USA > Connecticut > New London County > History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 139
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Deacon Joseph Chester, born March 17, 1731, son of Samuel Chester (2), married, first, Rachel Hill- house, daughter of Rev. James Hillhouse. By this marriage a daughter was born, but died young. Ra- chel, the wife of Joseph Chester, died April 8, 1754. He afterwards married Elizabeth Otis, daughter of Deacon Joseph Otis. Trusty, faithful, loyal, and a consistent Christian, he was esteemed for his wise counsel and Christian virtues.
He was chosen deacon of the church in North Parish, and held the office until his death. He died Aug. 4, 1803; she died much beloved Nov. 2, 1798. Some of his descendants still reside in Montville.
John Otis was born in Barnstable, Devonshire, England, in 1581, came to New England, and drew house-lots in the first division of lands in the town of Hingham, Mass., in 1635. It is not known with cer- tainty when he landed on the New England shores or in whose company he came ; was admitted freeman March 3, 1635-36, at Hingham. His place of resi- dence was at " Otis Hill," still so called, a beautiful
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slope of land, then covered by a heavy growth of forest-trees, southwest of the harbor.
Mr. Otis was married to his first wife, Margaret, in England. She died at Hingham, July 9, 1654. He then removed to Weymouth and married a second wife, who survived him. His death is recorded at Weymonth, May 31, 1657, aged seventy-six. His will is dated at Weymouth the day previous to his death, and proved July 28th in the same year, and gives legacies to his daughters, Margaret Burton and Han- nah Gill; to Mary and Thomas, children of Hannah Gill; to daughters Ann and Alice (Otis) ; to wife forty shillings ; the balance to his son John, whom he ap- pointed executor.
The families which have descended from John Otis have produced some eminent persons, and are now widely extended. "Though they cannot exhibit" (observes an historian) "a line of illustrious names, yet they are such as partook in the perils of founding and defending this country, in times when courage, constancy, and patience were indeed common vir- tues."
John Otis, Jr., born in Barnstable, England, in 1620, accompanied his parents in their emigration to New England, and settled first at Hingham, and afterwards, in 1661, removed to Scituate. The name of his first wife is not known. In 1662 he married Mary, daughter of Nicholas Jacob. In 1678 he re- moved to Barnstable and settled. He left there his son Jolin, returned, and died at Scituate, Jan. 16, 1683. His will, dated Scituate, 1683, gives to his eldest daughter Mary, wife of John Gowin, and daughters Hannah and Elizabeth fifty pounds each ; houses and lands at Hingham and Barnstable to John, Stephen, James, and Job; to Joseph house and lands in Scituate after his mother's death. Joseph Otis, son of John the second, was baptized at Hing- ham, June 3, 1666, and married, Nov. 20, 1688, Dorothy, second daughter of Nathaniel Thomas, of Marshfield, Mass. Her ancestors successively owned and resided on the estate late the home of the Hon. Daniel Webster. Joseph Otis, with his family, con- sisting of three sons, Nathaniel, Joseph, and James, and eight daughters, removed to New London in 1721, and bought of James Harris a tract of six hun- dred and fifty acres of land, "lying in the North Parish of New London, adjoining to a pond called Obplmtksok," now Gardiner's Lake. This land was purchased by Thomas Stanton, of Stonington, of Owaneco, Nov. 11, 1698, and by him sold to Lieut. James Harris. He was received to the communion of the church by the Rev. James Hillhouse, Nov. 11, 1722. He was much in public employment,-moder- ator of town-meetings, on parish and church com- mittees almost yearly, was deacon in the church, and appointed agent of the parish "to manage the case pending between Rev. James Hillhouse and the parish at the Superior Court." He died June 11, 1754, aged eighty-nine. Previous to his ·removal to
the North Parish he held the office of judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Plymouth County, Mass., from 1703 to 1714. In 1710 he was elected under the Governor's orders representative to the General Court. Deacon Joseph Otis, youngest son of Judge Otis, born at Scituate, 1712, married Elizabeth Little, daughter of David Little, of Scituate, and sister of Rev. Mr. Little, a former minister at Colchester. Deacon Otis settled at the North Parish of New London, and was a farmer. He was admitted a member of the church Oct. 4, 1732, and chosen deacon in 1752. His eldest son, Joseph, born at North Parish, now Montville, in 1739, married, first, Lucy Haughton, daughter of Samson Haughton, of North Parish ; second, Widow - Carew, of Norwich ; third, Abigail Hurlbert, of Westfield. He was chosen deacon of the church in 1751, afterwards removed to Suffield, Conn., where he died. His son Joseph, born in 1768, married Nancy Huntington, of Norwich. He was the founder of the " Otis Library," at Norwich.
Nathaniel Otis, eldest son of Judge Otis, born at Scituate, Jan. 30, 1689-90, married Hannah, daughter of Col. John Thacher, of Yarmouth. He removed to the North Parish of New London, probably before his father came, and afterwards settled on land which his father had purchased of Samuel Gilbert in Colchester. On this land Nathaniel erected a house, which is still standing, and was the home of four successive genera- tions. He held numerous town offices, and was one of the original covenanters in the organization of the church at North Parish in 1722.
Deacon Asa Otis, whose death occurred about three years ago at New London, and whose munificent be- quests to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and Colleges has made his name famous around the world, was a grandson of Nathaniel Otis, who married Hannah Thacher.
A few of the descendants of the ancestor, John Otis, still reside in Montville, of which the writer is one.
James Harris, born about 1640, married Sarah Denison, of Boston, in 1666. His place of nativity, parentage, and time of advent into this country have never been ascertained. From the best evidence re- covered it appears that James Harris, his wife, and children came from Boston and settled at New Lon- don about 1690, but what was his occupation is not known, though it is probable that he was by trade a weaver.
Lieut. James Harris, born at Boston, April 4, 1673, eldest son of James, first married, in 1696, Sarah, daughter of Samuel Rogers, and remained at New London until 1698, when he removed to Mohegan and settled upon a tract of land granted by Owaneco to his wife, Sarah, adjoining lands of her father, who had previously settled there. There had ever existed a strong and intimate personal friendship between the sachems of Mohegan and the Rogers family. James Harris himself was an especial favorite of the
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.
whole tribe. Owaneco and his successors were lavish in their grants of land to James and Sarah, his wife, and they soon became large landholders. She died Nov. 13, 1748. He next married, in 1750, widow Sarah ( Harris) Jackson, daughter of Lieut. Joseph Harris, of New London. In 1718 he removed to the south part of Colchester (now Salem), where he con- tinued to reside until a short time before his death in 1757. He and both his wives were buried together in the ancient Rogers burying-ground, a double slate stone of the old style still marking the spot.
" The Harris family, as a whole," says their com- piler, "though not an illustrious one, shows a respect- able and honorable record. But few of its members have been much distinguished in literature, art, sci- ence, or commerce. They are generally agriculturists and artisans, and of that class and rank which forms the stable and solid body of yeomanry of the land, and upon which the character, strength, and perpe- tuity of its free institutions mainly rest.
Rev. James Hillhouse came to New England early in the last century. His father, John Hillhouse, of Free Hall, was the eldest son of Abraham Hillhouse, who resided at Artikelly. His uncle, James Hill- house, was one of the commissioners appointed to treat with Lord Mountjoy in the memorable defense of Derry against the forces of James II., and was mayor of Londonderry in 1693. This Abraham Hill- house was among the signers of an address to King William and Queen Mary on the occasion of the relief of the siege of Londonderry, dated July 29, 1669.
Rev. James Hillhouse was educated at the famous University of Glasgow in Scotland, and afterwards read divinity at the same college under the care of Rev. Mr. Simson, then Professor of Divinity there; was ordained by the Presbytery of Londonderry, in Ire- land, and appears to have resided at or near the ances- tral home till, by the death of his father, in 1716, the estate descended to his elder brother Abraham. His mother died a few months later, in January, 1717. Not long after that date he came to seek a home on this side the Atlantic, on the soil of New England. He is supposed to have come over with other Presbyterian emigrants from the north of Ireland, who in 1719 es- tablished themselves in New Hampshire, where the towns of Derry and Londonderry are the permanent memorials of that migration.
At the close of the year 1720 he appears at Boston, committing to the press a sermon which he had writ- ten nearly four years before, on the occasion of his mother's death. This work, though entitled "a ser- mon," was more properly a treatise, as it contained more than one hundred and fifty pages. Cotton Mather speaks of its author as " a valuable minister," and again as "a worthy, hopeful young minister, lately arrived in America."
In the early part of the year 1722, Mr. Hillhouse received a call to become the pastor of the newly- organized church in the North Parish of New London,
and on the 3d day of October the same year he was installed its first pastor.
He was born about 1687, and married, Jan. 18, 1726, Mary Fitch, born about 1706, daughter of Daniel Fitch, one of his parishioners, and eldest son of Rev. James Fitch, the first minister of Norwich, by his second wife, Priscilla Mason.
Rev. James Hillhouse continued as pastor of the church at North Parish (now Montville) until near the time of his death, which occurred Dec. 15, 1740. The affairs of the church were generally harmonious during the first part of his ministry. No serious diffi- culties arose in the parish until about the year 1732, when matters began to assume a serious aspect, which grew worse, ending in litigations and an alienation of a part of the people from their minister. In 1735 a council was called by the parish. This council, upon a careful hearing of all parties, advised a separation, and requested Mr. Hillhouse to resign his pastorate. He, however, refused to comply with their requests, and continued to preach in his own home to a small number of his parishioners who still clung to him.
The difficulty which caused the great controversy was undoubtedly that for which he afterwards brought a suit against the parish, his unpaid salary. The burden of taxation was greatly felt by the members of the parish. Mr. Hillhouse found his work seriously hindered by the many trials incident to pioneer life. The physical wants of the people were all to be sup- plied, their homes were to be built, their lands to be cleared, roads to be cut through the forests and glens, and all those conveniences which after-generations find prepared for them by the preceding, all these had to be attended to with unwearied industry.
Owing to the annual taxation for the minister's sal- ary, in addition to the expense incurred in building the church edifice, together with all their necessary expenses, made the burden upon the infant church more than they could endure. Some who were able to pay their rates neglected to meet the demands, while others could not, for want of means, meet the requirements. The minister's salary was consequently in arrears from year to year, and for the paying up of the same Mr. Hillhouse made urgent appeals to his parishioners, and thereby provoked alienation be- tween pastor and people. The care and perplexity attending his troubles and lawsuits probably hastened his death.
Judge William Hillhouse, born Aug. 17, 1728, second son of Rev. James Hillhouse, married, Nov. 1, 1750, Sarah Griswold, who was the sister of the first Governor Griswold. He lived and died on the paternal estate at Montville, greatly trusted and hon- ored by his fellow-citizens. He was one of the most prominent men of the town, and a leading patriot in the Revolution; was a member of the Council of Safety for Connecticut, and major of the first regiment of cavalry raised in this State.
He was chosen assistant in the Council, and held
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the office twenty-four years; was chief judge of the County Court for New London County, and also judge of the Probate Court.
Judge John Griswold Hillhouse, eldest son of Judge William Hillhouse, born at Montville, Aug. 5, 1751, married, in 1786, Elizabeth Mason, daughter of Jere- miah Mason. He settled at Montville, was a justice of the peace, a member of the State Legislature, and a judge of the County Court. He died at Montville, Oct. 9, 1806.
Hon. James Hillhouse, second son of Judge Wil- liam Hillhouse, was adopted and educated by his uncle, James Abraham Hillhouse, who resided at New Haven. He went to live with his uncle when only seven years old. Passing from youth to man- hood just when the struggle for independence was about to commence, he shared largely in the patriotic enthusiasm of the day. Before he was of age he was hindered from joining with Benedict Arnold in the memorable expedition of 1775 only by a positive prohibition from his uncle. He graduated at Yale College in 1773, and by profession a lawyer, and re- ceived the degree of Doctor of Laws there in 1823. He was trustee of the college fifty years. He mar- ried, June 1, 1779, Sarah Lloyd, daughter of John Lloyd, Esq., of Boston. She died Nov. 9, 1779. He then married, Oct. 10, 1782, Rebecca Woolsey, settled at New Haven, where he was the first commissioner of the school fund from 1789 to 1791, a member of Congress in 1791, and was afterwards sixteen years a member of the United States Senate.
Deacon Robert Manwaring was born at New London, Dec. 16, 1745, eldest son of Christopher Manwaring and Deborah Denison, daughter of Maj. Robert Denison, of North Parish. He married, Oct. 8, 1772, Elizabeth Rogers, daughter of Capt. James Rogers, of North Parish. He was great-grandson of Oliver Manwaring, who was born in England about 1633 and came to New London about 1664, where he bought a house-lot of eleven acres, a portion of which, containing the house and garden, has never been alienated by the family.
The talented and distinguished authoress of the histories of New London and Norwich, Miss Frances Manwaring Caulkins, was a granddaughter of Deacon Robert Manwaring. Hon. Henry P. Havens, late of New London, deceased, was also a grandson of Dea- con Manwaring, both being in the line of his daugh- ter Frances, who first married Joshua Caulkins, and afterwards Philemon Havens.
Deacon Manwaring settled in the North Parish of New London, now Montville, after the death of his first wife, about 1800. He married Elizabeth (Baker) Raymond, widow of Josiah Raymond, and daughter of Joshına Baker, of North Parish. He afterwards re- moved to Norwich, where she died, Feb. 13, 1802. He then married Susannah (Hubbard) Bushnell, and died at Norwich, March 29, 1807. Some of his de- scendants are still residents of Montville.
John Scholfield, the pioneer of woolen manu- facture in this country, sailed from Liverpool, Eng- land, on the 24th day of March, 1793, and arrived at Boston in May following. He was accompanied by his wife and six children, the youngest being about six months old, and his brother, Arthur Scholfield. They took up their residence in Charlestown, near Bunker's Hill. At that place they remained about four months, making some preparations and con- structing machinery for the manufacture of woolen cloth. Mr. John Scholfield and his brother Arthur were introduced to Mr. Jedediah Morse, author of "Morse's Geography and Gazetteer," who resided at Charlestown, as being manufacturers and well skilled in the most approved mode of manufacturing woolen goods in England. They were by Mr. Morse introduced to some persons of wealth in Newbury- port, who immediately built a factory at Byfield, in the vicinity of Newburyport, under the supervision of John and Arthur Scholfield, and here was put into operation the first carding-machine that was success- ful in the United States. This machine was at first operated by hand at Charlestown, before removing to Byfield. When all the machinery necessary for mak- ing woolen cloth was completed it was put to practi- cal use, and John Scholfield was employed as agent. The business was prosperous, and the owners were well satisfied with the project.
Other persons had previous to this attempted to construct and operate woolen-machinery, but had failed through its imperfect construction.
After remaining in Byfield about five years, having mnade their business a success, and becoming some- what acquainted with the country in their travels to purchase wool and to introduce and sell their cloth, John Scholfield, on one of his trips into Connecticut, became acquainted with a valuable water privilege in Montville, near the outlet of the Oxoboxo stream. He at once leased the privilege for fourteen years. On his return to Byfield he and his brother Arthur closed up their business there, and removed to Mont- ville. They built a factory on the land leased, put in and started woolen-machinery, which was suc- cessfully operated during the time for which it was leased. This was the first woolen-factory put in operation in Connecticut.
Arthur Scholfield continued with his brother John at Montville a few years, and then removed to Pitts- field, Mass. Before the expiration of the lease, Mr. John Scholfield purchased a mill privilege at Ston- ington, and commenced the woolen business there, leaving the mill at Montville with his sons. In 1814, Mr. Schofield purchased another mill-site at Mont- ville, and removed to this place, leaving the mill at Stonington with his son Joseph. He afterwards bought a mill at Waterford, which was managed by his son Thomas, who after the death of his father came into possession of it. Mr. John Scholfield died at Montville in 1820, leaving his mills to his sons.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.
CHAPTER LXVIII.
MONTVILLE-(Continued).
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
THAT the early settlers of this town were men of religious principle, and that at the commencement of their settlement they urgently demanded a church or- ganization, is manifest from their first acts. A church must be organized in this wilderness. The church was the sacred body they were here to preserve, and the society was only the first steps to be taken for her preservation. Whether few or many of the settlers here were members of a Christian church, all felt themselves to be the authorized defenders, and all were cheerful supporters of the church.
That there were immoral and dangerous men among the settlers is manifest from the records; that great trials came upon the church from this source is also apparent. As in most churches, so in this, an element creeps in which is not always congenial to Christian progress, and to some extent hinders the usefulness and threatens serious disaster to the exist- ence of the church.
It would be very remarkable if among the many settlers here there should be none who were impul- sive, wayward, and insubordinate. It would be strange if religion itself, which pledges eventually the peace and harmony of the world, should not prove in the communi y a source of alienations and of earnest conflict, and especially when, as in this case, its pro- fessors alone were to hold most of the responsible offices in the people's gift, both in church and State.
The inhabitants of that part of New London which was added to the township in 1703, and afterwards called the North Parish of New London, petitioned the General Assembly in 1714 that they be allowed to be a distinct and separate parish, and settle an ortho- dox minister of the gospel among them. The people not agreeing upon a site for the meeting-house, were, however, several years after this without any settled minister. In the year 1722, through the influence of Governor Saltonstall, the services of Rev. James Hill- house, then in Boston, were secured. The same year, for the further encouragement of the society already formed, the General Assembly granted them upon their petition a freedom from county taxes for the space of four years, and five hundred acres of land for religious purposes, to be laid out from the general purchase by John Livingston and his associates in 1710, two hundred and fifty acres of which was to be settled upon the minister for his support, and the re- maining two hundred and fifty acres to be used for "other pions purposes." The first parish-meeting was held Jan. 22, 1721-22. George Richards was chosen clerk, and Robert Denison, Jonathan Hill, Jonathan Copp, Joseph Bradford, and Nathaniel Otis, parish committee.
On the 5th day of February following the first
meeting, Mr. Joseph Bradford was appointed to con- fer with the Governor and request him to write to Rev. James Hillhouse, at Boston, inviting him to settle with them as their minister. Mr. Hillhouse accepted their invitation, and entered upon his min- istry the same month.
The following is found upon the first page of the church record, in the handwriting of Rev. James Hillhouse: "I received my 'call at Boston, dated Feb. 5. 1721-22. I was installed by the Rev. Mr. Adams, of New London ; Mr. Buckley, of Colchester; Mr. Woodbridge, of Groton, in October the 3d day, 1722. Mr. Adams preached from Acts xvi. 9."
There were only seven persons that had covenanted together and who constituted the church at the time Mr. Hillhouse was installed,-Capt. Thomas Avery, Capt. Robert Denison, W. Nathaniel Otis, Mr. Samuel Allen, Mr. John Vibber, Mr. Jonathan Copp, and Mr. Charles Campbell. Before the close of that year forty-six more persons united with the little band of seven, and thereby laid the foundation of a church which has steadily progressed and prospered until the present time. The salary allowed Rev. Mr. Hillhouse was one hundred pounds yearly so long as he should continue with them.
Rev. Mr. Hillhouse preached his first sermon in this new field of labor in the west room of Mr. Samuel Allen's tavern, which stood near or on the site of the town's present poor-house.
In April, 1722, a vote was passed at a parish-meet- ing to annex to the parish the south part of Colehes- ter and the north part of Lyme, and to obtain a site convenient, and as near the centre of the parish as practicable, on which to build a meeting-house.
Jan. 31, 1722-23, Mr. Jonathan Hill, Mr. Samuel Comstock, Mr. George Richards, Mr. Jonathan Mor- gan, and Mr. Jonathan Rogers were chosen a pru- dential committee; Mr. Nathaniel Otis and Mr. Samuel Comstock collectors to gather the parish tax.
In February of the same year, it was arranged to have the meeting-house built, and a committee was appointed to attend to the building of the house. A site was agreed upon : it was to be built upon land given to the parish for that purpose by Maj. John Merritt and Mrs. Mercy Raymond.
The committee at once attended to their duties in the erection of the house, and before the close of the year the building was so far completed as to hold their religious services in it. The cost of building the meeting-house was £195 19s. 3d. Its size was thirty-five by forty-five feet, and twenty feet between joints.
The committee for the regulation and settlement of the affairs in the North Parish, appointed by the General Court, Jan. 11, 1721-22, consisting of James Wadsworth and John Hall, in their report, made to the court May 10, 1722, considered it necessary that highways be laid out in the parish, and that proper persons be appointed by the parish to lay out the
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same. Maj. Jolın Merritt, Capt. Robert Denison, Mr. Jonathan Hill, and others having been appointed such committee on the part of the parish, entered at once upon their duties, and laid out the following highways: "The first highway to commence where the road that comes from near the house of Nathaniel Otis intersects the county road that leads from New London to Colchester ; thence to the place for build- ing the meeting-house; thence to the east gate of John Merritt, near Daniel Rogers'; thence through the land of Daniel Rogers to a large white-oak tree ; thence to a bridge; thence to a heap of stones by a ledge; thence to the road that leads from New Lon- don to Norwich ; thence to the cove known as Baker's Cove" (Haughton's). "Also from said Otis' to Capt. Robert Denison's. Also another road from the place selected for the church southeasterly to Widow Com- stock's ; and also a road from John Merritt's east gate north ward by Charles Campbell's and John Maples' house to the house of David Steel, thence westerly of Jonathan Hill's house to near the house of Ado- nijah Fitch, thence to Norwich line; also a road from John Merritt's dwelling-house northerly to Jonathan Copp's mill."
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