Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

married John Thompson) and sons, Robert,
Ralph, and Thomas. The son Robert
born 1652, was living in that part of New
London now Groton, in 1712. He married
Mary Mortimer, daughter of Thomas
and Elizabeth Mortimer of New London,
where Thomas Mortimer was constable in
1680, and died March 11, 1710. Robert
Stoddard (2) son of Robert Stoddard (i)
born 1700, baptized August 8, 1703, and
lived in Groton. He married, December
21, 1727, Bathsheba Rogers, born March
I, 1708, in New London, died there, February
17, 1753, daughter of John and
Bathsheba (Smith) Rogers, granddaugh-
ter of John and Elizabeth (Griswold)
Rogers, great-granddaughter of James
Rogers, patriarch of a most numerous
pioneer family.
Mark Stoddard, fifth son of Robert and
Bathsheba (Rogers) Stoddard, was born
October 10, 1743, in Groton, where he
made his home. He was among the de-
fenders of his country in the Revolution,
serving as sergeant in the loth Company
(Captain Abel Spicer), 6th Regiment
(Colonel Samuel Holden Parsons) from
May 8 to December 18, 1775, and par-
ticipating in the battle of Bunker Hill.
He married, December 9, 1767, Lucy Allyn,
born January 30, 1748, fourth daugh-
ter of Samuel and Hannah (Avery) Allyn,
died July 29, 1831 granddaughter of
;
Robert and Deborah (Avery) Allyn, and
of Samuel and Elizabeth (Ransford)
Avery. Stephen Stoddard, son of Mark
and Lucy (Allyn) Stoddard, was born
March 18, 1788, in Groton, in which town
he was a farmer, member of the Congre-
gational Church and served in various
town offices. He married, in 1810, Sarah
Morgan, born July 21, 1788, a daughter
of Stephen and Parthenia (Parke) Mor-
gan. Both Stephen Stoddard and his wife
lived to a great age. They were the par-
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
ents of Stephen Morgan Stoddard, born
April 21, 181 1, in Groton. In early life
he was a whaler, later settled down to
farming in Ledyard, which was set off
from Groton in 1836. There he died in
1880. He married, in 1838, Henrietta Allyn,
born 1811-12, daughter of Roger and
Henrietta (Morgan) Allyn, died at the
age of seventy-five years.
Orrin Edwin Stoddard, second son of
Stephen M. and Henrietta (Allyn) Stoddard,
was born July 9, 1843, '" Ledyard,
and died in Middletown, June 27, 1920.
He grew up on the paternal farm and attended
the local public school until eighteen
years of age, when he laid aside home
227
duties to go to the defense of his country's
integrity. In October, 1861, he enlisted
and became a member of Company K,
1 2th Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers,
and spent two years in Louisiana, on the
Mississippi and Red Rivers. He was
among the brave and persistent ones who
captured Port Hudson after one of the
most sanguine battles of the war. Subsequently
he was with General Sheridan
in the Shenandoah Valley, where he was
made a prisoner by the Confederate
forces. After a short incarceration in the
notorious Libby Prison and at Salisbury,
North Carolina, he was paroled. This
prevented further activity on his part, but
he was promoted lieutenant for bravery
exhibited on the field of battle. He was
discharged from military service May 3,
1865, and returned to his native town.
Soon after he went to California and engaged
in wheat raising in Contra Costa
County, twenty miles from the present
city of Oakland, where he continued four
years. Returning to Connecticut, he
was employed two years in a factory
in Hartford. In 1871 Mr. Stoddard became
a resident of Middletown, where
he continued many years very actively