<^ 'o, » »" / .^J^>''^°o - •'oV* ■ *»,j-«p ^* v^ ^f* " ^^V.-,'. ^* O V 4 O • « » \ / .PVSI©HT ENTh CLASS «. XXc. X <;> ^ g- 1 COPY 3. Copyright by F. H. ViETS zgoa The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children; To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his com- mandments to do them. Psalm cm. 17-18. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Paul. Then the forms of the departed Enter at the open door; The beloved, the true-hearted, Come to visit me once more; He, the young and strong, who cherished Noble longings for the strife. By the roadside fell and perished. Weary with the march of life ! They, the holy ones and weakly. Who the cross of suffering bore. Folded their pale hands so meekly. Spake with us on earth no more ! O, though oft depressed and lonely. All my fears are laid aside. If I but remember only Such as these have lived and died. Longfellow. PREFACE. With much hesitation I undertook the work of making a genealogy. Encouragement of friends, as well as my own interest in the subject, beguiled me into the task, and, having once put my hand to the plow, I could not well turn back until the end of the furrow was reached. A genealogy is a family record extending through many generations. It is of interest as families are of interest, and no ties are more precious than those of the home. The first object of this work is to emphasize the value of the home, the good character of which is essential to happiness. If parents, children, and kindred are worthy of each other's honor they will be worthy of the honor of all. A genealogy is made up largely of names and dates, but this need not in- dicate that such a work is dry and meaningless. A name with two dates standing as sentinels, the one at the gate of entrance into life, the other at the gate of exit, means much. A name stands for a life with its joys, sorrows, labors, hopes. A mother as she gave the dates of the birth and death of her boy burst into tears ; a love was there, a hope, yes, a life, whose history no pen can trace, which only the heart knows. The writer of this work has spared no pains to make it accurate and complete. That a w'ork of this nature be wholly free from error cannot be expected. The care which the compiler has taken in weighing evidence, in reading manu- scripts, in transcribing names and dates, should exempt him from receiving more than his share of blame for any errors that may exist. Research has been made to learn as much as possible about the early fathers of the Viets family. Town and pro- 6 PREFACE. bate records have been searched, old letters and other papers have been brought forth to testify, gravestones have been conferred with, the oldest living members of the family have been consulted, and every available source of information resorted to. Only one thing is lacking to make the record of earlier generations complete and perfect in every instance, and that is some means by which the departed may be made to speak. Several hundred letters have been sent out into all parts of the country, and these have in most cases received a prompt and cordial response. The writer has enjoyed mak- ing acquaintances and finding kindred in distant states, and the interest shown by them has been a constant encourage- ment to him in his work. The plan of the writer at first was to carry the genealogy but one generation out of the Viets name, but more remote descendants have been included when records could be ob- tained. If a more complete account is given of some families or individuals than of others it is because more material came to hand. It is believed that the line of descent as given is in every instance correct unless a doubt is expressed. There is a break in the line of descent of a few families, which cannot, as yet, be bridged over. In some instances probably a knowledge of but one generation is wanting to connect cer- tain existing families with older ones. Families probably descended from Dr. John Viets, but whose line cannot be traced with certainty, are placed in an appendix at the end of the volume. Mention is made of services rendered in the Revolutionary and other wars, as far as the facts are known. The majority of the family are eligible to join the " Sons " or " Daughters of the Revolution," some by more than one ancestor. PREFACE. 7 I desire to acknowledge my indebtedness to Levi Clin- ton Viets, whose knowledge of early family history has been an indispensable help, and whose interest in the work has been an encouragement from the first. I also desire to thank friends in different sections of the country and in Nova Scotia who have sent records and information regarding their branches of the family, some of them at considerable expense of time and labor, and to all of whom I am deeply indebted. Francis H. Viets. CONTENTS. Name, Origin, and Spelling, Family Characteristics, Historical View, Explanation, Genealogy : First Generation, Second Generation, Third Generation, Fourth Generation, Fifth Generation, Sixth Generation, Seventh Generation, Appendix — Other Families, Reunions, Quotations, Index to Viets Names, Index to Names other than Viets, PAGE. 9 13 13 14 15 21 26 44 6j 121 174 185 192 200 208 VIETS FAMILY. NAME. — ORIGIN AND SPELLING. Among the nations of modern Europe, family names may in some cases be traced back as far as the tenth century. In early times each individual bore one name only, which, after the coming of Christianity, was usually given at baptism. The surname, or overname, so called from the fact that it was at first written over the given name, like most innova- tions, came into general use slowly. When surnames came into use they were often found ready at hand in the occupation, place of residence, or some characteristic of the persons to whom they were given. The origin of such names as Tanner, Carpenter, Smith needs no explanation. The names Hill and Underbill, Wood and Underwood are no doubt derived from places of residence. Such names as White, Brown, Longfellow may have had their origin in personal characteristics. Some names had their origin in words no longer in use in common speech, or in a forgotten dialect, and are more difficult to trace. The origin of the name Viets may be looked for among the dialects included under the general term German, or Teu- tonic, spoken in former ages in that interesting region which extends from the Alps to the North Sea, a country romantic, and occupied for twenty centuries by a people among the noblest. . . This name, as seems probable, if not certam, is from an old Teutonic given name Veit, or Viet, which corresponds with the common English name Guy, a shorter form of Guido, and of the same origin and meaning as the word gmde. The letters w and v in early German dialects correspond to su in Italian and French words of kindred origin. An ex- ample of this is seen in the name William, which in German 'O VIETS GENEALOGY. is mihdm, in French, Gmlkum. By the same analogy. Veit and Gtndo are one name. £;■. vcu With this agrees Adelung, who in his " Dictionary of the fuus am?" '" ^"" "" '°"°"'"S: Veil Latin (^.'.w, a man s given name of ancient German origin and contracted from Guido. " ' Frif alid' r '" '"'"'"' ''''°'" '" "°"='"''' '"'°™^ "= that o7;;e same Lm: ^""""-"'"g ^^-^ and English forms m was probably once in use as a common word, and becommg a proper name, as such, has survived the long since forgotten d.alect of which it once formed a part. Thf orig! mal n,eanmg of the word veit can only be inferred from the meanings of l<.ndred words. The Gothic vitan. meaning o tak-e heed; the Anglo-Saxon ^.Va„, to know; the Eng^ et;" L r T "■'-'' ■"""'"? ""' ="="'»«^. good S^^::t::rrds-ir:^3:2:rr;^^ of =,?"' T '^"'' "' " '°""'°" "'°'''' ■" ^°"<= German dialect of an early day probably had reference to a wise, knowing person, or a gu.de. This seems to have been the vier o1 B.shop Alexander Viets Griswold. according to Rev. R. Man th:\.^h;';"""' ™'°' "''^" ^ ^°™^ ■"-• -^ ^ -ighbor ^f the?' "T'' ^"' ''"" '° ''' "^'^'' =>' =• ''°-'^ given name ^he ong,naI meanmg of the word being at leng^r lost sigh of. Tins name gamed wide currency from the fact that it was borne by a distinguished saint who died a boy martyr m the re,gn of Diocletian in the fourth century, known [„ Germany as Samt Veit, or Viet; in Latin, St. Vitu . Though bell The°" ; ■'"' "" "" '^"' '°^ ^°°^ -"ks that he became the patron samt of Saxony and Bohemia, and hroughout Germany was regarded in the popular superstU den"ce"o,°t"h "' '""'"" '"'P"^ ™ '™' °' "«d. Ev- dence of the esteem m which he was held is seen in names of places, there bemg as many as four towns named St. Veit VIETS GENEALOGY. II also a St. Veitsberg and a St. Veit's mountain, and in Ba- varia a place named Veitshocheim ; while on the borders of Holland and Germany there is said to be a place called Viet's Flat, where Emperor William I. once stopped in his progress through the country. From the belief that this saint could cure the dancing malady that disease came to be called St. Vitus' dance; in Germany, Veitstanz. His day on the cal- endar was June 15th, hence the garden bean, which began to be eatable about this time, was called in some regions the Veitsbean. Among old German proverbs are : " Holy St. Veit, wake me in time, wake me neither too early nor too late ; wake me when it strikes five," and " Rain on St. Veit's day brings a fruitful year." The name St. Veit is sometimes spelled St. Viet in Ger- man, and in the high German of the Middle Ages was pro- nounced the same as Viet in modern German. Veit, or Viet, in use for centuries as a common name, came at length to be applied as the surname of a family. How this came about is a matter of conjecture. A reason- able supposition is that someone in need of a surname chose the name St. Viet, either because he was from a town or vil- lage of this name, or from regard for the saint. St. was dropped from the name in course of time, perhaps at the time of the Protestant Reformation, and a final 5 added. Another conjecture is that a father bearing the given name Viet, the children took this for their surname, perhaps at the same time adding the letter s, the origin of surnames from given names being of frequent occurrence. The spelling of this name seems to have been, usually, Veit in the dialect of an early day, but in modern high German the correct spelling of the name as we pronounce it is Viet, and Viets, for ie in modern German is pronounced ee, while ei is pronounced i. The father of John and Henry Viets, who settled in Sims- bury, Conn., in 1 7 10, spelled his name John Viet, or Viett, while in the records of the old Dutch Church in New York his name is written Veet. On the same records is also re- corded the name of one Margrita Veets, who was sponsor at a baptism in 1702 and again in 1734. Margrita may have 12 VIETS GENEALOGY. been a connection of Dr. John, but of this nothing is known On the gravestone of the widow of Dr. John in Simsbury the name is written Vets. This is the phonetic spelHng of some stonecutter, as Phelps is sometimes spelled Felps in old rec- ords. John and Henry, the sons of Dr. John, added .y to the name \ lett, as the father wrote it, making it Victts. A few years later one t was dispensed with, and the name since about 1750 has been written Fiets by the descendants of John and Henry, with few exceptions. The fact that this is the spelhng of the name in public and family records, and in the almost unvarymg usage of branches of the family so widely separated as from Nova Scotia to' California, is good reason tor preservmg it without change. It may be of interest to mention that in Oesterley's Geo- graphical Dictionary of the Middle Ages the folio win o- are given as names of places in the region of Brandenburg Prussia: Vietmts, Veitnitz, Wietmannsdorf, Vietmannsdorf and Vtct2. Viet, in Vietmannsdorf, is thought to be from a word in some early dialect meaning wood. It may be conjec- tured that the name Victs is derived from this old word Wiet or Viet, meaning wood, instead of from Veit or Viet before men- tioned, meaning guide; in this case Viets corresponds with the surname Wood, instead of with Guido and Guy. Viet-manns- dorf means Wood-man' s-village. Viets is a modern town of some 3,000 inhabitants in Prussia, twenty-six miles northeast rom Frankfurt. It is probably of different origin from the family name Viets, but of this nothing is known with cer- tamty. In "Foerstmann's Old German Proper Names" is found the following: Witisa, a king of the West Goths in the eio-hth century; allied names, Wiso, Vizo, Guico, Weiss, Weitz, Z'T'n ^°''^^"^^"" S^^^ another group of allied names: Wide, Guido, Wito, Vito, Vitus, Witt. The name Vietsch occurs in Germany. One family of this name received a title of nobility. This name may have been formed from Viet or Viets. On the other hand, it may be supposed that one bearing the name Vietseh might drop the German ending, making the name Vict or Viets. VIETS GENEALOGY. 1 3 FAMILY CHARACTERISTICS. One of the speakers at the Viets reunion named as char- acteristics of the family honesty, modesty, and oddity. The family is characterized by industrious and home-abiding qual- ities and by abhorrence of vice and crime. Those of this name are, as a rule, deliberate, just, and fair-minded. They are a race of well-to-do farmers, each son usually succeeding in acquiring a good estate of his own. Few have become rich, none very poor. Few have risen to eminence, yet all, without exception, have been useful and respected citizens. Many town offices have been well filled by them. Several clergymen have sprung from them. A number have left the farm to become merchants. A few have become lawyers, and a few manufacturers, while the medical profession has re- ceived from them able recruits. As regards religion, the early fathers and mothers of the family were identified with the Congregational Church, the mother church of New England. The first to dissent was Roeer Viets, who joined the ranks of the Episcopalians. The family are now, as a rule, well represented in churches and Christian work, those of this name being found in the Congregational, Episcopal, Methodist, Baptist, Disciples, and other communions, and thus have regard for the honor of God, and for the well-being of themselves and families. HISTORICAL VIEW. Simsbury was settled about 1664 and became a town in 1670. The first settler was John Griffin, who came there to manufacture tar and turpentine from the pine woods which reared their stately trunks on the outskirts of the open meadows of the Farmington, as if to guard the entrance to the greater forest of oak, beech, and maple beyond. In 1786 the northern half of Simsbury was set off as a separate town under the name of Granby, the southern boundary of the new town touching the Farmington at its northern bend and including the district of old Simsbury known as the Falls. In 1859 East Granby was set off from Granby, the line run- ning north and south about two miles west of the mountain, 14 VIETS GENEALOGY. near the Northampton division of the New York, New Ha- ven & Hartford Railroad. The center of East Granby Hes east of the mountain. The district known as the Falls is west of the mountain in the extreme southwestern part of the town, and enjoys the eminence of being the earliest settled portion of East Granby, as it was of the mother town of Simsbury. It is stated that in 1709 there were but two fami- lies living within the limits of the present town of East Granby, and these were the families of John GrifSn and Joshua Holcomb, both living at the Falls. The next year, 1710, marked the advent of Dr. John Viets, who settled at the Falls, then a part of Simsbury. Dr. Viets left two sons, Henry and John. The life of Henry stretched from 1709 to 1779, the life of John from 1712 to 1777. From these two brothers have sprung all of the Viets name in East Granby, and, for the most part, throughout the country. EXPLANATION. In the genealogy an index figure at the right and a little above a name indicates the generation, counting Dr. John Viets first. In lists of children, the Arabic number placed at the left of a name near the margin indicates the paragraph where the name is again found as the head of a family. By means of this numbering the line may be traced back from a name to its connection in the preceding generation or forward to its place as head of a family in the generation following. GENEALOGY. FIRST GENERATION. 1 Dr. John^ Viets, or Viett, a young physician from Eu- rope, came to America a few years previous to 1700, settled in New York, where he married Catharine Meyers, and in the year 1710 removed with his family to Simsbury, Con- necticut, where he lived until the close of his life, thirteen years later. The earliest written reference, probably, relating to our ancestors is in the records of the First Dutch Reformed Church of New York, now the Marble Collegiate Church, as follows : A 1700 Apr 24 Johannes Veet, j.m. Van Brisach, in Sweden, en Catharina Meyers, j. d. Van N. Yorck, beyde woonende alhier. In the New York city record of marriages is the follow- ing, referring, no doubt, to the same persons : April 27, 1700, John Veet and Catharine Meyers. That these records refer to our ancestors is almost or quite certain, for both names and the date agree with this view. But a difficulty arises in the fact that the church record seems to indicate that the groom was from Brisach in Sweden, for no tradition points to that country as the early home of John Viets. An explanation may perhaps be found in the fact that there appears to be no place named Brisach in Sweden, while there is a place of this name on the Rhine, in the Duchy of Baden, Germany. Brisach, or Old Brisach, stands on the right bank of the river, is said to have a fine cathedral, and a 1 6 VIETS GENEALOGY. population of 2,355. On the left bank of the river is New Brisach. If we are right in supposing that the record should read Brisach in Baden instead of Brisach in Sweden, the early home of our ancestor was on the Rhine, among the hills of Southern Germany. To confirm us in this view we have the family traditions, which point to Germany, never to Sweden, and the still more convincing fact that the library of Dr. John Viets, if we may trust the appraisers of his estate, was in the German language. It should, however, be mentioned that in one branch of the family there is a tradition that Dr. Viets came from Hol- land, and the biographer of Bishop Griswold speaks of the descent of the bishop, on the Viets side, from Alexander Viets, an eminent Dutch physician. But the last statement lacks confirmation from any other record or tradition, as re- gards both name and nation. After carefully weighing such evidence as we possess this may be said with confidence : John Viets, or Viett, was born in Germany, possibly in Holland, at a date not far removed from 1665 ; received more than a common education ; studied medicine; came to America about 1690; brought with him to this country fifteen books in the German language, which in those days was a library; was entitled "Mr.," which, as the term was used at the time, indicates that he belonged to the better class, and was a man of respectability and enter- prise. Judging from his descendants, and from the race to which he belonged, we may picture him as a man of even features, good looks, physical force, and fair intellectual ability. "There is a tradition handed down by Mrs. Captain George Viets, whose mother was a granddaughter of Dr. John, which runs as follows: "John Viets was a good linguist, able to read and write several languages; on completing his studies in Germany, including medicine, he took a sea voyage for pleasure and travel, and came to New York; three times he undertook to return to the Fatherland, but was shipwrecked and driven back on the American coast each time, and was thus led to the conclusion that Providence had decreed that he should settle in this country," VIETS GENEALOGY. 1 7 Another tradition is from Mrs. Andrew Clark, a great- granddaughter of Henry, the oldest son of John Viets, as follows : " John Viets was a gentleman's son in Germany ; was educated for a physician ; took a sea voyage, as was cus- tomary for young men before setthng down ; was shipwrecked on an island in the Atlantic, where, with other survivors, he lived ten days on fish caught and roasted in the sun ; a vessel laden with mahoganv rescued them, but the captain and mate dying soon after of a fever, Dr. Viets, with such knowledge of navigation as he possessed, managed to bring the vessel into New York harbor." These traditions have points in common. Both tell us that our ancestor was from Germany, was educated for a physician, went to sea, was shipwrecked, and finally landed in New York. That John Viets came first to New York and lived there several years, there is no doubt. There he married his wife, and there two or three of his children were born. He must have found in the mixed population of the place many of his own countrymen, the Germans, although the greater part of the inhabitants were English and Dutch. He was probably led to remove to Connecticut by the same motives which are ever urging people to change their residence, the pursuit of fortune and a better place for himself and family. The copper mines in Simsbury had been discovered a few years before Dr. Viets settled there, and made the place famous both in this country and in Europe, but there is no evidence that he ever was in any way connected with these mines. The statement made in a local history that he was connected with a company of German miners as physician and surgeon, is, I think, without foundation, for his advent antedated that of the German miners by eleven years. Re- siding as he did about three miles from the mines he may have been summoned there in cases of sickness or accident among the miners. Mr. Levi Clinton Viets, who is separated from Dr. John by only three intervening generations, and has always lived in the vicinity of his Simsbury home, gives the following as 2 1 8 VIETS GENEALOGY. his opinion after carefully considering the family traditions : " John Viets came from a respectable but not wealthy family and was fairly well educated for a physician in Germany. On completing- his studies he decided to go to America. He had two objects in view, one to see the world, the other to find a good situation for the practice of his profession, and for that purpose took with him his books and a choice selection of med- icine to use in his practice ; but if he did not find a situation to suit him he would return to his native land. In his attempt to return he was prevented by storms and shipwreck that nearly cost him his life. After this he abandoned his inten- tion of returning to Germany and settled down to the practice of medicine, in which he was not particularly successful, but it afforded him a living. In 1710 he had a wife and several small children ; his wife was forty-four years of age and he was past middle age, and his practice not large. He probably thought it would be better for him, and much better for his family, to move into the country, where land could be had for nothing and the prospect for his children would be much better than in New York." The earliest written reference to our ancestor which we possess, subsequent to that of his marriage, is found in the Simsbury town records, under date Dec. 18, 1710, when the following vote was recorded : " Mr. Viett admitted to become an inhabitant here in Simsbury." This was the way new- comers were naturalized, by a vote of the freemen at a duly warned town meeting. The next reference to him is under date Jan. 5, 171 1, eighteen days after he was admitted to citi- zenship, when the heirs of Sergeant John Griffin deeded to " Mr. John Viett, now resident of Simsbury, a certain piece and parcel of land situated within the township of Simsbury, at Samon Brokks, near the Falls, somewhat northerly of Thomas Griffin's house where said Thomas now dwells, and northeastward of said Thomas Griffin's field. . . . The said parcel of land is 11 acres, 3 roods, 8 perches, be it a little more or a little less." By "Samon Brokks" is meant Salmon Brook, a name applied at that day to the region bordering on the brook of that name, and extending from the Farmington at Tarififville, northward into the present town of Granby. JIETS GENEALOGY. 19 The land referred to could not have been a great distance from the intersection of the Granby and Simsbury roads a mile north of Tariffville. Here our forefather settled and built, unless there were buildings on the place when he received it from the Grififins, and the deed mentions none. Dec. 11, 1712, he was " granted liberty by the town to keep a house of public entertainment for the year ensuing." The next reference to him bears date April 9, 1713, when he mortgaged the land re- ceived from the Grif^n family to Mrs. Hannah Merriman of Windsor, " w'ith the dwelling-house, linseed-oil mill and other buildings standing thereon for the sum of ten pounds current money." In April, 1723, a few months before his death, he received a grant of eighty-two acres of land from the town. This land was bounded " on the north by the high- way leading from Salmon Brook mill towards Windsor, and on the west by William Hays' and Joseph Lamson's land." In the inventory of Dr. John Viets' estate, as probated, are the following articles which show that he was a man of sufficient enterprise to have provided himself with the imple- ments in use in those days : Saddle and bridle, collar and traces, horse cart irons and cart saddle, sledge and wedges, ax, stubbing hoe, andirons, chisel, numerous pewter cups and plates, iron pots, hooks, trammel, brass kettle, earthen jug, hand bellows, mortar and iron pestle, trunk and chest, spin- ning-wheels large and small, and numerous phials and bottles. There are also mentioned a library in German and a picture, which if preserved, would now be of considerable interest. This inventory mentions seventy-eight acres of land, part of a building and lumber, but has no reference to any other real estate. From this it may be inferred that he had disposed of his home place, and was beginning to build on his new grant of land. Dr. Viets died in middle life, it is said of a fever. He left a widow and family of children, the oldest of whom was per- haps sixteen years of age and the youngest eleven. There are three records of his death, the Hartford probate record, the Simsbury town record, and the record made by his oldest son Henry. These agree except that the two official records write the name Viett, while the son, who probably made a note 20 VIETS GENEALOGY. of his father's death some years later, wrote the name Vietts. He died in Simsbury, Nov. i8, 1723. The grave cannot be found, as no stone marks the spot. The most probable con- jecture is that his remains lie in the Simsbury burying ground, for there his wife was buried. Tradition asserts with confidence that John Viets married Catharine Meyers, from a Dutch family of New York, and with this agrees the marriage record in the old Dutch church. Nothing further is known of her. Her stone in the Simsbury burying ground bears the inscription : Catron Vets, ye wife of Dct. John Vets, died March 5, 1734, Ae. 68. This gives 1666 as the date of her birth. Her son Henry leaves a rec- ord of her death as occurring on March 6th, as does the town record. Following the two latter records Catherine, wife of Dr. John Viets, died March 6, 1734. Dr. John and Catherine Viets had four children: 2. i. Catherine, m. Aug-. 17, 1738, John Hoskins. 3. ii. Henry, b. 1709; d. April 2, 1779. 4- iii- John, b. Nov. 3, 1712; d. April 8, 1777. iv. Mary, or Mercy, m. Goff. Catherine, Henry, and John will appear again, as head of families, in paragraphs numbered to correspond with the Arabic numbers at the left of their names. Of Mary, or Mercy, nothing further is known. Mention should be made of a Benoni who was brought up in the family and bore the name. His parentage is unknown. In the Sims- bury records reference is made to property that came to Benoni Viets from his grandfather, Sargent Wilcoxson. The farm of Benoni Viets extended from near Newgate Prison southward about one-third of a mile on both sides of the highway, the house, now gone, standing on the east side under the peak. He married, June 20, 1745, Martha Moore, daughter of Amos Moore, born April 5, 1722, and had two daughters: Martha, b. Feb. 27, 1747, and Mary, b. June 27, 1751. Martha married Benoni Grififin, and had Martha, Benoni, and Viets Grimfi. Mary married Abner Viets. Benoni Viets died Oct. 7, 1795, age 80. His wife, Martha Moore Viets, died in 1796. < O < 0. O SECOND GENERATION. 2 (Catherine,' John.' ) Catherhste^ Viets, daughter of Dr. John and Catherine (Meyers), was born, it is thought, before her parents left New York, and came with them to Simsbury in the fall of 1710. She married, Aug. 17, 1738, John Hoskins of Windsor, Conn. According to the History of Windsor by Ezra Stiles, he was third in descent from John Hoskins who came from England to Dorchester, in 1630, and thence to Windsor with the first party of settlers. Children of John and Catherine (Viets) Hoskins as given in the town records of Windsor were : i. John Hoskins, b. May 5, 1740. ii. David Hoskins, b. May 24, 1741. iii. Simeon Hoskins, h. Jan. i, 1743. iv. Daniel Hoskins, b. Sept. 6, 1744. V. Mary Hoskins, h. Jan. 31, 1746-7; married David Viets. vi. Ezekiel Hoskins, b. Jan. 3, 1749. vii. Catherine Hoskins, b. Sept. 16, 1750. viii. Benjamin Hoskins, h. Dec. 7, 1752; d. 1753. ix. Benjamin Hoskins, b. Dec. 25, 1753. (Henry,' John.') Hekry Viets^ was born, probably in New York, in 1709, and came to Simsbury in 1710 with his parents, Dr. John and Catherine Viets. He obtained a practical education. His ac- count book, still in a good state of preservation, is in the cus- tody of his descendant, Jonathan M. Viets of Bryan, Ohio. It shows that Henry was a good penman and accountant. He made use of Latin expressions, which he may have learned when a lad, from his father. On the first page of the old book may still be seen the following: Henry, alias Hen- 22 VIETS GENEALOGY. ricus Viett, of Simsbnry, Conn., his book of accounts or ac- compts, 1729. Henry Viets and his brother John are both said to have been stout, strong young fellows, and given to practical jokes, as was the case with young men in the fron- tier settlements in those days. Henry, after the death of his father, which took place when he was but thirteen years old, was for a time connected with the copper mining industry at Newgate. He soon, however, came into possession of con- siderable real estate, and settled down as a farmer in the northern part of the town, at what is now the little village of Copper Hill. Tlie old homestead is now the property and place of residence of his descendant, James H. Viets. The old house is no longer standing. Henry Viets married, first, Sept. 22, 1735, Margaret Hos- kins of Windsor, sister of his brother-in-law, John Hoskins. She was born May 10, 1712, and died Sept. 28, 1750. He married, second. May 22, 175 1, Margaret Austin of Sufifield. She was born in 1712, and died Oct. 15, 1783. Children by first marriage : 5. i. Henry, b. Jan. 13, 1737; d. in Becket, Mass., Feb. 5, 1824. ii. Margaret, b. May 9, 1739; m. John Austin; d. Sept. 22, 1782. iii. Luke, b. June 17, 1743; accidentally shot in October, 1757, while hunting in Becket, Mass. 6. iv. David, b. Feb. 18, 1746; d. Nov. 3, 1815. 7. V. Jonathan, b. Sept. 26, 1750; d. Feb. 17, 1837. By second marriage : 8. vi. James, b. Aug. 28, 1752; d. Dec. 23, 1827. yohn,'John.') Captain John^ Viets, son of Dr. John and Catherine (Meyers), was born in Simsbury, Nov. 3, 1712. He gives evi- dence of having had a practical education for those days. His firm, legible hand may still be seen in his account book, now in possession of his descendant, Charles Preston of Syracuse, N. Y., and in the account book of his son. Captain Abner Viets. John worked for a time with his brother Henry in the Simsbury copper mines at Newgate. It is said that while VIETS GENEALOGY. 23 working in the mines at Newgate he met Lois Phelps, an un- usually charming girl, who had come with others to visit the caverns, which, then as now, were objects of curiosity. Lois afterwards became his wife. John Viets passed some years of his early life in Westfield, Mass. It was another John Viets, probably his grandson, who raised a family in Westfield at a later day. Mr. Viets possessed great energy and considerable business sagacity. He settled on an estate near Newgate and became a farmer, store and hotel keeper, and an extensive trader. His home- stead is now in possession of his descendant, Virgil E. Viets. The present house, however, or the greater part of it, was built at a later day. Tradition gives John Viets the credit of introducing potato culture into this part of Connecticut ; he is said to have brought the seed from Rhode Island in his saddle- bags. When the first crop of potatoes had broken the ground, the old men of the neighborhood were called together to de- cide how they should be hoed. After due deliberation it was decided that at the first hoeing they should be entirely cov- ered with fresh soil. A fair crop was reported. Mr. Viets bought horses about the country and took them to Boston for sale. It is said that he rode his mare to Boston in one day, a distance of a hundred miles. On one occasion he reached the east bank of the Connecticut opposite Windsor late in the day with a drove of horses ; the ferryman being on the west side, and unwilling to cross over for him at such a late hour, Mr. Viets, impatient of delay, urged his horses into the flood and swam them to the opposite shore, although he himself was not able to swim, and the river high. He was first a lieutenant and afterwards captain of militia. His ap- pointment as captain is recorded in the Colonial Records, May 17, 1746, when the following vote was passed: "This Assembly do establish and confirm Mr. John Viets to be captain of the fourth company or train band in Simsbury, and order that he be commissioned accordingly." In 1753 he was one of the selectmen of the town. In 1754 a memorial was presented to the General Assembly by John Viets re- questing abatement of taxes on unimproved land in North West Simsbury. In 1773 Captain John Viets was appointed 24 VIETS GENEALOGY. master or keeper of Newgate prison for the ensuing year. In 1775 he was again appointed keeper of Newgate during the pleasure of the Assembly; he was paid this year for his serv- ices as keeper £149, 17s, 8^d. During the early years of the War for Independence he did good service for the patriot cause by keeping Tory prisoners in durance at Newgate. It is said that he purchased large tracts of land in Becket, Mass., owning at one time half the town. His nephew, Henry, who settled in Becket, bought land of him. Starting in hfe with little inherited wealth, except good blood and good health, he accumulated an estate which was valued at his death at the age of sixty-five at £2,243, 15s, and id., or about $10,000. He brought up a family of ten children, two of whom were fitted for college, and one was graduated at Yale. In the in-, ventory of his estate are three hundred and seven articles; among them are: Bible, singing book. Book of Common Prayer, law book, dictionary, Book of Martyrs, Psalter, Testa- ment, and Vade Mecum. There were among his possessions a beaver hat valued at £1 and 13s., leather breeches, silver knee and shoe buckles, two great coats, desk, and a set of China tea dishes. Captain John Viets died of smallpox April 8, 1777, aged 65. He was buried a short distance north of his home at Newgate, and there the remains of his widow were afterwards laid by his side. An iron fence erected by descendants en- closes the two graves, and the spot has been deeded by the owner of the farm, Virgil E. Viets, to the following trustees : Henry R. Viets of Newton, Mass.; Charles H. Barrows of Springfield, and Virgil E. Viets of East Granby. Lois Phelps was born March 10, 1718, and became the wife of John Viets December 12, 1734. Lois was a descend- ant of Mr. William Phelps, one of the early settlers of Wind- sor, Conn., who was born in Tewkesbury, Gloucester county, England, in 1599; came in 1630 to Dorchester, and thence in the spring of 1636 to Windsor. He is referred to as an " ex- cellent, pious, upright man, truly a pillar in church and state." Mr. Phelps was accompanied from England by his wife and live children, and by two ^younger brothers, George and Richard. VIETS GENEALOGY. 2$ There is a tradition that Lois was a daughter of Nathaniel Phelps of Turkey Hills (East Granby), and Mr. A. T. Servin, the genealogist of the Phelps family, makes this Lois^ daugh- ter of Nathaniel* Phelps (and Lois his wife), who removed from Northampton to Granby, son of William^ Phelps (and Abigail Stebbins) of Northampton, son of Nathaniel- Phelps (and Elizabeth Copley), who came with his father, William,^ to Windsor, Conn., and later settled in Northampton, Mass. Elizabeth Copley was an English lady of rank. As the majority of those given in the following pages are descended from Phelps ancestry, we are able by the courtesy of Mr. Servin to present the coat of arms of the Phelps family in England. Tradition says that Lois was small, bright, and active. When John Viets and his bride appeared at church they were spoken of as the handsomest couple that had ever entered the church. After the death of John Viets his widow married, in 1778, Colonel Jonathan Humphrey. She lived to an advanced age, able to read or work without glasses, and died Nov. 12, 1810, aged ninety-two. Children of Captain John and Lois (Phelps) Viets : 9. i. John, b. March 2, 1736; d. Sept. 27, 1765. 10. ii. Roger, b. March 9, 1738; d. Aug. 15, 1811. VII. iii. Seth, b. May 26, 1740; d. 1823. 12. iv. Eunice, b. Nov. 24, 1742; d. Aug. 20, 1823. 13. V. Lois. b. Jan. 29, 1745. 14. vi. Abner, b. Feb. 15, 1747; d. July 17, 1826. vii. Catherine, b. Aug. 7, 1749; d. April 14, 1756. viii. Dan, b. July 2. 1751; is said to have left home, and was not afterwards heard from. 15. ix. Rnsannah, b. May 13, 1755- 16. X. Luke, b. June 6, I7S9; d. Feb. 25, 1835. THIRD GENERATION. (Henry,^ Henry,' John.') Henry' Viets, son of Henry and Margaret (Hoskins) born at Copper Hill, East Granby, then the northern part of Simsbury, Jan. 13, 1737, died in Becket, Mass., Feb. 5, 1824. Northern Simsbury, when Dr. Viets settled at the Falls, con- tained but few famines. There were in 1709 but eleven fam- ilies in the region now embraced in the town of Granby. The generous families of the eafly settlers, together with new comers, soon changed the wilderness into thriving farms with occasional taverns, shops, and stores; while roughly made carts drawn by oxen might be seen taking loads of produce to the cities, or to the nearest boat landing on the Connecticut. About 1750 the sons of older families began to look for new regions in which to find scope for their enter- prise. Henry Viets became the owner of a large farm in Becket, Mass., which remained in his family for several gen- erations. He married, first, Beulah Messenger of Becket, Aug. 18, 1763, and second, Abial Kingsley, Dec. 31, 1776. Children by first marriage: i. Chloe, b. .May 18, 1765; m. May 25, 1785, Capt. Abner Pease of Blanford, Mass., and had: Levi, Ruth, EH, and Chloe. ii. Eunice, b. Feb. 20, 1767; m. Pearly Snow of Ashford, Conn in. Beulah, b. Nov. 23, 1769; m. ist, Levi Coffrin, 2d, John Austin; removed to Ohio. 17- iv. Henry, b. Jan. 16, 1772; d. Aug. 25. 1866. By second marriage : V. Ruth, b. April 16, 1778; d. in infancy, vi. Ruth, b. Nov. 18, 1782; d. in infancy. VIETS GENEALOGY. 27 6 (David/ Henry,' John.') David^' Viets was born at Copper Hill, in Simsbury, Conn., Feb. 18, 1746, and died Nov. 3, 1815, or, according to the' account book of his brother Jonathan, " Dec. 3d, near Connecticut." In pursuance of a course similar to that of his brother Henry, David went into northwestern Connecticut and became a large landowner in the town of Colebrook. His estate, which embraced several hundred acres, extended as far north as the Massachusetts line. He was living in Cole- brook as early as the War for Independence, and perhaps earlier, for he bought land there in 1766 of David Hoskins of Windsor. David Viets married. May 24, 1764. Hannah Hoskins of Windsor, according to the Simsbury town record, but the officiating clergyman, Rev. Roger Viets, gives the name as Mary Hoskins, the date of the marriage being the same m both records. Children of David and Hannah (or Mary) Hoskins Viets: i. Mary, b. Feb. 9, 1766. ii. David, b. Feb. iS, 1767; his wife may have been Lucretia, who died in Colebrook Sept. 8, 1818, aged 43- Luke, b. Dec. 9, 1768; was Uving in Colebrook in 1799- iv. Sibah, b. May 6, 1771. v. John, b. Aug. 4, I772. vi. Catherine, b. June 18, 1775- „ Benjamin, "son of David and Mary, b. Oct. 7, I783- Colebrook Records. There was also a Chauncey Viets who lived in Colebrook Benjamin sold land there in 1805 to James Viets of Granby, and Chauncey sold land in 1825 to Horace and Festus Viets of Granby for $1,640. Fanny Viets of Cole- brook was married to Ebenezer Cannon Jan. 18, 1823. Fanny and Chauncey may have been younger children or grandchildren of the older David. What became of the Colebrook family is an unsolved problem. It is said by their relations at Copper Hill that they went West, but no family yet found can be traced with certainty to the Colebrook family. See Appendix, families C. and D. Ill Vll 28 VIETS GENEALOGY. •7 (Jonathan,^ Henry,' John,' ) Jonathan'^ Viets, son of Henry and Margaret (Hoskins), born at Copper Hill, Sept. 26, 1750, died Feb. 17, 1837. He served in the Revolutionary War, in the Sixth Brigade, Eighteenth Regiment, made up in Simsbury and vicinity, under Captain Job Case and Colonel Phelps. His home was in Suffield, west of the mountain just north of the Granby line. The place is now in possession of the heirs of Mrs. Caroline (Viets) Clark. His account book indicates that in partnership with his brother James he worked his mother's farm and was employed in the copper mines. He married Caroline Munsell, October, 1793, and " on Oct. 24, 1793," he says in his account book, " we moved into our house in Suffield." His wife was born in 1757 and died Jan. 19, 1813. CHILDREN. 18. i. Jonathan Munsell, b. Sept. 2, 1794; d. Oct. 12, 1843. ii. Henry, b. June 20, 1801; d. in third year of his age. 8 (James,^ Henry,' John.' ) Captain James^ Viets, son of Henry and Margaret (Austin), born Aug. 28, 1752, died Dec. 23, 1827. He re- mained at home while his older brothers found places else- where, finally inheriting the old homestead, which still re- mains in the family. He built a new and commodious house, which was later the home of his son Festus, and is now the home of his grandson, James H. Viets. James bought land of his brother, or nephews, in Colebrook until he owned some four hundred acres there. At a town meeting held in Sims- bury, December, 1784, James Viets was appointed, with others, a surveyor of the highways. He married. May 10, 1780, Elisabeth Brown. She died Feb. 23, 1837. CHILDREN. i. Betsey, b. Sept. 6, 1781; m. May, 1817, Robert Church. Daughter: Betsey Church, ii. Horace, b. March 27, 1783; never married; lived with his sister Achsah Griffin, on the place just north of Copper VIETS GENEALOGY. 29 Hill, afterwards owned by his nephew, Homer Griffin; died Jan. 16, 1870, aged nearly 87. 19. iii. Achsah, b. June 28, 1785; d. Dec. 17, 1869. 20. iv. Festus, b. June 12, 1790; d. Sept. 24, 1874. 9 (John,' John, VoHn.') JoHN^ ViETS, oldest son of Captain John and Lois (Phelps), born at the old homestead near Newgate, March 2, 1736, died at his home at Hop Meadow, in lower Simsbury, Sept. 27, 1765, at the age of twenty-nine, leaving a wife and four children. John, with his brother Roger, attended a school at Salmon Brook, where both were fitted for college. As the boys came home from school Saturday it is said that in fun they passed through a forked tree that stood by the road, but on returning to school Monday morning they found that they were not able to get through between the forks of the tree. John did not enter college with his brother, but became a farmer. He wrote verses of some merit. There are still preserved two printed copies of a poem of his, entitled " A Prospect of the Final and Awful Judgment, written by John Viets, Jr., not long before his death, which, in his last hours, he expressed a strong desire might be published to a sinful, careless, and stupid world." The work contains three hun- dred and twenty-two heroic verses, printed on one side of a single sheet in four columns. At the end is the following acrostic on the author, written by an unknown hand : 7ust and upright, religious and sincere, Of judgment deep, of understanding clear, His chief delight was in God's holy word, /Nothing he loved so much as Christ his Lord. Firtues fair paths continually he trod. In various science studied nature's God: Envied by few, respected by mankind, To all men civil, to his friends most kind, So great and good a .man our age can seldom find. 30 VIETS GENEALOGY. On his stone in the Simsbury burying ground is the fol- lowing epitaph: " In memory of John Viets, son of Captain John and Mrs. Lois Viets, and brother of the Rev. R. Viets, Missionary, a man of great understanding, exemplary piety, and prudent behavior. Living and dying he bore testimony against all popular errors, and in these points, what his conscience dictated, his reason was able to defend." John Viets married, July i, 1755, Elisabeth, daughter of Hezikiah and Dorothy Phelps. After his death, Elisabeth married, Aug. 5, 1766, Amasa Case. Children of John and EHsabeth (Phelps) Viets : i. Deborah, b. June 25, 1757. 21. ii. Hezekiah Phelps, b. Dec. 24, 1759. iii. Elizabeth, b. Feb. 15, 1762; m. Colton, res. Simsbury. 22. IV. John, b. about 1764-5. The births of only the first three of this family are re- corded on the town records. The existence of the fourth John, rests upon evidence afforded by the probate record which refers to Hezikiah P. Viets and John Viets as heirs of John Viets, Jr. Also in the will of John Viets, Jr., are men- tioned " My beloved sons, Hezekiah P. Viets and John Viets." 10 (Roger/ John,' John.') Rev Roger3 Viets, son of Captain John and Lois (Plielps), was born at the old homestead on Newgate Hill in East Granby, then Simsbury, Conn., March 9, 1738; attended school with his brother John at Salmon Brook, where he was fitted for college, and graduated at Yale with the degree of A.B. m 1758. His parents were ' Congregationalists, and it is probable that Roger entered college with the intention of preparing for the ministry in the church of his boyhood, which was the mother church of New England. While in New Haven he was led to attend services at Trinity, the Episcopal Church of RESIDENCE OF CAPT. JAMES AND FESTUS VIETS. Present home of James H. Viets at Copper Hill. • i-'.'-F^V? p^^n^- ^^ 'V RESIDENCE OF REV. ROGER VIETS AT DIGBV, NOVA SCOTlA Restored in part from memory. VIETS GENEALOGY. 31 the place, and was so impressed that he began to read on Episcopacy in the college library, and became an ardent Epis- copalian. In 1759, a year after his graduation at Yale, he was employed by the parish of St. Andrew's, at Scotland, in Simsbury, his native town, as lay reader. The old church is still standing in a picturesque but thinly settled locality near where the Farmington River cuts its way through the moun- tain. The place, by a later drawing of town Hues, is now in North Bloomfield. After Roger Viets had served two or three years as lay reader, the parish expressed a desire for the continuance of his services, and the Society for the Propa- gation of the Gospel agreed to grant him an allowance of £20 a year as soon as he should be admitted to holy orders and enter upon the care of the parish. The aspirant for ordination, according to the " Apostolic succession," was, in those days, under the necessity of going to England, as there was no bishop in this country. Cross- ing the Atlantic was a most formidable undertaking, but Mr. Viets was not daunted, and the voyage was accomplished in three months. Upon his arrival he learned that the cere- mony had taken place two weeks before, and he was obliged to wait six months for another opportunity. The pluck which took the young man across the sea enabled him to wait, and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge befriended him during his stay. He passed the time, as we may sup- pose, in reading, conversation, and sight-seeing. It is said that after ordination he was invited to preach before the king, who was no doubt interested in hearing a young and promising clergyman from a distant colony. Returning to America, he took charge of the Simsbury parish, where he was a devoted and faithful pastor for more than twenty-four years. The adherents of St. Andrew's in- creased during his ministry to nearly three hundred families. Not only Simsbury and vicinity felt his force, but scores of surrounding towns. It was not unusual for him to journey thirty miles on a trip of pastoral visitation. Churches were established by him in outlying places, as at Salmon Brook, in Granby, and at Great Harrington, Mass. He was a Glad- stonian woodchopper, a tiller of the soil, and at the same $2 VIETS GENEALOGY. time was known as a cultured and scholarly man. He is said to have possessed the best library in Connecticut, which, for the most part, had been given him by friends in England. He was a prolific producer of sermons, many of which were published. One of his printed sermons had been delivered before the lodge of Free Masons of which he was a member. During the Revolution Roger Viets was suspected of sympathizing with the loyalists. He was on one occasion arrested and placed in the county gaol at Hartford for giving comfort to a company of Tories. In answering the charge he replied that he could not refrain from giving food and shelter to men who came destitute to his house. He is said to have preached to the prisoners, including Tories, confined at Newgate. Roger Viets continued to minister to the Simsbury parish until the close of the war. When the independence of America was an established fact, the English society which had sustained him withdrew its support from missionaries in this country, and he was invited by them to take charge of an extensive parish, not yet organized, whose center was to be at Digby, in the British province of Nova Scotia, where he went in the spring of 1787. In a volume of sermons by him, printed by Hudson & Goodwin of Hartford, is the fare- well sermon to the Simsbury people, in which he says : " Born, as I have been, and nurtured among you, having led your devotions almost twenty-eight years, having been in holy orders twenty-four years, I have administered the holy sacrament of the Lord's Supper to a great number of devout and exemplary communicants, have admitted into Christianity by baptism no less than one hundred and twenty- two of riper years, and one thousand seven hundred and forty- nine infants, have joined in marriage one hundred and seventy-six couples, have committed to the silent grave, in full hope of their rising again at the last day, the bodies of two hundred and nineteen deceased persons, and have re- ceived by profession into the bosom of our excellent church two hundred and fifteen heads of families. From the year 1759 to the present time the number of conformists to the church has increased from seventy-five to more than two- VIETS GENEALOGY. 33 hundred and eighty famihes. Within the above period I have, upon a moderate computation, traveled by land and- water more than the extent three times the circumference of the terraqueous globe." Mr. Viets speaks in his farewell sermon of the gratitude which he feels for the kindness of other denominations, of the pangs of separation, of the shortness of life, and of the reasons which led him to remove to Nova Scotia, among which were : Gratitude to the S. P. G., from which he had received his most constant means of support hitherto, the attractive features of Nova Scotia as a place of residence, the need of the people of Digby and vicinity of the benefits of the church and sacraments, and especially the amiable, gentle, and hospitable character of the inhabitants. For some account of the journey of Roger Viets and family to Nova Scotia we are indebted to traditions handed down from his daughter Martha, known to later generations as Aunt Beyea (be-a) and regarded by them as the family record. She died in 1872, aged ninety-four, and was there- fore eight or nine years of age at the time of the removal to the new home, which seemed the happiest period of her life. Her father chartered a vessel to convey his family and some friends to the new country. The larder was well stocked. Music and dancing helped to beguile the tedium of a sea voyage. They skirted the shore and often landed to explore the coast, which looked so beautiful from the ocean. On arriving at his new field the minister found work awaiting him. The country was already fairly well settled, in part by loyalists from the colonies, by mercenaries who had here received lands, and by home-seekers from beyond the sea. Farm houses, surrounded by fertile acres, were scattered along the shores of St. George's Bay. The new pastor had a parish and a church to organize. His work was very extensive. Sometimes he traveled on foot as far as Yarmouth, eighty miles from his home in Digby, guided by an Indian who had blazed a path through the primeval forest. He extended his duty to Shelburne and Liverpool to the south, and as far as Brier Island, which was in his own parish, forty miles from home, to the west. He kept a pair of horses 3 34 VIETS GENEALOGY. and would himself drive to the forest, cut a load of wood and take it to a poor parishioner, then enter and sup with him. One day he was accosted by some army sportsmen. To their surprise they found the woodman a scholar, and invited him to dine at the hotel with them, where he appeared as the rector of the parish. Each expressed himself as having spent a delightful evening. Roger Viets possessed the pen of a ready writer, is said to have been a good Greek scholar, and wrote smoothly flow- ing verses. Among his poems is one " On Anapolis Royal," from which these lines are taken : The king of rivers, solemn, calm, and slow, Flows toward the sea, yet scarce is seen to flow; On each fair bank the verdant lands are seen In gayest clothing of perpetual green; On every side the prospect brings to sight The fields, the flowers, and every fresh delight; His lovely banks most beautifully are graced With nature's sweet variety of taste. Herbs, fruits, and grass, with intermingled trees. The prospect lengthens and the joys increase; The lofty mountains rise in every view, Creation's glory, and its beauty too. Amidst the rural joys the town is seen. Enclosed with woods and hills forever green; The streets, the buildings, gardens, all concert To please the eye, to gratify the heart; But none of these so pleasing or so fair As those bright maidens who inhabit there. Another poem of his is entitled " A Father's Lamenta- tion on the Sudden Death of an Amiable and Beautiful Child." The rector did not consider it beneath his calling to spec- ulate in real estate. On coming to Digby he bought large tracts of land of the mercenaries, who had lately received grants from the crown for services, and were glad to sell cheap. As a consequence neither he nor his son and suc- cessor were obliged to receive a stipend from the parish, but lived on their own property. A number of letters passed between Roger Viets and his brother Abner, whom he appointed his attorney and agent to attend to business affairs which he had left unsettled in New VIETS GENEALOGY. 35 England. Abner seems to have been the principal corre- spondent among his friends in Connecticut ; several letters to him are preserved. In one of these, written in 1795, the older brother expresses great fear of a war between the United States and Britain. In a letter written from Digby at this date he speaks thus of his own children : " Anna and Patty (Martha) are both married ; Anna to Joseph Williams, a sailor; Patty to John Beyea, master of one of the king's packet boats that passes betwixt this place and St. John's, N. B." In another he asks for garden seeds ; in another he cautions his brother not to allow the postmaster to collect an extra twenty-five cents on the letter, as the postage has been prepaid in full. In a letter written from Digby, March 26, 1807, he says : " I have met with a most severe loss which almost distracts me. It pleased God to take away my oldest son, Botsford, in the prime of life. This is perhaps as healthy country as almost any in the world, yet I have lost a wife, two children, and two grandchildren since I came here." In this letter he requests that his nephew, Dan, may come and live with him. He writes : " By the death of Botsford I am left very destitute of help. If he had lived I designed to have sent to desire your son to come here this spring. But as it now is I have more necessity for him. I cannot well do without some hearty young man to live with me, especially one in- genious in farming and mechanical business." He advises that if Dan come he walk to New York, " lodging at houses of decent fairness, offering to pay them for his entertain- ment," and there to take boat for Digby, or St. Johns, where he will find his son-in-law, Captain Beyea, who will take him to Digby. " At Digby," he writes, " there is a set of very good people, and a set of very bad. Your son must have nothing to do with the bad sort, except to treat them with decency and civility when he meets with them. I hope he is not inclined to profane swearing, or quarreling, or hard drinking, or tavern haunting, or idleness, or slander. He will have temptations to those vices. I hope he will be proof against all such temptations. I hope he is not pas- sionate and addicted to beat and abuse cattle and horses, to which I am very averse." \ 36 VIETS GENEALOGY. Unfortunately Dan did not go to Digby, but lived and died near the old home. In a letter written by Rev. Roger Viets to his brother, in June, 1809, he says : " My son Roger is an assistant clergy- man at St. Johns and has the care of a grammar school there besides, supported by the province of New Brunswick. His income is a little more than £200. Roger is married to Eliza Knutton, a very worthy and good young woman." Rev. Roger Viets visited his old parish and many friends m Connecticut in 1800. He died at Digby, August 15, 181 1 aged 7s- Rev. Roger Viets married, Nov. 19, 1772, Hester Bots- ford, daughter of Captain Nathan Botsford of New Milford, Conn. The husband, it is said, never regretted the move to Nova Scotia, but the wife, although she twice visited her old home in New Haven, died broken hearted, her delicate con- stitution breaking down under exile. She died April 25, 1800, aged 47. Roger Viets married, second, at Kingston,' N. B., July 18, 1802, Mercy, widow of Benjamin Isaacs, and daughter of David Pickett from Norwalk, Conn. Children of Roger and Hester Botsford Viets : i. Catherine Sarah, b. July 8, 1774; d. Nov. 18, 1782. Anna, b. June 6, 1776; m. Joseph Connelly; d. 1802; left four children, three of whom were living in 1809;' one of them, Ann Hester, was bapt. Aug. 15, 1802. Martha, b. July 9, 1778; m. Capt. John Beyea; d. 1872; had five children living in 1809. Nathan Botsford, b. Feb. 3, 1781; d. Jan. 12. 1807; un- married. 23. v. Roger Moore, b. Nov. 29, 1784; d. June 26, 1839 VI. Margaret, b. Nov. 21, 1786; d. Jan. 18, 1787 vu. Hester, b. April 27, 1789; m. Calvin Camp; family lived in Alexandria, Va. 24. viii. Mary, b. Feb. 9, 1792; d. July 16, 1868. 11 (Seth,* John," John.') Seth^ Viets, son of Captain John and Lois (Phelps), was born May 26, 1740. He is mentioned in a will drawn up by his father in 1763 as " my third son Seth," and given thirty 11 111 IV VIETS GENEALOGY. 37 acres of land, one-half of the house and barn, and one-half of all his other land in Simsbury not otherwise disposed of. This will, however, was set aside by another written later, of which Seth, Abner, and Luke were executors. His brother, Rev. Roger Viets, leaves in his parish register a record of his marriage: "At Turkey Hills, Nov. 12, 1769, Seth Viets of Simsbury and Ruth Smith of Sufifield." Ruth Viets is men- tioned in the Colonial Records as the only child and heir of Simeon Smith of SufBeld. Where Seth lived during the early part of his married life is not known, possibly on his father's place at Newgate. His name was on the grand list in Turkey Hills parish in 1785. At a later day he joined the procession of stalwart sons of Connecticut that moved northward and helped to form the Green Mountain commonwealth. At what date he settled at Pawlet, Vt., is not certain. His youngest daughter, Sarah, who married Daniel Brewer of East Hartford, was born in Westfield, Mass., in July, 1798. It is also known that his son Jesse was living in Westfield about that time. He probably settled at Pawlet, Vt., about 1800. Some of the descendants of Seth Viets are still living at Pawlet, but the greater part are in Ohio and elsewhere. Seth Viets died in 1823, aged 83; his wife in 1817, aged 68. Children of Seth and Ruth (Smith) Viets: Ruth, baptized Sept. 26, 1770; d. 1840. Seth, baptized Dec. 20, 1772; d. 1847. Simeon Smith, baptized March 19, 1775; d. 1836. Lydia, b. May 28, 1777; m. Capt. David Cleveland; d. Medina, Ohio. V. Deborah, m. Joseph Jones; d. about 1871, at Saratoga, N. Y. vi. Lois, m. Moody; d. Granby. 28. vii. Jesse, b. Feb., 1781; d. Jan. i, 1841. >i 29. viii. Roswell, b. Dec. 30, 1784; d. Feb. 28, 1864. 30. ix. Zopher, b. Jan. 30, 1790; d. Sept. 4, i860. 31. X. Julia, b. 1794; d. May 14, 1842. 32. xi. Sarah, b. Westfield, Mass., July 16, 1798; d. Oct. 4, 1883. 12 (Eunice,' John,' John.' ) Eunice^ Viets, daughter of Captain John and Lois (Phelps), born Nov. 24, 1742, married, Nov. 11, 1761, Elisha 25. 26. ii. 27. iii. IV. 38 VIETS GENEALOGY. Griswold. Elisha was descended from Edward Griswold, who came from Kenilworth, England, to Windsor in 1639. Elisha Griswold died March 13, 1803, aged 71; his wife, Eunice, died at the home of her daughter in Lanesborough, Mass., Aug. 20, 1823. They lived at Tariffville. Children of Eunice and Elisha Griswold : i. Elisha Griswold, Jr., m. Arispha Mitchelson. ii. Alexander Viets Griszvold, h. April 22, 1766; was instructed by his uncle, Rev. Roger Viets; ordained by Bishop Seabury in 1795; was rector at Bristol, R. I.; was bishop of the Eastern Diocese of the Episcopal Church which included New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, from 181 1 until 1843; became presiding bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States in 1836; published many discourses and sermons; was an earnest Christian worker; d. in Boston, Feb. 15, 1843. An extended life of Bishop Griswold was written by Rev. J. S. Stone, D.D. Bishop Griswold married ist, Elisabeth Mitchelson, 2d, Widow Amelia Smith, having by the first marriage twelve children, by the second two: I. EHzabeth, m. Augustus Collins. 2. Viets. 3. Eunice. 4. Harriet. 5. Susan Maria, m. George F. Usher. 6. Julia. 7. Sylvia, m. John De Wolf. 8. Rev. George. 9. Anne De Wolf, m. Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, D.D., of New York. 10. Alex- ander H. II. Henry Augustus. 12. Harriet. 13. George. 14. Mary Williams, iii. Ezra Griswold, h. 1767. iv. Eunice Griswold, b. 1770. v. Roger Griswold, h. 1772. vi. Deborah Griszvold, h. 1776; m. Bethuel Baker of Lanes- borough, Mass. vii. Samuel Griswold, h. 1780. viii. Sylvia Arabel Griswold, h. 1781, m. Rev. Jasper D. Jones. 13 (Lois/John,7ohn.') Lois^ Viets, daughter of Captain John and Lois (Phelps), born at the old -homestead near Newgate, Jan. 29, 1745 ; mar- ried, April 25, 1768, Jonathan Buttolph, afterwards written Buttles. This is probably the Jonathan Buttolph who served in the Revolution as captain of the Eighteenth Regiment. BISHOP ALEXANDER VIETS CIKISWOLD. From an engraving in Dr. Stone's Life of Bishop Griswold. VIETS GENEALOGY. 39 They resided at North Granby, Conn. Children as found in the Whitney Genealogy: i. Lois Buttles, b. 1771; d. 1777. ii. Annis Buttles, b. 1773; m. Samuel Everett; d. 1852. iii. Elihu Buttles, lived and died at Orwell, Bradford Co., Pa. iv. Jonathan Buttles, Jr., b. 1778; m. Lucy Whitney. V. Lois Buttles, b. 1782; m. March 10, I799, Samuel P. Whit- ney; settled at Montville, Ohio, in 1834; celebrated dia- mond wedding at home of their son, John Viets Whitney, of Montville, March 11, 1870, when the descendants num- bered twelve children, fifty-seven grandchildren, and fifty- six great grandchildren. Children of Lois Buttles and Samuel P. Whitney were: I. Samuel H. Whitney, who had Milton B., a law- yer in Westfield, Mass. 2. Lois Whitney, m. John Steer. 3. Jonathan R. Whitney. 4. Agnes Whit- ney, m. I St, Horace Gillett, 2d, Richard Steer. 5. Marcus L Whitney, had son, Martin V. Whitney, now residing at Hockanum, Conn. 6. Wm. Lewis Whitney. 7. Seth Whitney. 8. Nelson Whitney. 9. John Viets Whitney. 14 (Abncf,= John,-John.O Captain Abner^ Viets, son of Captain John and Lois (Phelps), was born Feb. 15, 1747. and died at his home, one mile from the place of his birth, July 27, 1826, in the eight- ieth year of his age. His farm embraced some four hun- dred acres in the western part of the present town of East Granby, and extending over the Granby line. The homestead was, until 1901, in possession of his grandson, Levi Clinton Viets, when it was sold and passed out of the family. A part of the original farm lying south of the highway comprises the farm still owned by another grandson, Joseph F. Viets. Abner Viets was an extensive farmer, at a time when farming in Connecticut consisted in producing large quanti- ties of rye, corn, and other grains, in the products of the dairy and the orchard. His papers show that in 1790 he leased for a term of four years, for £16, land in Turkey Hills lying north of Roswell Phelps' land and extending to the top of the 40 VIETS GENEALOGY. mountain, with the grain growing on it. His name was on the grand Hst in Turkey Hills parish in 1785 for the sum of £70 5s. He was a surveyor, and sometimes a lawyer. In his account books are numerous charges for pleading cases. He was captain of militia. During the War for Independence he did not enter the field in person, but hired substitutes on several occasions. An old certificate among his papers shows that on March 27, 1778, Owen Ruick enlisted in the room of Abner and Luke Viets. At a town meeting held in Sims- bury, December, 1784, he was appointed surveyor of the high- ways and grand juror. In 18— he was appointed by his brother Roger as his attorney and agent to settle his business affairs in New England. He is spoken of by his grandchil- dren, who remember him as a man of good stature and of energy. Abner Viets married, in 1771, Mary, second daughter of Benoni and Martha (Moore) Viets. She was born June 27, 1751, and died in September, 1825. CHILDREN. 23- i. Abner, b. June 28, 1772; d. Nov. 18, 1825. ii. Mary, b. May, 1774; m. June 22, 1795, Henry Viets of Becket; d. April 7, 1805. 34. iii. Benoni, b. Feb. 13, 1777. 35- iv. Samuel, b. Jan. 17, 1779; d. March 6, 1814. 36. V. Eunice, b. Dec. 27, 1780. Z7- vi. Dan, b. Oct. 17, 1783; d. Dec. 20, 1866. vii. Annis, b. March 11, 1785; m. Rudd. 38. viii. Levi, b. June 15, 1786; d. Dec. 22, 1857. ix. Elisabeth, b. April 30, 1790; m. Russel, son of Noah Loomis; d. Oct. 10, 1823. X. Apollos, b. July 25, 1794; d. Aug. 30, 1815, aged 21. 15 (Rosannah/ John,' John,') RosArmAH^ Viets, daughter of Captain John and Lois, born May 13, 1755, married Eleazer Rice, a soldier of the Revolution. They resided in the west part of the present town of East Granby. VIETS GENEALOGY. 4 1 Children of Rosannah and Eleazar Rice: i. Mary (Polly) Rice, b. 1777; m. Horace Phelps at the age of fourteen; d. June i, 1846, age 69. Children: I. Mary Phelps, m. Scoville. 2. Eliza Phelps, m. Barnes, son William Barnes, was insurance com- missioner for the state of New York. 3. Hester Phelps, m. Clough. 4. Willis Phelps, m. Maria Bartlett, and had Henry and John. 5. Nancy Phelps, m. Stephen Hendrick. 6. Jane Phelps. 7. Almira Phelps, m. Holman, went to Oregon as mis- sionary. 8. Horace Phelps, m. Eliza Turner, and died young, leaving children: Frances, Mary, and George. The first named, Frances Phelps, m. Dr. Dow, and resides at Reading, Mass. 9. Geo. Phelps, ii. Lois Rice, m. Justus Holcomb; d. in Meadville, Penn. ; children, Wesley, Henry, Julia, and Lorenzo, iii. Rosanna Ri-ce, m. Hezekiah Loomis; children, Luther, Henry, and Lorenzo Dow. iv. Eunice Rice, b. Sept. 18, 1784; d. Aug. 24, 1854; tn- Dec. 25, 1805, Seth Smith of West Springfield, Mass. Children: I. Wesley Smith. 2. Riley Smith, m. Mary Chapin. 3. Heman Smith, m. Pamelia Clark. 4. Lydia Smith, b. July 23, 1814; d. March 16, 1901; m. Sept. 5, 1838, Charles Barrows of Springfield, Mass., and had Mary Sophia, Jane Elisabeth, and Charles Henry. The last named. Lawyer Charles H. Barrows of Springfield, is one of the holders of the deed of trust of the Capt. John Viets burial place at Newgate. 5. Seth Smith, b. 1816; d. 1896; m. Serinda Nichols, and had Wesley, Rose, Marshall D., and Caroline. 6. Henry Smith. V. Eleazar Rice, Jr., m. ist, Harriet Goodrich; children: Wil- liam, Riley, Harriet, and Sarah, vi. Laura Rice, m. Levi Bush and had Mary Ann and Maria, vii. Charlotte Rice, h. Sept. 13, 1787; m. her cousin, Capt. George Viets; d. April 21, 1862. viii. Harriet Rice, m. ist, Ormsbee, 2d, Ennis; children: Hanni- bal Ormsbee and Sarah Ennis. 16 (Lukc'John,^ John.') Lieutenant Luke^ Viets, youngest of the ten children of Captain John and Lois, was born June 6, 1759, and died at 42 VIETS GENEALOGY. the old homestead, Feb. 25, 1835. His mother, after the death of her second husband, Colonel Humphrey, if not before, lived in the family of Luke at the old place. Newgate was the state's prison until 1827, and no doubt some of the prison officials, as well as numerous comers and goers, were guests at the Luke Viets tavern. " Kendall's Travels in the United States," in the chapter entitled Newgate, gives an unique description of the family of Luke Viets. The traveler, after fording the Farmington, and passing . through a region " beautiful with the varied charms of hills, field, and pasture," approached the place from the south. He says : " On my right I saw a house of respectable figure and dimensions, wooden, and white-painted. This was the inn. On entering the door the good looks of the landlord afiforded me some consolation. . . . My land- lord was a plain and industrious farmer, in whom and his whole family there was realized, more than in any other in- stance I have met with, the picture which the imagination of so many has drawn, as that of the agricultural life in America. He was himself a grandfather, and had living with him his very aged mother. He was the father of nine children, of whom one or two were married and settled at a distance, and one or two near by. Two daughters and two or three sons were still under his roof. All the members of the family were personable and well-featured, and the two girls were beauties, one a blue-eyed blonde and the other a dark-haired brunette. I found them employed in a building detached from the house, one at the wheel, the other at the loom. They were presently in the farmyard milking the cows." The traveler adds further that he '' was informed by the family that there was somewhere in the neighboring hills a black stone, by looking through which the seventh son of a seventh son bom in the month of February with a caul over his head could see everything in the interior of the globe." Luke Viets married, 1777, Keziah Phelps, daughter of Ezekiel Phelps, who lived one mile and a half south of New- gate, on the place since known as the Raynor Holcomb place. The boundary stone of Mr. Phelps' farm, it is said, may be seen on the mountain, with the initials E. P. marked on it. RUIXS OF NEWGATE. 710?/ ieir^a L, the fenera.L ^f^^-f^ oVthu Jiate accef^tedU i. 6.y^^/^^P^ .eHcin^ ^ecld 7...t o.d Gonf.dence