Norwich bulletin., 1909-01-29

There was an attendance of about
sixty, of whom about a dozen were
from New London, at the Peck libra
II on Thursday afternoon, when the
midwinter meeting of the New London
County Historical society was held.
At the opening of the meeting at three
o'clock the members were greeted in
brief words Of welcome by ,Princi-
PAL Henry A. Tirrell Of the Academy,
one of the committee of arrangements,
who spoke in admiration of the spirit
and aim of the society to preserve all
that is best in the history Of New
London county Such a study of To-
cal history would lead naturally TO
national history, and he cordially well
coined them to this meeting place,
which, he said. was always glad to
receive them.
Responding, President Ernest L.
Rogers of New London spoke of the
changes of the year, the requirement
of the Shaw mansion in New London
as the permanent home of the soci-
ETY., the loss of many by death, es-
pecially Mrs. Perkins of Orlando, Fla,
formerly Miss Chapel Of New Lon
don, who had been the first to give
encouragement towards acquiring the
Shaw mansion and one of the first of
the contributors.
President Rogers introduced Col c..
d. Parkhurst of New London, a re-
tired army officer who was now back
in his home district. after a long and
honorable service for his country, and
presented him to give a paper upon
The Study of Genealogy.
Admitting that the student of gene
alogy was crank, but perhaps one
of the most harmless kind, Colonel
Parkhurst covered in an interesting
wav the increase Of late years in gene
illogical knowledge, and said ii all
brought out the fact of the universal
brotherhood OF man. On the mathe-
NAUTICAL side Colonel Parkhurst amused
his audience by figuring out back
thirty generations that each one of
his hearers had more than 1,073,s36.-
900 ancestors at that time, half male
and half female. His paper was thor
ougfly enjoyed as 1t discussed the
making of ancestral trees. and the
assistance given by historical socie-
ties. He voiced the hope that the
New London county society might
take up genealogical work and issue
a genealogical quarterly. and he pro-
posed that a start be made for this,
believing it would be a source of in
come to the society.
Endowment Fund $4,000.
President Rogers said that the en-
dowment fund had now reached SIS, 900
and he hoped the next financial in
crease might be in the publishing
fund, that its work might be more ex-
tended. President Rogers then pre-
scented Jonathan Trumbull for the
principal paper of the afternoon, a
memorial Of those three distinguished
sons of Norwich, whose deaths have
recently occurred-Edmund Clarence
gtedman, Daniel Colt Gilman, and
Donald Grant Mitchell. Appreciation
- -1.
at its conclusion by a burst Of ap-
plause for his eloquent tribute TO these
intimate friends of his. Mr.. Trumbun
said:
In the years so lately closed. we
cannot fail to recognize some very
marked blanks which the effacing
hand of time last left in our list of
honorary members. The names. but
not the memory, of Edmund Clarence
Stedman, Daniel Colt Gilman and Dom
aid Grant Mitchell have been trans
ferred from our honorary roll to a roll
more enduring and mere honorable
than that which any organization can
hope to make. These three men have
left a record Of work accomplished,
each In his own way, which has proved
to be not only an uplifting influence.
but a dynamic force in American
scholarship. literature and civilization
In the case of eac hone the record is
beautifully complete. Each had more
than completed his three score and ten
years, two of them dying in the har-
ness at the age of IA and n respec-
lively, and the third lingering dream
fly through the last year of his long
life to the age of Sc, perhaps living
over that Dreamlife with which he
had charmed his readers 81 yFrs be-
Edmund Clarence Stednoan.
In some of those rare pauses which
Bhis strenuous life of ours grants US,
Il may be well to ask ourselves what
three names we shall place on our
honorary roll to fill the three places
now made vacant Another question
is suggested by this. Can We find three
that will completely fill these vacan-
cies?
In 1898 our poet stedman wrote
these lines:
Give me to die unwilling Of the day
And stricken in Life's brave heat.
with senses clear"
Fifteen years later that wish was
fulfilled On the 18th of January,
1908, that brave, sunny spirit took its
sudden flight, after a mornin- Of his
loved literary work, and a greeting by
telephone to a friend. l cannot hone
at this time to do more than to say
word of remembrance and apprecia-
tion of this rare spirit, which 1 feel
must be very inadequately spoken.
We claim him as a Norwich man,
even though his birthplace. OF which
he had only the dim recollection of a
boy of six years. was Hartford. It
was. here in Norwich that the forma-
tive period of his life was passed, here
that he passed the early years OF his
married life. and commenced his lit
erary career as a founder Of the Nor
wich Tribune. And to the day of his
death, he clung with q loyaltyAwhich,
like all his other loyalities, has well