Norwalk

" * Item. I give to my sonne James one hundred pounds to be paid him when he shall be a bachelor of Art of two years standinge, in the University of Cam- bridge, for I desire he should be bredd up a scholler. And I also give him and my minde is that he shall have thirtie pounds a year paid him by my Executrix out of lands and tents., (tenements) from the tyme of his admission to be a scholler in Cambridge until he be or have tyme there to be a Master of Arts." To my sons Nathaniel and Jeremy, to either of them a moiety and half part of the farm, messuage, lands and tenements both free and copy, lying and being in Birch or Elsewhere, in Essex which I lately purchased of Wm. Brock, gent, to be equally divided between them and they to enter upon the same at their several ages of one and twenty. My Executrix shall lay out six hundred and fifty pounds within one year after my decease and shall purchase with the same as much lands and tenements within the county of Essex as the same will buv in a frugal and good manner, to be assured to the use of my two younger sons Samuel & Joseph. And my wife Anne shall have the lands and tenements in Birch which I have given to Nathaniel and Jeremy, and the lands &c. to be purchased for Samuel and Joseph until these four sons shall sever- ally accomplish their ages of sixteen years &c. To my three daughters Mary, Anna and Sara three hun- dred pounds apiece, whereof two hundred pounds apiece are to be paid at their several ages of Eight- een. And the other hundred at one and twenty. To my loving friends Mr. Hooker, Mr. Nathaniel Rogers, 380 Indian-cleared " four acres " constituted the pioneers' home which, despite its environment- severity was a cherished spot to parents and children. It would have been absurd, under existing disadvantages, to have expected luxury and inconsistent to have attempted dec- oration-display; nevertheless those quaint structures, lighted by their diminutive six-by- nine panes, were pervaded by a tranquil atmosphere and held in affectionate regard. Peace, truth and love of liberty there focussed and they were the hallowed abodes of purity and piety. All honor to the lordly depositories of old family trophies abroad and the castellated shrines of valor beyond the sea. All honor, also, and all honor forever to the virtue-roofs of Xorwalk days departed. These were humble abodes, but within them disquieting doubt was not a hearth-plant, and their reverent dwellers read and believed their Bible, and read and recognized "God in Nature," God in the Nation, "God in History," and God IN the Home. Mr. Daniel Rogers and Mr. Collins twenty shillings apice as a token of my love. To son Thomas my great oil cistern of lead, so as he give and deliver to my son John, the little cistern of lead for oil which I late bought and gave to Thomas. To my brother John Maiden and mv sister his wife twenty shillings apiece. To Henry Stracy, my kinsman five pounds. To my brothers John Reeve and William Stacy (Stra- cy?) forty shillings apiece, and to my brother Jeremy Reeve twentv shillings as a token of mv love." "The residue to my wife, whom I make sole ex ecutrix, she to enter upon a bond of two thousand pounds to my said brothers John Reeve and William Stacy (Stracy?) with condition to prove this will within two months after my decease and to pav all the legacies and perform all things contained therein, My said brothers to be Supervisors.'' '■ W. Lyngwood one of the witnesses." " Russell, 20." END OF VOLUME I. Supplement - - TO - - GENEALOGY (IX ALPHABETICAL SK*V RX( li ] Gf Ancient Nan-original Home-Let Households. ■fat* WtfMi — tJIMttiMti .. .-■ UKI.UKN Si. Jiius SniHk IfoMi.-.! |..\n. (Si-i- Page BELDEX' William Belden1" and his brother Richard1' (2) appear to have together settled (1635-6) in YVethersfield, Conn. From William1"1 and his w ile Thomasine (spelled by William Belden1" Commacine), who were married in 1646, all the Norwalk Baldens have descended. William Belden1" lived in Wethersfield, and there died in about 1660 leaving these children : Samuel1", born July 20, 1647, removed to Norwalk; Daniel1"', born November 20, 1648 ;3 John1", born January 9, 1650, removed to Norwalk; Susannah, born November 5, 1651 ; Marie, born February 2, 1653 ; Nathaniel, born November 13, 1654. 1 Anciently spelled " Boyldon." 2Kiehardlst, brother of William Belden1*1, was in Wethersfield in 1635, where his estate was invento- ried in 1665. He had a son John, who had a son Joseph, who had a son Thomas, who married Mary, daughter of Stephen Mix of Wethersfield. Thomas and Mary (Mix) Belden had a son Thomas, born August 9, 1732, who married August 1, 17."i3, Abi- gail Porter of East Hartford, Conn. Thomas and Abigail (Porter) Belden had a daughter Mary, who married Frederick Butler of Hartford. These had eight children, the youngest of whom was Korwalk's distinguished Dr. Thomas B. Butler, who died June J, 1873. (See page 25,7.) 8The story of Daniel Belden1", oldest brother of John1" and Samuel1" of Norwalk, is pathetic. In September, 1696, (see pages 156 and 160) his wife and several children were killed bv the Indians in Deerfield, Mass., where he lived. He was sold to the French and compelled to stay in Canada, where he was found, with other captives, by Cols. Peter and Abraham Schuyler, who were the Commissioners delegated to bear to Canada the copy of the articles of peace between England and France. The Sclluylers took Daniel Belden1'1 to Albany and cared for himself and children until the arrival, from Norwalk, of his brother John1'1, who paid his bills and arranged for a three weeks' Norwalk visit of Daniel1" This visit of the sufferer and his children ended. Daniel1' returned to his former Deerfield home, where he mar- ried, second, Feb. 17. 1699, Hepzibah Wells. His first wife, who was Indian-slain in 169R, was Eliza- beth Smith, granddaughter of Samuel1" and Elizabeth Smith (the ancestors of the Ebenezer Smith family- line of Norwalk, see note column, page 363) and a grandchild, also, of Nathaniel1'1 and Elizabeth (Deal- ing) Eoote of Wethersfield. The children of Daniel Belden1 1 (by his first wife) were: W illiam21"1, born Dec. 16. 1G71, came to Norwalk; Elizabeth, born Oct. 8, 1673, Mrs. Ebenezer B. Brooks; Nathaniel, born Jan. 26, 1675 ; Mary, born Nov. 17, 1677, Mrs. James Trowbridge; Sarah, born March 14, 1082, Mrs. Benjamin Burt; Esther, born Sept. 21), IBS!!, Mrs. Ephraim Clark of Stratford ; Abigail1'1, born March 10, 16X6, died in infancy; Samuel, born April 10. 1687 ; John, born Aug. 24, lGS'.t.'died one day old; Abigail8"1, born Aug. IS, 1690; John, born Feb. 28. 1693; Thankful, born Dec. 21, 1695, died in infancy. Ebenezer Burt Brooke, or Brooks, who married Elizabeth, oldest daughter of Daniel Belden1". was a son of William and Mary (Burt) Brooks. Mercy, sister of Ebenezer B. Brooks, married, as his first wife, Dec. 4. 1690. Samuel Carter of Deerfield, Mass., and later of Norwalk. (See note columns, page 366.) Ebenezer2"", son of Ebenezer1" and Elizabeth (Bel- den) Brooks, is probably the individual mentioned in the Ridgeficld Town Records who married, Aug. 27, 1730, Jane St. John. His cousin Christopher, son of Benjamin and Sarah (Belden) Burt, married Dec. 21. 1727, Joanna, sister of Jane St. John. The Butts came from Deerfield to Norwalk, and went afterward , about 1713, to Ridgefield. Nathaniel, next child of Daniel Belden1", was one of the Deerfield Indian-captured Beldens of Sept. 16, 169C. He died at the age of eighteen. 3«4 NORWALK. Samuel Belden1-' and his brother John1" came to Norwalk. Samuel was unmarried, but John1"' here founded a family.1 John Belden,1" son of William1" and Thomasine Belden, was, with his brother Samuel,1", a resident of Norwalk, where he married Ruth (see page 88>, daughter of Samuel1" and Ruth (More or Moore) Hayes, and had: John201; SamuelM, removed to Stamford ; Ruth, born 1690 ; baptized October 7, 1694 ; died 1704. Ann, Mrs. Justus Bush, of Rye.2 John2"1, son of John1" and Ruth (Hayes) Belden, married May 9, 1728. Ruhama, daughter of Capt. John Hill of Westerly, R. I., and had : John3"1, born April 26, 1729; Thomas, born March 25, 1731, unmarried; Hezekiah, born April 25, 1736, unmarried; Mary, born January 26, 1739; Samuel8rd John Belden8"1, son of John2"" and Ruhama (Hill) Belden, married Rebecca,3 daughter of John1" and Mary (Betts) Bartlett (see page 296), and had: Mary Belden, daughter of Daniel1", married James Trowbridge April 19, 1698. Daniel2na, namesake son of Daniel1", was one of the victims, at the age of sixteen, at the Deerfield slaughter of 1696. Sarah, third daughter of Daniel1", married Ben- jamin, son of David Burt, and grandson of Henry Burt of Roxbury and Springfield. Sarah Belden was married to Benjamin Burt December 16, 1702. Her husband was born November 17, 1780. Samuel, sou of Daniel Belden11, was wounded in the 1696 attack but lived to marry, February 26. 1724-, Anna Thomas. She died in a lew months and her husband married, second, September 26, 1726, Elizabeth, daughter of Nathaniel Ingrahatn of Had- ley, Mass. Samuel Belden died December 17, 1750. Abigail Belden2u,i, daughter of Daniel1'1, was, it is thought, wounded by a shot from the fort in Deer- field. John Belden, son of Daniel1*', fell with his mother by a savage blow in 1696, and his sister Thankful also. ^ohn Belden1*1 and his brother Samuellst have maiden Norwalk registration 1671 — 1673. The first was, at the first date, twenty-one and the second twenty-four years of age. John was an active man, and an early Norwalk soldier, whose services were acknowledged by the settlers. He evidently grew in influence, as on April 30, 1690, he was town ap- pointed as one of a committee of four to fortify the meeting house, and on January 16, 1694, was chosen