Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut

fail to benefit at least, and at the same time please the senses with the general air of quiet pictiiresqueness. The site of the Home is the liighest elevation in the vicinity, and the central stone building with the several roomy cottages of pleasing architecture are situated in spacious grounds. The buildings are new and modern, equipped with the best system of heating, elec- tric lights, hot and cold water, etc. The rooms are handsome and tastefully furnished, and the general arrangements are made with the view of providing home-like comfort for all. The patients enjoy the greatest degree of freedom consistent with their welfare, and cheerfulness and attractive- ness are everywhere noticeable features. Amuse- ments of all kinds are planned and provided, such as carriage drives, delightful walks, weekly dances, entertainments, billiards, lawn tennis, croquet and other out-of-door e.xercises; but all are ar- ranged with the utmost regard for the needs of the occupants, of whom there is a general average of fifty, looked after by twenty employes. Dis- eases such as nervous prostration, chronic dys- pepsia with nervous symptoais, paralysis, spinal cord affections and all nervous maladies receive special attention, every facility being at hand for their proper care and treatment, while all the systems employed are based on experience, with- the newest and most improved methods. Patients of moderate or abundant means can be equally well accommodated, a circutnstance which adds much to the popularity of the place, and in- creases its benefit to mankind in general. Dr. Barnes was married in Stamford, Conn., to Miss Ella B. Jerman, daughter of Chauncey L. Jerman, one of the former prominent shoe dealers of Stamford, and a descendant of one of the old and highly esteemed families of the- county, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere. 2^ NDREW JACKSON BELL, a leading citi- ^^ zen of Stamford, has probably done more than any other one man of late years toward the material development and improvement of that charming little city, and many of its most costly and attractive buildings owe their existence to his enterprise. Although he has now passed the al- lotted limit of three-score and ten years, he is still active and vigorous, his extensive real-es- tate interests receiving his personal attention, and his reminiscences of his long and bus)' life are most entertaining and instructive. He was born April 5, 1824, in the town of Five Mile River, Norwalk, Fairfield county, and comes of a long-lived family. In October, 1640, a company of Wethersfield I.I'.' 270 COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. men, twenty-nine in all, purchased from the New Haven Colony a tract of land in Connecticut, agreeing to remove thereto by the i6th of May, 1641. This was first called Rippowam, but afterward Stamford. Among these early settlers was Francis Bell, who received as his share seven acres, on which he settled, and it is evident from the town records that he was an active man of affairs in the new settlement. At a town meet- ing held October 19, 1641, he and Nathan Mit- chell were appointed ••to lay out the house lots and order the manner of assigning them, rectify what is amiss and consider what allowance is to be made for holes not fit to be measured for land, and to measure these lots for every man at two pence an acre, or three shillings a house lot." •On October 27, 1641, Francis Bell was elected representative from the town to the General Court — the legislative body of the New Haven Colony — having the honor of being the first to serve in his communit)', and two years later he was selected by the General Court to form a military company in the town, and received his commission as lieutenant. He was equally promi- nent in religious matters, and in 1644, when a contention arose between the people and their pastor, he was selected by them to make a pedes- trian journey to Boston, in company with (jeorge Slawson, for the purpose of persuading John Bishop to come and minister to them; and the mission was successful. In 1659 he was again appointed as an arbitrator to settle a disagree- ment between the congregation and the Rev. Mr. Bishop, from all of which we may judge that he possessed considerable influence and was deeply respected. In 1G70 he was given charge of the work of building a new meeting-house. Besides the service above mentioned, he acted for five years as selectman of his town, beginning with 1666. This Francis Bell was a native of York- shire, England, and came to Massachusetts in 1630 with Rebecca, his wife, forming part of a company led by Sir Richard Saltonstall, some of whom settled at Wethersfield and other towns in the New Haven Colony. A copy of the coat of arms of the Yorkshire family is in the possession of John V. Hecker, of Noroton, Conn., whose wife belongs to the Bell family. Francis Bell died January S, 1689, and his last will and testa- ment, proved March 11, 1690, a curious docu- ment, is on file in the archives of the Fairfield probate court. Jonathan, son of Francis and Rebecca Bell, was born in September, 1641, and the first white child born in Stamford. He became a promi- nent citizen of the town, of which he was select- man for fourteen years, and in 1670 was sent as representative to the General Court, serving there with few interruptions for twenty-six years. He was appointed to select a school teacher, and in 1693 was delegated "to treat with Mr. John Daven- port in order to his settlement as a minister of the Gospel." This Mr. Davenport was a man of note in his day, and his descendants for a num- ber of generations were prominent in the history of the town and State. In 1672 Jonathan Bell was appointed lieutenant of the Stamford Mili- tary Company, and in 1698 was commissioned captain. He died March 11, 1699. Jonathan Bell was married twice, and by his first wife, 'Mercy, daughter of Jasper Crane, of New Haven, he had three children. His second wife was Susannah, daughter of Rev. Abraham Pierson, of Branford, by whom he had eight children — three sons and five daughters. Jonathan Bell, son of Jonathan and Mercy Bell, was born February 14, 1G63-64, and like his ancestors was prominent in the affairs of tlie town. From 1689 to 1699 he was town clerk; in 1692 he was made lieutenant of the military company, and from 17 12 to 17 19 he was repre- sentative to the General Court at Hartford. He reached the advanced age of eighty-one years. He was married three times, first to Grace Kitch- ell, of New Jersey, who bore him one child, Jonathan, born January 15, 1693-94. He was a leading man in the town, and for nine years selectman of Stamford, was ensign in the military company, and in 1736 was appointed school commissioner. He was an active church- man, and was conspicuous in the organization of the "Middlesex Society," a religious body made up of people on the east side of the town (now Da- rien), who, after separation from the Society of Stamford, built a meeting-house of their own. On December 2, 1742, Ensign Bell was appoint- ed to investigate whether a plot of land might be granted to the Episcopalians, who had applied for it, "without injury to the town." It was granted. Ensign Bell laid it out, and it was the site of the first St. John's Church. He also sang in the Church, and at a meeting in 1748 it was "Voted, That Mr. Jonathan Bell shall sing or tune the psalm in times of public worship, and that he may tune it in the old or new way, as suits him best; and also that he shall read the psalms." On January 24, 17 16, Ensign Bell married Eunice, daughter of Thomas and Mary (Olmstead) Reed, of Norwalk, and they had eleven children, of whom, Thaddeus Bell, born March 31, 1728, was the great-grandfather of the gentleman whose name introduces these lines. He lived at Ox Ridge, in the outskirts of Stamford, and was engaged in COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 271 farming. In July, 1775, at the outbreak of the Revolutionary war, he was appointed on a "committee of safety," and on December 1, 1777, on a "committee to care for the famihes whose husbands had gone into the Continental service." On December 14, 1753, he married Mary, daughter of Gary and Martha (Holly) Leeds, and they had five children. Their son Thaddeus, born March 18, 1759, in Stamford, served gallantly throughout the Revolution, and rose to the rank of orderly ser- geant. He was taken prisoner and confined in New York, and after being exchanged again en- listed, serving to the end of the war. In 1805 he was chosen representative to the State Legis- lature, and served as such for si.xteen consecu- tive years, during which time he played a notable part in the setting off of the eastern part of the town of Stamford. It was proposed to call it Bellville, after the family, but he modestly de- clined the honor, and it was left to him to name the town, as there was a general disagreement among the people. He was on his way back to the Capital without having decided what to call it when he met a friend just returned from the Isthmus of Darien, and on his suggestion the present name was adopted. The next year he was chosen to represent the new town in the Legislature, being the first in Darien as his an- cestor Francis Bell had been the first in Stam- ford. On May 4, 1780, Thaddeus Bell married Elizabeth, daughter of James and Sarah (War- ing) How, and they had six children. The fa- ther lived to the ripe old age of ninety-four years.