Page 7 - Wallingford Magazine Issue 55 Summer 2025

cows. I discovered from picking apples during the fall
the diary that he raised harvest, Clinton “reached too
dairy cattle and record- far for one extra good looking
ed their daily milk out- apple which caused the lad-
put (ranging from 17-20 der to slip, throwing Mr. Clin-
quarts @8 cents/qt.), ton to the ground. No bones
and other sales figures. I were broken, but Mr. Clinton
learned that Elizur occa- received a lame back and
sionally bought firewood shoulders.”
from a neighbor and
carted it home on a sled. The Church of England
He kept track of the num- (Episcopal) Arrives in
ber of hours he worked
per day, often 10 hours. Wallingford
But on Saturday, Janu- Please bear with me as I head
ary 20th, he recorded off on a tangent . . . I couldn’t
that, “I done nothing; it determine from Elizur’s di-
rained.” A week later he ary if he was particularly re-
bought 80 apples from ligious. He mentions trips to
Philo Williams. Several Branford, to out of town rela-
times during the year tives, and to New Haven. But
he writes, “I went up to Wallingford to to sell his horse. Apparently he drank he does not refer to church
the military dance.” This might be re- up the proceeds and swore “never to attendance on Sundays. Interestingly,
ferring to a version of the Military Two do that no more, no never!” Elizur had Elizur Clinton’s great grandfather Cap-
Step which evolved from military tra- been having trouble with a wrist injury tain Lawrence Clinton belonged to a
ditions and was adapted for social set- and had to take several days off work, small group of Wallingford and North
tings. Elizur was a member of Company finally in early May he visited a doctor Haven residents who established a
K during the Civil War and participated who informed him he had broken his branch of the Church of England (An-
in veteran events. He was active in lo- wrist and set it. Then on May 5th he glicans) in our town. Called the Union
cal Democratic politics and served for a broke his collarbone. Farming in 19th Society, they appealed to the Bishop of
time as justice of the peace. Century Wallingford wasn’t easy. London in 1729 to send them a clergy-
man to minister to the local families.
Elizur Clinton’s Family Elizur often writes of his garden, men-
Bits and pieces of information in the tioning crops of potatoes, corn, citrons At this time Anglicans were often dis-
(?), and watermelons. He tended fields criminated against, overly taxed, and
diary pages helped me assemble a fam- of wheat and rye as well. As a side even persecuted and imprisoned for
ily tree for Elizur and identify import- job, he plowed the fields of numerous their loyalty to the Church of England
ant people in his life, neighbors, and neighbors. Elizur refers in his diary to in the midst of the many Congrega-
friends. Clinton was born in 1847 and setting out apple trees, buying and sell-
died in 1902. A farmer, he spent his en- ing apples, and making cider. In Sep- tionalists who lived in New England.
The letter from these Wallingford An-
tire life in Wallingford. He also owned a tember of 1877 he made and sold over glicans reflects a sense of desperation,
house in Branford for weekend seaside 200 gallons. He sold his produce most-
“With melancholy hearts we crave your
escapes and clambakes. His first wife, ly locally but occasionally travelled to lordship’s patience while we recite that
Julia Amelia Bishop (1850-1873) died at New Haven where he sold apples and divers of us have been imprisoned, and
23 years old. A year later he married Ella potatoes. On one of his seashore vis-
our goods from year to year distrained
J. Palmer, also a life-long Wallingford its, he brought home 1 1/2 bushels of [seized] from us for taxes levied . . .
resident. They had five children: Robert, clams he’d harvested from the beach at We supplicate both God and man that
Bessie, Lovelle, Dora, and Jennie. An Branford. One Saturday in December he our persecutors may not always pre-
1868 county land ownership map indi- bought a cow from his neighbor Char-
vail against us.” [P. Gordon B. Stillman’s
cates Elizur and other Clintons owned ley Doolittle for $40. It was reported in History of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church]
about five land parcels clustered around the Morning Journal-Courier that while These families wanted legal recognition
what is now the south end of Clinton-
ville Road near the North Haven border. and freedom of religion. By the time
While poking around in Elizur Clinton’s the Union Society formed, the Gener-
ancestry, I came across Captain Law- al Assembly in Hartford had grudgingly
rence Clinton (1737-1804) Elizur’s great agreed to permit non-Congregational
grandfather, a local sea Captain. He religious groups to organize if they had
made a small fortune running ships in achieved a critical mass of membership
New Haven while living in Wallingford. and were serious in their intentions.
He played a role in the establishment of
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church as you will Though it took awhile, The Church of
see. England finally agreed to sponsor a Clin-
tonville church and the Rev. Theophilus
Daily Life as reported in the Diary Morris, a minister from the Propagation
of the Gospel in Foreign Parts arrived in
On Sunday, April 15th, Elizur went off

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