The Sarah Whitman Trumbull Chapter of Watertown, Connecticut
was named for the daughter of the Reverend Samuel Whitman.
She was born March 12, 1718, in Farmington, Connecticut.
She married the Reverend John Trumbull of Watertown (then
called Westbury), on July 4, 1844. The chapter took
her name because of her son, also named John Trumbull,
who is known as "The Poet of the American Revolution."
His poem "McFingal," written in 1775, was a satirical poem
which aroused the public mind to hatred of oppression
and to the love of the cause of independence.
The poem was called "one of the most acceptable
offerings laid upon the altar of liberty" by Everest,
in his "Poets of Connecticut." John Trumbull may
be classed as the first poet of Revolutionary fame,
and a patriot of the highest rank, due no doubt
to the teaching and influence of his mother
whose name our chapter honors and perpetuates.