History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

Mr. Benjamin Silliman was reared in Fairfield. ,\ltcr a year's absence his father, mother, and two children were reunited in their home (on Holland Hill), where he prepared to enter Vale f'oUege, which he did in 1792, the youngest of his elass, save one aged thirteen. He graduatcMl in ]79t). In 179<S he resumed his residence in New Htiven, and engagetl in the study of the law. In 1799 he was appointtxl a tutiir in Yale College. In the same year he entered upon the duties of that office, and remained in the instruction and government of tlic institution until lX,'j:3, when he fully resigned, having made an over- ture for a resignation in l.S.')0, which was not accepted. He gave, by invitation of the eor|ioration and faculty of the college, lectures on chemistry, mineralogy, and geology till 1855. A freestone slab in the Fairfield ohl burying-ground contains an epitaph which gives his and his brother's history : " In memory of Gold Sellick .Silliman, Esi|., who died in Brooklyn, N. V., June .3, 180S, in his 01*' year, ami of Beiijanun Silliiuaii. LL.I),, more than r>n years profess ir <if Katuial Science in Yale t'ollege. who died in New Haven. Ccuin., Nov. "I'M SM. in the SC"> year of his age. "Their renniitis are interred in the ida.-es of their de.ease. Kmincnt for honor, gencrnsify, affection, patriotism, intelb-etnal iiilture. and Christian principle, they wi-n^ bound together threugh life by the strong- est of fraternal ties. " They were sons of Gen. Gold Sellick Silliman, who died 170(1, and grandsons of the Honorable Elienezei- Silliman, deceased in 177.'i. s^n of Koberf Silliman, deceased in 1748. and grand>on of Itani.l Silliman, dc- crased in II'.OII. All of F.airfield. " The children add this to the records of f heir :tle i-st-TS, ,\.L.. 1.877," After (ieii. Silliman's death an auction was held, from which many relics are in vtirious families of Kairficlil to-day. The family Bible, even, was owned by Mr. Israel liibbins, but was afterwards restored to the family at the request of one of tlie Sillim;in de- scendants. Mrs. Mary (Noyes) Silliman married, in 1804, Dr. John Dickinson, of Middletown, which became her home. She died July 2, ISIS, in her eighty-third year. Her son Benjamin, in speaking of her, stiys: '■ she w;is a heroic woman, and encountered with firiruies.; the trials and terrors of the .American KevoUition, iu which my father w as largely concerned. .She ilid not lose her selfs-outrol when, three 7nont!is before my birth, the Inuise wa.s a-ssailed by an arineil banditti af the uudnight hour, the winilows demolished, and my father an<l elder hall-brother were torn away from her. and my father detained for a year at Flatlmsh, I.. I., as a inisoner of w.ir. I!le.sB"d M.ither! In lier wi.lowhood, after my fatlier's death, in 1790, she stiuggleil on in embariassed circum- stances, and gave my brother and myself a puMic education, for ming our mintls at home to purity anil piety. Whatever I have of goml in me I owe, under God, mainly to her, and I look wifh niiiigb'd reverence and delight at her lovely picfure whii h smiles upon nie still. "^ The projicrty passed out of the Silliman name not far from the beginning of the present century. Nathan Hayes was the second owner. Tlien it came into possession of James rciilield (who lived * Fisher's Life of Benjamin Silliman, vol. i. p. 2' 316 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT. and died tliere), a man of much respectability in Fairfield, judging from the records and tombstones. The ne.xt owner was Lydia Penfield, who sold it to Lewis Penfield, of Bridgeport, who repaired it. He disposed of it to Bradley Nichols, of Nichols' Farms, who now occupies it. It has been rei)aired and newly covered, yet it is a historic dwelling and in an excellent condition. The school-house stands near, where the Pillimans attended school, and tradition was teaching the pub- lic that this was the identical school-house of a hun- dred years ago, but the inhabitants who gatlicred their lore from the desk against the three sides of the h'jusc, and the plank benches held by four sticks S'jreading at their contact with the floor, state that this is another structure, erected in 1835 on the orig- inal site. . No. 46 is a "colonial" built by a Uriah More- house in 1773-75. It fell to John Morehouse in 1827, and to Uriah Hill Morehouse in 1836. The present owner is John Gould Jlorehouse, whose claim was valid in 1844. His wife (Mi-s. J. G. Morehouse) was born in " colonial" No. 44. The first settler bearing this name was Thomas Morehouse, T\ho was located in Wethersfield in 1640, and joine<l the colony at Fairfield in 1653, when he purchased a tide-mill of Henry Jackson, together witli the privileges granted to said Jackson by the town in 1648. It appears that Tht)mas Morehouse was deputy at the General Court at Hartford at the autumn session of 1653. He died in 1658. In his will (on tlie Pro- bate records in Fairfield) he names four sons and sev- eral daughters. These sons are the heads of the various lines of Morehouses through the country. They were Samuel, Thomas, John, and Jonathan. Samuel was lieutenant and county marshal from 1675 to 16S7. He was the ancestor of the More- houses now living in the town of Fairfield. His sons were Samuel, Thomas, John, Daniel, and James. John, the son of the first Thomas, was ensign in the company of soldiers raised in Fairfield County in 1676 for the campaign against the Indians that year, and afterwards removed to Southampton, L. I. Of the next generation, Ejdiraim and James settled in Litch- field Co., Conn. John Morehouse, of the fourth generation, had two .sons, who survived him,— Uriah, born in 1740, and William, born in 1749. Uriah had one son, John, who was commissioned ensign in 1813, andcaptsiin in 1814, of a company of volunteers organized for local defense. William's sons were Deacon William ( father of Stephen Morehouse), William B., late of Green- field, antl Mayor John B. Of the many descendants, Gould went to Saratoga and died there ; another wa-s judge of the Supremo Court in New York. , The sea-wall and the breakwater at Black Rock were in j>rogress in 1837—10, having for contractors Jona- than Scranton, Madison, John G., and Uriah L. More- house, of Fairfield. This ]iublic work, near the dwelling-house, was built by ^\'ellb and Beach Downes, of Monroe. It was continuetl in 1847 by .lohn G. Morehouse as contractor, under the general superin- tendence of Capt. William H. Swift, United States engineer, and finished in 1849. The oldest gravestone in the Fairfield grounds yet discovered is, from its date and initials, — "S. M. 1687," — supposed, from its location, to be Samuel Morehouse. The people of that family-name are numerous and of stability both in Church and State affairs. No. 47. This "colonial," in Southport, stands nearly opposite Mr. Oliver Bulkeley's mansion, and was built a long time before the Revolution. The information given in regard to it is that it originally belonged to James Bulkeley, son of Peter and Hannah (Ward) Bulkeley. He was born Aug. 3, 1729, and married Elizabeth Whitehead, Jan. 16, 1738. The next owner rememltered was Darrow, who died here. Some of his family history is given on his tombstone, which is near the gate in the old (Fairfield) cemetery : "Tliis stone was erecteil by Capt. Kleazor Biilkcloy to tlic mentor}- of liis fntlier, Mr. .luniea llnlkcle.v, who ilieil Koli. :!, IMtl, OBe<i 73, nnd Mrs. EliuilK'tli, Ilia mother, who diiii Juno 27, 18' '.I, ii«c<l 71. Likewise to hi« Bister Miir.v, wlio died 1770, nged 22 year*, nnd to liis brother Andrew, wlni died 17S8, aged 14. Also to Brotlier Moses, who diinl 179C, aged 2", and his brother James, who died at Solfolk, In Virginia, Sept. 13, IStM, aged :17." The second Mary in this family — the first died voung (the eldest and younge-st of the eleven children were called Mary) — married Capt. Joab Sijuire. They removed to Ohio in 1817. They exchanged this " colo- nial" for a i>lace near the shore with Benjamin Dar- row, who died in this house, leaving three daughters, one of whom married Levi Downes, who dispo.sed of it to Joseph Furniss, present owner and occupant. ^ No. 48. The house now occupied by Charles Rock- well was the old farm-house kept by John and after- warils by his son Howes Osborn, who married Mary Bulkeley, daughter of Peter and Hannah Ward Bulkeley. The old stage-nmte was piust tlieir door, and in the rear of Edward's house, tun. Wa.sh- ington was entertained there with others, as it was considered as a public inn. A deed conveying a portion of said estate to John Osborn is dated on the first day of August, in the ei"hth year of the reign of <nir sovereign lord George the Second of Great Britain and King, .Vnnoque Domini 1734. Signed, John Norris; signed, sealed, and delivered in presence of Lothrop Lewis, Andrew Burr. A tleetl from Job Bartram to Howes Osborn con- veying a certain negro woman, named Time, for fifty pounds, about thirty-five years old, is dated .Vjiril, 1778, and witnessed by Moses Jennings, Elipha't Bar- tram, Jr. A deed from Ebenezer Wakcman, Jr., to Howes r^T^.^ ^^n^/^ FAIRFIELD. 317 OslMirii, fonvcyiiig a negro man, Fortin, lor lit'ty pounds, is dated in Fairfield, Jan. '2t\ 17.S2. IMr. Howes C)sl)orn died in l.'^07, aged eiglity-five, and his wife in 1812, aged eighty-one. No. 41). There is an old building on the ]ireniises of Mrs. Brown, known as the Powder-Honse. This stood oil Jennings' property. The e(d(iiiy useil this structure, made of stone, for a magazine. Here at one time a worthless fellow, for some miseonduet, was imprisoned. Owing to a stroke of wit, h<iw- cver, his incarceration was short, as he drew his knife across a stone to produce a spark, which, in case it came in contact with the powder, would produce an explosion. As he continued the attempt he exclaimed, " Free toleration, or no toleration ! Free toleration, or no toleration !" The officers, valuing the pciwder more than hi.s head, permitted him to go free.