Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/687

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STARK
STARKWEATHER

day, or Molly Stark's a widow!" another of his sentences that has gone into history. Doubts hae been cast on its authenticity, for Mrs. Stark's name was Elizabeth. The second British force of 500 men, under Col. Breymann, presently arriving on the scene, was likewise totally defeated. Of the 1,000 British, not more than a hundred escaped, all the rest being killed or captured, a result of great importance, as it led ultimately to the sur- render of Burgoyne at Saratoga. Col. liauni, who was mortally wounded, said of the provincials : They fought more like hell-hounds than soldiers." The American loss was only about seventy. Wash- ington spoke of it immediately as ' the great stn ike struck by Gen. Stark near Bennington " ; and Bar- oness Riedesel, then in the British camp, wrote: " This unfortunate event paralyzed our operations." For this victory Stark was made a brigadier-general, 4 Oct., 1777, and given the thanks of congress. He continued in active service during the remainder of the war, displaying everywhere distinguished abil- ity and commanding the northern department in 1778 and 1781. In 1783 he retired to his farm, where he lived in republican simplicity till his death at the age of ninety-three. When he was eighty-nine years old congress allowed him a pen- sion of sixty dollars per month ; but with his sim- ple tastes and habits this was not essential to his comfort. He was a good type of the class of men who gave success to the American Revolution. With the exception of Gen. Thomas Sumter, he was the last surviving general of the Revolutionary army. He was buried on his own grounds on the east bank of Merrimack river at Man- chester, where a simple granite obelisk was placed in 1829 to mark his resting-place. The citizens of Manchester planted memorial trees around it in 1870. In August, 1887, the corner-stone was laid in Ben- nington of the monument seen in the illustration. It is an obelisk of limestone, 301 feet high from foundation to apex. It is also proposed to erect at Manchester a massive eques- trian statue in bronze of the general. Stark's biography was written by Edward Everett in Sparks's " American Biogra- phy." See also his " Life and

Official Correspondence," by his

grandson, Caleb Stark (Concord, N. II., I860). His brother. William, soldier, b. in Londonderry. N. H.. 12 April, 1724; d. on Long Island, N. Y.. about 1776, acquired a good education, and was among the first to whom the proprietors granted lands in London- derry. Previous to the erection of a public meet- ing-house the town-meetings were held at his home. He served in the old French war, and, as a captain of rangers on the northern frontier, was at Ticon- deroga, and fought under Gen. Jeffrey Amherst at Louisburg and Gen. James Wolfe at Quebec. At the beginning of the Revolution lie applied for the command of a regiment, but another officer was preferred by the New Hampshire assembly, and deeming this an insult, he entered the British service as colonel. He endeavored to persuade his brother John to adopt this course, but without suc- cess. He is described as possessing great bravery and hardihood, but as wanting in moral firmness. His name appears in the banishment and proscrip- tion act of New Hampshire, and his estate was con- ti-cMed. He was a proprietor of Piggwacket (now Fryeburg, Me.), and a hill there was named for him. Ilis death vas caused by a fall from his horse. John's son, CALEB, merchant, b. in Dun- barton, N. H., 3 Dec., 1759; d. on his estate in Ox- ford township, Ohio, 26 Aug., 1838, served at the age of fifteen as ensign in his father's regiment at Hunker Hill, and remained with the army until the close of the war, rising to the rank of brigade- major. He then engaged in commerce in ]!ci-ion. and removed in 1828 to Ohio. Caleb's son, Caleb, author, b. in Dunbarton, N. H., 21 Nov., 1804 ; d. there, 1 Feb., 1864, was graduated at Harvard in 1823, studied law in Litchfield, and afterward in New York city, and began to practise in Cincin- nati, Ohio, but s i removed to Concord, N. H., and subsequently to Dunbarton, N. II., retiring from his pn ifession. He was a member of the New Hamp- shire legislature, and was the author of " Remi- niscences of the French War, containing Rogers's Expeditions with the New England Rangers, and an Account of the Life and Military Service of John Stark" (Concord, 1831); "Memoir and Official Correspondence of Gen. John Stark ; with Notices of other Officers of the Revolution" (1860): and a " History of Dunbarton, N. H., from the Grant by Mason's Assigns in 1751 to 1860 " (I860). John's great-grandson, William, lawyer, b. in Manchester. N. H., about 1820; d. in Someryille, Mass.. 29 Oct., 1873, was graduated at Williams in 1850, studied law, was admitted to the bar of New York in 1851, and practised in Nassau. In 1853 he removed to Manchester, remaining there until 1870, when he was placed in the McLean asy- lum in Somerville, Mass.. as his faculties had be- come impaired. Previously he had devoted him- self to literary pursuits and to the care of a large collection of rare birds and animals. His park in Manchester, which was open to the public, was widely known. He wrote several poems, and fre- quently lectured.


STARKEY, Thomas Alfred. P. E. bishop, b. in Philadelphia, Pa,, in 1824. He was educated as a civil engineer, and practised that profession in 1839-'45. Having resolved to enter the ministry, he studied theology for two years, and was ordained deacon in the Church of the Ascension, Philadel- phia, 21 Feb., 1847, by Bishop Alonzo Potter, and priest in Trinity church, Pottsville, Pa., 21 May, 1848, by the same bishop. He served as missionary in Schuylkill county, Pa., in 1847-'50, where he founded the Church of the Holy Apostles, at St. ('lair. He was rector of Christ church, Troy, N. Y., in 1850-'4, of St. Paul's, Albany, N. Y., in 1854-'8, of Trinity church, Cleveland. Ohio, in 1858-'69, and of the Church of the Epiphany, Washington, D. C., in 1869-'72. He served in 1875-'6 in the Mission rooms, New York city, and became rector of St. Paul's church, Paterson, N. J., in 1877. This post he held for three years. He received the degree of D. D. from Hobart col- lege, N. Y., in 18(14. lie was elected bishop of northern New Jersey in 1879, and was consecrated 8 Jan., 1880. The name of his diocese was changed to that of Newark in 1886.


STARKWEATHER, John Converse, soldier, b. in Cooperstown, N. Y., 11 May. IN:;O; d. in Washington, D. C.. 15 Nov., 189(1 His father, George Anson (b. in 1794; d. in 1878), was graduated at Union in 1819, held local offices in Otsego. N. Y., was colonel of the New York 12th artillery, and was elected to congress as a Democrat, serving from 6 Dec., 1847, till 3 March, 1849. After graduation at Union in 1850, the son removed to Mil-