Norwalk

" Dec. 1801 and January and Feb. till 22 day y' most moderate ever known in ye memory of ye oldest man. No frost in ye ground or snow on it or ice in ye harbor, but warm and pleasant. Could . . . dig stone, lay fence or any work like spring, but ye 22 February a smart N. E. snow storm and ye first of ye winter; 23 clear and cold; 24 pleasant; 25 and 26 rain ; 27 and 28 mild, N. E. wind, harbor clear of ice, moderate. North River open most of ye time. After that common spring weather. Recorded by Eliakim Smith 67 years old." "This was the name of what might be termed the south-easternmost point of the Partrick shore pur- chase. When the tide was out Barren Marsh, to the seaward of high water mark, unbelied its name, but when the tide was in, its " barren " conditions seemed I somewhat reversed. X OR WALK J! of this stream rose Hayes' E Till. on near-by Piatt's Hill' date E. A. Woodward's harbor home) was an upland Indian burying ground. There appear to have been no Indian ceme- teries of Importance at the settlement's center! To tile southwest Of Batten Marsh lay " l*:irtrick's horse." and the site, formerly, of the Government beacon indicating the entrance to the harbor, and still to the west- ward the ancient Honton (afterward Raymond, L'omsWk ami Kcyscrr Island, P'roni this point still west to Helden Point ran a line of Coast territory terminating a short distance from the Indian Xaramake's burial-place at licldcn Point The shore line thence took a northerly course as far as the head of l-ampaskashankc or Wilson Cove where, south-facing the shimmering waters of the Sound, stood the house here depicted. TttB A.s l/ l.s nOt'TOX ttOMB. % "inn u lini fr-mi a m.Liiniri'-re'ir>>tlii,*i*,l 'H.lnfr. The above pictured premises at Pampaskashankc lieach constituted the domicile- site of Capt. Ksaias and I'hcebe Houtotl and their seven children —Phoebe, Nathan, l.ydia. Stephen. Samuel. Hannah and Josiah. (Japt. Honton was only a few generations remove 'Tlim* -va* nlsii a Pbttl** Mill, Nil i, 111 llu* , ;i-i ililrin^ llif civil w:lr ill llllrlv mid yi'.ir- :ijju. Iliuitiul or tc4itn«a»i "I I'i'i*' Mill. Tin- mime i" 'w-<li vhm~. ;u morn uuil wi*. Mfeune'r hvflffrttj iln* patrtutfe iti- imqtll ^imialilv iniiM- from tin- Piatt OWIH-fi'litp ui lliv I M-ri|ilinti •■ WV liiivf u e'"Uiui - i- Mitw tin' |iru|ivrtv jirii|»-i r v. t'ljn'- 1 1 Ml. So- i . fit ll»iJ -iri-><-M time. of nil fn"lit-iti''i* livlini«in^ In tin- Hunuot Cnlllijli*- lietttiiKR ni ihv Bn>ti Norwitlk Mai- in brotben^ wlm Cimrvh. ti ts connected l»,*ia bridge *irfth the nwlu liiiw thin- Iniinit er:ivrl in brj£? r|iinnl itii'< hint!, unit i-. ji li'iiitUiunr \v-ivi' vr.olii'i] -.In-lv]] ut I lit* -'i'lii^ Islaml, fotMJI :i lfcg-*taff l»i which It* HWWTi l-nrlru-k riu'-.j-li'iii.orv 56 NORWALK. from John Bouton, the Huguenot settler, but he was a staunch loyalist and a strong Churchman. He lived to a good age, and his energetic-visaged, portly form, seated upon the saddle, as he rode to Church, (St. Paul's, Nonvalk) making his gallant salutation to his friends, the Cannons (family of Samuel and Sarah Cannon, who were the parents of Le- Grand Cannon, of Troy, and grand-parents of Col. LeGrand B. Cannon, of New York, 1896) when he passed their mansion (now Miss Julia A. Lockwood's residence) at the sum- mit of Mill Hill, is to this day recalled, while his business transactions with the British governor of New York (Tryon) are a matter of record. Phoebe, the oldest child, quiet but principled, and of name Hopkins-derived, married the son (Eliakim Warren) of a not dis- tant Runckingheage neighbor, and removed at the age of forty-four, from the head of the Roaton to the head, or nearly so, of the Hudson waters. Nathan, the second child, reached majority the year following the Declaration of Independence. He had evidently inherited his father's sea-fondness, as there is old mention of his youthful trips on the Sound. He married at twenty-six, selecting a minister from His Majesty's late Long Island temporary possessions to perform the wedding ceremony. His two daughters, Mary and Esther, be- came subsequently and respectively, Mrs. Nathan Warren and Mrs. LeGrand Cannon. ,sl' Lyclia. third daughter of Captain Esaias Bouton, married Stephen Kellogg, from whom de- scended Josiah Kellogg of Lower Clapboard Hills, (1896.) Stephen, the next son, married Hannah Camp, which two were the grand-parents of Dr. George B. Bouton, a recent well- known physician of Westport. Samuel, next younger than Stephen, married Eunice Smith, and is represented by branches of the Jennings and other families. Hannah,1 'This daughter of Esaias Bouton, brought up at the seaside, became the efficient wife of the inland resident, Jonathan Camp, 3d. and she invested the Camp house at " East Rocks" (stitl standing) with history-industrious and inviting interest. The Camp farm, an inheritance to their children from the heads of the house, Jonathan1", and Ann Camp, comprised a no mean landed estate. At the immediate East Rocks portion of it, Mrs. Jonathan Camn3& was a quiet power and her house built, it would appear, some years subsequently to her marriage and which, :is is the case with the original Norwalk Jonathan Camp hearthstone, is in existence to-day, was an old- time family seat. She here lived in peaceful, sensi- ble simplicity. Among the relatives who visited her was her nephew, the Hon. Esaias Warren, mayor of Troy, N. Y., who, on one occasion, was accompanied by his daughters, Phoebe and Eliza. These sisters being at that time in somewhat delicate health, it was deemed advisable to consult, while in Norwalk, Dr. Richmond, a Saugatuck physician of repute, whose prescription much relieved the parent's anxiety. The Dr. counseled neither medicine nor medical attention, but simply healthful in and out-door exercise and recreation. Phcehe married a Washington, I). C., Tayloe, and Eliza (Mrs. John Paine of Troy) was the grandmother of the late Dowager Duchess of Marl- borough, now Lady Beresford, whose step-son, the present Duke of Marlborough, recently took to him- self an American ( Vanderbilt ) bride. It maybe looked upon as something of a coincidence that the New England ancestors of both Lady Beresford and the Countess of Castellaine lived within nine miles of each other — one at Ludlow's Fairfield home, ami the other at Ludlow's Norwalk purchase. Mrs. Hannah (Bouton) Camp died at the Camp home, in the arms of her daughter-in-iaw, the pres- ent Mrs. Jonathan Camp, of Cannon Street, tier sister-in-law, Rebecca, married Daniel Nash, of West- port, father of the 1896 brothers Edward II. and An- drew C. of that town. This Daniel was a man of pur- pose as well as of plenty. In the month of Feb., 1844, (he was then 74 years of age) having banking matters in the metropolis to attend to, he left Norwalk on Monday morning by steamboat from Old Well. As business hours were over before he reached the city, he spent the night with the Wood's in Brooklyn. On Tuesday he transacted what he had to do, and re- j turned again to Brooklyn. On Wednesday morning I the mercury had fallen, and it was very cold, lie [ started from Brooklyn, bound for home, but the East I river was filled with ice, and neither the Norwalk nor NORWALK. 57 at the age of twenty-seven, wedded Jonathan Camp, ^ the father of the late Jonathan, whose widow (Mary Cannon Camp) is now spending the evening of a long life in her peaceful Cannon Street home. Josiah, the last child of Esaias and Phoebe Bouton, who was born in the winter of 1768, died unmarried. Within the seaside, side-hill, Bouton home-enclosure, and for many years surviving the old house, stood the bearings-appropriated, ruinous chimney, which seemed to struggle still to keep up the family memory. At its hearthstone — to-day entirely gone — when the flames at the nativity vigil " went roaring up," the farm hands were dismissed for their Yule-tide holiday. Old Christmas, which began on Christmas eve at the four miles distant parish Church, " all dressed in living green," and taper-blazing sometimes to the very spire, was a festal season at the story of which has the family's great-grand Warren, of Mount Ida, er of the house had gone mas stars looked down tant from the old home, sister-in-law, Rebecca made the candles and tuck, every Dec. 24, to Paul's, Norwalk) for il- the Bouton homestead, beendelightfullytold by son, Dr. Nathan Bouton Troy. After the found- to rest, and the Christ- upon his grave, not dis- his daughter Hannah's Camp ( Mrs. Dan'l. Nash) sent them from Sauga- the father's church' (St. luminating purposes. THE ESAIAS BOUTON CHIMNEY-REMAINS. Bridgeport boats would attempt the trip. Me return- ed to Brooklyn, and waited until Thursday morning, when, the weather continuing intensely cold, the only satisfaction to be obtained was that the Bridgeport steamer would sail on Friday morning. He staid with the Wood's until that date, and left them early Friday morning for home. The river was still full of ice, and the ferry boat was consequently delayed, so that when he reached the New York pier, the Bridgeport boat had just swung clear of it, and he was left behind, lie must get to Connecticut that day, and he started at once for the Harlem depot, trains from which station ran as far as White Plains. Here, also, he was too late, and he now set out an foot for Westport. Fortunately he was soon overtaken by a rider, who helped him over five miles of the route. He then again took to walking, but was soon invited by a friendly sea captain to a place in his sleigh. The two rode together several miles, and the seaman, well pleased with his companion, carried him quite be-