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

*Capt. Stephen Betts’s military record is worthy of preservation in our national historical cabinet. He was hardly out of his teens before he was found in the vicinity of Lexington and its battle-ground. He was one of those who helped expend, at Bunker Hill, the twenty-seven half-barrels of pow- der, the stock of munition in that line, and at that time of the Continental Army; and he did not leave Massachusetts until the British embarked under Howe, and made their adieu to Boston. From thence he went to New Jersey, and was present in the town of Trenton when, on the day after Christmas, 1776, nearly a thousand of the enemy “ threw down their arms and begged for mercy.” Six days after, on the first morning of the new year, he entered Princeton and helped achieve the victory that day, and there received the title of “ Captain.” In 1778 he fought at Monmouth, but the dawn of July 11, 1779, found him at home. The first Norwalk victim fell, it is related, near the hill north-east of the Hammersley place, over which one of St. Paul’s vestrymen had just passed on an errand of mercy, only, however, to be seized on the next hill beyond and carried to one of King George’s boats anchored off Fitch’s Point. Capt. Betts was wide awake, but (Gen. Parsons’ command did not arrive until later in the morning) Ti-yon overpowered him, and in the Secretary of State’s office, Hartford, is filed an affidavit made before Thad- deus Betts to this effect: ‘‘Capt. Stephen Betts in ye Continental service, personally appeared and made solemn oath, that on ye 11th inst., while ye enemy invaded Norwalk, he, with about fifty Continental troops and some militia, engaged a superior number of the enemy, which obliged them to give way to an unequal force. — Fairfield County, Norwalk, July 26, ryjQ.” The captain was at Yorktown in September and October, 1781, where it was permitted him to witness, on the afternoon of the 19th of the latter month, the surrender to Gen. Washington of seventy-two hundred and forty-seven of the enemy’s men, and the close of the revolutionary war. — See Huntington /or confirmation ofi portion of foregoing. After life’s warfare this old soldier of the State and the Church sleeps be- side his kindred, at the foot of one of New Canaan’s commanding ridges, under a mound, at the head of which is planted a plain marble stone with this simple lettering : In Memory of STEPHEN BETTS who died Nov. 28, 1832, Aged 76 years. On the one hundredth anniversary of the burning of Norwalk, his tomb was decorated with the national colors and garlanded with flowers. His wife (Miss Ruth Church) survived him several years, living in New Canaan, where she is now buried. He had one sister, Miss Ann Betts. t General William Tryon, of the British Army. He was a terror to the Con- necticut Indians, and their designation of him was, The Big Wolf. It is said, however, that, notwithstanding his daring, the general lived under the con- stant dread of death, to which fact one historian seems to attribute the escape of Stamford from conflagration. This possibly is mere fancy: but after the arrival of Gen. Parsons at the coast on the morning of the burning of Nor- walk, Tryon evidently hastened his departure, by the ‘‘Camilla” and ‘‘Scor- pion,” to Long Island. {Governor Trumbull, who was one of General Washington’s bosom friends, was actively interested for the Norwalk people. Three days previous to the burning, he, by special express, had dispatched orders to Gen. Wolcott, then in the north-western part of the state, to hasten to the shore; and while the town was in flames directions were being issued, to the commandant of New London “to go forward to Norwalk.” It was too late; but General Parsons had been sent hither from the Hudson Highlands by Washington himself. There was some delay in the march, and when the advancing Parsons’ sky- blue standard (each regiment had a standard of a particular color : Wooster’s, yellow: Putnam’s, scarlet; Parsons’, azure) was discerned, as it was borne over our western or north-western hills, the work of Norwalk’s destruction had already begun. Gen. Wolcott had arrived, and the forces of both these 27 his commentary* * * * § to liis family, and was lay assistant in the little church which stood in the street a few furlongs northwest of the present St. Mark’s, New Canaan, sent his portion also. And these same men, as soon as the plans for the new and permanent church could be matured, came at once to the front. The subscription roll for the edifice which this day recalls, amounted to the commendable sum of £1,095 11s 3d, pledged for building and for pews. John Cannon, and Thomas Belden together, subscribed £100 and over ; Goold Hoyt, Ebenezer Church and Jonathan Camp, over £100 ; Isaac Isaacs, John Belden, Isaac Camp, David Nash, Elia- kim Warren, Daniel Nash, Samuel White, Stephen Betts, Richard Camp, Matthew Reed, Nehemiali Hanford, over £200. Reuben Mott, Benjamin Marvin, Esaias Bouton, Nathan Jarvis, Peter White, Mrs. Ogilvie, Mr. Phillips,! Lemuel Brooks, + Paul Taylor, Nathaniel Street, John Cannon, Jr., the Messrs. Rogers, Hezekiah Jarvis, Hezekiah Belden, Samuel Belden, Jacob Jennings, Benja- min Isaacs, Stephen Kellogg and David Lambert, over £300; and among the others, Stephen Marvin, § (whose laudable ambition led him to fell and hew and draw the first stick of timber for the first consecrated church, drawn in all probability from Mr. Marvin’s splendid timber patch, known in earlier times as Indian Field Hill, || and on which tract a considerable portion of the timber in the parsonage to-day grew,) grandfather of Stephen and Merwin officers were joined at “the rocks.” Fire was opened upon the British who were massing near Grumman’s Hill. The enemy had landed (some of them, seemingly, as early as the evening before,) in two divisions: A portion of them, under Tryon, at Fitch’s Point, on the east side of the river, and the remainder, under General Garth, at “Old Well,” on the west side of the river. The two wings came together, somewhat after nine o’clock, a. m., at Grum- man’s Hill, and Tryon at once dispatched a company to resist the Continen- tals and militia. The hostile forces met in France street: shots were ex- changed, and although, according to Captain Stephen Betts’ statement, Tryon was master of the field, yet a retreat was ordered, and by noon the invaders were on their way to Fitch’s Point, and a little later to Long Island. It is a significant fact that no sooner had Tryon re-crossed the Sound than he was recalled by Sir Henry Clinton, to New York, where he apologized for his con- duct at Norwalk, etc. N. B. — General Parsons’ non-arrival until the morning of the conflagration is disputed. It is claimed that he was here a day or two before the burning. * The old Betts commentary is kept as companion-piece to the old Tryon chair. t A descendant, it is probable, of Hon. Frederick Phillips, second lord of the manor of Phillipsborough, and founder of St. John’s Church, Yonkers, New York, whose grandson, Frederick, was, nearly one hundred years since, pro- prietor of the Philipstown estate (opposite West Point), Putnam county. New York. This second Fredericks’ daughter-in-law married, after the decease of her first husband, an Ogilvie. Mrs. Ogilvie gave somewhat over one hundred dollars, and Mr. Phillips about seventy-five dollars for the church of 1786. $ Captain Lemuel Brooks lived at tue village, so-called, somewhat below South Norwalk. He married a Raymond. His sifter married Phineas Miller, M. D., a physician in early days in the place. A daughter of Dr. Miller, Miss Mary Ann Miller, of New Haven, crowned with years, still survives. § Buried in the rear of St. Paul’s church. II A little north of the line of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Rail- road, and near the boundary line between Norwalk and Westport. 28 Raymond, dead, and Josiahand Marvin, living, gave and subscribed freely; and so did John Platt, one of the carpenters of the new church, who lived near Mr. Marvin’s, on the borders of Saugatuck, and Aaron Keeler,* father-in-law of the late Carmi Lockwood, and who came from the foot of Belden’s Hill to church, brought his pounds to the treasury. “God, the best and greatest, ” as is inscribed *The Rev. James Keeler, wlio was the son of Aaron Keeler, was horn in Norwalk, April 29, 1787. He was ordained deacon in 1818, and taught, in 1821, the Episcopal Academy in this town. He removed, in 1823, to Wallingford, Connecticut, was rector, in 1828. of St Andrew’s Church, Meriden, and went, in 1835, to Harpeisville, Broome County. New York. He died in Janesville, Iowa, in June, 1863. lie was a man of ability, and his children also appear to have been possessed of fine qualities of mind. A volume of poems by his daughter, Amelia, was published, in I860. We borrow, from her “Footprints,’ one poem entitled: “Reminisences of Childhood,” and her allusion to the stream and rocks and woods and shades, will immediately recall to those who are familiar with it, the Wiunipauk birth spot: Flow back, flow back, ye rolling years, Take back your sorrows, cares, and fears, And let my spirit rove as free As once in Childhood’s revelry. I come, I come my native stream, My native cot, a welcome theme. Here once I roved in childish glee, As now my spirit fancy free. Yon rugged rocks I fancied high; Y"on woods they seemed to reach the sky; Yon shades they seem so dark and drear, They filled my infant mind with fear. Here is the rock on which we played ; Here are the tiny loaves we made; Here are my playmates, one and all, And echo answers to our call. Oh, vain delusion! false as fair! E’en now my spirit whispers where? Where is the mother, whose kind hand So often blessed our little band? Where are my sisters? Do I dream? Or have they hid beside the stream? E’en happy childhood hath no joy Unmingled with some slight alloy. Sisters, come back ! They answer not : And vanished is my native cot; Life, with its cares, appears in view : My early friends, adieu! adieu! Miss Keeler died, in 1856, and her last words were “My Saviour, Meet Me.” A brother addressed to the bereaved family several stanzas which closed as follows :