To tell the story of Richard Douglass and his family is to tell the story of an early American Family. Having first arrived in New London, Connecticut via Gloucester, Massachusetts (1640), Scotland in about 1650 the Douglass family was a family of carpenters and coopers (barrel makers).

The first Douglas(s) to arrive in New London was William Douglas b.1610 in Scotland. He married Ann Mattle b.1610 of Northhamptonshire, England daughter of Thomas Mattle in 1636 and soon after moved to Massachusetts.

William relocated to New London in about 1650 and had three children who survived. Robert, Sarah and William Jr. and purchased a house near the waterfront (The Parade) which as was already noted as an "ancient house" already in 1670. William along Cary Latham became appraisers for New London in 1662-63. William Jr. has an interesting footnote in Connecticut history. In 1671 as New London and Lyme battled to decide the border a group of local men from New London and one from Lyme met at "Bride Brook" off current day Route 156 in Niantic near the gate to Rocky Neck State Park and had a "meeting" which words were fists. William Jr. was present and is named in court records of Hartford registered March 12, 1671. "Mr.Matt.Griswold and Lt. Waller presented complaints against "the sundry of New London" and persons charged included William Douglass as well as Christopher Christophers and Samuel Tubbs among others. At the start of the Narragansett & Wampanoag uprising in nearby Rhode Island in 1675 William was appointed "Commander of the Army" and served until the close of hostilities in 1676 with the fall of the natives at The Great Swamp Fight where more than 300 men were killed or wounded and of those 80 from New London and countryside. William returned to New London and was an active member of his church and at the time of his passing in 1682 the Rev.Bradstreet noted:   " 1682, July 26, Mr. William Douglas one of ye Deacons of this Church dyed in ye 72 year of his age. He was an able Christian and this poor ch'h will mvch want him.".

Stephen Douglass b. 1719, married Patience Atwell in New London and had several children, among them Richard born in 1746. The Douglass family at that time lived on Old Colchester Rd. (modern day Route 85) on the outskirts of New London then moved to Bradley Street (aka."broadley") in about 1745. Stephen passed away in 1748 leaving Patience Douglass to manage the family. Young Richard Douglass grew up on Bradley Street likely near where Douglass Street (Court) once stood. Now the site of a parking garage and the New London police station.

                     Bradley Street - "Widows Row" ca. 1860


Richard Douglass ran a successful "cooper" business which was a honorable and profitable trade as already in 1760 where there more than 40 ships from Brigs to Sloops registered in New London many under the Shaw Family flag conducting business in the East and West Indies as well as such foreign ports at Lisbon, Barcelona, Amsterdam and even as far as Russia in addition to the mother country England. Being a cooper was a valuable trade especially with New London and the Colonies thirst for Bajan (Barbados) Rum.

Richard married Ann Jennings, a widow from New Shoreham, Block Island, Rhode Island in 1777 and had 8 children (see below). All lived to their adult years. Ann Jennings from the Champlin stock a well known Eastern Connecticut line of families, well respected and quite obviously a catch.

American Revolution 1775-1783

At the outbreak of hostilities in the 1775 against England Richard Douglass enlisted in the militia and marched alongside Nathan Hale, William Coit, John & James Chapman and other New Londoners to Boston in William Coit's Independent Company. At this point it is not yet known if his unit under Capt.Chapman participated at Bunker Hill but it is suspected as William Coit was with a 200 man strong unit that fought at the "fence" with Thomas Knowlton of Connecticut. John Chapman eventual served under Knowlton in the elite Army Ranger unit, the first of its kind. 2 companies of New London County men were at Bunker Hill including John Tubbs of Lyme (East) and Christopher Darrow of Lyme (East Lyme/Montville) then called "Northern Parrish". It is most likely that according to documentation that William Coit's Independent Company protected the retreating soldiers from Bunker Hill (Breeds) thwarting any British engagements thus allowing the survivors to return in safety.

 Capt. William Coit House ca.1763

It is known that Capt. Chapman's Regiment of Foote or "Company" served under Lyme's General Samuel Holden Parsons then living in New London and participated at the Battle of New York (Long Island) and the defense of New York and eventual retreat to the Highlands. It is thought that here Richard Douglass "suffered attrocities of the British" and was taken prisoner, eventually escaping a prison ship in 1776-77.  Richard fought at the defense of Philadelphia, Monmouth, NJ, Germantown and Brandywine engagements along with many other Eastern Connecticut men. It is also "possible" that he was taken prisoner at Germantown as many from New London County were as their poorly led unit was outflanked. This part of the story is also yet to be told.


On the docks ca. 1776 - Continental Officers Discussing the movement and loading of troops and supplies from New London, CT. - Possibly General Nathanael Greene, General Joseph Spencer and either Thomas Shaw or Brig.General Samuel H. Parsons.

Richard Douglass served throughout the war and it has come to our knowledge that he was again the victim of attrocities when Benedict Arnold returned in 1781 burning New London and the attack on Ft.Griswold in Groton that eventually claimed the lives of 83 men on the Groton side and 6 more on the New London side. While Bradley Street was spared the torch it is possible that Richard Douglass and family suffered harassment. This part of the story is yet to be told.

It is said that Richard Douglass enlisted in 1775 and served distinguishably throughout the war ending service in 1783.

Not much is known "yet" of the man as a person, what he looked like or what people like Nathan Hale, William Coit or John Chapman thought of him but having served distinguishably appears that he was a good foot soldier and very loyal to cause becoming respected in that area.


MILITARY HISTORY
(Provided by the Society of the Cincinnati)

Douglas, Richard (Conn). Private in the Lexington Alarm, April, 1775;

• Ensign and Regimental Quartermaster in Selden's Connecticut State Regiment, 20th
• June to 25th December, 1776; 2nd Lieutenant 1st Connecticut, 1 at January,
• 1777; 1st Lieutenant, 1st January, 1778; Captain Lieutenant, 11th August,
• 1780; Captain, 22nd August, 1780; transferred to 5th Connecticut, 1st
• January, 1781, transferred to 3d Connecticut, 1st January 1783; transferred
• to Swift's Consolidated Connecticut Regiment, June, 1783, and served to 3d
• November, 1783. (Died 1828.)

Uniform & Flags


Regimental Flag (Huntington /1st Connecticut Reg.t- CT Line)


Early Revolution Flags - New England (New London County Regiments)


Similar to Richard Douglas Company Regimental Coat - Used under 1st Connecticut Regiment 1777-1779 (CT Gazette - 1779)

At the close of the War with New London nearly burned to the ground and it's economy in shambles it appears Richard Douglass's business began to slowly rebound. Just a few short years after the war's conclusion he purchased the land from Timothy Green at the corners of the new Golden Street and Cross Street (now Green's Alley) to build a house. At nearly 40 years of age he removed from Bradley Street, which was known as "Widows Row" from the British attack on New London to this new street even closer to the wharves on Bank Street. His cooper business took place at 102 Golden Street for some time and eventually purchased the plot at 77-79 Green Street (immediately next door) for 117 dollars on June 30th 1801 from Timothy Green then living in Fredricksburg, VA to manage his family business interests there. The house was built a short time after and is one of the few homes of it's type remaining in New London.

At the end of hostilities of the American Revolution in 1783 Richard became one of the founding officers of the Society of the Cincinnati and it is noted
in Bryce Metcalf's "Original Members and Other Officers Eligible to the
Society of the Cincinnati" (1938) that he served until November 3, 1783. Richard Douglass was a member of the Connecticut Society.

 Official Emblem of the Society of the Cincinnati

From the website:

"Society of the Cincinnati was founded at the close of the Revolutionary War by the officers of the Continental line and their French counterparts, who had served together in the struggle for American independence. They wished to preserve the rights and liberties for which they had fought and to foster the bonds of friendship that had been formed among them during the long years of war. The Society's founding document, the Institution, was adopted on May 13, 1783. The Society took its name from the Roman hero Cincinnatus, the citizen-soldier who was twice called to lead his country in war and, after each each victory, declined offers of power and position to return to his home and plough. George Washington, known as the "Cincinnatus of the West," was elected the Society's first president general, a position he held until his death in 1799."

More information can be found at: www.societyofthecincinnati.org

Richard Douglass passed away in 1828 at the ripe old age of 82 having seen New London grow, burn and be rebuilt quickly becoming one of the prime Whaling Ports in the entire world. Richard now rests in the Cedar Grove Cemetery in New London (photo coming soon of his final resting place). While once forgotten like many others his story is now being uncovered and retold on this website.

After having spent many weeks, days & hours researching where the final resting places of the Douglass family could be and evening meeting with the cemetery manager (who was not able to find this Richard Douglass) the location of the final resting places of several members including Richard Douglass was located in New London's own Cedar Grove Cemetery. The story while ending to a point here was only finalized when after hours of researching the cemetery areas (oldest first and then so on) when I was about to leave and stopped to ask myself "Where Richard are you..." and within a second a blast of wind crossed the front of the car and to my immediate right were the three headstones of Richard, his wife and some of his children.

Below is a photo of their final resting place and since this photo was taken have I added a flag to honor his service in securing our independence from Great Britain in the American Revolution.


 (Richard and his wife Anna's headstone to the left)


(Note Douglas with one "s")
The Richard Douglass Family

Among Richard Douglass' children were Alexander b. 1778, Robert, Lucy, Nathan, Luke, Nancy and Richard Jr..... Alexander eventually became a whaling captain, then whaling master working in the firm of Benjamin Brown of New London as well as for the Williams & Havens firm. He received property in upstate New York  from a war grant from his father's service in the war eventually retiring there after his last whaling voyages in about 1838.

 
(Benjamin Brown House & Offices)

The Benjamin Brown house (ca. 1817) still stands today on Bank Street as a "granite" icon to the Whaling Era.  Alexander was the captain to many of the most successful early whaling voyages out of New London. A yet unconfirmed story about him is his ship eventually rescued stranded survivors of the Pequod.

Richard jr. first tried his hand at seafaring but eventually studied and became a lawyer moving to Ohio Territory at Chillicote then being populated by many of Eastern Connecticut's citizens as part of a land grant granted to his father Captain Richard Douglass for services in the American Revolution. Originally looking to join his brother a doctor who had moved to Nashville Richard Jr. learned his brother had suffered from cholera thus Richard Jr. decided that it was best he stay where he was in Scioto Valley (Chilicothe). He had two sons, Luke Richard and Albert. Albert was a well respected physicianRichard was the first attorney to practice in Pickaway County as well as having been elected to office (representative) and was well respected. Richard negotiated the first tavern license for Pickaway County in 1808 and later served under Col.McArthur in the Detroit Campaign in the War of 1812. Richard jr. died in 1852 in Chillicote, Ohio.



Nathan Douglass & Luke Douglass like Richard Jr. were veterans of the War of 1812. Nathan was captured and later released in a failed mission.

Albert Douglas (note the one ¨s¨) graduated from Kenyon College and eventually graduated from Harvard Law and was very proud of his New England roots. He opened his office in Chilicothe later becoming prosecutor attorney in 1876 and later ran on the Republican Ticket in a heavily Democratic County winning and eventually ran for Governor in 1899 being defeated by then Gov.Nash. He served on the board of trustees for Kenyon College and Ohio University and later in 1907 was elected a member of congress serving until 1911 returning to practice law at his home until 1913. He served another term this time as Ambassador to Peru until 1921. He died in Washington D.C in 1935.

 
Final Resting Place of Albert Douglas