Biographies:

Elisha Hinman, naval officer, was born in Stonington, Conn., March 9, 1734; son of Capt. Andrew and Mary (Noble) Hinman, grandson of Capt. Titus Hillman, an original settler of Woodbury, Conn., and great grandson of Sergt. Edward Hinman, the Pilgrim, of Stratford, Conn. In 1748 he went to sea, and in 1753 he became captain of a merchant vessel making voyages to Europe and the West Indies. The first naval expedition authorized by congress was fitted out at New London, Conn., in January, 1776, under Esek Hopkins, commander-in-chief. Elias Hinman was lieutenant of the fleet and commanded the Cabot. The fleet sailed in February, 1776, to rendezvous in Delaware bay and returned in April with seventy prisoners, eighty-eight pieces of cannon and a large quantity of military and naval stores. Hinman was wounded in the engagement with the Glasgow, April 6, 1776. In August, 1776, he was appointed one of the twenty-four captains, being the twentieth on the list, in the U.S. navy. After commanding in succession the Marquis de La Fayette, 20 guns; the Dean, 30 guns, and the sloop Providence, 32 guns, he succeeded Paul Jones in the command of the Alfred, 32 guns. On a return voyage from France he was compelled to surrender the Alfred, March 9, 1778, and was imprisoned in England. He soon escaped to France and returned home, where for a time he engaged in private ventures. In 1779 he had brilliant success as commander of the privateer Hancock; in 1780 he commanded the armed ship Dean; and in 1781, as commander of the brig Marquis de La Fayette, he captured the brig Dispatch. In 1789 he commanded the frigate. Trumbull, and in 1794 he declined the command of the Constitution offered by President Adams. After leaving the service he entered mercantile business at New London, Conn., and commanded the revenue cutter there, 1798-1802. He was married in 1777 to Abigail, daughter of George Dolebear, of New London. He died at Stonington, Conn., Aug. 29, 1805.

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

Nathaniel Brown Palmer, discoverer, was born in Stonington, Conn., Aug. 8, 1799; son of Nathaniel (1768-1812) and Mercy (Brown) Palmer; grandson of Nathaniel (1740-1818) and Grace (Noyes) Palmer, and of Peleg and Mercy (Denison) Brown, and a descendant in the seventh generation from Walter and Rebecca (Short) Palmer, who came from England to Stonington, Conn., in 1653, and in the sixth generation from the Rev. Chad Brown . He was also a direct descendant through Mercy Denison, of John Howland of the Mayflower, and through Dorothy Noyes, of Governor Peleg Sanford. His father was a lawyer and afterward a shipbuilder. The son went to sea in 1813; was second mate of the brig Herselia, Capt. J.P. Sheffield, in 1818, and returned from the south seas to Stonington with 10,000 seal skins. He was made captain of the sloop Hero in 1819, and in company with the Herselia made a second voyage to the south seas where he discovered Palmer's land in latitude 67' longitude 70'. He next commanded the James Monroe in an expedition under Capt. W. A. Fanning to the South Shetland Islands, and the Cadet in several voyages to Cartagena on the Spanish main, where he was employed by the Colombian government in transporting a portion of General Bolivar's army from Cartagena to the river Chagres and prisoners to Santiago de Cuba. In 1826 he took the brig Tampico to Cartagena. He was married Dec. 7, 1826, to Eliza Thompson, daughter of Paul Babcock, she died in 1872, having had no children. He took the brig Francis to the south seas in 1827, and the Anawan on a voyage of discovery in 1829 east of Cape Horn. On his next voyage he touched at Juan Fernandes island for water and was captured by Chilian convicts. His identity as a Mason saved his life, but the convicts forced him to carry them out of captivity. In December, 1833, he assumed command of the packet ship Huntsville between New York and New Orleans; in 1835 the Hibernia to Rio Janeiro; in 1837 the ship Garrick of the Collins line to Liverpool; in 1838 the Siddons to the same port, and in 1841 the Paul Jones to China. He modeled the clipper ship Hoqua for Brown & Bell, of New York, and made a voyage in her to Canton. He next modeled the Sam Russell, Oriental, David Brown and N. B. Palmer for A. A. Low, and commanded the Oriental and Sam Russell in the China tea trade, making the celebrated passage from Hong Kong to London in ninety-seven days. In 1848 he took the steamer United States to Germany, and in 1849 retired from active sea-service. He was the seventh charter member of the New York Yacht club, and held his membership over thirty years. He modeled and owned seventeen yachts. He was a member of the Carrituck Gun club; a director of the Fall River line of steamers, and was instrumental in building the Bristol and the Providence. He bought the Great Republic for Low Brothers, and was in charge of that vessel for three years in London, until she was chartered by the French government. He corrected the U.S. coast survey of Stonington harbor. His brother, Alexander Smith Palmer, a famous sailor and commander and several years his junior, was presented a silver cup for saving the passengers and crew of the English ship Dorothy, July 4, 1833, and a gold medal from Queen Victoria for rescuing the survivors of the Eugenia in 1840. Capt. Alexander's son, Nathaniel Brown Palmer 2d, left San Francisco, Cal., for China on a sailing vessel, with his uncle, Capt. Nathaniel, in 1876, for the benefit of the health of the younger man. They left Hong Kong on the return voyage on board the City of Peking, May 15, 1877, and the nephew died when one day out, and Capt. Nathaniel Brown Palmer died in San Francisco, Cal., June 21, 1877. Both were buried in Stonington, Conn.

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

Samuel Prentiss, jurist, was born in Stonington, Conn., March 31, 1782; son of Dr. Samuel and Lucretia (Holmes) Prentiss; grandson of Col. Samuel and Phoebe (Billings) Prentice and of Capt. John Holmes, and a descendant of Valentine Prentise. He was educated in the public schools of Northfield, Mass., and under a private tutor; was admitted to the bar in 1802; settled in practice in Montpelier, Vt., in 1803, and was married, Oct. 3, 1804, to Lucretia, daughter of Edward Houghton of Northfield. He declined a judgeship of the supreme court of Vermont in 1822; was a representative in the state legislature, 1824-25; an assistant justice of the supreme court, 1825-29, and chief justice 1829-30. He was a whig U.S. senator from Vermont, 1831-42, resigning April 11, 1842, to become judge of the U.S. district court of Vermont, Samuel C. Crofts completing his term. During his term of office he introduced the resolution which led to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, and also introduced a series of resolutions against the annexation of Texas; and originated and successfully carried through the law to suppress duelling in the District of Columbia. He was a trustee of Dartmouth college, 1820-27, and received from Dartmouth the honorary degree of A.M. in 1820, and LL.D. in 1832. He died in Montpelier, Vt., Jan. 15, 1857.

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

Joseph Adams Gallup, physician, was born in Stonington, Conn., March 30, 1769. He was graduated from Dartmouth college in 1798 as bachelor of medicine, practised in Hartland and Bethel, Vt., for two years and then removed to Woodstock, Vt. He was professor of the theory and practice of medicine, of materia medica and president of the medical college at Castleton, Vt., from 1820 to 1823. In 1827 he established a school of medicine at Woodstock, remaining in charge till 1834, and the following year this school was merged into the Vermont medical college. He received his M.D. degree from Dartmouth in 1814 and the honorary degree of A.M. from Middlebury, Vt., college in 1823. He published: Sketches of Epidemic Diseases in the State of Vermont and Remarks on Pulmonary Consumption (1803); Pathological Reflections on the Supertonic State of Disease (1822); and Outlines of the Institutes of Medicine (2 vols., 1839). He died in Woodstock, Vt., Oct. 12, 1849.

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