History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

CHAPTER XIII.
COL. JOHN STODDARD.
First Appearauco. JoHN, eiglitli cliild aiid fourtli son of Rev.
Solomon Stoddard, born February 7'", 1G8J,
first comes into this narrative on the morning of February
29"", 170|, when the French and Indians carried death
and destruction into the little hamlet of Deerfield. From
that time onward the history of the times is the biography
of the man. The many important affairs, already
detailed, in which he was a prominent actor, not only
afford an insight into his character, but place him upon
the record as one of the foremost men of his generation.
Little remains, therefore, but to sketch, in a general
way, the most important among the many and diversified
duties he was called upon to discharge during a public life
covering a period of nearly fifty years.
Graduation and At the age of nineteen years, in 1701, he
Early Life. -^^g graduated at Harvard College with an
average record as a student and without
exhil)iting in any marked degree the real talent so conspicuous
in after years. Neither is there any intimation that
he adopted the usual course of country graduates, and became
a teacher, or that he entered upon the study of the
law\ It is to be presumed that he spent the immediate
years after graduation at his home in Northampton, entering
with earnestness upon the various projects and affairs
that engrossed the attention of his fellow townsmen.
stirring and Mo- The ycars following his graduation were
meutous Times.
f^^]} Qf niomcntous evcuts, and he stepped
from the exclusiveness of college life into
the rapid whirl of active and restless human passion. His