History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 83

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 83

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8. The Residence of the Late Governor Gideon Tom- linson .- This house is exceedingly plain and unpre- tentious. It was erected by Sturges Lewis, of Fair- field, about 1780. He married a daughter of Samuel Bradley, Esq .; neither of them lived but a short time. It was then occupied by Dudley Baldwin, a promi- nent lawyer, who married a sister of Mrs. Lewis, a widow of Hanford Wakeman.

The spotted fever was raging in New Haven in 1794. Dudley Baldwin went there to see his sister, who was prostrate with it. He took the fever, and died in three days. A monument in the Greenfield ground contains this to his memory and to that of others of the family :

"Sacred to the repose of the dead & the meditation of the living. Dudley Baldwin, an eminent Counselor, an ardent patriot, a faithful friend, died 29th March, 1794, Aged 41. Saralı Baldwin, his wife, whose virtues endeared her to the best of husbands, died 3 Dec., 1795, Aged 37. Abraham Baldwin lies buried at Washington. His memory needs no marble. llis country is his monument, her constitution liis greatest work. He died a Senator in Congress, 4 March, 1807, Aged 52."

After Mrs. Baldwin's death the house reverted to Walter Bradley, who rented it to Rev. Mr. Samuel Blatchford in 1796; he preached in this parish a year or so, then went to Pequonnock. It was sold to Samuel Broom, of New York, and repurchased again, and was rented to Rev. Mr. Horace Holly, who kept the academy and preached here from 1805 to 1808, and was then settled in Boston. Mr. Holly brought with him the first piano ever seen in Greenfield.

The house was afterwards rented for several years, until it was purchased by Gideon Tomlinson, LL.D. (born at Stratford, Conn., Dec. 31, 1780), a lawyer, who married a daughter of Walter Bradley. "He graduated from Yale 1802; became eminent as a law- yer at Fairfield; was a member of Congress 1818- 1827; Governor of Connecticut 1827-1831; and United

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FAIRFIELD.

States senator from 1831 to 1837."* He died Oct. 8, 1884. He is described as being a very correct man, also slow and sure.

Mrs. Tomlinson survived him till 1880, when the house was sold to Miss Agnes Murray. The remains of both Mr. and Mrs. Tomlinson were interred in Stratford.

9. The Habitation of Burr Sherwood .- This was a perfect museum,-not of animals, but of dirt and cu- riosities. Mr. Burr Sherwood was really an eccentric man, and as long as his large monument in Oak Lawn remains it will be pointed out for generations, and his story told to listening ears. He was born in 179-, and was colonel in the home militia. He was a fine- looking young man, and rode a milk-white steed the envy of many.

As the changes occurred in the family, such as is the lot of all families, in which all parties are removed by death or marriage, it happened that he lived en- tirely alone. He dwelt in the house built by his father, Abel, from whom he also inherited consider- able property. He did his own cooking and his own housework, but one thing was evident: he never did any sweeping. His furniture and crockery indicated that the family had been in good circumstances, but the most motley collection of articles cver gathered was there. When away from home he always had his hands full homeward bound ; if nothing more, a stone in each hand, or a ribbon, a string, a paper, or a bit of iron. One room was devoted to papers of all sorts, which probably were sent to him on account of his connection with the Southport Chronicle. These papers were heaped high in one corner of the room. He had considerable of a farm, which grew up to cedars. All the old iron or wheels or chains, and things apparently worthless, he readily purchased.

Why he took a fancy to live thus or spend his money so strangely, nobody seems able to account for. He was well educated, and had quite a library, which seemed to be devoted to law, love, and piety, with some mis- cellaneous works. He also owned a house in South- port, not far from the depot. He, however, lived on Mill Hill till a tragedy occurred there which rather intimidated him. One evening he heard a knock at the door, to which he responded by opening to the applicant, when two men seized and gagged him. He was about eighty years old at this time. They injured him greatly, breaking out his teeth, etc. He, however, managed to escape from the burglars, who came to rob him. After that he resided in Southport till he died, in March, 1879. He probably then fell down stairs and broke his neck, as he was found doubled up at the foot of the stairs, as if he had missed his footing or lost his equilibrium. People missed him, so they per- suaded the authorities to investigate his mysterious disappearance, and they found him as deseribed above. He died as he lived,-alone. He was eccen-

tric in his wardrobe as well as in other ways, yet he was never known to be discourteous, as he was a gen- tleman of the old school even to the last.

After his death his effects were sold at auction, which drew a crowd. Many bought some of his arti- cles for their intrinsic value, others purchased to se- cure a remembrance of the odd old things that shall assist in commemorating his eccentricities for untold years.

His neighbor, and probably a distant relative, David H. Sherwood, is the administrator of Burr Sherwood's estate.

The whole of Mill Hill was formerly owned by one family of Sherwoods, but by marrying it has passed into different branches, and somewhat into the Bulke- ley namne.

Burr Sherwood and his brother Abel having de- ceased not many months apart, John, David HI., and Arthur, three brothers, are the representatives of the Sherwoods in that section. Capt. Edwin Sherwood, of Southport, comes in another line.

David H. Sherwood and P. T. Barnum ran the first inowing-machine (a Ketchum) in this county. There could not be found two men in the country who were so ready with wit or jokes on all occasions as the last- mentioned couple.

Mr. David H. Sherwood has always been interested in the Fairfield County Fair. At the time he was associated with Barnum everything from California was so immense, in grain, fruit, or stock, that when entering some of the latter for Barnum,-which was no less than some donkeys,-Mr. Sherwood entered them as "California Rabbits,"-a joke relished greatly by the great showman.

The Sherwood family have married into all the families in town from the early date of its settlement. One representative in Southport was the late Dr. Jus- tin Sherwood, who was a graduate of Yale with Dr. Denison, of Fairfield. Their systems of practice were antagonistic, yet both were successful and highly es- teemed, and they died within a few months of each other.

THE HULL FAMILY.+

Joseph Hull, born 1594, of St. Mary Hall, Oxford, took his first degree in 1614, and was in 1621 insti- tuted rector of Northleigh, a parish adjoining the vicarage of his brother William. He arrived at Bos- ton May 6, 1635, and was the first minister of Wey- mouth, Mass. He was freeman of Massachusetts and Plymouth, a delegate to the General Courts of bothı colonies, and the pioneer and founder of Barnstable, on Cape Cod. He removed to Maine in 1641, and was minister at the celebrated Isles of Shoals, at York, and at Oyster River. He died Nov. 19, 1665. Mr. Hull remained within the pale of the Established Church, and by the Puritans was suspected of episco . pal, if not prelatical, tendencies. He was the life-

* See Johnson's Cyclopædia.

+ Contributed by A. B. Hull.

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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

long opponent of the Massachusetts Bay Company, and Governor Winthrop informs us that he was a contentious man and ran a different course from the Boston party in both civil and ecclesiastical affairs. His descendants are found chiefly in Rhode Island and New York.

The parentage and birthplace of the Hulls are not known. Two well-defined family traditions have been traced back to early colonial days. One, trans- mitted by the descendants of George, of Fairfield, states that three brothers eame from Old England, and that their immediate descendants located in Con- necticut, in Massachusetts, and in Rhode Island. It evidently refers to George, John, and Joseph. The other tradition, found in the Rhode Island family (descendants of Joseph), is to the effect that their an- cestor claimed descent from the family long seated at Larkebeare, in St. Leonard's parish, Exeter, Devon- shire. Still another tradition has it that their father was also a clergyman, but this may point no farther back than to the brothers William and Joseph, both episcopally ordained. The probabilities are that their father was a substantial yeoman or thrifty burgher of Somerset, and that he claimed descent from the Larkebeare Hulls.

Mr. George Hull, the second of these brothers, was born about 1590. He and his daughter Marie are named in the vicar's will. To George was given a reversionary interest in an annuity issuing out of cer- tain premises in Broad-Windsor in county Dorset, and to Marie a legacy of ten pounds. He came over with the West-Country people in the great ship "Mary and John," Capt. Squeb, which sailed from Plymouth, in Devon, March 30, 1629-30, and arrived May 30, 1630, at Nantasket (a poiut afterwards named Hull, in honor of his brother Joseph), and thirteen days before the arrival of Governor Winthrop at Salemn. They located at Mattapan, and named their planta- tion Dorchester. These first comers, chiefly from Somerset, Devon, and Dorset, "were many of them persons of note and figure," and Mr. Hull was dignified then, and always after, with the title of "Mister" or "Master," "which but few in those days were." He took the freeman's oath May 14, 1633, and it is con- jectured that he then for the first time attached him- self to the Dorchester Church, and it does not appear that he thereafter took any aetive part in the ecclesi- astical politics of the times. The same year he was a member of the town council which established the municipal government. In 1633 and 1634 he was one of the raters of the town, and he and Capt. John Bursley (who married his niece, Joanna Hull) were the tax commissioners. In 1635 and 1636 he was eleeted one of the selectmen " for the orderiug of the plantation."

Mr. Hull was deputy from Dorehester to the first General Court held at Boston, May 14, 1634, the most notable body of representative men assembled among the founders of New England, which curbed the

power of the theocracy by assuming to themselves the right of law-making; and "no country on earth," says Judge Savage, "can afford the history of any event more interesting to its own inhabitants."

In 1635 his brother Joseph, rector of Northleigh, arrived with many people out of Somerset and Dorset, and with twenty-one families, including his own, sat down at Wessagusset, now Weymouth, but which until the fall of the year remained within the terri- torial jurisdiction of the town of Dorchester. Thus for a short time the three brothers, George, John, and Joseph, were fellow-townsmen.

During the year 1636, George Hull and family, and his son-in-law, Mr. Pinney (who had married his daughter Marie), with many others,-in all, about one-half of the first eomers and grantees,-removed to the Connecticut Valley and founded the town of Windsor. In the same year he surveyed Wethers- field, in Connecticut, and the records of Plymouth colony disclose the fact that he received a grant of land at Green's Harbor Path in 1637, perhaps in eom- pensation for professional services as a surveyor.

He was representative from the town of Windsor to the first General Court assembled at Hartford, May 1, 1637, which declared war against the Pequot In- dians, and by the spirited measures adopted is mem- orable in the history of the times. He continued to represent Windsor every year until 1646, when he removed to Fairfield, where he made purchase of several tracts of land. After his removal to Fairfield he was elected deputy to the General Court most of the time to the year 1656.

He was the personal friend and political adherent of Governor Roger Ludlow. He emigrated with him from Eugland in 1630, removed with him to Connec- tieut in 1636, and, jointly with him, obtained from the court in 1638. a grant of the monopoly of the beaver-trade on the Connectieut River. When Gov- ernor Ludlow weut to Fairfield, Mr. Hull soon fol- lowed, and was selected by the court his assistant or lieutenant in the military operations of the year 1649; and in 1651, and again in 1653 and 1654, he was ap- pointed by the General Court as associate magistrate for the towns of the "Sea Side," being in this ca- paeity the assistant of Mr. Ludlow, the magistrate. Mr. Ludlow embarked for Virginia in 1654, and Mr. Hull, though frequently thereafter elected by the people as their deputy, is not again appointed an as- sistant magistrate by the court.

He was twice married. His first wife-mother of all his children-died before his removal to Fairfield. She was probably Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Rus- sell, who died at Weymouth, in 1640, leaving a small cstate to his "only child, Elizabeth Hull." After June, 1654, he married Sarah, widow of David Phip- pen, or Fitzpen, of Boston, by whoin there was no issue.

He died in 1659, aged about seventy years. He was public-spirited, active, and intelligent, and as a legis-

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FAIRFIELD.

lator and magistrate was instrumental in establishing two of the free and enlightened commonwealthis of New England. Cotton Mather distinguished him with a place in his great book, and also places his brother Joseph in his "First Classis" or list of "First Good Men." Mr. Trumbull, historian of Connecticut, groups him with those whose names are worthy of per- petuation, and Mr. Stiles, historian of Windsor, tells us that he was a citizen of worth and distinction.

One of the pioneers of Fairfield not mentioned per- sonally was George Hull, who was born in 1590.

Cornelius Hull, of Fairfield, Conn., born in 1626, married Rebecca, daughter of Rev. John and Saralı Jones, of Fairfield. Mr. Jones was episcopally or- dained in England, and came in the ship " Defense" from London in 1635; was ordained pastor of the Concord Church April 6, 1637 ; removed with many of his parish to Fairfield in September, 1644. Upon the occasion of his marriage, in 1653, Mr. Hull, by deed of gift dated November 19th, granted to his son Cornelins a homestead farm in Fairfield, and Novem- ber 24th he purchased a homestead lot of three acres in the village. Cornelius followed his father's profes- sion,-that of a surveyor. He was representative to the General Court for many years,-1656-60, 1662-65, and 1667. In 1675 he was lieutenant of the Life- Guards, and in 1676 lieutenant of the Fairfield com- pany, and was out in King Philip's war, in which service he received a grant of land in 1677. He left a will dated Sept. 16, 1695.

Hull .- This English surname is taken directly from the names of places and localities. It is the old Eng- lish and Welsh word for the Anglo-Saxon hill, the French montagne, the Latin mons. The oldest estates and manors in the West of England giving names to families were Hull in Cheswardine, Salop; Hull in Arcenefeld, Herefordshire (the La Hulla of Domesday Book); Hull in Picrcholle, Staffordshire ; and Hull in Taretone, Devonshire (corrupted into Hole by the Norman scribes in Domesday); and it is probable that all bearing the name of Hull, and also many bearing the name of Hill in the West counties, derive from families originally resident or holding lands at the above-named places. Several of these families can be traced back to the days of the Norman kings, when the name was written De la Hull, Del Hull, or La Hull; but the subsequent adoption of aliases- such as De la Hill, Du Mont, De Monte, De la Montagne -has thrown all of these pedigrecs into endless con- fusion. It was not uncommon for a West county family to have an alias down to a comparatively re- cent period,-such as Hull alias Hill or Hill alias Hull,-which resulted, in many instances, in the final adoption of the more euphonious form of Hill.

CHAPTER XXXII. FAIRFIELD (Continued).

MISCELLANEOUS.

Fairfield Graveyards-The Borough of Southport-The Southport Na- tional Bank-The Southport Savings-Bank-The Libraries-The Li- brary of 1780-The Greenfield Library-Mill River Social Library- The Greenfield Library of 1830-The Southport Public School Library -The Library Association of Mill Plain-The Third Greenfield Li- brary-The Second Library at Southport-The Memorial Library- The Schools-The Southport "Times"-The Fairfield Academy-The Samp Mortar Rock.

As Fairfield was settled so early in our county's history the graveyards* are very old. The town records and the tombstone inscriptions are all that are left to tell the doings of Fairfield's first settlers.

The first burials were made in the Pequonnock, Fairfield old, and Mosquito Hill grounds. Those in the latter had no stones at all to mark the places, and, being located near the shore (west of Phipp's Beach), through the action of the winds and the waves they have been mostly washed away. In the other two grounds there was often no stone to mark the final resting-place of the dead; and if there were any, there was no mark intelligible to later generations. Then, as people had a little more time and could command tools, they improved on their first monuments, as they made a few rude initials, with the date of the year, carved in the stone in its original condition. On this account the Pequonnock (or Stratfield) ground is a curiosity, the contour of some of the stones being very irregular. The first feeling of the beholder is that he is in some foreign country,-that he is evidently not at home.

The burials of the first cra are marked by no stones; those of the second are indicated by the use of a com- mon rough stone, unwrought; the third, by the blue- stone imported from England. These stones arc of excellent quality, and, being susceptible of very high polish or having great smoothness, are not so readily covered by moss. The fourth era is marked by free- stone; the fifth, by marble or granite. The fashion of carvings, designs of "grinning deaths," willows, urns, and monograms seems to mark different eras also. The different expressions, "In Memory of," "Departed this Life," "Dicd," "Obt.," also secm to indicate different parts of the century, as does the orthography,-"Here lyes ye," etc. Then, again, the long epitaph or the reverse, the utmost simplicity, is in vogue at varions times, an illustration of which is here given. The first is taken from Fairfield old ground, and is the longest one found :

" Here lies the Body of Thomas, Son to M' Ebenezer & M's Mary Ber- tram. He was Born February 22, A.D. 1764, & Died July 28th, A. D. 1764, Aged 5 months & 6 Days.

" Happy the Babe, who, privileged by Fate To Shorter Labour and a Lighter weight. Receiv'd but yesterday the Gift of Breathı, Order'd to-morrow to Return to Deatlı.

# Extracts from " Fairfield Tombstones," by Mrs. Kate E. Perry.

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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

"Since all the downward Tracts of Time God's watchful Eye Surveys, Oh, who So wise to Choose our Lot And Regulate our ways ?

" Since none Can doubt his Equal Love, Unmeasurably kind, To his unerring, gracious will, Be Every wislı Resigned.

" Good when He gives, Supremely good, Nor Less when He denies, Even Crosses from his Sovereign hand Are Blessings in Disguise."

The shortest is from Fairfield East ground, and is simply,-

" David Hull, M.D., Ob. 1834, Æt. 68."

Probably there is not a person in town not familiar with Dr. Hull's name and reputation as a very suc- cessful and beloved physician.

.The genealogist likes the following style, as it as- sists greatly in his research (the point referred to is in italics) :

"In Memory of Mrs Deborah Osborn, Consort of Mr Daniel Osborn, Junr, & Daugr of Col.Abraham Gould, who departed this Life July 28, 1785, Aged 22 years & 3 days. "' Death is a debt to Nature due, Which I have paid and so must you.'"#

A few are here given as curiosities in tombstone lore :

" Here lyes Buried ye Body of Benjamin Wynkoop of Fairfield. He was born in New York May ye 5th, old stile, 1705, & departed this Life Sept 1st, 1766, in ye 62 Year of His Age."

To read these old stones intelligibly, it is necessary to bear in mind that "previous to 1752 the English legal year began with March 25th, though the change to January 1st as the beginning of the year, adopted by Catholic nations in 1582, had been gradually gain- ing ground. To prevent confusion between the two styles it became usual to write all dates occurring be- tween January 1st and March 25th with double year, thus : 'Feb. 22, 173},' meaning that the year under the Old Style would be still 1731, while by the New Style it would be 1732. Under the New Style another change took place, by which ten days should be added to all dates previous to 1700 and eleven days to those between 1700 and 1752."+ For that reason one finds a birth on the church record in near the first part of February; on referring to the town record the same is registered in the last part of January, showing that the change was not uniformly adopted. As an illus- tration of the above the following is given :

# See Fairfield Ground.

+ Redfield Genealogy gives this explanation.

" Here lyes Buried ye Body of Mrs Ann Allen, Wife to Lieut Gideon Allen, Who departed this life, Mar 14th, Anno Dom. 1747g, Aged 72 years."

The oldest inscription familiar to the historian so far reads :

" Here lyes ye Body Joseph Phippene, Aged about 26 years. Died ye 10th of July, 1712."

The letters are all in capitals. It is a very short stone, just high enough for five lines of inscription. The margin is broad and richly carved.

Two others :

" Here lies interr'd the body of Doctr Thomas Hill, who died March 8th, A.D. 1781, in the 36th Year of his Age. tear "Some hearty friends shall drop a On our dry Bones and say Those once were strong as mine appear And mine must be as they."

"Here lyes ye Body of Sarah Burr, the DAUGHTER of Peter Burr, Esq., Aged about 16 years. Dec. - 1-7-2-3."

The month indicating her death is lost, as the slate has scaled off. The year is stretched across the stone. Another :

"Hore lies ye body of Abigail, ye wife of Joseph Gorham, who died January ye 23d, 1723, Aged 31 years."

I was " old stile" for J. Another :

"In Memory of Lieut. Gideon Hawley, who died Sept. 11. 1784. Aged years. Gideon, son of Gideon & Hannah Hawley, died Jan. 6, 1788. Aged 3 years & 6 months. " Death, like an overflowing stream, Sweeps us away ; our life's a dream, An empty tail; a morning flower, Cut down and wither'd in a hour."

Another :

"In memory of Grisel, wife of Gershom Osborn, who departed this life January 1th, 1820, Aged 76 years."

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FAIRFIELD.

"Grisel" and "Gershom" were common names in Fairfield, but they, like the dead who bore them, are objeets of the past.

Another :

" HIoraco son of Walter & Lucretia Sherwood born Ang. 13, 1811, & drown'd June 15, 1816. """of such is the kingdom of God.' "

Another :

" Here lies the Body of Peter Burr, son to Mr Thade & M's Abi- gail Burr, died Sepr ye 13th, 1745, in ye 15th Year of his Age."

The next is a slab, though it says :

" This Monument is put up in Memory of Mr Gershom Burr."

The next has a lovely face at the top of the stone, the inseription beginning with :

" The Reader is hereby informed that the Body of Thaddeus Burr," etc.

The next begins :

" The Corruptible of James Dennie Sayre, son of James Sayre, Minister of the Gospel, & Sarah his wife, who fell asleep on the 25th Day of May, A.D. 1793, Aged almost 17 years. Young man trust not thy Youth, health or strength ; Trust in the Lord with all thy Heart, and remember thy Creator, who is also thy Redeemer."

Another :

" In Memory of Stephen Morehouse, who was drowned Oct. 28, 1817, Æ. 30 Yrs & 6 Mo. "Behold and see as you pass by ; As you are now, so once was I ; As I am now, so you nmust be : Prepare for death & follow me."

Another :

" Memento Mori. Here lyes ye Body of Mr Joseplı Bartram. He was Born February ye 21st, O. S., 1728, and Died March ye 28th, N. S., 1759, Aged 30 Years & 21 Days. " Princes, this Clay must be your bed, In spite of all your towers ; The tall, the wise, the Reverend head Must lie as low as ours." (5)

Another :

" Ilere lyes Buried the Body of Me Ebenezer Jennings, the husband of Mrs Rebeckah Jennings, who died April 9th, 1768, in ye 76 Year of Ifis Age,"

Another :

" Underneath this tomb lays the body of Ebenezer Burr, son of William & Ennice Burr, who was born Nov. 8th, 1783, and Died April 8th, 1784, aged 6 months. The parents' Joy in-life was lost in death, To be found in Christ."

Another :

" To the Memory of Mrs Althea Lamson, wife of The Revd Mr Joseph Lamson, and Dautr of the Revd Mr JAMES Wetmore, Rector of Rye in New York Province, Who departed this Life ye 8th of Febr, 1766, Aged 44 Years."

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History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 83

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