Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

Aaron Kierstead, who came from Canada
to East Hartford. His children are:
Clarinda Rosemary, born June 20, 1909,
and Oran Alexander, August 9, 1917.
Mrs. Moser is a graduate nurse, and is
descended from one of the oldest families
of the City of New York, who owned
large property in that city at the time of
the Revolution. Among her ancestors may
be mentioned the Annake Jans family,
which owned land where Trinity Church
of New York City now stands. A daughter
of this family married a clergyman
named Kierstead, and they were the par-
ents of six sons, three of whom remained
Loyalists and removed to Canada.
SMITH, Edgar Robbins,
Agriculturist.
There were many early families that
moved from Hartford and Wethersfield
to Hatfield, Massachusetts, and in later
generations some representatives re-
turned. This is true of one branch of
the Smith family. Lieutenant Samuel
Smith was born in England, about 1602,
and sailed on April 30, 1634, for New
England in the ship "Elizabeth," of Ips-
wich, with his wife, Elizabeth, and chil-
dren : Samuel,
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
aged nine ; Elizabeth,
aged seven ; Mary, aged four, and Philip,
aged one. He and his wife were then
called thirty-two years of age. He set-
tled first at Salem and was admitted a
freeman, September 3, 1634, was a pro-
prietor there in 1638, and removed to
Wethersfield, Connecticut, where he was
a leading citizen ;
was chosen representa-
tive more than any other man, serving
almost the entire sessions from 1641 to
1653. He was one of the committee to
make settlement for the purchase of Saybrook
and its dependencies, and also took
a very active part in the church as well as
the State.
3 2 7
It may be of interest here to give a
short account of the "Hartford Contro-
versy," showing the strong feeling of the
time in matters of conscience as well as
the reason why Samuel Smith with others
removed to Hadley in 1659. The church
at Hartford was one of the largest and
most eminent in New England, and the
two ministers, Thomas Hooker and Sam-
uel Stone, though unlike in some respects,
were both great and good men, whose
praise was in all the churches. Mr.
Hooker was firm and decided, yet pru-
dent and conciliatory, and there was no
serious trouble while he lived. A few
years after his death a contention arose
with a majority of the church on one side
and a strong minority on the other. On
each side were men of distinction in the
town and colony. The first disturbance
was occasioned by the call of a person
to supply the place of Mr. Hooker, who had
died. Then arose the question about the
enlarging of baptism. The minority were
attached to the order professed and prac-
ticed under Mr. Hooker. They preferred
to adhere to the Cambridge platform and
were opposed to any changes. Mr. Stone
endeavored to introduce some new prac-
tices into the church ; these innovations
were displeasing to the minority. The
changes related to three subjects : Qualifications
for baptism, churchmanship, and
rights of bortherhood. Only the members
of the church in full communion had
their children baptized. The synod, held
in Boston in 1657, decided that children
could be baptized if their parents were
not scandalous, though not members of
the church in full communion. Mr. Stone
advocated it. This met with so much
opposition that the minority formally
withdrew from the church and formed a
union with the church in Wethersfield
under Mr. John Russell. The matter was
brought before the court of Massachu-