OXFORD — Historian Vicky House will participate in the Oxford 250 celebration, offering a walking tour around the village at 1 p.m., Saturday, July 25.

She will share detailed information regarding historical and patriotic events that happened from the establishment of Oxford in 1793 and during the Revolutionary War.

House said Oxford was named by Benjamin Hovey, after his hometown in Oxford, Massachusetts. 

“The village park where the fountain is, was once called Baldwin Square after Jonathan Baldwin.  Mr. Baldwin gave the land for the park and it was square,” said House.

“However, it didn't line up with the rest of the street so the village added more land to make it the rectangle shape it is today,” she added.

“Lafayette Park is now named after the Marquis de Lafayette who was a French military officer who volunteered to join the Continental Army led by General George Washington.   

The Town of Oxford was established in 1793 from the original township of "Fayette", formed in 1789 and was named to honor the noble French general for his vital contributions to the American Revolution. 

“We have a father and son who served in the Revolutionary War; Major Dan Throop and his father Colonel Benjamin Throop,” she said.

“I was thrilled to find out about the son who was the engraver, John Peter Van Ness Throop, who engraved the Great Seal. 

The Colonel, The Major and The Engraver

By Vicky House, Oxford Historian

In Riverview Cemetery, there is a large family stone for the Throop family.    One side has the name of Colonel Benjamin Throop and his wife and the other side is engraved for Major Daniel Throop and his wife.    This father and son team from Connecticut served in the Revolutionary War and, eventually, came to Oxford.

Colonel Benjamin Throop started his service when he was a resident of Norwich, CT.    He served as a Lieutenant of the Seventh Company, in the Sixth Regiment from May 1, 1775 to September 10, 1775.   

Later, and as a Captain, he served in Colonel Charles Burrell’s Regiment and, again, as Captain of the First Regiment before being promoted to Major of the Fourth Regiment.

Colonel Throop led a hundred Mohican warriors into Canada on behalf of the Colonies; was by Montgomery’s side at his death; and participated in the memorable battles of Long Island, White Plains, Saratoga and Monmouth where he was wounded.    The Colonel married Susannah Throop, a daughter of his father’s first cousin, on April 4, 1766 and eight children were born from this union.

One of the Colonel’s sons, Daniel, enlisted April 1, 1779 as a fifer and served in Captain William Richard’s Company, under Colonels Sherman and Durkee, Connecticut Troops.

An interesting note is that Daniel was born in Lebanon, CT on April 27, 1768 making him only eleven years of age when he enlisted as a fifer which was not unusual at that time.    On November 12, 1788, he married Mary Gager in Bozrah, CT and six children came from this union.

After the war, Daniel spent time in Hudson, NY and then came to Oxford in the late 1790s.    For a time, he was proprietor of the hotel, later known as the Hotchkiss House, and a highly respected merchant in the village. 

Daniel urged his father, Colonel Benjamin, along with his wife and daughter, to come to Oxford where he could live out his remaining years among relatives.   

On May 16, 1822, Colonel Benjamin Throop died.    He and his wife were originally buried at the Old Village Cemetery on State Street, but were later moved to Riverview Cemetery.

Three of the six sons born to Daniel and Mary Gager Throop, Daniel Scrope, John Peter Van Ness and Orramel Hinckley Throop went on to become engravers.    According to “American Engravers Upon Copper and Steel – Biographical Sketches and Check Lists of Engravings” by Mantle Fielding and published in 1917, all three of the sons were born in Oxford, NY.

Daniel Scrope Throop engraved, “A good stipple portrait of Lafayette in 1824, evidently made for a Lafayette badge.    This plate is signed D. S. Throop, Sc., Utica, N. Y.”

Orramel Hinckley Throop started his engravings as early as 1825 and engraved landscapes and vignettes out of his office in New York City.

The oldest of the engraver brothers, and probably the most known, was John Peter Van Ness Throop. 

  Listed as an engineer in the same book, he also “engraved portraits in both line and stipple and was working for both New York and Baltimore publishers in 1835.”    However, John engraved something that is still used today; the Great Seal of the United States. 

Before the Continental Congress of the newly independent United States adjourned on July 4, 1776, a resolution was passed that “Dr. Franklin, Mr. J. Adams and Mr. Jefferson, be a committee, to bring a device for a seal of the United States of America” according to “The Great Seal of the United States” published by the  U. S. Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs.

Three of the five men who had drafted the Declaration of Independence were now asked to come up with an emblem and national coat of arms. 

It took six years and two more committees before the combined efforts of 14 men for the Great Seal of the United States to become a reality on June 20, 1782.

By 1841, the original die of 1782 had become worn and a new steel die was cut by John Peter Van Ness Throop of Washington, DC. 

The die has been called “the illegal seal” because of it faulty design.    Whereas the law called for 13 arrows in the eagle’s left talon, Throop gave his eagle only six according to the publication on the Great Seal of the United States.

The publication continues that, “It is assumed he didn’t work from the text of the resolution of 1782 but rather from an impression made by the worn, original die, which would have shown a bundle of arrows but perhaps not the precise number.   

This also may account for the fact that he engraved five-pointed stars, instead of the heraldic six-pointed stars of the original.    However, these departures from the original design didn’t affect the legality of the documents on which this seal was affixed.

“The Throop die is steel, 2 3/8 inches in diameter, about the same size as the original.    In fact, it is thought that the same press was used for both.    But the differences in style are marked: The border is without acanthus leaves, the whole design has been crowded upward; the eagle is more vigorous and encrusted; two arcs, instead of a straight line, form the top of the shield; and the olive branch bears fruit, i.e., four olives.”

By 1866, the Throop die was showing wear and a second die was cut and put into use.    This new die was cut in bronze and the impressions grew less distinct and the Throop original die was retired after 36 years of use.   

The innovations of the Throop die of the Great Seal have been carried through to the die currently used today.

John Peter Van Ness Throop died on July 3, 1860 in Washington, DC and his friends remembered him as, “kind hearted, loving those connected with him by the ties of relationship or friendship.

He was endowed with more than an ordinary share of honorable revolutionary sentiments, which, thus inherited, gave tone to his sentiments and character through life.”

The entire Throop family made an impact, not only on Oxford, but on the nation as well.   

Whether serving in the Revolutionary War, as a merchant in our village or engraving one of the Great Seals of the United States, the name represents more than a stone in our cemetery.