More on Abraham Davenport, Patriot

During the Revolution, Abraham Davenport was a staunch patriot, and served on Connecticut's state committee of safety. He was a man of stern integrity and generous beneficence, and in times of scarcity and high prices sold the product of his farm to the poor at less than the current value. For some time he was a member of the executive council of Connecticut, for twenty five years he was a member of the state legislature, and state senator from 1766 until 1784. He also held the office of judge of the court of common pleas. When he was a member of the council in Hartford, on the dark day in 1780, it was proposed to adjourn, as some thought the day of judgment was at hand; but he objected, saying: "That day is either at hand or it is not: if it is not, there is no cause of adjournment; if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish, therefore, that candles may be brought."

From "Portrait of a Family: Stamford through the Legacy of the Davenports" by The Stamford Historical Society.

Abraham Davenport standing before Gov. Jonathan Trumbull on the famous "Dark Day," the 19th of May, 1780. (Image source: Steve Castagneto, Academy of Information Technology, Stamford Digital reproduction of a section of the mural painted in 1934 by Delos Palmer, a prolific Stamford artists. The nationally funded W.P.A. Federal Arts Project in Connecticut commissioned the mural during the Great Depression, as part of an effort to put artists to work embellishing public buildings.)