Richard Sill (1722 - 1795)

Born 4 Aug 1722 in Lyme, New London Co., Connecticut

Ancestors

Husband of Zipporah (Ayer) Sill — married 19 Jun 1753 in Saybrook, Middlesex Co., Connecticut

Descendants

Died 4 Mar 1795 at age 72 in Saybrook, Middlesex Co., Connecticut

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Tim Treadwell [send private message]

Biography

Spouse & Children

• Zipporah Ayer (1730 – 1814)

-Richard Sill (1757 – 1805) m. Sarah Hale (1758 - 1820)

-Sarah Sill (1760 – 1813) m. Nehemiah Hayden (1755 - 1791)

-Hannah Sill (1762 – 1824) m. Russell Lord (1759 - 1788)

-Zipporah Sill (1765 – 1827)

-Phebe Sill (1768 – 1865) m. Enoch Lord Jr. (1760 - 1834)

-Elisha Sill (1772 – 1866) m. Mary Hart (1775 - 1851)

Notes

• Lyme Barbour Records - "SILL", pg 219^[1]

-Richard, twin with Jabez, (s. Joseph), b. Aug., 4, 1722

• Saybrook Barbour Records- Sill (pg 140)^[2]

-Richard, m Zipporah AYERS, June 10, 1753

- Richard Lord, son Richard & Zipporah, b June 10, 1754

- Hannah, dau Richard & Zipporah, b July 27, 1762

- Sarah, dau Richard & Zipporah, b Apr 14, 1760

- Zipporah, dau Richard & Zipporah, b Nov 23, 1765

- Phebe, dau Richard & Zipporah, b July 14, 1768

- Elisha, son Richard & Zipporah, b Mar 27, 177

• Walworth, Reuben H., Hyde Genealogy, or, The Descendants, in the Female as Well as in the Male Lines..., Vol. 1.^[3]

(pg 166)

V. Capt. RICHARD SILL (453), born at Lyme, Conn., 4 Aug., 1722, the twin of Jabez, and fifth son of Joseph Sill and Phoebe Lord (66) of Lyme, was a grandson of Elizabeth Hyde (9) of the third generation. He m., 10 June, 1753, Zipporah Ayers, b. abt 1731, at Preston, Conn. He was a shipmaster, and later in life he became a farmer. At his residence was constructed Bushnell's torpedo, intended to blow up the British vessels in the war of the revolution. He d. 14 March, 1795, at Saybrook, and she d. 2 April, 1814.

• Sill & Sill, "Genealogy of the descendants of John Sill..."^[4]

(pg 63)

Richard Sill was a shipmaster. After his marriage he settled at Ayres point, on the west bank of Connecticut river, in the town of Saybrook, and was engaged for several years in West India and foreign voyages, as well as voyages on our own coast. He afterwards gave up a seafaring life and became a farmer.

During the revolutionary war in 1775, David Bushnell, a graduate from Yale college, became an inmate in Captain Sill's family, occupying for a long time a room called the blue bed room, about 8 by 10 feet square, where he contrived and perfected that wonderful piece of mechanism called the torpedo, for the destruction of British ships infesting our coasts (see vol. 2, Silliman's Journal of Science, page 94).

Captain Sill died at his residence on the 14th March, 1795, in his 73d year of his age. His wife deceased in April, 1814, aged 82 years.

Sources

1. ↑ White, Lorraine Cook, ed. The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994-2002: Lyme Vital Records - "SILL", pg 219. Accessed at Ancestry.com[1]
2. ↑ White, Lorraine Cook, ed. The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994-2002: Saybrook Barbour Records- Sill (pg 140)[2]
3. ↑ Walworth, Reuben Hyde. Hyde Genealogy, or The descendants, in the Female as well as in the Male Lines, From William Hyde, of Norwich (J. Munsell, Albany, 1864), Vol. 1. Pg. 47 #453; Pg 166, V. Capt.. Richard Sill. Accessed at Ancestry.com
4. ↑ Sill, Louisa Pamelia Genealogy of the Descendants of John Sill (Albany, New York, 1859),

See Also

Bushnell's Torpedo & The Turtle

(book exerpt) Hutchins, Samuel, Tales of the revolution; being rare and remarkable passages of the history of the war of 1775, Accessed online at EBooksRead[3]