Stratford Historical Society
The Stratford Historical Society and the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) recognized the 250th Anniversary of American Independence, and honored Stratford Patriot Joseph Knap for his contributions to the community with a dedication of an Elm Tree, The Liberty Tree.
The dedication of an elm tree is part of the Son’s of the American Revolution’s Liberty Tree program. The original Liberty Tree (1646 – 1775) was a famous elm tree that stood in Boston near Boston Common in the years before the American Revolution. In 1765, colonists in Boston staged the first act of defiance against the British government at the tree. The tree became a rallying point for the growing resistance to the rule of Britain over the American colonies, and the ground surrounding it became known as Liberty Hall. In 1775, the British had grown tired of these rebellious rallies at the Liberty Tree and cut it down.
The 250th SAR Liberty Tree Program was rolled out at the Spring 2023 Leadership meeting by the NSSAR History 250 Committee (National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution) with the goal of planting 250 Liberty Trees for the 250th Anniversary with at least one tree in each state on or before July 4, 2026. Planting a Liberty Tree will help educate the public about the importance of the American Revolution and the sacrifices that were made to become our nation. A dedication plaque next to the tree names a specific patriot who impacted their community in the common cause of liberty.
This Liberty Tree is dedicated to Joseph Knap who lived in Stratford and was an active community member of both Stratford and Fairfield throughout his lifetime. During the American Revolution he was exempt from serving in the military due to his positions on the Town Councils, but Knap never hesitated to protect his coastal hometown through nighttime watch shifts at Stratford Point and picking up arms against the British on the day they burned Fairfield. The Liberty Tree that was dedicated on October 25th will help the community remember and honor his service to the community.
Now he is contributing again, but this time to our contemporary understanding of life in Stratford during the late 18th century through an interpretation of his journals in a new book: “Of Life & the American Revolution, The Journals of Joseph Knap of Stratford, Connecticut 1761 to 1808” by Patricia Q. Wall. Published by the Stratford Historical Society as part of its 100th Anniversary year and the upcoming 250th Anniversary of the 1776 signing of the Declaration of Independence, this well-researched book offers not only close-up views of everyday life just prior to, during, and shortly after the Revolution, but it focuses on Connecticut’s struggling and sometimes politically estranged Fairfield County during more than eight years of wartime upheaval and damage along its shores, at its western border, and even among its towns’ residents.
Using snippets of data from Joseph Knap’s business accounts and intriguing occasional comments discovered among his thirty-seven years of daily weather observations, author Wall manages to add flesh to bone for this coastal trader, storekeeper, and farmer and also offers information on hundreds of residents cited by Knap. But far more than that, his wartime comments and Wall’s research have bridged a gap in published history for the State’s most beleaguered County and its five coastal towns during the Revolution. Now there is an eye-witness-based narrative to reveal that story from beginning to end.
Patricia Q. Wall, now resident in Exeter, NH, was a former executive director for the Darien Historical Society and has been involved with New England’s colonial history since the 1960s through research, writing, lecturing, and museum activities. She is the author of several books on New England’s early black history as well as essayist and compiler for Records of the Connecticut Maritime Court 1777 to 1783. (Mystic Seaport Research Center, Mystic, CT, 2023)
The book is available on the Stratford Historical Society’s website: www.stratfordhistoricalsociety.org or in person at the museum’s gift shop.
