Last month I
wrote about my Vidito ancestry. One of those ancestors, John Vidito
(1686-1745), my 8th great grandfather, married Sarah Pickett, my 8th
great grandmother. Sarah was born September 21, 1694 in Stratford, Connecticut
to her parents, Thomas Pickett and Sarah Barnum. Pickett is described as an
“ancient family” in North America. I’ll do a post on this line another day. Sarah
Barnum is the daughter of Hannah (whose maiden name I have yet to confirm) and
Thomas Barnum, one of the “Original Eight” settlers of Danbury, Connecticut.
Thomas
Barnum (or Barnham) was born about 1625 in Hollingbourne Hill, England. It is
believed he immigrated to North America about 1640 and settled in Fairfield
County, Connecticut in 1655, however, I have yet to confirm this information.
He married Hannah in Norwalk, Fairfield, CT in 1660, and they had nine
children: Thomas, Sarah (my 9th great grandmother), Esther, Abigail,
Francis, Elizabeth, Richard, John, Hannah and Ebenezer; all of which were born
in Norwalk from the years 1663 to 1682. His wife, Hannah, died in 1683 in
Norwalk. Thomas remarried in 1688 to Sarah Thompson, the widow of John Hurd,
Sr. Thomas received an appointment in Norwalk to “keep decorum during the
exercise on the Sabbath, and at other public meetings, and to keep a small
stick to moderately correct the disorderly.” I gather from this that his
religious beliefs were, indeed, very strict.
Records
state he “purchased land at Norwalk, as early as 1662,” that “the assessment of
Thomas’ estate in lands in Norwalk, in 1671 and 1687 (was) forty pounds,” that
“Thos. Barnum hath by purchase of John Crump one parcel of land at Maximuss,
being in quantity by estimation three quarters of an acre more of less,” and
that in Norwalk on April 30, 1678 “the plantation granted to Thomas Barnum was ‘three
acres lying by the land said Thomas purchased of John Ragment.’” We also know
he “settled in Fairfield, and before 1678 sold his land…to Alexander Bryan;
removed to Norwalk, and was a founder of Danbury.”
Danbury was
settled only eleven years when Thomas died. It states in the probate records
from Fairfield that he died December 26th, 1695, leaving a widow
(Sarah), five sons and five daughters, and that some of them were “under age”.
Sarah returned to her former town of Stratford after his death.
The book
History of Danbury, Conn., 1684-1896 proved to be a valuable resource, not only
for information about my ancestors, but about how Connecticut came to be. It
states that in 1631 “an Indian sachem visited the governors of the Plymouth and
Massachusetts colonies, urging them to send Englishmen to settle in the
Connecticut Valley; and soon after Governor Winslow, of Plymouth, visited it.
The next year other parties from Massachusetts explored the valley, and
reported it as good”. Between 1634 and 1639 parties set out to plant towns in
Connecticut, specifically in the Hartford and New Haven areas. In 1640, Norwalk
was purchased from the Indians, but the town wasn’t permanently settled until
1651. It is from this town that seven of the original eight left to settle in
Danbury: Thomas Barnum, Thomas Taylor, Francis Bushnell, John Hoyt, James
Benedict, Samuel Benedict and Judah Gregory. James Beebe was the only one not
from Norwalk, he came from Stratford. Some relocated in the summer of 1684 and
throughout the winter, and the last to relocate did so in the spring of 1685. They
all lived at the south end of Town Street, beginning at the south end; Taylor,
Bushnell, Barnum and Hoyt on the west side, the two Benedicts, Beebe and
Gregory on the east side.
Danbury is
located in northern Fairfield County, and it is believed the route the original
settlers took was “on the west side of the pond”. The town had fir trees,
alders and a swamp, and the first settlers almost called the town Swampfield,
but were deterred from doing so by an arbitrary action for the general court.
They decided on the name Danbury, which originates from a town in England
called Danebury, meaning a camp or town of the Danes.
Danbury’s
nickname was Beantown. It is believed this originated from Danbury’s reputation
to produce a very small, round white bean “of excellent quality”. However,
another explanation is that the site was bought from the Indians with a peck of
beans.
Since my
direct ancestor in the Barnum line is female, this is where the Barnum name
ends in my lineage. However, many records can be found pertaining to Thomas
Barnum’s descendants in Connecticut through Sarah’s brothers. Two ancestors
were soldiers in the Revolutionary War and their names appear on a memorial plaque
in Newtown, CT: Thomas Barnum and Isaac Barnum.
There is a
chapter in History of Danbury, Conn., 1684-1896 entitled Danbury in the
Revolution, which tells us that Noble Benedict formed a company of soldiers,
and among the names listed are: Second Sergeant Eliph Barnum, and musicians
Seth Barnum, John Barnum, Eli Barnum, Lazarus Barnum and Eben Barnum. Captain
Benedict’s company joined the 16th Regiment and was “ordered to duty
with the northern arm, reporting to Lake Champlain.” They were enlisted for six
months and returned without losing a single member. Others from Danbury served,
but had enlisted elsewhere. It was the capture and burning of Danbury by the
British in April of 1777 that prompted Generals Wooster, Arnold and Silliman to
respond, leading to the death of General Wooster, who was brought to Danbury
and buried there.
Among the
many details this book provides about this period in American history, there is
a sad story of a young man by the name of Barnum who was captured by the
British: “Porter and a man named Barnum are believed to be the only prisoners
the enemy carried away from Danbury. They were taken to New York City and
confined in the infamous Sugar House prison. Porter was subsequently released
and returned home, but Barnum died there from starvation. When found he had a piece
of brick in his hand, holding it to his mouth, as if to draw moisture from it
to cool his feverish throat.”
This lines
up with another story from the same book: “We mentioned in a previous paper the
death of a young man named Barnum, in the Sugar House prison in New York. His
father, Colonel Joseph Barnum, was seriously affected by the deplorable fate of
his boy, and became so full of the spirit of vengeance, that on the next day
after getting the news he loaded his gun and started out to avenge himself on
sympathizers with the British. Seeing a Tory at work in a field the half-crazed
father fired at him, wounding him severely. He had previously been a
professedly pious man, but frequently after the loss of his son concluded his
devotions in his family by invoking a curse upon ‘old King George and his
hellish crew.’”
Well, I
don’t think I should end on such a heavy note, so here is a fun fact: Through
Thomas Barnum I am related to P.T. Barnum, the founder of Barnum & Bailey
Circus. We are apparently 4th cousins, 7x removed. I haven’t
researched him at all, but if Wikipedia’s information is to be believed he was
quite a shady bloke. I think he would’ve been hit many times by our great
Grand-Pappy’s stick. I’m sure I would’ve received a few good whacks myself.
Sources:
Catalogue of
Names of the Early Puritan Settlers of the Colony of Connecticut
Founders of
Early American Families
History of
Danbury, Conn., 1684-1896
History and
Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield
Immigrants
to America Before 1750
The
Ancestral Heads of New England Families, 1620-1700
Very neat article. Thomas Barnum was my 9th great grandfather.
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