History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 64

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 64

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WILLIAM HIDE, or HYDE,-the first mode of spell- ing being the most ancient,-is found at Hartford be- fore 1640, a resident and proprietor. The period of his emigration is not known. He removed to Saybrook perhaps as early as 1648.

On his removal to Norwich he sold his house and home-lot to Francis Bushnell, and other property to Robert Lay.3 He died Jan. 6, 1681-82. His age is not known, but he was styled " old Goodman Hide" in 1679.

SAMUEL HYDE.4-Thomas Lee, an emigrant, coming from England with his family to settle in America, died on the passage. His wife, whose maiden name was Phebe Brown, with her three children,-Thomas, Sarah, and Jane,-completed the voyage, and are afterwards found at Saybrook, or Lyme, where the relict married Greenfield Larrabee. Samuel Hyde's wife was the step-daughter of Larrabee.

After the removal to Norwich, the younger Hyde appears to have formed at first but one family with his father, though he afterwards settled at the West Farms. In August, 1660, on the Hyde home-lot, in a newly erected habitation standing upon the border of the wilderness, with a heavy forest growth in the rear, a new member-a welcome addition to the settle- ment-made her appearance. This was Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel and Jane Hyde, the first child born of English parentage in Norwich.

Phebe, the second daughter of Samuel and Jane Hyde, born in January, 1663, married Matthew Gris- wold, of Lyme.

Samuel Hyde did not live to see the settlement of his daughters. He died in 1677, leaving seven chil- dren, the youngest an infant, and all sons but the two daughters above mentioned.

The five sons of Samuel Hyde were speedily multi- plied into a numerous body of descendants.

Samuel married Elizabeth, daughter of John Cal- kins, Dec. 16, 1690. He lived first at West Farms (now Franklin), but removed to Windham, and afterwards to Lebanon, where he died in 1742, aged seventy-seven.

He was the grandfather of Capt. Walter Hyde, whose monumental inscription in the Lebanon ceme- tery states that he joined the American army in 1776, with an independent company of which he had com-

3 The sales are registered at Saybrook, with the following receipt :

"I William Hide of Mohegan do acknowledge to have received of Robert Lay of Six Mile Island the full and just sum of forty pounds which was the first payment specified in the agreement made 25th day of January 1659 for all the lands I had at Potapaugue.

" Witness my hand 5th of May 1660.

his

" WILLIAM C C HIDE."

mark.

4 " The marriage of Samuel Hyde with Jane Lee was in June, Anno Dom. 1659."-Norwich Records.

1 " His epitaph says, ' Very justly lamented by the survivors.'

2 " The Genealogical Memoir of the Huntington Family, published by Rev. E. B. Huntington, of Stamford, is a work of great interest and valne. It embodies the results of years of patient research, and is clear, full, and almost exhaustive in its details.

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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

mand, and died at Greenwich, Sept. 18, 1776, aged forty-one.

He was also the ancestor of Col. Elijah Hyde, a neighbor and friend of Governor Trumbull, who com- manded a regiment of light-horse during the war for liberty, and was on duty with the Northern Army at the surrender of Burgoyne, and of Gen. Caleb Hyde, who at the period of the Revolution was a sheriff in Berkshire County, Mass., but afterwards settled in Western New York.

THOMAS LEFFINGWELL, according to minutes pre- served among his descendants, was a native of Crox- hall, in England. The period of his emigration has not been ascertained. In his testimony before the Court of Commissioners at Stonington in 1705 he says he was acquainted with Uncas in the year 1637, and was knowing to the assistance rendered by the sachem to the English, then and ever after during his life. According to his age, as given in depositions, he must have been born about the year 1622, there- fore at the time of the Pequot war not more than fifteen or sixteen years of age.

The earliest notices of his name connect him with Saybrook. From the colonial records we learn that in March, 1650, a petition was presented "from the inhabitants of Saybrook by Matthew Griswold and Tho: Leppingwell."1 The births of his children are also registered at Saybrook, but under the simple heading of "Children of Thomas Leffingwell," the name of the mother not being mentioned. The list is as follows :

" Rachell born 17 March 1648; Thomas 27 August 1649; Jonathan 6 Dec. 1650; Joseph 24 Dec. 1652; Mary 16 Dec. 1654; Nathaniel Il Dec. 1656."

It is probable also that Samuel Leffingwell, who married Anna Dickinson, Nov. 16, 1687, and died in 1691. was the son of Thomas, though his birth is not found recorded.

Following Mr. Leffingwell to his new home in Nor- wich, we find him an active and influential member of the plantation. He was one of the first two deputies of the town to the General Court, in October, 1662, an officer of the first train-band, and during Philip's war lieutenant under Capt. Denison in his famous band of marauders that swept so many times through Narragansett and scoured the country to the sources of the Quinnebaug.

He lived to old age, but the record of his death does not give his years, and no memorial stone marks his grave.

" Lieul. Thomas Leffingwell died about 1710.

" Mrs. Mary Leffingwell died Feb. 6, 1711."

The staff of the venerated lieutenant, reputed to have been brought with him from his native place, and bearing his initials on its silver head, is now in the

possession of one of his descendants, Rev. Thomas 'Leffingwell Shipman, of Jewett City, Conn. This memorial staff is interesting on the score of antiquity, but far more so from its association with the ven- erable men of successive generations to whom it has been a staff of support. It calls up from the misty past the image of the old soldier or the deacon on the Sabbath-day slowly marching up to his seat under the pulpit : we see his white hair and hear the steady sound of the staff brought down at every step.

Thomas Leffingwell, Jr., and Mary Bushnell were married in September, 1672, and might have cele- brated their golden wedding in 1722, with a houseful of prosperous descendants gathered around them. The husband died March 5, 1723-24, leaving five daughters, all married to Bushnells and Tracys, and three sons, Thomas, John, and Benajah.

Mrs. Mary Leffingwell long survived her partner.

The inventory of Ensign Leffingwell, in 1724, shows that he was richly furnished, not only with the house- hold comforts and conveniences of that era, but with articles of even luxury and elegance. He had furni- ture and linen in abundance, woodenware, and uten- sils of iron, tin, pewter, and silver ;2 wearing apparel valued at £27; wig, 20s .; walking-staff with silver head, 20s .; rapier with silver hilt and belt, £6; a French gun, £3; silver watch, £5; 3 tankards; 2 dram-cups ; 4 silver cups, one with two handles; cop- per pennies and Erabians,8 £6.18.7. Total valuation of estate, £9793.9.11. It is doubtful whether, at that time, any other estate in the town equaled this in value.

The third Thomas Leffingwell, son of the Ensign, and born in 1674, is distinguished as Deacon Thomas. He married Lydia, daughter of Solomon Tracy, and died July 18, 1733. He had six children.

His brothers, Capt. John and Benajah Leflingwell, had large families, the former, eight daughters and four sons, the latter, eight sons and four daughters. Capt. John Leffingwell married, first, Sarah Abell, and second, Mary Hart, of Farmington.

Benajah Leffingwell married Joanna Christophers, of New London. Col. Christopher Leffingwell, of the Revolutionary period, was the third of his eight sons.

Thomas Leffingwell, 4th (son of Deacon Thomas), married Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. Benjamin Lord, Jan. 23, 1729. He died in 1793, in the ninetieth year of his age.

Thomas Leffingwell, 5th, born in 1732, died in De- cember, 1814, aged eighty-two. These five genera- tions were in direct succession, each the oldest son of the oldest son, but the lineage is here interrupted, as Thomas, the 5th, died unmarried.

The Leffingwell tree has a multitude of branches. Samuel Leffingwell, who married Hannah Gifford,

1 Col. Rec., 1. 205. Leppingwell and Leppenwell often appear on the early Norwich records. It is suggestive of the supposed origin of the name,-Leaping-well, denoling a bubbling or bolling spring.

2 In the inventory of Nathaniel Leflingwell, at an earlier date, we find a castor hat, one coffee-cup, a beaker, a pair of campaign boots, etc.

3 An Arabian is supposed to have been a small gold coin.

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NORWICH.

March 2, 1714-15, was the progenitor of several large families. A district in the southern part of the town- ship is known by the familiar designation of Leffing- welltown, from the predominance of the name in that neighborhood. In a field upon old Leffingwell land, in this district, there is a quiet village of the dead, where Leffingwells, Chapmans, Posts, and other names of the vicinity are found. Here is the grave of Dea- con Andrew Leffingwell, who died in 1803. He was the son of Samuel, and born Dec. 12, 1724.

Some of the Leffingwells, who lived on farms, have the traditionary renown of having been stalwart men, able horsemen, enterprising, robust, dreadnaught kind of people. They would ride to Boston in a day, with a led horse for relief, and return on the morrow, unconscious of fatigue. One of them, it is said, per- formed the feat with a single horse, but the noble ani- mal was sacrificed by the exploit, being found dead the next morning.

JOHN OLMSTEAD married Elizabeth Marvin, and. settled at Saybrook, where he was appointed leather- sealer in 1656: He is mentioned incidentally upon the Saybrook records in 1661 as "John Olmsted, of Mohegan, shoemaker," which shows that he had re- moved to the new plantation. At this place, how- ever, he appears as a doctor or chirurgeon, and was undoubtedly the first physician of the settlement, though the articles enumerated in his inventory would imply that he still continued his practice with the last and lap-stone. For several years he was on the grand jury of the county.

He possessed a considerable estate, and was very precise respecting the date and bounds of his grants.

JOHN PEASE. The name of John Pease appears incidentally at New London in 1650, and it may be conjectured that he was a seaman, then belonging to Boston or Martha's Vineyard. It is probable that he resided for a time at Saybrook before joining the com- pany of Norwich proprietors, and that he took a family with him to the new settlement. His home- lot was at the western limit of the town plot, and bore the date of November, 1659.

But in the course of a few years his family, if he had one, his possessions, and his character had all passed away. The court record for 1672 bears the fol- lowing item :

"John Pense complained of by the townsmen of Norwich for living alone, for idleness, and not duly attending the worship of God.

" This Court orders that said Townsmen do provide that Pease be en- tertained into some suitable family, he paying for his board and accom- modation, and that he employ himself in some lawful calling, which if he neglect or refuse to do, the townsmen may put him out to service in some approved family. Except he dispose of his accommodations and remove out of the town."

JOHN POST. The marriage of John Post and Hes- ter Hyde, "in the last of March, '52," and the births of four children are found on record at Saybrook. Four other children are recorded at Norwich, and they likewise had a daughter Mary, not registered at

either place, born probably in 1662, comprising in all a family of two sons and seven daughters.

THOMAS POST. No reference to the family of this proprietor has been found at Saybrook. His exist- ence seems not to be recognized anywhere but in Norwich. From the records of this place we learn that he married Mary Andrews in January, 1656, and that she died at Norwich in March, 1661, and was buried in a corner of her husband's home-lot, as here- tofore related.

JOSIAH READ. The marriage of Josiah Read to Grace, the daughter of William Holloway, took place at Marshfield in November, 1666. At this time he had probably cleared his home-lot and prepared his domicile in Norwich. About the year 1687 he re- moved from the town-plot to a farm "over Show- tucket," and was probably the first permanent settler upon that gore of land which was then called the Crotch, but afterwards Newent. He had a brother John, at that time living " near Pease's farm," within the present limits of Bozrah.

JOHN REYNOLDS was a wheelwright by occupation, and removed from that part of Saybrook which is now Lyme. His housing and land were sold to Wol- ston Brockway, Dec. 3, 1659.

The births of his children are recorded at Norwich, but without mentioning the name of his wife. John, the oldest child, born in August, 1655, was killed by the Indians in Philip's war, as elsewhere related. Stephen, another son, died Dec. 19, 1687.

He died July 22, 1702. He bequeathed his instru- ments of husbandry and wheelwright tools to his son, with all his housing and lands, subject only to the widow's dowry. His wife, Sarah, and son Joseph were named executors, and he adds, "I do make choice of my loving kinsman, Ensign Thomas Lef- fingwell, overseer, to be helpful to them or either of them."

JONATHAN ROYCE was one of the five sons of Robert Royce, of New London, and probably the oldest, though no record of his birth has been found. He married Deborah, daughter of Hugh Calkins, in June, 1660, according to the registry in Norwich, but at New London it is recorded March, 1660-61. Al- lowing the latest date to be correct, the bride was barely seventeen years of age, her birth being recorded at Gloucester, Mass., March 18, 1643-44. This was a second hymeneal tie connecting the two families, John Calkins, of Norwich, having taken for his part- ner Sarah Royce, the sister of Jonathan.

NEHEMIAH SMITH was of Stratford, 1646, but re- moved to New Haven, and obtained a grant of land upon Oyster River for his accommodation in keeping sheep. He is occasionally called on the colonial records "Shepherd Smith." In 1652 he transferred his residence to New London, where his brother John had previously settled, and from thence came to Nor- wich in 1660, or soon afterwards. In 1663 he is styled " now of New Norridge."

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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

THOMAS TRACY, from Tewksbury, in Gloucester- shire, came to New England in April, 1636. His name was enrolled at Salem, Feb. 23, 1637.

" Thomas Tracy, ship-carpenter, received an inhalntant, upon a cer- tlfiente of divers of Watertown, and is to have five acres of land."

He left the bay for the new colony on the Connec- tient, probably about 1640, and settled at Wethers- field, where he is supposed to have married the widow of Edward Mason in 1641. A few years later he re- moved to Saybrook, from whence, after a residence of twelve or fourteen years, he came to Norwich, bringing with him six sons and a daughter. Perhaps his wife also was then living, for neither the place nor period of her death has been ascertained. Two of his children, John and Thomas, were probably born in Wethersfield, and the others in Saybrook. Miriam, the daughter, was the middle member of the list, and at the time of the settlement about ten years of age, her brothers ranging above and below, from six to (perhaps) sixteen years.

Mr. Tracy was evidently a man of talent and ac- tivity, skillful in the management of various kinds of business, upright and discreet. The confidence placed in him by his associates is manifested in the great number of appointments which he received. His name is on the roll of the Legislature as repre- sentative from Norwich at twenty-seven sessions. The elections were semi-annual, and Mr. Traey was chosen twenty-one times, beginning Oct. 9, 1662, and ending July 5, 1684. The others were extra sessions.

In October, 1666, he was chosen ensign of the first train-band organized in Norwich, and in August, 1673, lieutenant of the New London County Dragoons, en- listed to fight against the Dutch and Indians. In 1678 he was appointed commissioner or justice of the peace.

JOHN TRACY. The marriage of this young pro- prietor to Mary Winslow, June 10, 1670, is recorded at Duxbury, Mass. The bride was a daughter of Josiah Winslow the elder, who was brother to Gov- ernor Edward Winslow, of Plymouth.

John and Mary Tracy had five children,-four sons and one daughter; the latter married Nathaniel Backus. The oldest son, Josiah, died in infancy. The others, John, Joseph, and Winslow, all had families. Mr. John Tracy died Aug. 16, 1702; Mrs. Mary Tracy died July 30, 1721.

Mr. Tracy's inventory specifies the homestead, val- ned at one hundred and thirty pounds, and seventeen other parcels of land, comprising between three and four thousand acres. He had land at Yantic, at Bradford's Brook, Beaver Brook, Lebanon, Little Lebanon, Wawecos Hill, Potapaug, at Wenungatuek (on the west side of the Quinnebaug, above Plain- field ), at Tadmuck Hill (east of the Quinnebang), and at Mashamagwatuck, in the Nipmuck country. The land at Wenungatuck was part of a large tract pur- chased of Owaneco, sachem of Mohegan. In the division of the estate it fell to Nathaniel Backus.

John Tracy, of the second generation, was born in 1673; of the third, in 1702; of the fourth, in 1726; of the fifth, in 1755; of the sixth, in 1783. These six John Tracys were in the line of primogeniture, and all natives of Norwich except the first. Their partners in regular succession were Mary Winslow, Elizabeth Leflingwell, Margaret Hyde, Margaret Huntington, Esther Pride, and Susannah Hyde. The sixth in this line was the late John Tracy, of Oxford, N. Y., who was born in that part of Nor- wich which is now Franklin, and was a man of ac- knowledged ability and integrity, devoting himself for many years to the service of the public as post- master, representative, judge, and for six years Lieu- tenant-Governor of New York. He died June 18, 1864. He leaves no son to continue the line.

Dr. Elisha Tracy, a distinguished physician of Norwich of the Revolutionary era, was a son of Capt. Joseph Tracy, second son of John the pro- prietor. He was the father of the late Dr. Philemon Tracy, two of whose sons, Phineas L. and Albert H., have been representatives in Congress from New York. Capt. Jared and Frederick Tracy, in the mercantile line, who have descendants in various parts of the Union from New York to Missouri, were of the same lineage.

Uriah Tracy, of Litchfield, born at Norwich, West Farms, in 1755, and United States senator from 1796 till his death, was a descendant of Winslow Tracy, the youngest son of the first John. He died at Washington, July 19, 1807, and was the first person interred in the Congressional Cemetery.

ROBERT WADE. The name of Robert Wade is found at Dorchester in 1635; a person bearing the same name was admitted as a freeman at Hartford in 1640; at a later period it is found among the inhabit- ants of Saybrook, and still later at Norwich. All these notices probably refer to one person. In August, 1657, Robert Wade was divorced from his wife by the General Court at Hartford, the act being recorded in the following terms :

"This Court duely and seriously considering what evidence hath bene presented to them by Robert Wade, of Seabrooke, in reference to his wiues vnworthy, sinfull, yea, unnatural cariage towards him the said Robert, her husband, notwithstanding his constant and comendable care and indeanor to gaine fellowship wth her in the bond of marriage and that either where shee is in England, or for her to line wth him here in New Englane; all weh being slighted and rejected by her, disowning bim and fellowship wth him in that solemn conenant of marriage betwene them and all this for neare fifteene yeares : They doe hereby declare that Robert Wade is from this time free from Joane Wade his late wife and that former Couenant of marriage betwene them."

We assume that this was the Robert Wade that ap- peared a few years later among the proprietors of Norwich, with wife Susanna.

His house-lot, between those of John and Thomas Post, was subsequently transferred to Caleb Abell in exchange for a situation better adapted to farming.

RICHARD WALLIS. This name is probably iden- tical with Wallace. Richard Wallis, though ranked as an original proprietor, was not one of the earliest

265

NORWICH.

company that settled at Norwich. He was living at that time in the eastern division of Saybrook, now Lyme, and sold his house, with six acres of land, to John Borden, but yet delayed from year to year to vacate the premises. In 1670, Borden brought a suit against him before the County Court in order to ob- tain possession. The court ordered Wallis to deliver the premises to the purchaser, in good condition, within one month from the date of judgment. We assume therefore the year 1670 as the date of his removal to Norwich. He died early in 1675.

THOMAS WATERMAN was nephew to the wife of John Bradford. Robert Waterman and Elizabeth Bourn, of Marshfield, were married Dec. 9, 1638. Thomas, their second son, was born in 1644, and probably came to Norwich with his Uncle Bradford. In November, 1668, he was joined in wedlock with Miriam, only daughter of Thomas Tracy.

ABEL, or ABELL. Three of this name are found at an early period among the inhabitants of Norwich, -Caleb, Benjamin, and Joshua. It is a natural sup- position that they were brothers, and nothing is known that disproves the relationship. In all probability they came from Dedham.

It will not be inappropriate to advert here to a late worthy descendant of Caleb Abell, of Norwich, who has left no posterity to perpetuate his line. Gen. Elijah Abell, a gallant officer in the army that con- tended against England for liberty and independence, was born within the old municipal bounds of Nor- wich, but after the conclusion of the war settled in Fairfield, and for nearly twenty years served as sheriff of the county. In later life he returned to the old homestead in Bozrah, and there died, June 3, 1809, aged seventy-one. He was a graduate of Yale Col- lege, well informed, energetic, and upright.

JONATHAN BREWSTER was the oldest son of Elder William Brewster, of the Mayflower colony, but came over in the "Fortune," 1621, a year later than his father. 'He settled at Duxbury, and represented that town in 1639. With others of the Plymouth colony, he engaged actively in the trade with the Indians of Long Island Sound and Connecticut River. This trade was carried on in sloops and shallops. Some of the first settlers of Windsor appear to have been carried thither in Brewster's vessel. Jonathan and William Brewster were witnesses to a deed of land purchased by the Dorchester people of the Indians at Windsor, April 15, 1636.

These voyages brought Mr. Brewster into contact with the younger Winthrop, the founder of New Lon- don, to which place he removed in 1649 and found immediate employment, not only in the old path of Indian traffic, but as recorder or clerk of the planta- tion, many of the early deeds and grants at New Lon- don being in his handwriting.

"16 May, 1650. "This day were made Freemen of this jurisdiction John Winthrop, Esq., Mr. Jonathan Brewster,' &c."

Mr. Brewster had established a trading-post near the mouth of Poquetannock Creek. The point of land formed by the junction of the creek and river is still called Brewster's Neck. A large tract of land was here given by Uncas to Mr. Brewster as a bonus to induce him to establish the post, and it was confirmed to him by the townsmen of New London, within whose original bounds it was included.

He commenced operations at Brewster's Neck in 1650, without waiting to obtain a license from the authorities of Connecticut, who claimed the jurisdic- tion. The General Court, at their session in May of that year, censured him for the way of proceeding, but legalized the undertaking itself.

" Whereas Mr. Jonathan Brewster hath set up a trading-house at Mo- higen, this Courte declares that they cannott but judge the thinge very disorderly, nevertheless, considering his condition, they are content hee should procced therein for the present, and till they see canse to the contrary."

From this time forth Brewster's Neck and Trading Cove, on the opposite side of the river, became the principal places of traffic with the Mohegans. Mr. Brewster maintained an agency here, and kept his family at the post for several years, but at length re- linquished the trade to his son Benjamin and returned to Pequot Harbor, as New London was then called. In May, 1657, he was chosen " assistant for the towne of Pequett."

BUSHNELL. The marriage of Richard Bushnell and Mary Marvin, Oct. 11, 1648, is recorded at Hart- ford. Mary Marvin was a daughter of Matthew Mar- vin, afterwards of Norwalk. Richard Bushnell's name also appears in 1656, among the owners of home-lots in Norwalk, but he is not afterwards found in the list of early settlers, and it is supposed that he became a resident of Saybrook, and there died about the year 1658. His relict appears in 1660, at Norwich, as the wife of Thomas Adgate. Her children were brought with her to the new settlement, and their births are found registered with those of the Adgate family.

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History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 64

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