USA > Connecticut > New London County > Old Lyme > The educational history of Old Lyme, Connecticut, 1635-1935 > Part 15
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Prominent among the original proprietors of Lyme was 7. The dying charge of John Lee, the older brother of Mr. Justice Lee:
"I charge you my dear children that you fear God and keep his command- ments, and that you uphold his public worship with diligence and that you be constant in the duty of secret prayer, twice every day, all the days of your lives and all you that come to the heads of families, that you be constant in family prayers, praying evening and morning with your families besides your prayers with meat. And that in your prayers you pray converting grace for yourselves and others and that God will show you the excellency of Christ and cause you to love and believe in him: and show you the evil of sin and make you hate it forever and turn from it, and that you never give over, till you have obtained converting grace from God. Furthermore I charge you that you choose death rather than deny Christ in any wise, or in any degree and that you never turn Papist or Heretick, but serve God in the way you was brought up in; and that you avoid all evil company lest you be led into a snare and temptation. Also be very careful to avoid all excess in drinking and all other sins and profaneness. And be always dutiful to your mother and kind to one another. This I leave in charge to all my posterity, to the end of the world, charging every person of them to keep a copy of this my charge to my children. This is my dying charge to my children.
"January 13, 1716 JOHN LEE."
Trowbridge and Andrews, Old Houses of Connecticut, p. 51.
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« Reinold Marvin, who was the forerunner of a long line of in- fluential landed gentry continuously connected with the reli- gious, political and judicial affairs of their day. He was the elder of two brothers of Great Bentley, England, who were settled in Hartford before 1637. Mathew came with Hooker and both were listed among the early lot holders of the town. Mathew left Hartford soon after in company with Roger Ludlow, Richard Olmstead and a company of men to settle that part of Fairfield which in 1650 became the incorporated town of Norwalk. Then in 1646 Reinold moved to Farming- ton, where his name appears among the first proprietors of that town. How long he remained in Farmington we do not know, but the land records of Saybrook show that he owned considerable property in Saybrook previous to his removal to Lyme, where he was made a "freeman" at a general court of election on May 20, 1658. He was at that time in his sixty- fourth year. He was very active in the affairs of his day, but held no public office. He died during the year 1662 and left his affairs in charge of his son, Reinold Marvin, and his son- in-law, William Waller.8
Lieutenant Reinold Marvin, his son, was one of the large landholders and prominent men in the town. He was born in England on December 20, 1631, and died in Lyme on Au- gust 4, 1676, in his forty-fifth year. His wife was Sarah Clarke of Milford, Connecticut, who, after his death, became the sec- ond wife of Captain Joseph Sill of Lyme. Lieutenant Reinold
8. The will of Reinold Marvin, the immigrant, written May 23, 1662, was exhibited in court on July 9, 1663, and included the following estate (Salis- bury, Family Histories and Genealogies, III, 77-209) :
17 COWS
4 oxen
4 mares 4 horses 4 colts
51/2 acres of wheat 41/2 acres of pease
31/2 acres of Indian corn
upland meadow home lott
Commonage on the Town side of Saybrook 60 pounds Houseing Lands and Com- monage on the East side of the River (Lyme), 150 pounds, 2 guns, 2 swords, debts of 67 pounds, wearing appearel, 70 pounds wool, beds, Linen, pillion, kitchen utensils, a silver spoon, books 403, 2 brushes, an hower glass and a looking glasse.
Subscribed by James Conick
WILLIAM LORD.
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Marvin was one of the committee that divided Saybrook and Lyme in 1665. He represented Lyme at the general court in 1670 and again from 1672 to his death in 1676.
His son, Captain Reinold Marvin, was born in Lyme in 1669 and early became prominent in the defense of the town. In history he is known both for his eccentricities and his ster- ling qualities. In about the year 1696 he married Phoebe Lee, daughter of Thomas Lee and Mary De Wolfe Lee. They had three sons-Reinold, James and Elisha-and two daughters. His second wife was Martha Waterman of Norwich, by whom he had six children. Through these eleven children the superior qualities of the Marvin heritage became firmly em- bedded in the continuing population of the town.
Captain Marvin was especially active in all the affairs in connection with the laying out of the fourth division of the town lands. He was also the representative to the general court for twenty-nine years. In 1721 the town granted him one hundred acres of land in North Lyme in recognition of his many public services. This land was on the road laid out in 1725 connecting the ferries and the Salem turnpike. At his death in 1737 the title to this property was bought up by his son, Elisha, and has remained continuously in the Marvin family since that time. The home built on this property by Elisha Marvin in 1737, for his bride Katherine Mather of Lyme, is now known as the Captain Elisha Marvin house. Today this house is the home of Judge William Marvin and also shelters the ancient records of Lyme.
Captain Marvin was also one of the first deacons of the First Congregational Church of Lyme when it was formally organized on March 27, 1693. He was connected with the Lyme trainband during the years from 1702 to 1737 and in 1718 was made captain through the act of the general court. Eleven years after the death of his first wife he made over to her brothers, William and Thomas Lee, his right of inherit- ance in her father's estate which was very large. He con- sidered his own estate ample. He was buried between his two wives at Duck River cemetery. The generations since that time have been numerous and men of outstanding ability
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have been frequent among them. Throughout the generations the Marvins have been rich in land and active in government. Men of principle, they have characterized the best elements in Agrarian-Republican-Congregationalism. They have been and still remain a powerful force in the dominant culture of Lyme.
A large section of the town of Old Lyme bears the name of another of its first proprietors. The first John Lay of Lyme, commonly called "John Lay Senior," was one of the earliest settlers. He emigrated to Saybrook in or prior to 1646, and appeared on the "east side of the river" during that same year. He was unusual in that he had two sons named John. The second John Lay was called "the Drummer," since to him was assigned the task of calling the people to worship. These early Lays held many public offices and were among the largest landed proprietors of Lyme, owning land on both sides of Meeting House Hill at Brides Brook. Here there were formerly two very old Lay houses on the west side of the top of the hill. Their interiors were well furnished in the style of their day. The next oldest Lay house stood "Between the Rivers," while later generations moved on to land near the outlet of Rogers' Lake, in the district which is now famil- iarly known as Laysville. Here Oliver Lay, commonly known as "Squire Lay," purchased the large stone factory previously owned by Captain Thomas Sill and Deacon Nathaniel Mat- son. In the early nineteenth century when the textile industry was establishing its roots in the state, Squire Lay was listed among the wool manufacturers of Connecticut.º In the years since then the name of Lay has disappeared from the town lists but the family impress remains. The written record of the public services of successive generations of Lay men bears witness to their character and worth as builders.
Another very interesting and influential pioneer family of Lyme was that of Henry Champion who emigrated to the American colonies from Norfolk, England, and settled in Saybrook, Connecticut, as early as 1647. He soon owned nu-
9. Salisbury, Family Histories and Genealogies, I, part 1, 333-351.
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merous planting fields on the "east side of the river" and cer- tain of his neighbors mentioned in the early land records of Lyme are already well known to us: "John Laye Junior, Reynold Marvin, Peter Pratt, Balthazar DeWolfe, John Laye Senior, Richard Smith and Widow Waller."
Prior to 1660 Henry Champion sold his lot lying within the town plot of Saybrook to Jonathan Rudd and soon after moved and became one of the first and most active settlers of Lyme. He resided in the house he had built on the hill just east of the meetinghouse near the old burying ground and it is believed that he occupied himself chiefly in agriculture. Thomas, his son, was born in Saybrook in 1656 and died in Lyme in 1705. His wife was Hannah Brockway, daughter of Woolston and Hannah Briggs Brockway. Their children's children made up a large part of the population of "Between the Rivers" and around "Four Mile River" and in the post- Revolutionary years when Lyme ships were active on the seas, Champions were builders of some and captains of others. Early in the nineteenth century Reuben Champion built large, swift and successful sloops. Throughout the generations they have been virile men active in the public life of their time and numerous descendants of Henry Champion, the settler, are leaders today in the public affairs of Old Lyme.1º With edu- cation, property and political power they participate actively in the perpetuation of the aristocratic Congregational influ- ence. Proud of their ancestry, they safeguard the old while giving discriminating hospitality to the new.
The Chadwick family also claims consideration as one of the families influential in the continuous development and prosperity of Lyme. Among shipbuilders and seafaring men Captain John Mather Chadwick held a position of great prominence.11 With other members of his family group he
10. The story of the ancestry and industry of the Champion family of Lyme is very interestingly told in Salisbury, The Champion Genealogy.
II. Daniel Chadwick, admiral of the packet-ship fleet, is supposed to have been "the captain" in Cooper's Homeward Bound. He was among the sixty- two deep-sea fishermen whose homes were in Lyme. Taken from the private records of Bertha Chadwick Trowbridge of Old Lyme.
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carried Lyme's invested interests to many parts of the world. Together they accumulated wealth, developed engineering skill and amassed rare possessions. Secure in the agrarian stronghold of their forefathers, the Chadwicks helped in giv- ing Lyme a place in the profitable commercial activities of post-Revolutionary years. With only a casual interest in poli- tics, they combined serenity on the land with adventure on the sea. Their success is reflected today in the well-being of their progenitors.
Little appears in the published records regarding Woolston Brockway, one of the first proprietors of the town, but his great prominence in all the early records indicates his position in the town. At the beginning, he and his son were located with the inner group around Black Hall River, but with the division of the land we find the Brockways moving into the rugged hillsides north of Eight Mile River. Here they be- came interested in farming and the river trade. Brockway's ferry has been listed for years among the official ferries of the state, and Brockway's landing seems to have played an active part in the early lumber trade of this region.
Conspicuous among this select group was Moses Noyes, the first minister of Lyme. Here he spent many years of his life as the spiritual and educational leader of his flock. With them he shared a rich heritage. His father, the Rev. James Noyes, was born in Wiltshire, England, and, after complet- ing his university training, married Sarah Brown of South- ampton in 1634. That same year they sailed to America and settled in Newbury, Massachusetts, where he served as min- ister. At his death in 1656 he left nine children of whom James and Moses were the oldest. Both of these sons were graduated from Harvard in the class of 1659 and became ministers in Connecticut. They were mutually active in the setting up of the Saybrook Platform and in the founding of the Collegiate School which later became Yale College and is today Yale University. They were dominant leaders in the
12. State Registers for the years 1800-1850 show the continuous record of Brockway's ferry.
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administration of educational and religious affairs in the early period of the Connecticut colony. This religious and educa- tional leadership of Moses Noyes gave prominence to Lyme in colonial affairs and stamina in local affairs. During the twenty- eight years of his ministry, his culture, his learning and his religious precepts gave security and character to the social structure of the town.
Shortly after his arrival in Lyme in 1668, Moses Noyes built himself a house on his land on the north side of what is now Lyme Street. One of the present Noyes houses now stands on the same foundation. This first house, built mainly for protection from the Indians, had a solid north wall. The front door was embedded with outward-turning spikes. Port- holes were used instead of windows. This house stood until 1814. It was the first of six interesting houses built by succes- sive generations of the Noyes family. Five of these were on the original "minister's lot" in a section which for years was referred to as "Noyes Town." The second of these houses, probably built by Moses Noyes Jr., stands nearly opposite and is known as the Beckwith house. In 1816 it was considered too old to be of further value and was offered for sale by a grandson, William Noyes. Family affection and personal in- genuity came to its rescue. It still stands in excellent repair, a reminder of interesting days and discriminating people.
This same Judge William Noyes, grandson of the first Moses Noyes, built the third of the historic Noyes houses in 1756. He purchased all the original Noyes land and at his death in 1807 his estate was already valued at two hundred thousand dollars. The house faced Lyme Street and behind it the land sloped to the Lieutenant River. It has since been re- paired and moved well back from the street by its present owner, Mr. Daniel Hodgdon.
In 1814 the fourth son of Judge William Noyes built the fourth Noyes house. This he gave to his son Richard Noyes, who became a greatly honored physician in Lyme. With four hundred acres of land it was later inherited by Judge Walter Chadwick Noyes of the United States circuit court. Again we
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have evidence of the cumulative power of land, politics, com- mercial interests and family heritage.
Still another Noyes house was built in 1817 by William Noyes, the grandson of Judge William Noyes, and stands on Lyme Street. This was designed by the architects who built the original Congregational Church of Lyme and represents the refinement in home architecture for that period. It was early sold to Richard Ely, who in turn sold it in 1841 to Robert Griswold, a retired sea captain. In 1878 his widow, Mrs. Griswold, and their two daughters opened this home as a private school for young ladies. Their own cultural educa- tion in languages, music and painting had adequately pre- pared them for teaching. Until recently this fine old house was the home of the younger of these daughters, Miss Flor- ence Griswold, who until her death in 1937 made it the cen- ter of a nationally known artist colony.
The last of these lovely Noyes houses was erected in 1820 by Captain Joseph Noyes for his son Enoch. It was built on Mather's Neck on land purchased from his kinsman, Captain Timothy Mather. This in turn became the property of his son, Charles Rockwell Noyes, who left it to his nephew and namesake, Charles Noyes Chadwick. It stands as a record of the success and taste of those men of the middle period who went down to the sea in ships. Together these beautiful old houses are monuments to the taste and achievement of their owners and contribute greatly to that dignified serenity for which Old Lyme is so generally known. Their builders were men of ability, learning and financial independence, whose architectural records of the more recent past contribute con- stantly to the subtle refinements of present-day life.13
Prominent also among the old families of Lyme were a number who were not included in the company of the "first proprietors." Among these were the Sills, the Mathers, and
13. Trowbridge and Andrews, Old Houses of Connecticut: Moses Noyes Ist, Chap. XIV, 1676; William Noyes Ist, Chap. XV, 16 -; Dr. Richard Noyes, Chap. XVI, 1756; William Noyes 2nd, Chap. XVII, 1814; Enoch Noyes, Chap. XVIII, 1817.
I68 Educational History of Old Lyme.
the McCurdys. John Sill and his wife Joanna came from Newcastle, England, to Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1637. With them were two children, Joseph and Elizabeth. Some time before 1662 the parents died and in 1730 their daugh- ter, Elizabeth, died also. Their son, Joseph, was married in 1 660 and had two children, but his family also met with dis- aster and both his wife and son died.
Joseph Sill was then very active in the Indian War of 1675- 1676 and at its close removed from Cambridge to Lyme where on February 12, 1677, he married Sarah Marvin, widow of Lieutenant Reinold Marvin. Their children were Joseph and Zachariah and from these are descended, as far as is known, all the Sills in this country. The oldest son, Joseph, married Phoebe Lord and they had seven sons and five daugh- ters. Zachariah in turn married Elizabeth Mather, a daughter of Richard Mather, and they had two sons and four daugh- ters. These nine sons and nine daughters, combining the vigor of the Sills, Lees, Lords and Mathers, grew deep roots in the soil of that part of the town which bears their name, "Old Sill- town," and through a combination of agriculture, milling and sea trade built up large estates, fine homes and substantial fortunes. The daughters in turn married into the best families of the town and shared in all its advantages. The history of this family is too extensive to be included but certain names should be mentioned because of their continued prominence in the records of the town.
David Fithian Sill, a grandson of Joseph Sill, was born in Lyme in 1733 and married Sarah Griswold, a sister of Gov- ernor Matthew Griswold of Black Hall. He was a lieutenant in the French and Indian War and saw service in 1759 at Lake George, Crown Point and Oswego. At the opening of the Revolutionary War he was made captain and raised three hundred men in Lyme upon the news of the Battle of Lex- ington. He was elected frequently to the general court and for fifty years held the office of justice of the peace and town clerk. His carefully prepared reports covering these many years form a valuable part of the early manuscript records of Lyme.
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Captain Thomas Sill, the oldest and only surviving son of David Fithian Sill, was born in 1769. He inherited the large estate of his father in Silltown and purchased property of other Sills as they moved away. He was a farmer and built a large and commodious house near the place where his ances- tors had erected their dwellings about one hundred years be- fore. To this home he brought Mehitable Mather, reported to have been one of the luxurious brides of her day. His farm in later years was bounded both by the east and north branches of the Lieutenant River. Here he built three landings-the board landing, the hay landing and the log landing-to ac- commodate his considerable trade.
The Lieutenant River in those days was navigable by small vessels as far up as the Sill farm. Vessels were built across from Thomas Sill's for the coast trading in which the Sills were large owners. Logs were floated down the Connecticut River and turned at this point, carted from the Sill log land- ing to their mills at Laysville and later delivered in vessels owned by Thomas Sill to points along the shore. At one time there were seven houses in Silltown occupied by families of that name and today some of these remain in excellent repair as a reminder of the comfort and dignity of country life in the generations long since gone.1
Captain John Sill of the next generation continued the sea trade of his father and in about the year 1818 built a very commodious home on land inherited by his wife, Anna Noyes, from her father William Noyes, a son of Judge William Noyes. The land was a part of the original land of the Rev. Moses Noyes. Adjoining was the beautiful home of her brother, William Noyes, previously referred to as the Flor- ence Griswold house which was built by the architect who de- signed the First Congregational Church. This John Sill house is now owned by the Huntington family and bears their name. A brief entry in the diary of Josiah Burnham refers, no doubt, to the change of occupancy: "Aug. 15, 1841-Mrs. Huntington here moving her furniture over into the Noyes
14. A brief monograph by one of the Sill family. Burt, Old Silltown.
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house." No Sills remain in Lyme to carry forward this honored name but old homes and old records testify to their success in agriculture and commerce. Men of frugality and determination, they absorbed and protected the culture of their predecessors.
\In point of time the Mathers were the next of the late- comers to the inner group of the first families of Lyme. Timothy Mather is interesting both for his lineage and his achievement. He was of the fourth generation of Mathers in this country and of the sixth generation in the Mather genea- logical records. His great grandfather, Richard Mather, the settler, was a well known divine and his uncle, Cotton Mather of Boston, was a close personal friend of the Rev. Moses Noyes of Lyme.
Richard Mather, the father of Timothy, came to Lyme from Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1687 and took up land bought of Hezekiah Usher of Boston. His sudden death in 1688 at the age of thirty-five left it for his seven-year-old son to claim and develop at a later time. This he did about 1712 when he acquired all the land between the Lieutenant and Connecticut rivers, commonly known as Mather's Neck. Here he built his home and into it took his bride, Sarah Noyes, daughter of Moses Noyes. In the years just follow- ing, together with his brother Richard, he built up a great sloop trade with the West Indies. This trade was carried for- ward after his death in 1755 but was greatly interrupted by the war. With the return of peace, however, his nephews, Samuel and James, were again upon the high seas "with big- ger and better boats" and at the death of John McCurdy in 1785 they succeeded him in his extensive West India trade for which the new bridge, the new wharves and the large warehouses on the "Great River" had been provided.
Their home, the present Congregational parsonage, was built in 1790 to provide more adequately for their prosperity and wider social position. With slaves, private livery and luxurious appointments, this home became one of the centers of distinguished men, leaders in the mercantile and financial affairs of their day.
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Samuel Mather's wife was Lois Griswold, a daughter of Thomas Griswold, and their daughters, Mehitable and Mar- garet, two of the "wealthy debs" of Lyme, married Thomas Sill and Judge William Sill previously referred to. Again we see the close intermarrying of families and interests, the method, intensified by restricted transportation, through which estates, interests and influence were centralized and stabilized.15
Finally in 1750 John McCurdy, a gentleman of Ireland with Scottish blood in his veins, purchased a residence in Lyme, which is now known as the McCurdy house. He was an ardent partisan and vigorous opponent of the Stamp Act.16 He was active in the efforts to remove the stamp collector from Wethersfield and in 1774 assisted in the public burning of a pack of delicious tea brought into town by a peddler from Boston. He became interested in commerce and by 1780 had established a lucrative business with the West Indies and Ire- land. His house, adjoining the Samuel Mather house and across from Marshfield Parsons' Inn, was the gathering place of politicians and traders. Washington and Lafayette were guests here during the Revolution. Robert McCurdy, the im- porting merchant of New York, and Judge Charles John McCurdy of Lyme were his grandsons. The latter was for ten years a member of the state legislature and in 1832, 1847 and 1848 was elevated to the state senate. In 1851 he was sent as chargé d'affaires to Austria and in 1856 was appointed judge of the superior court, from which he was advanced to the supreme court in 1863. He was a member of the peace convention in 1861 and active in reconstruction legislation in Connecticut. His wife was Sarah Ann Lord, and their one daughter, Evelyn, married Professor E. E. Salisbury of Yale. Both Professor Salisbury and Mrs. Salisbury wrote exten- sively on the history of Lyme and at her death she released a part of the McCurdy fortune as an educational fund for the benefit of the children of Old Lyme. This Salisbury-Mc-
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