Transcript:Dexter, Franklin Bowditch. Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College with Annals of the College History:Punderson, Ebenezer, 1726

Ebenezer Punderson, the son of Thomas and grandson of Deacon John Punderson, Jr., of New Haven, was born here, September 12, 1705. His mother was Lydia, daughter of Deacon Abram and Hannah (Thompson) Bradley, of New Haven.

He studied theology, and on the 28th of August, 1729, was called to be the pastor of the church just formed in the north parish in Groton, now the town of Ledyard, Connecticut. He accepted the call, and was ordained on the 25th of December, the sermon on the occasion being preached by the Rev. Eliphalet Adams, of New London. Through acquaintance with the Rev. Dr. MacSparran, of Narragansett, he became convinced of the invalidity of his ordination, and in January, 1734, astounded his people by avowing himself a conformist to the Church of England. After unavailing attempts to dissuade him from his new views, a council was assembled on the 5th of February, which declared his connection with the church and society dissolved.

In the following April he went to England for orders, returning in October with a commission as Itinerant Missionary of the Venerable Society for New England, on a salary of £70. He fixed his residence in his old parish, where a church was soon erected. He also officiated in various places in the county, and elsewhere in the Colony.

In 1753 he was transferred to a settled residence in New Haven, where in that year or the next the present Trinity parish was organized, with Mr. Punderson as missionary,—Guilford and Branford being also under his care. This step was taken by the Venerable Society, in consequence of the recent bitter controversial attacks on the Church of England by those in sympathy with the College, and in order that Church of England principles might thus be given a chance to take root and flourish, side by side with their opponents.

The growth, however, of Episcopal sentiment in New Haven was very slow ; Dr. Johnson in a letter to Archbishop Seeker bluntly states the reason thus:—

"Mr. Punderson seems a very honest and laborious man; yet the Church at New Haven appears uneasy, and rather declining under his ministry, occasioned, I believe, partly by his want of politeness, and partly by his being absent so much, having five or

six places under his care. I wish he was again at Groton and some politer person in his place, and another at Guilford and Branford."

In the summer of 1762, he was invited by the parish of Rye, in the Province of New York, to become their Rector ; and he accepted the invitation, though not completing his removal until the following year,—the church in New Haven being, according to Dr. Johnson's opinion, just ready to expire. Mr. Punderson was formally inducted into the Rectorship at Rye, in November, 1763, and remained in that office till his death there, after a few days' illness, September 22, 1764, at the age of 59. In a letter written after his arrival at Rye, he states the remarkable fact that, notwithstanding "many infirmities," he had been able to perform divine service every Sunday but one during the thirty years of his connection with the Venerable Society.

He married, August 2, 1732, Hannah, daughter of Ephraim Miner, of Stonington, Connecticut. She returned to North Groton, and died there, February 23, 1792, in her 80th year. Two sons were graduated here in 1755; a daughter married the Rev. John Beardsley, her father's successor in Groton.

Baird, Hist, of Rye, 315. Beardsley, Hist. of the Episc. Chh. in Conn., i, 91, 100, 126, 166, 172, 198, 220-222; and Life of S. Johnson, 207. Bolton, Hist. of Prot. Episc. Church in Westchester Co., 293-307, 312. Caulkins, Hist, of N. London, 2d ed., 420; and Hist, of Norwich, 451. Conn. Church Documents, i, 157-161, 174, 177-9, 262, 311; ii. 21, 37-45. Documentary Hist, of N. Y., quarto ed., iv, 213 ; octavo ed., iv, 334. N. H. Colony Hist. Soc. Papers, i. 55. Updike, Hist, of the Narragansett Church, 512. Wheeler, Hist, of 1st Church, Stonington, 210, 233. Wolcott Memorial, 357-9.