History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 77

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 77

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

until his death. Besides being professor of belles- lettres, oratory, and theology, he taught a class prepar- ing for the ministry, preaching in the college chapel twice every Sunday. "He was untiring in industry and research, of a great system and wonderful memory ; as a teacher, remarkable for his skill and success; as a writer, interesting and sensible; and as a preacher, sound, strong, impressive, and at times highly elo- quent."* His poem "Greenfield Hill: in Seven Parts," published in 1794, will long be cherished in that village, although the original copies are exceed- ingly scaree. The licads of the arguments are: "I. The Prospect; II. The Flourishing Village; III. The Burning of Fairfield; IV. The Destruction of the Pequots ; V. The Clergyman's Advice to the Villagers; VI. The Farmer's Advice to the Villagers; VII. The Vision ; or, Prospeet of the Future Happiness of Ameriea."

No. 22. Near the northern limits of the town are the Sherwood premises. Here was a house built by Eleazer Sherwood, a son of Joseph Sherwood, the original owner of Mill Hill, a descendant of Thomas, who is the first Sherwood recorded in Fairfield, he having bought land in 1653, and from whom has come a worthy host of deseendants. He came from Sher- wood Forest, in Seotland. This Eleazer married Mary Squire, of Fairfield, and settled on a farm mentioned above. The old colonial house was torn down not long ago, but some of the same material was used in the present structure, which stands on the same site.

It is worthy of mention that some of the people of Fairfield, fearful that their hard-earned possessions would be destroyed, removed them to Mr. Sherwood's quarters, but the British, who were on their way to Danbury, passed along this street, destroying prop- erty without merey. In this ease, however, Mrs. Sherwood fed them to the best of her ability, and thus was favored in having her own property saved.

At Eleazer's deeease Hezekiah beeame owner; he also built a dwelling, which stands in sight of Mr. Eli Sherwood's. He died twenty-nine years ago, aged seventy-four. Eli Sherwood (the father of Deaeon L. F. Sherwood, merehant and postmaster in Southport) was the late owner.

No. 23. This house has been in the family for three generations only, and was built by Joseph Sherwood somewhere between 1750 and 1760. When the Brit- ish entered this house for plunder on their Danbury route, they tore up Mrs. Sherwood's silk dresses. They shot at Joseph Sherwood himself, but hit his hat only; but they took him prisoner with the inten- tion of taking him with them, but he was lame, having had his leg broken for some time. He complained that he was unable to marel. To convince them of the eause of his impediment in traveling, he exhibited his broken (though then well) leg; whereupon they released him. This place deseended to his son Joseph, Jr., and from

See American Cyclopedia.

pt p.

·f

ed d-

he ET,

be it of b.

his

FT.

of te:

308

HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

him to Solomon or Salmon, who is the present owner and occupant.

No. 24. This was built, about 1755, by Ensign Jeliiel Sherwood, who had several children, all of whom were born here. Among themn was one Stephen, born in 1775, who bought out the other heirs. All his children were also born here. This dwelling is in good repair, and is owned by Miss Sarah Sherwood, who is the present occupant, and sister of Mrs. Eliza Beers, who has a life-right in "colonial" No. 7.

No. 25. Built by Samuel Whitney, who was the owner when the British passed there, this house was vaeated temporarily, but no depredation was eom- initted by the enemy further than the appropriation of the food and drink left behind in the hasty de- parture of its inmates. This property was afterwards owned by David Fanton, who sold it to Charles Wake- man, who repaired and uprighted it. He dying, it fell to liis brother, Eli Wakeman, who uses it for a ten- ement-house. Frederic Thorp is present oeeupant.

No. 26. This is an old-fashioned, long-roofed, red farm-house, and was built by John Banks in 1755; owned next by his daughter Ellen, who married Samuel O. Banks. The third owuer was Mary Banks, who sold it to Eli Sherwood (see No. 22), and he to Jonathan Banks. The next transfer was to Thomas Goodsell, the great-grandson of the Rev. John Good- sell. (See No. 18.) The next owner was William B. Sherwood. The eighth and last is Wilson Sherwood. The British made a visit to this substantial home, but were satisfied with plundering without destroying it.

No. 27. Moses Banks was the builder of this house. He left a fine farm to his son, Timothy Banks, which is now oeeupied by T. Minot Banks,* a man whose scholarly perceptions exeeed his finaneial ability ; and sister. In building, it was eontemporary with the above houses.

No. 28. This was built by John Banks, and was next owned by Nathan Banks, born 1760, died 1847. His wife, Mabel Bradley Banks, attained the age of ninety-five. He had a farm of one hundred aeres, but he was not sufficiently robust to eultivate it per- sonally, so he taught a seleet sehool here for years. He held some rank in the army, and conducted twenty prisoners ("Red-eoats") from Fairfield to Hartford, all parties walking every step of the way. In this house is the following record of his serviees in the Revolutionary war:

" Ist tour, to Stratford and Green's farms, under Col. Whiting, in 1776. "2d tour, to Fairfield, under Lieut. Nathan Secley, in 1777.

"3d tour, to Horseneck (now Greenwich), under Capt. St. John, in 1778.

" 4th tour, when Fairfield and Norwalk were burnt, in 1779.

"5th tour, to Fairfield, under Capt. Isaac Jervis, in 1780.

" Gth tour, to Compo, under Ensign Jehiel Sherwood (see No. 24), in I781."

It is now owned by Miss Pamelia Banks. Among her relies she had an old-fashioned elock, but one day, while absent, a boy on the place utilized (?) the leaden weights and pendulum to melt for bullets. She had two eannon balls-"British reminiseenees"-for a long time, one of which disappeared; tlie other Dr. M. V. B. Dunham exhibits among liis curiosities.

No. 29. The house built by Deaeon Daniel Banks is considered to be one huudred and fifty years old. He died in his one hundredth year. Late in life he lived around among his children, but went home to the house he built to die. His son Lyman also died there, aged eighty-one years. His tomb in Greenfield is marked thus:

"In Memory of Dea. Daniel Banks, died Jan. 16, 1839, in the 100 year of his age."

Lyman Banks had three sons,-Lyman, Sereno, and William. Lyman was taken sick and died while a student at Yale; Sereno went to a neighbor's to assist him in removing a roek, but the lever, a large erowbar, slipped from the fulerum aud struek him (Sereno) in the pit of the stomaeli, which resulted in his death. The son William died not far from the age of eighty.+

This house has been repaired, aud the old stone chimney replaced by a small briek one. The kitehen now awaits repair from a reeent fire. The present owner of these premises is Mrs. Sarah S. Sherwood.

+ In addition to the above sketch of the Banks family the following is contributed by Mr. A. B. Hull :

"BANKS .- The ancestor of all of this family-name in Fairfield County was Jolin Banks, who married a daughter of Charles Taintor, of Wethers- field, where he was town clerk in 1643; removed soon after to Fairfield, of which town he was representative several years between 1651 and 1666 ; removed to Rye, N. Y., and was representative from that town 1670 to 1673. He made his will Dec. 12, 1684. In it he mentioned sons- John, Samuel, Obadiah, and Benjamin-and daughters- Susannah Sturges, Hannah, wife of Daniel Burr-and sister, Mary Taylor. He had a son, Joseph, not mentioned in this will. Obadiah died in Fairfield in February, 1691, and Benjamin the next year. Of Samuel nothing reliable is known. Both at Fairfield and Greenwich those of the name are nu- merous, and also at Redding, where some of Joseph's descendants set- tled.

" Gershom Banks was born May 1, 1712. He was married three times, and his children were Daniel, Marannah, Thomas, Jane (who died in infancy), Gershom, Joseph, Jane, Noah, Elijah, Hyatt, and Isaac. Ger- slioni Banks, Jr., married his cousin, Ruth, daughter of Benjamin Banks, April 20, 1774. Their children were Ruth, Mary, Huldah, Noah, Gershom, Charles, Lucy, and Cynthia.

" The children of Benjamin Banks were Molly, Benjamin, Hezekiah, Mabel, Ruth, Esther, Ellen, Anna, and Jonathan.

- " This family was noted for longevity. Benjamin Banks died at the age of one hundred and two years, and his oldest great-grandson, Rev. Daniel Banks, preached his funeral sermon. His oldest child, Molly, widow of Moses Ogden, lived to the age of one hundred and three. When the British marched to Daubury in 1777, Mary, daughter of Gershom Banks, Jr., was a child less than a year old, and was with others, women and children, together with such articles as could be hastily collected, conveyed in an ox-cart to a place of safety. Gershom Banks, Jr., and his brother-in-law, Jonathan Banks, were captured and taken to New York, but were soon liberated. The house was plundered of everything of value. The daughter, Mary, who had such an early experience of the horrors of warfare, married, first, Francis Bradley, Jr., and afterwards Ezra Hull, of Redding."

* The first Banks in Fairfield was Jolin, who purchased land there in 1649. From him are descended probably all the Banks. They were so numerous that two districts in the town are named for them : the North and South Banks District. Longevity, honesty, industry, and frugality are prominent traits in this line of settlers.

309

FAIRFIELD.

No. 30. This house was built by Gershom Thorpe; date not aseertained, but, from the traditions and records in families in Greenfield, its being a "colonial" is undeniable. When the British made their raid in these parts, the owner, Gershom Thorpe, hid behind the chamber-door. His wife, full of courage, mnet thie foe at the door. They asked if there was a man or a gun in the house, to which she replied, "No." She fed them, and they passed on and took prisoner Ben- jamin Banks, who was driving oxen near by. They conveyed him to Danbury and to New York, where in time he was exchanged. He returned, married, settled, and multiplied.

This house is small, but large families have been brought up in it. The second owner was Eli Thorpe, son of the builder, Gershom Thorpe. The third owner was James Goodsell, grandson of the Rev. John Goodsell, first pastor in Greenfield. The fourthi owner is the present occupant, Mr. Simeon Banks.

No. 31. The old house on these premises was built by Gershom Banks, who attained the age of eighty, and his widow that of niuety-seven. It has been moved from its former site to give place for a new structure, though it is to be preserved for a storage- house. A large family has also emanated from this old dwelling. It is now owned by Abraham Banks, grandson of the builder, and his wife is a daughter of James Goodscll, once the owner of "No. 30."

Jonathan Banks, brother of Benjamin Banks, above, heard the British were advancing in this direc- tion, went into his house, seized a robin-gun, and started to alarm the neighbors. As he opened the door to this house to go to the next he met a British soldier, who asked him what he was going to do with that gun. He replied, "Shoot robins." The soldier responded, "Shoot 'Red-coats.' " He took Jonathan prisoner with him to Danbury, and then to the fa- mous "Sugar-house" in New York, where he had the smallpox. In time he and his brother Benjamin were exchanged, and he came home to his father, who built the " colonial" No. 32.

No. 32. The first owner and builder of this house was Benjamin Banks, who was born in 1703 and died 1805. He had the two sons above, who were taken prisoners. One of them, Jonathan, was the next owner, aud his wife, like himself, had a rough experi- ence. She was Molly Wakeman, daughter of Gershom Wakeman. As soon as he heard the enemy was at Compo he mounted his horse and started in the defense of his country. A bullet struck him in the forehead, as he rode to join the forces, and he fell dead. His wife fled, leaving the children of his first wife to care for themselves. Molly, the eldest, took the rest of the children and the eow and passed up a baek lane to the woods, where they spent a week, subsisting on the milk of this eow. They were terribly anxious about the animal, fearing that it might make a noise and discover to the enemy their place of seeretion. After a week they returned to their home, where in time

Molly became Mrs. Banks. These were the grand- parents of Mrs. Isaac Milbanks, in house " No. 17." Jonathan's daughter was the owner next; afterwards it fell to Zalmon Bradley, who is the present proprie- tor. It was converted into a barn some years since, and in a few years this landmark will disappear.

No. 33 is located in the northeastern part of Green- field. It was built by Jabez Thorpe,-a name which is of considerable antiquity in England and exten- sively known in this section. They had more of a maritime taste or were merchants. Capt. Stephen Thorpe was left homeless through the disaster at Fairfield, July 7, 1779. He purchased after it Chan- cellor Kent's home in Westport. Andrew Thorpe was a merchant for many years in New York. He died suddenly at his mansion on Mill Plain in 1876.

After Jabez Thorpe, Zalmon Price had possession ; later, Samuel, son of Nathan Bradley. The present owner, William Bradley, captain in the State militia, oceupies the house alone ; it has undergone repairs of late, so that it is quite habitable for those of hermit- ical inclinations.

No. 34. This is known as the "Lobdell" house, though it is very old, having been built by Samuel Bradley (1st), who died in 1771. Here his first capi- tal was "the jug of rum and a fiddle." Rum was a common article in those days, and one of the staples of trade. As near as can be remembered without a wearisome search of records, David Downes was the next owner, and he was succeeded by Eliphalet Meeker. The Meekers belong to an old family. Many of the descendants live in the western part of Green- field parish, and many lie in Greenfield burying- ground. One is commemorated thus :

" 1IERE LYES BURIED THE BODY OF DEACON DAVID MEEKAR, who departed this Life April ye 14th, 1754, In the 67th year of his age."

The present owner is William Lobdell, who was born in Westchester Co., N. Y. This house is in good repair, but its ancieut style of large beams and low eeilings is preserved.

No. 35. This was an old-fashioned long-roofed house built by Hezekiah Price about 1770. He too lies in the Greenfield ground, with this slab above him :

" In Memory of Mr Hezekiah Price, who died April 15, 1816, in the 73 year of his age."

His wife's stone is separated from his by a cedar- tree. It reads :

مـ

en nt

the BET.

310

HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

" Died on the 29 of Nov., 1843, Eunice Price, widow of Hezekiahı Price, & daughter of David Beers, in the 100 year of her age.

She lived a life of piety & devotion to the service of God, and died in the hope of a glorious resurrection."

Their son Hezekiah inherited and remodeled it. His daughter, Mrs. Betsey Calligan, is the present owner and occupant.

No. 36. This house is of Bradley origin. Its present owner is William Hawley Bradley, son of Capt. Hezekiah Bradley, who was son of Maj. Me- dad Bradley, who was the son of Hezekiah Bradley, son of Samuel Bradley who occupied the house "No. 34," owned now by William Lobdell. It is difficult to ascertain who was the builder. It is a very old domicile, and in fact uninhabitable. The Bradleys were in the " colonials" so near of blood kin, and so numerous, and lie so thick in the Greenfield ground, that a few inscriptions are here given :

" In Memory of Abigail Bradley, who Died Sept. 1, 1777, in her 18th Year, Saralı Bradley, who Died Februy 28th, 1775, in her 5th year, and Abigail Bradley, who Died Oct. 10th, 1779, in her 1st year. All daughters of Hezekiah & Abigail Bradley Stay, thou - maiden, stay ;

Learn how earthly joys decay.

Here three lovely sisters sleep; Read their fare, and, reading, weep.

Swift the hours, deceiving, fly ;

Death unseen is ever nigh : Soon the form of healthiest bloom Think how soon may find a tomb. Wisdom, then, and heaven to gain, Early seek, nor read in vain."

" In memory of

Doctr Aaron Burr Bradley, born April 22d, 1769, died February 18th, 1814."

This is a simple inscription. The following is as short as can be found :

" Samuel Bradley, Esqr. Obt. Aug. 29, 1804, Æt. 70.

This Bradley house stands on Burr's Highway, and is on the estate of Eldad Gould, a sea-captain, who accumulated quite a property. William H. Bradley's daughter married George Gould, whose death was oc- casioned by a stone falling on his head while in a well, injuring him fatally.

No. 37. Another house on Burr's Highway, a large dwelling, was built by Eliphalet Lyon, who lived to be ninety-four. He was a weaver, and very skillful in the art. One day Dr. Dwight came to see him and brought a piece of carpet he had obtained in New Haven, and asked if he could weave like that. Mr.

Lyon, after raveling a piece, replied that he could, and stated that if he (the doctor) would go home and cut up his old clothes in strips, sew them together, and bring them to his shop, he would weave them. In a few days Dr. Dwight came in with his rags, which were woven into carpeting, which was the first carpet spread down on Greenfield Hill !

This Eliphalet Lyon had a daughter, who was mar- ried to Samuel Wilson. They were the parents of the present Samuel Wilson, the gunsmith, who is now ninety-six years old. He was born in this house' ("No. 37") in November, 1784. He heard a sermon for the first time in his life when he was four years old, and that was Dr. Dwight's; he is the only man living who ever heard that celebrated divine. He related the story about old Frazier's stealing goods from Samuel Bradley's store, and said that his father went to see him hung. He also relates that Martha Harvey was a witch who lived but a short distance above Mr. Milbank's, who used to get the cows over the great girt to the barn. People were so afraid they did not venture to pass by there. He states that as he first remembers Fairfield it looked pretty shabby, as the tall black chimneys were standing, and old barns riddled with bullets. His father drew con- siderable of the timber for the Congregational church which replaced the one burnt during the conflagra- tion. In his younger days there were four or five stores in Greenfield Hill which took in a great deal of flax, raised in the country about there. When he was a boy he was accustomed to avoid school by run- ning away to the blacksmith-shop, which a Green- field wit has said always go together in the country, and it is a question in which lics the most redeeming virtues (the school or the blacksmith-shop). From the knowledge he gained from his observation of the workers in iron, he took up the trade of gunsmith in 1812, when it took a week to make a gun. He made the first rifle-gun in the county, and the third one he completed is owned now by Eli Adams, of Easton. He must have met with some ridicule in his first work, as Darius Grant, a skilled blacksmith, exam- ined one critically, and said it was the straightest gun he ever saw. He sct up a target, which he hit every time.

Again, a neighboring woman, to test him, challenged him to hit one of her turkeys. She offered to set it up. He accepted the challenge ; the second shot killed the bird, and she was, to use Mr. Wilson's words, "awful mad." His shot-guns sold at from five to ten dollars, and his rifles for thirty dollars apiece. He had more orders than he could fill, so he bought guns in New York to meet the demands of his customers. He purchased long bars of iron of Miah Perry, who was in the mercantile business opposite, where N. Jen- nings has his market, where Jelliff's new brick build- ing stands. He bored out the barrels from solid iron. His tools cost him one thousand dollars. He stood in one place to file so long that he wore an oak plank

the

fer

the

plo

Åt dre

tor In

Ter

the first

311

FAIRFIELD.

floor so thin that one day when he brought his foot down to close the vise it gave way and he went through. He never was out of work. He had orders from Nor- walk, Danbury, New Haven, and various places. Some of his guns went to Ireland.

In addition to his guns, of which he made entire one hundred and repaired more than five hundred, he did a great amount of iron-work. He made twelve sets of saw-mill work, cxeept the crank. He had a fine position offered him in a paper-mill and any price for compensation and men for assistants, but, his wife being siek, and having the farm to attend to, he would not accept. He never was a military character, but was a private in the State militia. His life has been very unassuming, yet remarkable. He has been blind about six years, owing to close application to his work and much reading, of which he was very fond; other- wise he is well and hearty.

Eliphalet Lyon, the builder of this house, was great-grandfather to Mrs. E. L. Huntington, of Fair- field, widow of the Rev. Enoch Huntington, and to her brother, Mr. Morris Lyon, an eminent teacher in New York, a graduate of Yale, and a founder of the Memorial Library in 1876 in his native town (Fait- field).

Eliphalet Lyon, Jr., was the second owner of this house. He left three heirs, Mrs. Eben Hill, of Nor- walk, and Horace and Ramsen Hill. The present occupant is Barlow Hill, deacon of the Congrega- tional Church in Greenfield and grandson of Eliph- alet Lyon, Jr.

No. 38. This dwelling was erected by Ebenezer Hill in 1765. He married - Sherwood, who lived near Oak Lawn Cemetery, from a house long since torn down. They were the parents of nine children. In those days there was no conveyances other than ox-carts, so that the only way of carrying children was by the extension of the saddle called the pillion. Mrs. Hill often visited her parents with one child very easily, by taking it in her arms on horseback. When the second was born she sighed, feeling that the home visits must be foregone, but she trained the first child so it would sit on the pillion, while baby No. 2 rode in arms. When baby No. 3 was added to the family, she despaired again when thinking of her youthful home, but she trained the two former so they could ride behind, while the third rode in arms. When No. 4 was added, No. 1 had beeome old enough to remain home, so she was permitted to always make her filial visits to the parental roof. At the time of the conflagration two of these chil- dren were very ill. One died that night, the other two or three days later. The parents, however, in their solieitude had the cart and oxen in readiness, so that if the torch should be applied to their house no time should be lost in preserving their little ones.

Of this family, Ebenezer, Jr., studied theology to please his father and Dr. Dwight; he preached but a few years, having a parish in Saratoga County, or in

that section. He then devoted himself to politics, was judge of Probate, State Senator, and Congress- man.

Another son, Jabez, who attained the altitude of six feet, was out in the meadow one day, when he started for home. Instead of crossing the bridge, he shortened his route by wading through the river while in profuse perspiration. The result was a speedy termination, with cholera morbus for an agent. In the Greenfield Cemetery is this tribute to him :

"In memory of Mr. Jabez Hill, Son of Capt, Ebenezer Hill, who, after an exeruciating sickness of four days, died August 24, 1807, Aged 27 years, 1 month & 19 days.

" Another proof, Reader, that life can be ensured by nought beneath tho sun. For those virtues which serve to ornment and happify domestic life in him eoncenter'd.

" IIis usefulness extended its benign effects to all around and seemed to demand for him protracted years. But suddenly cut off amid pros- pects bright of wealth and worldly bliss, by virtue and honest industry produeed, ho was eonsigned by the unrelenting hand of Death to an early grave."

The posthumous daughter of Jabez Hill married William, who is generally known as "Postmaster Sherwood." He at one time went to England as agent for the Jennings to seeure the immense wealth which is in that family-name. They are the owners and occupants of this house, which was made of ex- cellent material. Some of the rooms up-stairs and down were wainscoted in the best manner, being free from even a diminutive knot. The thumb-pieces to the doors were after an extremely odd pattern. There was a bullet-hole in the side of the building, but wlien repairs were made in 1844 the mark of service was removed. The house then lost its uniformity on low roofs, and gained a conformity on being raised so that the eaves were parallel. One of the first town clerks in Fairfield was William Hill, who served to 1684.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 77

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