Norwalk

Azor Betts, M. D., born 1740, seventh child of Nathan (born Nov. 5, I "00, ) and Mary (Beldeni Betts, and named for his grandfather Azor Belden, married Glorianna Purely, and was a Xew York physician of repute. His city residence embraced the vicin- ity of the present approach to the Brooklyn bridge, and he was professionally dis- tinguished. He was the son of Nathan, who was son of Samuel, who was son of Thomas Betts."1 His Belden great-grandmother, Margaret, born Oct. 6, 1683, was the daughter of Daniel Arms, of Deerfield, Mass., while his Belden great-grandfather, (William) who was twelve years his wife's senior, was of Foote and Deming blood. Dr. Azor and Glori- anna Betts had a large family, their children being Samuel; Elizabeth (Mrs. John W. Wright); Sarah (Mrs. Hoyt); Charlotte (Mrs. Phipps) ; Hiram, who married Elizabeth Craig; Gabriel; James 0. ; Bertha, who married, first, a Chute, and second, a Walker; Lewis; Solomon; a child born in 1790 and died in infancy; Fanny (Mrs. Haskell 1, and Jane. Dr. Azor Betts settled, during the Revolutionary War, in Nova Scotia, where he died in 1809. His son Hiram, who was a mere child when the parents left this country, was the grandfather of the present Hiram S. and Craven Betts, of New York city. Nathan Betts,"1- father of Dr. Azor. was one of six children. Nathan's father, Samuel, (son of Thos."1-) married at the age of thirty-two, and had a numerous descent. The seventh child of Thomas1-'- and Mary Betts and probably the first Betts child born in Norwalk was named Samuel."1- He married and had Samuel, 2,1 born Oct. 28, 1695, who was twice married, and had a son David (see page 1421. born April 4, 1730. David and Betty Betts, his wife, lived together until Nov, 1767. when Mr. Betts died. On Nov. 30, 1770, Rev. Isaac Lewis, of Wilton, married the widow of David Betts to Caleb Baldwin, Sr., of Newtown, Conn. These had a son, Caleb Baldwin, Jr. Mrs. (Bettsi Baldwin, Sr., died in [778. She left a son, Jared, (her oldest son) by her first hus- band. When Jared's mother married Mr. Baldwin she sold her Betts property, of the pro- ceeds of which sale her new husband took part possession. Jared was at that time under age, but when he had reached twenty-one he asked to have his share set over to him. Mr. Baldwin, his stepfather, declined his stepson's request, upon which in a moment of desperation possibly, the young man connected himself with Tryon's army, which was at that time moving upon Danbury. He stood in the streets of Danbury while the men fell around him and "the blood ran into his shoes." The patriots were so incensed at his course that he was compelled to quit the country. His mother not knowing whither he had flown, so sorely mourned for him and for his brother Nathan who was killed, as that sorrow eventually ended her days. When Jared had reached the age of seventy-five he X O R W ALK wrote from Schenectady, N. Y., to Norwalk, inquiring as to his brother's children. The reply resulted in a visit of one of his Norwalk or Wilton nephews (David Betts') to him in Schenectady. He had been married and had one child, but both mother and child were dead, and the father (Tared) married, last (see page 1421 the mother of Major-General John E. Wool, U. S. A., of Troy, N. Y. THOMAS AND DEBORAH BETTS LINEAGE. Thomas2d- and Sarah (Marvin) Betts, son and daughter-in-law of Thos. Betts,1"- had a grandson Thos. (son of Thos. 3d- and Deborah Betts), who married May 22, 1748, Elizabeth Benedict. These last, Thos. and Elizabeth Betts, had two sons, Thos. and Hezekiah. Between the two brothers there was seven years age-difference. They were born in the house in lower France Street, which the existing Miss Juliette Betts home supplanted. Thomas, born March 14, 1753, married, March 19, 1782, Elizabeth Smith, of Smithtown, L. I., and had George W., born June 6, 1 800, who married Julia, daugh- ter of Dr. William Miner, an old physician of East Broadway, New York City. Geo. W. Betts was a large Pearl Street, N. Y., carpet dealer. He purchased the Lewis Mallory estate on East Avenue, Norwalk, and in 1846 enlarged the same, founding a country home thereat. Here the family, consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Betts and their sons and daughters, Elizabeth (Mrs. Jas. Selleck), Wm. M., Julia, Sarah (Mrs. Henry Banks), Geo., Chas. and Hat- tie, enjoyed a delightful residence for several years. Mr. Betts was a man of fine presence and of liberal spirit and one who took an intelligent and active interest in Norwalk. Upon the completion of the building and furnishing of his handsome Norwalk home a brilliant function therein occurred on the evening of Jan. 3, 1848, the occasion being the wedding of his oldest daughter. The family has now entirely disappeared from Norwalk. The parents sleep within the town's confines, and the children are living elsewhere. Of the two sons William M. married into the Stamford Sanford family, George is connected with the Devoe Paint establishment of Fulton St., N. Y., and Charles lives in Evansville, Ind. Hezekiah, second son of Thos. and Elizebeth Betts, was the Capt. Hezekiah Betts of Revolutionary fame. With his brother Thos. he was brought up on the Juliette Betts France Street premises of 1896. He married, Oct. I, 1785, Grace, born Oct. 5, 1765, daughter of Hezekiah'-'- and Deborah ( Hoyt) Hanford. Hezekiah Hanford was son of Samuel who was son of Rev. Thomas Hanford. He inherited his father Samuel's home- stead, which was that of Rev. Thos., southwest corner East Avenue and Fort Point St. of 1896. He was a prominent Norwalker and served in Capt. Eliphalet Lockwood's com- pany of "Coast Guards" during the Revolutionary War. His wife was a daughter of Caleb (son of Zerubbabel, son of Walter, the settler,) Hoyt, to whom he was mar- 'This David Betts was the son of Abner Betts ' Thos. and Mary Betts, the settlers. David, nephew (baptized Aug. 21, 1763,) who was son of David 1 of Jared Betts, who married the Mrs. Wool, noted in Betls, born Sept. 20, 1730, who was son of Dilvid,'«- j tin- text, was father of the 1896 Mrs. Mary A. Betts who was son of Samuel, =d- son of Samuel,'"- son of ; Bristol, of New York City. 250 N O R W ALK. ried Oct. 7, 1743. Hezekiah and Grace (Hanford) Betts had a large family of children, two of whom, Alfred and Xenophon, were clergymen. Henry, their third son, born Nov. 26, 1794. was of inventive genius and an excellent man. He' married second, Mary, daughter of Peter Kctchum. His wife, sister of Nancy (Mrs. Jas. S. Keeler, of Troy, \. V.,1 was of saintly-consecrate life and walk. The father of the two daughters, Nancy and Mary Ketchum, at one time lived on Handsome Ridge, near the Oblong, and was ac- customed to take the children by the hand and walk through the romantic '• Luke woods" to visit their Hayes relatives, who resided where now stands St. John's Chapel, Lewisboro, N. V The two daughters, before death, loyally indicated their mother's tomb in the old "Beck's Hill" cemetery in Lewisboro. She was a member of the widely-known Hayes family of Westchester County. Peter Ketchum afterward owned the present Eno acres in Saugatuck. Henry and Mary (Ketchum) Betts had one son, Edgar K., who mar- ried into the Gardiner family, of Renssalaer Co., N. Y., the Earle branch of which family has built the 1896 imposing crematory mausoleum in Oakwood cemetery, Troy, N. Y. Mr. Edgar K. Betts is a successful business man of Troy, N. Y., in which city he has im- portant connection with the Earle & Wilson Manufacturing Company. His father, Henry Betts, made and saw "ran" probably the first steam craft that ever plied the Norwalk waters. The children of Capt. Hezekiah Betts (see note page 139) have been valuable members of society and have left behind them serviceable Norwalk memories. Miss Harriet Scott, daughter of Richard and Mchitable Scott and grand-daughter of Heze- kiah and Grace Betts, maintains the old home to-day and represents the old-time family. CHRISTOPHER COMSTOCK— THIRD OCCUPANT. Sergeant Christopher Comstock,' the third proprietor of Home-lot XIII, had regis- tration in Fairfield before he came to Norwalk. On Jan. 27. 1661, he bought the Thos. Betts property. Hither he brought his bride Hannah (daughter of Richard Piatt'" ), to whom he had been married on Oct. 6, 1663. The bride was baptized Oct. 1, 1643, and was a sister of Mary (Mrs. Luke Atkinson, of Mew Haven) and Sarah (Mrs. Thomas 'Henry Ileus married, first, in Northern Fairfield County, and had Amarylis (Mrs. Nathaniel Long), Court land Palmer Swan, julia S. (Mrs. Jared Olm- Christopher Comstock, of Fairfield, made, on May -9- 1654, aflidavil, in New Haven, as to what good- wife Knapp said about "witches" in the "Thomas stead), Man E. (Mrs. Winchester) and Henry E. B. Staples versus Roger Ludlow" case. 'It is claimed that Christopher Comstock, of It is further claimed that Mr. Comstock was born Norwalk, was the son of Frederic K,„„s,ohk, horn at in about 1625, and that he was a Fairfield young Frankfort, Germany, March 18, IJ75. and who mar- | Welshman and bachelor of three generations remove from Baron von Komstock. He owned a silver cup or goblet upon which the Comstock coat of arms was engraved. This piece fell to his descendants, by whom it was bequeathed to the Wilton Congress tional Church; by direction of the officers or mem- bers of which body it was finally melted up; anil, in changed shape, exists „„„. as a part of the Commun- ion service of said Church. ried, at Edinburgh, Scotland, Jan. 2, 161 1, Marv Mc Donald. These had, it appears, five children, viz.: Samuel, horn Feb. 6, 1612; Daniel, horn Nov. 11, 1614. Christopher, horn Oct. Jj, 1S1S; John, horn Mar. 25, 1625, and Catherine, born May 30, 1627. If this he comet. Mr. L'omslock was about forty-five years old when he married Hannah I'latt and was sixty-six at the birth of his youngest sou Muses NOR W A L K