In a pair of speeches today, Gov. Dannel Malloy alluded to all the great luminaries of Connecticut history: Harriett Beecher Stowe, Prudence Crandall, Mark Twain, Ella Grasso and Abraham Davenport.
Abraham Davenport? Malloy plucked the obscure 18th Century legislator from Stamford from the dustbin of history by name-checking him this afternoon.
"Perhaps nowhere was our character better defined than by Abraham Davenport of my hometown of Stamford when he spoke about The Dark Day in 1780,'' Malloy said during his inaugural address. "He was a public servant in Hartford when a mysterious episode brought darkness to the daytime skies throughout New England.
"There was a prevailing belief that Judgment Day was upon the land, threatening a shutdown of the Legislature, when Davenport stood and said: 'I am against an adjournment. The Day of Judgment is either approaching, or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for an adjournment; if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish therefore that candles may be brought.'''
Today, Malloy said, "we could use a few candles. Because as most people in Connecticut know, ours is not a pretty picture."