CHAPTER I.

The Earliest Settlers of the Town. Jonathan Gilbert and His Family. Captain Andrew Belcher. Captain Seymour, Keeper of the Fort at Christian Lane. John Goodrich and Family. Sergeant Richard Beckley.

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One of the early settlers of Hartford was Jonathan Gilbert, ancestor of our Christian Lane family of that name. He married January 29, 1645, Mary, daughter of John White, preaching elder in Thomas Hooker's church. After her death in 1650 he married, second, Mary, daughter of Hugh Wells. He had eleven children. He died December 10, 1682. Besides con-ducting a tavern and a warehouse in Hartford, Jonathan Gilbert was deputy collector of customs and marshal for the colony. He was also a member of Connecticut's first body of cavalry, formed in 1658, under Major John Mason.

For twenty-six years, from 1638 to 1665, the General Assembly of the Colony of Connecticut met twice a year, and with two exceptions, at Hartford. It consisted of two magistrates and three deputies from each town.

Dr. Horatio Gridley, in his manuscript history of Berlin, says that for a long time their sessions were held in a chamber of Mr. Gilbert's inn, where the members boarded.

In April, 1665, at the last session, before the Connecticut and New Haven Colonies united, there were six magistrates and twenty-five deputies present.

For his services, the General Court convened at Hartford, August 28, 1661, granted him a tract of three hundred and fifty acres of land, with the privilege of choosing it, "provided it be not prejudicial where he finds it to any plantation that now is or hereafter may be settled. “Gilbert’s official duties had called him occasionally over the "principal path," leading to New Haven, so that he knew about

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the rich meadows in the valley now traversed in Berlin by the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad, and it was here that he took up his grant. By other grants and by purchase he added to his possessions until in 1672 his title deeds covered a landed estate of more than a thousand acres.

The tract included Christian Lane and extended south to the present bounds of Meriden.

Captain Andrew Belcher, born January 1, 1647, was a rich merchant of Boston.

Professor David N. Camp tells us that he was engaged in trade with the Connecticut and New Haven colonies, that he owned several vessels employed in transportation and was the agent of Connecticut in purchasing "armes and ammunition" for the colony and was also employed by Massachusetts to carry provisions from Connecticut to Boston for the supply of the army and the Massachusetts colony. That

He married July 1st, 1670, Sarah, daughter of Jonathan Gilbert, and had seven children, two sons and five daughters.

His youngest son, Jonathan, born in 1681, graduated at Harvard College in 1699, and soon after visited Europe, where he made the acquaintance of the princess Sophia (Dorothea, wife of King George I) and her son, afterward George II. He was governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire from 1730 to 1741, and afterwards governor of New Jersey. He was instrumental in enlarging the Charter of Princeton College, of which he was patron and benefactor.

His son Jonathan, grandson of Captain Andrew Belcher, graduated at Harvard College, studied law in London, and was Lieutenant-Governor and Chief Justice of Nova Scotia.

Sir Edward Belcher, a grandson of the preceding, was a commander in the British navy, commanding the expedition which was in search of Sir John Franklin in 1852-54.

When on business at Hartford, Captain Belcher was in the habit of staying at the Gilbert tavern and here he found his wife, Sarah Gilbert.

Soon after his marriage he purchased of his father-in-law the greater part of his farm.

One of the deeds, as confirmed by court, reads in part as follows:

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Att a Genall Assembly holden at Newhaven October the 14 1703, Whereas, the Govenr and company of this her Magesties Colonie of Connecticutt in Genall court assembled at Hartford, Aug. the 28th, 1661, did give and grant unto Jonathan Gilbert of the said town of Hartford, inn holder, deed, three hundred and fifty acres of countrey land for a farm,

and whereas, the said Genall Assembly holden at Hartford, March the 13th, 166 1/2, and Octobr the 12th, 1665, did give and grant to Gapt. Daniel Clerke of the town of Windzor three hundred acres of land for the same use,

to be taken up partly upon the branches of Mattabessett River, and partly upon the road from Wethersfield to Newhaven, at or near a place called Cold Spring on the west side of a ridge of mountainous land commonly called or known by the name of the Lamentation Hills,

all which appears on record; and the said Jonathan Gilbert did purchase of the said Daniel Clerke his said grant, by which grant and purchase the said Jonath Gilbert obteined to himself and his heirs a good and lawfull right and title to sixe hundred and fiftie acres of the said countrey land,

four hundred and seventy acres whereof was laid out to the said Jonathan Gilbert ... at and nere the said place called the Cold Spring on the west side of the said Lamentation Hill; the said four hundred and seventie acres of land comprehending within it three pieces of meadowe, one called the south meadow, another the north meadow, and the third beaver meadow; and the said Jonathan Gil-bert having purchased the native right of the said land, and of the land thereunto adjoining, amounting in the whole to the sume of one thousand acres and upwards of meadow and upland;

and whereas Capt. Andrew Belcher of the town of Boston in the province of the Massachusetts Bay in Newengland, merchant, hath by purchase gained to himselfe and his heirs forever all the estate, right and title that the heirs or assignes of the said Jonathan Gilbert had or might have in, or to the said four hundred and seventie acres of land, meadow and upland . . . This assembly considering that the said Andrew Beldrer hath expended a considerable estate upon the said land in building tennantable houses and settling tennants therein,

and other improvements which are like to be a public as well as a private benefitt, the said tennements being conveniently situate for the relief of travailers in their journeying from place to place,

for his incouragement to goe forward with his improvements doe see cause to grant his petition . . . provided always, neverthe-

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less, that there shall be a country road or highway through the said farme or part thereof, as there shall be occasion.

At the same session of the court Captain John Hamlin peti-tioned for another grant of land for Captain Belcher :

"Which land lyeth between sd Mr. Belcher's farme at Meriden and the mountain called Lamentation.

Captain Thomas Hart and Mr. Caleb Stanley jun, "were ordered to survey the tract and report both as to quantitie and qualitie.

At the next meeting of the General Assembly the committee reported.

We found that the said land petitioned for aforesaid doth contain about two hundred and eightie acres:

And as to the qualitie thereof by reason that the same is almost wholly consisting of steep rocky hills and very stony land we judge it to be very mean and of little value.

As early as 1664 this locality, as far north as New Britain, was known as "Merrideem."

Jonathan Gilbert's deed from Daniel Clark, dated April 22, 1664, is still in the possession of his Christian Lane descendants. It describes the 300 acres of land conveyed as "lying, situate, and laid out at a place called Moridam, where Mr. Jonathan Gilbert's farm is and bounded partly on the Mattabesick River where it may be allowed of the town of Farmington."

Later the whole of the present town of Berlin was known as "Great Swamp."

When the Misses Churchill were planning to come to Berlin to live, they were told in New Haven that there was a "great swamp" up here.

In 1660, when Charles II ascended the throne of England, all who had presided as judges, when the death warrant of his father, Charles I, was signed, were in danger of losing their heads. Ten of the regicides, as they were called, were executed. To escape the same fate, three of the guilty men fled to New England.

At first the "judges" were treated as distinguished guests, but when King Charles sent officers across the water for their arrest,

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it was dangerous for minister, magistrate or commoner to befriend the fugitives. It is to be hoped, however, that those, who assisted them, will not be held accountable in the day of judgment, for all the lies they told the officers.

The regicides fled from one hiding place to another, as they were pursued. In 1661 they were secreted in a cave at West Eock, New Haven, since known as "Judges" cave.

Mr. Eichard Sperry who lived about a mile west of the "Kock" used to leave food for them on a certain stump, where the men would go for it under cover of darkness. The mountain was full of wolves and wild cats and one night, when a panther appeared at the mouth of the cave, its blazing eyeballs and unearthly screams frightened them so that they abandoned that retreat.

The tradition is that in their wanderings they encamped, for several days, by the side of a river near what is now called West Meriden. The stream is still known as "Harbor Brook." Daniel Clark, secretary and clerk of the court, mentions "Pil-groomes Harbour," by which name the locality was known for more than a hundred years.

Mr. F. H. Cogswell of New Haven has written a very inter-esting story entitled "The Eegicides." The book may be found in our public library.

Wallingford, set off from New Haven, was first settled in 1670. Hartford and New Haven had then been settled about thirty-five years, and a road which had been made between the two towns was mentioned, in the deed of this land to Wallingford, as the "Old Eoad." It was the identical road now known as "Old Colony," as it runs through West Meriden.

The court confirmed the grant for the new village, provided it "doe not extend to the north any further than wh(ere) the old road to New Haven goeth over Pilgrimes Harbour."

Edward Higby was the first settler in Westfield Society (Middletown). His deed, given October 15, 1664, reads as follows:

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I Seaukeet, Indian, (abiding in or about Hartford, on Conec't,) Sachem, owner ... of a large tract of land in the woods toward New Haven att and about the land now in possession of Mr. Jonathan Gilbert, . . . doe sell unto Edward Higbey, one parcell of land . . . Hills, rocks, brooks, swamps, and all other appurtenances bounded ... by marked trees, and by land of sayd Jonathan Gilbert and Pilgrim's Harbor Brook or River.

Another deed given in 1681, received for record at Hartford August 10, 1684, reads:

. . . that I, Adam Puit, Indian, now residing at Podunk, (Windsor) doe hereby mortgage all my land lyeing upon the Road toward New Haven, . . . next adjoining to Jonathan Gilbert's farme, ... in breadth North and South five miles, ... with all the swamps, Rivers and meadow Land lyeing within the said Bounds ... to John Talcott of Hartford ...

Adam Puit received in hand from the said "John Talcut" one parcel of "Trucking Cloaths" and stipulated that before the end of the year he should "receive foure coats more, as full satisfac- tion for the purchase thereof."

The next year, 1683, Mr. Talcott made over all this land to Wallingford, and so, while the original northern boundary of Wallingford was Pilgrim's Harbor, by this purchase in 1682, it was extended to the present south line of Berlin. When we hear that our Berlin grand sires married their wives down in Wallingford, we need not necessarily think that they went so very far away from home.

Some of our village people trace their ancestors to Ensign Nathaniel Royce of Wallingford, who received three separate grants of land at Dog's Misery, described as lying by the southern branch of Pilgrim's Harbor (brook) that being the name of the whole stream from its mouth up to the pond whence it flows.

In 1700, the daughter of Nathaniel Royce received, as her Portion, three and a half acres at Dog's Misery. It had aquired this name because a part of the land was a miry jungle, sp over-grown with a tangle of thorns and bushes, that when wild animals

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sought refuge therein, and the dogs followed, they stood no chance when their chase turned upon them.

September 16, 1707, "The towne chose Eliezer Peck, Joshua Culver, David Hall, a commetie to see that (dogs) misery hiway may not be pinsht of the twenty rods in any place from the town to miserie whare it was not laid out before the graint was of sd hiway."

Meriden was organized as a town in 1806, but the name was restricted to that territory from the time when, in 1725, the thirty-five families living at the north end of Wallingford, tired of going so far, over bad roads, to the center for their church privileges, formed themselves into a distinct Ecclesiastical Society.

When Captain Belcher received his grant, it was stipulated that he should build a fort with port holes, where he should keep arms and ammunition. This fort was built on the west side of the "old road," a mile and a half or so below the Norton farm, on what was afterwards known, for many years, as the Nelson Merriam place. (One winter, when Mr. Eeddington taught in the Worthington Academy, the Merriam children drove up here to school, a sleigh full of them, every day.)

Mr. Perkins says the fort was built in 1664. Barber says it was erected between 1660 and 1667. Davis places the date between 1661 and 1667. Now if, as stated, Mr. Belcher was born in 1647, married 1670, and purchased his first tract of land, after that date, of his father-in-law, the deeds for which were confirmed 1673-4, is it probable that at the age of seventeen, or earlier, he was down in the Meriden woods, sixteen miles from anywhere, building a fort ? Ten years later there was use for the fort, with its arms and ammunition.

Rumors were abroad that all the Indian tribes, in New Eng-land, were to unite in an effort to rid their country of the whites. King Philip, who hated the English, was going about, from chief to chief, stirring up their passions. He told them that unless they bestirred themselves they would be robbed of every foot of land that had come to them from their fathers; that they

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would be crowded out from their hunting grounds; their forests would be cut down, and their people would be scattered like the leaves of autumn.

In 1675 the war broke out with fury, and brought desolation to many settlements, especially in Massachusetts. No attack was made on towns in Connecticut, but the settlers were in mortal fear, and many a stalwart soldier went out from his home to help fill the state's quota, who never returned. Supplies of food and clothing were sent to the army from every household. Taxes were enormous. Houses were fortified, and no man dared go to church, or into his field, or to set his foot outside his door, without a musket, with a pouch of bullets, and flask of powder, at his side.

In 1678, when King Philip's War closed, six hundred men, of our forces, had been killed, and six hundred houses had burned. Every eleventh family was homeless, and every eleventh soldier had fallen by disease or the hand of the Red man. With his land, Mr. Belcher had permission to "keep tavern forever." He did not come himself, but sent some one to use the privilege. It is said that the first house was of logs, with iron shutters, the doors driven full of great spikes.

This building proved too small, and in 1690 a new, costly stone house was erected, so substantial, that it was still in use and famous in the times of the French and Revolutionary wars. John Yale had a farm of five hundred acres lying on both sides of the road, north of the Belcher tavern and Deacon Yale used to tell about the times when travelers staid at the "Half Way House," as it was called. He said the men, sometimes twenty teamsters at a time, would put their horses under shelter, but they never thought of going to bed themselves—there were only two beds in the house. They fiddled, sang, danced and drank until morning, every man with his gun within reach. One-half of the company staid outside, on guard, the first hours of the night, and then the others took their turn. Pickets were stationed all about, and over on the mountain, to watch against surprise from the Indians. To get their drink, they looked the wagons over until they found a cask of liquor, when

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they knocked up a hoop, bored a hole with a gimlet, drew what they wanted, and then plugged the hole, and drove the hoop back in place.

About the year 1845 the foundations of the old tavern were ploughed up by Mr. Sidney Merriam. The magazine, where the powder was stored, was northwest of the house, and the hollow where it stood may still be seen. The place is now owned by Michaels, the Meriden baker.

North of the tavern was a blacksmith shop, the first in this part of the country.

We have spoken of an old stage road, now abandoned, that ran from Meriden up to Kensington. It is probable that Mr. Belcher laid out that road, at any rate he built a stone wall along its east side. This wall may be seen west of the railroad track, where it bounds the Norton farm, for about half a mile, and extends farther south into Meriden. It is four feet high, and four feet wide at its base. In places it has suffered from the hunters. It was once a great place for rabbits, and the dogs would stand with nose pointed at a hole, in the wall, until their masters came and tore away the stones to secure their prey.

Edward Augustus Kendall in his history, published 1809, writes of this wall as follows:

When the road between New Haven and Hartford was originally made, a Mr. Belcher, received a stipend from the government, on condition of his residing here, and keeping an inn, or, as it is called, a tavern. The Indians were at this time troublesome, and mention is made of a wall, built by Mr. Belcher, as if for purposes of defense.

In this way however it could be of no use; for it was of more than a mile in circuit, and formed of uncemented stones, raised only four feet high, like the walls at present common in the country. This wall however, had some extraordinary personages among its builders.

It is current in tradition, that fourteen or fifteen settlers came into Mr. Belcher's neighborhood, from the town of Farmington, of whom the whole band possessed unusual strength and stature. Two were of the name of Hart. Of these, one, whose son at the age of seventy years is still alive (1809), is said to have had bones so large, that an Indian, who, with others, was passing through the settlement, stopped and examined him with surprise. Mr. Hart and his fellow-giants were employed by Mr. Belcher on his wall.

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A stone south of Albert Norton's barn marks the ancient southeast corner of Farmington.

On the old Colony road, about twenty rods south of the point where the turnpike branches off toward East Meriden, a great oak tree, on the west side, marks the division between Hartford and New Haven counties, and also the town line between Berlin and Meriden.

A barn about thirty rods south of the Norton house, sometimes used as a cider mill, used to stand on the north side of the hill, below Galpin's corner, where the foundations still remain. It was purchased before the Civil War and removed to its present location by Henry Norton.

Ebenezer Gilbert, son of Jonathan, married Hester Allyn, daughter of Captain Thomas Allyn of Windsor and Abigail, his wife, who was a daughter of John Warham, first minister at Windsor. On the Warham side the Gilbert family claim rela-tionship with Rev. Jonathan Edwards, Aaron Burr, Timothy Dwight, Judge John Trumbull, General William Williams, signer of the Declaration of Independence, John Sherman, ex-President Woolsey, Rev. John Todd, Grace Greenwood, Rev. Horace Bushnell, Elizabeth Stewart Phelps, and others equally Worthy of note.

Hester's grandmother Allyn was Margaret Watt, whose ancestry has been traced back through Richard Plantagenet, King John of England, Henry II; Matilda, daughter of William the Conqueror, and King Alfred the Great to Adam, seventy-six generations distant from Hester. What are you giving us ? Honor bright! it says so in one of the genealogies, and to think the poor girl had to settle down in "this desolate corner of the wilderness"—a worse case than that of the Bolderos—but then her husband owned a farm of 300 acres, besides much other property, and he was the only "Mr." in the community excepting the minister.

Ebenezer Gilbert was received to the Christian Lane Church by letter from Hartford in 1718-19. At a meeting of the society held January 7, 1716, "Insign" Isaac Norton was appointed to obtain a decent and fashionable "cushing" for the desk of our

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meetinghouse. He seems not to have performed this duty, and at the annual meeting December 1, 1718, Mr. Ebenezer Gilbird was appointed to obtain a convenient "cushen" for our meeting-house desk.

At a meeting of the Society held November 17, 1717, "Insign" Isaac Norton, Sergeant Benjamin Judd, and Mr. Ebenezer Gil-bird had been chosen a committee "to order the prudentials of a school in this Society and offer their advice about it at the next meeting."

The committee reported December 1, 1718:

This Society being so very scattering in distances & our ways so very diflScult, for small children to pass to a general school in the Society great part of the year. We the Subscribers advice is, that this society be divided into 5 parts or "Squaddams," for the con-venient schooling of the children . . . That the first part or squaddam be all the Inhabitants south of the river called "betses," "Honhius or Honehas" river, including Middletown neighbors with them. And the Inhabitants in Wethersfield bounds be another part or squaddam. And that all from "betses" River to the River called Gilbirds, Northward, to be another part—& that from Gilberds River Northward, till it includes Dea Judd & John Woodruff be another part & that the rest of the society North be another part & further that the money allowed by the country be divided to each "squad-dam" according to the List of the Inhabitants within the limits thereof & the rest of the charges so arising shall be leaved on ye parents or Masters of ye children who are "taut".

Ebenezer Gilbert died in 1726. By his will, dated July 17, of that year, he bequeathed £300, to his dear wife Ester, together with the improvement during her natural life of one-half of his Eastermost dwelling-house, within the bounds of Farmington. To his daughter Sarah he gives £200, and to his sons, Moses, Jonathan and Ebenezer, he "bequeathes all my housing and lands in Farmington, Hartford and Symsbury .... to be equally divided amongst them. Excepting my eldest son Moses shall have my said dwelling House in Farmington above & beyond his other Brothers parts."

The estate inventoried £4455 19s. lid. of which "dear wife Ester" received £300, and half the dwelling-house! Included in the list of personal property were: a negro £100, a negro

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woman £45, boy £100, child £30, total £275. The widow Gilbert died October 4, 1750. One item among specific bequests made in her will reads "I give my grandson Thomas Gilbert my son Moses son one Silver Spoon." The residue of her real and personal estate which inventoried £326 5s. 11d., she divided equally among her sons Moses, Jonathan and Ebenezer.

Moses Gilbert, baptized June 22 1707, married Elizabeth Hooker. Their son Ebenezer, born January 15, 1741-2, mar-ried May 27, 1762, Mary Butrick. She was at one time a member of the Worthington church, but their house was opposite the John Ellis place, a short distance over the Berlin line in New Britain. Ebenezer Gilbert was killed in the Revolution-ary army, February 15, 1776. Their son Sylvanus, born February 10, 1763, also died in the army.

Widow Mary Gilbert married second, November 19, 1778, another Revolutionary soldier, Lieut. Elisha Booth, with whom she moved to Hartland. After the death of Lieutenant Booth she returned in 1800, to the old Gilbert place, where she died March 30, 1831, aged eighty-six. She was buried in New Britain, where it is probable that the graves of the two Gilbert soldiers may be found.

Charles S. Ensign, counsellor at law, of Newton, Mass., a descendant of Seth Gilbert of Berlin, has in his possession the original 300-acre Gilbert deed. He is of the opinion that the red brick Gilbert house was built by Ebenezer about the year 1709, and that it was the house willed by him to his son Moses, or possibly that it was one of the taverns which Jonathan Gilbert was allowed by General Assembly to maintain between Hartford and Wallingford.

It is probable that the foundations are the same, but the present house was built by Hooker Gilbert, born June, 1751, son of Moses and Elizabeth (Hooker) Gilbert.

The brick was made on the farm, southwesterly from the house, and "Gilbird's River" now washes around into the pit from which the clay was dug. Some of the bricks, used for ornament, are very hard and black. They shine to-day as if enamelled. The process by which they were made is lost.

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Without doubt those bricks were the first made in Berlin, and now the north part of the original Gilbert farm, and nearly all other farms in that region are full of clay pits, brickyards, kilns and Italians.

Hooker Gilbert married first, Candace Sage, who died May 15, 1805, aged fifty-one. He married second, Sarah Hooker. She died December 4, 1840, aged seventy-nine. He died two days later, December 6, 1840, aged eighty-nine.

Moses Gilbert, 2d, born March 17, 1793, son of Hooker Gilbert and Candace (Sage) his wife, married Renie Rebecca Steele. Her mother's name was Beccarena. Her father, William Steele, a noted fifer in the War of the Revolution, died March 28, 1825, aged sixty-eight.

A long indenture paper, dated August 17, 1839, sh`ows that Moses Gilbert leased his farm on shares, for three years, from April 1, 1840, to Abner P. Welcome. Other papers show that he spent those years traveling in Virginia, selling clocks. Gilbert children of later generations remember that the garret of the old Gilbert house used to be full of clocks, which they were allowed to play with.

A pocket-book contains many notes given for clocks long since outlawed. Mr. Gilbert bought, December 27, 1843, of William Leftwick a tract of land in Braxton County, Va., containing 3,873 acres, which he paid for in bonds, horses, etc. As late as 1865 he was trying to negotiate a sale of that land for $1,000, but it is said that it was sold for non-payment of taxes. When oil wells were discovered there an effort was made to redeem the property, but it was too late, and the Gilbert name does not appear in the list of "Oil Magnates."

A curious recipe was found with Mr. Gilbert's Virginia papers. Outside it reads:

Recpt for Curing Cansors. Jan. 18, 1831. tod by a mane frome Kentuckey & he had one & kured it By the same med son.

January 8th, 1831. Recpt for Curing Cansors: Take Six Galens of Strong; ye & Bile it down to apint then takit of & stur it till it Becomes Cold then take the same quanetey

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of salt stur it to gether till it Becomes a Save then a plie two plars-ters twise in twenty fore ours & when the flesh Be Comes hard take a rasar & shave it of till it Becomes smooth with the other skin & when you think the Cansor Becomes ded then take the yelk of uneag & Beswax & rosum & muten talur & simer them to gether and make a save & a plie once more in twenty four ours till it dros it out & if the roots Brake of then a plie the pastur a gen till it kill it.

Moses Gilbert, 2d, died August 30, 1882, aged eighty-nine. Renea Rebecca, bis wife, died February 28, 1862, aged sixty-eight.

They bad seven children. The eldest son, Moses, 3d, mar-ried, in 1850, Lucelia Steele, daughter of Jefferson Steele. He was a little man. The boys used to call him "Whiniky" Steele. He was a drummer in the State Militia, and was very proud when dressed in his regimentals. Mr. Bulkeley remembers attending in October, 1843, the last great general training at Hartford, when 5,200 men in arms assembled on the north meadows, Colonel Richard M. Johnson, the reputed slayer of Tecumseh, and ex-Vice President of the United States, reviewed the troops and as the parade passed through Main Street, little "Jef." Steele walked the whole distance, with his hand resting on Colonel Johnson's carriage.

A small account book kept by Alfred North, 1830-1-2, recently discovered, throws light upon the occupation of Jef-ferson Steele. It appears that the young man, Alfred, traded off a flute for a watch, giving three dollars to boot. Immedi-ately began entries thus:

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The late William Gilbert, son of Moses, 2d, in company with his sons Edwin and Henry J., carried on an extensive business in market gardening. Henry J., who is a carpenter also, had a shop north of the brick house. The greenhouses were on the south side.

Mrs. Frank Bailey, a daughter of Moses Gilbert, 3d, still lives at the north end of Christian Lane. Mrs. Lucy Gilbert, widow of Edwin, who died in 1901, lives, with her daughters Cora and Florence, in the new house next south of the brick house, and these are all who remain to represent the family on the tract of land granted to Jonathan Gilbert in 1661.

Henry J. Gilbert was the last of the line to occupy the old homestead. The odor from the sewer beds, directly in front of the house, only seventy-five feet away, made it unbearable as a residence, and it was sold in January, 1906, to the city of New Britain. Now the place swarms with Italians, laborers from the brickyards—eight beds in the garret, they say. Henry Gilbert, when asked if he ever heard any Indian stories, said "No, only this": His grandfather Moses told him that one day, when he had been at work in his field, he found, on his return, an Indian in the house. He said he took a horsewhip and drove him away.

Thomas Gilbert, to whom his grandmother Hester willed one silver spoon, married a Mary North. They had a daughter Mary, born 1761, who was married to her cousin, Joseph Gilbert.

These three inscriptions in the Christian Lane cemetery, read between the lines, tell a pathetic story:

Joseph Gilbert died May 8th 1784 æ 26. Miss Lydia only offspring of Mr. Joseph and Mrs. Mary Gilbert d Oct 4th 1802 aged 19 yrs & 10 mos. Mary wife of Mr. Joseph Gilbert died April 25th 1859 aged 98.

Joseph Gilbert's estate was insolvent and his land had to be sold to pay the debts. Mary, his widow, went to work, bought more land, had a cow and chickens, and kept up heart, for had she not a child to love and rear ? Then "Miss Lydia" died and after that her mother, as they said, "took to cats." She owned a little house and barn over in the lots, northwest from the John

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Goodrich place, where she lived, with only her animals for com-pany. She had the Gilbert passion for land and added to her possessions until she owned forty-seven acres, or more, lying in sight of her home.

Deacon North carried his daughter there to see her one day. The house, as remembered, had three rooms. One on the south-east corner was used as a sort of entry way. West of that, the most comfortable room of the three was devoted to a lot of hens, right in the house.

"Aunt Molly," as every one called her, lived and slept in a room which extended across the north side. On her bed was a cat nursing a litter of kittens. Toward the last it was thought unsafe for Aunt Molly to stay alone and she was carried over to the brick house to end her days. There, her work of nearly a century done, she used to sit before the great fireplace and smoke her clay pipe, and doze and dream. What interesting stories she might have told for this history.

After Aunt Molly's eyesight failed, her greatest comfort was to repeat, from the Bible, chapter after chapter which she learned in childhood. One day when Doctor and Mrs. Brande-gee called to see her she recited for them the whole of one of the longest chapters in John.

Jonathan Gilbert of Hartford, who by grant of General Assembly, in 1661, and by further purchases came into possession of a tract of land extending from "Wethersfield bounds to Wallingford," died in 1682, aged 64. His estate inventoried £2484 17s. 09d. His will, dated September 10, 1674, reads as follows:

I Jonathan Gilbert of Hartford do make my last Will & Testament. I give to my wife Mary Gilbert the use of homestead and Dutch Island, Land I bought of Mr. Callsey, Land exchanged with James Richard, pasture I bought of Andrew Warner, also my wood lott on the west side of Eocky Hill, tiil my son Samuel attain to 21 years of age, then to be surrendered to him, with certain reservations to her during life, then all these to Samuel and his heirs forever, he paying to his brother Ebenezer £30. I give to my son Jonathan Gilbert half the land at Haddam I bought of James Bates & Thomas Shaylor, or £20 in other estate, which is his portion with what he

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had before given him. I give to Thomas Gilbert my House & House lott on the south side of the Rivulet. I give to my son Nathaniel Gilbert my farme at Meriden and £30 more. I give to my daughter Lydia Richison 20 Shillings. I give to my daughter Sarah Belcher 20 Shillings; to my daughter Hary Holden 20 Shillings; to my daughter Hester Gilbert £100; to Rachel Gilbert £100.

I give to my son Ebenezer Gilbert, all that 300 acres of Land I bought of Capt. Daniel Clarke in Farmington, also that purchase of Land I bought of Massecup, commonly called and known by the name of pagonchaumischaug; also £50. I desire my wife do remember Hannah Kelly & give her 20s, and more at her discretion if she prove obedient. I give to my grandchild, John Rossiter, £10; to my gr. child, Andrew Belcher, £5; to my gr. child, Jonathan Richeson £5. I make my wife sole Executrix, and desire Capt. John Allyn, my brother John Gilbert, and Sargt. Caleb Standly to be helpful to her, and that she satisfy them for their pains.

JOHN TALCOTT,
JOHN GILBERT,
JONATHAN GILBERT, L. S.

Mary (Wells) Gilbert, widow of Jonathan, died July 3, 1700. In her will, dated May 23, 1700, she describes herself as "I, Mary Gilbert of the Town of Hartford widow and innholder." The "inn," which was kept by Jonathan Gilbert and his wife, as early as 1661, is said to have stood on or near the site now occupied by the Hartford Times.

Gravestones to the memory of Jonathan Gilbert and Mary are in the Center churchyard at Hartford. Their eight chil-dren were Hester, Lydia, Rachel, Mary, Nathaniel, Ebenezer, Samuel and Sarah. Nathaniel Gilbert is not mentioned in his mother's will. He died unmarried at Meriden.

There seems to have been some difficulty over the disposition of Mrs. Gilbert's wearing apparel. November 14, 1701, nearly a year and a half after her death, Capt. Caleb Standly and Lydia, his wife, testified in court under oath:

That we, being at divers times together with Mrs. Mary Gilbert in her last sickness, did hear her declare that it was her will that her two daughters that attended her in the time of her sickness,

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viz., Lydia Chapman and Rachel Marshfield, after her death, should have all her wearing clothes divided between them, and that they should have them as they were appraised in the inventory, and be well paid for their attendance upon her. All which the sd. Mrs. Mary Gilbert declared to us.

Richard Seymour, keeper of the Fort at Christian Lane, was slighted recently and we must return to speak of him. Captain "Seamer" was the leader of the company of families who came from Farmington in 1686 to settle on the farms this side of "Blow Mountain," and he was granted by vote of the whole town the munificent sum of £1, as a gratuity for planting the new colony. It was a great shock to the little community when, in 1710, he was killed by the fall of a tree. There are many descendants of Richard Seymour who may be interested to have an account of the administration of his estate, as entered in the Probate records at Hartford, here given in full:

Seamore, Richard, Farmington, Invt £ 416-13-03 Taken 29 Novem-ber, 1710, by Thomas Seamore' Thomas Hart and Thomas Curtis. Court Record, Page 23-4 December 1710: Adms granted to Han-nah Seamore, widow, and Samuel Seamore, son of sd. deed.

See File. An agreement by the children and widow of Richard Seamore for dist. of ye sd. estates vigt.

To the widow, ber thirds in the moveable estate and in lands; also a share in the lot called Bacholders, valued at £1-13-07. Bachelder was a Farmington name.

To Samuel Seamore, half of the homested with ye house on it, valued at £60; also his part in the land that lies on the west of Mr. Gilbert, being 12 acres, and valued at £35-03-00.

To Ebenezer Gilbert, land on the east side of Mr. Gilbert valued at £18-01-03.

To Hannah Seamore, out of the moveable estate, which is £32 10. To Mercy Seamore, her part in the dist. out of the moveable estate, which is £32-10.

HANNAH (X) SEAMORE, LS
SAMUEL SEAMORE, LS
JONATHAN SEAMORE, LS
EBENEZER SEAMORE, LS
JOSEPH POMEROY, LS
MERCY (X) SEAMORE, LS

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Page 24, 1st January 1710-11: Hannah Seamore of Farmington, widow, and Samuel Seamore, Jonathan Seamore and Ebenezer Sea-more, sons of the sd. deceased, and Mercy Seamore and Jonathan Pomeroy in behalf of Hannah his wife, daughters of sd. deed., appeared before this court and exhibited a writing under their hands and seals, made for the dist. or division of the greatest part of the estate of the sd. deed, amongst themselves. And each acknowledged the sd. writing or agreement to be their act and deed. Wherefore this court allow and approve the sd. writing See File: Paper attached to agreement; November 7th, 1712. Then reckoned with and received of Samuel Seymour ye whole of ye legacy yt was due to my wife from Father Seymour's estate I say received in full

Hannah Seymour was a daughter of Matthew Woodruff of Farmington.

Hannah the widow did not long survive her husband. A statement recorded on page 193 of Early Connecticut Probate Records reads as follows:

Seamore, Hannah, Farmington, late wife of Richard Seamore. Know all men by these presents: That we whose names are under-written do agree that for the third of our mother's state, deed, that the two sisters are to have all the moveables, and the three brothers are to have all the lands.
Signed 7 November, 1712.

SAMUEL SEAMORE, LS
RICHARD SEAMORE, LS
JONATHAN SEAMORE, LS
JOSEPH POMEROY, LS
GEORGE HUBBARD, LS

EBENEZER GILBERT
GERSHAM HOLLISTER

George Hubbard was the husband of Marcy Seymour, daugh-ter of Captain Eichard.

Eichard Seymour, father of Captain Eichard, came from Chelmsford, County Essex, England, in 1639. He was chimney viewer in Hartford in 1647, was in Norwalk with the early planters soon after 1650, and died 1655, leaving wife, Mercy, and four sons. Thomas, the eldest, remained in Norwalk, had

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three sons and seven daughters. The mother, Mercy, married, second, Mr. John Steele of Farmington, where she brought her three boys, John, Zachary and Richard, who were under age and had been placed in her guardianship.

As Kichard was made a freeman in Farmington in 1669, the inference is that he was seven when his mother was left a widow, that he was forty-eight when he came to Great Swamp, and seventy-two at the time of his death. From Richard's brother John, who married Mary Watson, and settled in Hart-ford, were descended Governor Horatio Seymour of New York, Judge Origen Seymour of Litchfield, Major Gen. Truman Sey-mour, U. S. A., and Et. Rev. George F. Seymour of Springfield.

Samuel Seymour, son of Captain Richard, inherited the home-stead. He married, May 10, 1706, Hannah North, daughter of Thomas North, Sr., of Farmington. Their daughter Hannah was the second wife of Allyn Goodrich. John Goodrich, son of Allyn, with his son John—"Uncle John"—and Uncle John's children, made six generations who abode on that spot.

Allyn Goodrich, son of John Goodrich and Rebecca Allyn his wife, of Wethersfield, born November 13, 1690, married Decem-ber 29, 1709, Elizabeth, the second of seventeen children of Colonel David Goodrich of Wethersfield. She was eighteen and he nineteen when married. They came to "Little Farmington Village," where she died August 25, 1726, one week after the birth of her sixth child. He married, second, December 10, 1729, Hannah Seymour of Kensington, and they had two sons, John and Asahel. At a society meeting held December 6, 1738, Allyn Goodrich was granted 7s. 6d. for framing a bier to carry the dead. He died April 8, 1764.

John Goodrich, son of Allyn Goodrich and Hannah Seymour, born March 28, 1737, married April 7, 1757, Hannah Dewey, born March 9, 1740, daughter of Lieut. Daniel Dewey, son of Daniel.

The Deweys, who were active in the affairs of Great Swamp Society, lived within the present limits of New Britain, it is

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said on the Enoch Kelsey place, southeasterly from the Martin Ellis corner. Vermont claims Admiral Dewey as one of her sons. A branch of the Dewey family moved from Connecticut to Berlin, Vt., in 1789.

Mrs. Orpha North Edwards, born in Berlin, Conn., in 1810, now living at Derby, Conn., is a granddaughter of Hannah (Dewey) Goodrich. She writes that she remembers an uncle David Dewey, who lived in Vermont, and that "they" go back five generations to a common ancestor with the Admiral.

John Goodrich and his wife lie in the Christian Lane ceme-tery. He died April 26, 1816, aged 79. She died September 15, 1812, aged 72. Their six children were Seth, Zenas, Han-nah, Leonard, John, and Rebecca. Zenas married Lois, daugh-ter of Pete Gapin. He was a blacksmith and learned, it is said, his trade from his father. Hannah was the wife of Asahel Root, and Rebecca, mother of Mrs. Edwards, was the wife of Lemuel North.

It was the fashion in early New England days to marry while young. John Goodrich was twenty-one and Hannah Dewey was only seventeen when she promised to "love, honor and obey" him.

Their dwelling house stood a little way in front and north of the old fort. Mrs. Edwards says the house was built by her great-grandfather Goodrich. The outside doors were double and were fastened at the top and again at the base. A loaded gun hung on the wall. The logs for the great fireplace were attached to a chain and dragged into the house by oxen.

Mrs. Edwards remembers hearing that some Indians had a wigwam out in the cow pasture, west of the house, where they made baskets on a large white stone. She saw the stone when a child and thinks it must be there now, as it was so large that fifty men could not have moved it. Every two weeks the Indiana carried their baskets to Hartford, where they sold them and bought rum. They had a "high old time" as long as the rum lasted, and the squaw used to come over and stay with Mrs. Edwards' grandmother until they were sober again.

John Goodrich, Jr., born May 19, 1776, remained on the homestead. He married January 1, 1798, Ruth, daughter of

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Jonathan Beckley of Beckley Quarter. Their children, six in number, were Darius, Nathan, Lydia, Mary, Hannah, and Martha.

"Uncle John Goodrich," as he was called, was a tinner by occupation, and his shop, where he busied himself to his last days, stood easterly from his house near the front fence. He was extremely fond of music. He was fifteen years old when, in 1791, the wonderful new organ was set up in the church, and he is said to have been the first to play it. He practiced at home on a painted key-board, and "made his own music," what-ever that might mean.

John Goodrich, Jr., died May, 6, 1858, aged 82; Ruth Beck-ley, his wife, died January 16, 1849, aged 71.

Hannah Dewey, their daughter, born September 5, 1814, remained at home and cared faithfully for the old people as long as they lived. Afterward she was twice married, the second time to Aaron Dutton of Clairmont, N. H., where she died October 30, 1893.

Mr. Goodrich and his daughter, Miss Hannah, were always present at church services. On a chilly May Sunday, in church, he took a cold that resulted in his last sickness, pneumonia. She was fond of little children, and was always trying to induce them to come to Sunday school. Miss Boot remembers how they used to bring her over to the village on Sunday, sitting between them in a little chair, which they had in the wagon.

The old Goodrich house was built early in the eighteenth century, probably by Allyn Goodrich. The style was like that of the Root house, at the south end of Christian Lane, except that the front rooms had only one window in front. It was set well back from the road, and great lilac bushes grew each side of the front door. The place was sold about 1870 to Noah Rawlings, father of W. J. Rawlings, New Britain's Chief of Police. The house had become so dilapidated as to be scarcely habitable, and Mr. Rawlings tore it down, much to the grief of Mrs. Dutton, who as long as she was able to do so, made a yearly pilgrimage to her old home, but after the new house was built she would never set her foot inside, except to go into the wood-

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THE BECKLEY TAVERN.
(Built in 1688.)

went on his way, he invited all to be present. A few days afterward it was noticed that something was wrong in the barn of a neighbor. Swarms of flies were buzzing in and out. Investigation discovered the body of the poor man, wedged between two upright posts back of the hay-mow.

The Grist Mill on Beckley farm is said to be the second oldest in the colony. Mr. "William Bulkeley said that the first tinners' tools were made in Beckley Quarter.