USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Norwalk > Norwalk, history from 1896 > Part 23
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The sons upon arriving at maturity removed from Norwalk and were afterwards well known city business men. They reached man's estate at the time of the Revolutionary War, and attached to the King's cause, retired, temporarily, to the provinces. One of the three daughters married in Norwalk, one in New York and the other remained unmarried.
The following article was, some years since, solicited from the author, for public- ation by the head of a monthly journal. Said journal having suspended issue before the article was prepared accounts for its presentation and preservation in this place.
PARENTAGE AND HISTORY OF FOUR EMINENT BROTHERS.
On the east side of the ancient Norwalk "Town Street" which beginning narrowly at the founders "Cove" near the harbor widened gradually for a few rods from the water's edge until it reached its breadth of 60 feet, and thus continued, losing itself, quite like a lane again, in the northern forest, and at about a quarter mile from the cove-end of the street, stood, during the last century, the home of a quartette of destined metropolitan merchant- men. Of the parents who had received the homestead from a previous proprietor the re- mains of one were, in 1760, laid away in the "plantation" burial plot a few rods remove from his late estate, while the mother, who for many years survived her partner, was buried from the city mansion of her daughter, Mrs. Archibald Gracie, and interred in one of the New York cemeteries. The two were the son and daughter, the former of James Rogers of New London, Connecticut, a lawyer and speaker of the assembly, and the latter of Samuel Fitch, Esq., a New England King's Commissioner and a brother of Hon. Thomas Fitch, Governor, from 1754 to 1766, of the Colony of Connecticut. Hon. Samuel and Gov- ernor Fitch with their brother James and sister Elizabeth were children of the throne-ap- pointed notary for Norwalk, "Mr." Thomas Fitch 3d., Their grandfather Fitch was a son
of seventy-two. Samuel, his oldest son, lived to ex- ceed, by one year, the age of his father, while James 2d. reached only the sixty-third mile stone. This son, father of James 3d., the Norwalk settler, was a ship- master and married one of his passengers from the old to the new world, Mary, daughter of Jeffrey Jor-
dan. The first child was a son, James3d., named for his father and the second was a daughter, Mary, who took her mother's name. Four other children were born to James zd. but the oldest was the only one that came to Norwalk. The others probably lived and died in the eastern part of the State.
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of Thomas Fitch the settler, and a nephew of Joseph Fitch the ancestor of the inventor of the first steamboat, and an own cousin of Maj. James Fitch the son-in-law of Maj. John Mason, conqueror of the Pequots. Through their grandmother Fitch the three brothers and one sister were gr .- nephews and niece of Rev. Abraham Pierson, the first rector of Yale College, and of "Old Lymes Captain," Reynolds Marvin, the renowned Indian fighter.
Nehemiah Rogers, son, as before noted, of James Rogers3d., and brother of the just- ly celebrated Dr. Uriah Rogers, Sr., and also the grandfather of Mrs. President Charles King, LL.D., and of Mrs. James Gore King, and a grand-uncle of Chancellor James Kent, and who, in 1726-7, removed at nine years of age with his father from the southeastern to the southwestern confines of the colony, was, as pre-revolutionary records certify, a use- ful man. Chosing for a life companion a comely, courtly maiden, Elizabeth Fitch, the daughter of a distinguished near neighbor, the two were wedded and had born to them four of Norwalk's best bred representatives, and later of New York's most reputable citizens, Moses, Nehemiah, Fitch and Henry Rogers, Esqs.
As far as a judgment in the matter may reasonably be formed one of the legacies bequeathed to these boys was the inculcation that a sound mind deserved to tenant a sound body, and that both required to be dominated by the principles of religion. Not far from their grandfather Fitch's dwelling, and upon the generous sward that faced it, might have been seen, as narrated by a Rogers descendant,' the primitive Norwalk youth's vaulting rock and, possibly, highway running course. Here tradition tells of the manly exercise indulged in by the children of the period, while we can legitimately surmise that "Indian Field," a short stroll to the east, with its wild beauty and legend lore, and " Fruitful spring,"? a bubbling fresh water fount hard by the salt water Sound, were calculated to tempt boys curious for information and to prompt to investigation on their parts. Of one of the Rogers lad's diligence, a quaint line in a quiet register still in existence gives assurance, and to his own and brother's zeal, as years passed on, for the honor of God a published volume3 bears decisive testimony.
As to the date of the family's departure from Norwalk, it is difficult to exactly deter- mine. From the town and other writings it is inferred that the elder Nehemiah spent most of his days in his adopted home. His tombstone informs as to his decease, and the parish journal witnesses to his interest, churchwise, almost to the year of his demise. The attest- ation to the marriage of his daughter, Susannah, on "Sunday evening, Dec. 27, 1769, at about 8 of the clock, Samuel Fitch, Esq., her grandfather, giving her away" is still pre- served, and albeit the bride's father had nine years before gone hence, the certificate's text argues that the family was not yet entirely broken up in Norwalk. As to how much or how little time was here spent by the four sons it is not easy to ascertain. They were left
'A Lambert grandson of Nehemiah Rogers.
2Found by the Norwalk pioneers upon their ar- rival, and situated northeast of Woodbury G. Lang-
don's island home. It has frequent mention in old Norwalk records.
3Churchman's Magazine 1806.
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fatherless at a tender age. Moses the first named, was a boy of eleven when he lost his parent. About one mile from the Rogers', and on the same Norwalk street, was brought up, in a meadow-encircling domicile, the mother, Mrs. Benjamin Woolsey, Jr.,' of the two sis- ters, Sarah and Mary, who subsequently became, respectively, Mrs. Moses Rogers and Mrs. Dr. Timothy Dwight. Moses Rogers eventually selected for his country seat the sightly promontory upon the north shore of Long Island Sound known as Shippan Point,? and at the present time the property of Col. Woolsey Rogers Hopkins, a son of its original owner's oldest daughter, Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth (Rogers) Hopkins. Julia Ann, youngest daughter of Moses Rogers, married Francis Bayard Winthrop, Jr., whose promising son Edward was Yale valedictorian in 1831 and who followed, in the enjoyment of this dignity, it is inter- esting to observe, his clever cousin, Henry Rogers Winthrop, valedictorian of the preced- ing year's class.
"This young lady, the charm of the Isaacs' sunny home. was (see Ralph Isaacs lineage) of the same Hyde blood as Edward, Earl of Clarendon, whose daughter married James II, King of England. Her name was Esther, born July 19, 1730, daughter of Ralph Ist. and Mary (Rumsey) Isaacs. In a Norwalk meadow, bisected in 1896 by Morgan Avenue, stood an old-time house which (meadow and house) became the property in 1727, of Ralph Isaacs Ist. Ralph Isaacs (see Isaacs lineage) brought a Fairfield bride to Nor- walk and here founded a large family. The children had ample room in which to range, while adjoining hill and forest ( "Grumman's Hill" and "Betts' Woods " of 1896) tempted, doubtless, their spirit of adventure. Esther, the second daughter, at the age of nineteen, married Benjamin Woolsey, Jr., son of Rev. Benjamin and Abigail (Taylor) Woolsey of Long Island. Her life was short as she saw only twenty-five summers. She left one son, who died young, and two daughters who became Mrs. Timothy Dwight and Mrs. Moses Rogers. Her husband mar- ried, second, Anne, daughter of Dr. Geo. and Anne Muirson of Brookhaven, L. I. By this marriage there was a son who was the father of Dr. Theodore Dwight Woolsey, President of Yale College, and who preached one of the sermons at the dedication in 1849, of the present First Congregational Church in Norwalk.
2This southwestern Connecticut cape so projects, at Stamford, into Long Island Sound, as to create, east, south and west, a marine expanse of unexcelled beauty. It is one of the sightliest and most salubrious peninsulas on either the Connecticut or Long Island shores. It possessed especial attractions to Moses Rogers who, at the time of the purchase of an im- portant portion of its area, went abroad to study the design for a family mansion thereon to be erected. One of Mr. Rogers' early and clever conceptions was that of the planting of a row of trees which grew to
nobly line the long avenue which fronted his stretch- ing estate. This elegant Shippan feature tempted the descriptive pen of President Timothy Dwight ist. of Yale College, and remained quite intact until the spring of 1895 when many of the grandly bough-sup- porting trunks were leveled by the Shippan Tramway Company. A wall of native stone with arboreally draped granite posts faced the verdure surrounded house within which culture and comfort held sway. Mr. Rogers was a nature-lover and took great delight in making his exceptionally commanding sea-situated domain additionally attractive and inviting. At the exteme south end of the point stands to-day a chim- ney section that survives the ruins of its old proprie- tor's house, not far from which is a tombstone bear- ing this inscription :
In Memory of
RICHARD BELDEN,
Who Died 1734.
A spring of never failing pure, soft and cool water, fed, it is probable, from a far-away or from a far-below- the-surface fountain stands upon these grounds and but a short distance from the beach. This singular spring supplies, to-day, the entire home establish- ment of Col. Woolsey Rogers Hopkins, who is pro- prietor, to a goodly extent, of his honored grand- father's ancient estate.
A window in memory of Moses Rogers has re- cently been placed near the transept of the new St. John's Church, Stamford, by his grand-children Col. and Mrs. Hopkins. The pane was ordered in England by the late William Tatlock, D.D., rector of said venerable parish. Nehemiah Rogers, father of Moses, is interred in the old plantation burying ground in Norwalk. Ilis wife sleeps, it is probable, in Trinity Church yard, New York city.
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NORWALK.
Nehemiah Rogers2d., next of mention to Moses, married at the age of twenty-six, one whose progenitors' possessions were but a few miles remove from those of the Rogers'. The name of his wife's father, Isaac Bell,' is perpetuated to-day, and the Capt. Isaac Bell Cove home site is a fond Norwalk and Stamford memory of the past.
Fitch Rogers, who had barely entered his teens when his father died, was attracted to Stamford from whence during the war troubles he departed to New Brunswick where we find him at thirty years of age numbered among the incorporators of the city of St. John's in said province. His name is to this day familiarly repeated by the older people of Nor- walk. His daughter Catharine married Rev. Reuben Sherwood, who was for years the rector of the parish of the welfare of which the Rogers brothers had been so mindful, the venerable cure of St. Paul's, Norwalk.
Henry Rogers, the last mentioned brother, who, at the decease of his parent, Nehemiah, had just passed his seventh birthday, lived to become a man of signal integrity and influ- ence. His greatly esteemed daughter, recently laid to rest, the relict of Rev. Smith Pyne, D. D., and who has been the care of devoted children, was a queenly lady. She took a deep interest in the family history, and contributed to its story.
As to Moses, Nehemiah, Fitch and Henry Rogers' mercantile careers, it may be affirmed that they accomplished a signal work. They possessed extraordinary business qualifications, were discreet, experienced, sagacious and ranked high among their commer- cial contemporaries. An " old New York merchant" is a proud designation, and without abating one jot of the praise to which modern enterprise is entitled, still one cannot call to mind the well kept up reputation for method and management excellence of the Nexsens, Livingstons, Hoffmans, Murrays, Beekmans, Crugers, Lispenards, Ludlows, Desbrosses, Bogarts, Gracies and Woolseys of old merchant fame, without holding the remembrance of the same in regardful estimation.
The Rogers brothers had three sisters, Susannah, Esther and Elizabeth. Their
Norwalk and other well kept records define the Bell ancestry as mentioned in foot note, page 94. Catharine Bell (Mrs. Nehemiah Rogers2d.) was a daughter of Isaac and Susannah Bell. Mr. Bell was a son of James and Sarah ( Weed) Bell. He first mar- ried Jemima Holly and had a daughter, Hannah, born Dec. 10, 1758, who married Fitch, oldest son of Nehe- miah and Elizabeth Rogers. Mrs. Bell died Feb. 23, 1760, and Mr. Bell married, second, Sep. 14, 1761, Susanna, daughter of Ephraim and Isabel (Bart- lett) Smith, and grand-daughter of John and Isabel (Haynes) Bartlett, and great grand-daughter of " Mr. William Haynes" of " Haynes' Ridge," the Haynes property comprising the to-day spreading and splen- did Dr. Parker New Canaan acreage. Ephraim Smith, father of Mrs. Isaac Bell, was the sixth son of Ebenezer and Abigail (Bouton) Smith, which Eben- ezer Smith, born July 11, 1668, was a grandson of Lieut. Samuel Smith, an "ancient sergeant" and
Wethersfield "Deputy " 1640-61, and "Deputy to the General Court Colony of Massachusetts Bay " 1661- 1673 ; also a commissioner to negotiate with the Mo- hawks 1667. (See Society of Colonial Wars Year Book 1896.) Lieut. Smith was born in England and his character may be inferred from this clause of his will bearing date June 23, 1680: " I bequeath to each of my children a bible. My executors are to cause to be written, plainly and legibly, in each bible, the last verses of the eleventh Chapter of Ecclesiastes and the first verse of the twelfth Chapter." Isaac and Sus- anna (Smith) Bell had James, born April 14, 1762; Henry, born Nov. 25, 1765 ; Isaac (Capt. Isaac of New York see page 94), born Feb. 16, 1768; Katharine, born Feb. 11, 1770, and Thomas, born March 9, 1774. Their daughter Katharine married Nehemiah 2d., son of Nehemiah and Elizabeth (Fitch) Rogers of Nor- walk.
Norwalk's 1896 Bells, have Stamford ancestry.
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NORWALK.
mother passed most of her latter life with her daughter Esther, in New York, but her visits to her Connecticut relatives were frequent. Near by her own and husband's father's Nor- walk domains stood, and to this day stands, a favorite stopping place to which she was wont, in olden-time circumstance, to repair. Portions of her uncles, Gov. and James Fitch's residences may remain, but there is nothing, save only three sites, to remind of the Rogers structures. Her husband's properly inclosed tomb, and the portrait of herself (on page 161) are the two souvenirs of their two notable children that Norwalk and Fairfield County now hold.
The comprehensive constituency of the Norwalk Rogers' lineage while affording a lesson susceptible of profitable study is also a rare genealogical fact. The most extensive research, as another hints, will hardly make more remarkable discoveries than those di- vulged by the pedigree investigation of a household that has been the cradle of divines, authors, scholars, and men of genius, taste, skill and opulence, and which has embraced as a part of its great whole such a relationship host as that which the families of the Austin's, Botsford's, Bradford's, Dix's, Dwight's, Gracie's, Grannis', Hawley's, Hopkin's, Kent's, King's, Lambert's, Lawrence's, Montgomery's, Platt's, Pyne's, Read's, Stone's, Scribner's, Sherwood's, Van Rensselaer's, Verplanck's, Winthrop's and Woolsey's form. The branches of the family tree are wide-spread, but its root having been sound, and its trunk character-strong, its multiplied members consequently, are blessed by the example-inheritance of lofty hearth- stone virtues which in every generation never fail to command admiration and reverence.
It was long ago claimed that the patronymic Rogers, signifies one who is true to his word. This being the case, then were the four New England brothers referred to in this article's caption, loyal to the etymology of their name. The blood of the sleeper at the side of his sire in the Norwalk fathers burial acre courses the veins of many of the most broadly known people of the land to-day, all of whom are, in the eloquent language of one of their own affinity,' "pledged by the bright past of ancestral ideas, aims and endeavors, to lose nothing that they had already gained, as a family of worth, in the long ages before them, in their future."
Some one writes that it is proverbially easy to be wise after an event. Moses Rogers on the contrary, was a man of forewit and thought. He sagely selected " Shippan" for his home and on this wise introduced to Stamford one of its most excellent early citi- zens, Royal L. Gay.
Leaving his boyhood home Mr. Rogers amassed a fortune and, as has been seen, chose the Stamford point for a country residence. This naturally beautiful tract was vastly improved by the skill and taste brought through the instrumentality of Mr. Roger's wealth, to bear upon the sea girt promontory. Its owner took pride in redeeming the soil and adorning its surface. He does not seem to have been particularly fond of yachting, nor excessively devoted to driving, but his farm, garden and park grounds were the delight of
'The late Benjamin Woolsey Dwight, D.D.
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NORWALK.
his relaxation hours from the exactions of business life. During the earlier part of the present century, Mrs. Rogers was at times an invalid and resorted to Stafford Springs for treatment. Her husband here met a young citizen of Stafford, whose intelligence and high sense of honor so won Mr. Rogers' esteem as to cause him to propose to the same (Royal L. Gay) association in the management of the Shippan estate.1 Mr. Gay assented and was established upon the Point, a neighbor to Mr. Rogers. The character and business worth of their adopted resident told to such a degree upon the Stamford people that Mr. Gay was called to the highest civil offices which he filled for many years, and until the close of a stainless career, when he who had been universally lauded in life was as widely lament- ed in death. The two friends passed hence, Mr. Rogers on Nov. 30, 1825, and Mr. Gay June 21, 1857.
Mr. Gay brought with him to Stamford his bride, whom he had that same year mar- ried in Tolland, Conn. The two had several children, one of whom, William, has proven a most enterprising and useful Stamford denizen. He married a daughter of Henry F. Waring and had only one son who died away from home at school, and one daughter who married Major William W., son of the late Capt. William Skiddy of Stamford. A daugh- ter of Maj. Wm. W. Skiddy married Willard 3d., son of Dr. Willard 2d. and Margaret (Ketchum)2 Parker of New York, and a grandson of the late Willard Parker, M. D., Sr., of New York, whose genius and generosity have largely contributed to make of old Norwalk's historic Haynes' Ridge a handsome park.
'Shippan is historic ground from the fact that the original Stamford proprietors selected it (as did the Norwalk settlers the territory now lying below the "Benedict's tide mill pond"), for corn and other planting. Moses Rogers' purchase covered three hundred acres. Upon a portion of this site, his grandson, Col. Woolsey R. Hopkins, has erected an elegant home where himself and his accomplished lady dispense the Rogers hospitality of years agone. Col. Hopkins has taken a substantial interest in the Rogers' father's plot in the Norwalk cemetery and largely redeemed the ancient tombs. There are seve- ral Hopkins brothers and sisters.
2Willard Parker 3d. is a son of Dr. Willard 2d. and Margaret (Ketchum) Parker whose own and father's New Canaan lawns of living green at the southmost limits of Haynes Ridge are magic-like transforma- tions of " Mr. William Haynes'" Michaelmas-daisy meadows.
Mrs. Dr. Parker2d. is a daughter of the late Mor- ris Ketchum of "Hokanum," Westport. This des- ignation (see notes page 73.) a contraction of " Haw- kenhome" (call the men home) once applied to a territory extending as far south as the present West- port Willow Brook Cemetery, the old name of which sleeping place (singularly appropriate in view of its present use) was " Hockanum flats." The mother of
Mrs. Dr. Parker zd. was the third wife of Morris Ketch- um and a daughter of the astute Judge Miller of New York. Mr. Ketchum's first two wives were sisters, the daughters of Silas Burr of " Burr Plain" on the ancient northwestern borders of Fairfield. He (see Ketchum lineage) appears to have been a lineal de- scendant, in the fifth generation, of Joseph Ist and Merey (Lindall) Ketchum of early Norwalk. Mercy, youngest daughter of Deacon Henry and Rosa- mond Lindall of New Haven, and a step daughter, after her mother's second marriage, of Nathaniel Richards of Norwalk, was baptized by the New Haven pioneer, Rev. John Davenport, Jan. 30, 1658, and not far from twenty-one years afterward (April 3, 1679) was married to Norwalk's first Joseph Ketchum. The two chose a coveted site for a home lot, and had a son born, who in due time became a father, and named his own son for the lad's Ketchum grandfather. This grandson of Joseph Ketchum ist. married, in Greens Farms, March 8, 1749-50, Elizabeth, daughter of Gid- eon Ilurlbutt, and had born for him, April 11, 1765, Amos, who married in Dutchess County, first, Ara- bella, daughter of Jonathan Landon, and second, Elizabeth Hunter. Amos Ketchum lived in the old town of Waterford, above Troy, in New York. Here was born, in 1796, his son Morris, afterward proprie- tor of "Hokanum."
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NORWALK.
CHILDREN AND GRAND-CHILDREN OF NEHEMIAH AND ELIZABETH (FITCH) ROGERS.
Fitch, oldest son of Nehemiah and Elizabeth Rogers, having reached majority, mar- ried Hannah, daughter of Isaac and Jemima (Holly) Bell of Stamford, and had :
Fitch 2d .; married Mary, daughter of Rev. Daniel Smith of Stamford.
Catharine ; married Rev. Reuben Sherwood.'
Henry; died unmarried.
Harriet; married John Winthrop.
Charles ; died unmarried. William ; died unmarried at sea.
Emily Sophia ; married Henry F. Rogers (son of Henry 'st.) her cousin.
There are grounds for believing that after the de. cease of Joseph Ketchum3d. his widow (Elizabeth Hurlbutt) may have married Capt. Phineas Chapman of her former home vicinity. It is certain that Mor- ris Ketchum claimed Chapman kinship and the sec- ond marriage theory will solve the problem. Mr. Ketchum, when a lad, visited Westport where he seems to have attended school. The bright Saratoga County boy soon after obtained a position in one of the metropolitan commercial houses, the heads of which had achieved enviable fame, and he, who in the dew of industrious youth made himself rurally use- ful, ripened anon into one of the business princes of the land. Norwalk, to the end of its history-chapter, will probably furnish a no more remarkable finance- trio than that composed of her descended three pros- perous sons, Moses Rogers, Morris Ketchum and Le- grand Lockwood. Two of Mr. Ketchum's sons, Charles J. and Landon, married sisters, Phoebe and Augusta, daughters of Francis Burritt. Mr. Bur- ritt's home at the father's "Rocky Neck" (Sanga- tuck), was a lovely spot. Mr. Burritt was an invalid for some time and his son Frank (now "Com- modore") was likely to be out in his boat or off with his gun, but Mrs. Burritt's cordial pres- ence and the agreeable manner of her cousin, Mrs. Anna P. Ketchum, who was a visitor at the Burritts, added to the charming spontaniety of the daughters, Phobe and Augusta, made this water side chatteau truly inviting.
Katharine, oldest child of Morris Ketchum. mar- ried Israel Corse. Her brother, Grosvernor, died young. There was no issue by Mr. Ketchum's second marriage. The children by the last marriage were Franklin, Charles J., Landon, Edward, Morris, (died young at " Hokanum "), Miller and Margaret ( Mrs. Dr. Willard Parker 2d.)
After the improvements upon the lower Norwalk and Saugatuck highway the Ketchum carriage and the Burritt landau were seen along its picturesque route. Mr. Ketchum, (waited upon, often, by his faithful, gray haired and bearded colored service-man)* on his way to take an express train at South Norwalk and the Burritt's establishment with occupants on health and pleasure bent, arrested attention and com- manded admiration. A touching tribute to the excel- lence of Morris Ketchum and Francis Burritt was paid, a little before his decease, by the late Horace Staples of Westport. The venerable citizen, after a prolonged interview, was weary, but he desired to add his testimony to the worth of his departed friends, which he warmly did, relating, substantially, at the close the following incident : On the day that Francis Burritt's obsequies were attended Hiram Ketchum (brother of Morris) and himself met in the city. Either a little before or after the service the wires suddenly flashed to the city the intelligence of a Union and Confederate engagement. Falling into the embrace of Mr. Staples, Mr. Ketchum, with much feeling, burst forth " We are one."
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