Starr, Peter, 1744-1829

PETER STARR (1744-1829)

Peter Starr was born in September, 1744, the youngest child of Samuel and Abigail (Dibble) Starr, of Danbury, Connecticut, and grandson of Captain Josiah and Rebekah Starr, also of Danbury. His father died soon after his birth, and his mother married Joseph Waller of New Milford (now Brookfield), Connecticut, in 1748.

In 1764, Peter Starr graduated from Yale. He taught school for three and a half years and studied theology with the Reverend Daniel Brinsmade (Yale 1745) of the Judea Society (Washington, Connecticut), and the Reverend Joseph Bellamy (Yale 1735) of Bethlehem, Connecticut.

Starr was licensed to preach by the Fairfield East Association of Ministers in 1769 and went to the East Greenwich Society in Kent (now the town of Warren), where Sylvanus Osborn was the minister. Osborn died in May, 1771, and Peter Starr was installed as pastor on May 18, 1772. He remained in this position for 57 years. In May, 1825, he was joined by the Reverend Hart Talcott, whose installation sermon is in the papers.

Peter Starr married Sarah Robbins, fourth daughter of the Reverend Philemon Robbins of Branford, on December 24, 1772. They had seven sons and two daughters. Sarah Robbins Starr died on July 7, 1809. Peter Starr then married Phebe Stevens, widow of the Reverend John Stevens (Yale 1779) of New Marlboro, Massachusetts. Phebe Stevens Starr died in 1832.

Peter Starr died at his home in Warren on July 17, 1829, at 85 years of age, the oldest Congregational clergyman in the state.

SYLVANUS OSBORN (ca. 1733-1771)

Sylvanus Osborn was pastor of the Church of the East Greenwich Society in Kent (now Warren), Connecticut, where Peter Starr began his ministerial duties in 1769. Reverend Osborn graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1754.

He married Abigail Noble, second daughter of Stephen and Sarah (Ferris) Noble of Kent. He died in 1771, and Peter Starr was installed as pastor in September of 1771.

Reverend Osborn's widow married Jeremiah Day, Sr., on October 7, 1772. She died in 1810.

JOHN KEEP (1749-1784)

John Keep was born on March 10, 1749, the younger son of Samuel and Sarah (Colton) Keep of Longmeadow, Massachusetts. His mother was the daughter of William and Hannah (Terry) Bement of Enfield, Massachusetts. John Keep's father died in 1761, and his mother married John Hale of Longmeadow in 1762.

John Keep studied theology with his pastor, Reverend Dr. Stephen Williams (Harvard College, 1713), graduated from Yale in 1769, and was licensed to preach by the Hampden Association of Ministers in January, 1771.

On March 4, 1772, John Keep was called to the Congregational Church in Sheffield (Berkshire County), Massachusetts, where he was ordained on June 10, 1772. He married Hannah Rebekah Robbins, the fifth daughter of Reverend Philemon Robbins of Branford, Connecticut, on March 2, 1775. He remained at Sheffield until his death on September 3, 1784. During the Revolutionary War, he was a chaplain to Captain Jonathan Smith's regiment, and there are a number of his camp sermons in this collection. John Keep was noted for his pulpit oratory.

John and Hannah Keep had no children. Reverend John Keep (Yale 1802) was a nephew. After John Keep's death, his widow married the Honorable Jahleel Woodbridge (Princeton College, 1761), of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, who died in August, 1796. Hannah Keep Woodbridge died on February 9, 1799, at the home of her sister Sarah, the wife of Reverend Peter Starr.

JOHN STEVENS (1750-1792)

John Stevens was born in Danbury, Connecticut, in 1750. He graduated from Yale in 1779 and was licensed to preach by the Litchfield South Association of Ministers in 1780. He was called to the Congregational Church of the New Concord Society in Chatham (Columbia County), New York, and was ordained on May 13, 1781.

Stevens married Phebe Warner, eldest child of Lemuel and Sarah (Gaylord) Warner of New Milford, Connecticut, in 1781. He was dismissed from Chatham in 1793 and began to organize a new mission in New Marlborough, South Parish, where he was officially installed on October 22, 1794. Here he remained until his death on January 6, 1799.

His widow Phebe married Peter Starr on October 24, 1810.

Bibliography: Biographical information obtained from Franklin Bowditch Dexter, Yale Biographies and Annals

From the guide to the Peter Starr papers, 1758-1829, (Manuscripts and Archives)