The Society Of the Cincinnati in The State of Connecticut

The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton, December 26, 1776-1828. Left: Jonathan Trumbull Jr. (1740-1809) - Speaker of the Us House of Representatives. Right: Jonathan Trumbull Sr. (1710-1785) - Governor of Connecticut
The Battle of Bunker's Hill, June 17, 1775. Right: William Hull (1753-1825) - Lieutenant-Colonel in the Continental Army
The Resignation of General Washington, December 23, 1783. Left: Thomas Y. Seymour (1757-1811) - Lieutenant in the 2nd Continental Regiment of the Dragoons
The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton, January 1777

Category Archive: 17th Continental Regiment

  • Capt Ebenezer Perkins 1756-1831

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    Birth:          30 Aug. 1756, Norwich (New London) CT [Barbour VR Norwich CT]

    Death:        16 Aug. 1831, Norwich (New London) CT [NEHGR Vol. 2 (Oct. 1848) pp. 404-407, Inscriptions From the Burying-ground in Norwich, CT].

    Marriage:   Ebenezer Perkins stated in letter dated 12 June 1820 (in support of his pension) that “my family residing with me  consists of my wife who is about 70 years of age, very infirm, and not able to contribute anything to her support” [Revolutionary War Pension File S36219, Ebenezer Perkins, Connecticut]. His wife’s name was Eunice (maiden name unknown), and she died 6 March 1829 at age 83 at Norwich, CT [NEHGR II-404-407].

    Children:   It is unknown if Capt. Perkins ever sired any children; there is no reference to any children in his pension file, nor in any of the records located about him.

    Education: He appears to have been was well read but details of his education are unknown.

    Military:     He responded to the Lexington Alarm in April 1775 as a Sgt. of the volunteers from the town of Norwich, CT [CT Adjutants General, Records of Service of Connecticut Men in the War of the Revolution (Hartford CT, 1889) p. 19, hereinafter “CMWR”]; Sgt. 8th Continental Regiment, 10 July 1775 [Francis Heitman, Historical Register, Officers of the Continental Army (Washington DC. Rare Book Co.  1914) p. 436; CMWR p. 85]; Ensign, 8th Continental Regiment, 18 Sept. 1775- 10 Dec. 1775 [Heitman. p. 436; CMWR  p. 85]; 2nd Lt., 17th Continental Regiment, 1 Jan. 1776 [Heitman. p. 436; CMWR p. 102]; 1st Lt., 1st Continental Regiment, 1 Jan. 1777 [Heitman p. 436; CMWR p. 146]; Captain, 1st Continental Regiment, 1 Jan. 1778 [Heitman p. 436; CMWR p. 146]; he spent the winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge, where he signed the Oath of Allegiance to the United States [The Army and Navy of the United States, 1776-1891, George Barrie Publisher, Philadelphia 1890]; resigned 1 July 1780 [Heitman p. 436; CMWR p. 146].

    Cincinnati: Original Member [CMWR p. 376]; first represented in 1982 by George Breed [d. 2000]. Now represented by Hereditary Member who joined in 2011.

    Occupation: Stated in letter dated 12 June 1820 (in support of his pension) that he was “a trader” [Pension File].

    Discussion: Ebenezer Perkins was one of the many officers of the Continental Army who became active in the Masonic Order during and after the Revolutionary War. On 16 October 1794, he was among several men who were involved in the effort to reorganize the Union Lodge, which initially was chartered 12 January 1753 [200 Years of Union Lodge No. 31, New London Connecticut, hereinafter “200 Years”, www.unionlodge31.org]. The new charter for Union Lodge No. 31 was issued 20 May 1795 [Ibid]. On 25 June 1799, Capt. Ebenezer Perkins, as Worshipful Master of Union Lodge No. 31, laid the foundation for Freemason’s Hall in Norwich, CT [Ibid]. On  27 December 1800 at the Festival of St. John the Baptist, he delivered an address to those assembled at Freemason’s Hall [An Address Delivered to Union Lodge at Freemason’s Hall, in the City of New of New London, on the Festival of St. John the Evangelist 1800 by Ebenezer Perkins (Samuel Green, New London 1801)]. He served as Worshipful Master of Union Lodge No. 31 from 1799 to 1804 [200 Years]. In October 1805 he represented Union Lodge No. 31 at the Convocation of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the State of Connecticut [Records of Capitular Masonry in the State of Connecticut, hereinafter “Capitular Masonry” (Press Wiley, Waterman & Eaton, Hartford 1875) p. 32].  He also represented Union Lodge No. 31 at the convocations of May 1812, May 1813, and October 1813 [Capitular Masonry pp. 52, 56, 58]. However, later in life, he apparently fell on financial hard times. In the records of  the October 1813 meeting of the Grand Lodge there is the following entry: “The Grand Lodge was opened in the Third Degree of Masonry when a petition from sundry brethren of Union Lodge No. 31, New London, praying some relief for our Bro. Ebenezer Perkins, a member of said Lodge, in consequence of his many and great misfortunes, was introduced and read. After sundry remarks on the subject, it was ordered that the Grand Treasurer pay to Bro. Perkins from the funds of the Grand Lodge, seventy-five dollars, as a charitable donation in his afflicted circumstances.” [The Records of Freemasonry in the State of Connecticut (E.G. Storer, New Haven 1859) p. 254]. His indigent circumstances persisted, as shown by his 12 June 1820 declaration in support of his pension application, in which he stated “by reason of my infirmity have not the ability to pursue” his occupation as a trader and that due to “my reduced and indigent circumstances in life, [I am] unable to support myself without the assistance of my country” [Pension File]. Capt. Ebenezer Perkins died in Norwich, CT 31 August 1831 at age 74 and was buried in Norwich City Cemetery [www.Find-A-Grave.com].

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  • Lt Cornelius Russell

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    Birth:

    Cornelius Russell was born about 1750.

    Death:

    Cornelius Russell, 73 years old and husband of Huldah Russell, died on 03 August 1823 at Randolph, Vermont. He was buried in the Randolph Center Cemetery. The newspaper notice of his death included the comment fifteen persons died in Randolph of dysentery between July 23d and August 18.

    Huldah Russell, Cornelius’ wife, died six years later on 07 August 1829. She was 75 years old and was also buried in the Randolph Center Cemetery.

    Marriage:

    Cornelius Russell, of Windsor, Connecticut, married Huldah Pember on November 1784 at Randolph, Vermont. Huldah’s place of residence was recorded as being East Windsor, Connecticut.

    Children:

    The children of Cornelius and Huldah Russell are reported to have been as follows: Horace A. Russell (1787-1818). Betsy Russell (1788-162) who married Seth Crocker who died in 1831. Elijah Pember Russell (1790-1874). Thomas Pember Russell (1792-1816). James Russell (1795-1866) who married in 1828 Mary A. Lewis (1807-1889).

    Military:

    Corporal in Lexington Alarm, April, 1775; Private 2d Connecticut, 7th May to 19th December, 1775; Sergeant 17th Continental Infantry, January to December 1776; Ensign 5th Connecticut, 1st January, 1777; 2d Lieutenant, 15th December, 1777; 1st Lieutenant, 1st April, 1779; transferred to 2d Connecticut, 1st January, 1781, and served to June, 1783.

    According to information contained in a pension application dated 06 April 1818 when he was 67 years old and living in Randolph, Orange County, Vermont, his military service was as follows:

    He enlisted in May, 1775, place not stated, and served seven months as private in Captain Elijah Robinson’s Connecticut company. At the expiration of this term he enlisted in Captain Ebenezer E. Bissell’s company in Colonel Jedidiah Huntington’s 17th Connecticut Regiment; on August 12, 1776, he was promoted to the rank of sergeant major and on August 27, 1776, he was taken prisoner on Long Island by the British and held a prisoner until he was exchanged in the latter part of December, 1776. On January 1, 1777, he was commissioned ensign in Captain Ezekiel Sanford’s company in Colonel Philip B. Bradley’s 5th Connecticut Regiment; he was commissioned second lieutenant in said company and regiment in December 15, 1777, and was commissioned first lieutenant April 1, 1779, and served until the close of the war, having belonged to the 2nd Connecticut Regiment since sometime in 1781.

    Cincinnati:

    Original Member.

    References:

    Connecticut. Adjutant-General’s Office. Record of Service of Connecticut Men In the I. War of the Revolution, II. War of 1812, III. Mexican War. Hartford: [Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co.], 1889. pp. 27, 194, 327, 355 and 373.

    Farmer’s Cabinet (Amherst, New Hampshire), September 6, 1823. p.3, col. 3.

    Francis B. Heitman, Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army during the War of the Revolution April, 1775, to December, 1783. Washington, D.C.: The Rare Book Shop Publishing Company, 1914. p. 477.

    ”Deaths“, New Hampshire Patriot and State Gazette (Concord, New Hampshire), 01 September 1823, p. 3, col. 5.

    Daniel Howard, A New History of Old Windsor, Connecticut. [Windsor Locks, Conn.: The Journal Press], 1935. pp. 60 74

    Nickerson & Cox. The Illustrated historical souvenir of Randolph, Vermont: containing a brief history of the early settlement of the town, the schools, churches, medical and legal professions, old families, business and manufacturing interests, together with portraits and biographies of the citizens past and present. Randolph: [Nickerson & Cox], 1895. p. 104.

    Henry Reed Stiles, The History of Ancient Windsor, Connecticut: Including East Windsor, South Windsor, And Ellington, Prior to 1768, the Date of Their Separation From the Old Town; And Windsor, Bloomfield And Windsor Locks, to the Present Time. Also the Genealogies And Genealogical Notes of Those Families Which Settled Within the Limits of Ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Prior to 1800. New York: C. B. Norton, 1859. pp. 384 & 406.

    Revolutionary Soldiers Interred in Vermont. Vermont Historical Society. Proceedings of the Vermont Historical Society. St. Albans, Vt.: The Society, 1889. p. 148.

    Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 15. Fold3.com(http://www.fold3.com/image/14071798/
    ). Connecticut. Cornelius Russell, Pension S 41112.

    Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008. (From microfilmed records. Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2013.). Russell/Pember marriage.

    Biographical information compiled by V. Allen Gray.

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