USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Bridgeport > Reports and papers. Fairfield County Historical Society, Bridgeport, Conn. 1882-1896-97 > Part 17
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"There be of them that have left a name behind them, that their praises might be reported; and some there be which have left no memorial; who are perished, as though they had never been."
In a seeluded spot on the eastern slope of the Green Moun- tains is the unmarked grave of a son of Stratford whose name well deserves to be illustrions in the annals of the County of Fairfield. A man of liberal culture, of more than ordinary gifts, a stalwart Patriot in the stormy days of the Revolution, a pioneer preacher of unusual power, of marked individuality and rugged character, of honorable ancestry, and with numer- ous and not less honorable posterity, such a man was Rev. Blackleach Burritt. The story of his life is not devoid of interest, and yet strange to relate, although here born, fitted for college, educated for the ministry, and within the borders of this county captured during the Revolution and taken to the notorious Sugar House Prison in New York, his name appears but once in your annals, in a brief note in the history of Stratford. But first of his ancestry :
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THE BURRITTS
May not have had heraldic fame, but they were of the un- erowned Kings of Welshland, whom even William the Con- queror did not find it easy to dethrone, and who when they sailed away over the sea to the New World brought with them not only their brave hearts and brawny arms, but their indom- itable love of liberty as well.
Among those early of Stratford were William Burritt and Elizabeth his wife. They are said to have been from Glamor- ganshire, Wales, but the exact date of their arrival has not been ascertained ; quite possibly they had tarried for a time somewhere else in New England before coming here. The only place wherein William Burritt's name appears prior to the in- ventory of his estate, date of January 15, 1650-1, is in a mem- orandum of the number of rods of fence the share of each settler to build. The paper bears no date, but was of course prior to his death. In the schedule of his estate he is spoken of as "lately deceased." The amount of the inventory was about £140. A very moderate heritage for the widow and her children, of whom there were three, two sons and a daughter : Stephen. Jolin, and Mary, who is said to have married a Smith at an early day and hence the numerous Smith family in America.
The widow, Elizabeth Burritt. appears to have been a thrifty and sagacious woman, controlling her own affairs and ordering her household well. Though apparently not able to write her own name, she made her mark all over the early town records in more senses than one. She was buying more than selling and evidently adding to her possessions. She apportioned considerable real estate to her sons by conveyanees dated April 5, 1675, as follows: "To my loving and dutiful son. John Burritt, of ye said place, an equal half of muy whole accommodations in Stratford aforesaid, being ye allotment and interest of my deceased husband, Win. Burritt, or by proeure- ment of myself and my children, excepting only ye home lot and pareel of land at ye Fresh Pond, in ye old field, ye which has already been contracted to Stephen Burritt." one of which contractions being that "ye aforesid John Burritt should have
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the parcel of land lying on "Quimby's Neck," &c. Stephen Burritt drew lot No. 40 in division of lands in 1671, and John Burritt No. 84.
Widow Burritt evidently made her home with her ellest son, Stephen. Her will is dated Sept. 2, 1681, and she prob- ably died soon after.
Stephen Burritt, the eldest son, was in the list of Freemen at Stratford "Sth month, 7th day 1669," a lot owner 1671, and confirmed by the General Court as Ensign of the Train Band at Stratford in 1672. appointed Lientenant Jan. 17, 1675, and the Council at Hartford, date of Sept. 18, 1675, ordered that "The Dragoones from Fairfield County being come up, and Major Robert Treat sending to us to hasten them to their headquarters near Suckquackheeg, it has ordered that accordingly the Dragoones of Fairfield should forthwith march away up to Norwottag, and so to our army, under the conduct of Ensign Stephen Burritt, and join them in defence of the plantations up the river, and to kill and destroy all such Indian enemies as should assault them on the afore- said plantations." Again, at a meeting of the Council of the Colony held Nov. 23. 1675, Stephen Burritt was appoint- ed Commissary of the Army, so rapidly was he promoted. No wonder Hinman says, "he was a noted Indian fight- er." Evidently a man of force, courage and resource, Ensign Steplien Burritt stands out a heroie figure on the pages of the history of Strafford. He was not only a brave soldier. but the old town records give evidence that he wasZa man of affairs. At the Town Meeting held Jan. 1, 1673, he was chosen Recorder, and his beautiful and character-like autograph which thereafter frequently ap- pears on the Town Books, may well be the envy of any of his descendants. In 1689 he was appointed on a committee to assess damages for the changing of Black Creek into Mill River, by which one Robert Lane claimed to have been "dan- nified!" The same year he was chosen one of the Townsmen. In 1690 was an auditor of the accounts of the Town Treasurer, and also chairman of the committee on killing wolves. What a wolf killer that brave old Indian fighter must have been!
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He held other offices of trust, and was in his day one of the very foremost citizens of Stratford. The inventory of his estate, dated March 4, 1697, shows a footing of £1,177 2s. which includes £6 6s, as the value of his "arms and ammunition." He had died January 24. 1697-8, according to the old tomb. stone, fortunately still preserved. It appears that this ancient memorial was recently discovered by Mr. Robert H. Russell in the footpath leading from his house to his garden. It was several inches under ground, and abont 200 feet from the southeast corner of the old Congregational burying ground, where it was doubtless originally placed. It is believed that many years since it was taken from thence by some vandal hands, and used for a time as a step-stone. Mr. T. B. Fair- child. of Stratford. though not a descendant or of kindred, to his credit be it said, caused this memorial stone to be returned and reset.
He had married, Nov. 8. 1673, Sarah Nichols, the daughter of Isaac Nichols, a prominent Stratford family, one of her sisters having married Rev. Joseph Webb, and another Rev. Israel Chauncey, pastor of the Stratford church from 1665 to 1703, who was one .of the founders of Yale College, and was chosen its first president, but declined the honor. By this marriage Stephen Burritt had seven children, as follows :
Elizabeth, born July 1, 1675; William, born March 29, 1677 : (died young.) Peleg, (Ist) born Oct. 5, 1679; Josiah, born 1681 ; Israel, born 1687 : Charles, (Ist) born 1690; Ephraim, (1st) born 1693.
Peleg Burritt (Ist) married Sarah Benit, (sic) Dec. 5, 1705, and had issue : William, baptized Oct. 13, 1706; Daniel, (Bridgeport church records) 1708; Sarah, (Stratford town records) born July 20, 1712; Peleg. (Jr.,) born Jan. 8, 1720-1. Peleg Burritt. Sr, of Stratford, deeded lands to his son Peleg Jr., at Ripton Parish, including forty acres on Walnut Hill, " excepting only my own new dwelling house, " date of April 25, 1746. He had sold land on Snake Brook, to Rich- ard Nichols, April 27, 1713. Date of his death not ascer- tained. Sarah, wife of l'eleg, united with the church at Strat- field in December, 1709.
Of the other sons of Ensign Stephen Burritt, Josiah was one of the proprietors of Newtown, 1710, and had numer- ous descendants there. He married Mary Peat, March 10, 1703, and had Elizabeth, baptized ( Bridgeport church) July 23, 1704: Stephen, baptized (Bridgeport church) Feb. 10, 1706: Benjamin and Phoebe, (twins) born (Stratford town records), Jan. 29, 1708: William, born January, 1709, all of whom were of Newtown. Israel, 4th son of Ensign Stephen, married Sarah Coe, Marchi 4. 1719, and is said to have settled in Durham. Charles, 5th son of Ensign Stephen, had Daniel, Israel, Charles and Elihu (1), who married and had among other children, Elihn (2), who had Elijah, Elizabeth, Emily, George and Elihn (3), distinguished as the " Learned Black- smith," who was born at New Britain, Conn., Dec. 8, 1811, and whose fame is world wide. Charles Burritt took Free- man's oath at Stratford September, 1730. He and Mary his wife, were members of the Stratfield church, 1718. Daniel Burritt, son of Charles and Mary, his wife, died prior to his father, who by will dated Jan. 23, 1761, gave to the children of his son Daniel. The distribution of the estate of Daniel mentions the widow Comfort, daughters, Roxanna married Richard Hubbell 4th, Penninah, married Sammel Brinsmade, and Amelia, and sons Stephen, Rollins and Elijah Burritt. Elijah, though mentioned last, was probably the eldest, and probably not a son of the widow Comfort, but of a former wife, as there is good authority for saying-Steph- en was his half brother. Elijah was born in 1743, it is the family tradition, on the site of his lifelong residence, which still stands, and appears good for another one hundred years. He was a man of fine form and presence, six feet in height, of uniformly good health, never sick until the last year of his life. He died Sep. 23, 1841, at the advanced age of ninety- eight years and six months. His life was one of great activi- ty, his business embracing blacksmithing, buckskin leather dressing, and cooperage, as well as farming. He was over- seer and agent for the Golden Hill Indians from A. D., 1812 to 1834, at a period when their numbers comprised quite a
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bind. This rendered the distribution of the income of their small fund both delicate and difficult. By them he was looked up to as a father. He was a man of high character and intelligence, of the strictest integrity and religiously a strong Churchman. He retained his faculties unimpaired in a remarkable degree until the last, and from his intelligence and long life, he oreupies in local history a peculiar position. In his younger years he was acquainted with the men and events of the earliest period. In his latest years, he reached down, and communicated his knowledge to men now living.
Isaac Sherman, Esq., says : " It was from him, (Mr. Bur- ritt) that I derived much of the information I possess relative to the early settlers of Stratfield," (now Bridgeport), and which he has so well transmitted in his published recollec- tions.
Elijah Burritt was thrice married. His first wife was Sarah Hall, daughter of JJohn Hall, Stratfield, by whom he had one son and five daughters, viz ;
1. Daniel. merchant. Bridgeport, known as Colonel Burritt, unmarried.
2. Comfort, died young.
3. Ann, married Ephraim Wheeler Sherman, and had issue, three sons and three daughters.
4. Hannah, married Silas Shelton, of Huntington, and had issue, two sons five daughters .*
5. Mercy, married Captain James Fayerweather, of Bridge- port.
6. Phoebe, married Captain Samuel Hawley, No. 2,335 in the Hawley family record.
.- Of these daughters, Elizala th was a member of the family of her grandfather Burritt until her marriage to Captam Grorgr Lafield. Their ebetreu are Harriet, mar- ried Dr. Joseph S. French, Charles Howard, married Susan Lobdell, Mary Buruitt, married Edwin J. Nettleton. Another dauchter Harriet, marred Henry Bassett, and had one son, Frank H., who with his mother how own and ocenpy the old homestead of her Grandfather Burritt, Mrs. Lafield, aged seventy-eight years. and Mrs. Bassett, aged seventy-five years, were able to attend the meeting of the Historical Society, Feb. 19, 1892, and listened with north interest to the trading of this paper. The oldest daughter, Mary shelton, who married Mr. F. Huge, wis also represented by her daugh- ter, Mary Burnett, who by contributions of her pen and pencil illustrati s and prijetu- ates the history of the Ancestral Hotue which was erretail in 1753, on the site occupied by Mr. Daniel Burritt, father of Ehigh, Acrayon picture of this house made by Mary Burritt Huge is hung njoon the walls of the Historical Su iety, as a companion piece to the portrait of Mr. Barritt, painted by Elwin White, tor Mr. and Mr -. B. T. Nichols. Mr. Niebols who was the survivor, at his death dirreted it given to the llis- torical Society. R. B. L., Feb. 1.92.
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Mr. Burritt married second, Sarah Fairchild, of Redding, Conn. Her only child was
7. Mary, married Barak T. Niehols.
His third marriage was to Sarah (Chappell) MeLean. She had by her first marriage, Dr. John McLean, physician, Nor- walk, Conn , and Sarah, who married George Wade, Bridge- port.
Stephen Burritt, son of Daniel, and half brother to Elijah Burritt, had his residence on Old Mill Green near the Mill Pond. He married Hannah Platt Avery, daughter of Rev. Elisha Avery, of Norwalk, Conn., and cousin of John S. Avery* and had Charlotte C .. born 1797, died Aug. 8, 1837; Mary Ann, born 1799, died Dec. 21, 1820 : and Stephen Elisha Avery, born Nov. 8, 1804, died April 1825. Stephen-Bur- ritt died 1815, aged sixty-two years; Hannah, his wife, died Oct. 25, 1843, aged eighty years. The children were all un- married, and the grave marks of the entire family stand together in Pembroke cemetery.
Stephen Elisha Avery Burritt appears to have been a very bright and promising young man. He was graduated at Yale College in the class of 1824, when but nineteen years old. A class album of his, of remarkable interest, is in the posses- sion of the Fairfield County Historical Society, donated by J. N. Ireland, Esq. The original contributions and selections show a high appreciation of young Burritt, and bear the sig- natures of such men as Judge Origen Storrs Seymour, Hon. Eliphalet T. Bulkeley, father of Governor Morgan G. Bulke- ley, Linus Child, Ebenezer Jessup, Dr. Jeremiah T. Dennison, Benjamin D. Stillman, Esq, New York : Hamilton Murray, New York ; Dr. Frederick J. Judson and Henry D. Sterl- ing, (brother of Hon. D. H. Sterling.) of Bridgeport, and others of equal standing.
Ephraim's children were Eunice, Murtha, Mary, Ephraim, Jr . Stephen, William, Abel and Lewis.
Daniel Burritt, son of Stephen, who was a son of Josiah, son of Ensign Stephen, probably married Sarah Collins, at New Milford, Feb. 8, 1756, and lived at Arlington. Vt .. for
'NOTE .- John S. Avery occupied the Stephen Burritt plser about 1840.
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some years prior to the Revolution, when, being a Loyalist, he went to Canada and settled at Angusta, near Prescott, where he died aged ninety-three. Of his sons, Adoniram lived to be ninety eiglit, Stephen, eighty-four, Daniel, Jr . eighty-seven, and Major upwards of ninety ; a daughter, Lois lived to be ninety-three. . Whether Toryism had anything to do with this extraordinary longevity is not recorded. Per- haps it was to give time for repentance. But there were many patriots among the Burritts, some of whom lived to be aged. Among those whose names appear on the list of Rev- olutionary soldiers in Connecticut are John, Philip, Abijah, Anthony, Charles, Elihu, Israel, Nathan, Abel, Eben, Stephen, William Burritt and others. Israel Burritt was from New Milford, and was commissioned as Lieutenant. Andrew Bur- ritt, born 1741, who married Eunice Wells, Jan. 27, 1763, and was the great-grandfather of Oscar C. Burritt, of Hydeville, Vt., is also said to have been engaged in the Revolution. Some of the descendants of the daughters of the above Daniel Burritt, still reside at Arlington, Vt.
John Burritt, son of William and Elizabeth, and the young- er brother of Ensign Stephen, as appears in the Stratford records was a lot owner as early as 1671. He married Debo- rah Barley, or Barlow, May 1, 1684, and had a son Joseph, born March 12, 1685. as the records show. Although Savage says in his Genealogical notes that Jolin was unmarried, he appears to have been twice married, his second marriage having been with Hannah Fairchild, date of May 5, 1708. It is claimed that he had a son Jolin, but that is doubtful, for Joseph is named as Administrator, and as sole heir of his father's estate, date of Oct. 3, 1727. the will having been filed Feb. 17. 1726-7. The inventory of the estate amounted to £1754.9sld. Joseph Burritt made his will March 10, 1750 ; left widow Mary, sons William, John, Nathan, Samuel, daugh- ters Deborah, wife of Jonas Thompson, Hannah, wife of Isaac Beach ; also had Mary, born Sep. 22, 1721, and Ebenezer, born Dec. 18, 1728 .. This Joseph Burritt, son of John, was probably the ancestor of Joseph Burritt. born in Stratford in 1758, who married Sarah Ufford, and was the father of Joseph
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Burritt, Jr., who died at Ithaca, N. Y., in 1888, aged ninety- four. He had married Asenath Curtiss, of Stratford, June 17, 1816, and left many descendants.
Peleg Burritt, Jr., born Jan. 7, 1719-20, married first this second marriage is elsewhere noted) Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Blackleach. Jr., of Ripton Parish, date unknown, but evidently prior to Dec. 15, 1742. for on that date Richard Blackleach, Jr., conveyed land " to my son, Peleg Burritt, Jr., of said Stratford." He doubtless lived at Ripton Parish. There was a daughter born of this marriage named MIehitabel. after her grandmother, Mehitabel Laboree Burritt, and a son Blackleach Burritt, but the church records of Ripton Parish, prior to 1773, having been destroyed, and the family record of Peleg Burritt. Jr., having been lost at the time of the Wyo- ming Massacre, it has been found impossible to definitely ascertain the date of the marriage or the birth of either of these children. The birth of Blackleach Burritt has been placed by some as early as 1740, but as his father was then scarcely twenty years of age, it cannot be taken as even ap- propriately correct, especially in view of the fact that his sis- ter's name precedes his in order of mention in the will of their grandfather Blackleach. Probably she was born about 1742, and he about 1744. As will be noticed he was cotempo- rary with the late Elijah Burritt, of Stratford, and not dis- tantly related to him.
THE BLACKLEACH FAMILY.
The Blackleach family was early of Connecticut, John Blackleach, Jr., of Hartford, 1659, being perhaps the grand- father of Richard, Jr. Richard Sr., was of Stratford as soon as 1676; was a merchant. and is called Richard Blackleach, gentleman. In 1698. in the prosecution of his business, he was plaintiff in a suit against Mr. William Hoadley, merchant, of Branford, concerning some Negro Slaves delivered by him to the said Hoadley, to be paid for in corn, which was in the courts for several years. but in which he was finally successful. He was a high Churchman, but instead of carrying the Gospel to the Heathen on " Afrie's golden sands," he evidently brought the Heathen to the Gospel ! This experiment of his
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in the way of Evangelization, is in striking contrast with att earlier fact recorded of John Blackleach, (probably his father) who kept the ferry over the Housatonic river between Stratford and Milford, who in 1669, petitioned to be allowed to make known to the Indians, as he should have opportunity, " some- thing of the knowledge of God." Richard Blackleach, Sr, died in 1731, aged seventy-six years.
Richard Blackleach, Jr., married Mehitabel Laboree, prob- ably the widow of Dr. Laborce, Feb. 2, 1715-16, and had two children, Elizabeth, who married Peleg Burritt, Jr., and Sarah, who married Mr. Edward Jessup Mebitabel Laboree Black- leach died Feb. 21, 1735. His will made Feb. 27, 1747, was recorded Oct. 2, 1750, and inventory filed April 28, 1751. The following is a transcript of the substance of it:
"I give unto Mehitabel Burritt, daughter of Peleg Burritt, Jr., of Stratford, one Silver Cup, two Silver Spoons, together with all my Movable Estate, provided she lives to ye age of eighteen years or marriage : but if she die before, I give said Movables unto Blackleach Burritt, ye son of Peleg Burritt. Jr." He also gave £3 to his daughter Sarah Jessup, wife of Edward Jessup of Fairfield. and £5 to each of her six children. He further gave " unto Blackleach Burritt, son of Peleg, Jr., and unto his heirs and assigns forever, all my land, meadow and buildings in said Stratford, being butted and bounded as appears of record." Ephraim Judson and Daniel Thomp- son were named as executors, and were given authority to sell land on Fawn Hill if necessary to pay the debts and be- quests, and they did so sell lands to Peleg Burritt, Jr., date of March 5, 1753. The total inventory shows £1.051.3s70, of which $850 was real estate. In the personal property was " one Silver Cup, holding near one pint, two Silver Spoons, and two dozen Silver Vest Buttous," valued altogether at £2 9s5d. And these were for Mehitabel, and something of personal property besides ; quite a dower. Little is handed down in regard to this young lady, and it is not known whether or not she married. She is said to have been very handsome, and of a somewhat mercurial disposition.
The probate records of Fairfield show the final settlement
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of the estate of Richard Blackleach to have taken place in 1758. The debits include a charge for going to Green's Farms to pay the bequests to Mrs. Edward Jessup and her children, and £46 paid out by the executors for the expenses involved in a law snit, the records of which considerable re- search failed to disclose.
And so the lad Blaekleach Burritt was made the heir to quite an estate, the disposition of which, however, does not fully appear. Nothing notable is known of his boyhood and youth except the stories of his acrobatic performances on the roofs of buildings which he seemed to delight in, to the terror of his step-mother, to whom he is said to have been much attached. He does not appear to have been the traditional goody, goody boy. who is expected to die young, but he had the timber in him that men are made of. Aspiring after an educa- tion, he entered Yale College, where he graduated, as his still well preserved diploma, an ancient pareliment testifies. in the class of 1765. An exciting incident of his college life was the celebrated ease of the poisoning of a large number of the students. In answer to recent inquiry, Professor Dexter, of Yale, gives the following version of the affair :
"The mysterious sickness at College occurred on April 14. 1764. A common rumor at the time, and later, imputed it to poison administered by a French woman employed in the College commons; but the more reasonable view held by President Clapp was, that some students that were rebel- lions against the food furnished in the commons, bribed the French woman to put some strong physic into the food, in the hope of breaking up the system."
In a sketch of Rev. Isaac Lewis, D. D., who was a native of Stratford and a classmate of Blackleach Burritt, which ap- pears in Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit, the fol- lowing account of that affair is given : " At that time the whole College was poisoned through the villainy of certain French neutrals. These fellows had taken mortal offense at the conduet of a few wild students," and they meditated "the most deadly revenge. To accomplish their purpose. they contrived to visit the kitchen where the food of the stu-
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dents was prepared and infused a large quantity of arsenic into one of the dishes that was to be placed before them. A deadly sickness came over all who partook of the food, and a few were so affected that they died shortly after."
Of Blackleach Burritt it is said that he was at that time engaged in nursing his siek chum, Samuel Mills. Another account says that he took a frugal meal of bread and milk on that occasion and so escaped being poisoned. Samnel Mills' father, Rev. Jedediah Mills, who was then and for many years the pastor of the church at Ripton Parish, in Stratford, was preaching in the pulpit when a messenger arrived from New Haven, and went first up into the pulpit, and then to Captain Burritt. Service was then dismissed, and both im- mediately went to New Haven. All of which is of interest as leading up to the fact that not long after this, Whitfield vis- ited New Haven, and delivered a memorable discourse in the College chapel, that is said to have led to a great change in the current of Mr. Burritt's life, and which resulted in his nniting with the church in Yale College, date of Feb. 3, 1765. and led to the consecration of himself to the noble work of the Christian Ministry.
. On graduating he pursued his theological studies with his venerable and able pastor, Rev. Jedediah Mills, of Ripton Parish, evidently in company with his classmates and compan- ions of his boyhood, Samuel Mills and Isaac Lewis, for at a meeting of the Fairfield East Association, as appears in the old records now in the possession of Rev. Joel S. Ives, of Stratford. the Stated Clerk of that Association, held at Danbury on the last Tuesday of Feb'y, 1768. "Isaac Lewis, A. B., and Blackleach Burritt, A. B., presented themselves as Candidates for Examination to preach the Gospel. Their credentials being required, they offered the following, viz .: 'To the Revd. Asso'n convened at Danbury. Gent'm: Being detained by bodily Indisposition, I do hereby signify that Mr. Lewis and Mr. Burritt, the bearers, were sometime sinee recommended to us by Mr. Dagget. Pastor of a Church in New-Haven, and are in Good Standing with us in all things as becometh the Gospel. Mr. Jedediah Mills, Pas-
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