Connecticut Historical Collections

abode,] April 2, 1769.' ^\'llal!ey liail Iiceii dead some lime before. Tiie iradiiiod ai IJadley is, tbai ihey were l)iirieil in the miiiistei's eel- Jar, and it is jreiieially supposed that tbeir bodies were afterwards se- eretly conveyed to New Haven, and placed near Dixwell's. Tlie sup- position is strongly confirmed, I)y thri.-e stones yet remaining in the old bLiryinL,^ ground, al I\'ew Haven, in the lear of the Center church, which are maVked E. \V. for \Vhalley, M. G. for CuAl'e, and J. D. Esi]. for Dixwell. The following is a correct copy of each of the E. W. stones. The reader will observe in the cut, tliat the date on VVhalley's head-stone may be read 1G58, wdiicli was about twenty years before his death. The extension, however, of the line, in a direct course beyond the curve of the 5, iias the aspect of design for concealment. The inscription upon the foot-stone E. VV. and the three (igures 1(J-S are plain and distinct, but the intei-mediate figui'e is obscure. In the dale of the foot-stone, the 5 is dist'ernible ; the u\^\t^:v line of the 7 is also ob\ious ; it may be read, therefore, J GoS or l(J7H, and there is little doubt but that the lat- ter was iheclate intended, as, according to (iolle's Idler to iiis wile, Whalley died about this time. iiE\D PTONK, 'J k'L-i wiilc ;ii.d lii^'li, .s iiilIics iliick.— Dark blueslonc. vy N E \V II A V E N 1 55 M. Upon the same princi]ile of dcsi^Mied iloccplion, ih-ad ; thm.. llie M. on the i\l. G. stone may bo taken (or an Ifouthioad, lUn inverted W. and thus W. G. read for \ViHiam Goli'e, '"^'■ whicli seems more probable, as a deep stronLj line ^.^-^ """^ is drawn nnder the ]\I. (see cut,) which was evi- dently intentional. 80, over these initials, may be referred to tl)e year of his death, for his last letter was dated 1679, and he disappeared soon after.* The object of these inscriptions bcini; so obscure, \ was doubtless to prevent a discovery of their burial " place, by their enemies, who, it was justly feared, il' in theii' power lo have obtained the bodies of the regicides, would have caiiicd their re- sentment lieyond the ;^rave. A royalist historian, in speakinj; of GoHe, thus remarks: "In 1(500, a httle before the restoration of King Charles "^d, he betook liimstlf to l)is heels to save his neck, without any regard had to his majesty's pro- clamation, wandered about, fearing every one that he met should slay him; and was living at Lausanna in IGGl, with luiward Ludlow, Ed- ward Whalley, and other regicides, when John Lisle, another of that nundjer, was there, by certain generous royalists, rlispatched. lie af- terwards lived several yeai's in vagabondship, but when he died, or where his carcass was buried, is as yet unknown to me." Colonel John Dixwell came from liadley to New llavcn before the year 1G7-2, and was kiiown heie by tin; name of Jan)cs Davids. During the seventeen years or more in which lie li\e(l in Acw Ila\en, noiliing extraordinary occuried concerning him. From KiTI lo 1()H5, tht; church had no settled minister with whom he might as-^ociate. 'J'lie l\ev, iXicliolas Street, the mini-^ter at his (ii.-t coming hei'C, soon died. For above eleven years, the church was deslitute of a p;islor, and sup- plied by occasional and temporar}' jtieaching only, uiuil .Mr. Fierponi's settlement in IG.^5. \Vith him the Colonel enteii'd immediately into an o|)(!n ami unreserved communication ; but this was only lor tlie short sjjace of three or four of the last years of his exile. During this short time, however, there was the greatest intimacy between them, which appears to have been conccaleil even from the minister's wife. For tradition says, that madam Pierpont, observing their remarkable intima- cy, and wondering at it, used to ask him what he saw in tliat old gentle- man, who was so 'iiiW(\ of leading an obscure, unnoticed life, that they should be so intimate and take such pleasuie in being together, for Mr. Dlxwell's house being situated on the cast corner of College and Grove streets, and I\Ir. Pierpont's near the corner of JCIm and Temple streets, and their house lots being contiguous and cornering upon one another, they had beaten a })ath in walking across their lots to meet and con- verso together at the fence. In answer to his wife's question, Mr. Pierpont remarked, that the old gentleman was a very learned man, and understood more about religion, and all otlicr subjects, than any other person in the place, and that if she knew the value of him, she * See Slilcs' History of i!ie Judges. ( ... 156 N E \V H xV YEN. would not wonder at tlieir intimacy. Among other tradiiionary anec- dotes concerning]; him, this is one. " Sir Eihnund Andross came into America, and became governor of New Yoik in 1G75 to KiS'l, and of Massachusetts from ICSG to 1G39. In one of liis tours through the colony of Connecticut, about 168(), at- tending public worship at New Haven, he observed a venerable old gentleman at meeting, and noticing him closely, discerned something singular in him and suspected him. After meeting he inquired who that person was, and was tohl that he was a merchant who resided in town. Sir Edmund replied that he knew that he was not a merchant, and became pariic^darly inquisitive about him. Probably Colonel D. was notifietl of the inijuisliiveness of the stranger concerning his person and character, for the Colonel was not seen at meeting in the after- noon." In connection with this, another tradition makes mention of a circum- stance indicating how obnoxious Sir Edmund was at New Haven, as well as tlirough New England. He being at meeting here, and proba- bly on the same Lord's day as the above, ilie deacon gave out the 5r-2d psalm to sing, in Sternhold and Hopkins' version, which begins thus; Whv .Ki.l ilion Ivi-nntboasl.ibron.l, Thv V. 1,-kc.l uuiks tu |.i,n>.--! Du'^t ih.n, holkiiciu-il,,-!.- i.s.H.;,.,!, , Whose iiu-iucs 1,1^1 alu-ay-.' ' Wliy (lost lliy iiiiiMl y.t.siill devi^i yuch wiclccil wili-slo \vai|i? 'I'liv Idiitciic uiiirii.", iti riiryiiii,' lies, Islikca ia/.or:.liaii.. Thdii il,j<;i ileli-Iit in iVaii.! mid uiiilc, iuniiMljicl. I.I.mkI, ai,(l wron-: 'J'liv li|.sl,;u-e K-aM,,a llnnlalUiiuy stile, n lal-,', a_-rrUllli |,,|.UMU,-! Cio\ernor Andross iMt it as an intended insidl upon himself, and after meeting rL'sentml it as stich, and loprehendud the deticon for it. Jnit being told that it wtis the usage of the ciniicli to sing the psalms in course, he excused the deacon and let the matter drop. But it is not improbable, that though this might l)e the general custom, yet in this instance a psalm was selected for Sir Edmund's contemplation. Colonel Dixwell carried on no secular business, but enq^loyed his time in reading and walking in the groves and woods adjacent to his house. Mr. Pierpont hail a large library, from which, as well as from his own collection, he coidd be supplied with a vtuiety of books. He often spent his evenings at JNIr. Pierpont's, and when they were by themselves, retired to his study, where tliey indidged themselves with great familiarity and humor, and had free and unrestrained conversation upon all matters, whether of religion or politics. But when in coinitany, ]\Ir. Pierpont behaved towards Colonel D. with caution and reser\e. The Colonel spent nuich of his retirement in reading history, and as a token of his frienflship for Mr. Pieriiont, he, in his last will, presented him with Raleigh's History of the ^Vorld, NEW HAVEN 137 After a pilgrimage of twenty nine years in exile from Lis native country, and banishment into oblivion from the world, of which seven- teen yeais at least, probably more, were spent in New Haven, by the name of James Davids, Esq. Colonel Dixwell died in this place. He ai d all the other Judij;es lived and died in the hrm expectation of a revolmion in England. This had actnally taken place the jXovem- ber before his death, but the news not having arrived, he died ignorant of it, alout a month before the seizure of Sir Edmund Andross at Bos- ton. At his death, he discovered his true character to the people, and owned the name of John Dixwell, but requested that no monument should be erected at his grave, giving an account of his person, name, and character, alledging as a reason, " lest his enemies might dishonor his ashes" — requesting that only a plain stone /night be set up at his grave, inscribed with his initials, J. D. Esq., with his age and lime of his death. Accordingly, a plain rough stone was erected at his grave, closo by the graves of Governor Eaton and Governor Jones, charged with this inscription, as at first put up and engraved by his friends. The following is a correct copy, both of the shape of the stone and the in- scription upon it. [la'^'wy 8 9f'^li5j,\M OF 2.] led hiyli and broa>r :, luchcb ihiL-k :— icd ^tuno. Whilst residing at New Haven ho was twice married, and at his death he left a wife and two children. His will was afterwards exhibited, approved and recorded in the proljato ollice. President Stiles, in his History of the Judges, says : "So ];ito as the last French war, 1700, some J3riLi.^li odicers passing through fSew Haven, and heuring of Dixwell's grave, visited it, and declared with rancorous anil malicious vengeance, that if the Hrliisji mluisiry knew it, they would even then cause their bodies lo be dug up and vihfu.'d. (Jfien have we heard the crown ofiicers aspersing and vililying them ; and some, so late as 1775, visited and treated the graves with maiks of in- dignity too indecent to be mentioried." It was especially so in Queen Anne's time, and even in that of the Hanoverian family, there has been no time in which this grave has not been threatened by numerous syco- phantic cro^vn dependents, with indignity and ministerial vengeance. 158 NEW HAVEN. South vicir of l'\tir ILiviii, [ict^tcni par(.)