2 Benjamin Silliman. 
the close of his life, in 1851, when he was accompanied by his 
son, and made a more extended tour of observation and inquiry. 
Frequent journeys in his own country made him acquainted 
personally with the institutions and the men of every State, 
while his habits of prompt and friendly correspondence perpet- 
uated the intimacies which he formed at home and abroad. 
Without attempting a formal biography (which the late day 
of his decease renders impossible at this time), we propose to 
speak briefly of Professor Silliman’s career as an officer of Yale 
College, and as a man of science, and then of his personal char- 
acter and influence in the community. : 
The Silliman family has resided in Fairfield, Conn., since the 
early colonial days. Tradition says that Claudio Sillimandi, — 
their earliest known ancestor, was driven, in 1517, from Lucca, 
Italy, to Switzerland, by religious persecution. The descendants 
resided in Berne, and afterward in Geneva, whence they emi- 
grated through Holland to this country about the middle of the 
seventeenth century. A worthy pastor of the name, living — 
with his family near Neuchatel, was visited by Prof. Silliman — 
in 1851 ; 
Ebenezer Silliman, the grandfather of Benjamin, graduated — 
at Yale College in 1727, and Gold Selleck, the father, in 1752. — 
The latter was a Brigadier General of militia in the Revolution, — 
and was entrusted for a time with the defence of the Long Island 
coast. € was married to Mary, the daughter of Rev. © 
Joseph Fish of Stonington, and the widow of Rev. John Noyes. — 
The two children of this marriage, Gold Selleck and Benjamin, — 
became members of the same class in college, and haye main- — 
tained through life an intimacy peculiarly fresh and cordial. — 
The younger brother, Benjamin, was born in North Stratford, — 
Conn. (now the town of Trumbull), August 8, 1779. The elder, — 
who was born in 1777, is still living in Brooklyn, N. Y.’ : 
Throughout his active life, Professor Silliman has been iden- — 
tified with Yale College. He entered the institution in 1792, — 
aduated in 1796, became a Tutor in 1799, was appointed — 
ee of Chemistry and Natural History in 1804; and in — 
1853, having been relieved at his own request from further ser- — 
vice as an instructor, he was aida regan ie the Corporation, © 
Professor emeritus. Thus, during a period of nearly three- 
quarters of a century, his name has appeared as a student and — 
? Prof. Silliman was twice married: first, in 1809, to Harriet, daughter of the 
second Gov. Trumbull of Connecticut, the mother of his nine children; and again, 
in 1851, to Mrs. Sarah Webb, daughter of John McClellan. Five children survive 
him, one son and four daughters, All are the eldest daughte 
Church, the see P. Hubbard, the third to Prof. J. D. Dana, and the 
fourth to Rev. E. W. Gilman.. His desc include twenty Idren, 
besides five deceased, and two great-; 
