Richard Wait
Richard1 Wait, b. at Watertown, Mass., 1637; farmer in Watertown; m. Mary ; d. at Watertown, Jan. 16, 1668-9; wid. Mary d. at Watertown, Jan. 21, 1678.
Thomas Wait
Thomas2 Wait, b. at Watertown, March 3, 1641-2; m. Sarah, dau. of James Cutler of Lexington, Mass. Thomas Wait was a farmer; d. at Weston, Mass., Jan. 3, 1722-3; wid. Sarah d. at Weston, Jan. 17, 1743-4, aged 91.
Joseph Wait
Joseph3 Wait, b. at Watertown, Feb. 4, 1682-3; m. Sarah, wid. of Joseph Stone; in Sudbury, Mass., 1715; constable 1735; removed to Worcester, Mass., 1743; d. at Worcester, Oct. 5, 1753; wid. Sarah d. at Worcester, April 24, 1754.
John Wait
John4 Wait, b. at Watertown; bap. at Watertown, Sept. 26, 1708; m. first at Watertown, 1727-8, Hannah Wellington, d. before March 17, 1764, the date on which John Wait m. second, Eunice Morse of Sherborn, Mass.,
dau. of John and Hannah [Morse] Wellington, descended from Roger’ Wellington, “Planter,” selectman at Watertown seven years. He m. Mary, dau. of Dr. Richard Palgrave of Charlestown, Mass.
John Wait removed to Brookfield, Mass., 1746, having bought a farm of 300 acres on Foster’s Hill. He was a veteran in the Indian Wars. Five of his sons were officers in the Revolutionary War. He d. at Brookfield, Jan. 27, 1761.
See Temple’s North Brookfield for explicit information of the service of the five sons as officers.
Benjamin Wait
Benjamin5 Wait, b. at Sudbury, Mass., Feb. 13, 1736; mfirst, Jan. 11, 1767, Lois Gilbert, dau. of Capt. Thomas and Martha [Barnes] Gilbert of Brookfield. She d. at Waitsfield, Vt., April 3, 1804; m. second Mehitable, wid. of John Burdick.
Benjamin Wait was a soldier in the last French War, 1755-61; ensign in Rogers’ Rangers; settled in Windsor, Vt., 1767, and became a leader in the State among the Green Mountain Boys; capt. in Hoisington’s Rangers 1776; major in Herrick’s Rangers 1777; col. 1778; brig.-gen. of Vt. militia 1786; maj.-gen. 1788; sheriff Cumberland Co., Vt., 1779-86; Cumberland Committee of Correspondence 1774-5; Vt. Const. Convention, 1777; rep. from Windsor, Vt., 1779, 1782, 1783, 1785; first settler of Waitsfield, Vt., 1789, and chief man of the town until his death; rep. 1795-99, 1801-2; first justice of the peace 1791; treasurer 1795; selectman 1794-96 and 1799.
The following is from the History of Waitsfield, Vt., by Matt Bushnell Jones, copyright 1909. Some of the facts herein stated had already appeared in the Brookline Chronicle over the writer’s signature, and were in part the result of frequent conversations with her grandmother, who was the grand-daughter of Gen. Benjamin Wait, in whose home she lived from 1799 until the year of her marriage to William6 Davis in 1815. Before printing her sketches, she had verified the different statements in various records, histories, etc.:
“The eastern range of the Green Mountains cleft the town from north-east to south-west, and for miles on every side the wilderness of forest lay unbroken. To the east of this mountain range the land presented few attractions, but to the west a big basin lay between the hills, fertile, well watered, and easily accessible through passes cut by the little river that followed its winding course to the northward.
“Benjamin Wait, whose name was given to the town, had early marked this valley for his own, but other duties claimed him for the time, and not until the spring of 1789 did he come hither, with his children and his sons’ children, to establish a home in the meadows north of the present village. He was a veteran of two wars, almost, it might be said, a soldier by profession for the French War, the conflict of the Green Mountain Boys against New York, the Revolution, and, after its close, the active command of forces engaged in the internal conflict that culminated in Shays’s Rebellion had taken more than twenty of the best years of his life. He was a well-to-do and highly respected citizen of the then populous and important town of Windsor. He had for seven years been high sheriff of Cumberland and Windsor Counties, and had but just resigned the highest military office in the gift of the State, that he might free himself for his fresh struggle with the wilderness. He had sat in the convention that adopted the constitution of the new State, and had taken high rank among the founders of the little republic that was still knocking ineffectually at the doors of the Union.
“He was of the type of pioneer who builded well, and, the impress of his strong character may still be traced in the town of which he became in every sense its first citizen. It is therefore appropriate that at the threshold of this little work we pause a moment to trace the story of his earlier years.
“Benjamin Wait, third son of John and Annah Wait, was born in Sudbury, Mass., Feb. 13, 1736. His mother died when he was but a child, and his father, marrying again, removed to Brookfield, Mass., about 1745. Here he kept a tavern on Foster’s Hill. His home stood on the old Boston-Albany highway, and, as its proprietor was himself a veteran, this hostelry was for years famous among the soldiers of the French Wars, who were wont to linger there upon their journeys. We can picture Benjamin and his brothers lying of a winter evening before the great fireplace in the living-room, while in the dim light of the open fire the father and his guests related over the steaming punch-bowl tales of warfare, suffering, and Indian barbarity that sent the youngsters shivering to their attic beds.
“Environment seldom shows its influence more strongly than upon this family of six boys. John, the eldest son, saw service in the campaign of 1757 and with the Massachusetts troops during the Revolution. Joseph, enlisting in 1754, became the captain of a company of Rogers’ Rangers, and was continuously in service until 1761. Removing to Claremont, N.H., he became, upon the outbreak of the Revolution, lieutenant-colonel in Bedel’s Regiment of New Hampshire troops, and received a mortal wound during the fighting around the fort of Lake Champlain, just previous to the naval battle at Valcour. Richard, next younger than Benjamin, enlisted at the age of seventeen in the French War, and was a captain in Herrick’s Rangers at Bennington; while two half-brothers, enlisting in the Massachusetts troops on April 19, 1775, saw practically continuous service in the army under Washington until the close of the war.
“The military experiences of Benjamin Wait began with the campaign of 1755, for which he had enlisted at the age of 18. The plan of that campaign involved attacks upon the French at four points simultaneously. Braddock was to advance upon Fort Duquesne; provincial troops from New England, New York, and New Jersey were to seize Crown Point, and another body, drawn wholly from New England, was to subjugate Acadia; while Shirley was to reduce Niagara with two regiments raised wholly in the provinces, but taken into the king’s pay and designated as Shirley’s and Pepperell’s respectively. These forces, with one New Jersey regiment, pushed forward through the wilderness to Oswego, but, checkmated by want of provisions and the presence of a strong French force at Frontenac, the little army waited until the approach of winter made further action impossible.
“Here, shivering in the chill winds of winter and suffering the pangs of hunger, young Wait saw more than half his regiment die of the attacks of these twin enemies. Re-enforcements were started in the spring, but, ere they reached the Great Carrying between the head-waters of the Hudson and Ontario, the French, under Montcalm, had descended on Oswego, and had taken it with its garrison of some fourteen hundred men.
“A scene of drunkenness and plunder followed, and several prisoners were butchered by the Indian allies. More would have fallen but for the efforts of Montcalm. Here or on some preliminary skirmish [on this point only there seems to be some doubt] young Wait was taken prisoner, and by his Indian captors compelled to run the gauntlet. Other prisoners had received hard usage, so when his turn came, believing, as stated by a grandson who heard him tell the story, that `spunk’ would be a good antidote for savage barbarity, he [still in the words of his grandson] `ran through with clenched fists as vicious as a wild bull, knocking them from one side to the other, and when they see him approaching they had little wile enough to take care of themselves.’ Rescued from the Indians by a French woman, who hid him under a cask in her cellar, he was turned over to the French, and held for some months as prisoner of war. Later he was sent with other prisoners to France, only to be rescued by a British man-of-war and brought back to his native shores.
“Immediately he enlisted under his brother Joseph, then captain of a company of Rogers’ Rangers, of whom Parkman has said in one of his matchless descriptive passages: `The best of them were commonly employed on Lake George; and nothing can surpass the adventurous hardihood of their lives. Summer and winter, day and night, were alike to them. Embarked in whale-boats or birch canoes, they glided under the silent moon, or in the languid glare of a breathless August, when islands floated in dreamy haze, or the hot air was thick with odors of pine, or in the bright October, when the jay screamed from the woods, squirrels gathered their hoard, and congregated blackbirds chattered farewell to their summer haunts; when gay mountains basked in light, maples dropped their leaves of rustling gold, sumacs glowed like rubies under the dark green of the unchanging spruce, and mossed rocks with all their painted plumage lay double in the watery mirror; that festal evening of the year when jocund nature disrobes herself, to wake again refreshed in the joy of her undying spring; or in the tomb-like silence of the winter-forest, with breath frozen on his beard, the ranger strode on snowshoes over the spotless drifts, and, like Durer’s Knight, a ghastly death stalked ever at his side.’
“In the spring of 1758 a powerful force was gathered for the reduction of the French fortress at Louisburg, and placed under the command of the newly created general, Jeffrey Amherst. To this army were assigned several companies of rangers, the only provincial troops in the command.
“On June 2 the fleet of Admiral Boscawen sailed into Gabarus Bay, and at daybreak on the 8th the troops attempted a landing. In the division under General Wolfe, the future hero of Quebec, which was to make the real attack, were the New England rangers. We cannot enter into details of that conflict. Suffice it to say that under heavy fire the boats were driven to the shore, a landing made, and the French batteries captured. Young Wait was, if his own relation of the story is to be credited, in command of one of these boats, and, when his men faltered and lay down to screen themselves from the French fire, he told them to stand up to their work or take to the water. After the fall of Louisburg he returned with those troops, which Amherst led immediately to the re-enforcement of Abercrombie at Lake George, where he arrived early in October, 1758. Here until the close of the war he was engaged directly under Rogers in the capacity of ensign in his brother’s company.
“July, 1759, saw a slow advance, with Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and Montreal as its objectives. The French successively abandoned Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and fell back to the foot of the lake, while Amherst dawdled away the summer. In August he attempted to communicate with Wolfe at Quebec, but the St. Francis Indians, who throughout the war had been the scourge of the New England frontiers, seized the messengers and carried them to Montreal. Rogers was straightway ordered to destroy their village, which lay on the St. Francis River near its junction with the St. Lawrence,–a journey of more than two hundred miles through an unbroken wilderness.
Taking about 200 of his best men [among them Joseph and Benjamin Wait], he set out in boats on September 13, and on the tenth day reached Missisquoi Bay, his force reduced by accident to 142. Hiding the boats, these men struck boldly into the forest, but on the second day two friendly Indians brought the news that a party of French, superior in numbers, were on their track. Rogers, nothing daunted, kept on, out marched his pursuers for nine days through swamp and forest, fell upon the village, killed 200 Indians, took 20 prisoners, and released 5 English captives, with loss of -1 killed and 7 wounded. Then, as his return was blocked, and waiting but an hour for rest, he plunged southward up the St. Francis, intending to return by way of Lake Memphremagog and the Connecticut River. The scanty provisions failed as they reached the lake, and, closely pursued, the men separated into small parties, the better to obtain game. Several were killed or captured, and others perished from starvation. So reduced were they that powder-horns and leathern accoutrements were boiled to furnish sustenance. The loss was more than one-third of the total number. It was anticipated that succor would reach them at the mouth of the Ammonoosuc River, to which place Rogers had requested provisions to be sent, but, when that point was reached, the famished soldiers found only the still warm ashes of the camp-fires deserted by their rescuers, who, waiting but two days, had retreated in a panic, taking the provisions with them. Leaving the others to follow as best they could, Rogers with three companions pressed on, and after five days of almost incredible suffering reached No. 4 [Charlestown, N.H.], and despatched provisions to the sufferers, many of whom soon returned to service on Lake Champlain.
“Meanwhile Quebec had fallen, and in the summer of 1760 the British advanced upon Montreal from east, west, and south. The rangers were with Haviland, who advanced down Champlain from Crown Point.
“The French fell back upon the St. Lawrence, abandoning St. John’s, and Haviland followed, with the rangers leading the way. The various English forces formed their junction at Montreal, and on September 8 Vaudreuil signed the capitulation by which Canada passed to the British crown. Here Wait saw once more in British hands the colors of his regiment captured by the French at Oswego, four years before.
“Four days later Amherst ordered Rogers to proceed westward with Capt. Wait’s and Capt. Hazen’s company of rangers to take possession of Detroit, Michilimackinac, and other forts in that district. The next day [September 13] they left Montreal in whale-boats, and Rogers’s journal follows in detail the movements of the party. Reaching Detroit, Lieut. Butler and Ensign Wait with twenty men were sent westward to bring in the French troops at Forts Miami and Gatenois. This service, performed in dead of winter, made a lasting impression, and in later years Wait related how the men, becoming disheartened and benumbed with cold, would beg of him to shoot them, instead of which he switched their legs with sticks until, aroused by anger, they resumed their march.
“Not until the spring of 1761 did these troops reach New York, and not until October were they disbanded, so that at the age of twenty-five Wait found himself a veteran of six years of constant and exacting warfare, having participated in more than forty skirmishes and battles.
“Returning to Brookfield, he seems to have interested himself with his brother Joseph in urging forward settlers to towns on the Connecticut River, but it was not until 1767 that he married, and with his girl-wife pushed out to the frontier to make himself a home. He chose a farm in Windsor West Parish, and here he remained for more than twenty years, marked from the beginning as one of the leading men of Eastern Vermont.
“Windsor was a hot-bed of sympathy with the New Hampshire Grants, and her citizens, prominent among whom were Benjamin Wait and his brother Joseph, met the New York authorities with open defiance and not infrequently with actual violence. In May, 1770, Benjamin and his brother Joseph were arrested on a New York warrant, but rescued by their friends. Before the end of the month the New’ York sheriff, Daniel Whipple, had gathered a posse of some fifteen men and attempted a recapture, but the brothers, having collected a party of friends, gave battle and took the sheriff and his entire party prisoners, and held them so for several hours, until better judgment prevailed and they turned the captives loose.
“It occasions no surprise that a man of these characteristics was prompt to volunteer upon the outbreak of the Revolution. It has been said that Wait was with Allen at the capture of Ticonderoga, but this at best is doubtful.
If the grand-daughter’s statement is correct, that General Wait said he was there, and if military records in my possession prove anything, then he was there.-E. D. C.
Certain it is, however, that in June, 1775, in spite of his opposition to that colony, he joined with William Williams and Joab Hoisington in a letter to the New York authorities urging that a regiment of `good, active, enterprising soldiers’ be raised for the defence of the section, and tendering his services as lieutenant-colonel. Two months later he was chosen major of the upper regiment in Cumberland County, but confirmation was refused, presumably because of his former opposition to New York.
He said to his grand-daughter that such was the case; that his promotions were deferred because he had defied the New York authorities, but that he won his spurs in spite of them. E. D. C.
Not until October, 1776, was he commissioned, and then received appointment as captain of the first company of Joab Hoisington’s Rangers, raised for service on the northern frontiers with headquarters at Newbury. These troops performed a varied and somewhat uncertain service, sometimes acting under and sometimes in open defiance of the New York authorities. In fact, the spirit of hostility to New York had become so great that not only were the rangers slow to act under her orders, but when in February, 1777, an attempt was made to enlist a regiment for service at Ticonderoga, the recruiting officer was obliged to report `the men are averse to go out under the State of New York; neither do I think it possible for me to raise any more.’ It may be truly said that after the campaign of 1775 Vermont’s position was defensive: she did not fight except to defend her own borders from invasion, and with good reason, for she was an outcast, strained to the utmost, and maintaining her existence as best she might by force or by diplomacy against the foreign enemy upon the north and still more bitter opponent upon her western border.
“Hoisington died early in 1777, and Wait, with rank of captain, took command of the battalion. In May the New York Council of Safety ordered the rangers to Kingston, but, as there were no funds to support the men on the march, they refused to go. A month later (June 27), aroused by the advance of Burgoyne, the council resolved that the rangers be peremptorily ordered to repair to Kingston, N.Y., and funds were sent to Wait to defray the expense. In obedience to orders he proceeded to Newbury, only to find -that his men had marched to Ticonderoga. A few days latter the evacuation of that fort dispersed them, and on July 14 he ordered them to proceed to Kingston. The men refused to go, however, on the ground that their own frontiers and families must be protected. This situation Wait reported to the council, who declared their satisfaction with his conduct, but declined action on the conduct of the rangers.
“Amidst all these activities Wait found time for civil service. Elected on the Standing Committee of Correspondence for the County at the Cumberland Convention at Westminster in February, 1775, he was now called to represent his town in the convention which met at Windsor to adopt a constitution for the new State. In the midst of its deliberations came the news of St. Clair’s retreat, and at once confusion reigned, but, after a short delay, work was resumed and the draft under consideration adopted. Forthwith the newly organized Council of the State voted to raise a regiment of rangers under Lieutenant Colonel Herrick. In this regiment many from the older companies of rangers seem to have enlisted, and among them were Benjamin Wait and his younger brother Richard, with the rank of major and captain, respectively, Benjamin receiving his commission under date of Sept. 3, 1777.
“Three weeks later Col. Brown and Major Wait, with some 500 men, were ordered to the vicinity of Ticonderoga to cut Burgoyne’s lines of communication, a service so efficiently performed that Wait was commended for `spirited conduct’ by the Council.
“In February, 1778, an expedition into Canada was proposed, and Vermont was requested to furnish a regiment of rangers. Herrick and Wait were at once commissioned as colonel and lieutenant-colonel, respectively, but the project was abandoned, and we know no more of Wait’s activities until October 23, 1779, when the Council appointed him as sheriff of Cumberland County,’ an office that was then little less than military, and which he continued to hold for seven years, except during his absence on the frontiers. In the same month he became a member of the State’s Board of War, of which body he seems to have continued an active member until the close of the Revolution. In 1780, with rank of major, he was in the field at the time of the attacks on Royalton and Newbury, and in January, 1781, he was commissioned major of the First Regiment of Vermont Militia, and immediately detailed for service on the frontiers.
“Throughout the war, disturbances continued between the partisans of New York, who were particularly numerous in Windham County, and those who sought to uphold the authority of Vermont. In 1783 these dissensions reached their height. Guilford was entirely in control of the New Yorkers, and their resistance to Vermont authority became so determined that Governor Chittendon was driven to adopt stringent measures. In October the Assembly provided for raising `one hundred able and effective men to assist the civil authority in carrying into effect the law in the southern part of the County of Windham,’ and to Wait was entrusted the command with the rank of colonel.
“Negotiations having failed, Wait’s regiment and other militia gathered at Brattleboro on Jan. 20, 1784, but, after a slight show of resistance, the Yorkers fled and the authority of the State was upheld.
“Early in November, 1786, a mob, led by citizens of Barnard and Hartland, gathered to prevent the sitting of the court at Windsor,-an outbreak that was but a part of Shays’s Rebellion. Wait, as sheriff, read the riot act and dispersed them, but, one of the number being tried for riot on November 14, a second mob collected. Wait, acting not only as sheriff, but as colonel of the Third Regiment, ordered a company of his men from Weathersfield to come to Windsor. With 40 of these men he set out before light on the 17th, and, deceiving the guards by taking a circuitous route, attacked the house in Hartland at which the rioters were assembled. Twenty-seven of the leaders were captured, but not until Wait had received a wound that incapacitated him for nearly a month. This experience lingered in his memory, and in old age he used to lament the fact that, after passing through many years of military service without a scratch, he was finally nearly killed by some of his old companions-in-arms while engaged in the enforcement of the laws.
“March 1, 1767, he was elected brigadier-general in command of the Third Brigade of militia, and on the records of the Governor and Council for Aug. 24, 1788, appears this minute:–
“A letter received from General Wait resigning his office as Brigadier-General being read, the Secretary is directed to inform the General that they are unwilling to discharge him until further consideration, and request his continuance in service.’
“Here ends a soldiery that covered a period of more than thirty years. It was an honorable service, and marked Wait as an efficient military leader. He was equally a leader in other things, as he was yet to demonstrate.
“In 1788 his town of Waitsfield was first surveyed and lotted, and in the following spring he made preparation to begin its settlement. Let us consider for a moment his situation. He was fifty-three years old. He was leaving the first home his hands had made, and in which his children had all been born. Poverty did not drive him forth, for he ranked high among the well-to-do citizens of the thriving town of Windsor, which then ranked tenth in population in the State. He was not seeking cheap land. His fortune in the drawings had been poor, and he had purchased six hundred acres within the limits of the town. He was at the head of the military affairs of Vermont, had represented his town for four years in the General Assembly, and was well and favorably known throughout the State. He could look forward with reasonable certainty to an honorable old age, spent in such comfort as the times afforded.
“Just what reasons urged him to take the step we cannot now know, but, it is probable that the welfare of his children was the primary cause. The care with, which he settled them around him and endowed them with his lands would seem to show it. He may have been a pioneer by nature, as his children were pioneers after him, but, whatever the reason, we may congratulate ourselves that he saw fit to stamp upon our town the impress of his character.
“No sooner was he fairly settled here than he began to draw about him old neighbors and companions-in-arms, and one likes to think that his strong character drew hither the men of sterling qualities so numerous among our early settlers.”
It is very true that General Wait was a pioneer in spirit, his life had forced him to be such, but Mr. Jones has not touched upon the main fact which is connected with General Benjamin Wait’s leaving Windsor, Vt. He had been one of the first settlers in this town, the first town meeting was held in his home, and he was elected at this meeting the chairman of the Board of Selectmen. He was a forceful, independent citizen, fearless and outspoken, and ready for action at any moment. He never recovered from the fact that he was nearly killed by his old friends and neighbors, and this is the reason why he went again into the wilderness for an environment that would make him, in a degree, forget old injuries and animosities.
“In his former home he was a leader. Here he was the leader. At his call the town was organized. He was the first selectman. He first represented it in the General Assembly of Vermont. In his barn the first church services were held, and in his home the voters of his district provided for the schools. He died in Waitsfield, Vt., June 28, and was buried with Masonic honors June 30, 1822, age 86 years and 4 mos.”
The writer has related the principal facts connected with his life, not to distinguish him as a remarkable man,–that the reader can judge for himself,-but in reading of him one learns of the conditions which were to be met with in the beginning of the settlement of the State of Vermont. General Wait never cared for fame.-E. D. C.
Lois Gilbert, b. at Brookfield, Mass., March 8, 1748; m. at Brookfield, Mass., Jan. 11, 1767, Benjamin Wait; d. at Waitsfield, Vt., April 3, 1804. She was the daughter of Capt. Thomas and Martha [Barnes] Gilbert, whose farm of four hundred acres was in Brookfield, where he was prominent in the church and town (he held public office); grand-dau. of Thomas Gilbert, who m. Dec. 2, 1718, Judith Goss, dau. of Philip and Judith [Hayward] Goss of Lancaster; great-grand-dau. of John Hayward of Concord, Mass., who m. June 2, 1671, Anna White, dau. of Resolved White, who m. April 8, 1640, Judith, dau. of Capt. William Vassall, one of the assistants in the Massachusetts Bay Colony at Salem, Mass. Resolved White came in the Mayflower. He was 6 yrs. old, and was son of Mr. William1 White, who came in the Mayflower, signed the compact, and died in Plymouth, Mass., Feb. 21, 1621; his. wid Susanna m. second Gov. Edward Winslow. She was the mother of Peregrine White, the first white child born in this country, and of Gov. Josiah Winslow, the first governor born in Plymouth Colony. (See Temple’s North Brookfield and Potter’s Old Concord Families.)
John Wait
John6 Wait, b. at Windsor, Vt., Dec. 29, 1767-8; m. at
the eldest son of Gen. Benjamin Wait;
Winchester, N. H., Jan. 7, 1791, Eunice Lawrence. John Wait lived in Windsor, Vt. He was a farmer; witnesses a deed for his father on Jan. 29, 1799. He d. at Windsor, Dec. 25, 1799, age 31; his wid. m. in 1800 Solomon Ware of Niagara Falls, N.Y. John Wait was the father of Eunice Wait, who m. Rev. John Taylor, and Sarah Gilbert Wait; also sons John and Joseph, who settled in Ohio. A public record speaks of him as “the son of Gen. Benj. Wait, a man of honorable character; public-spirited, he gave much attention to schools,” etc.
Sarah Gilbert Wait
Sarah Gilbert7 Wait, b. at Windsor, Vt., Jan. 4, 1793; m. at Waitsfield, Vt., March 9, 1815, William5 Davis of Woodstock, Vt.
She was the grandmother of the compiler of these records, and it is to her that the writer is indebted for information relating to her parents and grandparents.
Sarah Gilbert Wait, after her father’s death in 1799, became an inmate in the home of the grandfather, Gen. Benjamin Wait, and she kept in constant touch with him until his death in 1822. She had a great admiration for his character, and frequently spoke of him as “a wonderful man.” He evidently told her a great deal relating to his military service, for her memory was filled with incidents connected with this remarkable career.
Sarah [Wait] Davis was an unusually interesting woman. She was petite in figure, erect, with charming manners. She spoke intelligently, and with ease, on a variety of subjects; was interested in the world of affairs. She was dainty and fastidious to a great degree. She had received unusual advantages from the years she lived with her grandfather, Gen. Wait. She met the foremost men in the State. She had seen Gen. Washington and Lafayette. She was vitally interesting. To the writer she was a grandmother who was most helpful in many ways, and will always be held in her memory with admiration for her character and with tender reverence. Sarah [Wait] Davis d. Oct. 22, 1880. She was the mother of Almon Hemenway Davis, who m. Elizabeth Everett.
