li^^»i5i^§piM mmm '^- 1 ■"^.' ^ ^y '/v^^'V/^^ "V^^V^ \J'^S*V^ "^ ■» .^^ A' >" K^*^"-*^ \' .^■*°-* •*' .. .• d^ A>^"-^ '^Sft^ '-' MILES MERWIN 1623 - 1697 AND ONE BRANCH -OF- HIS DESCENDANTS -BY- CAROLINE GAYLORD NEWTON 1909 %• ■ iO :^. MILES MERWIN 1623-1697 AND ONE BRANCH OF HIS DESCENDANTS In the early part of the year 1630, in the town of Plymouth in England, there was a solemn ceremony, of the organization of a church com- posed entirely of those who were about leaving, or had already left their homes, and were com- ing together, members of one church family, to make new homes in the new world of America. Eev. John Warham, a man of excellent edu- cation and ability, a graduate of Oxford Uni- versity, was installed pastor, and Mr. John Branker was ruling elder and school master. There were one hundred and forty persons in this company, some of them little children, and among them was one boy named Miles Merwin, supposed to be at that time about seven years old, who was to cross the ocean in the care of his Aunt Abigail, the wife of John Branker. They sailed from Plymouth the 20th day of March, 1630, in the ship Mary and John, called ^'Mr. Ludlow's vessel," of about 400 tons burden. They were ten weeks on the ocean, and as there were two ministers with them, they had preaching every day of the voyage. The ship reached the land at Nantasket, Mass., on the Sabbath-day, May 30th, and the next day, Monday, they were put on shore with their goods and cattle. After some exploration by ten men of their number, they chose a place for settlement, and named it Dorchester. In that first year after their arrival in this country, they endured much hardship. They might perhaps have planted some seeds, as they were here in the month of June, but they must first have some shelter for wives and little ones, and with little sowing, there was little reaping, and in the winter of 1630-31, they suftered from hunger. They were near the coast, and clams, muscles and fish were the chief articles of food. A pleasant sight to them were the friendly Indians who came with baskets of yellow corn on their backs for sale, and later, ships came laden with the same from Virginia, until, as one of them writes " they were filled with food and gladness. Then did all the servants of God bless His holy name, and love one another with pure hearts fervently." They remained in Dorchester five years, hear- ing much during that time about the fertile meadow land bordering on the Great River westward. Meadow land, so-called, which was comparatively free from forests, and did not need to be cleared by hard labor with the axe, was much desired by them, and in the autumn of the year 1635, about sixty men, women and children, with them young Miles Merwin, driv- ing before them their cattle and swine, a tedious journey of many days, reached and crossed the Connecticut River, and settled themselves on its western shore, between that and the Farming- ton River, which they called the Rivulet. Their new home they at first named Dorches- ter, but the name was changed to Windsor, at a meeting of the General Court in February 1636- 7. It was not to a wilderness they came, like the Pilgrims of 1620, a few having settled here before the coming of the church body; for this was the second removal of the church which had been formed in England, and there were no new ceremonies of church organization either in Dorchester or Windsor. It was now the month of October, and but little time could be counted on for preparing shelter for themselves and their cattle. Some began digging cellars, usually choosing the slope of a hill; some chopped down trees and hewed them roughly and hastily; these laid around and over the cellars, and thatched with the dry meadow grass, were their abodes for the first hard winter, and served as foundations for the log houses to be later built. The winter came earlv; the river was frozen over by the middle of November, and there was much suffering. Many of the cattle died; one estimate says they lost in their dying stock, the value of £2400, and some of the remainder they were obliged to kill for food. The Indians were numerous, and being at first friendly, helped out their supplies some- what by corn and acorns. All the land in the three neighboring settle- ments of Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield had been honestly purchased of the Indians, although those Indians did not realize that they would be crowded out of their hunting and fish- ing by the palefaces. The next year, in 1636, the Indians became very threatening, and formed a plan for driving all the white settlers from New England. Upon their first coming to Windsor, the In- dians were peaceful, and the settlers chose their home lots as far from each other as they pleased ; but within two years, early in 1637, there was evidently danger from some of the neighboring tribes, and every family who had been farther away moved to the center, those who were already there, giving up a part of their land to these others, and all giving their time and strength to cutting and setting a strong pali- sade of high stakes or posts, braced within, and encircled outside by a wide, deep ditch. I have seen traces of this ditch two hundred and sixty years later. The whole length of this line of palisades was but little less than a mile, and after it was finished, a constant guard was necessary, lest the Indians should succeed in climbing over, or in setting fire to it. The story of the Pequot War need not be told here. Miles Merwin was probably too young to have any part in it, but not too young to help in gathering the supplies, or to guard the Pali- sade, within which, for a time, all must dwell. At the Court of the Colonies convened at Hartford, May 1st, 1637, it was decided that there should be an offensive war against the Pequots, and Captain John Mason, one of these Windsor settlers, was apointed commander of the ninety men who were to go against that tribe. Windsor was to furnish thirty men, and as its share of supplies, sixty bushels of corn, fifty pieces of pork, thirty pounds of rice and four cheeses. Each plantation must have its corn ground and a part of it made into bread. Whether the corn-mill called Warham's Mill was in operation at this time, is uncertain, but it was running soon after, for in 1640 the record reads : "Mr. John Warham has by gift of ye Town one acre of land more or less, lying by his mill, as it bounds north, beginning at ye fall of ye water out of ye Trough upon ye Wheel." Tradition claims that this was the first grist mill in Connecticut, and that it ground the corn of neighboring towns as far away as Middle- town. The Colonists erected it, fitted it with a great clumsy wheel, and presented it to Rev. Mr. Warham, as a part of his support. Twenty-four years later, in 1664, he gave a deed of it to his wife, Abigail Branker Warham, the aunt of Miles Merwin, and it is probable that Miles had spent many hours in watching the grain through the hopper, and taking the minister's toll. The beautiful Green, near the old Windsor church, has always borne the name of Palisado Green in memory of the early Indian troubles. After the close of the Pequot War, and the return of Captain Mason and his men, some left the protection of the Palisade and returned to their farms, and there was but little more trouble with Indians. The Rev. Mr. Warham removed across the Farmington River and built his house near the small Mill-brook upon which his mill was stand- ing, and one of his numerous deeds mentions a "small palisade" which must have been set up there for the protection of those who could not in a time of danger, cross to Palisado Green. It was several years before there was a per- manent bridge, and the minister was obliged to cross in a row-boat or canoe every Sabbath day. The Rivulet, as they called it, was usually nar- row and quiet, but in the spring it was often a wide roaring torrent. In 1650, it was ordered at the town meeting that "upon the Lord's days, none shall go into the canoe before the magistrates and elders, and that there shall not go at any time above thirty-five persons in the great canoe, and not above six in the little canoe, upon penalty of five pence." Mr. Branker with his wife and Miles Merwin, were living on the farther side near Mr, War- ham, and as ruling elder, he with his family was favored with an early passage across the river. The meeting-house was erected in 1640, but was not finished until a long time after that, for every board was sawed by hand, and the nails were made, one by one, by a blacksmith, and the trouble with the Indians had taken much time. It is said by Cotton Mather that Mr. Warham was the first minister in this country to preach with notes. Some of his sermons are still in existence in the State Library in Hartford. Mather, speaking of the notable energy and vigor of his ministry, says : " He was as pious a man as most that were out of Heaven." John Warham and Thomas Hooker had been friends in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, and their friendship was continued in Connecticut as neighbors ; Warham having come in 1636, Hooker in 1636. Besides his church and his mill, Mr. AVarham had a fondness for dealing in real estate, as did many others who came from England, where a right in land was more difficult to obtain. There are on the records, twelve or more deeds of property with his name attached. Miles Merwin, upon becoming of legal age, had this prevalent habit of buying and selling again. He bought of Mr. Whiting a lot west of the Rivulet with the building thereon for £8. The price seems very low, but this is supposed to have been the stone house which was built by Rodger Ludlow, who removed to Fairfield. The house was built on the bank of the river, be- tween that and a smaller brook flowing into it, and the spring floods came very near it, on one occasion entirely surrounding it ; so that it was "drowned very deep." Miles found it, for this reason or some other, "too hard" for him, and was released from his bargain. He bought a lot in the Great Meadow for £20 and was released from this also by Mr. Whit- ing's executors. Thomas Marshfield had built a house on the lot next north of Mr. Branker's in 1637, which was afterwards purchased by Roger Williams, who owned it for three years, and sold it then, in 1650, the homestead with the land, to Miles Merwin. Miles was then twenty- seven years old, and was already married to Elizabeth Baldwin, widow of Theophilus Canfield, and it is supposed that the three elder children, John, Elizabeth and Thomas, were born in this house, which stood on the east side of Broad Street. He sold the place in 1652 to Captain Samuel Marshall, but Marshall did not occupy it, and probably Miles Merwin remained in it until his removal to Mil ford. In an old "Book of Rates" concerning seating the meeting-house in Windsor, under date of January 18th, 1659-60, Miles Merwin's name is down as paying seven shillings ; this was the highest price paid for a man and his wife, and very few paid as much as that, but this was not the yearly payment. When the meeting-house was built, pews were not provided, and each man apparently, paid for building a seat for himself. Miles Merwin's was one of those raised a little higher than others, which accounts for a shill- ing more in price. Miles Merwin was admitted to the church in Milford May 4th, 1661, his wife in June of the same year. Her youngest child, Daniel, was born June 30th, 1661. Lambert's History says that Miles Merwin was in Milford in 1645, but this is a mistake which probably arose from confusing his name with that of Miles Moore, who was there at that date. In the earliest original record of the Town of Milford, which I have carefully examined, Moore's name is spelled M-u-r, in the list of baptisms, as follows : Deborah, dau. Isabel, wife of Miles M-u-r, bapt. Oct. 31, 1647. lO Miriam, dau. Isabel, wife of Miles M-ii-r, bapt. Dec. 12, 1647. Lydia, dau. Isabel, wife of Miles M-u-r, bapt. Oct. 5, 1649. On other pages of the record, the following : Abel, son of Miles Moor, Feb. loth, 1652. Mary, dau. Miles Moor, Nov. 9th, 1653. Elnathan, son Miles Moor, Sept. 1655. In the list of planters in 1646, his name is Miles Moore. This list of Moor children is inserted here, because some have erroneously supposed the Deborah, Miriam and Lydia, named above, to be children of Miles Merwin. The first record in Milford of a baptism of the Merwin name is : "August 21st, 1656, Samuel Merwin, sonne of Miles Merwin of Mil- ford." In the early Land Records of the Town of Milford, there are many pages closely written, on which the entries have no separate dates. The year is, in some cases, placed at the top of the page. One page is dated 1649, then for several pages there is no date, the next being 1669, a period of twenty years. About midway of these pages is the entry : "Miles Merwin hath given him by this Court II for his Encouragement to settle with the Town, ten acres of land, five acres being in Brick Kiln Swamp," The first entry of the Merwin name that I find with a definite date, is January 10th, 1654. There was then a grant "by the Town of Milford to Tanner Miles Marwin of a lott next unto Ensign Bryan's Warehouse by the harbour's side, for to build and improve his trade thereon." Another "item" says, that Marwin's tan- works were a few rods west of Bryan's wharf. "Feb. 7th, 1657, the General Court granted six acres of land to Miles Marwin.'' "1657, Miles Marwin hath liberty to remove the gate and fence at the land, and to set it up again at the corner of the front of his lott, next the lott that is still in the Towne's hands, over- throwing that highway, and join it to Sam Coley's fence, which the said Miles Marwin undertakes to freely at his own cost, not only to remove, but to maintain it as his own for three years from that day, upon the condition that the Town will give him a little spot of marsh that lies with his lott which the Town or Court did grant him ; but how far his marsh should run into the harbour he knows not ; there is four rods by the house and eight by the other end." 12 Each planter kept up his proportion of the common fence, and carved the initials of his name on a stake at each end of his his own line. It must be remembered that all the dwelling houses in Milford, at this time, were within the palisade for protection from the Indians. These palisades were large posts ten or twelve feet high, set so closely that a man could not pass between them, ingress and egress being only- through the gates. Gates were made and kept in order by individuals, the use of more land being granted them for their trouble. Jona- than Baldwin had eighteen acres for the gate in Ferry Neck. The land enclosed by the palisade at Milford was nearly a mile square, and in 1656, a law was made that no Indian should, on any pretext, be allowed to remain within it over night. The Indians had a village at the place now called Burwell's Farms, and had been at times quite troublesome, especially so in the years 1645, 1646 and 1653. At one time they had set the grass and woods surrounding the palisade on fire, and the settlers had serious trouble to save their homes from destruction. The land had been purchased from the Indi- ans, the price being six coats, ten blankets, one kettle, and a quantity of hoes, knives, hatchets 13 and small mirrors, but not all members of this Wepawaug tribe considered themselves bound by the transaction. The last deed given by the Indians of land in Milford was the twenty acres on the high bluff now known as Welch's Point. The price then paid was six coats, two blankets and three pairs of breeches. Thomas Welch, my great-great-great-great- great-grandfather afterwards bought it of the town for £21, 6 shillings, and it has ever since been called by his name, Welch's Point. ''Town-Meeting, January 10th, 1659." "Ordered, that Miles Marwin have ten acres of land given him in the swamp about the Brick Kilns." (Evidently this was wooded, as others were allowed to draw wood from it, and ' 'if he do not improve it, it reverts to the town.") "General Court held at Milford, March 19th, 1669-60. "Miles Marwin hath liberty to have the re- mainder of his land which the town granted him, next to John Brown's land on this side of it, in the Indian side." "General Court held in Milford, April 27, 1660. ' 'The town hath given liberty to John Stream and Miles Marwin to have the town line to run 14 on the outside of those Lotts, provided they bare the multiplication of fence, and also have the consent of the owners of that fence which lyeth against their land, and also that they be at the charge to remove the gates.'' "April 27, 1660, item. The town declared themselves by a vote that Miles Marwin shall have that piece of land for his own properties which he hath taken in with his meadow at Oyster meadow, provided that he pay rates for it according as it shall be sized by Thomas Wheeler and Stephen Freeman, for they are appointed by the town to size it. "/fern. Miles Marwin hath liberty to lay down his piece of land in the Indian side, and to take up so much beyond Sarg't Fowler's or any- where thereabout where he can find it." Jasper Gunn is chosen by the town to measure the lands. "1665. Miles Marwin is granted liberty to take up the land which was granted to Good- man Botts, by his own lott at sea-side, on the Indian side, convenient highways being re- served." All these are from the Milford proprietors, and not deeds from one man to another. In each case the name is spelled Marwin. Land which was otherwise unclaimed was di- vided among the early settlers at different 15 times. There was one division in 1645, another in 1646, a half division, whatever that may mean, in 1658 and the other half in 1660; another half division in 1676, the remaining half in 1679. One in 1686, when there were 129 persons. The last one was in 1689. In a division about 1676, Miles Marwin has two shares. At a meeting of the General Court, January 6, 1687, there had been some difference between Lieut. Samuel Burwell and Miles Marwin about the line between their lands near the Round Meadow, and a committee of six men were ap- pointed to adjust it. Their decision was ac- cepted by both parties, and was signed, ' 'In be- half of Father, I Thomas Marwin, am satisfied." After receiving these grants of land from the Proprietors, and having sold his lands in Wind- sor, and received all he could expect from his Aunt Abigail, Miles Marwin purchased a large tract of land on the shore of Long Island Sound, some of it comprising a part of what is now known as Pond Point, Merwin's Point, and Woodmont, extending across Oyster River into what is now the Town of Orange. Some of this land has ever since been, and still is, in the possession of his descendants, a period of more than two hundred years. In the meantime, the circumstances of Miles i6 Merwin's relatives in Windsor has had greatly changed. Mr. John Branker, the husband of his Aunt Abigail, a gentleman of good education, had been the first school-master, and long continued in that office. February 1656-7 it was voted that Mr. Branker should have £5 paid to him out of the next town rate toward his maintenance of a school. In his office as ruling elder of the church, hav- ing been regularly and solemnly ordained, he occasionally delivered the weekly lecture in the absence of the minister, and it was his duty to visit and pray with the sick, and in the public congregation, to pray and expound the scrip- tures. He possessed considerable property, and dying May 29, 1662, he left it all by will to his widow, Abigail, who promptly married the minister, Rev. John Warham, at that time a widower. Mr. Warham moved into her house, which was repaired for their use, but it was later sold to Thomas Allyn, who had married Mr. War- ham's daughter Abigail. The minister had a salary besides the income of the grain mill; in 1650, he had one hundred pounds; in 1656, four score and ten pounds. In the year 1661, instead of a tax being laid, 17 his salary was paid by voluntary subscriptions, the smallest sum for the year being one shilling and sixpence; the largest, by Roger Ludlow, one pound, ten shillings. The "toll" at the mill at the same time was one-sixteenth or two quarts in a bushel for Eng- lish grain or malt grinding, and one twelfth for Indian corn. Rev. Mr. Warham died April 1, 1670, but he had previously conveyed this mill to his wife, and a few days before his death, March 19, he had signed a will leaving to her all the property which had been her own before her marriage to him. This was a necessary provision, for otherwise she would have had no real control of her own, though she had evidently used what power she had, for on April 11, 1670, eleven days after Mr. Warham's death, the record says: " At a meeting of Assize, permission is asked to provide for debts contracted in the sickness of both Mr. and Mrs. Warham. " The great expense that Mr. Warham's estate hath been at in mayntaning Mrs. War- ham in the time of her exercises and affliction, upwards of two years, and her wastful dis- posing of many things without his privity." Notwithstanding her "wastful disposing," there was considerable remaining, for his estate i8 inventoried well for those times: £1239, 10 s., the homestead being appraised at £250, land in the Great Meadow £100, books £82, 4s. &c. Miles Merwin and his family, apparently Mrs. Warham's only relatives on this side of the ocean, had removed to Milford years before, but he visited his Aunt occasionally, and two of his children were her special favorites, one, Abigail, being her namesake, but she seems to have been offended by his leaving her in her old age. She had taken into her house to care for her after being left a widow, a family named Newberry, and they at her death came into possession of the house and furniture as their own. A daughter of this family married a Mr. Rowland, and the house built by him, and still called the Rowland house, is built upon the John Branker home lot. Mrs. Warham died in 1684, and although Miles Merwin was in Windsor on business in that year, it is not known whether he was with her at the time of her death; the family were in Milford. There seems to have been trouble and dis- agreement over Mrs. Warham's will. She made what is called by the lawyers a nuncupa- tive will, one not written, but made by word of mouth in the presence of witnessess, and this 19 was admitted by the Probate Court, and is now on record in Hartford. Miles Merwin claimed that her written will, written sometime before, should be the one admitted, and presented his petition to the General Assembly in March, 1685. To this petition this answer is recorded on page 190 of Colonial Records of Connecticut; "A General Court held at Hartford, October 8, 1686. "Upon the petition of Miles Merwin, this Court having heard what hath been presented against the settlement of Mrs. Abigail War- ham's estate by the County Court, March 5, 1685, and what hath been said for the confirma- tion thereof, doe see reason to settlement of the estate according as the Court of Assistants May last hath done." Although living at such a distance from Windsor, the first Miles Merwin seems to have displayed all the persistence in battling for what he considered his rights, that has been in later generations of the name, and in October of the same year, he presents another petition as follows: Copy of Petition Miles Merwin (Murwin) Priv. Controv. Vol. 3, 91. (State Library, State Capitol) To the Honorable General Assembly, now sit- 20 ting in Hartford, ye Humble Petition of Miles Murwin showeth: — That whereas, Mrs. Abigail Waram ( Ware- ham ) Late of Windsor, ( being hereby Relative to ye petitioner) Did make her last will and testament under her name and seal, And in ye said Will Did Apoynt ye petitioner sole executor to her said Will & Gave to ye petitioner a con- siderable Legacy, upon which ye petitioner Did appeare att ye County Court in Hartford in March last, obtained a probation of ye said will which was exhibited in said Court & two witnesses present ready to give oath yt they saw ye testator sign ye said will. But Capt. Daniel Clarke with some others made some objections against ye probation of said will by which means ye petitioner could not gaine a probation of said will. Your petitioner also delivered ye Wit- nesses to give oath to Mr. John Warams sign- ing of ye writing intended by him for his last will and testament ( but not accepted for such by ye County Court ) but could not obtain that either. But ye worshipfuU County Court proceeded to a distribution or settlement of some part ( at least ) of ye estate of ye said Mrs. Waram to the great dissatisfaction of your petitioner upon which ye petitioner Did apply himself to ye 21 Honored Court of Assistants in May last for Releef, but not obtaining ye Releef which was expected I have made bold to present this my complaints and petition to ye Honors for Eeleef Humbly craving yt I may have liberty granted for ye reading of that writing have references to ye matters which are in Court and then impartially to weigh my evidence and plead in equal scales of justice. And if they do not out weight all ye evidence and pleas of my adver- saries I shall willingly aquiess in what sentence shall proceed from ye Honors. I doe most humbly crave yt I may have but what Law and Justice Gives mee that I may not bee much overrun by ye power and policy of my adver- saries who I know to bee mutch advantaged in both but yet I Hope my Rituous cause will in part plead for it selfe. Soe Resting in Hopes I subscribe ye Honors in all Dutyfull submission. ( Signed ) Miles Murwin, Senior. Oct. 12, 1685. This petition of Miles Merwin was also re- fused, and the will which was admitted, and which I have seen in the Probate Office at Hart- ford, is as follows : "We underwritten being present with Mrs. Warham who spent her last days in our family, 22 she discoursing with us respecting her estate, she declared that she had formerly given her Cousin Miles Merwin such a multitude, that if she had thousands she would not give him a penny. No, not a pinyis poynt She further said that things were so with her now in regard of her long sickness and expense thereupon, that she could not tell whether she had anything to give away. She also disowned that she had any will, and said further that her cousin, Miles Merwin, desired that she would make over her estate to him. and she manifested herself much troubled, and said she knew not but that she might live to need and expend it, and that she had before she dyed. Mary, the wife of Capt. Newberry, and Abi- gail, the daughter of the aforesaid, both affirm that Mrs. Warham sayd to them when she was of good understanding & sound memory con- cerning her estate, that if there was anything left when the Court had to consider thereoff, she had thought that little Miles Merwin should have somewhat, and the other that lived with her so long, & as for her moveables that were brought into her house. Return Strong, Mary Newberry and Abigail doe testify she freely gave them to us, and sayd they should not be taken from us. The above sayd was by her 23 declared to us sometime last March. September 4, 1684. Benjamin Newberry- Mary M. Newberry's mark Abigail C Newberry's mark Return Strong" To this paper, the names of Miles Merwin's six older children only are appended, Elizabeth, John, Abigail, Thomas, Samuel and Miles, although ten must have been living at that time. The one "who lived with her so long", was the eldest daughter, Elizabeth. Abigail War- ham's estate inventoried one hundred and twenty-six pounds, fourteen shillings and six pence. The Probate Court, March 10, 1684-5, ordered the Administrators, Captain Newberry and Return Strong, to distribute: "To Miles Merwin, Jr., one third of the Estate: To Elizabeth two thirds of one third: To John, Thomas, Samuel and Abigail the remainder; Miles Junioi- to possess the Lands if he desire it, he paying his brothers and sisters as the Administrators may appoint." This inventory and distribution appear not to include the house and furniture which Captain Newberry claimed, but the children of Miles Merwin inherited all except that. Whether the appeal of their father made any real difference 24 in the final settlement of the estate is not known. The Merwin relatives were the only ones on this side of the ocean. It was in this year of 1684, that Miles Mer- win of Milford was a witness in the import- ant law-case of Whiting vs. Bissell in Windsor, testifying concerning his own purchase and sale of real estate there, and it was probably from his testimony at that time, that Savage in his Genealogy takes the dates which he gives thus : "Miles Merwin in 1684, calls himself 60 years old, but in 1692 says about 70. He died April 23rd, 1697, aged about 74." Miles Merwin's first wife, Elizabeth Baldwin Canfield, the mother of his seven older children, John, Elizabeth, Thomas, Samuel, Miles, Daniel and Abigail, had died July 10, 1664. He soon married again, Sarah Piatt, daughter of Deacon Eichard Piatt, and widow of Thomas Beach. By her he had five children, Martha and Maria, twins born Jan. 23, 1665-6; Hannah, November 15, 1667 ; and Deborah and Daniel born April 24, 1670. At the birth of this second pair of twins, the mother died, and probably little Daniel also, as the baptism of Deborah only is recorded. "Giv- ing two sons in the family the same name, as 25 two here were named Daniel, though unusual, was not unknown later in the same family, per- haps in order that if one should die, a favorite name should not perish. After her death, Miles Merwin married again, taking for the third time a widow, Sarah, widow of Daniel Schofield. She had six children by her first husband, but none by Merwin. Realizing that he must now be near the close of his busy and eventful life, be began to plan for the suitable disposition of his large property. Besides his extensive farming operations, he had carried on the business of tanner and currier, and living on the seacoast, he became part owner of a sloop and two brigs, making voyages to the West Indies. His eldest son, John, who was settled on the homestead with him, continued this commerce, and John's s(m-in-law, John Collins, command- ing the ship Swan, sailed from Milford to the West Indies for sixteen years, until the Swan was finally lost at sea. Ship building was carried on in Milford Har- bor, on the eastern shore, across the bay from Miles Merwin's tannery. The tannery business he gave to the eldest son, John. John had married April 12, 1683, 26 the widow Mary Holbrook, and they, with their little family, had lived in the father's home. A deed dated June 4, 1695, gives to this "eld- est son John, for consideration of one hundred and fifty pounds, the house in which they now dwell together, with Barn, Tanhouse, Salthouse and Leantoes, Tan-yard, Malt-house and all tools and Implements that belong to the trade of a Tanner, also Homelott, Orchard, Gardens, Yards and Marsh." A deed dated May 17, 1695, gives to his son Samuel Merwin, a piece of land, the considera- tion being that Samuel shall pay his own eldest child ten pounds "as a Legacy from Mee." At the same date he deeds Samuel sundry parcels of land. The next year, March 9, 1686, he gives another deed of property to John. Previously to all these, he had made his will. Dated May 5, 1695, apparently writing it out himself, and remembering all of his many descendants. The item in this will, of fifteen Bibles for the fifteen grand children, seems to have been a common bequest in that century. The will of Deacon Richard Piatt, grandfather of six of Miles Merwin's children, dated 1683, bequeaths a Bible to each of the two younger ones, Hannah and Deborah Merwin, showing 27 that he had probably already given them to the older ones in his life time. This little girl of thirteen years, Deborah Merwin, who received the Bible from her grand- father Piatt, was my great-great-great-great- grandmother on my father's side. Her daughter, Mary Burwell, married Abner Newton and settled in Durham. Many of the descendants of the first Miles Merwin, by this daughter Deborah, bearing the name of Newton, are still living in Durham. Henry Gleason Newton, George Watson, Arthur Selden and Caroline Gaylord of the sixth generation from Miles Merwin; William, Frederic, Roger, Gaylord, Abner and Katharine of the seventh generation; Elmer and Stanley of the eighth. All these descendants of Miles Merwin have the surname of Newton. There is one little one, Elizabeth Mary, daugh- ter of Frederic Ailing and Harriet Camp New- ton, his wife, of the ninth generation. Henry Huntington Newton, of the sixth, for many years the eldest and moet honored head of this branch of the family, died October 6, 1907. There were besides, many descendants of those of this line who removed from Durham to Greenfield, Mass., about the year 1760, and to Hartford and Hartland, Conn., about 1780. 28 Roger Watson Newton Sixth generation, age 84 years Chari^ES Watson Newton, Eighth Katharine Huntington Newton, Roger Rossiter Newton " Home of Hrnrv Huntington Newton, Durham, Conn. Deborah Merwin's brother Miles was our an- cestor also, Deborah, in the line of my father, Gaylord Newton, and Miles in the line of my mother, Nancy Maria Merwin, by whom our family are counted in both the sixth and seventh generations. MILES MERWIN'S WILL. The last will and testament of Miles Merwin of Milford, Senr in ye county of New Haven in New England, made this 5th day of May in ye yeare of ye Lord Christ, 1695. I, Miles Merwin aforesaid, being in spirit & sound memory, & understanding, although under some infirmity of body. Doe heare make this my last will & testament in manner & forme as followeth : First, I give & bequeath my soule into the hands of God through Jesus Christ who gave it, and my body to a Devout & Christian Buriall. Imprimis, I give to my dearly beloved wife, Sarah Merwin, ten pounds a year during her widowhood. Also, I give the house and ye improvement of my Parlor & ye Leantoe, with what room she needeth in ye Cellar in what part she pleaseth, so long as she shall see cause to live in my house in her widowhood. Item, I give to my loving wife for her use while she 29 liveth in my house the use or power to com- mand for her use in ye house two beds wth all their furniture .... in both for summer and winter, wth bed linen shee needeth for her comfort she shall have. Also she shall have power to command for her use ye oven in my other roome wth potts, kettles, skillets, pot- hangers, pails, wooden-ware of wht sort soever. And what earthen ware she needeth for her use. Also for her use I give her her choice of my spinning wheels & power to command one or more when she needeth. Also I give to my sd wife Cider enough to fill two barrells & ten bushells of apples yearly if my orchard at home yield so much ; & if it prove a plentiful year at any time, then she shall have cider enough to fill three barrels, she finding barrels for ye whole, besides ye ten bushells of apples yearly. Also I give her ye use and benefit of one cow wh cow is to be main- tained winter and summer by my executors. All wh gifts and legacies be to her only dur- ing her widowhood. And if she see good to remove herself for some time, she shall have liberty to come again to my house when she pleaseth ; but if she changeth her condition by marriage, then all the aforesaid guifts and leg- acies to cease, that is all which is above ex- pressed. 30 Kathakink Huntington Newton Roger Rossiter Newton Eighth in descent from Miles Merwin Page 28 And my executor shall pay unto my wife ye full sum of forty shillings a year during her natural life, which I will and bequeath unto her. Item. I give unto my grandchildren: namely ye children of Sarah Pottet wch she had by John Pottet of Stamford, and to soe many of them as shall be living after my decease, the sum of twenty shillings apiece. Item. I give to John Scofell of Stamford three pounds and ten shillings. Item. I give to Mary Camp, wife of Samuel Camp of Milford, three pounds and ten shillings. Furthor my will is yt my wife shall have ye Dispose of ten pounds of my estate at her de- cease. Item. My will is that those of my Children y t have not received their whole portion already, yt is to say John two hundred pounds, Thomas one hundred pounds, Samuel one hundred pounds, Miles one hundred pounds, with Com- pleating what is wanting to making ye just sum of fifty pounds to all and every of my own natural daughters, soe much as all or any of my children want of their portion, what any son wanteth of his hundred pounds as above ex- pressed, and what any of my daughters want of their fifty pounds, shall be first paid by my executor after my decease. Item. I give to my ten grandchildren one 31 hundred pounds: what is not ah*eady payd or paid by me while I live, shall be payd by my executor when they come of age : to ye eldest ye child of each family of my children's, it shall be payd, be they male or female. Item. My will is, I give to all and every of my Grandchildren that shall be living at my decease One bible to be procured & delivered to all and every of them by my executor after my decease, as soone as may be with conveniency. Item. My will is yt ye land I had of Nathll Farran, I say I will give it to my son John, his eldest child, to pay ye ten pound Legacy above mentioned to my Grandchild of ye house. Item. My will is, my debts and Legacies being paid, yt ye Remainder of the estate shall be equally divided amongst all my natural children then living. If any of my sons dye, ye family of ye de- ceased shall have their part, ye full of it. And if any of my daughters dye, there shall be no part of yt Dividable to ye house. Item. My will is that my debts and Legacies be paid by my Executors. Item. My will is, & I do nominate and appoint my two sons John Marwin & Miles Mar- win to be my Executors of this my last will & testament. And further, if these Refuse or are 32 desabled, then ye full power to Execute shall be with the other. And I do declare this is my will of all I have ordered to be paid for my deare wife, as is before expressed, the Burthen of it shall not be upon any one of my children, but it shall be borne by, and paid out of my estate by my Executors. Item. My will is, & I heere declare it, yt if my son John Merwin shall have occasion for one hundred pounds stock for carying on his trade of farming, he shall have it out of my estate as be with him to be paid cash within six years after my decease by my sd son John His heires or Assignes as this my will directs. Signed, sealed, and declared by Miles Mer- win, Senr. to be his last will & testament in the presence of us. Miles Merwin ( Seale ) Alex Bryan, Josiah Plat, ) Edward Nilkison ) these 2 sworn in Court June 1697. The names of ten children and fifteen grand- children were written on the will in the Probate Office, as was the custom. The children were all living at the time of his 33 death in 169Y, except the two who were called Daniel, and all the daughters were married. These are the names: John Merwin, Thomas Merwin, Samuel Merwin, Elizabeth (Canfield), Abigail (Scoffeild), Martha (Prime), Mary (Hull), Hannah (Holbrook), Deborah (Burwell), (Miles Merwin), Grandchildren : John Merwin, Thomas, Sarah, Elizabeth, Abigail Canfield, Daniel Scoffeild, James Prime, Mary Hull, Richard Holbrook, Sarah Burwell, John Scoffeild, Mary Camp, John Pettit, Bethia Pettit, Mercy Beard. John and Miles Merwin were sworn as execu- tors in July, 1697. The inventory of his possessions is dated May 12, 1697. The total was only £463, lis, lid. A few items from the inventory give some idea of the prices of certain articles : Wearing apparel . Buckles, etc. Sheets, pillow-beers, etc. One holland sheet, an old one, a feather bed, with curtains, blankets and coverlids Spoons, earthenware, woodenware 34 £ s. d. 30 6 2 8 40 6 17 7 19 3 Miles Merwin's widow, Sarah Scofield Mer- win, did not long survive him to enjoy her "potts and panns," her apples and cider, and her ten pounds a year. She died in less than a year from the date of his death, March 6, 1698. An inventory of her estate was made and pre- served by the same men who had inventoried her husband's, Timothy Baldwin and John Smith, and it was sworn to before Richard Treat, Deputy Governor, June 16, 1698. Here is part of it : One bedding with silk grass Oaps .... Silk Caps . 2 Silk Hoods Handkerchiefs . Two special handkerchiefs Pr. bodkins and stays Gloves One manchester Two famars One safeguard . New chest and lock . One half thousand of pins "Waistcoats," aprons, stockings and petti- coats, red and blue ones especially mentioned, £ s. d 1 9 4 2 8 18 1 8 5 5 3 2 2 5 16 13 2 35 were almost innumerable, the total amounting' to £55, 19s. 3d. Nathan G. Pond, in his pamphlet entitled "Ye Story of ye Memorial," that is, the story of the Milford Bridge, speaks of "a most interesting deed of entail made by Miles Merwin." It would appear that Miles Merwin had no particular idea of founding a family to be called by his name, in the new world, according to the customs of Old England whence he came, and which he remembered, until the birth of his fourth son. The first three had been named John, Thomas and Samuel, but when the fourth came, Dec. 14, 1658, he gave him his own name, and later gave him a deed of the best portion of his prop- erty, providing that it should always be inher- ited by the eldest son of the eldest son. This deed was probably written by himself, two years before his death, and is curious for its exceedingly careful provisions. "This Indenture, made the thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord God one thou- sand, six hundred ninety and five, between Miles Merwin, Sen'r Taner, of the one party, and Miles Merwin, Jun'r., of the other partie, both parties belonging to Milford in the County of New Haven in the Colony of Connecticut in New England witnesseth that the said Miles 36 Merwin, Sen'r, for and in consideration of the conditions which hereafter in and by those pres- ents reserved and contained which on the part and behalf of the said Miles Merwin, Jun'r. , are and ought to be paid, done and performed, full- filled and kept, hath given, granted, bargained, sold, alienated, Enfeoffed and Confirmed, and by this his present deed doth grant, bargain, sell, alien, enfeoffe unto his said son. Miles Merwin, Jun'r. , a certain parcell or tract of land, being all and every part of that his farm commonly called and known by the name of Merwin's farm, situate lying and being within the bounds of Mil ford afforesaid at a place called the Indian side according to the limits bounds and extends thereof as may fully and plainly appear by the Records of Milford afforesaid as it belonged or ought to belong to the afiforenamed Miles Mer- win, Sen'r.,Together with all Buildings, Edifices, Courtlages, gardens, Hontyards (courtyards?), Lands, Meadows, Pastures, Woods, Underwoods, Wasts, Wayes, Waters, Water-courses, ease- ments, Proffitts, Privilidges, Appurtenances and Advantages whatsoever thereon being, thereunto belonging or thence arising by any manner of way or means whatsoever, as also two Oxen, five cows, and three other brooding Cattell, one Horse and one brooding mare and fourty sheep upon said farm together with the 37 Carts, Ploughs, Chains, tackling and all other Tools and Implements belonging to the said farm to Have and to Hold the said farm with all the buildings and Edifices, Cattell, Stock, Carts, Ploughs, Implements and all the singular the Premises with their and every of their Appurtenances before by these presents bargained and sold or meant men- tioned or intended to be hereby granted, bargained and sold, and every part and parcell thereof from and after the decease of him the said Miles Merwin Sen'r., unto the said Miles Merwin, Jun'r., to the use and behoof of the said Miles Merwin, Jun'r., for the term of his natural life, and from and after his decease to the use and behoof of the First Son of the said Miles Merwin Jun'r of his body lawfully to be begotten and for default of such issue to the use and behoof of all and every other son and sons of the body of the said Miles Merwin Jun'r begotten or to be begotten one after another as they shall be in senority of age and priority of birth, and of the heirs of the body of every of the same sons respectively to be begotten, the elder of the said sons and the heirs being always pre- ferred before the younger and the heirs of their bodies. And for default of such issue to the use and behoof of Thomas Merwin, Son to the said Miles Merwin, Sen'r, and of the heirs males of the body of such First Son Lawfully to be be- 38 Charles Newton. gotten, and for default of such issue, to the use and behoof of all and every other Son and Sons of the body of the said Thomas Merwin, Lawfully begotten or to be begotten, one after another, as they shall be in Senority of age and priority of birth, and of the heirs of the body of every of the same sons respectively — the Elder of the said Sons and the heirs of his body being all- ways preferred before the younger and the heirs of their bodies. And for default of such issue to the use and behoof of the First Son of Samuel Merwin, son to the said Miles Merwin, Sen'r., and of the Heirs Males of the body of such First Son — lawfully to be begotten, and for default of such issue to the use and behoof of all and every other son and sons of the body of the said Samuel Merwin lawfully begotten or to be begotten one after another as they shall be in senority of age and priority of birth and of the body of every of the same sons respectively, the Elder of the said sons and the heirs of his body being allways preferred before the younger and the heirs of their bodies; and for default of such issue then to the use and behoof of the right heirs of the said Miles Merwin, Jun'r, forever. And the said Miles Merwin, Sen'r., for himself, his heirs, Executors and Administrators doth covenant promise and Grant to and with his said son 39 Miles Merwin, Jr., and said heirs by these presents that all the said farm Buildings and Premises and every part and parcell thereof with the Appurtenances now are and be and soe from time to time and at all times hereafter forever, shall or may remain and continue to the several respective uses before herein mentioned limited and declared according to the intent and mean- ing hereof freely cleared and discharged of and from all former and other bargains, Sales, gifts, leases, mortgages, troubles and incumbrances whatsoever, had, made, committed or done by him the said Miles Merwin, Senior, or any other Person or Persons lawfully claiming or to claim from, by or under him. Upon the condition following, that is to say, that the said Miles Merwin, Junior, or the heirs, as afore mentioned, shall well and duly pay, or cause to be paid, the full and Just summe of five hundred pounds, that is to say, twenty- five pounds a year till the full end and term of twenty years from and after the time of the decease of the said Miles Merwin, Senior, be fully completed and ended. In such pay as shall yearly be raised or pro- duced off the said farm (Sider only excepted), to be paid at prices current between man and man, to all the children of the said Miles Merwin, Senior, (his Eldest Son John Merwin only ex- cepted), equally to be divided among them, the 40 Chari^ks Watson Newton Eighth generation said Miles Merwin, Junior, being one of them to have his share, and if any of the said Miles Merwin, Senior, his Sons dye before the receipts of such payments, then such payments shall be yearly made and paid during the whole time aforesaid to the children of such sons deceasing equally to be divided among them, but in case any of the said Miles Merwin, Senior, his daugh- ters dye before the time of such yearly pay- ments, then the said payments shall cease as to them and their children. Such daughters so deceasing before the time of such payments be due, their children shall not have any benefitt or share of the same. And it is covenanted granted and agreed by and between the said parties to these presents, and the said Miles Merwin, Senior, doth covenant, grant and agree to and with his said Son, Miles Merwin, Junior, and the Heirs as aforesaid that if it should so happen in any of the years of payment as above said that there should be extraordinary loss in Crops or Stocks on said Farm, that then the said Miles Merwin, Junior, or the heirs as aforesaid shall not be compelled to pay the said yearly payment in such a year wherein he or they have suffered such losses, but shall have further time to pay it in. In Witness Whereof the said Miles Merwin Senior to these presents hath sett to his hand 41 and seal the day and year first above written in the seventh year of his Majesties Reign William the Third, King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith. Not that notwithstanding what is above men- tioned the said Miles Merwin Senior reserves liberty to himself if he shall by Providence be reduced to a low state, to sell part or all of the fore mentioned farm for his subsistence which his said Son Miles Merwin Junior or one of his male children shall have the first refusal of, and deduction in such case to be made out of the above said five hundred pounds, according to the price that any part of the said farm shall be sold for ; this notation being entered before signing and sealing. Miles Merwin (Seal) Signed, sealed and delivered in the presence of Bartha : Langstaffe, Joseph Hollingworth, Stephen Mieles. This deed was acknowledged by the above writ- ten Miles Merwin, Senior the sixth day of June Ano Dom 1695 to be his act and deed before me Recorded July the 8th, 1695. J. S. Bryan, Reg'r Alex Bryan, Commissioner. 42 265 Tombstone in the Mii.ford Cemetery of Miles Merwiii, who died April 23d, 1697 aged 74 years John Merwin, the eldest son, remained in'the home of their father, carrying on the same business of the tannery besides trading to the West Indies. He married Mary, daughter of Thomas Welch, and widow of Isaac Holbrook, April 2, 1683. Miles also married a widow, Hannah Wilmot, widow of Samuel Miles, September 26, 1681. In those days of the settlement of different parts of New England, and the Indian wars, almost every woman appears to have been left a widow once or twice at least. The three mar- riages of the first Miles were all to widows. This Miles of the second generation with his wife, Hannah, settled on the entailed estate given him by his father. Their only daughter, Elizabeth, was born January 10, 1683. She married a son of Gov- ernor Robert Treat, but died young, leaving two little children. Miles Merwin ^ and Hannah Wilmot had two sons. Miles and Daniel; Miles, the first born son, being the heir, according to the deed of entail. This Miles, the second generation, born 1658, made his will, bequeathing as much of his. property as he had power over, Oct. 21, 1721. He had evidently a firm faith in the literal resurrection of the body, for the first provision is: 43 "I desire my body to have a decent burial, I believing that I shall receive it again." He left one hundred pounds to be divided equally between the children of his daughter, Elizabeth Treat, lately deceased. He gave Daniel one good young cow besides what he had already given him in real or per- sonal estate, but the house and land he could not give, it belonged to his son Miles. In the time of a later Miles, this house had a trying experience. It was plundered, but not destroyed, by the British troops, when they landed in Milford in 1779. Lambert's History says : "Twenty British ships lay off Milford a number of days, the inhabitants hourly expecting an attack, but only a few landed at Pond Point, and plundered one house, that of Mr. Miles Merwin. The house was closed at the time, the family having gone into the town." Milford had already seen much of the dread- fulness of war, before the slight matter of the plundering of the Merwin homestead. In January, 1777, a vessel bearing a flag of truce arrived at Milford Harbor, having on board two hundred Americans who had been prisoners of the British on their ships at New York. 44 Henry Huntington Newton 1S41-1907 Seventh in descent fi'om Miles Merwin Eiehth from Richard Piatt Caroline Gaylord Newton Seventh by her father Eighth by her mother They were perishing with starvation, cold and disease; twenty had died on board the ship, coming up the sound, in the bitter winter weather. The residents of Milford and surrounding towns came to care for them, but within a month, forty-six more had died, and were buried in one grave, in the south part of the Milford grave-yard. A tall brown stone monu- ment inscribed with the forty-six names, marks the spot where they lie. This was the time when my great-grand- father, Elisha Fairchild, drove his team of horses down from Middletown, to take some of those helpless ones back to their homes. They were suffering with the small-pox; he contracted the disease from them, and died within a month, a real martyr of the Eevolu- tion, though not dying in battle. He had been a soldier in the French and Indian War, coming through that unharmed. He left a widow and five little children, one of whom, Abigail, became the wife of Abner Newton, my grandfather. One of those for whom he thus give his life, was William Butler. Butler received a pension, living to a good old age, but the young widow and children of Elisha Fairchild were given no pension. 45 Returning from this digression to the third generation of Merwins, Daniel, second son of the second Miles, born in 1691, when he arrived at man's estate, saw his elder brother John settled in the family homestead, and his younger brother Miles ^ on the land which was to be his and his son's forever. The Merwins of those early generations seemed always ready to settle in a new place, a trait not entirely unknown in those of later years. Miles, the first, had several times taken the journey between Milford and Windsor, and at the time of his death, little Daniel, his grand- son, a child of six years, and living near, had probably often heard stories of these journeys, which might have been through what was after- wards known as Durham. No white man had settled there, and the spot was not much frequented by the Indians, though well-known to them as a hunting ground. There was a cleared field on the farm now known as the Gaylord Newton Farm, which has always been called "The Old Field," as the only place in that neighborhood where the Indians cultivated corn. Whether or not little Daniel heard of the place from his grandfather, he certainly heard about it, as he grew to manhood, for most of 46 z o Q ^ Oh « a V-; O ^ ^ ^ 1* r> a O C^ s O -*-' u. -li I. * a; ^ Q n *-< 'ii (i< ac W u ^ 1) •^ 7} V o '^ ffi the settlers in the new town came from Milford. The first house in Durham was built in 1699, and the number of settlers increased until a patent was granted to the Town of Durham, May 21, 1708. This original patent now hangs in the Town Library in Durham. The inhabitants, though few in number, be- lieved in the independence of the people, and held a town-meeting December 24, 1706. At this town-meeting before there was a town, four of our ancestors were elected to ofHce: Nathaniel Sutliff, Constable ; Samuel Fairchild, Selectman ; Joel Parmelee, Fence Viewer, and Robert Coe, Lister, or Assessor. At the same meeting it was voted that they desired the town of Durham should be annexed to the County of New Haven. The early name of this tract of land was Coginchaug, though spelled in many different ways. The old deed held by the Merwin family dated 1687 reads : "a piece of land in a place called Cogonshake;" and for the record, it is marked on the outside "a deed of Cockingcheg. " This was the Indian name signifying Long Swamp. In 1704, the name was changed to Durham by the Act of the General Assembly, though it was not then a town. 47 The main street was originally planned in the southern part, on a hill which is still known by the name of Meeting-house Hill, but before any building of importance was erected, it was changed to its present location, most of the land on this ridge between two valleys, now com- prising the village, being then in the possession of the Talcott family of Hartford. "Ye Worshipful Mr. John Talcott" was one of the first settlers in Hartford, having a house built for him in 1635 on the corner of Main and Talcott Streets, and moving into it with his family in 1636. His son. Lieutenant Colonel John Talcott, our great, great, great, great-grandfather, was a famous fighter in the Indian wars, and had this Durham land granted to him for his ser- vices. He was one of three men appointed to have charge of the Charter of the State granted by King Charles II, in 1662. Roger Wolcott is authority for the statement that when the Charter was hidden in the oak October 1, 1687, this Lieut. Col. John Talcott secured it from the table, when the lights were extinguished, as he might lawfully do, having been appointed to keep it in charge. The Record reads : "Oct. 9, 1662. The Pattent or charter was 48 this day publiquely read in audience of ye free- men, and ye freemen made choice of Mr. Willys, Col. John Talcott and Lieut. John Allyn to take the Charter into their custody, in behalf of ye freemen." Lieut. Col. John Talcott died in the year 1688, and his youngest son Hezekiah, then a little child two years old, inherited a part of the Durham land. The second wife of Lieut. Col. John Talcott, and the mother of Hezekiah, was Mary Cook, possibly daughter of Major Aaron Cooke, Senior' whose will dated August, 1690, bequeaths to his "Grandson, Aaron Cooke, son of my son Aaron, a parcell of land being three hundred acres lyeing between Middletown and Walling- ford, being in ye Colony of Connecticut, for- merly granted to Major Nash of New Haven by ye general Corte, and soe by deed to me." It is more probable that this Mary Cook, mother of Hezekiah Talcott, was the daughter of Jacob Cook who came as a child with his mother to this country in the ship Ann in 1623. His father Francis, and his brother John, came in 1620 in the Mayflower, the mother and younger children coming three years later. John and Jacob had each a daughter named Mary, born at nearly the same time, the daughter of John marrying a man named Thompson, the 49 other Mary probably becoming the second wife of Colonel John Talcott, and mother of Hezekiah, whose daughter, Mary Talcott, married Miles Merwin in 1743, thus making all of the Merwin family of Durham, Mayflower Descendants. John Talcott', though holding his land from the General Assembly, joined in purchasing it from the Indians also. In the Records of the General Assembly is the following entry, dated May 13, 1703. "This Assembly doth empower the guardian of Mr. Hezekiah Talcott to sell a convenient number of lotts out of the said Hezekiah's land at the place called Cokinchauge, to accommodate the inhabitants there with a convenient place for a town platt, according to the proportion due from the said Hezekiah, for settling the said towne." In the original plan of the town, dated 1704, which I have seen in the immense safe in the Capitol at Hartford, and of which I have a copy, the land marked as belonging to Hezekiah Tal- cott, extended the whole length of Main Street, from the old tavern, which was first kept by Samuel Weld, and later by John Swathel, to south of the green, a full mile in extent. In the Town Patent granted by Governor Saltonstall, May 21, 1708, the name of Hezekiah 50 niddletown Flan of Bvf^HAM in October Talcott is the first of the seven Patentees whose names are given. The thirty-four men who were residing in Durham at that time, were called the Patentees or Proprietors, and I consider it an honor that I am descended from six of the thirty-four; Joel Parmelee, Samuel Fairchild, Nathaniel Sutliff, James Curtiss, Hezekiah Talcott and Robert Coe. These Proprietors continued to hold their own business meetings distinct from town-meetings for many years, admitting others to their privi- leges by vote among themselves. There is a deed dated Feb. 1st 1703-4 from "John Permele, husbandman, to my brother Joell Permelee, of all my right of a Part of a two-hundred acre farme that I bought of Abra- ham bradley of S^^ Guilford at a place com- monly called Cauchinchag, neare Middletown, containing 65 acres more or less." A part of the land belonging to Hezekiah Talcott was given without price, to encourage settlement in the new town, as was the custom throughout New England. In May, 1701, land was distributed by lot in allotments of thirty acres each, to twenty-three different persons, among whom the following were our ancestors or relatives: Joel Permele, John Permele, John Sutliff, 51 Nathaniel Sutliff, Samuel Camp, Joseph Coe, and others. In the early Land Records, very many pages are filled with copies of deeds from Hezekiah Talcott, but not the very earliest, as he was not then of age. March 28, 1707 there was recorded a deed from Hezekiah Tallcot and Eunice Tallcot of Hartford to James Wadsworth of Farmington, acknowledged before Joseph Tallcot, Justice of ye peace. May 6, 1708, a deed of land to Saml. Camp, Senior, and on the same date, one to Benjamin Baldwin from Hezekiah Talcott. March 28, 1710-11, Joseph Talcot gave a deed of his share of 562 acres inherited from his father. Colonel John Tallcot, deceased, to his brother, Hezekiah Tallcot. Hezekiah's home was near the place where now stands the house of Mrs. ]\lary Gatzmer. In the year 1721, it was to this young town of Durham, that Daniel Merwin, of the third generation, with his wife, Sarah Botchford and their five little children removed, followed later by his cousin Mary Burwell and her hus- band, Abner Newton, and other families from Milford. Both Merwin and Newton settled on the Main Street, Merwin purchasing the house which is 52 O c t/> n o n o c 13 rt ,_i. 3 en C rt o fS [« 7) p O M *- C-< ^ Orq v; •-t ID cr s i-t ^ ft W n> o o ft o lu s^ O rt 3 (t> 5: =: u i^ -- o a i: ■-t >=» V rt -n — 5 o -" 3 tl. • t/; OS O ^ r^ ft ft) ■-I now occupied by William C. Hubbard, and Abner Newton purchasing the Mill-pond prop- erty, and several acres north of it with two houses, the places now owned by W. R. Atwell and Frank Barton. Daniel Merwin had married, November 30, 1710, Sarah Botsford, Daughter of Elnathan Botsford. Their children were: Ann, Born November 20, 1712 Daniel, " September 15, ni4 Ann, " March 24, 1715-16 Sarah,, " June 10, 1718 Miles, " November 29, 1719 D. Miles " March 27, 1721 Elizabeth " February 14, 1722-3 Daniel Merwin became prominent in the affairs of the new town, and is called Honorable Daniel Merwin in the records, a prefix not given in those early days without good reason. He made large purchases of land, some ex- tending beyond the bounds of Durham into Middletown, a part of which is now covered by the Middlefield Reservoir, and westward to the Wallingford bounds. "April 13, 1721, Daniel Merwin of Milford, purchased of Nathan Camp of Durham, a dwelling house, barn, and home-lottof six acres for £100. bounded eastwardly, westwardly, and northerly 53 by highway, and southwardly by Sam- uel Norton's home-lott." This is the house owned by William Hubbard, and shows that the road running between Wil- liam Scranton's and Herbert Southmayd's then extended through to Brick Lane, as it was laid out on the first plan of the Town. Daniel Merwin, and his son Miles and grand- son Job, each in succession with his family, lived and died in that house. It has been very much altered and improved since their time. Nathan Camp, who was the original owner, was also our ancestor. Dec. 5, 1721. John Camp, Jr., of Milford, sold to Daniel Merwin of Durham, 31 acres for X140. Dec. 19, 1721. Robert Coe of Durham, sold to Daniel Merwin of Durham, ten acres west of the swamp, north of the Wallingford road for £40. Sept. 10, 1722. Isaac Chauncey and Nathaniel Chauncey sold to Daniel Merwin 65 acres for X180. One hundred acres of land purchased at this time by Daniel Merwin was a part of the tract given by the General Court to Major John Nash of New Haven, and sold by his heirs to Major Aaron Cook of Northampton, Mass. This original deed, dated October 27, 1687, and also 54 Graves in Durham Cemetery of Daniel Merwin :^ his son. Lieut. Miles Merwin ^, and trrandson, Miles ^Nlerwin 5- the original deed to Daniel Merwin, are now iu the possession of the children of Miles Talcott Merwin in Durham. It was long before the boundary line was exactly settled between Middletown and Durham, and Daniel Merwin had much to do in its final location, the papers concerning it still remaining in the family. In 1733, the town voted that it was needful to build a new meeting-house, and Sergeant Daniel Merwin and others were appointed ' ' to consider the heighth, length, bredth and dementions of the meeting-house, and discourse the best and most able carpenters." This second meeting-house was raised in May, 1736, and was still unfinished in November, when a tax of twelve pence per pound was laid to finish it, with Daniel Merwin, Collector. When the town voted to build this meeting- house, in 1733, the appropriation for a "skoole" was reduced from £6 to £3 for the j^ear. Daniel Merwin died April 17, 1766, in his 79th year. His wife, Sarah Botchford, died Septem- ber 23, 1764, eighty-two years old, and their grave-stones, large, handsome brown sandstone, are on the summit of the hill in the old burying ground with those of their children and grand- children. 55 Their eldest son, Daniel, was born in Milford, and was a boy eight years old when the family moved to Durham. He married December 20, 1738, Elizabeth Wells of Haddam. Their little son James was born October 19, and ten days later, Oct. 29 the young wife died. May 11, 1741, Daniel was married again to Mary Burrett and by her he had seven children, Elizabeth, Ehnathan, Sarah, Daniel, Ann, Israel and Hannah. This Daniel Merwin, Junr. was one of the subscribers to "The Book Company of Durham," which was formed October 30, 1733, and said to be the first Public Library in the Colony or State of Connecticut. He died May 15, 1758. Slavery was in existence in Durham then, as it was in all the towns of the state, and his widow sold at least one slave, in settling his es- tate the year after his death. The bill of sale I copy from Fowler's History of Durham. 56 Durham, June 19, 1759. Know all men by this present: that I the sub- scriber, widow Mary Merwin, Executrix of the last will of Daniel Merwin, Junr., do sell, alien and convey and confirm unto Elnathan Chaun- cey of Durham in the County of New Haven, to him and his heirs, one certain negro man, about 30 years of age named Ginne, for and during his natural life, it being for the consideration of 13 pounds already received to my full satisfac- tion, in witness hereof I set my hand and seal, this 19th of June in the year of our Lord 1759. In presence of Mary Merwin. James Tibbals, Abner Newton. 57 Miles Merwin of the fourth generation, second son of Miles and Sarah Botsford, born Nov. 29, 1719, was a child not quite three years old at the time of the removal from Milford to Dur- ham. The explanation of the name given to the third son, a baby one year old at this time, of D. Miles, seems to be the fear that either Daniel or Miles might die, as so large a number of little children did die in the early settlement of the country, and the desire that the little one might continue the name of either. Miles was a young man of twenty when the first military company was organized in Dur- ham in 1739. James Wadsworth, born in Farmington, but one of the very early settlers in Durham, was made Colonel of the Tenth Connecticut Regi- ment of Militia, and the cartridge-box and ac- coutrements now in the possession of the heirs of Miles Talcott Merwin, marked '■^Ilnd Coni'y. Xth Meg.''' seem proof that it was the one carried by Lieutenant Miles Merwin, under the com- mand of Colonel Wadsworth. His sword also is treasured by us, his descend- ants, as being undoubtedly the one carried by him in the French and Indian War, and also in the War of the Revolution. 58 In the Colonial Records of Connecticut, on page 70, Vol. II, is the record of an Act of the General Assembly in Hartford, May, 1757: "This Assembly do establish Mr. Miles Mer- win to be cornet of the troop of horse in the Tenth Regiment in this Colony", the cornet of a company being the officer who carried the stand- ard in a company or troop of horse, the second officer in the Company. Seven years later, May 1764, page 255, Vol. XIII of the Colonial Records reads: ' 'This Assembly do establish Mr. Miles Mer- win to be Lieutenant of the Troop of Horse in the Tenth Regiment in This Colony." This Tenth Regiment of Connecticut Militia continued its organization during the War of the Revolution, and was frequently in service. It was at the Danbury fight in April, 1777, re- inforced Washington on the Hudson, and served faithfully until peace was declared. Lieut. Miles Merwin had married when a young man of twenty-four, his bride being only twenty. The record of their marriage reads: "Miles Merwin and Mary Talcott were Joyned in Mar- riage June 30, 1743." She was the daughter of Hezekiah Talcott, (b. Feb. 24, 1685-6; d. Feb. 13, 1764), who was the proprietor of the best part of Durham, and of his wife, Jemima Parsons, grand-daugh- 59 ter of Cornet Joseph Parsons, one of the found- ers of Springfield, Mass. The great, carved, oaken chest, mentioned on another page as being an heir-loom in the family of Miles Talcott Merwin, bears the initials I. P., and was brought from England by our ancestor, Cornet Joseph Parsons. At the time of Mary Talcott's marriage to Miles Merwin, her uncle, Joseph Talcott, had been Governor of Connecticut for seventeen years, and all of the Talcott family had been prominent in the history of the New England Colonies, from their earliest settlement. Lieut. Miles Merwin (1719-1786) and Mary Talcott, his wife, had eight children : Miles, born May 1, 1744 Daniel, ' ' May 30, 1746 Job, ' ' Feb. 16, 1749 Noah, ' ' Nov. 9, 1752 Mary, ' ' Nov. 24, 1755 Ehoda, ' ' Aug. 19, 1757 Sarah, ' ' June 'T, 1760 David, ' ' Feb. 10, 1763 Job Merwin, who inherited the homestead, died in 1824, leaving his widow with a very good property. The funeral expenses were such 6o 72 X i> I- U-, V a^ .7, _a; X o 11 O 'c i 1; ■Ji h ? - « 5 .i ^ "t; u ^ 'A Td a^ 1- ^ u f/1 c« s a X u g Noah 63, 81 7 Noah 65. 81 Olive 63, 81 s Phebe 73 Phebe Camp, 65, 84 " Phebe Camp 65, 66 Sarah 29 Sarah Scofield 35 Samuel 27, 31, 34, 36. 39. Thomas 34, 36, 38, 39, 79 Merwin's Point 16 Middletown 51 Mieles, Stephen 42 Miles, Samuel 43 Mitchell, Matthew 87 Moore, Abel II Deborah 10 Moore. 9, Elnathan 11 19, Isabel 10 28, Lydia 11 40, Mary 11 Miles 10, II 37, Miriam 11 Nash, Major John 49, 91, 93 Sarah 91, 93 Nantasket 2 Newbury, Abigail 23, 24 Benjamin 23, 24 , 73, Captain 23 Mary 23, 24 New Haven 36 Newton, Abigail 45, 82 1 Abner28, 52.53,82.83,84 2 Abner, 45, 82 Abner Buckingham 28 Arthur Selden 28 Caroline Gaylord 28, 75, 78 Captain Samuel 82 Elizabeth Mary 28 Ellen Maria 72 Elmer George 28 Frederick Sill 28 79 Gaylord 46 Gaylord Arthur 28 Harriet Camp 28 Henry Gleason 28, 75. 77, 78 Henry Huntington 28, 78 Jonathan Edward 28 Katharine Huntington 28 Mary Burwell 28, 52 Nancy Maria 29, 65, 70, 82 Sarah Baldwin 78 Stanley Sill 28 103 Nilkison, Edwar^ 33 Noble, Charlotte Ellen 72 Elizabeth Baldwin 77 Sarah Ellen 77 Thomas 77 Thomas Henry 77 Northampton 54, 88, 91 Norton, Olive 61 Old Stone House 62 Olustee, Florida 73 Oyster River 16 Palisado Green 6, 7 Parmelee, Joel 47, 51, 62, 63 John 51, 62, 63 Maurice 62 Parsons, Cornet Joseph 60, 84, 87 Jemima 59 Payne, Mary 91,93 Philip 91, 93 Pettit, Bethia 34 John 34 Pequot War 5 Plat, Josiah 33 Piatt, Harriet Ives 78 James P. 78 Margery 78 Mary 82 Richard 25, 27, 28, 82 Sarah 82, 84 Pond, Nathan G. 36 Pond Point 16 Pottet, John 31,34 Sarah 31, 34 Prime, Martha 34 James 34 Rogers, John 87 Sage, Elizabeth 72 Frances 72 Henry 72 Marietta 72 Saltonstall, Gov. 50 Schenectady 76 Scoffield, Abigail 34 Daniel 34, 79 John 34 Sarah 26 Seward, Abigail 76 Smith, Grace 86 John 35 Stark, Mary Lee 78 Stevens, .Caroline Newton 78 Captain 63 Strong, Elder John 85 Thankful 85 Sutliff, John 51 Nathaniel 47, 51 Swathel, John 50 Talcott, Hezekiah 49, 50, 51, 52, 59 Eunice 52 I/ieut. Col. John 52 104 Talcott, Gov. Joseph 52, 60 Mary 59, 60, 61 Tallmadge, John 93 Thomas 93 Taylor, Capt. John 87 Treat, Gov. Robert 43 Richard 35 Van Size, Mary E- 75, 76 Wadsworth, Col. James 58 Warham, Abigail 6, 17, 18, 19, 21 John I. 6, 7, 8, 17, 18 Warham 's Mill 6 War ot the Revolution 58 Welch, Mary 43 Sarah 84 Welch, Thomas 14, 43, 82, 84 Hannah 84 Welch's Point 14 Weld, Samuel 50 Welles, Elizabeth 56 Gov. Thomas 65, 87 Wethersfield 4 Wheeler, Thomas 15 Whiting, Mr. 8, 9 White, PhebeCamp 71 Whitfield, Rev. Henry 62 Williams, Roger 9 Wilmot, Hannah 43 Windsor 3, 4, 5, 10, 46 Wolcott, Roger 48 Woodward, Henry 87 105 o < n G ^ w " o ■-^ t/i . '^ !^ C aJ M w .« '^ o w o c MILES MERWIN lT7i'— 1859. HIS Ancestors and Descendants PUBLISHED IN MEMORY OF Mrs. Phebe Camp Merwin White 1903. PREFACE. Phebe C. White left her property to the graDdchildren of her father. She had always taken a great deal of interest in them. Several of these grandchildren agreed to contribute to the publishing of a pamphlet giving the names of all the descendants of her father, Miles Mer- win. The obtaining of necessary data involved a large amount of correspondence, and this share of the work was done principally by Eliza- beth Maddock Noble and Sarah Baldwin Newton, It was published in l'J03 in a Hittory of Middle- sex County, and the jDublishers furnished pages of the sketch suitable for binding. Caroline Gaylord (Mrs. Henry Huntington) Newton aided in procuring the pictures and hav- ing them printed. She also made a more ex- tensive examination of the line from the original Miles Merwin, Avho came from England, and that work is annexed to this. In the course of her investigation, she found that page 5, being the first page of this book, was partly incorrect. Miles Merwin came first to Windsor and not to Milford. He did not have fifteen children, but twelve; and these by two mothers, although he was married three times. He was born about 1623 and died at the age of seventy- four. The special design of this publication is to effectuate the wishes of Phebe C. White, that the descendants of her father might know and be interested in one another; that they might remember the precepts and example of their forefathers and foremothers, and be good and M^orthy citizens, faithful in society and in the church. It is intended to send a copy of this work to each descendant of her father, and I exhort them, like their predecessors, to live honestly, speak the truth, pay their debts and taxes, be faithful to the church, and be true sons and daughters of New England. Henry G. Newton. MILES MERWIN HIS ANCESTORS AND DESCENDANTS MERWIN. Miles has been the family name for many generations, the first Miles Merwin in this coimtry having- come from North Wales to Milford, Conn., as early as 1645. He was born about 1603, and learned in England the trade of a tanner. In Milford he became the owner of a large tract of land on the shore of Long Island Sound, now known as Pond Point and Merwin's Point, and a part of which is still owned by his de- scendants. His gravestone, now standing in Milford cemetery, is the only one remaining of the early settlers. He lived to be ninety- four years of age. He married young, and, if the family record is correct, became the fa- ther of fifteen children, by three different mothers. 5 His son Miles, born December 14, 1658, married Hannah Wilmot, of Milford. Their son Daniel, bom in Milford, mar- ried Sarah Botchford, also of Milford, and re- moved to Durham, Conn,, about 1721. He became prominent in Durham affairs, and is called the Hon. Daniel Merwin. He pur- chased 100 acres of land for £200 in the north- western part of the town, besides 100 acres more in Haddam and Middletown, for which he paid £500. This land in Durham had nev- er been occupied by any white man. and was a part of that granted by the General Court to Aaron Cook in 1689, the original deed of that date being now in the possession of the fam- ily, and labeled "Deed of Land in Cogon- shake," that being one way of spelling the In- dian name (Coginchaug) of the place before it was settled as a town. Daniel and Sarah Merwin had five children, of whom the second son. Miles, was the an- cestor of the Durham Merwins, He was born March 29, 1721. In May, 1757, he was appointed, by the General Assembly, "Cornet of the troop of horse in the loth Regiment in this Colony," and in May, 1764, was appoint- 6 Miles Merwin 1772-1S59 Sixth generation ed lieutenant in the same regiment. Tlie sword which he wore in the French and In- dian war, and probably also in the war of the Revolution, is still a valued heirloom in the possession of his descendants. He may have served earlier in some other capacity, as a cartridge box marked "Ilnd Comy Xth Regt," is still in the possession of his great-great- grandson, Miles Talcott Merwin. He married Mary Talcott, granddaughter of Col. John Tal- cott, one of the original proprietors of Durham, and they lived in Durham, in the second house north of the factory of the Merriam Manu- facturing Company, which he inherited from his father, Daniel. They had eight children, the first-born being named Miles. This Miles, the fifth in line of descent in this country, married Mary Parmelee, grand- daughter of Joel Parmelee, who was one of the first proprietors. They had eleven children, the third child and first son receiving the name of Miles. MILES MERWIN, last mentioned, known to the generation now passing as Miles Merwin, St., the sixth in line of descent in 7 this country, was born in Durham, February 2, 1772, and died July 31, 1859. He Hved in an age when farming was the principal occupation, and included most kinds of manufacturing, and Durham made nearly everything that was used there. The family raised their own flax, broke it, spun and wove it, and made the cloth into garments. They raised the sheep and sheared them. The girls carded, spun and wove the wool, and made clothes for the men from the cloth. Indus- tries were varied, and a successful farmer must needs be a good business man. In his early youth, a colony of Merwins went forth from Durham, Conn., and settled a town in Greene county, N. Y., calling it Durham after their native village. For many years it was his custom to make them an an- nual visit, driving with his family 120 miles in three days. Like his fathers before him, and his de- scendants after him, he took his part in the world's work. He feared God, but not man ; attended church fifty-two Sundays in the year, and twice each Sunday; commenced the Sab- bath at sundown on Saturday; brought up a 8 family of eight children; settled his two sons upon farms adjoining his own; and proved himself in every Avay a true member of the Merwin family, viz., a typical son of New England. He ruled over his family, as was his right and duty according to the doctrine of the age, and was resolute in maintaining his position w^hen he knew he was right. His children honored him. Let his many descen- dants do likewise. 3.1iles Merwin, Sr., w^as married Novem- ber 27, 1794, to Phebe Camp (born February 4, 1773, died December i, 1812), who was a descendant of Nicholas Camp, one of the ear- liest settlers in Milford. They had nine chil- dren : Aliles, born September 7, 1795, died July 17, 1879; Alva, born October 12, 1796, died June 3, 1802; Phebe Camp, born March 31, 1798, died October 8, 1884; Ruth, born December 11, 1799, died April 3, 1854; Mary Parmelee, born November 12, 1801, died No- vember 8, 1873; Alva, born October 29, 1803, died May i, 1892; Rhoda, born September II, 1805, died November 27, 1868; Noah, born June 24, 1807, died May 21, 1849; Nan- cy Maria, born ]March 29, 18 10, died Febru- ary 9, 1857. Two years after the death of the mother of his children he was married January 2, 1 814, to Abigail Seward (born January 30, 1772, died March 23, 1837). He was again married October 11, 1837, to Grace Kirby (bom January 17, 1775, died August 13, 1856), of Cromwell, then known as Middle- town Upper Houses. Tlie Merwin homestead, an engraving of which appears here, was owned and occupied by his father and by him, and this sketch principally concerns his de- scendants. MILES MER\VIN, eldest son of Miles and Phebe (Camp) Merwin, known to the present generation as Miles Merwin, Jr., was the seventh in line of descent in this country. He lived in the house built by Samuel Fair- child, whereof the chimney bears the date "1727," and which stands next east of the Merwin home shown in the engraving. While still a youth he served in the war of 18 12. He Vv-as enterprising and vigorous. He add- ed to the occupation of farmer that of drover, 10 WM X w ai V ON § 7 'A y^ u 'r^ r* u <•', »^ X A ^— « ',—1 f^ ^ ClH C^ lO < lO r-i 0^ <-) tn ■"■ T-; — ■ n •A ^ h^ X (fl W ^ en e^ >-) ■r. ^ W p—i J 0^ << IS fe o o ^ u «< o :2 o ffi bringing each year large droves of cattle which he purchased in northem and eastern New York. He was influential in the estab- lishment of the Merriam Manufacturing Com- pany, which has contributed so much during more than fifty years to the prosperity of Dur- ham. He was a large stockholder at its or- ganization, and for many years continued to be its first president. In the early days he was very frequently called upon to try cases before justices, and exhibited much legal tal- ent. He especially delighted in a victory over Henry B. Harrison, won in the early days of his practice in an arbitration case. For a long time in the latter part of his life he was the trial justice of the town. Mr. Merwin was married October 17, 1 82 1, to Wealthy Sage (born October 22, 1795, died September 10, 1825). Their chil- dren were: Miles Talcott, born October 11, 1822; Henry Sage, bom July 20, 1824. Mr. Merwin married (second) December 21, 1827, Harriet (White) Keith (born January 12, 1795, died June 10, 1858). Their chil- dren were : Wealthy Sage, born November 24, 1828; Caroline Ellen, June 28, 1831 (died 11 February 19, 1863) ; Phebe Camp, October 24, 1832 (died January 5, 1869) > Margaret, July 10, 1836; Maria White, September 25, 1839. Mr. Merwin married (third) June 3, 1863, Mary (Wooster) Leavenworth (born July 27, 1806, died March 12 ,1880). Miles Talcott Merwin, son of Miles Merwin, Jr., and Wealthy (Sage) Merwin, and eighth in line of descent, received the name of Talcott in memory of his great-great-grand- mother, Mary Talcott, w4io was descended from Col. John Talcott, of Hartford, one of the original proprietors of Durham. His business has been mainly that of lumberman and farmer, in both of which he has been very successful. In 1867 he purchased the larger part of a township on the side of Blue Moun- tain, in Hamilton county, in the Adirondack's, and built there the original "Blue Mountain House," overlooking Blue Mountain lake, which later was and still is owned by his eldest son. Two other sons have also married and settled in that region, and he now has three sons and thirteen grandchildren there. Mr. Merwin has always been a steadfast Republican and an unfailing supporter of the 12 ^ fer'JsB» '-■» Miijvs Talcott Merwin 1 822-1904 Eighth generation - si -• i = ~ 5 5 church. He has been especially noted for his firmness and courage in adversity, taking his part wherever it lay without regard to praise or blame, and his tenacity in doing his work without regard to bodily ailments. Of late years he has given his attention entirely to the management of his farm in Durham. ]\Ir. Merwin married November 20, 1848, Elizabeth Ann Tyler (bom October 21, 1 82 1, died December 10, 1849), ^"^ their son, Miles Tyler, was born November 9, 1849. ^I^- Merwin married (second) May 8, 1851, Ellen Agnes Foote (born December 14, 1823, died March 18, 1889). Their children: Ella Elizabeth, born April 17, 1852; Walter Lee. March 23, 1854; Benjamin Foote, August 2^, 1855; Emily Foote, September 17, 1857; Ralph Linsley, April 22, i860; Agnes Dick- erman. May 16, 1864. Miles Tyler Merwin, son of Miles Tal- cott and Elizabeth K. (Tyler) Merwin, and ninth in line of descent, is the proprietor of the "Blue Mountain House," a summer hotel in the Adirondacks. He is also engaged in lumbering during the winter and operates a sawmill in the spring and fall. He has held the office of 13 justice of the peace for sixteen years, and jus- tice of sessions for six years; also school trustee, fire warden, postmaster and other minor offices. He is very active in church work and has been Sunday-school superinten- dent for several years. Benjamin Foote Mer- win and Ralph Linsley Merwin, the two brothers who followed Miles Tyler to Blue Mountain Lake some years later, have been connected with the place in carrying on busi- ness and holding offices, and are doing their share in making "the wilderness blossom as the rose." Miles Tyler Merwin married Fannie O. Barker November 24, 1879, and they have five children: Miles Herbert, born August 3, 1881; Helen Elizabeth, March 20, 1883; Russell Lee, June 25, 1886; Gertrude Estelle, October 2, 1889; Theodore Edwin, May 5, 1899. Miles Herbert Merwin, eldest son of Miles Tyler Merwin, and tenth in the line of descent, is studying for the profession of civil engmeer. Ella Elizabeth Merwin, Emily Foote Mer- win and Agnes Dickerman Merwin, daugh- ters of Miles Talcott and Ellen A. (Foote) 14 1— ( C o (^ ^J X Ul u V V w 1) ii ^r^ r-" XI v; H W 2: r sS rt u 3! a; aJ OJ ^ ^J^ •- r :z •J s; 5 Wai.tkr Lkh Merwin I 854- I 905 Ninth generation Merwin, reside at their father's home in Dur- ham. All three were well educated, and have been capable and efficient teachers; Ella and Emily in Durham and Middletown, and Agnes is at present teaching in Springfield, Massa- chusetts. Walter Lee Merwin, son of Miles Talcott and Ellen A. (Foote) Merwin, prepared for college at Durham Academy, and graduated at Yale in 1878. He was for three years pro- fessor of Greek and mathematics in New Windsor (Md.) College, then read law with Hon. Charles S. McCormick, at Lock Haven, Clinton Co., Penn., v.^as admitted to the Bar in 1883, and began the practice of law in that place. In 1889 he removed to Pittsburg, Penn., where he has since been successfully engaged in the practice of the law. He mar- ried Maria Louise Moore December 24, 1885, and they have three children: William Wal- ters, born July 11, 1887; Miles Henderson, July 22i, 1892; and Margaret Russell, July 30, 1895- Benjamin Foote Merwin, son of Miles Talcott and Ellen A. (Foote) Merwin, was married to Clara Griffin February 22, 1883. 15 Their children are: Grace Clara, born Feb- ruary 24, 1SS4; Charles Benjamin, November 15, 1885; George Barber, January 5. i6Sj; Emily Lottie, July 10, 1890; Earl, August 15, 1893; Milford, September 12. 1895; Benja- min Foote, April 12, 1897. Ralph Linsley Alenvin, son of ]\Iiles Talcott and Ellen A. (Foote) Merwin. mar- ried Mary Ella Pascoe December 2, 1887. Their children : Walter Cyrus, born June 5, 1889; Ethel May, born April 12, 1891. died July 13, 1894. Henry Sage Merwin, son of Miles Mer- win, Jr., and Wealthy (Sage) Merwin, re- ceived the name of Sage from his mother, who was the aunt of Edmund Sage (who married Rhoda Merwin), and the great-granddaugh- ter of David Sage, the emigrant to this coun- try. He is thus a cousin of Russell Sage, the New York financier. In his youth he taught school four winters, and also spent a year in business in Richmond, Virginia. Henry S. Merwin married early in life, and built a house in Durham, near to those occupied by his father and grandfather. He has been mainly engaged in farming, and pur- 16 2; ai W Vi X tr. w 'X o (LI C/2 as 1) > W s s Henry vSagk :\Ii:k\\in Eighth generation chased a large amount of land around and near his home, including a part of that owned by the first Daniel Merwin. His buildings were extensive, and he was well known through the county, and, to a considerable extent, through the State. He continues hale and vigorous. He exhibited well the Merwin charac- teristic of resistance to oppression when an attempt was made by State commissioners to condemn a pair of line horses. In spite of persuasion and threats, to whicli most would have succumbed, he maintained his position, and two General Assemblies of the State rec- ognized that he was right and comxpensated him for his expense in the contest; while the horses lived on to a good old age, thus set- ting at naught the diagnoses of a host of vet- erinarians. Mr. Merwin was married May i6, iS-iS, to Sylvia Minerva Merriam (bom March 20, 1827, died September 20, 19CX)), of Meriden, Conn. Their children : Asaph Merriam, born November 2, 1849; Sylvia Elizabeth, July 5, 185 1 ; Elisha Sage, October 29, 1853 (died December 22, 1853) ; Frank Howard, 2 17 September 25, 1855 (died August 30, 1873) » Arthur Henry, June 18, i860; William Page, October 13, 1862 (died January 4, 1866) . Asaph Merriam Merwin, eldest son of Henry S. and Sylvia M. (jMerriam) Merwin, left his father's farm in 1872, and for eight- een years was engaged in the manufacture of building brick, near Perth Amboy, N. J. In 1S90, he returned to Durham, and two years later purchased the family homestead, fonner- ly owned by his grandfather, where he is en- gaged in farming and poultry raising. He married Mary Ball Tappan, of Elizabeth, N. J., September 20, 1877, and they have one son, Harry Merriam Merwin, who was born at Perth Amboy, January 14, 1886. Sylvia Elizabeth Menvin, daughter of Henry S. and Sylvia M. (Merriam) Mer- win, was a teacher for several years, being a graduate of the State Normal School at New Britain in 1874, and her eldest daughter is now taking a course in the same school. She w^as married May 19, 1880, to William Curtis Barhite, now merchant and postmaster in Ridgefield, Conn. Their children : Sylvia vlaria, born ]\Iarch 17, 1882; Helen lola, 18 ^!T e^ -^ V bJ5 X X w C l-H O r*, « .^ u <. l; ^ ^ « ii ^ M r^ "Z X Pi < en J^ March 12, 1884; Emma Agnes, October i, 1887. Frank Howard Merwin, son of Henry S. and Sylvia M. (Merriam) Mferwin, was edu- cated at Durham Academy. Faithful and reliable, he was becoming of much use in the family and the church. He was drowned while bathing in the mill pond on Allan's brook, near the center of the town, when near- ly eighteen years of age. The bearers at his funeral were the six other members of the Bi- ble class to which he belonged, all seven of the young men having united with the church about a year previous. , Arthur Henry Merwin, son of Henry S. and Sylvia M. (Merriam) Merwin, was with his father extensively engaged in farm- ing in Durham, and was also for several years deputy sheriff of Middlesex county. In 1900 he removed to New Haven, where he now re- sides. He married Kate A. Bailey, of Hig- ganum. Conn., December 20, 1883. Their children: Phebe White, born October 6, 1884; Ruth Ella, April 17, 1887 (died April 30, 1891); Edna Althea, Mferch 9, 1889; El- sie Margaret,. June 5, 1891 ; Myra, June 20, 1895. 19 Wealthy Sage JMerwin, daugliter of Mi'es Merwin, Jr., and Harriet (White) Mer- win, was engaged in teaching for ten years, in Durham, Conn., and in Morristown, X. J. She is a member of the Daughters of the American Revohition. She was married De- cember 5, 1858, to John Ives (born December 25, 1825), of Meriden, Conn., senior member of the firm of Ives, Upham & Rand. Their children: Leland Howard, bom October 16, 1859; Harriet White, lx)rn September 14, 1861. Leland Howard Ives, son of John and Wealthy S. (Merwin) Ives, is connected with his father in the dry-goods business in Aleri- den, and is also engaged in the care of real estate. Harriet White Ives, daughter of John and Wealthy S. (Merwin) Ives, was mar- ried December 2, 1885, to James Perry Piatt, of Meriden, Conn., Judge of the United States District Court, and son of O. H. Piatt, Unit- ed States senator. They have had two chil- dren: Margery, bom December 30, 1886; and James Perry, Jr., born February 20, 1889, who died July 19, of the same year. 20 WEAi/fHY vSage Merwin Ives Eighth j^ciieration John Ives. lyKLAND Howard Ivi;,s Ninth generation Harrikt Whiti'; Ivks Platt Ninth generation U. vS. Juixviv Jamk.s Phkr\- Pi^aTT Ninth in dt-sceiit from Rijhanl I'latt who came from Kns'laiKl in 1638 Margkrv Pi.att Tenth generation Caroline Merwin, second daughter of Miles, Jr., and Harriet (White) Merwin, spent most of her Hfe at her father's home in Durham. She was always thoughtful for the comfort of others, possessing ability and good judgment, and w^as a favorite among her sis- ters, who considered her mtich like their Aunt Phebe White. Through a long illness of ten years she was bright and cheerful. She died at the age of thirty-one, at the home of her sister in Meriden. where she passed the last two years of her life, Phebe Camp Merwin, daughter of Miles Merwin, Jr., and Harriet (White) Merwin, was married in April, 1853, to Gershom Bird- sey (born ]\Iay 5, 1832, died September 2, 1856), of Meriden, Conn. Their son, Eddie, was born January 15, 1856. and died August 15, of the same year. Phebe C. (Mer- win) Birdsey was married (second) in Jan- uary, 1 86 1, to Abner Canfield Wetmore, of Meriden, Conn. Their children: Martha Scovil, born October 8, 1861 ; Julia Merwin, born April 20, 1868. ]\Iartha Scovil Wetmore, daughter of Ab- ner C. and Phebe C. (Merwin) Wetmore, 21 was for three years a pupil at Mt. Holyoke Seminary. She left the Seminary after the death of her father, in 1883, and has been a teacher for seventeen years in the schools of Meriden. Julia Merwin Wetmore, daughter of Al>- ner C. and Phebe C. (Merwin) Wetmore, was married to William L. Hatch April 3, 1889, and their son, Harold Wetmore, was bom January 24, 1890. Margaret Merwin, daughter of Miles Merwin, Jr., and Harriet (White) Merwin, w^as a pupil at Mt. Holyoke Seminary, and was for thirteen years a teacher in the schools of Durham, Meriden and New Haven. She was married April 2, 1870, to Abner Can- field Wetmore (born October 21, 181 5. died June 3, 1883), of Meriden, Conn. Their daughter, Fannie Canfield, was born April 8, 1876. Fannie Canfield Wetmore, only daugh- ter of Abner C. and Margaret (Merwin) Wet- more, resides with her mother in Meriden. She has had a business education and has been for seven years in the office of the C. F. Monroe Company, manufacturers of cut glass, in Meri- den. 22 Katharine Eaton Bi,ack Safford Tenth generation Maria White Merv/in, youngest daugh- ter of Miles Merwin, Jr., and Harriet (White) Merwin, was married July 31, 1865, to Edwin Jerome Black (born August 4, 1841), who served in the Civil war, as a member of Company D, Twentieth Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers, being one year with the Army of the Potomac, and two years with Sherman's Army in the Southwest. They now reside in Rockfall, Conn. Their children: William Jerome, born February 13, 1867; Carrie Phebe, bom October 23, 1870, William Jerome Black, son of Edwin J. and Maria W. (Merwin) Black, served three years in the regular army, then enlisted at New Orleans in the Second Lou- isiana Regiment, and served in Cuba during the Spanish war. Carrie Phebe Black, daughter of Edwin J. and Maria W. (Merwin) Black, was mar- ried to Edward Safford in May 188S; and their daughter, Katie Eaton, was bom in July, 1889. PHEBE CAMP MERWIN, daughter of Miles Merwin, Sr., and Phebe (Camp) Mer- 23 win, was fourteen years of age wlien her mother died, leaving her the eldest of six daughters and next to the eldest in a family of eight children. Thus early in life placed in a responsible position as head of her father's household, she developed great decision of character and executive ability. Two years later, when relieved of the burden by the com- ing of a stepmother, she resumed her place as a dutiful daughter and loving sister, until most of her brothers and sisters were settled in life; then, on October 5, 1836, she was united in marriage to Seymour White (born in 1794, died March 18, 1838), of her native town, who was engaged in the shoemaking business. Mrs. White's wedded life was of brief duration. She returned to her father's house after the death of her husband, and some months later was offered the position of matron of the Asy- lum for the Deaf at Hartford. She assumed its duties in the autumn of 1839, with many mis- givings, but for thirty-two years filled the po- sition with "rare fidelity, devotion and suc- cess." The high esteem in which she was held is shown by the following extract from the 24 S^Ce^ (^.^^.:^ "Annals of the Deaf and Dumb/' puiblished at Washington, D. C. : "Mrs. White was a woman of great equanimity, common sense and large charity for all, with rare poise of Christian character. Prompt, energetic, firm, kind, she ruled the servants with a strong yet gentle hand, and no negligence was tolerated in her department of the Asylum. To the teachers and other officers she was ever courte- ous and kind — a trusted counsellor and friend ; to the pupils she was a faithful, wise, ju- dicious mother, winning the love and respect of all; and the hundreds of graduates whom she has watched over and befriended will ever keep her in affectionate remembrance." In the autumn of 1871, at the age of sev- enty-three, Mrs. White resigned her position and returned to the home of her childhood, there to pass her remaining years. She out- lived all her brothers and sisters except one, a widowed sister, who came to be a companion for her in the house in which they were born. Here, for thirteen years, "surrounded by a large circle of relatives and friends, her Chris- tian character bore richest fruit in large-heart- ed benevolence and charity." 25 Mrs. White was always interested in church and Sunday-school work, and, at the time of her death was still a member of the Bible class. Upon the organization of the first Sunday-school in Durham, about 1818, she was the female superintendent. Sixty years later she gave a cabinet organ to the same school, and in her will left a fund to provide a yearly addition to its Iibrar>'. She also left by will a gift to the church which became the nucleus of the fund for the building of the parlors, which are now so important in its so- cial life. She remembered, also, the benevolent societies of the Congregational Churches. Mrs. White ever maintained a lively in- terest in the members and numerous descend- ants of her father's family, and her advice and aid were often sought and freely given. Al- ways generous and helpful to them during her life, she was also enabled by economy and pru- dence in the management of her income, to leave by will a substantial legacy to each of her twenty nephews and nieces. This sketch of the Merwin family is in- serted here through the contributions of her nephews and nieces, as a token of their appre- 26 elation of ber thoughtful and loving remem- brance of them, and in the hope that it may cause her to be kept in mind, and assist in maintaining among succeeding generations the recognition of relationship and interest in each other which she did so much to foster, and vvhich has characterized those of our time. RUTH MERWIN, daughter of Miles Mei-win, St., and Phebe (Camp) Merwin, was married September 28, 1829, to James Edward Lee (born October 20, 1800, died November 18, 1889), who occupied the farm in Guilford, Conn., which has been in the possession of his family since the settlement of the town. Here she resided with her husband until her death, which occurred twenty-five years later. Before her marriage she learned the mil- liner's trade in Middletown, Conn., and was for some years engaged in that business. She was a devoted wife and mother, loving and tender, self-sacrificing to a fault, and her Christian character impressed itself upon all with whom she was connected. ' Her early married life was saddened by the loss of their 27 first three children. Charlotte Elizabeth, Ed- ward Merwin and William Henry, who died in infancy. Their other children were: Mary Elizabeth, born July 20, 1833; Edward Mer- win, August 23, 1835; Ellen Maria, April 7, 1839; William Henry, July 15, 1841 ; Charles Gilbert, January 31, 1843 (died March 6, 1865). Mary Elizabeth Lee, daughter of James E. and Ruth (Merwin) Lee, was educated at Guilford Institute, and was for several years a teacher, also an author. She was married at Cheyenne, Wyo., Septeml)er 30, 1874, to Prof. N. E. Stark, who was school commissioner for New Hampshire four years, and principal of schools in Cheyenne for thirteen years. Their son, Edwfard Thayer, was born at Chey- enne, October 28, 1875. Edward Thayer Stark, son of N. E. and Mary E. (Lee) Stark, is a graduate of Wyo- ming University, 1899. He was married Sep- tember 26, 1901, to Amanda Needles, of Atlan- tic, Iowa, and is now telephone inspector in Denver, Colorado. Edward Merwin Lee, son of James E. and Ruth (Merwin) Lee, is a lawyer by pro- 28 I\Iar\' Ivi.izAiiKTH Ijac vSTAKK Kightli generation Edward Mickwin I^EE Colonel 5th Mich. Cavalry, U. S. V. Brigadier General Eighth generation fession, admitted to the Bar in New York in 1 86 1, and in the United States Supreme Court in 1865. He served through the Civil war, becoming a private in the Fifth Michigan Cav- alry, was promoted through the different grades to captain, heutenant colonel and col- onel in the same regiment, and afterward brev- etted brigadier general. For fourteen months he was in Libby and other military prisons, where his cheerfulness and courage aided much in keeping up the spirits of his comrades. Gen. Lee represented Guilford in the Gen- eral Assembly in 1866 and 1867; organized Wyoming Territory in 1869, as secretary and acting governor; secured the passage of the Woman Suffrage Law there, and appointed women to office; and has made political speeches in all National and some State cam- paigns from 1865 to 1892, over a thousand in all. For the last twenty-five years he has been engaged in the practice of law in New York City. Ellen Maria Lee, daughter of James E. and Ruth (Merwin) Lee, was educated at Guilford Listitute, and, like her sister, became a teacher and author. She was married Octo- 29 ber 20, 1864, to Samuel Allen Bristol (born October 7, 1841), of Guilford, Conn., who served nine months in the Civil war, as a mem- ber of the Twenty-seventh Regiment, Con- necticut Volunteers, and was for two weeks in Libby prison. They removed in 1869 to Cheyenne, Wyo., where he established and now conducts, as president, the S. A. Bristol Publishing Company. Their children: Kate, born in Guilford May 27, 1865 ; Edward Mer- win Lee, born in Cheyenne November 15, 1869; Sara, born in Guilford August 29, 187 1 ; Charles Allen, born in Cheyenne Februar^^ 13, 1874; Ruth, born in Cheyenne October 28, 1877 (died March 19, 1880) ; Ellen, born in Cheyenne November 13, 1879. Kate Bristol, daughter of S. Allen and Ellen M. (Lee) Bristol, was married Septem- ber 20, 1887, to John Knox Wade (bom De- cember 3, 1 861, died May 17, 1892) ; their son, John Knox, born December 9, 1888, died Au- gust 12, 1890; their daughter, Kate, was born August 4, 1 89 1. Edward Merwin Lee Bristol, son of S. Allen and Ellen M. (Lee) Bristol, a printer by trade, was married September 30, 1890, to 30 William Hkxrv Lkk Co. B.. 16II1 Regt., C. V. Eighth generation Margaret Morrison (born April 25, 1868), at Cheyenne. Tlieir children: Francis Sistere, bom Septeinber 30, 1891 ; John Allen, June 2^, 1895 ; William Merwin, January- 2, 1898. Sara Bristol, daughter of S. Allen and Ellen M. (Lee) Bristol, was married Septem- ber 18, 1895, to William Curtiss Mains (born September 3, 1871 ) , of Brooklyn, N. Y. Their daughter, Margaret, born June 29, 1900, died October 4, 1 901, at Mt. Vernon, New York. Charles Allen Bristol, son of S. Allen and Ellen M. (Lee) Bristol, a book binder by trade, enlisted in May, 1898, in Battery A, Wy- oming Light Artillery, United States Volun- teers, and served as second lieutenant in that battery during the campaign in the Philippines, until honorably discharged and mustered out in September, 1899. He married Daze May McCabe, of Cheyenne, April 18, i960. William Henry Lee, son of James E. and Ruth (Merwin) Lee, served in the Civil war, enlisting in 1862, in Company B, Six- teenth Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers, and was discharged for disability in 1863. He is a farmer in Guilford, and represented that tov.-n in the General Assembly in 1886. He 31 was a. charter member of the Guilford Bat- tery, and remained a member for twenty } cors, being corporal, second lieutenant, and for more than four years its first captain. He married Mary Elizabeth Grisvwld, of Mystic, Conn., November 21, 1867. Their children: Ruth Mary, born July 28, 1869; Charles Sherman, November 12, 1870; Edward Merwin, Decem- ber I, 1872 (died August 10, 1892) ; William Randall, February 14, 1876; Albert Clifford, August 5, 1883. Ruth Mary Lee, daughter O'f William H. and Mary E. (Griswold) Lee, married Addi- son E^rle Baldwin, of Branford, Conn., April 5, 1893. Their children are: Dorothy Rae, bom June i, 1895; Harriet Carpenter, born July I, 1900. Charles Sherman Lee, son of William H. and Alary E. (Griswold) Lee, was for seven years a member of Battery A, Connecti- cut National Guard, and for five years of the Connecticut Naval Reserves. At the outbreak of the Spanish war he enlisted as seaman in the United States Navy, and was honorably discharged at the close of the war. He is now a member of Company F, Second Regiment. 32 Chaki.hs CVii.bkkt Lkk Co. B., i6th Reg., C. V. I 843 -I 865 Eighth generation Connecticut National Guard (New Haven Grays). He is engaged in manufacturing in New Haven. Edward Merwin Lee, son of William H. and Mary E. (Griswold) Lee, was a graduate of Guilford Institute, in 1890. He was a bright scholar and a great favorite. He was for a time employed in Meriden, and after- ward entered the wholesale house of Charles G. Kimberly in New Haven. There, a few months later, he received injuries, by falling down an elevator shaft, which resulted in his death. William Randall Lee, son of William H. and Mary E. (Griswold) Lee, with his brother Charles S. served in the navy during the Spanish war, and is now a member of the Connecticut Naval Reserves. He was married November 28, 1900, to Lucy Foote, of Guil- ford, Conn., and is engaged in manufacturing in New Haven. Albert Clifford Lee, yoimgest son of William H. and Mary E. (Griswold) Lee, still remains on the farm with his father. Charles Gilbert Lee, son of James E. and Ruth (Merwin) Lee, served in the Civil 33 war, enlisting in Company B, Sixteenth Reg- iment, Connecticut Volunteers. He was made corporal August ii, 1863; was in several bat- tles; captured with his regiment at Plymouth, N. C, April 20, 1864; a prisoner at Anderson- ville nine months; and died March 6, 1865, at Wilmington, N. C, from the effects of his imprisonment. The following poem relating to the two brothers, William H. and Charles G. Lee, at Antietam, was written by Susie E. Ward, their former teacher at the Guilford Institute: What the Sick Soldier Told Me. The surgeon said "Remain," but somehow I could not stay, For the order had been given, and the boys were on their way; And thinking on the morrow's fight, I saw my brother stand. Calm in battle, as he used to be, when plowing father's land; Or I saw him falling, wounded, or lying ghastly — dead; From my bed of straw upspringing, "I am going too," I said. So I hurried on just after; on the ground at night we lay. And I felt his arm about me in the old accustomed way; But when morning came, quick-footed, and our ranks in order stood, 34 He was twenty paces from me: Oh, how boiled my fevered blood! Placed so near him, yet not with him, 'twixt us two a score of others, Till the men passed me down the line, for they knew that we were brothers. Did you ask how went the battle? Why, we lost the day, you know, And at last, when we retreated, I tried hard but could not go. Sick at heart and sick in body, I was falling to the ground, But Charley was beside me, his dear arm about me wound ;' Whileone comrade took our muskets, passed our knap- sacks on toothers. That he might be strong to help me, for they knew that we were brothers. O Christian, fellow Christian, is it so with you and me. Children of one Heavenly Father, members of one family? Do we live a love so simple? Is a strong arm ever thrown Round him whose faltering footsteps show his strength is almost gone ? And when worldly hearts press onward, blindly parting us from others, Do their dense ranks quickly step aside, knowing that we all are brothers? MARY PARMELEE IMERWIN, daugh- ter of Miles Merwin, Sr., and Phebe (Camp) Merwin, was married April 27, 1824, to Thomas Noble (born April 2'j, 1797, died 35 January 20, 1854), of Westfield, Mass., where his ancestors had Hved for several genera- tions. They remained in Westfield until 1 84 1, when they removed to Granville, Mass. In 1843 t^'^^y removed to Cromwell, Conn., remaining there until Mr. Noble's death, which occurred eleven years later. A few months after the death of her husband, Mrs. Noble, with her younger daughter, returned to Durham to care for her aged father^ where she remained until a few weeks before her death, when she was taken, in failing health, to the home of her sister Alva, in Cromwell, where she died at the age of seventy-two. Before her marriage she learned the tail- or's trade in Middletown, Conn. Wherever she lived she always made herself useful in church work and in the neighborhood, being one of the reliable and efficient persons whose aid was sought in case of sickness or death, or any emergency ; and she had frequent oc- casion for the exercise of her talents among her kinsmen and acquaintances. Their children : William Merwin, born February 2, 1825; Mary Amelia, May 29, 1827 (died January 22, 1886) ; Thomas, May 36 \\'ir.i,iA.M Mkrwin Nobi.k 1825-1906 Eighth generation Cl.AKA AdKI.IA NoHIvK Emma Amklia Nobi,e Ninth generation 22^, 183 1 ; MerAvin Lee, September 2, 1834 (died August 20, 1S53) 5 Charlotte Ellen, De- cember 23, 1846 (died February 8, 1866). WiiLiAM Merwin Noble, son of Thomas and Mary P. (Merwin) Noble, was engaged for thirty-five years in the manufacture of hammers at Cromwell, Conn., under the firm name of Warner & Noble. During the years of his active life he was one of the leading men of the town, and has held different town offices. He was married May 8, 1850, to Al- mira Parmelee Mildrum (born June 19, 1826, died January 26, 1891 ) . Their children : Ar- thur William, born May 29, 185 1; Clara Adelia and Emma Amelia (twins), March 10, 1853; Edward Shepard, April 29, 1858; Robert Mildrum, March 16, i860; William Cleveland, October 2, 1869. Arthur William Noble, son of William M. and Almira P. (Mildrum) Noble, has been for many years in the hardware business at Riceville, Iowa. In the great fire which oc- curred there July 20, 1901, when more than fifty places of business were burned, his store and dwelling house were both destroyed. He married Laura Anna Pierce, May 12, 1896. Their daughter, Julia Charlotte, was born April 5, 1898, and their son, Lucius Pierce, born February 22, 1902, died three days after birth. Clara Adelia Noble, daughter of William M. and Almira P. (Mildrum) Noble, was mar- ried October 20, 1874, to Daniel Webster, of Berlin, Conn. Their children : Mary Emma, born June 21, 1S79; Helen, May 26, 1881 (died September 6, 1882) ; Hattie Louise, De- cember 14, 1883; William John, October 21, 1886; Stewart Noble, July 31, 1888; Gertrude, February 5, 1891. Einma Amelia Noble, daughter of Will- iam M. and Almira P. (Mildrum) Noble, with the exception of a few years spent in the West with her brothers, has always lived at the home of her father in Cromwell. Edward Shepard Noble, son of William I\I. and Almira P. (JNIildrum) Nc^ble, resides in Cromwell, and has been for twelve years with the Peck, Stovv' & Wilcox Company, ii^ East Berlin. Fie was married May 17, 18S2, to Minnie Augusta Griswold, of Crom- well. Tliey have had three children : Har- old Beaumont, born November 27, 1887, 38 (iAVLOKD KiMBALI. NOKI.K 1 889- 1 908 Tenth generation w ►4 o W « O t/i p.5 w o ►J -*-» K CO O 4; ;^ OJ t-' M M ^ en V Robert Mildrum Nobi,e Ninth generation died August 29, 1888; Le Roy Beaumont was born June 17, 1891 ; Howard Edward, born March i, 1896, died August 22, of the same year. Robert Mildrum Noble, son of WilHam M. and Ahnira P. (Mildrum) Noble, con- ducts a hardware store in Riceville, Iowa, and is also engaged in the sale of musical instru- ments. He was married June 27, 1888, to Elizabeth Sumner Kimball, of Wentworth, Iowa. Their children : Gaylord Kimball, born July I, 1889; Douglas, December 22, 1894 (died January 2, 1895) ; Robert Mildrum, Jr., April II, 1896; Curtis Cleveland, December 27, 1898; Isabel, July 8, 1902. William Cle\'eland Noble, youngest son of William M. and Almira P. (Mildrum) No- ble, is living in Cromwell, and has been for several years in the employ of the Peck, Stow & Wilcox Company, of East Berlin. He was married to Mary Frances Hill, July 6, 1898. Their son, Kenneth Hill, was born April 3, 1899. Mary Amelia Noble, daughter of Thom- as and Mary P. (Merwin) Noble, married Henry Arnold, of Westfield, Mass., in 1848. 39 He went to California in 1849, ^"^ engaged in mining, returning home after a few years. In 1855 he again went to CaHfornia, accom- panied by his wife. They remained there fourteen years, in 1869 returning to Connec- ticut with their two sons and settling in Had- dam. Their children : Edward Clark, born June 5, 1856, and Frank Hubbard, born Jan- uary 13, 1858, at Woolsey Flat, Nevada Co., Cal. ; two other sons, Charles and Henry, who died in infancy, were born at Lake City, Cali- fornia. Edward Clark Arnold, son of Henry and Mary A. (Noble") Arnold, w-as educated at the Middletown High School, at Westfield, (Mass.) Academy, and at Williston Acad- emy, Mass., of vvhich latter he is a graduate. He resides in New York City, where for many years he has held the position of advertising manager for the Chautauquan Magazine. Frank Hubbard Arnold, son of Henry and Mary A. (Noble ) Arnold, resides in \Va- terbury, Conn., where he is employed in the large brass factory of Benedict & Burnham. He was married December 27, 1890, to Maiy Hazen, of Haddam, Connecticut. 40 Thomas Noblk Elizabeth M. Noble Sarah E. Nohlk Thomas H. Noble Eighth and Ninth Generation Thomas Noble, son of Thomas and Mary P. (]\I^rwin) Noble, removed with his fath- er's family to Cromwell, Conn., when twelve years of age. In 1857, he w^nt to California, crossing the Isthmus, and engaged first in mining, and afterward for six years in the hotel business as partner with his brother-in- law, Henry Arnold. Later they engaged in the same business for three years in Nevada. Mr. Nohle returned by the same route, in 1869, to Cromwell, where he has since resided, engaged principally in farming and dairying, and is now president of the Cromwell Cream- ery Association. He and his family are members of the Congregational Church, and for several years he has had charge of the financial matters of the Ecclesiatical Society, and has also been its clerk and treasurer. With fine musical taste and voice, he has been prominent for many years in the music of the church and Sunday-school. He married April 13, 1870, Elizabeth M. (Baldwin) Belden, of Cromwell. Their children : Sarah El- len, born May 27, 1871 ; Thomas Henry, born November 20, 1875. Sarah Ellen Noble, daughter of Tliomas 41 and Elizabeth M. (Baldwin) Noble, has al- ways lived in Cromwell. She inherits her father's taste for music, and like him is use- ful in the Sunday-scliool and the choir, as well as the social life of the church. Thomas Henry Noble, son of Thomas and Elizabeth M. (Baldwin) Noble, is eighth in the line of descent, and seventh of the name, from Thomas Noble, the emigrant an- cestor, who died in Westfield, Mass., in 1704, He has always resided in Cromwell, except a few years which he passed in New Haven as stenographer for Judge William K. Town- send. He is now employed as stenographer with the J. & E, Stevens Company, in Crom- well. Merwin Lee Noble, son of Thomas and Mary P. (Merwin) Noble, was an ambitious scholar, and was preparing for Yale College at Monson (Mass.) Academy, but during a va- cation was drowned, while bathing in Long Island Sound, off Madison, Connecticut. Charlotte Ellen Noble, daughter of Thomas and Mary P. (Merwin) Noble, re- moved with her mother from Cromwell to the Merwin homestead in Durham when about 42 eight years of age. She, like her older brothers and sister, was of a very lively tem- perament, learned readily, and had a retentive memory. She was the youngest granddaugh- ter, and her presence made the Merwin home- stead an attractive place for the many cousins who were slightly older. She died at the age of nineteen, from diphtheria contracted while caring for a young cousin of the next genera- tion. ALVA MERWIN, daughter of Miles Merwin, Sr., and Phebe (Camp) Merwin, was married September 17, 1822, to Isaac Stebbins Baldwin (born July 17, 1800, died April 11, 1871). They resided in Durham until Oc- tober, 1834, when they removed with their two children to Sherburne, Chenango Co., N. Y., and one year later to Norwich, N. Y. There their son Lyman, a boy of great prom- ise, was drowned at the age of eleven years. In November, 185 1, they returned to their native State, locating in Cromwell. After the death of her husband nearly twenty years later, M>rs. Baldwin lived for several years with her sister, Mrs. White, at the Merwin homestead 43 in Dnirham, returning to her Cromwell home in 1884. Always kindly, cheerful and hospitable, her house was a favorite resort of her nephews and nieces, as well as her chil- dren, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She retained much of her physical and mental vigor to the last, and enjoyed to its close a life of continuous activity and usefulness. Her death, at the age of eighty-eight years, occurred on the fifty-ninth anniversary of the great accession to the church in Durham, dur- ing the ministry of Henry Gleason, at which time she became a member of that church. Their children : Mary Elizabeth, born Decem- ber 28, 1823; Lyman Merwin, February 2, 1827 (died June i, 1838) ; Henry Merwin, June 21, 1840 (died May 2, 1864) ; Sarah Allen, February 14, 1846. Mary Elizabeth Baldwin, daughter of Isaac S. and Alva (Merwin) Baldwin, mar- ried April 5, 1842, James Maddock (born in 1 8 16, died November 5, 1843), ^t Norwich, N. Y. Their daughter, Elizabeth Maddock, was born January 24, 1843. After the death of her father she lived with her mother's pa- rents, taking the name of Baldwin. 44 Mary EIvIzaekxh Baldwin Vaxsizh 1823-1905 Eighth generation Mary E. (Baldwin) Maddock was mar- ried (second) August 26, 1845, ^ Ebenezer Hibbard Vansize (born January 10, 1822, died April 17, 1893). In 1850, they re- moved from Norwich to Utica, where Mrs. Vansize is now Hving, in the house which she has occupied for more than half a century. She is a constant attendant at church and Sunday-school, faithful to the prayer-meet- ing, and active in church and charitable work. Their children : William Baldwin, born April 8, 1853; Catherine Hibbard, March 21, i860 (died April 10, of the same year) ; Hibbard K"imball, June 20, 1864; Mary Merwin, De- cember 5, 1865 (died September 10, 1866). Elizabeth Maddock Baldwin, daughter of James and Mary E. (Baldwin) Maddock, was married December 25, 1863, to Lewis Bel- den (died August 7, 1864), of Rocky Hill, Conn., who served in the Civil war in Com- pany H, First Connecticut Heavy Artillery, and died in the service August 7,1864. She married (second) April 13, 1870, Thomas No- ble, of Cromwell, Conn., and they have two children, as before mentioned. William Baldwin Vansize, son of Eben- 45 ezer H. and Mary E. (Baldwin) Vansize, has been engaged in various applications of elec- tricity to the useful arts, including the tele- graph and telephone. He studied law, and was admitted to the Bar in New York State in 1879, and has since practiced as a patent lawyer and expert in New York City. He was married September 22, 1874, to Marian G. Fellows, of Albany, N. Y. She died in 1893, and he subsequently married Amelia Ridout, of New York City, and, at present, resides in Brookl)^i, New York. Hibbard Kimball Vansize, son of Eben- ezer H. and Mary E. (Baldwin) Vansize, has been for twenty vears connected with the Oneida National Bank of Utica, N. Y. He began as corresponding clerk in 1882, and is now paying teller. He married Cora Mary Norton, December 8, 1887. Their daughter, Mary Mildred, was born August 9, 1891. Henry Merwin Baldwin, son of Isaac S. and Alva (Merwin) Baldwin, served in the Civil war enlisting in Company C, Sev- enth Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers. He was severely wounded in the battle of Olustee, Fla., February 20, 1864, and after two 46 i-r < pq W n o Si o w 15 Q i-r pa < months spent in the hospital at Beaufort, S. C, was given a furlough, and went to his home at Cromwell, Conn., where he died from illness ten days later. Sarah Allen Baldwin, daughter of Is- aac S. and Alva (Merwin) Baldwin, was mar- ried to Henry G. Newton (mentioned below) September ii, 1885. For several years she was a teacher, and later studied medicine, and was graduated in 1885 from the New York Medical College for Women. She has prac- ticed her profession but little, but is actively interested in matters of church, education and charity in New Haven, where she now. re- sides. She is chainnan of the Woman's De- partment of the City Missionary Association of New Haven ; chairman of the visiting com- mittee of the New Haven Woman's School Association; a member of the executive com- mittee of the Home for the Friendless, and of the board of managers of the Elm City Kin- dergarten Association ; one of the original in- corporators named in the charter of Grace Hospital ; a member of the outlook committee of Plymouth Church, and secretary of the Home Department of its Sunday-school; and 47 the first woman ever registered as a voter in Connecticut. RHODA MERWIN, daughter of Miles Merwin, Sr., and Phebe (Camp) Merwin, was married June 28, 1829, to Edmund Sage (born July 3, 1804, died May 4, 1878), of Cromwell, Conn., who owned and managed a large farm on the main turnpike between Hartford and New Haven. The six daughters of Miles Merwin, Sr., always had a very strong affec- tion for each other. As their children grew up visits between the families were frequent, and children as well as adults looked upon these gatherings as a great event in their lives. Many such meetings were held in the spacious Sage home, and "Aunt Rhoda" was a house- hold word among her sisters' children. In later years another sister, Mary, and afterward Alva, with their families, settleid in Cromwell, all living within a half mile of each other, making it a favorite rallying place for the others, and the scene of many festive occasions. The three sisters, as well as their husbands and children, were good singers, and 48 the musical evenings which they spent together were much enjoyed by all. The life of Mrs. Sage and her husband was later overshadowed by the loss of four of their five children, between the ages of nine- teen and twenty-nine years, all living at home until their deaths, which occurred within nine years. Mr. a,nd Mrs. Sage afterward removed to Newark, N. J., where she died a few^ years later, at the age of sixty-three. Their chil- dren : Elizabeth Williams, born June 17, 1830, died August 16, 1859; Frances Mer- win, born February 21, 1832, died February i, 185 1 ; Martha Marietta, born February 13, 1834, died June 9, 1856; Charles Edmund was born February 3, 1838; Henry Lewis, born September 20, 1841, died April 25, i860. Elizabeth Williams Sage, daughter of Edmund and Rhoda (Merwin) Sage, was a graduate of the State Normal School of New Britain. She was for several years an enthus- iastic and very successful teacher, until failing health obliged her to relinquish her work. So devoted to her profession was she that, when cautioned by her physician against continuing in school, she remarked to her friends: "If 4 49 I knew I could live only one year and continue teaching, or two years without teaching, I should choose to teach." Frances Merwin Sage died at nineteen, Martha Marietta Sage at twenty-two and Henry Lewis Sage at nineteen years of age (children of Edmund and Rhoda (Merwin) Sage). They were all of good ability, kind- hearted, and apparently had reason to expect successful and happy lives. The three cousins, Henry M. Baldwin, Henry Lewis Sage and Henry Gleason Newton, being nearly the same age, were often in company, and the "three Henrys" always had enjoyable times together. Charles Edmund Sage, son of Edmund and Rhoda (Merwin) Sage, served through the Civil war, enlisting in the Fifth Connecti- cut Regiment, in June, 1861. He was sworn into service as a member of the Fifth Regiment Band, was in several battles, and was dis- charged in 1862; then was appointed carrier of dispatches at the headquarters of the gen- eral commanding. Afterward, for ten years, he was located in Newark, N. J., superintend- ing the erection of many buildings, both pub- lic and private. Then, purchasing a farm in 50 Charlks EuMuxi) Sack Band 5th Reg. C. V. 1S3S-1903 Eighth generation Somerset county, N. ]., he removed thither, where he at present resides. Mr. Sage was married September 19, 1868, to Mary Anna Esch. Their children : Walter Merwin, born October 15, 1869; Edmund Esch, July 6, 1871 ; Frederick Henry, Novem- ber 24, 1874, Walter Merwin Sage, son of Charles E. and Mary A. (Esch) Sage, is a graduate of the State Normal School of New Jersey, and of the Law School of Dickinson College, Car- lisle, Penn. ; he also graduated in the classical course of the same college, holding three di- plomas, and having the degree A. M. con- ferred by said college. He is at present prin- cipal of the Fairview school, North Hoboken, New Jersey, Edmund Esch Sage, son of Charles E. and Mary A. (Esch) Sage, is a graduate of the New Jersey State Normal School, holding a life certificate, and is now principal of the Diamond Hill school of Summit, New Jersey. Frederick Henry Sage, son of Charles E. and Mary A. (Esch) Sage, also holds a State Normal life certificate, and is principal 51 of the Long- Hill school, in Gillette, Morris Co., N. J., where he resides. NOAH MERWIN, younger son of Miles Merwin, Sr., and Phebe (Camp) Merwin, al- ways resided in Durham, his native town. He followed the employment of his father, pur- chasing a farm near the old homestead. A man of strong convictions, he refused to go with his party when that party selected as a candidate a slave holder and duelist (Henry Clay), and became an Abolitionist w:hen Abo- litionists were unpopular, even though he thereby, for a time, alienated some of his best friends. Conscientious in the performance of his Christian duties, he was a constant attend- ant at the Sabbath services and at the prayer- meeting. Mr. Merwin married November 24, 1837, Olive Stowe (born November 25, 1809, died May 12, 1884), of Middlefleld, Conn. Their children: Lucy Stowe, born November 7, 1839 (died August 30, 1840) ; Lucy Stowe, June 30, 1841 ; Edward Pay son, March 23, 1844; Charles Baldwin, August 3, 1848. Lucy Stowe Merwin, daughter of Noah 52 Edward Paysux Mkrwin Eighth generation and Olive (Stowe) Merwin, was educated at the Durham Academy, Ipswich Female Semi- nary and Mt, Holyoke Seminary, of which lat- ter she is a graduate. For thirty-eight years she was engaged in teaching, most of the time in the public schools, in the higher grammar grades and the high school department. For twenty-tfive years she taught in her native State; for two years was assistant principal of the Bucksville Academy, in Kentucky ; for five years taught in the middle West, in Pueblo, Colo., and Cheyenne, Wyo., the last two years as principal of the high school ; and for four years taught in Portland, Oregon. Fond of travelling, she improved her va- cations in visiting Alaska, the Hawaiian Isl- ands, and interesting points in Colorado, Wy- oming, Utah and California. She has crossed the continent six times. One year she spent in the Adirondacks. Edward Payson Merwin, son of Noah and Olive (Stowe) Merwin, was educated at Durham Academy and the Indianapolis High School. For some years he w&s with Colt's Fire Arms Company in Hartford, and after- ward was for three years in New Jersey ; then 53 for thirteen years with the Wheeler & Wilson Company, of Bridgeport, Conn. ; and for the last twenty years has been with the Morley Button Sewing Machine Company of Ports- mouth, N. H., where he resides. He has made some important and valuable inventions on sewing machines. His aunt, Mrs. Phebe C. White, had a life estate in the Merwin homestead, and after her decease, in 1884, it passed to the children of Noah Merwin. Edward P. Merwin, being the elder son, purchased the interest of his brother and sister, and is now; the owner, occupying it during his vacations. The entire Merwin family hope it may long continue in the Mer- win name. He was married June 10, 1884, to Martha L. Hulme (born December 22, 1843). Their daughter, Jennie, born July 28, 1885, died August 9, of the same year. Charles Baldwin Merwin, son of Noah and Olive (Stowe) Merwin, v/as educated at Durham Academy. He was for a time in the employ of the Boston & New York Air Line Railroad Company. In 1873 he went to New York and was for five years in the establish- ment of P. S. Smith ; then went into business 54 Chaklks Baldwin Mkkwin 1 848- 1 904 Eighth generation on his own account, as a manufacturing sta- tioner and printer, in lines requiring the best skill and utmost care. He makes a specialty of supplying seminaries and colleges, and also of legal printing. He is held in high esteem in both business and social relations. He re- sides in Bayonne, N. J., and is a member of the Newark Bay Boat Club. He was married August 3, 1 87 1, to Ella Jane Crowell (born April 17, 185 1, died January 2, 1892), of Dur- ham, Conn. He married (second) October 18, 1893, Ada Emeline Ballard (born November 29, 1868), of New York City. NANCY MARIA MERWIN, youngest daughter of Miles Merwin, Sr., and Phebe (Camp) Merwin, married December 5, 1838, Gaylord Newton (bom July 31, 1804, died December 16, 1883), in whose school she had been a pupil. Before her marriage she taught in the district school of Durham, and was a teacher in the Sunday-school as long as she was able to be there. She was a member of the choir, and always helpful in church and neighborhood ; always ready in sickness and trouble tO' do for others more than her strength 55 would admit; always cheerful and 'happy, brave and uncomplaining, and absolutely con- scientious. She viewed the slow approach of certain death as calmly as if she were about to take a journey to a neighboring state; to her last hour thoughtful for the welfare of the husband and children she was leaving. Their children: Ellen Maria, born June 24, 1841 (died October 7, 1863) ' Henry Gleason, June 5, 1843; Caroline Gaylord, January 21, 1845. Ellen Maria Newton, daughter of Gay- lord and Nancy M. (Merwin) Newton, from the age of fourteen had charge of the house- hold. Gifted with an especially fine ear for music, she became church organist in her early girlhood. Quick-witted and sprightly, she was usually associated with those older than herself, and was a universal favorite, but best loved where best known. She had a class in Sunday-school, and among her latest acts was writing a letter to each scholar, her strength failing before she had completed the last let- ter. Henry Gleason Newton, only son of Gaylord and Nancy M. (Merwin) Newton, was named in memory of Rev. Henry Gleason, 56 la^ ' Miles 7, 78 6 Miles 7, 9, 10, 23, 27.35,43, 48, 52, 55, 70, 71. 78, 79 " Miles 9, 10, rr, 12, 16, 20, 21, 22, 23 8 Miles Talcott 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 66, 70, 76, 77, 79 9 Miles Tyler 13, 14 10 Miles Herbert 14 10 Miles Henderson 15 Milford 16 Myra 19 Nancy Maria 9, 55, 56, 61, 75 5 Noah 78 6 Noah 78 7 Noah 9, 52, 53, 54 Olive (Stowe) 52, 53, 54 84 Merwin Phebe (Camp) 9, 10, 23, 27, 35. 43. 48, 52. 55 V Phebe Camp 3, 9, 21, 23, 24, 25. 26, 43 8 Phebe Camp 12, 21, 22 Phebe White 19, 64 Ralph Linsley 13, 14, 16, 65 5 Rhoda 78 7 Rhoda 9, 16, 48, 49, 50 Russell Lee 14 Ruth 9, 27, 28, 29, 31, 33 Ruth Ella 19 Samuel 74, 75 Sarah 78 Sarah (Botchford) 6, 75, 77 Sarah P. (Beach) 74 Sarah (Scofield) 74 Sarah (Woodin) 75 Sylvia Elizabeth 17, 18 Sylvia M. (Merriam) 17. 18, 19 Theodore Edwin 14 Thomas 74, 75 Walter Cyrus 16 Walter Lee 13, 15, 70 Wealthy (Sage) 11, 12, 16 Wealthy Sage 11, 20, 70, 79 William Page 18 William Walters 15 Mildrum, Almira Parmelee 37, 38.39 Miles Hannah (Wilmot) 6, 75 Samuel 75 Moore, Maria Louise 15 Morrison, Margaret 31 Needles, Amanda 28 Newton Abner 71. 75, 76 Caroline Gaylord 3, 56, 61, 70, 71 Ellen Maria 56 Gaylord 55, 56, 61, 75 Henry Gleason 4, 50, 56, 58, 70 Henry Huntington 61, 68, 70 Mary (Burwell) 75 Nancy M. ("Merwin) 9, 55, 56, 61, 75 Sarah A (Baldwin) 3, 44, 47, 57, 70 • Noble Almira P. (Mildrum) 37, 38, 39 Arthur William 37 Charlotte Ellen 37, 42 Clara Adelia 37, 38 Curtis Cleveland 39 Douglas 39 Edith Ida 65 Edward Shepard 37, 38 Elizabeth MB. (Belden) 3, 41, 42, 44. 45. 70 Elizabeth S. (Kimball) 39 Emma Amelia 37, 38, 66 Gaylord Kimball 39, 68 Harold Beaumont 38 Howard Edward 39 Isabel 39 Julia Charlotte 38 Kenneth Hill 39 Le Roy Beaumont 39 Laura A. (Pierce) 37 Lucius Pierce 38 Mary Amelia 36, 39, 40, 63 85 Noble Mary F. (Hill) 39 Mary P. (Merwin) 9, 35, 36, 37- 39' 41, 42. 48 Merwin Lee 37, 42 Minnie A (Griswold) 38 Robert Mildrum 37, 39 Robert Mildrnm, Jr. 39 Sarah Ellen 41, 70 1 Thomas 42 *' Tliomas 35, 36, 37, 39, 41, 42 7 Thomas 36, 41, 42, 45, 70 "^ Thomas Henry 41, 42, 70 William Cleveland 37. 39 William Merwin 36, 37, 38, 39 67 Norton, Cora May 46 Parmelee Joel 7 Mary 7, 78 Pascoe, Mary Ella 16 Pierce, Laura Anna 37 Piatt Harriet W. (Ives) 20, 70 James Perry 20 James Perry, Jr. 20 Margery 20, 70 Richard 74 Sarah 74 Prince James 75 Martha (Merwin) 74, 75 Safford Carrie P. (Black) 23, 71 Edward 23 Katie Eaton 23 86 Sage Charles Edmund 49, 50, 51, 66 Anna L. (Armbruster) 63 David 16 Edmund 16. 48, 49. 50 Edmund Esch 51, 63, 65 Elizabeth Williams 49 Elma 65 Frances Merwin 49 50 Frederick Henry 51, 63, 65 George Charles 64 Hatlie A. (Armbruster) 63 Henry Lewis 49, 50 Martha Marietta 49, 50 Mary A. Esch 51, 68 Mary Anna 64 Rhoda (Merwin) 9, 16, 48, 49. 50 Russell 16 Walter Merwin 51 Wealthy II Scofield— 74 Abigail (Merwin) 74 Sarah 74 Seward, Abigail 10 Stark Amanda (Needles) 28 Edward Thayer 28 Mary E. (Lee) 28 Nathan Edward 28 Spanish War 23, 31, 32, 33 Stevens, Caroline Newton 70 Stowe, Olive 52, 53, 54 Talcott HezekJah 76, 78 Col. John 7, 12, 76, 78 Gov. Joseph 72, 78 Mary 7, 12, 78 Tappan, Mary Ball i8 Tyler, Elizabeth Ann 13 Van Size Amelia (Ridout) 46 Catherine Hilibard 45 Cora M. (Norton) 46 Ebenezer Hibbard 45, 46 Hibbard Kimball 45, 46 Marian G. (Fellows) 46 Mary E. B. (Maddock) 44, 45, 46. 67,70, 71, 79 Mary Merwin 45 Mary Mildred 46 William Baldwin 45 Wade John Knox 30 John Knox, Jr. 30 Kate 30 Kate (Bristol) 30 Warham Abigail (Blanchard) 73 Rev. John 72, 73. 74 Webster Clara A. (Noble) 37, 38 Daniel 38 Webster Gertrude 38 Hatlie Louise 38, 64 Helen 38 Mary Emma 38, 64, 65 Stewart Noble 38 William John 38 Wells George Baldwin 64 Gertrude E- (Merwin) c ;, 64 White Phebe C. (Merwin) 3, 9, 21, 23, 24. 25, 26, 43 Seymour 24 Wilmot, Hannah 6, 75 Wet more Abner Canfield 21, 22 Fannie Canfield 22, 65 Julia Merwin 21. 22 Margaret (Merwin) 12, 22 Martha Scovil 2 1 , 70 Phebe C. (Merwin) (Birdsey) 12, 21, 22 Woodin,_ Sarah 75 87 1, •» ■ ^ ^ c. V ■ h- <-? c 0' ♦ i- if' ^g^l '^^ 0^ . .^^ ;3 IK'- ^ *^: s^^ is\K * ^i- ' - .0^ V ^*- o V tf. *'..«* 4 o^ ,aV" % ^^: '^'_ C^^, '/»., .-V 4>^ f5 lK .<>,* 'i-^ !4l^{?^I*^ ^. ¥ - "^d^ ^O '^bv^* v^ **^L'. c •0* ..-J^-. "^o. (HhS^ N. MANCHESTER, ^^^^ INDIANA 46962 ^ '" -^v f. *.•."' ^ / -^ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 021 549 767 7