Address at the Centenary of St. Paul's Church, Norwalk, Conn.

James Rogers, 3d, (Capt. James, who was son of James, 2d, navigator, and grandson of the first James of the Rogers family in America) came with certain of his household to Norwalk, from New London, in or about the year 1726. He had fourteen children, and he bought from Ebenezer Keeler some six acres in the lower part of the town, with dwelling house, and barn, and fences, and fruit trees, and tide mill thereon standing, paying for the same between fourteen and fifteen hundred dollars. This seems to have been the homestead, but he was quite a land holder outside of this purchase; he was possessed of seven acres of the timber tract in “Indian Field,” (a locality mentioned in the accompanying address), and of a four-acre house-lot, with dwell- ing and barn, which had belonged to one John Smith, and on May 16, 1727, was deeded to “James Rogers, late of New London, now of Norwalk,” fora consideration of several hundred dollars, the eligible corner on the opposite side of the street, and a little distance north of the present East Norwalk rail- road station, while a short time before his death he invested rather largely in Commonage land. He was a citizen of Norwalk about seven years, and until his decease in 1733. He appointed Samuel Cluckston (church warden in 1737) one of his executors, and distribution of his will was “ performed on March 15, 1739-40,” his son James (of New London) being first named by the executors, and afterward his daughter Mary (Mrs. Jonathan Chester), and Esther (Mrs. John Seabury, of Groton, Conn, the birthplace of Bishop Seabury) and Uriah, (Dr. Uriah, of Norwalk, who came hither probably with his father, and who here married Hannah, daughter of James Lockwood and granddaughter of Samuel Smith, evidently the same Samuel Smith who was a heavy, 1687, Commons proprietor, and appointed by the first Thomas Fitch an “Overseer” of his will), and Jedediah, and Nehemiah, and Edward, and Stephen, and Moses, who, March 24th, 1749, was “sup- posed to be deceased,” and Aaron (who removed to Wethersfield), and Lemuel. There were also Elizabeth, and Claron and Samuel, but they did not share, if the record is correct, in the distribution. He instructed his executors, in 1732, to make provision for the education of his four younger children (all of whom at that time were under fourteen), and mentioned a certain amount which he wished expended upon their “bringing up.” His son Nehemiah, who is buried under the stone before spoken of, and to whom this note refers, was a benefactor of St. Paul’s, and signalized his adoption into the parish by a donation to it, in 1742, and was himself earnest and helpful, and loaned later of his son’s time and effort. He was elected second vestry- man in 1754, His brother, Dr. Uriah, a physician of the place and owner of several rolling acres north of St. Paul’s, was the grandfather of one of world- wide celebrity in his profession, the eminent jurist, Chancellor James Kent, a portion of whose boyhood was spent in this town. The chancellor’s mother, Hannah (Rogers) Kent, died while her son was but a mere lad, but some of our older residents may possibly recall the chancellor’s widow (Mrs. Elizabeth [Bailey] Kent), who survived her husband and lived until 1851. She was sis- ter of Gen. Bailey, of the U. S. Senate and the mother in-law of an eminent clergyman of the church, Dr. John S. Stone, rector of Trinity Church, New Haven, and of St. Paul’s, Boston, and finally, Professor of Systematic Divinity in the Theological School at Cambridge, Mass. Nehemiah, brother of Dr. Uriah and the others, married Elizabeth, daugh- ter of Governor Fitch’s brother Samuel. It was from her branch of the family, therefore, and that of her grandfather’s cousin Nathaniel, that the Fitch churchmen proceeded. Her father held office under the king and was a large land proprietor. He inherited, by will, the bay view tract which skirts A 45 Thomas Hanford,* presumably the son of Capt. Elnathan, and great-grandson of the first Thomas, who was the first of all the the harbor to the east of Gregory’s Point, and which has of late years been so much improved by WToodbury G. Langdon, Esq. He was also part owner of some of the Norwalk Islands, and had a hundred acres in one piece on Chestnut Hill. One of the Norwalk ante-revolutionary Elizabeth Fitches (there were several of the name) has been called Queen Elizabeth, but not one of them, perhaps, more justly merited the title than did Mrs. Elizabeth Fitch Rogers, who, with respect at least to the particulars of honorable family connection, and a notable offspring, was a distinguished character. One traces with gratification the prosperous careers of her sons, Fitch, Moses, Henry and Nehemiah, all old New York brothers and merchants, and with admiration the descent from these. The family is, and has been, one of renown ; its ancestress had hardly been called hence ere the lineage em- braced the names of many who were already adorning private life, or be- coming conspicuous in its public walks. Had a few years more been vouch- safed her, she might have beheld some of her line serving their country at its own capital, or as its embassadors at capitals abroad, and others holding court at learning’s seat, and others still, whose great enterprise was securing for them great wealth, and whose recognized rectitude and respectability were dignifying and exalting social life, of the highest civilties and courtesies of which, they were the acknowledged representatives. There were these among the Kings of academic and military fame : Presi- dent Charles, L.L. D., of Columbia College, and General Rufus, of the United States Army, and United States minister to Rome : there were Dr. Richard Kissam Hoffman, the surgeon, and Dr. Maxwell, the physician ; there were some of the Bells and Winthrops, and Livingstons, and Bayards, and Grades, who were her children’s children, or related to her by name. One of the descendants wedded a daughter of Bishop Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright; another married Dr. Henry E. Montgomery, rector of the Church of the Incar- nation, N. Y. ; and another was the Rev. Dr. Smith Payne, rector of Calvary Church, N. Y., and afterwards of St. Johns, Washington, D. C. Mrs. Rogers was mother of one of the originators of Grace Parish, New York, and of that excellent vestryman’s (David Lambert, 1791-94) wife, Mrs. Susannah Lambert, of Wilton, and grandmother of Mrs. Catherine (Rogers) Sherwood, wife of Rev. Dr. Reuben Sherwood, of St. Paul’s from 1816 to 1830, whose daughter (Miss Catherine Sherwood, now of Hyde Park, N. Y.), was the second of the four rector’s daughters who have been born in this venerable parish parson- age, the first of whom having been Mary Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. Henry Whitlock, and the third Sarah S., daughter of Rev. James C. Richmond, and the last one, the little daughter (Miss Marjorie Clapp), of the present rector. Mrs. Nehemiah Rogers was made a widow in 1760, and after her children had grown and removed from Norwalk, she spent more or less of her time with them. She returned occasionally, however, to this place, and seemed towards the close of her life to be here for protracted periods. Her sons, during the war troubles, went to New Brunswick, and two of them, Fitch and Nehemiah, were two of the founders of the City of St. Johns; while the fol- lowing copy of a quaint and partially worn out original is a mention which concerns one of her daughters, and it suggests the care, as to the reg- istration of such matters, which our fathers exercised : “ Sunday evening, Dec. 27, 1769, at about 8 of the clock, David Lambert, son of David and Lau- rana Lambert, of Norwalk, and Susanna Rogers, daughter of Nehemiah and Elizabeth Rogers, of Norwalk, were married, Samuel Fitch, Esq., her grand- father, giving her away, and Rev. Jeremiah Learning performing [the] cere- mony.” Mr. Rogers died, as we have seen, in 1760, and from the distribution of his estate, made March 2d, 1780, it appears that Samuel, to whom he bequeathed a double portion of his goods, was his eldest son. He undoubtedly was the “your son” credited, in 1757, upon the parish ledger, by service rendered, and there is public record of him several years later than his father’s death. Fitch, the second son, took the mother’s family name, and married Hannah Bell, of the Isaac Bell home, which was beautifully situated near the wave- washed shores of the Sound not far from Shippan Point. He removed, in war time, from New England to New Brunswick, where he was'prominent, church- wise and citizen-wise, and afterward returned to Stamford in which place, according to Huntington, he died. Moses was the next child born, and he married as is hereafter stated. Henry, whose success was phenomenal, and the modes and habits of whose *See note, page 47. 46 •»> Norwalk Hanfords, and whose ancestress, Eglin Hanford, came over in 1635, a widow, in the ship Planter, from Sudbury, in Suf- business life were characterized by strict honor and integrity, married, for his first wife, Miss Catherine Van Raust, and for his second wife a North Carolina lady, Miss Frances Moore; Nehemiah, the type of a gentleman, and another of the worthful and wealthy merchantmen of the metropolis, married Miss Catharine Bell, of the Provinces. To Elizabeth, who was unmarried, was apportioned landed property in various parts of Norwalk. Susanna married David Lambert, as has been noticed, and Esther became the wife of Archibald Gracie, of Scotland, but a resident of New York, and an old time business man of great enterprise, large benevolence, and high standing. It was with this daughter that Mrs. Rogers’ ending years were spent, and in her abode the mother finally surrendered to the infirmities of age, and was gathered unto her fathers. She was fond of her native place, as before intimated, and her visits to it, during her city residence, are elsewhere alluded to.