On first blush all the families associated with the house seem to have emigrated from disperate places, Great Britain to be sure, but from various shires - William Hall from London, the Christys from Scotland, the Skidmores from Gloucester, the Dentons from Yorkshire. In exploring the genealogies of each of these emigrating families, however, it is the frequency of links and ties that amaze. It truly is a small world, even in the 18th Century.
The first of the families in question to arrive was the Denton family, Rev. Richard Denton came in 1635 on the James out of Bristol, England into the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He moved to Watertown, Massachusetts, to Wethersfield, Ct. in 1638 , and then to New Haven, being one of the founders of Stamford from 1642 to 1644 and finally to Hempstead, Long Island in 1644. The Halls came sometime between 1635 and 1638 landing in Rhode Island. In fact, William was one of the founders of Portsmouth, Rhode Island along with William Hutchinson, husband of Anne Hutchinson after she was expelled from Boston. The Skidmores came sometime between 1637 and 1643 and settled in Jamaica, Long Island, not far from where Rev. Richard finally settled. The Halls and Skidmores were what are referred to as pre- Quakers so it is natural that the Halls would settle in Rhode Island, where Roger Williams had established the Quaker faith and the Skidmores in Long Island, ruled by the Dutch at this time who were tolerant of all religions. It is said that Rev. Richard established the first Presbyterian churches in Stamford and Hempstead, although along the way he seems to have had arguments with members of his own faith, starting in Halifax, England, then Watertown, Wethersfield and Stamford. Hempstead suited him as well being able to live under the tolerance of the Dutch.
It is also not unusual that families emigrating together intermarried and we find this especially true of the Halls, Tripps, and Gidleys. We find one generation of Halls marrying Tripp brothers and sisters. As for the Gidleys and Halls, maybe there was a little too much intermarrying by today's standards with the great granddaughter and the great grandson of the builder of the Hall Christy house becoming husband and wife.
The Halls and the Christys were connected in a couple of ways. Bejamin Hall's daughter, Esther, married a Benjamin Christy while Gideon Hall's (Benjamin's brother) daughter, Ruth, married a Leonard Christy. Leonard's mother was also a Tripp. Gideon's son, Peter married a Mary Tilton and Ruth's son, Gilbert, married Mary's niece. The Tripps also married into the Quaker Hill families, Anne Tripp marrying
Reed Ferris and Anthony Tripp marrying a Mary Birdsall.
In reading the genealogies of the families, it seems remarkable that so many of the children of sometimes very prolific parents made it into adulthood and produced families of their own. By the early 18th Century, the increase of population in each area originally settled, thus pressuring the ability to maintain a livelihood, led to many of the younger sons, especially, seeking land further west or inland. For the most part, these men were farmers so they sought rich productive farmland, John Hall emigrating from Rhode Island in 1747 to what is now known as "the Clove" in Dutchess County at a time when it was wilderness as did Andrew Skidmore coming from Long Island probably also in the late 1740's or 1750's establishing a mill near the Hall settlement and also farming in the Sprout Creek Valley nearby. The Dentons came from Long Island and the Connecticut Sound communities, buying land from the Indians at Whaley Lake in the Town of Pawling in the 1740's. The original settler of Quaker Hill, Nathan Birdsall, came in 1728, finding such rich farm land that he encouraged the other Quaker families to come shortly thereafter. In addition, what is now known as the Skidmore House was being constructed sometime between then and the Revolutionary War on lands owned by the Lossees via a Livingston Patent grant, most likely by a tenant farmer.
Now, the connections. While on Long Island, the Birdsalls and the Skidmores must have known each other, the Birdsalls living in Oyster Bay, but marrying Hempstead spouses. Phoebe Skidmore (born 1698, daughter of Samuel Skidmore, granddaughter of the emigrating Skidmore, John) married Robert Denton (born 1695, died 1779, son of Nathaniel Skidmore, also the line of the present house owner Denton and the grandson of Rev. Richard Denton, the emigrating Denton). There is also one record that shows another grandson of Rev. Richard, Thomas, son of Daniel, also marrying a Skidmore.
This makes me wonder if the Skidmores were yet Quakers as the Dentons were avid Presbyterians with even Cotton Mather extolling Rev. Richard's preaching ability, or if love simply triumphed over religion. The Birdsalls were from York and may have even come over with Rev. Richard Denton as it is noted in the diary of a passenger of the James that the ship carried many honest Yorkshiremen, with about eighty names being absent from the existing passenger list. Nathan Birdsall, the first Quaker Hill settler was married in Jamaica, Queens, by a Rev. Thomas Poyer, the same minister who married Solomon Denton and his wife, Solomon being the father of the Denton buying the land at Whaley Lake from the Indians and ancestor of the current owner of the Hall Christy and Skidmore houses. The Wanzers who were to marry into the Skidmores once in Dutchess County, also must have known the Dentons while both families resided in Greenwich in the early 18th Century. Eliza Wanzer's great grandfather, Abraham Wanzer married Abigail Husted in Greenwich, Ct. while Abigail's nieces Lydia and Judith Husted , daughters of Abigail's brother, David, married Solomon Denton, great, great grandson of Rev. Richard Denton. The Ferrisses, who were one of the founding members of the Quaker Hill Meeting House and who once owned the land on which the Hall Christy and Skidmore houses now sit was also originally a Presbyterian in Jamaica or Hempstead, Long Island, so must of known the Dentons and Skidmores. Zachariah Ferriss moved to New Milford Ct. sometime before 1731 as it is in this year that we have the Rev. Daniel Boardman of the Presbyterian Church in the same community naming Zachariah Ferriss, his wife and sons as some of the church members who "fell away to Quakerism".
The Merritts, another early Quaker Hill family, were in Wethersfield, Ct., the same years as Rev. Richard Denton.
Once in Dutchess County, we find that , althought John Hall came from Rhode Island and Andrew Skidmore from Long Island, it is John's son Benjamin who marries Elizabeth Skidmore, Elizabeth being a distant cousin of the mill-founder Andrew Skidmore, Andrew's great great grandfather and Elizabeth's great, great, great grandfather being the original emigrating Skidmore, Thomas. This mill would also link the Skidmore and Hall Christy houses as in dismantly and reconstructing the the structures, we find that the floor boards in the parts of the houses built after 1760 are of identical width and probably came from the Skidmore mill.
The Halls and Christys have their own ironic re-emerging of families and land. The original 300 acres John Hall acquired upon settling in the Clove was divided at his death between his sons Benjamin and Gideon, Gideon retaining the homestead with Benjamin constructing a house on his own land. Generations later, these two pieces of land and homes would come under the same ownership once again. Benjamin had willed his house to his then spinster daughter, Abigail, who willed it to her step-daughter Mary Woolley. Mary's daughter, Mary Frances McCord would marry Peter Harrison Christy whose great grandfather was Benjamin's brother Gideon, owner of the Hall Christy house. Peter would inherit the house through his grandmother, Ruth Hall Christy, Gideon's daughter.
We do not find any marriage connections between the Dentons and Halls, Christys or Skidmores once in Dutchess County as the Dentons were strict Baptists and most likely would not have married a member of the Quaker faith. They would have agreed with the Rev. Boardman about the falling off stuff.
The Skidmores, however, would develop a connection with Quaker Hill and the Oblong Quaker Meeting. The Andrew Skidmore who was the grandson of the Andrew Skidmore who established the Mill on Clove Creek most likely was the first Skidmore to attend the Oblong Meeting. The Skidmores would have had a choice of Meetings between the Nine Partners, the Oswego Meeting and the Oblong. The Oblong was really quite a distance from Sprout Creek and the Clove, but, perhaps, it was the anti-slavery movement that brought them together with the Oblong Meeting being the first Quaker Meeting to vote against slavery and forbid members to hold slaves and in the pre-Civil War years, the Skidmore house was used as a stop on the Underground Railroad. Although I cannot find the genealogical connection, Andrew's son was given the middle name "Akin", one of the prominent families in the Oblong Meeting. Andrew Akin Skidmore was the owner of the Skidmore house now owned by this writer, having obtained it from his father Andrew and Uncle James who purchased it from a Thomas Burtis. Andrew Akin Skidmore and his brother Jesse would meet Quaker Hill Meeting ladies and marry them, Andrew A. marrying Elizabeth (Eliza) Wanzer in 1829 and Jesse marrying Sarah Akin in 1827 , both at the Quaker Hill Oblong Meeting House. The guests would have parked their carriages and wagons, perhaps, in the same field in which Andrew's house now stands.
Even the present four-footed occupant of the Hall Christy house has a connection. The present golden retriever is named "Le Comte de Rochambeau" after the French General who aided Washington in the decisive battle for America's independence at Yorktown. Looking through the Hall genealogies, it seems Benjamin Hall took as his second wife a relative of the same General Rochambeau.
There is one last possible Denton/Hall connection. Rev. Richard's first wife, back in jolly old England, was a Sarah Hall. Although the emigrating William Hall was said to be living in London at the time of his departure from England, there is some evidence that his father hailed from Yorkshire. Could she have been the emigrating William's sister? It's fun to think so.