438 HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. 



in the habit of walking through the woods on Sundays to attend service 

 in the old church that stood at the head of the cross-roads leading 

 from Ridgefield to South Salem. When Mr. Ruscoe first moved into 

 this portion of West Chester County it abounded in wild game. The 

 moose deer were common, and panthers prowled around; the last pan- 

 ther seen in South Salem was shot by Hezekiah, a son of Mr. Ruscoe, 

 when a boy, in the vicinity of his home. The sons of Mr. T. Ruscoe 

 were Theophilus, Gamaliel, and John, who was baptized by the Rev. 

 Ebenezer Dibblee, 26th of April, 1780, together with his sister Abigail. a 

 Hezekiah married Sally Dean, and left issue, besides two other sons and 

 three daughters, Mr. Silas Ruscoe, a vestryman of St. John's church, 

 Lewisboro. 



Close to the residence of Mr. William E. Knapp is the best entrance 

 to Lake Peppeneghek or Cross Pond, a beautiful sheet of water cover- 

 ing ninety-seven acres of ground, fed entirely by perpetual cold ice 

 springs and charming rivulets from the highlands of Harahames and 

 Asoquatah. The water commissioners of New York are now employing 

 a large force of men in deepening the outlet of the lake and construct- 

 ing a fume with a view of increasing the annual flow of water into the 

 croton reservoir and renewing the supply if necessary. The lake during 

 the fall of 1876 yielded twenty-two millions of gallons for the croton 

 supply. The shores of Lake Peppeneghek are almost bordered with 

 high hills covered with hanging woods which reach down to the water's 

 edge. Pickerel and other fresh water fish abound here. A short dis- 

 tance to the south lies Lake Asoquatah, or Trinity Lake, that supplies 

 the town of Stamford with water ; near the Welton angle or monument 

 in the south-east corner of the town, is Vista — a pretty settlement on the 

 New Canaan road. Here is a post-office, two churches, shoe manu- 

 factory of Eleazer Fancher&Co., and several dwellings, and a Methodist 

 Episcopal church was erected on land given by Mr. Michael Ruscoe. 



Among the early settlers of this neighborhood may be mentioned 

 Joseph Fayerweather, of Norwalk, who purchased about one hundred 

 acres of land here, and built the house now occupied by Mrs. Crissy. His 

 wife, Catharine, was the neice of the Right Rev. Benjamin Jarvis second 

 Bishop of Connecticut ; their son, Stephen Fayerweather was the father 

 of Miss Emilion C. Fayerweather, of Norwalk/ There is also a Prot- 

 estant Methodist church building close by. The Presbyterians or Inde- 

 pendents of Lower Salem, prior to 1747, appear to have been associated 



a See Bap, Reg of St. John's church, Stamford. 



b Fayerweathers, Fayreweathers, or Fawethers, were an ancient English family formerly 

 seated at Brisset in Suffolk. Arms, gu., six billets or, three, two and one, on a chief of the 

 second a lion passant, vert, or Crest, a lion's head irased in billets, or. 



