History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

" Mr. Taylor soon after built the house, now owned by Martin E. Clark, on S(mth Street at the foot of Main, which was used as a tavern. There is not a Kevolutionsiry building in town that shows less change than this building. It is two stories high, with a tre- mendous garret. His dining-room was then used as the receiitii)n-ro()ni, with the small bar of those days opening off from it, and now used by him for a milk- room. A part of the second floor was used as a ball- room. Three stone chimneys pierce the roof. One of these at the base is eiglit by eleven feet and five feet square in the garret. The others are nearly a-s large. Near to this building stood the house of Com- fort Hoyt, .Ir., which was burned. John McLean was the most serious suflcrer of the lot. His liouse stood where is now the venerable big double tenement on the south side of Main Street, and which is to-day called by many the McLean place. " Immediately after the ilisaster the selectmen were instructed to present a petition to the Legislature for the relief of the sutlerers. Uinman, in his ' War of tlie .Vmerican Revolution,' says, — "' John >lclw3ali. Kli M.vgQtt, mid otltvn*. Mtleclnivn of I>aidMiry, HtAtoiI to the GuDonil .\iiMen)l>ly coliveue-l ut llnrtronl on tlio 8tli of May, 1777, tlint the oiicmy In tliclr Incursion Into Panbnry burned ami deittmyed the public reconb of said tovn, and they aiiprehenrliHl great tiaroago might arl!4e to the iidtabltanta unleAs (^ime timely rrmeily MtouM be pro* vidwl. The Awembly ap|K>lnto<l Daniel Sherman, Tol. Ncliemlali fleanls. ley, Inen-aj*e Moceley, Lemuel .Saiifonl, Col. S. Canllebl, and t^ileh Raid- win to n'pair I > hanl'ury ng Aon im might U<, and notiry the lulmliltantM of ftald town, and by all lawful ways Inquire Into and asecrlaln every nian'fl right, and rojiort to the next (lenenil AMcnibly. " ' This committee reported to the Aatembly that the British troopa had made a hostile invasion into said town, and under a pretense of de- stroying the public stores had consumed with fire aljout twenty dwelling- houses, with many stores, barns, and other buildings, and that the enemy on their retreat colli-cted and drove off all the live stock — viz., cattle, horses, and sheep — which they could find, and Uiat the destruction of said property had reduced many of the wealthy inhabitants to poverty. Having notified the inhabitants, they from day to day examined the losses of each sufferer, on oath and by other evidence, and allowed! to each his damage at the time said property was destroyed. They found tliat by reason of the price of articles the inhabitants ha<l been obliged to pay large sums over and above the value in pnwuring the necessaries for their families, that many of them had their teams forced from them to renu»ve the public stores, etc. Tliey gave the name of each sufferer, with liis loss alloweii, annexed to his name, which amounted to the sum of sixteen thousand one hundred and eighty-one pounds one shilling and four pence, which report was accepted by the Assembly and ordered to be lodged on file, to jwrpetuate the evidence of the loss of each iierson, that, when Congress should order a compensation, to make out the claims of sufferere. ** ' On the receipt of this communication the pay-table were directed to draw an order on the treasurer for the sum of five hundrc-d pounds in favor of the selectmen of Danbury, as aforesaid, who could not suUist without such relief. " 'In 17H7 the sufi'orors in Danliury, having received no further relief, again petitioned the General Assembly of Connecticut, upon which jajti- tion Hon. Andrew- Adams and others were appointed a committee. ** ' The chnimian of said committee reported that fur want of exhibits and documents they were unable niethodiailly and correctly to state the facts or losses and estinnitc of damages, and also, for the want of pn»|>or certificate-* fmm the treasurer and secretary of state, to report wliat had already been done for their relief, but were of opinion that the houses and buildings and necessary household furniture destroyed by the enemy ought to bo paid for by the State at their just value, and that the only manner in the iwwor of the State, at that time, was to pay the same in iVe»tent tarKif ; which report was in October, 1787, accepted by tlie House, but rejected by the Upper House.' " In 1792 the General Assembly made the award of land. This territor*' is in Ohio, and has since been known as the Western Reserve. "This list of sufferers, with the amounts of los-sct, we herewith give, as tiwarded by the first-named committee. Mr. John McLean ;l.Mo;,M Capt. Ezra SUirr 11.4SO.00 lupt. Daniel Tavlor 4,aiiOO Col. John I". Cook 4,707,60 Major Kli .Mygatt 5S».™ (apt. James Clark 4 Wlfii Major Tavlor...- 3-5<»4 '" Comfort ilovt, Jr 3,'i5K.77 Thiiddeus Iteuedicl, Ksq 2.01II.UI Itenjaniin Slurry S4!».t»0 David Wood 2,VA:H Joseph Wildnian 2,11X7.(10 Dr. John \Vm.d 1,97" W Matthew Ilenedict 1.(17J .'Ji llev. Kbenezer White - l.fVlT iJi Jonah neoediet 1,W7 '.o .Matthew Ilenedict l.ir.'O.ir, Jabez lt..ck«ell l.lv."«i Zudock Beneilict Ma.ii "Tiie total loss as thus determined by the com- mittee amounted to nearly eighty-one thousand dol- lars. "There were two Matthew Benedicts, father and son, who figure in the list of losers. The latter, who was great-grandfatlier of Benedict Bmtlicrs, the shoe- dealers, lived wliere is now the homestead of Mrs. Henry Benedict. It is said that he owned a smiiU hat-shop which was burned by the British, although Francis' ' History of Hatting' says hatting was begun in Danluiry in 17S0, or three years later tlian the ad- vent of the British. The senior JIatthew lived with DANIU'KY. 191 Jonah, another son. The junior's estate inchidetl tlie Concert Hall iiroperty, whieh was given by the family to the First Churcli society for the use of the society. We have not been al)le so far to locate the residence of either Jonah or Zadock Benedict, who were brotlicrs of Matthew, junior. Tiie fornicr is said to have lived at the lower end of Main Street. "Still another brother was XoIjU- P.riHclict, wlm raised a coiii]iany of one hundred men at the bejjin- ning of the war. He was captured in November, 1776, at Fort Washington. Nathan was {'apturcd in the Danbury tight, and taken to the Sugar-House prison. Jonah was in his brother'.s eom|iany at Fort Washington, and was captured there. He suffere(l from the imprisonment to such an extent tliat it was believed he was dying, and then he was released, being brought to Danbury on a litter. In the ' (lem^- alogy of the Benedicts in America' it is said lie ar- rived here about two weeks before the burning of tlie village. He an<l his brother were taken out of tlie house that dark Sunday morning and tied to trees in the garden, while the house was burned. " Joseph Wildman lived wliere miw resides Hon. F. S. AV'ildman. In the award of laud to the sutfercrs he received fourteen hundred acres in Ohio. So little did he value it that he sold it in exchange for a horse. A part of the tl(jurishing city of Sandusky is on tbat land, and is now worth millions of dollars. The sin- gular sale was made with the right of redemption within thirty years. About a year nr sn after the ex- piration of that time, and when the property began to be quite valuable, Joseph's heirs unfortunately dis- covered this clause in the deed. "Benjamin Knapp, who figured s<i cunspicuously as the entertainer of generals, liveil until 1S;14, when he met his death at the heels (jf a eolt in lieaver Brook District, ^fr. Amos ^lorris, who was then in the prime of life and as now a resident there, gave the wounded man shelter. A doctor was called, who saw that the injury was fatal, and recomnu'uded that Mr. Knapp be taken liome at once. He was comfort- ably placed in a cart, and ^Ir. Morris brought him home, where he died at the age of ninety-fiur years. He built the house on White Street, now owned by Mr. Joseph Bell, for his son, Noah Knapp. Benjamin Knapp is remembered by our older citizens as a little old man in knee-breeches and gray stockings, lie owned a number of cows, besides the shoe-shop and tannery. "Samuel Morris, father of the venerable Amos Morris, wa.s an army-teamster. lie was employed in drawing the army stores from New Haven to Dan- bury. His brother, Jacquin, was not equally eminent for patriotism. In fact, Jacquin t<iok advantage of the presence of the British army to join its ranks. He went away wdth them, and served through the war. Shortly after that he returned to Danbury <jn a visit to his mother, who was living in Beaver Brook District. "The first intimatinu of his iiresence was given to a little niece, wdio in crossing the bridge over Still River, near her grandmother's house (and where is now the grist-mill), was startled by the appearance of a man's head from under the bridge. The man, learning who she was, told her to call her father. She did so, and then the stranger revealed that he was .lacquin Morris, the deserting Danbnrian. He was not immediately recognized by the brother, having changcil considerably, but on uneuvering his head a bare spot on his sealji, well known to the family, was fiuiid, and he was received. He was obliged to kee|) him.self secluded, and during his stay was secreted in the garret of his mother's house. Some yeare later he nuide a second visit home, but did not remain long. " As an olTset to this lo.ss Danbury gained three citi- zens— and, so far as we can learn, they were good citizens — in the persons of three deserters from the British army. One of these was Harry Brockleton, who lived in Dum])ling Hole, now Mountainvillc. The (ithers were privates. Thonnis Flynn was the name of one of the latter. He settled in South Street. " The following anecdote of Brockleton is related by Mr. A. B. Hull. He traded a snuiU piece of land for a horse, and the horse for potatoes. His wife, Hannah, said she would make some poetry on the occurrence. Her jioetry was: " ' Elisir 2>r(iprietatis I Iliiny Brockli'toii snhl his laud fur a horse, anil his lioi-se fnr nutatoes.' H.irrv said be woulil like to make some poetry, which lie did. as follows :