Name Eliezer Jewett | ||
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Died December 7, 1817, Jewett City, Connecticut, United States | ||
Eliezer jewett top 6 facts
Eliezer (also spelled Elizier, Eleazor, Eleazer or Elizer) Jewett (born in Norwich, Connecticut August 31, 1731; died December 7, 1817) was the namesake of Jewett City, Connecticut, now the borough of the town of Griswold, Connecticut. He founded a settlement there in 1771.
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Jewett was the great grand son of Jeremiah Jewett, who emigrated from Bradford, England, as a child, with his parents, in 1638 and settled in Rowley, Massachusetts. Author Frances Manwaring Caulkins described him as "not a man of finished education, or of any peculiar mental power, but active, persevering, and of a genial, kindly temperament, happy in doing good and opening paths of enterprise for the benefit of others, without laboring to enrich himself."
Jewett built a saw mill, grist mill and fulling mill, a tavern and an irrigation plant in the area later known as Jewett City. The mills utilized the water power of the Pachaug River. About 1790 Jewett was joined in the area by John Wilson, an English clothier from Massachusetts, who married Jewett's daughter, purchased the fulling mill and established a clothier's shop. Jewett City was officially named in 1895.
Jewett's monument in the Jewett City graveyard reads:
In memory of Mr. Eliezer Jewett, who died Dec 7th 1817, in the 87th year of his age. In April, 1771, he began the settlement of this village, and from his persevering industry and active benevolence, it has derived its present importance: its name will perpetuate his memory.
Descendants
Jewett was married twice and had seven children. He was the father of Joseph Jewett, a prominent judge, and the grandfather of Dr. Charles Jewett, a prominent figure in the Temperance Reform movement.