Norwalk, history from 1896, Part 32

Author: Selleck, Charles Melbourne.
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: The author,
Number of Pages: 553


USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Norwalk > Norwalk, history from 1896 > Part 32


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).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76


John Betts, Ist. second son of Thomas'st. and Mary Betts, was twice married. His first wife, by whom he had only two children, John3d. and Hannah, is unknown. His sec- ond wife was Sarah, widow of Samuel Brinsmade and daughter of Daniel Kellogg, the set- tler. John Betts3d. was born Nov. 17, 1692, and is called in early Norwalk records " John Betts, Jr.," and "John Betts the carpenter." He probably built the house which stood be- fore 1779, where the late Geo. R. Cowles resided on " Norwalk Green," which Cowles property has now been bequeathed to the First Congregational Church of Norwalk for a parsonage. The original John Betts home was probably burned by Tryon in 1779. The last use to which it was put, and the first use of its successor (now the Cowles transformed home) was that of a " a New England Inn."4 John Betts3d. had a sister, Hannah, who married Nathaniel Bouton, of Stamford. His (John Betts3. ) wife was Damaris, daughter


"It is possible that Jonathan Campist. came to Norwalk at the instigation of his Betts relatives. Some days before Christmas, 1726. (December 14) his great uncle, James Betts, sold him 102 acres at West Rocks, Mr. Camp was then twenty-four years old. Ilis great uncle James and wife Hannah were respective- ly, 63 and 50 at the time of the sale to their young nephew, and as the description of the land contained the clanse " where ye house is built," the same may have been their own home.


inferred that Tryon " put up " at " Arnold's Inn" in Norwalk. On Saturday, July 10, 1779, Gen. David Van Horne and family of New York were boarders at Betts Inn, being, it is probable, summer stayers thereat. They kept their carriage and horses here and one of the family was wont, afterward, to tell of their proximity to the church. On the date men- tioned Tryon, at evening, arrived in Norwalk harbor. Our citizens had been apprized of the fact and the Van Hornes, although well acquainted with the Brit- ish General (see note page 17) abruptly vacated the "inn" and drove to a point in the vicinity of Fair-


2Benjamin Franklin is supposed to have been a transient "stopper" at this establishment. Gen. Tryon, while Colonial governor of New York visited | field from which they were ferried to Long Island. Norwalk, but from the writings of John Adams it is ! From thence they proceeded to Flatbush.


229


NORWALK.


of Eliphalet Lockwood, the oldest child of which John and Damaris Betts was Thaddeus (Dr. Thaddeus) born May 3. 1724. James, son of ThomasIst. and Mary Betts, married Hannah, born 1675, daughter of John1st. and Mary (Stevenson) Bouton. Their son, Elias, born Aug. 10, 1716, married, March 7, 1745, Abigail, born July 10, 1721, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Lambert') Birchard. These had nine sons and three daughters. Their son, Moses, was born April 5, 1751, and baptized nine days afterward. Said Moses was married March 7, 1776, to Ann, daughter of Gershom and Mary (Taylor) Sturges, and had a daughter, Sarah, born Dec. 22, 1777, who married, Jan. 1797, Stephen,#h. son of Stephen3d. and Sarah (Platt) St. John.


Samuel, son of Thos. 1st. and Mary Betts, married Dec. 10, 1692, Judith, daughter of John Reynolds. These had six children, Mary (Mrs. Richard Olmsted), Samuel2nd. Steph- en, Nathan, Hepzibah (Mrs. Solomon Nobles) and Judith.


Daniel, son of Thos.1st. and Mary Betts, married 1692, Deborah,2 daughter of Thos. and Rebecca Taylor, and had Deborah, Rebecca, Daniel and perhaps Hannah.


1Elizabeth Lambert was the seventh child of Jesse and Deborah (Fowler) Lambert, of ancient Woodbury. Her sister, Sarah, married John Dun- ning and settled in Norwalk. Her brother David, who married in Rhode Island, founded the Wilton Lambert house. The children had a stepmother but their own mother was a granddaughter of Magistrate William Fowler, of Milford, and the builder of " the first mill in the colony." Said William Fowler (says Pond) "held the three important positions of Trustee, Pillar of the Church, and Judge." The Lambert name is very ancient. Jesse, the parent of the Norwalk (Wilton parish) Lamberts, was, quoting Cothren, according to tradition, a British naval officer who, before coming to America, had headed a successful engagement against the Turks. His three Norwalk children, Sarah, Elizabeth and David, planted homes of note in this town. The original "Lambert house" (as is supposed) stands to-day on the "Norwalk and Danbury road," towards a mile south of the Wilton railway station. This house, which has latterly been devoted to educational use, was probably built about the date of the marriage (Feb. 1, 1726-7) of David Lambertist. to Laurana Bill. The son, David, 2d of Davidist. and Laurana Lambert, married Susannah, daughter of Nehemiah and Elizabeth (Fitch) Rogers, of Norwalk. The newly married couple lived in comfort-elegance at the Wilton home. The union, on both sides, was a noticeable one, and the house gained a reputation for hospitality. The father of Mrs. David Lambert2d. died in 1760, but her mother attained long life. This mother, Mrs. Nehemiah Rogers, made her home with her daughter Esther (Mrs. Archibald Gracie), of New York, but her country visits to her daughter Susannah (Mrs. David Lambert) were of compara-


tively frequent occurrence. Such visits appear to have been sort of "state occasions." The mother and daughter handsomely attended and in striking " style," took hill and dale drives over the country, and when their heavy coach wheels' rumbling was heard, people were drawn to the windows. The old care-taker of the country home of their son and brother, Moses Rogers, of Shippan Point, lives to- day, at one hundred years of age, to tell of Mr. Rogers' Stamford "splendid black team," also.


2Deborah Taylor was married to Daniel Betts at the age of twenty-one, and she lived to reach four score years. Her family was, mostly, long lived. Of her brothers, Thomas was 92 when he died, Joseph 90, John 70, Daniel 94, Timothy 56, Nathan 100, and Theophilus 90. She had two sisters, Rebecca, who lived 98 years and Eunice 90 years. Her father was Thos. Ist. son of John Taylorist. of Windsor, and her mother was Rebecca, daughter of Edward Ketchum of Stratford. Thos. Taylorist. came early to Nor- walk and was married about 1667. He was one of the Norwalk fathers who, in 1685, settled Danbury, and was uncle of Lieut. John Taylor who, with his wife, Wait Clapp, lived in what is now Westport, and there founded a large branch of the Taylor family. Daniel Betts was fourteen years older than his wife, and sur- vived her some seven years. His daughter Re- becca married Samuel Gruman, or Grumman, who came from Fairfield and founded the Norwalk Grum- man family. His son, Daniel Betts, Jr., born May 2, 1699, married Sarah, daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Hanford) Comstock and granddaughter of Christo- pher Comstock and of Rev. Thos. Hanford. Among the children of Daniel and Sarah (Comstock ) Betts were Hannah (who married Ezra Gregory) and Abi- jah N. Ezra and Hannah (Betts) Gregory were two


230


1


NORWALK.


LINEAGE OF HON. THADDEUS BETTS.


Gen. I .- THOMAS AND MARY BETTS.


.. II .- JOHN BETTS. Ist.


" III .- JOHN3d. AND DAMARIS (LOCKWOOD) BETTS.


" IV .- THADDEUS AND ELIZABETH (MALTBY) BETTS.


V -WILLIAM MALTBY AND LUCRETIA (GREGORY) BETTS.


VI .- HON. THADDEUS BETTS.


It is impossible, thus far, to find the first wife, by whom he had his two children, of John Betts.'st. His second wife (see Fairfield probate record of Samuel, son of Daniel and Sarah Kellogg Brinsmade) was Sarah (nee Kellogg), widow of Daniel Brinsmade.' By this marriage, however, there was no known issue. The two children of John BettsIst. were John3d. and Hannah, who married Nathaniel Bouton,2 of Stamford. John,3d. the brother of Hannah Betts (Mrs. Nathaniel Bouton) married, April 17, 1722, Damaris, born Nov. 7. 1701, second daughter of Eliphalet and Mary (Gold) Lockwood, and grand- daughter of Ephraim and Mercy (St. John) Lockwood, the settlers. John Betts3d. was a Colonial Assembly delegate for several sessions and was honored, in 1739, by appoint- ment to audit the Colonial Treasurer's accounts. His oldest child, Thaddeus, 1st. was born May 3, 1724. This son was a Yale man, class of 1745, who married, Nov. 8, 1752, Mary, daughter of John Gold, of Fairfield. Mrs. Thaddeus BettsIst. lived only about twelve days after marriage, and her husband married, second, May 15, 1754, Elizabeth, daughter of Capt. William and Sarah (Davenport) Maltby,3 of Branford. Dr. and Mrs. Thaddeus Betts


New England worthies. Their son Moses who lived in the existing venerable Gregory hearthstone near the upper east bank of the South Norwalk water- works reservoir in Wilton, was the father (see note, page 85) of the late Dr. Ira Gregory of Norwalk, and their daughter Sarah, who married Jesse, son of Sylvanus and Eunice ( Sherwood ) Sterling, was mother of Sarah Sterling, wife of P. C. Calhoun, of Golden Hill, Bridgeport, and of New York city.


'He married Sarah, born, 1665, daughter of Dan- iel and Bridget Kellogg, the settlers, and was the father of Lieut. Daniel Brinsmade of that portion of Stratford now known as Trumbull. Lieut. Daniel and Mary Brinsmade were the parents of Rev. Daniel Brinsmade, born. July 31, 1718, who was for forty-four years the pastor of what is now Washington, Conn., in which place he died April 23, 1793.


2lle was born, 1691, a son of John and Sarah Gregory Bouton, of Norwalk, and was one of the founders of the Congregational parish of New Canaan. His children were Hannah (Mrs. Timothy Delavan ). horn, Nov. 24, 1721; Abigail (Mrs. Josiah Weed), born, Feb. 28, 1723-4; Nathaniel,2d. born, Sept. 6, 1726: Samuel, born, April 11, 1730; Jehiel, born, Feb. 17, 1731-2: Mary (Mrs. Samuel Scribner),


born, Nov. 11, 1734; John, born, July 23, 1737; Dan- iel, born, Oct. 24, 1740; Rebecca, born, 1742.


3After Capt. Wm. Maltby's death his widow married, April 29, 1735, Rev. Eleazer Wheelock, of Lebanon, Conn. Mrs. Capt. Maltby, afterwards Mrs. Rev. Eleazer Wheelock (grandmother of U. S. Senator Thaddeus Betts, of Norwalk), was a daugh- ter, born, July 17, 1702, of Rev. John and Martha Davenport, of Stamford, and, consequently, a grand- daughter of John and Abigail (Pierson) Davenport, of New Haven, and a great granddaughter of Rev. John Davenport, the first minister of New Haven and a founder of that colony. The father of Sarah Davenport (mother of Mrs. Thaddeus Bettsist.) was so scholarly that when he read the Bible, at family prayer, he made use (see his funeral sermon) not of English but of the original tongue. Sarah Daven- port (Mrs. Capt. Wm. Maltby, first, and, second, Mrs. Eleazer Wheelock), died Nov. 13, 1746. Her Maltby grandson was Judge William Maltby Betts (father of Senator Thaddeus) and a Wheeler son-in- law was Judge Alexander Phelps, of East Haddam (Conn.) district. Mrs. Elizabeth Maltby Betts, wife of Dr. Thaddeus Betts, Ist. died Feb. 8, 1789, and her husband married (Nov. 8 next) the widow of Daniel


231


NORWALK.


established themselves on "The Green," living in a typically comfortable, east-dormer window home, which stood on a slight elevation where now stands the First Congregation- al Church and which had, on the north, a broad meadow stretching as far as the Edwin Lockwood residence of later times. The present Lewis street was cut through this Betts- bordering land. William Maltby, son of Dr. Thaddeus and Elizabeth Betts, was born Jan. 4, 1759, and marrying, June 26, 1785, Lucretia, daughter of Captain Jabez and Mercy (St. John) Gregory, of the old Spring property, lower Main street, and the only sister of Capt. Moses Gregory, chose for his home what has since been known as the Edward Street house, which faced Main street and stood a little north of the "Sherman house." He was the postmaster of his day, having his office in the "Betts building" which has been supplanted by the 1896 G. & S. H. Holmes grocery establishment in Main street. To Judge William M. and Lucretia Betts was born, Feb. 4, 1789, Thaddeus2d. (Hon. Thaddeus Betts,' U. S. Senator) whose intelligence and mind-activity and liberal spirit, creating no disappointing expectations, caused his influence to be widely felt. His mission, however, was early fulfilled, and he died at his Washington, D. C., post of duty, in 1840, leaving


Lyman (son of Lieut. Benj. Lyman). Daniel Lyman was a classmate of Dr. Betts, and like his college fel- low, was, it is probable, thrice married. His first wife was Sarah Whitney, of New Haven; his second wife Sarah Miles, of the same city, and his third, Mrs. Ellen (Fairchild) Benedict, of Norwalk. Mr. Benedict died in 1764, after which his widow married Dr. Thaddeus Betts. Ist.


IThaddeus Betts was a member of the Fairfield County Bar, the story of which body has been that of men of merit-mark. Mr. Betts' Norwalk contempor- ary was Hon. Roger Minot Sherman and such was the case-skillful reputation of these two acute reason- ers and telling speech-makers, that when the services of one had already been secured, no time was lost by the opposite party in applying for the offices of the other. Hon. Clark Bissell, sterling and solid, was another of the giants of the bar in Southwestern Fairfield County at the Senator Betts era, and shared the honors of great legai fame with Hon. Chas. Haw- ley, of Stamford. Blackstone's four chief disciples in the section named were (quoting a Norwalk resi- dent of to-day and a Charles Hawley strongly en- dorsed student of Edward Taylor, of Danbury,) : "Roger M. Sherman, of Fairfield, Thaddeus Betts and Clark Bissell, of Norwalk, and Charles Hawley, of Stamford." Of Roger M. Sherman, before allud- ed to, and his wife Elizabeth (see note page 200) it may be said that they were " noble Romans." This truly great father honored Norwalk by his residence. Hle then went to Fairfield, and his home stands to- day (the Congregational parsonage of that town) which he bequeathed to the " Prime Ancient So- ciety." of Fairfield, with a fund for its preservation as


well as the old family portraits of himself and wife. which now adorn and dignity the premises referred to. Reuben Booth, another member at the same period of the same bar, and by five years the junior of Thaddeus Betts, was a Danbury attorney of emi- nence. He studied with the magnificent Danbury barrister, Moses Hatch, and was a brother-in-law of the keen, powerfully logical and "chock full of humor," David Hull Belden. Beale Whittlesey, not perhaps as "snappy " as some of the others, but cap- able and clever and down to the end of life dignified- ly dressed in knee-breeches and shoes decorated with buckles, also had place in the legal galaxy of the period mentioned, as did the black-eyed, bright- brained Silas H. Hickock, as well as the rigid cross- examiner, natural orator and perfect gentleman, Nel- son L. White. The very talented Taylor Sherman earlier appeared, but Edward Taylor age-rated with Booth and Betts. Mr. Taylor was equal to an emer- gency. "Your name is Taylor" was the greeting, in Southbury, of a New Haven practioner to whom Taylor had just been introduced. " Yes," was the reply. "Well," retorted Bacon, "I've understood that a tailor is" so and so. "And your name is Bacon," quoth Taylor, "and Bacon is" thus and thus. But the "penalty" did not end just here. Before the case was called Mr. Taylor quietly ad- dressed to Mr. Bacon's client the remark, "however this trial may turn out, my client can bring seven charges against you." Bacon's man at once became uneasy and seeking his counsel suggested that the suit be withdrawn. "Very well," said Bacon, "I'm not here to perpetuate strife and if you conclude to close the matter outside of court, do so." The thing


232


NORWALK.


a widow and three sons and one daughter. Senator Betts married Antionette,' born April 20, 1789, daughter of John Cannon2d. and Sarah (St. John) Cannon (see Cannon lineage).


OF MOSES BETTS LINEAGE.


Gen. I .- THOMAS AND MARY BETTS.


II .- JAMES AND HANNAH (BOUTON) BETTS.


". III .- ELIAS AND ABIGAIL, (BURCHARD) BETTS.


IV .- MOSES AND ANN (STURGES) BETTS.


Stephen St. John4th. (so indiced to distinguish him from his father, Stephen,3d. and from Stephen,2d who was son of Col. Stephen St. John was a son of Stephen3d. and Sarah (Betts-Platt) St. John, and a grandson of Moses and Mercy (Olmsted) St. John. and a great-grandson of James and Mary (Comstock) St. John, which James was a son of Matthias, 2d. who was a son of Matthias St. John, Sr., and Norwalk St. John father. This Stephen St. John4th. was born Oct. 9, 1772, and married on Jan. 4, 1797, to Sarah, born Dec. 22, 1777, daughter of Moses and Ann (Sturges) Betts, of Wilton. Himself and wife lived in olden style on the site which forms, to-day, the Cannon street homestead of their grandson, Stephen St. John. Mr. St. John was a man of high integrity. He had a large landed estate, in the matter of the improvement of which he directed rather than himself hard-labored. He horseback-rode over the farm and saw that his numerous " hands" were employed. His home pieces-from his house north to " Beaver Dam Lane," and from the point on which the present North Center School is built, up to the sawmill-he could per- sonally attend to, but the working of outlying lands was done by others. He was good, and the community knew the fact. His grounds were untrespassed upon and no one de- frauded him. He was a reader, a thoughtful and quiet spoken man, and one who meant just what he said. The site of his house, in which his wife was an efficient manager, was inherited. It had, at his occupation of it at marriage (1797), been already in the family for sixty years. On May 19, 1722, it was changed from Maynard to Beekman possession. The former was a Norwalk resident, the latter a New York Knickerbocker. Dr. William Beekman, who had studied abroad with the famous Boerhaven, made, for some reason, purchase of Norwalk property, and that he intended to here reside would appear evident from the fact


was done, but before separating Bacon interrogated his professional brother as to the nature of the seven charges alluded to. "O," said Taylor, "I could not only bring seven but seventeen suits, but I do not -uppose that we could win any of them." Thomas Belden Butler, who was of a later date than that of the before indicated law gentlemen, became, after quitting the practice of medicine, a Norwalk forcible pleader and thorough lawyer. The client- age of Thadden- Betts and brethren was large, and the returns of their profession were, for their day, handsome.


'She survived her husband for many years and in later life was well known for her mercy-ministrations. She was on the alert to extend sympathy and alle- viate suffering. A tender remembrance of her later year is that of her delicate and faithful kindness to an early pastor of St. Mary's church who, from his dying bed, gave her his blessing. Her son, Charles O. C., occupies, in 1896, her father's residence on Norwalk Green ; her son Frederick resides in her own home (adjoining, on the south, that of her father); and her son Maltby and daughters, Sally, Eliza and Harriet are deceased. Her father's family was large.


233


NORWALK.


of his ultimately building upon the spot under description. If the statement be reliable he had commenced his house and almost completed, it when on March 5, 1736, he sold every- thing out to Moses St. John, the grandfather of Stephen.4th. Dr. Beekman paid 625 for the property (two acres). He sold it to Moses St. John for 6100, and at Mr. St. John's death, in 1786, the same was appraised by his executors at $150 value. In this house, which a colored servant saved from Tryon devastation,' the children of Moses and Mercy St. John, viz., Stephen, Moses and Josiah, who most likely belonged to that Colonial company of -- changing the poet's tense-


"Gallant sons who shouldered guns And twice a year went out a-training,"


and Mercy, Susannah, Lydia and Sarah were probably born, and all the sisters were possibly married beneath that venerable Beekman-St. John roof. Mercy wedded Capt. Jabez Greg- ory and became the notable "Grandmother Gregory at the spring" (see page 84). Su- sannah married James Raymond, of Bedford, across the state line; Lydia took William Seymour to husband and comfortably lived at the foot of Flax Hill, being represented to- day by her grandson of Vermont finance reputation, a son of Belden Seymour, who left Norwalk for the Green Mountain State. Sarah, the fourth daughter, marrying Gershom Hubbell, of Greenfield Hill, there established a home, to which her brothers and sisters well knew the way.


Of Moses St. John's three sons only two, Josiah and Stephen, 3d. have Norwalk mention. Moses, the third son, removed, as did his sister Susannah, to Bedford. It is believed that Moses St. John built for his son Josiah the present Henry Williams house in Cannon street. Here Josiah and Mary (Fitch) St. John (see page 43) lived and brought up their children, Joseph, Esther, Jesse, Polly, Nancy and Sally. Josiah St. John was a rigid but righteous, a very strict but sincere man. He was a devout observer of the Lord's Day, and permitted no in nor out-door work-excepting of the greatest necessity- to be done on that day. He, as is taught of the Bible patriarch, commanded his children. His son Joseph lived on the northwest corner of the Newtown Avenue and Cannon Street of 1896. This son, at twenty-three years of age, married, Nov. 15, 1792, Betsey Nash, a step-daughter of Hezekiah Jarvis, and his children were Esther (Mrs. Nathan Beers); Wil- liam, who married Lucretia Jarvis; George, who married a sister of Stephen Smith ; and Edgar, who died young.


Stephen St. John, 3d. son of Moses and father of Stephen,4th. married, Feb. 1764, the widow of Joseph, son of John2d, and Hannah (Burwell) Betts. This grandmother of


"The family statement is that the household of Stephen St. John3d. left the building, when Tryon ap- proached, in the care of an employee who, after the house was fired put out the flames. The burned por- tion was seen as long as the house stood. The house (now Williams') opposite from Stephen St. John's,


was not destroyed, the tradition being that the for- eigners' fire material here gave out. The fact in the case would appear to be that as an engagement be- tween the opposing parties took place in the near-by France street, the enemy was otherwise and elsewhere employed.


234


NORWALK


the children of Stephen St. John, 4th. Sarah, daughter of John and Sarah (Hickox) Platt,' was a woman of force. She survived her husband and insisted upon keeping up her own establishment, residing until her death in a portion of the Beekman-St. John house. Her daughter-in-law. Mrs. Stephen St. John, th. was an industrious woman who, as soon as the morning's dairy was attended to and the breakfast over and her husband's directions en- forced, brought out the spinning wheel. She did the weaving, knitting and making for the growing family, besides providing for the, at times, numerous farm help. The family was astir betimes, the first sound which filled the children's ears being that of the running water at the "dam" and the creaking of the great barn gate, next to the mill, as it was opened to let the live stock out. The sheep washing and the children's watching the operation at the little bridge close by, was a primitive picture. These children grew to give proof of their vigorous descent. Caroline (Mrs. Henry Chichester) was the oldest and her character-strength will not soon be forgotten. From the cradle to the grave she was every inch a St. John. In early girlhood it was on one occasion planned that she should visit her maternal Wilton grandmother, Mrs. Moses Betts, whose comfortable abode


! Here opens an interesting history. John Platt,3d. who married Sarah Hickox, was born April 2nd, 1702. His father, John Platt,2d. was born on the first day of the summer of 1664, and his mother was Sarah, daughter of Ephraim and Mercy (St. John), Lockwood. This John Platt,3d. the grandson of the first Platt (Johnist.) who came to Norwalk, married Sarah, born, Dec. 6, 1707, daughter of Samuel, Jr., and Elizabeth (Plum) Hickox, of Waterbury. These had a daughter, Sarah, who married, first, Joseph Betts, and second, Stephen St. John, 3d. The Betts children were Anna (Mrs. Micajah Starr) ; Justus; Moses ( who married, first, a Peck, and second, Mary, daughter of Elijah and niece of Capt. Jabez Gregory. of Norwalk, and who moved to Fairfield and was the well-known Moses Betts of that old town); Aaron (went to Canada); Platt and Susannah. Joseph Betts made his will May 10, 1760, and it was in- ventoried May 19, 1760. A record states that he died May 19, 1760, but this is probably a mistake. His son Platt possibly died unmarried, as his estate was distributed among his brothers and sisters Dec. 23d, 1772, and the widow of Joseph Betts, four winters af- terward, married Stephen St. John 3d. Mrs. Stephen St. John's mother (Sarah Hickox) was the grand- daughter of Seargent Samuel and Hannah Hickox, one of the planter families of Waterbury. Their land embraced " Hickox." now " Ward's" Island, in the Naugatuck river, and the old Naugatuck and Derby highway ran through a portion of their territory. Their son Samuel, who was the grandfather of Mrs. Stephen St. John,3d. married, April 16, 1690, Eliza- b.th, born 1669, daughter of John Plumb, of Mil- lord. John Plumb was, in all probability, either son or grandson of the Robert and Mary (Baldwin) Plumb.




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.