USA > Connecticut > New London County > Norwich > History of Norwich, Connecticut: from its possession by the Indians, to the year 1866 > Part 17
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He died suddenly, at Waterville, Maine, while on a visit to that place, Aug. 29, 1824, aged 71.
Capt. Ebenezer Baldwin, the third son of Thomas and Sarah, was born May 7, 1710, and married Bethiah Barker, the nuptial contract being made sure "per Jacob Elliot." The epitaph upon his tomb-stone con- denses the history of his life.
In Memory of Capt. Ebenezer Baldwin, who departed this life May 2d 1792, aged 80 years. A reputable eitizen, A kind husband, a tender parent, An amiable cheerful neighbour, And a good man. Supported by Christian fortitude He bore with singular Philosophy the peculiar calamities of his life during nine years of blindness and infirmity and the extreme pains of his last lingering sickness in the sure hope of a long wished for Eternity of happiness.
Ebenezer, the oldest son of Ebenezer and Bethiah Baldwin, born July 3, 1745, was a graduate and tutor of Yale College; ordained pastor at Danbury in 1770, entered the army as chaplain in 1776, and died in. October, 1777, aged 31.
Hon. Simeon Baldwin, so long known as Judge Baldwin of New Haven, one of the sterling men of Connecticut, was also a son of Capt. Ebenezer and his wife Bethiah. He was born at Norwich, Dec. 14, 1761, gradu- ated at Yale College in 1781, was member of Congress from Connecticut from 1803 to 1805, Associate Judge of the Superior Court and Supreme Court of Errors, and Mayor of the city of New Haven, where he died,. May 26, 1851, in his 90th year.
His son, the Hon. Roger S. Baldwin, held the offices of Governor of Connecticut, and U. S. Senator, serving his native state in her highest
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executive and confederated capacity. He died at New Haven, Feb. 19, 1863.
Jabez Baldwin, the fourth son of the first Thomas, died in his 25th year, without issue.
VIII. BINGHAM.
The house-lot of Thomas Bingham bears the date of April, 1660, though at that time he could not have been over eighteen years of age. He mar- ried, Dec. 12, 1666, Mary Rudd, who is supposed to have been the daugh- ter of Lieut. Jonathan Rudd of Saybrook. Her image rises before us enveloped in a haze of romance, on account of her probable connection with the story of Bride Brook.
The dainty little river or rivulet that bears this name, is in East Lyme, and received its designation from a marriage ceremony that was performed on its bank in the latter part of the year 1646, or the early part of 1647. The couple linked together were Jonathan Rudd and some unknown fair one to whom with little hazard of mistake we may give the gentle name of Mary. New London and Saybrook were then adjoining towns, though Lyme, East Lyme and Waterford have since seated themselves between. The scene of this solemn betrothal was a solitary spot, far from any human habitation, unless it might have been of savage wigwams ; the ground was covered with snow, and the solemnities must have been performed in the open air.
Witnesses were not wanting on this interesting occasion. The air, we may believe, was full,-and a goodly number belonging to the earth, stood around, wrapped in their furry robes. John Winthrop, Esq., afterward Governor of the Colony, was the acting magistrate; a friendly cavalcade accompanied him from New London, which, with the bridal party from Saybrook, and a few wild faces peering curiously from the woods, made a company sufficient to relieve the wilderness of its silence and solitude.
This enlivening piece of romance, which comes like the breath from a bank of violets across the sterile ridges of our early history, originated from what the historian may consider a fortunate concurrence of untoward events. No person duly qualified to perform the nuptial service was to be found in Saybrook, and the route to Hartford was too much obstructed with snow to admit of travel in that direction. Application was made to Mr. Winthrop at Pequot Harbor to come to Saybrook and ratify the con- tract ; but he had been commissioned by Massachusetts, and his settlement being under the jurisdiction of that colony, he could not exercise the func- tions of a magistrate within the limits of Connecticut. To obviate the difficulty, he proposed to meet the parties upon the border of the two gov-
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ernments, and there, under the open expanse of heaven, to rivet the golden chain. This arrangement not only gave novelty and brilliance to the ceremony, but made it an incident of historical importance, subse- quently cited and accepted as reliable testimony in a case relating to the original bounds of the two plantations .*
The name of the bride of Bride Brook has not been recovered. Mary Rudd, who became the wife of the young Norwich proprietor, Thomas Bingham, is supposed to have been a daughter of the couple who were there united, and probably their first-born child.t Her age at the time of her death carries her birth back to 1648.
Thomas and Mary Bingham had eleven children, four of them daugh- ters, viz., Mary, Ann, Abigail, and Deborah, who became in due time the household partners of John Backus, Hezekiah Mason, Daniel Huntington, and Stephen Tracy. The parents, with the greater part of their family, removed to Windham, where Thomas Bingham can be traced for more than thirty years, as sergeant, selectman, and deacon of the church. He is on the first list of approved inhabitants in 1693, and appears to have sustained through life a position of influence and respectability. Both in a civil and religious capacity, he takes rank among the fathers of that town.#
He died Jan. 16, 1729-30, aged 88.
Mrs. Mary Bingham died Aug. 4, 1726, aged 78.
Thomas Bingham, Jr., born Dec. 11, 1669, was the only one of the sons that settled permanently in Norwich, and succeeded to the privileges of his father as a proprietor of the town. He married Hannah, daughter of William Backus, and died April 1, 1710, leaving eight children under the age of 18.
Caleb Bingham, a bookseller of Boston, well known to the New Eng- land schools of the last generation as the publisher of the Columbian Orator and American Preceptor, was a descendant of Thomas Bingham of Norwich. He was a native of Salisbury, Conn.
IX. BIRCHARD.
Thomas Burchard, aged forty, embarked for New England in a vessel called the True Love, Sept. 20, 1635, with his wife, Mary, and six child-
* Winthrop's deposition in March, 1672, respecting the bounds between New London and Lyme. Conn. Col. Rec., 2, 558.
In a deed recorded at Saybrook, Nathaniel Rudd calls Lieut. Jonathan Rudd his father, and in a similar instrument upon record at Norwich, Thomas Bingham speaks of Nathaniel Rudd as his brother, from which it is inferred that Mary (Rudd) Bingham. was the daughter of Jonathan Rudd.
$ W. A. Weaver's Notes on Windham.
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ren, one of them a son, named John, aged seven, and the others daugh- ters. Thomas Bircher, made free at Boston, May 17, 1637, and Thomas Birchwood, or Birchard, of Hartford in 1639, were probably the same person. He is subsequently found at Saybrook, and was deputy from that township to the General Court in 1650 and 51. After this there seems to be no trace of him at Saybrook, except in a land sale made in 1656 by Thomas Birchard, "of Martin's Vineyard," to William Pratt, wherein he quits elaim for himself and in behalf of his son, John Birchard. t
There can be little hesitation in assuming that John, son of the above Thomas, (aged seven in 1635,) was the John Birchard that became a pro- prietor of Norwich. He appears to have been a man of considerable, note in the company, particularly as a scribe, serving for several years as Town Clerk and Recorder.
John Birchard was one of the ten inhabitants of Norwich accepted as freemen at Hartford in October, 1663, Clerk of the County Court in 1673, a Commissioner or Justice of the Peace in 1676, and Deputy to the Gen- eral Court in October, 1691.
(Autograph in 1680.) 6/ nº Birchard 2:0
The marriage of John Birchard and Christian Andrews, July 22, 1653, and the births of fourteen children, ranging from 1654 to November, 1680, are recorded at Norwich. The first five of the children and one of later birth died in infancy. The mother seems to have been called away while her family was still young, and Mr. Birchard married for a second wife, Jane, relict of Samuel Hyde and daughter of Thomas Lee.
In the settlement of Lebanon, Mr. Birchard took a prominent interest. He was one of the four original proprietors of the five miles traet pur- chased of Owaneco in 1692. He assisted in laying out the lands, removed thither with his family, probably about 1698, and there died, Nov. 17, 1702,-just two days before the decease of Mr. Fitch, His relict, Mrs. Jane Birchard, died at Lebanon, Jan. 21, 1722-3.
Mr. Birchard had six sons that lived to maturity. Samuel, the oldest, went to Windham. John, Joseph and Daniel are found among the early inhabitants of Lebanon, though it is not certain that they all remained there.
* Mass. Hist. Coll., 3 : 8, 272.
+ A Thomas Birchard died at Dorchester, near Boston, Oct. 3, 1657. Savage's Gen. Diet., 1, 181.
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James Birchard, born July 16, 1665, settled at Norwich West Farms, now Franklin. He married Elizabeth Beckwith, had a family of ten children, and lived to be more than eighty years of age.
Thomas Birchard also settled in Norwich, and left descendants. The name has never disappeared from the roll of inhabitants.
The two daughters of the proprietor, John Birchard, married John Calkins and Jonathan Hartshorn.
X. BLISS.
Thomas Bliss, Senior and Junior, had house-lots and divisions of land in Hartford, as early as 1640. The senior died in Hartford, leaving nine children, and his widow, Margaret, apparently a woman of resolute, inde- pendent character, removed with the younger part of the family to Spring- field. Thomas Bliss, Junior, is afterwards found at Saybrook, where his marriage and the births of six children are recorded. The list is repeated with some variation of date and the addition of two more children, at Nor- wich. The wife's family name is not given in either place. "Thomas and Elizabeth Bliss were married the latter end of October, 1644."
The allotments of Thomas Bliss in Saybrook were eastward of the river in what is now Lyme. His house-lot of thirty acres lay between John Ompsted (Olmstead) on the north, and John Lay south. He sold it, July 23, 1662, to John Comstock. His home-lot in Norwich was also near to that of John Olmstead, extending originally, at the north-west, to the pent highway. That part where the house stands, has never been alienated. Seven generations have dwelt on the same spot, and the house is supposed not to have been entirely rebuilt since it was erected by the first pro- prietor .*
Thomas Bliss died April 15, 1688. IIis will, executed two days before his death, was proved at New London, before Edward Palmes, June 13, and allowed by Sir Edmund Andross at Boston ; this being the period when that delegated despot arrogated to himself supreme authority over the courts of New England. The will recognizes wife Elizabeth, son Samuel, and six daughters. His oldest son, Thomas, had died without issue, Jan. 29, 1681. Elizabeth, the reliet, died Feb. 28, 1699-1700.
Samuel Bliss married, Dec. 8, 1681, Anna, daughter of John Elderkin. Five of the daughters married as follows :
* " Bliss in 1659 ; Bliss in 1859 : no bad motto for a Norwich home." Gilman's Hist. Discourse, Sept. 7, 1859. The portrait of Dr. Benjamin Lord, one of the ven- erable ministers of the parish, and the maternal ancestor of the present occupants, hanging upon its walls, seems to accord with the ancient date and quiet comfort of the dwelling.
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Elizabeth married Edward Smith of New London, June 7, 16.63. Sarah m. 1st, Thomas Sluman, Dec., 1668; 2d, Solomon Tracy. Mary m. David Calkins of New London.
Deliverance (recorded also Deliver and Dolinda) m. Daniel Perkins of Norwich.
Anne, one of the first-born daughters of Norwich, m. Josiah Rock- well, 1688.
Rebecca, the youngest daughter, born in 1663, has not been traced.
In the inventory of Thomas Bliss, his estate is estimated at £182.17.7. He had land, besides his home-lot, over the river,-on the Little Plain,- at the Great Plain,-at the Falls,-in Yantic meadow,-in meadow at Beaver Brook,-in pasture east of the town,-and on Westward hill.
This illustrates the prudential course of the early rulers of the planta- tion in regard to the common lands. They were divided in small quan- tities at short intervals, corresponding to the growth and necessities of the town and the ability of the owners to clear them up and place them under cultivation.
XI. BOWERS.
Morgan Bowers came from that part of Saybrook which lay east of the river, and is now Lyme. His home-lot in these Lyme grants was on, or near Black Point, and had been in his possession about five years. Little is known concerning him, either before or after he removed to Norwicha He was on the jury of the county court in 1667, and again in 1680. No trace is found of wife or children, but probably he had both. It was dis- reputable at that period for a man without a family to live as a house- holder by himself. In lais old age, however, he seems to have been both lonely and infirm.
The following notice is recorded in 1701 :
"Morgan Bowers being unable to take care of and relieve himself, desireth the town would please to take care of him, and what estate he hath, that it should be disposed of at the discretion of some persons appointed by the town, for his maintenance."
The town accordingly appointed Lieut. Wm. Backus, Ensign Thomas Waterman, and Sergeant Caleb Abel, "to take care of the said Morgan Bowers, and provide for him as his need requireth, by improving his own estate for that end as far as it will go, and for want of estate of his own to provide for him on the town account."
Nothing later has been found respecting him,
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XII. BRADFORD.
John Bradford was the son of William Bradford, the Pilgrim Governor of Plymouth Colony. His mother was Dorothy May, the earliest of our May-flowers, the herald of those that give fragrance to the airs of spring, and the graceful prototype of the white-winged bark that bore her and the pioneers of freedom over the ocean .*
Dorothy May was the first wife of Governor Bradford. She embarked with her husband for the Promised Land,-but, like Moses, only saw it at a distance. After the vessel had anchored in Cape Cod Harbor, she fell overboard and was drowned, Dec. 7, 1620, her husband being absent at the time in a boat or shallop exploring the coast and selecting a place for a settlement.
John Bradford was not the companion of his parents in this voyage, and it is not ascertained when he came to this country. Very little is known of his early history, for neither Morton nor Prince, the earliest authorities respecting Plymouth Colony, give any hint of the existence of this son of Gov. Bradford.
He was of Duxbury in 1645; afterwards of Marshfield, and deputy to the General Court from both places. He married Martha, daughter of Thomas Bourne of Marshfield, but had no children. Of the circumstan- ces which led him to leave the old colony and unite with the people of Saybrook in founding a new plantation in the Mohegan wilderness, we are ignorant. But it may be supposed that the project originated through acquaintanceship and frequent intercourse with Mr. Jonathan Brewster, who had so greatly benefited his outward condition by a similar chango ten years before. The two friends, however, if such they were, never enjoyed the pleasures of friendly neighborhood, as Mr. Brewster was laid in his grave before Mr. Bradford left the old colony.
The home-lot of the latter in Norwich bears the date of the oldest pro- prietors, 1659, and it is probable that he soon removed to the spot. His farm in Duxbury was sold by "John Bradford, gentleman," to Christopher Wadsworth, in 1664.
Mr. Bradford was one of the townsmen of Norwich in 1671, but his name seldom occurs on the records. His will was exhibited at the County Court in September, 1676. His widow married, after a short interval, her opposite neighbor, Lieut. Thomas Tracy. The period of her death is not ascertained, but the Lieutenant was living with a third wife in 1683.
After Mr. Bradford's death, his homestead reverted to his nephew, Thomas Bradford, who sold it, April 2, 1691, to Simon Huntington, Jr.,
* Was not the vessel her namesake ?
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describing it as "my home lot in Norwich with my new dwelling house and pasture adjoining, 8} acres, more or less, abutting on the town street, 19} rods." The price was £50 in country pay, or £25 in money .*
About this time Thomas Bradford engaged, in connection with his brother-in-law, Nehemiah Smith of New London, (son of N. S., senior, of Norwich,) in a large land purchase, made of Joseph and Jonathan Bull of Hartford. This land lay on the west side of Nahantic Bay, and was called the Soldier Farm, having been originally granted by the Leg- islature to five of Capt. Mason's soldiers for services in the Pequot war. On the northern portion of this tract, was a farm of about two hundred aeres, where Thomas Bradford settled. His house was not far from the north-western corner of New London, as the bounds were then understood. It would now fall within the town of Salem.
Thomas Bradford was a son of Major William Bradford of Plymouth. He died in 1708.
Two of Major Bradford's daughters, own sisters of Thomas, found partners among the inhabitants of Norwich. Alice, reliet of Rev. Wm. Adams of Dedham, who became the second wife of Major James Fitch ; and Melatiah, who married John Steele, then a resident of the town.
Joseph Bradford, another of the fifteen children of Major William of Plymouth, also came to Connecticut. He married Anna, the youngest daughter of the Rev. James Fitch, and settled first in Lebanon. After the death of his wife, he made important purchases in the Mohegan terri- tory, between Norwich and New London, and removed to this new field in 1716. The district in which he settled was then the North Parish of New London, but is now the town of Montville.
The births of ten children of Joseph and Anna Bradford are recorded at Lebanon,-one son, Joseph, and nine daughters. Among them are three couplets, or pairs of twins. He had also, by a second wife, a son John, born May 20, 1717, at Mohegan.
Mr. Bradford was the only son of Major William Bradford by his second wife, who was the widow Wiswall. From his grave-stone in the Montville Cemetery, we learn that he was born in 1675.
" In memory of Lieutenant Joseph Bradford, who died Jany. 16, 1647, in the 73d. year of his age."
* Three Huntington houses were afterwards built on this lot, and still retain their places. They were occupied for many years by the brothers, Andrew, Joshua, and Ebenezer, sons of General Jabez Huntington.
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XIII. HUGH CALKINS.
Hugh Calkins (or Caulkins ** ) was one of a body of emigrants, called the Welsh Company, that came to New England in 1640, from Chepstow in Monmouthshire, on the border of Wales, with their minister, the Rev. Mr. Blinman. The larger portion of this company settled first at Marsh- field, but soon transferred their residence to Gloucester, upon the rough promontory of Cape Ann. From thence, after eight years of experiment, most of them removed to New London, hoping probably to find lands more arable and productive, and allured also by affectionate attachment to Mr. Blinman, whom Mr. Winthrop had invited to his plantation.
Hugh Calkins was, in 1650, deputy from Gloucester to the General Court of Massachusetts, and chosen again in 1651, but removing early in that year to New London, the vacancy was filled by another election.
While living at New London, lie was chosen twelve times deputy to the Connecticut Assembly, (the elections being semi-annual,) and was one of the townsmen, or seleet-men, invariably, from 1652 till he removed to Norwich.
From Norwich he was deputy at ten sessions of the Legislature, be- tween March, 1663, and. October, 1671, and was one of the first deacons of the Norwich church. At each of the three towns in which he was an early settler and proprietor, he was largely employed in public business, being usually appointed one of committees for consultation, for fortifying, drafting soldiers, settling difficulties, and particularly for surveying lands and determining boundaries. These offices imply a considerable range of information, as well as activity and executive talent, yet he seems to have had no early education, uniformly making only a bold H for his signature. t
In a deposition made in 1672, he stated that he was then 72 years of age. The year 1600 may therefore be taken as the date of his birth. Of his wife, we only know that her name was Ann. Six children have been traced, four of whom were probably born before the emigration to this country.
Sarah, supposed to be the oldest child, was married at Gloucester, Oet. 28, 1645, to William Hough. This couple removed in 1651 to New Lon- don, and several of their descendants afterwards settled in Norwich and its vicinity.
Mary was married at Gloucester, Nov. 8, 1649, to Hugh Roberts; and these also followed the fortunes of the family to New London.
Rebecca died at Gloucester, March 14, 1651.
Deborah was born at Gloucester, March 18, 1643-4, and is the only
* The name appears on the early records, written indifferently, with or without the u, and with or without the final s.
.
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one of the children the date of whose birth has been ascertained. She married Jonathan Royce, one of the first band of Norwich proprietors.
The two sons of Hugh Calkins were John and David. The former removed with his father to Norwich. David remained in New London.
Deacon Hugh Calkins died in 1690, aged about 90 years.
XIV. JOHN CALKINS.
John Calkins, the oldest son of Hugh, was probably born about 1634. He was old enough to be summoned to work, with other settlers, on the mill-dam at New London in 1652. He married, at New London, Sarah, daughter of Robert Royce, and his oldest child, Hugh, was born at that place before the removal to Norwich.
John Calkins was one of the selectmen of Norwich in 1671, and on the jury of the county court so late as 1691. He died Jan. 8, 1702-3. Sarah, his relict, died May 1, 1711, aged 77 years. They had three daughters that lived to maturity, Sarah, Mary, and Elizabeth, who mar- ried in the same order, Thomas Baldwin, Samuel Gifford, and Samuel Hyde.
They had also three sons, older than the daughters :
1. Hugh, born in June, 1659, married Sarah, daughter of Thomas Slu- man and step-daughter of Solomon Tracy. She died in 1703, and he married, second, Lois Standish, probably daughter of Capt. Josiah Stand- ish of Preston.
He had five children, and left them at his death what was then consid- ered a large estate. After providing for the widow, the oldest son had a double portion, and the others inherited equal shares of £203 10s .*
INSCRIPTION UPON HIS GRAVE-STONE. SERT HVGH CALKINGS DYED SEPTR 15. 1722 IN YE 63D YEAR OF HIS AGE.
2. John, the second son of the proprietor John, born in July, 1661,- probably the third male child born in Norwich,-married Abigail Birch- ard, Oct. 23, 1690, and subsequently removed to Lebanon. He was the first constable of that town, chosen at its organization, May 31, 1698, and corporal of the first militia company, 1700.
* The inventory of his effects, taken a few days after his death, mentions the articles of honey, beeswax, butter, cider, and metheglin, which shows the variety of domestic produce of that day. Metheglin was a favorite beverage of the old inhabitants.
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His youngest son, James, born April 29, 1702, is on the list of Yale College graduates as Mr. Jacobus Calking, 1725. He was an ordained minister, and officiated as such for several years, but afterwards settled as a farmer in the western district of Norwich, where he died in 1756.
3. Samuel, the third son of John, settled in Lebanon. Stephen, the son of Samuel, born in 1706, was an active, stalwart, enterprising farmer, famous in his time as a cattle-drover or horse-courser. He may be traced by deeds, and town and court records, as a resident at Norwich, New London, Lyme, Lebanon, and finally at Sharon, Ct., where several of his sons settled, and from whence, after the Revolutionary war, his descend- ants spread into western New York.
XV. EDGERTON.
No earlier notice is obtained of Richard Edgerton, than the date of his marriage, which is recorded at Saybrook, but without naming the wife. The omission is supplied by the ampler details at Norwich. Richard Edgerton and Mary Sylvester were married April 7, 1653. The birth of three daughters is registered at Saybrook, reaching to September, 1659, and in November of that year we have the date of his house-lot at Nor- wich.
In this new home, six other children are added to the list, four of them sons, John, Richard, Samuel, and Joseph, each of whom became the head of a family.
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