4 NATHANIEL SOUTHGATE SEALER 



to the island of Jamaica, in that time when England thought 

 to make it a tropical Britain. They did not long remain there, 

 but removed to Connecticut, where the first of them settled in 

 Haddam. His descendants remained in that district and became 

 rather numerous; some abide there to this day. For a time 

 they seem to have maintained relations with Jamaica, since 

 it is written that sundry of them were drowned in going to 

 and fro. They seem to have been farmers with a propensity 

 for fighting. It is told that they had some share as subalterns 

 in the small military affairs of that and the following century. 

 The only sign of peculiar enterprise was the beginning of the 

 work of quarrying the red sandstone of the Connecticut valley, 

 which business is credited to my great-great-great-grand- 

 father. 



Some time in the early part of the eighteenth century, my 

 great-grandfather established himself at Berkenridge New Ferry, 

 where he seems to have been a considerable landowner. During 

 the Revolutionary War, he appears to have played a subordi- 

 nate part as a soldier. He is said to have built the fortifications 

 at Ocracoke Inlet at his own cost. As with most other families 

 of that time of divisions, some went with the Rebels and some 

 stayed with the King. In my youth, that ancient difference 

 was still well remembered; certain of the clan were looked 

 down upon, even denied the rights of hospitality, because they 

 were the grandchildren of the Tories. I remember that when 

 one of the name came to my father's house to claim kinship, 

 he had to face a hard questioning about the politics of his 

 ancestor. 



My great-grandfather of Berkenridge died during the Revo- 

 lutionary War, leaving what in that day and place was a con- 

 siderable property, and a family of three sons and a daughter. 

 A faithless trustee made away with the estate, leaving the 

 children penniless. The lads, for they were all mere children, 

 seem promptly to have betaken themselves to the sea for a 

 livelihood, and two of them won to rather distinguished success 



