I had from my mother the story of General Washington taking
Chief Justice Ellsworth's twin children, one on each knee,
and reciting to them the ballad of the Derbyshire Ram. This
tradition has remained in the Ellsworth family. I have confirmed
it by inquiry of the Rev. Mr. Wood, a grandson of Oliver Ellsworth,
who died in Washington a few years ago.
Besides the uncle to whom I allude, who died in 1856, Judge
Simeon Baldwin, who married two of my aunts, died in 1851,
aged ninety. He was a Member of Congress in 1803-5, and was
an intimate friend of Chancellor Kent, who was his classmate
and chum in Yale, and was intimate with the Federalist leaders
of the Hamilton party. I several times made visits in his
household before his death. President Jeremiah Day, another
uncle by marriage, was at the head of Yale for thirty years.
He died in 1867, at the age of 94.
My mother's sister, Mrs. Jeremiah Evarts, was born January
28, 1774, and died in 1851, at the age of seventy-seven. She
knew intimately many famous men and women of the Revolutionary
period. Her husband was an intimate friend of John Jay.
Pages:
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38