The pioneers
In 1789, Lucy Backus and her husband, Dudley Woodbridge, left Connecticut for the Northwest Territory, which had been ceded to the United States at the close of the Revolutionary War. Lucy came from a prosperous founding Norwich family. Dudley was the son of a doctor who saw patients in Whitehall Mansion, now an inn on Whitehall Avenue in Mystic.
Lucy and Dudley left behind all that was familiar to them for a beautiful but dangerous wilderness that required back-breaking work. In letters to her parents, Lucy tried to conceal how homesick she was. She put up a brave front, but it was several years before she could honestly report that Ohio now felt like home.
I found this information in David McCullough’s book “The Pioneers,” in which he chronicles the challenges faced by the early Midwest settlers. It’s a moving tribute to their courage and vision. It made me think about other trailblazers and what it means to be a pioneer.
Take the Griswolds, for example. The family had been in England since the 1300s. Their roots ran deep. Judging by a picture I found online of Malvern Hall, a mansion built by a Griswold in the 17th century, some family members were wealthy. But in 1630, religious persecution led Edward Griswold and his wife, Elizabeth, to seek a new start in America. When they said goodbye to family and friends, it was with the almost certain knowledge they’d never see one another again.
Edward and Elizabeth spent several years in Windsor, Connecticut, where they were granted land in a remote area a few miles upriver from the settlement. At first, they were reluctant to relocate because of unresolved disputes with the Indians. When they and four other families finally made the move, the situation was still tenuous. Some of the men were exempted from mandatory military drills back in Windsor because it seemed too risky to leave women and children unguarded. Eventually, the couple made their final move to Killingworth, where the family became prominent in Connecticut affairs; Fort Griswold is named for one of their lateral descendants.
Being pioneers in any endeavor can be dangerous business. Sarah Harris, a young African American, and her teacher, Prudence Crandall, went on a quest for
racial justice. In 1832, Prudence admitted Sarah to her all white female academy in Canterbury. The town erupted in disapproval, and white parents withdrew their daughters from the school. Prudence restructured the academy as a school exclusively for black women, but the threats and violence escalated. Prudence was arrested, taken to court, and the academy had to be closed.
However, the forces these women set in motion had both immediate and long-term effects. Sarah became a conductor on the Underground Railway, helping runaway slaves find freedom. The arguments used by Prudence’s lawyers at her trials became arguments in the 1954 landmark Supreme Court ruling that struck down segregation.
New frontiers in business and technology are game changers, too. John and Arthur Scholfield were pioneers in the textile industry, contributing to America’s rise as a manufacturing powerhouse. When the brothers immigrated to the United States in 1793, they brought with them British textile secrets. In a remarkably short time, their mills in Montville, Pawcatuck, and Waterford helped inaugurate America’s own Industrial Revolution.
And finally, children undertake brave journeys, too. When Thomas Waller heard about the Gold Rush, he thought that if he got on a ship headed to California, it might change, and possibly save, his life. He was an 8-year-old orphan living on the streets of New York City. He wanted a better future than selling newspapers and begging. But Thomas never made that voyage because a New London man intervened and adopted him. This remarkable little boy grew up to become mayor of New London, governor of Connecticut, and a Wall Street lawyer. It wasn’t the journey Thomas had imagined. It was better. He’d discovered unexpected capabilities within himself.
Pioneering isn’t just about striking out for unknown destinations in covered wagons and wooden ships. It’s also about journeys of discovery in science, the arts, industry, and explorations of the human heart. In that sense, we, too, are pioneers.