Norwalk

The Constable was emphatically authority-clothed. His office was one of dignity and power. He represented law. When, consequently, the Court requested the nom- ination of a candidate for the position, it signified that the assembly considered the new settlement to be established and an organized body. Norwalk had now reached this point. It was competent to care for local interests, and had men of calibre and character to fill the place. As for the constable himself, while he was a limb of the law who was feared, yet he so compelled respect that when he led the jurymen into the court-room, there was profound silence. He was under solemn obligations to discharge his duty, as see note.' Norwalk was in the fifth year of its age when Ludlow's New England mission was accomplished. His beautiful Fairfield,2 already a goodly creation of his genius, must be taken leave of, and the proprietor of one of the finest "home-lots" in the New World must quit his Connecticut domain. He embarked with his sons for (so it is believed) the South during 1654-5, leaving upon our town records, vol. 1, page 60, his valedictory trans- fer, executed not a long time before he sailed, never hither to return. A Cof>/e of the Assignment of Xor-valkc. purchased by .\fitr. Ludlo-.ce, „»h iVoru-a/ke In- habitants, Api'ill the 14th. lli'i',. flBemoranba. Ubat tbe sageb IRoger Inblowe, fcotb bg tbese pressentes, asstgne anb sett over unto IRatbanlel Eli anb tbe rest of tbe flnbabitants of IRorwalfie, all mg Uitle, interest, claime anb bemanbs whatsoever to tbe plant* ation of IRorwalfte anb ever? part tbereof, anb boe acftnowlebge mgselfe sat* isfleb for tbe same. IKIlitnesse mv banb tbe bag anb geare above saib. IRe- Xublowe. ■I, A. B., of \\, d»e sweare by the greate and 1 comaunds or warrants that com fro any Magestrat or dreadtull name of the euerliulng God, that for the Mage.trat, or Courte, so help me God, in the Lo: yeare ensuemg, and vntill a new be chosen, I will ; Jesus Christ.-Trumbulls Connecticut Colonial Rec- faythtully execute the office and place of a Constable, | ords, 1636, page 26 for and wthIn the said plantacon of W : and the Km. »A term of natural etymology, and yet the stt.tr- itts thereof, and that I will endeuor to prsearue the j gestion that FairfiM ma'v possibly have supplanted pubhke peace of the satd place, and Comonwealth, /->,,-„>« is less easily dUmksed, from the fact that and will doe my best endeauor to see all watches and , Uncoway (the Indian designation of the locality, sig- wairds executed, and to obey and execute all law-full J nifies bewutt. \ ' > K U A I. K The date of the rorcfjoing "Assignment" completed tile three Uldlntt liiW pcrintls in N.-rn.ilk history, viz. : — 1640. 1 650 and 1654, t, Mil! I HI. WU.LIAM It !>/.(> if • >i Lmll.iw known hi hr m um-h-ih-^, ui Wii-i in Amrriin. .\ [lortntll i>f ■ iiY-»i-vmUui, irk the fimrili ^L-ncraiiihik frnrn hi- timl her Tliumn*. I» ul*i,e pri-icuinl. Much of the preceding may be more or Ic.ss interesting reading, but much uf il is the registration of what is of but little legal account. Indian purchase was highly honorable, and served a tentative purpose, but unchallenged rijjht in law to the soil must, it has been officially decided, rest upon something more tenable than Indian treaty. Ik-tut: 'Tlit? Ludlow note, on page 6 of tliis volume* nuke-. n-lVreme to the Gabriel Wi Ilium Lmllow-de- -kt-nded iMvhl V.m llurtu- hou-ehnM. Thi> family L'ottvfcted of one son, (»en. [)a ■■ .: Van Home, ami sisters, vijt. ; Mun (Ml- Levimis ClurUun ) ; Ann (Mrt William Bdgsr}; Susan (Mn, George Turn- hult); Catharine (Mr-. Holt. Jacob Rtfed Of Charles- Ion, S C >: Cornelia (Mr- Phillip Livingston) ami Klizabeth (Mr-. Charlie Ludlow. I These notable sister? of high aiiiiuvMniK anil of miml :irul in: er ebartns, were toung Nt*w V inker* during that Colony's einergencvperiod ttcvn CMwn allegiance lo Independence- At ibis time their hither was dead, and town home closed, and I hey, with their mother, spent a good portion of tlieir time mar KIjiI)L1*-Ii, Long Island. This vieiuilv, now part of Pro^peet Park. Mrooklvn, lay within the enemy's line*. The English officers were wont to hold ri i8 NORWALK. NORWALK'S TITLE* llmptimia. Exur.AND originally claimed property in and jurisdiction over what is now the State OF Connecticut, and much adjoining territory, by virtue of its DISCOVERY by Si-uas'i ian Cabot in 1497. King James I, by royal writ, dated Nov. 3RD, 1620, incorporated several gentle- men, therein named, into "The Council established at Plymouth in the COUNTY of Devon for the planting, ruling and governing of New England in America," and granted to such Corporation, its successors and assigns, All that part of America lying and being in breadth from 40° North Latitude from the equinoctial line to the 48TH Decree of said North latitude inclusively, and in length of and within all the breadth aforesaid throughout the main lands FROM SEA to SEA. The patent ordained that this tract should be named s j- "1Rew=i£nglan& in Hmertca," J- & and it included, of course, the present State of Connecticut. The Council of Plymouth, in 1630, granted a tract of land, including the present State, to its president, Robert, Earl oe Warwick, and he, on the 19T11 of March, 1631, granted and confirmed the same tract unto William, VISCOUNT Say and Seal, Lord Brooks, and others. The settlers of Connecticut are supposed to have acted in some way under this last patent until 1662, when they obtained from King Charles the Second, the Char- ter of Connecticut hereinafter given. The Two Colonies which originally settled the State, (the "Colony of Connect- icut River" and "the New Haven Colony") were UNITED in one corporation, under the last named charter, in 1664-5. ceptions and give parties, to which the Van Home ladies, who were greatly admired, were often invited. Letters descriptive of these festivities and of the at- tentions bestowed on these ladies by His Majesty's officials, one of the most constant of whom, as a visitor to the Van Home's, was Adjutant- Major John Andre, have been preserved in Norwalk, and are interesting scraps of history. The oldest sister, Mary, had married Levinus Clarkson, an union looked with considerable favor upon by her lather and mother. Her oldest son, I.evi- nus. 2nJ., married Elizabeth, daughter of Edward P. and grand-daughter of Chancellor Robert R. Livings- ton, who administered the oath of office to George Washington. These had two children, Edward L. and Robert R. L. Clarkson. *' '•tract from a inite to one of Iter shtors, from Cath- arine I 'tin ll-.i ». , (after-ward Mrs. 'Jacob Rceii, of C/iartcsto/i, .S. ('.) " Had yesterday a number of beaux to visit me. Who, of ail people, do you think called for me to escort me out in a phteton r Sir George Collier, (Commodore of the squadron dispatched in 1779, to destroy New Haven, Fairfield and Norwalk.) My invention was at a stand to furnish an excuse. I felt myself in the situation that Cornelia did when asked by a friend of hers. I would have given anything for a friend to have helped ine out of my embarrass- ment. To make me more conspicuous, he must needs parade me past tile coffee-house. • I was in an ill humor all the way. However, he was the quintes- sence of politeness." Cornelia, alluded to in this note, married Philip Livingston, whose memory a window in the Chapel •By M„,.,,s. Kerry, „|„,ard s Perry. NORWALK The Record of the Incorporation of the Town of Norwalk is as follows : At a Geneiial Court in Hartford, 11th of September, 1651. John Haynes, esquire, Gou'no., Etc., Etc. It is ordered, sentenced and decreed, etc., etc. It is likewise ORDERED, that Norwalk shall be a TOWNE. CONNECTICUT'S CHARTER. KING CHARLES the Second TO GOVERNOUR and COMPANY of the ENGLISH COLONY of CONNECT- ICUT in NEW ENGLAND in AMERICA. - Charter of Connecticut, Dat. Apl. 23rd, 1662. The King, in the above charter, after incorporating several individuals, "being per- sons principally interested in our colony or plantation of Connecticut in New England," and their successors under the above name, prescribing laws and rules for its regulation etc. etc., investing it with power "to have, take, possess, acquire and purchase lands, tenements, or hereditaments or any goods or chattels and the same to lease grant demise alien bar- gain sell and dispose of as other our liege people of this our realm of England or any other corporation or body politic within the same may lawfully do," continues as follows : "Httfc IkttOW #C jfurtber that we of our abundant grace certain knowledge and mere motion have given granted and confirmed and by these presents, for us, our heirs and successors do give grant and confirm unto the said Governour and Company and their suc- cessors all that part of our dominions in New England in America bounded on the East by of Our Holy Saviour, in Norwalk, perpetuates. The two were transient residents of Norwalk during the revolutionary war. Mr. Livingston, born Nov. 3rd, 1740, was the oldest son of Peter Van Brugh and Mary (Alexander) Livingston. Philip and Cornelia Liv- ingston had two children, Peter V. B., and Charles Ludlow Livingston. The first married Maria Hous- ton of Georgia, and had nine children. The second married Margaret Allen and had only one child, Cath- arine, who married, 1847, Walter Langdon of Hyde Park, son of Walter and Dorothea (Astor) Lang don, and uncle of Woodbury G. Langdon of Norwalk. These had no children who reached maturity. Mr. and Mrs. Livingston resided in Park Place, New York. After her husband's death, the widow sold the handsome property to Goold Hoyt, Jr., of Norwalk, who, with his Philadelphia bride, lived there for many years and maintained an elegant establish- ment. Mr. Livingston's father resided at the Liv-