Norwalk, history from 1896, Part 40

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

USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Norwalk > Norwalk, history from 1896 > Part 40

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).

*George Beach DeForest was the son of Lockwood DeFor- est. who married a Beach. Lockwood DeForest, born March 5, 1775, was a son of Nehemiah and Mary (Lockwood) DeForest. Mrs. Nehemiah DeForest wa- the daughter of Peter and Abi-

gail (Hawley) Lockwood, of Norwalk. She married Nehemi- ah, son of Samuel and Abigail (Peat) DeForest. George B. DeForest was a cousin of the second Mrs. deacon Geo. St. John, of Norwalk.

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NORWALK.

India shippers, he commenced a remunerative business career in the metropolis. His suc- cess was marked, and the house of Benj. DeForest was a commercial power. Mr. DeFor- est married, when past young-manhood, Mary, daughter of Thomas and Mary (Layton) Burlock, as elsewhere mentioned. His city home was, at first, in Beekman Street, but later in Bond Street. The Norwalk Lockwood intimacy, which began in Eliphalet Lockwood's day, was perpetuated by Mr. Lockwood's grandchildren, Mary Esther (Mrs. John P. Tread- well), Elizabeth (Mrs. Henry Morgan) and Miss Julia Lockwood. Mrs. DeForest's brother, Henry, married an opulent lady of one of the Southeastern islands. The wife died with- out issue, and after the husband's decease her fortune fell, through Henry Burlock, to his brother-in-law, Benj. DeForest. This young, fascinating, black-eyed, fortunate grand- son of Job and Esther Burlock, of Norwalk (Henry Burlock), was a nephew of Samuel Burlock, who married, in 1796, Helena Layton, of Long Island, and had Samuel DeFor- est Layton, born 1812, the father of "Sister Marina," of the New York City and Norwalk St. Mary's Hospital for children.

chapel, built at Southeast by herself, to-day attests to her benevolence. Her father's country-seat, as also that of her uncle, Col. LeGrand B. Cannon, was at Burlington, Vt.

Joseph, brother of Benjamin DeForest, Ist. lived in Brooklyn and had a daughter, Sarah, whose only child married a Van Buren. Of the two sisters of Benj. DeForest, Ist. Laurany married Timothy Keeler and Elizabeth married Captain Stephen Norris, of Ridgefield and Danbury vicinity. Mrs. Timothy Keeler (Laurany, sister of Benjamin DeForest), had a daughter, Sarah, who married Jarvis Brush, the father of Prof. George Jarvis Brush, of Yale Univer- sity (Sheffield School).

Benjamin DeForest had a great-uncle, Nehemi- ah, born Jan. 24, 1743, a brother of Benjamin's grand- father, David DeForest. Nehemiah DeForest mar- ried, Dec. 20, 1769, Mary, daughter of Peter Lock- wood, of Norwalk. These had a daughter, Mary, who married a New York and Fairfield Skinner. Mr. and Mrs. Skinner had a daughter, Jane, who married President Timothy Dwight, now at the head of Yale College. Eliza, older sister of Mrs. Tim- othy Dwight, was engaged to the late Rev. Augustus F. Hewitt, and the two would probably have been mar- ried had not Mr. Hewitt (son of Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Hewitt, of Bridgeport,) entered the Roman Catholic Communion and became a Paulist Father.

Norwalk is fructifying genealogy-soil and a com- pensating family-field to till. Its reminiscence-wealth is also abounding. Standing at the birth-spot, on its northern hills, of Benj. DeForest, one can open a portfolio which a drive therefrom, for a few hours, will memoranda-fill. Near by will be passed the fields cultivated by the ancestors of the Empire State Mrs. Dean Richmond; off on one hand will stretch

the Saybrook Buckingham lands: down in the valley dwelt the elder President Timothy Dwight's alliance- kin, while to the north, before Fairfield County is quit, will stretch romantically beyond the cottage- site of Benj. DeForest's second tenantcy, ere the boy left that handsome slope to begin life in the Daniel Drew neighborhood, long years before that great operator made his offer to the Norwalk young begin- ner, Alanson P. St. John, of future North River fame, Along this route towers "Bear Hill" and winds "Miry Brook," in the vicinity of which localities Benj. DeForest, in early and later life, took great comfort, and his daughters, Margaret, Mary and Caro- line, were wont to enjoy many a holiday, while not far away from the spot one can listen from the dwell- er thereat, and learn of the Long Island Layton's thrift, and how " Aunt Layton," who prudently saw that the farm produce was properly market-con- signed, would industriously keep on with her knitting while business-riding over Long Island to and from the metropolis. The Laytons (household into which Thomas Burlock, brother-in-law of Nathan Bouton, married) were intimate with the well-known Close family, of North Salem, Westchester County, and visited at their residence (since the How place) near the famous Salem pivots-supported boulder, the Ob- long-recall of which visits are to-day pondered with pleasure. The story is also here told, by one who lives, in 1896, about two miles from the former " New York province line," an aged and highly agreeable Fairfield County veteran, of Mrs. Nathan Warren's intimacy, seventy or so years ago, with her Fairfield County-DeForest blood, and of a Connecticut trip made by herself and daughter, Harriet, the motherly and daughterly devotion between whom so, at that time, impressed the now nearly ninety winters-whited

THE WARREN MORTUARE CHAPEL. OAKWOOD CEMETERY. TROY. N. Y.

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NORWALK.

Silas Hickox, uncle of Elihu DeForest and of Mrs. Job Burlock, and great-uncle of Thomas Burlock and Mrs. Nathan Bouton, was the son of Deacon Benjamin and Sarah (Lockwood) Hickox, Wilton. Benj. Hickox was the first Deacon of the Wilton Church. His wife, Sarah Lockwood, belonged to the Lockwood family of Stamford and Norwalk. This mother, after losing, on Nov. 17, 1745, her Hickox husband, married, March 9, 1756, Samuel Kellogg (son of Daniel Kellogg'st.), of Norwalk. She now ended her days in ease, her Kellogg husband being the proprietor of the substantial property to-day the Nor- walk home of Mrs. William K. James. Her Kellogg step-son, Epenetus, was the grand- father of Eseck Kellogg, of West Norwalk, and of Edward Kellogg, whose daughter, Harriet E., married Dr. Carrol Dunham, of New York City, whose sons, Carrol and Ed- ward, married, respectively, Margaret and Mary, daughters of David and Margaret Worcester Dows, of "Charlton Hall," Irvington-on-Hudson. Mr. Dows was the head of the New York City produce house of David Dows & Co.

The three Warren brothers, Esaias, Nathan and Stephen, who left Norwalk in 1797-8, were conspicuous examples of brotherly co-operation, confidence and affection. They were a unit, and their father, after three years Troy-sojourn, on Apr. 6, 1801, sold out the old Norwalk property and employed the handsome proceeds in his sons' interest. They did what might be termed a general produce business, investing their profits in real estate, and safely, sagely and squarely conducting their affairs. The firm was known for its integrity and reliability and its members' descendants comprise, to-day, a strong host. The head of the house, Edmond Warren, sleeps in the simple burial meadow near the old Norwalk Warren corner in Rowayton, but his grand-children, Eliakim and Phoebe, and many of their offspring rest within the stately Gothic mausoleum in Oakwood Cemetery, Rensselaer County, N. Y.

gentleman as that the flow of years has failed to ef- face the remembrance of it. A Norwalk Oblong ex- cursion, in almost any direction, will interest the in- telligent tourist.

There was three months to a day difference in the ages of Norwalk's two representative sons, Esaias Warren and Benjamin DeForest. Both left Fairfield County not far from the same period. Mr. Warren preceded his father and brothers to Troy, and, sat- isfied that the village offered opportunities for the future, arranged for the family's removal thither. Piece after piece of the old Van der Heyden property fell into Warren possession, until the " Warren bro- thers" became a potential name. No " pent-up Utica could contract" either Esaias Warren or Benj. De- Forest's ambition. Both were enterprising and both successful. Mr. DeForest commenced modestly, but his methods and manners made him friends. On one occasion he made a Norwalk loan (Eliphalet Lock- wood & Son) of several thousand dollars, and when the "Son" of the firm (Col. Buckingham St. John Lockwood) called at the New York DeForest office,

he was pleasantly greeted by the head of the house with the salutation: "I had no trouble in obtaining this amount and I have now no trouble in returning it." No trouble in procuring and no trouble in pay. ing was Mr. DeForest's evident experience after the young man left Fairfield and Westchester Counties. Eliphalet Lockwood did a large West India business. His vessels' wharf was in the rear of the present Wall St. "Lockwood Hall," which pier was wont, a number of years ago, to be piled with West India freight. A heavy business was once carried on between Norwalk and the South. An old Norwalk ledger shows that under date of March 21, 1772, Capt. Squires reports a commission on Barbadoes sales amounting to £397, 128, 7d, and the variety of the merchandise which was transported to and from the Southern islands is sur- prising. Horses, in numbers, were transported. Si- las Hickox's great-grand-nephew, Henry Burlock, was sent out with a cargo of these favorite beasts. Mr. Hickox lived plainly in what is now Wilton, and was probably a plain man, but his Burlock relative (nep- hew of Mrs. Nathan Bouton and brother-in-law of

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NORWALK.

THE OLMSTED LINE.

From James Olmsted, Ist. the older son of Richard. Sr., sprang the Norwalk Olm- sted contingency. The three sons of his brother John, viz., Daniel, Richard and John, settled elsewhere. The children of James'st. and Phoebe Barlow were :

James, 2d. born Aug. 17. 1675. Nathan, Ist. born Apr. 27. 1678.

Joseph, born March 10, 1676-7 John,' born Aug. 14. 1692.

Samuel, It. born May 13, 1683.

From the foregoing it is noticeable that the children of James Olmsted1st, were boys, while the offspring of his brother John were, largely, girls. The sons of James re- mained in Norwalk and here transmitted the name, while of his brother John's three sons, two, Daniel2 and Richard,3 removed to Ridgefield, and John, it appears, to Fairfield. John's daughter Elizabeth, (Mrs. Henry Whitney), also found her home in Ridgefield. Her husband, born Feb. 21, 1681, was a grandson and namesake of Henry Whitney, the miller and settler. Elizabeth, who like her older sister, Mary, the Olmsted-Warren ances- tress, was born close by the Rider, 1896, East Avenue, premises, married, June 14, 1710, her Whitney suitor, and both took up nine of the finest acres on the east side of the well laid-out " Ridgefield Street," which nine acres to-day represent a valuable sum. Henry and Elizabeth (Olmsted) Whitney had a grand-daughter Rebecca, (daughter of Henry Whitney), who, Jan. 18, 1789, married Josiah Olmstead. Josiah's father was Daniel, son of Richard and grandson of Lieut. John Olmstead, Ist. of Norwalk. Josiah and Rebecca Olm- stead were the parents of William, born March 31, 1793, who married Clara, daughter of Jared and Rachel Nash, of Ridgefield, who had, Sept. 22, 1825, Charles (Gen. Charles Olmstead, 1896, of Norwalk). The young Charles Olmstead came early in life to Norwalk and was one of the most energetic and popular public school instructors of his day. He married, Dec. 8, 1850, Mary Jane, born Aug. 24, 1830, daughter of Deacon Charles and

Benj. DeForest) was of striking figure and features. Arriving at his destination he landed with his freight, and his personal beauty, it is stated, so captivated a young heiress of the island that the two were mar- ried. Mrs. Henry Burlock was doomed to early de- mise and left her entire estate to her husband. He also filled an early grave, and the property finally fell to the DeForests.

"John, the youngest son of James Olmsted, Ist. married Feb. 29. 1717-18, Mary, daughter of Robert Small, and had Sylvanus, born Nov. 25, 1718, Phoebe, born Aug. 5, 1720, Reuben, born April 5, 1722, David, born Feb. 6. 1724-5, James Small, born Mar. 2, 1727-8,

John. b. March 29, 1729, and Ichabod, b. June 14, 1733. 2Ile married, May 9, 1711, Hannah, daughter of Joseph and Mercy (Lindall) Ketchum, of Norwalk, and two of his children were: Samuel,* born March 27, 1715, and Nathan, born March 7, 1716-17.

3He married April 22, 1714, Mary, born Sept. 10, 1693, daughter of Saml. and Judith ( Reynolds) Betts, of Norwalk, and had John, Richard, Stephen, Thom- as, Hepzibah, Justus, Daniel, Samuel and Mary. The parents of these children lived opposite the present Methodist Church on the Ridgefield street. Their father was a justice of the peace and died Feb. 17, 1776. Their mother lived until Jan. 31, 1786.

*His daughter, Sarah, born 1744. married Abraham (son of John.2d. who was son of John, Ist, who was son of Edward Nash, the settler.) Nach. grandfather of Clara ( Mrs. William Olmstead ), who was the mother of Gen. Chas. Olmstead, of Nor- walk. Abraham Nach had a son. Abraham, who married Sarah

Benedict, of " West Lane District." Ridgefield. This son re- moved to Troy, N. Y., and was the proprietor of the large " Nash Brewery " of that city. His sisters were Mrs. Silas St. John, of " Nod" ( Wilton), and Mrs. A. Thaddeus Seymour, of Ridgefield.

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NORWALK.

Emeline (Brown) Lockwood, of Norwalk, and had Mary Frank, who married LeGrand, son of Frederick T. and Susan (Stevens) Betts; Clara Elizabeth, who married Hon. John Sammis Seymour, of Washington, D. C., and Norwalk; Horace L .; Anna A. and Wil- liam T. After the decease of his first wife, Gen. Olmstead married, second, Nov. 12, 1874. Nannie E. Taylor, born at Whitestown, N Y., Oct. 8, 1836. Gen. Olmstead has for many years filled positions of trust in Norwalk.

James Olmstead, 2d. son of James'st. and Phoebe, appears to have died young. He does not seem to be named in his father's will, and his record is not found. His brother. Joseph, married Mehitable Warner, (see page 103) and is known to have had :

Joseph, removed to Farmington ; Gardiner : Deborah (Mrs. Robert Farquhar) ;

Gideon ;

David (prob.) ; ---- (Mrs. Joseph Monroe). '

Nathan, Ist. son of James and Phoebe Olmsted, married, first, Sarah, daughter of Ralph2d. and Grace (Lindall) Keeler, and had Nathan, 2d. born 1703.

The first Mrs. Nathan Olmsted's". died, and her husband married, second, Mercie. born Nov. 12, 1676, daughter of Christopher and Hannah (Platt) Comstock, and had :

Samuel,2 born 1707.

James,3d. born 1709.3

Mercie, born 1711 (Mrs. Moses St. John). Hannah, born 1713. (Mrs. Justus Miles, of Milford. )

Lydia, born May, 1716, (Mrs. Matthew Fitch).

After Nathan Olmsted's decease, his widow, Mercie (Comstock) Olmsted, married, second, John Williams, of Norwalk.

"The Monroes were early in Norwalk. They ap- pear originally to have been Massachusetts people. Among the first of the name in Norwalk were David and his wife Rebecca. These had a son, Solomon, to whom his brother Amos sold, May 17, 1734, six acres of land at "Toilsome," north of the "Norwalk Rocks," for £1,000; a large price at that day. On Nov. 9, 1741, the same Amos Monroe sold the whole of Cock- enoe Island, in Norwalk harbor, to Ralph Isaacs, for £300. From the days of the Revolution the Monroes have very definite and distinct Norwalk family trac- ing. The Joseph Monroe who made his will in 1796 lived, died and is buried in the Oblong, a short dis- tance from the New Canaan and Lewisboro town lines.

2This Samuel Olmsted married Sarah, born 1723, daughter of Samuel and Sarah ( Jones ) Fairchild. The two were the first Olmsted settlers on "Olm- sted's Hill," Wilton. Here the father, Samuel, lived until 1761, and the mother, Sarah, until Jan., 1777. Their children were: Sarah, baptized Feb. 2, 1745-6, Samuel, Sept. 27, 1747, Lydia, May 14. 1749, Moses,

April 28, 1751, Eleanor, Oct. 19, 1755, and Hannah, March 26, 1756. Samuel, the second child, married, Nov. 25, 1773, Anne Dunning, and had Samuel D., born Dec. 17, 1774, Sarah, July 27, 1776, Hannah, Feb. 12, 1779, Stephen, Dec. 7, 1780, and Noah, Oct. 3, 1786, who was the father of the late Samuel Edwin Olmstead, of Norwalk.

3This James was Deacon James Olmsted, of Wil- ton, who had a son, James, who married, Sept. II, 1754, Sarah Trowbridge, and had Aaron, born March 4, 1770, who married, June 17, 1792, Sarah Hawley, (see note page 105) and was the father, Dec. 17, 1793, of Dr. Hawley Olmstead, of Wilton and New Haven. Dr. Olmstead died December 3, 1868, and it fell to his son, Dr. Edward Olmstead, to take up the great work that his scholar father had inaugurated and for many years carried successfully on. The labors of both father and son have been a rich blessing to the long line of graduates from their tuition, and there is no earthly measure of the good which has been accom- plished by these descendants of Richard Olmstead, Sr. Dr. Edward Olmstead still continues the work.

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NORWALK.

ASCENDANTS AND DESCENDANTS OF STEPHEN AND SAMUEL E. OLMSTEAD.

Gen. I .- RICHARD OLMSTED.

.. II .- JAMES'S. AND PHOEBE (BARLOW) OLMSTED.

III .- NATHAN AND MARY (COMSTOCK) OLMSTED.

IV - SAMUEL'S AND SARAH (FAIRCHILD) OLMSTED.

" V -SAMUEL2d. AND ANNE (DUNNING) OLMSTED.

VI .- NOAH AND ANNIE (BELDEN)' OLMSTEAD.

.. VII .- STEPHEN AND SAMUEL E. OLMSTEAD.2

Stephen, son of Noah and Annie (Belden) Olmstead, married Maria, daughter of John Olmstead, and had :

Isabella M. Gertrude E. (Mrs. Clesson F. Gibbs).

Samuel E., born March 25, 1824, son of Noah and Annie (Belden) Olmstead, mar- ried, Oct. 4, 1846, Rebecca Gould, daughter of Jonathan and Mary (Newkirk) Camp, and had :

Arthur ; died in infancy. Mary Newkirk ; died in infancy. Louise, (Mrs. Dr. Clarence B. Coolidge), Rebecca Camp, (Married Feb. 6, 1878.) (Mrs. Frank W Woodward.)

Maria, died in infancy.

"She had been previously married ; had one child. "These brothers had a brother Belden (twin of Samuel E.) and sisters, Sarah Ann, Jane, Henrietta and Frances.

Sarah Ann, daughter of Noah and Annie ( Bel- den) Olmstead, married a Thatcher of Lockport, N. Y

Jane, born Aug. 12, 1812, died Feb. 1, 1871, mar- ried Nov. 19, 1846, Thaddeus Birdsey Curtis, of Strat- ford, and had Myra, born Sept. 5, 1847, Emma, Feb. 18, 1851, Louise W., February 16, 1857. Thaddeus B. Curtis died May 5, 1864.

Henrietta Olmstead married, Aug. 1833, as his second wite, Jonah Charles Keeler, born March 29, ISos, of Ridgefield, and had :

Joseph Belden, born July 23, 1834.

George Olmstead, born Oct. 8, 1835.

Sarah Ann, born Nov. 15, 1837.

Charles Lewis, born Nov. 18, 1839.

Henry, born Nov. 14, 1841. Sarah Maria, born July 31, 1843.

Edwin Olmstead, (Hon. ) born Jan. 12, 1846. Frederic, born Dec. 31, 1847. Charles L., born April 22, 1850.

Jonah C. Kreler, married, third, a Betts from Wilton, and had :

William Arthur, born Sept. 24, 1856, of Den- ver. Colorado.

Franklin A., born Dec. 25, 1858, of Neb.

Rolland Stebbins, born Dec. 26, 1860; died Sep- tember 14, 1868.

Mr. Keeler was son of Jonah, born June 5, 1772, and Rebecca (Raymond) Keeler. The two were mar- ried, Dec. 30, 1794. Jonah Keeler was a son of Mat- thew and Rebecca ( Close ) Keeler, which Matthew was a son of Jonah and Ruth (Smith) Keeler, which Jonah was a son of Samuel and Sarah (St. John) Keeler (see page 122), which Samuel Keeler was son of Ralph Keeler, the Norwalk Keeler settler.

Joseph B., son of Jonah C and Henrietta Keeler, married llarriet Eddy, of Chicago. George O. mar- ried Julia Waterbury, daughter of Thomas and Susan ( Betts ) Benedict, of Norwalk, and had Susan and Henrietta, both of whom died young. Sarah A., Charles L., Henry, Sarah Maria, Frederic and Chas. L.2d. died young. Hon. Edwin O., of Norwalk, (1896) married, May 13, 1868, Sarah V Whiting, of Frank- lin, Mass., and had :

Inez Rosealine.

A child who died in infancy.

Rutherford Ballou.

Jonah C. and Henrietta Keeler removed from Ridgefield to Wilton and resided on the Belden Hill road a little distance below the Wilton Congregational Church.

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NORWALK.

Samuel E. Olmstead' was one of modern Norwalk's most enterprising and indefatig- able citizens. His name was the synonym of business energy and vitality. His mother was a daughter of Capt. Azor Belden, by his first wife, who was of the Taylor family. Capt. Azor Belden was the son of Azor Belden, Ist. who was son of William and Margaret (Arms) Belden, which William was the son of Daniel Belden, of Deerfield, Mass., who was a brother of the first John Belden, of Norwalk.

HOME-LOT XVI. ISAAC MOORE .. MARK ST. JOHN.

Isaac Moore or More, of Farmington, who married, Dec. 5, 1645, Ruth Stanley, owned home-lot xvi but a few years. He sold the same to Mark (son of Matthias St. John, Sr.,), whose home-grant (No. 2) has already been described. Mr. Moore's "accom- modations," in 1655, were rated at £252. Before he came to Norwalk he was chosen Ser- geant at Farmington, and fifteen years after Norwalk was settled he was excused from "training day " service because of his engagements as a soldier prior to his Norwalk ap- pearance. His own wife and the wife of Mark St. John were of the same family name. He was one of the early Norwalk "townsmen " (1654) his colleague being Thomas Fitch, Sr. His residence in Norwalk does not seem to have been a long protracted one.

HOME-LOT XVII THOMAS HALE. RICHARD OLMSTED.

Thomas Hale, who shared home-lot xvii with Richard Olmsted, whose allotment has received mention, was evidently in Hartford before coming to Norwalk. He had mar-

Frances, born July 6, 1821, died April 29, 1863, daughter of Noah and Annie (Belden) Olmstead, married, Aug. 19, 1843, Lewis Judson, son of William and Rebecca (Judson) Curtis, and had :

Charles Lewis, born March 19, 1847, died March 23, 1862 ;

Maria Louise, born May 18, 1850, died July 17, 1864;

Anna Belden, born March 27, 1853, died Aug. 29, 1890:

Franklin Judson, born Jan. 23, 1859, married Julia Boquette ;

Lewis J. Curtis married, second, Oct. 20, 1864, Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. David Willard, of Wilton.

Anna Belden, daughter of Lewis J. and Frances Curtis, married, Oct. 20, 1885, Charles Eversley, son of Stiles W. and Harriet ( Bennett) Curtis, and had :

Anna Everslev, born Aug. 29, 1890.

Captain Azor Belden married, second, Hannah, daughter of Timothy and Esther (Platt) Fitch, and had Geo. F and Platt Belden. Platt Belden became a citizen of New York. His brother's (George F.,)

children were Henry H., of Westport, and the late George F. Belden, Jr., of Norwalk, who married Louisa, daughter of William and Lucinda ( Nash ) Cornwall, of Norwalk. . The second Mrs. Capt. Azor Belden was a grand-daughter of Gov. Thomas Fitch. Captain Belden was the grandfather of the before named brothers and sisters, Stephen, Saml. E., Belden, Sarah Ann. Jane, Henrietta and Frances Olmstead.

'The grandchild of Samuel E. Olmstead, child of his daughter, Rebecca Camp (Mrs. Frank W. Wood- ward), is Warren Olmstead, born May 2, 1891.

2There is a Hartford or Farmington record of " Ruth Moore, born, Farmington, Jan. 5, 1656, bap- tized at Norwalk; " also

Sarah Moore, b. Feb. 12, 1661, bap. Farmington. Marv · Sept. 15. 1664,

Phobe " Apr. 25, 1669,

These were probably the children of Isaac Moore, the last three of whom seem to have been baptized | after Mr. Moore left Norwalk. He sold his Norwalk home-lot in 1660 to Mark St. John, who also married a Stanley.

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NORWALK.

ried Jane Lord, of Roxbury, Mass., in 1639, and is spoken of as a godly man. He is thought to have been seventeen years in the country when the pioneers came to Norwalk. Samuel Hale of home-lot xxi is believed to have been his brother.'

HOME LOT XVIII. THOMAS WARD. RALPHI KEELER.

Of Thomas Ward who, with Ralph Keeler of home-lot vii, shared home-lot xviii. but little is known. Ward is an excellent New England name, but the Norwalk history of the family is meagre. Thomas Ward was married and had something of a nursery on his grounds. Beyond these facts it seems difficult to gather very much concerning his Nor- walk story.

HOME-LOT NIK MATTHEW CAMPFIELD OR CANFIELD.

This proprietor was one of the most honored of the Norwalk founder-fathers. He was nominated in the King's Connecticut Charter of 1662, and he became a freeman in 1654, after which he represented Norwalk at a number of General Assembly sittings. His wife was of a distinguished family, having been a daughter of Richard and Joanna Treat and a sister of Gov. Robert Treat, Mrs. John Deming, Sr., and Mrs. John Hollister. His brother Thomas, was one of the founders of New Milford, and he was undeniably a man of parts and power. The family is found in Hertfordshire, England, at the time of the Spanish Armada, and as long ago as the year A.D., 1200, "Camville" was a proper name. Matthew Campfield, unquestionably an influential settler, seemed, for some reason, to have been dissatisfied with government matters in the Connecticut Colony. Although a public man, his Norwalk residence was brief, and he early emigrated to New Jersey, where he became as prominent as he had been in his former home. He was rated a wealthy man, and is supposed to be buried where now stands the Newark City Hall.

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Norwalk, history from 1896, Part 40

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

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