History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

No. 50. It is not known who liuilt tliis house. Capt. William Bulkeley, born in 1741,<lied in ITS", owned it and the store ojiposite. Jle disposed of it to Capt. Josluia .lemiings, who sold it and went West. Wakeman B. Meeker was the jnirchaser; he sul)se- quently died on these jiremises, and his estate has never been settled. His sou carried on the store and shipping business for years under the name of W. B. Jlcekcr it Son. Xo. •")!. This house, I)etween Clreenfield and South- port, was used as a tavern in Kevcjlutionary times. In later years it was owned by Timothy Bulkeley, horn in 17S7; he remodeled and repaired it. .\fter his death his widow disposed of it to Elijah (iray, tlic present owner. His son, Charles H. Cray, i» one of the contributing editors to the Soiitlipoii T'tmcs. Tlie reader will perceive that very little of this matter can be gatliered from Probate records, or from books in general, as this has heretofore been unwritten history. The data have been carefully collected and compared. In nuiuy iu.stances none could be given, and the only authenticity was from the circUTUstances connected with the subject in question. For information concerning the "colonial houses" credit is due Jliss Hannah Hobart, Miss Eliza Hull, Mr. Henry Rowland, Mrs. Jane Kij^pen, Miss K. S. Carew, Mrs. Isaac Milbank, Mr. A. R. T. Nichols, Mr. Henry Bradley, Mr. Samuel Wilson (tlie gun- smith), Mr. John G. :Morehouse, Jlr. T. Minot Banks, Mrs. Elizabeth Meggs, Mrs. Abigail Sturges, Mr. Oliver H. Perry, Mr. Winthrop H. Perry, Capt. Julius Pike, Mr. David Beers, Mr. J. Frederic Jennings, Mr. Au- gustus Jennings, Mr. Ebenezer Burr, Jlrs. Ebenczer Burr, Mr. Daniel Maloney, and the various jieophi on the colonial premises. Manuscripts were also kindly furnislied by Mr. Henry Rowland, Mr. A. R. T. Nichols (who also loaned the " .Musings of Memory," written by Uriah Bulkeley in his eighty-seventh year), and Mr. J. (r. Morehouse. Extracts are given from " Noyes' Let- ters," " Life of Benjamin Sillinian," Bulkeley Oenc- alogy, Barber's "Collections," Nash (leiicalogy, ]!uir (ienealogy, and the Eiinilil'iiin Sluinhii-'l fur the pa>t thirtv years. CHAPTER XX XI. FAIRFIELD (Continued). SPECI.VL IIOrSES.s 1. Thr lloiiir of the Late lie,,,. .l,hn r,'.-»i'./.— " This family was connected with the earliest settlement of the State. By these first settlers for three generations the mime was spelled Gnhi, but for some reason por- tions of the family have changed to (Imil'l ; yet most of those holding that name have no cdunei-tion with the C.ilds. " Maj. Nathan Gold marrit-d Martlia, wid<pw of Edward Harvey. They had one son, ami (laughters Sarah, wlio married .John Thompson ; Deborali, who nuirried (feorge Clark; Abigail, who married .Imia- than Sellick. "Maj. Nathan flold removed from St. Ivlmonds- bury, in South Britain, to Fairfield, Conn., in the nagn of Charles II., and was one <if the first settlers (if the town. H(2 was a wealthy and educated gentle- man, and is often mentioned in Smith's ' History (jf New York.' " In the first volume of the town records of Fair- field we find him a landholder in 1(>4!), and in Kio:! a |)nrehaser of fifteen separate pieces of land, sonn- of which remains in possession of his descemlants to this day. He was one of the petitioners (nineteen in nundjer) named in the charter of Ci>nneetieut, dated April 12, in the fourteenth year (jf the reign of Charles II., which petition was signed by no gentlenum unless he hadsu-tained a high reputation in England befiire he came to New England. He was an assistant or niendier of the council from 16.')7 to l('>i14, and ' de- jiarted this life into the mantions of Rest upon the day of Rest, on Saboth, it being the 4th day nf March, l(i'j:5-04.' Inventory of hi.s estate, £400 a«. M."'\ There is a gun in the possession of T. S. Gidd, of Cornwall, which is said to have been brought by this Nathan Gold from England. There are " two sermons occasioned by the death of Maj. Nathan Gold, one of the picms mid worthy magistrates of Connecticut C(dnny, wlm deceased at his own house in Fairfi(dd, the fourth of ^lareli, 1(59:}." These sermons are in the handwritingof Rev. Joseph Webb, minister of the Congregational ( 'hurch in Fairfield in 1700, and one of the founders of Yale College. The numuscript was presented to Mrs. Elizabeth Gould, by the Rev. William .\. .lohnson, (d' Salisbury, Conn., Aug. .5, 1870. His liody, in all probability, is interred in Fairfield's illustrious bury- » f'oiitributed l>y Mrs. Kate E. Pfrry. t From History of I'orinviill, l>y T. S. Golil. 318 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COIXTV, CONNECTICUT. ing-ground, but at t}iat diito it was iniiiracticablc to furnish toiubstonc^. Aloiif^ tlie salt meadows of Connecticut stone is scarce, and |)r(}bal)ly there was neither time to be spent in search of suitable stone, nor engravers to cut the inscription, nor means of conveyance. His son, Nathan Gold, Jr., married Hannah, born in Hartford, Dec. 8, 1G63, daughter of Lieut.-Col. John Talcott and Helena Wakeman. He died Oct. 3, 1723. A low )ilain stone contains this simple inscription : " Here lies tlie Ilody of tlie HononiMf NiitliiiTi Gold, Knq', Licvt -Governor in His Majesties Colony of Connecticut, Dec* Oct^ the 3d 1 7 2 3 iEtatis Sum CO." In the list of town clerks prepared by Daniel Jla- loney is this statement : ''Natlmn Gold, choaon 1G84, sorvod to 170G, — twenty.tw'o years. He was to^vii clerk and deputy governor, with Peter Burr for assistant; served from 170G to 1724, a period of eighteen years." He was also chief justice of the Supreme Court in 1712. On the church (Congregational) record is found: "The tirst volume extant; the earlier records, botli of the church and town, aix* lost, carried to Virginia by Mr. l.udlow in 16.>1.* This state- ment was generally believed, but, the earliest town record being found in Kairfteld, it is believed the early church records were burnt." This volume was rebound in May, 1868. On the old cover was the following inscription : "This Booko of Records belongs to the church of Christ in Fairfield, of which I am Pastor. — Josr.pii Wr-na. Itought in the year 1704; cost lie. in money, |mid for by the church." In this record is the following : " 3Irs. Sarah Gold, wife of the worshipfull Capt. Gold, admitted Feb'y 10th rroj." which for people of to-day is interpreted 1705, Old Style. She was second wife of Nathan Gold, Jr. She died Oct. 17, 1711. Another item from same rect)rd : " Jenny, nogro girl belonging to the Uonomblo Kallian Gold, Esq., I): G: bapl. June ath, 1717." The slaves were baptized and admitted into the church, married, and were recorded right along with the rest. Their names and their families also are on the town record. The children of Nathan Gold, Jr., were : Abigail, born 1087, married Rev. Thomas Hawley of Ridge- field; John; Nathan; Samuel; Joseph; Rev. Hcz- ekiah, born lOW, married Mary, daughter of Rev. Mr. Ruggles, of Guildford, (they had thirteen chil- dren); Oncsimus, had ii daughter Rebecca, who mar- ried Ephraim Nichols (sec "Colonial," 18), of Revo- lutionary note; David; and Martha. As Samuel inherited the premises under dcscrip- titm (No. ], "Si)ecials"), his family is here given: He marricil Esther Bradley. Their children were David, born in 1717; EatUfc-, 1719; Abigail, 1724; Abell, • See Trunihull's History of Conneitlcut. 1727-1769; Col. Abraham, 1732-1777, who inherited the Gould homestead. He married Elizabeth, daugh- ter of Capt. John Burr (she died ISl."), aged eighty- four), and had children : .Vbigail, born 1754, married Isaac Jennings (whose home is now Capt. Isaac Jen- nings') in 1770; Hezckiah, born 1756, who in 1789 was walking on a plank from the wharf to the ves.sel in New York ; the end of the plank dropping off from the vessel, he struck his breast and was drowned. Anna, who married Silliman ; Abraham, born in 176G ; Jason, 1771 ; John B., died at .sea in 1781 ; Daniel, died at sea off the coast of France in 1796 ; Elizabeth, married Curtiss, of Newtown; Sarah ; Deborah, married Osborne, died 1785. Col. Alirahani Gold was killed on his horse by the British at Ridgefield in 1777, and his body was brought on horseback to Fairfield for burial. The homestead was inherited by Jason, who changed his name to Gould. His interest in the family is I shown by the stone set up to his father and family : "A. G. This stone is erected by Jasan Gould in memory of hi^ honored Father, Col. Abraham Gould, Who fell in defense of his Country at Itidgefield, .\pril 27tli, 1777, aged 4'l years ; and of his deceased brotlior, John Durr Gould, who died ut sea, 1781, aged 20 ; and of Hezekiah Gould, who was drowned at Kew York, Oct. 20th, 1789, aged 30 ; and of Daniel Gould, who was drowned off the coast of France, Doc. 28, 1700, aged 20." The sword used by Col. Abraham Gold is in the possession of his great -grand.son, .Vbraham Gold Jen- nings, who resides in Brooklyn, N. Y., and his sash and coat were deposited in the Trumbull Gallery at New Haven. The sword is straight, silver-mounted, three-cornered, and at his death was found stained , with the enemy's blood. Jason had a son .John, born in 1801, who possessed the ancestral acres, and died in 1871. Hon. John Gould held many ])ositions of public trust; was member of the House of Representatives from Fairlield for several sessions, and member of the State Senate from the Tenth District in 1847; rail- road conimissidner from 1854 to 1861 ; in 1864 ap- pointed United States marshal for Connecticut by President Lincoln, and held the oflicc for four years. His willow, 5Iary Wakeman Thorp, daughter of Capt. Walter Thorp, died in 1879. His daughters own and occupy the homestead. At his death being announced the world did him honor in various ways. One obituary reads: I "The Hon. John Gi.uld diml of apoplexy at his reoidence in Fairfield, Sept. 5, 1871, agi'd seventy year*. Capt. Gould has Ikh-u for many years ' oDo of our most pnuuinent and useful rlllzens. He has been inlniste^l by his fellow-towDsmen Mith many important oOlccs of trust, which h- it I FAIEFIELD. 519