History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 146

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1317

USA > Connecticut > New London County > History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 146

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).

1760 .- Capt. Samuel Morgan, Col. Samuel Coit, William Blodget, Capt. Moses Tyler.

1761 .- Capt. Samuel Morgan, Col. Samuel Coit, Capt. Joseph Tyler. 1762 .- Col. Samuel Coit, Capt. William Witter, . apt. Samuel Morgan. 1763 .- Joseph Kinnee, John Tyler, Simon Brewster, Timothy Lester. 1764 .- Capt. Samuel Morgan, Col. Samuel Coit, Robert Creary. 1765 .- Capt. William Winter. Names of deputies not recorded.

1766 .- Capt. Samuel Morgan, Col. Samuel Coit, Simon Brewster, John Tyler.

1767 .- Capt. Samuel Morgan, Col. Samuel Coit, Robert Creary.

1768 .- Capt. Samuel Morgan, Col. Samuel Coit, Simon Brewster, Capt. Joseph Tyler.

1769 .- Capt. Samuel Morgan, Col. Samuel Coit, Capt. Roger Sterry, Capt. Moses Tyler.

1770 .- Robert Creary, Capt. John Tyler, Capt. Roger Sterry.

1771 .- Capt. William Witter, Col. Samuel Coit, Jolin Avery, Timothy Lester.

1772 .- Samuel Mott, Col. Samnel Coit, Jonathan Brewster, Benjamin Coit.

1773 .- Samnel Mott, Col. Samuel Coit, Capt. Roger Sterry, Capt. John Tyler.

1774 .- Edward Mott, Capt. John Tyler, Robert Crary, Capt. James Mor- gan.

1775 .- Capt. Roger Sterry, Col. John Tyler, Capt. Roger Sterry.

1776 .-- J. Halsey, S. Tyler, William Witter, Asa Kinne.

1777 .- J. Halsey, S. Tyler, D. Adams, S. Mott.

1778 .- J. Halsey, Benj. Coit, James Morgan.

1779 .- J. Halsey, Asa Kinne.

1780 .- J. Avery, A. Huntington, J. Downer, N. Lord.

1781 .-- S. Mott, E. Tucker, E. Brown.

1782 .- J. Halsey, Samuel Mott, E. Brown, Benj. Coit. 1783 .- N. Peters, Robert Cray, E. Brown, John Tyler.

1784 .- Samuel Mott, Alex. Stewart, Jolin Avery, Benj. Coit.

1785 .- Samuel Mott, Nathan Peters, Nathaniel Lord, Benj. Coit. 1786 .- Jeremiah Halsey, Samuel Mott, Benj. Coit. 1787 .- Amos Avery, Oliver Crary, John Tyler, Benj. Coit. 1788 .- Simon Brewster, Nathaniel Lord, Jeremiah Halsey. 1789 .- Isaac Avery, Alex. Stewart, Samuel Mott, Wm. Belcher. 1790 .- Samuel Mott, Daniel Morgan, Isaac Avery, Nathaniel Lord.

1791 .- Sanmel Mott, James Morgan, Jonathan Brewster, Alex. Stewart. 1792 .- Jeremiah Halsey, Charles Fanning, John Crary, Moses Lester. 1793 .- Samuel Mott, Nathaniel Lord, Isaac Avery, Wheeler Cuit. 1794 .- John Crary, Charles Fanning, Jonathan Brewster, John Wilson. 1795 .-- Isaac Avery, Elisha Brown, Samuel Mott, Nathaniel Lord. 1796 .- Jeremiah Halsey, Charles Fanning, Samuel Mott, Nathaniel Lord. 797 .- Isaac Avery, Daniel Morgan, Jr., Amos Avery, Moses Tyler. 798 .- Isaac Avery, Alex. Stewart, Elias Brown, Nathaniel Lord. 799 .- Elias Brown, Alex. Stewart, Nathaniel Lord.

800 .- Elias Brown, Alex. Stewart, Amos Avery, Nathaniel Lord. 801 .- Elias Browu, Alex. Stewart, Amos Avery.

1802 .- Jolin Crary, Alex. Stewart, John Wittar, John Wilson.

1803 .- Amos Avery, Alex. Stewart, Elias Brown, Charles Fanning. 1804 .- Alex. Stewart, Elias Brown, Charles Fanning.

1805 .- Avery Downer, Alex. Stewart, Joshua Downer, Fred. Fanning. 1806 .- Avery Downer, Alex. Stewart, Isaac Avery, Charles Fanning. 1807 .- John Wilson, Dennison Palmer, Isaac Avery, Charles Fanning. 1808 .- James Treat, Benj. Coit, Isaac Avery, Ehjah Lester.

1809 .- Alex. Stewart, Isaac Hewitt, Isaac Avery, Hezekiah Boardman. 1810 .- James Cook, Jededialı Barstow, Stephen Meech, Wm. Cogswell.

1811 .- Nathaniel Kimball, Alex. Stewart, Avery Downer, Charles Fan- ning.

1812 .- Robert S. Avery, Alex. Stewart, Jr., John Morgan, Jr.

1813 .- John Morgan, Jr., Charles Fanning, Stephen Meech, Nathan Geer.

1814 .- Isaac Avery, Charles Fanning, Joseph W. Brewster, Samuel Leonard.

1815 .- Elisha Crary, Alex. Stewart, Jr., Alex. Stewart, Erastus T. Smith. 1816 .- Avery Downer, Nathaniel Kimball, Ebenezer Avery, Ilenry F. Lamb.

1817 .- John T. Mott, John Brewster, Ebenezer Avery, Henry F. Lamb. 1818 .- John T Mott, John Brewster, James Cook, Jonathan Brewster. 1819 .- James Cook, Jonathan Brewster.

1820 .- Henry Palmer, Elisha Brewster.

1821 .- Henry Brown, Joseph Brewster.

1822 .- Amos Avery (2), Jonathan Brewster.

1823 .- Stephen Meech, William Kimball.

1824 .- Dennison Palmer, William Kimball.

1825 .- James Cook, Allyn Chapman.

1826 .- Elisha Crary, Billings Brown.

1827 .- Amos Avery, Jonathan Brewster.

1×28 .- Asa A. Gore, Charles Hewitt.

1829 .- Amos Avery, Jonathan Brewster.

1830 .- Avery Downer, Joseph Harvey.

1831 .- Jonas Ayer, Walter Palmer.

1832 .- Jonas Ayer.

1833 .- Asher P. Brown, William Kimball, Jr.

1834 .- David Baldwin, Tracy Gates.

1835 .- Isaac Avery, Joseph Harvey.

1836 .- John T. Mott, Erastus O'Brien.

1837 .- David Baldwin, Frank Kimball.

1838 .- Elisha Crary, J. S. Halsey.

1839,-Asher P. Brown, Isaac Williams (2).

1840 .- Tracy Gates, Erastus Morgan, Jr.

1841 .- George Loving, Asa L. Latham.

1842 .- Joseph Harvey, Charles Hewitt, Jr. 1843 .- Oliver Ilewitt.

1844 .- John P. Gates, Albert G. Ayers.

1845 .- Avery Browning, Stanton Hewitt.

1846 .- Erastus O'Brien, Asa A. Gore.

1847 .- Edwin Palmer, Charles Hewitt.

1848 .- Elijah B. Dewey, Nathan Rude.

1849,-William Pendleton, Amos A. Gore. 1850 .- Asa L. Latham, E. B. Downing. 1851 .- John W Gallup, E. F. Hewitt.

1852 .- Nathan Stanton, Charles B. Ayer.

1853 .- William P. Witter, Warren Andrews.

1854 .- Henry P. Marion, Stanton Hewett. 1855 .- Oliver P. Avery, J. W. Gallup. 1856 .- Alba Rude, George G. Benjamin.

1857 .- Dixon S. Hall, John S. Lester.

1858 .- Henry Harvey, E. F. Hewett. 1859 .- Sol. S. Pendleton, Luth. F. Carter.

1860 .- Nich. B. Bates, A. B. Lathan. 1861 .- Oliver Hewitt, Williani Briggs.

1862 .- Asahel Tanner, Joseph T. Button. 1863 .- Sol. Lucas, Charles Hewett.

1864 .- Alexander Yerrington, Charles D. Hedge.

1865 .- Amos Stanton, E. O'Brieu. 1866 .- W. D. Hoxie, William Roath.

1867 .- Charles Hewitt, E. B. Dewey.

1868 .- Horace A. Fitch, William P. Witter, Jr.

1869 .- Daniel S. Guile, Prentice Avery. 1870 .- Henry J. Gallup, N. D. Bates.

1871 .- Seth Maine, Charles W. Carter.

1872 .- Harvey D. Corning, Alfred C. Guile.

1873 .- Nich. B. Bates, Il. II. Roath.

1874 .- Anstin A. Chapman, George Ayer.

604

HISTORY OF NEW LONDON COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

1875 .- E. F. Ilewill, Ed. Benjamin. 1876 .- James F. Forsyth, Alfred C. Guile. . 1877 .- Charles Ilewitt, W. K. Chapman. 1878 .- George A. Sydleman, Jr., James II, Fitch. 1879 .- Edwin Benjamin, Benjamin Lucas. 1880,-Charles A. Burdick, William Burton. 1881 .- James R. Peckham, W. II. Bennett.

CHAPTER LXXIII.

PRESTON-(Continued). BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCII.

Capt. George G. Benjamin, eldest child of Capt. Ephraim Benjamin, was born in Preston, Conn., Feb. 11, 1814. His grandfather was Maj. Asa Benjamin, a native. of Connecticut. He was a Revolutionary soldier, and a harness-maker and saddler by trade. He left one son, Ephraim, who married Sarah Green, daughter of Peter and Sarah Green, of East Green- wich, R. I., and had eight children, viz. : George G., Harriet, Charles (deceased), William (deceased), Sa- rah, Asa (deceased), Mary, and Edwin, all born in Preston, Conn., and all the sons engaged in the whaling business.

Capt. Ephraim Benjamin was a captain of the State militia, and politically was a Democrat. He held the various offices of his town, and was a man much re- spected. He was a farmer by occupation. He died about 1859 or '60, aged seventy-three years, and his wife died in 1876, aged eighty-two years, and both were buried in the cemetery at Long Society.

Capt. George G. Benjamin, the immediate subject of this sketch, remained at home on his father's farm till he was seventeen years of age, when, being de- sirous of going to sea, he presented himself to Maj. Thomas W. Williams, of New London, who imme- diately employed him, and sent him out as a common sailor before the mast in his ship "Connecticut," Capt. Robert Tate in command. They went on a whaling voyage to the South Seas, and were gone ten months.

He made six different voyages to the South Seas and elsewhere before he was made captain of a vessel named "Clematis," owned by Williams & Barnes, in which he made two voyages, both of which were sue- cessful, but the first voyage merits a special mention.

The single voyage that perhaps before any other merits special notice is that of the " Clematis" (Capt. Benjamin), fitted out by Williams & Barnes, and ar- riving July 4, 1841. She was ont ten months and twenty-nine days, went round the world, and brought home two thousand five hundred and forty-eight bar- rels of oil. This voyage, when the time, the distance sailed, and the quantity of oil brought home are con- sidered in connection, merits to be ranked among re- markable achievements.

There is no associated line of business in which the profits are more equitably divided among those en-

gaged in it than in the whale-fishery. The owners, agents, officers, and crew are all partners in the voyage, and each has his proportionate share of the results. Its operation, therefore, is to enlarge the means and multiply the comforts of the many, as well as to add to the wealth of the wealthy. The old West India trade, which preceded it, was destructive in a remarkable degree to human life and health, and engendered habits of dissipation, turbulence, and reckless extravagance. The whaling business is a great advance upon this, not only as it re- gards life, but also in its relation to order, happiness, and morality. The mass of the people, the public, have gained by the exchange. The improvements in the aspect of the city of New London, Conn., during the last twenty years may be traced to the success- ful prosecution of the whale-fishery.

He made two voyages in the ship "Lowell" as cap- tain, owned by Messrs. Williams & Barnes. His third vessel was the " Montezuma." Besides visiting the South Seas many, many times, he has circumnavi- gated the globe seven times, and visited nearly all the important islands of the seas.

He was a captain sixteen years, till 1854, working more than twenty-three years as a whaler. In 1854 he settled in Preston, in that part of the town known as Poquetannock, on a farm of some one hundred and sixty acres.

March 29, 1843, he married Elizabeth M., daughter of Henry C. and Sarah (Chatman) Avery. Mrs. Ben- jamin was born June 22, 1817. Their children are Henrietta A. (died in 1864, aged fifteen years) and Amanda W. (born June 28, 1855).

Capt. Benjamin is a Democrat, as all his fathers were. About 1855 he was elected to the Legislature by both parties, only one vote being cast against him. He has also held the other principal offices of his town. Mrs. Benjamin is a member of the Baptist Church, and the captain is a liberal supporter of the Episcopal Church, of which his daughter is a mem- ber.

CHAPTER LXXIV.

SALEM.1

THE precise time of the first settlement made within the present limits of Salem remains in doubt, but from what we have been able to gather from the first histories of the colonies we think it can be safely asserted that the first settlements were made in the southern portion thereof, near the last residence of Deacon Josiah Ray- mond, as we will subsequently show. On the 24th day of May, 1685, the General Court granted to Lyme a tract lying north of that township, nine miles in length by two in breadth.

1 By Hon. A. O. Gallup.

George & Benjamin

605

SALEM.

This had hitherto been claimed by the Mohegans, and long afterwards they asserted, in their petitions to the crown, that for this large tract they had never received any remuneration whatever.

In 1699, Colchester was bought by one Nathaniel Foote, who acted as agent in behalf of a company of purchasers. If we may believe the subsequent peti- tions of the Mohegans, this purchase was effected in a manner by no means honest, Owaneco being under the influence of liquor at the time, and the only con- sideration given by the said Foote being some five or six shillings. The settlers, however, may have acted on the ground that the Mohegan country was already justly the property of the colony. This purchase took in nearly all of what were called the "Mohegan Hunt- ing-Grounds," and the town grant was enlarged soon after, so as to comprehend them entirely; but this last act, it is probable, was not intended to extinguish the Indian right.

A quarrel arose, doubtless on account of these trans- actions, between the Mohegans and the settlers of Col- chester, and each inflicted petty insults and injuries upon the other. Daniel Mason took the part of the Indians, and so excited the wrath of the townsmen that as he was riding through Colchester one day some of them threatened to shoot his horse under him.

But the dissatisfaction of the Mohegans still con- tinued respecting the territory which they had lost in Colchester. They acknowledged, indeed, that this land had been purchased, but they asserted that the manner of the purchase was illegal and its terms un- fair,-illegal, because made without the consent of Mason, their overseer; unfair, because Owaneco was intoxicated at the time, and because the price bore no proportion to the value of the property. History in- forms us that Nicholas Hallam, a strong friend of the Mohegans, drew up a petition enumerating all their wrongs and presented it to Queen Anne. A commis- sion was issued July 29, 1704, for the trial of the case, and twelve commissioners were appointed, at the head of whom was Joseph Dudley, Governor of Massa- chusetts. Dudley was in private life an estimable man, a lawyer, a scholar, a gentleman, and a Chris- tian. He was, however, stigmatized as the tool of Sir Edmund Andros, and was long regarded as the bitter enemy of the colony of Connecticut.

The commissioners were empowered to restore the Mohegans their lands if it appeared they had been unjustly taken away ; yet their decision was not irre- vocable, an appeal might be had to the crown.

The court was appointed at Stonington. The com- missioners met, and the Governor and company of Connecticut, with all persons holding lands claimed by the Mohegans, were summoned to appear.

In reply the government of the colony appointed a committee with the following instructions: If the court was simply to act as a court of inquiry, they were to defend the cause of the colony, and show the unreasonableness of the Mohegan claims; if the de-

sign of the court appeared to be to decide definitely upon the case, they were to enter a protest and with- draw. They, of course, protested, and their protest was founded on the assertion that the crown had no right to issue such a commission, it being contrary to a statute of Charles I. and to the charter of Connecti- cut.

All subjects of the colony were likewise forbidden to present themselves before the court, or in any other manner to acknowledge its authority.

Thus no defendants appeared to support their case. It was not claimed, however, that the Mohegans ought to possess all this territory, but only that por- tion which they had remaining to them when the last treaty was made in 1680 between Uncas and the col- ony. The commissioners went over the circumstances by which, in a space of twenty-two years, the Mohe- gans had been deprived of land measuring, as they said, more than forty square miles, almost without re- ceiving any compensation at all. This land referred to covers the whole of Colchester, a portion of Salem, Lyme, and Montville.

They referred also to an enactment of the colony by which Daniel Mason was acknowledged as trustee of the Indian lands, and pointed out the number of grants which had been made of those lands, some by Owaneco, some by the colony, without the concur- rence of Mason.

The decision was then pronounced that the Gover- nor and company of Connecticut should replace the Mohegans in possession of all the lands which they held at the death of Uncas.

These consisted of three tracts, two of which em- braced nearly all of the town of Salem, one of them eighteen square on the northern bounds of Lyme, since incorporated a portion thereof of this town, and the other comprising the whole township of Col- chester. A bill of costs was filed against the colony of £573 12s. 8d. Owaneco and Ben Uncas thanked the commissioners for their decision, expressed their complete satisfaction with it, and begged that their acknowledgments might be sent to the queen for her kind care of the Mohegans.

Owaneco next requested that, as Samuel Mason, who had acted as their guardian, was lately deceased, his nephew, John Mason, of Stonington, might be appointed in his place. John Mason was accord- ingly appointed guardian to Owaneco and his people, with authority to manage all their affairs.

Connecticut appealed against the decision, and on the 15th day of February, 1706, the queen granted a commission of review. John Mason, now the guar- dian of the Mohegans, fell in a low state of health so as for several years to be confined to his house. The government of Connecticut had little interest in prosecuting the affairs, and thus the commission was never used.

. Up to this period in the history of the country the sound of the woodman's axe was not heard, and the

606

HISTORY OF NEW LONDON COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

wild animals of the forest roamed undisturbed by the white man. The feathered flocks filled the air, and the aquatic bird swam on the bosom of her many lakes in undisturbed quietude; but gradually her hills and her valleys were occupied by the hardy pioneer from the Old World, where they one and all could enjoy the freedom of religious liberty, and be the humble possessors in fee simple of an heritage not immediately under the mandate of kings and potentates, but breathe the air of liberty and freedom, and feel that they were lords of their own manors. Society began to shape itself by the stern reason of necessity. Laws were enacted and scrupulously kept, both religious and secular, and the preacher was re- garded as a man of such superior mind and intelli- gence that his word was regarded as the highest authority. The presumption is strong in support of the theory that there were few or no settlers in this town prior to the year 1700, yet tradition says there was in that portion of Lyme now Salem, originally embraced on the two-mile-wide section formerly known as the Lyme Indian hunting-ground.

Among the early settlers, James Harris, son of James Harris, came to this town from Massapeag, near Uncasville, in 1718, and erected his rude dwell- ing near where Gilbert Murray now resides, and con- tinued his residence there until 1738, when he re- moved farther north on his extensive tract, and erected a house only a few rods east of the old Harris homestead.

James Harris had two sons, Jonathan and Lebbeus. Jonathan built the old family bee-hive in about the year 1740, and it is now owned by Justin Harris, a lineal descendant of James.

Lebbeus moved to the farm now owned by Alvah Morgan, known to this day as the old Sterling place.

The said James Harris was admitted an inhabitant of Colchester by vote in town-meeting, Dec. 22, 1718. In 1720-21-22, and perhaps later, he was licensed by the General Court at Hartford as "taverner," and probably kept the first "hotel" within the present limits of Salem, on the ground where Gilbert Murray now owns and resides. In October, 1725, he and his son James and sixteen others petitioned the General Court for a new military company in the parish of New Salem, and presented a roll of sixty-four men ready to enlist. Of this number he was chosen and commissioned captain.

The parish of New Salem was constituted from the south part of Colchester, the north part of Lyme, and a part of Montville by the General Court, April 27, 1725, on the petition of Lieut. James Harris and others, with power to settle and support a minister ; and in 1819 the same territory was constituted the present town of Salem, the old boundary line between Colchester and Lyme being what was called the Old Lyme road, or more generally "the Governor's road," leading from Salem Centre, near Music Vale Semi- nary, eastward towards Montville and Norwich.

Nov. 10, 1726, he gave a deed for the benefit of the new parish of a meeting-house lot, burying-ground and training-field, and upon this lot was erected the first meeting-house and school-house. The origina lot embraced two acres. By a recent act of the Gen eral Assembly liberty was granted to dispose of one half of said lot, and Nathan Minard was empowered to make the conveyance, and Gilbert Murray was the purchaser.

The original trustees were John Holmes, Thomas Jones, and Peletiah Bliss.

The next church edifice was erected in the north part of the parish, in front of the residence o Henry Smith, two churches in succession occupy ing this site, and in 1838 the present church edi- fice was erected, and in the year 1875 underwent thorough repairs at a cost of over one thousand dol- lars, which presents as fine an interior as any country church in the county. The church membership num bers ninety-seven, under the pastorate of Rev. Jairu: Ordway, who was settled in 1874.

Tradition says that one " Lord Gardner" opened the first. land-office in Salem for a Boston and Salem Com pany which was located where Alvah. Morgan now re- sides. This company owned large tracts of land, and the purchasers, many of them paying one dollar per acre in wheat, which had to be conveyed by team to Boston, over one hundred miles. The following names appear on the old records as early settlers, viz. : Har ris, Daniels, Treadway, Rathbone, Gates, Dodge, Bliss Jones, Morgan, Rogers, Carr, Wells, Watrous, Ransom Mumford, Miller, Otis, Perkins, Woodbridge, Kill burn, Gustin, Prince, and Dolbeare.

During the war between England and France, in 1758 to 1760, a number of families emigrated to Hor ton, Kings Co., Nova Scotia, on the Bay of Fundy known as the land of neutral French, from whom have sprung numerous families of wealth and influ- ence, occupying prominent positions in the councils of the Dominion.

During the Revolutionary war and the war of 1812 Salem furnished a large quota of soldiers for the de- fense of the Union.

Tradition says that "Cuckold Hill" furnished for the Revolutionary war fourteen soldiers, where now only one solitary family resides. In the late war of the Rebellion thirty-two men were credited to her quota, several of whom surrendered their life in de- fense of the Union, of whom particular mention should be made of Lieut. John T. Maginnis, of the Eighteenth Regiment; John Niles, John O. Chapel, and Albert Smith, of the Twenty-sixth Regiment.

Salem is situated on the western border of New London County, the larger portion properly lying in the Connecticut Valley. Its waters, however, are drained into the Thames on the east, and the Nian- tic on the south, and the Connecticut River on the west, the culminating point being on Gates Hill, near the residence of B. F. Chapman, from which

607

SALEM.

point, looking eastward, can be discovered the blue distant hills of Rhode Island, and on the north are distinctly visible the high points of Massachusetts; thence, looking southward, Long Island Sound is seen stretching along the southern horizon until lost in the hazy mist so peculiar to distant views.

Music Vale Seminary was founded by the late Hon. Orramel Whittlesey in the year 1835, and the first public examination in the year 1840, being the oldest school of the kind in the country. Many hundred young ladies have been educated in music there.

The original Normal Academy of Music was de- stroyed by fire on the 22d of January, 1868, and a new and commodious seminary erected the same year at a cost of $25,000.

The proprietor, Hon. O. Whittlesey, died Sept. 9, 1876, at the advanced age of seventy-five years, hav- ing been prominent in public life, representing the town in the House of Representatives, and senator of the old Ninth Senatorial District, and often held other and important offices at the hands of the peo- ple. His remains are deposited in his family ceme- tery, beside his wife and other members of the family, on a beautiful spot of ground at the western portion of his former possessions, and a splendid granite monument marks his last resting-place. Only one member of the family, Mrs. Eliza T. Maginnis, still remains in Salem, and occupies the old Hannah Mil- ler cottage, only a few rods north of the seminary.

During the year 1814 the first parsonage was built by the New Salem Ecclesiastical Society and occu- pied by the Rev. Amasa Loomis, Jr., now owned and occupied by the Hon. A. O. Gallup.

Since 1813 the following-named clergymen have had the pastoral charge over the society : Rev. Amasa Loomis, Jr., Rev. Royal Tyler, Rev. Eli Hyde, Rev. Charles Thompson, Rev. B. B. Hopkinson, Rev. Na- thaniel Miner, Rev. Warren Jones, Rev. John Elder- kin, and the Rev. Jairus Ordway, the present settled pastor.

The first post-office established in 1816, in the store now owned and occupied by Thomas Strickland. The first postmaster was Sherbun Williams, while the present incumbent is N. N. Williams, son of the late Hon. Henry Williams.

Episcopal church organized in 1829, and church edifice sold for a town-house in about 1848.

First church organized, called Christ's Church, in 1719. Edifice erected in 1726, in the old cemetery near Gilbert Murray's.

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 New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 146

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1317

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1317