The Ancient Historical Records of Norwalk, Conn.

The first record of town proceedings is under the date of 1653. The first book of grants and deeds is entire ; but it was evidently not begun till some 20 years after the first settlement. From 1653, the record of town proceedings appears to be full and complete. The first books are much worn, and in some places the vrriting is so much defaced as to be illegible. The remaining books are in a good state of preservation. The early Church Records are irrecoverably lost. Phebe Comstock, aged 83 years, informs me that she used often to visit at Dr. Burnet's, and at one time desired to see the Church Records. Dr. Burnet threw open a book-case, and said : " There : whenever any of my pa- rishioners wish to consult the Church Records, there they are at their service." She often consulted them. There were three large folio volumes, one kept by each of the three ministers, Mr. Hanford, Mr, Bucking- ham, and Mr. Dickinson; each volume filled with writ- * It is a pity that the unmeaning name of Westport was ever substituted for the old Indian name of Saugatuck. If I were an inhabitant of that town, I would never cease to petition the Legisla- ture till they changed it back again. 16 NORWALK. [1654. ing. She says that after Dr. Burnet's death, in 1806, these volumes were left in a basket in the old parson- age, and were gnawed and eaten through and through by rats, and quite destroyed. The Town Records* are invaluable. PLAN OF THE ANCIENT SETTLEMENT. The ground-plot (except the river and salt-meadows) is taken from an actual survey by Thomas Benedict, 3d. I The division of the lots I have made out from the '* Table of Homelots," compiled from the records. As these records were not made till some twenty years after the settlement (some of them much later) during which time several changes had occurred ; as neither the length nor breadth of any lot is mentioned, and the quantity given only by estimate ; and as some of the original grants were never put on record, and are men- tioned only incidentally in the boundaries of the other lots, it will readily be seen that there was no small diffi- culty in making out the plan with desirable accuracy. There are, however, several fixed landmarks : the roads and the coast are the same. The site of the meeting- house is certain. The lots correspond with the descrip- tion in the ''Table ;'' they fill up the space assigned. There are other corroborative evidences of the accuracy of the plan. I showed to an aged descendant of the Fitch family, the lot which Thomas Fitch bought of * But they are kept in a wooden building, without any security against fire; and should a conflagration occur in that long and ha- zardous range of wooden buildings, they will, in all likelihood, be destroyed. t The map of the parts east of the river up to the churches is from a survey of Mr, Benedict's. 1655.] THE FIRST SETTLERS. 17 Edward Church. '^ Oh, now I remember," said she, *' that my grandfather used to call it ' the Church lot,' though I had entirely forgotten it." In making out the plan I found it impossible to fill out the space south of Matthew Sention's and George Abbott's lot, with- out making some proportionably too large. I took the plan to several aged people, who at once told me that the open space below these lots lay open to common even within their recollection. Mr. Samuel Fitch went with me on to the ground, and pointed out the boundaries, 1 flatter myself that whoever will compare the plan with the *' Table of Homelots," and then go over the ground with the plan open in his hand, will be satisfied with its general accuracy. THE FIRST SETTLERS. There is no complete list of the original settlers, but a Table of *' Estates of lands and accommodations" in 1655j contains the names of the following inhabitants. Abbitt, George Kellogge, Daniel -Beacham, Robert Lupton, Thomas Beckwith, Stephen Marvin, Matthew, Sen. BowTON, John Marvin, Matthew, Jr. Campfield, Matthew More, Isacke Eli, Nathaniel Marsh, Jonathan FiTCHy^THOMAS..^ Morgan, Widow Griggorie, John Olmsted, Richard Hales, Samuel Richards, Nathaniel Hales, Thomas Ruskoe, John Haite, Walter "■** Sention, Matthias, Sen, Haies, Nathaniel Sention, Matthias, Jr. Hanford, Thomas Rev. Sention, Matthew Homes, Richard Seamer, Thomas Keeiler, Ralph Web, Richard. ^ Keeiler, Walter 18 NORWALK. [1656. In a List of accounts in 1654, are tlie following names wHcli do not appear in the preceding list of Estates, viz. : Bryant, -— — = Raiment, Richard Church, Edward Seamer, Richard Fitch, Joseph Whitinge, Giles Nash, Edward And in 1656 the following : Morgan, Owen Reid, William And in the Table of Home Lots, the following : some of whom must have come in several years later, Benedict, Thomas, Sen. Haies, Samuel Benedict, Thomas, Jr. Lockwood, Ephraim Benedict, John Ketchum, Joseph ^^ Betts, Thomas Keeler, John BusHNELL, Richard Pickett, James Campfield, Samuel Platt, Joseph Comstock, Christopher Sention, Mark Crampton, John Stewart, Robert Fitch, Thomas, Jr. Smith, Samuel Fenn, Joseph Taylor, Thomas Gregory, John, Jr. Ward, Thomas. Greggorie, Jakin The following notices of the first settlers of Norwalk, I find in the " Catalogue of the Names of the First Puritan Settlers of the Colony of Connecticut," — " By R. R. Hinman. Hartford, 1846." " Abbott, George, 1648."* " Beckwith, Stephen, 1649." " Belding, John" (son of John of Wethersfieldj who died 1677). « Date of the first mention in the Colony Records, 1656.] THE FIRST SETTLERS. 19 ^^ Benedict, Thomas, 1662."* " Betts, Thomas, Guilford, 1650" (Mr, Hinman refers to Widow Betts, 1639, and John Betts, 1648). " Camfield, (or Campfield,) Matthew — a magis- trate and judge ; not only a leading man there, but in the Colony. — One of the signers of the petition to King Charles 11. for the Colony ; in 1662, appointed with Gold and Sherman to hold courts at Fairfield. " Ely, Nathaniel" Hartford, 1635,— constable, 1639, " one of the settlers of Norwalk, but afterwards removed to Springfield, Massachusetts." " Fitch, Thomas,- — a brother of Rev. James, at Saybrook, and of Joseph, of Windsor. " Gregory, John — a deputy, 1662-3. " HoYT, Walter, Windsor, 1640. '^ " Keelek, Ralph, Hartford, 1639, viewer of chim- neys in '45. ^^ Marvin, Matthew — surveyor of highways at Hartford in 1639, and '47 ; an original proprietor and settler in Hartford before '39 ; removed to Norwalk^ deputy to the General Court from Norwalk in '54. *' Olmsted, Richard, Hartford, 1640, constable '46, fence viewer M9, deputy in '62-3 ; moved to Norwalk and was made a military officer. Tn 1661 was appoint- ed with John Banks, and Joseph Judson, who were ap- pointed by the General Court, to run the lines between Fairfield and Stratford." ^' Richards, Nathaniel, of Hartford — in the Colo- * Of Thomas Benedict, a much earlier account is given among the family recoids of Norwalk in this work. Mr. Hinman says, that Robert Lockwood came to Connecti- cut from Cambridge, and was probably one of the settlers of Nor- walk. I do not find that this is so j perhaps this is the origin of the family. Sa NORWALK. fl65a my in 1639 ; constable in '41 and '49, orderer of the town in *44, deputy in 43. " Senchion, or St. John, Matthias, 1640. ** Seymour, Richard, Hartford, 1639, cMmney Tiewer in '46. " Webb, Richard, Hartford, 1639,— on the first Grand Jury at the General court in the Colony in 1643. Also a Juror in '43-4, selectman in '48, surveyor of high ways in '49. He soon after removed to Stamford, was made free there in '62." The following additional particulars concerning some of the first settlers are taken from the 1st hook of Grants and De^ds. " Elizabeth Webb, relicke of Richard Webb," in 1677, employed her " Beloved brother John Gregory to make an agreement with Thomas Butler of Hartford^ and his wife,'' they *' laying olaime to the estate of my deere husband, Richard Webb, deceased,— "fol. 51 » Richard Homes, of Stratford, Get. 12, 1657, bought of Alexander Bryan, of Milford, the home-lot which was; Thomas Smith's: and March, 1663, the lands of Ste- phen Beckwith, planter, of Norwalk. Matthew Campfield, late of Norwake, now resi- dent in Newarke, in the Colony of New Jersey (gave a deed) to his son Samuel, April 1, 1669. Samuel Hales, now of Weathersfield, late of Nor- wake, sold to John Piatt, May 14, 1669. Thomas Barnam, of Fairfield, had agrant before 1663. Joseph Smith, late of Long Island, bought of Sam- uel Campfield the north part of his home-lot in 1675. Samuel Smith, in 1672, a parcel of land in Indian- field. 1656.] THE FIRST SETTLERS. 21 Samuel Belding, Feb. 28, 1673, bought two parcels of land in the Neck planting-field. James Pickit, in 1674. Thomas Betts, Jr. (fol. 55), in 1677, bought of Benjamin Fenn, of Milford, the house and home-lot formerly belonging to his brother, Joseph Fenn. Richard Raymond, removed to Saybrooke, gave a deed to his son John: in 1677 empowered his ^^ well beloved brother Thomas Betts, of Norwalk," to record all his divisions, &c. '. and in 1676, gave by will all his lands in Norwalk " unto those children which my son John Raymond allready have or may have, by Mary Raymond his present wife." John Reede, " of Rie," bought of Richard Homes. : ^' James Miller, and Martha his wife, of Ry, in the rounty of Fairfield," Dec. 26, 1681. Andrew Messenger, June 28, 1686 (fol. 85), bought land of Walter Hoyt. Samuel Camfield's house and four acres, between Thomas Betts and Ephraim Lockwood, Dec. 17, 1681. Thomas Hyatt, in 1679, bought land of James Mil- ler (James Miller and Martha his wife, of Rye, Dec. 26, 1681), Jonathan Perkins, bought of Nathaniel Richards, Feb. 23, 1677. FORT POINT. In 1689, John Gregory gave a deed to his son Thomas, of a piece of land '' Lying on the West side of Norwalke Towne plott, 2 acres — bounded East by the common land banck ; West, Norwalk river ; South by the poynt of common land where the Indian Fort formerly stood ; North hj Thomas Betts' Marsh Mea- dow." 2* 22 NORWALK/ TABLE OF ORIGINAL GRANTS OF HOME-LOTS TO THE FIRST SETTLERS. COMPILED FROM THE RECORDS IN THE FIRST BOOK OF GRANTS AND DEEDS.