USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Cornwall > Historical records of the town of Cornwall, Litchfield County, Connecticut; > Part 26
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Hon. Edward Royers, oldest son of Capt. Edward, was a gradu- ate of Williams College, studied law at the celebrated Law School of Gould & Reeves of Litchfield; m. Sally Maria Gold, daughter of Hezekiah Gold ;* settled in the practice of his profession in Madison, Mad. Co., N. Y. He was a member of the New York State Convention for framing the Constitution for that State. Was presiding Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, in Madison County, for many years. Judge Rogers represented the district in which he lived in the Congress of the United States. On his monument, in the cemetery of Madison, is this inscription:
* For children, see Gold family.
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HON. EDWARD ROGERS, Born May 30th, 1787-Died May 29th, 1857, A Scholar, a sound Lawyer, An Impartial Judge, An incorruptible representative of the people .*
Anson m. Philomela, daughter of Capt. Elias Hart of Cornwall, and had four children,-Cynthia A. m. D. L. Cartwright of Sharon; Lucretia H. m. Austin Brush, and now resides in the old home- stead; Edward H., North Cornwall, unmarried; Maria E. M. m. Niles Scoville of North Cornwall.
Col. Anson Rogers was widely known as largely occupied with public affairs, having held almost every important office in the gift of his townsmen. He was drafted in the War of 1812, and served the town as constable and collector for fourteen years in succes- sion. It was said of him that "he never served a writ without making a friend." He was a zealous worker to secure the location of the church at North Cornwall.
Noah and Edward Rogers appear on the town records as pur- chasers of land in December, 1761. The principal pieces were bought of William Gould; those near the church in North Cornwall now owned by Noah Rogers, and the estate of Anson Rogers, and a farm of six hundred acres lying in and on both sides of the Great Hollow, price £1,200. The family has always been one of the most substantial in town, always reliable in every good word and work.
Several members have received a liberal education, and are noted elsewhere, as Rev. J. A. R. Rogers and Ambrose Rogers, and in the other branch Hon. Edward and Hezekiah Gold Rogers.
A family gathering was held September 28, 1864, on the farm of Noah Rogers 6th. One hundred and twenty-five members of the family were present. After dinner, in which all heartily engaged, an historical address was given by Ambrose S. Rogers of New Milford, to whom we are indebted for many of these facts.
* Extract from a letter of Edward Rogers to his brother Anson, dated Madi- son, June 17, 1816. This advice commends itself to our regard, and shows the cast of the man :
" Punctuality in payment is all important, more especially to a young man. It is a maxim I have endeavored rigidly to adhere to. It is the life of credit, and a safe and secure course to pursue. 'I owe no man anything,' is a kind of guard against insult, and the crowing of a vain and miserly disposition which too often abounds in the world. It besides keeps a man above the cringing dependence so annoying to a man of delicate feelings."
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Then followed short speeches, anecdotes, etc. One incident related by O. Rogers Burnham is worthy of preservation:
"The Rev. Nathaniel Hawes, minister of the parish, became embarrassed and was intending to sell his little house, when it was proposed to raise the $750 he needed by subscription in shares of fifteen dollars each. The citizens generally subscribed one share each, but two young girls in the bloom and beauty of maidenhood, daughters of Noah Rogers, had put down their names for two shares each; and how," he asked, "did they obtain the money ? by keeping school at one dollar a week ! and thirty dollars then was more than ten times thirty now."
Anson Rogers said that his father Edward Rogers was a captain in the Revolution, and as the government scrip was valueless, he advanced $2,000 in gold to pay his men, which sum the govern- ment had never restored. Revolutionary relics of Capt. Rogers were presented, specimens of the handiwork of the mothers; but more interesting was a Bible printed in 1575, brought over in the May- flower. It had appended a "Book of Psalmes collected into English meter by Thomas Sternhold and John Hopkins."
Daniel Leete Rogers was an older brother of Noah 5th, and Ambrose S. was a younger brother. As stated elsewhere, this family have always been ready to bear a full share in all public burdens, and when Mr. Maynard left they bought his property for a parsonage, but it was not wanted for that purpose, and remained on their hands.
Henry Rogers, with his son William, and Dwight Rogers, sons of Daniel L., are farmers in North Cornwall. Noah the 6th still holds a portion of his paternal acres though residing in Bridge- port. The descendants of Capt. Edward also hold their lands by direct descent from him. These are important facts, in these days of change, for no single cause has done more for North Cornwall than this attachment to their paternal acres, for very many names cultivate the lands cleared from the forest by their ancestors.
The genealogist will notice with curiosity the occurrence of the names of Pratt and Leete as intermarrying with the Rogers' in Old England,-a custom so oft repeated in modern times, that the name of one family is suggestive of the others,-the last act being the marriage of Edward W. Leete of Guilford, with Hattie Rogers of Cornwall, for which reprisal was made by his brother Dwight in marrying Lucy, sister of Edward. Neither Guilford nor Corn- wall can complain of the trade: their children rise up and call them blessed.
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By intermarriage in North Cornwall the Rogers blood is mingled in most of the leading families that now reside there-as the Harrisons, Pratts, Harts, etc .- and frequent mention of them occurs in all parts of this History.
THE PRATT FAMILY.
In 1636, the Rev. Thomas Hooker, with a company of about one hundred men and women, the most of whom were members of his church, left what is now Cambridge, Mass., for the purpose of finding a new home somewhere along the valley of the Connecti- cut river. The most of the company traveled on foot, driving their cattle before them. After a few days they came to where the city of Hartford now stands. The fertility of the soil, the bountiful supply of game in the forests, and of fish in the river, all joined to recommend this as a desirable location, and there they pitched their tents and took up their abode.
Among those composing this company was Lieut. William Pratt, who came from Stevenage, in the County of Hertfordshire, Eng- land, about 1632. From that place his lineage is traced back direct to Thomas Pratt of Baldock, in Hertfordshire, who died in February, 1539. From this point the genealogical line backwards is not entirely perfect at one or two points, still it seems to run with a good degree of certainty back to Sir William Pratt, who in 1191 was a favorite officer under and accompanied Richard Cœur-de-Lion to the Holy Land in the Crusade wars.
In the division of lands in Hartford, the aforesaid William Pratt of Hooker's company drew lots on what is now North Main street in that city.
In 1637 he was one of a band who went from Hartford on an expedition against the Pequot Indians, the result of which was the annihilation of their power as a tribe. For his services on that occasion the General Court voted him one hundred acres of land. In 1645 he sold his possessions in Hartford, and removed to Say- brook in this State, where he became a large landholder. He rep- resented that town in the General Assembly thirteen years, from 1665 to 1678. He had eight children.
Following down in the line of the said William Pratt's descend- ants to the fifth generation, we find one David Pratt, born about 1725. He married Jerusha Chalker in 1748, and had by her six sons and three daughters. This family moved to Cornwall about 1780. Among the sons was Jasper, the third child, born in
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1756, and Miner, the youngest, born in 1768. These two sons were the only ones of the family who became permanent residents in this town.
Before the removal from Saybrook, Jasper Pratt had enlisted from that town at the commencement of the Revolutionary war, into the Third Connecticut Regiment, and served in the army seven years and three months, or until the close of the war. For most of the time he was stationed in New Jersey, guarding the coast from foraging parties from New York, who were called "Cow Boys." In one of these raids he was taken prisoner and confined three months in the city, when an exchange of prisoners released him.
One winter the regiment was ordered to the banks of the Hudson river. The weather was cold, he with others was scantily clothed, their shoes were miserably poor, and blood from their feet was often left in their tracks. They suffered severely in that trip, but they endured patiently to the end that their country might be free.
In those days there lived on the premises now owned by Har- vey Baldwin, a man by the name of Samuel Butler. He came from Windsor, in this State, about 1775, with a family of several daughters and one son. Mr. Butler was in infirm health, and did not live long after coming to Cornwall. It was not long after Mr. Butler died, before his wife was taken with the small-pox. She died, and her remains rest under one of the old tombstones now standing in the meadow a short distance west of the North Congregational meeting-house. Three or four other persons, who died of the same disease about the same time, were also buried there.
Of the daughters, one was married to Ozias Hurlburt, one to Simeon Emmons, one to Samuel Demming; and it so came about that the care of the farm devolved upon Abigail and Thankful, the two youngest of the daughters, and they were efficient in working it. They sheared their own sheep, spun the wool, and wove it into cloth. They also themselves sowed the flax and put it through all the necessary processes to get it into cloth. They disposed of considerable of their cloth for the benefit of the soldiers in the army, and took their pay in Continental money. They afterwards gave one hundred dollars of it for a sieve. Some of the linen cloth made by Abigail in those days, was, more than thirty years after- wards, worn by one of her grandchildren, and was in good condi-
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tion. Thankful Butler married a Mr. Fellows, by whom she had one son, Ephraim, who now lives in Wolcottville, Conn. Calvin Butler, who had a large family, and who owned a large farm in the northwest corner of this town, and who died about 1860, was a grandson of the aforesaid Samuel Butler. Soon after the war closed, Jasper Butler came to his Cornwall home, which was then on the south side of the road, opposite to where the foundation of Elias Scovill's former blacksmith shop now stands, and near the Butler place. The Butler girls had a hog to kill. They did not understand dressing pork as well as they did flax, and they em- ployed Jasper Pratt, then just home from the war, to help do it. On that occasion an intimacy between him and Abigail Butler had its starting point, which resulted in their marriage in 1785. "Tall oaks from little acorns grow." The Butler property was sold, and they purchased from Noah Rogers a farm on Cream Hill, to which they removed. He died February 24, 1833, aged seventy-seven years.
Mrs. Abigail Pratt was an active, energetic woman, with a well- ordered, intelligent mind, a retentive memory, and a will that often conquered difficulties which to others seemed insurmountable. She was a diligent Bible reader, and one of her grandchildren says, that in his childhood, when he had done something worthy of approval, she often commended him by some quotation from Solomon's proverbs; and when he was naughty, she would reprove by something drawn from the same source. She died March 11, 1845, aged ninety-five years, and her faculties were well retained to the last.
The children of Jasper and Abigail Pratt were: Hannah, born in 1789; Chalker, born in 1792; Abigail, born in 1795, married George Brewster, July 28, 1814.
Chalker married Lydia, daughter of Deacon Noah Rogers, and had two children, Russell R., born October 15, 1816; Helen A., born August 24, 1818, married Stephen Foster, of Morristown, N. J., who died March 10, 1863-she died in 1875.
Chalker Pratt was a man of influence in the community, ever ready to lend his aid to every good work, and an active member in the church of Christ. He was the agent for the Cornwall Iron Company for a number of years, until about 1840, when, as the Housatonic railroad drew near completion, he sold his farm on Cream Hill and removed to West Cornwall, where he had pur- chased land and erected buildings thereon, with reference to going
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into the mercantile business. He died August 26, 1851, aged fifty-nine.
Russell R. Pratt married Mary E., daughter of John Cotter. She died May 1, 1849, leaving one child, Harriet C., who married Col. C. D. Blinn, of West Cornwall, a merchant now residing in New Milford. Incidents in regard to Col. Blinn will be found in another part of this work. The second wife of Russell R. Pratt was Mary W. Bonney, of Danbury, Conn., a daughter of Rev. William Bonney, of New Canaan, Conn. He was a native of this town, and during his early years lived on the premises now owned and occupied by Edwin White, on Clark Hill. Russell R. Pratt and Stephen Foster, under the firm name of " Pratt & Foster," estab- lished a successful mercantile business at West Cornwall in 1841. Upon the death of Mr. Foster in 1863, the business was continued by his heirs, and now Mr. R. R. Pratt and R. P. Foster constitute the firm. Mr. Foster was a man of pleasing manners, great indus- try, indefatigable energy, and shrewd in his business plans. As a railroad contractor he was the first one in the construction of the Housatonic railroad to break ground north of New Milford, which was done at the Deep Rock cut near West Cornwall. The material interests of the church had his especial regard. His death, in the full vigor of life, was a serious loss to the church and community. Mr. R. R. Pratt, as an energetic business man, as selectman for seven years from 1856, as representative in 1858, as deacon of the church from 1854 to 1871, as superintendent of the Sabbath-school at West Cornwall since 1860, has filled and still holds a prominent position in the secular and religious interests of the town.
Stephen Foster and Helen A. Pratt had children,-Russel P .; Charles C., d. 1875; Lillie M., m. L. A. Bates, of Sharon, June 21, 1876.
Russel P. Foster m. Mary E. Beardsley, of Waterville, N. Y., and has children,-Frederic B., b. April 18, 1870; Brace, b. Ang. 25, 1873.
Miner Pratt, son of David and Jerusha, as before mentioned. m. Mary Ann, d. of Dea. Eliakim Mallory, December, 1795, and had children,-Harriet, b. Oct. 3, 1796, m. Daniel L. Rogers, son of Dea. Noah; Eliakim Mallory, b. Oct. 12, 1802, m. Abigail Rogers, d. of Dea. Noah, d. 1852; Ezra Dwight, b. Nov. 26, 1810, m. Anna Aurelia, d. of Dea. Ebenezer Rood, of Torringford; Almon Bradley, b. June 3, 1812, m. Amanda Rogers, d. of Dea. Noah. We remember Mr. Pratt as a man of untiring industry, sterling
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integrity, and interested in all matters pertaining to the public good.
Eliakim Mallory Pratt and Abigail Rogers had five children,- Hubert, b. March 25, 1832; Noah Miner, b. March 24, 1836; Mary M., b. Sept. 15, 1834, d. Sept. 17, 1834; Frances Delphine, b. Jan. 6, 1838; Harriette A., b. Oct. 15, 1842, d. Aug. 10, 1843.
Mr. Pratt first settled at Mt. Morris, N. Y., removed to Avon, N. Y., and thence to Flint, Mich., where he died in 1852. As a pillar in the church, he was a beautiful pattern; as a citizen, he was the noblest work of God-an honest man. Uniting with his religion sound judgment, business tact, and a pure taste, he became at once an individual in whose principles and character a general and unlimited confidence centered. Hubert R., his oldest son, m. Laura Mills, of Flint, Mich., and with his mother and sister, resides at Lansing, where he occupies a position of trust as first clerk in the office of the auditor-general of the State.
Noah Miner, second son, was born in Cornwall, resided in Detroit, Mich., where he enlisted as a private in the Eighth Regi- ment, and, as a lieutenant, was killed in battle at Wilmington Island, April 16, 1862. No words can describe the loss the country suffers in the death of such defenders. His colonel (Fenton) says: "No terms of endearment can be lavished on the memory of this heroic soldier, who gallantly stood on the battle- field facing danger and death, putting his trust in God."
Ezra Dwight Pratt and Mary Ann had children,-Mary Aurelia, died in infancy; Dwight Mallory, Harriette J., Hubert Miner. Mr. Pratt is a farmer on Cream Hill, and is still with us. We can only say that, as a deacon in the church, he has long honored the office, and as a citizen and a neighbor, honors his Christian profession. His son, Dwight M., graduated at Amherst, 1876, and is now in the theological seminary at Hartford.
Almon Bradley Pratt and Amanda had children,-Harriette A., m. Rev. Charles C. Starbuck; Amanda Isabel, m. Arthur Fairchild, son of President Fairchild, of Berea College; Noah Rogers, m. in Berea, and lives in Hastings, Neb. Rev. Almon B. Pratt was licensed and ordained by North Consociation of Litchfield County, and went to Michigan under commission of the American Home Missionary Society; ministered to a Congregational church in Genesee, Genesee County ; thence removed to Berea, Ky., as treasurer and steward of the college; thence to Nebraska, where he had charge of a church at Camp Creek at the time of his death, in 1875.
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Personal acquaintance enables us to speak freely of the purity, the honesty, the noble Christian character of our former classmate and friend.
THE BREWSTER FAMILY.
Widow Brewster came to Cornwall from Stratford in 1797, with two children,-George, eight years old, and his younger brother Nelson. Her husband had been lost at sea with his vessel, of which he was owner and captain, three years before.
George lived with Agur Judson till he went to learn his trade of carpenter and cabinet-maker, of Captain Williams. He lived where James O. Ford now lives at Cornwall Center, and followed his trade. He married Abigail Pratt, who still survives, and had children,-George S., m. Adeline Stone; Sarah, m. Josiah John- son, lives in California; Jasper, m. Susan Allen; Abigail B., m. James Armstrong, Ogdensburg, N. Y .; Maria, m. James Cotter, Ansonia; Lucius, m. Julia Kingwood, Brooklyn, N. Y .; Georgiana, lives in California.
Jasper alone, of the children, remained in Cornwall. Bought the farm of his uncle, Chalker Pratt, on Cream Hill, where he died Nov. 9, 1874. His sons, William and George, occupy the farm with their mother. Edward is a member of the Sheffield Scientific School at New Haven. Lydia, the only daughter, married Rollin M. Hubbard, and lives in Toledo, O. Jasper was a good farmer, a man of much energy, and quite prominent in town affairs.
Nelson Brewster studied law; resided in Goshen, where he married Lucretia Root, and had children,-William and Ephraim. William was a colonel in the War of the Rebellion, and was highly commended for his gallant conduct.
THE JONES FAMILY.
Caleb Jones died in Cornwall Dec. 9, 1786, aged seventy-four years.
Zachariah Howe Jones, son of Caleb Jones, died July 31, 1817, aged seventy-two years.
Caleb Jones, son of Zachariah Howe Jones, died Aug. 3, 1854, aged seventy-two years. Jane Ann, only child of the above Caleb, was born May 17, 1814, and was married to John T. Andrew, Sept. 9, 1839, and resides in the village of Cornwall.
Zachariah Howe Jones removed from Wallingford, Conn., to Cream Hill in Cornwall, and owned the farm since occupied by the
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late Deacon James Wadsworth. He afterwards removed to the south part of the town, called Dudleytown. He was one of a large family of brothers and sisters. He left two children,-Abby, m. David Patterson; and Caleb.
On the 28th of February, 1811, Caleb was married to Harriet Swift, daughter of Rufus Swift, and granddaughter of General Heman Swift, of the Revolutionary army, the friend and at one time the host of Washington .*
He lived generally respected by his fellow-citizens, and although of a retiring disposition, was twice elected member of the State legislature. He devoted the best years of his life to the cause of education, having himself taught parts of thirty-one years in the common schools of this town.
THE BEIRCE FAMILY.
JAMES BEIRCE, father of Joseph and James, came from eastern Massachusetts, probably Pembroke, about 1739, and settled on the old road east of the Burnham place. He afterwards removed to Cornwall Bridge. From him the late Peter Beirce, a prominent business man and politician, and James Beirce, of Cornwall Bridge, are descended.
THE CLARK FAMILY.
Ephraim Clark came from England early in the seventeenth century; his wife came from France in 1740, and they settled in Stratford. He came to Cornwall and bought most of the hill called after him, "Clark Hill." He was taken sick with the measles, returned to Stratford, and died there. His four sons, David, Hezekiah, Silas, and Uri, settled on his lands. David had a son, William, who lived on the place now occupied by his son, William L. Clark. William was a man highly respected by his townsmen; had a family of six sons and six daughters, who grew to maturity. They are now widely scattered, one, William Leavitt, remaining on the old homestead; has one son and three daughters.
Deacon VICTORIANUS CLARK was the son of Captain Nehemiah Clark, and brother of Pierce Clark. They had no relationship . with the other family of Clarks.
Mr. Clark was afflicted with an inflammation of his eyes, gave up farming, and made weekly trips to Hartford with the mail and passengers, to which he added the errand business, now dignified by the name of "express." He had a covered wagon and two
* Tradition reports that Washington once passed through Cornwall and stopped with Gen. Swift.
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horses. He left Cornwall early Monday morning, arriving in Hartford the same day. Returning, left Hartford about noon, and arrived in Cornwall Wednesday noon. He was entrusted with errands of all sorts, of which he took no memorandum, trusting alone to his memory, which never failed him. He was a man of much intelligence, and he managed to entertain his passen- gers so that the distance seemed short and the hills less tedious. About 1840 he removed to Wolcottvile and from there made semi- weekly trips to Hartford, and lived there till his death.
Cornwall can boast of few authors, and her history would not be complete without mention of one who in 1814 published a geography in rhyme. It was a volume of some one hundred and fifty pages, and was confined to the United States, called by the poet, " Fredonia."
Under the head of Character and Manners, Mr. Clark says of New England:
By talents and by worth alone Are candidates for office known ; And he who asks to be elected, Is very sure to be rejected. The men are tall, stout-built, and hardy ;
Their manners, like their persons, manly,
Unaffected, plain, and simple,
Generous, brave, and hospitable.
Oft on the female check the rose, Softened by the lily, glows; While just-proportioned forms impart
New graces to the sculptor's art.
The fair, tho' ranking high by birth,
By fortune, talents, and by worth, Like her,* the boast of Italy, Despising ease, use dexteronsly
The pencil, the embroidering steel, Or ply the useful spinning-wheel.
His patriotism is aroused by the "Militia of Tennessee":
Let no rash foe presumptuously
Rouse up the sons of Tennessee !
For brave are they, inured to wars. All ornamented with the scars Received in rescuing their land
From murderous and savage bands. When late the British lion led His legions o'er the ocean's bed To try the towering eagle's might
On Orleans' plains, in doubtful fight, She becked this hardy yeomanry, Who charged her legions merrily, With blood and carnage spread the plain,
And chas'd him homeward through the main.
* Lucretia.
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THE COTTER FAMILY.
Andrew Cotter was a blacksmith by trade, and emigrated to Cornwall from Haddam, and set up his shop and dwelling where Harvey Baldwin now resides, in North Cornwall.
He was much respected as a man and citizen, and married Rhoda Rogers, daughter of Dea. Noah Rogers. At his marriage, Dea. Rogers gave him the largest part of what is known as the "('otter Farm," situated on the Housatonic River. They were the parents of six children, two of whom died in infancy; names of survivors were John, Ambrose, Eber, Eliza.
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