Note: This site uses Javascript extensively. While you will still be able to read articles, it is recommended you turn on Javascript for your browser. CLICK HERE if you are unsure how to do that...

New England Weather

Summer of 1771

Signs of the Times 18th Century Society The American Revolution Apple Butter Making Architectural Styles Church Customs The Conestoga Wagon The Cooper Coverlets Foursquare Gardens Gunter's Chain The Long S New England Weather Tanning

Chapters Overview 1635 Great Storm 1638 Earthquake The Earthquake of 1663 The Comet of 1664 1667 Strange Appearance 1676 Storm and Shipwreck The Comet of 1680 1682 Strange Appearance Dark Day of 1716 1716-1717 Winter 1718 Wreck of the Whidah 1719 Aurora Borealis Storm of 1722-23 1727 Earthquake 1740-1 Winter 1744 Earthquake 1747-48 Winter 1748 Hurricane 1749 Drought 1755 Great Earthquake 1759 Hurricane 1762 Drought 1768 Lightning 1768 Gale 1769 Summer 1770 Great Freshet 1770 Summer The Storm of October 20, 1770 Summer of 1771 1773 Hurricane The Storm of 1774 The Dark Day of 1780 1782 Hurricane 1785 Great Freshet 1786 Tornado 1786 Snow Storms The Cyclone of 1787 The Meteor of 1787 1788 Gale 1794 Whirlwind The Long Storm of 1798 1799 Hail Storm 1801 Freshet 1802 Great Snow Storm 1804 Storm 1806 Solar Eclipse The Freshet of 1807 The Meteorite of 1807 The Cold Friday of 1810 The Freshet of 1814 The Tornado in 1814 The Gale of 1815 The Cold Summer of 1816 The Tornadoes of 1821 Spring Freshet of 1823 The Spring Freshet of 1826 1826 Avalanche 1827 Gale and Freshet 1827 Wreck of the Almira1830 March Storm The Great Freshet of 1830 1833 Meteoric Display Winter of 1835-36 1839 Storms 1841 October Gale 1842 Snow Storm The Freshet of 1846 1849 October Storm 1851 Lighthouse Storm 1851 Tornado Storm of April, 1852

The Storm of October 20, 1770

1773 Hurricane

THE summer of 1771 was the last of four consecutive summers, in which showers with thunder and lightning had been uncommonly frequent. During this summer a considerable number of lives were lost, and a great amount of property was destroyed.

In the month of April, quite a number of horses and cattle were killed by lightning at Danvers, Mass.

At Stonington, Conn., on Wednesday night. May 8, during a shower, lightning killed a horse and seven sheep, and also struck a stack of straw and about twenty trees in different parts of the town.

A week from that day at noon, there was a severe shower at Warwick, R. I., during which the lightning struck a large tree near the anchor-shop of Nathaniel Green and company, and split it in pieces. The electric current then ran along the roots through a stone wall into the shop, where it struck the pole which worked the bellows, and knocked down two men and a boy that were at work there, who soon recovered. Some of the bricks in the chimney were forced out, and thrown against the opposite side of the shop with such violence that they were nearly pulverized. A man near Swansicut pond, about the same time, had his face scorched by a flash of lightning.

At Durham, N. H., on Sunday afternoon, June 2, there was a severe shower with thunder and lightning, although the morning before there had been a heavy and injurious frost at Chester. Several posts were split to pieces by the lightning which descended during this shower, the damage being slight.

On Thursday, the sixth, at Danvers, Mass., occurred a heavy shower, during which the lightning shattered several trees, and killed three oxen and a horse. A woman was also stunned by the shock, but soon after recovered.

At North Haven, Conn., on the afternoon of the following Sunday, a house belonging to a Mr. Ives was struck by lightning, which tore the clapboards off one end of the house, broke the windows, and stunned several members of the family who were in it.

The next day, two houses at Kensington, N. H., were struck by lightning, and a person was much hurt, but finally recovered.

At Boston, there was a shower with thunder and lightning on the afternoon of Friday, June 21. The ship called the Blaze-Castle of Bristol, commanded by Captain Smith, was lying at the wharf of John Hancock, Esq. The main-topmast was struck by the lightning, which shivered it to pieces, and then came down on the mainmast, which it gouged in several places. When nearly down to the deck, the electric current divided, and one branch of it descended to the steerage, where were ten persons, all of whom were knocked down and stunned. The current then went down the companion-way, where it broke a window and did some other slight damage; then entered the cabin, where it melted the gilding and painting in several places, and returning up the companion was heard of no more. There were three persons sitting in the cabin, all of whom were unharmed.

On the following Monday, during a shower at Petersham, Mass., a cow and an ox belonging to Rev. Mr. Whitney, that were lying under a tree in a pasture, were killed by lightning.

On Saturday of the same week, a young woman was stunned by lightning at Abington, Mass. During the month of June there were more showers with thunder and lightning at Newport, R. I., than for many years.

On Wednesday, July 10, at Hopkinton, Mass., a young man of twenty-two years, named Daniel Parmeter, was stacking hay in a field when a shower came up, and while it rained, he sheltered himself on one side of the stack. When the rain was apparently over, he went to a tree near by to get some of his outer clothing that he had left there, and as he was stooping to take up a bottle containing some beer, lightning struck the tree and killed him instantly.

More damage was done, and more people were killed and injured by lightning on Sunday, July 28, than ever before in New England during a single day. At Stratford, a parish in the town of Fairfield, Conn., a shower came up between eleven and twelve o'clock in the forenoon, while religious services were being conducted in the church. The flashes of lightning were incessant, and thunder was continually crashing through the air. Suddenly the church seemed to be filled with dazzling flames of white fire and a crash followed, compared with which all others were slight. The spire of the steeple had been struck, and dead and wounded men were lying on the floor, groans of sufferers indicating the intense pain that lightning sometimes effects. The spire had been erected the preceding autumn, and was in an unfinished condition. Several of the rafters were shivered to atoms, and the great ball at their head was split into three pieces. The lightning, descending on all the rafters, entered the octagonal base of the spire, and threw the boards and trimmings on the north and south sides entirely off. It then ran down the four corner posts of the square base of the steeple, and ripped off nearly all the shingles. The current then continued down the front posts of the body of the church by the side of the entrance, and when within four feet of the bottom of them, it turned into the church. Directly opposite the place where it entered were the pews of two men, who were instantly killed. One of them, Capt. John Burr, was standing in his pew, leaning on his elbow upon the rail, his body being eighteen inches from the post. The lightning probably passed through his body into the rail of the pew, as a. large piece was knocked out where his elbow rested. Passing by a person who stood a little out of its range, the electric fluid then entered the body of Mr. Burr's brother Ozias Burr, and ran down his side, tearing off his shoe, and rendering his leg useless. It then passed through the pew door to the aisle, where it tore up the floor for some distance, and then went into the ground. The other man that was killed was David Sherman, who was in a situation similar to that of Captain Burr in his pew at the other side of the door. The course of the lightning could not be traced farther than his body, though several persons were stunned in that and neighboring pews, and indeed in many other parts of the church. The religious services, as may be supposed, were discontinued; and many willing hands did what was necessary to bring the stunned people back to their senses, and care for the bodies of the dead. The double funeral was held on the following day, when the pastor. Rev. Mr. Hobart, preached an excellent and appropriate sermon to a large congregation.

On the afternoon of the same day the lightning caused serious injury to several persons in New Haven, At about half past one, out of the southwestern sky, came a very dense and dark cloud, from which terrible flashes of lightning, accompanied by heavy thunder, issued with unusual frequency. Ten minutes after the cloud was first observed, when it had come nearly overhead, out of it came three streams of lightning, accompanied by deafening thunder, one clap succeeding another almost without intermission. The last was much more awful than the others, being a stream of dazzling flame, which went apparently from the northwest to the southeast, passing so near the vane of the village church that it was driven around the spindle with great velocity. The lightning struck a tree about twenty-four rods from the church and instantly killed three horses and a colt that were under it. From the tree the electricity entered a Sabbath-day¹ house belonging to Capt. Joseph Pierpont, the nearest corner of which was not more than five feet from the tree, though the lightning left no mark on the building to indicate its course. In tlie house were Captain Pierpont and several of the parishioners with their children. Captain Pierpont's wife Lydia, Abel Brocket and his wife, and Giles Pierpont and his wife were sitting on a bench, and all five were struck by the lightning at the same time. Mr. Brocket had several holes burned through his shirt, and his flesh was severely burned but much less than the others. The lightning ran down the underside of Mr. Pierpont's thigh and leg, singeing off the hair, and burning the flesh about his loins so badly that it was as red as scalding water could have made it. Upon the bodies of the ladies rose blisters of a vivid red color, like the flesh of Mr. Pierpont, they being burned much more than the men. The lightning caused them all, with the exception of Mr, Pierpont, to instantly rise up from the bench, and when the shock had passed they all fell together upon the seat. Mr. Pierpont remained fixed to his seat, and could not move without assistance. Their flesh burned as though they were in the midst of a fire, their blood seemed to have almost stopped circulating, and breathing distressed them. As soon as possible a physician bled them, and it was found that there was considerable separation between the serous and globular parts of the blood, which evidenced the intense shock that they received. Two children of Giles Pierpont were reclining in the arms of their parents or friends who were sitting on the bench, but they received no injury. A large number of people were in the house at the time, but none other besides the five already mentioned were injured.

During the severe thunder shower at Wallingford, Conn., on Friday, August 2, the clouds came from opposite directions, one from the southwest, the other from the northeast, and met over the town, producing as terrific a shower as had ever been known there. The lightning knocked down the weather-cock on the old church, and shattered the steeple considerably, making a large hole in its roof. This was the third time the weather-cock and steeple had suffered a similar calamity. The first time it was struck was while it was being finished, and a young man was at work upon it. The shock threw him off, and he fell a distance of about eighty-six feet, living about three-quarters of an hour and suffering excruciating agony. The houses of Mr. Nott, Mr. Isaac and Hezekiah Johnson were struck, the first and last named houses being about four miles apart, one of them in the line of one shower as it came up, and the other in the course of the shower from the opposite direction. A negro belonging to Mrs. Merriraan was also struck, but he did not seem to notice it very much. On the same day the steeple of the South church in Hartford was greatly damaged by lightning, probably in the shower which came from the northerly direction.

At about two o'clock on the afternoon of the next day the church at Westford, Mass., was severely injured by lightning. On the same day, at the neck in Providence, R. I., lightning set fire to a brush fence belonging to the estate of John Merrett, who had recently died, and seventy or eighty yards of it were burned. At Palmer's river, two cattle were killed within a few rods of the house of Dea. William Blanding,

During this week, a barn at Chebacco parish, in Ipswich, Mass., and another at Andover, were set on fire by the lightning and consumed with the hay that was in them.

Tuesday, August 6, was the hottest day, except one other, that had been experienced in Salem, Mass., for twenty-two years, the thermometer indicating ninety one degrees above zero indoors at noon. The heat had been very oppressive for a long time, notwithstanding rain fell in such great quantities that cereal crops were injured by it, The severest thunder shower, that the people then living in Fairfield, Conn., remembered occurred on Monday, September 2. The whole sky seemed to be filled with lightning for nearly four hours, considerable damage being done by it. The concussions of the air were so powerful that the houses shook and rocked, and pewter dishes were jarred off the shelves on which they stood. The tavern of Abel Wheeler, situated near Black Rock harbor, was struck by the lightning, which so thoroughly permeated it that traces of its course could be seen in every room. Mr. Wheeler and several members of his family were stunned, but no one was much injured. Evidently, the lightning struck the top of the chimney, which was entirely thrown down, and the post on which the tavern sign-board hung was shivered from top to bottom. At the western end of the town plot, a large barn belonging to David Barlow, filled with wheat, barley, oats and English hay, was set on fire by the lightning, and with its contents entirely consumed. The house of William Bennett, jr., was also struck and he was injured to a considerable extent. A few moments later another flash came and his shop, which stood on the opposite side of the street, was struck, six swine that were lying near it being killed. In Stratford, Conn., a man by the name of Curtis had an ox died in the same way. Many trees were struck, and large numbers of sheep, geese, etc., were killed in many localities. At New Haven, the thunder was very heavy, the lightning sharp, and rain fell in torrents for some time. The shower arrived there in the night, and continued with great severity for five or six hours, the lightning striking in several places near the town. After the shower was over the air was very oppressive, and the people generally complained of dull pains in the head, and of stupid feelings.

The next forenoon. New Haven suffered from another shower during which the lightning struck the masts of two sloops and a brig, that were lying in the harbor. The sloops were but slightly injured, but the masts of the brig were knocked into fragments. The people board had gone below a few minutes before on account of the rain, so that none of them were injured.

***************************************

¹Most of the people in early days lived far from the church, and they remained during the intermission between the morning and afternoon services, bringing their lunches with them. The churches were not heated, and near them were erected small buildings with fire-places, in which fires were kindled to furnish heat to the room and coals for the foot-stoves that were used in the church. The Sabbath-day houses, as they were called, were generally built by one or more persons, rarely if ever more than one being erected at a church, and they furnished a comfortable resort.
Source: Historic Storms of New England by Sidney Perley, 1891

Comments (0)

Don't be shy, tell us what you think! →