746 HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. 



necticut Colony, and engaged the Rev. Mr. Clark to read divine service andser- 

 lii' 'tis in us on Sundays. Since Mr. Clark left us. by the advice of the Rev. Mr. 

 Dibblee and Mr. Learning, we have employed the worthy Mr. Epenetus Town- 

 send, who hath for some time alternately read to us, and the people of Ridge- 

 field and Ridgebury ; whose exemplary life, sober conversation and devout per- 

 formance of religious offices, highly recommend him to our esteem ; and as we 

 have advice, that he hath leave from the Society to go for Holy Orders, we hum- 

 bly beg the Venerable Society in compassion to our unhappy state, would be 

 pleased to appoint him their missionary to. us at Salem, in the Province of New 

 York, and to itinerate among such poor people as stand in need of his instruc- 

 tion, with such a salary as in their wisdom they think proper. We have already 

 purchased six acres of good land contiguous to the church, and made it over for 

 a glebe for the use of a minister of the Church of England, or missionary for the 

 time being, forever, and promise to build a decent, convenient house for his use 

 when required ; and as the poor people of Ridgefield and Ridgebury by the con- 

 currence of the Churchwardens and Yestry in this memorial hope to be indulged 

 in being included under his care, having formerly a conjunction with some of 

 the neighbouring places in the Province of New York experienced the goodness 

 and compassion of the Venerable Society in appointing the Rev. Mr. Lamson to 

 officiate among them, being many in number, having built a church in each of 

 those places. Ridgefield but eight, and Ridgebury but four miles from Salem, but 

 at such a distance, from Norwalk that they can expect but very little service 

 from the Rev. Mr. Learning ; whereupon we have unitedly sent our respective 

 bonds to the Rev. Dr. Auchmuty, of New York, in trust, obliging ourselves to 

 pay in each place equal to £10 sterling per annum, on the whole amounting to 

 £30 per annum, to the missionary for the time being, and we no longer expect the 

 Society's favor than we shall continue to deserve it." a 



Upon the receipt of this petition the Society granted their request, 

 and appointed the Rev. Epenetus Townsend, A.M., missionary; a gen- 

 tleman educated in King's college, and whose exemplary life and sober 

 conversation, they have already had experience of. He was the third 

 son of Micajah Townsend and Elizabeth Piatt, the grandson of John 

 Townsend, 6 of Oyster Bay, L. I., who settled at that place in 1677. He 

 was born at Cedar Swamp, near Oyster Bay, in April, 1742, entered 

 King's college (now Columbia) in 1755, was admitted Bachelor of Arts 

 pro forma in 1758, and graduated Master of Arts in 1762. After offici- 

 ating for a short time as a lay-reader, he went to England in the Fall of 

 1767, for Holy Orders. 



a New Ymk, MSS. from archives at Fnlham, vol. ii. p. 433-5. (Hawks.) 

 b This ancient family deduces its descent from Ludovic, a noble Norman, who, settling in 

 England during the reign of Henry I, assumed the surname of Townsend, and by marrying 

 with Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas De riaville, obtained the manor of Rayn- 

 ham, in the county of Norfolk, which has ever since remained the possession of his descend- 

 ants. Among the early English emigrants to Boston and its vicinity, were John, Henry and 

 William Townsend, brothers. John Townsend, of Oyster Bay, in 1677, had five sons. Mica- 

 jah, his second son, was born in 1699, married 23d of April, 1732, and died November 9, 1781. 

 Micajah, in his will, made the 30th of April, 17S2, proved 16th of May, 1782, bequeath "unto his 

 son Epenetus £436, which, with that I have already given him, makes the sum of £1,800." 

 Surrogate's Kec, N. Y. 



