Archibald Falconer

Genealogy

"History of the Town of Stamford", completed by Charles D. Griffin about 1880

Archibald Falconer Gilbert, Eldest Son of Benjamin.

He was born in Stamford, N. Y.; was educated at Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Mass., and at Amherst College, where he graduated, 1850. He married, April 15, 1850, Lydia Eliza Howe, born Aug. 22, 1823, daughter of Abraham and Elizabeth (Wetherbee) Howe, of Marlboro, Mass. She was at one time a pupil of Mary Lyon at Mount Holyoke Seminary; 1850-1854, A.F. Gilbert was principal of a young ladies' seminary, Mercersburg, Pa.; 1854-1860, principal and proprietor of the Stamford (N.Y.) Seminary; 1860 until his death in 1866, he was an ordained minister of the Reformed Dutch Church of Prattsville, Greene County, N.Y., a church that was founded in 1804.

Biographical Record of the Alumni of Amherst College During Its First Half Century, 1821-1871, William Lewis Montague, J.E. Williams, 1883, 480 pages, Amherst, 1883

Studying theology with Rev. Dr. Creigh...Died from brain fever at Prattsville, New York, 16 June, 1866.

ARCHIBALD F. GILBERT was born in Stamford and chose a different vocation from the other male members of his father's family, and after going through the courses of study in Amherst College, studied for and became a minister in the Presbyterian denomination. Some years after he was the principal of the Stamford Seminary. It was while principal of the Seminary that a circumstance took place that illustrates his profanity.

On Saturdays there was no school, and one Saturday he was at a farmer's barn in the village for a load of hay. As he was fixing a heavy chain around the tongue of the sleigh to have it ready for binding, he pinched his fingers badly and cried out "Oh!" and giving them a rub with the other hand, said in a low voice: "I'd rather be in the school-room." It would become others to be profane only in the same way. From Stamford he went to Prattsville as pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church, where he remained till the sixteenth of June, 1866, when his years were numbered and were only 41. He was a good speaker and in his sermons were no narcotics, and therefore there were no sleepers in his audience.