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

Ralph Isaacs, who was one of its first two elected wardens may justly be denominated a founder of St. Paul’s parish. He bought of Benjamin and Esther Lines, of Fairfield, some six acres, between the present properties of Frederick T. Betts and Mrs. James A. Hoyt, and this was the home of the parents of the Norwalk Isaacses. Several of our fathers, Isaac Hayes, Goold Hoyt, John Cannon, and Colonel Thomas Fitch, went to Fairfield for their wives. Ralph Isaacs did the same. He married Miss Mary Rumsey, of the latter place, in 1725. He had four sons, Samuel, Isaac, Benjamin, and Ralph, and four daughters, Mary, Esther, Sarah, and Isaac. His oldest son, Samuel, married into one of Norwalk’s early families, that of James Brown, Esq. Samuel Isaacs and Mary Brown were the parents of Isaac Isaacs and Samuel Brown Isaacs, of extensive “rights, titles and interests” in West- chester County, New York; the ancient home of whom, in that county, a home where Washington and his staff were entertained, is, says Bolton, indicated to-day by the door step, which is yet in its place, and by the famous pear tree, nearly two hundred years old, which is still standing and still annually in bearing. The Mary Isaacs referred to in foot note, page fifty-two, was the mother of these brothers, and the family name is one of high respecta- bility. The “Isaacs House” which was recently taken down, was built by the father for his sixth bom, Benj amin. The story of the home is this : “On the sixteenth day of January, 1750-1, Ralph Issaacs bought of John Seymour, of Norwalk, the land which is now covered by the Opera house and adjoining stores, post-office, railway station, bank, Hour building, pharmacy, Masonic temple, and private residence and grounds, five acres and thirty-four poles for a sum equal to about six hundred dollars. The eastern boundary of the property was the ‘highway by harbor,’ the northern the ‘country road,’ the southern the ‘homelot land of Captain Samuel Keeler,’ (Captain Keeler was father-in-law of Charles Hoyt’s sister, Mrs. Joseph Keeler), and the western, the ‘land under improvement by James Brown. ’ ” Mr. Isaacs added to the area by the purchase, March 12th, 1752, from Joseph Simpson, of New York, of one and three quarters acres, price $100. This extended his domain as far as to West avenue, with the exception of a plot near the northwestern corner, which was owned by James Brown. A building, the late 86 Isaac’s house, was now constructed upon the northern line, between which and the stores which were reared, one by one, upon the eastern boundary, rose the distinctly remembered “Isaacs Hill.” On February 16th 1759, the “full half” of this property, the “northern half” was deeded to Benjamin, son of Ralph, with the “new dwelling house erected on the same.” Benjamin mar- ried Sarah Scudder. It is believed that there were three Scud- der brothers, who came about the same time to America. One of them, Isaac, settled in Norwalk, and here married Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph St. John, who resided upon what has in later times been known as the Charles B. White place. Benjamin and Sarah (Scudder) Isaacs, had five children: Isaac S., the oldest, and father of the late Judge Benjamin Isaacs, and his brothers William, Charles, and John; Benjamin, who married a Sackett, and had no children; Sarah, who married into the Rogers family; and Esther, who married Amos Belden, and removed to Dutchess County, New York. Benjamin’s (son of Ralph) life was short. He died at the age of thirty-seven. His widow married David Bush, of Greenwich, and was the mother of six children by this marriage. Among these children was Charlotte, afterward Mrs. S. Buckingham St. John of East avenue. At Benjamin Isaacs death, the Isaacs house and land fell to his son, Isaac Scudder Isaacs, who married Susannah, sister of Stephen St. John. These had four children, Benjamin (Judge), William, Charles, and J ohn. After Isaac S. , and Susannah Isaacs’ day, Benjamin, their eldest son, became owner of the property, no small portion of the original extent of which is now held by his descendants. This same Judge Isaacs was the immediate fore- father of the Norwalk and New Rochelle Lynes and Lockwoods, and Weeds, and Hills, and Coleses. The second daughter of Ralph Isaacs, Esther, married a citizen of Long Island, and was ancestress of the Woolsess and Dwights of undisputed fame throughout the continent. Ralph, Jr., removed to Branford, New Haven County; and Grace, the last child, and daughter, was foremother of the New Haven Ingersolls and Gregories of official and social distinction in this commonwealth and nation. Ralph Isaacs, the father and founder, is buried Down Town. James Brown is another of St. Paul’s corporators who may prop- erly be alluded to at this anniversary tide. Careful investigation seems to assign to him descent from a British family, concerning which Huntington in his history of Stamford writes thus: “The 87 Browns were early in the ancient Stamford, Lincoln, and they were also of no little repute. Their monuments still speak of their fame.” Mr. Brown was an attorney of Norwalk, and a conspicuous mover, in 1 737, in parish affairs. His father (James), who was “ad- mitted an inhabitant” of Norwalk, in about 1685, was a pioneer New England settler. He had four sons, Elisha, Isaac, John and, J ames, and at least one daughter, Kuth. J ames, the lawyer, married aNew Jersey lady, and his residence is designated by him in an old document, as “my mansion house in Norwalk.” He had seven children. He was one of the first proprietors of Rridgefield, and was a house-and-land-owner in the colonies of Connecticut and New York. With William Smith,* of New' York, he purchased about eleven thousand acres in the latter state. His daughter Mary, married Samuel, son of Ralph Isaacs, and his eldest son, James, born in Norwalk, in 1720, moved to the State of New York, where he was an ardent friend of the church, and gave to it about one hundred acres of land. James Brown, the settler, died, some- where near 1709; James, 2d., died, in 1769; James, 3d., died Feb- ruary 19th, 1786, about five months before the church of 1786 was consecrated. There have been a number of St. Paul’s members who have borne the name of Hoyt. It is one of the very oldest family names in the land. Simon Hoyt landed in Massachusetts as early as 1628-9. Remaining some few years in the eastern portion of the colony, he came to Fairfield somewhere near 1646. There was, in the Seventeenth Century, a small inner island, about five miles east of the Norwalk Islands, which was called “Hoits Island.” He was its owner. It is stated that he left Fairfield for Stamford about 1650, although Huntington claims him as a 1642 Stamford pioneer. There was a Thomas Hyoute in Stamford, in 1651. (There is ground for believing that Hoyt and Hyatt were originally the same family name.) Thomas Hyoute — Hyat — Hoyt, died, in 1651, and Simon, September 1st, 1657. Walter, the first Norwalk Hoyt, was Simon’s son, probably, and came to Norwalk, from the same town from which Simon, at or near the same time, went to Fairfield. He was an ancestor not without a record. His homelot bordered upon the ancient road to Fairfield, and, in about 1671, he was one of the nine largest land owners in town. He was deputy, in 1667, *William Smith, who was lawyer James Brown’s partner in this transaction, is supposed to have been the last century’s noted New York City lawyer of that name and who subsequently was Chief Justice in the Canadian prov- inces. 88 to the court in Hartford, and a petitioner, in 1672, with Bichard Olmstead, Thomas Benedict and others, for the ‘ ‘beginning of a plantation neare the backside of Norwalke. ” Zerubbabel and John Hoyt were Walter’s sons. John married a Lyndall, of New Haven. His sons were John, Samuel and Thomas. From these sons, (Zerubbabel’s children seem to have been mostly, if not all, daugh- ters), the Norwalk Hoyts can, it is fair to presume, trace their descent. There is one distinction to which this family (the Hoyt family of Norwalk) is entitled. Their ancestor, Walter, was, in all probability, the first of this town’s fathers to be found in the west- ern world. He lived in East Norwalk, just where the New York down trains were, until recently, compelled to stop before crossing the bridge. In the historical topography of Norwalk, that portion of the township which is known as lower East avenue abounds in local as- sociations, and is a point of civic interest. A number of its homes were not simply ancient and nothing more, they were tenanted by men of influence and importance in primitive New England and New York times. On the corner below the present homestead of George W. Cram, Esq. , (now in the pos- session of the Hendricks family), was the residence of a widely named colonist, and an efficient and eminent Continental com- mander. This was Colonel Thomas Fitch, who, during the period of the French and Indian hostilities, rendered splendid service, and whose signal abilities found an arena at the seat of executive action at the capitol of the colony. Somewhat below the colonel’s house, and on the opposite side of the street, dwelt his father, the accom- plished scholar, gentleman and ruler, Governor Thomas Fitch. Still further south, and a little over the hill (now Earl’s Hill), was the home of the governor’s parents, and nearly opposite to them abode one of the four court — designated commissioners, who, in 1673, ran the boundary line between Connecticut and New York. In this neighborhood resided one who was nominated, with John Wintlirop and John Mason, and others such, in Charles II. Char- ter of Connecticut ; almost exactly where the railway now crosses the avenue, was the cradle of four wrho were in after years ranked among the most successful business men of the century, and whose mercantile methods warrant high commendation ; while the esteem 89 in which three notable men whose homes lay in the same vicinity were held knew no recession. These are facts worthy of, at least, respectful recollection.