REMINISCENCES OF CHILDHOOD AND EARLY SCHOOLING IN CONNECTICUT. THE RECOLLECTIONS OF AUGUSTUS EDWIN FOOT OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, DATED SEPT. 5, 1879, LOOKING BACK ON HIS BOYHOOD DAYS

A brief but nonetheless interesting autobiography of Augustus Foot, a little more than 3 pp., approx. 800 words, on lined paper, in a neat hand. The author records his birth in New Haven, Connecticut on Dec. 31, 1810. He mentions that his father was in the West India business as a shipping merchant until the outbreak of the War of 1812 and the Embargo which followed ruined his business. The family returned to Cheshire where his grandfather was a clergyman. The author also mentions that his father was in public life and was elected Governor of the State in 1834. [Although he does not append his name, the hints he gives aid in identifying him as Augustus Edwin Foot, son of Samuel Augustus Foot (1780-1846), a Yale graduate, US Senator, and Governor of Connecticut]. In this brief essay, A.E. Foot gives his earliest recollections of the small town of Cheshire, "the pleasant little country village where my boyhood was spent." In particular he reflects on the "District School" he attended under a 60 year old school master who was "by no means deficient in energy and discipline." He describes the school techniques of drilling and stern discipline including "the use of the rod [which] made our old School Master emphatically 'a terror to evil doers.'" His own encounter with the teacher's methods came when he was called up to be punished for laughing in class, and instead grabbed his hat and ran out the door. He easily escaped his teacher "who fortunately for me was a cripple" but not the reminder when he reached home that insubordination on his part would not be tolerated there either. By the age of twelve, he was promoted to "the Academy," where he discovered the need for more application to his studies. He concludes his reminiscences with a recognition that "[d]efective as had been my education I have no one to blame but myself - considering the brief period I devoted to books." The autobiography is accompanied by two other items, a draft letter to Rev. Bacon, dated Cleveland, Nov. 1863, 4 pp. in ink, signed by Augustus Foot; and a 4 pp. ALS to one of their daughters from Aurelia Foot, dated Aug. 3, 1864. Foot's draft of a letter written to Rev. Bacon describes his brother's last illness. Augustus had gone to visit him in the Astor House in NYC. This brother was Andrew Hull Foot (1806-1863), an Admiral in the Navy who served in the Civil War. He was also known for commanding the Perry off the African coast. While in that command he was particularly zealous in apprehending slavers; his book, "Africa and the American Flag" (1854), is considered to have influenced public opinion away from traffic in slaves. Dying of injuries received in a gunboat battle in Mississippi, Augustus writes; "Doct Buche said to me shortly after my arrival 'Your brother has literally worn himself out in the public service. He is as truly a victim of this war, as if he had perished on the battle field' ". The third item, is Aurelia Foot's letter in 1864 to their daughter who had taken a boat trip down to Buffalo. Her mother writes news of her other children and friends and neighbors. "I suppose you have heard of Robins the murderer & Mrs. Stevens! They are now in our Jail back of Horace Hitchcocks, you have back a visit from them in Buffalo I see, they are afraid to cary them home, for fear they will hang them without judge or jury. We are having a great time with robbers here just now, Marchand house was entered last night, by a back chamber window & the girls things taken, her drawers were on the roof in the morning". She mentions Sarah Fitch, Mrs. John Sargent, Mr. Shaler, and Lucretia Holcomb. Augustus Edwin Foot moved to Ohio where census records note he was a bookkeeper and banker. He and his wife Aurelia had several children, including two daughters. He died in Cleveland in 1882. His obituary in the Summit County Beacon (Akron) on Oct. 11, 1882, mentions that his father the Governor was responsible for drafting the resolutions in the U.S. Senate "over whi.…