Norwalk

The progenitors of the Norwalk Bolt or Boalts1 appear early in this land as occu- pants (see page 188) of that territory-portion which forms at the present time the border line, on Long Island Sound, of the States of Connecticut and New York. Here, near the ancient " Horseneck," we seem to find the ancestors of the Norwalk Boalts and Reeds who, having, it is claimed, belonged to the English Cromwell party, came afterward to this country and settled as before mentioned, where they were, presumably, agriculturists and built their vegetable vaults2 similar to those, the remains of which were, until within a few years past, distinctly traced along the banks of the " Neck " referred to. The Reeds and Boalts, both, came to Norwalk and founded farms in the same section of the town- ship. John Reed brought his Rhode Island and John Boalt his Stamford bride to this town, and the two families were not distant neighbors. Mrs. Boalt was the daughter of a 'Bolt or Boalt is a family patronymic of recog- nition across the sea, and " Bolt's End" and " Bolt's Court" are English Channel and London City desig- nations. John Bolt or Boalt, "t. of Norwalk, was what might to-day be termed a topographical engin- eer. He married into a minister's family, and his brother-in-law, if Stamford registration is correctly interpreted, was a Colonial physician. 3These stone receptacles were, in the old Norwalk and Stamford steamboat days, a curiosity to the trav- eler whose eye caught them from the vessel's deck as it turned in from the Sound to make a landing at "Sawpits" or "Horseneck." It was the custom on the boats, as these points were approached, to ring the steamer's bell (steam whistles were at that time un- known) as an announcement that a "stop" would shortly be made, and anon a porter's bell warning "passengers who are going ashore" to "get their baggage ready." The near-by green slope, dotted now and then by the "Rocky Neck" and "Horse- neck" ancient potato vaults, furnished a fine echo- bank for the steamer's musical-toned monitor. 3'6 NOR WALK clergyman.' Herself and husband were married in Stamford on Nov. 20, 1694, and came, presently, to their new home. The following is their descendant-table Richard,3"5- born "in New York Island," April 30, 1696. Arkellus, died Nov. 28, 1706. Charles, born Aug. 30, 1702 ; died unmarried. Sarah, born June 12, 1705, (Mrs. John Little). (Married April l+, 1735.) Abigail, born Nov. 7, 1707. John, 3 born Oct. 7. 1710. William, born Nov. 7, 1713. Benjamin, born Sept. 26, 1718. Richard,^- oldest son of John'5'- and Elizabeth (Clemence) Boalt, remained in Nor- walk. He owned the to-day beautiful upper Haynes Ridge (see page 204) and sold the same in 1736 to Ebenezer Smith, a grandson -in-law of "Mr. William Haynes." The Boalt New Canaan acreage was admirable. A portion of the estate forms the present site of the Dr. Willard Parker, Sr., commanding vicinity. From this high land the view scape, in every point of the compass, is exceptionally fine. The family of Richard3"1- and Hepzibah Boalt was composed, as far as is positively known, of four sons and four daugh- ters, viz. : Richard, (never returned from sea). Hepzibah, born April 3, 1 72 I . Charles, died at sea. Deborah, 5 (Mrs. David Camp). Abraham, died abroad.4 Abigail. David, ,st- born March 31, 1740. Catherine. David, 11 son of Richard and Hepzibah Boalt, married Sarah (born Sept. 3, 1744) Mott or de la Mott, and had : Elizabeth, born May 4. 1765, (Mrs. Samuel Betts). David, Jr., born Dec. 25. 1766. 'Mr*. John Boalt. Ist- of Norwalk, was named for her mother, Elizabeth, wife of Rev. William Clemence of Stamford. Mrs. Clemence survived her husband until March 17, 17^7-S. Mr. Clemence was an in- structor also. 2The lineages of Johil'St. add Richard3rd- Boalt are text-presemed after very close and careful examin- ations of the ancient Stamford and Norwalk records, and a thorough perusal of private data. They are be- lieved to be highly accurate. JAt the early age of twenty six was one of the " Five Mile River petitioners.' He then removed to Dover, N'.Y.,and does not seem to have permanently returned to Norwalk. me was engaged with Capt. Sears in the French War. Flu captain and Ms men took a vessel -prize, but through some unfortunate affairs-turn lioalt and a number of his comrades were left upon an island, and not afterwards heard from. SDeborah, daughter of Richard Boalt,3<>- married April 29, 1741, as his second wife, David, son of Sam- uel Camp, of Milford, and had Samuel, born Oct. 23, 1742; Hepzibah, 1744; Elizabeth, 1747; Mary, IJ51 i David, 1752; Moses, 1754, and James, 1757. David Camp had married, first, June 26, 1735, Sarah Ten-ill, of Woodbury, who died March 31, 1737, leaving an infant, Sarah, born 1737. David Camp died March 18, 1782, aged 82 years. A grand - daughter of Richard J* and Hepzibah Boalt, (Mrs. Samuel Betts) who was living in 1841, mentioned that she had a step-grandmother, the sec- ond Mrs. Richard Boalt.3'1- NORWALK. Rhoda, born Feb. i, 1769, (Mrs. Uriah Hanford}.' Jacob, 'sl- born March 26, 177 1 , died June 9, 1772. Jacob.2d- born Feb. 7, 1773, went to Otsego Co., N. Y. John, born Feb. 9, 1775. Charles, born Jan. 3, 1777. Ebenezer, born Aug. 4, 1780. David, Jr., son of David"*- and Sarah (Mott or de la Mott) Boalt, married March 17, 1790. Sarah Taylor,' of West Norvvalk, and had : Sarah, born Nov. 11, [790, died young. Frederick Anson, born Aug. 18, 1793, died young. Rhua, born Aug. 22, 1797, (Mrs. William Daskam).' Of the sons, other than Richard, 'd- of John Boalt,"1- Charles'"' may have died young, as he seems to have birth registration only. John2d- went to the Oblong. Wil- liamlsl- married Dec. 8, 1748, Lydia Fitch, and had : Lydia, born Mar. 23, 1750, (Mrs. John Hoyt). Elizabeth, born May 25, 1752, (Mrs. John Jarvis). William,"1- born March 24, 1755, (went to Ballston, N. Y.) John, born Jan. 18, 1758, (died young). Charles, born Nov. 26, 1761, (went to Cayuga Co.. N. Y.i. Abigail, born May II, 1765. Samuel, born July 5. 1768. Benjamin, the youngest son of John and Elizabeth Boalt, married Dec. 29, 1748, Hannah, daughter of Daniel and Hannah (Whitney) Keeler. LOCKWOOD-HICKOX-BOALT. John, fourth born son of David and Sarah (Mott or de la Mott) Boalt, married Ruth, daughter of David and Martha (Hickox-Trowbridge) Lockwood, the descent from which Mrs. Ruth (Lockwood) Boalt constitutes one of the most interesting of Nonvalk 'Her daughter Sarah, born Feb. 24, 1797, married Daniel Fitch Bens, of Norwalk. Tin- other children of Uriah and Rhoda (Boalt) Hanford were George, horn February 28. 1789; Amanda, July 3, 1790; John, April 16, [792; Uriah, Jr., May 21, 1799; Theodore, March 2, 1807; Will. LeGrand, Apr. 13, iSrl. These were nephews and niece of Mrs. Ebenezer ]). Hoyt. of Norwalk. aHer sister was the mother of Rev. Melancthon Hoyt, missionary under Bishop Kemper. Mrs. Hoyt was a sister of Rev. B. M. Yarrington of Greenwich. .iThe children of William and Rhua (Boalt) Das. kam were George (married Sarah Finch and had daughter Georgiana) ; Ann Eliza (Mrs. S. B. Beards- ley); Wm. (died at sea); Mary Louisa (died unmar- ried); Harriet Frances (died unmarried). Ann Eliza, daughter of William and Rhua Das- kam, married June 29, 1S44, Sidney Burr Beards)**- (Judge S. B. Beardsley), and had: Cyrus H., died young. An infant. Edward Burr; married Harriet Phelps. Sarah Taylor; married Fritz Hosuinghaus. Susan; married Charles, son of Fred'k. Wood. Judge S. B. Beardsley is deceased and his widow and family are residing in Bridgeport. N O R \V A L K genealogy-recitals. Her mother, Martha Hickox-Trowbridge, ' was baptized in Wilton in 1743-4. She was the daughter of Silas Hickox, born Jan. 8, 17 14, (page 28 1) and married, first, March 9, 1763, Josiah Trowbridge, and second, Aug. 6, 1777, David Lockwood. Silas Hickox, the grandfather of Mrs. John Boalt, was the son of a "good man," Deacon Benjamin (and Sarah Lockwood-Selleck ) Hickox. first of Stamford and next of Norwalk (Wilton Parish). Deacon Benjamin Hickox was the first deacon of the Wilton Church, and it is a singular and suggestive coincidence that Deacon Benj. Hickox, of Woodbury, (see Cothren page 566) should have been about the same age and have died the very same year, and had a son Silas, as was and did and had Norwalk's Deacon Benjamin Hickox. Silas Hickox 1 father of Mrs. David Lockwood) received from his worths' sire advantageous Wilton property, a portion of the Hickox estate being the vicinity-site of the present Con- gregational Church in that town. His mother was the remarkable Kellogg-bride referred to in sub foot-note, page 272, and the care which he (Silas) took of his niece, Mrs. Job Burlock (grandmother of Mrs. Nathan Warren and Mrs. LeGrand Cannon, of Troy, and great-grandmother of Mrs. Benjamin DeForest, of New York, see pages 278-280) is trust- evidence. That niece, over whom the Court, in 1748, appointed him a guardian, lived to see trouble. Her husband died at his own door-sill, and she, because of political (prop- erty) complications, fled, to marry, however, for a second husband, an English General who has fine notice in the annals of Nova Scotia. The history of Mrs. John Boalt's Hickox blood and affinity is study-repaying and forms a no mean topic of Norwalk genealogical and biographical recitation. She herself, and it is no surprise that it w as so, was a New England woman whose virtues such a pattern son as the late Hon. Chas. Leicester Boalt, of Sandusky, Ohio, naturally inherited. She was, as has been expressed of her, "a most unusual woman, stamping on each child her individual traits, of perfect honesty and fine personal character. The children (she had three sons and eight daughters) always spoke of their mother as a woman to be greatly respected and revered."2