A record of the descendants of John Clark, of Farmington, Conn ...

MKRCY. 39
193, to William Wadswoitli of Farnnngton, born Feb. 16,
1742, and died Marcli 20, 1816, son of Capt.
William and
Ruth (Hart) Wadswortli. She died July 9, 1814, aged 71.
Their graves are in the Old Ccnictei'y of Farmington. He
lived on the west side of Farmington Main street, on the site
of a house built and occupied by his son, Deacon Sidney
Wadsworth, and sold after the death of the latter to Ira
Hadscll, and by him to Levi Risley, whose son now owns it.
William Wadsworth is described by one now living, who well
remembers him, as a man of more than ordinary intellect,
but extremely willful and passionate, llhistrative of the
latter disposition, he relates Mr. Wadsworth's contest with a
vicious horse who had the habit of pulling back and breaking
his halter on every possible occasion. To cure him of this
propensity, or kill him, he cared little which, he led him down
to a lot in the South Meadow, now owned by Henry W. Bar-
bour, and tied him to a tree close to the steep river-bank,
below whicii the river ran unusually deep. The vicious brute
pulling back broke his halter, as was expected, and going
heels over head into the river floundered about for a while,
but finally swam ashore, a thoroughly cured and repentant
animal. The children of William and ^Mercy Wadsworth
weic :
i. Decius, b. Jan. 2, 1768. Graduated at Yale College in
1785, and entered as a law student the office of Judse
John Trumbull, author of McFingal. In 1792 he
accepted the commission of Captain of Artillery and
Engineers in the U. S. Army. In 1800 he resigned
and established himself in a mercantile business in
Montreal. At the commencement of the war of 1812
he entered the ordnance department of the U. S.
Army with the rank of Colonel, but on the reduction
and reorganization of the army at the close of the war