Norwalk

j James S. Bailey, and the present Mr-. Rev. Frederick I R. Sun ford, Mrs. Churl e*. Dell. I $ rower, Mr. LeGrand C. Herts and Mr. Frederick Quintard. Mr. Stevens' son-in-law, S. li. II;iMev (son of Noah Bailev of Nor- I walk), was a St. Louis, Mo., merchant, Mr. F. T. j Betts (son oi Hon. Thaddens Bet is of Norwalk) is ,1 J Norwalk fanner, and Mr. Eli S. Quintard N a New j Haven and Derby R. R. official. Mr. Quintard is a j son of Anson and Polly (Satiford) Quintard* uho re- sided in the Joseph Keeler homestead, at present the | tenement quarters opposite the coal oiluv of C. T, j Leonard. Kli S. Quintard was a New York and New j Haven railroad official during the early period of -.aid company's existence and his mention summons j up primitive memories of that, to-day, colossal cor- | poratson. Aiiiong Mr. Quintard's contemporary and somewhat-later conductor-brethren were the well-re- j memhered I'pson, Dennis, William Coinstoek, Wil- I liam Linehurgh, Ward Nichols, John Bradley. tieorgr Cornwall, Wiliiani Bauch, Frederick Lock wood, 11 Jack '' Stock, William H. Wallace, Joseph Frank- lin, and Strickland. Messrs., I'pson and Dennis were among the earliest conductors. Mr. Com- j stock, who commanded the S a. m. "Bo-ton Kx- pre--. " nut of New York cm the morning { M;tv j tH.s.^ ) of the fatal plunge <>f a large portion o| the train into the Norwalk river, now resides in the We-t. Mr. Linehurgh, of Norwalk birth, has -dnce been an enterprising citizen of Bridgeport. Ward >A sou of Hezekiah and Molly (Betts) Whitlock, viz., Lewis, kept, for manv vears, the Norwalk light- house on the old "Smith's," later, " Norwalk'' Island. " Uncle Lewis'' maintained a sort of bachelor's quarters on the island, but hi* home was a hospit- able retreat to parties who were storm-surprised and storm-stayed, lie lived in the whitewashed stone cottage which was erected at the foot of the light- house, and picturesquel v stood beneath the willow. Mr. \V hit lock's island life was rather monotonous, but i\ small slate which hung on the inside of his living room door and upon which he recorded the passing of vessels up and down the Sound, evidenced that the tedium of his office was thus, in a measure, relieved. 2James Stevens, son of Daniel, who was son of Daniel1-*' and Sally (Brown) Stevens, of the Oblong, was, with I lenrv Selleck, engaged, in early life, in the large manufacturing establishment of the patriarch Caleb Benedict, Sr., of Benedict'^ Hill, subsequently Brushy Ridge, New Canaan. Both young men came afterward- to Norwalk, and here established families. Mr. Stevens was long the proprietor of the "Connec- ticut Hotel," corner of Main and Wall Street*, (site of present Boston Store) and Mr. Selleck, fur vears, the lir>t selectman of Norwalk. The children of James Stevens were (ieorgianna (Mrs. S. 1 lenrv Bailey), Mary ( Mrs. Eli S. Quintard) and Susan (Mrs. Frederick T. Betts). The parent- and -isters are dead, the grand-children being the late Samuel and 240 X OR WALK. third wife, Dec. 9, 1798, John, son of Denton and Elizabeth (Sherwood) Gregory, and had Antoinette, Angeline (the second Mrs. Edmond Tattle), George B. and Burwell D., the children of which Burwell D. Gregory are the present John B., of Cranberry Plains, and his brothers, George, Charles and Francis. These boys' grandfather, John Gregory, was born Dec. 25, 1775. He was the grandson of John Gregory^- (son of John,-11- who was son of John,15'- the Norwalk settler). He was a large landowner in Cranberry Plains, and his brother Josiah built and liberally supported the Poplar Plains Methodist Church. A RARE BETTS-KEELER CONNECTION. Sarah, born Ian. 2 1, 1686-7, daughter of Thomas and Mary Betts, married, Dec. 11, 1712, Samuel,2'1, son of Samuel"*- (who was son of Ralph Keeler, the settler). Sarah Betts was the second wife of Samuel Keeler,*1' w hich Keeler had previously, Jan. 18. 1704, married Rebecca, daughter of James and Sarah (Gregory) Benedict, of Danbury. By the first marriage of Samuel Keeler2'1- there were two children, Samuel and Rebecca, the sec- ond of whom died in infancy. The first son by the second (Sarah Betts) marriage, was born March 14. 1716, and was given the name of his Marvin grandfather (Matthew) and of his uncle Matthew Betts. This son (Matthew) of Samuel and Sarah Betts Keeler became. roads went as far as Bridgeport, while the Hartford and Siiore Line lads proceeded to New Haven. The sprightly fellows who furnished the morning ' down trains" went no further than the" Harlem Junction," a mile or so N, E. of Williams Bridge, Here, with arms full of folded Sum, Herald, Tribune and Times, they waited, in all sorts of weather, the arrival of the " Scoot," "Commutation" and Express trains from the east which there came to a full stop before taking the Harlem track. One of the youngster's train-tarrying spot was a "junction " rock which he facetiously termed his " brown stone front." The vigilant and vigorous Hnss Brothers trained their wards well and some of these olden days proteges of the road, which was a school to them, have met with good success in life. One hat! a handsome Norwalk Savings bank deposit wherel'rom he drew, when old- \ er, in purchase of a city business for himself. Anoth- j er is to-day a superintendent of :i prominent Western ] railway, and another still a Central New York law- ; yer. Invited back in the era of the W. I). Bishop j and John T. Shelton incumbencies, to a gathering of , their industrious order at Chestnut Hill, Wilton, the . juvenile news stutterers who were met, after their J day * trade and travel-toil in diverse part- of thf State, at South Norwalk, and thence transported to Chestnut Hill, distinguished themselves for their tell- ing good humor as well as taking civ ility-inanners. Eli S. Quintard hod a brother Frederick, who died I young, and a sister, Mary Frances, who married Kl- I birt A. Curtis, who had Wm. A., now cashier of the Central Nat. tiank, Rebecca, and a child not living. Nichols, uf solid Fairfield County Nichols stock, has held, in later years, public office in New Haven. John Bradley was admired by the ladies. George Cornwall, brother of the honored John, of Bridge- port, was a favorite with the journeying public. Wil- liam Ban e h , portly and a "no nonsense'7 official, is remembered for his dry wit. Collecting, one day, his fares, .1 passenger unintentionally took a small business or other card from his pocket and proffered it, instead of the passage ticket, to the conductor. " I do not attend that church," was the characteristic reply, which restored the traveler's wits. Messrs. Lockwood, Stock and Strickland were sterling, and the latter so perfectly poised thatuhen his engineer on one occasion, having mistook the signal, proceed- ed quite a distance over the route, leaving the con- ductor behind, Mr. Strickland simply went com- placently to the waiting room and quietlv rested until his men, bavin- ascertained the blunder, re- turned the train to S.niili Norwalk again. Mr. Wal- lace was always on band, and Joseph Franklin lon-r conducted the former S o'clock night "owl train." Subsequent to Mr. Quintard's time the popular" Ed- die" Wildman --ran" the 7 a. m wrv train from ith Awmie and jfth Si. to New Haven. This wa* one ut the road'- important r uns," and with Mr. Wild- man rode the young new* messengers whose duty it was, under the direction of Max and lienrv (now Col.) Iluss (a- representative^ of the Adams Expre-s to.) to supply the patrons of the main line and its connections with the daily pap,rs. Those of the buys who - worked" the llons.t.mic and Nau<ratuck NORWALK. 241 ill clue time, the father of Stephen Keeler, a Norwalk native, whose family annals make pertinent the insertion, in this place, of the accompanying : STOI)l)ARI)-El»WARDS-BETTS-KICKLER HISTORY CHAPTER. The resuscitation of laudable memories which, by the lapse of time, have fallen into decay, are not a Norwalk annals-stock contribution simply, but local history is thereby turned to beneficent account. Notwithstanding the discomforting, discouraging and de- feating drawbacks of primitive environments, this town's virgin half-century of life was a marked social epoch, among the other gratifying notices of which period is the no mean mention that such a New England matriarch as the widow of Thomas Newberry, of Dor- chester, shared, for a season, the settler's rugged experiences. This remarkable woman, like the barons' ladies of King Egbert's time, believed in and advocated "Spindle Head" rather than "Spear Head" power, and was one of those foremothers of whom it is de- clared that they were " quiet but moved the world." " New England came to him," is af- firmed of one of her near descent, Col. John Stoddard, a "Connecticut River god." She was a St. Hilda in conviction and inviolate truth was her guide. It was she, and such as she, who conceived the grand idea of what may be termed government-matriarchalism, a home, that is, for the people, and she, without doubt, loaned herself to the work of inoc- ulating the Norwalk maiden community with the "germs" of republicanism and patriot- ism. It is an honor that will forever redound to this ancient plantation that the grand- mother of President Jonathan Edwards and great-grandmother of President Timothy Dwight and the foreparent of a household which has, in the language of an antiquarian of universal repute, "feu- parallels in American History," lived, if only for a brief space, in this town. Quite likely her own strong mind and that of her daughter (the first Mrs. Thomas Hanford) had considerable to do in moulding the forefathers' characters two hundred and forty odd years ago. " The crown must come to me," insisted Anne of Den- mark, and the crown was compelled to acknowledge the edict. " To know what the town should do," all came to Esther, (the daughter of Mrs. Thomas Newberry, of Norwalk,) whose husband was the great-grandson of Sir James Ware, historian of Ireland1 and a