Norwalk

Deborah, born Sept. 27, 1746, daughter of Hezekiah and Deborah Hoyt Hanford, married Jonathan1-'- son of Hon. Samuel3 and Susannah Fitch. Hezekiah Hanford was a son of Samuel and grandson of Rev. Thos. Hanford. His wife was Deborah, daughter of Caleb3 and Mehitable Hoyt, and beside his daughter Deborah, he had, also, Grace, born Oct. 5, 1765, who married Capt. Hezekiah Betts, who was the father of the late Miss Juli- ette Berts and her brothers and sisters of France Street.4 Jonathan1"- and Deborah Fitch had a brief wedded life. The father, born 1744, a Yale man, died at harvest time, July 7, 1773, in a meadow near home at the age of twenty-nine. He left one son, Josiah Hanford Fitch, born April 3, 1772. As Jonathan'-1- was the brother of Elizabeth (Mrs. Nehemiah Rogers), his nephews, the Stamford Rogers, desired to care for this son, the young Josiah Hanford Fitch, but the lad's mother and step-father, Waters, declined. The youth lived to marry, Jan. 21, 1 79 1 , Ann Piatt, daughter of Jedediah and Man- Platts Hanford. To 'It is too late to restore this stone's incription, hut as the monument is built close to the late Hanford graves, and is central, and not, otherwise satislactor- ilv accounted for, it is iri'Hv probable that it marks the where repose the dust of Norwalk's first ordained serv ant of God and those nearest and dearest to him in the rlesh. 'Brother of Gov. Thomas Fitch, and son of Thos. Fitch, 3'1- who was a son of Thos.,*'1- who was the son of Th«s.<>«- 3Son of Zerubbabel,and grandson of Walter Hoyt, the settler. Mrs. Caleb Hoyt was a widow Blatchley, a daughter of John, son of Ralph Keeler, Sr. 4The family of Capt. Hezekiah Betts was one of Norwalk's worthiest households, and the home abode of primitive peace and piety. Its paternal head was alst) an intense patriot. Himself and cousin Stephen (Capt. Stephen, militia Captain at the burning of Sorwalk) were soldiers from their youth. Both were strong characters, Hezekiah was a Puritan and Stephen a Churchman. One loyally observed Thanks- giving Day, the other mingled tansy with his food on Good Friday. The two were noble men and left a noble record. Of Hezekiah it is mentioned that tears would fill the old veteran's eyes when the night of July 3d set in and the children had, seemingly, so far forgotten their father's struggles, as to neglect to ring the church bells and kindle independence " bon- fires." The members of Captain Hezekiah's family- have been useful in their day and generation. Alfred and Zenophon were clergymen in the west; Henry was a genius; Mehitable married a Scott, and has a daughter living; Eulalia (Mrs. Horace Gibbs) was a fond mother; Juliette and Harriet were mercy-min- isters, and Eliza Susan's instructress-influence in rightly and righteously shaping young Norwalk life entitles her memory to monumental perpetuity. The present Hezekiah Betts house, in France Street, supplanted the house of his father, Thomas Iietts, which, erected upon the same site, was burned in 1779. The 1896 house was built around the old Revolutionary chimney, which flue, however, was some years since, for room sake, removed. SMary Piatt was a daughter of Joseph Piatt, 2(1- 140 N'ORWALK. this couple was born, Dec. 27, 1792, their daughter Lucretia.' The father built the present H. M. Prowitt place and occupied it until its sale by himself to Samuel Hanford," after whose ownership it passed into the hands of the Prowitts. Josiah H. Fitch, upon giving up his own house, went to live with his mother and step-father in what is now the Mrs. Theo- docia F. Bradley home, where died his mother, wife and self. His daughter, Lucretia, married the well-known Capt. Samuel Daskam, of Norwalk, and from their wedding hour, on to the old age of both, the two enjoyed a happy life-day. The bride for several years survived her husband and spent a serene age-evening. Her cottage, the home-sites of settlers Richard Seymour, and subsequently, James Rogers, and now the possession of her daughter, Theodocia F., was a comfort-seat. Capt. Daskam was a Long Island Sound mariner in the days of packet passenger traffic. His children were Samuel, born Jan. 31, 1823 and Theodocia F. Samuel married, Oct. 4, [847, Arietta M., daughter of Henry and Eunice (Wilcox) Rogers, and had Ida A., died in infancy; Jennie May, who married July 6, 18S7, James Lawrence, son of Lawrence M. and Catherine (St. John) Stevens, and had Eunice, horn August 21, 1889. Theodocia F. married, Oct. 7. 1840, George Hayes Bradley, 3 of New Haven, and had Helen S., married Minot E. Osborn ; George T. ; Henry K. ; Samuel J. son of Joseph, .u„ of John.'st, Her father was | {St. Paul's) but she frequented ics services and was lion. Joseph and her grandfather •■ ye worshipful" | almost sure to be seen after worship on Sunday after- Joseph Piatt. Her sisters were Mrs. Samuel Pitch, noon, wending her way homeward, accompanied by, Mrs. Timothy Fitch, Mrs. Stephen Thatcher, Mrs. I until she parted with them at their (rate entrances, Daniel Hanford and Mrs. Avery. j her choice friends, Mrs. Stephen Buckingham St. 'Beside* Lucretia the children of Josiah II. and John and Mrs. Charles Thomas. In and out the Ann P. Fitch were Jonathan, born Sept. 10, 1795; church she was beloved Theodocia, born October 9, 1709, died at the age of 'Samuel Hanford was a son of Hezekiah Han- eighteen; Nancy, born July 17, 1801; Lewis, born forded, son of Hezekiah,.-' who was son of Samuel'"- Sep,. 2.', 1S02: Hanford born March 16, 1804.; Wil- |s„„ of Rev. Thomas Hanford). His mother (Mrs. bam, born Nov. 22, ,806; Mary P., born Dec. 25, i Hezekiah*).) was Sarah, daughter of James and Ann iXoS; George, born August 27, t.Soy; Horace, bom , (Hanford) Fitch and grand-niece of Gov. Thomas ' "Pt'I4, ' , . I Fitch. He was married but had no children. His Of the foregoing children Nancy married, April brother Elnathan married a sister of Daniel Nash,*. ■ * * T '" Asa Hw-Vl- nePhew of Mr<- Westport, and aunt of the present Edward H. Nasi, Mo.,-- Gregory and brother-in-law of Ex- mayor I of that town. After FJnalhan's decease his widow Lot Aim Brush of Brooklyn Lewis married Louisa . married the Van Hoosear grandfather of the present Smith, ,», hved In New Haven He was a promt. 1 U. H. Van Hoosear, the Wilton genealogist. David, Re ! ,m r h p ' "X "'e f",,er °f »»«her of Samuel, has \ son, David, living , . 1 ' " ° "e P; " ■ C»u«*- in South Norwalk to-day. George married in Guilford. ..... ... , J „ u™.„, ■ 1 , „ 3 1 he wedding of George H. and theodocia F. Horace married, Aug. 19, 1S37, arriet, dautrhter u,»rll„,. , of K ,1. vi ■ ,- ""ugutei ril ad ley was a Norwalk event. The ceremony was Emma Ant; C^JaZV, ^ *"d ^ ' <" *e old St. Paul's Church, after it had Of I ncrpMa , \l , -' , ,^ , , becl' removed (to admi t of the bu i Id i ng of the present of 'cwm^:;, " * b :: f : edif,ce) 10 the ^ ,ot °° *• ^ * t,,e Norwalk mother. Kindness was her Z T a"d whi" U stood «P"" "'»™r's « block.." was of excellent spirit, was capita! comnanv and "T" °' Ca''riageS "* ^ * walked 11s erectly and vigorouslv a, eighty „„ peL" I T"' . con,n,c,in« ^ »« ''»'"-■ Hved a, leas, a mile from h r CI ' H T™-'1 «" NeW » " ■ oer cnuuli, those more primitive times. NORWALK ASCENT OF AND DESCENT FROM CAPT. RICHARD HAN FORD. Gen. I. — Rev. Thomas and Mary (Miles) Hanford. II. — Samuel and Isabel (Haynes) Hanford. III. — Haynes and Elizabeth (Ketchum) Hanford. IV — John and Rebecca (Gorham) Hanford. V,— Capt. Richard Hanford. Beneath the walls of Trinity Church, on the New Haven Green, rest the remains of one of the founders of that church, a young French Huguenot, Timothy, son of Pierre and Marguerite Bontecou, the American ancestors of the Bontecou household. Timothy Bonte- cou had married Mary, fourth child of Col. David and Prudence (Churchill) Goodrich. The Colonel, who was born May 4, 1667, was a son of Ensign William Goodrich and wife Sarah, who was a daughter of Hon. Matthew Marvin, Sr., " Magistrate," and one of the settlers of Norwalk. Mary, born Dec. 15, 1704, a daughter of Ensign William and Sarah, married Sept. 29, 1736, Timothy Bontecou, Jr., a son of Timothy, Sr., the Trinity Church sleeper. Timothy, Jr. , a New Haven silversmith, had a son William, who started out in life in his father's Connecticut city, but who subsequently went to Troy, N. Y. To William and his wife Hannah, was born, July 22, 1792, a daughter, Polly, who married, Nov. 2, 1812, Capt. Richard Hanford, son of John' and Rebecca Hanford, who, born Jan. 9, 1794, in Norwalk, removed to Lansingburgh, then a village, three miles north of Troy. Lansing- burgh was of lovely situation, on the east bank of the upper Hudson and its recent Nor- walk contributed citizen proceeded to found a passenger and freight traffic line from thence to the City of New York, one hundred and sixty miles to the south, and thus stood in honored transportation-association with several notable Norwalk names. He was the junior of the Warrens,2 whose vessel had thither sailed from Norwalk when he was only four years old, and he was a younger man, by fourteen years, than Capt. Richard Hall Fitch,-' also of ijolin Hanford, born Jan. 1, 1755, married, Aug. 6, 1775, Rebecca Gorham, born Feb. 12, J759. His brother Jedediah lived in the present France Street, Norwalk, and his brother Joseph where now stands married Robert De Belle and resided in Georgia, where they had four children. Emily, the second daughter of Capt. Richard I I . Fitch married, as his sec- ond wife, Albert P. Meant, one of the best known citi- the Page cottage in YVestport. i zens of Troy. These had one child, a daughter who aSee Warren lineage.