Daniel Read

READ, Daniel. b. Attleboro, Massachusetts, 16 November 1757; d. New Haven, Connecticut, 4 December 1836. Daniel Read spent his early years working on the family farm. He had only a few months of formal education in common school. His musical training came in singing schools (class lessons in musical rudiments and choral singing) and it is likely that one of his teachers was William Billings*. After service in the Massachusetts militia during the Revolutionary War, Read settled in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1782 as a maker of horn and ivory combs. He remained in New Haven for the rest of his life, operating a general store and becoming a civic leader and one of the town’s most prominent...