History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 73

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1572

USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 73

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Justin Hobart and his wife, Hannah Penfield Ho- bart, both died in 1809, having lived beyond their "threescore years and ten;" and Justin Hobart, Jr., and his wife, Desire Burr, became the owners of the property. He was town clerk for one year, front 1813 to 1814. That generation having passed away, their daughter Hannah is the present owner and occupant.

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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

No. 4. This house was built in 1766 by Isaac Tucker, who sold it to Capt. Jonathan Maltbie. The latter was owner and occupant during the Revo- lutionary times. Mr. Henry Rowland, in writing some reminiscences, states that his "Grandfather Maltbie's was reserved for a 'cook-house.' After the conflagration the inhabitants of the town re- turned, when the British had gone on board their ships. A number of the British soldiers were killed, and buried where they fell. Father used to tell about the hands and feet appearing just above ground in front of the meeting-house, which proved to be a British officer buried in his regimentals (not far from 'Colonial' No. 4). Grandfather Maltbie, on return- ing to his house (he was a sea-captain in the East Judia trade), found all their valuable china scooped off the shelves on to the floor and broken into pieces, and everything upside down. In the kitchen, in the fireplace, hung a large brass kettle filled with their hams, but they dare not eat them, fearing they were poisoned ;" so they started anew with provisions.

Mr. Rowland, in his pleasant narrative,-which in this case relates to human nature (which was about the same sixty years ago as it is now) and the slave system, as well as to the owner of No. 4,-says, " About as soon as I could handle a broom my mother used to hire me to sweep the grass around the house with a stub whisk-broom. If in vacation- time, I made a short job as I could. If school-time, between the sessions,-my pay was a fourpence ha'- penny (6} cents),-it took me several days, and I thought I was making money. I began work as soon as the spring grass needed it. Old Kitt (eolored man) would lend a hand sometimes and take his pay in a drink of eider. He was brought from Guinea, a slave, by Grandfather Maltbie, who gave him to mother, and when she married, father bought him of her for a piece of land in the field, and he (father) gave him his freedom; and he afterwards was em- ployed on our place till he got so old he could no longer work, and died, as near as we could reekon his age, about one hundred years old. His wife was Diuah, who had, I think, seventeen children, all dead now except one. He was looked upon as one of our family, and was clever to us boys. We had a care for him as long as he lived.

Capt. Jonathan Maltbie's son inherited this place and sold it to Justin Hobart, Jr. (See No. 3.) His son, Edmund Hobart, is the present owner and oeeu- pant. He has filled the offices of judge of Probate, town treasurer, and postmaster.

No. 5. No records of the building of this house have been found. Henry Rowland settled in Fair- field in 1669. His son Samuel (1st) was born 1679, and died 1748. Samuel (1st) left a son Samnel (2d), born 1703, died 1782. The latter Samuel left a son Audrew, born 1737 and died 1802. Whether it was built for a Rowland is unknown, but Andrew Row- land was the possessor and occupant in 1779. He

married Elizabeth, daughter of Governor Fitch, of Norwalk, where his monument is, which contains this inseription :

" The Hon'ble Thomas Fitch, Esqr., Govr. of the Colony of Connecti- cut. Eminent and distinguished among mortals for great abilities, large acquirements and a virtuous character; a clear, strong sedate mind : an accurate, extensive acquaintance with law and civil government; a happy talent of presiding ; close application and strict fidelity in the dis- charge of important truthis; no less than for his employments, by the voice of the people, in the chief offices of state, and at tho head of the colony. Having served his generation, by the will of God fell asleep, July 18th, Ann Domini 1774, in the 75th year of his age."*

Mr. Henry Rowland-who has a handsome resi- dence coutiguous to the grounds where the Episcopal Churcht stood in 1779, and on which site a spacious hotel of great reputation was burnt some years later, and which is known now as the " hotel lot"-narrates the following: "My father (born in 1769, therefore ten years old at the burning of the town) in our boy- days used to interest and amuse us in stories about the Revolutionary war, eaused by excessive taxation and a colonial representation, which led the country into a revolt. The town of Fairfield was much larger than it now is (1880) before it was burnt. There was a large Episcopal church standing in the 'hotel lot,' fronting the street leading to the depot. In the steeple of this church father went to the top to have a good view of the landing of the British on the beach. While father was enjoying the sight a towns- man appeared up there to watch the movements of the enemy, who, surprised to find a boy there with no auxious coneern (the troops were marching up Beach Lane), said to him, 'Unless you make your escape, you'll be killed. Make haste, you young rascal, and get away.' Father went down into the street in hot haste, and saw great commotion amoug the people. He mounted his old white mare and put for out of the village double quick. Up the street he went, turned the corner at the meeting-house, and pushed on as fast as the old mare could earry him towards Capt. Jennings', ¿ with the bullets whizzing by his head without hitting. The troops had now reached the green. He turned Capt. Jennings' corner, put for Smith's Hill,-now Deacon Joseph Lockwood's, -- where Capt. Smith had a six-pounder on wheels,

* See Barber's Connecticut Historical Collections.

t This was the second Episcopal church in Fairfield, the first having been located on the grounds on Mill Plain now owned by Mr. Frederic Sturges, nearly opposite his mother's, Mrs. Mary Sturges, and near the house occupied by Mrs. Burr Clemons. This -church changed its site every time a new one was built, as the third one was located on the green ou Mill Plain, the fourth was in Southport. The present oue in Fairfield is a new organization, being St. Paul's; the other four bore the name of Trinity, which was founded by

" Mr. Abraham Adams, who dec'd Aug. ye 9th, 1729, in ye 80th year of his age. Having been a worthy Founder and liberal Benefactor to Trinity Church."

His body was buried in the burying-ground in the rear of the first Episcopal church, under the above inscription.

# Now Capt. Isaac Jennings (1880).

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banging away, hit or miss, at the British assembled on the green. Father was gone three days among the cedars, living upon apples. On his return he found the church from which he made his exit and the town all burnt, except a few houses, and the smoking remains and live coals in the cellars. His father's house (now Benjamin Betts') was among the saved. Grandmother Rowland remained in the house; the other inmates fled. A British officer with his men went to fire it, when she told them of a favor she liad done ycars before to a British officer, and in conse- quenee her house was spared. She was a heroic woman, to stand alone at her post in danger. Her husband and children, she knew not where they were nor in what condition, but he (Andrew Rowland) lived till 1802, and his wife till 1825."

This heroine rests not far from the gate in the old burying-ground, under this slab :

" Elizabeth Rowland, the widow of Andrew Rowland, Esq., and daughter of the lato Governor Fitch, of tlils State, died March 29tlı, 1825, in her 87th year."

Andrew Rowland (1737 to 1802) was educated at Yale College, and was a lawyer, State attorney and judge of Probate, and justice of peaec. He left a famous will, which is recorded in the Probate Ree- ords. An extract from the preamble reads :

" I order my executors to inter my body in a Christian manner, that there be no funeral sermon nor pall-bearers. I order there be no pres- ents given on the occasion, and desiro thero be no culogium or panegyric from pulpit or otherwise at any time whatever; in my opinion, they do no good. I direct an inscription on my grave-stone, to contain the month and day and year of my death, and the year of my age."

Among the items of distribution is mention of "a large landed estate lying south of Lake Erie, and conveyed by grant by the General Assembly to mc and others, of one half-million acres of land." There are also items by which a valuable property is con- veyed, but space forbids a full copy.

His son Samuel (third of that name), 1769 to 1837, was prepared for college by the celebrated Dr. Dwight at Greenfield Hill. He graduated from Yale. He was a lawyer and turnpike surveyor from Fairfield to the New York line. He was town elerk from 1794 to 1813, and from 1814 to 1837. -

His son, Mr. Henry Rowland, is a prominent flour- merchant iu New York City, though he spends several mouths yearly in Fairfield. He is a publie-spirited man, and is much attached to his native town. He has three sons : Henry Edwards Rowland, who grad- uated at Prineeton College in 1872; Samuel Rowland, who is active in Church and State, full of the spirit of his fathers ; Amory Edwards Rowland, who grad- uated at the seientifie school at Yale College in 1873.

Mr. Andrew Rowland disposed of this "Colonial No. 5" to Gershom Sturges, who in time transferred it to Andrew Joy (now of Bridgeport). He sold it to Miss Sarah White, who in her younger days " kept school," "where," as Mr. Rowland says, " the ele-

ments of life were taught, including sewing and kuit- ting, to the boys as well as girls. In those days the juvenile duties were great. Many a child broke down under its burden, and resorted to a corner of the school-room, where an old quilt and pillow were used for naps to such as could not keep their eyes open."

Miss White was a very methodical person, as her journal for fifty years shows. It has proved of value to the citizens for reference. For several years she wove in personal matter; after that it was but a nar- ration of general facts,-the wind and the weather. Her system of keeping accounts might be advan- tageous to all who would adopt it. All money re- ceived or paid out was entered, with the date of the transaction. One time she was called upon to renew her insurance. She had done so, but, for some cause, the policy had not been forwarded. A reference to her books caused her lawyer to state that her method of doing business would stand a legal test and was of as much value as a reecipt from the firm or company. A fisherman's bill was not paid over the second time for the same reason.

Some of these journals are in the possession of Mrs. Jane Kippen, daughter of Samuel A. Nichols (see " Colonial," No. 18). Miss White lived in this house several years, when she was gathered to her fathers in a ripe old age, but not till she had willed her posses- sions to two Misses Wakeman, from whom this prop- erty was purchased by Mr. Benjamin Betts, being near his store and also contiguous to his father's (Mr. Moses Betts) premises. Mr. Moses Betts was town elerk from 1863 to 1867, and held offices of trust in Church and State for many years. He was engaged in mercantile business most of his years, which numbered at their elose seventy-six. His wife also died the same year (1880). (Sce No. 13.)

No. 6. Here a little prefatory history is necessary, to appreciate the subsequent matter : William Redfin, or Redfield," was, in 1639, the owner of a house and four acres of land ou the south side of Charles River, about six miles from Boston. In 1646 he disposed of that property, and shortly after is supposed to have removed to Pequot, the present site of New London, with a party of settlers, under the leadership of Johu- athan Brewster, sou of Elder William Brewster, of the Plymouth Coiony. The name of William Redfyn re- appears, at least in this new settlement, in 1653, in connection with the transfer of certain lands to said Redfyn; and here the name appears to have beeome changed, inasmuch as in the New London records the forms are used interchangeably in the same deed or document. William Redfin died in 1662. His son James was apprentieed to a tanner (bound to him for five years), but does not appear fully to have acquired the trade, on account of his employer, Hugh Roberts, breaking up his business. We find James afterwards

* Taken from the Redfield Genealogy, which was the first one ever compiled in this country. This was done in 1819.

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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

exercising the vocation of a weaver. He resided (1) at New London ; (2) near the fort in Saybrook; and (3) at New Haven. Also he appears to have been an inhabitant of Martha's Vineyard for a year (1671). He had three sisters, one of whom (Lydia) married Thomas Bayley, who was slain in the disastrous In- dian ambush at Bloody Brook, Mass., Sept. 18, 1675, under command of Capt. Lothrop, in King Philip's war. James Redfield, the first (born 1646), came to Fairfield about 1693. Here he married, for his second wife, Deborah, daughter of John Sturges, who was a freeman of Fairfield as early as 1660, and a promi- nent man in the community. He had a son James (2d) baptized in Fairfield in 1696. He made over his Fairfield property to his son James (2d) during his life, and is said to have resided near Hyde's Pond, which was entirely drained and filled up by Mr. Fred- eric Sturges in 1879.

James (2d) was the father of James (3d) and John. The latter son married, in 1758, Mary (Hull) Jennings, widow of Dr. Seth Jennings, whose daughter, Esther Jennings, married Peter Burr, of Fairfield.

Probably this house was built by John Redfield. At all events, his family occupied it in 1779, and were among the sufferers from the brutalities of the British soldiers under the infamous Tryon. Mr. Redfield was away from home, but in the house were his aged step- mother, his wife, Lucretia, and a child. A party of the enemy, with three officers, came to the house and ordered it to be fired, alleging that one of their men had just before been taken prisoner in that vicinity. Mrs. Redfield by exertions succeeded in extinguishing the fire, although the burning was four times at- tempted.

During the night the British soldiers roamed through the village without the slightest control from their officers, and three of them entered the house of Mrs. Redfield, where they destroyed the furniture, ransacked and plundered the house, and rifled the pockets of the inmates. Even the gray hairs of Mr. Redfield's widowed mother did not protect her from plunder and gross insult, and his wife was saved from shameful violence by the opportune entrance of two men, one of whom stated that he had been a prisoner in that town, and had experienced civility and kindness from its inhabitants. These men remained and protected the family through the remainder of the night.

The committee which was afterwards appointed to estimate the losses sustained by the inhabitants of Fairfield by conflagration and plunder on this occa- sion reported the loss of John Redfield, £38 28. 4d. ; Widow Sarah Redfield, £31 158. 6d .; Mrs. Lucretia Redfield, £28 38. 4d .*

The widow of Capt. John Redfield married Henry Marquand; he probably died here, and was buried in the old burying-ground. His tombstone in the old ground bears the following:

"In memory of Henry Marquand, Born July 8th, 1737, on the Island of Guernsey, and died July the 12, 1772, after a residence of eleven years in America. This Stone Erected to commemorate his memory by his only son Isaac Marquand, July 4, 1808, Æ 80. In memory of Gurdon Seymour Marquand, son of Isaac & Mabel Marquand, Born September, 1801, and died 15 May, 1805."

Isaac Marquand married Mabel Perry. (" Colo- nial," No. 9.) An old journal written by one of Capt. Edwin Sherwood's ancestors says that Henry Marquand was a Frenchman and came from the West Indies to the United States and married Widow Red- field. Their son was a jeweler, and married Mabel Perry. They were the parents of Henry, Josiah, Frederic, etc.

The widow, Mrs. Marquand, must have sold this place to Joseph Perry, as the late Samuel Perry stated that he went there to live when only five years old, and he would be eighty-eight if living. He married a Redfield descendant, and his daughter married a Redfield, as the following shows: Sarah Redfield (probably reared here) married William Bulkeley, of Southport, son of William and Elizabeth Burr Bulke- ley. The last named was one of the largest property- holders of the borough of Southport. He built the house (see "Colonial," 50) in which Miss Emily Meeker resides, and owned all the land on the east side of the bridge, including the woods to the water's edge, also the land where Mr. George Bulkeley now resides, the Congregational church, the railroad sta- tion, and all the land east of it to the main road. He died in 1787, aged forty-one .; His son William (who married Sarah Redfield), born in 1768, inherited the paternal homestead, which was not burned during the Revolutionary war. He built the store, now im- proved, occupied by W. B. Meeker, keeping a country supply-store and sending market-boats to New York City. Upon a business visit to the city he was taken ill with the yellow fever, brought home, and died in 1808, aged forty. Mrs. Sarah Redfield Bulkeley died in 1842, aged seventy-six. They had seven children, one of whom, Henrietta, born 1797, married Samuel Perry, of Fairfield, a cabinet-maker and undertaker. They were the owners and occupants for several de- cades of "Colonial No. 6," both of them attaining a life of not far from fourscore years. They left two daughters,-Emily, who married George Ryder, Esq., of Danbury, and Sarah, who married Daniel Marsh Redfield, of Portchester. He is the son of the late Mr.

* State Papers at Hartford, Revolutionary War, vol. xv., folio 256.

t See Bulkeley Genealogy, page 197.

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FAIRFIELD.

Isaac B. Redfield, and grandson of Daniel Marslı, of Litchfield, Conn. The latter couple resided with Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Perry till their decease, when they became the owners, and have continued their residence here since.

It is peculiar in structure, being a double house, having but one stairway to reach the second story, and that accessible only through the kitchen. The piazza is supported by Ionian pillars. The whole house has been well preserved, and bids fair to stand another hundred years.

No. 7. This house was built by a Nathan Beers, who died in 1813, in his seventy-ninth year ; his wife, Abigail, lived to be ninety. This property has been in the Beers family for generations.

As this part of the town was where they originated, a few words for the race will appropriately come in here. They were noted for their longevity, judging from their tombstones. Nathan Beers, son of the above Nathan, died 1835, in his seventy-ninth year ; his wife, Mehetable, died in " 1824, aged seventy-one years one month and thirteen days." Another of the Beers family is thus epitaplied :

"In this spot are deposited the remains of "William Pitt Beers (Late of Albany, in the State of New York). Called to the Tomb in the meridian of life and of usefulness, his memory will be cherished in the affections of a bereaved family and a numerous circle of relatives and friends. He died 13th Septr, 1810, Aged 44 years."

Captain David Beers died 1826, aged eighty-one. One stone in the old burying-ground contains, --

" Here lies the body of Lieutenant James Bears, . died 1772, aged 79."

This house (No. 7) is owned by Mr. Abraham Gould and Mrs. Eliza Beers, relict of James Beers, and occupied by the same parties.

Mr. Samuel Beers was once high-sheriff in the town. His grandson, Mr. W. A. Beers, wields the pen gracefully as contributing editor of the Southport Times, which has the following history: "The first paper published in Fairfield was issued as the South- port Advertizer, published by Messrs. J. H. Wood, J. F. Jennings, and Thomas Bradley for one year, after which the name was changed to Southport. Chronicle, with the same proprietors excepting George Baker, the present editor of the Stamford Advocate. Two years later the original partners withdrew and Mr. Baker associated with him Mr. Benjamin F. Bulke- ley. Three years later the Chronicle Association was organized, C. M. Gilman, Esq., editor, with a capital of three thousand dollars. It is now an independent conservative paper, having for editor Rev. Henry A. Van Dalsem,. of Southport. Contributing editors, William A. Beers, of Fairfield; William H. Smith,

of Mill Plain; Chas. H. Gray, of Greenfield. (Ece "Colonial," No. 50.)

By the efforts of W. A. Beers the Times has ac- quired its popularity, and his articles are frequently copied in the New York papers as works of much merit.

No. 8. This " colonial" was built by David Osborn, where he brought his wife Mary Beers (see "Colonial," No. 7) Osborn. Here were their three sons-Hezekiah, Daniel Beers, and David-born, whom their parents saw make a beginning in life. Hezekiah built him a house, occupied now by Mrs. Burr Clemons (belong- ing to Mr. Frederic Sturges), and there he brought his wife, Nancy, daughter of Peter and Sarah Brad- ley Perry. (See "Colonial," No. 9.) Hezekiah fol- lowed the sea and was captain of a vessel. He moved to Black Rock; from thence they accompanied their children to Verona, N. Y., where they died .. She was nearly one hundred years old. The sons went to Kansas, and were there located at latest reports. Daniel, born May 5, 1779, took the house built for Hezekiah, and brouglit his wife, Sally Wakeman, a near descendant of the Rev. Samuel Wakeman, an- cestor of most of the Wakemans in town, of whom Andrew P. Wakeman is at present a prominent and efficient town officer. Here were born Mrs. Eben Burr,* of Fairfield, and Mrs. Lyman Wilcox, of Illinois. David married Rebecca Sturges, daughter of Benjamin Sturges, to whom the grant was given on Mill River for a fulling-mill. He (David Osborn) built the house occupied by Miss Rebecca S. Carew, and, in company with his father, David kept a coun- try store on the corner opposite the new graded school-house and Miss Carew's. There was also a shoemaker's shop attached to the store. The father died in 1813, aged seventy, with the typhus fever, which was then an epidemic. Two bachelors, Jona- than and Aaron Becrs, were afraid to pass a house where there was a victim of the disease, but they both took it and died with it. The son David died in 1815.

The store was moved to the premises now owned by Mr. Charles Smith, son of Master Elnathan Smith, who was aide-de-camp to Gen. Washington. He afterwards taught a select school on Mill Plain. There is one lady living (Mrs. Elizabeth Meggs, now seventy-nine, who was born on the spot where St. Thomas' church (Catholie) now stands, since it was removed) who attended his school, and who relates that he would in his last years go to sleep, and the children would tickle his nose. While the store stood on the Smith premises it was occupied by Maj. Sam- ucl Beers (brother of Mrs. Mary Beers Osborn and father of Mr."-Henry J. Beers), who was deputy sheriff of the county and kept the jail, and there he died.

This store was then moved to the premises of Mr.

* See " Special Houses," No. 2.

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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

Samuel Perry (see "Colonial," 6), who used it in his cabinet business or as a shop. It was moved again on the highway above Mr. Ebenezer Burr's and converted into a dwelling, owned at present by James Flanagan.

From the family of David and Mary Osborn have descended four generations, whichi constitute a goodly portion of Fairfield and form a worthy line.

In 1876 a centennial party was held here, which proved to be a family gathering, as many of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren formed a large share of the company. Dresses were there that prob- ably were worn in the same house one hundred years before, and had figured at balls and parties at that date. The oldest dresses worn originally belonged to .Miss Abigail Burr, sister of Gen. Gershom Burr. " Hats and cloaks that had ridden on horseback with their owners five or ten miles to hear some famous divine expound the doctrines of Christianity were present ; also ancient wedding-dresses were displayed, looking as well as when they decked the brides for whom they were made, all of whom have long been sleeping the peaceful sleep that knows no waking."* These garments are stored away carefully for future use,-fitting habiliments to wear in these old houses once in a hundred years.

The Osborns have been very numerous in Fairfield. Among the stones in the old graveyard one reads,-

" Here lyes Buried the Body of Capt John Osborn, who departed this life Oct 13th, A. D. 1760, in ye 78th year of his age."

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History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 73

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co. Number of Pages: 1572

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1572