USA > Connecticut > New London County > Stonington > Old homes in Stonington : with additional chapters and graveyard inscriptions > Part 12
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CLARK DAVIS HOUSE
York State was then called. It was at one time occupied by the Eld- redges, as here Mary Eldredge was brought up, who afterward married Daniel Stanton, one of the heroes of Groton Heights.
Later it was owned by Mr. Clarke Davis, the son of Elder Joseph Davis of Hopkinton, who married Comfort Langworthy in 1745. Mr. Davis' brother Joseph married Esther Denison, whose daughter Lucre- tia was very fond of this place and frequently visited here, and being in delicate health, she used to roam about over the farm; in a secluded spot, shaded by trees, she chose her last resting-place; she died not long after at the age of thirty years, and here now can be found her grave- stone with this epitaph:
"Farewell, Lucretia, lovely maid, adieu.
Our bleeding hearts consign thee to the tomb,
In this lone spot, your choice, reserved for you,
Deep shrouded in its solitary gloom."
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When this house was owned by Mr. Clarke Davis's son Joseph, the center chimney was removed and chimneys at either end of the house were built, which now distinguishes it from its neighbors. The broad hall through the center bears evidence of the size of the old chimney and the deep cornice and handsome corner cupboard, with carving and coloring in the upper part representing the rising sun. The deep win- dow seats and summer beams visible, are facts not to be gainsaid that this is one of the early houses. This place has passed from one family to another for many years, till now it rests in the Wheeler name, as does much more of the land along this road for some distance, and with many chldren playing about this old house, now well improved, it bids fair to remain in the Wheeler name for a century more.
Down the hill and past the "Jeremy Lot," beyond the schoolhouse, once stood the "Old schoolhouse," situated on the rise of ground oppos- ite the present house. Here went to school some of this generation. There was also an old house occupied by Mr. Elisha Wheeler, which stood near the road where now the barn is, and east of here, but a short distance, was where the first Frink lived in town, he was also the first carpenter. Still below, where the balm gilead and poplar trees used to stand, a long row in all their solitary stateliness, set out by Mr. Wood- bridge, and which served as a rendezvous for crow bill black birds, once stood a house east of them which was occupied by Mr. John Shaw, who operated the fulling mill, that was situated quite a little distance west of the road on Stoney Brook, and it is now more than a hundred years since it went out of use.
CHAPTER EIGHTH
"The smith a mighty man is he, with large and sinewy hands, And the muscles of his brawny arms are strong as iron bands, You can hear him swing his heavy sledge With measured beat and slow, Week in, week out, from morn till night You can hear his bellows blow."
The Putnam Corners, where the beautiful old Elm tree, called the Whitefield Tree yet stands, was once a busy scene, when the old black- smith shop stood there on one corner, by the willow trees. Where the present house is, was then a gambrelled roof store, with hall in the up- per story. Here school was kept, and opposite here stood the Center Meeting House. This was originally Miner land, and later it belonged to Mr. William Woodbridge, who sold it to Mr. Charles Phelps, and so it has passed on to different owners until this also is in the Wheeler name. The old house which used to stand on the farm was east of the present one, about half way between here and Mr. Frank Smith's. The old cellar can yet be seen and many of the older inhabitants re- member that it was a two-story, double house with slanting roof. Here lived Mr. Oliver Babcock and family, parents of Mr. Stephen and Na- than Babcock of Westerly. This was the Col. Joseph Champlin home- stead farm of 100 acres, purchased by him of Joseph Miner for 500 Spanish milled dollars in 1765.
A little further south still stands the Jedediah Putnam house, though in a delapidated condition. It is a half two-story house, and was once occupied by a family who bore this historic name, by which it has since been known, although it was built by the Thompsons. Mr. William Thompson lived first, where Mr. Eugene Palmer now resides (and his mother was Hannah, granddaughter of Elder William Brewster of the Mayflower). Here was a large, double house with slanting roof in the rear, and the front roof projected with a deep cornice or jetting, arched over the front part of the house and plastered underneath. It was after- wards occupied by Major Alden Palmer and family until the present one was built on its site. The blacksmith shop at the Corner was built by Mr. Thompson's sons, of whom two were smithys, and three were carpen- ters.
The old wood-colored house, with long, sloping roof to the east, which stood on the brow of the hill at Taugwank, known as the "Yellow House Farm," has been pulled down within a few years and replaced by the present new one. It was an old landmark, having been built in the early years of 1700 by Walter Palmer, who also kept a store on the north side of the house in the small room next the road, which was entered by a door on the east side, near the north end. This was later closed and re- placed by a window, having but four panes of glass. On the north side near the entrance was the old stone horse-block, where travelers mount- ed and dismounted, and on the same side was a large shop window, which opened up and out, making a counter, where customers could be served as they rode past. There were no trees about this old homestead, but a
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large elderberry bush stood between the windows on the east side and grew in spite of the numerous small stones which almost paved the ground for some feet about it.
Walter Palmer was grandson of the first Walter, and also grandson of Capt. George Denison, whose daughter Ann, married Dea. Gershom Pal- mer; he was baptized at the Road Church June first, 1685, and married Grace Vose of Milton ,Massachusetts, when he was 28 years old; fifteen
PUTNAM HOUSE
years later he died and his widow was appointed administratrix on his estate, the inventory of which amounted to £1352 in housing and lands. Some of the lots west of the house, are yet remembered as being called "The Walter Palmer land." Since then this farm has passed through many hands, viz .: Zebediah Mix, carpenter, whose deed from Elihu Chesebrough is dated 1748; later in 1768, Oliver Smith is the owner; after him, George Irish of Newport and to him, in 1791, Elisha Denison of New London paid £2320 for its purchase; the farm was then improved by Noyes Palmer who married Sarah, daughter of Zebediah Mix, and in 1810 Mr. Denison sold it to Esquire Joseph Noyes for $13,555.00.
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Mr. Noyes had lived with his first wife at the Paul Wheeler house and for a few years in the old house at the "Highland Farm," which stood some distance east of the present one, where she died in 1806, when four years later he bought the "Yellow House Farm" and remained there till 1819, when he moved to the Elisha Denison house which stood a short distance to the east and lived in the old, two-story front, house with deep roof at the north. In the meantime Mr. Noyes rented his home farm to his sons Joseph and Thomas, but after a few years Mr. Denison sold his land to Mr. Clark Davis, and Mr. Noyes moved back to his own place and his sons went away to other farms. He remained at this place till he exchanged farms with Captain Charles Smith, for the house and land now owned by his grandson, Charles S. Noyes. Captain Smith rented
r
JOSEPH SMITH HOUSE
this farm and many families have made their home here for a time, a- mong them being Mr. Dimond, Charles S. Hewitt, Latham Miner, Charles H. Main, William York, Charles Babcock and others, some of whom will yet remember the old house with its vine-covered front and strong half door at the rear, where the roof came down so low as to be easily reached by those passing through.
The land on the north side of the road, recently purchased by Mr. Fernando Wheeler and Frank Smith is mentioned in a deed of Mr. George Irish, as being "the southeast corner of Col. Joseph Champlin's homestead farm, where a narrow lane leads from said post road to said Irish's Taugwank pasture," and near here at the right, is the old Miner burying ground. Could events of importance which have occurred in the lives of all the families, sheltered under this old roof-tree, in these past two hundred years be recorded, it would indeed be a most interesting history of itself. Here have begun many happy married lives. At Christmas time, in 1800, John Noyes and Elizabeth Chesebrough were married, while the month before, Adam States and Fanny Chesebrough joined heart and hand, and here they all came and began housekeeping together. In 1818 Joseph Noyes and Grace Denison came here to live, and two years later his brother Thomas Noyes and her sister Eunice Denison joined them and for a time they dwelt here together. Fifty years later came Joseph Smith and bride, Susan Brown, and made their home on this farm which was given to him by his father, Captain Charles Smith, and it is now owned and occupied by his family.
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Following the romantic path, a little below the Putnam house, we find one of the oldest houses in town, which for six generations has been in the Chesebrough name and is now owned by Mr. Gideon P. Chesebrough. It was built by Col. Amos Chesebrough about 1729, and is yet fairly well preserved. It is shingled on the west side and in various ways shows the marks of age. Mr. Chesebrough was a wealthy man for those days and owned a great amount of land west of this house. A long line of maple trees are before the door, and through the branches, gimpses can be seen of the waters of Fisher's Island Sound, Watch Hill, and nearby islands.
Col. Amos's father, Samuel Chesebrough, lived as a young man with his father Nathaniel, opposite the Phelps place. He married Priscilla
COL. AMOS CHESEBROUGH HOMESTEAD
Alden, granddaughter of the historic Priscilla and John Alden of whom history in 1620 says "John Alden was hired for a cooper, at South Hamp- ton, England, when the ship victualed, and being a hopeful young man was much desired, but left to his own liking to go or stay, when he came here, but he stayed and married here." Of Priscilla, we find that "Mr. Molines and his wife, his son and his servant, died the first winter, only his daughter Priscilla survived, and married with John Alden, who are both living and have eleven children." The home of this later Priscilla, who married Mr. Samuel Chesebrough in 1699, was a few rods farther south on the east side of the road below Col. Amos's house, where now can be seen a clump of shrubbery and a slight hollow in the ground.
This Priscilla had a somewhat romantic story as well as her grand- mother, for it is told of her coming from Roxbury, Massachusetts, rid- ing upon a pillion behind her future husband (whom she married the fol- lowing winter), and helping to hold his broken arm in position, which accident had occured to Mr. Chesebrough at her father's house while he
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was there upon a business trip (selling cattle for the farmers of Ston- ington). Here he had been detained, not unwillingly as we may believe, and been well cared for, until it was thought safe for him to start on his homeward trip, and Priscilla was persuaded to accompany him and care for the wounded arm, but ostensibly to visit her sister Elizabeth, who lived in Stonington, only a few miles from Mr. Chesebrough's, on the southern slope of Merrick's Hill. She had married John Seabury, who was grandfather of the Right Rev. Samuel Seabury, the first Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, and the one who first brought from Scotland into America the Apostolic Succession, November 14th, 1784. His name is honored in St. Paul's church in Rome Italy, by one of the eleven double windows which were placed there to his memory. The following story is told of this Samuel and Priscilla Chesebrough's daughter, who had a romance as well as her mother and great-grandmother.
On an autumn evening one hundred years ago, a party was given in Lower Egypt, (Wequetequock) and among others who participated in the pleasure of the occasion was Miss Chesebrough, who had been brought by a gentleman living near her home at Putnam's Corners. In those days all young ladies owned a pillion, for there was no other mode of conveyance except by horseback, and the pillion could easily be fas- tened to the saddle. In this way went our young lady to this party, but after they reached there, where were assembled a goodly number of young people, she was introduced to a gentleman from North Stoning- ton, who was very prepossessing in appearance, and he was much pleased with Miss Chesebrough and asked to have the pleasure of carrying her home from the party, but she told him that as she came with Mr. Palmer and her pillion was on his horse, it would not look well for her to take it off, but he eagerly enquired to know, if she would go with him, if he would take it off, to which she consented, and when at the close of the evening's entertainment, as he was changing the pillion to his own saddle the gentleman who had brought her came out, and seeing what was be- ing done, demanded to know the cause of the change, when the North Stonington gentleman responded, that he had permission from the young lady herself and should carry her home; after a few hot words they agreed to meet the next day at Oxacosett Bridge and decide it in a fist-a-cuff manner, which they did and after a short fight the North Stonington gentleman triumphed and won the day, and later won the young lady.
The Miner Noyes house, so called, which stands near the new house of Mr. Amos Chesebrough, was early the property of the Slacks, who owned a large tract of land and lived in the old Slack house on the road from Stonington village to Westerly, which has been taken down within the last fifty years. Capt. William Slack married Lucy Breed and owned this place, which he rented to various families. Here lived at one time Mr. Jonathan Phelps, and later, Mr. Nathaniel Miner Noyes married Mary Slack and came here to live, and this place has been in the family name ever since. It is peculiarly shaped, and called the salt box house from being formed like the ancient salt boxes which were made to hang
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in the kitchens of all country houses long ago. It is the only one now standing in town, a half house, two stories in front and one in the rear, the long roof sloping down to the top of the very windows and doors in the first story.
At some distance east of Col. Amos Chesebrough's, on one of the old county roads, is the large double house with long ell, known as the Squire Joseph Noyes place, standing on the summit of a high hill, from which is obtained a grand view, hardly excelled in all the town, of the ocean, near-by villages, Watch Hill, numerous islands and the surround- ing country. This house was erected by Mr. Naboth Chesebrough in 1782, who married Phebe Palmer in 1775; he was brother of William and son of Elihu Chesebrough. Sometime after, Mr. Nathan Stanton purchased this place, and his son Samuel, who married Col. Giles Rus- sell's daughter, lived here, and their daughter married Denison Noyes,
MINER NOYES HOUSE
who sold it to Mr. Chas. Smith, and he exchangedit with Squire Joseph Noyes (brother to Denison) for the yellow house farm, so called, where recently Mr. Joseph Smith lived. Mr. Noyes was obliged to sell this place as he had to pay a note that became due, for quite a sum of money, which he lost by signing a note for a friend, so he came here to live, and his son Joseph and family joined him later, and it is still the property of their son, Mr. Charles S. Noyes. Under the hill at the east, is the old Plantation Brook, winding among the trees and bushes, and sparking amid the pebbles and stones which lie in the shallow bottom A memory of the place within the last forty years, written by. a friend, George Frederick Noyes late of Norwich Ct., who was often a guest, seems worthy a place here:
"I spent one day of my vacation at this old Noyes home, where so many happy days of my boyhood were passed, and I wanted my child-
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ren to see it. I had visited it once or twice during the past years and wanted to go again, so one beautiful day, we drove over. It doesn't look now as it did then, kept spotless by the busy hands and scrupu- lous neatness of those former housewives, but the view from that point is charming. I did not realize that as much, when a boy. I had not the time to go to the old plantation brook, where one day you remember, a merry party waded in its clear waters. The small boys that were with me, were too little to trudge about as their father used, feeding the sheep, carrying the salt for them and munching dry, brown-bread crusts on the way. Those crusts were from the west pantry in the ell, and I knew also where the pans of milk were set, as I was fond of cream and sometimes helped myself, much to the disarrangement of the plans for butter making, I am afraid, but they were all kind to me and pa- tient, more so than I am now, I fear, when my boys get into mischief."
SQUIRE JOSEPH NOYES HOUSE
A little to the south is the Ephraim Williams place, standing back from the public road and is reached through a driveway, bordered by a long line of fan-topped elms of a half century's growth. This man- sion house with its large square roof, sloping down at the north, and broad east side, having three windows in the upper and lower stories, presents to the casual observer more than an ordinary appearance. As you stand upon the broad stone step, your view outward is of the ocean and surrounding country, which is very pleasant, yet the longing to enter will surpass, and as the great door swings hospitably open, it will disclose to your gaze the little hall and the balustrade which is quite elaborate and hand made, while the stairs with their six turns, carry you to the third story, which can be seen from the hall below. Large square, sunshiny rooms are. on either side, showing the summer beams and deep cornice. If you enter at the east side door, you will
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find an ideal old country lean-to with a half door at either end, the raf -. ters showing overhead and the bare brown floor beneath your feet.
This farm was formerly owned by Mr. Elihu Chesebrough, who mar- ried in 1740, Esther Dennis. He probably built this house about that time, and his son William afterwards lived here and married Esther Williams, and here their children were born. The daughter, Eunice Chesebrough, later married Joseph Noyes, and finally came to live at the house a little to the north, where her uncle Naboth then lived, who bought the land and house in 1782 of Thomas Chesebrough of Preston, having inherited it from his brother Capt. Jonathan (the husband of Naboth's sister Esther). About 1782, Mr. William Chesebrough moved to North Stonington, having exchanged his farm here with his wife's brother, Mr. Ephraim Williams, who lived at the old Williams' place, north of Col. James F. Brown's. Mr. Williams had married Sarah Pot-
EPHRAIM WILLIAMS PLACE
ter in 1781, but she died in a few years, and later he married Hepsi- beth Phelps, and while living here his oldest son, Ephraim, was born in 1791. He soon after moved to Wequetequock and there his son, Capt. Charles, was born, but this old place has remained in the Williams name all down the years, passing from father to son, and still is owned by one of the family, Mr. Charles P. Williams, though having been in the hands of tenants for over a hundred years.
On the Flats below, near the old home of Rev. James Noyes, a Bap- tist church was built in the first half of 1800, called the Anguilla Meet- ing-house, and the building is still standing, though now used as a barn. Quite recently on land south of this church, has been found, in plowing the ground, a number of silver Pine Tree shillings, dated 1652, and now worth their weight in gold; some of them are larger than others and the edges of all are uneven, having been made by hand. The very ear- liest coins had only N. E. on one side and XII-VI-II on the other, but
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in 1652 the General Court ordered "that all pieces of money should have a duoble ring with this inscription, 'Massachusetts and a tree in the center and New England and the year of our Lord on the other.' "
The tree on some of the coins is an oak shrub, on others a pine or a willow. The variations of the coins are the only means of fixing the date of issue, as all bear the same date, 1652. To whom this money, which has been found on Dea. Erastus Miner's land belonged, or for what reason it was buried or perhaps lost, is, and will probably always remain a mystery, for at the time when this money was in circulation, the land here was a forest, as it was but a short time after the town was settled.
JAMES NOYES HOUSE
A few rods east, we find a low, old-style, gambrel-roof house snugly ensconsed upon quite an elevation and looking down benignly upon the passers-by. This house was built by James Noyes about the middle of 1700. He was son of Capt. Thomas Noyes, and this place had des- cended from father to son through three generations, till Mr. Jesse Noyes gave a portion of it to his niece, who married Mr. Paul Noyes, and they resided here, so it has been in the Noyes name for 150 years. On the little knoll in front of this house, in the spring of 1838, was as- sembled the 6th Company, 8th Regiment, 3rd Brigade of Connecticut Militia, for their annual training. The officers of this Company were Capt. Richard A. Wheeler, Lieut. Amos Chesebrough and Ensign Ezra Wheeler. The musiciens of this company were John Vincent, who played the key-bugle, John D. Wheeler, clarinet, George Frink, fife, Dudley Davis, the snare drum, and Albert Vincent the bass drum.
After the usual drill in the morning was over and dinners eaten, which were served by Gilbert Collins, who was then living there, the company, according to previous arrangement, marched down into this
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field made historoic by the finding of the Pine Tree shillings, and stood in extended line, with swords sheathed and guns reversed, to await the coming, and to pay tribute to the funeral cortege of mourning friends, who followed the body of Miss Abby Helms, a young lady who had been known to nearly all in the company. When the long procession crossed Anguilla Bridge and drew near, the musiciens lifting their instruments began to play, and as the clear nots of the key-bugle and clarinet, the scream of the fife and the heavy roll of the snare and bass drums, blended in the mournful strains of the "Dead March in Saul" scarcely a dry eye was seen among this company of Connecticut Militia.
Mr. James Noyes' father, Capt. Thomas Noyes, lived just beyond, at what is now known as the Col. Peleg Noyes (or the Hoxie Noyes) house. Capt. Noyes built this house after his marriage in 1705 to Elizabeth, daughter of Gov. Peleg Sanford and granddaughter of Gov. William Coddington of Rhode Island. He and his son James were Colonial offi-
CAPT. THOMAS NOYES MANSION
cers. Capt. Thomas was a man possessed of considerable property and he it was, who sent to England and had the Noyes Coat of Arms cut upon a stone and placed over the grave of his father, our first minis- ter, Rev. James Noyes, who lies buried at Wequetequock. This house which he built is set back from the road some Ittle distance and im- presses one with a grand hospitable air. It is large, square, unpainted with a hip or quail trap roof, truly in style a mansion house. The broad front door has the old-fashioned iron ring for the knocker, with the small panes of glass over the top. From the front hall below, the stairs can be seen winding away into the upper story and again winding on into the garret.
The great east room seventeen feet square, has the old-fashioned corner cupboard, where now can be found very beautiful and ancient
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crockery, not belonging to the Noyes family but to those of the present occupants. The west side of this room is ceiled from top to floor, the width of some of the boards are beyond belief unless they are seen. The kitchen has the old style dresser for crockery and the summer beams show in all the rooms. Ah! could this house speak, what a his- tory it would give of Revolutionary heroes, of whom Col. Peleg was one, being Captain of Fort Griswold in 1777. What stories of love and war, heartaches and sorrows borne patiently and of lives lived out in their fulness and gone on into the unlimited beyond where all shall be sat- isfied. This place has long remained in the Noyes name from the time of Capt. Thomas to the present, when it now belongs to the daughter of Mr. George and Mrs. Martha Noyes, Mrs. Orson Rogers.
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