B. FAIRFIELD TRIBE,

or Descendants of JAMES REDFIELD (10) of Fairfield, Conn.

24.

Sarah Redfield, eldest daughter of JAMES (10), son of James (4), was married August 7, 1749, to GAMALIEL FRENCH of Stratfield. She died May 27, 1758, in the 32d year of her age.

We have no record of any children.

28.

John Redfield, second son of JAMES (10), son of James (4), resided at Fairfield. As his father died when he was but ten years old, James Smedley of Fairfield, was appointed his guardian. He married October 20, 1757, SARAH SMITH, daughter of Benjamin Smith of Fairfield. Both recognized their baptismal engagements before the church, September 3, 1758. Date of her death unknown. He married 2d, LUCRETIA Both were living in 1779.*

Children.

97. 1. Mary Redfield, born July 17, 1758.

98. 2. David Redfield, born May 8, 1760. ;

99. 3. John Redfield, born February 26, 1763.

100. 4. Sarah Redfield, bapt. Aug. 5, 1764. Not known to have married.

29.

James Redfield, third son of JAMES (10), son of James (4), at the age of fourteen took Gamaliel French, his brother-in-law, for guardian. He resided in the town of Fairfield, but removed before 1759, to the parish

*This family was one of those who suffered from the brutalities of the British soldiers under the infamous Gen. Tryon, at the time of the plunder and burning of Fairfield, July 7, 1779. Mr. Redfield was away from home, but in the house were his aged mother, his wife Lucretia, and a child. A party of the enemy with three officers came to the house and ordered it to be fired, alleging that one of their men had just before been taken prisoner in the vicinity. Mrs. Redfield by exertions, succeeded in extinguishing the fire, although the burning was four times attempted. During the night the British soldiers roamed through the village without the slightest control from their officers, and three of them entered the house of Mrs. Redfield, where they destroyed the furniture, ransacked and plundered the house, and rifled the pockets of the inmates. Even the gray hairs of Mr. Redfield's widowed mother did not protect her from plunder and gross insult, and her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Lucretia, was only saved from shameful violence, by the opportune entrance of two men, one of whom stated that he had been a prisoner in that town, and had experienced civility and kindness from its inhabitants. These men remained and protected the family through the remainder of the night.

The committee which was afterwards appointed to estimate the losses sustained by the inhabitants of Fairfield, by conflagration and plunder on this occasion, reported the loss of

State Papers at Hartford, Revolutionary war, Vol. XV, folio 256

of Greenfield, near the present residence of Mr. Howell, He married, in 1758, MARY [HULL] JENNINGS,* widow of Dr. Seth Jennings. Both renewed covenant with Fairfield church in Sept., 1758. He renewed covenant with church at Greenfield, January 13, 1760. He was living in 1779,† but the date of his death is not known.

Children.

101. 1. Seth Redfield, b. ‡

; d. suddenly Jan. 11, 1813; unm.

102. 2. Mary Redfield, bapt. in Greenfield parish, March 23, 1760.

Ebenezer Redfield, fifth son of JAMES (10), son of James (4), resided in early life at Fairfield, Conn.

BURR, born June 13, 1740, daughter of

Married March 26, 1767, Martha Nathaniel and Martha [Silliman]

Burr, of Fairfield. They renewed covenant March 27, 1768. He is said to have removed to Dutchess county, N. Y., and to have died there.

Children.

110. 1. Sarah Redfield, born Oct. 27. 1769.

111. 2. Elizabeth Redfield.

112. 3. Aaron Redfield, residence and history unknown. 113. 4. Burr Redfield

66

66

* Mrs. Jennings had one child by her first husband, to wit: Esther Jennings, who married Peter Burr, of Fairfield.

† His house was also plundered at the time of the burning of Fairfield. Loss estimated by committee at £6 12s. See note above.

We suppose Seth Redfield to be the oldest child, from the fact that he is the only one whose baptism is not recorded on the church records of Greenfield parish, and we therefore infer that he was born before the removal of his parents to Greenfield, By will, dated October 3, 1803, Seth devised all his property to his mother Mary Redfield.

4

Fifth Generation.

A. KILLINGWORTH TRIBE.

or Descendants of THEOPHILUS REDFIELD (8).

a. BRANCH OF Daniel Redfield (11), or KILLINGWORTH.

32.

Daniel Redfield, eldest son of Daniel (11), son of THEOPHILUS (8), resided in Clinton. His dwelling was near the present residence of EBEN REDFIELD, and was pulled down in 1858. He was a farmer and blacksmith. He married Nov. 21, 1749, MARGARET CRANE of Killingworth. In 1775 he was clerk of the Committee of Correspondence, on affairs relative to defense of the public liberties, for the town in which he lived.* He died January 20, 1788, aged 59 years.

114. 1. Ruth Redfield, born Sept. 9, 1750. Died Oct. 11, 1756. 115. 2. Simeon Redfield, born Dec. 12, 1752.

116. 3. Nathaniel Redfield, born April 22, 1755. Not known to have married.

117. 4. Ruth Redfield, born Sept. 28, 1756.

118. 5. Elizabeth Redfield, born May 22, 1759.
119. 6. Mary Redfield, born Jan. 19, 1761.
120. 7. Margaret Redfield, born Jan. 29, 1763.

121. 8. Daniel Redfield, born Sept. 4, 1764.

122. 9. Ebenezer Redfield, born March 17, 1767.

123. 10. Mary Lucy Redfield, born March 15, 1771. Not known to have married.

33.

Roswell Redfield, second son of Daniel (11), son of THEOPHILUS (8), was a sea captain, and resided at Clinton, Conn. He married 1st, June 6, 1755, LUCY MURRAY. She died October 16, 1756, and he mar

*See Appendix K.

ried, 2d, Nov., 1758, MEHETABEL POST. He with all his crew were lost at sea, about 1764, and his widow married February 21, 1770, Capt. Samuel Crane, being his fourth wife, and died June 12, 1814, in her 74th year. (See 22.)

By first wife.

Children.

124. 1. Martin Redfield, born in Clinton, Jan. 10, 1756.

By second wife.

125. 2. James Post Redfield, born in Clinton, July 3, 1760.

Margaret Redfield, eldest daughter of Daniel (11), son of

THEOPHILUS (8), was married

Pochaug (now Westbrook).

Nothing further known of this family.

35.

to JOSIAH BALDWIN of

John Redfield, third son of Daniel (11), son of THEOPHILUS (8), studied medicine with Dr. Benjamin Gale of Clinton, and settled as a physician in Guilford, Conn. He married, 1st, June 8, 1758, AMANDA RUSSELL, daughter of Rev. Samuel and Dorothy [Smithson] Russell of North Guilford. Rev. Mr. Russell was the first minister at North Guilford. She was born May 1, 1733, and died March 22, 1783.* He married, 2d, March 31, 1784, MARY GALE, born February 8, 1744, daughter of Dr. Benjamin Gale of Clinton, and of Hannah [Eliot] Gale.f Dr. John Redfield died May 14, 1813, aged 78 years, and his widow Mary died December 19, 1825.

"Mrs. Amanda Redfield was endued with an agreeable, generous, natural temper, and had the advantage of a pious education. And she hath given us reason to believe, that she hath "chosen the good part, the one thing that is needful," not only by a christian profession, but by an exemplary walk. The spirit of the gospel which is love. charity and kindness, seemed to be active in her, whilst she guided her affairs with discretion. She was ready to do good and lend, to disperse and give to the poor. It will be difficult to find her equal in charitable acts to the distressed. She hath gone abroad and continued nights and days together with sick and distressed families. to wait on them, watch with them, and minister to them. I have seen her as far from her own home as my parish, tending and taking care of a sick and distressed family, a day and a night at a time, when most of the people stood afar off, lest they should be infected by the sickness that so distressed that family." See this and other eulogium in "A sermon preached at the funeral of Mrs. Amanda Red field. late wife of Dr. John Redfield, March 24th, 1783, who died on the 22d day of said March, in the fiftieth year of her age; by Jonathan Todd, A. M., pastor of the Second Church in Guilford. New Haven: Printed by Thomas and Samuel Green, 1783.

† Hannah Eliot was daughter of Rev. Jared Eliot, of Killingworth, who was the son of Rev. Joseph Eliot, of Guilford, who was the son of Rev. John Eliot "the Apostle." Genealogy of the Eliot family, p. 67, which errs however, in naming John and Jared Red field as sons by Dr. Redfield's second wife Mary.

Dr. Redfield's will, from which we obtain the second autograph given above, names “wife Mary, youngest son Jared, son Samuel, children of son John, deceased, and children of daughter Juliana, deceased. Son Jared, executor. Inventory, $8,275.

The doctor must have been something of a wag in his day, if we may judge from the following anecdote which is well authenticated. On one occasion during the Revolutionary war, the

128. 1. John Redfield, born in Guilford, June 12, 1759.

Samuel Redfield, fourth son of Daniel (11), son of THEOPHILUS (8), tailor by occupation, resided at Clinton. Was a captain of militia. Married, 1st, about 1765, Elizabeth HILLIARD, daughter of Benoni and Martha Hilliard. She died May 13, 1790, aged 47 years. He married, 2d, EUNICE [JOYCE] REDFIELD, widow of his nephew, Capt. John Redfield (128). He died January 8, 1812, aged 70 years. His widow, EUNICE, survived until 1848.

whigs of Guilford, exasperated by some tory outrages, and by the belief that some of the inhabitants of the town were secretly inclined to favor the royal cause, started out one evening to search the houses of the suspected. Whether it was because good Mrs. Amanda liked too well a good cup of tea, or whether there was other occasion to believe that Dr. Redfield's dwelling concealed illicit goods, we can not tell, but his dwelling was included in the number to be searched. The searching party seeing the Doctor's negro-man at the door, ordered him to get out of the way or he would be shot. He asked permission to call his master, who finding what was in the wind, came to the door armed with an empty vial, well corked, which he held up to the crowd, and in a most impressive manner declared that he had the small-pox bottled up in that vial, and that unless they would instantly leave the premises, peaceably and without disturbance, he should certainly open it and let out the disease upon them. No threat could have been more effective. The party decamped, helter skelter, and left the Doctor and his terrible vial unmolested.