Hartford County, CT USGenWeb, Orton

AN ACCOUNT

OF THE

Descendants of Thomas Orton

WINDSOR, CONNECTICUT, 1641

(PRINCIPALLY IN THE MALE LINE)

EDWARD ORTON, LL. D.

Professor of Geology in Ohio State University

AND

State Geologist of Ohio

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COLUMBUS, OHIO

Press Of Nitschke Brothers

1896

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

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PAGES

CHAPTER I -- Introductory

Origin and distribution of the name Orton............................................................ 5

Ortons of the United States.................................................................................... 6

Acknowledgments..................................................................................................... 7

Purpose and aim of the volume............................................................................. 8

CHAPTER II -- The settlement of the Ortons in New England....................................... 10

Section 1. Thomas Orton, of Windsor, Conn............................................................... 11

Removal to Farmington........................................................................................... 12

Last will and testament........................................................................................... 15

English homes of the Ortons.................................................................................. 16

Section 2. John Orton of Farmington........................................................................... 21

His wives.................................................................................................................. 22

Children..................................................................................................................... 23

Section 3. Third generation

(a) Thomas of Farmington....................................................................................... 28

(b) John of Woodbury.............................................................................................. 30

CHAPTER III. -- Descendants of Thomas of Windsor thro' Thomas of Farmington

Section 1. Fourth generation

(a) Thro' Thomas of Tyringham............................................................................. 43

(b) Thro' John of Tyringham.................................................................................. 45

Section 2. Fifth generation

(a) Thro' Thomas of Tyringham............................................................................. 47

(b) Thro' John of Tyringham.................................................................................. 50

Section 3. Sixth generation

(a) Thro' Thomas of Tyringham............................................................................. 55

(b) Thro John of Tyringham................................................................................... 61

Section 4. Seventh and later generations..................................................................... 64

(a) Thro' Thomas of Tyringham............................................................................ 64

(b) Thro' John of Tyringham................................................................................. 76

CHAPTER IV. -- Descendants of Thomas of Windsor thro' John of Woodbury............108

Section 1. Fourth generation........................................................................................108

Section 2. Fifth and later generations.........................................................................111

(a) Thro' John.........................................................................................................111

(b) Thro' Samuel....................................................................................................115

CHAPTER V. -- Descendants of Thomas of Windsor thro' Samuel of Litchfield...........122

Section 1. Fourth generation........................................................................................123

Section 2. Fifth generation...........................................................................................123

(a) Thro' Samuel, 1724..........................................................................................129

(b) Thro' Hezekiah, 1727.......................................................................................134

(d) Thro' Lemuel, 1731..........................................................................................139

(e) Thro' John, 1744..............................................................................................144

Section 3. Sixth and later generations in line of Samuel, 1729..............................144

(a) Thro' Samuel 3d..............................................................................................145

(b) Thro' John........................................................................................................146

Section 4. Sixth and later generations in line of Hezekiah, 1727...........................160

(a) Thro' Eliada.....................................................................................................161

(b) Thro' Sedgwick................................................................................................165

(d) Thro' Darius.....................................................................................................177

Section 5. Sixth and later generations in line of Azariah, 1729.............................181

(a) Thro' Azariah...................................................................................................182

(b) Thro' Darius, 1770..........................................................................................197

Section 6. Sixth and later generations in line of Lemuel, 1731...............................200

Section 7. Sixth and later generations in line of John, 1744..................................205

CHAPTER VI. -- Revolutionary Service of the Ortons....................................................209

The Orton Family in America

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CHAPTER I.

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Introductory.

The surname ORTON is neither a common nor an unusual one. It is a name that could be heard without surprise in any community of English descent. It occurs in the directories of many cities of the country and can probably be found in most of the Northern towns of the United States that have a population of 100,000 or more; but the list of Ortons is generally confined to a few individuals, and in many instances there is but a single family.

It is found at the present time in at least twenty-six States of the Union, and probably in twenty-seven or twenty-eight. It also occurs in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec in Canada. Postoffices are named for the family in at least six States of North America.

The name seems to hold about the same character as to distribution in England that it has in the United States, as will presently be shown. One is not surprised to meet it anywhere, but it is scarcely common in any city or district,

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so far as I have learned. It can be found in the directories of many of the large English towns, as London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester, Coventry, etc.

A German work on the derivation of English surnames makes it of Danish origin, and gives its meaning as "a round, steep hill". Orton is certainly found as a surname in Norway at the present time, and has recently been brought to the United States as a fresh importation from that country by at least one family. Ortonville, Minn., was named for C. K. Orton, who was born in Bergen, Norway.

The English name can easily be accounted for as a contraction of the name "Overton". It is also pronounced "Ore-ton" by some English families. If the name had been contracted from Overton, its signification and history would be obvious, viz., that of a family residing on a hill, overlooking a town. It would be analogous to many other English surnames, as, Easton, Weston, Norton (Northtown), Hilton, Seaton, Colton, Milton, Clifton, Fenton, Vinton, Townsend, Underwood, Greenwood, Blackwood, Churchill, Whitehill, Whitehurst, Broadbeck, Clifford, Horsford, Blackford, Woodbridge, etc. The name has certainly been established in England for a number of centuries. It is found in several minor geographical designations that have presumably come down from early time. If, as asserted by the German author already quoted, it is of Danish origin, it probably goes back to the Teutonic invasions of the fifth or the ninth century. The etymology suggested above is, however, so plausible that I am inclined to accept it. In other words, I am disposed to consider the name a contraction from Overton.

Of the Ortons in the United States at the present time, a very large proportion, probably not less than nineteen-twentieths,

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are the descendants of Thomas Orton, who is recorded as a resident of Windsor, Conn., in 1641. It is a provisional and imperfect account of his descendants that I herewith undertake. For fifteen or twenty years I have been accumulating facts pertaining to this subject, but my work has been confined to the spare hours of a laborious profession and a busy life, and has been carried on principally by correspondence, which is far inferior to personal interview, both as to the range and accuracy of the statements secured. I have, however, brought together a large number of facts, which, in view of the uncertainty of life, I have decided to publish, so as to put them beyond the danger of loss. Inadequate as the record will be, it will at least form a basis for further work in this direction by those who will inherit the name in the years to come.

My work has been greatly aided during the last few years by the zealous co-operation of Dr. John Jackson Orton, of Lakeville, Conn. He has added much to the lists that I had previously made out, and may well deserve to be counted joint compiler with me of many of the tables and lists that follow. I am also under obligations to many members of the family for such facts as they had in their possession. In this connection, I must especially name Judge Hobert S. Orton, of Princeton, Mo.; Judge Philo A. Orton, of Darlington, Wis.; Charles L. Orton, A. B., of North Walden, Vt.; Miss Mary Orton Martin, of Woodbury, Conn.; Mrs. Frances A. Miller, of Spring City, Tenn.; and Miss Esther M. Orton, of Geneva, Ill. I am glad to acknowledge my special indebtedness to Cothren's History of Ancient Woodbury. The three pages of his work devoted to the Orton family have proved invaluable to me.

I take pleasure in naming, also, Hon. Philo A. Orton, of Wisconsin; James Douglas Orton, of New Jersey, and

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Dr. John G. Orton, of New York, who by their guarantees of substantial aid, have made it safe for me to publish the record which I have compiled.

As is usual in such inquiries, however, there are many members of the family that find little or no interest in the investigation, and fail to furnish the facts as to their immediate ancestry, even after repeated solicitation. Many lines will be found imperfect from this cause, especially in the last two or three generations.

The question is often asked as to the object in thus tracing the family history, and when it is learned that the inquiry has no reference whatever to any unclaimed fortune in England, or elsewhere, some lose all interest in it forthwith. There are others who would be glad to learn that they belong to a family that has made itself conspicuous by honorable public service, by professional eminence, or by the accumulation of unusual wealth in this or the old world, but who see no sufficient reason for laboriously tracing an uneventful and commonplace history. There are some, and let us hope many others, who find an interest in learning the facts of their origin, whatever they may be, in following the fortunes of the successive generations to which they owe their own existence, and while they would be glad to note any proofs of distinction in their predecessors, are still content if they find but little to mortify an honorable pride. Some one has remarked that one of the first proofs that we are growing old is to be found in the reversion of our thoughts to the lives of our ancestors. It is probably, therefore, that this interest will be developed as the years go by in some who find at present no attraction in these facts and feel but little respect for them.

In reality, the descendants of Thomas Orton constitute one of the oldest families of the country. We have

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an unbroken record of more than two hundred and fifty years on this side of the Atlantic, and best of all, the vigor of the stock seems unimpaired. The family, as a whole, shows as much activity and promise to-day as it has at any time in the entire period through which it can be traced. Certainly it shows no signs of being in a decadent state.

I do not find any clear proofs of commanding or distinctive qualities of any sort in the Orton line; but it seems to have furnished a good basis on which to build a fair average of New England or American character. Occasionally it has been happily blended with the blood of other families and men of eminence have, as a result, risen above the rank and file of their day, but the great majority of the generations that have passed away have led unambitious lives, in peaceful country homes, "far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife". Every Orton of to-day has at least five generations of New England farmers behind him.

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CHAPTER II.

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SECTION 1.

THE SETTLEMENT OF THE ORTONS IN NEW ENGLAND.

THOMAS ORTON OF WINDSOR, CONN.

The earliest settlement of the Connecticut Valley, or more particularly of the towns of Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield was begun in 1636. There were two routes by which this beautiful region was reached from Boston; one of them, overland, through the wilderness, and the other by the sea, the sound, and the Connecticut River. The overland journey of less than a hundred and fifty miles occupied two weeks or more. The most important party of colonists accomplished it in seventeen days. The duration of the journey by water was, of course, uncertain.

In just what year Thomas Orton reached Windsor we have no means of learning. One record makes 1636 the date of his settlement there. But the church records of the town show that he was married there June 16, 1641, to Margaret Pratt. The name as written in the records seems to read Pall or Paul, but inasmuch as the latter names are otherwise unknown in Windsor, while a Pratt family is found there, the probabilities point to the latter name. I judge that it is from the same source that we learn that he was born in England in 1613. Both he and his wife

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"joined the church" at Windsor, and his name occurs in various township transactions of that time. He served repeatedly on juries, grand and petit, at Hartford, as the court records show.

It appears that there was another Thomas Orton, in Charlestown, Mass., in 1642, and by some of the authors who have treated on these times he has been confounded with Thomas Orton of Windsor; but they were certainly different persons.

Thomas Orton of Charlestown was a ship carpenter. He married Mary Eddy, and had four sons and two daughters. Their names were as follows: William, Samuel, Ebenezer, Thomas, Amy, and Mary. Of this family I do not find a solitary trace in subsequent New England history. It would seem that, unless they returned to England, they must have passed on to one of the Middle States then inviting immigration, as Delaware, Maryland, or Virginia. A family of Ortons, not descended from Thomas Orton of Windsor, has been established for a number of generations in Virginia, in which the name "Thomas" is of frequent occurrence. It is to be remarked, however, that the name of the family of Thomas Orton of Charlestown was sometimes written "Horton".

Thomas Orton of Windsor remained in this town fourteen years after his marriage. Four children were born to him here, one son and three daughters. A fourth daughter was born after he left Windsor. The names of the children are given below:

John, 1648.

Mary, 1650.

Sarah, 1652

Hannah, 1656

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He owned a lot of eight and one-half acres. Part of it seems to have been allotted to him by the town after a previous allotment to one Lawrence Ellison, who forfeited it by failure to occupy. Another part he purchased of the widow of Goodman Whitehouse. The particular section of the town in which his lot lay was occupied by some of the best families of the town, as the Wolcotts, the Phelpses, the Loomises, etc. Thomas Orton built a house on the east end of his home lot, on a gravel terrace overlooking the alluvial plain of the Connecticut Valley. In addition to this home lot he owned several considerable bodies of land in Windsor, retaining the ownership of some of them as long as he lived.

In Stiles History of Windsor, Second Edition, 1894, a map of the town center at this early time is found, on which the locations of many of the earliest residents are indicated. Among others, the location of Thomas Orton's lot and house is given. From the size of his home lot and from the neighborhood in which he established himself, it seems safe to infer that he was "well to do" and that he held a good social status.

He did not, however, become a permanent resident of Windsor. In 1655, he removed to Farmington, which was his home for the remainder of his life and which became a much more important center for the Orton family than Windsor.

Farmington is a beautifully situated town, fifteen miles west and south of Windsor and ten miles west of Hartford. It lies in the valley of the river of the same name, which is separated from the Connecticut Valley, with which it agrees in having a north and south direction, by a bold range of trap-hills known as Talcott Mountain. A low gap in this range furnishes a natural roadway

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from Hartford westward, and by this road the early settlers of Farmington and of the towns beyond came in.

Talcott Mountain, which rises in a steep and almost vertical wall from the valley of the Farmington River to an elevation of seven hundred to nine hundred feet above the sea, makes the eastern boundary of the town. A beautiful and for the most part fertile valley, six or eight miles wide, stretches away to the westward, having for a boundary in this direction another range of trap-hills, but lower and less regular than Talcott Mountain.

The town center of Farmington was laid out on the lower slopes of the mountain, but was elevated above the valley enough to command a delightful view to the west-ward. The main street runs north and south, parallel to the mountain and river.

Thomas Orton was one of the eighty-four original owners and settlers of Farmington. He owned two houses at the center, one located nearly opposite the present bank and the other a short distance east of the hotel, just at the bend of the Hartford road. He also owned many tracts of land in the valley and on the mountain side and also in the northern part of the town, which was then called Nod or Little Nod, but which now constitutes the town of Avon. He was one of the wealthiest of the original proprietors. In 1672, a list of the estates of the town was agreed upon by which the valley lands, at first held in common, should be divided. The division seems to have been based on the property that each of the original proprietors was already possessed of. Thomas Orton comes eighth in this list. The minister, Mr. Samuel Hooker, was allowed a double rating and two non-residents, of the capitalist class of their day, Haynes and Willis, came in at the head of the list; but of the actual residents of the town, only four were set at a

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higher figure than Thomas Orton, and two of these four were rated so close to him that their returns were practically identical with his.

In like manner, a division of the common lands on the east side of the river in Nod (Avon) was made in 1720 and the rating of Thomas Orton's estate held about the same relative position as in the case above described.

Among his neighbors, we find many familiar names, such as Wadsworth, Hawley, Porter, Gridley, Andrus, North, Scovel, Newel, Stanley, Sherman, Norton, Woodford, etc., etc.

The good standing which he held in Farmington is further attested by the fact that in 1684 he was elected deputy to the General Court (Legislature) of the Colony of Connecticut for the session that began on October 9 of the year above named. His colleague from Farmington was Captain William Lewis. (Trumbull's Colonial Records of Connecticut, Vol. III., page 155.)

His children grew up in Farmington, the oldest of them being only seven or eight years old when he left Windsor. All of them married and settled in Farmington. Mary married John Root; Sarah married Jedediah Dewey, by whom she had three daughters and four sons, and Elizabeth married Samuel, son of Robert Lewis. Thomas Orton's only son, John, married a Hawley for his first wife, as I infer on rather slender grounds.

Thomas Orton lived to a good age, but the date of his death I have not been able to find. We know that it occurred after May 7, 1688, from the following circumstances. From 1685 to 1689, the tyrannical governor, Sir Edmond Andros, was in power in New England. Among his oppressive acts was one requiring that all wills made in New England should be probated in Boston, where

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excessive fees were demanded, in addition to the costs of the journey. To avoid this extortionate rule, Thomas Orton disposed of his estate during his lifetime by a "deede of gifte" to his children. This deed in (sic) to be found in the town records of Farmington. It is dated May 7, 1688, and was signed in presence of and witnessed by the minister of the town, Mr. Samuel Hooker, and also by Captain John Stanley. It is couched, in part, in the following terms:

"These may certify all concerned that I, Thomas Orton of Farmington, in the County of Connecticut, in New England, for and in consideration of my natural love and indexed affection to my children and my children's children, hereinafter named, and for other good causes, me hereunto moving, have granted and given to them and do hereby give and grant unto them in the manner following:

"(1) I give and bequeath unto my beloved son, John, my home lot lying and being in the town of Farmington, abutting west on John Norton's land, east partly on the highway and partly on John Woodruff" (etc.) "with all the housing, orchards, and privileges, appurtenances, and profits thereunto belonging;" (2) a tract in the third meadow (thirty acres); (3) a tract in Nod (Avon), fourteen acres, etc., etc.; (4) a tract of pasture land; (5) a small parcel in the great meadow, "from and after the end of my natural life."

"To my beloved daughter, Elizabeth Lewis, the use and improvement of all my land lying in a neck of Farmington meadow, called More's Corner, during her natural life and then these parcels of land to turn to my grandson, Thomas.

"To my grandson, Thomas Orton, (1) a parcel of land lying to the east side of the great river in Windsor, which I bought of John Gailer (Gaylord), seventy-five acres; (2) twenty acres, more or less, lying in the same town.

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"To Margaret, daughter of my son, John, £10 in money.

"To the three daughters of my daughter, Sarah Dewey, now living, I give £5 apiece in money; to the four sons of my daughter, Sarah Dewey, I give my land in the great swamp, as also my division of the upland in Farmington which lieth against Wethersfield bounds, to be divided in equal proportions; the remainder of uplands I give to my son, John." To him, also, was assigned the care of his funeral expenses and also the gathering and paying of all his just debts. For these services he further orders £5 to be allowed to him.

"The rest of my estate I give and bequeath to my three daughters, Mary Root, Sarah Dewey, and Elizabeth Lewis, to be divided among them in equal proportions."

The last paragraph contains the only mention in this document of the oldest daughter, Mary Root. We may infer that she had already received property from her father and that she had no children. The value of the estate thus disposed of was placed at £496.

When this deed of gift was made, Thomas Orton was already seventy-five years old. I infer that it was signed in his last days and probably in his last hours, for another daughter was born to John Orton in that same month (baptized May 20, 1688), of whom no mention is made in this document.

As to the English home of Thomas Orton or the social status which he held in the old country, we have no positive knowledge and but little safe ground for inference. The name was a thoroughly respectable one in various parts of England, belonging to worthy representatives of the great middle class, who have always constituted the strength and glory of the nation. Burke, in his standard work on English Heraldry, Third Edition, 1849, enumerates seven families of Ortons, included in the gentry, each having a coat

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of arms of its own. But of these seven there are three, and possible four, that are plainly separate and distinct from one another. The three remaining are as obviously more or less closely connected with or derived from one of the three or four first named.

The different Orton arms are thus described in the language of heraldry:

1. "Vert, a lion rampant, argent, crowned, and armed, gules." (Cumberland)

2. "Azure, a lion rampant, or,

3. "Azure, a lion rampant, argent."

4. "Azure, a leopard, rampant, argent, crowned, or,"

5. "Argent, a band sable between a rose in chief and a fleur de lis in base, gules." (Leicester.)

6. Same arms as 5, with the addition of a crest as follows:"Tower proper, cupola, and flag, gules."

7. "Or, a squirrel, sejant, gules, cracking a nut." (Kent.)

The first of these emblems belonged to a family in Cumberland, in the northwest corner of England. The sole heiress married many years ago, and the estate has passed out of the Orton name altogether. But in the adjacent county of Westmoreland, eight miles southwest of Appleby, an important village still bears the name Orton, which it seems reasonable to refer to this family. Orton Hall, Orton Common, and Orton Scar are situated in adjacent territory. All these names can be found on any good map of England.

The seventh emblem belongs to a family in Kent, in the extreme southeastern corner of England. The fifth coat of arms belongs to the Ortons of Leicestershire. The sixth emblem, which is in reality the most elaborate and

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complete of the series, evidently belonged to a branch of the same family. There is a large estate in this county that has been in the hands of the Orton family for centuries. Some of its members have held positions in the Church. Several localities still retain the family name, as Orton on the Hill, Cole (Coal) Orton, etc. The first-named village is situated on the extreme western border of Leicestershire. Its name in ancient times is said to have been Worton Overton, and it is further remarked that the name is derived from the high situation of the village which commands an extensive prospect over many of the adjacent villages and towns of Leicestershire, Warwick, and Derbyshire. Cole Orton, anciently written Overton, is a large parish, distinguished for its collieries and from which it has derived its corrupted prefix (Cole--Coal). It consists of two townships, called respectively Overton and Nethertown. The former is also known as Cole Orton Saucy; the latter is sometimes designated Overtown - Quartermarsh. Cole Orton is a rectory at the present time. It is laid down on all good maps of Leicestershire.

The name Orton is also found in the records of another ancient village, which is adjacent to Orton on the Hill, viz., Twycross, the records of which go back to feudal times. In the list of six or eight freeholders of Twycross in 1630, the name of Michael Orton appears; and in 1719, the name of Thomas Orton appears in a similar list.

At Reresby, an old village seven miles north of Leicester and ten miles south of Loughborough, there is an ancient church which has an interesting history in connection with the Orton family. The church is dedicated to St. Michael, and among the list of rectors appear the names of

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John Orton, M. A., 1675-1715

Joseph Orton, 1715.

John Orton, M. A., 1730-1760

Thomas Orton (brother of John) 1799

Contemporary notices show that Rev. John Orton, 5^th, was greatly beloved for his "universal benevolence and extended charities." On flat stones within the communion rails, inscriptions can still be made out in memory of several of the rectors named above and their families.

The facts pertaining to Twycross and Reresby, I have derived from notes taken in England a number of years since, by the late Dr. Samuel H. Orton, of the United States Army. A copy of his notes has been kindly furnished to me by his brother, James Douglas Orton, Esq., of Newark, N. J.

The Orton line of Liecestershire appears to have been the most prolific and persistent of any of which I have found records. At least the name is more frequently met with here than in any other district of England, so far as I can learn. Within the last two years I have come upon four different families of Ortons in the United States and Canada, unconnected with each other so far as I know, the members of which were either themselves born in England or whose fathers were born there; and without exception they come from this central district, and not one of them from more than fifty miles from the Leicestershire center of Cole Orton, Orton on the Hill, and Twycross.

It has been shown that families of Ortons of good standing were found in the Northwestern, the southeastern, and the central districts of England, and perhaps in many other quarters as well. Whether Thomas Orton was derived from any one of the seven prominent families, the existence of which is certified to by armorial bearings, we

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do not know. Probably every county of the kingdom made some contribution to the Puritan exodus from England to the New World, which took place between 1620 and 1640; but the greater number of colonists came from the eastern counties. A considerable body, we know, came from Kent, just about the date that Thomas Orton reached America. Leicestershire, also, under the patronage of one of its most noble families, sent about this time many emigrants to America. But, as I have said, all is guess work here, and there seems but little to encourage the hope that the exact town or family from which Thomas Orton of Windsor was derived will ever be settled. Our only hope would seem to be in intelligent inquiry conducted in England, of the Kind quoted on a preceding page, but more extended and minute. It is certain, however, that he was "well to do" from the first, that he brought means with him from England, by which he was ranked among the wealthier members of the new communities.

Several members of the family in this country have adopted the Leicestershire emblem as the "Orton coat of arms;" but, as I have already shown, there are seven Orton arms, and the selection of any one to represent the family of Thomas Orton is, of course, purely arbitrary. I am willing to concede, however, that the probabilities rather favor Leicestershire as our ancestral home.

The best that can be said with absolute certainty about Thomas Orton, is that he was one of the twenty-six thousand English Puritans that came to this country between 1620 and 1640, and that he was one of the pioneer settlers of Connecticut. If we give due weight to these unquestionable facts, we shall find in them as good a warrant for respect and honor as English titles and armorial ensigns could possibly give. One of the early preachers

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of New England declared that God had sifted and winnowed a whole kingdom that he might send choice seed into the wilderness. Thomas Orton was one of the grains of choice wheat with which New England was planted. Certainly, No State was ever founded by colonization in which a nobler class of motives bore sway than in the foundation of New England. These colonists were not actuated by a love of gain or glory, but they came to set up in the wilderness an ideal State, in which God's will, as they understood it, should be done; and to accomplish this purpose they were ready to endure toil and hardship without end. We have the best of right to predicate of our common ancestor, Thomas Orton, moral enthusiasm, steadfast courage, and a readiness to sacrifice the lower ends of life for the higher.

The genuine respectability of the family in this country is attested by the intermarriages of the Ortons for a number of generations with some of the best families of New England, such as the Buckinghams, the Tudors, the Sedgwicks, the Loomises, The Smedleys, the Jacksons, the Bidwells, the Woodruffs, the Pardees, The Clevelands, etc., etc.

SECTION II.

JOHN ORTON OF FARMINGTON -- 1647-1694

John Orton was the only son of Thomas Orton. He was born in Windsor, as already stated, but when he was eight years old his father removed to Farmington. The title "captain" is given him in one family list that I have seen, but I have found no hint of such a title in the Farmington records, where, if it had really been held, it would be almost certain to appear. Lieutenant,, sergeant, ensign, all are found in use. The higher title would not have been disregarded.

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I do not, therefore, feel warranted in adopting it. As John Orton passed all his active life in Farmington and died there, he will be designated in these pages as John of Farmington. As I have shown in the preceding section, he inherited a considerable estate from his father and must have held a fairly prominent place in the new community. We know but little of him, however. An important gap occurs in his history at the very start. We do not know the name of his first wife, the date of his marriage, or the exact dates of the births of his two older children, Thomas and Margaret.

Somewhere in the years 1686-7, he married a second wife, whose name is given to us as Anna or Hannah, daughter of Samuel Orris. But inasmuch as the name Orris does not occur in the Farmington records, while another name that could very easily be confounded with it (viz., Orvis) was common there, I venture to suggest a correction. I think John Orton married Hannah, daughter of George Orvis, for his second wife. Hannah Orvis was born in 1655. The Orvis family was a fairly prominent one in Farmington for several generations. The Orris family is reported from Charlestown, Mass., in the early days, and not from Connecticut. George Orvis of Farmington had a daughter, Hannah, born in 1655, who is not otherwise accounted for. It seems to have been hitherto accepted by all who have given attention to the family history that Hannah Orvis was John's first wife and the mother of all his children, but this cannot have been the case. In the records of the Farmington church, a list is given of "persons in full communion in the church" for the years 1677 to 1685. In this list the names of "Thomas Orton and wife" and of "John Orton's wife" are found. A subsequent

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record shows that "John Orton's wife" "joined the church" in 1690. The wives thus named could not be the same.

Again, the four younger of his six children, beginning with Mary, 1688, are found in close succession, viz., 1688, 1690, 1692, and 1694; while Thomas, the oldest son was probably born as early as 1675 to 1677, as we conclude from the fact that he was married in 1698. His sister, Margaret, was married in 1699.

Again, in the subsequent distribution of John Orton's estate, the three younger children, Mary (1690), John (1692), AND Samuel (1694), are counted together, while Thomas and Margaret do not share equally with them in all respects, they having been at least partly provided for by their grandfather, Thomas, who named them expressly in the distribution of his estate by deed of gift of 1688.

I read the history, therefore, about on this wise. John Orton, born in 1647, reached the age at which the young men of the colonies usually married, viz., twenty-one to twenty-six years, about 1670. He married his first wife about this date. She bore him two children, Thomas and Margaret, and died about 1685-6, her name appearing in the church records of 1685. In the course of the next year, that is, in 1686-7, he married Hannah Orvis, his second wife, and she bore him four children in the quick succession already named, dying herself in 1694, at the birth of her fourth child, Samuel.

As to who the first wife was, I have no knowledge, but I infer that she was a Hawley, or a connection of the Hawley family from the fact that Lieutenant Joseph Hawley of Farmington, in an exchange of property with John Orton's son, Thomas, about 1710, includes in the "consideration" which he acknowledges, "the love, good-will, and affection which I bear to my friend and kinsman" (Thomas Orton).

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But whatever the surname of the second wife, it is certain that she made a very important contribution to the Orton family in this country in the two sons that she bore to her husband. The names and dates of birth (baptism) of her four children are as follows:

Mary, baptized May 20, 1688. Died in infancy.

Mary, baptized February 16, 1690. Died in 1710.

John, Baptized December 4, 1692

Samuel, baptized November 11, 1694.

Mrs. Hannah Orton died at the birth of her son, Samuel, in November, 1694. In the succeeding year, 1695, John married a third wife, Mary, daughter of Owen Tudor of Windsor, and before the year closed he himself died. He was but forty-eight years old at the time of his death. He had but recently come into the possession of his property. A list of lands held by him appears in the town records, dated January 26, 1691. Five separate tracts, or parcels, are enumerated, including the home lot with its dwelling house and farm buildings "which his father did give him by deed of gift, May 7, 1688."

His death must be counted untimely from every point of view. He was in the prime of life, he was happily married, he had five children that needed his care and he had but lately come to the consideration which the possession of a large property, then as now, would bring with it. He was ill for some time, as we incidentally learn, and looked forward to a possibly fatal result. Our information comes in this way. During his sickness, he called in a neighbor to whom he expressed the wish that the property which his newly wedded wife, Mary Tudor, had brought with her from her father should be turned back to her in case that he died. After his death this neighbor went

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before the Probate Court and testified to the conversation and action was taken in accordance therewith. He left no will and his property was divided by order of the Court, April 8, 1696. His widow held her rights in the property and certain rooms of the house and certain parts of the farm buildings were set aside to her, while others were assigned to the several minor heirs. The older children, Thomas and Margaret, had no inheritance in these home buildings, from which I conclude that they were not members of their father's household at this time. Hid widow, Mary Tudor Orton, seems to have been an attractive woman. Five years after her first husband's death, she was married to John Judson of Woodbury, one of the signers of the original compact by which this town was established. Her father, Owen Tudor, as one record puts it, "in his old age made the childish claim that he was connected with the royal house of England." Whatever the merits of this claim, it is certain that there is no Tudor blood in Orton Veins. There was no issue from her marriage to John Orton, but to her second husband she bore several sons and daughters. It does not seem probably that she took the Orton children with her to Woodbury, but John and Samuel both found their way there at a later date.

This brings us to the third generation of Ortons in New England. I append a table showing the principal facts in the history thus far reviewed.

(Insert)

Table I.

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SECTION III.

THIRD GENERATION -- THOMAS (1677?), John (1692), Samuel (1694)

Thomas, the oldest son of John of Farmington was born, as I have elsewhere shown, probably, between the years 1675 and 1678. At any rate his own eldest child was born in 1699. Counting him twenty-two years old at the time of this event, and he would scarcely be less, his natal year was 1677. He had one full sister, Margaret. She married John Thompson, Jr., on November 2, 1699 and lived all her life in Farmington.

Fortune was kind to Thomas from the beginning. While still a youth he was made rich by the bequests of his grandfather. He thus became the owner of two large tracts in East Windsor and of other lands in Farmington. In his early manhood he is shown by the Farmington records to have purchased tracts of land from several parties. Later, he inherited from his father's estate and he also bought the house and land rights of his brothers and sisters of the half blood, apparently reuniting the original allotments and purchases of his grandfather. In 1720, as the representative of his grandfather, who was one of the eighty-four original proprietors of the town, he received a large allotment of valuable land that had been held in common up to this time. Not more than eight or nine of the original proprietors received a larger allotment than he. This tract of land was in that part of the town that since 1830 has been called Avon, but that was, in the early times, known as Nod.

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As early as 1698, he married Anna Buckingham of Hartford. The Buckingham name is an honored one in Connecticut history. In 1710 he joined the church. The early church records of Farmington show that "Thomas Orton (Sen. Of Windsor,) and wife joined the church December 22, 1656. His children, John, Mary, Sarah, and Elizabeth, being under thirteen years of age when their father joined, entered with him." This accounts, in part, for the fact that John Orton's name does not appear with the names of his wives in the list of church members. He was already, in a sense, a member of the church, but not having ratified the acts of his parents, he was not counted, under the stricter rulings that were coming to be enforced in these later years. The younger Thomas, as I have shown, left no open questions in this regard.

To Thomas and Anna Buckingham Orton nine children were born, three sons and six daughters. The names of the children are as follows:

Sarah, baptized February 7, 1699. M. in 1727, Jonathan Hurlbut.

Thomas, baptized February 9, 1701. Died 1706.

Anna, baptized February 9, 1703.

Mary, baptized March 7, 1703.

Margaret, baptized July 1, 1707. Died July 3, 1708.

Thomas, baptized April 30, 1708-1780

Margaret, baptized March 31, 1712

Esther, baptized October 11, 1714. Died April 1, 1738.

John, baptized September 17, 1717-1795

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It is seen that there were two sons in this line to continue the Orton name, viz., Thomas, born 1709, and John, born 1717.

Of Thomas, the eldest son of John, I have now given all the principal facts that I have found on record. Numerous lines of Ortons trace their ancestry to him, probably a full half of all that bear this name in the country, and among them many of the most honored and successful of the entire family. I append at this point a tabular statement of the names of his descendants for the next three generations, principally in the male line. But I will treat of the successive generations more fully on subsequent pages.

(Insert)

Table II.

JOHN OF WOODBURY, 1692-1763.

John, the second son of John of Farmington, by his second wife, Hannah Orvis Orton, was baptized December 4, 1692. He grew up in Farmington and remained there until 1717. On March 4 of that year we find that John and Samuel sold some of the most valuable lands that they had inherited from their father to Timothy and Nathaniel Stanley, respectively, who seem to have bought them in the interest of their half-brother, Thomas, reselling the same to him. For these lands John received £40 and Samuel £43. On November 13 of the same year, John and Samuel sell to Ensign Samuel Newell, Sr., their inheritance in the homestead, including portions of the house assigned to them by the Court of Probate and also three acres of land about the house. Their share in the house consisted in the "south or hall chamber, both garrets, and one-third of the cellar." They received £40 for what they thus parted with. Ensign Newell resells the same to Lieutenant Joseph Hawley, the "friend and kinsman" of Thomas

Orton, for whom the purchase was no doubt made.

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In this last transaction, John and Samuel are described as "of Woodbury". In the annals of the last-named town, also, John is recorded as settling in Woodbury in 1717.

He came to his new home full-handed and purchased here some of the most fertile and desirable lands of this beautiful town, a large part of which remain to this day in the possession of his direct descendants who are still living there.

Several years later, John and Samuel sold other tracts in Farmington, and particularly, on November 7, 1721, they sold "for a valuable sum of money" four tracts of land, containing, respectively, one hundred and thirty acres, one hundred and thirty-four acres, one hundred and thirty-two acres, and fourteen acres.

John married not long after coming to Woodbury. The Christian name of his wife was Mary, but this is all that we know. This fact we get from the church records. In the membership lists "Mary, wife of John Orton", is recorded. She outlived her husband by twenty-one years, dying in 1784, while his death occurred in 1763.

To John and Mary, five children were born. They are named herewith:

Sarah, 1725-1749. Married John Mitchell.

John, October 5, 1729-1808

Elizabeth, November 15, 1734.

Mary, February 23, 1741. M. Nathan Judson

Samuel, December 8, 1741-1819.

In Table III. I give a list of the descendants of John Orton, principally in the male line, for three succeeding generations. This branch of the family is seen to have been far less prolific than that of Thomas of Farmington.

(Insert)

Table III.

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SAMUEL OF LITCHFIELD, 1694-1774.

Captain Samuel was the third and youngest son of John Orton. His mother, Hannah Orvis Orton, died immediately after his birth. It is supposed that he was reared in Farmington. In 1718 he followed his brother John to Woodbury and remained there for two years. Woodbury was at that time the frontier town of the Connecticut settlement on the northwest. A belt of forest, a hundred miles in breadth, stretched practically unbroken from the Connecticut River to the Hudson. But the time had now come for another little section of this primeval forest to be reclaimed from the sole occupation of savages and wild beasts and to be transformed into the homes of civilized men. In 1718 a company was organized in the older towns for the settlement of Bantam, embracing the territory around Bantam Lake; and in 1719 the General Court set of 44,800 acres for such settlement. This tract was divided into sixty shares, each covering considerable more than a square mile, three being reserved for "pious uses," under which head churches and schools were provided for. In the same year, 1719, the name of Litchfield was substituted for Bantam. In addition to the large farm tracts, home lots of fifteen acres or less were assigned hear the meeting house for all the settlers. The price of the land in the large tracts was fixed by the Court at one and three-fourth pence (1 3/4 d.) Per acre.

The name of "Samuel Orton of Woodbury" appears in the list of the fifty-two grantees and original settlers of Litchfield. His farm lay at the southeast of Bantam Lake, and he drew by lot the fourth choice for the smaller, or village, tract. The village lot that he selected lies on the east side of Town Hill Street, near Bantam River. That part of

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the village is at present counted far less desirable for residence than the higher lands to the northward. But at the date of the settlement there was some reason that made the low grounds more desirable, as is shown in the fact that the first, second, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh choices were all located in this immediate vicinity. His nearest neighbors were the Winchells, the Goodwins, the Woodruffs, the Sedgwicks, the Gibbses, the Marshes, the Roots, etc., etc.

Out of this grant grew the town and county of Litchfield, which has had so honorable a part in the history of Connecticut and the nation.

Samuel Orton's farm lay about five miles southwest of the meeting house of Litchfield, and is still known as Orton Hill. It belonged in what was then and long afterward known as the South Farms; but fifty or sixty years ago this name was replaced by the name Morris, in honor of James S. Morris, who long maintained an academy of great excellence and reputation at this point.

The location of the original Orton homestead is thought to be marked by a rather indistinct depression surrounded by crumbling walls, in other words by a "cellar hole" on the high ground, in the center of the tract. The place is eleven hundred feet above the sea and commands a wide and attractive view of the surrounding region, but the land is rough and the soil is thin. The granite rocks of the region rise to the surface in many outcrops. To get rid of the rocks as far as possible, the farms were necessarily divided into small fields, surrounded by high stone walls, But even after this extensive use of the rock, there is a surplus that never shrinks. The farm is now mainly used for pasturage and meadow land. It is easy to see that Samuel did not make as wise a selection of a home as his brothers. The quality of the land that he took up was such as to forbid the

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accumulation of wealth from tilling the soil. The best that it could do was to give a scanty living to those who tilled it.

As soon as the town was established, provision was made against attacks by the Indians, the threat of which was constant in those days. The northwestern boundary of the Litchfield grant, as defined by the General Court, was the "wilderness". The first settlers were accordingly organized into two military companies, one at Litchfield and the other at South Farms. Of the latter, Samuel Orton was elected lieutenant, as the town records show. The title seems to have afterwards grown into the next higher, viz., captain, by which he will be here designated.

Early mention is also made of him in the public records as follows: "Voted to appoint Lieutenant Bird and Samuel Orton to assist the clerk in perusing the Town Rolls, and to conclude what shall be transcribed into the Town Book and what not."

As stated above, Samuel Orton settled on Orton Hill in 1720. The first work, of course, was the clearing away of the forest and the building of a house from the logs. Two or three years seem to have been sufficient for this, and in the fall of 1723 he was able to bring here a wife to share the privations and sacrifices of the new settlement. He married, at that time, Abigail, daughter of Gideon and Sarah Smedley. The Smedleys were a strong and successful family of the Connecticut community and have had an honorable record for many generations. The name of Gideon is continued in the Orton family to this day from the source indicated above. The facts here enumerated seem to show that Samuel Orton held good standing among his pioneer neighbors, and young though he was, he seems to have been counted a man of courage and sound judgment.

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Seven children were born to him on Orton Hill. Their names are as follows:

Samuel, October 12, 1724-1810.

Hezekiah, April 29, 1727.

Azariah, August 17, 1729-1774.

Gideon, August 18, 1732.

Lemuel, March 24, 1735-1787.

Jemima, November 11, 1740. (Mrs. Archibald McNeil.)

John, March 4, 1744-1895.

The several families with which his children subsequently became connected by marriage afford further confirmation of the honorable place that the Ortons held in the community. Samuel married Ruth Mason, Hezekiah married Anna Sedgwick, Jemima, the only daughter, married Captain Archibald McNeil, and John married a daughter of Deacon Joseph Landers, of Sharon. The families to which these Orton wives belong were among the best in the community. The death of Captain Samuel occurred in 1774.

I will here introduce a tabular list of the descendants of Samuel Orton through the fourth, fifth, and sixth generations, as in the case of the two older brothers. I make the sixth generation the limit of these tabular representations, because every individual up to that time was born in New England, and the great majority of the sixth generation was born in the closing years of the eighteenth century. The latest date of birth in the present list is 1811. At the beginning of the present century the '"great dispersion" began. The Indians were now out of the way, the Revolutionary War was over, the country was independent and was beginning to recognize its unity; highways and rivers were opened,

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and the natural advantages of the better lands of Western Vermont and New York, and a little later of Ohio and Michigan, could assert themselves as against the stubborn rocky hills of western Connecticut and Massachusetts. It came to pass, therefore, that the people of New England were scattered, almost as if by an explosion, in the course of a few years. Entire families well-nigh disappeared from their old homes during the first quarter of the present century. The Ortons took part in this great movement, and members of the family were among the earliest settlers of the Champlain, the Mohawk, and the Genesee Valleys, and the shores of the western lakes in New York, Ohio, and even Canada.

(Insert)

Table IV.

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CHAPTER III.

_____

THE DESCENDANTS OF THOMAS ORTON OF FARMINGTON

I will now follow, as best I can, the history of the descendants of the three sons, Thomas, John, and Samuel, of the third generation. For convenience sake, I will keep these families distinct, and will finish what I have to say of each line before beginning with another. The several tables of the preceding pages can be consulted with profit in following this history. In fact, they are indispensable to a firm hold on the facts.

As I have already remarked, Thomas Orton, of the third generation of Ortons in New England, spent his life in Farmington, where he was born. He left two sons, Thomas, born 1709, and John, born 1717, and five daughters.

SECTION I.

(a) THROUGH DEACON THOMAS ORTON OF TYRINGHAM.

Thomas, 1709, the third of this name in the New England family, continuing the names of both his father and his great-grandfather, was born and brought up at Farmington, and was married June 18, 1730, to Elizabeth Sedgwick, of the same town. In 1743 he removed from Farmington to Cornwall, of which town he was the first white settler.

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He bought a large body of land in that part of the town which is now known as Cornwall Hollow, cleared it and built a house there; but after three years sold his property to his brother-in-law, Deacon Benjamin Sedgwick. A fine residence built by General Sedgwick occupies the site at the present time.

In 1749 Thomas Orton removed from Cornwall Hollow to Tyringham, Berkshire County, Mass., and settled in that part of the town which has been known as Hop Brook from the earliest time. Here, too, he was one of the first settlers, clearing the land himself and helping to plant civilization in what had before been the unbroken forest. He was the first elected deacon of the church of his town, and is reported in the old records as "a very respectable citizen". He will be known in our records as Thomas of Tyringham, or, better, as Deacon Thomas. His wife, Elizabeth Sedgwick, endured with him the hardships of thus making two homes in the wilderness. She died in Tyringham, May 16, 1758. To them were born six children, three sons and three daughters, five of whom survived their parents. The names of the children are as follows (two of second marriage being added):

Roger, March 11, 1731-1731.

Elizabeth, November 8, 1732.

Thomas, 1734-1780.

Anna, May 8, 1736.

David, 1737 (?)

Esther, May 12, 1738.

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Roger, 1740-1814

Margaret, December 6, 1742.

The name Roger is probably a family name on the Sedgwick side.

After the death of his first wife, which occurred May 16, 1738, four days after the birth of Esther, he married, February 18, 1741-2, Hephzibah Buel, and two children were born from this union, viz., Roger (1740-1814) and Margaret (1742). Deacon Thomas died in Tyringham in 1780. A long line of Ortons trace their descent from him. He had, beside the church title that I have used in these pages, a military title, viz., sergeant, as appears in the church records of Farmington. He is designated as "Sergeant Thomas Orton" in the record of his second marriage.

(b) THROUGH JOHN ORTON - 1717-1795

John, the second son of Thomas of Farmington, was born, brought up, and married in Farmington, but lived for some time in Tyringham and can be designated, John of Tyringham. He married Abigail, daughter of Samuel Woodruff, of Farmington, December 23, 1741. She died October 21, 1754. He married a second wife, Mary Slaughter, of Simsbury, December 11, 1755. Abigail Woodruff bore him six children, four sons and two daughters. Mary Slaughter became the mother of four sons and four daughters. A list of all is given below:

John, 1742.

Phoebe, 1744. Died early.

Thomas, 1746.

Gideon, 1748. Died June 23, 1759

Abigail, 1751.

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Ichabod, 1754.

Mary, 1757. Married Philo Dexter.

Gideon, 1759.

William, 1762.

Oliver, 1764-1846.

Phoebe. 1766.

Amos, 1768.

Anna, 1772.

Redome, 1776. Married Joseph Bacon.

I suspect that Abigail Woodruff Orton died at the birth of her son, Ichabod. His birth and his mother's death, at any rate, occurred in the same year. If my conjecture is well founded, it will explain the selection of the peculiar and uncommon Bible name which was given to the mother-less child. See 1^st Samuel, Chap. IV., verses 19-22.

From the loins of John (1717) a much larger number of descendants has sprung than from any other Orton of the fourth generation.

His family has kept well to the northward, being principally found in Vermont, northern New York, Canada, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington. Some of the branches of this stock are among the most distinguished of our entire family.

In his old age, probably about 1790, John removed from Tyringham to Shaftsbury, Vermont. At a later date he removed to Fairfield, Franklin County, Vermont, where he died April 3, 1795, at the home of his son Gideon. A grand-daughter, who lived until a few years ago, remembered him at this time as "bowed over, like a man reaping grain with a sickle."

There are two of his seven sons of whom I have no record. It is possible that they settled in Canada, and

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there may be large families there of the John Orton stock, of whom I have thus far no knowledge whatever.

It scarcely admits of doubt that several sons of the great household above enumerated saw service in the Revolutionary War, but I find the record of but one, viz., John (I take it to be John, 1742). All western Massachusetts was aflame with military enthusiasm, and Tyringham, the home of John Orton, furnished its full quota for service. Two sons of his older brother, Thomas, were in the army, ane at least one John Orton, either John, 1717, or John, Jr., 1742, was for seven months and twenty-nine days in the service. The name is found on the Revolutionary pay-rolls of Vermont. An unbroken tradition also declares that another son, Ichabod, was a chaplain in the Revolutionary War, but I find no record to this effect. Judge Harlow S. Orton, Chief Justice of Wisconsin, and a grandson of Ichabod, is authority for this claim. Another family tradition is that John and three sons, Thomas, Gideon, and Oliver, were in the war.

It is not at all improbably that they were among the extemporized forces that swarmed from the hills of western New England to assist in the capture of Burgoyne at Saratoga. In this case the absence of their names from the State rolls can be accounted for.

Section II.

FIFTH GENERATION OF ORTONS, IN THE LINE OF

THOMAS, OF FARMINGTON.

(a) THROUGH THOMAS OF TYRINGHAM

Coming now to the descendants in the fifth generations of Thomas of Farmington, we find ten in the male line, viz., the three sons of Deacon Thomas and the seven sons of John, enumerated on preceding pages.

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The first of these to be taken up is Thomas, oldest son of Deacon Thomas. From collateral records we learn, or at least infer, that he was a physician. We accordingly designate him as Dr. Thomas. He was born in Farmington in 1734, but lived at Tyringham most of his life. He died at a comparatively early age viz., in April, 1780, in his forty-sixth year. His father also died in the same year, as the records indicate. The life of Dr. Thomas was short, but it seems to have not been altogether uneventful. He married for his first wife, Ann Dix, who bore him one son, James. But soon afterward he obtained a divorce from her. There was probably a domestic tragedy here, of which we get only the slightest hint. Divorces in the rural communities of New England were certainly very unusual at this time. Thomas soon afterwards married again. The name of his second wife was Sarah Atwood, of Woodbury, Connecticut. She was the daughter of Lieutenant Jonathan Atwood, son of Dr. Jonathan, one of the earliest settlers of the town. She bore him three sons and two daughters. She was a superior and attractive woman, and after Dr. Thomas's death, though encumbered with the care of her six children, five of them her own and one of them the son of the divorced wife, she commanded the admiration of one of the magnates of western Massachusetts at that time, Colonel Giles Jackson, of Tyringham, a gallant and honored officer in the Revolutionary War. She married Colonel Jackson, becoming his second wife, and to them five children were born. By his first wife Colonel Jackson had fourteen children. The Orton children grew up in Colonel Jackson's household, and warm affection seems to have always existed between them and the Jackson children. Our "Grandmother Jackson" is always mentioned with honor and affection in the Orton records of this branch whenever the opportunity occurs.

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She died in La Fayette, Oneida County, New York, May 1, 1839, in her eighty-ninth year. I give the list of Dr. Thomas's sons in order, herewith:

James, son of first wife.

Thomas, of second wife.

Abiram, of second wife.

Philo, of second wife.

Belinda (Mrs. Brewer -- Tyringham)

Sarah (Mrs. Danforth -- La Fayette, N.Y.)

David, the second son of Deacon Thomas, was born about 1736. He was reared in Tyringham and married there. But about the opening of the century he removed to Johnstown, New York, in the Mohawk Valley, where he spent the remainder of his days. No records that I have seen show whom he married, or when; but the fact that he left a son and a daughter is duly chronicled. David was a soldier in the Revolutionary Army. His name appears in the State archives of Massachusetts.

Roger, the third son of Deacon Thomas Orton, was born in 1740. He grew up and settled in Tyringham and occupied his father's farm for a number of years. He was a corporal in the Revolutionary Army, as is shown by the military records of Massachusetts. Early in the present century he removed to the "Genesee country" of western New York, and settled in Geneseo. He had a large family of children, the names of whom are given below:

Horatio.

Mary (also called Polly)

Timothy.

Huldah.

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David.

Amos.

Elias.

Roger, Jr.

Margaret.

Thomas.

One of his sons was killed in the War of 1812. Roger himself died at Geneseo in 1814. It is thought that his death was hastened by the loss of his son.

(b) THROUGH JOHN OF TYRINGHAM.

The family of John (1717), it will be remembered, consisted of seven sons and five daughters who survived him. The list will be repeated here for convenience: John (1742), Thomas (1746), Ichabod (1754), Gideon (1759), William (1762), Oliver (1764), Amos (1768). All seem to have been born in Farmington, Connecticut, or Tyringham, Massachusetts. John (1742) removed to Bennington, Vermont, and has a record of service in the Revolutionary War from that State. After the war he removed to Little Falls, Herkimer County, New York, where he died. He left two sons, Samuel and Solomon, both of whom were born in Bennington, Samuel about 17763 and Solomon in 1764. In 1801 Samuel removed to Cumberland, Ontario. Solomon settled in Luzerne, Warren County, New York, and died there in 1852. Each of them has left a large number of Orton descendants.

Ichabod was born in 1754. The death of his mother occurred on October 21, of the same year. It is not unlikely that it occurred in connection with the birth of this son. If this were so, it might explain the unusual scripture name

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with was inflicted on the motherless babe. The significance of the name Ichabod, it will be remembered, is "the glory has departed". He became a Baptist minister and served, according to a tradition already noted, as a chaplain in the Revolutionary Army. We know but little of him, but there was evidently a stock of moral and mental force in him that lifted him quite out of the commonplace. He married Naomi Hard, of Vermont, who bore him a large family, as follows:

Myron, 1784-1875. (M.D.) Cambria, N.Y.

Harlow N., 1785-1837. (M.D.) Bucyrus, Ohio.

Anna, 1787-1844. M., 1805, Ozias Safford.

Amarilla, 1788. M. Theodore England.

John B., 1790-1843. (Lawyer.) Somerset, Ohio.

David, 1791.

Clarissa, 1792. M. -------- Barber.

Pamelia, 1794. M. -------- Foote.

Rev. Ichabod emigrated from Vermont to Brookfield, Madison County, New York, where he died in 1797, while still in the prime of life. I do not find data that show whether the children were born in New England or New York, but I incline to the opinion that they were born in New England and mainly reared in New York. His widow married again. The name of her second husband was Crissey.

The family of this Baptist minister has proved a remarkable one, at least for the Orton annals. The two older sons, Myron and Harlow, studied medicine, and Harlow lived by the practice of his profession. John B., the next son, was a lawyer of good repute who lived and died in Somerset, Ohio. David was a farmer in Cambria, New York. He died unmarried.

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Gideon (1759), fourth son of John of Tyringham (1717) and the first son of the second wife, Mary Slaughter, was born in the same year that his half-brother, Gideon (1748) died. The name was at once transferred. He married Phoebe Oatman, by whom he had six children.

Mary, 1791. M. John Perry.

Aaron H., 1793-1872. M. Polly Hall, 1819.

Lavinia, 1795.

Sarah, 1798-1824.

Truman, 1800-1877. M. Alvira Gleason.

Charlotte, 1803.

Gideon lived for a time in Fairfield, Vermont. His father (John, 1717) died at his home.

Oliver (1764-1846), sixth son of John (1717), married Dorcas Squire, by whom he had six children. He and his descendants have remained in Vermont. The names of his children are as follows:

Olive, 1797-1866.

Lyman W., 1799-1870

Elizabeth J., 1804.

William S., 1809-1867. M. Anzoletta Loveland.

John Benjamin, 1811-1885. M. Adaline S. Loveland.

Amos, seventh and youngest son of John and Mary S. Orton, was born in 1768, and was reared in Tyringham and southern Vermont. He married Lovisa, daughter of Joseph and Sarah Williams, of Belcher, Massachusetts. Joseph Williams was a near relative, and perhaps a brother, of General Williams, the founder of Williamstown, Massachusetts. Amos removed to Hadley Falls, Saratoga

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County, New York, where at least two sons were born to him, viz., Lorenzo, 1798-1865, and Amos, June 7, 1809-1888, both of whom I am able to trace in their descendants. The complete list of his children is given herewith, viz:

Lorenzo, 1798-1865

Anna, 1802-1880. (Mrs. Joseph Tucker.)

Lovisa, 1806-1878. (Mrs. Calvin Mills.)

Amos, 1809-1888.

Angelina, 1811-1866. (Mrs. Benjamin Phelps.)

Sarah J., 1813 (Mrs. L. B. Irish.) Halstead, Kansas.

Of Thomas, second son (1746), and William, fifth son (1762), of John, 1717, we have no further record.

SECTION III.

SIXTH GENERATION OF ORTONS, IN THE LINE OF THOMAS OF

FARMINGTON. (a) THROUGH DR. THOMAS OF TYRINGHAM.

The names of the Ortons of this generation have been already given in connection with the names of their fathers. Although it involves repetition, they will be given again here, so as to render the tracing of them easy and the identification definite. Care must be taken in this respect, because so many that are enumerated in these lists have the same Christian names. Coming into connection with our own times, we can learn more of the personal history of those included in the generation now to be considered than of their predecessors. I will follow the same order that I have introduced in preceding sections.

The sons of Dr. Thomas (1734-1780) come first in review. James, the eldest of the four, was born in Tyringham, and

page 54

probably between 1760 and 1770. He was brought up in the home of his stepfather, Colonel Giles Jackson, of Tyringham. The traditions of that household speak of him as a "wild" youth, but this designation in the New England of that day, does not necessarily involve any great amount of moral obliquity. Independence of thought and action, especially in matters pertaining to theology, would have been quite likely to be described in such terms. James left Tyringham in early life and lived for a time in Albany, New York. He probably studied law while there, but soon after removed to Paris, Oneida County, New York, and finally to Winfield, Herkimer County, where he carried on the business of farming in connection with the practice of law. He was subsequently appointed a judge in the county courts, and is known in our records as Judge James. I do not find the name of his wife, but ne married before he left Massachusetts.

Thomas, the second son of Dr. Thomas, was born in Tyringham, October 5, 1774. He grew up in Colonel Giles Jackson's household, as already related. He married Beulah, daughter of Reuben Rockwood, of Tyringham, and removed first to Augusta, New York, and afterwards to Hamilton, New York, where he died July 21, 1821. He was made a justice of the peace in Madison County, and can accordingly be designated henceforth as Esquire Thomas. His children are as follows:

Beulah, September 12, 1798.

Belinda, October 26, 1799-1818.

Deborah, January 18, 1802. M. Rev. Jason Corwin.

Philo Atwood, March 15, 1804-1872.

Jason Rockwood, December 7, 1806.

Abiram, January 25, 1810-1810.

(Insert)

TABLE V.

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Charles J., June 15, 1815-1863.

Lyman O., January 16, 1819.

Abiram was the second son of Dr. Thomas and Sally Atwood Orton. He was one of the pioneer settlers of Chautauqua County, New York, purchasing from the Holland Land Company a beautiful farm in Pomfret, near Fredonia, and also land in Arkwright, in 1807. This farm has been but recently divided among his heirs. He held several offices of trust in town and county, and was one of the vestrymen of the first Episcopal church of the county. He was appointed an assistant judge of the county by Governor DeWitt Clinton. He was twice married, but left no children.

Philo, the fourth and youngest son of Dr. Thomas and Sally Atwood Orton, was born September 9, 1778. He was but two years old when his father died and therefore grew up in the Jackson homestead without knowing any other home. He seems to have been regarded with peculiar affection by all the children of that large and composite household. He lived for a little time in Augusta, New York, and then found his way to Chautauqua County among the earliest settlers. He made the earliest entry of land in the town of Pomfret, viz., in 1806, selecting a farm in one of the most fertile and beautiful tracts of the county, on the old Buffalo and Erie road, about four miles west of Fredonia. Here he lived a long and honored life. He was the first supervisor of the town and held the office continuously from 1808 to 1819. He was a surveyor, and thus made wide acquaintance in the county. In 1811 he was appointed a judge of the county court by Governor DeWitt Clinton. He represented Chautauqua County in the New York Legislature in 1819 and was named as an

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elector on the general ticket of the State in 1832 and 1840. In the latter year the Whig ticket was successful and he cast his vote for General W. H. Harrison. He was universally esteemed and honored by the citizens of his county. He married Irene Hurd in 1802. After her death, he married Clarissa Sage in 1818. By his first wife he had three sons, viz., Thomas, born 1803; Abiram, 1805-1820; Charles Jackson, 1808-1886. There was no issue from the second marriage.

The record of Dr. Thomas's four sons has been shown to be an interesting one. Three of them became judges in the new homes which they made for themselves in western New York, and the fourth attained an office that was in the same line, and of good repute in those days, viz., justice of the peace. They must have inherited the qualities that bring influence and authority.

I have an indistinct remembrance of Judge Philo, whom I saw once or twice, at or near his home, in my boyhood. The picture in my memory is that of a tall, white-haired old man, who bore himself with great natural dignity and who inspired in my youthful mind an undefined sense of his superiority to his neighbors. He died about 1860.

Of Dr. Thomas's two daughters, the only record that remains is that one, Sarah M., married _____ Danforth, and died without children, in Lafayette, New York, and that the other married Jonas Brewer, and lived and died in Monterey, Massachusetts. Her children removed to Michigan.

Of the son and daughter, with whom David (1736), Johnstown, New York, is credited, a few facts have recently been gathered by Judge Philo A. Orton, of Darlington, Wis. They come in on a later page.

Roger's large family of seven sons and three daughters has been already named. Table VI. shows our present

(Insert)

TABLE VI.

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knowledge of that line. The children were born in Tyringham, but spent most of their mature years in western New York and died there, in most instances, none of them reaching extreme longevity. The average age of the seven sons, the life of one having been ended prematurely by violence, was fifty years, and the ages of four ranged between fifty and fifty-six years. I presume that some of them in their later years emigrated to "the west" of their day, viz., Illinois, Iowa, etc., just as their father had emigrated from New England fifty years before. At least their sons are found in these western States now. I will review the line in order.

Of Horatio (1782-1832) I have found no data.

Mary (Polly) (1784-1838) married Oren Heath. One daughter survives from this marriage, viz., Mrs. Amanda Symonds, of Buffalo, New York.

Timothy (1785-1813), as already stated, was killed in the War of 1812.

David, born September 1, 1870, married Ruth Clark and removed to Clayton, Illinois, where he died November 24, 1849. They had a large family. The names of the children will be found in a subsequent section.

Margaret (1801-1863) married Samuel Magee, and is represented by a daughter, Mrs. Matthew Armstrong, of Livonia Station, New York.

Finally, Thomas (1803-1879) married Irene Heath for his first wife, and Lucy _____ for his second wife, and left four children, three daughters and one son.

(b) THROUGH JOHN OF TYRINGHAM.

Coming to the sixth generation through John of Tyringham (1717), we find two sons of John (1742) of Little Falls,

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oldest son of John (1717), viz., Samuel and Solomon. Where they were born I have not learned. In 1790 Samuel married Meriba, niece of General Nathaniel Greene. Samuel resided for a number of years in Bennington, Vermont, and will be designated as Samuel of Bennington. He had fourteen children, twelve of whom grew to maturity, and in 1801 he removed from Vermont into Canada. From this stock a host of descendants has sprung. The name of their distinguished kinsman on their mother's side has been a favorite one in this branch of the family, but it was uniformly shortened to Nathan Greene, and sometimes the final name was omitted altogether.

Of the remaining sons of John (1717) there are two, viz.,Thomas (1746) and William (1756), of whom I can say nothing more, except that William removed to Sodus Bay, New York, and died at Long Point, Ontario. But Ichabod, Gideon, Oliver, and Amos, left families that have been traced.

Rev. Ichabod, as will be remembered, lived in Brookfield, New York, and died there in 1795. His widow subsequently married again, becoming Mrs. Crissey. Ichabod must have gone to Brookfield soon after the Revolution, for all of his children were reared there. Myron studied medicine and established himself as a physician and farmer in early life, in Cambria, Niagara County, New York, and numerous descendants of his still reside in that vicinity. In 1811 he married Mary Hoit, and ten children were born to them, several of whom still survive.

Harlow N., M. D. (1785-1837),was also brought up in Brookfield, New York, and was married there to Grace, daughter of Rev. Nathaniel Marsh, a Baptist minister who, according to the family tradition, was a chaplain in the Revolutionary Army. Harlow studied medicine and...

Descendants of Thomas Orton, Pages 1-62

Descendants of Thomas Orton, Pages 63-122

Descendants of Thomas Orton, Pages 123-171

Descendants of Thomas Orton, Pages 172-end

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