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 Historical sketch of Lisbon, Conn. 
 
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HENRY FITCH BISHOP, D.D.S. 
 
Historical Sketch of 
 Lisbon, Conn. 
 
 From 1786 to 1900 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY F. BISHOP 
 
 Published by 
 H. F. BISHOP, D.D.S. 
 
 332 E. 88th Street, New York, N. Y. 
 
Thanks are due to Mr. Calvin Dtiane Bromley, present Town 
 Clerk of Lisbon, for giving free access to all records, and to the 
 late Rev. R. M. Chipman, whose unpublished manuscript contained 
 much valuable data. 
 
 H. F. B. 
 
 Copyrighted 1903 by H. F. Bishop. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In looking up the records of Lisbon's history, one finds very 
 little help in any written historical descriptions thus far published. 
 The explanation is to be found that she is so unimportant relatively 
 with her larger sister towns. She has had a small, contracted terri- 
 tory, a sparse population, and a short period of existence since 
 she was incorporated into a separate town in 1786. This necessarily 
 makes but a brief sketch of history when all of it is collected for 
 publication. 
 
 Barker's "Historical Collections," published in 1837, speaking 
 "of all the towns in Connecticut," describing their geography, soil, 
 inhabitants, churches, and manufacturing interests, gives about as 
 good a description of Lisbon as is found anywhere, but it is only a 
 half -page record. 
 
 Hurd's "History of New London County," published in 1882. 
 gives Lisbon's boundaries as follows : "On the north by Canterbury, 
 Windham County, east by Griswold, south by Preston, west by 
 Norwich and Sprague." It only gives us two of its early settlers, 
 "James Burnham, admitted as a settler in 17 10," and "Benjamin 
 Burnham, admitted as a settler in 1726." 
 
 Having had a difficult task in research for genealogical informa- 
 tion the last few years (with imperfect and fragmentary records), 
 the writer has deemed it a fitting service to render his native town 
 to more conveniently arrange for observation and preservation its 
 records ; that hereafter students looking up family history may be 
 greatly helped in finding what is needed, if it exists. Lisbon has a 
 large representative bod}- scattered through the States of the Union, 
 descendants of her noble stock, who have to come back to her for 
 biographical and genealogical family history. They have often 
 turned away in despair that they could find so little to enlighten them. 
 
 That delightful historical writer and author, Dr. Hale, of 
 Boston, says, speaking of writers: "For one, I am much obliged 
 to anybody who tries to make it easy for me to read," and again he 
 makes the following memorandum: "N. B. When you know any- 
 thing worth knowing, which few other people know, write it down at 
 once." 
 
 If I have failed to fulfil the idea of the first quoted paragraph, 
 as doubtless I have, may I not hope in some small measure to rescue 
 some facts which would have been otherwise lost to posterity? 
 The effort has cost me much thought, time, and labor, to which my 
 townsmen are welcome if the}' will but look lightly upon my failure 
 to have made a more interesting and perfect sketch. 
 
 HENRY F. BISHOP, D.D.S. 
 
 332 East 88th St., New York. July. 1903. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 It is the intention of the writer to give herewith a short historical 
 sketch of Lisbon, both before and after its incorporation as a town 
 in 1786 — down to the present time. 
 
 Its history prior to its incorporation as a separate town was iden- 
 tified wholly within the town of Norwich. 
 
 Its importance was duly appreciated by the people of that ven- 
 erable town, Norwich, which gave abundant evidence of her esteem 
 for the worthy inhabitants of this part of her territory, sharing with 
 them the responsibilities of conducting their government, seeking 
 the most eminent and efficient talent among her best citizens in all 
 their councils to meet the trying times of the period of our revolu- 
 tionary war. The situation of this active territory of Norwich and 
 vicinity was peculiar ; so closely connected with the exposed city of 
 New London on the one side (causing therefore anxiety and fear), 
 and of Lebanon on the other side, where "Brother Jonathan" (Wash- 
 ington's friend) lived, thereby giving hope and encouragement to 
 the inhabitants, who had already been struggling for life and liberty 
 with King George the Third for many previous years. 
 
 This part of Norwich quite distinguished herself by her pa- 
 triotism ; she enrolled upon her records some quite eminent officers 
 and soldiers in our revolutionary war, some of whom never lived to 
 see the glorious results which came out of their devotion to their 
 country for which they gave their precious lives. 
 
 Reviewing Lisbon for its hundred years' existence as a town, is 
 not so much a task of searching its town records for its history : 
 as to take up its ecclesiastical parishes and give them a fair view 
 of their important influences upon the inhabitants of the said town. 
 Nearly all prominent men and persons of influence in those days were 
 actively connected with their local churches in that early period 
 of our history. 
 
 Thus necessarily we must take into view these component parts 
 from which Lisbon's antecedents had already existed, and from 
 which it was possible to create and make a new town from the Nor- 
 wich societies. Newent and Hanover were familiar names before 
 Lisbon was known, or had any significance in this locality. 
 
 The historian of Norwich relates that in 1718 sixteen persons 
 enrolled among its inhabitants were denoted "Farmers settled in ye 
 crotch of ye Rivers," but these families of farmers, which included 
 women, children, servants, and helpful mechanics, must have num- 
 bered at least sixty, or even more than seventv people. These set- 
 tlers had now come to a conviction that thev needed an assemblv for 
 
public worship, and were willing and ready to make appropriate ef- 
 forts to secure one near their own homes. So in May of the year 
 1 718 a petition was presented to the Colonial Legislature bearing 
 the following: names : 
 
 Thomas Walbridge, 
 Samuel Bishop, 
 Josiah Reed, 
 William Reed, 
 Daniel Longbottom, 
 Eliezer Jewett, 
 David Knight, 
 David Knight, Jr.. 
 George Rood, 
 John Lamb, 
 Samuel Rood, 
 Jabesh Rood, 
 John Bacon, 
 Moses Hagget, 
 
 William Adams, 
 Nathaniel Dean, 
 Joseph Read, 
 John Bishop, 
 Isaac Larance, 
 Isaac Larance, Jr., 
 Samuel Lothrop, 
 John Read, 
 Samuel Coy, 
 Jeremiah Tracy, 
 Francis Tracy, 
 William Walbridge, 
 Timothy Allen. 
 
 The humble petition of the farmers on the Northeasterly part 
 of Norwich called the Crotch of the River, to the Honorable Gen- 
 eral Assembly, now sitting. 
 
 "Whereas our habitations have been, by the Providence of 
 God, very remote from the place of public worship, not only by reason 
 of the distance, but by reason of a great river, which is not only 
 difficult, but at all time dangerous to cross, and for which reason 
 we have obtained liberty from the town to be a distinct society from 
 them. We, whose names are underwritten with the rest of our 
 inhabitants do humbly pray this honorable General Assembly will 
 grant us the liberty of being a distinct society from them of the town 
 plot, so as to call and settle an orthodox minister to be with us and 
 to dispense to us the ordinances of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ. If we may have your establishment of us in the capacity of 
 a society so as to have the liberty and benefit of the law to advan- 
 tage us to maintain a minister and we hope we shall improve the same 
 to the honor of God and to our spiritual profit. We, the subscribers 
 do humbly pray for your favorable answer to this our petition." 
 
 The reply came as follows : 
 
 "At a general Assembly holden in Hartford, in his Majesty's 
 colony of Connecticut in New England on Thursday, the 8th day of 
 May in the fourth year of the reign of our Sovereign, Lord 
 George, King of Great Britain, etc., A. D. 1718. — Upon consideration 
 of the farmers inhabiting between the rivers Quinabaug and Shou- 
 tucket on the Northeasterly part of the town of Norwich : This As- 
 sembly do now grant to the said farmers the liberty and privilege 
 of a parish and society by and of themselves within the said town of 
 Norwich for the settling, upholding and maintaining the public wor- 
 
ship of God amongst them, with all such liberties, powers and priv- 
 ileges as other societies and congregations in this colony generally 
 have and do enjoy by law ; always provided that the said farmers bear 
 their proportionable charges in the town until they have procured an 
 orthodox minister among them." 
 
 Thus was constituted the third ecclesiastical society in Norwich 
 called "The Xorth East Society," but no dates, no records earlier than 
 the 5th of March, 1734, can be found of it officially, although es- 
 tablished in 1 7 18. It may be well to observe here that the early 
 custom of our ancestors when they settled the country was to form 
 these associations as time advanced and they felt the need of them. 
 Thus Parish societies ante-dated the church organizations often 
 times — yet were supposed to be harmonious and to be consulted 
 whenever any important questions were to be decided, such as the 
 settlement of a minister or pastor among them to preach to them ; the 
 Parish might not always acquiesce with the choice of the Church 
 for a candidate, which awkward situation would show this double- 
 headed authority at times to be quite inconvenient. 
 
 Norwich proprietors lost no time in endowing the new Parish 
 with lands for its minister's aid. Their appropriations made the first 
 month by the records are as follows : "Land belonging to the minis- 
 try in the crotch of the river Quena Bauge and Shoutuckett in Nor- 
 wich. Item forty-three acres beginning at a stone by a run of water on 
 the south side of ye road against John Bacon's house," &c, &c, 
 "which further describes as abutting westerly on Comons fifty-eight 
 rods, &c, &c, and thence by land of Joseph Read and easterly to road 
 or highway to ye first corner. 
 Laid out May, 1718. J. C. Huntington, Saml. Lothrop. 
 
 We find also another record of a deed laid out of forty-five 
 acres, lying in the place called Wales on the east side of Shoutuckett 
 River — with bounds recorded — abutting westerly upon Joseph Roaths 
 < Roads?) j AMFS Huntington, ) Commit tee. 
 
 Laid out 1718. Benajah Bushnell, ) 
 
 The above imperfectly represents the very vague descriptions 
 of their plots of land, but are noticed here to show the generous and 
 fair spirit of the people of Norwich toward her out-lying towns- 
 men in the North East Society. 
 
 We see that Wales is one of the old abandoned names once 
 known to Lisbon's early locality. On its eastern side Pabaquamsque 
 was the name for that part located where Jeremiah Tracy's estate was 
 just below Jewett City, — not long since owned by Dr. Rockwell of 
 Norwich. Wequonnuc was on the west another name known locally. 
 These names, however, were soon lost by those legally established by 
 the colonial assembly. 
 
 "January 17th, 1720. In town meeting ordered that if the Per- 
 kinses at their return from Boston do not bring with them a minister 
 to preach in the crotch of the river or satisfy the select men, they 
 
shall have one speedily, the rate-makers shall put them into the 
 (Norwich First Society) minister's rates." 
 
 Whether a minister was then brought or not cannot be said. It 
 appears that one seasonably came, and that an edifice for worship 
 was soon erected. "By over exertion in the effort the energies of the 
 people were strained." They sought aid from the Legislature thus : 
 
 "To the Honorable, the Governor, and company of his Majes- 
 ty's Colony of Connecticut, in New England, in General Court as- 
 sembled at Hartford, May ye ioth 1722 humbly showeth. — That it 
 hath pleased Almighty God to settle ye bounds of ye habitations of ye 
 inhabitants of ye North East Society in Norwich between two great 
 1 ivers, so that it hath ever been exceeding difficult for us ( when our 
 families were but few in number) to attend upon ye public worship 
 of God on Sabbath dayes and at other times ; but now our families 
 being more numerous we find it is impossible for us and our families 
 to attend ye publick worship of God as we should do ; therefore, we 
 ye said inhabitants did make our address to this Honorable Assemblv 
 for to make us a distinct society by ourselves and to give us ye liberty 
 for to set up ye publick worship of God amongst them, and it was 
 granted, for ye which favor we render this Honorable Assembly 
 humble and hearty thanks and we have proceeded in ye premises so 
 far yt we have raised and covered a meeting house big enough 
 for to hold our inhabitants, and at present we have (with us) a min- 
 ister yt preaches ye gospel amongst us to our good satisfaction, and 
 we humbly hope we are heartily willing for to expose ourselves and 
 our estates for to carry on such a great and good work, and there- 
 by to promote ye Glory of God and ye good of souls, but we being 
 but few in number and but little and low in estate, and therefore tin- 
 capable to carry on so great a work as we ought to do, without ye 
 help and assistance of this Honorable Assembly. Therefore we 
 think it is our undoubted duty to spread our case before this Honor- 
 able Assembly and humbly begg yt favour of this Assembly for to 
 give us, ye inhabitants of ye said Society, ye liberty for to improve 
 that money yt is, or may be, due from our estate to this colony, for 
 three years next ensuing, towards the setting up of ye publick wor- 
 ship of God amongst us, and we as in duty bound shall ever pray." 
 
 Joseph Perkins, 
 Jabez Perkins, 
 Samuel Bishop, 
 Committee in behalf of Society. 
 
 The. answer obtained was as follows: — 
 
 "Upon the prayer of the North East Society in Norwich, rep- 
 resenting their difficulty in respect to settling a minister : This as- 
 sembly grants them their parts of the country's rates, or taxes, that 
 may be granted for the space of two years to come : and the constable 
 of Norwich who collects the country rate there, is hereby ordered to 
 collect the same as usual and deliver the same to the committee of 
 
13 
 
 said Society, according to their list, for the space of two years as 
 aforesaid." 
 
 Tims the colonial Legislature at its session October, 1722, in 
 granting the prayer of the petitioners of North East Society in Nor- 
 wich for rebate of three years' taxes gave them two years' taxes and 
 established a new name for it as follows : 
 
 "Resolved by this Assembly. That for the future the North 
 East Society or parish in the town of Norwich be called by the name 
 of Newent." 
 
 Before proceeding to the history of Newent, it is quite proper to 
 speak of Norwich in its earlier relation to Newent and subsequently 
 Lisbon. 
 
 Norwich was founded and settled in 1660. Part of her settlers 
 came from Saybrook, Ct., where the Rev. James Fitch has the record 
 of having been settled and preached in both Saybrook and Norwich. 
 A greater part of the settlers, however, were from Ipswich, Mass., 
 and among them we have noticed on the Parish Committee Joseph 
 and Jacob Perkins and Samuel Bishop, and later Mathew Perkins 
 and other men of Ipswich. As early as 1659 the Indian chief Umcas, 
 with his brother Wawequaw. and his two sons, Owaneco and Atta- 
 wamhood, united in giving Major Mason (so w r ell known in our 
 early history) a deed of sale in the months of June and August of 
 that year for a tract of land nine miles square for seventy pounds ; 
 a part of this land afterwards became Lisbon. 
 
 The Ipswich settlers, as above stated, had become large land 
 proprietors here, and it is supposed that many of them originally 
 came from Newent, England — a town 112 miles from London and 
 eight miles from Gloucester — to Ipswich, and had then made choice 
 of the name Newent for this new North East Society of Norwich. 
 
 This territory has a right to claim and share with Norwich in all 
 her historical fame and honors of the past. 
 
 It was but a few years later when Capt. Fitch, another well- 
 known early settler, obtained a deed of trust from Uncas's son 
 Owaneco giving him absolute possession of the first tract, and of 
 other tracts of land. This confusion gave the Norwich proprietors 
 very much trouble and anxiety till settled. 
 
 In 1725 the Mohegan title was quitclaimed to Lieut. Samuel 
 Bishop and others ; and in 1745 was altogether surrendered by a deed 
 to Capt. Samuel Bishop and others. Much dissatisfaction was felt 
 against Capt. Fitch, who was a son of the Pastor, Rev. Mr. Fitch, 
 who was fond of conferring spiritual blessings upon the Indians ; 
 while the son sought to get temporal advantage from them. As pur- 
 chasers from Capt. Fitch there were five prominent men then of Ips- 
 wich, Mass., — Samuel Bishop, Mesbach Farley, Mathew Perkins. 
 Joseph Safrord and Richard Smith. Capt. Fitch made over to them 
 the so-called eighteen hundred acre grant. Jacob Perkins and 
 Joseph Perkins, also of Ipswich, and brothers of the forementioned 
 Mathew Perkins, bought soon after a grant of what the five associ- 
 ated had purchased, and also more of the territory adjoining. Rich- 
 
'4 
 
 ard Adams of either Sudbury or Chlemsford. Alass. (in addition to 
 three thousand acres north of this territory, which in 1703 he by 
 deeds of gift partitioned to his five sons), obtained soon, perhaps 
 before 1700, land within this locality, which land, descending from 
 one of his sons through a contiuecl series of male heirs, his pos- 
 terity bave retained until to-day. 
 
 Following up this Connecticut Newent we find that the Rev. 
 Levi Nelson says, in his half century sermon, "I have been unable to 
 learn when the first meeting house in Newent was erected. It stood 
 where Mr. Daniel Hatch's house now is. This was the only place in 
 what is now Lisbon ( with one exception, which we shall notice here- 
 after) where the inhabitants used to attend public worship, till after 
 the Hanover Society was organized, which was in the year 1766." 
 The exception Mr. Nelson referred to was the meeting house of the 
 separatists which stood on the hill west of the present church's local- 
 ity as long as needed, when it was taken down and its frame was 
 carted to the easterly section of the parish and was made into a barn 
 on the Tracy farm. Quoting further from Mr. Nelson's half cen- 
 tury sermon, "The whole town of Lisbon was formerly called Newent 
 society the third in Norwich. According to the best information I 
 have been able to obtain, it received this name from Newent, Glou- 
 cester County, England, from the inhabitants of which many of the 
 first settlers of this town descended. Though their relations, who re- 
 mained in England, might never have seen some of them, it is evident 
 they cared for them, for when organized as a church these friends in 
 England made them a present of a large folio work of the venerable 
 and indefatigable Richard Baxter, containing a very complete set of 
 his works." The church made good use of it, as he says an aged 
 member once informed him that he had spent many a Sabbath inter- 
 mission hearing the book read. 
 
 The site of this first meeting house was about half a mile south 
 of the present church edifice, west of where the Providence, Hartford 
 and Fishkill Railroad crosses the highway. But little or nothing is 
 know of its stvle or size, but parish records show that it was not des- 
 titute of decoration, at least a "cushen" had a place in us puipit. 
 
 At the Spring session of the colony's Assembly now sitting at 
 Hartford May ye 9th, 1723, the petition of the inhabitants of Newent 
 in Norwich humbly sheweth : — "That we inhabitants of s'd society 
 have called Mr. Daniel Kirkland to be our minister to carry on the 
 worship of God among us, and have peaceably agreed with him 
 both for a salary and settlement, therefore your petitioners pray that 
 they may have liberty to ordain the said Air. Kirkland and to em- 
 body a church there, by and with the consent of the neighboring 
 churches. And your petitioners shall ever pray. 
 Dated Newent, May 7th, 1723. 
 
 Jabez Perkins, J 
 
 Joseph Perkins, > Committee. 
 
 Sam uel Bishop, ' 
 
'5 
 
 At the same session the petition received was answered as fol- 
 lows : — "This assembly grant unto the inhabitants of the parish of 
 Newent in Norwich liberty to imbody themselves into church estate 
 and to settle an orthodox minister amongst them, with the approba- 
 tion of the neighboring churches." 
 
 Towards the end of that year there was sent to neighboring 
 churches a "call" expressed, subscribed and dated thus, viz. : 
 
 "We the bretheren of the North East Society in Norwich sub- 
 scribing hereunto have, after sufficient time of Probation, and with 
 mature deliberation, unanimously invited and called Mr. Daniel Kirk- 
 land to the work of the ministry among us in this place desiring he 
 may have the pastorate charge of us in the Lord. 
 Newent in Norwich, November 18, 1723. 
 
 Joseph Perkins, William Read, Jr.. 
 
 Jabez Perkins. John Safford, 
 
 John Read. Nathan Bush n ell. 
 
 Isaac Lawrence, Samuel Lothrop, 
 
 Isaac Lawrence, Jr., Timothy Allen, 
 
 Jeremiah Tracy, Daniel Knight, Jr. 
 
 The ministers and churches which assisted in the constitution of 
 the church and ordination of the Pastor on the 10th of December, 
 1723, were : 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Samuel Whiting 
 
 and the messengers. 
 The Rev. Mr. Solomon Treat, of Preston, 
 
 and the messengers. 
 The Rev. Mr. Samuel Estabrooks, of Canterbury. 
 
 and the messengers. 
 The Rev. Mr. Azariah Mather, of Saybrook, 
 
 and the messengers. 
 The Rev. Mr. Benjamin Lord, of Norwich, 
 
 and the messengers. 
 The Rev. Mr. Henry Willis, of Norwich, 
 
 and the messengers. 
 
 On the 10th of December, Anno Domini 1723, the church was 
 constituted and Daniel Kirkland ordained Pastor, the Rev. Sam- 
 uel Whiting gave the charge and the Rev. Mr. Samuel Estabrooks 
 the right hand of good fellowship. 
 
 This council called to ordain Rev. Mr. Kirkland was quite a dis- 
 tinguished selection of men, important not only as ministers, but as 
 well in other spheres of life. Rev. Samuel Whiting was from a Boston 
 (England) family and his grandfather had been Mayor of that City. 
 Rev. Mr. Treat was a graduate of Harvard College 1694. Mr. Ma- 
 ther, a graduate of Yale College 1705 ; his kinsman. Cotton Mather, 
 is more widely known. Rev. Benjamin Lord was a graduate of Yale 
 
i6 
 
 College i / 14, and had been pastor in Norwich six years (the first 
 year of which he had been sole pastor. He lived to see eight pas- 
 tors and churches on the same'territory and to see it partitioned into 
 four towns.) The Rev. Henry Willis, graduated Yale College 17 15, 
 and the Rev. Mr. Estabrooks, who was graduated from Harvard 
 College 1696. 
 
 In the first year after the birth of the Newent Church she re- 
 ceived into complete fellowship twenty-seven persons ; in the second 
 year after, seventeen ; in the four next following years, twenty-one ; 
 so that the thirteen original members composed, with the additions, 
 a number in the seventh year scarcely differing by one from its num- 
 ber when the church was one hundred and fifty years old. There 
 were no other additions recorded until 1 741-2, when were received 
 thirty-five, showing a religious revival had been experienced in their 
 immediate past. But very soon Newent Church as well as other 
 churches in this part of the State were in much trouble and confu- 
 sion in consequence of prevailing ideas which were supposed to be 
 too restrictive wherein the general custom had been to ostracize or 
 keep men out of office who were not closely connected in church 
 membership, etc. Then there had in this vicinity sprung up a very 
 general following of a sect called Separatist, who were active, almost 
 aggressive, who seemed to make great inroads upon these earlier 
 established churches, and for a while gave no little trouble and anx- 
 iety to these orthodox existing societies. However, they had their 
 day, and not long afterwards they seemed to have died out and lost 
 their vital interest. The first of their churches was formed in Can- 
 terbury, 1744. Not long after a Separatist Church was formed in 
 Newent, made up of disaffected, but undismissed members of the 
 Newent Church. Owing to the distraction the Newent Church rec- 
 ords are entirely a blank in respect to that period, 1744 to 1755. Some 
 few records were afterwards added, but nothing like a full report. 
 The reasons alleged for leaving the regular church were : — want of 
 edification from the church's minister ; church's lacking gospel order, 
 as having no ordained ruling elder, and no ordained deacons ; owned 
 Christ in words, but in deeds denied Him, etc., etc. The Separat- 
 ists generally encouraged lay-preaching more than most Congrega- 
 tionalists were wont to do. By credible information we find a record 
 that one "Jeremiah Tracy, Jr., has taken upon him to be a preacher, 
 a calling which we don't apprehend God has called him to." 
 
 So far as known the Separatist Church in Newent had none 
 other than lay-preachers till Mr. Bliss Willoughby was ordained its 
 pastor in 1753. Its meeting house, as has been described, stood upon 
 the hill-crest directly north of where the late Sanford Bromley's 
 dwelling house stood, and was later torn down. The Separatists tol- 
 erated some serious errors. Their practice was not wholly the 
 "Meekness of wisdom." However, they opposed the unrighteous 
 management of the civil power in forcing men by taxes, and severer 
 means to uphold church ministrations, and in many other ways 
 they wrought some good, but also excited sensitive men who were 
 
17 
 
 highly organized into a mental and physical strain liable to break 
 them down. The first pastor of the Newent Church was sensitively or- 
 ganized, previously showing with other citizens the trouble wrought 
 everywhere by a currency lessening in value, and worn down by 
 labor for nearly thirty years, and harassed by the dissensions here, 
 the last of these strains nearly prostrated him. A biographical work 
 affirms that "after thirty years he became deranged." The eccle- 
 siastical council, however, which in compliance with his own request 
 convened here with reference to dismissing him, did not regard him 
 as deranged. The question was formally put to them as one having 
 legal bearings, whether Mr. Kirkland was sane, and having been an- 
 swered affirmatively by the council, it ought to settle that matter. 
 
 Mr. Kirkland' s pastoral connection in Newent was dissolved 
 on the 4th of January, 1753. He was afterwards a pastor in Gro- 
 ton from 1755-8. After his release there he came back to Newent 
 and here on the 17th of May, 1773, he died; his ministry covering 
 nearly fifty years. He had six daughters and five sons. 
 
 Between April, 1753, and September, 1756, the Newent Society, 
 after they had been temporarily supplied by the preaching of Henry 
 Willes, from the West Farms pastorate, voted that six other can- 
 didates should be invited to preach to them as candidates for settle- 
 ment, or as one of the votes expressed it, "to preach to us as a min- 
 ister of the gospel upon trial." Those persons as specified were Mr. 
 Packer (Elijah Packard), Mr. John Curtiss, Rev. (Ebenezer?) 
 Mills, "the worthy Mr. Benjamin Chapman," "the worthy Mr. Noah 
 Wadham," and "the worthy Mr. Peter Powers." The last named 
 received due invitation from the Church and from the Society and 
 accepted the charge. 
 
 Ordination of Rev. Peter Powers, who graduated at Harvard 
 College, 1754. Had as classmate John Hancock of Boston, L.L.D. 
 Seven churches, including the one at Mr. Powers' home, Hollis, N. 
 H., and one at Mrs. Powers' former residing place, Sutton, Mass., 
 met the 2d of December, 1756, by due summons and its record of 
 action is thus, viz. : The council being opened by prayer, then pro- 
 ceeded to the examination of the s'd Mr. Powers respecting his min- 
 isterial qualifications ; who approved himself to the satisfaction of the 
 council ; and at the same time there was a confession of faith ex- 
 hibited (agreeable to the confession of the faith of the churches) and 
 also a church covenant, mutually signed by Mr. Powers and the 
 bretheren of the church. Thus the ordination was accordingly per- 
 formed on s'd day — December 2, 1756. 
 
 (Signed) Benjamin Lord, Moderator. 
 
 Mr. Powers' ministry in Newent commenced with certain favor- 
 able indications. The Parish now included no Indian clans, the heirs 
 of poor Knight Owanoco — Uncas' Son — having, after his own ex- 
 ample, fallen into a low condition, had in 1745 sold the Indian reser- 
 vation to Newent citizens. The dwindled number of Indians re- 
 maining within the parish had quit the aboriginal way of living ; 
 
i8 
 
 many of them were rural laborers, domestic servants, some becom- 
 ing church members, and reputed as Christians. A quit-claim given 
 to Newent, 1752, of, as the words are, the "land where their meet- 
 ing-house now stands" had freed the parish of its liability to lose 
 by proscription what before it doubtfully held by prescription. 
 Turbulence in the community was subsiding. On the other hand, 
 Mr. Powers' ministry here was from first to last attended by 
 many unfavorable things. The material and the moral resources 
 of all the New England colonies were largely drawn upon by 
 the mother country's military operations, directed against the 
 French, the events of which made Canada an English colony. Con- 
 necticut in particular did its full share of the hard work and bore 
 its full share of the heavy burdens involved. As elsewhere in Con- 
 necticut, so in Newent. Worshippers were taxed by Newent parish 
 and in default of payment otherwise were made to undergo distrain- 
 ing pressure. The Pastor and others like-minded could not make 
 their aversion to this odious established infringement on personal 
 preferences, and conscientious convictions, effectual, towards the 
 adoption of a different practice. 
 
 When Rev. Mr. Kirkland's pastoral relation to Newent ceased 
 there were twenty-nine male members of the church. The number 
 of male members who, at the time of Mr. Powers' ordination, sub- 
 scribed to the church's covenant was twenty. During his ministry 
 the church received into its membership seventy-four persons — males 
 twenty-five, females forty-nine. The working power of the church 
 was later diminished by the formation in 1761 of a new parish 
 called Hanover, the seventh in Norwich, to which parish the incor- 
 porating act assigned nearly half of Newent's territory and some- 
 what of territories from Canterbury and Scotland parishes. Par- 
 ticulars of the matter are found in the Newent's Society's records, 
 and in the ancient documents preserved in the State's librarv. 
 There also was, as the same authorities show, another matter agitated 
 through the latter half of Mr. Powers' pastorate here ; the question 
 whether or not a new house for worship should be built in Newent, 
 and the more distracting inquiry "where shall a new house for that 
 purpose be set?" These questions were followed by discussions, 
 proposals and counter-proposals, petitions and counter-petitions, 
 with application to the County Court and to the Colonial General 
 Assembly, all, as to result, in vain. The Society waxed not, mean- 
 while the Church waned. The Pastor, a man as brave as he was 
 tender hearted, and as wise as he was faithful, was impoverished. 
 Tt was appointed him, though at this time he did not know it, to 
 reap a rich spiritual harvest, where before him no spiritual reaper, 
 and no spiritual sower had been. 
 
 Mr. Powers' dismissal from Newent occurred June 20, 1704. 
 He went from Newent to Haverhill, N. H., afterwards he was set- 
 tled as a Pastor in Maine, where he died. About this time broad- 
 spread and well-founded discontent with England's misrule of her 
 American colonies was manifest. The patriot was watching with 
 
l 9 
 
 fear the gathering" clouds of the great political tempest, which was 
 soon to burst forth, menacing ruin to Liberty, dear to him as his 
 life. It was the era marked by the Stamp Act, 1764. 
 
 In the year 1766 the eighth church in Norwich, called Hanover, 
 was founded. The Separatists and church had become as sheep 
 without a shepherd, Mr. Willoughby, after supervising them for two 
 or three years, and after visiting England as an agent of Sepa- 
 ratists generally, had re-crossed the ocean and having gone to 
 another denomination, preached at Bennington, Vt. The Separatist 
 house of worship was for sale in 1768 and probably the Newent 
 Separatist church about that date was disbanded. There is a proba- 
 bility that a few became Baptists ; a few others of them may have 
 joined the Eighth Society in Xor which at Portipaug, a section of 
 West Farms. A considerable number of Newent people, once mem- 
 bers of the disbanded church, also some Hanover people, who had 
 been members of the Brunswick church, were afterwards received 
 into the Newent church. During the changes which marked these 
 years there came more of quiet to the Newent society. Discordance 
 in opinions' was lessening and harmony of feeling was increasing 
 through the community. 
 
 A meeting of the Newent society was held January 12, 1769, 
 wherein a vote was taken and sixteen of the prominent citizens of 
 Newent openly subscribed their names and their pledges to pay for 
 the current year, all taxes of the Separatists which might be as- 
 sessed upon them ; providing, such persons appear to be sober and 
 conscientious persons. 
 
 Thirteen months later, in February, 1770, we find as follows: 
 "At a meeting of the inhabitants of ye Society of Newent, in ye 
 town of Norwich, legally warned and held in said Newent, ye fifth 
 day of February, 1770, Capt. Jeremiah Kinsman, Moderator, voted 
 to proceed to build a new meeting house at the stake or place affixed 
 by the County Court for that purpose, and the money to be raised 
 by way of subscription, as has been proposed to pay ye cost of 
 building said house ; and we do agree to proceed forthwith to pro- 
 vide oak, and pine boards and other stuff necessary for the work ; 
 and next winter to get the frame and then proceed as fast as we 
 can with convenience to finish s'd house." 
 
 At the same meeting these gentlemen were appointed a com- 
 mittee "to survey the Society's land called the meeting house lot, 
 where ye old meeting house now stands, with full power and author- 
 ity to make sale of ye same to ye best advantage . . . and ye 
 money to be improved for the purpose of building a new meeting 
 house in this Society." "On ye 27th day of November, 1770, the 
 Society unanimously concurred in the call which the church, 20th 
 October, 1770. had given ye worthy Mr. Joel Benedict to become its 
 pastor." Measures including a proposition to provide land "for a 
 parsonage" were soon after adopted. The frame of the new house 
 of worship was set up on its new glebe by two days' labor, Tuesday 
 and Wednesday. 29th and 30th May, 1771. 
 
Notes of hand were given 19th March, 1772, the largest by Dr. 
 Joseph Perkins "for finishing ye meeting house." Mr. Kirklancl, 
 the first pastor of the church had died the week next preceding the 
 one in which this second church building near to his dwelling house 
 was raised. The site of the new building is the same which is now 
 the site of the Newent church. The architect and builder of the 
 edifice (No. 2) was Captain Ebenezer Tracy of Newent. 
 
 SETTLEMENT OF MR. JOEL BENEDICT 
 
 AS THIRD PASTOR OF NEWENT CHURCH. 
 
 Letters having been sent for the purpose to seven churches in 
 New London and Windham Counties an ecclesiastical council was 
 convened and Mr. Benedict, after reception as a member of the 
 church, was ordained 21st of February, 1771. In the sermon 
 preached by Mr. Hart he says, addressing the church : "Happy after 
 all your divisions and trials to see this day ! Thrice happy if you 
 continue steadfast to the end. Take heed therefore that ye fall not 
 out by the way. Love one another, love your pastor, but love Christ 
 above all. Esteem your minister highly for his work's sake, assist 
 him with your prayers, receive the counsel of God from his mouth, 
 practice it in your lives, and follow him in all things wherein he fol- 
 loweth Christ." Mr. Benedict (Gr. C. N. J., 1765) always holding 
 amicable relations with his flock, spent a few years here with success. 
 In his letter, which conveyed to the church his acceptance of their 
 call to its pastorate, was expressed his apprehensions that "A num- 
 ber should fall away from their engagements," so that as he ex- 
 pressed it "you should think it too great a burthen to raise the stip- 
 ulated support." What he then mentioned and suspected occurred. 
 The last years of his ministry in Newent were those in which his 
 congregation, in common with all American citizens, felt most se- 
 verely the pressure brought on them by the revolutionary war. The 
 records of the church for those years, 1779-82, show that "thro" the 
 difficulties of the present time, by reason of the heavy taxes for 
 support of the war, there was so great a failure in the Society in 
 furnishing the pastor with sufficient maintenance that he had of 
 necessity sold his dwelling-house and was obliged to part with land 
 and was driven to secular business for his support. The church 
 having a desire to continue the connection "were not able to make up 
 the deficiencies of the people," and although the Society on the day 
 when a council was in session and considering whether or not he 
 should remain pastor here declared itself "willing to endeavor" to 
 raise by subscription means of providing "a parsonage lot and a 
 house for Mr. Benedict" the council averse to the Society's ex- 
 pressed "desire" for his continuance in Newent, yet consented to his 
 dismissal on the 30th of April, 1782. The children of Dr. Benedict 
 and Sarah McKown were four sons and seven daughters. 
 
From 1784 Dr. Benedict was Pastor of the church in PJainfield, 
 where, as its pastor, he died in 1816. 
 
 For a period extending from 30th October, 1782, to 31st Octo- 
 ber, 1788, the Society records contain no entries whatever and the 
 church records as to that period and a year or two next after are 
 almost as void. 
 
 It is, however, unquestionable that Newent received its propor- 
 tion of the secular prosperity which the whole nation obtained after 
 the close of the contest by which its independence was established. 
 And an era of good was at hand when, having for seventy years had 
 so much disquiet, Newent with Hanover became, in 1786, Lisbon. 
 Two years before this Newent parish, August 25th, 1784, appointed 
 Captain Jabez Perkins, Captain Elisha Morgan, and Captain Ezra 
 Bishop as a committee to forward a subscription for the purpose of 
 creating a permanent fund in aid of the parish of the Society of 
 Newent in the town of Norwich. This committee prepared an in- 
 strument which recited that "in the present circumstances of said So- 
 ciety, no method can be devised so likely to lay a sure and lasting 
 foundation for supplying and supporting a minister in said society 
 as that of raising a bank or fund so large as that the annual interest 
 thereof shall be sufficient to pay the yearly salary that shall be here- 
 after agreed upon." This instrument was subscribed to by sixty 
 persons, the sums severally subscribed ranged from £2 the minimum 
 to £70 the maximum, including one of that amount, with three of 
 £60. The total amount in 1873 of this fund was Ten Thousand 
 Dollars. 
 
 The Society's pecuniary account with the Rev. Joel Benedict 
 was not settled till 8th of June, 1792, when by paying £31 to him and 
 getting a discharge in full from him the settlement was accom- 
 plished. 
 
 SETTLEMENT OF REV. DAVID HALE. 
 June 2, 1790. 
 
 Rev. David Hale was settled as the fourth pastor of Newent 
 church, which had now become the first church of Lisbon. When 
 his predecessor, Rev. Joel Benedict, -was settled in 1771 as the third 
 pastor of this church, the church was still in Norwich. 
 
 This first church of Christ in Lisbon on the 21st of December, 
 
 1789, called Rev. David Hale to the work of the ministry among 
 them. Mr. Hale having, by a letter dated May n, 1790, accepted 
 the call, an ecclesiastical council was summoned to meet 2d June, 
 
 1790, and he was inducted into that work by installation. 
 
 As Mr. Hale had from early infancy been reared under the 
 ministry of the Rev. Dr. Joseph Huntington, of Coventry, it is not 
 remarkable that Dr. Huntington, being presiding officer of that 
 council, both preached the sermon and gave the charge to the 
 pastor on that occasion. It may, however, be worthy of remark 
 
that after the council had "Proceeded to examine s'd pastor elect 
 respecting the principles of his faith" which doubtless he set forth 
 distinctly and fully, "the council voted satisfied" ; Mr. Hale, as the 
 minutes of the Council relates, signified his approbation of the prin- 
 ciples of the congregational churches. That approbation is notice- 
 able, because at that time efforts were for a second time made, es- 
 pecially in Connecticut, to make little of congregational principles, 
 and the foremost congregational minister in this State accustomed 
 himself to join with others in styling the congregational churches 
 Presbyterians. It is noticeable because Mr. Hale had, in an adjacent 
 State out of New England, been ordained by Presbyterian ministers, 
 he having settled in Suffolk County on Long Island previously and 
 brought testimonials from Presbyterians there to this church in 
 Newent. This Rev. David Hale was a distinguished member of a 
 very distinguished family and deserves a more extended notice on 
 that account. He was born in Coventry, 14th December, 1761, grad- 
 uate Yale College 1785, died in his native town 10th February. 1822. 
 He was a son of Richard Hale. Among his earlier ancestors was a 
 Robert and a John. John Hale had a son, Samuel Hale, who resided 
 in Newburyport, Mass., whose oldest son was Richard Hale. He 
 removed to Coventry, Conn., married Elizabeth Strong of that place 
 and there died 1802, aged eighty-five years. He and his wife Eliza- 
 beth had twelve children, of which the third, Joseph Hale, an officer 
 of the Revolutionary army, was father of Mary, the second wife of 
 Rev. Levi Nelson, who spent the whole of her married life in Lisbon. 
 She died May 2d, 1851, aged sixty-eight years. Her father's 
 brother, Enoch, was the third son of Richard, graduate Yale Col- 
 lege 1773; was first pastor of the church in Westhampton, Mass., 
 and a member of the convention for the amending the constitution 
 of Massachusetts, and he was father of Nathan Hale, LL.D., who was 
 graduated W. C. 1804, once editor of the Boston Advertiser, and one 
 of whose sons is the Rev. Edward Everett Hale, graduate H. C. 1839, 
 a pastor and editor in Boston, and a well-known author. Still a sixth 
 son of this Richard Hale and Elizabeth Strong was Nathan, a grad- 
 uate Y. C. 1773, a teacher and a captain in the American War for 
 Independence, whose amiable and heroic spirit, graced with Christian 
 devotion, shone so lustrously when with needless cruelty he was, by 
 British military orders, executed T776 as a spy. His last words 
 were "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." 
 
 It was this ninth son of Richard, David, brother of the patriotic 
 martyr, that became the fourth pastor of the Newent church. He 
 had, in connection with other preparation, probably studied for the 
 ministry with the Rev. Dr. Wales, Professor of Theology in Yale 
 College. He was approved by the New Haven Association 1787. 
 
 David Hale was dismissed at his request on the 27th of April, 
 1803. His virtues are recorded as very many in loveliness. While 
 his pastorate in Lisbon continued he conducted a boarding school in 
 his own home with much success as long as his health proved suffi- 
 cient. 
 
His pastorate was given up only after his health failed, from 
 physical inability. He continued to live in Lisbon and owned a 
 house which he built 1795 and which afterwards was sold to the 
 Society for a parsonage. The price paid was $1,100; it is still 
 the parsonage. Rev. Air. Hale, after his release from school and 
 church, became a magistrate and a representative of the town 
 of Lisbon. In 1806 he removed again to his native town Coventry, 
 and was there made Deacon in the first church and a iustice of 
 the Court of Common Pleas. 
 
 Judge Hale, on the 19th of May, 1790, married Lydia Austin, of 
 New Haven, a daughter of Samuel Austin, and the only child of this 
 marriage was named David. This David Hale, son of the Rev. 
 David Hale, was born in Lisbon, 25th April, 1791, and died at Fred- 
 ericksburg, Va., 20th of January, 1849. He received his education 
 at his father's boarding school and otherwise he was trained to mer- 
 cantile business, first in Coventry and subsequently in Boston, in 
 which latter place he became first a merchant and later a manufac- 
 turer. In these pursuits he had limited success ; from 1827 till his 
 decease he was with Gerald Hallock as editor and founder of the 
 Journal of Commerce, a daily newspaper in New York. He wielded 
 a ready pen, was equal to the emergencies as they arose, etc. The 
 record here speaks much about his benevolence in giving and doing 
 much good for Christian work. He published a tract written by 
 his pastor, Rev. Joseph P. Thompson, D.D., LL.D., entitled "Mem- 
 oirs of David Hale." This David Hale, who was born in Lisbon, 
 married on the 18th of January, 181 5, his cousin Laura, born 30th of 
 August, 1789; she died 25th of July, 1824. She was a daughter of 
 Richard and Mary (Wright) Hale, of Coventry. He married again 
 on the 22d of August, 1825, Lucy S. Turner, from Boston. He had 
 by the former wife two daughters and two sons and by the latter 
 four daughters. His second daughter Lydia was born 27th of May, 
 1818 ; died 18th of October, 1846. She had married, April 23, 1838, 
 T. T. Devan, M.D., a missionary to China, in which country she died. 
 Her older sister, Mary Hale, born March 11, 181 6; married May 
 2 7- : 839. N. Stickney, of Rockville, Conn. Richard Hale, the 
 oldest son, born May 24, 1820; married October 28, 1844, Miss 
 Julia Newlin. 
 
 David Austin Hale, next son, born September 3, 1822; mar- 
 ried September 3, 1849, Miss M. I. Simonds, of Athol, Mass. Lucy 
 Turner Hale, first daughter by second wife, born July 9, 1826; mar- 
 ried, May 20, 1846, Stephen Connover, Jr., of New York. 
 
 Laura Hale born August 22, 1828, married December 21, 1848, 
 J. W. Camp, of New York. 
 
 Charlotte Hale, born April 6, 1832, married Mr. Charles B. 
 Richardson. He is dead ; she resides at Wellesley, Mass. The 
 youngest daughter, Martha Louisa Hale, born August 5, 1834; died 
 January 8, 1836. 
 
 The Lisbon first church (Newent) was gradually reinforced 
 so long as the pastor continued able for ministerial work. 
 
2 4 
 
 The church next invited Mr. David B. Ripley to become its pas- 
 tor 9th of December, 1803. The Society on the same day non-con- 
 curred. 
 
 REV. LEVI NELSON'S SETTLEMENT. 
 
 The church, September 13, 1804, unanimously gave, and the 
 Society two weeks subsequently concurred in giving, Mr. Levi Nel- 
 son an invitation to be their pastor and minister. Mr. Nelson ac- 
 cepted the invitation. An ecclesiastical council was convened and 
 were satisfied and voted unanimously to comply with the desire of 
 the church and Society. He was thereupon regularly ordained pas- 
 tor of the first church in Lisbon, December 5, 1804. Mr. Nelson 
 had recently been engaged in missionary service under direction of 
 the Missionary Society of Massachusetts, of which State he was a 
 native. The letters missive from the Lisbon church requested the 
 assistance of two churches in that State at his ordination. The pas- 
 tor and two delegates of one of those was present, together with 
 pastors and delegates from seven churches in parishes in the vicinity 
 of Lisbon. It would seem that the transactions of that ordination 
 day were unusually impressive to all who, as actors or otherwise, 
 were concerned in them. While the members of the council were 
 passing to places reserved for them in the congregation assembled 
 the choir's jubilant voices uttered in choral strain this assurance: 
 
 "The hill of Zion yields 
 
 A thousand sacred sweets 
 Before we reach the heavenly fields 
 Or walk the golden streets." 
 
 ( The same hymn was sung again at the fiftieth anniversary of 
 Mr. Nelson's settlement.) The introductory ordination prayer was 
 by Dr. Samuel Nott, of Franklin, who, as his historian says, at eight 
 years of age a blacksmith's apprentice, at twelve an assistant in his 
 father's business of tanning and shoe-making, and at nineteen a 
 mason, had then been twenty-two years a pastor of the church in 
 Franklin. Once he barely escaped alive from fire when six years 
 old. His remarkable career is well known to all the older people of 
 that vicinity. The writer very well remembers his impressive ap- 
 pearance, dressed in knee breeches, long black stockings, large silver 
 shoe buckles, when in his presence to be examined for fitness to teach 
 a district school ; or when he came to visit the same school, and was 
 as punctual as his large silver bull's-eye watch would permit, to gov- 
 ern the official examination. He lived to almost one hundred and 
 his pastorate exceeded seventy years. At Mr. Nelson's ordination 
 the sermon was preached by the Rev. David Long, who, little older 
 than the pastor-elect, had then been for three years a pastor at Mil- 
 ford, Mass. The consecrating prayer was offered by the Rev. Joel 
 Benedict, who had been a former pastor of this church and at this 
 
25 
 
 time had been pastor for twenty years at Plainfield, where he died 
 after a long service in the ministry. 
 
 The laying-on of hands upon the head of the candidate was by 
 Dr. Benedict, and Dr. Joseph Strong, who had then been pastor for 
 twenty-six years of the first church in Norwich, where his life ter- 
 minated with a pastorate of fifty-six years. 
 
 The Moderator of the Council, Dr. Levi Hart, of Preston, now 
 Griswold, had been settled there then forty-two years. His lift- 
 closed there with a record of almost forty-six years. 
 
 The Scribe of the Council, Dr. Andrew Lee, had then been 
 pastor of the Hanover church thirty-five years. His death occurred 
 there after sixty-four years' pastorate over the second church in 
 Lisbon ( Hanover ) , now Sprague. 
 
 Dr. Hart, a son-in-law of the eminent Dr. Bellamy, gave the 
 charge to Air. Nelson. 
 
 The right hand of fellowship was by Dr. Lee. The concluding 
 prayer was by Dr. Strong, of Norwich, who, with Dr. Lord, had led 
 such a long and useful life in that vicinity. It is marvelous to see 
 how many of the clergymen settled in this immediate neighborhood 
 w r ere blessed with such long lives among their people. Half century 
 celebrations were very common in those early days — many times 
 the ministers preaching to an audience who were wholly unknown to 
 them at the commencement of their careers. 
 
 Mr. Nelson's pastorate has been compared in review to a placid 
 stream flowing smoothly for the most part. But later on the em- 
 bargo act and the non-intercourse acts, followed soon by war with 
 England, brought more or less suffering to all classes of rhe Ameri- 
 can people. The cost of living was greatly increased, and Mr. Nel- 
 son became much embarrassed, and it looked to the people of his 
 church as if he might have to sever his relations, as it was impos- 
 sible to live on his small salary unless supplemented. Consequently 
 the Society took action in 1812, May 26th, to guard against losing 
 their pastor. A bank of Eleven Hundred Dollars was made up for 
 the express purpose of purchasing a parsonage for the use and sup- 
 port of gospel ministers. To that agreement were signed sixty-one 
 names of persons who severally gave sums varying from $2 to $50. 
 One gave $66, two gave $60, etc., etc. So in 181 2, October 16th, a 
 committee was chosen and directed to purchase Rev. Mr. Nelson's 
 farm and buildings to be kept by the Society for a parsonage. This 
 contemplated design was carried out ; Mr. Nelson continued to oc- 
 cupy the premises, and succeeding' ministers have lived there up to 
 the present time. The house was one built by the Rev. David Hale 
 in '795' an d still is the church parsonage. There was special in- 
 terest in religion in 1810 and more converts made to the church than 
 usual up to 1820. In 1829 to 1831 many were hopefully converted. 
 In 1843 occurred a gracious work, resulting as was estimated in near- 
 ly one hundred conversions. The church so increased by additions 
 embraced one hundred and fifty persons, a larger number than they 
 had ever had before. Savs Mr. Nelson in his half-century sermon. 
 
26 
 
 speaking of those great in-gatherings to the church, "Oh! it seems 
 to me that, if angels have any specially favorite seasons and places 
 on earth, they are when and where such scenes are transacted." In 
 that discourse he also said : "The church grew not only in numbers, 
 but in influence, which is not always seen in proportion to the addi- 
 tion of members." 
 
 He further says: "My observations have been that revivals with 
 the least excitement are the most strengthening to churches. . . . 
 It is much better to trust in the Lord and wait upon Him than to de- 
 pend upon signs either for or against revivals. Solomon's direction 
 
 THE PARSONAGK. 
 
 is always applicable to this subject, 'In the morning sow thy seed and 
 in the evening withhold not thine hand ; for thou knowest not 
 whether shall prosper this, or that, or whether they shall be both 
 alike good.' ' In common with other ministers and with his own 
 parishioners he bore affliction and gave, as well as found, precious 
 sympathy. 
 
 Near the beginning of his pastoral connection Mr. Nelson lost 
 his wife and companion, to whom he was married about a year after 
 his ordination. This first wife was Miss Abigail Tyler, of Mendon, 
 Mass., born 1781, died December 20, 1806, aged twenty-five years. 
 They were married in 1805. She joined the Newent church ( )ctober 
 
27 
 
 6th, 1805. She left a child horn on the 29th of September, 1806, 
 named Anna Tyler, who grew up to womanhood and married, the 
 29th of January, 1826, David S. Nelson, of Gloucester, Ale., where 
 she died in June 1826. Both the mother and the daughter had but 
 short careers after they were married. 
 
 Mr. Nelson married the second time Mary Hale, August 31, 
 1809, then of Franklin, Conn. She was born 23d November, 1782; 
 died May 2, 1851. She was a relative or niece of Rev. David 
 Hale, who had been the fourth pastor at Newent. She was the third 
 daughter of Joseph Hale, an officer in the American Revolutionary 
 War, and of his wife Rebecca, a daughter of Judge Joseph Harris, 
 of New London, Conn. 
 
 Mr. Nelson's first wife had with other qualities of excellency 
 much amiability of character; the second wife was verv intelligent, 
 judicious and refined, most kind and popular with all with whom 
 she came in contact. 
 
 Rev. Levi Nelson was born in Milford, Mass., the 8th of Au- 
 gust, 1779. He died in Lisbon 18th December, 1855, universally 
 lamented by the church of whom he was pastor, as well as all who 
 knew him and his great worth. 
 
 The Lisbon first church experienced a great loss not only in 
 their pastor's death ; but within a few weeks prior they had lost two 
 principal officers of the church in the deaths of Deacon Tracy and 
 Deacon Reuben Bishop. 
 
 Levi Nelson was the youngest of the eleven children of Mr. 
 Seth and Mrs. Silence (Cheney) Nelson. Seth, a brother of Levi, 
 was the father of Rev. Henry Nelson, formerly of Albany, N. Y. 
 Another nephew of Levi Nelson was Rev. John Nelson, D.D., grad- 
 uate W. C. 1807, a trustee of W. C. 1826-33; ordained pastor at 
 Leicester, Mass., 1812, and continued in that pastoral relation till his 
 death, 1872. 
 
 Mr. Levi Nelson, owing to a failure of his health when pursuing 
 his college education, did not attain to graduation. But Williams 
 College, where he had been enrolled, gave him in 181 o the honorary 
 degree of A.M. He had obtained theological instruction from Rev. 
 Nathaniel Emmons, D.D., of Franklin, Mass., and received a com- 
 mission from a Massachusetts society to take up missionary work, 
 which he did in New York for a part of the year 1803. Early in 
 1804 his labors in Lisbon commenced. They were dissolved by his 
 death, as has been stated, 18th December, 1855. At his funeral a 
 sermon was preached by Rev. Roswell Whitmore, of Dayville, and 
 an address was made by Rev. John P. Gulliver, D.D., of Norwich. 
 Both the sermon and the address were requested for publication, 
 but were never published. Those persons who knew Mr. Nelson 
 as their pastor will ever retain a high respect and regard for his 
 habitual kindness and love and counsel to them, which will ever be 
 held in high esteem as long as life and memory last. A memorial 
 gift of a pulpit has been recently presented to Lisbon church in honor 
 of Rev. Levi and Marv Nelson. 
 
28 
 
 KEV. LEVI AND MARY NELSON. 
 
 A summary review of these five pastors in the Newent church, 
 covering a little over one hundred years, appears as follows : 
 
 Rev. Mr. Kirkland from 1723 to 1753 
 
 Rev. Mr. Peter Powers r 756 " 1770 
 
 Rev. Mr. Joel Benedict " 1770 " 1782 
 
 Rev. Mr. David Hale " 1789 " 1803 
 
 Rev. Mr. Levi Nelson " 1804 " 1855 
 
 ( )f the four pastors that preceded Mr. Nelson in Newent, the 
 historian of Norwich testifies, they were all men of more than com- 
 mon attainments and each was distinguished by peculiar and prom- 
 inent traits. A general statement might, with probable accuracy, 
 present them briefly, thus : ; — Kirkland, ardent, earnest, sensitive, sin- 
 cere : — Powers, with plainness of speech, shrewd, and strenuous, 
 with robust energy : — Benedict, accurate, firm, substantial, well 
 poised, well controlled, and controlling those about him: — Hale, with 
 executive ability, planning well, scholarly and tasteful, followed 
 by Nelson, affectionate, pure-minded, less showy than solid, but 
 tenacious : — then Lee, of the Hanover church, Lisbon, had his strong 
 influence, who was bold in thinking, lenient towards others in opin- 
 ion, resolute and vigorous in deeds, and with these six strong men 
 add Dr. Perkins (the elder), Lisbon's physician, a Deacon of the 
 Newent church nearly forty years, who was enterprising, decisive, 
 practical, and wise. Of these seven persons six were in the Newent 
 church. The first was in public life here thirty years, the three 
 next following respectively fourteen, twelve, and fourteen years, and 
 the fifth, fifty-one years; the sixth, sixtv-four years, and the seventh. 
 
20 
 
 sixty-five or sixty-six years, and all before entering office had been 
 trained at the ablest of the New England educational institutions, 
 and were a great power in this community. 
 
 In the year next after Mr. Nelson's death, the Rev. Mr. David 
 Breed supplied for a while, and near the close of 1856 he was invited 
 and was installed the sixth pastor of the church, 17th February, 
 1857. Rev. Dr. Samuel Wolcott, father of ex-U. S. senator of Col- 
 orado, and pastor of the High Street Church in Providence, R. I., 
 preached the sermon on that occasion. Mr. Breed, in compliance 
 with his request, was regularly dismissed from his pastorate in 
 Lisbon November 30th, 1861. Subsequently Rev. Lewis Jessop 
 ministered from 1862 to 1866. 
 
 Rev. Simon Waters from 1866- 1867. His death closed his con- 
 nection here in 1867. 
 
 Rev. John Haskell from 1867 to 1871. 
 
 Rev. Richard Manning Chipman from July, 1871, to March 
 31st, 1879. 
 
 Rev. Josiah Green Willis, 1880 to November nth, 1882. 
 
 Rev. John B. Griswold, 1882 to April 1st, 1886. 
 
 Rev. Ouincy M. Bosworth, July, 1886, to July 1898. 
 
 Rev. Edwin Bradford Robinson, November 1st, 1898, to March, 
 1901. 
 
 Rev. Tyler Eddy Gale has been engaged to supply since May 
 22, 1902. 
 
 SCHOOLHOUSE OF DISTRICT NO. I, ON THE CHURCH GREEN. 
 
THE CHURCH IN SUMMER. 
 
 One devoted family to the Newent Lisbon Church deserves a passing 
 notice for their loyalty to its prosperity and maintenance, having been church- 
 goers here for three or four generations. The Baldwins, although non- 
 residents of Lisbon, living just over its border line in South Canterbury, 
 have had some connection with the Newent Church ever since the Rev. 
 Peter Powers on February 10, 1761, married their grandmother to her first hus- 
 band, Reuben Bishop. Mrs. Bishop married a second tinr* Capt. Benjamin 
 Burnham, and their daughter, Hannah Burnham, married Dr. Elijah Bald- 
 win, Sr. This family has had among its members a practicing physician 
 for nearly a hundred years. Miss Helen Baldwin, M.D., now practicing in 
 New York City, is a great-grandchild of above Mrs. Burnham, and is held in 
 high esteem by her professional brethren. 
 
 While no village or dwellings surrounded the Newent church, 
 she has had immediately opposite her frontage a pleasant old home- 
 stead, which for a long period has extended a welcome to her wor- 
 shippers, where at the intermission between services on Sundays the 
 ladies were inclined to drop in and speak of town topics. 
 
 Directly between this residence, owned by the late Tyler Brown, 
 and the church can be seen the stone whipping-post, which serves 
 more in these latter days to post town notices and society meetings 
 than for holding criminals for punishment. Mr. Tyler Brown 
 formerly kept a store, which later on was used as a conference 
 house, and which now is Lisbon's Town House. This Mr. 
 Brown was the father of George M. Brown, a prominent lawyer 
 
3' 
 
 and well-known citizen of Boston, who spent about fifty years of his 
 life there and was highly esteemed by those who knew him. His 
 brother, the late Daniel M. Brown, was a life-long fanner in Lisbon, 
 living at their old homestead, and he has left an only son, a physician 
 now practising his profession successfully at Norwich. The mother, 
 Airs. Daniel M. Brown, dwelling at this old home, which has stood 
 so intimately connected with Lisbon's center so many generations, 
 still has a friendly interest in town affairs and in the church's 
 welfare. 
 
 REMINISCENCE. 
 
 A little reminiscence connected with the writer's life he is 
 tempted to give, showing that eighty years ago this present summer 
 thf schools of Lisbon were not wholly destitute of athletic contests 
 to develop physical culture among her children. 
 
 In 1823 the brick schoolhouse of the second district was being 
 built by Mr. Elijah Rathbun, Sr., and it was completed that fall, 
 when my father, Reuben Bishop, taught the first winter's school 
 in that edifice in 1823 and 1824. While this brick schoolhouse was 
 being erected and no suitable room to be had for a summer school, 
 I was sent a mile and a half from home to the central district. This 
 was no joke for a three-year-old kid, even if he was big enough to 
 go barefooted. My recollection is very vivid of things that took 
 place that summer in an athletic strife in which I endeavored to 
 show the late Daniel M. Brown that I was the best man in physical 
 culture, and got flogged. It didn't trouble me that he was a year 
 older than myself, but I thought he took advantage of my long 
 walk, and, being tired, in accepting the challenge. The teacher. Miss 
 Lucy Stevens, tried to comfort and console me by telling me "Daniel 
 was a bad boy, and I had better not play or fight with him any more." 
 There was no further strife for the championship that summer. I 
 followed the instruction of the schoolma'am and held athletic sports 
 at a discount while I attended her school. 
 
 The first church was built as described and in the locality named 
 while the Rev. Mr. Kirkland was pastor, about 1723. It was used a 
 little less than fifty years. The second church was built under the 
 supervision of Mr. Ebenezer Tracy, architect and builder, while the 
 Rev. Joel Benedict was the pastor. It served almost ninety years, 
 when it was taken down, much to the disappointment of many per- 
 sons who had a great reverence for its sacred walls. Its high tower 
 and bell, its pews and high pulpit, its sounding board, its broad aisle 
 and deacon's seat, were all impressive and much revered. Had the 
 old church been preserved Lisbon would now have had one of the 
 most interesting churches in the State. When first built it had no 
 
32 
 
 steeple or tower, neither a bell to call its worshippers to service. It 
 might have been the custom here, as in many other places at that 
 early period, to assemble at the call of a drum, or a bugle, or horn 
 blowing. First it was furnished only with benches, which after- 
 wards were replaced with square pews. Large enclosures made of 
 high wainscoted walls, against the sides of which seats were ranged 
 and within which were frequently two or three chairs. At the base 
 of the pulpit was a narrow pew called the deacon's seat. The pulpit 
 of the oldest church of Xewent had a cushion which when the second 
 church was built temporarily was used to indicate their respect for 
 it. For the last fifty years of this second church's use it had been 
 made more comely by the building of a tower and steeple and by 
 hanging a suitable bell which was given to the Society by Captain 
 Andrew Clark. The sounding board above the pulpit always seem- 
 ed to represent to me a gigantic turnip hung up by the tip of the root 
 to the ceiling and was something like an umbrella over the head of 
 the minister. There was a sacrament-table affixed to the deacon's 
 seat which could readily be adjusted in its place for communion 
 service. 
 
 I can well remember the toot from the chorister's pitch pipe, 
 which gave the keynote for the tune to be sung, as well as after- 
 wards the sound of the bass viol when it succeeded the pitch pipe. 
 The front of the second church was towards the west. On its lowest 
 
 THE CHURCH IN WINTER, 
 
S3 
 
 floor in the corners northwest and southwest were flights of stairs 
 to the galleries and all around were roomy side pews (fourteen of 
 them) topped with a bobbin balustrade made over high panelled par- 
 titions. The central space inside of the wall pews, after containing 
 only benches for several years, was furnished with two blocks of bod}' 
 pews, in each block eight so arranged that between these blocks and 
 the wall pews a passageway was left ; and from the main entrance 
 to the pulpit a wider passageway, distinctively termed the broad 
 aisle. In this description it must not be forgotten that the galleries 
 on the south side were for females, with a colored pew (so-called) 
 over the stairs in the corner for colored females ; while in the north 
 gallery were only men to be seen, with a corresponding pew for col- 
 ored male in its corner. Who that ever saw the pulpit desk uphol- 
 stered in a faded pink silk fabric, with long graceful tasselled fringe, 
 can ever forget its rich and appropriate furnishings? 
 
 It was the general custom of the period to have a tithing man, 
 legally appointed, to look after disorderly boys and to be a terror 
 to evil doers. The writer well remembers his great embarrassment 
 and mortification, now more than seventy years since, when frol- 
 icking and laughing, with some of his youthful companions, in a 
 large corner pew of the gallery ; whereupon Squire Levi Corning, 
 a magistrate and tithing man, stood up, with his tall imposing figure, 
 using his clenched fist to pound upon the top of his pew and then 
 stretching out his long index finger, he pointed to us, saying, "Those 
 boys must not disturb these services." 
 
 The third church, which is now standing, was built in 1858 on 
 the site of the second church. The first step taken towards erecting 
 it was on April the 8th, 1853. After considering all the matters 
 involved it was decided to build. And this resolution was adopted 
 January the 9th, 1858 : That committee should be appointed to pre- 
 pare for and to superintend the construction of a church. 
 
 The committee consisted of Edmund F. Tracy, Daniel M. 
 Brown, and William A. Johnson, and they were "instructed to build 
 a new meeting-house, the proportion and cost to be determined by 
 themselves," and Mr. Eleazer Bushnell, who had "taken unwearied 
 pains to obtain subscription of funds for building," and who had 
 been (unexpectedly) successful "in the endeavor," received the So- 
 ciety's "unanimous thanks for his persevering and meritorious ser- 
 vice." On January 16th, 1858, a resolution was adopted "that the 
 front of the new meeting-house should stand where the front of the 
 old one now stands." In prosecuting the work assigned the build- 
 ing committee made much dispatch, and they reported the work com- 
 pleted and received honorable discharge September 9th. 1858, and 
 the society "voted to obtain funds to complete the payment of the 
 expenses incurred." 
 
34 
 
 The congregation, while the edifice was in process of construc- 
 tion, assembled for their worship in the conference-house which the 
 society had owned since 1847 — anc l which by a purchase from the 
 society had been the town-house of Lisbon since 1867. An assem- 
 blage of Christian worshippers was gathered in the new structure 
 for the first service September 15, 1858, and by an appropriate 
 religious service it was dedicated to God. 
 
 List of Deacons of the Church of Newent, with the Dates 
 of Their Services. 
 
 Joseph Perkins from 1723 to 1726 
 
 Samuel Lothrop 1 7 2 3 " l 755 
 
 Jabez Perkins " 1726 " 1742 
 
 Isaac Lawrence " 1742 " 1756 
 
 Jacob Perkins " 1756 " 1776 , 
 
 Joseph Perkins " 1756 " 1794 
 
 ! Andrew Tracy " 1756 " 1807 
 
 Ebenezer Tracy " 1795 " 1803 i 
 
 Jedediah Safford " 1804 " 1822 
 
 William Adams " 1809 " 1835 
 
 Levy Crosby 1822 " 1831 
 
 Freeman Tracy " 1834 " 1855 
 
 Reuben Bishop " 1835 " J 855 
 
 Elisha Paine Potter " 1851 " 1858 
 
 Elias Bishop " 1855 " 1868 
 
 Resigned 1869. 
 
 Jedediah Lovett " 1861 " 
 
 Jeremiah K. Adams 1887 ' 1893 
 
 George Robinson 1887 ' 1898 
 
 Henry P. Bushnell " 1893 " 
 
 Edward C. Strong " 1898 " 
 
 Before the Xewent Society was divided more than one effort 
 was made for its division. A memorial was made and addressed to 
 the General Assembly and signed by sixteen inhabitants of Newent, 
 with fourteen signers of the second church, and ten of the first so- 
 ciety of Norwich, in May, 1745, making complaints of the distance 
 and other extraordinary difficulties which rendered a division de- 
 sirable. Newent Society presented by its agent a remonstrance to 
 this request, and the Assembly did not grant the privilege. 
 
 Fifteen years afterwards another petition, made by forty-three 
 persons, was presented to the General Assembly on May, 1760, stat- 
 ing that too great a distance was inconvenient, and the increased 
 numbers at Newent rendered the meeting-house too small to accom- 
 modate the people that might wish to attend worship there. Again 
 Newent parish voted to oppose the petition of Capt. John Perkins 
 and others for a new ecclesiastical society, and voted to choose an 
 
35 
 
 agent to attend the General Assembly to oppose their petition there ; 
 and the prayer of the petitioners was not granted until the following 
 year, May, 176 1 , when the seventh Society of Norwich was estab- 
 lished and denominated "Hanover," as a compliment to George 
 Guelph, who in 1760 became George the Third, King of Great 
 Britain, as well as the Electoral Prince of Hanover, Germany. This 
 new Hanover Society, before it was incorporated, raised by sub- 
 scription £1,400 for the support of the gospel ministry. Its first 
 edifice for public worship was ready as early as 1766 and the church 
 was constituted with a membership of fourteen, and with one excep- 
 tion all had been members of the Newent church. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 HANOVER PARISH. 
 Established in 1 761 -1766. 
 
 Messrs. Timothy Stone, Theodore Hinsdale, Panderson Aus- 
 tin, and others, supplied the preaching, and two of those mentioned 
 received and declined calls to settle as pastors. In 1768, August 
 31st, the church voted to invite Mr. Andrew Lee to settle with 
 them as their minister. Mr. Lee on October 1st, 1768, having re- 
 plied affirmatively, was taken into the church as a member on the 
 25th of October, 1768, and on the following day was ordained as 
 their pastor, which relation was not dissolved till his death on the 
 23d of August, 1832. This long pastorate of Dr. Lee in Hanover 
 extended almost sixty-four years. In a confession of faith of this 
 church on May 2d, 1787, they adopted nearly the same as that of 
 the Newent church, although there had been all along some divergent 
 views in regard to covenants, which were binding in holding persons 
 baptized in infancy on church rolls, etc., etc. Whether Dr. Lee was 
 at first (as some suspected) lax in respect to theology, Rev. Levi 
 Nelson, with good reason, said of him, 1849: "He left behind him, 
 when he had finished his labors, a united orthodox church." 
 
 During the four or five years preceding Dr. Lee's decease minis- 
 terial aid was afforded him by Rev. Henry Perkins, Rev. Daniel 
 Hemingway, Mr. James Anderson, and Rev. Jonathan Cone. 
 The said Mr. Perkins and Mr. Anderson received each, in 1828. a 
 call to become colleague pastors, but neither became such. Mr. Cone, 
 in 1829, was called with like result. 
 
 Mr. Barnabas Phiney, in compliance with an invitation which 
 the church had unanimously given him, became by regular ordination 
 associate-pastor in February, 1830. And he retired November, 
 1832. 
 
 Rev. Philo Judson was installed pastor June, 1833, and retired 
 July, 1834. Rev. Joseph Aver was pastor from September, 1837, 
 to June, 1848, and the Rev. James A. Hazen from December, 1852. 
 until he died on the 29th October, 1862. Between the pastorate of 
 Mr. Judson and that of Mr. Ayer, Rev. Daniel Waldo and Edward 
 Cleveland supplied the service, and between Mr. Ayer's and Mr. 
 Hazen's terms the Rev. Ebenezer W. Robinson officiated. 
 
37 
 
 LIST OF CHURCH DEACONS OF HANOVER. 
 
 Before Hanover was separated from Lisbon the Deacon's names 
 and terms were as follows : 
 
 Joseph Bushnell from 1769 to 1791 
 
 Nathan Bushnell " 1769 " 1791 
 
 Reuben Peck " 1791 " 1806 
 
 Asa Witter " 1791 " 1793 
 
 David Knight, Jr " 1793 " 1796 
 
 Nathan Lord " 1796 " 1819 
 
 Barnabas Huntington " 1806 " 1830 
 
 Ebenezer Allen " 1819 
 
 William Lee " 1830 
 
 AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS 
 Of 125th Anniversary of the Hanover Church, 1891. 
 
 An address before the Hanover Congregational Church cover- 
 ing a period of a hundred and twenty-five years from its beginning 
 in 1766 to 189 1, has been pubished by the Bulletin Company of 
 Norwich, Conn. 
 
 Of this interesting and full historical account by the Rev. L. 
 H. Higgins (the pastor, in 1891, when the celebration took place), 
 I cannot speak too highly. Its completeness for the Hanover 
 Church-History is so well established that no historical scholar need 
 expect to add much to, or improve upon it. It is the best record to 
 be found in print, not only of the church, but of the town's history. 
 
 In the year 1843 two Methodist Societies were gathered within 
 the boundaries of Lisbon. Those Societies were not of long duration 
 and did not make a very marked history in the town, and not many 
 facts concerning them are now obtainable. 
 
 After Hanover was divided from Newent these two Methodist 
 Societies and six other parishes remained parochially within Nor- 
 wich, and territorially were constituted parts of its township twen- 
 ty-five years longer, and thus Norwich, as to municipal concerns, 
 continued so much longer a unit. Had her attempt made in 1745 
 to divide Newent been successful she could not have so long main- 
 tained so broad a territory. The inhabitants of Norwich had gained 
 great advantages by partitioning its township into eight parishes, 
 and keeping them under her own supervision for a long while. The 
 civil interests and obligations of these parishes were still inconven- 
 ient to them in distances to travel to the town centre, where increas- 
 ing population had demanded and obtained more frequent town- 
 meetings, to meet the urgent necessities of the people, and had to be 
 borne for twenty years or more. The colonial Legislature repeatedlv 
 
3« 
 
 denied all requests for division into different townships, till Norwich 
 with one dissenting voice agreed that three of the parishes lying 
 north and east might be made into one new town, and with 
 one dissenting voice only, agreed that two of the parishes, with 
 part of another, lying north and east, might be made into another 
 new town. Two memorials were presented to the General Assem- 
 bly asking it to carry into effect that design, and the result was that 
 the Assembly in 1786, instead of making from Norwich two new 
 towns, made three — namely, Bozrah, Franklin, and Lisbon (except 
 that part of Preston, which afterwards became Griswold, was not 
 included in the act incorporating Lisbon). The joint petition of 
 Newent and Hanover was granted, and these two parishes remained 
 together, each forming a part of Lisbon's township seventy-five years 
 — till 1861 — when Lisbon, in turn, itself was divided. At this time 
 Norwich had been in existence as a town two hundred years, Newent 
 as a parish nearly one hundred and fifty years. Hanover just 
 about one hundred years after it had been made a parish became 
 in 1 86 1 a portion of a new town called Sprague, and from that date 
 (1861) we do not connect its history longer as properly belonging to 
 the town of Lisbon ; although the social bond was not severed, the 
 people cherished kindly a great interest in each other's welfare, and 
 they really feel that they are yet, as one people, not separated, though 
 represented in two townships. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 LISBON. 
 Its History from 1786. 
 
 This Connecticut Lisbon was doubtless named after Lisbon in 
 Portugal, from the fact that Hezekiah Perkins and Jabez Perkins, 
 and other commercial shippers traded from Norwich with Lisbon in 
 Southern Europe and that probably suggested this name. 
 
 Among the names of those that came early to Norwich (the 
 Newent-Lisbon territory) from Ipswich, Mass., who became prom- 
 inent in the early settlement of this part of Connecticut were the 
 Bishops, Burnhams, Kinsmans, Saffords, Stevens, and many more 
 quite as important, and later on they were reinforced by the Potters, 
 Comings, Lovetts, Aliens, Crosbys, Whittakers, Rathbuns, Brom- 
 leys, and Bottoms. These were all energetic, hard-working men 
 who subdued a wild tract of land and made it ready to cultivate 
 crops for maintaining their families. 
 
 Says Rev. Mr. Chipman, in looking up their history after 
 wood had become valuable and when they no longer had to burn it up 
 to get it out of the way : They found a good market value for wood 
 if it could be hauled four or five miles. And he cites the example 
 of James Burnham in 1774. who had "in twenty years hauled twenty- 
 five hundred loads of wood, mostly cut by himself and without ac- 
 cident of any kind, to a market five miles distant, for which he re- 
 ceived $1,100. The same man had expended five hundred days' 
 labor in subduing and fencing two acres of land ; built with his 
 own hands four hundred rods of stone fence, supplied himself with a 
 new house, commodious and well furnished to fill the place of one 
 with its contents destroyed by fire. Given to the town for a highway 
 one hundred rods of land, erected a school house and painted it, and 
 presented it to his school district, and for several years, without 
 charge, furnished most of the fuel to warm it." He was born in 
 Lisbon and is a good type of what a Lisbon man can do. Many 
 still living will recall, as the writer can, these old farmers clad in 
 their leather aprons or sheepskin, tanned pliable to protect their 
 homespun garments. 
 
 "The viands accompanying the cider (of the olden time) were 
 sweet, well-grown Indian corn, beans made savory by well-fattened 
 pork, well cooked in great brick ovens" which the wives of those 
 earlv settlers knew how to serve in a most appetizing manner. The 
 fathers and the mothers were vigorous thinkers and co-operated with 
 their early pastois in aiding their children to become "like unto 
 their fathers, men of solid character." Lisbon's children have been 
 
40 
 
 able by their schools and their superior teachers, and the private 
 teaching of their pastors, to inspire the youth of both sexes in long- 
 ings for knowledge, and the ability to get it and apply it to them- 
 selves. In illustration of this fact we have only to look at the 
 long roll or record of men, born and raised in Lisbon, who have 
 emigrated to other parts of the country and become eminent in all 
 the professions, as well as the other walks of life. 
 
 The longevity of Lisbon people has become proverbial. Over 
 thirty persons can be recalled who have lived over ninety years, and 
 quite a number have exceeded a hundred years. One of the men 
 born early in Lisbon, the third Jabez Perkins (the father of 
 Erastus Perkins), died in 1853, aged almost one hundred and 
 two years. Many more instances of those very aged could be cited 
 as having been born, lived, and died in Lisbon's present territory. 
 
 Connecticut in 1784 decreed that every slave child born after 
 October in that year should become free on attaining twenty-five 
 years of age. The records of Lisbon present an entry made in 1789 
 of the birth of a slave and the name of the owner, which entry was 
 made to make sure to that child the freedom of that act. 
 
 From that period onward there was continued an increasing op- 
 position to slavery in the State, advancing and hastening that great 
 strife which was to come, and which should forever wipe out the 
 system of bondage in our land. In one modest, humble home of 
 Lisbon there lived a family of the name of Stevens, whose son, named 
 Aaron Dwight Stevens, had such an aversion to slavery that he lost 
 his life in joining with another native of Connecticut in hostile ef- 
 forts, well meant but ill-advised, against American slavery, and 
 came to his death, as the other man John Brown did, near Harper's 
 Ferry in 1859. 
 
 Lisbon was ever ready to take a share in her country's strifes in 
 warfare in 1812-15 as well as in the Great Rebellion. We shall en- 
 deavor to give a list of some of their names further on. 
 
 Lisbon's inhabitants were mostly farmers in good circumstances 
 who have always been substantially mindful of the claims of man- 
 kind upon them in all emergencies throughout their whole history. 
 They recognized that pauperism was from general shiftlessness or 
 from excessive dissipation, and there was very little sympathy with 
 those addicted to such habits ; hence scarcely any who ever needed to 
 appeal to the town authorities for aid were found among her resi- 
 dents. Suits at la *• for crime were almost unknown — no man born 
 in Lisbon has been known to deserve a felon's doom. 
 
 While Lisbon has not failed to furnish not a few persons who 
 have entered the various professions, and followed the various me- 
 chanical arts, she herself has but few following those trades and arts 
 among her present population. They have had to seek other fields 
 to follow their calling with any success. While Lisbon hardly sup- 
 ports a doctor or a lawyer, or maintains a post-office centre, or mer- 
 chant store, for the convenience of her people, she still is not very 
 remote from these desirable conveniences. 
 
4» 
 
 Lisbon has had two turnpike roads running through her terri- 
 tory from north to south constructed by incorporated companies, 
 which had toll gates for gathering money of all travelers to pay 
 cost of construction and repairs. At the beginning of the latter 
 part of the last century the toll gates were abolished and the roads 
 abandoned to the town for care and maintenance. One of these 
 turnpikes was from Norwich Town over Lovett's Bridge north to 
 Canterbury and Brooklyn, the other starting from Norwich Landing 
 crossed Lathrop's Bridge (near Tunnel Hill), kept on a parallel line 
 with the Quinabaug River, and crossed it at the Jewett City Bridge: 
 thus proceeding northward and eastward through Plainfield to 
 Boston and Providence. Both these turnpikes maintained stage 
 lines carrying United States mails and passengers, which daily 
 brought to these farmers and their families a close touch of outside 
 life. 
 
 U. S. MAIL BETWEEN NEW YORK AND BOSTON. 
 
 Lisbon has now two railroads passing through her territory, 
 one of which gives her a station recently denominated Lisbon ; an- 
 other station called Versailles, on the same railroad, is situated be- 
 tween Lisbon and Sprague. Still another station, on the Norwich 
 and Worcester Railroad at Jewett City, is very close to her eastern 
 border and much used by all residents of Lisbon. 
 
 By a recent aid of a Free Rural Delivery, No. 4, from Norwich, 
 Lisbon gets a daily service by the Postal System. All of which is 
 duly appreciated, and perhaps in no very distant day may be supple- 
 mented by a trolley line, which now is much needed. 
 
 Lisbon's misfortunes have been not to have a central growth, 
 "a pivotal point" ; her situation has been by the side of two consider- 
 able rivers, furnishing very fine water-powers, but when developed 
 they have increased her population upon her outer borders, and have 
 been grasped away from her to increase and enhance other new 
 towns, when she should have got more benefit from them. The old 
 residents of Lisbon used to complain that their taxes were made too 
 
42 
 
 high in support of so many bridges to build and keep in repair. 
 They had to bear half of the expense of Jewett City Bridge, across 
 the Quinabaug, then across the Shetucket there were three others to 
 be maintained — viz.. Lord's Bridge, Lovett's Bridge, and Lathrop's 
 Bridge, which by frequent floods would be washed away and need 
 rebuilding. There has been recently built at Taft another bridge 
 across the Shetucket, which gives a fourth on that river. However, 
 Lisbon gets many advantages by the overflow from these new vil- 
 lages springing up on her borders. Within Lisbon's former terri- 
 tory, Hanover, now the township of Sprague, it had but one consid- 
 erable water-power stream running through her territory, which 
 Lisbon lost in forming the new township of Sprague. 
 
 No small town or territory was ever favored with a greater 
 percentage of water-power privileges than Lisbon, or ever got so 
 little from such favorable advantages. 
 
 She had on the east side the Quinabaug River, from the Aspi- 
 nook Bleachery in Jewett City down to its union with the She- 
 tucket, where there is said to be undeveloped power, now near 
 the railroad tunnel. Here also is now being constructed a large 
 plant to utilize compressed air for power. 
 
 On her western border the Shetucket River, rich with water- 
 power, gave the splendid results seen at Baltic Village, in the 
 township of Sprague. Still lower down the river and just above 
 Lovett's Bridge the Shetucket River has had a dam erected which 
 has created a manufacturing village at Occum ; between that vil- 
 lage and Taft below there is said to be an undeveloped power for 
 future use. The immense factories at Taft, called the "Ponemah 
 Mills," are held in great admiration of all who are interested in man- 
 ufacturing textile products in our country. With the above rivers 
 on each side, and the "Little River" running through the centre of 
 the town, Lisbon gained great privileges. The most northern priv- 
 ilege on the Little River has been the Allen's Woollen Mill, owned 
 and operated by that family, until recently, for several generations. 
 Formerly, just below the Allen's Mill, was established a rubber fac- 
 tory, which made shoes for several years, but was aferwards moved 
 to Colchester. 
 
 Still further down the stream an old saw mill and grist mill 
 existed, which was changed and utilized by a German named 
 Obernau, who established a paper manufactory there, and after- 
 wards a power » /ivilege just above it was developed, by erecting 
 other paper mills, which were operated by Obernau, Reade & 
 P- - successfully during the war of the rebellion and subse- 
 
 ( lIV. 
 
 Next below on Little River, nearly one hundred years ago, 
 there was a yarn mill called John Gray's Factory. It was later 
 v*l'(\ and improved by Hiram Tarbox in manufacturing jewelry. 
 
 The village was then called Eagleville for quite a long period ; 
 it now goes by the name of Versailles. This Versailles power from 
 time to time has been very much enlarged and improved and sue- 
 
43 
 
 cessfully operated by different parties in making- cloth fabrics, for 
 which it has a large and splendid factory. At the present time 
 it is operated by the Uncas Manufacturing Company of Norwich. 
 All the thrift and wealth of the above villages has been lost to Lis- 
 bon and gained by Sprague through the division of the town in 1861. 
 
 The marked increase of population from 1850 to i860 of over 
 three hundred persons was due to the growth of the Baltic Village, 
 which is now a part of the town of Sprague, having been separated 
 from Lisbon the following year, 1861 — thus leaving Lisbon at 
 the next census, taken in 1870, but 502. For the next following 
 years after Sprague was set off Lisbon did not increase much, if 
 any, nor will she very soon perhaps again return a thousand souls, 
 for her territory is very small — I think the smallest town, or the 
 smallest save one in the State. Lisbon, unlike many towns, had 
 but few other than those of English descent ; formerly, nearly all 
 were so ; but more recent observation brings in a greater number 
 or percentage of foreign born citizens. 
 
 The smallness of a town or county does not always militate 
 against its usefulness to mankind in a larger sphere. Rev. Mr. 
 Chipman, from whom I quote largely in writing upon this point, 
 says : "The small county, Buckingham, in England, when it fur- 
 nished to that country the one man, John Hampden, rendered to 
 England a more valuable service than any of its greater counties, 
 even collectively taken, ever gave. The hamlet of Scroobv, in 
 England, hardly to be found on a map, while it trained such men 
 as William Brewster and William Bradford, equalled and sur- 
 passed the greatest cities in conferring benefits on the English nation, 
 as well as on the whole world. The roll of the inhabitants of Lisbon 
 has heretofore contained a part of the descendants of those men, 
 and in that roll are yet numbered persons whose surnames are 
 derived from that great man who, at Scrooby and Amsterdam, was 
 the pastor of those men — John Robinson. 
 
 No search has been specially directed for ascertaining how many 
 Lisbon families are descended from the company, then little regarded 
 and since so renowned, which were landed from the Mayflower 
 at Plymouth in 1620. But it has incidentally appeared that descend- 
 ants of at least twelve individuals in that company — namely ( Ruling 
 Elder) William Brewster; (Merchant) Isaac Allerton ; (Assistant) 
 John Howland ; and ( Warrior) Miles Standish — have lived ' " 
 Lisbon. 
 
 Lisbon has sent out many distinguished men to settle 1 
 
 towns ; several removed their residence to Norwich Landing ; ou r 
 of her sons were early emigrants to New Hampshire, Vermont, 
 Massachusetts, Central New York, and Eastern Ohio. A few went 
 to Murrayfield, Mass., which they named Norwich ; of late years 
 that name has been changed to Huntington, although one part of 
 the town has a post-office still called Norwich. 
 
44 
 
 The towns of Kinsman and Kirkland in Ohio were named from 
 Lisbon men who settled there. Among Lisbon's sons may be men- 
 tioned members of congress, judges, lawyers, doctors, clergymen, 
 and missionaries. 
 
 Rev. Daniel Waldo, although not a native resident of Lisbon, 
 but so near her border in Scotland, was highly beloved and re- 
 vered by the Lisbon people. He was early in Home Missionary 
 work in New York State ; he was acting minister of the second 
 church of Lisbon in 1834. He was born 10th September, 1762; 
 graduate Yale College 1788; died July 30, 1864, nearly one hundred 
 and two years old. He was called Father Waldo, and was a chaplain 
 in the U. S. Congress from 1856 to 1858, and then ninety-four years 
 of age ; showing another instance of longevity of natives of Lisbon 
 and vicinity. 
 
 Rev. James Alexander Hazen was born at West Springfield, 
 Mass., 1813; graduate Yale College 1834; died October 29, 1862. 
 He was pastor of the second church of Lisbon from his installation, 
 December 1, 1862, till his death. He was the last minister in Han- 
 over society while she remained an integral part of Lisbon. As 
 Hanover is no longer in Lisbon, but in the town of Sprague since 
 1861, we omit following her history from that date. 
 
 MAI' OF LISBON. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 Dr. Joseph Lathrop. D.D., was born in Lisbon, 1731 ; graduate 
 Yale College 1754; died 1820. His descendant, Samuel, graduate 
 Yale College 1792; died 1846; who for several year? was a Member 
 of Congress — from 1818 to 1826. 
 
 Rev. Nathan Perkins, D.D., fourth son of Captain Mathew 
 and Mrs. Hannah Bishop Perkins, was born in Lisbon (Newent), 
 May 18, 1749; graduate C. N. Y. 1770; died January 18, 1838. 
 Preached at West Hartford after he had been settled in Wrentham, 
 Mass. 
 
 Gen. Simon Perkins, born in Newent, Lisbon, in 1771 ; died 
 November 19, 1844. He was a land surveyor when a young man 
 about twenty-four. He married Nancy Anna Bishop ; removed 
 to Warren, Ohio, in 1804. He is said to have done valuable service 
 in the war of 1812-1815. His father, Simon Perkins, was a lieu- 
 tenant in the Continental Army. Born October 25, 1737; died 
 September 7, 1778. He was the second son of Dr. Joseph Perkins 
 and Mrs. Mary Bushnell Perkins, and a grandson of Deacon Joseph 
 Perkins and of his first wife, Martha Morgan Perkins. This 
 General Simon Perkins, who removed to Warren, Ohio, became 
 a thrifty and prominent citizen of that place. He was the father 
 of the late Henry Bishop Perkins, who died in Warren March 2, 
 1902, who was well known throughout the State and country as a 
 multi-millionaire, and has left three children, now living in Ohio. 
 One of his sons, Henry Bishop Perkins, Jr., died October, 1900. 
 
 Hannah Perkins, born in Newent, Lisbon, Jul\- 7, 1701 ; died 
 1745. She was the daughter of Jabez Perkins, Esq., and Mrs. 
 Hannah Lathrop Perkins. She married October 16, 17 18, Capt. 
 Joshua Huntington, born December 13, 1698; died August 26, 1745. 
 He was one of the earliest of the shippers from Norwich Landing, 
 afterwards called Chelsea. The oldest child of Capt. Joshua and 
 of Mrs. Hannah (Perkins) Huntington was Jabez, born August 7, 
 1719; died October 5, 1786. He had been a successful merchant 
 in Norwich and was well known in the West India trade. During 
 1 750- 1 763, two or three years excepted, he was a Representative 
 
4 6 
 
 in the Colonial Legislature, and was Speaker of the Lower House 
 1 760- 1 763. He was one of the State's Council of Safety in the 
 period of the Revolution; appointed in 1776 one of the two Major- 
 Generals of the Connecticut Militia, and a year afterwards was a 
 sole Major-General. One of his children was Jedadiah Huntington, 
 born August 4, 1743 ; graduate H. C. 1763 ; died September 25, 1818. 
 He was a Brigadier-General in the Continental Army, afterwards 
 Brevet Major-General; Sheriff of New London County ; Treasurer of 
 State, Connecticut, and a member of the Convention by which Con- 
 necticut accepted the U. S. Constitution. Appointed in 1789 Collector 
 of the Customs for New London district, and held that position under 
 four National Administrations. He was one of the original Cor- 
 porate Members of the A. B. C. F. M. One of his sons was Jabez 
 Huntington, graduate Yale College 1784, a President of the Nor- 
 wich Bank ; another was Joshua Huntington, graduate Yale College 
 1804, a pastor of the old South Church in Boston: another son 
 was Ebenezer, born December 26, 1754; graduate Yale College 
 1775; died June 17, 1834; a Brigadier-General chosen in 1810, and 
 in 1817 a Member of Congress; also a Major-General of Connec- 
 ticut Militia. One of the daughters of Major-General Jabez was 
 Mary, wife of the Rev. Joseph Strong, D.D., of Norwich; and 
 another was Elizabeth, wife of Col. John Chester, of Wethersfield. 
 whose daughter Elizabeth was wife of Eleazer F. Backus, of Albany, 
 N. Y., and was the mother of the Rev. John Chester Backus, of 
 Baltimore, Md., and of Rev. Trumbull Backus, D.D., of Schenec- 
 tady, N. Y. 
 
 Susanna Perkins, born in Newent, Lisbon, January 29, 1752; 
 died September 10, 1810; was a daughter of Capt. Mathew and Airs. 
 Hannah Bishop Perkins; she married August 13, 1772, Rev John 
 Staples, of Taunton, Mass; born 1744; died February 15, 1804; 
 first pastor of the second church in Canterbury till his death. 
 Among their eleven children were Seth Perkins, graduate Y. C. 
 1797; died 1861 ; a distinguished lawyer, resident in New Haven 
 and in New York ; appointed with Nathaniel Terry and David 
 Deming, 1815, to revise all the militia laws of Connecticut. Job 
 Perkins, graduate Y. C. 1808; died 1861 ; and Sophos. graduate 
 Y. C. 1809; died 1826. 
 
 Rev. William Potter was born in Lisbon, February 1, 179(1, the 
 second son of William and Mrs. Olive Fitch Potter. William, the 
 last named, was born in Ipswich, Mass., January 29, 1758; the 
 second son of Anthony and Sarah (Fuller) Potter, said Anthony 
 having died in November, 1758; his widow married Josiah Wood. 
 Her son, William, was brought by them to Scotland, Conn., in 1762, 
 from which he moved to Newent, Lisbon, in 1777, where he died 
 May 27, 1832. The wife of the above named William Potter, Sr., 
 
47 
 
 was a daughter of William and Mary ( Paine ) Fitch, the former 
 a son of Hon. James Fitch, of Canterbury, Conn. ; the latter a 
 daughter of Rev. Elisha Paine, Jr., originally a lawyer in Canter- 
 bury, Conn., Pastor of a Separatist Church in Bridgehampton, L. I.. 
 and in his time closely connected with the origin of the denomina- 
 tion called Separatists, now extinct. William Potter, Jr., attended 
 the Academies at Litchfield, now Morris, and at Clinton, N. Y., 
 and was approved by the Windham Association, January 20, 1820, 
 and later in the same year was ordained at Killingly, Conn. Ho 
 was a missionary to the Cherokee Indians for some twenty years 
 at Creek Path, Ala. Since then he has been in ministerial service 
 in Ohio He married Laura Weld, of Braintree, Vt, a niece of 
 Rev. Ludivicus Weld, Pastor in Hampton, Conn., from 1792 to 1824. 
 
 Dr. Jedediah Burnham, born in Xewent, Lisbon, April 3, 1755; 
 died in Kinsman, Ohio, March 11, 1840; was the oldest child of 
 Capt. Benjamin Burnham, Jr., and of his first wife, Mrs. Jemima 
 (Perkins) Burnham. Benjamin Burnham, Sr., along with three 
 brothers and a nephew, were early emigrants to Lisbon from Ipswich 
 (now Essex), Mass. He married, April 20, 1727, Mary, born Jan- 
 uary 20, 1707-8, daughter of Robert and Rebecca (Burley) Kins- 
 man, born in Ipswich, Mass., December 21, 1696; died October 15, 
 1737. Dr. Burnham, after receiving medical tuition from Dr. 
 Joseph Perkins, Sr., practiced his profession in his native place until 
 his removal to Ohio in the spring of 181 7, and was also before 
 his removal employed much in Parish and town affairs. He 
 married, April 27, 1799, Lydia Kent, born September 19, 1752. 
 Their oldest son, Jedediah, born July 19, 1806, was father of Jede- 
 diah Kent Burnham, graduate Y. C. 1854; an attorney at Fort 
 Smith, Ark. 
 
 Rev. Aaron Kinne was born in Lisbon, son of Moses and 
 Abigail (Read) Kinne, April 26, 1742, graduate Y. C. 1765; died 
 9th July, 1824. He was a pastor in Groton, Conn. He was a 
 home missionary in Xew York and Berkshire County, Mass. Mar- 
 ried Mary (Wolworth) Morgan and they had eleven children; two 
 sons graduated at Yale College 1794 and 1804. 
 
 Dr. Elisha Perkins, third son of Dr. Joseph Perkins, born in 
 Newent, Lisbon, January 16, 1741 ; died in New York, September 
 6, 1799. After completing his study with his father he settled in 
 Plainfield, Conn., and had an extensive practice as a physician. He 
 invented, about 1796, a sort of mechanical remedy called Tractors, 
 which was thought to effect remarkable cures by some. 
 
 Dr. Elisha's son, Rev. John Douglass Perkins, graduate Y. C. 
 1 791 ; died 1847; was a home missionary in 1795. His son, Rev. 
 
4 8 
 
 George Perkins, graduate Y. C. 1803; died 1852; was a pastor 
 in Jewett City, and his son, Benjamin Douglass Perkins, graduate 
 Y. C. 1794, died 18 10, was an eminent bookseller in New York, 
 and his daughter, Susan, married first Josiah Lyndon Arnold, Esq., 
 graduate D. C. 1788; died 1796; and second, Hon. Charles Marsh, 
 LL.D., graduate D. C. 1786; died 1849. She was the mother (by 
 first marriage) of the Hon. Lemuel Hastings Arnold, graduate 
 D. C. 181 1 ; died 1852, who was a Member of Congress and a Gov- 
 ernor of Rhode Island. Susan also was mother of Lyndon Arnold 
 Marsh, graduate D. C. 1819, and of Hon. George Perkins Marsh, 
 LL.D., graduate D. C. 1820, who was Minister of the United States 
 to Turkey, and to Italy. A grandson of Dr. Elisha Perkins above 
 was Dr. Elisha H. Perkins, of Baltimore, Md. 
 
 Dr. Joseph Perkins was born in Newent, Lisbon. November 2^, 
 1704; graduate Y. C. 1727 ; died July 7, 1794. He was eldest son of 
 Deacon Joseph and Mrs. Martha (Morgan) Perkins. Deacons. 
 Joseph and Jabez Perkins, and their brother Mathew Perkins, 
 were among the earlier settlers of Lisbon. They were born at 
 Ipswich, Mass. They were the sons of Jacob and Mrs. Elizabeth 
 Perkins. Said Jacob, to whom his father's homestead was be- 
 queathed, was one of the six children who. with their parents, John 
 and Judith Perkins, came from England in 1631. This John Per- 
 kins was among the first twelve occupants of Ipswich, founded by 
 Hon. John Winthrop, Jr., founder afterwards of New London, 
 Conn. Elizabeth, a daughter of Jacob, and Mrs. Elizabeth Perkins, 
 was by her husband, Thomas Boardman, mother of Margaret 
 (Boardman), wife of Capt. Richard Manning, of Ipswich, whose 
 daughter, Anstice, became the wife of Samuel Chipman, of Salem, 
 Mass. 
 
 Dr. Perkins, after applying himself to the study of medicine 
 and surgery, established himself in Newent and soon showed him- 
 self an able practitioner. In both departments of his profession he 
 had alike knowledge and skill. He continued to practice until near 
 the close of his life. Patients sometimes were resident at his house, 
 making it substantially, if not formally, a private hospital. He was 
 especially distinguished, as has been said, as a surgeon. The 
 "heroic" practice, as by him exhibited, was not the daring of an 
 experimenter who was rash, but the courage of one who knew exi- 
 gencies and responsibilities, and as well knew what resources he 
 had for meeting them. His abilities were appreciated in other than 
 professional lines. He was elected selectman when a little over 
 thirty ; was made a deacon of the church at the age of thirty-eight 
 years, and to the last justified the confidence he had gained. Or. 
 Perkins married first, July 17, 1728, Lydia Pierce, of Plainfield : she 
 died January 8, 1730, aged twenty-four years. He married again. 
 
49 
 
 July 28, 1730, Mary, the second daughter of Dr. Caleb Bushnell, of 
 Norwich. She died February 8, 1795, aged eighty-seven. By the 
 first marriage Dr. Perkins had a daughter, Lydia, who married 
 Daniel Kirkland (probably Daniel, born October 1, 1725, son of 
 Rev. Daniel Kirkland). By this latter wife there were several 
 children. Dr. Joseph Perkins, Jr., oldest son of Dr. Joseph 
 Perkins, St., bom August 11, 1733; died May 5, 1775. He was 
 instructed by his father and practiced in his native town, Newent, 
 Lisbon, until smallpox terminated his life. He married Joanna, 
 oldest daughter of Benjamin Kinsman and his wife, Mary (Burn- 
 ham) Kinsman, who was born May 30, 1733. She married the 
 second time, on January 16, 1780, Pember Calkins, of New London. 
 Dr. Perkins*s children were four sons, viz. : Major Joseph Perkins, 
 a Captain in the Continental Army, merchant in Norwich, whose 
 son, Alfred Elijah Perkins, M.D., graduate Y. C. 1830, died in 1834, 
 a generous benefactor of Yale College. His daughter, Mary Wat- 
 kinson Perkins, was the wife of the late Hon. John A. Rockwell, 
 M. C. from 1847 to 1849, and the mother of Alfred Perkins Rock- 
 well, graduate Y. C. 1855, late professor there. She was also the 
 mother of Joseph Perkins Rockwell, P. B. at Y. C. 1868; also of 
 John A. Rockwell, M.D., who more recently lived at Lisbon on the 
 Tracy farm, which he owned for a while ; also of Benjamin Perkins, 
 graduate Y. C. 1785; died in 1841. Elijah Perkins, M.D., graduate 
 Y. C. 1787; died 1806; a practitioner in Philadelphia; and Horn 
 Elias Perkins, graduate Y. C. 1786; died 1845; M. C. from 1801 to 
 1803, and was Mayor of New London 1829-32. He was the father 
 of Nathaniel Shaw Perkins, M.D., graduate Y. C. 181 2, who died 
 1870; he practiced medicine in New London, and was father of 
 Thomas Shaw Perkins, who graduated Y. C. 1812, and died 1844. 
 
 Dr. Eliphas Perkins was born m Newent, Lisbon, 1753: grad- 
 uate Y. C. 1776; died at Athens, Ohio, 1828. After receiving 
 medical instruction with Dr. Jabez Fitch, of Canterbury, he estab- 
 lished himself in medical practice at Vergennes, Vt, whence he 
 removed to Marietta, Ohio, in 1799. He was an able physician, a 
 patron of learning, and a devout Christian, and was treasurer of the 
 Ohio University. His father was Capt. John Perkins, born October 
 5, 1709; died April 16, 1761 ; a son of Deacon Joseph Perkins. His 
 mother, the second wife of his father, was Lydia (Tracy) Perkins. 
 The above Dr. Eliphas's wife was Lydia Fitch, second daughter of 
 the above-mentioned Dr. Fitch, and who died in t8oo in Marietta, 
 Ohio. Of their children the eldest was Chauncev Fitch Perkins, 
 M.D., born 1782 ; died 1872 ; a practitioner in Athens, Ohio, and at 
 Erie, Pa. The youngest was Rev. Henry Perkins, D.D., born 
 February 9, 1796; graduate O. U. 1816. In Allentown, N. J., from 
 1820 to January, t88o, a pastor there, and at his death still retain- 
 ing the pastoral relation. 
 
5° 
 
 Dr. Caleb Perkins, born at Newent, Lisbon, 1747, the youngest 
 son of Dr. Joseph Perkins, St., was a physician who practiced his 
 profession in West Hartford, Conn. His wife was a sister of John 
 Trumbull, LL.D., who graduated Y. C. 1767, and a daughter of Rev. 
 John Trumbull, who graduated Y. C. 1735, and was first pastor of 
 the church in Westburv, Watertown. 
 
 Dr. Abijah Perkins, born in Newent, Lisbon, August, 1755; 
 died August 31, 1782. He was a surgeon in the revolutionary army 
 and was captured by the British forces, and his death occurred from 
 hardship endured while held as a prisoner. His parents were Capt. 
 John Perkins and Lydia (Tracy) Perkins. 
 
 Simeon Perkins, Esq., emigrated to Liverpool, Xova Scotia, in 
 1762. Said to have been born in Norwich, February 24, 1735. He 
 died May 9, 181 2, having been a Judge of Probate, and held various 
 other official positions in that Province. 
 
 He undoubtedly was born in Newent, Norwich, or Lisbon, 
 February, 1735, as he was baptized there on record February, 1735, 
 and was the son of Jacob Perkins, Esq., and his wife, Airs. Jemima 
 (Leonard) Perkins. 
 
 Enoch Perkins, Esq., fifth son of Capt. Mathew and Mrs. 
 Hannah (Bishop) Perkins, born at Newent, Lisbon, August 11, 
 1760; graduate Y. C. 1781, and was made a tutor there from 1784 
 to 1786; died in 1828. He was a legal practitioner in Hartford, 
 Conn. He married Anna, born February 19, 1764, a daughter of 
 Rev. Timothy Pitkin, who graduated Y. C. 1747, a son of Gov. 
 William Pitkin. A son of Enoch Perkins and his wife was Hon. 
 Thomas Clap Perkins, born July 29, 1798, and graduate Y. C. 1818; 
 died October 11, 1870; an attorney in Hartford and a revisor of the 
 statutes of Connecticut, and often a State Senator, and elected a 
 Justice of the Supreme Court, an office which he declined. His 
 children by his wife Mary, a sister of Rev. Lyman Beecher, D.D., 
 were Charles Enoch Perkins, who graduated W. C. 1853, an attor- 
 ney-at-law at Hartford, Conn., and Frederick Beecher Perkins, who 
 graduated Y. C. i860. Another son of Enoch Perkins and of Mrs. 
 Anna ( Pitkin ) Perkins, was Rev. George William Perkins, who 
 graduated Y. C. 1824; died November 15, 1856; was successively a 
 pastor at Montreal, Canada ; in Meriden, Conn., and a pastor and 
 editor in Chicago, 111. 
 
 Ephraim Perkins, Esq., the third son of Capt. Mathew and 
 Mrs. Hannah Bishop Perkins, born July 8, 1745: died April 23, 
 1813, was a prominent and leading citizen of Becket, Mass., where 
 he emigrated in 1770. He married, November 7, 1771. Mary Chap- 
 
5 1 
 
 lin, of Mansfield, now Chaplin, and was the father of Alathew 
 Perkins, who graduated Y. C. 1799, and died 1808; he was an 
 attorney at Lisbon, N. Y. ; and still another son, and brother to 
 this last, was Hon. Bishop Perkins, who died in Ogdensburgh, 
 X. Y., and was a Member of Congress, as well as a Member of the 
 Constitutional Convention of New York. 
 
 Samuel Perkins, seventh son of Capt. Mathew and Hannah 
 Bishop Perkins, born September 14, 1766; graduate Y. C. 1785; 
 died September 22, 1850. He was approved as a candidate for the 
 ministry by the New Haven Association, 1789. He lived in Wind- 
 ham and was a deacon of a church there. He married Anna Hunt- 
 ington, and was the father of Samuel Huntington Perkins, graduate 
 Y. C. 181 7, a lawyer in Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 Mary Lee, born in Hanover, Lisbon, April 16, 1771, a daughter 
 of Rev. Andrew Lee, D.D. ; married February 12, 1795, William 
 Perkins, of Ashford, who graduated Y. C. 1792; died 1820. One 
 of the children of said William Perkins and his wife, Mary Lee, 
 was George Perkins, born December 24, 1803 ; graduate Y. C. 1828 ; 
 a lawyer and resident in Norwich, who died October 13, 1874. 
 
 Dr. Jabez Fitch was born in Newent, Lisbon, May 23, 1728 or 
 1729; he was a second son of Col. Jabez Fitch and his wife, 
 Lydia (Gale) Fitch. This Jabez Fitch, Jr., and Hannah Per- 
 kins were married by Peter Powers. His ancestors were of the 
 first settlers. Major James Fitch appears as an original proprietor 
 of large tracts of Lisbon territory. These Fitches were allied to the 
 Bradfords and Adams families of Massachusetts ; some of them 
 had been residents in Canterbury ; one of Dr. Fitch's children was 
 Rev. Ebenezer Fitch, D.D.. born 1756; died 1833; graduate Y. C. 
 1777, and a tutor there eight years, and the first president of Wil- 
 liams College. Later he was a pastor in West Bloomfield, N. J. 
 
 Abigail Porter, of Newent, Lisbon, married, February 25, 
 1776, Jacob Galusha, whose son, Hon. Jonas Galusha, born 1753, 
 was in 1813 Governor of Vermont, and died in Shaftsburv, Vt., 
 1834- 
 
 John Kinsman, born in Newent, Lisbon, 1753; died in Kins- 
 man, Ohio, August 17, 1813. He was the oldest son of Capt. 
 Jeremiah and his wife, Sarah Thomas Kinsman. John married 
 Rebecca Perkins, of Lisbon, October 4, 1792; removed June 14, 
 1804, to Ohio, and was chief among the founders of the township 
 by him purchased, where his posterity perpetuates his name. 
 
5 2 
 
 Rev. James, a son of James Abel, whose parents were Alpheus 
 and Elizabeth Abel, baptized at Hanover, Lisbon, April 20, 1803 ; 
 graduate Y. C. 1819; was pastor at Andover Theological Seminary 
 in 1822 ; afterwards in other places. He died at Oswego, N. Y., 
 May, it 
 
 Rev. Beriah Green, born in Hanover, Lisbon, 1800; died May 4, 
 1874; graduate M. C. 1819. He was afterwards in several positions 
 of trust and importance, and was made President of Oneida College 
 Institute, Whitesboro, N. Y. He had a brother, Rev. John Smith 
 Green, born in Lisbon, graduate Andover Theological Seminary 
 1827, who was ordained minister and went as missionary of the 
 A. B. C. F. M., at Wailuku, or Maui, S. I. Since 1843 he was 
 missionary of the A. M. Association at Makawao, Sandwich Islands. 
 He also had a son, Rev. J. P. Green, also a missionary at Oahu, S. I. 
 Rev. J. S. Green died January 5, 1878, aged eighty-one years. 
 
 Luther Manning, M.D., born in Hanover, Lisbon, January 9, 
 1786; died in 1835; married on January 10, 1810. Lydia. born 
 January 19, 1782; died December 11, 181 1, a daughter of Jedediah 
 Burnham, of Newent, Lisbon. He was a practitioner in Scotland, 
 Conn. His father, Dr. Luther Manning, a physician in Hanover, 
 Lisbon, was born in Scotland, Conn.; died May 7, 1813 ; was a son 
 of Hezekiah and Mrs. Mary Manning, and married October 12, 
 1779, Sarah Smith, of Scotland, who died June 5, 1840, aged 
 eightv-five vears. 
 
 Rev. John Adams Allen, a son of Harvey Allen and Mrs. 
 Luceba (Adams) Allen, was born in Hanover, Lisbon, December 1, 
 1816; graduate O. C. 1842, and Ob. Theo. Seminary in 1845; mar- 
 ried, 1847, Elmira Pierce, and was pastor in Sheffield, 111. Said 
 Harvey and Mrs. Luceba Allen removed to Ohio in 18 17. Their 
 other children were Rev. Nathan W. Allen, of Oregon, and Dr. 
 Charles P. Allen, of Princeton, 111., who has been not only a 
 physician, but a lawyer and a missionary among the Indian tribes 
 of the West. 
 
 Dr. Daniel Gordon, a son of Daniel and Mrs. Jennet Gordon 
 was born in Newent, Lisbon, August, 1765; graduate D. C. 1786; 
 studied medicine with Dr. Elisha Perkins, of Plainfield, and married 
 Priscilla Pierce. He was a successful physician in Plainfield, and 
 after some ten years he was married and removed to Granville, 
 N. Y. He is still remembered by the oldest people, but the time 
 and place of his death have not been ascertained. 
 
53 
 
 Hon. John Lovett was born in Newent, Lisbon, February 20, 
 1761 ; graduate Y. C. 1782; died at Fort Meigs, Ohio, 1818. He 
 was a lawyer of distinction in Albany, N. Y., and a Member of 
 Congress 18 13- 17. By his wife Nancy, daughter of Samuel Mc- 
 Clellan, of Woodstock, he was the father of eight children. His 
 oldest son, John Erskine Lovett, graduate Y. C. 1814, died 1847, 
 was also a lawyer in Albany. The Hon. John, first of the above, 
 was the oldest son of Captain Samuel Lovett, born October 
 14, 1735, died August 1, 1831, and of his first wife, Abigail Sprague, 
 of Lebanon, married April 20, 1758, died 6th of March, 1761, aged 
 twenty years. This Samuel Lovett married the second time, June 
 30, 1763, Charity Perkins, daughter of Jabez Perkins, Jr., of 
 Newent, Lisbon. The Lovetts of Lisbon were descendants of his. 
 
 Rev. Ebenezer Werks Robinson, son of Ralph Robinson, of 
 Granville, N. Y., preached in Hanover, Lisbon, from 1849 to 1852. 
 He died in Washington, D. C, April, 1869. At his suggestion 
 the action was taken which resulted in the celebration at Norwich 
 in June, 1859, of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the 
 general association of Connecticut ; one result of which, especially 
 due to his own industry, is seen in the valuable work published in 
 1861 under direction of that body, entitled "Contributions to the 
 Ecclesiastical Historv of Connecticut." 
 
 Dr. Jonathan Knight, born in Newent, Lisbon, 1758; after 
 studying medicine, was a surgeon 1777 and 1780 in the Con- 
 tinental Army, and afterwards settled in Norwalk, Conn. David 
 Knight, one of the early occupants of Lisbon, who married in Nor- 
 wich, March 17, 1692, Sarah, a daughter of Stephen and Mrs. 
 Sarah (Spencer) Backus, was a grandparent of the above Dr. 
 Jonathan. A son of Dr. Jonathan Knight was Jonathan Knight, 
 Jr., M.D., graduate Y. C. 1808, an eminent physician and dis- 
 tinguished professor in Yale College, and was made President of 
 the American Medical Society. He was born September 4, 1789; 
 died August 25, 1864. 
 
 Rev. Caleb Knight, born in Hanover, Lisbon, October 30, 1771, 
 graduate W. C. 1800; died October 25, 1854; was probably a 
 grandson of a Benjamin, born in Newent 1730, and removed when 
 very young with his parents to Monson, Mass. He studied theology 
 with the Rev. Charles Backus, D.D., and was ordained in Hinsdale, 
 Mass., April, 1802. His last years were passed in Hatfield, Mass. 
 A Benjamin Knight died in Hanover, Lisbon, April 14, 1772, aged 
 sixty-four vears. 
 
54 
 
 Temperance Bishop was born at Newent, Lisbon, 1733, the 
 daughter of John and his second wife, Mrs. Temperance Lathrop 
 Bishop. She married, November 12, 1761, Daniel Holmes, then a 
 physician at Woodstock, Conn. He died in 1788. Dr. Holmes 
 served during the war between England and France (1756), and 
 subsequently was in command of a company and served through 
 several campaigns in Canada. During the American war for In- 
 dependence he was a surgeon in the Continental Army. His second 
 wife, Temperance Bishop, was, according to manifold testimony, a 
 lady of noble bearing and surpassing excellence and loveliness. 
 Their oldest child was David Holmes, born 1762. Their second 
 child was Rev. Abiel Holmes, D.D., LL.D., born December 24, 
 1763. He died June 4, 1837. He graduated Y. C. 1783, and was 
 ordained at New Haven September 15, 1785. Pastor at Medway, 
 1785-91. A portion of that time in office as tutor in Yale College 
 and pastor in Cambridge, Mass., in 1792-1832. Among his numer- 
 ous published writings are "American Annals," two volumes, of 
 which the first edition appeared in 1805. He married, first, Mary, 
 the daughter of Rev. Ezra Stiles, D.D., LL.D., President of Yale 
 College, by which marriage there were no children. He married, 
 second, Sarah, the daughter of Hon. Oliver Wendell, of Boston, 
 by which marriage there were five children born : Mary Jackson, 
 wife of L T sher Parsons, M.D., of Providence, R. I. ; Ann Susan, 
 wife of Hon. and Rev. Charles W. Upham, a pastor in Salem, Mass., 
 a mayor of that city and a Member of Congress ; a daughter, who 
 died early ; Oliver Wendell Holmes, M.D., a medical professor, dis- 
 tinguished also as a poet and an author, and a John, who was also 
 a doctor and a lawyer. 
 
 Rev. Stenhen Tracy was born in Newent, Lisbon, 1749, graduate 
 C. N. J. 1770; died 1822. He was a son of Jeremiah Tracy, Jr., 
 and of his first wife, Mrs. Abigail (Story) Tracy. He was first 
 pastor of the church in Peru, Mass., 1772-76, and was the first pastor 
 of the church of Norwich, Mass., now Huntington, Mass., from 
 May, 1 78 1, to June, 1799. 
 
 Eleazer Jewett was born in Newent, Lisbon, August 31, 1731, 
 and died in Jewett City, Griswold, December 7, 1817. He removed 
 early in 1771 from Newent to Preston, now Griswold, and settled 
 on the Pachaug River near its entrance into the Quinabaug. He 
 erected there a grist mill and later a saw mill, and by selling land 
 at reasonable rates drew other persons to his vicinity, and from 
 this beginning arose gradually around him a village thriving with 
 manufacturing and mechanical enterprises, which was called Jewett 
 
 City. 
 
 The headstone at his grave in Jewett City states: "In April, 
 1771, be began the settlement of this village, and from his perse- 
 
55 
 
 vering industry and active benevolence it has derived its present 
 importance." 
 
 Mr. Jewett was twice married. His first wife was Sarah Farn- 
 ham, who died May 4, 1798. His second wife, Elizabeth Gallup, 
 died February 16. 1822. (Of his children, Thomas married in Lisbon, 
 February 3/1785, Prudence Rood; Sarah married Col. Constant 
 Murdock, of Norwich, Vt. : a daughter married John Wilson, and 
 the fifth child, Joseph jewett, married, March 4, 1790, Betsy King). 
 The children of Joseph and Betsy ( King) Jewett were as follows : 
 Betsy, born November 20, 1790; Sally, born December 25, 1792; 
 Lydia, born December 26. 1794: Ann, born October 19, 1796; 
 Eleazer, born Tanuarv 11, 1799; Henry, born April 2, 1801 ; Joseph 
 
 JOSEPH JEWETT HOME, LISBON. 
 
 R., born December 18, 1802; Thomas M., born September 30, 1! 
 and Charles, born September 5, 1807. The last was the well-known 
 temperance lecturer and advocate, a full account of whose life can be 
 found in W. M. Thayer's book entitled "Life and Recollections of 
 Charles Jewett." We are kindly permitted to print his photograph 
 and his old homestead. 
 
 Elizabeth Clement, a daughter of Jeremiah and Mary Mosely 
 Clement, married, in Newent, Lisbon, December 15, 1776, David 
 Breed, of Norwich, and after his death she became the second wife of 
 
DR. CHAS. JEWETT. 
 
57 
 
 Rev. Aaron Cleaveland. Their daughter, Abiah Hyde Cleaveland, 
 became the first wife of Rev. Samuel H. Cox, D.D., LL.D., and the 
 mother of Right Rev. Arthur Cleaveland Cox, D.D., Bishop of the 
 Protestant Episcopal Diocese of Western New York. 
 
 Eunice, the oldest daughter of Rev. Andree Lee, D.D., and his 
 wife, Eunice Hall Lee, was born in Hanover, Lisbon, October 26, 
 1769. and married, January 21, 1796, Rev. Asa Witter, born in 
 Preston, 1766. The earliest known persons by that name were at 
 Lynn, Mass., in 1650: Ebenezer Witter, of Preston, born 1668, mar- 
 ried May 5, 1693, Dorothy Morgan, a sister of Rev. Joseph Morgan, 
 who was pastor of two churches in Greenwich and whose sister, 
 Mary, was wife of the eldest Deacon, Joseph Perkins, of Lisbon. 
 
 Rev. Asa Witter, graduate Y. C. 1793; died 1833; was pastor 
 of a church in Wilbraham, Mass., from 1797 to 1814. He removed 
 to Canandaigua, N. Y., 1815, and subsequently to Winchester, 
 Tenn., where he died. His oldest child, John, graduate Y. C. 1812, 
 was a tutor in 18 15- 17 and a practitioner of medicine in Texas, 
 where in 1858 he died. 
 
 Rev. Timothy Allen was born in Norwich, Lisbon, August 31, 
 1715; graduate Y. C. 1736; died in Chesterfield, Mass., January 
 12, 1806. He was pastor of a church in West Haven, and at 
 Orange 1738-42, and of the first church of Ashford from 1757-64, 
 and that of Chesterfield, Mass., 1785-96. He preached sometimes in 
 Granville, Mass. He was, with his father, a founder of the church 
 in Norwich, and became a prominent leader among the so-called 
 "New Lights." After he had been dismissed from his church at 
 West Haven, he was in New London in 1743 at the head of what 
 was styled "The Shepherd's Tent," which was instituted to teach 
 exhorters and ministers and train them for their work. Dr. Trum- 
 bull represents him as "A man of talents and strict morals and as 
 earnest and effective in preaching." He married, first, Mary Bishop, 
 and his second wife was Dorothy Gallup, a widow of John Read. 
 His grandson. Rev. Jacob Allen, born August 18, 1781, in Preston, 
 was an earnest and instructive preacher. 
 
 Clarissa Huntington, born in Hanover, Lisbon, May 3, 1791, 
 eldest daughter of Deacon Barnabas (Perkins) Huntington, mar- 
 ried Martin Bottom ; they had a son, Martin, born December 2, 
 1810. She married a second time, on April 20, 1820, Dr. Rufus 
 Smith, a physician of Griswold, and afterwards in Hanover, who. 
 
58 
 
 from 1838 to 1845, was a ^ so pastor of the church in Easthampton. 
 One of their children, Rufus, horn September 17, 1821, graduate Y. 
 C. 1846 and died 1847. 
 
 Dr. Walter Burnham, a son of Capt. Benjamin and of Mrs. 
 Jemima (Perkins) Burnham, was born at Newent, Lisbon, Feb- 
 ruary, 1762, and died September 6, 1834. He practised medicine 
 in Brookfield, Vt. He married, first, in 1792, Submit Smith, of 
 Northfield, Mass., who died June 26, 1826, and he married again 
 in April, 1829, a widow Peck. He had two sons, of which the elder, 
 Zebulon Burnham, M.D., born 1796, died 1861, was a physician of 
 good repute. The younger son, Walter Burnham, M.D., born 1808, 
 was a* resident of Lowell, Mass., Professor of Surgery in the Wor- 
 cester Medical Institute, 1850-60, and a surgeon in the Sixth Massa- 
 chusetts Regiment of the IL S. V. A. from 1862 to 1863. 
 
 A brother of Dr. Walter Burnham, Sr., was Zebulon Perkins 
 Burnham, born 1766; died 1810; a prominent shipmaster and mer- 
 chant of Norwich. 
 
 Josiah Read deserves mention as being probably the earliest 
 white settler in what was then called the crotch of the rivers She- 
 tucket and Ouinabaug, later known as Newent and now Lisbon. 
 This was in 1687. He died July 3, 17 17. The estate of said Josiah 
 Read, in Lisbon, has from his death till this time been in the pos- 
 session of his descendants. 
 
 Jerusha Perkins, born September 1, 171 1, a daughter of Deacon 
 Joseph and Mrs. Martha Morgan Perkins, of Norwich, Lisbon, 
 married July 17, 1733, Rev. Jedediah Hyde, who died 1761. He 
 was pastor of a Separatist church at "Bean Hill," Norwich, from 
 
 1747 to 1757. 
 
 Rev. Horace Bushnell, born in Hanover, Lisbon. November 
 20, 1802, was the youngest but one of the eleven children of Mr. 
 Jason and Mrs. Hannah (Kirkland) Bushnell. The earliest Bush- 
 nells in this country were at Salem, Mass., 1637-39. Horace Bush- 
 nell united with the Congregational church at Rome, N. Y., in 1826, 
 was a student of the Oneida Co. Institute 1826-30, and was for 
 two years a teacher in the class department of Lane Seminary, 
 Ohio. He received license to preach at Cincinnati October 14, 1831. 
 He gathered the Storrs Congregational church in that city in 1832 
 and labored there for a long time. He married, at Hanover, Lisbon, 
 June 17, 1832, Caroline Hastings. Their only son, Horace, Jr., 
 was educated at Farmer's College, Ohio, T859, and at Lane Seminary, 
 1862, and was pastor at a church in Southport, Ind., afterwards. 
 
59 
 
 Louisa Kirkland Bushnell, horn in Hanover, Lisbon, in 1791, 
 was a sister of Rev. Horace Bushnell. She married Agrippa S. 
 Martin, of New Jersey. Their son, Rev. Charles Finney Martin, 
 was for some years a missionary of the A. M. S. to the Copts in 
 Egypt in 1859; afterwards became pastor of a church in Peru. 111., 
 and in the service of the Christian Commission, at Xashville, Term., 
 and died there during the War of the Rebellion. 
 
 William Fitch Bushnell, a brother of Rev. Horace Bushnell, 
 married, in Hanover, Lisbon, April 3, 181 5, Jane Corning Parish. 
 He was born in Lisbon 1794. They removed soon after marriage to 
 Rome, N. Y. Their oldest son, Andrew Lee Bushnell, M.D., was a 
 physician in Cincinnati, Ohio. 
 
 Their second son, Albert Bushnell, born 1818, studied at Ober- 
 lin, Ohio; graduated at Lane Seminary 1843, anc ^ soon joined the 
 Gaboon Mission of the A. B. C. F. M. in Western Africa, where 
 he had a loner service. 
 
 Rev. Xathan Lynde Lord, M.D., born December 8, 1821, grad- 
 uate W. R. C. O. 1847; cue d m ^ Tew York, January 23, 1868. He 
 pursued his studies in the theological department of the W. R. 
 College and was ordained in Hudson, Ohio, October 12, 1852. He 
 was in 1853-60 at Oodoopitty, Ceylon, and 1863-7 — having studied 
 medicine while on a visit to America — was at Madua, East India, 
 a missionary and physician of the A. B. C. F. M. He married, 
 at Stowe, Vt., August 11, 1850, Laura Weld Delano. 
 
 Rev. Amos Read, youngest child of Joseph and Mrs. Thankful 
 (Andrew) Read, was born in Newent, Lisbon, March 25, 1756, and 
 died in Lisbon, November 2, 1838. He was, as a minister of the 
 Baptist denomination, employed by churches in the vicinity of 
 his homestead. He married, first, July 9, 1778, at Scituate, R. I., 
 Mary Bennett, who died January 11, 1831 ; he married, second, in 
 Lisbon, June 28, 1831. Amelia Wales Palmer, who died January 24, 
 1847. Of the eleven children of Amos Read were Lydia, born July 
 
 2/, 1790, who married Rev. Oliver Tuttle ; [ ] Caleb Read, a son, 
 
 born Lisbon, November 24, 1780, who became a minister of the Bap- 
 tist denomination and a resident in Brookfield N. Y.,and in Germania, 
 N. Y., 1805 to 1809, and in Lisbon in 1810 to 1816, and later in Col- 
 chester and in Griswold. He married, in Montville, September 6, 
 1804, Mary Leffingwell, and their son Caleb was a Baptist minister, 
 as also their son Hiram, who was a missionary in New Mexico. Rev. 
 Levi Read, third son of Rev. Amos Read, was born in Newent, 
 Lisbon, March 16, 1783, and died there January 21, 1872; he mar- 
 
6o 
 
 ried in Brookfield, N. Y., 1817, Elley Potter. Of his children 
 are Charles B. Read, a Baptist minister, and a Daniel Read, LL.D., 
 who has been a president of Shurtleff College and has lived at Law- 
 rence, Kan. Rev. James Read, son of Rev. Amos Read, was born 
 in Lisbon, September 8, 1793, and has been a Baptist minister. 
 
 David, son of Deacon Andrew Tracy, married, in Newent, Lis- 
 bon, March 20, 1806, Sally Gorton. Their son, Rev. William Tracy, 
 D.D., born in Norwich, June 2, 1807, studied at Andover, Mass., and 
 at Princeton, N. J. ; has been since 1836 a missionary of the A. B. C. 
 F. M., at Madura, East Indies, to 1872, and then at Timpavanum, 
 and there he died in November, 1877. 
 
 Albert L. Tracy, oldest son of Deacon Freeman Tracy, of 
 Newent, Lisbon, and only child of Mrs. Charity Lathrop, his first 
 wife, married, in Griswold, March 10, 1825, Harriet Burch. Their 
 son, Rev. Thomas Tracy, was a graduate Hanover College, Ind., 
 1864, and of the Theological Seminary at Princeton, N. J., in 1867. 
 Has since 1868 been a missionary of the Presbyterian Board of 
 Missions in Northern India. 
 
 Hon. William Bishop, of Rochester, N. Y., was born in Lisbon, 
 1803 ; a son of Capt. Samuel Bishop and of his wife, Mrs. Lucy 
 (Lord) Bishop. He has a son, a clergyman, George Sayles Bishop, 
 D.D., graduate A. C. 1858, who has been a pastor in Newburgh, 
 N. Y., and now has been pastor for more than a score of years 
 at East Orange, N. J. He has served as Moderator of the Organ- 
 ized Synod of that locality. He was chosen "Yedder Lecturer" 
 before the college and seminary of New Brunswick in 1884, and 
 has been three times a delegate to the Pan-Presbyterian Council. 
 Of his two sons, one, Rev. William S. Bishop, is curate at St. John's 
 Chapel, New York, a graduate of Rutgers College and of the 
 General Theological Seminary, New York. Another son, a grad- 
 uate of Princeton, N. I., is a teacher in New York Citv. 
 
 Rev. William Hyde was born in Griswold, June 25, 1805. 
 His parents moved to Lisbon with him soon after his birth. He 
 was a son of Joel Hyde and his wife, Mary (Belcher) Hyde. He 
 graduated A. C. 1829, studied theology at Andover Seminary 1829- 
 32, and was ordained pastor of a church at Yorktown, N. Y., 
 June 2, 1833. Then pastor of a church at Westbrook, June 2^, 1838, 
 till 1854. In 1864 acting pastor at Lynne till his death, December 
 
6i 
 
 19, 1874. He married Martha Belcher and had eight children. The 
 third child, Joel Wilbur Hyde, born March 20, 1839, received from 
 Y. C. 1861 the degree of M.D. 
 
 Sarah Benedict, oldest daughter of Joel Benedict, D.D., and his 
 wife, Mrs. Sarah (McKown) Benedict, was born in Xewent, Lisbon, 
 August 28, 1774. She married, July 4, 1796, Rev. Eliphalet Nott, 
 D.D., LL.D., who was born at Ashford, June 25, 1773, and died 
 January 29, 1866. He studied theology with Rev. Dr. Benedict 
 (before mentioned) ; was a Presbyterian pastor at Cherry Valley, 
 N. Y., and in Albany, N. Y., and from 1804 till his decease Presi- 
 dent of Union College. Of their four children, one, Hon. Joel B. 
 Nott, of Guilderland, N. Y., graduate U. C. 1817, was the father 
 of Hon. Charles Cooper Xott, of Washington, D. C, who graduated 
 U. C. 1848, and was a Justice of the U. S. Court of Claims; and 
 another son was Rev. John Xott, D.D., of Fonda, N. Y. The 
 youngest son, Hon. Beniamin Xott, graduate U. C. 1823, lived in 
 Albany, X. Y. 
 
 The only daughter of Eliphalet Xott was Sarah Maria, who died 
 in 1839. She had married, April, 1824, Rt. Rev. Alonzo Potter, 
 D.D., LL.D., who graduated U. C. 1818, and died 1865. He was 
 professor in U. C. from 1831 to 1845, an d afterwards a Bishop 
 of the Pennsylvania Diocese of the P. E. church. He married, 
 second, Sarah, a daughter of Robert Benedict, born in Lisbon July 
 11, 1776, and who has resided at Richfield Springs, N. Y. A record, 
 speaking of the ten children of Bishop Alonzo Potter and Mrs. 
 Sarah Maria (Nott) Potter, about twenty years ago, when they 
 were all living, speaks of Hon. Clarkson Nott Potter, of New York, 
 graduate U. C. 1842, a lawyer and a Member of Congress from 
 1869 to 1875 ; also Howard Potter, of New York, graduate U. C. 
 1846, a member of the New York State Board of Commissioners 
 of Charities; and Robert Brown Potter, of Newport, R. I., Major 
 General of U. S. V. A., Ninth Army Corps, and Edward Tuckerman 
 Potter, of Xew York City, who graduated U. C. 1853, and Rev. 
 Henry Codman Potter, D.D., Bishop of New York City, and Rev. 
 Eliphalet Xott Potter, D.D., graduate U. C. 1861, President of Union 
 College, and William Appleton Potter, of Xew York, graduate U. 
 C. 1864. 
 
 Rev. Philo Judson, born in W^oodbury, January 14, 1784; died 
 in Hartford, March 11, 1874, having studied theology under Rev. 
 Azel Backus, he was pastor of the first church in Ashford from 
 181 1 to 1833, and pastor of the second church in Hanover, Lisbon, 
 from June, 1833, to July, 1834, and of the church in Willimantic 
 from 1834 to 1839, and acting pastor of first church in Middle 
 Haddam in 1846 to 1847, an ^ from 1848 and onward he resided at 
 Rocky Hill ; he was much engaged in revival work ; he possessed 
 a fervent, earnest spirit. 
 
62 
 
 Samuel Coit Morgan, graduate Y. C. 1812, was a son of Capt. 
 Elisha and Mrs. Olive (Coit) Morgan; was born in Lisbon, August, 
 1789; died in Norwich September 11, 1876. He was a lawyer, 
 residing, in 1816 to 1842, in Jewett City, and afterwards a resident 
 in Norwich ; was President of the Quinabaug Bank from 1842 to 
 i860. He married, September 1, 1816, Maria B., daughter of Rev. 
 Edward Porter, of Farmington. Married, second, November 26, 
 1849, Frances A., daughter of Gen. Moses Cleveland, of Canterbury, 
 and third married, June 12, 1861, Mary Cook, daughter of Dr. John 
 C. Tibbets. He had no children. At his death he bequeathed con- 
 siderable sums to various benevolent societies. 
 
 Joshua Bishop. — A short but influential life sometimes out- 
 reaches in wide results one of length of days. Joshua Bishop, 
 son of Capt. Reuben and Abigail Bishop, born April 19, 1814; with 
 hardly an average common-school education, when about twenty 
 years old, found himself located in New York City. Through social 
 acquaintance and church connection, he came in contact with those 
 philanthropists and pioneer Abolitionists, Lewis and Arthur Tappan, 
 and as they in New York, so did he in Lisbon circulate the anti- 
 slaverv literature of that period, which made lifelong Abolitionists 
 of thousands of those who lived to rejoice when emancipation was 
 accomplished by the pen of President Lincoln. 
 
 This same young man, who had but a little over half a dozen 
 years of active life left for him to live, made the acquaintance of 
 Dr. John Burdell, a prominent and eminent dentist, who influenced 
 him to study for the profession of dentistry. At this time the text 
 books on dentistry were mostly in French and German. He, with re- 
 markable insight, foresaw, as he studied the great importance of this 
 profession to the human race, its possibilities and the aptitude of 
 the Americans to take the lead in its future development and make 
 it, as they have, essentially an American profession. Not a large 
 city in the world to-day but has its American dentist honored abroad, 
 as at home. The profession of dentistry has the credit of discovering 
 anaesthetics, that invaluable boon to suffering mankind. Mr. Chip- 
 man, in searching the records of Lisbon's professional men, reports 
 four dentists. This Joshua Bishop, who was undeniably the first 
 to enter the profession from Lisbon, and who practiced in New York 
 City and in the West Indies, was influential in having at least five 
 followers from Lisbon, three of whom were his own brothers. 
 
63 
 
 CAPTAIN BURNHAM S INN 
 
 This old stage tavern or inn, was kept for a long time by Capt. Benj. Burnham, 
 who built the present house on an old tavern site. It was kept later by Capt. Reuben. 
 Bishop, father of the author, whose boyhood days were spent there; it was a tavern 
 where the stage line between Boston and New York changed its horses. It was, at the 
 time of the cholera scare in '32 and '33, a busy place, where daily three stages in each 
 direction drew up their foaming, panting horses upon the front green, the post-horn's 
 mellow tones having heralded their arrival. 
 
 Historians of our Revolutionary Strife are on record as saying, "On 
 Saturday, September 3d, during the earlier struggle in the Revolutionary 
 war, at 4 o'clock, P. M., an express arrived at Norwich from Col. Israel 
 Putnam ( whose home was not many miles from that locality) that Boston 
 had been attacked the night before and six of the citizens killed. This was 
 but a rumor, but it caused the greatest consternation. 
 
 The citizens of Norwich assembled about their liberty tree, then ad- 
 journed to the Court House and resolved to dispatch an express to Provi- 
 dence to learn the truth of the report. 
 
 David Nevins volunteered on this service, as he had on many similar 
 occasions, and departed at eight o'clock P. M. On Sunday morning 464 
 men, well equipped, and the greater part mounted on good horses, had 
 already started for Boston, under command of Mai. John Durkee, and ren- 
 dezvoused at Capt. Burnham's Inn, seven miles from Norwich Court House, 
 where they, at eleven o'clock A. M., were met by the return of Mr. Nevins 
 with information that the report was not true, whereupon they dispersed." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Having thus recorded a long list of the many distinguished 
 persons of Lisbon, the writer feels sure he has omitted many others 
 equally deserving of notice, which should find place in Lisbon's 
 history ; but it is quite impossible to get full and reliable records of 
 prominent men who have left Lisbon for other fields of activity. 
 There are over thirty persons whose names are on record as grad- 
 uates of Yale College from Lisbon. Then Union College. N. Y., 
 Harvard, Dartmouth, Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, Western 
 Reserve and Oberlin Colleges, who have also had Lisbon boys to 
 educate. 
 
 In a list of ministers originating in Lisbon, Rev. Mr. Chipman 
 gave the names of thirty-three who had become ministers up to 1873. 
 There are doubtless many more than this number. They have been 
 distributed among the several denominations and some of them 
 have become missionaries to other countries. 
 
 In a list of doctors or physicians, Rev. Mr. Chipman records 
 the names of forty-one, who up to the time of his report — 1873 — 
 were in or from Lisbon. 
 
 LTST OF SOLDIERS 
 
 Inhabitants or natives of Lisbon, who served in the "Continen- 
 tal Army" during the War of the Revolution, were : 
 
 Bartlett Bingham, died 1777. 
 Lemuel Bingham, died 1776. 
 Elijah Bishop, died 1776. 
 Reuben Bishop, died 1775. 
 Darius Bottom, died 1775. 
 Amos Brewster, died 1777. 
 Ephraim Durfy, died 1777. 
 Daniel Fitch, died 
 Capt. Ziba Hunt, died 
 Adonijah Kingsley, died 1777. 
 
65 
 
 Lieut. Nathaniel Kirkland, killed October 12, 1777. 
 
 Dr. Jonathan Knight (a surgeon). 
 
 Dr. Abijah Perkins (a surgeon), died August 31, 1782. 
 
 Capt. Ebenezer Perkins. 
 
 Capt. Jacob Perkins, Jr. 
 
 Capt. Joseph Perkins, Jr. 
 
 Lieut. Simon Perkins, killed September 3, 1778. 
 
 Rev. Andrew Lee (Chaplain). 
 
 Capt. Samuel Lovett. 
 
 Rev. Peter Powers, died 1776. 
 
 Daniel Preston. 
 
 Asa Rathbun. 
 
 Capt. Moses Stevens. 
 
 Ensign Andrew Tracy. 
 
 Capt. Ames Walbridge. 
 
 George Whitchell, died 1777. 
 
 The above dates of death ante-date the close of the struggle. 
 Reuben Bishop, the writer's great-grandfather, died in the cam- 
 paign of Arnold towards Quebec, which was before the Declaration 
 of Independence. The list above of those serving in the War of the 
 Revolution is by no means a full one of those from Lisbon's territory. 
 
 Soldiers from Lisbon who served in the war with England, 
 1812 to 1815 : 
 
 Capt. Freeman Tracy, of Newent, and Capt. Charles Perkins, 
 of Hanover, were, with their respective companies, in active service 
 at Stonington, Xew London, and vicinity when Stonington was 
 assaulted by a British force in 1812. In said companies are said 
 to have been the persons below named : 
 
 Asa Witter Allen, who removed to Salem, Ohio, from Lisbon. 
 Evander Fuller, who died September 18, 1873. 
 Josiah Kean ( Kaine ? ) . 
 Zephaniah Simpson. 
 Simon Lathrop, etc. 
 
 During this war of three years, which was mostly a warfare 
 of naval attacks upon our coast, the military companies were fre- 
 quently called upon to come to the defence of the coast along New 
 London County. Lisbon several times marched her companies to 
 the points of danger. Capt. Roswell Adams, with his company, 
 had this experience, as well as Capt. Tracy and Capt. Perkins. 
 Reuben Bishop, afterwards made a Captain of a Lisbon company, 
 was there, and often related his experience to his children, of whom 
 the writer was one. There were three companies marched from Lis- 
 bon whose officers and men must have enrolled more than one hun- 
 dred men in this service. 
 
66 
 
 A list of seamen, natives of Lisbon, who were engaged in the 
 Revolutionary War : 
 
 Capt. Oliver Arnold, brother of the traitor Benedict Arnold. 
 
 Oliver Arnold, Jr. Adonijah Knight. 
 
 Capt. Ezra Bishop. Capt. Elisha Lathrop. 
 
 David Bottom. • Capt. Robert McKown. 
 
 Aaron Burnham. Jacob Perkins. 
 
 Capt. Zebulon Perkins Burnham. Samuel Perkins. 
 
 Comfort Eames. Capt. Zebulon Perkins. 
 
 Cyrus Eames. Thomas Todd. 
 
 Gideon Eames. James W. Watson. 
 
 Capt. Rufus Eames. Asa Williams. 
 
 LIST OF SOLDIERS FURNISHED BY LISBON IN THE 
 WAR OF THE REBELLION : 
 
 Patrick Sullivan, First Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 John W. Cutler, Second Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 John H. Wilcox, Second Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 Eugene Branch, Second Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 Charles H. Corey. Fifth Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 William D. Spicer, Fifth Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 Henry D. Frisby, Sixth Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 John Sullivan, Seventh Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 John Carroll, Eighth Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 Ezra N. Barber, Eleventh Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 George Snow, Twelfth Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 Gilbert A. Davis, Twelfth Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 Elijah I. Green, Twelfth Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 John Black, Twelfth Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 William J. Morehead, Fourteenth Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 Henry A. Bingham, Eighteenth Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 Eli Jackson, Twenty-first Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 Austin Fitzgerald, Twenty-first Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 Asa Belknap, Twenty-first Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 Andrew J. Willett, Twenty-sixth Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 Elisha N. Green, Twenty-sixth Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 Caleb T. Bishop, Twenty-sixth Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 George A. Haskell, Twenty-sixth Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 Amos Palmer, Twenty-sixth Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 Horace A. Palmer. Twenty-sixth Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 William A. Palmer, Twenty-sixth Connecticut Regiment: 
 
 Albert M. Rathbun, Twenty-sixth Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 Henry West, Twenty-ninth Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 William Wilson, Twenty-ninth Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 William H. Boyer, Twenty-ninth Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 Cyrus York, Twenty-ninth Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 Peter Brooker, Twenty-ninth Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 Isaac Wilson, Thirtieth Connecticut Regiment. 
 
 The regimental rolls show a very much larger number of en- 
 listed men in this war. 
 
67 
 
 CENSUS RETURNS. 
 
 In 1 774, twelve years before Norwich was divided, there were 
 in Newent Parish ninety-two dwelling- houses, ninety-eight families, 
 and six hundred and forty-one persons. In Hanover Parish forty- 
 four houses, fifty-three families, and three hundred and twenty -three 
 persons. Total of inhabitants in both the parishes then, nine hun- 
 dred and sixty-four. While these parishes remained together as 
 parts of Lisbon, their population was returned by the Census 
 Bureau, in 
 
 1800 1 ,1 58 i860 1,262 
 
 1810 1,128 1870. 502 
 
 1830 1,161 1880 630 
 
 1840 1 ,052 1 890 548 
 
 1850 938 1900 697 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS. 
 
 Of Constitutional State Conventions Connecticut has convened 
 but three, viz., 1788, 1818, 1902. The first was called to ratify the 
 Constitution of the L T nited States in 1788. Rev. Andrew Lee was 
 chosen and sent as a Delegate from Lisbon. The second, called in 
 1818, was to form a State Constitution for Connecticut. Daniel 
 Braman was sent as a Delegate from Lisbon. The third, called in 
 1902, was for consideration of proposed changes to the State Con- 
 stitution, wherein measures were discussed still undecided. Calvin 
 Duane Bromlev was chosen as Delegate from Lisbon. 
 
 LISBON'S LEGISLATORS. 
 
 Members of the State Senate of Connecticut. (The first named 
 was an early resident, the others were natives of Lisbon) : 
 
 Ashur Palmer Brown, Etban Allen, 
 
 Calvin Barstow Bromley, Jeremiah Kinsman Adams, 
 
 Thomas Clark. 
 
 Members of Congress, natives of Lisbon : 
 Elias Perkins, John Lovett, Joseph Kirkland. 
 
 Representatives from Lisbon in the Connecticut Legislature, 
 those included who, before Lisbon was incorporated, pertained to 
 the Newent, Lisbon, part of Norwich : 
 
 May Session. October Session. 
 
 1720 — Jabez Perkins. 
 
 1722 — Jabez Perkins. Jabez Perkins. 
 
 1723 — Jabez Perkins. 
 
68 
 
 May Session. 
 
 1728— 
 
 1757— 
 1758- 
 
 1768 — Elisha Lathrop. 
 1782 — Samuel Lovett. 
 1783 — Elisha Lathrop. 
 1 784 — Elisha Lathrop. 
 1785 — Elisha Lathrop. 
 1786 — Elisha Lathrop. 
 1787 — Elisha Lathrop. 
 1788 — John Perkins. 
 
 789 — Jacob Perkins. 
 
 790 — Ezra Bishop. 
 
 791 — John Perkins. 
 
 792 — Samuel Lovett. 
 
 793 — Samuel Lovett. 
 
 794 — Samuel Lovett. 
 
 795 — Samuel Lovett. 
 
 796 — Levi Perkins. 
 
 797 — Levi Perkins. 
 
 798 — John Kinsman. 
 
 799 — John Kinsman. 
 
 800 — Luther Manning. 
 
 801 — Joshua Perkins. 
 
 802 — Ezra Bishop. 
 
 803 — David Hale. 
 
 804 — Joshua Perkins. 
 
 805 — Daniel Braman. 
 
 806 — Barnabas Huntington. 
 
 807 — Daniel Braman. 
 
 808 — Levi Perkins. 
 
 809 — William Adams. 
 
 810 — Levi Perkins. 
 
 811 — William Adams. 
 
 812 — Levi Perkins. 
 
 813 — Freeman Tracy. 
 
 814 — Levi Perkins. 
 
 815 — Freeman Tracy. 
 
 816 — Levi Perkins. 
 
 817 — Freeman Tracy. 
 
 818 — Frederick Perkins. 
 
 bu 
 
 October Session. 
 
 Jabez Perkins. 
 John Perkins. 
 John Perkins. 
 
 Elisha Lathrop. 
 Elisha Lathrop. 
 Elisha Lathrop. 
 Elisha Lathrop. 
 Elisha Lathrop. 
 John Perkins. 
 Jacob Perkins. 
 Joshua Perkins. 
 Ezra Bishop. 
 Ezra Bishop. 
 Samuel Lovett. 
 Samuel Lovett. 
 Elisha Morgan. 
 Levi Perkins.. 
 Levi Perkins. 
 John Kinsman. 
 Luther Manning. 
 Luther Manning. 
 Samuel Lovett. 
 Joshua Perkins. 
 Joshua Perkins. 
 Septimius Lathrop. 
 Joshua Perkins. 
 Daniel Braman. 
 Barnabas Huntington. 
 Daniel Braman. 
 Levi Perkins. 
 
 Levi Perkins. 
 William Adams. 
 Levi Perkins. 
 Freeman Tracy. 
 Levi Perkins. 
 Freeman Tracy. 
 Levi Perkins. 
 Frederick Perkins. 
 Joseph L. Lyon. 
 
 Since 1818, under the new Constitution, there has been held 
 one session a year. 
 
 819 — Thomas Kinsman. 
 820 — Joseph Jewett. 
 821 — Tyler Brown. 
 
 1822 — Tyler Brown. 
 1823 — Joseph L. Lyon. 
 1824 — Andrew Clark. 
 
69 
 
 1825 — Samuel Peckham. 
 1826 — Barzillai Bishop. 
 1827 — Elisha Morgan. 
 1828 — Roswell Adams. 
 1829, — John Gray. 
 1830 — John Gray. 
 1 83 1 — Jared Farnham. 
 1832 — Bucklin Mathewson. 
 1833 — Bucklin Mathewson. 
 1834 — Ebenezer Allen. 
 1835 — James Stetson. 
 1836 — Nathan Brewster. 
 1837 — Thomas A. Clark. 
 1838— Russell Rose. 
 1839 — Daniel F. Cutler. 
 1840 — Thomas G. Read. 
 1 841 — Thomas A. Clark. 
 1842 — Perley B. Fuller. 
 1843 — Vine Smith. 
 1844 — Henry R. Robbins. 
 1845 — Thomas M. Jewett. 
 1846— William C. Cutler. 
 1847 — Edwin Kimball. 
 1848— Elijah Rathbun, Jr. 
 1849 — Ebenezer Lyon. 
 1850 — Asher P. Brown. 
 185 1 — Daniel M. Brown. 
 1852— William C. Cutler. 
 1853 — Ezekiel Bromley. 
 1854 — Sanford Bromley. 
 1855 — Edwin Fitch. 
 1856 — Asher P. Brown. 
 1857 — Norman Smith. 
 1858— Thomas A. Clark. 
 1859 — Jacob B. Bachelder. 
 i860 — Nathan P. Bishop. 
 
 1 86 1 — Isaac S. Geer. 
 1862 — George L. Haskell. 
 1863 — Eleazer Bushnell. 
 1864— Willard Bliss. 
 1865 — Henry Lyon. 
 1866 — Henry A. Bennett. 
 [867 — George N. Carr. 
 1868— G. B. Hull. 
 1869 — Sanford Bromley. 
 1870 — George L. Phillips. 
 1 87 1 — Russel Whiting Fitch. 
 1872 — Henry Lyon. 
 1873 — Jonathan Lester Lathrop. 
 1874 — Henry G. Palmer. 
 1875 — James B. Palmer. 
 1876 — James B. Palmer. 
 1877 — Edwin Kimball. 
 1878— John F. Hewett. 
 1879 — Edwin F. Apple}-. 
 1880 — Charles J. Bromley. 
 1 88 1 — George Robinson. 
 1882 — Augustus F. Read. 
 1883— Thomas McCarthy. 
 1884— Edward C. Hyde. 
 1885— John D. O'Sullivan. 
 1886— Charles G. Fitch. 
 1887-88 — Cornelius Murphy. 
 1889-90 — George G. Young. 
 1891-92 — John G. Bromley. 
 1893-94 — John G. Bromley. 
 1895-96 — James E. Roberts. 
 1 897- 1 898 — Charles B. Bromley. 
 1 899- 1 900 — James B. Palmer. 
 1 899- 1 900 — James B. Palmer. 
 1901-02 — Frank E. Olds. 
 1903-04 — Calvin D. Bromley. 
 
 TOWN CLERKS OF LISBON. 
 
 1786 — John Kinsman. 
 1 787- 1 8 1 5 — Jedediah Burnham. 
 1816-28 — Joseph Jewett. 
 1829-35 — Thomas Kinsman. 
 x 836-39 — Henry R. Robbins. 
 1840-42 — Sanford Bromley. 
 1843-47 — Thomas M. Jewett. 
 1848-50 — Sanford Bromley. 
 1851-52 — Daniel M. Brown. 
 
 1853 — Levi C. Corning. 
 1854-55 — Daniel M. Brown. 
 1855-60 — Jacob B. Bachelder. 
 1861-69 — Sanford Bromley. 
 1870 — John F. Hewitt. 
 1871-92 — Henry Lyon. 
 1892-93 — Frank E. Robinson. 
 1893-98 — George G. Bromley. 
 1898 — Calvin D. Bromley. 
 
7o 
 
 Town Orders Showing the Change of Currency from Pounds 
 and Shillings to Dollars and Cents. 
 
 (No. ^ ) 
 
 Sir, 
 
 Dollars 
 
 PAY faw-n /?&>-? &/Lfs7*t 
 
 or order, &^ 
 
 ^ Cents, out of the 
 
 -W ct^f- Town tax, made on the 
 lift -/ / /V# and charge the Town. 
 Lifbon^ stf+nAj* W 
 /(/ dollars' ## cents- 
 
 Jyltrrs? Su^^Jt^Z <&~ 
 
 -£ 
 
 ^tyV-4*. 
 
 '& 
 
 ^ 
 
 tlstyl 
 
 a 
 
 — i 
 
 03 
 
 / 
 
 *"***" Town-Treafurer. 
 
7i 
 
 l* laTvfal wioTieu, oat of ih%2 &*J otvti iacc , made 
 4$. oil the Hit /y$ §1 a/nd cnarat the <Jo?v?i. 
 
 
 
 
7 2 
 
 I (N0.72. ) 
 
 I PAYi^~-^ &*»^£ 
 
 Cor order, ^Wi^>^ - ~^ Dollars 
 
 3* CPnnro, out of the 
 
 fe 5 % C%0 l ^~ z '~^' Town tax, made on the 
 £ lift 7/^f and charge the Town* 
 
 4 /^ dollars g^& cents 
 
 $i&sr>*ys/^ j*sf*rt&<£*ZZ, 
 
 slff 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 l/U/f^tO & ridfautii y$j 
 
 J 
 
 1> 
 
 | To^^^^^^^^^-Town-Treafurer, 
 
73 
 
 Tax Collector's Advertisement of 1825. 
 
 NOTICE. 
 
 THE residents and non-resi- 
 dents liabk to pay taxes in the 
 town of Lisbon, are hereby notified that 
 J have received a warrant to collect a 
 State Tax of one cent on a dollar, on 
 List 1S24— and will meet them to re- 
 eive said tax at the store of Brown $ 
 Baldwin, in said Lisbon, (JVewent So- 
 ciety) on Wednesday the 28th day of 
 December instant, from 1 to 5 o'clock 
 P. M. and at the house of Daniel F. Cut- 
 ler, in said Lisbon, ( Hanover Society) 
 on Thursday the 29th day of December 
 instant from 1 to 5 o'clock P. M.— 
 Those who neglect to pay at that time, 
 must expect to pay fees accord iu« to 
 'aw. BARaTOW BRUMLE? r , 
 
 Collector. 
 Lisbon. Dec. 3d, 1825. 3wS6— 
 
74 
 
 SELECTMEN OF LISBON. 
 
 1786, June 30 — Capt. Joshua Perkins, Capt. Ezra Bishop, Capt. Sam- 
 uel Lovett. 
 
 1786, December 18 — Capt. Joshua Perkins, Capt. Ezra Bishop, Capt. 
 Samuel Lovett, John Bingham, Capt. Benjamin Burnham. 
 
 1787— Capt. Joshua Perkins, Ezra Bishop, John Bingham, Benjamin 
 Burnham. 
 
 1788 — Ezra Bishop, Capt. Joshua Perkins, Capt. Elisha Morgan. 
 
 1789 — Capt. Ezra Bishop, Capt. Joshua Perkins, Capt. Elisha Mor- 
 gan, John Bingham, Jr. 
 
 1790 — Ezra Bishop, Capt. Joshua Perkins, John Bingham. 
 
 1 791 — Ezra Bishop, Dr. Luther Manning, John Bingham. 
 
 1792 — John Kinsman, Major Ebenezer Tracy, Capt. Levi Perkins. 
 
 1793 — Capt. Levi Perkins, Ezra Bishop, Septimius Lathrop. 
 
 1794 — Capt. Levi Perkins, Septimius Lathrop, Capt. Samuel Bishop. 
 
 1795 — Capt. Levi Perkins, Septimius Lathrop, Capt. Samuel Bishop. 
 
 1796 — Barnabas Huntington, William Adams, John Fitch. 
 
 1797 — Barnabas Huntington, John Fitch, William Adams. 
 
 1798 — John Fitch, William Adams, Frederick Perkins. 
 
 1799 — Ezra Bishop, Barnabas Huntington, Cyrus Bishop. 
 
 1800 — Ezra Bishop, Barnabas Huntington, Col. Ebenezer Tracy. 
 
 1801 — Ezra Bishop, Barnabas Huntington, Col. Ebenezer Tracy. 
 
 1802 — Barnabas Huntington, Ebenezer Tracy, Daniel Braman. 
 
 1803 — Barnabas Huntington, Daniel Braman, Septimius Lathrop. 
 
 1804- — Barnabas Huntington, Daniel Braman, Septimius Lathrop. 
 
 1805 — Daniel Braman, Capt. John Bingham, William Adams. 
 
 1806 — Daniel Braman, Capt. John Bingham, William Adams. 
 
 1807 — Capt. John Bingham, Barnabas Hyde, Joseph Jewett. 
 
 1808 — Capt. John Bingham, Barnabas Hyde, Joseph Jewett. 
 
 1809 — Joseph Jewett, Barnabas Huntington, Major Freeman Tracy. 
 
 1810 — Barnabas Huntington, Major Freeman Tracy. Thomas Kins- 
 man. 
 
 i8ti — Major Freeman Tracy, Thomas Kinsman, Capt. Frederick- 
 Tracy. 
 
 1812 — Thomas Kinsman, Levi Perkins, Capt. Andrew Clark. 
 
 18 13 — Capt. Andrew Clark, Capt. John Bingham, William Adams. 
 
 1814 — William Adams, Daniel F. Cutler, Jeremiah Tracy. 
 
 1815 — William Adams, Daniel F. Cutler, Jeremiah Tracy. 
 
 1816 — Jeremiah Tracy, Tyler Brown, Barnabas Huntington. 
 
 1817 — Daniel Braman, Joseph L. Lyon, James Burnham. 
 
 i8t8 — Daniel Braman, Joseph L. Lyon, James Burnham. 
 
 1819 — Daniel Braman, Joseph L. Lynn, Lee Hyde. 
 
 .1820 — Joseph L. Lyon, James Burnham, Amos Bennett. 
 
 T821 — Joseph L. Lyon, Amos Bennett, Freeman Tracy. 
 
 T822 — Toseph L. Lyon, Amos Bennett, Freeman Tracy. 
 
 1823 — Joseph L. Lyon. Freeman Tracy, Amos Bennett. 
 
 1824 — Freeman Tricy, Nathan Brooks, Russell Rose. 
 
 T825 — Nathan Brooks, Russell Rose, Capt. Roswell Adams. 
 
75 
 
 g 2 6 — Russell Rose, Barzillai Bishop, Barstovv Bromley. 
 827 — Barstow Bromley, Joseph L. Lyon, Samuel Peckham. 
 828 — Samuel Peckham, Charles Bushnell, John Gray. 
 829 — Charles Bushnell. John Gray, Russell Rose. 
 830 — Samuel Peckham, Charles Perkins, James Stetson. 
 831 — Samuel Peckham, Charles Perkins, James Stetson. 
 832 — James Stetson, Bishop Burnham, Milton M. Perkins. 
 833 — James Stetson, Bucklin Mathewson, Jared Farnham. 
 834 — Bucklin Mathewson, Adonijah Bushnell, Martin Warren. 
 835 — Vine Smith, Thomas A. Clark, Henry Lathrop. 
 836 — Thomas A. Clark, William Sisson, Roswell B. Downing. 
 837 — Roswell Adams, Luther Fuller, Daniel B. Lovett. 
 838— Daniel B. Lovett, Perley B. Fuller, Thomas G. Read. 
 839 — Freeman Tracy, Ebenezer Allen, Joseph B. Hibbard. 
 840 — Joseph B. Hibbard, Thomas A. Clark, Vine Smith. 
 841 — Thomas A. Clark, Vine Smith, Levi C. Corning. 
 842 — Henry R. Robbins, John Grant, Bishop Burnham. 
 843 — Henry R. Robbins, John Grant, Elijah Rathbun. 
 844 — Henry R. Robbins, William C. Cutler, Joseph B. Prentice. 
 845 — Joseph B. Prentice, William C. Cutler, Ansel Brown. 
 846 — Ansel Brown, Chauncey K. Bushnell, Ebenezer Lyon. 
 847 — Ebenezer Lyon, Jabez L. Benjamin, George P. Harvey. 
 848 — Ebenezer Lyon, Jabez L. Benjamin, Ezekiel Bromley. 
 849 — Jabez L. Benjamin, Nathan P. Bishop, Levi P. Branch. 
 850 — Nathan P. Bishop, Squire B. Brown, Asahel L. Prentice. 
 851 — Jabez L. Benjamin, John Grant, Isaac S. Geer. 
 852 — Jabez L. Benjamin, Isaac S. Geer, Nathan P. Bishop. 
 853 — Thomas L. Read, Norman Smith, Sanford Bromley. 
 854 — Jabez L. Benjamin, Isaac S. Geer, Nathan P. Bishop. 
 855 — Asher P. Brown, George J. Lawton, Eleazer Bushnell. 
 856 — Asher P. Brown, George J. Lawton, Eleazer Bushnell. 
 857 — George J. Lawton, Eleazer Bushnell, Sanford Bromley. 
 858 — Asher P. Brown, Daniel L. Lovett, Henry Lyon. 
 859 — Jabez L. Benjamin, Thomas F. Standish, Jeremiah K. Adams. 
 860 — Eleazer Bushnell, Jeremiah K. Adams, Henry Lyon. 
 861 — Jeremiah K. Adams. George L. Haskell, Benjamin W. Pal- 
 mer. 
 862 — Henry Lyon, Benjamin W. Palmer, Samuel B. Gardner. 
 863 — Samuel B. Gardner, George N. Carr, Charles Bennett. 
 864 — Eleazer Bushnell, Charles Bennett, Charles J. Bromley. 
 865 — Eleazer Bushnell, Charles J. Bromley, Charles Bennett. 
 866 — Henry Lyon, Charles J. Bromley, Charles Hyde. 
 867 — Henry Lyon, Charles J. Bromley, Charles Hyde. 
 868 — Henry Lyon, Charles J. Bromley, Charles Hyde. 
 869 — Henry Lyon, Jeremiah K. Adams, Charles Hyde. 
 870 — Jabez L. Benjamin, Jeremiah K. Adams, Edmund F. Tracy. 
 871— Eleazer Bushnell, Russell W. Fitch, Augustus F. Read. 
 872 — Eleazer Bushnell, Russell W. Fitch, Augustus F. Read. 
 873 — Thomas A. Clark, Benjamin G. Hull, Eben F. Yerrington. 
 
76 
 
 1874 — John F- Hewett, Jeremiah K. Adams, James B. Palmer. 
 1875 — Jeremiah K. Adams, Henry G. Palmer, James B. Palmer. 
 1876 — Henry G. Palmer, Cornelius Murphy, Edwin Kimball. 
 1877 — Russell W. Fitch, Cornelius Murphy, Edwin Kimball 
 1878 — Jabez L. Benjamin, Russell W. Fitch, George Robinson. 
 1879 — Russell W. Fitch, Charles J. Bromley, George Robinson. 
 1880 — Edward C. Hyde, Charles J. Bromley, George Robinson. 
 1 88 1 — Edward C. Hyde, Russell W. Fitch, James H. Kennedy. 
 1882 — Russell W. Fitch, Edward C. Hyde, James H. Kennedy. 
 1883 — Cornelius Murphy, Edward C. Hyde, James H. Kennedy. 
 1884 — Cornelius Murphy, Joseph H. Giddings, Daniel M. Browne. 
 1885 — Cornelius Murphy, Russell W. Fitch, Jeremiah K. Adams. 
 1886 — Russell W. Fitch, Augustus F. Read, James H. Kennedy. 
 1887 — Augustus F. Read, Thomas D. Phillips, Jeremiah K. Adams. 
 1888 — Augustus F. Read, Edgar Wall, Edward C. Hyde. 
 1889 — Russell W. Fitch, John Murphy, Jeremiah K. Adams. 
 1890 — Augustus F. Read, George A. Ross, John G. Bromley. 
 [891 — George G. Young, Jeremiah K. Adams, Charles E. Lyon. 
 1892 — James H. Kennedy, Charles B. Bromley, James E. Roberts. 
 1893 — James H. Kennedy, James E. Roberts, Thomas D. Phillips. 
 1894 — James H. Kennedy, James E. Roberts, Thomas D. Phillips. 
 1895 — James H. Kennedy, Thomas D. Phillips, Andrew A. Adams. 
 1896 — James H. Kennedy, Andrew A. Adams, Luther C. Gray. 
 1897 — Henrv Lyon, Michael J. Connell, James H. Kennedy. 
 1898 — Henry Lyon, Andrew A. Adams, Thomas D. Phillips. 
 1899 — James H. Kennedy, Michael J. Connell, Henry Lyon. 
 1900 — James H. Kennedy, Michael J. Connell, John Spencer. 
 1901 — John G. Bromley, John Spencer, Michael J. Connell. 
 1902 — John G. Bromley, Russell W. Fitch, John Spencer. 
 
 Before Lisbon was separated from Norwich, Newent furnished 
 for selectmen of Norwich Joseph Perkins, 1736, and Robert Kins- 
 man, 1725 to 1728, and probably others. 
 
 Authors and Editors whose Birthplace was Lisbon. 
 
 David Hale, editor Journal of Commerce, New York. 
 Eleazer Lord, New York, writer on Prophesy, etc. 
 David Nevins Lord, editor Literary and Theological Review. 
 Charles Jewett, poetry, temperance, etc. 
 
 Hezekiah Lord Read, editor of agricultural journals, and author 
 of works on agriculture, etc. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A Record of Some Living Natives of Lisbon Follows, with 
 a Few who have Recently Died. 
 
 Giles Potter. — On the rolls of officials in the State of Con- 
 necticut we find Giles Potter. He is designated as agent of the State 
 Board of Education. He was born in Lisbon, Connecticut. February 
 22, 1829; son of Elisha Payne and Abigail (Lathrop) Potter; of 
 good Puritan stock. He is a graduate of Yale College, class of 
 1855, and took honors in mathematics and the sciences. He has 
 been in the service of the State for more than thirty years, which 
 is a longer period officially than that of any person now living in the 
 State. He is sometimes called the State's Truant Officer, whose 
 duty it is to enforce the school laws, investigating cases of violations 
 of these enactments, either by parents or manufacturers who employ 
 children under age. 
 
 He now resides in New Haven, and has about thirty towns in 
 Middlesex, Fairfield and New Haven counties under his super- 
 vision ; formerly his duties were over the whole State, but the 
 increase of work to accomplish the end desired has been met by 
 a late law making four agents for the State at the present time, 
 of which he is one and the oldest in official service. 
 
 Mr. Potter taught school at East Hartford and the Connecticut 
 Literary Institution in Sufheld, and at the School Academy at 
 Essex, where he afterwards made his home for several years ; was 
 there made deacon of his church, superintendent of the Sabbath- 
 school for twenty-three years, and represented that town in the 
 Legislature three terms. 
 
 Elisha Lathrop Potter. — In connection with Mr. Giles Potter's 
 brief history, it is fitting that mention should be made of his brother 
 Elisha. He was born in Lisbon, August 5, 1827; died in Brooklyn, 
 N. Y., April 21, 1880. In that large city of comparative strangers 
 to him he had made his home a few years prior to his death. He was 
 loved and appreciated by all who came in contact with him, was 
 made superintendent of the Brooklyn Sunday-school Pinion, and 
 his memoriam obituary speaks of him as a great loss to his pastor, 
 church members, and Sabbath-school scholars, all of whom lamented 
 his untimely death with great sorrow and gave him a public funeral 
 and a suitable monument to perpetuate his memory. 
 
78 
 
 Nathan Lee Bishop, son of Nathan Perkins Bishop and 
 Nancy Lee, who was a granddaughter of Rev. Andrew Lee, D.D.,was 
 born in Lisbon, served in the War of the Rebellion over three years ; 
 enlisting as a private, he served as a first lieutenant and adjutant 
 of his regiment, and was promoted to be a captain, but declined the 
 commission. He is at present Superintendent of the Public Schools 
 in Norwich, Conn., which official position he has held now nearly 
 twenty-five years with great credit. 
 
 Elijah Rathbun, Jr., a highly esteemed man of Lisbon, a self- 
 made man ; from his early boyhood he was a farmer, learned the 
 trade of a mason, subsequently became a trader in produce at 
 Boston and Chicago. His successful career closed a few years 
 since with ripeness of age and richness of character, well illustrated 
 in his benevolent interest in Christian work and exemplary life. 
 
 One of the later conspicuous residents of Lisbon was the late 
 Hezekiah L. Reade, who died recently, aged seventy-five years. 
 He died in the house in which he was born, called the Owaneco 
 Homestead. This farm was purchased by Mr. Reade's ancestors in 
 1640 from Owaneco, who was a half-brother of L T ncas, chief of the 
 Mohegans. Mr. Reade was appreciated beyond the narrow limits 
 of Lisbon, although always living in the town. He was respected as 
 an itinerant or evangelistic preacher. He was a successful manu- 
 facturer of paper ; he had the credit of establishing the Jewett City 
 Savings Bank, and was its President for almost thirty years. He 
 was a writer and publisher of several books, and up to the close of 
 his life a newspaper correspondent, whose contributions always 
 found ready acceptance by the press. 
 
 Joseph Carr Hebbard was born in Lisbon ; son of Capt. 
 Joseph Hebbard ; he removed to Kansas early in life and became 
 an influential citizen of that State. He was quite prominent in poli- 
 tics, was very good authority in all governmental statistics, and was 
 duly appreciated by Kansas Congressmen, one of whom he served 
 as a private secretary for several sessions. He died recently. 
 
 Bishops in Lisbon. 
 
 Besides those of the Ipswich settlers, Samuel and John, who 
 were brothers and closely allied with the Perkinses as early settlers 
 in Lisbon, there was a later emigration to Lisbon of four Bishops 
 (brothers) not connected on this side of the water with the ancestry 
 of the earlier ones, Samuel and John, who also became intermixed 
 with the Perkinses. 
 
79 
 
 It will be seen that four brothers came from the Island of 
 Guernsey to Lisbon and vicinity — John, Ebenezer, Daniel, and Na- 
 thaniel. The two first settled in Lisbon, one other in New Haven, 
 and one near New London. 
 
 The descendants of John Bishop : 
 
 i. John. 
 
 2. Samuel, who married in 1770. 
 
 3. Daniel Lathrop, born 1777. 
 
 4. Samuel Perkins, born 1807, who has four sons now living: 
 1 5. Daniel Lathrop, born 1847; 5- Henry Hunter, born 1852; 
 5. Edward Perkins, born 1859: 5. Newton Perkins, born 1865.] 
 
 The following- letter, from (5) Daniel Lathrop Bishop, speaks 
 of his father's death last year at the age of ninety-four years. He 
 was the oldest banker then known in the world, as was claimed by 
 the Cincinnati papers : 
 
 Cincinnati, O., May 28, 1903. 
 Dr. Henry F. Bishop. 332 E. 88th St., New York, N. Y. 
 
 Dear Sir: — I have come across your letter of April 13, 1902, relating 
 to genealogy of the Bishop family. At that time I advised you I would 
 reply when I had the time to look over my father's papers. For some time 
 I was so busy that I had no convenient time, and afterwards the matter 
 was forgotten. Finding vour letter I have taken up the subject. I do not 
 find any documents relating to the family that are in the nature of records. 
 I have found in a book of pamphlets on some inserted leaves memoranda 
 relating to Bishops, Perkins, and other families of our connection. 
 
 From this I fear that we are not as you suppose descended from the 
 Ipswich Bishops. 
 
 I will, however, give you the names of descendants of my great-great- 
 grandfather, John Bishop, as noted in the memoranda, as it may be of 
 service to you in case the items have reached you from any other source, 
 as in your pamphlet you state there are many Samuel Bishops (page 39). 
 
 I will bring the list down to the present day as far as I am able. 
 
 Bishop — Four brothers emigrated from the Island of Guernsey. John 
 and Ebenezer settled in Lisbon, Connecticut : Daniel and Nathaniel settled, 
 one in New Haven, the other near New London. Connecticut. 
 
 Samuel, son of John Bishop, SHSn October 23, 1770, married Mercy John- 
 son, daughter of Stephen Johnson of Preston, Connecticut. He died January 
 14, 1793. His wife died October 16, 1833. (I do not know where Samuel died, 
 but as my great-grandmother Mercy married a second husband — Hough of 
 Bozrah, Conn.- — it was probably in Norwich neighborhood. Mercy, his wife, 
 died in Ithaca. N. Y.) 
 
 The children of Samuel and dvTan* Bishop were : 
 
 BORN DIED MARRIED 
 
 Daniel Nov. 24, 1772. .Sept. 24. 1775 
 
 Samuel . . .Oct. 24. 1773. .Sept. 27. 1775 
 
 Mary Oct. 30, 1775 Kinney, lived at South 
 
 Hero, Vt. 
 
 Daniel Lathrop. Oct. 20, 1777 • -March 26, 1848. {$ ^g^ Ei/Jbeth Perkins 
 Temperance Dec. 18, 1779- -Aug. 9, i8t73 
 
8o 
 
 BORN DIED MARRIED 
 
 Deborah . .Nov. 26, 1781 Boardman. Lived at Grand 
 
 Isle, Vt. 
 
 Lorice Feb. iS, 17S3 M. Downer, of Bozrah, Conn. 
 
 Mercy March 12. 1785 Williams. 
 
 Sarah May 24, 1787. . . July iS, 1832. . . Abr. Shepard, of Colchester, 
 
 Conn. 
 Jedediah June 5, 1789. . . April 9, 1791 
 
 Daniel Lathrop Bishop and Lucy Perkins, born August 7, 1780; died 
 February 27, 1817 (daughter of Simeon Perkins and Elizabeth (Young) 
 Hadley), were married January 2, 1805, at Liverpool, Nova Scotia. (Simeon 
 Perkins formerly lived in Norwich, Conn., and moved to Liverpool in 1762.) 
 
 The children of Daniel Lathrop and Lucy were : 
 
 BORN DIED MARRIED 
 
 Henry Young . . . .Oct. 5, 1805. .Jan. 21, 1S17 
 
 Samuel Perkins. . .June 12, 1807.. Feb. 1, 1902.. Oct. 7. 1841, Elizabeth Hunt- 
 er Hoge. 
 Elizabeth Perkins. Aug. 16, 1809.. Nov. 14, 1869.. March, 1831, J. Newton Per- 
 kins (her cousin). 
 Mary Johnson ... .Dec. 19, 181 1.. Dec. 16, 1847. .James Thompson. 
 Daniel Edward . .May 22, 18 13. .Aug. 13. 18 14 
 
 ((1) 1845, Eliza Low Isaacs. 
 Daniel Edward (2). Aug. 21, iSi5..Dec 29, 1899.. •- (2) Oct. 24, 1893, Ada Eliza 
 
 ( Richards. 
 
 Samuel Perkins Bishop and Elizabeth (born March 27, 1822; died 
 December 24, 1896) Hunter Hoge (daughter of Rev. John Blair Hoge and 
 Ann Kean Hunter of Martinsburg. Va.) were married at Cincinnati, O.. 
 October 7, 1841. 
 
 Their children were : 
 
 BORN DIED MARRIED 
 
 John Hoge Feb. 13, 1844. .Jan. 2, 1846 
 
 Daniel Lathrop. . .March 11, 1847.* Nov. 17. 1SS5, Caroline K. 
 
 Stanley. 
 
 Lucy Perkins Nov. 2S, 1849. • Feb. 27, 1855 
 
 Henry Hunter April 30, 1S52. .+ Sept. 4, 1874. Florence Nelson. 
 
 Samuel Perkins . .Jan. 5, 1855. .June 14, 1855 
 
 Anna Hoge Aug. 2, 1856. .Oct. 9, 1879 
 
 Edward Perkins. .Aug. 31, 1859.. J Sept. 1, 18S5, Ella P. Hutch- 
 inson. 
 
 Newton Perkins .. May 29, 1S65 . . § Sept. 29, 1892, May Darling. 
 
 Daniel Lathrop Bishop and Caroline K. Stanley, born October 20, i860, 
 daughter of Rev. Augustin O. Stanley and Rebecca Dowdell Stanley, were 
 married at Cincinnati November 17, 1885. 
 
 Their children : 
 
 BORN DIED 
 
 Caro. Elizabeth June 2, 18S8 May 12, 1889 
 
 James Stanley Nov. 6, 1890 
 
 Elizabeth Hoge Dec. 10, 1893 March 16, 1895 
 
 ♦Living at Cincinnati, O. (Living at Decatur, 111. 
 
 tLiving at Cleveland, O. ^Living at Cleveland, O. 
 
8i 
 
 Daniel Lathrop Bishop graduated from Woodward High School in 
 1864. Was in a bank for seven years and thirty-one years with Cincinnati 
 Gas Co., resigning as Purchasing Agent in August, 1902. 
 
 Henry Hunter Bishop on September 4, 1874, was married at Xenia, O., 
 to Florence Amelia Nelson, born June 7. 1852; died July 10, 1880. 
 
 Their children were: 
 
 BORN DIED MARRIED 
 
 Carrie Hunter July 5, 1S75 , Jay Scott Clark. 
 
 Roy Nelson Jan. 20, 1S7S 
 
 Florence Nelson. .May 10, 1880. .July 31, 1S80 
 
 Carrie Hunter Bishop Clark has one child, Florence Jenny, born at 
 Toledo, O., September 4, 1902. 
 
 Henry H. Bishop graduated from Woodward High School of Cincinnati 
 in 1868. Engaged in mercantile pursuits in Cincinnati from 1868 to 1875. In 
 wholesale hardware at Decatur, Ills., from November, 1875, to April 1, 1887. 
 Since that date to present time in Cleveland, O., in wholesale hardware. 
 
 Roy Nelson Bishop was educated at University School of Cleveland. 
 Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. Leaving in Sophomore year to enlist in 
 Troop A, First O. V. Cavalry for Spanish-American War. After discharge, 
 in November, 1898, entered Columbia University, New York, and received 
 degree as Engineer of Mines October, 1902. Now pursuing that profession. 
 
 Edward Perkins Bishop was married September 1, 1885, at Lebanon, 
 O., to Ella Parsons Hutchinson; born March 14, 1859. 
 
 Their children were: 
 
 BORN DIED 
 
 Helen Adelia March 31, 1887 
 
 Edward Hutchinson Nov. 17, 1891 
 
 William Hunter ... .March 2, 1890 March 5, 1890 
 
 Edward P., after graduation from Woodward High School, engaged 
 in business in Cincinnati as bookkeeper until January, 188 1, when he re- 
 moved to Decatur, 111. Is now Treasurer of Wholesale Hardware Co. 
 (Morehouse & Wells Co.). 
 
 Newton Perkins Bishop was married at Cincinnati, O., September 29, 
 1892, to May Darling. 
 
 Their daughter Dorothy May was born April 30, 1899, at Cleveland, O. 
 
 Since graduating from Woodward High School, Cincinnati, Newton 
 P. has held clerical positions in Cincinnati, O., Chicago, 111., and Cleveland, O. 
 
 You mention that Mrs. Jno. H. Converse gave you some valuable facts, 
 and I presume that she advised you as to he* two brothers and one sister still 
 living. 
 
 Was she able to say whether we are descended from the Ipswich family, 
 which, as I stated, seems to me to be doubtful? If you should issue 
 another pamphlet would be glad to receive a copy, and one of my brothers 
 expressed the same desire. 
 
 I am a little in doubt as to correctness of the dates of birth and death 
 of my aunt Mary J. Thompson (Mrs. Converse's mother), but no doubt 
 you have the right ones from her. 
 
 Regretting that I have not replied to you sooner, and that even this 
 letter has been delayed by interruptions since I started it, I am 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 DANIEL LATHROP BISHOP. 
 
 D. L. Bishop, 2345 Kemper Lane, Cincinnati, O. 
 
 June 11, 1903. 
 
82 
 
 The following letter discloses the fact that success can follow in 
 special lines, as has been often proved in Lisbon, where the soil 
 seemed not the best, but rocky and unpromising. Experiments have 
 shown that mulberry trees for making silk, apple and peach trees 
 for culture of fruit, have rewarded such efforts : 
 
 Round Hill Farm, Norwich, May 2, 1903. 
 To Mr. Henry F. Bishop, New York. 
 
 My Dear Sir: — Yours at hand. In reply, will say I went in for blooded 
 stock seventeen years ago when I had a debt of $9,000 on my farm. I paid 
 $600 for two cows and $100 for a bull six months old; also $150 for three 
 sheep. This was my foundation of a herd and flock. Since then I have 
 bought and sold both cattle and sheep in most every State. Have shipped 
 stock to Illinois, to California, and to Kansas. I have sold cows for $250, 
 and bulls for $200; lots of sheep for $20 and $30 each. Have shown stock 
 in all the leading fairs in New England for the past twelve years, and won 
 many thousand dollars, besides medals, both gold, silver, and bronze. In 
 fact my stock has nearly paid the debt I owed. I have on my 160-acre farm 
 fifty-two head of stock, mostly Guernseys, and over 100 sheep and lambs, 
 all pure bred, and the sheep would readily bring $15 each. I have a buck 
 and two ewes that cost me $87.60 last fall. I have four breeds of registered 
 sheep — Dorsets, Shropshires, Southdowns and Merinos. I use a machine to 
 shear them and this week have sheared twenty-seven in four hours, and 
 this without as much as a scratch, as would have been made by the shears. 
 I have cows now that I could sell for $200; calves for $50. Have cows with 
 butter record of 16 and 18 lbs. in seven days. I have taken over $200 in 
 prizes at New London County fair each year for four years. I believe it 
 a nice thing for any young man to be in debt, as he has an object in view, 
 and will get a hustle on him. 
 
 If these statements are of any good to you or the old town, you are 
 quite welcome to them. 
 
 Yours with respect, 
 
 J. B. PALMER. 
 
 The following letter has been received from Rev. Edwin Brad- 
 ford Robinson, who was settled in Lisbon as pastor. He has always 
 been greatly beloved by all her people, and remembered throughout 
 that whole vicinity for his eloquent talents in doing good, Christian 
 work. His personal magnetism has had much to do with "inaug- 
 urating" a new day "for Lisbon." 
 
 171 Cabot St., Holyoke, Mass., May 27, 1903. 
 
 My Dear Mr. Bishop:— Your holy labor of preserving the history of 
 Lisbon wins my profound appreciation. An honorable history is a valuable 
 asset. Lisbon is unspeakably rich in her history. 
 
 Turning from the hoary past to the living present I must recall the 
 lines of Wordsworth — 
 
 "Those beauteous forms. 
 Through a long absence, have not been to me 
 As is a landscape to a blind man's eye; 
 But oft in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din 
 Of towns and cities, I have owed to them 
 In hours of weariness, sensations sweet 
 Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart 
 With tranquil restoration." 
 
«3 
 
 The years can never efface the imprint of "the little, nameless, unre- 
 membered acts of kindness and of love" that helped to make the "manse" the 
 "sparrow's nest" which Mrs. Browne would term it. 
 
 Our daughter remembers with pride that Lisbon was her birthplace. 
 
 A forward look. I am confident that your book will be the means of 
 accomplishing these results: 
 
 First — The completion of the repairs on the church building. 
 
 Second — A renewed interest in the old town and a feeling of respon- 
 sibility for her spiritual, social and material interests. 
 
 Third — A spirit of enterprise in the Lisbon of to-day. 
 
 I am thankful that for more than three years I labored in Newent 
 Parish and had some part in inaugurating the new day which your book- 
 will usher in. 
 
 Very cordially yours, 
 
 EDWIN BRADFORD ROBINSON. 
 
 The following letter came from Rev. Tyler Eddy Gale, who 
 has supplied the Newent pulpit during the last year : 
 
 4 Downing Street, Worcester, Mass., June 5, 1903. 
 Mr. H. F. Bishop. 
 
 My Dear Mr. Bishop: — Your kind note of May 30th is at hand. My con- 
 nection with the Newent Church has come to an end, but I still feel very 
 vitally interested in its welfare, and I should be very glad indeed to go on 
 record as appreciative in the history of Lisbon you are so self-sacrificingly 
 preparing. The year I have spent as acting pastor of the Newent church 
 has been the happiest of my life. The sturdy ancestry behind the Lisbon 
 people, and their helpful interest in the future progress of society, unite to 
 make them men and women of whom one is proud to call by the name of 
 friends. In this time, when the social conditions of New England's small 
 towns are so generally condemned, the presence in a community of a religious 
 and social institution of the stability and force of the Newent church is a 
 happy warrant for optimism as to that community's future. Worthily con- 
 servative, nobly progressive, it guarantees Lisbon's fidelity to the best ideals 
 of New England. May its future be bright in the truth of the past it reveres, 
 the future advancement it hopes for, the God it worships, and the gospel it 
 preaches ! 
 
 If I can be of any service whatever to you in your work, do not hesitate 
 to call upon me. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 TYLER E. GALE. 
 
 Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, 
 D. C, gives the following response to my letter asking information 
 of him. 
 
 Mr. Wilson, as is well known, was called to serve in the Cabinet 
 of the late President McKinley, and he is now serving in President 
 Roosevelt's Cabinet, and is highly honored by all those who know 
 him through the whole country. 
 
 Department of Agriculture, Office of the Secretary, 
 Washington, D. C., May 4. 1903. 
 Dr. H. F. Bishop. 312-322 East 88th St.. New York City. 
 
 Dear Sir: — I have your letter of May 1st. I was fifteen years old when 
 my father, in 1851, moved from Scotland to Connecticut. We lived on a 
 farm on the Quinabaug River, a little above the tunnel. You remember 
 the Shetucket joins the Quinabaug a little below the tunnel. We went 
 
to Lisbon to church regularly every Sunday ; and there we listened to dear 
 old Dr. Nelson, who had preached a long time — if I remember rightly, well 
 on toward a half-century. My father was a devout Christian man, and saw 
 to it that we went to church regularly ; and not only that, but to mid-week 
 prayer meetings also, in the houses of the farmers around. This enabled 
 me to get an inside knowledge of the excellence of Connecticut families that I 
 have never forgotten. I went to the district school in winter, where, I 
 remember, Daniel Hyde was teacher. Later I went to the high school in 
 Greenville. Those quaint neighborhoods in Connecticut have produced grand 
 men, who have done much for the whole country. Their thorough knowledge 
 of local self-government has extended westward, and is now being intro- 
 duced into the islands of the Orient. I have always had a deep-seated 
 affection for the State of Connecticut. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 JAMES WILSON, 
 Secretary. 
 
 A more extended correspondence with native Lisbonites and 
 their descendants would have furnished much more in general in- 
 terest to have enriched the publication of this work ; but limitations 
 must draw a line even if injustice is clone to some who get no op- 
 portunity to be heard. Among those not heard from, United States 
 Senator Perkins of California is one. The New York Press has 
 said of him within a few days past: "He was reared on a farm 
 and had limited educational qualifications. Many a stone fence he 
 helped to build and many a field he mowed in the meridian sun." 
 Of such material is this genuine old colonial stock of Lisbon com- 
 posed that they can arise to useful positions as statesmen and coun- 
 sellors, as well as companions and advisers to those elected to 
 govern this great Republic. 
 
 taie of C® 
 
 WHO TRANSPLANTED SUSTAINS' 
 
 'Lives there a man with soul so dead 
 That never to himself has said— 
 This is my own, my native land." 
 
University of 
 Connecticut 
 
 Libraries 
 

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