Norwalk

Capt. Johnson, Sir: I have been talking with Mr. Isaacs (Ralph) and we both say you are in the right to sell to them that will give you the most and pay you the best. So you may act as you think will be most to your ad- vantage and best for the whole. Here * two lads * w ill ship cheap for eighteen shillings, York money, a month, and I have got them to stay one or two hours for to hear from yon. They did belong to the man of war at York. - -From your friend, John Cannon. P. S. I have sent the money by the bearer, my negro witch. £5, 10s, 8d old tenor. NORWALK. 333 Benjamin, born July 17, 1778. Charles, born June 7, 1795. William, born Nov. 5, 1788. John, born Sept. 21, 1799. Benjamin, named for his grandfather Isaacs, which grandfather bore the first name of his Rumsey grandparent, was born on the site of the still-remembered sunny cottage, occupied later by Eben Whitney, on the Earle hill of 1896. The infant had just entered upon existence when its Belden aunt (Mrs. William St. John), herself a young mother, had the horse saddled and galloping from her home (.Morgan Avenue, 1S96) saluted her little nephew, who had by six days passed the first anniversary of his birth, when Tryon burned and devastated her own and the Norwalk property generally. The infant matured into the "Judge Isaacs" of sixty years ago, of gravity of manner, and yet, like his brother Charles, not entirely destitute of a touch of humor, possibly, and who had his "office" close by "Isaacs Hill", a little west of the present Wall Street station of the Danbury and Norwalk Railroad. He married Nov. 18, 1798, Frances, daughter of Dr. Richard and Ann (Terrill) Bryan.' formerly of Patterson, N. J., but later of Norwalk, and had : Isaac, born Sept. [4, 1799; (went West.) Susan, born Nov. 16, 1801. Richard, born Nov. 14, 1803; (unmarried.) Elizabeth Hoyt,2 born Oct. 21 , 1805. "Dr. Richard Bryan was a foster son of Nor- walk. His wife, Ann Terrill was born (Barbadoes) Dec. 22, 1753. Their children were John Terrill, Mehitable Clark, Joseph, Ann, Frances (Mrs. Benj. Isaacs ), Maria, William, Richard S. and Sophia. The Bryan home still stands facing the harbor in the rear of the 1896 B.-attv Manufactory, of Norwalk. It was an hospitable hearthstone, of which the three sisters, Ann, Maria and Sophia, were the last occupants. Joseph, brother of these sisters, married a Spanish lady; William, married Jane Cook, and Richard S., was forty years ago, the distinguished "Dr. Bryan" of Troy, N. Y. 3Elizabeth II. Isaacs married Samuel Lynes, born Feb. 16. 1798, son of Benj. and Sarah (Coley) Lynes, and had : Benj., Joseph, (married Edith, daughter of Geo. and Mary (Russell) Piatt of New York, and had Benj., died young); Joseph Isaac; and Sophia A. ( Mrs. E. P. Weed ). Mrs. E. P. Weed was the daugh- ter-in-law of John A. Weed of Norwalk. The two Norwalk brothers, John A. and Rev. William B. Weed were sons of Daniel and Martha (W eed) Bene- dict of New Canaan. The boys were brought up on the edge of the "Bouton Hoyt Pond", a basin of water at the upper end of Five Mile River and fed from said river as it flowed through the valley between Harm s and Brushy Ridges. Daniel Weed's property adjoined that of " Miller Hin t's" and was the seat of a"qniet habitation" His thoughtful son, John A., was for some time an inmate of the Nehemiah Bene- dict home which stood the first house below the hand- some 1896 Dr. Thompson grounds on the west slope of Brushy Ridge. The lad grew to prove a promis- ing young man. He was public school instructor for a time and afterward through acquaintance with Dr. J. A. McLean of Norwalk, became familiar with drugs, and started, prosperously, in that business. He was for many years a reliable and highly honored citizen of the town, in which he married Emeline daughter of Henry Chichester, and had one son, the late Ed- ward P. Weed who married Dec. 19, 1S65, Sophia A. daughterof Samuel and Elizabeth Hoyt (Isaacs) Lynes and grand-daughter of Benj. Isaacs2'1-. The children of Edward P. and Sophia A. Weed are : Samuel Lynes and Edward Payson. The older of these brothers, Samuel L , married Feb. 24, 1892, Edith, daughter of Edward Street, and had Ralph Lynes, born Oct. 13, 189^, died Apr. 11, 1897. Rev. William B., born 1811, brother of John A. Weed, took early and naturally to books, and became a clergyman of brilliant mind and fervent zeal, and one whose sermons bore evidence of extensive inves- tigation as well as extraordinary industry. He was for several years pastor of the First Congregational Church, Norwalk, and was held in lofty and loving regard by his people. He married, July 7, 1840, Har- riet A. Miller of North Stamford, and had a daugh- ter, who died young, and one son, William. 334 NORWALK. Joseph Bryan, bom Aug. 13, 1807; (died young-.) Benjamin, born June 6, 1809; (went West.) Ann Terrill,' born March 5, 181 1. Isaac Scudder, born Jan. 7, 1813; (went West.) Sophia Bryan,3 born June 3, 181 5. William Bryan,3 born April 10, 1818; (went to Richmond, Va.) William, born Nov. 5, 1788, son of Isaac Scudder and Susannah Isaacs, married Ann, daughter of Capt. Robert and Sarah Wasson, and had : Alfred, Charles, Susan and Benjamin. Charles, born June 7, 1795, son of Isaac Scudder and Susannah Isaacs, married Nov. 20, 1 81 5, Rebecca, daughter of Henry and Rebecca (Fitch) Betts, and had: Susan, born May 28, 1819, an only child, who married Dr. Asa Hill.4 John, youngest son of Isaac Scudder and Susannah Isaacs, married Elizabeth Ann, daughter of Joseph and Betsey St. John, and had : George Edwin of California, John Milton of Iowa and Marietta (Mrs. David Stow). Matthias St. John3*1-, (Matthias 2d-, Matthias'"-) who was about ten years old at the time of the public child-registration in 1672, married Rachel, born Dec. 16, 1667, daugh- ter of John and Abigail (Marvin) Bouton. He had : Matthew, John, Benjamin, Rachel and Matthias'1"'-, born 1695. This son, Matthias4"1-, had three children : Catharine, Eliza- beth and Hannah. He died in 1732. His children, with the exception of Catharine, (Mrs. Joseph Marvin) were just coming to age when their father's property was apportioned on Dec. 2 1, 1749. Elizabeth, immediately afterward, married John Abbott, and Hannah married Lemuel, brother of Nehemiah and son of James Rogers3"1-. (See page 162.) Benjamin, the brother of Matthias4"1-, and son of Matthias34, was designated by said Matthias?'1-, "my loving son Benjamin St. John of Xorwalk." The spring of 1728 was about to open and sixty-six winters of the life of Matthias 3d- were closing, when said Matthias gave " the house I now live in" (Earle's hill 1896) to his son Benjamin. This son removed, in [744, to the vicinity of Comstock's Park, in the north-eastern part of " Canaan Parish.' [See page 258.) He had four sons : Matthias, David, Caleb and Ben- Benjamin, oldest child of Samuel and Elizabeth [ ^Sophia B. Isaacs married George Lockwood of H. Lvnes, married Annette D. Wilkins of Mobile, New Rochelle, N. V., and had Elizabeth (died young); Mary (Mrs. Rufus Zogbaum) and Sophia (Mrs. Henry B. Stokes). .HVilliam Bryan Isaacs married Julia, daughter of Dr. Dove of Richmond, Va. , and had John I)., Win. B., Frank B. and Annie (Mrs. Dr. Moore of Parkers- burgh, West Virginia). 4Dr. Asa Hill, a native of Norwalk, in which place he was born Nov. 20, 1815, was a Dr. of Dental Ala., and had several children, onlv one of whom Elizabeth Ma rion (Mrs. James W. Sloss) survives She has three children. 'Married first Dr. Benj. Rosseau of Troy, N. Y. (no issue). Married, second, Frederick, son of Wil liamrf. and Esther (Cannon) St. John, and bad: Fan- nie I., who married Dr. William A., son of William S. and Catharine (Hawley) Lockwood, and had chil- dren as per note page 293. , Science and a successful practitioner in his professio. NORWALK. 335 jamin2d-. His son Matthias' married Naomi Weed, and possessed the upper part of " Canoe Hill" district, and his home was on what has since been known as ■'Ferris Hill". His old moss-draped orchard trees are seen to-day and remind of their proprietor, the great-grand- father of one (Mrs. L. D. Alexander2 of New York City and New Canaan, Conn.) who is nobly and effectively engaged in a work which has hitherto been only fitfully and fragment- arily performed, that of collecting St. John data, and assorting facts and comparing figures, with the intention of presenting an accurate history of the important family. David, son of Benj. St. John'5'-, was the father of New Canaan's honored Samuel St. John of "Church Hill". Samuel St. John married the only daughter of Isaac and Hannah (Benedict) Richards of lower Smith's Ridge, (see page 122) and these were the parents of the benevolent Dr. Samuel St. John and his three brothers and one sister : Wil- liam, Isaac, David and Hannah. The Samuel St. John home was a typical hearthstone. Hannah, the only daughter, was the wife of Rev. Theophilus Smith, and several of the sons were successful Southern business men. (See note page 123.) Caleb, son of Benj. St. John15'-, had only one son, Eliphalet, the proprietor of the boys' school, on the south slope of Canoe Hill. Benj. St. John '-"*', brother of Caleb, and son of Benj. St. John'5'-, lived and died in New Canaan. James (son of Matthias 2d- and grandson of Matthias15'-) St. John, had a son Daniel, who had Nathan, who was the father of David'5'-, born 1763, who married Mary, born Dec. 17, 1764, daughter of Jonathan 2d- and Mary (Burwell) Camp. David'st- and Mary (Camp) St. John lived on Seer Hill, in the home, which was occupied later, by their son William He was one of Norwalk's beneficent citizens, and was appreciated and esteemed by his fellow townsmen. He had one daughter, Rebecca, who married Ira Cole, who has three children, viz. : Lena, Anna and Alice.