The Chipman family was numerous and highly respectable. Thomas Chipman, the ancestor, and who was the first officiating Justice of the Peace in the town, emigrated from Barnstable, Massachusetts, to Groton, in this State; and from Groton he came here, in 1741. He settled near Lamb's iron works, and was a proprietor in the saw mill and grist mill there. He erected the house now standing, which for many years was the residence of the Johnston family. He was a member of the first Church organized here. He was appointed an associate Judge of this county, but died in the summer of 1752, at the age of sixty-five, before he entered upon the duties of the office. His sons were Thomas, John, Samuel, Amos, and Jonathan. Thomas, the eldest son, was one of the first elected members of Assembly. He died a bachelor, here, at an advanced age. John also died in this town. The other sons removed to Vermont, before the Revolution; and I am not informed whether a single descendant of this family remains with us. The longevity of this family is remarkable. Jonathan and Samuel died at the age of ninety-one years. John, the eldest son of John Chipman, was a Captain in the army of the Revolution, and died at the age of eighty-six. Four sons of Samuel Chipman died, successively, at the ages of seventy-five, seventy-six, seventy-seven, and seventy-eight. Hon. Nathaniel Chipman, the eldest son of Samuel, now survives, at the age of eighty-nine; and Daniel, the youngest son of Samuel, is living, at the age of seventy-six.

Capt. Samuel Beebe was the first Treasurer of the town. He emigrated from Litchfield. Was a large landholder in the eastern part of the town. The only descendant of this gentleman, now alive among us, is David Bebee. His homestead and place of residence was the farm now owned by John Adam, near the Little Falls of the Housatonuc.

Benajah Williams was a Selectman in 1743; he removed from Goshen here in 1742, and settled near the Furnace Pond, and was one of the first eleven members of the Church. The

Ticknor family, by a female branch, are descendants of this gentleman.

John Smith was one of the first elected Selectmen, and a gentleman of considerable estate and respectability. His place of residence is not known by me. He removed from the town, and settled at Beekman's Patent, in the Province of New York, about the year 1746.

Thomas Austin, the first constable of the town, was a bloomer at Lamb's iron works, and resided in that neighborhood, and I believe, was an ancestor of the late Hon. Aaron Austin, of New Hartford.

Nathaniel Skinner was a Selectman in 1743, and one of the first members of the Church. He was the son of Nathaniel Skinner, Esq., of Sharon. He owned the farm on the side of the mountain, about one mile and a half northwest of the meeting house, and since owned by Reuben Chapin. His daughter Rebecca, the widow of Moore Bird, was the wife of Capt. Timothy Chittenden.

Deacon John Hutchinson came here from Lebanon, in 1743, and settled on the farm lately owned by the Brinsmaid family. He soon afterwards removed to a farm at the westerly foot of Barack-Matiff Hill, where his son, Mr. Asa Hutchinson, and his grandson, Myron Hutchinson, have ever since resided. He was, for several years, one of the Justices of the Peace in the town. He was the third Town Clerk, and was elected in 1747, and held the office thirty-one years, and was succeeded in the office by his son, Asa Hutchinson, who held the same office thirty-eight years. Deacon Hutchinson was one of the first deacons of the Church here.

Josiah Stoddard emigrated from Litchfield in 1743, and settled on a farm on the south side of the Furnace Pond, where Harvey D. Warner now lives. He was our second Town Clerk, and for several years a member of the General Assembly. He was the father of Major Luther Stoddard, of the Revolutionary Army, and ancestor of Hon. Josiah J. Johnston,

late Senator of the United States from Louisiana. The children of Judge Burrall, of Canaan, are lineal descendants of this respectable gentleman.

Samuel Moore came originally from Southold, on Long Island, to Litchfield, and from thence to this town, in 1743. He settled at the foot of Barack-Matiff, near deacon Hutchinson, where his descendants now live. He was for many years Treasurer of the town; and this office, with few interruptions, has been, and now is in a family of his descendants.

The Landon family, in England, was located in Nottinghamshire, on the Welch border. That branch of it which settled here, came from Southold, on Long Island, to Litchfield, and settled on the present Marsh farm in that town, at the foot of the hill, about one half mile north of the village. James and John Landon, brothers, came to this town in 1749. James settled in the south part of the town, near the small pond, called by us the Beezlake Pond, and by the Indians, NonCook. He was one of the first magistrates in the town, and, for many years, a member of the General Assembly. His descendants were numerous, and among them still surviving, are our highly valued friend, John R. Landon, Esq., of Litchfield, for many years Sheriff of this county; and our venerable fellow townsman, Ashbill Landon. John Landon settled on Sugar Hill, in the east part of the town. He married a granddaughter of William White, the first settler. Mr. Rufus Landon is a descendant of this branch of the family.

The family of Camps was an early and respectable one. Deacon Hezekiah Camp, the ancestor, came from New Haven, now East Haven, in 1746. He erected the dwelling house still occupied by his descendants-the Ball family. This is the oldest inhabited house in the town. The sons of deacon Camp were Hezekiah, Abial, Luke, John, and Samuel. The family name here is extinct; but the descendants are numerous. The families of Ball, Lee, Chapin, Smith, are, in some of their branches, lineally descended from deacon Camp.

The Chapin family, for many years, was numerous in this

town and highly respectable. The brothers, Charles and Reuben Chapin, emigrated, I believe, from Enfield, in 1746. Reuben occupied the farm adjoining the Brinsmaid farm, before that time owned by Nathaniel Skinner. Charles settled under the mountain, north of and adjoining the Lyman farm. The late Phineas Chapin, Esq., and his family, were lineally descended from Charles Chapin.

Of the Binghams it was once said, that they and their kindred constituted half of the population in the northern section of the town. Jabez, Silas, and Daniel Bingham came from Windham, in 1750. They were the sons of Jabez Bingham, formerly of Lebanon. They were at first located under the mountain, adjoining deacon Camp's. Daniel subsequently settled upon the Washinee and Washining Lakes; or, as we say, between the ponds, where he died in the winter of 1803. The late Caleb Bingham, of Boston, was his son. The Ticknor family and a branch of the Moore family are his lineal descendants.

John, Nathaniel, and Sylvanus Everts, from Guilford, settled in the vicinity of the Furnace Pond, in 1749. John was our first representative in the General Assembly. The children of John Russell are descended from this gentleman. The descendants of Nathaniel yet remain, and in the occupancy of the farm of their ancestor. Sylvanus married a sister of Gov. Thomas Chittenden, and removed to Vermont before the Revolution.

Thomas Chittenden, the first Governor of Vermont, and Capt. Timothy Chittenden, sons of Ebenezer Chittenden, of Guilford, settled here in 1750. Timothy was the ancestor of the Chittendens now remaining with us.

Noah Strong was the ancestor of our Strong family, once numerous here, but now nearly gone from us. He removed from Coventry, in 1747, and settled on Town Hill.

Joseph Bird, the ancestor of the families of that name here, removed from Litchfield, in 1748. His descendants occupy the farm where he first located himself, on the western confines of the town.

Lot Norton, 1st, was a native of Farmington, the son of Thomas Norton, one of the original proprietors of the town. He settled here early, and upon the farm where his son, my venerable and long respected friend, the' moderator of this meeting, and his grandson, Lot Norton, 3d, now reside. This gentleman was long a respectable magistrate, and one of the most prominent of our early inhabitants.

I intend, if future leisure shall permit, to collect materials for a more minute and circumstantial notice of all the most active inhabitants of the town, from the beginning until this time.

It is expected of a history of new settlements, that it be a story of privations, and dangers, and suffering. The early adventurers here, especially those of English descent, experienced but little of such adversities. What we suppose now to be the necessaries of life, they would have relished as its luxuries. Our position, between the old settlements on the Hudson and Connecticut rivers, secured us from Indian incursions. The indispensable accommodations of the grist mill and the saw mill, were here, almost in advance of the settlements. Our fathers were brought into a good land, "a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, that spring out of valleys and hills; a land whose stones were iron."

The first list of taxable estate was made in 1742, which shows, as well as any thing, the relative wealth of the first inhabitants. The list of Thomas Newcomb amounted to one hundred and thirty-seven pounds; Henry Vandusen's to one hundred and seventeen pounds; Caleb Smith's to one hundred and thirty-six pounds; John Smith's to one hundred and twelve pounds, and Samuel Bellows' to ninety-seven pounds. These were the rich men of that day!

An extract from some of the early records of births may amuse those unacquainted with the Christian names of the ladies of Dutch descent.

Areonchee Vandusen, daughter of Hendrick Vandusen and Nelche his wife, was born April 3, 1740.