John Stedman

Bef 1740 - 1816  (~ 75 years)

• Name	John Stedman
  Born	Bef 28 Dec 1740	____, Hartford Co., CT
  Christened	28 Dec 1740	Suffield, Hartford Co., CT   [1]
  Gender	Male
  1790 Census	1790	Berlin, Hartford Co., CT
  	p. 445 Charles Stedman Jr   1-3-3-0-0 ... Selah Steele               1-1-2-0-0 ... John Stedman             1-3-3-0-0 Thomas Stedman        1-4-2-0-0 p. 446 Elizur Whaples            1-1-2-0-0
  1810 Census	1810
  	Windham, Greene Co., NY, p. 326
  Died	19 May 1816	Hudson, Columbia Co., NY
  Notes	John Stedman was in the Revolutionary War. From a floridly written book - "Our young hero had now rendered two terms of service in the seven years of conflict known as the French and Indian War..." comes: a reference to his uncle, John Beecraft, in Hudson, NY. He joined the British army against the French in 1758 at age 18 and was sent to Canada;  he learned weaving from his father. In 1776 was aged 35, and had a wife and 4 children. He, his wife's brother (Lt. Samuel Hotchkiss) and others went to Battle of Long Island.  also Battle of Trenton.  Also Battle of Saratoga in Oct 1777; and Valley Forge.  For 7 years he was involved in the battle!!  (L. Shastid finds that difficult to believe, especially as it is two paragraphs after the author bemoans the fact that Washington had to work with short-term soldiers, who wouldn't stay more than 6 months.) In 1782 the town of Farmington voted "pensions" to three of her soldiers -- of whom, John Stedman, as one. He had 8 children in all, including 2 or 3 during the war. In the early part of the 19th century, some of their children and other relatives had "gone west" into New York State.  They followed, and settled in Durham, Green County, a few miles west of the Hudson River, where their son Salmon had already taken up his abode. He was a weaver and learned his trade of Deacon Bull of Farmington. According to Wm. Richard Cutter (1910), "General and Personal Memoirs Relative to the families of the State of Massachusetts", "John Stedman married December 17, 1763, his cousin, Molly Hotchkiss...".  I have found no evidence how Molly and John could have been cousins. _________ [Daniel Bissell Stedman in December 1903, a great-grandson of John Stedman, wrote the following essay.  Lucinda Shastid, another descendant of John Stedman, gave the typescript that I have to me.  I believe that the Rev. Melvin Lee Steadman, Jr., prepared the typescript, which was sent to her in 1972.  The author D. B. Stedman was a newspaperman, and I have tried to preserve the spelling and grammar of the original typescript.] John Stedman - Revolutionary Soldier (1740-1816) (The following are all of the facts concerning him or his ancestry that I have been able to obtain.  Daniel Bissell Stedman, a great-grandson, Springfield, Mass., Dec., 1903) In the year 1755 John Stedman was a stripling of fifteen years.  His parents were living in or near the little hamlet of West Hartford, Conn., loyal subjects of King George II.  His father, also named John, followed the useful and then common occupation of weaver - making plain or fancy cloth, as required, by the old-time handloom method - and the son, watching his father at work, early acquired the same art.  But sometime during the year in which my narrative opens, an incident occurred which not only greatly marred the happiness of this humble and peaceful household, but gave the lad his first taste of what it means to be the subject of a despotic sovereign. One day his parents sent him on an errand; but bedtime came and Johnie had not returned; nor did he return the next day, nor the next.  What had become of him?  This was the first time that men and boys nearly grown to manhood, had been known suddenly to disappear from home and friends. John's parents had heard of instances where persons had been kidnapped by "press gangs" from the King's war vessels that come up the river or landed at towns on the coast; and after as thorough an investigation as they were able to make, they came to the conclusion that their dear boy had been gobbled up by one of those parties, dragged aboard ship, and made prisoner until the vessel could put to sea.  And in this surmise they were correct.  Then, as in more recent times, sailors to man war vessels were hard to obtain; but, by fair means or foul, recruits must be had for the King's Navy.  England was at war with her hereditary enemy, France, and the American colonies were the prize for which they fought. Our young lad, together with others who had been similarly kidnapped, was taken to New York and transferred to the war ship which was to be alike his home, workhouse, castle and prison for two long years.  What experiences he passed through during that period - what sore trials he encountered, what maltreatment from brutal officers he suffered, what fights he took part in, what lands he visited - these details can only be supplied by the reader's imagination.  Being a lad of nerve, as well as at least an average amount of bodily strength and endurance, wiry and agile, he was capable of making himself quite useful as a member of the ship's crew, and doubtless he made the best of a bad situation.  In all the two years of his enforced absence from home he never succeeded in getting word to his parents of the fate that had befallen him, and this is not so very strange; for, aside from the conditions brought about by the war, at that day means of communication even between points at no great distance were extremely difficult - especially so to a penniless, friendless, youth, held in "durance vile" on a man-o'-war.  Friendless, I have said; yet, by his constitutional good nature, and his prompt, quick way of obeying orders, he gradually ingratiated himself into the good will of the ship's officers, -- or, at least, those of them who had not sunk into entire brutality.  It was, indeed, through his faculty for gaining the friendship of officers that at length the way opened for gaining his liberty. An entire year had worn away, and nother, and "Jack" had found no opportunity to escape the enforced service of his most ungracious majesty, the king.  At length the ship's orders brought her again to the port of New York; and Jack's brain was busy with schemes for making his escape.  Among the officers who had acquired a fondness for the lad was the ship's surgeon; and he, shrewdly guessing, or in confidence learning of, the boy's desire, devised a way by which that desire was possible of accomplishment, without having suspicion cast upon himself.  An errand was invented upon which the boy was sent ashore one day toward evening, with a small jug to be filled with a specified brand of liquor.  Of course, if John did not improve this opportunity of making his escape in the darkness, it would be his own fault.  In fact, he employed his wits to good advantage; and making his way along the wharves, he learned of a sloop that was prepared to weigh anchor the next morning on her way up the Hudson river to Albany. Rubbing up my memory of John's narrative, as it has come to me through two intervening generations, I am inclined to think that John, or the friendly surgeon, had previously learned of the contemplated departure of this sloop and had plans accordingly.  Be this as it may, John succeeded in getting aboard of the sloop and secreted himself until it had actually left New York behind on its slow northward course. Now it is probably that the sloop touched at various points along the river on either bank.  If so, John seemingly might have gone ashore at Poughkeepsie or Rondout and taken a nearly direct course for the home in Hartford which he so-much longed to see.  Why he did not do so may have been partly because of greater fancied danger of being caught and returned to captivity.  Probably it was.  At all events, he knew a place easily reached from the river, where he would have the protection and assistance of friends.  And here comes in a little touch of seeming romance. Among the captives held by one of the Indian bands in Canada about 1692, was a youth named Beecraft, who had been taken prisoner at the sacking of Schenectady, New York, Feb. 8, 1690;  Among his companions in misery one day he met a young woman who had been captured at Deerfield, Mass., presumably at the time of the famous massacre there.  Beecraft and the young woman became attached to each other, and they resolved to marry if ever they escaped captivity.  At length an opportunity offered, and together they escaped threading their way through the wide, howling wilderness which then separated the St. Lawrence Valley from the white settlements in New York and new England.  How they eluded their savage foes, and managed to escape death from starvation or wild beasts during the consecutive days required to make the toilsome journey, is a story the details of which have not come down to us.  But both were well inured to hardship, and escape they did, were married, and lived to a good old age, in the outskirts of what is now the city of Hudson, N. Y., where they conducted a "tavern" of the olden type. I know not just how the relationship came about, but Mr. (John) Beecraft was an uncle of our hero , John Stedman, and John had heard of "Uncle Beecraft" from his parents.  Upon leaving the sloop, therefore, he found his way to the home of the Beecrafts, where he met a hearty welcome, and remained until ready to undertake the long tramp through the sparcely settled regions which lay between Hudson and his home.  That on finally reaching home he was welcomed with bursts of satisfaction, joy and thanksgiving we may feel assured.  The dead was alive again; the lost was found. John's story of his adventures and hardships naturally made him considerable of a hero among his mates about home - a position which any boy could not but enjoy.  As nearly as I can determine, he had not been at home much more than a year before the memory of his adventures awoke the desire for more; and then, in furtherance of a more vigorous campaign against the French, the British government, in 1758, called for more colonial troops, John, now a vigorous youth of 18, joined the ranks.  He was sent to Canada, where he took part in the series of movements and battles which culminated the following year in the capture of Quebec by Gen. Wolf, the capitulation of Montreal soon following. Our young hero had now rendered two terms of service in the seven years of conflict known as the French and Indian War, -- first on sea and afterward on land, -- and could well feel himself entitled to try his hand at a more peaceful occupation than that of seeking to slaughter his fellow men.  The art of weaving acquired of his father gave him opportunities of employment with more or less regularity, to which, as a matter of course, was added some farm work. To marry and set up housekeeping did not in those simple days require a bank account, or any considerable outlay for house furnishings and wearing apparel.  Neither upholstered furniture, nor carpets, nor silver nor earthenware dishes, nor even stoves, entered into the list of necessities for the young housekeeper in those days.  A fireplace or two of ample size, a brick oven a few iron pots and kettles, pewter platters and hardwood chairs, a few blankets and a feather bed, were about all the house furnishings though necessary by ordinary people in those days.  So, when John Stedman fell in love with his cousin, Mary Hotchkiss, daughter of Ladwick Hotchkiss, of Farmington, it is to be taken for granted that no financial or other reason occasioned a long postponement of their marriage or "setting up" on their own account.  The wedding is recorded as having occurred Dec. 17, 1763, when he was 23 years of age and she was 16.  A little east of where their home was located has since grown up the sizeable city of New Britain. When the long smouldering flames of the Revolutionary War broke out in 1776, John was a "family man" of 35 years, with a wife and four children to support.  Nevertheless the patriotic impulse in him was too strong to be resisted, and the following season - when the people of the colonies bade defiance to Great Britain, and the immortal Declaration of Independence was issued - he accompanied by his wife's brother, Lieut. Samuel Hotchkiss, and other townsmen, shouldered his musket again, and was on hand in season to take part in the battle of Long Island.  If that so-called battle was at most only a "masterly retreat" of the American forces, at least there was some "careless shooting," for as John was in the act of leaping a fence, a bullet cut the shoulder-strap which held his knapsack, so that as he fell on one side of the fence it fell on the other.  The battle of Trenton, that same season, was also one in which he took part. History informs us that as a military organization Washington's army had one deplorable weakness in the fact that it was largely composed of militia raised by the several colonies on short terms of enlistment - often not more than six months or for the summer's campaign.  The result was an army largely composed of raw, undisciplined troops, many of whom were disbanding and returning home on expiration of their terms at a time when most sorely needed. How many separate terms of enlistment John Stedman served I do not know; but he was present at the battle of Saratoga in October, 1777, which ended with the surrender of the British army under Gen. Burgoyne; and during the following winter he endured the sufferings of the patriot army at Valley Forge.  He was with the gallant force which, under the lead of Mad Anthony Wayne, stormed and captured Stony Point, July 16, 1779; he witnessed the execution of Major Andre, October 2, 1780, and was in the last important battle of the war, Oct. 19, 1781, when Washington received the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Va.  Though this great victory virtually ended Great Britain's attempt to subdue the colonies, it was not until the formal settlement of the peace, two years afterwards, that the withdrawal of the British forces made it safe for our armies to disband. Thus it will be seen that our hero was in the war almost from start to finish.  Of the minor engagements in which he took part, and the many perilous hardships which he encountered during these seven long years of blood and turmoil, no record has been preserved. During the war the wife and little ones of necessity endured many hardships and privations.  Evidence of this is found in the fact that in 1782 the town of Farmington voted "pensions" to three of her soldiers - of whom John Stedman was one - presumably by way of giving kindly assistance to the families of these absent soldiers without pauperizing them.  It was not until 1818 - two years after his death - that pensions were granted to Revolutionary soldiers by the general government. After the whole of hostilities John returned to his family and resumed his old occupation of weaving; his wife was industrious and frugal, and together they managed to keep the "wolf from the door"; though the effects of the general impoverishment of the country by the war was felt for long afterward in a greatly depreciated currency and general stagnation in business. In all, eight children were born to them, -- and two or three during the war.  (A list of these will be given at the close).  In the early part of the nineteenth century, some of their children and other relatives having "gone west" into New York state, they followed, and settled in Durham, Greene county, a few miles west of the Hudson river, on the northwestern slope of the Catskill mountains, where their son Salmon had already taken up his abode.  Here the remaining years of their lives were spent in peace and quietness.  It was a great old age, too, on John's part.  He retained till late in life that vigor and suppleness which characterized his youth, -- as he showed on one occasion, the memory of which is not forgotten.  On the heat of a political argument the other man called him an "old Hessian," whereupon he was laid sprawling by the irate John, who brought his fit suddenly in contact with the other's nose. The goodwife Molly died Feb. 18, 1813, at the age of 66.  Rendered lonely by her death, John desired to revisit his old home in Farmington and see the children and friends whom he had left behind.  To cover the 100 miles distance on foot, crossing the Hudson on the ice, and thence following substantially the road which he had taken some sixty years before, when a boy returning from captivity, was no great feat for a man in those days, not even for a veteran of his years; and he went and made his visit (one of considerable length, no doubt); but on his return his physical powers gave out.  Arrived at the public house in Hudson still kept by a descendant of his Uncle Beecraft, who in his youth had given him refuge, he was taken sick, and died, May 19, 1816, at the age of 76. This sketch is largely made from memoranda left by Dr. Josiah Hotchkiss Stedman, son of Salmon.  Josiah was but seven years old when his grandfather died; and though his memory preserved a picture of him as he looked in his latter years, as a matter of course, his facts concerning his grandfather were derived from his father Salmon.  He, during the last fifteen years of his life, lived with his son Josiah, who was my father. I was 22 years old when my grandfather Salmon died, and had had ample opportunity of learning from him many facts regarding his father - the strange experiences, hardships and hairbreadth escapes that must have been his during his ten years or more of soldier life, his ancestry, etc. - facts which he would naturally have narrated to his children, and which, had they been preserved in writing, would have been intensely interesting to his descendants.  For this neglect I can never cease to reproach myself.  It is a common neglect, though.  As little children we delight in sitting at the feet of our parents and grandparents, listening to stories of their childhood or other experiences; but grown older, mature enough to really profit by these recitals, and to obtain possession of and preserve the important biographical or historical facts narrated, our minds are taken up with other matters, and we let the golden opportunity slip by unimproved.  As a rule, it is only when we find ourselves growing old that we develop any special interest in the past; and then we would give much to know the facts - particularly those pertaining to our own ancestors - which we might have known had we improved the opportunities of our younger days. (Daniel Bissell Stedman then gives the names of the children and what facts he knew.  The children were: Trial, born May 12, 1765; William, born about 1767; Polly, born about 1770; Timothy, born about 1772; John, born about 1777; Salmon, born March 21, 1779; Amzi and Hannah.)
  Person ID	I8217	Stedman/Steadman/Steedman Families of the New World
  Last Modified	18 Aug 2012

  
  

  Father	Samuel Stedman,   b. 28 Dec 1714, Farmington, Hartford Co., CT ,   d. 27 Apr 1781  (Age 66 years)
  Mother	Hannah Becraft,   b. of Wethersfield, Hartford Co., CT ,   d. Bef 1843
  Marriage intent	22 Feb 1739/40	Suffield, Hartford Co., CT
  Married	10 Mar 1739/40	Suffield, Hartford Co., CT
  Family ID	F3598	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Mary Frances Hotchkiss,   b. 21 Jul 1747,   d. 18 Feb 1813  (Age 65 years)
  Married	17 Dec 1763	Farmington, Hartford Co., CT
  Alt. Marriage	17 Dec 1769	Farmington, Hartford Co., CT
  Children	1. Trial Stedman,   b. 12 May 1765, Berlin, Hartford Co., CT ,   d. 16 Apr 1856  (Age 90 years)   2. William Stedman,   b. Abt 1767,   d. 21 Oct 1790  (Age ~ 23 years)   3. Hannah Stedman,   b. Abt 1768,   d. Unknown   4. Mary "Polly" Stedman,   b. Abt 1770,   d. 11 Jan 1850, Flemingville, Tioga Co., NY  (Age ~ 80 years)   5. Timothy Stedman,   b. Abt 1772, ____, ____, CT ,   d. 15 Aug 1862  (Age ~ 90 years)   6. John Stedman, Jr.,   b. Abt 1776, ____, ____, CT ,   d. Aft Jun 1860, Unadilla, Livingston Co., MI  (Age ~ 84 years)   7. Salmon Stedman,   b. 21 May 1779, New Britain, Hartford Co., CT ,   d. Mar 1861, West Brattleboro, Windham Co., VT  (Age 81 years)   8. Amzi Stedman,   b. 14 Jan 1783, ____, ____, CT ,   d. 21 Feb 1854, Flemingville, Tioga Co., NY  (Age 71 years)
  Last Modified	2 Sep 2009
  Family ID	F3597	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - Bef 28 Dec 1740 - ____, Hartford Co., CT Christened - 28 Dec 1740 - Suffield, Hartford Co., CT Married - 17 Dec 1763 - Farmington, Hartford Co., CT Alt. Marriage - 17 Dec 1769 - Farmington, Hartford Co., CT 1790 Census - 1790 - Berlin, Hartford Co., CT  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Sources

  [S149] Vital Records of Suffield, Connecticut, p. 51 (Reliability: 3).