Norwalk

■K.'apt. Richard Hall Fitch, born Nov. 5, 1770, was the fourth child of Col. Thomas and Sarah (Hill) Fitch, and a grandchild of Gov. Thomas Fitch of Norwalk. He went from the rebuilt Fitch home (standing on the Earle Hill of 1S96) to marry Theo- died unmarried at the age of twenty-three. Mrs. Albert P. Heartt died May 31, 1874, beloved, as was her mother before her, for her good works. Capt. Richard H. Fitch had a next younger sister, Mary Esther, who married her cousin Edward, son of Tim- othy and Esther (Piatt) Fitch, who lived in the hon- docia Conklin of Long Island. The young couple j ored habitation which stood in the meadow directly resided in Norwalk until about 1812. Here the two ; east of the 1896 widow Walter T. Gray's East Nor- of their children who survived infancy were born. | walk home. Here presided Esther, one of the five Their daughter Sarah married Peletia Bliss of Troy, I grand-daughters of "ye worshipful Joseph Piatt,'' a N. Y , who was early left a widow with three child- 1 revered Norwalk memory. This quintette of Nor- ren, LeGrand, James and Sarah Elizabeth. James walk women, Esther (Mrs. Timothy Fitch), Marv inarried Lydia Brintnall, and had no children. The parents, however, adopted a daughter, Amelia, who (Mrs. Jedediah Hanford), Elizabeth (Mrs. Samuel Fitch), Ann (Mrs. Stephen Thatcher), Susanna) Mrs. 142 NORWALK Xorwalk, but now of Troy, and who, just after Fulton's "Clermont" of 1808, was put in command of the pioneer steamer "New London," which ran between Albany and New- York. Capt. Hartford, of the " Royal Oak," was nineteen years the senior of Capt. Alanson P. St. John,1 of Xorwalk, all of which men represented Norwalk family strength, and together constituted an enterprising Empire State business confraternity. Levi C. Hanford, son of Capt. Richard and Polly Hanford, married, Oct. II, 1861. Margaret, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Wool) Goodman * of Lansingburgh, N. Y.( and had : Robert Goodman; Mary A.; Horace Day; Harry Xorman. Daniel Hanford and Hannah (Mrs. Avery), had a Yale graduate for a father and the daughter of Rev. Thomas Hanford for their mother. Their descent wa< something in which t<> take just pleasure, and their name^ deserve to be remembered. The child- ren of Edward (son of Timothy and Esther) and Mary Esthfr (daughter of Col. Thomas and Sarah) Fitch, were Angenette and Adeline. Adeline died unmar- ried. Angenette married Daniel Hall of Troy, N .V., and had: Mary O..Fitz Edward, (it-urge C, Benja min II., Richard F. and James S. Of the lofty purls and priciples of one of these children, Hon. Benja- min H. Hall, of living memory, his Fitch grand father and grandmother's native Norwalk has cause to he proud. He married Margaret, daughter of lion Jacob. L. Lane, of Troy, N. Y 'Capt. Alanson P. St. John, of Norwalk, took a position on the North River at the dawn of its pas- senger-popularity period, and by his admirable com- mand of the •'Rochester" was one of the inangurators of the propitious era. Tourists, artists, students and statesmen were contributors to the river's growing patronage, and albeit the days were primitive and the buals of plain model, yet management-elegance was discernible even before the advent of the superb Ukkw or St. John. The grace with which at that earlier era a colored official bore, upon the salver, a complimentary passage-proffer and tendered it to the subject of the courtesy, or the cabin-conduct to the captain's table and honor-place at his right hand of -nine guest or friend of the company or the command- er, were noticeable civilities. River traffic probably reached high water mark just before the completion of the Hudson River Rail- road, at which time it was worth one's while to go, at nightfall on a summer evening, to the Broadway, Albany, landing. The trains from the west and north are in, the pier is packed with vehicles and crowds throng the steamer's gangway. The hour is up, the last bell has rung, and one who, barring his height, somewhat resembles Theodore Cook, commodore of the Cunard fleet, emerges from the pilot quarter aloft and stands for a moment at its little guard rail. It is Capt, St. John, who, after a quiet but searching look fore and aft, touches a small *prin<; iUlc| mitl nf stirring music sends his thronged palace of biaze and beauty out into the channel to proudly steam, while its living burden safely sleep, ad own the one peerless American stream of which the poet long ago enthusi- astically wrote that it had "too much of Heaven on earth to last." A trip up or down the Hudson, at that day was an event. The late Capt L. H. Tapper, long a favorite contemporary of Capt. St. John, took comfort in recent times, and whilst visiting in Nor- walk, in reciting his North River experiences. It is declared, upon good authority, that the "People's Line" was conceived in Norwalk, but whether so or no, this town's Cannon's, Fitch's, Hanford's, St. John's, Warren's and, by connection, Peck's, form an imposing Hudson galaxy. -Mrs. Thomas Goodman, who passed the ending years of her life with her daughter, Mrs. Levi. C. Hanford, of Norwalk, was cousin of the late veteran Maj.-Gen. John E. Wool of the United States Army. Gen. Wool, a hero in the Mexican War and a soldier of national reputation, spent his term of retired service in the city of Troy, where he was held in high honor. His mother died while he was young, and the future soldier shared the home of his uncle, James Wool, the father of Mrs. Thomas Goodman before referred to. At the age of sixteen young Wool left his uncle's and took a clerk's position in Troy. He went into business for himself in Troy, but having been burned out, sought and obtained a captain's commission in the army. His first battle wasat Queenstown Heights. He married Sarah Moulton of Troy, but had no child- ren. His wife's sister married the father of Hon. John A. Griswold, who holds the general's sword and other trophies of war. A large estate was divided, after the soldier's decease, among his widow and the Wool family affinity. Beside the Xorwalk 1 lanford- Wool relationship is that of the Norwalk Betts -Wool connection. The step-mother of the celebrated Gen. Wool married, for her second husband, one whose home was in the pres- ent town of Wilton. David Betts (Samuel Sam- uel 'si., Thomas 'st-) born April 4, 1730, had a son, Jared, who was baptized in Wilton, March 23, 1 75^* Jared's father died some wars later and his mother, Betty, married, second, Nov. 13, l~J0, Capt. Caleb '43 ASCENDANTS OF DANIEL, CHARLES, WINFIELD SCOTT, SR. AND JOSEPH PL ATT HAN FORD 2<l- (jen> I —Rev. Thomas and Mary (Miles) Hanford. i« H.— Samuel and Isabel (Haynes) Hanford. " III. — Hezekiah and Dehor ah ( Hoy t) H an ford. IV. Daniel and Susannah (Piatt) Hanford. " V, — Joseph Platt'31- and Charlotte (Sr. John) Hanford. " IV. — Danikl, Cmarlks and Wivfikld Scott Hant-ohtj, S|{. fjen. [.—Rev. Thomas andMarv (Miles) Hanford. t* [L— Samuel and Isabel (lIaviu-<) Hanford. " III. — Hezekiah and Dehor ah( Hoy t J Hanford. « IV. — Daniel and Susannah (Piatt) Hanford. " V —Joseph Platt and Phcehb (Northrop) Hanford. " VI. — Joseph Platt Hanford, Sr. Joseph matt Hanford'"1*, born April 17, 1782, died Aug. 10, 1870, was twice mar- ried. His first wife was Charlotte, daughter of William' and Hannah (Marvin) St. John. William St. John's mother was reared in the meadow home close by the residence to-day of Oscar W Raymond in East Norwalk-. She was a sister of one (Mrs. Nehemiah Rog- ers) of ancestress-renown, and her father was distinguished in public life. .Mr. St. John's grandmother on his father's side (Mrs. Joseph St. John lnt-)t was the grand-child of Mr. Wil- liam Hooker, who was the grandson of Rev. Thomas Hooker, the first minister of Cam- bridge, Mass., and a founder of the Connecticut colony, The mother of Joseph P. Han- ford (Susannah Platt), was a grand-daughter of Hannah, (Mrs. Joseph Platt1*1', "ye wor- shipful"!, a daughter of Rev. Thomas Hanford. She was a great grand-daughter of John Baldwin of New town, Fairfield County, As the young Jared reached young manhood at this time he desired his share of his father's estate, but his step-father, who had the property in charge, declined to act in the matter. The voting man was so indignant that (probably in opposition to his step-father) he at once went into the British army and assisted the enemy in its operations against Dan bury in 1777. For this course he was banished the country, and as ids brother Nathan had been killed in battle, the boy's mother died from grief the next year. While Jared was at St. John's, Nova Scotia, he sold out his share of the Norwalk estate to William B unveil of Newtown, Conn., and also his interest in his deceased brother Nathan's property. After Jared's return from the provinces at the war's close, he located at Schenec- tady, N. V and subsequently in Troy, where lie married the second Mrs. Wool. Gen. Wool main- tained vt'rv handsome quarters in Fii>t Street, Troy. After his decease the property, for the larger part fell to Hun. John A. Griswold, and his children. The Griswold's belonged in Troy, N. V 'Col. Stephen St. John, son of Joseph and Susannah (Selleck-Hooker) St. John, was one of colonial Nor- walk's elegant military men. He married Ann, daughter of Hon. Samuel and niece of Gov. Thomas Pitch. The ir-sue bv this union was one of strong New England blood. William., second son of Col. Stephen, married Hannah, born Oct X, Tj6o, daughter of Matthew and Deborah (Burnet) Marvin. Hannah's j brother, born Jan. 3, 1764, was the eminently excellent I Hon. Matthew Marvin of Wilton, who married, April j 7, 1792, Nancy, a sister of said Hannah's husband, William St. John. The children of William and Hannah St. John were : Stephen W., Charlotte, Maria, i Matthew C, Delia, Charles and Betsey. The second of these children, Charlotte, was the first wife of j Joseph P. Hanford and the mother of his first ' three sons, Daniel, Charles and Winfield Scott.