Norwalk

Charles Jessup, a senior brother of Francis Wright Jessup, married Sept. 9, 1821, Abigail, daughter of Hon. Samuel Burr and Charity Sherwood of Westport, and a sister of Sally Sherwood, who married Hon. Clark Bissell, LL.D. of Norwalk, and at one time Governor of the State of Connecticut. Clark Bissell, born Sept. 7, 1782, and only about twenty-five years of age when he came to Fairfield County, yet contributed to this County's valuable legal stock by his sound thought, and by his apprehension, advocacy and appli- cation of the principles of sound, solid jurisprudence. He was a man of inviolate integrity, and his home, as its to this day finely preserved appearance indicates, was one of the choice hearthstones of New England ; a hearthstone at which the distinguished father and his children were blest by the reaching, rearing and remaining influence of a wife and mother who had no ambition to shine in the world of glitter, but who, in the world of goodness, was a bright, particular star.2 The brief story of Robert Beacham, as one of the enterprising founders of Norw alk, is not altogether interest-destitute, and it is somewhat of an annals lesson-loss to drop the pioneer's memory-testimony to his few year's service and sympathy in their perils and pains by discarding the appellation of " Beacham's Lane" and "Beacham's Bridge." Gen. I) N. Couch, married Aug. ;i . 1S54, Mary i 'The grandmother of Capt. Richard Hanford was Caroline Crocker, of Taunton, Mass., and had : Sarah, daughter of Joseph Kctchum, the founder of Alice L. h. July 6, died July 5, 1SS4. I the Norwalk and Westport Ketchum families, which Le>\-\rd Crocker, b. Sept. 26, 1856. triple Haynes, Hanford and Ketchum alliance was a Alice L., daughter of Darius N. and Mary C. strong union. Couch, married, June 8, 1SS1, H. LeRoy Randall, of | ^Judge Bissell was born in Lebanon, Conn., but New Milford, Conn , and had : came from Westport to Norwalk. He first resided Alice N., b. May 5, 18S2. 1 upon the ( iXyh ) Cow les place on The Green. In 1816, Ciiari.es Cot e n. b. June 21, 18X4, died July 29, J he bought of Amos Belden, heir of Thomas Belden, 1885. I the hitter's homestead, which has since been known as I. .-onard Crocker, son of Darius N.and Mary C. BisselPs Corner and occupied by the family. The Couch, married. Apr. 25, [882, Cecilia M. Francis, of I law office, a part of the old Belden house, and now Taunton, Mass., and had: converted into a Cranberry Plains dwelling, stood in Cecil Thom as, b. May 20, 1881; the west yard. Here its ow ner, who was an assiduous Caroline Avrs, b. Apr. 11, 1885; student, was engaged by day, while about the last I>arius Nash, b. July 2b, iS(hi, died July X, 1893. light to he extinguished on The Green at night was Mis. Leonard C. Conch, died May 20, 181)4. that of the library lamp in his near-by-dwelling. 102 HOME- LOT IV RICHARD Hol,MKS, of Home-Lot No. 4. son of Francis, 1648, of Stamford, than whom there was hardly a more important man in the settlement, was seemingly the iron and brass-monger of the new colony, and lived next neighbor north of Mark St. John. His grounds and the site of the ancient "Smithery" are now partly covered by the East Norwalk Methodist Episcopal Church. His industry— that of nail, gun. lock and possibly blacksmith— was held in estimation by the proprietors. On May 30, 1655, town meeting action was taken whereby two of Xorwalk's principal men were deputed - for the fetching of the tools pertaining to the Smith from Stratford." Mr. Holmes was a thrifty man, and his history is of interest. It is inferred that he was not actually the first " smith," but he must have succeeded, by only a short time, that primus artisan. Himself and wife Sarah,1 had at least two children, but no mention of these is made in his will. This deed was drawn Oct. 31, 1704, in which he names his wife and his " near kinswoman," Mehitable Judge Bfewll died Sept. 15, 1K5.7.. He completed his early professional preparation under the direction of lion. Roger Minot Sherman, LL.D., the "Cicero" of Fairfield County and of \vho>e attainment* the Connecticut bench justly boasted. Mr. Sherman, who established himself at about live imd-twentv years of ajre in N orwalk, was one of the most brilliant young men in Ni iv England. I le was born in Woburn, Mass., Mai 22, 1773. bis father being Rev, Josiah Sherman, his mother a daughter of Hon. James Minot of Massa- ehuseits, and his uncle (Hon. Roger Sherman) a Connecticut signer of the Declaration of Independ- ence, lie married, Dec. 19, 17'A Elizabeth, daugh- ter of Dr. William Gould of Stanford and New Haven, and the home, in this town, of the newly-wedded two held, probably, the youngest bride that Norwalk has everknown. Twins, named William Gould and James Minot, were here horn, one or both of whom here died. The parents removed, in 1X07, to Fairfield, where the father, having achieved legal eminence, died in 1*44. and the mother four years later. Martha, sister of Judge Roger M. Sherman,, married Rev. Justus Mitchell, pastor of the New Canaan Congregational Church, and whose name is to this day there held in veneration. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell, the la tier of whom was distinguished for exceptional personal excellence, resided on Rnyties Ridge (now Owenoke avenue') and in the house still standing, but recently improved by Mr. W E. Bond, on that almost peerless New Canaan street. The children of Rev. Justus and Martha Sherman Mitchell were El.iZAnKTii bom in 17X0. who married Charles Thompson of New Voik, whose son, Charles Chaun- cc> Thompson, was the fa i her of Mrs. Chailes 1). Matthews of Norwalk; Sui-.kmax, who married Hannah Fitch of New Canaan, the daughter of whom wedded the well-known Joseph Silliman of that town; Minot, the White Plains jurist of wide reputation, and CitAUNCKY Root, born 17K6, of signal gifts, who, marrying a daughter of Hon. Robert Johnson, had Martha, born 1X10, who in iKjjj married Isaac Depew, the father of Hon. Chauncey Mitchell Depew , LL.D. and President of the Hudson River and New York Central Railroad- Taylor Sherman, who came to and who practiced law in Norwalk contemporaneously with Roger Minot Sherman, and whose remains are interred in the "Town House Hill " cemetery, was the youngest child of Judge Daniel and Mindwe.ll Sherman of Woodbury, Conn. The Mitchell -Shermans, before referred to, sprang from Capt. John Sherman of Essex Co. England, 1634, ant^ Taylor Sherman from Capt. John Sherman's cousin, Hon. Samuel Sherman. The children of Taylor and Elizabeth Sherman were Charles Robert, born Sept. 26, 17NK; Dantgi., born March jS, 1790; Hktsv, born Dec. 7, 1791. Charles Robert Sherman married May S, 1810, Mary, born Dec. 2K, 17X7, daughter of Isaac and Mary (Raymond) Hoyt of "Old Well." These had Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Reese of Ohio; James Sherman; Mis. Amelia McComb of Ohio; Mrs. Julia Whitloek of Ohio; William Tecuraseh Sherman, born February 8th, 1820, General U. S. A.; Lampson R. Sherman of Iowa; Hon. John Sherman, U. S. Senate; Mr*. Susan Hartley, Ohio; Hoyt Sherman of Iowa, and Mrs. Fiances Beecher Moulton of Ohio. Mis. President Porter of New Haven, claims Judge Taylor Sherman as a descendant, through his mother ( M indwell Tarlor] of the Norwalk Tavlor failu.. ■A daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Webb. Probably no children survived their father. X O R \V A L K Warner, (subsequently Mrs. Jos. Olmsted, Sr.') to whom he made a certain bequeathment, and after his wife's decease, gave all his movable estate. He also remembers Jonathan Slau- son, " whom I brought up from a child," and Samuel Hayes, and Thomas and Richard liouton, whose father's house-lot cornered upon his own, and the nine daughters of his two brothers, Stephen Holmes of Stamford and John Holmes of Bedford. In connection with this Holmes-Warner mention, the following as yet unexplained transaction, in which one of the partners was John Pell, nephew and heir of Thomas Pell, "Gentleman of the bed- chamber to King Charles I, and first lord and Proprietor of the Manor of Pelham," is recorded in Xorwalk Town Records, Vol. I, and reads thus : •• . / trite copy of a deed of sole between John Pell unto Ralph Warner, recorded this Wtli of May, m~r>r "To whom it may CONCERN', that I, John Pell, proprietor of the Manor of Ann Hook's Neck,' have sold unto Ralph Warner, Blacksmith, all those my horses, mares, colts and horse kinds that are now being or belonging to Norwalk bounds, in the Count)- of Fair- field and the colony of Connecticut, he, the said Warner, paying all charges that have been out recordings and markings the said horses, and does hereby acknowledge the satisfaction received, and does hereby acquitt, discharge and quit-claim all my right and the interest I might or ought to have unto the said horses of Xorwalk aforesaid." "In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, this fifth day of March, 1675." ••Signed and delivered in presence of Jonx Pei.I-." " SwESSEI.1. SwKSSELL. C if a hi.es Ravkn." John Pell, whose livery was located in ancient Xorwalk, was a grandson of "John Pell, Esq., Master of the King's cup and Lord Mayor of Lyme Regis," whose memoria sacrum is erected at the end of the south aisle of St. Nicholas Church, Derringham, Eng- land. The Xew England John Pell's mother — Mary Holland — was of royal descent. He was an acquaintance of Ludlow, but how and why Xorwalk was selected as the seat of his stock establishment is a matter upon which light may yet be thrown. Mrs. Richard Holmes survived her husband about two years. Her estate fell to the children of Robert Warner of Middletown, who are next of kin." Richard Holmes, originally from Yorkshire, England, bought his Xorwalk lot on Oct. 12, 1657, from a real estate agent of that day, Alexander Bryan of Milford. He was the home- lot successor of one Thomas Smith,3 and his calling one of the most highly 1 'The son of Joseph Olmsted, Sr., was Joseph Jr., | Jr. See Xorwalk Land Records, Vol, VII, folio 256. of Karmington. In old times the husband controlled i 2Near New Roehelle, N. V.