History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

and stated that if he (the doctor) would go home and cut up his old clothes in strips, sew them together, and bring them to his shop, he would weave them. In a few days Dr. Dwight came in with his rags, which were woven into carpeting, which was the Jirsl carpet spread (hum on Greenfield Hill ! This Eliphalet Lyon had a daughter, who was mar- ried to Samuel Wilson. They were tlie parents of the present Samuel Wilson, the gunsmith, who is now ninety-six years old. He was born in this house ("No. 37") in November, 1784. He heard a sermon for the first time in his life when he was four years old, and that was Dr. Dwight's; he is the only man living who ever heard that celebrated divine. He related the storj- about old Frazier's .stealing goods from Samuel Bradley's store, and said that his father went to see him hung. He also relates that Martha Harvey was a witch who lived but a .short distance above Mr. ililbaiik's, who used to get the cows over the great girt to the barn. People were so afraid they did not venture to piuss by there. He states that as he first remembers Fairfield it looked pretty shabby, as the tall black chimneys were standing, and old barns riddled with bullets. His father drew con- siderable of the timber for the Congregational church which ropl.iced the one burnt during the conHagra- tion. In his younger days there were four or five stores in Greenfield Hill which took in a great deal of flax, raised in the country about there. When he was a boy he was accustomed to avoid school liy run- ning away to the blacksmith-shop, which a Green- field wit has said always go together in the country, and it is a question in which lies the most redeeming virtues (the school or the blacksmith-shop). From the knowledge he gained from his oKservation of the workers in iron, he took up the trade of gunsmith in 1812, when it took a week to make a gun. He made the first rifie-gun in the county, and the third tme he completed is owned now by Eli Adams, of Easton. He must have met with some ridicule in his first work, as Darius Grant, a skilled blacksmith, exam- ined one critically, and said it was the straightest gun he ever saw. He .set up a target, which he hit every time. Again, a neighboring woman, to test him, challenged him to hit one of her turkeys. She otferetl to set it up. He accepted the challenge ; the second shot killed the bird, antl she was, to use Mr. Wilson's words, " awful mad." His shot-guns sold at from five to ten dollars, and his rifles for thirty dollars apiece. He had more orders than he could fill, so he bought guns in New York t4) meet the demands of his customers. He ])urchased long bars of iron of Miah Perry, who wa-s in the mercantile busincfw opposite, where N. Jen- nings luus his market, where JellifT's new brick build- ing stands. He bored out the barrels from solid iron. His tools cost him one thousand dollars. He stood in one place to file so long that he wore an oak plank PAIRFIELD. 311 floor so thin that one day when he brought his foot down to close tlic vise itgave w;iy;iii(l he wenttlirouirli. He never was out of work. He liad ordi'rs from Nor- wallc, I)anl)ury, New Haven, and various jilaees. Some of his guns went to Irehind. In addition to his guns, of wliieh lie made entire one hundred and repaired more than tive hundred, he did a great amount of iron-work. He made twelve sets of saw-mill work, except the crank. He had a fine position offered him in a i)aper-mill and any price for compensation and men for assistants, but. Ids wife being sick, and having the farm to attend to, he would not accept. He never was a nulitary character, but was a private in the State militia. His life has been very unassuming, yet remarkable. He has been blind about six years, owing to close ajiplieation to his work and much reading, of which he was very fond; other- wise he is well and hearty. Eliphalet Lyon, the builder of this house, was great-grandfather to iMrs. E. L. Huntington, of Fair- field, svidow of the Rev. Enoch Huntingtoji, and to her brother, Jlr. Morris Lyon, an enunent teacher in New York, a graduate of Yale, and a founder of the Memorial Library in ISTti in his native town (Fair- field). Eliphalet Lyon, Jr., was the second owner of this house. He left three heirs, ]\L-s. Eben Hill, of Nor- walk, and Horace and Ramsen Hill. The present occupant is Barlow Hill, deacon of the Congrega- tional Church in Greenfield and grandson of Eliph- alet Lyon, Jr. No. 38. This dwelling was erected by Ebenezer Hill in 176o., He married Sherwood, who lived near Oak Lawn Cemetery, from a house long since torn down. They were the parents of nine children. In those days there was no conveyances other than ox-carts, so that the only way of carrying children was by the extension of the saddle called the pillion. Mrs. Hill often visited her parents with one child very easily, by taking it in her arms on horseback. When the second was born she sighed, feeling that the liome visits must be foregone, but she trained the first child so it would sit on the pillion, wliile baby No. 2 rode in arms. When baby No. 3 was added to the family, she despaired again when tliinking of her youthful home, but she trained the two former so they could ride behind, while the third rode in arms. When No. 4 was added, No. 1 had become old enough to remain home, so she was permitted to always make her filial visits to the parental roof At the time of the conflagration two of these chil- dren were very ill. One died that night, the other two or three days later. The parents, however, in their solicitude had the cart and oxen in readiness, so that if the torch should be applied to their house no time should be lost in preserving their little ones. Of this family, Ebenezer, Jr., studied theology to please his father and Dr. Dwight ; he preached but a few years, having a parish in Saratoga County, or in that section. He then devoted himself to politics, was judge of Probate, State Senator, and Congress- man. Another son, Jabez, who attained the altitude of six feet, was out in the meadow one day, when he started for home. Instead of crossing the bridge, he shortened his route by wading through the river while in profuse i)crs]nration. The result was a s])eedy termination, with cholera morbus for an agent. In the Greenfield Cemetery is this tribute to him : " In moinnry nf Mr. .labez Ilill, Son of f'iil't. Eh.MU'Zcr Hill, \v1m>, after siii f\rinciating sickness of four days, tlied .\ugust 2^, ISUT, .\geil 27 yeaivs, 1 month & I'J days. " Another proof. Header, lliat life ran be ensured by nought beneath the sun. For those virtues wliieli serve to ornnient and happify domestic life in hiiu eoneeuter'd. " llis usefulness extended its benign cfTeets to all around and seemed tt) demand for him protracted years. But suddenly cut otf amid pros- pect** bright uf wealth and worldly bliss, by virtue .and honest industry produced, ho was consigned by the unrelenting hand of Death to nn early grave." The postliuinous daughter of Jabez Hill married William, who is generally known as "Postmaster Sherwood." He at one time Avent to England as agent for the Jennings to secure the immense wealth which is in that family-name. They are the owners and occupants of this house, which was made of ex- cellent mtiterial. Some of the rooms up-stairs and down were wainscoted in the best manner, being free from even a diminutive knot. The thumb-])ieces to the doors were alter an extremely odd jiattern. There was a bullet-hole in the side of the building, but when repairs were made in 1844 the mark of service was removed. The house then lost its uniformity on low roofs, and gained a conformity on being raised so that the eaves were i)arallel. One of the fir.st town clerks in Fairfield was William Hill, who served to 1()84. No. 39. This bouse was built by Ezekiel Hull, whose memory is at jiresent associated with but few, as nearly all of his contemporaries passed away years ago. He lies in (ireenfield. A stone thus inscribed marks his resting-place: " In 3teniiu'y of Capt. Ezekiel Hull, who (lied Oct" 7">, 1S()2, Aged TO years." There are not a dozen alive who knew him, and his house was found with difticulty. John Philips was the next owner, — a zealous leader in the Methodist Church. His first wife was the grandmother of Tom Thumb. Mr. Philips siild to Azariah Coggswell, who died there. His heirs sold to John BrothwcU, who is the present owner and occu- pant, and who posts a notice : " This ])lace is tor sale." Ezekiel Hull had a son, Thomas, for whom he built a house nearly opposite. One of his (Thomas') daughters married Sanford, from Redding. They 312 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT. occupied it for a time, tlicn sold it to Turner, who disposed of it to Samuel Moreliouse, who sold it to another Samuel Moreliouse (no relation to the former one) ; he died here. His son, Abel Morehouse, came into posse.ssion, and he also died there, leaving one son, John Morehouse, the present owner and oc- cupant. No. 40. A house in Fairfield Woods known as Abel Jenningrs' place was once a tavern. It is su[)posed it was built by his father. From some records it is known to have stood in the Revolutionary war. After Abel Jennings, of whom Nelson Jennings bought it, his sisters owned it. It met with various transfers, and was under considerable mortgage when Christian Richards purchased it. He is an intelligent German, and has been the occujiant thirty years. No. 42. This " colonial" was erected by David Jen- nings, in 1762. It fell to the heirs and passed out of the family in 1832, when Turner purchased it. He disposed of it to Thomas Merwin, who is the owner and occupant. No. 4.'i. This is also Jennings' property. It was built by Levi Jennings, between 17C0 and 1770. It descended to liis son David, who died here. His widow, Mrs. Eliza Jennings, with her family, is the present occupant. It was remodeled by her son, Richard Jennings, in 1877. He states there has never been a ijuarrel or a family feud in that house, which fact is deserving of a place in history.