Morning journal and courier., 1881-12-13
A Fine Tribute.
Honors in England to . Connecticut

Ou06G0r HAS oNlueAtAy 1zsl0 ouE 114bAsA cousins under deep and lasting obli- gations upon subject of peculiar value in the highest English society-obligation which are handsomely and gracefully &C., the more as Colonel Chester de- voted to the work immense research and la- bor, added to high qualifications, and at his own personal charge and expense, freely giv- ing what had cost him several thousands of pounds to the English people The recogni- ton given his services by England's Queen has already been mentioned. Colonel Ches- ter paid visit to our own Historical society not long ago and is one of the honorary mem- bers of that society. It will be remembered also that Oxford University has bestowed upon him the degree of D. c. L., an honor all the more fattering as it is the first time in the history of either of the great English that the branch of study to which Colonel Chester has devoted himself has been recognized. The Public Orator in introducing Colonel Chester to the Vice Chancellor for the degree described Colonel Chester as s'the first of living genealogists" and as having sselevated what was mere pur- suit into science"
 ftJoseph Lemuel Ohestes, editor and an- notator of the Westminster Abbey Registers and author of several other historical and bi- ographical works was born at Norwich, Ct, U. s. A., April 30, 1921. His father dying when the son was a mere child, the subject
 of our sketch was dependent on his own en-
 ergies and resources for his progress in life.
 He commenced the study of law in New
 York in 1888, but abandoned it for branch
 of the mercantile profession, in which he
 was engaged in that city and Philadelphia
 until about 1852, during the whole of which
 l. -1-st A. Gf-A
 weekly and monthly press under various sig
 natures, that of Julian Cramer' being the
 one best known to the community. He then
 became connected with the. Philadelphia
 Press both there and as a corresponding ed-
 itor at Washington. For time he was one
 of the assistant clerks of the United States
 House of Representatives. Since 1858 he
 has resided in London. MT. Chester's ear-
 Her publications include Greenwood Cemetery
 and other poems' 12mo, New York and Boston
 1843); The Personal Narrative of Mrs.
 Margaret Douglass, Southern Woman, who
 was Imprisoned for One Month in the Com
 mon Jail of Norfolk, for the Crime of Teach
 ing Free Colored Children to Read,' (12 mo-,
 Boston. 1854); Life of John Rogers, the
 Marian Proto- o-Martyr, with Biographical
 Sketches of Some of his Descendants, &c.,
 (8vo, London, 1861, pp. 452.) The last men
 tioned work, one of much labor and re.
 search, has received the unqualified commen.
 dation of the English press" The article
 speaks of the honorary distinction conferred
 by learned societies upon Colonel Chester in
 England and the United States.
 :'The above" continues the BiOgTGph G7ad
 ReDGeto. '.is an extract from the Supplement
 to the Cyclopsedia of American Literature,
 published in 1866. The Life of John Rog- ers' mentioned above has long been out o1
 print. Colonel Chester's maGgzsltna opus is, o1
 course, the Westminster Abbey Registers
 >EI, oI
 Burial Registers of the Collegiate Church ol Abbey of St. Peter. Westminster with co. pious notes, large quarto work of over 63C
 pages (London, 1876.) The work is of great
 service to historians, biographers and geneal
 ogists, and has been accepted as a standard
 authority. It is only just to say that fol
 the publicity of these interesting and valua
 ble records, so illustrative of the personal
 history of the venerable minister, the world
 is greatly indebted to Dean Stanley. From the inception of the design to the last mo- ment of it's completion he took the hveliest interest in the work, and the editor (Colenel Chester)took occasion to record permanently in his preface, his gratitude for the numer. ous courtesies, generous sympathy and cor dial encouragement which he received from him during the many years of his interesting labors. Anything like biographical sketches of the various persons named in the Abbey Registers would have swollen the work into half dozen volumes, and it was deemed best that the editor should restrict his 1abors tc
 their identification, giving any salient facts concerning them and references by which their own history, or that of their families, could be pursued. This volume is therefore designed for reference rather than for popular perusal. Brief as many of the annotations are, however, they have often cost much time and labor, and there is many a line and half line which ii G1.z -G research. Those only who have been en i gagged in similar undertaking can have the slightest conception of the amount of serious work embodied in these pages.
 'tCol. Chester coming to England in 1858 or visit of love to the home of his ancestors | Che being descended materially from tht house of Tracy, of Toddlington in Glouces | tershire, and from John Rogers, the ia ! nous preacher of Dedham,' in Essex, wal | detained here in an official capacity during the civil war, and with time on his handi | took up the Abbey Registers, to which ht devoted ten years of his life. It was purely a labor of love, for it left him several thou ' make commercial speculation of it, pre- | ferring to leave it as his legacy to the nation \ which, he says, has already treated him st kindly, whose borders he never now intend | to leaye and in whose soil he hopes to finl | his final resting place. Col. Chester was on' of the founders of the 'Harleial society in 1869, and he ha | edited several volumes for it. besides allow \ ing it to print an edition of the Abbey Regis | ter for it's members, viz, The Heraldic Visi | tation of London in 1634,' and the tParisl \ Register of St. Dionis Backchurch,' St ! Mary's Aldermary' and St. Thomas the Apos | tie, London He was also one of the origina ! council of the Royal Historical society il l 197O.' In recognition of his Abbey Regis 1 ters, and his other contributions to histor. | and biography, Columbia Gold King's) Col lege, New York city, (one of the fev American institutions from which sucl | a compliment is an honor, as it al f ways has been ~chary in conferring | it, conferred on him the honorary degree O ILL. D. in 1877. This fact shows, says al I American paper. the Boston Egeaiaag IrGns | cript, that Colonel Chester's 1abors are ap ! preciated in his native country. In Englant I they have received unqualified praise. Tn Tunes of September 1, 1876, devotes ovel three columns to highly commendatory re view of his Registers of Westminster Abbey, | and the Morning Post of November 2, 1876 l gives more than Q column to 8 notice of th' work. The Post says Colonel Cheste
 brings to light facts which have been forgot i ten, tracks out errors and inaccuraeie which have had long life with uneeasini care, and provides in his book monument O
 his painstaking industry and pa | Westminster Abbey lasts his nam will be remembered because of this magnii cent work When in addition to this, Pro lessor Mayor asks, What will English histor. owe in all time to come to Colonel Chester Westminster Abbey Registers? i? and Pro | lessor Stubbs praises the work in his publi lectures at Oxford, there can be little doub of the manner in which it is appreciated il England. His Westminster Abbey volum, was dedicated by special permission to He Majesty the Queen, as the head of the nation whose personal history it so greatly illus | trates, who has sent him complete set O the Life of the Prince Consort,' with hel name and his written with her own hand il each volume, to him a priceless treasure a ! the recognition of his labors by the Sover eign of the realm" The article concludes l with reference to Colonel Chester's collec ! tions relating to personal and family histor. l Especially of the 17th century, 'sthe accumu l lations of more than 20 years, which ar, enormous and constantly increasing in value, and to his iberality and generosity in per mitting all freely to profit by his researches. Personal.
 MT. Silas A. Thompson, of West Haven t fIe T,11hlie will Fa r,Iaasad fl, Jearn Ios q,