DR. HOADLY DEAD
STATE LIBRARIAN AND A WELL KNOWN ANTIQUARIAN
He Had Been in Feeble and Failing Health for Some Time
His Careful and Intelligent Work in Buildlng Up the Library and In Historical Research
Dr. Charles J. Hoadly, state librarian, died about 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon at his home on High street. He had been very feeble and in failing health for about two years, and for several months he had been able to leave the house only occasionally. Arrangements for the funeral will not be completed until his brother, James, of New York, who has been in Hartford for a week past and who was called away yesterday by the death of a friend, returns to this city. It is probable that services will be held at Christ Church Monday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock. The burial will be at Cedar Hill Cemetery. The death of Dr. Charles J. Hoadly has taken away one of the best known and most deservedly honored of the citizens of Hartford and Connecticut.
The earliest settler of that name was John Hoadly or Hoadley, a non-conforming clergyman of the Church of England, who came to Guilford in 1639 with the Rev. Henry Whitfield, but who returned after sixteen years to England, favored the restoration, and rendered substantial services to Charles II. He married Sara, daughter of Francis Bushnell, and through his son Samuel, born in Guilford, became the grandfather of John Hoadly, successively archbishop of Dublin and of Armagh, and of Benjamin Hoadly, who as Bishop of Bangor gave name to the Bangorlan Controversy, which affected the London money-market and caused the suspension of Convocational action in the Church of England for a century and a half, and after holding the bishoprics of Hereford and Salisbury, died bishop of Winchester. Our Dr. Hoadly traced his descent through one who is believed to have been a kinsman, and perhaps a brother, of this early settler, known as Captain William Hoadley or Hoadle, who was also born in England. He was a signer of the plantation covenant of Branford and later one of its patentees and represented that town at nine sessions of the General Assembly. His great-great grandson, the Hon. Jeremy Hoadley, removed to Hartford about 1806, where he was a selectman of the town for some twenty years, acting mayor of the city in 1835-36, and high sheriff of the county from 1828 to 1834; he was also chairman of the whig state central committee in the presidential campaigns of l836 and 1840. In the parish of Christ Church he was one of the early vestrymen, and the last of the "clerks" appointed to lead the responses and give out the psalms and hymns. His son, William Henry Hoadley, who was born in Guilford in I800, married Harriet Louisa Hillyer, and their oldest son was Charles Jeremy Hoadly, the only one of later generations to omit the "e" in the spelling of the name, who was born in Hartford, August 1, I828. The father died In 1849; but the mother reached the age of ninety-two and died in 1895. She was the daughter of Colonel Andrew Hillyer and granddaughter of Captain James Hillyer, whose wife's father married into the Grant family, while his own mother was a daughter of George Hayes, one of the first settlers of Granby and ancestor of President Hayes. Colonel Hillyer's wife, Mrs. Hundley's mother, was Lucy Tudor, daughter of Elihu Tudor of South Windsor, who was graduated at Yale College in 1750 and became one of the best educated physicians of his day. He served as surgeon in the British army during the French war, was with Wolfe when he fell at Quebec, and was present at the fall of the Havana, as was also his son-in-law, Colonel Hillyer. He was born in 1733 and died in 1826, so that his life and that of his granddaughter covered a period of 162 years, having more than twenty years in common. He received half-pay from the British government from the date of his retirement in 1767 until his death, a period of nearly sixty years; and it is said that the treasury officials actually sent to make inquiry whether he could still be living. Although his father (Yale College, 1728) was a congregational minister, he was himself strongly attached to the Church of England; and in the time of the revolution he was closely watched and sometimes threatened. His own descent was from Owen Tudor, one of the first settlers of Windsor; and his wife, Lucretia Brewster, was a direct descendant of Elder William Brewster, the "Chief of the Pilgrims." Charles Jeremy Hoadly was prepared for college at the Hopkins Grammar School of Hartford; and entering Trinity College in 1847, he was graduated valedictorian of his class in 1851.
Among his classmates were the Rev. Dr. John Brainard, now for a long time rector of St. Peter's Church, Auburn, N. Y., George Douglass Sargeant and Dr. Charles Edward Terry, all three Hartford boys, the Hon. John Day Ferguson of Stamford, the Rev. Dr. Charles Frederick Hoffman of New York, and Charles Collins Van Zandt, governor of Rhode Island. In 1854 he received the degree of Master of Arts in course from his alma mater, delivering the master's oration. The same degree was conferred upon him, honoris causa, by Yale College in 1879 and ten years later Trinity College made him a Doctor of Laws. Soon after his graduation he entered the office of Dr. Henry Barnard, then superintendent of public instruction, and began the study of law in the office of Welch & Shlpman. In 1855 he was admitted to the bar by Judge (afterwards Chief Justice) Seymour. In 1854 he was appointed librarian of Trinity College; and though his services in that capacity covered but one year, he continued his interest in that library and his acquaintance with its condition, even in matters of detail, till the end of his life. In April, 1855. he was called to the position of librarian of the State of Connecticut, an office in which his only predecessor was the late Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull, appointed in the preceding November. His life-work was done as state librarian or in historical and legal studies connected with his duties there and in that capacity he served the state for forty-five years, a longer time than any other official of either the colony or the State of Connecticut, with the exception of George Wyllys, who was the secretary of the colony and the State for the sixty years from 1734 to 1794. When he entered upon his office, the newly established state library was but meagerly furnished. There was not a full set of any legal publication, not even of the Connecticut Reports up to that date; and not a volume of any of our own federal reports or of those of English courts. The new librarian undertook the task of collecting sets of law books for the State. The library committee appointed by the Legislature, in order, as they thought, to facilitate the gathering of a working library, gave instructions for the purchase of certain compilations and condensed series of reports. Mr. Hoadly was wiser than the committee, and was determined in every possible case to purchase only the original and full reports, though it might be at greater expense of money and of time. As a result of this policy, which guided the whole period of his administration, the Connecticut State library possesses today complete sets of the originals of all official American reports, practically complete sets of reports for England, Scotland and Ireland, and also of Canadian reports as far as they relate to our law. The same policy was pursued In making collections of statutes. Mr. Hoadly's purpose, in which absolute success was practically impossible, but in accomplishing which he was eminently successful, was to procure for the library every publication of session laws and every official revision of the statutes, not only of the United States and of every state and territory, but also of England, Scotland, Ireland and Canada. Beyond this he did not wish to extend the scope of the library, except to include publications relating to the general or local history of Connecticut, the documentary histories and state papers of the other states, and the writings of eminent statesmen of the nation, together with a few especially desirable works of reference; but the collections made under these heads are of great and permanent value. To those who asked how many volumes there were in the library and who seemed prepared to judge of its value by its size, he was wont to say that the value of a library is not determined by the number of volumes upon its shelves, but by its completeness in the departments which it undertakes to represent. Realizing this fact, Dr. Hoadly declined to purchase or to accept many volumes which some desired to see in the collection under his care, and often referred intending donors to that particular library of the city to which the volumes in question most naturally belonged. To this principle of exclusiveness on the one hand and co-operation on the other, cultivated by Dr. Barnard, Dr. Trumbull and Dr. Hoadly, is largely due the present admirable system of libraries in Hartford. While the late librarian was a man of deep learning in law and jurisprudence, and knew many of the mysteries of both, he never argued a case in court. Nor did he seek active work as a counsellor, but followed the strong bent of his mind to proficiency in determining, recalling and applying historical facts. For this reason it was that he became most widely known, and will be specially remembered, as an antiquarian and historian. As he succeeded Dr. Trumbull in the office of state librarian, so he took up the work which he had bigun of editing the Colonial Records of Connecticut and in which he had completed the records to 1689 in three volumes. First editing the records of New Haven colony (1638 to 1665) in two volumes, he took up the records of Connecticut colony, transcribing them with his own hand, filling out lacunae from other sources where this was possible, inserting illustrative notes, adding appendices of documents for the most part unpublished before, and preparing careful indexes. The work was slow, for it was difficult and accurately done; and the twelve volumes (in number 4 to 15) needed to contain the records of the years 1689 to 1776, occupied the time which could be given to this work until 1887. Then by special act of the General Assembly, the librarian was authorized to transcribe and edit the records of the state from 1776 to 1789. Of this series two volumes have been issued, and a third volume is in manuscript lacking a few notes to make it ready for the printer. The value of these publications, sixteen large octavo volumes is beyond calculation, and the work has been so carefully done that it is hardly possible that any part of it will need to be done again. Of Dr. Hoadly's other publications, the best known is probably "Goodwin's Genealogical Notes," edited in 1856. They include papers prepared for historical societies, the Annals of Christ Church, Hartford, to 1828, included in Dr. Russell's history of the parish, and communications addressed to "The Courant" and other journals. The results of a large part of his investigations remain unpublished. In his work as editor and investigator, Dr. Hoadly's attention was of necessity called to the study of ancient manuscript documents. Of these documents some, through the carelessness and liberality of official custodians, had become scattered, while others, through the greed of collectors, had been deprived of their signatures. By his efforts many of the missing autographs have been regained and replaced, while certain manuscripts, including a largo number of muster and payrolls of the early wars have been either restored or definitely located. The most Important volume regained is that lettered "Particular Court, Vol. II., Probate Records," discovered by him in New York in 1883; it contains 196 pages of court proceeding on all subjects of judicial controversy within the colony from 1649 to 1663 and 185 pages of wills and inventories. His familiarity with the manuscript records and archives of the several states and the federal government, and his historical acquaintance with the leading men of the age made a visit to the State Library under his direction an event not soon forgotten. In a few words, he could plainly place before the visitor the impressions he had formed concerning the leading characters of our history, impressions not always in harmony with the generally accepted traditions, but never without foundation and always strongly expressed.
Dr. Hoadly was a member of many learned bodies, especially valuing his membership in the Massachusetts Historical Society, the American Antiquarian Society, the New England Genealogical and Historical Society, and the Connecticut Historical Society, of which latter, after long service as its corresponding secretary, he was president from the year 1894 until his death, and to which he presented his portrait. Allusion was made to Dr. Hoadly's interest In the library of Trinity College, of which he was for one year librarian and for many years a member of the library committee. As far as his influence went, he carried out here the same principle as that on which he built up the State Library, desiring to strengthen the strong collections rather than to build up strong and weak alike; and it is for this reason that the College Library is so well furnished with lexicons in various languages, English state papers, the works of eminent mathematicians, and volumes illustrating epigraphy and archaelogy. His own gifts to the library were constant and valuable, among them being the new edition of Stephanus, which he brought from England on his last visit there, and the "Grande Larousse," presented a year or two ago. In fact there is no part of the library which is specially worthy of notice that does not show both his skill In selecting and his generosity in giving. All through his life he kept well acquainted with the work ot the college and with the roll of its alumni. He was elected a trustee in 1865 and was secretary of the corporation from 1865 to 1876 and again from 1888 to 1896. From 1854 to 1862 he was secretary of the Connecticut Beta of the Phi Beta Kappa, and from 1862 to 1867, its president. For very many years a member of the vestry of Christ Church, at which he regularly attended, he was from 1864 to 1879 a clerk of the parish. Thus a large part of the records of the college, the society and the parish are in his admirably clear handwriting. Dr. Hoadly had a memory of wonderful accuracy and tenacity; he not only knew where things were, even in the midst of seeming confusion, but he knew what they were. He could repeat long extracts, even from classic authors which he had not read since his college days; he remembered the dates of ancient volumes to which he had not referred for many years; and he would remind a listener of events or facts which had utterly slipped from the other's memory. And thus he was on the watch for all sorts of interesting things, "desiderata" of every kind; and his house on Ann street, which was the family home from 1833, became a storehouse of historical treasures. Among the mass of papers is the executive correspondence of Governor Buckingham, on file in the governor's office, is a note from Charles J. Hoadly in which he offers his services to the governor to serve in any capacity in which he might be needed. Three brothers and a sister survive him: James H. Hoadley of New York and George K., Francis A. Hoadley and Mrs. Harriet L. Corwin of this city. A sister, Mary Robins Hoadley, of this city, died in 1896, and a brother, Major Frederick W. Hoadlev, of Little Rock, Ark., was killed at Vicksburg in June, 1863.
Published in the Hartford Courant, Hartford, Connecticut on Saturday, October 20, 1900, Page 8
STATE LIBRARIAN AND A WELL KNOWN ANTIQUARIAN
He Had Been in Feeble and Failing Health for Some Time
His Careful and Intelligent Work in Buildlng Up the Library and In Historical Research
Dr. Charles J. Hoadly, state librarian, died about 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon at his home on High street. He had been very feeble and in failing health for about two years, and for several months he had been able to leave the house only occasionally. Arrangements for the funeral will not be completed until his brother, James, of New York, who has been in Hartford for a week past and who was called away yesterday by the death of a friend, returns to this city. It is probable that services will be held at Christ Church Monday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock. The burial will be at Cedar Hill Cemetery. The death of Dr. Charles J. Hoadly has taken away one of the best known and most deservedly honored of the citizens of Hartford and Connecticut.
The earliest settler of that name was John Hoadly or Hoadley, a non-conforming clergyman of the Church of England, who came to Guilford in 1639 with the Rev. Henry Whitfield, but who returned after sixteen years to England, favored the restoration, and rendered substantial services to Charles II. He married Sara, daughter of Francis Bushnell, and through his son Samuel, born in Guilford, became the grandfather of John Hoadly, successively archbishop of Dublin and of Armagh, and of Benjamin Hoadly, who as Bishop of Bangor gave name to the Bangorlan Controversy, which affected the London money-market and caused the suspension of Convocational action in the Church of England for a century and a half, and after holding the bishoprics of Hereford and Salisbury, died bishop of Winchester. Our Dr. Hoadly traced his descent through one who is believed to have been a kinsman, and perhaps a brother, of this early settler, known as Captain William Hoadley or Hoadle, who was also born in England. He was a signer of the plantation covenant of Branford and later one of its patentees and represented that town at nine sessions of the General Assembly. His great-great grandson, the Hon. Jeremy Hoadley, removed to Hartford about 1806, where he was a selectman of the town for some twenty years, acting mayor of the city in 1835-36, and high sheriff of the county from 1828 to 1834; he was also chairman of the whig state central committee in the presidential campaigns of l836 and 1840. In the parish of Christ Church he was one of the early vestrymen, and the last of the "clerks" appointed to lead the responses and give out the psalms and hymns. His son, William Henry Hoadley, who was born in Guilford in I800, married Harriet Louisa Hillyer, and their oldest son was Charles Jeremy Hoadly, the only one of later generations to omit the "e" in the spelling of the name, who was born in Hartford, August 1, I828. The father died In 1849; but the mother reached the age of ninety-two and died in 1895. She was the daughter of Colonel Andrew Hillyer and granddaughter of Captain James Hillyer, whose wife's father married into the Grant family, while his own mother was a daughter of George Hayes, one of the first settlers of Granby and ancestor of President Hayes. Colonel Hillyer's wife, Mrs. Hundley's mother, was Lucy Tudor, daughter of Elihu Tudor of South Windsor, who was graduated at Yale College in 1750 and became one of the best educated physicians of his day. He served as surgeon in the British army during the French war, was with Wolfe when he fell at Quebec, and was present at the fall of the Havana, as was also his son-in-law, Colonel Hillyer. He was born in 1733 and died in 1826, so that his life and that of his granddaughter covered a period of 162 years, having more than twenty years in common. He received half-pay from the British government from the date of his retirement in 1767 until his death, a period of nearly sixty years; and it is said that the treasury officials actually sent to make inquiry whether he could still be living. Although his father (Yale College, 1728) was a congregational minister, he was himself strongly attached to the Church of England; and in the time of the revolution he was closely watched and sometimes threatened. His own descent was from Owen Tudor, one of the first settlers of Windsor; and his wife, Lucretia Brewster, was a direct descendant of Elder William Brewster, the "Chief of the Pilgrims." Charles Jeremy Hoadly was prepared for college at the Hopkins Grammar School of Hartford; and entering Trinity College in 1847, he was graduated valedictorian of his class in 1851.
Among his classmates were the Rev. Dr. John Brainard, now for a long time rector of St. Peter's Church, Auburn, N. Y., George Douglass Sargeant and Dr. Charles Edward Terry, all three Hartford boys, the Hon. John Day Ferguson of Stamford, the Rev. Dr. Charles Frederick Hoffman of New York, and Charles Collins Van Zandt, governor of Rhode Island. In 1854 he received the degree of Master of Arts in course from his alma mater, delivering the master's oration. The same degree was conferred upon him, honoris causa, by Yale College in 1879 and ten years later Trinity College made him a Doctor of Laws. Soon after his graduation he entered the office of Dr. Henry Barnard, then superintendent of public instruction, and began the study of law in the office of Welch & Shlpman. In 1855 he was admitted to the bar by Judge (afterwards Chief Justice) Seymour. In 1854 he was appointed librarian of Trinity College; and though his services in that capacity covered but one year, he continued his interest in that library and his acquaintance with its condition, even in matters of detail, till the end of his life. In April, 1855. he was called to the position of librarian of the State of Connecticut, an office in which his only predecessor was the late Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull, appointed in the preceding November. His life-work was done as state librarian or in historical and legal studies connected with his duties there and in that capacity he served the state for forty-five years, a longer time than any other official of either the colony or the State of Connecticut, with the exception of George Wyllys, who was the secretary of the colony and the State for the sixty years from 1734 to 1794. When he entered upon his office, the newly established state library was but meagerly furnished. There was not a full set of any legal publication, not even of the Connecticut Reports up to that date; and not a volume of any of our own federal reports or of those of English courts. The new librarian undertook the task of collecting sets of law books for the State. The library committee appointed by the Legislature, in order, as they thought, to facilitate the gathering of a working library, gave instructions for the purchase of certain compilations and condensed series of reports. Mr. Hoadly was wiser than the committee, and was determined in every possible case to purchase only the original and full reports, though it might be at greater expense of money and of time. As a result of this policy, which guided the whole period of his administration, the Connecticut State library possesses today complete sets of the originals of all official American reports, practically complete sets of reports for England, Scotland and Ireland, and also of Canadian reports as far as they relate to our law. The same policy was pursued In making collections of statutes. Mr. Hoadly's purpose, in which absolute success was practically impossible, but in accomplishing which he was eminently successful, was to procure for the library every publication of session laws and every official revision of the statutes, not only of the United States and of every state and territory, but also of England, Scotland, Ireland and Canada. Beyond this he did not wish to extend the scope of the library, except to include publications relating to the general or local history of Connecticut, the documentary histories and state papers of the other states, and the writings of eminent statesmen of the nation, together with a few especially desirable works of reference; but the collections made under these heads are of great and permanent value. To those who asked how many volumes there were in the library and who seemed prepared to judge of its value by its size, he was wont to say that the value of a library is not determined by the number of volumes upon its shelves, but by its completeness in the departments which it undertakes to represent. Realizing this fact, Dr. Hoadly declined to purchase or to accept many volumes which some desired to see in the collection under his care, and often referred intending donors to that particular library of the city to which the volumes in question most naturally belonged. To this principle of exclusiveness on the one hand and co-operation on the other, cultivated by Dr. Barnard, Dr. Trumbull and Dr. Hoadly, is largely due the present admirable system of libraries in Hartford. While the late librarian was a man of deep learning in law and jurisprudence, and knew many of the mysteries of both, he never argued a case in court. Nor did he seek active work as a counsellor, but followed the strong bent of his mind to proficiency in determining, recalling and applying historical facts. For this reason it was that he became most widely known, and will be specially remembered, as an antiquarian and historian. As he succeeded Dr. Trumbull in the office of state librarian, so he took up the work which he had bigun of editing the Colonial Records of Connecticut and in which he had completed the records to 1689 in three volumes. First editing the records of New Haven colony (1638 to 1665) in two volumes, he took up the records of Connecticut colony, transcribing them with his own hand, filling out lacunae from other sources where this was possible, inserting illustrative notes, adding appendices of documents for the most part unpublished before, and preparing careful indexes. The work was slow, for it was difficult and accurately done; and the twelve volumes (in number 4 to 15) needed to contain the records of the years 1689 to 1776, occupied the time which could be given to this work until 1887. Then by special act of the General Assembly, the librarian was authorized to transcribe and edit the records of the state from 1776 to 1789. Of this series two volumes have been issued, and a third volume is in manuscript lacking a few notes to make it ready for the printer. The value of these publications, sixteen large octavo volumes is beyond calculation, and the work has been so carefully done that it is hardly possible that any part of it will need to be done again. Of Dr. Hoadly's other publications, the best known is probably "Goodwin's Genealogical Notes," edited in 1856. They include papers prepared for historical societies, the Annals of Christ Church, Hartford, to 1828, included in Dr. Russell's history of the parish, and communications addressed to "The Courant" and other journals. The results of a large part of his investigations remain unpublished. In his work as editor and investigator, Dr. Hoadly's attention was of necessity called to the study of ancient manuscript documents. Of these documents some, through the carelessness and liberality of official custodians, had become scattered, while others, through the greed of collectors, had been deprived of their signatures. By his efforts many of the missing autographs have been regained and replaced, while certain manuscripts, including a largo number of muster and payrolls of the early wars have been either restored or definitely located. The most Important volume regained is that lettered "Particular Court, Vol. II., Probate Records," discovered by him in New York in 1883; it contains 196 pages of court proceeding on all subjects of judicial controversy within the colony from 1649 to 1663 and 185 pages of wills and inventories. His familiarity with the manuscript records and archives of the several states and the federal government, and his historical acquaintance with the leading men of the age made a visit to the State Library under his direction an event not soon forgotten. In a few words, he could plainly place before the visitor the impressions he had formed concerning the leading characters of our history, impressions not always in harmony with the generally accepted traditions, but never without foundation and always strongly expressed.
Dr. Hoadly was a member of many learned bodies, especially valuing his membership in the Massachusetts Historical Society, the American Antiquarian Society, the New England Genealogical and Historical Society, and the Connecticut Historical Society, of which latter, after long service as its corresponding secretary, he was president from the year 1894 until his death, and to which he presented his portrait. Allusion was made to Dr. Hoadly's interest In the library of Trinity College, of which he was for one year librarian and for many years a member of the library committee. As far as his influence went, he carried out here the same principle as that on which he built up the State Library, desiring to strengthen the strong collections rather than to build up strong and weak alike; and it is for this reason that the College Library is so well furnished with lexicons in various languages, English state papers, the works of eminent mathematicians, and volumes illustrating epigraphy and archaelogy. His own gifts to the library were constant and valuable, among them being the new edition of Stephanus, which he brought from England on his last visit there, and the "Grande Larousse," presented a year or two ago. In fact there is no part of the library which is specially worthy of notice that does not show both his skill In selecting and his generosity in giving. All through his life he kept well acquainted with the work ot the college and with the roll of its alumni. He was elected a trustee in 1865 and was secretary of the corporation from 1865 to 1876 and again from 1888 to 1896. From 1854 to 1862 he was secretary of the Connecticut Beta of the Phi Beta Kappa, and from 1862 to 1867, its president. For very many years a member of the vestry of Christ Church, at which he regularly attended, he was from 1864 to 1879 a clerk of the parish. Thus a large part of the records of the college, the society and the parish are in his admirably clear handwriting. Dr. Hoadly had a memory of wonderful accuracy and tenacity; he not only knew where things were, even in the midst of seeming confusion, but he knew what they were. He could repeat long extracts, even from classic authors which he had not read since his college days; he remembered the dates of ancient volumes to which he had not referred for many years; and he would remind a listener of events or facts which had utterly slipped from the other's memory. And thus he was on the watch for all sorts of interesting things, "desiderata" of every kind; and his house on Ann street, which was the family home from 1833, became a storehouse of historical treasures. Among the mass of papers is the executive correspondence of Governor Buckingham, on file in the governor's office, is a note from Charles J. Hoadly in which he offers his services to the governor to serve in any capacity in which he might be needed. Three brothers and a sister survive him: James H. Hoadley of New York and George K., Francis A. Hoadley and Mrs. Harriet L. Corwin of this city. A sister, Mary Robins Hoadley, of this city, died in 1896, and a brother, Major Frederick W. Hoadlev, of Little Rock, Ark., was killed at Vicksburg in June, 1863.
Published in the Hartford Courant, Hartford, Connecticut on Saturday, October 20, 1900, Page 8
DR. HOADLY DEAD
STATE LIBRARIAN AND A WELL KNOWN ANTIQUARIAN
He Had Been in Feeble and Failing Health for Some Time
His Careful and Intelligent Work in Buildlng Up the Library and In Historical Research
Dr. Charles J. Hoadly, state librarian, died about 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon at his home on High street. He had been very feeble and in failing health for about two years, and for several months he had been able to leave the house only occasionally. Arrangements for the funeral will not be completed until his brother, James, of New York, who has been in Hartford for a week past and who was called away yesterday by the death of a friend, returns to this city. It is probable that services will be held at Christ Church Monday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock. The burial will be at Cedar Hill Cemetery. The death of Dr. Charles J. Hoadly has taken away one of the best known and most deservedly honored of the citizens of Hartford and Connecticut.
The earliest settler of that name was John Hoadly or Hoadley, a non-conforming clergyman of the Church of England, who came to Guilford in 1639 with the Rev. Henry Whitfield, but who returned after sixteen years to England, favored the restoration, and rendered substantial services to Charles II. He married Sara, daughter of Francis Bushnell, and through his son Samuel, born in Guilford, became the grandfather of John Hoadly, successively archbishop of Dublin and of Armagh, and of Benjamin Hoadly, who as Bishop of Bangor gave name to the Bangorlan Controversy, which affected the London money-market and caused the suspension of Convocational action in the Church of England for a century and a half, and after holding the bishoprics of Hereford and Salisbury, died bishop of Winchester. Our Dr. Hoadly traced his descent through one who is believed to have been a kinsman, and perhaps a brother, of this early settler, known as Captain William Hoadley or Hoadle, who was also born in England. He was a signer of the plantation covenant of Branford and later one of its patentees and represented that town at nine sessions of the General Assembly. His great-great grandson, the Hon. Jeremy Hoadley, removed to Hartford about 1806, where he was a selectman of the town for some twenty years, acting mayor of the city in 1835-36, and high sheriff of the county from 1828 to 1834; he was also chairman of the whig state central committee in the presidential campaigns of l836 and 1840. In the parish of Christ Church he was one of the early vestrymen, and the last of the "clerks" appointed to lead the responses and give out the psalms and hymns. His son, William Henry Hoadley, who was born in Guilford in I800, married Harriet Louisa Hillyer, and their oldest son was Charles Jeremy Hoadly, the only one of later generations to omit the "e" in the spelling of the name, who was born in Hartford, August 1, I828. The father died In 1849; but the mother reached the age of ninety-two and died in 1895. She was the daughter of Colonel Andrew Hillyer and granddaughter of Captain James Hillyer, whose wife's father married into the Grant family, while his own mother was a daughter of George Hayes, one of the first settlers of Granby and ancestor of President Hayes. Colonel Hillyer's wife, Mrs. Hundley's mother, was Lucy Tudor, daughter of Elihu Tudor of South Windsor, who was graduated at Yale College in 1750 and became one of the best educated physicians of his day. He served as surgeon in the British army during the French war, was with Wolfe when he fell at Quebec, and was present at the fall of the Havana, as was also his son-in-law, Colonel Hillyer. He was born in 1733 and died in 1826, so that his life and that of his granddaughter covered a period of 162 years, having more than twenty years in common. He received half-pay from the British government from the date of his retirement in 1767 until his death, a period of nearly sixty years; and it is said that the treasury officials actually sent to make inquiry whether he could still be living. Although his father (Yale College, 1728) was a congregational minister, he was himself strongly attached to the Church of England; and in the time of the revolution he was closely watched and sometimes threatened. His own descent was from Owen Tudor, one of the first settlers of Windsor; and his wife, Lucretia Brewster, was a direct descendant of Elder William Brewster, the "Chief of the Pilgrims." Charles Jeremy Hoadly was prepared for college at the Hopkins Grammar School of Hartford; and entering Trinity College in 1847, he was graduated valedictorian of his class in 1851.
Among his classmates were the Rev. Dr. John Brainard, now for a long time rector of St. Peter's Church, Auburn, N. Y., George Douglass Sargeant and Dr. Charles Edward Terry, all three Hartford boys, the Hon. John Day Ferguson of Stamford, the Rev. Dr. Charles Frederick Hoffman of New York, and Charles Collins Van Zandt, governor of Rhode Island. In 1854 he received the degree of Master of Arts in course from his alma mater, delivering the master's oration. The same degree was conferred upon him, honoris causa, by Yale College in 1879 and ten years later Trinity College made him a Doctor of Laws. Soon after his graduation he entered the office of Dr. Henry Barnard, then superintendent of public instruction, and began the study of law in the office of Welch & Shlpman. In 1855 he was admitted to the bar by Judge (afterwards Chief Justice) Seymour. In 1854 he was appointed librarian of Trinity College; and though his services in that capacity covered but one year, he continued his interest in that library and his acquaintance with its condition, even in matters of detail, till the end of his life. In April, 1855. he was called to the position of librarian of the State of Connecticut, an office in which his only predecessor was the late Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull, appointed in the preceding November. His life-work was done as state librarian or in historical and legal studies connected with his duties there and in that capacity he served the state for forty-five years, a longer time than any other official of either the colony or the State of Connecticut, with the exception of George Wyllys, who was the secretary of the colony and the State for the sixty years from 1734 to 1794. When he entered upon his office, the newly established state library was but meagerly furnished. There was not a full set of any legal publication, not even of the Connecticut Reports up to that date; and not a volume of any of our own federal reports or of those of English courts. The new librarian undertook the task of collecting sets of law books for the State. The library committee appointed by the Legislature, in order, as they thought, to facilitate the gathering of a working library, gave instructions for the purchase of certain compilations and condensed series of reports. Mr. Hoadly was wiser than the committee, and was determined in every possible case to purchase only the original and full reports, though it might be at greater expense of money and of time. As a result of this policy, which guided the whole period of his administration, the Connecticut State library possesses today complete sets of the originals of all official American reports, practically complete sets of reports for England, Scotland and Ireland, and also of Canadian reports as far as they relate to our law. The same policy was pursued In making collections of statutes. Mr. Hoadly's purpose, in which absolute success was practically impossible, but in accomplishing which he was eminently successful, was to procure for the library every publication of session laws and every official revision of the statutes, not only of the United States and of every state and territory, but also of England, Scotland, Ireland and Canada. Beyond this he did not wish to extend the scope of the library, except to include publications relating to the general or local history of Connecticut, the documentary histories and state papers of the other states, and the writings of eminent statesmen of the nation, together with a few especially desirable works of reference; but the collections made under these heads are of great and permanent value. To those who asked how many volumes there were in the library and who seemed prepared to judge of its value by its size, he was wont to say that the value of a library is not determined by the number of volumes upon its shelves, but by its completeness in the departments which it undertakes to represent. Realizing this fact, Dr. Hoadly declined to purchase or to accept many volumes which some desired to see in the collection under his care, and often referred intending donors to that particular library of the city to which the volumes in question most naturally belonged. To this principle of exclusiveness on the one hand and co-operation on the other, cultivated by Dr. Barnard, Dr. Trumbull and Dr. Hoadly, is largely due the present admirable system of libraries in Hartford. While the late librarian was a man of deep learning in law and jurisprudence, and knew many of the mysteries of both, he never argued a case in court. Nor did he seek active work as a counsellor, but followed the strong bent of his mind to proficiency in determining, recalling and applying historical facts. For this reason it was that he became most widely known, and will be specially remembered, as an antiquarian and historian. As he succeeded Dr. Trumbull in the office of state librarian, so he took up the work which he had bigun of editing the Colonial Records of Connecticut and in which he had completed the records to 1689 in three volumes. First editing the records of New Haven colony (1638 to 1665) in two volumes, he took up the records of Connecticut colony, transcribing them with his own hand, filling out lacunae from other sources where this was possible, inserting illustrative notes, adding appendices of documents for the most part unpublished before, and preparing careful indexes. The work was slow, for it was difficult and accurately done; and the twelve volumes (in number 4 to 15) needed to contain the records of the years 1689 to 1776, occupied the time which could be given to this work until 1887. Then by special act of the General Assembly, the librarian was authorized to transcribe and edit the records of the state from 1776 to 1789. Of this series two volumes have been issued, and a third volume is in manuscript lacking a few notes to make it ready for the printer. The value of these publications, sixteen large octavo volumes is beyond calculation, and the work has been so carefully done that it is hardly possible that any part of it will need to be done again. Of Dr. Hoadly's other publications, the best known is probably "Goodwin's Genealogical Notes," edited in 1856. They include papers prepared for historical societies, the Annals of Christ Church, Hartford, to 1828, included in Dr. Russell's history of the parish, and communications addressed to "The Courant" and other journals. The results of a large part of his investigations remain unpublished. In his work as editor and investigator, Dr. Hoadly's attention was of necessity called to the study of ancient manuscript documents. Of these documents some, through the carelessness and liberality of official custodians, had become scattered, while others, through the greed of collectors, had been deprived of their signatures. By his efforts many of the missing autographs have been regained and replaced, while certain manuscripts, including a largo number of muster and payrolls of the early wars have been either restored or definitely located. The most Important volume regained is that lettered "Particular Court, Vol. II., Probate Records," discovered by him in New York in 1883; it contains 196 pages of court proceeding on all subjects of judicial controversy within the colony from 1649 to 1663 and 185 pages of wills and inventories. His familiarity with the manuscript records and archives of the several states and the federal government, and his historical acquaintance with the leading men of the age made a visit to the State Library under his direction an event not soon forgotten. In a few words, he could plainly place before the visitor the impressions he had formed concerning the leading characters of our history, impressions not always in harmony with the generally accepted traditions, but never without foundation and always strongly expressed.
Dr. Hoadly was a member of many learned bodies, especially valuing his membership in the Massachusetts Historical Society, the American Antiquarian Society, the New England Genealogical and Historical Society, and the Connecticut Historical Society, of which latter, after long service as its corresponding secretary, he was president from the year 1894 until his death, and to which he presented his portrait. Allusion was made to Dr. Hoadly's interest In the library of Trinity College, of which he was for one year librarian and for many years a member of the library committee. As far as his influence went, he carried out here the same principle as that on which he built up the State Library, desiring to strengthen the strong collections rather than to build up strong and weak alike; and it is for this reason that the College Library is so well furnished with lexicons in various languages, English state papers, the works of eminent mathematicians, and volumes illustrating epigraphy and archaelogy. His own gifts to the library were constant and valuable, among them being the new edition of Stephanus, which he brought from England on his last visit there, and the "Grande Larousse," presented a year or two ago. In fact there is no part of the library which is specially worthy of notice that does not show both his skill In selecting and his generosity in giving. All through his life he kept well acquainted with the work ot the college and with the roll of its alumni. He was elected a trustee in 1865 and was secretary of the corporation from 1865 to 1876 and again from 1888 to 1896. From 1854 to 1862 he was secretary of the Connecticut Beta of the Phi Beta Kappa, and from 1862 to 1867, its president. For very many years a member of the vestry of Christ Church, at which he regularly attended, he was from 1864 to 1879 a clerk of the parish. Thus a large part of the records of the college, the society and the parish are in his admirably clear handwriting. Dr. Hoadly had a memory of wonderful accuracy and tenacity; he not only knew where things were, even in the midst of seeming confusion, but he knew what they were. He could repeat long extracts, even from classic authors which he had not read since his college days; he remembered the dates of ancient volumes to which he had not referred for many years; and he would remind a listener of events or facts which had utterly slipped from the other's memory. And thus he was on the watch for all sorts of interesting things, "desiderata" of every kind; and his house on Ann street, which was the family home from 1833, became a storehouse of historical treasures. Among the mass of papers is the executive correspondence of Governor Buckingham, on file in the governor's office, is a note from Charles J. Hoadly in which he offers his services to the governor to serve in any capacity in which he might be needed. Three brothers and a sister survive him: James H. Hoadley of New York and George K., Francis A. Hoadley and Mrs. Harriet L. Corwin of this city. A sister, Mary Robins Hoadley, of this city, died in 1896, and a brother, Major Frederick W. Hoadlev, of Little Rock, Ark., was killed at Vicksburg in June, 1863.
Published in the Hartford Courant, Hartford, Connecticut on Saturday, October 20, 1900, Page 8
STATE LIBRARIAN AND A WELL KNOWN ANTIQUARIAN
He Had Been in Feeble and Failing Health for Some Time
His Careful and Intelligent Work in Buildlng Up the Library and In Historical Research
Dr. Charles J. Hoadly, state librarian, died about 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon at his home on High street. He had been very feeble and in failing health for about two years, and for several months he had been able to leave the house only occasionally. Arrangements for the funeral will not be completed until his brother, James, of New York, who has been in Hartford for a week past and who was called away yesterday by the death of a friend, returns to this city. It is probable that services will be held at Christ Church Monday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock. The burial will be at Cedar Hill Cemetery. The death of Dr. Charles J. Hoadly has taken away one of the best known and most deservedly honored of the citizens of Hartford and Connecticut.
The earliest settler of that name was John Hoadly or Hoadley, a non-conforming clergyman of the Church of England, who came to Guilford in 1639 with the Rev. Henry Whitfield, but who returned after sixteen years to England, favored the restoration, and rendered substantial services to Charles II. He married Sara, daughter of Francis Bushnell, and through his son Samuel, born in Guilford, became the grandfather of John Hoadly, successively archbishop of Dublin and of Armagh, and of Benjamin Hoadly, who as Bishop of Bangor gave name to the Bangorlan Controversy, which affected the London money-market and caused the suspension of Convocational action in the Church of England for a century and a half, and after holding the bishoprics of Hereford and Salisbury, died bishop of Winchester. Our Dr. Hoadly traced his descent through one who is believed to have been a kinsman, and perhaps a brother, of this early settler, known as Captain William Hoadley or Hoadle, who was also born in England. He was a signer of the plantation covenant of Branford and later one of its patentees and represented that town at nine sessions of the General Assembly. His great-great grandson, the Hon. Jeremy Hoadley, removed to Hartford about 1806, where he was a selectman of the town for some twenty years, acting mayor of the city in 1835-36, and high sheriff of the county from 1828 to 1834; he was also chairman of the whig state central committee in the presidential campaigns of l836 and 1840. In the parish of Christ Church he was one of the early vestrymen, and the last of the "clerks" appointed to lead the responses and give out the psalms and hymns. His son, William Henry Hoadley, who was born in Guilford in I800, married Harriet Louisa Hillyer, and their oldest son was Charles Jeremy Hoadly, the only one of later generations to omit the "e" in the spelling of the name, who was born in Hartford, August 1, I828. The father died In 1849; but the mother reached the age of ninety-two and died in 1895. She was the daughter of Colonel Andrew Hillyer and granddaughter of Captain James Hillyer, whose wife's father married into the Grant family, while his own mother was a daughter of George Hayes, one of the first settlers of Granby and ancestor of President Hayes. Colonel Hillyer's wife, Mrs. Hundley's mother, was Lucy Tudor, daughter of Elihu Tudor of South Windsor, who was graduated at Yale College in 1750 and became one of the best educated physicians of his day. He served as surgeon in the British army during the French war, was with Wolfe when he fell at Quebec, and was present at the fall of the Havana, as was also his son-in-law, Colonel Hillyer. He was born in 1733 and died in 1826, so that his life and that of his granddaughter covered a period of 162 years, having more than twenty years in common. He received half-pay from the British government from the date of his retirement in 1767 until his death, a period of nearly sixty years; and it is said that the treasury officials actually sent to make inquiry whether he could still be living. Although his father (Yale College, 1728) was a congregational minister, he was himself strongly attached to the Church of England; and in the time of the revolution he was closely watched and sometimes threatened. His own descent was from Owen Tudor, one of the first settlers of Windsor; and his wife, Lucretia Brewster, was a direct descendant of Elder William Brewster, the "Chief of the Pilgrims." Charles Jeremy Hoadly was prepared for college at the Hopkins Grammar School of Hartford; and entering Trinity College in 1847, he was graduated valedictorian of his class in 1851.
Among his classmates were the Rev. Dr. John Brainard, now for a long time rector of St. Peter's Church, Auburn, N. Y., George Douglass Sargeant and Dr. Charles Edward Terry, all three Hartford boys, the Hon. John Day Ferguson of Stamford, the Rev. Dr. Charles Frederick Hoffman of New York, and Charles Collins Van Zandt, governor of Rhode Island. In 1854 he received the degree of Master of Arts in course from his alma mater, delivering the master's oration. The same degree was conferred upon him, honoris causa, by Yale College in 1879 and ten years later Trinity College made him a Doctor of Laws. Soon after his graduation he entered the office of Dr. Henry Barnard, then superintendent of public instruction, and began the study of law in the office of Welch & Shlpman. In 1855 he was admitted to the bar by Judge (afterwards Chief Justice) Seymour. In 1854 he was appointed librarian of Trinity College; and though his services in that capacity covered but one year, he continued his interest in that library and his acquaintance with its condition, even in matters of detail, till the end of his life. In April, 1855. he was called to the position of librarian of the State of Connecticut, an office in which his only predecessor was the late Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull, appointed in the preceding November. His life-work was done as state librarian or in historical and legal studies connected with his duties there and in that capacity he served the state for forty-five years, a longer time than any other official of either the colony or the State of Connecticut, with the exception of George Wyllys, who was the secretary of the colony and the State for the sixty years from 1734 to 1794. When he entered upon his office, the newly established state library was but meagerly furnished. There was not a full set of any legal publication, not even of the Connecticut Reports up to that date; and not a volume of any of our own federal reports or of those of English courts. The new librarian undertook the task of collecting sets of law books for the State. The library committee appointed by the Legislature, in order, as they thought, to facilitate the gathering of a working library, gave instructions for the purchase of certain compilations and condensed series of reports. Mr. Hoadly was wiser than the committee, and was determined in every possible case to purchase only the original and full reports, though it might be at greater expense of money and of time. As a result of this policy, which guided the whole period of his administration, the Connecticut State library possesses today complete sets of the originals of all official American reports, practically complete sets of reports for England, Scotland and Ireland, and also of Canadian reports as far as they relate to our law. The same policy was pursued In making collections of statutes. Mr. Hoadly's purpose, in which absolute success was practically impossible, but in accomplishing which he was eminently successful, was to procure for the library every publication of session laws and every official revision of the statutes, not only of the United States and of every state and territory, but also of England, Scotland, Ireland and Canada. Beyond this he did not wish to extend the scope of the library, except to include publications relating to the general or local history of Connecticut, the documentary histories and state papers of the other states, and the writings of eminent statesmen of the nation, together with a few especially desirable works of reference; but the collections made under these heads are of great and permanent value. To those who asked how many volumes there were in the library and who seemed prepared to judge of its value by its size, he was wont to say that the value of a library is not determined by the number of volumes upon its shelves, but by its completeness in the departments which it undertakes to represent. Realizing this fact, Dr. Hoadly declined to purchase or to accept many volumes which some desired to see in the collection under his care, and often referred intending donors to that particular library of the city to which the volumes in question most naturally belonged. To this principle of exclusiveness on the one hand and co-operation on the other, cultivated by Dr. Barnard, Dr. Trumbull and Dr. Hoadly, is largely due the present admirable system of libraries in Hartford. While the late librarian was a man of deep learning in law and jurisprudence, and knew many of the mysteries of both, he never argued a case in court. Nor did he seek active work as a counsellor, but followed the strong bent of his mind to proficiency in determining, recalling and applying historical facts. For this reason it was that he became most widely known, and will be specially remembered, as an antiquarian and historian. As he succeeded Dr. Trumbull in the office of state librarian, so he took up the work which he had bigun of editing the Colonial Records of Connecticut and in which he had completed the records to 1689 in three volumes. First editing the records of New Haven colony (1638 to 1665) in two volumes, he took up the records of Connecticut colony, transcribing them with his own hand, filling out lacunae from other sources where this was possible, inserting illustrative notes, adding appendices of documents for the most part unpublished before, and preparing careful indexes. The work was slow, for it was difficult and accurately done; and the twelve volumes (in number 4 to 15) needed to contain the records of the years 1689 to 1776, occupied the time which could be given to this work until 1887. Then by special act of the General Assembly, the librarian was authorized to transcribe and edit the records of the state from 1776 to 1789. Of this series two volumes have been issued, and a third volume is in manuscript lacking a few notes to make it ready for the printer. The value of these publications, sixteen large octavo volumes is beyond calculation, and the work has been so carefully done that it is hardly possible that any part of it will need to be done again. Of Dr. Hoadly's other publications, the best known is probably "Goodwin's Genealogical Notes," edited in 1856. They include papers prepared for historical societies, the Annals of Christ Church, Hartford, to 1828, included in Dr. Russell's history of the parish, and communications addressed to "The Courant" and other journals. The results of a large part of his investigations remain unpublished. In his work as editor and investigator, Dr. Hoadly's attention was of necessity called to the study of ancient manuscript documents. Of these documents some, through the carelessness and liberality of official custodians, had become scattered, while others, through the greed of collectors, had been deprived of their signatures. By his efforts many of the missing autographs have been regained and replaced, while certain manuscripts, including a largo number of muster and payrolls of the early wars have been either restored or definitely located. The most Important volume regained is that lettered "Particular Court, Vol. II., Probate Records," discovered by him in New York in 1883; it contains 196 pages of court proceeding on all subjects of judicial controversy within the colony from 1649 to 1663 and 185 pages of wills and inventories. His familiarity with the manuscript records and archives of the several states and the federal government, and his historical acquaintance with the leading men of the age made a visit to the State Library under his direction an event not soon forgotten. In a few words, he could plainly place before the visitor the impressions he had formed concerning the leading characters of our history, impressions not always in harmony with the generally accepted traditions, but never without foundation and always strongly expressed.
Dr. Hoadly was a member of many learned bodies, especially valuing his membership in the Massachusetts Historical Society, the American Antiquarian Society, the New England Genealogical and Historical Society, and the Connecticut Historical Society, of which latter, after long service as its corresponding secretary, he was president from the year 1894 until his death, and to which he presented his portrait. Allusion was made to Dr. Hoadly's interest In the library of Trinity College, of which he was for one year librarian and for many years a member of the library committee. As far as his influence went, he carried out here the same principle as that on which he built up the State Library, desiring to strengthen the strong collections rather than to build up strong and weak alike; and it is for this reason that the College Library is so well furnished with lexicons in various languages, English state papers, the works of eminent mathematicians, and volumes illustrating epigraphy and archaelogy. His own gifts to the library were constant and valuable, among them being the new edition of Stephanus, which he brought from England on his last visit there, and the "Grande Larousse," presented a year or two ago. In fact there is no part of the library which is specially worthy of notice that does not show both his skill In selecting and his generosity in giving. All through his life he kept well acquainted with the work ot the college and with the roll of its alumni. He was elected a trustee in 1865 and was secretary of the corporation from 1865 to 1876 and again from 1888 to 1896. From 1854 to 1862 he was secretary of the Connecticut Beta of the Phi Beta Kappa, and from 1862 to 1867, its president. For very many years a member of the vestry of Christ Church, at which he regularly attended, he was from 1864 to 1879 a clerk of the parish. Thus a large part of the records of the college, the society and the parish are in his admirably clear handwriting. Dr. Hoadly had a memory of wonderful accuracy and tenacity; he not only knew where things were, even in the midst of seeming confusion, but he knew what they were. He could repeat long extracts, even from classic authors which he had not read since his college days; he remembered the dates of ancient volumes to which he had not referred for many years; and he would remind a listener of events or facts which had utterly slipped from the other's memory. And thus he was on the watch for all sorts of interesting things, "desiderata" of every kind; and his house on Ann street, which was the family home from 1833, became a storehouse of historical treasures. Among the mass of papers is the executive correspondence of Governor Buckingham, on file in the governor's office, is a note from Charles J. Hoadly in which he offers his services to the governor to serve in any capacity in which he might be needed. Three brothers and a sister survive him: James H. Hoadley of New York and George K., Francis A. Hoadley and Mrs. Harriet L. Corwin of this city. A sister, Mary Robins Hoadley, of this city, died in 1896, and a brother, Major Frederick W. Hoadlev, of Little Rock, Ark., was killed at Vicksburg in June, 1863.
Published in the Hartford Courant, Hartford, Connecticut on Saturday, October 20, 1900, Page 8
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