History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

Mathew Marvin, Marvyn, or JIarvynn, came to New England with his family in the fall of 1635, having left (iravcscnd in Ai)ril of that year. The record of his family is given by Hutton, viz., Mathew, aged thirty-five, Elizabeth, aged thirty-one, husband and wife; children, Elizabeth, aged thirteen; Mathew, eight; Maria, six; Sarah, three; Hannah, si.x months. All of them came in the ship " Increase," Eea, master, the husband having taken the oath of " A llgeanse and Snpremacie" "conformable to the government and disciplln of the Church of England." Mathew Marvin was in Harlford in 1639, and seems to have been one of the early proprietors. He had other children born in Hartford, — viz., Abigail, Samuel, Rachel. While a resident of that place he was plaintiff in a case against Mathew Beckwith for defamation of character, and recovered damages in the sum of fifty pounds. The same wa.s remitted by the court and i>laintift' on Beckwith's making a public retraction of the slander. Marvin and family, it seems, came to Norwalk in 1651, having followed the first emigrants, and may be said to have been of the original number. His home- lot joined the meeting-house yard and Daniel Kel- logg's and Thomas Fitche's. He was deputy from Norwalk in 16.54, and assistant magistrate in 16.79. He was the posse-ssor of a large estate in 1673, which had doubled in 1687. Isaac More sailed from Gravesend, England, at the age of thirteen, in the " IncreiL^e," Lea, ma.ster, under the guardianship of Mathew Marvin, with whom ho went to Hartford, and from thence removed to Norwalk. In 1660 he sold his home-lot to Mark Sention. .Vpril, 1654, Goodman More was chosen townsman for the ensuing year. In 1657, Isaac More, witli three others, provided a good and suffi- cient " wolfe-pit." Whom he married and when he died are not now knov.n. He owned and resided on property on what is known as Marshall Street, in this city, and was a lineal descendant of Danver, who settled in this town in 1651. Isaac Moi-e was living in Farmington in 1649, and was presented to the court " for sergeant by the souldgcrs," and was approved. In 1665 the court " frees More from training, he having been formerly chief-officer of the Train Band" of that place. Widow Morgan's name is in the list of the first emi- grants, and this is all that is known of her, if thcstate- ment.« of others are to be taken. Savage, in his history of emigrants, says she was a myth. She may have ' been tn him, for he doubts if her name is to be found anywhere in the records of Norwalk. But it is there, and Mr. Savage or anybody else may read, if he be disposed to. Widow Morgan i)robably married after her settlement here, but whom is not known, as the old church records were destroyed in the Itevolution- ary war. Or she may have died in the town soon after its settlement. Jonathan Marsh, — or as it is in list of emigrants, Jno. — aged twenty-six, embarked in the " Plain Joan," Bncham master, for Virginia in May, 1635. He w.as ])robably from the parish of Benendon, county of Kent. He brought " .\ttcstjicon of his con- formitie to the order and disciplin of the Cliurch of England." No trace of him is to be found after his arrival here until he appears in Norwalk. In 16.'J7 he owned real estate here, situated and bounded by the river; and eng.aged to build a corn-mill ; and he was to have upland adjoining the mill. In 1658, Good- man Marsh "agrceil to attend the town 3 days in the week. These days he is to attend that he may fetch and carry corn to the mill." This is all that is known of his history in England and America at present ■^ NORWALK. 493 Kichartl and Jolin OInistedd were tlie brother and nephew iif James. Juriies eaiiic to New Enj^hmd "Phmtaeou there p t'ert: from Capten Mason, have fendred and taken the oath of allegeance according to the l~<tatute." Both emigrated i'rom Ilraintree, county of Essex, England, June, UVo'2. Rieliard and liis Ijrotlier John probalily came to tlie cohmies unch'r assumed names, as tlie name of neither is found in tlie catalogue of emigrants in which that of James ap- pears. After the death of James his executors, desir- ous to carry out that which they conceived to he his wish, gave to his "kynsinan," Richard and .Tolni < )lni- stedd, five pounds eaeii. Kichard was one of the petitioners for the i)hniting of Xorwalk. He was [)rominent in all the puVilic af- fairs, and was the first rei)resentative of the town in the (ieneral Assembly, having been fourteen times elected to that position. He was a .sergeant of the mi- litia iu 1()53, and lieutenant of the company in lOoi). lie wa.s in Hartford in 1G40, constable in 1(;4(), and iliputy in 1G(;2 and lOGo. He removed to this [)lan- lation in IGriO, and was one of three ajjpointed by the court to run the lines between Stamford and Strat- foid. His home-lot was bounded by land of Thomas Hale and Nathaniel Ely. He was appointed, Feb. 21, 1G70, selectman of the town. In 1G73 he was the pos- sessor of a moderate estate ta.xed one hundred and nineteen pounds. Joseph Piatt was a French refugee. He did not settle in Norwalk until about 1G99, at which date he received a grant of .sixteen acres lying at West liocks. Feb. 21, 1G98, the town " Granted unto Joseph Piatt, as he was a souklier out in the .service against the common enemie, the town, as a gratification for his good service, do give and grant unto him ten acres of land, to take it up a mile from the town, and whcarc it lyes free nor yet pitcht vij)on by any other i>er.sons." Dec. 16, 1713, " Capt. Joseph Piatt was one of a com- mittee to make a settlement of a highway or road to Kidgefield. He had only one son, — viz., John. Joseph Piatt represented Norwalk in the tfcneral Assembly a perio<l of sixty-five years, or from 1705 to 1790. He has no list of property, either in lG7:i or 1GS7. As he wa.s styled the " \V'orshi]dul," the infer- ence might be drawn that he was exempt from taxa- tion, in view of services rendered to his constituents. Nathaniel It icharils sailed from the mother-country for New England in the same shi]i in which James and Richard Olmstead crossed the Atlantic, June, 1632, he also having a certificate from "Capten Ma- sou" that he had taken the oath according to the stat- I ute. He was of Mr. Hooker's company at Newtown, 1 Cambridge, 1G32. He was one of the i)roprietors of the Hartford com|)any, as his name ajipears in the records of that town in 1G3'). He was jurynuin there in 1643, 1644, and 1G46, and constable in 1641 and 1649, orderer of the town in 1G44, and a deputy to the General xVssembly in 1643. He probably came to the Norwalk colony some time during IGol. In 1GG4, Mr. Richards bought Jonathan Mar.sh's mill and all the land adjoining it. He was elected s<leetman I'eb. 21, 1G70. He never reiiresentcd this town in the col- onial Legislature. He had an estate in 1673 of two hun<lred and sixty-eight pounds. In 1G,S7 his name is not in the table of estates; hence it is concluded that he died between l(i73 and 1687, aged about sixty- two years. His descendants have always been noted for their steady and imlustrious habits. John Rusco, son of William and Rebecca Rusco, husbaiul and wife and four chihlren — viz., Sara, Maria, Samuel, and William (aged one year) — " im- liarked in ye 'Increase' from London, April, 163"), for New England. They were certificated as from I'illerway, county of E.sscx, by the Minister of ye first tliat William Rusco, husbandnuui, was no Sul)- sedy man." After due investigation it is concluded that John Rusco was a son of William, born in this country within a year or two after their arrival in Roston, early iu the fall of 163"). Although .lohn's name stands in the catalogue of the first emigrants, he could not have been over thirteen or fourteen years of age. Probably he came to this town with the older settlers. ,\s his home-lot was not set oil' to him, but had transferred to him that wliich was formerly set off to another, his grant was not one of the original few, — it was not recorded tintil 1()S3, while the other original grants were recorded about 16()'i or 1670. William Rusco, at this date, lived iu Norwalk, as Jlr. Fenn's home-lot was next William Rusco's.'* From 1673 to I().S7 his estate had increased from one hundred and fifty to two hundreil and fifty i)ounils. Richard Raymond's name first appears in the records of Norwalk in 16")4. He was, no doubt, a French refugee, and may have come to North Amer- ica under an assumed muiie, as there is no record of his departure from England. Angu.st, 163'), one Arthur Raymond, aged twenty, sailed from London in the "Lofty," tiraunt, master, for Virginia. It is conjectured that ,\rthnr was a brother of Richard, whose name appears in the records as an inhabitant of this town. He removed to Norwalk from .Salem, RIass., and from here to Saylirook. In 1662 he was living at Massachusetts Bay, at wliich dafi' he " bought of Ralph Keelcr his housings, home-lott, or barn- yard, and the house, fiores, doars, glasse windows, shelves, everything i'astencd together, — four acres." It seems he returned to Norwalk, as in 1677 he em- powered Thomas Belts to recoid all his lands to the children of his son John by Mary Raynnjud, his |)resent wife, the year before this transaction. John, his son, seems to have borne all the family honors. His estate was taxed (1690) at two hundred pounds. He "tooke to wiffe," Dec. 10, 1664, Mary, daughter of Thomas Betts, by whom he hail two sous, — Jolm, who died when a child, and .John (2d), liorn nine years later. * Soc IIiiU, page CO. 494 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.