Some Interesting People

Colonel John Chester, 1749 - 1809. Deputy to the CT General Assembly from 1772 to 1787. Colonel Chester led a select body of 100 men which fought with distinction at Bunker Hill. At the close of 1776 he was recommended for a colonelcy in the Continental Army but he retired instead to private life. He served as a Hartford County Judge, on the Governor’s Council, and as state supervisor of United States Revenue.

Silas Deane, 1737- 1789. Deane moved from Groton to Wethersfield in 1761 and was admitted to the bar the same year. In 1763 he married Mehitabel Webb, widow of Joseph Webb and built their new home next door to the house built by her late husband. Deane helped to finance the capture of Fort Ticonderoga by Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen, and is credited with being instrumental in developing the United States Navy. Deane became the first accredited American diplomat when in March 1776 he was commissioned by the Continental Congress to go to France to procure money, men and weapons for the American cause from the French Government. He was recalled by Congress in 1778 to account for his expenditures. Although Congress never gave him a hearing, in 1780 he returned to Europe in disgrace. Deane was despised as a traitor and died in abject poverty in 1789 aboard a ship from London bound for North America. In 1842 Congress exonerated him, and made partial reparations to his heirs

Ashbel Riley, (1733- ?). A successful sea captain active in the West Indies trade, Riley commanded the brig Ranger in 1776 and the Snake from 1778-1780.  Both were used as privateers during the revolution.

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