William Edmond is an Under-sung Hero of Newtown

It is fitting that as we enter the period between Memorial Day, when we remember those who served their country during war, and the Fourth of July, when we celebrate the birth of the United States as a nation, that we make note of a man who served in both capacities, and at times in dramatic fashion.

William Edmond was born in 1755 in what is today Woodbury. He came to Newtown in 1782 to continue his study of law under John Chandler and ended up marrying his mentor's daughter while establishing his residency and practice here.

Edmond's patriotism was aroused when the British raided the supply depot in Danbury in 1777. As the news of the raid spread, he followed the lead of several hundred others, by indignantly taking up his flintlock and joining forces in Ridgefield where they battled the British.

In the course of battle, a musket ball struck him just above one of his knees, leaving him incapacitated on the battlefield.  Suffering from the cold of an early spring night, he pulled himself into a ditch to stay warm until he was discovered late the next day. 

Edmond recovered from the cold but not from the wound, which continued to fester for several weeks.  Finally, the considered opinion of his physicians was that the leg had to be amputated to save his life from gangrene.

It was the Sabbath however, so the operation was scheduled for the next day.  They left leaving their medical equipment behind.

According to the account he later gave to William Cothern, the eminent historian of Woodbury, after their departure, he took up their medical instruments and began to operate on himself, cutting away the dead tissue and exposing the musket ball and bone splinters it had caused. 

By his own admission, "I began to feel a little faint."

Packing the wound with lint he closed it and waited until the physicians' return the next day. He then instructed them to remove the ball and bone chips and to cleanse the wound.  For the rest of his life he walked with a limp but with both of his legs.

Edmond went on to help establish the new nation by serving in the House of Representatives for four years where he became a friend of President John Adams. When Thomas Jefferson -- a man whose politics Edmond detested -- became president, Edmond resigned and returned to Connecticut where he served as a Chief Justice in the state's Supreme Court.

In 1818 when the Democratic controlled legislature rewrote a more liberal state constitution, his Federalist sensibilities would not let him continue to serve the state.

He retired to Newtown where he lived for the next 20 years. Virtually all of this time was spent dispensing legal advise, for which he refused to accept a fee.

Edmond was Mary Hawley's maternal great-grandfather, so when she donated the new town hall in 1929, she stipulated that it be named for her under-recognized ancestor.

This brief article is my answer to all of those who have stopped by the Edmond Town Hall wondering where the town of Edmond is located.

More information on Edmond can be found at the Cyrennius H. Booth Library.